THE TUFTS DAILY
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Archimedes Project to host Ideation Lab at Tufts by Gabriella Zoia Assistant News Editor
From April 17 to 19, the Tufts chapter of the Archimedes Project will host a weekend-long Ideation Lab on “Technologies for Clean Water and Sanitation in India.” The Archimedes Project is a national organization that develops social ventures to increase and maintain clean drinking water access and sanitation systems in the developing world. Jordan Klein, a junior, decided to found the Tufts chapter of the Archimedes Project when he heard about the organization and wanted to get involved, but was unable to travel to Haiti to work on its project. Nikhil Shinday, a junior, explained that the Archimedes Project is different from other non-profits. “[The] social enterprise part [of the Archimedes Project] precludes the ‘white savior’ mentality that a lot of non-profits have by avoiding human capital, which is relatively plentiful in developing nations, as the main resources provided,” Shinday said. Shinday also noted that the Archimedes Project empowers locals socioeconomically by providing them with entrepreneurial business plans to run themselves.
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Tuesday, april 14, 2015
VOLUME LXVIV, NUMBER 51
Klein added that Tufts was a great place to start a campus chapter. “There is a large South Asian community at Tufts, and it’s great to see people who want to help out where they’re from in a meaningful way,” he said. Klein recruited students to work on his team to plan the Ideation Lab together in order to create an effective Archimedes Project program. “The idea was to find a problem that we could solve and subsequently find the money to fund the program,” he said. “We’re thinking cohesively — we also want to get the right experts and a good group of students that all want to get something done.” Klein explained that his passion for the project is at the nexus of social enterprise and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). A cohort of 30 students from a variety of backgrounds, who will be divided into teams, will be involved in this weekend’s Ideation Lab. Klein explained that what makes the event unique is its inclusion of students from a variety of perspectives. “An ideal team looks like this: one student from Fletcher, one undergraduate student majoring in computer science, one undergraduate international
Russell Watkins / The Department for International Development
UN’s Office for Project Services built this toilet in Kalvallam, Sri Lanka, with funding from UKaid.
relations student, one graduate student from the Sackler School and one graduate student from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy,” Klein said. Shinday noted that the Ideation Lab is designed to “attract some really bright and motivated students, faculty and community members that can share and debate ideas from their paradigms of specialization.” The event brings thinkers from a variety of different disciplines together, according to Shinday. “We want students to be exposed to ideas and principles prevalent in other fields of study that they might not have necessarily encountered on their own,” Shinday said. “By using a multifaceted approach, we hope to maximize the potential that each business idea has in the Lab.” Klein added that the Ideation Lab differs from a hackathon or a business planning competition in various aspects. “In a hackathon, you don’t know anything until you’re there. In a business planning competition, you submit your plan beforehand,” he said. “In our Ideation Lab, everyone knows what the topic is, but everyone will find out their teams on Friday.” He added that the organizers aim to encourage both collaboration and competition at the event. “This is not a competition of teams or people, but of ideas,” Klein said. Klein explained that at the event, the best idea will win the competition. “If your idea wins, you don’t have to work on it moving forward. If your idea didn’t win, but you still really want to be involved, you’re more than welcome to join the winning idea’s team,” he explained. The winning team will receive $1,000 in seed money to help cover expenses during their project’s incubation period. Then, Klein predicts that grants and other funds will be able to cover ongoing costs. In the future, Klein sees the organization as being a general space for students interested in water sanitation issues and social enterprise. “[I plan on] planning Ideation Labs in the future to solve different issues and ideally incubate business plans for Tufts students that have ideas but don’t necessarily want to launch it themselves,” Klein said. The Archimedes Project would then connect ideas with someone who “ideally has roots in the area [that the idea is based on], has that entrepreneurial drive and would be able to commit to it full-time,” he said. Klein concluded that he wants the Ideation Lab to “provide a space to put your heads together and solve a problem by working with students in other disciplines that they usually wouldn’t be able to access.”
Inside this issue
Where You Read It First Est. 1980
Health Service to offer free HIV testing by Melissa Kain Assistant News Editor
From April 15 to April 30, Health Service will be offering free HIV testing to students. The free testing aims to raise awareness about the importance of getting tested for HIV, in order to begin treatment and to prevent further transmission of the virus. According to Michelle Bowdler, senior director of health and wellness service, the screening involves a blood test. Students interested in receiving the test should make an appointment, and they will receive results three to five days after the test is taken, she said. “There are such good treatments for HIV infection now, and it’s just so important for people to know their status,” Bowdler said. Medical Director Margaret Higham also testified to the importance of detecting HIV early, regarding both the available treatments and the importance of preventing further transmission. “They are also less likely to spread [HIV ],” she said. “Early in the illness, people are extraordinarily infectious … once people know their status, if they are infectious, they tend to be more careful with safe sex.” Bowdler said that HIV testing is offered all year long, and is generally covered by insurance. However, free testing at Health Service only occurs once a year, she said. “It’s a way to raise awareness,” Bowdler explained. According to Bowdler and Higham, there is a slight increase in HIV testing when free testing is offered, but Health Service sees many students who receive sexually transmitted infections (STI) tests every day. “We offer this information all year long because it’s a public health issue,” Bowdler said. The free testing, which is supported by Tufts Health Advocates ( THA), will be occurring along with a panel on pre-exposure and postexposure prophylaxis — drugs that can be taken to reduce HIV risk both before and after infection — led by Higham. The panel will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14 in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room. The event is co-sponsored by the Tufts University LGBT Center and Public Health at Tufts (PHAT ). “We’re really proud of this effort. Pre-exposure and postexposure prophylaxis is such an important public health initiative, and Dr. Higham
and other people here have really taken a lead in terms of … trying to get this information out at the university level because of the difference it can make in peoples’ lives for decades,” Bowdler said. “We’re hoping that other colleges take the initiative to do this work as well, because it is so important.” Bowdler also praised the work that THA has done to promote these health initiatives. “On this issue, [ THA] has been really proactive,” Bowdler said. “They’ve really been great partners with us on this.” Emma Brenner-Bryant, a junior who serves as co-leader of THA, explained that THA works to represent the needs of students in terms of health policy and to relay information about resources at Tufts and Health Service to students. “Last year, we decided to do a lot of publicity [for free HIV testing] … because a lot of students had been asking about testing and were confused about how much they would have to pay,” she said. Brenner-Bryant also said that this has been the first year that Health Service has offered pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis. Furthermore, the resources offered at Tufts are more convenient for students than using off-campus resources, she said, noting that THA hopes to raise awareness for students through its efforts and the upcoming panel. “The hope is to give people information and answer students’ questions,” BrennerBryant said. “As students, we only have so much information, and so we want to make the gap smaller between the administration and the students.” Bre n n e r- Br y a n t a d d e d that if students have concerns, questions or comments for Health Service staff and administration, they can reach out to THA through their email address and have their voices heard. According to Bowdler, HIV treatments and testing have evolved significantly over the years. “I’ve been working on HIV issues for 25 years,” Bowdler said. “When I worked at a treatment center for injection drug users … we were just beginning to talk about HIV infection and really seeing the impact, and the difference now in terms of the available [treatments] and the need for testing, because of the difference it can make in people’s lives … can’t be overstated.”
Today’s sections
After a year of campaigning and student support, admissions will accept undocumented students with DACA status.
The men’s crew team rowed well against conference rivals over the weekend.
see FEATURES, page 3
see SPORTS, back
News 1 Features 3 Arts & Living 5 Editorial | Op-Ed 8
Op-Ed 9 Comics 10 Sports Back
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Tuesday, April 14, 2015
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Features
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Tufts welcomes policy change to admit undocumented students by Arin Kerstein
Kendall Todd | Culture Shock
Time check
Assistant Features Editor
At a rally for Tufts United for Immigrant Justice (UIJ) on April 7, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin announced an undergraduate admissions policy change to welcome applications from undocumented students, a result of the group’s continuous effort throughout the past year. UIJ President Zobella Vinik called this change an “important step toward education equity.” She and other UIJ members have worked to promote this change through a variety of efforts that aimed to engage the student body and raise awareness for faculty and administrators. One of the biggest breakthroughs occurred on Nov. 16, 2014, when the TCU Senate, in response to an appeal from UIJ, unanimously passed a UIJ resolution urging Tufts to change its admissions and financial aid policies to become more friendly toward undocumented students. The resolution also pushed for transparency in the admissions system for undocumented students. To engage the student body, on Nov. 18, 2014, the group wrote an open letter calling on students to sign a petition demanding transparent changes in admissions and financial aid policies and requesting administrative support for this platform. Vinik noted that the passed resolution and open letter were affirmations of student support for these issues. As a result, on Nov. 20, 2014, the Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Committee met to review the letter and open up discussion about the issues advocated for by UIJ, according to Committee Chair David Garman. “We discussed what the existing Tufts policy was, asked questions about why the Tufts policy was what it was and then decided that we needed to collect more information and then talk to some other parties,” he said. Garman noted that he then met personally with UIJ representatives to gain a better understanding of their goals for Tufts and to help them understand the process of how policy changes can move forward through the administration. This set off a series of discussions between “key players” Coffin and Mary Jeka, senior vice president for university relations and general counsel, according to Garman. Jeka attributed the logic behind the existing policy to the confusion with the legal status of these students, as legal requirements have made it difficult for schools to admit undocumented students in the past. “At many schools there was a concern that these students were treated as international students because many of them came originally from a number of foreign countries, or their parents did, and they were treated as international students,” she said. “There were reporting requirements to both the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service, which you could not do with the undocumented students, and so traditionally, we did not accept such students.” However, when President Barack Obama changed the policies to allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students to be given temporary legal status in the United States in order to get an education, those students were then treated as domestic students, meaning that the Department of Homeland Security requirements did not apply to them, she said. “We were very supportive of the Obama administration giving us clarification on this issue,” she said. “I think it helped a lot of universities across the country move in the direction of accepting [undocumented students]. Before that, it was a very murky area, and there wasn’t a lot of guidance on it.” According to Jeka, issues accepting undocumented students involved difficult situations with social security numbers. She noted, however, that a lot of these problems “have fairly recently fallen away.” She explained that the issue was now more straightforward, as previous concerns
Nicholas Pfosi / The Tufts Daily
Students participate in UIJ’s National Institutions Coming Out Day in Support of Undocumented Education Equity on the Lower Campus Center Patio on April 7. about reporting requirements are no longer a problem. “The onus is no longer on the schools,” she said. “There is no legal prohibition to accepting [undocumented] students — it’s more an onus on the students themselves to kind of work through some of the issues. As far as the university is concerned, there is no longer a concern with accepting them from a legal perspective.” She also mentioned that Tufts has previously admitted undocumented students unknowingly, and that upon discovering these students’ undocumented status, Coffin felt it was appropriate to let them continue their educations. Accordingly, one of the strategic goals for 2014-2015 put forth by Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser is to “explore new admissions policies regarding undocumented immigrants made possible by the government’s establishment of DACA status,” Glaser told the Daily in an email. Glaser explained that one of the top priorities of the Arts and Sciences administration is to maintain accessibility to education at Tufts. “We would like our admissions process to be as open as possible, and there are certainly some very admirable, talented immigrant students who we would like to welcome into our community,” he said. “Our concerns in the past have been legal, and it’s apparent now that we have the freedom to change our policies.” Garman said that he invited Jeka and three UIJ representatives to attend a committee meeting on Feb. 12 to ensure collaboration while moving forward with a possible policy change. Garman explained that ultimately, University President Anthony Monaco and members of the undergraduate admissions committee supported the change as consistent with the mission of Tufts, and decided that Coffin would announce this official change at the UIJ rally last week. Jeka mentioned that this support was given with the understanding that the financial aid requirements for these students would be “especially high.” “A lot of these students cannot work — no federal money can go to these students,” she said. “No work-study, no federal financial aid, a lot of the traditional areas of financial aid are not available to these students.” Despie these difficulties, Tufts is maintaining its commitment to fulfill 100 percent of demonstrated financial need for undergraduate students, Garman said. Jeka explained that the university needs more time to explore policies for graduate students because of the specificity associated with certification requirements for graduate students, noting that undocumented status may inhibit a graduate student’s ability to receive certification. “You wouldn’t want a student to incur that kind of debt and at the end of the day, not be able to become a doctor,” she said.
Garman emphasized the necessity of transparency in admissions policy moving forward, noting a historical tendency to not make public statements regarding the issue. “We were already admitting DACA students, but we weren’t advertising that we were admitting DACA students,” Garman said. “That would create a lot of confusion with DACA-eligible students who would consider applying to Tufts, because there’s no easy way for them to know what their standing would be if they applied. It was all kind of quiet.” According to Garman, most schools have been accepting DACA students but have not made any sort of public statements in admissions materials or on university websites about this development. “While it’s nice to be accepting those students, not being up front about it creates a lot of confusion,” he said. “How much do you want to spend in application fees to take a chance that the schools that you’re applying to are going to be open to your situation?” Garman said that, for the committee, going public with their new policies better reflected Tufts’ goals regarding inclusivity. “To me, if our mission is that we want to include students from around the world from all types of circumstances — accepting applications from those students, letting them know that we welcome their application — I think being public about it is the right thing to do,” he said. Garman noted that the process of changing the policy has been the quickest that any “big policy decision” has moved through the administration in his time on the undergraduate admissions committee. He attributed this speed to the cooperative manner of the parties involved and to Jeka’s persistence in pushing the initiative forward. Jeka also credited the success of the policy change to the helpfulness of UIJ members in the process, citing their extensive knowledge about the issues as vital in moving the process along. Coffin said that while some off-campus media sources have portrayed the decision negatively, he’s mostly heard good feedback on campus. “The reaction has been mixed; I think on campus, it’s been positive,” he said. “Some media outlets covered it and some of the coverage there was a little negative. But, on campus, I’ve heard all positive feedback. I’ve had other deans on campus, a couple of trustees, have reached out and said, ‘This is a really important policy, and we’re really excited that it’s been put in place.’” While Vinik is enjoying seeing UIJ’s work come to fruition, she noted that the group’s fight is nowhere near over. “Us in UIJ are not done fighting for immigrant justice on this campus,” she said. “We continue to support and take action with our brothers and sisters in the Tufts Labor Coalition and the work they’re doing to recognize, respect and prevent cuts of our beloved janitorial staff.”
I
’m afraid I don’t have much to talk about this week other than midterms, which have been occupying my every waking moment since I got back from Geneva. This week, I have about a zillion things to do — by the time you’re reading this column, I will hopefully have turned in one of two massive papers and made some significant progress on a presentation I am giving, as well as have attended a meeting with a tutor about my second paper. It’s a shame that I’ll be inside so much this week, since for the first time all semester, there is no rain in the forecast. Truly a spring miracle! If only I had more opportunity to enjoy it. Actually, I did go to a local park last week to try to work and enjoy the sun at the same time. This was a great idea in theory, but not so much in practice, as Parisian parks tend to fill up with families when it’s warm, their adorable children and dogs running roughshod over the freshly sprouted grass. It’s wonderful to hang out with friends (and maybe a bottle of wine — we are in France, after all) on a grassy hill like that, but getting any work done is unfortunately difficult. Suffice it to say that I haven’t been very productive there. In fact, that’s a problem I’ve been having lately — I’ve been here for three months, and I still haven’t found a decent study spot. I prefer not to work in my room, as I find I get easily distracted with no one there to hold me accountable. Normally, I’d head to a cafe, but Parisian cafes are much less geared toward over-caffeinated students and much more toward elderly, be-hatted and bespectacled men and women sharing espresso and discussing the news. The library, too, is out; I still haven’t figured out how to log into the wifi, and anyway, it closes at 8:00 p.m. I’m even kind of missing the reading room’s late-night study hours (now that’s something I never thought I’d hear myself say). The good news is that I recently found a nice spot for studying during the day, so that’s half my problem solved. Not too far from my apartment, there are two museums overlooking the Seine and the Eiffel Tower. They are connected by an outdoor terrace, technically belonging to a cafe but practically open to anyone who wants to sit and can find a table. The cafe itself is quite good, serving your typical French fare of quiches, salads and various tarts, as well as the all-important tiny glasses of espresso. It’s a lovely spot, but again, it only works during the day — the absence of electric lighting at night makes studying a bit more difficult. But after this week is over, I won’t really have this struggle anymore. Next week is the beginning of our April break, and I’m traveling (to Brussels, then Berlin, Prague and Salzburg). After that, there are only a few short weeks left before my semester in Paris is over, and I’ll be on my way home before I know it. Now, two whole months before my flight home, I feel like I have all the time in the world, but I also know that time will pass faster than I think. I need to see and do so many more things before I come home — can you believe I still haven’t gone up the Eiffel Tower or visited Versailles? I don’t want to leave anything out, but at the same time, I know it’s impossible to take advantage of everything this city has to offer, especially given my limited time frame. That can wait until this week is over, though. For now, I still have papers and exams to worry about. It’s still called study abroad, after all. Kendall Todd is a junior majoring in International Relations and French. She can be reached at kendall.todd@tufts.edu.
