The Tufts Daily - Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Writing fellows help students with essays across disciplines see FEATURES / PAGE 4

MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

Jumbos take 2nd place at NESCAC championship

TCU Senators raise awareness on Tufts’ hidden costs see OPINION / PAGE 7

SEE SPORTS / PAGE 11

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXVII, ISSUE 23

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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Ellise LaMotte named director for STEM diversity

by Rhys Empey

Contributing Writer

Ellise LaMotte is the new director of STEM diversity as of this semester, and she has plans to enrich community outreach at the Center for STEM Diversity as well as improve visibility of minority students in STEM at Tufts.

LaMotte holds a Ph.D. in education from University of Massachusetts Boston and has worked at institutions such as Olin College of Engineering and Babson School of Business Admissions office.

LaMotte has begun her role at the center by accompanying STEM ambassadors to Somerville high school classrooms to make interactive presentations in bilingual classrooms, according to TuftsNow. LaMotte wants to provide access to career advising, resume building and networking with “the opportunity to share scientific presentations and interactive experiments with students.”

Sophomore Murshea Tuor of the First Generation Student Collective, a group representing the students that are the first in their families to attend college, explained the value of seeing diversity in academia.

“It’s really powerful when I go through a professors list and there is a brown woman who is an M.D., Ph.D. that looks like me,” Tuor said. “If they can make it, then I can make it too.”

LaMotte said that although the Center for STEM Diversity has come a long way in the past few years, she believes that there is still a long path ahead. Tuor echoed this. “[Tufts] does a lot of outreach to low income people of color who are first-generation … and I feel like there’s more space here, but [women of color] are definitely still a minority group on this campus,” Tuor said.

LaMotte told the Daily that she hopes to expand two programs at Tufts that cater to minority students in STEM fields at Tufts: the Bridge to Engineering Success at Tufts (BEST) program and the Redefining

ALONSO NICHOLS / TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Ellise LaMotte, the new director of the Center for STEM Diversity, poses for a portrait at the Science and Engineering Complex on Dec. 4, 2018. the Image of Science and Engineering (RISE) program. “[There is a] plan to continue the BEST program and grow the RISE program to a year-long seminar as well as finding other ways to engage and support more underrepresented students in STEM,” LaMotte said.

She added that the programs will eventually be streamlined to fit the most effective framework for Tufts students.

Reflecting on her past, LaMotte said that she has felt “out of place in an academic environment.” However, she told TuftsNow that the position at the Center for STEM Diversity is “her dream job,” where she can work to support STEM

majors, specifically engineers who she feels are lacking the most in support for minorities.

“I wish I knew about the opportunity that the Center for STEM Diversity holds,” Roger Gu, a junior, said. “I want to take advantage of any facet I can [as] the pool of people who look like me in my major grows smaller and smaller every year.”

LaMotte hopes to collaborate with national organizations and student groups that have similar goals to support diversity in STEM. “[We should continue] to connect with the STEM clubs that support underrepresented student populations like the National Society of Black

Engineers [and] Out in STEM … to showcase the Center’s work and activities,” LaMotte said.

LaMotte said that despite the small number of minority students in STEM, unrepresented students have more to look forward to as LaMotte wishes to expand to the arts and sciences curriculum and majors available. The Office of Student Success and Advising is working with LaMotte to create greater visibility of her programs and support for the underrepresented profile.

“It’s really nice to see that kind of representation now … there’s mostly kids from my generation that are moving up in economic class,” Tuor said.

TEC Founder’s Workshop connects entrepreneurial alumni, students

by Andres Borjas Contributing Writer

The Tufts Entrepreneurship Center ( TEC) hosted its Founder’s Workshop at 574 Boston Avenue on Feb. 22 to facilitate networking with speeches about the art of the pitch and lengthy question and answer sessions about fund-

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raising strategies. The theme, “Finding the Best People & Money to Start Your Business,” attracted students of varying ages, interests and experience levels to interact face-to-face with startup founders, investors and student entrepreneurs.

TEC Program Administrator Carol Denning oversaw the logistics of the For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

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event and worked with the speakers to develop the content of the workshop.

In describing the speakers TEC sought for the Founder’s Workshop, Denning emphasized how TEC intended the event to be an opportunity for students to learn from those with real-world experience.

“Our keynote speakers are our serial entrepreneurs that have run suc-

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cessful startups and can share some of their life experiences … We also have a venture capitalist panel for an opportunity to ask specific questions,” Denning said. “[ Together] they provide a workshop for students and those who are interested in entrepreneurship to

see FOUNDER’S WORKSHOP, page 2

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

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THE TUFTS DAILY Elie Levine Editor-in-Chief

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Workshop includes networking opportunities, roundtable with young entrepreneurs

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FOUNDER’S WORKSHOP

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PRODUCTION Daniel Montoya

Production Director Ryan Eggers Catalina Mengyao Yang Mia Garvin Jordan Isaacs Maygen Kerner Aidan Menchaca Kiran Misner Alice Yoon Isabella Montoya Myshko Chumak Justin Yu Caroline Bollinger Mary Carroll Rachel Isralowitz Nathan Kyn Ali Mintz Nihaal Shah Liora Silkes Avni Ambalam Rebecca Barker Simone Lipkind Chloe Lyu Ethan Resek Ryan Shaffer Aadhya Shivakumar Filipa Sturm Russell Yip Abigail Zielinski Deepanshu Utkarsh Esra Gurcay Rebecca Tang Asli Akova Ercan Sen Amy Tong Mitch Navetta Amanda Covaleski Olivia Ireland Lillian Miller Chris Panella

Students are pictured at the Tufts Entrepreneurship Center’s Founder’s Workshop at the Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex.

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just learn a little more about entrepreneurship.”

Alex Aronson, an intern with the TEC and a senior minoring in entrepreneurial leadership studies, said that individuals with little experience in start-ups could benefit from the business-centered lectures and networking emphasis of the Founder’s Workshop.

“This stuff is so cool, you get so much out of it even if you’re not interested in starting your own startup,” Aronson said.

The opportunity to learn from top talent and network with possible investors attracted burgeoning entrepreneurs from all over Boston. Cindy Zhuo, a graduate student at Boston University, made the trek to Medford on behalf of Hemplete, a hemp-based protein bar startup for which she serves as chief marketing officer.

“We have momentum but still need cash to grow the company to the next level,” she said. “That’s why I came here trying to learn more, get some information and do some networking.”

