Despite the early Saturday morning start, the falling snow, and the slushy roads, Jumbos who made the trek to Cousens Gym this weekend for the 2005 Boston Hoops Against Cancer Tournament found something worth getting out of bed for. Fifty-five participants and 30 volunteers braved the weather to join a city-wide effort to raise money and awareness for cancer research.
Authoring a college paper is a beautiful process that exemplifies an understanding of the topic at hand. Using appropriate references and knowledge passed down from the professor, a student has the opportunity to mold powerful arguments with his or her words. As an engineer, I rarely get to use "words" and "sentences," so over the past semester I've made it a personal goal of mine to learn as much about the writing process as possible. I present my findings below. I now appreciate that the foremost perk of being an engineer is that you never have to write papers. Ever. You have to write the occasional lab report, but those can be filled with preexisting data and equations, and you can easily get an "A" even if you exclusively use one-syllable words. I don't think that the engineering professors even read the words. Take this excerpt from a lab report that I turned in a few weeks ago as an example: The Reynolds number is a very important concept in the field of fluid dynamics. Where would we be without fluids? I don't know, but this one time, I was walking down the street with no pants on and this stop sign started punching me in the face. I got so angry that I screamed out: Re = ?µd/h = µd/v I don't think I can explain the Reynolds number any better than this, so here are some lyrics to Eiffel 65's "Blue": I'm blue da ba dee da bu dye, da ba de, da bu dye... Nu = Hd/k(T - t) = (Ra/Rac)1/3 In the above equation, I like it when H stands for happiness and T for friendship, even though I know that friendship doesn't begin with the letter T! In summary, both the Reynolds number and the Nusselt number are essential tools to describe any fluid system. Old McDonald had a farm, EIEIO. This passes for a fine piece of work in the School of Engineering. Judging by the teacher's comments ("A++, Nice Equations!"), I am well on my way to discovering a new theory of relativity. My unfamiliarity with "writing" and "communicating" is the reason why I find it so intriguing when my friends in the school of Liberal Arts have actual papers due. My interest in the field of "paperology" has led to the following discoveries. First, all papers are 10 pages long. That makes sense - there are 12 inches in a foot, and 10 pages in a paper. Moving on. Second, I've noticed that I always get the same response when I make the following inquiry: ME: "How's that [10-page] paper coming along?" PERPETUALLY REPEATED RESPONSE: "Eh, not bad. I've got five or six pages, I'll just bullshit the rest." Clearly, bullshitting is an underappreciated art form in college culture. According to my measurements, approximately 44 percent of the material in college papers is "BS." Everyone has been guilty of this practice at least once in his or her college career, and most practice it on every assignment. But do professors know about this? Is the following scenario possible? PROFESSOR (commenting at the end of a paper): "Jeff, your paper is a collection of irrelevant ideas and contains nothing that even marginally resembles a thesis statement. Your only citations reference an imaginary conversation between you and Zambam the Zebra. That being said, your BSing is far superior to that of the rest of the class, A++. P.S. Thanks for including the lyrics to Eiffel 65's "Blue" in the appendix." This is why I propose that I teach an ExCollege class next year entitled, "From the Cattle's Ass to the College Paper: Proper Bullshitting Technique." The class will be divided up into three phases, with each phase focusing on different techniques you can use to fill those last three or four pages of your report. The first phase will sharpen students' essay-lengthening skills. Discussed in this section are topics such as the intricacies of the Courier New font; triple, quadruple, and quintuple spacing; subtle margin widening; extra-long headers;and the legendary gradual font size increase. The second phase focuses on proper quote usage in your paper. Contrary to popular belief, using short, relevant quotes that precede in-depth, accurate analysis is flawed technique. The correct method involves using paragraph-long quotes that are entirely unrelated to your topic. This way, you will easily fill the remaining two or three pages as you scramble to explain how your quote describing the consistency of cream cheese relates to international business ethics. In the final phase of the class, I will teach my students how to survive when they have nothing written for a paper due in less than an hour. One method revolves around the phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Great! At 100 words per page (using 14pt Courier New with triple spacing of course), I only need to hand in one picture to satisfy the length requirement! You can then stroll confidently up to the professor and exclaim: "I feel that this crayon drawing of me boxing an octopus on the rings of Saturn explains perfectly my feelings about the socio-economic contributions of Benjamin Franklin." I am expecting this class to be high-demand, so email me ASAP if you want to enroll. Cheers.Jeff Volinski is a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. He can be reached at Jeffrey.Volinski@tufts.edu.
