Thursday, April 7, 2016

Alumni-founded Plaid Productions channels passion for a cappella see WEEKENDER / PAGE 6

Baseball goes 3-0 in first week after spring break trip

Softball battles rivals in tough NESCAC games see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXI, NUMBER 48

Thursday, April 7, 2016

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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TCU senators conduct research to make case for Students evaluate on-campus pub residence furniture through pilot program

by Jesse Najarro

Contributing Writer

Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators who spearheaded a Feb. 21 proposal for an on-campus pub have been working to compile a report analyzing demand, safety and costs to present to Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell by the end of the semester.

Campbell, who oversees construction projects, dining and food service operations at Tufts, will play a deciding role in whether or not the university moves forward with the project. She explained that students should expect to know by next year if Tufts will have an on-campus pubs, a decision that will be made based on the quality of the senators’ report and subsequent research that the university will conduct.

In the coming week, the senators heading the project report — Peter McCawley, Ian Clarke and Rayane Haddar — plan on sending out a campus-wide survey to gauge student interest, as a part of their efforts to research the benefits, drawbacks and overall support for the creation of an on-campus pub. Clarke, a sophomore, said that student demand from first-years and sophomores is of particular interest because the senators hope that the project will be completed when those students will be of drinking age.

“Going forward…that information that we receive back will be released along with a bunch of other research [in the report to Campbell],” Clarke, a sophomore, said.

McCawley, a sophomore, explained that the general survey will potentially be paired with an individualized survey customized to particular groups, such as graduate students or faculty, to better understand the Tufts community’s sentiments toward the creation of a pub. The surveys will likely be generated through use of the online survey generator Tufts Qualtrics, he said.

The senators said they will also seek out endorsements from groups on campus, as well as quotes from students, faculty and staff to gauge the benefits of an on-campus pub. In addition, the senators have been working with professors and other members of the Tufts community to create the “comprehensive report” on their initiative, according to McCawley.

The recent research the senators have conducted show that Brown and Brew Coffee House, located on the first floor of Curtis Hall, appears to be the most economically-viable location for an on-campus pub, according to McCawley and Clarke.

Campbell agreed that moving Brown and Brew to another location and creating the pub in its place in Curtis Hall would be

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by Isabel Banta

Contributing Writer

2014, the Senate passed a resolution calling for the creation of an on-campus pub based on significant interest expressed by the student body in a 2013 survey.

According to the text of the resolution, 46.1 percent of 984 undergraduate survey respondents said they would “often” go to a Tufts pub open Thursday to Saturday nights, and 38.2 percent said they would go “sometimes.”

Historically, safety has been the primary concern when this pub project was proposed in the past, Campbell said.

“I think there’s always a concern about the safety of our students,” she said. “I believe the group of students who are involved in working on the suggestion are going to talk to us about how it would be managed, how would we make sure people are responsible and safe… in a time of limited resources.”

However, Campbell said that the administration is willing to discuss the feasibility of the project with students.

Executive Director of Operations Donna Golemme and the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) will be enlisted for assistance with the project, McCawley said.

McCawley also emphasized that an on-campus pub would create a new location for students over the age of 21 to gather and socialize, which would be a major benefit.

“I think there’s not a lot of social infrastructure for upperclassmen students … having an on-campus pub would be a great central location for people to kind of gravitate to who are of age,” he said.

McCawley explained that there are also safety benefits to the establishment of

Students were invited to participate in the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) furniture pilot program, which ran from Tuesday, March 29 to Friday, April 1 in Latin Way. The program, publicized via email, gave students the chance to view and evaluate new furniture options being considered

by ResLife to replace currently in-use moveable furniture in residence halls next year.

Residential Facilities Manager Daniela Sousa said student survey responses will play a large role in ResLife’s furniture selection.

“If many students didn’t care for the lofted set-up, we are not going to pursue [that option],” she told the Daily in an email.

“The purpose of this exercise is to see if students can relate to the pieces and whether they would like to see these items in their residential halls.”

Sousa explained that she and the other program facilitators want to making living spaces more comfortable and conducive to learning.

“We understand the importance of having a get-away or making your home away from home a sanctuary where you can [be relieved of] the pressures of school,” she said. “If Facilities can provide more modern, well-constructed pieces that make living in the apartments more favorable to student’s hectic lifestyles, then we feel we have met our goal.”

Participating students walked through Latin Way suite C340 — where the furniture was displayed in museum fashion — and indicated their opinions on the various selections according to a ranking scale of “Excellent,” “Very good,” “Good,” “Fair” and “Poor.” On display were bed systems, desks and coffee and end tables from two furniture suppliers, New England Woodcraft and Sauder Education.

Even though furniture is replaced, repaired and purchased for residence halls every summer, this year’s pilot program represents a more drastic change, Sousa said.

“We want to create standards with counter-height tabletops with matching stools, coffee tables in the living room and provide more storage opportunity in the

see CAMPUS PUB , page 2

see FURNITURE, page 2

ALEX KNAPP / THE TUFTS DAILY

Brown and Brew is a potential location for an on-campus pub approved by TCU Senate on Feb. 21. the most effective means of minimizing project costs.

However, the senators are also exploring other possible venues for the pub, including ones which have served alcohol on campus in the past, such as Hotung Café and the Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center.

Years ago, alcohol was served at Tufts’ former MacPhie Pub within DewickMacPhie. In an April 2013 interview with the Daily, former U.S. Senate candidate and Massachusetts State Representative Dan Winslow (LA ’80) explained that the pub served as a central meeting place for community members to have important conversations.

“I spent many quality evenings at the MacPhie Pub, which is now [DewickMacPhie Dining Center],” he said at the time. “It was there that I and others hatched a plan to have a campus center to link the uphill and downhill portions of campus as a social magnet.”

The senators have met with Patti Klos, director of Dining and Business Services, to discuss possible locations and the history of serving alcohol on campus, the senators explained.

At the moment, there are no cost estimates for the project, which would operate through Tufts University Dining Services (TUDS), Campbell said. While she plays a deciding role in the implementation of the project, Campbell explained that depending on the cost of an on-campus pub, the project proposal may also have to be presented to the Board of Trustees in order to secure the necessary funds.

This is not the first time there has been a TCU Senate initiative to bring a pub to the Medford/Somerville campus. On March 9,

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NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................5 WEEKENDER...........................6

COMICS....................................... 7 OPINION.....................................8 SPORTS............................ BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, April 7, 2016

T HE T UFTS D AILY Sarah Zheng Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL Nicholas Golden Mengqi Sun Managing Editors Nicholas Pfosi Associate Editor Arin Kerstein Executive News Editor Isha Fahad News Editors Abby Feldman Melissa Kain Sophie Lehrenbaum Emma Steiner Ariel Barbieri-Aghib Assistant News Editors Kyle Blacklock Gil Jacobson Robert Katz Liam Knox Catherine Perloff Vibhav Prakasam Hannah Uebele John “Joe” Walsh Kendall Todd Executive Features Editor Nicole Brooks Features Editors Nina Joung Jake Taber Diane Alexander Assistant Features Editors Constantinos Angelakis Emily Cheng Emma R. Rosenthal John Gallagher Executive Arts Editor Lancy Downs Arts Editors Justin Krakoff Josh Podolsky Jonah Allon Assistant Arts Editors Cassidy Olsen Eran Sabaner Hannah Hoang Dorie Campbell Emily Karl Erin Sifre Stephen Dennison Abigail Feldman Shannon Geary Allison Merola Cassie Bardos Miranda Chavez Frances DeFreitas Jake Goldberg Emma Henderson Michael Lefkowtiz Anita Ramaswamy Noah Weinflash

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editor Cartoonists

Editorialists

Maclyn Senear Executive Sports Editor Ray-Paul Biron Sports Editors Ross Dember Phillip Goldberg Alex Schroeder Chris Warren Yuan Jun Chee Assistant Sports Editors Maddie Payne Eddie Samuels Noah Smith Sofie Hecht Executive Photo Editor Alex Knapp Caroline Ambros Picture Tufts Editor Ray Bernoff Staff Photographers Laura DeArmas Maria Ferraz Henry Hintermeister Katlyn Kreie Mia Lambert Jiaxun Li Nora Nord Nicholas Pfosi Julia Press Evan Sayles Angelie Xiong

PRODUCTION Julie Doten

Production Director Astrid Weng Executive Layout Editor Jewel Castle Layout Editors Abbie Gantner Leila Li Allie Merola Brianna Mignano Mandip Pokharel Ellie Powers Annabelle Roberts Emily Sharp Andrew Stephens Sebastian Torrente Shirley Wang Petrina Chan Allison Merola Dana Pek Belinda Xian Jack Ronan Dan Strauss Meagan Adler Alison Beach Arthur Beckel Lancy Downs Alison Epstein Andrew Kager Melissa Kain Sarah Kalinowski Reena Karasin Sophie Lehrenbaum Rachel Salzberg Arielle Sigel Caroline Watson Maxwell Bernstein Nitesh Gupta Evan Sayles

Creative Director Executive Graphics Editor Graphics Editors Executive Copy Editors Copy Editors

Executive Tech Manager Online Editor Social Media Editor

BUSINESS Yiran Xu

TCU Senators prepare report for Patricia Campbell on benefits of Rut-busting dining campus pub hall hacks CAMPUS PUB times … so it’s hard to monitor where

Kinsey Drake Channeling Ina

I

t’s the time of the semester when we’ve all realized that the dining halls operate on a six-week rotating schedule, and while we all like our routine as much as Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, sometimes it’s good to give your taste buds something different.

Even on our busiest days, it is worth it to spend an extra five minutes on a fun meal. Try some of these ideas and treat yourselves, Jumbos.

Banana Split Breakfast: Start with a ripe banana in half lengthwise on a plate. Top with a scoop of Greek yogurt, peanut butter, coconut and granola.

Peanut Butter French Toast: Spread peanut butter between two slices of French toast. Heat briefly in the microwave until the peanut butter has melted, then top with fruit and syrup.

Soundbites-style Breakfast Bowl: Start with a bottom layer of breakfast potatoes, then add in scrambled eggs, cheese and hot sauce. Serve with more hot sauce on the side and wash down with hot coffee.

Peanut Sauce: Equal parts soy sauce and natural peanut butter, a dash of Sriracha, a splash of vinegar or lemon juice and a little hot water. Stir together until smooth, then drizzle on brown rice and vegetables with your choice of protein. Make a big bowl when the dining halls serve pad Thai and share with friends.

Carrot Salad: A bowl of shredded carrots dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Toss in a handful of feta cheese for good measure. Use as a filling for wraps or eat alongside falafel and tahini sauce.

Pesto Pasta: A bowl of plain pasta, a spoonful of pesto, a few vegetables and a scoop of chickpeas. Microwave until hot and top with Parmesan cheese before digging in to carbohydrate bliss.

Grain Bowl: A few scoops of brown rice or quinoa tossed in olive oil, lemon juice and salt, a spoonful of beans, a scoop of feta and a few Kalamata olives. Top with a spoonful of Greek yogurt and a drizzle of olive oil if you’re feeling fancy.

Hummus Platter: A dollop of hummus, a drizzle of olive oil and a couple of dashes or either oregano or lemon pepper. Use as a dip for pita bread or raw vegetables.

Apple Snack: Slice up an apple and dress with lemon juice. Sprinkle with cinnamon and a touch of honey. Eat alongside a cup of tea for a nice afternoon snack.

Fairy Toast: A slice of buttered toast topped with a substantial layer of sprinkles. Enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate to feel like a Dutch schoolchild.

Affogato: Soft-serve or regular vanilla ice cream topped with a quarter cup of hot coffee.

Pretend you’re sitting in an Italian café and not killing time before your next midterm.

Fancy Seltzer: Add grapefruit, orange or apple juice to a three-quarter full glass of seltzer water. Pop a lemon wedge into the glass for an even more refreshing beverage.

Executive Business Director Qinyue Yu Receivables Manager Evan Sayles Online Advertising Eva Sachar Ad Managers Jay Hayes

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Kinsey Drake is a sophomore majoring in biochemistry. She can be reached at kinsey.drake@tufts.edu.

continued from page 1 an on-campus pub. He said that when students go off campus to get alcohol, they are subject to increased dangers, and it is much harder to keep track of them. Having a pub at Tufts would help alleviate this problem by creating a safer and more convenient location to drink and socialize on campus, he said.

“When you have students going to like [an off-campus] pub or The Burren, or anywhere else in Boston or Davis Square, they have to pass through residential areas, [neighborhoods],” McCawley said. “Students might get lost, they might end up passing out some-

students are instead of a centralized location.”

He hopes that the addition of an on-campus pub would be a social benefit to the Tufts community but said it remains up to the senators’ research to determine whether these benefits can be actualized.

Campbell said that her approval on the project is contingent on the senators presenting a strong case for the pub.

“If it were to happen, it would be because the students have done good research; they have demonstrated that is something that the student body wants, and that it’s something you can operate in a reasonable way,” Campbell said.

Students review new furniture options for residential halls

FURNITURE

continued from page 1 bedrooms,” she said. “Our goal is to make the suites feel more like home, which should directly correlate to students having a greater appreciation for living on campus.”

First-year Elisabeth Frick, who participated in the feedback program, said she appreciated the opportunity to view the furniture since students often spend a lot of time in their rooms.

“The display in Latin Way allows for students to essentially choose their own surroundings,” she said. “It’s really cool that something I choose today could possibly be in my own room next year.”

The new furniture chosen through the pilot program will impact the approximately two-thirds of students living in campus-affiliated housing, according to 2014 data from US News & World Report. Back in 2014, there were around 3,300 students living on campus, according to a Sept. 15, 2014 email from ResLife Director Yolanda King.

King explained that the pilot program aims to improve residence halls for students living on campus.

“Our departments are working collaboratively to provide resources and services that will continue to enhance the students’ residential experience,” King told the Daily in an email.

