The Tufts Daily - Tuesday, October 31, 2023 (Elections)

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Students protest Tufts’ Israeli investments during TCU meeting with University President Kumar

Tufts student runs for Somerville city councilor position

Daniel Vos

Matthew Sage

Executive News Editor

An open Tufts Community Union meeting with University President Sunil Kumar was quickly cut short on Sunday by student protesters calling for the university to divest from Israeli companies.

Immediately after Kumar delivered opening remarks at the 8 p.m. meeting, protestors began chanting and posted signs with an image of Kumar underneath the words “genocide enabler.” Video obtained by the

Daily showed protestors engaged in a die-in, lying on the ground around Kumar and obstructing his ability to leave the room.

Kumar was later able to exit the room with assistance from TUPD officers and was escorted out of the building as protesters followed, according to Sophie Rice, a TCU senator who was present at the meeting.

Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, told the Daily in an email that the university would review the incident for any violations of university policies.

“We expect students to want to be heard on important issues of the day,” he wrote. “But disrupting a student-led event and making it impossible for fellow students to engage in dialogue with the president, confronting people physically, blocking exits, and engaging in other similarly obstructive behavior is absolutely unacceptable.”

Stewart, a student who withheld his last name, told the Daily he attended the protest after see TCU, page 3

Deputy News Editor

A Tufts student might soon represent local residents as city councilor in Somerville’s upcoming election cycle. Jack Perenick, a member of the Class of 2025, is running for the Ward Five city councilor position against Naima Sait, an Algerian immigrant and long-time educator.

At bimonthly meetings, the Somerville City Council is responsible for passing ordinances on issues ranging from

zoning laws, creating special boards and commissions and approving mayoral budget modifications. Ward Five encompasses the center of Somerville and includes the business districts of Magoun Square, Ball Square and Porter Square. Council positions are part-time and span two years.

Perenick is the current Somerville Democratic Party’s vice chairman and one of Mayor Katjana Ballantyne’s appointees to the Pollinator Action Plan see COUNCIL, page 3

LOCAL

Rick Caraviello is challenging incumbent Breanna Lungo-Koehn in upcoming municipal election

Carly Cohen

Assistant News Editor

Originally published Nov. 6.

Medford City Councilor Rick Caraviello is running against incumbent Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn in the city’s municipal election on Tuesday. Both candidates plan to give Tufts students more recreational and dining opportunities and revitalize the city as a whole.

A lifelong Medford resident, Caraviello volunteered for the city for more than 30 years before running for public office. He is a member and former president of the Medford Chamber of Commerce and a co-chair of the Medford Public Library Foundation. During his 12 years on the city council, he served three year-long terms as president.

Lungo-Koehn has served two terms as mayor, having begun her first term only three months

YENA RYOO / THE TUFTS DAILY

Medford City Hall is pictured on Feb. 6. before COVID-19 hit. Before she was elected mayor, LungoKoehn served as a Medford city councilor for 18 years — she set a record as the city’s youngest-ever councilor when she was

first elected at age 21. As mayor, Lungo-Koehn has reorganized the mayoral office to promote accountability by hiring new department heads to supervise the work the city is doing.

“We hired highly qualified individuals to fill the roles here in the city,” Lungo-Koehn told the Daily. “That comes with a lot of hard work and a lot of culture changes within the city, so

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I’m very proud of the almost 15 new department heads we put in place.”

She also combined the Office of Community Development with the Office of Energy and Environment to create an Office of Planning, Development and Sustainability.

“That office is very exciting … because now everything we do development-wise has that sustainability [focus],” LungoKoehn said. “Our eyes are on sustainability.”

If re-elected, Lungo-Koehn will continue emphasizing sustainability into her next term. She has already laid out a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan and a Housing Production Plan, and she hopes to spend her next term implementing them.

“Between all those planning documents, we’ve already gotten to work, but there’s still so much more to do,” Lungo-Koehn said. see MAYOR, page 3 News Features Arts & Pop Culture Fun & Games Opinion Sports

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Tufts Climate Action files legal complaint against trustees Daniel Vos

Executive News Editor

Originally Published Nov. 3 Tufts Climate Action filed a legal complaint with the attorney general of Massachusetts’ office on Monday. They claim the university’s estimated $90 million in fossil fuel investments constitutes a violation of their duties to the public as a nonprofit institution.

The filing was made alongside five others at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, Pomona College, Washington University in St. Louis and Pennsylvania State University. TCA’s filing was co-signed by several professors and local and international organizations.

In the 61-page document, TCA asks Massachussetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell to open an investigation into Tufts’ investment activity and accuses the trustees of violating their duty of loyalty, good faith and care for what they see as socially irresponsible investments.

“Continued investment in fossil fuels by the Trustees violates the fiduciary duties spelled out in the Massachusetts Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) and in Massachusetts

common law,” they wrote in the complaint.

Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations at Tufts, denied the claim that the university violated the law.

“The university is and always has been in compliance with the Massachusetts Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act,” Collins wrote in an email to the Daily. “In recent years, the university has taken a number of steps to address climate concerns through its endowment, including prohibiting direct investments in coal and tar sands companies, investing in positive impact climate strategies, and calling on external investment managers to incorporate environmental risks into their investment decision-making.”

The UPMIFA was cited in similar filings at Harvard University in 2021 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2022.

Harvard stopped investments in fossil fuels shortly after the complaint and noted financial and ethical reasons for their decision.

The Tufts divestment complaint was made with assistance by attorneys at the Climate Defense Project, an organization involved in legal climate activism across the country. Alex Marquardt, the executive director of CDP, told the Daily that

these filings are a relatively new legal strategy that hinges on public support.

“A lot of it has to do with putting pressure on schools to live up to their commitments and to kind of put their money where their mouth is,” Marquardt said.

“I think the law takes a really long time to change and usually follows changes in public opinion … it’s somewhat more likely that just the public pressure and increased visibility, and even a hint of legal impropriety, might cause some of these schools to shift their thinking.”

TCA also alleges conflicts of interest by trustees Peter Dolan and David Zilberman for ties to oil and gas companies.

“These apparent conflicts of interest may violate the duty of loyalty insofar as they hinder impartial decision making with regard to fossil fuel securities, which, as detailed above, conflict with Tufts’s mission as a public charity,” TCA wrote.

Marquardt says if TCA wants to move forward with the complaint they can request a meeting with Campbell’s office, though requests are not always granted. "[Attorneys general] are not required to respond to us in any way or let us know what they’re thinking,” he said. “Sometimes some of these campaigns have released an additional round of

signatories following the filing, or have done other things to keep the complaint in the media narrative.”

Shoshana Daly, a member of TCA leadership, told the Daily they will give the university time to respond to the complaint before requesting a meeting with the attorney general and hope divestment is possible before escalation.

“I think we’d like to see what the university responds with,” she said. “If we have to, we will make that meeting, but we definitely wanted to give it at least a little bit of time to give the school an opportunity to possibly change their mind or make a better decision on the topic.”

Although the university says they do not have any current direct holdings in coal and tar sands companies, TCA still finds their investments to be environmentally dangerous and a threat to the university’s future.

“In the coming decades, sea level rise, higher temperatures, extreme rainfall, invasive pests and many other environmental changes will pose serious threats to university land and buildings,” TCA wrote in the complaint. “Administrators will be forced to retrofit facilities and manage infrastructure disruptions, even as air quality on campus deteriorates.”

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Massachusetts lawmakers introduce bill targeting legacy admissions Matthew Sage

Deputy News Editor

Founded in 1980 The Tufts Daily is the entirely student-run newspaper of record at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. An editorially and financially independent organization, the Daily’s staff of more than 100 covers news, features, arts and sports on Tufts’ four campuses and in its host communities.

Land Acknowledgement The Tufts Daily office is located on the colonized land of the Massachusett people and within the territories of the Nipmuc and Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) tribes.

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Originally published Nov. 3.

Shortly before the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action in June, Massachusetts legislators introduced a state bill that, if passed, would discourage colleges and universities from using admission practices that favor wealthier applicants.

Spearheaded by State Representatives Simon Cataldo and Pavel Payano, Bill H.3760 would impose a financial penalty on schools that give preference to legacy and donor applicants and offer binding early decision policies. Proportional to a school’s endowment per student, this “public service fee” would go directly towards funding the state’s public community colleges.

“This bill is designed to address affirmative action for the wealthy,” Cataldo said. “The bill does that by identifying three policies that weigh heavily in favor of wealthy students. Those policies subordinate merit to wealth.”

The bill, filed in early 2023 and presented to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Higher Education in late June, is currently awaiting the committee’s approval — which may not arrive until spring 2024.

Cataldo said the bill would be a “win-win,” giving schools a bina-

ry choice of either halting practice of the aforementioned policies or “pay[ing] a fee that, while it’s nearly negligible to them in terms of the wealth of their institutions, … would be highly impactful to community colleges in the commonwealth.”

“I think the reason that this bill and this concept has attracted national attention is the profound hypocrisy of elite schools in, on the one hand, decrying the loss of race-conscious affirmative action, and on the other hand, persisting with the use of policies that clearly damage the opportunity for working-class kids to get into those schools when they would be otherwise qualified,” Cataldo said.

While the bill’s fee ranges from 0.01% of a school’s endowment to 0.2% for the wealthiest of universities, the bill would require schools with an endowment of over $2 billion to pay at least $2 million towards the joint fund. Tufts University, with an endowment of $2.4 billion, would have to pay this $2 million.

Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of media relations, wrote in an email to the Daily that the university working group is reexamining its admissions policies “holistically and in the context of the accessibility of a Tufts education,” following the Supreme Court’s strikedown of affirmative action this previous summer.

“How the university will treat applicants with family members who have affiliations with Tufts is part of that review,” Collins wrote. “Because this work is ongoing, we are unable to comment in detail or speculate on potential strategies, but we are confident that we will end up with policies that allow the university to live up to our values and commitment to diversity while following the law.”

The bill notably discourages binding early admission, a practice that usually commits students to one school before they can consider other institutions’ financial aid packages. Applicants aren’t able to pick the most affordable option, which Cataldo says discourages them from applying early.

“The kids who apply early and get in early binding decision are two to three times [more] likely to be from a wealthy zip code, three times [more] likely to be from a private school,” Cataldo said. “When you have 55% or 60% of your spots taken up by binding early decision … there’s a much smaller number of spaces available for everyone who cannot afford [tuition].”

Dean of Admissions JT Duck said that the demographic of early decision applicants remains similar to that of the general student body, and maintained the university’s policy of meeting “100% of demonstrated financial need for all admitted students.”

Natasha Warikoo, professor of sociology at Tufts, has a different take on legacy, donor and early admissions.

“I do think there’s a fundamental problem in private higher education in the United States, which is our tuition dependency,” Warikoo said. “Obviously, you need financial aid. Some of that comes from the federal government, but not all of it. And private higher education has depended on donors to fill that gap. … Where’s this money going to come from?”

She says that in some ways, legacy admissions is a straw man for a bigger problem. Even if you ban preferential admissions for legacy students, “they’re just going to be replaced with someone who has a similar class background.”

“That’s not to say we shouldn’t do it,” she said. “But we also should be realistic about it’s not that you can automatically replace [legacy donors] with a student who needs say full financial aid, right?”

Warikoo underscored the greater public good that could be funded by Bill H.3760’s penalty fee.

“The places that are the engines of social mobility are really our community colleges, our big state schools,” Warikoo said. “Those are where you have a lot more working-class students who then have the higher education [that] leads them on a path that they otherwise wouldn’t have had available to them.”

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Tuesday, November 7, 2023

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Protesters stage die-in, cutting short TCU senate meeting with Kumar TCU

continued from page 1 hearing about it from a friend.

He said it was not the protesters’ intention to block Kumar from leaving the room.

“There were a lot of people in the area where [Kumar] was specifically trying to leave. … A lot of people were in that area when the die-in started,” he said.

“I don’t believe it was the plan to block him from leaving.”

Rice said she was physically pushed by protesters during the event as they attempted to reach the center of the room.

“They pushed my table forward into the center of the square

of tables,” she said. “About the same time that they did that, one of them pushes me [to the side]. … It was more than just an accidental bump; it was clearly pushing me out of their path.”

Rice did not believe the protesters intended any harm, but described the moment as the “least safe [she had] ever felt on Tufts campus,” noting her background as a Jewish student.

Stewart acknowledged that the scene could have appeared chaotic to an unprepared observer.

“I did see tables [being] pushed in from both sides,” he said. “That was how people got into the middle of the sen-

ate meeting. ... I did see that there was a little bit of a tussle between some protesters trying to enter the middle of the [room] and someone who was trying to hold the table back so that they couldn’t enter.”

In a statement to the Daily, Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine wrote that the group was not involved in the planning of the protest and that “the default to associate all pro-Palestinian activism on this campus with SJP” demonstrates a “refusal to acknowledge that a great number of students and the global majority are showing solidarity with Palestine.”

“Members of the club may have been in attendance as individuals, but we understand this action to have been a result of grassroots word of mouth organizing,” the group wrote. “We are proud to see so many students … taking action and showing solidarity with one another on their own accord in recent weeks despite blatant intimidation tactics on the part of the university.”

The TCU Senate intended to hold an hour-long conversation with Kumar at the Joyce Cummings Center, which would have included a 30-minute question and answer session.

Stewart responded to criticism that the protest disrupted

a potential dialogue with Kumar on Israel and Gaza. He expressed doubt that the meeting would have ever engaged with the topic had it been allowed to continue.

“The point of the protest is to start a conversation,” Stewart said. “I’m sure that questions were screened beforehand and Kumar had prepared his remarks already. … I think the point of the [protest] was to demonstrate how seriously people take [the] cause and how they feel Kumar’s remarks … [have] not taken on the issue and the concerns of students regarding Tufts’ investments in institutions affiliated with Israel and affiliated with IDF activities.”

Jack Perenick, member of Class of 2025, runs for open city council seat COUNCIL

continued from page 1 Advisory Committee. He claims he hasn’t missed a City Council meeting “in years.”

“I think that I bring a unique combination of youth and experience in municipal government that just isn’t super common,” Perenick said in an interview with the Daily. “I think I have lived experience that no one else has. … I am literally living through the experience of being in my 20s and living in the city. … Somerville’s one of the youngest places in Massachusetts, and the idea that we’re missing that descriptive piece of representation, I think does a disservice to young people.”

Perenick is endorsed by the former Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone and the Young Democrats of Massachusetts, an organization of which he is president.

Though his campaign website biography makes no mention of his enrollment at Tufts, Perenick said that “many people will know I am a Tufts student” — but he “likely wouldn’t be an enrolled undergrad” if elected.

“I don’t think it’s the most important part of my campaign,” Perenick said. “I think what’s been important to emphasize to voters for me, is that I’m a city resident and not a university resident. I think that there is a difference between someone who’s attending Tufts University, say, from out of

state, and has a shorter-term connection to the city versus someone being a city resident.”

Perenick advised Beatriz Gómez Mouakad, previous Ward Five city councilor, during her successful 2021 campaign and her reelection campaign before she dropped out earlier this year. Perenick decided to run in her place, rather than let his efforts go to waste.

As listed on his website, Perenick — if elected — will focus on investing in more affordable housing, repairing and improving upon transportation including sidewalks and creating vibrant neighborhoods via community events and projects.

Perenick’s platform is similar to that of his opponent. Sait’s goals are to address the city’s need for affordable housing, create safer and more sustainable infrastructure, combat language barriers and address residents’ mental health concerns.

Sait completed an M.A. in linguistics and pedagogy at Middlebury College, later moving to Somerville to pursue a career in education.

“I have lived in Somerville for almost 10 years, first as a renter and now as a homeowner,” Sait wrote on her campaign website. “Somerville is the community that welcomed me as a first-generation immigrant.

It’s the place where I had the opportunity to serve the community as an educator for 7 years at Somerville High School,

and today it’s the place where I am raising my child.”

Sait is endorsed by several union organizations and many local and state representatives, including Mark Niedergang, former Ward Five city councilor.

While teaching French at Somerville High School, Sait gained a deeper understanding of Somerville’s residents which now informs her work.

“Being in the schoolroom for years,” Sait said, “I see that a lot of the issues we’re dealing with in the schools are problems we deal with in the community, such as affordable housing, sustainable infrastructure, mental health and language justice.”

Sait believes that her status as an immigrant and her background working with immigrant families “is going to be a big asset” if elected to City Council.

“As an immigrant who learned English as a fourth language after moving to America, I have navigated through these difficulties and can use lessons of that experience to make our local government more effective,” Sait’s website states. “As we welcome more immigrants from diverse backgrounds, it’s critical to include services in those emerging languages and build on current city efforts to serve everyone.”

Sait successfully led efforts to make climate change education mandatory in all Somerville schools and organized with Somerville educators to achieve

GRAPHIC BY EMMA SELESNICK a 10% school budget increase.

Sait has also worked closely with youth members to further climate advocacy.

“No matter who they end up working with, no matter who ends up representing them,” Sait said, “it’s important to empower youth so they can be advocates for themselves and for others.”

Incumbent City Councilor Gómez Mouakad explained that she is wary of giving political endorsements.

“What you want to have is a culture of new faces coming in,” Gómez Mouakad said.

“I’m very suspect of political

endorsements. … As we have seen in Somerville, there are some small political groups who want to control the agenda. And what happens then is you’re excluding other voices, inadvertently.”

Gómez Mouakad believes a good city councilor needs good research and outreach skills to understand their constituents.

“You need to be able to understand that you don’t represent one point of view,” she said. “You represent a group, and then you have to [ask], ‘who is not being listened to?’ … and ‘what is the greatest common good for the city?’”

Caraviello and Lungo-Koehn discuss their visions for the future of Medford MAYOR

continued from page 1 Along with these plans, she hopes to build a new high school in Medford. Her office has applied for a $200 million grant that would fund half of the new school’s estimated cost.

“We did a really strong, high-quality application to the [Massachusetts School Building Authority] for a new high school. … Our students and faculty deserve a state-ofthe-art flagship high school,” Lungo-Koehn said.

Lungo-Koehn also aims to bring more Tufts students closer to Medford through new commercial ventures.

“We have a number of projects breaking ground,” Lungo-

Koehn said. “We have the Great American Beer Hall on Mystic Ave that has already broken ground. … It’s going to be a great destination for Tufts students.”

Caraviello emphasized that revitalizing Medford’s recreational scene will require creating more dining opportunities.

“We’ve got more vacant storefronts now than we’ve ever had,” Caraviello said. “It’s not good.

People keep looking for more eateries. … We only have a couple of places where you can actually sit down and have lunch. …

I’d like to see more family-style restaurants, dining restaurants.

That’s one of my goals.”

To promote this development, Caraviello hopes to hire

an economic development director, who will help drive business to Medford and put the city on the radar for more companies around Boston.

“We’re five miles from Boston and we’re not being marketed,” Caraviello said. “Big companies don’t know we’re here. … You need someone that has connections, that has the ability to go and start selling us.”

According to Caraviello, launching more businesses in Medford will attract developers to the city.

“If you build it, they’ll come,” he said. “They want to see foot traffic. … We have squares that can take some improvement. You can build another floor, you could put

housing in some of our squares that put foot traffic on them [and] drive businesses to the community. There’s a reason why Somerville has hundreds of restaurants: because they’re dense and there’s people.”

For Tufts students looking to become more involved in Medford politics, Lungo-Koehn recommends subscribing to the city’s monthly newsletter and enrolling in text or email alerts from the city.

“I think it’s really important for Tufts students to subscribe to one or two of those things … so you know when community meetings are [and] when our events [are],” she said.

Sophomore Seona Maskara, co-director of resources for

JumboVote, explained that voting is also a key way for students to make a difference in the Medford community. She stressed that Tufts students who are registered locally can raise the percentage of young voters in Medford.

“People over the age of 65 vote twice as often as people between the ages of 18 and 34, so they up having a much larger influence [than the younger population],” Maskara noted. “We want to vote on policies that are going to benefit ourselves and what we stand for, which is why it’s important that you get out there and you vote because mayoral races can have impacts on rent in the area, on housing … on transportation [and] all issues that affect our day-to-day life a lot.”

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Features

THE TUFTS DAILY

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

F eatures Why do we vote? Tracing the roots of active citizenship Sam Berman

Features Editor

“I voted,” reads the sticker, but don’t let the simplicity of the message fool you. What else lies behind those words?

“We know that the image of an active and engaged citizen is really central to people’s ideas of American identity,” Deborah Schildkraut, professor of political science, said. “I like to refer to it as an aspirational identity. … We think of [a good American] as someone who is active and informed and who votes in elections.”

Active citizenship is especially relevant this time of year.

On Tuesday, Americans from municipalities in 30 states will cast ballots for state-wide and local offices, and policy issues such as reproductive rights and marijuana regulation. Some Massachusetts municipalities are among those holding their local elections today.

If the U.S. lived up to the aspirational ideal Schildkraut described, voter turnout this week would be sky high. In reality, however, civic engagement varies.

“That’s why we call it aspirational,” Schildkraut said.

So what factors influence civic participation, and what is holding Americans back from the gold standard of engaged citizenship?

Schildkraut discussed how her ongoing research has revealed the importance of feelings of belonging and how citizens’ identification with their home states relates to their political involvement.

“The preliminary results seem to suggest that also people who score highly on identification with their state are also more likely to not just say they have voted, but do other forms of political engagement like contact their representative, attend a meeting [and] attend a rally or a protest,” Schildkraut said.

The link between feelings of belonging and civic participation can work both ways.

Sophomore Penelope Kopp, membership and recruitment director for the Tufts Democrats, noted that local civic engagement can actually strengthen a participant’s connection to their community.

“There’s this sense of getting to know your neighborhood more as you’re working on the political issues and that brings communities a lot closer,” Kopp said.

Schildkraut pointed out that feelings of alienation or lack of belonging can also impact citizens’ political activity. "[Alienation] can lead to withdrawal. But if people can find solidarity with other people who feel that way, it can sometimes [motivate] a sense of wanting to … work even harder to make the country live up to its aspirations,” she said.

GRAPHIC BY GRACE NELSON In addition, Schildkraut said people who strongly identify with the U.S. as a whole are more likely to fulfill certain obligations like being informed, engaging with politics and serving in the military.

However, the prevalence of particular reasons for political participation has changed over time.

Ruby Belle Booth (LA’21), the elections coordinator for Tisch College’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, explained that the civic participation of youth today is slightly more issue-focused than previous generations.

“I think that a lot of young people don’t see being a good citizen or their civic duty as an abstract concept, and they think about it a lot as concern for their peers and their communities and [as] taking action on issues that they see affecting them,” Booth said.

Booth was the lead author of a CIRCLE study that found 35% of Gen Z voters in the 2022 election cycle cited “voting is my responsibility” as their primary reason for voting, while 40% of millennials did the same.

On the other hand, 24% of Gen Z voters chose “my vote can affect the outcome,” which was the second highest plurality after “voting is my responsibility.” This was 4% more than the proportion of millennial voters who selected the same.

Booth commented on motivational differences across demographics besides age.

“Our data in particular found Black youth were a lot less likely to say they voted because voting is their responsibility,” she said. “40% of non-Black youth said that ‘voting is my responsibility’ was their main reason for voting in 2022. … 21% among

Black youth said that that was their reason.”

She emphasized that various demographics, whether divergent in race, ethnicity, geography or sexuality, are drawn to civic life by different principles.

Senior Katherine Brown, head of PR and outreach for Tufts Republicans, agreed with the Gen Z sentiment that a sense of duty is not her main motivation for voting.

“I wouldn’t say that I vote because I feel like it’s my civic duty. … I vote because I care about my country and … certain issues. But I don’t feel this moral obligation to vote,” Brown said.

Kopp echoed a similar attitude.

“We’re more motivated by issues … because our generation is facing a variety of crises,” she said. “It isn’t this abstract theory of civic engagement as a duty, it’s a necessity.”

Younger generations’ attention to specific policies also manifests itself through less partisan allegiance, according to Booth.

“You’re not going to get young people to turn out just to vote for the political party that they back, as maybe you could have in the past,” Booth explained.

Brown reflected on Booth’s sentiments.

“Sometimes we [the Tufts Republicans] are really more ‘Tufts conservatives,’ because we have some real frustrations with the way the actual Republican Party is being run,” Brown said.

But how does this weaker partisanship influence young voter turnout?

Jeffrey Berry, professor emeritus of political science, pointed out that typically, highly partisan citizens vote more in local elections.

Still, CIRCLE’s research indicates that despite lower levels of partisan-

ship, the 2018 midterms saw record youth turnout. It also found that youth voting levels in the presidential race were higher in 2020 than they had been since 1972.

Another factor that may influence participation is the amount of civic institutions and resources in a geographic area.

Brown is from Kansas City, and she compared opportunities for political engagement there to those in the Boston area.

“I don’t know of a single person in Kansas City who’s been involved in local campaigns,” Brown said. “There [are] not easy ways for young people to get plugged in in a city that doesn’t have a strong college life [like Boston does].”

Berry touched on two other key variables in local voter participation: social class and education level.

“If you have somebody that has a graduate degree, which probably means they earn a good living, and they are interested in politics, they’re much more likely to vote than the rest of the population,” he said.

Booth also identified that the quality of local news outlets shapes youth participation especially.

“There’s such [an] opportunity to really get information into the hands of young people that can make them feel like they have a say in their local community,” she said.

Kopp and Brown agreed that this is especially true given today’s cultural emphasis on being informed.

“I think ignorance about issues can drive some people to want to know even more if they feel like they’re welcomed in that space, and they won’t be judged. Or if some people are afraid of being

embarrassed about [not knowing] something, it might drive them to stay away,” Brown said.

The fear of being seen as ignorant can be a barrier to youth participation.

Of course, civic education is also a factor in the extent to which youth engage politically, Booth explained.

“Massachusetts has excellent civic education,” she noted.

But of all the factors that influence youth participation, Booth underscored the effect of two in voter turnout across regions.

“That’s driven in large parts by voting laws and electoral competitiveness,” she said.

The interrelation of these practical components of accessibility and the philosophical underpinnings of civic participation plays a defining role in how Americans engage in their local, state and national communities. Its effects will play out across the U.S. and in Medford and Somerville on Tuesday and again on a grander scale next November.

Beyond mere pragmatic implications, though, exploring the sources of political involvement and their evolution can offer insight into how Americans see themselves in the context of their communities and their nation.

Today, concerns about the future of American democracy and citizenship abound, but Booth sees strength in the country’s newest voters.

“I think that young people, especially because of their values, still see the importance of the ideals of democracy,” she said. “They still have an optimism that we can … change our systems to actually meet those ideals.”

THE TUFTS DAILY

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Features

5

Tisch-affiliated student groups foster civic-minded campus environment Grace Nelson

Features Editor

On its website, the Tufts admissions office emphasizes that its student body is “civically engaged.” Thanks to the dedication of groups affiliated with Tisch College, this phrase is not merely an ideal, but a reality.

The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life aims to “prepare students for a lifetime of engagement in civic and democratic life.” Affiliated organizations including JumboVote, Cooperation and Innovation in Citizenship and Advancing Civic Thought in Our Nation help achieve this vision.

According to Alex Landy, co-chair of JumboVote, perhaps the most important way to engage in American democracy is by casting your ballot.

“Voting is obviously a critical part of civic engagement, and that’s an essential part of what Tufts represents in many ways,” Landy said.

JumboVote is a nonpartisan organization at Tufts that works to provide students with the resources and information necessary to help students vote.

Their website is full of important links and timelines, turning a potentially stressful process into just a few clicks of a button.

Landy emphasized why it’s so important to facilitate this process and to vote in local elections, even in off-year election cycles.

“As elections become increasingly nationalized, it’s really important to continue to vote in local elections and to make sure that your voice is heard, not just in the so-called important elections on the national level, but … at the local level,” Landy said.

“As the phrase goes, all politics is local.”

Assembling important resources like the TurboVote platform, social media reminders and even a shuttle service to physically get students to the polls, members of JumboVote work hard to ensure that Tufts students are able to make their voices heard.

Furthermore, JumboVote works with New England organizations such as NESCAC Votes and the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge to promote civic engagement, with Tufts even anticipating hosting a NESCAC Votes conference in February.

But is their hard work truly paying off?

According to data collected by the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement, the answer is a resounding yes. With over three-quarters of the Tufts population registering to vote, the Tufts student body overperformed national registration rates in both 2016 and 2018.

“As we’ve seen, the registration rate at Tufts increased significantly in the past several years. And that is also true of the voting rate of Tufts students and the turnout rate of Tufts students. So our efforts are clearly working,” Landy said.

While keeping Tufts students up-to-date on voting opportunities is essential, it is also important to stay cognizant of contemporary political issues that your vote can impact.

This is where CIVIC comes into play.

Connor DeBoda, co-president of CIVIC, explained that the group is dedicated to providing a space for discussion of a wide variety of political issues, spanning from those affecting the Tufts community to global matters.

“CIVIC is a nonpartisan discussion group. Our focus is … a lot less on debate and more focused truly on discussion and trying to bridge the political divide,” DeBoda said.

Meeting every Monday night in the Mayer Campus Center, students in CIVIC participate in moderated discussions and abide by rules such as “be kind before being correct” and “listen intentionally, speak intentionally.”

Everyone gets an opportunity to share their unique perspective, no matter their political affiliation — something DeBoda believes to be essential for CIVIC to function.

“I think we do a pretty good job of making sure all different perspectives are heard,” DeBoda said. “We have a very good relationship with the Tufts Democrats and the Tufts Republicans, and both of them come to our meetings sometimes.”

With exciting events such as their annual Tufts Democrats versus Tufts Republicans debate, CIVIC is a great organization for students who are passionate about politics as well as those who are only beginning to engage in pol-

GRAPHIC BY AVRIL LYNCH itics. CIVIC provides informational summary sheets at every meeting to provide baseline information on each topic. In addition, CIVIC can help teach participants how to successfully and respectably express their opinions.

“We live in a very polarized society, and we’re trying to give individuals the tools to participate in conversations that bridge political differences, bring people together and give people the opportunities to hear from all sorts of perspectives on all sorts … of different issues,” DeBoda said.

While Tufts students are very civically engaged on campus, the work does not end there: ACTION aims to educate younger generations about the importance of civic engagement.

According to Ashley Xie, ACTION’s director of community outreach, the main goal of the club is to promote youth involvement in civic life in the Boston area.

“ACTION was founded by students at Tufts who are passionate about civic education and advocacy,” Xie said. “Our main goal is to promote youth civic action and engagement in the greater Boston area. We do this by facilitating workshops and small-scale projects that encourage civic participation.

We really try to uplift … and empower youth voices. … We do both on-campus and off-campus events to accomplish this.”

ACTION has run workshops for children of all ages at a multitude of schools, including in the Cambridge Public School system. By educating

young students in the greater Boston area, ACTION aims to foster a generation of civic-minded leaders who are well equipped to tackle political issues.

Younger students’ eagerness to engage makes the work rewarding for Xie. “They all have such great ideas that they all want to share, so it’s really inspiring for us to see … how excited they are,” Xie said.

Even though politics can be especially challenging right now, Xie is hopeful about a future led by Tufts students and the youth of today.

“Sometimes politics divide us,” Xie said. “But at the end of the day, we just want to see positive change moving forward and [see] the people around us succeed.”

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Arts & Pop Culture

THE TUFTS DAILY

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

A R T S & P O P C U LT U R E ‘I Won’t Back Down’: A brief history of American campaign music Nate Hall

Deputy Arts Editor

“9 to 5” (1980). “High Hopes” (2018). “Y.M.C.A.” (1978).

What do these songs have in common? They’ve all been used as campaign songs in recent U.S. presidential races. While the music a candidate chooses to play as they walk onstage for a campaign event may seem like a trivial detail, it can play a major role in defining the tone of their campaign. And the wrong campaign song can lead to public embarrassment, or even legal action from a disgruntled musician. With the next presidential election a year away and primary campaigns in high gear, now is a good time to look back on the history of campaign music and examine how presidential candidates have used music to win over voters.

The first semi-official campaign song in American history was Andrew Jackson’s “The Hunters of Kentucky,” which was used in his 1824 presidential campaign. The song celebrated Jackson’s victory over the British army at the Battle of New Orleans and reinforced his image as a man of the people. While many early presidential candidates commissioned original songs written for their campaigns, other campaigns rewrote the lyrics to popular songs of the time, like “Yankee Doodle.” These songs portrayed their candidates as heroes and painted their opponents as villains, and their folksy style made them relatable to everyday people. The lyrics were often printed in songbooks and sung live at campaign events, either by audience members or by musicians who traveled around the country to sing for their respective candidates.

In the early 20th century, campaign music transitioned from classic folk songs to popular show tunes.

In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt used “Happy Days Are Here Again” (1929) to signal the end of Prohibition and recovery from the Great Depression.

Harry Truman campaigned with the show tune “I’m Just Wild About Harry” (1921) in 1948, and the Broadway hit “Hello, Dolly!” (1964) was rewritten as “Hello, Lyndon!” for L.B.J.’s campaign in 1964.

It wasn’t until the 1980s and 1990s that popular music, as we know it today, entered the campaign world. In 1992, Bill Clinton played Fleetwood Mac’s pop-rock song “Don’t Stop” (1977) at campaign rallies. In 2004, George W. Bush walked onstage to Brooks and Dunn’s country hit “Only in America” (2001) in an effort to emphasize his patriotism and southern roots. And

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Tom Petty is pictured.

Hillary Clinton used pop anthems like “Fight Song” (2015) and “Roar” (2013) in 2016 to reflect the feminist message of her campaign.

While campaign songs can be a great way for candidates to motivate their supporters, many politicians have landed in hot water for choosing songs whose artists’ political beliefs don’t align with those of the candidates. In 1984, Bruce Springsteen refused to let Ronald Reagan campaign with his rock hit “Born in the U.S.A.” (1984) after the president praised the song’s patriotic message, ignoring the anti-government sentiments in its lyrics. George W. Bush played Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” (1989) at campaign rallies into 2000, but he was forced to back down after receiving a cease and desist from Petty’s publisher. This song is one of the most popular campaign songs due to its defiant message and broad cultur-

al appeal, and it’s been used by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Trump in particular has been the target of criticism from dozens of musical artists for using their music without permission. His campaign rallies have featured music by Adele, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, Rihanna, the Rolling Stones and more, all of whom have publicly condemned the use of their music at his rallies. A well-known example is Trump’s repeated use of the disco hit “Y.M.C.A.” (1978) at campaign rallies, a song he continues to play at events even after multiple cease and desist letters from the Village People.

In recent years, as presidential primary fields have grown larger, candidates have used music to stand out from the rest of the pack.

In 2019, Democratic primary candi-

date Pete Buttigieg played Panic! at the Disco’s “High Hopes” (2018) at his rallies, which was accompanied by a choreographed dance that the Guardian called “the cringiest campaign trend so far.” Bernie Sanders played John Lennon’s “Power to the People” (1971) while Elizabeth Warren’s choice of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”(1980) alluded to the feminist and labor-oriented aspects of her campaign.

The Republican primary candidates in the 2024 presidential election are also using music to emphasize certain aspects of their identities. At the end of his first rally in May, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis walked onstage to Rick Derringer’s “Real American” (1985) to highlight the patriotic tone of his presidential campaign, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has used Ben Gallaher’s “Every Small Town” (2021) to emphasize his commitment to

rural values. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has cast himself as a political outsider in the Republican primary, made headlines when he rapped Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” (2002) at this year’s Iowa State Fair — a smart way to get attention, if not for the cease and desist he received from Eminem weeks later.

Throughout American history, candidates have used music to connect with voters and drum up excitement for their campaigns.

Although the songs’ genres, styles and methods of transmission have changed, the purpose has not: Candidates choose songs strategically in an effort to attract attention, spread positive messages and reflect the tone of their campaigns. While the wrong song choice can backfire, the right song can make a big difference in a campaign and may ultimately help to send a candidate on the path to winning the election.

THE TUFTS DAILY

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Arts & Pop Culture

7

Creative Currency: The politics of supporting arts education in public schools Natalie Olech

Contributing Writer

In the American school system, it is easy to notice the emphasis placed on ‘traditional’ subjects: math, English, science, history and language. Of course, there’s a decent number of people that will continue to study these fields throughout their lives and careers, but what about those that are passionate about art or music? Does public education often disregard these paths, and is there more value to arts education than federal funding currently supports?

There are many benefits to arts education that help us socially, emotionally and personally, which can often be put to the side in favor of other subjects. The arts build communities that other subjects often do not; they enable the expression of creativity that can help others connect with one another, whether on specific personal issues or a number of political and societal themes. Arts education is known to improve childrens’ attitudes towards school in general, building a foundation for self-confidence and increased awareness when they are introduced to expressing themselves. Furthermore, arts education also supplements knowledge in disciplines such as English and mathematics, enabling students to connect these subjects in ways that can enrich their understanding on a more profound level.

Out of a series of recent developments in the push for federal funding, the most notable example is Proposition 28, a groundbreaking initiative that ensures funding for arts programs in California public schools.

The program is worth approximately $1 billion and serves as the largest investment initiative in arts and music education in U.S. history. However, despite the program being

OLIVIA BELLO / THE TUFTS DAILY

Materials from the 2022 Tufts Art Datathon are pictured. a pivotal step forward, it’s uncertain whether it will be able to reverse the effects of arts education defunding in recent years.

Even though California legislators were able to recognize the importance of maintaining arts education, the rest of the United States appears to be struggling with finding opportunities for government funding for it. This is especially true in the case of Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, who cut school funding by over $200 million in 2022 and made arts education one of the first targets for budget cuts. In Massachusetts, funding for arts education primarily appears in the form of grants. The Department of

Elementary and Secondary Education uses the Arts & Culture Vitality Index, a state-wide program in Massachusetts that gives schools the opportunity to assess their artistic and cultural programs, to determine whether certain public schools need improvements in arts and music education. Additionally, the National Endowment for the Arts has distributed $31,905,028 in federal grants specifically to Massachusetts over the past five years. Although the state-specific grants are undoubtedly helpful in pushing for developments in the accessibility of arts education, federal funding provides more stability in terms of minimizing disparities in arts edu-

cation access and equalizing opportunities for students of all economic and academic backgrounds.

In the case of children that struggle with academic or personal problems, the arts can often be a lifeline. Under-resourced communities rarely receive proper funding for arts programs, and these are the communities that should frankly receive the most.

Proposition 28 is a step forward for federally-funded initiatives but is limited to California. With arts education, community engagement and innovation expand in ways that contribute to the growth of well-rounded education and the wellbeing of society.

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THE TUFTS DAILY

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THE TUFTS DAILY

Opinion

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

9

O pinion VIEWPOINT

We must all be patriots to the cause of a just America Reya Kumar

Deputy Opinion Editor

American patriotism is a fraught concept. It often evokes images of the stars and stripes, which, in recent years, have become tied to people such as the so-called “QAnon Shaman” who sported red, white and blue face paint while storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Meanwhile, “patriotic education,” which is in actuality a white-washing of American history, has been pushed by conservatives in response to the long overdue acknowledgment of the impact of slavery and systemic racism in public school education. As for what is considered unpatriotic, star quarterback Colin Kaepernick was effectively blacklisted from the NFL — a uniquely American institution — for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality against Black Americans.

Is this what patriotism is? An attempt to tear down our democracy? The refusal to acknowledge our nation’s past sins? Blind allegiance to the “Star-Spangled Banner?” Is it about returning to a storied past, or building a better future for all Americans?

There are two stories of American patriotism. As Ben Rhodes, former speechwriter to President Barack Obama, explained in his 2021 article “This

Keshav Srikant The Policy Perspective

Evaluating Bidenomics

O

ver the past year, the Biden administration has repeatedly been leaning on a new term in their messaging, Bidenomics, to describe President Biden’s economic policies. The Biden administration promotes Bidenomics as growing the middle class and the economy as a whole.

Meanwhile, Republicans have also adopted the term Bidenomics, and have assailed it as allegedly increasing the cost of living and being responsible for the rise in interest rates. These are real issues, but to truly evaluate Bidenomics we must look not only at these

is No Time for Passive Patriotism,” Obama worked to “tell a really good story about America.”

This story presented the fight to better our country as part and parcel of being American, rather than as an unpatriotic act. This is exemplified by his campaign slogans “Yes we can,” “Hope” and “Change we can believe in,” which highlight progress and betterment in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump’s rearview slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Obama’s story of our country is the one I’d rather tell my children.

Merriam-Webster defines a “patriot” as someone who loves and supports their country. I love and support the U.S.; the place where I was born, raised and recited the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. Last semester, I studied abroad in London and loved everything about it. Yet, I could never move there, because I love my own country too much to ever leave it. This love, however, does not mean that I accept America’s deeply entrenched issues.

I believe deeply in the values that America was founded on. Whether it is the Declaration of Independence’s “all men are created equal,” or the Statue of Liberty’s famed inscription “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” the symbols of

America highlight the power of our freedom and diversity. Even so, we’ve failed to live up to its promises of equality — Black Americans face disproportionate rates of police violence and incarceration as a result of systemic racism, LGBTQ+ Americans lack equal rights in many states and abortion is not protected at the national level, to name just a few of these pitfalls.

Yet the history of the U.S. is a history of change. Our founding fathers, despite their rhetoric of equality, were largely enslavers, racists and misogynists. They committed brutal — genocidal — atrocities against Indigenous Americans, atrocities we have yet to atone for. However, through pointed action and the framework the founding fathers left us, we have since abolished slavery, given women the right to vote and passed civil rights legislation and marriage equality. Our diversity and democratic ideals have been our power time and time again, allowing us to realize a better America.

I know the recent backsliding on issues such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights is disheartening.

Our least democratic political institution, the Supreme Court, has been weaponized by politicians who represent a minority of Americans. But, if you are one of the many liberal-leaning students at this university who

has written off America as unsalvageable, I implore you to be a patriot. The most beautiful thing about our country is that we have the capacity to change it.

Americans have long fought and died for this right. It’s inherent in the democratic ideals we claim to represent and uplift in the world.

Think about one issue that cuts you to the core — whether it be gun violence, climate change or any other — and take action. Vote for representatives

that inspire you at every level of government. Call your current reps and demand the changes you seek.

Leading up to the 2024 elections, we must organize, advocate and educate to build the America we want to see. We have to put in the work as citizens to achieve “a more perfect union,” one where liberty and justice for all Americans is a reality, rather than a pipe dream. There is nothing more patriotic.

metrics but across all major economic indicators.

One of the most critical macroeconomic indicators is real GDP growth, which can tell us if we are in a recession and accounts for inflation.

Under President Biden’s economic policies, real GDP grew a significant 4.9% last quarter, larger than expected and completely defying forecasts that predicted a recession.

Comparing the post-pandemic economic recovery to other G7 countries when measured by GDP, the United States had the strongest economic recovery, fully regaining all pre-pandemic losses by 2021. This is in stark contrast to countries like the conservative-run United Kingdom, which, as of the start of 2023, had still not recovered from the pandemic-triggered recession.

The second key macroeconomic indicator is the unemployment rate. Using this metric, it is indisputable that President Biden’s policies

have been at least moderately successful. Biden has created more than 14 million jobs since taking office, and while some of that job creation is undoubtedly due to the pandemic recovery, it is still an impressive feat, especially given that unemployment rates have hit record lows.

Furthermore, many of those new jobs have been manufacturing jobs, especially in the Midwest, where industrial economies have long been on a downward trajectory.

The third major economic indicator is, of course, inflation. On the surface, Biden’s economic record here is bad — under his presidency, America saw its highest inflation rates since the 1980s. However, when comparing America to countries with vastly different economic policies such as the United Kingdom, inflation was only slightly lower during the peaks of American inflation last summer, which indicates that high inflation may

have been due to external factors. As of July, the United States had a lower inflation rate than any other G7 economy.

Furthermore, as of August, 60% of Americans described their finances as good or excellent in a Quinnipiac University poll, despite high costs of living and inflation. This poll came as real wages have increased for workers, meaning wage gains for workers have generally outpaced inflation.

Of course, one can convincingly dispute how much credit or blame Biden and his policies deserve for any of this.

Many economists have long argued that the president has little control over the economy and external factors likely contributed to both the high job growth and inflation of Biden’s tenure. Biden’s success in certain areas also does not mean we should dismiss the inflation and high interest rates that are undoubtedly causing meaningful financial harm to families; they should be spot-

lighted. There is plenty to critique about Biden’s policies and his administration’s statements, such as the claim made by Janet Yellen, secretary of the treasury, in November 2021 that inflation would decrease the following year, which she admitted was wrong in mid-2022.

However, no matter one’s political affiliation, it would be wrong to take a snapshot of part of the economy and represent it as a whole. Inflation and high interest rates do not necessarily mean Bidenomics is a failure. High job growth and a strong pandemic recovery do not necessarily mean Bidenomics is a success. Any analysis of Bidenomics must look at all of these things, and every economic indicator, if it aims to create a meaningful evaluation of the success of Bidenomics.

GRAPHIC BY ALIZA KIBEL

Keshav is a sophomore studying quantitative economics. Keshav can be reached at Keshav.

Srikant@tufts.edu.

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10 Opinion

THE TUFTS DAILY

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

VIEWPOINT

For California’s sake, Gavin Newsom needs to stifle his presidential fantasies Dylan Tanouye

Contributing Writer

On Oct. 23, California Governor Gavin Newsom became the first state governor to visit China in over four years. Despite mostly receiving attention for crashing into a Chinese elementary school student during a pickup basketball game, he framed the week-long trip as a way to discuss climate change and other issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping, even as U.S.China relations continue to sour.

This visit is also an indication of Newsom’s presidential aspirations, since hopefuls without experience in the field often begin their campaigns by building a foreign policy repertoire. While he has explicitly ruled out running in 2024, the Democratic field is wide open for 2028. Newsom’s recent fundraising spree, coupled with his upcoming debate with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, clearly indicate his aspirations for a higher office. However, Newsom’s ambitions are causing him to leave the interests of his constituent Californians behind.

While California as an independent nation-state would have the fifth largest economy in the world, over 800,000 residents moved out of the state between 2021 and 2022 primarily due to the rising cost of living. California also has 30% of the nation’s unhoused population, a number that only continues to increase. It is clear that change must happen, but Newsom has taken the opposite approach this year and recently vetoed over 100

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California Governor Gavin Newsom is pictured in 2019. bills that were sent to his desk by the state legislature. Policies that he vetoed include a cap on insulin prices, free condoms in public schools and a ban on caste discrimination. These bills should be common sense for a progressive state like California — the insulin price cap policy even has the backing of 88% of Americans nationwide. Newsom’s response was that “the long-term costs are still passed down to consumers through higher premiums from health plans,” and, while he has a

plan for California to start producing its own insulin, that will take at least a year, highlighting the importance of immediate change.

Newsom has been attacked by many prominent Republicans such as DeSantis, who believes that California is being ruined

by Newsom’s “leftist government.” Newsom’s approval rating has fallen to just 12% among Republicans and he appears to be moderating his politics in order to widen his national appeal and avoid tying his name to contro-

versial legislation. He is even backing down on his promise to fight climate change, despite signing the world’s first pathway to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. Since signing the plan last year, Newsom has cut California’s climate spending by six billion dollars and vetoed a bill that would have invested in clean energy for its public schools, citing cost concerns. However, Newsom also opposed a proposition to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to fund investments

in electric vehicles, so it’s clear that his main concern is not the budget deficit. Instead of trying to improve his national image by listening to the criticisms of non-Californian Republicans, he should do his job by signing bills that will help mitigate the issues that California faces.

While Newsom is seen as a potential successor to two-term hopeful President Joe Biden, California has never produced a Democratic nominee for the presidency, since its politics tend to be out of touch with the rest of the country. Democrats should instead look to candidates who can appeal to a wider range of voters and have experience winning in swing states. One rising star in the party who meets these criteria is Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who won his race by almost 15 points in a state that Biden only carried by one.

Gavin Newsom needs to stop letting his ambitions get the best of him and remember his current job description — governor of the most populous state in the nation.

However, I still think that there’s hope for California. When Newsom was mayor of San Francisco, he defied state law and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a groundbreaking decision for the gay rights movement. I hope that Newsom can rediscover this courage and stop worrying about what his critics say. California needs a strong, progressive leader more than ever in order to prove Republicans wrong.

VIEWPOINT

Justin Hong Assistant Opinion Editor On the day of Tufts’ career fair last September, I was struck by the vast disparity in interest between the tables of groups like the Charles River Associates or Fidelity versus those of more civic-minded companies and government agencies. Why weren’t more people looking for public sector jobs?

Tufts has a long history of civic excellence. One needs to look no further than Tisch College’s different initiatives to see how Tufts postures itself as a national leader in civic life and education.

It’s this spirit that drew many students here and animates Tufts’ proud history of sending graduates into national service programs like Teach for America and the Peace Corps.

Back in 2012, Teach for America was a highly coveted career path for Tufts students.

That year Tufts saw 9% of its graduating class apply to be Teach for America corps members. Just a year later, 8% of graduates applied and 35 joined as corps members. If Teach for America remained just as popular today as it was in 2012, this year’s graduating class would see over 145 applicants with many likely to secure spots as corps members. Yet, in recent years, far fewer have chosen this path.

Between 2017 and 2022, there

Whatever happened to Pax et Lux? were only 18 total who went on to Teach for America.

A similar story emerges with the Peace Corps. In 2001, 22 graduates served as Peace Corps volunteers. Between 2017 and 2022, the total number fell to just 15.

This precipitous drop could be explained by a decline in national identity or criticism of each program’s approach. While Americans have become increasingly ashamed of their country, and many have criticized Teach for America and the Peace Corps for their white-savior-like approaches, it’s not clear that these two things have sunk the popularity of these organizations here at Tufts. In fact, Teach for America has changed in response to these critiques and it’s paid off: 62% of its current cohort of teachers identify as people of color compared to just 20% of traditional teachers nationwide.

While the Peace Corps hasn’t changed substantially since its founding, it’s still not clear that the criticism lobbed at it has sunk its credibility. The most likely explanation for the sharp decline in interest is a university-wide culture shift towards a careerism that’s shoved public service and civic engagement to the wayside.

As an incoming Teach for America corps member myself, I am disheartened that my fellow students don’t share this call to service. I chose to come here hoping to find a communi-

ty overflowing with like-minded people dedicated to this notion.

While those people do exist here, it’s not clear that Tufts stands out from its peer institutions in this regard. It’s certainly been a letdown from the bright-eyed idealism of 18-year-old me eager to fly across the country amidst a global pandemic to find my people.

As a senior, I know I’m not alone in asking or being asked the infamous question, “What are you going to do after you graduate?” I’m astounded that when I say what I’ll be doing, some ask, “What is Teach for America?” “It’s like the Peace Corps, just at home” has become my go-to response. Underlying those questions is an even greater one: How did we go from a school where close to one out of 10 graduating seniors applied to Teach for America to one where some haven’t heard of it?

It’s worrisome. Charles Tufts’ vision of a “light on the hill” is being extinguished. While national service programs aren’t the only ways students can lead professional lives devoted to civic engagement, the trend is clear: This ain’t your father’s Tufts. With the completion of the Joyce Cummings Center, Tufts has accomplished something remarkable in that regard. This new building stands taller than the Hill, though the administration disputes this fact. It’s an apt symbol for a university severed

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The Peace Corps logo is pictured. from its founding values. From a certain angle, the light from atop this Hill is no longer visible.

A school where companies like Deloitte and Northrop Grumman have become the new Teach for America and the Peace Corps is not one I’m proud to attend. Nothing says Pax et Lux quite like consulting and the military-industrial complex, right?

We stand now at a critical moment. Do we hunker down and attempt a revival of our past virtues, or do we flow with the changing tide and abandon the

principles we first stood for? It’s the former that ought to win out.

Amidst this moment of political emergency, this upheaval represents the kind of civic project required to chain ourselves once more to our bedrock principles.

It is now incumbent upon a new generation to take hold of the tools we’ve been given and reshape this institution in the model of its origin. Just as a city on a hill ought to shine for all to see, so too should our light from this hilltop. Tufts, let’s not forget what “Pax et Lux” really means.

THE TUFTS DAILY

SPORTS 11

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Don’t look now, but the Celtics are 5–0 Jared Cohen

Contributing Writer

On Saturday night, with 7:47 to go in the fourth quarter, Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Smith Jr. nailed a three-pointer to cut his team’s deficit to only one point. Boston Celtics fans had seen this story before; unable to put a game away in crunch time, it seemed inevitable they would fall back into old habits, wasting possessions with fruitless isolation attempts before choking away a winnable game.

Fortunately for those fans, this is a different Celtics team.

After that three-point shot, the Celtics outscored the Nets 28–19, increasing their lead to as much as 14 points in an eventual 124–114 win. There was no pointless time wasting or questionable end-of-shot clock heaves. Every member of the starting five scored during that game-sealing run, including 37-year-old Al Horford, who, starting in place of the inactive Derrick White, was a team-high +29. With that win over the Nets, the Celtics have started the season 5–0 for the first time since the 2009–10 season.

It’s easy to get caught up in early-season hype and there are plenty of reasons to temper expectations lest fans end up reliving the heartbreaks of seasons past, but make no mistake about it: The new-look Celtics are scary. Their success and ability to avoid bad habits in the clutch, against both the Nets on Saturday and the New York Knicks on opening night, are emblematic of the greater improvements to this team. Any doubts regarding the fits of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis seem firmly in the rearview mirror; it turns out that adding a 7-foot-2 sharpshooter and the league’s best defensive guard does indeed make life harder for opponents.

Owen Short Moments ‘til Madness

The best games to open the season Originally published Nov. 6.

T

he months of waiting have finally paid off. It’s officially time for the first tip-offs of the 2023–24 college basketball season. With many fascinating storylines and loads of new talent to be displayed, here are my favorite games for each day this week in college hoops.

Monday: No. 21 University of Southern California at Kansas State For the first slate of games, this matchup stands out the most to me. USC has one of the most exciting groups of fresh-

Guarding the Celtics’ starting five was always going to be a challenge for even the best defensive teams in the NBA. So far, it has been near impossible for those not quite in that tier. They followed a 126-point outburst against the Washington Wizards on Oct. 30 with an unfathomable 155 points against the Indiana Pacers in a near-record 51-point victory on Tuesday. Those games marked the first time in franchise history that the team scored 75 points in the first half in back-toback games.

The Celtics’ starting five — White, Holiday, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Porzingis — has a net rating of +37.3 in 72 minutes together thus far. That is an offensive rating of 125.9 and a minuscule defensive rating of 88.7, a mark that exceeds the league’s leading team in defensive rating by almost 15 points.

Apart from just the starting lineup, the Celtics lead the entire NBA in points per game, offensive rating, net rating and effective field goal percentage. It isn’t hard to see why. When the Celtics play any combination of their top six — the starters previously listed plus Horford — they are effectively able to find a good shot on any given possession. All six can shoot from deep, while White, Holiday, Tatum and Brown are potent in isolation.

Consequently, opposing defenses are constantly faced with difficult choices. Doubling Tatum, one of the league’s best scorers, or any other Celtic for that matter, will always leave at least one sharpshooter open. Switching on a pick will inevitably result in a mismatch, and the Celtics are loaded with guys who have made careers out of hunting mismatches. No player so far has needed to hunt a shot — playing within the offense will almost guarantee a high percentage look for someone on the floor.

men, including Isaiah Collier, the No. 2 recruit in the nation, and, of course, Bronny James. On the other hand, Kansas State is coming off a run to the Elite Eight.

While the Wildcats did lose their top two players in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson, Jerome Tang has already shown his high-level coaching skills in just one year at KState.

Tuesday: Drexel University at La Salle University While you wouldn’t expect these two names to be on this list, they are facing off in the first Philadelphia Big 5 matchup of the season. The Big 5 has a whole new format this year, with Drexel being added to the field and the separation of the six teams into two pods. This historic round robin could be much more exciting and competitive than in recent years, where Villanova University has typically dominated.

Wednesday: No. 10 Florida Atlantic University at Loyola Chicago University The FAU Owls are must-see basketball this year and this will

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A Celtics game at TD Garden is pictured in 2014.

In a vacuum, this setup doesn’t seem all that different from the Celtics’ 2022–23 roster; that is until you reckon with exactly how impactful Porzinigis and Holiday can be. For all of Robert Williams III’s strengths, his lack of spacing and inability to create his own shots held back the Celtics’ offense throughout his time with the team. Enter Porzingis, who maintains at least a facsimile of Williams’ interior defense and lob threat but adds extreme range and post-up capacity. The fit seemed perfect in concept and has translated in game as expected, if not better. Porzingis can bully smaller defenders in the paint on switches, as he did against the Nets on a hyper-efficient 8/10 shooting performance, or pop outside and hurt opponents from deep when they worry about the potential of Tatum and Brown to penetrate,

as he did with five threes, including the game-sealer against the Knicks on opening night.

Holiday, meanwhile, has filled the hole left by Marcus Smart, and then some. A more reliable shooter than Smart, Holiday brings the same grit and defensive tenacity with an extra inch of height and tremendous rebounding. The only point guards averaging more rebounds than Holiday’s 7.0 per game are Russell Westbrook, Luka Doncic and Ben Simmons.

Most importantly, these Celtics are playing like a team, something that was plainly missing when they were knocked out by the Heat in last season’s Eastern Conference finals. Against the Nets, Tatum got his revenge, as he does, but not at the expense of his teammates — four of the starting five scored in double figures. That

has been true in every game so far; against the Miami Heat and Pacers, it was all five. It is easy to preach balanced basketball, but actually accomplishing it is an entirely different feat. When you load a roster with stars who accentuate each other’s strengths and make life easier from play to play, the potential is limitless. The way the Celtics’ roster is constructed, the success of any one player will almost certainly lead to an opportunity for another.

The NBA has been put on notice: The Celtics aren’t joking around. There is a long way to go before any team lifts the Larry O’Brien trophy in June and their bench depth remains questionable, but a healthy Celtics roster has as good a shot as any to be that team.

Only time will tell if they can keep it up.

be the first time we see them after their exhilarating run to the Final Four. Dusty May did a great job this offseason, keeping all but one player from the 2022–23 roster. With close to an identical team as last year, the expectations are high for this team. If you’re a fan of the sport, you should be tuning in to this mid-major battle.

Thursday: University of New Mexico at No. 23 Saint Mary’s University The Saint Mary’s Gaels and New Mexico Lobos are giving us yet another great mid-major matchup for this week. I believe New Mexico could have the potential to crack the top 25 at some point this year, as they are usually ranked in the top fifty teams in the sport.

Furthermore, Saint Mary’s seems to always have a spot in the AP Top 25, as they continually play great basketball and compete with their conference rival (and college basketball powerhouse), Gonzaga University. These two squads will likely be battling it out on

Thursday and there’s no reason not to watch.

Friday: No. 12 Arizona at No. 2 Duke This coastal conference battle is likely going to be the most watched of the week, and understandably. Per usual, the Blue Devils have one of the best rosters in the nation and are being led by sophomore Kyle Filipowski, who many writers have in their All-America First Team. The Wildcats also have a talented group, with Oumar Ballo, another quality big man leading the way, and several key transfers, with one being former UNC guard Caleb Love.

There’s too much to love about this matchup.

Saturday: Stonehill College at No. 6 University of Connecticut We all know what happened last April to cap off the season.

Can UConn do it again? Although Stonehill isn’t expected to put up much of a fight, this is a great opportunity to see what the reigning champs could be this year.

Dan Hurley will need to get a lot out of sophomore Donovan

Clingan, who is coming off a foot injury, if they hope to get another trophy next April. This will also be the first time we see freshman Stephon Castle, who could potentially play a huge role for the Huskies.

Sunday: Lehigh University at No. 19 University of North Carolina To end the week, with not much to choose from, you should likely be watching UNC’s second game of the season, as they try to forget about last year’s major disappointment and bring back that same momentum they had to end the 2022 tournament. Fifth-year forward Armando Bacot will need to have a monster year. With a whole new look to this team, I wouldn’t be surprised if they end the year in the top 10 and earn themselves a top-four seed in March Madness. But we’ll have to wait and see.

Owen Short is a sophomore who has yet to declare a major. He can be reached at Owen.Short@ tufts.edu.

12 SPORTS

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

THE TUFTS DAILY

SPORTS Henry Blickenstaff Extra Innings

The greatest teams of the 21st century

W

e all love a good underdog story, and both the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks had one this year. But we also love to witness greatness — teams that dominate, break records and win awards. These teams, the five greatest of the 21st century, did just that.

5. 2019 Houston Astros (107–55) The only team on this list not to win the World Series, the ’19 Astros came just one win short of winning their second title in three years. Still, their regular season success is undeniable. Their +279 run differential was the best of 2019. Gerrit Cole had a dominant season with 326 strikeouts and 21 double-digit strikeout starts, and he somehow came in second in American League Cy Young voting to his teammate, Justin Verlander. The Astros also scored 920 runs to go with that dominant starting pitching.

4. 2009 New York Yankees (103–59) A formidable offense headlined by Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Robinson Canó and Mark Teixeira powered the Yankees to their 27th World Series ring and 40th pennant in franchise history. Their team OPS of .839 was easily the best in baseball that year, and they finished the regular season six games ahead of the field. After breezing through the Minnesota Twins in the division series, they took out the Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies in six games each to win the title.

3. 2022 Houston Astros (106–56) If they were overshadowed by the 111-game-winning Los Angeles Dodgers in the regular season, the Astros showed out in October, sweeping both the Seattle Mariners and Yankees to reach the World Series undefeated in postseason play. They ended the Phillies’ Cinderella story, beating them 4–2 in the series and no-hitting them in game four for only the second no-hitter in World Series history. Justin Verlander won his third Cy Young as an Astro to lead an elite pitching staff which allowed just 518 runs in the regular season.

2. 2016 Chicago Cubs (103–58–1) After a surprise run to the National League Championship Series the year prior, the 2016 Cubs seemed to be a team of destiny. They were the best team in baseball wire-to-wire, finishing eight-and-a-half games clear of the field with a +252 run differential. The Cubs’ team Earned Run Average of 3.15 was more than a run lower than the league average of 4.18, while NL MVP Kris Bryant and 109-Runs Batted In first baseman Anthony Rizzo led the offense. They clawed their way back from a 3–1 hole in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians to claim the franchise’s first World Series in 108 years.

1. 2018 Boston Red Sox (108–54) No World Series champion in the 21st century had a better regular season record than the 2018 Red Sox. Led by the vicious one-two punch of AL MVP Mookie Betts, who scored a league-leading 129 runs in just 136 games, and J.D. Martinez, who drove in 130 runs, Boston was dominant all season long — their worst month was a 15–11 September. That dominance carried over into October, as they lost only three games in the playoffs despite running into the 100-win Yankees and 103win Astros en route to the title.

Henry Blickenstaff is a writer for the sports section at the Tufts Daily. He is a junior majoring in history. He can be reached at Henry.Blickenstaff@tufts.edu.

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Antoine Griezmann pictured playing for Atlético Madrid.

The heart of Atlético Madrid: Antoine Griezmann Bharat Singh Sports Editor

There is nothing elegant about Atlético Madrid. In an era in which coaches and teams have crafted tactics around efficient possession and inch-perfect passing, Atleti remains a product of the past.

Their coach, Diego Simeone, epitomizes this. The Argentine coach famously tripped David Beckham in a World Cup quarter final in 1998, sparking a rash kick from the English star, a topic of conversation in his latest documentary. But, at the core of Atleti’s chaos lies a delicate gem, crafted in France and polished in La Liga, former world champion Antoine Griezmann.

Going from growing up in the tiny town of Mâcon to scoring in a World Cup final, Griezmann has lived the French dream. As a child, he was often rejected by French scouts due to his small stature. But in football, players like Griezmann and Lionel Messi prove that this myth is often debunked. In 2005, Griezmann’s natural ability was spotted by a Spanish scout during a youth friendly against Paris Saint-Germain. He was later offered a trial at Real Sociedad and eventually joined their academy.

Once he broke into the first team, he never looked back.

With nine goals this season, seven of them in La Liga, Griezmann has led

Simeone’s side from the front. Level on goals with teammate Álvaro Morata and Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno, and only trailing Real Madrid’s young Galactico Jude Bellingham, Griezmann looks poised for another memorable season in the Spanish capital. Ever since joining from Real Sociedad in 2014, the Frenchman has transformed Simeone’s side into one of Europe’s elite teams.

As a player, Griezmann is a technical genius, often weaving in and out of tight spaces under pressure. His soft touch and superb balance allow him to carve out extra seconds when threading passes in the final third. Despite lacking the physical stature of the modern striker, his goal-scoring statistics are second to none and he recently overtook Luis Suárez in La Liga’s all-time scoring charts. On current form and with a contract running until 2026, Griezmann looks poised to break into the top ten, nearing the likes of Raúl and Karim Benzema.

Beyond his goals, Griezmann stands out as a creative playmaker, putting the team’s performance ahead of individual accolades. After Atlético’s 3–1 win against Real Madrid earlier in the season, Simeone praised his star man, stating he was a “reference point for our younger players.” The Rojiblancos remain the only La Liga team to have beaten Real this season.

In terms of positioning, Griezmann is best when deployed in a dynamic front line with a strike partner, but can also drop deep as a lone false nine. Simeone’s current playbook has him alongside Morata, who he uses as a decoy when he drifts wide or drops into space. With a license to roam freely in attack, many defenders struggle to man-mark him or end up overcommitting and leaving space for other Atleti attackers. On the defensive end, Griezmann is known to track back and intercept passes, making him an all-around asset for his teams.

There is no question that Griezmann is one of the finest players of his generation. In 2016, he dragged an average French side to the Euro finals, where his headed attempt early in the game was inches away from breaking the deadlock. During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, despite the headlines belonging to Kylian Mbappé, Griezmann was the focal point of Didier Deschamps’ side, which was missing key players like Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante.

Once called the “Le Petit Prince,” now the king of Atlético Madrid, the boy from Mâcon has defied expectations and is setting incredible standards of his own.

Looking ahead, Griezmann will hope to lead Atlético to the latter stages of the Champions League, whilst keeping pressure on Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga.