The Tufts Daily - Thursday, February 24, 2022

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXIII, ISSUE 19

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Thursday, February 24, 2022

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Tufts must take action to increase gender CIRCLE analysis finds young women of color are diversity in leadership, report finds leaders in civic, political engagement

The Women’s Center is pictured on Feb. 22.

by Alexis Enderle Staff Writer

Tufts ranked number 50 out of 130 universities in the Eos Foundation’s 2022 study, “The Women’s Power Gap at Elite Universities: Scaling the Ivory Tower,” which measured gender parity among elite university leadership.

Universities were given a gender index and ranking that accounted for whether a woman is currently serving as, or has served as, president of the university; whether the provost position is held by a woman; and the percentage of academic deans, president’s cabinet members and tenured full professors who are women.

The report found that 47% of the academic deans, 53% of the President’s Cabinet and 32% of tenured full professors at Tufts are women, resulting in a score of “Work to Do” from the Eos Foundation.

Andrea Silbert, Eos Foundation president and lead author of the report, and Magdalena Punty, Eos Foundation manager of the research team and data analytics, explained the guidelines used by the Women’s Power Gap Initiative when ranking universities.

“The Women’s Power Gap Initiative conducts actionable research on prominent sectors of the economy,” Silbert and Punty wrote

MINA TERZIOGLU / THE TUFTS DAILY

in a joint statement. “We measure the extent of the gender and racial power gaps at the company or institutional level by analyzing diversity in the CEO, C-suite, and among the board of directors. We also examine the pathway positions leading to the CEO’s office. Our major focus is on promoting women of color.”

The foundation’s initiative identifies the gender of individuals in leadership positions and compares the ratio of men to women at each university. Then, they compare similar institutions to come up with their ultimate rankings, according to Silbert and Punty.

“While we collect data for nonbinary gender categories, in our experience, we have yet to come across individuals in leadership positions who would identify as such,” Silbert and Punty noted.

Silbert and Punty outlined steps that Tufts could take to earn a higher ranking in future reports.

Tufts, among 60 Very High Research Activity (R1) institutions, has never had a female president, which deducts significant points from the school’s ranking.

“Until there is an opening for a new president, Tufts can work towards improving gender parity across other leadership categories,” they wrote.

University President Anthony Monaco recently announced he will step down from his position in sum-

mer 2023, leaving a vacancy that the Board of Trustees will be responsible for filling. Monaco told the Daily he hopes the Board will “reflect the changed diversity of Tufts.”

While Tufts has succeeded in reaching parity at the president’s cabinet level and has come close among academic deans, there is room for improvement to reach parity among tenured full professors, Silbert and Punty said.

“The best opportunities to increase women’s representation is among tenured full professors, currently counting only 32% women, and board members at 41%,” Silbert and Punty wrote.

Silbert and Punty also said that Tufts needs to hire more women of color.

“Women of color count only 5% of tenured full professors,” they wrote. “Black women are not represented in this group at all, while Asian and Hispanic women count 3% and 2%, respectively. It is essential to disaggregate race data so that the picture of gender and racial diversity comes clear into view.”

Silbert and Punty also recommended that student representatives meet with the board chair and nominating committee to promote female nominees. Currently, the Tufts Board of Trustees is only 41% women, with only 11% women of color. Intentionally appointing women trustees, especially women of color, would help close this gender and racial power gap, they said.

The Eos Foundation also recommends higher data transparency between the university and the public.

“Without data transparency, it is difficult to measure and track progress. While Tufts shares [a] diversity dashboard for faculty and staff on its website, data is highly aggregated, and it is not possible to use it to analyze gender and racial diversity at various levels of leadership and faculty,” Silbert and Punty wrote. “In our latest report, we provided a template for publishing annual diversity data. Students and alumni should demand [that] Tufts makes this disaggregated data easily accessible.”

Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, explained that gender disparities in leadership do not reflect the university’s current hiring practices.

“Four or five years ago the university performed a study of the faculty and discovered that there is no significant difference in the number of full professors between see DIVERSITY, page 2

by Elizabeth Zacks Staff Writer

Young women of color report higher levels of political and civic engagement than their peers, according to a recent analysis of a 2020 web survey by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

Gallup surveyed adults between the ages of 18 and 29 who were eligible to vote in the U.S. during the 2020 general election from Nov. 3 to Dec. 2, 2020.

CIRCLE published an analysis of the survey findings, titled “Young Women of Color Continue to Lead Civic and Political Engagement,” on Feb. 3.

CIRCLE identified that young Asian women, Black women and Latinas discussed political issues — particularly racism — and voted at higher rates than white youth.

Noorya Hayat, a senior researcher at CIRCLE, commented on the significance of these findings.

“Young women of color outpaced their young, white peers on almost every metric,” Hayat said.

