The Tufts Daily - Friday, April 23, 2021

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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 48

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Friday, April 23, 2021

Adjusted to a virtual format, TUAG sees increased engagement

by Ria Agarwal

Assistant News Editor

The Tufts University Art Galleries, located in the Aidekman Arts Center and School of the Museum of Fine Arts, have switched to a virtual format to allow for remote participation in the galleries.

Since the fall semester, only members of the Tufts community have been allowed to visit the galleries in person.

Additionally, the SMFA location for the galleries has remained closed. As a result, staff members at TUAG have implemented online programming to maintain and even increase visitation to the galleries.

Abigail Satinsky, curator of exhibitions and programs of TUAG, explained how the gallery utilized virtual tools to showcase art exhibitions.

“For our exhibition, Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the Justice System, in Spring [2020] we had a number of materials (and were able to quickly add more) including videos, labels, and a 360 tour online on our TUAG app on Cueseum,”

AARON APOSTADERO / THE TUFTS DAILY

The mural of “Singing We Must Rage,” which leads to the Tisch Family Gallery inside the Tufts University Art Galleries, is pictured Satinsky wrote in an email to the Daily. “We were able to share out this incredible timely exhibition to audiences that missed it before we closed in March [2020].”

Other tools included Zoom and online webinars to contrib-

ute further to the conversations surrounding art and advocacy, according to Satinsky. One of these online programs is called “In Discussion.” “[‘In Discussion’] brings together artists, scholars, com-

munity members, and civic leaders to talk about the most pressing issues going on right now,” Satinsky said. “Those have been incredibly well-attended and have included online discussions such as art & abolition, building

racial equity in monuments and collections, the representation of Blackness in media, and mutual aid networks.”

Dina Deitsch, director and chief curator for TUAG, explained how the number of visitors to TUAG’s events fluctuates over the years, but observed that more participants have attended virtual events compared to past in-person exhibitions.

“Typically for a public program in person, [we] like to get 50 people,” Deitsch said. “What’s been really fun about online is … we’ve been having 100 to 300 people at some of our major talks, which does not usually happen in person.”

Deitsch attributes the increase in program participation to the availability of virtual programs.

“We make [the recordings] available for faculty and students,” Deitsch said. “So if people can’t make the talk for a conflict, they can also reach out to us and access the Vimeo link.”

Kaelynn Maloney, department and curatorial assistant, also spoke see TUAG, page 2

Students launch Thirst Project chapter to combat global water crisis

by Bella Preneta

Contributing Writer

First-years Dan Nguyen and Shanni Zhou launched a chapter of Thirst Project at Tufts in February, and have been working to expand their reach to raise awareness about the global water crisis. Thirst Project is a national organization that “works with the support of young people to end the global water crisis by building freshwater wells in developing communities that need safe, clean drinking water,” according to its mission statement.

Nguyen brought a chapter of the organization to Tufts after being involved with it in high school, and the chapter was recently approved to be a part of Leonard Carmichael Society.

He outlined the goals of the chapter.

“Our two goals for the club are to, number one, educate Tufts students and the greater Boston area about the global water crisis,” Nguyen said. “And our second goal is to fundraise money to build a well in Eswatini. One well is approximately $12,000 and can provide 500 people with water for life.”

COURTESY DAN NGUYEN

Members of Thirst Project are pictured.

Zhou, Nguyen’s co-founder, said she hopes to spread awareness of the club’s mission.

“I just want people to know about Thirst Project and for us to be able to reach out to the community and get people to think a little bit about their water usage and their privilege and how they can help others around the world,” Zhou said.

Nguyen expanded on the importance of Thirst Project’s work.

“According to our statistics, $25 can provide one person with water for life, and Thirst Project is unique from other water organizations because we are 100%. That means that 100% of our donations from students and other donors go immediately towards a well project in Eswatini without Thirst Project admin taking any of that money to pay for their expenses,” Nguyen said.

