The Tufts Daily - Monday, September 28, 2020

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T HE T UFTS DAILY tuftsdaily.com

Monday, September 28, 2020

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Tufts revises Title IX, Sexual Misconduct Policy

by Jessica Blough News Editor

Tufts revised its policies this summer regarding sexual misconduct in an effort to preserve standards that would have been limited by new federal Title IX regulations. The revision of the Title IX Policy and Sexual Misconduct Policy follows federal requirements that all U.S. universities that receive government funding alter their policies concerning sexual misconduct.

The changes to the federal Title IX laws were released by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Education in May, while most U.S. universities were operating remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Activists and administrators had been anticipating the changes since Secretary of Education Betsy Devos released a proposal for changes to Title IX in late 2018. The federal Title IX policy required universities to revise their policies by Aug. 14, 2020.

Notably, the federal policy limits universities’ ability to address misconduct that occurs off campus, outside the U.S. and involving non-university affiliates. It also narrows the definition of sexual harassment, requiring that incidents of harassment be “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive.”

“When the new regulations came down, we’ve tried to see — what do we have that we can still keep? Where do they give us some wiggle room and we can still get closer to what we want versus what they’re going to make us do?

And what do we have no control over and we have to do?”

Alexandra Donovan, the director of the Center for Awareness, Resources, and Education (CARE) at Tufts, said.

The revised Tufts Sexual Misconduct Policy retains many of the Title IX standards prior to Devos’ revisions, including protections regarding off-campus see POLICY, page 2

Monaco, administrators address COVID-19 concerns, spring plans in virtual town hall

by Alexander Thompson Assistant News Editor

University President Anthony Monaco expressed cautious optimism about Tufts’ reopening plan and thanked students, faculty and staff for following health guidelines during a virtual town hall with other university administrators on Sept. 25.

Monaco noted that, as of Friday, the university’s seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate in all campuses is 0.01%, in comparison to Massachusetts’ seven-day positivity rate of 0.80%.

He explained that more than 6,300 students followed arrival protocol and that, currently, 3,100 undergraduates are on campus.

Monaco praised community members for following university procedures and guidelines related to COVID-19.

“You have distinguished yourselves and are really examples for your peers,” Monaco said.

“However, we know with [COVID19] you must remain vigilant and cannot let our guard down.”

In reference to a university policy banning singing and wind instruments on campus, Monaco said that administrators are “evaluating alternative spaces” for music majors and minors and New England Conservatory (NEC) combined-degree students to practice their instruments or vocals.

The university is working to ensure that the spaces adhere to health and safety regulations.

He also urged students to stay on campus for Thanksgiving break, after an off-campus travel policy was released in a university-wide email earlier that day. The policy gave students the choice of staying on campus or traveling home and staying home for the remainder of the term.

Camille Lizarríbar, dean of student affairs, indicated that planning is already underway to celebrate the holiday on campus.

“Our goal is really to make this a meaningful way of marksee HALL, page 2

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

Ballou Hall is pictured on Aug. 8.

Headlines off the Hill Trump picks Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court nominee On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his pick to fill the Supreme Court seat left by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on Sept. 18. Barrett is a favorite among conservatives for her strict adherence to her Catholic faith, like the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who she clerked for, and ardent criticism of the Affordable Care Act and access to abortions. If confirmed, she will be Trump’s third appointment to the country’s highest court, solidifying a 6–3 conservative majority for potential generations to come. Trump is rushing the Senate to confirm Barrett before Election Day as a way to fire up his base and solidify his legacy. While there is a Republican majority in the Senate, Trump is gearing up for a bitter confirmation process as Senate Democrats have already widely condemned the choice.

Global death toll from COVID-19 approaches 1 million The global death toll of COVID-19 is nearing one million deaths as more hot spots continue to grow around the

world. Since the first recorded case in Wuhan, China late last year, the virus has infected over 32 million people and drastically changed everyday life. The U.S. alone accounts for more than one-fifth of global deaths, though the death count in India recently overtook the United States and continues to increase. The World Health Organization has announced that the death toll of the virus could rise to over two million people before a vaccine is widely available if countries do not work collectively to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Over 860,000 have already cast their ballot for the 2020 election As of Sept. 26, more than 860,000 people had already cast their votes for the 2020 election, a large increase from the 9,525 voters who had sent in their ballots by this time in 2016.

Though President Trump has tried to cast doubt regarding the reliability of mail-in ballots and early voting measures, this rate of early voting indicates that Americans are invested in and energized by the upcoming election. It is important to note that this number is an estimate based on available data from

ARTS / page 6

OPINION / page 6

SPORTS / back

Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Punisher’ discusses moving forward amid terrifying world

The time to reconsider role of TUPD is long overdue

Page reflects on joy, trust in running

25 states. The pace of early voting is expected to increase as November nears.

Protests mount across the country to demand justice for the killing of Breonna Taylor Protests have grown dramatically following the announcement from the Louisville attorney general earlier this week that none of the officers who were involved in the murder of Breonna Taylor will be charged in direct association with her death. Officer Brett Hankison was charged with “wanton endangerment” for firing into one of Taylor’s neighbor’s apartments. In her hometown of Louisville, Ky., at least 25 people were arrested Saturday, the fourth straight night of protests, by police for charges including rioting and breaking curfew. Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott, the state’s only Black female legislator, was one of the protestors arrested. Additionally, two Louisville police officers were shot during a protest on Wednesday night.

