The Tufts Daily - Thursday, October 3, 2019

Interdisciplinary studies offers students personalized education see FEATURES / PAGE 3

WEEKENDER

Students to write, direct, perform original plays in 24 hours at 3Ps event

Women’s soccer defeats Bates 4–1, improves record to 6–1–1 see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

SEE ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXVIII, ISSUE 20

Thursday, October 3, 2019

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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Davis Square pot shop clears first hurdle

by Alexander Thompson News Editor

Somerville may finally be getting its first recreational cannabis dispensaries three years after Massachusetts voters legalized marijuana in 2016.

Somerville City Council President Katjana Ballantyne, in her capacity as acting mayor on the issue, announced that she would approve host community agreements for three dispensary proposals, including one in Davis Square, in a press release issued Sept. 19.

The three approved proposals are for New England Select Harvest (NESH) at 378– 380 Highland in Davis Square, between Tenóch Mexican and Opa Greek Yeeros, Union Leaf in Union Square and East Coast Remedies on Central Street near Somerville High School.

Acquiring a host community agreement is only the first step in a long path towards open doors.

The businesses must next get a license from the Somerville Licensing Commission and then a building permit from the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals, depending on how the parcel is zoned.

Licenses and permits secured, the business must then head to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission to get final approval, according to documents on the City of Somerville’s website.

The three finalists have already come a long way; recreational marijuana was

ALEXANDER THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

The proposed storefront of New England Select Harvest, a locally owned recreational marijuana retailer, on Highland Ave. in Davis Square is pictured Sept. 25. approved by the Commonwealth’s voters in 2016 by 54%, with 76% of Somerville voters casting a vote in favor. Then, the Massachusetts State House spent the next year legislating how the process would be carried out and then passed the baton to the cities; Somerville finished its own regulations in winter of last year with the 2018 Somerville zoning amendments.

The Acting-Mayor’s Marijuana Advisory Committee (MAC), which was set up to oversee the process, reviewed 14 proposals during the first round, with heavy emphasis placed on promoting minority-owned businesses.

Two of the businesses that received approval are owned by minority women from the area while NESH, the Davis Square proposal is from Robert Gregory, the owner of Redbones Barbecue.

Gregory told the Daily he did not want to talk about the project before going through the zoning process.

NESH received the second highest score of the 14 applicants with 12.5 out of 15 possible points. The recommendation, submitted to Ballantyne by Alex Mello, the MAC liaison, praised Gregory’s partnership with see MARIJUANA, page 2

3Oh!3 to headline Homecoming Concert

by Austin Clementi

Executive News Editor

Tufts University Social Collective (TUSC) announced at the Tuesday night event “TUSC Coffeehouse ft. Copilot” the artists playing at the Homecoming Concert. The artists will be 3Oh!3, Duckwrth and Melii.

According to Mathew Peña, an organizer for the event and member of TUSC, the artists were chosen with both students and other attendees in mind.

“We decided to go with a diverse lineup to represent the various identities on our campus. Homecoming weekend tends to be when alumni come back to re-enjoy what Tufts gave them during their undergrad days,” Peña said.

The event will occur on Oct. 18, the day before Homecoming Day, in the Gatcher Center.

Tickets will go on sale on Monday, at the price of

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$10 for students and $25 for faculty, alumni and guests, all of whom are allowed up to two guests.

According Peña, an event organizer for TUSC, the event was renamed “Homecoming Concert” in lieu of “Fall Fest,” which has occurred in previous years.

“We renamed the fall concert to Homecoming Concert because it allows us to more accurately represent the events happening that weekend,” he said. “The concert has been hosted on the Friday of homecoming weekend for several years and the name change helps to formalize the connection to the weekend.”

Peña added that the event has now been added to the alumni calendar, and that tying the event to Homecoming solidifies the possibility for alumni to be involved.

Peña also emphasized the importance of boundaries during the Homecoming Concert.

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“We also urge concert goes to be mindful of their language, to drink responsibly but remember that you do not need to drink to enjoy the show, and that a crowd does not imply consent… ask before you dance!” he said.

3Oh!3 Taking their name from Boulder, Colorado’s area code, 3Oh!3 made its debut in 2007 with its eponymous, independently produced album, according to 3Oh!3’s Spotify page. The artists were made famous by their second album, “Want” (2008), which included the hit “DONTTRUSTME.” According to its Spotify page, its songs include “jokey raps, indie electronica beats and lots of tomfoolery.”

Duckwrth Duckwrth, born Jared Lee in Los Angeles,

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began releasing music under the name Duckwrth online in the mid-2010s. He collaborated with The Kickdrums, a hip-hop producer from Cleveland, for the single “Supersoaker” (2014) and later the album “Nowhere” (2014). Duckwrth’s first solo collection, “I’M UUGLY” came out in 2016. In 2019, Duckwrth collaborated with Rico Nasty, Kiana Lede and Medasin for the EP “The Falling Man.”

Melii Melii was made famous by a remix of Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” (2017), according to her Spotify page. The same year, she released the single “No Simple Chick.” On March 27 she released her first album, “Phases,” which examines the artist’s past living in Harlem in the 1990s.

Sara Renkert contributed reporting to this article.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, October 3, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Jessica Blough Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL Ryan Eggers Justin Yu

Managing Editors Mykhaylo Chumak Austin Clementi Alejandra Carrillo Connor Dale Abbie Gruskin Liza Harris Robert Kaplan Elie Levine Natasha Mayor Alexander Thompson Daniel Weinstein Nico Avalle Andres Borjas Bella Maharaj Matthew McGovern Sara Renkert Jilly Rolnick Anton Shenk

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Residents express hope, concern over potential new dispensary MARIJUANA

continued from page 1 Jamie Crumb, a Maine businessman with experience in the cannabis industry as well as Maria Cacciola, who has worked as an executive in the commercial banking and lending industry.

The recommendation also cited the location’s proximity to public transit and bike lanes as positives. Gregory also outlined plans for community education and engagement in his application.

Stephen Mackey, the president and CEO of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce, said that Gregory certainly fits the bill for local ownership.

Gregory’s other business, Redbones, was key to the rejuvenation of Davis Square 20 years ago, according to Mackey.

“Redbones is very highly regarded,” he said. “It was with that kernel that we worked on developing a larger dining and nightlife community.”

NESH was not the only proposal close to Tufts that was submitted. A location along the Somerville Community Path, as well as one in Teele Square, were both rejected.

Sira Naturals, a medical marijuana dispensary already up and running in Davis, was also rejected. The recommendation cited changes in the company’s ownership as justification.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic. Mary Sullivan, a Somerville resident who lives down the street from the proposed location of NESH, said she’s wary of the extra traffic it could bring into an already-congested Davis Square.

She pointed to the recreational marijuana dispensary that opened in Brookline earlier this year which, as the Boston Globe reported, has seen lines out the door and raised the ire of some community members.

Part of the reason the Brookline store gets so much traffic is because it is the only marijuana dispensary that allows walk-ins in all of Suffolk County, according to the Globe. NESH would become the closest dispensary to Tufts if it were to open.

Sullivan cited the influx of shoppers from around the region the proposed dispensary could draw.

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“I feel like my concerns are really minor, but they’re really about the congestion it would cause,” she said. “Even more Ubers pulling over or double parking, especially during rush hour. It can take me 10 minutes just to go three-quarters of a mile, it’s ridiculous.”

Sullivan added that the city already says it is focusing on increasing traffic safety in Davis Square and that it needs to remain a priority when considering new dispensaries.

Property values are also a worry for Sullivan. While one analysis by the libertarian Cato Institute found a positive relationship between proximity to a dispensary and home values in Denver, Colo., there has been little research on the question.

Mackey said that marijuana is a new industry and it is inevitable that people would be concerned. He encouraged the community to be engaged with the zoning process, which will include public input during the licensing and permitting phase.

“The important thing is that it be an inclusive and transparent process,” he said.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Features

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Center for Interdisciplinary Studies fosters diverse, crossdisciplinary academic interests

EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Julie Dobrow, director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, poses for a portrait outside her office on May 12, 2015.

by Sidharth Anand Features Editor

What do neurotechnology, behavioral economics and storytelling for social good have in common? They are all titles of Interdisciplinary Studies majors offered by the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) at Tufts and are representative of students who wanted to study a specific cross-section of classes to develop knowledge in a particular area of focus.

According to the CIS website, the major gives students a chance to cater a tailored combination of courses in a variety of disciplines more freely than in the case of established majors at Tufts. “A major that is truly interdisciplinary is one that represents an integration of traditional disciplines, a melding of fields that cannot be accomplished by the usual structure of a major/minor or a double major/minor,” the website says.

Interdisciplinary Studies students also all have to create a senior capstone project and must develop a working thesis for it as sophomores, even if it changes, according to the CIS website and Julie Dobrow, the director of the CIS. Dobrow also mentioned that there is a significant interview process to pursue a major in Interdisciplinary Studies (IS), and that the students must submit a narrative.

“There’s a fairly rigorous process that students have to go through to apply for an IS major. I always recommend that students who are interested potentially in doing an IS major come and talk to me. And I would say that doing an IS major isn’t for everybody,” she said.

In discussing her involvement with the CIS, Dobrow said that she has been involved with the CIS since she came to Tufts.

“My own interests have always been very interdisciplinary, my background is very interdisciplinary and a lot of the work that I do is very interdisciplinary, so it was sort of a logical meeting of minds,” she said.

Dobrow said that she obtained her master’s degree and Ph.D. in media and communication studies from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, but that she studied a wide variety of disciplines.

