The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Student groups organize to bring Jumbo spirit to athletic games, larger community see FEATURES / PAGE 4

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Jumbos finish 1st undefeated regular season in team history

Editorial: Humanities facilities deserve same level of upkeep as STEM see OPINION / PAGE 10

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXIX, ISSUE 17

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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TCU Senate elects new committee chair, hears supplementary funding requests

by Alexander Janoff Assistant News Editor

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

Dowling Hall is pictured on Feb. 12.

Bellof hired as new ‘alpha’ dean, Baffi-Dugan to retire

by Sara Renkert News Editor

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Advising Carol Baffi-Dugan, replaced

by Matthew Bellof (LA’06, AG’09), began her transition from the department on Feb. 3. According to an email sent to the Tufts community on Jan. 31, Baffi-Dugan will continue in a parttime capacity as the director of prehealth advising until June 30, at which time Amanda Stone will become the designated pre-health advisor for all students.

Carmen Lowe, dean of academic advising and undergraduate studies for the School of Arts and Sciences, explained that a largescale review and reorganization of many of the student-facing entities was conducted this past summer in the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering, caused by a significant number of retirements and departures in the Division of Student Affairs last year.

Lowe added that Tufts invited an outside consultant to assist in reviewing and reorganizing the departments, which was finalized in August 2019. see RETIREMENT, page 2

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate elected a new chairperson for its Administration and Policy (A&P) Committee and approved supplementary funding requests from seven student organizations at its meeting on Monday night in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room.

Former Diversity Officer Grant Gebetsberger won the election, besting TCU Senator Ibrahim AlMuasher to fill the vacancy left by TCU Senator for the Class of 2022 Deepen Goradia’s resignation as A&P Chair.

Election Commission Historian Mark Lannigan, a first-year, presided over the election, which was conducted by secret ballot.

AlMuasher, a first-year, explained that he accepted his nomination for the role because he believes that no TCU Senate election should be uncontested.

Gebetsberger, a junior, explained that his experience on the A&P Committee in the past will help him lead the committee this semester.

“Knowing how to work with admin and having done that in the past [is beneficial],” Gebetsberger said.

Gebetsberger said that one of his main priorities as A&P chair is to increase housing options available to students. He acknowledged the growing housing crisis on campus and argued that he would push the administration to alleviate that issue.

“A lot of [my job as A&P Chair] is housing advocacy, especially as we face a really horrible housing crisis,” Gebetsberger said. “Even if we don’t see new dorms built by the end of this year, pushing the administration to make sure that they know that we are very stressed about the housing issue and this is not something that’s going to go away for them or for us.”

In response to a question regarding supporting members of the A&P Committee, Gebetsberger said that he would hold himself responsible for progress as chairperson of the committee, in addition to the members of the committee.

“The way I like to tackle leadership opportunities is by both taking accountability on myself in my role as a leader but also holding everyone else accountable,” Gebetsberger said. “A lot of A&P’s work is very strenuous, slow-burning and does not give you that quick satisfaction, and therefore I think a very big part of it will be continuously motivating all the members of the committee and trying to give them hope and celebrating the smaller victories.”

Following the election, TCU President Shannon Lee announced that Maren Greathouse, the Medford and Fenway campuses’ new associate director for diversity and inclusion education, would be conducting diversity consultations with the various faculty departments in the fall.

see SENATE, page 2

Community grant program applications open

by Isabel Valdelomar Staff Writer

Applications for this year’s Tufts Community Grants (TCG) cycle opened on Feb. 3 and close on March 13. The winners will be announced in early April, according to the Office of Government and Community Relations’ website.

Tufts Community Grants (TCG) is completely funded by Tufts faculty and staff through the Tufts Community Appeal.

Originally called the Tufts Neighborhood Service Fund when it was established in 1995, TCG assists nonprofit organizations operating in Tufts’ surrounding communities.

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Thirty-six different nonprofit organizations were awarded a grant last April, according to Leah Boudreau, the administrative coordinator in the Office of Government and Community Relations.

Friday Night Supper Program, Apple Tree Arts, the Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center, Boston Shakespeare Project, Ricesticks and Tea and the Somerville Homeless Coalition were some of the organizations who benefitted from the record $28,000 in grants awarded in last year’s cycle.

“All of these nonprofit organizations are based in or serve Tufts’ host communities of Boston, Grafton, Medford and

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Somerville, and have Tufts students, faculty and/or staff as volunteers,” Boudreau wrote in an email. “Both of these conditions are requirements for being eligible for the program. They were picked by the Tufts Community Grants Board, which is comprised of staff and faculty from across the University.”

TCG grants fund a variety of projects, ranging from transportation costs to training to the purchase of food and other resources. The grants vary in size, from $250 to $2,000, and even the smaller grants can make a big difference for nonprofit organizations working with limited resources, according to Boudreau.

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Clinical Director of the Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center Megan Cheung told the Daily how the Center applied its TCG grant last year.

“We used the grant to install a memory cafe, it’s for people with early dementia,” Cheung said. “So this is the first ChineseAmerican memory cafe, targeting Chinesespeaking people with early dementia.”

Boudreau added that Cambridge And Somerville Programs for Addiction Recovery (CASPAR) last year used its $500 grant to purchase linen for their emergency services shelter in Cambridge.

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................4 ARTS & LIVING....................... 7

see COMMUNITY, page 3

FUN & GAMES.........................9 OPINION...................................10 SPORTS............................ BACK

2

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, February 19, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Ryan Shaffer Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL Alex Viveros Nathan Kyn

Managing Editors Tys Sweeney

Associate Editor

Robert Kaplan Alejandra Carrillo Connor Dale Abbie Gruskin Natasha Mayor Matt McGovern Sara Renkert Anton Shenk Seohyun Shim Daniel Weinstein Maddie Aitken Carolina Espinal Alex Janoff Renner Kwittken Bella Maharaj Stephanie Rifkin Sarah Sandlow

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Stone to take over pre-health advising following BaffiDugan's retirement RETIREMENT

continued from page 1 “As part of the re-organization, adding one more Associate Dean of Undergraduate Advising for Arts and Sciences students was also a priority, and this plan to expand the dean team occurred around the same time that Dean Carol Baffi-Dugan announced her retirement,” Lowe wrote in an email.

This retirement and reorganization also prompted the desire to augment the academic advising team with one more dean to better adapt to the needs of students.

“In the fall, I initiated a search for two new deans, one to join us in February 2020 to replace Dean Baffi-Dugan, and one who will join us in July to bring the advising dean team in Arts and Sciences up to four deans to better serve students,” Lowe said.

