TuftsDaily2013-02-05

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

VOLUME LXV, NUMBER 9

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

On-campus sororities’ popularity increases Annabelle Roberts

A record-high number of 225 sorority pledges registered for last month’s sorority recruitment. With 147 girls receiving bids, this figure rose from the 118 bids given in the spring 2012 semester, according to Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Su McGlone.

The increase in numbers this year matches the hopes and expectations of the Panhellenic community, Panhellenic Council (PhC) President Carolyn Pruitt, a senior, said.

“We were definitely expecting it to get bigger this year, so we weren’t surprised,” Alpha Omicron Pi (AOII) President Sarah Gannon said. “All of the sororities had bigger new member classes than last year.”

McGlone believes the increase in sorority participants reflected increased appreciation for the Greek system’s positive aspects. “[The sororities] are helping to create an environment for the sisters that are fostering both high academic ideals as well as service and involvement with the community,” she said.

The rise in interest may also have to do with more advertisements from sororities than in the past, McGlone said.

“We’ve consciously tried to have a bigger impact on campus and a bigger presence on campus,” Gannon, a junior, said.

“I think that’s showing in that more freshmen see us in the fall and want to join in the spring.”

The sororities offer support systems that some of the girls are lookby

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ing for, McGlone said.

Gannon added that when she was a freshman, sorority recruitment offered an exciting way to meet new people.

“Coming back for spring, a lot of freshmen are at a stale part where it’s getting harder to meet people,” she said. “[Joining a sorority was] a way to branch out and meet people I never would have met otherwise.”

Upperclassman interest in joining a sorority also increased this semester, according to Chi Omega President Nina Denison.

“We attracted a lot of sophomores, sophomore transfers and even a few juniors this year, which we haven’t seen as much of in the past,” Denison, a junior, said.

Though the surge in new participants is exciting for the on-campus sororities with houses, there are logistical and space issues to having an increase in girls, Denison said.

One of the main reasons for adding a fourth sorority is the increased demand on campus, Pruitt said.

“Right now we are at this place where we can still handle the sizes and we are still happy to have them,” Pruitt said. “But more people have been registering for recruitment every year for the past several years. If more people continue, eventually it does become an issue.”

According to McGlone, the sorority extension process is ongoing and one organization will be chosen to come to campus at the end of the semester.

“We are at the point where we have see SORORITY, page 2

James Pouliot / The Tufts Daily

Candidates for TCU positions discussed their opinions on Tufts-related issues at the TCU Government Candidates Forum last night before the election tomorrow.

TCU candidates discuss platforms at Hotung forum

by James

Pouliot

Daily Editorial Board

Candidates in the spring Tufts Community Union (TCU) elections tomorrow gathered before a small crowd at Hotung Cafe last night to discuss their platforms and state their cases to voters.

Up for grabs are two seats on the TCU Judiciary seats, two seats on the Committee on Student Life (CSL), two junior Senate seats and two senior Senate seats. The senior seat faces an unusually hotly contested vote, with four candidates running for the two open semester-long positions on the Senate.

All four races are contested, as is a race for sophomore class council treasurer.

Judiciary candidates Anna Gaebler, Becky Goldberg and Leah Shaw opened the forum.

Gaebler, a freshman, called for holding

Christiane Amanpour to speak at 2013 Murrow Forum Chief International Correspondent for CNN and Global Affairs Anchor of ABC News Christiane Amanpour will address the Tufts community at the eighth annual Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism, according to Julie Dobrow, director of the Communications and Media Studies (CMS) Program.

Amanpour, who has garnered numerous major television journalism awards during her career, has reported on many news events from international hotspots such as Iraq, North Korea and Libya, according to CNN.com.

“She’s a very seasoned journalist and really has been at the forefront of making this transition from a world of broadcast to a world of digital media,” Dobrow said.

The forum will take place at noon on April 26 in Barnum 008, according to Dobrow. The event is free and open to the public.

“We’ve been interested in having [Amanpour] come to campus for some time because she’s had such an interesting career,” she said. “The stars aligned this year and it worked out in terms of scheduling.”

The event will begin with an interview of Amanpour by Jonathan Tisch (LA ‘76), trustee and Loews Hotels chairman, following the same format as in the last two years, Dobrow said.

The program will end with an opportunity for the audience to ask Amanpour about her career.

Dobrow believes the audience will

MCT

find Amanpour’s perspective as a female journalist especially informative.

“One of the things that is unique

Inside this issue

about her is that she’s been a female journalist who’s gone to a lot of places that women haven’t gone and I think it’s going to be really interesting and instructive for everyone to hear about her career,” Dobrow said.

Dobrow speculated that Amanpour would speak about her career and current world issues, as well as changes in how people today receive their news.

“I’m sure that [Tisch] will ask her questions about what’s happening on television news and what it means in a time when, particularly people in your generation, don’t watch television on a television set and don’t watch it when it’s on,” Dobrow said. “What does that mean for places like CNN and ABC? How are they making the transition to the digital world?”

The Murrow Forum is named after legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, who left many of his papers and belongings to The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. The forum is intended to highlight important and controversial issues in contemporary journalism, Dobrow said.

“We feel that at Tufts we are very well suited to be thinking about [these issues] ... because we have a tradition here of looking at media within this larger social, cultural, political and economic context, and that in fact is what Edward R. Murrow did so very successfully in his career,” Dobrow said.

— by Abigail Feldman

the TCU Constitution to a high standard and reading it with a farsighted approach.

Goldberg, a sophomore, argued that members of the TCU should not be afraid to change the constitution in cases that it contradicts with the flow of school opinion.

Shaw, a freshman, noted that while a literal reading of the constitution was important to Judiciary affairs, the effects of the Judiciary’s interpretation are ultimately more important than the words themselves.

Sophomores Emani Holyfield, Kumar Ramanathan and Daniel Bottino are running for the two open seats on the Committee on Student Life. They answered questions about the CSL’s controversial decision last semester to allow religious groups to seek exception from the university’s nondiscrimination policy. Holyfield called for the new policy to see CANDIDATES, page 2

McDonnell prof selected by

Lizz Grainger

Daily Editorial Board

Pending university and provost approval, Visiting Assistant Professor in Computer Science Ben Shapiro later this year will become the first holder of the James S. McDonnell Family Foundation professorship in engineering education, a $3 million gift made to the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) in 2010.

The CEEO is dedicated to transforming education by incorporating engineering in classrooms from the kindergarten level through college. According to Associate Director of the CEEO Merredith Portsmore, the McDonnell Family Foundation donated to the CEEO after learning about the center’s outreach through some of its partners, including LEGO Engineering.

“We have a program that sends engineering undergrads into K-12 classrooms in the area,” Portsmore said. “We also do educational research — figuring out how this works, what students are learning, what things are productive in classrooms — all with the event of transforming what happens in schools so kids are solving problems and innovating their own solutions. It’s kind of using engineering to transform the classroom.”

She said that while the CEEO is housed see ENGINEERING, page 2

Today’s sections

BUILD India and Nicaragua take different paths to global development.

Strong plot shines despite underwhelming cast in “As Bees In Honey Drown.”

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Editorial

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Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

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Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily

The James S. McDonnell Family Foundation has given a $3 million gift to Tufts to support the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO)’s research and fund a professorship in engineering education.

McDonnell Family Foundation’s $3 million gift to be used for professorship ENGINEERING

continued from page 1

under the School of Engineering, the outreach is actually cross-disciplinary with the Department of Education.

Shapiro will be working with professors and students in both departments to create products that help others learn, he said.

Shapiro will spend this spring semester setting up research, writing grant proposals for additional projects and attending conferences. He will begin teaching in the fall with a course on educational product design, he said.

“I want to get students from engineering together with students from education and from arts to go out and try to understand something about what makes it hard for people to learn in some context,” he said. “They’re going to have to understand what makes that hard and design something to help. It could mean developing an

iPhone app or designing some physical devices.”

Shapiro has done substantial research on educational video games and plans to continue his work with a new group at Tufts.

“I’ve been working on a project for a while now on modeling environmental issues and sustainability,” he said.

“Think about a multi-player SimCity where people can make choices on what to build and where. Then we simulate the impact of those choices on ecology and economics so people can play together to try to figure out how they can do well within their role.”

Shapiro said he hopes to combine his background in virtual environments with the CEEO’s expertise in tangible education.

Portsmore said Shapiro is key in building the CEEO’s research base in engineering education outreach.

Shapiro is able to mentor graduate stu-

dents full-time in all kinds of contexts, physical and virtual.

“Engineering education is something we need to understand, we need to research,” she said. “We need to be able to explain how kids learn and think about how they design something. It’s really exciting to have a faculty member now that that’s part of their mission and agenda.”

Shapiro plans to reach out to students in the School of Arts and Sciences interested in human development and design to work on his projects.

“I really like to think about how Tufts can be a leader, not just in the region, but nationally in helping people to understand how to improve their communities through design and engineering,” he said. “There’s a potentially really big civic role for engineers to play in helping society reflect on itself and understand how to solve challenges that face us all.”

With engineering education on the rise, Portsmore hopes Shapiro is the first of several hires at Tufts.

“I think it’s really going to help us push our work forward to have another researcher, another faculty member,” she said. “I think it’s going to help position Tufts overall to be a leader in engineering education. We kind of have our own special spin here. We want to make the next generation of kids innovators by giving them chances to build robots and make video games and do all of this cool stuff.”

As the first engineering professor scholar-in-residence at Lewis Hall, Shapiro said he is excited for the opportunity to connect engineering and arts in students’ lives whether it is through the Crafts Center or residence hall discussions.

“I think we have so much opportunity to explore what it means to be on a campus together,” he said.

Candidates vie for Senate, Judiciary, CSL seats in Weds. election CANDIDATES

continued from page 1

be revoked, saying the campus as a whole could stand to be more inclusive and that the CSL ought to be focused around taking action on this type of issue. Ramanathan argued that the exemption policy gave the university’s chaplaincy the unmerited power of deciding a group’s doctrine. The CSL ought to use its role to think in the long term and create a more ‘in-touch’ student government, he argued.

Bottino took an opposing stance on the CSL policy, calling it a solution to what he sees as a problem with the nondiscrimination policy. Student religious groups, he said, did not have the freedom to decide their own doctrine before the exemption policy was enacted.

Candidates for the open Senate seats were asked to list immediate and tangible goals of their candidacy. An unusually contentious race for the two open spots on the Senate for seniors has pitted three Senate veterans against one

newcomer. The four candidates delivered varying ideas for their plans if elected.

Senior candidate Jeremy Zelinger positioned himself as a candidate for pragmatic, shortterm and achievable goals.

“I’m not going to be on the Senate to have grand arguments about what the state of society should be at Tufts,” Zelinger said.

“I believe that the Senate gets bogged down in its own highfalutin’ debates. When [the students] can see actual results, that’s what it’s all about.”

Tabias Wilson, a senior who served on the Senate for one semester his sophomore year, reaffirmed his opposition to the CSL’s decision and reminded the audience of his work to create a wider critical studies program at Tufts.

“Every single person should be able to feel like a full person here at Tufts, no matter where they are, no matter what they have to say and no matter where they come from,” Wilson said. “You have to represent

every single person in all their complexity, to the best of their ability.”

Yulia Korovikov, another returning senior running for a seat, pointed to her experience as a senator during at least one semester in each of her three years at Tufts as a strength of her candidacy. She included the extension of the pass/fail deadline as one of her main goals as a future senator.

“The main thing that I can bring to Senate, given that we only have three months on this body, is experience,” Korovikov, who has served on the Senate previously for five semesters, said. “I know all the players in the game, both on the administration side and the student side.”

Senior Jameelah Morris referenced a long history of fighting for critical studies and academic equity programs, specifically pointing out the fight for the American Sign Language minor as a recent example. She said she believes the CSL’s decision is a dangerous and discriminatory precedent.

“As a person who has stood on

the front line of so many issues and movements on campus, who has worked with Senate, I know your issues,” Morris said.

“I know how to create solutions to your issues, and I know how to get it done.”

At the forum, junior Senate candidate Shriya Nevatia pledged to increase the focus on entrepreneurial and pre-professional work at Tufts. One of her opponents, Joshua Youner, called for a revision of the university’s alcohol policy to include medical amnesty for students calling Tufts Emergency Medical Services. A third candidate, Nishant Saharan, said he wants to see a greater emphasis on campus safety during his time in the Senate.

Students can vote for the Judiciary and CSL candidates, as well as the Senate candidates for their respective classes, starting tomorrow at midnight on WebCenter. Profiles of all the candidates can be found on the Senate website.

High numbers boost drive for fourth chapter SORORITY

continued from page 1

received applications from a number of organizations, and there is a committee that is working right now to read through and evaluate those applications,” Pruitt said.

The new sorority will help to revitalize the Greek community on campus and bring the existing sororities together, Pruitt said.

“We don’t want to turn any girls away, so it’s cool that we can add this new sorority that will take a little bit of pressure off the current ones,” she said.

Denison noted that the participation increase is a positive result for the sororities.

“I am really proud of the way the recruitment process went,” she said. “We’re all so excited for the new girls we have, and I think it’s going to be a great year for us.”

Features

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BUILD student development projects in India, Nicaragua aim for sustainability

by Shannon Vavra

Daily Editorial Board

From opposite sides of the world, two student groups working through the development organization Building Understanding Through International Learning and Development (BUILD) in India and Nicaragua have dedicated parts of their college careers chase the goals of sustainable development and local involvement in projects from toilets to . While the two Institute for Global Leadership (IGL)-sponsored BUILD teams share a mission statement, they diverge in their goals and structure.

BUILD India Tufts has served as the base for a student-run BUILD project in Thottiyapatti, Tamil Nadu, India since April 2010. The volunteers have contributed to projects to improve education, public health and the economic situation in the village. Its participants originally struggled to find a compatible nongovernmental organization (NGO) to partner with in the community, eventually settling on an NGO called Payir. According to its website, the NGO’s mission is to “facilitate the transformation of Indian villages into socially stimulating, self-sustaining, growth-oriented communities.”

“Our philosophy as BUILD and Payir’s philosophy really meshed well together, so that is why they settled on this [NGO],” BUILD India member Angad Bagai, a sophomore, said.

According to BUILD India participant Jahnvi Vaidya, a sophomore, the program strives to allow for communal ownership and continuity of its projects.

“Sustainability is a big part of our philosophy,” she said. “We work through our projects with the intent of leaving Thottiyapatti in a couple of years. We want the projects to be completely sustainable and successful even once we’re gone.”

Bagai added that the BUILD projects are designed to avoid the pitfalls of short-lived, disconnected development projects.

“A big part of our work there has been making sure that the community understands that they have to have ownership of whatever is taking place there,” he said. “It’s not that we want to go there and throw ideas and projects at them. It should be what they want, and it should reach a point where whatever happens there belongs to them.”

A committee of local Thottiyapatti stakeholders formed a year and a half ago has pushed for community ownership of the various programs that BUILD and Payir implement there.

According to a Sept. 21 release on the IGL’s website, the committee consists of three women, four younger men, and one elder man who developed a constitution with a mission statement, rules of membership, and a plan for keeping in touch with BUILD as the projects’ implementation progresses.

Vaidya emphasized the importance of local involvement by both Thottiyapatti residents and Payir in BUILD’s projects.

“It’s best having local people involved because we usually don’t know any better than people on the ground, and there’s a language barrier as well,” Vaidya said. “[Payir] is very accepted and respected in this village.

Its sort of awkward for us to sort of otherwise just show up.”

BUILD India began several of its programs in the summer of 2011. This included a laptop and computers donation program called the Learning Center.

The group also began a campaign for ecological sanitation (ECOSAN) toilets with the help of SCOPE, an NGO based in Tamil Nadu. The projects’ toilets provide composted material that can be reused as fertilizer for

courtesy Ben Berman

Students travelled to Nicaragua this winter break with BUILD to meet with partner NGOs. agricultural purposes.

Bagai said cultural norms meant the toilets weren’t readily accepted at first.

“It’s taken a long time to clarify in the village whether toilets are something they desire because open defecation has been practiced for a long time,” he said. “We had to make sure that this is something they wanted.”

After receiving a $3,000 grant from the Tufts Energy Conference in the spring of 2012, as well as receiving approval from the local government, the ECOSAN project is now under construction.

BUILD India’s third project focused on generating income for locals through silk production. According to Vaidya and Bagai, this project has been particularly challenging because the profits did not match the amount of effort and the cost that went into producing the silk. According to Vaidya, the group is considering partnering with two NGOs that specialize in financial literacy.

Until the next trip this summer, BUILD India will continue to contact the administrators, NGOs, and villagers at its weekly meetings in order to keep in touch about the projects’ progress and feel connected to the community.

“I only went to Thottiyapatti this winter,” Vaidya said. “That was a really interesting experience to finally see our projects in reality and meet the people we’ve been talking about so much. Now I feel like after the trip the connection is a little more there ... but in terms of the disconnect, and the ethics of being outsiders ... we talk a lot about this during our meetings.”

BUILD Nicaragua BUILD Nicaragua has struggled with disconnect from its community, which contributed to its 2011 transition from its original base in Guatemala. The Guatemala program, which began in 2007, was ultimately cancelled due to security concerns.

“Before last year we realized that our project in Guatemala was having a lot of issues,” sophomore BUILD codirector Ben Berman said. “It was time for us to transition out of that project, which we did successfully last year.”

Like the students working with BUILD India, the students working in Nicaragua, have committed to creating a sustainable relationship with their partner community.

“Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a night, teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime ... Except what we’ve found is that teaching a man to fish takes a lot more time than two weeks a year, and fishing in Nicaragua is a lot different than it is in the United States,” Berman said.

Berman acknowledges the cultural and geographical gap between the partner community and the students

working to improve it.

“There are variables that you can never be prepared for unless you’re living there full time, which is why even NGOs that are there have so much trouble implementing these projects,” Berman said.

“Things like ecotourism and a massive computer lab and agriculture were great ideas for the community, but they were hard to follow through on because we were so far away.”

BUILD Nicaragua partners with the Asociacion para el Desarrollo Integral Comunitario (ADIC), Association of Volunteers for Community Development (AVODEC) and the Centre for Education in Health and Environment (CESESMA).

The chapter is in the process of altering its operational structure in order to connect more with the partner community and move on from difficulties in Guatemala.

“BUILD India has done a much better job than BUILD Guatemala did in terms of keeping in touch with their community,” Berman said. “Things have changed a lot in the past year [for BUILD Nicaragua] and it’s a testament to the amazing group of students we have now.”

BUILD Nicaragua includes an Experimental College course that teaches the theory of monitoring and evaluating sustainable projects in developing countries. The course features speakers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, Harvard and Tufts who will discuss their own sustainable projects, according to Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Daniele Lantagne. All members of the group are enrolled in this pass/fail, halfcredit course this semester.

“The concept now is that students will spend a year academically learning about the theory and practice of development in the classroom in addition to learning about BUILD’s processes in Nicaragua and the country of Nicaragua itself,” Berman said.

“It’s not just students ...talking about projects,” she said. “It’s all rigorous evidence.The goal is to give a rigorous theory- and example-based course so that as students move forward with BUILD they’ll be able to implement projects better and evaluate past projects better,” Lantagne said.

Lantagne, who sponsors the course, is new to Tufts this academic year. She has worked with projects in developing countries in the past, such as in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, and focuses on water treatment projects.

According to Berman, the course will be followed by the opportunity to intern with one of BUILD’s partner organizations in Nicaragua over the summer. This past winter, five students went to Nicaragua to spend ten days meeting with NGOs, in order to strengthen their relationship and outline BUILD’s structure and direction in the Ex-College course.

Falcon Reese | Tongues Tied

Portuguese duct tape

A

failure. An unmitigated, stupendous failure. When starting something at the last minute, those are definitely some words that could describe a potential end result. What else works? Barely viable. Merely adequate. Struggling for breath and purpose. So lacking in direction as to be utterly useless. Melodramatic.

Maybe the last one is just me.

Searching for the perfect word is often maddening. I am, in fact, starting this column at the last minute and am searching for the perfect word to describe what it will end up being — hence the histrionic word vomit above.

Despite its well over 200,000 words, both in use and obsolete, English is often supremely unhelpful in that regard. I am therefore turning my nose up at it — Shakespeare can bite me — and looking to the world’s thousands of other languages for assistance.

Portuguese works. This column will be an example of “desenrascanço,” a Portuguese word that translates to “disentanglement.”

The connotation of the word, though, goes far beyond needing a Boy Scout troop and the Army Corps of Engineers to untie a particularly stubborn knot. It refers to the ability to solve a problem at the last minute without any sort of knowledge, tools or otherwise discernible skill to do so. It is a problem solved through a stretch of unconventional imagination and a conspicuous lack of planning. Or, for the Richard Dean Anderson fans out there, it is to “MacGyver” a solution — that is, with duct tape and verve.

As you might guess, “desenrascanço” equates to neither a pretty nor a perfect solution. If it’s good enough, it’s “desenrascanço歮” There’s a picture floating around the Internet used to illustrate this: Three people are attempting to fix an air conditioner, but can’t reach it. Two of them, therefore, hold the third by his legs upside down from a window so that he can reconnect a valve or plug in some doohickey on said air conditioner. Did it work? It’s good enough! Did you drop him? It’s still good enough!

It is said that the Portuguese value “desenrascanço” as an integral part of their culture and as an admired virtue. Well, at least the Internet says they do. Barring actually speaking to a statistically significant population of Portuguese people, I’m not going to extrapolate to an entire country of people. But “desenrascanço is still taught at some Portuguese universities. And by “taught,” I mean that it’s part of traditional hazing rituals for upperclassmen to present freshmen with impossible problems to solve, and then subject them to public humiliation if they can’t.

Another — highly contested — example of Portuguese “desenrascanço” is that explorers from various nations in the 16th and 17th centuries would often bring along a Portuguese national on their voyages — they were said to be good with handling emergencies. Perhaps this was a precursor to the concept of “desenrascanço” I’m more inclined to think that the Portuguese skill and experience with navigation had something to do with the Pope giving Portugal bragging rights to literally half the world when he signed the Treaty of Tordesillas.

Whatever its position in Portuguese culture, “desenrascanço” is — perhaps not an admired, but certainly integral — aspect of this column. It’s slapped together at the last minute and held together with spit, prayers and just a dash of printer ink. And this and each column following it will be my personal attempt to find the world’s other “desenrascanço” as I forsake my native tongue and seek out those foreign words that perfectly express what we mean to say without ever possessing an adequate equivalent in English.

But for this column in particular, I wouldn’t encourage you to squint too closely at the page. The magic of “desenrascanço” loses its sparkle when you can see the duct tape. But please, admire the verve.

Falcon Reese is a junior majoring in sociology. He can be reached at Falcon.Reese@ tufts.edu.

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Theater Review

‘As Bees in Honey Drown’ fails to meet plot-driven potential by

Avani Patel

Contributing Writer

The F.U.D.G.E. Theatre Company’s play “As Bees in Honey Drown” was released on Jan. 25 at The Factory Theatre. Directed by Joe DeMita and written by Douglas Carter Beane, it ran for a full two hours, with one 15-minute intermission separating the two acts.

“As Bees in Honey Drown” questions the logistics of a creative endeavor and whether this pursuit can be upheld in the society we live in today. In simpler terms, can a writer make a living off of his or her work?

The play’s content is alluring, particularly to potential artists and —perhaps more close to home — undergraduates pursuing any liberal arts degree. The play also explores the ethics of mixing business with art, as well as the role that money plays in such a relationship — can a writer make an honest living off of his or her work? The plot doesn’t stop there. It adds elements of sexual politics, revenge and elusive fame while never providing a clear moral stance on any of these issues. Though slowmoving in the first act, the narrative frequently drops one-liners that leave viewers thinking, including, “We always have art to protect us, even if our greatest creation is ourselves,” and “Writers always have the last word, because they know so many.”

The cast, however, did not match the intrigue of the script. Though antagonist Alexa Vere de Vere had the potential to steal the show, Linda Goetz seemed

Courtesy Ross Brown / The Jacksina Company

Ryan MacPherson achieved perfection as Evan Wyler in “As Bees In Honey Drown.” to fall short when embodying the persona. Goetz’s attempt to portray Alexa as a deceptive debutante was contrived.

The role called for some exaggeration,

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yes, but Goetz’s execution seemed to err on the side of excess. Interestingly, her much younger counterpart, protagonist Evan Wyler, was played to perfection. Ryan MacPherson seemed to take on the role with a sense of comfort that transferred to the viewers. Though MacPherson’s performance was organic, his side characters did not always follow suit. Frank Consolo lacked diversity in his various character portrayals, whi1le Mimi Augustin did a slightly better job. There was a clear difference in ability among the cast, which threw off the unified dynamic usually sought on stage. The script was also delivered with some forgetfulness on the part of all characters. Perhaps the performance would have benefited from some further rehearsing.

Fortunately, the cast and crew had a wonderful set to aid them. Located underground, The Factory Theatre has a grungy atmosphere that initially feels alarming. In this case, however, the set serves as a manifestation of the play’s undertones. For instance, just as the play questions the importance of appearances, it takes place in a theater with a sub-par technical appearance. The issue is given another layer through this physical demonstration because the audience members must confront their own preconceptions from the moment they walk in. There are only two rows of folding chairs in the theater, with the first one on the same plane as the stage. Exposed brick see HONEY, page 6

Concert Review

Skride succeeds with Shostakovich by

Panharith Chhum Daily Staff Writer

importance during a night out, then the presentation of that meal and the restaurant’s atmosphere tie for a close second. Social media advents like Instagram and, most recently, the video-sharing app Vine, elevate prettily plated root vegetables and carefully drizzled sauces to an art form. In a way, seeing, snapping and sharing is the new way to consume meals.

