The Tufts Daily - Friday, December 6, 2019

Tufts professor helps lead effort to reduce airplane emissions see FEATURES / PAGE 4

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Jumbos look for road win against WPI off Emerson victory

Amazon brings The New York Times’ ‘Modern Love’ podcast to small screen see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

THE

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXVIII, ISSUE 60

Friday, December 6, 2019

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Responding to Stern report findings, Tufts removes Sackler name, establishes endowment

tuftsdaily.com

Report reveals loose conflictof-interest policies, deference to donors benefitted Purdue Pharma

ALEXANDER THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

The building formerly known as the Arthur M. Sackler Center for Medical Education is pictured on June 19.

Ballou Hall is pictured on April 20, 2018.

by Austin Clementi

by Austin Clementi and Caleb Symons

Executive News Editor

In the wake of former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Donald K. Stern and Attorney Sandy Remz’s report on Tufts’ relationship to the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, Tufts has decided to remove the Sackler name from its campuses, effective immediately, in addition to the establishment of a $3 million endowment focused on substance abuse and addiction treatment and prevention.

The decision comes after months of lobbying and actions by student activists of varying levels and public statements by community members and professors calling on Tufts to remove the name from the school.

“We are grateful for the students, faculty and alumni we met with who made it clear that the Sackler name now runs counter to the mission of the medical school, has had a negative impact on their studies and professional careers and contradicts the purpose for which the gifts were initially given: to advance public health and research,” Peter Dolan, the chairman of the Board of Trustees, said.

According to a press release published

Please recycle this newspaper

PM Rain 36 / 24

/thetuftsdaily

on TuftsNow, five entities will change their names. Notably, the Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences will become the Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Arthur M. Sackler Center for Medical Education, the central building in the Health Sciences campus, will become the Tufts Center for Medical Education.

The Sackler name will also be removed from buildings and programs formerly known as the Sackler Laboratory for the Convergence of Biomedical, Physical and Engineering Sciences; the Sackler Families Fund for Collaborative Cancer Biology Research; and the Richard Sackler Endowed Research Fund.

Members of the Sackler family as well as a lawyer for members of the family were disappointed with the decision to remove the name.

“Arthur had nothing to do with OxyContin. The man has been dead for 32 years,” Jillian Sackler, Arthur Sackler’s widow, said in a statement.

“He did not profit from OxyContin, and none of his philanthropic gifts were in any way connected to opioids or to deceptive medical marketing – which he see SACKLER, page 2

For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily

RACHEL HARTMAN / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Executive News Editor and Executive Investigative Editor

An independent report released Thursday indicates that a systemic lack of oversight at the Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) and a culture of appeasing donors allowed the Sackler family and its controversial pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma, to buy influence and bolster their reputation long after their central role in the opioid crisis came to light.

The report, written by former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Donald K. Stern and Attorney Sanford F. Remz of Yurko, Salvesen & Remz, P.C., found no clear violations of Tufts’ conflict-of-interest policies nor evidence that Purdue or the Sacklers had a significant impact on the university’s academic program. Nonetheless, Stern and Remz identified several ways in which the Sackler family and Purdue were able to exercise influence on the university, including the appointment of a Purdue official to a faculty position and an aversion to criticism of the company’s role in the opioid crisis.

Purdue has been implicated in the opioid crisis for manufacturing and distributing the drug OxyContin, one of the major drugs responsible for the crisis. In January, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura

Contact Us P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 daily@tuftsdaily.com

Healey presented evidence from the Commonwealth’s lawsuit against Purdue alleging the company deceived medical professionals into overprescribing opioid painkillers and exploited the resulting addiction epidemic for its own corporate gain.

University President Anthony Monaco tapped Stern in February to review the university’s relationship with the Sackler family and Purdue amid growing pressure from the Tufts community.

Tufts’ financial ties to Purdue and the Sackler family That relationship began in 1980, when Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler made a significant contribution to Tufts in exchange for the university attaching the Sackler name to its new School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences. Three years later, Arthur Sackler entered a similar agreement to secure naming rights for the TUSM building.

The Sackler-owned pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma, established a financial relationship with Tufts in the following decades. In 1999, Purdue funded the new Pain Research, Education and Policy (PREP) program at TUSM, contributing over $2 million to the program over the next 10 years.

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................4 ARTS & LIVING.......................5

see REPORT, page 2

FUN & GAMES......................... 7 SPORTS............................ BACK

2

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, December 6, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Jessica Blough Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL Ryan Eggers Justin Yu

Managing Editors Mykhaylo Chumak

Associate Editor

Austin Clementi Alejandra Carrillo Connor Dale Abbie Gruskin Liza Harris Robert Kaplan Elie Levine Natasha Mayor Daniel Weinstein Andres Borjas Bella Maharaj Matthew McGovern Sara Renkert Noah Richter Jilly Rolnick Anton Shenk

Executive News Editor News Editors

Fina Short Sidharth Anand Amelia Becker Emma Damokosh Kenia French Jessie Newman Sean Ong Michael Shames Kevin Doherty Akash Mishra Dorothy Neher Steph Hoechst Tommy Gillespie Rebecca Tang Danny Klain Yas Salon Tuna Margalit Megan Szostak Elizabeth Sander Colette Smith Geoffrey Tobia Sami Heyman Tys Sweeney Olivia Brandon Avery Caulfield Paloma Delgado Hannah Harris Mikaela Lessnau Kaitlyn Meslin Amulya Mutnuri Michael Norton Eileen Ong Priya Padhye Elizabeth Shelbred Anamika Shrimali Simrit Uppal Julia Baroni Christina Toldalagi Carys Kong Caleb Symons

Assistant News Editors

Executive Features Editor Features Editors

Assistant Features Editors

Executive Arts Editor Arts Editors

Assistant Arts Editors

Executive Opinion Editor Editorialists

Editorial Cartoonists Cartoonist Investigations Editor

Alex Viveros Arlo Moore-Bloom David Meyer Liam Finnegan Jeremy Goldstein Savannah Mastrangelo Haley Rich Sam Weidner Julia Atkins Tim Chiang Jake Freudberg Noah Stancroff Aiden Herrod Helen Thomas-McLean Jacob Dreyer

Executive Sports Editor Sports Editors

Seohyun Shim Mengqi Irina Wang Anika Agarwal Mike Feng Meredith Long Julia McDowell Evan Slack Kirt Thorne

