The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Q & A Senior International Office Chigas on H1-B visas under Trump see FEATURES/ PAGE 3

MEN’S TENNIS

Tennis sweeps with 3-1 record over spring break

‘Love, Simon’ a captivating, heart-wrenching film see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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Faculty to vote on new primary major in environmental studies

by Melissa Kain News Editor

A new primary major for Environmental Studies (ENVS) may be available to students beginning in the fall 2018 semester, pending a vote by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in May, Dr. Colin Orians, Director of the Environmental Studies program and professor of biology, said. According to Orians, this follows approval for the new major by the Committee on Curricula.

Orians said current first-year and sophomore students can choose this major.

Environmental Studies is currently offered as a co-major and a minor for engineers, Sara Gomez, Assistant Director of Environmental Studies, said.

This means that students who choose to major in Environmental Studies must choose a secondary major to accompany it, she said.

However, the new Applied Environmental Studies major can be selected as a stand-alone major, Gomez explained. The original co-major will continue to be offered as well, she said.

Gomez explained that there has been increased interest in the Environmental Studies co-major in the past few years.

“Currently, we have one hundred students that are declared majors and about twenty five minors … In the last three years we’ve seen an increasing trend, which is great to see,” she said.

Gomez also said that there has been an increased demand for a more robust major within the ENVS program, and that the conversation surrounding a standalone major has been taking place for decades. According to Gomez and Orians,

student demand for a stand-alone major has existed for years.

“I think there’s always been student interest in a stand-alone major in Environmental Studies. [Students] have understood that it was difficult for us to offer a really rigorous one,” Orians said.

Gomez echoed this sentiment, describing new resources now available for the major.

“We feel that, at this point, Environmental Studies is a legitimate interdisciplinary field and we have the resources at Tufts to provide the additional courses we need to offer a robust major. For example, we didn’t even have a lecturer until two or three years ago. Now we do have a lecturer who can offer classes that students can take in our program,” Gomez said.

According to Gomez, the new Applied Environmental Studies major will require 14 classes, a senior capstone project and an internship. The existing major requires ten classes plus an internship.

Gomez explained the additional course requirements.

“Those new courses we are introducing are basically skills-based courses. We are adding an environmental communication requirement, we are adding a statistics requirement [and a geographic information system] requirement,” Gomez said.

According to Orians, the addition of the required capstone project is intended to encourage students to incorporate their own interests and expertise.

“The idea is, if you do a capstone right, you get some sort of stakeholder, some sort of organization that would like a study done, and that study will have components from the natural sciences and the social

SOFIE HECHT / THE TUFTS DAILY

Lecturer Ninian Stein, Assistant Director Sara Gomez, Academic Advisor Cathy Stanton and Director Colin Orians of the new Environmental Studies major to open this Fall pose outside the Granoff Family Hillel Center on March 9, 2018. sciences,” Orians said. “Capstone projects like this are really common in environmental studies programs, nationally.”

Gomez added that the new Applied Environmental Studies major will also offer a new class, ENV1: Introduction to Environmental Studies, which will incorporate a broad view of environmental studies field.

“The idea is to show students how to tackle real-world problems in an interdisciplinary way,” she said.

Lily Hartzell, a senior who is currently studying Environmental Studies and International Relations, expressed enthusiasm for the new primary major.

“I think it’s awesome that they are expanding the Environmental Studies

program at Tufts, because it’s such an important subject area … I think it is great that they’re keeping the co-major, though, because, as a co-IR and Environmental Studies major, it made my time at Tufts really interdisciplinary and let Environmental Studies inform my IR major,” Hartzell said.

According to Gomez, the new Applied Environmental Studies major will be beneficial in helping students prepare for life after graduation.

“Our hope is to give our students the intellectual and practical skills to be successful practitioners in the field and to give them as much real world experience as possible while they are with us,” she said.

TCU Senate to hear resolution on compensating student leaders

by Seohyun Shim News Editor

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate announced on its Facebook page yesterday that it will hear a resolution “calling on Tufts to Compensate Student Leaders,” most likely on April 8.

TCU Treasurer Emily Sim, a junior, is the lead author of the resolution. Other authors include First Generation Community Senator Alejandro Baez, a first-year; Women’s Community Senator Michelle Delk, a sophomore; and TCU Vice-President Anna Del Castillo, a senior. She said the resolution aims to make on-campus leadership roles more accessible to students. The abstract of the resolution, reproduced on the Facebook page, proposes “a stipend system that students can

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apply for to be compensated for their labor.”

Sim said that the resolution seeks to compensate not only TCU-elected students but also all student leaders based on their work and commitment to enhance the quality of student life at Tufts, thus making student leadership roles more accessible to students.

“Taking on a leadership role in a student group often demands as much time as a parttime job,” Sim wrote in an electronic message.

“This means that low-income students, often from marginalized communities on campus, are financially barred from being able to pursue these positions.”

The resolution will also propose a universal stipend for all TCU-elected students starting in the fiscal year 2019 and an expansion on the scope of compensated student labor on campus. A similar resolution in the fall of

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2016, which was discussed but not approved, proposed stipends of $1,000 each per year for the Diversity and Community Affairs Officer, the Parliamentarian and the Historian. Under the current stipend system, the president and vice president, in addition to the associate treasurer, judiciary chair, ECOM members and other positions are paid, according to Sim. “Much of the work that Senate does, such as hearing funding requests and expanding university services, is administrative in nature and parallels the work that paid employees of the university also do. Having looked at best practices from other universities, I believe that paying TCU government positions will provide a higher degree of accountability and effectiveness,” Sim said. “Second, the resolution will expand the scope of compensated

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student labor on campus and lobby for a leadership stipend that all students on campus, not just senators, can access.”

Several senators said they are in support of the resolution, generally on the grounds of increasing the financial accessibility of student leadership positions.

Class of 2021 Senator Grant Gebetsberger said he plans to vote in favor of the resolution, as he believes the resolution will bring about increased diversity in student leadership.

“I strongly support it because of its implications for students from marginalized backgrounds. Many students face an impossible choice between leadership roles and other jobs — on or off-campus — that help them make ends meet,” he wrote in an electronic message. “This inherently reduces leadership see SENATE, page 2

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, March 28, 2018

THE TUFTS DAILY Catherine Perloff Editor-in-Chief

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continued from page 1 diversity at Tufts. This resolution would allow students from all backgrounds to serve as leaders on campus, making sure that leadership positions aren’t dominated entirely by students who come from significant economic privilege and can afford to work without compensation.”

Class of 2020 Senator Phil Miller also welcomed the resolution. He said while he will wait for the full text of the resolution, he finds the resolution to be “a great way to make senate positions more accessible to low income students.” He also added that, as the resolution will be heard before the elections for next year, it won’t be a self-rewarding measure. “[The resolution] could also hold senators accountable for their responsibilities and increase their retention rate,” Miller said in an electronic message. “I think we also need to make sure this is fiscally responsible, and that we are balancing out all students’ needs.

I definitely don’t think this is a form of self-rewarding because every student at Tufts has a vote and a say in who will be in these paid positions.”

However, some students expressed reservations about the resolution.

First-year Tyler Stotland said that, should

Tufts provide funding for student leadership positions, some may exploit the policy.

“Students may try to start clubs or take leadership positions for the money, rather than passion or leadership experience. From my experience with numerous clubs at Tufts, both in leadership and team member roles, it seems like most people engaged in student organizations are genuinely passionate, qualified, and motivated,” Stotland wrote in a statement. “I would hate to see this healthy student club structure shift in the wrong direction.”

Pedro Andre Lazo Rivera, a former Class of 2020 Senator and the president of the Tufts Russian and Slavic Student Association, agreed with Stotland that the resolution could lead to potential exploitation. He also argued that the resolution should be decided by a referendum.

“If TCU Senators are on payroll as a conclusion of [the resolution,] then TCU Senators shouldn’t be the ones voting on it. If anything, that should be a referendum among the student body,” he said. “We don’t want TCU Senate to be deciding how to pay itself.”

He also argued that Senate should look into the culture around student leadership at Tufts before making financial commitment to address the issue. In addition, he raised a question in regard to how the resolution will

be translated into an effective policy, given that there are several hundreds of organizations on campus.

“I would say look into the culture of student leadership first, before trying to address this by throwing money at the problem, because maybe that’s not necessarily the solution and it might not be an effective catch-all because every club works differently,” Rivera said. “They have different structures, different time commitment and there’s hundreds of them. So it would be very, very difficult to set up an effective system that doesn’t just become one big platform for students to bleed the university or the Senate dry.”

TCU Parliamentarian Adam Rapfogel, a junior, explained that Senate is allowed to vote on something that affects or benefits them.

“There’s nothing in our constitution explicitly forbidding us from doing that and it does happen in other ways often,” Rapfogel said in an electronic message, explaining TCU Senate’s parliamentary procedure. “For example, if you frequent the Asian American center and you’re writing a resolution to improve it, that benefits you. But I do understand the concern and would love for people to attend the meeting and express it if that’s how they feel.”

Peter Chronis discusses the state of U.S. cybersecurity

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Peter Chronis, senior vice president and chief information security officer at Turner, gave a talk entitled “The Cyber Conundrum: How Do We Fix Cybersecurity?” about the faults of U.S. cybersecurity and possible improvements on Tuesday evening. The lecture was sponsored by the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the Department of Computer Science and was streamed live on The Fletcher School’s Facebook page.

Kathleen Fisher, professor of computer science and chair of the computer science department, introduced Chronis, who she said has 15 years of experience working with information security operations and using technology to manage risk in telecommunications. Fischer noted that Chronis has also invented private proprietary security technology that has been used to defend against 750 billion attacks worth about 100 million dollars.

He has also invented private proprietary security technology that has been used to defend against 750 billion attacks worth about 100 million dollars, according to Fischer. Chronis said he currently works at Turner, an American media conglomerate that manages a collection of cable television networks, including CNN, Cartoon Network and TruTV. The talk was conducted in an interview format with Ming Chow, senior lecturer of computer science, guiding the conversation.

Chronis first discussed the some of the challenges that Turner faces today as audiences transition away from watching television, toward online platforms and applications like Netflix.

“In order to stay relevant, we have to change and evolve,” Chronis said.

“We’re trying to connect [with consumers] through apps like Hulu, through the Cartoon Network app … because folks in your generation aren’t consuming our content generally through TV, the traditional broadcast mechanism. So, it has been a huge technical transformation in order to deliver content that way.”

This transition to online platforms

introduces new issues, such as the potential for cyber attacks and with these threats comes the need for information security operations, Chronis explained. Chronis said Turner has made a huge financial investment into technology security and is currently working on delivering these new technologies at an unprecedented scale.

“There’s no footprints on the path that we’re taking,” Chronis said.

Chronis went on to describe the most important lesson he learned from his experiences, which he referred to as “war stories,” working in cybersecurity. He said a critical part of information security is “tech hygiene” thinking about how it could potentially be abused while building code.

“How is this code going to be broken?

How can someone hack this system?” he said. “My challenge to you as engineering and policy folks is to think through, as you’re creating systems, as you’re creating stuff, how is somebody going to break in?

How could somebody abuse this? I think we need more of that.”

Many systems today, such as Facebook, were not built with potential hacking in mind, according to Chronis.

“The reality is that Facebook is an incredible platform; 2 billion people use it.

[There is] nothing like it in human history,” Chronis said. “However, it wasn’t built with those principles we talked about, where people thought about how could this be abused and how can we put controls in place to stop it … It’s something we need to address if we really want to make progress in cybersecurity.”

Ming and Chronis discussed how the biggest vulnerabilities in cybersecurity 15 years ago are still the biggest vulnerabilities now. Chronis believes that to make meaningful progress, there has to be what he calls a cybersecurity “moonshot” — a revolutionary advancement in technology akin to the eradication of polio, the defeat of the Axis powers in WWII and the first human journey to the moon.

“You needed enlightened leadership; you needed a national cohesive strategy; you needed a groundswell or a popular support that got things moving,” Chronis said.

Further in the talk, Ming questioned

JULIA MCDOWELL / THE TUFTS DAILY

Peter Chronis, senior vice president and chief information security officer at Turner, an American media conglomerate, answers a student’s question.

Chronis as to what engineers and techonologists need to start thinking about now.

“The challenges I see in cybersecurity … are IT hygiene challenges [and] engineering challenges, many of which can be solved,” Chronis said. “Thinking through and building engineering best practices and principles are key … That is one of the huge behavioral shifts that has to be made.”