The term "town-gown relations" has become a clich?© at Tufts, but not without reason: students have a general perception of the surrounding cities, and the residents of Medford and Somerville have their impressions of students as well. Sometimes, those impressions are negative: after complaints last week about noisy partying, those Tufts students living at 90 Bromfield Rd. were told to take down the "Chi Tau Delta" sign they had hung on their house, giving the impression that they were a fraternity. Such antipathy-provoking incidents, however, are generally on the decline, according to Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn. "My first year as mayor, which was 18 years ago, there were kids just partying in the streets," McGlynn said. "We sat down, had a few meetings, and with the exception of one incident last year, we haven't had a problem since." That incident took place during an outdoor concert last year, when speakers positioned on the Hill broadcast profane language to the surrounding community. Students have varying feelings on the way they are perceived by that surrounding community. "My original impression was that everyone hated us," sophomore Rachel Barbarisi said. "But I ran into a woman walking her dog on campus one day and started talking to her, and she said she likes the campus because it's a nice environment. In general, the people around us seem to have a pretty fair perception of Tufts." Another factor in how the surrounding communities view students and the University is a socio-economic one, according to one student. "It's a social-demographic thing," senior Mark Chernausek said. "Lower-income families appreciate the jobs Tufts creates, but more affluent people probably see us as a nuisance." The split in opinions also depends on the interactions between students and their community. "If you speak to surrounding neighbors who have had issues with parties and noise, then I suppose they don't think too highly of us," said junior Erin Poth, Co-President of the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS). "However, if you talk to community members that we deal with - for example local school officials involved in Kids' Day, people at the Medford/Somerville YMCA, or local parents who are having their children tutored by Tufts students through LCS tutoring - they'll tell you how helpful students have been and how they add a lot of positive things to the community," Poth said. Recently, Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate President Dave Baumwoll opened up a series of panel discussions involving prominent members of the Medford and Somerville communities and the Tufts community. "It's an opportunity to create a dialogue so the communities can understand each other better," said sophomore Robert Kim, a TCU Senate member. Groups like LCS, the TCU, and the Greek system all sponsor large community-oriented events throughout the year. These include Community Day, Halloween on the Hill, and Kids' Day. Currently, LCS is working on improving Community Day to bring the Tufts and outside communities closer. "We're working on extending it - we want to work on bringing the community onto campus to show potential cooperation and create a joint relationship between all the surrounding communities and Tufts," junior and LCS Co-President Mari Pullen said. Students' efforts do not go unnoticed by community leaders. "Read by the River is certainly a great community event, and a great learning event," McGlynn said. One student recognized the importance of days like these, but said that they are not necessarily enough to foster strong community ties: "They are only two days out of an entire academic year," Kim said. Some students criticize the Greek system for a lack of commitment to community service. While involvement in campus events is typical, some Greek houses expand beyond the immediate area. "We branch out to different places, like downtown Boston, where people are really needy," said Chernausek, a brother in Theta Delta Chi. Every student interviewed expressed the desire to improve relations between the various smaller communities at Tufts and the larger communities off-campus. "The Greek System and its leaders are willing to work with the surrounding communities to do our part to make things better," junior and Inter-Greek Council President Alexis Liistro said. The general consensus among those interviewed is that students can best develop community relations by taking an active role. "I'd like to see more students wanting to be involved in the community, especially during tough economic times, doing internships or taking projects in the community," McGlynn said. Kim agreed. "Tufts students need to go out into the community and start volunteering and helping people out," he said. Another factor may simply be making the community aware of what Tufts students do in the area. "I think that students in all organizations should be more aware of the surrounding neighbors, and include them or inform them of the events that go on," Liistro said. "I feel that it would help foster stronger relations and help everyone feel more connected." Many students believe that the only way the surrounding communities will see that Tufts students are more than just "partiers" is by adding to the community in positive ways. "If you think about it, the majority of the interaction they have is calling the police to break up a party or to scare kids away from their front lawns," Kim said. "Students have to take the initiative to show Somerville and Medford that there's another side to us than the party side."
This weekend's announcement that the United States will back the European Union's offer of trade incentives to Iran via the World Trade Organization is a hopeful sign that President Bush is attempting to use diplomacy with Iran, instead of rushing into military action. If Iran is creating a nuclear weapons program, it is in the United States' best interests to keep the country under a close watch. But, foregoing diplomacy would lead our military into another quagmire resembling the current situation in Iraq. The Bush administration is famously wary of the United Nations' abilities, as seen with their appointment of John Bolton, a known U.N. critic, as the new U.S. ambassador to the international organization. Supporting Iran's membership to the World Trade Organization will hopefully aid the expansion of Iran's economy and make the country more open to foreign intervention. It could also make Iran more willing to talk with the United States, particularly since the U.S. has repositioned its stance on Iran to be in line with the European Union. The Bush administration has vehemently pointed out that despite economic incentives, negotiations will continue, as to be expected. These talks are vital to learn more about Iran's ambitions and current capabilities. The Bush administration must take these talks seriously, not use them simply as a precursor to military action. Even though Iran is part of the "Axis of Evil," how Bush handles this situation could prove to the international community what lessons he's learned from the war in Iraq. Military intervention should be reserved as a last resort, especially given the current strains on the U.S. military. The Christian Science Monitor reports today that a Middle East specialist at the Brookings Institution speculates that some proponents for military action in Iran want to use the United Nations because they believe negotiations will fail, and then the United States will easily be able to start a war in Iran. Negotiations cannot be blown off so easily. We are already racking up a huge debt with occupation costs in Iraq and Afghanistan, moving into Iran will only exacerbate budget woes. The U.S. military is stretched beyond capacity, the only way to gather enough troops to invade Iran would be to reinstate the draft, a terribly unpopular option. Many critics believe the United States was quick to jump into military action in Iraq, but that was two years ago and the U.S. economy has changed greatly since then. The Bush administration must work closely with our European allies and exhaust every option to end Iran's nuclear program, if there is any.
The 75 diehard fans that braved a bizarre mid-March snowstorm to watch the lacrosse team open its season on Saturday against MIT were handsomely rewarded by halftime. At the break, the Jumbos had already amassed a 10-goal lead and senior co-captain Bryan Griffin had tied the career point record in Tufts lacrosse history. The ninth-ranked Jumbos would go on to win the game by an 18-3 margin.
When most people talk about the conflict in the Middle East, it is usually to advocate for their cause or place blame on the other side. But senior Matan Chorev is interested in the conflict for a completely different reason. "My principle aim is in that I was really not interested in advocacy or advocating or arguing on the side of one party to the conflict," Chorev said. "My interest was actually in using the enormous resources here at the University to foster new thinking about these dilemmas." Chorev, who was born in Jerusalem but has been living in the Boston area since 1992, is the co-founder of the Middle Eastern Student Society (MESS) and is one of the founding members of the New Initiative for Middle East Peace (NIMEP), a student think tank and cultural advocacy initiative. NIMEP currently includes 100 students from across the United States, and 17 from Tufts. "Hopefully by next spring we'll have at least 1,000, because technology is so cheap and we can reach so many people now," Chorev said. Chorev's main focus for the group is communication across cultural barriers. "If Tufts is such an international school and if there is such a diversity of students from the Middle East, then let's not argue about who's right or wrong, let's get together and think in new and progressive ways about the conflict of the region - that's my passion," Chorev said. According to Chorev, he started NIMEP in order "to spread this kind of thinking within the community and abroad and to keep educating ourselves about issues relating to the conflict." NIMEP has gone on three excursions to the Middle East, including the West Bank, Egypt, and Iran, where the group was the first U.S. student delegation since 1979. The program currently has students visiting Dubai. Chorev is also the leader of the Tufts chapter of the Soliya program, which is associated with NIMEP. By using new web-based videoconferencing technology, the program allows "small groups of university students from the United States and predominantly Muslim Countries in the Middle East" to "meet weekly online with the help of skilled facilitators." As the leader of Soliya at Tufts, Chorev teaches an ExCollege class that uses the program. Through traditional lectures as well as online meetings, the class hopes to "frame the relationship between the Middle East and the United States," Chorev said. "We meet online - four students from the United States and four students from the Middle East," Chorev said. "And along with facilitators, we are trying to think about what are the challenges between these two regions." "What we realized was missing after Sept. 11 was communication," he added. "The misunderstandings about these two distinct cultures, on the part of the Middle East and America, come from a lack of communication. This resonates with NIMEP's mission." Chorev was also named a University College of Citizenship and Public Service Scholar in 2002. While his current project as a scholar is NIMEP, he spent his first two years with the University College doing something completely different. With the child development department, Chorev "worked on thinking about an educational and professional pathway for people interested in community youth development, and the goal was to turn it into a new academic program," he said. "We launched a long range plan with universities across the country." Along with Chorev's extensive academic accomplishments, he is also a concert cellist and has performed in North, Central and South America, as well as in Israel, winning numerous awards. As well, the political science major is also pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, as a student of renowned cellist Paul Katz. As a five-year student pursuing dual degrees, Chorev will not graduate for another year, although he is finished with all his coursework. Chorev is currently spending much of his time trying to decide which of his two distinct passions he should pursue post-Tufts. "I am deliberating what my career path is going to be right now - music or foreign policy," Chorev said. "But I just haven't decided yet."