Executive Photo Editor Photo Administrator Staff Photographers

Caleb Martin-Rosenthal Sophia Banel Nicole Bohan Elizabeth Kenneally Heather Rusk

Executive Video Editor Video Editors

Hannah Kahn Nina Benites Lauren Daukaus Arlo Moore-Bloom Madison Reid Michael Wrede

Assistant Sports Editors

Executive Audio Producer Audio Producers

PRODUCTION Aidan Menchaca

Production Director Kristina Marchand Daniel Montoya Alice Yoon Isabella Montoya Jesse Rogers Nathan Kyn Ryan Shaffer Anna Hirshman David Levitsky Hannah Wells Abigail Zielinski Rebecca Barker Emily Liu Allie Morgenstern Abbie Treff Cole Wolk Russell Yip Roy Kim Sean Ong Christopher Panella Luke Allocco Alexis Serino

Executive Layout Editors Layout Editor Executive Graphics Editor Executive Copy Editors

Monaco outlines plans for new endowment SACKLER

continued from page 1 likewise had nothing to do with. It deeply saddens me to witness Arthur being blamed for actions taken by his brothers and other OxySacklers,” she said, referring to the part of the Sackler family that funded and profited from OxyContin.

In a statement, an attorney for members of the Sackler family, Daniel Connolly, used the Stern’s report to question the validity of Tufts’ decision, apparently referencing the fact that the report does not explicitly find wrongdoing perpetrated by the Sacklers.

“We appreciate that after a careful inquiry Tufts determined what has been true all along, that Purdue and the Sackler family conducted themselves properly and no wrongdoing or threat to academic integrity was found,” Connolly said. “Tufts acknowledges their extraordinary decision about removal of the family name from campus is not based on the findings of their report, but rather is based on unproven allegations about the Sackler family and Purdue.”

Connolly appeared ready to take action against the university.

“We will be seeking to have this improper decision reversed and are currently reviewing all options available to us,” he said.

The university removed the Sackler name from its buildings on Thursday.

“It is part of this institution’s history forever and we intend to create an educational exhibit inside the medical school so that current and future generations can learn from our experience,” Monaco said in the release.

The report outlines that the university received donations from the Purdue and the Sacklers totalling to $15 million.

Monaco confirmed in an interview with the Daily that the funds given by the Sacklers would not be used directly to fund programs relating to addiction and would instead be used for biomedical research as intended.

“We believe that the charitable intent of those funds is still valid but we would like to not have the Sackler name associated with them because we feel, and have made the decision that that is untenable

Executive Online Editor Executive Social Media Editors

Outreach Coordinators

BUSINESS Jonah Zwillinger Executive Business Director

and in opposition to those charitable intents,” Monaco said.

However, the $3 million endowment, which Monaco said would be funded by university “reserves” through the Office of the Provost, would allow faculty to apply for programs focused on research and programs into substance abuse.

Monaco added that this funding could be used to incentivize students and faculty to work for nonprofits and other treatment programs related to addiction.

The university appears to have made the decision to establish the endowment and remove the Sackler name independently of the content of the report — Stern and Remz’s 34-page analysis of the relationships between Tufts, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family does not make recommendations regarding the removal of the Sackler name, saying that the potential removal of the name is outside the scope of the investigation.

Instead, Tufts seems to be responding to activism and input from Tufts students and residents in its host communities. In an interview with the Daily earlier this semester, second-year medical student Sarah Hemphill told Monaco that the impact of taking the name down would be significant during one of his fall office hours.

“The bottom line … is that taking the Sackler name down is the most significant public action the school can take to acknowledge the severity of the crisis and all eyes are going to be on how the trustees decide to handle this decision,” Hemphill said at the time.

In line with recommendations from the report which called for more scrutiny and transparency with regard to how gifts would be used, Monaco said that a document which is more stringent may be established.

“We currently have a very long document which describes all of our gift policies; I think they wanted something that would provide sort of upfront, the guiding principles upon which we would accept gifts,” Monaco said. “For example, that there would be no quid pro quo between a donor and the university.”

The removal of the name was welcomed by several Massachusetts politicians.

Attorney General Maura Healey, who criticized Tufts’ relationship to the Sackler family in a legal complaint that came out in January, praised Tufts for the decision.

“We applaud Tufts for this thoughtful and transparent review of its relationship with the Sackler family, for its recognition of the implications that relationship had on the mission and values of the university, and for listening to the voices of its students,” she said.

Congresswoman Katherine Clark of Massachusetts’ 5th District, which includes Medford, provided pointed criticism of the Sacklers but praise of Tufts’ decision to go through with the report.

“We know that [the opioid crisis] had its roots at least in part with the Sackler family and their pursuit of profits over people,” the Congresswoman said. “And I commend Tufts for taking a comprehensive look at donations that were accepted from the Sackler family, any potential conflicts of interest or impact on research that may have had.”

Clark emphasized the importance of removing the name from buildings, saying that many people in her and other districts had been affected by the crisis and taking down the Sackler name was a major symbolic show of support.

“I think it is a very important move to remove the name from those buildings,” Clark said. “And that they’ve gone farther than just taking down the name, but have really done a deep dive into how the donations may have influenced and created conflicts of interest.”

Likewise, Senator Ed Markey, who used to serve in Clark’s district, told the Daily in a statement that the decision was necessary for the preservation of community confidence.

“Tufts University is doing the right thing by removing the Sackler name from its buildings and programs,” he said.

“Countless Massachusetts families have suffered loss, pain, and death as a result of Purdue Pharma’s deception and product. They should not have to look upon the name of the family that has caused suffering to so many.”

Purdue given academic oversight in PREP funding agreement REPORT

continued from page 1 The company also donated approximately $380,000 to TUSM’s Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) — which conducts research for pharmaceutical companies, regulators and policymakers — between 1997 and 2010.

In all, Stern and Remz found that Tufts has received approximately $15 million from the Sackler family and Purdue since 1980. Their report illustrates how Tufts enabled Sackler family members and Purdue Pharma officials to exploit this relationship and wield undue influence on the university.

Copy Editors

Assistant Copy Editors

tuftsdaily.com

Little consideration for conflicts of interest The inaugural funding agreement for the PREP program, executed in 1999, gave Purdue the capacity to modify curricula and encourage preferred research at TUSM. Purdue was granted a representative on the steering committee that oversees and evaluates the PREP program and was also given the opportunity to help develop curricula. In addition, Purdue agreed to fund the Comprehensive Educational Program (CEP) as a host for specific projects that benefit both Tufts and Purdue. The funding agreement also included provisions that encouraged cooperation between Tufts and Purdue

in their respective marketing strategies and established an annual lecture formerly known as the ‘Sackler Lecture.’

