The Tufts Daily - Tuesday, April 16, 2019

SPORTS FEATURE

E-cigarette use gains prominence, sparks criticism see FEATURES / PAGE 4

Former NFL player David Bergeron offers perspective on football, life

Olivia Wilde impresses in directorial debut see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 6

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXVII, ISSUE 52

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Linell Yugawa to retire as Asian American Center’s director

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by Alejandra Carrillo Assistant News Editor

Linell Yugawa, director of the Asian American Center, will retire after more than 30 years of leadership, according to an email sent to students on April 4. During her time as director, Yugawa launched numerous initiatives and programs including the Center’s Peer Leader Program and was deeply involved with the Pan Asian Council (PAC).

Her leave will follow the departure of Julián Cancino, director of the Latino Center, and K. Martinez, director of the Women’s Center.

Yugawa helped found the center’s Peer Leader Program, which serves as a resource for current students and coordinates social and educational events that focus primarily on the Asian American experience, according to the website.

She told the Daily in an email that the program has been of great importance to participants and incoming students.

“I feel a great marker of our success is hearing from alumni who often reflect on how meaningful this kind of community participation in these programs has been for them,” Yugawa said. “Student leadership programs are an important part of student development in the college experience.”

She also emphasized the importance of students learning about ways that they can help the greater Boston communities, referencing the program Discover Boston.

“Small groups of students and faculty visited community organizations in Boston’s

LUCY FAN / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

The Asian American Center (Start House) is pictured.

Chinatown to learn about urban community issues,” Yugawa said. “I wanted students to come to college here and leave after four years knowing something about the neighborhoods in the city of Boston.”

Yugawa said she believes the Asian

American Center is part of a strong legacy of cultural programming at universities like Tufts.

“I feel it’s important for this kind of legacy to be recognized, to continue and to grow with institutional and student support,” Yugawa said.

Yugawa further noted that she hopes students recognize the limitations of the center and gain respect for her potential successor’s individual work.

see YUGAWA, page 2

Local Stop & Shop workers strike, student activists join pickets

by Alexander Thompson News Editor

Workers at hundreds of Stop & Shop supermarkets across the Northeast went on strike Thursday. They were joined on picket lines over the weekend by student activists and Tufts Dining workers energized by the recent dining contract campaign.

Cathy Curtin, a front-end manager at the Alewife Brook location of Stop & Shop and a strike captain, explained that the workers — all of whom are members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1445 — walked off the job shortly after 1 p.m. last Thursday because of disagreements in contract renegotiation talks over wages, pensions and healthcare.

The store currently remains open and is being staffed by management.

Curtin called on Tufts students, who often visit the Alewife Brook location, to avoid Stop & Shop and to do their shopping elsewhere, saying a key part of Local 1445’s

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strategy is to hurt the company financially. “[Shopping at Stop & Shop] is like an insult to us also because we’re struggling, we’re working families. These are single moms, single dads. My husband’s sick; he’s got lung disease and I can’t use the health insurance, and for [those] people to come in here and flip us the bird like we’re being selfish … they don’t understand what this company is doing to us,” Curtin said.

The employees at the Alewife Brook store are among 31,000 across New England who are on strike, according to a press release from the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. Curtin explained that Local 1445 has been in negotiations with Stop & Shop since January, but the company wants to deduct a rise in the Massachusetts state minimum wage from raises and change the structure of pension and health plans, both of which are unacceptable for the union.

The BFresh in Davis Square is also owned by the Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch parent company of Stop & Shop, but is For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

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operated under a different contract so its workers are not on strike, according to Curtin. Nevertheless, she urged students not to shop at the Davis Square BFresh either.

In a statement posted on their website on Thursday, Stop & Shop said it was “disappointed” that the workers had decided to strike. The company defended their proposed contract and claimed that they had tried to continue the negotiating with the UFCW. “In contrast to the company’s proposal which is better than most recent UFCW contract settlements and responsive to heavy non-union competition, the unions proposed a contract that would increase the company’s costs,” the statement reads.

“This would make our company less competitive in the mostly non-union New England food retail marketplace.”

Tufts students and Tufts Dining workers picketed alongside employees of the Alewife Brook location several times during

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the weekend, carrying signs that read “Please don’t cross the picket line” and chanting slogans reminiscent of the recent labor disputes on campus, such as “What do we want? Fair contract! When do we want it? Now!” One of the students who turned out to demonstrate on Saturday afternoon, first-year Micah Kraus, a member of Tufts Dining Action Coalition (TDAC), also drew parallels between the Stop & Shop strike and the Tuft’s Dining workers’ campaign.

“I think this situation is very similar to the dining workers’ negotiations at Tufts because we know the company has enough money to give the workers what they deserve, but because they are greedy they want to take away pensions and benefits,” Kraus said.

He said that the TDAC members who picketed were applying what they learned during the Tufts Dining workers’ campaign

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................4 ARTS & LIVING.......................6

see STRIKE, page 2 FUN & GAMES.........................8 OPINION.....................................9 SPORTS............................ BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Tuesday, April 16, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Elie Levine Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL

David Levitsky Anita Ramaswamy

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Student activists, Tufts Dining workers energized from contract campaign

Managing Editors Luke Allocco Jessica Blough Austin Clementi Charlie Driver Jenna Fleischer Juliana Furgala Kat Grellman Abbie Gruskin Liza Harris Zachary Hertz Gil Jacobson Rachael Meyer Catherine Perloff Seohyun Shim Alexander Thompson Hannah Uebele Joe Walsh Alejandra Carrillo Robert Kaplan Noah Richter Jilly Rolnick Grace Yuh Costa Angelakis Jenna Fleischer Sean Ong Michael Shames Fina Short Sidharth Anand Amelia Becker Mark Choi Sarah Crawford Mitch Lee Ellie Murphy Ananya Pavuluri

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Activists march in a loop outside of the McGrath Highway Stop & Shop during a UFCW Local 1445/Massachusetts Jobs for Justice rally in support of Stop & Shop workers on March 23.

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BUSINESS Olivia Davis Executive Business Director

continued from page 1 to the Stop & Shop strike.

Grazia DiFabio, a lead customer service assistant at the Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center, had come to the join the strikers still wearing her blue Tufts Dining uniform after getting off work on Saturday afternoon. She stayed for several hours.

DiFabio explained that she was there was because of her own experience during the Dining workers’ campaign.

