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THE TUFTS DAILY

VOLUME LX, NUMBER 12

TUFTSDAILY.COM

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Neighbors have a Jumbo load of fun

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Errors mar elections, students say Under fire, ECOM defends itself from criticism BY

MATT REPKA

Daily Editorial Board

AALOK KANANI/TUFTS DAILY

Residents from surrounding communities, including the girl playing with Jumbo above, came to the Hill yesterday to participate in a variety of fun and informational activities. The events took place as part of Tufts’ eighth annual Community Day, aimed at enhancing town-gown relations.

ExCollege class gets hands dirty in community garden BY

BETH MEBRATU

Daily Staff Writer

Tufts’ student garden, established last fall with an eye toward bringing people together to grow food, has given rise this year to a new Experimental College (ExCollege) class on agricultural issues.

Yosefa Ehrlich (LA ’10) and senior Signe Porteshawver applied last year to create an ExCollege course on food and agriculture as a way of strengthening their efforts to bring gardening to Tufts. The result, Emerging Alternatives in Modern Agriculture, explores food systems, agricultural productivity and alternative farming ideas.

“We wanted a way to institutionalize the garden to ensure it would survive beyond us and to get more people involved in the process,”

Porteshawver said.

Two Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy graduate students, Marisol Pierce-Quinonez and Jeffrey Hake, teach the class. Both are pursuing degrees in Agriculture, Food and Environment.

“We hope to have students learn about the topics and use their skills to change the garden here,” PierceQuinonez said.

Hake said that there are currently no other classes offered to undergraduates on agricultural issues. The ExCollege class, he said, attempts to fill that gap.

“There is nothing even close,” Hake said, referring to the course’s curriculum. “The other day we did a lecture on agricultural history in an hour see GARDEN, page 2

In the wake of elections marked by advertising missteps and the postponement of a vote for freshman senators, the body that oversees student voting at Tufts has come under fire from former candidates and current student government officials.

The Elections Commission (ECOM) has incurred criticism for its handling of several aspects of last week’s election, from accusations of poor advertising on TuftsLife and in the Daily to charges that the commission failed to adequately inform freshman candidates of election procedures.

The entire student body cast ballots on Wednesday in a seamless election on two competing referenda on community representatives on the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate.

A vote for freshman senator and Freshman Class Council positions was scheduled for the same day but was postponed for 24 hours due to an error by ECOM. That vote progressed smoothly the following day, but candidates and student government officials in the last few days have charged ECOM with mishandling aspects of the electoral process.

While acknowledging certain mistakes, ECOM members generally defended the body’s conduct, attributing some of its actions to inexperience and miscommunication with student groups.

ECOM is comprised of five student members and is responsible for organizing and presiding over student body-wide elections. Members receive a stipend of $500 at the end of each semester.

In the days preceding any vote, ECOM is tasked with publiciz-

ing the vote to the student body.

Language in its bylaws differs by type of election; for TCU candidate elections, ECOM must advertise through “several methods of advertising, both online and offline,” according to its bylaws.

Candidates cite lack of communication Candidates and non-candidates alike cited problems communicating with ECOM in the days preceding the election.

Freshman Noha Ahmed, who was elected Freshman Class Council secretary, said she had trouble getting information from ECOM members.

“I wasn’t informed about one of the meetings that I was supposed to attend, and I know a lot of candidates weren’t informed either,” she said.

“I got one email at 10:30 [p.m.] saying I had to get a poster design in by 12 that night,” Ahmed said.

“When I came to drop it off, there was no one in the ECOM office.

“Other people ended up dropping it off in the info booth,” Ahmed added, referring to the booth in the Mayer Campus Center lobby. “A lot of people handed them stuff, and they were pissed off because they’re not part of ECOM,” Ahmed said.

Freshman Sarah Tralins, a candidate for vice president of social programming, also had trouble gaining approvals for her fliers.

“I had to go to the ECOM office four times before I actually got my posters stamped because classes conflicted,” Tralins said.

“They weren’t very helpful about informing us about when to meet them or where.”

“It was very chaotic and the process was not fun,” Ahmed said.

ECOM Chair Katherine McManus said information about poster deadlines “was made abun-

dantly clear at the candidates meeting.” ECOM’s bylaws say that candidates must submit posters for review at a mandatory candidates general interest meeting.

Some candidates said they were not adequately informed about the general interest meetings themselves; ECOM held two meetings this year. “ECOM is responsible for coordinating this meeting and generating sufficient awareness thereof,” the commission’s bylaws state.

Freshman Simmone Seymour, who on Thursday was elected the vice president of academic affairs on the Freshman Class Council, said the publicity of the meeting times was unclear and that “no one knew them.”

“The only reason I knew was from work of mouth,” Seymour said. “The meeting turned out to be mandatory, but no one knew that.”

Tralins and Ahmed said candidates who missed this meeting were denied chalk for advertising

by ECOM. Freshman Scott Owades, who ran unsuccessfully for class council president, agreed, saying he was “luckily walking by when it happened” and had not been told about them in advance.

McManus disagreed. “Those were well-advertised,” she said, referring to the general interest meetings. McManus said meeting information was posted on the ECOM website in advance of the meetings.

“I can understand why some of the candidates might be frustrated, but ECOM has always tried to make ourselves available,” sophomore Will Yu, ECOM’s public relations director, said. see ECOM, page 2

Tufts, Harvard report endowment turnarounds, financial improvements BY

BRIONNA JIMERSON Daily Staff Writer

Harvard University reported an 11 percent gain earlier this month on its investments in the 2010 fiscal year, increasing its endowment by $1.4 billion to a total of $27.4 billion.

Tufts’ own endowment increased by $110 million in fiscal year 2010, evidence that the university is on sounder financial ground after a 25 percent decrease in fiscal year 2009, according to Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler. Tufts’ total endowment now stands at more than $1.252 billion, Thurler said.

This year’s endowment gains, a 9.7 percent increase, signify an investment return rate of approximately 12 percent. The university sets the baseline goal of a 9 percent return rate, Thurler said.

Harvard’s investment gains mark a major turnaround from the endowment’s decline by 27.3 percent to $25.7 billion in fiscal year 2009.

Harvard Management Company, which manages Harvard’s endowment, has produced an average annual return from the endowment of 7 percent over the last 10 years and 11.9 percent over the last two decades, according to the Harvard Gazette.

A Harvard spokesperson said that the public is often misinformed about the nature of university endowments.

“The Harvard endowment actually consists of more than 11,000 separate funds, and nearly three-fourths of these are designated for specific purposes,” John Longbrake, Harvard’s assistant vice president of communications, said.

Longbrake said the endowment’s performance was crucial in ensuring financial support for Harvard’s programs.

“Harvard spends more than $3 billion a year in support of teaching and research, and more than a third of this comes from interest earned on the endowment’s performance,” he said.

At Tufts, University President Lawrence Bacow said in a Sept. 8 e-mail to the Tufts community that the university’s cautious financial management has ensured financial stability throughout the economic downturn.

“The last two academic years were inescapably overshadowed by financial concerns,” Bacow said in the e-mail. “Fortunately, our tradition of careful financial management stood us in good stead last year.”

Tufts will continue to monitor the finan-

Inside this issue

DAILY FILE PHOTO

Harvard University saw an 11 percent increase in its endowment in fiscal year 2010. cial situation before launching any major capital projects, Bacow said.

Chief Investment Officer Sally Duncan referred questions regarding Tufts’ finances to the Office of Public Relations.

“Tufts is in a very solid position financial-

ly,” Thurler said. “Our tradition of prudent financial management stood us in good stead during [the] economic downturn ... We have fared comparatively well relative to many of our peer institutions, as a result of our successful stewardship of resources.”

Today’s Sections

New York Fashion Week saw styles recalling the ’70s and ’90s.

William Inge’s ‘Bus Stop’ charms with its portrayal of an eclectic group of travelers.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts | Living Comics

1 3 5 7

Editorial | Letters Op-Ed Classifieds Sports

8 9 10 Back

THE TUFTS DAILY

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“Playing Our (Energy) Game: Why China’s Rise Doesn’t Threaten the West” Details: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Associate Professor of Political Science Ed Steinfeld will present his new book that shares the event’s name.

When and Where: 12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.; Crowe Room (Goddard 310) Sponsors: Department of Economics, Tufts Institute of the Environment, Fletcher Center for International Environment and Resource Policy WEDNESDAY “Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equality” Details: Tim Wise, author of “Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and

White Denial in the Age of Obama” (2009), will deliver a lecture.

When and Where: 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; Cohen Auditorium Sponsor: Office for Campus Life THURSDAY “The Cultural Impact of the Book of Revelation” Details: Princeton University Professor of Religion Elaine Pagels will deliver a lecture, to be followed by a reception. Pagels is the author of “The Gnostic Gospels” (1989), “The Origin of Satan” (1996) and “Adam, Eve and the Serpent” (1989).

When and Where: 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Alumnae Lounge Sponsor: Center for the Humanities at Tufts FRIDAY “Development of Yeast as a Platform Cell Factory for Production of Fuels and Chemicals through Industrial Systems Biology” Details: Professor Jens Nielsen, from the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, will present as part of the Chemical and Biological Engineering Fall 2010 Seminar Series.

When and Where: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.; Science and Technology Center 135 Sponsor: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering —compiled by Brent Yarnell

Student garden reflects a growing interest in agriculture at Tufts GARDEN continued from page 1

and a half and went from the civil war up to today. We have a lot to cover.”

“I’ve spent the last few years of my life learning about these things, so I thought it’d be great to share some of the things I’ve learned with my students,” PierceQuinonez said.

A major component of the course is dedicated to policy and the theoretical aspects of food and agriculture, while the remainder of the curriculum is devoted to hands-on practical skills about gardening. Students in the class are required to spend two hours each week planting and maintaining Tufts’ student garden, Porteshawver said.

Located behind Latin Way, the garden is currently only open to students enrolled in the class. Next semester, it is expected to open to members of student group Environmental Consciousness Outreach, she said.

A community garden is situated next to the student garden but is primarily for Somerville residents, Porteshawver said.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Candidates cite ECOM errors

Visiting the Hill this week MONDAY “Economic Crisis and the Least Developed Countries” Details: The Global Development and Environment Institute is hosting a presentation by development economist Mehdi Shafaeddin, an international consultant with the University of Neuchatel’s Institute of Economic Research in Switzerland.

When and Where: 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.; Cabot 206 Sponsors: Global Development and Environment Institute, International Development Club

NEWS

So far, the class has met with a warm reception among undergraduates. Within an hour of the start of registration, the course had filled its class capacity of 20 students and had a waiting list of five students, with more sending e-mails expressing interest in the class, Hake said.

The increased interest in gardening on the Hill reflects a national trend across elementary schools, nonprofit organizations and even colleges, including Harvard University, Boston College and Brandeis University.

“It’s hard to tell why it’s taken off so much,” Hake said. “It seems like a confluence of various concerns — issues with food safety, concerns about the environment and incoming quality. And I think it’s working so well at colleges because college is a great place for incubating new ideas.”

While Porteshawver was unsure of plans for the student garden after the course is complete, she remained hopeful of the garden’s longevity.

“The destiny of the garden after the class is over is up in the air,” Porteshawver said.

“However, I’m sure members of the class will consider the garden their own and want to see it continue.”

MEREDITH KLEIN/TUFTS DAILY

Students in the Emerging Alternatives in Modern Agriculture course regularly tend the garden.

ECOM continued from page 1

Misplaced blame and missing names When ECOM decided to postpone the Class of 2014 elections on Wednesday, the body originally attributed the error to a problem with Votenet, the online system used in campus elections. Later that morning, though, the company behind Votenet complained that the error actually took place on ECOM’s end, and ECOM retracted its original statement and assumed responsibility for the malfunction.

Another issue surrounded the commission’s promotion of the freshman Programming Board candidates. While candidates design and post their own flyers advertising their candidacies, ECOM generally creates full-page advertisements featuring the full slate of candidates for both Senate and Programming Board positions.

This year’s advertisement, which ran in last Thursday’s Daily, featured names, photographs and brief pitches from the Senate candidates. The Programming Board ad, though, omitted the candidates’ names and the positions for which they were running, unless the candidates mentioned those details in their self-submitted descriptions.

“It’s disappointing that foreseeable, minor problems might have had a negative effect on certain candidates,” Programming Board Co-chair Adam Fischer, a senior, said. “These are problems that could have easily been caught and fixed.”

“It seems like there was not enough care put into making a clear ad,” Fischer said.

Ahmed, the Freshman Class Council secretary, said she was originally “upset” when her name was omitted. “I thought people wouldn’t know my name,” she said.

Freshman Yihao Li, who was elected Freshman Class Council treasurer, called for improved publicity.

“Some people complained, saying they didn’t know who the candidates were,” Li said.

ECOM’s Yu, who designed the advertisement, cited space constraints caused by a crowded field.

“We had 16 candidates,” he said. “As a matter of formatting and spacing, it was really tough to try and cram that into a onepage document.”

McManus called the design “last-minute” and took responsibility for not making the deadlines clear to Yu, who was forced to rush the job at the last minute.

And Ahmed questioned whether the omission had any impact, noting that freshman Emma Rosenbluth was elected president without including her name in her paragraph.

But freshman Tralins, who ran for freshman vice president of social programming, disagreed.

A formatting error cut off Tralins’s description. She had submitted two different versions of her passage and said that ECOM accidentally ran the wrong one.

She said that the errors associated with the newspaper ad, coupled with a general lack of advertising, left many freshmen uninformed about the candidates through election day.

“A lot of people voted blindly … just out of not knowing who was who, not being able to identify the candidates — definitely because of the newspaper issue, but also because there wasn’t so much advertisement about us other than campaign fliers that kept being taken down,” she said.

TuftsLife-ECOM dispute Yet TuftsLife, which in the past has provided a forum for the commission to run front-page banners promoting elections and to post events associated with the electoral season, had no communication with ECOM prior to the start of the referenda vote on Wednesday morning, according to TuftsLife Chief Executive Officer Mike Vastola, who is also the technical manager for the Daily.

No event advertising either last Monday’s candidates forum or panel on community referenda appeared on TuftsLife as of Wednesday night. For a referendum vote, ECOM “is responsible for advertising the forum in the same manner that similar events for candidates are advertised,” its bylaws state.

Both McManus and Yu said that ECOM submitted events to TuftsLife advertising the forums. Vastola said that on Tuesday night, ECOM submitted an event submission advertising Wednesday’s election — but that the submission included the wrong date and time: Tuesday from 12 noon to 6 p.m.

“We approved the event 20 minutes later, but it never hit the front page” because the event had technically already ended, he said.

Event listings for the candidates forum and the community referenda panel retroactively appeared on the site’s calendar, as of yesterday.

McManus acknowledged that ECOM had missed submission deadlines and credited TuftsLife for its speed in processing the commission’s requests.

“We didn’t really think twice about having it be a little late because we’ve sent many things late this semester, and they’ve all gone on time,” McManus said.

TuftsLife did post a banner on its main page advertising the election on the day of the referenda vote. While it urged students to vote in the election and provided a link to the WebCenter voting portal, it also included a disclaimer.

“This post was made at TuftsLife’s own initiative, without communiqué from ECOM, and, as such, should not be construed to signify compliance with” certain sections of the commission’s bylaws, the disclaimer read.

McManus called the disclaimer “not true,” saying that the body had made an effort to reach TuftsLife.

“We had contacted TuftsLife through all the channels that they allow us to,” McManus said. She faulted a lack of clarity in the communication process.

“There’s not really a function to submit for a banner,” McManus said.

On the day of elections, ECOM historically sends out a student body-wide e-mail to inform students that voting has begun.

“Attempts must be made to contact all students abroad regarding the election,” its bylaws read, referring to TCU candidate elections, adding that “abroad students must be familiar with their own voting hours.”

ECOM did send out an e-mail to the Class of 2014 about the freshman elections on Thursday, but the body did not send a message to the entire student body about the referenda vote.

McManus said that students studying abroad learned of the referenda vote through Facebook pages created by supporters of each proposal and from ECOM’s website.

“We do make an effort to reach people abroad,” McManus said. “But we are limited in what we can do regarding referenda.”

‘A learning process’ This election is not the first campus-wide election marred by voting complications. For reasons both within and outside of ECOM’s control, the voting process has been delayed multiple times in recent years.

“It’s a student-run group,” Yu said of ECOM. “I think people automatically liken us to groups like the [Office for Campus Life]. ECOM is a five-man operation, and we just don’t have the same logistical capacity to run like the OCL does.”

“The thing is that we are all students within the Tufts community, we all have other commitments,” Yu continued. “This isn’t an excuse, but it’s a fact that we all have commitments beyond student government or whatever else people are involved with.”

Programming Board Co-chair Sarah Habib said that running elections is a difficult job, and it is understandable that students become frustrated with the system.

“It is a very complicated and chaotic process at best,” Habib, a senior, said. “My experience with ECOM has been that it’s a learning process.”

ECOM’s members this semester are relatively inexperienced.

While four of its five members returned from last semester, the body’s internal elections for officer positions were held on Sept.

16, less than a week before the referenda and freshman votes, according to McManus.

TCU President Sam Wallis said that the short timeframe for the referenda revote worked against ECOM. “They sort of shot themselves in the foot by setting a very short timeline and [trying] to advertise in that timeline,” Wallis, a senior, said.

He said that ECOM is looking into changing its bylaws. He called the time limits mandated by the existing rules “very cumbersome.”

Confusion about ECOM bylaws, and how best to follow them, was widespread. “The rules were not all in one place. That was absolutely the problem,” Wallis said.

Yu said he believes ECOM satisfied the requirement for advertising. “I do feel like we did try to go through the proper motions,” he said.

Other factors aside, Wallis was direct about the need for smooth elections.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “it is ECOM’s job, and they receive a stipend for that purpose.”

Alexandra Bogus contributed reporting to this article.

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

New York Fashion Week introduces new, innovative trends while looking to past BY

CATHERINE SCOTT Senior Staff Writer

With Boston Fashion Week getting into gear this week, it’s time to preview what kinds of trends came out earlier this month at New York’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (NYFW). The spring/summer 2011 collections of world-famous designers like Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors shook up the fashion world by rejecting the sartorial status quo of ’80s neon and spandex for a mix of ’70s disco and ’90s minimalism.

Christopher Muther, style reporter and expert for the Boston.com blog Stylephile and the Style section of the Boston Globe, attended NYFW and said that this year’s shows were especially groundbreaking.

“Everyone was looking back a bit, it seemed,” Muther told the Daily. “Interestingly enough, the ’80s that we’ve been seeing disappeared. Thankfully, there were no more harem pants; the jumpsuits were gone, too.”

Those following the ’70s trend seemed to be obsessed with the idea of remaking the disco era, right down to the big hair, bright makeup, bold sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats. And there seems to have been a consensus, once again, that high-waisted, ultrawide-leg jeans are back in. Muther emphasized that this trend was everywhere, from powerhouse Marc Jacobs to Tracy Reese’s contemporary, Anthropologie designs.

In homage to the ’90s, designers opened up their forms with long, flowing dresses and kept most of their pieces in a haze of neutral colors like black, white, grey, beige and taupe. Muther described these designs as “soothing” and felt that all extraneous patterns and prints were no longer present in many normally bright designers’ repertoires. Nude and white floor-length dresses in a simple, sack-like shape dominated these runway shows.

“The first thing I thought of when I saw Marc Jacobs’s spring collection was Jodie Foster in ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976),” Muther said.

“A lot of the ’90s pieces, on the other hand, looked like something straight out of Calvin Klein when he was at his peak … with form a lot looser, a lot simpler.”

Though the pack was evenly divided between designers following a ’70s mix of disco and bohemian and those leaning

more toward the neutral palette of the ’90s, most major names fell into one of the two categories.

Muther was baffled, yet pleased, about both of these developments in the fashion world — as well as the fact that nearly all of the designers at NYFW managed to subscribe to one of the two trends.

“I always like to think that fashion week is more about a creative push than a commercial one. I’m always amazed at how everyone ends up in the same place,” Muther said.

“We [journalists] think it’s because there are certain cultural references that will pop up that all designers will absorb, and it somehow translates into everyone’s work.”

New designers, however, like Boston-based Felicia Verry-Mota, who will display her work at Boston Fashion Week this Thursday, try to avoid being influenced by new trends that will detract from the creativity of their work.