The chapter’s treasurer, Andrew Kang, ensures the transparency of the funds, which is important to Thirst Project’s mission.

“Thirst Project is a pretty transparent help in terms of showing exactly what funds we have, et cetera,” Kang, a firstyear, said. “100% of proceeds also are used to help with all the projects. In terms of building these wells that go across the world, I basically just have to make sure I

EDITORIAL / page 6

ARTS / page 4

SPORTS / page 7

Tufts’ curricula need to better reflect the institution’s core values

Looking back at 100 years of Gucci

Men’s track places first in meet with Wesleyan, Conn. College, Trinity

organize all the funds accordingly and see where they go.”

Zhou explained why the Tufts chapter has chosen to focus on Eswatini.

“There are over 600 million people without consistent access to clean, fresh water across all continents, not just in the places that you usually think of, and right now we’re focusing see PROJECT, page 2 NEWS

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FEATURES

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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SPORTS

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, April 23, 2021

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Thirst Project raises more than $1,000 in 3 months PROJECT

continued from page 1 to the importance of accessibility in increasing program participation. “[One factor] is the accessibility of Zoom programs for folks to hop on to during the day or after work,” Maloney said. “We’ve also had the ability to host program participants and panelists, who we otherwise wouldn’t necessarily be able to, through Zoom.”

According to Deitsch, TUAG’s goal would ultimately be to find a way to maintain higher numbers of program participation in the galleries post-pandemic as well.

Although TUAG has seen increasing numbers of virtual program visitation, Deitsch hopes that this trend will continue postCOVID-19. She mentioned that many students do not know there is an art gallery on campus. As a result, developing greater vis-

ibility on campus is an ongoing priority for TUAG staff.

One of the strategies to increase awareness about TUAG is its student advisory board.

Jillian Impastato proposed the idea last spring in order to foster community within the galleries as well as collaboration across different groups at Tufts. “[With the student advisory board,] students can have agency themselves but also be connected to the different structures and staff members within the gallery [and] have collaborations with different groups on campus and with other university art museum student councils,” Impastato, a senior, said.

Maloney added that the student advisory board is currently working on efforts to increase student engagement and awareness about the galleries.

“We have 10 students now that are working on sort of a whole host of things with the galleries from exhibition to programming to social media output,” Maloney said. “We’re hoping that this initiative sort of builds this base of students that aren’t necessarily studying art but are interested in how to make the galleries a space that functions for them too.”

Another strategy has included researching and tailoring TUAG’s programming to specific groups in the Tufts community. According to Maloney, the gallery recently worked with a student-run creative agency at Tufts called Imaginet to identify several key groups who may be interested in TUAG’s programming. Imaginet created consumer persona presentations as a way to explain the different

types of students to which the programming would be catered.

“They identified the student activist, student learner, identity center peer leader, student artist, incoming students, student life coordinators, influencer, the event seeker,” Maloney said. “It was sort of like those different pockets of folks that may be interested in programming or exhibitions for X number of reasons.”

According to Deitsch, the galleries will continue working on increasing student engagement and public awareness about the galleries.

“I know people have a lot of different interests and I think it’s really great for people to visit [the galleries] … We’re excited,” Deitsch said. “I think we typically have really interesting programming or pretty relevant programming, so it’s always worth it.”

TUAG has more ideas for how to continue to engage students and community members

TUAG

continued from page 1 on Eswatini because they have the lowest rate of access to clean water and also are heavily affected

by HIV/AIDS,” Zhou said. “Clean water is so important to all different types of health systems, and then further affects education. Basically, it’s important to everything.”

According to Nguyen, the project’s chapter at Tufts has

raised $1,666 since February, which is enough to provide 46 people with clean drinking water for life. As part of an effort to solicit donations, the club hosted a minute-long fundraising activity following a screening of a Thirst Project documentary. This “miracle minute,” as Nguyen referred to it, raised more than $120. The club also raised funds by hosting a bingo

game in March on World Water Day, which is observed annually by the United Nations to raise awareness about the global water crisis.

According to the club’s Instagram account, Nguyen and other members of the organization hosted a “jerrican vlog activity,” in which members of the club carried a jerrican with them for the day — and vlogged peri-

COVID-19 AT TUFTS

odically while doing it — to raise awareness.

“We hope [the jerrican] draws attention and then that will give us an opportunity to tell people about the global water crisis and our club,” Nguyen said.

The club is hosting an Earth Day raffle fundraiser that began on Wednesday and will run through Sunday.

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Keira Myles Anthro Talks

Petromasculinity

P

etro-masculinity describes the relationship between fossil fuels and white patriarchal rule. According to Cara Daggett, an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Tech, this concept presents itself in the American far-right’s hypermasculinity in response to the emergence of global climate crises which demand immediate action, an economic system dependent on fossil fuels destined to crash and a threatened hegemonic masculinity.

Petro-masculinity analyses observe the links between fossil rule and male-dominant authoritarian rule, along with the rela-

Features tionship between climate denial and traditional masculinity.

According to Daggett, the overabundance of fossil fuels not only signifies profit but also the formation of identities (specifically, the archetypal masculine identities that developed during the pinnacle of the circa-1950s American Dream and that Trump so fervently longed to regress to). Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign revered mid-20th century America, an era that demanded widespread full-time employment for white men to support homemakers and children and maintain their cars and suburban homes. Consumption of fossil fuels was vital to achieving the American Dream, according to Daggett, despite fossil fuels’ degrading the environment and reflecting the inherent colonialist practices of oil extraction.

The Proud Boys, a white nationalist hate group that Trump told to “stand back and

stand by,” are self-described “Western chauvinists” who embody petro-masculinity through their denial of climate change. Researchers have found that the climate denial among the white conservative male demographic stems from a need to “protect their cultural identity” and protect an economic system that disproportionately benefits them. Evidence finds climate change deniers are disproportionately made up of white conservative men, with researchers positing, “Perhaps white males see less risk in the world because they create, manage, control, and benefit from so much of it.” One experiment even found that people using reusable canvas bags while grocery shopping were perceived as more feminine than plastic bag users. Evidently, climate science has become gendered to petro-masculine climate deniers.

Associate professor of anthropology Alex Blanchette

reflected on the petro-masculinity phenomena.

“On one level it is almost odd that some people are seeking identity in generic, bulk industrial commodities like fossil fuels or dead animal muscles. Yet, if some white male consumers can see these things not only as their rightful property, but also as reflections of who they are, it indicates how firmly American capitalism is rooted in hierarchies of race and gender.”

As clean and renewable energy systems pose threats to the fossil fuel capitalist order promised by 1950s America, Proud Boys and other petro-masculine populations feel a sense of powerlessness and have no choice but to perpetuate the authoritarian system of fossil fuel burning to cling to their identities.

Petro-masculinity thus presents itself in global fossil rule, or governing that relies on immense fossil fuel consumption materially, through motor culture,

3 Friday, April 23, 2021 and psycho-politically, through social identities like intense red meat consumption.

Petro-masculinity derives from hegemonic masculinity, which encourages men to dominate both the social sphere and nature. Hegemonic masculinity inherently expresses misogyny, a “system that polices and enforces the norms of patriarchal rule,” as described by feminist philosopher Kate Manne.

Petro-masculinity and climate denial, with their association to masculine identities through motor culture, perpetuate destructive patriarchy along with environmental degradation.

Environmentalism is intersectional, so remedying the climate crisis must also include altering patriarchal values of fossil fuel consumption and adopting a feminist approach to justice.

Keira Myles is a first-year who not yet declared a major. Keira can be reached at keira.myles@tufts.edu.

