10.16.14tuftsdaily

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THE TUFTS DAILY

Professor and Fletcher student discuss protests in Hong Kong

Students travel to Oslo for Freedom Forum

by Sarah Zheng

by Daniel Gottfried

Daily Editorial Board

Over 40 students attended the “Discussion of Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution,” Tufts Global China Connection’s first event of the semester. The discussion, which took place yesterday in Braker Hall at noon, featured Michael Beckley, assistant professor of political science, and Ivan Rasmussen, a Ph.D. candidate at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

The event was co-sponsored by the International Relations Director’s Leadership Council (DLC) and the Hong Kong Student Association.

The discussion was held in response to the recent Occupy Central protests in Hong Kong that erupted in September when Chinese officials announced that they would not grant citizens of Hong Kong universal suffrage and continue to screen the Hong Kong government candidates in the upcoming 2017 Chief Executive election.

Beckley began the presentation with an introduction of the history of Hong Kong after its transfer of sovereignty to China from the United Kingdom (UK) in 1997.

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Thursday, October 16, 2014

VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 26

Daily Editorial Board

MCT

A protestor stands in front of the pro-democracy“Lennon Wall.”

The Chinese approach to Hong Kong of “one country, two systems” was formalized in a series of agreements with the UK, including a form of a constitution in the Hong Kong Basic Law, according to Beckley.

He explained that today, Hong Kong is viewed among leaders in China as a hotbed of Western espionage and intelligence, making the mainland always fearful of foreign attempts to stir up unrest.

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

China is afraid that if it concedes on Hong Kong, this will “set a precedent for other regions … most notably, Taiwan,” Beckley said.

While many believe the Occupy Central protests are unprecedented dissent, Hong Kong saw large protests in July 2003 in opposition to Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, the basis of a security law, according to Beckley. Around 10 percent of see HONG KONG, page 2

Three Tufts students — junior Jack Margolin and sophomores Orlando Economos and Caitlin Thompson — will travel to Norway from Oct. 20 to 22 for the annual Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF), a gathering of human rights activists, policymakers, leaders in education and journalists. The trip is sponsored by the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL).

The topic of this year’s OFF is “Defeating Dictators,” according to Margolin.

“All of the speakers have some connection to a country that is experiencing oppression, a totalitarian regime — many of which are Russian like Pussy Riot, [Mikhail] Khodorkovsky, political dissidents from China like Michael Anti who has been very outspoken against suppression of freedom of speech,” he said. “Overall the theme of this forum is about human rights and central human freedoms.”

Margolin, Economos and Thompson are also all participants in the IGL’s Education

for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) program — which this year is focusing on Russia in the 21st century. The students will also be traveling with IGL Founding Director Sherman Teichman, according to Economos.

“We are approaching [this forum] from a Russian academic lens, but we all have our own interests that complement this lens,” he said.

Margolin said he believes that it is beneficial to have a meeting ground where dissidents from different backgrounds can come together in one room.

“It is an opportunity for people to bounce ideas off each other, cooperate and build linkages that you wouldn’t anticipate,” he said. “A Ghanaian dissident speaking with a dissident from Belarus is not normally an interaction that you might have, and the idea that a lot of good can come from interactions like this is a central idea of the forum.”

The forum will include both speeches from various attendees and discussions, according to Margolin. see OSLO, page 2

Sciortino discusses Journalist panel examines scandal, work fighting HIV/AIDS inequality in professional sports

by Nina Goldman Daily Editorial Board

Politician and health advocate Carl Sciortino (LA ’00) returned to the Hill last night to discuss his work as executive director of AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts in a Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Center event titled, “PrEP, PEP, and the State of HIV Prevention: A Conversation with Carl Sciortino” in Cabot ASEAN Auditorium at 7 p.m.

A founding member of the Rainbow House and other LGBTQ initiatives at Tufts, Sciortino got into politics after receiving an unsatisfactory response from his Massachusetts state representative to a letter he wrote about HIV/AIDS resources. He managed to defeat the incumbent, representing a district that includes parts of Medford and Somerville from 2005 until this past April, when he resigned to join AIDS Action Committee.

In 2013, he was defeated by Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) in a run for national office. The loss pushed him into the public eye, at which point he made

public his HIV-positive status.

“I don’t recommend running for Congress. It’s painful,” Sciortino said. “My private life is not my own at all.”

Before this past year, he had only told personal friends about his experience with HIV. Now, he is AIDS Action Committee’s first openly HIVpositive executive director.

Sciortino addressed the persistent stigma surrounding HIV/ AIDS in the United States.

“We have built a whole new closet around HIV in this community,” he said. “I know far too many people, including people on this campus, that will never tell a soul that they have HIV.” Sciortino said he contracted the virus on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. He began feeling symptoms within three days of having unprotected sex.

“I was praying to god it was dengue fever or Montezuma’s Revenge or something else,” he said.

Sciortino said he immediately started taking a daily pill which he continues to take now, four years later. While he told his HIV-negative boyfriend see HIV, page 2

by Kathleen Schmidt Daily Editorial Board

“Nothing But Net: How Profits, Pundits and the Press are Changing Pro Sports,” took place yesterday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Crane Room. The panel covered major issues in professional sports including domestic violence, racism and gender inequality and how these issues interact with profits, media and the public. The event was sponsored by the Tufts Communications and Media Studies Program.

The panel included Chris Stone (LA ’92), managing editor for Sports Illustrated, Dan Barbarisi (LA ’01), New York Yankees beat reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Tony Massarotti (LA’ 89), Boston Globe contributor and cohost of a talk show on 98.5 The Sports Hub and Shira Springer, investigative and enterprise sports reporter for the Globe.

The discussion opened with a discussion of the flaws of the National Football League (NFL), focusing on its inability to handle major crises such as domestic violence and health issues of players.

Inside this issue

According to Stone, the NFL simply waits for major problems or scandals to recede.

However, they inevitably return and the cycle repeats itself. “[The NFL] seems incapable … of handling issues that are really central, so when [Ray] Rice came along, they just got caught

in a place where they were completely unprepared to handle it,” he said. “They’re not proactive.

For a league that is so protective of its image … it’s incredible that they’re incapable of dealing with big picture issues.” see SPORTS, page 2

Evan Sayles / The Tufts Daily

Members of the sports media discussed the evolving scene of sports journalism.

Today’s sections

Boston Zine Festival gives opportunity to local artists and writers.

Tufts volleyball dominates Trinity over the weekend.

see FEATURES, page 3

see SPORTS, back

News 1 Features 3 Weekender 4 Editorial | Letters 8

Op-Ed 9 Classifieds 11 Sports Back

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The Tufts Daily

Thursday, October 16, 2014

News

Sciortino speaks about safe sex and HIV prevention HIV

continued from page 1

at the time that he was “free to go,” he refused, and the two got married last year.

Sciortino emphasized how privileged he is to have a stable life.

“I’m lucky to have the support of my family and friends,” he said.

Much of the work AIDS Action Committee does centers around supporting Massachusetts’ 19,165 residents living with HIV/AIDS, especially those whose illness is compounded by homelessness, joblessness and drug addiction. The people they work with are disproportionately men who have sex with men, young black men and heavy drug users.

“Taking care of their health is really, really, really challenging,” Sciortino said.

“A lot of it is based on race and class.”

In partnership with the Fenway Community Health Center, AIDS Action Committee is New England’s largest HIV/ AIDS service organization. They serve one-sixth of Massachusetts residents living with HIV, providing quality-of-life support and treatment options.

“The most important thing is that treatment is available and treatment is effective,” Sciortino said.

Another aim is what Sciortino called “targeted prevention,” which has proven

moderately successful in recent years.

“We reduced new infections by 41 percent in a decade’s time,” he said. “We can get that number to zero.”

One new method that Sciortino is promoting is pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which goes by the brand name Truvada. He compared the daily pill to birth control — it is taken by HIV-negative people in order to prevent potential infection.

“It is a new tool in our toolbox to prevent HIV,” Sciortino said. “That is a gamechanger if we do it right.”

While studies found an only 44 percent effectiveness over all subjects given PrEP, it was 92 percent effective for those who actually took it every day, according to Sciortino.

“If you adhere to it and take it as prescribed, there is a near-zero chance of getting infected,” he said.

Although Sciortino said he did not want to force anyone to take PrEP, he recommended it for anyone who is not consistently “condom compliant,” which he said was almost every sexually active person he knew.

“I’m not judging. I’m not condoning.

I’m just saying, that is the reality,” he said.

“We are human beings. We all do things that we know are risky.”

Sciortino also brought up post-expo-

sure prophylaxis (PEP), which is taken within 72 hours of exposure to HIV and then consistently for one month — he compared this to the morning-after pill.

“It appears to be effective, especially if you start it very quickly,” he said.

While both of these options are available to Tufts students through Health Services, Sciortino worried that students may not pursue them due to confidentiality issues.

“It is a challenge and question for young people who may still be on their parents’ insurance,” he said.

Insurance companies can often withhold this information from parents if asked, however, and Sciortino encouraged students to take their sexual health into their own hands. While one might imagine the emaciated AIDS victims of the 1980’s and worry that contracting HIV is a “death sentence,” Sciortino emphasized the ability of HIV-positive people to thrive.

“The misconceptions about living with HIV today are very potent,” he said. “I will live a long, healthy life.”

LGBT Center Director Nino Testa (G ’13), who introduced the discussion, pointed out resources available through the university and local organizations like AIDS Action Committee.

“This event is only part of an ongoing conversation at Tufts,” he said.

Sports journalists discuss disparity in women’s professional sports SPORTS

continued from page 1

The NFL is able to continue this pattern of behavior because of the power it has from both revenues and fan support, Massarotti added.

He noted that the NFL will not change how it acts until fans show their disapproval by refusing to watch the game — this applies to the athletes in the league as well.

“If the public doesn’t really care, ultimately what are you asking of the athlete?” he asked. “Do you expect them to be model citizens, or do you just want them to be gladiators?

Fans are more interested solely in the selfish return — ‘can he play or not? If he can, then I don’t care what he does.’”

Springer said that one positive outcome of the Ray Rice scandal this year was the conversation it began on domestic violence, especially concerning women speaking out with the hashtags “#WhyIStayed” and “#WhyILeft” on Twitter, which prompted a discussion of domestic violence on ESPN. “It is one good thing about sports, I would argue, that

through sports we can actually have national, broad discussions about topics that we otherwise really wouldn’t discuss,” Stone said. “Whether it’s domestic violence or brain trauma or other things … What other forum could create such a broad discussion?”

The panelists then spoke on the topic of women’s sports, how they are portrayed in the media and how they are perceived by the public. “[People say] women’s sports aren’t as entertaining, it’s not as exciting, the women aren’t as fast, the women aren’t as athletic as men, and I just call bullshit on that,” Springer said. “They are victims of poor marketing and poor marketing plans. I think they’ve always seen their audience as young girls, and they’re going to grow these young girls into fans when they grow up. But here’s the thing … young girls can’t drive to games, they don’t have disposable income.”

In addition, female athletes are marketed as role models instead of great athletes, which makes them less interesting, Springer noted. Women’s

teams must also compete against more popular and better funded men’s teams within their cities that have decadeslong head starts. Springer proposed that professional men’s teams align with professional women’s teams to aid them with funding and marketing to close the disparity between the two.

The panelists then moved to a discussion on the media’s role in professional sports.

Barbarisi explained how new social media outlets have changed how writers’ content is perceived.

“There was a while where what you write in the paper was different from what you were tweeting,” he said. “It’s maybe a little less regimented, a little more personal, but that’s all gone now. You know, if you’re a producer of content, you’re a producer of content of any form.”

The four panelists ended the discussion with optimism for sports journalism in general.

“Sports writing is better now than it’s ever been — there’s more writing being done and less taboo on topics,” Barbarisi said.

Students to participate in forum on freedom in Norway OSLO

continued from page 1

“This is a very unique opportunity to speak with dissidents from a part of the world that I am very interested by and be directly engaged in the specific subject matter of human rights in the former Soviet Union,” he explained. “I hope to learn about the actual situation on the ground in that part of the world, what techniques are effective, what methods are not effective and the nature of oppression itself in the region.”

IGL will pay for the students’ conference fee and subsidize a portion of the airfare and hotel rooms, Margolin added.

“The conference is very expensive,” he said. “Essentially those funds are going to help speakers that would otherwise be unable to come. We have a lot of dissidents that have had their assets seized by their governments or never had any assets, because they were primarily a grassroots effort.”

Economos explained that he plans to work on a documentary featuring the OFF and will use the conference proceedings to gain valuable information for his project.

Panelists predict minor concessions to Occupy Central HONG KONG

continued from page 1

the Cantonese population marched in the streets against what people viewed as evidence of the authoritarian nature of the Chinese government that eroded freedom of speech.

Many parallels can be drawn from the 2003 incident to Occupy Central, Beckley noted. In response to the 2003 protests, Beijing told the Cantonese government to make minor concessions, amending controversial elements of Article 23 and firing top Hong Kong officials to appease the public.

After a historical contextualization of Occupy Central, including mention of the reinterpretation of the Basic Law in 2004 that essentially ruled out the possibility of universal suffrage in Hong Kong for the 2007 Chief Executive elections, Beckley summed up his portion of the presentation by commenting that the Chinese government is unlikely to make any real concessions to the protesters.

“The era of the hands-off approach to Hong Kong, if it ever was, was over,” he said.

Rasmussen spoke briefly about the history in Hong Kong, the traditional role of students and intellectuals in protests and the pro-party patriotic education in Hong Kong public schools.

He also underscored the complexity of the protests, since many Cantonese people’s lives are being disrupted and the market in Hong Kong has been declining for the past two weeks. The protests have also given rise to anti-Occupy Central protesters in the midst of potential peace talks being scheduled between the student protesters and the government.

Rasmussen explained that people felt that the “police were not being helpful about [dealing with] counter protesters” in Occupy Central, which was allowing certain levels of violence to break out between the protesters and the people disagreeing with them.

He added that while there have been media blackouts on Occupy Central coverage in mainland China, most people in China are fairly aware of what is going on. Most of them are largely indifferent to what is happening or view the protests as a public nuisance, although there is

John Hampson / The Tufts Daily

Carl Sciortino, the Executive Director of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, spoke on the progress of HIV prevention.

limited regional solidarity for the student protesters, he noted.

Language has played a role in internal cohesion and external relevance in terms of news reporting on this issue in Hong Kong. A large number of people in Hong Kong speak English, as well as using Cantonese instead of Mandarin Chinese, which is spoken in mainland China, according to Rasmussen. The use of mesh technology and technology as a whole has also brought together people in solidarity for this cause.

After Beckley and Rasmussen presented, there was a question and answer session that brought up lively discussions and debate.

Beckley said that he is skeptical about any foreign intervention in Hong Kong because he believes that unless there is a Tiananmen-style crackdown by the government, outside actors such as the United States value relations with Beijing too much to take any solid action.

There have already been accusations of Western influence in the inception and process of these protests, Rasmussen added.

“I want to bring home something that gives us a look at Russian culture and the political situation there that in America we wouldn’t get,” he said. “Being in another country, there is a different backdrop than if Russians were to talk to us in America. It is a neutral ground to explore different views.”

Another purpose of attending the OFF is to identify speakers that might be interested in attending EPIIC’s spring symposium, according to Margolin.

“We have the chance to engage these people face-toface and explain to them the value of EPIIC,” he said.

Margolin and Economos agreed that they hope to use the OFF as a jumping-off point for research on Russia and human rights upon returning to the United States.

“The research that a lot of EPIIC students do over winter or summer break — we wanted to make sure that it was going to be tied into the experience of Oslo,” Margolin said. “There a lot of doors open for you there. There are a lot of people involved in the field of human rights there.”

Beckley explained that while some have criticized the media coverage on the Occupy Central movement as having sensationalized what is happening in Hong Kong, the “stakes are massive” and the protests are “really a key litmus test” on China’s relations with its autonomous regions and outside states.

Both Beckley and Rasmussen predict that the Chinese government will make no major reforms but will make minor concessions, such as the sacking of certain officials, the possibility of opening candidates up to “public input consultation” and the increase of a dual strategy of economic strengthening and increasing propaganda to subdue the people.

The upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November is somewhat of an explicit timetable for the protests.

The main goal for the Chinese mainland government continues to be regime security, Beckley said.

“I think [the event] was pretty successful,” DLC council member and event organizer Jiahe Chi, a junior, said. “We attracted a large audience and both speakers had insightful points.”

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

Boston Zine Fest showcases DIY culture, marginalized voices

by Nicole Brooks Daily Staff Writer

Among the quirks of Boston lies a group of people who make their own, independent publications — by hand — and distribute them to a small number of other people. These publications are called zines, and although they are not unique to the area, the Boston Zine Fest Collective (BZF) is looking to increase the zine’s popularity.

This past weekend, BZF, which consists of members Sara Bear, Sylvia Kim, Peter Loftus, Brittany Mitchell and Sarah Rugiero, hosted its first annual zine fest in Somerville, catering to artists and aiming to increase the outreach of zine publications. The festival was held Oct. 11-12 at the Washington Street Art Center and at the Aeronaut Brewery, bringing workshops, zine panelists, zine collectiions and exhibitions to the Somerville/Cambridge area.

According to Bear, zine publications are usually created by using screenprinting or photocopiers. In the do-ityourself (DIY) and punk subcultures, zines have gained popularity among those looking to create more individualized art and to share their ideas within the relatively small zine community.

Since zines typically have a very limited number of copies through distribution, establishing a community of readers is particularly important in finding an audience.

The collective began organizing the event last April in order to cater to people interested in zine publications as well as to artists and authors looking for opportunities to showcase their work and interact with other “ziners,” according to Mitchell.

“For as big of a city as Boston, zines aren’t as big here as in comparably sized cities,” Mitchell said. “That was something we really saw as a hole in the zine culture around us and wanted to address.”

The collective scheduled a two-day event that was free and open to the public, including local, national and international ‘zine-sters’ exhibiting and selling works, as well as hosting workshops, a panel and a scheduled reading program.

On the first day of the festival, the collective organized a discussion titled “Grrl Zines: A Discussion on Feminism and Independent Media,” a screen-printing and color press workshop led by Ink Marks and a panel titled “The Personal Narrative in Zines: A Panel,” all followed by readings from various zine artists.

This section of the festival covered a variety of topics including autobiographical comics and fiction, Boston’s punk scene, sexualized illness, chronic illness, gender stereotypes and struggles with and recovery from eating disorders.

Alex Knapp / The Tufts DAily

Community members set up tables to promote their zines.

The panelists and readers gave insight into independent media publications and generated discussion about a variety of topics concerning zines and DIY culture.

One of the panelists, Ponyboy Violet, centers their zines on an autobiographical experience in struggling and recovering from anorexia while identifying as a radical queer person.

“I write about DIY eating disorder recovery and I had anorexia really acutely for a decade and I never thought I would get over it,” Violet said. “I wanted to put it out there in case there is someone out there in a hospital or wherever they are, thinking that they are probably going to die and tools aren’t working. I think it’s a pretty specific audience, and most people who come to my table, this isn’t what they struggle with and they move on. But … it feels really amazing to be like, ‘oh, that’s a narration of some of the things that I’ve never gotten to talk about with someone who could feed that back to me.’”

The application process for vendors and tablers was open to all who would accord to BZF’s Safer Space policy.

According to Mitchell, as a nonhierarchical collective and in an effort to create an inclusive environment for both participants and attendants, BZF’s five members collaborated in the creation of a Safer Space policy to respect the opinions and beliefs of others, even views that differ from their own.

By creating this policy, the festival was made accessible to people of all demographics and identities, revealing

Alex Knapp / The Tufts Daily

Anna Mudd of the Papercut Zine Library gives a presentation on feminism and independent media.

one of the signature aspects of tolerance within zine and DIY culture, as many topics are not covered by mainstream media or are often overlooked and not addressed, Mitchell added.