Dark dining, then, might be the perfect remedy to this obsessive new way of eating with our eyes. Intrepid diners, or even less-intrepid diners weary of viewing food through Earlybird and Kelvin filters, might find Dining in the Dark an exciting expedition for a small group, a nottoo-tired plan for Valentine’s Day or even an adventurous blind — ahem,

In a display of virtuosity and musicality, Latvian violinist Baiba Skride teamed up with conductor Andris Nelsons for an electrifying performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto. The concert hall was a full house — unusual for a Thursday night — and with good reason. The violin concerto was boldly and enthusiastically executed, with a hunched Nelsons jumping and dancing on the podium as a unified soloist and orchestra followed his cues.

After making a debut with the Berlin Philharmonic with Nelsons, Skride continued her collaboration with Nelsons for the Concerto. The chemistry between Skride and Nelsons was undeniable. The orchestra and soloist functioned as a cohesive unit, with neither one overpowering the other.

Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto presented little challenge to Skride’s technique, though it may have been a greater challenge for her bow, which lost quite a few hairs through the second and fourth movement. Skride nonchalantly tossed the wounded soldiers aside and proceeded with the following movements. It was refreshing and delightful to watch Skride and Nelsons exchange smiles throughout the piece.

The first movement was a controlled yet diabolical nocturne that, although tranquil, resulted in an ominous sense of looming conflict. Skride’s meandering legato melody did not center around a particular motif, which gave the sense of a wandering protagonist.

see DARK, page 6

see SKRIDE, page 6

Courtesy Samantha McDuffee / Dining in the Dark

Blind dining can be a fun nighttime outing for couples.

Boston’s Dining in the Dark re-stimulates food experience by

Rebecca Santiago

Daily Editorial Board

Though a blackout is bad news for, say, a major sporting event, it’s also a dining trend on the rise with a Boston-area presence.

Dark dining dates back to 1999, when concept restaurant, or “blind cow” in German, opened in Zurich.

There, blind and visually impaired employees serve patrons in the pitch-black dark. Boston’s incarnation of the dark-dining experience, aptly dubbed Dining in the Dark, pulls the wool over its diners’ eyes almost literally: The event series relies on blindfolds that block out light completely.

If sensory deprivation sounds counterintuitive to the dining experience as we know it, that’s because it is. If a quality meal ranks first in

Rebecca Santiago | Is So Vain

So, beauty

I

ntroductions, or re-introductions, if you’re a regular reader: I’m Rebecca, a senior who likes women’s magazines and beauty products and many unTufts-y things of the like. I was the editorin-chief of this esteemed publication last semester. Highlights of my reign included popularizing the phrase “It’s whatever” among my impressionable sophomore editors and attempting and failing to run an editorial on Lady Gaga. Some of you sent me angry emails. Incidentally, free drinks are a nice way to apologize.

In a particularly despotic mood last December, I announced to my Arts editor that I was planning to write a beauty column — and do little else — this spring.

(Managerial tips for attention lovers: flounce into your office with a dramatic proclamation and proceed to lou-u-udly slurp a stupid iced drink from Brown & Brew, glowering, until someone responds to you. Best if wearing real or fake fur.)

She graciously agreed, probably not realizing that it’s really hard to cover beauty without photos or other illustrations.

But, yeah, I’m going to try to do this anyway, if mostly to stay involved in the paper without doing much work. I mean, the alternative is plunging back into the basement under Brown and Brew to ... edit. You know what makes your skin look like crap? Editing on a computer screen under fluorescent lighting in a freaking basement without sleeping for four months. Professional beauty advice, mmhm!

Lest my tone, personality or burgeoning unibrow throw you off, I do have some credentials. I’ve spent the past few years interning at women’s magazines, and I’ve picked up a thing or two along the way. By “picked up a thing or two,” I mean “lurked in front of the freebies table everywhere I worked, because it’s not like magazine interns get paid much, if at all, you know.” Consequently, I’ve carted home bagfuls of beauty swag. Plus, I spend, like, two paychecks every time I go to Sephora.

Why beauty? In my opinion, serious topics have a major presence in our campus dialogue, and receive their due coverage in this paper and in other campus publications. That is very, very important, and one of the best parts about going to this school. I think it’s extremely cool that a lot of you are going to get out there and save the world after you graduate, or possibly even before.

As for me? I’m probably not going to do that. My New Year’s resolution was to save up for a keratin treatment. But I feel like I must not be the only person at Tufts who would like for their skin not to scab off in gross flakes all the livelong New England winter. Maybe others would also like to look deceptively put-together after pulling an all-nighter in Tisch, or to smell exactly like clean laundry even though they’re re-wearing the same shirt for the third time because it’s so hard to do laundry.

You can be smart and care about looking good, and you can think about vanity in a smart way, too. The intersection of makeup and feminism and the role beauty products play in gender performance would make for very valid Ex College classes. On the practical side, maybe you just want to look super employable before a job interview.

Oh, also, this column is for guys, too.

All three of you who have read to this second-to-last paragraph. Hi! Anyway, indulge me in this and, in return, I will try to write a fun, not boring, not reductive, extremely practical beauty column for you. Email or tweet at me with your pressing beauty questions. If you owe me an apology, gin-and-tonics are my favorite. Until next week!

Rebecca Santiago is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at rebecca.santiago@tufts.edu or on Twitter at @rebsanti.

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Arts & Living

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Blindfolded dining provides antidote to Instagram’s cultural oversaturation

DARK

continued from page 5

blindfolded — date.

“The blindfolds were actually a result of the challenges we faced during the planning phase,” said David Goldstein, who founded Dining in the Dark in 2010. Goldstein had visited other dark-dining restaurants, which have sprung up in major cities from London to Tel Aviv, but was finding the traditional dark-room model incompatible with the first venue he selected, Beacon Hill’s swank Hampshire House.

But Goldstein, who plays pivotal roles in the Boston Chocolate Tours, the dinner theater Mystery and the team-building company TeamBonding, was no novice in the Boston event industry.

Conceptual flexibility was a necessity for this endeavor, as was a muse. He found the latter in a New York dark-dining restaurant, which not only used blindfolds but also made a point of interacting with its guests.

Though Goldstein drew inspiration from the Manhattan location, among others, Dining in the Dark is no act of plagiarism.

“I picked what I liked, I got rid of what I didn’t like and I created my own vision,” he said.

His rendition of the fad includes scheduled events, gourmet food and “a story we

Courtesy Samantha McDuffee / Dining in the Dark

Dining with one’s eyes closed accentuates a meal, but it also creates certain challenges. create for the audience, to bring them on a journey.”

That journey varies depending on the location, according to Caitlin Tierney, the events manager for TeamBonding.

“The one you attended,” she said, when I asked her about the script recited between each course, “brought you on a journey to Vermont in your

minds because it’s wintertime.

But one at the Hampshire House took its audience to a tropical island.” Live music and wafted scents are two other ways Dining in the Dark engages with its audiences, and those, too, vary between its Beacon Hill, Back Bay and Harvard Square venues.

The theatricality and kitsch

pair well with the meal, given the nature of the event. But, perhaps because these dinners rely so heavily on their novelty factor, Goldstein made a point to emphasize that, at the end of the day, “It’s really all about the food.” Full disclosure: as a member of the press, I did not have to pay the none-toocheap $75 price tag for my

Skride delivers impressive Shostakovich performance with Nelsons and Boston Symphony Orchestra

Courtesy Stu Rosner / Boston Symphony Orchestra

The dynamic between violinist Baiba Skride and conductor Andris Nelsons kept Symphony Hall’s audience on the edge of their seats.

SKRIDE

continued from page 5

The rather level first movement instantly gave way to a virtuoso scherzo. The interplay between orchestra and soloist in this energetic movement felt spontaneous and well balanced. It was here that Skride lost most of her bow hairs.

The heavy and thick third movement had a texture reminiscent of Brahms. The introduction, with its focus on the brass, certainly evoked memories of the first movement of Brahm’s Symphony No. 1. The

third movement granted some much-needed relief after the fireball second movement.

Though a slow movement, the third movement was perhaps the most dramatic of the entire work. The form of the passacaglia, a 17th century Spanish dance, was well suited to this purpose. Indeed, it was almost as if the first movement were an introduction to the symphony, while the second movement was the actual first movement.

The counterpoint between French horn and violin was

especially clear throughout this movement, as was the ongoing collaboration between conductor and soloist. Skride’s double stops were powerful and effective as she carved her way through the thick orchestral accompaniment.

The cadenza of the third movement let Skride end with a bang. This cadenza seamlessly connected the verve of the third movement with the fourth movement.

Though perhaps less physically demanding than the second movement, the cadenza

of the third movement was indeed the most developing.

Skride was able to bring the passacaglia to Shostakovich’s grandiose finale. The finale of the piece was devilishly syncopated and brisk, making this piece especially difficult to perform. Once again, Skride and Nelsons handled this challenge effortlessly and the piece moved faultlessly.

The most remarkable part of the fourth movement was the gradual build of tension. By the end of the piece, the audience was on the edge of their seats begging for a cadence to resolve the tension created by Skride and Nelson.

At the cue of that cadence, the entire hall was on its feet with applause. Skride appeased the begging for an encore with Bach’s Partita No. 2, which was elegantly and conservatively — at least compared to the Shostakovich — performed. Indeed, Skride pulled out all the fireworks that made for a thrilling performance of the Shostakovich Violin Concerto. Her command over the violin was as impressive, as was her connection with Nelson.

Skride would be most welcome in Symphony Hall once more, though a few small errors lightly marred the performance. One of the few problems with Thursday night’s program was that the Shostakovich was first. By the time Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony was performed, the night had already peaked.

Though Nelsons was equally enthusiastic with the Tchaikovsky, a slightly more conservative interpretation of especially the 2nd movement would have been preferred.

Nonetheless, Skride and Nelsons treated Symphony Hall to a night of exquisitely performed music.

meal. That said, I found the menu a little tame, but the food itself expertly executed.

Crafting a menu for several blindfolded diners is no small task, especially when many aren’t sure what to expect from the experience.

“We had someone call in once and ask if we would give them liver and strange things,” Tierney said, “which isn’t what we want.”

Instead, she said, the goal is to serve “something guests would normally have on a big night out, but experienced differently.”

Convenience and safety are other major considerations for the Dining in the Dark chefs and staffers. To that end, butter knives replace steak knives, soup comes in manageable mugs and servers direct patrons’ hands to their utensils.

And not to worry — as your waiters scurry around, ensuring that you don’t accidentally grab stranger’s hand, they’re much too busy to notice how goofy you look groping around your plate. Well, almost.

“It’s great when diners want pictures of themselves, and they’re all looking in different directions,” said Tierney, laughing. “But it’s the best when people think they have something on their forks, and it gets to their mouth and there’s nothing there.”

Tickets for Dining in the Dark can be purchased online at dininginthedark.com.

‘As Bees’ fails intriguing premise

Courtesy Ross Brown / The Jacksina Company

Linda Goetz fell short in her role as Alexa Vere de Vere.

HONEY

continued from page 5

composes one of the four plain walls, and the ceiling is low.

The set, likewise, was simple, yet its small details were well used. One set of doors tripled as an elevator, closet and a magazine stand. Chairs were arranged to symbolize restaurant dinners as well as limousine seats. Perhaps the best items in the room were the dim lamps that hung from the ceiling. Their strategic arrangement created shadows on the set of doors that looked like — what else? — beehives.

As a whole, the play was enjoyable but not outstanding.

It seems that the manuscript would have better served as a novel, due to the drab of the first act and unimpressive cast.

The content, however, is in fact exciting, which is a potential viewer’s largest motive to see the play. If nothing else, it will undoubtedly make for a heated conversation about art, ethics and the power of words.

Note: The F.U.D.G.E. production of Douglas Carter Beane’s “As Bees In Honey Drown” played for four performances, the weekend of Jan. 25 at the Factory Theatre.

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THE TUFTS DAILY Martha E. Shanahan Editor-in-Chief

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

In Kerry’s absence, risk of a one-sided election In a breath of fresh of air, John Kerry’s swift confirmation as Secretary of State last week lacked the familiar partisan bickering that usually comes with the territory of presidential appointments, confirmed by a 94-3 vote in the Senate.

Though most remember him for his failed 2004 presidential bid, the fiveterm Massachusetts senator brings to the State Department an unparalleled breadth of experience and well-credentialed background in international affairs as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and as a decorated Vietnam War veteran.

Kerry has been at the forefront of issues ranging from global climate change to the genocide in Darfur and, recently, to U.S. policy in the Middle East during the Arab Spring. During his 27-year tenure, Kerry, along with the late Ted Kennedy, placed Massachusetts squarely in the center of America’s political sphere. Though he will undoubtedly represent the country as a distinguished and knowledgeable statesman, Kerry’s departure leaves behind a sizeable void in the Massachusetts congressional delegation and, most importantly, signals

the onset of yet another election cycle this year.

If Massachusetts residents aren’t accustomed to political upheaval by now, they should be. The special election in June for Kerry’s vacated seat will be the second in three years, and comes just seven months after the hotly contested and emotionally-trying senate battle between Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Republican incumbent Scott Brown. Based on the early announcements from both sides of the aisle in recent weeks, this year’s version proves to be far more one-sided and predictable.

Brown’s decision last week to step aside from the race, citing partisanship in Washington and campaign exhaustion, has left Massachusetts Republicans clamoring for a viable candidate in what, just days into the campaign, looks to be an unwinnable election for them. Names as diverse as former Gov. William Weld, former state Senate minority leader Richard Tisei, and even Tagg Romney have been tossed around as potential candidates. Tufts alumnus and one-term

U.S. Representative Dan Winslow (LA ’80) seems to be a legitimate contender, and with the Feb. 27 deadline to obtain the necessary 10,000 signatures to get on April’s primary ballot looming, might be the only one.

The Democrats’ outlook is much more favorable as respected U.S. Representatives Ed Markey (D-Mass.)

— who represents Medford — and Steven Lynch (D-Mass.), who represents Somerville, present voters with two suitable options in the primary election.

Lynch, a social conservative, is almost certainly the underdog against Markey, a noted progressive and climate change activist who has been in the House since 1976 and has already received the backing of many of the state’s top Democratic officials. Regardless of the candidate, the Democrats look poised to add a second person to the Massachusetts Senate delegation in less than a year. They posses a more certain outlook and an insurmountable fundraising advantage at the moment. Combine that with the seeming dearth of Republican challengers in February, and we already have a pretty clear preview of what’s to come in June.

Jehan Madhani

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Corrections In the Feb. 4 article “Winter Bash sees crowded debut at Westin Copley,” Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) was incorrectly said to have treated students at Winter Bash. TEMS was not present at the event. The article also incorrectly said in one instance that the event occurred on Sunday night. The event took place on Friday night.

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.

The Feb. 4 article “Cadley calls for civility in State of the TCU,” incorrectly identified sophomore Jonathan Paradise as the newly elected LGBT community representative to the Senate. Sophomore John Kelly is the new representative.

In the Feb. 4 article “Coalition Against Religious Exclusion encourages diversity, pluralism,” the

headline gave the wrong name for the group.

Coalition Against Religious Exclusion (CARE) is the correct name of the group.

One of the authors of the Feb. 4 Op-Ed “Where them girls at?” was misspelled and her class year was stated incorrectly. The author, Julia Rodgers, is a junior majoring in women’s studies.

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Op-Ed Craig Frucht | Axes to Grind

Op-Ed

No, divestment isn’t enough — but it’s a crucial first step by

Devyn Powell

Last Wednesday, Walt LawsMacDonald published an op-ed in this newspaper entitled “Divestment isn’t enough.” The piece was framed as a criticism of the campaign currently underway at Tufts and other universities across the country to divest our endowments from the fossil fuel industry. However, Laws-MacDonald touches on so many of the key messages of this campaign and of the broader climate movement that his op-ed could almost be read not as a critique but as a call to action.

I am a junior, and have been organizing with a group called Students for a Just and Stable Future (SJSF) since my freshman year. SJSF is an intercollegiate organization with a mission to mobilize and unite students and young people to fight for serious solutions to the threat of climate disruption, using whatever means are most effective. In the past, we have lobbied for legislation in the Massachusetts State House, mobilized locally and nationally to rally against the Keystone XL pipeline and collaborated with groups including the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and 350.org.

For the last several months, SJSF has primarily served as a network for campus divestment campaigns like Tufts Divest for our Future, recognizing that the movement has sparked awareness and discourse about climate change in a monumental way. It seems like everyone is talking about divestment, and even people who have never considered themselves environmentalists, such as Laws-MacDonald, are entering the conversation. The teach-in that Laws-MacDonald attended filled the ASEAN Auditorium with people. We are now actively engaged in discussions with the Board of Trustees, at least in part because the Board recognizes that this movement is getting far too much attention for them to ignore us.

However, Laws-MacDonald is absolutely right: Divestment alone is not enough. Given the urgency of climate change, we “need to be doing much, much more,” as he wrote. The United States needs to pass legislation to put a price on carbon and bring our emissions in line with what science demands. This is the most crucial part of the “fundamental change in how we power our day-to-day lives” that LawsMacDonald rightfully demands. The International Energy Agency released a report in 2011 showing that if the world does not stop building all new fossil fuel infrastructure by 2017, we will be locked into catastrophic and irreversible climate change. That gives us four years. The UN is set to adopt a successor to the Kyoto Protocol in 2015, and that will be our last chance to act as an international community. In the face of such a massive and urgent threat, it’s easy to see how someone could feel that focusing on university endowments “is like putting up a few sandbags to stop a flood.”

But to argue that our divestment campaign is therefore an ineffective use of time and resources entirely misses the point. Bob Massie was right that a huge part of this campaign is “the debate.” And what an incredible debate we have sparked — fossil fuel divestment has made the front page of the New York Times, been featured in campus newspapers across the country, been regularly covered in the Nation, and sparked op-eds both supportive and critical in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to our own Tufts Daily. The fact that Laws-MacDonald felt compelled to write his piece at all shows that we have already partially succeeded.

Divestment is not an economic plot

to bankrupt the fossil fuel industry; but rather a strategy for political and social change. Divesting will not stop society from burning fossil fuels, but it will send a message that many in this country believe that the fossil fuel industry’s business model is fundamentally broken and morally bankrupt. Divesting will not cause ExxonMobil’s shares to plummet immediately, but it will separate our institutions of higher education — institutions that claim, as Tufts does, to be “committed to improving the human condition” — from an industry that is actively destroying our generation’s future. Divesting will not stop catastrophic climate change, but it will get a lot of people talking about it. We are forcing people to think about how climate disruption affects their lives (and their investment portfolios). Most importantly, this campaign is getting people involved, excited and ready to take a stand on one of the defining issues of our generation. Divestment is already catalyzing a social movement in this country, and it is our hope that the pressure this movement creates will help lead to the binding legislation that we need to effectively tackle this crisis. In the case of Darfur and South Africa, divestment was effective at transforming entrenched crises and at creating much needed legislation, and divestment can be effective again.

We also want to make this absolutely clear: Divestment is but one of many means to an end. When facing a challenge as dire and imminent as climate disruption, we must use all the tools in our proverbial toolbox to wage our fight. Laws-MacDonald may be excited to know that students, activists, and concerned citizens across the globe are already working on ways to “combat the industry that will cause real change.” In Texas, people have for months been blockading the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline — a project that no one who thinks “climate change is very, very real” should support. There is a plan for, on Feb. 17, more than 20,000 people to fill the National Mall to urge President Barack Obama to reject that pipeline once and for all.

Further afield, indigenous Canadians with the “Idle No More” movement have been fighting tar

sands development on native lands.

Communities across the Pacific Northwest have been protesting coal export terminals in Oregon and Washington. A group called “Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival” has been blockading mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia for a long time. This June, hundreds of young activists from around the globe will gather in Istanbul for a gathering called the “Global Power Shift” to plan the next steps for the international climate movement.

In short, we know that more needs to be done — not in place of, but alongside divestment.

To Laws-MacDonald and others who share his concerns: We invite you to join us as we grow our movement. We agree: “This country runs on oil, and only a fundamental change in how we power our day-to-day lives will affect the oil industry. I don’t mean turning the kitchen light off, or walking to work.

We need huge changes.” We are striving to create such fundamental change, and hope that you will help us.

And to those who support the divestment movement — to those of you who rallied outside of our board meeting, went to the teachin, come to meetings, or otherwise just think we’re doing good work: First of all, thank you. This movement has exploded because of your energy, your commitment, and your passion.

For all the reasons written here and more — reasons that have already been listed in countless articles and blog posts and impassioned discussions — this campaign has struck a chord with you, and your support has lifted us to greater heights than we ever hoped we could reach in such a short time.

However, we all know, and have always known, that some of our “critics” are right: Divestment alone is not a strong enough tactic to respond to the threat of climate change and to preserve a livable planet for our children and future generations. We are committed to seeing Tufts divest from fossil fuels, but we will not and cannot stop there. So we ask: Will you move forward with us?

Devyn Powell is a junior majoring in international relations. She can be reached at Devyn.Powell@tufts.edu.

ZHUANGCHEN ZHOU / THE TUFTS DAILY

A national pastime

F

or as long as we could remember, both political parties had maintained a deafening silence on the issue of gun violence. Throughout the entire 2012 presidential campaign, the subject came up exactly once, in a question from an audience member during the second debate. Both candidates ducked the question.

Everything changed on Dec. 14. It was impossible for it not to. When a gunman uses an assault rifle to shoot his way into an elementary school and murder 20 firstgraders and six educators, it is impossible to stay silent about such an obvious national failing: We have too many guns, and there are too many ways for people to get their hands on them.

The immediate response from the gun lobby was predictable: Don’t politicize a tragedy. That’s a self-evidently terrible argument. Politics, far more than it is about feuds and sex scandals and gamesmanship, is about making laws that improve American lives. The question of how to spare innocent children from being shot to death, like it or not, is something that must be taken up in the political arena. Saying not to politicize a problem is essentially demanding that people refrain from proposing solutions to it.

Yet too often, liberals who have so often spoken up for much more radical-sounding causes — granting amnesty to illegal immigrants, allowing men to marry men — have let fears of being seen as “political” cow them into silence over common-sense gun regulations. The aftermath of these mass shootings has always unfolded the same way: The idea, “gun control,” gets broached, but then gun activists play the victim, politicians get panicky and public discourse shifts to something else.

In the wake of the Columbine High School shooting, Americans focused on bullying.

After Tucson, we endlessly debated violent political rhetoric. Last summer’s movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., perhaps because it occurred during the heat of election season, was hardly talked about at all.

That hasn’t been the case with Sandy Hook. The facts this time are so inexpressibly horrific that it’s impossible not to search for answers, and so unambiguous that to focus on anything other than guns feels like an obvious misdirection.

So gun control is on the docket now. And the response from gun activists has been a spectacle to behold. Dozens of sheriffs have signed statements promising to ignore any federal gun control legislation that they feel “violates the Constitution” — a completely unconstitutional position in its own right.

Radio host Alex Jones threatened on live television that “1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms.” Phrases like “tyranny,” “Hitler,” and “Communism” are being thrown around so much they’ve lost all meaning.

That should remind us that firearms have a long, romantic history in the United States.

Guns are objects of a beloved tradition that dates back to the Revolutionary War. That fact in itself doesn’t mean we should keep guns around — far from it — but it sure as hell makes them hard to get rid of.

President Obama took the commendable — if not especially courageous, considering he will never face another election — step of calling for sweeping gun control regulations.

He enacted a few nominal changes through executive order, but the heart of his proposed package — mandatory background rechecks, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and a crackdown on gun traffickers — must get through Congress.

Support for gun control legislation is at an all-time high. That means little, however, for the congressmen who must be willing to antagonize the all-powerful National Rifle Association if anything is to get done.

But if ever they needed motivation for looking beyond their next campaign, they’ve got it now.

Craig Frucht is a senior majoring in political science and psychology. He can be reached at Craig.Frucht@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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Jumbos lose both to Camels, fall further in standings HOCKEY

continued from page 16

they finally put it in. [Phillips] has had a really great year for us. He played very well this weekend, and it’s too bad that we couldn’t get a win for him.”

The previous evening, the Jumbos dropped a 5-2 decision to the same Conn.

College team in the away portion of the teams’ weekend doubleheader. Although Tufts entered the final stanza trailing by just a single goal, the host Camels used two third-quarter goals to put the game out of reach.

First year forward Tim DiPretoro broke the game open with two goals less than three minutes apart in the second stanza.

DiPretoro notched his second goal on a crafty feed from junior co-captain forward Keith Veronesi that hit him just in front of the right post. Minutes later, the Camels extended their lead to three, when senior defenseman Dawson Luke threaded a shot from the point past several Tufts defenders and into the back of the net.

Tufts responded with the next two scores, as junior forward Kyle Gallegos and freshman Luke Griffin notched goals to bring the Jumbos within one at the end of the second period.

In the third period, the Jumbos missed their opportunity to tie things up. Instead, the Camels cracked the game open midway through the final stanza. Junior defenseman Kevin Reich finished a shot at the 10:49 mark, and Conlin made a point blank save on Jumbos’ junior forward Tim Mitropoulos

minutes later to preserve the two-goal margin. Cangelosi capped things off with a score four minutes later following penalties awarded to Gallegos and Hartigan.

For Tufts, the weekend marked another doubleheader where the Jumbos might just as easily have gone 2-0 as 0-2. But in a season that has been nothing other than frustrating, on the ice and off, a tired and battered squad was unable to finish.

“The games this weekend were important for both teams,” Edwards said. “We were in similar positions in the NESCAC standings fighting for one of the final playoff spots, so that definitely added to the physicality of the game. We still wish we had played more physically, but the [altercations] at the end of the game were definitely caused by the way the game was played and frustration because of the way things have gone for us lately.”

As the Jumbos approach the final four NESCAC games of the season, a conference playoff run seems unlikely, as the squad buries itself deeper in the standings. But with two big NESCAC matchups coming up, Tufts will focus on healing an injury-plagued roster and patching the holes in advance of this weekend’s tilt against Amherst and Hamilton.

“As we head into the last two weeks of the regular season I personally believe our team is more focused than ever,” Pantazopoulos said. “It is going to be important for our team to have good practices throughout this week as we prepare for two strong opponents next weekend.”

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

In Friday’s action the Jumbos fell to the Camels 5-2, as the two competed for the last NESCAC playoff spot.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Tufts Daily

Harrison sets new school record in 60-meter dash WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD continued from 16

record in the 60-meter dash, finishing in 7.92 seconds to take third in the race.

“I was really happy with my time because it was a big improvement from my previous times in the 60, and it was also a good indication that with more practice I can break 7.90,” Harrison said.

“I knew going into the finals that the race would be really close, and every hundredth of a second counted. I felt great with the outcome of the race knowing that I gave it my all.”

The team’s strong performance this weekend was particularly important, as the New England Div. III Championships are just two weeks away.

“It was important for me to [set a personal record] at this meet because it gave me more confidence as we are approaching Div. III’s and it lets me know that I am improving,” Harrison said. “I plan on working on my start and being more explosive out of the blocks to prepare for the championships.”

Before the championship meets begin, the Jumbos will compete next weekend at the Valentine Invitational at Boston University as they look to gain some momentum heading into their championship races.

For Gould, these next two weeks will provide a chance to tune up and ensure that she and her teammates are in peak form heading into the Div. III meet.

“As we go into championship season I’m going to make sure I’m listening to my body, taking rest when I need it, but pushing myself when I feel good,” she said. “Sleeping and eating right are also crucial in the pre-championship meet weeks. As a team we’re just making sure we’re all psyched up, energized and ready to perform our best but also to support the team as a whole.”

Virginia Bledsoe / The Tufts Daily

Senior Kelly Allen placed second in the weight throw at the Jumbos’ home meet this weekend.

Jumbos take third with slew of top finishes

by Sam

Gold

In an effort that produced two wins and 11 total scoring performances, the Tufts men’s track and field team finished third out of 20 teams Saturday in the Tufts Stampede. The Jumbos finished with 69 points — 93 points fewer than MIT, the meet winner, and 16.5 behind Williams, who finished in second place.

With many of the Jumbos’ runners sitting this meet out, the field athletes picked up the slack and established new personal bests and qualify individually for championship meets.

The meet opened Friday evening with the first four of seven heptathlon events. By the conclusion of the heptathlon on Saturday, the eventual victor, senior Michael Blair, had notched two wins — first in the long jump, then in the high jump — as well as six top-three finishes overall to propel him to victory.

Blair amassed a point total of 4,637 which ranks seventh nationally.

“The plan was just to compete in every event,” Blair said. “Overall it was a solid two days. That score is a personal best.”

Next in the heptathlon standings for the Jumbos was junior Andrew Osborne, who finished fifth with a point total of 3,985. Trailing him by one place was sophomore Allan Yau,

who finished with 3,584. Freshman Alex Karys, who ended up in seventh, rounded out the Tufts heptathlon team with his total of 3,456 points.

In the pole vault, senior tri-captain Brad Nakanishi tied for first with his clearance of 15 feet and 1inch, and, because the vaulter with whom he tied was unaffiliated, he was the top collegiate competitor on the day.

Sophomore Brian Williamson started off the throws for Tufts with an impressive performance in the shot put. He heaved the shot a distance of 51 feet and 10 inches, a new personal best, to land him in second place.

Later, in the weight throw, senior tri-captain Curtis Yancy finished in second place with his heave of 58 feet and four and a half inches, a distance that helped him remain in the No. 15 spot nationally. Classmate Andre Figueroa finished in sixth place with a throw of 47 feet and 11 inches.

Continuing his streak of impressive jumps throughout his first season, freshman Bryson Hoover-Hankerson earned sixth place in the long jump with his leap of 20 feet and 11 and a quarter inches.

Although it was the field athletes who headlined the results when all was said and done, there was one memorable performance in particular laid down on the track.

Junior Liam Cassidy led a limited core of runners with his outstand-

ing showing in the 3,000. His time of 8:44.03 landed him in second place as well as in a spot in the New England Championship.

“The race went out perfect for me,” Cassidy said. “We went out somewhere around 4:40-4:45 for the mile and I was able to keep pace through the second half. I felt relaxed and that was important.”

Other notable displays were turned in by senior Vinnie Lee, who emerged 17th from a very deep field in the 60-meter dash, Alex Sheltzer, whose 19th place finish in the 400 was one of only eight top-35 finishes by a sophomore in that race, and sophomore Greg Hardy, who just cracked the top10 as he placed ninth in the 5,000.

Because Coach Ethan Barron elected to sit most of his runners in addition to a few of his field athletes, those who did compete used the meet as a potential springboard to championship meets later on in the season.

“We are in great shape heading into the championship season,” Cassidy said. “The past few weeks we have had some stellar performances showing how deep the squad is right now.”

Their last chance to qualify for championship meets is this coming weekend, when the track squad and field squad will split up for the second time to attend their respective competitions on Feb. 9 and 10.

Jumbos fall 9-0 in final consolation match MEN’S SQUASH

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Schweitzer in 5. Although the rest of the team suffered losses, Silverman, the No. 5 player, lost a nailbiter by just two points in the 5th game by a score of 11-13. The eighth seeded player, sophomore Andres Fernandez, lost in the fifth game as well by a slim margin of seven.

“Two of the seven matches were tough five game matchups, and it was an overall improvement from our previ-

Ethan Sturm | Rules of the Game

A day in the life

T

Men’s Track and Field

Daily Editorial Board

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Sports

ous matchup with Colby,” Briggs said.

The Jumbos struggled against Connecticut College in the second of their two consolation matches, losing the match 9-0. Silverman attributed the loss to overall exhaustion after playing several tough matches during the weekend.

“The team was tired after the intense showdown that went down to the wire,” he said.

Despite tough results at the NESCACs, things are looking up for the squash program.

The Division III individual championships begin on Friday, and the top three players on the team will travel to Bowdoin College to compete.

“We have very strong players at the No. 1, 2, and 3 spots,” Briggs said. “Even when the rest of the team loses, they always have a shot and make matches competitive. We play in the second best squash conference in the country, so it should make a lot of great matchups.

Aditya, Zach, and Jeremy have a lot of potential and should make their presence known over the weekend.”

his weekend, I went to my first Tufts athletics event on the road.

Saturday afternoon, I hopped into a car full of students and alumni and made the two-hour trek to Amherst, Mass. to see the women’s basketball team take on the undefeatedfor-basically-ever Lord Jeffs.

We arrived in time for the end of the men’s game, and we could barely get into the gym. It was standing room only. As people cleared out, we were able to make our way in and get into the Tufts fan section, directly across from a packed, loud, Amherst student cheering section.

Then, as the game began, something weird started happening to me. I was jumping out of my seat on every Tufts bucket. I was screaming incoherent things at the top of my lungs towards the Amherst fans, who were constantly rotating through a set of unoriginal but loud chants, from “Safety school!” to “Airrrball! Airrrball! At one point, I yelled “bulls—t” five times in a row at a referee that couldn’t have been more than five feet away from me.

For one day in my life, I was a sports fan.

Now, let me explain. I’m as about as obsessed with sports as you can get.

But it’s always been in a cold, calculating way. I was raised a Yankees fan by a perpetual pessimist, and New Yorkers have gorged so much on success that they can barely get out of their seats for a playoff game. While I’ll occasionally feel a jolt of excitement after a touchdown or goal, it’s not nearly enough to sustain me for more than a minute.

Then there’s the Tufts fan environment—or, to be honest, the lack thereof. I may have been apt to act the way I did Saturday afternoon earlier in my collegiate career if I weren’t always scared to break the perpetual silence that befalls most sporting events on campus. The easiest way to define Tufts sports fandom, with the exception of player’s parents, is to call it non-existent.

Is it our school culture that breeds a lack of Tufts sports fans, or a lack of sports fans that breeds our school culture? The commonly-used arguments to explain away a lack of a fan base are weak at best. Sure we are a Div. III school, but places like Amherst draw crowds every weekend. Sure we are near a city with a ton of things to do, but in all honesty, most of us spend our weekends in frats and off-campus houses. Sure we aren’t a sports hub, but Sol Gittleman’s baseball class and Andy Andres’ sabermetrics class are packed year after year.

The worst part about the lack of fans is that many of our teams are among the Div. III elite. Our field hockey team just won an NCAA title, our men’s lacrosse team has made three straight Final Fours, and softball and women’s basketball are both perpetually competitive. Sure, most people don’t follow any of those three sports ― unless you’re from Maryland but they are just as legitimate as any other.

I’m not trying to make the argument that you need to all drop what you are doing and rush to a game, that’s unrealistic and has been tried before. But as I sat at that women’s basketball game, completely immersed in an incredible sports atmosphere at a school in many ways similar to ours, I couldn’t help but think that there is a way to fix the culture at Tufts.

I have three months left here, and I would love nothing more than to get to feel like a fan again.

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

Sturm@tufts.edu or on Twitter @esturm90.

Sports

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tuftsdaily.com

Men’s Hockey

Jumbos playoff chances suffer massive hit with two losses to Conn. College by

Kate Klots

Daily Editorial Board

It’s been the same story all season long.The hockey team enters the third period with a win easICE HOCKEY (6-12-2, 1-11-2 NESCAC) at New London, Ct., Friday

Tufts 0 2 0 — 2 Conn. College 0 3 2 — 5 at Valley Forum II, Saturday Conn. College 1 1 1 — 3 Tufts 1 1 0 — 2

ily within its reach, and then it all crumbles. In four of Tufts’ last seven conference games, the Jumbos have either been winning or tied at the end of the second intermission.

They have lost all seven.

The Jumbos, who have not earned a NESCAC victory since Nov. 17, have begun a horizontal slide across the bottom of the conference standings, and, following a two-loss weekend, they hang their helmets on a disappointing 1-11-2 conference record.

Tufts’ highly talented squad has consistently underperformed when it matters the most, and the Jumbos themselves often seem to lack the belief that they can win when the third period rolls around, and the same issues reappeared this weekend in their two losses to Conn. College.

Saturday’s contest against Conn. College unraveled in a predictable manner. The Camels and Jumbos entered the final stanza in a deadlock, and Tufts stood its ground for much of the final period.

With just four minutes remaining, however, Conn.

Oliver Poret / The Tufts Daily

Freshman Keith Campbell scored the opening goal in the Jumbos’ second game of the weekend, but it wasn’t enough as they fell to Conn. College 3-2.

College took advantage of a fast break and a Tufts defensive lapse to put the puck past Jumbos’ junior keeper Brian Phillips for the winning score.

“It’s something that has plagued us all year,” sophomore defenseman Blake Edwards said.

“We need to find a way to up our intensity in the third, because we know the other team will do the same. Unfortunately, there are lapses of intensity, and Conn. was able to take advantage of that on Saturday.”

Things opened in a promising

Men’s Squash

fashion, though. Tufts notched the first goal of the game less than three minutes in, when sophomore forward George Pantazopoulos flicked a pass up to first year forward Keith Campbell. Campbell controlled the feed and dished a hard shot past Conn. College’s Tom Conlin for a quick score.

“My line mates Keith [Campbell] and [senior] Nick [Metcalfe] did most of the work on the first goal,” Pantazopoulos said. “Nick made a great play to get the puck to Keith by passing it to him off the boards, springing

him into their zone. Keith made a move on their defensemen and beat Conn.’s goalie with a quick shot glove side high.”

But the Tufts lead was shortlived, as Conn. College sophomore Mike Martinez collected the puck amidst a scramble in front of the Tufts cage and nudged it past Phillips to equalize at the 6:02 mark.

The tie held through the end of the first period, but Tufts went up again early in the second stanza when freshman defenseman Aidan Hartigan received the puck

from sophomore defenseman Shawn Power and sent a slap-shot rocketing past Conlin for a 2-1 advantage.

“Shawn gave me a good pass at the point, and there was a lot of good traffic in front” Hartigan said. “My teammates were in front of the net and I just found the seam.”

A minute later, Conn. College answered with a rebound strike from first-year Stephen Brennan.

The Camels saw several opportunities to take the lead early in the final period, and nearly capitalized on back-to-back Jumbos’ penalties in the opening minutes.

Tufts’ defense held until the 16-minute mark, when Conn.

College quickly forced a Jumbos turnover and hurried the puck across the rink. J.C. Cangelosi was in the right place at the right time, and, finding a hole in Tufts’ hurried defensive formation, the sophomore knocked in his fifth goal on the season to put the Camels up 3-2.

Tensions mounted in the rink, and several players from both sides, including Power, spent the final minutes in the box. Despite picking up the physicality, the Jumbos found themselves in a hole far too deep to crawl out of, and, after pulling Phillips from the net, the Camels skated off with yet another late, come-frombehind win over head coach Brian Murphy’s squad.

“The goal that they scored at the end of the third period was due to the fact that all of our forwards got caught in their zone,” Pantazopoulos said.

“Brian [Phillips] did everything he could to keep the puck out of our net. Pretty sure he made two or three saves on his back before see HOCKEY, page 14

Women’s Track and Field

Squash struggles at Tufts women victorious in NESCAC Championships second home meet of the season

by Steven

Hefter

Contributing Writer

The men’s squash team, ranked No. 30 in the country, entered the NESCAC Championships ready for action after knocking off No. 33 MIT for the second time this season the week before. The Jumbos made strides in every position in the lineup after that 6-3 win and carried the wave of confidence to Trinity College for the conference tournament this weekend.

Tufts entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed, and were matched up in the first round against the sixth Wesleyan Cardinals, who took care of business and defeated Tufts 8-1.

“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” Silverman said. “We had played Wesleyan before, and we were eager to prove ourselves.”

Wesleyan, however, stifled the Jumbos. Aditya Advani lost in the No. 1 tilt 3-11, 4-11, and 8-11. Meanwhile, No. 2 sophomore Zachary Schweitzer, recently reinserted into the lineup after recovering from a groin injury, lost 7-11, 6-11, and

3-11. The lone Tufts win came from No. 6 Brandon Weiss, who won in five games. Silverman called the matchup a victory a huge win for the team.

“It was the first time our full lineup was together,” junior Ben Briggs said of the match. “[But] Wesleyan also had players come back from injury that we had not faced the last time we played them, including their No. 1 player, which made the match tough.”

After falling to the Cardinals, the team commuted to Wesleyan University for the NESCAC consolation matches, where Tufts was matched up with Colby.

Despite dropping the match 7-2, the squad was encouraged with its play and feels close to a breakthrough even at the late stage of the campaign.

“Colby was our best showing of the season,” Silverman said.

“The match was much closer than the scores indicated, and a couple matches could have gone either way.”

Those included the matches featuring the top 2 players, with Advani falling in 4 games and see MEN’S SQUASH, page 15

by

Alex Connors

Contributing Writer

It was a jam-packed weekend for track and field at Tufts, as 24 teams from all over the northeast and hundreds of fans piled into the Gantcher Center on Friday and Saturday for the Tufts Stampede.

After all was said and done, the women’s team came out on top with an impressive performance, amassing 166 points, 11 more than second-place MIT and 71 more than third-place NESCAC rival Williams College.

“It was definitely exciting to be on our home track because of how many people were there,” freshman distance runner Audrey Gould said of the first home meet of her Tufts career.

“It completely transformed Gantcher, and I could feel the energy of everyone on the team and off the team who came to cheer on the Jumbos. It did feel a little strange to race on the same track that we work out on, but I think the familiarity may be a good thing.”

Friday night featured the pentathlon. It was a strong start for the Jumbos, with all four par-

ticipants earning team points with their finishes. Sophomore Caitlin Pohl led the Jumbos with 2,671 points and a fourth place finish, followed by junior Jana Hieber, who placed fifth with 2,591 points.

The rest of the events took place on Saturday afternoon, along with all the team’s wins, as Jumbos recorded five individual event wins and 12 top 3 finishes, with the throwers, as usual, leading the way.

Tufts swept the top 3 spots in the weight throw, led by senior and first-place finisher Sabienne Brutus, who won with a distance of 56 feet and 5 and three-fourth inches. Classmate Kelly Allen placed second with a distance of 52 feet and 3 and one-fourth inches, and sophomore Grace Demyan took third with a distance of 51 feet and 4 and threefourth inches. Demyan also placed fifth in shot put with a throw of 39 feet and 9 and threefourth inches.

In addition to placing second in the weight throw, Allen took home victory in shot put with a throw of 43 feet and 10 inches, beating her own school record by three-fourths of an inch.

The Jumbos continued their success in the field events with a 3rd place finish in pole vault from freshman Emily Smithwick, who cleared the bar at 10 feet and 11 and three-fourths inches, and a fifth-place finish in the high jump from freshman Paige Roberts, with a jump of 5 feet and 1 and three-fourth inches.

Tufts also had a key victory on the track during Saturday’s competition. Gould placed first in the 5000 meter with a personal best time of 17:49.57, which is currently the third fastest time in the nation by a freshman runner and the 11th ranked time overall.

“I was very happy with the time I ran,” Gould said. “It was a 29-second [personal record], and I broke 18 minutes for the first time, which was my goal going into the meet. I was happy with the way the race went but it will be fun to race in the coming weeks in a more competitive field and hopefully further improve my time.”

Freshman Alexis Harrison took down her own school see WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD, page 15