“I was taking graduate-level courses in anthropology, sociology, but then also education and folklore and in the school of social work … So my own interests have always really been focused on how … we take some of these ideas from different disciplines and cross-fertilize them,” she said.

This idea of cross-fertilizing ideas has resonated with many students who are majoring in interdisciplinary studies and those that are considering it. These include junior Isabel Fernandez, junior Jeffrey Bui, junior Cole Fiorita and sophomore Audrey Carver, all of whom mentioned appreciating the cross-section of various majors offered at Tufts.

The title of Jeffrey Bui’s major is “neurotechnology,” and it represents an amalgamation of majors in computer science, biomedical engineering and cognitive and brain sciences, with some human factors engineering.

“Coming to Tufts, I knew that I had a passion for cognitive science and technology, so I assumed I would major in cognitive and brain sciences (CBS),” he said.

He changed his mind, however, after working at a neurotechnology firm called Brain Power, which uses Google Glass to help children with autism.

“I realized I wanted to do a major in neurotechnology to build devices after this experience. The CBS major involves primarily software, and there is no hardware component, so I decided that I wanted to create my own major,” Bui said.

Bui also mentioned that he has used his major to try and develop a device to help people sleep better.

“I have always struggled with sleep my whole life, and I have never had a consistent sleep schedule,” Bui said. “I remember thinking that I could use something like this, and I got a couple of friends interested.”

He hopes to develop this device further and possibly move it into production in the future.

Isabel Fernandez is a junior majoring in “storytelling for social good” and mentioned being interested in many areas of focus and discipline.

“Professor Dobrow actually encouraged me to do the interdisciplinary studies from the start because I was having a lot of trouble sort of focusing my track of study on a single thing,” Fernandez said.

Her major is a combination of film and media studies, gender studies, American studies and a justice-related component.

She said that in creating her major, she had already started taking classes in her areas of interest, and her major naturally landed in those areas of interest.

Fernandez said that while she didn’t know that Tufts had an interdisciplinary

studies program before she applied, she tended to gravitate towards schools that gave students a chance to create their own majors.

“Tufts ended up being the best fit for me, so I came here and thank goodness, because I didn’t know that interdisciplinary studies was a thing. Thanks to Professor Dobrow, I realized that [this] was an option for me still, even though I didn’t know about it when I was applying to Tufts,” Fernandez said.

Cole Fiorita is a junior majoring in behavioral economics, which consists of economics, psychology and human factors engineering. He mentioned that this field analyzes how consumers behave financially, and what dictates this behavior.

“What this entails is basic economic models to look at what consumers should be doing,” Fiorita said. “The field studies … a bunch of fallacies [in the field] that say where we go wrong financially, and then how we can apply those notions to market to people better,” he said.

He also said that for him, the IS application process was initially difficult, involving two tries with his narrative to get it approved.

“You have to have a full two-page narrative of your major, and for me I had to submit it twice to get it approved,” he said.

For Fiorita, one of the main motivating factors for choosing the interdisciplinary studies major was the roadblocks he found with the economics major.

“Economics is a weird major. I do go back and forth on whether it is a useful

see INTERDISCIPLINARY MAJORS, page 4

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Thursday, October 3, 2019

Kenia French Antidotes to Climate Apathy

To save the climate, just add trees?

T

oday, I have very exciting news for you about one my favorite conversation topics: trees. While it’s been clear that trees have some sort of carbon sequestration potential that can help mitigate climate change, until recently we didn’t know anything specific about what this storage potential could possibly be.

This summer, a team of European scientists proved that trees are an invaluable weapon in the fight against climate change. Their study found that there are 0.9 billion acres of land throughout the world that can be reforested; if we successfully reforest this land, we could potentially capture 205 gigatonnes of carbon. By their estimates, this technique could cut the carbon in the atmosphere by 25%.

Reforesting 0.9 billion acres of land is no small feat, and it’s not an immediate solution: scientists estimate it could take anywhere from 50 to 100 years for these newly growing forests to absorb all of this carbon. And that’s once they are planted — in order for this project to have the most potential, reforestation efforts need to begin as soon as possible.

Seems daunting? Like, yes, very.

However, it may not be as impossible as it sounds. There’s significant tree-carrying capacity in several large countries throughout the world: 225 million acres are in the United States and 193 are in Canada. Many of these areas used to be covered by forest, and many have already begun conservation projects to regenerate original forest cover.

For example, The Nature Conservancy’s Cumberland Forest Restoration Project protects 253,000 acres of Appalachian Forest in Kentucky, Tennessee and southwest Virginia — a chunk of land bigger than Shenandoah and Acadia National Park combined. The Mississippi Bottomland Hardwood Project is attempting to restore wetlands and forests that used to cover 24 million acres throughout the region.

While progress is often slow on projects like these, they show that the land is there, and that restoration is possible.

Currently, it’s slow going. Conservationists face challenges from corporations and courts, let alone the ecological challenges of getting a forest to regrow and mimic the patterns it used to. However, even if it’s on a smaller scale than what eventually will be necessary, the infrastructure for conservation is there, and there are people figuring out how best to go about it.

