The Tufts Daily - Monday, November 4, 2019

FOOTBALL

Special topics course explores modern political media see FEATURES / PAGE 3

Jumbos beat Mules, prepare for last game of regular season

Weekend study hours should be extended to weekday schedule see EDITORIAL / PAGE 7

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXVIII, ISSUE 40

Monday, November 4, 2019

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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Somerville City Council contenders share thoughts on Tufts issues

by Alexander Thompson News Editor

Somerville voters will go to the polls on Tuesday to elect four at-large councilors to the Somerville City Council. They will have a choice between eight candidates, and the Daily talked to seven of them about where they stand on the many issues related to Tufts. Among the most important was housing affordability in West Somerville and the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement that the city and the university are currently renegotiating.

Jack Connolly Jack Connolly (GA’81) was the Ward 6 Councilor (at the point, still referred to as alderman) from 1984 to 2005 and served as a councilor from 2007 to 2017. He was edged out of his seat in the last election by 934 votes or just 1.8% of the total cast, and now he’s trying to stage a comeback.

Connolly promised that of all the candidates he would be the toughest on the university.

He said that, during his time on the Council, he worked to ease tensions with the university, working to start Tufts see ELECTIONS, page 2

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Somerville citizens vote at their polling place in West Somerville Neighborhood School on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016.

Tufts students see rise in phishing incidents

by Matthew McGovern Assistant News Editor

Multiple Tufts students have been victims of phishing scams this semester, and according to Andrew Shiotani, director of the International Center, international students are seeing a rise in phishing incidents. On a national scale, the scams have garnered the attention of the U.S. State Department and the Federal Trade Commision (FTC), and on the Tufts Medford/Somerville campus, they have warranted responses from administration and other departments.

International students are often victims of scams that take advantage of their potential unfamiliarity with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and various immigration and policing policies in the U.S., according to Christine Fitzgerald, manager for service marketing and communications at Tufts Technology Services (TTS).

Shiotani echoed Fitzgerald, calling the issue “widespread and pervasive.” He explained in an interview with the Daily some of the tactics that scammers use against students.

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“They have learned to manipulate caller ID so that their number is masked behind a government agency number, such as the IRS or Social Security Administration,” Shiotani said. “It seems like you’re getting a call from a legitimate government authority.”

One of the key factors contributing to the effectiveness of these scams is their emotional impact, partially driven by the false time constraints that scammers often impose on their victims, according to Fitzgerald.

“Criminals are very successful at using ‘social engineering’ to get the attention of potential victims,” Fitzgerald told the Daily in an email. “They also try to create an intense emotional response and sense of urgency that interferes with a person thinking clearly and recognizing that this is a scam.”

Shiotani expressed that scams targeting international students are pervasive and a frequent point of discussion in his profession. “[International students] are particularly vulnerable because they are sub-

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ject to complex rules and regulations; it’s not always clear what the obligations and requirements are,” Shiotani said. “That kind of info can be used to exploit the sense of vulnerability that they have.”

In order to protect themselves, he advised that students should proceed with confidence and contact the International Center in the case of a suspected scam.

Additionally, instances of “phishing”, a form of fraud in which the attacker masquerades as a reputable entity or person in an email or other communication channel, have merited the attention of the FTC, which released a notice regarding scammers impersonating employees of the Chinese Consulate.

These and other types of scams have elicited multiple university-wide emails from TTS addressing phishing attempts targeting the Tufts community.

Tufts has taken steps to mitigate the risk that phishing scams pose by educating students and faculty of their harms, according to Fitzgerald. She added that scams are often short-lived, as TTS will create filters to respond to scam and phishing attempts.

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Criminals are adept at avoiding these security measures, though, and often make their email and those of legitimate sources indistinguishable, Fitzgerald added.

Scammers constantly change their techniques, and the ability of law enforcement agencies to catch scammers depends to a large extent on how quickly victims report such incidents, according to Kristen Setera, public affairs advisor at the FBI’s Boston division.

“Scams are constantly evolving as scammers become more sophisticated and the best way to avoid becoming a victim is to verify the authenticity of the request before sending any money,” Setera told the Daily in an email.

Setera added that in order to protect oneself from phishing scams, it is crucial not to respond to unsolicited calls and emails with personal information and to ensure that retailers and online stores are reputable before buying from them.

In addition to the university email spam filters, Shiotani and the International

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................4

see SCAMS, page 2

FUN & GAMES.........................6 OPINION..................................... 7 SPORTS............................ BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Monday, November 4, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Jessica Blough Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL Ryan Eggers Justin Yu

Managing Editors Mykhaylo Chumak Austin Clementi Alejandra Carrillo Connor Dale Abbie Gruskin Liza Harris Robert Kaplan Elie Levine Natasha Mayor Alexander Thompson Daniel Weinstein Andres Borjas Charles Bunnell Bella Maharaj Matthew McGovern Sara Renkert Jilly Rolnick Anton Shenk

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continued from page 1 Community Day, open up sports facilities to community use and holding Tufts to a height limit on its buildings adjacent to Powder House Boulevard.

However, Connolly said there’s still work to be done, especially on housing and Tufts’ PILOT. Like many of the other candidates, he explained that he will urge Tufts to build more housing on campus for students.

He also said that he wanted to see the monetary PILOT payment rise automatically each year.

“I grew up right near the university, both it and the city have been around for more than 150 years, there’s certainly no doubt we will … continue to be better neighbors to each other,” Connolly said.