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM APRIL 8, 2016 Student Forum for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality PROGRAM Welcome

WGSS Program Director, Sarah Pinto

1:30 - 1:35

Panel I

Media Representations

1:35 -2:30

Faculty Moderator: Julie Dobrow Melissa Feito, Gender, Power, and Reproduction in Feminist Science Fiction Marissa Kimble, A Boy’s Love in Japan Sophie Pearlman, Western Media Representations in Muslim Women’s Agency Libby Langsner, Illuminating Female Impulse and Power: A Textual Analysis

Panel II

Negotiating Identities

2:30 -3:30

Faculty Moderator: Peggy Hutaff

Laura Sabia, Limiting Access to Abortion to America as a Means of Preserving Maleness Ina Bodinaku, Gender Ideologies Across Generational and (Trans) national Contexts among

Albanian and Albanian-American Women Mary Gusentine, Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia Benjamin Kesslen, The implications of Troy Perry and Mel White’s Ascendency In American

Christianity Brian McGough, Against the Universalization of Sexual Rights: A Case Study in Queer

Palestinian Activism

Coffee Break

3:30 -3:45

Panel III Women’s Bodies

3:45 - 4:45

Faculty Moderator: Sarah Pinto

Katherine Matejcak, Bodily Autonomy and Reproductive Choice in the Post-Roe Era Nathaniel Tran, A.C.E., A Community Based Approach to Breast Cancer Prevention Kathleen Li, Aging In Our Bodies, Ourselves: How the Story has Changed Nellie Harvey, Menstrual Stigmatization Across the Globe

Thursday, April 7, 2016 | ADVERTISEMENT | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

ARTS&LIVING TV REVIEW

New Shondaland drama ‘The Catch’ features plot twists aplenty

by Lancy Downs

BRET HARTMAN / TED VIA FLICKR

“The Catch” is the latest offering from all-star TV producer Shonda Rhimes’ production company, Shondaland. him. They are outsmarted, however, by Mr. X, who uses a series of distractions and costume changes to sneak away undetected. Frustrated and dejected, Alice heads home to her fiancé Christopher, who — surprise! — we recognize immediately as the very Mr. X who slipped through her fingers just hours before.

Christopher, as it turns out, is actually a con man named Ben. Christopher/Ben and his fellow con artists are planning to leave town, which is not good news for Alice’s P.I. firm nor for Christopher/Ben, who seems to have genuinely fallen in love with his target.

By the time the pilot is only half over, Alice

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Stina Stannik After Years

Chapter 8 Editor’s note: This column is part of a fictional weekly serial. ecilia stared down at the gun in the planter. On the one hand, the man at her side, allegedly her grandfather (though at this point who knew?), had once been a dangerous criminal mastermind who now seemed to be a confused and harmless older man, but the possibility remained that that was all a ruse. On the other hand, her mother, the city planner-turned-realtor watching them from the kitchen window, had somehow smuggled a gun through at least two international security checkpoints. If the gun was truly Alicia’s and not some trick of Edgar’s to sow mistrust and confusion. Come to think of it, what had he been doing looking through Alicia’s handbag in the first place?

“This is SO not my responsibility,” she muttered to herself.

She looked at the gun for a long moment.

Earlier this week she had been phone-banking by day and going on failed dates by night. This sudden collision with a very different, much darker sliver of the world was going to take some getting used to.

“What do you think we should do about it?” she finally asked, looking up at her grandfather.

He squinted at her. “What are you asking me for? She’s your bloody mother.”

He was letting her take the lead. Could be a trap, or — oh, this was ridiculous.

“Okay,” she said softly. Then, “Okay,” more resolutely, looking up at her grandfather. “I’m glad you showed this to me, but I think for now we should just…leave it here. Not do anything.”

Without waiting for his response, she made a beeline back to the house, leaving him to push the gun gingerly back into the dirt.

Cecilia could barely look at her mother when she entered the kitchen. “I have to call some people about work,” she said vaguely, already halfway up the stairs.

“What did your grandfather say?”

Alicia called.

“Back in a sec!” Cecilia shouted.

She shut the door of the bedroom they were sharing behind her and pressed a hand to her mouth, thinking, staving off panic with all the discipline she could muster. After a second, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She had a plan, or she thought she did, and there was just one thing she needed. Why she was calling Ian, whom she barely knew and with whom she had until now been studiously avoiding contact, she didn’t know, but it was on his name she tapped without hesitation.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” she breathed. It would be the middle of the workday in the United States, but maybe he was on his lunchbreak or…

From the front of the house, an engine started and tires screeched.

Cecilia ran to the window to see the rental car speeding away; she could tell that both front seats were filled.

Gripped with a terrifying certainty, she crashed her way down the stairs and into the backyard, hurtled through the garden, dug at the dirt with both hands.

The gun was gone. But who had taken it — and who had left against their will?

C

Arts Editor

Shonda Rhimes does not rest on her laurels. With three \-hit series from her production company Shondaland, which is currently dominating Thursday nights on ABC, Rhimes likely keeps fairly busy juggling her various commitments to “Grey’s Anatomy” (2005 present), “Scandal” (2012 - present) and “How To Get Away With Murder” (2014-present). But with “Murder” currently in between seasons, ABC has a Thursday night time slot to fill, and “The Catch,” Shondaland’s latest effort, is the show to fill it.

The cat-and-mouse caper drama, which premiered on March 24, is signature Rhimes.

Our strong female lead is Alice Vaughan (Mireille Enos), head investigator of a large (and very fancy) private investigation firm in Los Angeles. (Think “Scandal” but with less political intrigue.) Alice is, as is any good Shondaland heroine, a mess in the personal life department and immensely talented at her job. In the pilot’s opening sequence alone, she coolly takes down a would-be art thief with a combination of seductive flirting and a good, hard punch.

There is one case, however, that has Alice and her team stumped: they have yet to catch Mr. X (Peter Krause), an anonymous figure who has stolen a collective $5 million from their clients, sending Alice an email reading, “Are you ready to play?” before each theft.

After receiving another of Mr. X’s signature emails, Alice and co. speed off to try to catch

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is in the midst of an all-consuming personal and professional mess: her fiancé has left her, leaving not a trace of himself behind. Plus, he has stolen information that will likely bring her entire company down.

“The Catch” has set itself up neatly to weave the find-and-take-down-Christopher/ Ben plot with open-and-shut case of the week storylines. It is not a particularly revolutionary formula, but it is fun and will surely allow for more of the topsy-turvy plot twists “The Catch” has already come to rely on. Enos and Krause, meanwhile, are fine, if slightly boring leads. Their chemistry is not off the charts, but they are both good enough actors to make it work. And, it is delightful to watch them shake off their recent television roles for something a bit more glamorous — Enos played homicide detective Sarah Linden on AMC’s “The Killing” (2011 - 2014), while Krause starred as dependable dad Adam Braverman on “Parenthood” (2010 - 2015). If the writers can cut down on the excessive and wearying exposition, they might just have a hit on their hands.

