The Tufts Daily - Friday, February 8, 2019

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VOLUME LXXVII, ISSUE 12

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Kamran Rastegar named new director of Center for the Humanities

by Charlie Driver News Editor

Kamran Rastegar, professor of Arabic and comparative literature in the Department of International Literary and Visual Studies (ILVS), is the new director of the Center for the Humanities at Tufts (CHAT) after serving as interim director last semester. The former director, Lisa Lowe, was on leave last semester and now teaches at Yale University.

According to a 2008 press release from the Office of the Provost and senior vice president, CHAT was created by Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate Jonathan Wilson that year to be an interdisciplinary home for the humanities departments at Tufts.

According to Rastegar, his time at the Center started well before his stint as director. He served as a fellow, and in 2015, he co-organized the Mellon Sawyer Seminar in Comparative Global Humanities with Lowe and Associate Professor of History Kris Manjapra.

According to its website, the Mellon Sawyer Seminar was an interdisciplinary series of guest lectures and seminars featuring scholars from around Boston and the world, hosted by CHAT. Its goal was to foster alternative research and to reshape dominant historical and cultural narratives.

Rastegar, who also served on the Center’s faculty board before taking over as director, said that the Center would not be changing its approach dramatically.

“I feel very much like, certainly to begin with, I’m continuing in the same direction that Lisa [Lowe] had already envisioned for the center,” he said.

Currently, the center is bringing visiting scholars, faculty, postdoctoral fellows and dissertation fellows together for research under the theme of “Culture, History, and Translation,” according to its website.

Postdoctoral Fellow Hossein Ayazi, who is spending his year at CHAT work-

ing on a book project that reframes the post-World War II U.S. agricultural and rural development agenda as racial capitalism, said he appreciates the center’s commitment to challenging established academic norms.

“I really appreciate how a central goal of a lot of the work that’s being done here … tries to kind of unsettle prevailing objects of study, prevailing histories, prevailing ways of understanding the world,” he said.

Ayazi said he has enjoyed his time at CHAT so far, highlighting a workshop set up by the center where he was able to receive feedback on his book from Tufts faculty and a visiting scholar preeminent in his field.

Manjapra praised the Center as one of the few places on campus where scholars from different humanities departments can come together.

“I especially appreciate the opportunity to meet colleagues and students from different disciplines around the CHAT seminar table,” he wrote in an email to the Daily.

Manjapra also noted that CHAT’s focus on critical review and curricular transformation in the humanities complements the work done by the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora (RCD), which he chairs.

RCD cosponsored a series of seminars at CHAT last semester, according to the center’s website.

CHAT looks set to be an important part of on-campus research for the foreseeable future. Rastegar said that a 2013 strategic plan from the Provost’s Office has designated CHAT and its research focus as a priority for the university.

Rastegar explained that he thinks CHAT’s humanities research can play an important role in reframing contemporary issues.

ALONSO NICHOLS / TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Professor Kamran Rastegar of the Department of German, Russian and Asian Languages is pictured on Jan. 22, 2014.

“We try to make the humanities very much part of current concerns,” he said.

Rastegar used climate change as an example of this present focus, highlighting an upcoming CHAT-sponsored talk on urban biodiversity by UCLA Professor Ursula Heise.

Manjapra wrote that the study of the humanities is vital as a way to ask important questions that will advance the way the world is understood.

“University education is not just about gathering new knowledge, but it is fundamentally about understanding the limits of our knowledge,” he wrote. “University education is also

about learning to ask questions that push and challenge the limits of what we think we know. These pursuits are humanities pursuits. You can easily say that given how quickly the world is changing in the 21st century, and given the obvious societal and ecological challenges and perils of our times, the Humanities are an undisputed priority.”

Rastegar hopes that, during his time as director of CHAT, Tufts will continue to embrace the humanities.

“I think there’s an opportunity for Tufts to actually be seen as a university where the humanities [is addressing present issues],” Rastegar said.

Greek organizations host spring rush, adjust to changes in requirements

by Jessica Blough

Executive News Editor

More than a year following the release of the findings of a monthslong investigation into Greek life on campus and the subsequent reforms to build a more inclusive Greek community, members of Tufts fraternities and

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sororities have mixed opinions on the effectiveness of the new rules.

