The Tufts Daily - Friday, March 9, 2018

TUFTS TENNIS

Rabbi Summit reflects on 39 years at Tufts see FEATURES / PAGE 3

Jumbos hit the courts running in season opener

Tufts alum founds Hall, a post-grad Dewick see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 4

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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VOLUME LXXV, ISSUE 30

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Friday, March 9, 2018

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Strong Women, Strong Girls, Brandless collaborate to distribute free menstrual products on campus

by Ani Hopkins Staff Writer

Disclaimer: Yanelle Cruz is a staff writer at The Tufts Daily. She was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.

Tufts Strong Women, Strong Girls (SWSG) and Brandless, an online grocery retailer, distributed free tampons and panty liners at an event in the lobby of Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center yesterday.

According to Stephanie Chen Schmidt, a campus brand representative for Brandless, the pop-up distribution event was being done in coordination with similar events at Tulane and University of California, Berkeley. Chen Schmidt, a senior, said products left behind after the event ended were donated to local women’s shelters.

SWSG Chapter Director Priyanka Kumar, also a senior, said the event was timed to happen on International Women’s Day. “Who is being included on international women’s day, and who isn’t?

What does ‘international’ mean in this context? We took it as an opportunity to engage more with these ideas, and promote cultures of open dialogue and [de-stigmatization],” Kumar told the Daily in an email.

The event featured a temporary installation, erected in the Dewick lobby, which con-

sisted of three-foot-high letters made of pad and tampon boxes spelling out “TAKE CARE.” People entering and exiting the dining hall were encouraged to take as many boxes of menstrual products as they wished. They were also encouraged to participate in the installation by filling in blank space on signs that read “I feel cared for when…”

SWSG members took photos of people holding the signs.

Responses included “I care for myself,” “I get hugs from my friends” and “I receive free tampons.”

“The main message today was to take care and engage in self-care,” Chen Schmidt said. “That can be shown in any way possible.”

The event’s language and framing were largely gender-neutral.

“We tried to be as transparent as possible with saying that we want everyone to celebrate International Women’s Day, [whatever] that means for you,” Chen Schmidt said. “A lot of the population experiences menstruation, and that’s one way to care for themselves that has been stifled and marginalized for eternity in many cultures.”

Students, staff and visitors to the university engaged with the event over the course of several hours. Some returned multiple times to take more boxes, often distributing them to friends elsewhere, according to

EVAN SLACK / THE TUFTS DAILY

Members of the Tufts chapter of Strong Women Strong Girls pose for a picture on March 8 in Dewick-Macphie Dining Center. students. “[My friend] was just mentioning to me how we should grab some for our friend … because tampons always run out,” first-year Himay Dharani, who came across the display in Dewick, said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, it would be a little uncomfortable to go there,’ but maybe the benefit outweighs me being slightly uncomfortable and not having ever done this before.”

Dharani noted that the event helped destigmatize menstruation.

“It’s a step in the right direction for people to see that it’s nothing to be scared of,” he said.

Other students noted the positive messaging surrounding the event.

“I think it’s cool that it’s happening on this day, and that it’s reminding women to feel cared for or take care of themselves,” junior Yanelle Cruz said.

First-year Michael Eve commented on the widespread appeal of the event.

“I definitely know a few people that can benefit from this, here and internationally, and also at home,” he said.

Cruz also spoke about the event’s emphasis on self-care, which she saw as radical.

“People don’t encourage you to take care of yourself — it’s kind of revolutionary,” Cruz said. “I was thinking about it.

When do I feel cared for? In which ways? I like that it poses that question.”

Asian/Asian American literary magazine Voices back in print after two-year hiatus

by Emma Steiner News Editor

SOFIE HECHT / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior Tony Nguyen and first-year Mayu Kawahara perform during TASC’s Open Mic Night to present the launch of the Tufts Asian/Asian American literary magazine Voices on March 8 in Curtis Multipurpose Room.

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Voices, Tufts’ only publication centered on the experiences of Asian and Asian American students, has released its first issue in two years. Last night, students celebrated the release of the magazine with an open mic event hosted by Tufts Asian Student Coalition (TASC) in the Curtis Hall Multi-Purpose Room.

According to Vivian Tam, a senior and a member of the publishing team, Voices is meant to provide a platform and a comfortable environment for Asians and Asian Americans at Tufts to share their experiences. Joseph Tsuboi, another member of the publishing team, said that Voices attempts to fill a gap in the representation

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of Asian American experiences on campus and increase nuance within the narratives that do exist.

“The goal of the magazine was to present prose, poetry, painting, and all types of art by and for Asian Americans,” Tsuboi, a senior, told the Daily in an electronic message. “We believed that there was not enough representation on Asian American experiences covered in dominant White spaces, and even on Tufts campus. So the Tufts Asian Student Coalition aimed to fill those gaps and bring forward more nuanced narratives about gender, mental health, immigration and assimilation, which all intersect with Asian America.”

Tsuboi said that his participation in Voices was a way to convey emotions that see VOICES, page 2

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................4

COMICS.......................................9 SPORTS............................ BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, March 9, 2018

THE TUFTS DAILY Catherine Perloff Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL

Mary Carroll Zachary Hertz Managing Editors

Arman Smigielski Elie Levine Juliana Furgala Melissa Kain Anar Kansara Robert Katz Arin Kerstein Simran Lala Sophie Lehrenbaum Natasha Mayor Seohyun Shim Emma Steiner Joe Walsh Jess Blough Jenna Fleischer Liza Harris Daniel Weinstein Minna Trinh Sean Ong Emma Damokosh Jessie Newman Emma Rosenthal Michael Shames Fina Short Grace Yuh Jenna Fleischer Kenia French Ilana Goldberg Michelle Kwon Ameenah Rashid Alison Epstein John Fedak John Gallagher Tommy Gillespie Justin Krakoff Setenay Mufti Cassidy Olsen Ryan Eggers Issay Matsumoto Jack Ronan

Associate Editor Executive News Editor News Editors

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the larger Tufts Asian American community,” Tsuboi said.

The team hopes the submissions would guide the final project and that the team did not go into the magazine with a specific desire for the outcome, according to Tsuboi.

“We wanted to showcase all types of art,” he said. “Everyone had such unique perspectives in writing, and also photography and painting and design.”

Tam said Voices has existed since 1985 and has been published intermittently since its creation. It was last published in 2016, according to Leanna Pham, another member of the publishing team.

Since its initial publication, Pham, a senior, said the publishing team has consistently experienced difficulty creating the magazine. This is due to the high turnover that is typical of college publications,

so that each year staff must re-learn how to put together the magazine.

Still, she stressed the publication’s importance as the only one focused on Asian and Asian American voices. Pham said that each year the magazine was published, the publishing team expressed determination to keep the publication going.

A key difference between this year’s publication and publications of the past is that this year the Voices publishing team and those who submitted to the magazine are students at both the Medford/Somerville campus and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, Pham explained. As a result of this change, this year’s magazine features much more art than past issues, all by Asians and Asian Americans in the Tufts community.

Editorialists

by Emily Thompson

Executive Sports Editor Sports Editors

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PRODUCTION Ellah Nzikoba

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Isabella Montoya Seohyun Shim Bridig Bell Betty Cao Caroline Cohen Connor Dale Julie Doten Jordan Isaacs Maygen Kerner Honor Kalkin Omeir Khan Allison Kumarasena Emai Lai Frank Ma Aidan Menchaca Daniel Montoya Khaliun Naragerel Sebastian Torrente Alice Yoon Ezgi Yazici Sitong Zhang Maria Fong Peter Lam Joseph Lim Khaliun Narangerel Belinda Xian Astrid Weng Anna Hirshman Nihaal Shah Norrie Beach Anna Dursztman Madhulika Gupta Tess Jacobson Melissa Kain Adam Kercheval Lauren Kim Maria Kim David Levitsky Katie Martensen Jack Ronan Arielle Sigel Madeleine Schwartz Hannah Wells Jiayu Xu Vanessa Zighelboim Deepanshu Utkarsh Juliana Furgala Asli Akova Mitch Navetta Ercan Sen Lexi Serino Elisabeth Blossom Rachel Hartman Shaivi Herur Olivia Ireland Asha Iyer Lillian Miller Amy Tong

VOICES

continued from page 1 are not generally expressed in an academic environment. He said he hopes Voices can provide that space for others in Tufts’ Asian American community.

“I would say for me personally, this magazine was a way to express some emotions that I have had to bury within the academic sphere,” Tsuboi said.

Tsuboi explained that he has devoted much of his time to ethnographic and archival research on his own family history, focusing particularly on his grandfather’s incarceration.

“What are the intergenerational silences and traumas that permeate into the next generation? I believe that Voices, a space for these specific and personal Asian American narratives, is a means to tell these stories and find support within

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Liam Knox Investigative Editor

Alexis Serino Rachel Hartman Mike Feng Ray Bernoff Erik Britt Sophie Dolan Shaivi Herur Ben Kim Rachael Meyer Vintus Okonkwo Evan Sayles Seohyun Shim Annette Key Ana Sophia Acosta Olivia Ireland Asha Iyer

Students express hopes about revival of Voices

Ethics Bowl makes trip to national competition despite bad weather

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Hannah Kahn Executive Opinion Editor

Maria Fong Shannon Geary Lydia Ra Rebecca Tang Deeksha Bathini Emily Burke Carrie Haynes Joseph Lim Sarah Nechamkin Madeleine Schwartz Caleb Symons Yuan Jun Chee Liam Finnegan Phil Goldberg Savannah Mastrangelo Eddie Samuels Bradley Schussell Sam Weidner Sam Weitzman Emily Burstein Ryan Eggers Arlo Moore-Bloom Haley Rich Delaney Tantillo

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Rayane Haddar Executive Business Director

Romain Dard Receivables Manager

Staff Writer

The Tufts Ethics Bowl team traveled to the national competition in Chicago, driving the 982 miles from Boston to the Windy City after bad weather canceled the team’s flight.

Jeremy Caldwell, a junior who has been on the team since his freshman year, said that they found out their flight was cancelled the morning of the competition.