“We know what we went through. We are so happy [Tufts] agreed so we didn’t have to go through [with a strike],” she said.

Stop & Shop employees on the picket line were pleased to have the students and workers from Tufts. Matt Katz, a seafood specialist at the Alewife Brook location, called the support “awesome.”

“The more people we can get out here, the better,” he said.

Despite the big crowd and sunshine Saturday afternoon, Katz said he was ner-

vous. Both he and his wife, who is expecting a baby in May, work for Stop & Shop, and do not know when they will see their next paycheck.

If the strike persists, Katz says he will begin looking for a temporary job he could do to support his family when he is not on the picket line.

Katz’s hopes for a short strike are riding on customers, including Tufts students, going elsewhere to make the company feel the financial pressure.

Two Tufts students, first-years Vaughan Siker and Sascha Denby, bought snacks at the Alewife location on Friday afternoon before heading back to campus for an event for prospective students; they said they had not been aware of the strike when they arrived at the store.

Upon learning about the workers’ dispute with the company, however, the two were divided on what they thought. Siker said he might continue to come back because Stop & Shop is inexpensive, con-

venient and has products he cannot get elsewhere, while Denby said he was more likely to stay away.

“If they aren’t being paid properly, I don’t want to give Stop & Shop my business until they remedy that,” Denby said.

“I’ll stop coming here until I find out it’s sorted.”

Oliver Marsden, a junior who lives on Chetwynd Road — a brief walk from Stop & Shop — usually does his grocery shopping at the Alewife Brook location because of the convenience and the low prices, but says he will be shopping at Trader Joe’s during the strike.

Marsden also mentioned the Tufts Dining workers’ campaign, saying it had increased his awareness of the labor movement and conditions for low-income workers.

“It was the first time I’d ever personally encountered people who were not being treated fairly and spoke up to do something about it, so it showed that we can actually make an impact here,” he said.

on our campus,” Qu said.

Qu also shared that the director positions for the Asian American Center, Latino Center and Women’s Center are now posted on Tufts’ Human Resources recruitment page and that the administration is looking forward to working with students, faculty and campus partners.

Mary Pat McMahon, dean of student affairs, emphasized Yugawa’s approach in leading the center and engaging with students.

“She has an educator’s approach to thinking about social justice, identity development [and] activism,” McMahon said. “She has 35 years of engaging peer leaders, developing leadership systems and structures that address inequity on our campus and thinking about the experience of underrepresented students at a privileged white institution.”

McMahon praised Yugawa’s focus on improving the university in both the short term and long term.

“I have found her to be someone who is uncompromising in ways to ask tough questions in a way that challenges the university to be better by our students and in a way that thinks about both the current moment and the longer arc of how we’re going to bend towards justice,” McMahon said.

McMahon also indicated that the admin-

istration is searching for someone to fill the vacant position and emphasized students’ advocacy for another director.

“I think students recognize the extent of which her legacy and that the long arc and tradition of the center are deeply interconnected and I think when that kind of momentous shifts happens there’s a response that involves ‘How do we sustain this and expand what has already happened,’” McMahon said. “We don’t want the greatness of the center to walk out the door with the person.”

Elizabeth Hom, who is involved with the center and will be a peer leader next year, said that the center is in need of more funding and staffing and emphasized the importance of student involvement in the search process for a new director. She expressed her fear of Yugawa’s retirement and the future of the center.

“It has been a pretty scary time for the center in terms of finding a new director … I think it just faced a lot of pushback in terms of funding and staffing for many, many years,” Hom, a firstyear, said. “So, especially with Linell [Yugawa] leaving, it’s a scary time. There’s not going to be a point person to advocate for many things until a new director is found.”

Yugawa's legacy at the Center includes peer leadership, PAC YUGAWA

continued from page 1 “It takes a long time to get comfortable in positions like this and I don’t want a new director to feel so overwhelmed, though that’s [to be] expected,” she said.

Jianmin Qu, dean of the School of Engineering, told the Daily in an email that Yugawa has been an exceptional leader at the Asian American Center and has mentored generations of students. Apart from recognizing her impact with the Peer Leader Program, he particularly noted her ongoing support of PAC. “Linell’s impact on our campus can also be felt through her support of the Pan Asian Council (PAC) as well as through her hosting and facilitation of countless workshops and other initiatives while working with student organizations both within and beyond the PAC,” Qu said.

Qu commended Yugawa’s successful efforts to relocate which resulted in the relocation of the Asian American House from Start House (17 Latin Way) to Hillsides Dorm earlier this academic year.

“This change has allowed Start House to be designated entirely for Asian American Center programming, a structural change that will have significant, ongoing impacts

News

Tuesday, April 16, 2019 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

3

Events on the Hill — Week of April 15

by Jessica Blough

Executive News Editor

TUESDAY “Opioid Crisis Speak Out and Cannon Painting” Details: Newly formed group Sack Sackler will invite students and Tufts community members to share their stories of being impacted by the opioid crisis and addiction, followed by painting the cannon.

Where and when: The Cannon; 8:45–10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY “Edible Insect Festival @ Tufts” Details: The Tufts Green Fund will welcome Brooklyn Bugs chef Joseph Yoon to create gourmet bug-based meals for event attendees, as well as discuss the future of sustainable eating and insect consumption.

Where and when: Science and Engineering Complex Atrium; April 17 at 11:30 a.m. and April 18 at 9 p.m.

THURSDAY “Health, Safety, and Sustainability Day” Details: In memory of School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) lecturer Julie Graham, the SMFA community will change its normal programming to a day of workshops on how to promote healthy and sustainable approaches to artwork and art creation.

Where and when: School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts; 12:30–3 p.m.

FRIDAY “Earth Fest 2019” Details: Students for Environmental Awareness will begin this year’s Earth Day festivities with an event featuring a sustainable cookout, a clothing exchange, and tabling for student groups focused on environmental justice and preservation.

Where and when: Academic Quad; 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

The Maxine Newberg Gordon Book Prize Presentation

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A Talk by Mathematics Professor Christoph Börgers

Tisch Library, April 17 Please join us on Wednesday, April 17, 3:30-5pm, when the eighteenth Maxine Newberg Gordon, J70, Book Prize will be presented to Mallory Grider, A19, in the Austin Conference Room at Tisch Library.

This award is presented annually to a mathematics major who has demonstrated a love of reading, literature, and poetry.