Nikolas Camp, president of Delta Tau Delta (DTD), criticized university policy that does not allow students to participate in recruitment during their first year at Tufts.

“The most harmful thing that has happened to us has been [first-

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years] can’t rush,” Camp, a junior, said.

“It just literally reduces our numbers, and it also reduces our connection to the campus as a whole.”

Camp said that the policy against first-years rushing excludes them from social life at Tufts.

“Those [new rules] both limit the community interacting with these

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groups that are already known to be distant,” he said. “There are underclassmen that have things to add and just literally cannot because the school doesn’t want them to.”

Despite these setbacks, Camp recognized the positive impacts of the

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, February 8, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Elie Levine Editor-in-Chief

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David Levitsky Anita Ramaswamy

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Sororities, fraternities increase inclusivity, party policing efforts

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Students speak with current members of ATO during the fraternity’s rush event at the ATO house on Feb. 13, 2017.

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continued from page 1 changes. He said that DTD has been taking steps to create a safer environment, including going through trainings to better recognize risky situations, holding workshops to police parties more effectively and holding discussions about topics like sexual assault and masculinity.

“We really want to emphasize [that DTD is] a place where you learn positive masculinity,” he said. “If you have a fraternal organization, it’s by definition males, and there’s inherent risk that comes with that, especially as a lot of people coming from high school really haven’t learned to reign in these behaviors that haven’t been checked before.”

Sorority Kappa Alpha Theta ( Theta) has experienced some difficulties balancing some of the new rules with their national chapter standards, according to Chief Recruiting Officer Ainsley Ball.

“The structure that we have for recruitment is pretty nationally set, and there’s only so much we can do to change it specifically to Theta [at Tufts],” Ball, a sophomore, said.

However, Ball ultimately sees the reforms as a positive transition. She said that Theta has been reevaluating the conversations it has with potential new members.

“What are questions that target certain identities and how can we avoid them? What are questions that can make the [potential new mem-

ber] feel comfortable but also give them the space to talk about what they feel is important to bring up?” she said. “It’s a balance, but as time goes on we are are working on how to refine that.”

Ball also cited changes to recruitment, like the new values-based recruitment and elimination of a dress code, as having a beneficial impact.

Additionally, she said that new scholarship opportunities through both Theta and the Panhellenic Council as well as the creation of Diversity and Inclusion chairs have helped construct a more accepting and welcoming environment. “[ The Diversity and Inclusion chairs] partake in recruitment so we have a workshop where we go over the details and they will spend time talking about different sensitivity topics,” she said. “It’s nice having them to balance out [so] there’s more voices on that topic.”

Alpha Phi’s Vice President of Recruitment Zoe Reid has embraced many of the reforms, especially the later rush requirement which promotes more connections outside of a person’s specific sorority.

“Personally, I think it makes a huge difference just because as a [firstyear] in the spring it would be so overwhelming [to rush],” Reid, a sophomore, said. “I think that’s the biggest change. Friend groups don’t form around who rushes.”

Reid also said that she noticed that the sororities promote a more inclusive environment.

“All three sororities I think steer away from there being a type of person or having a set stereotype,” she said. “I think the past couple of years have tried to push away from that.

I think before all the changes were made it was kind of more traditional.”

The future of Greek life on campus is still up in the air as both students and the administration are unsure if more reform will be taking place.

“We’re spending some time this semester gathering ideas and information from the entire community to help shape a comprehensive strategic plan moving forward,” Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Su McGlone said in an email. “There might be additional updates if the councils decide to implement them.”

Although Greek life saw a decline in participation in the 2016–17 academic year, numbers have been increasing since then, according to McGlone.

Ball echoed this remark. She said that Theta’s membership doubled with the joining of her pledge class and the sorority now has more than 100 members.

Reid highlighted the important social space that Greek life fills and advocated for its continued existence.

“I think there’s a lot of people that really value it once you are in the communities of Greek life, especially if you are not on a team for a school that’s in NESCAC and so small. It gives you more of a community,” she said. “So I definitely think it’s a positive contribution in that sense and I think it would be a real loss that all those people were to lose that community.”

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‘Ansel Adams in Our Time’: Between us and nature

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The “Ansel Adams” exhibit is pictured at the Museum of Fine Arts on Feb. 4.

by Ruijingya Tang Arts Editor

The very same Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) gallery that hosted Takashi Murakami’s “Superflat” monsters and 19th century Japanese paintings last year is now, as the site for the exhibition “Ansel Adams in Our Time,” temporarily home to the transcendentalist photographs of Ansel Adams (1902–1984) and those who came before and after him. Once again, the MFA weaves through different time periods with a common thread, visualizing the evolution of generational experiences.

Ansel Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist. Born and raised in San Francisco, Calif., Adams had his nose broken from an earthquake in 1906 and carried this facial distinction with him for the rest of his life. His peculiar appearance, coupled with his natural shyness and background as an only child, made it difficult for Adams to blend in at school. For Adams, this solitude translated into a love for nature. From taking walks amidst the dunes near the Golden Gate as a child to repeatedly returning to Yosemite National Park as a professional photographer later in life, Adams stayed invested in a longing for the sublime.

Taking the awe-inspiring scale of nature out of its organic context, Ansel Adams idealizes the American landscape as a piece of “tamed wilderness.” Adams’ monochromatic, first fully visualized pho-

tograph “Monolith, The Face of Half Dome” (Yosemite National Park, 1927) combines the splendid vision of nature that refers to the mid-19th century Hudson River School of painting and the minimalist aesthetic of the late 20th century postmodernism.

The photo displays a magnificent view of the well-known Half Dome at Yosemite National Park. The singular protagonist in the composition — the lofty Half Dome — overwhelms more than half of the featured scenery like a black, viscous waterfall. And like early Romantic paintings, Adams’ photo excludes all human intrusions into pristine nature.

That being said, Adams’ photo does not reflect the most genuine love of the wilderness, because it strips the wilderness of its dynamism, dirt, mortality and, essentially, life. Like the metaphoric title that compares the Half Dome to a “monolith,” Adams’ photo upholds a strong tastes for minimalism and industrial precision. The composition is divided into five arguably irregular shapes, including the Half Dome, by fine, sharp outlines. Each form is simplified; the natural granite corrugations on the Half Dome are barely visible; the night sky is unspoiled by clouds or stars; and the earth, despite being dotted by several tall pine trees, is mostly buried under unvaryingly white snow. The solemn and cold air that Adams’ photo emits anticipates the clean but abstinent aesthetic in later sci-fi films such as “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) and minimalist artworks like the untitled stacks

of metal rectangles that Donald Judd made since the late 1960s.

However, true wilderness is the antithesis to stillness and tidiness. Rather, it is filled with bugs, mud, animals, heat, colors, sweat and blood; it is a dynamic ecosystem of consumption, of both beauty and horror. Adams’ photo celebrates the grandeur of nature at the expense of also reflecting its lively, sometimes even disgusting aspects; thus, the photo situates itself comfortably within the not-unchallengeable confines of its medium, as a piece of safe and entertaining spectacle of gallery art that is nevertheless unrealistic.

Unlike Adams, some American photographers after him see nature as much less majestic and are hence willing to playfully marry it to the human world. The collaborated photo collage (2003) by Mark C. Klett and Byron Wolfe sings a harmonious symphony of people and nature. With rugged top and bottom sides and missing content from the discontinuous scenery it depicts, the photo collage resembles an arguably failed panorama taken with a shaky hand. Inserted into a section of the “failed panorama” is another photo that depicts the same section of a different time, which appears obviously different in tone than the rest of the panorama.

This overall amateur-looking structure of the collage diverges from Adams’ humble admiration towards nature because, instead of leaving nature ‘untainted,’ Klett and Wolfe symbolically assert human agency over nature by deleting parts of

it and adding new parts to it, like tailors mending a cloth.

The magnificence of nature is also downplayed in the photo collage due to the lack of a singularly dominant subject, like the Half Dome in Adams’ photo mentioned above, in the composition. Rather, the panorama borrows the multi-foci structure from impressionist paintings. The composition depicts nature and people in various forms across the panorama, with the former manifested as trees, mountains, rivers and earth, and the latter doing different activities like boating, walking, and sitting. The lack of an obvious foci of the photo collage thus does not give nature the same overwhelming power over humans as Adams’ photo does. Arguably a modern, photographic parody of George Seurat’s famous neo-impressionist painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” (1884) to certain extent, Klett and Wolfe’s work endorses the post-industrial theory that the urban life is a part of nature.

