The Tufts Daily - Monday, March 1, 2021

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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 14

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Monday, March 1, 2021

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Tufts releases Equity and Inclusion work stream report, recommends anti-racist educational programs

by Michael Weiskopf Assistant News Editor

Un i ve r s i t y Pre s i d e n t Anthony Monaco announced the findings of five work streams, launched in July as part of the effort to make the university an anti-racist institution, in an email to the Tufts community on Feb. 17. The Equity and Inclusion work stream’s recommendations include new educational programs, improvements in student support services and changes to the faculty hiring process.

The Equity and Inclusion work stream opened its report with an outline of its mission, which was delivered to the work stream’s members by Provost and Senior Vice President Nadine Aubry on Sept. 30, 2020.

“Specifically, this effort will consider training programs for faculty and staff as well as revised curricula, new education programs, and strengthened academic and support services for all our students within and outside the classroom,” Aubry wrote. “Such programs will help ensure that issues of equity and inclusion are addressed in our classrooms and all non-classroom learning spaces, and throughout our community.”

The report divides its work stream recommendations into seven parts.

Part A recommends establishing mandatory anti-racism workshops for students, faculty and staff, as well as a set

of “diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice” educational initiatives that will be continually evaluated.

“It is important to establish a baseline of common understanding, language, and values of Tufts University’s anti-racism work,” the report says.

Part B outlines potential changes to curricula and recommends developing a required course on anti-racism, as well as adding a question regarding the issue to applications for admission.

“Developing a common understanding of systemic racism and anti-Blackness across all students will provide a base upon which to build shared values and will provide a foundation for discipline-specific interruptions of racist narratives, or narratives that perpetuate systems of oppression,” the report says.

Part C calls for improvements in academic and support services at Tufts, such as new mentorship programs for graduate students and a more comprehensive undergraduate advising program.

“Mentoring at the graduate level can either advance or, because of implicit bias, derail students in achieving their goals,” the report says. “Advising, like mentoring, can either support minoritized students to pursue and persist in their field of choice or support their development in new fields.”

Parts D and E focus on aspects of the faculty experience. They see E&I, page 2

MAX LALANNE / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone speaks to the audience during a Somerville Democratic City Committee meeting at the Somerville High School Auditorium on Nov. 30, 2016.

In appeal to suit against Barstool Sports, Somerville Mayor alleges he was secretly recorded

by Alex Viveros News Editor

In an appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone alleged that he was secretly recorded and deceived

by Barstool Sports podcaster Kirk Minihane during a taped conversation between the two in 2019.

The appeal, which heard oral arguments on Feb. 1, came after Curtatone’s initial complaint was dismissed by a Middlesex judge last summer.

Curtatone originally sued Barstool in June 2019 after Minihane posed as Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen, a friend of Curtatone’s, during a phone interview with the Somerville mayor. Curtatone gave Minihane permission to record the conversation under the impression that he was speaking to Cullen, and Minihane later posted the interview in its entirety on Barstool’s website.

In his initial complaint, Curtatone claimed that because he was unaware that he was

actually speaking to Minihane, the conversation was recorded criminally. He cited Section 99, a Massachusetts wiretapping statute that makes it illegal to record individuals without their knowledge.

The statute “makes it a criminal violation to record an individual without his/her consent,” Curtatone’s 2019 complaint, which also demanded that a jury preside over the case, read. “The ‘consent’ that Minihane obtained from Curtatone to the recording was obtained through fraud because [Minihane] impersonated a Boston Globe reporter.”

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Maureen Hogan dismissed the case in January 2020. She reasoned that because Curtatone was aware that he was being recorded, his complaint did not meet the parameters designated by the Massachusetts wiretapping law, regardless of whether or not the mayor knew that it was Minihane with whom he was speaking.

Curtatone appealed the decision in a brief dated in July 2020

to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. In court on Feb. 1, Curtatone’s attorney argued that the methods Minihane used to obtain the recording qualified it as a secret recording. “[Curtatone] agreed to speak to a reporter that he knew, a friend,” Leonard Kesten, who represents the mayor, said. “The secret is that he agreed to a conversation with Kevin Cullen, and he was … deliberately deceived

by Mr. Minihane.”

The claim, however, was disputed in court by justices who questioned the level of secrecy of the recording. Although Curtatone may not have known that it was Minihane who was recording him, Justice Scott Kafker argued that he was aware that his comments could be displayed publicly as part of an interview with a reporter.

A number of the justices also challenged the case’s legitimacy in terms of violations of Section 99, which historically has been used to prohibit police officers from secretly recording or listensee CURTATONE, page 2

TCU Senate discusses canceled hearing, hears proposals for two new resolutions

by Chloe Courtney-Bohl Assistant News Editor

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

Ballou Hall is pictured on Aug. 8, 2020.

The Tufts Community Union Senate discussed the cancelation of its planned hearing against members of the TCU Judiciary, heard proposals for two new

Senate resolutions and passed four supplementary funding requests in its Sunday evening virtual meeting.

The hearing against members of last semester’s Judiciary has been canceled after the members of Students for Justice in

FEATURES / page 3

ARTS / page 4

OPINION / 7

Tufts theater department, student groups prepare for spring productions

Remembering Chick Corea

NFL must prioritize commitment to anti-racism over the self-interest of team owners

Palestine who filed the complaint withdrew it.