Chronis concluded the lecture with suggestions for legislation and policies that could effectively address the United States’ cybersecurity issues.

The talk was followed by a brief question-and-answer session.

Students said they attended the talk because they were interested in learning more about cybersecurity.

“Personally, I couldn’t even begin to define what [the cyber conundrum] is, so that sort of unknown is scary to me,” Aidan Demsky, a first-year, explained.

“It’s important to begin to define that and understand that.”

Maggie Van Scoy, also a first-year, shared Demsky’s sentiment.

“With the talk specifically put on by the Fletcher School, it’s really a great resource for Tufts students because [it covers] these complex issues of ... computer science,” Van Scoy said. “It’s really illuminating to just get a little glimpse into that world.”

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Features

Work visas under Trump: Senior International Officer Diana Chigas discusses H-1B visas for faculty, staff

3 tuftsdaily.com

Derek Castle R.E.A.L Talk

Light at the end of the tunnel

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ALONSO NICHOLS / TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Diana Chigas, Tufts associate provost, senior international officer and professor of the practice at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, poses for a photo on September 7, 2016.

by Emma Rosenthal Features Editor

On April 18, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order called Buy American, Hire American. Part of this executive order effectively changed the H-1B visa renewal process. H-1B visas are awarded to foreign employees who are working in American specialty professional occupations, and many Tufts faculty and staff rely on H-1B visas to work at the university. In this first part of a two-part series, the Daily spoke with Diana Chigas, senior international officer and associate provost, about how the Buy American, Hire American executive order has affected the H-1B process at Tufts.

The Tufts Daily (TD): How many initial H-1B visa petitions or renewals does Tufts send out annually?

Diana Chigas (DC): The initial ones are usually [for] hiring faculty who are not American citizens or staff, or sometimes, for example, medical residents will often come here on an H-1B visa.

[The number] obviously varies per year depending on what positions there are when you get hired. And I know none of the departments take the visa issues into account when they’re looking at hiring.

We have, on the Boston campus, [several] active H-1B visas holdings, so not all of them are going to come up for renewal at the same time. Some of them may be finishing their H-1Bs and may be going on elsewhere, some of them are residents, so it’s not that many at one time.

TD: Are there specific schools or departments on campus that are more reliant on H-1B holders than others?

DC: The medical school brings in a lot of residents, and the medical school office does some of the visa work for the hospital so they tend to have a lot.

Otherwise, [among the departments] I think it’s relatively spread out here.

TD: Has the number of rejections increased as a result of the executive order or has it changed in any way?

DC: I don’t think so. We’ve had one or two rejections, but I don’t think it’s because of this executive order. I think what you’ll see happening is they’re just scrutinizing these applications more.

So, I think the earlier people go to the International Center and the more documentation we supply, both in Boston and in Medford, they’re really well-prepared and they’ve got everything together. We haven’t seen anybody being rejected just because of the executive order. But we do need to supply more documentation than we used to.

TD: What is the process for H-1B renewals and how has that process changed, if at all, as a result of the executive order?

DC: So for renewals, it used to be that you’re entitled to two H-1Bs in a row, so when you get your H-1B, it used to be if you got it the first time, you submit your documentation and there’s a whole process around a labor certification and they have to look at the salary of the job and then credentials for the job, etc. There is a whole process that went through and it used to be that … if you’re in the same job and you’re just renewing it, they say, “well we did it the last time, so we will defer to the determination of last time that all of those things (the labor certification, the job, the salary) are all okay.” It made it much faster and what they’ve done

now is eliminate that [aspect of it] so that it is like applying again, in terms of the documentation you submit and the scrutiny they give to it.

So we’ll see what happens in the future. Immigration is changing daily, so we’ll see what happens. But so far we’ve been pretty lucky that things are going smoothly. And of course, generally [we] have a great staff and they’re extremely knowledgeable, they’re well connected and dot their i’s and cross their t’s.

TD: Does Tufts or your office expect any more changes to H-1B policy? If you think that it might be shifting, can you plan ahead for a long-term period of flux with immigration policy?

DC: Generally, we’re braced for uncertainty and long-term flux in all sorts of immigration policies. With H-1B, you have an administration that has stated what its view is about legal immigration.

H-1B gets reviewed frequently anyway, so in some senses, it’s not unusual for H-1B policies to change, because they have in the past even without this overarching kind of anti-immigration [sentiment] here. So, what we do is we keep really close track of what’s happening with all of the immigration policies. We have some outside counsel also that keeps us informed on any kinds of developments and what’s going on so that we’re as prepared as we can be for whatever changes may be coming down the pike. So, when some of these changes were happening, the offices got in touch with all the people who had renewals that were coming up to see if we could speed that up to make sure that we start these processes of renewals before the new policy comes into account.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

wenty years ago, I was taking one semester off. I was just working to save money for the next class. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.

School was in the future, but I did not know when or why or how. Twenty years ago, I never would have pictured myself sitting where I am now. I did not know what was in my future.

Twenty years later and I still don’t know. I wake up in the morning and question if what I am doing is right. I think about decisions I’ve made and ways that they could have been better.

I think about all the what-ifs, and trust me, as you get older there are a lot more what-ifs. I take the chance every day that one decision I make may ruin everything I worked for to get to where I am. And then I look around and see where I am.

I’m in the home stretch of my high school dream. In less than two months I will graduate from my dream school.

I don’t know where my road will lead me, but now I don’t question where I have been. Every decision I made has brought me to this point, and there is no better place for me.

I have done more than I ever dreamed in the time that I have been at Tufts, and I will never forget it. I have met some amazing people and been given opportunities that my 20-year-old self would have looked at differently and may have ignored. You are reading my column because I am a writer for The Tufts Daily. Twenty years ago, I would not have even known that the newspaper existed. I have run for leadership positions that I would have avoided previously. I’m more willing to take chances because I know the reward is worth the risk.

I have spoken with other R.E.A.L. students who are graduating this semester, and the feeling is bittersweet. Many, myself included, are excited for the next chapter of our lives to begin. We will miss everyone and everything at Tufts, but there is so much to be excited about in our future. There are some who fear what will come next. What step they will have to take and where that step will lead them. Optimistic or afraid, we all know that we will be prepared for anything that life can throw at us.

The hardest part about graduating is leaving school. Some of the R.E.A.L. students will return to full-time jobs.