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Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture

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Friday, April 23, 2021

The Aria collection celebrates Gucci’s 100th anniversary

by Paul Osmond

Contributing Writer

As sirens blare and subwoofers thump, a tall model in a satin suit enters the Savoy Club — a tribute to the Savoy Hotel where Guccio Gucci worked as a bellboy. Peering through the eyehole, the model sees blissful wilderness. As they enter, Lil Pump’s “Gucci Gang” (2017) starts playing. Then, models rapidly march through a hallway as coruscating cameras mounted onto the wall illuminate them. When the final model exits, they saunter through their subtly clustered colleagues and open large black doors to the wonderland teased at the opening. The models flow into this marvelous world, joining white peacocks, cockatoos and horses basking in the misty wind. Shortly, the video ends as the models float and reach for the shimmering sky.

Wow. One hundred years of Gucci. While some would party with champagne and fireworks, Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele celebrates with his Aria collection (2021): a presentation of Gucci’s brilliant historical craft with a touch of modern creativity. Michele vehemently asserts, “Gucci’s long history can’t be contained within a single inaugural act,” and his work certainly reflects the brand’s multitudinous inspirations: founder Guccio Gucci’s “horse wear”; former creative director Tom Ford’s hedonist aesthetic; and Michele’s own chic style. In exploring Gucci’s past, Michele fuses Gucci classics with modern style, historical material with modern organization and vintage composition with newschool sound.

In its early years, Gucci prided itself for luxury clothing made with premium materials, and Michele certainly praises this dignity, composing historic pieces from satin, leather and Gucci’s famous GG Canvas, adorned all over with a

Jessica Blough Soundtrack to the end of the world

If I can’t have good times and bad times in the summer in the city

I

s my arm sore from my first dose of Pfizer or from getting sunburned at every available opportunity? Is the end of the world beginning to return to “normal” times, or are we all delusionally optimistic? Is summer around the corner, or will this godforsaken state treat us to another April snowstorm? This

VIA FREEIMG

Gucci celebrates 100 years of iconic and groundbreaking fashion. double-G logo. Michele draws from Guccio Gucci’s early archives to produce clothing inspired by 19th century horse-riding: saddle bags worn over leather breastplates donned by horse-riders; rubber horse-riding boots covering leather jodhpurs; and tassel whips, equestrian straps, harnesses and helmets.

After being appointed creative director of Gucci in the

1990s, Ford began stirring consumers and critics by exploring erotic attire. Referencing Ford’s bon vivant style, Michele contrasts Guccio Gucci’s monotone horse-riding clothing with saturated and seductive clothing.

In fact, Michele opens his collection with a velvet (fabric and color) suit paired with a sky-blue button-down shirt which opens to reveal a bondage-style chok-

er and chain. Ford’s influence is evident as Michele sporadically displays lustrous suits, glamorous accessories and sparkling fabrics.

With his 2014–16 renaissance, Michele revived Gucci classics such as the double-G monogram and luxurious handbags while approaching modern fashion trends like geek-chic and androgyny. Combining Gucci iconography with modern con-

week, Tuna Margalit offers a fitting end to our regularly scheduled programming, imagining a near-future of summer and celebration.

Tuna Margalit: A constant topic of debate in my household is to what extent things will be normal next semester.

Ever the optimist, I have stood firmly since the initial vaccine authorizations with the belief that we will be living like it’s pre-pandemic.

Obviously, I intend to follow whatever guidelines the CDC or Massachusetts outlines but if I can’t spend my first summer in Massachusetts livin’ it up in the city, I don’t know what I’ll do.

I write this on an abnormal day — white builds up in the corners of windows that should be refracting April yellow-red-orange glow — but I know these

days of light and sunroof-down drives with Spotify are near. My weather app says so.

The return of the sun will clear the sinuses of snow, as summer hovers on the horizon. Play these songs as you learn to live again.

‘If I Can’t’ by 50 Cent (2003) In the late ’90s/early 2000s, 50 Cent, Eminem and Dr. Dre ran hip-hop. Eminem was known for his unique rapping voice and disturbing, though often funny lyricism, while Dre was known for his world-changing production. What 50 Cent brought to the table, then, was an incredible ability to match hard-hitting rap with melodic hooks.

