#OscarsSoWhite for a second year in a row as Academy favors white actors and actresses in nominations see ARTS AND LIVING / PAGE 6
Women’s Basketball returns with eight game win streak
Green Line Extension project faces unclear future, political debate over funding see FEATURES / PAGE 4
SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE
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VOLUME LXXI, NUMBER 1
Thursday, January 21, 2016
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
University completes six-month restoration of Memorial Steps by Daniel Nelson
Contributing Writer
After months of being closed off to the Tufts community, the Memorial Steps reopened in December, bringing to an end to the university’s six-month construction effort to preserve the campus landmark. The steps, also known as the Memorial Stairs, were built in the 1920s and designed as a tribute to Tufts alumni who died serving in the Armed Forces of the United States, according to an April 2015 article in Tufts Now. Raymond Santangelo, the senior manager of project administration, said the steps have begun showing signs of age in recent years. According to an an April 16 article in the Tufts Daily, prior to the recently completed renovations, the steps had not received extensive maintenance in over 15 years. “The harsh winter last year really put [the stairs] over the edge,” Santangelo told the Daily in an email. He explained that the snow melt pellets used to combat the blizzards of the 2014-2015 school year were a leading factor in the stairs’ degradation. According to Santangelo, the melting snow drifts on the stairs last spring caused extensive damage to the exposed concrete steps. The structure’s safety was in question, prompting the university to pursue a more permanent solution to sustaining the stairs, he said. “Granite has replaced concrete on all of the landings,” Timothy D. Smith, the project’s architect, told the Daily in an email. According to Santangelo, the new granite surface is more resistant than concrete to erosion from snow melt pellets, and should make the restored stairs better equipped to withstand Boston’s winters. He explained that snow melt pellets may no longer be necessary throughout the winter season. “The new stairs and landings have a snow melt system under them that is fed by hot water from a manifold [chamber] in Miner Hall,” he said. “This will minimize, if not eliminate, the need for snow melt pellets.” see MEMORIAL STEPS, page 2
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Tufts to acquire School of the Museum of Fine Arts by Sophie Lehrenbaum News Editor
Following several months of discussions, Tufts announced that the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA) is due to become a part of Tufts University by June 30, 2016 pending final approval, in a Dec. 22 statement. According to the statement, written by University President Anthony Monaco and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser, the two institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding, which projects a plan for the SMFA’s transition under the Tufts umbrella. While the plan has received initial approval from both bodies’ Boards of Trustees, the agreement still requires final approval after further study and review, according to an article about the acquisition in Tufts Now. If this final approval is granted, the transition will begin over the summer. Tufts and the SMFA have maintained a close partnership since 1944 when plans to create a dual-de-
gree program between the two schools began, according to the Tufts Now article. This program has allowed students to receive degrees from both institutions in a five-year program. The partnership between the two schools has also allowed students from both institutions to attend classes at both schools, Monaco and Glaser explained in the statement. From a logistical standpoint, both Glaser and Sarah McKinnon, the senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of the SMFA, said that the finer points of the acquisition remain to be ironed out in the coming months. Both added that the process will be complex. “There are a huge number of details to be worked out and they lay in all kinds of areas–admissions and financial aid, faculty affairs, human resources, information technology, student affairs, student services, space planning, operations curriculum, etc.,” Glaser said. McKinnon explained that negotiating teams representing both schools
will be entering into a series of discussions to address some of the loose ends. These talks will likely culminate in a March 1 signing of a second, revised document on the acquisition, she said. The merger will bring about several changes for SMFA students, according to McKinnon. New Bachelor of Fine Arts, Masters of Fine Arts and dual-degree students are slated to enroll in classes at the SMFA as members of the Tufts School of Arts and Sciences beginning Fall 2017. “There will still be studio classes at The Fenway and academic classes at Tufts—both will be expanding,” McKinnon said. “There will be more elective options for Tufts students … [and] more non-curricular opportunities for SMFA students too. Eventually we will be planning some new degree programs.” McKinnon explained that part of the motivation for the merger was the allure of combining a one-of-a-kind see SMFA , page 2
COURTESY THE SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
The SMFA is a fine arts school that offers a dual-degree program with Tufts. During winter break, Tufts and the SMFA announced initial approval for a merger of the two institutions.
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, January 21, 2016
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T HE T UFTS D AILY Sarah Zheng Editor-in-Chief
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Mengqi Sun Nicholas Golden Managing Editors Nicholas Pfosi Associate Editor Arin Kerstein Executive News Editor Marianna Athanassiou News Editors Isha Fahad Abby Feldman Melissa Kain Sophie Lehrenbaum Safiya Nanji Emma Steiner Roy Yang Ariel Barbieri-Aghib Assistant News Editors Kyle Blacklock Gil Jacobson Robert Katz Liam Knox Catherine Perloff Vibhav Prakasam Hannah Uebele John “Joe” Walsh Kendall Todd Executive Features Editor Nicole Brooks Features Editors Nina Joung Jake Taber Diane Alexander Assistant Features Editors Constantinos Angelakis Emily Cheng Catherine E. Perloff Emma R. Rosenthal John Gallagher Executive Arts Editor Lancy Downs Arts Editors Justin Krakoff Josh Podolsky Jonah Allon Assistant Arts Editors Cassidy Olsen Eran Sabaner Hannah Hoang Erin Sifre Dorie Campbell Eva Kahan Emily Karl Ty Enos Abigail Feldman Shannon Geary Allison Merola Ian Clarke Steven Honig Anita Ramaswamy Noah Weinflash
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Tufts and SMFA reach first steps in acquisition agreement SMFA
continued from page 1 art school with a major research university. Glaser echoed these sentiments, stating that the acquisition has the potential to create a unique opportunity for students interested in fine arts. “We had the opportunity to obtain the SMFA and it was an attractive opportunity to us for a variety of reasons,” Glaser said in an email to the Daily. “We believe that the new SMFA at Tufts, geographically and programmatically [sic] connected to a great art museum but embedded in a major research university, will be a very distinctive school of fine arts, perhaps one of a kind.”
McKinnon said that the acquisition was based on the mutual desires of Tufts, the SMFA and the MFA to combine resources and expand student opportunities. She explained that prior to the merger, the SMFA went through a process to become fully accredited by National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and was in candidacy for accreditation with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the school’s respective national and regional accreditors. This independent accreditation meant that the SMFA gave their whole degree at their school, including both studio and academic courses, she said. McKinnon explained that following the merger, it is “not clear if we will do something different, but we will be accredited under the Tufts umbrella.” Maureen Hilton, a fifth-year dual degree student, said she thinks that the SMFA may have been motivated to complete this merger for greater financial security. During her five years in the dual-degree program, she said that the SMFA has been demonstrating signs of instability and has been struggling to attract enough applicants. Hilton said she believes that joining Tufts was a last practical recourse for the SMFA.
“The SMFA has been struggling for years to be made financially viable, and there have been questionable decisions made along the way,” Hilton said. However, McKinnon said that the merger decision was not about financial or organizational struggles on the SMFA’s part. “SMFA has a fine staff organization and faculty,” she told the Daily in an email. Though the implications of the acquisition will not impact Hilton directly, since she will have earned her degree before the agreement would become effective, she sees the potential for the merger to benefit students and allow students who take classes at the SMFA more overall flexibility. However, Hilton said she believes the merger might not advance the SMFA in the long term as much as it will benefit Tufts. “I think this takeover is a beneficial move for Tufts, but may be a death sentence for the SMFA,” Hilton said. “Tufts is gaining a huge resource … they can use to have a true art department. Tufts currently only has a single room … as their studio space, but now they can tout the entire SMFA as available to potential students.” However, McKinnon said that the opposite is true for SMFA’s future. She explained that based on her understanding, the merger may lead to greater popularity for the dual degree program, an increased likelihood of a fine arts major at Tufts and an increase in the availability of studio art courses at Tufts. Following the merger, she explained that there will be expanded opportunities for students on both campuses, including more studio art offerings on the Medford/Somerville campus and more transportation opportunities between the schools. She also added that the SMFA will likely increase admission to its program, since in recent years, there has been growing interest in the Museum school’s programs.