The first of these new deans is Matthew Bellof, who will serve as the new associate dean of undergraduate advising. While he brings a wealth of experience from his work as assistant dean and academic advisor in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences’ Office of Advising and Academic Services, he emphasized that the most impactful experience leading him to the new position was his time spent at Tufts for his undergraduate and graduate studies.

“My decision process centered on my desire to return to the Tufts community,” Bellof wrote in an email to the Daily.

“I always joke that one of the reasons I continued immediately into my graduated school program was largely because I didn’t want to leave Tufts.”

He explained that his experiences in undergraduate and graduate studies afford-

ed him opportunities to work with older students and develop his skills in that regard.

“I had a variety of experiences and opportunities as both an undergrad and grad where I worked with older and older students, culminating in my passion for higher education administration, particularly advising and counseling,” Bellof said.

Amanda Stone, associate director for health professions advising, expressed that she feels prepared to take on the full responsibility of pre-health advising when Baffi-Dugan fully retires.

“As someone who, come July, will have been in all three positions on this advising team, I am very familiar with all we do here in Health Professions Advising (HPA), from the small administrative details to the bigger-picture ideas,” she wrote in an email.

“I have been advising students for the past year, and so have gotten to know many of our pre-health students.”

Stone reflected that, over her 33 years at Tufts, Baffi-Dugan guided the community with a strong expertise in all manners of pre-health advising, spearheading several critical advising programs and investing in students’ advising.

Lowe recalled Baffi-Dugan’s start of the 1988 post baccalaureate pre-med program, the 1994 launching of a coordinated prehealth advising program for Tufts’ Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering and her leadership in overseeing the Early Assurance program for Tufts undergraduates. She added that Baffi-Dugan was integral to the continuation of the Health Careers Opportunity program and its transformation into the Health Careers Fellows program.

c Baffi-Dugan said that these successesB make her proud of the contributions she hads on the community and allow her to movee forward into the next chapter smoothly. s “I’m happy to leave with a strong, well-or-s ganized, supportive pre-health advising program in place,” Baffi-Dugan said. “Tuftst pre-health students get excellent academict preparation here and have wonderful oppor-t tunities to explore the health professions,p gain experience, take on leadership roles and make a difference in their communities. I am happy to have contributed to all of this.”

Lowe emphasized how Baffi-Dugan became essential in the academic advising department.

“Carol Baffi-Dugan is a bridge builder: she has created bridges to help students find their way across years of coursework to realize dreams of being doctors and dentists and public health advocates,” Lowe said. “She has created bridges between Arts and Sciences and Engineering, and all the clinical and health programs Tufts offers on other campuses. And she has built bridges between the many classrooms and academic departments that prepare undergraduates for their futures.”

Baffi-Dugan reflected that her decision to leave was not easy to make, because she will miss the people at Tufts, though she is hopeful for the next chapter of her retirement with her husband.

“My decision to retire was made in conjunction with my husband as we both reached 65 years old and decided we wanted to move on to the next chapter of our lives,” she said. “It was a hard decision because I will miss so very much the students and the colleagues I’ve worked with over the years, but I look forward to new challenges ahead.”

TCU Senate approves 8 supplementary funding requests from 7 organizations SENATE

continued from page 1 “That is a move because of suggestions from you all — from Senate — to increase diversity training among faculty,” Lee, a senior, said.

TCU Treasurer Sharif Hamidi then led the body in reviewing supplementary funding requests. Hamidi, a junior, explained how such supplementary funding works.

“All the money that Tufts undergrads pay through the student activities fee gets put into a central pool,” Hamidi said. “The remainder of that money that doesn’t get immediately allocated in annual budgets is kept in a supplementary fund, which is used to pay for unforeseen expenses or speakers, off-campus trips or on-campus events that are impractical to plan out during budgeting season.”

TCU Senate heard eight supplementary funding requests from seven separate organizations. Each supplementary funding request passed with little debate.

The Association of Latin American Students requested $700 to pay for performers and a photographer at its culture show on March 7.

The request passed the TCU Senate in full by acclamation.

Sino-U.S. Relations Group Engagement (SURGE) submitted two separate requests for guest speakers to attend the SURGE Conference on April 10 and 11. SURGE requested $1,721 for flights and a hotel for their first speaker, Ying Zhu, and $735 for their second speaker, Matthew Goodman. Both requests were approved by the TCU Senate.

Tufts Labor Coalition requested $1,500 to host a workshop with the Boston Mobilization Team, which was approved in full by the TCU Senate.

The Vietnamese Students Club originally requested $1,918 to attend a confer-

ALEXANDER THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts Community Union Senate holds its regular meeting in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room on Feb. 9. ence in Danvers, Mass., from March 27 to 29, though the Allocations Board (ALBO) only recommended $603.

After briefly debating whether to fund transportation for the students from Tufts to Danvers for each day of the conference or simply pay for a hotel in Danvers, TCU Senate settled on funding a hotel stay for the group. TCU Senate passed the ALBO-recommended sum of $603 by acclamation.

Tufts Hillel requested $250 to host a speaker, Betsy More, on Feb. 18, which was approved in full by the TCU Senate.

The Entrepreneurship Association at Tufts requested $6,852 for subscriptions and to attend a conference in Austin, Texas, from March 14 to 16. TCU Senate passed the ALBO-recommended sum of $5,249 with 27 senators in favor, none opposed and one abstaining. The single abstention was made by a senator who is also a member of the Entrepreneurship Association.

TEDxTufts requested $4,950 for a professional videography team to film the TEDx

event on March 8, which was passed by the TCU Senate with 27 senators in favor and none opposed.

After the hearings for supplementary funding requests concluded, TCU Parliamentarian and Senator for the Class of 2020 Finn McGarghan announced an abstract for a new resolution from the Education Committee calling on Tufts’ academic departments to publish course syllabi on their departmental websites and in the Tisch Library Archives.

“The resolution is trying to get the Tufts departments and faculty to publish their syllabi prior to course registration on the [Tisch] Library Archives or their departmental website for students to have access to them to know what they’re registering for,” AlMuasher, a member of the Education Committee, said. “[This will] make it easier for students, especially first-years and students with less knowledge of what classes are like to choose their classes.”

Robert Kaplan contributed reporting to this article.

News

Wednesday, February 19, 2020 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

3

Previous community grant recipients reflect on usage, impact COMMUNITY

continued from page 1 Boudreau explained that this particular shelter houses homeless people recovering from substance abuse and basic supplies such as linens are vital to the shelter’s ability to function.

Jenny Lecoq, development director at the Friday Night Supper Program, told the Daily that its TCG helped to increase the availability of fresh produce at their programming.

“Every Friday night we serve meals at the Arlington Street Church for about 125 individuals, most of them are homeless or living in extreme poverty,” Lecoq said. “We have a mission to provide very high quality meals, so it’s a three-course meal served with soup and then a hot main course and a dessert, and we have been working very hard to improve the nutrition quality.”

Peer Health Exchange and Strong Women Strong Girls, were two Tufts student organizations that also received TCG grants to

assist their work with students in Boston Public Schools, according to Tufts Now. The grants are awarded to organizations working on a variety of different causes, including environmental preservation efforts, art programming and youth services, according to Director of Government and Community Relations Rocco DiRico. He added that over 135 nonprofit organizations have benefitted from a grant from TCG in the 25 years since the program’s beginning.

TCG board member Matthew Hast reflected on his experience serving on the body of volunteers, which reviews TCG applications and selects the recipients each cycle.

“I appreciate serving on the TCG Board since it gives me a window to learn more about the community where I live and work,” Hast wrote in an email. “Reading about the mission of these non-profits and the people who benefit has also motivated me to increase my giving.”

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4 Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Features

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Students seek to bring greater school spirit to Tufts sporting events

SEOHYUN SHIM / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Jumbo supporters cheer for the players during Tufts’ 4–0 win against Middlebury on Oct. 7, 2017.

by Rachel Carp

Contributing Writer

Tufts’ women’s basketball team has dominated the NESCAC, finishing its first-ever undefeated season with a No. 1 ranking and a record of 24–0. Yet at the team’s Saturday afternoon game against Conn. College on Feb. 8, the stands were filled with more excited parents than Tufts students cheering on the Jumbos.

This scene is not unique; despite its sports teams being among the best that Div. III has to offer, Tufts seems to lack school spirit outside the athletics community. Though not uncommon among its Div. III peers, the athletic realm can appear to be relatively separate from the rest of the Tufts student body.

Seniors Brett Rojas and Brigid Gliwa are members of Tufts’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Part of SAAC’s mission is to bridge the gap between the athletics community and other students. The committee oversees “Fan the Fire,” a group that aims to increase school spirit and build a more connected campus community by sponsoring sports and service events.

Despite the low turnout from students outside of Tufts athletics, Rojas and Gliwa — both of whom have completed the final seasons of their college careers — rarely felt unsupported at their respective soccer or field hockey games. There were always familiar faces in the crowd, though these faces usually belonged to friends, members of other Tufts athletics teams or alumni.

“I always felt like the spirit was great for soccer games,” Rojas, president of the SAAC, said. “People would always come out to the big games, and I know personally I try to get out anytime a team on campus has a big game nearby … And a lot of Tufts alumni end up being in Boston after school, which is nice … I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been disappointed by the school spirit that Tufts has.”

Gliwa, head of the SAAC community relations committee, agreed with Rojas.

“I think that most of the school spirit and attendance [comes] from the other athletes … And a few people who I’ve been friends with since freshman year have come to all our games,” Gliwa said.

“So I think if there’s a connection with someone on the team, you’ll see them more regularly than a regular student.

But when [SAAC] hosts events, more people tend to come out and support.”

Sophomore Paul Campo was one such spectator at the Feb. 8 women’s basketball game. He is a football player who ventured to Cousens Gym to “support the team.”

“They support us, so we want to show it back,” Campo said.

Looking around, Campo noted a good turnout, also recognizing the women’s lacrosse and sailing teams. The women’s volleyball team was also at the game managing the snack bar.

Nonetheless, SAAC is committed to expanding this “tight-knit” circle of support beyond just student-athletes.

“Athletes tend to support other athletes in general, because we have a tremendous amount of pride in Tufts athletics overall,” Rojas said. “But we’re open to trying to include other people in [this] community and hope to gain more support and, in turn, go support them at different things … I think making bonds like that is awesome. It’s so great to unite athletes and non-athletes.”

Rojas recognizes that Tufts has unique qualities that may result in lower levels of school spirit relative to some of the other NESCAC schools.

“Obviously, we’re the biggest [school] by [nearly double]. It’s almost easier to build a larger school spirit among 2,000 students as opposed to [five and a half thousand] because everyone knows each other on campus,” Rojas said. “I would say our average attendance is probably higher, but if a school like Colby is in a huge playoff game, maybe their entire school comes out because everyone on campus knows it’s going on at the time.”

Gliwa added that Tufts’ proximity to Boston might also affect student attendance at sports games.

“I think that a lot of people like to travel into the city on Saturdays and Sundays when big sports games are, unlike a school like Middlebury where you can’t really travel to a big city that often,” she said. “If there’s not anything else to do, the sports games are more of a social outing that you can go to and go hang out with people.”

SAAC is not the only organization aspiring to build up Tufts’ school spirit. The Tufts Pep Band is also working toward the same goal, playing at every home football game, one away football game and at as many spring events as possible.

Juniors Alyssa Robichaud and Christopher Hoerrner, co-presidents of the group, describe their objective as providing “musical entertainment” to “hype people up.”

“I think everyone who makes the effort to show up to the games gets super hyped and is really into it,” Robichaud said. “But there’s not always a super big attendance, even if everybody who’s there always seems to be enjoying themselves.”

Hoerrner said the Pep Band has their own “quirky” cheers, and they sometimes even lead cheers in conjunction with the cheerleaders.

“It’s hard to tell if the students are responding to what we’re doing, but we love to do it regardless,” Hoerrner said.

When asked why they think Tufts’ school spirit might not meet the levels of other schools, Robichaud and Hoerrner speculated a mix of people’s schedules and lack of exposure.

“A lot of times we’ll be sitting in Pep Band and people around us will be like ‘We don’t know what’s happening right now.’ Because if you didn’t go to a football high school, then why would you start

see TUFTS SCHOOL SPIRIT, page 5

F e at u r e s

Wednesday, February 19, 2020 | Features | THE TUFTS DAILY

Student groups aim to bring Tufts athletics to larger community TUFTS SCHOOL SPIRIT

continued from page 4

going to a game?” Robichaud said. “[Most people] don’t come [to Tufts] to watch sports, and a lot of people are always so, so busy. [Pep Band] gets credit for going to the games, so that really helps.”

Senior Jeb Perera spoke to the busyness that Robichaud described.

Although he’s a sports lover and follower of the football, hockey and basketball teams, he averages only about one or two athletics events per year.

“If I’m going out on the weekends, I’m not going to go to night games,” Perera

S

5

wrote in an electronic message. “And day games are during the time that I try to get my work done.”