In conjunction with the book prize event, Professor Christoph Börgers will give a talk about Tufts' Department of Mathematics, its accomplishments, and its role within the university.

4 Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Allison Morgenstern Making my (Den)mark

Features

tuftsdaily.com

Vaping at Tufts likely on the rise

The final month

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verall, this past week has been high quality: I went to my visiting host mom’s school with her (she’s a fifth-grade teacher), and I went with my cousin and her parents to the Danish Royal Ballet.

Things have been really great, except for the fact that finals are starting to roll toward us like a truck. Yep, that’s right — you actually do have to study when you’re abroad.

It’s definitely challenging to feel motivated while I’m trying to live it up in another country, especially since the weather is starting to get nicer — the sky has been so blue lately! Even with a lot of work building up, I’m still trying to keep a balance between schoolwork and fun activities. Here are some tips on how to manage the increasing workload and the decreasing amount of time abroad.

For one thing, I haven’t planned many trips besides the upcoming Easter break for any weekends in April or May. While there are still other places I want to visit, I want to make sure I have enough time to explore other places in Denmark I haven’t been to yet. I haven’t run out of things to do around the city and my host mom has several more things planned for us, which is great for getting more immersed in the culture before I have to leave. Plus, this way I have time to get my work done and feel less stressed about it.

Second, when the weather is nice, I try to spend most of the day outside.

I try to stay out and about during the afternoon until dinner or until it gets dark out before I do my homework. That way, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on the beautiful weather. Even when it’s a bit colder, I love to just walk around outside. Or, when I feel really overwhelmed by work, I take a walk to the beautiful Black Diamond library. It’s located right on the water and there’s a huge window that spans the entirety of one wall. It’s perfect because I can get my work done while still getting a nice view of the harbor and the sunny sky. Of course, when necessary, I’ll hole myself up in the DIS common rooms to do work, but I’ll always try to end the day with a movie or something fun to balance it out.

Third, it’s definitely important to actually try and enjoy classes. I lucked out and ended up in a really great core class (Child Development in Scandinavia), and I’ve become close with a lot of my classmates. This might sound super nerdy, but I actually really do look forward to my Monday class every week.

Our teacher is hilarious, and we always have a good time together.

Hopefully I can continue to be productive while still enjoying the time I have left here. I’m also preparing for when I inevitably become extremely nostalgic during my last week or two — there will be definitely be some tears.

Allie Morgenstern is a junior studying child study and human development. Allie can be reached at allison.morgenstern@tufts.edu.

MADELEINE OLIVER / THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts student holds a Juul on April 15.

by Russell Yip

Contributing Writer

Of late, the use of e-cigarettes has become more ubiquitous at Tufts, or at least it is perceived to be. A recent survey on vaping by the Daily asked 243 respondents to rate how common they think vaping is on campus on a scale of one to five, with five being “very common” — 57% rated either a four or five, with the average being a 3.6.

E-cigarettes, which stands for ‘electronic cigarettes’, are devices that produce aerosol from a liquid, often containing nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals, that users can then inhale. They come in many different designs, but commonly in the likeness of a skinny USB flash drive or a pen. The term ‘vaping’ refers to the use of these devices.

According to the US Surgeon General’s 2016 report on vaping among youth, vaping is linked to numerous health issues, including those caused by nicotine exposure or the inhalation of aerosol. The report also notes that little about the long-term effects of vaping is currently known.

With trends among middle and high schoolers on the rise, as indicated by the Surgeon General’s latest advisory on vaping, both a student-led initiative and the administration are paying more attention to the situation here at Tufts.

Situation at Tufts In 2017, the Tufts Department of Health Promotion and Prevention oversaw the biennial National College Health Assessment II (ACHA-NCHA II) at Tufts, a survey on health and wellness designed by the American College Health Association. It found that out of the 855 Tufts undergraduates that responded, 89.6% of them had not used an e-cigarette before.

In contrast, of the 243 respondents to the Daily’s vaping survey, 132 (54.3%) have tried vaping and 45 (18.5 %) consider themselves active e-cigarette users.

When asked about the prevalence of vaping at Tufts today, Ian Wong, director of health promotion and prevention, explained that while the data that his department has collected so far through

the ACHA-NCHA II reflects low e-cigarette usage among Tufts students, he has observed that more vaping has taken place on campus recently.

“Anecdotally, I hear that a lot of [Tufts] students do it. And just data-wise, if you look at the middle schools and high schools, that’s going to come right onto campus. So, I can’t give you a hard percentage, but I would just have to assume that that trend in high school is a trend that we’ll see here,” Wong said.

Among the 45 self-reported active users, the most popular reason students reported for starting to vape is personal enjoyment (71.1%, while, of the non-users who have vaped before, curiosity ranks first, at 89.8%).

Will Neary, a first-year, observed that vaping at Tufts seems to take place most often at parties.

“I think there is a very small section of students who are … more addicted than others and will use it in their rooms. But for the most part, I would say … wherever people are drinking the most is where they are vaping the most … from what I’ve seen, at least,” Neary said.

Around 94.2% of respondents to the Daily survey said that they have seen other students vape at parties or social events.

The Daily survey also reveals that vaping takes place not only outdoors, but indoors as well. About 87.2% of respondents said they have seen students vape in residential halls, and around 50% and 41.6% said that they saw vaping take place in dining halls and lecture halls respectively.

The Student Code of Conduct specifically prohibits smoking in all university indoor spaces, including academic buildings and residential halls. As described in the code, smoking includes the use of e-cigarettes and other devices associated with vaping.

Student experiences Sophomore YooSeob Jung said that the first time he used nicotine products of any kind was in his senior year of high school, when he tried hookah smoking.

“They have those cafes that have hookahs in Korea, and I tried that with my

friends the first time,” Jung said. “Before that, I didn’t have any experience smoking anything … so it was actually just the idea of blowing smoke out of your mouth [that] was just very interesting.”

Now, Jung considers himself an active e-cigarette user, although he describes his habits as being “on and off” and vapes mainly to cope with the stress he experiences in college.

“Especially in college, I feel like, since people are stressed out all the time, like myself, the only outlet that I could find was to use e-cigarettes,” Jung said. “If I had never started vaping, I would probably find other outlets for stress. But I’ve been kind of wired to use Juuls as an outlet.”

Neary said that he first tried vaping when he was in his sophomore year of high school.

“Honestly, there was no great reason for why I tried it. It was kind of one of those things where I was with some friends and one of my friends had bought one or something,” Neary said.