The interpretation for the ideal dynamic between people and the wilderness has been changing for centuries and probably will become increasingly debated in the years to come, especially given the rising antagonism between industrial development and environmental protection. Any theory that favors the prosperity of one based on the destruction of the other could lead to the end of human civilization — our future must fall in between.

“Ansel Adams in Our Time” will remain open until Feb. 24. All Tufts students can visit it for free with valid Tufts IDs.

THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Friday, February 8, 2019

Audrey Carver Shuttle Talk

Magda Petmeza

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Audrey Carver is a first-year at the SMFA studying fine art. Audrey can be reached at Audrey.Carver@tufts.edu.

Cody Ko, Noel Miller delight fans on hilarious Tiny Meat Tour

by Yas Salon

Assistant Arts Editor

On Feb. 5, comedy duo Tiny Meat Gang performed at the Middle East nightclub in Cambridge, one of 37 stops on their eponymously named “Tiny Meat Tour.” The duo consists of Cody Ko and Noel Miller, two former software engineers who have spent the better part of the last two years producing content under the name Tiny Meat Gang, or “TMG,” as many fans call it.

The two rose to prominence on the shortform video app Vine and, following the discontinuation of the app, began posting on Youtube, before creating their TMG podcast. The two have a formidable following. Ko’s Youtube channel has amassed over 2.1 million subscribers, while Miller’s boasts over 800,000, and these numbers aren’t including the multiple other accounts the two have for gaming videos, podcasts and vlogs.

The two can best be described as comedians for the Instagram generation.

Their jokes often tap into relatable topics for millenials; some of their most favorite topics to discuss are Reddit posts, Juuling and bad Youtubers. What makes their comedy work and appeal to such youthful audiences is the fact that the two, both in their late 20s, lack the stiffness and awkwardness of someone who’s trying too hard to be ‘with the times’ and ‘hip.’ This has amassed them a devoted army of young fans, and the general makeup of the crowd at the live show reflected this fact well. Packed like sardines, a swarm of late teens and early 20-somethings, many of which were donning the duo’s merchandise, filled the basement of the club.

The show itself hinged heavily on the cult devotion of the pair’s fans. A considerable sum of the jokes were centered around callbacks to past videos and podcasts, which successfully capitalized on the audience’s knowledge of TMG canon.

The duo began the show by walking out to one of their songs from their recent EP, Locals Only (2018). At the beginning of the show, the comedy was primarily driven by Miller, while Ko, whose recent bout of the flu caused two tour dates to be postponed, remained unobtrusive.

Despite this unbalanced start, Ko quickly

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Promotional poster for the Cody Ko and Noel Miller Comedy Show is shown. recovered once the two delved into the meat of the show.

The show itself was simple but effectively structured. The show’s style was comfortably familiar to their usual videos and podcasts, and the back-and-forth banter between Ko and Miller, while obviously heavily rehearsed, still felt authentic and fresh. The entire act was constructed to perfectly suit the audience; continual in-jokes nodded to and rewarded fans.

Perhaps even more important was the duo’s heavy usage of call-and-response.

Every few minutes, their set was punctuated with fans lovingly calling out references to past videos, or throwing out a quick “I love you!” to the performers. Ko, and even more so Miller, actively engaged with fans and incorporated back-andforth ribbing into the set, making the performance an intimate and exciting experience for the audience. In addition

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to their spur-of-the-moment audience banter, they also incorporated culturally relevant improv into their set, such as the Patriots’ Super Bowl win, by thoroughly, but warmly, roasting the Bostonian crowd’s devotion to Tom Brady.

Throughout the set, there was never a dull moment, nor a joke that landed flat. Ko and Miller catered perfectly to their audience, and the show was a smash success because of the interactive nature of the set. Instead of feeling talked at, the audience was instead given the feeling of just hanging out and having a good time with the duo. This show is not for everyone — for those with a distaste for crude phallic jokes, this show is to be avoided at all costs. However, for those familiar with the duo’s work and looking for a relaxed and straight-up hilarious two hours, the Tiny Meat Tour is nothing short of perfection.

ION OF STA IAT TE OC

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hy create art? As an artist, it was something I always knew was important, but I didn’t understand why. While at the SMFA, I’ve realized how complicated it is — not everyone makes art, and those who do create it for different reasons. Furthermore, many do not care at all to answer why they create art.