TCU Parliamentarian Taylor Lewis, who had been organizing the hearing, explained that the complainants’ decision came after their names were shared with the memsee SENATE, page 4 NEWS

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ThE TUFTS DAILy | neWs | Monday, March 1, 2021

THE TUFTS DAILY MEGAN SZOSTAK Editor in Chief

— EDITORIAL — ETHAN STEINBERG Managing Editor

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Aubry says she sees significant progress, looks forward E&I

continued from page 1 recommend mandating anti-bias training, reforming the hiring process and providing ongoing mentoring.

“There is a potential for bias to exist in every aspect of our decision-making processes,” the report says. “Searching for and selecting leaders who embody Tufts’ ideals and a stance of anti-racism is essential to the success of this part of our institutional vision and to achieve diversity of leadership.”

Part F calls for the university to review and revise its mission statements, and to continue to hold itself accountable on an institutional level and an individual basis.

“We are calling for a process of holding ourselves accountable at the institutional level as well at the level of every individual member of our community,” the report says.

Part G calls on Tufts to take a leadership role among universities in the anti-racist effort.

“We believe that Tufts University can leverage its vast assets and reputation within higher education to not only lead but also serve as a convener of institutions in the

region to work collaboratively to transform higher education into an equitable, just, and diverse industry in which inclusive excellence is a marker of the prevailing culture,” the report says.

In an email to the Daily, Aubry explained that she and the administration organized the work stream to help make Tufts an anti-racist institution by identifying racism in all forms at the university.

“The Equity and Inclusion workstream was convened because we want to work to identify and remove structural racism from all processes, procedures, and practices within all schools, units, and levels of the university,” Aubry wrote.

Aubry is the “responsible person” for the work stream, according to the Office of the President.

Joyce Sackey, associate provost and chief diversity officer for the Tufts University health sciences schools, as well as co-chair of the work stream, reflected on her experience working on the project in an email to the Daily.

“It was challenging, exciting, and rewarding,” Sackey wrote. “Finding common ground, across schools, helped us move forward. In addition,

getting feedback from the larger Tufts community helped us hear a range of perspectives and hopes.”

Bárbara Brizuela, dean of academic affairs for the School of Arts and Sciences and co-chair of the work stream alongside Sackey, explained how the work stream decided on its recommendations.

“We wanted to ensure that issues of equity and inclusion were addressed in our classrooms, laboratories, clinical training settings, and throughout our community, so we looked at how those issues are addressed now and considered how they could be better addressed,” she wrote in an email to the Daily. “We also had a focus on designing more equitable processes, recognizing and promoting excellence within our community members in this important area, and preparing our students for academic and personal success at Tufts and beyond.”

Aubry further elaborated on the university’s response to the work stream’s findings.

“My view is that we have made significant progress identifying concrete steps we can take to become an anti-racist institution, and I am looking forward to the

university community making progress,” Aubry said. “I am heartened by the commitment and energy on this effort from university leadership, academic leaders, students and staff alike. We look forward to the development of the implementation plan, which is underway.”

Sackey explained her hopes for steps the university will take, now that the report has been released.

“The recommendations from our workstreams give us active work to do to realize the vision of becoming an anti-racist institution,” Sackey said. “I appreciate the university’s $25 million financial commitment in support of the workstreams’ recommendations and the commitment to making them come to life. There is much work to be done but we as a community are ready for positive change.”

Brizuela echoed Sackey’s sentiments.

“The workstreams and the gathering of community input has put us on a path forward,” Brizuela said. “We have concrete recommendations and work to be done, and I think we all are eager to get underway and to begin realizing the changes that we envision.”

Court has not yet decided Curtatone case CURTATONE

continued from page 1 ing in on conversations between members of the public. “[Curtatone] understood he was being recorded,” Justice David Lowy said to Kesten.

“Your interpretation might be better, I don’t know, although it has serious public policy and First Amendment implications, but the statute talks about secrecy. If you know you’re being recorded, you’re not secretly being recorded.”

Kesten, in response, argued that Curtatone had been fraudulently led to having the conversation recorded. He said that if you think you’re being recorded by one person, but someone else is actually recording you, then you’re being secretly recorded. Chief Justice Kimberly Budd acknowledged this, but questioned if the argument made the case an appropriate fit under Section 99.

“I understand why your client was not happy with it,” Chief Justice Budd said.

“I understand that he was induced by fraud to give his consent, but I’m not sure that that fits within this particular statute.”

Aaron Moss, a Los Angelesbased attorney representing Barstool, argued to the court that Minihane did not secretly record Curtatone. He claimed that because Curtatone was aware of his being recorded, there was no violation of Section 99.

“We are going to assume, for the purposes of this argument, that this was a private conversation, even though Mayor Curtatone believed it was going to be published in The Boston Globe,” Moss said.

“The key though, is that he had actual knowledge he was being recorded.”

Moss said to the court that ruling in favor of Curtatone could overrule decades of precedent and potentially introduce First Amendment concerns in regards to the gathering of news information through recorded interviews.

“I think that it’s important to remember that if we were to interpret the statute in the way that Mayor Curtatone is asking your honors to … it would raise a whole host of issues that are constitutional in nature,” Moss said.