“I try not to look at that many magazines while I’m working on my collection because I don’t want to rip off the amazing designs I see,” Verry-Mota told the Daily. “Of course, on the other hand, trends are always there, and as a designer, you’re always looking.”

Verry-Mota doesn’t figure herself above incorporating trends into her work; she just doesn’t want her work to copy whatever comes directly off of the New York runways.

“This year I was inspired by the military trend … I will also be taking advantage of the hot, bright colors I saw coming out of the fall fashion shows,” she said. “I’m always looking for twists, ways to keep things innovative.”

Most importantly, Verry-Mota sees herself as a consumer of fashion, and the marketplace is where the most important trends prevail — ones she can choose to buy into or avoid.

“When I’m dressing and styling my own wardrobe, I try to stay away from trends … like those awful gladiator sandals,” she said, laughing. “The thing about trends is that they’re very easy. You can go into someplace like H&M, and they’re there; they’re everywhere.”

According to some, though, high fashion does not dictate what articles are sold in stores as much as it dictates how one uses clothing to create styles.

“You can use clothes you already have or buy similar trends at any store, not

STEPHEN MILLER | COUNTERPOINT

In defense of the bad old years

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MCT

Isaac Mizrahi’s new collection was on display during New York Fashion Week. necessarily from a designer store. What is important is to know how to combine and mix your clothes to keep up with the current fashion,” sophomore Nina Davari, a fashion enthusiast, said.

Muther suggested that fashion recycles itself in 20-year periods. As new designers rise to prominence, they become nostalgic for the time of fashion when they were growing up and thus reintroduce the world to a certain trend.

Not that Muther believes the general public will always be receptive to such drastic shifts.

“Within the next couple of years, the ‘jeggings’ and skinny jeans we’ve all become so used to will start to loosen up and go wider.

People get into a comfort zone when it comes to jeans and blouses, and it takes them a little while to move out of it,” he said. “It will be a good year or so before a lot of [these runway trends] even start to show up.”

REZquad offers an uphill location to study, relax, caffeinate Miller Hall basement gets a revamped coffee shop in place of Oxfam BY

ROMY OLTUSKI

Daily Editorial Board

Two words come to barista Sam Costello’s mind when he walks into the REZquad Café for work, and they do not usually go hand in hand: relaxed and caffeinated. But everyone in the coffee shop seems to be both.

The REZquad, the relatively new uphill branch of the Mayer Campus Center’s The Rez, opened last February in the basement of Miller Hall, where Oxfam Café once stood. While Oxfam was characterized by loud, late-night noise bands and drunken socializing, the same venue managed by the Rez is home to quieter study sessions and coffee klatches, according to Costello, a senior.

Its decor — stylistically cleaner than the space used to be, Costello pointed out — is simple, but atmospheric. With its handmade wall tapestries, comfortable couches, chalkboard menu and deep, porcelain mugs, the REZquad begs to be your new living room — and the coffee machines lining the wall make it more attractive than your current one.

Not quite bohemian in mood, which is a lofty pursuit for the basement of a dormitory building, the REZquad is content with its minimalist design so

long as it avoids both the volume of the campus center and the sterility of the library.

According to sophomore Emily Poole, a regular at the REZquad, until the new café came along, the Tufts campus, particularly uphill, was lacking a middle ground between a social and academic environment.

“I come here by myself a lot to get coffee and study, but I also meet friends here because it’s nice and not too crazy,” she said. “It’s not like the library so it’s not a strictly studious atmosphere — not a hunker-down-at-a-desk place. It’s relaxed and accessible. I like to be able to curl up on a couch with my cup of coffee and just get it done.”

Poole, a fan of the REZquad’s current design, finds the new café so practical for students living uphill that it was one of the primary reasons she decided to live in Miller Hall this year, she said.

Still, the REZquad’s image is a constantly evolving one and it is in the midst of some improvements, including the addition of sandwiches to the menu beginning this week, according to Personnel Manager Molly Schwartz, a senior.

“Ambience is something we’re working on,” Schwartz said. “We want to give it a comfortable but spunky attitude

and make it a good place to hang out and do homework because we have the seating space, and we like the idea of doing something with it. We’re getting new furniture, which we got to pick out, and we welcome any suggestions on how to make this place unique. It’s an ongoing process.”

Part of the ambience changes with each new shift, as the café’s personality is defined by the individual student baristas on duty. Aside from having the staff choose the furniture together, Schwartz made the coffee-themed wall tapestries herself over the summer.

Additionally, baristas get to play DJ during their shifts, which means that you will be listening to anything from the Swedish-born folk artist Tallest Man on Earth during Schwartz’s shift to classical piano concertos during someone else’s.

Baristas also concoct and name the specialty drinks, which — in addition to its later closing hour — distinguishes the REZquad from the Rez at the campus center.

Costello has yet to craft his drink, though he asserted that is likely for the good of the community.

“It would probably have Kahlua in it, which is kind of a problem,” he said. see REZQUAD, page 4

h, to be a senior and look back on my years here. Remember that year Spring Fling turned into a mass-casualty incident?

Remember when Fall Ball was the hottest, grimiest jumblef--- within a 1,000 mile radius? Or when it was legal to know (in the biblical sense) that guy or girl from your Intro to Philosophy class with your roommate in their bed four feet away? Oh, the memories.

I can’t say I remember all of them, but that’s beside the point. In light of the recent “success” of Fall Ball, I’m led to reflect on the bad old years when we turned school events into mass-casualty incidents, had Senior Pub Nights cancelled (tip of the cap, class of ’09) and all around perhaps had a little more fun.

Over the past couple of years, the administration has passed measures to clean up the school. They are less lenient on infractions and more controlling on school-sponsored events. Let me make it clear: I do not at all blame them for it.

They are the administration. This is what they do. And clearly, we have given them good reason to take away some privileges from us. But damn, I wish they were still as ignorant as they used to be.

I don’t for one second doubt that Tufts students have been acting like jackasses for decades. Part of going off to college for many students is that period of years when we have only minor supervision, minor responsibility and major ambitions to push life a bit too far. The administration should not blame the student body for this. It’s the student body. It’s what we do.

I am 21 now, and for the first time, I actually find myself living a reasonably legal life. Granted, I still park anywhere on campus and ignore the Public Safety ticket (get a real job). But no longer is every drunken escapade an actual breach of the law.

However, I lament for those younger than me. You no longer have the one free pass on weed or alcohol abuse I had when I was a freshman (which I believe I used twice, kaching!). For many of you, you’ll never have the experience of Spring Fling littered with beer cans brought in by seniors and consumed by everyone. This year, I’ll actually need to bury that keg on the lawn.

I’m not trying to promote mass binge drinking at Tufts events; that would probably be preaching to the choir, anyhow.

I just fondly remember those Sunday mornings when I spent half the day hunting down my phone and learning about my Saturday night. I also realize that my views do not reflect those of the majority of the student body, but I think there are a good number of students who look back on their college careers and think about a lot of good times that involve a lot of breaking the law.

It’s with this mindset that I contemplate how successful Fall Ball was. Yes, there were fewer TEMS calls. Yes, it was less crowded and hot. But I will never forget my freshman year Fall Ball, where there must have been 4,000-plus people, and I was dumping bottles of water on myself to stay cool. And I won’t forget the Winter Bash when I witnessed a person try to climb out the window of the shuttle bus while it was moving. Those were successful events. And who knows, maybe these things still happen. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia that comes from being at the end and looking back at the beginning. But over the last couple of years, I’ve watched the administration wisen up to our shenanigans. It’s a pity. Maybe they’ll hold off the fun death-sentence for just nine more months. Come on, Bacow, let’s blow out our last year in style.

Stephen Miller is a senior majoring in English.

He can be reached at Stephen.Miller@tufts.edu.

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FEATURES

Monday, September 27, 2010

The REZquad Café strives to be students’ new uphill living room REZQUAD continued from page 3

University President Lawrence Bacow, on the other hand, has invented one of the REZquad’s most popular drinks, the “Larry Bacow,” or, in layman’s terms, peppermint hot chocolate. Tomorrow from 5 to 6 p.m., the REZquad plans to host an opening party at which the “Larry Bacow” will be the drink of the day, and attendees will enjoy free treats from Kickass Cupcakes, live music, discounted “Larry Bacows” all day and an appearance by the drink’s namesake.

While the uphill population and the café staff are excited about the space’s new look and function, there is some grief about the loss of Oxfam, including on the part of the REZquad’s staff and management.

“I think the image that came off was that we kicked off Oxfam, which we didn’t,” Schwartz said. “They were going to close, and we were invited to open in their place. Because we like them, we’re still planning on giving a percentage of our profits to Oxfam.”

Even so, Costello, a one-time employee of the late Oxfam, wishes that the REZquad would preserve some of Oxfam’s old grunge traditions.

“The new REZquad is completely different from Oxfam,” Costello said.

“It makes money. It’s a little neater, more organized. People actually show up to their shifts. You can actually get food and drinks here, unlike Oxfam where maybe someone would show up, maybe they wouldn’t.”

“But there’s definitely something lost with the move from Oxfam,” he said. “It doesn’t have crazy things going on late at night anymore, unfortunately. My sophomore year, there were psychedelic rock shows and weird guys coming in and playing vacuum cleaners. On one side [of the café], there would be people making loud noises and breaking things, and on the other side, there would be drunk kids enjoying it. I want more crazy [stuff ] to happen here late at night.”

TIEN TIEN/TUFTS DAILY

REZquad patrons enjoy coffee, couches, eclectic music and, sometimes, a Larry Bacow.

Free Flu Shots Students Only It’s Time to Vaccinate!

Do your part to help the Tufts community stay healthy—and please get vaccinated.

Health

Flu Shots will be administered on 3 dates: Tuesday, September 28, 3:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, October 5, 3:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, October 6, 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.

Health Service Conference Room 124 Professors Row Please wear short sleeves and bring an I.D.

http://ase.tufts.edu/healthservice

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

THEATER REVIEW

‘Bus Stop’ drives home message of companionship — in a Kansas diner BY

MICHELLE BEEHLER Senior Staff Writer

The Huntington Theatre Company’s production of William Inge’s “Bus Stop” is undeniably charming, bringing an idyl-

Written by William Inge Directed by Nicholas Martin At the Boston University Theatre through Oct. 17 Tickets $15 to $89 lic winter scene from the Midwest to the Boston stage.