“Not that young white women weren’t showing up or talking to their peers about elections or how to address community issues — they were — but young women of color were substantially more likely to do so.”

The report compared the civic and political engagement of young black and Latina women with that of other young women.

“More than three quarters of young women surveyed in November-December 2020 agreed that they have a responsibility to get involved and improve society,” the CIRCLE report said. “However, young Latinas (88%) and young Black women (83%) were more likely to say so than young white see CIRCLE, page 2

Senior Josh Hochberg publishes paper on voter ID laws in USF Law

by Rohith Raman Staff Writer

Senior Josh Hochberg published a paper on voter ID laws in the University of San Francisco Law Review in January and received widespread attention on campus and beyond.

Hochberg aimed to investigate how voter ID laws affect voter turnout and possession of IDs. “On the one hand, you have surveys that show that voters of color or registered voters of color are less likely to have a voter ID than white voters,” Hochberg said. “Voter ID laws are basically discriminatory in that bucket, but you have this whole separate body of literature that says, actually, there is no real effect on voter turnout.”

In the paper, Hochberg concluded that there is a statistically significant racial gap between those who do and those who do not have voter IDs. This gap, however, is much smaller than many previously thought. Hochberg explained these findings.

SPORTS / BACK

FEATURES / page 3

ARTS / page 4

Basketball season comes to an end in quarterfinals

When Tufts doesn’t have what they need, students look to cross-registration

Movie and TV theories are fun — but only to a point

QUAN TRAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior Josh Hochberg is pictured on Feb. 16.

“The first [reason] is that people are often confused about what counts as voter ID,” Hochberg said.

“The second is that a lot of people who are registered voters don’t have ID, but they’re not voting anyway …

There is a gap in possession rates [of voter IDs] between registered voters who are Black and Hispanic versus those who are white, but it’s not nearly as large as the survey see HOCHBERG, page 2 NEWS

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, February 24, 2022

THE TUFTS DAILY Alexander Janoff Editor in Chief

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Report finds gender and racial disparities among tenured full professors at Tufts DIVERSITY

continued from page 1 men and women when factoring in time in rank,” Collins wrote in an email to the Daily. “In other words, the current disparities reflect hiring practices from 15-25 years ago, not a failure to promote current faculty members.”

Caroline Genco, provost and senior vice president ad interim, and Kim Ryan, vice president of human resources, said that they found the report to be accurate.

“Tufts University has made diversity in all its forms a top priority, and while the university has made significant strides in many areas, we agree with the report’s finding that we have more work to do,” Genco and Ryan wrote in a joint statement to the Daily. “We remain committed to addressing gender diversity across all university positions, recognizing that Tufts is enriched and strengthened by

a variety of experiences and perspectives.”

Recently, numerous leadership positions at Tufts have been filled by women, including the provost position and the deanships of Tufts University Medical School, the Fletcher School, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Genco and Ryan cited these appointments as a reason that the university’s

ranking in the Eos report has improved.

“While we are proud of this progress, we remain committed to continued advancement,” Genco and Ryan wrote. “Progress and opportunities for leadership development in this area are top priorities of the provost’s office.

Tufts employs a recruitment strategy informed by its commitment to diversity and takes seriously its compliance with equal opportunity in employment.”

CIRCLE data finds young women of color are more civically engaged than their peers CIRCLE

continued from page 1 women (77%) and young Asian women (76%).”

The report also compared the rates at which young women of color talked to their peers about politics with the rates at which young white women did. Young Asian women discussed politics the most, with about 75% doing so, followed

by Latinas at 71%, Black women at 69% and white women at 63%.

CIRCLE analyzed the political priorities among different youth voter demographics.

“Young Black women and young Latina women were more likely to believe that combating violence against people of color should be a priority, and they really feel the urgency to do so,” Hayat said. “Young white women also believe that something should be done to combat [violence against people of color], but the urgency to do so was dramatically different across racial lines.”

Alberto Medina, CIRCLE’s communications team leader, explained that political and civic engagement among young women of color is not limited to the 2020 election.

“What stands out to me is that consistency with which we’re finding that young women generally, but young women of color especial-

ly, are just doing this work, year after year,” Medina said.

Hayat predicts, based on the trends from the 2020 election, that young women of color will most likely lead the fight against racism and other issues in the upcoming midterm elections.

“Because it’s a midterm, … if I were to look at this again, I would want to see how young women, and young women of color particularly, look at how public institutions or the outcomes of elections affect issues they care about and whether they see that connecting to their everyday life,” Hayat said.

Hayat also noted that election years are not the only time for civic engagement and encouraged students to get involved with the issues they are passionate about.

Medina explained that CIRCLE hopes its research spur young people to action.