Regardless, both Robichaud and Hoerrner believe that the Tufts community could positively benefit from rallying behind its sports teams.

“It would be fun to have some more stuff to rally together for, especially because we have such amazing teams, which is the wildest fact. I feel like people forget that,” Hoerrner said. “It would also help a lot of other organizations because you could put on extra events or table [at sports games] to get the word out.”

Gliwa, too, thinks that an increase in school spirit extending beyond the athlete community would create a stronger and more unified student body.

“I think it would lessen the divide [between students]. Sports are something that people can rally around, they make people closer,” Gliwa said.

“I think that if more athletes started coming to games, it would create an environment where people didn’t see that divide and realize that we want them there, to come out and support us. And in turn, it’s on us to go and support them in the things they do as well.”

5

Alice Yoon and Madeleine Schwartz Bite Sized Stories

Bountiful bagels

J

aclyn and Maddie woke up early in the morning to start preparing the bagels for a potluck brunch. There were few expectations for their first attempt at these hole-y breads, but with plenty of everything bagel seasoning — caraway, sesame and poppy seeds along with dried garlic and dried onion — they were bound to taste good. The real judgement of the bagels would ultimately be of their texture.

Our judge, Alice, who controversially proclaims Long Island bagels as superior, was looking for the contrast of a firm crumb and a fluffy interior.

Starting with a foamy and active mixture of yeast and sugar, flour and salt were then added, and the mix was kneaded into a ball of tacky dough. It was then lightly covered in olive oil to both prevent it from sticking to the bowl and to trap as much moisture as possible. As the hungry yeast munched away at the sugar and flour, the dough became elevated with bubbles of air, suspended by the elastic gluten. It only took an hour for the dough to double in size while sitting above the warm oven, which was busy baking some mini frittatas to accompany brunch.

Once the dough was done rising, it was cleaved into two halves that were each gently rolled out into a log and split into 12 pieces. These 24 pieces of dough were then rolled tightly into seamless balls, to varying degrees of success. They rested for 10 more minutes before many helping hands began sticking their thumbs through the center of the dough balls and stretching them into a bagel’s identifiable shape.

All the bagels finally came together after being boiled, seasoned and baked in two batches. Traditionally, bagels are boiled with barley malt syrup mixed in New York’s acclaimed water. While some bagel shops across the country will ship New York water for authenticity, we opted for baking soda and Medford’s finest from our own tap.

The alkaline solution, according to our friend Mert, gives the bagels their distinct chewiness.

Each bagel was boiled for two minutes on each side and then set aside on a baking sheet before being washed with some egg white and seasoned.

While most friends requested the everything seasoning, we had a few bagels left to spare for some experimentation with fennel, rosemary and Japanese rice seasoning. The rice seasoning, called furikake, is packed with the umami flavors of nori, bonito flakes, salt and sesame seeds.

After baking for 20 minutes, the bagels transformed from wet, wrinkly dough rings into beautifully browned and puffed bagels. One bagel even came with some extra protein thanks to a rather heavy egg wash. All of the bagels quickly disappeared that morning into words of praise, accompanied by an amazing spread of other brunch foods like apple pancakes, fried chickpeas, scrambled eggs, chocolate chip waffles and shakshuka. It could have just been our friends’ grumbling stomachs that welcomed the food, but even Alice decided they were the best bagels she’s had — in Boston.

Madeleine Schwartz is a senior studying computer science. Madeleine can be reached at madeleine.schwartz@tufts.edu.

Alice Yoon is a senior studying chemistry.

Alice can be reached at alice.yoon@tufts. edu.

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ARTS&LIVING ALBUM REVIEW

7

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Tame Impala’s ‘The Slow Rush’ doesn’t meet expectations

by Tuna Margalit Arts Editor

It has been over four years since “Currents” (2015), but Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala is finally back with more hypnotic musings on life’s various milestones, relationships and questions — this time with a focus on danceable drumlines and a notable absence of guitar. This completes a three-album long descent in guitar prevalence as “Lonerism” (2012) featured the instrument more heavily than did “Currents,” which also features it more often than last week’s release, “The Slow Rush” (2020).

Unfortunately, what Parker trades away in instrumental variation is, in equal measure, made up in musical monotony. This is not to say that the sparkling strings, distorted bass, oscillating synths and charcuterie board of psychedelic effects are not entrancing. It’s just that there are not many moments on the album that stand out.

The best stretch of songs fall in the heart of the order — a reworked “Borderline” (which

is one of the album’s lead singles), the album zenith of “Posthumous Forgiveness” and the catchy “Breathe Deeper.” Outside of these, there are just a handful of fascinating musical elements.

The aforementioned three songs are an incredible core for the album. “Borderline” has by far the most infectious drumline — hard-hitting and rhythmically pleasing. The chorus — with its sparsity of words per line — and the drums are a match made in music heaven. The album version is sneakily better than the single version, as there are added background effects and instruments that enhance the song considerably.

“Posthumous Forgiveness” is the best song of “The Slow Rush,” and one of Tame Impala’s best ever. The song is split into two main sections, but the first, longer section has a few subsections of its own. Each instrument is used in multiple ways on this song, depending on the section, with the variation of drumlines being the most noticeable.

The song’s peak is the minute leading up to the end of the first major section and the

The cover of “The Slow Rush” (2020) by Tame Impala is pictured.

beginning of the second major section. It is completely devoid of vocals, features what sounds like a back-and-forth between different distorted horns and concludes with a rapid drumline synced onto synths — as overwhelming a section of music as any ever created. The second major section of the song is completely different from the first, but equally impressive. This section much more heavily features Parker’s impeccable falsetto capabilities. On top of the sonic elements, the title of the song is brilliant and the lyrics are a deeply moving and profound examination of the relationship between a father and a son.

“Breathe Deeper” holds the catchiest tune of the album and the best example of a very 80s-disco feel that can be heard on other album tracks such as “Lost in Yesterday” and “Is It True.” The strings in this song are mesmerizing as well. “Breathe Deeper” and the preceding “Posthumous Forgiveness” are two of the three longest tracks on the album — coming in at six minutes, thirteen seconds and six minutes, six seconds, respectively — and neither waste a second, completely

filling the time with luscious sounds.

Speaking of time, the driving concept of this album is just that: time. The opening and closing tracks are respectively named “One More Year” and “One More Hour.” Other songs have time embedded in their titles — “Tomorrow’s Dust,” “Lost in Yesterday” and “It Might Be Time.” Unfortunately, the overarching concept of time comes off somewhat arid, as the individual themes within songs often fall back onto old Tame album tropes like loneliness. In this way, the lyrical content of the album feels like it amounts to less than the sum of its parts.