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think it is real: You should reach out to your management or school administration to get advice/validate if this is real.”

She also encourages students to call the Tufts University Police Department or local police in these situations. That being said, scammers are quick to abandon their computers, which makes it difficult to trace the origins of a scam or phishing attempt.

She also elaborated on the difficulties law enforcement agencies face in apprehending these criminals.

“Most scams are run from countries that don’t have laws against these activities or

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Seohyun Shim Mengqi Irina Wang Anika Agarwal Mike Feng Meredith Long Julia McDowell Evan Slack Kirt Thorne

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SCAMS

continued from page 1 Center are working to educate international students about the threats posed by scammers. He said that it is essential for students to be aware of these risks, citing the frequency and variety of scams targeting international students.

Fitzgerald also provided a step-by-step approach to dealing with phishing attempts.

“Tufts advises that the best way to combat these scams is to stop, breathe, and think when you detect an email or call is triggering your emotions,” Fitzgerald said. “If you still

Candidates prepare for Tuesday race

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Amid increase in phishing, International Center tries to increase awareness

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ELECTIONS

Stephanie Hirsch Stephanie Hirsh is an incumbent councilor elected in 2017. Hirsch is a data analyst, who worked to launch Somerville’s data transparency projects like the ResiStat through the Mayor’s Office of Innovation and Analytics.

On PILOT, Hirsch believes that Tufts should pay 25% of its hypothetical property taxes, as it did to Boston in past years.

She said that Tufts’ contribution to the affordable housing crisis is the most important issue in town-gown relations and said that she would be open to counting money invested in more on-campus housing towards PILOT to incentivize the university to take action Hirsch also expressed her support for a bill making its way through the Massachusetts General Court that would allow Somerville to request an institutional master plan from the university that would outline its development plans.

Kevin Jura Kevin Jura is a paramedic and student at Harvard University Extension School who moved to Somerville after years as a highway patrolman and first responder in Florida.

Jura said that he would bring a fresh view to the council and will work to ensure that every resident has their voice heard, including the city’s many students. He proposed a “student advisory committee” that would report on student issues to the City Council, composed of

any interested college students, not just Tufts students.

Jura also said he was concerned that the large numbers of Tufts students in West Somerville was contributing to the housing affordability crisis and promised the issue would be a focus if he were elected.

Will Mbah Will Mbah is an incumbent who won his seat in 2017. Mbah came to the U.S. from Cameroon in 2010 and works for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Environmental Health & Safety.

Mbah said his first priority for PILOT is to ensure that all of Tufts’ host communities receive payment parity and that the agreement be reached soon. He said that despite the tensions exposed by the negotiations, town-gown relations are crucial to Somerville and Tufts.

“We both depend on one another, we need one another,” Mbah said.

Mbah joined other candidates in critiquing Tufts’ recent enrollment increases and said he would hold the university accountable on housing issues.

The incumbent councilor also made his pitch to Tufts students who are Somerville voters, highlighting his advocacy against Tufts’ tiered-housing policy and for environmental justice.

Mary Jo Rossetti Mary Jo Rossetti is an incumbent councilor who has held a seat on the city council since 2013. She previously held seat on the Somerville School Committee for a number of years. Rossetti has been on working groups analyzing the PILOT agreements and is displeased by the lack of progress in talks between the city and the university.

“They’re not assisting the community as much as they could or should, so that is very disheartening” Rossetti said.

The three-term councilor explained it was a good sign that Tufts increased its cash payment to the city in the last fiscal year, bringing it in line with its payment to Boston.

When she was still serving on the school committee, Rossetti arranged for monthly meetings to ensure that Tufts’ programs in Somerville Public Schools were being monitored and enhanced. Rossetti added that she wanted to see more scholarships offered to Somerville students.

that won’t support extradition,” Fitzgerald said. “This causes significant challenges in stopping the activities.”

Besides causing students to lose money, Shiotani expressed concern that phishing scams are undermining student trust in communication via email and over the phone. He illustrated this point by referencing a student who received a genuine Tufts fundraising appeal and thought that it was a scam. “[Scamming] makes students question anything that they are being contacted about online,” he said.

Rossetti said she, too, has been working to protect students from exploitative landlords and rising rent prices in West Somerville by encouraging the university to build more on-campus housing.

Kristen Strezo Kirsten Strezo directed the Daily to Julia Friedberg, a spokeswoman.

Friedberg, a senior at Tufts, explained that Strezo’s sees affordability as her number one issue but that she did not have any specific stance on PILOT. Strezo’s spokeswoman also praised the non-monetary PILOT contributions like access to sports facilities and Tufts involvement in Somerville Public Schools “Anything that can encourage interaction between students and families and youth programs and other kinds of residents in the city, great idea,” she said.

Bill White Bill White is a local attorney and has been on the Somerville City Council since 1998. White quickly cited student housing as his principal concern and said the city needs to bargain hard with Tufts to get new on-campus housing built.

He would like to see the university pay 25% of its hypothetical property taxes.

“It’d be one thing if Tufts was in difficult financial straits, but it’s my understanding that over the past decade their endowment has grown tremendously,” he said. “It would seem to me fair for them to pay their 25%.”

He too pointed to Tufts as a cause of the affordable housing crisis.

White was especially concerned for workers on Tufts’ campus. He supports unions on campus, praising the recent Tufts Dining workers’ campaign. He said he wants to see Tufts take a more friendly stance toward unions and pay its workers a living wage.