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Tuesday, April 14, 2015
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Arts & Living
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Daniel Bottino | frost for you
Album Review
Rihanna pushes her boundaries on new single by Josh Morris
Assistant Arts Editor
Forget about Yeezy season, its RiRi season. And it’s about time. After releasing new albums almost annually from 2004-2012, Rihanna took a hiatus. Now, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, known by her stage name Rihanna, is doling out singles to prep for the release of her next album, set to drop this year. Unnamed until recently, the highly anticipated “R8” was first introduced with the single “FourFiveSeconds” (2015) which features vocals from Kanye West and Paul McCartney. The first release was received with widespread praise, perhaps because of its utilization of vocals by greats in both the pop and rap genres. Following this release, RiRi added “Bitch Better Have My Money” (2015), a simple yet catchy anthem to the “R8″ repertoire. Now, Rihanna has offered another tease of “R8″ to her fans with the release of the third single of the album, “American Oxygen” (2015). Even Rihanna herself seems to be excited by the release of this latest single, claiming, “I can’t believe they’re playing this on the radio,” in one of her latest Snapchat stories (@rihanna). Unfortunately, though, only an exclusive group has had access to the latest track, as the artist chose to release it on Jay Z’s highly controversial music streaming site, Tidal. If you are fortunate enough to be able to pay the $19.99 per month Tidal HiFi subscription fee (or $9.99/month for the site’s basic package), or at least have opted to participate in the month-long free trial, not only will you have access to “American Oxygen,” but also to its accompanying featured music video. The track starts out with some purposefully fuzzy piano chords. Woven throughout the video are snippets of historical documentary film from various points in American history, such as Barack Obama’s inauguration. Immediately, the tone and
message of the single is established. Apart from Rihanna serenading the camera while she stands in front of an American flag, the opening lyrics serve as the chorus, exclaiming “Every breath I breathe / chasing this American dream / we sweat for a nickel and a dime / turn it into an empire,” allowing the viewer to identify the song’s evident patriotic, American-centric theme. The video is peppered with a melange of clips that depict different aspects of American history. As the video progresses, the viewer is presented with scenes that explore the motif of wealth and money, shown through video clips like stock market transactions and currency being printed. There are also somber clips, such as the attack on the Twin Towers and scenes of people being arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border. There are alternating shots of Rihanna in front of the American flag and of her struggling to pull a parachute behind her, a symbol of the “American struggle.” Other standout lyrics on the song include “breathe in, this feeling,” highlighting the track’s nationalism. The lyrics, “This is the new America / We are the new America,” depict the strong message of hope that pervades the song. Amongst Rihanna’s discography of love songs and party staples, it’s refreshing to see her attempt a track with a different kind of lyrical depth. Rihanna does not hide her views on political issues on her various social media accounts. Most notably, she has a powerhouse presence on Twitter. But it isn’t very often that her music is infused with such blatant political commentary. But that’s not to say that more familiar Rihanna vibes are absent from this song-video combination; for example, when the camera pans out on Rihanna herself, the viewer can see her sans-bra. This creates an interesting, yet not surprising, combination of messages projected by the artist. Perhaps due to her lack of experience including personal
Jørund F Pedersen via Wikimedia Commons
Rihanna’s latest release from “R8,” is centered around her love for her country. political views in her music, the message of “American Oxygen” seems forced. The song doesn’t allow for any interpretation on the viewer/listener’s end, which contributes to the song’s overall lack of innovation. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that “American Oxygen” serves as a modern day “America the Beautiful” (originally published in 1893), trying to serve as an anthem above all else. Although undeniably catchy and meaningful, the message of Rihanna’s latest release, “American Oxygen,” is blunt and forced. Her ventures to expand the range of content addressed in her songs, however, is something listeners will be excited to hear.
TV Review
'Game of Thrones' Recap: 'The Wars to Come' sets stage for dramatic new season by Grace Segers Arts Editor
“Game of Thrones” (2011-present) fans, the wait is finally over. Season 5 returned on April 12 with the episode “The Wars to Come.” It was a dark hour, but the show covered a lot of ground. To recap, the Daily Arts section is bringing you the best and the worst of the premiere. Warning: For viewers who have not seen the Season 5 premiere, this article is entirely comprised of spoilers. Read at your own risk. A long time ago, in a Westeros far, far away… “Game of Thrones” had its first-ever flashback in the beginning of this episode. A young Cersei Lannister (Nell Williams) walks into a witch’s tent, and demands the witch (Jodhi May) read her future. She tells Cersei that she will be queen, until one younger and more beautiful usurps her place. The real question is: Who is this young queen? The obvious answer is Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). Still, viewers should watch out for Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), both of whom are shown to be pretty conniving in this episode. Road trip through Westeros: Part 1 Sansa Stark is going through her emo phase. She’s dyed her hair and is wearing all black. Viewers only see her for a few brief scenes, as she and creeper extraordinaire Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen) drop the useless Robin Arryn (Lino Facioli) off with a local lord. They then start traveling toward an undisclosed location. Road trip through Westeros: Part 2 Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) is pissed off. She caught up with Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) at the end of last season only
to have Arya run away. Brienne’s feeling glum, and she is treating her squire Podrick (Daniel Portman) quite poorly. Pod asks her what she’s going to do next. Neither Brienne nor the audience knows, but it’s likely that this road trip won’t conclude for a while. King’s Landing Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) is dead, and Cersei’s not handling it well. First she chastises Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) over Tywin’s dead body, then yells at creepy cousin/former lover Lancel (Eugene Simon). To be fair, Lancel’s religious asceticism is worthy of rebuke. Meanwhile, resident heartthrob Loras Tyrell (Finn Jones) is getting it on with his boy toy. His sister Margaery walks in, unperturbed by the sex scene before her. Margaery tells Loras to suit up — she wants him presentable. Loras, who is not known for his wits so much for his impeccable body, doesn’t understand Margaery’s preoccupation with politics. But it’s pretty obvious that Margaery is planning something big. Road trip across Essos Then there’s GOT’s third road trip pairing: Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Varys (Conleth Hill). After escaping from King’s Landing, Tyrion’s content to drink himself to death in Varys’s friend Illyrio’s (Roger Allam) house. But Varys tells Tyrion he has a plan to put Daenerys on the throne of Westeros, and Tyrion drunkenly agrees to go with him to find the Mother of Dragons. Meereen Things aren’t going great for Daenerys. The vigilante group Sons of the Harpy is killing off Unsullied warriors. The people of Yunkai, whom Daenerys conquered last season, want to reinstate their gladiatorial fighting pits, a request which she refus-
es. Studly assassin-with-benefits Daario (Michiel Huisman) tells Dany to give the people of Yunkai their fights, but for longtime fans of the show, it’s clear that Dany won’t listen. Meanwhile, her dragons hate her since she locked two of them up and lost another. It’s tough being a mom. The Wall Jon Snow (Kit Harington) also faces trouble this episode. Melisandre (Carice van Houten) corners him in the elevator, asking if he’s a virgin. Stannis (Stephen Dillane) tells Jon to talk to wildling king Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds). Stannis wants Mance to kneel before him and command wildling forces in his war. Jon reluctantly goes to talk to Mance, who refuses to acquiesce. The wildling king is then burned at the stake, in a very unappealing scene. Jon takes pity on Mance, and mercifully shoots and kills the wilding king with an arrow as the flames lick up his body. The last shot of the episode is of Jon, looking like a true leader. “The Wars to Come” was interesting, mostly because nothing much happened. The show delivered exposition and set itself up for, well, the wars to come. The premiere leaves some burning questions (no pun intended): Where’s Arya? Who’s the queen who’ll usurp Cersei? Will people who have read the novels be able to stop themselves from yelling “BUT THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN IN THE BOOKS” every time the show diverges from the original plot? Will the two most awkward couples in Westeros — Missandei and Grey Worm and Sam and Gilly — be able to work it out? They have at least one avid reviewer rooting for them. Stay tuned for the Daily’s recap of next week’s episode, “The House of Black and White.” “Game of Thrones” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and online at HBO Go.