As mentioned before however, the lack of standout moments — outside of the “Borderline” to “Breathe Deeper” stretch — is the most disappointing aspect of the album.

There are few, if any, moments like the groovy guitar intro on “The Less I Know The Better” or the earth-shaking drums at the beginning of “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.” This has never been an issue for Tame Impala albums until “The Slow Rush,” and hopefully it is not one on the Tame’s future projects.

VIA INTERSCOPE

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Anna Hirshman and Allison Morgenstern HillSide Story

Angel for president 2020

R

ent” (2005) is the story of a group of New Yorkers who are lovers and friends that are struggling in Alphabet City in New York City amidst the AIDS epidemic. The movie stars much of the original cast from the Broadway production and features epic songs like “Seasons of Love.” This column does contain spoilers.

Anna Hirshman (AH): Normally when we watch these movies, Allie and I discuss our thoughts about things as they happen. But “Rent” is so captivating and special that we found ourselves entranced with long periods of silence between us.

There is such a distinct emotional energy to this film.

Allie Morgenstern (AM): Admittedly, I have only seen this film once (sorry, Anna), and I never really got the chance to sit down and really think about it. Well, I loved it so much. I understand why Anna is obsessed.

The plot and the music are incredible, and what a cast! I’m Idina Menzel’s biggest fan.

AH: And we love Angel’s character (the drag queen who epitomizes joy and kindness) so much. She kicks butt.

We all need someone who will take us in after being mugged, buy us a great leather jacket off the street and break into our apartment while dressed as Pussy Galore from “Goldfinger” (1964).

AM: Also, how does she RUN in heels?

I can’t even walk in heels.

AH: As we were wallowing after Angel’s death, the opening notes to “What You Own” started playing and I shot right up. It is my personal anthem.

AM: I remember my high school put on a production of “Rent” when I was still in middle school, and my neighbor played Collins, and I thought he was a literal celebrity. I also remember thinking Maureen’s “Over the Moon” was hysterical, even though I probably didn’t know what she was talking about.

AH: Well, this time it was my turn to sing along to every word in every song, even when I did not realize I was doing it. I take a lot of pride in my ability to crank out “La Vie Boheme.” I do have a hard time listening to the music alone in the car because I want to sing every harmony, but I have to choose one.

AM: It was truly awesome to see Anna so in her element. And, in all honesty, she does a pretty good job singing basically every part in the songs.

AH: Maybe the biggest revelation was that we think that Mark Cohen is the exact kind of person who would go to Tufts. He is quirky and from Westchester County.

AM: Definitely. And he is totally the mom friend. He cares about how his friends are doing and also is more invested in their romantic lives than his own. Relatable content.

AH: In the end, while the messages of love, resilience and acceptance pervade the experience of watching the movie, I am always left with a pit in my chest thinking about Jonathan Larson, the writer and composer of the musical.

Larson tragically died just before the first off-Broadway preview at age 35, depriving the world of his talent and any future culture-changing musicals that would have come along.

Anna Hirshman is a senior studying psychology. Anna can be reached at anna. hirshman@tufts.edu. Allie Morgenstern is a senior studying child study and human development. Allie can be reached at allison. morgenstern@tufts.edu.

Rising star Sheku Kanneh-Mason releases heartfelt recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto

by Megan Szostak Arts Editor

A century after the premiere of Sir Edward Elgar’s monumental Cello Concerto in E minor, British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason released a performance of the work under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle in his second fulllength album. Accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), the 20-year-old cellist recorded his album at Abbey Road Studios under the label Decca Classics. The album, titled “Elgar,” was released on Jan. 10 and peaked at the eighth spot on UK charts, making him the first cellist in history to make it to the UK top 10.

After being the first black musician to win the BBC Young Artists Competition in 2016, Kanneh-Mason made a splash in the world of classical music. He gained even more traction after performing at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. He has appeared with some of the world’s leading orchestras and has been using his stardom to advocate for increased accessibility of classical music. He achieves this goal through collaborations with schools and youth music programs, leading to what many are calling the “Sheku Effect”: a phenomenon explaining an influx of cello students in British music schools. His young age and recent visibility make Sheku a role model for many young musicians in the UK and abroad. KannehMason is glad that he is able to inspire young musicians, but he expresses dissatisfaction with the elitism that is becoming of classical music, speaking of the issue in an interview with British classical music news source, Classic FM. “Music has an amazing way of expressing lots of things, and every person reacts to it differently,” Kanneh-Mason said to Classic

FM. “To not have the opportunity to properly experience that is a terrible shame.”

Through outreach programs, concerts and recordings, Kanneh-Mason is bringing classical music back from this elitism to art that can be experienced by more people from different sectors of society. In addition to his involvement with young musicians, Kanneh-Mason has been an active member of the UK’s Chineke! Orchestra, an orchestra comprised of black and minority ethnic musicians aiming to promote equal representation in classical music performance and participation across racial borders. The Chineke! Orchestra regularly performs “standard” concert repertoire along with classical works by composers of color.

In “Elgar,” Sheku presents an expertly curated tracklist that is a mix of traditional, lyrical art pieces and Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor. His 1610 Amati cello is a responsive and mellow instrument that, despite its age, is pulled into modernity by Sheku’s deliberate and emotional style.

Although something of an unconventional performance, the Cello Concerto in E Minor crowns the album. Where many other cellists play this concerto with tight tempos and oppressive heaviness, Kanneh-Mason’s recording is much more fluid and sweet; while this more intimate interpretation may detract from Elgar’s original vision for the piece as being something prodigious, Kanneh-Mason’s recording is undeniably beautiful and demonstrates an intense musicality seldom conveyed through recordings. Even over digitized sound waves, Sheku’s playing is pensive and hypnotic.

Overall, traditionalists would argue that the concerto could have been improved with more projection and intensity from KannehMason. While more intensity in the recording would have added an extra layer of musicality,

tuftsdaily.com

the tenderness of his playing must be at least partially deliberate and it is a product of a unique interpretation of the work.

Outside of Elgar’s concerto, KannehMason includes other works by Elgar, Frank Bridge, Ernest Bloch, Gabriel Fauré and Julius Klengel, and also includes arrangements of traditional tunes. Standing out among the mix are the arrangements of the traditional melody “Blow the Wind Southerly” and Bridge’s “Spring Song.” These works are played with a certain warmth and care that even the most seasoned musicians struggle to achieve — and Sheku does it at 20. “Blow the Wind Southerly” is a folk song from Northumberland, England, and was arranged for unaccompanied cello by Kanneh-Mason himself. The freeness of folk music, along with the original arrangement, gives Sheku’s opening track the feeling of a soulful cadenza and reels the listener into a world of passionate music.