“We all woke up really early, were supposed to have a 10:40 flight, and we found out that our flight had been canceled. We went to the airport, but the whole terminal was shut down,” said Caldwell, “We tried to get train tickets, but those were all booked, and we didn’t want to get on a bus for twenty two hours. I think out of sheer delirium we decided to rent a car.”

The team made the 18-hour trip from Tufts to Chicago beginning on Friday, stopping in Cleveland to sleep a few hours at a hotel, according to Caldwell. Philosophy senior lecturer Susan Russinoff, who advises the team, and TA James Withers, a senior, took turns driving. The team consists of Caldwell, senior Dana Horowitz, second-year SMFA dual-degree student Indigo Conat-Naar, sophomore Alexa Bishopric and sophomore Ryan Lee. “We had worked really hard in the past two months to be ready, but we were expecting to be there by Friday afternoon, get to see the city, and all of a sudden we were just locked in this box together for 18 hours,” Caldwell said.

Horowitz, who has been on the team since her sophomore year, noted that the team had to adjust how they prepared for the competition that weekend.

“We were supposed to have all this prep time before, but we wound up really just talking the cases through aloud, which ended up working out fine,” Horowitz said.

Conat-Naar said that the team made the best of their altered travel plans and managed to fit in time to explore the city and bond as a team.

“A couple of us decided we had to try deep dish pizza … it was about one in the morning, and we went to this place around the corner that was still open,” Conat-Naar said.

She added that the trip was a bonding experience for the team.

“We were all good friends, but one of our teammates is fairly new to the team … so we got a chance to get to know him better, and it was really a wholesome evening,” she said.

While the team did not win at nationals, this is the second year in a row that they made it to the national competition.

Conat-Naar spoke about the process of

KIRT THORNE / THE TUFTS DAILY

From left to right: Jeremy Caldwell, Indigo Conat-Naar, Alexa Bisphoric, Ryan Lee and Dana Horowitz pose for a portrait in Tisch Library on Mach 7. getting to the national level of competition, starting with participating in the half-credit, pass/fail class in the philosophy department.

“The requirements for that class are pretty much to meet during the free period on Mondays and Wednesdays and discuss the cases with two teaching assistants. The final requirement for the course is to compete in the Tufts Ethics Bowl, which happens in October,” Conat-Naar said.

According to Conat-Naar, the team of five that wins the Tufts Ethics Bowl advances to regionals and then to the national competition if that team places in the top four at the regional competition.

Horowitz described Ethics Bowl as similar to debate, but with a less competitive and more collaborative feel to it.

“Ethics Bowl is kind of like debate through the philosophy department. [At the competition] you get fifteen cases regarding controversial issues … and you get a question each tournament and you don’t necessarily know what it is going to be, so you have to research, prep the case [and] talk about it,” Horowitz said. “Then at [the] competition you have another team who brings up objections, you respond, so it’s kind of a collaborative debate form.”

For each case, teams must consider the ethics of various issues, according to Caldwell. “[We] focus on several different realms of social applications of philosophy, whether they be medical, artistic, media-based, political, international relations, corporate,” Caldwell said. “There’s a lot of different ways of looking at philosophy.”

Conat-Naar discussed how the topics she

discusses in Ethics Bowl relate back to her academic interests as an art student.

“I have a lot of fun with the art-related cases, just because it kind of makes me think about art’s role in the public sphere,” ConatNaar said. “If an artist does a bad thing, does that make their art problematic? … which is a question that is coming under pressure a lot with the #MeToo movement.”

Caldwell, Conat-Naar and Horowitz all said that Ethics Bowl has been a valuable experience and has provided them with various skills they will take into their future. “[Ethics Bowl helps] you get better at having reasons to back up your claims, so you have to get better at going deeper into your claim and having principles to back it up,” Horowitz said.

Lee, who joined the team this year, spoke of both the academic and social benefits of Ethics Bowl, comparing it to other forms of debate.

“I did competitive debate in high school, [which was] very aggressive … and Ethics Bowl is a very Tuftsy experience,” Lee said. “It’s collaborative, there’s an expression of care from Professor Russinoff, the TAs [and] my teammates that is just unprecedented.”

Caldwell also said that Ethics Bowl felt unique to Tufts.

“It is honestly enjoyable to have these deeply philosophical debates, where it will be midnight on a Sunday night and we all have things we should be doing instead, but we’re all just sitting around … talking about the injustice of the medical system in America,” he said. “I try to explain it to any of my friends that don’t go to Tufts, and it sounds like the weirdest thing to them, but we all really enjoy it.”

Friday, March 9, 2018

Features

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EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY

Rabbi Jeffrey Summit poses for a portrait at Hillel on Feb. 28.

Rabbi Jeffrey Summit reflects on nearly four decades as Tufts Hillel executive director

by Emma Damokosh Features Editor

Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit is the outgoing Jewish chaplain and Neubauer Executive Director of Tufts Hillel, as well as a research professor in the music department and Judaic Studies program. During his 39 years at Tufts, in addition to leading Tufts Hillel, he has published monographs on the role of music in Jewish identity and worship, produced a Grammy-nominated album and taught courses on ethnomusicology to numerous Tufts students.