Major demonstrations have also occurred throughout the country in cities such as Boston, Los Angeles and New York.

— Jilly Rolnick NEWS

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Monday, September 28, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Alex Viveros Editor in Chief

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Dewick to add new takeout service, indoor dining to begin this week

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The Residential Quad is pictured on Aug. 28.

HALL

continued from page 1 ing the holiday that can both recognize all of the difficulties we have been going through and also celebrate resilience and celebrate our sense of being a Tufts community,” she said.

Lizarríbar added that the university will not be reimbursing those who decide not to return to campus after Thanksgiving break.

Like Monaco, James Glaser, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, commended staff and others in the community for following COVID-19 guidelines.

“The dedication of our staff as we prepared this summer has been remarkable, and I’m really just in awe of those people around me who made it possible

to bring students back to campus this fall,” he said.

He also explained that 55% of courses in the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering this semester have an in-person component.

Glaser, who is teaching Introduction to American Politics in person this year, said that he has seen firsthand students’ enthusiasm for being back in the classroom.

“As students are leaving the class, they are all thanking me,” Glaser said. “I’ve taught here for almost 30 years, sometimes that happens on the last day of class, but every class ends with a chorus of thank you’s from students.”

In response to a submitted question, Glaser said that plan-

ning continues for the spring semester. However, he noted that the university anticipates offering students the option of studying on campus or remotely again in the spring, and that spring break may be canceled.

Patti Klos, director of dining and business services at Tufts Dining, addressed continuing concerns about lines at dining centers during peak hours. Dining employees have also expressed concerns about understaffing.

She said that one problem lies in the change from self-service to staff service.

Tufts Dining will add a takeout service to the Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center on Sept. 28 called “Dewick 2,” which is similar to “Carm 2,” where students will have

the opportunity to preorder breakfast and lunch and pick it up.

Klos also announced that students will be permitted to sit in groups, no larger than six, inside Dewick, beginning this week.

Carmichael Dining Center will open to indoor dining a few days later. She said that Tufts Dining may increase the seating cap to 10 people per table in the coming months.

Michelle Bowdler, the executive director of health and wellness services, addressed Massachusetts’ influenza vaccination requirement.

“The flu shots are on their way,” she said.

Bowdler encouraged students to receive the vaccination at a local pharmacy to reduce the burden on Health Service.

Sexual Misconduct Steering Committee to address Title IX changes POLICY

continued from page 1 incidents and a broader definition of harassment.

“We wanted to keep those ‘house rules’ in order to retain jurisdiction over cases the new OCR regulations say we no longer have to investigate and to maintain the levels of conduct our communities expect,” Jill Zellmer, executive director of the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) and a Title IX coordinator, wrote in an email to the Daily.

One component of the new Title IX policy is the Sexual Misconduct Adjudication Process with Direct CrossExamination (SMAP-X), a university regulation, which is applied for “formal complaints filed against Tufts University students, faculty, staff, third parties and other community members alleging any violation of the Title IX Policy.” SMAP-X requires both the complainant and the respondent to submit to a live and recorded cross-examination.

Marley Hillman, a campus activist, strongly criticized the

use of cross-examination in situations involving sexual harassment and sexual violence, indicating that there is an unequal power dynamic between survivors and perpetrators of sexual misconduct. They indicated that the process requires survivors to submit to cross-examination by a friend or family member of their perpetrator, which can allow the respondent to withhold their testimony.

“I acknowledge that the university is required to implement the changes in the new law.

I know that the Title IX rule drop includes requirements for live hearings and real-time cross-examination. I understand that Tufts had to create that SMAP-X in order to comply with that new law. It’s still bad,” they said.

Hillman has worked with Know Your IX, a national organization dedicated to ending sexual violence in high schools and colleges. On its website, Know Your IX criticizes the cross-examination process and predicts it will “greatly increase the risk of re-traumatization” for survivors.

Complaints that allege a violation of the Sexual Misconduct Policy but do not meet the requirements for the Title IX policy will be addressed through the OEO’s Sexual Misconduct Adjudication Process, which does not require cross-examination.

When the new federal Title IX regulations were released in May, students circulated a petition created by senior Nina Benites asking that University President Anthony Monaco respond to and condemn the OCR’s new regulations. The petition specifically pointed to “the narrowed definition of sexual harassment, diminished scope of Title IX’s reach … the implementation of live hearings, and the increased standard of proof” as issues with the new policy.

Monaco sent an email to the Tufts community the next day, saying that university administrators were “deeply disappointed and concerned” by the Title IX changes under DeVos: “The regulations create new definitions, processes, and procedures that could reverse years of progress.”

The email promised that the federal Title IX policies would be addressed and discussed by the university’s Sexual Misconduct Steering Committee, a group of administrators, faculty, staff and students that was created in 2016, and that built on the work of a previously established task force. The committee meets to discuss both the formal and informal processes that Tufts has in place to prevent and address sexual misconduct in its community.

The university and OEO also have informal processes available to survivors of sexual misconduct, including housing and schedule changes, and support resources through OEO and the CARE office.