“One of the reasons why we publish stuff like this [report] is because we want to highlight the leadership role that young people — in this case, young women of color — take, and we want communities and institutions to step up and to meet that interest with the appropriate resources and intentions that can elevate this work and help it continue,” Medina said.

CORA HARTMANN / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life is pictured next to Jumbo on Feb. 8.

Dayna Cunningham, dean of the Tisch College of Civic Life, expressed that in her first year as dean, she has already witnessed and been inspired by the leadership of young women of color in civic life on campus.

“I’m especially proud that Tisch College supports that leadership through programs like the Tisch Scholars, through our civic studies courses, and on initiatives like JumboVote that are already working to get Tufts students ready to vote in this election cycle,” Cunningham wrote in an email to the Daily.

Cunningham also noted the importance of recognizing which groups of youth people are disengaged from politics.

“If we want to build a truly thriving multiracial democracy, we need to understand how all groups of young people engage—or don’t—with our political systems and our communities, including right here at Tufts,” Cunningham wrote. “Doing so allows us to see who is not engaging, who is being left out, and where we have more work to do— together. That’s the power of work like this.”

Despite the tedium, the work yielded important results. Brian Schaffner, Newhouse professor of civic studies, spoke to the effectiveness of Hochberg’s research method.

“The paper is quite clever,” Schaffner said. “One thing that a lot of political scientists do as a side gig is to serve as expert witnesses in cases related to voting rights or redistricting or things like that … They basically write reports based on data analysis of the data that are related to the case … So, essentially what [Hochberg] has done is get these expert witness reports and look at what those reports found.”

The paper has garnered praise outside of the Tufts community as well. Jonathan Robinson, director of research at Catalist, posted his thoughts on Twitter.

“This paper is a short but mighty undertaking by an undergrad (!!),” Robinson wrote. “Many are aware that there have been court cases & expert testimony on election administration policies like voter

ID but few know about the data that lives in those reports from academics & litigation consultants.”

Hochberg discussed two competing theories about the potential impact of voter ID laws on turnout for the upcoming November elections.

“It could be that in these states [that have adopted stricter voter ID laws], that there is going to be a dip that will depress turnout to some extent. It’s very possible that because voters of color are less likely to have that ID, it’ll disproportionately suppress minority turnout.” Hochberg said.

“Option two is that there’s a much smaller body of literature that says that voter ID laws have this mobilizing effect for voters of color … [where] there’s this countermobilization effort to negate the effects of voter ID law … It’s really difficult to say what’s going to happen …

I just think it would be really interesting looking at a stateby-state basis for the upcoming elections.”

Hochberg investigates impact of voter ID laws on turnout

HOCHBERG

continued from page 1 research makes it out to be.”

Hochberg discussed how his interest in election law led him to begin an independent research study with Eitan Hersh, associate professor of political science.

“Election law is always something I have had this weird interest in,” Hochberg explained. “Eighteen months ago, I started an independent study with Eitan Hersh that was a semester-long independent study, and part of it was looking at what these expert reports say about voter ID laws, because these are reports that match registered voters to state and federal ID databases that surprisingly, nobody talks about.”

“To better understand the extent to which voter ID laws disproportionately burden voters of color, [I] analyzed expert reports produced during election law litigation that match voter registration records to

state and federal ID databases,” Hochberg wrote in an electronic message to the Daily.

Hersh highlighted the documents because they offered a degree of accuracy not found in more traditional sources of data, like surveys.

Hochberg revealed the challenges of finding relevant research documents for his study.

“I knew these [reports] existed — the problem was finding them,” Hochberg said. “The issue is that you have to pay for those documents and those documents aren’t clearly labeled … so a lot of what I was doing was going through these documents, downloading them, paying for them and then seeing, ‘Is this actually what I’m looking for?’ …

This process took quite a while.”

Hochberg said he examined technical reports to understand how they matched lists of registered voters to state DMV records, federal passport records and other federal identification documents.

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Features

Tufts’ consortiums: Underappreciated or overrated?

by Kaitlyn Wells

Assistant Features Editor

Disclaimer: Brendan Hartnett and Allie Birger are former editorialists at The Tufts Daily. They were not involved in the writing or editing of this article.

Consortium is the term for a network of colleges that share scholastic resources by allowing students to cross-register for classes at any of the institutions. Tufts has consortium agreements with multiple institutions, serving various groups of undergraduate and graduate students. While these consortiums stretch the range of academic offerings within our reach, cross-registration can be a cumbersome process. The question, then, is whether this process is justified by the academic opportunities that consortiums present to students.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Johnson, an associate registrar, explained exactly how a student might go about the cross-registration process.

“The first step is they need to get permission from the instructor at the other school and … from that school’s registrar. And then finally, they need to turn in [a] form to our side. So we register them in sort of a placeholder class on our end, the host school will register them in the actual class on their end,” Johnson said. “And then at the end of the semester, the host school will tell us what grade they got, and we’ll put that grade … on their Tufts transcript.”