This arrangement offered the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma a myriad of opportunities to advance their individual and corporate interests through their relationship with Tufts. Stern and Remz concluded that the 1999 funding agreement “gave Purdue far too much potential influence over the PREP program” and clarified that it would violate the current University Gifts Policy Statement, which preserves Tufts’ complete autonomy over non-sponsored research as well as all academic programs.

One such avenue of influence came through the promotion of David Haddox, a senior executive at Purdue, to adjunct positions in the PREP program. Haddox, who advocated for opioid painkillers as Purdue’s vice president of health policy from 1999 to 2018, was “positioned to further Purdue’s interests” as a regular lecturer in two of the PREP program’s required courses until 2018, according to the investigation.

Haddox was appointed to adjunct assistant clinical professor in 2006 and promoted to another adjunct role in 2011. Stern and Remz concluded that it is unlikely Haddox would have been appointed without Purdue funding the PREP program. Haddox

was given further opportunity to advance Purdue’s interests through his designation as the company’s representative on the PREP steering committee, though it is unclear whether he ultimately filled that role.

Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine Daniel Carr’s role as director of the PREP program also raises concerns about Tufts’ conflict-of-interest considerations.

Carr’s advocacy for chronic pain treatment — views which he held before PREP’s creation — aligned with Purdue’s corporate interests.

Sackler and Remz found that while Carr never violated university policy, he forged an inappropriately close relationship with Purdue on multiple occasions, including his appearance in a Purdue print advertisement and Purdue’s request that he testify in front of a 2002 Food and Drug Administration committee as the company’s consultant. Their report suggested that Tufts either encouraged these incidents or failed to consider the conflict-of-interest implications in these actions.

It also found that existing conflict-of-interest training for TUSM students and faculty is “minimal” and not subject to annual review.

Sackler and Remz documented how Sackler family members have also accrued

see REPORT, page 3

News

Friday, December 6, 2019 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

3

Stern recommends broad changes to university conflict-of-interest policies

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / JOHN PHELAN

The Arnold Wing of the Tufts University School of Medicine is pictured.

REPORT

continued from page 2 influence and legitimacy at Tufts through their philanthropic efforts, consistent with the tactics described in Healey’s memorandum.

Richard Sackler, who served as president of Purdue from 1999 to 2003 and continues to sit on the company’s board of directors, was a member of the TUSM Board of Advisors for nearly 20 years until his resignation in 2017. Stern and Remz found no evidence that Richard Sackler advanced Purdue’s business interests as a board member, despite taking an active role on the board at times.

However, Stern and Remz identified several concerns with the honorary degree Tufts gave to former Purdue Chairman Raymond Sackler in 2013. They concluded the history of donations to the university by Raymond Sackler and his family “undoubtedly affected the amount of scrutiny given to his background [vetting]” and that in honoring Raymond Sackler, Tufts hoped he would make another significant donation to the university. Four months after the degree was conferred, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation pledged a contribution to Tufts.

The vetting process for Raymond Sackler’s honorary degree was further complicated by the review committee’s neglect for concerns surrounding Purdue’s 2007 criminal conviction as well as its role in the opioid crisis.

That conviction was the result of Purdue’s misleading marketing tactics, for which the company paid over $600 million in fines and other forms of compensation.

The honorary degree review committee — a group selected from Tufts’ Board of Trustees — was aware of Purdue’s conviction and its role in distributing opioids but did not address either issue comprehensively, according to Stern and Remz. In reference to Raymond Sackler’s honorary degree, Stern and Remz concluded “the University should have been more intentional and cautious in its relationships with the Sackler family.”

Monaco expressed in an interview with the Daily that he was aware of Purdue’s 2007 criminal conviction when the university gave Raymond Sackler an honorary degree but regrets not giving it greater consideration at the time.

“I would say that we, on reflection, did not do as much due diligence on that issue as we might have wanted to,” Monaco said.

Soliciting donations in the midst of a crisis Even after Purdue’s 2007 conviction, and as the dangers of opioid medications like OxyContin slowly came to light, university administrators continued to ignore these concerns. Instead, Stern and Remz found that efforts by University Advancement to

solicit donations from the Sacklers continued into early 2018.

Peter Dolan, chairman of Tufts’ Board of Trustees, explained that while the university last received a donation from the Sackler family in 2013, it engaged with family members in subsequent years due to their long philanthropic history.

“The university, through its Advancement division, would have kept relationships with donors — especially donors that we’ve known for decades,” Dolan said. “So although the last funding was in 2013, there would have been communications with the family up to 2017–18.”

Tufts began to reconsider its relationship in fall 2017 after pieces in Esquire and The New Yorker lambasted Purdue Pharma for perpetrating the opioid crisis. At that point, the university quietly retreated from its contacts with the Sackler family and Purdue and stopped seeking donations, according to Dolan.

The Sackler and Purdue influence in Tufts curricula Stern and Remz found “no evidence of any quid pro quo arrangement whereby Purdue or any of the Sacklers agreed to fund PREP, CSDD or any other program or research in TUSM conditioned on certain outcomes.”

Nonetheless, their investigation revealed that the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma exhibited a clear and, at times, successful effort to influence Tufts’ academic programs.

The Commonwealth’s lawsuit against the company cited the PREP program as a prime example of Purdue’s influence.

“The MSPREP Program was such a success for Purdue’s business that the company considered it a model for influencing teaching hospitals and medical schools,” according to the complaint.

Stern and Remz acknowledge the potential for Purdue to influence in the PREP program but assert no such influence occurred.

The report does, however, show how Purdue attempted to leverage its relationship with the university through the program.

Of Purdue’s annual $330,000 payments to the PREP program from 1999 to 2004, $200,000 supported the program specifically, $100,000 went to CEP and $30,000 was reserved for PREP scholarships. That funding came with numerous strings attached, as laid out in the 1999 contract, which Purdue attempted to exploit.

Stern and Remz documented that Purdue tried to obtain information about medical education programs related to OxyContin’s impact and the opioid crisis on at least one occasion. Those programs were sponsored

by Tufts Health Plan, which is independent of and unaffiliated with the university.