Donovan, who is a part of the CARE office, strongly criticized the federal Title IX changes, but said that the combination of the informal processes with the rewritten Tufts policies makes “the best of a bad decision.”

“There’s not a lot of great options here,” Donovan said of DeVos’ policies. “So we were making the best of what we were given.”

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Features

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Alumna Lucia Ravens combats food insecurity through art, social media

by Sophia Costa

Contributing Writer

Despite limitations on museums and art galleries because of the pandemic, artists Lucia Ravens (MFA’16) and Ned Carlson have found a way to promote art for a social cause.

On World Environment Day, Lucia Ravens launched #FlowerFeedFlourish, a global social media movement that educates communities about gardening to tackle food insecurity.

“The goal of the project is to cultivate farm-fresh flowers and vegetables to deliver to local food banks … to encourage support of food banks worldwide to champion regenerative agriculture, to exchange knowledge and to document the project on Instagram to raise awareness about how the pandemic has [affected] food insecurity in our local, national and global communities,” Ravens, who earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 2016, wrote in an email to the Daily.

During quarantine, Ravens learned that numerous seed companies worldwide were running out of seeds because they had received so many orders. Ravens, who normally plants a garden every year, began to think about what could be done with the produce being grown by households during the pandemic.

“I started to think, ‘Well, if there’s going to be so many gardens all around the world, imagine all that produce,” Ravens said.

“As we were journeying through the pandemic, [I thought] ‘Well,

wait, there’s that much, I think I’ll make my garden that much bigger, and I’ll donate the produce,’” Ravens said. That’s how Flower Feed Flourish began.

Ravens’ garden, which is organic and practices regenerative agriculture, has gained international attention as people from around the world join the hashtag #FlowerFeedFlourish and follow the project on Instagram.

Now, the Tufts alumna hopes to further Flower Feed Flourish’s social media presence, to garner support within the United States and across countries to build global solidarity for the movement. To that end, as Flower Feed Flourish’s platform is entirely digital, it leveraged increased social media activity during quarantine.

Ravens highlighted the difficulties the pandemic poses, as well as the potential it offers.

“There are challenges during this COVID-19 crisis, but it is important to turn those challenges into teachable moments and use our creativity to plan effectively to build back our communities stronger than they were before,” Ravens wrote. “A positive outlook can go a long way during these times. It is a new world we are living in today, I believe it’s best to look at the challenges as opportunities to come together in solidarity and support.”

Even though Flower Feed Flourish is relatively new, it has already taken root in the Tufts community. Soon after kick starting her project, Ravens was joined by Ned Carlson, a Tufts-SMFA dual degree student from the Class of 2023.

COURTESY LUCIA RAVENS

An individual donation basket filled with purple dahlias, green beans, tomatoes, sugar baby watermelons, lemon cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and purple peppers is pictured.

COURTESY LUCIA RAVENS

A lettuce donation crate is pictured.

Carlson, who spearheaded the Boxed Art Gallery, an online art gallery highlighting work by members of the Tufts community, was connected to Ravens through Ryan Smith, a career adviser for the arts.

With environmental art that already focuses on climate change, Carlson’s interests fit nicely with Ravens’ work. He has enjoyed getting more involved with the community focus Flower Feed Flourish, though.

Carlson, now an intern for the project, is responsible for reaching out to people and artists on social media to get them involved with #FlowerFeedFlourish. He has been warmly welcomed into Ravens’ studio.

“Ned is talented, his artistic giftedness comes with the determination to pose creative challenges for himself to meet as he spends time in nature … Social and environmental causes and his interest in climate change action are critical issues, as he develops his artistic voice at Tufts and within this internship,” Ravens wrote.

Ravens hopes her partnership with Carlson will incentivize other Tufts SMFA alumni to collaborate with current students.

Carlson and Ravens agree that their backgrounds as artists have informed their current work with Flower Feed Flourish. The project is “an artistic gesture,” as Ravens knows her garden is not going to produce enough to tackle the broad issue of food insecurity. Rather, it’s about influencing others to take action.

Both Jumbos are certain the Tufts community has been vital for the project’s success.

Ravens pointed out the importance of the Institute of

the Environment’s practice to send delegates to represent the university at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) annual Conference of the Parties (COP).

“I felt very privileged that as a Tufts alum that I could have that door, through Tufts’s Institute of the Environment, to go and attend these programs,” Ravens said.

Carlson mentioned it was because of this partnership with the United Nations that he discovered Flower Feed Flourish, adding that he and Ravens aim to “to develop another vibrant artistic voice” for himself and other undergraduate students at Tufts for future UNFCCC conferences.

Having earned institutional support for Flower Feed Flourish, the organizers are now planning an art panel discussion at the UNFCCC at the COP 26.

“I really think that we can be pioneers to start that conversation on an international level,” Ravens said.

Ravens and Carlson aim to prompt Tufts students to take action locally, as food insecurity is an issue that affects Medford and Somerville and has been heightened by the pandemic.

“Higher retail prices, combined with reduced incomes, mean more and more households are having to cut down on the quantity and quality of their food consumption, with potentially lasting impacts on nutrition and health,” Carlson said.

The stress the pandemic places on food security for many families reveals the urgency for communities

to take action, according to Carlson.

“One of the reasons I’m so interested in the project is because Tufts is situated in a historically lower income area around Boston. But the people at Tufts in general are fairly well off, so it’s an interesting contrast and definitely a lot of people don’t know or are not aware of what’s going on,” Carlson said.

Carlson suggested that Tufts students take action by donating to food banks around the university and the Boston area.

“By initiating the conversation about hunger action, the goal is to raise awareness of the issue of food insecurity. The hope is the #FlowerFeedFlourish project will influence action; to fundraise, to volunteer and especially to donate to your local food-banks,” Ravens said.

Food banks in the Somerville/ Medford area include: Medford Farmers Market (Condon Shell, Mystic Valley Pkwy, Medford, Massachusetts) Project Soup (165 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02145) Mystic Community Market (291 Mystic Ave, Medford, MA 02155) Food Distribution Center – Food Cupboard – UU Church of Medford, (147 High St, Medford, MA 02155) Food Distribution Center – Northeast Food System Partnership (132 Curtis St, Medford, MA 02155) Food Distribution Center – Outside The Lines (70 Colby St, Medford, MA 02155) Tufts Mutual Aid Food Pantry located Hillside Community Church (144 North St, Medford, MA 02155)

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Monday, September 28, 2020 | Fun & Games | THE TUFTS DAILY

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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Monday, September 28, 2020

Maeve Hagerty Maeve’s Music Mondays

F

Unboxing

inding a new song is like unwrapping a small gift. I constantly find myself gently removing the bow with the utmost care before aggressively tearing into the packaging.

When I hear a song that is unlike those I have heard before, it plays over and over in my head for days or weeks on end. I have spent years now stockpiling these little gifts that I have encountered. I hoard old songs and impatiently gather new artists. Each unfamiliar genre I stumble across is later enveloped in velvet ribbon and stowed away in my mind where it is constantly unwrapped and repackaged again for a later date.

But after years of this gathering and exploring, I have realized that gifts are meant to be shared.

So, here we are: at the beginning of what I believe will be a hopefully interesting, possibly odd, column. I can’t profess to know more than basic music theory, but I can promise my column will be ripe with the ramblings of a lifelong music-lover and shower-singer whose habitual humming, singing and lackluster rapping skills somehow make her qualified to write for the Daily.

I suppose the idea to do so was born while I was sitting in quarantine in August before my first year of college.

Just as I realized I had forgotten my winter coat at home, I was certain that 2020 had already thrown enough proverbial dark matter at our proverbial fan … until I received an email from Tufts that mandated a “no singing” policy on campus as part of a cautionary COVID19 procedure.

While I am no accomplished singer, I am a music addict with a passion for belting verses outside of my vocal range, and the bleak prospect of a year without that pastime made my heart sink. And then I realized that if I couldn’t subject my dorm mates to my singing, I could still subject the rest of the university to my music tastes by doing my second favorite thing: talking at length.

So, this column will be a new vehicle to share the beauty I find in music from every corner of the earth as a little gift to all of you in these times of uncertainty.

We’ll move through different genres, different centuries and different languages, focusing on the artists and songs I find to be particularly significant or just especially catchy. We’ll cover the cultural import of certain styles in order to emerge every week with a different type of music to explore, all while I walk a fine line between sharing my excitement with you and appearing as if I actually know anything about music history. This will be a learning experience for me, too.

With a year as chaotic as this one, I think we should all develop music tastes to match. So, while this introduction has served as little more than a baseline summary, I hope music excites you as much as it thrills me, and I can’t wait to talk about it more with you.

Until next week, Maeve

Maeve Hagerty is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Maeve can be reached at maeve.hagerty@tufts.edu

Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Punisher’ continues to guide our collective descent

by Ryan Eggers Arts Editor

Phoebe Bridgers released her second studio album, “Punisher” (2020), on June 18 to universal acclaim, with many heralding the indie-emo-folk effort as the record of the summer. But, as temperatures have chilled and leaves have begun to change, it seems more and more apparent that this collection of songs is inseparably linked with the fall.

The comparison is obvious enough aesthetically — from the desert illuminated red by the night sky on the album’s cover to autumnal tunes like “Halloween,” “Punisher” deserves to be listened to on a turntable with a cup of coffee on a chilly October morning.

Thematically, Bridgers is also inspired by autumn, as the record’s 11 tracks paint a picture of a world that’s inevitably becoming colder and darker. The awareness of that descent and the chaos that transpires as a result is the soul of the album. Though “Punisher” was recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic began, its perspective couldn’t have been more representative of its current moment when released in June, and it appears even more prescient now in the first days of fall.

And in the midst of this colder, darker world, Bridgers ruminates on how to move forward. “Garden Song,” the album’s lyrical opener after the instrumental “DVD Menu,” reflects on manifesting positivity over negative energy, even when the latter is ever-present.

“It’s about fighting back dark, evil murder thoughts and feeling like if I really want something, it happens, or it comes true in a totally weird, different way than I even expected,” Bridgers said of the track.

Bridgers’ tour manager, Jeroen Vrijhoef, provides a baritone accompaniment on the song’s chorus, creating a rich, powerful melody that ties Bridgers’ manifestations together gorgeously. The final few lines of “Garden Song” are some of the most hopeful in Bridgers’ discography, a beautiful bow of self-actualization: “The doctor put her hands over my liver/ And she told me my resentment’s getting smaller/ No I’m not afraid of hard work/ And I did everything I want/ I have everything I wanted.”

Reflections on what Bridgers has and how far she’s come are a constant topic on “Punisher.” Not only being able to manifest happiness, but to understand and appreciate it, or at the very least exist peacefully alongside it, is a crucial part of Bridgers’ lyrical journey.

“The first record [‘Stranger in the Alps’ (2017)] is about trauma, and this record is about how even though I have the life I asked for, and supportive friends, and everything I want, and I’m very lucky, the tools I used to deal with trauma while it was happening are really holding me back from being able to truly enjoy the things in my life,” Bridgers said in an interview with Stereogum.

The album’s second single and third track, “Kyoto,” is one of the more prominent examples of this theme, with a stark contrast between the upbeat, guitar and horn-led instrumentals and Bridgers’ thoughtful lyrics on her complicated relationship with her father.

With an irresistibly catchy horn melody from Nathaniel Walcott of Bright Eyes, Bridgers wades through tumultuous waters of her past and her present, which happened to be during her tour in Japan at the time of writing. Her final chorus leaves a half-resolution: “I don’t forgive you, but please don’t hold me to it.” Bridgers isn’t here to provide definitive answers — she’s just trying to explore the right questions.

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The album cover for ‘Punisher’ (2020) by Phoebe Bridgers is pictured.

“Punisher,” the album’s title track, is an ode and love letter to Elliott Smith, a songwriter whose influence Bridgers wears proudly on her sleeve. In the subtle and dream-like track, Bridgers imagines herself as a “punisher,” a well-meaning but obsessive fan, to Smith if he were still alive. At the same time, Bridgers knows that she has her own group of “punishers” as her star rises.

The somber reflections that make up the first half of the album transition into faraway dreams with “Chinese Satellite.”

The track laments for something to believe in — a beacon of light at the end of the tunnel that Bridgers can’t find through organized religion. The song builds up to a powerful and touching confession about yearning for something, anything, more: “I want to believe/ That if I go outside I’ll see a tractor beam/ Coming to take me to where I’m from/ I want to go home.”

“Moon Song” and “Savior Complex” project some of Bridgers’ internal struggles through the lens of a depressed lover, someone Bridgers deeply cares about but can’t fully understand and connect with. “Moon Song” is an expression of total love and adoration for this person, and “Savior Complex” shows the consequences of engaging in a relationship with them. Both feature some of the prettiest vocals on the entire record.

Though Bridgers brought a heap of personal style and vision into “Punisher,” the record was not without its collaborators. She worked closely with ex-boyfriend, drummer and current great friend Marshall Vore on “I See You,” a track about their breakup, led by a great pulsing percussive performance from Vore.

She also worked with Conor Oberst, Bright Eyes frontman and Bridgers’ partner in indie duo Better Oblivion Community Center, on “Halloween,” a hauntingly chilled acoustic track capped off by a stellar vocal duet from the two.

But it’s “Graceland Too,” the penultimate song from the album, that takes the cake for best group work. While a Bridgers song in name, the track features Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, Bridgers’ fellow members of the supergroup boygenius, and would fit snugly as a bonus track from their 2018 self-titled extended play.

The song goes in a few directions, stemming from thoughts Bridgers had on an MDMA trip. The song’s beginning story of a woman moving on to a new life seems to be heavily directed at Baker, Bridgers’ bandmate and close friend.

Eventually, the track reaches an album-defining bridge: “So we spent what was left of our serotonin/ To chew on our cheeks and stare at the moon/ Said she knows she lived through it to get to this moment/ Ate a sleeve of saltines on my floor and I knew then.” Baker and Dacus enter the vocal track on the final line of the bridge, a cathartic musical moment that demands a huge smile from every listener.

The bridge leads into a desperate and loving outro sung by the three, a repeated chant of “I would do anything you want me to/ I would do anything for you.” In this moment, it’s clear that this album is a triumph of our time — a culmination of love, trauma and grief that Bridgers both explores in her life and challenges you to explore in yours. From the perfectly plucked banjo chords to the nostalgic violin melody to the angelic vocal harmony between the members of boygenius, “Graceland Too” simply feels like a piece of pure magic.

Bridgers’ final gift of clairvoyance for America’s current state of ruin comes in the form of the album’s closer, “I Know the End.” The song depicts a drive up to Northern California, a drive that becomes tenser as the descriptions of everything around become bleaker. The ending lyrics tie the album together with a blunt concession: “The billboard said the end is near/ I turned around, there was nothing there/ Yeah, I guess the end is here.”

The song then bursts into an outro of frantic, repeated screaming of the final line, with contributions from most of the album’s collaborators from other tracks.

A Sufjan Stevens-esque finale, Bridgers and company pull off the dramatic ending remarkably, creating about a minute and a half of chaos before coming to a close.

As we descend further into the depths of autumn, it seems as though Bridgers’ view that the world will come down with it may just be true. And if the end really is here, Bridgers is also right about one other thing: It often feels as though we can do nothing but scream.

tuftsdaily.com

Opinion EDITORIAL

TUPD incident of racial bias illustrates need for systemic change Content warning: This article references instances of police brutality against historically marginalized communities.

On Sept. 1, three women of color were questioned by Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) after attempting to put a mask on the Jumbo statue to promote JumboVote and Healthy@Tufts. Several men, at least some of whom were white, were asked to assist with the activity. A community member who saw the scene proceeded to call TUPD, mistakenly thinking that the women were painting the statue. Despite being university sanctioned and an obviously nonviolent initiative, four officers with two cruisers and a motorcycle responded to the scene and were said to have subjected the three women to more intense and lengthy questioning than the other men involved. In an email to the community, Executive Vice President Michael Howard and Associate Provost and Chief Diversity Officer Rob Mack apologized to the women involved and announced the commission of an independent investigation.

Though the administrative response was swift and commendable, we must not forget that Tufts and its police force exist in a larger system in which police officers extrajudicially murder people, particularly Black people and other people of color, on a regular basis. These same influences of systemic racism are present on Tufts’ campus.

As reported in the Tufts Observer, TUPD itself has disproportionately policed students of color on Tufts’ campus. In the last year and the years prior, white supremacy, discrimination and incidents of hate have targeted people of color.

Time and time and time again, Tufts has committed to combating hate on its campus and being actively anti-racist. However, the continued occurrence of racist incidents on our campus demonstrates the pervasiveness of bias within Tufts’ institutions despite these actions to prevent them. Empty promises and actionless apologies will not disrupt racist systems — only concrete action and institutional reform will.

In this incident, the deployment of four officers and extensive, inequitable questioning of the women involved marks a disproportionate response by TUPD, similar to those by police departments all over the United States.

Precedent events in which police have responded disproportionately have led to death and trauma, including the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and countless other unarmed Black individuals. The university’s response neglected that this history of escalation could have been a significant source of anxiety and trauma for the women involved in this incident. Furthermore, this incident is a clear indication that TUPD protocol does not adequately account for this reality in its practices or follow through with its guiding principle of “procedural justice” in interacting with the community it serves.

This incident also highlights national concerns regarding police suppression of nonviolent protest. The harmless act of putting a mask on the Jumbo statue was an initiative by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and an effort to promote community health and civic action. Regardless of whether these actions are

COVID-19andTufts’responseplanwerealways going to adversely impact academic opportunity and learning as well as student social life, including student organizations and programming. It was evident that life at Tufts was not going to be normal this semester; we are going through a once-ina-century pandemic. Therefore, many students — at least 735 — are attending Tufts remotely and many others are taking leaves of absence. From my personal experience, Tufts has done well to accommodate students studying remotely from an academic perspective: Professors have generally been understanding of time zone differences and technical challenges, recordings for lectures are available and exceptional pass/fail has already been approved.

Nevertheless, Tufts’ students and administration have failed at creating an inclusive social and extracurricular environment for many of those students studying remotely. I am seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (EST), meaning that a student organization meeting or an administration-run event at 7 p.m. EST is at 2 a.m. for me. In order to maintain my mental health and a healthy sleep schedule, I cannot attend those meetings. Other students with larger time zone differences have it even worse, as they are unable to attend events that are planned during the afternoon.

When studying remotely, many international students, myself included, have agreed to bypass some aspects of social life at Tufts and to make sac-

Matt Rice The Countdown

Time to panic

O

up the social and extracurricular aspects of your college experience?

StudentorganizationsandtheTuftsadministration must make a conscious effort to create accessible alternatives for students studying remotely to participate in clubs and university-sponsored events. This could be done through recording club meetings or other on-campus events for asynchronous viewing with participants’ consent. It could also be done by holding some events and meetings earlier in the day, during lunch period or in the morning, or by having professors and teaching assistants help facilitate study groups for remote international first-year students to collaborate with students on campus. It would also be very important to publicize these opportunities and make them more readily available beforehand.

Changing times for extracurricular activities, recording club meetings and student programming events and making the extra effort to reach out to international students studying remotely could be an added inconvenience for people on campus. Nevertheless, as students who believe in inclusivity and diversity, it is our duty to one another to make sacrifices to support and include our peers. Inclusivity and diversity are not just catchphrases that should be thrown around; they are integral to any resilient, powerful and supportive community that believes in every one of its members.

Ibrahim AlMuasher is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Ibrahim can be reached at ibrahim.almuasher@tufts.edu.

Matt Rice is a senior studying political science. Matt can be reached at matthew. rice@tufts.edu.

Student organizations and the Tufts administration must be more inclusive of remote international students rifices to get the most out of the semester academically. However, it remains the duty of our peers and the Tufts administration to make accommodations to support us and keep us integrated within the community. They have not done so. All it takes is one glance at the Jumbo Digest email, sent on Sept. 13, to notice that all general interest meetings listed for the week of Sept. 14, excluding Tufts Quidditch, but including the Tufts-organized Student Organization Fair, began at 5 p.m. or after, with no alternatives announced in the email for students who cannot attend due to other commitments or large time zone differences.

Many international students come from countries where they do not have the same opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities at Tufts. One of the ways that privilege is institutionalized is when opportunities are withheld from a group of individuals, usually on the basis of something that they cannot control.

When an international student studying remotely cannot attend a student organization’s meeting, they are being excluded from a potential opportunity to make powerful, long-lasting relationships with people they share interests with and to learn from their peers. These effects are magnified when thinking about first-year international students studying remotely, as they have not gotten the chance to build friendships and become involved in extracurricular activities at Tufts.

Ask yourself the question of whether you learn more in class or from your friends and extracurricular activities. Then ask yourself a follow-up question: Would you be okay with giving

Monday, September 28, 2020

n Saturday, President Trump introduced his nominee for the United States Supreme Court: Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

No one can argue that Judge Barrett lacks the traditional qualifications of a nominee for the high court: summa cum laude honors from Notre Dame Law School, a clerkship for Justice Scalia, decades in private practice and academia and experience as a federal appellate court judge. But behind her credentials and Midwestern politeness, there are some dark, unspoken truths.

I do not want to talk about Amy Coney Barrett as a person. Enveloping her career and propelling her nomination to the Supreme Court is a decades-long, conservative movement to capture the American judicial system.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, the Supreme Court was a relatively left-wing body that outlawed segregation, legalized abortion and defended The New York Times when it printed classified information about the war in Vietnam.

But in 1982, a group of conservative legal thinkers and rabid, young Ivy League lawyers realized that the American conservative project could quietly expand its influence through the judiciary. Its first meeting was held at Yale University in the spring of 1982. After decades of liberal dominance on the Supreme Court, conservatives learned that no matter how dominant they remained electorally, a liberal judiciary would kill all conservative goals (namely, the overturning of Roe v. Wade).

From that initial conference, the Federalist Society was born, and it would eventually become a massive breeding ground for far-right legal thinkers and activists. Every Republican appointee currently sitting on the court has been said to be affiliated with the Federalist Society.

The Federalist Society is in no way the only organization dedicated to capturing the American judiciary, but no other group better exemplifies the network of billionaires, ideologues and politicians who want to move the court far to the right.

This nomination cannot be about any one person’s individual qualities, beliefs or experiences. If Democrats even begin to argue about Barrett’s record, ideology or faith, they will immediately cede the most important argument: that the system itself is corrupted.

In 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stole a Supreme Court seat from a Democratic president and handed it to a Republican one simply because he could.

Senate Republicans rushed Brett Kavanaugh through the process without any real investigation into his past. But despite how blatantly wrong those confirmations were, they will pale in comparison to Barrett.

In replacing Ginsburg with a Scalia redux, Trump will forever alter the court and every aspect of the United States. Barrett is 48 years old. She will most likely sit on the court until I am a grandfather. It is impossible to understate how wildly corrupted this process is, and just how impactful she could be. For the next four decades, Barrett will have the power to review and issue opinions on every single aspect of American life.

sanctioned by the university, activism remains central to both the health of our community and democracy. We must question the ways in which police intervention hinders or suppresses nonviolent activism on our campus.

Howard and Mack have set a necessary precedent in launching an impartial investigation into this incident. However, in order to engender sustainable change and deliver justice to those affected by systemic racism on our campus, this investigation must be action-oriented. We must start with a community-wide reevaluation of the role that TUPD has on our campus. Tufts must defund TUPD and significantly downsize police operations. Furthermore, TUPD needs to reform its protocol for responding to nonviolent incidents and prioritize deescalation strategies that do not subject individuals to unfair questioning techniques.

Tufts should also use the results of the investigation to place this incident in the broader context of racism on our campus. In addition to investigating the incident itself, Tufts should double efforts to evaluate how police are used on our campus and whether they police certain groups more than others. University administrators can do this by making a safe space for individuals to tell them about their encounters with police.

Eradicating systemic racism on our campus requires systemic change. Tufts University police officers must be held accountable for this incident of racial bias and pressured to reform their policies and practices in accordance with the principles of justice, equity and dignity.

OP-ED

IBRAHIM ALMUASHER

7

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community.

The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

EDITORIALS 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.

OP-EDS 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 and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions.

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8 Monday, September 28, 2020

Alex Sharp Sharp from the Sofa

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Getting to know Tufts athletes: Danielle Page

Sunday sermons

J

ordan Davis has the best beard in country music (apologies to Chris Stapleton). Davis released a song earlier in the year called “Church in a Chevy,” (2020) about going for a drive in his truck.

“I went to church in a Chevy on a two-lane on a side of the road/ Sun coming up cutting through the live oaks/ Wind through the windows like a whisper on a breeze,” Davis sings. “And there wasn’t no preacher, wasn’t no choir, wasn’t no words/ But it was the best sermon I’ve ever heard.”

Every Sunday in the fall since I was 6 or 7, I experienced a higher power too.

And the sermon was delivered by Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. If I got lucky my parents would let me stay up late for the evening sermon with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.

It might sound crazy to view watching football as a holy experience but I assure you that it is. Every year in September the air begins to feel a little bit crisper, leaves start to change color and a layer of dew appears on the grass in the morning. You can feel that it’s football season.

Time changes everything. Nothing about my life today is the same as it was when I was in first grade in 2006. People came and went, schools changed and smartphones took over the world. The one constant was watching football on Sundays in the fall. The passage of time is marked as much by birthdays as it is by the retirement of players I grew up idolizing.

So many little things in my life can be traced back to the hours I spent watching football on Sundays. I never needed to be taught how to multiply by sevens because I knew a team that scored four touchdowns had 28 points.

I gained a geographical understanding of the United States through the American Football Conference’s and National Football Conference’s North, South, East and West divisions. I never would’ve known who The Boss was if he hadn’t played the Superbowl halftime show in 2009.

Of course, the glory of watching football as a kid was never just about watching the games on CBS and FOX. It was about running outside during the commercial breaks and halftime to play two-hand touch, snatching the ball out of the air like Randy Moss and cherishing that rare moment when you flick your wrist and release a perfectly tight spiral like the quarterbacks on TV. It’s tough to come to the realization you’re never going to play quarterback in the NFL, but it’s even tougher to realize you will never have more fun than you did playing backyard football with your best friends in elementary school. You can still get a taste though. Grab a friendA, put down the homework you won’t remember in a week, give your eyes a break from your screen and go outside.

Breathe in the fall air, grip the laces and let it rip.

Alex Sharp is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Alex can be reached at alex.sharp@tufts.edu.

MADELEINE OLIVER / THE TUFTS DAILY

Danielle Page wins the 10,000m race at Snowflake Classic on March 30, 2019.

by Arnav Sacheti

Assistant Sports Editor

For Danielle Page, a Tufts junior and long-distance runner who has captured many wins for the Jumbos, running had not always been a thought in her mind, let alone a priority. That all changed with a commitment to her friend.

“My best friend was on the cross country team and she was really, really shy,” Page said. “The fifth grade was the first year that we were allowed to join school sports. She wanted to join the track team, but she didn’t want to do it by herself.”

“At this point, I was not sporty at all. I was much more into art and things like that, and I didn’t want to run,” Page said.

“I said, ‘All right, fine … I’ll do it for you and I’ll do it with you.'”

Immediately, Page was set on a path that would eventually lead her to the Tufts cross country and track and field teams.

“The coach took one look at me the first day of practice and said, ‘Danielle you’re running distance,'” Page said. “It was my worst nightmare. But I stuck with it … fast forward 10 years, and here we are.”

Although running is an individual endeavor, this level of commitment to others has trickled into her time at Tufts. As a captain of the Tufts women’s cross country team, Page has a unique perspective on how the team aspect of the sport has helped both her and her teammates.

“I think the team aspect is really beneficial because even if someone isn’t necessarily contributing to the team, they can still have a really good day and get a [personal record]. I think it opens the door for a lot more participation,” Page said.

While today, Page plays a vital role in the cross country team’s success as one of the best runners on the team, she understands the value of the opportunity

to participate because of what she went through early in her Tufts career.

Injured as a first-year, Page felt a level of uncertainty and fear about whether she would be able to continue competing at a high level. What she found at Tufts, however, was a welcoming program that allowed her to stay involved and feel like she was still contributing to a larger goal.

It helped her see, in Page’s words, the “light at the end of the tunnel,” as she was recovering from the injury.

“I sort of started trusting in the program and trusting in my ability to train hard and come back off one year, just really ready. I would say trust was a big part of it and trusting the process.

There’s been a lot of joy in that. So I trust joy.”

It’s a good thing that Page never wavered in her trust in joy because joy is all it has been for her in her Tufts career ever since the injury.

In just her first cross country race as a sophomore, after returning from a full year’s worth of injury, she took the Bates Invitational by storm, finishing first out of 87 with a time of 18:13.8. This time put her a full five seconds ahead of the second place finisher, marking a dominant performance over many veteran collegiate runners.

This impressive performance as well as others along the way propelled her to many accolades during the 2019 season. She was named NESCAC Cross Country Performer of the Week multiple times and ended the season with a NESCAC Women’s Cross Country AllConference Award.

To finish off the 2019 season, Page led Tufts to a third place finish at the New England championship and an eighth place finish at the NCAA national championship. At the national championship, she came out with the best Tufts time in almost 20 years, finishing in 21:25.5

and also finishing first among the New England region runners.

Page carried over this same level of success into the 2020 track and field season, with just a few of her many accomplishments including running a first place 5K-meter race at the New England championship, as well as getting U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region honors along with three other Jumbos at the end of the season.

In spite of all of this individual success, Page’s favorite parts about her career thus far have come from the camaraderie and friendships that she has built on the team. One of her most memorable moments was when she ran the Boston University Valentine Invitational this past spring. When she crossed the finish line, all of her teammates surrounded her.

“It was just a really special experience to be able to run off the track into the arms of all of my teammates,” Page said.

In the midst of all the competition uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Page hopes that one day in the near future she will be able to experience that special feeling again. She is working hard in order to make sure that she is prepared when the time comes.

“I’m using the lack of races as an opportunity to increase my training volume because we don’t have to be as rested for competition anymore,” Page said. “I am trying to have good workouts, and I think that’s really going to benefit when we are able to compete hopefully in the not-too-distant future.”

With a long-term dream of competing in the Olympic trials and a shortterm goal of breaking the Tufts women’s 10K record, the work for Page does not stop, as she is determined to power through despite the pandemic.