Nicholas Martin, who previously served as artistic director for Huntington, returns to direct the comedy of an eclectic group of travelers who find themselves stranded for the night at a Kansas roadside diner. It takes the entirety of the night for most of them to realize that the majority of them are searching for the same thing: love, in one of its many forms.

Despite the motley crew’s eccentricities, the play fosters the idea that the characters all share a common ground of human desires, an argument that it pulls off with comic competence.

The characters’ differences are blatantly obvious and inevitably stand in the way of them trying to understand one another. It is a mysterious night that brings a bus carrying a drunk professor with pedophilic impulses, a young and irascible hotshot cowboy with HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

‘Bus Stop’ features an eclectic cast of seasoned performers and up-and-comers.

TV REVIEW

Con man drama ‘Lone Star’ may prove to be a little too innovative BY

BEN PHELPS

Daily Editorial Board

“If you want to make something that lasts, you gotta make it with your own two hands,” Jon Voight’s character, oil

Lone Star Starring James Wolk, Jon Voight, Adrianne Palicki, Eloise Mumford Airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on Fox

Fat man in a little coat

I

Bus Stop

see BUS STOP, page 6

MITCHELL GELLER | MAKES IT RAIN

tycoon Clint Thatcher, says in the pilot episode of the new Fox series “Lone Star.” While that logic may work in the show’s world, fiction unfortunately does not always mirror reality.

It’s undeniable that “Lone Star,” which centers on con man Bob Allen ( James Wolk) and the double life he leads, had an intriguing and promising series premiere.

Wolk is perfectly cast as the slick Texas scam artist torn between his money-making schemes and going straight, the supporting cast — which see LONE STAR, page 6

ALBUM REVIEW

Röyksopp’s latest effort fails to live up to expectations BY

MATTHEW WELCH

Daily Editorial Board

What does it mean to be king of Norway’s downtempo scene? One only need to look at Röyksopp’s first album,

Senior Röyksopp Astralwerks “Melody A.M.” (2001), to understand what placed the band at the top of the burgeoning European electronic circuit.

The group’s debut treated its audience to concise, catchy synth licks and introspective drone pieces with equal zest, avoiding the blandness that often characterizes the downtempo scene. Sadly, the same cannot be said for its latest effort, “Senior.”

Conceived as a darker counterpart to the toe-tapping “Junior” (2009), “Senior” fails to deliver the same punch.

While “Junior” played to the strengths of the band with its shorter song lengths and bouncy synth programming, “Senior” sounds over-inflated and lackluster. The album is filled with interesting melodic and rhythmic ideas, but Röyksopp felt compelled to stretch them to lengths the content could not justify. Almost every song on the album could have made its point in half the time. The layered bass line of “Tricky Two” is compelling for a while, but the song’s lack of movement over its glacial eight minutes leaves the listener unsatisfied.

While artists like Autechre and Tricky have successfully applied short riffs and motifs over long songs, they did so with an ear toward creating textural and rhythmic

POPTOWER.COM

Jon Voight should be enough of a reason to watch anything at all.

see RÖYKSOPP, page 6

used to say that Rick Ross was the worst rapper of all time. I never said that I didn’t like Rick Ross, nor that he didn’t deserve to be famous. All I said was that he was a terrible rapper. I said he suffered from the same problem as someone like Dr. Dre — one of my favorite rappers — who just sounds like he’s trying too hard.

Every time I hear Rick “Ricky Rosé” Ross rap, I hear a fat man in a little coat.

And that isn’t a dig at Ross’s weight. Chris Farley put on David Spade’s tiny little coat in “Tommy Boy” (1995) because he had something to do and he was going to do it no matter what: He had to save his father’s auto parts company, and to do that he had to cheer David Spade up. And to do that he did what was necessary — or what he thought was necessary — he put on a tiny little coat and danced around.

Rick Ross is wearing that tiny little coat.

Miami-based rapper Rick Ross (né William Leonard Roberts II) has had an interesting career — going from an unknown to a self-made superstar in a few short years, during which time a tumultuous beef with 50 Cent revealed him to be a former corrections officer, a revelation that somehow didn’t even scathe him. But over the summer, Ross released his fourth solo album in as many years, “Teflon Don” (2010), an album that is absolute fire.

If you listen to “Teflon Don” closely, it’s clear that Ross still wants it really, really badly, but it also sounds like maybe he deserves it.

This moment in commercial hip-hop is fascinating. Hip-hop has existed for 37 years, give or take a few (many credit DJ Cool Herc’s famous Aug. 11, 1973, recroom party at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx as the birthplace of hip-hop), and it’s only now that rappers can admit to being performers.

Hip-hop has long been seen as a response to life in the inner city, an outlet to express the pain and suffering and whatnot, and up until now, you either had to be a gangster, or you had to pretend to be one to make it big in the rap game: Tupac and Biggie were really gangsters, 50 Cent has been shot nine times, Gucci Mane has most likely shot some people, as has Lil Wayne, and the members of N.W.A. had to pretend to not be college students to be taken seriously. But now Rick Ross, a former corrections officer, can write a song called “Rich off Cocaine” (2009) and everybody loves it because — hey! — it’s a good song.

When Jay-Z raps about selling crack, it seems genuine, and if it turned out that his mysterious, often-referenced years spent in Virginia were spent crab fishing instead of slinging dope, people would probably be pretty upset; they might even feel betrayed.

The only money that Ross ever handled that resulted from the sale of cocaine was in his paycheck as a corrections officer dealing with convicted drug dealers. He is, however, allowed to rap the line, “I know Pablo, Noriega/The real Noriega/He owes me a hundred favors” on “Hustlin” (2006) because he is a performer. He isn’t even the real Rick Ross: The real Rick Ross is “Freeway” Ricky Ross, a former drug kingpin currently suing the rapper for his use of the name.

Which is simultaneously ridiculous and hilarious.

I still don’t think that Rick Ross has the skill of, say, Jay-Z or Lil Wayne or even Gucci Mane, but he can certainly wear the little coat with the best of them.

Mitchell Geller is a senior majoring in psychology and English. He can be reached at Mitchell.Geller@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY

6

Monday, September 27, 2010

ARTS & LIVING

Immature characters clash onstage in ‘Bus Stop’

‘Senior’ lacks depth of older albums but still maintains listening value

BUS STOP

RÖYKSOPP

continued from page 5

his older and wiser ranch hand, a 19-year-old nightclub singer and the lusty bus driver who gets them to a small diner about 30 miles west of Kansas City.

Grace Hoylard (Karen MacDonald) runs the small restaurant with the help of the teenage Elma Duckworth (Ronete Levenson). MacDonald is excellent in her portrayal, bringing hilarity to moments where it could have easily been lost and guiding Levenson’s character around the diner and through the trials of adolescence.

Levenson is not as successful, perhaps falling into the trap of her character’s ignorance and naiveté as Elma comes off as static and somewhat annoying. Her childlike qualities are so overemphasized that it’s difficult to believe that she is supposed to be a high school student. Instead, Levenson’s acting suggests that Elma has the maturity of a sixth- or seventh-grader.

The reduction in the appearance of Elma’s age makes it all the more disturbing when the continually intoxicated middle-aged professor, Dr. Gerald Lyman (Henry Stram), reveals a sexual attraction to the young waitress. The inebriated and thrice-divorced intellectual is instantly obvious as a tormented soul, yet his constant self-deprecation and despicable behavior is sometimes endearing. Only a cleverly written script and Stram’s masterful interpretation of the professor’s witty language could pull off such a stunt.

The most predictable, if not clichéd, romance in the performance is also the most enjoyable. The equilibrium of the Kansas diner is instantly upset with the emergence of the night singer Cherie (Nicole

Rodenburg) and the cowboy Bo Decker (Noah Bean), who is blindly set on marrying her. When the bus arrives, Cherie (or “Cherry,” as Bo pronounces it) rushes inside the restaurant, hoping to ditch the cowboy Bo, who, she claims, kidnapped her in order to bring her to his ranch in Montana and marry her.

The duo is uniquely ridiculous; their characterizations are emphasized to a vaudevillian degree.

Indeed, both characters are performers — Cherie sings at a nightclub and Bo competes in the rodeo — and both must learn to overcome appearances in order to really get to know the other.

Out of the entire ensemble, there are only two mature characters in the show: the sheriff, Will Masters (Adam LeFevre), and Bo’s guardian, Virgil Blessing (Stephen Lee Anderson).

They act as advisors for the hotheaded Bo and the frivolous Cherie and are the purveyors of the truths in the play. Ironically, the two of them remain alone throughout the story, as if their knowledge and life experience are their true mates in life.

The production succeeds in capturing the spirit of the Midwest, if not its image.

The stage sports an impressive set that gives an apt view of the diner’s inner workings but leaves out the feelings of isolation and emptiness that a snow-covered Kansas suggests. The set forces its audience to focus on the connection made between the characters during the night inside the restaurant, but it ignores the spaces that persist between certain characters in the play.

In the end, there is always one figure out in the cold, idly and solitarily waiting for a bus.

continued from page 5

variations. Röyksopp attempts this, but its efforts usually produce little more than superfluous ornamentation. Yes, there are some interesting synth washes and string crescendos over the course of the track “Tricky Two,” but they never take the listener too deep.

“Senior” also fails to showcase Röyksopp’s sense of textural balance. A close listening to any of the duo’s previous albums shows its ear for complementary timbres.

The squelching bass of “Don’t Go” from “Melody A.M.” was perfectly matched to the clarity of the percussion and the string machines.

Such contrasts are seriously lacking on “Senior,” where almost every track feels mired in its own tonal redundancy. Every bass line is punctual, every synth is reverbladen and every string interlude is spaced out with delay.

Thankfully, there are a handful of songs that escape this problem and demonstrate what Röyksopp is really capable of. “The Fear” shows the duo’s attentiveness to interplay and layering. Opening with a creepy synth line reminiscent of a Halloween theme, the track quickly blooms into a string flourish that gradually dissipates into a catchy bass-synth groove.

Obviously, Röyksopp is more than capable of creating structurally interesting music. “The Fear” takes its listener to dozens of places over its seven minutes, leaving us wondering why the rest of the album is not as compelling. Elements are introduced and playfully taken away, leaving the listener anticipating a satisfaction that never arrives.

“The Drug” treats the listener to a similar mix of musical ele-

ROYKSOPP.COM

Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland make up Röyksopp. ments and emotions. The track begins with a synth riff reminiscent of Aphex Twin’s “Analogue Bubblebath” (1991) and dwells on it for just a little too much time before completely shifting directions in the last two minutes. For once on this record, Röyksopp uses repetition to its advantage, heightening the contrast between two parts of the song to produce a sense of movement.

Although “Senior” cannot be looked to for the depth and energy seen in Röyksopp’s earlier work, it is

far from a bad album. It is certainly enjoyable, and no one is going to complain about “Senior” as background music at the weekly book club meeting. Most of the album is warm and inviting, though hardly as dark as “the senile sibling of Junior who lives in the attic,” as it was described by the band’s Svein Berge. Depending on what you’re looking for, “Senior” could be a minor victory for passive downtempo or a moderate shortcoming for one of Europe’s most intriguing electronic duos.

‘Lone Star’ undeserving of its low ratings LONE STAR continued from page 5

includes Voight and “Friday Night Lights” favorite Adrianne Palicki — shines and the plot seems to find a good balance between soapy melodrama and real-life stakes.

But there’s a little problem that seems like it will prevent creator Kyle Killen’s well-crafted drama from being something that lasts: ratings.

Only 4.1 million viewers tuned in last Monday despite a prime-time slot after “House,” which has led Killen to start a fan campaign, stating, “For us to survive we’re going to have to pull off a minor miracle.”

Ignoring, for the moment, the show’s precarious future, let’s just consider that “Lone Star” has all the makings of a great series. The pilot begins with Bob and girlfriend Lindsay (Eloise Mumford) living a happy life together in the quiet town of Midland, Texas.

Bob is in the oil business and seems to be making a lot of people very happy and very rich. He travels frequently for business, but his stop in Houston turns out to be quite permanent — he lives a double life there with wife Cat Thatcher (Palicki).

Bob is, in fact, a con artist, trained by his father John (David Keith) to get close to his various “targets” and cheat them out of millions of dollars. But right when he scores his biggest con yet — getting a job at Cat’s father’s oil company so he can steal from the inside — he starts having second thoughts, realizing that he might be happier living “normal” lives with his two loves.

In a television environment so overwhelmingly populated by generic police, legal and medical dramas, “Lone Star” inspires hope, showing signs that innovation and creativity can still exist on broadcast networks, even if the content may be more suitable for cable (where a show with 4.1 million viewers would be considered a hit).

The series immediately establishes its own voice, and pilot director Marc Web — of “(500) Days of Summer” (2009) fame — creates an introspective feel that allows the audience to connect with Bob, despite his lying, unfaithful ways.

The key to successfully having a con man as your main character is in the casting, and Wolk’s portrayal of Bob is pitch-perfect. Even though we see him cheating countless innocent investors — including Lindsay’s parents — out of their hard-earned money, when he says he is in love with both women in his life, we believe him.

Wolk sells Bob’s moral dilemma, and it is easy to see how the people on both sides of his double identity care about him.

All praise considered, the pilot certainly was not perfect. It was a little too convenient that Bob would start reconsidering his line of work just as his long con started paying off, and some of the soapy elements — Bob’s argument with his father when he reveals his change of heart; his fight with Lindsay’s old flame — were a little too on the nose.

One scene in particular, drawing a parallel between Bob and John’s relationship with that of a convenience store clerk and his own capitalizing father, was eye-rollingly unsubtle.

Overall, “Lone Star” is ambitious and well-executed, and it’s a shame it seems destined to suffer a premature death while this season’s less deserving new shows such as “Outsourced” and “$#*! My Dad Says” live on.

The biggest concern with this type of soap-opera, serialized show is that it wouldn’t be able to play out for 22 episodes, let alone multiple seasons, but it at least deserves a chance to fail on its own terms rather than be subjected to cancellation based on ratings alone.

With the caveat that one of the best new pilots of the season may also be its first casualty, watch “Lone Star” tonight, if only to see what audiences will soon be missing.

Achieving Your Student Group’s Goals through Financial Stewardship

Unsure about how to best manage your student group’s finances and operations?

Pre-registration is required and space is limited!

All participants will receive a certificate upon completion of the workshop Pizza and beverages will be provided!

This one hour workshop will give you the skills to effectively manage your group’s operations and use basic management best practices to ensure your student group achieves its goals.

Learn some easy tips and detection tools to help you identify when your group’s financial status is not what you think it should be – due to clerical or accounting error, theft, or fraud. We will be happy to address any questions or concerns that you may have about managing your group’s finances or operations.

Please join us!

Pearson Hall, Room 104

Audit & Management Advisory Services

Tuesday September 28 8:00 — 9:00 PM or Wednesday September 29 12:00 — 1:00 PM

Sign up today for this important financial stewardship workshop!

Choose a session and return this form to the Office for Campus Life: I will attend Tuesday, September 28 8 PM

Or send an email to ocl@tufts.edu Subject: Financial Stewardship Training Be sure to indicate which session you plan to attend!

Name Email Address

I will attend Wednesday, September 29 12 Noon

THE TUFTS DAILY

Monday, September 27, 2010

DOONESBURY

BY

NON SEQUITUR

GARRY TRUDEAU

BY

7

COMICS CROSSWORD

WILEY

FRIDAY’S SOLUTION

MARRIED TO THE SEA

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Skirting open-container laws on Homecoming

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Friday’s Solution

Meredith: “Yeah, bite it off. That’s exactly what I want.”

Please recycle this Daily.

THE TUFTS DAILY

8

THE TUFTS DAILY BENJAMIN D. GITTLESON Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL Managing Editors

Ellen Kan Carter Rogers Matt Repka Executive News Editor Alexandra Bogus News Editors Michael Del Moro Nina Ford Amelie Hecht Corinne Segal Martha Shanahan Brent Yarnell Jenny White Daphne Kolios Assistant News Editors Kathryn Olson Romy Oltuski Executive Features Editor Sarah Korones Features Editors Alison Lisnow Emilia Luna Alexa Sasanow Derek Schlom Jon Cheng Assistant Features Editors Maya Kohli Amelia Quinn Emma Bushnell Executive Arts Editor Zach Drucker Arts Editors Mitchell Geller Rebecca Goldberg Benjamin Phelps Anna Majeski Assistant Arts Editors Rebecca Santiago Matthew Welch Rachel Oldfield Laura Moreno Larissa Gibbs Elaine Sun Seth Teleky Devon Colmer Erin Marshall Lorrayne Shen Louie Zong Rebekah Liebermann Ashish Malhotra Josh Molofsky Alexandra Siegel

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editor Assistant Op-Ed Editors Cartoonists

Editorialists

Philip Dear Executive Sports Editor Lauren Flament Sports Editors Jeremy Greenhouse Claire Kemp Ben Kochman Alex Lach Alex Prewitt Daniel Rathman Noah Schumer Ethan Sturm Assistant Sports Editor Aalok Kanani Meredith Klein Danai Macridi Andrew Morgenthaler Tien Tien Josh Berlinger Virginia Bledsoe Kristen Collins Alex Dennett Emily Eisenberg Dilys Ong Jodi Bosin Jenna S Liang Meagan Maher Ashley Seenauth

Monday, September 27, 2010

EDITORIAL | LETTERS

EDITORIAL

Hold ECOM officials accountable “For every election we organize, we strive to ensure fairness and equality,” reads the mission statement of the Elections Commission (ECOM). Unfortunately, the handling of last week’s votes for freshman Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators, Freshman Class Council members and school-wide referenda on community representatives led to elections that were anything but fair and equal.

ECOM’s errors in this semester’s elections have thrown the commission’s ineffectiveness into the spotlight. The commission, which oversees elections for student government bodies, has long dealt with election-related complaints, from contested results to voting-software errors. In the past year, however, the blame for elections-gone-wrong has too often fallen on ECOM. In the spring, for instance, a number of complaints were filed against ECOM’s conduct. Sam Wallis, at the time a junior running for TCU president while studying abroad, was ruled to have overspent his budget when he chose to fly back to Tufts from his study-abroad locale in order to campaign in person. He filed an appeal and criticized ECOM’s poor handling of the matter, saying that he was not informed of the ruling, and that it contradicted previous discussions with ECOM. In the same election season, complaints were filed over the inclusion of Referenda 3 and 4 in the April 28 presidential ballot, as they were not adequately advertised prior to the vote.

The vote resulted in both referenda passing, despite the fact that they were competing proposals; those referenda went to a revote on Wednesday.

But that vote took place amid mistakes

on the part of ECOM members. Not only did the commission make a technical error that led to a 24-hour postponement of the freshman vote, but its members hastily and incorrectly blamed the oversight on an outside voting-software company before the officers even consulted the company. The election and the associated informational forums were not adequately advertised in advance by ECOM; students more often relied on Facebook messages from groups advocating a certain side or candidate.

Tardy communication with TuftsLife and a lack of initiative on the part of ECOM members led to a lack of an official banner or on-time event listing on the popular student portal. ECOM also submitted an advertisement to the Daily, featuring a spread on the election candidates and a brief statement from each. The spread, however, was put together poorly and treated the candidates unfairly and unequally by omitting many of their names and the positions for which they were running.

Relations between the candidates and ECOM are strained: Advertising deadlines have not been met and the voting procedure is under question. One winning candidate even described the campaign process as “chaotic.” ECOM confronted these criticisms by denying the brunt of the responsibility, blaming communication errors and saying they advertised adequately through their website, ridiculously assuming that students knew to go to ECOM’s poorly organized website for election information.

In the spring, the Daily criticized ECOM for failing to properly inform students about upcoming votes and for inadequately publicizing the content of referenda. Over the semesters, the body has demonstrated a

pattern of mismanaged elections and irresponsibility.

Considering the importance of campus elections, this is a problem that cannot remain unresolved. We believe that the evidence shows that current ECOM members are largely responsible for the deficiencies of the recent election, particularly when considering how many problems could have easily been avoided.

An effort is under way among student government officials to reform bylaws, TCU President Sam Wallis, a senior, told the Daily’s news department. While the bylaws’ vagueness is clearly an issue and a review is more than welcome, the student body must also demand individual accountability from the paid student members serving on the commission. It is predominantly a matter of meeting deadlines, fulfilling the requirements already set forth in the body’s bylaws and historically followed, and sufficiently discharging its mandate. To make our microcosm of democracy fair and equal, we require a more concerted effort from those charged with its management.

We demand a review of ECOM members by the TCU Judiciary, which appoints the members of the commission. Although ECOM officers are students, their $500-perterm stipend places them under a different level of scrutiny — and they must be held accountable to the student body, which finances their pay.

Student elections are important, and we must expect better from those charged with carrying them out. ECOM’s record of failure has been the result of poor bylaws compounded by the ineptitude of its commissioners, and it has persisted for too long.

LOUIE ZONG

Executive Photo Editor Photo Editors

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PRODUCTION Leanne Brotsky Production Director Andrew Petrone Executive Layout Editor Sarah Davis Layout Editors Adam Gardner Jason Huang Jennifer Iassogna Alyssa Kutner Steven Smith Sarah Kester Assistant Layout Editor Zehava Robbins Executive Copy Editor Alexandra Husted Copy Editors Isabel Leon Vivien Lim Linh Dang Assistant Copy Editors Si Kyun Im Andrew Paseltiner Melissa Roberts Elisha Sum Darcy Mann Executive Online Editor Audrey Kuan Online Editors Ann Sloan Ammar Khaku Executive Technical Manager Michael Vastola Technical Manager

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Correction Friday’s article “Funding can’t be conjured up for Tufts Quidditch team” stated that the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate supported the Quidditch team with a one-time grant. While this grant is referred to as a one-time grant, a student group could potentially apply for a similar grant again in the same semester or afterward. Furthermore, the article misquoted Assistant Director of Athletics Branwen Smith-King as saying the Athletics Department denied the Quidditch team status as a club sport. In fact, the department strongly advised the team against applying to become a club sport because of its likely denial. Additionally, TCU Treasurer Kate de Klerk personally advised the Quidditch team to seek status as a club sport; she did not mean to represent the advice of the TCU in doing so, she clarified to the Daily after the article’s publication.

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Monday, September 27, 2010

THE TUFTS DAILY

9

OP-ED

A heretic’s chaplain

BY STEPHEN JANICK AND ALEXANDER HOWARD

In the fall of 2009, Tufts Freethought Society (TFS) inquired about the need and viability of hiring a Humanist chaplain for the benefit of the Tufts community. TFS communicated with university officials and alumni and, after a series of meetings, increased the likelihood of the realization of this goal.

As TFS starts the new school year, we feel the need to address particular reservations that members of the Tufts community maintain regarding issues utility and funding for a Humanist chaplain.

While TFS services the needs of its current membership through weekly meetings and the sponsorship of lecture series, its club status limits its ability to accommodate the needs of the broader non-religious community. The establishment of a Humanist chaplaincy at Tufts would provide non-religious Tufts students an organizational infrastructure and legitimacy greater than what TFS can provide.

The Enrolling Student Survey of the Class of 2012 reported that of the nearly 60 percent of students who responded to the question concerning religious affiliation, over 30 percent marked “none.” While not all of these non-religious students would utilize the services of a Humanist chaplaincy, it is likely that a Humanist chaplaincy would see a rate of participation similar to other chaplaincies on campus.

In an article for the online publication Inside Higher Ed, Alexander W. Astin, the founding director of the Higher Education Research Institute at University of California, Los Angeles, wrote, “Most students — religious and non-religious — have an interest in what we consider to be spiritual issues: the meaning of life, their most deeply felt values, why they’re in college, what kinds of lives they want to lead, how connected they feel to others, etc.”

While the apathetic, solipsistic atheist has become a popular social perception of Humanists, we feel that this generalization of our worldview is detrimental to the Tufts community as a whole, and we are actively working to change this perception.

Some have raised the point that secular students can use other resources to fill their desire for community — that is, one could use the Leonard Carmichael Society to fulfill his philanthropic desires, or one could inquire

about existential issues with one of her professors. While this may be true, the argument could just as easily be employed to counter the necessity of all other chaplaincies on campus as well. A Humanist chaplaincy is just as necessary as any of the existing chaplaincies.

We freethinkers desire one place on campus that can serve as a hub for secular guidance, philanthropy and community. The establishment of a university-supported Humanist community will not only provide a resource for students to contemplate secular answers to traditionally “spiritual issues,” but it will also allow the secular worldview to have a valued social presence equal to that of the other belief systems present on our campus.

TFS desires to establish a Humanist chaplaincy that facilitates communal contemplation by promoting secular morality among non-religious people. We seek a prominent, published freethinker holding a degree from a divinity school to serve as the Humanist chaplain. The primary role of the chaplain will be to facilitate Humanist dialogue on campus through lectures and events and to help integrate the philanthropic efforts of the Humanist community with the efforts of other chaplaincies on campus. Furthermore, a Humanist chaplain will be able to extend the reach of TFS’s philanthropic efforts to outside the Tufts community through collaborative efforts with local and national Humanist organizations, including the Center for Inquiry, the American Humanist Association and the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy. All funding for the Humanist chaplaincy will be provided by prearranged private donors. The chaplaincy will, however, utilize school facilities to host events.

Ultimately, the decision to approve the establishment of a Humanist chaplaincy at Tufts rests with the university president and the Office of the University Chaplain, led by University Chaplain Father David O’Leary. We hope that university officials will recognize the need to establish a Humanist chaplaincy and that secular thought can be comfortably integrated under the umbrella of the Tufts Chaplaincy.

Stephen Janick is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major; he serves on the executive board of Tufts Freethought Society (TFS).

Alexander Howard is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major; he is a member of TFS.

DAILY FILE PHOTO

OFF THE HILL | BROWN UNIVERSITY

Will online colleges transform higher education?

BY

DAN DAVIDSON

The Brown Daily Herald

[University of Phoenix’s] prominent sponsorship was among the many comical elements of LeBron James’s summer prime-time special, “The Decision.” It was bizarre that King James associated his brand with an institution more often the butt of jokes than the recipient of celebrity donations, and the irony became even thicker when, just weeks later, the university was implicated in fraudulent and unethical behavior by a government investigation.

Online colleges remain saddled with poor reputations but have become economic juggernauts. Apollo Group, Inc., which owns the University of Phoenix and other for-profit education ventures, posted revenue of nearly $4 billion in 2009.

The success of for-profit higher education is clearly benefiting executives and shareholders. But online college holds even greater promise as a means of revolutionizing education in America. To date, however, this promise has yet to be realized.

The staggering cost of traditional college education is certainly leaving an opening in the market for online alternatives. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 1980-81 the cost of tuition, room and board at a four-year, private institution was under $14,000 (in 2007-08 dollars), with the cost of a public institution less than half of that. By 2007, the cost of a private university was over $30,000, with public schools costing almost $13,500.

Many Americans simply cannot afford to attend college. Beyond monetary concerns, those who wish to get a degree may have familial obligations or a work situation that prevents them from doing so.

For those who cannot complete a degree in a traditional college setting, online colleges can be a powerful solution. In an article that appeared in the Washington Monthly last year, Kevin Carey, an education policy think-tanker, described an online college experience at odds with the image in many of our minds. Carey profiles a woman who, after earning lower wages than her college-educated counterparts, was laid off and finally decided to finish the degree she started years before. Faced with time constraints as a mother and economic concerns about spending a long time in school without work, she turned to StraighterLine, an online degree-granting program.

From her computer, Carey’s subject could “access course materials, read text, watch videos, listen to podcasts, work through problem sets, […] take exams” and “collaborate with other students via listserv and instant messaging.” She communicated with a course adviser through e-mail and could also talk to tutors online.

As for her two greatest concerns — cost and time — StraighterLine allowed her to complete courses as fast as she could work through the material and then begin new ones right away, all at a fraction of the price the same courses would cost on a traditional campus.

Why do we hear so few of these suc-

cess stories? Some fault lies with the online college industry and some with the policymakers who govern it.

Online colleges are for-profit ventures, which creates perverse incentives for administrators balancing concerns about students and revenue. While Carey speculates that universities could eventually collapse under pressure from online alternatives in a fashion reminiscent of newspapers, it may actually be for-profit colleges that best resemble the newspaper industry. Like newspapers, online colleges face tradeoffs between efficiency and the quality of their product. How many executives and investors would eschew the former in favor of the latter?

Thus, many papers are cutting staff and shrinking their coverage, and there is plenty of evidence showing that online colleges are driven by a desire to maximize profit without regard for students.

A report released in early August by the Government Accountability Office highlighted illegal or unethical practices at every one of the 15 for-profit colleges investigated. Four attempted to defraud the government by suggesting ways applicants could lie on their financial aid forms, “and all 15 mislead potential students about their programs’ cost, quality and duration, or the average salary of graduates,” according to an Aug. 4 New York Times article.

Policymakers also deserve criticism for not addressing the regulations governing higher education, which are stifling innovation and protecting the status quo in an industry that could use some shaking up. As Carey writes, “The most prestigious accredi-

tors will only recognize institutions: organizations with academic departments, highly credentialed faculty, bureaucrats, libraries and all the other pricey accoutrements of the modern university. These things make higher education more expensive, and they’re not necessary if all you want to do is offer standard introductory courses online,” which is StraighterLine’s business model.

But such companies will never attract students without being accredited. When some for-profit colleges can remain accredited while deceiving students and committing fraud, and others trying to deliver a better product are forced to find ways around the rules, the regulations need rethinking.

There’s a strong argument to be made that the importance of college is vastly overstated, and that many people would benefit more from technical training than from a bachelor’s degree. But it is undeniable that in many sectors, a college education is now essentially a requirement for workers, and that on average, college-educated students make much more than those who only complete high school.

While many online colleges suffer from high dropout rates and leave their students jobless and debt-ridden, the potential online education holds should be obvious to anyone who has used a computer. With our workforce struggling and the economy stagnant, it’s more important than ever that politicians make it easier for forwardthinking ventures to offer students new, quality choices in higher education.

OP-ED POLICY The Op-Ed Op-ed section of the Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. Op-Ed Op-ed welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. All material is subject to editorial discretion, and is not guaranteed to appear in The Tufts Daily. All material should be submitted by no later than 1 p.m. on the day prior to the desired day of publication. Material must be submitted via e-mail (oped@tuftsdaily.com) attached in .doc or .docx format. Questions and concerns should be directed to the Op-Ed Op-ed editors. The opinions expressed in the Op-ed Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Tufts Daily itself.

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All classifieds submitted by mail must be accompanied by a check. Classifieds are $15 per week or $4 per day with Tufts ID or $30 per week or $8 per day without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature, or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.

Team has all week to prepare for homecoming clash FIELD HOCKEY continued from page 12

JAMES CHOCA/TUFTS DAILY

Senior quad-captain Caitlin Updike, who over the weekend helped the volleyball team to a third straight MIT Invitational title, spikes the ball toward a helpless defender.

Jumbos have not dropped set in weeks VOLLEYBALL continued from page 12

nor Vassar put up more than 16 points against Tufts in a given set.

“It was a long tournament and we got kind of tired by the end, but our defense was impeccable, and we played all out,” sophomore setter Kendall Lord said. Lord was named to the All-Tournament team.

The Jumbos also got a boost from their serving game, with nine aces against Williams.

In the Wellesley match, Tufts notched eight aces as well as countless strong serves that forced the Blue out of its comfort zone on offense.

“We take our serving very seriously because it’s the first

attack we have on the other team,” Updike said. “[Against Wellesley] we didn’t get that many kills, but we served them tough and got them out of their offense and made them unable to set to the middle, which made their offense more predictable.”

The four victories this weekend pushed Tufts’ record to 10-2 on the season. Since losing the third set to Gettysburg College on Sept. 11 at the Emory Classic, the Jumbos have been a perfect 25-for-25 in sets, showing an ability to close out matches with ruthless determination.

“We’ve done a good job of not letting teams back into matches,” Kuan said. “We’ve

finished strong and had a kind of ‘show no mercy’ attitude.”

This attitude will be put to the test on Tuesday when the Jumbos head to UMass Boston for a showdown with the Beacons, a squad with whom Tufts split a two-match regular season series last season, with both matches going to the fiveset limit. The No. 1 ranking in New England will likely go to the victor, and despite this season’s infancy, the Jumbos realize the importance of setting the tone as the top team in the region early on.

“They’re the top-ranked team in New England right now, so it should be fun to see how we do with them,” Updike said.

gone,” Brown said. “But I think it showed we need to work on finishing because we had a lot of really good passing, but we weren’t putting it in the goal.”

After the intermission, Tufts picked up right where it left off, continually challenging Wesleyan’s defensive unit for the first five minutes. Then, at 30:05, the Jumbos struck gold as senior co-captain Jess Perkins collected a penalty corner insert and slammed it toward net. Brown was waiting and redirected the ball past Redding to put Tufts on the board 1-0.

Unfortunately for the Jumbos, it seemed the team let out a sigh of relief just a little too soon.

Almost exactly 10 minutes later, Tufts’ defense left senior midfielder Jamie Thabault unmarked at the top of the circle. With time to wind up, Thabault sent a hard ball to the left of the cage, where Wesleyan sophomore Taryn Murray was waiting in scoring position. Murray then sent it to the opposite corner of the goal, just out of reach of junior keeper Marianna Zak. “For most of the game, they hadn’t given us that much pressure on defense,” junior defender Taylor Dyer said. “I think when they came down, we were caught on our heels — we probably didn’t have the sense of urgency or aggression that we should have.”

Energized by the gametying goal, Wesleyan continued to put pressure on Tufts’ back line. But Dyer and classmate Sarah Cannon denied any second opportunity for the Cardinals and transitioned the ball to the offense, which scrambled to win it in the final minutes. Despite earning four penalty corners and several just-misses, time ran out on the Jumbos with the score deadlocked at 1-1.

“We practice overtime a lot,” Dyer said. “We try to prepare for any situation that could occur during games.

We went into it saying it doesn’t matter who scores or how they score, we just have to do everything in our power to not let them score … and do it as soon as possible.”

In extra minutes, seven Jumbos took the field determined to send the Cardinals home quickly. But the exhausted defense gave up a

penalty corner just over five minutes into the third period.

Zak quickly became the hero of the day, though, denying two consecutive shots for her only two saves in the last two games. On a hard clear, the offense took over and controlled the ball for the rest of the game.

It did not take the offense long, either. At midfield, Dyer pushed a Wesleyan player off the ball to hit sophomore Lia Sagerman streaking up the right side. Brown saw the play unfolding and met Sagerman’s cross in front of the net, finishing it with a hard slap shot to the right of Redding. As the sound reached the crowd, the bench rushed the field to celebrate as the team moved to a perfect 5-0 on the season (3-0 NESCAC). Wesleyan dropped to 4-1 (2-1 NESCAC).

“I think the number one feeling was relief,” Brown said. “Wesleyan was having a great season — we couldn’t base this game on any past seasons because this is the best season they ever had, and I think it could be an important win down the road in terms of NESCAC standings, so we were all happy to put it away.”

Tufts will have plenty of time to rest up after the emotionally draining game as they do not return to the field until Saturday’s homecoming matchup with Bates.

Bates, which sits in last place in the league, has been battered in NESCAC play.

Regardless, no team has a bigger target on its back than Tufts, and the empowering effect that this can have on opponents was proven this weekend. The Jumbos will need to shut out the Bobcats early to ensure a win in front of homecoming fans.

“I think the pattern we’re seeing is that we’re letting teams hang with us for too long,” Brown said. “And the longer they stay in the game, the more they think they can beat us. We need to score early and show that we’re the No. 3 team for a reason and not save it for the end of the half or second half … or overtime.”

“We love NESCAC games,” Dyer said. “We have a lot of time to prepare and adjust to Bates’ style of play and we are taking them just as seriously as any other opponent because anything can happen in the NESCAC.”

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Monday, September 27, 2010

11

SPORTS

Tufts football excited to play in new offensive formation OFFENSE continued from page 12

needed to run the old style of offense. That, coupled with the glut of weapons returning at the skill positions, made the switch a natural fit.

“If you’re good enough, you’re probably not at Division III; you’re probably in the Ivy Leagues or the Patriot League or even higher,” Civetti said, referring to the NESCAC’s lack of top-tier fullbacks. “After losing [fullback] Kevin Anderson (LA ’09) two years ago, it wasn’t that we didn’t have guys who we weren’t sure couldn’t step up in those positions, but we thought they could help us more on defense, so that’s why we kind of went to this.”

The Jumbos rolled through the first half of the game on the element of surprise, building up a 14-3 lead at the break, thanks in part to a 52-yard bomb down the middle to senior tri-captain Pat Bailey from classmate and fellow tri-captain Anthony Fucillo, who was playing in his first regular season game since 2008 after missing all of ’09 with a leg injury.

The Jumbos were equally productive in the second half, sustaining an eight-play series that culminated in a two-yard scoring pass from Fucillo to senior wideout Billy Mahler, who accounted for 50 of the drive’s 76 yards.

“I think [Hamilton] struggled a lot, adjusting to what we were giving them,” Fucillo said. He finished with 255 yards and two scores despite being pulled as a precautionary measure midway through the third quarter due to a thumb injury. “They had to stay in a lot of the same coverages, a lot of the same blitzes, a lot of the same looks because they didn’t really have a chance to change

JAMES CHOCA/TUFTS DAILY

Senior quarterback Anthony Fucillo threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns in Tufts’ new spread offense as the team defeated Hamilton 21-10. because it was so fast. I think a lot of teams probably knew we were going to run a spread-type offense after the scrimmage … but I don’t think teams can prepare for how fast you’re going to be, for the tempo.”

Down early and without time to switch looks on defense, Hamilton resorted to constantly blitzing, something Tufts hopes to take advantage of in the future.

“It’s really tough to defend, and as we get better at it, people

start to take chances,” coach Bill Samko said. “On that one drive when we scored, they were blitzing us every single down. And if you can pick it the right way, well what do you want, fast death or slow death?”

“It’s all about the tempo and getting into a rhythm,” Mahler, who finished with a game-high six catches and 85 yards, said.

“And when we do that, the defense doesn’t have time to react, they get tired, they don’t have the opportunity to make

Spread offense successful in season opener despite learning curve FOOTBALL continued from page 12

be one,” Tufts head coach Bill Samko said.

“A very well-designed play, I must say.”

While the offense was fine-tuning its new approach, the Jumbos’ defense held its ground. Despite giving up 90 rushing yards to Hamilton junior running back Dylan Isenberg in the first half, the defense held the Continentals in check for most of the game, conceding a lone touchdown late in the fourth quarter long after the result had been decided.

“I definitely saw more penetration from the defensive line and defense in general than the scrimmage,” junior tricaptain defensive end Donnie Simmons said. “I also saw a little more gang tackling. A lot more people running to the ball, a lot more energy, a lot more push and drive.”

“I think [junior linebacker] Ferras [Albitar] had an unbelievable game; the D-line had a great game; Diss had a great game,” senior linebacker Matt Murray said. “[It was] just a complete team effort.”

The Jumbos had a scare in the third quarter when Fucillo, who had been marching the Jumbos down the field on a drive that featured five consecutive completions, injured his hand on a fourth-down run. Fucillo, who missed all of last season because of a broken leg, created a feeling of déjà vu for the Tufts faithful who watched him clutch his hand as he walked off the field.

Fucillo returned to the field the following drive but then sat out the rest of the game as a precaution while the quarterbacking duties were delegated to sophomore John Dodds.

“It was just kind of a precautionary thing,” Fucillo said of spending the final three possessions on the sideline. “It was also good to get John Dodds in there; [he] looked great again, just like in the scrimmage.”

Senior Billy Mahler, who scored Tufts’

final touchdown on a 2-yard reception in the third quarter, was one of Fucillo’s favorite targets and finished the game with six receptions for 85 yards.

Classmate Greg Stewart chipped in with five catches for 67 yards.

Tufts did not move the ball much on the ground, which came as a result of the team’s new spread offense. The Jumbos netted just 67 yards on the ground, often on plays in which freshman running back Ryan Pollock was put in motion into the backfield and ran for short yardage up the middle.

“I think Ferras had an unbelievable game; the D-line had a great game; Diss had a great game. [It was] just a complete team effort.”