Hilton also noted that while Tufts is gaining a brand-name art program and a cluster of resources, the SMFA will likely have to increase tuition for its students and shift admissions requirements to match Tufts’ standards. According to the SMFA and Tufts websites, the Museum school currently charges $39,928 annually for its undergraduate tuition and the Tufts undergraduate degree tuition is $48,520 annually. McKinnon said that post-merger SMFA tuition still needs to be set, but that it will “likely eventually line up with Tufts — though there will also be more financial aid opportunity.” Hilton added that she is also worried that under the Tufts umbrella, the SMFA will no longer attract art students like those currently studying at SMFA. “An art department at a liberal arts university is not the same as an art school environment,” she said. “Tufts and the SMFA have vastly different student bodies and… one of the greatest benefits to the dual degree program was being able to be a part of both of these worlds: the academic-focused and the artistic focused.” However, McKinnon said that while it is hard to say whether or not there will be fewer purely art students at SMFA, the school “will still offer a BFA and an MFA” and eventually plans to “develop new programs in curatorial and conservation studies – these we think will appeal to art students. Glaser said he believes that integrating the SMFA into Tufts will enrich both academic communities. “It will create many educational opportunities for students (and research opportunities for faculty) that weren’t really possible before,” he said. “We’re very excited about deepening our relationship with the Museum of Fine Arts. It’s one of the country’s most important art museums and it’s a real point of pride that we will be in partnership with them.”
Memorial Steps renovation addresses snow, foot erosion MEMORIAL STEPS
continued from page 1 Rainfall-related issues have also been addressed in the restoration, Santangelo said. The stairs now feature a complex drainage system that directs water into holding tanks embedded in the hillsides, he said. Smith explained that from a passersby’s perspective, the Memorial Steps appear to have undergone minimal changes. He said that the most significant visual difference is in the staircase’s length, since the steps now connect to the Upper Campus Road. There are also two new gardens flanking the top section of the stairs. Renovations have also addressed foot traffic erosion to the steps, according to Smith. The old Memorial Steps were embedded with metal inserts and these have now been replaced with laser-engraved inscriptions, he said. Smith said that renovation efforts also led to changes to the memorial aspect of the stairs. He explained that the new Memorial Steps features two separate plaques to recognize World War II and the Korean War
respectively. Before the renovations, the conflicts shared a single commemorative plaque. “A new plaque was also added for the Mideast wars,” Smith said. First-year Max Lalanne said the steps
are an important part of campus as a memorial and for students to navigate daily between classes. “The Memorial Steps are an iconic and particularly thoughtful part of our campus,” he said.
ALEX KNAPP / TUFTS DAILY
Construction on the renovated Memorial Steps was completed. A new plaque to memorialize the wars in the Middle East as well as infrastructure changes to help melt ice were added.
Thursday, January 21, 2016 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY
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Fletcher Dean Emeritus and former U.S. ambassador dies at 76 by Gil Jacobson
Contributing Writer
Stephen W. Bosworth, dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, passed away from pancreatic cancer at his Boston home on Jan. 4. He was 76 years old. Bosworth served as the Dean of the Fletcher School from 2001 to 2013 and a U.S. ambassador three times, to Tunisia, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea, according to his obituary in the Washington Post on Jan. 6. According to Admiral James Stavridis USN, the current Fletcher dean, Bosworth had extensive influence on the Fletcher School. “Dean and Ambassador Bosworth was an extraordinary figure,” Stavridis told the Daily in an email. “He led the charge to increase the number of students in the school as well as building the size of our executive education program. He will always be remembered as one of the towering figures of the Fletcher School.” During Bosworth’s tenure as the Fletcher Dean, he expanded the number of Fletcher staff members, maintained the school’s financial success during an unpredictable economy and administered the creation of new degree programs, which had a major impact on increasing the school’s “teaching, research and global outreach,” according to a Jan. 8 story from Tufts Now. Fletcher Executive Associate Dean Gerard Sheehan also credited Bosworth with expanding classes and programs at Fletcher. “During his deanship, the school launched both the [Master of International Business] and [Master of Laws in International Law] degree programs, established our Institute for Business in the Global Context
[and] raised funds for our Board [of Advisors] Scholarships, now named the Bosworth Scholarships,” Sheehan wrote to the Daily in an email. “The school also added a second iteration of our combined residency-distance learning program (GMAP).” Beyond his role at the Fletcher School, Bosworth held various roles in the international community. According to the Tufts Now story, he served as the Special Representative for North Korea Policy under President Obama for three years while at Tufts. The Washington Post obituary describes Bosworth as having had the rare experience of being an outsider in the Korean Peninsula with direct experience with the Communist country. The obituary added that in 2015, Bosworth discussed resuming denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea with a North Korean officeholder. Bosworth was awarded Diplomat of the Year in 1987 from the American Academy of Diplomacy. Most recently, he had been a senior fellow at the Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and the chair of the Korean Institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. “At the Belfer Center, Steve was the proverbial kid in the candy store,” Belfer Center Director Graham Allison told the Daily in an email. “Never one to rest on his considerable laurels or hide in his office, he spent much of his time here engaged with students. It says a lot about Steve’s character and generosity that he personally invested so much time this past year in helping one of our youngest fellows hone an important paper on the Korean Peninsula.”
WIKIMEDIA COMMON
Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, speaks with the press outside the United States Mission October 25, 2011 following October 24-25 talks between the United States and North Korea. AccordingtoaJan.6WashingtonPosttribute to Bosworth written by Fletcher International Politics Professor Daniel Drezner, Bosworth’s work as the U.S. Department of State Director of Policy Planning heavily influenced Drezner’s book, “Avoiding Trivia.” Drezner said that Bosworth’s ability to remain forbearing in situations aided him as the Fletcher Dean and in his other roles. University President Anthony Monaco noted that Bosworth used his experiences to build up connections between the Fletcher School and international networks.
“He recognized that an international school like Fletcher is strengthened by perspectives from many people and places, and so he established regional advisory groups around the globe that have helped to more fully engage Fletcher’s extensive network of alumni and friends,” Monaco wrote in an email statement to the Tufts community on Jan. 6. According to the Washington Post obituary, Bosworth is survived by his wife Christine Holmes, two children from his first marriage, two stepchildren, two brothers and 10 grandchildren.
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Thursday, January 21, 2016
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A green line train at St. Mary’s street in the Fenway area on May, 9, 2011.
Green Line Extension project under review until May, Somerville may be asked to pitch in by Jake Taber
Features Editor
This article is the first of two parts. The MBTA’s proposed Green Line Extension project (GLX), which would string light rail from a rebuilt Lechmere station up through six new stops in Cambridge, Somerville, and Medford – terminating at Tufts, at a stop behind Dowling hall – is being reconsidered in the wake of estimates that projected cost overruns of up to $1 billion. Earlier this month, after a fall of cancellations and doubts about GLX’s future, MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola announced a rough schedule for the project’s redesign: on April 7, the T plans to present new designs and budget estimates; on May 11, the T will produce a new financing plan, according to a Jan. 11 Boston.com story. No details on specific changes have been shared, though cancellation of the entire project technically remains on the table, according to a Dec. 9, 2015 Boston. com story. The MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board (FCMB), established this summer by the Baker administration, voted in early December to take over administration of the project from MBTA staff for at least 90 days, a Dec. 9, 2015 Globe story said. After that vote was taken, the T officials announced that four contractors would be dropped from the GLX project. These included White-Skanska-Kiewit, the consortium that had been tapped to oversee multiple phases of the project using
a controversial “construction manager/ general contractor” procurement method that, some argue, was a factor in the ballooning of estimates, according to the Dec. 9 Boston.com story. A few days after the contractors were dropped, the FCMB and the board of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) jointly passed a resolution that opined that the GLX could proceed only subject to a few key conditions: costs must be “substantially” reduced through project redesign, a different procurement strategy must be used and the project must come under new management. The resolution also states that funds beyond the nearly billion dollars approved by the MassDOT board – and the billion awarded to the project by the federal government – must come from other sources. Private developers, the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization or the municipalities along the GLX corridor, Cambridge, Somerville and Medford, could end up being asked to front part of the bill if project redesign can’t wrangle costs back within original estimates.
A long time coming
“Although the bulk of the [design and construction] activity that we would often think of has happened since around 2007, you can find historic documents that talk about the Green Line [extension] literally as far back as 1945,” Brad Rawson (AG ’12), director of Transportation and Infrastructure at the city of Somerville, said.
The Green Line has been in the works for decades and has been a stated commitment on the part of the state since 1990. That year, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), one of Massachusetts’ most influential environmental lobbyists, forced the Commonwealth to commit to construction by threatening a lawsuit based on the project’s contribution to federal clean air act compliance, the Jan. 11 Boston.com story reported. Route 93 and the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T), known unofficially as the Big Dig, both put high localized pollution burdens on Somerville due to exhaust from increased traffic within the city, according to a statement from the Conservation Law Foundation. Tufts researchers have since found evidence that these pollutants can spell health problems for residents living close to highways, according to a March 24, 2015 Daily article. To avoid a lawsuit, the state approved the GLX in order to decrease car traffic and, thereby, pollutants. It took yet another lawsuit by CLF, which concluded in 2004, to keep the extension moving forward. “The T was mandated because this section of Somerville does not meet the EPA standards,” Somerville Ward 7 Alderman Katjana Ballantyne said. “[Along with Route 93], Somerville was handling the redirection of the traffic and the burden of the Big Dig.” Rawson further explained the role of the GLX in this lawsuit as a pollution reduction measure. “The T will essentially prevent thousands of vehicles from going in and out of
town and allow people to have fewer vehicles on the road,” Rawson said. “That was basically what the lawsuit is all about.”
Pushback in Somerville
However, an MBTA report released on Friday, Jan. 15, revealed that they, along with the firm hired to oversee the construction of the GLX, ignored multiple signs that costs would eventually run much higher than earlier estimates, according to a Jan. 16 Globe story. Last November, consultants hired to discover why costs were overflowing said that proper budgeting could have shown that estimates were off as far back as 2012, a Nov. 30, 2015 Boston.com story said. Factors cited in the overruns included scope creep, use of low initial estimates and a contracting process that the MBTA didn’t fully understand. Last month, the FMCB’s first annual report called the MBTA’s internal capacity “insufficient,” and said that outside managers didn’t receive rigorous oversight, according to the State House News. Recent estimates have put GLX costs at 642 million dollars a mile, which would make the project the most costly extension per mile in recent MBTA history, a Jan. 2 Globe story said. As DOT officials make it clear that they’re reluctant to drive more money into the project, members of both the FCMB and the MassDOT board have stated that they want local leaders from cities along the GLX corridor to contribute, a Dec. 15, 2015 WBUR story said. The FCMB report mentioned above included a recsee GLX, page 5
Thursday, January 21, 2016 | Features | THE TUFTS DAILY
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GLX faces possible termination, further spending hikes GLX
continued from page 4 ommendation that the GLX and other future expansions should have finance plans that “begin with first-dollar commitments from local and regional entities,” since they are the main beneficiaries of transit infrastructure. However, Somerville Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang doesn’t think Somerville should help pay for the GLX. “I think it’s completely unfair,” Niedergang said. “Somerville’s been screwed for generations on transportation… Look at the amount of pollution that comes from, not only Route 93 and other roads that come through here, but also from the commuter rail trains that go through Somerville and don’t stop here.” Niedergang feels the damage already done in Somerville should exempt the city from further costs. “We shouldn’t have to pay a cent for this; we deserve this,” he said. “It’s a legal requirement as mitigation for the Big Dig.” Somerville Alderman-at-large Jack Connolly agrees. “The fact that the T is finally coming around and alleviating the congestion from commuters and the carcinogens from the air around Route 93,” he said. “I can tell you that I’d be one of the many that would be vehemently opposed to any and all participation from the city point of view.” Alderman Ballantyne points to the importance of the project not just to Somerville, but to the region and the state as a whole. “Eastern Massachusetts is projecting a
population growth over the next half century,” she said. “You’re providing another pathway for them to come in via train; you’re getting more people into their place of employment.” Rawson also points to the project’s statewide benefits. “We are talking about a project of statewide significance and importance,” he said. “When folks talk about the municipalities as benefiting from this transit infrastructure investment, sure that’s true, but everybody who lives in Eastern Massachusetts stands to benefit from this because we’re talking about net increases in jobs… [as well as] large accruals of state-level income tax receipts coming from new jobs created.” Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, who has been working closely with the State team to ensure the GLX is built, also points to the project’s statewide benefits. “The Green Line Extension is the most important transportation project in generations for Massachusetts,” Curtatone said in an email to the Daily via Denise Taylor, the director of Communications at Somerville Mayor’s Office. “It is expected to create 18 million square feet of potential new development, 30,000 new jobs, and $4.5 billion in private investment, as well as $4 to $6 billion in new tax revenue for the Commonwealth within 40 years— all while reducing traffic congestion in one of the most congested regions of the country. If we want our state residents to benefit from the expansion of the global economy, we need this vital growth, these new jobs, and improved
transportation network, which is why the Governor and his team are working so diligently to produce a responsible and workable plan to get it built.”
Private developers?
Christine Barber, the 34th Middlesex District (Medford and Somerville) State Representative, is relatively new to the State House but has used her tenure thus far to move the GLX along. “I’ve been working closely with Senator Patricia Jehlen, Rep. Denise Provost… [and] other representatives in Somerville and in Medford to ensure that the Baker administration builds the Green Line,” she said. “My sentiment – and I think it’s shared by many – is a lot of frustration with the former contractor, and even with the contracting method that was used… We’re hopeful that rebidding and using a different contract process will address a lot of those issues.” Like the Aldermen, Barber is reluctant to agree with those asking for communities like Somerville to contribute. She does, however, point to Bill H.3877, currently moving through the House, which would give communities the tools to put a portion of property tax revenue from a designated area towards transportation infrastructure. She says this could allow private developers benefitting from the project to pitch in. “This is supposed to be a legal obligation,” she said. “It’s a hard argument to make for me that you’re gonna ask [the city] to pay for this. That said, there are a lot of new developments, and there’s a lot of real estate that is becom-
ing more expensive in Somerville and Medford because of this project, and I think there are opportunities for some private funding to help with the cost issues of this project.” In this scenario, private funding, a Dec. 21, 2015 article from the Boston Globe said, could come from developers like Tufts. The university, Tufts Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler said, is “looking forward” to working with the new GLX team to discuss the timing and funding of the College Ave. station. As it looks to construct an academic building over the station, Tufts has already committed itself to fronting the cash for a number of College Ave. developments that don’t necessarily involve tracks or trains, according to a June 16, 2015 Tufts Now article. “Our contributions include making Tufts land available to support construction operations of the station, construction of a pedestrian path from the adjoining neighborhood, traffic and drainage improvements, and a 99-year commitment to provide station maintenance and security,” Thurler said in an email to the Daily. While the future of tax transfer bills like H.3877 and both boards remains unclear, Tufts and other developers’ involvement may yet change in relation to the Green Line. This article’s second installment will discuss the fates of the Union Square and College Ave. stops, Tufts University’s relationship with the MBTA, the GLX’s future, and exactly how the light rail project got so costly.
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ARTS&LIVING
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Album Review
YouTube star Troye Sivan breaks the mold on captivating debut album
by Justin Krakoff Arts Editor
One of the best albums of 2015 was released last month to little fanfare. In a year where Adele made her long-awaited, triumphant return to the music industry, and Kendrick Lamar released one of the most innovative hip-hop albums in years, Troye Sivan, a 20 year-old Australian YouTuber, managed to craft one of the year’s boldest records in his exploration of what it means to be gay and coming of age. “Blue Neighbourhood”(2015) is Sivan’s first full-length release after he made his major label debut last year with his extended play “TRXYE.” The record continues to explore the moody electropop niche that Sivan has carved out for himself and represents the culmination of his efforts to breakthrough as a pop star. While the fact that Sivan may have gotten his start as a YouTube personality may be a turnoff to some listeners, there is no mistaking Sivan for anything less than the real deal. With a strong sense of current sonic trends and poignant lyrics, Sivan remains unafraid to address complicated emotions and authentically assert his sexuality throughout the entire album. The release of Sivan’s debut was pre-
ceded by the six track EP “Wild,” and the standard edition of “Blue Neighbourhood” includes three songs from this collection, which forms what Sivan calls the “Blue Neighbourhood Trilogy.” The three records tell a fictional story grounded in Sivan’s reality growing up gay in Perth, Australia. “Wild,” the album’s opening track and lead single, uses a child-led chorus and breathy vocals to tell the story of a secret romance as Sivan dreams of escaping suburbia. The other two tracks, however, deal with a romance gone sour, as “Fool” and “Talk Me Down” take the course of a Shakespearian tragedy, which is made woefully clear by the heartbreaking music videos for each song. The rest of “Blue Neighbourhood” sees Sivan expand upon the aforementioned themes and sounds to an even greater degree of success. “Cool” tells the all too familiar story of the pressure to change oneself in order to impress a love interest. Despite the song’s cheery vibe and cheeky lyrics, there is a tragic quality to this narrative especially when Sivan croons “When I’ve got that cigarette smoke / And Saint Laurent coat, but nothing is feeling right / I drink but I choke / I love but I don’t.” The emotional turmoil continues on the next track “Heaven,” Sivan’s collaboration with fellow Australian singer-songwriter
Betty Who, which recounts his struggle to accept his sexuality out of fear of rejection. The inclusion of lyrics such as “So I’m counting to fifteen / Counting to fifteen, counting to fifteen” enhances the already deeply personal nature of the song, because fifteen was the age at which Sivan came out, and the repetition reflects how he used to countdown when experiencing anxiety. The album’s absolute highlights come in form of the one-two punch “Youth” and “Lost Boy.” “Youth” is a bombastic ode to being in love without any regrets or fears and contains a highly addictive chorus built around booming instrumentation and the repetition of the phrase “My youth.” In other words, this is a surefire radio smash in the making and expect to hear it everywhere in 2016. “Lost Boy” is just as uptempo as the previous track, but the song’s subject matter is considerably more serious. Built around a Peter Pan-esque extended metaphor, the synthpop anthem sees Sivan telling another boy they are not meant to last forever as he wistfully sings “I’m just a lost boy / Not ready to be found.” In a time when pop culture is supposed to be all about diversity, Sivan is a much-needed talent due to a lack of mainstream LGBTQ stars. While it is too early to tell whether or not a gay icon has indeed been born, Sivan has succeeded in pursu-
(Eva Rinaldi via Flickr)
Troye Sivan ing an immaculate sonic direction over the course of an entire album, which is more than what most pop stars can say about their entire career. But for now, it is best to just let the music to speak for itself, and that alone is quite a treat.
‘Serial’ season For second year running, Oscar acting nominees 2 deviates from exclude people of color roots, explores military mystery by Lancy Downs Arts Editor
by Cassidy Olsen
Assistant Arts Editor
As a genre, “true crime” typically brings to mind classic nonfiction masterworks like “In Cold Blood” (1966) and guilty-pleasure cable television about grisly murders, serial killers and police chases. Public fascination with the genre is nothing new, but it appears to have entered a renaissance with the recent, overwhelming popularity of documentary series like the Netflix-produced “Making A Murderer” (2015) and HBO’s “The Jinx” (2015). All this elevation of true crime to both highbrow and binge-worthy status starts with “Serial” (2014 – present), a “This American Life” spinoff podcast that premiered in fall of 2014. Hosted by Sarah Koenig and produced by Julie Snyder, “Serial” fascinated listeners with the case of Adnan Syed, a man convicted for the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee. The first season of the podcast explored Syed’s case through personal interviews conducted by Koenig and through expert compilation of testimony, investigation and speculation. “Serial” held the number one podcast spot on iTunes even before its debut and remained there for several weeks, according to an Oct. 9, 2014 New Yorker story. It won the Peabody Award in 2015 and received over 100 million downloads between twelve episodes, pushing podcasts as a medium for storytelling into the mainstream and reigniting a public passion for traditional, serialized true crime with a digital-age twist. With all the attention and accolades bestowed on the show’s first season, the see Serial, page 7
“And the nominees are …” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Jan. 14 its nominations for the 88th Academy Awards, to be held on Feb. 28. “The Revenant” (2015) and “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) lead the way with 12 and 10 nominations apiece, with “The Martian” (2015), “Spotlight” (2015) and “The Big Short” (2015) earning seven, six and five nods respectively. The Daily takes a look at the most important stories coming out of this year’s nominations.
(Doug Peters via MTC Direct)
Idris Elba spoke out about the Oscar nominations.
#OscarsSoWhite When last year’s Oscar nods were announced, a wave of criticism swept the Internet, condemning the Academy’s failure to nominate any actors or directors of color (and triggering the hashtag #OscarSoWhite). Even the acclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. biopic “Selma” (2014), which was thought to be poised for Oscar success, was left out of the directing and acting categories. The uproar and fury spawned by last year’s nominations doesn’t seem to have bothered Academy members, however, as this year’s
slate of acting and directing nominees are, once again, entirely white. Excluded from the acting nominees are Michael B. Jordan for his lauded performance in “Creed” (2015) and Idris Elba for his turn as a warlord in “Beasts of No Nation” (2015). “Creed” was also unable to pick up a Best Picture nod, and the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, didn’t make the cut for Best Director. (The Academy awarded Sylvester Stallone, one of the few white actors in the film, a Best Supporting Actor nomination.) “Straight Outta Compton,”(2015) which received praise when it was released last summer, was also left out of the Best Picture race. It’s also worth noting that no female directors received nods; in fact, the last time the Academy even nominated a woman for directing was in 2009, and only four women have ever been nominated for the award. Hollywood is often perceived as a bastion of liberal progressive values, but for many, that truism becomes hard to believe given this year’s Oscar lineup. Hollywood’s most prestigious and influential institution has, for the second year running, not deemed the work of actors and directors of color worthy of being in contention for many of its top awards. Last year, “Selma” at least earned a Best Picture nomination; this year, all the Best Picture nominees tell the stories of white — and mostly male — characters. Obviously, each and every year there will be snubs; after all, there are only a limited number of nominations to be handed out. Still, it is not insignificant that Academy remains so focused on rewarding the efforts of white filmmakers while often ignoring the work of the women and people of color. Expect #OscarsSoWhite to be a staple of online conversations about the awards.
Leonardo DiCaprio: always bridesmaid, never a bride
a
A quick Google Image search of the words “Leonardo DiCaprio Oscars” yields a seemingly endless array of memes, tweets and Tumblr posts about Dicaprio’s inability thus
far to capture Oscar gold. “Even if there was an Oscar for Best Leonardo Dicaprio, Meryl Streep would win it instead,” reads one tweet. This year, however, the tides may be turning for the actor. He’s been nominated for his performance in “The Revenant” — his fifth nomination — and no doubt many Academy voters might feel that an Oscar is overdue for the oft-overlooked star. Certainly, recent buzz has been leaning in his favor; his win at the Golden Globes didn’t hurt, nor did the 12 Oscar nods “The Revenant” garnered. If he can keep up this momentum, Dicaprio seems on course to claim his first Academy Award.
And the Oscar goes to… The race for Best Picture is often somewhat of a snooze — by the time the actual ceremony rolls around, the eventual Picture winner seems all but guaranteed. (Think about the unsurprising wins for 2011’s “The Artist” or 2012’s “Argo.”) This year, however, there is no such obvious frontrunner, and the lack of early consensus could mean a more unpredictable race. “The Revenant” and “Mad Max” picked up the most nods, but there is a lot of love for the nonflashy, methodical “Spotlight.” Meanwhile, just as “Argo” received a swell of support after Ben Affleck missed out on a directing nomination, “The Martian” could see an uptick in momentum from director Ridley Scott’s snub. This muddled picture, however, might soon shift as the awards season progresses. Though the Golden Globes saw “The Revenant” and “The Martian” pick up Best Picture trophies for drama and comedy respectively, that booze-soaked ceremony is often a poor predictor of who will actually win the Oscar. (The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the body that votes on the Globes, has essentially no voter overlap with the Academy.) Keep an eye out for the winners of various guild awards — the Screen Actors, Directors and Producers — as the winners of those prizes often go on to claim Oscars. In fact, for the past eight years, the Producers Guild winner has also scooped up the Academy Awards’ top prize. Get your ballots ready!
Thursday, January 21, 2016 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY
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ARTS&LIVING
‘Serial’ season 2 focuses on accused deserter,Bowe Bergdahl Afghanistan, and about the role of an individual in international conflict? As of the season’s fourth episode, these questions are only beginning to be explored. Unlike the direct communication she had with Syed that provided the basis of “Serial’s” first season, Koenig’s reporting in season two relies on the 25 hours of taped interviews with Bergdahl conducted by journalist turned filmmaker (Daniel Schroeder via U.S. Department of Defense) Mark Boal. Boal, A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter lands in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. who won an Oscar for his script for “The Hurt Locker” (2009) from the podcast’s true crime roots, Koenig Serial continued from page 6 and her team have found that Bergdahl’s and also wrote “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012), pressure was on for season two. Although narrative provides the suspense, mystery, was reluctant to grant “Serial” access to his “Serial” had wrapped the story of Syed and real-world complexities that initial- tapes but eventually trusted Koenig with inconclusively, listeners were prom- ly made the show so popular. Unlike the presenting the full narrative. Though this ised a new case in 2015. In December seemingly simple question of “Did he do indirect access comes as a challenge to 2015, Koenig brought the story of Sergeant it?” that was at the heart of Syed’s case, Koenig, and results in a loss of the intimacy Bowe Bergdahl that would enthrall the Bergdahl’s story brings out a web of ques- between subject and narrator that made the audience for at least another twelve weeks. tions for both Koenig and the audience first season all the more compelling, Koenig Despite that season two’s focus on, an to consider. Is he a deserter? A Taliban is able to compensate with a more comAmerican soldier who was held captive by sympathizer? How did he survive in cap- prehensive, analytic approach to reporting. the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in tivity for so long? What does his case say The distance between Bergdahl and Koenig Afghanistan for nearly five years, deviates about the U.S. military, about the war in also reduces accusations of bias and allows
someone with a greater understanding of military structure to ask Bergdahl questions. “I had a big learning curve on this one,” Koenig said in an interview with the New York Magazine. “I’m not a war reporter. I’m not a national-security reporter.” Despite her initial unfamiliarly with the case, it becomes clear that, like any good journalist, Koenig has sought every resource to be as informed as possible, and often notes her own faults in understanding, allowing others to make points she couldn’t make alone. “One of the exciting things about Sarah [Koenig] is that she lets listeners into her deliberative process,” Boal said in the same New York Magazine interview. The podcast has switched mid-season to a bi-weekly format, citing narrative developments as a central reason, so eager listeners will have to wait even longer to get the next episode. This change may not help help develop or sustain listenership comparable to that of the first season, but the real-time nature of the case adds to the suspense and danger of the story. Bergdahl is currently awaiting court-martial for desertion, and reporters at “Esquire” and other publications have even accused the show of making things worse for him and more challenging for his trial. As the season progresses, Koenig and her team will have to tread carefully and work hard in order to maintain the level of compelling narrative they have established without risking anyone’s safety.
Looking to develop your skills in storytelling, including photography, narrative writing, audio and video? come find out about
Advanced Narrative and Documentary Practice EXP-0051-CS • Spring 2016
Fridays, 10:00am-12:00pm plus Individual Tutorials
Students will develop their story ideas and produce his/her proposed story under the individual guidance of the world-renowned photojournalist Gary Knight. Student projects can employ a wide range of storytelling styles, including but not limited to investigative, historical, and biographical. They can address significant social, economic, political, and environmental issues, as well as capture and convey contemporary memory, life, and culture. The students will work closely with the instructor and other practitioners, constantly crafting and editing their projects and developing their own unique voice. In addition, students will have regular opportunities to meet collectively, engage in peer review, and share strategies. This course is High Demand. You must attend the first class meeting on Friday, January 22, at 10:00am at the Program for Narrative and Documentary Practice studio at 550 Boston Avenue to be considered for enrollment. This course will count toward the Film and Media Studies Major and the Mass Communications and Media Studies Minor as a Media Practice Elective and toward the Film Studies Minor as an Elective.
Gary Knight is the founding director of the Tufts Institute for Global Leadership’s Program for Narrative and Documentary Practice. He is a founding member of the VII Photo Agency, dispatches magazine, and the Angkor Photo Festival in Cambodia. He has also twice chaired the annual World Press Photo Competition. His work – from South East Asia to Yugoslavia to Iraq and Afghanistan – has been published, exhibited and honored around the world.
Gary Knight’s photos of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad.
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Opinion
Thursday, January 21, 2016
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
New Year, New Daily Welcome back to the Hill, Tufts! We hope all of you have had a restorative holiday and are ready for the semester ahead of us. I am so excited to spend my last semester at Tufts with the Daily, working alongside tireless and brilliant individuals, many of whom spent winter break working on projects and initiatives to move our paper forward. In the way that only a print newspaper can truly feel, media as a whole is changing rapidly and unpredictably, pushing us at the Daily to continue to innovate and progress. We are excited to announce that we will be launching a mobile app for the Daily this spring. This means that our readers will soon be able to read the latest stories from the Daily on their phones, in addition to flipping through our beautiful print papers (Sudokus and jumbles are still there, don’t worry), receiving headlines in their email accounts and catching up with news directly from our website. Going mobile is just one of our initiatives to keep up with the times and utilize multimedia platforms to tell the stories of the Tufts community.
The Daily is a storied institution and it is important for us, as reporters and editors carrying on its legacy, to recognize its history on this campus. We have been an independent paper of record chronicling the history at Tufts since 1980 and the place that we occupy in the community is one of great responsibility and power. With that in the mind, we are working to continuously prioritize fair and representative coverage by ensuring that the Daily truly reflects the Tufts community both internally and through our content. We acknowledge select experiences that the community has had with the Daily that have not reflected that, and will continue to open up dialogue between different communities and organizations on campus and engage with feedback to maintain high standards of journalistic integrity. Additionally, we are continuing to actively recruit a diverse staff and editorial masthead to more reflectively and accurately tell the stories of every individual at Tufts. Part of this will be accomplished by a scholarship fund that we are working on
establishing somewhere down the line in order to allow students who need a steady income during the semester to be able to invest their time with the Daily. Each semester, increasingly passionate and talented individuals join our ranks to help tell the stories in and around the Tufts community. I am constantly in awe at the amount of time and energy that people on the Daily—from photographers to reporters to editors to staff members—invest to keep our paper not only running every day, but producing quality content. I’ve seen people put aside COMP0040 assignments and half-written essays to spend hours in the unventilated basement of Curtis Hall, agonizing over anything from the angle of a feature story to frantically calling sources for follow-up information and quotes, to selecting the right photo to capture the latest sports game or poring over stories for unwanted oxford commas. As journalists, we are often arbiters of the truth, deciding what we personally think is fair and balanced. As student journalists, this responsibility becomes
unique in that we are sifting through the words and opinions of individuals in a community we inhabit: our friends and classmates, our professors and administrators. While we cannot promise to always tell stories in a way that you will always fully agree with, we promise to always be listening to you as a part of the Tufts community to find the closest version to the objective truth. We want to hear your voice in op-eds, we want to see your comments on our articles and we want to be able to talk to you for our stories. When news breaks on campus, we promise to be there to tell you what is happening. We promise to tell you the stories everyone is talking about and the stories that no one is taking about. We promise to dig beneath the surface and past rhetoric to discover why things are the way they are and what the implications are for the members of our community. We promise to listen. I look forward to hearing from you. Editor in Chief Sarah Zheng
EDITORIAL CARTOON BY ABIGAIL FELDMAN
The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board. EDITORIALS 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. OP-EDS 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 and submitted to oped@tuftsdaily. com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director.
Thursday, January 21, 2016 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY
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OP-ED
The Earth is on Fire by Luke Sherman Well, it’s not actually – but it may as well be. According to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the globe experienced its warmest year on record in 2015, eclipsing the old record set in 2014. Indeed, 2015 was nearly 0.90 degrees Celsius, or 1.57 degrees Fahrenheit, warmer than the longterm average. The devastating manifestations of this warmth include a heat wave in India so powerful that asphalt melted and over 1,000 people lost their lives, unprecedented wildfires in the Pacific Northwest that destroyed thousands of acres of wilderness and hundreds of homes and torrential rainfall in East Africa that displaced tens of thousands of people, caused bridges to collapse, leaving dozens dead. The social costs notwithstanding, climate-induced natural disasters cause billions of dollars in economic damages every year, and these losses will likely grow as the planet continues to warm. Understanding the immense threat global warming poses to the international community, negotiators met in Paris at the end of last year to hammer out a historic accord that compels all 195 signatories to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. And yet, this agreement may represent too little, too late; analysts argue that the reduction pledges in the deal will likely not prevent the planet from warming beyond two degrees Celsius, the threshold beyond which scientists warn catastrophic climate change will probably occur. Given this sobering analysis, it is of utmost importance that the next president of the United States build upon the successes of the Obama administration as it relates to mitigating climate change. The United States, the second largest aggregate emitter of GHGs, must play an active role in
the development and implementation of all agreements designed to stave off the worst effects of climate change. Where, then, do our main presidential contenders stand on the Paris accord and other efforts to reduce our emission of heat-trapping gases? Not a single contender for the Republican presidential nomination supports the deal reached in Paris. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a formidable contender for the nomination, claimed at a recent Senate hearing, “There has been no significant global warming in the past 18 years” – an assertion completely at odds with the world scientific community. “I’m not a scientist” has become the favorite adage of many of the Republican candidates when asked if they believe the planet is warming, including for Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, much of whose home state will disappear into the ocean if GHG emissions do not fall precipitously immediately. How humble of you, Senator Rubio, so why don’t you listen to the 97 percent of scientists who believe not only that the earth is heating up but that humans are largely responsible for this temperature rise? You’re not an economist, either, but that doesn’t stop you from championing economic policies that would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, does it? The Republican Party may have bowed to Big Oil and buried its head in the sand, but thankfully all three candidates still seeking the Democratic nomination have pledged to build on the president’s initiatives to mitigate global warming. The divide between the parties on this issue is stark. When I go to my voting precinct this November, I’ll keep that in mind. I hope you do, too.
Luke Sherman is a Senior majoring in environmental studies. He can be reached at luke.sherman@tufts.edu
Luke Sherman is a Senior majoring in environmental studies. He can be reached at luke.sherman@tufts.edu
OP-ED
The Gun Law Loophole by Jamie Neikrie On Jan. 5, President Obama announced a series of executive actions to address gun violence in this country. The President’s actions reflect his frustration with Congress, which continually fails to act despite the horrific number of gun murders every day. As Obama announced his series of actions just five days into the new year, the news site Vocativ reported that 147 people had died from gun violence already in 2016. Given this atmosphere, the president couldn’t wait any longer. Among the executive orders is an overhaul of the federal government’s background check system that will add more than 230 examiners to bolster the effectiveness of the background checks. This action may have real consequence, as many of the last 15 mass shootings were perpetrated by gunmen who never should have passed a background check allowing them to acquire a firearm. According to the New York Times, at least eight of the shooters had criminal histories or documented mental health problems that should have, but did not, prevent them from obtaining their weapons. The president has also instructed the Department of Health and Human Services to remove barriers in the law that cur-
rently hinder citizens from reporting individuals with mental health issues, information that would prevent them from purchasing a gun. HHS will also be conducting a series of dialogues on mental health and gun violence. The president helped unroll these reforms alongside Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who will be writing a letter to state governments asking them to update their criminal records, an act that would increase the effectiveness of the background checks. However, Obama’s most controversial orders involve a legal clarification that will label more entities as “arms dealers,” and therefore require them to get a federal license and conduct background checks on every prospective customer. Currently, under the “gun show loophole,” anyone can purchase a firearm at a gun show without having to undergo a background check. Obama, however is instructing federal agents to interpret the law differently, mandating that anyone “in the business of selling firearms” get a federal license, including trusts, corporations, and those selling at gun shows. Already, the backlash to the president’s executive actions has begun. John Culberson, a Representative from Texas and chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees and provides funding to the
Justice Department, wrote a letter for Attorney General Lynch announcing his intent to defund the Department if it implements the executive orders. “I notified the attorney general,” wrote Culberson, “that if the Department of Justice attempted to create new restrictions on our Constitutional rights that I would use every tool at my disposal to immediately restrict their access to federal funding.” Culberson and many other conservatives believe that President Obama has overstepped his authority, reinterpreting a law and violating the Second Amendment. So are Obama’s actions constitutional? For the meantime, it appears yes. Currently, federal code states that anyone “engaged in the business” of selling guns must get a federal license and conduct background checks. The law continues to describe a firearm dealer as someone who “devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms,” but not someone “who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.”
President Obama is instructing federal employees to take a more stringent interpretation of this code. A White House memo on the subject says that “Even a few transactions, when combined with other evidence, can be sufficient to establish that a person is ‘engaged in the business.” Clearly, there is ambiguity here, and the case will inevitably make its way to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals for further review. At this point, however, President Obama is taking advantage of a purposefully vague law, altering the interpretation rather than violating or changing a law outright. When you step back from the legal analysis, you remember that this is a man who has had to give far too many speeches in the aftermath of a mass shooting. President Obama attempted to the gunshow loophole through law in 2013, only to see his efforts blocked by Republicans in the Senate. Now he is using the resources at his disposal to address a failure of the law that should have been remedied years ago. Are his actions constitutional? Probably. Are they the right thing to do? Definitely. Jamie Neikrie is a Sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at benjamin.neikrie@tufts.edu.
THE TUFTS DAILY | Comics | Thursday, January 21, 2016
Comics
tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Mengqi:FOR “Daily is gonna be my 21, 2nd2016 needy boyfriend.” RELEASE JANUARY
Comics
Tufts PROGRAMS ABROAD
2016-17 Chile • China • Ghana Hong Kong • Japan • London Madrid • Paris • Tübingen
Explore the world with Tufts!
• Study at prestigious international universities • Increase your understanding of other cultures • Develop foreign language skills
Applications due Monday, Feb. 1, 2016! Get yours online: http://go.tufts.edu/studyabroad
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis CROSSWORD
ACROSS 1 Chinese take-out order? 6 Co. making many arrangements 9 Basilica recess 13 Impressed 14 Lab coat discovery? 15 Tool with teeth 16 Loud cheering consequence 18 Informed about 19 *Whopper alternative (19691986) 21 Help for a breakdown 22 Affaire de coeur 23 Star followers 26 Webby Award candidate 29 Wrap maker 32 Lot size 33 WWII lander 34 Author Greene 35 Feel sorry about 36 *Former MLB mascot BJ Birdy was one (17891795) 38 From __ Z 39 Barely moves 41 Roker and Rosen 42 Tiny time meas. 43 Branch of yoga 44 “No real damage” 45 Car-collecting star 46 George Eliot or George Sand 48 UV index monitor 50 The end of each answer to a starred clue is a former one 54 Hi’s wife, in comics 55 Broiler with a motor 58 Start to freeze? 59 Sanctioned 60 Scrub 61 Russia is its largest producer 62 National Preparedness Mo. 63 Breathers? DOWN 1 Grafton’s “__ for Noose” 2 “Art is my life and my life is art” artist
1/21/16
By George Simpson and C.C. Burnikel
Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved Friday’s Solution
3 Sportscaster Albert 4 Honey 5 Day one 6 Ice __ 7 Leaves holder 8 Fact 9 Peppery salad green 10 *Film for which John Houseman won an Oscar, with “The” (18641873) 11 Candy bar with a Nordic name 12 Dusk, to Pope 14 Calendar col. 17 “The War of the Worlds” author 20 Detroit Lions’ lion mascot 23 Time that “went out like a lion,” in song 24 Upscale Honda 25 *“Jaws” menace (1910-1921) 27 Spartans’ sch. 28 Best crew 30 Like granola 31 Oil giant that built what is now Chicago’s Aon Center 34 Leak preventers
SUDOKU
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
36 Fault 37 2001 album that’s also a nickname 40 Response to a ring 42 Medically ineffectual treatment 44 Bit of clique humor 47 High styles 49 Galileo, by birth
JUMBLE THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME
by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.
SIPEO TAFSEY
GIRHEH
Difficulty Level: Starting classes after the break.
Yesterday’s
Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.
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Print your answer here:
Check out the new, free JUST JUMBLE app
Unscramble these four Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.
TURET
(Answers tomorrow) Jumbles: WAVER RURAL APPEAR MOTIVE Answer: His moving business really started to take off when the number of jobs started to — RAMP UP
Friday’s Solution
NON SEQUITUR BY WILEY MILLER
1/21/16
50 Frozen yogurt holder 51 Lone Star State sch. 52 Caesar of comedy 53 Psyche’s beloved 54 Class where partners may be required 56 Ill temper 57 “Edge of Tomorrow” enemies, briefly
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Thursday, January 21, 2016 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY
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Jumbo unbeaten streak ends at five games HOCKEY
continued from page 12 Jumbos an early 2-0 lead. Sophomore forward Nick Flanagan and junior defenseman Sean Kavanagh assisted on the play. While Goldberg served a slashing penalty, Tufts blitzed Endicott shorthanded as firstyear defenseman Jefferson Martin served up an assist to junior forward Patrick Lackey, who knocked in a shot from right in front of the goal. Endicott, which had received a vote in the U.S. College Hockey Online national poll that week, refused to be shut out. First-year defenseman Carter Horwitz put the Gulls on the board at 9:43 in the second period. The Gulls’ comeback efforts proved futile, however, as Flanagan found string twice in the second period at 12:01 on a power play
and then again two and a half minutes later. Goldberg assisted on the first goal and Brown assisted on both. Brown went on to notch a sixth goal for the Jumbos with just under five minutes left in the game. The sophomore duo of Brown and Flanagan combined for four goals and three assists in the contest. On the season, Brown leads Tufts with five goals and six assists. “If you look at our scoring stats I think that, right now, even though Brian [Brown] is leading the team in points I don’t think he’s so far ahead of everybody else” Coach Norton said. “We’ve had goals from probably six or seven guys over the last few games that have made a difference. Chad Goldberg coming back from his concussion has helped us. He and Brian [Ouellette] are really good together, especially on power plays.”
To start off the new year, Tufts hosted Daniel Webster on Jan. 6th. The Jumbos managed a 3-1 victory to earn their first home win of the season. “It was certainly nice to get one [at home]” Norton said. “I don’t know that it felt any different from any of the previous couple [wins] that we’ve had. I think the first win you get as a head coach, the win against Brockport, probably had a little more emotion for me.” After a back-and-forth first period, first-year forward Nick Balboa slapped a shot into the top left corner of the net 15 minutes into the second period on an assist from Brown and sophomore defenseman Dan Kelly. In the third, Pugh extended Tufts lead to two just under seven minutes into the period. Granato and Ouellette assisted.
Sophomore forward Ryan Murray cut the lead to one a minute and a half later on an unassisted score. Bell’s shot was blocked at 14:37, and Goldberg fired the rebound into the goal to all but ensure a Jumbo victory. Pulde finished with 26 saves and one goal allowed. “Guys just came back and were playing with more confidence with the puck possession, and the [number] of goals we were scoring – you could just tell that we were much more confident with the puck and making better plays,” said Ouellette. The Jumbos are back it this weekend on their home ice, facing off against the national No. 9 Trinity Bantams tomorrow night and against the Wesleyan Cardinals Saturday afternoon.
Jumbos prepare for NESCAC foe weekend matchups MEN'S BASKETBALL
continued from page 12 late, scored 22 of the team’s points, continuing the sophomore’s hot streak that started before the break. Just the day before that game, Tufts played Bowdoin in its most lopsided game of the season. The Jumbos came away with a 102-69 runaway victory. The Jumbos unsurprisingly dominated the paint once again, finishing the day with 50 rebounds, as Pace notched 25 of the Jumbos’ points. Palleschi led the Jumbos in assists and rebounds with five and nine, respectively. In a closer game, the Jumbos faced off against the UMass-Boston Beacons on Jan. 5th, where the Jumbos claimed a tighter 74-61 victory. The game was highlighted by strong defense from both sides, as neither team shot more than 37 percent from the field. Tufts relied on strong runs to keep itself ahead of UMass-Boston, which refused to give up,
keeping the game within single digits all the way up to the final quarter. The first two games of the break took place in California, where the Jumbos participated in the Thrivent Financial Tournament. Tufts won the first game on Dec. 29 against Whitman College. The game was marked by Palleschi’s triple-double, as the center put up 20 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocks in the 107-95 win. Tufts then faced off against Cal. Lutheran in the finals, where it claimed an 85-78 victory. Palleschi managed another strong showing, collecting 13 rebounds and scoring 19 points to tie for the team high with Pace while taking home the tournament’s Most Valuable Player honors and securing the title for the Jumbos. Pace was also selected as a member of the AllTournament team. “I think we’ve played extremely well over the winter break,” Haladyna said. “We went to California and won two games against two of the better teams on the west coast,
and we also won the Big Four Tournament for the first time in my four years here.” The Jumbos are back in action this weekend, starting Friday night at Wesleyan before a showdown with Conn. College Saturday afternoon. The Jumbos will no doubt be looking to continue their impressive play against the Cardinals and the Evan Sayles / The Tufts Daily Camels in Connecticut Tufts guard Thomas Lapham, A18, tries to get ahead of an as they work to stay near Amherst defender on his way to the basket on February 21, 2015. the top of the NESCAC. “We’re all very happy with our top 25 the NCAA tournament and hopefully make a ranking but we are still not satisfied,” run. We’ve got to keep coming back to practice every day, working to get better at pretty Haladyna said. “We want to win the NESCAC tourna- much every aspect of the game to achieve ment,” Pace added, “We want to make it to those goals.”
North picks up NESCAC and USBWA weekly honors WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
up a combined 21 fouls in 20 minutes of game play. Tufts still held a narrow 25-20 lead going into the half. Bowdoin trailed by seven points heading into the fourth, and Tufts pulled further ahead by opening the period on a 8-2 surge, fueled by seven consecutive points from senior foward Maura Folliard. The Jumbos held their largest lead of the game, 49-36, with 7:28 to go. The Polar Bears began to catch up on the Jumbos’ lead with the return of Brady, who had been sidelined with foul trouble. After blocking junior center Michela North’s shot, Brady converted a layup on the other end before scoring another six straight points – three back-to-back layups – to cut Tufts’ lead to just three. After a layup by Curle, the Polar Bears closed the gap to 49-48 with 3:18 remaining. Folliard then missed a 3-pointer, but a costly foul by Curle resulted in a North layup to give Tufts a 51-48 lead. Bowdoin took a 30 second timeout with 2:06 left in the ball game in order to draw up a play for Brady , who converted her layup off an assist by junior forward Ally Silfen to cut Tufts’ lead to one, 51-50. Nicholas Pfosi / The Tufts Daily With just 1:33 Tufts forward Melissa Baptista, A18, collides with Hamilton guard and remaining, Brady forward Lauren Getman, ‘18, during the first half of the Tufts women’s basketball game against Hamilton in Cousens Gym on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016. fouled out of the game
continued from page 12 cent from the field, and a measly 20 percent from beyond the arc despite out-rebounding Bowdoin 38-36 and attempting 58 shots to Bowdoin’s 51. “In the Bowdoin game we didn’t play with the fire that we were capable of,” Brooks said. “When you face great NESCAC teams and don’t come out strong from the start there is always that chance that you won’t come away with a win, especially when you’re playing an away game.” When the rematch came just over a month later, however, Tufts set the tone from the beginning. The Jumbos outscored the Polar Bears 16-7 in the first quarter and later staved off a late Bowdoin rally to take a 53-50 victory at Morrell Gymnasium. Both teams were hit with early foul trouble throughout the opening half, racking
with her fifth personal foul, but Bowdoin had another chance off a Roberson turnover 12 seconds later. Almost immediately, Kerrigan turned the ball back over but Folliard missed the 3-pointer that would have given her team the two possession lead. With 21 seconds left, Roberson had a chance to seal the game at the free throw line for Tufts, but missed both chances. Roberson managed to grab her own offensive rebound and force another Bowdoin foul to give herself another chance to win the game at the line for her team. She made the most of her second chance, hitting both for the 53-50 win. “We played much better defensively this time in Brunswick by containing their guards and contesting the 3-point shot,” coach Carla Berube said. “Our posts did a much better job defending Shannon Brady inside too. I also thought our bench really stepped up, Maura Folliard had a huge game for us.” Much like their first match up, Tufts won the battle on the boards with 43 rebounds to Bowdoin’s 32, with 13 from North alone, who added another 13 points. The next day, North recorded her third double-double in a week with 18 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks in Tufts’ 54-45 victory against Colby for the team’s second straight NESCAC victory. After averaging 14.7 both in points and rebounds per game, with five blocks and a strong 16 for 20 from the free throw line (.800), North received NESCAC and USBWA Player of the Week honors. Yet despite North’s growing prowess on the court, as evidenced by her first
NESCAC Player of the Week honors, she insists that the biggest improvement she has made has been bringing up the morale and energy of the team. “I think I’ve been doing a better job of bringing energy and excitement to all our games [and] I want the team to get pumped on great plays and show how much we want it,” North said. “My leadership skills have definitely improved, and I think I’ve been more vocal and commanding on the court.” In the 2014-15 season, it was not until March 20 that the Jumbos saw their second loss of the season. But this season the team dropped two games within three weeks of the start of the season – with both losses coming at the hands of NESCAC opponents Bowdoin and Conn. College in non-conference games. “I think we’re a much different team than we were on Dec. 12,” Berube said. “Here we are eight games later and we’re playing much better on the defensive end of the floor, we’ve cut down on our turnovers and we’re making more plays for each other on offense. We have a much better sense of who we are.” Despite its strong start to their conference schedule, with two more runaway victories against Middlebury, 57-37, and Hamilton, 66-39, the team is already looking forward to avenging another early season loss to Conn. College on Saturday, Jan. 23. “I think we’ve come a long way since the loss to Conn. College, and we’ll be better prepared for them the next time we play them,” North said. “We are all very excited to have a rematch of that game and so we’ve been working on our weaknesses and challenging ourselves each day in practice.”
Sports
12 tuftsdaily.com
Thursday, January 21, 2016
HOCKEY
Hockey hammers non-conference opponents, struggles against NESCAC foes by Phillip Goldberg Sports Editor
Tufts’ New Year hot streak came to an end last weekend with a 4-2 loss to Amherst on Friday, before the team bounced back with a hard-fought 1-1 tie against Hamilton on Saturday, one of the NESCAC’s toughest teams. Still, the Jumbos have struggled against NESCAC foes this season, sitting ninth in the conference (1-4-3), with a 5-5-4 record overall. The team’s early run of results included wins against Daniel Webster (3-11-0), Endicott (9-5-2) and Suffolk (9-4-2). The three dominant wins – in which the Jumbos outscored their opponents 13-2 and earned their first home win of the season in their first game of 2016 against the Daniel Webster Eagles – continued a five-game undefeated streak (4-0-1) after a slow start to the season. Saturday’s game against Hamilton featured an impressive performance from junior goalie Mason Pulde, who made a career-high 53 saves to preserve Tufts’ narrow lead until the visitors evened the score with 1:56 remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime. Senior co-captain forward Stewart Bell was the lone goal scorer for the Jumbos. The Jumbos saw their five-game unbeaten streak broken the day before with the loss to the Amherst Lord Jeffs at home. Though they struck early in the first period, capitalizing on a power play to take a 1-0 lead, the Jumbos could not hold off the Lord Jeff attack and went on to surrender two goals while down a man themselves. Junior forward Patrick Lackey picked up his third goal of the season while sophomore forward
Chad Goldberg picked up his fourth assist of the week. Tufts’ first three games after coming back from its winter break went much more favorably, as the team easily handled a series of non-conference opponents. “The biggest difference [between the beginning of the season and the hot streak] is that we’ve done a better job executing the systems that we had in place at the beginning of the year,” coach Patrick Norton said. “It’s been especially good since we’ve come back from the holidays. Our [defensive] zone coverage, our penalty kill, both of those have been much improved.” Tufts dominated Suffolk at home in the Malden Valley Forum in a 4-0 victory. The first period featured back-and-forth action as the opponents sized each other up. Lackey almost scored on a breakaway, but Suffolk first-year defenseman Dominic Rovero recovered and prevented the shot on goal. Neither team would score in the first despite two power play opportunities for Tufts. Pulde finished the shutout with 23 saves as his defense did an excellent job keeping the Rams from breaking through. “Overall everyone’s really stuck to the systems, which has allowed us to have a little success coming back [from the break] and it helps when you have some of the best goalies in the country,” senior co-captain and defenseman Brian Ouellette said. “We know if we make a mistake our goalies are going to bail us out, and we also have the ability to put up a lot of goals in a game.” Sophomore Brian Brown scored just after a Tufts power play ended nine minutes into the second period, assisted by junior Matt Pugh and Goldberg.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Tufts caps off strong run with victory over Hamilton by Eddie Samuels Staff Writer
The 12-3 Jumbos capped off a successful set of games over the break with Saturday’s 86-60 win at 7-8 Hamilton. The game marked the sixth win for the team since their twoweek break in December, with only one loss in that stretch. The Jumbos have come out strong to start their NESCAC season, tied for third place in the conference with a 3-1 record. “We are very confident as a team right now and we are happy with where we are in the conference standings,” senior tri-captain guard Stephen Haladyna said. “One of our goals is to not only host a first-round conference game [in the postseason NESCAC tournament] but to host the conference tournament too. We still have a lot of work to do and we need to stay focused on every game so that we can stay at the top of the conference for this second half of the season.” In its most recent matchup, Tufts dominated the paint against Hamilton, scoring 38 points from the key while only allowing its opponents 22. The Jumbos also capitalized on mistakes made by the Continentals, scoring 24 points as a result of turnovers. The game featured a strong showing from junior Tarik Smith, whose 13 second half points helped to seal the game for the Jumbos. Saturday’s win was a much-needed rebound following Tufts’ only loss since return-
ing to play in late December. The Jumbos narrowly lost an overtime affair the night before to the Middlebury Panthers (9-7), 85-82. The wild, back-and-forth matchup saw five lead changes and six tied scores in the first half alone as the Panthers and the Jumbos duked it out in Vermont. The teams alternated in making strong runs, with neither team establishing a definitive lead in regulation. In the final minutes of over-time, Middlebury maintained a steady lead of between four and seven points until a 3-pointer from senior tri-captain center Tom Palleschi brought Tufts within three. With the score at 85-82 as time was expiring, a long Haladyna 3-point shot from deep in the corner to tie the game rattled around the rim and bounced out to give the Panthers the win. The Panthers benefitted from strong showings from their bench players who combined for 35 of the team’s points. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing,” sophomore guard Vincent Pace said. “Keep playing how we have been and doing the things that have gotten us this far. [There was a stretch] where we didn’t have a loss for over a month. [Losing to Middlebury] was kind of a reality check over the weekend.” The previous five games all demonstrated the Jumbos’ potential. Tufts faced off against Colby at home on Jan. 9, with a winning score of 92-65. Pace, a standout for the Jumbos of see MEN'S BASKETBALL, page 11
Ray Bernoff / The Tufts Daily
Tufts forward, George Pantazopoulos, A15, left, Tufts defender, Dominic Granato, E16, center left, Tufts defender and tri-captain, Blake Edwards, A15, center right, and Tufts goalie, Mason Pulde, A17 defend the goal during the Tufts Men’s Ice Hockey 7-2 defeat against Trinity at the Malden Forum Ice Rink on November 16th, 2014. Ouellette kept up the pressure despite being down a man, intercepting a pass at his blue line and streaking up the ice to slip the puck past junior goalie Kevin Venturoso in the bottom left corner. Ouellette’s score was the second shorthanded goal for Tufts in as many games. Four minutes into the third period firstyear Nicholas Abbene put the Jumbos up 3-0, scoring his first ever goal on Goldberg’s second assist of the night. Ten minutes later junior forward Conal Lynch put the nail in Suffolk’s coffin when he notched Tufts fourth goal and his first of the season. Bell and Goldberg assisted on the play. “We’ve been getting outstanding contributions from our younger guys this year,”
Bell said. “It’s great seeing guys step up and we’re confident in our entire roster.” Tufts netted a season-high six goals against Endicott on Jan. 9 despite playing the game away at Raymond J. Bourque arena. The Gulls fell flat for their part, scoring only once in the first ever meeting between the two teams. Jumbo sophomore goalie Nik Nugnes saved 40 shots and allowed only the one through. First-year forward David Lackner opened up the scoring just over five minutes into the first period on an assist from Pugh and senior forward Dom Granato. In a one-sided first quarter, Brown’s goal at 11:19 gave the see HOCKEY, page 11
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jumbos rebound with eight straight wins over break by Alison Kuah Sports Editor
After an unexpected 5-2 start to the season, the Jumbos have rebounded with eight straight victories, including four consecutive wins against conference opponents this year. After a 61-55 loss to Conn. College, the team took an extended break before resuming the season on Dec. 29 at Baruch, where Tufts held its opponent to just 35 points over two halves. The Jumbos forced 26 turnovers in a victory where 10 different players scored. “The loss to Conn I think provided a great moment for our team,” senior tri-captain guard Nicole Brooks said. “It was a hard fought game right to the end, and when you lose a close game like that it’s something you won’t forget for a while. Since Conn was the last game we had before break it has really sparked the energy and reminded us that we don’t ever want to feel that way again.” The team then participated in the Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic over Jan. 2-3, defeating the hosts Springfield College 51-43 in the championship game. Senior tri-captain guard Emma Roberson and sophomore point guard Lauren Dillon were both named to the 2016 Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic AllTournament Team, and Roberson was crowned the Most Valuable Player of the Classic after an eight point, eight rebound effort in the championship game.
In their final non-conference game prior to entering NESCAC play on Jan. 5, Tufts notched an easy 59-40 win against Babson with the help of sophomore forward Melissa Baptista’s 15 points in 23 minutes. In the NESCAC opener on Jan. 8, Tufts found itself matched up against Bowdoin – the team who had handily defeated Tufts 61-43 in a blowout in just their third game of the season in a non-conference matchup. In that first Dec. 5 game against the Bowdoin Polar Bears, the Jumbos scored the first four baskets and held the Polar Bears scoreless for the first five minutes of the game, but the Polar Bears needed just 85 seconds to level the score at 8-8 after back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore guard Kate Kerrigan and junior guard Marle Curle. Senior co-captain forward Shannon Brady ended the quarter with a three-point play to pull her team ahead by one after the first 10 minutes of the game. It was a lead the Polar Bears would not relinquish, outscoring the Jumbos 26-10 in the second quarter and 15-7 in the fourth to cap off their runaway 61-43 victory against the Jumbos. Roberson scored 18 points in the loss off a commendable 8-of-16 from the field, one of only two members of the starting lineup to score more than seven points. Baptista put up eight points in 13 shot attempts. The team as a whole shot just 31 persee WOMEN'S BASKETBALL, page 11