The Tufts Daily - November 7, 2019

Jalal discusses 20 years of teaching South Asian history for Tufts see FEATURES / PAGE 3

MEN’S SOCCER

Jumbos take on Ephs in NESCAC tournament semifinal

Dawkins describes the production of the Midnight Organ Concert see WEEKENDER / PAGE 4

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXVIII, ISSUE 43

Thursday, November 7, 2019

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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Budget transparency bill for private colleges passes state senate, awaits governor’s signature

by Carolina Espinal Contributing Writer

Lawmakers in the Massachusetts State House unanimously approved the bill H. 4099, “An Act to Support Improved Financial Stability in Higher Education” on Oct. 2. The bill would require institutions of higher education to disclose financial reports to the public in an accessible manner, undergo financial screening and notify state officials of financial risks that could result in imminent closure. As of Nov. 6, the act was enacted by the state senate and waiting for the governor’s signature.

Under the bill, institutions determined to be at financial risk of closure would be required to develop a contingency plan that outlines arrangements for students, transfer of student records, information regarding the rights of student loan borrowers and more.

The bill also requires the yearly publication of a financial report from the institution.

In addition, the bill would require that the school’s governing body be taught about financial metrics used in institutions of higher education.

The proposed legislation coincides with state efforts to increase monitoring of financially struggling institutions in the wake of the recent closures and mergers of 18 colleges in Massachusetts.

The most recent closure of Mount Ida College in Newton, which had about 1,200

students, underscored some of the challenges that make small private colleges more dependent on tuition and fees and subsequently vulnerable to financial risks.

Many of the at-risk institutions have low endowments and enrollments compared to other elite, well-resourced institutions in the area.

“The fact that these institutions are experiencing this turbulence brings it to the attention of legislatures. Their constituents are affected and, in some cases, the municipalities they represent are affected by the instability,” State Representative Denise Provost said.

Michael Horn, author of multiple books on education and chair of the Education Quality Assurance Standard Board, a nonprofit that offers common standards for schools to verify the student outcomes they claim, said the bill offers a necessary consumer protection for students who are spending a lot of time and money on a degree.

“It could be a catastrophic mistake from a debt perspective to go to a school that’s not going to be around and that’s not going to give you the lift in earnings that you had hoped for,” Horn said.

Should the bill become law, the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education will be able to monitor schools to make sure that financial risks are assessed in advance so that students are able to make decisions

and arrangements to transfer to another institution. Institutions found to be in noncompliance under the regulations could face penalties ranging from fines of $1,000 per day to forfeiting their degree-granting authority and state funding.

Provost said the penalties in place under the bill indicate how seriously the Commonwealth takes responsibilities around higher education.

“The bill is a plus for higher education because it puts in place a mechanism to give the state an early warning notification system when higher education institutions are in trouble so that orderly plans can be made,” Provost said.

The provisions outlined in the bill aim to increase transparency and provide protections to students and families.

In a statement written in the Boston Business Journal, Richard Doherty, president of the Association for Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, Tufts’ trade and lobbying group on Beacon Hill, cautioned against such stringent laws. “[I]f we want to protect one of the most vital drivers of this state’s economy, we need to move carefully and thoughtfully to be certain we don’t end up making things worse for colleges across this state working to restructure and reinvent themselves in a rapidly evolving higher education environment,” he said, pointing to the hundreds

of thousands of people private colleges employ in Massachusetts.

However, Doherty added, “no one should begrudge efforts by regulators and policymakers to consider reinforcing the guardrails and guidelines aimed at avoiding a similar outcome in the event of future college closures.”

State Representative Christine Barber explained that the benefit of the bill is the assurance that all students are protected and not taken by surprise.

“Higher education is the key, especially in Massachusetts, to getting jobs that pay well. Jobs that pay a living wage in Massachusetts typically require some kind of higher education,” Barber said.

Although the prospects of higher education hold a lot of promise, Barber said students do not always know what they are paying for, which is why it’s important to ensure that students feel confident they’re getting something out of the investment made.

Horn also stressed the importance of focusing the conversation on student outcomes — ensuring that institutions collect data and include audits to verify the value of what they’re claiming they offer students.

“It’s a question of whether the role of state government is to protect the institutions we have today or to protect the students. I think it’s the latter,” Horn said.

School of Engineering to offer new master’s degree in software systems development

by Grace Gong

Contributing Writer

The Tufts School of Engineering plans to offer a new master’s program in software systems development, starting in fall 2020, according to Alva Couch, associate professor of computer science. This new program, focusing on systems development, fills a niche for students who want an industry-preparation based program instead of the typical theory-heavy curriculum.

“There is simply not enough coverage of software skills,” Couch said.

Originally, the computer science department was pressured to create a software engineering graduate program in response to the ballooning demand of software engineers.

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However, Couch and his team turned the offer for a new program down due to a lack of room in their budget.

“We trained systems programmers, and we were good at it — we didn’t have the bandwidth to add the new courses required for a software engineering program,” he said.

Instead, they rearranged the courses already offered and combined them into a software systems master’s program. Couch pitched this idea to the department and it quickly gained the favor of the majority of the group.

While the department of computer science did not create any new courses for the see COMP SCI, page 2

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Halligan Hall, where the computer science and electrical engineering departments are housed, is pictured on April 11, 2017.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, November 7, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Jessica Blough Editor in Chief

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New master’s program to foster greater industry focus COMP SCI

continued from page 1 program, they did rearrange the courses of the typical computer science master’s degree to form a program that gives a completely different software background.

Two theory courses typically taken by a computer science master’s student were replaced by two hands-on courses. Although the course offerings between the regular computer science program and the new system program are relatively similar, the difference between backgrounds is tremendous to an employer, according to Couch.

Courses offered as part of the new program include ones centered on operating systems, cloud computing, architecture of the World Wide Web and many more. These options provide flexibility and prepare each student for a job in the industry by allowing an exploration in topics of interest, Couch said.

The software systems master’s program was created to meet growing student demand for specialized graduate programs

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that allow students to tailor their experiences more closely to their needs. As such, the program is the natural outgrowth of national trends in higher education and computer science, according to Jianmin Qu, dean of the School of Engineering.

Skye Soss, a computer science major and teacher’s assistant (TA) for the class Programming Languages, explained in a phone interview with the Daily that theory-based classes, like the one he TAs for, tend to focus more on concepts that exist across different languages to make adapting to different languages easier.

Soss, a junior, said that theory of programming provides a base for what a more specialized master’s degree, like the one proposed in the School of Engineering, would allow.

Market research indicates that there is an increasing need for systems programmers, according to Couch. He predicted that once artificial intelligence improves to the extent to where it program applications

with ease, application programmers will become obsolete. However, systems programmers are harder to replace.

It is commonly believed that artificial intelligence will soon displace significant portions of society from their jobs and that all current occupations will be automated, Couch said.

However, he claims that people will simply be moved to higher level jobs, and programmers will move to working on higher-level problems.

Qu said in an email to the Daily that he hopes the new program will help ameliorate the shortage of computer scientists in all sectors. He emphasized that the lack of software and systems engineers is due to the rapid broadening of the field, in areas such as machine learning, visualization and computational biology.

The computer science department and the School of Engineering have not yet sent out applications, but have been making efforts to cultivate interest in the project, and Couch predicts that the program will be a popular choice.

Police Briefs — Week of Nov. 4

by Matthew McGovern

Executive Opinion Editor Editorialists

tuftsdaily.com

Assistant News Editor

On Oct. 26 at 1:58 a.m., Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) officers responded to a call from Hill Hall in which a student reported that they had returned to their room to find their rug displaced and their window open, though the security screen was found locked. The student reported that nothing was missing from their room and that they had laptop left their laptop on the desk. TUPD offered the student alternative housing, but they declined and chose to stay the night with a friend instead.

On Oct. 26 at 12:13 p.m., TUPD received a report from a student that someone had texted them claiming to be the student’s friend with a new phone

number. This person, texting from an unfamiliar number, also claimed that they saw them earlier in the day. The student receiving these texts realized it was fake and blocked the number. No threats to the student were made.

On Oct. 27 at 12:28 a.m., TUPD received a report of similarly suspicious circumstances. A student arranged a coffee date through Tinder at Davis Square, but somebody other than their arranged date showed up, began speaking to them and did not immediately leave.

The student later received a text from an unknown number, posing as their friend, asking how the coffee date had gone. The student blocked the number, and TUPD advised that they should feel free to call for a TapRide home in case of suspicious circumstances.

On Oct. 29 at 1:23 p.m., TUPD officers received a report from a student at Tisch Library, stating that their black Burberry nylon jacket had been stolen. They had left a study room at approximately 12:05 p.m. and returned at approximately 12:55 p.m. to find their jacket missing. The jacket was valued at approximately $900, and it has yet to be found. The incident is under investigation.

On Nov. 2 at 8:45 a.m., TUPD officers were dispatched to Fletcher Parking Lot, and upon arrival they observed a Tufts Dining truck with significant front end damage. The driver was uninjured and declined medical treatment. The truck had struck a concrete bollard which was placed in order to protect a light post. The vehicle had been on the way to an event, so before it was towed, it was unloaded of its perishable contents.

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Features

Jalal, professor of South Asian history, talks IndiaPakistan relations, philosophy of teaching

MENGQI IRINA WANG / THE TUFTS DAILY

Ayesha Jalal, the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts, poses for a portrait in her office in East Hall on Nov. 4.

by Marc Weisglass Staff Writer

This year marks the 20th year at Tufts for Ayesha Jalal, the Mary Richardson Professor of History and an authority in the field of South Asian studies. Over the course of her time at Tufts, she has been a prominent voice in the field of India-Pakistan relations and an invested mentor for her students.

She has taught courses on Islam and the West; Muslims, Liberalism, and Modernity; and the History of Modern South Asia.

“I didn’t think about becoming a professor, but I can tell you that what motivated me to study history are questions that disturb you from your comfort zone,” Jalal said on what brought her to the career.

