Issuu

History on the Hill: Greek life’s fluctuating relationship with the university, student body see FEATURES / PAGE 3

Returning to teams, players-turned-coaches take on new role

Tufts’ homegrown indie band Guster reminisces on lauching a music career from campus see WEEKENDER / PAGE 4

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXII, NUMBER 60

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Friday, December 9, 2016

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White House aide David Simas calls for engagement, empathy

Dean of Fletcher School James Stavridis meets with Presidentelect Trump

by Kathleen Schmidt Executive News Editor

David Simas, special assistant to President Barack Obama and director of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, spoke to a group of about 25 people in Dowling Hall yesterday during the last of the semester’s Civic Life Lunch events sponsored by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. Dean of Tisch College Alan Solomont began the discussion by introducing Simon Rosenberg (LA ’85), founder of the New Democrat Network and member of the Tisch College Board of Advisors, who is also a friend and colleague of Simas. Rosenberg described Simas as a “rare creature” in Washington because of his ability to keep his colleagues grounded and remind them of the importance of public service when such work becomes particularly difficulty. “In a town where no one has enough time, no one can return phone calls or emails, where people get blown off all the time and made to feel small because you’re in the big White House, David [Simas has] done the exact opposite,”

by Joe Walsh News Editor

MATTHEW SCHREIBER / THE TUFTS DAILY

David Simas, assistant to the president and director of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, participates in a Q&A as part of Tisch College’s Civic Life Lunch Series. he said. “I mean, when you work with [Simas], you feel important, you feel big, you feel honored, you feel heard and listened to and it’s an incredibly rare skill … Barack Obama’s lucky to have him.” After thanking Solomont for his service to the country and Rosenberg for his help and friendship, Simas reflected

on the remaining 43 days of Obama’s presidency and all that had been accomplished over the previous eight years. “There was a tremendous amount of fear and anxiety that people were justifiably feeling, and into the breach see SIMAS, page 2

Tufts Democrats holds discussion on future of progressive movement by Joe Walsh and Tashwita Pruthi News Editor and Staff Writer

Disclaimer: Aneurin Canham-Clyne is a staff writer at the Daily. He was not involved in the production of this article. Tufts Democrats held a symposium entitled “The Future of the Left” to discuss why Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton did not win the 2016 election cycle and how progressives can become more successful in the future. The event took place in the mostly-full Varis Lecture Hall in Granoff Music Center on Thursday night. It opened with a panel discussion including representatives from Tufts Labor Coalition ( TLC), Tufts Climate Action ( TCA) and the Tufts chapter of Amnesty International. Senior Ben Kaplan, president of the Tufts Democrats, moderated the discussion. Sophomore Aneurin Canham-Clyne from TLC argued that the Democratic Party did not fare well because Clinton

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was treated by party elites as though she was entitled to be president. CanhamClyne’s was also critical about how little the Obama administration had achieved. He suggested that moving forward, the party should organize on a grassroots basis and develop leaders from within rather than rely on elites. “Anyone whose life became more precarious in the last eight years would have no reason to vote for the Democratic Party unless it offered them a radical, material vision for the improvement of their lives,” CanhamClyne said. Senior Shana Gallagher of TCA said that many politicians are more beholden to corporate interests than to voters, which has prevented important issues such as climate change from being discussed seriously. For that reason, she concluded that campaign finance reform is a crucial first step to making politicians more accountable to voters. “We’re not going to be able to make progress on any of our various social

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justice causes as long as democracy isn’t functioning the way it’s supposed to,” Gallagher said. Emma Plankey, a junior from the Tufts chapter of Amnesty International, agreed that progressives should work to combat conservative rhetoric, but she also urged for more open dialogue. She said that progressives need to listen to voters’ opinions, offer them a strong message and follow up with concrete actions. “I feel like the Obama administration said ‘yes, we hear you, we are concerned about your issues’ and then didn’t do anything,” Plankey said. “That created this sense of being heard and not cared about, which is almost worse than not being heard.” The panelists disagreed somewhat on how the progressive movement should improve its voter turnout. Plankey argued that the Democratic Party should avoid alienating centrist voters. In contrast, Canham-Clyne see DEMOCRATS, page 2

Admiral James Stavridis, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, met with President-elect Donald Trump yesterday at his office in Trump Tower in New York City, according to Fletcher School Public Relations Specialist Juli Hanscom. The meeting has fuelled speculation that Stavridis, who was previously the Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, is under consideration to be Trump’s secretary of state, according to Politico. In an interview with reporters outside of Trump Tower, Stavridis said that his meeting with Trump went well, but he did not comment on whether he is being vetted for the secretary of state job. “When I first heard there was a shortlist, I thought they were referring to a list of short people, which, as you see, I would definitely be on,” Stavridis said. “But in terms of any job, I’d say: ‘why don’t you talk to the folks upstairs [in Trump Tower].'” According to Stavridis, he and the president-elect had a constructive conversation about defense, foreign policy and national security. However, during the presidential campaign, Stavridis and Trump often disagreed. In June, Stavridis signed a letter calling for the United States to welcome more refugees to the country, whereas Trump has sharply criticized such proposals. Stavridis also wrote an article for Foreign Policy magazine in October urging the United States to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump has vowed to reject. Additionally, in a July interview with Bloomberg, Stavridis warned that the “bromance” between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could embolden Russia. This is not the first time that Stavridis has been the subject of political speculation. In July, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign reportedly considered Stavridis for Clinton’s running mate, according to the New York Times. In an interview on Wednesday with NBC’s The Today Show, Trump said that he will likely announce his choice for Secretary of state next week. He confirmed that he is considering several candidates for the position, including former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 WEEKENDER..........................4

COMICS.......................................6 SPORTS............................ BACK

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, December 9, 2016

T HE T UFTS D AILY Arin Kerstein Editor-in-Chief

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Special assistant to president discusses political, social polarization SIMAS

continued from front comes a senator from Illinois,” he said. “When I look back eight years later, by every single measure that we look at, the country is demonstrably better. And so when we leave on January 20, as the president said, with our backs straight and our heads held high, we will know that we did the job that we set out to do.” Though Simas was pleased with the progress made by Obama and where he has taken gotten the country, he expressed fears about the current political climate. He did not speak at length about the outcome of the election and President-elect Donald Trump, but rather about his observations of a pervasive rejection of facts and increased personal and social stratification as products of political division. “The way we talk about our politics and, frankly, the way we talk to each other is something I’m deeply concerned about and something that we’re going to be spending a great amount of time post-January 20 dealing with,” he said. “Civic engagement isn’t just an action to fill the day. It literally goes to whether or not a pluralistic democracy can function.” Simas explained that some of the polarization was due to technology and

social media allowing individuals to surround themselves with like-minded people and opinions and to rarely hear disagreements on their points of view. According to Simas, this has begun to jeopardize the idea of objectivity, which holds serious repercussions. “There was a focus group I saw a couple of weeks ago where I was depressed. Not because of what people were saying about the candidates but because … they didn’t believe a thing about anything that they were hearing in the news. There were no facts. There was no truth … and when nothing is true, everything is true,” he said. According to Simas, election rhetoric has exacerbated these problems. “The ability to see each other is becoming increasingly difficult … People are beginning to say things like, ‘I don’t even understand how they believe what they believe.’ And once you have that level of abstraction where it’s not your neighbor or fellow American and it becomes ‘the other,’ then the coarseness of our politics goes into a cycle [where] frankly, given the way elections run, those fissures are deepened,” he said. Simas repeatedly stressed personal connections and genuine listening as effective strategies to transcend the chasms that have grown between peo-

ple on a social level as a result of political divisions. In an interview with the Daily, Simas said that people increasingly define others purely based on whom they voted for or their political affiliations rather than taking in the person as a whole. This comes along with a presumption of someone’s motives for voting one way or another, he said, which engenders polarization and a lack of empathy into how people approach politics. “This is why listening, true listening, is so much more important, rather than simply dismissing someone as a Clinton voter or a Trump voter. The more important thing is the underlying ‘Why?’” he said. He continued by saying that a university setting is ideal for different points of view to be expressed and explored but that this necessitates a determination to listen and understand a different perspective. “It requires people to be able to withstand the voices of critique on the left or on the right and basically say, ‘This is important, I’m going to do this, I’m going to listen.’ It requires people, even though you believe deeply about something, for the purposes of the conversation… putting that … aside,” he said. “That’s a hard thing to do, but I do believe once that begins it’s infectious.”

Rosenberg praises Obama, critiques Clinton campaign DEMOCRATS

continued from front said that the focus should be on people who are currently not voting due to disillusionment and Gallagher urged the party to fight voter suppression. After the discussion, panelists took questions from members of the audience. The second part of the symposium was a keynote speech by Simon Rosenberg (LA ’85), founder of the New Democrat Network, member of the Tisch College Board of Trustees and former candidate for Democratic National Committee Chair. Rosenberg said that he did not share the same frustrations as the panel speakers, as the Democrats have won the popular vote in six out of the last seven presidential elections. “There are just more of us than them … there are more people that identify as Democrats than Republicans,” Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg argued that this election was not a rejection of the Democratic Party and that the situation was actually much more complicated. According to Rosenberg, Clinton lost the presidency because her campaign was poorly run. Rosenberg argued that Clinton did not campaign enough, and because she was off the trail for about 25 days during the last 10 weeks in the election, she was unable to build a direct connection to her supporters. “They blew this election,” he said. “The Hillary campaign screwed up. They misread what was happening on the ground.” He also disagreed with the panel speakers’ critical assessment of Obama’s presidency and said that the Democrats often do not give Obama enough credit. “Obama has not been anything but a good president,” he said.

Rosenberg argued that the challenges facing Obama when he came to office were the largest any president has had to deal with. He pointed out that since Obama has been in office, the unemployment rate has decreased to 4.6 percent, net incomes have been rising since 2013, the deficit has been halved, the stock market is at an alltime high and the crime rate is down. Rosenberg concluded his speech by insisting that, moving forward, the country has to be focused on the economy, security, political reform and policy renewal. He encouraged all students to view the glass half full rather than half empty, saying that there is still a path forward for the Democratic Party. “We are not dead yet,” he said. After the speech, Rosenberg took questions from members of the audience.

