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THE TUFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXV, NUMBER 14

Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

TuftsLife launches new website design, internship by

Annabelle Roberts

Daily Editorial Board

TuftsLife is set to launch a new site design on March 1 to better meet the needs of students, according to TuftsLife Chief Executive Officer Taylor Lentz. Both the aesthetics and organization of the site will be improved in the new website, according to Chief Operating Officer Juan Carlos Montemayor Elousa.

“We get emails and complaints about features that exist but are hard to find or aren’t functional in the right way,” Lentz, a junior, said. “We really wanted to change things to optimize the experience for the users.”

The renewed site will remove underutilized resources, Elosua, a senior, said.

“We got rid of everything that wasn’t really used. There were a lot of links that weren’t clicked. Now it fits to your window so everything you see is very relevant information.”

The new TuftsLife site uses a design model called Responsive Design that optimizes site layout depending on screen size, such as for mobile devices, according to a Feb. 4 blog post on the TuftsLife website.

Lentz and Elosua have been working together on the site for a year, according to Lentz. The release date was planned so that incoming freshmen can become accustomed to using the site before getting to campus, Lentz said.

One feature of the new TuftsLife website will be a section dedicated to useful

web applications called TuftsLife Apps, Elosua said.

“We had a lot of tools on TuftsLife that are hidden by the current implementation,” he said. “So we created a new app section which contains web applications and links that are helpful for Tufts students.”

Creating the web applications involved a major re-organization of the site, according to Elosua.

“We made a list of everything that the site had and made new containers for where to put those items,” Elosua said.

“We reduced a site that previously had one or two pages of content to have four or five divisions that made more sense.”

Web applications currently exist on the TuftsLife website, but they are difficult to find and use, Elosua said. For example, the current site contains a book-swap application, which Elosua admitted he had not even known existed until he starting working on the site. The current website also has a JoeyTracker device and a Ride Board application.

The new website will make it easier to find needed information, Lentz said.“Right now, there could be a hundred announcements posted for one day, and they’d never get seen,” she said.

“We’ve streamlined that process so it’s easier to look for the specific information you want.”

The new web applications will be created by both TuftsLife and Tufts students, see TUFTSLIFE, page 2

Professor reflects on Japanese-American internment for Day of Remembrance

Alonso Nichols / Tufts University Photo

Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Peter Dolan (A78) will replace James Stern (E72) as the Chair of the Board of Trustees starting in November, a decision made during the Feb. 9 Board meeting.

Stern to step down from Board of Trustees, replaced by Dolan by abigail feldman

Daily Editorial Board

The Board of Trustees voted last week to elect Vice Chair Peter Dolan (A’78) as the successor to Board Chair Jim Stern (E 72), who will step down in November after serving on the Board since 1982 and as chair for a decade.

“I think that Tufts is a very special place which I’ve known for a long time, but I’ve grown to believe more and more it’s got a tremendous future with a fantastic leader,” Dolan told the Daily. “I’m really excited about being given the opportunity to contribute to the university as the next chair.”

University President Anthony Monaco

announced the leadership transition in an email to the Tufts community yesterday.

“A great university looks to its Board of Trustees for inspiration, guidance and financial stewardship to support its mission and assure its long-term future,” Monaco said. “Tufts University has been fortunate to have such leadership.”

Dolan was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 2001 and has since become an important member of the university community, according to Monaco. He graduated from the School of Arts and Sciences in 1978 and is the father of a 2008 Tufts graduate. Dolan said he looks forward to a smooth transition to his new role. see TRUSTEES, page 2

Former Greek Life director Paolo charged with embezzlement at R.I. sorority chapter by

Audrey Michael

Daily Editorial Board

Misako Ono for The Tufts Daily

Professor of History Takashi Fujitani, director of the David Chu Program in AsiaPacific Studies at the University of Toronto, discussed the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-American relations for the Day of Remembrance at the Cabot Intercultural Center ASEAN Auditorium last night. The event, titled “Japanese-American Internment and the Competition of Empire during WWII,” was funded by the Arts, Sciences and Engineering Diversity Fund and co-sponsored by the Asian American Center and the American Studies Program.

Inside this issue

Months after ending her brief tenure at Tufts last winter, former Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Tanya McGinn Paolo was charged in October with embezzling over $160,000 from the University of Rhode Island’s (URI) Alpha Phi sorority chapter.

Rhode Island State Police arrested Paolo in Rhode Island on Oct. 17, and earlier this month, Paolo attended a pre-trial conference at the Washington County Superior Court, according to Rhode Island Judiciary records. The records state that the case appears to be pending further investigation.

Paolo assumed her position as the head of Greek life on the Hill in the summer of 2010, and Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman confirmed her abrupt departure a few months later in Feb. 2011. Paolo’s exit from Tufts had no connection with the charges brought against her this fall, Reitman said. Complaints regarding her embezzlement were first brought to Rhode

Island State Police in March 2011.

“Tanya left Tufts before this incident, and it had nothing to do with Tufts,” Reitman told the Daily in an email.

Reitman didn’t elaborate on the reason for her departure out of concern for her privacy.

Former Coordinator of Orientation and Administration in the Undergraduate Orientation Office Jamie Engle served as interim director after Paolo’s departure until the university hired current Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Su McGlone to replace Paolo in July 2011.

Paolo joined Tufts as the director of Greek life in September 2010 after the position was vacant for a year, during which Reitman served as interim director. The previous director, Patrick Romero-Aldaz, left Tufts to become the director of fraternity and sorority life at the University of South Florida in June 2009.

Paolo’s exit added another disruption to a period of a lack of stable see PAOLO, page 2

Today’s sections

New season of “Project Runway” loses competitive edge with team-based projects and competitions.

Tufts faculty consider merit of virtual, onlinebased learning with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

see ARTS, page 5

see FEATURES, page 3

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Letters

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Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

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News

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Zhuangchen Zhou / The Tufts Daily

TuftsLife CEO Taylor Lentz, a junior, and COO Juan Carlos Montemayor Elousa, a senior, are set to launch a new design for the site on March 1.

TuftsLife to launch internship program, revamp site with new look TUFTSLIFE

continued from page 1

Lentz said.

“When any Tufts students who want to create content or feel passionate about something that should exist for Tufts, it’ll be there,” she said.

Lentz noted that a Tufts graduate stu-

dent wanted to make an app that would more effectively connect her to undergraduates interested in getting involved with her research.

TuftsLife will also be starting a new internship program to boost student involvement in the website, Montemayor Elosua said. The internship would offer

both developer and user-interface design positions. The interns, according to Elosua, would work on creating studentrequested projects.

“We have pages of requests from students about things that could fit into the app section and they would love us to have, but we don’t have the resources to build

these free tools for Tufts,” Lentz said.

Despite many new improvements and aspects to the TuftsLife site, Montemayor Elosua and Lentz declined to comment in more detail on other aspects of the new website.”We do want to keep things secret so that people have something to look forward to,” Elosua said.

Former Greek Life director charged with embezzlement from Rhode Island sorority

PAOLO

continued from page 1

leadership in the Tufts Greek community, according to Eric Swanson (A’12), who served as Inter-Greek Council (IGC) President when Paolo departed.