'Love and a question'
F
or citizens of our busy and increasingly urbanized 21st century world, the bucolic and rural imagery of Robert Frost’s poetry may sometimes seem dated and irrelevant to the issues of our “modern” era. Yet I would argue that the poetry of Frost remains timeless, just as relevant today as it was when written 100 years ago. This timeless quality arises primarily from Frost’s emphasis on certain eternally important themes. As we have seen in previous weeks, these themes include mortality, transition and the importance of historical memory. Today, we turn to the theme of love. As a concept, love may seem outwardly simple. But on closer inspection, questions arise: Whom should I love? How should I manifest my love? Who deserves my love, and who does not? Frost addresses these tricky questions in “Love and a Question” (1913), beginning on an ominous note with the visit of an unexpected guest to the home of a newly married bride and bridegroom: “A Stranger came to the door at eve, / And he spoke the bridegroom fair … He asked with the eyes more than the lips / For a shelter for the night, / And he turned and looked at the road afar / Without a window light.” With this man’s arrival, a slight note of discord has entered into the tranquil world of the bride and bridegroom, who were previously alone in their rural house. Although their visitor initially appears harmless, Frost emphasizes his potential danger by highlighting his role as a “Stranger,” completely unknown by both the bride and the bridegroom. He may be a harmless drifter, desperate for shelter on a cold night, or he may be a thief or even a murderer with evil intentions concealed behind his friendly request for shelter. It is with these considerations in mind that the bridegroom must decide how he should respond to the Stranger’s request. Speaking with the man on the porch, the groom’s thoughts turn to his bride, alone in the room behind him. With her image in his mind’s eye, the bridegroom can only think of his love for her: “The bridegroom looked at the weary road, / Yet saw but her within, / And wished her heart in a case of gold / And pinned with a silver pin.” Here is a vivid portrait of the intimate love of a happy marriage. Perhaps no human relationship carries the same potential for love as a marriage. Tied for life to his bride in the bonds of matrimony, the bridegroom of Frost’s poem clearly loves his newly wedded wife above all else in this world. Indeed, this love is so powerful that Frost’s imagery for it takes on a slightly violent tone: The bridegroom wishes to encase his bride’s heart in gold and stab it with a silver pin. This imagery does not by any means betoken violence toward the bride by her bridegroom; rather, it indicates the intense sense of protection felt towards her by her husband. But perhaps this protection is too extreme — out of fear for the bride’s safety, the bridegroom does not offer shelter to the Stranger, only giving him some bread and money. This seeming selfishness of the bridegroom raises the poem’s eponymous “Question”: Should the bridegroom be more sharing of his love? Surely he has room to love more than only his bride, as a stranger in need may be just as deserving of love as those whom we know intimately. But the bridegroom has turned the Stranger away on a cold fall night, and Frost ends with the bridegroom anxiously ruminating over the appropriateness of his actions: “But whether or not a man was asked / To mar the love of two / By harboring woe in the bridal house, / The bridegroom wished he knew.”
Daniel Bottino is a senior majoring in psychology. He can be reached at dbotti01@ tufts.edu.
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Editorial
Banning smoking on campus not solution
Drew Z. Robertson Editor-in-Chief
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Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Editorial | op-ed
In recent months, tobacco use has become a point of contention at Tufts. Some nonsmokers feel that they are being forced to inhale cigarette smoke on a daily basis and that smoking on campus has gotten out of hand. Many smokers, on the other hand, argue that as long as they aren’t deliberately blowing smoke in peoples’ faces, they should have the right to smoke in designated locations on campus. How can Tufts policy simultaneously minimize students’ exposure to secondhand smoke while respecting the rights of smokers? Should Tufts even intervene in this issue in the first place? Some have suggested that Tufts follow in the footsteps of Harvard, Northeastern and other nearby universities and try to implement a tobacco-free policy across campus. There is already a group forming in support of a tobacco-free campus, and if national trends are any indication, Tufts may well be headed in that direction. Though smoking on campus poses a problem for many students, a complete ban on smoking across campus is not a fair or realistic solution to the problems posed by tobacco use. Tufts should focus on education related to nicotine addiction and treatment rather than making a singular decision for all students.
It is easy to see why banning tobacco may appear to be a sensible policy at first glance. While the vast majority of Tufts students are not habitual smokers, it can sometimes feel that way, especially for students who have asthma or prefer to avoid exposure to secondhand smoke. This is especially evident outside the front doors of Tisch library, where groups of students often congregate to smoke, chat and take study breaks. Smokers are required to stand a certain number of feet away from the entrance when smoking, but as of now this rarely happens. No student should be forced to inhale cigarette smoke if they don’t want to, whether they have asthma or not, and this fact alone makes revamping of the university’s smoking policy worthy of serious consideration. An all-out ban of smoking at Tufts, however, is not the only approach to solving this problem, and a ban on smoking would punish some students and employees for doing a perfectly legal activity that is often incredibly difficult to quit. People smoke cigarettes for a wide variety of reasons, but of these, one of the most frequently cited is stress reduction. If a student is cramming for an exam in the library and would like to step outside to take smoke break and calm down,
who are we to tell them to stop? As long as they are standing far away enough from paths and doorways that they do not disturb other students, it is not the place of the university to keep them from doing as they wish. Rather than passing judgment on the personal choices of students, staff and faculty members, we should emphasize education on these issues and push initiatives such as providing nicotine gum and more guidance for quitting. Banning tobacco on campus would force employees and students who smoke to leave campus several times each day in order to do something that allows them to comfortably live their lives and avoid the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Quitting can be a long process, and going “cold turkey” can be damaging to mental health and stress management. Forcing people to go through this trouble could impact their performance at work and in the classroom. Though the concerns of students advocating that Tufts go tobacco-free are completely valid, there are better ways for us to address this issue. Before we rush to punish smokers for what is a legal and often innocuous behavior, we should take action to ensure that the rights of all students are respected.
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Off the Hill | Syracuse University
Women having fewer children later in life indicates shift in societal norm by Julia Smith The Daily Orange
It is now more acceptable than ever to put a pause on childbearing, and for many women, bring it to a complete halt. More American women are childless than ever before; according to the Census Bureau’s newest findings from April 7, 47.6 percent of 15–44 year old women are childless. The number of women opting out of having children has increased by 12.5 percent since 1976. There are numerous possible causes, including unemployment, contraceptives and education to name a few, but one of the most important is the change of social norms. The change in norms reflects a change in women’s mindsets when it comes to children. However, this mindset is not uniform: The higher the educational attainment, the more prevalent it is for women to opt out of having children. While 22.5 percent of women who have a graduate or professional degree were childless, only 15 percent of high school graduates were childless in 2014.