The report does not examine several other signs of Purdue influence on the PREP pro-

gram identified in Healey’s memorandum.

Those incidents include a 2009 meeting at Purdue headquarters in which the PREP’s steering committee sought input from Purdue about the program.

Stern and Remz identify Haddox’s involvement in the PREP program as the primary way in which Purdue influenced Tufts’ academic impact.

“Dr. Haddox, as a relatively senior member of Purdue’s management team that promoted the use of OxyContin as being safe to prescribe for various types of pain, including chronic moderate to severe non-cancer pain, was positioned to further Purdue’s interests by lecturing in the PREP program,” the report reads.

While the report stops short of characterizing Haddox’s lectures in the PREP program as biased, it outlines several incidents that point to corporate influence in his classes.

Haddox failed to address opioid addiction in a lecture on opioids, nor did he address the side effects of drugs in the oxycodone class, to which OxyContin belongs, despite presenting the side effects of other drugs. Haddox also advised a PREP student’s capstone project, which examined medical students’ attitudes toward opioids and addiction, but had limited interaction with the project’s author, according to Stern and Remz.

The report characterizes the effect of these incidents as relatively small, however, in showing that very few graduates of the PREP program are now licensed prescribers.

It also outlines several other events that indicate bias, including Haddox’s “analogizing regulation of opioids to Prohibition” and a 2017 lecture in which several students felt he downplayed the opioid crisis and rejected the pharmaceutical industry’s role in it. Haddox consistently disclosed his position at Purdue in those guest lectures. “[Haddox] was in the position to influence students through his classroom lectures, one or two of which in part may have reflected a point of view aligned with his employer, which was disclosed,” Stern and Remz said.

Carr also contributed to creating “the appearance of an alignment between Purdue and the PREP program,” which Purdue hoped would lend academic legitimacy to its operations — a motivation that was featured heavily in Healey’s memorandum.

Most prominent among Carr’s actions was his presence in a 2002 Purdue advertisement in The Boston Globe. The advertisement featured his image, affiliation with Tufts and his endorsement of Purdue’s efforts to fight prescription drug abuse.

“While the ad did not promote a product, it reflects an uncomfortable, inappropriate association with a commercial financial supporter. It also gave some credibility to Purdue’s claim to be fighting opioid abuse,” Stern and Remz said. “Although no then-existing Tufts policies were violated, better judgment should have prevailed.”

The report found that Carr defended Purdue from criticism over its role in the opioid crisis at times and “sought opportunities to collaborate in fighting ‘Opioidphobia,’ which he viewed as an irrational fear of prescribing opioids for chronic pain under any circumstances.” The term “opioidphobia” was integrated into certain PREP academic materials, which Stern and Remz noted could stigmatize prescribers for exercising caution.

The report also outlines several incidents in which Tufts officials exhibited inappropriate deference to Purdue due to their status as a large donor.

The committee tasked with selecting a common book for all incoming TUSM students in the 2015–16 academic year considered “Dreamland” (2015), which examines Purdue’s role in creating the opioid crisis. Stern and Remz conclude that “Dreamland” was ultimately rejected due “in significant part” to the university’s “desire to avoid controversy regarding

[its] relationship” with Purdue and the Sackler family.

TUSM Dean Harris Berman told the Daily that the report overstated the discussion around “Dreamland” and clarified that “Dreamland” and the Sacklers did not factor prominently in the decision.

“During the course of a short discussion in [the TUSM] leadership team, somebody mentioned the book ‘Dreamland’ might also be an appropriate one,” Berman said.

“They did mention that it was not kind to the Sackler family. But we weren’t really [considering] ‘Dreamland.’”

Recommendations and decisions Stern presented the findings of his investigation to the university’s Board of Trustees on the weekend of Nov. 2. The investigators declined to recommend whether Tufts should remove the Sackler name, claiming it was not within the scope of their investigation.

Dolan explained that the Board of Trustees has been discussing this particular issue for about 18 months.

“We had an opportunity to see the written report, but we wanted to give the Trustees the opportunity … to hear from Don Stern, himself, to add any color to what he had written and then to directly ask him questions,” Dolan said. “All of that was context and background as we began to think through the process of answering the question: What do we do with the Sackler name on this campus?”

The university announced Thursday that it will remove the Sackler name from all buildings on its Boston Health Sciences Campus and establish a $3 million endowment to prevent and treat substance abuse and addiction.

Stern and Remz did, however, propose a number of recommendations, primarily aimed at strengthening Tufts’ various conflict-of-interest prevention policies. In order to prevent conflicts of interest created by donations, Stern and Remz suggested creating a gifts policy committee to evaluate certain high-level donations and review all anonymous contributions, as well as a formal vetting process for all major contributors.

The report recommends that a gifts policy committee should review donations over $250,000 and comprise Tufts administrators, university counsel, members of the Board of Trustees, an ethics expert, members of the Advancement office and faculty representatives.

Their report also recommended that the university provide greater transparency in disclosing who funds its academic programs and research.

Monaco and Dolan said the university would implement these policies but did not provide further details.

“As we looked at the body of what he was suggesting, we thought many of those … had good intent, and we are looking at how to implement them,” Dolan said.

However, Monaco added that a set of guiding principles in receiving gifts and donations would be established separate from the full gifts policy that Tufts follows, in line with the report’s recommendation that the university clarify and publish its gift-acceptance standards.

Stern and Remz also recommended that Tufts establish institution-wide conflict-of-interest policies in order to protect academic programs and curricula as well as research. They also proposed that the university review its existing conflict-of-interest training policies and make them more accessible to students and faculty.

Finally, Stern and Remz encouraged Tufts to give “rigorous due diligence” to all honorary degree candidates, regardless of whether they have an existing relationship with the university.

Alexander Thompson contributed reporting to this article.

4 Friday, December 6, 2019

Features

tuftsdaily.com

FlyingLess initiative challenges traditions of travel in academia Hong Kong looks

Jon Adams Oops We Did It Again

B

back

aroness Dunn, the first ethnic Chinese and Hong Kong-born British citizen to be elevated to the British peerage, is perhaps best remembered for breaking down in tears during a British parliamentary committee in May 1989, only a month after the start of the Tiananmen Square Protests. As the government investigated possible problems concerning the impending handover of the territory to China, Baroness Dunn lost her composure as she called the British government “morally indefensible” for being willing to surrender “British citizens to a regime that did not hesitate to use its tanks and forces on its own people.” Hong Kong citizens, she pointed out, had been British subjects for 150 years, yet had no more right to live in Britain than any other foreign national. Her call for the people of Hong Kong to have the right of abode in Britain after the handover was rejected by Parliament, and in 1997 Hong Kong was returned to China.