Art deserves a place in everyone’s life. I hope that this column will help others explore these ideas, and better familiarize the Medford campus with the SMFA population. Mostly, however, I just want to know why people make art. Why it is worth studying, why it is worth doing and why my classmates are dedicating their lives to it?

First-year Magda Petmeza was the best possible person with whom to start this conversation. Riding back to our Beacon Street dorm together, I am struck by how confidently and intelligently she is able to articulate such abstract concepts and answer such large questions without a second thought. With funky jewelry and a paint-stained sweater, she is a recognizable art student, one engaged in her art with such devotion and academic reflection that I cannot help but admire her. “I came here to work,” she said when asked about her studio practice. “That’s it, man, I work hard.” Her work clearly shows.

She dedicates most of her time to sculpture, specifically ceramics, but often incorporates other forms of media such as writing and photography. Magda’s work explores her obsession with the tiny details of human interaction. From photos of beard stubbles to sculptures of knuckles cracking, she finds a way to express the small beautiful things that her overly attentive mind cannot help but focus on. And she does it so beautifully. One of her pieces is currently being exhibited in the SMFA photography show, and another was just accepted into an exhibition in the RSM gallery in Boston.

When asked, “Why do art?” Magda didn’t hesitate with her response: “For me, this is what I am good at.

I can spend all day talking about big things and feeling small, but if I have a form in my head, and I make it, I have made something real, I have created something. It is something that I can do, it’s the only thing that I can do that will matter.” For Magda, it’s a way to selectively disconnect from the real world, to focus on the little good things in life instead of the abundantly bad ones. As for the world as a whole, she says, people just like to make things. We have been building stuff with our hands for the entire timeline of the human race. It is as simple as that.

We ended the ride home by talking about the art world as a whole and about what lies ahead for the students of SMFA. “When it comes down to it,” she says with a laugh, “who knows where we will end up? But at least one of us has gotta make it as an artist.”

Personally, I hope it’s her.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Sports | Friday, February 8, 2019

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After victory over Babson, women’s basketball prepares for final game of regular season

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First-year guard Sofia Rosa prepares to make a free throw in Tufts’ 65–49 victory over Worcester State on Jan. 16.

by Alex Viveros

Assistant Sports Editor

As temperatures in New England soared above those in Los Angeles, Calif. this week, the Tufts women’s basketball team (21–2) continued to play with fiery passion in their penultimate regular season game. Currently ranked at No. 6 in the nation, the Jumbos have never lost fewer than three games in a single season in program history.

On Wednesday night, the Jumbos channeled this determined energy, traveling to Wellesley, Mass. to battle the Babson College Beavers (18–4). Although the

Beavers showed flashes of resistance, the Jumbos stomped all over their lodge with a convincing 80–61 victory.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Jumbos repeatedly demonstrated their ability to score from range. Senior guard and co-captain Jac Knapp, who scored 15 points against Hamilton on Sunday, dominated the Babson game, scoring a teamhigh 25 points, her second highest-scoring performance of her entire career, preceded only by her 26-point performance on Dec. 8, 2018 against the New England College Pilgrims. Knapp’s incredible display can be attributed to her supreme shooting, where she shot 10-for-14 on

field goals, including banking in three of her four attempted 3-pointers.

This pattern of incredible shooting did not just end with Knapp; sophomore guard/forward Emily Briggs went 6-of-8 from the field, amounting to 16 points overall for the Jumbos, while Junior guard Lilly Paro, who dropped a careerhigh 22 points in Sunday’s game against Hamilton, continued firing on all cylinders from downtown. Paro was 3-for-4 from 3-point range, amounting her to nine points scored overall. As a team, the Jumbos completed 31 out of 67 of their attempts from the field for 46.3 percent shooting, in comparison to the Beavers’ 21 out of 54 attempts for 38.9 percent shooting.

Junior forward/guard and co-captain Erica DeCandido spoke about what she believes helped lead to the team’s success against the Beavers.

“I think that we did an incredible job of shooting. A lot of us were knocking down almost every shot we took, which was awesome to see,” DeCandido said.

“Jac Knapp played great, Lilly Paro was knocking down shots, everyone was doing great.”