“When she left, it was a bit frustrating because we had made strides in the past four months,” he said. “One day she was there, and the next she was no longer acting in the position.”

Swanson was surprised about the circumstances surrounding Paolo’s arrest.

“I was shocked to hear [about Paolo’s arrest],” he said.

“She was very professional.”

Paolo allegedly embezzled while serving as corporation board president of URI’s Iota Delta chapter of Alpha Phi from 2003 to 2009, according to a Narragansett Patch article. Her

position was voluntary, Alpha Phi Executive Director Linda Kahangi said in a statement to WPRI-TV, a local Rhode Island television station.

“Alpha Phi is disappointed to acknowledge the arrest of Tanya McGinn Paolo, a former volunteer, suspected of embezzling funds from Alpha Phi’s local housing corporation at the University of Rhode Island,” Kahangi told WPRITV station.

“Because Ms. Paolo’s actions are contrary to Alpha Phi’s policies and values, her membership with the organization has been terminated.”

Paolo served as the Alpha Phi Northeast Regional Manager from 1999 to 2003 and was a member of Alpha Phi when she attended Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas as an undergraduate.

Virginia Bledsoe / The Tufts Daily

Tanya McGinn Paolo, who served as Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs at Tufts for just over a semester last year before her abrupt departure from the Hill, is now facing charges of embezzlement from the University of Rhode Island’s Alpha Phi chapter.

Dolan bring extensive leadership experience on the Hill to chair position TRUSTEES

continued from page 1

“Jim Stern has done an unbelievably good job,” Dolan said. “He’s a great friend, and I look forward to working with him to what I think will be a very smooth transition in board leadership.”

Dolan said he plans to being his own approach to “leveraging” the collective experiences of the Board’s 40 members in Tufts’ interest.

“While that objective doesn’t change, maybe how I might go about approaching that in the future will be a reflection of my own experiences, just as the current chair’s was a reflection of his,” he said.

Another key responsibility of the chair is to give advice and support to the President’s initiatives, Dolan said.

“The importance of helping to make sure that the financial resources that are required to deliver on the strategic initiatives the university has is obviously a

critical role of the chair and of the complete board,” he explained.

Dolan has been a member of eight Board committees and has led four of them, including the Presidential Search Committee that selected Monaco as the successor of university president emeritus Lawrence Bacow. Stern emphasized transparency during the process of finding a new president for the university, seeking input from across Tufts’ campuses. “[The search] was a great opportunity to listen to students and administration and faculty across the three campuses and learn more about Tufts,” he said. “I got really good experience at the board level with a variety of assignments that I’ve had.”

His previous leadership roles outside of Tufts include a stint as the CEO of global pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb and Chair and CEO of Gemin X, an oncology company, Monaco said.

He now serves as a director of Vitality

Health and an advisory board member of Valence Life Sciences Fund.

Monaco also noted that Dolan holds other positions at peer schools as a member of the Board of Overseers at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a member of the Board of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. “[Dolan] is the chair of ChildObesity180, a multi-sector alliance of national leaders including Tufts that is committed to reversing the childhood obesity trend, and has helped to raise $16 million for the initiative,” Monaco said in his email. “He is also a board member of the Partnership for a Healthier America; supporters of this nonpartisan nonprofit include honorary co-chair Michelle Obama and some of the nation’s most respected health and childhood obesity advocates.”

Besides running these positions, Dolan also works to improve health through

volunteering and donating, Monaco said.

He also has run several marathons and triathlons, including the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon in 2007 and the Boston Marathon with his family in 2009.

“As you can see from Peter’s background, he is truly an accomplished leader and an active citizen in the finest tradition of Tufts,” he said.

According to the Office of Trustees’ website, Stern was the youngest person ever to ever receive a position on the Board at the age of 32. Monaco cited Stern’s numerous achievements in raising money for the university, including two campaigns that together raised almost $2 billion.

“He has guided four Tufts presidents, and I count myself extremely fortunate to have had his counsel and support during my first two years at Tufts,” Monaco said.

Lizz Grainger contributed reporting to this article.

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

Falcon Reese | Tongues Tied

Laverne & Shirley

W daily file photo

With the advent of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), financial viability and effectiveness of college courses called into question.

Massive Open Online Courses pioneer in education technology Tufts moves towards virtual classes by

Caitlin McClure Daily Staff Writer

It’s a green light at the intersection of education and technology, as universities across the country are moving full speed ahead toward new models for an virtualized classroom.

One popular model, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), gives thousands of students access to university courses online for free. Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) partnered to pilot MOOCs using the platform edX last April, and universities around the country have since followed suit. Many now offer their courses without the admissions requirements for these prestigious institutions, and, more significantly, without the price tag.

Like many other universities, Tufts is now grappling with the whether to offer MOOCs. “Where do we want to place Tufts in enhancing our residential teaching mission, as well as thinking about ways in which we can engage the wider world using online technology, either by joining something like Coursera or edX or some other bigger MOOC?” University President Anthony Monaco told the Daily in an article published Dec. 4. “These are questions that were asking our faculty and students and trying to get a perspective and a direction of travel,” Monaco said.

One advantage would be promotional, according to Patrick Connell, Manager of Educational Technology at the Friedman School of Nutrition.

“If Tufts were to roll out courses and thousands of students took them, there would be exposure to some of Tufts’ knowledge and faculty,” Connell said. “Although, there are already upwards of 50 institutions participating so it’s not like Tufts is at the forefront of this. That ship has sailed.”

The provision of free knowledge to students all over the globe would be in line with Tufts ongoing mission of active citizenship, according to Assistant Professor of Computer Science Ben Shapiro.

These new platforms have raised questions about academic integrity, accreditation, returns on investment and revenue models that have yet to be answered, according to Connell. Shapiro also expressed doubts concerning MOOCs applicability at Tufts.

“One of the things that was alluring to me about coming to Tufts was the smallness,” Shapiro said. “If we’re going to go in the MOOC direction, we would potentially lose some of what makes Tufts special. There’s a lot of great teaching here, but a lot of the best teaching takes advantage of the smallness and intimacy of the classroom.”

Senior Sabrina Gordon predicted that money would be a large factor in any future decisions.

“Tufts will have to prove their worth, sell the fact that they are worth the money more so than they do right now,” Gordon said.

She added that lower-level educational institutions would be more at risk in future competition with a free option, especially if professors from prestigious universities taught virtual classes.

While MOOCs have certainly changed the conversation about the future of the education industry, the verdict is still out.

Massive Open Online Courses are not the only model that will be competing in the future of education, according to Charlie Rabie, Professor of the Practice at the Tufts Gordon Institute.

“The velocity of change in this whole space is changing rapidly, and MOOC is a major part of it, but there are also other opportunities beginning to emerge,” Rabie said. “Some of these look more like the Tufts model — high-tech, high-touch — where you still try to keep the intimacy of the classroom, but you do it virtually.”

Many top engineers and professors in the Center for Engineering Education Outreach (CEEO) are currently exploring ways to tap into new advances in technology within a smaller classroom setting in order to enhance the learning experience.

“Even with a small class size of 20, in a full conversation you don’t understand what all people are thinking within a room because you don’t have time to hear what all people are saying,” Research Assistant Professor of Computer Science Ethan Danahy said.