“It’s a very private thing,” she said.

“It’s like we are all on zine island, and there’s a bunch of us that don’t know about each other … I thought there weren’t a lot of zine people in Boston, but when we put out the proper submissions, people came out of the woodwork like no other.”

The 2014 Boston Zine Festival hosted around 60 artists to showcase their work in Aeronaut Brewery on Oct. 12 during the tabling session. Through these exhibitions, they were able to share ideas, sell — or trade — their zines, exchange information about techniques and host workshops. Zine publications have a variety of different themes, according to Bear, who is also a comic artist.

“There is a very human component to it, to be able to pick up something that someone put a lot of time and energy into, and then have a conversation with that person about their creation,” Bear said. “That could be a really powerful thing. Some of these topics that people write about in Zines can be really heavy, or some of them could be lighthearted. I think that there is that human connection there.”

Zine festivals within Boston have been very limited in the past, and the BZF is striving to make sure the zine enthusiasts within Boston are able to meet and exchange ideas and information, Bear said. The mission of the collective varies among its members, but thematically centers around increasing outreach and providing a space for local artists and fans to interact.

“I think the most important thing is not the buying and the trading, but the exchange and exposure of ideas,” Bear said. “For me it’s expanding zine and DIY culture, the idea that you can do something yourself. I think that zines personally are a great way to give a lot of marginalized groups a voice, because at the end of the day, all you need is a piece of paper and you can take it to a photocopier and put your ideas out there.”

Open to all ages and demographics, BZF hopes to foster a larger community of “zinesters” within the Boston area, to cater to their needs and in the future, establish the Boston Zine Fest as an annual event.

“That’s our central focus in doing this,” Mitchell said. “It’s really important for us to keep this around for sure. Boston needs something related to zines that has staying power. We fully plan on being that.”

Miranda Willson | Ecofeminism for All

You’re making me uncomfortable Tufts students, both male and female, sometimes lament how feminist dialogue on campus doesn’t provide a “space” for male opinions. All these women talking about patriarchy make men feel uncomfortable, some say, and this prevents them from joining the dialogue.

Since when is feminism supposed to make men feel comfortable? In what way is the destruction of patriarchy, a system that benefits men, anything but threatening to them? Of course, feminism isn’t about “taking power away from men,” but it is about bridging the relative power gap between sexes, an idea that can be inherently threatening to men, whether they admit it or not.

I’ve argued before that patriarchy hurts both women and men. This is certainly true for many men, specifically gay men, transgender men and men who don’t adhere to “traditional” gender norms.

But the primary argument for why men should care about the destruction of patriarchy and why they should be “included” in feminist discussions is not that patriarchy hurts them too. Even men who don’t fit neatly into a hyper-masculine label still benefit from patriarchy; they are not at risk of sexual assault on nearly the same level as women, they are still more likely to receive a higher salary and get promoted and still are not bombarded with demeaning portrayals of their gender in the media.

It makes no sense to say, “Hey, dude, you should fight the patriarchy, even though this system inherently benefits your gender and hurts mine.” That’s kind of like saying, “Hey, white person, you should fight racism because white privilege hurts you, too.” If it were true that these oppressive systems actually oppressed everyone, then everyone would already be fighting them.

The real reason men should care about feminism is because there is no reason, neither biological nor psychological, why a person’s gender should influence their privileges. There is no reason why women in the United States should earn 77 cents for every man’s dollar, why one in five women in college should be sexually assaulted, or why women constitute less than 20 percent of the world’s legislators and comprise more than 50 percent of the world’s population, but own only one percent of its total wealth.

Am I making men feel uncomfortable? If I am, does it matter? These are the facts. As uncomfortable as this might make them, at the end of the day, men can be rest assured that we still live in a patriarchal world.

A few weeks ago, Emma Watson “formally invited” men to promote gender equality through her new UN campaign, “He For She.” While it was refreshing to see an influential celebrity embrace feminist ideas, Watson missed an important point. Rarely, throughout the history of feminism (which, as last week’s column showed, has been quite messy), have feminists discouraged men from helping the cause.

Who is telling male Tufts students not to write a column about feminism? Who’s telling them not to join Tufts Vox and promote reproductive rights? Who’s telling them not to condemn sexual violence on campus?

No one. If men are absent from the discussion, it’s because too many men on campus choose not to participate.

Most conversations I’ve had with male Tufts students about feminism are not about its importance, but about whether or not feminism has “gone too far” or “villainizes men.” But I also know many male Tufts students who are passionate, well-informed and willing to speak up about feminist issues.

So why are we still saying that feminist dialogue on campus — or anywhere — “excludes men” from the conversation?

Perhaps it’s because feminist dialogue only excludes men who question the validity of or need for such dialogue.

Miranda Willson is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at miranda.willson@tufts.edu.

Weekender

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Arts & Living

Weekender

Shifting the cultural narrative: Pop culture, social activism and Indigenous Peoples' Day

Nick Pfosi/The Tufts Daily

The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Rally on Oct. 13 sought to challenge the day’s colonialist legacy.

by Nika Korchok Daily Editorial Board

This past Monday, students from the Culture, Ethnicity, Community Affairs Committee (CECA) of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate organized the first ever Indigenous Peoples’ Day Rally on the lower patio of the campus center to commemorate, mourn and celebrate the lives of indigenous peoples. Oct. 13, referred to by the federal government as “Columbus Day,” is now being reclaimed to honor those indigenous people who were killed by Christopher Columbus. His arrival in 1492 ushered in an era of colonialism and physical and cultural genocide of indigenous peoples. Columbus is currently celebrated with a national holiday in his name, an honor that the event’s coorganizer Andrew Núñez, the diversity and community affairs officer of TCU Senate and chair of CECA, pointed out, is shared with only one other person: Martin Luther King, Jr. The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Rally featured speeches by Núñez as well as several other students: senior Camila Del Mar Rodriguez, junior Renee Vallejo, first year Jonathan Moore, senior Genesis Garcia and senior Munir Atalla. Each person brought a different perspective to the event — Moore read a poem, Atalla discussed Palestine in relation to Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Rodriguez spoke about the complexity of discovering her own identity while growing up in Puerto Rico. Each student highlighted the duality of pain and pride in celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Núñez, a senior, explained the negative implications of having the holiday named after Columbus.

“Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas and proceeded to loot the region of its resources (precious metals and land), enslave the natives and then start the transatlantic slave trade, and then murdered the indigenous people who resisted,” he told the Daily in an email. “It is immensely destructive to have a holiday named after one of the worst genociders in history because it creates a narrative that these actions are condoned for ‘progress’ and also it veils the current realities of native peoples living in the United States who are still living the repercussions of this occurrence 500 years ago.”

Resistance to Columbus Day is not new, and the validity of the holiday has been a hotly contested issue for many years. But it is only relatively recently that governments have begun decanting Columbus Day altogether, or, changing the name of the holiday to reclaim it for indigenous peoples. Seattle, in a flourish of protests last week, became one of the newest major U.S. cities to formally change Columbus Day to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” Minneapolis also formally changed the name of the holiday this past April. More towns, universities and poten-

tially states, are set to vote to decide if they will follow suit.

Years of cultural appropriation of Native Americans has gone on in the United States with and without backlash. Recent examples include the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which featured supermodel Karlie Kloss decked out in a Native headdress, turquoise jewelry and fringe-embellished lingerie. The segment was promptly pulled from the broadcasted show and both the lingerie company and the model apologized profusely afterwards for the offense that the segment caused Native Americans tribes across the United States.

“Cultural [a]ppropriation of Native Americans is a pervasive issue,” Nùñez said.

“One can look towards Halloween costumes, fashion runways, the Boy Scouts of America, the [Washington 'Redskins'] all as sites of a particular cultural brutalization.”

Recent controversy over the name of the Wa s h i n g t o n , D.C. NFL football team has created a pocket of racial tension in the media. The team’s trademark “Redskins” name was cancelled earlier this year after a watershed ruling by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A claim against the title was first filed in 2006 by Amanda Blackhorse of the Navajo tribe, along with four other Native Americans. The office recently ruled the name to be “disparaging,” but the team’s owner is fighting back hard.

In response to the debate over the team’s name, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”(1996 — present) aired a controversial episode on Sept. 25. Stewart had four diehard fans of the team — all of whom were adamant in their support of the name and vehemently denied its offensiveness — speak with a reporter. Meanwhile, a Native American sketch comedy troupe — who go by the name “the 1491s”– explained to another reporter from the show just how deeply hurtful the name is, and how it attempts to whitewash years of colonialist oppression of indigenous peoples. When the two groups were brought together to discuss the team name, the four fans became withdrawn, upset and later complained to news outlets like The Washington Post that they felt “ambushed.”

The fans of the team names fought to pre-

Nick Pfosi/The Tufts Daily

Senior Andrew Núñez speaks during the rally on the Lower Campus Center Patio. vent “The Daily Show” from running the segment, which Jon Stewart and the show’ staff supported. Rather than yielding to the whims of the D.C. fans, the show presented the segment which appears more in line with what seems to be a stronger and stronger position in pop culture: a shift towards increased social awareness and discomfort with instances of cultural appropriation.

“The Daily Show” is not the only major program to feature discussion of the D.C. football team name in the context of modern American culture. Longtime controversy stirrer, “South Park” (1997-present) took digs at the NFL, the owner Dan Snyder and team traditions on their episode “Go Fund Yourself,” which aired on Sept. 24 on Comedy Central.

In the episode, Eric Cartman (voiced by Trey Parker) uses the logo as the trademark for a new startup company. When Dan Snyder tries to get the logo back saying that their stealing the logo is “offensive and derogatory,” Cartman claims that he used the name “out of deep appreciation for your team and your people.”

The irony is blatant and the delivery is sizzling. The jab is classic “South Park” — turning the team’s own ignorance and blatant prejudice against them. After hundreds of years of oppression, and several decades of disregard in the media, it seems that issues of Native American identity and expression are finally at the forefront of the American pop culture consciousness.

But the United States becoming more culturally aware, or just louder? Rodriguez, a quantitative economics major and a speaker from the event, believes that it may be a combination of both.

