TuftsDaily10-15-2012

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THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

monday, october 15, 2012

VOLUME LXIV, NUMBER 25

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Jon Lovett speaks on politics, election season

by Stephanie

Haven

Daily Editorial Board

Speechwriter Jon Lovett spoke about his jobs with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama, as well as his new NBC sitcom “1600 Penn,” at Cabot Auditorium last night as part two of the Tufts Lecturtainment Weekend. Part one featured YouTube comedian Bo Burnham in Cohen Auditorium on Saturday night.

In the discussion, Lovett shared his advice for students to succeed in politics: “Be brazen, be confident and be aware that you suck.”

Although he said the three characteristics are difficult to balance, he noted that young adults must stay humble in their first jobs to move up the political ladder.

“You do not know you are terrible, or you would fix it,” Lovett said. “But it is important to know what you do not know.”

A speechwriter for Obama from 2009 to 2011, Lovett said his first job in politics did not originate from a campaign connection. Rather, as a volunteer for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, Lovett said he asked to write a statement for the candidate. The piece he wrote resulted in an internship offer.

“For all the ways in which connections work, if you do something well, people notice,” Lovett said. “You will be amazed at how many people do not take their first job seriously.”

After a year as a stand-up comedian in New York City, Lovett ventured to Washington, D.C., where he became a speechwriter for Clinton in her Senate office. As Clinton entered the presidential election in 2008, Lovett said he was determined to write for her campaign.

First, he said he drove to the election office and asked for a badge to enter. Then, he said he asked for a computer and a space to work.

Eventually, Lovett said he requested money for his work and an office so he was not writ-

ing speeches in the hallway—thus he became a speechwriter for a presidential candidate.

While he said he enjoyed working for Clinton’s presidential campaign, Lovett noted that the campaign was composed of employees who looked out for themselves rather than their policy. He said this mindset led to organizational and monetary problems for Clinton in the 2008 primaries.

“Everyone froze because the leaders on top were just not equipped to do the job,” Lovett said. “They just were not leaders.”

Soon thereafter, Lovett said he had to shift allegiances as Obama assumed the presidency in 2009. To select the final White House speechwriter for Obama, there was an anonymous contest in which people submitted speeches on the same topic without including a name or resume, which Lovett said he appreciated as he had spent the previous year writing about Obama’s faults.

“If I knew I would have the same job no matter who won the election, I would have been a lot less passionate,” he said.

While he was not originally a supporter of Obama, Lovett said it did not take long to appreciate the president’s fortitude and integrity towards his work in the White House.

“What you see really is what you get; he is a really even-keeled guy,” Lovett said. “It is reassuring to see that he is the same behind doors as he is on camera.”

After he spoke, Lovett took questions from many members of the audience. While some asked for more detail about working in the White House, several asked about the 2012 presidential election and why he switched career paths.

“As quick as I decided to do comedy, I decided to go to politics,” Lovett said.

“If my heart was really in it, I would have tried harder.”

Lovett is currently finishing production for season one of “1600 Penn,” an NBC sitcom he co-created about a president’s misfit son.

Zhuangchen Zhou / The Tufts Daily

As part of the process to retain Tufts’ accreditation, the university recently released a draft of a comprehensive self-study. Representatives from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges will visit campus in the spring to review the self-study.

Administration prepares for accreditation visit by

Daphne Kolios

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts administrators last month released a draft of a university-wide self-study in anticipation of a visit from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) in 2013, when Tufts’ standing as an accredited institution will be evaluated.

The reaccreditation process works on a 10-year cycle, according to Associate Provost for Institutional Research and Evaluation Dawn Terkla, who is chair of the self-study steering committee.

Every institution that receives federal financial aid must be accredited, she said.

NEASC is one of seven regional

accreditation organizations across the country, all of which report to the U.S. Department of Education, according to Accreditation Coordinator Lara Quiroga.

The self-study examines 11 accreditation standards prescribed by NEASC, including Tufts’ mission and purpose, academics, governance, students and faculty.

“The self-study is a product of the reaccreditation process ... it’s meant to tell the story of Tufts,” Quiroga said. “[It shows] what we’ve been doing and what things we want to work on and [looks] at how we do compared to the standards.”

From March 10 to 13, a 10-person see NEASC, page 2

Fletcher establishes Korean Studies chair

by James

Pouliot

Daily Editorial Board

Stephanie Haven / The Tufts Daily

Jon Lovett, former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, spoke last night to a packed audience in Cabot Auditorium.

Health Service to hold two flu clinics Flu shot clinics will be held this week at Health Service at 124 Professors Row in the Lower Level Conference Room.

The vaccinations are free of charge and available to all undergraduate and graduate students who paid the mandatory comprehensive student health fee.

Monday, Oct. 15 11:30 a.m. — 3 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 17 11:30 a.m. — 3 p.m.

Inside this issue

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy this semester created a chair position for Korean Studies, allowing for an increase in the school’s course offerings on Korean history and affairs.

Assistant Professor of Korean Studies Sung-Yoon Lee (F ’94), who specializes in Korea and U.S.-East Asia relations, was appointed as the first chair-holder. “[Lee] is very much a practitioner,” Dean of the Fletcher School Stephen Bosworth said. “He writes opinion pieces on developments in both North and South Korea, he has an extensive [curriculum vitae] and he is an excellent teacher ... his student evaluations are outstanding.”

The Korean Studies chair will be funded by an endowment from the Kim Koo Foundation and the Korea Foundation, the latter of which is funded by the South Korean government, according to Bosworth. The endowment does not currently cover the full cost of employing Lee, but Bosworth is

confident that it will grow.

Lee, who has taught for a number of years in the Department of History and at Fletcher, was hired for the professorship after an international search.

As a tenure-track employee, Lee will be expected to teach three to four courses per year and regularly publish scholarly work on the Korean Peninsula before coming up for tenure review.

Lee immigrated to the United States in 1984 to attend high school and college, later pursuing a Master of Arts in law and diplomacy as well as a doctoral degree at Fletcher. Although he has worked with the Korea Institute at Harvard University, he said he has considered Fletcher his intellectual haven for the past 20 years.

“My role is to commit myself to teaching and doing research on Korean politics and to engage the students, scholars and policy makers in the region and at the Fletcher School to take an interest in Korea,” Lee said. “I feel very privileged to have that opportunity. It’s see FLETCHER, page 2

Today’s sections

Young women are increasingly taking the helm of Tufts’ religious organizations.

Symphony Hall resonates with a stunning rendition of Tchaikovsky’s work.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Op-Ed

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

9 12 14 Back

The Tufts Daily

2

News

Monday, October 15, 2012

Visiting the Hill this Week MONDAY “Spare Some Change? Reacting to Homelessness” Details: Mark Alston-Follansbee, executive director of the Somerville Homeless Coalition, will be speaking about homelessness.

When and Where: 12 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.; Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center Sponsors: Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and the Leonard Carmichael Society TUESDAY “Engage the Debate” Details: Provost and Senior Vice President David Harris will host a faculty panel followed by a viewing of the second presidential debate. Panelists will include Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser; Senior Lecturer and Director of the Community Health Program Edith Balbach; Professor of International

Economic Affairs at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Michael Klein; Associate Professor in the Political Science Department Richard Eichenberg; and Associate Professor in the Sociology Department Sarah Sobieraj.

When and Where: 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Cabot ASEAN Auditorium Sponsors: Office of the Provost WEDNESDAY “The U.S. Foreign Service: Behind the Scenes of American Diplomacy” Details: Nicholas Kralev, author of “America’s Other Army” and former Financial Times and Washington Times correspondent, will be discussing his new book and foreign policy in the 21st century.

When and Where: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; ASEAN Auditorium Sponsors: The Fletcher Diplomacy Club, the Fletcher International Security Studies Program and PRAXIS

THURSDAY “People vs. Places: Investing in Emerging Environmental Leaders” Details: Executive Director of Groundwork Somerville Chris Mancini will be speaking about environmental leadership.

When and Where: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.; Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center Sponsors: Environmental Studies Program and the Tufts Institute of the Environment

Details: Joel Simkhai (LA ‘98), founder and CEO of the social networking app Grindr, will be discussing the influence of Grindr and how to start a business.

When and Where: 5:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Robinson 253 Sponsors: The LGBT Center

“Centennial of a Journey: Two Western Feminists in Africa and Asia, 1911-12” Details: Writer, activist and educator Harriet Feinberg will be speaking about the leaders of the feminist movement Carrie Chapman Catt and Aletta Jacobs.

When and Where: 4:30 p.m.; 48 Professors Row Sponsors: Center for the Humanities at Tufts

FRIDAY “Sam Sommers: Parents and Family Weekend Author Talk” Details: Sam Sommers, social psychologist and associate professor of psychology, will be speaking about his book “Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World.” He will be available for a book signing after the talk.

When and Where: 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Hirsh Reading Room, Tisch Library Sponsors: Friends of Tufts Libraries

“A Conversation with Grindr Founder Joel Simkhai”

—compiled by the Daily News Department

Self-study draft to undergo changes NEASC

continued from page 1

team assembled by NEASC will visit campus to review the self-study and speak to members of the Tufts community. The team will be comprised of another university’s president, faculty and staff.

“Then they will write an assessment report, and that report along with the self-study will go to the ...

[NEASC Commission on Institutions of Higher Education], and then they will make a determination based on what our status will be going forward,” Terkla said.

The university received notification of its upcoming reaccreditation visit in January 2011, and a kickoff meeting for the self-study was held the following September, according to Terkla.

Eleven working groups were established to evaluate how well Tufts was meeting each standard, according to Terkla.

Group members include a mixture of faculty, staff, deans and students from the Medford/Somerville, Boston and Grafton campuses, according to Quiroga.

Given that the self-study speaks of the university as a whole, it makes note of structural differences and institutional coherence, according to Professor and Chair of the Mathematics Department Boris Hasselblatt, who is also co-chair of

the working group in charge of the faculty standard.

“Generally, the real thrust of what the NEASC wants to see is that we have an idea of what it is we want to do and how, and as a result of having thought about where we stand and what we want to accomplish, that we adapt our approaches accordingly,” Hasselblatt said.

Current preparations for the visit include logistical planning and compiling the necessary materials for the team, such as course syllabi, finance reports and bulletins from each school, Terkla said.

Feedback on the 100-page selfstudy draft was solicited via an online survey and two meetings that were held last week, according to Terkla.

“We had probably about 10 people attend the two open hearings, and there have been numerous people that have responded to the online option,” she said.

The steering committee will meet today to go over the feedback and determine how it will be incorporated into the final draft, according to Terkla.

Feedback on the self-study has thus far included comments that check on facts and provide updates where projections had been made in the draft, she added.

Terkla noted that the final selfstudy must be sent to NEASC six weeks in advance of their visit.

TCU Senate update

Jenna Liang / Tufts Daily archives

Security camera resolution highlights meeting The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate at its meeting last night discussed an unfinished resolution that would articulate the community’s feelings about the Tufts University Police Department’s (TUPD) proposed addition of security cameras to campus. While a resolution to oppose the cameras was brought up in the previous session, it was remanded to the Senate Rules Committee for reevaluation.

TCU Parliamentarian Robert Joseph, a sophomore, said that the resolution has been modified and scaled down since last week’s meeting.

Rather than opposing the security cameras, the new resolution would attempt to set up rules and expectations about how they might be used.

TCU President Wyatt Cadley, a senior, said that these changes were made in response to the feeling that much of the administration had already put their support behind a video security system.

Senators voiced concerns about “shutting down the conversation” if the Senate were to pass a resolution opposing the cameras in full.

Among the changes to the resolution was the suggestion that a list be compiled of locations the Senate deems inappropriate to monitor with

cameras, such as the front of the Mayer Campus Center. Other senators suggested including provisions to prevent racial profiling among officers assigned to look for suspicious behavior, though few specific plans were brought up.

The resolution was not voted on and will remain under evaluation this week. TCU Judiciary Historian Jesse Comak, a senior, informed the Senate that a meeting between the Judiciary and representatives of the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) had been scheduled this week.

TCF is currently suspended following the Judiciary’s finding that their constitution violates religious discrimination rules.

The body allocated $2,500 to the a cappella group Tufts SQ! for renting a minivan and paying for gas during their Winter Tour.

Cadley stressed that the members had already made individual contributions to the tour and that financial assistance was “the least we could do.”

The allocation passed unanimously.

—by James Pouliot

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy this semester announced that Professor SungYoon Lee will fill the position of a new chair dedicated to Korean studies.

New Fletcher chair Lee an expert in Korean affairs, US-East Asia relations FLETCHER

continued from page 1

really a dream come true.”

Lee said he has been strongly influenced by his mentor and former academic advisor, Fletcher School Professor John Perry. The two first met in Seoul, South Korea and bonded over their shared interest in Korean history and culture, according to Perry.

“He has forensic eloquence,” Perry said. “He’s a master of the English language, and he’s a fine speaker. Many academics are not particularly interested in that, but he’s done extremely well as a practitioner of the spoken art.”

Korea’s role in the world today is an important success story and potential model for developing countries, according to Lee. Although South Korea suffered from extreme poverty in the 1960s, Lee said the country is now a strong leader in the electronics, car and shipbuilding industries.

However, Lee explained that his main area of study is North Korea, which he calls an “exemplary failed state” in contrast to its southern neighbor.

“North Korea embodies all the prob-

lems that the international relations student is interested in,” he said. “You have a communist dynasty — which is a unique phenomenon — you have the world’s most isolated country, nuclear proliferation, gross human rights violations and a famine taking place in an industrialized, literate economy, which the world has never seen before.”

Lee said he is writing a book about democracy in the Korean Peninsula called “In Due Course: The Conception of Korean Freedom,” in which he postulates that South Korea will eventually absorb North Korea.

Sooyeon Kang, a second-year graduate student at Fletcher and one of Lee’s thesis advisees, believes the professor has a talent for engaging a classroom.

Kang also praised Lee’s support of the budding North Korean Scholarship Society, a group of students that gathers to discuss events and academic work related to North Korea.

“I think the establishment of the chairmanship itself signifies a growing interest in Korea,” Kang said. “Professor Lee will mobilize that momentum to increase the awareness of the significance of the region.”

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Alanna Tuller | Archive Addict

Politics, Jumbo-style

W

Nick Pfosi / The Tufts Daily

Communities of faith on the Hill are represented by a large number of women religious leaders.

Women religious leaders on campus reflect on role of women in the chaplaincy Female chaplaincy gains momentum across religions at Tufts

by Jacob

Passy

Daily Editorial Board

With so many faiths represented on the Hill, religious support for the student body must cover a broad range of traditions. Across these various religions, students are likely to find a young woman in the chaplaincy leading the way.

Although many other colleges and universities have female chaplains, the high proportion of women to men distinguishes Tufts’ chaplaincy.

Young female chaplains serve the Protestant, Catholic and Muslim communities at Tufts, in addition to the position of the university chaplain ad interim held by Reverend Patricia Budd Kepler.

The chaplains, along with Rabbi Kerrith Rosenbaum at Tufts Hillel, share the rare opportunities inherent in being a woman in a position of religious authority.

While these women now hold positions of power, they have not forgotten the opposition that females have faced in organized religion, both historically and today.

Kepler recounted that she was a part of the women’s rights movement within the Presbyterian Church.

“When I first went to seminary, women were not being ordained,” she said. “It didn’t just affect women as clergy, it affected the whole of how women were seen.”

According to Kepler, the movement encompassed a broad range of issues of women’s rights, from having women become ministers to listing women who served in churches under their own name rather than that of their husbands.

“It’s been a long haul because in the beginning there were very few women who were ordained, and there were not many churches that wanted women as clergy,” Kepler said.

Despite movement towards equality, some faiths refuse to accept women as leaders. In an article and accompanying multimedia piece published in late September, the New York Times reported that there is a growing initiative to ordain women in the Roman Catholic Church, which continues to maintain a patriarchal order.

Protestant Chaplain Rachael Pettengill-Rasure discovered the difficulty of being a woman in a restrictive

faith when she was a member of the evangelical Christian tradition growing up.

“I went to a Christian college to study to become a minister, but one of the issues was my gender because, in the tradition I was a part of, women were not allowed to be leaders in the church,” she said.

Pettengill-Rasure added that, over time, she felt much less accepted by her religious community, propelling her to make the switch to the Episcopal Church.

Pettengill-Rasure said that when she grappled with the role of women in religion, she would turn toward the Bible.

“For Christians, people who approach the Bible more literally will argue that the Bible says that women can’t be leaders,” she said. “But if you dig deeper, you’ll find so many stories in the Bible of examples of women as leaders.”

Many Tufts students have had their first interaction with a female religious authority figure on the Hill.

Junior Megan Berkowitz said that it was refreshing to meet and engage with Catholic Chaplain Lynn Cooper.

“A woman’s life experiences are going to be necessarily different from a man’s life experiences,” Berkowitz said. “In a tradition that puts men in the visible forefront, having a woman to relate to who has worked inside that hierarchy is really helpful.”

Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, who is currently the only male chaplain at Tufts, echoed the importance of a female perspective.

“I think that a person’s gender, of course, is a factor in how we function in the world,” he said. “But when we work with a mixed community of men, women and people who are transgender, we benefit from having people of different genders serving as chaplains.”

Rosenbaum feels that her role at Tufts has been determined by more than solely her gender.

“I really felt like this wasn’t a place that I had to say, ‘I’m a female rabbi and let me tell you what that means,’ but that I could come here and be my full self,” she said.

For many of these women, the “full self” means bringing their individual perspectives as young religious leaders to the table, which has allowed them to be increasingly accessible and open to students.

Berkowitz noted that Cooper, who herself graduated from Tufts in 2002, was helpful in advising her on many Tufts-specific issues, from handling stress to choosing courses.

“Outside of her role as a spiritual guide, she just has practical knowledge about the university,” Berkowitz said.

To Muslim Chaplain Naila Baloch, these kinds of daily issues are a vital component of the work that the Chaplaincy does.

“For the chaplaincy, the challenge is ... letting people know that we are a spiritual resource, but that doesn’t just mean coming to us only when you have spiritual thoughts or questions,” Baloch said.

Many of these religious leaders play a strong role for students on campus, particularly since crises of faith are a common part of the college experience, according to Baloch.

“It’s about normalizing that this is part of the process, it’s normal to come to college and begin questioning things,” she said.

Sophomore Alice Chan, who serves on the board of the Protestant Students Association, found it helpful to interact with her chaplain and said that it helped reaffirm her faith.

“Coming here it’s been very eyeopening in a sense because I’ve met these people who have similar ideals but come from different traditions,” Chan said, noting that Tufts helped her to mold her Christian identity.

Cooper, whose views on religion were tested in her time at Tufts and at Harvard Divinity School, added that she understood it is not always easy balancing college and religious life.

“Being a part of a religious tradition you have to work hard and asking tough questions is really inconvenient and uncomfortable,” she said.

Ultimately the female religious leaders agreed that the most important aspect of working within the chaplaincy was promoting acceptance and support among the student body — something they had not always encountered personally.

“In doing the work that we do, [we] help students who have felt injured in any sort of way or discriminated against,” Pettengill-Rasure said. “[This] gives us a way to empower them and gives them the opportunity to really shine.”

hile watching the most recent Presidential debate in an auditorium full of my fellow Jumbos, it warmed my heart to see others so engaged in the election. I began to wonder, though, if the typical Tufts student has always taken such an interest in politics. In my weekly raid of the Archives I uncovered the Tufts Mayoralty Campaigns, certainly one of the more unique forms of political expression in Tufts’ past.

It all began with a 1937 letter to the editor of the Tufts Weekly, in which a student opined, “there is one thing sadly lacking in our college campus life. Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest to you the idea of a college mayoralty campaign.” The hope was that a Tufts Mayor — and an especially wacky campaign process — would inspire greater school spirit in the years following the Great Depression.

However, these campaigns were not without some of the problems we see in politics today. In a rather sarcastic description of his expectations for the campaign, the letter writer predicted that “We [will] listen to candidates making speeches full of outlandish promises” and speculated that “the candidate with the loudest voice will win,” bringing to mind images of Romney and Obama positively steamrolling poor Jim Lehrer.

And, just like today, voter turnout was an issue as well. One Tufts Mayoralty Campaign worker threatened, “We’re going to get a 100% vote in this election if I have to carry a ballot box around with me.” The similarities stop here, though, because the campaigns also had their unusual aspects.

Rather than the attack ads, emails and convention speeches that comprise a modern campaign, Tufts mayoral candidates were expected to engage in quasi-guerilla stumping. As the Weekly dramatically described, it was the norm for would-be mayors to make “impromptu speeches” which took place at an undisclosed location “as soon as the cover of darkness descends.”

Zany costumes and performances were also encouraged and one journalist reported that to say the campaigns “are a howl is stating it mildly.”

Candidates’ platforms tended to be a bit odd as well. Donald Simmons, the first Tufts mayor, ran on a platform whose sole concern was establishing “a regime of Jazznocracy.” The record also tells us that during his campaign he replaced speechmaking with a swing band which played the day’s greatest hits for his voters.

In spite of the general absurdity of a music-based platform, true social progress was accomplished by the Mayoralty Campaigns — well, almost. I was thrilled to read about the first female candidate for mayor, one Pat Deeley, who ran for office in 1946. I was less thrilled however, by her campaign slogan, “[T]he way to a man’s vote is through his stomach — and his heart” and by her promise “to feed her Tufts supporters and to reward each vote with a date.” Suffice it to say Deeley’s campaign wasn’t shy about exploiting gender stereotypes for a couple of votes.

Yet just two short decades after its initial inception the mayor of Tufts had become nothing more than a figurehead. I suppose it was only a matter of time, though, because at their core Mayoralty Campaigns were nothing more than a popularity contest. By 1959, the tradition was officially defunct and, despite a brief revival for the 1966-67 school year, Tufts has been mayorless ever since.

Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly looking forward to the rest of election season and I plan to watch Obama and Romney duke it out for the prize of presidency over the next few weeks. But just for a break from the monotony of the election I think we would all benefit if a zany Mayoralty Campaign were to rise from the ashes of forgotten campus politics.

Alanna Tuller is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at Alanna.

Tuller@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

4

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What is R25 and How it Works!

For All Student Organizations

Come to this informational session on how to most successfully navigate the R25 Room Reservation System. If your student organization uses R25 this program is for you.

Come learn the processes, nuances, and resources of the R25 site. Many tips and tricks will be presented to help you efficiently and effectively reserve space on campus.

For Further Information Please Contact OCL at x73212 or ocl@tufts.edu

Two Sessions Being Offered!

Wednesday October 17 12 noon, Campus Center 203 Monday October 22 12 noon, Campus Center 218

Please RSVP to ocl@tufts.edu with name and session date you would like to attend. Please put “R25 Session� in Subject Line.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

Concert Review

Boston Symphony Orchestra shines under Marcelo Lehninger’s conducting by

Panharith Chhum Daily Staff Writer

Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor Marcelo Lehninger directed an outstanding rendition of Pyotr Ilyich

Boston Symphony Orchestra At Symphony Hall, Oct. 4-6 301 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, MA 02115 888-266-1200 Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” at Symphony Hall on Oct. 4, despite his overly extravagant conducting style. It was a refreshing return to Tchaikovsky since Lehninger’s failed performance of the composer’s Sixth Symphony “Pathetique” last fall.

During “Romeo and Juliet,” Lehninger was both expressive and emotive. At certain points in the score the conductor could have easily been casting a spell, challenging the principal cellist to a duel or partaking in an interpretative modern dance.

Aaron Tang via Flickr Creative Commons

Joshua Bell offered a stirring performance of Bernstein’s “Serenade.”

The overture featured rich texture and a controlled yet passionate musical verve. The development of the famous Shakespearean love theme felt appropriately structured. Its reprise was never stagnant, instead presenting new variations that were exquisitely executed. The

fourth return of the main theme introduced a crisp and clear brass counterpoint, a difficult feat for such a heavily layered piece. This love theme was starkly juxtaposed with the Montague-Capulet battle section of the music signaled in by crashing cymbals. As the journey of Romeo and Juliet came to a close, a final move back into a major key appropriately concluded the piece.

The other concerto played that night was Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade for Solo Violin, String Orchestra, Harp and Percussion,” featuring Joshua Bell on violin. This piece was inspired by Plato’s “Symposium,” an ancient philosophical text in which seven characters discuss the power of love. As in Plato’s original work, there was a clear dialogue among the different parts of the orchestra in the “Serenade,” and also a definitive voice for Bell’s violin. After his masterful presentation of Schubert’s “Fantasie in C for Violin and Piano” and two Grieg Violin Sonatas last year, the audience’s expectations for Bell were high. True to form, Bell delivered an excellent performance.

The first movement of the “Serenade,” “Phaedrus; Pausanias,” began with Bell playing a fugato. Here, Bernstein confus-

Courtesy Stu Rosner

see SYMPHONY, page 6

Lehninger and Bell perform side by side at Symphony Hall.

Movie Review

Inauthentic ‘Taken 2’ falls short of its predecessor by

Brendan Donohue Contributing Writer

Every few years, that special kind of film comes around — the kind that, despite being indistinguishable from

Taken 2

In “Taken 2,” many of the characters and scenes lack an element of credibility. First, the film’s dizzying opening credits are followed by the strange idea that Bryan’s beautiful daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), is still see TAKEN, page 6

Music Review

How to Dress Well releases instant indie classic

by Joe Stile

Daily Editorial Board

R&B continues to infiltrate the world of indie music, with bands like the xx listing Aaliyah as a major influence and

Total Loss How to Dress Well

Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen Directed by Olivier Megaton other movies in its genre, still manages to become a hit. It’s the kind of film that will be quoted and watched repeatedly, with its absurdity enjoyed rather than ridiculed. “Taken” (2008) was that kind of film. Its sequel, however, has missed the mark altogether.

The original “Taken” chronicles the story of ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) as he attempts to rescue his daughter after she is kidnapped during a trip to Paris.

“Taken 2,” the forced and tired follow-up, essentially tells the same story.

The only difference is that this time, instead of saving his daughter, Mills has to save his ex-wife and himself after they are taken hostage in Istanbul by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed in the first movie. Surprise, surprise.

Acephale Records

Magali Bragard / 20th Century Fox / epk.tv

Frank Ocean rising to superstardom with his pensive tracks. How to Dress Well’s second album, “Total Loss,” furthers this phenomenon by using the R&B framework to create an artistic and somewhat challenging work that has become an overnight indie classic.

It’s hard to give an accurate description of How to Dress Well’s music. Lead singer and project creator, Tom Krell, sounds like a spectral Michael Jackson, a drugged-out Justin Bieber and a paranoid-underground Usher all at the same time. His voice is marvelous, but the detached, ambient aspects of his songs are what make him such an interesting young talent and a driving force in today’s indie music.

One of the album’s first high points

Though Neeson’s action scenes may be predictable, they’re just as entertaining as ever.

see TOTAL, page 6

Elizabeth Landers | College Chic Report

From Russia, with love

T

he outskirts of St. Petersburg fulfill every notion you’ve ever had of a former communist country: cruise shiplike buildings of monolithic proportion and approach, with identically cut windows, traffic circles flowing around forged metal temples that pay homage to SwedishRussian battles from the 19th century and even an airport split in half by domestic and foreign-bound flights. The periphery’s appearance reflects the ever-evolving steps being taken towards modernization.

Yet the heart of St. Petersburg holds far more potential and advancement and in many conventional senses has reached that point of modernity. It is here that I found a perfect paradox of politics and personal style, a marriage I am constantly, and vainly, looking to forge for myself.

During my week spent in the city, I passed through touristy sites and local markets on the bus and the metro, looking for a Russian native with personal style that spoke, that smiled, that breathed. This was a very unrewarding quest.

The main shopping streets like Nevsky Prospekt boasted stores such as United Colors of Benetton, Zara and H&M. High-end stores like Dior lined slightly less crowded streets, perpendicular to the hum of main traffic.

As the weather fluctuated on a whim during our trip, I witnessed warm, cold and rainy looks. Older Russian women aged themselves dramatically in sullen, muted gray coats and mid-calf skirts that resembled rustling paper bags. Younger women dressed in a similar palate, but in cheap skinny jeans or short miniskirts with Plexiglas high heels. Clearly, in a country with 10 million more women than men, one must compete for attention.

It’s not that everyone was unstylish — it’s just that no one looked special. This, of course, fits perfectly into the communist mold of equality, where everything’s commonality provides a certain solace.

The paradox lies in the long-term history of Russia, which appears through the Romonov relics and imperial stamps found all over the city. Historical St. Petersburg brims with the Russian Baroque style, which is lighter in color and heavier in gold leaf than its European counterparts. Catherine the Great’s palace houses a room completely inlaid with semiprecious amber. Empress Elizabeth, estimated to have owned 10,000 dresses, consumed clothing in such excess that when St. Petersburg was seized in war, her dresses were used to wrap and protect countless pieces of artwork. An inclination towards luxury, architectural feats, fine art, culture and clothes surrounds the residents of modern day St. Petersburg — they certainly don’t lack inspiration.

When we asked our local guide about shopping and clothing in the city, she explained that fashion was very expensive in Russia; global brands are marked up by two to three times with collections dating back two to three seasons. Everything was overpriced and out of date. When I pressed her on the luxury stores, she said that she suspected Louis Vuitton doesn’t break even in the city, but they kept their St. Petersburg store to maintain their international presence and appearance.

Moscow would make for an interesting comparative study. As the seat of Russia’s government, the city positively bursts with the nouveau riche Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova types, oligarchs who are redefining what it means to be wealthy and stylish. Major international retailers such as Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors — both of which tend to sell a glamorous version of the all-American look — have situated themselves in looming flagship stores within the nation’s capital. Pintsized Russian beauty Miroslava Duma graces the pages of multinational publications and her penchant for designer threads ensures that she’s at all the top global fashion shows.

This striking difference between what I saw and what supposedly exists truly makes me hope that the Internet and earnestness of Russian youth will revitalize fashion and style in St. Petersburg.

Elizabeth Landers is a senior majoring in political science. She can be reached at Elizabeth.Landers@tufts.edu.

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Arts & Living

‘Taken 2’ too absurd to be taken seriously

Lehninger reinvigorates ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Serenade’

TAKEN

continued from page 5

a teenager. Although he is enormously entertaining in action sequences, Liam Neeson seems almost bored and fatigued as Mills in these early scenes.

Even the villain, Murad Krasniqi (Rade Sherbedgia), seems cheap and onedimensional. His motive is clearly revenge, but the expense at which he tries to attain it is simply implausible.

Does he not remember the chaos of the first movie?

The opening of the film is much different from the original. While the first film took itself seriously, the sequel has no qualms with self-mockery. For example, in his first few lines, Bryan calls himself “obsessive,” and the audience can almost feel him smirking.

Another scene ironically echoes his daughter’s previous “Taken” kidnapping: after she ditches a driving lesson with her dad to meet up with her new boyfriend, Mills tracks her down with a secret GPS he installed on her phone.

And later, when Mills suggests that Kim and her mother join him on a trip to Europe, there is a ridiculous sense of suspense, leaving audiences with the rhetorical question, “What could possibly go wrong this time?”

While the previous film was truly an engaging thriller, this sequel seems to embrace the fact that nobody will find it believable. Indeed, it often skips past any sensible, scientific or typical detective-film “rules.”

Putting aside any logical thoughts, in situations even more absurd than those of the previous film — for example: using a hand grenade as a makeshift GPS, or somehow making a phone call while locked in an underground prison cell — “Taken 2” is chock-full of unreasonable action and completely lacks any realistic or believable elements.

Staying true to the action film genre, “Taken 2’s” fight scenes are incredibly entertaining. Pinned against violent and unintelligent Eastern European gangsters, Mills remains a loveable hero. His abilities to escape from any situation, no matter how cornered and surrounded he may be, are still entertaining and his protective father-

Monday, October 15, 2012

SYMPHONY

continued from page 5

Shanna Besson / 20th Century Fox / epk.tv

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) and his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) share a moment of peace before the action starts up again. ly demeanor — which becomes like a mama-grizzly-bounty-hunter when his family is in danger — keeps viewers amused. Still, audiences can’t help but feel like they have seen this before.

Although he is impressive as he takes down droves of threats to his family, Neeson’s stop-at-nothing attitude is really nothing new.

“Taken 2” is exactly what any fan of “Taken” expects: an incredibly similar, but somehow more absurd sequel, with equally beatable henchmen and ruthless Eastern European villains.

Unfortunately, it does not measure up to the original. Though “Taken 2” is fun in its ridiculous ways, it is ultimately too silly to be “taken” seriously.

es the audience by vacillating in the first movement — initially, he seems unable to decide if the piece should feel sinister or tender. Lehninger was eager to bring out this ironic nature, noticeably distinguishing between both qualities in the first movement. However, these broken melodies did nothing to assuage the frustration of the listeners as the music struggled to gravitate towards a solid idea.

In the second movement, “Aristophanes,” Bell demonstrated his skill with a punctuated yet clear passage that resembled a lullaby. Variations in the third movement allowed him to exchange passages back and forth with the orchestra, making this yet another musical manifestation of Plato’s literary dialogue.

The following “Eryximachus” movement was brisk with a tempo marking of presto.

Its rhythm was reminiscent of an Argentine tango and its character was aptly melancholic. The pervasive woodwind arpeggios created a feeling of floating and ultimately contributed to an even more ethereal musical aura.

The fourth movement, “Agathon,” was lyrical and effusive, somewhat similar to Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings.” In the fifth movement, “Socrates; Alcibiades,” Bell’s musical conversation with the principal cellist turned into an argument in which Bell’s biting tone became musically suitable. A surprisingly reserved cadenza gave way to a jazzy walking bass. The piece ended both abruptly and ominously, concluding before the argument between violin and cello could be resolved.

Although Bell provided effortless and virtuoso playing, it was Lehninger who brought the piece together. Not many conductors can express such diverse characters, ranging from a sinister first movement to an elegiac fourth movement. Lehninger’s conducting through the Tchaikovsky overture and the Bernstein concerto, two completely different styles of music, demonstrates his versatility as a conductor. Alongside Lehninger’s interpretative dance, the Boston Symphony Orchestra played brilliantly.

‘Total Loss’ furthers How to Dress Well’s musical innovation TOTAL

continued from page 5

in the narcotizing “Cold Nites.”

The track sounds very much like a James Blake record produced

by Pharrell, or like Justin Vernon filtered through the Weeknd. It instantaneously creates a melancholy atmosphere that swallows the listener with its delicate and seductive harmonies. About two and a half minutes into the song, the drums explode and show how potent the band’s sound can be, before simply fading away to bird noises.

The song leads into “Say My Name or Say Whatever,” which starts off with a young boy talking about how much he loves flying because he can escape his life. He ends the monologue with, “The only bad part of flying is having to come back down,” before the sound of someone falling into water is heard.

It is an effective little skit because it sets up the tone of the album in a concise speech, demonstrating that the music is somewhat magical, yet not magical enough to completely escape the real world.

How to Dress Well’s sound lives in a strange purgatory between these two worlds.

The melodies of the album have a nostalgic and hazy feel to them.

On first listen they sound as if they were taken from some generic, yet impossible-to-place ’90s R&B tune, like a lost Destiny’s Child number that never quite broke through. This all plays into the foggy and muddled aesthetic that How to Dress Well seeks to generate. Krell is trying to create a state of waking-dream with his songs, which are seeped in both sadness and unbounded possibility.

One of the songs that sticks out most on the album is “& It Was U.” The track drops much of the

Penningtron via Flickr Creative Commons

How to Dress Well uses a vast variety of production and mixing techniques to achieve its unique sound.

Penningtron via Flickr Creative Commons

Soundscapes and ethereal vocals distinguish How to Dress Well from its R&B contemporaries.

echo and reverb that dominate the record, exchanging them for a simpler sound. Unmanipulated vocals, a plain drum and snaps control the song and create a catchy and different experience.

It sounds like a classic R&B song that had the majority of its instrumentation stripped away. By leaving the listener with the skeletal remains, it shows how forceful a solitary melody can be.

Though the album has numerous high points, another particularly stellar track is the penultimate song, “Set it Right.” The song features an arrangement that sounds

like someone shoved a Stevie Wonder record through an industrial-sized distorter. The vocals are slowed and affected to the point where the singer sounds inhuman.

How to Dress Well’s divine singing is then played over all of this.

Krell employs some of his most emotional vocals here. Toward the end of the song, all the noise ceases and all that remains is Krell sorrowfully singing the names of all the people he has lost. It’s wrenching to hear, and just when it feels like the emotions are going to overpower the whole song, the instrumentation smashes in again

even stronger than before. It’s all masterfully accomplished and makes the listener want to step back and truly take in what How to Dress Well has just done.

“Total Loss” is an album that requires multiple listens for the listener to catch all of its nuances and emotions. It is also one that rewards audiences who give it a more careful listen, as it is unafraid of subtlety in certain spots. With this release, How to Dress Well continues to make sensational music that cuts to the core of deep-seated and complex human emotions.

Monday, October 15, 2012

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THE TUFTS DAILY Rebecca K. Santiago Editor-in-Chief

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editorial | op-ed

Monday, October 15, 2012

Editorial

More transparent aid counseling nationwide

A 20 to 30 minute presentation is not an adequate resource for students navigating the maze of loans and financial aid. But for many students around the country, such scant information is an unfortunate reality.

A recent poll conducted by NERA Economic Consulting exposed that 40 percent of students do not remember having participated in federally required financial aid entrance counseling. When a student takes a federal loan, they are required to complete a mandatory entrance course, provided to them either in person or online, 20 to 30 minute educational course or in person. But with the efficacy of those programs failing to measure up, we believe that Congress and colleges should develop new resources to bring clarity to the student loans process.

Currently, the private student loan process remains barely regulated, and private lenders are too much in control of what students see about their debts and when they see it. When “shopping” for loans,

institutions that students should be able to trust often provide controversial preferred- lenders lists, sometimes failing to inform students of other, possibly more beneficial federal options.

Congress has a variety of bills in the works to lessen the murkiness of the loans process. The Understanding the True Cost of College Act would require schools to send out uniform financial aid award letters that include disclosures related to private loans.

The Know Before You Owe Private Student Loan Act of 2012 aims to send monthly loan statements to students while they are enrolled so they aren’t taken aback by big numbers later. The planned College Shopping Sheet seeks to lay out tuition, available federal loans and other costs of living in simple terms. All these referendums point to President Barack Obama’s larger plan of reducing the role of private lenders in the college loan process, while offering better federal loans.

Tufts sets a good example in terms of

giving students options to access financial aid information. Tufts’ preferred lending list includes giants like Sallie Mae and Wells Fargo, but it does encourage students to view their public loan options and clearly points out that there is no obligation to use the offered private lenders.

Although the university does utilize the complex government-required entrance advising, Tufts also offers the more userfriendly SALT, a program that helps students deal with fiscal responsibility. SALT, sponsored by American Student Assistance, shows students their debt, explains what the federal loan options are and provides financial information through charts, graphs, and audio-visual presentations.

Tufts pays for its students’ access to SALT and provides their information to the site through a secure connection.

SALT is an example of the sort of reform Congress should be pushing for and schools should consider enacting — a program that prioritizes transparency in student loans.

Jehan Madhani

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Off the Hill | Baylor University

Romney plan not impossible

by

Danny Huizinga The Lariat

Tax policy has been a focal point in this election, with both candidates claiming their proposals “strengthen the middle class.” Much of the debate Oct. 3 involved criticisms of the opponent’s tax policy.

Who is telling the truth?

Well, like most issues in politics, it depends on how you define the terms.

Let’s look at President Obama first.

Although he claimed in the Wednesday debate that he reduced taxes on the middle class by $3,600, the reality is that those cuts were temporary.

The “Making Work Pay” tax credit saved the average family $800 a year, but it expired in 2011, and Obama did not renew it. The other tax cut Obama refers to, the payroll tax cut, expires at the end of this year as well.

We can’t forget the impact of Obamacare. According to the Associated Press, nearly 6 million people will see a tax increase due to the new health insurance law. Most of these 6 million

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY 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. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

are in the “middle class” and will see their taxes rise by an average of $1,200 per year.

Mitt Romney’s plan relies on lowering tax rates and closing loopholes to make up for the difference in revenue.

His plan has been criticized as “impossible” by the Obama campaign, citing a study from a Princeton economist, Harvey Rosen.

Unfortunately for the president, Rosen soon spoke to the press claiming Obama had misrepresented his study, saying: “I can’t tell exactly how the Obama campaign reached that characterization of my work ... The main conclusion of my study is that under plausible assumptions, a proposal along the lines suggested by Governor Romney can both be revenue-neutral and keep the net tax burden on taxpayers with incomes above $200,000 about the same. That is, an increase in the tax burden on lowerand middle-income individuals is not required in order to make the overall plan revenue-neutral.”

How is this possible? How can tax rates be reduced without slashing reve-

nue? It all depends on economic growth.

Cutting tax rates often spurs economic growth, as consumers have more money to spend and invest.

As the economy grows, more people become wealthier and end up offsetting some of the revenue lost from lower rates.

Professor Greg Mankiw of Harvard University calculated the effects that tax cuts pay for themselves in a paper written back in 2005: “In all of the models considered here, the dynamic response of the economy to tax changes is too large to be ignored.

In almost all cases, tax cuts are partly self-financing. This is especially true for cuts in capital income taxes.”

Although Obama criticizes Romney’s plan because it “might” burden the middle class at some point, he ignores the fact that his own plans have not been particularly helpful, to say the least.

Even if Romney did need to eventually close some loopholes that currently benefit the middle class, the tax cuts would first and foremost give relief to middle-class Americans.

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Op-Ed Neena Kapur | The IT Ambassador

President Obama stands for Israel

Code as a weapon

Ayal Pierce and Arlen Weiner

“As for Israel, our friendship is rooted deeply in a shared history and shared values. Our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable. And we will stand against attempts to single it out for criticism in international forums,” said President Barack Obama on May 19, 2011. As the presidential election nears, there are those who question Obama’s commitment to the United States’ relationship with Israel, especially Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Romney assails Obama with vague remarks about how the president “threw Israel under the bus” or about how he took advantage of his sometimes tense relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, when it comes to Israel, the facts show that Obama’s actions speak louder than Romney’s words.

It would be foolish to write off the president simply because of his frosty relationship with the Israeli Prime Minister.

Even amidst the public tensions between the two leaders, Netanyahu has stated, “President Obama spoke about his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security. He rightly said that our security cooperation is unprecedented ... and he has backed those words with deeds.” Netanyahu could not have said it any better.

America’s relationship with Israel runs so deep that the issue is non-partisan. This past summer, the Senate voted 100-0 to pass the bipartisan US-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act. Obama not only signed the bill, but also reaffirmed his “unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.” When Obama visited Israel as a candidate in 2008 and saw how vulnerable Israel was to incessant rocket attacks from Gaza, he subsequently stated, “If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that ... And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.”

Since taking office, the president was able to secure an additional $205 million for the Iron Dome missile defense system currently protecting the citizens of Israel’s South from active rocket attacks from Gaza. For those who would argue that a Republican president would do this and more, one need only note that under

C

MCT

Obama, foreign military aid to Israel is at an all-time high of more than $3 billion.

Obama has backed Israel during its times of need. When the Israeli Embassy in Cairo was under attack, it was Obama who “activated all of the United States’ means and influence — which is a lot” to help the embassy, according to Netanyahu. Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons remains a grave threat to both Israel and America.

Obama recognizes the severe danger of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. Under the leadership of Obama’s administration, the international community has implemented the toughest sanctions on Iran in modern history. Even though Obama does not support establishing a red line, he has clearly stated that “all options are on the table,” with regards to methods stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

There are those who say that Obama has not committed to backing up Israel and that he continues pursuing unsuccessful diplomatic strategies. Voters must look at the bigger picture. Obama is trying to keep the region stable to strengthen the United States’ interests in the Middle East.

During the Arab Spring, Obama supported the NATO mission in Libya to secure the region.

After the autocratic Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown by his

own people, America’s aid prevented the already chaotic situation from spiraling further into economic turmoil. The US promotion of a more secure Israel ensures stability in the wider Middle East. The U.S. and Israel share the same regional interests: the promotion of peaceful and democratic nations in the Middle East.

The fact remains that many Americans are often uncomfortable with President Obama’s open criticism of certain Israeli policies. America was the first country to recognize Israel’s independence in 1948 under former President Harry Truman. But friends are not always cheerleaders. Both Israel and America are thriving democracies that, given the nature of democracies, have citizens with a multitude of opinions.

As Americans, we must accept that honest and respectful criticism does not show a lack of friendship; on the contrary, it is what democracy thrives on and what true friendship relies upon.

Actions speak louder than words, and Obama’s actions prove that he is a sincere friend of Israel.

Ayal Pierce is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Arlen Weiner is a senior who is majoring in peace and justice studies and international relations.

Off the Hill | Dartmouth College

Preserve early voting

by

Alex Rubin

The Dartmouth

This election cycle, there has been a lot of talk about various election laws that have passed and will affect voters this coming November. However, one issue that has yet to take hold of the national spotlight is early voting. During the 2008 election, Barack Obama was able to win various key states and win the presidency because, in large part, he was able to clinch a large portion of those voters who voted early, either by mail or in person.

Early voting allows citizens to vote before Election Day, usually to accommodate out-of-state residents, such as college students, or those who will be unable to vote on the inconvenient Tuesday election day. In addition, as college students, some of us decide to vote in our home states as opposed to registering in New Hampshire. The absentee ballots that we send in are received upwards of a month before Election Day. Though these ballots aren’t counted until Nov. 6, they still have a significant impact on election dynamics.

During the 2008 election, President Obama accrued so many votes during the early voting period in North Carolina that even though he lost the Election Day popular vote, he was still able to secure the state’s electoral votes. Though most of these early votes don’t occur a month in advance, with some states having early

voting periods the weekend before the election, there is something to be said about the impact early voting has.

Voting dynamics are, in large part, influenced by the specific socioeconomic groups that are physically able to vote.

For example, for some people who may work odd hours or double shifts, holding Election Day during a weekday hinders their ability to cast a vote. The fact that most election days around the world don’t occur during the week but instead occur on weekends attests to the fact that our election calendar is antiquated.

The decision to hold elections on Tuesday is based on our agrarian history.

Back when the majority of Americans were farmers and needed a day to get to the polls, it seemed convenient to place Election Day on the day before market day, meaning that farmers could harvest their crops and then go to town and sell their crops as well as vote.

In modern times, Americans are increasingly located in cities and polling places have become more easily accessible to most Americans, which makes this out-of-date procedure more inconvenient than anything else. In a country in which 9-to-5 jobs are extremely common and in which voting on a Tuesday may be physically impossible for some, this choice may inadvertently serve to disenfranchise a select few.

Early voting acts as a solution to this problem by accommodating those

Americans who otherwise would not be able to vote, either because of the aforementioned obstacle or because, like us college students, they temporarily reside in another state.

With this in mind, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals recently overturned an Ohio law allowing only military personnel to participate in early voting. The court stated that all voters must be treated equally under Ohio law and that allowing early voting for some residents requires that it must be allowed for all.

Proponents of the law claimed that because military personnel could be deployed at any time, they deserved special privileges in terms of when they could vote. Although this point is in fact true, when it comes to voting, any incapacity is equally legitimate. Whether deployed to foreign soil or unable to vote because of the necessity to work to provide for one’s own family, the incapacity is the same and results in the same inability to participate in the voting process. Therefore, early voting must be applied equally to all residents of a state or county.

A change in one factor or one aspect of the voting process, such as early voting, can have systemic effects that alter the nature of the election and voter dynamics. The exact nature of these effects is unknown in the best case, or intended in the worst, and therefore should be avoided at all costs to prevent any form of unlawful or unfair tampering with elections.

omputer criminals don’t instill the same fear and dread that street criminals do. They don’t lurk around in dark corners, waiting for you with a knife. They don’t violently break into your home and steal your TV. They don’t execute the crime. Their code does.

So, when looking at cyber attacks around the world, it’s the weapon that should send shivers down our spines — not just the cyber criminal.

Think of a sophisticated malicious code — coined as malware — as a standard weapon. For example, when you give a gun to an angry Girl Scout with no shooting experience, she has the same capacity to inflict harm to others as a highly trained naval officer does. Sure, the officer knows how to handle the weapon with more skill, but the gun is key. The accessibility of the weapon is what makes it dangerous.

We can think of malware the same way.

The most brilliant coder in the world cannot stop the fact that powerful malware is now accessible to less skilled coders.

In June 2010, the highly powerful and truly revolutionary computer worm, Stuxnet, was discovered. Stuxnet targeted a specific industrial control system, and the systems it infected were concentrated primarily in Iran — most likely to deter Iranian efforts to successfully enrich uranium. In the two years following the discovery of Stuxnet, two other powerful and sophisticated pieces of malware were discovered: Duqu and Flame.

Duqu, discovered in September 2011, was information-stealing software written, in part, in an unknown and highly sophisticated coding language. In May of this year, Flame was found in approximately 1,000 machines across the world, concentrated in the Middle East, to serve as a mechanism for cyber espionage.

Together, these three programs have altered standard means of warfare and coercion. And, together, they have created weapons that have trickled down to cyber criminals everywhere.

Just as the Girl Scout has the capacity to use the power of a gun, a less skilled coder has the power to use design techniques from Stuxnet and its contemporaries for his own malicious endeavors.

This is concerning because it increases the likelihood of instances of cyber attacks.

Stuxnet, Flame and Duqu are all believed by some to be state-sponsored or government-affiliated due to their complexity and alleged political motives. As Americans, we haven’t been too afraid, because, while Stuxnet damaged the Iranian nuclear program, we were at home happily doing some online shopping. Now, however, we should be afraid. But if individual cyber criminals, who target regular web users, have access to the design philosophy of this sophisticated malware, Internet users should fear for the security of their online accounts and information.

Is government utilization of computer malware as a tool of international warfare worth the fact that it enables hacking groups to target local web users? It makes the cyber world a much more dangerous and complicated entity, and moving forward, it will be difficult to create effective regulation.

Lines of code now yield the same potential for damage as standard weapons, but with a twist. Without leaving any human casualties, code can infect computers and disable their functions, spy on others and steal immense amounts of valuable information. Though the cyber criminal will never be as scary as that sketchy figure in the alleyway, it’s about time we start shaking with fear when we hear about the sophisticated malware that is roaming the cyber world. After all, now it’s out to get you.

Neena Kapur is a sophomore majoring in International Relations. She can be reached at Neena.Kapur@tufts.edu

Op-ed Policy 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. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.

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Monday, October 15, 2012

Tufts Programs Abroad Upcoming Informational Pizza Parties

Tufts in Chile:

Monday, October 15th at 6:00pm Dowling Hall Resource Library

Tufts in China:

Thursday, October 18th at 6:00pm Dowling Hall Resource Library Other Upcoming Tufts Programs Events:

Tufts in Madrid: Tues., 10/23 @ 6pm in Dowling 745A Tufts in Oxford: Wed., 10/24 @ 6pm in Dowling 745A Tufts in London: Thurs., 10/25 @ 6pm in Dowling 745B Tufts in Japan: Tues., 10/30 @ 6pm in Dowling 745A Tufts in Ghana: Thurs., 11/1 @ 6 pm in the Africana Center Tufts in Tübingen: Mon., 11/5 @ 6pm in Dowling Library Tufts in Paris: Tues., 11/13 @ 6pm in Dowling Library

Come learn more about our programs! http://uss.tufts.edu/studyabroad

Scholarship for Tufts Students of Chinese Descent The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England (CCBA) will be awarding a onetime grant of $2000 to a maximum of 3 academically outstanding freshmen who have matriculated into the Class of 2016 at Tufts, and 2 first year graduate students.

Applicants must be a U.S. Citizen or permanent resident of Chinese descent whose home address is in Massachusetts.

Qualifying candidates must demonstrate:  Academic Achievement Application Deadline:  History of commitment to their community through community service Friday, November 30, 2012  Leadership potential  Financial need Interested students should contact CCBA at 617-542-2574 or admin@ccba-ne.org for more information and to obtain an application.

Students must submit the following information for consideration: Undergraduate Freshmen Completed application Form Financial Aid Qualification or copy of the financial aid package from Tufts University Standardized Test Score Reports (SAT I and SAT II or ACT) One signature-sealed letter of recommendation on official letterhead from each of the following: 1) High School Advisor/Teacher, and 2) Community Service/Work Supervisor Typewritten Essay: (300 – 500 words double space) “Why Am I Deserving of This Scholarship and How Tufts University Will Shape My Future Career”

Graduate Students Completed application Form Financial Aid Qualification or copy of the financial aid package from Tufts University Entrance Examination Report One signature-sealed letter of recommendation on official letterhead from Community Service/Work Supervisor.

Typewritten Essay: (300 – 500 words double space) “Why Am I Deserving of This Scholarship and How Tufts University Will Shape My Future Career”

Completed applications packets should be submitted to: Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, 90 Tyler Street, Boston, MA 02111. Scholarship(s) will be awarded at the Annual CCBA Chinese New Year Banquet to be held on Monday, February 11, 2013.

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Tufts Daily

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The 2012 Tufts Dining Annual

STATION HOUSE CHILI FEST MENU

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Carmichael Dining Center, Tufts University

Fire House Style Chilis

Cincinnati Chili Chunky Chicken Chili 5 Alarm Chili Vegan Black Bean Chili Carmichael Firehouse Chili Served with White Rice, Spaghetti & Holster Potato Skins

Station House Pizzas

Jalapeno Pepper Pepperoni Ham Sausage Bacon Black Olive Veggie & Cheese

Mini Sliders & Wrap Sandwiches Mini Slider Fire Marshall Burger

Steak Sauce, Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms, Swiss Cheese & Bacon

Mini Slider Smith and Wesson Burger

American, Swiss & Cheddar Cheese, Ham & BBQ Sauce

Firehouse Chicken Wrap Sandwich

Lettuce, Tomato, Cheese, Olives and Ranch Dressing

Bourbon Glazed Chicken Thighs Chicken & Penne in Cajun Cream Sauce Meatballs in Bullseye BBQ Sauce Felony & Smokin’ Fries Blue Light Sandwich Bar

A lineup of our “MOST WANTED” deli items

Special Themed Dessert

Looking for accommodations?

Are you interested in living in a house rent-free in exchange for helping as a personal assistant and/or home manager?

Busy single professional Muslim from India, male, 54 with minor medical problems is offering a free room with bath, kitchen, cable TV, internet access and other facilities to student(s) willing to help in two major areas.

Home manager duties include cleaning kitchen, bathroom, vacuuming and laundry twice a month, taking care of plants, yard work and snow removal.

Personal assistant duties include motivate and participate in daily exercise and stretching, giving medications, eye drops and skin care.

Looking for someone responsible, reliable, dependable, honest and quiet with good organizational, time management and multitasking skills. Nonsmoker, no drugs or alcohol or friends allowed. No loud music. Willing to keep two students who can divide duties.

Compatibility essential. If you can eat Indian/Pakistani food, you are welcome to have free meals. Graduate student a plus.

Indian/Pakistani a plus but not essential. Large house located in Brookline (close to Cleveland Circle) on a quiet, peaceful residential street but very close to Green B, C and D lines and bus stops.

Send letter of introduction & résumé to taimurazamMD@gmail.com or call 617-713-0470.

The Daily wants to hear from YOU. Have a problem with our coverage? Upset about something happening at Tufts or in the community?

The Daily welcomes thoughts, opinions and complaints from all readers — have your voice heard!

Send op-ed submissions, 800-1200 words, to oped@tuftsdaily.com. Send letters to the editor to editor@tuftsdaily.com.

The Tufts Daily

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Comics

Monday, October 15, 2012

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

friday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Dozing off during Grandpa Phil’s stories.

Late Night at the Daily

Friday’s Solution

Kochman: “I live in a post-racial world of shoes.”

Want more late-night laughs?

Follow us on Twitter at @LateNiteAtDaily

Please recycle this Daily.

by

Wiley

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Tufts Daily

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The Tufts Daily

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Services

CHILDCARE JOB. Local Tufts alum (close drive to Tufts) seeking responsible, patient, loving, energetic, non-smoking part-time babysitter and/or nanny. Hours and scheduling flexible. Salary commensurate with experience.

Please call Faith at (781) 258-9027 for details.

—

Sports

Housing

Housing

Housing

One 3br apartment. Large downstairs den. Right next to school.

Washing machine and dryer in unit. Call 617-448-6233

One 6 br apartment. Two baths.

Very convenient to school.

Washing machine and dryer in unit. Call 617-448-6233

—

Large nine bedroom house. 6 separate bedrooms and two living rooms and kitchen. 4 bathrooms - parking and garage. Call 617-4486233

—

classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only.

All classifieds submitted by mail must be accompanied by a check. Classifieds are $15 per week or $4 per day with Tufts ID or $30 per week or $8 per day without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.

Volleyball

Coming back home, Tufts goes 1-3 in Beacons Invitational by

Alex Schroeder Staff Writer

Although Tufts was back in Cousens Gymnasium after a long trip to Maine last weekend, the homecoming did not provide VOLLEYBALL (8-4 Overall, 3-1 NESCAC) at Cousens Gym, Sunday Christopher Newport 25 25 25 — 3 Tufts 13 15 21 — 0 at Cousens Gym, Saturday Endicott Tufts

26 25 23 27 — 3 24 18 25 25 — 1

Southwestern Tufts

25 25 25 — 3 10 19 22 — 0

at Cousens Gym, Friday Hamilton Tufts

16 22 17 — 0 25 25 25 — 3

much solace for the Jumbos against tough competition.

Due to issues with the UMass Boston gymnasium, the Jumbos hosted the Beacons Invitational this weekend and squared off against arguably their toughest opponents yet, including both regional and national championship contenders. In the end, the only match the Jumbos managed to win was a NESCAC game against Hamilton, while the tougher tournament competition proved that Tufts still has to improve if it wants to challenge the best.

Tufts started the weekend with a critical inconference home matchup against Hamilton College. Although the match was not a part of the invitational tournament, Tufts captured a key victory on Senior Night to improve to 6-2 in the NESCAC. The Continentals stuck around throughout each set, yet the Jumbos were able to control the tempo and shut their opponents out in straight sets. Despite occasional lapses in defense and returning serves, the Jumbos bounced back and continued the ball distribution that makes them an offensive juggernaut.

“I think certainly, for our setters, making sure they’re reversing the flows and spreading the ball to all of our hitters — I think that’s important,” coach Cora Thompson said.

“When we do that, we get one-on-ones, and our hitters are pretty good when they only have one blocker up.”

The Jumbos executed their strategy effectively, as senior tri-captain setter Kendall Lord recorded a match-high 33 assists and sophomore outside hitter Kelly Brennan picked up a team-high 18 kills.

Despite starting the weekend in dominating fashion, the Jumbos ran into teams of a much higher caliber in the Beacons Invitational. They faced two nationally ranked opponents, No. 23 Southwestern (Texas) and No. 4 Christopher Newport, as well as a tough Endicott Gulls team.

Tufts’ tournament began against Southwestern on Saturday morning. Right from the start, the Pirates proved themselves a much bigger test for the Jumbos than Hamilton, controlling the first set and winning easily 25-10.

Although the Jumbos were able to pull together and compete in the next two sets, taking occasional short leads and pulling within three points in the third, Southwestern closed off the match in straight sets, finishing with 25-19 and 25-22 wins.

The Saturday afternoon match against Endicott ended in a disappointing 3-1 loss, as the Jumbos dropped the first two sets, 26-24 and 25-18, to start the match. Tufts managed to fight back and win the third set 25-23 before losing a tightly contested fourth set 27-25.

Once again, the Jumbos demonstrated not only their depth, but also their perseverance and grit that kept them fighting after being down 2-0. The Jumbos appeared to be on the brink of taking a lead numerous times, but they couldn’t quite pull together in big moments. “[In the Endicott match], we had a couple more mistakes, a couple more communication errors that really cost us the game,” Lord said.

Defensive struggles also prevented the Jumbos from fully utilizing their strong hitters.

“No matter what we do offensively, it always depends on our defense,” Thompson said.

“When our serve receive and our ball control start to break down, that’s when we start losing options.”

The Jumbos were almost able to send the

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

The Tufts volleyball team struggled this weekend, winning a NESCAC game against Hamilton before dropping all three games in the Beacons Invitational. game to a fifth set in an emotional fourth set. Down 20-16, they fought back to a 21-21 tie and proceeded to take the lead at 23-22.

The teams tied again at 23-23, 24-24 and 25-25, as the Jumbos took points on spikes from Brennan before the Gulls would fight back to tie it up.

After a controversial point that would have given the Jumbos the set was replayed, Endicott went on to win the next two points and take the set and match.

And yet, as quickly as the team’s mental fortitude broke down, it built right back up in the following match Sunday against the No. 4 team in the country, Christopher Newport.

Despite losing the match 3-0 to a very talented team, the Jumbos were a much more relaxed and put-together team in comparison to Saturday’s squad.

“I thought we really stepped it up from the beginning of the week to the very last game,” Lord said. “We adjusted our speed, we played fast. We were really challenging them on our serve, with our hits, with our defense — we played great defense. I’m just really happy with how we played.”

The Jumbos, despite a great display of effort and composure, could not quite match up to

the size and depth of the captains. Tufts stuck around in the first two sets of the match, losing 25-15 and 25-19, before a dominant third set for Christopher Newport in which the Jumbos fell 25-9. Nonetheless, Tufts was able to come out with little apprehension and give a stellar opponent a run for its money.

“I think that we came out with a completely different attitude today and we really played loose because we felt like we had nothing to lose,” Brennan said. “Today was a great example for us as a team that we can come right out of the gates. This game teaches us that we can play with the best teams in the country.”

Tufts will be looking to turn things around on Friday against Bowdoin at the Hall of Fame tournament at Mount Holyoke College as they seek revenge for a tough loss to the Polar Bears last weekend.

“We see these games of brilliance, of effort, and it’s about putting that together consistently,” Thompson said. “We saw that with Bowdoin ... We played so well against them.

We’ve got another shot at them this Friday and we’re really excited to test them. With our team, it’s really been about testing ourselves against the best and ... trying to find that consistent flow of play.”

Second-half turnaround allows Jumbos to scrape by with victory Field Hockey

continued from page 16

ing trouble getting the ball out of the backfield.”

After intermission, Tufts returned to its dominant style of play. The Jumbos maintained possession of the ball and played with a new upbeat tempo, sending 12 shots at Spiliotes.

“I think we came out slow because we weren’t playing our style of hockey,” junior midfielder Emily Cannon said. “We got caught up playing the same way as Williams. At halftime we talked about staying composed and really focusing on our style and level of play.”

Coming out of halftime, the Jumbos found new energy, as Tufts allowed the Ephs just a single look at the cage. In contrast to the first half, Keenan sat comfortably behind a solid Tufts defense and did not have to make a stop in the closing 35 minutes.

As the Jumbos started to tighten things up at the back, they also rejuvenated their offensive attack, and held an 8-2 advantage in penalty corner opportunities in the

KC Hambleton / The Tufts Daily

Senior co-captain Rachel Gerhardt struck in the 62nd minute to give Tufts a 1-0 lead over Williams that the team did not relinquish. second stanza.

“We also knew we had to capi “Our forwards are fast and we talize on our corners because knew that if we could beat our we had been getting a lot of man we could get more oppor- them, and they’re one of the tunities to score,” Keenan said. best opportunities to score while

they’re a few people down.”

Each time the Jumbos struck, Spiliotes dug in her heels, rejecting each of Tufts’ attempts to break through. But Tufts’ experience on penalty corner strikes finally paid off in the 62nd minute as senior Kelsey Perkins, the Jumbos’ leading scorer, took the corner, quickly inserting a pass to Gerhardt.

The veteran midfielder finished the ball perfectly, sending the game-winner past an exhausted Spiliotes to break the tie and give the Jumbos their first lead of the contest.

“Rachel had an awesome shot that was placed perfectly,” Cannon said. “After that we stayed strong and kept the momentum going to not let them get any other opportunities.”

In the closing minutes, Tufts continued to pressure, and played shutdown defense in order to repel two Williams penalty corners. In the last five minutes, freshman forward Hannah Park pressured Spiliotes, but was unable to extend the Jumbos’ lead.

After sputtering in the first

half, Tufts finished with another dominant performance and sent the Ephs to a 3-5 NESCAC mark.

Meanwhile, the Jumbos improved to 6-1 in the conference and will host Bates in a Wednesday afternoon showdown.

“Coming off of the second half and all the opportunities we created, it gives us a positive look towards the rest of the season,” Cannon said. “If we keep working, hopefully we will be able to turn all those opportunities into goals going forward.”

The Bobcats travel to Tufts with a 1-6 conference record.

Meanwhile, Tufts hopes to ride its momentum and feed off the home atmosphere to deliver a seventh NESCAC victory.

“This season has been all about different people stepping up in all aspects of the game and every day we push to get better and push each other to the highest level of field hockey we are capable of playing,” Keenan said. “We want to come out strong against Bates and play our game and hopefully put up a few goals to give our offense some momentum.”

The Tufts Daily

15

Sports

Football Feature

Jordan Bean | Sacked

$250 million

A

Nathan Yuen / The Tufts Daily

Senior tri-captain receiver Dylan Haas has been part of the offensive strength for Tufts, as the Jumbos’ passing game has been their primary method of moving the football.

Midseason Review: The state of Tufts football four games into the season by

Marcus Budline

Daily Editorial Board

With four games already down for the Tufts football team, the midway point of its 2012 campaign has arrived in a hurry. From the day the team arrived for preseason practices to Saturday’s loss against Trinity, the Jumbos have seen both progress and a good deal of frustration from their young football team.

Here is a look at where the Jumbos stand on both sides of the ball, major storylines from the first half of the season and expectations for their remaining four contests.

Offense Over the past four weeks for the Jumbos’ offense, holes that were thought to have been filled have been reopened and then plugged again. The season has opened with massive contributions from an impressive number of players.

The clearest example of this has been under center, where senior John Dodds initially lost the quarterback battle with sophomore Jack Doll, but was thrust back into the starting role when Doll injured his shoulder in the first quarter of Week One. Since then, Dodds has put up some of the best numbers in the NESCAC, throwing for 798 yards and averaging just under 200 yards per game to go with three touchdowns and four interceptions. Through their first four games, the Jumbos have been thrown for the second most yards in the league behind Middlebury, even while averaging only 4.3 yards per attempt.

That yardage per pass points to what may be the most glaring hole in the Jumbo offense so far: an inability to create instant offense and make big plays. In their closest game of the season, against Bowdoin in Week Three, the offense’s biggest issue was struggling to capitalize on legitimate opportunities to drive the ball on the Polar Bears.

Some of this stems from the flanks, on which the wide-receiving corps has struggled to pick up yards after the

catch. The Jumbos have seen a rotating cast of characters take the bulk of their receptions each game, with senior tri-captain Dylan Haas, junior Pat Nee and senior Nick Kenyon all hovering near 20 receptions and 150 yards on the year.

The largest area of improvement has been from the team’s running backs.

In their first two weeks, sophomore Zack Trause and junior Marcel Pitre put up big numbers and punched in their opportunities from the goal line.

In the past two weeks, however, the Jumbos have seen the emergence of perhaps their tailback of the future in freshman Justin Weaver.

Along with scoring his first collegiate touchdown in Week Three, Weaver has rushed for 123 yards and picked up 40 yards in the air in his first two games as a Jumbo. With Weaver’s presence, the Jumbos have been able to balance out their offensive attack and bring down Dodds’ attempts, as nearly two thirds of his passes were thrown in the first two weeks of the season.

Defense The philosophy for the Jumbos’ opponents this season has been pretty simple: pound the ball.

In four games, the Jumbos have faced 222 rush attempts, with teams targeting a defense that has allowed the second-most yards per game in the league at 412.2.

Injuries are partially to blame for Jumbos’ struggles on defense this season. Those complications have forced the team to start a number of inexperienced players that head coach Jay Civetti did not expect to be getting such extended minutes.

As a whole, the Jumbos’ strongest defensive performance came in against the Polar Bears, who the Jumbos managed to hold to 10 points until a final drive that a tired defense just could not slow down. On that drive, the tackling problems that have hurt the unit throughout the year resurfaced and showcased the struggles they’ve had in bringing down the ball carrier.

In each game, however, different players have been major playmakers,

as the Jumbos have had three leading tacklers through their first four games. Sophomore linebacker Tommy Meade currently leads the team with 38 tackles, while senior Sam Diss has recorded 25 in the last three games to come up as the Jumbos’ second leading tackler.

The experience for the defense lies largely in the secondary, which has given up only 549 passing yards so far this year.

Senior defensive back Tommy Castle has picked off a pass and consistently done a good job of locking down opponents’ receivers and eliminating the big play passes.

Throughout the season, Civetti has lauded his defensive unit’s grit and their ability to give the offense good field position, particularly in the second halves of their games. The Jumbos have given up 92 of their 123 points in the first half, suggesting that a complete game from the defensive unit could lead to a strong finish to the second half of the season.

Looking Ahead As the Jumbos prepare for their last four games of the season, they will be looking ahead to varying degrees in the strength of their opponents. In their final two contests, Tufts will play the undefeated Middlebury Panthers and the winless Colby Mules, along with matchups with Williams and Amherst the next two weekends.

Each team will bring in a different style to their matchup. Amherst will look to dominate on the ground, while Middlebury will continue to use its passing offense that has racked up just over 370 yards per game.

The Jumbos are home next weekend against Williams and will close out their home games against Colby in Week Seven.

To pick up a win in their remaining contests, the Jumbos will need to continue to balance their offense and find more quick scores, while players on the defensive side of the ball will look to slow down the pounding offenses that have given the Jumbos so much trouble through their first four weeks.

quarter of a billion dollars. That is how much estimated money the NHL is losing from cancelling its pre-season and the first two weeks of the regular season.

Now it would be easy for me to sit here and write about what a terrible thing it is for the NHL to be on lockout, how they should make a deal right away, etc.

There’s only one problem.

I’m not a fan of the NHL. I don’t watch regular-season games, root for a specific team and can’t even name you more than the superstars like Ovechkin or Crosby.

This is why I’m perfectly qualified to write a column on the NHL lockout.

In terms of the NHL, I’m what you could call a casual fan. I tune in for the playoffs because, as a sports fan, I enjoy the atmosphere that playoff hockey presents, but that’s about it.

I’m the type of fan that hockey can’t afford to lose. The diehards will stick with the game through thick and thin, through lockout or no lockout. Diehards don’t pay the bills. That money comes from the casual fan.

Does a strike guarantee that a league will weaken? Not necessarily, but in the case of the NHL they cannot expect to enjoy the same luxury that the NFL did after their lockout.

The National Football League didn’t skip a beat after its short-lived lockout because the sport is exciting enough for the casual fan to keep watching.

During the NFL lockout, I felt as though the world might end if no deal was reached because of all the media coverage it was given.

ESPN personally made it their job to ensure that us sports fans got every ounce of information there was to know.

What was Tim Tebow having for breakfast that day? How did what he was eating relate to the progress made between the NFLPA and owners? Okay, so maybe not that far — but just about.

What about the NHL lockout coverage? It’s everywhere, right? On every front page and media outlet?

Well, no. To the casual fan, this is a non-story.

This isn’t the first time that the NHL has gone through a lockout. There was the 1992 strike, which saw 30 games cancelled. In 1994-’95, only 48 regular season games were played and in 200405 the entire season was wiped out.

Each succeeding strike brought less and less popularity to the game. At the beginning of the 1990s, the NHL and Major League Baseball rivaled each other for most popular sport in the country.

And now?

Hockey ranks behind the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA Football, NCAA basketball and, last but not least, NASCAR. They rank just ahead of powerhouses MLS, WWE and the WNBA. This is an economics challenge and the numbers are not on the side of the NHL. For the sake of keeping the casual fan, it’s vital that they get a deal done now.

The players still want 57 percent of the gross revenue like old times. The problem is that the leftover money is no longer enough to pay the bills. It doesn’t take an economics major to figure out that these numbers don’t work.

The fact is that the National Hockey League is not popular enough to go through another strike for any amount of time. Most sports-viewing Americans simply do not care enough about hockey to be affected if no deal is reached, like they were when the threat of no NFL season loomed large.

The NHL players and owners have to realize their faults and make a deal before it is too late. Off-the-ice teamwork is necessary for this to happen, but until then, NHL — you’re sacked!

Jordan Bean is a freshman who has yet to declare a major. He can be reached at Jordan.Bean@tufts.edu.

Sports

16

INSIDE Volleyball 14 Football Feature 15

tuftsdaily.com

Football

Huge second quarter propels Bantams to blowout win by

Aaron Leibowitz

Daily Editorial Board

For 15 minutes on Saturday, Tufts went toeto-toe with the best team in the NESCAC and the No. 2 team in New England. The Jumbos FOOTBALL (0-4 Overall, 0-4 NESCAC) at Hartford, Conn., Saturday Tufts Trinity

7 7

0 26

0 7

0 — 7 13 — 40

had 98 yards of offense in the first quarter; the Bantams had 112. In their first three drives, each team finished with one punt, one field goal and one touchdown.

Heading into the second, the game was tied 7-7.

“I thought we were stride-for-stride with them in the first quarter, both offensively and defensively,” head coach Jay Civetti said. “We just didn’t capitalize on opportunities to get points on the board. You definitely can’t do that versus Trinity.”

Before you could even mutter the word “upset,” the Bantams reminded everyone why they haven’t lost in Hartford since 2001, exploding for 26 points in the second quarter. The scoring spree was capped by a 70-yard run from junior Ben Crick with less than a minute to go in the half that erased any remaining hope for the Jumbos.

Trinity went on to win 40-7, as Crick and junior Evan Bunker, who has now rushed for over 100 yards in six straight games, combined for 253 of the Bantams’ 361 rushing yards, including 170 in the second quarter alone.

The duo proved too much to handle for Tufts’ young front seven, which has allowed an average of 275 rushing yards in the Jumbos’ four losses to start the season.

“I don’t know if the defense got tired,” Civetti said. “I think they went against a really good offensive line and two of the best tailbacks in the league.”

In the first quarter, though, the Jumbos did well to keep Crick and Bunker on the sidelines, winning the possession battle by almost a two-minute margin and going 5-for-6 on third down.

“It’s about getting [the defense] off the field at the right times,” defensive coordinator

Scott Rynne said. “We want to make sure that we’re helping our offense get the ball back and stopping [the opponent] in the important parts of the field.”

Tufts had an opportunity to take an early lead, forcing a three-and-out on Trinity’s first possession before senior quarterback John Dodds marched 48 yards down the field to set up a 35-yard field goal try. But sophomore Connor McDavitt pulled the kick left, and the Bantams responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive to go up 7-0.

The Jumbos responded well, as senior Sam Diss, who racked up 95 yards on four kick returns in the game, ran the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to midfield. This time, Dodds led the offense into the end zone, finding senior tricaptain receiver Dylan Haas from 16 yards out.

From there, though, Trinity kicked it into gear on both sides of the ball. Crick and Bunker put on a show while Tufts’ offense sputtered, going 2-for-12 on third down in the final three quarters while punting seven times and reaching Trinity territory just twice.

Meanwhile, junior quarterback Ryan Burgess looked comfortable in the pocket for the Bantams, completing 11 of 15 attempts for 175 yards and three touchdowns.

“It wasn’t that they just ran the ball,” Rynne said. “They had some big plays in the passing game. They had some good balance. That’s what good teams have.”

Trinity has now won 45 straight games at home and has yet to lose on Jessee/Miller Field since the surface was changed from grass to turf in 2002.

While the loss certainly stung for the Jumbos, it was an important learning experience, especially for the underclassmen.

“It’s always a good litmus test for your team to see what the best is, to know what you’ve got to do to get there,” Civetti said. “We’re resilient, we’re tough. But we’re young.”

Civetti found playing time for almost all of his freshmen on Saturday, and a few stepped up in a big way.

Justin Weaver, in his second game replacing injured sophomore Zach Trause, had 14 carries for 66 yards. And Akene Farmer, who got his first start at right tackle as sophomore Kyle Duke slid over to right guard, looked right at home. “[Akene] held his own and did a great job,” Civetti said. “I think that says a lot about him and all the other freshmen that played.”

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

Senior quarterback John Dodds threw for 141 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough to beat Trinity.

With the game out of reach in the second half, Civetti also gave reps to quarterbacks junior Jon Sobo and senior Matt Johnson, while 11 different Jumbos had at least one rushing attempt.

Dodds spread the ball among eight different receivers, but as has been the case all season, the Jumbos struggled to break any big plays. Their biggest gain of the game was a 29-yard pass to freshman Jack Cooleen, who was Tufts’ leading receiver despite making just one catch.

Ultimately, losing 40-7 was a sobering

Men’s, women’s soccer teams come up empty against Ephs

reminder that this team has a long way to go.

“It’s all in how you want to look at the reality of where we’re at,” Civetti said. “We’re a very young team with a lot of inexperience, and we’re building a program and building a culture. Programs aren’t built overnight.”

Halfway through the season, the Jumbos are not yet where they want to be. Now, they have four games left to erase the zero from the win column.

“Did I ever think we’d be 0-4? No,” Civetti said. “We’re just running out of opportunities to get a ‘W.’”

Field Hockey

Perfect 10: Tufts wins again, downs Williams by

Kate Klots

Daily Editorial Board

As is becoming commonplace for the field hockey team, Saturday’s game once again came FIELD HOCKEY (10-1 Overall, 7-1 NESCAC) at Williamstown, Mass., Saturday Tufts Williams

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

The trip to Williamstown was fruitless for both men’s and women’s soccer this weekend as the Jumbos fell to the Ephs by the scores of 1-0 and 3-2, respectively. Both games were hard-fought: The men controlled the game for a long period, but were undone by a goal from Williams senior Peter Christman. Tufts’ women never gave up against the No. 22 team in the country and came within one goal with five minutes to go, but could not complete the comeback. Full coverage of the soccer games can be found in tomorrow’s sports section, along with stories on women’s tennis and sailing.

0 1 0 0

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down to the wire. On Saturday, the No. 8 Tufts, which has played three overtime contests this season, narrowly escaped another draw to capture its tenth straight victory at Williams College.

Senior co-captain midfielder Rachel Gerhardt carried the day, launching the decisive strike past Ephs junior goalkeeper Ariana Spiliotes with fewer than nine minutes remaining in regulation.

The Jumbos are no strangers to close games. This season, nine of their 11 games have been decided by a single goal. The Jumbos are undefeated in these tight matchups.

Tufts has dominated opponents in shots and penalty corners this season, often by double-digit

margins, but has not turned the control into goals.

On Saturday, however, the Jumbos did not seize the lead until the final minutes of the game and faltered uncharacteristically in the first half.

Williams dominated in the opening 35 minutes, launching six shots at Tufts sophomore goalkeeper Brianna Keenan.

“We were getting beat to the fifty-fifty balls, we weren’t making smart passes and Williams came out more aggressive than we were expecting, which threw us off,” Keenan said. “[The Ephs] took advantage of our mistakes and did a good job of trying to capitalize on what we gave them.”

Meanwhile, the host Ephs did not allow the Jumbos a single shot in the first half, and Keenan was forced to make three big stops to preserve the 0-0 tie entering the half.

“The defense did a great job of holding Williams off and breaking up their plays,” Keenan said.

“But they still managed to get some shots off partly due to lack of communication on the field and partly because we were havsee FIELD HOCKEY, page 14