The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.
In countries like Japan, Canada, Russia and Denmark, fertility rates are decreasing faster, past the replacement rate. This rate, common to demographers, is suggested that the fertility rate is two to one, or roughly two children for every couple — just enough to replace themselves. This golden number would keep population rates consistent, but it’s more of an ideal than a rule. When the United States hit 1.86 births per woman in 2014, more experts credited it to a delay in marriage, and in return, a delay in childbearing. The CDC defines childbearing years as 15–44 years old, and now with men and women waiting longer to settle down, the window of opportunity to have children can be smaller for married couples. These numbers shouldn’t instill worry, however, because compared to most developed countries, America is “graying at a slower pace,” according to the Public Reference Bureau. Numerous articles examine these statistics and try to understand why women would opt out, assuming there must be a reason. Not all individuals are destined to have children; some people simply don’t want them. It’s not
always because they have a demanding career or are infertile. And that’s what is hard for society to wrap its mind around: These women don’t need to give a motive — it is their choice. What’s important here is that these numbers represent a trend toward women’s autonomy. It is not expected for women to have child at a specific age, or to have one at all. Being a mother is more of a choice now than it ever was, because being childless does not have to be synonymous with barren, sterile and unproductive, even though dictionaries will still spew out those alternates. However, stigma is not completely erased. An individual, and even more so, couples, still face the question: “Why don’t you want children?” Even more so, there is still not a neutral term for childlessness. Childless assumes someone is missing something, when in most cases the person or couple does not see it that way. Now, don’t get me wrong, mothers are important and we need them, but it should be just as valid of a choice to be one as it is to opt out. The societal expectation for young straight men and women to get married and have two children is finally losing its steam.
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Tuesday, April 14, 2015 Op-Ed
The Tufts Daily
The eighth step of genocide by Aren Torikian
As an Armenian, I have been asked several times what Kim, Kanye, North and the rest of the Kardashian family are doing in my little country. The answer is 100 years old. April 24 will represent the 100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide. On this night in 1915, the Ottoman government started to round up and execute Armenian intellectuals. A golden generation of Armenian writers, composers and artists was slaughtered at the hands of the Ottoman Army. The resulting genocide, the origin of the term “crime against humanity,” killed around 1.5 million Armenians and displaced one million others. The Ottoman Army drove all the Armenians who lived in the modern nation of Turkey out of lands they had cultivated for thousands of years. Some were drowned in the Black Sea. Some were shot dead after being “drafted” into the Ottoman Army. Some died in the Syrian Desert from starvation, thirst or an impatient army officer. My ancestors, thankfully, made it to Aleppo and eventually Beirut and Baghdad unscathed. Unfortunately, the Armenian Genocide’s perpetrators also got through unscathed. As the Ottoman Empire fell and Mustafa Atatürk rose, the new Turkish nation paid absolutely no restitution or even condolences. Adolf Hitler remarked 20 years later something along the lines of: “After all, who today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?” He figured that he could get away with the Holocaust just like the Ottomans before him had with the Armenians. Hitler replicated and perfected Ottoman practices. He took the Ottoman idea of stranding Armenians in closed off caves with fires inside and transformed it into gas chambers. Death marches crisscrossed Anatolia and the Syrian Desert; Hitler found trains more efficient. Some officers who were with the Wehrmacht during the Holocaust 20 years later had trained Ottoman soldiers. With Ataturk’s aforementioned revolution in Turkey and Armenia’s annexation by the Soviet Union, the Genocide seemed to be forgotten. Nobody went to jail. The Armenian Genocide had entered its last stage. Scholar Gregory Stanton breaks down genocide into 8 steps, concluding with denial. 100 years later, the Armenian Genocide still continues, as a denialist worldview prevails. Calling what happened “genocide” is essential. Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the word “genocide” to define the crime being committed by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. He specifically cited the annihilation of the Armenians as an earlier example of genocide. Genocide implies a coordinated systematic and often state-driven campaign to exterminate a group of people and their culture. This is not your ordinary hate crime. To this day, the Republic of Turkey denies that genocide occurred. Turkish leaders continually call for a historical commission to look through archival evidence and draw conclu-
sions. President Recep Erdogan claims that what Armenians call a genocide was really just a tit-for-tat part of World War I. Calling for such a commission is insulting and infuriating. For one, the Turkish Government has not opened up all relevant archives. Second, historians have already looked at the massacres and deportations of Armenians. Any idea how they have concluded? The International Association for Genocide Scholars voted unanimously that the killings of Armenians constituted genocide. Since then, it, along with dozens of Nobel laureates including Elie Wiesel, have called for Turkish recognition of the Genocide. Erdogan calling for a historical commission trivializes what Armenians went through. Does he want proof beyond scholarly articles? He can look at the mountainesque mass graves in the Syrian Desert where Armenian bones stick out of the ground. In the United States, external pressure from Turkey has shut up the American government. The United States has around 70 nuclear weapons based in Turkey, as well as two air force bases. The country serves a key stop on the way to Iraq and Afghanistan. In Washington, Turkish lobbyists work tirelessly to ensure that politicians ignore the facts. The Turkish lobby remains one of the strongest national lobbies in Washington. Curiously, Phil Gephardt, Turkey’s top lobbyist, was formerly a supporter of Armenian Genocide legislation in Congress. Just how powerful is this lobby? In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama promised to confront Turkish denialism and finally recognize the Armenian Genocide as President of the United States. As you can probably imagine, once elected, Obama quickly retreated. For six years, and I am sure a seventh, Obama has and will refer to the Armenian Genocide with some other euphemism, even though almost 45 states, most of which have negligible Armenian communities, have taken the step of recognition. Some European countries have started to pass laws prohibiting the denial of the Armenian Genocide. Legal scholars contend that since the Genocide is fact, denial must stem from a deep-sitting racism. This is the same logic that prevents Holocaust denial throughout Europe. But the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled in favor of striking down a genocide denial law in Perinçek v. Switzerland. In this case, Perinçek, a Turkish nationalist leader, had called the Armenian Genocide “an international lie.” This is why the word “genocide” and recognition of the Armenian Genocide as such is so important. The Armenian Genocide happened. Fact. End of story. The case is currently being appealed, with none other than Amal Clooney representing the Swiss and Armenian side. If Turkey really sees itself joining the European Union one day, perhaps it should take a lesson from Germany. There is no way to “make up” for a crime like the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide, but at least
Germany has tried. Turkey is merely covering their crime up. One of Europe’s biggest Holocaust museums is just outside Berlin, and concentration camps are now powerful memorials. Germany and German companies made reparation payments of over $60 billion to Israel until as recently as 2006. Something tells me Armenia should not be waiting for a big fat check, particularly considering the fact that Turkey has placed an economic blockade on Armenia. Calling the Armenian Genocide a genocide is long overdue and must be a first step in Armeno-Turkish reconciliation. Instead, the Turkish government blamed Armenians for having Genocide Remembrance Day on the same day as its commemorations for the battle of Gallipoli. Armenian churches have been left in ruins or torn down and used to build residential buildings. In response to Pope Francis’ call for recognition of the Genocide, Turkey recalled its ambassador to the Vatican. And according to Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which bans insulting of the Turkish nation, it is basically illegal to refer to the events of 1915-1918 as genocide. Turkish authorities went so far as to prosecute Nobel Prize-winning writer Orhan Pamuk under this law. The Turkish government wants its people and the world to forget. It is quite contradictory for the United States and other western nations to evoke genocide when they have not even confronted the first genocide of the 20th century. Recognizing the Genocide, even if against Turkish wishes, would send a message to the world that the United States clearly believes that genocide is indeed a crime against humanity, and not just an excuse to meddle in another country’s affairs. On April 24, Armenians around the world will commemorate the very event that exiled them from their fatherland, their hairenik. From Moscow to Marseilles to Boston to Buenos Aires, Armenians will unite to remember those lost, and honor those surviving, of which there are too few. Perhaps Armenian-American writer William Saroyan put it best: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” So when you wake up on April 24, remember what started 100 years ago. And remember that it continues to this day. Aren Torikian is a first-year student who has yet to declare a major. Aren can be reached at aren.torikian@tufts.edu.
Op-Ed
University must work to ameliorate financial cluelessness for graduating students
The class of 2015 is 33 days away from graduation and about to enter the “real world.” Suddenly, all the responsibilities our parents have been taking care of, like filing our taxes on time and paying for insurance, will be on us. For some, this will be the first time we negotiate a contract, sign up for medical and dental insurance or hear of a 401K. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m scared and few classes, if any, give an indication of what’s to come. The past four years were supposed to give us skills we would be able to apply in the workplace. On May 17, however, it will not matter if our diplomas say BA or BS. We can discuss Voltaire and Kant, but if someone asked us which tax bracket we fall into, most of us wouldn’t know. This by no means applies to all 1,300+ students in the Class of 2015, but the number of times I’ve heard, “I forgot to pay my credit card bill,” or, “It’s ok, the overdraft fee is only $25,” makes me very
by Simona Gilman
nervous. All of this preparation, these four years of digging ourselves deeper into debt, will not be particularly helpful when we forget to transfer our 401k when we leave a place of employment. Tufts has long used the excuse of being a liberal arts institution to end discussions about establishing a business school or pursuing other “more practical” endeavors, but that debate is neither here nor there. A personal finance course, taught by engaging professors who would make bank reconciliation seem fun, is not a departure from the liberal arts. It would seem like a natural distributional requirement for any university hoping its students leave with pleasant memories and balanced check books. I urge our administration, donors and the Class of 2015 to consider what can be done to ameliorate this cycle of cluelessness so many face. It is more than just beneficial to offer a course on personal finance, it is necessary. Only four states require personal finance to
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Op-Ed
be a part of public high school education, and only 17 require high school students to graduate with a concept of money management. Most of us come to Tufts without even a base knowledge financial literacy and leave overwhelmed by the amount of information lobbed at us by our first employers. Pushing for this component in our curriculum will benefit graduates, parents and the university. There is no easy solution to the systemic problem of financial literacy for college students. There is a host of apps and books on the subject, let alone our own parents who have been struggling and (hopefully) succeeding in keeping their finances in order. However, we’ve spent four years taking on a massive amount of debt, and it would be nice to know how to start paying it off. Simona Gilman is a senior majoring in international relations. Simona can be reached at simona.gilman@gmail.com.
Adam Kaminski | The Cool Column
Technology and culture
T
he benefits of technological expansion don’t have to be enumerated. Computers, phones and pingpong balls not only consume the lives of most college students (save the hardcore hippies), but also make them easier or even (considering how lost I would be without Facebook) possible. The convenience and efficiency of utilizing technology in our daily lives, however, may be dwarfed by the larger implications of the development of what some (Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, professor and director at MIT Sloan, respectively) call the second machine age. The “second machine age” marks “prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies,” but also marks an expansion of markets. As technology becomes more ubiquitous, it may be able to break conceptual boundaries of nationality and cultural identity, however controversial and debatable the point, so that larger groups of humans can start tackling their problems. Technology’s hand in the reshuffling of identity makes itself most evident on the fringes of the developed world — where modern communities have built their lives not on Apple-based foundations, but on traditional customs. The changes become apparent when these communities begin to integrate technology into their lifestyle, often provoking an erosion of culture. Such an erosion effect may be most poignant in the case of the Inuit, a diverse group of indigenous peoples who inhabit the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada and Alaska. Inuit wayfaring has for millennia been integral to their society, harnessing a number of sophisticated navigation techniques and comprising an unmistakable portion of their culture and identity. These techniques, including close attention to wind patterns, the position of the sun, moon and stars and the recognition of ice flows and animal behaviors, have since been eclipsed by the introduction of the GPS. The Inuit identity is in a way being standardized; no longer must their societies rely on traditional navigation techniques. On the contrary, they have developed (targeted by expanding markets and convenient products) in such a way that seems to homogenize them, minimally but recognizably, with the rest of the developed world. The loss of Inuit culture engenders nostalgia and melancholy, and it certainly seems like a case of exploitation; but considering it was a choice, and considering that GPS may actually aid Inuit navigation, are the consequences just an unfortunate but worthwhile cost? Harkening back to last week’s column, outsourcing tasks to technology breeds ignorance, and ignorance can be fatal. Since the introduction of the GPS more Inuits have died due to navigation mishaps. Inuits who rely on their newfound technology are less likely to learn the navigation skills themselves. So, unfortunately, when their technology fails (when the GPS’ batteries flake), they’re at a loss — and very lost. The loss of culture and the loss of practical skills doesn’t sound like ringing endorsement for technological expansion, but homogeneity across cultures and societies might be a hidden boon. In fact, it might be a necessary boon. Humans are on the whole a selfish species. We are hardwired to favor ourselves, our family, our group and our tribe before considering the larger consequences of our myopia-laden actions. This is partly thanks to how we have evolved — favoring the group and harboring bias against others increased fitness. In today’s world, however, we have the insight and foresight to see that in the near future this might not be adaptive. Considering climate change, population growth and resource depletion, it might be catastrophic. Conceptualizing a global community — or as large a society as political allegiances allow — rather than a multitude of isolated cultures connected by politics may be crucial change in perspective. Technology, by eroding culture, homogenizing communities, increasing communication and cosmopolitanism and giving countries the means to fight these crises, may be a route to global community, and a route to humanity’s perpetual existence. Adam Kaminski is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at adam.kaminski@tufts.edu.
Op-ed Policy The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.
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The Tufts Daily
FOR RELEASE APRIL 14, 2015
Crossword
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Doonesbury
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
ACROSS 1 Drain problem 5 GI sought by MPs 9 Jewish authority figure 14 Fallon’s predecessor 15 “Get a __!” 16 Estate measures 17 Like single-malt scotch 18 Superfluous individual 20 Food from heaven 22 Long-necked bird 23 Ivy League school 24 Compilation of wacky outtakes 28 Pioneer Carson 29 PC key near Z 30 Eastern path 31 Police warnings 33 Some deli breads 35 Part on the stage 38 Stable female 39 Summer blouse 42 Steer clear of 44 iPhone voiceactivated app 45 Hunk of bacon 49 Like many warm sweaters 51 Snaky fish 53 Miner’s discovery 54 Little terror 55 Olympian’s achievement 59 Have to have 61 Flight connection word 62 Capital of Senegal 63 Ride around ... or what the ends of 18-, 24-, 39- and 55-Across can do 67 Single 68 Occupied 69 Currency symbolized by € 70 Coffee holders 71 Fax forerunner 72 Zipped 73 Editor’s “Leave it in”
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Comics
by Garry Trudeau
Non Sequitur by Wiley
4/14/15
By Gary Cee
DOWN 1 Seaside eatery 2 Within the law 3 Without variation, musically 4 “Please tell me that’s not true” 5 Sitcom E.T. 6 PlayStation 3 rival 7 Put on the market 8 “I’ll handle this” 9 Word before data or deal 10 In need of aspirin 11 Crashing wave 12 Direct route 13 Lands in the sea 19 Shades 21 Abbr. in many an urban address 25 __ of Sandwich 26 Tree anchors 27 Airport waiter 32 Performs hip-hop music 34 Synagogue 36 Polynesian wreath 37 Blundered 40 From square one
Monday’s Puzzle Solved Yesterday’s Solution
Married to the Sea
©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
41 Concert ticket info 42 “__ to Watch Over Me” 43 Optimistic 46 “Watch it!” 47 Orchestrate 48 Recuperation advice 49 Proceed without preparation 50 Smoked salmon 52 Showed the way
4/14/15
56 Hemingway’s “The Sun Also __” 57 Really enjoy, as praise 58 Allays the fears of 60 Prescription amount 64 Bills coach Ryan 65 Wrath 66 Buddy of Wynken and Blynken
THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME
by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek
Unscramble these four Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.