The holiday, which falls on the second Monday of October every year, remains a federally recognized national holiday. For many, it is just another three-day weekend Monday to catch up on work or Netflix.

But more and more people are defining the importance of the date as a time for remembrance and change.

The road ahead is long, and despite small steps of progress, there is an imbedded culture that has to be slowly unraveled, understood and then reworked into the tapestry of a new America. Vallejo, a speaker at the event whose poem was titled “Future Present,” discussed both her personal connections to Indigenous Peoples Day and

“[Columbus Day] is in no way something to be joked about. What’s funny is that the U.S. actually thinks it’s doing us all a favor by celebrating Columbus. Now that is a joke.”

— Renee Vallejo, junior

her desires to create progress for future generations.

“My chosen family is Native American and they and the tribe (the Natick Praying Indians) have welcomed me with open arms,” she told the Daily in an email.

The key to making progress and shifting from appropriating cultures to appreciating them, Vallejo said, is to “educate authentically.”

“If one wishes to educate others about something, that someone needs to have experience, background or a way to bring those experiences and backgrounds into the environment without making up a curriculum on how to possibly teach and appreciate cultures,” she said.

In a culture where Columbus is commonly presented as a nursery rhyme to American schoolchildren — “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”– it can be difficult to repaint one of the United States’ most famous explorers for future generations.

“I don’t think [the name "Columbus Day" is] necessarily destructive other than it creates a facade, a fake wall between the reality of what our indigenous history, as a nation, is, and what we want to make it seem,” Vallejo said. “Celebrating Columbus, is about remembering that same historical event from only a positive perspective and obviating that reality that when Christopher Columbus arrived on this side of the world, there were already people here. This was already their land. This was already their world. It wasn’t a new world to be found. It had already been tended to. It had already been loved. It was already developing.

Christopher Columbus didn’t get here and find a land of nothingness and a land of savages. That’s not the reality, right? That’s not the real story.”

Mainstream American culture finally seems to be discovering its real story too, finally looking at itself through a critical lens. While it is difficult to bring up these issues in a space that feels safe for everyone, they are more prevalent and more present in the lives of many more people because of the reaches of pop culture. “[Columbus Day] is in no way something to be joked about,” Vallejo said. “What’s funny is that the U.S. actually thinks it’s doing us all a favor by celebrating Columbus.

Now that is a joke.”

“I think that the most important thing is to remind people the value of these things,” Rodriguez added. “And to remind them that this is their movement … I think sometimes we think ‘Oh, we’re just students.’ But oh no, we’re not just students. We are students and we have a voice. And our voice can move people … It’s more than just a change in name … It’s a projection of a change in social consciousness within our community, within our Tufts community.”

Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Tufts Daily

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Weekender Nikki Blank | A SWUG's Life

Events Box

What’s up this weekend Looking to make your weekend artsy?

Check out these events!

Curator’s Talk by Tufts Professor Andrew McClellan for “Jumbo: Marvel, Myth, & Mascot”: Tufts Professor of Art History and Museum Studies Andrew McClellan will give a curator’s talk on the exhibition, which celebrates the 125th anniversary of Tufts’ famous mascot, Jumbo the Elephant. McClellan’s talk will include discussion of the life and enduring legacy of Jumbo. The gallery will be open before and after the lecture. (Tonight beginning at 5 p.m. in the Alumnae Lounge of the Tufts Art Gallery. Admission is free.)

Parents Weekend Arts Alive!

Festival: Join the Tufts community for a celebra-

tion of Tufts’ performance arts groups in the Arts Square (Talbot Ave., Aidekman Arts Center, Granoff Music Center, Mayer Campus Center). The festival kicks off with a performance by Gospel Choir.

Student groups to perform include Major: Undecided, Torn Ticket II, Pen, Paint and Pretzels (3Ps) and Bare Bodkin. A capella groups set to perform include Shir Appeal, the Jackson Jills, the Amalgamates, Anchord, Essence, S-Factor, sQ! and the Beelzebubs. (Saturday beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Granoff Music Center and Aidekman Arts Center. Admission is free.)

Dinner and a Movie presents “20 Feet from Stardom”: The Women’s Center will be screening “20 Feet from Stardom” (2013), an Academy Award winner for Best Documentary. After the movie screen-

ing, join Assistant Professor of Music Stephan Pennington and Director of the Women’s Center Steph Gauchel for what the Women’s Center describes as “a discussion of the role of gender, race and class in our definitions of talent, fame, celebrity and success.” (Tonight beginning at 6:30pm at the Women’s Center.)

Applejam presents Waldo, The Rare Occasions, Shark Saddle: Jam out to an Applejam fest of three Tufts bands. Waldo, The Rare Occasions and Shark Saddle will be rocking out with each of their signature sounds in a musical spectacle that is sure to be a highlight of the weekend. (Friday at 8:30 p.m. in the Crane Room. Admission is free.)

—by Nika Korchok

Artsy Jumbo

Chelsea Newman pursues love of art in Italy

by Timothy Charouk Daily Editorial Board

Chelsea Newman — junior, advocate for peace and justice on a global scale and a proponent of a healthy community — has a major interest, and a declared minor, in art.

“I am trying to find a way to combine my interest in social justice and art, and still make money,” Newman said with a half-chuckle.

Newman began her search for a career to combine her interests this past summer through an internship with the Somerville Community Corporation (SCC). The SCC is a non-profit organization that seeks to improve the local community through job placement, affordable housing development and community organization. Chelsea served as a graphic design intern. Her duties included designing logos, various communications tasks and creating a 12-foot banner used to advocate for jobs

in Somerville, of which the local mayor was very fond.

She enjoyed her time at the SCC, and the job has solidified her interest in the field, which she hopes to pursue after graduation.

In the spring Chelsea will be jetting off to Florence, Italy for the Syracuse studio art program which focuses on cultural immersion, creative growth and most of all, “arte!” In the immortalized words of Lenny Kravitz, Chelsea explained “I want to get away, I want to fly away,” citing her desire to take a break from her life here in Medford, and focus solely on art. Newman is one of many in the Tufts community to advocate for the university offering a major in art separate from the SMFA program.

She hopes to get this experience in Italy, at least for a semester.

“I love wine, cheese, paintings, sculptures,” she said. “Italy — it was an easy choice.”

Courtesy Chelsea Newman

Chelsea Newman hopes to spend next semester abroad, focusing on her development as an artist.

Artsy Nugget

#Gamergate debate rages on

by Drew Robertson Daily Editorial Board

This week the #gamergate debate continues to escalate, moving increasingly from 4chan and twitter to mainstream news outlets like The Huffington Post, The Washington Post and NPR. For those who aren’t aware, #gamergate began in August when video game developer Zoe Quinn was accused by an ex-boyfriend of having sexual relations with industry critics to get positive reviews for her game, Depression Quest.

The resulting backlash — the movement that is now known as #gamergate — was originally framed as a call for higher ethical standards in games journalism. However, #gamergate has become infinitely more complex since these relatively humble beginnings.

Of the many nuanced aspects that developed over the subsequent weeks, keeping the #gamergate story hot nearly two months after the initial scandal, the personal attacks that have been leveled on all sides of the conflict are perhaps the most

troubling. Quinn has been personally and viciously attacked, receiving death threats that prompted her to leave her home and end her career as a video game developer. Shortly thereafter, Anita Sarkeesian, a prominent internet feminist and champion of women in the gaming industry, also became the target of similar aggression.

Recently, another game developer, Brianna Wu, received death threats after tweeting about #gamergate and — after her address was posted online — vacated her home as well. Earlier this week Sarkeesian was forced to cancel a talk she was scheduled to give at Utah State University due to threats of a “massacre.”

The violent, ugly and often sexually explicit language directed at these women — nicknamed “Social Justice Warriors” by their opposition — has been rightly labeled misogynistic by those who speak out against #gamergate, but also, notably, by some who identify with the #gamergate movement and are distressed by the turn that these comments have

Zoe Quinn via Wikimedia Commons

Quinn was at the center of the scandal which sparked the #gamergate conversation, but the issue is now about far more than "Quinnspiracy." taken. Death threats and violent language have also been used against gamers, though at least according to reported accounts, these attacks have been less prolific, less specific and have received less media attention.

Now several weeks after “Quinnspiracy” first reared its head, a new disagreement seems to be plaguing the public debate: What is

#gamergate REALLY about?

A sex scandal, media corruption, widespread misogyny? As the controversy shows no sign of slowing down, all players — the media, video game developers and #gamergaters — continue to clash, arguing and sometimes slandering, but most importantly, trying to frame the debate according to their own terms.

The SWUG who shagged me

D

ear SWUG, Does a SWUG have to be a girl? Can you be SWUG if you are a guy?

— #leftout

Hey #leftout, Don’t feel left out! Here are the three determining factors to see if you are a SWUG: 1. You must be a senior. However, you can be on your way to becoming a SWUG as early as freshman year. For example, I learned at the ripe age of 18 that parties are more fun when you’re wearing a fleece onesie and sipping wine out of a F.I.T. water bottle.

2. You must be washed up. Are you irrelevant? Perfect! Come over and watch “Scandal” (2012 – present).

3. If you pass the other two factors with ease, the main thing to consider in determining your SWUG candidacy is the G. Girl and Guy are the OG Gs, but there are many others as well. You could be a ghost that haunts the 3rd floor Hodgdon bathroom. You could be a giant gingerbread man, screaming “not my gumdrop buttons!” as freshmen walk by you. You could be a gorilla with the dexterity to dial Helen’s at 2 a.m. You could be a goat who just isn’t that interested in meeting any new goats this late in the game. Or you could be a goldfish who just can’t for the life of him remember what happened last night … or just now. SWUGs aren’t an exclusive bunch, and if you match these qualifications we will probably invite you to Sunday morning brunch. Except if you’re a goblin. Goblins cannot be SWUGs. See ya at Senior SWUG Night, SWUG

Hi SWUG, I need some of your sage wisdom. My junior year I was fortunate enough to be dating a senior girl. As she grew more SWUG over the course of the year I did too.

We went to bed early, exercised a lot and got great grades; frankly it was awesome.

However, now in my senior year, I feel that I am more SWUG than I had hoped to be by October. Is there any way out of the SWUG life? Is it possible for me to get my mojo back? Or am I doomed for an 11:30 p.m. bedtime for my last year of college?

Plz Help, Tan Deller

Hello Tan Deller, You don’t choose the SWUG life. Much like Ollivander’s wands, the SWUG life chooses you. It sounds to me like you got an extra year to enjoy the land of milk and honey, and now all that wine has turned into whine. What’s wrong with an 11:30 bedtime? That’s past my bedtime.

Here is some sage wisdom to make you feel young and spritely again: sleep is the most important meal of the day, and you need to make sure you get eight hours of breakfast each night. Get your head out of your ass.

You’re not Austin Powers and Dr. Evil didn’t steal your mojo. You probably just feel like Fat Bastard extracted it from you because you go to bed so darn late. Oh, behave! … like a SWUG. Your SWUGness IS your mojo. It’s what keeps you a functioning member of society, and not a freshman. And October is the perfect time to SWUGgle up and enjoy some pumpkin spice coffee with a little extra spice if you know what I mean.

There’s more time to shop for baggy Halloween costumes and to learn how to knit when you say “yes!” to staying in more! Embrace the SWUG life and revel in the glory that is SWUGtober.

Soon enough you’ll be a real person and you’ll look back on college with regret for all the times you chose to go out instead of staying in and playing Cards Against Humanity.

SWUGadelic!

SWUG

Nikki Blank is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at Nicole.

Blank@tufts.edu.

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The Tufts Daily

Thursday, October 16, 2014

weekender

Tufts, Tailored

Comfy and casual I hope everyone enjoyed the crazy warm weather we had yesterday! These Tufts ladies all made their dresses work for fall by incorporating some accessories and layering. They also prove that it’s easy to dress comfortably without sacrificing style.

“This hat goes with everything. Casual for sure ... and comfortable are the priorities… not too trendy.” — Olivia Scheyer, sophomore

“I just buy anything that I like when I go shopping so I kind of have an eclectic style. I wear different things every day.”

Describe your style: “Casual and comfortable I guess is what I go for.” — Brittany Mitro, first year

Describe your style: “A little preppy but a little bit of my own taste in there and I love colors.” — Jennifer Gewant, junior —by Jack Kamin

Top Ten

Judaism...

More than Just a Bagel

A TASTE OF JUDAISM...

ARE YOU CURIOUS?™ EXPLORE SPIRITUALITY, ETHICS AND COMMUNITY Free classes taught by Reform Rabbis For the beginner – Jewish or not

To register: 617.928.0012 or jschwartz@urj.org

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reformjewishoutreachboston.org

Top ten things that'll get you before Ebola Ebola can have devastating outcomes to those inflicted, and everyone seems to know something about it. We, at the Daily Arts department, are not disputing this fact. But guys, c’mon: the apocalypse courtesy of Ebola is a long way off. Don’t stock up on water bottles and baby Motrin just yet. Let’s talk about the real stuff — the pressing threats that influence us everyday.

10. Someone spoils the ending of “Gone Girl” (2014) for you: Of course you haven’t had a chance to see it yet — it’s midterm season fools! What’s that? Nick was dreaming the whole time? Dope.

9. You trip in front of a tour group: It happens to the worst of us. The only remedy is a weird grin and a little hop to let the parents know that you didn’t break a bone.

8. You lose your water bottle in a public place: There are far too many Nalgene predators at this university. Once you realize you’ve left it at Dewick or the Campus Center, you know it’s gone forever. Worst part? Someone definitely has it … probably someone you know … but they definitely put a big sticker of some ski lodge on it to throw you off track.

7. Someone realizing that you still listen to Chris Brown: It’s totally uncool and you’re ashamed. But dang — “With You” (2007) is the best love song ever written.

6. Falling over on the Joey: The drivers make such short stops and everyone is on top of everything. You’re essentially falling the entire time you’re on the bus.

5. You drunk text your mom: “ILVUE U SOOOOO0000 MCUH — PS PLZ SEN DUP SOME OPIZZA IN NEXT PACKARGE!!!”

4. Seeing Tony Monaco walking around alone: Am I supposed to kneel when he passes? Should I start singing the national anthem?!

Just tell me what to do!

3. Music from your phone playing out loud on the first floor of Tisch: Everyone is going to hate you for like, five minutes. That’s a lot of disgruntled faces and you’ve made a mistake they won’t soon forget.

2. Global warming: Real talk. Everything’s melting all the time.

1. Ebola: Okay, we were wrong. Ebola is a horrifying thing and we should all be afraid.

—by Veronica Little

Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Tufts Daily

advertisement

Jumbo: Marvel, Myth, and Mascot

Thursday October 16 5:00pm Alumnae Lounge

A Lecture By Andrew McClellan Professor of Art History and Exhibition Curator followed by a tour of the exhibition and a reception

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The Tufts Daily

THE TUFTS DAILY

Editorial

Vote yes on the bottle bill this November

Alexander J. Schroeder Editor-in-Chief

Editorial

Justin Rheingold Lily Sieradzki Managing Editors

Patrick McGrath Executive News Editor Daniel Bottino News Editors Jenna Buckle Abigail Feldman Shana Friedman Daniel Gottfried Nina Goldman Dana Guth Stephanie Haven Alexa Horwitz Audrey Michael Kathleen Schmidt Jei-Jei-Tan Denali Tietjen Melissa Wang Sarah Zheng Jessica Mow Executive Features Editor Maya Blackstone Features Editors Hannah Fingerhut Charlotte Gilliland Kendall Todd Jake Taber Shannon Vavra Sophie Dasinger Assistant Features Editors Mengqi Sun Annie Gill Drew Robertson Veronica Little Dana Guth Nika Korchok Timothy Charouk Abigail Feldman Charlotte Gilliland Grace Segers

Executive Arts Editor Senior Arts Editor Arts Editors

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Editorial | Letters

This November, Massachusetts voters will have an important opportunity to reduce litter and further their state’s commitment to recycling through a ballot referendum. Question 2 on the Nov. 4 ballot — also known as the bottle bill — would expand the state’s beverage container deposit law. Massachusetts voters should be informed about the effects of Question 2 and we urge you to vote in favor of it. A yes vote will expand deposits to containers not currently included under the law — nonalcoholic, non-carbonated drinks.

The proposal also includes a provision requiring the state to adjust the container deposit amount every five years to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index.

Future deposit rates could not be set below five cents if passed.

Conservation and community groups have lobbied for years for the expansion of the bottle bill to include plastic bottles of non-carbonated beverag-

es. Supporters of Question 2 argue that the existing bottle bill is not expansive enough. Statistics show that while 80 percent of beer and soda containers get recycled, only 23 percent of nondeposit containers do. Although opponents of the bill argue that the price hike will be costly to consumers, the solution is simple: Consumers can get back their five cents if they recycle the bottle. The money leftover from consumers who do not collect their deposit would enter a re-established Clean Environment Fund to be used for cleaning up parks and other environmental projects in the state. Expanding this law would not only increase recycling and decrease the amount of recyclable items in landfills, but, according to the Coalition for an Updated Bottle Bill, could also save up to $7 million annually for municipalities by reducing costs of trash removal.

While a yes vote would expand the

bottle bill effective April 22, 2015, a vote against Question 2 this November would leave the law as it currently is. Opponents of the bill argue that the proposal wastes taxpayer dollars to expand an outdated system and instead, Massachusetts should seek other methods to increase recycling. An alternative plan was proposed to repeal the bottle bill entirely, but research from the Sierra Club Massachusetts determined that this plan would result in significant job loss as well as a reduced recycling rate.

Local communities along with groups such as Mass Audubon Society and the Merrimack River Watershed Council have voiced support for Question 2. On Nov. 4 voters will get a chance to speak up as well. If you plan to vote on Nov. 4, don’t ignore the ballot initiatives like the bottle bill. Instead, voice your support for a cleaner environment by voting in support of the referendum.

Amy Bu

Assistant Arts Editors

Alex Connors Executive Sports Editor Marcus Budline Sports Editors Sam Gold Jake Indursky Alison Kuah Tyler Maher Jorge Monroy-Palacio Maclyn Senear Jason Schneiderman Chris Warren Steven Hefter Assistant Sports Editors Wil Glavin Annabelle Roberts Susan Kaufman Ruchira Parikh Olivia Montgomory Ray Bernoff Amy Bu Keran Chen Jehan Madhani Ty Enos Jennifer Lien Nicholas Golden Bailey Werner Naomi Ali Chloe Perez

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Executive Business Director Li Liang Receivables Manager Chris Chininis Ad Diresctor Jade Chan Ad Managers Kristie Le Tanay Modi Yiran Xu P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

The DIY Daily.

Off the Hill | University of Arizona

Homophobia in sports hurts girls

by Elizabeth Hannah

When Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner proposed to her girlfriend Glory Johnson (also a WNBA player), the sports world barely batted an eye. SportsCenter did not devote 24/7 to covering the event, and newspapers did not consider Griner's engagement worthy of the front page.

Nobody suggested that Griner's sexuality might be "a distraction" for her teammates.

Nobody questioned whether the Phoenix Mercury should re-sign Griner.

This apathetic reaction stands in stark contrast to the media storm that erupted when Michael Sam became the first openly gay football player to sign an NFL contract.

It further pales in comparison to the publicity directed at NBA player Jason Collins, who graced the cover of Sports Illustrated after announcing that he is gay.

Perhaps most striking is the fact that Sam and Collins are considered average, at best, in their respective sports. Griner is the face of the WNBA, as famous as any female athlete in the United States. So why didn't her engagement give rise to a The Daily Wildcat

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.

fury of apocalyptic media attention? She is, after all, marrying another woman.

The answer lies in the association between sports and masculinity that defines how society views female athletes differently than male athletes.

