The Tufts Daily - Friday, November 16, 2018

Page 1

Sabrina Carpenter’s new album showcases singular, fully developed sound see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 3

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

Raposo leads Jumbos to fifth place at Regionals

Men’s basketball prepares to start season with mix of fresh faces, experienced returners see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

THE

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXVI, ISSUE 48

tuftsdaily.com

Friday, November 16, 2018

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Republican strategist discusses national politics with Michelle Obama’s former communications director by Robert Kaplan Staff Writer

Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist, CNN commentator and co-host of “The View” (1997–), and Maria Cristina González Noguera (LA ’97) discussed the 2018 midterm election results, the state of the major political parties and predictions for the presidential election in 2020, as part of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life’s Distinguished Speaker Series in the ASEAN Auditorium on Thursday night. Noguera, a former special assistant to Barack Obama and former communications director for Michelle Obama, moderated the event, asking Navarro questions before the audience posed their own in the last half hour of the event. The duo began by discussing the circumstances of President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, and the unique circumstances which influenced the Republican and Democratic parties. Navarro said that a variety of factors — and not any of them individually — explain the election of a deeply unpopular candidate. “[Donald Trump] had the name ID of not only a mere mortal politician,” Navarro said. “But despite being a Manhattan billionaire, he had the pulse on how the parties had shifted.” Navarro added that core institutions of American culture and government have begun to change as a result. “In two short years, this man has redefined the Republican Party, redefined the office of the President and redefined America,” Navarro said. Noguera responded, sharing her observance of the difference between the presidential campaigns of 2008 and 2016.

“I think about the ’08 election and how it was built around a message of hope,” Noguera said. “I just think that the forces surrounding the Trump presidency could not be more different than those that brought about the Obama presidency.” Navarro gave her predictions on the presidential field in 2020, emphasizing the need for the Democratic party to nominate engaging candidates. “The Democratic party really struck upon something with [Stacey] Abrams, [Beto] O’Rourke, and [Andrew] Gillum,” Navarro said. “They inspire people to vote for something, not just against Donald Trump.” One attendee, Alexander Jaramillo Burgos, (LA ’18) asked Navarro why she still identifies as a Republican though she criticizes the party and its leadership regularly. “We need parties that are competing and courting for our vote,” Navarro said. “And I feel that if all the Republicans … feel that way, it’s much harder to get back to having two functional parties that earn our support.” Navarro then responded to another question from the audience, saying that she hopes to help reshape the Republican Party in a more positive form. “I confront Republicans who I know are compromising their principles and have sold their spines to science,” Navarro said. “When I voted for a Democrat, it’s because I feel that Republicans have abjectly failed in their duty in Congress to provide a check and balance on the president of their party.” see NAVARRO, page 2

JULIA MCDOWELL / THE TUFTS DAILY

Republican strategist Ana Navarro and Michelle Obama’s former Communications Director Maria Cristina González Noguera (LA ‘97) discuss bipartisan politics and the midterm election in ASEAN Auditorium on Nov. 15.

Professors reframe studies of Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi’s death by Gil Jacobson News Editor

Tufts professors are re-examining their application of Saudi Arabia in academic coursework following last month’s killing of Saudi expatriate and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. According to an Oct. 25 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, multiple New England universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Babson College and Harvard University, are reconsidering or are being pressured to reconsider their relationship with the Kingdom. Ibrahim Warde, adjunct professor of international business at The Fletcher

Please recycle this newspaper

Rain 44/ 35

/thetuftsdaily

School of Law and Diplomacy, has written extensively about the financial relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. According to Warde, who also serves as director of Fletcher’s Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Khashoggi had agreed to speak at a Fares Center event just days before his disappearance. “[Khashoggi is] an interesting person because he was very closely connected to the royal family,” Warde said. “At the same time, he’s been, especially in the last couple of years, quite a critic of the regime.” Warde noted that Khashoggi tied together many of the themes in his Islamic politics course at Fletcher,

For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily

which focuses on Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood. “Khashoggi was quite central to all of those issues because one of the criticisms by the Saudi press and the regime in general was that [Khashoggi] was too close to the Muslim Brothers,” he said. Warde added that, in the spring, he’ll be teaching courses that feature Saudi Arabia, including one on Islamic finance and one on political economy and business in the Islamic world. “A lot of students who take the [courses] are very interested — either from a business perspective or a political perspective — in what’s happening in Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Contact Us P.O. Box 53018,  Medford, MA 02155 daily@tuftsdaily.com

Warde noted that he still hopes to bring a journalist and dissident of the Saudi regime to the Fares Center later this academic year, while also organizing events that discuss the status of Saudi women and the Kingdom’s relationship to the United States. “I’m still unsure about whether the focus is going to be on this PR war or on the question of Saudi money,” Warde said. “One problem in D.C. is that a number of potential speakers I talked to were recipients of money.” Although many universities are reexamining their financial ties to

NEWS............................................1 ARTS & LIVING.......................3

see KHASHOGGI, page 2

FUN & GAMES.........................5 SPORTS............................ BACK


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.