As Summit prepares to step down from Tufts Hillel at the end of the academic year, the Daily sat down with him for a wide-ranging conversation about his career, legacy and future plans.

The Tufts Daily (TD): When did you first come to Tufts and what brought you here?

Rabbi Jeffrey Summit (JS): I came to Tufts straight from rabbinical school — it was my first job and the only job I’ve held for the last 39 years. If someone had told me that I was going to be a rabbi when I was in college, I wouldn’t have known what to do with the information.

I’d always planned to be a lawyer. After I graduated from college and began to think about what to do with my life, I just was really drawn to deeper ways of interacting with people around issues that were really important in their lives: spiritual issues, issues of social justice, both personal and communal transformation.

The work that I do on campus has been connected with community building, counseling, conversations with people about important things happening in their lives: from family and relationship issues, to ways that they are thinking about their own spiritual life and direction, to their relationship with Israel, to their desire to make a meaningful differ-

ence in the world. Those are conversations that I really love having.

TD: What kept you at Tufts for so many years?

JS: I’ve stayed at Tufts for 39 years because of the students. People are very smart but also very nice, and people are thoughtful about how they want to be in the world.

I don’t always agree with everyone, but I always value engaging with them. My opportunities have grown here and changed. The job I do right now is very different than the job I did 10 years ago, 20 years ago or 30 years ago. It’s certainly different from the job I did when I came here and it was just me in a tiny little office in Curtis Hall — literally two students moved a refrigerator out of a closet to make an office for me.

Over my time at Tufts my academic engagement also grew. I went back and did a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and began teaching, first in the Judaic Studies program and now all my teaching is with the music department. My own engagement with research, writing and scholarship was able to take root at Tufts.

TD: What was being the Executive Director of Tufts Hillel like for you over the years?

JS: Being Executive Director of Tufts Hillel has really given me the opportunity to work with a broad range of people to think about what it means to build meaningful Jewish community on a university campus. I really believe in a rudder theory. If you have a big ship and it’s not going in a good direction, it’s very hard to push a big ship in the right direction, because ships are very heavy. But if you have a rudder, and you can move that rudder, the rudder will move the whole ship.

College students are a rudder because people in universities, if it’s possible to engage with them about how you build communities that are real and vibrant and complex, then they will be the rudder that will move the larger ship of American Judaism towards a deeper and more meaningful involvement

with values that are important for us to be engaged with.

TD: Why did you decide that now was the time to step down from your position at Tufts Hillel?

JS: It’s been 39 years, that’s a long time.

The real reason is that for years, I loved working with people coming into college. But I feel myself very drawn right now in this political climate to being engaged in national issues.

Part of the work I’ll be doing next year will be working in a national context with colleagues to further social justice issues.

I’m very drawn to work with people in their 30s, 40s and 50s. I’m very interested in mentoring colleagues. I’m often on the phone mentoring colleagues just because I’ve had a lot of experience with this work.

I’m also doing more teaching for Tufts with alumni, faculty and trustees. This summer, I’ll be running a seminar in Talloires. I’m there actually almost every year which has been just extraordinary.

TD: What was it like to have your children at Tufts while you worked here?

JS: It was quite an experience having my kids here. I learned more about this school when my daughters were here than working here because I saw the school through their eyes and that was really important.

TD: What was something new you learned about Tufts during your daughters’ time here?

JS: The impact that faculty has on students. I sort of always knew it from being a faculty member and from seeing the dynamics between students and faculty, but when I heard the stories of how our daughters were inspired and taught and changed through their contact with faculty members who were so important to them, I understood the school in a different way.

TD: What is one of your best or most notable memories from your experience at Tufts?

JS: Tufts Hillel runs a program called Moral Voices, and it was founded together with the

late Anne Heyman. We had our first Moral Voices program with Paul Rusesabagina, who was the original proprietor of the “Hotel Rwanda.” Afterwards, this donor was having a conversation with Paul Rusesabagina and asked him, “What do you need in Rwanda now?” He said that they have no way to deal with the million and a half orphans left from the genocide. Here, in the Tufts Hillel building, downstairs, Anne conceived of a project to build a village in Rwanda for orphans of the Rwandan genocide, and she went on to move mountains and work with consultants from Israel who had run the programs to bring children from the Holocaust to Israel — because these were children of genocide — to work with the government of Rwanda. She founded the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, and now every year we send 25 Tufts students to Rwanda, to this village. Then, we got Bill Cummings, a trustee [emeritus], involved in this program supporting Tufts students going to Rwanda. Because of his involvement, he got involved in Rwanda, and together with Bill Gates established a major health center in Rwanda, and this all grew out of work we did here. This impresses upon me that what we do could have such a tremendous impact in the world if we think big.

TD: What are your plans for the future?

JS: I’m going to continue my connection to Tufts because I’ll keep teaching in the music department. I’ll be working with Hillel International to do larger social justice projects. I’m especially interested in facilitating a national conversation about values and the values that drive us in this world. I’m also a musician, and I’m really excited about being more deeply engaged in my music and my writing. I just became a grandparent and my son is getting married. We’re blessed with a really wonderful family, and I’m excited to spend more time with them.