We stereotype male athletes as being powerful, tough, manly — and therefore, heterosexual. Homosexuality in male athletics threatens our traditional ideas about the relationship between masculinity and sexuality. When we attribute these same characteristics to female athletes, however, we reach the opposite conclusion: They must be gay. If a woman joins a sports team, it is probably because she likes other women.

This label has a serious impact on women in sports. Research in the Sociology of Sport Journal has shown, for example, that the lesbian stereotype makes it difficult for female coaches to recruit athletes and operate within male-dominated athletic institutions. The book "Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbians and Homophobia in Sport" by Pat Griffin, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, cites additional studies that indi-

cate some girls simply drop out of athletics at a young age for fear of being associated with homosexuality. This stereotype can also explain why female athletes take explicitly sexualized photos, hoping to distance themselves from the stigma of lesbianism, and why girls avoid the weight room to avoid looking "mannish" or, as Emma Watson put it in her recent viral speech at the U.N., "muscly."

And it explains why Michael Sam and Jason Collins create a sense of "moral panic" among sports fans, while Griner generates nothing more than apathy. Even before she was "out," people assumed she was gay.

Homophobia in sports is a complicated issue. Its effects on men's athletics are obvious. Gay male athletes have historically hidden their sexuality in order to conform to locker-room culture. But while its effects on women's sports are perhaps more subtle, they are no less damaging. Despite the success female athletes have enjoyed in recent decades, they continue to suffer from the constant pressure to conform to societal standards for femininity.

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.

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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, October 16, 2014 Op-Ed

The Tufts Daily

9

Op-Ed Walt Laws-MacDonald | Show Me the Money

Bottle bill: at what cost?

by Zachary Crowly and Julie Kaviar

We are two Tufts alumni who proudly work in Massachusetts state government today, in large part because of the community-first ethos that our alma mater holds dear. Whether that’s tutoring children at a local school, grabbing a bagel at Oxfam or volunteering with the Leonard Carmichael Society, Tufts students are intrinsically engaged in communities beyond our gates and maintain a strong belief that “we” can build a better future.

And we know that a healthier environment plays a role in that.

Nothing proves that more than the annual commune of pre-frosh with nature known as the Tufts Wilderness Orientation (TWO).

But a building-a-better-future public policy of asking for a nickel deposit on a beverage, a policy conceived of by an outdoorsman in the 1970s to protect Oregon’s nature trails and a policy that

brings together business, government and the individual in a combined effort to ensure a healthy environment for the next generation is being publicly questioned in Massachusetts headlines in part because a Tufts professor accepted $7,000 to put out a one-sided analysis of the issue.

The bottle bill would add a five cent deposit to your next bottle of water (we all use nalgenes anyway) or Gatorade. Your nickel couldn’t even buy one Swedish fish at Jumbo Express. But Professor Jeff Zabel’s fee could pay for 140,000 of those deposits.

Professor Zabel’s analysis doesn’t seem to mention that four in five beverage containers that have a nickel deposit are recycled, while only about one in three without the deposit get recycled.

The cost of this effort? Small fractions of a penny per container.

We’re liberal arts majors, but we can do that math. And that’s the math we think Tufts cares most about.

We could pretend these costs to the industry won’t be put on the shoulders of consumers, but at Tufts we’re all too smart for that.

Do you think a tiny fraction of a penny on your beverage purchase is worth nearly a billion more plastic and metal and glass containers recycled in Massachusetts next year?

We do. And we’re willing to bet most of the Tufts community does. Because unlike Professor Zabel, we’re willing to consider the “we.”

And as Tufts students who always critically examine everything (see: trick-turning), we’re asking Professor Zabel to clarify his work, publicly, and analyze the economic cost of the bottle bill, not just its accounting costs.

Zachary Crowly, an alumnus from the Class of 2003, and Julie Kaviar, an alumna from the Class of 2009, work for the Patrick administration in the Office of Health and Human Services.

On Indigenous People’s Day

by Nathan Foster

I am a benefactor of the genocide against Native Americans. The vast majority of those reading this article are as well. No matter your race or religion, if your ancestors immigrated to the Americas, your existence would not be possible without Christopher Columbus and those who came after him. And, well, that sucks. The country I live in, a country that let

my ancestors escape persecution, a country that is giving me an education and an opportunity to succeed, was built on the suffering of a whole lot of human beings.

We cannot change the past. The colonization of the New World — all of the good and all of the bad — has happened. What we can do is change the present. Changing the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day forces us to recognize the evils committed to

create our civilization. It’s a purely symbolic action. It won’t do anything about the high poverty rates and the suicide epidemics on Native American reservations. But after half a millennium, it’s a start.

Nathan Foster is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at nathan.foster@tufts.edu.

Off the Hill | University of Southern California

Time to rethink minimum wage on the national stage

by Omar Hegazy The Daily Trojan

Vice President Joe Biden visited Los Angeles this September to promote Mayor Eric Garcetti's proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage from $9.00 to $13.25 per hour by 2017. As Biden's support indicates, Los Angeles has become the latest city to take part in this national trend. To understand this sweeping change, citizens need to think past the long-held belief that wage raises will hurt small businesses.

With this movement maturing from coast to coast, it is no surprise to see critics and pundits alike cite conventional arguments about the effects of increasing wages on the economy. This past May, Seattle raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio recently signed an executive order to raise wages to $13.13 in the city. These city movements are no coincidence. The inefficiency of passing federal legislation through Congress has driven many cities to address imminent problems of wealth disparity and increasing poverty.

Those who argue against the raise follow the rationale that any increase to the minimum wage will be harmful to businesses, result in considerable job losses and hurt the economic growth of the country. These perceptions have heavily influenced the minds and politics of the United States But in an era of economic woes where increasing poverty, immense wealth disparity and stagnant growth are no strangers to the country, it is time to reexamine these convictions.

The reality of the matter is that since the 1960s, wages have stagnated while cost of living has tremendously soared.

According to Bloomberg, the value of the minimum wage peaked in 1968 and was worth $10.70 in today's dollar. Due to this decrease in purchasing power, the Department of Labor reported that 88 percent of Americans who earn a minimum wage living are working adults, many of whom are now living in poverty.

In Los Angeles, 27 percent of residents are estimated to be living in poverty. The mayor's proposed minimum wage increase would lift around 567,000 of these people out of poverty.

nicholas pfosi / the tufts daily

On a larger scale, though, an increase to the minimum wage would bring a multitude of benefits to the country. In addition to lifting millions of Americans out of poverty, the spending power of low-income workers would also increase, leading to a boost in the job industry. According to the National Employment Law Project, 70 percent of the country's gross domestic product comes from consumer spending in our domestic economy. In 2009, $5.5 billion was generated due to an increase in the federal minimum wage that year; raising 1968 minimum wage levels would bring an estimated additional $60 billion in consumer spending. This boost in spending ability empowers all Americans — ­ especially business owners.

Though the growth in spending power is an evident effect, many are quick to note that these benefits stemming from an increased minimum wage would be balanced by job losses and increased unemployment, and that it would cause overall harm to business owners. This commonly propagated notion, however, has been frequently debunked.

A 1994 Princeton study was the first to demonstrate that increasing the minimum wage did not result in job losses. The study compared fast food restaurant employment rates after a wage raise in New Jersey compared to rates in Pennsylvania, the control variable, and found a significant increase in New Jersey and no sign that it

led to any job losses. This analysis has been altered and replicated, constantly showing the same consistent results.

Increased savings for businesses is the other significant benefit that results from an increase to minimum wages. This is due to the fact that higher wages lead to a reduction in turnover rates, which lead to a reduction in costs from hiring and training new employees. In one University of California study of the San Francisco airport, it was estimated that each new hire cost about $4,275. These high rehiring costs are pervasive in most industries, so increases in minimum wage actually create large savings for businesses.

In a time of stagnant growth and growing poverty, minimum wage increases are imperative. This will help not only employees, but also businesses because of the increased consumer power to buy their goods and services, lower turnover rates and savings from decreased costs for hiring and training.

These benefits are becoming irrefutable.

Recognition of this conclusion led to over 600 economists, seven of whom are Nobel prize winners, to sign a letter in January urging for an increase in minimum wage while asserting that it will not negatively impact the economy.

Americans must not become paralyzed by our old convictions. It's time to recognize that a change in thought and action is essential.

Risky business

“W

hat’s wrong with the world, mama / People livin’ like they ain’t got no mamas / I think the whole world addicted to the drama / Only attracted to things that’ll bring you trauma.” So sang the great will.i.am in the equally great Black Eyed Pea’s hit single “Where Is the Love?” (2003). More than a decade later, the words of that middle school dance jam ring true.

Ebola, ISIS and the ongoing UkraineRussia crisis have forced us to question where the love is almost daily, and investors are no different. Investors, like all humans, are prone to something called “negativity bias” or “loss aversion.”

Loss aversion states that a loss hurts more than an equal gain helps. I’m more sad losing $100 than I am happy gaining $100, and winning this week’s fantasy football matchup doesn’t make me feel as good as losing last week’s game made me feel bad. Investors experience loss aversion too, but on a much greater scale. A five percent drop in markets hurts more — and gets more attention — than a five percent gain.

Risk aversion is a similar concept to loss aversion, but focuses on the uncertainty of a possible gamble. Say you have a choice between two lottery tickets: one that is guaranteed to pay off $50 every time, and one that pays off $100 half the time and nothing the other half. Both games have an expected value of $50 — play either game ten times and you’d expect to come out with $500.

You’d probably pick the $50, right?

Now let’s say that one ticket pays off just $40, while the second ticket continues to pay off $100 half the time, and nothing the other half. Which ticket would you choose then?

If you went with the sure-payoff ticket, you are “risk averse” — and that’s ok. Most people are risk averse to some extent, because they will be more satisfied with the $40 — call it a net satisfaction of +6 — than with the uncertainty of the 50/50 ticket — which is +8 for a win, but +0 for a loss.

Though the expected return of the 50/50 ticket is greater, the expected satisfaction of the ticket is actually less.

“Risk neutral” would mean you’re indifferent between the 50/50 and sure payoff tickets, while “risk loving” people would take the 50/50 ticket over a ticket that paid off more than $50 every time. They are the Floyd Mayweathers, Charlie Sheens and Amanda Bynes of the world.