Do we return to what we knew before or try something new with what we have learned? A tough choice. A few that I know of will put off the decision of what to do after graduating and enter a graduate program. Master’s degrees and possibly Ph.D.s are in many futures. For me, I will be attending an MFA program for creative writing.

I know my future may be blurry, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I will graduate with no regrets, no matter where I end up.

Derek Castle is a senior majoring in English. Derek can be reached at Derek.

Castle@tufts.edu.

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BY THE WHOLE PEEING STANDING UP THING. BUT I TAUGHT HIM TO THROW A STICK AND NOW HANGING OUT WITH HIM IS THE BEST PART OF MY DAY.

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ARTS&LIVING

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ALBUM REVIEW

Kacey Musgraves shines during her ‘Golden Hour’

by Justin Krakoff Arts Editor

Known for her sharp wit and even sharper writing instincts, country singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves has never been afraid to speak her mind.

Her 2013 debut, “Same Trailer Different Park,” announced Musgraves as one to watch and tackled many unexplored topics in country music, such as sex, drugs and loneliness. Singles “Merry Go ’Round” and “Follow Your Arrow” showed Musgraves at her finest, the former taking aim at the overly romanticized view of Americana and the latter disseminating a message of LGBTQ inclusivity. “Pageant Material” (2015), her sophomore follow-up, saw Musgraves further hone her craft and cement her position as a country tour de force.

Given the critical success of her first two records, the expectations for “Golden Hour,” out March 30, were immensely high. However, Musgrave succeeds beyond wildest expectations as she crafts a dreamy, clever fourth LP. Her style of songwriting remains unparalleled, relying on evocative imagery and extended metaphors to craft some of the best country music, or even just music in general, one can expect to hear this year.

Musgraves’ fourth studio album mainly revolves around her exploring the newfound period the now-29year-old currently finds herself in as a result of both getting older and marrying to fellow musician Ruston Kelly.

Musgraves embraces the happiness she feels in light of her all-good fortune but remains unafraid to engage with the uncertainty and pain that might hold her back.

Nowhere is this more evident than on the record’s opening track, “Slow

Burn.” Like many songs on “Golden Hour,” Musgraves takes a conventional trope and turns it into a sonic masterpiece. When Musgraves coos, “Texas is hot, I can be cold / Grandma cried when I pierced my nose,” one gets the sense that Musgraves has become more aware of the impact that her carefree, irreverent attitude has on others. This new wisdom and perspective shows up again in the chorus as Musgraves embraces her desire to slow down and enjoy life, singing, “’Cause I’m alright with a slow burn / Taking my time, let the world turn / I’m gonna do it my way; it’ll be alright.”

This juxtaposition of Musgraves’ newfound happiness and lingering sadness plays out across “Golden Hours.” The first two songs released from the album, “Space Cowboy” and “Butterflies,” brilliantly highlight this relationship. The latter is a romantic, spritely ode to blissful love as Musgraves proclaims, “And now, you’re lifting me up ’stead of holding me down / Stealing my heart ’stead of stealing my crown.” The former is a soaring ballad, using a classic country music motif to say goodbye to a relationship that has run its course. Musgraves shows her songwriting chops once more on the chorus, eliciting a resigned goodbye as she sings, “You can have your space, cowboy / I ain’t gonna fence you in.”

While Musgraves demonstrates that she can truly deliver classic country sounds, much of “Golden Hour” shows she can experiment with new sounds to brilliant effect. “Oh, What A World” uses a Daft Punk-esque vocoder to create a hallucinogenic vibe, thanks in part to the contrast it creates with the track’s lush instrumentation. Album highlight “High Horse” takes this sonic exploration of traditional pop influences even more seriously, incorpo-

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The album cover for Kasey Musgraves’ ‘Golden Hour’ is pictured. rating disco elements to craft a witty takedown of a selfish “John Wayne.”

The bridge features two of the sharpest lines on the record as Musgraves surmises, “Darling, you take the high horse and I’ll take the high road / If you’re too good for us, you’ll be good riding solo.”

Underneath all the humor and complicated nostalgia, Musgraves still finds herself basking in newfound content.

The album’s end reflects this unbridled joy with a pair of ethereal ballads. The title track sees Musgraves playing with this idea of a “Golden Hour,” which usually refers to the period after sun-

rise or immediately preceding sunset, to tell the listener, “I used to get sad / And lonely when the sun went down / But it’s different now / ‘Cause I love the light that I’ve found / In you.”

Album closer “Rainbow” continues with this weather-themed imagery and serves as an encapsulation of Musgraves’ fourth studio album. In spite of the tribulations she has faced, Musgraves is able to embrace her happiness and take solace in her partner, singing, “Well, darlin’, I’m just tryin’ to tell ya / That there’s always been a rainbow hangin’ over your head.”

“Golden Hour” is streaming now on NPR.

MOVIE REVIEW

‘Love, Simon’ promotes diverse representation of sexuality through sweet coming-of-age romance

by Julian Blatt Staff Writer

“In reality, I’m not the leading guy.

Maybe I’m the best friend.” This sentiment, from Becky Albertalli’s novel “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” (2015), is something gay teens are far too familiar with. The majority of Hollywood films are utterly devoid of any LGBTQidentifying characters, and on the rare occasion that there is such representation, the gay male is delegated to the role of “sassy confidant,” almost as if he exists for the sole purpose of adding diversity to the movie. However, in “Love, Simon” (2018), the movie based on the 2015 book, the gay character is not only the protagonist but possesses an identity that goes far beyond his sexual orientation and is exactly what Book Simon, as well as every other high school student struggling with their sexuality, needs to see more of in the film industry.

When Simon (Nick Robinson) describes himself at the beginning of the movie, the word he latches on to is “nor-

mal.” His family is normal, his friends are normal — everything about his life is normal. Except he has “one huge-ass secret.”

Simon is gay. Because of the outrageous intolerance at his school (the only out gay student is constantly ridiculed), Simon must keep this secret to himself, fearing that someone will find out the truth. However, after a classmate leaves an anonymous post on the school blog about the difficulties of being gay and attaches his email, Simon reaches out (also anonymously), glad to finally have someone in his life who understands him. Through his correspondences with the other student (who goes by “Blue”), Simon begins to come to terms with who he is and realizes with some help from his friends and family that being different is of little importance, because at the end of the day he is still Simon, and that is all that should matter.