Reforestation is not the only solution to climate change, nor is it an alternative to conserving primary forests, or the original forests that have existed for millennia. Many species of trees, like Sequoias (sequoiadendron giganteum) in California or Kapok trees (ceiba pentandra) in the Amazon, take hundreds of years to achieve their full growth potential and can’t simply be brought back in 40 years.

Just because reforestation won’t solve all of our problems doesn’t mean it’s not something to be excited about. Climate change is a complex, multi-faceted issue that can’t be solved by just one solution, person or country. Any new technology, idea or discovery that can help protect the planet in some way is worth celebrating, and today we celebrate trees.

Kenia French is a senior studying international relations and environmental studies.

Kenia can be reached at kenia.french@ tufts.edu.

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Interdisciplinary majors provide the road less-traveled INTERDISCIPLINARY MAJORS

continued from page 3 major and whether it gets you jobs, but the opportunities with it are nothing you can’t get with [behavioral economics],” he said.

He also mentioned that he did not feel he could do the standard economics major because it involved a lot of math and taking quantitative classes, a route different from the one he started on at Tufts.

Currently, Cole is abroad in China studying the consumer market there as a part of an independent study abroad program.

“Our peers are taking on huge amounts of debt, and both on the savings side and the spending side, there is a lot of opportunity here,” he said.

Fiorita, Bui and Fernandez are just a sampling of students who have already made progress in their interdisciplinary majors, but many current sophomores like Audrey Carver are formulating their academic plans now and are considering how to form their narrative as they apply for an IS major.

“I feel like I am very passionate about multiple things, so this is a way to do them all. I am a pretty self-motivated person, so this is a way for me to take control of what I want to do,” Carver said.

Her areas of interest include anthropology, visual studies and environmental

sciences. She said that she wishes to combine these into a focus on climate communications. Carver was a BFA student at the SMFA, but she realized that she wanted to transfer to the School of Arts and Sciences to take more academic classes.

“The SMFA was great, but it did not allow me to take advantage of all the great resources on this campus,” she said.

While Carver is undecided about her future career path, she mentioned that she wanted to continue blending biology and art in her future career.

“What has led me here is that I started interning for an environmental research company in high school … and I started illustrating research on how climate change was affecting the marine biology of San Diego … It was just this thing I didn’t know about, that the role of the artist in science was a thing,” she said.

Carver is also currently conducting an independent study project and helping a professor illustrate research on coffee farms.

These examples of students pursuing interdisciplinary majors provide just a small sample of the many kinds of majors students can create to cater to their specific interests.

“We’ve had different people who’ve done different things over the years. They

often culminate in extremely interesting and sometimes nontraditional capstone senior projects,” Dobrow said.

She cited an example of a student who took on a “bio-dramatics” major and wrote a play about an ethical issue in biology as his capstone project.

“I had a student a few years ago who’d combined child development, film and media studies and environmental studies.

His senior project was an original television script for an animated series aimed at children to teach them about climate change,” she said, illustrating another such unique example.

In general, the IS major is a popular and useful way for students to pursue unique interests that may not be addressed by a traditional major at Tufts, as mentioned by both Dobrow and the CIS website. Dobrow also mentioned that the program is continuing to grow, with prospective students often seeking to come to Tufts because of the existence of such a program. And with each new major created, the creativity and diversity of the program continues to grow.

“I always love working with the IS students because they do such creative things.

And I learn a ton from working with them because their interests are just so varied,” Dobrow said.

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Thursday, October 3, 2019

24 Hour Play Festival is a change of scenery

Colette Smith and Madison Lehan Love It or Haute It

I

COURTESY PHOEBE CAVISE

The set of ‘Red’ (2018), a 3Ps production by John Logan, is pictured here.

by Sam Heyman

Assistant Arts Editor

This Friday evening, a cabal of student dramatists will seal themselves off from the light of day for a full 24 hours to complete a Herculean trial of wits and wills. But this isn’t the congregation of a shadowy cult to the dramatic arts; it’s the 24 Hour Play Festival hosted by Pens, Paints, and Pretzels (3Ps), Tufts’ umbrella organization for theater and performance groups. During this 24-hour creative free-for-all, participating students will write, direct and rehearse original plays, completing the marathon with a public showcase of their creations.

The 24 Hour Play Festival is a relatively recent addition to the Tufts performance circuit. It was first introduced to Tufts last year by junior Katie Rooney, the director of programming for 3Ps this semester. Rooney acted in student productions during a similar event as a student at Conn. College, but when she transferred to Tufts last year, she missed participating in the performances. She proposed the idea to her fellow members of 3Ps, who voted to add the festival to that semester’s program as a workshop. A workshop has “lower commitment [and] lower stakes than a major [production],” Rooney said, making them the perfect vehicle to introduce Tufts to this experimental format. Although new workshops are selected every semester, as the director of programming, Rooney was able to add the festival to this semester’s program as a special event. Whether the festival will secure a permanent slot in 3Ps’ annual fall lineup remains to be seen.