Matt Murray senior linebacker

With a victory over the Continentals, Tufts improved its opening day record since 2000 to 8-3. Tufts will now be gearing up for its homecoming game this week against the Bates Bobcats, who were blown out 44-0 this weekend during a visit to reigning NESCAC champions Amherst. Despite their satisfaction with the opening day win, the Jumbos are already focused on next week’s affair.

“It was good to see us play together for the first time,” Simmons said. “The sky’s the limit for us; that was just the beginning.”

To view highlights of the Jumbos’ win over the Continentals, visit blogs.tuftsdaily.com/thescore

substitutions and are forced to run a base defense. Then, we can just pick them apart.”

However, as with any newly implemented strategy, the spread system had its hiccups. Tufts only had six minutes of possession in the first half, thanks in large part to Continentals junior running back Dylan Isenberg, who nearly equaled his 2009 rushing production (97 yards) in the first two quarters on Saturday (90 yards).

These mistakes, according to the players, can be fixed, espe-

cially when the team has time to dissect film before Saturday’s homecoming tilt with Bates.

Though minor tweaks will be made, the high-octane offense seems to be here to stay, and the Jumbos are loving every minute of it.

“It’s pretty tiring, but it’s a lot of fun,” Bailey said. “We get to spread the field, which means much more big-play potential … We had a good game today, and we just want to keep the momentum going.”

POWER RANKINGS compiled by the tufts daily

The Middlebury Panthers took the biggest hit in this week’s installment of the NESCAC power rankings, falling from second overall to fourth, primarily due to the 1-2-1 in-conference record of their women’s soccer team. As a result, Tufts was the biggest winner, thanks in large part to a historic tie from its men’s soccer team, and overtook Amherst and Middlebury for its highest ranking of the season.

After a brief stint in seventh place, Trinity reclaimed its spot in the middle of the pack, settling into fifth place after a seventh-place showing in Week 2. The bottom four all remained unchanged.

THIS WEEK

SCHOOL

FOOTBALL

MEN’S SOCCER

WOMEN’S SOCCER

FIELD HOCKEY

VOLLEYBALL

AVERAGE

1

WILLIAMS

2.00

1.67

1.33

7.50

4.33

3.37

1

2

TUFTS

5.67

5.67

4.17

1.33

1.50

3.67

4

3

AMHERST

1.83

3.00

2.17

5.33

6.83

3.83

3

4

MIDDLEBURY

4.00

1.83

6.83

5.67

4.00

4.47

2

5

TRINITY

2.33

8.67

3.00

3.50

5.67

4.63

7

6

BOWDOIN

6.67

6.33

6.00

2.00

3.67

4.93

5

7

CONN. COLLEGE

—

6.33

9.50

5.67

2.33

5.96

6

8

WESLEYAN

5.83

6.33

5.83

5.00

7.83

6.17

8

9

COLBY

8.33

8.00

8.50

9.00

9.67

8.70

9

10

BATES

10.00

7.17

7.67

10.00

9.17

8.80

10

11

HAMILTON

8.33

—

—

—

11.00

9.67

11

LAST WEEK

The poll was devised as follows: Each voter ranked all NESCAC schools in each sport, and those scores were averaged to create a composite ranking for each sport. The composites were then averaged to determine each school’s overall ranking. Note that Hamilton does not compete in field hockey, men’s soccer or women’s soccer in the NESCAC, and Conn. College does not compete in football.

This week’s list was determined by polling Amro El-Adle (Amherst Student), James Reedy & Seth Walder (Bowdoin Orient), Nick Woolf & Mike Flint (Conn. College Voice), Katie Siegner (Middlebury Campus), Ann Curtis and Emily Gittleman (Trinity Tripod) and Alex Prewitt (Tufts Daily).

DESIGNED BY STEVEN SMITH/TUFTS DAILY

Sports

12

INSIDE NESCAC Power Rankings 11

tuftsdaily.com

FOOTBALL

FOOTBALL

Spread offense and defensive touchdown usher in new decade of Jumbo football

Debut of new hybrid-spread offense a success

BILLY RUTHERFORD

BY

Contributing Writer

BY

Midway through the second quarter of Tufts’ season-opening game against Hamilton on Saturday, with the Jumbos

Fucillo kept his composure, hitting Bailey in stride.

“There were two guys running across the field when there was only supposed to

In years past, Tufts’ offense was run primarily out of an I-formation, twotight-end set, a relatively tedious style of advancing the football. The Jumbos would pound the ball up the middle, spearheaded by a bulldozing fullback, and then throw the ball when necessary.

In short, it was predictable.

So when Hamilton arrived at Zimman Field on Saturday for the season opener, it expected to be greeted by Tufts’ traditional style of attack.

But going up against a Jumbo unit whose motto is to “get comfortable with the uncomfortable,” the Continentals defense struggled when faced with the debut of a high-powered, no-huddle offensive attack that was run out of the shotgun formation with as many as five wide receivers on any given snap.

“We didn’t know,” Hamilton head coach Stephen Stetson said. “And in this league, it’s kind of nuts. You don’t have film on your first opponent, and we didn’t have any film on their offense. It didn’t surprise me because we heard rumors that they would run a lot of passing, and we could’ve done better with it, but they did a great job and moved the ball very well.”

According to Tufts’ offensive coordinator Jay Civetti, one of the architects of the new attack system, Tufts struggled to recruit the tight ends and fullbacks

see FOOTBALL, page 11

see OFFENSE, page 11

FOOTBALL (1-0 NESCAC) Zimman Field, Saturday Hamilton Tufts

0 3 0 0 14 7

7 — 10 0 — 21

leading 7-0, sophomore cornerback Sam Diss found himself on the edge of a play, preparing to defend a simple screen pass. But before he knew it, Hamilton senior quarterback Luke Wilson had overthrown his intended receiver, and Diss was off and running with a 74-yard touchdown interception return that put the Jumbos fully in control.

“I saw the screen coming, so I went up to play it,” Diss said. “Then he overthrew the screen and [the ball] was lying right in my lap.”

The result was never again in question, and the Jumbos cruised to a 21-10 victory at Zimman Field.

With the debut of its fast-paced, hurry-up offense, Tufts was slow to develop a rhythm in the first quarter. With up to five wide receivers in the game at once, the Jumbos at times appeared to be as confused as their opponents.

Nevertheless, the Jumbos broke through offensively early in the second quarter when sixth-year senior quarterback Anthony Fucillo completed a 52-yard pass down the middle of the field to

ALEX PREWITT

Daily Editorial Board

JOSH BERLINGER/TUFTS DAILY

Senior running back Pat Bailey was once again the Jumbos’ deep play threat, scoring on a 52-yard pass early in the second quarter. classmate — and fellow tri-captain — Pat Bailey, the Jumbos’ leader in rushing, receiving and return yards in 2009.

On the play, Bailey had run the wrong route, cutting to the middle of the field instead of to the outside. But

FIELD HOCKEY

VOLLEYBALL

Volleyball team sweeps MIT Invitational BY

BEN KOCHMAN

Daily Editorial Board

Twenty-five up, 25 down.

After starting the season 0-2, the volleyball team has since VOLLEYBALL (3-0 NESCAC, 10-2 Overall) at MIT, Saturday Williams Tufts

14 19 15 — 0 26 25 25 — 3

Wellesley Tufts

16 21 21 — 0 26 25 25 — 3

Cousens Gym, Friday Vassar Tufts

13 16 12 — 0 25 25 25 — 3

Smith Tufts

10 15 11 — 0 25 25 25 — 3

reeled off 10 straight wins — including 25 consecutive winning sets, the longest such streak in the NESCAC since 2000 — to establish itself as one of the top teams in New England. This weekend, the Jumbo victory train rolled on at the MIT Invitational, where Tufts swept its four opponents to win the tournament for the third consecutive year.

“Our ball control is getting better and better, and our team chemistry is improving every match,” senior quad-captain Caitlin Updike said. “We’re really getting into rhythm.”

On Saturday, Tufts dispatched two of its 2009 NCAA New England Regional Tournament opponents — Williams and Wellesley — to take home the MIT Invitational crown. And though the team struggled to find consistent offense, hitting at a .188 percentage against Williams in the semifinals and .110 against Wellesley in the final round, it displayed stout defense in both contests.

Against their NESCAC rival, the Ephs, the Jumbos had 43 total digs, including a teamhigh 16 from junior libero Audrey Kuan, who is also an Online Editor for the Daily.

And in a match with Wellesley that featured rally after long rally, the Jumbos prevailed on the strength of 20 team block assists.

“We worked a lot this week on being really disciplined on defense, and that really showed,” Kuan said. “We also have a really deep bench, and a lot of players who are really good in the back row.”

Tufts’ depth played to its advantage at the MIT tournament, where the Jumbos played four total matches in two days — two at home in Cousens Gymnasium on Friday, while the semis and finals were held at MIT Saturday. Friday saw two easy wins for the Jumbos against Smith College and Vassar College: Neither Smith see VOLLEYBALL, page 10

VIRGINIA BLEDSOE/TUFTS DAILY

Senior Tamara Brown scored seven minutes into overtime, lifting the Jumbos over the Cardinals and preserving the team’s undefeated season.

Tufts pulls out OT win over Wesleyan to remain undefeated BY

CLAIRE KEMP

Daily Editorial Board

The No. 3 field hockey team found itself in an unexpected nail-biter on Saturday against FIELD HOCKEY (3-0 NESCAC, 5-0 OVERALL) Bello Field, Saturday OT Wesleyan 0 1 0 — 1 Tufts 0 1 1 — 2

the then-undefeated Wesleyan Cardinals. Although Tufts controlled the pace of play for most of the game, a desperate Wesleyan team was able to tie the score at 1-1 by the end of regulation time. But the Jumbos proved they could score when it counts when senior Tamara Brown slammed the backboard of the goal to take the 2-1 overtime victory.

The Jumbos dominated the entire first half, allowing the

Cardinals offense only one possession below the 25-yard line. However, Tufts was left scoreless at the end of the period due to impressive goalkeeping from Wesleyan sophomore Tori Redding and several wide shots.

“I think we dominated the first half, and going into halftime at 0-0 wasn’t a good reflection of how the half had see FIELD HOCKEY, page 10