As Hong Kong society struggles to preserve its liberty and not collapse against the pressure of communist China, one can’t help but credit Baroness Dunn for her foresight. While the mainland Chinese government has yet to send tanks to the streets to reassert authority, the recent besieging of the city’s Polytechnic University and other institutions has fully removed the veil of civility that could be projected onto the unrest. Most alarming of all is the Nov. 8 death of Chow Tsz-lok, a student who fell to his death and was delayed help by paramedics as police attempted to disperse nearby protests with force and tear gas.

Such violence has created a quiet but powerful nostalgia for Hong Kong’s colonial past, which is increasingly visible in the protest movement. In September, pro-democracy protesters waved Union Jacks and sang “God Save the Queen” outside the British consulate, and earlier in June, protesters who stormed the city’s legislature building draped the colonial era flag across the lectern of the chamber.

What is the significance of this affinity for Hong Kong’s colonial past? Certainly not a return to British rule. But the modest democratic reforms instituted in the dying days of British rule created a desire and expectation for democracy, however minor, in the city that China has refused to satiate.

British Hong Kong, compared to modern circumstances, offers an easy nostalgia of freer times. The fact that the city was returned to China in 1997, rather than granted independence, becomes all the more prevalent and consequential as the discord between it and the mainland only grows.

22 years ago, Prince Charles watched as the Union Jack was lowered for the final time in Hong Kong, promising the city, “We shall not forget you, and we shall watch with the closest interest as you embark on this new era of your remarkable history.” As the territory enters its first recession in a decade and an increasing number of citizens begin to consider emigration, one is left to wonder whether watching is all the rest of the world will continue to do as the Pearl of the Orient begins to lose its luster.

Jon Adams is a senior studying international relations and Spanish. Jon can be reached at jonathan.adams@tufts.edu.

by Marc Weisglass Staff Writer

In 2015, two professors teamed up to start the FlyingLess Initiative, putting forward a petition that calls on universities and professional associations to greatly reduce air travel. Led by Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy professor Parke Wilde, along with professor Joseph Nevins of Vassar, the petition has over 2,500 signees as of 2019. This year has seen an array of notable public figures opting to fly less, from Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s decision to travel to the UN Climate Action Summit by way of a 15-day Atlantic Ocean sailboat voyage, to rock band Coldplay’s recent announcement that it would cancel its concert tour to reduce air travel.

According to a September report by The New York Times, air travel accounts for about 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emission, but by 2050 could account for up to 27% of the global “carbon budget,” the amount of carbon dioxide permissible to prevent temperature rises above 1.5 degrees Celsius.

That number is much higher for educated communities in developed countries.

“For people who run in our circles, flying is like blowing your nose and I think it’s very important we address this,” Nevins said.

Wilde stressed that the majority of flying-related carbon emissions come from a small group of travelers, with about half of Americans flying less than once a year.

“About a quarter of Americans only make one or two trips [a year] by air,” Wilde says. “[Another] quarter are people who fly more than once or twice a year. When you look at the average overall, aviation isn’t a dominant part of national greenhouse gas inventory but for people at a certain income and education level it’s the most important.”

Professors in particular travel by air more than most, to attend conferences both domestically and internationally. Wilde’s mission has been to challenge this convention by offering alternatives to the traditional conference model “Even though academia is a small sector, it’s fairly influential,” Wilde said.

“Other people are watching what we’re doing and hopefully they can see its possible to do better.”

The FlyingLess petition calls on universities to include all of their carbon emissions

in their annual sustainability report, including emissions attributable to air travel.

Universities have historically categorized flying as a Scope Three emission, which means that flights are not attributed towards the university’s carbon emissions. Rather than demanding that institutions set specific goals, the petition encourages universities to set reduction goals that are “commensurate with the climate science.”

Tina Woolston, program director of Tufts’ Office of Sustainability, has found that not all professors are fond of travelling so frequently to conferences. But for those seeking tenure, it can be necessary to attend a certain number of conferences in order to meet expectations set by universities.

“If the professors don’t want to go to these conferences then we need to spend some time looking at the tenured promotion process and how professors are evaluated and start reevaluating that,” Woolston said. “Are there other ways to evaluate professors other than the number of conferences they fly to?”

However, Woolston is doubtful that there will be expedient structural changes to the tenure promotion process.

“It’s difficult for one university to do it if other universities don’t do it,” Woolston said. “Tenure is this long-standing centuries-old tradition. Changing it seems like not an easy process.”

There are movements in the university space to get rid of tenure altogether: in 2017, bills were introduced in Missouri and Iowa to end the practice of tenure. If such legislation were enacted on a larger scale across the country, it would remove a serious obstacle to the FlyingLess movement.

In addition to obstacles posed by tenureship, Wilde and Nevins have found pushback in the form of lack of engagement and softer climate denial.

“A lot of people acknowledge it and that’s about it,” Nevins said. “Asking people to give up things is not popular. It makes people uncomfortable because many see flying as a right. If you hear about students putting solar panels on the roof nobody would complain, but when it becomes a matter of giving up something people get uncomfortable.”

However, Wilde is confident that many alternatives are employable for professors and will gain momentum alongside

this movement. These alternatives include traveling to conferences overland, increasing the amount of literature they publish to substitute conference attendance and the “hubspace” conferencing model in which multiple linked conferences across the country are located in regionally convenient hubs, which Wilde expressed excitement for.

“Hubspace conferencing preserves, at least in part, some of the spirit of an in-person conference,” Wilde said. “You might have four or five locations and each location is a real person event with the social life and this sense of leaving aside your daily life, just the same as a regular in-person conference but the travel distance is much smaller.”

While Wilde recognizes the inherent challenges in giving up flying, he considers himself a living testimony that it is doable.

An avid traveller, he hasn’t flown since 2014. He’s been forced to miss a handful of conferences but still attends many that are useful, travelling up and down the Northeast corridor by Amtrak and making one longer trip across the country each year. The furthest he has traveled so far is to New Orleans.

Prior to giving up flying, Wilde was a frequent international traveler and enjoyed visiting cathedrals in Europe. But now in this flying-less chapter of his life, he has found joy in bike touring with his partner in Canada.