On Wall Street, loss and risk aversion play a major role in how people invest and manage their money. Investors gravitate towards safer assets with lower returns, rather than risk their money on exotic distressed debt packages or other financial equivalents of the 50/50 ticket.

Investors are also aware of their own loss aversion. If faced with the choice of keeping their money in the stock market and making five percent, or withdrawing it and not losing five percent, they will sell their holdings and keep themselves protected from a possible downturn.

Ebola, ISIS and Putin have little to no effect on how much money a company will make this year. But every time an American comes down with a stomach bug, or ISIS takes a village in the middle of nowhere, or Putin rides a bear with his shirt off, financial news services pick up the story and investors are faced with a question: sell or hold?

They know that that American companies won’t be affected, but they also know that maybe people will overreact — or maybe this really is the end of the world. So, they’ll sell some of their holdings and reduce their exposure to risk. Suddenly a pointless news story has caused the market to tick down a few basis points, as more and more investors make the same decision.

So be smart, be risk-averse, wash your hands and don’t fight Putin.

Case dismissed, bring in the dancing lobsters.

Walt is a senior majoring in quantitative economics. He can be reached at Walt.

Laws_MacDonald@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.

10

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Editors’ Challenge | Week 7 Hey sports fans! The Sports Section is back yet again with our picks for Week 7 of the NFL season.

As the most important section of the Daily, sports editors often feel like we’re in charge. Almost as if we’re Presidents…

Chris “Eisenhower” Warren has used his position as supreme commander of the Allied forces to march through the country, picking up wins everywhere he goes. He currently sports an excellent 60-31 record.

Jake “Madison” Indursky, also known to some as the “Godfather of the Sports Section,” is so old that he was actually the main force behind the addition of the “Bill of Rights” to the Daily Constitution.

Maclyn “JFK” Senear is easily the biggest celebrity in the section. His boyish good looks and charm were good enough to score Marilyn Monroe, but not good enough to put him higher than fifth in our standings.

Tyler “Jackson” Maher earned the adoration of the public by being a simple, common man. Nicknamed “Old Hickory” from the time he spent on the farm, Tyler has his finger on the pulse of America. No wonder people love him and his picks have been so good.

Alex “FDR” Schroeder might not be the best at picking NFL winners, but he doesn’t get enough credit for saving the Daily from a complete economic collapse a few years back. The Daily owes its current financial stability to Alex’s package of executive orders

OVERALL LAST WEEK NYJ at NE ATL at BAL TEN at WSH SEA at STL CLE at JAX CIN at IND MIN at BUF MIA at CHI NO at DET CAR at GB KC at SD ARI at OAK NYG at DAL SF at DEN HOU at PIT

Alex C 62-29 14-1 NE BAL WSH SEA CLE IND BUF CHI DET GB SD ARI DAL DEN PIT

Chris 60-31 12-3 NE BAL TEN SEA CLE IND BUF CHI NO GB SD ARI DAL DEN PIT

Alison 57-34 13-2 NE BAL TEN SEA CLE IND BUF CHI NO GB SD ARI DAL SF HOU

Tyler 56-35 11-4 NE BAL WSH SEA CLE IND BUF CHI NO GB SD ARI DAL DEN HOU

Maclyn 55-36 12-3 NE BAL TEN SEA CLE IND BUF CHI DET GB SD ARI DAL DEN HOU

and legislation called the “News Deal.”

Alex “Washington” Connors, like the first President, now holds first place in Editors’ Challenge. It’s up to you to decide which is a bigger accomplishment.

Steven “Lincoln” Hefter has impressed everyone with his perseverance this semester.

In the heat of Editors’ Challenge, which can best be described as the Sports Section Civil War, Steven has stayed honest, and has drastically improved to put himself back in contention in the face of almost certian defeat.

Alison “Reagan” Kuah has done her best to end the male dominance in the Sports Section and prove that women can pick NFL games as well as men can. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this misogyny!

Sam “Harding” Gold is the worst editor when it comes to picking NFL games. Like Warren G. Harding, Sam hasn’t had a single significant, memorable success story all semester. Unless something changes quickly, he’ll go down as the worst in history.

Wil “Obama” Glavin is so far behind in the standings by now, we wonder if there’s any reason left for him to “hope,” or if he should simply “change,” the way he watches football.

Jorge “Fillmore” Monroy-Palacio has been so unremarkable this semester that no one remembers that he’s even an editor.

Drew “Teddy Roosevelt” Robertson rode in on her horse today to bust the monopoly that sports had on Editors’ Challenge and offer her guest picks from the Arts section.

Steven 55-36 14-1 NE BAL WSH SEA CLE CIN BUF CHI DET GB SD ARI DAL DEN PIT

Jorge 54-37 11-4 NE ATL TEN SEA CLE IND BUF CHI NO GB SD ARI DAL DEN PIT

Wil 54-37 12-3 NE BAL WSH SEA CLE IND BUF CHI DET GB SD ARI DAL DEN PIT

Jake 53-38 8-7 NE BAL TEN SEA CLE IND MIN CHI NO CAR SD ARI DAL DEN PIT

Alex S 52-39 12-3 NE ATL TEN SEA CLE IND BUF CHI NO GB SD ARI DAL DEN PIT

Sam 42-49 11-4 NE ATL TEN SEA CLE IND BUF CHI NO GB SD ARI DAL DEN PIT

GUEST Drew Robertson NYJ ATL TEN SEA JAX CIN MIN MIA DET CAR SD OAK NYG SF HOU

Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Tufts Daily

11

sports Steven Hefter | The Association

Inside the MLB

Traditional powerhouses battle unexpected contenders

Four minute drill

by Joshua Slavin

T

Daily Staff Writer

As the weather grows colder and the leaves continue to turn, the focus of the typical New England sports fan has shifted far from the baseball diamond. Around this area, fans are talking about the Patriots solving their offensive woes and the Bruins looking to fix their own.

But last season, the region was in a fullon baseball frenzy. A year ago this past Monday, David Ortiz hit one of the biggest home runs in the history of the Red Sox franchise. His game-tying grand slam in the 8th inning of Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS changed that series and helped the Red Sox win the World Series title. This October, all Sox fans can do is recall fondly what they witnessed last fall and hope the team can rebound from a last place finish this season.

While this region of the country has moved on to teams and sports with more promise and optimism, the MLB playoffs are moving right along. And they haven’t disappointed. The four remaining teams have provided exciting baseball through and through, making both Championship Series engaging and fun.

These playoffs are a tale of two leagues.

The teams fighting to represent the National League in the World Series represent the baseball establishment. The American League Champion Kansas City Royals and the team they overcame, the Baltimore Orioles, are the new kids on the block.

Use whatever sports cliche you’d like: The St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants have been here before. They’ve seen it all and they know what it takes to win. The Giants won it all in 2012 and 2010.

The Cardinals were champs in 2011 and again in 2006. It was the Cards that lost last year’s World Series to the Red Sox, making this the fifth consecutive year that one of these two teams represents the National League in the World Series.

MCT

Kansas City’s Alcides Escobar makes an out despite Baltimore’s Adam Jones’ attempt to break up the double play in Game four of the ALCS on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

Both teams are led by core players that are household names for baseball fans.

Buster Posey of the Giants and Yadier Molina of the Cards are widely regarded as two of the best catchers in all of baseball. Both pitching staffs are anchored by veteran aces with championship pedigree: Adam Wainwright for St. Louis and Madison Bumgarner for San Francisco. If these playoffs were a race for a political office, the Giants and Cardinals would be the equivalent of the oft-decried “Washington Insiders.”

The two finalists for the AL crown were exactly the opposite. The Orioles won the American League East division this year, and earned a playoff berth in 2012 as a wild card team. Prior to that, the O’s hadn’t made the postseason since 1997. They haven’t won the World Series since 1983.

Their three top starting pitchers – Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen and Bud Norris – had started a mere one postseason game combined before this season. Despite all that, the Orioles were not even the feelgood story of their own series.

That honor, of course, belongs to the Royals. The same Royals that are playing in

the postseason for the first time since 1985.

From 2004 to 2012, the Royals posted a whopping nine consecutive losing seasons.

Their history as sorry losers has turned the Royals into America’s playoff darling. Given the successes of the NL teams in the past decade, the underdog Royals have become the popular bandwagon team among many fans. If your team were eliminated, wouldn’t you rather see the surprise Royals win than watch St. Louis or San Francisco win yet again? After the Royals victory last night, that is a decision that every baseball fan will have to make.

Of course, when the game is played on the field, it doesn’t matter if a team just won the World Series or if the players are usually busy working on their golf game this time of year. Each of the four teams that made the LCS had been playing an elite level of baseball. Two LCS games have gone into extra innings, a third ended on a ninthinning walkoff home run and none have been decided by more than three runs. Be it the establishment Giants or Cardinals, or the new guy Royals that take home the trophy, the final two weeks of the season promise to be exciting.

Hopper wins NESCAC Player of the Week

VOLLEYBALL

continued from back

dangerous opponents when they are in system and we did a great job of making sure that rarely happened.”

Playing on their home court for the first time in four weeks, the Jumbos responded with a pair of sweeps, the latter a three-set victory over Trinity on Saturday. After winning a back-andforth first set it was smooth sailing for the Jumbos, who crushed the Bantams in the second and third sets, 25-10 and 25-14, respectively. Senior tri-captain Hayley Hopper compiled a match-high 10 kills and team-high eight digs as well as two service aces. Fellow senior tri-captain Isabel Kuhel chipped in six kills and led both sides with five blocks — three solo and two assists.

Tufts was equally dominant in Friday night’s sweep of Wesleyan. Though the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead in each of the first two sets, both times the Jumbos rallied and came out on top 25-16. In the third set Tufts took the lead and kept it, taking the match with another 25-16 victory. Junior Maddie Kuppe led both teams with 12 kills in 19 attempts for a stellar .632 hitting percentage. Hopper had 11 kills to go along with five digs and three service aces. Sophomore Elizabeth Ahrens contributed four kills and a match-high five blocks.