The concept of the 24-hour play was born in October 1995 from the mind of Manhattanite Tina Fallon. Although not originally intended to be an ongoing project, the concept quickly took on a life of its own. In the two decades following its debut, 24 Hour Plays have taken to stages all over the world and enjoyed an annual spot on Broadway

since 2001. Alumni of the 24 Hour Plays include household names like Daveed Diggs, Amanda Seyfried and Peter Dinklage. The series has raised millions of dollars for charity and sparked spin-offs like the 24 Hour Musicals. Schools and community groups across the country have also seized on the idea, hosting their own festivals as fundraisers or exercises in community building.

So how does it all work? Playwrights will convene at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4. Only then will they receive a topic on which to base their plays, so they’ll have no way to prepare material in advance. After receiving their prompts, the writers will spend the next 12 hours conjuring up their original creations.

At 9 a.m. the following morning, the directors will arrive, and the works will begin their transition from the page to the stage. To help bring the plays to life, participants will have access to the Theater Department’s prop stock. Finally, at 10 a.m., actors will enter the fold to begin rehearsing the works. Ten hours later, they’ll take to the stage in Curtis Hall for a free public performance of the works, and at the end of the night, the best play will be crowned the victor.

Although the intense time crunch may sound anxiety-inducing to an outsider, it actually helps many participants feel liberated from audience expectations.

“It’s really fun because you just get to commit to something and not be worried about judgement in that way,” Rooney noted. “It’s just like throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.”

Combined with moderate sleep deprivation, such unbridled creative freedom can yield some pretty strange results.

“You get to write a play and see it performed within 24 hours, which is kind of fun.

But also sometimes embarrassing, some people don’t really like what they write at 2 a.m. on a Friday night,” Rooney laughed. “There are some very, very strange things that get written for play festivals.”

Indeed, one of last year’s plays included bees, cryogenics and murder among its key features. That show ended up taking home the title.

Abbreviated playwriting experiments are not foreign to Tufts. In the past, (Un) true to Form (née Bare Bodkin) collaborated with introductory-level playwriting classes to produce “Play by Play” (2008), a series of student plays clocking in at a tight 10 minutes each. Entries in the 24 Hour Play Festival generally aren’t much longer than that — they average at about 10–15 minutes each — but the tight time limit under which they’re produced distinguishes them from the works featured at Play by Play, which are generally developed in a classroom setting over the course of a few weeks.

That being said, what really sets the 24 Hour Play Festival apart is its accessibility.

While the endurance component of the 24 Hour Play Festival ostensibly restricts the event’s target demographic to die-hard thespians, it’s actually an ideal introduction for newcomers to college theater.

“It’s kind of like … a very, very watered down version of what we do for a whole semester on a major production or something like that,” Rooney remarked. “That’s why it’s good for people who’ve never really been involved [in the theater]. They can just come in, act in a play or write a play and then have it performed.”

As of yesterday morning, sign-ups remain open for actors, directors, playwrights and combinations thereof; participants can also volunteer to lend a hand with basic tech support (“It’s like turning a light on and off,” Rooney insisted). A link to the registration form can be found on the 3Ps’ Instagram page. Finished products will be performed on Saturday Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. in Curtis Hall, in what is sure to be a strange, spectacular and unforgettable evening.

Stripes

f you have ever met Beans in person, there is a 30% chance she is wearing Tufts Women’s lacrosse gear, a 10% chance she is wearing Patriots apparel and a 20% chance she is wearing one of her five identical J. Crew t-shirts. The most common occurrence, at 40%, is that she is wearing stripes. The girl truly loves stripes.

Her striped shirts come in all different sizes and shapes: she does not discriminate. So after relentless begging from Beans, today we discuss whether stripes are a win or not.

Coco: I think stripes are fine, but Beans’ love for them borders on obsessive. I once thought Beans was wearing the same shirt for two days in a row, but turns out she just has two striped red shirts that had slightly different thicknesses (like maybe ¾ of an inch, if that). Given her general disregard for fashion, the one thing that I have to give her is she knows stripes. She can look at a shirt and say that is a party stripe, those are the stripes you wear to meet the parents, or that is a runway stripe.

Beans: Before I begin, I’d just like to take a moment to thank God, my mother and Tufts University for the opportunity to speak on this matter.

When I don’t know what to wear, I wear stripes. When I do know what to wear, I wear stripes. They say “I’m not afraid to wear a pattern” while still just being a tee shirt. Thick stripes, thin stripes, red stripes, blue stripes. I’m living in a Dr. Seuss book. This classic pattern is a great way to spruce up a basic jeansand-a-tee look. When you put on a tee shirt with stripes, it looks like a style choice, and not lazily thrown together. Confession time: I will wear the same pair of jeans a few days in a row, just with different tee shirts. If I wore plain colored shirts during this time, people would notice. Throw in a fun, striped curveball and people are ready to throw around some compliments.