The movie’s message would be nowhere near as forceful as it is if not for the phenomenal acting. As a gay teen, it was painful to watch Simon struggle to accept himself, and the dif-

ficulty with which he eventually comes out brought many in the audience to tears. The supporting actors are also excellent and serve as a reminder that, no matter what obstacles you confront in your life, there will always be people to help you overcome them. Simon’s mother ( Jennifer Garner) promises him that she will always love him, and his dad ( Josh Duhamel) laments over the years he has spent without truly knowing his son. Hopefully, these performances will inspire others in Simon’s position to be brave and make them realize that they are not alone.

Nevertheless, the movie strives to remind viewers that Simon’s sexuality does not define him; he is a completely normal high schooler. Thus, the majority of the film revolves around the relationships he has with his friends and the ones they have with each other.

The confused love triangle involving his friends Abby (Alexandra Shipp), Leah (Katherine Langford) and Nick ( Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) not only adds another layer of excitement and tension to the

film, but also reinforces the notion that everyone is confused in high school, regardless of sexuality. Perhaps the best scene of the film is a fantasy sequence in which the three friends come out as straight to their parents, and the subsequent ridiculous reactions suggest that coming out should not have to be the norm, since all teenagers have parts of their identities that they are scared to show the world, and sexuality is just one such aspect. The acting allows the audience to view Simon as just another character, which is exactly what he is.

Especially noteworthy is the crew. In an introductory video message, Robinson and director Greg Berlanti remind the audience that a movie is impossible to make without the hard work of the crew, and “Love, Simon” demonstrates the truth of this statement. There are several scenes throughout the movie, including a football game, a school play and a carnival, that require a great deal of effort in the sound and lighting departments, as well as the many see LOVE, SIMON, page 7

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A rts & L iving

Wednesday, March 28, 2018 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY

'Love, Simon' emphasizes friendly, romantic, familial relationships

Christopher Panella A Column From a Galaxy Far, Far Away

A

VIA IMDB

Nick Robinson and Katherine Langford star in ‘Love, Simon’.

LOVE, SIMON

continued from page 5 hands needed to build these immense sets in the first place. Because of the crew, the movie possesses the magical quality that it deserves, and we feel as though we are there with Simon, rooting him on alongside his classmates as he kisses “Blue” at the top of the Ferris wheel. Simon’s story resonates with everyone, regardless of age, gender and even sexuality.

Indeed, “Love, Simon” is a groundbreaking film that everyone needs to see.

Across the country, celebrities who understand the historical significance of the movie, including Neil Patrick Harris and Kristen Bell, have bought out entire theaters so that anyone who wants to can watch “Love, Simon” for free. In a nation where members of the LGBTQ community continue to face rampant discrimination (even the vice president has advocated

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for conversion therapy), it is important to remember that people who identify as LGBTQ are just as human as everyone else, no more and no less. This lesson is particularly meaningful for Hollywood, as many of our beliefs about the world develop from what we observe in movies. Society cannot change unless films change — specifically in their representation of homosexual characters — and “Love, Simon” is a magnificent beginning.

Episode 7

s I write this episode on a plane (RIP spring break 2018), I find that the most pressing and exciting piece of Star Wars information this week is that EA’s latest Star Wars video game, “Battlefront 2” (2017), received a major overhaul in both game progression and format this past week. There’s also some “Solo” (2018) poster controversy to talk about.

The overhaul makes gameplay and upgrading strictly in-game and unlocks every character. This is a completely different situation compared to when the game was originally released, where the game was plagued with a difficult progression and microtransactions. One player even noted that when the game was released, players would have to play over 40 hours just to unlock Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker — a problem EA fixed early in the game’s release.

This may all sound like nerd jargon, but a better explanation is that people could use real money to buy “crystals,” which could buy loot boxes in the game, which have weapon and ship upgrades, in-game currency and character updates in them.

Basically, a player could use real money to get to the same experience and level as someone who played hours and progressed linearly, or strictly in-game.

Loot boxes could also be bought with in-game currency, but it takes gameplay to earn the in-game credits.

Microtransactions were removed from the game early on, but not without extremely negative reactions from fans, leading to EA receiving the most down-voted post in Reddit’s history. Now, as EA hopes to continue to revamp the game after disappointing sales, the game may finally be attractive to players. EA did announce earlier this year that they are bringing back micro-transactions, but only for cosmetic items, not for in-game progression. This is the norm for many other games, like “Overwatch” (2016).

The overhaul is definitely the right choice, but after fans petitioned for EA’s gaming license with Lucasfilm to be revoked, I wouldn’t expect people to come flocking back to “Battlefront 2” just yet.

Personally, I love the game regardless, but I have literally never hated anything with the words “Star Wars” on it. So, I may not be the best source on this. Yet I do admit that EA definitely shouldn’t have tried to implement a pay-to-win system for game progression because doing so destroys the multiplayer aspect of the game for everyone who doesn’t have $89 to spend on 12,000 crystals.

As for the “Solo” movie poster controversy, it isn’t as big of a deal as many think. Disney removed the blasters from the film’s promotional posters in Brazil, changing the characters’ poses. While many were quick to claim that Disney was making a statement about gun control, ScreenRant confirmed that the posters were only used in Brazil and speculated that the change was made to showcase the film as being more family-friendly.

This poor movie has had such a rough ride from changing directors to a major reshoot after three quarters of the movie had been shot. Honestly, I give “Solo” credit just for getting to theaters.

As always, email me your thoughts and questions. May the Force be with you!

Christopher Panella is a first-year majoring in film and media studies. Christopher can be reached at christopher.panella@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | PHOTO SPREAD | Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Spring Break Scenes Images from our staff photographers’ spring vacation adventures in New England, Paris, Canada, Miami, Seattle, Cancún, New Orleans and Israel.

Photos by Alexis Serino, Yanelle Cruz, Lyndon Jackson, Evan Sayles, Ben Kim, Asha Iyer, Madeleine Oliver and Cole Scheiber.

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A rts & L i v i n g

Wednesday, March 28, 2018 | PHOTO SPREAD | THE TUFTS DAILY

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Comics | Wednesday, March 28, 2018

tuftsdaily.com

Comics

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Mary: “I’m not really here to learn.”

Comics

SUDOKU

ASK THE DAILY:

WHEN SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT NOT HAVING A SECURE GROUP OF FRIENDS?

