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Jumbos look to fill voids left by last year's graduates
April 9If its performance during the indoor season is any indication, the men's track and field team is in for a nice few months.
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TUPD Alert: Man assaulted, student reports break-in attempt
April 9Click here to read the story>>
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Barbieri's exhibit at Gallery NAGA is refreshingly playful
April 8When first admiring Joseph Barbieri's new exhibit, titled "New Ducks and Scenic Scenes," at the Gallery NAGA in Boston, one cannot help but wonder if the works are by the same artist. The left half of the room leaves the viewer longing to travel through a charming Italian countryside and rest peacefully under a cypress tree, while the right half features colorful ducks dressed in ball gowns and flying antique planes.
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Breakthrough study concerning peanut allergies shows potential treatment
April 8For many students, avoiding foods that lead to allergic reactions is a normal part of life. Recent studies, however, suggest that individuals with peanut allergies -- an increasingly common allergy and the leading cause of fatal allergic reactions according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease -- may be able to seek treatment for their condition in the future.
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Jumbos win 4-1 verdict against Judges
April 8The Jumbos took the field at Brandeis University's Stein Diamond on Tuesday afternoon looking to buck a losing trend. Coming off a weekend sweep at the hands of the NESCAC East-leading Trinity Bantams and four defeats in their last five contests, the Jumbos sent freshman righty Chris DeGoti to the mound for his second collegiate start. With a 3-9 record in non-conference play this season, Tufts could hardly afford another defeat.
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TCU elections voided amid alleged corruption
April 8The results of the freshman Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate elections have been voided after members of the Elections Commission (ECOM) deemed the outcome tainted by potential candidate corruption.
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Zahran to run for TCU presidency
April 7Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator Samia Zahran intends to run in this year's election for TCU president, the Daily learned yesterday.
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The Gentlemen's Bet backs out of Spring Fling
April 7The student band The Gentlemen's Bet will not play Spring Fling due to a disagreement with Concert Board, the band announced this weekend.
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Biotechnology study finds caffeine to be major performance enhancer for athletes
April 7Since the 2000 Summer Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency has been regulating the use of performance enhancers among athletes who had attempted to get away with anything and everything to gain an extra edge. But researchers have proved that one of the few performance enhancers not outlawed by the World Anti-Doping Agency is actually available cheaply and legally, and athletes need look no further than their local grocery store, vending machine or pot of coffee to find it. Caffeine, along with its endurance-increasing abilities, has been proven to enhance performance in a variety of athletic activities, including endurance sports, stop-and-go sports and sports involving sustained high-intensity activity of one hour or less, according to a report by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). While that jolt you feel after a cup of coffee has long been attributed to caffeine's ability to promote wakefulness, McMaster University Professor of Neurology Mark Tarnopolsky explained in another NCBI report that the drug has significant effects for other reasons as well. By increasing the calcium release in skeletal muscle, caffeine amplifies contractile force; and by augmenting the pain and effort threshold in the central nervous system, caffeine increases the capacity for physical labor. Thus, through a small dose of caffeine — one milligram for every kilogram of body weight or two 12-ounce cans of Coke for a 176-pound male, according to The New York Times — athletes can circumvent the need for risky ploys and get their performance-enhancing boost legally. But some on the Tufts campus hardly received the research with open arms for various reasons. For starters, caffeine has several notorious side effects including high heart rate and blood pressure, addiction, headaches and crashing. "People have different tolerance levels for caffeine," Diane L. McKay, assistant professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy said. "Not everyone responds to caffeine positively … It does give you a boost in energy level but then some people crash right away, and it's kind of an unpleasant experience, especially for some people who have high blood pressure or are anxious." In such cases of preexisting conditions, caffeine can actually worsen symptoms, McKay said. Sophomore Andrew Quinn, a former member of the Tufts tennis team, shared similar opinions, as did his teammates, whom