Jalal often challenges the way students understand the roots of the Indo-Pakistani conflict. As this year has seen rising tension between the two countries, particularly regarding Kashmir, an area with a majority-Muslim population, her guidance has never been more topical.

“I have tried to suggest that we tend to interpret India-Pakistan problems through the religious lens, but you know, there was no battle over conceptions of God or about personal faith,” Jalal said. “This was more about the external identity.”

Jalal believes that by including a binary option of Muslim or Hindu on census enumerations in the late-19th century, the British moved the concept of religion from being a matter of personal faith to a matter of regional identity.

“These are identities based on a demarcation of differences with others rather than a demarcation of personal faith,” Jalal said. “Religion is about your personal relationship with your creator. That has been major to me to try to convey that to students. I think it really helps them to understand that there was a regional dimension to partition.”

A historically contested region, Kashmir was officially reconstituted by India on Oct. 31 after India passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act on Aug. 5, significantly reducing its autonomy. This came more than five months after the Pakistan Air Force conducted six surprise airstrikes on the region.

Jalal’s students, juniors Uzair Sattar and Atrey Bhargava, praised her as a challenger of the status quo.

“Working with someone like Professor Jalal intimidates you but makes you grow leaps and bounds,” Sattar said. “Everything that she has researched has questioned the existing narrative and shed light on the counter-narrative.

Being with someone who has accomplished that makes you believe that you can do something of the sort and broaden your horizon in what you’re studying.”

“She loves hot takes,” Bhargava said. “If you think about any particular thing in political Islam or South Asian studies, she has always been the person who takes the take no one else is taking because she analyzes topics in such a unique way. She in many ways tries to go beyond the norm and challenge the thinking we have today.”

Jalal served as Sattar and Bhargava’s faculty advisor for their research project in Pakistan in the summer of their freshman year, in which they analyzed the role India played in Pakistan’s water crisis. Their research paper went on to be published in the Yale Review for International Studies. “[As] one of the very few Indians to visit Pakistan, I had the invaluable opportunity to observe the similarities Pakistan had with India and interact with intellectuals, friends and strangers who have left a lasting impact on my life,” Bhargava said. “It was Professor Jalal who influenced me in my first semester of my freshman year in [the course] modern South Asia, and she continued to mentor both Uzair and I during the course of our research trip.”

Jalal finds the Tufts student body to be uniquely open to the challenge and receptive of her approach to understanding the region.

“I think the Tufts students are fabulous and that they respond extremely well,” Jalal said.

“There will always be a typical kind of student who won’t, but I think that if you challenge them, the majority of them will respond well.”

As India and Pakistan continue to garner more attention in the media, Jalal encourages students to continue to approach the topic from a variety of perspectives in order to enhance their way of thinking.

“I worry there is a lack of interest, generally speaking, and an inability to understand crisis points in the world,” Jalal said. “I think people are not really motivated but I also feel that

there are people who are not ready to move out of their comfort zones. I don’t tell people what to think, I tell them how to think. But you can’t teach people how to think without moving them from their comfort zone a little bit.

Sattar said he believes that the recent uptick in coverage on Kashmir is positive overall for the field of South Asian studies and encouraged students to become more informed.

“The coverage that the world has given to Kashmir since Aug. 5 has sparked interest in the region,” said Sattar. “Before Aug. 5, Kashmir was on a low burner. The fact that people are talking about it gives me hope that people … are asking questions and want to learn more about it because the humanitarian crisis on the ground is quite disturbing. It’s been almost three months since people have had access to mobile services or the internet. I’m glad people are talking about it more.”

Jalal, already an author of 11 books on the topic of South Asia and Islam, is currently working on a new book that seeks to understand the relationship between Islam and liberalism.

“There is this new slew of material that has come out post-9/11 about how Muslims can’t be liberal, so I’m looking at the late-19th/early 20th century which was really the height of colonial rule in India,” Jalal said. “My hypothesis is that the closing of the mind is a much more recent phenomenon.”

Jalal questions these recent trends in behavior and questions the motives behind them.

“Why have we become more insular? I think this is because a variety of fear and anxieties.

This allows those who control us to control us better. I’m talking generally,” Jalal said.

This is consistent with Jalal’s broader contention that many Western international relations scholars have oversimplified Islam and its role in explaining the Indo-Pakistan conflict, and her role as a challenger of the status quo.

She believes that the current perception of the West is the product of a “securitized” view.

“You can’t securitize a religion to that extent or make that your primary way of seeing it,” Jalal said. “So, in that way I do challenge the status quo because I think much of [international relations] is taught from a securitized position or from this identity as a demarcation rather than an identity of personal faith. So, in those senses, there has been a tendency to look at Islam in a very sort of two-dimensional manner, and I think it is much more complicated than that.”

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Thursday, November 7, 2019

Kenia French Antidotes to Climate Apathy

C

Greta & co.

limate activism is an incredibly important part of addressing the climate emergency. If we don’t go out into the streets to make our voices heard, there’s nothing to push change forward.

