The Tufts Daily - Thursday, October 17, 2019

DAILY WEEK

Student composers perform at ‘How to Fall Slowly’ see WEEKENDER / PAGE 5

Tufts Daily alumni reflect on finding love on the newspaper

Football, men’s soccer anticipate busy Homecoming weekend see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

SEE FEATURES / PAGE 3

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXVIII, ISSUE 29

Thursday, October 17, 2019

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HOMECOMING ISSUE 2019

Maguire to step down as executive director of public safety, chief of TUPD

by Andres Borjas

Assistant News Editor

Kevin Maguire has announced that he is stepping down as executive director of public safety and chief of the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD), effective Dec. 1, 2019. Tufts has begun a national search in order to fill the role Maguire has served for the past eight years.

Maguire’s decision to step down is guided by a variety of reasons. According to an email to the Daily, Maguire is departing due to both the enormous sacrifices of the job as well as the ability to pursue other opportunities. He expressed appreciation for his time at Tufts and the people and experiences he has had at the university.

“The men and women of [Tufts’ department of public service] are dedicated and committed to providing for the public safety of the Tufts community,” Maguire said.

“I see their professionalism, sacrifice and service to our community on a daily basis and am proud to serve with them.”

Maguire described the pride he felt in the set of accomplishments during his tenure at Tufts.

“I’m proud to say that my team and I — with the full support of the university’s senior leaders — have been able to achieve an impressive array of landscape style accomplishments which resulted in a considerably enhanced safety and security profile for the university,” Maguire said.

Among them, Maguire emphasized the development of officer training for suicide prevention, providing enhanced protective equipment, creating the Tufts Threat Assessment Management office in all university campuses and modernizing the biker and pedestrian equipment on campus.

While Maguire said he felt the relationship between TUPD and the student population has been positive for the most part during his tenure, he acknowledged that at times differences of opinion have caused rifts.

“I personally have always enjoyed my interactions with students, even when we might not have seen eye to eye,” Maguire said.

“I saw those moments as learning opportunities — both for students and for me.”

In an email to Tufts staff, Barbara Stein, vice president for operations, praised Maguire’s time at Tufts.

“Please join me in thanking Kevin for his dedication and commitment to Tufts University and for leading the Tufts University Public Safety Department with honor and distinction since 2011,” the email said.

According to Stein’s email, Maguire “empowered and enabled” leaders in multiple departments. “[Maguire caused the departments] to strive for excellence in their areas of responsibility and to empower some of their staff to learn and grow into future public safety leaders and managers themselves,” she said.

ALEXANDER THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

Kevin Maguire, Tufts executive director of public safety and chief of the Tufts University Police Department, poses for a portrait outside Dowling Hall on Oct. 16.

For Cheonan Kougba, TUPD has been a mixed bag. While he has had little personal experience with Maguire’s department, the stories that he’s heard about TUPD had led him to develop a critical view of it.

“There have been multiple instances where students have insinuated that TUPD is not your friend,” Kougba, a sophomore, said. “[I’ve heard that] police were called more often for black events more so in particular and shut things down early.”

Kougba believes that there will always be tensions between students, particularly stu-

dents of color, and the police forces that are part of most campuses. He hopes that in the future TUPD will receive training that allows officers to be sensitive to the effects of their presence on campus.

Molly Tunis, a member of Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), has been disturbed by what she views as a militarization of TUPD under Maguire’s leadership.

“Tufts police are already far too militarized, and Maguire’s decision to attend a

see MAGUIRE, page 2

Weld outlines presidential platform at Tisch College event

by Madeleine Aitken Contributing Writer

Republican presidential candidate Bill Weld visited Tufts for a town hall event held in Paige Hall yesterday, where Weld addressed students, faculty and guests. The event was organized by the Jonathan M. Tisch College for Civic Life and co-hosted

by Tisch and Tufts Republicans.

Dean of Tisch College Alan Solomont moderated the event. Solomont began by asking Weld why he’s running for president.

“Well, this [running for the Republican nomination] is what might be called a command performance, given the state our country’s in now … I’d like to take what

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I’ve learned and apply it for the benefit of the country and Washington, D.C. … I also think the country is in a needy state right now, and I need to do everything I can to apply balm to that wound,” Weld said.

Weld did not hold back in stating his beliefs on Trump, the question of impeachment and the possibility of taking the Republican nomination.

“I do support the impeachment and removal of the president. I’ve spent a lot of time studying the impeachment clause; I worked on the Nixon impeachment; I testified as an expert witness at the Clinton impeachment; I actually wrote, literally wrote, the official federal statement of what our grounds for impeachment and removal For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

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of the president are when I worked on the Nixon impeachment,” Weld said.

One of Weld’s most prevalent talking points throughout the talk was his plan to implement a carbon tax.

“I think the most important issue is probably climate change, because it’s not just a national and international threat — it’s a planetary threat,” Weld said.

This event was part of Tisch College’s presidential town hall series, which, according to Jessica Byrnes, the special projects administrator at Tisch College, tries to bring students closer to candidates and increase political participation.

“We thought it would be really great if we could bring some of the 2020 candi-

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dates to campus, not as campaign events or partisan activities, but more for students to get involved in the election process and season and to learn more from the candidates themselves about what their platforms are, so that when they go to vote they feel informed and prepared to do so,” Byrnes said.

Jen McAndrew, director of communications, strategy and planning at Tisch College, who was also involved in the organization of the presidential town hall series and the Weld event, echoed Byrnes.

“We’re always on the lookout for new opportunities to bring relevant speakers

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 WEEKENDER..........................5

see WELD, page 2

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

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, October 17, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Jessica Blough Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL Ryan Eggers Justin Yu

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ed an Anti-Defamation League-funded counterterrorism seminar in Israel. These seminars have been criticized by activists for trying to sway the officers who attend to favor the Israeli government, as well as because some the trainings were conducted by Shin Bet, which has been accused of using torture tactics.

Tunis hopes the next police chief at Tufts will not only increase the transpar-

ency of TUPD but also alter the way the organization functions in relation to the community it protects. “[TUPD] should move toward a model of community-based safety that puts community members, including Tufts students, faculty and staff and especially those most marginalized, at the forefront of deciding what safety looks like on this campus and in our communities,” Tunis said.

Weld discusses likelihood of presidential nomination continued from page 1 to campus, and given the presidential campaign, the heightened interest around youth voting and youth voting … We thought we would try to get as many [presidential candidates] as we can — bipartisan basis — to come to campus, if they can, to interact with students in this sort of town hall format,” McAndrew said.

Both Byrnes and McAndrew emphasized that these events are not meant to be partisan or campaign events.

“These are really intended to be opportunities for students to ask questions of candidates who are running for president,” McAndrew said.

To honor this, much of the hour-long event was devoted to questions from students. The questions covered Weld’s strategy to win the nomination, as well as his views on the economy, foreign relations and immigration.

Tufts Republicans co-hosted the event with Tisch College and were also able to meet

with Weld before the event. The president of Tufts Republicans, Rachel Wolff, likes the new presidential town hall concept.

“I think it’s really exciting. I don’t think a lot of people have the opportunity to meet a presidential candidate at any point in their lifetimes. And it’s really amazing that we have the opportunity to meet so many of them, so we’re all very grateful to Tisch for doing this,” Wolff, a senior, said.

Weld has solid political experience, having spent seven years as a federal prosecutor under Ronald Reagan and two terms as governor of Massachusetts. He also worked in the private sector as a lawyer and private equity partner. Most recently, Weld ran for vice president on Gary Johnson’s 2016 Libertarian Party ticket.

“I’m running because I’d like to use my experience in government and in the private sector, and my demonstrated success in working on a bipartisan basis for the benefit of everybody in the country,” Weld said in an interview with the Daily before the event.

Weld thinks it’s realistic that he or another Republican candidate could win the nomination over Trump, especially with the question of impeachment emerging.

“I think the president’s in a tough spot here in terms of the evidence against him of high crimes and misdemeanors … I overlapped with [Trump] in New York for about 10 years, and he’s famous in New York for thinking the law doesn’t apply to him. And now he’s showing that’s his view in Washington as well. That’s not a good thing in a democracy that rests on rule of law,” Weld said in the interview.

Ultimately, Weld is running in response to the actions of the current administration and hopes to reverse the partisan culture that has come to characterize our country.

“I regret the divisiveness that’s grown up in the country and with the current administration and I regret our retreat from a robust diplomatic engagement with other countries. And I would set about changing both those things,” Weld said.

Haven replaces Health Promotion and Prevention to provide substance abuse assessments News Editor

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Jesse Rogers

MAGUIRE

continued from page 1 military training trip in Israel in December 2017 was particularly disturbing to me,” she said. “Tufts police should not be training with any military, let alone one known for its human rights violations.”

A 2018 Daily investigation revealed that Maguire, along with other Boston-area police chiefs and federal officers, attend-

by Liza Harris

PRODUCTION

Kristina Marchand Daniel Montoya Alice Yoon Isabella Montoya

Students criticize Maguire’s tenure as chief of TUPD

WELD

Executive Features Editor Features Editors

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The Haven at College, a program that works with college students to treat substance abuse disorders and mental health issues, opened a facility at Tufts two weeks ago. Through this program, students at Tufts can receive treatment while continuing their education, Director of Health Education Ian Wong told the Daily.

Prior to the opening of The Haven at College’s program at Tufts, students struggling with substance abuse disorders would have to either seek treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital, which could not guarantee openings, or would have to leave Tufts.

“The important thing about The Haven was that students would be told to leave Tufts previously. Now we can tell students to stay here and we can tell them we’ll make sure you get better,” Wong said.

There are multiple processes by which students can receive treatment from The Haven. Any students found guilty of alcohol violations get sent to The Haven for a screening, Wong said.

Larry Berger, the clinical director of The Haven Outpatient Center, said in a phone interview with the Daily that the screening involves questions about the student’s substance use history.

From the screening, The Haven generates a report with recommendations for how the administration should handle the student, but is not involved in the administration’s final decision on what disciplinary action to take, according to The Haven’s National Director for University Relations Sophie Pyne.

Chris Rossi, the dean of student life and engagement, said that before The Haven came to Tufts, Health Promotion

and Prevention would provide a similar screening.

“A student may be asked to complete a screening with The Haven in certain situations when they have violated university policy regarding alcohol or drugs,” Rossi said in an email to the Daily. “This step is taken so that they can get a professional assessment of their risk for substance abuse and any actions they can take to address any identified concerns.”

Berger said The Haven works with multiple departments, notably the Office of Residential Life and Learning and the Dean of Student Affairs Office, depending on where, when and what infractions occurred.

Students may have treatment options recommended to them as a result of the screening, but no treatment is mandatory, according to Executive Director of Health and Wellness Michelle Bowdler.

“Mandatory treatment for anything is not considered a best practice. If you make someone seek treatment, it’s less likely that it will be effective,” Bowdler said.

Both Rossi and Wong confirmed that treatment is not mandatory upon referral to The Haven.

“There is no requirement from Tufts that a student must complete a certain education or treatment program unless a professional clinician has recommended it after an individualized assessment,” Rossi said.

Students can also voluntarily seek out treatment from The Haven, according to Bowdler. The Haven includes a residential component as well as an inpatient treatment facility.

“Students in recovery can live with other students in recovery,” Wong said. “That’s important because a lot of times they need the support of each other.”

Bowdler clarified that the house is specifically for people in recovery.

“The house is specifically for people who are working on their sobriety. I think there is room for six or seven beds, and I think we currently have four or five of them occupied. We had interest right away,” Bowdler said.

Other college students in the Boston area are able to use the treatment options that The Haven offers, Bowdler said.

“Any college student in the area who wants somebody to talk to can go see them.

It is specific for college students but not just for Tufts students,” Bowdler said.

According to Pyne, The Haven is a private company that started at the University of Southern California with the goal of helping students recover and reintegrate into schools in the wake of substance abuse.

“In collaboration with the university that we partner with, such as Tufts, we provide on-campus and off-campus care and supports for students who are struggling with mental health and substance use disorders so they can really remain engaged in a successful and safe college experience,” she said.

Pyne said that The Haven spreads to universities through word of mouth.

According to Pyne, after a conference, Bowdler approached The Haven’s CEO Sharon Weber to see how Tufts could incorporate The Haven’s programs. Pyne told the Daily that there are no financial transactions between The Haven and Tufts.

Wong emphasized the administration’s desire to help students recovering from substance abuse.

“We’re really trying to create a robust program to support our students, and The Haven gives us an opportunity to do that.

We provide programs to help students get better,” Wong said.

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Features

Daily Week: Alumni find love, careers through the Daily

3

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Kenia French Antidotes to Climate Apathy

I

COURTESY ELIN DUGAN, BECCA LEIBOWITZ, OTA RICHTER AND REBECCA SANTIAGO / SEOHYUN SHIM / THE TUFTS DAILY

From top left to bottom right: Benjamin Phelps (LA‘11, AG‘13) and Rebecca Santiago (LA‘13), Madhu Unnikrishnan (LA‘94) and Elin Dugan (LA‘94), Jake Taber (LA‘17) and Becca Leibowitz (LA‘17), and Neil Swidey (LA‘91) and Denise Drower Swidey (LA‘90).

by Sean Ong

Executive Social Media Editor

Editor’s note: The Daily acknowledges that this article is premised on a conflict of interest.

This article is a special feature for Daily Week 2019 that does not represent the Daily’s standard journalistic practices.

The basement of Curtis Hall is where the magic happens. Huddled over computer screens and draft printouts, editors and contributors spend as many as 35 hours each week in our office to produce this paper. It is, in many ways, a life-changing experience — for some more literally than others.

This Daily Week, we spoke to four alumni couples who found love through the Daily, including one Daily-Observer couple. Their lives have been shaped by that fateful decision to join the Daily, as they found their significant others and went on to pursue careers in media, teaching and law. The long hours they spent covering campus events or working in Curtis Hall led to something truly special.

Elin Dugan and Madhu Unnikrishnan Elin Dugan (LA’94) and Madhu Unnikrishnan (LA’94) met as editors for the Daily’s arts section in 1991, their sophomore year. Dugan eventually became the Daily’s associate editor in spring 1993 and editor in chief in fall 1993.

Unnikrishnan recounted the very first time he met Dugan in 1991 in the Daily’s basement office in Curtis Hall.

“I turned around, and I thought, ‘Who is that pretty woman coming over this way?'” he said.

They quickly built a strong friendship over the next three years at Tufts. Unlike the other more theater- or gallery-minded arts writers, Dugan and Unnikrishnan bonded over their shared passion for reviewing music, movies and TV shows, even writing a weekly recap of the long-running 90s program “Beverly Hills, 90210” (1990–2000).

As student journalists, the couple noticed and valued each other’s flair for writing.

“She was a really good writer … just meticulous,” Unnikrishnan said of Dugan.

“When you are working together on something like [a newspaper], you … appreciate not having to edit someone’s writing,” Dugan said of Unnikrishnan’s work.

Their friendship blossomed outside of the Daily as well. Dugan fondly remembered going on trips to the beach in Gloucester, Mass. in Unnikrishnan’s 1974 Volkswagen

Beetle with some of their friends, among other activities.

Dugan and Unnikrishnan did not start dating until about five years after they both graduated from Tufts. In those intervening years, they remained steadfast friends, keeping in close contact even when they were not living in the same city or pursuing similar careers.

The couple married in 2006. Dugan is currently senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Unnikrishnan is editor of Skift Airline Weekly, an airline industry trade publication. They reside in the San Francisco area and continue to share a love for all things pop culture.