Neary said that he would consider himself a regular e-cigarette user, but that it was more of a social activity for him. However, he does not consider vaping to be an important part of social life at Tufts at all.

“It’s used a lot [at Tufts], and a lot of people associate it with social life … but I don’t think it makes social life any better.

It’s just kind of an accessory,” Neary said.

“Social life would go on with no hiccups without it.”

Student-led efforts To deal with increasing e-cigarette use at Tufts, several undergraduates have banded together to spread the word about the health and environmental impacts of vaping under the banner of the Tufts’ TobaccoFree Initiative.

Catherine Forster, a senior leading the initiative, explained its shift in focus from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes.

“Our original goal was to promote an environment that had resources to support people who wanted to quit traditional smoking. But in recent years, we know

see VAPING, page 5

F etuftsdaily.com at u r e s

Tuesday, April 16, 2019 | Features | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Tobacco-Free Tufts, Health Promotion to tackle vaping through education, cessation resources VAPING

continued from page 4 from data collected around incoming firstyears that the prevalence of vaping is more significant than smoking traditional cigarettes,” Forster said.

The initiative is by no means new to Tufts, having been established back in 2013, and for most of its history, it sought to implement a tobacco-free policy on the Medford campus. Having faced administrative roadblocks in making Tufts tobacco-free, Forster, who joined the initiative in her first year at Tufts, said that it is now channeling more of its efforts towards education, with an emphasis on reducing e-cigarette use.

“Our main goal is … to raise awareness about the potential health and environmental risks that come with [vaping today],” Forster said. “We’re also hoping to expand our social media presence with more educational pieces.”

She acknowledges, however, that this is still in the works. The Daily survey found that 95.9% of the 243 respondents were not aware of any on-campus efforts to reduce or prevent vaping.

In addition, Forster said that the initiative is working on strengthening its ties with both public health organizations and environmental groups at Tufts, given the health and environmental issues caused by vaping.

Administrative efforts Similarly, part of the Department of Health Promotion and Prevention’s effor ts in managing vaping trends will emphasize education and access to information about vaping.

“We want to make sure … that [students are] educated, so when they do make a choice, either to use e-cigarettes or not use e-cigarettes, they’re very educated consumers, and can understand the health impacts and everything else that might happen,” Wong said.

The department also offers resources for individuals who wish to quit vaping or smoking. According to Wong, they work closely with the Health Service, as well as the chaplaincy, Tufts Dining and the Friedman School of Nutrition, to provide students with a host of options to help them live healthier lives.

The department also seeks to collect more data on e-cigarette use. According to Wong, this will be achieved through the ACHA-NCHA II, which is sent out to Tufts students every two years. It is due to be conducted sometime this calendar year.

In an email to the Daily, Director of Community Standards Kevin Kraft described the administration’s overall stance towards vaping, noting that the onus is on the individual to decide whether to vape or not.

“Using electronic cigarettes is an unhealthy behavior. Students who consider using electronic cigarettes should learn about them, carefully study the contents of products, and make informed decisions about their own health,” Kraft said.

While action will be taken against students who violate the university’s smoking policy, Kraft said that the procedure in dealing with reported violations is intended to educate and repair the harm caused rather than to punish. Fines, for example, are not issued for smoking violations.

“When appropriate staff or police officers become aware of a possible violation, they contact the individual, remind

them of the policy, and document the situation,” Kraft said. “Sanctions for violating the smoking policy are based on an individual analysis of the facts of each situation.”

Regardless, according to Wong, it is important that students are making well-informed decisions about vaping, based on their individual circumstances.

“If you are a long-time older smoker, yes, [vaping] may be better. And yes, it may help you quit, because you can always use the little pods and work your way down on how much nicotine you’re using,” Wong said.

Should e-cigarette users decide to quit, Wong said that Health Promotion is ready to lend a helping hand.

“I hope students understand that that, you know, it’s hard to deal with quitting cigarettes,” Wong said. “We’re here to support them with an array of things, anything from medications from Health Service, to stress reduction, to nutrition, physical activity and get them all these … tools [which] help … students get where they want to be.”

6 Tuesday, April 16, 2019

ARTS&LIVING

Colette Smith and Madison Lehan Love it or Haute it

F

tuftsdaily.com

‘Booksmart’ screening and Q&A: Olivia Wilde’s generational anthem

Biker shorts

rom the Fashion Nova website to social media influencers’ Instagram photos, biker shorts are blowing up. In this week’s installment, Coco and Beans will decide: Is it Haute or Not? Coco: You may be asking yourself, “Why wear your athletic undergarments as a fashion statement?” Maybe because we all saw Kim Kardashian in Japan rocking a few different pairs of Yeezy biker shorts, and since then, many celebrities, like Emily Ratajkowski and Hailey Baldwin, have added them to their athleisure street-style repertoire.

These celebrity looks have proven how cool these biker shorts can be, but there are also a lot of practical reasons to try them out.

Beans: I’m not really sure what to say about this one, to be honest. I had faith in society. I had faith that individuals would make good choices, smart choices, yet here we are. Biker shorts are an abomination. Biker shorts scare me. Just because Kim K. can pull something off does not (and let me say it louder) DOES NOT mean you can.

Coco: Sure, biker shorts might not be for everyone, but they still have so many benefits. Since biker shorts have their roots in athletic wear, they are still super comfortable and can transition to daily wear. Plus, they match with pretty much anything. Oversized sweatshirt?

Turtleneck? High boots? Puffer jacket? Trench coat? Kim Kardashian has rocked biker shorts with all these looks and made it look super cool, and I bet she was pretty comfortable while doing it. I think that biker shorts may be the next leggings, because they share so many of the same great qualities. They both started out in the athletic world and then became daily wear. They both are tight, yet comfortable. They both are versatile, because they both match with so much, and can transition from day to night. So, one day, we may see hordes of college girls going to class in biker shorts instead of their current look of leggings. Instead of Lululemon leggings, Uggs and North Face backpacks, we will see girls walking to class in chunky sneakers, with tiny backpacks and biker shorts. Overall, I think that biker shorts may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they have so many attributes that make them great, and I think that more people should consider trying them out.

Beans: Ok, I get that athleisure is all the rage; everyone is trying to achieve that “just left Orangetheory” look. But biker shorts? All you are achieving with these horrid compression shorts is “I just biked, but not hard enough to break a sweat.”