By now, you’ve probably heard of Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden who’s responsible for launching the Fridays for Future movement. Her steadfast activism led to global climate strikes in September, a beautiful scene of people coming together for the future of the planet. I shed many tears.

Every time I hear Greta speak, I get chills.

If you haven’t heard her speak, stop what you are doing and watch her speech at the United Nations.

One reason why I find her to be so captivating is that she does not lie. She has a crystal-clear grasp on what we’re doing wrong and what needs to be done in order to avoid the worst-case scenario. She’s only 16, but she’s unafraid to tell a room of some of the most powerful people in the world that they are failing her, that their words are empty and that their attempts at acting on the climate emergency have been useless.

What’s more is that she walks the walk: She refuses to fly because of the massive carbon emissions it causes, so she took a sailboat across the Atlantic Ocean. She lives the radical change all of us probably need to work toward for our planet.

The best part of this is that Greta’s not the only badass young woman who’s taking action. There are other strong, powerful people all over the world who are not just speaking their minds but also are living out their words in real time.

Artemisa Xakriabá is a 19-year-old indigenous activist from Brazil, who is currently fighting to defend the Amazon. Xakriabá’s protests show that indigenous rights and protecting the environment are inextricably connected: since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s election in 2018, indigenous people have been targeted as the Amazon burns.

Bolsonaro’s election has made it incredibly dangerous for indigenous people in the Amazon, whose homes are being threatened, making Xakriabá’s actions incredibly brave but also incredibly necessary. As Bolsonaro is loosening protections for indigenous people and their lands, activists like Xakriabá are taking matters into their own hands.

Xakriabá helped spark the first ever indigenous women’s march in Brazil and was elected to serve as a coalition of indigenous peoples’ representative at the global climate strike protests in September.

Autumn Peltier is another indigenous environmental activist who hasn’t let her age stop her from speaking her mind. When she was 13, she was selected to present Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a copper water bowl during the Assembly of First Nations’ annual winter meeting, representing his responsibility to protect water. Peltier took this opportunity to tell Trudeau that she was very disappointed with the choices he had made for Canadian water. Ever since, she’s become a leading water activist, attending the Children’s Climate Conference in Sweden and addressing the UN General Assembly in 2018.

These people command me to listen to them, and you should listen too.

Kenia French is a senior studying international relations and environmental studies.

Kenia can be reached at kenia.french@ tufts.edu.

4 Thursday, November 7, 2019

Colette Smith and Madison Lehan Love It or Haute It

WEEKENDER

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Behind the scenes of the Midnight Organ Concert

Leather jackets

A

s temperatures begin to dip, and we head into the dreaded winter nights, people are starting to break out various outer layers to keep warm. We have reviewed flannels and capes, but we are all about options here at Love It or Haute It. So, today we will be discussing leather jackets and whether you should add them to your top-layer repertoire.

Coco: The leather jacket has been one constant in fashion throughout the years and that is for good reason. Coming in all shapes and sizes, it has the power to make you look like the rebellious anarchist you are while also keeping you warm. Want to look like you just walked from the backstage of a Nirvana concert?

Throw on the classic black jacket with silver accents. Feeling like you want to look like you just finished up discussing why life exists in philosophy class?

Try the beat-up tan leather with sherpa lining. Woke up feeling like Tom Cruise?

Wear a “Top Gun” (1986)-inspired bomber jacket. As these examples show, the leather jacket has transformative powers. No matter your mood or desires, you can find what you need in the leather jacket. While it is easy to see the merits of the jacket from a fashion perspective, it is important to acknowledge the practical benefits it offers. It is lightweight but also keeps you as warm as a down jacket ever will. A win-win! Nowadays, there are even great vegan options that look equally trendy, so you can look like a rock star while also showing that you care about our dear Mother Earth.

Another win-win!

Beans: While a week ago perhaps I would be agreeing with Coco, the times they are a-changin’. After watching a Netflix documentary last week, I was a changed woman. The documentary prompted me to not only go vegan but also take on a new persona. While before this I would munch down on turkey burgers four nights a week, I now find myself being passive-aggressive to old friends about the gelatin in their Sour Patch watermelons. So to be frank, leather jackets are cancelled. Animals are friends, not foes. We disrespect these animals by wearing their skin and showing it off as if to mock them in some ancient ritual. Even a vegan leather jacket perpetuates this idea. I mean, a cow can’t tell the difference between fake leather and real leather. Just imagine if a cow were to see me in a fake leather jacket! It would ruin me emotionally. I don’t think I could live with myself knowing that a cow might think I support animal cruelty. For me, being vegan is mostly about superiority and social clout. I cannot risk a misunderstanding by wearing vegan leather or second-hand leather.

If you aren’t as holistic, empathetic and humble as me, then you should go for it. If I’m being totally honest, I think leather jackets look pretty awesome and might bring you as much social status as veganism.

Colette Smith is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Colette can be reached at colette.smith@tufts.edu. Madison Lehan is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Madison can be reached at madison.lehan@tufts.edu.

