TuftsDaily12-05-2012

THE TUFTS DAILY

Rain 54/27

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Wednesday, DECEMBER 5, 2012

VOLUME LXIV, NUMBER 56

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Tufts enacts child abuse prevention policy

by James

Pouliot

Daily Editorial Board

The university introduced its Policy to Protect Children and Prevent Abuse this fall, following months of meetings between members of faculty and staff who frequently work with minors.

The policy features procedures to report and investigate child abuse on campus and/ or in Tufts-sponsored events.

Such abuse includes inappropriate sexual behavior, parental neglect and physical or emotional abuse.

Though there are few minors enrolled at Tufts, thousands of people younger than 18 years old participate in activities on campus. Youth leagues and summer camps, for example, frequently use Tufts facilities, according to Senior Vice President for University Relations Mary Jeka.

“As you look at every corner of the university, you’ll find minors on campus at one point or another,” Jeka said. “We had to do was to develop a protocol for how people would deal with minors, to make sure that both the minors and our community are safe.”

Although the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) handles all child abuse cases, the new policy recommends reporting suspicious on-campus behavior to the Tufts University Policy Department (TUPD), according to TUPD Deputy Chief Mark Keith. TUPD will then act as a

liaison between the university and DCF. A DCF official will hold three training sessions for TUPD officers before the end of the semester based on new policy, Keith said.

The controversy surrounding Pennsylvania State University’s Jerry Sandusky prompted the policy, which Jeka said entered planning stages in February 2012.

“Every time something like that happens, all of us say, ‘What about us?’” Jeka said.

In the last eight years, there have been two allegations of child abuse that Tufts was involved in, one of which was not related to Tufts programs or personnel, according to Keith.

Another driving concern for creation of a policy was that students compose much of the staff at Tufts events targeted towards the youth, Jeka said.

To ensure accountability, the new policy includes a Code of Conduct Involving Interactions with Minors that informs volunteers and other staff of their responsibilities and the restrictions to their contact with minors.

Among other guidelines, the code states that communication between Tufts personnel and minors outside of a professional relationship is forbidden.

It also clarifies that admissions interviews must be conducted in public settings.

In the past, groups and see CHILDREN, page 2

Andrew Schneer / The Tufts Daily

A UGL Unicco employee working at Tufts discovered and cleaned up excrement in a Carmichael Hall bathroom last week.

Carmichael bathroom again defaced with excrement by

Daniel Gottfried Daily Staff Writer

For the second time in three years, a Tufts janitor discovered excrement on the walls of a bathroom in the Carmichael Hall lobby last week, an incidence of vandalism the janitor said she views as a personal attack.

Tufts Labor Coalition (TLC)

Senior initiates proposal for textbook company on campus Audrey Michael

A proposal from senior Alec Howard that the university allow Bucks4Books, a company that buys back and sells used textbooks, to operate on campus, is being met with initial rejection because of a contractual agreement between the university and the Tufts University Bookstore that prohibits competing textbook sales on the Hill.

Howard first learned about Bucks4Books while working at SimpleTuition, a company that allows students to compare private student loans.

“I talked with people there, and they got me in touch with [Christopher Howard, the CEO of ] Bucks4Books,” he said. “[Buck4Books] is an online company that essentially looks to acquire inventory.”

The goal of the company, Howard said, is to increase options for student textby

Daily Editorial Board

Danai Macridi / Tufts Daily Archives

The Tufts University Bookstore’s non-competition contract with the university has stood in the way of a senior’s proposal to bring a textbook buy back company to campus. book buyback and boost the amount of money students make selling their books. He estimated that the company buys back over one million

textbooks a year.

Howard believes bringing Bucks4Books to campus

Inside this issue

see BOOKS, page 2

is currently lobbying in support of Maria, an employee of Tufts’ janitorial services contractor UGL Unicco. Maria, who declined to give her last name, said in Spanish through an interpreter that she discovered and then cleaned up the fecal matter in a coed lobby bathroom while working a shift in Carmichael last week.

A similar incident occurred

in the spring of 2010, also in Carmichael and also involving Maria, prompting outrage among students.

“When this happened two years ago, students found me crying, which is how the story came to light the first time,” Maria said, as translated by senior Diego Laurenti Sellers. see VANDALISM, page 2

Fletcher to debut online admissions interviews by

Annabelle Roberts Contributing Writer

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy’s Graduate School of International Affairs will launch a new, online system for conducting its admissions interviews this week for candidates applying by the school’s Jan. 10 deadline.

Through InterviewStream, an established online interview site, applicants who are unable to interview on campus will have the opportunity to attach a video interview to their application, according to Liz Wagoner, associate director of Fletcher’s Office of Admissions and Financial Aid. Applicants will have the option to record themselves answering five questions, with two minutes allowed for each question. Each student will only have one chance to redo the video.

“This is the pilot year, and if things go well, Fletcher hopes to provide this opportunity for both the early and main applicants next year,” Wagoner said.

Fletcher is the only graduate school of international affairs that interviews its applicants, according to Wagoner. Since the interview process is vital for finding the best candidates for the school, she said, the video option is crucial because not every student is able to visit campus.

“It was really important for us to come up with a way for applicants from other countries, who don’t live in the Boston area, or can’t afford to come to Boston, to have that same opportunity to interview,” Wagoner said.

The online interviews can be done using any camera connected to a computer, giving students around the world the opportunity to add a personal touch to their application, according to Mirza Ramic, a first-year student at Fletcher who will be reviewing the online interviews this winter. He added that this is particularly important since the international community is a huge part of Fletcher. see FLETCHER, page 2

Today’s sections

Tufts students pursue careers in modeling on and off campus.

Border Cafe may not be romantic and lowkey, but its offerings are tasty and inexpensive.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

9 10 11 Back

The Tufts Daily

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News

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Vandalism in Carmichael reflects trend of disrespect

VANDALISM

continued from page 1

Annie Wermiel / Tufts Daily Archives

The university has implemented a new policy that details the procedure for reporting child abuse, as well a code of conduct regarding interacting with minors on campus.

University introduces child abuse policy in response to Sandusky arrest at Penn State CHILDREN

continued from page 1

departments formed their own child abuse policies, all of which had to comply with the DCF’s regulations, Jeka said. Before she convened departmentwide meetings, Jeka examined the child abuse policies at other universities and youth organizations, but found they were either too specific to the organization or non-existent.

Instead, Tufts’ policy is unique to the university, Jeka said. In addition to the input of the Tufts community, Jeka said she sought assistance from consultant Anthony Rizzuto, who had worked on similar policies with the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston during the church’s longrunning molestation scandal.

Carolyn House, a sophomore who works with three- to sixyear-olds in the Tufts Daycare’s Special Friends program, was not

Bookstore contract up for renewal in 2014 BOOKS

continued from page 1

would make it easier for students to sell their books at times when the bookstore might not take them. “[The campus bookstore] buys back with the intent of selling them next semester, but classes are usually offered every other semester,” he said.

Howard, who plans to build a student coalition to bring Bucks4Books to campus, spoke to the Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate at its meeting last Sunday in hopes of developing support from the Senate. He argued that increasing competition in the used-textbook market on campus will give students more control over how much money they receive from selling them.

“It makes a lot of sense for the school,” he said, adding that Bucks4Books would employ Tufts students and pay the Office for Campus Life to rent space on campus.

A major roadblock to the proposal, according to several TCU senators, is that the company’s aim to provide cheaper textbooks may violate the bookstore’s contract with the university that prevents textbook sales competition on campus.

“I think if it were to happen it would be very helpful for the students,” TCU Treasurer Christie Maciejewski, a junior, said. Maciejewski, however, said the proposal conflicts with the bookstore’s noncompetition clause.

“My understanding of [the non-competition clause] is that there is no one that can deal with textbooks within a ten-block radius of the

Barnes and Noble bookstore,” she said.

Bookstore Manager Carolyn LaQuaglia explained that a contract between the university and the Barnes and Noble-owned bookstore states that the store must be the exclusive retailer of textbooks on campus, as well as other school merchandise.