Though Johnson does not advise students directly, she notices a wide variety of consortium classes that draw Tufts students.

“Sometimes it’s departments that we don’t have here. So, for example, business courses, or I’ve seen a fair amount of language courses that we don’t have here — Korean or Swahili, I’ve seen a few times,” Johnson said. “And then sometimes it’s courses from departments that we do have, but maybe we don’t have their specific interests.”

For Allie Birger, a senior pursuing a sociology major and English minor, her cross-registration story started with a Tufts course called Qualitative Research Methods which she took in her junior year.

“I really enjoyed the topic that I researched about Jewish summer camps,” Birger said. “I was like, … ‘I want to change what I’m doing a little bit and make it a thesis.’”

She read a significant amount of research

by Leonard Saxe, a professor at Brandeis, to whom she reached out and ended up working with at the Brandeis Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. This unexpectedly led Birger to conduct fieldwork in Israel, for which she earned class credit, following an 80-page report and book reflections.

This semester, Birger is cross-registered for a Brandeis course on survey methods taught by Saxe.

“It’s actually a Ph.D. class, which is very exciting,” Birger said. “[It’s] really cool because [the] Tufts … [sociology] department doesn’t have a survey methods class. They have qualitative and quantitative methods but nothing specifically on surveys.”

An alternative to cross-registration is to take a class outside existing consortiums and request a transfer of credit to have it count toward a Tufts degree. Normally, such classes would have to be paid for out-ofpocket by the student.

However, junior Brendan Hartnett was granted an exception for a Harvard political science course called Models this semester.

The New England Conservatory of Music is pictured on Feb. 6.

“The professor’s letting me audit the course … but still grading me,” Hartnett said. “I’m planning on applying to grad school … and being that this is a course that … would be helpful for that, he [was] completely receptive, just as long as there [weren’t] too many people for safety during COVID.” Hartnett’s grade in Models will then be reflected on his transcript as a grade in an independent study. The Harvard course tackles advanced statistical modeling in the social sciences as well as machine learning.

Hartnett discussed some of the noticeable differences between this course and comparable courses at Tufts.

“It’s much harder, in part because … it’s open to both undergrads and grad students,” Hartnett said, “[but also] it’s a lot of really independent learning.”

Hartnett also noticed a difference in atmosphere between Harvard and Tufts.

“It feels, at least as an outsider, like it’s a more competitive environment than at Tufts,” Hartnett said. “First class, I probably had imposter syndrome, but then … I just bought into the semi-competition, all while getting to know people.”

Stella Gitelman Willoughby is an eighth-semester student at Berklee College of Music, which is not a part of a consortium with Tufts. Nevertheless, she successfully navigated the administrative process to take a class at the Medford/Somerville campus, in addition to classes at Boston University and the New England Conservatory.

“I probably would have taken something at my home college if they had offered it.

But they didn’t offer the kind of in-depth specific topic that I was curious about,” Gitelman Willoughby said. “The class I took [at Tufts] was [David] Proctor’s … Europe to 1815 in the history department. I commuted almost every day … it was such a wonderful experience.”

Birger is able to commute 20 minutes by car to Brandeis yet noted that traveling for in-person classes might dissuade some Tufts students from cross-registration, as well as a general lack of awareness about our consortiums.

“We already have a really great program here [at Tufts]. We have really great professors. We have really great resources.

People might also just not know that it’s an option. I didn’t know that it was an option,” Birger said. “It’s also far if you don’t have a car. It’s hard to get to BC [or] Brandeis without that.”

KATRINA AQUILINO / THE TUFTS DAILY

On the topic of the rarity of cross-registration among Tufts students, Hartnett said, “I guess it’s not that popular in part because of the schools in our consortium, unless you are interested in the arts or music … academic [rigor] is probably highest at Tufts of those schools. So I wonder if that’s part of it.”

Johnson also speculated on some of the reasons as to why cross-registration may be a rare choice among students.

“I don’t know if maybe advisers aren’t fully aware of it, or people just don’t think of it as an option sometimes, but it’s definitely a great opportunity. And it would be great if more students could take advantage,” Johnson said.

Then what makes cross-registration — or even taking a class outside the consortium — worth it?

At Tufts, Gitelman Willoughby sought to challenge herself at an academically rigorous liberal arts university and cherished the friendships she made.

“Getting to know other people in other classes was one of the wonderful perks of going to these other schools,” Gitelman Willoughby said. “I have some great friends that I’ve made at Tufts, and I’m so fortunate for them.”

Students who cross-register or enroll as visitors at other campuses typically gain access to other school resources too. These may include access to the library, digital platforms or COVID-19 testing. Furthermore, the consortiums expand educational possibilities without incurring further expenses from students. However, accessibility is the true barrier to the consortium system, taking into account the administrative process as well as the time, ease and cost of transportation.