Danahy explained that he is currently exploring ways to use technology to increase participation, including “flipping the classroom,” which uses online video technologies similar to those pioneered by MOOC platforms, but utilized on a much smaller scale. Danahy successfully ”flipped” his introductory robotics class this past fall. He recorded his lectures in small bites, which he assigned for homework, freeing up inclass time for collaborative group projects, during which he could offer students oneon-one assistance.

“I was able to go in and engage with the students, learn who they were. I learned their particular needs and was able to tailor what I was doing that particular day to what their interest and learning styles were,” Danahy said. “That style of engagement, for me, was an exciting change.”

According to Danahy, summer classes at Tufts are entering the third year of serving as a pilot program for virtual classes. Some professors are experimenting with hybrid models, in which the class meets occasionally but the majority takes place remotely.

At the Tufts Gordon Institute for Engineering Management and Entrepreneurship, professors such as Charlie Rabie are developing new models that embrace the use of virtual technologies.

As part of Rabie’s Entrepreneurship and Business Planning class, graduate students engage in semester-long group projects, but traditionally struggle to find time and class-

room space on campus, as they often work during the day and far away from campus.

This semester, Rabie formed virtual meeting rooms to supplement the face-to-face time.

“We now have a private meeting room for each of the teams,” Rabie said. “They can video together and share documents using white-boarding capability. All of these capabilities are within our Adobe product. For people who don’t have [many] option[s], this is really quite attractive.”

Additionally, online videos of top professors across many fields explaining difficult concepts can be a resource for professors and students to supplement in-class learning.

“It’s a really good resource for another perspective on the same kind of stuff,” junior Nathan Tarrh said.

“It’s an [augmentation] of what students can get in the classroom. I think it will make me a better teacher,” Shapiro added.

Other organizations are embracing new models that increase the availability of higher education, while avoiding the massive scale of MOOCs in order to address issues such as academic integrity and accreditation.

One startup, 2U.com, has partnered with schools including Duke University, George Washington University, American University, Emory University, University of Notre Dame, Northwestern University and Brandeis University. 2U Inc. develops technology platforms that support the infrastructure, logistics and initial funding for partner universities. This allows the universities to offer their courses for credit online in the form of fulldegree programs, as well as the newly added Semester Online program, which allows students to put together a degree with courses from a variety of partner institutions.

With the current buzz about MOOCs and other virtual education models, many have questioned what the future of the entire education industry will look like.

“Tufts will always be a home for scholars,” Rabie said. “There is always going to be an institution people come to where [they] want to embrace a higher level of education.”

Rabie explained that the cost to attend any school will continue to increase, making MOOCs more economically feasible.

“At some point, the concern would be that the model breaks and it becomes unaffordable for a lot of people,” he said.

However, Danahy maintained that a major component of a Tufts education cannot be bought nor found online and is instead experiential.

“Your Tufts education ... [is] living here; it’s being on a sports team; it’s eating in the dining halls — that make you develop as a person,” Danahy said. “That’s a separate education question than the question about how we effectively deliver the same information and experience for the inclass part.”

hen you think Jews, you probably think Hebrew. I think of eating far too much food as a child and a marginally overbearing family, but you probably think Hebrew. It is, after all, the language of the Torah, the Jewish Bible. But the Hebrew spoken and written today is Modern Hebrew — a revival and an evolution of Biblical Hebrew, yes, but a language that no Jew spoke as their mother tongue for nearly 2,000 years. They spoke Yiddish.

Until its near-extinction during the Holocaust, Yiddish was the first language of millions of Ashkenazi Jews, — these are ethnic Jews, mind you, not necessarily religious ones. Though initially a Germanic language, Yiddish grew to incorporate bits of Hebrew and other languages the Jews encountered over a thousand years, eventually giving birth to a distinct language that flourished in eastern Europe.

Yiddish is never more expressive, creative and colorful than when you’re using it to insult someone. The range of words that exist to execute a searing verbal smack -down is never ending. And a disproportionate amount of those words — of the Yiddish lexicon in general, really — begin with “sch- ”. There’s “schmuck,” “schmekel,” “schmegegge.” My dad’s favorite for me growing up was “schmendrick.” I suppose ‘sch-’ is just a satisfyingly vulgar phoneme.

Oddly enough, a fair fraction of Yiddish insults literally just translate to “penis.”

Seriously. I’m guessing that the variety only exists to fairly represent the range of size, girth and inherent efficacy — or lack thereof — that a penis can have. Perhaps self-confidence was in short supply among European Jews. That, and Victorian sensibilities.

There is a lovely pair of ‘sch-’ words, though, that often work in tandem. They do not translate to “penis,” but can articulate just as well some people’s strong propensity to make you roll your eyes and sigh. They are “schlemiel” and “schlimazel.” The common joke used to illustrate the difference between the two is that a “schlemiel” is the fool who spills a cup of scalding hot coffee on his neighbor. A “schlimazel” is the one who gets spilled on.

A “schlemiel” is a sort of equal-opportunity klutz. They’ll trip over themselves almost daily and most likely pull you down with them. Kind of like being caught in Shamu’s splash zone. The closest English approximation would be “bungler,” but no one who speaks English actually uses that word. “Schlimazel” literally means “crooked luck,” and as such, they are the walking epitome of Murphy’s Law — if some misfortune can befall them, it will. A “schlimazel” would manage to get caught in the crossfire of a police shootout and then be sent to the hospital to have the bullet removed by a blind doctor.

Neville Longbottom is a schlemiel — or at least he was pre-Deathly Hallows, when he was upgraded to magical badass status.

Eugene Horowitz is a schlimazel — you know, that ginger dolt from “Hey Arnold!”

(1996-2004) who attracted lightning bolts and bad juju like a magnet.

It’s a wonder that English can function without such admirably succinct words for such common afflictions. Then again, my perspective may be slightly skewed, as I am both a schlemiel and a schlimazel. Cracking my ribs after falling off a swing set built for five-year-olds was hardly the work of an Olympic gymnast.

But doing it twice, and then proceeding to fall off my bike in the middle of College Ave., trip and fall over a crack in the sidewalk while running, ski into two trees, run straight through a screen door and both crash my car and get it towed within the same week is just bad luck.

Right?

Falcon Reese is a junior majoring in sociology. He can be reached at Falcon.

Reese@tufts.edu.

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TV Review

Rebecca Santiago | Is So Vain

‘Project Runway’ changes for the worse

by Jaqueline

Noack

Daily Editorial Board

“Project Runway” was one of the first competition-based reality shows that focused on talent and innovation,

Project Runway Starring Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Nina Garcia, Zac Posen Airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Lifetime rather than drama and cheap entertainment. The whole idea of this show was to bring designers with entirely different aesthetics and perspectives into one setting and showcase their talents in both individual and group challenges. This allowed for diversity and excitement with each weekly challenge, which ranged from avantgarde looks inspired by the designers’ astrological signs (Season 5) to creating outfits using only candy (Season 10).

The 11th season of “Project Runway,” which premiered Jan. 24, brought with it a couple of big changes, the most important being that every challenge will be a group challenge, meaning that for the rest of the season, the designers will always be divided into two teams competing against one another.