Following the oral arguments presented by attorneys for both Curtatone and Barstool, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has not yet released its decision on the case.

The recorded 2019 interview in question between Curtatone and Minihane occurred after the Somerville mayor publicly criticized Barstool Sports, a website that has been controversial for many years due to accusations of racism and misogyny against members of the company.

Specifically, Curtatone questioned the Boston Bruins’ decision to allow Barstool

to sponsor the rally towels at an NHL playoff game on May 29, 2019. He retweeted an Opinion column published in the Boston Herald by columnist Jessica Heslam that implored the Bruins to reconsider their relationship with the company.

“As a fairly rabid sports fan one of the more regrettable things I’ve seen is the attempt to disguise misogyny, racism & general right wing lunacy under a ‘sports’ heading,” Curtatone tweeted alongside the column in reference to Barstool Sports on May 31, 2019. “Our sports teams & local sports fans need to push back to stress that’s not us.”

In response, Barstool Sports Founder and President Dave Portnoy blasted Curtatone, calling on him to participate in a livestreamed conversation.

“If you live in Somerville, please tell your mayor that if he’s going to talk s— about @barstoolsports he should have the stones to back it up,” Portnoy tweeted.

Curtatone replied to Portnoy by once again criticizing him and Barstool in a tweet published on May 31, 2019.

“Man, talk about making my point. This guy is running a cult,” Curtatone tweeted in reference to Portnoy. “Brigade me all you want, but this is exactly why the @NHLBruins should have nothing to do with Barstool.”

In his June 2019 phone interview with Curtatone, Minihane — posing as Cullen

— pressed Curtatone for evidence for his claims of racism against Barstool. During the conversation, Curtatone defended his position, saying that he believed that the Bruins were not being true to their goals of inclusivity towards both women and people of diverse backgrounds by partnering with Barstool.

Following the conversation, Minihane alleged on video that he had tried to reach Curtatone as himself with no response. He then claimed that when he reached out to representatives of Curtatone posing as Cullen, he received a quick response.

Curtatone’s original lawsuit denied having ever received a request for comment from Minihane as himself prior to the recorded June 2019 interview.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press defended Minihane and Barstool in an amicus brief filed on Jan. 11, 2021. They claimed that a ruling in favor of Curtatone would have serious First Amendment implications in regards to freedom of the press and argued that Curtatone was not recorded secretly.

“The plain language of the Wiretap Statute does not require consent where a recording is not done secretly, regardless of whether the individual knows the identity of the person doing the recording,” the brief said.

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Features

3 MOnDAy, MARCh 1, 2021

Tufts theater gears up for busy season, innovates amid pandemic restrictions

by Ryan Shaffer and Nicole Garay

Features Editor and Contributing Writer

Student theater groups and the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies are gearing up for a busy season, from an 1830s Russian political comedy to a student-written jukebox musical.

Torn Ticket II Torn Ticket II, a student-run musical theater group, put on its semesterly cabaret fundraiser, “Over the Rainbow,” on Feb. 19 over Zoom. The cabaret was its first performance of the semester. Each semester “Over the Rainbow” has a different theme, but due to the pandemic, Torn Ticket II did not produce a cabaret this past fall. However, this semester, Torn Ticket II decided to try a virtual format with the theme “Plot Twist,” where performers sang songs from musicals that featured unexpected turns of events.

“Over the Rainbow” also served as a fundraiser for the Arts Leaders of Color Emergency Fund, which supports artists and administrators who are Black, Indigenous and people of color and have been financially impacted by the pandemic. The show raised $420 for the fund.

Torn Ticket II has another production in the works.

Sophomore Athena Nair wrote a jukebox musical titled “Is There Anybody Out There?,” based on A Great Big World’s 2014 album of the same name. The show follows Norah, a young South Asian Muslim American woman, and Bernardo, a young Mexican American man, pursuing their musical dreams and moving to New York. The plot aims to tell stories of those who have been historically underrepresented.

“Is There Anybody Out There?” tells the story of a young, queer Muslim woman, a young, transgender man and parents with undocumented status.

Taite Pierson, president of Torn Ticket II, said the show is currently being workshopped, with help from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Counseling and Mental Health Services, some of the identity-based centers and the Muslim chaplaincy. The performance will be fully virtual for audiences and will show later this semester.

Pierson said university restrictions due to COVID-19 have posed difficulties for the group. For one, Torn Ticket II is only able to cast students who are off campus and able to sing alone in their own bedrooms for singing roles. But the pandemic has generated other issues for the troupe in terms of engagement and recruitment.

Pierson said students’ energy for attending events virtually has

COURTESY HEATHER NATHANS

Plexiglass boxes surrounding performers are pictured in Balch Arena Theater during the Fall Festival of Plays. decreased over the course of the pandemic.

“People have a very different capacity for being involved with things now,” Pierson said.

“Theater used to be this release at the end of the day. We used to have rehearsals for hours, every day and over the weekend, and it was like ‘Oh, the end of day, you’re going to have a Torn Ticket rehearsal and it’s going to be fun.’

Now nobody really wants to get on another Zoom, and I think the general sense is the effort that it would take to like put on a Zoom musical with all the restrictions in place would not be necessarily worth it.”