In an appeal to Tufts student voters, White listed his past accomplishments negotiating with Tufts when he was president of the city council and his advocacy for immigrants rights and environmental issues.

Joann Bocca-Rivieccio is also contesting the at-large councilor election, but she did not respond to questions or an interview request by press time.

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Monday, November 4, 2019

Ryan Gell JumboCash

New Tisch College course explores communication How to invest like in the Trump era

by Katie Furey

Contributing Writer

In a course sponsored by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and the Department of Political Science, students sit around in a circle, some with President Donald Trump’s latest tweet cued up, others with South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s Instagram feed on their computer screens, preparing to contribute to the class discussion about media and politics.

The special topics course, “Hindsight Might Not Be 2020 – The Upheaval of Political Communications in the Era of Trump,” is taught by Philippe Reines, a visiting professor and former deputy assistant secretary of state for strategic communications.

Every Monday, the class spends its first hour discussing what happened during that week in previous elections in American history. Then, for the second half, Reines and his students analyze the current state of the 2020 election and whether or not today’s presidential candidates are effectively taking into account the lessons learned from past elections.

Julie Dobrow, a senior fellow for media and civic engagement at Tisch College, oversees the class as a college representative. She described how the College determines which classes it will bring to Tufts.

“In the run up to the next election, Dean [of Tisch College Alan] Solomont wanted to have a number of different signature courses that are going to focus on different aspects of the political process. We’re trying to bring in a number of really interesting people, both Democrats and Republicans, who will be coming in and speaking with students, both in classes and also in a number of different events that Tisch College sponsors,” Dobrow said.

Reines has been working in politics for around 20 years. Many of those years have been spent with former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, including during the 2016 presidential election.

“I had a unique role in 2016 in that I played Donald Trump in [Clinton’s] preparations for the debates, which meant I pretended to be him, and I sounded like him and we had full 90-minute debates standing behind podiums probably a dozen times,” Reines said.

Reines said that he is able to take this experience and apply it to his course, which looks back at the elections of the past and forward to the upcoming 2020 election. The course aims to pinpoint why certain outcomes occurred and to predict what will happen in the future.

“There’s not a minute of those 18 hours Hillary thought that [ Trump’s] message wasn’t powerful … There’s a tendency to look back and say Hillary lost because of things unique to her.

And obviously there are things unique to her, but there’s something unique to everyone, and the Republicans have gotten very good at exploiting that. But a lot of what was going on in 2016 would

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have applied to anybody,” Reines said, referring to the 2016 election.

“Being in the middle of something is not how to have clarity. Being above it is often a better viewpoint. And there are often very few people who claim to being right about 2016,” Reines said.

Reines said he hopes that he and his students can take the lessons from the 2016 and other previous elections and apply them to the 2020 campaign to gain a better idea of what is happening in the current political atmosphere.

“Now, we’re all on really thin evidential ice. So for this reason, at the beginning of each class, I give [the students] index cards and an envelope, and I make them write down … three things … Who does your head think will win [the Democratic primaries]? Who does your heart think would be the best president? And then the third is, do you think Trump will win or lose?”

Reines said.

Eli Glass, a sophomore, shared some of his thoughts on the course. He said that Reines’ experience and the thoughts of his fellow students combine to result in lively, important discussions about politics in the U.S. “[This course] has definitely changed my perspective in that I know more now, and I’m able to apply that knowledge to what’s happening now and current events,” Glass said.

Glass also touched on how he sees the relevance of the course in today’s political climate.

“A really valuable thing is what we’re doing in the class, which is talking about things and having this discourse about the political system today in an honest way … There is a very liberal lean, but there is also that attempt to bring in outside arguments that people might not agree with. Playing devil’s advocate is a big part of the class,” Glass said.

Reines also addressed the fact that there is a skew to the class, but said that he is open and eager to hear the opinions of all sides.

“I do not assume that everyone in this room is of the same political mindset.

The first day of class, I said a few things to them, but I said, ‘You all know who I work for. You don’t have to pretend you like her. You don’t have to pretend you’d vote for her. Just be respectful and constructive about it. I’m not going to pretend,’” Reines said.

Dobrow touched on how the theme of open-mindedness is carried into the work students are asked to do for the class.

“In the first assignment, students were asked to deliberately expose themselves to the messages that come from a media source that they don’t normally follow … Discussions in class have been quite fascinating as we sort of step outside of our own echo chambers and try to explore a little bit more broadly what’s going on out there,” Dobrow said.

When asked what he hopes his students take away from the course, Reines did not focus heavily on specific ideas regarding the current presidential campaigns as he said many of the predictions both he and the class make now

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COURTESY PHILLIPE REINES

Phillipe Reines, former spokesperson and advisor to Hillary Clinton, teaches a course on communication in the Trump era. are not likely to be correct. Rather, he said that he hopes his students become ready to argue for the political ideas they believe in.

“To me, success would be them going home for Thanksgiving and expressing their views … I really do think that they could go home Thanksgiving and go toe-to-toe with their obnoxious uncle who either watches too much [Sean] Hannity or too much [Rachel] Maddow,” Reines said.

Reines also works to further inform his students by bringing in guest speakers.

“One of the things that is great about having somebody like [Reines] teaching the class is that he has a very deep branch of people that he knows and he has worked with, so [he] has been able to bring in some very interesting people who have worked on messaging and polling,” Dobrow said.

