The Tufts Daily THE
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LACROSSE RHABDO SCANDAL
VOLUME LXXXVIII, ISSUE 4
Medford/Somerville, Mass.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
INVESTIGATION PENDING FOLLOWING HOSPITAL DISCHARGE
Nicholas Prather
Deputy News Editor
All members of the Tufts men’s lacrosse team who were admitted to the hospital with the rare muscle condition rhabdomyolysis after a 45-minute team workout last week have been discharged, the university announced Wednesday. “We want to express how grateful we are that the team members have returned to good health. We commend the team’s resilience, admire how they cared for one another during a difficult time, and thank their families for their unwavering support,” University President Sunil Kumar, School of Arts and Sciences Dean ad interim Barbara Brizuela and School of Engineering Dean Kyongbum Lee wrote in an email to the university. The voluntary, supervised workout on Sept. 16 was led by a Tufts alumnus and a recent graduate of the BUD/S, or Basic
SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY
The Tufts Lacrosse team plays Colby College on April 10, 2021. Underwater Demolition/SEAL, a Navy SEAL training program. Out of the approximately 50 team members who participated in the exercise, 12 were diagnosed with rhabdo after it finished, Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of media relations, wrote in
the university’s original Sept. 20 statement. Of those athletes, nine players were hospitalized, with three remaining as of Monday. Rhabdo can lead to permanent disability or even death. It occurs when muscle tissue breaks down and releases a protein called
myoglobin into the blood, which can severely damage kidneys. The disease can be caused by a number of factors, including physical overexertion over a short period of time. Symptoms include muscle weakness and soreness, discolored urine, nausea and fever. Rhabdo is
often treated via an IV drip to correct the body’s urine production and prevent kidney failure. In their email to the university, Kumar, Brizuela and Lee gave further details on the external investigation into the workout, announcing that Tufts has retained the services of D. Rod Walters II and Randy Aliment to lead the investigation. “We will give Dr. Walters and Mr. Aliment all the time and information they need to carry out a thorough investigation, and we anticipate it will take some time,” the administrators wrote. “We will share the findings with the community once the investigation has concluded.” Walters was a collegiate athletic trainer before becoming a consultant on sports injury in 2007, and now runs a sports medicine consulting firm based in Columbia, S.C. He has worked with both the NFL and MLB, and conducted major investigations see LACROSSE, page 2
UNIVERSITY
Tufts Dining implements new changes, including ‘late lunch’ period and pledge to increase food diversity Lucas Frota
Assistant News Editor
Tufts Dining has introduced a slew of changes for the school year, including a new “late lunch” period from 2 p.m.–5 p.m., a pledge to increase food diversity and updates to the meal plans available to students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. The policies are a result of collaboration with the Tufts Community Union Senate and were officially implemented at the start of the semester. “Munch time” aims to increase access to food at Tufts The new late lunch period allows students to use four meal swipes throughout the day, an increase from the previous limit of three. The policy is a response to students’ frustrations after Tufts Dining chose not to reinstate its double swipe policy last year, which allowed students to use up to two meal swipes during each meal period.
Patti Klos, director of Tufts Dining, said that the addition of a fourth lunch period is meant to improve students’ access to food on campus. “Lunch is six hours long. It’s from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., and then dinner starts at 5 [p.m.] and ends whenever we close,” Klos said. “I felt like a better way to give students more access would be to break up the lunch hour into two periods.” Klos explained that the terminology to denote the second lunch period is not yet set in stone. While students utilizing the period can select the “Late Lunch” option on the Transact Mobile Ordering app used for dining when placing their order, there is discussion over whether or not calling the period “munch time” is preferable. “Others thought, well, let’s call it ‘munch time,’ because people are hungry in the afternoon. I know all of the other connotations it has, just like I’m aware of the abbrevi-
MATTHEW SAGE / THE TUFTS DAILY
Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center, where students can now use an extra meal swipe, is pictured on Sept. 5. ation students like to use for [The Joyce] Cummings Center, but we didn’t want that to deter us, because words can be used in multiple ways that convey broader meaning.” The double meal swipe policy was terminated in September 2023, when Tufts reverted back to its pre-COVID-19 policy that
allowed a maximum of one meal swipe per meal period. Klos said that the double swipe policy was a temporary adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic and was meant to help students obtain enough food without needing to frequent dining centers as often.
4 FEATURES
6 ARTS & POP CULTURE
9 OPINION
11 SPORTS
Artists turned advocates in SMFA SGA
Mayor Michelle makes music
Analyzing impact of foreign aid
Cross-country community crushes
page 7
TCU President Joel Omolade, a senior, expressed hope that the double swipe policy will eventually be reimplemented. “Ideally, going back to those double meal swipes would be really great and help support a lot of students. And hopefully maybe one day that policy goes back,” Omolade said. “But as of right now, I think [the new meal period] shows a great middle ground and a great opportunity to really utilize and make sure that students are getting a bang for their buck.” Klos said she hopes that more students will frequent Tufts Dining locations as a result of the new policy. “Our hope is that we will see an uptick in the time period from [3 p.m.–5 p.m.] in particular. … We’ll be looking at that data over the semester.” Students have found locations such as Hodgdon Food-on-the-Run see DINING, page 3 News Features Arts & Pop Culture Fun & Games Opinion Sports
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