Needless to say, such dominant offensive performances helped fuel the Jumbos to their ultimate victory over Babson. By halftime, the Jumbos led by a score of 43–29, and by the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Jumbos broke down the Beavers’ dam and were up by almost 30 points. Although the Jumbos held the lead throughout the entire contest, the Beavers remained competitive. Tufts outscored Babson by respective scores of eight, six and 12 points during the first three quarters, but the Beavers showed some promise in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 points over the Jumbos’ nine.

Ultimately, however, it was control in the paint, paired with incredible shooting, that led the Jumbos to their last non-conference victory of the regular season. Almost every member of the Jumbos recorded at least one offensive or defensive rebound, with Briggs and junior guard Sadie Otley leading the way with seven total rebounds.

DeCandido gave credit to the impressive performance by the Jumbos on obtaining rebounds off of the basket, praising Babson’s notoriety as a team that knows how to control the basket.

“Their team was a really, really good offensive rebound team, and I think we did a great job of only letting them get [only] around 10 [points] off the rebounds,

which was awesome,” DeCandido said “We kind of went off in the fourth quarter, which I think was our only downfall, but other than that I think we played a great game.”

Coach Carla Berube also spoke about Babson’s offensive rebound skills, while also specifically mentioning how the team succeeded in working around them.

“Both their two starting forwards average a lot of offensive boards a game so I thought all the posts that went in did a really good job of that,” Berube said. “I think they ended up with 10 offensive boards, four of which were team boards, which means it goes out of bounds. So [they made] six offensive boards that they kept in play, compared to what they usually average, which is closer to 19 or 18.”

With the victory over the Babson Beavers, the Jumbos will return home on Sunday to host the Trinity College Bantams (18–4) for their final game of the regular season on Sunday, and the stakes are arguably higher than ever. The Jumbos currently hold the third seed in the NESCAC with a conference record of 7–2, but a loss to the Bantams, who are currently 5–3 in the conference, can put that placement in jeopardy especially if the Bantams beat the Bates Bobcats on Friday night. With the NESCAC tournament set to commence in a couple of weeks, wherein factors such as home-team advantage and opponents are determined by ranking in the conference, the Jumbos know that it’s showtime.

“The postseason is obviously win-andadvance, so if you lose you’re done, and every game now matters,” DeCandido said. “Especially on Sunday, because we play Trinity and they’re fighting for the same place we are: third place in the NESCAC. We can’t have any losses.

Especially if we want to make it far, we’re going to have to always win leading out from here.”

Berube continued off of DeCandido’s comments, specifying what the Jumbos are doing to prepare for the game against a talented Bantams team.

“Moving forward from last night, [we’re] watching film of our game versus Babson just to figure out where we can get better on both ends of the floor, and then also watching the Bantams play,” Berube said. “They’re very talented, and they’ve had a very successful season.

They’re sitting at number four in the conference, so it’s going to be a really big game on Sunday.”

The game tips off on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Women’s track and field successful in relays, field events at NEICAAA Championships, Cupid Challenge

by Jake Freudberg

Assistant Sports Editor

Even though the women’s track and field team won only one event on Saturday’s annual Cupid Challenge hosted at the Gantcher Center, several Jumbos set season and career bests. On Friday, four runners competed in the NEICAA Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center in Boston, Mass., where they placed fourth in the distance medley.

Senior and co-captain Evelyn Drake was the sole event winner for Tufts on Saturday at the non-team scoring meet, as she won the weight throw at 50’½”.

The Murfreesboro, Tenn. native also placed fifth in the shot put with 34’7¾”,

trailing teammate sophomore Nkem Aduka’s second-place 38’3½” effort, a season best for the Tufts team.

Although she performed well, Drake explained that at this point in the season — especially at non-scoring meets like the Cupid Challenge — that she aims more for personal records than first-place finishes.

“It was good; I know I can do a lot better, but it was still a pretty solid day,” Drake said. “[Placing first] is nice in a team scoring meet when we can win, but right now we’re trying to get our best marks. Right now, I’m in a place where if it’s not a PR, I’m not thrilled.”

Aside from the field events, Tufts was most successful in the 4×200-meter,

4×400-meter and 4×800-meter relays on Saturday.