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

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WEEKENDER

Friday, March 9, 2018

Tufts alumnus Albert Nichols has a solution to the postgraduation blues

COURTESY ALBERT NICHOLS

Albert Nichols, CEO and founder at Hall, poses for a portrait.

by Cassidy Olsen Arts Editor

Albert Nichols didn’t know what he wanted upon graduating from Tufts in 2013, but he felt the world was his for the taking. Charismatic and fiercely invested in the lives of others, Nichols, now founder and CEO of subscription-based eatery Hall, had a personal edge over some other computer science majors with whom he graduated, not that he

needed one. His internship and part-time work doing research at IBM had turned into a full-time gig as a project manager in its Boston headquarters. It seemed his immediate future was set. With a comfortable job at a world-renowned tech company in the same city as many of his friends, what more could he want?

According to Nichols, everything else that made life worth living.

“Graduating college, I climbed up to this plateau where the whole world was in

front of me, but the things that were most important to me weren’t happening in my life,” he explained. “It was harder than ever for me to get a healthy meal, catching up with my friends was ten times harder than it was in college and trying to meet somebody new? Good luck.”

Under his sunny disposition, Nichols had developed a bleak outlook on his future as a young professional.

“You wake up one day and realize that somebody in some hiring office some-

where basically co-opted your life,” he said. “They control 70 percent of what you do day-to-day. And besides that, you’re like, cool, I gotta drive home and go to the gym so I don’t gain a ton of weight because I’ve been sitting down all day, and then maybe catch up with my friends, find some food, go to bed and do it again.”

A self-described problem-solver, the Maine native began conducting inforsee ALBERT NICHOLS, page 5

Arts & Living

Friday, March 9, 2018 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Tufts alum conceives of new social space for busy young professionals ALBERT NICHOLS

continued from page 4 mal research at the Sweetgreen and Star Market around his office at IBM, mostly to see if he was just spoiled or crazy for being dissatisfied with the nine-to-five lifestyle he’d been served.

He quickly found that he wasn’t alone.

“So many people are drowning in the day-to-day crap that they have to do, and they’re not focusing on any of the stuff that’s important to them,” Nichols said.

Armed with this newfound information and his own nagging unhappiness, Nichols set out to make a change. The first Monday of November 2015, he left work early, biked to the Boylston Street Star Market and loaded a backpack and duffel full of groceries, with Kanye blasting through his headphones while he shopped. That evening, with nothing but a home-cooked meal and a few friends, Nichols transformed his apartment into the first iteration of Hall, a grown-up dining hall for people, particularly young professionals, to gather, eat, work, chat and feel at ease. He sought to recreate the social, cozy environment of the dining halls he frequented daily as a student at the Fay School, Deerfield Academy and eventually Tufts.

This test-run continued every Monday for a year and a half, and visitors skyrocketed from three on the first evening to 70 on the last. For someone with a standard apartment and

no culinary background, Nichols knew this was about more than the space or the meal. By providing visitors with simple, healthy options and the environment to do whatever they needed to do after a long day, his project made their lives easier and happier. As he had hoped, it made him happier, too.

“It turns out working in cloud services at IBM wasn’t helping me live out my identity,” Nichols said. “So I decided to quit my job, and instead of running Hall out of my apartment, I built a location where I could do the same thing.”

On Sept. 5, 2017, Nichols’ 27th birthday, Hall opened its doors to the public for the first time. Located at a sophisticated, airy brownstone in Back Bay, the dining hall operates like a hybrid of We Work and Dig Inn, combining subscription-based access to work space with a rotating menu of farm-to-table meals.

Hall is open to members seven days a week, with the longest hours Sunday through Thursday. Depending on which “Hall Pass” they choose, members can work and munch on healthy snacks during the day, stop in for dinner, or both. Package prices range from $39 per month for Monday night dinners, honoring the eatery’s roots, up to $69 per week for an all-access pass.

Evening diners are offered two meal choices, one vegetarian, gluten-free “light” option and one protein-centered “hearty” option, each designed to make you feel good and take

away the stress of weeknight dinner.

Light options include roasted sprout salad with tomatoes and mozzarella, a kale-mushroom tempeh bowl and sweet potato and black bean tacos.

On the heavier side, Hall’s offerings include lamb kofta, shepherd’s pie and Korean beef japchae with stir-fried glass noodles and veggies.

“We’re a respite for people who are like, ‘It’s 9:00 on a Tuesday, I just want some dinner. I know I don’t have to worry about it, and I can just open my computer and read the New Yorker article I’ve been putting off reading because I’ve been too busy at work,’” Nichols explained.

Hall’s philosophy of simplicity and “freedom within a framework” is a result of Nichols’ personal approach to problem-solving. As an undergrad, Nichols founded Tufts Entrepreneurs Society, an organization aimed at bringing together students who may otherwise not interact to collaborate on projects big and small. By uniting disparate individuals under one umbrella, he hoped to bridge the gap between different interest groups and generate the best ideas possible.

“Tufts is an incredibly fragmented school,” Nicholas said. “It’s not monolithic like a lot of other colleges. Which is certainly a good thing to an extent, but there needs to be something that pulls everyone together.”

Despite the seemingly small niche it set out to fill, Hall has quickly found

success. In its first six months of operation, the company hasn’t engaged in any outbound marketing, relying instead on word-of-mouth advertising from its loyal members. According to Nichols, the average member is just that: loyal.

“People visit Hall, on average, four times a week, which is more than most of our members go to the office, the gym, or anywhere else besides back home to their apartment,” he said.

“It’s not unlike Tufts students going to Dewick every day.”

Though he mentioned Hall is growing in membership by eight percent each week and has plans to expand into new locations in Central Square and Boston in the near future, Nichols can’t help but doubt himself and his venture. He recognizes his privilege, having attended prestigious boarding schools and a renowned university, and sometimes worries that he’s squandering his opportunities.

“That feeling can be healthy in a controlled way, but if you let it run out of control, it will eat you alive,” he stressed.

“I’ve had moments where I feel like I’ve failed in everything that I’ve done.”

In response, Nichols is learning to celebrate milestones, focus on the immediate problems that face his business and take every day on its own. With the support of his growing eight-person team running Hall, he knows he won’t be facing anything alone anymore.

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In Like A Lion: Winter Storm Quinn Takes Tufts M A R C H 8, 2018

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LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Cathy: “I wanted to go to Columbia for the Common Core and everyone taking the same classes and being united under the banner of knowledge.”

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SUDOKU Ask the Daily: Or is it worth my time to worry about this?

Q A

ANSWER BY LEXI SERINO

: My housemate is kind of rude to me for no reason. I don’t know why she dislikes me. She’s never explicitly mean, just really cold and seems to have no interest in getting to know me. My other two housemates are really chill, but she sometimes straight up ignores me when I contribute to the conversation.

Should I try to figure out why? What could I say to her (or my other housemates) to find out what’s up? Or is it not worth my time to worry about this? : First off, I want to say that I’m really sorry that you have to deal with this situation. With the many stresses that college life can bring, feeling uneasy in the place you call home shouldn’t be one of them. If this situation is affecting the way in which you live and operate in your house — a space where you should feel safe and secure — then I think this is definitely worth addressing.

Your housemate might not dislike you at all (I’m almost sure they don’t). They might just have a more standoffish personality or have a harder time connecting with and opening up to people. I think the best way to approach this is to communicate directly with the housemate that's giving you a hard time. Trying to work it out by talking with your other housemates might just complicate the situation with miscommunication.

Difficulty Level: Getting broken up with over phone.

Thursday’s Solution

I wouldn’t approach the situation directly — i.e. “I get the feeling you don’t like me. Why is that?” — but instead I’d maybe phrase it like this: “Hey! I feel like we haven’t had the opportunity to connect one on one, and I’d really like to get to know you better.” Maybe suggest getting coffee, going to see a movie or even cooking dinner together! In my experience, almost everyone responds well to invitations for friendship and connection. If you’re open, honest and genuine with them, I’m almost positive they’ll reciprocate, and you’ll be on your way to a happier living space in no time.

CROSSWORD

Tnursday’s Solution

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Friday, March 9, 2018 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

11

Jumbos seek revenge following last year's disappointment MEN'S TENNIS

continued from back Tufts added five new first-years to its roster this season: Owen Bartok, Carl-Herman Grant, Niko Hereford, Armaan Kalra and Boris Sorkin. All five players have made an impact on the program already, having competed in a number of tournaments throughout the fall, and their teammates and coaches are excited to see how they perform in their first spring season.

“They are a very hardworking, disciplined group of guys, especially for being first-years,” Coran said. “They’re solid players who we know will be strong contributors throughout this season in both singles and doubles.”

With the Jumbos having lost some key players from last year’s squad, one might expect them to be apprehensive going into the first match this weekend. The players are confident in their

new teammates’ abilities, though, as well as in the team’s overall skill.

“The departure of [senior] Griffin Brockman forced us to reorganize our doubles lineup,” Coran said. “However, we believe we will be just as strong, if not stronger, on the doubles court this season.”

The Jumbos also praise their coach, Karl Gregor, for his direction and influence on their performance thus far.

“Karl is a really strong and passionate coach,” Coran said. “He is very dedicated to the Tufts tennis program.

We have a close relationship, and he’s been instrumental in developing parts of my game.”

The team enters the new season with a chip on its shoulder, a reminder of last year’s disappointing conclusion.

The Jumbos went into the final day of the regular season riding a four-match winning streak, which included a win over then-No. 19 Brandeis, and playing

their best tennis of the year. However, Tufts fell to then-No. 7 Bowdoin in a 5–4 heartbreaker. While the team finished the season ranked 17th in the country, it missed the postseason for the first time in Gregor’s tenure as head coach due to the NESCAC tournament’s selection criteria, which weigh head-to-head results over overall record. For Coran, the Jumbos’ unfinished business is personal.