This Da Vinci's code is all about variety, music appreciation Famed string ensemble the DaVinci Quartet is coming to Tufts, and their approach to music is every bit as dynamic and engaging as DaVinci's painting was. The Colorado-based quartet has been recognized internationally for their instrumental prowess and their dedication to community service through music education programs. This Wednesday, the group brings their eclectic talent to the Parlour on Professor's Row where they will showcase an eclectic repertoire that ranges from classical to contemporary. The performance pieces will include "Written in the Wind" (String Quartet No. 2) from Tufts' own Associate Professor of Music John McDonald. Berklee College of Music Professor Andrew List's "String Quartet No. 4" will also be played. List dedicates his piece to the Quartet and explained that his composition is designed in three movements. It is a piece with a great deal of personal resonance that encompasses the complex emotions that come with what List terms the "discovery of new love." McDonald, a world-renowned musician and composer whose work has been performed on four continents, offers his composition, written as a gift in honor of Tufts professor emeritus Daniel Abbott in 1997. "My quartet was meant as something for him [Abbott] to play with fellow musician friends in his retirement." "Nevertheless, it requires some athleticism, especially from the violist," he said. Visit the Parlour at noon on Wednesday to see if acclaimed Da Vinci violist Leslie Perna is up to the task; light refreshments will be served and admission is free.Waging wars over waterCaptain Planet would be proud! This Thursday, EPIIC (Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship) will screen an award-winning film whose focus is one of the most basic components of life: water. An, extension of Epic's 2004-2005 "Oil and Water" Symposium program, "Thirst" is a hard-hitting inquiry into the ethics of water distribution. From the United States, to Bolivia, to India, "Thirst" looks at regional battles in specific communities where public access to water is threatened by the privatization of water facilities. Although nuclear warheads and oil seem to have been given more prominence recently as far as hotly contested natural resources go, water still remains a precious commodity that, despite its status as a basic necessity, is tightly controlled by corporations often at the expense of the health of millions. The film will be shown in the Crane Room at 7:00 p.m. and admission is free.'Arrivederci, Tufts!' and 'Benvenuto a Italia!' With Spring Break right around the corner, everybody is busily making travel plans, and the Tufts Chorale and Chamber Singers are no exception. This Sunday, members of the Chorale and Chamber Singers will embark on a one-week trip to Italy that includes stops in Naples, Capri and Pompeii, in addition to three concerts in Sorrento.This Thursday, the choruses will come together for a special sneak peek of their Spring Break tour, appropriately titled "Arrivederci!" Andrew Clark, a professor in the Music Department and conductor of both groups, describes the collaboration concert as a three-part program that "offers a little bit of everything for everybody," ranging from early Italian pieces to modern American songs to the music for a Mass written by famed Czech composer Anton Dvorak. "It's a really exciting time to be a member of or in the audience for the Tufts choruses," Clark says. "We're not only bigger [than in past years] but our artistic performance continues to improve to very exciting new levels."He encourages attendance by adding, "Hopefully, our audience on Thursday will hear something familiar and be introduced to something new at the same time.""Arrivederci!" beings at 8:00 p.m. in Alumnae Hall and admission is free.-compiled by Kelly Rizzetta
In an article last week on a fundraising event for victims of the South Asian tsunami, ("Attend a bash, support relief efforts," March 11) the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi was incorrectly identified as Alpha Omega Phi. In the same article, Gisela Alouan's name was spelled incorrectly as Gisela Alouhan.
Six athletes from the men's track and field team competed at the NCAA Championships at Illinois Wesleyan this weekend in the program's most successful outing at Nationals to date. All six returned to Tufts as All-Americans, and sophomore Fred Jones placed second in the long jump competition with a career-best tying performance, as the team placed 15th among the 52 competing schools.