Longtime fans of this once-spectacular show are just as excited as the

Marc Levi via Flickr Creative Commons

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn host a new, changed season of ‘Project Runway.’

Season 11 designers themselves—that is to say, not at all.

The team structure inevitably makes for more drama and less individuality, which may or may not have been a decision made by the producers of this Lifetime network show.

This new structure allows too much

Concert Review

Memory Tapes disappoints at Brighton Music Hall

Odiakosa

On the eve of Winter Storm Nemo, giddy music fans poured into the Brighton Music Hall in anticipation of a night of good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll, temporarily forgetting the imminent snowstorm that was to cover everything in white. Headliner Memory Tapes brought warm, electric vibes in the form of fastpaced, in-your-face rock grooves.

Frontman Dayve Hawk originally started as a solo artist in 2009, garnering recognition from the blogosphere by remixing artists like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and concocting music that was simultaneously dreamy and danceable. He was a forerunner in the genre that would go on to be dubiously termed “chillwave.”

Hawk now tours with a live band that includes an added bassist and drummer, himself on guitar and a mysterious man behind the scenes who appears to be playing dubbed tapes with synthesizer mel-

Theater Review

Dynamic play ‘Servant’ filled with improvisation, fantasy by

Drew Robertson Daily Staff Writer

odies. Throughout the night, Hawk and company worked together to build sublime grooves that seemingly to reach a neverending climax, with each member’s furiously trying to do outdo the others. Memory Tapes was sonically tight and locked into the groove that the headphoned drummer furiously laid down, but the group members never acknowledged one another— or even the crowd, for that matter. Instead, they remained content to entirely focus on building a sonic juggernaut without the least bit of emotion. Hawk burst out into at least two solos per song without any bit of flair or bombast—his voice was ethereal and soothing, singing unintelligible lyrics that one would hope were about comforting ideas. Given the warmth of his music, it was almost disturbing how little personality he and his backing members projected.

The group performed in a business-like, efficient manner, barreling through tracks see MEMORY, page 6

see SERVANT, page 6

Melissa MacEwen / The Tufts Daily

Contributing Writer

see RUNWAY, page 6

Ushered in from the back of the house, two apparent latecomers to the ArtsEmerson production of “The Servant of Two Masters” made a hasty beeline for their seats. Picking their way through the darkened theater and hunching over to avoid obstructing others’ views of the stage, the pair visibly tried to enter without attracting much notice. No such luck: Just before they could take their seats, a voice, loud and clear, greeted them. Pantalone, played by Allen Gilmore, waved and called out to the new arrivals from the stage! Far from remaining covert, they were gently chided for their tardiness and then welcomed with a small round of applause and more than a bit of laughter. An unorthodox beginning, this early impression set the tone for the rest of the evening, making clear that, though based on an 18thcentury text, this ArtsEmerson production is anything but old.

Originally written in 1743 by Carlo Goldoni, “Servant” starts with young Clarice (Adina Verson), who was promised in marriage to her father’s business partner, Federigo Rasponi. Clarice, however, is passionately in love with Silvio (Chivas Michael), and when word of her betrothed’s demise comes, it seems that all is saved. That is, until “Rasponi” and his servant Truffaldino (Steven Epp) come to claim his bride. In fact, the new arrival is truly Beatrice (Sarah Agnew), Rasponi’s sister, who seeks money from the marriage arrangement so that she may marry her own beau, Florindo (Randy Reyes). A romantic comedy in its purest form, “The Servant of Two Masters” delivers love, lust, and hilarious misunderstanding.

However, if the premise does sound dated to you, en garde! As the late audience members quickly discovered, this produc-

Memory Tapes offered a sonically tight and groove-filled set at Brighton Music Hall.

by Jordan

potential for backstabbing and sass on a show that has always been representative of what competitive reality television should be: a showcase of great talent and personal development.

Now that we are three episodes into the current season, it is easy to tell that these new changes are taking time to settle in. Some designers do not work on individual garments and therefore must compromise their aesthetic in order to create garments that represent a cohesive collection.

In this regard, it is hard to showcase truly individual style when everything is dependent on a team mentality.

This new setup also leaves no mystery as to which are the top and bottom looks. In previous episodes, Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors and a guest judge would critique six looks on the runway, and one by one, the audience would find out which three were top looks and which three were bottom ones. Now, Klum simply lists them before the critiques begin, leaving no curiosity or excitement in the judging phase of the show.

Another change that will likely be more monumental than expected is the departure of designer Michael Kors as a permanent judge. After appearing on the show for 10 consecutive years, Kors stepped down due to scheduling conflicts and has since been replaced by designer Zac Posen. Kors struck a perfect balance between Garcia and Klum

That CLEAN laundry smell

L

ast week, I sort of promised to write a column about winter skincare. Given this past weekend’s blizzard, now would be the obvious time to run that.

Well, ha! I have no interest at all in being obvious! Plus, and perhaps more pertinently, I wasn’t able to leave my apartment to buy some of the necessary products for that story. Or, I guess I was able to leave, but I didn’t leave, because I was extremely busy sitting on a couch and drinking wine for three days straight. Worry not, there’s plenty of winter to go.

Now that I’ve buried the lede under two paragraphs (much in the way snow has blanketed our campus? Grasping at straws, I know), I can introduce the actual point of this article. Which is: smelling like clean laundry even if you’re a disgusting person, like me.

The blizzard is relevant, you see, because I festered in my apartment and refused to do anything useful with myself for its duration.

By “anything useful,” I mean that I didn’t shower or chip away at the small mountain of laundry in my room.

Oh, and this is the grossest part, which I am only confessing because I am honest and brave and expect to get praised accordingly: I’ve been wearing the same pair of yoga pants for, like, a week. I mean, on and off, but way more on than off.

And yet! Despite my unsanitary tendencies, I think I smelled pretty great all weekend. The trick? CLEAN fragrances — perfume, in my case, but the brand also makes eau de toilettes, moisturizers, shower gels, hair mists and body mists.

I’ve gone through phases with many different scents, but nothing makes me stupidcalm like the smell of clean laundry, fresh from the dryer. The four times I’ve actually done laundry this academic year, I’ve wanted to curl into the piles of unfolded clothes like a cat and just...inhale.

“If that’s the case,” you might ask, “why not treat Febreze like perfume and be done with it?” Look, I’ve tried that, and Febreze is cloying and overbearing on the skin. I was super-conscious of wearing a scent all day, and it shouldn’t be like that. Also, duh, Febreze is kind of a cleaning product, and you really shouldn’t douse yourself with cleaning products.

CLEAN fragrances, on the other hand, are intended for the human body, and you can tell. They’re sophisticated, featuring hints of bergamot and limoncello and what-haveyou, but very no-nonsense all the same.

All you need to know is, when you spritz CLEAN Fresh Laundry onto your wrist, you’re not going to be overwhelmed by hints of citrus and florals and woodsy musk. It lives up to its name. Same goes for the brand’s Warm Cotton scent. With amber as one of its three base notes, Warm Cotton is a little heavier, but that’s not a bad thing if you love burrowing your face into hot, clean towels like I do.

Both of these fragrances smell tumbled-dry and dreamy. You might start spraying your room and your clothes with them, which would be stupid, because a one-ounce bottle of either will set you back $38.