“We’re contracted out for a number of services ... We are the exclusive seller on campus at Tufts for any course-related material including textbooks, school supplies [and] Tufts merchandise,” LaQuaglia said, though she noted there are some exceptions.

“There are loopholes in the contract,” LaQuaglia added, citing as an example clubs or organizations that sell team merchandise for fundraisers.

Maciejewski said that the current contract between the university and Barnes and Noble expires on June 30, 2014, at which point negotiations will be possible, but that until then there is no place for Bucks4Books on campus.

She said she has encouraged Howard to continue speaking with LaQuaglia and Director of Dining and Business Services Patti Klos, as well as submit a resolution to the Senate.

LaQuaglia said that per the Higher Education Opportunity Act, the university must post the necessary materials for each class so that students have options in finding textbooks. She noted that the bookstore currently does this on their website.

“It protects the university to keep money coming to them, because [bookstore sales] provide funds for the faculty and student programs on campus,” she said.

surprised by the terms in the new Code of Conduct.

“It’s a university safety policy, so they’re going to go with whatever’s going to make them least liable,” House said. “It’s unfortunate that if someone was stranded, you would never be able to say, ‘I’ll walk you home,’ but organizations should be required to find ways so that a child doesn’t have to be alone with someone, especially if they don’t want to.”

Members of TLC consider the vandalism to be an act of disrespect toward the janitors in Carmichael, and believe that it reflects disrespect for janitorial staff campus-wide.

“There is a sense that everyone that lives here, works here and studies here, aren’t necessarily part of the same community,” senior Alexa Sasanow, a member of TLC, said. “To treat someone with that sort of disrespect is abhorrent and contrary to the mission of what Tufts is supposed to be.”

TLC works to increase the quality of interaction between janitors and the Tufts community at large, according to Josephine Herman, a senior and co-chair of TLC. “I don’t know if it is that students aren’t thinking about the reality that actual human beings are forced to clean up their bodily fluids, or that they don’t care, but there is generally a problem at Tufts with this stuff and disrespect for janitors,” Sasanow said.

Herman said while she did not believe that the vandalism was meant to do emotional harm to the janitors in particular, she still considers the act to be disrespectful.

“More likely it is an act of drunken stupidity, and not as much targeting the janitors, but that doesn’t change the fact that the janitor is the one

that had to clean it up and deal with the consequences of that,” Herman said.

Sasanow said that some students do not realize the effect that their actions have on university staff.

“There is a sense for a lot of students that someone is coming to clean up, so it doesn’t matter if they do it,” she said. “A lot of times, Tufts students can act entitled.”

Students in Carmichael have also been taking down flyers bearing phrases such as “Be Considerate” and stuffing them into toilets, Maria said.

TLC attempts to combat this attitude, Herman said.

“People can’t take it for granted that other people are going to clean up for them,” she said. “It isn’t that difficult to just be a little more conscientious in your everyday life.”

TLC has posted pictures of staff members on bulletin boards in the residence halls, along with information about who they are in an effort to help students understand that the employees are not just people who come to clean, and that they deserve to be treated with respect, Herman said.

“If you live in a dorm, it is easy to go up to someone and introduce yourself, and that simple action can lead to better relationships within the Tufts community,” she said.

Fletcher admissions process adopts video interview component FLETCHER

continued from page 1

“The system really shows the commitment of the school to attract and find the best potential students for Fletcher,” Felix Hofmann, a second-year student at Fletcher who will also be reviewing the online interviews, said. “It’s a serious effort from the school to give an interview opportunity to every student.”

The system stops short of offering a full replacement to the experience of an in-person interview, Ramic said.

“When you don’t have that interaction in person, you don’t really know how people respond to certain questions and you can’t throw in some of your own questions” he said.

Although the system has flaws, Hofmann believes that it is still the best way to provide an opportunity to interview every applicant.

“The system does everything to imitate the personal interview as best as it can,” he said. “It’s not as good as a personal interview, but it’s as good as technology permits.”

Another concern about the new system is ensuring that the Office of Admissions gives the online videos the same amount of consideration and attention as the on-campus interviews receive, Wagoner said.

The interviews will be reviewed by a small group of about 10 volunteers, Ramic said.

Besides personalizing the application, the online interview will also offer other key information about the candidate, such as their ability to speak fluent English, Hofmann said.

“The interview is a merciless opportunity to demonstrate whether he or she can speak English,” he said, noting that Fletcher students must be able to communicate and debate well in English.

Hofmann said that as he watches the videos, he will note how the candidate structures the interview

Aalok Kanani / Tufts Daily Archives

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy will this week introduce an online interview component to its admissions process. to get their points across and the kinds of experiences they relate in the interview.

“The online interview is a perfect opportunity for an applicant to share their personal experiences, their professional experiences and their academic experiences,” he said.

Wagoner expressed excitement about the new online interview process, stressing that it will give

applicants a chance to stand out from the crowd.

“I think it’s really important to know, as an applicant, that you’re not just you’re test score, you’re not your paper application, but you’re a person behind that application and this is a really great opportunity to show us who you are,” Wagoner said. “I hope that applicants out there really take advantage of this unique opportunity.”

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Model students: Tufts experience relaxed, tight-knit Boston network by

Charlotte Gilliland Contributing Writer

Many Jumbos thrive in the spotlight, whether as a Tufts Community Union ( TCU) senator, as an attorney competing with Tufts Mock Trial or as a dancer in the sold-out Spirit of Color show. Others find their 15 minutes of fame off campus in the Boston modeling industry.

Sophomore Margaret Wiryaman began modeling in her hometown of Lexington, Mass. and continues to model now for Nara Paz, a designer who bases her business in Boston.

“When I was 16, I was in church at a Christmas Eve service, and I ran into this woman that I never met before,” she said. “She was looking to have a diverse group of models, and she asked if I’d be interested.”

Wiryaman works strictly with Paz, giving her a more intimate experience with the world of modeling by working oneon-one with a designer.

“We’re really good friends, too,” she said. “She designed my prom dress.”

Unlike Wiryaman, junior Maeve Stier works with a Boston agency, which has given her a completely different modeling experience.

“I started modeling right before my 18th birthday and was signed with a very small agency in Maine,” she said.

“I started looking at Boston-based agencies and signed with Model Club.

I’ve been with them for a little over two years now.”

Stier, a transfer student from Mount Holyoke College who works with Model Club at least once a week, is interested in modeling for reasons beyond the experience with which it provides her.

“That’s the only way I’m getting my income,” Stier said. “It’s definitely a job for me. It’s a really nice way to make money while I’m in school.”

Wiryaman, though, emphasized the breadth of opportunities she gains by modeling.

“It’s something that I do because I really like [Paz’s] work,” she said. “I’m really interested in fashion. It’s fun and it’s not something I would get to do otherwise.”

Senior May Igawa started modeling at home and now works for Dynasty Models in Boston.

“I contacted Dynasty Models in Boston my sophomore year,” Igawa said. “Most of the stuff I’ve done is runway.”

Boston’s fashion market is unique, according to the students who model — it differs greatly from the New York and international market and offers a fresh take on the cutthroat world of high fashion.

“It’s a very organic, small network,” Wiryaman said.

Due to the tight-knit community, according to Wiryaman, recognizing photographers and designers is commonplace.

“Boston is much more commercial, and New York is so high-fashion and crazy,” Stier said. “I know a lot of Boston girls who go to New York and just don’t get anything.”

Boston’s modeling standards compared New York’s are more relaxed, according to Stier and Wiryaman.

“In New York, you have to be 5’10”.

In Boston, it’s a more commercial kind of modeling, print modeling or modeling for magazines,” Wiryaman said. “The restrictions are just not as prevalent. New York is more reflective of the international market.”

According to Stier, Boston’s small, intimate market has afforded her a generally positive experience in the world of modeling.