A

ANSWER BY YUKI ZANINOVICH

: To whom it may concern. My verdict would be: Never! Evidently, it is important to have friends, but you should be concerned with their quality, rather than quantity or cohesion. After all, the former is what will make the difference when you encounter hardships you cannot overcome by yourself, while the latter will only serve to fill up the RSVP list for your semesterly Hillsides rager (which TUPD will bust within 30 minutes anyway).

Personally, I like how my closest friends are stratified across various social circles. Not having a main group chat to constantly toss anecdotes of daytime happenings means that I tend to exchange more non-trivial, important updates with my buddies, and oftentimes in person — the medium I prefer. Lacking this group for social fallback also keeps my social appetite high to consistently attend parties and pursue new friendships, which I enjoy as a relative extrovert.

If you feel you don’t have such close friends, I suggest you raise that very social appetite and act upon it! One of the boons of attending a small private university is that most students are invested in on-campus activities and events, which gives you an opportunity to interact with a high concentration of students with minimal logistical effort. It may be a bit nerve-wracking, but you might be surprised what kind of dividends stepping out of your comfort zone may pay!

Difficulty Level: Finding Easter eggs in a snow bank.

Tuesday’s Solution

CROSSWORD

Tuesday’s Solution

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Opinion EDITORIAL

Orientation should include resource training Pre-orientation programs are beginning to prepare for the class of 2022. Last month, FOCUS co-ordinators announced that they will partner with Tisch College to encourage continued community service after the program ends, and the Office for Student Success and Advising is developing a new program called BEAST for first generation students. It is fantastic that pre-orientation programs are moving toward inclusivity and finding new ways to expand connections and experiences for students. Additionally, as Tufts expands upon the programs important for the social success of incoming students, holistic guidance on available academic resources should also be provided to firstyears during orientation week.

Academic resources are clearly underutilized. People either don’t know that certain services exist or don’t know how to use them. Tisch Library offers a plethora of tools to comb through and access huge amounts of data, JumboSearch being the most widely known. But assets like JumboSearch are not introduced during

orientation. Though deans of different schools hold information sessions for students early in the semester, the sessions’ content is mostly superficial, focusing on a general guideline of what courses to take rather than how to be successful in classes. Most structured guidance is provided through introductory classes, focused on the pertinent academic field of the class. If so, this means that people who don’t take these classes are placed at a natural disadvantage in writing academic papers in “higher tier” classes, which require extensive and good quality research.

Moreover, as the majority of undergraduates at Tufts explore different academic fields, some will benefit more from research methodologies, but all would gain from early guidance on achieving academic success. Guidance not only includes directing students to resources and teaching them how to use them, but also advising them on good research preparation habits and time management skills. Programs like Tufts Academic Mentors (TAM), the Academic Resource

Center (ARC), and Time Management and Study Strategies (TM&SS) are more than just acronyms, they are extremely useful entities and should be promoted to all students, first-years especially. Even if it’s the student’s responsibility to utilize the information at their disposal, it is the university’s responsibility to notify students of the tools they have to make such decisions.

It is important to inculcate the benefits of learning research skills as well. Often, incoming students retain a high-school mentality, which creates a false impression that simple memorization will lead to academic success. Many Tufts students did not have to strain much to succeed in high school. Once we get to Tufts, we are not only held to a higher standard, but there is a certain expectation of zest for learning that was not present in high school. First-year students should be made aware of, and be trained in, the appropriate resources to make the most of their academics here at Tufts and beyond — not because we have to, but because we want to.

EASTER WOES

BY SHANNON GEARY The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community.

The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily.

OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions.

ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director.

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Aneurin Canham-Clyne Red Star

Centrism: A disease of the heart

T

wice in 20 years, a president rose to power without the democratic backing of the American people. Twice, the opposition party failed to fight.

Twice, the centrists warned us to be civil, to listen, to give the billionaires, the generals, the oil men and the real estate developers a chance to raise wages, bring peace and fight climate change.

We’re reaping the bitter fruits of centrism.

Ideologically, liberalism has no response to the crisis of the last 10 years. We’re facing a mass extinction due to climate change. Cap and trade and subsidies won’t do a thing to slow it down. A centrist policy raised premiums on tens of millions of Americans, while wise men at think tanks and The New York Times told us single payer can never be the answer. Their solution to the immiseration of the American people is to act like no one in the upper Midwest was worse off after eight years of blue rule. The bailouts that shifted the cost of recovery onto millions of working class people should discredit the economic center of American politics forever.

If Trump and the Republican party are an existential threat to democracy, as many centrists claim, is the solution on Twitter or in the streets?

We’re going to be fine, the biggest issue in the world is that a college student was rude to a race scientist.

The style of politics I’m attacking is anything between David Brooks and Paul Krugman. This territory includes a lot of the media blob, a lot of smug Tufts students and everyone who pretends to have read both Thucydides and the Constitution. This is a style of politics that attacks problems with means-tested, inadequate, market-oriented solutions. Of course, it was these reforms that destroyed the social safety net and created the mass incarceration crisis.

But none of that matters. Because America is good because America is great.

Policy papers that don’t address the material inequality of American capitalism have no substance because they don’t address anything that changes the lives of millions.

The prisons, the 60,000 dead from opioids, the stagnant wages, the dying towns, the unaffordable rent, the trillion dollars in student loans, the wars without end, the spying, the 2008 collapse, the destruction of unions, the mega droughts, the fires, the hurricanes, the lead in the water, the carbon in the air, fascists with guns, rapists with power and continued segregation are all aspects of a capitalist system in systemic crisis.

There’s no going back to Nov. 7, 2016.

We’re living in an age where liberal pieties have no meaning, where facts of poverty, slaughter, mass extinction and racism are laid bare for the whole world. Light shines on all the horrors. Centrists close their eyes and hearts.

The political future is bleak. It doesn’t have to be. Join a socialist party, join a union, join an LGBTQ gun club. We have a moral duty to fight as hard as humanly possible for a decent future. Centrists can have their comfort, while radicals bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old.

Aneurin Canham-Clyne is a junior majoring in history. Aneurin can be reached at aneurin.canham_clyne@tufts.edu.

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Wednesday, March 28, 2018 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

BASEBALL

Jumbos post 5–4 record in first week of 2018 season

David Meyer Postgame Press

Sister Jean and a cause

by Savannah Mastrangelo Sports Editor

On its annual spring break trip, the Tufts baseball team played nine games in 10 days. The Jumbos went 5–4 in that stretch, scoring 92 total runs and posting a team batting average of .282. Tufts fell short in the final game of the trip, losing by 12 runs to Virginia Wesleyan, 25–13.