Brian Griffin | Men's Lacrosse In Saturday's match against MIT, the senior tri-captain tied the Tufts all-time scoring record of 191 points that was set by Dan Kollar during a career that lasted from 1998-2001. Griffin only needed the first half of the game to tie the mark as he put in four goals and three assists in the half. Late in the second quarter, Griffin took a pass from junior midfielder Rory Doucette. The pass set Griffin up in the middle of the field alone with the MIT goalie and Griffin deposited the ball in the net, giving the Jumbos a 12-0 lead. Griffin had entered the game with 184 points, but the goal gave him four in the game to go along with three assists. Griffin's seven points led the game and helped the Jumbos to an 18-3 rout to open their season. The players had to overcome extremely sloppy conditions as rain mixed with snow to form a layer of slush on the field. The two time NESCAC Player of the Year has high hopes for this season as he was named to the preseason All-America Team. Sarah Crispin | Women's Track and Field As one of nine Jumbos who represented Tufts at NCAA Div. III Championships this past weekend, sophomore Sarah Crispin set a new personal best in the 800-meter run, finishing in 2:15.46 on Friday. The time was good enough for fifth in her preliminary heat and seventh in the finals and earned her All-American honors, along with four fellow Jumbos. With the run, she bested her previous record of 2:15.80, which earned her a sixth-place finish at All-New Englands and qualified her provisionally for Nationals, with what was the eighth best mark at the time. That meet was held on the banked track at BU. Crispin also helped the Jumbos take second place at the New England Division III Championships by running a 3:00.44 in the 1000 and earning second place in that event. Crispin has been solid on the 800 all year for the Jumbos. In addition to occassionally running the 1000, she was a varsity cross-country runner in the fall.
The Red Sox won the World Series. Technically I shouldn't have anything to complain about for, say, the next 50 years. Plus its spring; baseball has begun after a brief hot-stove winter; and if you still want to enjoy last season for a bit longer, March Madness will keep you preoccupied. Life is good. And so, on that note, here are my three biggest gripes of the baseball off-season (besides steroids). As Frank Costanza said, "I got a lot of problems with you people! And now you're gonna hear about it!"
Government to aid vocational schoolsThe U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to approve extending the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, a law that provides federal support for vocational education. Last year, the federal government provided $1.33 billion to the states under this law. On Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved extending the act. A similar bill in the U.S. House of Representatives has also passed its committee and awaits voting action on the floor. The act gives around 40 percent of its money to community colleges. Lobbyists for these institutions were pleased that the new law did not extend its aid to four-year institutions. College officials are unhappy about one provision in the House form of the bill which allows the government to lump federal funds into one program, known as Tech-Prep. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, this program allows students to get a technical education after two years of high school and two years of college.Business schools catch impatient applicantsProspective students applying to six business schools attempted to take an early peek at their admissions status and, because of this, are all being denied admission. An unidentified person posted instructions on how to do it on Business Week's Web site. According to the instructions, students had to log on to the admissions Web site and view the source code for the page to find a unique identification number. Students then had to plug the identification number into a URL provided by the hacker. Carnegie Mellon University, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) all said that they knew exactly which applicants attempted to break into the system and would deny admission to all of them. Dartmouth College, Duke University and Stanford University are still debating how to deal with the break-ins. Almost immediately after the three institutions released their decision to deny all applicants came the backlash from the applicants themselves, bloggers, and ethics professors around the country. One of the applicants, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Chronicle that he was not a "hacker" as the colleges accused and merely followed the instructions on the Web site out of curiosity. He told the Chronicle he did not believe what he did was hacking because even a novice like himself could do it. "I'm not an IT person by any sense of the imagination. I'm not even a great typist," he said. Len Metheny, Chief Executive Officer of ApplyYourself Inc. - the company that provided the application software used by all six colleges - believed that the applicants should have known they were doing something wrong because of how complicated the procedure was to follow. "These students used this procedure that was posted by a self-identified hacker himself to get unauthorized access to an otherwise restricted page. That is wrong," Metheny said in an interview with the Chronicle.--Compiled by Brian McPartland from the Chronicle of Higher Education
With season openers upon us, spring athletes are breaking in their gloves, restringing their rackets and waiting for the snow to melt as members of Tufts winter sports teams are readjusting to off-season schedules and enjoying some time off. But don't tell that to Bianca Spinosa. This freshman's season, which started back in the fall, is just now coming to an end as she represented Tufts in the NCAA Div. III National Championships this past weekend.