Benjamin Phelps and Rebecca Santiago Benjamin Phelps (LA’11, AG’13) and Rebecca Santiago (LA’13) met on the Daily in 2010, also as editors for the Daily’s arts section.

Phelps went on to serve as executive arts editor in spring 2011, while Santiago succeeded him as executive arts editor in fall 2011 and became editor in chief in fall 2012.

The day was Sept. 6, 2010, the first arts section meeting of the semester, hosted by then-Executive Arts Editor Emma Bushnell (LA’11). Phelps was a returning arts editor, and Santiago had just joined the editor ranks to cover the theater beat. Before that meeting, there had been an email thread for editors to share their ideas for the arts section.

“Ben had all these brilliant ideas for expanding television [coverage] and how to modernize,” Santiago said. “But I didn’t have any ideas for theater coverage, so my first impression of him was as somebody who was very fastidious and meticulous, and I just rolled in not knowing what I was doing.”

Phelps, too, formed a memorable first impression of Santiago from this meeting.

“I think she had just come to the meeting after a day of cliff jumping with her friends. I remember thinking she seemed fun, adventurous and cute,” he said. “[She] seemed like someone to keep an eye on at least, at the time, to be friends with. Luckily, I was right about all those things.”

The two became friends over that year and started their relationship in earnest toward the end of the spring, according to Santiago. At the Daily, they shared a lot of the same editing shifts and spent a lot of time together in the Daily office working on the Weekender, the Daily’s weekly arts longform feature. Both Phelps and Santiago had the same ‘arts’ energy that made them a good match.

“I like what [the arts] department was because … we were this funny, hipster-y, irreverent department. It was just like a goofy section and a good group of people,” Santiago said.”We both watched this TV show called ‘Fringe’ … and Ben would try to use that to flirt with me even though I didn’t keep up on it in the same way he did.”

“We weren’t there for hard-hitting journalism as much as thinking and engaging with pop culture in a slightly smarter way,” Phelps added.

Although Phelps graduated that spring, he stayed at Tufts to get his master’s degree in educational studies, which kept the relationship going strong.

Post-Tufts, both Phelps and Santiago have pursued fulfilling careers in media. Phelps works at WNET, the Public Broadcasting Service station in New York.

“Because of my strong interest inTV — which was very apparent on the Daily — Rebecca actually was the person who pushed me to intern at WGBH in Boston, and ever since then I have worked in public television,” Phelps said.

“That was a major life path decision that was influenced by the Daily and by Rebecca.”

Santiago currently works as a features editor at the New York Post.

“I kind of have the same job. I have frantic days where I’m hunting down photos and working with writers and running around trying to talk about what’s happening in New York City, what are the topics people are talking about,” Santiago said. “It has the same good newsroom energy and conviviality that I really liked in the Daily … I love it. I highly recommend it.”

Meanwhile, the couple still keeps their passion for arts and pop culture alive with other Daily arts alumni.

“We have a film club … where we get together once a month … to watch one highbrow movie and one lowbrow movie around a theme,” Santiago said. “This is basically what we would do in college.”

The couple married just last month on Sept. 7, nearly nine years to the day they first met. Santiago created a spoof front page of the Daily to commemorate the occasion, bringing back many memories for both of them.

Becca Leibowitz and Jake Taber Becca Leibowitz (LA’17) and Jake Taber (LA’17) met on the Daily as fellow sophomore members of the features section in spring see DAILY WEEK, page 4

Nature’s pretty insane

’ve spent pretty much all of my life living in urban areas where the natural ecosystem has been effectively destroyed, so sometimes I forget that nature is a vast entity that we still don’t really know all that much about.

Dodging cars within the 150 acres that is the Tufts campus makes it very easy for me to forget that the whole world isn’t all pavement and buildings.

In fact, people are still discovering new species of orchids, frogs, butterflies — you name it. Here are some examples of really insane species interactions that make me happy that wild places still exist. #1: Orchids that are butts? Stellilabium josti Dodson is a very tiny orchid discovered in 2003 in Mera, Ecuador, that has a very creative pollination strategy.

It mimics a female fly’s rear end in order to get male flies to try to mate with it; when they attempt to do so, they get covered in pollen that they then spread to other orchids. #2: Orchids that are bucket traps?

Euglossine bees are a tribe of bees that have evolved specifically to pollinate orchids. Orchids secrete smelly compounds that attract the bees, and the bees flock to the orchids to try to collect them. Coryanthes is a genus of orchids known as bucket orchids — as the name suggests, they are shaped like buckets. Their smelly compounds are on the inside lip of the flower, and when bees attempt to collect them, they end up falling into the flower’s liquid-filled bucket. The liquid makes it impossible for them to fly, so the only way they can exit is through a pollen-filled tube, which coats the bee entirely in pollen and gives it the opportunity to dry off.

The bee then repeats the process for other bucket orchids, pollinating the flowers. #3: Ants that kill trees? Myrmelachista schumanni is an ant species in the Amazon that has a dedicated symbiotic relationship with the tree species Duroia hirsuta. In exchange for a safe home inside the tree’s bark, the ants kill all surrounding trees by injecting them with formic acid, eliminating all competition for the Duroia trees. Locals refer to the resulting clearing as a “devil’s garden.” #4: Trees that bleed? Sangre de Drago (Dragon’s Blood), or Croton lechleri, is a South American tree found mostly in Ecuador and Peru. When you cut into it, it exudes a deep red latex, which makes the tree look as though it’s bleeding. Ironically, the latex can actually help wounds scar faster, amongst many other health benefits.

The connections between all of the living things on this world are endlessly complex and intricate, products of millions and billions of years of processes and just plain randomness. I don’t know what it all means, but trying to wrap my head around it all always helps me puts into perspective just how bizarre our very existence on this planet really is.

Kenia French is a senior studying international relations and environmental studies. Kenia can be reached at kenia.french@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Thursday, October 17, 2019

tuftsdaily.com

Daily Week: 4 couples who found love in Curtis Hall DAILY WEEK

continued from page 3 2015. Taber was leading the section as executive features editor, while Leibowitz was a features editor. Taber also served as managing editor in fall 2016.

They shared their first impressions of each other from that spring.

“She was probably the best writer on features, definitely the most timely,” Taber said.

“She was really cute.”

“I thought Jake was funny, and I really enjoyed attending his features meetings. They were casual, and it was just a fun time to hang out,” Leibowitz said.

Their friendship grew during that semester, but they did not start dating until the summer when they reconnected at an off-campus party, according to Taber.

Junior year brought about logistical challenges, as Taber was in China in the fall and Leibowitz went to Copenhagen in the spring, but they were able to make it work and spend time with each other during the year.

“When I was [in Copenhagen], we got a chance to have a nice trip. We went around Europe — it was a nice, romantic trip,” Taber said.

While they did not overlap much in terms of social circles or activities outside of the Daily, they had plenty of shared interests and compatible traits just from their time on the Daily that has kept the relationship going. “[The Daily], especially in features, pushes people to think about the community that we’re in and the way that Tufts and Tufts students are a part of that community,” Leibowitz said. “I always found it interesting to hear Jake’s ideas and thoughts at those [section] meetings.”

“It’s such an operation that [the Daily] is instantly something that you bond with another person over,” Taber added.

It has been a season of transitions for the Boston-area couple: They recently started new jobs and also moved in together for the first

time. Taber writes for Public Interest GRFX, the communications arm of the Public Interest Network. Leibowitz works as an early child educator for the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative and hopes to go to graduate school soon.

“What comes next depends on whatever city [Becca] ends up going to grad school in,” Taber said.

Through it all, the Daily has remained close to their hearts.

“I’m grateful to the Daily for a lot of reasons, including for letting me meet Becca,” Taber said.