“Spring Song,” a short piece by English composer Frank Bridge, is performed by Sheku accompanied by The Heath Quartet.

The arrangement by Simon Parkin is his best on the album, perhaps for its intrinsic simplicity as a piece of light classical music; some of Parkin’s other arrangements, especially that of his arrangement of “Nimrod” from Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” overcomplicate instrumentations and feel messy. “Spring Song” is clean and tight, and upholds the integrity of Bridge’s original. Additionally, Sheku’s gentle sound lends itself extremely well to this kind of music, allowing this track to shine among the others.

Despite some insufficient arrangements and unconventional interpretations of works, Sheku presents a unique musicality that persists throughout the album and captivates listeners, who eagerly await what the young cellist will do next.

VIA AMAZON

The cover of “Elgar” (2020) by Sheku Kennah-Mason is pictured.

9

THE TUFTS DAILY | Comics | Wednesday, February 19, 2020

F& G

tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY

Robert: “We should aspire to be like cows... not individually like grazing but as a society.”

FUN & GAMES

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Pisces (Feb. 19–March 20)

Together you can move mountains. Collaborate with your team. Not everyone shares the same vision. Support others. Provide leadership. Imagine the job done.

Difficulty Level: Getting class cancelled when the professor is sick.

Tuesday’s Solutions

CLASSIFIEDS Personal assistant needed for immediate employment, must be drug free and subject to background check, $400 per week, send your resume to Robert Ninkovic on uphigher77@gmail.com

WANT TO POST AN AD? Visit http://tuftsdaily.campusave.com

CROSSWORD

10 Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Sarah Kaplan Funding Our Future

The Tufts pyramid scheme

T

iered housing is a hot topic on campus; that’s not news to anyone at Tufts. Before Tufts adopted the system this past fall, it had been widely criticized by organizations like the Tufts Housing League as inherently unjust.

Since the policy’s adoption, it has been written about, debated and discussed. Just two weeks ago, the Daily called for Tufts to return to a flat housing rate. Tufts’ tiered housing system should indeed be abolished in favor of a flat housing rate for all class years. However, if the Office of Residential Life and Living is to accurately call this system “tiered,” the housing cost variations should not just be higher for more desirable living situations; costs should also be lower for forced, less desirable living situations for first-years.

It’s no secret that several first-years are living in forced triples. Starting in 2017, Tufts initiated what it calls bed optimization in response to Tufts’s long-standing housing crisis. Residential Life began to add more beds to existing on-campus housing as an inexpensive way to increase on-campus living capacity. LDa, the architecture firm contracted by Tufts to complete this project, was responsible for “furniture upgrades required to convert large singles to doubles and large doubles to triples,” according to LDa’s website. But many of these “large singles” and “large doubles” are not so large after all. For example, the “large doubles” converted into triples in Hodgdon Hall are much smaller than the existing doubles in Hill Hall, meaning that more students are living in tighter quarters.

As it stands, all first-years pay the same amount for housing: $8,220. No matter what residence halls students live in or how many students are in each room, all first-years pay the same rate. In contrast, under the new tiered housing system, housing rates for sophomores, juniors and seniors vary based on one’s residence hall and number of roommates. Based on the perceived desirability of their living situations, these students pay anywhere from $8,220 to $10,219 for on-campus housing.

If students pay more for more desirable housing, it should follow that students pay less for less desirable housing.

Theoretically, it makes sense that all first-years pay the same rate for their residence halls. First-years do not choose where they live on campus or with whom, so no student should be required to pay more to live in a more recently renovated residence hall — like Houston Hall or Bush Hall — or to live with fewer roommates.

However, first-years also do not choose to live in forced triples. Still, many do.

No first-year assigned to a more desirable living situation should be penalized with a higher housing rate, but first-years assigned to less desirable living situations should also not be penalized by paying the same rate as their peers in more desirable housing accommodations. If housing prices increase with desirability for upperclassmen, so too should they decrease with “bed-optimized” living situations for first-years. Tufts tiered housing can’t have it both ways: the pyramid that goes up must also come down.

Sarah Kaplan is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Sarah can be reached at sarah.kaplan@tufts.edu.

Opinion

tuftsdaily.com

EDITORIAL

Tufts must improve humanities facilities in order to preserve equity among academic disciplines Over the weekend of Jan. 25, part of the ceiling in Eaton Hall Room 202 collapsed, causing the temporary relocation of the room’s classes. Jeff McKay, the director of building operations on the Medford campus, noted that the damage was in the ceiling itself and not related to the structural integrity of the building. However, this is not the first time Eaton Hall experienced these issues; in 2017, Eaton’s ceiling plaster damage led to four temporary classroom closures. Eaton’s past and current deficits highlight a clear disparity between the quality of Tufts humanities buildings and the quality of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) facilities. Humanities fields teach students about our world and how to learn in an ever-changing environment, fostering global perspectives and critical creative thinking skills. For this reason, humanities disciplines prove just as valuable as the STEM fields of study; However, Tufts’ prioritization of STEM facilities over humanities lies in contrast with this fact. Tufts must renovate and improve the quality of its humanities facilities in order to reflect the true importance of humanities fields and demonstrate equity among all areas of study.

In addition to Tufts’ main computer lab, Eaton houses courses from many humanities departments, including anthropology, classical studies, philosophy, religion, sociology and studies in race, colonialism, and diaspora. Despite being one of the largest humanities buildings on Tufts’ campus, Eaton has several issues that have yet to be fixed. With the exception of the computer lab, it has not undergone a major renovation since the mid 1960s. Aside from Eaton’s apparent safety hazards, many of the classrooms are old and outdated, lacking beneficial features such as adequately sized desks and rolling chairs, and others have little room for desks.

Unfortunately, some humanities buildings such as Miner and East Halls currently face the same problems as Eaton, also lacking the features and refreshed quality that other buildings hold. Additionally, Lincoln Filene Hall, which previously held the Johnathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, faces demolition and the university currently holds no plans for the construction of another new building in its place: Tufts not only does not allocate resources to humanities departments but fails to

BY JULIA ZWEIFACH provide physical space as well. Ultimately, across disciplines and facilities, humanities classes lack the needed facilities of a proper academic environment that fosters learning, with clear deficits in features, available space and overall quality of facilities.