MENGQI IRINA WANG / THE TUFTS DAILY

Thomas Dawkins, music director and organist for the Tufts University Chaplaincy, poses for a portrait at the Interfaith Center on Nov. 6.

by Sam Heyman

Assistant Arts Editor

On Thursday night, the Tufts University Chaplaincy performed its annual Halloween Midnight Organ Concert to a full house in Goddard Chapel. The hourlong program featured Chaplaincy Music Director Thomas Dawkins on the organ, joined by graduate student Jason Zhang on piano for an arrangement of Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” (1874). The program also featured Boëllmann’s “Suite Gothique” (1895), music from Super Mario Maker 2 (2019) by Koji Kondo, an organ arrangement by Virgil Fox of Bach’s “Komm süßer Tod” (1736) and of course, Halloween’s theme song: Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” (c. 1708). Earlier in the evening, the half-hour Trick or Treat Kickoff performance drew local families to the chapel on the hill. Both shows were followed by refreshments, with candy for the kids and cider donuts for the night owls.

Since its inaugural performance in 2014, the Halloween Midnight Organ Concert has become a fixture of Tufts’ spooky season festivities. The first concert included some of the same standards from this year’s program, namely Boëllmann’s “Suite Gothique” and the indispensable “Toccata and Fugue in D minor.” This isn’t to say that the concert hasn’t evolved over time — the Trick or Treat Kickoff concert was added to the schedule just last year. Last year also saw a student musician featured in the concert for the first time. In an email to the Daily, Dawkins noted that this addition introduced a new element to both the music and the audience’s experience.

“Having a student to play piano or another instrument that can compete with the organ sound is really nice so that the students aren’t just seeing a professional giving the whole concert.”

Although the organ concerts aren’t generally an ensemble affair, interested student musicians can take heart. “I’d ask anybody who wants to get involved with … musical events at the chapel to find my email on the Chaplaincy’s music page and tell me so we can get together and play something,” Dawkins said.

Now in its fifth year, the organist and accompaniment perform for a packed house. Dawkins reported that the crowds have exceeded Goddard’s capacity for at least the past two years, leading to some disappointed prospective concert-goers.

“We’ve had to turn away people because we can’t put more than about 325 people into the chapel without it being a safety risk,” he said.

It may come as a surprise to some that students scramble to spend Halloween night packed in the pews of Goddard chapel, listening with rapt attention to an hour of organ music. The fact that they do speaks to what makes this concert special.

“I think that it’s unique to have a concert like this in a formal space that’s also historic, but to encourage people to wear costumes and embrace the eccentricities of the evening, too,” Dawkins said. “The fresh cider donuts that we serve afterwards certainly don’t hurt either.”

For a student unaffiliated with the University Chaplaincy, the organization may only come up on their radar whenever an email from the Chaplaincy amicably pings their inbox. Certainly, many costumed concertgoers filed out of Goddard on Thursday unaware that the Chaplaincy even has a music program. The Midnight Organ Concert is but one of a handful of major annual performances put on by the Chaplaincy Music Program every year, including the Winter Holiday Concert and a performance at Baccalaureate Service during Commencement Weekend. The program is led by — and largely comprised of — director Dawkins, who joined Tufts in August 2018. Dawkins’ love of his craft is palpable and infectious. It’s a love that he’s eager to share with others as well. “I love playing music, and for me the only thing better than getting to perform for a big audience is getting to share the stage,” he said.

As director of the music program, Dawkins also puts together the programs for the Chaplaincy’s performances, a responsibility he assumes with gusto. “I have always looked at making a concert program as a way of either telling a story or saying certain things rather than just putting together pieces of music,” he said.

This year’s program highlights his unique talent in making the concert accessible to students and families while remaining faithful to the holiday’s diverse religious and cultural roots. To construct it, Dawkins drew from a cornucopia of musical inspirations, from Christianity to Día de Muertos to Nintendo.

“This year, I wanted to have some pieces that people would recognize, but I also wanted to represent the memorial aspect of All Hallows’ and All Souls’ from the Christian tradition, Samhain from the Gaelic tradition, or the Day of the Dead in Mexico, which comes from an Aztec tradition that predates Christianity by at least 500 years,” Dawkins said. “I did the video game music because it speaks to me as I’m still a gamer, but also because I thought that with ‘Mario Maker 2’ having come out this year, some of the students might have heard this particular music too.”

Dawkins also offered a glimpse of what to expect from this winter’s Holiday Concert. “I’d like to focus a little bit on light and what various traditions do around the Winter Solstice,” he hinted. .

It could be argued that music is never performed alone; even a solo recital is a collaboration between the musician and the instrument. Few instruments make as compelling a case for this view as the 1883 Hook & Hastings pipe organ wrapped within Goddard Chapel. Restored in 2003, the organ has undergone few alterations and retains a tonal specification similar to what it had on the day it was built. The gleaming behemoth has 976 pipes and is fully mechanical, save for an electric blower which supplies it with air.

“What’s the most different about an organ compared to a piano is that when you press a key, you feel surrounded by the sound. There’s a very special relationship between an organ and the space, and this organ is original to Goddard; they were both dedicated in 1883 and they’ve both been modernized and renovated over the years, but they’ve been together the whole time and I think it really shows in how it fills the room without overpowering it,” Dawkins said.