Nonetheless, consortiums can allow students to broaden their horizons and engage with courses they may not otherwise have been able to take.

“There’s much more to learn … just by the nature of being around other students and other faculty members and other information going around in a different environment,” Gitelman Willoughby said.

Birger shares the same sentiment.

“If you’re passionate about something that Tufts doesn’t have, and there’s an opportunity at another school — run with it!”

3 Thursday, February 24, 2022

David Wingens Potty Talk

Phantom Filene

I

t is possible that nobody has ever been inside Lincoln Filene Hall. Have you ever heard a friend tell you they’re off to class in Lincoln Filene If you have, do you really believe them? This building, for all intents and purposes, does not exist. But still, as is the eternal condition of buildings around the world, it has bathrooms. And where there are bathrooms, there is Potty Talk.

AMBIANCE The ambiance of the bathroom itself is surprisingly warm. The floor is a textured slate-gray tile, and the walls alternate between white and tan paint, lending the bathroom a warm but not overwhelmingly colorful look. This is good because when bathrooms are too colorful, some have a tendency to get overwhelmed or distracted and forget the original mission.

There is a baby changing station across from the toilet with the friendly Koala Kare logo that depicts a small cartoon koala being lovingly swaddled by a large cartoon koala. It’s really the sort of plot-driven art that can replace Twitter in a pinch.

The difficulty comes in the hallway leading to the bathroom. The lights in Lincoln Filene are never on because there is nobody who would possibly care to turn them on, so you are forced to walk through the dark halls of this eerily unoccupied building. If it is nighttime, you may just have to fumble your way around until you hit the bathroom. Despite the unsettling approach, this bathroom still gets an 8/10 on ambiance.

PRIVACY You certainly do not have to worry about another person coming near the bathroom, but I would recommend keeping your eyes open for small creatures or playful sprites.

Concerningly, when I approached the bathroom, the doors were already propped wide open, as if they had been eagerly awaiting my arrival. This caused some trepidation, which was soon alleviated by the image of the small koala in the lap of the large koala. Still, I don’t like bathrooms to feel too inviting. I prefer them to be indifferent to my presence. 9/10.

CONVENIENCE It is on the Academic Quad but in a somewhat awkward spot. It is not usually the bathroom closest to your route, but it’s often not far off. 7/10 HOW MANY THINGS DO I HAVE TO TOUCH This is the first bathroom I have reviewed this semester that includes a hands-free option for hand drying.

Much like university emails promising “Spring Hope,” the Dyson Airblade V does an excellent job blasting you with hot air.

The hand dryer is slightly out of place, however, as the rest of this bathroom is quite conventional. The toilet has to be hand-flushed and the sink and soap are likewise manually operated. I guess it was nice that the door was already open on my way in. 6/10.

At an excellent 7.5, Lincoln Filene’s lavatories are a great option for people looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Academic Quad.

David Wingens is a junior studying international relations. David can be reached at david.wingens@tufts.edu.

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Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture

tuftsdaily.com

Thursday, February 24, 2022

RaiAnn Bu Micro-Trend of the Week

Mushroom leather and water bottle leggings

I

n the past few years, sustainability and ethics in fashion have been frequently brought into the public eye.

With the rise of brands marketing sustainable alternatives, clothing brands — including fast-fashion labels — have scrambled to acclimate to new standards of transparency. Consequently, the phenomenon of “greenwashing” has brands such as H&M marketing its fabrics and practices as environmentally friendly, but with little evidence. Green innovations in fashion now include using recycled fabrics and turning to new fabric alternatives such as recycled plastic bottles and mushroom leather. But how easily can these sustainability trends be integrated?

In summer 2020, during the flurry of the COVID-19 pandemic, I picked up a new hobby of sewing. Fueled by an almost manic frenzy, I would sit down and sew for eight hours straight each day. Though it was an endless cycle of frustration, despair and occasional joy, I learned new sewing methods and explored my own creativity with clothing. I was mainly motivated by greed to have the closet of my dreams without the price tag, paying with my labor instead.

I also attempted to create as sustainable a production process as possible, which thoroughly failed.

In my simple introduction to sewing, I found sustainability in fashion, especially on a small scale, an incredibly difficult thing to accomplish. Despite sourcing material from thrift stores and making dog toys out of scraps, I was still left with a substantial amount of waste after each product. Each piece took at least two prototypes in order to figure out sizing, optimal cuts and details.

Inevitable waste was created by fabric-cutting in order to abide by the grain lines to create a tailored fit. Failed pieces were scrapped over and over again.