Colette Smith is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Colette can be reached at colette.smith@tufts.edu. Madison Lehan is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Madison can be reached at madison.lehan@tufts.edu.

COURTESY OF TEASER-TRAILER.COM

The promotional poster for ‘Booksmart’ is pictured.

by Christopher Panella Arts Editor

The Harvard College Film Festival hosted an advance screening of Olivia Wilde’s feature film directorial debut, “Booksmart” (2019), at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge on Thursday, April 11.

The hilarious and heartfelt coming-ofage story follows Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein), two best friends who’ve tackled their high school careers with a no-nonsense attitude. They’re at the top of their class, involved in plenty of clubs and constitute the very definition of driven.

But on the night before their graduation, they discover that they’ve missed out on the parties and the social aspect of their past four years. In what is arguably the most important scene of “Booksmart,” Molly tells Amy they must have done something wrong.

Now, they’re determined to get it right.

They spend most of the film traveling to different parties, desperate to make up for the fun they missed out on while hitting the books. Their journey is laughout-loud funny at some moments; any scene with Gigi (Billie Lourd) practically oozes comedy genius. Their journey is also deeply raw and all about their friendship and the bond they’ve built. There are scenes where that bond is tested, where it’s impossible not to feel invested in Amy and Molly’s lives.

“Booksmart” is a testament to Wilde’s directorial and storytelling abilities, Dever and Feldstein’s acting and chemistry and how relatable a coming-of-age film can feel when it’s authentic. After the screening, Wilde, Dever, Feldstein and Katie Silberman, one of the film’s screenwriters, were brought onstage for a short Q&A. Wilde talked about her methods behind directing “Booksmart,” which included the benefits and struggles behind the film’s short 26-day shoot and working with Silberman on the script. Dever and Feldstein were practically indistinguishable from Amy and Molly; They looked like close friends, which became especially clear when they lived together in an apartment during pre-production.

Wilde said that her dream was to make “Booksmart” a “generational anthem.” It’s undeniable that she succeeded.

The following day, Allied Global Marketing hosted a roundtable interview with Wilde, Dever, Feldstein and Silberman at The Ritz Carlton near the Boston Common. The roundtable featured multiple journalists with questions about “Booksmart,” Wilde’s journey to directing and the process behind the film.

Much of Wilde’s preparation for “Booksmart” included rehearsing with actors on location and visiting locations and blocking out scenes in preparation for the 26-day shoot.

“I basically had the entire movie shot on the wall of the pre-production office,” Wilde said. “I had the entire movie with myself and our production designer, Katie Byron, playing Molly and Amy in every location, blocking out kind of, vaguely, what we thought it would be. Here’s the thing: I think you can prepare an enormous amount and still allow for surprises; you can allow for flexibility.”

Wilde also discussed this preparation’s impact on the cast.

“In terms of asking a lot of the cast, when you have such a short schedule, you don’t have time for the cast to be unprepared — ever,” she said. “I asked the cast to be completely off-book. That is an intense thing to ask actors who have so many lines, they’re basically speaking throughout the film.”

For Dever and Feldstein, this meant memorizing plenty of lines, including a fantastic scene where the two speak in Mandarin in the back of an Uber.

Silberman discussed the script’s ever-changing flexibility, pointing specifically to the changes made based on locations and on-set during filming.

“It evolved all the time because it’s a chemical equation of what’s going on when you’re there,” Silberman explained. “To be able to adapt before we got there based on the physical locations and then because everyone was so prepared, and because Olivia was so prepared, [we had the] freedom to try new things.”

The dialogue, which is fast, fresh and punchy, is made especially clear thanks to Dever and Feldstein’s incredible connection, something that was sparked by their time living together.

“By the time we were shooting the film, we were in each other’s laps, sharing food,” Feldstein said. “There was so much love

there, and so much trust there, we just layered Molly and Amy there.”

The character of Molly herself didn’t come so naturally to Feldstein.

“As far as Molly, she didn’t come very easily to me. I felt very intimidated by her,” she said. “I had been used to being supporting characters who come in and are the joke, and then they leave. I was really intimidated to be on this two-person journey where the two of us are the story.”

Dever echoed Feldstein’s sentiments as she discussed being one of the leads of “Booksmart” — intimidating, but alongside Feldstein, easy.

“It was really nice to have Beanie’s hand to hold throughout the process,” Dever explained. “We both realized, ‘Oh, we’ve never led a film before,’ and that’s super scary, and it’s always amazing to have that best friend to go through something scary.

You also can’t fake chemistry, I think, so it was very easy to love Beanie. It was all about doing normal, real-life things.”

Wilde herself saw that bond, not just between the two leading actresses, but beyond them.

“They did it with the rest of the cast, too,” Wilde said. “These two carrying the lion’s share of the material and working so tremendously hard — [they] didn’t have to be kind of generous with their energy and their spirit as they were with the rest of the cast.

But it was like everyone was a team.”

For some of the cast of “Booksmart,” this was their first time acting. Wilde commented that she kept the set fresh and exciting for them by playing music, taking fun pictures and having them bond off-set on trips to get gas or buy food. The cast is varied, interesting and full of unique personalities that become increasingly lovable and relatable as the film goes on. Sure, “Booksmart” is a film about two best friends, but the community they recognize and the connections they make are just as important.

Wilde’s generational anthem is surely something to be impressed by. For an actress, director and activist of Wilde’s standards, her methods and creative process in making “Booksmart” are simply genius. It’s a film with heart, soul and authenticity. It’s could be the film of the summer, maybe of the year. It certainly deserves to be.

“Booksmart” will be released on May 24.

tuftsdaily.com Art s & Living

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Spag’s: The Fun Store, a Tufts’ mystery solved

by Elizabeth Sander Staff Writer

If you have walked around the Residential Quad at Tufts University anytime in the last three weeks, chances are the storage trailer outside of Houston Hall has caught your attention.

Perhaps you have seen the zoomed-in Instagram stories or the memes circulating Facebook. Maybe you have even heard students joking about the trailer in Carmichael Dining Center. In large fire-engine-red letters, the side of this spectacle reads, “Spag’s,” and below it in black letters: “General Merchandise.”

Next to this grand logo is the tagline “The Fun Store!” And, in quotation marks reads the declaration, “Where you meet your friends & Save Money!”