Songs like “In Da Club,” “21 Questions” and “P.I.M.P.” from his iconic debut, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” (2003) may have topped charts, but “If I Can’t” is arguably the best on the album. If this song isn’t blowing your car

speakers out the second you press play, you’re not playing it loud enough.

‘Good Times Bad Times’ by Led Zeppelin (1969) One minute into the first song off the first album of the greatest hard rock band ever and you’ve already heard enough to know that the combination of Robert Plant on vocals and harmonica, Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on the bass and organ and John Bonham on drums is the stuff of legends. Take Plant’s advice when he sings, “I don’t care what the neighbors say,” and turn the volume up even more for this one.

‘Summer in the City’ by The Lovin’ Spoonful (1966) Not quite getting into the swing of things as abruptly as the other songs, “Summer in the City” works as a bit of a cool down. Maybe you just pulled up

cepts, colors and silhouettes, Michele has established a vivacious Gucci canon that appeals to both youthful fashionistas and adults. However, Michele recognizes the importance of homage, and limits the frequency of his artistry — chic skirts and dresses, androgynous garments and extravagant accessories — placing it covertly into the collection.

But there is an elephant (or perhaps horse) in the room: Balenciaga. Michele described his process as experimenting in a “hacking lab made of incursions and metamorphoses,” and Balenciaga appears to “hack” some pieces as Michele uses styles “pilfered” from Balenciaga’s creative director, Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia. Some of these hacked pieces include a suiting dress, purse and heels with an all-over flower print and a black, diagonal “Balenciaga” pattern, a sparkling pantsuit wrapped with “GUCCI” and “BALENCIAGA” and a sharp blazer with Balenciaga print interrupting GG Canvas.

Throughout the anniversary collection, Michele manages 100 years of history as he conflates Guccio Gucci’s vintage horsewear with Tom Ford’s seductive aesthetic, blending lingerie and rubber riding boots or horse-bit loafers and satin blazers, while exhibiting his own contemporary creativity. In my favorite look — which I think summarizes the collection — Michele combines all three aesthetics, grouping bright red dress trousers and a muted magenta double-breasted suede jacket, which covers a salmon button-front shirt. The model accessorizes with a blush fur shawl and wears classic light brown horse-bit loafers. Though “Gucci is a complex container that holds many, many things,” Michele selects ground-breaking moments in Gucci’s history and honors them accordingly as he combines past, present, future and Balenciaga, and “[renewing] for the millionth time this brand, this name, this myth, this saga.” to your first downtown Boston red light and you’ve become slightly self-conscious of how your preferred music volume level may not match that of other people.

Just kidding. F— that s—. It’s summer, you’re in the city and you’re (likely) celebrating the demise of COVID-19. Turn it to the maximum volume level, and take heed to the chorus’s advice: “Come on, come on, and dance all night / Despite the heat, it’ll be alright.”

You’re alive. You made it this far. You’re (hopefully) fully vaccinated. You deserve this.

Jessica Blough is a senior studying international relations. Jessica can be reached at jessica.blough@tufts.edu.

Tuna Margalit is a junior studying political science. Tuna can be reached at yonatan.margalit@ tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY | Fun & Games | Friday, April 23, 2021

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It’s time to embrace diversity.

Let’s put aside labels in the name of love.

Rethink your bias at lovehasnolabels.com

6 Friday, April 23, 2021

Opinion

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EDITORIAL

Well-rounded education requires diversified curricula

BY KAYLA DRAZAN

As graduation approaches for another cohort of Tufts students, many are reflecting on the coursework they have had in these past four years — not just with regard to how it has prepared them for a career, but also how it has enhanced their understanding of the world. Regarding this latter issue, the scope of what they’ve learned about the world may be disappointingly narrow.