Pierson added that the group is working to overcome these hurdles, but that without much help from the university, the burden has fallen on the organization’s leadership.

“We’re doing our best to keep some community, and keep at least the meetings as a place where people can come together … but it’s been really hard,” Pierson said.

“The Government Inspector” (1836) “The Government Inspector” will be the first faculty-directed play produced by the theater department this semester.

Written by Nikolai Gogol, the play satirizes corruption in Imperial Russia. The play features classic themes of theatrical comedy, such as mistaken identity and absurdity.

Heather Nathans, chair of the theater department, said director Sheriden Thomas aims to heighten the show’s absurdity.

“The director has really played into the clown aspect of it and

they’ve just gone crazy and over the top,” Nathans said. “I know they’re using puppets and quick costume changes, so they’re really leaning into the cartoonish aspect of it.”

The pandemic has placed restrictions on producing the show as usual. Some scenes require the presence of a large crowd on stage, which cannot happen due to social distancing guidelines. With the use of puppets to recreate the crowd and the department’s innovative “box system,” the show has adjusted.

Last semester, the department debuted a system during its Fall Festival of Plays, where they placed actors in self-contained plexiglass boxes. According to Nathans, the boxes allow actors to perform without masks while still in the company of their fellow cast members.

“The great thing is that all the actors using this [box system] get to be in the space with each other.” Nathans said. “It’s critical for comic timing but also just for acting, and seeing you react in real time.”

Production for “The Government Inspector” is currently underway, with the hopes of its virtual release by late March.

“Silent Sky” (2015) After pitching the idea of producing “Silent Sky” for the last three or four years, Bridget Kathleen O’Leary finally has the opportunity to direct it. Written

by Lauren Gunderson, America’s most produced playwright, the play centers on the life of Henrietta Leavitt, an astronomer who worked as a “computer” at the Harvard Observatory in the

early 1900s. Though the play is set over a century ago, O’Leary says it still resonates today.

“We’re having a lot of conversations about gender and ethnic parity, and representation on our stages and in our classroom,” O’Leary said. “It’s a reimagination … of the original computers at the Harvard observatory — the women who were brought in to compute the stars and to map out what’s happening. And Henrietta Leavitt, who’s the main character in the play, was at the forefront of all of that, and a lot of people have not heard of her.”

Leavitt joined the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, tasked with measuring and cataloguing the brightness of stars.

Though women were not allowed to operate the telescopes at the time, Leavitt nonetheless generated ground-breaking work in the field of astronomy. She is best known for her work on Cepheid variables, stars whose brightness fluctuates at regular

intervals. Her studies allowed for Edwin Hubble to establish that the universe is expanding, a theory known as Hubble’s Law. O’Leary said Leavitt lived and worked under stringent societal pressures, as well as amid the movement for women’s suffrage and economic equality.

“She was doing it also at a time when the expectation of women was that they were going to get married,” O’Leary said.

“She’s doing this, right in the heart of the women’s movement … as women are trying to get the right to vote and the right to have their own career paths in their own life. It was frowned upon to have a woman, especially at her age, not be married and not start a family and have a job. That she was able to accomplish all of this during that time period is also significant.”

With no official date yet, “Silent Sky” will be available to audiences virtually later this semester.

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Monday, March 1, 2021

Celebrating Chick Corea’s legacy

by Miles Singer

Contributing Writer

The music world was dealt a major blow when piano legend Chick Corea died on Feb. 9 at the age of 79.

His death was announced on Feb. 11 in a statement that quotes Corea as saying, “My mission has always been to bring the joy of creating anywhere I could, and to have done so with all the artists that I admire so dearly — this has been the richness of my life.”

Many prominent musicians were quick to offer their words, with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis writing that “He left an uncommonly deep canon of diverse and high quality music.” Pianist Christian Sands also honored Corea, describing him as “An architect building his own language one note at a time.”

Corea made his recording debut as a leader in 1968 with the release of “Tones for Joan’s Bones,” an album whose brightly colored psychedelic artwork is indicative of the ethereal post-bop sound that characterizes much of the project. That same year he also released “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs,” an album that helped define modern piano trio music, was also released in 1968.

Even at an early point in his career, Corea was quick to embrace the innovations of fusion, contributing to Miles Davis’ landmark album “Bitches Brew” (1970). A year later, in 1971, he formed Circle, an avant-garde quartet with saxophonist Anthony Braxton, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul. The group’s album “Paris Concert” (1972) is abundant with periods of extended improvisation, disjointed melodies and strident sounds, shattering traditional music-making standards in an effort adventurous even for free jazz.

Although these earlier years were significant in their own

right, perhaps the single most defining moment of Corea’s career came in 1972 with the formation of his band, Return to Forever. The album “Light as a Feather,” released that same year, featured some of Corea’s most popular compositions, including “Spain” and “500 Miles High.”

The project’s eclectic mixture of fusion, jazz and samba elements coalesced into the sound that epitomizes Corea’s immense creativity for many listeners.

Although Return to Forever continued to be the crown jewel of Corea’s catalogue through the 1970s, his 1976 album “My Spanish Heart” has also cemented itself as one of Corea’s most important works, namely for the track “Armando’s Rhumba.” The unconventional orchestration, which features pizzicato violin

and lacks any percussion save hand claps and snaps, showcases a different side of Corea from his work with Return to Forever.