“Because Boston is smaller, everyone is friendlier and it’s a lot less cutthroat,” Stier said. “I’ve never had a point where there was anything that really upset me or threw me off.”

justin mccallum / the tufts daily

Senior Kieran Lewis walked The TENT at Boston Fashion Week on Sept. 30.

Within this small, commercial network, though, it is more difficult to make a living by modeling solely in the Boston market. According to Stier, most models will start in Boston and immediately take off to New York, often encountering challenges as they enter the new environment.

“You go to agencies, and they’re looking for something,” Stier said. “In New York, it takes a lot more for you to stand out.”

Due to Boston’s different atmosphere, few girls described feeling any pressure from their agencies in regard to their weight or looks.

“They’ve never said anything to me about measurements or anything,” Stier said. “My weight never fluctuates, so they haven’t needed to say anything.”

It’s easy, however, to become more aware of one’s size and body image through modeling, according to Wiryaman.

“I’ve never had a problem, but it’s hard not to be conscious of your size when you’re being measured, seeing how things fit and if things are too small,” she said. “It’s not something you think about when you’re not modeling, but when your purpose is to fit into clothes, if you can’t do that, it’s hard.”

Even within Boston’s friendly market, though, there is a small degree of pressure, and Tufts’ models have learned that modeling requires confidence and energy.

“You are in the spotlight and you have to perform,” Igawa said Wiryaman, Stier and Igawa all recognize that their profession carries a degree of uncertainty and therefore question their futures in the industry.

“For now, I’m not really sure how far it will take me,” Wiryaman said. “If you want to pursue it seriously, you have to dedicate yourself. I definitely have no ambitions for doing this for a living.”

Stier has used her modeling to gain further experience in the industry of fashion and magazine publishing, although she does not necessarily want to pursue it outside of college. “[Modeling] is not my career path right now. I actually want to go into magazine publishing,” she said, “I think it’s important to have modeling experience because it is another side of the industry.”

Igawa likes to focus on the importance of the experience she has gained.

“I’m willing to give [modeling outside of college] a shot. It’s never been my prime thing,” she said. “It’s fun to get off campus and do something else ... I think it’s worth it just as an experience.”

Alexa Peterson | Jeminist: A Jumbo Feminist

The last column

W

ell, my friends, few of you are reading this because this is the week during the fall semester where everyone’s lives start spiraling into oblivion. We stop wearing appropriate clothing, the gym becomes about as deserted as WinterFest and the thought of grocery shopping and/or good personal hygiene upkeep slips out of the realm of possibility. However, for those of us who have taken a break from our pitiful lives, I have prepared this last column to make a final statement of sorts.

This column is called “Jeminist: A Jumbo Feminist.” I pursued writing it because, in my life, “feminist” is one of those concepts that is perpetually indefinable, but infinitely relevant, ever changing and omnipresent. Feminism is alive to me. Despite the joy that I’ve gotten from writing this column, I certainly cannot say with any certainty what I think being a feminist means. But I can report the musings of what a feminist means from some of the best feminists I know. (The female feedback in my columns consists almost exclusively of thoughts from my strong independent female housemates, just for the sake of transparency here.)

One of my housemates says her feminism is best expressed in a quotation by feminist author Rebecca West: “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” Maybe feminism is just the radical notion that we’re here and that we matter. Maybe it’s that we’re people, not objects of affection, sexual distraction or domestic prowess.

Another housemate says that feminism to her is about insisting that we do not live in a post-sexist society and questioning just why that is. This includes women who are disenfranchised with their faith traditions, women who must speak in languages that literally do not recognize female existence and women who are not allowed to reach a level of education that allows them to work with men as their equals.

Another housemate expresses that being a feminist is an effort to do things because they make her feel good or proud or happy, not because it is expected for her because of her gender. It is a constant struggle for all feminists, after deep contemplation, to try to sift through which actions, thoughts and expressions are truly because of who we are, and which are affected by the expectations of our gender — and this applies to all gender expressions.

It is clear that no one has the same exact idea of what “feminist” is really supposed to mean. To my excitement, my significant other consented that he would wear a “This is what a feminist looks like” shirt if I gave him one, as long as we did not have to match in public. If many in our country weren’t so afraid of the word, I think there would be far more of us than expected wearing those shirts proudly.

It’s because all of us can be feminists.

The door is wide open. If you are a person who believes in personhood — who believes in supporting the human dignity of all people — you are a feminist.

Because one day, it occurred to you that people should be equal, and you questioned why everyone wasn’t. No matter what the world thinks being a feminist means, and who gets to define it, you are a feminist because you questioned. Even a little, even at all. Equality relies on the idea that one day, someone will question the way of things and realize something is not quite right. Right there and then, you become a feminist.

Alexa Petersen is a senior majoring in political science and peace and justice studies. She can be reached at Alexa.Petersen@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

4

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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Studying abroad spring 2013?

Be prepared for your semester abroad!

Required pre-departure meetings: Programs Abroad staff and study abroad alumni will go over the pre-departure checklist, discuss health and safety issues, transfer of credit, cultural adaptation and much, much more!

Non-Tufts Programs

Tufts Programs

*all meetings in Braker Hall 001*

Tufts in Madrid/Paris/Tübingen

Non-Tufts Africa/Asia/ Caribbean/Latin America/ Middle East

Tuesday, Dec. 11 @ 1:30 pm *in Braker Hall 001*

Tufts in Hong Kong

Tuesday, Dec. 11 @ 10:30 am

Monday, Dec. 17 @ 12:00 pm *in Dowling 745A*

Non-Tufts Mainland Europe

Wednesday, Dec. 12 @ 1:30 pm

Non-Tufts UK/Ireland/Australia/ New Zealand Wednesday, Dec. 12 @ 3:30 pm

PLEASE NOTE: If you cannot make your scheduled non-Tufts meeting, please attend another non-Tufts meeting. If you cannot make your scheduled Tufts meeting, please attend another Tufts meeting.

Meetings are required.

Questions? Call x7-5871.

•• v”c

Chabad of Tufts Presents

“EighT LighTs on ThE hiLL” Join us in lighting our most special menorah yet, the

“CAnoRAh”

You CAn light up a life - Feed the hungry

Monday, December 10th 5:30pm Mayer Campus Center

Canorah at noon Donuts

Band

SOUP

Reitman

You can also participate by making a canned food donation in the bin at the CC. For more information please call (650) 867-5909 or email info@jewishjumbo.com

Co-sponsored by:

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

Restaurant review

Hip, cheap Border Cafe is ideal student eatery by

Caroline Welch

Daily Editorial Board

If you’re looking for a relaxing, romantic night of fine dining, Border Cafe is probably not the place for you. However, for those

Border Cafe 32 Church Street Cambridge, MA 02138 (617)-864-6100 Price Range: $$ who want to spend a fun evening with friends without emptying their wallets — in other words, if you are a member of the college-aged crowd — this is definitely a spot worth visiting.

Though it is situated on the rather quiet corner of Church Street and Palmer Street in Harvard Square, Border Cafe is anything but low-key. As soon as they walk through the bright teal doors of the Tex-Mex and Cajun eatery, customers find themselves in the midst of a loud and vibrant dining room. Wooden floorboards and tables make Border Cafe feel somewhat rustic, and the warm yellow glow of the interior is instantly inviting. String lights frame the windows and colorful folk art murals fill the walls from floor to ceiling. The sheer amount of decoration — paintings of western landscapes, neon beer signs and Hispanic memorabilia — is enough to keep guests visually occupied for hours. But then, the menu arrives.

The extensive three-paneled menu opens like a brochure and is so large that it can almost engulf the entire edge of a table. It consists of 12 different subdivisions ranging from appetizers and beverages — there’s a lengthy list of Margaritas — to fajitas and quesadillas. And while Border offers a wide assortment of different dishes, it also offers different types of cuisine. The menu boasts a “Cajun Favorites” section as well as various “Mexican Specialties.”