Thompson cited strong all-around play and team chemistry as keys to Tufts’ success.

“We had more than a few solid individual performances that were only possible because of the solid play of their teammates,” Thompson said. “Our offense was incredibly efficient this weekend with our hitters really executing. We passed well overall allowing our setter to create some great opportunities for our hitters, and defensively we survived some pretty intense rallies. I was very proud of our team’s overall effort.”

One standout was Hopper, who received her second career NESCAC Player of the Week award. The outside hitter was tremendous in both matches, racking up 21 kills, 13 digs and five service aces. She currently ranks second in the NESCAC with 3.56 kills per set and is sixth in kills with 185. She’s also the teamleader in points, kills and kills per set.

“Our team did a great job serving aggressively,” Hopper said of the wins.

“Our passers were crucial to keeping us in system. We are looking forward to the challenge of another NESCAC weekend.”

Tufts has three home games on tap for parents’ weekend, starting with a crucial match against Williams Friday

night, then a Saturday afternoon doubleheader against Amherst and Endicott in a Fan the Fire sponsored event. The Jumbos hope to remain undefeated at Cousens Gym, where they are 4-0 this year.

Despite her team’s recent success and spotless track record at home, Thompson isn’t taking anything for granted.

“There is still a lot of season ahead, and with the NESCAC being so deep anything can happen,” Thompson cautioned. “We have done a great job of putting ourselves in a very nice position headed into our last four conference matches, but we are well aware that our remaining NESCAC matches will be battles.”

nicholas pfosi / the tufts daily

Sophomore Maddie Kump spikes the ball during her team’s victory on Saturday.

he Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets will play a preseason game on Sunday in a matchup of Atlantic Division rivals. Normally, the game would not mean much more than a chance for players on each team to mesh styles and get more playing time together.

But not this time.

Instead of the standard 48 minutes that NBA games have lasted since league play started, this game will span 44 minutes. The NBA is merely testing the new game time and has no plans to make it a permanent change. Many coaches, including Mike Budenholzer of the Atlanta Hawks, Lionel Hollins of the Nets and Brad Stevens of the Celtics, told ESPN that they approved of this test and applauded the league for its open-mindedness in trying new methods to improve the game.

There were other team officials, however, who did not think that this tweak would affect anything. Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told ESPN that he believes there are too many games in the season, and he would like to see less back-to-backs. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban indicated that he hoped the games would stay at 48 minutes because the NBA is the “best entertainment in the world.”

By shortening the game, the league wants to reduce the time spent watching a game from around two hours and fifteen minutes to just two hours. This is around the time spent watching an NCAA basketball game or an international soccer game, and thus the NBA wants fans to be more incentivized to watch. Furthermore, if all 82 games only lasted 44 minutes, there would be 328 less minutes in the season, which adds up to around seven fewer games.

How would the change affect players?

First, fewer minutes means less time on the court, which theoretically should reduce the chance of injuries. Whether this four-minute decrease per game will actually decrease the incidence of injuries is yet to be seen, but there are other issues for players. One important question is whether players’ minutes will actually change.

Knicks’ forward Carmelo Anthony and Bulls’ forward Jimmy Butler tied for the league lead with 38.7 minutes per game last season. With a 44-minute game will Derek Fisher, the Knicks’ first-year coach, actually play Anthony any less? Probably not. The bigger issue here is that dependence on the league’s stars will only rise, and the rotations will not adapt to the shorter game.

Thus, the role of the bench players will inevitably decrease. If the bench players mean less, their salaries will decrease. Not only would the Players Association fight for the players, the opportunities to be a role player would decrease.

In addition, the new game time would have big consequences for TV networks.

As I wrote last week, the NBA recently signed a multi-billion dollar deal with ESPN and TNT. With this new shorter game, there would be fewer mandatory timeouts, meaning fewer commercials.

This would undoubtedly cause some discussion with the networks, which obviously would want to maximize their revenue with more commercial time. As Spoelstra said, he would rather the number of games per season be decreased, not necessarily the length of games.

The networks would tend to agree with Spoelstra, because even though there would be fewer games, the number of nationally televised games would not necessarily change, meaning that the networks’ revenue would not be affected.

The point here is that four minutes per game, a seemingly small number, has major impacts for the league and its players. The NBA would need time to adjust, and in this sports world that is getting more impatient by the day, the league might not have that time.

Steven Hefter is a junior majoring in economics. He can be reached at Steven.

Hefter@tufts.edu. He is also a Sports Editor for the Tufts Daily.

Sports

12

tuftsdaily.com

Volleyball

Tufts sweeps NESCAC foes

by Tyler Maher Daily Editorial Board

With wins over Wesleyan and Trinity last weekend, the Tufts volleyball team vaulted into a tie with Amherst for sec-

VOLLEYBALL (11-7 Overall, 5-1 NESCAC) at Cousens Gymnasium, Saturday Trinity Tufts

19 10 14 25 25 25

— —

0 3

at Cousens Gymnasium, Friday Wesleyan Tufts

16 16 16 25 25 25

— —

0 3

ond place in the NESCAC. Both teams are 5-1 in conference play; only 6-0 Williams is better.

The Jumbos, now 11-7 overall, have steadily improved over the course of the season and have been on a roll lately, winning 10 of their past 14, but coach Cora Thompson felt last weekend’s performance was the high point thus far.

“Our play versus both Wesleyan and Trinity was the most consistent it has been all season,” Thompson said. “Our ball control was there to keep us in system and [junior] Kyra [Baum] made good decisions giving our hitters the best opportunity to put balls away. At the same time, our serving was aggressive and strategic ensuring out-of-system opponents. I was very proud of our team for staying very connected from [the] beginning of every competition until the end. Both Wesleyan and Trinity can be see VOLLEYBALL, page 11

Nicholas Pfosi / The Tufts Daily

Junior Kyra Baum, left, and sophomore Elizabeth Ahrens, right, go up for a block during their team’s 3-0 victory against Trinity on Oct. 11.

Men's Cross Country

Jumbos ready for postseason after successful weekend showing

by Phillip Goldberg Contributing Writer

The men’s cross country team finished strong in the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Championships at Franklin Park last Saturday with an 18th overall finish. Teams from all three divisions competed at the meet and Tufts finished fourth out of all Div. III teams and third in the NESCAC. “NESCACs is very, very good at cross country,” sophomore Chris Warren said.

“Of the top seven New England teams right now, six of those teams are [in the] NESCAC and I think it extends farther.

Generally in cross country NESCAC is one of the best in the nation.”

MIT was the lone Div. III non-NESCAC team that beat Tufts at the NEICAAA

Championships. A highlight of the meet for Tufts was beating Colby and getting revenge on Bowdoin, who had beaten Tufts at a prior meet. “[The meet] went well,” senior cocaptain Marshall Pagano. “If you had told me the times that we ran coming into the weekend I’d have been thrilled. Guys ran really fast times, especially given the wet and cold conditions and it’s such a big meet that it’s a tough race to run a fast time in. Then on the other side, our rivals ran really well too, so that was like the other side of the coin. Middlebury and MIT and Amherst really stepped up and they beat us pretty good and we don’t want that to happen again.”

According to Pagano, Tufts will look for revenge against Middlebury later this season, after beating the team earlier this season at Williams College.

courtesy ty enos

From left to right: sophomores Michael Curley and Tim Nichols and seniors Nicholas Guarnaccia and Greg Hardy walk after racing at the NEICAAA Championships last weekend.

Despite the third place finish in the NESCAC, Pagano was disappointed that Tufts was unable to make up any ground against teams ranked above them.

However, he believes Tufts is a team built for the post-season rather than the regular season.

“Some teams really try to crush every meet, but I think we are just focused on NESCACs and regionals,” Pagano said.

“Our big training block was this past month and I think that’s part of the reason why some of these teams might have a bit of a leg up on us. As we get more into the postseason you begin to taper … do a little less heavy lifting, a little less heavy workloads, and that way you’re fresher come race day.”

Runners competing in the postseason finished their regular season at Franklin Park, but the rest of the team will run in the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 18th. There are 24 men on the roster, but only 12 will compete at NESCACs and again at regionals. Only seven men will advance to nationals in November, should the team secure a bid.

The New England region usually receives five to seven bids for nationals and Pagano is confident that a fifth place finish at regionals would secure Tufts a bid. Tufts’ team has placed in the top 15 at nationals in two of the last three years, and Pagano believes this year’s team has the talent to finish top 15 again.

“In years past we kind of knew we were nationally bound come November, but this year we’re really going to have to work for it, which isn’t a bad thing,” Pagano said. “It makes it all that more exciting and all that more worthwhile if we can make it to nationals.”

Team chemistry has helped the team immensely. The team practices together nearly every day, has weight lifting practices in addition to regular practice on

Mondays and Wednesdays and goes for longer runs on Sundays. Warren said those runs could range anywhere from 10 to 18 miles.

“It’s that much harder as an opposing runner when you see opposing teams go by you in packs.,” Pagano said. “You just get that much more down, that much more demoralized. We really try to work as a unit and pick people off one by one.

When you see a pack of Tufts guys in the black uniforms with Tufts on the back, we can be an intimidating bunch.”

According to Warren, the team’s senior leaders have stepped up this year with senior captains Pagano and Nicholas Guarnaccia holding spots in the top seven. He added that the team has impressive depth, however, with some sophomores occupying the top seven, and a small time spread between the top twelve.

Pagano said that of the four freshmen on the team this year, three will be competing in NESCACs and the fourth would be were he not injured, which bodes well for the team’s future, especially considering the talented sophomore class.

The team’s success is also a testament to the program that coaches Ethan Barron and Michael Schmidt run. “[Barron] and [Schmidt] are multitime all-Americans, they are really students of the sport, and they are really smart guys,” Pagano said. “I think, we just know going into regionals, we’re not going to be out trained and we aren’t going to be outsmarted by any of the other teams.”

Although the men’s cross country team will face stiff competition from a stacked conference this post-season, they feel up to the challenge, hitting the post-season on an upswing after a strong showing at the NEICAAA championships.