I think these are both technically perfumes, but they’re sold on both the men’s and women’s sections of CLEAN’s website, and the bottles and scents are very unisex. If you’re of the male persuasion and perfume makes you uncomfortable, CLEAN’s Shower Fresh eau de toilette is nice, but much more spicy and complex.

It comes down to this, I guess: Would you rather smell like clean laundry, or smell like you’re covering up not having any clean laundry?

That’s what I thought.

Rebecca Santiago is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at rebecca.santiago@tufts.edu, or on Twitter at @rebsanti.

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Arts & Living

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

‘Memory Tapes’ gives disheartening performance MEMORY

continued from page 5

Courtesy of Richard Termine/ArtsEmerson

‘The Servant of Two Masters’ made great use of props, such as the single curtain to enforce the sense of fantasy present throughout.

‘Servant’ delights as modern take on classic drama SERVANT

continued from page 5

tion directed by Christopher Bayes revels in the unpredictable. While all engaging dramas must appear unrehearsed, Bayes’s “Servant” goes one step further to create true spontaneity; it incorporates known characters and a set plot while making room for situational ad-libbing and significant improvisation. This dramatic choice strips the story down to a skeleton and then allows the director, cast, musicians and crew to do what they do best: create.

Through the rehearsal and performance process, that “skeleton” is a work in progress, fleshed-out with inside jokes and outside references that foster a feeling of playful camaraderie among all participants.

The theme of “play” is reflected in all parts of the production. Wonderfully fanciful costumes, such as Clarice’s bow-laden dress, Florindo’s exaggerated wig and the expressive masks on a few (but not

all) characters brilliantly evoke images of dress-up attire and encourage free, romping movement that traditional or periodaccurate costumes never could. Adding to this effect are model-like structures, each only a few feet high, dotted around the perimeter of the stage. These imply a village setting, but, because they clearly do not belong to the same scale as the actors, also reinforce the fantasy. A simple sheet, a mimic of the traditional dramatic curtain, hangs center stage and is the primary prop shared by the actors. Least realistic of all, the two musicians who accompany the performance sit on stage with the actors, responding to them and inserting their own musical jokes, a true highlight.

Together, these elements, by reminding the audience that what they are seeing is not legitimate, break down the fourth wall.

While in some situations this bending of the rules might make viewers uncomfortable, here it works—and the result is pure

Humdrum 2013 Grammys unfold smoothly with predictable wins It’s safe to say that at this year’s Grammy Awards, no one really stole the show. Actually, “safe” is a pretty good word to describe the entire night, as basically everyone came out a winner in some area or another. The Black Keys took home Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song (“Lonely Boy”), as well as Best Rock Album (“El Camino”), making it look as though they would be the big winners of the evening.

However, Fun. established a name for itself (if the group hadn’t already by means of its singles incessantly playing on the radio) by winning Song of the Year with “We Are Young” and Best New Artist. Everyone’s favorite Belgian-Australian Gotye got Best Alternative Music Album, Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo Performance for his wellknown “Somebody That I Used To Know” featuring Kimbra.

The Grammys couldn’t let those be the only rockers taking home a shiny trophy, though, as Mumford & Sons stuck it out to get Album of the Year (“Babel”). On a side note, Frank Ocean won Best Urban Contemporary Album, the Grammys’ newest award category and one that was almost definitely created for the sole purpose of giving Frank Ocean a Grammy.

The live performances, which seem to increasingly consume

the airtime of the awards ceremony, were a mixed bag of understated but fantastic performances and some ridiculous attempts to go “outside the box.” Taylor Swift opened with “We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together,” and her Alice in Wonderland-meets-circus ringleader getup appeared over the top and far from the simple girl-with-a-guitar look from early on in her career.

Rihanna’s performance of “Stay” with newcomer Mikky Ekko was unexpected in its subtlety and deservedly received an extended applause. While the audience could respect the Grammys’ attempt at coupling youngster Ed Sheeran with Sir Elton John, their voices didn’t mesh well. Sir Elton appeared much more at home jamming with Mumford & Sons during a tribute to the late Levon Helm.

One of the best performances of the night came from Miguel and rapper Wiz Khalifa with their “Adorn,” and while the track and live performance may be better off sans Khalifa, Miguel’s unreal vocals defy any complaints.

—by Claire Felter

fun. The success of this theatrical experiment speaks to the skill and creativity of its cast, especially in an ensemble piece such as “Servant.”

Fully drawn into the action, we do not mind when Truffaldino flickers the lights with a plainly visible, oversized switch, or takes the purse of that lady in the front row. We can fully savor Florindo’s too-sexy swagger and the few beautiful songs that punctuate the drama. No, it’s not realistic, but it doesn’t pretend to be.

Instead of clinging to what is “believable” in the real world, the production frees the audience of that expectation,.

The result is that in a few delightful moments it’s possible to forget any world but the make-believe one on stage. Thus, if this “Servant” is not lifelike, it is alive, and involves both the audience and cast in something truly exciting, from curtain-up to the last “bravo!”

without a moment’s hesitation. Sadly, this translated into an almost complete lack of crowd participation. Frontman Hawk had nothing at all to say between songs and didn’t even bother to introduce his band when he got on stage. They didn’t even try to engage with their rabid and clamoring fans, instead spending the entire performance looking down at the ground or their instruments.

The sonics were groovy and bodacious but were marred by the accompanying visual of instrumentalists more or less standing there in their own little worlds. The group didn’t reciprocate the energy that the crowd was throwing back at them, making their performance feel mechanical and unemotional. Frontman Hawk didn’t even look up when a rabid fan cajoled the alreadyanimated crowd to get even more hyped-up for what was clearly his favorite band. The audience cheered, only to be ignored by the jaded, or faded, band members.

The second opening group, Teen, managed to offset Memory Tapes’ passiveness with an energetic and spunky set. The all-girl group was genuinely excited to be performing new material from its upcoming album. The group’s setup was unique, with the basic rhythm section of bassist and drummer accompanied by a synthesizer and a guitarist playing floating melodic lines rather than heavy power chords. The guitarist also had singing duties, effortlessly belting out R&B-style vocals while dancing in place.

The image of four females rocking out was incredibly captivating, and they shared an energy onstage that was contagious to all in attendance. Even the most hardened Bostonian found himself quietly grooving to the cacophony of girl-power sound emanating from the speakers. Their musical style was subtly nostalgic, harkening back to the ’90s and ’80s when all-girl groups were more of a reality. They subtly utilized reverb on the guitar and synthesizer to create a feeling of distance, and distortion on the guitar added a lo-fi effect. When the lead singer sang, “Here’s your ticket to paradise,” everyone in attendance was flown away to a tropical locale far, far away from the torrential snowstorm awaiting them outside.

‘Project Runway’ disappoints in Season 11 RUNWAY

continued from page 5

and contributed hilarious and sassy critiques such as, “The inspiration was MC Hammer meets the Beverly Hillbillies grandmother,” and “She looks like a transvestite flamenco dancer at a funeral.”

“Project Runway” simply is not “Project Runway” without Michael Kors, but there is hope that Zac Posen will be able to contribute some constructive criticism as well as a bit of entertainment.

