TuftsDaily10-23-2012

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THE TUFTS DAILY

Partly Cloudy 64/44

Downhill rain garden nears completion by

Nina Goldman

Daily Editorial Board

Behind the construction fences obscuring the path between Hodgdon and Lewis Halls, a sustainable rain garden designed to naturally filter rainwater will soon be revealed. The garden, which will cleanse storm water of its impurities before it enters the City of Somerville sewer system, should be finished by mid-November, according to Director of Facilities Services Bob Burns. “The reason we’re doing this is it has a sustainability function,” Burns said. “The vegetation will act as a buffering cleaning device.” The practical application of the new garden is important to both Burns and to Tufts as a whole, he said. Storm water regulations have increased in recent years, he noted, and the garden will serve to prevent flooding of the Somerville sewer system. “Sustainability is an important initiative for [University President Anthony Monaco],” Burns said. “Storm water management is one of my job requirements.” The rain garden also serves an educational purpose. Scott Horsley, lecturer in the Department

of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, has been collaborating with the Facilities Services Department to show his students sustainable construction and development at work, according to Burns. “Students can go view that site ... and see one way of trying to improve the environment,” Burns said. When the rain garden is complete, there will be an informational plaque explaining its purpose, he added. Beyond the rain garden’s practical and instructional applications, it is meant to be visually appealing as well. Although Burns is unsure which plants will be included in the garden, it will likely not include vegetables, he said. Facilities has been working with landscapers to choose the appropriate vegetation for the space. “We try to incorporate both the aesthetics and the environment [beyond storm management],” Burns said. “We try to blend all three into a solution that makes sense.” Facilities plans to create similar rain gardens on other parts of campus after the completion of ongoing site improvements. see CONSTRUCTION, page 2

Princeton Review names three Tufts professors among best in country by

Melissa Wang

Daily Editorial Board

Professor of Political Science Robert Devigne, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy David Denby and Senior Lecturer of Mathematics Mary Glaser were listed among the country’s best 300 college professors by the Princeton Review and RateMyProfessors.com earlier this year. The three are featured in the Princeton Review’s first ever “The Best 300 College Professors” book. “All of them seem to have such contagious energy and very clearly are getting so many students excited about those different areas of study, first years through seniors,” Princeton Review Senior Vice President-Publisher Robert Franek, the book’s author, told the Daily. The book profiles professors from 122 colleges across the nation, Franek said. The Princeton Review is a testpreparation and college consulting company that has released more than 165 publications in print and digital formats. RateMyProfessors. com, a website where students can rate American college professors, has accumulated over 13 million professor ratings.

Tufts dedicates new fitness center by

TUFTSDAILY.COM

tuesday, October 23, 2012

VOLUME LXIV, NUMBER 31

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Menghan Liu

Daily Editorial Board

The Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center was officially dedicated at an afternoon ceremony yesterday in the Chase Gym. The event honored Tufts alumnus, New York Giants Chairman and award-winning film producer Steve Tisch (A ’71) and recognized the contributions of various others in the university’s effort to improve Tufts students’ athletic and overall college experiences. “When you’re in beautiful spaces you can do great things,” Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney said. Provost and Senior Vice President David Harris acted as master of ceremonies and introduced speeches from Tufts administrators, public officials, students and Tisch himself. Harris opened with a few remarks of his own, including an expression of appreciation to Tisch for his ongoing philanthropic commitment to Tufts and the acknowledgement of various guests of honor. Harris then conveyed a note of congratulations from Republican Senator Scott Brown (LA ’81) in honor of the event and thanked the various members of the Medford community in attendance. Berger-Sweeney followed with

Caroline Geiling / the Tufts Daily

see GYM, page 2

The Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center was officially dedicated at a ceremony yesterday afternoon.

Inside this issue

Andrew Morgenthaler / the Tufts Daily Archives

Robert Devigne, professor of political science, was among three faculty members who made the Princeton Review’s list of the best 300 college professors in the nation. According to Franek, the Princeton Review sends out annual surveys to hundreds of thousands of college students across the United States asking them to evaluate their professors. This information was combined with ratings from RateMyProfessors. com to create a smaller list of 1,000 professors and then a final list of 300.

“It’s a crossing of both the information, feedback on a professor and feedback on a student’s overall academic experience,” Franek said. The book aims to provide high school students, their parents and guidance counselors with a guide for choosing a school that fits best, see PROFESSORS, page 2

Debate Coverage

Obama, Romney spar on foreign policy In Pearson Chemical Laboratory and across campus, members of the Tufts community gathered last night to watch the third and final debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in their bid for the election next month. The candidates stated their views on America’s role in the world, the war in Afghanistan, Israel and Iran, the changing Middle East, terrorism and China during the foreign policy debate, which was moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS. For 90 minutes, Romney and Obama criticized each other’s approaches to diplomacy. Romney opened the debate by attacking his opponent on his policies in the Middle East. “We can’t kill our way out of this mess,” he said, criticizing Obama for focusing too much on killing America’s enemies in the region and not enough on soft power. Obama defended his administration’s actions in Libya and in the Middle East and cited his diplomatic skills in Israel. “I didn’t take donors,” as Romney did during his visit to Israel, Obama said. The president went on to cite his success in ordering the killing of Osama bin Laden, something he said his administration “moved heaven and Earth” to do. Romney took the chance to emphasize that his plans to increase spending on defense would be

balanced out by reforming domestic entitlement programs as part of a promise to balance the U.S. budget by the end of a second term as president. “I’ll get us on track,” he said. The candidates agreed on the president’s use of drones in the fight against terrorists abroad. On China, the candidates emphasized the danger of a trade imbalance with the country. Romney repeated his promise to label China a “currency manipulator” and said it could be a U.S. partner as long as it followed the rules. He criticized Obama for what he said was a soft position on China’s currency policies. Obama hit back with a zinger referencing Romney’s time at Bain Capital. “You are familiar with shipping jobs overseas because you invested in companies shipping jobs overseas,” Obama told his opponent. The debate came at a particularly tense moment in the election, with voting day just around the corner and many polls showing the two campaigns neck and neck. Jumbos who came to watch the debate together in Pearson stayed after the stage was clear to weigh the results of the election. “It showed that there’s a great deal of consensus on a rather hawkish policy on a number of issues like Iran, Israel and the drone war,” Mark Rafferty, a senior, said. —by Martha Shanahan

Today’s sections

Our Presidential election coverage continues with a look into the candidates’ economic policies.

Dark Dark Dark headlined a recent concert at Great Scott in Allston.

see FEATURES, page 4

see ARTS, page 7

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Letters

1 4 7 10

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

11 12 14 Back


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