“It is possible to generalize the the sense of joy and adventure you found before in pursuing whatever low-carbon option that is available to you,” Wilde said.

“Giving up air travel does not mean giving up what’s delightful about life. We can really preserve that.”

Nevins is an ardent believer that with individual lifestyle changes, each person can each be impactful in making greater structural change.

“We are deluding ourselves if we think we can deal with climate change, biodiversity, soil quality and any other issue without making lifestyle changes,” Nevins said.

“There’s been a very significant change over the past four years. When we first started no one wanted to be a part of — now we can’t keep up. It shows that hope is not something that’s just out there. It’s something you build.”

Up to 40% of businesses never recover after experiencing a major disaster. Do you have a plan to keep your business running if disaster strikes? For a free online tool that helps you develop an emergency plan, visit Ready.gov/business.

tuftsdaily.com

ARTS&LIVING

New artists, old favorites dominate 2019 music scene

by Geoff Tobia Jr.

Assistant Arts Editor

As this year comes to a close, I wanted to write this article as a music wrap-up for 2019.

Honestly, I never would have thought that I’d do such a thing, but I felt it was necessary because this year was actually pretty solid for music. While albums from this year didn’t necessarily blow me away like Frank Ocean’s “Blonde” did in 2016, or like Saba’s “Care For Me” did last year, there was still a plethora of worthwhile albums from all genres (stay tuned in 2020 for a “Best albums of 2019” list). However, events in the music scene from throughout this year definitely helped make 2019 great, musically speaking.

First, we saw an explosive rise of an artist through TikTok. With a little (nay, a lot of) help from the app, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” became a household song within five months.

First spreading through memes on TikTok and Instagram, “Old Town Road” slowly crept its way up the Apple Music and Spotify charts.

Taking influence from Young Thug’s album “Beautiful Thugger Girls” (2017), “Old Town Road” became a pioneering song for the country-rap genre. Eventually, Billy Ray Cyrus caught on, and so did everyone (and their moms).

Cyrus remixed the song with his own verse, which helped get the song to top the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking 19 weeks (Young Thug, Mason Ramsey, Diplo and BTS’ RM also contributed to different remixes of the song).

Suddenly, Lil Nas X was not only a star, but also a history-maker.

Not even 18 years of age, Billie Eilish made history of her own. With her debut studio album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” she became the first artist born in the 21st century to top the Billboard 200 chart. Later, in August, after the “Old Town Road” Hot 100 craze, her song “bad guy” topped the charts, in which she also became the first artist born since 2000 to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Another impressive Billboard 200 chart record broken came from rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie. With his late December 2018 album, “Hoodie SZN,” the record’s third and fourth weeks marked its chart-topping moments, but they did so in a very unique way. Selling only 823 pure copies the third week, and 749 pure copies the fourth week, “Hoodie SZN” became the lowest-selling number one album of alltime. While unfortunate in some sense, it also goes to show how impactful streaming services have been on the success of artists today.

Throughout the year, we saw several high-profile groups returning to the spotlight. The Jonas Brothers came back together and released their comeback single “Sucker” in March, marking their first song together in six years. Needless to say, there were plenty of eager fans that hoped that day would come, and they made it known. The band’s comeback album, “Happiness Begins” released in June, performed extremely well, selling over 350,000 pure copies in its opening week. After a lengthy and difficult songwriting process, the legendary metal band Tool also came back with their first studio album in 13 years, “Fear Inoculum,” which released weeks after

the rest of their discography became available on streaming services for the first time.

The album was well-received, as many fans and critics agreed the band stayed true to form. Many other notable artists, like Bruce Springsteen, The Raconteurs, Bad Religion and Hootie & the Blowfish all released their first albums in more than five years. While not releasing any new material this year, My Chemical Romance, Rage Against the Machine, Heart and Mr. Bungle (among others) all announced reunion shows.

Even in the face of sticky situations, both artists and fans this year showed their admirable philanthropic efforts. Over the summer, a hacker broke into a MiniDisc belonging to Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke, containing unreleased demos of Radiohead’s historic album “OK Computer” (1997). The hacker held the songs ransom for $150,000. So, instead of paying the ransom, Yorke instead decided to release the demo tapes, with all proceeds going to charity. In November, when grindcore band Full of Hell had their van stolen, they reached out to fans to help fund the band’s equipment and instrument replacement cost of $20,000. In mere hours, kind fans raised nearly double the goal, and the band donated the excess money to charity.

Overall, 2019 gave some hope for the future of music, and only time will tell how music will progress from here. Technology will improve, tastes in music will change and music never fails to surprise people. So, cheers to a great year in music, and to many more in the future.

TV REVIEW

Love exists in all forms in ‘Modern Love’

by Elaine Gao

Contributing Writer

Tired of watching “Love Actually” (2003) again and again every year around Christmas time? The Amazon anthology TV series “Modern Love” (2019) might be something new to watch with a cup of hot chocolate near a warm fireplace on a snowy day. Based on the New York Times column of the same name, “Modern Love” is a rom-com series with eight half-hour-long episodes, each telling a love story that takes place in New York City. With the same location and similar rom-com elements, “Modern Love” reminds us of the classic anthology film “New York, I Love You” (2008) or Woody Allen’s new film “A Rainy Day in New York” (2019). Although some tend to think “Modern Love” is outshined by its predecessors, it is nevertheless worth watching.

Created by John Carney, who directed “Once” (2007) and “Sing Street” (2016), “Modern Love” breaks some social taboos with its brave depiction of several unconventional relationships. “So He Looked Like Dad. It Was Just Dinner, Right?” tells the story of Maddy (Julia Garner), a confused young woman who takes interest in her boss Peter (Shea Whigham), an AI engineer who is a similar age to her father. Although the huge age gap between the Maddy and Peter may creep some audiences out, Maddy’s insecurities nonetheless stand true. Her interest in Peter, whether romantic or not, shows her pain and confusion, and is interspersed with heart-warming moments when she thinks she regains the missing father figure in life with Peter’s attention and care. The story ends in the euphoric moment when Maddy finally grows out of her daddy-fixation.

“Hers was a World of One,” arguably one of the best episodes, tells the story between Karla (Olivia Cooke), a homeless expecting mother, and a married homosexual couple Tobin (Andrew Scott) and Andy (Brandon Kyle

VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for ‘Modern Love’ (2019) is pictured.