A series of wide-ranging collaborations characterized the period following Return to Forever, with Corea releasing two albums featuring duets with Herbie Hancock. The lush, layered sound achieved by the two pianists marked a new endeavor, and the chemistry between the two is apparent. Another new venture was his work with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White. The band’s first outing, “Echoes of an Era” (1982), sees the group as a backing band for R&B singer Chaka Khan in her first foray into jazz. “Griffith Park Collection” (1982) features the

same band without Khan in the foreground.

Corea’s next major undertaking as a leader came with the formation of the Chick Corea Elektric Band in the late 1980s, featuring newcomers like drummer Dave Weckl and virtuosic bassist John Patitucci. The Chick Corea Akoustic Band, consisting of only Weckl and Patitucci as accompaniment, balanced this headfirst plunge into electric jazz. A standout track from this era is “Got a Match,” included on the Elektric Band’s self-titled album (1986). The blistering tempo and spindly melody create an effervescent jazz-rock sound emblematic of progressive jazz of the era.

Although Corea continued to push his creative limits into the 21st century, many of his later

projects centered around revisiting and retooling the works that cemented his position as one of the foremost figures in jazz.

Reunions with collaborators like Gary Burton, Herbie Hancock and Return to Forever proved fruitful for Corea, and his 2019 live album “Trilogy 2” with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade offers exciting new takes on classics like “500 Miles High,” and “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs.”

Through his intensely diverse array of projects, Chick Corea had a hand in shaping music from jazz piano trio, jazz fusion and Latin jazz. Though he is now gone, he leaves behind a rich musical legacy that will continue to inspire musicians and listeners alike for decades to come.

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Chick Corea is pictured at the Das Zelt-Musik-Festival in 2019.

TCU Senate approves all four supplementary funding requests heard SENATE

continued from page 1 bers of the Judiciary against whom they had filed their complaint, citing privacy and security concerns.

The four students in SJP originally submitted their complaint anonymously, but Lewis and members of the Tufts administration determined it was necessary to share their identities with the respondents prior to the hearing.

“This wasn’t something that I felt very good about doing,” Lewis, a senior, said. “But after talking with administrators, it was clear that that was needed for a fair hearing.”

Lewis added that increased media attention also played a role in the complainants’ security concerns.

Several articles about the hearing were published last week, including in JewishInsider and Jewish News Syndicate.

Lewis shared his opinions on the publication of these articles.

“I was disappointed to see this,” Lewis said. “I think it was unnecessary, and I think it put a lot of students at risk.”

Lewis added that although SJP withdrew its complaint, it is exploring other means of pushing forward with its allegation.

“I know that SJP is not done pursuing this,” Lewis said. “They’re … talking to administrators and exploring other … resolutions to the issue.”

TCU Senate then heard proposals for two new Senate resolutions.

The first resolution, proposed

by Tufts for a Racially Equitable Endowment, calls on Tufts to divest from private prison facility operation corporations.

The text of the abstract of the proposal reads, “Tufts University currently has $72,000 invested in a private prison facility oper-

ations corporation, which contradicts the university’s current efforts to become an anti-racist institution.”

The resolution proposal asks the university to convene a Responsible Investment Advisory Group that would make recommendations for the divestment process.

The second resolution calls for Tufts to require all fall 2021 academic courses to offer an in-person component. It was submitted by Class of 2024 Senator Claire Bolash and is based on the results of the Fall 2020 Exit Survey conducted by TCU Senate.

According to the abstract, the exit survey “revealed that students overwhelmingly held an unfavorable view towards the virtual academic experience and a pervasive sense of isolation from peers and professors.”

Bolash added that studies have shown that COVID-19 transmissions

on college campuses are not attributed to gathering in classrooms.

In the coming weeks, these two proposal abstracts will be expanded into full resolutions for the TCU Senate to vote on.

TCU Senate then heard four supplementary funding requests.

Tufts United for Immigrant Justice requested $5,000 to fund two keynote speakers for the Collegiate Alliance for Immigrant Reform conference, which is being hosted virtually. Nine members of the Allocations Board voted in favor of the request, with none opposed and none abstaining. The request passed TCU Senate by acclamation.

Harlem Grooves, a new student organization, requested $1,820 to pay for costumes and other supplies for a virtual performance, compensate a guest choreographer and cover other miscellaneous costs. Nine members of the board

voted in favor of the request, with none opposed and none abstaining. The request passed TCU Senate by acclamation.

Tufts Democrats requested $300 to compensate three speakers who participated in a virtual panelist event titled “US-India Relations under the Biden Administration.”

The panel was co-hosted by the Tufts South Asian Political Action Community. Nine members of the board voted in favor of the request, with none opposed and none abstaining. The request passed TCU Senate by acclamation.

Baseball Analytics requested $995 to enter its team into the 2021 Diamond Dollars Virtual Case Competition. Nine members of the board voted in favor of the request, with none opposed and none abstaining.

The request passed TCU Senate by acclamation.