He also mentioned that the guest speakers are important not only for informing the students, but also for exposing the students to a variety of possible careers in politics.

“Two weeks ago I had Joe Lockhart, who was former White House press secretary under President Clinton, as a guest. He was talking a lot about the differences in the Trump White House and previous White Houses [and] about how they handle the media, but he and I for the last six months have disagreed about impeachment,” said Reines.

The combination of Reines’ teaching, Dobrow’s guidance and support from Tisch College and the Department of Political Science, well-informed comments and questions raised by the students and the perspectives of guest speakers all contribute to the success of the course. Students, such as Glass, said they especially appreciate Reines’ insight.

“To have someone who has held such an important role in our nation’s democracy, just to be there and have a casual discourse with him about politics is a really incredible experience that I definitely wouldn’t have had the platform to have if I didn’t take this class, which is awesome,” Glass said.

hen you think about the top figures in investing, one of the first to come to mind is Warren Buffett. Known for his authenticity, investing aphorisms and immense wealth, Buffett subscribe to a school of investing called value investing. In the long-run, Buffett has capitalized on a premium for value stocks, a methodology that you can employ to increase the returns of your own portfolio.

Value stocks are companies trading at a price below their intrinsic worth.

Determining what constitutes the intrinsic value of a company is a gray area, but the value of a company is generally defined based on financial ratios like price-toearnings. Price-to-earnings is the ratio of the current share price to the company’s earnings per share; effectively, it measures how much you pay for the profit the company generates. If a company has a very low price-to-earnings ratio, that means that you pay a low price for the profits of the company. Thus, the ratio indicates that the market might undervalue the company, and the price should be higher given the profits it earns.

On the other end of the spectrum are growth stocks — companies trading at a price higher than their current worth. In the case of a growth stock, the price-toearnings ratio is very high; as an investor, you pay a high price for the current profits of the company. In fact, many growth companies do not earn a profit at all. The high price relative to earnings means that investors predict high expansion in the future, which justifies the high price compared to current profits (hence the name growth).

Since 1926, U.S. value stocks have earned an average annual return of 12.7%, compared to 9.7% of growth stocks. The persistence of the trend is called the “value premium” — a higher return for value stocks compared to growth stocks.

You might be thinking, “Why shouldn’t I just invest all my money in value stocks? I know they’re undervalued, and it worked for Warren Buffett!” Well, over the past 10 years, we have seen a reversal of the value premium. While the average annualized return of value stocks has been 12.9%, the return of growth stocks has exploded to 16.3%.

Just because a value premium has existed over the past 100 years does not guarantee its existence in the future. Perhaps more importantly, it does not guarantee the outperformance of value stocks over growth stocks in any given year, so it would be unwise to make short-term bets relating to value stocks. However, a way to benefit from the value premium is by adding a “value tilt” to your portfolio — slightly overweighting the equity in your portfolio with value stocks.

In short, academic research has shown a value premium. Within the subset of U.S. equities, value stocks have outperformed growth stocks. However, over the past 10 years, there has been a reversal of the trend. Overall, if you trust the long-term persistence of the phenomenon, adding a value tilt to your portfolio can increase your returns.

Ryan Gell is a senior studying economics and history. Ryan can be reached at ryan. gell@tufts.edu.

4 Monday, November 4, 2019

ARTS&LIVING

Sammy Park Bangers and Bops

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FILM REVIEW

Brandi Carlile and Chalamet cannot drag ‘The King’ to glory

by Tommy Gillespie my small-town roots

E

veryone wants to change the world. Scroll through a thousand startup mission statements, and this is the one thing that remains constant. Whether it be a company dedicated to reinventing the way in which we toss a salad or a non-profit giving away polo shirts to underprivileged children, it seems there is no aspect of our Earth that people have not set out to alter.

I have often thought about my place in this constant journey that I, as a young person and college student, must undertake to change the world. But I am severely under-read. I don’t know how to code. I’m an asthmatic without a driver’s license and too many split ends. And although black turtlenecks are the epitome of Northeast Chic, I have no desire to be the next Steve Jobs or Elizabeth Holmes. So, I’ve decided to embrace mediocrity. I don’t care if I die without a building named after me. I don’t care about being named as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30. I couldn’t care less about having an HBO documentary on my life. At this point in Scorpio season, I have realized that I just want to get my degree, get a job that comes with healthcare and live my days out peacefully unknown to everyone except my loved ones.

In all fairness, these sweeping dramatic declarations come after the worst midterm of my entire 19 years of living, so they should be taken with a chunk of salt. But the amount of time in the past two weeks that I’ve fully wept in public listening to Brandi Carlile’s “Fulton County Jane Doe” (2018) points me in the direction that I’m right. The song’s sadness does not stem from the idea that this Jane Doe, found in 1988, died unknown to the masses, but the fact that she died unclaimed. When Carlile sings that this Jane Doe is “more than Fulton County,” it crystallizes the tragic circumstances that allow for this woman to be known by her death and remain unknown in life.

As much as it pains me to check my privilege, I have to admit that I have been unfairly advantaged in the sense that I have a freakishly large support network.