Goodman), who are waiting to adopt Karla’s baby. Dan Savage, the author of the original New York Times column story, is a sex columnist and LGBTQ activist. The piece is pleasant to watch with the fun-loving relationship between Tobin, a slightly uptight Caucasian man and his husband Andy, an easy-going African American man who is significantly younger than Tobin in age. The story develops around the differences among the three, especially Tobin’s frustration with Karla’s nomadic lifestyle when the three live under the same roof. The climax of the story takes place during Karla’s labor. As Tobin watches how Karla gives birth in pain and sweat, the two gradually come to terms with their differences in the shared rapture of welcoming a new baby to life.

“The Race Grows Sweeter Near Its Final Lap,” the final episode, tells the story of love, attrac-

tion, desire and hope between Margot (Jane Alexander), a Caucasian woman, and Kenji (James Saito), an Asian American man. It is reassuring to see interracial marriage depicted on the screen, let alone between two old people who are such late stages in their lives. The piece does a good job of destigmatizing the desire for love and companionship among the elderly. The episode is followed by a closing sequence with all the characters in “Modern Love” living and breathing under the New York sky on a rainy day.

The audience cries and laughs watching how characters cope with the ups and downs of life, avoid their emotions and eventually come to terms with them. Most of the characters remain strangers or live independently from one another, but that is no matter. The beauty of New York City lies in its spontaneity. With all the bittersweet encounters and heart-warming hopefulness intertwined in the rain, who knows what will happen next on the streets of NYC? There are definitely many shortcomings to “Modern Love.” It undeniably has some unrealistic chick flick elements, which a review from The Atlantic calls “trite idealism.” Meanwhile, a New York Times review calls the series “an instagrammable latte.” “Modern Love” mostly sheds favorable light on NYC and sometimes glamorizes the reality of life. The storytelling in some pieces is less believable or successful than in others. Anne Hathaway’s acting in “Take Me as I Am, Whoever I Am,” though challenging, still seems somewhat unrealistic and awkward with its melodramatic ups and downs; and the dance seems like an abruptly out-of-place tribute to “La La Land” (2016).

However, although “Modern Love” has several faults, it is still worth watching. After all, it is Christmas season. For a brief moment, let us leave the thorniest, most painfully revelatory moments in life. Hand me the cozy hand-knit cardigan and the instagrammable latte on my snowy Christmas night!

5

Friday, December 6, 2019

Colette Smith and Madison Lehan Love It or Haute It

Matching holiday pajamas

A

s we check Thanksgiving off our calendar, we are faced with a new challenge: the holiday season.

Whether it’s the decorations on neighborhood lawns, commercials on TV, wish lists in magazines or parties your friends throw in honor of the season, the holidays make sure that you know that they are here. Today, we will discuss matching pajama sets, a true holiday staple.

Coco: This time of year is my absolute favorite and matching pajamas are a very important part of why I love these few festive weeks so much. While the temperature gets colder, I cannot think of anything more enjoyable than curling up on a couch surrounded by friends with a hot chocolate watching a Netflix rom-com (that preferably stars Vanessa Hudgens and takes place during the holidays). The ideal piece to perfect this image is a set of matching pajamas for you and your friends. They will take your basic friend group to a Pinterest-level friend group and there is nothing more I want for Christmas than that. Coming in all shapes and sizes, there is something for everyone. If you want a classic, go for the red plaid two-piece. Or if extra warmth is what you are looking for, grab a cozy fleece onesie. It feels like they are sold at every store, so go grab yourself a set and you are on your way to a holiday miracle.

Beans: I have to admit, I have never seen “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (1966), I have never been hoisted up by my father to place the star at the top of the tree and I have never posed in front of an open, crackling flame in matching pajamas with my family. I have never known the sweet, sweet, joy of owning the same PJ set as my parents and siblings. All I know of the holiday season is the plaster of Paris dreidels, relatives getting wine drunk on Manischewitz, and telling all my friends at school that Santa isn’t real. Do I long for my brothers and I to share a moment of clarity triggered by head to toe flannel?

Of course. Instead I must settle for eight nights of watching candle wax slowly drip onto my kitchen counter, trying to ignore the intrusive thoughts of presents and happiness. I have spent many Hanukkahs of Christmas past longing for Santa’s beard to tickle my cheek as we pose for a $30 photo in the Burlington Mall. I pine for the year our “holiday card” will feature the Lehan Family in Hanukkah PJs, plastered with menorahs and colored candles. The problem is, Target simply does not stock their shelves with blue and white PJs suitable for my Jewish home. Target has ignored my many emails, letters and heartfelt voicemails, pleading for their selling of matching family pajamas that my Bubbe would be proud to wear each of the eight nights of Hanukkah. Until this national retailer listens to my cries for equality, I fear I will continue to live my life without feeling the joys of Christmas spirit pumping through my veins and covering my body.

Colette Smith is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Colette can be reached at colette.smith@tufts.edu. Madison Lehan is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Madison can be reached at madison.lehan@tufts.edu.

6

THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Friday, December 6, 2019

tuftsdaily.com

Friday, December 6, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

F &G FUN & GAMES

7

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Jess: “No one is allowed to say anything that will elicit any emotion from me.”

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Sagittarius (Nov. 22–Dec. 21)

Savor rest and recreation. Avoid overindulging. Don’t spend frivolously. Stay close to home, if possible. Avoid conflict or controversy. Have fun with someone sweet.

__________________________________

BE AN OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR FOR THE TUFTS DAILY Thursday’s Solutions

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

ON

O

I PIN

tuftsdailyoped@gmail.com

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _L_ _ _ _

Difficulty Level: Making the final layout of your career

CROSSWORD

Sports

8 Friday, December 6, 2019

tuftsdaily.com

Jumbos look to remain undefeated, face WPI in Germany, communi- non-conference showdown

Arlo Moore-Bloom The Equalizer

ty and the 50+1 rule

P

remier League devotees call it the best league in the world. Some of the most famous players play in England, after all, and its clubs dominate global television and merchandising markets. At the same time, its supporters bemoan the external investment that has driven the league to the same heights they celebrate.

It started in 2003, when Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich purchased Chelsea FC. Since then, foreign owners — most notoriously Sheikh Mansour, a royal prince of the UAE — have pumped millions of dollars into the league, raising their club’s prestige at the expense of league-wide parity.

Critics of this wave of foreign ownership say that it cleaves local fans from their teams on a community level: clubs’ matchday tickets maximize profits, rather than cater to their supporters’ financial realities. Fans are treated as cows to be milked rather than members of a footballing community.