At Tufts, like many other predominantly white institutions, curricula often center around the Eurocentric perspectives of Westerners — particularly white men — narrowing the worldview to which students are exposed. Not only does this reality undermine Tufts’ liberal arts foundation of exposing students to a wide array of subjects, it also fails to prepare students for civic stewardship in which they directly engage with the effects of patriarchy, colonialism and racism. These oppressive structures shape the world we live in, and at a school like Tufts that purports to prepare students for active citizenship, every student should be learning about them.

Across departments, students at Tufts have already raised concerns about the need for curricula that engage with systemic inequalities. This fall, students in the Department of Political Science called out a lack of diverse authorship and other gaps in the department’s curric-

ula. This resulted in the creation of a student advisory committee that incorporates student input into how the department can be more inclusive in its structure and curricula. This example is particularly significant, because political science should be a discipline that teaches students how power works in society — a question that cannot be answered with only the perspectives of Western, white men.

Another area where student activism has already highlighted the need for change is within Tufts’ International Relations Program. Tufts Women in International Relations, an organization for femme-identifying international relations students, has led calls to address the underrepresentation of women and nonbinary authors and scholars of color in the program, with a particular focus on the syllabus for Introduction to International Relations. The group has found support for this cause within the student body, and even among sympathetic faculty, indicating that momentum is on its side.

Currently, the closest thing to a mandate for Tufts students to engage with underrepresented voices is the world civilizations foundation requirement, which aims to expose students to non-Western civilizations.

Still, a very broad range of courses can meet this requirement, not all of which actu-

ally teach students to create more inclusive spaces in their own communities. Further, this requirement only applies to students in the School of Arts and Sciences, and not engineers, limiting the extent to which it can shape the whole campus community.

Courses that do not engage with the effects of patriarchy, racism or colonialism cannot paint an accurate portrait of the world for students, something much of the student body already knows. Unfortunately, many of the university’s academic programs are not on the same page as the student body, and their courses that do engage with these oppressive structures are often optional electives. To rectify this situation, it is critical that Tufts’ academic programs reorient themselves to teach all students about how these structures influence the world — learning about the existence of racism or sexism should not be a niche endeavor.

This matter is of particular urgency for programs such as the International Relations Program that are supposed to educate students about structures of power in the world. The issues flagged by Tufts Women in International Relations — namely the curriculum’s Eurocentrism and underrepresentation of women, gender minorities and people of color — are serious, and it is import-

ant that the program adapt to teach students about critical engagement with structures like colonialism and patriarchy.

To use another example, the political science major requires every student to take one of the two Western political thought classes — courses that exclusively feature content written

by European men — without any mandate that majors learn about politics outside of the West, or outside of men’s perspectives. The political science major does have a comparative politics and government requirement, but even this can be fulfilled with European politics courses. The international relations and political science programs are just two of many at Tufts that would benefit from teaching diversified curricula that fully engage with the inequalities faced by communities that aren’t all white and aren’t all men.

Beyond changing the literature within any one program, Tufts should also consider making participation in an ethnic studies course a distribution requirement for all undergraduates, so that every Tufts graduate can understand how racial, ethnic and Indigenous identities impact societies and communities. Tufts could also accomplish similar goals through a required course focused on equity and justice, something recommended in the Equity and Inclusion work-

stream launched with the task of making Tufts an anti-racist institution. If Tufts were to actually go down one of these possible paths, it would be following in the footsteps of other universities that have prioritized the study of racial justice through similar requirements.

It would be important to make sure that any such requirements apply to engineering students in addition to students in the School of Arts and Sciences, since technology has not been neutral in history, and now, as in the past, it continues to reinforce and amplify the biases and prejudices of its creators. From sexist algorithms to medical devices calibrated for white skin, technology is capable of reinforcing a range of social inequities, and it is therefore especially important that the people who design it understand these inequities.

Tufts is a liberal arts institution that aims to expose students to a wide breadth of knowledge and takes pride in preparing future civic leaders. But good civic stewards must learn to work with diverse communities and must be prepared to address a range of inequalities, tasks that are only possible when they have studied diverse perspectives and learned about oppressive social structures. Unless Tufts can make sure that every graduate gains basic knowledge in these areas, it is failing both its students and the communities its graduates enter.