Under the Cajun category, items such as “French Quarter Chicken” and “Gulf Coast Seafood Enchiladas” evoke images of the Deep South. Other customary Cajun foods

javacolleen via Flickr Creative Commons

Border’s quiet surroundings belie the restaurant’s rowdy, festive environment. include crawfish and catfish. The plates of Mexican offerings, on the other hand, are a little less exotic. After all, tacos and enchiladas have become staples at popular Mexican-themed fast food chains like Chipotle and Qdoba. However, there are also some more authentic options — black bean and corn empanadas (flaky stuffed pastry pockets) and chimichurri steak are some more traditional alternatives.

In addition to its wide selection of food, one of the highlights of Border Cafe is its low prices. With only a handful of exceptions — the $15.95 “Mesquite Swordfish” and the $17.96 “El Pueblo” (shrimp and chicken or beef fajitas) — the entire menu remains under $15. The majority of the Tex-Mex basics (burros, soft tacos, enchiladas and quesadillas) are under $10. Though these orders are reasonably priced to the point of being downright cheap, their quality and portion sizes do not suffer for it. For example, a beef taco and a chicken enchilada both come stuffed to the brim, together with a side of black beans and rice, all for a mere $6.89. It’s also absolutely delicious. Along with its bargain prices, Border Cafe accom-

panies each of its patrons’ dishes with complimentary baskets of crunchy, salted chips and salsa and enormous drinking glasses that appear to be almost twice the regular beverage size. Yet, for such a good deal, there’s got to be a catch. And there is, albeit a small one. Small dollops of sour cream and guacamole, condiments that come standard in other Tex-Mex places, are an additional $0.75 and $0.95 charge, respectively.

However, it’s literally a small price to pay and is a minimal sacrifice to make to enhance the taste of already great food.

Above all else, it is the ambiance of Border Cafe that makes it such a hit, especially among the younger crowd. The restaurant is a lively, energetic and spirited place. While Border is virtually never empty, it really is packed during its peak hours. But this atmosphere is not for everyone. Occasionally, noisy crowded environments may make some patrons feel claustrophobic or overwhelmed, while extended waiting times can leave others feeling exasperated and cranky.

Still, if you are unfazed by a loud, fastpaced, cheerful environment, Border Cafe will, without a doubt, do the trick.

Album Review

Fake Blood’s debut album showcases mess of hypnotic electronica by

Kate Griffiths

Daily Editorial Board

Fake Blood, otherwise known as Theo Keating, has been remixing various songs since 2008, yet he has only just recently

Cells Fake Blood Different Recordings released his first studio album. “Cells” is a solid mix of ambient electronic music and a few slightly more upbeat songs whose baselines are just waiting to be remixed. Keating has also been a part of a hip-hop group called The Wiseguys which has influenced his electronic music’s use of off-beat rhythms and jazzier basses.

Opening song and first single “Yes/ No” seems an odd choice to represent the album with its repetitive, obnoxious chorus of “Yes, no/ Yes, no,” etc. The music itself is catchy, with a repeated refrain from the synthesizer and a melodic piano scale pervading the background. The lyrics mostly feel like a distraction, though without them it would be difficult to locate where the beat should drop. As it is, the bass kicks in following a particularly vehement “yes.”

Fake Blood does hypnotic electronic music well, as evinced by his previous

EPs. While this makes for good studying music, it’s difficult to actively listen to some of his songs without feeling a need for a more intense beat. But on songs like “Airbrushed,” he takes this into account. The track picks up immensely when the beat skips from a smooth flow to a staccato that repeats under a punchy melody.

“Phantom Power” only gets interesting halfway through the song when it incorporates odd beeping noises that are superimposed over interjected childish voices. It sounds weird, and it is. But something about it works.

“End of Days” is the song where the jazzier elements of Keating’s work are more recognizable. After a slow introduction, the track takes on the grungier elements of garage pioneer Skream, who used the flute to create an anxious scary mood.

The second single from the album, “All in the Blink,” is a faster-paced dubstep song. It has the proper lyrical chorus and the right build-up to the beat drop to be enjoyable. The song is more generic sounding, and while it is catchy and radio- friendly enough, Fake Blood’s skill lies in his ability to make simple beats and melodies entrancing.

The rest of the album does this much better. For example, “Let It Go” has less of the hypnotic element of the best Fake Blood songs, but the repeated refrain

adds more to the song than the lyrics on any of his other songs. The beat is a grungier one that leans more towards dubstep than garage. The song’s tempo begs to be sped up a little, but the soulful vocals provide the counterbalance to this.

“Another World” is the shortest song on the album and is basically a bizarre amalgamation of odd noises. It’s interesting, but not necessarily pleasant to listen to.

The last few songs on the album are also the strongest — “London” features a solid bass from a cello or double bass-esque instrument, which is contrasted with the soprano vocals weaving overhead. Violins join in and the song becomes a classical, emotional homage to the city without ever incorporating lyrics.

“Soft Machine” is inspired by the organic alien technology in the film “Le Planete Sauvage” (1973). The song itself sounds like it could be incorporated into the film, or at least feature some alienrelated paraphernalia in its music video.

“Cells” starts and ends strong, but the middle of the album is weak and could cause listeners to lose interest. If you stick it through until the end, though, it becomes apparent why Keating’s focus on the rhythmic and mesmerizing beat is the strongest element of his work.

Album closer “Contact” works with a heavy beat and a faster-paced one overlaid on the top that builds to an incredibly satisfying ending.

Megan Clark | Where’s the Craic?

‘The Boxer’

F

or my final column, I will review “The Boxer” (1997), another pairing of actor Daniel Day-Lewis and writer-director-producer Jim Sheridan.

At the time of its release, “The Boxer” was very topical and a little controversial due to its subject matter: the final peace talks between the IRA and the British government in the mid-90’s. Although Jim Sheridan’s movies often seek to promote a pro-Ireland, anti-violence message, the politics are usually just a backdrop to a more universally human story. In “The Boxer,” the audience enters the film through Danny, a former boxer who has just been released from jail after fourteen years for unspecified IRA involvement.

Danny, played by Day-Lewis, is in trouble. While he never “snitched” on anyone, he denounced the IRA while in prison. He is no longer welcome in his old neighborhood, a particularly poor, predominately Catholic district of West Belfast. Danny insists on settling down in his old home anyway and soon finds himself in a dire situation. Tensions, already at a head over disagreements about the peace negotiations, rise as Danny and his old coach try to reunite Protestants and Catholics in their non-sectarian boxing club. Worse still, Danny has gotten involved with a “prisoner’s wife” named Maggie.

The study in “prisoner’s wives” that this film provides is illuminating and cerebral. The movie opens with a wedding in a prison. After marrying her incarcerated husband, the bride returns alone and other IRA wives throw her a party. It has all the trappings of a wedding reception, but the music maintains an ominously heavy bass beat. Amid this apparent happiness, something is clearly amiss.

Maggie, who was Danny’s girlfriend before he went to jail, has married someone else and become a prisoner’s wife.

In IRA-controlled Belfast, to be a “prisoner’s wife” affords a woman a certain level of respect but also imposes harsh restrictions upon her. She is treated like a war widow and anyone who tries to get involved with her can be punished by death. Maggie, played by Emily Watson, reveals the difficult balancing act and resultant pain of being a prisoner’s wife.

If she tries to find happiness with another man, she has been unfaithful to the cause. If she abandons the cause, she had been unfaithful to her husband.

Thus her involvement with Danny, who has condemned the violence of the IRA, is doubly damning.

One of the most haunting parts of “The Boxer” is the images it employs. West Belfast is a city of concrete and barbed wire. There is a constant soundtrack of helicopters thrumming overhead, as the British troops follow people from a safely removed distance. It is a failed Orwellian novel — Big Brother is watching, but he has not yet crushed the resistance out of the people.

By far the most haunting image in the film comes at the end. An IRA wife finds her husband’s dead body as a helicopter looks on from above. She wordlessly and tearlessly hides the body with her own, trying to give him some dignity and privacy in death, after a life full of violence.

Jim Sheridan’s “The Boxer” is immensely beautiful. He takes an appropriately hard line against IRA violence and the killings of innocent people. However, he compassionately explores the injustice of life in Northern Ireland that makes these men want to kill.

I hope you have enjoyed this journey through Irish cinema with me — I know I’ve had fun — and if your interest was piqued, I hope you continue to search for more movie craic on your own!

Megan Clark is a junior majoring in history.

She can be reached at Megan.Clark@tufts.edu.

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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Of Love and Loss: On the Road to Peace and Human Dignity

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish Known simply as “the Gaza doctor,� Dr. Abuelaish captured hearts and headlines around the world in the aftermath of horrific tragedy: on January 16, 2009, Israeli shells hit his home in the Gaza Strip, killing three of his daughters and a niece It was his response to the loss of his children that made news and won him humanitarian awards around the world. Instead of seeking revenge or sinking into hatred, Dr. Abuelaish is calling for the people of the Middle East to start talking to each other. His deepest hope is that his daughters will be the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

A Palestinian doctor who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Abuelaish is an infertility specialist who lived in Gaza but plied his specialty in Israeli hospitals. From the strip of land he calls home (a place where 1.5 million refugees are crammed into 360 square kilometres of land), the Gaza doctor has been crossing the lines that divide the region for most of his life, as a physician who treats patients on both sides of the border and as a humanitarian who sees the need for improved public health and education for women as the way forward in the Middle East. He is the founder of the Daughters for Life Foundation, which provides scholarships for women in the Middle East.

TONIGHT, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 7:00pm, BRAKER 001 For more information: tuftsgloballeadership.org or x73314

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Seniors: Join the Honos Civicus Society!

“I made a difference” Seth Rau, A12, International Relations & Political Science Courses: Intro to Peace and Justice Studies, Globalization, U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East Activities: The New Initiative for Middle East Peace, Tufts Democrats, Embassy of Ecuador Why I’m a life-long active citizen and a member of Honos Civicus Society: “I am not a person that can stand by and watch problems take place in my community. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Honos Civicus was a capstone to my civic achievements while at Tufts.”

To join this growing network of engaged Tufts alumni, visit activecitizen.edu/honoscivicus.

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

Editorial Ben Kochman Falcon Reese Managing Editors Jenna Buckle Executive News Editor Shana Friedman News Editors Lizz Grainger Stephanie Haven Amelie Hecht Daphne Kolios Patrick McGrath Laina Piera Martha Shanahan Melissa Wang Jenny White Menghan Liu Assistant News Editors Melissa Mandelbaum Audrey Michael James Pouliot Josh Weiner Hannah Fingerhut Executive Features Editor Jon Cheng Features Editors Amelia Quinn Derek Schlom Lily Sieradzki Emily Bartlett Assistant Features Editors Alexandria Chu Jacob Passy Melissa MacEwen Executive Arts Editor Kate Griffiths Arts Editors Alex Hanno Joe Stile Matthew Welch Alex Kaufman Assistant Arts Editors Dan O’Leary Caroline Welch Jonathan Green Bhushan Deshpande David Kellogg Seth Teleky Yiota Kastritis Peter Sheffer Denise Amisial Jehan Madhani Louie Zong Keran Chen Nicholas Golden Scott Geldzahler NewtonPortorreal

Editorial | Letters

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Editorial

Governor Patrick’s budget cuts embody fiscal cliff ’s high stakes Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick held a press conference yesterday describing coming budget cuts for the 2013 fiscal year due to a projected hole of $540 million in the state budget. The governor described the cuts as mostly coming from executive branch bureaucracy and agencies in the state government, as well as being pulled from the “Rainy Day Fund,” which will still have “a balance of $1.2 billion, one of the highest in the country,” according to Patch’s Beach Hill site. The rest will be filled with other small savings and a small percentage of cuts to local aid at the county and municipal levels.

Patrick puts the blame for the projected budget hole on the so-called “fiscal cliff,” citing the stalemate on a deal as the “direct cause of our budget challenges,” as reported in The Boston Globe.

Though many other states have worse debt conditions and have also been brutally affected, it is absolutely necessary for Massachusetts’ economy that a deal be made.

The fiscal cliff was intended to force a bipartisan agreement of some

sort to stop the disastrous and immediate cuts set to occur on the first day of next year.

Unfortunately, it appears that the fiscal guillotine that it has become is still not enough of a force to convince two polarized parties to compromise.

President Barack Obama believes that he came out of the election with a mandate for higher taxes on the rich and has said that he will not support a deal without them.

The Republicans, under the leadership of House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Kentucky), have offered their intransigence to a deal that includes tax hikes. Yet even Boehner’s plan, which eliminates a large swath of tax deductions, has been attacked by a large part of the GOP. Indeed, both parties have flashed their extreme sides, as some Democrats have expressed reluctance to offer up too much in spending cuts and at least one, Sen. Patty Murray (D.-Washington), has said that going off the cliff would not be the worst possible thing to happen.

Avoiding the cliff should be our goal, as there is too much at stake

for states whose own programs will also be affected otherwise, including Massachusetts. This is a time for leadership on both sides: Boehner has to exercise what strength the Republican establishment still has in the face of a fiscally ultra-conservative faction of his party that is poised to make a comeback after Mitt Romney’s defeat.

President Obama also has a responsibility to help the two sides of Congress reach a deal. In his campaign, he proposed a balanced approach that would cut spending and raise taxes. However, it appears he may be pushing his luck. He refuses to budge after failing to negotiate what he wanted in past budget battles, and may have gotten all he will get from Boehner, who loses support for his own plan by the day.

Boehner has already made a risky deal, one that he is certainly aware may fail in his own party. The president has to make a choice as to whether he should hold the hard liberal line and hope the GOP will fold entirely to his demands, or make a bold compromise before it is too late.

lousness towards Irish poverty. Ms. Saund’s op-ed seems to be mocking the hyper-sensitivity of the Tufts student body to accusations of bias, but I’m not sure that satire does the issue justice. Although there is certainly something to be said for more tolerance and understanding when discussing issues of “race, gender, religion and sexuality,” the author appar-

ently mocks all those concerned by those problems on the Tufts campus.

I’m happy to hear that op-ed contributors are well-read, but certainly there are more intelligent things to say about bias on campus than making an elaborate Jonathan Swift pun.

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Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, I was perplexed by Carolyn Saund’s op-ed in Tuesday’s issue, which seems to better demonstrate the author’s level of education than any substantive point. I did appreciate the Jonathan Swift references; his satirical article, “A Modest Mroposal” was directed against the English elite’s cal-

Regards, Ben Van Meter

Correction P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

The photo printed with the Dec. 3 News article “Tufts Debate Society hosts annual tournament” pictured the Tufts Mock Trial team rather than the Tufts Debate Society.

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Wednesday, December 5, 2012 Op-Ed

Kindergarten justice

When I was in kindergarten, my teacher taught me the levels of education available in the United States: elementary school, middle school, high school, college, graduate school. Five-year-old me tugged on her ponytail nervously and asked, “What’s college for?” I was told that college is where you learn the tools for what you want to do in the real world.

To this day, I still believe that.

When I was a sophomore here, I thought I wanted to teach kindergarten myself. I declared a child development major and took classes in the education department, where I learned how to maintain control of a classroom, how children develop language and determine social norms and how child’s play can provide insight into intellectual development. I was learning strategies in college that would inform my work in the field of education after graduation, just like my kindergarten teacher said I would.

What I didn’t understand about my teacher’s explanation until recently, though, is that she never specified that college teaches you only the academic tools for future success. In the past few years, I have been involved in various social justice efforts on the Tufts campus, from gender equality and awareness to inclusive sex education. I talk about sexual orientation, race and socioeconomic status. And in these efforts — just as much as in my scholastic pursuits — I am learning every day how to effect the change on campus that I hope to effect when I graduate this spring. If college is where you learn the tools of what you want to do in the real world, it makes exceptionally clear sense to me that any revolution I dream of for society would start right here at Tufts.

The so-called “real world” outside our campus bubble is no utopia. Of course by

Katie Hegarty

there are people who use racial slurs, who degrade women, who are willfully ignorant of trans and gender-non-conforming issues. But my focus on social justice initiatives here at Tufts does not ignore the realities of an unjust “real world.” It strengthens my skill set so I can better grapple with injustice when I leave here. The idea is to start conversations here, on an admittedly privileged plane, so that the people we all interact with at Tufts will know how to have those conversations when we occupy larger, more philosophically diverse spaces after college.

I see the frustration of students who seem to think feminists and activists — and op-ed writers — are hypersensitive. The phrases “politically correct” and “socially correct” have been thrown into the ring more than once. Yesterday’s op-ed by Carolyn Saund, entitled “A humble suggestion,” sardonically suggested that people doing social justice work may see themselves as “upright ... citizens” in opposition to the “miscreants” who perpetrate bias incidents. I certainly can’t speak for anyone else — you know how we activists love I-statements — but I don’t call people out for hurtful actions because I want to elevate myself. There is no joy in pointing out hate speech. If we were hypersensitive for the sake of hypersensitivity, we would hardly ever speak, let alone create coalitions and networks and discussion groups — god forbid, discussion groups! The potential for offense is in all of us because every single person has a different background. As John Kelly said in his Nov. 26 op-ed “When decorum is lost,” we can never know what demons lie within the minds of everyone around us.

And yet I speak up, and others speak up, because we know it matters here just as much as it will matter in the real world.

In my work with LGBT causes, I have

learned of the old, but not outdated, slogan “Silence = Death.” This phrase means to me that ignoring injustice — letting bias pass untouched on campus because I know it will exist in common society post-graduation anyway — accomplishes nothing but the perpetuation of that biased outside society. If everyone leaves Tufts thinking activism is worthless on a small scale because the big scale exists, who off-campus will start tipping that big scale toward equality?

I believe absolutely and fervently that justice comes from action and speech — and yes, I believe that speech is free. But free speech means free response as well.

After all, the goal of activism is not to avoid being offended. I have to know the difference between championing a cause that will benefit everyone and taking up a cross against something I dislike and demanding that no one else like it either. Today, I ate a hamburger. Someone nearby ate a veggie burger. We lived in peace. No Irish infants were harmed in the making of this lunch hour.

To sum all this up, social justice is tricky business. If activists were to point out every microaggression that ever took place, we would shrivel and die before the end of the Mayan calendar. But I, for one, am not letting that stop me from calling out the things I see, and I don’t think that makes me hypersensitive, or obsessed with being politically correct or a threat to anyone’s happiness. If activism isn’t for you, then it isn’t for you. I won’t try to recruit the unwilling. But what I will say is that everything I need to know about social interactions and perpetuating justice, I learned in kindergarten.

Katie Hegarty is a senior majoring in women’s studies and child development.

She can be reached at Katherine.Hegarty@ tufts.edu.

Red lights, oversights

by Nick Richard, Erin Griffard, Teighlor Bonner and Anna Patten

On Nov. 8, which started out as a normal Thursday evening, we walked past Lewis Hall and stopped to chat with one of our closest friends as he headed home just a few blocks away.

We joked about his formerly annoying habit of barreling — with sound effects — up and down the stairs every morning. We complained about our homework; he complained about his.

As we continued on our way, none of us could ever have imagined that the only noise in the world we would want to hear the next morning would be that stomping on the stairs.

We haven’t heard that shockingly loud sound since. Our friend was severely injured when he was struck by a car on Packard Avenue and Powderhouse Boulevard just after we saw him.

We are writing in response to an article published in the Daily on Nov. 29 that details the response of the Tufts administration — a response that has lessened this tragic accident to a statistical incident, to a moment in time without recognizing the real human repercussions.

The aforementioned article states that “the recent series of accidents at that particular intersection is most likely anecdotal,” information that is attributed to Somerville Director of Communications Tom Champion. The fact of the matter, however, is that this incident is far from anecdotal.

While Tom Champion is not a Tufts official, the Tufts administration has assured students they are collaborating closely with Somerville to investigate the intersection.

Champion’s attitude, exemplified through his nonchalant response and trivialization of the dangerous nature of this intersection, is consistent with

the response we have witnessed from the Tufts administration.

Over the past weeks, we have watched one of the most brilliant minds we know struggling to recover, debilitated by a single moment in time beyond his control.

As we waited one afternoon for any sliver of positive information — like many others over the past few weeks — the president of the university that we have come to love visited the hospital.

This was the beginning of the university’s response — or, rather, lack thereof — marked by an indifferent characterization of a horrible and, more importantly, preventable hardship as an isolated incident.

In fairness to the administration, it has hired a team to investigate the intersection in question and the City of Somerville has erected several, if all entirely nominal, “improvements” in the guise of enhancing pedestrian safety.

When considered practically, however, these measures do next to nothing toward achieving their stated aim.

We, as students of this university, understand the complex nature of town-gown relations and recognize that installation of a stoplight cannot occur overnight.

This does not excuse the lack of utter commitment to erecting a stoplight at an intersection demonstrated to be dangerous.

As the friends of an indescribably loving person who must spend the indefinite future living with the pain and aftermath of this accident, we find the assertion that more evidence and information is necessary before this intersection is changed entirely absurd.

Instead of making the installation of a stoplight a priority, the Tufts Director of Public and Environmental Safety, Kevin Maguire, “emphasized

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Op-Ed

that it is important for pedestrians to take initiative if they want to avoid accidents,” according to the aforementioned Daily article.

The Tufts administration, as demonstrated through impractical recommendations such as this one, has neglected its duty to the student body to provide a safe environment.

We have felt incredibly supported by the Dean’s Office and by our professors, who have readily recognized the tragedy at hand, and we hope that the administration will follow suit.

Our friend is not the first student to be injured in an automobile accident at this intersection, and it is unbelievably unfortunate that larger changes were not enacted years ago.

If the intense suffering endured by many students has not been enough, what will be? In the spirit of not only remembering, but honoring the moments we have shared with our friend, we ask the administration to allow this so-called anecdotal evidence to become more.

We ask that it serve as an example that more should be done — to prioritize the safety of our campus above all else and to ensure that something this horrible, this unreal and this unthinkable never happens to a Tufts student again.

Nick Richard is a sophomore majoring in psychology. He can be reached at Nicholas.Richard@tufts.edu. Erin Griffard is a junior who is majoring in community health and Latin American studies. She can be reached at Erin.

Griffard@tufts.edu. Teighlor Bonner is a junior majoring in psychology. She can be reached at Teighlor.Bonner@ tufts.edu. Anna Patten is a junior majoring in Russian and Eastern European studies. She can be reached at Anna.Patten@tufts.edu.

Will Shira | Horrifyingly Hilarious

Turkey’s day

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nimals move, spread or flee when times get tough. Exodus is a part of every human history or any animal migration pattern.

In Syria, times are tough. Approximately 40,000 people are reported dead.

Hundreds of thousands have fled across borders to neighboring countries. Two and a half million people are internally displaced within the borders of Syria.

Intelligence has been very muddled and filled with uncertainty. I’m doubtful that the majority of the government has any clearer a view of the situation than we do — though that is not to say that we have the same amount of information.

But think of it like this: How much does the resolution of a screen matter for a video of a bomb exploding? It takes a true expert to know what’s going on in these situations, regardless of the crispness of the image. And the bombs are certainly exploding. Nine students and one teacher were killed in a bomb blast this past week. What we all know is that there is a war going on, and its consequences are growing.

Turkey, Syria’s neighbor to the north, has become a true power player internationally. It is an ancient land link between Europe and the Middle East.

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, was once Constantinople, where the Roman elite fled to continue their Eastern empire after the collapse of the famous Roman metropolis.

The U.S. recognized Turkey’s geographic importance when it placed nuclear missiles there during the Cold War to scare the crap out of the Soviets. This inadvertently helped cause the Cuban Missile crisis. After a bit of backroom dealing with Robert Kennedy, the Soviets publicly removed the missiles from Cuba, and we secretly removed the missiles from Turkey.

Cheers all around. Crisis averted. But now missiles are back in Turkey — missiles to shoot down chemical weapons.

Since the fall of the Soviet Empire, Turkey’s international influence and economy have blossomed. It is a member of NATO and the G20 states and is currently petitioning for entrance into the European Union. The process has not gone smoothly. So I believe the Turkish government, in their obsession to access the community of the EU, thinks it must prove its country “useful” to the European powers so that it can join what I affectionately refer to as the Old Colonizers’ Club. I think Turkey is making its move in its dealings with Syria.

The EU has officially entirely pulled out of Syria as of Tuesday. The problem is literally spilling over into Turkey’s borders.

Its hand is almost forced.

According to intelligence reports, the Syrian government has begun to mix the two components necessary to make Sarin gas, something that Japan may remember from the tragic 1995 terrorist subway attacks by Aum Shinrikyo. Whether they plan to use these weapons of mass destruction in their own nation or abroad is unknown. But Turkey has been given Patriot Missiles to shoot any chemical weapon down. What that means with a chemical weapon could be dangerous. The international community has stated that such a weapon would be “entirely unacceptable” and would be met with swift vengeance. While Egyptian President Morsi is quite literally running from an angry mob after he made himself a pharaoh, the Israeli delegation turns its focus to pressure Palestine, and world leaders focus on how to police the Internet, it all falls to Turkey to deal with a Syria problem that the nations who are ignoring it helped create.

Wish the Turks luck. Work for peace.

Will Shira is a senior majoring in peace and justice studies. He can be reached at William.Shira@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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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Doonesbury

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Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

Tuesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

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SUDOKU Level: Ignoring all of the course evaluation emails from Trunk

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Ainge’s retooling of roster puts Celtics in position to compete again

Ethan Sturm | Rules of the Game

The concussion era

INSIDE THE NBA continued from back

Game 7 loss to the eventual champions, the Miami Heat.

But despite the recent playoff failures, this year’s Celtics team is deeper than it has been for the past few seasons. Despite its 9-8 record in the early going, the current iteration of the Celtics still has a decent chance of securing another title.

It is clear that Ainge prioritized depth in reloading the Celtics in preparation for a long playoff run. While they lost Allen as a free agent to the Heat during the offseason, they reloaded their roster accordingly and now have arguably the deepest backcourt in the NBA. For example, third-year guard Avery Bradley gives the Celtics a lock-down perimeter defender, and once he fully recovers from shoulder surgery he will be in the starting lineup alongside All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo.

Meanwhile, veteran guard Jason Terry was one of the Celtics’ most exciting acquisitions of the offseason, and many feel he is an upgrade from Allen, as Terry is a better defender and can create his own shot. Also, the Celtics still have Courtney Lee and Leandro Barbosa from last year’s roster to provide a spark off the bench. Barbosa paid instant dividends by catching fire in the team’s season opener against Heat, and Lee’s athleticism has been put to good use. He has performed admirably in the absence of Bradley and Rondo’s recent suspension.

In addition to their backcourt, this year’s Boston Celtics are far more athletic than previous years. A problem early last season was that Rondo would often run the floor on fast breaks, but would have no one running along with him. This is no longer an issue, as forwards Jeff Green and Chris Wilcox are now healthy, and, in addition, rookie Jared Sullinger provides Rondo with yet another target and has already impressed many with his performance so far this season.

As the Miami Heat look to become the first Eastern Conference team to repeat as NBA champions since the Michael Jordan era, the revamped Celtics will be a significant roadblock to their success.

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Forward Paul Pierce will be looking to lead a new-look Celtics team back to playoff success after several years of falling short.

But the Celtics’ main problem this year has been their defense, with the team ranking just 16th in the league in terms of points per game allowed. In comparison, Boston ranked second in the league last season in the same category, a marked drop off that coincided with the roster changes on the team.

DAILY DIGITS

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Saves made this season by junior goalie Brian Phillips, who has taken over the primary goaltending duties from graduated former starter Scott Barchard (LA ‘12). Phillips has played over 350 minutes this season and posted a .902 save percentage while being credited with a 3-2-1 record.

Barchard was Tufts’ all-time saves leader despite missing most of his junior season due to injury.

Number of teams the men’s basketball team has already played that are ranked in top 10 nationally. The Jumbos had consecutive games against No. 1 MIT and No. 7 Illinois Wesleyan, both of which they lost in close finishes. However, the team was ahead for much of the second half against Illinois Wesleyan, an experience it will need to build on as tough NESCAC games later in season include matchups with No. 4 Middlebury, No. 6 Amherst and No. 24 Williams.

$250,000

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Amount the San Antonio Spurs were fined

by NBA commissioner David Stern after coach Gregg Popovich had four of his key players – Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli and Danny Green – fly home before a nationally televised road game against the Miami Heat last week. Popovich justified the decision by noting that the Spurs were on the tail end of an exhausting six-game road trip that saw the team play four games in five nights. Despite the lack of star power on the court for the Spurs, fans were still treated to a good game as the defending champion Heat eked out a 105-100 victory.

Number of games the No. 11 women’s basketball team has won in its last 36 contests, dating back to the start of last season. The team managed to reach the third round of the NCAA tournament last season after losing in the NESCAC championship game, and have started off this season equally strongly, winning the first six games of the season. In addition, the team’s average margin of victory is over twenty points per game, allowing just 41.7 points per game while scoring 62.8 per contest.

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But if the Celtics can address their defensive weaknesses thus far, they will continue to be a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference, if only because of their playoff experience. While their current record is in the middle of the pack, the Celtics have the veterans that know how to find their rhythm by April.

13 Number of interceptions thrown by New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, in comparison to 12 touchdowns.

The much-maligned Sanchez, who was already facing pressure from popular backup Tim Tebow, was pulled from the team’s Dec. 2 game against the Arizona Cardinals by coach Rex Ryan, who turned instead to untested rookie Greg McElroy (Tebow was inactive due to injury). After McElroy led the Jets back to win the game, Ryan will certainly be asked questions all week about who his starter will be going forward.

$114 mill.

The minimum amount of money remaining on the contract of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, which runs until 2017. The deal, which was signed in 2008 and included performance bonuses for reaching certain home run marks, has rapidly become a major albatross for the team due to Rodriguez’s lack of production and injuries. It was also discovered this week that Rodriguez will need another hip surgery after playing through a torn labrum, an injury that will cost him at least a part of the first half of the 2013 season.

n one of the most tragic pieces of sports news this weekend, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher committed suicide in the team parking lot after murdering his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, earlier in the morning. Belcher shot himself in the presence of head coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli, who did all they could to prevent him from pulling the trigger.

By all accounts, the last-ditch effort was the culmination of a lengthy attempt by the franchise to support its troubled linebacker. The team knew that Belcher and Perkins were having relationship issues and had been providing the couple counseling for some time. Belcher reportedly thanked both Crennel and Piolo for all they had done before pulling the trigger.

Sadly, it’s quite possible that Belcher’s fate was long ago sealed not by his support off the field but by his play on it. Belcher is the sixth NFL player or ex-player to commit suicide since 2011, joining Dave Duerson, Ray Easterling, Junior Seau, Kurt Crain and OJ Murdock.

The central thread connecting these suicides is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease brought on by concussions and other brain traumas.

Depression is a common symptom of the disease, and researchers at Boston University found CTE in the brains of 12 of 13 brains they studied in recent years, including Duerson and Easterling.

Reports from the team insist that Belcher didn’t have a “long history of concussions,” but it doesn’t always take major head traumas to bring on CTE. Sources close to Belcher have reported that he had shown some symptoms of the disease, including acting strangely and suffering from short-term memory loss after the team’s Nov. 18 game.

So where does that leave us as a nation and a fan base? Well, it’s hard to imagine that the multi-billion dollar industry is going anywhere anytime soon, and when we aren’t forced to watch players degenerate off the field, it’s easy to watch them kill each other on it. Would I ever let my son play the sport? Not in a million years. Would I understand if the league was someday shut down? Yes. But will I stop running fantasy teams and following the Giants until that day comes? Not a chance.

But the horrors of concussions extend off of the gridiron. A 2007 study from Ohio State University showed that the rate of concussions in women’s soccer is even higher than the rate in football. As the only mainstream sport that relies heavily on playing the ball with your head, soccer has become a cause for concern all its own. Lori Chalupny, co-captain of the U.S. women’s national team in 2009, has been banned from international play by the U.S. Soccer Federation because of her history of concussions.

Are professional women’s soccer players’ minds in the type of danger that football players’ clearly are? It doesn’t appear that way, but there are also fewer studies done on the topic.

If the behemoth that is the NFL were going to fall, now would be the time. Suicides are occurring at an alarming rate, and high-profile names like Seau and high-profile incidents like the Belcher murder-suicide are forcing us as a sports community to pay attention.

But regardless of what happens at the professional level, it will be up to us as a generation to determine how we raise our children in the concussion era. Unless major advances are made — advances well out of our current scope of capabilities — head traumas and sports, from hockey to soccer, will remain closely tied.

It’s up to us to decide whether such a world is one that we are comfortable with our children entering.

Ethan Sturm is a senior who is majoring in biopsychology. He can be reached at Ethan.

Sturm@tufts.edu or @esturm90.

Sports

12

tuftsdaily.com

Inside NBA

After roster changes, Celtics ready to compete by

Karthic Aragam

Contributing Writer

When Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2007, basketball fans all across New England were given hope.

The franchise that had been known as a perennial champion for decades was coming off one of the worst seasons in its long history, finishing as the second worst team in the NBA with an abysmal record of 24-58. The acquisitions of Garnett and Allen, along with the continued excellence of Paul Pierce, restored fans’ faith in general manager Danny Ainge and rejuvenated the organization.

This trio of all-stars led the Celtics to a league-best 66-16 record, and the team’s 17th NBA championship. But after the first championship had been won, both the players and the fans in Boston expected more.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

But over the next few years, injuries would prove to be the Celtics’ primary obstacle in their championship efforts. A seasonending injury to Garnett in the 2008-09 season prevented the Celtics from repeating as champions, while Kendrick Perkins’ knee injury in Game 6 of the 2010 NBA finals resulted in the Celtics losing a heartbreaking seventh game to their bitter rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Then, in the second round of the 2010-11 playoffs against the Miami Heat, point guard Rajon Rondo’s dislocated elbow derailed the Celtics’ title hopes once again. And in the shortened season last year, it seemed that nearly every player on the Celtics roster aside from Garnett was hampered with injuries during the Eastern Conference finals, resulting in a disheartening see INSIDE THE NBA, page 11

Men’s Soccer

Bauer named to Academic AllAmerican Second Team Scott Tingley / Tufts Daily Archives

The men’s basketball team, led in scoring by sophomore guard Ben Ferris, has faced an incredibly difficult schedule early in the season but has improved as a result.

Challenging early-season schedule gives opportunity for growth

by Jake Indursky

Daily Editorial Board

oliver porter / the tufts daily

Senior co-captain defender Pat Bauer of the men’s soccer team was recognized for his achievements on and off the field on Nov. 27, when he was named to the Div. III Capital One Academic All-American Second Team. The award marks the crowning achievement of a strong season for Bauer, who had two goals and two assists out of the back line.

And Bauer’s most important contribution of the season undoubtedly came on the offensive end, as his overtime goal against Hamilton on Oct. 20 helped the Jumbos reach the No. 4 seed in the NESCAC Tournament, meaning that they got to host a game on Kraft Field. Tufts’ performance

in the NESCAC championships was then good enough to secure the team a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996.

Bauer, one of only two NESCAC players included in the First or Second Team, was a captain of the team for two years and will be sorely missed on the defensive end as well.

Making 34 starts over the last three seasons, he was a part of a Tufts back line that allowed just 0.67 goals per game this year. In addition, he made the Dean’s List in all six of his semesters, an achievement which also certainly propelled him to the award.

—by David McIntyre

Last year, the men’s basketball team came into the season not knowing what to expect from its players, and played a typical early-season schedule. This year, the team knows what to expect from its more experienced roster. The more difficult strength of schedule, on the other hand, has been more of a wild card.

After a surprisingly impressive 16-9 season last year, coach Bob Sheldon knew that if he wanted his team to continue to improve and to achieve its goals of going far in the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments, he needed to challenge his team against the best competition.

“We as a staff believe we have a really good team this year, and we could possibly get in the NCAA’s,” Sheldon said. “We felt that if we’re going to get into the tournament, we don’t just want to have one game and be out. We want to be tested and we want to play against the best that we can play against, so if we can get in the tournament, we can make a run.”

So far, the Jumbos’ schedule has looked a little bit like a gauntlet typically found in the NCAA Tournament.

In only nine games this season, Tufts has taken on No. 1 MIT, as well as No. 7 Illinois Wesleyan.

Prior to those games, the Jumbos also went up against a Brandeis team that has been ranked in the preseason top 25 three out of the past six seasons.

Unfortunately for Tufts, the team has not been able to put together a complete game against any of those teams, and with two more losses to Wilmington College and Washington and Lee,

the Jumbos sit at a disappointing 4-5 after going 7-3 in earlyseason non-conference play last season. However, Sheldon and the team are trying not to get discouraged by Tufts’ record in the early going.

“We thought we would win more of these early ones,” Sheldon said. “But we’ve been playing good for spurts, for 30 or 35 minutes. You can play good for 25 minutes against a weaker team and still win the game, but when you play the good teams, you’ve got to play good for 40 minutes. I think these early games will only make us stronger.”

Against both MIT and Illinois Wesleyan, two programs that are benchmarks of excellence in Div. III basketball, Tufts was competitive throughout, and the Jumbos had the lead against Illinois Wesleyan with two minutes to go in the game. Although both of those games ended in losses, the Jumbos learned some valuable lessons about what it will take to break into the upper echelon of college basketball.

“Playing against the No. 1 and 7 teams in the country has given us some insight into how good we actually can be if we play to our potential,” said sophomore guard Ben Ferris, the team scoring leader. “We just haven’t been doing that, and it’s kind of frustrating, because we know how good we should be.”

Despite the frustration that comes with losing, Ferris and his teammates have improved on the court, highlighted by the fact that they are allowing three fewer points per game to their opponents this year compared to last year. The change is especially impressive considering the quality of opponents the Jumbos are facing.

“We’re doing a lot of good things and we’re doing them against good teams,” Sheldon said. “We just have to get more consistent and take care of the little things, and as we start to be more successful, those things will iron themselves out.”

One concern for Sheldon and his staff is ensuring the players remain focused and aren’t discouraged despite losing more early games than they are accustomed to losing.

“I think the schedule has taken its toll a little bit but it’s not a toll that can’t be fixed with some wins and some good play,” he said. “Now we’ve got some games coming up where we’re ready to play, and maybe we can get on a little bit of a streak.”

In fact, the schedule has already started to get easier. Tufts won against Plymouth St. last night in a game that will be covered fully in tomorrow’s Daily, and the team also faces more straightforward non-conference games against Lesley at home on Dec. 7 and Suffolk on Dec. 10. All this comes before taking on No. 24 Williams and No. 4 Middlebury to start the NESCAC schedule to Jan. 4-5.

But in the end, the schedule Sheldon has put in front of his team speaks to his desire to challenge his players now in order to better prepare them for when it counts.

“In the long run, I think this schedule is going to pay off,” Sheldon said. “We’ve told the team that and they believe that. We’ve got a couple freshmen who have been thrown right in and are playing against great teams, and they’re doing well. Are we taking some lumps now? Yes. But in the end it’s going to pay off.”