“The Catch” is fun enough to watch as a bit of escapist TV, but do not tune in if you are looking for some gritty, honest storytelling. The drama, for example, ostensibly takes place in Los Angeles, but the city merely functions as a scenic backdrop for the show’s central action. There are plenty of beautiful skyline shots, but, when the show’s characters seem to only inhabit five-star hotels and upscale restaurants, none of the city’s character is actually tangible. It is an imagined Los Angeles — a glamorous and idealized version of the city that, despite its disconnect from reality, suits the show’s style and tone well.

“The Catch” is, after all, set in the kind of fantasy world that only exists in TV shows and romantic comedies. Made entirely of glass and boasting killer views of the city, Alice’s sleek, modern office is a far cry from the dark, drab space that fellow television P.I. Veronica Mars worked in. Alice’s spacious home, meanwhile, is impeccably decorated, and her bedroom, predictably, features a massive walk-in closet. She appears to be dressed each day by a personal stylist (which, of course, she has, thanks to the show’s hair and makeup department), and her glossy, perfectly bouncy hair is straight out of a shampoo commercial. Her car of choice? A Mercedes, naturally.

Like all Shondaland shows, “The Catch” is best enjoyed with a healthy dose of suspended disbelief. After all, the glistening production details of the show’s fantasy world dovetail perfectly with the equally outlandish storylines — and nothing ruins a nice bit of escapist television like picking apart all the little details.

Stina Stannik is a senior majoring in peace and justice studies. She can be reached at stina.stannik@tufts.edu.

Weekender THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 | ARTS & LIVING | THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts alumni found

Plaid Productions

devoted to a cappella

by John J. Gallagher Executive Arts Editor

A cappella, group singing performed without instrumental accompaniment, has long been a musical mainstay at universities and colleges across the United States and has rocketed into pop culture over the past decade as well. The “Pitch Perfect” (2012 – 2015) films, inspired in part by the antics of Tufts’ very own Beelzebubs, are critical and commercial darlings. And the TV series “Glee” (2009 – 2015) was something of a late 2000s juggernaut that also featured the Bubs. A cappella has even become a fixture at the Daily — a weekly column that offers an insider’s view of the a cappella process can be found in the pages of this illustrious rag (see Isaac Brown’s “Pop Filter” in the Arts section on Mondays).

But beyond inspiring music, films, books and TV shows, Tufts’ thriving a cappella scene has launched the music careers of many of its alumni, including Alex Green of the Amalgamates and Alexander Koutzoukis of the Bubs. The pair of former Tufts students are the minds behind Plaid Productions, a music production company whose raison d’etre is, in Green’s words, to “record, edit, mix and otherwise produce a cappella.”

Plaid Productions, unsurprisingly, has its roots in Koutzoukis’ and Green’s musical backgrounds as well as the musical development they underwent at Tufts.

According to Green, his interest in music began to take shape during his senior year of high school, when he “started recording stuff [himself] in [his] bedroom.” But despite this early interest, Green also pointed out that he “sort of shied away from doing music as a career because [he] knew it was not always the most reliable.”

By the end of his time at Tufts, though, Green ended up double-majoring in archeology and music.

“By junior year of college, I was like, ‘I guess music is for me’,” he said. “There’s no getting around it — this is what I want to do.”

Koutzoukis, on the other hand, arrived at Tufts with different expectations. “[I was] majoring in physics, and then switched to engineering, and then sort of settled in computer science, which I thought was what I really wanted to do,” Koutzoukis said. “I thought I was going to work for Google in five or 10 years.”

But even with his technical academic aspirations, having grown up with music motivated Koutzoukis to try out for the Bubs.

“Part of coming to Tufts was that I had seen the Bubs when I was in high school, and that was an interesting thing to me,” Koutzoukis said. “So it worked out that I got in [to the Bubs] in my first week of college and never looked back.”

At Tufts, both Green and Koutzoukis served as musical directors of their respective groups, an experience that also deepened their knowledge of the recording process. For Koutzoukis, his exposure to recording came from working on three albums over five years as a member of the Bubs, and both he and Green were in a music production class in their final year at Tufts.

During this class, according to Koutzoukis, he and Green connected over things such as “Iron Chef.”

Immediately after moving on from Tufts, Green was a member of a professional a cappella group in Boston for a while.

COURTESY ALEXANDER KOUTZOUKIS

Former Tufts students Alex Green (LA ‘10) and Alexander Koutzoukis (LA ‘10) are the two members of the group “Plaid Productions.” They arrange, produce and sing a cappella songs.

“Somewhere around nine months into doing that, I realized I wanted to take a left turn but do something in the same vein,” he said.

At the same time, Koutzoukis was working in his father’s woodshop but had also worked with noted a cappella producer and fellow Bubs alum, Ed Boyer, on “Glee.” This experience nudged Koutzoukis into thinking, “I could do [a cappella production] for real.”

As Koutzoukis describes it, he and Green were both looking for a change.

“Nine months after graduation, we were pretty good friends, and we met up at a Chipotle one night, and I was like, ‘I don’t really feel like this real job situation anymore, do you want to try doing this for a living?’ and it went pretty quickly from there,” Koutzoukis said. “We had enough software and hardware between the two of us to get started…and we just started putting out feelers … We let the people who we had worked with or worked for over the course of our college careers know that we wanted to do this and if they needed they needed people to record or edit stuff we were going to be available.”

To grow Plaid’s reputation, Green and Koutzoukis also produced what they call collaborative recordings, where they would arrange, record and edit a song under very tight time constraints.

“At an a cappella festival in Syracuse we had this idea to do a cover of ‘All of the Lights’ (2010), and we got all of the pro groups who were performing there and anyone who would stick around to hang out in a classroom for four hours and we arranged a song on the fly,” Koutzoukis said. “We sang parts to everybody to have them record stuff, and then brought it back and finished it. It got a lot of attention because a lot of people in the community were involved in it and were invested in seeing it happen. That sort of kicked off that thing [collaborative recordings], which we did at festivals for the next few years.”

Plaid Productions first did work for both the Amalgamates and the Bubs, but were eventually contacted in early 2011 by The Blend, Wheaton College’s co-ed a cappella group, who wanted help producing an album.

After The Blend, more groups got in touch seeking Plaid Productions’ services.

“Not long after that was the X-Factors from Northwestern University and Pitch Slapped from Berklee,” Green said.

Plaid Productions doesn’t just provide barebones to their clients, but instead acts as a resource for the groups they work with, providing guidance about how they can best achieve their goals.

“You make those connections and you help the groups in a way that’s not just on the clock or pressing the buttons. You get them from wanting to make an album…to bringing it to reality,” Koutzoukis said. “Some people don’t realize what their range or ability might be so you nudge it out of them.” “[When recording a group,] rarely if ever do we talk with the group about technical stuff on our end,” Green said. “It’s almost always round-about artistic critiques to get what [the group wants] out of them.”

Although Plaid Productions has established itself as a cornerstone of the a cappella community with a roster of national and international clients, there is still room to grow. Both Green and Koutzoukis noted that a dedicated studio space would help with the recording process, and that ideally they would like to travel to help their international clients record, rather than doing production on already-recorded sound.