In the 4×200, first-year Tara Lowensohn, first-year Julia Worden, junior Franny Kiles and first-year Luana Machado combined for a fourth-place finish in 1:49.63 — a season best. In the 4×400 meter, Lowensohn, sophomore Kristen Andersen, junior Raquel Whiting and Machado ran a 4:04.61 and finished in second. Their time currently ranks No. 33 nationally, and they are the second Tufts 4×400-meter relay team to place in the top 35; another team currently ranks No. 20 in the 4×800-meter. Junior Lauren Diaz, junior Julia Gake, sophomore Olivia Martin and junior Rhemi Toth finished in a team season-best 9:41.22, earning second place.

Sophomore Olivia Schwern also had a successful day in the sprints, placing fifth in both the 60 meter and 200 meter. Her 8.19 finish in the 60-meter was both a personal record and a Tufts season best, while her time of 27.18 in the 200-meter was also a Tufts season best.

In the 600-meter, Andersen ran a 1:42.59, earned fifth place. Meanwhile, junior Lydia Heely placed third in the 1,000-meter with a time of 3:06.35.

Senior and co-captain Kelsey Tierney ran the 5,000-meter in 18:01.66, earning seventh place and setting a Tufts season best. That mark currently ranks No. 34 nationally for Div. III women’s indoor track and field. see WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD, page 7

Sports

Friday, February 8, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Women's track and field builds on successful winter at NEICAAA Championships, Cupid Challenge

MADELEINE OLIVER / THE TUFTS DAILY

Junior Lydia Heely passes a pack of competitors at the Branwen Smith-King Classic on Jan. 29.

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

continued from page 6

“On Saturday, we had a bunch of personal bests, which was nice to see,” coach Kristen Morwick said. “It was a very competitive meet. […] We had a lot of really nice performances.”

The day before, the distance medley relay team of Diaz, Gake, senior Julia Noble and Toth competed at the NEICAAA Championships in Boston, proving to be one of the strongest Div. III teams in that event in the country.

They finished in 12:01.74, earning fourth place at the meet. More impressively, Tufts was the only Div. III team in the field of mostly Div. I and II teams;

Northeastern, a Div. I team, was only 0.03 seconds ahead of Tufts.

“We all weren’t feeling great going into it, but we ended up all running well and we’re now ranked third in Div. III,” Toth said. “But we’re going to have to draw up a lot of time by the end of the season [to qualify for the NCAA Championships].”

Morwick was also impressed, but not surprised, by the result in the distance medley relay. “[I was not surprised] based on what we had seen them do in workouts — it was just the first time putting it together,” Morwick said. “And I think there’s a lot of room for improvement. There’s no set mark [to qualify for nationals] — they just take the top 12 relays — so

we’ll probably run it again at our Tufts Last Chance meet.”

As the regular season winds down, Tufts will compete at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University and the MIT Invitational this weekend. According to Morwick, only about 15 athletes will go to the meet at BU, while most athletes who compete in the field and short sprint events will compete at MIT. “BU is not a great place for the field events,” Morwick said. “It’s a limited field, and it’s teams from all over the country from Div. I, II, III, so they’re only taking a set amount of athletes.

And, the venues aren’t that great for performances. Our kids will get a chance to get like six throws [at MIT] versus three

at BU, so it’s just a much better, competitive situation for our field events.”

After this weekend, the Jumbos will set their sights on the New England Div. III Championships, hosted at Bowdoin on Feb. 22 and 23. Qualifying for this meet is one of the main goals throughout the regular season for most athletes on the team.

“I think we have a really good chance of scoring high at New Englands,” Drake said. “We have a lot of people who have stepped up this year and also a lot of [first-years] how have come in and been really solid as soon as they got here. So, that’s the definitely the main focus right now — getting more people qualified and getting more people into positions to score well.”

TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER

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Sports

Friday, February 8, 2019

Club basketball jumps through hoops to gain official status

COURTESY JORDAN KEMP

Founder and former captain Jordan Kemp (left), (LA ‘18), and former member Mathew Lee (right), (LA ‘18), of Tufts Club Basketball team are pictured.

by Josh Steinfink and Alex Viveros

Sports Editor and Assistant Sports Editor

Tufts club basketball has got game, and the team finally has games on its schedule. Founded just two years ago as a small group of students sitting around a table discussing NBA and NCAA current events, the team has grown into a powerhouse of capable players, finally recognized by the university as of this semester.

Originally, alum Jordan Kemp (LA ‘18) conceived the idea, seeking an outlet for students looking to go beyond Tufts’ intramural offerings.

Junior Miko Hadeshian, a member of the club basketball team since his first year at Tufts, spoke about those early days of the club.

“At the very beginning, it was just some people meeting up in the gym to play.

Then we started talking, and a few of us decided ‘Oh, let’s try and actually play against other schools,’” Hadeshian said.

“We scheduled a few informal scrimmages against other local universities like Northeastern and Harvard, and we had a lot of fun, so we tried to make it legit. We went through a bunch of hoops trying to do that.”

Club basketball quickly gained momentum in 2017, and again this year under the captaincy of senior Steve Isett following the departure of Kemp. However, the team struggled to gain a foothold with the university early on regarding officially joining the Tufts club sports portfolio.

“Jordan really got the idea off the ground, and I’ve been able to use a lot of his framework from last year to run tryouts and practices,” Isett said. “He left me

with a few contacts for other club teams in the Boston area but to grow the program I have had to take the initiative myself and keep finding opportunities for games and tournaments.”

Boston’s cold winters, combined with Tufts’ two full-size indoor basketball courts, create a high demand for gym space. First priority goes to the men’s and women’s varsity basketball teams and, given the high standards for NCAA play, practicing six days a week for each of these teams is a necessity.

However, the challenges associated with court time don’t end with varsity basketball. Varsity volleyball also needs the gym space, as well as special events such as Tufts-hosted yoga and pilates classes for gym members, gymnastics meets for local youth programs and many more.

Ultimately, there is little time to squeeze all of this activity in. With classes during the day, club basketball was once forced to start practices as late as 9 p.m. just to find space to play.

“It was tough to find time for practice before we got recognized, but since we’ve had a consistent slot on Sunday and Monday nights from seven to nine to bring everyone together,” Isett said. “It’s a substantial improvement, even though it is two nights back to back.”

Although the team has finally been provided with guaranteed practice times, Hadeshian mentioned that some of these logistical difficulties have had an impact on what the club hoped to accomplish this year. Because of their somewhat inflexible practice times, some members of the team were forced to pull out of the program due to scheduling conflicts. Similarly, because

the team did not receive official club status until late in the club basketball season, they were unable to join a league for this year and will have to wait until next year to apply.

Despite some difficulties along the road, Hadeshian also said that he believes that the official relationship between the club and the school is off to a great start.

“We got funding, which pays for referees and jerseys, so that definitely helps us out a lot,” Hadeshian said. “As far as actually going out and playing in these games, we only used to do a couple a year, and now we can definitely do a lot more.”

Previously, funding had remained a principal concern within the club.

While Tufts can’t be expected to provide full funding for every club sport, prior to being recognized, club basketball received no funding at all. With entry into the National Club Basketball Association (NCBBA) costing up to $750 per year not including transportation, team bonding and other independent tournaments, the price to play was steep for Tufts students.

According to Isett, the team received $1,000 in funding from club sports, finally making it possible to join an official league, such as the NCBBA or the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA). Currently, other Tufts club sports such as soccer participate in NIRSA. Isett expects that the team will join a league next year and will no longer have to play what currently amounts to scrimmages in whatever gym spaces around Cambridge and Somerville they and their opponents can secure.

Thus far, the team has played in games against Northeastern and Boston University, two more established programs at larger schools. However, despite these programs having established histories on their campuses, Tufts has proven that while intramural basketball is a new club, they should not be underestimated. In their first official game as a club sport, Tufts beat BU as a result of some impressive shooting performances from the Jumbos.

Sophomore Owen Copps spoke about this win, highlighting it as one of his favorite memories on the team.

“When we played BU, we started the game with five straight threes, so we went up like 15 points off the bat, and kind of just coasted to a win from there, so it was just a good win,” Copps said.

“Just coming out — I mean BU is probably like, what, five times the size of us in terms of people? So we just went over there and got a win for the Jumbos, so that was fun.”

As the team continues to comfortably adjust to their status as an official club sport, Tufts will host its first-ever home games over the next few weeks, with Bowdoin coming to Medford on Feb. 17 and BU coming on Feb. 25. Isett remains unsure whether these games will be played in Cousens Gym or on the intramural court, but either way, he is grateful that Tufts has agreed to provide space for the games.

Moving forward, the team hopes to enter into the NIRSA regional tournament in Amherst, Mass. in mid-March, the first time it will participate outside of a local scrimmage environment.