“I think every year is a new year and everyone gets an opportunity, and it’s all about what you do with that opportunity regardless of the year,” junior infielder Casey Santos-Ocampo said. “I think the key moving forward is to continue making progress and controlling what we can control, which is our attitude, effort and energy.”

The game against Virginia Wesleyan remained close in the first few innings, and Tufts closed the gap to two, 4–2, after the top of the fourth. However, the Marlins responded immediately in the bottom of the inning with five runs, powered by a double, a single and a home run. Virginia Wesleyan continued to light up the scoreboard, tacking on six runs in the bottom of the fifth and seven in the sixth inning.

Tufts senior outfielder Malcolm Nachmanoff responded in the top of the sixth with a solo home run to center field, which made the score 15–3. The Jumbos totaled four runs in the sixth and five runs in the eighth with hits from senior second baseman Boomer Saraga, junior first baseman John Moschella, junior shortstop Will Shackelford and senior third baseman and co-captain Tommy O’Hara, among others. Despite the negative result, Tufts’ first-years had a strong showing, with designated hitter Ryan Daues registering a multi-hit game and second baseman Will Burgess scoring three runs. Unfortunately, the runs were not enough to close the deficit.

The team also suffered a close loss to the Apprentice School on Saturday after conceding three runs in the bottom of the ninth to forfeit its two-run lead. The third inning ended with the Jumbos leading 5–1, but a three-run home run from Builders sophomore outfielder Maxwell Burcham in the bottom of the fourth inning left the teams knotted at five.

To lead off the sixth inning, O’Hara doubled to left field, scoring sophomore

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M RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior infielder and co-captain Nick Falkson connects with a pitch during Tufts’ game against Roger Williams at Huskins Field on April 11, 2017. second baseman Elias Varinos, who walked in the previous at-bat. Senior first baseman and co-captain Nick Falkson then singled to right, scoring O’Hara and opening a two-run lead for the Jumbos.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth that the Builders scored again, as junior third baseman Dalton Dye’s single to left field scored a run, making the score 7–6. Soon after, sophomore left fielder Brent Byrum hit a walk-off single to left, scoring two runs for an 8–7 victory.

Tufts’ losses followed two straight resounding victories over Lynchburg and Averett, 13–2 and 16–2, respectively.

Against Lynchburg, sophomore pitcher Brent Greeley claimed his second win of the trip, going seven innings and conceding just eight hits and two runs. The Jumbos exploded in the third inning, scoring nine runs with hits from O’Hara, Nachmanoff and junior catcher Eric Schnepf. Three Jumbos were hit by pitches in the third, and the Hornets were unable to recover from the huge deficit, ultimately falling 13–2. “[I was] focusing on location and accuracy as a pitcher, and I just tried to work on that the entire winter so when we moved outside, I was prepared and I just tried to work on my pitches and having command of my fastball,” Greeley said.

Against Averett, Tufts dominated with a 16–2 victory. Senior pitcher R.J. Hall (2–0) struck out seven in seven innings while conceding just seven hits, two runs.

On March 19, the team conceded its second loss of the trip against Guilford. The Jumbos trailed for the entire game, eventually falling 11–6. The loss followed Tufts’ two commanding victories over Marymount (Va.) and St. Vincent, 17–2 and 8–2, respectively. Greeley earned his first win of the season against St. Vincent, pitching eight innings and holding the opponents scoreless through six innings.

Tufts avenged its first loss of the season — to Marymount on March 17 by a 10–4 scoreline — with a 17–2 victory the following day. The Jumbos clinched a victory in their season debut, defeating the Castletown Spartans 8–4 with Hall pitching six innings and allowing only two runs. Senior pitcher Ian Kinney and senior pitcher Kevin Galasso closed the game, allowing a total of two runs on four hits.

Tufts will face Massachusetts Maritime (6–6) today and will play its first home games of the season against Trinity (4–7) on Friday and Saturday.

“It’s good that we have games under our belt now and have been able to get outside and play, but I think we are trying to focus on being the same all of the time and trying to get better every day and stay focused,” Greeley said.

arch Madness has truly lived up to its name this year. There have been upsets, overtime and last-second shots in abundance. There is one Cinderella team that has caught many a fan’s heart: Loyola University Chicago. The Ramblers are a No. 11 seed and are slated to play in the Final Four on Saturday, only the fourth No. 11 seed ever to do so. While many factors have contributed to their success, one of them is a woman named Sister Jean.

Sister Jean is the chaplain for the Loyola-Chicago basketball team and has found stardom in its tournament run. She is known for her appearance, as well as her quick and sharp wit. Oh, and she is 98 years old. She is shown on TV more often than not and has become an icon for this year’s March Madness. She has taken on a role that I love in sports: a cause.

A win is a win, but a win is worth so much more when it is “for” something.

The most common expression I know illustrating this is the story of George Gipp at Notre Dame. When Gipp lay on his deathbed at just 25, he told his coach to “win just one for the Gipper.”

The quote was used to motivate Notre Dame to an unlikely win over Army.

Maybe the team outplayed Army and would have won anyway, but maybe what they needed was extra motivation — a cause — to win.

A similar story comes from the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Louisville player Kevin Ware broke his leg in one of the grossest freak accidents in sports. I do not care to describe it, but if you have a strong stomach, feel free to look it up on YouTube (not recommended). When he broke his leg, even as he was being taken off of the court, he told his team to win. For the next week, he continued to tell his teammates to focus and capture the championship title for him.

They did and Ware got to cut down the net and receive a ring with the rest of the team (though Louisville’s win has since been vacated).

Causes go beyond players and coaches, such as with the Yankees post-9/11. After such a disaster, the Yankees came out with a cause and made it to the World Series despite falling behind in a playoff series to the Oakland Athletics, one of the greatest regular-season teams of all time. The Yankees fought back for the cause: showing America that in times of struggle, the country would stay strong. The city that had just been attacked came out swinging (pun intended), and that was a cause worth fighting for.

A team with a cause is dangerous to face because it has something for which to win. I do not know if LoyolaChicago is going to win on Saturday (although I sure hope they do). What I do know is that the team wants to win for Sister Jean as much as they want to win for themselves.