Quinn never saw consume anything more than the occasional energy bar. "I would never drink or eat any caffeinated products before a sports game because it increases your heart rate and it's dangerous. Plus, when caffeine wears off, you usually crash, and if you crash in the middle of a tennis match, you're in big trouble," he said. Even those who are willing to take the physical hit have moral qualms about using the drug as a performance enhancer. Currently, the Olympics and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) outlaw the use of caffeine only in exorbitant doses, but some students and faculty members were hesitant to support against even the most minimal doses when used in ways that resemble restricted doping practices. Senior Aliza Sandberg, a member of the Tufts women's club rugby team, was curious about caffeine's physical benefits but grappled with its legitimacy in the context of competitive sports. "When it came down to it, I don't know if I would use caffeine [to enhance sports performance]," she said. "I already associate caffeine with drugs and that's why I don't drink coffee to begin with. I do have teammates who go to Dunkin' Donuts for their coffee before every game, though." Fellow senior and rugby player Glenn Katz agreed. But while Katz considers the use of caffeine as an enhancer unethical, she sees nothing wrong with the use of caffeine resulting from habit or addiction regardless of participation in organized sports. For her, it all comes down to intention. "If you're using anything to enhance your performance, it's cheating," Katz said. Moral or amoral, it would be counterproductive to place a ban on caffeine use in sports because of its ubiquity and its many positive medical uses, instructor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Helen Rasmussen explained in an e-mail to the Daily. In addition, she said, the recommended amounts of caffeine could hardly be classified as drug use. Currently, no one is taking measures to formally integrate the caffeine debate into sports competition. Tufts women's varsity soccer coach Martha Whiting — along with other physical educators — still harps on the reputation caffeine has long held in the athletic world. "We ask our kids to try and stay away from caffeine during season because it can dehydrate you and it kind of messes with your sleep patterns," she said. "For now, I will continue to warn against using caffeine in any way, shape or form for our students."
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Class of 2012 to vote for TCU senators today
April 7While the majority of next year's Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate body was automatically elected on Thursday in uncontested elections, 13 freshmen will vie for seven Senate seats today in a general election. All members of the Class of 2012 who have paid the Student Activities Fee are eligible to vote in today's online vote, which was scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. and to continue until 11:59 p.m. This election season saw many uncontested seats result in automatic elections, including the six of the seven seats on the TCU Judiciary, two of five positions on the Committee on Student Life (CSL), four Senate seats for the rising senior class and 10 Senate seats for the rising junior class. After a candidates meeting on Thursday, the Elections Commission (ECOM) verified the eligibility of all candidates running for uncontested positions. Current juniors Callie Kolbe, Xavier Malina, Brandon Rattiner and Antonella Scarano will represent next year's senior class in the Senate. Scarano is the outgoing TCU historian; Rattiner, an outgoing co-chair of the Senate's Education Committee, intends to run for the TCU presidency this year. Each class is allotted seven Senate seats. When fewer than seven candidates run, the remaining seats drop down to the next class. The three unsought senior senator positions therefore moved to the junior class, making 10 junior senator seats available. Ten candidates thus ran for just as many spots, resulting in all the candidates' automatic elections. Current sophomores Nedghie Adrien, Edward Chao, Eoghan Conway, Jack Dilday, Chas Morrison, Dan Pasternack, Bruce Ratain, Tomas Valdes, Sam Wallis and Samia Zahran will represent next year's junior class. Both Morrison and Zahran are planning to run against Rattiner for TCU president; Morrison is the outgoing chair of the Senate's Administration and Policy Committee. The six new members of the Judiciary are Guktae An, Elizabeth Doyle, Lindsay Helfman, J.P. Kaytrosh, Shayan Purkayastha and Colin Smith. Junior Brandon Sultan and freshman Andrew Thorne will serve on the CSL next year. The one remaining Judiciary seat and the three remaining CSL seats will become available in the general election at the start of the fall semester. Meanwhile, an open forum for candidates for the Class of 2012's Senate seats took place on Monday. Freshmen Aaron Bartel, Danielle Cotter, Jonathan Danzig, Kate de Klerk, Luke Fraser, Tomas Garcia, Joel Greenberg, Manuel Guzman, Nunu Luo, Elliot McCarthy, Sigourney Norman, Shantal Richards and Abraham Stein, are on today's ballot. ECOM Chair Adam Weldai said the competitive freshman election resulted from a highly motivated and vocal freshman class. "This freshman class that we have now is incredibly