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Simon Rosenberg (LA ’85), president of the New Democrat Network, answers a question from an audience member at a Tufts Democrats panel event, “The Future of the Left,” on Dec. 8.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Features

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History on the Hill: Greek life at Tufts by Constantinos Angelakis Features Editor

The presence of Greek life at Tufts stems back almost to the foundation of the university. Zeta Psi was the first fraternity at Tufts; It started in 1855, three years after Tufts was founded, according to an 1864 Tuftonian from the Tufts Digital Library. Sororities were also founded early in Tufts history, with the first one, Alpha Delta Sigma, forming three years after Tufts went co-educational in 1892, according to Russell Miller’s “Light on the Hill,” a work from the university digital archives. Historian Charlie Trantanella (E ’89) is currently working on a book about Tufts’ history with student organizations and Greek life. Trantanella was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity during his time at Tufts. “When I joined … the oversight of the fraternities and sororities, in general, was less than it is today,” he said. “Each chapter acted as its own little entity. There was no coordination for things like rush week or worrying about if people had … a high enough grade point average to join a chapter.” Through his study of the archives and history of Tufts since its foundation, as well as from his time as a student, Trantanella said he has noticed that perceptions of Greek life on campus have changed significantly throughout Tufts’ history, sometimes just over the course of a few years. “Some years, there’s very little controversy and everybody seems to be getting along. And other years, there seems to be quite a lot of controversy, kind of what’s going on right now,” he said. “And there are calls for major, drastic changes within the system. A couple years ago, there was really nothing like this, and a couple years from now, it could be a completely different sentiment.” Trantanella said that these trends are partly related to media outlets’ coverage of Greek life-related news. After looking through old editions of the Tufts Weekly — the first student newspaper founded in 1895, which is now known as the Tufts Observer — he recalled that a change in the paper’s editorial staff could have a huge effect on the coverage of Greek life news. “There’s a semester where you don’t see anything, and then there’s a semester where just every editorial was antiGreek,” he said. “And then students leave for break, they come back, and you don’t hear anything for years.” Throughout Tufts’ history, these cycles have had some notable peaks and troughs. In 1853, a year after Tufts College was founded, two students from Harvard College approached a Tufts student to start a chapter of Zeta Psi, Trantanella said. Then, in 1856, a transfer student from Brown University introduced Theta Delta Chi, of which he had been a member at Brown. After Tufts went co-educational in 1892, the formation of sororities quickly followed. “By 1895, there were two sororities, and then a year later, there was a third,” Trantanella said. “It took the women a few years before they came in significant number[s].” In 1892, the first co-educational fraternity on campus, Heth Aleph Res, was formed by a handful of Universalist students at the Tufts College Divinity School. Trantanella wrote about this particular event in a fall 2015 article for Tufts Magazine, noting that these students seemed to be more committed to gender

equality because of their Universalist faith, a religion that has historically harbored progressive attitudes toward women. “It seems that by inviting their female classmates into their fraternity, the men had decided to practice what they would soon be preaching,” Trantanella wrote in the article. Nonetheless, the organization’s co-ed status was condemned in 1893 by the trustees, who had also opposed the acceptance of women at Tufts for years prior. Heth Aleph Res dissolved in 1904, and no other co-ed fraternity arrived on campus until ATO of Massachusetts was established at Tufts 70 years later. After World War II, fraternities and sororities came under closer scrutiny for their membership clauses and constitutions, which officially or through “gentlemen’s agreements” generally excluded black people, Jews, Asians and other religious and racial minorities. “There was a lot more scrutiny, especially in regard to their membership policies, because the [U.S.] army had just fought a war of tyranny against Adolf Hitler and the Empire of Japan,” Trantanella told the Daily. “And so democracy had triumphed, the good of the people had triumphed, and then we come back to campus and now all of a sudden we’re going to segregate everybody by race and religion. And a lot of the students especially responded against that. They wanted to see, ‘We worked together to win the war, why can’t we work together here at home.’” This conflict reached new heights in 1956, when two black students pledged Tufts’ Sigma Kappa sorority, and the sorority’s national body took away the group’s charter, according to Trantanella and “Light on the Hill.” In 1955, a faculty committee decided to take a stance on these provisions, establishing a “double standard” for newly-formed organizations, according to “Light on the Hill.” “Fraternities existing before 1955 that had restrictive provisions regarding race, religion

or national origin were allowed to remain undisturbed,” Miller wrote. “However, any established after 1955 were to be recognized only if no such restrictions existed.” At that point in time, Greek life largely operated outside of the university’s oversight. While faculty committees, student organizations and the Board of Trustees debated the university’s policies on policing discrimination clauses within Greek institutions, the conversations were largely tabled by the university. Throughout the 1960s, many Greek organizations went out of favor among students, partly because of continued racial and ethnic restrictions on memberships. In the 1970s, some organizations struggled financially due to low membership and interest. Despite this, some of the organizations persisted and reformed, bringing involvement back up in the 1980s. Black students and other minorities also began pledging at citywide chapters of historically black fraternities and sororities. Trantanella noted that the university became more involved with Greek organizations under the leadership of Former University President Jean Mayer. “The administration really stopped caring about fraternities … and then they [started] really to care about them again in the late 80s,” Trantanella said. Compared to other schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), Tufts was and still is an exception regarding its continued support for Greek life. “Mayer … came under a lot of pressure from NESCAC presidents to close down the Greek system,” Trantanella said. “And he was not a fan of fraternities, I can tell you that.” Trantanella said that fraternities were able to maintain their position after creating connections with the administration and better connecting to and integrating themselves into the campus community. Part of the difference between Tufts and other NESCAC schools that began to eliminate

Greek life at this time, he explained, is that many fraternities and sororities at Tufts live in university-owned houses. “[Mayer] helped really put [in] a lot of oversight,” Trantanella said. “He gave them the ultimatum. He said, ‘Either you clean up your act, or I will kick you out.’ But he gave them the chance to change, to toughen the resolve and be more of a positive influence on the community, rather than this separate entity that was doing its own thing and not always doing good things.” In recent years, Greek life at Tufts has grown, as have the university’s efforts to work more closely with Greek organizations, according to Judicial Affairs Administrator Mickey Toogood. As of spring 2016, approximately 24 percent of Tufts students were members of fraternities or sororities, compared to 13 percent in fall 2013. Toogood said that notable changes to the system in recent years include the revitalization of the Multicultural Greek Council and the addition of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority in fall 2013. He also pointed to the creation of the Greek Life Advising Team in fall 2015 as another major change. “[The Greek Life Advising Team] enhanced existing support, giving each chapter their own advisor on campus and facilitating closer partnerships between students and staff,” Toogood told the Daily in an email. Though the nature of disagreement over Greek life at Tufts has varied over time, the existence of disagreement on campus today is not a new phenomenon, Trantanella said. “Fraternities and sororities have certainly changed over the years. They’ve changed practices, they’ve changed things that they emphasize, but there’s always been animosity between those in the system and those not,” Trantanella said. “There’s always been calls for change for things that people don’t like about them. That’s been constant.”

COURTESY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS & ARCHIVES

Members of Heth Aleph Res fraternity pose for a photo in front of their house, which is now the Arts Haus, sometime between 1896 and 1897.

Friday, December 9, 2016

WEEKENDER

ZOE-RUTH ERWIN / NETTWERK

25 years into its career, Tufts’ Guster keeps on rocking Justin Krakoff

Executive Arts Editor

For most Tufts students, Guster needs no introduction. The indie rock band – consisting of Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner, Brian Rosenworcel and Luke Reynolds — came of age here on the Hill in 1991 and is now in the midst of celebrating its 25th anniversary. In honor of the occasion, Rosenworcel, the group’s drummer, sat down with the Daily to reflect on the group’s long history, beginning with its very own Tufts experience. “We met during [Tufts Wilderness Orientation], and I think we said we would jam some time. That actually took a while, but we formed a friendship,” Rosenworcel said. “[Miller] and [Gardner] lived in Houston [Hall] and Carmichael [Hall], and I lived downhill in South Hall [now Harleston Hall] during its inaugural year. So, I made a concerted effort to go uphill and insert myself and my bongos into the dorm jams when they started. They were both more musical, they had singing ability, they could play chords … But I was, like, the guy from downhill that kept insisting on showing up with his bongos, and that’s how we formed, in a dorm room. We didn’t need rehearsal space … to write songs together on our acoustic instrumentation.” It was out of these initial hangouts that the group really came together at Tufts. They played their first show at Lewis Hall right before winter break. The open mic night saw the group perform a mix of covers, which kicked off their transition to playing at campus parties, Hotung Café and the dining halls.

“From our perspective, we started with a real umbilical cord to Tufts. All of our following, our friends, were fellow Tufts students,” Rosenworcel said. “I remember the first time we headlined the Paradise Rock Club in April of 1995 … Tufts came out [in] droves.” Though Tufts brought Guster together, starting a band in college had its difficulties. Sacrifices had to be made in order to

get Guster off the ground, and Gardner, a vocalist and guitarist, ended up severing his ties with the Beelzebubs in order to fully devote his time to Guster. Without a major label, the group had to buy its own van in order to drive around the country and play shows, which was the beginning of the Guster brand. “We built it up very organically,”

Rosenworcel said. “You have four years to invest in building up our following … and on a grassroots level – that’s a great way to start a career. There was no real internet in the 90s … When we started, we were sending postcards to our fans, posting flyers on the telephone poles of Tufts. People were so sick of seeing [Guster] flyers on campus, because every time we had an off-campus show, we would promote the hell out of it at Tufts.” This special relationship with Tufts has remained untouched at its core, even as the group has grown in prominence. Indicative of this is the fact that the group has played Spring Fling twice, in 2006 and 2012, and each time it has felt like a sort of homecoming. That is not to say, however, that Guster itself hasn’t changed over the years, mainly due to the ever-changing nature of the music industry. “When you’re able to witness an industry for 25 years, you [have COURTESY ADAM KLEIN to] adapt to it, but , Jay Leno, dner Gar m Ada you’re able to have pia, Pisa Joe ber mem band er Left to right: form some perspective Leno show in 2003. on it,” Rosenworcel Ryan Miller and Brian Rosenworcel on The Jay said. “For us, we’ve been fortunate that

Friday, December 9, 2016 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY

W we haven’t really been at the mercy of the sinking industry because we never made any money from record sales. We always made our money touring … But, we’re a bit of a relic these days, because we’re a band that just goes on the bus and plays for our fans and our fans keep coming. Not a lot of bands do that anymore.” Guster’s commitment to its fans despite changes in the industry has enabled the group to grow stylistically without losing that bond with its supporters. The warm reception to the group’s last album, “Evermotion” (2015), symbolizes this trust, as the group embraced new-wave ambience and soft keyboard lines that are currently in vogue in the indie scene but still managed to sound like themselves. This experiment is just one chapter in Guster’s whirlwind of a music career and show its constant willingness to push itself musically. “We abandoned the dorm room instrumentation around 2002,” Rosenworcel said. “I started playing a drum kit instead of just hand drums and added a lot of keyboards and bass – things that didn’t used to be in our instrumentation. Suddenly, there was this feeling of being unshackled … As far as longevity goes, reinventing yourself is critical.” This drive has continually pushed Guster to grow, instead of remaining a nostalgia band as so many other

their music once more, something of a full circle moment — Guster’s relationship with its fans remains strong, a testament to its ability to carve its own success. Continuing in this vein, Guster is returning to the Paradise Rock Club for four shows this January, as the venue was the site of its big break after it won a Battle of the Bands there. With the club being the site of many personal memories for the band, it is also representative of the group’s own Tufts experience — still shaping their lives all these years later. In the end, Rosenworcel summed it up: “I found this thing where I was making music with my friends, and people were responding to it. That created within me and my bandmates a drive — we wanted that. You work for that once you discover it. For us, we were lucky to find that at 18 or 19 years old and dedicated ourselves to it. For a lot of people, whatever that is doesn’t come TAMMY LO VIA FLICKR around till a lot later. But if you do what you love, you won’t work a day in your life. There’s a truth to the fact that you’ll be more driven and work hard … to achieve something you’re passionate about.” had a degree of mainstream success, and Even though not all Tufts stuthat’s not what we’re really striving for. dents may become rock stars, these senBut we sense that there is a classic song timents hold true, asking all students or a classic album still in us. And it doesn’t to never settle and find their own niche [matter] how many years we’ve been at it, – whatever that may be. we could still hit it.” With the group making the decision to incorporate hand percussion back into

G us te r p os es fo r a p ro m ot io na l p ho to in 2 0 13 . groups out of the 90s have done. Rosenworcel said that aging has brought the group “groovy maturity,” ensuring one album never sounds like the other and the music never loses its spark. Rosenworcel elaborated upon this passion, stating, “Every time it comes time to make an album, we still feel like we have something to prove. We never really

Do It this weekend: Dec. 9-Dec. 12 Finals are looming, and there is just one day of classes left. Don’t miss these exciting events happening on campus that are sure to tide you over through Reading Period!

FRIDAY “Enchanted Presents: Time: What Is It?” Details: Stumble, bleary-eyed and weary, from Tisch into a whole new world for the fall show of your favorite Disney a cappella group. There will be a special guest performance from the Jumbo Jugglers. No tickets required. When and Where: 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Alumnae Lounge “Kiniwe” Details: The African Music and Dance Ensemble of the Department of Music will be led by Attah Poku in a performance of traditional music

and dance from Ghana that is sure to drum all finals-related stress out of your mind. There will be guest performances by Mohammed Alidu, the Agbekor Drum and Dance Society, S-Factor and Blackout. No tickets required. When and Where: 8 p.m., Distler Performance Hall “Happy Hollandaise: An Eggcellent Holiday Special!” Details: The reliably punny Institute Sketch Comedy group will do its best to make you laugh and forget all about those papers on which you are procrastinating. No tickets required. When and Where: 9:30 p.m., Barnum Hall, Room 008

“Tufts BEATs Presents: Boogie Knights: A Rhythm Symposium” Details: Stop banging your head against your desk and go watch the street percussion ensemble lay some beats in its fall show. No tickets required. When and Where: 9:30 p.m., Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center

SATURDAY “TDC Presents: American Horror Story Presents: 2016” Details: Cheer on your friends on stage during Tufts Dance Collective’s fall show. Tickets are required, but are sold out for the 9:30 p.m. show. When and Where: 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Cohen Auditorium

MONDAY “S-Factor Presents: It’s a Shame” Details: Bid farewell to the last day of classes with S-Factor’s fall show. The soulful serenaders will be joined by the Ladies of Essence and ENVY Tufts All-Female Step Team. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. No tickets required. When and Where: 8 p.m., Goddard Chapel “TBT Presents: The Summer of ’69” Details: Looking for something a little naughtier to relieve your finals stress? Look no further than the Tufts Burlesque Troupe’s fall show. Tickets are required and are sold out. When and Where: 9 p.m., Cohen Auditorium —Max Lalanne

THE TUFTS DAILY | Comics | Friday, December 9, 2016

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Friday, December 9, 2016 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Sports

Assistant coaches share experience, strong rapport from recent playing careers ASSISTANT COACHES

continued from back needs to take place [for] us, as we kind of already know the system, which is a huge advantage,” Sax said. “It’s personal to us — we love Tufts lacrosse, we love the program. It’s not just ‘it’s just coaching, it’s just my paycheck,’ it’s also our family. Tufts lacrosse is family to us, and we want to do everything to protect the success we built here. The guys know that we are family too, so that’s a huge advantage.” The same is true in soccer. Shapiro noted that as a result of the short preseason and offseason to coach players in NESCAC, having coaches who are familiar with the system allows for valuable individualized training. “When your staff can be diverse enough to have specialization in different areas of the team, there’s a great ability to actually coach one-on-one, talk about specific situations,” Shapiro said. “I think [Brown] has brought a lot to our outside midfielder play because of his intimate knowledge of our system and, frankly, his ability to be successful in it.” Brown explained that having a former player around helps foster a sense of trust and unity within the program, particularly because they have fought similar battles and shared similar experiences as current players. “I think [having a former player on the coaching staff] helps because I’m familiar with them, [and] I hope I’ve earned their respect in the past few years playing with them,” Brown said. “I think it helps me to have been there … they can look to me and say, ‘okay, he was running suicides at 7 a.m. in the offseason with me, he was coming in for preseason and working hard.’ Having been there and done that has definitely helped me earn and keep

the respect of the guys I played with.” Brown, Uppgren and Sax were all part of national championship-winning teams. Men’s soccer won the 2014 NCAA Championship and men’s lacrosse took home consecutive NCAA titles in 2014 and 2015. Men’s soccer also won the national championship this season, so Brown joins the exclusive club of individuals who have won national titles as both player and coach. The current players can trust their assistant coaches to embody and help maintain Tufts’ winning culture after having played at the highest levels of Div. III competition as Jumbos themselves. “I think it’s more useful than just having the coaches themselves,” lacrosse sophomore midfielder James Firpo said. “It’s better for all the kids who had them here as teammates, because the bond between us is now stronger than it could have ever been. I think it’s an incredible dynamic to have them as our coaches, because they know the best for this program, everything it’s about, everything it could possibly be about.” Nevertheless, there are some new professional boundaries that need to be drawn for the players-turned-coaches to effectively do their jobs. “I think if both parties want to have a successful player-coach relationship, it has to be a different dynamic,” Sax said. “That’s not to say we’re not ourselves, [because] we certainly are, but we can’t necessarily have the same relationships we had with players. Do we talk about things outside lacrosse? Absolutely. Do we have meaningful relationships with those guys and connect on a personal level? Absolutely. But we can’t have that dynamic [of hanging out with the guys in the off-campus house on the weekends] anymore. Obviously

the team and pursuing national championships is the number one goal of the program.” The leadership positions that these former players held helps smoothen the transition from peers into a more professional relationship. “What helps that is that both of us had pretty significant leadership roles as players in our time,” Sax said. “You keep all that leadership and get rid of the things that wouldn’t be appropriate for a player-coach leadership.” Shapiro recognizes the challenges that come with the shifting dynamic coming with the new position. “I think the biggest challenge is there for the young coach, having to establish a line of ‘our relationship isn’t what it was, now that I’m working with as a staff’,” Shapiro said. “I think [Brown] trying to set those boundaries with friends could be a challenge, but [Brown’s] always been a guy whose taken his soccer very seriously, and that if he was going to do [coaching], he was going to do it right.” Even so, Shapiro added that the value of having an former player on the coaching staff can help some of the younger players transition into their college experience. “[Brown’s] still someone who’s really approachable, someone who they can come speak to about their college experience,” Shapiro said. “It’s important in a program to have guys who are approachable and very aware of what the current player is dealing with and help them navigate.” First-year Zach Trevorrow was grateful for the technical and emotional support that Brown has offered this year. “I think Connor has been a really big mentor for me this season, kind of in between as

a coach and a player,” Trevorrow said. “He understood what it’s like to be a player, having only graduated last year, so it was really nice to have someone that could guide us through our first year and the new challenges that playing college soccer for the first time would bring.” Trevorrow and Brown both play outside midfielder and both wore the same jersey number, 14. Brown’s familiarity with the position put him in a strong position to help Trevorrow develop. “He could guide me in a way that was unique to him, [and] I learned a lot of what I did this year from him,” Trevorrow said. “He knows what it’s like to start out, what level is expected of a left winger and the kind of situations we are put in. He’s coached me a lot in terms of my one-onone play, how to be relaxed on the ball, tactical ways I could change up my game. The individual help I’ve gotten from him, it’s something I really appreciated.” Tufts’ leading goalscorer this season, senior forward Gaston Becherano, said that Brown helped galvanize the team in the right direction in its recent championship victory in Salem, Va. “I roomed with [Brown] on the trip [to Nationals], and I kept speaking about how cool the experience was,” Becherano said. “He pulled me aside and said, ‘yeah, it’s a cool experience, but I still want you to focus on the goal. Enjoy it, but you’re coming here on a business trip.’ He actually helps people to get in the right mentality for the game, and I think that’s something only he can do, because he’s been a player and people have seen him as a friend and respect him.”

Hall Closing Reminders Important Dates Classes End: Monday, 12/12 Reading Days: 12/13 & 12/14 Finals Begin: Thursday, 12/15 Finals End: Thursday, 12/22

Residence Halls CLOSE: Friday, 12/23 promptly at 12pm

Winter Recess Closing Checklist  CLOSE and LOCK all windows,

pull shades down  All electronics are turned off

and unplugged  Defrost/unplug any fridges  Take out all trash

Shhh! Continuous Quiet Hours Quiet Hours begin on Monday, 12/12 at 11pm and �on�nue through Thursday, 12/22� �lease be respe��ul of your fellow residents during this �ru�ial �me of year�

 Turn heat to #1 setting  If you have fish, take them

home  Take any items home you may

need over the break. The halls are locked and alarmed during this period  If you live in an apartment, please clean the kitchen and wash any dishes. You don’t

If you are leaving at the end of the semester and not returning: You will need to make arrangements with residential staff to properly check out of your room. You will also need to return your keys to one of the following areas: Residential Facilities (520 Boston Ave) 9a-5p Monday - Friday Campus Police Key Drop Box (419 Boston Ave) open 24 hours

You will be charged for any keys NOT returned at the end of the semester!

Looking ahead… Halls re-open at 9:00am on Mon. January 16, 2017 Residence Hall Spring Closings Non-graduating students Saturday, May 13, 2017 Graduating Seniors Monday, May 22, 2017

�he ��ce of �esiden�al �ife & �earnin� would like to wish all of you the best of luck on your ﬁnal exams and a safe & happy holiday season! �ues�ons� �lease call us at �-3248 or email reslife�tu�s�edu

See you in 2017!

8 tuftsdaily.com

Sports

Friday, December 9, 2016

MEN'S ICE HOCKEY

Tufts duels Williams to draw, outscores Middlebury 5-3 by Phillip Goldberg

Executive Sports Editor

Tufts hit the road last weekend for a doubleheader against NESCAC rivals Williams and Middlebury. The Jumbos never trailed in the 3-3 tie against the Ephs on Friday and led the Panthers from start to finish in a 5-3 win on Saturday. Tufts’ overall record is now 5-1-1 and the team ranks second in the NESCAC behind No. 12 Colby. The wins were a drastic improvement compared to this point last season when Tufts dropped home games to Williams and Middlebury and carried a 1-4-2 record. “Last year was kind of a transition season with coach [Pat] Norton[’s], first season under his belt,” senior tri-captain defenseman Sean Kavanagh said. “That was kind of like a culture shift, we were trying to focus on changing the culture of the team. Now this year, once we’ve already accomplished that, we can focus more on the Xs and Os and … not have to worry about any administrative tasks or worry about how to get the jerseys. Right now we are just focusing on hockey and the results have shown.” The Jumbos killed an early hooking penalty against the Panthers before going up 1-0 just 6:45 into the first period, as junior forward Oliver Takacsi-Nagy scored his first goal of the season. Takacsi-Nagy collected the rebound from senior forward / defenseman Matt Pugh’s shot and slipped it past first-year goalkeeper Brian Ketchabaw. Senior forward Greg Conrad answered right back for Middlebury just a minute and half later, redirecting senior tri-captain defenseman Andrew Neary’s slap-shot from above the left face-off circle into the net. Following Conrad’s goal, sophomore forward Clay Berger won a face-off in the offensive zone and netted his second goal of the season on the same possession with 12:08 gone by in the first period. Tufts led the contest 2-1 entering the second period and Kavanagh extended the lead to 3-1 with his first score of the season. During a five-on-three power play, Kavanagh fired a slap-shot from above the left circle into the bottom right corner of the net. It was the only goal of the period despite Tufts controlling the puck and nearly doubling Middlebury’s shot attempts 13-7. Kavanagh added a second five-onthree power play goal in the third period on an assist from junior forward Brian Brown.

Senior goalkeeper Mason Pulde praised Kavanagh’s performance, adding that it was not unique to this weekend. “It may seem just because he had two goals this weekend against [Middlebury] that he played especially well, but he’s always one of the most dominant guys on the ice whether it shows up in the box score or not,” he said. First-year forward Tyler Scroggins netted Tufts’ final goal of the game with just under 14 minutes to go. Down 5-1, the game was all but over for the Panthers, though they added two points before the final buzzer, including a second score from Conrad, to finish at 5-3. Middlebury pulled its goalie and Tufts committed a late penalty, causing a six-onfour situation, which Tufts was able to kill but still frustrated Norton. “For any team, six on four feels nerve wracking,” Norton said. “I never felt like we were in jeopardy of losing the game, but a game that we were in complete control of, we made a little more difficult for ourselves and we’ve got to get better there.” Friday’s contest against Williams was more tightly contested than the Middlebury game and neither team gained enough of an edge in the first period to score. Brown got the best of sophomore goalkeeper Michael Pinios during a power play early in the second period to put Tufts on the scoreboard first. Firstyear forward Blake McIntyre’s second goal of the season at 12:29 into the second period stretched Tufts’ lead to 2-0. Senior forwards Pat Lackey and tri-captain Mike Leary assisted on McIntyre’s score. Williams answered back three minutes later in the second period and struck first in the third period, tying the contest up at 2-2 with 14 minutes to play. A game that seemed in the hands of the Jumbos was suddenly up in the air. Brown, Tufts’ leading scorer with five goals and five assists thus far in the season, bailed his team out by converting on a power play with 10:43 gone. Scroggins assisted on the play. “Brownie worked really hard this summer, he got himself into fantastic shape,” Norton said about Brown’s performance. “He’s shooting the puck which has been helpful. There were times last year where I’m not sure the [opposing] goalie actually needed to be in the net when Brownie was out on the ice because he was going to pass it or stick handle it out the door, but this year he’s really played hard every single game.” However, keeping the Ephs — last season’s NESCAC regular season champions

EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior tri-captain defenseman Sean Kavanagh skates with the puck in the home opener against the Trinity Bantams on Nov. 18. — down is no easy feat and junior forward Colby Cretella converted the Eph’s only power play goal of the contest to tie the game at 3-3. Even overtime could not decide a winner, as neither team scored in the extra period. “We kind of gave a point away at Williams,” Kavanagh said. “Last year, once they tied it up, we might have blown that game and ended up losing it, but this year we have a better mentality and we’ve been winning third periods so we were able to at least get the tie and everyone knows that a tie at Williams is a pretty good weekend.” The Ephs outshot the Jumbos in every period, finishing with 43 attempts to the Jumbos’ 30. Tufts was more successful on power plays, converting two of five attempts to William’s sole conversion on the same number of tries. Tufts scored eight goals over the weekend and met Norton’s goal of scoring at least three times per game. “Last year I took a stat … and I just threw out there, where would we be if we had three goals in every game?” Norton said. “The difference of a 10-10-6 record with a … let’s say .7 differential of a goal, we would have been 15-4-5 with just one more goal per game. My belief is, with our team defense and with the solid goaltending of Mason [Pulde] and [junior] Nik [Nugnes], if we get three or more goals every game we give ourselves an opportunity to win every game and certainly get points out of every game.”

Pulde added that this three goal target also makes playing goalie easier. “Anytime your team can put up three or more goals, that just takes a load off for the goalie,” Pulde said. “Going into the game, when you know your teammates are going to put up a certain number of points, there’s just a lot less pressure on you so it’s just a lot easier to do your job. That said, I go into every game expecting to have a shutout ... but it’s a relief to know that if I make a mistake or two, they’re there to pick me up, which they did this weekend.” Pulde, who usually switches off games with Nugnes, protected the net in both contests this weekend. Both match-ups were emotional for Pulde, who transferred to Tufts from Middlebury after his first year and who grew up watching his older brother Marc Pulde play ice hockey at Williams. “There [was] a lot of emotion when I played both those teams because … growing up I’d been to that Williams rink so many times to watch my brother play and Middlebury … I wasn’t on the team there my freshman year so there’s almost a revenge aspect going into that weekend every time we play. Obviously I want to win every game and I’m excited to win every game, but there’s a little added incentive on the Williams [and] Middlebury games.” Tufts hosts Bowdoin (4-4) tonight at 7 p.m. in the Malden Valley Forum before taking on current NESCAC leader Colby (5-1) at home on Saturday at 4 p.m. Colby and Tufts are currently undefeated in the NESCAC at 4-0-0 and 3-0-1, respectively.

ASSISTANT COACHES

From player to coach: Connor Brown, John Uppgren, Jon Sax by Yuan Jun Chee Sports Editor

This is the second part in a two-part series featuring former Jumbo athletes who have moved on to coaching careers. Tufts athletics has recently experienced widespread success across sports, and a huge reason for that is the series of former players trading their spots on the roster for new positions on their respective teams as coaching staff after graduation. The first part of this series covered women’s tennis assistant coach Samantha Gann and women’s basketball assistant coach Kate Barnosky. This installment tells the stories of men’s soccer assistant coach Connor Brown (E ’16) and men’s lacrosse assistant coaches John Uppgren (LA ’16) and Jon Sax (LA ’16).

Brown knew from the moment he graduated that there was no way Tufts soccer would not be part of his life moving forward. “To be honest, Tufts soccer has been my family here for the past four years,” Brown said. “The second I found out I was still going to be here, I started talking to coach [Josh] Shapiro about being on board. I didn’t really know what role I was going to have, but I knew I wanted to be part of this team, be part of Tufts soccer.” Once Shapiro learned that his former tri-captain was staying at Tufts to further his studies in structural engineering, he did not hesitate to offer Brown a position on his coaching staff. Brown has so far been involved in a variety of tasks in his new role, including preparing scouting reports, leading practices focused on crossing and shooting in smaller

numbers and coaching the wide midfielders when the game is underway. “He’s a knowledgeable soccer player, he’s tactically very adept, he always had a good relationship with younger players in the team, he’s incredibly passionate about Tufts soccer,” Shapiro said. “Those principles made me feel like he’d have a great influence and he’s been an excellent positive mentor, just someone to look at and talk to for young wingers who frankly need some guidance, and he’s been a big reason that they’ve improved as the season’s gone on, a big part of our success.” Uppgren and Sax, both newly appointed as assistant coaches to the Tufts men’s lacrosse team this year, feel the same way about the lacrosse team that Brown does about the soccer team. The lacrosse team has a tradition of Tufts players going on to be coaches at Tufts,

according to Uppgren. That helped Uppgren and Sax make up their minds about joining the coaching staff. “We’ve had a great tradition of Tufts players being coaches at Tufts, so that was something that sparked my interest early,” Uppgren said. “It seemed like a great way to stay involved in the program and the game itself, so when the staff cleared out this summer, it seemed like a great way to start, and there’s no place I’d rather be at, so everything lined up.” According to Sax, an added benefit is that former players are familiar with the program, which allows them to work better with the team in general. “We play a very unique style. There’s no indoctrination or reordering of thinking that see ASSISTANT COACHES, page 7