Host Heidi Klum and genius/mentor Tim Gunn emphasized the idea of teams throughout the Season 11 premiere, claiming that it is a better representation of teamwork in the real world.

But it is not realistic and, frankly, it is unfair to the designers. To end each challenge with a winning and losing team divides them in such a way that the former is only praised, despite some possibly poor designs, and the latter is only criticized despite some possibly good designs.

As Season 11 contestant Michelle Lesniak Franklin said in the first episode, “What if the worst person was on [the other] team, but because our score was lower, someone’s going to be leaving that might have had a fairly decent score?” She makes an extremely valid point and underlines the giant flaw in the latest season of a pre-

Rubenstein via Flickr Creative Commons

Designer Zac Posen will hopefully add constructive criticism to the judges’ panel as Michael Kors’ replacement this season. viously innovative and successful show. That being said, longtime fans of “Project Runway” will likely continue to watch because at the

end of the day, the talented designers will continue to deliver well-made garments and will hopefully keep the drama level to a minimum.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

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THE TUFTS DAILY Martha E. Shanahan Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Nina Goldman Brionna Jimerson Managing Editors Melissa Wang Executive News Editor Jenna Buckle News Editors Shana Friedman Lizz Grainger Stephanie Haven Amelie Hecht Victoria Leistman Patrick McGrath Audrey Michael James Pouliot Abigail Feldman Assistant News Editors Daniel Gottfried Xander Landen Justin Rheingold Annabelle Roberts Sarah Zheng Lily Sieradzki Executive Features Editor Jon Cheng Features Editors Hannah Fingerhut Jacob Passy Amelia Quinn Falcon Reese Derek Schlom Charlotte Gilliland Assistant Features Editors Jessica Mow Shannon Vavra Melissa MacEwen Executive Arts Editor Dan O’Leary Arts Editors Rebecca Santiago Claire Felter Assistant Arts Editors Elizabeth Landers Veronica Little Jacqueline Noack Akshita Vaidyanathan Elayne Stecher Bhushan Deshpande David Kellogg Seth Teleky Peter Sheffer Denise Amisial Jehan Madhani Louie Zong Keran Chen Nicholas Golden Scott Geldzahler

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors

editorial

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Impeachment may be in order, but only as a lesson The impeachment papers filed by two Tufts Community Union ( TCU) senators calling for the impeachment of TCU Treasurer Matthew Roy express in no uncertain terms both the extent to which Roy has allegedly violated the TCU Constitution and Treasury Procedures Manual and the punitive measures desired. The allegations against him are clear breaches of the constitution; attempting to influence an internal election and making defamatory statements against the Allocations Board (ALBO) members in what the proposal calls “an unprecedented address” should not be taken lightly. But nor should they be blown out of proportion to the detriment of the students and student groups that the Treasury and its members work with.

On the one hand, Roy’s comportment outlined in the proposal has no place in TCU government. Lengthy quotes adapted from Roy’s speech and embedded within the senators’ document demonstrate a lack of professionalism and good judgment unbecoming of a repre-

sentative of the student body, especially one as prominent as the TCU Treasurer.

If the impeachment articles pass next week—that is, if the Senate votes that Roy’s behavior was inappropriate to his position—and it comes to the Judiciary to decide on an appropriate punishment, however, it should avoid too harsh of a response. Regardless of the result of the Senate’s vote, the behavior of all members involved constitutes an internal dilemma, rather than one that merits a punishment that would affect the upcoming budgeting process. Too harsh a punishment would be as much a referendum on the TCU Senate and the Judiciary as on Roy and would warrant serious introspection as to the purpose and responsibility of student government.

Rather, the fact that the papers have been filed and the vote on them has been scheduled for Sunday is, at its core, a symbol of the work the Senate has ahead before it can consider itself prepared for budgeting in the coming months and the transition to new leadership at the end of the semester.

The students we elect each year to various governing bodies on campus are chosen to represent the values and desires of the collective body.

Though it is imperative that all representatives comply with the internal guidelines of their governing documents, it is even more critical that they do their specific jobs with integrity and accountability.

It is up to the Senate on Sunday to decide whether they believe their Treasurer merits punishment for his actions. Insofar as the impeachment filing is concerned, though, Roy’s performance as TCU treasurer and his execution of the duties of that role have not been called into question.

This warrants a step back: One of the most important duties of the Senate is to fairly and efficiently allocate the Student Activities Fee to student groups participating in the budgeting process. Any next step the Senate takes should keep this in mind. What’s best for the Senate should be what’s best for the student body it serves—and more bad blood between senators is good for neither.

jehan Madhani

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Off the Hill | California State University, Long Beach

Canceling Saturday mail delivery is necessary by the

Daily Forty-Niner Editorial

Board

Saturdays may have become a whole lot grimmer with the U.S. Postal Services calling an end to its Saturday deliveries.

The U.S. Postal Service wishes to move to a five-day-mail-delivery schedule to cut nearly $2 billion in losses.

The end to the Saturday service is proposed for August.

Packages would still be delivered six days a week, but letters, bills and junk mail that we receive on the weekend will be pushed back to the following week.

The slimming down of the U.S. Postal Service has been inevitable for quite some time. With the rise of the Internet, email and smartphones, sending messages through the mail has become the slowest form of communication and the most expensive.

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

That is even with stamps costing 46 cents each.

The U.S. Postal Service is funded by the government. The government, with trillions of dollars of debt, needs to make cuts somewhere. The Saturday U.S. Postal Service could be one of those cuts.

The editorial board for the Daily Forty-Niner agrees that it is a necessary evil to cut Saturday delivery.

We all occasionally use the U.S. Postal Service to mail letters to family or friends, receive the arts and crafts we buy on Etsy or pay our bills.

However, eliminating Saturday service will not have a great effect on our lives. We will just have to plan accordingly so we can make sure our mail arrives on time.

The fact of the matter is that by closing the Saturday mail delivery, the U.S. Postal Service saves a lot of money. By cutting Saturday service, this hopefully

means the U.S. Postal Service will not have to cut as many jobs. Yes, there will be one less day available for mailmen and mailwomen to work, but at least more will be able to keep their routes during the week.

As for the rest of us, we will have to resort to emailing each other on Saturdays but that’s not too much of a stretch. We email each other on a daily basis as it is.

It is interesting, though, to wonder if canceling the Saturday service could start a trend.Technology is gradually changing the way we live our lives.

There could be a time when the U.S. Postal Service delivery is entirely canceled. As the mail system becomes more and more irrelevant, this is not a far-off possibility. This could become a reality as we find better and more efficient means of communicating with each other.

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Op-Ed

Off the Hill | Boston University

Adderall: Friend or foe? Mostly the latter

by

The Daily Free Press Editorial Board The Daily Free Press

Adderall is an amphetamine-based medication intended to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. But the high levels of mental focus that the medicine provides have led growing numbers of young adults, college students, in particular—the drug is especially popular to fake ADHD symptoms in order to obtain prescriptions. They do this for help studying for exams or finishing papers. They also use it as a diet pill, since it decreases or eliminates the appetite.

But they don’t realize that the drug can be highly addictive, and that side effects can include serious psychological risks.