Denise Drower Swidey and Neil Swidey Unlike the other alumni featured, Denise Drower Swidey (LA’90) and Neil Swidey (LA’91) did not meet on the Daily. Drower Swidey was photo editor at the Daily in 1988–89, but Swidey was the Tufts Observer’s managing editor in fall 1988 and editor in chief in spring 1989. They did, however, meet because of the Daily.

The day was Oct. 11, 1988. The presidential election was looming, and Tufts had invited Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis for a town hall in Cohen Auditorium.

Drower Swidey was assigned to cover this event for the Daily. Swidey was there as a reporter from the Observer.

“Just to show how exciting this event was, I took a picture of [ABC News reporter] Sam Donaldson, who was a national broadcast star in his own right. And I just showed how this was so awesome, that here he was in Cohen Auditorium,” Drower Swidey said.

Little did she know that she happened to get Swidey in the background of the photo, furiously taking notes behind Donaldson.

“I didn’t know Neil at the time, but I was with the photo editor on [the Observer], and he said, ‘Oh my God, you’ve got a picture of Sam Donaldson and it’s got Neil in it. Can you print a copy of it and give it to me?'” Drower Swidey said.

At the event, Swidey had his own encounter with Donaldson, who was sitting in front of him. “[Donaldson] just kept turning around and asking these bizarre questions like, ‘What is Tufts known for?'” Swidey said. “It was kind of funny when I came back to the office and was telling people how loud Sam Donaldson was, and … the photo editor for the Observer showed me the photo with me in it.”

Meanwhile, Drower Swidey and Swidey continued seeing each other at different campus events covering for their respective publications.

“I thought she was cute,” Swidey said.

“Likewise, I thought the same,” Drower Swidey added.

The two acquaintances finally met while studying for midterms late one night in Wessell Library, the predecessor to Tisch Library, in fall 1989.

“Everyone around me in this whole room looked like they were beaten down by … midterms, and as I was leaving, I walked by this table with Denise looking sunny and bright at 2 a.m. in the morning.

She offered me fresh strawberries and said ‘I just went to the farmer’s market in Haymarket today.’ I was mystified that someone could be so cheery that late,” Swidey said. “I just mumbled something about how [former U.S. President] Zachary Taylor died by eating berries one day, and she looked perplexed.”

“I was confused because he knew a lot about presidential trivia, and I was just offering some strawberries,” Drower Swidey said. “I told Neil that I didn’t think anybody could ever use Zachary Taylor’s death as a pickup line … A couple days later was Homecoming and we ended up in the stands near each other and started chatting.”

The two started dating shortly afterwards, a whole year after their chance encounter at the Dukakis event.

With both of them coming from rival publications, Drower Swidey joked that they were like a modern day “Romeo and Juliet.”

But the competition between the Daily and the Observer was always collegial, Swidey remarked.

“If you work in campus media, it’s a fairly small community. You sometimes bumped into each other,” Swidey said. “We started having regular baseball, softball games, basketball games between the Daily and the Observer.”

The intensity of their work with campus publications certainly created a closer bond and shared passion for the community.

“There is no way to get to know a college campus as well as you do by covering it. Both of us were intensely involved in our publications,” Swidey said. “You meet people you wouldn’t otherwise meet, and look for stories you wouldn’t otherwise see. We both like to meet people and we both like to get a sense of … where we are and to understand the place around us.”

Unlike in “Romeo and Juliet,” the couple married in August 1995 at Goddard Chapel. Swidey is currently staff writer at the Boston Globe Magazine, continuing to pursue his passion for long-form journalism first honed while on the Observer.

Drower Swidey, who went to the Culinary Institute of America after graduating from Tufts, works in food media and produces several food shows on PBS. And what happened to that photo of Swidey and Donaldson?

“It was Christmas 1989. Denise came down to my parents’ house to visit and saw the picture there,” Swidey said.

“I saw that … my very photograph has been framed and was sitting on top of their mantle. So his parents enjoyed it,” Drower Swidey said. “Back in those days, we had no digital photography, so it’s not like I could just send it to Neil … Maybe if it was the modern era, we wouldn’t have met.”

The Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences presents st

21 Century Water Security Challenges: The View From Space Dr. Jay Famiglietti (’A82) has studied GRACE satellite data that reveal the redistribution of surface and groundwater over the past couple of decades - producing areas of water “haves” and “have-nots” around the Earth.

James S. Famiglietti, Canada 150 Research Chair in Hydrology and Remote Sensing Executive Director of the Global Institute for Water Security University of Saskatchewan

“The world’s wet regions are getting wetter and its dry areas are getting drier much more quickly than previously thought, changes that threaten the availability of fresh water and create new risks to people’s health, the food supply, and the environment”

Friday, October 18 3:30 PM Lane Hall, Room 100 Dr. Famiglietti is a 2019 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Tufts University Alumni Association

tuftsdaily.com

WEEKENDER

‘How to Fall Slowly’ showcases student compositions

Assistant Arts Editor

The Department of Music hosted “Tufts Composers: How to Fall Slowly,” on Wednesday, an installment of this season’s Tufts Composers concert series. The show featured a lineup of new, original works by Tufts students, faculty and alumni. The annual series was conceived to highlight works by students of two advanced composition courses: Contemporary Composition (MUS0118) and Composition Practicum (MUS0119). The two courses, both taught by Professor John McDonald, convene graduate and undergraduate students with performance experience and musical fluency.

Contemporary Composition is a seminar course which blends composition projects with lectures, musical analysis, visits from guest musicians and more. Composition Practicum takes a more collaborative approach, asking students to share their compositions with classmates and provide feedback on one another’s works.

Participating in either one of these courses impacts the composition process in a myriad of ways. For Mark Bolan “Bo” Konigsmark, a second-year graduate student whose works were featured in Wednesday’s concert, the course’s collaborative environment introduces new possibilities.

“You always learn something new to add to your … skill set. It might be like a new color that you hear or like a timbral contrast of instruments that you didn’t know about before,” he said. “You pick up all these little things, and you get to put them into your piece.”

Konigsmark developed an interest in composition as a band director creating arrangements for his middle school students. He previously attended Berklee College of Music before coming to Tufts to pursue a master’s degree in composition. To him, the liberated creative environment at Tufts sets it apart from other programs.

“It’s a judgement free zone. You can bring forth your music, and however you do it … if it’s real and you are showing that you have a genuine, you know, pursuit and purpose in

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Colette Smith and Madison Lehan Love It or Haute It

C

SEOHYUN SHIM / THE TUFTS DAILY

John McDonald, professor of music and director of graduate studies at Tufts, performs during ‘Tufts Composers: How to Fall Slowly,’ hosted by the Department of Music in the Distler Performance Hall on Oct. 16.

by Sam Heyman

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what you’re getting after, then nobody cares if it’s tonal or not tonal. It’s just art, it’s just your piece,” Konigsmark said. “And that’s really neat, because I think in a lot of other places it’s like, ‘This is the system, and you will write this way, and if you do not, we will cringe.’

You don’t get that at Tufts.”

For students like Konigsmark, these courses provide an opportunity to sharpen existing skills and cultivate areas of expertise.

For others, like junior Sam Graber-Hahn, they act as an introduction to the world of composition. Although he began playing the violin and the viola at the age of six, he had never composed music before enrolling in Contemporary Composition in his sophomore year. “I thought I would be pretty bad at composing,” he admitted, “but [Professor McDonald] is just a very encouraging guy and helped me a lot, so I’ve taken [one of the composition courses] every semester since.”

During individual meetings, he added, McDonald’s capable mentorship helped him to expand his musical horizons.

“He’s very good at noticing how you’re restricting yourself and broadening that. So I might bring him a piece and it’s, you know, in a pretty confined range and it doesn’t go many places. And then he plays it, and he says, ‘Well, what if you did this?’ And he’ll do something totally different,” Graber-Hahn said. “He’s a phenomenal pianist, so he can sort of play whatever he can think of. So he’ll give you lots of ideas for how to vary things and make stuff more expressive.”