I come from a family of five and grew up seeing my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins for every birthday, holiday or just because. And despite the 3,000 miles that separate me from my hometown, I constantly reflect on my experience growing up in a small Los Angeles suburb. I know all of my neighbors by name and they know me. I got to call my friends’ parents by their first names, and our weekly farmers market is basically the only situation where PTA mothers and bassists from indie rock bands can peacefully coexist. Even the kids from high school whom I’ve sometimes called “randos” are almost obscenely caring in a way that makes me believe that I grew up in a utopia.

So, when I have my bi-monthly emotional meltdown where I’m convinced I am literally dying, the thing that lifts my spirits is this idea that even though they may not be physically with me, I have the love and support of all of my ride-or-dies.

Sammy Park is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Sammy can be reached at samantha.park@tufts.edu.

Arts Editor

“The King” (2019) never exactly takes a false step. Pinpointing where the Timothée Chalamet-led adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henriad plays, which depict the Hundred Years’ War, goes wrong is a futile exercise that only yields scratched heads and shrugged shoulders. A faithful enough adaptation of Shakespeare’s most famous historical plays? Check. A dutiful rendering of King Henry V by Chalamet? Check. A succession of moody, foreboding shots of the sun rising and setting over the silent countrysides that the film’s royal cast lead armies to fight over and conquer? Check.

Yet, something still feels as though it’s missing from “The King,” which, despite its handsome visuals and thoughtful writing, ultimately never convinces us to care about what’s going on in the film or the characters enacting it.

The Netflix-released film opens to an England beset by civil unrest. An increasingly paranoid and ill King Henry IV (Ben Mendelsohn) has unraveled the decades of relative peace within the ongoing Hundred Years’ War. The sovereign’s actions have alienated many of his nobles, who spur rebellion. His son Hal (Chalamet) has renounced his royal duties in favor of getting routinely and outrageously drunk in London’s seedy taverns with his friend, the over-the-hill alcoholic warrior Falstaff (Joel Edgerton).

Both Shakespeare and history have already told us where this is going: The king will die, and Hal will assume the throne, rise above his youthful prodigality and lead the English closer than they ever have been to conquering the French throne.

Edgerton and director David Michôd, who co-wrote “The King,” know this, and their early setup of the situation is tone-perfect.

Absent are the long expository titles that hamper so many other historical dramas.

The writers instead opt for an evocative, somber retelling, cueing the viewer into the inevitable conflict that follows the palace intrigue. “The King” never forgets the human cost of these rulers’ ravings and selfish scheming, also remaining keenly aware of the fragile male egos behind their power plays.

“The King” seems to mark a career-shifting role for Chalamet, whom some have criticized as unconvincing in the role.

These charges ring false; Chalamet gives a thoughtfully-crafted, believable performance as Prince Hal-cum-King Henry.

What he does not do is break any new ground in the role. Sean Harris of the “Mission: Impossible” (1996–) franchise and “Macbeth” (2015) likely gives the film’s

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A promotional poster for ‘The King’ (2019) is pictured. best performance as William Gascoigne — an enigmatic, brusque adviser to Prince Hal. Robert Pattinson provides a delightfully bizarre turn as the cartoonishly-accented Dauphin of France, who arrives as Hal’s adversary in the famed Battle of Agincourt.

The legendary battle, in which the English used their longbows to mow down a vastly superior French force, is brutally and uncomfortably depicted by Michôd and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw. They shoot from close range, letting us hear the mud squelch, armor clang and bodies thud as they let out their final screams.

However, no matter how well they depict the Battle of Agincourt, the filmmakers fail to imbue it with the weight it deserves. The script treats Henry’s hallowed pre-battle speech as an afterthought, and Chalamet

admittedly falters in delivering it. If a fatal error could be pinpointed for “The King,” it is precisely that failure to provide the necessary sense of urgency. As in many subpar historical dramas, the filmmakers assume we should care about the film because of what it depicts, so they never fully flesh out its thematic notes, leaving the film feeling empty.

“The King” is by no means a bad film.

It treats its source material thoughtfully, giving an introspective look at Hal’s rise from profligate wastrel to legendary conqueror. What it doesn’t do is distinguish itself from the scores of other films that tell more or less the same story in a more interesting manner than “The King” does. While Chalamet may be an intriguing King Henry V, the audience is left asking, “So what?”

BOOK TALK

Pinsky talks new anthology, poetry, emotion

by Devina Bhalla Staff Writer

Robert Pinsky, a prominent voice in American poetry, visited Porter Square Books on Oct. 29 to talk about and read from his new anthology of poetry, “The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling” (2019).

Pinsky is the author of 10 collections of poetry and was elected United States Poet Laureate in 1997 and served

until 2000. He now teaches at Boston University.

Pinsky used the visibility of being Poet Laureate to start the Favorite Poem Project.

This project is committed to documenting how poetry plays an important role in people’s lives. Pinsky has put videos together of ordinary Americans reading their favorite poems, put the poems into collections, and hosted Favorite Poem events around the country.

Porter Square Books did not charge for the packed event and continued to add

chairs throughout the beginning. Pinsky commented on loving the store and being happy to be there sharing some of the poems in his new anthology.

“The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall” is categorized by emotions like despair and mania.

Each of its seven sections begin with older poetry and ends with more modern pieces.

While reading through a section you travel through centuries of poetry. Moreover,

see ROBERT PINSKY, page 5

Arts & Living

Monday, November 4, 2019 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY

5

Porter Square Books hosts Poet Laureate ROBERT PINSKY

continued from page 4 there is a range in styles and types of poems. Pinsky emphasized the fact that this “book was made for pleasure as art is made for pleasure.” Pleasure, he commented, is essential.

Most anthologies also include author biographies or longer introductions before the poem is presented to the reader. Pinsky, however, limited his introductions to each story to between five and 27 words. He stressed that these notes are not explanations, but rather an invitation for the reader. “It is what I would say to a friend,” Pinsky commented.

Pinsky started by compactly giving us a window into the book through reading two of the poems included, “No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief” (1985) by Gerard Manley Hopkins and “The Man of Double Deed”

by Anonymous. Pinsky said the title of the anthology comes from the Hopkins poem and that “The Man of Double

VIA AMAZON

Robert Pinsky’s new anthology, ‘The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling’ (2019), is pictured.

Deed” encapsulates how poetry joins reason and unreason.

Pinsky was joined by poets Gail Mazur and Jill McDonough. Mazur is the author of eight collections of poetry and was a finalist for a National Book Award. McDonough is Pinsky’s former student and just published her fifth collection of poetry. Pinsky features both poets in the anthology, and they also did readings during the event.

Each poet discussed how the anthology is stuffed full of amazing and beautiful poetry, but also includes important and poignant poetry as well. The poets all read different poems, but each brought a unique and gorgeous rhythm to the poetry they read. The intimate knowledge that they all had of poetry and of these specific poems made them wonderful to listen to.

Moreover, the enjoyment in sharing poems was palpable and covered the faces of Pinsky, Mazur and McDonough. It created a comfortable and personal atmosphere in the already small, close space. Pinsky has so much knowledge and passion for poetry that it oozed from every sentence he spoke.

Pinsky also talked about how “the poems speak to one another in the book without me.”

He felt that while writing the anthology, it was important not to speak for the poems, but that they talk for themselves. He also said, “I didn’t put anything in here I don’t think is terrific.”

Pinsky then commented that at his Boston Book Festival presentation of “The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall,” someone asked if he had a complementary section entitled “hope” to counter his section entitled “despair.” At first his response was, “No. Hope is boring.” But his following answer, which he said is the better answer, was that you cannot write about despair without writing about hope.

Pinsky’s anthology allows each reader to easily find the poem they need when they need it. As he commented, they are all poems “where something is at stake,” where there is a purpose and a motive.

Some do this through skillful language and others through humor, yet he has packaged them all delightfully inside of “The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall.”

6

tuftsdaily.com

Monday, November 4, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

F &G FUN & GAMES

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Daniel: “I’ve missed my Monday 10:30 seven weeks in a row.”

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Scorpio (Oct. 23–Nov. 21)

Home renovation takes focus.

Decrease clutter. Handle repairs and upgrades. Proceed with caution or risk breakage. Emotions could arise... keep your patience. Go for clarity.

Difficulty Level: Walking home on Nov. 1 still wearing your scanty costume.

Friday’s Solutions

CROSSWORD

Opinion

tuftsdaily.com

EDITORIAL

Study-area weekend hours should match weekday hours The work ethic at Tufts is pronounced; study spots in Tisch Library, Ginn Library, Eaton Hall and the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) are almost always buzzing with people. However, the open hours of these locations often do not meet students’ needs for quiet areas in which to do work..When dorm hallways are filled with students laughing and talking, especially on the weekends, being productive in your dorm room is difficult. Both students who live on and off campus require dedicated spaces to work and study that can accommodate differing schedules. Although we don’t propose that Tisch be open for 24 hours, as sleep and mental health ultimately should come first, it would be ideal for Tisch and other study locations to match their weekend hours to their weekday hours.

Having a quiet place to study on the weekend can help boost productivity, just as it does during the week. Furthermore, university study spaces have amenities

that most students do not have access to in their rooms, including printers, specialized software and books. For many students on campus, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights are the only times where they have a clear enough schedule to solely study or focus on work, so it’s crucial that Tufts makes the change of extending weekday hours to the weekends.

During the regular academic year, Tisch Library closes at 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Late night study is available in the Hirsh Reading Room until 3 a.m.

Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Students do have the option to go to the Reading Room until midnight on weekends, but this still does not provide them with access to the resources in the rest of the library. It is also a quiet space, so students who want to work in groups, or prefer studying in a place with a little background noise, do not have a place to

go. Even then, midnight is an early closing time. There are still students who are left scrambling to finish up their work at 11:55 p.m. before the Reading Room also closes so that they don’t have to continue work in unruly dorms.

While Eaton Lab is open until 4 a.m.

Sunday through Thursday, it closes at 8 p.m. on Fridays and 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

The SEC, which closes at 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, is only open until 6 p.m. on Friday and 9 p.m. on Saturday.

It is essential that Tufts University provides students with quiet study spaces on weekend nights, as many people come back to their dorms and have difficulty working in an intentionally social environment, one filled with laughter, friends and distractions. We must have a quiet space available to everyone that is adequate for studying and has decent hours of operation so that students can have the flexibility to get their work done when it is convenient for them.

8 kids a day are accidentally killed or injured by FAMILY FIRE. FAMILY FIRE is a shooting involving an improperly stored gun, often found in the home.

ENDFAMILYFIRE.org 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.

ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Managing Board and Executive Business Director.

7

Monday, November 4, 2019

John Little Gray Areas Matter

A

Abortion

bortion is one of the hottest topics of conversation today, and for good reason. It’s an issue that affects millions of women around the world and involves a great number of religious and ethical complications. It’s certainly too complex to cover entirely within the scope of this column. That being said, let’s take a look at the abortion issue, how it is oversimplified by both pro-life and prochoice advocates, and how a pro-choice perspective can and should be used to reduce abortion as a societal phenomenon altogether.

Consider a person who takes ethical issue with the act of abortion. As is reflected by the Democratic Party’s representation of the issue, the party’s platform leaves little to no room for policymakers who hold pro-life beliefs. On the other hand, the Republican Party holds a similarly hostile view toward any Republican candidate who expresses a pro-choice perspective. This all seems perfectly natural, but I believe that it demonstrates the fundamental flaw in how our society talks about abortion. Abortion views aren’t binary. When both the Democrats and Republicans are polarized over abortion, they only offer platforms consistent with completely pro-life or pro-choice views. There is no middle ground. But just because an individual holds beliefs that reject abortion as an ethical option, it does not mean that they necessarily need to, or even should, take a traditional pro-life stance and combat abortion by instituting burdensome regulations and outright bans.

Allow me to elaborate. I believe that pro-life and pro-choice supporters fundamentally want the same thing. It’s certain that pro-life advocates want to see fewer abortions. I think it’s equally certain that most pro-choice advocates want the same outcome, albeit by extraordinarily different means. So how can the two groups work together to achieve that common goal?

The Netherlands has done just that by consistently achieving one of the lowest abortion rates in the world, and it didn’t use bans. According to a study published in the journal Patient Education and Counseling, the Netherlands achieved its remarkably low reliance on abortion through progressive attitudes about sexuality, funding for birth control and investing in sex education. All of these factors culminate in a low rate of undesired pregnancy.

If conservative pro-lifers are willing to embrace the empirical data about the effects of sex education and birth control and pro-choicers are willing to be more open-minded when it comes to the ethical questionability of abortion, this country can make leaps and bounds in the name of preserving unborn lives and protecting women’s rights simultaneously. It’s truly a win-win situation.

Anyone who says that abortion is completely ethical is speaking with no authority. From science to philosophy, the ethics of abortion are damningly elusive. I cannot emphasize this enough: There is no one right answer. We need to protect a woman’s right to choose while trying to reduce the country’s abortion rate.

John Little is a sophomore studying computer science. John can be reached at john.little@tufts.edu.

Sports

8 Monday, November 4, 2019

tuftsdaily.com

Jeremy Goldstein Schmuck of the Week

Record-setting performances propel football to a 35–10 victory over Colby

T

by Ethan Ling

What Osuna represents for MLB

he art of trading in professional sports has become unceremoniously mechanical and businesslike.

In the analytical environment we inhabit today, player transactions often forget one of the two words making up its identification: the player.

A lot has been made recently about Brandon Taubman, the assistant general manager of the Houston Astros, who in celebration of Jose Altuve hitting a walk-off homer to clinch the American League pennant “turned to a group of three female reporters, including one wearing a purple domestic-violence awareness bracelet, and yelled, half a dozen times, ‘Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f—— glad we got Osuna!'”

This situation not only reflects a crossroads of individual head-scratching and downright disgusting individual decisions, but it also shows the flawed systems of rewards in the greater institution of professional baseball (or most sports, to be honest).

Roberto Osuna is an all-star closer for the Astros and was charged last year of assaulting the mother of his daughter when he was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays — she later did not testify because she returned home to Mexico and refused to return to Toronto, and the charges of the prosecution were withdrawn. Major League Baseball issued Osuna with the third-largest suspension ever for a domestic violence incident, but the opportunistic Astros decided to make a transaction.

Let’s buy-low on a distressed asset and capitalize on this window of opportunity.

In other words, the Astros traded for Osuna while he was still suspended.

Objectively, the numbers don’t lie — adding Osuna to any bullpen will make it better.

But insert the player element into the transaction side of things, and you’re left with the team having to put up thinly veiled statements to defend itself. Like this one: “Quite frankly,” Luhnow, the General Manager of the Astros, said, “I believe that you can have a zero-tolerance policy and also have an opportunity to give people second chances when they have made mistakes in the past in other organizations. That’s kind of how we put those two things together.”

Making the whole situation ickier is that Osuna nearly lost the Astros the game: In the top of the 9th inning in Game 6 of the ALCS against my beloved New York Yankees, the much-maligned closer allowed a game-tying home run to Yankees second basemen DJ Lemahieu. Not lost is the sad irony that as Altuve smacked the game-winning blast was Aroldis Chapman on the mound for the Yankees, who the team acquired in the fall of 2015 while he was suspended after being accused of choking and firing eight gunshots during an argument with his girlfriend.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan called Taubman a product of the Astros culture, which seems hard to argue with. But with suspensions rather lenient and the image of the superstar more important than those caught in the crosshairs of their poor decisions, teams will continue to acquire players with baggage to compete for championships. General managers will make player transactions with only the numbers of the player in mind.

Apply more stringent transactions, MLB. If not, you can continue to be a giant, corporate schmuck.

Jeremy Goldstein is a junior studying political science and film and media studies.

Jeremy can be reached at jeremy.goldstein@tufts.edu.

Contributing Writer

The Tufts football team traveled up north to Waterville, Maine, on Saturday for its final road game of the season against the Colby Mules. The visiting Jumbos, dominant through every phase of the game, routed the home team with a 35–10 victory.

Coach Jay Civetti spoke about the victory, highlighting the elements that led to the dominant road win.

“When we’re able to put all four phases of the game together like we did [at Colby], that’s when we’re able to find the most success,” Civetti said.

The win brings the Jumbos’ record to 4–4 on the season, tied for No. 5 in the NESCAC; the Mules fell to 1–7, tied for No. 8 in the conference.

The Jumbos were quick to establish the run on their opening possession, driving 76 yards down the field through entirely run plays. Junior running back and co-captain Mike Pedrini capped the drive off with an emphatic 1-yard touchdown run right up the middle of the Mules defense. Pedrini was exceptional throughout the game, rushing 16 times for 101 yards and one touchdown on the day, which marked the first time this season that he eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark.

Civetti spoke about how the Jumbos used the run and focused on defense to capitalize on their talented roster.

“Just being able to run the football and imposing our will on the defense, that’s the type of physical football that we wanted to play,” Civetti said.

The Mules responded with a drive of their own as quarterback Matt Hersch led his team 75 yards down the field off a plethora of short passes and welltimed runs. However, the Mules were forced to settle with a field goal, as the Jumbo defense successfully held a goalline stand and stuffed any attempt by the Mules’ running backs to find the endzone.

With momentum squarely on the side of Tufts, first-year running back Tyler Johnson delivered perhaps one of the most electrifying plays of the season when he returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards, blowing by Colby defenders and giving Tufts a 14–3 lead. Johnson’s 100yard return tied the Tufts record for longest kickoff return held by Daryl Brown from 1976 in a game against Williams.

Johnson spoke about his record-setting return, detailing the schematics that led to the remarkable moment.

“It was so unreal,” Johnson said. “I saw the blocking scheme my teammates created [and] knew I could break through.

It was such a great experience not only because I tied the record and got my first collegiate touchdown, but because I got to celebrate with all of my teammates who all wanted me to score just as bad.”

For the rest of the half, the Tufts defense stifled the Colby offense, forcing two three-and-outs and holding the Mules scoreless. The pressure up front by the Jumbos combined with excellent coverage continually frustrated the Mules as they were only able to gain 112 yards of total offense in the first half.

Senior linebacker and co-captain Greg Holt spoke about how the Jumbo defense halted the Mules offense.

EVAN SLACK / THE TUFTS DAILY

Junior wide receiver OJ Armstrong celebrates a touchdown in the Homecoming football game against Bowdoin at Zimman Field on Oct.19.

“As a defense, we focused on executing our fundamentals with physicality and made sure to bring our own energy and intensity,” Holt said. “We just really wanted to have as much fun as possible and have each other’s backs.”

Meanwhile, the Jumbo offense continued to roll in the second quarter with back-to-back touchdown drives, as senior quarterback Jacob Carroll tossed dimes of 53- and 11-yard passes to graduate student wide receiver Frank Roche. Roche finished the game with eight catches for 181 yards and three touchdowns, and he extended his streak of games with over 130 receiving yards to four. To keep with the record-setting theme, Roche’s 886 total receiving yards through eight games also eclipsed the Tufts single-season receiving yards record of 855 yards previously held by Jon Troy all the way back in 1999.

Civetti further praised Roche’s receiving prowess.

“Frank’s a special kid, one of the best kids that we’ve had here at Tufts. That’s a huge milestone and a huge recognition of his accomplishments here in our program,” Civetti said.

Not to be outdone, junior kicker Matt Alswanger nailed all five of his extra-point attempts in the game, raising his career total to 81 and breaking the previous record of 79 held by Chris Wild from 1988–91. On the back of these record-setting performances, the Jumbos headed into the half up 28–3.

The second half saw both teams afflicted by turnovers and penalties, and the Jumbos ultimately lost the turnover battle. Although junior defensive back Michael Mughetto was able to pick off Hersch midway through the third quarter, the Jumbos fumbled the ball three times, two of which they lost. The Jumbos also committed eight penalties that cost them 50 yards and valuable field possession in critical conversion situations. Despite these

issues, the Jumbos were able to preserve the lead they held at halftime and emerge victorious in the end, 35–10, with another Roche touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Civetti further addressed the turnovers, emphasizing how the team is going to work to combat them in practice.

“Zero tolerance for the turnovers, it’s something we talk about every day at practice and an area that we’ll need to get better at for next week,” Civetti said.

The team is set to host undefeated Middlebury (8–0) for its final game of the season. Tufts will also be celebrating Seniors Day to show appreciation for the seniors in their final game repping the brown and blue.

When asked how he felt going into his final collegiate game, Holt eagerly shared all the happy moments and memories he’d made while playing football at Tufts.

“I’m looking forward to walking out with my brothers one last time and giving them everything I have on that field,” Holt said. “I can’t thank them enough for the impact they have had on me, and I couldn’t imagine playing with any other guys. They truly are my family, and I’m going to miss celebrating their success on the field with them! They’re great players, but even better people, and I’m going to miss them a ton.”

Civetti echoed a similar sentiment, heaping praise on the seniors and all they’ve done in their four years.

“They’re a great group of men who’ve given this program an awful lot,” Civetti said. “[They’re] some of the best people we’ve had here, just super thoughtful, caring, compassionate people who’ve been incredibly committed to both this program and to each other. If there’s anything special we’re gonna do, it’s making sure that we’re that much better this week for them and playing as hard as we can for one another.”

The regular season finale kicks off Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Ellis Oval.