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Monday, March 1, 2021 | arts & PoP culture | ThE TUFTS DAILy

‘Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan’ doesn’t have much to say

by Drew Weisberg Arts Editor

Television is a funny medium, being that a viewer can become totally absorbed in a world in as quickly as ten minutes or over a myriad of seasons. All the more reason why Netflix’s recent anime importation, “Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan” (2021), is disappointing, given it had roughly 100 minutes to tell its tale, and I was left feeling more confounded than intrigued for around 75 of them. Spinning off of the popular “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” (2012–) TV series, the show follows Rohan Kishibe, a manga artist living in the small town of Morioh, the setting for the fourth series of “JoJo,” “Diamond is Unbreakable” (2016). The problem is that you wouldn’t know that unless you had watched “Diamond is Unbreakable,” and if you had, you would no doubt have an easier time decoding Rohan’s muddled characterization.

In some moments, Rohan is a too-cool eccentric who can’t be bothered to worry about looking sane, taking such extreme lengths as to impersonate a priest and purchase huge tracts of worthless land all for the purpose of researching his next manga story.

In other episodes though, he seems to be a put-upon young artist who looks before he leaps.

The fact that there isn’t much connective narrative between episodes leaves the viewer with a confused portrait of a character they barely have time to know despite his name taking up half the title.

The first episode, “At a Confessional” sees Rohan recount a trip to Italy where he overheard a man confess to being involved in two grisly murders in an extended flashback. The animation is a bit stiff, with heavy shading highlighting

Derin Savasan Hot Take

‘Palm Springs’ is unfairly underrated This column contains spoilers for “Palm Springs.”

A

wonderful thing about hot takes is that everyone has them. You just have to get to know the person a little. Who knows, you may even share the same hot take! (Though, technically, this would make it a “cold take.”)

One thing before I get into this week’s column — this isn’t actually my first column! I wrote one on Pixar’s “Ratatouille” (2007) last week!

But enough with the chitchat, let’s get down to business — Hulu’s unfairly underrated feature “Palm Springs” (2020).

muscle definition and clothing folds, but also looking strange when those muscles and folds remain static. The pacing here feels tight, though the “flashback within a flashback” style feels odd and leaves Rohan as a passive observer rather than an active protagonist.

Episode 2, “Mutsu-kabe Hill,” carries over the more horror tone of the first episode but overshoots the mark and becomes an unpleasant mess. Centering around the accidental murder of a rich woman’s lover, the episode takes turns that make it seem less like a gasp-worthy suspense thriller and more like a gore-fest horror movie.

Episode 3 on Netflix, “Millionaire Village” is the most Rohan-centric episode thus far.

Though bogged down by exposition in the first half, it gives way to a darkly comedic second act revolving around a mysterious property that catches the eye of Rohan’s editor. Rohan takes center stage in this adventure, and while I would point to this episode as the turning point of the series, it must be said that another draft of the script and a more trim narrative would make for a more cogent viewing experience.

The series’ final episode, “The Run,” was my personal favorite of the bunch, so much so that I would recommend it without any caveat. It details Rohan’s fitness contest with a young man who’s more than he seems. The animation shines in this episode, with every muscle fiber of each athlete being pushed to the extreme as their competition heats up and moves from a lighthearted game to a battle for survival. Make no mistake, this is the main attraction of the series.

If you’re willing to stomach some of the less palatable features of “Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan,” or you’re a diehard “JoJo” fan looking for a fix before the next season, then give it a watch;

Look, there have been many riffs on the “Groundhog Day” (1993) formula — the protagonist stuck in a time loop of which the only way out is character growth.

And I agree, these time loop movies can sometimes feel as if the movies themselves are stuck in a time loop. But each subsequent iteration has brought a new twist to this subgenre in some way.

“50 First Dates” (2004) avoided the unexplainable metaphysics of it all for a rom-com that was equal parts Adam Sandler being a goofball and Drew Barrymore having the memory of a goldfish. “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014) added aliens, Tom Cruise and his many stunts. “Before I Fall” (2017) was a hot mess, but it retold the story from a teen’s perspective. And Netflix’s “Russian Doll” (2019) revitalized it with an episodic approach.

Max Barbakow’s witty and intelligent “Palm Springs” did this too, but altered the equation by putting two people into the same time loop and forcing them to repeat the same day over and over again until they

VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for Netflix’s ‘Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan’ is pictured. otherwise, prepare for a series built on a combination foundation of stone and sand: shifty in some parts, solid in others.

learn the error of their ways together. Considering this movie came out during the midst of quarantine — when most of us were stuck at home and forced to relive the same day with the same people — the premise was pretty relevant.

Meet Nyles (Andy Samberg), a carefree guy who (we realize later on) was stuck in this time loop for over 40 years, repeating his friend’s Palm Springs wedding over and over again. During one of those days, he meets Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the reluctant, troubled maid of honor, and — unintentionally and drunkenly — leads her to this magical cave in the desert that put him in the time loop in the first place. As expected, things get quite complicated as the two try to escape the venue, themselves and each other.

Just close your eyes and try to imagine spending the rest of your “meaningless existence” with the same person. Imagine being stuck in a static purgatory where meaningful personal growth can only be witnessed by a sad, Hawaiianshirt-wearing jerk that is suffering

alongside you. Imagine being surrounded by thousands of strangers in a world with limitless possibilities and yet winding up with the same one every night and waking up in the same bed every morning.