“Playing the organ is hard work, but there’s also nothing else like it.”

Thursday, November 7, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

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F &G FUN & GAMES

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Ryan: “No Daily November. Let’s do it.”

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Scorpio (Oct. 23–Nov. 21)

Indulge romantic dreams, especially when current realities don’t match your vision. Find out what’s required.

Once you see what’s underneath, you can build it stronger. Persist.

CORRECTION

Difficulty Level: Having a midterm after a long weekend

Wednesday’s Solutions

A previous version of the article “ASAP, Green Dot host Take Back the Night in support of survivors,” contained factual inaccuracies. The original article stated that members of Green Dot provided opening remarks, when in fact the executive board of ASAP provided these statements. The article misquoted an ASAP member’s remarks to say the event existed to “provide a space for people of color, gender minorities, queer folks and sex workers who are disproportionately affected by sexual violence.” The ASAP member said the event would “hold” such a space, not provide one. Finally, the article misattributed a quote to Kyla Martin, when in fact a member of ASAP said this quote. The article has been updated to reflect these changes. The Daily regrets these errors.

CROSSWORD

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The Kathryn A. McCarthy Lectureship in Physics Presented by Dr. Xiaowei Zhuang Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Director, Center for Advanced Imaging David B. Arnold, Jr. Professor of Science Harvard University

Thursday, November 7, 2019 4:00pm lecture | 5:00pm reception 574 Boston Avenue, Room 401 Hosted by the Tufts University Department of Physics & Astronomy and Professor Peggy Cebe Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex (CLIC) Medford, MA

“IMAGING THE MOLECULAR WORLD OF LIFE”

8 Thursday, November 7, 2019

Noah Mills and Caitlin Colino Spaceship Earth

Opinion

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CARTOON

The Green New Deal

A

s the first Democratic primaries grow nearer and as humanity’s window to act on climate change closes, it becomes increasingly important that you know the various candidates’ different positions on specific climate change issues. In the next few editions of this column, different aspects of popular candidates’ platforms will be analyzed from the economic angle to the social and to the intersections in between. This week we will focus on several politicians’ stances towards the Green New Deal, which has partial origins here in Massachusetts with Senator Ed Markey. The Green New Deal is a plan to tackle various different aspects of the impacts of climate change by not only creating millions of well-paying jobs, but also addressing historical and present injustice.

Starting off with the first presidential candidate to back the Green New Deal, Bernie Sanders’ climate plan uses the ideals of the Green New Deal as heavy inspiration. His plan would create 20 million jobs (unionized, of course) which will be set to work on generating 100% renewable energy by 2030 along with a smart grid to improve energy efficiency. In the fight for climate justice, Bernie’s take on the Green New Deal also recognizes that communities of color are often the frontline communities dealing with some of the harshest effects of climate change. While FDR’s New Deal often had racial exceptions that prevented people of color from accessing many benefits, Bernie’s plan is explicit in guaranteeing that marginalized communities and communities of color will be actively included and have access to the resources that they need. Overall, Bernie plans to invest $16.3 trillion into his Green New Deal, which will be paid for in several ways including: taxing and litigating against fossil fuel companies, reducing military spending on maintaining global oil dependence and taxes on extremely wealthy corporations and individuals.

Elizabeth Warren’s plan is more spread out, and spends a lesser $5 trillion in various sectors with a focus on green manufacturing. Her plans often mention the need for American supremacy in the new market of green energy. In fact, one of her largest allotments of funds is $1.5 trillion on purchasing green technology for federal and state use and for exports creating an estimated 1 million jobs. While this has domestic appeal, we cannot lose sight of the fact that climate change is a global struggle that needs global efforts and unity to overcome. Warren tries to supplement this with $100 billion devoted to a Marshall-esque plan giving discounts to countries impacted by climate change, but this pales when compared to Bernie’s $200 billion commitment to global support funding for reducing carbon emissions abroad. Warren also recognizes the need to center communities of color and indigenous people and works to tie these communities into her plans where she can. Overall,Warren’s focus seems to be on improving the U.S.’s ability to use the market to find solutions to climate change by spending money on American green products — which will largely be generated through a tax on large corporations.

It is easy to assume those fighting for the Democratic nominee will have similar plans, but when you dive a little deeper there are key differences that voters should keep in mind. That said, at the end of the day — no matter who we elect — it will take collective action to enable our policy makers’ plans to become a reality.

Noah Mills is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Noah can be reached at noah. mills@tufts.edu. Caitlin Colino is a sophomore studying environmental engineering. Caitlin can be reached at caitlin.colino@tufts.edu.

BY TYS SWEENEY

MY SHELTER PETS ARE MY BEST FRIENDS

OLIVIA MUNN WITH CHANCE AND FRANKIE: ADOPTED 2014 AND 2016.