©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.
CIXTO REEMLY
REENKL
Yesterday’s
SUDOKU Level: Running into B and S on the steps of the Met.
Check out the new, free JUST JUMBLE app
SHACO
www.marriedtothesea.com
Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.
(Answers tomorrow) Jumbles: PORCH LARVA RADIAL DROWSY Answer: He graduated with a degree in street building which made him a — “ROAD” SCHOLAR
Late Night at the Daily Yesterday’s Solution
Drew: “I think I’m going to end up in the hospital, and they’ll come in and I’ll fling my pudding at them.”
Please recycle this Daily.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
The Tufts Daily
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Sports
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Jumbos to finish season this upcoming weekend
Sam Gold | The Gold Standard
San Antonio's silent assassin
GOLF
continued from back
only teams to see such strong drops. Each had a 22-stroke split between their scores on Friday and Saturday. The final results did not match the optimism held by the team, but that did not seem to hinder the overall momentum of the program. First-year Aaron Corn was the fifth member on the team for the tournament, joining Elliott and Nordan to form a cohort of young and promising golfers. The Jumbos have also been buoyed from a spring addition to the team in junior Jay Wong. “It’s important to get Jay into the swing of things,” Elliot said. “He was abroad in the fall, and he is a very good golfer. We are going to need him if we want to get into the NESCAC Championships.” Wong did not compete at the Hampton Inn Invitational, but he posted the third lowest score on the team at the Rhode Island College Spring Invitational, behind only Nordan and Elliott, on April 4-5. That result showed coach Bob Sheldon and the team that he will
Courtesy Owen Elliott
Sophomore Owen Elliott, pictured here at a fall competition, continued his strong sophomore campaign with a third-place finish this weekend. be an important cog to the team moving forward. The team may have given up ground on the second day of the competition, but so far, this spring has been an important factor to the
Jumbos look to break out of slump in upcoming matches MEN’S TENNIS
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Despite a close effort against a top team, the Jumbos are still facing an uphill battle as they look to end their five-game skid. Earlier in the week, Tufts fell to No. 23 Trinity 5-4 and No. 6 Middlebury 6-2. All three doubles teams came out victorious against Trinity, but Gupte was the only Tufts player able to claim a victory in singles as Trinity completed the come-from-behind win. Against Middlebury, firstyears Gupte and Ali continued to impress, getting the Jumbos’ sole points in singles play. Although disappointed with the final results, Gregor acknowledged the tough part of the schedule that the Jumbos have just pushed through. “You look at the past week, we’ve played three teams ranked in the top 25 in the country,” Gregor said. “It is tough to be too optimistic with a schedule like that, but we have gotten through the hard part of our schedule and we really look to win the rest of our matches. I think we’ve been really battle-toughened by these last few matches, and hopefully we can continue on and bring that to the rest of our opponents.” First-year Griffin Brockman was also able to
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keep the Jumbos’ recent losses in perspective. “I think you have to come into the season with realistic expectations,” Brockman said. “With such a young team it was easy for us to say we could be close to these really experienced teams, but it was hard for us to follow that up. Emory’s best players were all senior captains who had previous NCAA tournament experience. Sometimes expectations have to [be] based less on talent and more on experience.” Tufts will next travel to unranked Colby on Friday to play a 4:00 p.m. match. Colby currents sits at 1-2 in the NESCAC while Tufts is 0-3, so the match will be a good test of where Tufts stands. With five of the six remaining matches against other NESCAC teams it is not unrealistic that the Jumbos could make a push for the conference tournament. To accomplish this feat, however, the Jumbos will have to take it one match at a time. “Well the goal is always to win every match we play and do our best to accomplish our goals,” Jacobson said. “We take every match with equal weight, and we realize that towards the end of the season every match is important to attaining our goal of playing in the postseason.”
team’s growth. After falling two spots away from qualifying for the NESCAC Championships in the fall, next year’s squad will need improvements throughout the lineup if it wants play
in the biggest competitions next year. The Jumbos will wrap up their season this upcoming weekend at the Johnson & Wales Invitational in Cranston, R.I.
Tufts preparing for championship meets MEN’S CREW
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we were last year at this time, and it’s showing on the water. We’re much faster, and we are competing and even beating some teams now that last year we couldn’t even come close to catching.” Undoubtedly, rowing on their home course contributed to the Jumbos’ success this weekend. Burt explained the advantage that familiarity with the river gives Tufts’ coxswains and crew. “Racing on our home course does give us a bit of an advantage, though it’s only a mental one,” explained Burt. “There’s a large S-shaped turn roughly 800 meters into our course, and while both lanes are the same distance and provide no physical advantage over the other, our experience with the course allows us to prepare mentally for the turn. We know to relax and not panic when another crew that has the first inside turn takes the lead, because in 300 meters or so the other lane gets an inside turn and everything balances out. Some crews struggle with this aspect of our course.” It appeared that Wesleyan’s third boat coxswain fell victim to the Malden’s curves when the
team cut the buoy and disqualified, allowing the hosts to take the win. Following a strong race against Hamilton the weekend before that saw Tufts win both the first and second varsity eight contests, the team is looking solid under new coach Noel Wanner. But important tests remain for the program, who has a pair of important races this Saturday against Middlebury, again on the Malden, and Sunday in Worcester against WPI, RIT and Vermont before it heads to the New England Championships on May 2 and the ECAC National Invitational Championship May 10. The race in Worcester this Sunday will be especially significant, as it will take place on Lake Quinsigamond, the same venue for the New England and ECAC championships. “This week, we will definitely spend some time polishing some technical aspects of our stroke, trying to maximize the run of the boat so that we are getting the most output from our effort,” Williams said. “We have made some incredible progress already, and we absolutely want to continue to do so as NERCs and ECACs get closer and closer.”
awhi Leonard won’t be crowned MVP this season. For the voters, offense always trumps defense. Although Leonard has been on a tear since early March, netting more than one point per possession in each of the five main play types, per Synergy Sports, he is no Steph Curry or James Harden, the consensus front-runners for the award. Yet I think he prefers to be out of the limelight. The way that Leonard, a cornrowed kid from an impoverished Los Angeles neighborhood, toils in stone-faced anonymity is almost comical. His impassivity has become iconic, the hallmark of a style of play completely at odds with the NBA’s culture of flamboyant self-promotion. Gregg Popovich, blessed with a replenishing carousel of superstars, loves that Leonard looks “bored to death” rather than exulting in his every little triumph. Bored, however, doesn’t do it justice; in his four years, a smile — a real, genuine, ear-to-ear smile — has yet to grace his visage. In a league where flashy is the norm, Leonard is a lowercase-m maverick (if only, Mavericks fans…). With his sinewy build, sprawling hands and forbidding wingspan, Leonard certainly looks the part of the ideal defender. He’s also freakishly athletic. According to Basketball Reference, Leonard leads the league in both defensive rating and steals per game; is in the top-five in steal percentage, total steals and defensive win shares; and is in the top-20 in at least five other major advanced statistical categories — offensive and defensive. An above-average defender ever since he entered the league in 2011, who has since morphed into an elite on-ball and off-ball guy, Leonard is no slouch on offense either. A comparison with Lebron James, whom Leonard defended ably last year en route to the NBA Finals MVP, is telling: Per NBA.com, Leonard’s effective field goal percentage and player impact estimate are each no more than three percentage points lower than James’, and he even has a higher net rating and rebound percentage than the King. Since March 1, compared with the rest of the league, Leonard is second in offensive rating, sixth in true shooting percentage, eighth in effective field goal percentage and eighth in player impact estimate. Arguably the most impressive aspect of Leonard’s meteoric ascent, though, is that he has racked up all the aforementioned stats and accolades while playing for a communist guru, whose acolytes share the ball like Barcelona. The Spurs have won 11 in a row, and 19 out of their last 22. By now, Tony Parker, the youngest and most dynamic triumvir of the Spurs’ senescent Big 3, has bequeathed the reins to Leonard. “It’s going to be Kawhi’s team anyway,” Parker said movingly last week after a doubleheader sweep of the Houston Rockets. Groomed for this role by arguably the best coach in NBA history, Leonard, undoubtedly the cagiest member of the Spurs, may need to find himself a voice, but he will be carrying on a storied tradition of leading by example. Kawhi Leonard is 23 years old. He far outstrips the rest of his age group, except, perhaps, for Kyrie Irving, a wily complement to James’ physicality in Cleveland; even Irving, however, who is an absolutely sublime, if not particularly efficient, offensive player, cedes glaring defensive deficiencies. In other words, the NBA’s best 23-year-olds, in order, are: Leonard, Irving and Phoenix Suns point guard Brandon Knight — the remainder operating at such an inferior level as if in another stratosphere. Given Leonard’s trajectory, his age-mates, including the better ones, may soon no longer be within eyeshot. Much as we relish personality, Leonard’s apparent boredom is a thing to behold, for we may be witnessing, in 2015, the rise of the anticelebrity. Soak in his anachronism; we may never see another like him again. Sam Gold is a senior majoring in religion. He can be reached at samuel_l.gold@tufts.edu.
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tuftsdaily.com
Crew
Jumbos complete solid weekend of racing against NESCAC rivals by Maclyn Senear Sports Editor
Just over a week into its spring season, the men’s crew team is already starting to face strong competition as it gears up for next month’s New England and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships. This weekend saw mixed but promising results for Tufts as it hosted Bates, Wesleyan and the University of New Hampshire on Saturday and then Amherst on Sunday for a set of races on the Malden River. The Jumbos finished Saturday second out of the four teams, behind the Bates Bobcats, but came back out Sunday to beat the Lord Jeffs handily. With just the first and second varsity eight boats in action Sunday morning, the Jumbos swept the races with little difficulty. The first boat beat out Amherst 6:05.3 to 6:33.1 while the second boat took down the NESCAC rival 6:12.7 to 6:48.9. Saturday, though not quite as dominated by Tufts, was certainly more interesting. With temperatures already in the 50s by 9:00 a.m., the Tufts first varsity eight boat opened the day beating out UNH 6:13.3 to 6:18.1 over the 2000-meter course. After moving on to the final, though, the team had trouble fighting the strong
Courtesy Anna Lindgren-Streicher
The Jumbos’ first varsity boat was in sync as it defeated the Amherst Lord Jeffs on Sunday. cross-headwind that picked up and fell to a solid Bobcats’ varsity eight 6:13.3 to 6:23.7. “That’s the nature of racing: You aren’t going to win every race,” sophomore Douglas Burt, who rowed in the first boat, told the Daily in an email. “As long as we continue to put in 100 percent effort, the team will be happy with its performance, regardless of the result. We understand this and we’re moving forward with the confidence that we are only going to get faster as the season progresses.” Tufts’ second varsity eight boat finished with similar results, easily
beating out its Bates counterpart in the first round by 21 seconds before losing to a skilled Wesleyan boat by almost 16 seconds. Junior Jon Williams, who sat in the stroke seat of the second boat, noted that it was difficult for the crew to replicate its first-round performance as it had to go into the next race almost immediately afterward. “During our races, we really strove to continue to apply what we practiced during the week into the race setting, trying to optimize our efficiency out there,” Williams said. “It was definitely evident that we’ve made some improvement from last weekend, especially
during our two well-rowed wins against Bates and Amherst.” Continuing the trend, the Jumbos’ third varsity eight won its first-round race but lost its second-round contest. Racing against Wesleyan in its season opener, Tufts won on a technicality as the visitors were disqualified for moving across the buoy line on the inside of a turn roughly 700 meters into the course. The boat went on to drop three seconds off of its first round time in the second round to improve to 6:53.3 but still fell to the Bobcats, who posted a 6:35.8. Tufts’ novice eight boat opened its season against UNH, but strug-
gled as it fell 7:01.9 to 7:29.2. “It was promising to see three strong performances across both the first and second boats, especially as we move forward in the season,” Williams said. “I think we showed a lot of depth this weekend, with everyone doing their part to contribute to the team’s success.” Burt added that he feels the team has made significant strides to get to where it is now. “I’m very pleased with the performance of the team and my boat,” he said. “We are a significantly better crew than see MEN’S CREW, page 11
Tennis
Golf
Tufts just misses upset over Emory Elliott's third-place finish highlights Tufts' weekend by Ross Dember
Executive Sports Editor
Playing in their penultimate tournament of the season, the Jumbos finished tied for eighth out of 17 teams at the Hampton Inn Invitational in North Dartmouth, Mass. Tufts started the twoday tournament strong on Saturday, averaging an 80.25 among the four scorers on Friday. The total of 321 had the Jumbos tied for first heading into the final day and only seven strokes behind pole-setter and eventual winner Rhode Island College. Sophomore Owen Elliott and first-year Taylor Nordan paced the Jumbos the first day, both shooting 76 on the first day. Senior captain Alex Zorniger and junior Brendan Koh rounded out the scoring, shooting 82 and 87, respectively. The second round, however, would not go as strongly for the Jumbos. With suboptimal conditions, Tufts struggled more than the field, with all five golfers regressing from their strong first rounds. “There was a lot of wind,” Nordan said when trying to explain the drop-off in scores. “It was definitely a big factor.” Elliott, however, was able to maintain his form, shooting a 77 on the second day to finish with a 153 overall. The score put him at nine over par and in third place out of the field of 86 golfers. He was only three
strokes off the eventual winner, Greg Martin, a junior from Husson University. For Elliott, the consistency came from a variety of sources. “I have been working a lot on my swing, so I am starting to see some payoffs from it,” he said. “But honestly, I think I got kind of lucky, and the snacks they had out at the course were big help.” Regardless of his sustenance out on the course, Elliott has continued to make improvements in his second year on the team. In the fall, he tied for seventh in the NESCAC Qualifier to earn second-team all-conference, and in the spring he has found improvements to different facets of his game. He credited a strong putting performance on Saturday for keeping him in the hunt for the top spot in the tournament. The rest of the scoring golfers would not fair so well, with all three of them shooting in the high 80s. Both Nordan and Zorniger shot 89, while Koh was one better with 88. Tufts’ cumulative second-round score of 343 pushed them from the top-three to tied for eighth with tournament host UMASS Dartmouth. While 15 of the 17 teams fared worse in the second round of the tournament than they did in the first, Tufts and UMASS Dartmouth were the see GOLF, page 11
Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily
Junior tri-captain Rob Jacobson continues to lead a young and improving squad.
by Ray Paul Biron Assistant Sports Editor
The men’s tennis team fell 5-4 to No. 2 Emory College on Saturday. The loss dropped them to 3-6 on the season. The No. 30 Jumbos came just one point shy from pulling off the monumental upset. Tufts has now dropped its last five matches after beginning the season 3-1. The Jumbos fell behind 2-1 in doubles with their only win coming at the No. 1 spot with junior Nik Telkedzhiev and first-year Rohan Gupte gaining an 8-6 victory. In
singles, Tufts got three wins from first-years Zain Ali and Garret Weinstein and junior Jay Glickman at the No. 4, No. 6 and No. 5 spots, respectively. “There are a lot of positives from a 5-4 loss to a top-two team,” junior co-captain Rob Jacobson said. “We had a lot of guys step up and play really well and its obviously disappointing to lose the match, but we realize its important to learn from our losses and hopefully when we are in this position again, we can come through.” Coach Karl Gregor was also optimistic about the loss.
“We got probably as close as you possibly can to winning and just came up short,” Gregor said. “You look at the last 10 years at our matches against top teams and we were getting blown out. We would go in hoping to just get one or two points, but now after playing these top teams so closely I think all the guys on the team know that they belong in the top. I think we are starting to see a culture shift in the program where we believe that we can win these matches.” see MEN’S TENNIS, page 11