Now, if you came across this trailer, you must have wondered what it was doing there. As the days passed, you might have even begun to snoop around the construction site (a new pastime of mine) but were that the case, you would have noticed nothing interesting was happening in the remodeling of this dormitory because of that trailer.

Houston is a regular construction site.

Nothing out of the ordinary, like “The Fun Store!” had led you to believe.

Was this trailer some kind of joke?

M Perhaps it had been painted that way

by Tufts itself, or the building company they had hired. It did not seem like this “Fun Store” could be a real place. Who opens a store and calls it Spag’s? The

COURTESY OF PINTEREST.

A Spag’s trailer is depicted. tagline was so cheesy; it hardly made sense. Making friends at the fun store?

The trailer itself was even a little creepy, with the oversized cowboy hat painted on its side. Eventually, the curiosity would become irresistible, and you’d

The owner of Spag’s, Antonio Borgatti is depicted.

COURTESY OF TELEGRAM.COM.

have to enlist the help of Google to satisfy your hunger for knowledge. And in searching online, you would find that Spag’s was a real and beloved superstore in Shrewsbury, Mass.

So, who would open a store called Spag’s?

A man named Antonio Borgatti, who loved spaghetti more than anything.

In opening this store in 1934, Antonio Borgatti envisioned that Spag’s would become everyone’s go-to place. In the beginning, he had just a small stand selling random things, from pens to toys to kitchen utensils. It received its title from the nickname by which Antonio Borgatti was known — Spag, short for spaghetti. Eventually, the store grew into a million-dollar business, one that reflected the owner’s family-centric values. It is hard to imagine making friends while shopping at department stores, given the commercial shopping culture of 2019. But evidently, neighbors from miles around would come to this store, so the chances of seeing a friend or acquaintance while shopping for a new mattress or toys for the kids were high.

People told tales about Spag; they loved him. And from some of the tales recited on blogs by past shoppers, it seems that Spag loved his customers as well. He was known to give away toys to kids for a fraction of their price. And one

time, upon catching a man shoplifting some boots and learning that he and his family had fallen on hard times, Spag gave him those and more. The kind, neighborly ways of Antonio Borgatti were beloved by all, and unfortunately seem to have fallen out of fashion.

Spag’s was shut down in 2013 after having been acquired from Borgatti’s family in 2003. Spag had passed away in 1996, and thus did not live to see the roughest times in his business. It seemed that his friendly ways just weren’t sustainable in the late ‘90s; the new commercialism of the 21st century dominated the corner store competition. Now the original Spag’s has become a complex as part of the redevelopment of Route 9.

This complex includes a Whole Foods, a couple restaurants and apartments as well. The spot where Spag’s sat for years was demolished and seemingly forgotten.

So how did Tufts get this trailer? Well, that is the real mystery. Spag’s used to have hundreds of trailers in their fleet, and given that the store is no longer open, it’s possible that they are very cheap to buy, if not free for the taking.

After all of this snooping, you might why Tufts didn’t paint over this trailer.

Perhaps they thought it would be a kind of funny, quirky thing to leave in front of Houston Hall.

TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER

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Tuesday, April 16, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

F &G FUN & GAMES

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Myshko: “Tom Brady eats soy.”

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Aries (March 21–April 19)

Disciplined practice matters with a physical goal. You’re exceptionally clever with communication over the next three weeks with Mercury in your sign. Express your creativity.

Difficulty Level: Doing literally no work over the long weekend.

Friday’s Solutions

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Opinion CARTOON

A semester in the gutter

9

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Tys Sweeney Repeal and Replace

The Sacklers at Tufts

I

BY NASRIN LIN

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

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

EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily.

OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions.

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t shouldn’t take too much activism or comment to convince our leaders at Tufts that severing ties with the Sackler family is a good idea. More than 130 people die each day in the U.S. due to opioid overdoses in an epidemic kicked off in the 1990s by Purdue Pharma and their aggressive marketing of OxyContin.

The Sackler family name graces the Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, but the university remains frozen, unable to take a stand against a wealthy patron even as lawsuits mount from more than 500 cities, counties, and tribes across the United States. University President Tony Monaco instead decided to equivocate, releasing a note to the Tufts community on March 25th announcing the hiring of a special investigator to review the university’s relationship with the Sackler family and recommend a course of action. Evidently, Tufts believes a single lawyer will deliver clearer results than volumes of publicly available information and nearly two decades of accusations, lawsuits and epidemic death across our nation. Tufts will wait until attorney Donald Stern delivers his review “prior to making any final decisions.”

This, without question, is a morally bankrupt course of action for Tufts to take.

The Sackler family has shown a consistent lack of empathy toward the American people and patients abroad, even suggesting that the blame for opioid addiction lay on those who were prescribed the painkillers by their doctors. Decades of shameless profiteering by the Sacklers have brought us all to a moment of reckoning. I know people who have died as a result of this epidemic. Nearly everyone does.

In 2015, Monaco showed no such hesitation and did not await the results of Bill Cosby’s 2017 trial before revoking his honorary degree at the recommendation of the Board of Trustees. But, of course, Tufts has to conduct special investigation — paid for by our hard-earned tuition dollars — to confirm that the Sacklers have the same “lack of character and integrity that clearly does not represent the values to which our university is committed and for which [they were] honored,” as Monaco wrote of Bill Cosby. To be clear, there is a precedent for the revocation of university honors.

In 2015, Tufts University’s leadership clearly placed great value on the accusations against Bill Cosby and determined that it would be a poor choice to continue its association with the once-beloved public figure who is now a convicted felon.

Today, the university is failing to place the same value on the thousands of accusations against the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma. Why are the Sacklers being held to a higher standard of evidence than Cosby?

Perhaps it is because Tufts views right and wrong in a different light when money is involved.

There is no question that we must repeal and replace the Sackler name at Tufts. Take that hateful name off of our medical school, and revoke the two honorary degrees given unnecessarily to members of the Sackler family. We don’t need their violence at Tufts, nor do we need leadership that is unwilling or unable to stand for what is right.

Tys Sweeney is a sophomore studying political science. Tys can be reached at tys. sweeney@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Tuesday, April 16, 2019

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There is one lecture (MWF 10:30-11:20am) and three lab sections (M, T, or W 1:30-2:45pm).

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Sports

Tuesday, April 16, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

11

Following success against Brandeis, No. 8 women’s tennis falls to Middlebury

by Helen Thomas-McLean

The No. 8 Tufts hosted Brandeis at Voute Courts on Thursday, claiming a 6–3 victory before traveling to Vermont to take on Middlebury on Saturday. The Jumbos fell 7–2 to the Panthers, dropping their overall record to 6–6 and their in-conference record to 4–3 with a quarter of their regular season left to play.

Transitioning into NESCAC competition after Thursday’s win, the Tufts Jumbos entered the contest against Middlebury aware of the Panthers’ strength. The prolific squad is undefeated in-conference, and Obeid commented that the Jumbos’ faltering confidence against Middlebury stood in the way of the team’s success.

“At times we were a little anxious, hesitating and feeling down,” Obeid said. “I think that affected us greatly.”

For first-year Maggie Dorr, the anticipation of competing against the highly ranked Panthers sparked motivation to perform at a higher level.

“Personally, I felt more fired up to beat Middlebury,” Dorr said. “I knew we were capable of beating them.”

The Jumbos left Vermont with a tough in-conference loss to the No. 3 team in the nation, despite putting up strong performances. The dynamic duo of first-years Dorr and Caroline Garrido rallied for a Tufts doubles victory, beating junior Heather Boehm and sophomore Ann Martin Skelly 8–6. Dorr also had Tufts’ sole victory in singles, beating Middlebury junior Katherine Hughes 7–5, 2–6, 10–8 in the last match of the day.

“Winning that match felt really good,” Dorr said. “I was happy that I was able to support the team and fight for the win.”

Although the Jumbos did not obtain the outcome they had hoped for against the Panthers, they felt proud of their performance, especially given the Panthers’ proven prowess on the courts.

“I think our performance overall has increased as the season’s gone on, and we’re only going to get better,” Dorr said.

Obeid echoed the same enthusiasm.

“I think we had a great team dynamic

BEN KIM /THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Junior Kat Wiley prepares for a serve during a doubles match in the women’s tennis home game against Williams at the Voute Tennis Courts on April 28, 2018. overall,” Obeid said. “Everyone was very supportive of one another, screaming for each other on the court and recognizing good performances.”

A couple days earlier, Tufts defeated visiting No. 14 Brandeis 6–3. Entering the

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April 11 matchup, six spots separated the Judges and the No. 8 Jumbos. Earlier in the season, Brandeis beat Tufts’ NESCAC rivals Bates, Colby and Bowdoin. The Judges’ 5–4 victory over the Bowdoin Polar Bears was particularly impressive,

as the Jumbos fell 7–2 to the Polar Bears on March 29.

Tufts got off to an early lead against Brandeis, sweeping the doubles competition 3–0. Tufts had standout performances across the board: Dorr and Garrido defeated Brandeis senior Olivia Leavitt and sophomore Lauren Bertsch 8–4, while senior Tomo Iwasaki and sophomore Patricia Obeid beat Brandeis senior Sophia He and first-year Anna Hatfield 8–3. Continuing with the Jumbos’ dominance, junior Kat Wiley and first-year Anna Lowy claimed a victory against Brandeis junior Diana Dehterevich and senior Keren Khromchenko 8–5.

According to Obeid, the team’s determination to succeed in the doubles competition set the stage for future success.

“We were able to keep up high energy and [stay] focused,” Obeid said. “Going up 3–0 in doubles gave us the confidence to perform well in singles.”

Tufts tied with Brandeis in singles with three wins apiece. Iwasaki beat Leavitt 2–6, 6–2, 11–9. Obeid defeated Khromchenko in straight sets, 6–4, 6–2.

Rounding out the Tufts performance, Garrido claimed a commanding victory over Bertsch, winning 6–1, 6–0.

Dorr cited the team’s energy and positivity as the key to their success against Brandeis.

“We had a ton of confidence,” Dorr said. “We were so fired up and so energetic, everyone was cheering for each other … there was no doubt in my mind that we were going to win that match.”

In the team’s penultimate home stand of the regular season, Tufts takes on Wellesley College on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and Conn. College on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Until then, the team will focus on fine tuning their game by practicing scenarios that are likely to occur in match play.

The team is also working on improving its fitness so that it can maintain its intensity over the stretch.

Looking towards the home matches, Dorr spoke to the team’s goals.

“We’re just going to go out there and try our best, not worrying about the score,” Dorr said. “We’re just going to try to play great tennis.”

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Assistant Sports Editor

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Sam Weidner Weidner's Words

The Magic is Gone

T

he Los Angeles Lakers’ season began with more promise than most — the NBA’s premier franchise once again had the best player in the NBA suiting up for them every night. Lakers legend Magic Johnson was on board, and he was reformulating the roster into one that would win again. Then he signed Lance Stephenson and Rajon Rondo, then he traded Zubac for next to nothing and then the Lakers went 37–45 and missed the playoffs.

A fan base that two months ago was convinced they were going to get Anthony Davis to pair with LeBron James is now grappling with a lottery team whose general manager just resigned and whose coach has been traded. Magic Johnson’s resignation speech was a great exclamation point to the season, as he gave a number of strange justifications for leaving.

One justification went like this: “I’m a free bird and I’ve been handcuffed.” Or another one: “I think I had more fun when I was able to be the big brother and the ambassador to everybody.”

Johnson continued: “I thought about Dwyane Wade retiring and I can’t even tweet it out, I can’t be there.”

So Magic Johnson is essentially telling us that he left his job so he could get back on NBA twitter.

This Lakers season has shown that the big market method of building teams that teams such as the Lakers and the Knicks have traditionally advocated for is failing. NBA markets are growing across the board and the small city teams are not as disadvantaged as they used to be. Big markets like the Lakers, Chicago Bulls and Knicks have struck out on their free agency acquisitions over the last 10 years. The Bulls haven’t gotten anyone besides Wade — far past his prime, no less — and the Knicks landed big names like Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah after years of injuries had hampered their performances. Even the Lakers’ getting LeBron has been qualified now, as it appears he is heading into the twilight of his career.

The teams that have built themselves through smart player development and drafting such as the Warriors, the Celtics and the Raptors have demonstrated how to succeed in today’s NBA, which differs vastly from yesteryear’s in terms of cap flexibility, team chemistry and the amount of players that are buying into the team culture and system.

The Lakers method of using the flash of Los Angeles, Calif. and the stardom of Magic Johnson to attract great players doesn’t seem to be working in the way that everyone hoped it might, and it seems less and less likely now that Paul George, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins or Kawhi Leonard are ever actually coming to join LeBron. Before any of that can even happen, the Lakers have to instead worry about actually getting a coach and a general manager, and the current state of affairs hasn’t given fans any reason to have faith that they will do a good job with those hires, either.

Sam Weidner is a junior studying mathematics. Sam can be reached at samuel. weidner@tufts.edu.

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

A Look Inside the NFL: One-on-one with David Bergeron

by Aiden Herrod Staff Writer

Football is a sport beloved by many.

Players, coaches, executives and fans are all drawn together by the oftentimes inescapable allure of one of the most physically demanding and strategy-driven team sports in the world. Unifying it at the highest level is the NFL, a corporate entity massive in influence and scale. The choices made by owners and executives in the NFL have lasting impacts on coaches, fans and players. From the infamous lockouts to Colin Kaepernick being pushed out of the league, the NFL is no stranger to issues and controversy surrounding its most valuable asset: players.

In the constant shuffle of headlines, hot takes and pseudo-punditry analysis, maintaining perspective is integral to understand the true innerworkings of the NFL. And who better to provide that perspective than a player himself? The Daily got on the phone with David Bergeron, a former NFL player and current president of commercial real estate agency T3 Advisors, who provided insight into the life of a player and the real, behindthe-scenes business side of the NFL. Bergeron was a three-year starter at linebacker for Stanford before being drafted in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. After being drafted, he spent training camp with the Eagles before he was cut to make way for the required 52-man roster. He was then picked up by the Tennessee Titans, who subsequently released him as well before he landed with the Carolina Panthers. He played limited snaps in the Panthers’ 2005 playoff run before being allocated to play in NFL Europe, a spring league that emphasizes player development.

Bergeron extensively acknowledged the amazing opportunities he has had through football.

“I was coming out of Oregon, [a] very small football state, and the fact that I was going to get a full scholarship to Stanford alone was like, ‘If nothing else happens in my life because of football, I will feel really fulfilled,’” Bergeron said. “I got to Stanford, thought for sure I’d never play, began to work hard and all of a sudden one thing leads to another and I wake up and I’ve been a threeyear starter and a productive football player in the Pac-10. That was when I realized and was being told, ‘I’ve got a real shot at this.’”

But there are hurdles aplenty in a league where NCAA seniors have a 2% chance to get drafted.

“It’s such a competitive game, and there’s a tight filter that you run through,” Bergeron said. “It requires you to be thoughtful, focused, committed — whatever it’s gonna take to survive this gauntlet that is American football.”

Dedicating yourself in the manner that any player needs to is just one of the challenges a player like Bergeron faced. Such dedication never guarantees a long career — the average NFL career spans a mere 3.3 years.

“You expect a lot out of yourself. You have to, there can’t be any sort of sliver of doubt around whether you should or shouldn’t be there,” Bergeron said.

It’s no secret that the NFL is a league where players are cut without a moment’s notice. Bergeron was cut three times in his four-year career.

“You feel like you’re doing a lot of good stuff,” Bergeron said. “I felt that way in Philly for sure … That moment of getting cut, it’s so transactional. It’s pretty intense. I’ve never

COURESTY DAVID BERGERON

David Bergeron, former NFL player and president of T3 Advisors, is pictured. been told I couldn’t play anywhere, and now for the first time, I’m being told ‘We want you to go home.’ It’s a humbling experience.”

Fans and players alike are constantly reminded of the business elements of the game throughout the season: Their favorite players are traded away, or athletes are given a steady dose of painkillers to play through pain in order to best market themselves to win a longer-term contract. Players like Bergeron quickly realize they need to adapt to thrive.

“The NFL is a business first, and a sport second,” he said. “As a player of the NFL, you have to think of yourself almost like an individual company. You’re running your own startup as a freshly minted out-of-college NFL player trying to compete on the biggest stage.”

Such dedication can take a toll when the effort isn’t met with success. Bergeron noted that no matter how hard you work and however much you dedicate yourself, the sheer magnitude of the business you’ve thrust yourself into can be too much.

“If you’re not careful, regardless of how successful you were either financially or from a performance perspective, you’re gonna be faced with some version of an identity crisis,” Bergeron said.

Bergeron emphasized the value of flexibility in a player. Teams will ask athletes to play in different roles, making it hard to succeed as a one-trick pony.

“Outside of the super-mega stars, where franchises move for them instead of the other way around, everyone’s got to have some malleable nature to their game, approach and role,” Bergeron said. “It’s also why the average career in this league is only three years.”

Another element that struck Bergeron from his time in the NFL was just how different the 32 teams were from one another. He learned that there are essentially 32 different companies. And while they play under the same rules and market themselves similarly, there are serious differences franchise to franchise.

“When it comes to the [general managers], owners and coaches for each of these teams, they’re all very different,” Bergeron said. “They

have different philosophies and approaches to drafting and free agency. Every time you’re walking into a new locker room, you’re joining a new company. It’s like a new family.”

At the core of the NFL experience is a sense of raw, uncontainable emotion that can consume a player when self-doubt enters his psyche. It can happen at a player’s first mini-camp, regular season game or even right when he’s drafted. For Bergeron, those moments are what makes the experience memorable.

“They’re all part of what makes that sport so fun, the real raw emotional [elements].

The stakes are really high, and they make the fear element of that game highly motivating,” Bergeron said. “It’s a real driving force that can be incredibly powerful when harnessed the right way.”

At the end of the day, for all the NFL’s flaws, Bergeron can still point to countless incredible opportunities and people he has seen through playing in the league. Bergeron specifically pointed to Chris Draft, who, like Bergeron before him, was a linebacker at Stanford and played for multiple teams throughout his career. On the field, he knew defensive schemes inside and out and was a player’s favorite on the teams he played for, according to Bergeron. More impressive for Bergeron, though, was his commitment to the community.

“I think he was the gold standard for being incredibly focused when it came to his discipline and craft … he really understood schemes and what a defensive coordinator wanted on the field,” Bergeron explained.

“He was also an unbelievably involved community person. He spent all of his time up in the marketing department’s office, working with the community outreach teams. A lot of guys really looked up to him.”

Draft represented to David and countless other players a side of the league fans often do not see. One where a love and knowledge of the game dovetails with its power to positively impact community outreach and awareness. Years after hanging up his cleats, Bergeron still looks back at his time in the NFL with a special kind of love for the game and the competition it provides.