David Meyer is a sophomore majoring in film and media studies. David can be reached at david.meyer@tufts.edu.

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Sports

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

MEN'S TENNIS

Tufts extends unbeaten start to season before falling to No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

by Tim Chiang Staff Writer

The No. 17 Tufts men’s tennis team continued its strong start to the season over spring break, recording a 3–1 record during its week-long trip to the West Coast. Tufts triumphed over Connecticut College (7–2), Sewanee (5–4) and Whittier (7–2). After a three-match win streak to open the trip, the Jumbos fell 7–2 to the No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags on Saturday.

Sophomore Jason Scanlon stressed that the lopsided scoreline against Claremont failed to capture the competitiveness of the match.

“The score definitely didn’t reflect how the match transpired,” he said. “We showed a lot of toughness, fight and grit.

We knew that we had the firepower, talent and experience to beat a team like Claremont, but it just wasn’t our day.”

Junior captain Julian Gordy and sophomore Nikolai Parodi registered the opening point for host Claremont, beating Tufts’ senior duo of Rohan Gupte and Zain Ali, 8–5, in No. 1 doubles. However, Tufts fired back in second doubles, with sophomore Nathan Niemiec and first-year Carl-Herman Grant dispatching sophomore Oscar Burney and first-year Jack Katzmann, 8–5.

However, the Stags won the final doubles match and five of the six singles matches to seal the victory.

Nonetheless, Tufts went the distance in several matches, pushing the hosts to three sets. In No. 1 singles, Gupte lost a tight battle to Parodi, last year’s Div. III runner-up, 3–6, 6–4, 6–3. Grant also got off to a strong start in the fifth spot before ultimately falling to sophomore Daniel Park 4–6, 6–1, 6–0. In second singles, Ali lost to Katzman in two sets (6–4, 6–3), while first-year Boris Sorkin claimed the lone singles victory for the Jumbos in the third spot, edging Burney in a third-set tiebreaker: 4–6, 6–4, 10–8.

Despite the loss, Tufts senior co-captain Ben Battle was pleased with the result.

“It definitely gives us a lot of confidence, since they are the first topten team we’ve played this year,” Battle said. “Wesleyan and Amherst both lost 9–0 to [Claremont-MuddScripps]. Just getting two points and doing better than our tight rivals says we’re right there, if not a little above the teams we want to beat.”

One of the factors that played a role in the Jumbos’ promising performance against the Stags was their lighter-than-usual schedule over the break.

“Normally, we play five matches [over spring break], but we only played four matches this year,” Battle said. “We’ve had difficulty before with fatigue, but we came out firing on all cylinders and didn’t have a let-down in energy.”

Tufts coach Karl Gregor also felt the team could draw many positives from the match.

“It was a match that was within reach — we had the talent,” Gregor said. “A big part of it is mentally knowing that we do belong in that league, that we are right there with the top ten teams in the country [and] that we do belong in that

upper echelon.”

Gregor framed the loss as a lesson from which the Jumbos can learn and build, specifically highlighting doubles as a potential area for improvement.

“Our doubles teams can get more aggressive,” he said. “They should know our plan and commit to it more.

Sometimes they get tight in high-pressure situations. [Claremont-Mudd-Scripps] is a more seasoned team — they played four top-ten teams, while we’ve played one. We need to get more match-tough and try to be a little more relentless, never let up.”

Tufts took on Whittier on March 20, winning two of three doubles matches, as well as five of the six singles matches, for its fourth straight win to begin the season. Gupte blitzed through senior Agustin Lombardi in straight sets in No. 1 singles (6–0, 6–2), while first-year Armaan Kalra defeated Whittier sophomore Sam Whitehill 6–1, 6–2 in the sixth spot. In No. 5 singles, Niemiec lost just one game in dishing out a bagel and breadstick to firstyear Matt Yanuck with a 6–0, 6–1 victory.

While the Jumbos’ sole loss in singles proved harmless against the Poets, it will be very costly going forward. With the score 2–2 in the first set, Battle was forced to retire from second singles with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The fifth-year senior from Delray Beach, Fla. also tore his ACL during his junior season.

Two days prior, Tufts battled through a close contest against No. 23 Sewanee.

The Jumbos took an early 2–1 lead in the doubles matches, as Battle and Grant edged sophomores Andres Carro and Jordan Brewer, 9–7, in the No. 2 spot. Ali (6–3, 1–6, 6–2) and Sorkin (6–3, 6–2) secured victories in second and third singles, respectively, but Sewanee responded by winning in the first, fourth and fifth positions.

With the match knotted at 4–4, sophomore Ben Biswas clinched the victory for the Jumbos in a thrilling 6–4, 2–6, 6–1 victory over senior Davis Owen in No. 6 singles.

The March 17 match against Conn.

College was more decisive, as Tufts pulled away for a comfortable 7–2 win. The Jumbos swept all three of the doubles matches from their NESCAC rivals, including an 8–0 victory by Sorkin and sophomore Ethan Bershtein over junior Johnny Cissel and senior Patrick Farrell 8–0 in No. 3 doubles.

In singles, the Camels registered a pair of three-set victories in the second and third spots, as Biswas was bested

by William Cannon (2–6, 7–5, 10–6) and sophomore Zach Shaff fell to first-year Henry DeCoster (6–4, 5–7, 10–5). Tufts displayed its depth, however, taking the fourth, fifth and sixth singles matches to secure the win. Senior co-captain Danny Coran, playing at No. 1 singles, also registered a victory (6–0, 6–1).

Scanlon detailed how the team’s time together off the court during the trip brought it closer together.

“It was really important for our team morale and chemistry,” Scanlon said.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together this season, but it’s mostly been practices and dinners. Spending a week living in a beautiful, warm place like California really brought everyone together and

ANGELIE XIONG / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Senior Rohan Gupte lines up a shot during the MIT Invitational on Oct. 14, 2017. will really have a positive impact both on and off the court.”

Overall, Gregor was pleased with the team’s results and looks forward to the season ahead.

“There were really good performances from everyone,” he said. “We’re hungry to go up against the NESCAC.”

Tufts (4–1) will be back in action on April 7 with a doubleheader, as the team will host Vassar (5–7) in the morning before traveling to Babson (5–1) in the afternoon. The Jumbos return to Medford the following day to take on the No. 4 Middlebury Panthers (7–1).

Orientation 2018

Position Requirements