In a program designed to cultivate the skills of composers-in-training, one might expect students to play it safe — to seek refuge in well-worn styles and structures prior to developing a voice of their own. In practice, however, it would seem that the opposite is true. Like Konigsmark, GraberHahn described a wide variation within the compositions written and shared by other students of the program, and mentioned that it can facilitate learning. “People are working on very different things, and so it’s sort of helpful to see the whole range,” he noted.

The Tufts Composers concerts provide opportunities each semester for students to showcase their projects to the public.

Concerts are performed by a mix of students and professionals, including faculty members like McDonald and Thomas Stumpf, both respected pianists and composers in their own rights. “It’s cool,” Graber-Hahn said. “You’ve got world-class performers playing student music … [and] all your friends are [at the concert] listening to their music, and you get to talk to each other about what you’ve written.”

Even in the performance phase, the program allows students to take ownership of every aspect of their composition. For example, the two works Konigsmark brought to Wednesday’s concert were composed with a very specific nine-piece ensemble in mind: two soprano vocalists, B-flat clarinet, B-flat trumpet, piano, harp, violin, viola, cello and percussion. This unorthodox instrumentation is the combination used by the Into the Light Ensemble, a cast of friends-turned-collaborators who Konigsmark met as a student at Berklee. When this same group of musicians performed in Distler Auditorium Wednesday night, Konigsmark helped them bring his work to life, playing alongside them in one of his pieces and conducting them for the other.

Graber-Hahn also contributed two pieces to Wednesday’s concert program, one of which was written with himself in mind.

Despite identifying himself as a “terrible pianist,” he composes mostly for solo piano because it allows him to explore variations in harmonic language without the burdens of complex instrumentation. In this piece, however, there’s a different reason behind the choice. “I wrote it so that I could have something to play,” he said, “and so it’s very easy, repetitive, something that a beginning pianist can play.”

Such musical self-possession is a far cry from the disillusionment he felt after high school, having lost interest in both the violin and classical music itself. Today, GraberHahn credits the composition program — and its cornerstone concert series in particular — with reviving these interests. “I think if it weren’t for the [Tufts] Composers concerts, I would be doing no classical music and very little violin,” he said.

Capes

apes have been called one of the new trends for this fall.

They have graced runways for Céline, Burberry and Oscar de la Renta and are expected to make the jump from fashion shows to street wear in a huge way this year. The cape supposedly serves the purpose of keeping you warm while also having the edge on your average jacket with its stylish twist.

But is this dramatic item of clothing too much for your daily fall wear? This is the question that we aim to answer today.

Coco: The presence of capes on the runway and their possible resurgence in daily wear shows how fashion does not have to sacrifice form for functionality. Too often, fashion on the runways feels unattainable for people to wear in their everyday lives. While this is sometimes fun since it creates exciting and extravagant shows, I can only see so many leather purses with gaping holes in them before I start wanting something that is actually practical (see the “Meteor” purses in Off-White’s Virgil Abloh’s Spring 2020 at Paris Fashion Week). The cape provides this balance.

It combines the advantages of a traditional jacket but makes you feel fabulous as you glide through the Academic Quad. It is essentially like wearing a blanket to class — except that it is also stylish. It is versatile since you can layer it with a sweater and jeans for a casual fall look or throw it on with a dress and boots for a more formal occasion. The cape seems like an overall win for me and is already on my Christmas list this year.

Beans: The moment I see Tufts students in my econ class wearing capes is the exact moment I transfer. Capes are are for a selective few people: Count Dracula, Snape and that one guy in “The Incredibles” (2004) who gets sucked into an airplane engine. In the words of Edna Mode, “No capes!” I’m not above wearing a cape for Halloween, but it has no place as a common outfit accessory.

Unless you have the ability to whip your cape around and make a dramatic exit with the gusto of the late and great Alan Rickman, please do not attempt to make capes happen. This is a common case of forcing a trend. Capes are impractical: they drag behind you, picking up dirt and mud; they tie around your neck, making you vulnerable to a from-thebehind attack; and most dangerously, if there is a big fan behind you and any part of your cape gets wrapped up in it, you’re a goner. If you are willing to take the risk of 1) my transfering, 2) being sucked into a fan and 3) ruining Alan Rickman’s legacy, then by all means, take that leap of faith. But mark my words, you will never see me galavanting around the Academic Quad, flaunting a cape and letting it gently blow in the breeze behind me. As peaceful as that image may seem, there are far too many risks involved for which I am not willing to take.

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.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Thursday, October 17, 2019

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Featuring Speaker

DAVID SHEFF Author of number-one New York Times Bestseller Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction, adapted for international feature film Beautiful Boy featuring Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet

WED, OCTOBER 23 LECTURE AT 8:00PM | COHEN AUDITORIUM

Tickets available Wednesday, October 16 at 10:00am at the Campus Center or Online at https://tuftstickets.universitytickets.com

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Thursday, October 17, 2019

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FILM REVIEW

The wet weirdness of ‘The Lighthouse’

by Christopher Panella

Executive Social Media Editor

Madness isn’t exactly something to crash right into — there’s no cannonballing into a pool of insanity. Rather, it’s more likely that losing one’s mind is a slow wade through icy water, waves roaring and foaming. But there has to be a source to madness — not a moment that causes a mental break, but rather an origin where it all began. In one of its first and most haunting scenes, “The Lighthouse” (2019) drags the viewer into the sea with Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) — who has just started his four week shift as a lighthouse keeper along with the older Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) — as he sees something in the waves and goes in after it. What he sees is the memory of his underlying guilt, fear and self-destruction. And that memory is where his slow wade into madness begins.

“The Lighthouse” is no doubt a film to marvel at. Its 1.19:1 aspect ratio forces the viewer to focus on what’s being shown — there’s no space for any eyes to wander or hide from what’s happening.

Black-and-white and shot on 35mm, it feels richly textured. “The Lighthouse” is a film that feels old, or at least mythological when compared to the green-screen superhero movie explosions of today.

Director Robert Eggers is a filmmaker to reckon with. It stars two incredibly talented actors, and Pattinson’s performance no doubt adds to the confirma-

tion that he is the best actor of his generation. But “The Lighthouse” isn’t just a cinephile’s wet dream. It’s a nightmare.

On a New England island in the 1890s, Winslow and Wake complete their lighthouse keeper duties — which for Winslow feels like an endless to-do list.

At dinner, the two eat what quite literally looks like sludge — could be beans, definitely not tasty — and then Wake begins his duties, which include a rendezvous with the lighthouse. He refuses to let Winslow inside the lantern room, locking it when he isn’t there. It becomes clear throughout the film that Winslow has a past he isn’t sharing, and while he certainly might think that this small and salty island is the perfect place to escape, it’s actually hell on Earth.

Winslow and Wake spend their nights getting drunk, and Winslow spends his free time getting off — he finds a mermaid statue inside his bed early in “The Lighthouse,” and it spurs something in him. After finding this statue, a mermaid begins seemingly to haunt Winslow, but it’s a sexy haunting, if there’s such a thing. For Wake, the lantern room is something similar, although it’s unclear what’s actually there for Wake to enjoy.

But the film presents many images that feel innately perverse. There are seagulls everywhere, but they simply will not mind their own business. Wake warns Winslow to leave the seagulls alone because they contain the “souls of sailors what met their maker.” That’s certainly an eerie and superstitious thing to tell someone.

VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for ‘The Lighthouse’ (2019) is pictured.

That eeriness is under every rock in “The Lighthouse.” There’s a mythology in this film that oozes creative inspirations, from literature and film to urban legend and the sublime and Gothic. During a rather violent storm, the waves are taller than mountains and the water crashes through the living quarters the Winslow and Wake share. At one point, Wake is an image of a barnacled monster. Oh, and there’s plenty of tentacles, with slime dripping off rows of suckers. And yet, these might just all seem like moments meant to terrify viewers. But

they’re sensible and deliberate inclusions in a film where the plot is not the most important thing. Winslow is the core, and as the mythology of the island and the lighthouse begin to worm inside his mind, he breaks. He wades deeper and deeper into the insanity.