Plaid Productions is also still dedicated to helping develop the a cappella community through a cappella festivals, where they regularly hold workshops. In the immediate future, both Green and Koutzoukis will be at the Boston Sings A Cappella Festival, acting as Education Coordinator and Executive Producer, respectively. The festival, which runs from Friday, April 8 to Sunday, April 10, will be held on the Tufts campus and at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.

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Opinion

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EDITORIAL

Cautions with using Uber Uber’s many appeals for college students are undeniable. The ever-expanding ride-sharing service is quick, cheap and convenient. As such, most of us do not think twice about our use of the app. It’s more reliable than the Joey, faster than the T and it doesn’t delve nearly as deep into our wallets as Boston cabbies do. Simply put, Uber’s ability to get us from point A to B at the touch of a button makes it every cash-strapped, impatient and technology-loving college student’s dream.

However, because the app has become so widespread and commonplace, many of us forget to consider the serious potential for danger every time we hit that beloved request button. The fact is that whenever we climb into the back of an Uber, we are putting our lives in the hands of complete and utter strangers. So why exactly do so many of us thoughtlessly disregard our safety when it comes to Uber? Maybe it is the company’s tactful advertisement of safety prioritization, our generation’s blind trust in technology or the fact that all of our friends use the app and have never had a problem. Still, while the dangers of Uber might seem rare or inconsequential, the risk of ridesharing may be much greater than we think.

Just last month, BuzzFeed News released an article containing leaked internal data from Uber’s customer service complaint threads, exposing the shocking possibility that the company had brushed thousands of assault claims under the rug. The images, provided by a former Uber employee, displayed search queries performed on Uber’s customer support platform between December 2015 and August 2015. In one particular screenshot, a search returned 6,160 matches to customer complaints containing the subject title “sexual assault” and 5,827 containing the word “rape.” While Uber claimed that the images were not accurate representations of valid assault complaints, its reasons were weak. The company contended that certain nuances in the platform’s search functionality were to blame for the “significantly overstated” results, such as similar misspelled words like “rate” or dramatized costumer complaints like “my wallet was raped.” Nonetheless, despite its excuses, Uber was forced to admit that during this time period, the company did receive five validated rape claims and 170 claims of sexual assault. Even if these statistics are overstated, they are still too high.

While Uber boasts about its easy-use, convenience and concern for customer

safety, such a scandal has shed light on some of its major company flaws. Firstly, its hiring process is questionable. Driver applications are completed entirely online, background checks fail to utilize fingerprints and only go back seven years in personal records. Secondly, Uber’s customer service platform is far from sufficient. All communication with customers is done over email, allowing employees to ignore or undermine complaints.

Buzzfeed’s leaked image even exposed a customer service guideline that encouraged employees to escalate customer complaints only if they believed they would attract media attention. Finally, in most cities, the Uber app contains no emergency number or hotline if customers ever feel they are in immediate danger during a ride.

In order for Uber to live up to its claimed prioritization of safety, such issues must be addressed immediately.

Deeper and more involved background checks, vehicle-embedded cameras, a more responsive customer service department — Uber should pursue all options. As a company that has benefited a great deal from a supportive public, it owes us a all a favor.

CARTOON

BY STEPHEN DENNISON

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

Aren Torikian The Arena

Bern after reading

I

n explaining the Electoral College to non-Americans (and occasionally Americans), I like to use the “points” approach. Every state is worth a certain number of points, and a candidate needs to win a majority to win it all. And yeah, it really doesn’t matter what the overall population thinks. Points. It’s all about points. Bernie Sanders is starting to figure this out in his efforts to become the Democratic nominee.

Of course the system is actually a bit different for primaries. Democratic delegates are distributed proportionally based on candidate performance and minimum thresholds, so the popular vote is much more indicative of delegate numbers than on the Republican side, where some states are winner-take-all. This is why Donald Trump can boast almost 50 percent of delegates despite far less than 50 percent of the popular vote. Sanders has gotten 43 percent of the popular vote and just about 45 percent of pledged delegates.

That word “pledged” is crucial. The Democratic Party has 714 “superdelegates,” consisting of Democratic members of Congress, governors and other party elites. These delegates make up more than 15 percent of the total slate and can support any candidate at the convention. It’s a pretty convenient way to make sure the party can maintain a hold on its choice of nominee. It’s questionably undemocratic, but that’s beside the point.

As you could imagine, party-favorite Hillary Clinton is doing well amongst this cohort of delegates. Just among the Senate, she has 40 votes compared to Sanders’ one. Oh, and Sanders’ vote is himself.

It’s like being the guy that wants Boston Burger Company when the whole group chat wants Chipotle. Even Vermont’s governor is a Clinton superdelegate. Sanders took 86 percent of the state, yet the governor, house representative and one senator are supporting Clinton.

So not only does Sanders have to start making up a big delegate deficit from elections, he needs to find a way to overcome the 400-superdelegate lead Clinton has built. That’s the equivalent of every delegate in New York, plus every delegate in Massachusetts. This is why winning in Wisconsin doesn’t really change anything for me. Sanders shrunk the delegate gap by about 15. Sure, superdelegates could switch sides if Sanders starts to dominate the popular vote, but that is looking exceedingly unlikely.

I don’t want to trivialize what Bernie Sanders has done. He’s brought important issues to the forefront of the Democratic Party and has run a pretty clean campaign.

His debates with Clinton have been fun to watch. But the structure of the party and its primary process makes an already-unlikely win even more unlikely.

So yes, Bernie fans should enjoy the win in Wisconsin. And the probable win in Wyoming this weekend. It’s important, however, to keep things in perspective. There are still a lot of delegates left out there, but Sanders will struggle in upcoming primaries like New York and Connecticut. These should cue a return in form for the Clinton campaign.

Aren Torikian is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Aren can be reached at aren.torikian@tufts.edu.

Thursday, April 7, 2016 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY

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9

OP-ED

Senator Cruz’s emetic foreign policy

by Zach Shapiro Even as a failed presidential candidate, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) continues to showcase his trademark wit and wisdom. In discussing the Trump-Cruz conundrum with “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah, Mr. Graham reflected that choosing Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz “is like being shot or poisoned,” respectively. Shockingly, Mr. Cruz recently earned Mr. Graham’s endorsement. While the South Carolina senator’s logic holds up, poison is poison, and Mr. Cruz’s foreign policy is especially toxic. It is hypocritical, lacks strategic vision and is unrealistic.

Failing the test of consistent rhetoric, Mr. Cruz’s foreign policy comes apart at first glance. Touting the importance of freedom and democracy abroad only means so much given Mr. Cruz’s well-documented, Trump-esque admiration of Egyptian President and dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Last August, Mr. Cruz said President Obama does not show as much “courage” as Mr. Sisi in combatting extremism. Mr. Cruz neglected to mention that Mr. Sisi’s courts have sentenced 547 political opponents to death. On the economic

side, the Texas senator’s commitment to free trade ends when he submits to protectionist fear of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in key primary states like Iowa. Senator Cruz’s campaign website claims that “[The United States] should stand as a shining beacon of what free people enjoying a free market and system of government can achieve.”