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Sports

7 Friday, April 23, 2021

Men’s track first-years dominate in meet against NESCAC rivals

MADELEINE OLIVER / THE TUFTS DAILY

The men’s track and field team competes in the NESCAC championship in 2018.

by Arnav Sacheti

Assistant Sports Editor

After a nearly two-year wait, the men’s track and field team finally hosted an outdoor meet at the Ellis Oval at Tufts last Sunday, competing against Wesleyan, Conn. College and Trinity. While there weren’t many spectators in the stands, the energy was unmistakable, with Jumbo athletes seizing the opportunity and dominating the meet across the board.

“It was exciting to see the track set up for a meet for the first time, because we’ve been having practice there all year. It was exciting to have a big event like that on campus,” said first-year distance runner Adam Bernstein.

Tufts scored 239.5 points, which was more than 100 points better than the second-place finisher, Trinity. A large portion of this high score came from multiple individual winning performances, especially from the newcomers. First-year Luke Botsford won both the 200- and 400-meter races with times of 21.92 seconds and 48.95 seconds respectively, which were both personal bests.

Botsford was also part of the winning 4-x-400 meter race team, which included a sophomore contingent of Marcus Hardy, Andrii Campbell and Alex Lemieux, and achieved a time of 3:25.31.

In other short distance events, firstyear Reid Corless finished first in the 400meter hurdles with a time of 57.96 seconds and senior OJ Armstrong placed second in the 100-meter dash, crossing the line in 11.53 seconds. Corless also performed well in the triple jump, achieving second place with a mark of 12.82 meters.

The great performances by all the athletes coupled with finally being able to compete contributed to a high level of energy during the meet.

“The energy everybody had was high, especially since everybody has been waiting to compete for so long,” said Botsford.

The success, however, didn’t stop with the short distance events. Along with Corless’ triple-jump performance, the field events were filled with Tufts wins. First-year Louis Tuccio placed first in the shot put with a throwing distance of 13.55 meters and first-year Nik Karns won the javelin event throwing a distance of 46.87 meters.

Senior Matthew Manteiga and junior Ben Stein also placed second and third, respectively, in the long jump, with Mantegia only 0.01 meters off the best jump. Finally, first-year Harry RieneckerFound won the high jump, jumping an impressive 1.95 meters height.

The long distance events were highlighted by a 3000-meter steeplechase win by senior Peter Horvath in a time of 10:00.11, and a collective three-man finish for third, fourth and fifth place in the 1500-meter by sophomore Evan Ensslin, junior Sam Gatti and first-year Jackson O’Toole, respectively.

The 5000-meter race also featured this same type of teamwork with Bernstein, sophomore Oliver Printy and senior Michael Kennedy working off of each other to place seventh, eighth and ninth, while securing crucial points for their team.

“I saw my teammate Michael Kennedy 30 meters ahead of me and I sort of used him to pull myself in the race,” said Bernstein.

While the individual performances were outstanding at this meet, this team dynamic is really what defines the men’s track team this season.

“I would say it’s [camaraderie] definitely improved just because everyone is so excited to be back and and around people,” said Botsford. “Just this simple opportunity to be together is making us really want to do well in our races because we obviously want to keep this going for as long as possible.”

Especially for first-years, success on the track in spite of the ongoing pandemic can be attributed to the emphasis on togetherness.

“For [first-years, the pandemic] has made us very appreciative of the team dynamic,” said Bernstein. “It’s definitely a big part of my social life here at Tufts.”

From here, the Jumbos will prepare for their final four meets of the season, with their next one at Trinity this Saturday against the same three opponents. The mindset will now shift.

“Moving towards the end of the season, the training lightens up so that you feel more race ready. Throughout a lot of the early season training you’re working super hard and getting in shape and then you want to peak at the right time,” Bernstein said.