On Saturday, Feb. 2, The New York Times published the story of Richard Fee, the athletic and personable college class president and aspiring medical student from North Carolina who committed suicide (in 2011) after his Adderall prescription ran out. Fee had become addicted to the drug, unable to operate without it.

His untimely death highlights what the Times deemed the widespread failings in the system through which 5 million Americans take medication for ADHD. It has become too easy for individuals lacking concentration to obtain a prescription for focusenhancing drugs when, in actuality, they do not require them. The Times reported that doctors tend to skip established diagnostic procedures, renew prescriptions reflexively and spend too little time with patients to accurately monitor side effects. As a result, nearly 14 million monthly prescriptions for the condition were written for Americans ages 20 to 39 in 2011, which, according to the Times, is 2.5 times the 5.6 million just four years before.

The numbers should be a signal that the drug has become too easy to obtain.

But it should be noted, also, that if people seeking Adderall have no desire to visit the doctor and take the all-too-easy exam, they can purchase the pills from their friends. It’s estimated that between eight and 35 percent of college students take stimulant pills to enhance school performance, according to the Times. On college campuses where the demand to focus is ever-rampant, pill-swapping is nonchalant, prevalent, and consequently hard to control.

It’s true that Adderall greatly helps in increasing levels of productivity.

And it does what it’s intended to do: It can markedly improve the lives of children and others with the disorder it’s designed to treat. But for those without real ADHD, for those who suffer what everyone suffers—difficulty sitting in one place for too long, with one long paper, and one cup of coffee, for example. It is possible, as we see with the case of Fee, for an attachment to the drug to have catastrophic results.

True, Fee is a tragic and hopefully singular case. Most students who experiment with Adderall are unlikely to abuse it, and will hopefully shake the habit by the time their demanding studies are over. But the fact that doctors are loosely prescribing a drug

that can have dangerous side effects is worrisome. Fee claimed that his doctor wouldn’t give [him] anything that’s bad for [him], according to the Times.

Doctors must realize that patients who lack concentration do not necessarily need medication—they might just have to turn off their iPhones and log off of BuzzFeed.

It’s important that people become aware of the dangers of taking stimulant drugs so that they can learn to be careful when using them. Hopefully, they will avoid the dangers by steering clear of the drug entirely. We all have difficulty concentrating; to be naturally high-functioning has always required effort. Making drugs do our work for us is an unhealthy habit.

Daily file photo

Off the Hill | University of South Florida

War on drugs made dangerous synthetics possible by

The Oracle Editorial Board The Oracle

It has been almost two months since Texas teenager Emily Bauer became stable enough to come off of life support after suffering several seizures and strokes, allegedly caused by synthetic drugs.

Bauer is now constrained to a wheelchair and has only recently regained the ability to swallow solid food.

Like many teenagers, Emily fell victim to the pressures of adolescence and made a bad decision to consume drugs. But instead of suffering from a headache or increased appetite, Bauer suffered blood clots in her brain that led to severe brain damage.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and law enforcement are fighting a losing battle against marijuana that some states have already bowed out of. The intro-

duction of synthetic cannabinoids, such as Spice and K2, only helps the argument that marijuana should be legalized by noting that the illicit drug has not proved to cause health risks.

Since the legal substances became popular over the last eight years, the federal government and the DEA have fought another losing battle to catch up with the drugs’ manufacturers in order to ban the specific compounds that make up the dangerous products.

The problem is that every time a sanction is put in place to make a specific strand of the synthetic cannabinoids illegal, the drug makers are able to produce a different strand that complies with current law that has even more unpredictable side effects.

When the government tried to make any product that can be used as synthetic drugs illegal, the manufacturers in turn just marketed the products as potpourri or incense and marked the

packages to say that the product is not for human consumption.

Emily’s story is one of many stories of how synthetic narcotics have affected those who use them beyond the designed inebriation.

It has come to a point where the illicit drugs are a healthier alternative to the synthetic drugs that were designed to emulate the same high as marijuana.

The only difference is the controversial legality of marijuana and society’s perception of it.

If marijuana were legalized, then synthetic cannabinoids would be useless.

Despite marijuana’s illegal status, people will continue to consume drugs or alcohol to become intoxicated. Instead of fighting a legal battle with chemical distributors of synthetic weed, decriminalizing the organic substance that is less potent would serve well.

Craig Frucht | Axes to grind

Leftover Tea

T

here is no question that the 2012 elections were bad for the Tea Party. But as tempting as it is for Democrats to think of Todd Akin and Jim DeMint disintegrating, Voldemortlike, into ashes and drifting away in defeat, no one should discount the significant power that the group still wields.

Remember that many of these lawmakers believe they were handpicked for higher office by God to carry out his work.

When that is your mandate, the ebb and flow of public opinion takes on a diminished scale of importance.

That, of course, hasn’t stopped the Republican establishment from reasserting control of the Party at the federal level and agreeing to a compromise with President Obama over top marginal income tax rates.

Nor did it stop Speaker of the House John Boehner from removing several prominent Tea Party Republicans from top committee assignments shortly after the election.

So the movement’s grip over Congress, which was so strong in the wake of its historic success in the 2010 elections, has more or less been neutralized.

But there was a lot more to the Tea Party’s 2010 achievements than congressional victories. Mostly on the back of Tea Party momentum, Republicans wrested control of 20 state legislative chambers (every state has two, except Nebraska, which has one), bringing the total number of Republican-controlled chambers to 60, compared with just 35 for Democrats.

That advantage largely endured through the 2012 election cycle, which brought the split to 56/41.

So what has the Tea Party been doing with its newfound state-level power?

Mainly launching a full-scale assault on abortion rights. The recent gun control debate has been fascinating because pro-gun legislators have behaved like strict Constitutionalists over the Second Amendment. Yet when it comes to abortion, the same lawmakers have been perfectly content to act as if the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which establishes the authority of Supreme Court decisions like Roe v. Wade (1973), doesn’t exist.

Last month, for instance, New Mexico State Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R) proposed a bill under which rape victims who become pregnant as a result of the assault and seek an abortion could be charged with evidence tampering and sent to prison for up to three years.

Fortunately for residents of New Mexico, that bill doesn’t have the votes to pass.

Women living in other states aren’t so lucky. In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) last year signed a law requiring women who elect to have an abortion to first undergo an ultrasound, an unnecessary and invasive state-mandated medical procedure. What’s worse, five other states adopted similar provisions in 2011, bringing the total number of states with ultrasound requirements to nine.

Over the last two years, eight states have enacted laws banning abortions beyond 20 weeks of gestation, an absurd and arbitrary cutoff—no child is ever known to have survived a premature birth before 21 weeks, five days—that goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992).

In light of this, 2011 and 2012 were perhaps the most devastating years for abortion rights in the four decades since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. This year figures to be no different: New proposals to restrict abortion are already underway in several states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan and Kentucky. Last Thursday, the North Dakota State Senate passed a “personhood” measure whose sponsor, Sen. Margaret Sitte (R), admitted that it is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.

It will be a long time before the U.S. Congress is willing to touch explosive social issues like abortion and gay marriage. In the meantime, Americans are at the mercy of their state legislatures, where the Tea Party remains very much alive.