Coco: First of all, people have noticed that you wear the same jeans everyday. Stripes do not have the power to make people forget. Second of all, I do not think that the argument here should be whether stripes are a look or not, it is more about how often it is acceptable for them to be worn. Once a week consistently for the entire year is already a lot. But for you to be averaging three times a week is excessive.

Beans: Listen, you should be happy that I have only taken an interest in stripes. If I started to dip my toe into other parts of the fashion game, you would be cancelled in days. Really, I am doing you a favor by not stepping on your toes. Just let me have this, and we’ll be square.

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

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

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THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Thursday, October 3, 2019

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Alumni Awards Saturday, October 19, 2019 Sunny M. Breed Memorial Hall 51 Winthrop Street, Medford, MA

11:00 am to 12:00 pm: Ceremony 12:00 to 1:00 pm: Reception Students may attend for free — RSVP by Oct. 4 at

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Arthur H. House, PhD, A64, F65, F66, F70, A15P, F20P DistinguisheD Achievement AwArD

Dr. Reeta Roy, F89 DistinguisheD Achievement AwArD

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CROSSWORD

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Opinion

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Thursday, October 3, 2019

EDITORIAL

With Title IX protections under threat, Tufts must maintain its efforts to support victims Title IX joined the body of U.S. civil rights law as part of the Education Amendment Act of 1972, stating “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Although a sweeping statement, this component became closely associated with providing protections for sexual harassment and assault victims.

However, the future power of Title IX is tenuous. A series of amendments proposed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos late last year threaten to undermine the protections many have taken for granted. In response, University President Anthony Monaco released an announcement to the community affirming the university’s commitment to “support each others’ safety, rights to equal access to education, and well-being.”

Monaco also shared his letter that he submitted to the Department of Education, urging them to reconsider its proposal. This continued devotion to support victims of sexual harassment and promote a community of safety is the right response.

Since 2011, the Obama-era “Dear Colleague” letter has defined the basic framework in which schools and institutions have approached Title IX. A “preponderance of the evidence” is sufficient grounds for the institution to begin a formal investigation. However, points introduced in DeVos’ amendment will significantly reduce the legal avenues open to institutions and limit the definition of sexual harassment.

The new statutory provisions state that schools are only responsible for responding to conduct that occurs within its “education program or activity,” which may include “university libraries, computer labs,

and vocational resources … campus tours, public lectures, sporting events, and other activities at covered institutions.” While it does not necessarily impose geographical restrictions, it significantly decreases the responsibility and ability of the school with incidents that occur outside of the institution’s direct supervision. As a result, common non-school sponsored events involving university students, such as parties, would become more dangerous for students as schools would be under no legal obligation to provide protection. This leaves a gaping hole in the protection and safety of students.

While the new regulations ostensibly try to provide neutral ground for both the accused and the accuser, they are sacrificing the sensitivity that is required in approaching this type of emotionally charged situation. The proposal states that each institute of higher education which complies with the new regulations will experience a reduction of between 0.75 and 0.93 Title IX investigations per year. It states that the requirement of a formal complaint for an investigation and the cutbacks of the schools’ oversight to its programs will be the cause for this decrease. This is unacceptable. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, over 90% of sexual assaults on college campuses are not reported, and implementing regulations that are projected to decrease the number of investigations is actively hindering the ongoing effort to hold perpetrators accountable.

Shrinking the scope of institutional involvement in Title IX investigations would save money. This shouldn’t be a motivator.

DeVos’ Department of Education is more invested in cutting costs than ensuring student safety; this is clear in the argument that the “monetary cost savings of these regulations over ten years would be in the range

of $286.4 million to $367.7 million.” This amendment runs counter to the #MeToo movement, disempowering the very people that movement has sought to lift up.

Perhaps the most controversial and disrespectful of the amendment’s points is that accusers will be given a cross-examination. The accused will have the right — through a third party — to cross-examine their accusers in a live hearing, something that was discouraged by previous guidelines due to concerns of emotional trauma for the accuser. In light of this, students who were victims of sexual violence will likely be more intimidated coming forward about their experience, an already tough decision to make. Policies concerning the mental and emotional well-being of victims should not be removed or undermined in favor of their alleged attacker.

As DeVos’ proposal undergoes the process to become legally binding, the discussion of how to protect victims of sexual violence has turned to universities themselves. Regardless of whether DeVos will amend her proposal to address people’s concerns, Monaco’s timely and comprehensive response as well as the efforts of the OEO are admirable. However, sentiments and commitments must continue to be met with action. The Tufts community must be able to trust that this institution has each of our best interests at heart, and will continue to protect human rights in the face of legal adversity. The changes to Title IX will affect many students and employees on college campuses throughout the country; other universities must take a stand as Tufts has, and protect and defend their students and employees as the noose tightens around Title IX protections.