And imagine falling in love with that jerk. It must truly suck.

What I enjoyed the most about this movie was that it explored these imaginary scenarios in a very light, yet existentialist manner. I honestly don’t know how I’d classify its genre. Rom-com?

Maybe. Sci-fi? Definitely. Nihilistic

and existentialist, forcing you to look at your own life differently?

Hell yeah! Considering the fact that the movie appeals to three different genres, I can’t believe how satisfactory the ending was!

Now, that is the power of good screenwriting.

Like I said, I liked this movie a great deal.

Derin Savasan is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Derin can be reached at 2derinsavasan@gmail.com

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The structure of the NFL is causing a cycle of performative activism

by Jake Blum and Dhanush Sivasankaran Contributing Writers

1,520 days.

This is the amount of time that has passed since Colin Kaepernick last took a professional snap. Kaepernick is famous, or perhaps infamous, for kneeling during the national anthem, sparking a movement across the athletic industry. Despite the NFL’s attempts to prevent athlete participation through various regulations, this silent protest spoke volumes during the 2016 season. The numerous cases of police brutality against Black Americans during the summer of 2016 prompted Kaepernick’s protest; he stated, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color.”

This movement was intensely controversial. At the start of that season, Kaepernick had the bestselling NFL jersey, yet the crowd often booed him as he protested, and many fans burned his jersey and jerseys of other players who began kneeling. Following the 2016 season, Kaepernick and the 49ers parted ways, and he has not played since.

In a league where more than 70% of the players are people of color, the NFL has long been scrutinized for its inconsistent responses to racist events. The Kaepernick saga is perhaps the peak of these contentions. Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, stated at the time that he doesn’t “necessarily agree with what [Kaepernick] is doing.”

The league’s lack of action has become increasingly apparent, as it received backlash in recent months for failing to adequately address the tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. It wasn’t until some of the league’s brightest stars released a video pressuring the NFL into making a statement that Goodell

Matt Rice The Honeymoon Period

Biden’s fall from grace

I

n April 2020, Sen. Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign, thus making former Vice President Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for that year’s general election. To his credit, Biden promptly made a good-faith, constructive effort to bridge the party’s divides by forming a series of task forces consisting of elected officials, policy thinkers and activists from both the moderate and progressive wings. The sur-

said that “Black Lives Matter” and that the organization admits they were “wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.”

The most recent controversy came in the form of a Super Bowl advertisement titled “Inspire Change,” in which the NFL announced it was committing $250 million toward ending systemic racism. It is apparent that these statements in support of anti-racist movements are little more than carefully calculated, perfectly timed and performative efforts at atoning for the NFL’s previous silence on the subject, because their prior stances now provoke an unprecedented volume of backlash.

Although it is admirable that the NFL is attempting to make a difference, donations and vague statements are not sufficient.

The underrepresentation of people of color in upper-level coaching and management is unacceptable and perpetuates these issues of racial injustice within the league. Rather than spearheading the necessary structural changes to make the NFL a more inclusive and progressive organization, the individual owners have only exacerbated the league’s vices.

There is a significant disconnect between the billionaire owners of the league, the players and the fans. Several owners have been subject to criticism for their racist beliefs and actions — late owner of the Houston Texans Bob McNair referred to the league’s players as “inmates” and later stated that the sole thing he regretted about his words was apologizing for them.

Similarly, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson made racist remarks that perpetuated harmful stereotypes about Black men’s fatherhood and questioned why Black History Month is celebrated. These are just a few of the various inexcusable statements

prisingly progressive policy platforms published by those groups assuaged left-wing Democrats’ fears of Biden and gave them stronger reasons to support him in November. But the events of last week may have caused irreparable rifts within the party.

Last Thursday, Biden ordered the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes on a number of buildings in Syria that are used by Iranian-backed militias in the war-torn country. The bombings — which were carried out without approval from Congress — were a response to a series of rocket attacks that targeted American and coalition forces in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil. No Americans were killed in the strike, but that did not stop Biden from launching seven 500-pound bombs at the

VIA FLICKR

Colin Kaepernick, quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, is pictured on Jan. 20, 2013 at the Georgia Dome.

NFL team owners have made.

The organization’s lack of action stems from its structure; the commissioner has little incentive to inspire institutional change because his current contract, signed in 2017, stipulates that approximately 85% of his potential earnings are in the form of bonuses approved by team owners. Theoretically, Goodell’s role is to run the league and make fans happy. In reality, his job is to ensure that owners make a profit and augment his own paycheck, making him an unlikely candidate to enact change as he must appease those approving his bonuses.

The structure must change.

We can no longer accept the NFL’s doing the bare minimum, and these changes must start at the top, through the owners.

They decide who to hire, play a role in personnel decisions and ultimately set the tone for how their teams — and the NFL as a

whole — deal with the issue of racism. One only needs to look to the NBA to see how a well-run organization can actively promote anti-racism. For example, the NBA banned Donald Sterling, former Los Angeles Clippers owner, for life and forced him to sell the team after his racist remarks were leaked. If the NFL’s mission were to take precedence over the individual ambitions of owners, activism could more easily prevail.

Put simply, the NFL must reorganize. If owners continue to hold all the power, the league will continue to partake in a cycle of performative activism. However, if millions of fans, who generate revenue for the league and its owners, come together and leverage their power, they can inspire necessary change within the league. Sports have long been a platform to speak about the issue of racial injustice in this

Syrian facilities. The Pentagon described the act as a “proportionate military response,” while progressives in Congress like Ilhan Omar, Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna criticized Biden’s decision and questioned the legality of the strike.

Biden’s domestic actions have also strained progressives’ abilities to bite their own tongues.

At a CNN town hall earlier this month, President Biden told attendees he would not use his executive authority to cancel Americans’ student loan debt, a proposal supported by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called student loan debt forgiveness “the single most effective eco-

nomic stimulus that is available through executive action.”

Last week, as Democrats moved Biden’s COVID-19-era stimulus bill through Congress, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour could not be included in the American Rescue Plan as it is a business mandate and not a budgetary measure permissible under the reconciliation process.

This makes it nearly impossible for Biden to fulfill one of his signature campaign promises as the $15 wage increase will now require a 60-vote supermajority and it’s inconceivable that 10 Republican senators will agree to such a measure.

The story is made even more interesting knowing that MacDonough does not have

country; as one of the most popular leagues in the United States, it’s troubling to see just how indifferent and insincere the NFL has been about racism. The “Inspire Change” movement and Kaepernick’s NFL-organized workout in 2019 are steps in the right direction, but they’re not enough. For true change, pressure must be placed on the league to prioritize players and fans over the self-interest of the owners.

When it comes to the anti-racist action of a league in which a majority of its players are people of color, the needs of the many must outweigh the comfort of the few.

Jake Blum is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Jake can be reached at jacob.blum@ tufts.edu. Dhanush Sivasankaran is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Dhanush can be reached at dhanush.sivasankaran@tufts.edu.

final say on the matter; her role is purely advisory. President of the Senate and Vice President Harris, has the right to overrule her. Yet, Biden made clear he will not pursue this vital wage hike for fear of disrespecting the Senate’s process.

Biden’s failure to deliver on these progressive priorities, whether it is because of a lack of will or a lack of ability, will only make him more unpalatable to the left. If Biden can’t make some measure of course correction in the next 18 months, he will head into the midterm elections with a hopelessly divided party.

Matt Rice is a junior studying political science.

Matt can be reached at matthew.rice@tufts.edu.

8 Monday, March 1, 2021

Isaac Karp Power to the Players

The Atlanta Dream and Renee Montgomery’s triumph

I

n the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement last summer, players throughout the Women’s National Basketball Association stood in solidarity with the protesters in an effort to promote racial equality. In July, Kelly Loeffler, one of Georgia’s senators at the time and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, wrote a letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbart

SPORTS stating her opposition to players supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Many players throughout the league were outraged by Loeffler’s response, even calling for her resignation or removal from the ownership group, a rare occurrence in any professional sports league.

Loeffler, meanwhile, was positioning herself for her senatorial reelection bid in Georgia against the likely Democratic candidate, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, an African American pastor and long-time civil rights advocate.

The conflict between the WNBA players and Loeffler was reminiscent of the NBA’s Donald Sterling fiasco. Back in 2014, Sterling, the former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, made racist remarks to his ex-girlfriend on a leaked phone call recording. The NBA consequently banned Sterling for life and forced him to sell his ownership shares. Although the

WNBA Players Association was steadfast in its effort to get rid of the senator, her comments seemed less overt than Sterling’s, and the WNBA made no initial effort to oust Loeffler, who had been an owner for a decade.

On Jan. 5, the WNBA players won a major political victory for their cause in the Dream’s home state of Georgia, when Warnock defeated Loeffler in a runoff election by almost 100,000 votes. Many Atlanta Dream players had campaigned for Warnock and even wore warmup jerseys emblazoned with the message “Vote Warnock.” Yet, social activism is nothing new to the WNBA, where players have long fought for gender and racial equality and LGBTQ rights.

Finally, after months of constant pressure, Loeffler sold her shares on Friday, and a new three-person ownership group, including former WNBA star

Renee Montgomery, has taken over. With this transition of power, Montgomery became the first former player to hold a position as an owner and executive of a WNBA franchise.

Former players becoming team owners has become increasingly common. Michael Jordan is the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets and Serena Williams owns stake in the Miami Dolphins. However, Montgomery represents a unique case, not just of a successful and wealthy ex-player acquiring ownership, but of an activist taking the reins.

Montgomery was extremely vocal after George Floyd’s murder and was a clear target of Loeffler’s letter. Montgomery, lifted high by her fellow athletes, will now have a big say in the operations of one of the most famous WNBA teams.

Moreover, Montgomery is a pioneer in the sports world, although she is likely only the

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tuftsdaily.com first of many socially active players to take an ownership role in the league they played for. With the growing number of players who represent traditionally marginalized groups in positions of power, issues of equity in sports might finally begin to be tackled. For instance, player-owners can work to establish fairness in interviewing and hiring when it comes to personnel decisions, negotiating amicable collective bargaining agreements and influencing leagues to commit their support to social and political activism. Professional athletes have been fighting an uphill battle to make their voices heard for decades. With the WNBA players at the forefront, their perseverance is finally bearing fruit.

Isaac Karp is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Isaac can be reached at isaac.karp@tufts.edu