Zhuo expressed how listening to the experiences of fellow entrepreneurs impacts her and her company. She connected with the story of speaker Dan Schorr, founder and chief ice cream officer of start-up Vice Cream.

“It’s interesting to hear food entrepreneurs, [in addition to] also investors’ perspectives and some pipeline angels that actually invested in food and beverage companies,” Zhou said.

Schorr, a Tufts alumnus (LA ’17), said he was glad to see how the Founder’s Workshop and other entrepreneurship events at Tufts allow graduates to continue contributing to their alma mater.

“I think it’s great to bring back a different generation … I can learn from them and, hopefully, they can learn from me,” he said.

Schorr expressed enthusiasm at the chance to come back to Tufts and share his experience.

“I am just thrilled and kind of lighting up about being back in touch with the university,” Schorr said.

Schorr left the workshop excited about the many projects students were working on and the future of Tufts entrepreneurship.

“I’m so impressed after today,” he said.

“I wasn’t surprised but just really impressed and in awe of the students here.”

James Aronson (LA ’18), who graduated from Tufts with a degree in mechanical engineering, is currently working towards a Master of Science in Innovation & Management at the Gordon Institute and attended the event on Friday. He co-founded Vacuusafe, a startup developing improved methods of preserving biological samples. With his company in the semifinals of the Gordon Institute’s 100K New Business Ventures Competition, Aronson hoped to learn what to expect of the future of his business venture at the Founder’s Workshop. “[At] an event like this, you get to meet so many different people who are working on a variety of different projects and who have experiences far beyond

[mine],” he said. “These people know far more than I do and have navigated all the challenges that I’m going to have to navigate.”

For Aronson, the interaction between experts and fellow newcomers in the startup scene created powerful learning opportunities at the Founder’s Workshop.

Catherine Popper, a Tufts alumna (LA ’87) and an angel investor at the Launchpad Venture Group, participated in the workshop’s Early Stage Venture Capital Roundtable as a part of her greater role within the TEC. “I have been helping out with the TEC as both mentor, coaching some of the teams, I’ve been judging a couple of the different competition, [and] I’m a screener for the upcoming 100K competition,” she said.

Popper will be joining the board of advisors for TEC, according to TEC Director Jack Derby, and she hopes to see the program’s visibility at the university continue to rise. “[I want to] continue to raise the profile of Tufts as a great place for entrepreneurship,” she said.

While Denning explained that the Founder’s Workshop is a bi-annual event, she elaborated on the ongoing efforts of TEC to offer continual presence and support for entrepreneurship at Tufts.

“We have weekly Jumbo Cafés … and we have target topics each week that appeal to entrepreneurs,” Dennings said.

“These [ Jumbo Cafés] are drop-in sessions and it’s an opportunity for students in a more intimate setting to ask questions and get feedback from experts.”

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BUSINESS Olivia Davis

A previous version of the Feb. 25 article “TCU Senate passes resolution calling for due process in Professor Abowd’s contract renewal” incorrectly reflected the order of events during Sunday’s Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate meeting. Before the Senate heard the resolution, former Yahoo! Inc President, Tufts alumna and Raftr co-founder Sue Decker (E ’84, LA ’84) presented her plans for the social networking app to the TCU Senate, responding to questions and feedback on her app. The article has been updated to reflect the true order of events. The Daily regrets this error.

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3

Police Briefs — Week of Feb. 25

by Jenna Fleischer

Administration does not email individuals and request personal information.

HIIT and run On Feb. 18 at 11:33 a.m., Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) received a report from a temporary employee that their vehicle had been damaged in Cousens Parking Lot. The temporary employee noticed the damage to their vehicle after leaving the gym. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the damage occurred prior to the vehicle entering the lot.

Stuck on Tisch On Feb. 20 at 11:44 a.m., TUPD was informed of stickers on light posts in the area surrounding Tisch Library; the stickers read “Zionism = colonialism.” TUPD is currently investigating, and the case will be further handled by the Dean of Student Affairs and the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO).

News Editor

Leave your SSN in the comments below On Feb. 19, TUPD was notified by several students and staff members of a Social Security scam. In one instance, a student provided their personal information to a scammer, but they did not report monetary losses. TUPD reminds the community that the Social Security

Early to dock, early to dine On Feb. 22 at 7:22 a.m., TUPD received a report from a Tufts Dining employee that a delivery truck has arrived at DewickMacPhie Dining Center loading dock earlier than expected. The employee had arrived at work early to complete some paperwork when the truck showed up before its scheduled arrival time. TUPD referred the employee to Human Resources and Tufts Dining for further assistance.

NICHOLAS PFOSI / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

A TUPD car is pictured outside of the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center on May 9, 2014.

4 Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Features

W tuftsdaily.com

Writing right with the fellows

COURTESY CHRIS LEAVERTON

Members of the newest class of writing fellows pose for a photo alongside head writing fellows Tasha Statz-Geary and Sharif Campbell and program director Kristina Aikens.

by Russell Yip

Contributing Writer

The Writing Fellows Program will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this coming fall. Not all students will work with a writing fellow throughout their four years at Tufts, but in the last two decades, generations of fellows have been providing writing support to those who have come their way.

The program was established in 1999 by the late Nadia Medina, a former lecturer in the English department and founder of the Academic Resource Center (ARC). According to Kristina Aikens, program director of Writing Resources at the ARC, the program is based on a similar program at Brown University, which sought to improve the standard of writing and at the same time aided faculty members in integrating writing into their classes. While the Tufts program has evolved over the years, its core approach has not changed since its inception 20 years ago, according to Aikens.

“The basic principle has stayed pretty true, which is that the writing fellows are working one-on-one with students in specific classes and they interact with

the faculty as well,” Aikens said. “It helps them to support students in answering questions that they might not feel comfortable asking the professor … and allows them to have some insight into the goals of the writing assignments.”

The writing fellows team is comprised entirely of undergraduate students, which, according to Aikens, has been a feature of the program since its founding. Throughout the semester, they meet with students enrolled in their assigned classes to discuss revising at least two graded writing assignments.

Sharif Campbell, a senior and one of the head fellows, describes these sessions as being very conversational in nature. “[ We’re] kind of asking them the right questions to enable them to … fully articulate and communicate the ideas that they have in mind with us.”

Campbell said. “[This is] so that we can kind of point in the directions that we think might be beneficial for them to actually implement those changes on paper to express that idea that is theirs.”

This year, the Writing Fellows Program is headed by Campbell and fellow senior Tasha Statz-Geary.

While one might expect most of the fellows to major in English or in the sub-

jects to which they are assigned, David Proctor, senior lecturer in the history department and long-time program collaborator, shared that this is not necessarily the case.

“I’ve had writing fellows from … virtually every major I can think of, usually somewhere in the humanities and social sciences, but not always,” Proctor said.

“That doesn’t have a negative effect at all … because of the training that they receive.”

Statz-Geary, a Spanish and sociology major, recalls her time as a writing fellow for an engineering class.

“I did a [biomedical engineering] course once … I think it’s fun to do things that aren’t in your majors because [you] learn about so much that you wouldn’t normally. We learnt a lot about CRISPR … it’s really cool,” she said.

Aspiring fellows who make it through the application process attend a oneweek intensive workshop series during orientation week in the fall, where they learn the concepts and philosophy behind the program. Subsequently, they enroll in a semester-long seminar on writing pedagogy and at the same time begin their work as fellows. According to Aikens, they are also paired up with

more experienced fellows as part of an in-house mentorship program.

All fellows also meet every month, according to Statz-Geary.

“There’s … a check-in every month where we always talk about ‘fellow-ing’ in some way, whether it’s [a] difficult thing that someone had and how they learned from it or to share philosophies,” Statz-Geary said.

According to the ARC website, writing fellows receive a $650 stipend per semester, which may increase after their first semester on the job.

According to Aikens, in her nine years leading the fellows she has overseen some exciting developments in the program. It has supported faculty in the development of new courses, most recently with an introductory class for the environmental studies program.

“For example, we were part of the [first] Introduction to Environmental Studies class … it was really exciting to be in there from the ground level because we were there the first time it was taught

by Professor [Ninian] Stein,” Aikens said.

The program has also worked towards bringing more disciplines into the fold.

see WRITING FELLOWS, page 5

F e at u r e s

Tuesday, February 26, 2019 | Features | THE TUFTS DAILY

Writing fellows provide support to students through ARC WRITING FELLOWS

continued from page 4

Shalini Tendulkar, lecturer at the community health department, teaches one of the writing fellows courses offered this semester.

“It is intriguing that we are kind of working with the writing fellows, and in many ways this course is a little bit different than some of the other courses that are being ‘fellow-ed,’” Tendulkar said. “But what we’re really trying to do in this course is teach students how to write for community and public health.”

According to Aikens, the fellows have also been involved in the six-week Bridge to Liberal Arts Success at Tufts (BLAST) Program held in the summer, providing writing support to the incoming firstyears on the program.

Proctor also said that having the writing fellows involved in his Europe Since 1815 class, which was taught during the BLAST program, was extraordinarily helpful.

“It really helps the students in … what is a short amount of time, just six weeks, really sharpen their writing skills and … prepare them for what college-level writing is going to expect them to do,” Proctor said.

Leila Skinner, an undeclared firstyear, took two writing fellow classes in the fall, namely Introduction to Environmental Studies and Introduction to Civic Studies, and found her sessions with her assigned fellows very helpful.

“They’d had me read [my assignments] out loud or try to explain in my own words what I was trying to say,”

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Skinner said. “And it would kind of get me to think about my work and critique my own work as opposed to them just doing it for me.”

Tendulkar notes the positive feedback that she has received about the writing fellows in her course.

“There will always be a handful of students that talk about how much they appreciated the support offered through the Writing Fellows Program. They felt like they were not on their own working on an assignment, that they had this other team that was helping them clarify the expectations, work on the writing,” she said.

While the program has been received rather positively by those interviewed, it is not without its limitations. For example, Skinner said that she did not know that those two classes were part of the program beforehand.

Aikens acknowledges that Skinner is not alone in her experience. Currently, the only way for students to find out if their course is a writing fellows one prior to class is through the ARC website.

“Usually [students] find out on the first day of class,” she said, adding that she is working on making that information available on Tufts’ Student Information System (SIS).

With the program being a mandatory component of some courses, having a positive experience with one’s writing fellow is crucial. When asked about whether students can seek recourse should their time with their assigned fellows be negative, Aikens said that approaching someone involved in the program would be the most helpful, be

it herself, the point fellow of the class or the professors themselves.

“We address it … depending on what the situation is. If it seems like a bad match of personalities and approaches, then we can just adjust and move [the student to] a different writing fellow,” Aikens said.

For students to benefit the most from their sessions with the writing fellows, Campbell said that it is important for them to believe in themselves.

“Don’t come in timid. It’s hard to, because you’re meeting new people, but we’re really here to help … to have you in a better position than you started from,” Campbell said.

While seeking writing support in college is not a must, Aikens has this to say about the importance of collaboration in one’s development as a writer at any level.

“I think that sometimes people think that writing tutoring is for people who are struggling with writing … whether you feel like you struggle as a writer, or whether you feel like you want to improve more as a writer, all of these … are good reasons to talk to somebody about your writing,” Aikens said.

According the Aikens, the ARC Writing Center, located on level one of Tisch Library, had a soft open this semester and is slated to fully open in fall 2019.

“We’ve never had a writing center, and now we have [one] in the library …

I’m excited to see what that’s going to bring when we have a physical location for students to engage in the concept of writing,” Aikens said.

5

Allie Morgenstern Making my (Den)mark

Intro

I

’m currently studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark through DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia.

I’m participating in the child development core class, but I’m also taking photojournalism, a developmental disorders class and I intern in a Danish sixth-grade class every Thursday. I love this program so much, so I apologize in advance to my friends for talking about abroad non-stop for the rest of my life.

Before I got to Copenhagen, I had a long list of places I wanted to travel to and things I wanted to do. The first few days, I definitely was in the mindset of having to check things off a list.

Nyhavn Canal? Check. National Art Gallery? Check. As much as I love the tourist lifestyle, I realized that abroad doesn’t have to be about seeing everything and traveling everywhere. While I still want to see all that Copenhagen has to offer, I’ve been trying to go with the flow and not worry as much about all of my usual lists.

I’ve also realized how important it is to try and forget about all the expectations there are for studying abroad. It’s hard to see other students’ social media posts and wonder if you’re “doing it right.” I was really stressed about this the first couple of weeks, worrying about traveling every weekend. However, I’ve learned that I don’t need to worry about how my time in Denmark looks to other people. We all have our own unique abroad experiences that are meaningful to us. I’ve started to settle into life here and have found my place with different groups of people, so I love the opportunities I have to discover more and more about them and their lives here in Denmark.

Sure, there are several places I’d like to visit, but I also love staying in Copenhagen and exploring and spending time with my visiting host family. I spent one Saturday driving up the coast of Denmark with my host mom and my best friend from home, who was visiting. We took a guided tour of Kronborg Castle and got to enjoy the beautiful coastal scener y. We could literally see Sweden across the water. At home, it can take me 45 minutes to drive into Boston. Here, 45 minutes gets you to a different country. It’s wild. Still blows my mind.

Anyways, after our castle tour, I spent the rest of the day at my visiting host family’s house. We had a very quaint, Danish lunch, and then I introduced them to the wonderful world of peanut butter cookies. I even taught them to eat the raw cookie dough, which they were amazed by. It’s life-changing, I know.

We finished off the day with pizza, our delicious, slightly deformed cookies for dessert and a marathon of half the “Hunger Games” movie series and a Disney movie in Danish — luckily, the songs were in English, so I could still sing along. It’s a wonder I didn’t scare my host family off.

Allie Morgenstern is a junior who is studying child study and human development. Allie can be reached at allison. morgenstern@tufts.edu.

6 Tuesday, February 26, 2019

ARTS&LIVING

tuftsdaily.com

MUSEUM EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

ISG’s latest exhibition ‘Botticelli: Heroes and Heroines’ casts new light onto a Renaissance master

COURTESY ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM

Sandro Botticelli’s ‘The Tragedy of Lucretia’ is pictured.

by Libby Langsner Executive Arts Editor

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s (ISG) current exhibition “Botticelli: Heroes and Heroines” explores a side of the Renaissance master that viewers may not be as familiar with. The exhibition is based on the museum’s own painting “Story of Lucretia” (circa 1500), which Gardner acquired in 1894. It was the first painting by Sandro Botticelli to ever be brought to the United States.

The work was initially part of a pair alongside the “Story of Virginia” (about 1500), and because of a generous loan from the Accademia Carrara, the two works can be seen as they were initially intended to be viewed, side by side.

All six paintings in the exhibition are spalliera, which are painted wall panels designed to be viewed at eye level and were found in homes above pieces of furniture. In their own time period, these works would have been incredibly inaccessible, and the stories they depicted would have mainly resonated with upper-class viewers who commissioned the works to display their wealth and cultural intelligence. These ancient stories are even more unknown today, so the ISG commissioned cartoonist Karl Stevens to create comics to illustrate the story of how Gardner acquired the work, as well as to recontextualize the works for the modern day, focusing the narratives on the women central to these stories.

Nathaniel Silver, the ISG’s William and Lia Poorvu curator, curated the show with a mind to showing a different side of Botticelli. “ When … [viewers] think of Botticelli, they think of his Madonnas and his Venuses,” Silver said. “The subjects in here are neither kind of conventionally beautiful and nor are they particularly upbeat, I guess you could say.”

Silver spoke more to the nature of the pieces.

“They’re violent, there’s a lot of death in them,” Silver noted. “I think it’s a part of Botticelli’s career and for other Renaissance artists too that’s otherwise overlooked because it doesn’t fit in with our notion of … [Renaissance artists], as the Renaissance as a moment of rebirth and flourishing of the arts. And you know some of those talents were devoted to very violent subjects. If you think about Florence around 1500 as recovering the arts of Ancient Rome and really trying to rebrand their city of Florence as the new Rome, they’re not just taking from Rome ancient techniques, as well as ancient stories, but part of that renewal is also focused on ancient literature, and many of those stories are very violent stories.”

The exhibition also addresses the gendered nature of these stories and how violence against women functions in these paintings (and the foundation of Western European civilization), measuring them against how viewers

understand these narratives today in the age of #MeToo and feminism.

Silver elaborated more on the gendered aspects of the art.

“So if you think about like the rape of Europa, the rape of Lucretia, the murder of Virginia, Rhea Silvia, these are all stories that involve violence against women, in particular,” Silver said. “These are all generative stories in the sense that they are seen as essential to the history of Western European culture. They’re foundational stories in Western European art and culture, and yet we kind of never really think about them.”

The museum also partnered with Stevens to create companion works for Botticelli’s paintings. These were hung alongside the original works not only as a way to explain the narratives, but also to transform the women in these works into active agents.

“Botticelli’s painting them here and making them modern for his own day, and then we worked with an artist who’s looking at Botticelli’s interpretations and making them relevant for ours,” Silver said. “But I think there’s a lot of relevance in terms of the subject matter … particularly the way in which women are portrayed.

Silver elaborated further on artistic interpretations.

“In this case, [women are] celebrated for events that are somewhat out of their hands,” Silver noted. “So, [it was] not Lucretia’s choice to be attacked by the king’s son Tarquin, but it was her choice to commit suicide, and as

a result this event led to outrage and a revolution that would overthrow the king and install the republican government, so effectively kind of a democracy. It isn’t Virginia’s choice to be lusted after by one of the ten men who came to rule Rome, but her murder, which was also not her choice, led to an outrage which propelled a revolution which overthrew this council and restored the republican government,” he continued. “So, if we think today about implicit bias … we have to go back not even just a couple years in our history or the #MeToo movement, but you kind of have to go all the way back to the foundations.”

This exhibition serves many different kinds of viewers, from history and classics buffs to graphic novel fans and just about anyone interested in feminist discourse and the origins of misogyny in the Western world. For those who are fans of Botticelli and his work, it is definitely worth taking a look as these pieces, some of the last he ever made, to see a side of him that is darker and more violent, but also rich in technical skill. It is hard to escape Botticelli’s pure talent, no matter the subject he chooses to paint. One might even leave the exhibit with a deeper understanding of his work, while still being able to look at the stories he portrayed and how he portrayed them with a critical eye.

“Botticelli: Heros and Heroines” will be running until May 19 in the Hostetter Gallery. Tickets for students are $5 with a valid ID.

TUFTS A r t s THE & L i v iDAILY n g| Arts & Living | Tuesday, February 26, 2019

7

The 91st Oscars: A recap

Tuna Margalit Review Rewind

‘Before Sunrise’

VIA ABC IMAGES

A promotional image for the Academy Awards is pictured.

Contributing Writer

This past Sunday, the 91st Oscars were held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, as they have been the past 18 times since the theatre was opened in 2001. However, during the ceremony, a feeling of change lingered in the air.