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Noah Mills and Caitlin Colino Spaceship Earth

A climate conversation

A

s a way to get to know us, the writers, and gain some insight into the minds of two different organizers, we thought a conversation would be a fun way to cover some interesting and under-discussed territory.

Noah Mills (NM): You just came off of being a great contributor to putting together the climate strike movement here at Tufts, how do you feel now?

Caitlin Colino (CC): I feel happy and proud overall, but also stressed about everything else in my life now. During the final week of preparations I let myself have one priority, and I let that priority be making sure that as many people on campus [as possible] knew about and were able to attend the climate strike. Unfortunately that meant sacrificing some of my school work, and now I am facing the consequences — still worth it though.

CC: Last year, you were an organizer of the tier-town action (a performative protest demonstrating the extremely inadequate amount of housing on Tufts campus), did it make you feel hopeful or was it disheartening?

NM: Since tiered housing was so new, we had to raise awareness and opposition to it in a very short amount of time. It took a lot of work and a lot of late nights to try to get the level of action needed to respond and ultimately we got a lot of people to protest, which was nice — but it also didn’t change the administration’s mind which was really frustrating. We also all got burned out after it, which is obviously not fun for anyone.

NM: What would you say to people considering becoming organizers about how they might expect their mental health to change? Thoughts on ‘burnout?’

CC: I have found that action is the best antidote to the feelings of apathy and hopelessness that come from reading today’s headlines. So in that respect organizing can be a really healthy tool to channel those negative feelings and improve mental health. On the other hand, there is always more work to do when it comes to the massive problems our world is facing. It’s easy to get caught up in the never ending list of to-dos and often hard to see the results of your work. To avoid burnout it’s important to work in teams, seek help when needed and focus on concrete achievable actions. Finally, it’s important to remember that the cause you are fighting for needs you to be physically and mentally healthy to be an effective contributor, so take care of yourself!

CC: To finish, what helps you continue the organizing fight?

NM: The reason I started organizing was to fix problems in society that make real people’s lives worse. Be it a lack of affordable housing, climate change, labor rights, mass incarceration, LGBTQIA+ advocacy: people are hurting.

For me, until those problems are gone, organizing cannot stop. The same problems that cause me stress are the same things that help me bring meaning into my work, and if I’m ever discouraged I just have to remember who and what I’m fighting for, and that really helps me re-energize and keep up the fight.

Noah Mills is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Noah can be reached at noah.mills@tufts.edu. Caitlin Colino is a sophomore studying environmental engineering. Caitlin can be reached at caitlin. colino@tufts.edu.

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Sports

Thursday, October 3, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Aiden Herrod The Zone Read

Can fantasy football ruin your Sunday?

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antasy football makes you root for weird things. If it didn’t exist, you couldn’t get me to root for a Gardner Minshew touchdown pass to DJ Chark if you tried. But once you fill your virtual roster with players from every corner of the NFL, your priorities on Sunday skew quickly.

As a supporter of the Dallas Cowboys, and a slightly less fanatical supporter of the San Francisco 49ers, I already find my attention and loyalties split. Then you add my love for the league as a whole, and I find myself queuing up the marquee games of the week. A lot to absorb for sure, but if you watch football as much as I do on Sundays, it’s doable.

But then you add fantasy football to the mix, and all of a sudden my day is turned upside down. I watch the Browns to cheer on my running back, the Packers for my wide receiver, the Ravens for my tight end and the Rams for my gosh-darn kicker. On any given Sunday, I could care about as many as 7–8 games, and they could all be happening at once.

In an age where we overstimulate ourselves with information, a Sunday of watching teams — real and fantasy alike — can dominate normal obligations. Outcomes can become diluted too. Yes, I care that the Cowboys held Saquon Barkley to zero touchdowns, but if he’s on my fantasy team I feel torn. Which takes priority? Do I root against my dear Cowboys if I’m unfortunate enough to roster players from the Giants or the Eagles?

If you aren’t careful, outcomes can become muddled in a mix of emotions. Multiple leagues could come into play, and suddenly that David Montgomery touchdown run makes me feel good, bad and meh all at once.

What’s my personal solution? Take fantasy a little less seriously. I like to have fun with it. I know rostering Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliot on the same lineup is suboptimal and bias-driven, but it’s fun. It adds some extra oomph when Zeke runs for a long touchdown. And that’s what watching and engaging with football is really about.

Fantasy — in small doses — can heighten your Sunday to a roller-coaster ride of emotions, so at the end of the day, it’s about finding what works best for you. If a 27-yard run from Leonard Fournette triggers an existential crisis, maybe put the phone down, and go outside for a bit.

Quick hits: Here are five games and what I’m watching for in them.