For Winslow, the past is dreadful and his current descent into madness is torturous and taunting. But there has to be some reason behind the lighthouse and why Wake keeps it all to himself. While Winslow seems to disrespect the island, Wake is a part of it. There’s a jealousy between the two, a jealousy which rears its ugly head after long workdays, once the two have sat down to drink and talk. It festers inside Winslow’s mind, and while he certainly wants to get off the island once his four weeks end — then again, this island seems to exist outside of time and space — there’s a part of him that must know what’s inside that lantern room.

It’s a strong curiosity to open Pandora’s box.

Until its very last breath, “The Lighthouse” takes the viewer by the hand into the salty sea. It’s a guilty pleasure to watch Winslow go insane and Wake already be there. And in its final moments, which are prophetically destructive, the film drops the viewer off the deep end. While it might be difficult to sympathize with Winslow throughout his time as a lighthouse keeper, it’s impossible to be disinterested in his journey to make sense of the mythos around him. Between the brine and barnacles, there’s something grim inside “The Lighthouse,” and good God, who doesn’t want to know what it is?

Thursday, October 17, 2019 | FUN&GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

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F &G FUN & GAMES

9

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Jess: “I’m probably the only one here who’s bred livestock before.”

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Libra (Sept. 23–Oct. 22)

Everything seems possible. Travel light for a long-distance trek. Venture farther out.

Monitor local news and conditions as well as what’s happening at your destination.

__________________________________

Wednesday’s Solutions

ALL ARE WELCOME Submit a Tufts-related piece of 600 words to:

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CROSSWORD

10 Thursday, October 17, 2019

Opinion

Noah Mills and Caitlin Colino Spaceship Earth

tuftsdaily.com

EDITORIAL

Tufts must divest to balance environmental, fiduciary responsibility An accident at the intersection

W

hen it comes to protecting our planet and solving the climate crisis we are in, we can’t forget all of those who have come before our generation. We can’t forget those who have put their lives on the line long before Greta Thunberg started sitting outside the Swedish Parliament. The climate movement as it exists today stands on the shoulders of those fighting for their communities. Despite the media’s focus on a few individuals, the climate movement is broad and full of people who do not fit into the mainstream narrative.

Looking back on the struggle against climate injustice leads us to Robert Bullard, who is often coined as the father of environmental justice. His wife, an attorney, was working on a lawsuit which claimed that a major factor in deciding where to put a landfill in their community was race. To contribute to the case, Dr. Bullard conducted a study of where trash management facilities in Houston, Texas were located in relation to race. His results were telling. Disproportionately, communities of color were chosen to take these damaging facilities. This work calls upon us to recognize the broad intersectionality of climate injustice. It also reminds us that climate injustice is not just an international problem, but also a local one. Corporations in our communities are producing large amounts of waste, which eventually ends up in landfills or the ocean. Luckily, this means it is easier to work with these businesses and challenge them to change their bad habits.

Another person of interest is Autumn Peltier, who has been fighting for water conservation in Canada for several years now. She is a Wikwemikong First Nation member who has witnessed the effects of pollution on her surrounding communities and decided to take action. Once again, it is clear that minority communities are forced to live with the consequences of corporate pollution. This mirrors the colonial relationships that have existed centuries and continue to exist. It is in the interest of colonial powers to extract as much value — be it raw materials, human labor or knowledge — without concern for the people they are exploiting. Corporations have stepped in to maintain the great injustice perpetrated by colonialists.

In order to create a world that is just and fair, as well as one that will still be able to sustain human life, this abusive relationship must end. Production must be decided by the communities things are produced in. No longer can international companies rob communities and leave them with only polluted waste. Those who work and live in a community must stand up to those who exploit them by unionizing and demanding change. Climate change can be stopped, but as the saying goes, ‘it takes a village.’ As students we must listen to and fight alongside marginalized communities who are often the first to be exploited, and recognize that despite our education, no knowledge is more valuable than lived experience.

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.

In an age of Greta Thunberg protests and Jane Fonda’s arrest, the effects of climate change have become widely known and are the topics of everyday conversation and classroom discussion. The global push to reduce carbon emissions and plastic waste is stronger than ever, encouraging individuals, universities and even nations to contemplate how their money impacts our futures. Naturally, this shift has led Tufts student groups, most notably Tufts Climate Action (TCA), to follow the suit of several other academic institutions to protest for the divestment of university assets in fossil fuels. If Tufts were to divest, the university would completely liquidate stocks, bonds and other income-generating investments in the fossil fuel sector in an attempt to rid itself of the connection to these environmentally destructive megacorporations.

Divestment would end the ‘social license to operate,’ which these corrupt firms use to maintain a facade of ethics and continue generating profits. Given the capitalist structure of American business, the only way to truly push for an end to immoral business practices is to divest — exactly what student activists on campus are pushing for.

Tufts students have demonstrated a continuous commitment to this cause. In 2013, Tufts Divest for Our Future, a student-run organization, presented a divestment proposal to the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees. University President Anthony Monaco subsequently established the Tufts Divestment Working Group, which investigated the possibility and feasibility of divestment. The university supported three recommendations from this group, which included refraining from divestment because of “significant anticipated negative impact on Tufts’ endowment” with an estimated loss of at least $75 million in market value over five years, according to a statement by Monaco. A Sustainability Fund

was also created as part of the university endowment, used to support sustainability programs and research. The university lastly exerted their wish to pursue “other courses of action to address climate change.”

Tufts alumni have also pressured the administration on divestment. A 17-person cosigned op-ed appeared in the Daily in 2013, urging students to support a referendum for the university to stop investing in oil, coal and gas companies. In 2015, 322 alumni signed a pledge to completely withhold donations to the Tufts Endowment Fund until the university commits to divest from the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies.

Currently, divestment initiatives continue, still met with tension from the university. The current TCA pledge requesting immediate divestment currently has 160 alumni and parent replies and over 400 student signatures, and Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate recently passed a pro-divestment resolution. Every week TCA efforts continue, as they plan an ‘action’ — calling for divestment — each Friday in front of Ballou Hall, inscribing statements on the pavement such as: “How can Tufts say that they are invested in our futures when they are investing against it?” The group wishes to meet with a member of the administration to discuss divestment, and according to Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of public relations, the office of Tufts’ executive vice president intends to meet with the organization.

However, the university’s administration today still fails to properly respond to these calls for action and must shift its priorities to achieve complete divestment. In response to the TCU Senate resolution, Executive Vice President Michael Howard stated that the university would continue to invest in fossil fuels, clearly illustrating a disconnect between students and administration. Additionally, the Committee of the Board of Trustees recog-

nized interest in this problem and is open to creating a process in which to discuss these topics, but they have failed to take any immediate steps with both their words and actions. While a bountiful endowment allows for greater financial aid, more research funding and distinguished speaker forums, these responses indicate Tufts will only ever forgo its immoral investments once they are deemed unprofitable.

Thus, unlike many other colleges, Tufts’ priorities remain rooted in financial gains rather than safety, health and science. While it seems fair that Tufts is concerned about losing investment returns, Unity College, the first U.S. college to divest, reported that its fossil fuel-free portfolio has “met or exceeded” market benchmarks. Most recently, the University of California system celebrated a $13.4 billion endowment and $70 billion pension fund divestment from fossil fuels, a landmark event following seven years of protest from their student bodies. This underscores Tufts’ ability to maintain its fiduciary responsibility while practicing what it preaches in its investments. These two goals are not conflicting — they can coexist if the proper planning and steps are taken to integrate the values of sustainability.

Ultimately, the divestment movement is vital for the future of our university and the future of the earth and humanity; the risks of continuing to burn fossil fuels, pollute our earth and further contribute to climate change far exceed the risk of temporary financial loss. We urge all members of the Tufts community — including alumni, parents, faculty, staff and students alike — to support divestment by signing the TCA petition for divestment, participating in Friday ‘actions’ and spreading awareness about the economic power we wield to address the climate crisis; it is only through collective effort that we can force this crucial change.

CARTOON

BY NASRIN LIN

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.

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Sports

Thursday, October 17, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Jumbos prepare to get back on track after losses

EVAN SLACK / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior forward Joe Braun fights for the ball during Tufts’ 4–0 win over Colby on Sept. 21.

MEN’S SOCCER

continued from back page something that Shapiro is particularly concerned about.

“I’m not talking about it, I don’t really care,” Shapiro said. “My goal was never to be undefeated, my goal was to be in contention to win NESCAC championships and compete to make deep runs in the NCAA tournament and that’s still all in play.”

Braun echoed Shapiro’s lack of concern about the lower national ranking.

“Obviously you’d like to be on the top as long as possible, but I’m more concerned about where we finish and not where we are now,” Braun said.

The Jumbos will certainly look forward to returning to Bello Field, where they are 5–0 this season. The has almost a full week to prepare for its Homecoming game against Conn. College and hopes that this game will allow the team to snap out of its current slump, as Braun describes.

“We feel good about this weekend, but we know that it’s going to be a battle and that us and Conn. are two of the best teams in the NESCAC right now and we’re relishing the opportunity.”

The Camels come into this matchup as the No. 11 team in the nation, with an overall record of 7–2–2 and 4–1–2 in

NESCAC play. Conn. College’s notable results include a colossal 8–2 victory over Trinity, losses to Middlebury and Babson and ties with Williams and Amherst. The Camels are led by Augie Djerdjaj (five goals and four assists) and Matt Butera (two goals and six assists). According to Shapiro, this matchup against Conn.

College will be challenging and also different from most games that Tufts has played this year.

“What I’m looking forward to is that they’re going to come and play. We haven’t had a lot of teams come and try to open up and play us straight up. They’re a playing team, they’re a really good soccer playing team, that’s their identity and I look forward to being in a proper soccer game, not just teams smashing balls forward, trying to play on the counter,” Shapiro said. “So it should be an attractive, fun brand of soccer, I think they’ll have guys who can worry us and we’ll have guys that can worry them and it should be a great showcase and a great chance for us and the team that is better in both directions has a great chance of winning.”

With current NESCAC standings, this game against Conn. College becomes one of the biggest moments of the season, Braun notes.

“I think obviously this is a pivotal moment in our season right now,” Braun said. “Everyone is really looking forward to Conn. to kind of turn things around, and what better way to start that than on Homecoming.”

In preparation for Head of the Charles, crew teams victorious at Head of the Riverfront

by Andres Borjas

Assistant News Editor

The Tufts men’s and women’s crew teams headed down to Hartford, Conn., on Oct. 6 for the Head of the Riverfront Regatta. Kicking off a year in which both teams are comprised of mostly underclassmen, as well as new coaches for both teams, the Jumbos found success in their season opener while testing the waters and dusting off the cobwebs before the Head of the Charles this weekend.

On the women’s side, Tufts rowed its way to the top of the field in every event it entered. At the end of the day, the women were three for three, earning gold medals in the first eight, open quad and open double events.

For sophomore Alicia Heia, a member of the first eight, coming into the first regatta of the season meant no expectations and a chance for everyone on the team to focus on its own race.

“We had some formidable competition from [Div. I] schools, UMass and UConn,” Heia said. “But because we had not had any regattas yet this season, we went into it just planning to pull hard and row our own race.”

Women’s coach Noel Wanner — who previously coached the men’s team — wanted every boat to have the best race it could but still had high expectations for his team, according to Heia.

The results at the Head of the Riverfront left Wanner impressed and proud of his team. His new presence, as well as that of the new assistant coach Lily Carbeck, has brought about new opportunities for the team, Heia said.

“This year’s change in coaching staff meant that the team had the chance to reset and refocus on being a highly competitive program,” Heia said.

ALLISON CULBERT / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Members of the women’s crew team row in the regatta against Wesleyan, Wellesley and Bates on April 14, 2018.

The men came into the Head of the Riverfront with a team largely consisting of first-year students. The new talent made it difficult to gauge how the team stacked up against the competition.

Sophomore Akash Maney felt the team fared well despite the many variables at play for them. The men competed in three eights, two quads and several doubles.

They walked out with first and third-place finishes in the open quad event and a second-place run in the open double event.

For the first eight — the top boat of the squad — an unavoidable collision led to a seventh-place finish.

“Our 1V boat was backed up by a broadsided Wesleyan 3V which slowed them down enormously so their time was not accurate,” Maney said.

Despite feeling that there is room for improvement, Maney explained that the team has improved enormously since last year and has the fundamentals to be a top team.

“We have a very deep team, and our erg scores particularly are a lot faster this year than they were last year,” Maney said. “We have a young team of very dedicated rowers who are committed to going fast.”

Both Jumbo teams head into their biggest race of the season this weekend at the Head of the Charles. In one of the largest and oldest head races in the world held at Tufts’ own backyard in Cambridge, the men’s and women’s teams are expecting a good showing.

The women are looking to build upon the early success they found at the Riverfront and requalify both eights for next year’s race in the collegiate event.

“We are happy with the early season win, but also look forward to racing at the Head of the Charles Regatta and Head of the Fish in Saratoga,” Heia said. “The women on the squad are excited to have a chance to compete at such a large scale event, and it’s been a great motivator for the team. We’ve put in the work, now it’s time to race.”

11

Aiden Herrod The Zone Read

Andrew Luck’s retirement

Y

es, I’m late on this. Yes, it has faded from popular memory.

It’s hard to remember in week seven, but not too long ago the National Football League (NFL) was shaken to its core. Andrew Luck, a cornerstone of the Colts franchise and undisputed top tier quarterback in the league, abruptly retired at age 29. The heat of the NFL season can make us forget the shock we all felt.

One could argue he walked away from a hall of fame career only half written.

It is inarguable that he left millions of dollars, a massive legacy and most importantly, the game he loved, all behind for the sake of his physical and mental health.

The on-field impact is happening before our eyes in the midst of this 2019 season, but it’s less consequential than imagined. The Colts exit their bye week content with new starter Jacoby Brissett who rides a 3–2 record and a recent win over the usually dominant Kansas City Chiefs. Would Luck have raised the ceiling of the offense and bought them an extra win or two?

Sure. But ultimately, franchises change trajectory constantly, and this sudden change in fortune is nothing new from a football perspective.

So what does it mean for the NFL? What does it mean for the league’s future? First and foremost, this highlights a massive failure from the Colts franchise. The impressive performance from the offensive line in 2018 may serve as a distraction from this, but prior to 2018 the Colts consistently put together horrible offensive lines that failed to protect Luck.

It ultimately culminated in him missing the entirety of the 2017 season with a mysterious shoulder injury. The team hired a new coaching staff, drafted an all-pro in offensive guard Quenton Nelson, and transformed the unit into one of the league’s best. But ultimately it was too late, and Luck’s injury frustrations played a huge role in his decision to retire.

From a league-wide perspective, a lot of people wondered if Luck was setting a new precedent. Football at this level is a grueling ordeal that takes a toll mentally and physically, and no one should ever feel shame when their body and mind demand they step down. Early retirements have happened in the past and they won’t stop in the future.

But Luck’s exit should be a wake-up call for the NFL and its owners, who consistently put their players through hell and back to squeeze out a little more profit. Luck’s situation is a sad reminder that while the sport we love can bring immense joy, it often comes at a solemn cost, and we as fans should never demand anything less than complete devotion from the owners to a healthier, safer sport.

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

12 Thursday, October 17, 2019

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Football looks to capture Homecoming victory versus winless Bowdoin

RACHEL HARTMAN / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Players line up for a snap during Tufts’ 47–14 victory over Bates at Bello Field on Sept. 29, 2018.

by Henry Molot Staff Writer

The Jumbos have been on a rollercoaster ride of a season. After sending a resounding message heard loud and clear across the NESCAC following their week one win over three-time defending champion Trinity, Tufts has struggled to consistently back up its early dominance. Following losses to Williams and Amherst, who have proven to be two of the most complete teams in the conference, Tufts got back on track with a win in an offensive battle versus Bates in Lewiston, Maine. Last week, the Jumbos found themselves with a real chance to unseat one of the top teams in the conference, the Wesleyan Cardinals, and reestablish themselves as a legitimate title threat.

The Jumbos executed an excellent defensive game plan throughout most of the contest and had their offense clicking on all cylinders in the first half. They quickly went up 10–0, and looked poised to blow the game open when junior wide receiver O.J. Armstrong dropped a wide-open pass streaking towards the end zone in the dying minutes of the second quarter. The Jumbos settled for a 10–0 lead going into the half, but the undefeated Cardinals (5–0) turned the tides in the final 30 minutes, putting up 13 points in the fourth quarter to

rob the Jumbos (2–3) of a desperately needed victory. It was Matthew Simco who provided the dagger for the Cardinals, catching a 29-yard slant for the winning touchdown with just six seconds remaining. With the loss, the Jumbos’ best possible record this season is 6–3, which, barring something completely out of the historical norm, will most likely not be good enough for the regular-season title they so covet.

Homecoming weekend offers the Jumbos a chance to rebound against the Bowdoin Polar Bears (0–5) who have just one victory in their last four seasons. While the Polar Bears have struggled to stay afloat in this extremely competitive NESCAC conference, they should not be overlooked. The Polar Bears have one of the best backs in the league in Nate Richam-Odoi, who has averaged just under 100 yards per contest on the ground, including an average of one touchdown per outing.

“The tailback Richam-Odoi is a really good player; he’s very dynamic and he’s had some really big games,” Tufts coach Jay Civetti said.

“You know, it’s a byproduct of staff putting him in good positions, and their [offensive] line creating gaps.”

The Bowdoin offense truly lives and dies with Richam-Odoi, a native of West Hartford, Conn., as the talented back has accounted for

over 50% of Bowdoin’s offensive touchdowns this season.

The Polar Bears have played far better than their record suggests this season, with a number of results that make the Jumbo coaching staff nervous. Bowdoin lost to Williams and Amherst by similar margins to Tufts and lost in week four to Wesleyan 20–13. This is the same mark by which the Jumbos lost, a result that is sure to motivate an already hungry Polar Bear team looking to claim its first win of the year. If these two sides’ performances against the Cardinals is indicative of how their tie on Saturday will go, expect a much closer game than many would expect.

The Polar Bears also looked good in their season-opening 37–24 loss to Hamilton, claiming nearly 38 minutes of possession compared to Hamilton’s 22 minutes, largely thanks to a dominant performance by Richam-Odoi.

“They’ve got a strong wideout in Olson, number 15, and they’re able to put you in difficult positions defensively,” Civetti said.

A key matchup will be Jumbo senior linebacker and co-captain Greg Holt against Richam-Odoi. Holt will need to stop the talented rusher from getting to the second level.

The secondary has been a glaring defensive weakness for the Polar Bears all season, who got burned for five touchdowns through the air

against the Bantams. Civetti called Bowdoin a “high-pressure team,” and expects them to bring 5–7 rushers every snap.

“They create some chaos and turmoil in that way, and can force you into a bad situation,” Civetti said.

When asked what positives Bowdoin might see from Tufts’ offense versus Wesleyan as they watch film, Civetti praised the big play ability of his offense.

“With our ability to throw the ‘go’ ball, we can stretch the field pretty quickly,” Civetti said. “[Senior quarterback] Jacob [Carroll] has a great ability to stretch the field and find out wideouts.”

For an offense that relies on giving routes time to develop downfield, the high-pressure scheme Bowdoin employs could restrict Carroll’s ability to find his teammates downfield.

“They blitz so much that it’s sometimes hard to protect for a long time,” Civetti said.

Expect junior running back and co-captain Mike Pedrini and senior running back Dom Borelli to get involved in a lot of draws and screens designed to beat that first line of the Bowdoin rush.

Tufts’ Carroll, who has looked better and better with each game, is primed to have his most prolific passing game of the year. Expect Carroll to turn to his main target wide receivers, graduate student Frank Roche and junior Brendan Dolan early and often, as well as the explosive Armstrong.

Despite coming off a soul-crushing loss that effectively ends the Jumbos’ chance at a NESCAC title, Civetti doesn’t appear fazed, and you can expect the rest of the team to follow suit.

“We had practice yesterday morning and guys were flying around and being as engaged as they could be,” Civetti said. “Coming back and playing in front of a homecoming crowd is really important.”

The energy will certainly be there in the stands on Saturday, and the Jumbos will be as ready as ever as they look to use the Wesleyan loss as an energizer.

“I’m just as equally excited as them to get out there and play again,” Civetti said. “We’re very lucky and blessed to have what we have here. While Saturday was disappointing, if anything, it fuels you to work that much harder to do something for each other.”

Holt expressed similar excitement about competing in the Homecoming game.

“I think the Homecoming game is a huge one because we do have a lot of alumni coming back, and you get to see your old teammates,” Holt said. “You want to put on a performance that they’re going to be proud of.”

Kickoff for Homecoming Saturday is set for 1 p.m. at Ellis Oval.

Men’s soccer Homecoming game preview: Tufts vs. Conn. College

by Henry Gorelik Staff Writer

The Jumbos will look to get back on track this Saturday with their Homecoming game against the Conn. College Camels at 2:30 p.m. on Bello Field. The team comes into this match with an overall record of 8–2–2 and 4–1–2 in conference play. Tufts currently sits in second place of the NESCAC standings, barely ahead of Bates, tied with Conn. College and behind first-place Amherst. With only three games remaining in NESCAC play, Saturday’s heavyweight matchup against Conn. College has major implications on the final NESCAC standings.

Entering the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the country, the Jumbos justified

that ranking in their first seven games by outscoring opponents 23­­ –3 en-route to a 7–0 record. The dominant start to the season was highlighted by blowouts of non-conference opponents Framingham State and Wheaton with scores of 4–0 and 6–0, respectively. On Sept. 21, the Jumbos got revenge on the Colby Mules for knocking them out of the NESCAC tournament last season, dominating the Mules in a decisive 4–0 victory. The Jumbos then continued strong conference play by securing a thrilling 1–0 road overtime win against the Bates Bobcats.

Despite the perfect start to the season, the Jumbos have gone through a bit of a slump in the five games since their win against Bates. During this slump, Tufts

has a record of 1–2–2, with a home win against Trinity, away ties to Wesleyan and Hamilton and away losses to Amherst (in overtime) and Babson. The loss against Babson ended what was a 30-game unbeaten streak for Tufts. Despite their mediocre record over the past five games, better days are ahead for the Jumbos, according to coach Josh Shapiro.

“I thought we got outcompeted at Wesleyan and outcompeted against Babson, but I think our response against Amherst was positive and our response against Hamilton was positive,” Shapiro said. “Those were more a victim of us not taking chances, but I felt like the mentality and competition and work ethic was back in those two games. So I actually think we’re

trending in the right direction, we just have to start finding goals again.”

Senior forward Joe Braun expressed similar optimism when asked about the team’s mood following these disappointing results.

“We know that we have not been anywhere close to playing the best soccer that this team is capable of,” Braun said.

“Obviously, knowing that, we’re still optimistic — we don’t have our heads down.”

The most recent United Soccer Coaches poll ranks the Jumbos as the No. 12 team in the nation after being the No. 1 team for the first five polls. Despite the drop in the national ranking, this is not

see MEN’S SOCCER, page 11