The unacceptable inequity of the university’s humanities buildings comes to light through the discussion of its freshly renovated STEM facilities. In 2015, the Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex located at 574 Boston Ave. opened, housing the physics, astronomy, occupational therapy and community health departments. The building features a human factors engineering lab and classrooms with both tables and chairs on wheels in order to encourage collaborative group work. This trend of STEM renovations has only increased over time: In 2017, the university built the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) as part of a $110 million project that included both the SEC’s construction and the renovation of the STEM-oriented Robinson Hall. Additionally, the Joyce Cummings Center will house a variety of non-humanities disciplines when finished, including the computer science, economics and mathematics departments.

Further, these glamorous facilities starkly contrast the crumbling Eaton Hall, highlighting a clear issue with Tufts’ priorities;

the university does not seem to have a problem with investing in innovative building features or beautiful architectural aesthetics for STEM fields, but it struggles to provide structural integrity, basic technolog-b ical resources or even fresh carpeting forA humanities disciplines. While new facilities for STEM students importantly accommodate the growing popularity of majors such as computer science and provide facilities for lab work, the large disparity between STEM and humanities buildings is unacceptable. The renovation of Eaton and other humanities facilities proves vital to leveling the playing field of Tufts’ departments and showing the university’s equal values across academic fields; Tufts must renovate current buildings to accommodate for the specific needs of humanities students just as it has done for STEM students.

Given its purported commitment to the liberal arts, it is Tufts’ duty to create a learning environment in which students from all majors can prosper and equally benefit from their educational experiences, and the renovation of humanities facilities to include upgraded technology and refreshed learning spaces is vital for the university’s fulfillment of this duty. Only after this renovation will Tufts fully reflect the importance of all areas of study, humanities as well as STEM.

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Sports

Wednesday, February 19, 2020 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Hockey loses both games in NESCAC doubleheader on road

11

Aiden Herrod The Turf Monster

Los Angeles basketball is overhyped

T

RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Senior forward Anthony Farinacci vies for the puck in the ice hockey game against Amherst at the Malden Forum on Feb. 11, 2017.

by Julia Atkins

Assistant Sports Editor

The Jumbos took a double hit on the road this past weekend in NESCAC play, first versus the Hamilton Continentals in a 5–2 defeat on Friday and then against the Amherst Mammoths in a 4–2 loss the following afternoon. Despite the difficult outcome of the weekend, the Jumbos feel that they have many positive takeaways from both games.

“This past weekend we didn’t get the results we wanted,” senior defenseman and captain Cooper Stahl said. “But there are still a lot of positives to pull out of the weekend, we just need to keep working on the little details.”

Coming off of a tough battle Friday night, the Jumbos went back and forth with Amherst in a competitive matchup on Saturday. The Mammoths were first on the scoreboard with a goal from senior forward Patrick Daly off an assist from junior forward Nick Bondra and senior forward and co-captain P.J. Conlon. The Jumbos quickly responded to the deficit with a goal from senior forward and assistant captain Ross Delabrueure, assisted by junior forward Mason Babbidge. But Conlon scored again for the Mammoths before the end of the period, which ended 2–1.

Tufts had a strong scoring opportunity halfway through the second period off a power play. Sophomore forward Angus Scott dished to senior forward and assistant captain Anthony Farinacci who took the shot for the Jumbos, but senior goalkeeper Giancarlo Ventre was able to make the save.

Ten minutes into the second period, Babbdige scored the equalizer while Tufts was down a man during a power play opportunity for Amherst. The Mammoths turned the puck over and Babbidge drove in off a short-handed breakaway, firing a shot from the top of the slot past Ventre.

The Jumbos held the Mammoths at bay in the following five minutes through the Mammoths’ two consecutive power play opportunities. Amherst’s junior forward Matteo Mangiardi was able to regain the advantage at the 13:11 mark for Amherst, one-timing a pass from senior forward and co-captain Joey Lupo. Amherst had another power play at the end of the second period, but Tufts was able to maintain the one-goal deficit.

The Jumbos had three power play opportunities in the third period, but the team was unable to find the back of the net. A shot by Lupo in the opening minute of the period finalized Amherst’s 4–2 victory.

Despite the close loss, Stahl commented on how the team has been focusing on areas of improvement and that the hard work has been paying off.

“Our special teams, that is power-play and penalty kill, have really started to click in the past few games,” Stahl said. “That is something we have been spending a lot of time on in practice lately.”

The previous night, the Jumbos took on the Continentals in Hamilton, N.Y. The first period moved back and forth with neither team able to put one in the back of the net. Tufts had one close attempt at the end of the period; sophomore forward Justin Brandt took a shot that rebounded and was claimed by Farinacci, who followed with a slap shot from the top of the slot, but sophomore goalkeeper Sean Storr made a quick save for Hamilton.

The second period began with a fiveon-three scenario after a double penalty on Tufts at the end of the first. Hamilton capitalized on the opportunity, first scoring at 1:45 with a goal from sophomore defenseman and co-captain Nick Rutigliano, assisted by senior forward and co-captain Nick Ursitti and senior defenseman Bennett Morrison. Just 17

seconds later, the Continentals scored a second time off a goal from senior forward Cameron Radziwon, assisted by first-year forward Fred Allaire.

Tufts had its own power play opportunity halfway through the second period, lessening the deficit to 2–1 off a goal from Babbidge, who one-timed a pass from Stahl. The goal was Babbdige’s fifth of the season. Senior defenseman Cory Gottfried scored the equalizer for the Jumbos at 12:37; sophomore forward Cal LeClair fired a shot, caught his own rebound and dished it to Gottfried who scored his fourth goal of the season.

The Continentals scored early in the third to take a 3–2 lead. The remainder of the game rapidly switched possession between the two teams without any scoring. The Jumbos pulled sophomore goalkeeper Josh Sarlo in the final minutes of regulation, but Tufts was unable to find the back of the net. The Continentals responded with two empty-netters to make the final score 5–2.

Tufts fellto 7–14–1 overall and 5–10–1 in the NESCAC, which puts the team in ninth place. The Jumbos need to get to at least eighth place in the tight conference to play in the NESCAC playoffs.

The Jumbos have back-to-back home games at the Valley Forum this weekend, first competing against Colby on Friday and then against Bowdoin on Saturday afternoon. The Jumbos’ matchup against Bowdoin will honor the seniors on the team in their last home game in regular season competition.

Gottfried commented on the team’s expectations for the weekend after previously beating both NESCAC competitors earlier in the season.

“The NESCAC is such a competitive league that previous results are in no way indicative of what could happen in the future,” Gottfried said. “Obviously it helps with our confidence, but we are approaching these games the same way we did earlier in the year.”

he seat of power in the NBA is out west. No, not in San Francisco anymore. 2019’s injury-riddled season finale for the Warriors made sure of that. Instead, the throne of NBA brilliance lies in Staples Center, at the heart of Los Angeles, split between two teams. After the summer of 2019 brought Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Anthony Davis to the City of Angels, it was clear to the NBA world that its new capital was Los Angeles. But is it really?