After a second snow-related delay, an open meeting about the future of the Green Line in Somerville will take place tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Somerville High School. The Somerville Journal reported that the chairs of the meeting will be Robert Gollege, commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Protection and Transportation Secretary Daniel Grabauskas. In an agreement made 15 years ago during the initial phases of the Big Dig, the State of Massachusetts agreed that in order to offset the pollution caused by the increase in cars traveling through Medford and Somerville, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) would extend the Green Line through Somerville and into Medford Hillside by 2011. In the meantime, the MBTA faced a budget deficit that swelled to $16 million this year, forcing the MBTA to consider canceling the Night Owl bus service and postponement of expansion projects, including the extension in Somerville. The Green Line extension is estimated to cost more than $375 million. "If the state decides to direct us to advance this project, we will do so," Lydia Rivera of the MBTA Public Affairs Office told the Daily in January. "We're at a standstill right now." Last year, the Daily reported that the state hired Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. to perform a feasibility study of a proposed Green Line extension. On Jan. 12, the cities of Medford and Somerville filed intent to sue the State of Massachusetts for violating portions of the Clean Air Act and for the state's inaction on the Green Line extension. "When the state got the go-ahead 15 years ago to build the Big Dig, it made a deal: in order to offset the potential pollution and congestion caused by the cars piling into the tunnel, it would also build ... a Green Line extension to Somerville and Medford ... and we're here today to remind them - a deal is a deal," Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said in a Jan. 12 press conference explaining the lawsuit. Curtatone told the Journal that public participation would be key in tonight's meeting, which follows a Dec. 16 state house meeting on the matter. The first meeting, postponed by the blizzard of late January, was rescheduled to Monday, Feb. 28. Inclement weather, however, prompted Curtatone to once again postpone the meeting until tonight. Curtatone said he hopes that, in light of these postponements, attendance at the meeting will not wane and that the state's response to the dilemma is contingent upon the community's support. "We've been snowed out twice, but we can't lose momentum now," Curtatone said. "Heavy turnout at these meetings sends the state a clear message that Somerville means business - that we are united in our desire for this Green Line extension."
Wednesday's intellectual exchange between Ann Coulter and Peter Beinart was both stimulating and disappointing, but above all, it was quite unsettling. Both candidates had significant strengths, and they were surely worthy opponents. And it is always a privilege to witness such free exchange of discourse. However, while the debate was feisty and witty, I was left with an overall disturbing sense of deep hatred and political regression. Beinart, editor of The New Republic, relied on many facts, figures and statistics, giving his argument an objective strength. Coulter did not respond with as many tangible figures, weakening her position. Beinhart's weakness, however, lay in his inability to keep the argument impersonal. He directed numerous insults at Coulter, most of which were completely irrelevant to the discussion topic. This reflected the greatest strength of Coulter. She began her opening statements with praise for Beinart. She lauded him as a worthy opponent, a future leader of his party, and a man of great intellect. Beinart did no such thing. Coulter maintained her composure upon the assailment of numerous attacks and withheld from personal retorts completely. In one of her earlier books, "Slander," Coulter argues that liberals cannot debate without using personal insult as a tool, and Beinart certainly proved her point. She prevailed, in my opinion, as the classier of the two in her ability to maintain the purity of the debate without stooping to personally insult her fellow debater. However, although Coulter was able to abstain from attacking Beinart, she was unable to debate without using vindictive commentary about others. In response to Beinart's factual discussion of Bill Clinton's presidency and what made it so great, she opened with a statement referring to Clinton as a "horny hick." Such spiteful and subjective comments brought laughter from the audience but did nothing to strengthen her opposing argument. The lesson that both debaters desperately need to learn is that the very essence of debate is objectivity. The purpose of debate is to match facts, reason, and logic to find the ultimate truth that lies within the framework of the debate topic. It is not about who can coin the wittiest one-liners or appeal emotionally to the most people. It is certainly not about who can draw the most laughter or the loudest applause from the audience. The exchange between the two arguers was entertaining, but fell quite short of debate. The atmosphere in Cabot was that of a show, not a serious discussion. What was most disappointing and indeed quite disturbing was the reaction of the Tufts audience. There was booing and shouting. Afterwards, I overheard a girl say that "people like her [Coulter] should not be allowed to write books," and the comment was received with emphatic agreement. Albeit a comment made in jest, the feeling of hatred in the debate room made it eerie and made my night walk home much darker. Another girl made a profanity-laden statement that Coulter is a "neo-nazi." I would challenge her to think more carefully about what exactly neo-nazism entails, and when and where exactly Coulter has fit that highly offensive profile before being so boldly accusatory. