The Tufts Daily - Thursday, September 24, 2026

The Tufts Daily THE

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

NEWSPAPER

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

Medford/Somerville, Mass.

Thursday, September 24, 2026

VOLUME XCIV, ISSUE 3

Students demand OEO reform as peer leaders allege ‘indiscretion’ in SHAPE pre-orientation Ari Osakwe

Assistant News Editor

A protest, “Say No to OEO,” was held outside the Tufts University Africana Center on Saturday during Homecoming events as students demanded the Tufts Office of Equal Opportunity provide more support for marginalized students in light of alleged “indiscretion.” The protest comes after an Instagram post made by Tufts senior Taisha Andre at the start of the semester, in which she argued that the OEO and program leadership did little to intervene when she experienced microaggressions and an unwelcoming environment for marginalized students as a peer leader for the pre-orientation program Students Heightening Actionable Political Engagement. Andre described several incidents, including alleged negative comments made about various majority-black Boston neighborhoods and insensitivity around nepotism. Ultimately, Andre affirmed, SHAPE coordinators

AMELIA SAMMONS / THE TUFTS DAILY

Students walk into the Ellis Oval advocating for reform of the Office of Equal Opportunity on Sept. 19. failed to “recognize when prejudice is normalized, to intervene when inappropriate comments were made, and to make sure that students and peer leaders feel safe speaking about their experiences.” Kevin Kraft, associate dean of students and a SHAPE administrator, wrote in a

statement to the Daily that it is possible for actions to be inappropriate without being policy violations and that the Office of Student Life offers ample training for peer leaders and coordinators. “Regardless of any training, we also know that — as humans —

we all will sometimes fall short,” Kraft wrote. “While conflict is inevitable in any community, we have choices in how we respond and, when given the opportunity, how we address the effects of our actions.” The post also notes the OEO’s decision not to move forward

with an investigation into the incidents, instead suggesting an “informal resolution.” Andre said she was “deeply disappointed that the school is choosing not to take more serious action or pursue a formal investigation into what happened.” Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, declined to comment about specific OEO cases but wrote in a statement to the Daily that every complaint is taken seriously to determine if conduct broke university policy. “We can assure the community that OEO works exhaustively with the information available to its staff to hold accountable anyone found to have violated university rules, regulations, or policies,” he wrote. “It is also important to note that OEO is not the only forum available to students to address and resolve concerns and differences.” After posting about both her SHAPE experience and the OEO protest, Andre said some see OEO, page 3

Incumbents hold strong in Massachusetts Democratic primaries, rebuffing national anti-incumbency trend Theo Weller

Deputy News Editor

In Massachusetts’ Sept. 1 Democratic primary elections, voters overwhelmingly sided with incumbents. Sen. Ed Markey handily defeated competitor Rep. Seth Moulton, and all eight incumbent members of the House of Representatives were victorious in their re-election bids. Incumbents overcame an abundance of challengers across the state and a rising movement in the Democratic Party for younger, more progressive candidates. Ultimately, despite these undercurrents within the party, voters trusted the generally progressive track records of Massachusetts incumbents. Congressional incumbents were challenged in primaries this year at 56.5%, the highest rate since 2014, according to a Ballotpedia report. Democratic challengers in particular have received increased attention, with seven Democratic representatives being unseated by primary opponents across the country.

The Massachusetts State House stands next to Boston Common on Feb. 4. According to Tufts Newhouse Professor of Civic Studies Brian Schaffner, the quantity of primary challenges tracks with the trend of parties not in the White House forging a new path.

“Usually the party out of power is the one that’s grappling more with divisions in the party about what the best path forward is for winning the next election,” he said. In Massachusetts, Moulton forfeited his seat in the House to

JOHN MURPHY / THE TUFTS DAILY

launch a high-profile challenge to Markey, a 50-year Congress veteran. Moulton, who has served in the House since 2015, centered his campaign around a need for generational change. He argued that the 80-year-old Markey had

2 NEWS

4 FEATURES

10 SCIENCE

12 SPORTS

City council resolves

‘TUPIT matters’

Is the math mathing?

All tied up

tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily.com

thetuftsdaily

The Tufts Daily

become too old to serve as a senator and legislate effectively on modern issues such as artificial intelligence. “People ought to ask, what are you going to accomplish in the next six years that you haven’t been able to accomplish in the last 50?” Moulton asked in an August debate with Markey. Moulton saw some early momentum, with a May Emerson College poll putting him just 5 points behind Markey. Schaffner cautioned that those results did not necessarily prove Moulton’s popularity, though. “Polling primaries is really hard,” he explained. “Most people who are going to vote in the primaries haven’t thought a lot about who they’re going to vote for yet, and so, especially further out from the election, you might get noisy results.” Several polls closer to the election favored Markey by over 25 points. Indeed, Markey trounced Moulton on election night, see MASS, page 2 News Features ARTS & Pop CULTURE fun & Games opinion Science Sports

The Tufts Daily

1 4 5 8 9 10 12

cloudy 48-64°

2

NEWS

THE TUFTS DAILY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

T he T ufts D aily Editorial Julian Glickman Editor in Chief

Olivia Bye Sadie Roraback-Meagher Managing Editors

Julia Segal Maya Godard Associate Editors Amelia Sammons Executive News Editor Sera Kwon Executive Features Editor Sophie Herron Executive Arts Editor Olivia Zambrano Executive Opinion Editor Luke Fredericks Executive Sports Editor Addison Dion Executive Science Editor Gus Gladstein Executive Investigative Editor Max Lerner Editorial Board Chair

Multimedia Ellie Broscow Executive Audio Editor Elliot Riseman Executive Video Editor Christina Jamieson Executive Photo Editors Josué Pérez Elise Lea Samson Executive Graphics Editor Sophie Penenberg Executive Fun & Games Editor

Committees Sorsha Khitikian Ethics & Inclusion Chair Zach Halverstam Education Chairs Dylan Tanouye Shea Tomac Social Chair

Production Angelina Moy Josh Solomon Production Directors Jamie Song Executive Layout Editors Diego Rodriguez Caroline Baker Executive Copy Editors Elyssa Cabey Max Lerner Executive Social Media Shea Tomac Managers Keira Krisburg Executive Newsletter Editor

Business Julia Critz Business Director Samantha Mascera Assistant Business Carol Wu Directors Claire Wood Alumni Liaisons Aisha Karim visit tuftsdaily.com/masthead

Founded in 1980, The Tufts Daily is the entirely student-run newspaper of record at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. An editorially and financially independent organization, the Daily’s staff of more than 100 covers news, features, arts and sports on Tufts’ four campuses and in its host communities.

Land Acknowledgement The Tufts Daily office is located on the colonized land of the Massachusett people and within the territories of the Nipmuc and Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) tribes.

Story tips? Questions? Concerns? Let us know!

Visit tuftsdaily.com/tips

P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155

Somerville City Council urges Tufts to resolve dispute with dismissed graduate student worker Shayna Levy

Deputy News Editor

At their Aug. 27 meeting, the Somerville City Council passed a resolution regarding a former Tufts international graduate student, alleging that she had suffered from a conflict while employed by the university that threatened her academic standing and suggested the possible termination of her program. The resolution aims to repair the damage that was done and allow the student to continue her educational and professional journey without setbacks from the conflict. “A fair resolution should seek not only to address past harm, but also to give the affected student the best possible chance to continue her education and career with dignity, free from unnecessary and continuing consequences arising from the dispute,” the resolution reads. The resolution calls on Tufts to remove or correct any grades changed in retaliation of the student exercising her rights and advocating for herself, provide appropriate financial compensation and work toward a fair resolution with the student that addresses both the academic and financial repercussions. “It’s easy to say those resolutions don’t matter because they don’t come with any legal weight at all, but when people disagree about them, you find out pretty quickly how much they do matter,” Ben Wheeler, Somerville city councilor at-large, said in an interview with the Daily. Wheeler, who both sponsored and voted for the resolution, believed it was important to bring light to the issue and reinstill certain communal values within the Tufts administration. “My co-sponsorship of this, and my vote in support of it, are ... to make sure that administrators at Tufts know this case is being watched by many people who care about it being handled fairly,” Wheeler said. “My hope is that this

Somerville City Hall is pictured on Nov. 11, 2024. is just an additional reminder to [Tufts administrators] to be acting with empathy and patience and fairness.” He also noted that the precision of the language used helps avoid assumptions, which was another motivator for his support. “It mattered a lot to me that the writing of this resolution was very precise about expressing concern, echoing allegations that have been raised and asking for fairness, but not assuming that we know exactly who was in the right or wrong in any particular incident or any particular aspect of this case,” Wheeler said. Wheeler spoke about the role the City Council plays in showing public support for issues like unions and collective bargaining efforts, as well as supporting international students at Tufts, especially in light of the detainment of Tufts international graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk in early 2025. “Quite a lot of the practical power of the council is sort of a soft power to give voice to things, and, especially in recent years, there’s been a desire for the council to

be a force for giving voice to processes being more just,” Wheeler said. “There are often resolutions in support of local union collective bargaining efforts or strikes.” “Especially after Rümeysa Öztürk’s abduction and ordeal getting justice, I think there’s a readiness on the part of the council to speak up about what international students experience — students whose academic status matters both in an academic sense and in their personal safety.” In response to the passing of the resolution at the city council meeting, Tufts University President Sunil Kumar wrote a letter to Somerville City Council President Lance Davis regarding Tufts’ relationship with the graduate students’ union. “Please know that we engage directly with the SEIU Local 509 on matters that are raised through the applicable grievance processes, and you will not be surprised to know that we do not always agree with the union’s allegations in certain matters,” Kumar wrote. “This said, the grievance processes available to our employees were negotiated with the union

KUNAL BOTLA / THE TUFTS DAILY

and offer a robust, fair, and transparent process which facilitates resolution of matters for the parties involved.” The university has not commented publicly on the outcome of the resolution process with the student. “Out of respect for student and employee privacy, and in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), we do not disclose personally identifiable information regarding a student’s grades or stipend,” Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, wrote in a statement to the Daily. “We have communicated and will continue to communicate directly with the student and their union representatives on this matter through the appropriate channels, as laid out in our collective bargaining agreement.” “There’s a deep sense of Tufts being part of the family of Somerville,” Wheeler said. “Sometimes you champion your family members, and sometimes you push them to do something differently or do something better.”

Markey win demonstrates incumbency advantage MASS continued from the front winning 64.7% of the vote to Moulton’s 35%. Some have attributed Markey’s landslide victory to Moulton’s failure to make a convincing argument against Markey’s progressive bona fides from half a century in Congress and a decade in the Senate. “The biggest thing that I saw in terms of anti-Markey stuff was just his age, and I think that people couldn’t really find anything else that was really bad about him,” Emma So, president of Tufts Democrats, said. While Democrats faced challengers at a high rate this cycle, Markey ultimately did not fit the image of a vulnerable incumbent.

Most Democratic challenges in 2026 have been driven by higher pressure on Democratic lawmakers to win back power in Congress in the midst of a highly unpopular Trump administration. “People feel helpless seeing the Trump administration doing things that they find so troubling and threatening to the values they hold that it reaches a point where it creates an opening for an insurgent movement within the party,” Professor of Political Science Deborah Schildkraut said. In New York, progressive challengers Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brad Lander — who were supported by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — defeated incumbent Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Dan Goldman, respectively, in a win for the progressive wing of the party and the Democratic Socialists of America.

Markey, though, was seen as the more progressive candidate in the race, including on issues such as healthcare, where he endorsed Medicare for All while Moulton stopped short, only endorsing a public option. “I think that race was very much an outlier in terms of having a progressive incumbent being challenged by a moderate,” Boden Wise, vice president of Tufts Democrats, said. In the races for Massachusetts’ nine House seats, challengers mostly ran to the left of incumbents but did not see much success. Dissatisfaction with congressional leadership among progressives may not be felt as strongly in Massachusetts compared to other states, according to Schaffner. With officeholders in the state already being fairly progressive, convincing voters

to vote for further left challengers was a hard sell. “The Democrats who are already in office in Massachusetts are already pretty liberal,” Schaffner said. Schildkraut highlighted the influence of the incumbency advantage, saying incumbents carry built-in benefits due to the length of their time in office. “[Incumbents have] already won elective office, so they have a donor network. They may have funds from their previous election. They have built colleagues and relationships in office,” she said. “All that makes it really hard for challengers, whether it’s the primary or the general election.” Massachusetts’ congressional nominees will move on to the general election on Nov. 3., where all are expected to face little Republican competition.

THE TUFTS DAILY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

NEWS

3

SHAPE controversy prompts OEO reform campaign OEO continued from the front students believed that the protest was a direct response to SHAPE incidents. Although her decision to protest the OEO was largely separate from her concerns about SHAPE, Andre acknowledged that the SHAPE incident may have influenced her decision to some extent. “The SHAPE situation and this OEO protest are two

separate entities,” she said. “I don’t want to say that the SHAPE incident didn’t at all influence my choice to do this protest. I think more so it’s recognizing that outside of the SHAPE incident, there aren’t any guardrails or any procedures from OEO that necessarily address student concerns.” Sydni Wheeler, a sophomore who also expressed concerns around her experience as a SHAPE peer leader, helped

organize the OEO protest and said that its timing during Homecoming was intentional. “Today our movement, ‘Say No to OEO,’ is [intended] to bring awareness at such a big time, which is the Homecoming game that we have every year with a big audience,” she said. “We wanted to really lay on display our anger and frustration with the Office of Equal Opportunity here at Tufts for not addressing the concerns of the

marginalized students of color that they have on campus.” The group initially walked around the Ellis Oval football field near the start of the game, before making their way to the stadium stands where they held up posters, chanting for the entirety of the game. Wheeler added that similar protests to raise awareness about the challenges Black Tufts students face are not unprecedented.

“Just 11 years ago, in 2015, Black students protested on campus, and that movement was called the 3% movement,” she said. “That protest was meant to increase the engagement of Tufts Admissions with Black students, and increase the number of black students on campus, and we’ve seen that, of course, in the past 11 years. But with that increase, there also needs to be an increase in engagement and addressing other issues.”

TCU Senate elects trustee representatives, convenes standing committees for first time Will Pinto

Assistant News Editor

Editor’s Note: Ari Osakwe is an assistant news editor for the news section of the Daily. He was not involved in the writing or editing of this article. The TCU Senate held internal elections for this year’s slate of trustee representatives on Sunday. These non-voting members will represent the student body in meetings of the Tufts University Board of Trustees and are expected to attend half the Senate’s meetings over the semester. They will represent three aspects of campus life: university advancement, student affairs and academic affairs. Sophomore Arinze Osakwe will be the new trustee

representative for university advancement. “I worked with Tufts Admissions last summer, and from there I did lots of marketing and advertising and really showed the best of Tufts to different prospective students,” Osakwe said in a speech to the Senate. “During that time, I really just thought I would love to do something similar, but with ideas and the opinions of students that could actually be brought forward to the Board of Trustees, or really any other board here at Tufts.” Margaret Hines, meanwhile, will be the new trustee representative for academic affairs. The Board of Trustees requested that senior Seray Ajei retain her position as trustee representative

The Joyce Cummings Center is pictured.

for student affairs. Returning to the position may complicate Ajei’s potential bid for Senate this semester, though nothing in the TCU Senate bylaws prevents the two positions from being held simultaneously. TCU Senate President Brendan French and Vice President Shefali Bakre told the Senate about their upcoming meeting with University President Sunil Kumar and Deans Bárbara Brizuela and Kyongbum Lee, among a number of other members of the university’s administration. On the docket will be a range of issues, including staffing levels at the eight Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion centers on campus, recent criticisms and protests

surrounding the Office of Equal Opportunity and the status of the Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch College of Civic Life. The administration has seen protests over its decision to suspend TUPIT’s on-campus classes for the academic year following a shooting involving a former participant, and its perceived lack of support for the program after replacing its founder and former executive director Hilary Binda over the summer. Other updates included a rejection of a proposed bylaw amendment to make the TCU Senate Executive Board “mandatory reporters” of incidents to the university administration, a faculty meet and greet on Oct. 14 and a walkthrough of

the Treasury’s new online reimbursement platform. The Senate committee chairs selected their members last week and announced their decisions to the Senate on Sunday. Naisha Luthra, international community senator and a member of the Committee for Community and Diversity, spoke about the committees’ goals for the upcoming year. “We’re definitely a smaller group, but I think we’re going to work on trying to reach out to our communities and try to find more people interested in filling these roles,” Luthra said. “A big focus of CCDI [will be] to fill up positions and do more outreach with the DSDI centers and just work more closely with the institution.”

RACHEL LIU / THE TUFTS DAILY

4

FEATURES

THE TUFTS DAILY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

Features ‘TUPIT matters’: Students maintain community as future of TUPIT remains unclear Abilene Adelman

Deputy Features Editor

Originally published Sept. 22. For many returning students this fall, the start of the semester is accompanied by the absence of a fundamental part of their Tufts experience. MyTERN, the Education and Reentry Network program run by the Tufts University Prison Initiative at Tisch College, brings formerly incarcerated students to the Tufts campus to learn alongside full-time Tufts students. In July, Joseph Auner, Tufts’ interim provost and senior vice president, sent an email announcing the suspension of the in-person MyTERN program for the 2026–27 school year. The decision followed a shooting in May that involved Tyler Brown, a student who had been previously enrolled in the program. For students like Addy Samway, a junior who has been involved with TUPIT since her first year, the absence of the program feels particularly personal. Samway participated in the MyTERN program for two semesters before becoming one of the teaching assistants who supports the degree program inside Massachusetts Correctional Institution-Shirley, a prison roughly 50 minutes away from the Tufts campus. Last spring, she also became a student assistant for the program. “It’s a year-long program, but reentry is a lifelong process. The way that MyTERN works is that people continue to come back to the space because the space exists,” Samway said. “When you take that away, that most recent cohort has no space to return to. All the decade of MyTERN students who would come back … lose this space too. It’s not just future students.” On the first day of classes this fall, Samway and seven other students involved in TUPIT organized the TUPIT Matters Speak-Out in front of Ballou Hall to address the impact of the MyTERN program’s suspension on the community. The speak-out included a rotating group of speakers who shared their connection to TUPIT and its influence. Greta Steege, a junior who previously participated in MyTERN, attended the event. “It was a little bittersweet, I would say, because I got to see a lot of MyTERN students that were in my class in the spring that I hadn’t seen in four months,” she said. “But it’s also hard knowing that this is one of the few opportunities that this group of people is going to be able to get together.” No official announcements have been made about the program’s cancellation. The university maintains that it remains “paused” for an independent review to be conducted and for a working group of faculty and staff to assess the review.

JOSUÉ PÉREZ / THE TUFTS DAILY

The TUPIT Matters Speak-Out was held on Sept. 8 outside of Ballou Hall. “We understand the need to provide ongoing assistance to returning students and are working to connect them with partners and other sources of support,” Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, wrote in a statement to the Daily. “The [working] group will continue engaging stakeholders, incorporating feedback from faculty and students, and developing strengthened administrative structures and processes to support the program moving forward.” Many formerly incarcerated MyTERN students were present at the speak-out alongside full-time Tufts students and faculty. “MyTERN means much more to me than simply being a program I graduated from,” Jamar Leaston, who graduated from MyTERN this past spring, wrote in a statement to the Daily. “That is why I felt it was important for me to be at the September 8th Speak Out. I wasn’t there simply to protest the loss of a program. I was there to stand up for the people who will come after me. The people who have already gone through MYTERN should not be the last people to have access to that kind of community.” The MyTERN community has continued to find ways to come together since news broke of the shooting in May. Both Steege and Samway recalled the texts and calls that came in after the incident, as students gathered virtually to process their feelings of shock and grief. Steege found out about the shooting from her spring MyTERN professor. “The fact that our professor, a month after class ended, reached out to every single person individually and tried to see how everyone was doing and responding to the news speaks to the community built in that program,” she said.

Andrew West, a lecturer in the chemistry department who has taught classes at three different prisons as a part of TUPIT, attended part of the speak-out before teaching his first class of the semester. “When things like this are cut or diminished, it’s not a typical academic cut,” he said. “This isn’t just a professional change for many of us. It is an emotional, guttural, to-our-core change. That is something you saw at [the speak-out].” Samway expressed frustration toward the lack of information and transparency made available to the TUPIT student community during the summer, as uncertainty about the program’s future grew. “There’s a lot of damage that was done that can’t be repaired. We need transparency and communication from [the university],” she said. “In my opinion, if there is a future to be built with the scraps of TUPIT that we have left, we need people in decision-making who understand the program.” Collins added that conversations between the administration and students, faculty and teaching assistants had “provided opportunities to share additional information and context and to listen carefully to feedback, concerns, and suggestions.” To show support throughout the summer, current and former full-time Tufts students, MyTERN students, alumni and faculty organized a letter-writing campaign directed towards the administration, including the working group. “We were organizing all around the country, wherever we were, and trying to organize something that communicated to the administration that you can’t just do this and take this away from us and expect us not to do anything about it,” Samway said.

In a September update to the TUPIT community, Auner acknowledged concerns surrounding the program’s future and thanked students and faculty for writing to university leadership. “I recognize that the temporary changes with TUPIT have created uncertainty and stress, particularly for our students, as well as for faculty and staff who have experienced the program’s impact firsthand,” Auner wrote. He added that further steps would be contingent on the ongoing independent review process and that in-person prison education classes would continue as planned, with Melanie MacFarlane serving as interim director, replacing TUPIT founder and teaching professor Hilary Binda. For some formerly incarcerated MyTERN students, the speakout created a space to highlight their firsthand experiences with the program. “I’d be alone if not for my beautiful community I found through TUPIT,” Shawn, a MyTERN student, said at the Sept. 8 event. “They stripped me of my reentry plans. … I planned on being involved in TUPIT for the entirety of my life, because it’s changed my life so much.” “I hope the university will consider these perspectives of the Medford students and the MyTERN students, because that’s who the program is for, and that’s the people that are truly getting a ton out of it,” Steege said. West echoed Steege’s desire. “I hope they will see that we can educate these incarcerated guys, but when they get out, they need resources. Education is one of many pathways to success,” he said. “What is beautiful about MyTERN is that it really helped people get on their feet.”

MyTERN classes were different from any traditional Tufts lecture. They often involved eating dinner together as a class, sharing personal details about the day and applauding each person’s wins. Samway said that for her, the importance of the speakout clicked when she saw all of the MyTERN students gathered together after a summer apart. “It was in protest of the lack of space we had been given to grieve and process both what happened with Tyler and what has happened to the program. TUPIT is a very human, community-oriented organization. It functions only because we are face to face, working with each other, seeing each other and listening to each other, and we have been deprived of that all summer,” she said. “Being all together was so important to me, and also not the last step in what we need to do to continue fighting for this organization.” The eight students responsible for organizing the event were granted a meeting with Auner and Dayna Cunningham, the dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, and have continued to meet with members of the working group to discuss changes being made to TUPIT and the future direction of MyTERN. “Our shared goal is to ensure TUPIT receives the administrative support and resources it needs so that current and future participants can continue to benefit from its academic opportunities and coursework, as well as the non-academic supports that contribute to their success,” Collins said. Samway says she plans to continue speaking out for TUPIT, and hopes to build space on campus for the MyTERN community to gather and process despite the program’s uncertain future.

THE TUFTS DAILY

ARTS & POP CULTURE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

5

ARTS & POP CULTURE ‘Whistler’ by Ann Patchett: A story about the people we lose touch with Sarin Chaimattayompol Deputy Arts Editor

This review contains spoilers for “Whistler” by Ann Patchett. “Whistler” by Ann Patchett opens with what seems like a meetcute: In a city of 8.58 million people, Daphne Fuller, the protagonist, runs into a man from her past at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Except the man is old, and he is following her. He is not a stranger nor an ex-lover, but her former stepfather, Eddie Triplett. This novel is a love story, though not a romantic one. It is about the people who come and go in our lives and who become family through connection rather than blood. Though the two have been estranged for 44 years, Eddie swiftly introduces Daphne as his daughter to everyone. This includes Skip Hotalling, who has been Eddie’s lover since college, even during Eddie’s marriage to Daphne’s mother. The novel continuously revisits the idea of a stepfather-stepdaughter relationship — Patchett draws attention to each time Eddie calls Daphne his daughter, and to how “stepfather” is an “honorific bestowed or withheld by the stepchild.” From the beginning, it’s clear that Eddie and Daphne share a deep, special attachment with no legal or biological ties. The question is why Daphne, exactly.

The answer traces back to one fateful night, when the two were stranded on the side of the road in the dead of winter following a car accident. The novel oscillates between those traumatic days and the present. To distract nineyear-old Daphne from the severity of the situation, Eddie recounted a memoir proposal about a horse named Whistler, named for the way he ran to his handler at the sound of a whistle. One night, the handler fell, cracked her ribs and was left alone in the forest, afraid she would pass away. As in many other loyal animal stories, she whistled, and the horse valiantly carried her to her farm. Like Whistler and his handler, Daphne and Eddie had been separated ever since that night, but eventually reunited. And like the memoir, the relationship between Daphne and Eddie is one that turns trauma into a tale of surviving, staying loyal and promising to return, even if it takes four decades. Near the end of the novel, Eddie is diagnosed with leukemia and begins contemplating how he will pass away. Daphne tries to comfort him, and the two share a tender moment when he tells her what he learned at a dharma lecture: After death, the body doesn’t know it is dead and needs someone to remind it. They pray and remind the deceased people in their lives so that none of them are left wandering and lost.

GRAPHIC BY ELISE LEA SAMSON Meanwhile, Daphne’s sister, Leda, has remained in the dark about the night of the crash for all these years. Only when everyone gathers at the hospital for Eddie does Leda learn what happened: It was Daphne who saved the two of them, while Eddie was forced to stay in the car because of his broken ankle. In Daphne and Eddie’s final conversation, Eddie suggests that she turn their story into a book, and says, “In the book, I don’t die. In the

book, we’re sitting on this bench, talking about a book about the two of us, and then the story stops with us waiting for Jonathan and your mother to come back.” One interpretation of this could be that during the original events, Eddie froze and died in the car while Daphne was outside searching for help. In this interpretation, the whole novel could have been Daphne’s way of ensuring Eddie is not a lost soul by reminding him

that he is dead, 44 years after she has finally processed her own grief. Although Daphne could not be Whistler, who ultimately returned to her handler, the reimagined story in which Eddie survives the crash is a testament to the bond between father and daughter. In it, she reconnects with her love for Eddie and ensures that he is never forgotten, keeping her promise to return to the memory of her stepfather despite the trauma and loss.

‘This Mirror Weighs a Ton,’ but Interpol can handle it Noah Goldstein Arts Editor

Originally published Sept. 18 It’s impossible to say how many groups of vagabond wannabe rock stars were wandering around post-9/11 New York City convinced that they had ‘it’ — an aura, a specific combination of sound and attitude that could elevate them to the level of the city’s many sacrosanct legends: the Ramones, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth. Many of those erstwhile headbangers are probably in less glamorous professions now. Nonetheless, there are a select few who pulled off exactly what they set out to do: LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes and, of course, Interpol. But time has not been so kind to all these groups. James Murphy’s collective hasn’t released an album since 2017, and The Strokes’ Rick Rubin-produced effort from earlier this year was an admirable attempt at a new sonic direction that nonetheless produced the band’s weakest work to date. Two decades have naturally brought plenty of turbulence to Paul Banks and co. as well. The band’s truculent yet brilliant bassist Carlos D quit in 2010 after losing interest in playing altogether,

with his final contribution to the band being their self-titled album that remains the closest the group has come to a lousy record. Still, there is something provocative, thrilling and even unfamiliar about their latest album, “This Mirror Weighs a Ton,” that makes one think Interpol might still have a trick left up their sleeve. The 12-track release — which also serves as the outfit’s first record for Partisan, the label which also houses acts like Geese, Fontaines D.C. and Cigarettes After Sex — does share some continuity with the works that precede it. 2022’s “The Other Side of MakeBelieve” and 2018’s “Marauder” — both, fittingly, released in federal election years, a pattern the band has kept up since 2010 — found Banks basking in his own ambiguously dreamy lyricism. Daniel Kessler and Sam Fogarino are also back at lead guitar and drums, respectively. Still, the addition of longtime touring bassist Brad Truax as a core member and the arrival of keyboardist-slash-superstar producer Andrew Wyatt (who’s worked with everyone from Lil Wayne to Liam Gallagher) breathe new life into a group

whose last few releases suggested a trio of icons content to stick with their recognizable, wellloved sound. Truax’s first time in the studio with Interpol may have come fifteen years after he began performing with the ensemble, but it’s not a moment too soon, as he brings a versatility that has been missing since Carlos D’s heyday. While his work on the title track is downtempo (Banks mentioned a Massive Attack influence in his new bassist) and almost shoegazey, the album’s other lead single, the propulsive “See Out Loud,” indicates that Truax is equally capable of keeping up with something closer to a classic Interpol punk ballad. These, which are the album’s first two songs, prove to be two of the album’s more memorable cuts, but it is the latter that best exemplifies the reborn group’s sound, as echoing vocals are layered alongside colliding strings to produce something electrifying. Though the days of Interpol songs detailing the lives of British serial killers or sirenic amphibians may be over, there is still some storytelling on display here. Following the shift from fiction to introspection that came in the interval between

“Marauder” and “Make-Believe,” Banks — who has gotten married and had two children since the band’s last album — now finds himself looking back on the volatility of the past as someone who is perhaps finally comfortable in the spotlight. “I never held my tongue / And watched the crowds disappear,” he belts on “Enemy.” “I can’t bear to sink my luck into a cosmic affair.” “Figured out how I’m gonna feel / This is not sudden to me,” he adds over Wyatt’s swelling piano on the album’s final track, “Sudden.” One suspects that there is a sly irony at work, that in fact this more sensitive Banks is still figuring things out. Even so, the frontman has rarely been so transparent. What’s most impressive about the group’s new and improved sound is that they’ve accommodated new members without sacrificing one of punk music’s more recognizable sonic identities. “Wings On Fire” is a hard-charging anthem powered by the reverb that made the band’s name more than 20 years ago, but Wyatt’s production is cleaner and more accessible than previous endeavors. “Bird and The Serpent,” a complex standout

towards the end of the album, finds Kessler in fine form and full command of the quintet, opening the two-part track with majestic power chords before shifting into a more psychedelic register aided by strings and synths. It’s maybe the farthest the band gets from their musical home base, an exciting sign that this new group is not averse to exploring novel territory. We very well may have to wait until 2030 to find out what’s next for the now-quintet (they also added veteran keyboardist Brandon Curtis as an official member in June, despite Wyatt’s assumption of the recording duties). It’s never a given that a combo will continue once its members start having kids; if another release is meant to be, it’s bound to bring something new to the table. “This Mirror Weighs a Ton” marks the band’s return to recording in their quasi-hometown for the first time in more than a decade, and one can almost tell just from listening to the music they’ve compiled. At times it’s experimental, and at times it’s even imperfect, but it’s always Interpol, right back where they’re meant to be.

6

PHOTO

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

THE TUFTS DAILY

PHOTOS BY JOHN MURPHY GRAPHIC BY JAMIE SONG

8

F&G

THE TUFTS DAILY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

FUN & GAMES

Late Night At The Daily FUN & GAMES

Julian: “I need something to tickle my funny box.”

Campus Tour

By The Tufts Daily - Published on https://crosshare.org

Sharper Advice

1

Staying close when you’re far Harper Stone and Sophie Penenberg

Q:

I moved far away for college and have been struggling in ways I didn’t expect. With classes starting, I’ve been feeling guilty for being so busy and not being as involved at home. Honestly, I don’t know how to stay close to them… A: For every college student, there’s that weird moment when you realize that you’re no longer the center of your parents’ universe, and they actually have lives without you. And, for

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

69 12 27

13

12

13

25 Hitting a losing streak,

some reason, they have decided my entire support system back of mourning the highway you saidinthan pokerdone, but whether it’s they no longer need14to notify at home was15going to one day used to live16on. with your friends from home or 26 Publisher you of important information. forget about me. But the thing Here are a few things that even with theif former version of 27 Appear as 28 Strategy You might, for example, come to remember is that change is have worked for us with these yourself, the constant compari17 18 19 29 Pitcher Jesseand, with in a our opinhome to find your basement has not abandonment. We’ve said people we love: son is draining number 20 mother’s 21 but we’ll say it again: 22 your parents on the been gutted amid your it before, Call ion,record a futile effort.of regular-season reconstruction plans or receive Things change and relation- long walk to class, send them You’ll always have summer apearances 23 24 25 Dewick 26 27 suna text from the family with a pic- ships change, but while scary a picture of your vacations to go home, see an 30 Giggled ture of Bad Bunny performing at sometimes, it’s not always a dae or have them review appli- opp and feel 15 again! No matter 31 Opposite of WSW 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 the Super Bowl halftime show. No bad thing. cations for clubs that you never how independent you become, 32 Some lipstick shades... ‘wish you were here.’ Just proof of Try viewing it less as a loss and thought you’d have to apply to it’s nice to know your family will or NSFW photos 35 36 37 life at home without you. more as navigating what your after already getting into Tufts. always be able to make you feel 33 Thor's dad Between schoolwork, darties adult life looks like outside your If your parents are anything like like an angsty teenager within 20 34 Lice egg 38 39 40 41 and rush that takes up an unnec- childhood home. It’s exciting and mine, they will be overjoyed at minutes of walking through the 36 Swag essary amount of time42and ener- time-consuming to be building the slightest communication. front door. 39 Wow 43 44 gy, nightly FaceTimes and week- your own life, but that doesn’t Parents are sentimental like that 40 In the meantime, if you need a Sheep-ish 41 Dorm supervisors, end visits are not always realmean there’s less room for your — it’s kind of their thing. Try friend, we’re here anytime! 45 46 47 48 abbr.love, istic ways of staying in touch. family to be in it. showing the mess and not just With Official order WithBythis the-49 inevitableon https://crosshare.org The question isn’t ‘How 50 do the highlight reel. Guilt often 46 Sharper Advice The comes Tufts Daily Published 47 Airport screening org. guilt that makes you feel that I stay as involved as I used to comes from performing a life 25 Hitting a losing streak, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 48 They're big in the gym 51 That’s an 52 impossible 53 54 55 than 56 the57truth. 58 you’re turning into the kind of be?’ task that’s tidier in pokerThe Harper a junior studying 50 Top is fraternity, child14 who doesn’t show up for that will likely end in tears. But ‘I’m so busy’ texts you send to 26 Publisher 15 16 biopsychology backwards and can be reached 59 60 61 62 63 Christmas dinner. that’s okay! That’s distance doing make your life sound easier than 27 Appear as if at Sophie 52harper.stone@tufts.edu. Castle defense We’ve all been there. My what distance does. Instead, the it actually is usually end up just is a junior studying community 28 Strategy 17 18 19 53 Tire, in France 64 65 66 29 Pitcher Jesse with a freshman year, I was constantly question becomes how to build shutting people out. Stop keephealth can be reached at 54 Bayand area sch. recordeasier number of By Theworrying Tufts Daily - Published on https://crosshare.org sophia.pennenberg@tufts.edu. 21 that 22 instead kept20up at night a smaller, sturdier bridge ing score. It’s definitely 55 Execute perfectly

Campus Tour

Campus Tour

Campus Tour 67 3

68 7

regular-season 25 Hitting a 56losing Foodstreak, that might be apearances in poker eaten on Tuesdays 23 24 25 26 CROSSWORD By The Tufts Daily - Published on https://crosshare.org 30 Giggled 26 Publisher 14 15 16 57 You are, in Spain 38 Location at 68A where ACROSS 31 Opposite of streak, WSW 25 Hitting a losing 296 30 7 31 33 3411 1 2 3 4 528 8 The Tufts 9 Daily -32 10 12 13 27 Appear as Research if By Published on https://crosshare.org 58 papers, abbr. you might watch a 1 Email-synced DOWN 32 Some28lipstick shades... in poker Strategy 17 18 19 performance 59 At 68A, new namestreak, for schedule, for short 1 The of13photos 25 Hitting a losing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 best11acronym or 12 NSFW 35 36 37 29 Pitcher Jesse with a 13D all time in poker 5 68A mascot 26 Publisher 14 15 16 42 37A (again) 33 Thor's dad record number of 20 22 60 26 __ Publisher Jima 43 1014Therefore21 227 Major national 15 Former sophomore, 16Appear asegg if regular-season 34 Lice 38 39 40 41 61 Slippery fish current freshman dorm organization for AI apearances 14 Quaker grains 27 Appear as if 36 Swag 23 24 25 28 26 Strategy 27 and standards at 68A research 17 18 19 1517B.o.B. hit, "Nothing __ 28 Strategy 18 19 Wow30 Giggled 42 43 44 in China,39abbr. __" 29 Pitcher Jesse with a 29 Pitcher Jesse with a 44 Professional parker 40 Sheep-ish 31 Opposite of WSW 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 By The Tufts Daily - Published on https://crosshare.org record number of 45 Refreshing caffeinated 16 Add to the payroll 3 Off-road vehicles, abbr.of record number 20 21 22 41 Dorm32 supervisors, 20 21 22 45 46 47 48 Some lipstick regular-season shades... drinks 17 Source of much 4 Liver Sinusoidal 25 Hitting a losing streak, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 abbr. regular-season or NSFW photos 35 36 37 apearances modern slang 48 Casual in restaurant poker 23 24 Endothelial 25 Cell 26 27 46 Official apearances 49 50 33order Thor's dad 49 25 Secret 18 WWII sub 5 Energy units 23 15 24 26 27 30 Giggled 26 languages Publisher 14 16 47 Airport 34screening Lice egg org. 38 39 40 41 50 German article 1928"Sick" 630 _ _ Giggled inha48 _ _They're _ able, big or in the gym 31 Opposite of WSW 27 Appear as if 29 or "legendary" 30 31 32 33 34 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 36 inSwag synonym, or a long not able to be lived 32 Some lipstick shades... 51 Location at 68A, home 28 Strategy 17 18 19 50 Top fraternity, 39WSW Wow 31 Opposite of 42 43 44 28 29 30 31 32 33 story 34 to "the sink" or NSFW photos 7 "None of your 35 36 37 29 Pitcher Jesse with a backwards By The Tufts Daily - Published on 59 https://crosshare.org 60 61 62 63 40 Sheep-ish beeswax!" 32 Some lipstick shades... 59 Level 20 Location at 68A where record number of 33 Thor's dad 20 21 22 52 Castle 25 Hitting a losing streak, 41defense Dorm supervisors, 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 you'd 11 me 12 13 45 7 46 probably 47 10 find 48 regular-season 62 Well-timed 8 Wild pig or NSFW photos 34 Lice egg 38 39 40 41 35 36 37 53 Tire, in France in poker abbr. 64 66 during65finals apearances 9 "I've gotta get __ here" 36 23 24 25 26 27 63 Org. for seniors 54 Bay area sch. order Swag 26 Publisher 33 Thor's dad 46 Official 14 15 16 49 50 39 Wow 64 Tumblr 2342So far... 10 There, their, ___ 30 Giggled 43 Cutesy 44 55 Execute perfectly 67 68 27 69Appear as if 47 Airport screening org. aesthetic 34 Lice egg 38 28 39 40 41 24 Un, Deux, __ 11 In-the-know 40 Sheep-ish 31 Opposite of WSW 29 30 31 32 33 34 56 Food48 thatThey're might be 28 Strategy55 big in the gym 17 18 19 52 51 53 54 56 57 58 65 Famous for hislipstick fables48 2845Sacred pole symbols 1236 Ocean stateeaten sch. on Tuesdays41 Dorm supervisors, 32 Some shades... 46 47 Swag 29 Pitcher Jesse with a 50 Top fraternity,abbr. 66 Like 45A, rapper and 32 Sabrina Carpenter hit 13 At 68A, 57 old name for in Spain or NSFW 35 36 37 You are, recordphotos number of 39 Wow backwards 20 21 22 ACROSS59 38 Location at 68A where 42 43 44 60 61 62 63 actor 59D 46 Official order 35 TD Garden, for one 33 Thor's dad 49 50 regular-season 58 Research papers, abbr. you might watch a 52 Castle defense DOWN 1 Email-synced 40 Sheep-ish 67 Disney Dylan's twin 36 BMW competitor 21 Edmonton Oilers player 47 34 Lice apearances egg 38 39 performance for Airport screening org. schedule, for short 40 2441 53 new Tire,name in France 23 26 27 1 The best66acronym ofZach 59 At 68A, 64 65 25 68 University in Medford 37 Mao __-tung 48 36 Swag 41 Dorm supervisors, 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 13D 54 Bay area sch.They're big in the gym 45 46 47 48 time 30 all Giggled 5 68A mascot 42 37A (again) (and/or Somerville??) 22 Reshares on 50 Top fraternity, 39 Wow 42 43 44 abbr. 60 __Twitter, Jima 31 Opposite 55 Execute perfectly 28 29 30 31By The Tufts10 32 33 on https://crosshare.org 34 2 Major national Therefore 43 Former sophomore, 68 69of WSW briefly Daily - 67 Published backwards 69 40 Sheep-ish 59 60 61 62 Defeat 63 61 Slippery fish that might be AI46 Official current freshman dorm 32 organization Some lipstickfor shades... 56 Food 14 Quaker grains order 49 45 50 52 Castle defense 25 Hitting a losing streak, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 4111 Dorm 12 13 and 46 47 48 research standards at8 68A orsupervisors, NSFW photos eaten on Tuesdays 35 36 37 15 B.o.B. hit, "Nothing __ in66poker abbr.in China, abbr. 47 64 65 53 Tire, in France Airport screening org. __" ACROSS 33 Thor's dad 57 You are, in Spain 44 Professional parker 38 Location at1668A 54 Bay area sch. 26 Publisher 46where Official 14 15 49 50 the gym 34 Liceorder egg vehicles, 48 51 52 53to1the 54 56 58 papers, abbr. 38 39 16 Add 40 45 41 3 Off-road abbr.They're big58inResearch payroll Refreshing caffeinated you55 might watch a 57 Email-synced DOWN 55 Execute perfectly 27 Appear as if 47 Airport screening org. 67 68 69 drinks performance 36 SwagSinusoidal 59 At 68A, new name for 4 Liver 17 Source ofschedule, much for short 50 Top fraternity, 1 The best acronym of 56 Food that might be 28 Strategy 17 18 19 48 They're big in the gym 51 52 53 modern 54 55 56 57 58 13D Cell slang 39 Endothelial Wow 42 43 44 48 Casual restaurant all time 42 37A (again) 5 68A mascot backwards eaten on Tuesdays 29 Pitcher Jesse with a 50 Top fraternity, 59 60 61 62 63 40 Sheep-ish 60 __ Jima 5 Energy units 18 WWII10 subTherefore 49 Secret languages 43 Former sophomore, 2 Major national record number of backwards 57 You are, in Spain 20 21 22 59 60 61 62 63 38 Location at_68A where ACROSS 52or Castle defense 41 Dorm supervisors, 61 Slippery fish 45 46 47 48 6 _ inha _ _ _ able, 19 "Sick"14or Quaker "legendary" 50 German current article freshman dorm organization for AI regular-season grains 58 Research papers, abbr. 52 Castle defense you might watch a DOWN 1 Email-synced abbr. not able to be lived53 in or a long at research and standards 51 at 68A 68A, home apearances Tire, in France 64 65 synonym, 66 15 23 B.o.B. hit, "Nothing __ Location performance 59 At 68A, new name for 53 Tire, in France 24 25 26 27 schedule, for short 64 65 66 1 The best acronym of story in China, abbr. to "the 46 Officialof order 49 7 "None your __" 50 44sink" Professional parker 13D Bay area sch. 3054 Giggled 54 Bay area sch. all time 42 37A (again) 5 68A mascot 47 beeswax!" Airport3screening org. 20 Location at 68A where 4534Refreshing caffeinated 16 Add to the payroll3259 Level Off-road31vehicles, abbr. 60 __ Jima of WSW 55 Execute perfectly 28 29 30 31 33 68 69 2 Major national 10 55Opposite Execute perfectly 67 67 68 69 5843 Former you'd probably meTherefore 48 They're big in the gym 51 52 53 54 Sourcefind 56 drinks 57 62 55Well-timed 8 sophomore, Wild pig 17 of much 4 Liver Sinusoidal 61 Slippery fish 32 Some lipstick shades... 56 Food that might be organization for AI current freshman dorm 14 Quaker during finals 50 Top fraternity, 63 grains Org. for 9 "I've gottaEndothelial get __ here" 56orCell Food photos that might be modern slang 48 seniors Casual restaurant NSFW eaten on Tuesdays research and standards at 37 68A 35 36 B.o.B. hit, "Nothing __ 15 backwards 59 60 61 62 23 So far... 64 63Cutesy 10 There, their, ___units in eaten Tuesdays 49 Tumblr Secret languages 18 WWII sub Energy China, abbr. 33 Thor's dad on 57 You are, parker in5defense Spain __" 44 Professional 38 Location at 68A__ where ACROSS aesthetic 52 Castle 11 In-the-know 24 Un, Deux, 50 German article 19 "Sick" or "legendary" 6 _ _ inha _ _ _ able, or 3457 Lice egg are, in Spain 58 Research abbr. 38 39 40 41 Refreshing you might watch a You 3 Off-road 45 caffeinated 16 Add to payrollfor his 1 64 Email-synced 53 Ocean Tire, inpapers, France 65 28 66 12 state sch. to 65the Famous fables pole symbols 38Sacred Location at 68A where ACROSS synonym, or aDOWN long not able be lived in vehicles, abbr. 51 Location at 68A, drinks performance 59home At 68A, new name for36 Swag schedule, for short 4 Liver Sinusoidal 17 Source of much 1 The best acronym of 54 Bay area sch. story watch 13 At 68A, name for Research 66 Like 45A, and 32 Sabrina Carpenter hit 58 papers, abbr. torapper "the sink" you might a all 7 old "None of DOWN 1 Email-synced 13Drestaurant 39your Wow 42 43 44 Endothelial Cell modern slang time 48 Casual 426837A (again) 5 67 68A mascot 59D actor 55 Execute perfectly 69 35 TDperformance Garden, for one beeswax!" 20 Location at 68A where 59 Level 59 At 68A, new name for 40 Sheep-ish schedule, 60acronym __ Jima 5 Energy units 49 Secret 18 WWII sub national1 The best of might 2 Major 43 Former sophomore, 10 Therefore for short 56languages Food that be 21 Edmonton Oilers player 67 Dylan's twin 36 BMW competitor you'd probably find meDisney 62 Well-timed 8 Wild pig 41 Dorm 61 Slippery fish 45 46freshman 47 48for AI organization current dorm 6 _13D _ supervisors, inha _ _ _ able, or 50 German article 19 "Sick" "legendary" eaten on Tuesdays Quaker grains time Zach during finals 37A (again) 5 14 68A mascot 68or University in all Medford 3742 Mao __-tung Org. for seniors 9 "I've gotta get __ here" abbr. not to be lived in synonym, or a63 long research and standards at 68A 51 Location at 68A, home 15 ACROSS B.o.B. hit, "Nothing __ (and/or Somerville??) 57 Reshares You are, inon Spain 60 ___ __ able Jima 22 Twitter, 3843Location at 68A where storyin China, 23 So far... 64 Cutesy Tumblr 10 There, their, 2 Major national Former sophomore, 10 Therefore abbr. 46 Official order to "the sink" 49 50 __" 7 "None of your 44 Professional parker 58 briefly Research papers, abbr. 69 Defeat aesthetic you might watch a __ DOWN 1 Email-synced 24 Un, Deux, In-the-know Slippery fishorg. AI11 new current freshman dorm 4761 Airport screening beeswax!" 59 Level59for 20 Location at 68A whereorganization 14 16 Quaker grains 3 Off-road vehicles, abbr. 45 Refreshing caffeinated Add schedule, to the payroll performance At 68A, name for for short 1 The best acronymfor of his fables 28 Sacred pole53symbols 12 Ocean state sch. big in the gym 65find Famous 48 They're 51 52 54 55 56 57 58 you'd probably me research and standards at 68A drinks 8 Wild pig 62 Well-timed 13D 4 LiverallSinusoidal Source ofmascot much 15 17 B.o.B. hit, "Nothing __ 5 68A 42 37A (again) 32 Sabrina Carpenter hitfinalstime 13 At 68A, 50 old Top name for 66 Like 45A, rapper and during fraternity, Endothelial Cell in China, slang 63 Org. for seniors 9 "I've gotta get __ here" abbr. 48 Casual restaurant 60 __ Jima 59D actor __"modern 2 Major national 10 Therefore 4344Former sophomore, 35 TD Garden, for one Professional parker backwards 59 6049 Secret 61 62 63 Cutesy Tumblr 64 10 There, their, ___ 23 So far... 5 Energy units languages 18 WWII sub 61 Slippery Edmonton fish organization for AI current dorm 14 Quaker grains 36 freshman BMW competitor Oilers player 67 Disney Dylan'saesthetic twin 52 11 Castle defense 3able, Off-road vehicles, 21 abbr. 45at 68A Refreshing caffeinated 16 19 Add to or the payroll In-the-know 24 Un, Deux, ___ _ _ and 6 _ _ inha or 50 German article "Sick" "legendary" research standards Zach 15 B.o.B. hit, "Nothing __ 37 Mao __-tung 68 University 66 in Medford 53 12 Tire, in France 65 Ocean state sch. Famous for his fables 28 Sacred symbols not pole able to be 4 lived in 65 synonym, a long 64 drinks in China, abbr. 51 Location at 68A, home Liver Sinusoidal 17 Source much __"of or (and/or Somerville??) 44 Professional parker 22 Reshares on Twitter, 54 Bay area sch. story to "the sink" 13 At 68A, old name for 66 Like 45A, rapper and 32 Sabrina Carpenter hit 7 "None of yourvehicles, Endothelial Cell modern briefly 3 Off-road abbr. 16 Addslang to the payroll 4548Refreshing 69 Defeat Casualcaffeinated restaurant 55 Execute 67 68 69 actor 59D perfectly beeswax!" 35 TD Garden, for one 59 Level 20 Location at 68A where drinks 4 Liver Sinusoidal 17 Source of much 56 21 Food that might be player 5 Cell Energy units Dylan's twin 49 Secret languages 18 WWII sub you'dmodern probably find me Edmonton Oilers 67 Disney 36 BMW competitor 62 Well-timed 8 Wild pig Endothelial slang 48 Casual restaurant eaten on Tuesdays during finals Zach 68 University in Medford 37 Mao __-tung 63 Org. forGerman seniors gotta get 6__ _here" _ inha _ _ _ able, or article 9 "I've 19 "Sick" or "legendary" 5 Energy units 18 WWII sub 4950Secret languages 57 22 You are, in Spain (and/or Somerville??) Reshares on Twitter, 38 Location at 68A where ACROSS 64 Cutesy Tumblr 10 There, their, ___ 23 So far... not able synonym, or a long 6 _ _ inha _ _ _ able, or to be lived in 19 "Sick" or "legendary" 5051German articleat 68A, home Location 58 Research briefly papers, abbr. you11 might watch a aesthetic 69 Defeat DOWN 1 Email-synced In-the-know 24 Un, Deux, __ not able to be lived in story synonym, or a long schedule, 51 Location at 68A, home tofor"the sink" ‘Campus Eva Stern 59 At 68A, new name for 7Tour’ "None of your for short 1by The best acronym of 12 Ocean stateofsch. 65 Famous his fables performance 28 Sacred pole symbols story to "the sink" 7 "None your 13D all time beeswax!" 42 37A13 (again) 5 68A66 mascot 68A, old name for Reach out to fandg@tuftsdaily.com. Like 45A, rapper and Sabrina Carpenter hitwhere Level 20 32 Location at 68A where beeswax!" Interested in At submitting a puzzle? 20 Location at 68A 5959Level 60 __ Jima 59D actor 2 Major national sophomore, 10me Therefore 35 TD Garden, for one you'd probably find you'd probably find me Well-timed43 Former 6262Well-timed 8 Wild pig 8 Wild pig 61 Slippery fish organization for AI current freshman dorm 14 Quaker grains 21 Edmonton Oilers player 67 Disney Dylan's twin 36 BMW competitor during finals during finals 6363Org. for seniors 9 "I've gotta __ here" research at 68A Zach Org. for seniors 9get"I've gotta getand __standards here" 15 B.o.B. hit, "Nothing __ 68 University in Medford 37 Mao __-tung 64 Cutesy Tumblr 10 There, their, ___ 23 So far... China, abbr. __" (and/or Somerville??) 44 Professional parker 22 Reshares on10 Twitter, 64 Cutesy Tumblr There,in their, ___ 23 So far... 1

2

Campus Tour

Campus Tour

Campus Tour

4

5

6

Campus Tour

8

9

10

11

THE TUFTS DAILY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

OPINION

9

OPINION Through Indigenous Eyes

What happened while on sabbatical? Sorsha Khitikian

W

elcome back to another semester of Through Indigenous Eyes! I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things. Before I do that, though, Indigenous culture, politics and organizations made headlines all summer long; I think we are all due for a quick recap of Indigenous summer happenings. So, let’s talk about it! Land Back: In June, the Oregon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America board voted to return church-owned land to the Native American Youth and Family Center. This vote occurred after the 2024 closure of the Bethany Lutheran Church on said land. The vote, as Paul Stromberg, vice president of the board, noted, is a small step in providing reparations to Indigenous peoples who experienced violent removal. According to NAYA, the property of the Bethany Lutheran Church will be turned into elder housing for local tribes. This decision by the Synod is representative of efforts to return land to Indigenous peoples through the Land Back movement, which advocates for Indigenous sovereignty. The Synod has confirmed its commitment to Land Back, stating that future land returns are likely as more churches in the area face closure. Bears Ears: On July 13, President Donald Trump issued a declaration cutting the protected lands of Bears Ears National Monument by

over one million acres, leaving it at approximately 10% of its previous size. Trump justified these cuts to the Utah land area by stating the now unprotected lands were home to silver, molybdenum, lead, uranium, vanadium and zinc, all of which are “critical to national security.” Several tribal organizations representing the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Pueblo of Zuni and Ute nations are fighting the Trump administration’s decision, and non-Indigenous organizations such as Patagonia have also filed lawsuits on behalf of Bears Ears. This move at Bears Ears is not the first time Trump has attempted to parcel up the monument; he tried to do the same thing back in 2017. New this time, though, is the breaking of a foundational agreement between the Bears Ears National Monument and the Bears Ears Commission, a first-of-its-kind organization that facilitated tribal input on the monument’s management. What was true in 2017 is true now: The sight has unparalleled significance for Indigenous tribes and the history of North America. Bears Ears is home to some of the earliest archaeological findings on the continent, irreplaceable and now in danger due to Trump’s declaration. Miss Universe Canada: In August, two non-Indigenous contenders in the Miss Universe Canada beauty pageant wore offensive Indigenous costumes. Karisa Haverkamp wore a feathered headdress, recreating a garment that is sacred to many Indigenous tribes. She also wore a red handprint on the side of her face, which traditionally represents missing and murdered Indigenous women. Jasleen Kaily wore mukluks and a fur dress with braids. This incident opened the door for the pageant’s only Indigenous winner, Ashley Callingbull, to speak out about

GRAPHIC BY ELISE LEA SAMSON the inappropriateness of these costumes. When the Miss Universe Canada team put out a statement, Callingbull used her position as this year’s host of the pageant to call out organizers on live television; she helped secure an official apology and agreements concerning a comprehensive costume guideline. Daisy Chain Fields: Back in June, artist Olivia Rodrigo announced her first all-female nonprofit music festival called Daisy Chain Fields. Hosted in Irvine, Calif., every artist on the billing performed for free and net proceeds were donated to 10 organizations that focused on women’s health and reproductive rights. One of these organizations was the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health. The center is a safe haven for Indigenous women and girls, providing public health education, access to traditional water healing rituals, vaccines and cancer care.

On Aug. 28, one day before the festival, Rodrigo sat down with the leaders of each organization the festival was donating to, announcing that each organization would receive $1 million. Johns Hopkins Center leadership were present at Daisy Chain, where festivalgoers could learn how to get involved with the center. Then, before her headlining set, Rodrigo announced that Melinda French Gates was matching all the money raised by the festival, leading to $2 million for each organization ($20 million total). Of course, time is not stagnant. All of these actions, both positive and negative, have lasting implications that are affecting Indigenous people as I write this. Bears Ears land was opened to mining permits just two weeks ago, and 16 mining claims were submitted within 24 hours. And even more happened than I could recap here; for example, progressive Indigenous

politician Peggy Flanagan, the current lieutenant governor of Minnesota, won the Democratic nomination for Minnesota’s open Senate seat. Like with all things, my opinions on these events vary: I’m overjoyed about Daisy Chain Fields and the Land Back initiatives, but these are colored with sorrow about Bears Ears and shock that inappropriate costuming is still a problem in 2026. As I reflect on the summer, though, I notice that the issues I’m seeing have wide-reaching implications; yet, I don’t see people talking about these issues, or how each of them affects the others — that’s why this column exists. This semester, each article will be investigating the broader implications of individual actions and decisions. With that said, let’s get on with the semester’s news! Sorsha Khitikian is a senior studying history, civic studies, psychology, and child studies and human development. She can be reached at sorsha.khitikian@

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year and distributed free of charge 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 Editorial Board. Individual editorialists are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Editorial Board. Editorials are submitted for review to The Tufts Daily Executive Board before publication. VIEWPOINTS AND COLUMNS: Viewpoints and columns represent the opinions of individual Opinion editors, staff writers, contributing writers and columnists for the Daily’s Opinion section. Positions published in Viewpoints and columns are the opinions of the writers who penned them alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. All material is subject to editorial discretion. OP-EDS: Op-Eds provide an open forum for campus editorial commentary and are published Monday through Friday. 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 opinion@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. ADVERTISEMENTS: All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the editor in chief, executive board and business director. Reach out to business@tuftsdaily.com with advertising inquiries.

10

SCIENCE

THE TUFTS DAILY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

SCIENCE Mathematicians still checking the Navier-Stokes proof that OpenAI claims to have solved Hande Naz Kavas Staff Writer

The equations at the center of the claim are two centuries old. The prize question has been open since 2000. And the computation that answered it ran for only 88 hours. On Sept. 8, 2026, OpenAI announced that a multi-agent AI system had produced “an analytical proof and a Lean formalization that an initially smooth fluid at rest can develop a singularity in a finite time” for the 3D NavierStokes equations, one of the Clay Mathematics Institute’s seven Millennium Prize Problems. Every airplane wing, weather model and blood flow simulation rests on a set of equations that mathematicians cannot fully account for yet. The Navier-Stokes equations describe how a fluid moves based on two claims: Mass cannot vanish, and momentum has to go somewhere. These equations first began to take form through Leonhard Euler’s 1750s principles, which applied Isaac Newton’s second law, force equals mass times acceleration, to a moving fluid instead of a solid block. Euler’s equation assumed an inviscid fluid, one with no internal friction at all, which no real liquid or gas obeys. After the work of these mathematicians, several other studies were published. ClaudeLouis Navier added a viscosity term in 1822, and George Gabriel Stokes put the theory on a stronger base between 1842 and 1850. Viscosity, they explained, is a fluid’s internal

Dissertation Diaries

Jodee Frias Essey Tesfai

T

his installment of Dissertation Diaries highlights Jodee Frias, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering. Frias studies the brain using near-infrared spectroscopy, a technique that uses red and near-infrared light to measure blood flow in the brain and measure its responses to stimuli. She describes the technology as “an Apple Watch for your brain.” Frias’ research focuses on one of the challenges that comes with this approach to technology. Light must travel through the scalp and skull before reaching the brain, meaning the measurements can contain signals from all three. Her dissertation asks how researchers can separate those signals to obtain a more targeted measurement.

friction — the reason honey drags and water does not. What Navier and Stokes left behind, however, was a system so nonlinear that the convective term driving turbulence makes the equations resist exact analysis, which is why engineers run them on supercomputers instead of solving them. The Clay Institute’s question requested a proof for this equation. Charles Fefferman’s 2000 formulation questioned whether smooth solutions always exist and stay smooth, in all of space and on a periodic box, or whether some smooth starting state can break down. Breaking down, in that context, meant a finite moment at which the predicted velocity would run to infinity. Proving either side of the equation was valued at $1 million. The victors, OpenAI, claimed the breakdown side. The process that OpenAI followed was as interesting as the proposed solution. The company stated that its proof came from roughly 10,000 AI agents working in parallel, concluding only 88 hours after launch. By its own description, those agents exchanged 2.7 million messages and used about 130 billion tokens on this problem alone. Translating the argument into Lean, a language that machine-checks each step of a proof, took an additional 17 hours. OpenAI described the construction itself as a vortex that spirals inward and stretches out “like spaghetti,” and other mathematicians added to it by mentioning the surprising scale. George Karniadakis, a professor

of applied mathematics and engineering at Brown University, told Nature that “for air, the singularity appears when [the] vortex becomes around 70 nanometres wide.” At that size, the assumption underneath the equations — that a fluid is a continuous substance rather than a crowd of separate molecules — has already stopped holding. A blowup does not mean a river will reach infinite speed. Instead, it means the mathematics describing the river has an edge, and someone has now walked to it. The result does not close the question, since Fefferman’s formulation sets the external force to zero in one case while allowing a smooth force in the other.

OpenAI’s proof addresses the latter, leaving the behavior of a fluid that nothing pushes as an open problem. Human mathematicians arrived at neighboring results in the same week: Tristan Buckmaster of New York University and Levent Alpöge of Harvard posted proofs of finitetime blowup with smooth forcing hours before the announcement. Both efforts built on a technique developed by Diego Córdoba and Luis Martínez-Zoroa, whom Fefferman called “the heroes of the story.” Terence Tao, mathematician and Fields Medal awardee, placed the achievement in a longer frame, writing of those

human proofs that “the actual solving of these problems is only a proxy goal for the primary goal of developing mathematical understanding and insight.” The Clay Institute has said only that the problem has “apparently been settled” and that its review is deliberately unhurried, since it recognizes a solution only after peer-reviewed publication and community vetting. The distance between having an answer and having an understanding is where the work now sits. Explaining why a fluid tears itself apart at 70 nanometres, and learning how the same method may apply to the five remaining Millennium problems, will take far longer than a weekend.

“The big question that I’m trying to answer with my research is what is the best and the most robust way that we can separate the contributions from the scalp and the skull and the brain,” she said. Frias did not originally plan to work in optics. During her sophomore year, COVID-19 made lab work difficult. She reached out to Darren Roblyer, a biomedical engineering professor at Boston University who worked in diffuse optical imaging, and was offered a remote position analyzing existing data. “I didn’t really know too much,” Frias said. “I just wanted to be involved as an undergrad, and then I started to really fall in love with it.” By her senior year, Frias was considering pursuing a Ph.D. Roblyer connected her with Sergio Fantini, professor of biomedical engineering, and she eventually joined his lab. The transition from undergraduate to Ph.D. student was different from what Frias expected. As an undergraduate, much of her time was spent taking classes. In a Ph.D. program, she said, the focus is much more on

research, teaching and “creating new knowledge.” In Frias’ lab, test subjects might complete a short math test, look at a rotating checkerboard or have their blood pressure temporarily changed using blood pressure cuffs. The measurements themselves can take about 20 minutes. Frias then analyzes the resulting measurements using mathematical models and digital signal processing. The instruments record changes in the intensity and phase of light, which can then be used to estimate changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin. Those changes provide information about blood flow in the brain. Frias has also served as a teaching assistant seven times during her Ph.D. and worked with undergraduates in several different courses, which have become some of her favorite graduate school experiences. Mentors have also been important to her own experience, particularly as a first-generation, low-income student who did not have a straightforward path to academia.

“I didn’t really have any adults in my life that have taken an academic path at all. So I really found that I leaned on my advisors and my mentors a lot, and that really really helped me,” she said. At Tufts, she has several people she turns to for different parts of her work. Fantini helps her with larger research questions and planning. Angelo Sassaroli, a biomedical engineering research assistant professor, helps with the technical details of her work. Giles Blaney, a postdoctoral scholar at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, has been another source of advice. “I lean on as many people as I can,” Frias stated. Frias also aims to create opportunities for students who are just beginning to explore research. She works with the Tufts University Biomedical Engineering Research Scholars program, which brings high school students to Tufts for a summer research experience. After noting that students tended to arrive with very different levels

of laboratory experience, she and other colleagues created a weeklong course prior to the program to teach basic laboratory skills and safety. For Frias, the program is partly about giving students enough experience to feel comfortable in a laboratory setting. Frias’ advice to undergraduates interested in research is to reach out. According to her, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are often the most useful contacts, because they tend to be the people working directly with students in the lab. She also encouraged students not to worry too much about bothering graduate students or TAs with questions. “As someone who has literally been a TA seven times, the students that come and ask me about my research or what I’m doing or what my days look like — it is just above and beyond. I absolutely love it,” she said.

GRAPHIC BY ELISE LEA SAMSON

Essey Tesfai is a sophomore studying chemical engineering. Essey can be reached at essey.tesfai@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY

SPORTS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

11

Tufts’ Rachit Shah reflects on his squash journey Laila Taraporevala Contributing Writer

Starting at the age of 6½, Rachit Shah has been playing squash. He said his introduction to the sport was through his family. “I was really energetic as a child, so my parents wanted me to do something productive with that energy,” Shah said. “They just made me start squash.” Growing up in Mumbai, India, Shah attended Utpal Shanghvi Global School. In his family, Shah said both he and his sister play squash, but the only other person who played the sport before him was his mother’s cousin. Before leaving for Tufts University, Shah was ranked No. 2 in India for squash. As an older brother, he said he tries to support his sister when his schedule allows it. “I usually try to mentor her whenever I’m free,” Shah said. “I had a break ... after my senior year to freshman year of college, so I tried to play with her every morning, [gave] her some tips and [tried] to get [her] better at squash.” Shah’s first coach was Shashi Pandey, who started coaching him when he was 6½ years old. He played with Pandey until he left India for college. Shah said his introduction to the

competitive world of squash was at a young age. “I started to compete at the age of seven, got really badly beaten in my first tournament, and it only went up from there,” Shah said. After losing his first match, Shah said his mindset adapted. “I lost 11–0 ... the first match I played, and that was a thing, that ‘I can’t lose anymore,’” Shah said. “I [had] to get better, so I just put in the hours, got better and the next year I won the Indian Junior Open.” His first win at the Indian Junior Open was when he was 9 years old, and he said he competed against kids ages “anything to 11.” “The day I won the tournament, the next day I went back, and my coach made me run 100 coach sprints,” Shah said. “He’s like, ‘You go back to training,’ because I was a bit happy and all. He’s like, ‘No, you focus again,’ because the nationals were coming up.” As his popularity grew, Shah said his parents and other squash players taught him the importance of not letting ego impact his daily life. “My parents always taught me to stay grounded,” Shah said. “My seniors in the squash circuit, when I was under 11, they were under-19 national champions and they always

played with me, and they never had any ego.” Continuing his competitive journey, Shah said he was invited to compete in the Asian Junior Trials in India but suffered an injury. “I got a call at the age of 14 to play for India at the Asian Juniors,” Shah said. “I had a back spasm, and then that led to an asthmatic attack, so I couldn’t do that ... But the very next year, I got a call again, and I actually played the Asian Junior Open.” Despite his success in the sport, Shah said when he began playing he wanted to quit squash. “When I was small, I used to lose everything,” Shah said. “There was maybe half a year where my parents had to push me, and from there I just took it on my own that I like this thing and I’m gonna do it whatever happens.” At the start of his competitive journey, Shah said he struggled with performance stress. “I used to get really nervous,” Shah said. ”[I] used to not perform under pressure, but as I grew older, I played so many more tournaments.” As he continued to play, Shah said his fear began to fade away. “I think I thrive under pressure,” Shah said. “When the pressure is high, I play better automatically, and ... I’ve overcome

that nervousness and the feeling of pressure. It’s still there, but it’s like much less.” As his talent grew, Shah said his mindset about losing adapted. “I learned throughout ... that as long as I’m happy, my coach is happy, my parents are happy, my friends are happy. It’s all good.” Shah said his high school years consisted of waking up at 5:30 a.m. to play squash, running to school, doing homework and then evenings filled with squash from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Reflecting on balancing academics and squash, Shah said many days he had to miss school to compete. “My attendance at school [was] really bad because I [was] always traveling for tournaments, traveling for training, coming late to school because I [had] training in the morning, leaving early from school because I [had] training after school,” Shah said. Before games, Shah said he follows a tight schedule prior to training and a match so his “body doesn’t feel a change” between training and matches. The schedule consists of listening to music, stretching, mobility, warm-ups and conversation with fellow squash players. During his senior year of high school, Shah said he was

offered the opportunity to speak at a TEDx event hosted at his high school. “Someone from my high school approached me saying, ‘We’re hosting a TEDx event in our high school. Would you like to be our guest speaker?’” Shah said. “They just said, ‘Just speak your heart out, say whatever you want and no one knows you better than you.’ So I just spoke about it, my journey, my life.” Shah said his experience playing squash in front of many people helped him to feel confident going into the TEDx Speech. “When I gave my TEDx speech, there were like 300 people in front of me. I was just talking, and I didn’t feel a thing because playing in front of 300 people is much harder than talking in front of 300 people,” Shah said. Alongside playing squash at Tufts, Shah and his younger sister have been invited to play at the U.S. Open. Shah said the invitation can help his career move forward. “People from all over the world come to play that event,” Shah said. “Doing well in that event is probably going to mean the world to me.” “[Squash]’s a really niche sport,” Shah said. “For me, it’s what got me to where I am today. It’s part of who I am today.”

12

THE TUFTS DAILY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

SPORTS

SPORTS Ties to home: Tufts women’s soccer yields two draws at Homecoming Lauren Baker

Contributing Writer

“We don’t chase records, we create conditions where records become inevitable.” Junior midfielder Maren Jones said that this philosophy from Josh Kerr, the one mile world record-holding runner, has guided Tufts women’s soccer throughout the season. On a brisk, yet sunny Homecoming weekend, the No. 2-ranked Tufts Jumbos displayed control and coherence, yet tied 1–1 against the Trinity Bantams. Jones attempted two shots on goal, with one becoming the sole Tufts goal of the game. Tufts set an active pace of game, showing their ball control in the opening moments. Still, Trinity’s defense kept up, matching Tufts’ speed and asserting themselves against Tufts’ attacks. The Jumbos’ first chance at scoring came at eight minutes on a corner that produced beautiful crosses and control, but was ultimately recovered by the Bantams’ senior goalkeeper Zoe Tamborello.

A shot in the 13th minute by Jones missed just outside the net, earning the Jumbos a corner that was quickly cleared to the Bantams’ defense. Tufts kept the energy up and brought the ball back through a claustrophobic Bantam attack, allowing junior forward Audrey Crommett to put up a shot from afar. The action continued with a corner near the goal, with senior midfielder Reese Birch shooting again at a narrow angle. The Jumbos recovered the ball and set it up for an attempt on goal just above the right corner by senior forward Waverly Sumner, who displayed excellent control and positioning throughout the first half. Though the Jumbos kept their momentum, their next chance came at the 24-minute mark. They utilized the full width of the field, stringing together outside crosses up to the left of the goal, reaping a corner when a Trinity defender knocked the ball out. Jones’s header towards the center of the goal was the Jumbos’ closest opportunity yet, but the Bantams goalkeeper Tamborello headed it down.

Junior Maren Jones during a game against Trinity on Sept. 20.

Senior defender Maggie Rogers also made her presence known in the first half, controlling the back line and making passes that helped the Jumbos keep possession. They recorded another two consecutive corners at the 35-minute mark taken by Crommett. They came close on the first to break it open, but ultimately, could not get through. Sophomore midfielder Claire Brady shot to the left of the goal, furthering the Jumbos’ ongoing difficulty to capitalize on their possession and chances to break the deadlock. Tufts’ substitutions reflected their pace of game and possession, with all three forwards subbing out. The Bantams struggled with ball placement, frequently passing right into the Jumbos’ midfield or crowding in the same areas. They intercepted a wide cross by first-year defender Maile Lung, sending a long shot straight to junior goalkeeper Greta Steege. Tufts did not take this lightly, retaliating with a corner a minute later. The corner crossed back in on a wide

pass, but set it up for Trinity to cross wide and deliver another shot, this time high and wide on the left. Brady came back with just 45 seconds left in the half, sending a one-touch shot wide of the goal. Despite taking 10 more shots than Trinity and having strong technical skills and ball control for much of the first half, Tufts struggled with precision and went into halftime tied. Trinity came out swinging again in the second half, with Steege narrowly blocking a shot in the center of the goal. The Jumbos gained momentum again, stringing wide passes and fakes to make it away from the Bantams. Despite another corner, the Bantams sent it downfield, earning a corner of their own but failing to convert to a goal with another wide shot. A foul on Lung at the 61-minute mark allowed the Bantams a penalty kick taken by junior midfielder Kyra Charette, who placed a successful shot into the right corner of the goal making the score 1–0, Trinity. Charette

gave Trinity its first NESCAC goal of the season resulting in the first time Tufts has trailed all season. Tufts played shakily after the goal, with more defensive possession and a struggle to create chances to strike back. They started to rally again around 78 minutes; a short pass from Crommett gave Jones the chance to send a picturesque high shot into the center back of the net, tying the game at one goal. The last ten minutes reinvigorated Trinity, who allowed Tufts only one more shot. The second half ended with Trinity taking the ball out and securing the draw and relegating Tufts to third place in the NESCAC. The Jumbos displayed promising ball control, communication and possession, but unexpectedly recorded two draws against unranked teams this weekend — including a 2–2 draw to Connecticut College the prior day — a possible blow to their rankings. Tufts will next face No. 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday afternoon.

COURTESY OF TUFTS ATHLETICS