The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are good teams. Really good. Prohibitive favorites to win the NBA title, even. LeBron James and Anthony Davis on one side; Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the other. Savvy trades and boatloads of cash built these teams from the ground up, centered around a pair of stars on either side of the battle for Los Angeles. But I’m here to argue that this pair of teams is overhyped and overblown, and stake my claim as a truther for a Western Conference Finals devoid of either Los Angeles team.

The rosters of these teams are the first and most obvious markers of their success on the court. The flashy star duos obviously take center stage in any debate.

But when I look deeper, I hear whispers of a soft Lakers squad that won’t respond well to physicality in the playoffs. When they get punched in the mouth by a scrappy, physical team, they find themselves unable to control the game. Teams will review instances of this in the regular season, and ‘playoff mode’ Lebron may not be able to overcome it.

The Clippers, meanwhile, can’t build chemistry. Leonard and George have missed games playing together due to injury, and the roster from last year can’t properly adjust to the presence of either star. This leads to a team that rarely hits that second gear you see driving deep playoff runs. Additionally, the chemistry issues on the court translate to locker room drama and spats. A team built from the personalities of Montrezl Harrell, Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams can only truly gel when they experience a euphoric degree of success. I don’t see them hitting any big enough strides to make that a reality.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles media is a better stat-padder than any individual player or stretch of garbage time. Winning streaks are emphasized, and big moments and highlights are shared across the country. If a team in LA is performing well, the massive media market of Los Angeles spins that into something much greater. This can also work against them, overblowing minor drama and generating friction. This creates an immeasurable sense of momentum for teams, momentum that can grind to a halt with the slightest miscue. All it takes is one locker room fight, one bad loss or one interview misstep to turn the NBA media against these teams.

As we kick off the second half of the NBA season, watch carefully for the underlying issues of these teams. I expect the Western Conference to be less predictable than the election cycle, and it’s gonna be a wild, Los Angeles-free ride to the finals.

Aiden Herrod is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Aiden can be reached at aiden.herrod@tufts.edu.

12 tuftsdaily.com

Sports

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Women’s basketball secures 1st undefeated regular season, looks to NESCAC tournament

ALEXANDER THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior guard Sadie Otley goes for a layup during a game against Williams in Cousens Gym on Feb. 15.

by Henry Molot Staff Writer

The No. 1 women’s basketball team wrapped up a historical regular season on Saturday, defeating Williams 76–63 to tally the 24th win of an undefeated regular season, the first in team history.

Saturday was Senior Day for the Jumbos, who honored a class that has been instrumental in the team’s success this season and in years past. Senior guard Cailin Harrington and junior guard/forward Emily Briggs led the charge with 17 and 14 points respectively, with senior guard Sadie Otley also pouring on 13 points in the win. The group shot seven of eight from beyond the arc and were efficient at the free throw line as Harrington knocked down all four of her attempts from the stripe.

Coach Jill Pace, who has been seemingly magical in her first season at Tufts, praised her senior class and their leadership ability.

“I can’t say enough about the leadership that our four seniors have brought this season,” said Pace. “They care so deeply about our program and the university, and have really set a standard of excellence for our [underclassmen] players.”

Senior Day came just a day after the Jumbos took down Middlebury 77–54

on Friday night at Cousens Gym. Senior guard/forward and co-captain Erica DeCandido led the way with seven rebounds and 20 points, buoyed by eight for nine shooting from the free throw line. Junior guard Erin Poindexter McHan turned in a nine point, five assist and four rebound effort coming off the bench.

Both games are characteristic of the Jumbos’ depth, who have proved game in and game out that they have one of the deepest, most balanced lineups in the NESCAC. As a team, the Jumbos do not lead the league in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, turnovers, free throw percentage or points, yet they hold the league lead in assists. Even with a possible All-American player like DeCandido, the Jumbos have received crucial contributions from the likes of Briggs, Harrington, sophomore guard Molly Ryan, junior forward Angela Alibrandi and sophomore guard Sofia Rosa, among others.

In the mind of Pace, a Bowdoin alumna, players like DeCandido cannot maximize their potentials unless they are being pushed every day in practice by hungry bench players like first-year Colby Shea and first-year guard/forward Maggie Russell. The Jumbos’ depth has yet to be matched this season, and it may prove to be the most effective formula once again in the postseason.

“Each player has an equally important role on our team, one through 14,” said Pace.

In the NESCAC tournament, the biggest title threats aside from Tufts appear to be Bowdoin and Amherst, teams that have pushed Tufts the closest to its limits this season. Each team forced the Jumbos to take on a drastically different approach in order to get the win, a testament to the ability of Pace and her team to adapt to the style of their opponent and the unique flow of each game.

“Amherst is a very [defense-driven] team,” said DeCandido. “They lead the league in lowest points against, so it was a real defensive struggle.”

That matchup against the Mammoths on Jan. 18 proved to be the Jumbos’ lowest point total of the season as they grinded their way to a 48–46 OT win.

Against Bowdoin, which at the time was a matchup between the No. 1 and No. 2 nationally-ranked teams, Tufts put up their highest point total of the season en route to a 97-88 win. The Polar Bears enter the postseason as the No. 5 team in the nation, while the Jumbos continue to have a firm grasp on the top spot.

“The NESCAC is a phenomenal conference from top to bottom,” Pace said.

“We’re focused on our one game this weekend.”

DeCandido also expressed a similar mindset — that any team in the NESCAC can win. Specifically, DeCandido pointed toward Hamilton as a potential dark horse.

“Any team has a chance to come out and beat anyone,” DeCandido said.

The team has its sights firmly set on Wesleyan, the Jumbos’ first round opponent. The two sides squared off in the NESCAC season opener, a contest the Jumbos won 78–60. DeCandido shined against the Cardinals, scoring 28 points along with 10 rebounds. While the Cardinals spent much of the game in man-to-man defense, they switched to zone towards the end, likely in an effort to contain the red-hot DeCandido.

“They may come out right away in zone this time,” said DeCandido.

The Jumbos, led by a stellar senior class, have become enthralled with winning this season, and are likely to exhibit their unmatched confidence throughout the postseason. “[The seniors] have a great sense of how to balance intensity, fun and focus on the court, which I think trickles down to everyone on the team,” Pace said.

The quest for the NESCAC title — and to keep the undefeated streak alive — begins this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in Cousens Gym.