THESHELTERPETPROJECT.ORG

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Sports

Thursday, November 7, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Men’s cross country finishes eighth at NESCAC Championship

11

Aiden Herrod The Zone Read

The conundrum of tanking

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MADELEINE OLIVER / TUFTS CROSS COUNTRY

From left to right, junior Dalton Tanner, sophomore Joseph Harmon and senior Taylor Wurts race in a tight pack at the Pineland Farms Super XC Shootout on Sept. 15, 2018.

Staff Writer

The Tufts men’s cross country team placed eighth out of 11 teams at the NESCAC Championship on Saturday, hosted by Williams at Mount Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass.

Williams dominated the race, with seven runners finishing in the top 11 overall. With a successive score of 22 points, Williams far outmatched Amherst, who finished as runner-up with a total of 97 points.

Tufts finished six places behind Amherst with a total of 183 points, only four points behind Trinity. The only teams to finish behind Tufts were Bowdoin, Hamilton and Wesleyan, the latter of the two who trailed Tufts by over 50 points.

The top runner in the race was Williams’ Aiden Ryan, who finished 14.5 seconds ahead of the runner-up with a time of 25:27.3. For reference, Ryan’s time was equivalent to an average mile pace of 5:08.

In the 8k race, the Jumbos were led by sophomore Sam Gatti, who finished in 15th place out of the 145 runners with a time of

26:18.6 and an average mile pace of 5:18.

First-year Evan Ensslin (43rd), sophomore Neerav Gade (45th) and junior Patrick Nero (46th) all finished in the top 50 behind Gatti for the Jumbos.

One key factor affecting the race on Saturday was the tough 8k course, according to Gatti.

“Williams has a very challenging course,” Gatti said. “It was definitely the most challenging course of the year so far. It’s very hilly, with one huge hill we have to go over twice. The last mile starts right on that hill, and it is a big challenge to get up and over that especially toward the end of the race.”

Despite the challenging course, Gatti was able to run a very successful race. He commented on his success and training in preparation for the race.

“This was the best race of my college career to date,” Gatti said. “Coming off an injury at the start of the season, my fitness was not where it should have been. Now that I have had a full season of training I was able to get into the shape I wanted to be in at the start of the season. This definitely allowed for a better race.”

Gatti also explained that supporters of the team at the race helped motivate the runners who did not run in the race.

“Shoutout to all the people who weren’t running at NESCAC but came to cheer us on,” Gatti said. “It was really special to have them there, and it was really great to see everyone supporting us like that.

They were cheering at points in the race we really struggled with. It was a really big motivator.”

Looking ahead, the Jumbos’ next race will take place at the NCAA Regional Championship on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. Bowdoin will host the race in Brunswick, Maine, at the Pickard Field Cross Country Course.

Ensslin spoke on what Tufts hopes to improve on heading into the regional championship.

“We need to be mentally ready to run and work with everyone else on the team,” Ensslin said. “We need to bring it all together. We are definitely a team that has the potential to make nationals. We have put in the training to run at a national-caliber level. We just need to execute.”

ION OF STA IAT TE OC

TERS RES FO

NATIONAL A SS

by Eric Spencer

f you root for the Miami Dolphins, odds are that you’re watching the rest of the NFL more than your own team. No one can blame you.

The Dolphins have comically achieved a points differential of -153, with only a single win against the near-winless Jets to show for it.

There’s a company in this misery too.

If you root for the Bengals, Redskins, Jets or Broncos, you haven’t been given many reasons to be optimistic in 2019.

Some other teams like the Falcons or Chargers have been wrought with misery, but at least they boast squads that recently made the postseason, thus giving a reason for some excitement on game day.

The Dolphins have drawn lots of press for seemingly embracing the tank.

They have jettisoned tons of talent in exchange for draft picks. Standout left tackle Laremy Tunsil, dynamic running back Kenyan Drake and dominant defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick all reside in new homes now. These players have made significant impacts with their new teams, making their dealing away all the more painful for Miami’s fans. The on-field result of this and many other trades is a team that has embodied failure in the purest sense, setting their season’s tone with a 59–10 trouncing by the Baltimore Ravens in their home opener.

Just last Sunday, the Dolphins gleefully picked apart a reeling Jets squad to notch their first win of the season. It is with this win that they are presenting their fans with a true dilemma. Does a fan root for a win, or relish in failure, knowing it pushes them closer to that coveted No. 1 draft pick?

This problem played out in my living room with my brother not too long ago.

Watching the San Francisco 49ers back in 2017, they were playing host to a then-dominant Jacksonville. The 49ers had subjected their fans to a season of deep misery, having lost the bulk of their games and looking forward to the draft instead of the postseason.

However, newly acquired quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was picking apart that vaunted Jaguars defense, leading the 49ers to an entertaining, convincing and rare win. As I sat and cheered on my hometown squad, my brother sunk deeper into his chair and grumbled, “This is going to mess with our draft pick.”

It’s objective and practical thinking.

The 49ers could no longer contend for the postseason, so the only impact a win had was on draft position. The less fun outcome of the match was suddenly the most appealing, lending some value to an event farther down the road. But I had a blast watching that game, and it gave me hope for the future in the same way a higher draft pick would.