All this leads me to believe that sustainability in fashion won’t be achieved just by shopping from eco-friendly stores like Reformation, or by small indie brands preaching eco-friendliness because what they show you isn’t half of what actually goes on. The words “sustainable” and “ethical” have simply become marketing buzzwords that play on our guilty conscience, but they are essentially meaningless. A sustainable clothing brand with trendy clothing unfortunately is an oxymoron.

Now trust me when I say that this makes no one sadder than it makes me.

I’ve tried to learn to separate the joy of fashion creativity from the joy of items.

Making my own clothing has allowed me to think more carefully about my consumption and develop agency apart from capitalism. There are solutions such as buying less frequently and more intentionally, buying second-hand clothing and renting garments. Any step in the right direction helps. Remember to be kind to yourself in the process of building a more conscious wardrobe.

RaiAnn Bu is a sophomore studying community health. RaiAnn can be reached at raiann.bu@tufts.edu.

Why you should swipe right on Netflix’s ‘The Tinder Swindler’

by Alexis Enderle Staff Writer

According to Cecilie Fjellhøy, “Nowadays the best way you can meet someone is on a dating app.”

Fjellhøy lived in London when she matched with a man named Simon Leviev, who called himself the “prince of diamonds.”

“You always check the Insta,” and that was the first thing she did. What was supposed to be an hour-long coffee date turned into a private jet trip to Bulgaria.

All the constant messaging over WhatsApp and images of his lavish lifestyle made Fjellhøy fall more in love with her boyfriend. She knew about the danger he faced as an entrepreneur in the diamond industry, but the sudden text showing Simon’s bloody bodyguard was unexpected. The “son of a billionaire” asked to borrow money due to the attack. She believed he could easily repay her. She had seen how much money he flaunted.

Netflix tells the story of Fjellhøy’s, Pernilla Sjöholm’s and Ayleen Charlotte’s platonic and romantic relationships with the “Tinder Swindler” Simon Leviev, whose real name is Shimon Hayut. All three women were introduced to his wealthy lifestyle when they first met, and all three were confident their friend/ boyfriend would repay them.

Sjöholm said being his friend was full of “Private jets, cool cars, amazing parties all over the world.”

True crime fans will enjoy this new documentary which dives into how Leviev pulled off the act of catfishing and how it affected the women involved.

Journalists at the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang also contributed their own investigation that exposed Leviev back in 2019.

The background music throughout the documentary seamlessly changes between blissful and suspenseful as the women tell their stories. Actor recreations help lure the audience into the

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The poster for the Netflix documentary “The Tinder Swindler” (2022) is pictured. unfolding saga. You can both understand how Leviev manipulated the women while also questioning if you yourself would fall for a dating app con.

Whether or not you use dating apps, “The Tinder Swindler” is a tale of warn-

ing for anyone who chats with strangers online. It is also a tale of women coming together to avenge themselves. So drop what you’re doing and open Netflix to watch Fjellhøy, Sjöholm and Charlotte in “The Tinder Swindler.”

Are theories killing our film and TV enjoyment?

by Odessa Gaines Staff Writer

In the era of social media and creation platforms, it has become significantly easier to discover communities of people with common, loved interests. From niche topics like different types of soups to extremely popular Disney movies like “Encanto” (2021), platforms like TikTok and YouTube make it possible for individuals to broadcast their own thoughts and theories about their favorite media pieces and for others to build on or encourage them. A noticeable section of this shared love is shown through fan theories.

Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars nerds have most likely come across a few fan theories and may even have created some of their own. YouTubers, such as MatPat and J and Ben Carlin, and TikTok influencers, like Juju (@straw_hat_goofy) and Megan (@jstoobs), have become some of these fandoms most recognized theorists, trying to predict the plots, endings or just ran-

dom pieces of information for mainly film and TV audiences.

However, the question to answer today is: Are these theorists and theories killing our film and TV experiences? Theorists spend sometimes hundreds of hours on a theory, analyzing multiple pieces of media and source material to craft and back up their thoughts and conclusions. Some theories tackle giant questions (i.e. in The Film Theorists’ video “Who Won’t Survive Avengers Endgame”) while others simply serve to add more world-building (i.e. in the Super Carlin Brothers’ video “What is Neville Longbottom’s Patronus?”). These theories help to engage new views or further excite lifelong fans about their fandoms, but sometimes they can cause more harm than good when they all but outdo the original material.

Larger theories that tackle the very foundation of a fictional world or that predict how large events in that world will play out can stir resentment or disappointment in a fanbase when they end

up not coming true, as with WandaVision (2021–). While viewers tuned in every Friday to see what the Scarlet Witch was getting up to that week, fans were putting in overtime work making videos theorizing that the Marvel Cinematic Universe was finally going to be introducing the X-Men and mutants. Pulling from the original comic book source materials, TikToks with “#wandavision” gained nearly 10 billion views while being posted and spread across the platform. Some videos hypothesized that Wanda would end her show with her famous “no more mutants” line.