“I’m really looking forward to playing Bowdoin at home during Spring Fling,” the Milwaukee native said. “Last year, I was playing Bowdoin away, and it came down to my match. I ended up losing in three sets, which was a heartbreaking loss for my team. I am looking forward to getting some revenge this year.”

After its match at MIT (which will be played indoors due to snow), Tufts will travel to Tempe, Ariz. to compete against a familiar opponent, Conn. College, at Arizona State

University. In their last meeting, on April 7, 2016, the Jumbos defeated the Camels by a score of 8–1. Following the match against Conn. College, Tufts will head to Claremont, Calif., where it will play No. 23 Sewanee.

“Each year, the team takes a trip to the West Coast to compete in our first regular-season matches,” Coran said. “We always play against some really strong competition. This year, in addition to L.A., we will be playing in Phoenix, which should better prepare us for Sewanee.”

With last year’s disappointment in mind, the team has trained its eyes on a set of material objectives, according to Coran.

“The first thing we have to focus on is making the NESCAC tournament,” Coran said. “After that, our ultimate goal is to make the NCAA tournament. I think we have the tools to make a run this year.”

TRACK AND FIELD

Tufts track and field travels to Alabama for national championships

by Ethan Zaharoni Staff Writer

This weekend, members of the Tufts men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete in the 2018 NCAA Div. III National Indoor Championships at Birmingham-Southern University in Birmingham, Ala. The men’s team is sending six athletes, who are entered in five events, while the women’s team will be represented by six athletes who will compete in four events.

Senior co-captain Drew DiMaiti will run in two events at Nationals for the Jumbos.

He will run in the 400 meters after nabbing the 15th and final qualifying spot at Boston University’s Last Chance Qualifier with a time of 48.29 seconds. The Medford native will also run for Tufts’ distance medley relay (DMR) team along with juniors Christian Swenson, Hiroto Watanabe and Colin Raposo. Tufts posted the nation’s eighth-fastest DMR mark this season with a converted time of 9:52.58 at the Gantcher Center just six days ago. DiMaiti is excited to represent his school at the national level and is hoping for great performances out of both himself and the team.

“I love Tufts, so I am always excited to be representing our school on the national stage like this,” DiMaiti said. “I am hoping to be successful in both the 400 meters and the distance medley relay. In the ideal scenario, I would place in both, and I am definitely going to try my best to do that. I know our guys are ready to give it our all, and I expect a lot of big performances out of everyone.”

The Jumbos will compete in three other events at the men’s championships.

Watanabe will run the 800 meters, an event in which he posted the third fastest time among all Div. III athletes this season with a 1:50.98 at the Tufts-hosted Cupid Challenge on Feb. 3. Watanabe competed in the same event at Nationals last year, finishing in eighth place in a time of 1:56.93. Junior Anthony Kardonsky will run in the 200-meter dash after his converted time of 21.74 seconds at the Tufts National Qualifying Meet propelled him into a tie for 13th in the country.

Representing Tufts in the field events at Nationals is senior Stefan Duvivier in the high jump. Duvivier’s clearance of 2.10 meters on Saturday matched a school

MADELEINE OLIVER / TUFTS TRACK AND FIELD

Senior co-captain Annalisa DeBari wins the 60-meter hurdles at the Cupid Challenge on Feb. 3. record and is tied for fifth in the country.

The Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native finished in 10th place in the high jump at NCAA Championships last year, clearing a height of 1.97 meters.

On the women’s side, senior co-captain Brittany Bowman will lead the way.

The four-time All-American will participate in two long distance events: the 5,000 meters on Friday and the 3,000 meters on Saturday. Bowman qualified for the 3,000 meters with the fourth-best time in Div. III (9:40.91) and the 5,000 meters with the seventh-best (16:58.08). She competed in the latter event at last year’s Indoor Nationals and finished in eighth place with a time of 17:06.47.

“I’m very excited to compete at Nationals,” Bowman said. “Running this

double will be hard, but I’ll have to focus on recovery and staying as positive and confident as I can. Both races are wide open, meaning anyone could be AllAmerican [and] anyone could be top three or win, so my only expectation for myself is that I leave it all out there and finish with no regrets. These races are tactical and sometimes will come down to who is mentally toughest when it’s the last part of the race.”

Bowman also helped Tufts qualify for the distance medley relay at the Tufts National Qualifying Meet, but since the race will begin only an hour after the 5,000 meters, she has decided to focus on her individual event. Instead, junior Sarah Perkins will run the 1,600-meter anchor leg for the DMR team, combining with

sophomores Rhemi Toth and Julia Gake and first-year Olivia Martin. Tufts comes into the event with the tenth-fastest qualification time of 11:45.96.

Lastly, senior co-captain Annalisa DeBari will compete in the 60-meter hurdles. DeBari qualified for the event with a school-record mark of 8.80 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in the country. The Melrose, Mass. native competed in the same event at Nationals last year, finishing in fifth place with a time of 8.86 seconds to garner All-American recognition.

On the team-scoring side, both the men’s and women’s squads will look to improve on their finishes last year. The men tied for 18th place with 11 total points, while the women finished in a tie for 41st, scoring five points.