This was the first time in 30 years that the Oscars did not have a host. Many worried that the lack of a leading comic would end in a disastrous show, as it did back in 1989. But this was not the case last night. The hostless awards ceremony was better than in previous years, making viewers wonder if this should be the go-to method moving forward.

Now to the night’s winners. There was no one film that completely outdid the others, and there was quite a variation in award winners.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018) took home four awards, for best Sound Mixing, best Film Editing, best Sound Editing, and best Actor in a leading role for Rami Malek’s performance as the iconic Freddie Mercury.

“Black Panther” (2018) garnered three statues, for best Costume Design, best Production Design, and best Music (Original Score).

“Green Book” (2018) also won thrice, for best Writing (Original Screenplay), best Actor in a Supporting Role for Mahershala Ali’s portrayal of legendary Jazz artist Don Shirley, and the most prestigious award for films, best Picture.

“Roma” (2018) triumphed in three categories, too. The film won recognition in best Cinematography, best Foreign Language Film and best Directing, which Alfonso Cuarón won for the second time in his career.

These films were the only multi-award winners. Some other notable wins of the night included best Actress in a leading role for Olivia Colman, likely the biggest upset of the night; best Actress in Supporting Role for Regina King, whose win slightly makes up for the film’s omission from the best Picture category; best Animated Feature Film for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018), becoming first non-Disney movie since “Rango” (2011) to win this category and just the sixth non-Disney movie ever to win it; best Music (Original Song) went to Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” from “A Star is Born” (2018) likely the least shocking victory of the night (though their stellar live rendition surely sparked some of the lost shock in the crowd).

Best Documentary (Feature) went to “Free Solo” (2018), best Documentary (Short Subject) to “Period. End of Sentence” (2018), best Short Film (Live Action) to “Skin” (2018) and best Short Film (Animated) to “Bao” (2018).

Picking up best Visual Effects was the oft-overlooked “First Man” (2018) and best Makeup and Hairstyling rightfully went to “Vice” (2018).

In between the awards was a good show, which was surprising given the controversies leading up to Sunday. Jokes

landed, musical performances wowed and most speeches were excellent.

The presenters of the night were especially memorable. The opening trifecta was comprised of former Saturday Night Live colleagues Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, whose barrage of topical jokes was well-received by the crowd of celebrities. Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry hilariously presented best Costume Design while clad in garb inspired by “The Favourite” (2018).

There were spot-on musical numbers coming from a range of voice. Broadway legend Bette Midler belted best Music (Original Song)-nominated “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns” (2018). Musicians Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert and Queen as well as the duo of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performed as well.

With the night’s biggest upset, Olivia Colman delivered a terrific speech. She managed to thank her idol and this year’s best Actress in a leading role frontrunner Glenn Close, as well as Lady Gaga.

Looking to the future, trailers for the coming year’s films were unleashed during the Oscars broadcast. Most exciting were new spots for Disney’s “The Lion King” (2019), Marvel’s “Captain Marvel” (2019) Elton John biopic “Rocketman” (2019) and Martin Scorsese’s next gangster venture “The Irishman” (2019). At least one of these films is expected to be recognized this time next year at the 92nd Oscars.

ION OF STA IAT TE OC

TERS RES FO

NATIONAL A SS

by Tuna Margalit

FO

U N D E D 192

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The Movie: “Before Sunrise” The Year: 1995 The People: Ethan Hawke as the suave, philosophical American man, Jesse. Julie Delpy as the inviting, equally-philosophical Frenchwoman, Céline. Richard Linklater as a fourth-time director.

The Non-Revealing Plot: Céline and Jesse meet on a train out of Budapest.

Following a lengthy conversation with numerous ideas shared between the two, Jesse invites Céline to get off with him at his destination, Vienna, instead of her initial destination, Paris. She agrees, and they spend the day together, falling in love (or however close to “in love” two can be with each other after one day).

Unofficial Genre: The film best fits under the romance genre. It does not contain many dramatic moments and relies mostly on conversation and dialogue as means of advancing the protagonists’ relationship rather than on action.

My Opinion (Emotional): The main draw of the film is the protagonists’ relationship. Sadly, Jesse has many unlikable moments that turned me off from him. Maybe this was intentional — to show that people are not perfect — or maybe he’s a product of his time, but in the end I was not convinced by Jesse and his intentions, which sucks because I see Ethan Hawke as a great actor.

Céline is an incredible character, which is so refreshing and unique to a genre that often belittles its female characters.

Because of the disparity in my feelings towards the two, I didn’t feel emotionally satisfied or invested in their relationship.

My Opinion (Technical): The technical aspects of the film are more impressive than the emotional ones.

Running at 101 minutes, the movie does not waste a single one. Nearly every moment is filled with dialogue that isn’t afraid to be wrong, weird, confusing or pseudo-intellectual; its only concern is being true to life, and it succeeds.

The majority of the film is comprised of long takes and two shots, both techniques emphasizing the centrality of dialogue. While I found this method of camerawork to coincide well with the focus of the film, it detracted from Vienna’s place in the story as a romantic European setting. Linklater must’ve known this too, as he compensated for the lack of the setting’s influence by throwing in side characters meant to add a sense of European romanticism so integral to other similarly located stories. Unfortunately, these side characters feel artificial in their actions — a bartender willingly gives Jesse a full bottle of wine for no reason, and a random man on the street writes them a surprisingly eloquent poem in a matter of seconds. The poem was actually written by poet David Jewell. All these side plots contribute to the theme of romance, but they create an apparent disconnect from the dialogue.

Overall Rating: While I appreciate Linklater’s vision for a novel type of romance film, most aspects of the film are lacking in some form or another.

However, due to its uniqueness within its genre, the movie is greater than the sum of its parts, and it’s still worth viewing.

I’d give it a 6/10.

If You Like This, You’ll Also Like: I have not seen a single movie like it, so I’d check out the rest of the “Before” Trilogy.

Tuna Margalit is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Tuna can be reached at yonatan.margalit@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Tuesday, February 26, 2019

tuftsdaily.com

‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett arrested, faces felony false police report charge

VIA BUSTLE

Jussie Smollett performs onstage during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, N.V.

by Tommy Gillespie Arts Editor

On Thursday, “Empire” (2015–) actor Jussie Smollett turned himself into

the custody of Chicago Police, marking a stark turnaround in one of the year’s strangest news stories thus far.

Smollett, who checked himself into a Chicago hospital in the early hours of

Jan. 29, had alleged that two attackers had beaten him outside a Subway restaurant while making racial and homophobic slurs. He also claimed that they had placed a noose around his neck and chanted “MAGA country” in reference to Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.

Initially, a wide outpouring of support for Smollett circulated in the news and on social media, from Smollett’s “Empire” co-star Taraji P. Henson to presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.

However, after Chicago Police raided the home of two persons of interest on Feb. 14, pieces of a different story began to emerge amid multiple conflicting news reports and a statement from Chicago Police saying that Smollett was under no suspicion. With building confusion about the nature of Smollett’s attack, the actor appeared in a televised interview with Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America” the same day.

In the now-controversial interview, Smollett answered growing reports that the attack (or some elements thereof ) had been a hoax, saying, “It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim, or a Mexican or someone black, I feel like the doubters would’ve supported me a lot more.”

The two persons of interest, Abel and Ola Osundairo, are brothers of Nigerian origin with whom Smollett had an existing relationship. They met when Abel appeared in a small role on “Empire.” They were taken into police custody but not charged. They

were released on Feb. 15. Subsequent to their questioning, Chicago Police announced that the focus of their investigation had shifted.

Speculation as to a possible motive for Smollett to stage the attack went in multiple directions from a wide spectrum of sources, with some alleging that Smollett’s character was being written out of “Empire,” which Fox denied. Others claimed that Smollett was dissatisfied with his “Empire” salary and was seeking to use to attack to leverage a pay raise.

After the brothers’ release, surveillance footage showing them purchasing ski masks and red hats emerged. CBS News reported that they were cooperating with prosecutors on the investigation. On Feb. 20, the Cook County state attorney filed a charge of felony disorderly conduct against Smollett in the wake of an announcement from Chicago Police that Smollett had become a suspect in the investigation.

The speculation came to a head when Smollett turned himself in on Feb. 21. In press conferences, Chicago Police announced that they believed Smollett had paid the Osundairo brothers to stage the attack to gain publicity and advance his salary.

They also believe a threatening letter Smollett had received before the attacks was also fabricated. If convicted, the actor faces up to three years in prison. Following Smollett’s arrest, the creators of “Empire” announced that his character would be removed from the final two episodes of the show’s fifth season.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

F &G FUN & GAMES

9

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY David: “Butt-naked in a Lamborghini, I’d like that right now.”

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Pisces (Feb. 19–March 20)

Discover a hidden mess at work. An illusion could get shatered. Allow extra time to clean thing up and resolve misunderstandings. You’ve got this.

Difficulty Level: Walking through the wind tunnel between Olin and Houston.

Monday’s Solutions

CROSSWORD

10 tuftsdaily.com

Noah Mills Spaceship Earth

From farm to house — Industrial hemp

W

ith the planet warming, global conflict in the near future is unavoidable as resource scarcity, loss of land and extreme weather events push people to act in rational but violent ways. To limit the severity of these conflicts, we must begin making radical changes to the way we do almost everything.

One interesting example of such change is a new material used for construction which is carbon negative when produced and used.

This material is hemp concrete, commonly known as hempcrete, and is made using hemp and limestone. Hemp can also be used to make insulation. However, hempcrete has natural insulating properties that prevent heat loss and thus are energy efficient. The fascinating aspect of this material is how it functions over the course of its lifespan.

Once a wall made using hempcrete is built, it draws carbon dioxide from the air, effectively neutralizing it. This means that both its production, the growing of hemp and its use over the course of its whole life are carbon negative processes. Speaking of its entire life, hempcrete has an estimated life span of more than 100 years, which means it produces less physical waste over time.

Although hempcrete does not have load-bearing capabilities, it is an ideal building material for things like houses, which do not need to support as much weight as heavy-duty buildings. Even in other buildings, however, hemp is still effective as an option for insulation, and both the insulation and the hempcrete have the special aspects of being moisture and termite resistant. During the growth of hemp, the plant does not require herbicide or pesticides to be grown effectively, and it requires very little water, so it grows in a wide variety of locations. Lastly, it should be clarified that industrial hemp has almost no THC, the psychoactive drug in the leaves of the hemp plant, and thus can’t be used to get high.

Now, hopefully, all of this sounds great to you: a natural, carbon negative, insulating construction material that can be grown all over at a low cost. What is there that’s not to like? Unfortunately up until very recently, marijuana and hemp were illegal due to their classification in the cannabis family. However, as of December, the 2018 farm bill legalized the growth of hemp for the first time since 1970, on the condition that people with former drug related felony convictions would be prohibited from engaging with this new industry on any condition. This condition indicates that there is still a significant amount of work necessary to remove the stigma around hemp and its products, which will likely slow its much-needed implementation in construction in the near future. This means that modern-day environmental activists can take some time in their busy schedules to raise awareness about the facts of industrial hemp and its role in building a more sustainable future that is not just carbon neutral, but actually carbon negative.

Noah Mills is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Noah can be reached at noah.mills@tufts.edu.

Opinion

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

OP-ED

The rising hidden costs of an education at Tufts This year, the total cost of attendance at Tufts was estimated to be $73,500. Tufts University students, student organizations and administrators have spent a large amount of time recently discussing the important issue of tuition and fee hikes; however, there has been very little conversation about financial accessibility once students arrive on campus. Last semester, the Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate’s Education Committee conducted a survey of students on the financial costs of the classroom, including the prices of textbooks, online homework codes and other issues students face. The survey was posted on class facebook pages and received a large response sample size of 378. Our goal is to spur a conversation about financial issues at Tufts that extend beyond the price of tuition and include hidden fees associated with attending an institution of higher education.

Students have been combating the rising prices of textbooks by renting, buying used and finding free versions

of their in-class texts. Despite savvy attempts to decrease costs, the practice of making the purchase of online access codes mandatory places a significant financial burden on students who are unable to afford an additional cost that can be upwards of $150.

Digital access codes are unique and cannot be resold or rented like real textbooks. For many classes, codes are necessary to complete assignments, take quizzes and thus receive a grade.

Additionally, access codes undercut the efforts of certain measures meant to reduce textbook costs, like the TCU Senate Textbook Exchange and the Office of Student Success and Advising Lending Library. This raises numerous concerns regarding the financial accessibility of higher education and is one of the motivating factors behind this survey.

Other in-classroom costs, like the ever-rising prices of textbooks, art supplies, printing and extra credit opportunities that students have to pay for place additional financial burdens on students even on top of tui-

tion. These costs can also be sporadic and difficult to estimate, an instability which further complicates and burdens students’ financial situations.

As people that takes pride in fostering a diverse and inclusive community, we must critically evaluate practices and actively be engaged in an ongoing conversation about financial accessibility. We hope that these data illuminate concerns that students have and help to create conversations about practices that are beneficial to everyone. Additionally, we hope to encourage a long-term dialogue about financial accessibility of higher education, especially within the classroom, and the importance of helping reduce such burdens to students.

The full length survey report, which was presented to the Executive Faculty Committee, can be found here.

Signed, Ayden Crosby, Shannon Lee, Jacqueline Chen, Adam Rapfogel, Iyra Chandra, Amrutha Chintalapudi, Klavs Takhtani, Deepen Goradia, Alex Lein

CARTOON

Workers vs. Consumers

BY RUIJINGYA TANG

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

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

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

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

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

Sports

Tuesday, February 26, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Men’s swimming and diving tops last year’s score, falls just short of back-to-back NESCAC titles

by Jeremy Goldstein Sports Editor

In an action-packed weekend featuring a dazzling display of aqua prowess, the Jumbos came up just short in defending their NESCAC title this weekend at Middlebury College. Tufts was neck and neck with Williams College, ultimately putting up a tally of 1,775.5 points, just short of the Ephs’ score of 1,822. There was distance from the rest of the pack: third place Amherst tallied 1,506 points.

The Jumbos’ score actually topped their points total from last season at Bowdoin College, where they totaled 1,671 points. The extra 100 points gained in a variety of ways, with old faces returning to once again put up top performances and new ones looking to make their mark. In all, there were nine first-place showings.

“Even though we didn’t win, it’s one of the most exciting weekends we’ve had … in my three years here,” junior Roger Gu said. “Just seeing really everyone really dig in and try their best, and that’s all we could ever ask for.”

Three of the showings individually came from the backstroke of senior tri-captain Kingsley Bowen. On Friday night, Bowen finished on top with a winning time of 22.48 in the 50-yard backstroke before prevailing in the 100-yard backstroke on Saturday with a time of 48.42. On Sunday, Bowen earned his sixth career NESCAC individual victory with 1:46.48 mark in the 200-yard backstroke.

All of these marks were good enough for an NCAA B-cut mark and earned the super-senior NESCAC swimmer of the year and the NESCAC 4-Year High Point Swimmer Award.

In all, Bowen’s times were part of 24 total NCAA B-cut qualifying times, which

Sam Weidner Weidner's words

J

COURTESY PAUL RUTHERFORD

First-year Joseph Kim swims his way to victory in the 400-yard individual medley at the MIT Invitational on Dec. 2, 2018. means depending on the results of other races nationally, the swimmers may get invited to the NCAA championships in Greensboro, N.C. in late March.

“It speaks volumes of the program’s development,” coach Adam Hoyt said.

“Currently we have 24 guys scoring in the conference championships, and many guys who don’t get to compete at the conference championship could’ve scored at the championship level.”

Gu was responsible for another smattering of top showings. In the 50-yard freestyle, Gu swam his way to 19.89-second performance in the finals that bested his own NESCAC record. This wasn’t the only record he set, as he also broke the NESCAC championship meet record in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 43.78 seconds. Both scores were good enough were NCAA B-cut marks. Gu credited his coaching staff to helping him achieve his success.

“With our new coach Abby [Brethaur] this year, she’s definitely played a huge role,” Gu said. “Coach Doug Boyd has played a new role … [and] of course coach Hoyt and coach Joe [Aquaviva] always help.”

Gu and Bowen would swim to more first-place finishes as part of relay teams.

Gu swam as the anchor for a NESCAC record-breaking 200-yard freestyle relay with junior Costa Camerano and sophomores JJ Batt and Lomax Turner, collectively leading the pack with a 1:21.21 time. He would be joined by Bowen in both the 200- and 400-yard medley relays. For the former, they were joined

by Camerano and fellow junior Matt Manfre for a 1:29.26 time worthy of a NCAA B-cut spot. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Gu and Bowen were joined by first-years Nate Tingen and Tar Tar Jarusinchai to set yet another NESCAC

record of 3.16:48, which was also a Tufts record.

“It takes four guys putting a great relay together,” Hoyt said. “It speaks volumes to the closeness of the guys on the team, it speaks highly that they want to swim for each other … [Sometimes guys are] putting together faster times than they would individually, [and it shows guys’] responsibility to do their part for the team, to step up.”

The crowd support certainly motivated the athletes.

“Part of what makes our swim team so special is the amount of team support we get,” Bowen said. “Even though the Middlebury meet was three or four hours away, at every section we had over 60 … kids and parents cheering in the stands.

I think it helps us put less pressure on ourselves because you start swimming for the team.”

Jarusinchai also took the crown in the 200-yard individual medley on Friday with a time of 1:51.09, rounding out the firstplace finishes for the Jumbos. Camerano also had a busy weekend: His 22.12 in the 50-yard butterfly was good for second place and broke the Jumbo record for the event, while he also claimed third place in the 50-yard freestyle.

The announcements for the NCAA B-cuts turning into NCAA invitations come out this Wednesday, but in some situations, the circumstances are bigger than NCAAs. “Last year we had our largest group of NCAA qualifiers[: 11],” Hoyt said. “And this year I’ll believe we’ll have more. The more athletes you have competing, the more it feels like a team competition rather than an individual competition. The environment created when you have 10-plus is way different. There’s still more racing to be done.”

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The StudentAthlete Myth

ust 30 seconds into the vaunted rivalry matchup between Duke and the University of North Carolina (UNC) on Wednesday, Duke’s high-flying first-year star Zion Williamson went down with a sprained knee and a splitin-half shoe. It was an injury that at first glance looked much worse than its reality, but it provided another reminder of the uncertainty with which collegiate and NBA athletes are faced. One major injury has the potential to derail the entire career of an athlete before it even gets started.

The reality of this risk is why so many current NBA players, fans and others have suggested that Williamson should end his time with Duke and just begin to prepare for the NBA. The movement has put pressure on the NCAA once again, raising the ongoing debate about whether or not college players should be able to financially capitalize on their own brand and be compensated for the financial gains that they bring to the university and the NCAA. One common defense of not paying athletes often raises the point that the amateur status of players needs to be maintained in order to maintain the popularity of the sport. Essentially, this argues that the popularity of college basketball and other college sports stems from its relatability to much of the fan base, who can relate to the idea of a student-athlete from their own time in college or even high school. While it may be true that the empathy of the experience could draw fans in, Div I. college sports are relatable to the typical fan in superficial optics only.

Div I. college athletes today, particularly those in the high revenue sports like football and basketball, are putting more time into their sports than ever before. A famous lawsuit filed by two former UNC student-athletes in 2015 cited a number of student-athlete surveys and studies that found athletes are often spending between 30 and even 40 hours a week on their sport between practice and other commitments. This is nearly equivalent to a full-time job, before considering any academic commitments that come along with it.

Pair the time with the massive amount of money that these athletes bring into their schools and the NCAA as a whole, packing stadiums on a nightly basis and providing the on-court entertainment that seals enormously lucrative TV deals.

Whether or not the NCAA wants to sell the experience of its athletes as a relatable one filled with amateur players, the reality is that these players are full-time athletes and the amount of money they bring in does not merit an amateur descriptor.

There is almost nobody who is calling for every player in the NCAA in every Div. I sport to be compensated equally; everyone recognizes that there are levels of nuance between Zion and the 12th man at a mid-major program.

Yet the NCAA’s penchant for drawing connections between these players and normal college students in the name of relatability is a clear exploitation of these athletes and what is asked of them on a yearly basis.

Sam Weidner is a junior studying mathematics. Sam can be reached at samuel. weidner@tufts.edu.

12 tuftsdaily.com

Sports

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Men’s basketball falls to Hamilton in NESCAC semifinals

EVAN SLACK / THE TUFTS DAILY

First-year guard Carson Cohen calls out a play during the game against WPI on Nov. 27, 2018.

by Maddie Payne and Josh Steinfink Sports Editors

On Saturday, bottom-seeded Tufts lost to second-seeded Hamilton 89–84 in the NESCAC tournament semifinals. The loss came after a miraculous victory against top-seeded Middlebury in Vermont last weekend, where the Jumbos made history as the first eight seed to dethrone a top seed in NESCAC men’s basketball tournament play.

From the opening minute, the contrast between the Hamilton and Tufts teams was clear — Hamilton started four seniors and one junior, while Tufts started one junior, three sophomores and a first-year. The experienced Continentals team has improved significantly over the last few years, moving up from last in the NESCAC in 2016 to tying for first place in 2018. Last season, the Continentals made a deep run to the third round of the NCAA tournament and brought that experience to the court on Saturday against a much less experienced team of Jumbos.

Hamilton took control straight from the tip-off, maintaining a lead for most of the first 10 minutes of the game. At times the Continentals’ lead stretched to seven points, but the Jumbos did well to stay in the game with a score of 17–19 at 10:58 in the first half. At that point, sophomore guard and the first half ’s leading scorer Brennan Morris went on a 10-point unanswered run that gave the Jumbos a 27–19 advantage, forcing the Hamilton coach to call a timeout.

From that point, the Continentals, who had been shooting well from downtown, faltered, and the team’s shooting percentage fell to 31.3 percent from three in the first half. Though the Jumbos had accumulated more fouls than the Continentals in the first half, they did not pay for it, as the Continentals choked from the free-throw line, going 3-for-9.

Tufts demonstrated its strength in cutting through the paint to the basket, which was a weakness for the team earlier in the season. The Jumbos scored 20 points in the paint in the first half on Saturday.

Fifteen points from Morris, 12 of which were from downtown, nine from junior captain Eric Savage and eight from sophomore center Luke Rogers gave the Jumbos a 43–40 lead to enter the second half.

The Jumbos maintained their lead until 14:32 remained on the clock in the second half, when 6’5″” sophomore guard/forward Spencer Kendall’s dunk brought the Continentals up 47–46.

From there, the energy of the fans and a series of runs by the Continentals stretched their lead to as much as 14 points at times. Back-to-back dunks by Kendall fired up the home crowd with just under 14 minutes left, and Tufts coach Bob Sheldon called a full timeout a few seconds later.

“I think we played extremely well for about 35 minutes,” Savage said. “Around the 12-minute mark in the second half they went on a run where they were getting very high-percentage shots and we were either turning it over or not getting good shots. Combine that with a couple

of dunks for them to get the home crowd excited, and the game got away from us a little bit.”

From there, the Continentals never relinquished their lead despite a hardfought game by the Jumbos. With 1:34 left in the game, the lead was the largest it would be during the game, at 66–80, but Tufts battled on to narrow the gap to five by the final whistle. Notably, all nine of Hamilton’s last points which took them to a final score of 89, were free throws, as the Jumbos encountered foul trouble frustratingly early in the second half. Seven points from Savage, and a pair of threes from first-year guard Tyler Aronson were unfortunately not enough to level the score as the Jumbos’ NESCAC run came to an end with a final score of 84–89.

“We fought hard for all 40, which is great to see out of a young team, and brought it back to five at the end, but the real story of the game is that we got out-executed in the second half,” Savage said. “The loss stings obviously, but I’m very excited for next year and we plan on picking up right where we left off.”

This weekend concluded the Jumbos’ 2018–2019 season, and it was a story of highs and lows. With so many young players and so much talent, inconsistency was a problem for the Jumbos all year long.

“The end of our season showed that we have the ability to play with the top teams in the country. And with essentially the same team returning next year, we have the potential to be a very good team as our young core will have more

experience and continue to improve.

Throughout the offseason, we need to continue to work on our defensive principles, making the right basketball reads, and most importantly, creating winning habits,” Morris said.

Overall on the season, the Jumbos finished 12–14 and 4–6 in-conference.

They were 5–3 at home in Cousens Gym. Fueled by a high-octane offense, they posted 82.3 points per game at a respectable 44.5 percent rate of scoring efficiency. From November through February, the team’s defense and rebounding steadily improved as the first-years and veterans became more confident in their rotations and how to move from individual to true team basketball.

Savage led the team in scoring this season with an even 16 points per game, with Rogers (14) and Morris (13.9) not far behind. Morris led the three-point charge, shooting an impressive 44.2 percent from long range. Savage also led in minutes per game (29.6) and assists per game (3.5), while Rogers posted the strongest rebounding numbers, at 9.1 per game.

The impact of underclassmen is undeniable; they make up a strong core of the starters and players with the most minutes. Next year, with Savage as a senior leading the charge once more and the first-years with one year of good experience under their belts, the Jumbos expect to rise in the NESCAC field and reduce their inconsistency. They hope to perform better on the road, improving on their 5–10 away record this year.