All of the easter eggs seemed poised to lead to a big revelation that would delight any Marvel nerd, with theorists shouting “Mephisto” at any suspicious character.

But instead, fans were a mix of disappointed and peeved at the end of the miniseries’s run. Theories about mutants and devils got fans excited for developments creating an explosion of new conversasee MARVEL, page 5

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Thursday, February 24, 2022 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Netflix documentary tells the story of the "prince of diamonds" tions in the fandom, but these same theories set expectations too high.

On the other hand, smaller theories that simply exist to expand the fictional world can keep the fire of a fandom burning strongly, like the Super Carlin Brothers’ Harry Potter characters’ Patronus series. These types of theories focus on small parts of a world or character and pull from the source material to add to them, instead of trying to predict a significant event in the story being told.

Even if these theories are debunked in the future by the original creators, they do little to influence the overall fictional world. If Neville Longbottom’s Patronus turns out to not be a

honey badger, Hogwarts and the Wizarding World doesn’t suddenly crumble down.

We can see how fan theories truly influence our viewing experience in the buzz and hype leading up to “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021). Early on, theories began to circulate that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire would once again wear the Spider-Man suit in Tom Holland’s third movie with the franchise.

This theory explored Garfield’s and Maguire’s characters helping Holland’s character come into himself as a superhero and delivering the famous “with great power must also come great responsibility” line, leaving fans excited. This hype meant that if all three Spider-Men were not on the same screen in this movie, it would not measure up.

Theories like this one then put great pressure on the story and the creators to give the audience what they want and what they need. In the case of “SpiderMan No Way Home,” the creators wanted to tell a story that was in

ing their fanbase. Theories that go to the very foundation of a world can even break a fandom if they do not come true. In the age of social media, fan theories can do significant good and harm to their fandom.

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The logo for the Marvel Cinematic Universe is pictured.

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line with the theories, but what if they had wanted to take a different direction, something the audience was not expecting?

With larger projects beloved by large groups of people, creators run the risk of disappoint-

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Thursday, February 24, 2022 | SPORTS | THE TUFTS DAILY

Timothy Valk The Wraparound

Beijing as a building ground for women’s hockey?

T

here’s no mistake. The Olympics are the time to shine for women’s hockey. Beijing 2022 furthered this trend with another classic final between the United States and Canada. After an upsetting American victory in Pyeongchang in 2018, Canada brought back the gold with a 3–2 win on Feb. 16. Superstar

forward Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals and one assist, and 27-year-old netminder AnnRenée Desbiens backstopped the Canadians with 38 saves. But as fans only get treated to this display once every four years, it prompts the question, should the women’s hockey spectacle be limited to an Olympic sport?

The answer is a clear no.

With such premier talent coming out of North America from both sides of the border, there absolutely needs to be a more prominent women’s league in the region. The Premier Hockey Federation — the current league — was supposed to be just that.

Born in 2015, the PHF is the first women’s hockey league to pay its players, starting with salaries of around $20,000 during the first season. However, more than 200 athletes decided to boycott this

league after the Pyeongchang Olympics because the salaries they were earning were too low to make a living. The result has been criminal — a handful of years where the premier talent of the women’s game has been kept off the grand stage.

That talent, such as Poulin and Desbiens of Canada and Hilary Knight of the United States, only comes out of hibernation for the Olympics.

The good news is that the PHF has agreed to double every team’s salary cap for the upcoming 2022–23 season — a move that will undoubtedly allow teams to increase players’ wages. Time will tell if this will actually bring stars back to the PHF, but at the very least, it’s a step in the right direction. And who wouldn’t want more blood-sweat-and-tears action from these Olympic stars?

Some thoughts from around the NHL: 1. No team is on the upswing more than the red-hot Calgary Flames. Monday night’s 3–1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets makes it seven in a row for Darryl Sutter’s team, which is shaping up to be a threat come playoff time.

2. Since last week’s edition was released, the Montreal Canadiens have won three in a row under new head coach Martin St. Louis.

3. Trade rumors continue to swirl: players supposedly on the chopping block include Flyers long-time captain Claude Giroux, Canucks forward J.T. Miller and Coyotes young defenseman Jakob Chychrun — a rare elite, cost-controlled player who will fetch a bounty if indeed traded.

7

4. Massachusetts native Jack Eichel made his debut for the Vegas Golden Knights last Wednesday. The former Sabres superstar battled injury, trade wars and a standoff with Buffalo ownership to get back on the ice this season. Eichel scored his first goal as a Golden Knight on Sunday against the Sharks.

5. Pittsburgh captain and league icon Sidney Crosby scored his 500th goal on Feb. 15. Already a Hall of Fame lock, Sid the Kid joins Mario Lemieux as the only other Penguin to accomplish this milestone — and naturally sealed it against his archrivals the Philadelphia Flyers.