active," said Weldai, a senior. "They are more vocal than any other class I've seen at Tufts. These people pay attention to their issues, and they really want to get involved." Wallis, a senator who was automatically reelected last week, shared this sentiment. "The freshmen do have a tremendous amount of passion about things," Wallis said. "I think some senior members of the body next year will be able to direct that energy." Kaytrosh, who will serve on the Judiciary next year, said that he believes his class' leaders have a lot of potential but also need specific goals. "As a group, we haven't quite figured out what specific measures we're going to channel this energy into," Kaytrosh said. "There's a lot to be expected from this class in the future … Only now are we just starting to get our voice." According Weldai, several current juniors, including outgoing TCU President Duncan Pickard, have foregone reelection in order to pursue other goals, such as seeking out trustee representative positions on the Senate. Last year's TCU president, senior Neil DiBiase, took this route. "They have served the TCU as best they can as senators and would like to run for trustee representative in the fall," Weldai said. The majority of this year's Senate executive board was comprised of juniors. Weldai said that this year's election distinguishes itself somewhat from those in years past. "We have an underclassman-heavy Senate coming," he said. "It's also different because in most elections in the past, some seats drop down to the rising freshmen." Some senators who are not seeking reelection cited frustrations with the structure of the student government's legislative body. "I'm not running because I think that a lot of the things I'm passionate about can be accomplished without being in the Senate," said Shabazz Stuart, a sophomore who served as a senator this year. Stuart said that while the body's lengthy Sunday evening meetings are not necessarily inefficient, a lot of extended bureaucratic measures can be avoided in committee meetings, where he believes progress is best made. Freshman Jimmy Zuniga, who also served as a senator this year and is not running for reelection, said he disagreed with how the Senate functions. "Things I've accomplished this year, I have done outside the capacity of the Senate," he said. "I don't need a title to continue bringing change to this campus."
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The original green businessmen
April 7The CEO of a successful business recently gave a presentation at Tufts. Hillel's Moral Voices invited students on TuftsLife.com "to hear from one of the country's most influential businessmen about how his company approaches corporate responsibility, green business, and social innovation." This man could have been the president of an automotive or technology company. In fact, his "business" is a farm. Gary Hirshberg is CEO and President of Stonyfield Farm.
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Sarabande's show takes place 'In Silhouette'
April 7Sarabande will take the stage in Cohen Auditorium tomorrow night for their spring show, "In Silhouette." The performance represents yet another semester's hard work from the dancers that make up one of the smallest ensembles on campus. The title of this year's show was chosen after the Sarabande dancers agreed that they all love seeing their choreography in silhouette. ‘In Silhouette' follows a format similar to last semester's show and features Sarabande dances mixed in with performances by other dance groups on campus. One new element that has been added to the spring show is senior spotlights in which every senior will perform a one- to two-minute solo. Senior Rachel Zar, the president of Sarabande, will round out her last semester dancing at Tufts with two dances. For her group dance, she choreographed a dance to Radiohead's "National Anthem," and then changed directions for her solo, dancing to The Beatles' "I Will." "I try to make my dances different, not so lyrical," Zar said. "I like them to be a little more jazzy, a little more hard-hitting." Junior Marissa D'Ambra choreographed a dance to Frou Frou's "Let Go" in which she tried to convey the theme of strong women by showcasing each dancer's individual strengths. "We're all girls, and we're all really close," D'Ambra said. We give each other strength." The ensemble will also be performing the dance they used for the last round of Tufts' Best Dance Crew, choreographed by sophomore Alyza DelPan-Monley to "Just Wanna Dance." "We're really proud of what we did in Tufts' Best Dance Crew," Zar said. Most of the dances feature a large number of girls from the ensemble, so there's ample opportunity to see each dancer's unique talents. As individual as each choreographer makes her dance, the one common factor is that each dance is excellent. The performance will start tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Tickets for "In Silhouette" are on sale in Cohen Auditorium Box Office for $7.
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Senate passes record budget, cuts ticket costs
April 6The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate on Sunday approved a $1,394,300 budget for fiscal year 2010, the largest passed in the Senate's history and one that entirely eliminated ticket costs on campus.
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Farmers defend right to use antibiotics in animals despite nationwide controversy
April 6When students sit down to a plate of chicken wings or steak in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn't that dose of antibiotics the animal received while being raised on a farm. But the use of antibiotics in farm animals has recently been causing a stir.
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Jeremy Greenhouse | Follow the Money
April 6I don't do personal. The last introspective essay I wrote was probably for my college application. The subject was why I can't write about myself. My old man — who I call the old man — didn't think a college would accept me because of it (I call my mother Mugsy, in case you were wondering). But going on 30 hours sans sleep got me thinking. I spend more time actively thinking/reading/writing about baseball than I care to admit. Fifty hours a week would be an estimate more conservative than Curt Schilling. I watched the Phillies-Braves game at 4 a.m. yesterday, but that wasn't why I was up all night. I had to work. I had an econometrics paper due. On baseball. Why do I do this to myself? Why did I decide it was a good idea to collect my own data and run excessively complex regressions to predict a player's salary? Am I crazy? You know what, I probably would be doing this type of stuff in my spare time anyway, so why not make it schoolwork? And now it's Opening Day and there's no way I can go to sleep before the NCAA championship game, but over the last couple days, I've come to realize that sleep is overrated. How about we just evolve past this whole charade of having our daily cycles dictated by the sun? Off topic. My bad. Baseball. My life. I've got that whole-upper-middle-class, white, suburban, Jewish, Northeastern-college thing going. Maybe it's unethical for someone so privileged to waste so much time on frivolity. I don't know. I feel like I've lost some of the pure joy that comes with the game. That comes with age, right? You just don't get those feelings as you get older, right? But I still love baseball more than anything in the world. I do. See, for me, the business side of sports and the pleasurable side are inextricably linked. I've gotten C's in three economic courses because I just wanted to learn more about statistics — baseball statistics. Whatever, I've prioritized extracurriculars over grades when it comes to that kind of stuff. When someone asks me what I want to do and I give an honest answer, the answer is "baseball." That's it. Just something involving baseball. But I don't think my love of baseball defines me. I think my love of baseball, along with my sense of humor, my social skills (or lack thereof), my morals I guess, and perhaps also my love of chocolate and "The Wire" define me. But baseball's up there. I write a couple thousand words a week on baseball. I check 20 Web sites about baseball daily. I always have games on in the background when possible. I just bet some money on the upcoming season. I play fantasy baseball. You know that song "We Like Sportz?" That's me. I don't need much to be happy. I don't get bored. I don't get depressed. I like TV. I like food. I like people. I like sports. I don't mind work. And now here I am, and the Yankees are playing their first game of the year and all is right with the world. The strike zone expands with each ball and contracts with each strike. It's all good. Number 2. Derek Jeter. Number 2. I'm enthralled by the new additions to MLB.TV and Gameday. An extra mile per hour on a fastball is worth a couple hundred grand. Albert Pujols got a hit. That never happens. It's all good. It's Opening Day. It's all in the game. You just don't get those feelings as you get older, right? I still love baseball more than anything in the world. I do. But shit gets jaded, man. Nothing will make you more cynical than taking the money angle.
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Document | The TCU Senate's Budget Proposal
April 6Scroll through the document above to see a Tufts Community Union Senate summary of its record-setting budget, which passed this weekend.
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Students embark on service trip to El Salvador
April 6Freshman Sadie Lansdale won't drink a Starbucks grande-sized Caramel Macchiato. She also won't be seen at the mall buying new clothes. And she will avoid purchasing food that has had to travel a long distance from where it was grown to make it to the local Shaw's store.
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Biosafety lab receives $9.5-million grant
April 6The New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine was awarded a $9.5-million grant last month from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), a quasigovernmental organization.
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In our midst | Mara Gittleman
April 5She had read the theses and studies beforehand. She'd spoken to professors. By all accounts, she came prepared. But as senior Mara Gittleman learned this January when she traveled to Ethiopia to research the country's rapid changes in urban agriculture, there is nothing quite like experiencing something firsthand.
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TCU Senate approves funding for Trips Cabin construction
April 5The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate approved $230,000 in funding last night to go toward a Trips Cabin to be constructed alongside the Tufts Mountain Club's (TMC) Loj in North Woodstock, N.H.
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