12 tuftsdaily.com

Sports

Friday, March 9, 2018

WOMEN'S TENNIS

EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

First-year Kiara Rose volleys a shot at the MIT Invitational on Sept. 16, 2017.

Tufts set to begin promising season with high-profile match against Middlebury

by Delaney Tantillo

Assistant Sports Editor

On Saturday, the No. 7 Tufts women’s tennis team will begin its 2018 campaign with a home match against No. 4 Middlebury. The Jumbos fell to the Panthers by a 9–0 scoreline the last time the two teams played each other in Vermont on April 9, 2017. Tufts has not beaten Middlebury since 2011, so this matchup is sure to be a difficult test to open the season, but it also gives the team an immediate goal to work toward at the start of its season.

Junior Mina Karamercan, who played in the No. 1 spot on the singles ladder last season, discussed the significance of starting off the season on a good note against the Panthers, especially after last year’s tough result.

“Obviously it’s a really important match. We lost really badly against them last year,” Karamercan said. “Our first goal would be to beat them this Saturday at home.”

Senior co-captain Lauren Louks believes that the Jumbos’ offseason preparation puts them in a good position heading into this weekend, as well as the rest of the season.

“We’ve had pretty intense practices the past couple of weeks,” Louks said.

“We have been doing a lot of match play and trying to get ready mentally.”

On Sunday, Tufts will travel to No. 25 Wellesley for its first away match of the season. In their most recent matchup, on April 5, 2017, the Jumbos defeated the Blue by a decisive 7–2 margin.

This weekend’s matches against Middlebury and Wellesley will be the only two that Tufts plays before traveling to California for its annual spring break trip.

That week will be crucial for the Jumbos, as they will play four matches over the

course of six days and have time to bond both on and off the court. “[The trip] is super important in terms of practicing outside and playing different teams that are located on the West Coast,” Karamercan said. “That will be crucial for us — being super efficient with our time during practice and getting the basic things done on court during practices.”

Once they return from the California sunshine, the majority of the Jumbos’ remaining matches will be against NESCAC opponents, which typically makes for close and exciting matches.

“All of our NESCAC competition is always really tough,” Karamercan said.

“We all look forward to those matches.”

Last year, Tufts went 6–3 in the conference en route to a 15–7 overall mark and an appearance in the third round of the NCAA tournament. After falling to Williams in the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament last year, the team has made winning the conference championship its top objective.

“I’d say our biggest goal is to win NESCACs this year,” Karamercan said.

“We were super close last year — we lost in the semis. It was a close match and we felt like we could have won.”

The team has put in a lot of careful preparation in the offseason to put such lofty goals within reach. In addition to four practices and three lifts every week (led by Louks, junior co-captain Julia Keller and senior co-captain Zoe Miller), the Jumbos used their monthlong fall season to prepare for the spring.

Tufts competed in a pair of multi-day invitationals, as well as a regional championship tournament at Williams. The spring season, in which teams go headto-head, poses a new challenge for the Jumbos after the fall’s individual competitions.

Though the results of the fall matches counted toward players’ individual rankings, they mainly served as a way for players — especially underclassmen — to gain experience, as well as to identify areas of their game for improvement during the offseason.

“For [first-years], the fall season is super important in the sense that they get to play other teams and other girls and see where the competition is,” Karamercan said. “[We] learn a lot from the fall season because we see what we have to work on and what needs to be improved before the season starts.”

First-year Margot Shea discussed how helpful the fall matches were in her adjustment to playing collegiate tennis.

“Junior tennis is so individual, but when you come to college, you are playing for your team and also yourself,” Shea said. “It has been really fun to have

a team to support [me] rather than being by [myself ]. Playing in the fall definitely helped me get used to the differences that come with playing at this level.”

With the return of last year’s top four singles players — Karamercan, Louks, sophomore Katherine Wiley and junior Tomo Iwasaki — as well as the addition of first-years Patricia Obeid, Kiara Rose and Shea, the Jumbos are in position to have one of their most successful seasons in recent years. While long-term goals such as the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments are important, the team has more immediate objectives in mind as well.

“We are just taking it match-by-match and putting everything we have into each match,” Louks said. “I think it will be fun to see how our team does in the first couple matches of the season.”

MEN'S TENNIS

Tufts to hit the courts on Saturday for season opener against MIT

by Julia Atkins Staff Writer

The No. 17 Tufts men’s tennis team kicks off its 2018 season with an away match at No. 21 MIT on Saturday afternoon. After a rigorous but promising preseason campaign, the Jumbos are confident heading into their spring schedule.

After ending their 2016–17 season with a final record of 9–7, the Jumbos are looking to refine their skills and improve even more as a team. Senior co-captains Ben Battle, Justin Brogan and Danny

Coran have played an instrumental role in this growth; the trio has been working hard over the past few weeks to bring the team together and prepare for a rewarding season.

“The three of us [have] a really good mix of leadership, personality and style,” Coran said. “We’re all very happy with how the team progressed in the offseason. We’re looking forward to the season, and we’re confident that we can accomplish something special with this group.” see MEN'S TENNIS, page 11