Craig Frucht is a senior majoring in political science and psychology. He can be reached at Craig.Frucht@tufts.edu.

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

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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Doonesbury

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Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

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SUDOKU Level: Navigating campus in the snow

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Sports

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NCAA Basketball

Upsets highlight another exciting weekend of college hoops

by Andy Linder and Alex Schroeder

Daily Editorial Board

With the days dwindling until March, one thing has become clear: The madness is upon us.

The No. 1 team in the land has lost each of the last five weeks, so from the outside looking in it’s very tough to pick the most dangerous team in college basketball right now. Let’s look at a few notable games from this past weekend that had us jumping out of our seats: The longest game in Big East regular season history ends in Notre Dame’s favor.

Late Saturday night, the No. 25 Notre Dame Fighting Irish took down the No. 11 Louisville Cardinals 104-101 in a grueling battle that outlasted any previous regular season game played in Big East history. The two teams battled for five overtime periods, with clutch buckets from each side prolonging the game into the night before the Fighting Irish were able to eke out the win.

Despite a game-high 30-point, 15-rebound performance from sophomore forward Chane Benahan, the Cardinals were not able to secure a victory in South Bend. The Irish made timely baskets to put themselves in a position to win, such as junior forward Jerian Grant’s 3-pointer with just over 30 seconds left in regulation to cut the Cardinals’ lead to three, but Louisville must blame their lousy free-throw shooting for the loss.

They missed both of the free throws that ensued after Grant’s three, which then led to an Irish one-and-one opportunity to tie the game at 60 and send the game into its first overtime.

Fast forward through four overtimes and numerous missed

last-shot opportunities for the Cardinals, and it’s apparent how Notre Dame was able to endure and ultimately win a huge inconference matchup against a team that was No. 1 in the country just a few weeks ago.

Unranked Oklahoma downs No. 5 Kansas for the Jayhawks’ third straight loss: Just over a week ago, basketball fans across the nation were witnessing what seemed to be another year of signature Kansas basketball.

As of Jan. 31, the Jayhawks had the nation’s longest winning streak and were 19-1 with just one early season loss to Michigan State. Freshman guard Ben McLemore and senior center Jeff Withey were leading their team to win after win, and nothing seemed to be holding them back.

However, after a home loss to Oklahoma State on Feb. 2 that snapped the Jayhawks’ 33-game home winning streak, Coach Bill Self and company just haven’t looked the same. They lost an ugly game to TCU Wednesday, in which the team shot a measly 29.5 percent from the floor, and then lost again on Saturday—this time to Oklahoma in Norman, 72-66.

Seniors Romero Osby and Steven Pledger led the way for the Sooners, scoring 17 and 15 points, respectively, on a combined 12-for-22 shooting. And though McLemore and Withey totaled 29 points for Kansas, it was not enough for a team that simply looked scared at times and played from behind the whole way.

Kansas is still a threat come March, but they will need to get back on track throughout the rest of their conference schedule if they hope to pick up some momentum and, more importantly, secure a high seed before the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.

Indiana regains momentum with dominant win over Ohio State:

After dropping a close, hardfought battle against Illinois earlier in the week, the then-No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers returned to form Sunday and defeated the No. 10 Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, 81-68.

Tom Crean’s squad looked sharp as ever, scoring from both in and outside in a matchup that was never close. Three Hoosiers scored 20 points or more, with junior Victor Oladipo leading the way with 26 on 8-of-10 shooting. His .636 field goal percentage is good enough for ninth in the nation among qualified players and is by far the highest of any guard in college basketball.

While the Hoosiers are a team that specializes in points off turnovers, Sunday’s matchup against the Buckeyes was highlighted by a dominant half-court style of play that fans have yet to see this season, suggesting that although they have three losses to unranked opponents, this team is built for the long haul.

Juniors Deshaun Thomas and Aaron Craft helped the Buckeyes’ cause with 42 combined points in Sunday’s game, but it was not enough to spark an upset at home.

Thomas still leads the Big 10 in points with 20.1 per game, and his ability to get to the rim will carry Thad Matta’s group going forward.

MCT

Michigan falls to unranked Wisconsin in overtime: Despite another outstanding performance from Michigan’s standout sophomore Trey Burke, the only Big 10 player to have scored at least 15 points in every conference game this season, the Wolverines fell to Wisconsin on Saturday in overtime, 65-62.

After Michigan guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. hit a 3-pointer

DAILY DIGITS

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Tufts sporting events postponed or cancelled due to Winter Storm Nemo, which forced the postponement of two basketball games, two hockey games, a home track meet and a squash championship. Hockey traveled to Conn. College on Sunday to play its first makeup game, while the rest of the contests will be made up this week.

Percent chance that the Tufts women’s basketball team will win the NESCAC regular season title and earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament if all three conference leaders win midweek. Williams’ weekend upset of Amherst has created a three-way tie on top of the conference, with drawing a name out of a hat the only tiebreaker that will separate them.

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Consecutive games to start the season without a regulation loss by the Chicago Blackhawks, who most recently dispatched the Nashville Predators, 3-0. The team fell in back-to-back shootouts, but otherwise boasts a spotless record. Right-winger Patrick Kane has been the star, chipping in 19 points, the second highest in the NHL.

Number of goals scored by the Tufts hockey team in their victory over Hamilton on Sunday evening. The output matched the Jumbos’ highest tally of the year in the game played at Conn. College. Sophomore Andrew White recorded a hat trick for the Jumbos as the team picked up its second conference win of the season.

16 Shots missed by LeBron James since the fourth quarter of the Heat’s game against the Toronto Raptors last Sunday. The defending MVP has gone 49 of his last 65, shooting 75.4 percent in one of the best five-game stretches in NBA history. With his recent numbers, James’ Player Efficiency Rating has jumped to 30.9, a hair above his rating in his MVP campaign.

5 Teams in the top seven of last week’s Div. I men’s basketball poll that lost in the past seven days. The top three – Indiana, Florida and Michigan – all fell, along with No. 5 Kansas and No. 7 Arizona. Only Duke and Syracuse avoided an upset. It was also the fifth straight week the No. 1 team was beat.

Junior Jerian Grant scored 12 points in the final minute of regulation on Saturday night to force Notre Dame’s Big East contest against Louisville into a first overtime. with three seconds left to put the Wolverines up by three, it appeared John Beilein’s crew would escape Madison with a victory. But junior guard Ben Brust of Wisconsin thought otherwise.

After catching an inbounds pass just before half court, Brust dribbled once and drained a desperate

forty-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending the arena into a frenzy and the Badgers into an overtime they would eventually win.

Brust was the leading scorer for the Badgers with 14 points, three of which came on a go-ahead three late in overtime to seal the victory for Wisconsin.

Sophomore Andrew White nets a hat trick in the Jumbos’ Sunday night win over Hamilton.

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

In matchups pushed back two days by the weekend’s storm, the ice hockey team split a pair of NESCAC games on Sunday and Monday evening, beating Hamilton 6-4 before losing to Amherst 6-1. With just one weekend remaining, the Jumbos sit at 2 -12 - 2 in the conference on the outside looking in of the NESCAC playoffs. See tomorrow’s Daily for full coverage of those games, as well as recaps of the men’s and women’s track and field meets at home last night.