Cardinals (0–3–1) at Bengals (0–4) Kyler Murray has a legit chance for a true breakout game against this poor Bengals defense. Let’s see if he can give the Cardinals fan base some hope for the coming years.

Buccaneers (2–2) at Saints (3–1) The Buccaneers look a lot better than last year, albeit inconsistent. If they can go into New Orleans and make this competitive, I’m willing to buy them as wild card contenders.

Vikings (2–2) at Giants (2–2) Kirk Cousins has looked bad this year despite having two of the league’s best receivers — Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen — lined up for every play. If he doesn’t bounce back against this porous Giants defense, that big contract he got is going to look a lot like buyer’s remorse.

Packers (3–1) at Cowboys (3–1) The Cowboys took the L this week versus New Orleans, and their offense needs to bounce back against a better Green Bay defense. My confidence will be renewed if I can see Zeke make a truly huge return on that big boy contract from the offseason.

Colts (2–2 ) at Chiefs (4–0) Any team that plays the Chiefs will have to flex its offensive muscles. If Jacoby Brissett can match Patrick Mahomes, he may be a good fit as Andrew Luck’s long-term successor.

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

12 Thursday, October 3, 2019

Sports

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Women’s soccer dominates Bates in 4–1 blowout

BEN KIM / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Sophomore forward Melina McDevitt prepares to kick the ball in the homecoming game against Amherst at Kraft Field on Sept. 29, 2018.

by Eric Spencer Staff Writer

In a commanding performance, the Tufts women’s soccer team defeated the Bates Bobcats 4–1 on Saturday. The victory at Bates moved the No. 13 Jumbos to 6–1–1 on the season and 2–1 in the NESCAC, while the Bobcats fell to 1–5–1 overall and 0–3 in conference play.

Tufts applied offensive pressure early, with four shots in the opening eight minutes of the contest. In the 11th minute, sophomore midfielder Lily Sykes opened the scoring with a shot to the top right corner of the goal. Sykes’s first goal of the season was assisted by firstyear midfielder Madeleine Pero.

Just over three minutes later, the Jumbos struck again with a goal from Pero assisted by junior midfielder Hannah Isenhart. The one-time strike was Pero’s fourth goal of the season. Bates held off the Tufts attack amid a number of substitutions on both sides until the 38th minute, when first-year midfielder Margaux Ameer connected on her second

goal of the season. The goal came off an assist by sophomore forward Melina McDevitt.

Coming out of halftime with a 3–0 lead, the Jumbos kept the pressure on with four quick shots to open the first 12 minutes of the second half. However, Bates managed to hold off the attack, thanks to a number of saves by junior goalkeeper Katherine Nuckols. Building off the momentum of its defense and goalkeeper, Bates finally found its offensive touch with a goal in the 65th minute from first-year midfielder Elizabeth Patrick. Patrick’s first goal of the season was assisted by first-year midfielder/forward Sofia Fitzgerald.

Following the Bates goal, Tufts dominated the remainder of the match, finishing the scoring in the 80th minute with a goal from sophomore midfielder Stephanie DiLeo. DiLeo’s header goal was assisted on a free kick by senior defender Sarah Maloney.

The Jumbos controlled the game, outshooting the Bobcats by an outstanding 38–2.

The 38 shots were a season-high for Tufts, which has been averaging 24.6 shots per game.

With two goals from first-years and two from sophomores, a large part of the Jumbos’ offensive success in this game can be attributed to contributions from their younger players. Junior forward and NESCAC goal and point leader Liz Reed spoke about the contributions from younger Tufts players this season.

“Our underclassmen are absolutely incredible and are making such an impact as shown by the statistics,” she said. “And although the statistics don’t mean everything, they just really show how such a deep and well-rounded team we are. It’s not just dominated by upperclassmen.”

Pero has been off to a particularly hot start. In the first eight games of the season, Pero has scored four goals and racked up 10 points. Pero is currently tied for eighth in the NESCAC for goals and is ninth in the rankings in the conference for points. Coach Martha Whiting praised Pero’s performance thus far in the season.

“Maddie is doing a great job,” she said.

“We had an injury and she got her oppor-

tunity, and has really made the most of it and really run with it. The offensive output she has had in terms of goals has really been fantastic. It’s nice for our attacking midfielders to be able to score and take a little bit of pressure off the forwards. We are really excited with the direction Maddie is going in right now.”

Looking ahead, the Jumbos play the Trinity Bantams Saturday at home at 12 p.m. Despite the team’s 2–4–1 overall record, the Trinity has shown potential this season with a victory against the conference leaders Williams on Sept. 21. Williams is the only team to defeat Tufts so far this season. Whiting spoke about what she hopes to see from her team against Trinity this coming weekend.

“I think that we need to play consistently for 90 minutes,” Whiting said. “I think that’s something we haven’t necessarily done. To put a full 90 minutes in with fewer lapses will carry us through and get us more wins as we move along. Just a little bit more consistency offensively and defensively.”

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