TuftsDaily09.25.13

Sunny 67/47

THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

wednesday, September 25, 2013

VOLUME LXVI, NUMBER 14

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Democratic special election candidates greet students

by Josh

Weiner

Daily Editorial Board

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily

Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) has responded to two armed robberies near campus in the last two weeks.

Two armed robberies reported near campus Two armed robberies have been reported near the Medford/Somerville campus during the past two weeks — one at Blakeley Hall on campus and another at the corner of Chester Avenue and Brookings Street in Medford.

A breaking and entering incident at Blakeley Hall occurred around 11:50 p.m. on Sept. 13, according to an email sent out to the Tufts community by the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD). During the robbery, a Tufts student encountered an unknown male in his first floor room. The male brandished a knife and told the student to leave, disappearing out the window with a laptop and cell phone belonging to the victim. No one was injured in the process.

The suspect being perused in the investigation of the robbery has been described as a tall white male in his early 20s, with blonde hair and a thin build.

TUPD Deputy Chief Mark Keith explained that all available information regarding the Blakeley incident had been disclosed.

The second robbery happened about a week later on Sept. 18 in Medford at approximately 7:30 p.m., according to another safety alert email TUPD sent to the Tufts community. A local resident approached the suspect, believing that he was in need of assistance. The suspect then took out a pocketknife and demanded the contents of the victim’s pockets. The victim shoved the suspect to the ground before fleeing on his bicycle, and the victim was not physically injured.

The suspect of the Medford robbery was described as a white male in his early 20s, with short, brown facial hair and a medium build.

These incidents do not

appear be related, and the Medford Police Department is currently investigating the robbery on Chester Avenue and Brookings Street, according to Keith.

In response to the two robberies, TUPD released an email to the community that urges students to taken certain precautions to protect themselves. Keith also wishes to remind students to be aware of their surroundings when walking around outside.

“If possible, walk in groups,” he said. “If you do have to get around at night and you don’t feel comfortable, then by all means use the [Tufts GoSafe] service.”

Tufts GoSafe — an escort resource for students on campus — is provided seven days a week from sunset to sunrise, according to the Tufts Department of Public and Environmental Safety website. The safety service is available to all members of the Tufts community.

Keith also advised students to take normal security precautions around their living spaces, such as locking their doors.

“To avoid break-ins when you leave either your dorm rooms or apartments, make sure everything is secured, that windows are locked,” Keith said. “Window stops, if you have them, should be engaged. Shades down, lights off inside the room.

Any valuables should be stowed away.”

In addition, when confronted with a situation like an armed robbery, Keith advises that students try not to engage the subject.

“Retreat if all possible and call the police immediately, whether it be 911 for local police or the Tufts police emergency number at 617627-6911,” he said.

—by Sarah Zheng

Four candidates for the Massachusetts’ fifth congressional district special election assembled in the Sophia Gordon Hall Multipurpose Room last night to meet the Tufts community and discuss their election platforms in an event sponsored by Tufts Democrats.

Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, Massachusetts State Senator Will Brownsberger (D-Belmont), Massachusetts State Senator Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) as well as Massachusetts Representative Carl Sciortino (D-Medford) greeted Tufts community members and then delivered addresses on their plans for the contested role.

Each candidate is vying for former Democratic Congressman Ed Markey’s position in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Markey resigned this past June following 37 years of service and since then has been serving in the United States Senate.

The Democratic primary will be held on Oct.15 and will be followed by the general election on Dec. 10.

Jacob Wessel, president of Tufts Democrats, explained that his organization sponsored the event in the hopes of generating enthusiasm for the coming congressional election and allowing students to make the best informed choice as possible about which of the candidates to support.

“We are encouraging people to get involved in all of the campaigns,”

Wessel, a senior, said. “One of these people will be our Congressperson for quite some time, so it’s important to get students into it.”

Koutoujian spoke first at last night’s event. He described how his pursuits in law and criminal prosecution have led him to feel strongly about the issues he is addressing as a candidate, including gun control, education and women’s reproductive and working rights.

“I believe women should be entitled to equal pay for equal work,” Koutoujian said. “This is not a campaign issue. This is something I’ve been fighting for for decades.”

Koutoujian proposed several ways to support the middle class, saying this would contribute greatly to a national economic turnsee DEMOCRAT, page 2

Students form music group for whistling by

Abigail Feldman

Daily Editorial Board

The university, already host to offbeat clubs such the Tufflepuffs Quidditch team and Tufts Free Compliments, is now

home to a new musical group: the Tufts Whistling Collective.

Group founder Charlie Meyer, a freshman, explained that the whistling ensemble aims to offer students another option for participating in the

Kyra Sturgill / The Tufts Daily

Freshman Jackson Clawson, an organizing member of the new Tufts Whistling Collective, was present at the music group’s first meeting last Sunday.

university’s music scene.

“In general, our idea is to make it easier for people to make music at Tufts,” he said.

The club will meet every Sunday at 2 p.m., according to organizing member Jackson Clawson. So far, Meyer said, about 15 people have shown interest in the new organization. Ten people attended the club’s first meeting last Sunday.

“It’s not an official club, so I was surprised how many people were there, given that there was no advertising about it,” Clawson, a freshman, said.

Unlike other musical groups around campus, Tufts Whistling Collective does not require members to audition or have any former ensemble experience, according to Meyer.

“There’s no words to remember,” Meyer said. “There’s no instruments to buy. It’s just see WHISTLING, page 2

Bon’App collaborates with college dining in Boston by

Denali Tietjen

Daily Editorial Board

Bon’App, a free application and online nutrition management tool that launched last May, has reached 160,000 regular users and is beginning to focus its efforts on expansion to college campuses like Tufts.

According to Director of Research and Data Analytics at Bon’App Taylor Salinardi (N ‘12), the app aims to provide users nutrition information in a language they can understand.

“We realized that people are confused about what’s really in their food,” Salinardi, a Tufts alumna, said. “We provide information but we keep it very simple. It’s not a nutrition facts label, and we provide

Inside this issue

a visual of what this means.”

The company plans to work with college dining halls to have their menus uploaded to the application’s system, which is free, according to Salinardi.

Bon’App has already collaborated with Harvard University Dining Services and is beginning to work with the dining services departments of other Boston colleges as well, Bon’App Student Ambassador to Tufts Emily Peck said.

“At Harvard we took the food menus for all their meals and put it into the system so you could easily pull up your food,” Peck, a sophomore, said. “You could search “Harvard roasted chicken” and it’d come up. You don’t have to type in the recipe.”

Peck feels that the app is par-

ticularly useful to college students eating in dining halls where meal options are unlimited.

“I think a lot of us just kind of eat to eat, and eat what tastes good,” Peck said. “We walk in there on an unlimited meal plan and there’s pizza and all these yummy desserts.

It’s Sundae Sunday, Sundae Thursday all the time. Bon’App helps you [think], ‘Am I really eating healthy?’”

Visualization of nutrition information is what really distinguishes Bon’App from other nutrition apps, according to Salinardi.

“We provide these ‘batteries’ that go from green to yellow to red as you journal your food throughout the day, and see BON’APP, page 2

Today’s sections

Student-run Applejam Productions hosts a variety of concerts on campus.

Boston Ballet held a stunning free performance to celebrate its 50th season.

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

2

News

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Democratic candidates discuss election platforms DEMOCRAT

continued from page 1

around. He said he would do so, in part, by countering the Supreme Court’s decision to allow corporations to make unlimited political expenditures.

“I am completely against ‘[Federal Election Commission] vs. Citizens United,” Koutoujian said. “The Constitution says ‘We the People,’ not ‘We the Corporations.’ We ought to pass an amendment to abolish this ruling. Trickle-down economics have not worked in this country.”

Brownsberger followed by describing his aspirations for the United States economy and how he would work to fulfill them by attending to issues such as education, immigration and climate change.

“As I come into the prospect of running for Congress, economic issues are at the top of the list,” Brownsberger said. “The transformation we’re going to see over the next few years ... I think it’s going to be great. There’s a federal role in driving that and I want to be a part of it.”

Brownsberger also vowed to act against criminalization of certain minor offenses, such as the possession of marijuana, due to the negative social repercussions of current federal policies.

“We should reduce the number of things people can get in trouble for,” he said. “Starting with marijuana — let’s legalize that, let’s get that over with.”

Clark spoke of her excitement to

once again be involved in a political campaign, an experience she went through just three years ago when running for the State Senate. She said that the nation’s current political climate made her all the more determined to seek higher office.

“When we see extremist Republicans willing to assure that our economy is hindered, that we aren’t extending affordable health care to 30 million people ... this is exactly what we need to stand up against,” she said.

Clark spoke of her ambitions to introduce stricter gun control laws and widespread educational reform to Congress. She also cited the many environmental and economic benefits of combating climate change, something which has been a critical feature of her campaign.

“It’s something which will preserve our planet,” Clark said. “It’s good for protecting public health, economy and agriculture, and it’s good for creating jobs right here.”

The final candidate to speak was Sciortino (LA ‘00). He spoke in depth about his experiences at Tufts and how his involvement with on-campus student organizations had inspired him to enter a career in politics.

“I was originally a biology major ... and did not expect to become involved in politics,” Sciortino said.

“But my time here in active citizenship meant a lot to me.”

He acknowledged that he has faced a great deal of opposition as a political figure, but said that this has only heightened his determination to succeed.

Becca Leibowitz for the Tufts Daily

Massachusetts State Senator Katherine Clark spoke at last night’s event, which featured four candidates in the state’s fifth congressional district special election.

“It’s about taking on some of the toughest fights without shame, without embarrassment and figuring out a really good campaign to run,” he said.

Following the event, several of the candidates reflected positively

on the assembly.

“The number of students in attendance was really meaningful to me,” Koutoujian told the Daily.

“If this is the type of engagement amongst the current Tufts student body, then I’m really optimistic for

Whistling music group to increase presence on campus WHISTLING

continued from page 1

casual, fun music-making.”

Group organizer Madeline Griego, one of the troupe’s earliest members, said she is particularly excited about Meyer’s idea because it is so welcoming to students with differing musical abilities.

“It’s a really fun happy-go-lucky style that is accessible,” Griego, a freshman, said. “Everyone has the [potential] to whistle.”

At the first meeting, the group discussed creating a “whistle grams” table outside of the dining halls, Meyer said.

Students could pay the group to sing “Happy Birthday” to friends as part of a fundraising effort for charity.

“I feel like people would take well to that — here especially,” Meyer said.

“People like that kind of stuff.”

Other short-term goals include performances for the campus community, according to Meyer.

“We would definitely want to have a concert or two a year,” he said. “I think it would be really fun for people to have an opportunity to show their newfound whistling talents.”

Griego said that the group will likely break into groups to work on separate numbers and reconvene during general meetings for a large group number. Their first piece will be a rendition of Antonio Lucio Vivaldi’s “Spring,” in reference to the 2017 common reading book, “Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do” by Claude Steele.

Having been involved with many woodwind and band troupes in the

past, Meyer feels that musical groups have been an important part of his life and hopes to share the experience with others.

“I think everybody should have a chance to do that, even if they don’t want to dedicate lots of time and money to it,” Meyer said.

He added that he wrote one of his Tufts application essays in response to the question “What makes you happy?,” about whistling.

“It’s just something I’ve always liked to do,” Meyer said. “Whenever I’m walking somewhere I’m whistling, and I wanted to find people who share that interest ... What better place to do it but here?”

Currently, Tufts Whistling Collective is not a Tufts Community Union recognized club, Meyer said. The group

the future.”

“We had a great reaction from the students,” Sciortino told the Daily. “Campaigns like these are a great chance to be able to see active citizenship through the process of political engagement.”

plans to apply for recognition in the spring, he added.

“If it seems like people are consistently showing up, then we’ll definitely be going for that,” Meyer said. “And we wouldn’t really need much funding.”

Eventually, Meyer said, he hopes to send a member of the collective to the International Whistlers Convention held annually in North Carolina.

“Our goal would be to place some people in the world championships, because it’s not a very competitive sport,” he said. “I think some Jumbos could get up there.”

Meyer said that, based on his research, only one other college whistling group — from Northwestern University — exists in the United States.

“So we have potential to be the best in the country,” Meyer said.

Bon’App offers simple nutrition information about college dining BON’APP

continued from page 1

when you exceed your goals that battery turns black, Salinardi said. “These goals are customizable.”

Even those students who are aware of their nutrition oftentimes are not eating as well as they think, Peck explained.

“When I started using Bon’App, for example, I thought I was eating really healthy,” Peck said. “But I found that by lunch time my sugar battery was black — my sugars were way used up because I was eating so much fruit that I thought was so good for me. My blood sugar levels were spiking ... and as soon as I started to manage that I felt better.”

Bon’App also does not crowd source its food data, making it more reliable and user-friendly, Salinardi explained.

“A lot of these apps out there allow users to submit nutrition information on items, but then when users search, there might be 20 submissions of the same food item with different information,” she said. “We have a quality controlled database over 95 percent of branded fresh foods in the U.S.” The Cambridge-based company is currently looking for interns and encourages Tufts students to apply.

Becca Leibowitz for the Tufts Daily

Free application and online nutrition management application Bon’App, launched last May, is expanding into local colleges.

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Ben Zuckert | Straight Out of the Bible

Never too old

T

Courtesy Mikaela Allen

Applejam Productions frequently hosts free concerts featuring touring and local bands like The Rare Occasions, pictured above.

Student booking collective brings music, films to campus

by Victoria

Rathsmill

Daily Editorial Board

This article is the first in a series about musical outlets around campus.

Although Tufts tends to market itself as a quirky and unconventional place, there are only a few options for students looking for something to do on weekend nights that do not include squeezing through a crowded fraternity basement. Applejam Productions, a student booking collective that brings free concerts to Tufts, offers an alternative.

The group was originally called “The Applejam” and began in the early ‘70s as an annual music festival, according to senior Peter Balonon-Rosen, a former president of Applejam. Now the group is committed to bringing a mix of local and student bands to play at Tufts, he said. Applejam has in the past hosted bands such as Parquet Courts from Brooklyn, N.Y., Chalk Talk from Amherst, Mass., Parasol from Boston, Mass. and White Mystery from Chicago, Ill. Sam Worthington, a sophomore and Applejam’s director of media and publicity, explained that Applejam is more than just a booking group.

“I would call it a booking collective that is trying to bring an alternative music scene and also an alternative social scene to campus,” he said.

“It’s a group that helps foster a community of people who have an interest in music and an interest in any sort of alternative way of living,” Balonon-Rosen added. “I think, traditionally, Applejam has been a little bit for the rock and roll weirdos — kids that are into punk and metal and stuff that is on the outside.”

For Worthington, Applejam offered the kind community he had hoped to find at Tufts.

“I kind of got the image that Tufts was going to have somewhat of an alternative social scene and wasn’t just a typical college campus with your average college parties with kegs and frats ... So [Applejam] was exactly the sort of thing that I had looked forward to, and I was doing it in high school at a similar level — going to DIY shows and punk and basement shows.”

The DIY — or do-it-yourself — ethic is an important philosophy for Applejam, according to the group’s president, junior Cooper Loughlin. “[DIY] is the way we run our club,” he said. “As individuals, we contact bands, and besides going through the university to get a space, it’s all things that we do personally. It’s not a huge hierarchy of people.

We are talking to bands one-on-one and interacting with people who go to the show

— everyone is kind of on the same level.”

Balonon-Rosen, who has been involved in the DIY punk and hardcore scene since he was 14, said that passion drives these types of communities.

“You have people doing this not because they think they’re going to make money or be on the cover of Rolling Stone, or be the next big thing, but because that’s where their passion lies,” he said.

“So for Applejam, the DIY part is the fact that we are making it happen by any means necessary ... Shows are happening because we’ll have four 18-to-22 year olds who are really stoked about this one band and would love to have them play here.”

Applejam on Sept. 20 hosted their first show of the year, featuring the bands American Symphony of Soul, Bad and Blue, Dumpster Banana, the Dusty Wanderers and Hayes Peebles in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room. According to the Facebook event, 200 people attended and each performance was a “showcase of Tufts’ homegrown musical stylings.”

When looking for bands to come to Tufts, Worthington explained that Applejam looks for a blend of touring, Boston-area and Tufts bands that students will enjoy.

“In many respects, I think, part of what Applejam is trying to do is take music that kids wouldn’t normally listen to and expose them to it,” he said. “We do some metal shows, some funk shows and some hardcore, but we have a focus on accessible indie-rock, garage-punk kind of stuff.”

Worthington also emphasized that Applejam is enthusiastic about supporting student bands.

“One thing we want to advocate is that we want kids to start bands so we can book them,” he said. “That is half of what we are all about; getting kids on campus interested and knowing that they can get out there and play shows. For kids who want to start bands at Tufts, we are 100 percent willing to book them and publicize them.”

By hosting local bands, Balonon-Rosen said, Applejam hopes to cultivate a relationship with the Boston music scene.

“Not only do we help foster the Boston music scene, but instead of being this little citadel on the Hill that doesn’t interact with the rest of the community, we are a part of it,” he said. “It’s going to show people in Boston what’s going on here at Tufts and hopefully get them excited about it.

And, equally as important, it will show people at Tufts what’s going on outside of this little bubble and get them excited about what’s happening in Boston.”

Loughlin said that Applejam plans to hold shows frequently this semester.

“We are trying to do a show every two or

three weeks,” he said. “We want to have a consistent Applejam show that people are always coming to. To create more of a music scene is always the group’s goal, and we want to always be generating more music on campus.”

Applejam’s next show, on Oct. 4, will feature the band Yuppies from Omaha, Neb., the Tufts band Indian Twin and local band Lost Twin.

In the past, however, Applejam has run into difficulties with obtaining adequate funding and finding space to hold shows.

The group has hosted events at the Crafts House and Arts Haus but, according to Loughlin, the Office of Residential Life and Learning has stated that Applejam cannot use those spaces for future concerts because of fire hazard concerns. Both the Crane Room and Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room are available, but Worthington said that these spaces are sometimes difficult to book.

“The main issue is that there are a few spaces that we can use, and those spaces are highly coveted by most of the student groups,” he said.

Although Applejam wants to serve as many Tufts students as possible, limited funding makes that hard to do, BalononRosen said. The group’s budget is between $4,000 and $4,500, while the funding for Concert Board is nearly $150,000.

“We can’t serve the masses if we don’t have the means to,” he said. “If we’re trying to have good bands and do our job as an entertainment club, we need the money to do that.”

This semester, Applejam had about 50 interested members at their GIM, Balonon-Rosen said. The group is looking to expand its focus beyond just putting on shows as a result.

“Traditionally, we’ve only done music and shows ... but we are trying to expand that, especially because we have so many new members, it’s becoming a little impossible to focus on just one thing,” he said.

Applejam plans to produce a music zine and host film screenings, according to Balonon-Rosen. The first screening, featuring a documentary about the Attica Prison riots, will take place on Oct. 21 and include a question-and-answer session with the film’s director.

Balonon-Rosen believes that attending Applejam’s shows is an opportunity for students to join a vibrant community.

“You have the same people who are showing up and who are able to find people that they can relate to within this huge, vast sea of Tufts,” he said. “There are a lot of lost souls and outsiders out there who are looking for a place, and sometimes hiding behind a wall of feedback is a really good way to make friends.”

he other day, over a tuna fish sandwich ( Whole Foods brand tuna, sourdough, cheddar), I thought to myself, “I’ll never become a biblical scholar.” Then I looked at the shelf life on the can of tuna: two and a half years. How is that possible? As you may or may not remember, last week I briefly mentioned the shelf life of chicken, so it seems food expiration is a developing theme in this column.

Let’s get back into it.

This week, it’s one of my all time favorite passages: Genesis 17. It’s the only one I remember from Hebrew School, so I’m not sure what that says about me.

Here’s how it all goes down. God makes a covenant with Abram (who he renames Abraham), gives him the land of Canaan and promises to be there for his descendants forever. In return, Abraham must circumcise himself (he’s 99), all of his men and their newborn male babies.

Abraham and his men get circumcised, and God keeps the covenant.

So many questions, so little time.

Abraham was 99? He was 99? What were the expressions on his men’s faces when he told them what they had to do? Who did the deed? What did their wives think? Did they do it sober?

Abraham was 99? Canned tuna lasts two and a half years?

Let’s move on.

This passage, while incredibly thought provoking, does not seem to have any direct correlation with the usual Tufts experience. But then again, that’s probably a good thing. That’s why I had to think outside the box to make a real connection. That’s what the Tufts education is all about.

Okay, imagine your friends want to go to some themed party, but you’re feeling exceptionally lazy. You still have time to make a quick run to Goodwill, but it feels so far away. The “leader” of your friend group, however, tells you that you have to go, that it’ll be one of the best parties of the year. This friend is your Abraham. He’s got the word from God (Facebook) that a lot of people are planning to go and that the whole ordeal of finding and putting together a costume is going to be worth it.

Imagine you were one of Abraham’s men when he described the covenant.

Wouldn’t you try to convince Abraham to renegotiate the deal? The problem is, your Abraham is adamant about this party and you can’t change his mind.

And then you realize all your friends have already been convinced to go. Do you want to be that odd man out who doesn’t dress up (circumcise himself ) and feels left out? Exactly. Do you want to watch your friends pregame (watch everyone else get circumcised) when this all goes down? Definitely not.

So, Abraham’s covenant seems to suggest that dressing up for a party is worth it in the long run. To be fair, there’s going to be some pain in the short run, but with a solid amount of alcohol involved, you’re good to go.

Plus, you can re-gift that blazer for Father’s Day. ( June 15; don’t forget.)

And last but not least: the ladies.

When Abraham’s men did the deed, they immediately had a conversation starter with women who would say to them, “Why do you look so pale?” or “Oh, can I see?” or “God told you to do that ?” It totally works the same way at the party. If you’ve got the swag, girls will notice, and then maybe they’ll come to you. It doesn’t get easier than that. The choice is yours.

Ben Zuckert is a senior majoring in political science. He can be reached at Ben. Zuckert@tufts.edu.

4

The Tufts Daily

advertisement

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

Event Review

Nimarta Narang | Hello U.S.A.

Duck tours and the cold

I

Courtesy Rosalie O’Connor

Dancers performing George Balanchine’s ‘Symphony in Three Movements’ wore simple costumes that made an elegant statement.

Boston Ballet treats public to free performance by

Drew Robertson

Daily Editorial Board

Bostonians young and old swarmed Boston Common this past Saturday — some toting blankets and lawn chairs, others preferring to stand in the growing sea of people — to watch the Boston Ballet’s “Night of Stars.” A one-night event celebrating the ballet’s 50th anniversary season, “Night of Stars” was free to the public. Commencing

promptly at 7 p.m. and continuing late into the evening, dancers performed 20- to 30-minute “samples” from seven ballets in their repertoire, broken up by one lengthy intermission. The atmosphere was vibrant and alive, almost like that of an outdoor music concert. Yet, despite the estimated 55,000 attendees, the Common remained relatively quiet, an almost conspiratorial hush washing over the crowd at the start of each new number.

Album Review

Concert Review

‘Life is good’ music festival a success

Boris Yeltsin (SSLYBY) has proven with the release of their new album “Fly By Wire” that they can consistently produce catchy, well-crafted and easyto-love songs. Since independently releasing its first album “Broom” in 2005, SSLYBY has always inhabited a comfortable niche: soft, feel-good indie pop songs littered with nostalgic references and characterized by surprisingly unique progressions.

Unfortunately for the group, this

by Michaela Mellen

Contributing Writer

Perhaps one of the greatest attributes of any live show is the powerful, vibrant intensity of a performance that simply cannot be captured within the confines of a studio album. On that front, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down surely delivered during this year’s “Life is good” festival.

Now in its fourth year, the two-day event, which takes place on Prowse Farm in Canton, Mass., features a variety of events for families and hosts a range of indie and mainstream musicians spanning folk, rock and soul genres. Thousands of attendees and two stages transformed the typically quiet, picturesque farm into a vibrant concert venue.

Proceeds from the festival benefitted the Life is good Kids Foundation, a charity organization dedicated to helping children in need.

This year, the festival successfully raised over $1 million for the foundation.

Playing a Saturday afternoon set on the festival’s Positive Purpose stage, the San Francisco-based band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down perfectly captured the Life is good Kids Foundation’s motto of “good vibes” with an energetic performance that quickly attracted the attention of concert-goers.

Wearing a hot pink dress and cowboy boots, frontwoman Thao Nguyen embodied the indie band’s unique sound: hard and soft, a blend of folk and pop with a raw, unrestrained edge.

Despite there being just a small crowd at the beginning of the show, Nguyen dove into the band’s opening song, “Body,” with an

see BORIS, page 6

see FESTIVAL, page 6

Timofey Rodin via Wikimedia Commons

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin’s new album, ‘Fly By Wire,’ has the band staying true to its catchy, indie-pop style.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin remains lo-fi

by Veronica

Certainly, it is easy to understand how a dedicated supporter of the Boston Ballet and a casual passerby alike might have both been enthralled by the “Night of Stars” performance. Dancers executed complex sequences flawlessly — including a total count of 890 pirouettes — and beautiful partner work fit perfectly into the evening’s intimate setting under the stars. A mostly bare stage, outfitted only with an enormous see STARS, page 6

Little

Daily Editorial Board

Despite their attention-seeking name — and apparent lack of hipster fandom — Someone Still Loves You

Fly By Wire Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin Polyvinyl Record Company

t’s wicked awesome,” says the driver.

And with that, he drives the bus into the water. I have a mini panic attack, and then it finally hits me: He is driving a boat in the water and a bus on land. Throughout the duck tour, I felt incredibly tourist-like as I turned to my phone to take a couple of snapshots (hello, Instagram), completely in awe of the beauty of Boston. I saw people running, slurping ice cream, jaywalking while speaking on phones and swearing if a vehicle was driving too fast or even too slow. I saw people dressed in business attire, munching on their granola bars while simultaneously pressing away at their iPhones and schoolchildren racing along on bicycles as the last one fell behind. All of these people were set against the backdrop of the beautiful fall color of Boston. It seemed as if I was transported back to Bangkok in the middle of the day, and yet everything and everyone was somehow different.

Then I realized that I am beginning to feel at home, and most importantly, that I have to leave the Tufts campus more often.

The duck tour helped remind me that there is a whole city outside of the Tufts bubble I have inadvertently avoided these past few weeks. It is easy to get absorbed in life around Tufts, with all of the different clubs offered, the organizations in place and the classwork to attend to. But my goal is to go into Boston every two weeks, whether it be for a nice stroll along the Charles River or to grab a bite at Quincy Market. This is precisely the reason why I chose to come to the United States for university: to explore. I enjoy being a tourist in the sense that every aspect of a new place is still fresh for me. I now understand why first years are called “freshmen”— we are basically tourists at Tufts. I only found out last week that there was a bathroom in Dewick and that I had been making unnecessary trips to my residence hall in the middle of my meals. I discovered a sweet study spot at the Campus Center without the strange bright lighting and crowded feel of Tisch (just a personal preference, guys!). I also recently learned what “potluck” means, believe it or not, and about the hugely popular show “Downton Abbey.” In an embarrassing moment, I learned that you cannot reserve seats at the movie theater.

You can reserve tickets, but not seats (very strange...). This little not-so-secret knowledge will save me from many awkward encounters in the future.

As I am still in the tourist mode, it has been a struggle for me to adapt to the weather here. It is only nearing the end of September, and I am already wearing two layers of clothes and a scarf. This is actually the sort of weather I would wear a winter coat for back at home, but here I won’t be taking it out of my suitcase for another two months. That’s not all, though. Sometimes the weather is pleasant and sunny, and sometimes it is cold. It seems as temperamental as a hormonal teenage girl, and it is becoming quite annoying trying to coordinate my clothes to the climate. I have come to understand why people continually sigh when they talk about the New England weather, and now I can join them.

Duck tour, potluck and weather. This has been quite the week. It is funny how it starts to feel like college once grades start taking priority and midterms seem to appear out of nowhere. The only thing scarier than midterms now for me is snow. I am not looking forward to living in Narnia.

Nimarta Narang is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at Nimarta.Narang@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

6

Arts & Living

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Band’s new album features inventive songs

rawkblog.blogspot.com via Flickr Creative Commons

Clever percussion and interesting chord progressions make ‘Fly By Wire’ a unique album.

BORIS

continued from page 5

niche hasn’t inspired any kind of forward motion or musical development. Whether or not that kind of growth is necessary seems like a moot question in the face of this charming new release.

The seeds of SSLYBY were sown in Springfield, Miss., the city that most of the band members call home. Drawing the inspiration for its name from the first president of Russia, SSLYBY is known for its optimistic musical style.

After its debut album, the band gained some critical acclaim and subsequently signed with Polyvinyl Records in 2006. Retaining its musical identity and charisma, the band produced its second album “Perishing” in 2008 and its third “Let it Sway” in 2010.

SSLYBY will sound very familiar to fans of The Shins, Youth Lagoon and Nada Surf.

The band incorporates the

droning wistfulness of these groups. However, SSLYBY adds something else: a layer of hopeful intuition and suggestion. Going beyond its contemporary indie darlings with tracks that hearken back to the sounds of Elvis Costello and Weezer, SSLYBY distinguishes itself in a genre that often feels muddled with unimaginative carbon copies.

On its newest album, SSLYBY forays into musical territory that remains, as of yet, largely untapped.

Incorporating some shiny synth beats and powerful funk guitar licks, it is clear that the band has no problem showcasing their musical prowess and curiosity. Yet, whether or not this curiosity translates into something more than basic experimentation remains unclear.

In “Fly By Wire,” the band manages to create some truly magnetic tracks, including the notable and ethereal “Harrison

Ford.” This track includes surprising chord progressions and clever percussion work that drives the song slowly, but surely, forward. As the album opener, “Harrison Ford” sets the tone for the rest of “Fly

By Wire.” The song is almost a throwback to the lo-fi tracks that catapulted SSLYBY from indie anonymity to a major label band.

Later, the song “Young Presidents” has all the makings of a serene and relaxing hipster anthem peppered with “oohs,” “aahs,” the well placed synthetic clap and the occasional exclamation of “Stop ... go!” The band seems to have approached the creation of its music methodologically; no song on the album sounds quite the same, each adding to the aesthetic experience of the whole.

The best song on the album is easily “Nightwater Girlfriend.” Initially sounding vaguely like pop-punk productions of the late ‘80s, “Nightwater Girlfr iend” quickly turns into a powerful and supremely interesting song. Part Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and part Blink182’s “All The Small Things,” the song blends two distinct genres into one infectious song. It forces listeners to think about the people they loved from afar in high school but never really met. Too specific? Listen for yourself.

SSLYBY has never failed to produce music that is compelling and lovable. However, the band has yet to produce an album, or even a single, that transcends their current niche. For a band with so much musical inventiveness and potential, this lack of growth is disappointing.

Regardless, if you find yourself asking, “Is it worth it to listen to this band?” for Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, the answer is always “yes.”

Courtesy Michaela Mellen

Nguyen’s unreserved style made for a mesmerizing performance.

Nguyen’s emotive vocals shine in live performance FESTIVAL

continued from page 5

impassioned performance, setting a high bar for the remainder of the band’s set. The band soon transitioned to “Holy Roller,” a track from its latest album, “We The Common.”

Plucking the banjo, Nguyen showcased her instrumental abilities, while her distinct, soulful vocals brought the folk-rock number to life. On songs such as “When We Swam,” the band demonstrated its knack for developing irresistibly catchy pop melodies, while during “Beat (Health, Life and Fire),” Nguyen captivated the audience with her intense, emotional voice.

As the set continued, people of all ages gravitated towards the stage to catch a glimpse of the mesmerizing and vigorous performance. Despite being a relatively little-known indie band in comparison to some of the festival’s more popular headliners like The Roots and Hall & Oates, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down still managed to capture the attention of many spectators who were probably hearing them for the first time.

Throughout the band’s 45-minute set, Thao & The Get Down Stay

Down never lost steam. Seamlessly transitioning from playing the guitar to the banjo to the mandolin and even to the drums, Nguyen tackled each song with a fearless vitality, withholding nothing from the unforgettable show. At one point, Nguyen even strummed a guitar placed on a keyboard stand, further highlighting the group’s creative and inventive spirit.

Nguyen pulled out her banjo once more for the band’s closing song, “We the Common (For Valerie Bolden).”

The folksy number, influenced by Nguyen’s work with the California Coalition for Women’s Prisoners, is a cry for social justice and a fitting end to the band’s set. Nguyen invited the audience to join in with the song’s wordless chorus, a melody preceded by the line “Oh, how we the common must cry.” At that moment, the audience — the common — did indeed cry out, united by the sounds and rhythms resonating throughout the festival grounds.

A fun, quirky quality defines Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. The performance was bright, explosive and full of life — perfectly suited for the “Life is good festival.” And during their performance, we, the common, truly felt alive.

‘Night of Stars’ offered variety of styles, from classic to contemporary ballet STARS

continued from page 5

fabric backdrop, was elegant and adaptable.

Rippling in the wind, the seemingly simple sheet was bathed in different shades of red, blue and green light during every new miniballet, adding a dynamic element to the set.

The event’s downtown location also contributed spectacularly to its unique atmosphere. From the vantage point of the crowd, the bright lights of the city’s skyline were prominently visible, and sounds of traffic occasionally punctuated the music of the full orchestra which accompanied most dances. Far from distracting, these urban reminders of city life appealed further to the senses of the audience, creating an exciting energy altogether different from a ballet performed inside an elaborate concert hall.

Requiring at least 40 pairs of pointe shoes, 700 bobby pins and 800-plus hours of rehearsal, according to the Boston Ballet’s website, “Night of Stars” was no doubt an exceptional event. The sheer scope of “Night of Stars” was perhaps its only flaw. Thick crowds occasionally became claustrophobic and called for an active police presence; scores of portable toilets lined the green — the antithesis of the grace and refinement of the ballet. Erected near the corner of Beacon and Charles Streets, the stage was the largest the Boston Common has ever seen, and yet it was often impossible to see the event unfolding on the stage itself. In these cases, viewers had to watch the action on one of several giant screens projecting the performance. However, all of these elements were forgivable: certain concessions were necessary to make the event maximally inclusive, reaching thousands of viewers for a live performance that they would otherwise not get to see.

The varied nature of the performance,

Courtesy Rosalie O’Connor

Dramatic and mysterious, ‘Serenade’ was a show-stopping finale for ‘Night of Stars.’ too, signified to all that this was no ordinary ballet. “Night of Stars” included both classical and contemporary pieces. The 345 yards of tulle adorning dancers during finale piece “Serenade” contrasted sharply with the modern, unembellished leotards worn during the performance of George Balanchine’s “Symphony in Three Movements.” Similarly, the excerpts from Christopher Bruce’s upbeat and unorthodox ballet “Rooster”

were set to songs by The Rolling Stones, a departure from the more orchestral music that characterized the rest of the evening.

Of the many shining moments of “Night of Stars,” the highlight was the lavish and imaginative piece, “La Bayad.” Gold and green hues covered the stage as it was transformed into an exotic facsimile of ancient India. A classic romance, Marius Petipa’s ballet — here adapted by Florence

Clerc — tells the story of temple dancer Nikiya and soldier Solor, two lovers kept apart by fate. Featuring particularly strong choreography from male dancers, “La Bayad籥” will be performed by the Boston Ballet as part of its 2013-2014 season at the Boston Opera House. Performances will run from Oct. 24th to Nov. 3rd, with tickets currently available for purchase online at www.boxoffice.bostonballet.org.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

our contact (617) 440-7361 or

bostonburgerco.com

our hours

The Tufts Daily

our location 37 davis square somerville, ma 02144

mon - wed:

11 AM to 10 PM

thurs - sat: 11 AM to 11 PM sun: 12 PM to 8 PM

advertisement

7

The Tufts Daily

8

THE TUFTS DAILY

Editorial | Letters

editorial

Safety comes first

Hannah R. Fingerhut Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Jenna Buckle Melissa Wang Managing Editors Abigail Feldman Executive News Editor Daniel Gottfried News Editors Victoria Leistman Menghan Liu Melissa Mandelbaum Elizabeth McKay Annabelle Roberts Mahpari Sotoudeh Josh Weiner Sarah Zheng Daniel Bottino Assistant News Editors Alexa Horwitz Elissa Ladwig Hunter Ryan Denali Tietjen Shannon Vavra Executive Features Editor Lily Sieradzki Features Editors Charlotte Gilliland Emily Bartlett Vicky Rathsmill Emma Arnesty-Good Assistant Features Editors Caitlin McClure Sabrina McMillin Julia McDaniel

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Last week, the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) released news of two armed robberies carried out near campus. These incidents add to the increasing number of safety alerts — five in total since the start of the term — that have been sent out, raising concerns for student safety.

While the news of the robbery in Medford is certainly unpleasant to hear, most students have come to accept that parts of the town are unsafe at night.

However, the Blakeley Hall robbery is more disturbing given its close proximity to the rest of campus and the details of an armed culprit managing to enter a student’s room. These incidents once again confront students with the reality that campus is not exactly a safe haven where one can be completely carefree.

Despite the tireless work of TUPD in monitoring the area around Medford and

Somerville, there is only so much that can be done. Locking doors, never propping them open and having a general awareness of one’s surroundings (even if slightly inebriated) are precautions that should be second nature. It is worth mentioning that, despite the inevitability of crimes being committed close to campus, the entirety of TUPD works tirelessly to circulate important information and conduct thorough investigations. Contrary to what some may think, TUPD’s intention is not solely to bust law-breaking students, but rather to protect them and ensure a safe campus.

With the semester now in full swing and students constantly on the move, often late at night, the chances of trouble happening naturally increase. Simple precautions — walking with friends, avoiding dodgy-looking areas — go without saying, but students often forget the

services offered by Tufts to help protect us. As highlighted in today’s article, “Two armed robberies reported near campus,” the Tufts GoSafe service is available for use, and safety phones all over campus provide a means of receiving swift help if need be. Of course, it always helps when TUPD does not have to spend as much time helping us deal with lockouts or other such trivial issues that sidetrack them from the job at hand.

Given the excess of day-to-day concerns that occupy the average student’s mind, it is easy to forget the basics of safe living. Incidents like the ones reported last week are certainly worth getting riled up about. While we all tend to overlook admittedly mundane safety details, the news of two robberies suggests that it might be time to pay attention to the information that is in place to protect us.

of which she is no longer a part. As an objective writer for the Tufts Daily, I would have hoped that Julia McDaniel would have offered Tufts students a more well rounded view of the combined degree program.

I am in my fifth and final year of the Tufts/SMFA combined degree program, and I love it! The program enables me to pursue both art and academics at two excellent schools. Quite frankly, I would never have applied to either Tufts or the SMFA without this program; it is a rare opportunity to have the best of both worlds! I do acknowledge that the dropout rate of this program is high, which is largely due to the added expense of the fifth year. Furthermore, many freshmen enter college without a clear idea of what they want to study. Juggling two degrees is hard! I believe many students

are overwhelmed by the challenge as they realize their true interests don’t necessarily lie in both fields.

Throughout her article, Julia McDaniel offers negative feedback about a program that has incredible value. I only wish she had interviewed combined degree students such as my friends and me, who are grateful for the combined degree program and fully intend to graduate with two degrees. I believe that our experiences in the program, alongside those of a dissatisfied student such as Lauren Giglio, would have provided other Tufts students with a more accurate portrayal of the Tufts/SMFA combined degree program.

Benjamin Boventer Caroline Welch Executive Arts Editor Dan O’Leary Arts Editors Veronica Little Drew Robertson Assistant Arts Editors Brendan Donohue Lancy Downs Grace Hoyt Alexander Schroeder Executive Sports Editor Marcus Budline Sports Editors Aaron Leibowitz David McIntyre Zachey Kliger Jake Indursky Claire Sleigh Kate Klots Matthew Berger Tyler Maher Assistant Sports Editors Ross Dember Jason Schneiderman Alex Connors Elayne Stecher Bhushan Deshpande Tom Chalmers Matthew Crane Nick Golden Jehan Madhani Keran Chen Denise Amisial Benjamin Boventer Scott Geldzahler Drew Lewis

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors

Cartoonists

Editorialists

Kyra Sturgill Executive Photo Editor Caroline Geiling Photo Editors John Hampson Wan Jing Lee Simone Backer Nick Pfosi Staff Photographers Zhuangchen Zhou Courtney Chiu Sofia Adams Alexander Kaufman Executive New Media Editor Oliver Porter Phuong Ta New Media Editors Jake Hellman Barton Liang Assistant New Media Editor

PRODUCTION Elliot Philips

Production Director Emily Rourke Adrian Lo Emma Arnesty-Good Jen Betts Shoshanna Kahne Daniel MacDonald Montana Miller Falcon Reese Reid Spagna Andrew Stephens Chelsea Stevens Maura McQuade

Executive Layout Editor Senior Layout Editor Layout Editors

Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, Assistant Layout Editor

Jamie Hoagland Executive Copy Editors Julia Russell Anna Haugen Copy Editors Adrienne Lange Drew Lewis Annaick Miller Vidya Srinivasan Marina Shtyrkov Hadley Gibson Assistant Copy Editors Patrick Schulman Rachel Salzberg Tori Porter Hamid Mansoor Executive Online Editor

BUSINESS Daphne Wu

As a student in the Tufts/SMFA combined degree program, I was very disappointed to read your article, “Administrative transition at SMFA brings changes, confusion.”

Specifically, I was upset by the impression the article gives of our program and the poor range of opinions it offers through interviews. The article, written

by Julia McDaniel, interviews only two students: a first year in the dual degree program and a dropout. Andie Eisen, although excited about the program, has very little experience navigating the Tufts/SMFA connection, as she only recently transferred into the combined degree program. Lauren Giglio, the focus of the article, spends most of her time complaining about a program

Sincerely, Corrin Barnes, Class of 2015

Executive Business Director Li Liang Receivables Manager P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

Correction In the Sept. 19 Features article titled “Admnistrative transition at SMFA brings changes, confusion,” it was incorrectly stated that Lauren Giglio opted out of the dual-degree track. In fact, Giglio is still a dual-degree student, but she opted out of the fifth year and will graduate in May.

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.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 2 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com.

All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 450-word limit and letters must be verified.

The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.

ADVERTISING POLICY All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editorin-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director. A publication schedule and rate card are available upon request.

The Tufts Daily

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

9

Op-Ed

Off the Hill | Drexel University

Bhushan Deshpande | Words of Wisdom

Putin’s op-ed shows leadership

A shortchanged education

by Vaughn Shirey

The Triangle

It is not often that a leader of a well-known and well-respected country makes a point to address the American public directly, let alone by the medium of an editorial in The New York Times.

Vladimir Putin’s stark message to the American people did not go unnoticed.

Read by regular readers of the Times as well as people less attuned to political news, the harsh criticisms made by Putin have established him as perhaps the greatest political genius of our time.

Putin’s plan and its result were multifaceted: He embraced an aura of superiority, diminished American hypocrisy with a cloaked hypocrisy of his own, and established himself as a place holding leader for the American people, who lacked a clear leader on the issue of Syria. His greatest success was in playing on the already weary opinion of the American people while plopping himself into a leadership position, showing both a clear direction on the Syria issue and pointing out the flaws of the caustic nature of exceptionalism.

There is no doubt on both sides of the argument that Barack Obama utterly diminished his role as a leader by flipflopping on Syria. He painted a picture of a wavering superpower, built too big to fail but indecisive with power. This was honestly an embarrassment, and Putin saw his opportunity. With a lack of leadership from the Commander in Chief, Putin expertly inserted himself as a clear alternative to Obama’s plan of action, effectively usurping Obama’s established position as the leader of the country. This was a phenomenal move of tact, considering that Putin not only established himself and his foreign policy as superior to that of the United States, but he also made the entire debacle more embarrassing for Obama. With plummeting approval ratings and rising public opposition to military action in Syria, Obama was forced into a lose-lose situation, eventually seizing to the last hope offered to him by Putin.

T

MCT

Of course, Putin is not without fault himself. Various military interventions

by Russia have resulted in casualties, and Russian foreign policy has not had a perfect track record. Through his piece in the Times, he criticized the concept of American exceptionalism, distracting attention from his own country’s interventions. Putin played his cards well here, realizing that the hypocrisy in U.S. actions and in the country’s very politicians and government would far outweigh any call to stand back and evaluate his own faults. This hypocrisy has been very apparent throughout this issue. Politicians from both sides abandoned the people that they represented for a hopeless cause — at least a hopeless cause in the war zone, but not for their pockets. This was so blatantly apparent that the precedence of logic was being set aside for selfish reasons in the disguise of a humanitarian effort.

A recent poll revealed that 36 percent of Americans support military action

in Syria. I would personally like to see those 36 percent be the ones sent to Syria or at least somewhere to receive a decent education.

Although I am not a fan of Putin’s social and foreign policy, after reading his editorial, I have grown fond of the leadership and devious capability of a man who fearlessly stabbed the heart of the American mindset with a sword of hypocrisy. America has witnessed a brilliant streak of leadership from a man who sits not in the White House but a world away and yet still listens to what the American people have to say instead of rallying toward a cause that falls so sour on the plates of many. At this, Putin deserves a roaring round of applause for showing initiative, focus and constitution in the face of a worldwide issue. While his plan may not solve the existence of chemical weapons, Putin calmed a brewing storm caused by the arrogance of exceptionalism fueling the mind of a weak president.

Off the Hill | Dartmouth College

Cultural reversion

by Jonathan

Li

The Dartmouth

This fall, many upperclassmen return to campus with more familiarity than novelty, in part by the momentous decision passed by the Greek Leadership Council (GLC) near the end of spring.

Members of the Class of 2017 are not permitted at Greek parties until the Monday following Homecoming. While the weekend’s implications are fairly obvious, with basements full of more familiar faces than new, it is worth noting the marked effects on campus culture, specifically the cultural divide so perfectly portrayed by the small groups loitering about Russell Sage residence hall.

Fortunately, this sort of social dynamic has been captured in the past. Prior to 2001, freshmen were barred from parties during their fall term, but in October of that year, after Homecoming, GLC decided to lift the ban on freshmen at fall Greek parties. Proponents of the change cited a lack of non-Greek social activities, a cultural expectation for sneaking or breaking into Greek houses, the gendered preference of their guests and the social divide between freshmen and upperclassmen as justification. What may seem surprising in retrospect is the widespread support from not only undergraduates, but the administration as well.

This episode has shown us that many students likely oppose the prohibition on freshmen in fraternities and sorori-

ties. The main differences today are the administration’s new stance and the establishment of Collis After Dark and other alternative social activities.

While attendance has varied, such programming seems to serve as an equal, if not better, option, at least given the sheer frequency of rumor and mention.

The best such rumblings I’ve heard was a pseudo-bar crawl from freshman dorm to dorm — the equivalent of pregaming for pre-games of pre-games.

It seems that now, more than ever, the exact volume of Good Samaritan calls rests in the hands of first-years.

Moreover, these activities, whether alcoholic in nature, are consummated among freshmen alone. Exposure and rapport between the freshmen class and upperclassmen has been effectively halved. The social wisdom that usually trickles down has also been stifled.

The policy permeates throughout the week. Considering sheer hours, freshmen with more time on their hands will participate in more clubs and sports.

These organizations across the board will see greater attendance than in years past. Perhaps — and admittedly, this is a long shot — grades for freshmen fall will be higher this year than at any time in the past decade. While those statistics might be hilarious on some level, the college administration would likely use such objective evidence to further any sort of pressure against Greek culture in the future.

The trade-offs between the powers that be — Greek culture and non-Greek culture — are entirely predictable. The

policy enacted last spring is effectively a rebalancing between the two and their prominence in Dartmouth’s culture as a whole. The policy will almost certainly, in the long run, better the image of the Dartmouth student in the public eye and might even staunch the criticism from our number-one fan, The Huffington Post. While this may inspire the College to enact more restrictive policies against Greek culture, I would imagine that anything more restrictive would bring about more social upheaval than good.

We should consider the stakeholders in the situation at large. Should Dartmouth’s public image improve, the administration will have claimed their victory. Upperclassmen remain relatively untouched, as the new policy places no restriction on our time. But consider the freshmen. Their lives at Dartmouth are now bound to a new social trajectory that I personally cannot imagine. Frequently among upperclassmen, I hear general approval for the newfound policy, but it is quickly followed by grateful sentiments about the fortunate timing. Freshmen are left to alternative programming, their not-so-clandestine pre-gaming and their social isolation from the rest of campus. Put simply, for the betterment of the College’s reputation, freshmen serve as the temporary sacrificial lamb. If we find this disconcerting, we should be wary of the altar, and wonder what, if anything, is the current administration willing to offer for reputation’s sake.

oday is the final day in a two-week vote for part-time lecturers at Tufts to decide whether or not to unionize. I hadn’t been paying much attention until some friends who have been involved with the unionization effort pointed me toward some interesting notes.

First off, I’m sure most of you have had part-time lecturers. The first-year writing requirement courses and a large chunk of the foreign language courses are taught by them, as are other courses scattered throughout the university.

They are paid $5,115 per course (a minimum figure; it might range up a few thousand dollars), which is somewhat higher than industry norms. As is standard for part-time lecturers (who often teach at several other schools as adjunct professors to make up for not having a single full-time position), it isn’t all that much more than minimum wage once considering class time, prep time, office hours and grading, especially for those who have invested years of their lives getting advanced graduate degrees.

Plenty has been written about that already, though. I want to look at another side of it: how Tufts’ practice of regularly using parttime lecturers hurts students. Very often, the only reason that Tufts hires part-time lecturers is to save money. Unfortunately for students, those courses are generally an imperfect substitute for those taught by full-time faculty, even if the course would be taught in the exact same way by the parttime lecturer.

Every year in the economics department, about half of the sections of core courses — such as microeconomics or statistics — are taught by part-time lecturers. These courses are required for all econ majors, as well as many econ minors and IR majors.

This has a significantly detrimental impact on potential economics majors.

Don’t get me wrong: I have had great experiences with part-time lecturers. The first class I took after declaring my major was statistics. The course was taught exactly how it needed to be taught for the majority of people who had had no prior exposure to the material.

However, because he was a part-time lecturer, he was on campus only on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. His rest of the week was spent at another college across the city, and so TAs were frequently the only point of contact. Not that the professor had any reason to be on campus the rest of the week; it wasn’t as if he was being paid for that.

There are significant downsides to all this.

Part-time lecturers cannot serve as advisors.

They are not nearly as engaged with research and the broader academic and scholarly community. With some significant exceptions, they are not as interested in mentoring undergraduates. And perhaps most importantly, they are not as engaged with the rest of campus as a full-time faculty member would be.

A common defense that the administration gives for not hiring the best possible teachers for our courses is that Tufts is a research university, and they must hire the people who are top-notch researchers as well. If some of our part-time lecturers are top-notch teachers, then let us treat them as such: Hire them as full-time lecturers. If the part-time lecturers aren’t good teachers, as some of mine weren’t, there is no reason to keep them around. Find the money to hire tenure-track professors. There are plenty of those who are only adequate teachers but make up for it by being excellent researchers.

Instead, Tufts will continue to rely on dozens of part-time lecturers. Every time we have to take a course with one, we aren’t taking the course that we were promised in our admissions tours. When part-time lecturers are denied full-time status, they aren’t the only ones who are negatively affected: So too is the student body.

Bhushan Deshpande is a senior majoring in quantitative economics. He can be reached at Bhushan.Deshpande@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.

The Tufts Daily

10

Comics

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

Tuesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Finding the hidden ‘level’ on the iOS 7.

Late Night at the Daily

Thursday’s Solution

Emily: “See, there’s my uterus.”

Want more late-night laughs?

Follow us on Twitter at @LateNiteAtDaily

Please recycle this Daily.

by

Wiley

The Tufts Daily

Wednesday, September 25, 2013 Services

Housing

Sonny’s Barber Shop. Look Good – Best Haircuts Around! 5 Minutes from TUFTS – 282a Main st.

Medford. MA. See Joe Jr. Walk in’s always Welcome! Highly Skilled Barber at Your Service! Open Tuesday- Saturday (617) 515. 2955

Housing

2,4,6 bedrooms apartment house, Ossipee road, available June 1st 2014, Call Maria for more information, (781) 942-7625

COLLEGE AVE- Great location!

Huge 2 Family! I 4 & 6 bed, eat in kitchens, living room, huge bedrooms. Decks. Off street parking.

Rent the whole house or the units separately. 4bd $2900. 6bd $4350 617-633-0965 Avl June, 2014

11

Sports -

-

-

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

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

Central teams compete for final NL playoff spots

Tyler Maher | Beantown Beat

INSIDE MLB

continued from back

the top. They struggled at the beginning of the month and let other teams in the AL creep back into the race, but now that they are back in control, it would be a shock to see them fall out of the postseason.

The Indians, on the other hand, have surged in September and used their easy schedule this month, along with the second-half dominance of Ubaldo Jimenez, to climb into the race. Since the All-Star break, Jimenez has a 1.83 ERA and has allowed just two earned runs over his last four starts. With just the White Sox and the Twins left to play, and Jimenez scheduled to take the mound at least once more, the Indians are likely to hold off the Rangers and cling to the second spot in the play-in game.

The NL hunt The National League Wild Card hunt begins and ends with the Central Division.

The Cardinals currently sit two games up on the Pirates and Reds entering the final week, but the latter two have a fivegame cushion on the surging Nationals for the Wild Card berths. These three teams will make the NL playoffs, but the final two series will determine in what order. St. Louis’ final two opponents are the Nationals, likely the hottest team in baseball, and the Cubs, one of the worst.

T

MCT

LA Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig will have to continue his stellar first-year campaign in the playoffs if the Dodgers want a shot at taking their first World Series crown since 1988.

Although Washington will present challenges, if the Cardinals’ bats can stay as hot as they’ve been throughout the year, they’ll likely cling to the Central crown — particularly seeing as the Bucs and Reds face off in their final series of the year.

That final showdown will probably be

a preview of the Wild Card play-in game, with both teams holding onto their cards and setting the stage for one of the most dramatic nights of the year.

This is what casual baseball fans have waited for all summer: October is approaching.

Smith thrives since transferring to Tufts SOCCER

continued from back

smooth one.

“He’s a really nice kid and a good kid,” Shapiro said. “Transfers can be a little dicey, and we have a good thing going with our team ... and I’ve had experience with a transfer who is a good player and a big personality, and it can change the complexion of the team.

We were confident Talmon wouldn’t be that, and he hasn’t been that guy. He’s a humble kid who wants to be a part of the team, and he’s made it really easy for us to integrate him and him to integrate himself.”

On the field At the start of the season, Smith immediately showed that the offseason bonding with his teammates had paid off. He scored three goals in his first three games, including the deciding goal in a 1-0 win over Colby on Sept.

14. For an already talented attack featuring Hoppenot and Santos, adding a forward like Smith could easily turn Tufts into one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the NESCAC. “I think having him gives us a whole different dimension,” Hoppenot said. “He’s a great crosser of the ball, and his athleticism on the outside can destabilize defenses.”

Despite his hot individual start, Smith is focused on doing whatever he can to help the Jumbos climb to the top of their conference.

“I want to contribute to the team in any way possible,” Smith said. “I think without a doubt we should be aiming to take the NESCAC this year and win the NESCAC tournament, and be competitive and go deep in the NCAA tournament.”

If Smith, along with the rest of the team, can continue to play the brand of soccer they have been playing early on, Tufts will have no problem winning this year — and in the years to come.

DAILY DIGITS 7 Times the Boston Red Sox have won the American East division, the most recent of which came after a win Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays in Fenway Park. Boston took down Toronto 6-3 as Jon Lester got his 15th victory of the season. The Sox are looking to take home a World Series victory for the first time since 2007.

416 Sets recorded by sophomore Kyra Baum of the volleyball team through 13 games this season.

Baum replaces three-time AllNESCAC recipient Kendall Lord (LA ‘13) as the Jumbos’ setter. With 12 games and a possible postseason left on the horizon, Baum is on pace to pass Lord’s total of 799 sets from last year.

36 Years that Mark Doughtie has been an athletic trainer at Tufts. The sports medicine director’s office will be dedicated in Doughtie’s honor this week. Doughtie has been on the Tufts sports medicine staff since 1973. This dedication was made possible by a former student athlete who appreciated the help Doughtie gave him during his time at Tufts.

3 Games AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli has been suspended as a result of a confrontation with a referee after a match Sunday against Napoli. The “insulting and intimidating comments” Balotelli made will put him on the bench for upcoming games against Bologna, Sampdoria and Juventus. The Italian striker missed a penalty kick and scored one goal in the game.

1992

888

The last year that the Pittsburgh Pirates had a winning season and made the playoffs prior to 2013.

The Pirates had 20 straight losing seasons in a row before snapping the streak this year with a winning record and a clinched playoff berth with five games left in the regular season. The Pirates are currently second in the NL Central and have a chance to take the division if they beat out the Reds and Cardinals.

Total yards gained by both offenses in the Tufts football game at Wesleyan on Saturday night. The mark set a new NESCAC record.

Wesleyan gained 592 of those yards, and Tufts picked up the other 296 yards. The teams rushed for 460 yards total, and the other 428 were gained in the air. The teams also combined for 61 points.

Road to redemption

wenty-four hours after securing a postseason berth, the Boston Red Sox clinched their division last Friday night with their 94th win of the season, a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. For the first time since 2007, the Olde Towne Team is tops in the American League East. Ah, it’s good to be back.

Few could’ve predicted this sort of success at the beginning of the year, with Boston coming off a last place finish and its worst season since 1965. The Red Sox were guaranteed to improve after reloading during the offseason, but there was still a sour taste lingering in millions of New England mouths.

The team’s major additions didn’t look too promising either. New manager (and former Red Sox pitching coach) John Farrell lost more games than he won in his two seasons guiding the Blue Jays, and his new personnel were just as flawed. Shane Victorino and Jonny Gomes couldn’t hit against righties.

Stephen Drew was coming off the worst season of his career. Mike Napoli had a bum hip. Ryan Dempster struggled after transitioning to the AL midway through 2012. All were on the wrong side of 30.

Nobody believed in them. Experts predicted another last-place finish. Vegas gave them 30 to 1 odds at winning the World Series and set the over/under for their season win total at 79.5. (Anyone who took the under lost that bet weeks ago.) For the first time in a long time, Boston took the field on Opening Day with minimal expectations. No pressure.

The Red Sox caught everyone by surprise when they rolled to a 20-8 start, establishing themselves as contenders right out of the chute. It felt too good to be true. Sox fans, skeptical of their team’s early success, were slow to jump back on the bandwagon. Fenway’s decade-long sellout streak ended in the second home game of the year, and attendance was down. Red Sox Nation, it seemed, had lost the faith.

To be fair, the lack of excitement over the team’s hot start was also related to events beyond their control. Baseball took a backseat in April — traditionally the sport’s best month — when bombs rocked the Boston Marathon. The curtain closed on the Celtics’ Big Three era, and the Bruins came within two wins of their second Stanley Cup in three years. Then the whole Aaron Hernandez thing happened and ... the Sox became something of an afterthought. They were a nice story, but could they keep it up?

The Red Sox did not go away. They didn’t fade or tank or choke. They fell out of first place for a few days at the end of July, then fortified their rotation by trading for Jake Peavy and promptly regained control of first. They held off the Tampa Bay Rays during August’s dog days until reinforcements arrived in the form of September roster expansions. After clinging to first place for most of the summer, they finally started pulling away from the pack around Labor Day and locked up the division for good.

Now, after a glorious summer of comefrom-behind wins, scary beards and tremendous baseball, Boston is postseasonbound. Farrell has time to rest the regulars and line up his starting rotation. He can prepare the Red Sox to do what they did the last time they won the AL East: go on to win the World Series.

Tyler is a junior majoring in economics. He can be reached at Tyler.Maher@tufts.edu.

Sports

12

tuftsdaily.com

Men’s Soccer

Smith brings talent and humility to Tufts

by Jake Indursky

Daily Editorial Board

For the past three years, a staple of the Tufts men’s soccer team has been its strong recruiting classes, which have made an immediate impact on the pitch. Two years ago, it was the dynamic duo of now-junior forwards Maxime Hoppenot and Gus Santos, who combined to score 13 goals their rookie seasons to go along with Santos’ NESCAC Rookie of the Year award.

Last year, it was the depth of the freshman class that helped the Jumbos make the NCAA tournament for the first time in recent memory. Four rookies saw time in at least 10 games, with defender Connor Schaible starting 13 games and midfielder Jason Kayne playing big minutes in 16 of Tufts’ 17 games.

This year, rookie sensation keeper Scott Greenwood has been garnering all of the early season headlines, allowing only one goal and posting three shutouts in his first five games.

Now, a non-freshman member of the incoming class is also making a big impact: sophomore Talmon Smith.

Smith, who usually goes by Tal, transferred from Howard University after his freshman year and has provided a spark for the Jumbos off the bench. Heading into Tuesday’s match at Plymouth State, he was second on the team in goals (3) and points (7).

For Smith though, the path to Tufts has not been a simple one.

Howard University Smith, unlike the rest of his team, did not begin his collegiate career in the brown and blue. Instead, as a member of the class of 2016, Smith committed to Howard University, a Div. I school in Washington, D.C. “I decided on Howard late in the spring of senior year,” Smith said. “I took a while to decide between schools, based on financial aid, scholarships, academics and athletics.”

For Smith, who has a brother in the D.C. area, the combination of family support, a full scholarship and a rich athletic and cultural history at Howard eventually swayed him to the nation’s capital.

However, his freshman year on the field was not as he had imagined.

“Our first year, we struggled,” Smith explained. “The program has a long and

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily

Sophomore Tal Smith, a transfer student from Howard University, has immediately made his presence known on the men’s soccer team. rich history ... It was sad to see that program has been deteriorating recently.”

Smith got the chance to start as a freshman, but the team lost its first six games.

“What I wanted to see out of our program is not what the head coach had in mind,” he said.

Transferring After a disappointing start to his career at Howard and an uneasy relationship with his coach, Smith made the difficult decision to transfer. Although the forward looked at a variety of schools, he was able to narrow his choices down to two schools on opposite ends of the country: the University of San Francisco and Tufts.

“It came down to a decision between a D-I and a D-III school,” Smith said. “But I thought the level [of play] here in the NESCAC was so great, and [head coach Josh] Shapiro has been doing great things with the team, that I became more and more impressed with the school the more research I did.”

One of the factors that swayed Smith toward Tufts was his relationship with Shapiro. Shapiro, who has brought an extensive recruiting network to the soccer program at Tufts, met Smith back in high school at a soccer camp when Shapiro was still working as an assistant

coach for Georgetown.

“I got to talk to his [high school] coach, who liked him a lot, and liked him as a kid,” Shapiro said. “We knew he would have some D-I opportunities ... and at the time he wanted to play D-I. Ultimately, I think he realized that wasn’t the right choice for him, and that’s when he came back into the conversation.”

While the decision was hardly a nobrainer, the athletic striker seems happy with his choice. After his first five games in the NESCAC, he does not find the level of play to be any less challenging or exciting.

“To be fair, I think there is a difference in athleticism, but the IQ of the players and how the game is being played is maintained,” Smith said. “I think some teams, including Tufts, play the game better than many Division I teams, so it’s something I’ve immediately become proud of.”

Another benefit of Smith transferring to a Div. III school is that he does not have to endure the NCAA rigmarole of transferring and sitting out a year.

Instead, he’s been able to play right away, which has been a boon for both Smith and the Jumbos.

Becoming a Jumbo Although Smith officially became a member of the team with the comple-

tion of the transfer process, he still had a long way to go before he could truly call himself a Jumbo. However, it did not take long for the transfer to fit in with a welcoming team.

“We really just tried to bring him in and help him understand what it is that we do and what it is that coach [Shapiro] wants from him, and he really took that to heart,” Hoppenot said.

“The upperclassmen do a really good job of talking to the young players over the summer,” Shapiro added. “They explain what the expectations are and what it might be like. I think [Hoppenot] was responsible for talking to Talmon, and he was getting excited and getting Talmon excited about our team and its ability to play fast and threaten teams with pace and athleticism.”

Smith credited the returning players for helping ease his transition.

“Before I could even move into my dorm, a lot of the team is in Zeta Psi [fraternity], and they happily housed me there for a good week or so,” he said. “That hospitality and the immediate attention to getting prepared for the season was all key.”

Shapiro also pointed out that Smith himself helped make the experience a see SOCCER, page 11

Inside the MLB

Setting the stage for baseball’s final week by

Marcus Budline

Daily Editorial Board

The Major League Baseball season is a long, grueling process.

With 162 games spread out over an entire spring and summer, it’s easy for the season to drift in and out of focus with the postseason always seemingly so far away.

But the time for putting off following baseball is over because the end of September is finally here. Playoff chases are coming down to the wire, and October is less than a week away. So for those of you who may have struggled to pay attention to the standings all summer long, here’s some fill-in and a primer for the final week of the MLB regular season.

AL locks The Red Sox and Athletics have already sewn up the American League East and West, respectively, with more than seven games separating them from their closest division rivals.

Boston clinched the AL East on Friday, the team’s first division

crown since its World Series win in 2007, outpacing Tampa Bay over the last month of the season to take the title. The Red Sox have ridden their dynamic hitting to the top of the American League, finishing first in the MLB in runs and slugging percentage and second in batting average and on-base percentage.

With their unmistakable beards in tow, this team that managed just 69 wins last season is likely to enter the postseason as the favorite out of the American League.

But with five games to go, the Athletics continue to lurk in their attempt to snatch the best record in the league away from the Sox, as they sit just one game back entering this final stretch. Last year, the A’s snuck past the Rangers in the final week of the season to eke into the playoffs, but this year, general manager Billy Beane’s squad made its move early in September, blowing by the collapsing Rangers on the back of its 3.58 team ERA, which ranks second in the AL. With a strong collection of pitchers, the Athletics are primed for postseason success, particularly if

third baseman Josh Donaldson can continue on his torrid pace from the regular season — he has compiled a WAR (wins above replacement) of 8.1, second only to Mike Trout in the American League. A year ago, the A’s snuck into the playoffs and were bounced in the ALDS by the Detroit Tigers. This time, they’ll be looking for more.

NL locks In the National League it’s the Braves and the Dodgers that have clinched divisional titles.

The Braves lead MLB in ERA and have used those arms, along with a relatively easy division schedule, to carry them to their first NL East title since 2005. Atlanta had won its division for 11 consecutive years from 1995 to 2005.

With an incredibly ordinary offense, the Braves have been carried by pitching and defense, sporting an MLB-leading 3.20 ERA entering Tuesday’s game. They are also second in the majors in WHIP and have arguably the best bullpen in the game. While other teams in the NL have relied much

more on big hits, the Braves’ pitching staff could be an X-factor in the postseason when home runs are far harder to come by.

Out west, the Dodgers looked like a team full of albatross contracts to start the season, but they turned in one of the most incredible stretches of baseball ever seen with their 42-8 run midway through the season. That push saw the Dodgers blow past the Diamondbacks in the standings and never look back, becoming the first team in the majors to clinch their division this year.

The Dodgers’ roster is stocked with playmakers, but there are two players that will make Los Angeles one of the most intriguing teams in the postseason: Yasiel Puig and Clayton Kershaw.

Puig, the star rookie, the Cuban defector and the man with a cannon for an arm, has been better than advertised and worth every penny the Dodgers spent to acquire him last offseason. He is hitting .327 with an OBP of .397, and in his first year in the majors could put a major stamp on a playoff

series. But it’s on the other side of the ball where the Dodgers have as close to guaranteed playoff dominance as possible in Kershaw. By far the best pitcher in the majors this season, Kershaw has an ERA of just 1.88, a WHIP of 0.92 and an astronomical WAR of 7.6, and he will be given the ball to start the playoffs in hopes that he can get the Dodgers rolling.

The AL hunt Two years ago, this would have been one of the most thrilling Wild Card chases possible, with the Rays and Indians duking it out for the final spot in the playoffs. But with two Wild Card spots up for grabs, it’s Tampa Bay and Cleveland who look set for the play-in game, though Texas lurked just one game back as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Rays have been perched at the top of the Wild Card standings throughout the season with their usual blend of outstanding pitching, brilliant decision-making and timely hitting propelling them to see INSIDE MLB, page 11