Is principle irrelevant to Mr. Cruz when political points are at stake?

If there weren’t enough issues with the Cruz Doctrine, it also suffers from clouded vision and, well, bad ideas. The Texas senator fails to see the whole board of geopolitics, arguing that the United States “has no dog in the fight of the Syrian civil war.” American experts and regional allies see things differently, to say nothing of the Syrian people and others threatened by Russian and IslamicState influence. Meanwhile, Mr. Cruz casts aside implications of other policies when he advocates for patrolling Muslim neighborhoods to prevent future terror attacks. The idea’s indecency may just be overshadowed by its short-sightedness: the Cruz counter-terror plan alienates core allies against Islamic extremism.

Cruz supporters often rebut these points by citing the senator’s record on

Israel. They are right that he has voted repeatedly in Israel’s favor. But Senator Cruz’s pro-Israel credentials erode when he makes offhanded comments about pernicious “New York values” revolving “around money and media.” It’s an alltoo familiar euphemism for Jews, and it begs the question: with rhetoric like that, how genuine is Mr. Cruz’s support of the Jewish State?

But the worst of Mr. Cruz’s foreign policy is its tenuous relationship with reality. This candidate thinks American counter-terrorism policy should be to “kill the bad guys and then come home.” Senator Cruz apparently forgot that leaving power vacuums emboldens actors like ISIS and the Taliban. He negalects the reality that when a nation intervenes, it makes a long-term strategic, military and economic commitment, lest the progress made be reversed. This is to say nothing of his views on military tactics. Mr. Cruz has advocated “carpet bombing” Islamic-State-held territory, which is densely populated with civilians. “Carpet bombing” notoriously yields civilian casualties and doesn’t work, as evidenced by the Vietnam War. As Frank Constanza of “Seinfeld” said, “It’s not rude; it’s stupid!”

The New York Times’ columnist David Brooks recently wrote that Mr. Trump “doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.” He was right. But Mr. Cruz is perfectly aware of these doctrinal faults. He knows exactly what he doesn’t know. He prioritizes optics over objectives, expediency over wisdom. Concerned with headlines rather than consequences, his foreign policy is half-baked and half-hearted.

And this is what nauseates me: Mr. Cruz is intellectually capable of more but opts for comfortable, complacent mediocrity. If not just problematic, it is insulting to the high office for which he competes.

There was a time when debates were about substance and when braggadocio lost votes. Today’s two Republican frontrunners are engaged in a race to bottom, and in this race, no one wins.

Stripped of his bluster, Mr. Cruz is smart enough to be Commander-in-Chief, but his foreign policy doesn’t make the cut.

I will not be “shot or poisoned” come November.

Zach Shapiro is a senior majoing in international relations. Zach can be reached at zach.shapiro@tufts.edu.

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Thursday, April 7, 2016 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Horowitz, Siciliano combine for nine RBIs over three games

SOFTBALL

continued from back Milligan wrote to the Daily in an email. “This team has a lot of potential but a lot of calculated work to do. Williams is a senior-laden team who was a regional team last year with the at-large bid. They have some of the aura we are working to create, of confidence and experience. We learned a lot from playing them, and for all our youth and lack of readiness, we hung with them in both games. We need to make some climbs on the ladder to beat them in May, but that’s what we’re here to work on every day.”

Senior co-captain pitcher Erica County, who went the distance and took the loss in game one against Williams — in part because of the uncharacteristically low level of run support from her hitters and some sloppy defense behind her — said that the team worked on limiting defensive errors and coming out more aggressively at the plate as they prepared for the Bodwoin game on Friday.

In what was basically a must-win game for a reeling Tufts squad on Friday, the team beared down and got its first win at Spicer Field on the season against Bowdoin. The Jumbos fell behind early, giving up a threespot in the second inning as County struggled to find her rhythm and her fielders made two errors behind her. Tufts got one back when sophomore DH Michelle Chisdak singled to center with the bases loaded to score junior first baseman Cassie Rucsz, but Bowdoin’s first-year right fielder Caroline Rice threw Horowitzs out at the plate to limit the damage.

Bowdoin answered in the top of third with a pair of runs to make it 5-1, but Tufts continued to chip away at the deficit and this time its comeback made it all the way as County settled down on the mound and held the visitors scoreless with just two hits after the third. The Jumbos scored two runs in the third as Raso and Siciliano both crossed the

Ryan Schneiderman Outside of the Boot

The return of the Champions League

SOFIE HECHT / THE TUFTS DAILY

Christina Raso (LA ’16) hits the ball in Softball's 7-5 win against Bowdoin on April 1. dish and another two in the fourth, when Siciliano drilled a double to center to knock in junior center fielder Carrie Copacino, who had walked, and Raso, who had singled again.

Siciliano came up big again in the sixth, lining a two-out, two-run homer to put her team on top for the first time since spring break.

County hung on in the top of the seventh to earn the win.

The three-game series was scheduled to continue with a doubleheader on Saturday, but the first game was halted due to rain, and the remaining two games were postponed to this Sunday.

“Bowdoin has perennially been our strongest opponent in NESCAC East play,” Milligan said. “We know them well, and they know us well. We made some mistakes and made that game a lot harder for ourselves, and we surely could have pushed and been up more than 1-0 in the halted game. But I’m only going to lose faith in this team when we start getting complacent with where we are and stop climbing.”

The team dynamic seems to have finally come together in the Bowdoin game, and a new crop of Jumbos stepped up to carry the team as seasoned offensive leaders like Rucsz

were quiet in the team’s first home games of the season.

“We had a few players step up and make a difference in [the Bowdoin and Williams games],” Milligan said. “I think we had a solid defensive effort from our middles, especially [first-year] Christian [Cain] at [shortstop] with a couple really nice and hungry plays up the middle. Our breakout offensive innings were often aided by Sammy [Siciliano] and Summer [Horowitz], who are really crushing the ball right now.”

The team is still working to develop its chemistry and integrate the rookies into the dynamic.

“I do not think our team has hit our stride yet, so I am very excited for that to happen,” Horowitz said. “I think once everyone gains confidence in themselves at their position and their teammates, we will be very successful.

Working hard every day at practice and in games is bringing us closer to that point.”

The Jumbos look to continue improving with every game and hit their stride by the end of the season. Tufts next plays Colby on the road with games scheduled for Friday and Saturday before they return to Medford on Sunday for the doubleheader against Bowdoin.

Jumbos look to power through busy April into NESCAC championships MEN'S TRACK

continued from back ing second place with a time of 51.24 seconds.

Only Southern Maine’s Daniel Webb was faster, who finished in 48.71 seconds.

DiMaiti, for his part, also had a dominating Saturday. He was part of the 4×800-meter relay team that also included first-year Nico Agosti, senior Alex Kasemir and Hintermeister. The team beat Keene State College in a two-team race and finished with a time of 8:18.20.

“The 4×800 meter relay is a new event for me in college,” DiMaiti said. “This was my first time since coming to Tufts that I ran an 800 ,so that was fun because I usually run shorter distances.”

DiMaiti was one of many Jumbos competing in an event that they normally don’t run, but in the end it didn’t seem to matter.

“It wasn’t a meet we were necessarily trying to win, but I think the effort was there,” Clark said. “People weren’t placed in events they normally [place in], but the team did well because everyone tried their best.”

Senior Atticus Swett led the Jumbo throwers at the meet, finishing fourth in the discus and sixth in hammer throw to cap an overall good meet for the Jumbos.

“The Snowflake Classic has always really been bad weather and an unpredictable first meet,” Adams said. “It’s also a wake-up call because it is going to rain or be windy. It gets us prepared for a New England spring where it might not always be perfect conditions.”

The Snowflake Classic kicked off a packed April schedule for Tufts as the team gets ready to compete in six more events before the NESCAC championships on April 30. A contingent of Jumbos will compete at the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton this Friday, with another portion of the team competing on Saturday at a tri-meet at MIT that

11

SOFIE HECHT / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVE

First-year Colin Raposo runs in the Men’s Distance Medley during the Final Qualifying Meet in Gantcher Center on March 4. includes Bates. The following weekend, from April 15 to 16, the Tufts team will make a trip to Conn. College for the Silfren Invitational. The Jumbos hope the weather will have improved

by April 23 when they host their next home meet, the Tufts Sunshine Classic. The sprint through the April schedule all builds up to NESCACs at Amherst at the end of the month, where Tufts looks to defend its crown and take its fourth straight conference title.

“The biggest goal for us this season is to win the NESCAC championship for the fourth year in a row,” Adams said. “No one on the team has ever experienced losing the NESCAC, so we want to keep that streak alive.

We want to get the momentum rolling as we try to take the title again.”

But as excited as the team is for NESCACs, winning will not be a walk in the park. Tufts faces serious competition from Williams this year, and the stakes are even higher as former Tufts coach Ethan Barron left after last season to coach at Williams.

“There is an added level of interest…but

it’s just fun and competitive now with him,” DiMaiti said.

But it isn’t just the prospects of becoming four-peat NESCAC champions that excites the team.

“I’m most excited to see my teammates PR after all the work they have put in throughout indoor season,” Clark said. “It will be exciting to see how well people do and how much people have improved from last year.

I’m excited to see the freshmen have fun with the new season.”

The Jumbos are confident that their performance at the Snowflake Classic set them up well as the outdoor season starts to heat up.

“It wasn’t, through every nook and cranny, an amazing performance, but I think we are in a good spot right now to have a good run up into championship season,” DiMaiti said.

“The meet definitely reassured us that we have depth,” Clark said. “The athletes that did run their specific events seemed to do very well, so we feel pretty good heading into the outdoor season.”

T

he Champions League is back.

For the next two weeks, soccer fans everywhere will be treated to showdowns between Europe’s best. On Tuesday, Barcelona looked to continue their quest to become the first repeat champion since 1989 when they hosted Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the quarterfinal. The game started with Barcelona dominant, but a defensive lapse gave the away side an early lead. Fernando Torres’s 25th-minute strike had the pundits writing the former Chelsea man’s redemption story, but only until a clumsy challenge on Sergio Busquets, and a second yellow card saw the script changed. The 10-man Atletico side fought valiantly to absorb wave after wave of Barcelona attack, but two Luis Suarez goals saw Barcelona leave the Camp Nou with a 2-1 victory. Bayern Munich was also in action on Tuesday, defeating Benfica 1-0.

If Barcelona and Bayern retain their advantage after the second leg and Real Madrid are able to advance past a Wolfsburg side currently sitting eighth in the Bundesliga, it will be the fourth time in five years that these three clubs make it to the semi-final stage. In the same period, one of the three clubs would go on to win the final in each year except in 2012, when Chelsea defeated both Bayern and Barcelona in miraculous fashion. This raises the question: is there a 2012 Chelsea side in this year’s tournament? If Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid all do in fact advance to the semifinals, the team to stop them would have to be either Paris St. Germain or Manchester City.

I’ll start with Manchester City. City is in the quarterfinals of the competition for the first time in their history, so they are a true wild card. After being ousted

by Barcelona in the Round of 16 for the past two years, City was able to advance past Dynamo Kiev with relative ease.

With the likes of Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, Manchester City certainly have the firepower in attack to score goals on the top European sides, but the question for this team has always been in defense. With Vincent Kompany out with a calf injury for the fourth time this season, City will once again be without their captain. This doesn’t bode well for their chances. In the 13 Premier League games with Kompany in defense, City has conceded seven goals.

In the 18 Premier League games without him, they’ve conceded a staggering 25. Without its skipper, City will be hard-pressed to keep out PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edison Cavani, let alone the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Arjen Robben.

So what about PSG? Like Manchester City, they can certainly score goals. The 121 goals they have scored across all competitions ranks the third among European clubs, behind Barcelona (149) and Real Madrid (122). They also don’t need to worry about clinching Ligue 1 — they already did that midway through March. If they stay healthy and a little luck goes their way, don’t be surprised to see an extra parade in Paris this May. Ryan Schneiderman is a sophomore majoring in computer science. He can be reached at ryan.schneiderman@tufts.edu

Sports

12 tuftsdaily.com

Thursday, April 7, 2016

BASEBALL

Jumbos open New England schedule with three straight wins

by Bradley Schussel Staff Writer

Coming off a 6-3 road trip through the south over spring, the baseball team returned to New England with a bang in a crushing 21-3 victory over Massachusetts Maritime Academy last Wednesday before sweeping a doubleheader against Bates on Saturday to move to 2-0 in NESCAC East play.

The Jumbos are off to a strong start in their quest to stay atop the eastern division and win their third straight pennant after beating division rival Bates in its first two conference games. Tufts outlasted the hosts in an extra-inning affair in the first game of the series. Bates scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to an RBI single by senior third baseman Conor Reenstierna to take a 2-0 lead.

But the Jumbos tied the game in the next half inning with consecutive walks with loaded bases. Junior right fielder Oscar Kutch was hit by a pitch to pick up the first RBI and senior shortstop Matt Moser earned the next one.

Bates starter Connor Colombo struggled to find the strike zone in the inning, handing out five free passes in the inning, including four straight that cost him the runs.

With the score still knotted up at two at the end of seven, the game went into extras.

Tufts’ sophomore third baseman Tommy O’Hara led off the eighth with a base hit and was standing on third after a sac fly and a passed ball. First-year DH Dan Kelly drove in what would be the game-winning run for the Jumbos with an RBI single and put his team up 3-2.

Tufts junior starter Speros Varinos stayed on in the eighth to close out the game and

earned the win after going the distance, tallying ten strikeouts and allowing two earned runs on seven hits and two base-on-balls.

The second game of the doubleheader was far more one-sided than the first. The Jumbos scored nine runs in the first three innings, with five of those coming in the second inning alone. The Bobcats were completely shut down offensively, thanks to a complete game shutout from Tufts’ senior starter and apparent ace Andrew David. The southpaw went seven innings, struck out seven batters and allowed seven hits and one walk. The shutout earned him his second win of the season, pushing his record to 2-0.

“We’re definitely happy winning the first two games of NESCAC play,” junior left fielder Harry Brown said. “We’re excited, but the series isn’t over. We’re still going to have to play [Bates] later in the season. So we’re still focused on that, but it was good to get those first two NESCAC wins out of the way.”

The Jumbos had a few standouts on the offensive side, including senior captain and center fielder Cody McCallum.

McCallum, despite going hitless in the first game of the doubleheader, came through with a two-RBI single in the top of the second inning that sparked a rally and scored three runs on the day. O’Hara followed up his game-winning run in game one by going two for four with four RBIs in the second game, while Brown went one for two on the day with a walk and scored two of his team’s nine runs.

“I was content with my performance, but I really tried to stay more focused on the process than the outcome,” Brown said. “I got a couple of hits this weekend, and I’m happy

NICHOLAS PFOSI / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVE

Tom Petry (LA ‘17), slams the ball during the fifth inning of the Tufts 10-6 win against Keene State on April 2, 2014. with that, but I also struck out three times, which can’t really happen. Mentally, though, I felt pretty [good]. Again, me and a lot of the guys on the team try to focus more on how we go about our business than the result.”

Tufts opened its New England action last Wednesday by blowing out Mass. Maritime in a non-conference game that saw the team explode for 21 runs, while allowing just three in nine innings of play. Sophomore DH Mike McLaughlin set the tone for the Jumbos in the first, going yard for a three-run shot off the Mass. Maritime Buccaneers’ starter Trevor Brown, who was roughed up early and often in his outing. Tufts used the game to let its staff stretch their arms, with seven different pitchers taking the mound. Junior Tim Superko got the start and gave up just

SOFTBALL

a solo home run in his 1.1 innings of work, while Varinos got the win in 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.

Brown led the offensive outpouring, tallying five of Tufts’ 19 hits while driving in three runs and scoring one. McLaughlin and Kutch had four RBIs and a multi-hit game each, while seniors McCallum and Moser joined them in the multiple hits category. Though never really competitive, the game was also a good early-season opportunity for bench players to see some action, as 24 of the 27 players on Tufts’ roster entered the game.

The Jumbos look to build on last week’s success in a doubleheader at home on Saturday against the Brandeis Judges before getting back to NESCAC competition the following weekend.

MEN'S TRACK

Softball wins first NESCAC East Tufts hosts, finishes third at game, but off to troubled start in 2016 annual Snowflake Classic with outdoor season now underway

by Isabel Banta Staff Writer

This past week, the softball team dropped two games in a home doubleheader against Williams before recovering with a win against Bowdoin in a tight NESCAC East battle. The Jumbos came away with a 7-5 win over the Bowdoin Polar Bears on Friday in their first and only conference game so far, while the 6-4 and 6-5 losses to the Williams Ephs on Wednesday are still troubling for the team’s conference title aspirations — even though the losses don’t factor into the team’s conference record since the Ephs play in the NESCAC West.

In the first game against Williams, the Jumbos were stalled by strong pitching from Ephs’ junior Brooke Bovier and first-year Mackenzie Murphy, as the two combined to hold the Jumbos hitless through five innings before first-year third baseman Kristen Caporelli singled off Murphy with one out in the top of the sixth. Williams dominated the entire game, with sophomore Brenna Martinez hammering a two-run shot in the top of the seventh to put her team up 6-0 going into the last half inning. That homer proved to be the game winner, though, as Tufts rallied to score four runs in the bottom of the seventh on a leadoff solo home run from sophomore left fielder Samantha Siciliano and a three-run shot from junior catcher Summer Horowitz.

But the comeback fell short as Murphy got a groundout and strikeout after Horowitz’s shot to seal the win.

In game two on Wednesday evening, Tufts managed to get closer but still couldn’t pull out the W against a Williams team that was admittedly tough but one that the back-toback-to-back defending national champions should have beaten. The Ephs again got on the board in the first and never trailed the entire game, which was shortened to five innings. Good defense hampered the Jumbos’ comeback efforts as Ephs outfielders threw out Jumbo runners at the plate in the second and in the fifth to limit the hosts’ best scoring innings.

Williams, leading 5-4 going into the fifth, added an insurance run before staving off another Tufts comeback in the bottom of the inning. Senior co-captain second baseman Christina Raso nubbed a ball in front of the plate with the bases loaded and two outs to score a run to get the Jumbos within one, down 6-5. But Williams starter Alejandra Magana Siciliano grounded out with the bases loaded to shut the door.

“Our losses against Williams are a motivation for us,” Horowitz told the Daily in an email. “We only lost both games combined by three runs. If we continue to improve each game, we should be able to play much better if we see Williams in the playoffs.”

Coach Cheryl Milligan agreed that the losses to Williams don’t necessarily merit pulling the alarm.

“We are mainly focused on preparing us, more than preparing for opponents,” see SOFTBALL, page 11

by Soven Bery Staff Writer

Despite the gusting winds and rain falling on the Ellis Oval this weekend, the men’s track and field team just kept running.

On Saturday, the team hosted the annual Snowflake Classic at Duasault Track and they placed third out of 16 teams. Though the Jumbos’ outdoor season technically started over spring break when they competed at an event in California, this weekend’s meet marked the beginning of the team’s New England outdoor competition schedule. Even though the majority of the team was resting this week and even more of the team was competing outside of its regular events, the Jumbos still managed to rack up an impressive 84 points, behind first-place Dartmouth (140.5 points) and second-place Worcester State (102 points).

“We had a lot of our top runners sitting out to rest for more later season meets,” senior Nick Adams said. “Even with the rain and the unpredictable weather, we still had a lot of people race well for a first meet.”

Adams performed well in the less-thanideal weather, winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase, though the field included just two other competitors, both from Worcester State University: Eric Sanford and Carlos Nieves.

Adams was on his own for most of the race, finishing with a time of 10:14.02, with Sanford and Nieves lagging significantly behind.

“I won comfortably, but it was really me by myself and the bad weather,” Adams said.

In the 100-meter dash event — a staple event of outdoor track competitions — sophomore Peter Clark also delivered a win for Tufts out of a field of a whopping 42 entrants.

In the final, he finished in 11.31 seconds, beating the runner-up Zach Miller of the University of Southern Maine by a full 0.2 seconds.

“In the finals, I had an okay start,” Clark said. “But I was able to stay relaxed during the second half of the race, which I think allowed me to keep my speed up and didn’t slow me down.”

Other standout performances included first-year Dylan Jones finishing in seventh place in the 10K with a time of 33:02.72, firstyear Charles Pennington nabbing a seventhplace 5 in. 6 ft. performance in the high jump and first-year Henry Hintermeister finishing in third with a 57.80 in the 400-meter hurdles.

“I think we did really well … Usually when the weather is like that the times aren’t that great,” sophomore Drew DiMaiti said. “But compared to other teams, we were doing well … It wasn’t great conditions for most of the day, but we still had some really impressive performances. For example, in the 400, Chris Gregory ran pretty well.”

Gregory, a sophomore, competed in the 400-meter dash with 27 other runners, earnsee MEN'S TRACK, page 11