Enjoy the action this week!

Timothy Valk is a sophomore studying quantitative economics. Timothy can be reached at timothy.valk@tufts.edu.

8 Thursday, February 24, 2022

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Men’s basketball falls to Trinity in NESCAC quarterfinals

by Keila McCabe Sports Editor

Men’s basketball lost to Trinity in its first game of the NESCAC tournament. The No. 2 seed Jumbos came up short against the No. 7 seed Bantams in an attempt to advance to the NESCAC semifinals.

Graduate student guard Brennan Morris took advantage of an opportunity to start momentum in Tufts’ favor early in the game, draining a three-point shot from the top of the key. Throughout the first half, both teams were extremely productive on offense, exchanging three-point shots and difficult fadeaway jumpers during nearly every possession.

The score was all tied up at 25–25 with a little over six minutes remaining in the half. Trinity took its first lead 25–27 but senior forward Luke Rodgers quickly responded, getting fouled in the paint but making the basket, evening the score and putting the Jumbos back in the lead by one.

The game continued to hold the same explosive energy, with the lead trading off between the two teams for the remainder of the half. Just as the half started, it ended with a three-pointer by Morris, securing the Jumbos a fourpoint lead heading into the second half. With the Jumbos ahead with a score of 44–40, the game was on track for a much higher scoring and competitive contest than the teams’ first meeting, which ended 61–38 in favor of Tufts.

At the end of the half, Rodgers led the Jumbos in points with 13 points scored. Junior guard Dylan Thoerner was close behind with 11, shooting 3-4 from three.

Bantams leading scorer and sophomore forward Ben CallahanGold was nearly shut down by the Jumbos on offense with only four points and ran into early foul trouble attempting to guard Rodgers in the paint. On the bench for Trinity, senior guard Tyler Mola picked up the slack, despite averaging only five points a game for the season, scoring 13 points.

The contest continued to go back and forth in the second half, but with momentum more so in favor of the Bantams. CallahanGold came alive, scoring eight in the first six minutes in the second half.

While Trinity’s offense started to find its groove, Tufts’ offense encountered a little difficulty with ball movement and finding open shooters as the team’s offensive players did in the first half. Ten minutes into the half, the Bantams increased their lead to double digits, 53–64, for the biggest lead from either team in the contest so far.

Callahan-Gold scored back-toback three-pointers increasing the Bantams’ lead to fifteen. With three minutes left, the Jumbos trailed by six points and started implementing a full-court press, hoping to force a turnover. Despite efforts by the Jumbos, persistent and consis-

Tufts guard Brennan Morris attempts a shot during a game against Trinity on Feb. 20. tent offense by the Bantams protected their lead.

An 11-point Trinity lead with two minutes left in the game was simply too large for Tufts to recover. The Jumbos tried to play the foul quick defensive strategy in the last minute, but it was too late and the Bantams iced it from the free-throw line. The final score was 90–76, representative of the Bantams’ offensive hot streak during the second half.

Thoerner attributed the loss to Trinity’s high-level scoring.

“I think defensively we kind of struggled to contain them, especially shooting-wise,” Thoerner said. “I think they shot over 40% from three and I think that was a combination of them just being hot and also us giv-

ing them some open looks. I know in the second half they were hitting some pretty tough shots over us that we kind of just have to live with. It was more of them just playing a great game than us really lacking in an area of the game.”

Rodgers ended the game with an impressive 24 points and 12 rebounds. Thoerner finished with 21 points and senior guard Will Brady ended with 11. An impressive five players for the Bantams scored in the double digits for the afternoon.

The Jumbos’ season has now come to a close, unless they receive an at-large bid for a slot in the NCAA tournament.

Despite a rocky start to the season, the team’s final record

is 13–10 overall and 8–2 in regular conference play. With this final game, the program sends off three of its starters in Brady, Morris and Rodgers, along with seniors Kieran Kindig and Eric Debrine.

Head Coach Brandon Linton said he is looking forward to utilizing younger players in the following seasons.

“Definitely looking forward to the group of underclassmen we have on the current team,” Linton said. “While it was a good year and we had some good veterans, there are some really talented underclassmen who will be able to step into bigger roles next year, and we’ll be able to complement that with an exciting new group of

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freshmen this coming fall. So, looking forward to continuing to build little by little.”

Heading into his senior season as a Jumbo, Thoerner is hopeful for a smooth transition and successful season.

“Our coach … It was his first year, so there were some adjustments with the change of coaching staff,” Thoerner said. “I think this upcoming year we’ll have everyone on the same page, and we’ll know what to expect from the coaches and the coaches will know what to expect from us.

Hopefully there’s better chemistry with the team in that sense … I don’t think we’ll get off to as rough of a start as we did this year.”