Not so in Germany, which instituted a “50+1” rule in 1998. The clause states that, to play in the Bundesliga, a club must hold a majority of its own voting rights. It’s designed so that the club’s members retain overall control of their team, protecting them from the influence of external investors.

For the 2019–20 season, the average cost for a standing-room-only Bundesliga season ticket — its cheapest kind — was 186.25 euros, or 10.96 a match. For the same year in England, the average price for a team’s cheapest season ticket was 590.97 euros, or 34.76 euros per match.

Part of this discrepancy is because many Premier League teams do not offer standing-only tickets, citing security concerns. The cheapest tickets in England are seated, which logically are more expensive. But this doesn’t explain the over 300% difference in average season ticket pricing.

The socialist-style ownership structure in Germany ensures that a team’s most real constituents — its fans — realize their interests.

Commercial interests cannot gain control of a team’s policies, such as ticket pricing, which are often revenue-oriented, like in England.

RB Leipzig is one of the more prominent outliers. Up until 2009, RB Leipzig was a fifth-division club that existed on the fringes of German soccer. That changed when Austrian energy drink company Red Bull bought the club’s license and completely renovated the club.

The team’s successive promotions up the Bundesliga ladder were met with criticism from opposing fans time and time again. “[Bundesliga club] Dortmund makes money, but we do it in order to play football. Leipzig plays football in order to sell a product and a lifestyle,” Jan-Henrik Gruszecki, a 2016 protest organizer, told The Guardian.

Fans like Gruszecki condemn Leipzig because while it technically follows the 50+1 law, it deters entry to membership with prohibitively high entry costs, and it boasts only 17 voting members — most of which are Red Bull employees. In essence, a corporation owns the voting rights of the club, the very situation the 50+1 legislation was meant to prohibit.

Commercialism’s slow creep into German soccer is, for the time being, cornered in Leipzig.

The staunch opposition to the club’s structure reflects the community-based structure of German soccer, which should be celebrated, if not encouraged, in the rest of the world.

Arlo Moore-Bloom is a junior studying international relations and history. Arlo can be reached at arlo.moore_bloom@ tufts.edu.

MADELEIENE OLIVER / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Senior guard/forward and co-caption Erica DeCandido shoots a free throw during a game against Bates on Jan. 19.

by Henry Molot Staff Writer

The women’s basketball team continued its red hot start to the 2019–20 season, calmly dispatching Emerson College 87–43 on Tuesday. The win gives the Jumbos six wins in as many contests — a strong foundation for what will be a very long season.

The Jumbos found offensive sparks from both their starters and their reserves, highlighted by efficient shooting from sophomore guard Molly Ryan and senior guard and co-captain Lilly Paro. Ryan, a native of Westfield, N.J., went 3 for 3 from beyond the arc, and led the team with 29 minutes. Senior guard/forward and co-captain Erica DeCandido also put in a strong shift, grabbing 11 rebounds and scoring 7 points in 27 minutes of action.

For a team that prides itself on defense and transition baskets, the long rebounds from Emerson’s barrage of 3-point attempts allowed the Jumbos to be effective on the break.

“Emerson was very guard-heavy and shot lots of 3s,” DeCandido said following the victory.

First-year coach Jill Pace continued, emphasizing the defensive scheme the Jumbos were able to pull together.

“We’ve been able to get defensive stops that are leading to great transition opportunities,” Pace said. “We pride ourselves on our defense and using that momentum to get good looks on offense is important.”

This sentiment of offense flowing from defense isn’t simply a Pace motto: it’s becoming the MO of the whole team.

“We pride ourselves in our defense, which fuels our offense,” DeCandido said.

“Every day we are working on new challenges to improve our team defense.”

Using staunch defense to launch breaks on the offense will be important

against a very good team in Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) when the sides square off on Saturday.

WPI stands at 5–2 to start its season, which includes a 56–45 win over Emerson. The Engineers trailed 4–2 going into the second quarter of that game, which highlights the inconsistencies that have hurt them early in the season. WPI’s most balanced performance came against Fitchburg State University, with consistent production led by Lisa Cristiano off the bench with 16 points.

Last season, WPI and Tufts squared off in January with the Jumbos coming out on top 68–31. That was one of 14 losses for the Engineers last year. The Engineers have no lack of experience and leadership at the head coach spot, as Cherise Galasso begins her 20th campaign as coach of WPI’s women’s basketball team. Galasso guided WPI to three straight ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) finals from 2016–18.

Compare the longtime experience of Galasso to the feisty, ready-to-prove energy of Pace, and you have two teams coming into this contest with entirely contrasting histories. While it is not Pace’s first job as a head coach, having had a brilliant three-year tenure at Pomona Pitzer in California from 2016–18, her comfort level with the program is certainly different from that of Galasso. However, Pace is already forming a strong bond with her team and her coaching staff.

“Our team is extremely close on and off the court, and that has developed over time with strong captain and senior leadership,” Pace said.

In a preseason interview, Pace talked a lot about developing a strong culture and having the players buy in to that culture.

“The buy-in from all of our players to get better every day is definitely there,” Pace said.

The bond between the players and coaching staff is certainly showing up on the court, as the Jumbos are relying on scorers from all across their lineup to step up and contribute. When speaking on the Emerson game, Pace commented on this.

“It was great to see so many different players step up at different moments throughout the game,” Pace said.

If this team is hoping to make a deep playoff run, it should give Pace immense confidence that she has an array of scorers and contributors who can step up when other players are having an off day.

Looking ahead, Pace was quick to recognize the strength of the WPI program and its hot start to the season.

“WPI is a great team that is off to a hot start. I expect a defensive and rebounding battle,” Pace said.

Expect DeCandido to play a big role in establishing a Jumbo presence on the boards.

The Jumbos are becoming used to exceptionally strong starts, and have been starting seasons undefeated through at least six games every year since 2016–17. This season is no different in terms of results, yet Pace is working hard to bring in new traditions and culture in her first year returning to Medford. DeCandido explained the onset of these new traditions.

“Every day is a new experience and a chance to get to know our new coaches and all of our teammates better,” DeCandido said. “It’s fun to start new traditions as a senior class as well.”

One tradition that has already been established is early season dominance.

Expect this Jumbo team to come out swarming the ball and attacking the boards with hopes of keeping their perfect season alive.

Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. Saturday in Worcester.