My brother and I represented two differing philosophies in watching football, and I’m not here to say one was more right than the other. Fans should figure out for themselves what they care about more. As long as it gives you pride for your team, at the end of the day that’s what really matters.

FO

U N D E D 192

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

12 Thursday, November 7, 2019

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Men’s soccer travels to Amherst, Mass. for conclusion of NESCAC tournament

EVAN SLACK / THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts forward Gavin Tasker, a junior, dribbles the ball down the sideline during Tufts’ 4–0 win over Colby on Sept. 21.

by Henry Gorelik

Contributing Writer

On Saturday, the Jumbos travel to Amherst, Mass. where the 2019 NESCAC men’s soccer semifinals are being hosted. With a win on Saturday, the Jumbos would advance to the NESCAC Championship game on Sunday. The second-seeded Jumbos are matched up against the fourth-seeded Williams Ephs.

Williams earned its place in the semifinals by defeating the Bates Bobcats 3­ – 0 in the quarterfinals, while Tufts secured its spot in the semifinals by defeating the seventh-seeded Hamilton Continentals 3–0 in the quarterfinals last Saturday. While the Jumbos started slowly, they ended up outshooting Hamilton 18 to three and not allowing a single shot on goal. The win against Hamilton adds to the recent streak of wins over Conn. College, Middlebury and Bowdoin.

Senior midfielder Brett Rojas spoke about the momentum that has built up from this winning streak.

“I think it’s definitely clicking [right now],” Rojas said. “We know there are still things we can improve upon going forward but obviously getting four wins in a row is always good heading into the playoffs. We’re in a good spot going forward.”

Coach Josh Shapiro also spoke of this winning streak and the joy that has come along with it.

“We finished well in the regular season, the goal should be to finish well during the postseason as well and take every opportunity we can to win games and enjoy the time [we have] playing together,” he said.

This semifinal matchup will be the second time the Jumbos and Ephs have crossed paths this season. In their first meeting on Sept. 7, Tufts captured a road victory over Williams 3–2. It was a back and forth contest in which the Jumbos rallied from a 2–1 deficit and got a late goal from junior midfielder Travis Van Brewer to secure the win.

Despite the outcome from the first game, this second matchup between Tufts and Williams is likely to be very different from the first. Both teams have had the whole season to develop their identities and strengths, which are surely more advanced and refined than they were when these two teams met at the beginning of the season, as senior midfielder Brett Rojas described.

“Since we played them in the second game of the season and the first game of NESCAC, it was kind of our first serious test and with such a short preseason we hadn’t really had a lot of our tactical training really in set yet,” Rojas said. “I think we’ve definitely grown a lot as a team, as I’m sure they have.”

Although the game will be different than the first, the one constant is that the Tufts defenders will still have to deal with Williams’ Demian Gass. The dangerous forward is tied for fourth

among NESCAC players with seven goals, one of which came against Tufts in the teams’ previous meeting. Gass also ranks second in shots taken among NESCAC players with a total of 74.

Shapiro recognizes the ability of Gass and the threat that he poses to the Tufts defense.

“We saw him first-hand [in the previous matchup], he ran over one of our defenders and scored,” Shapiro said.

“He is pacey so it’s going to be important for us to limit his opportunities on the counter.”

In addition to containing Gass, Shapiro emphasized the importance of the Jumbos’ ability to control and dictate the flow of the game.

“It is going to be really important for us to establish our possession game early and play the game on our terms,” he said.

Rojas echoed Shapiro’s emphasis on the significance of possession.

“We’re going to try to keep possession, swing the ball out wide and really value the ball and when an opportunity presents itself, try and break the lines and get through.”

While the broad game plan might be to focus on the dominant and familiar possession approach, Shapiro is looking for the team to tighten the screws as they approach this semifinal matchup.

“I think our set piece attacking and defending is an area we want to focus on to see if we can be a little bit more efficient offensively and a little bit sharper

defensively,” Shapiro said. “Our offensive final area quality — can we become a little bit sharper in the final third?

We’ll be emphasizing some of that final area attacking stuff, and that’s the biggest thing I would say at this point.”

Furthermore, Shapiro believes that the Jumbos can depend on the strength of depth within their squad.

“In these double [game] weekends, our depth becomes very important and our second group of attackers has been almost as or just as productive as our first group,” Shapiro said.

If the Jumbos can take down the Ephs on Saturday, they will face the winner of the other semifinal matchup in the NESCAC Championship on Sunday. The other semifinal features the first-seeded Amherst Mammoths and the sixth-seeded Middlebury Panthers.

With the first stage of postseason play almost over, Rojas took some time to reflect on his time as a Jumbo while staying focused on the team’s present goals.

“It’s kind of crazy, to be in my last NESCAC tournament,” Rojas said. “I mean we’re excited, obviously we’re at Amherst so [we] just kind of want to relish that moment considering they beat us 2–1 in overtime. So we’re hoping that we’ll be able to advance to play them in the final on their pitch. Reflecting on the four years has been incredible and to have it be in its real last stretch here is kind of crazy … but we’re excited about where the team is and hopefully we can go chase couple trophies here.”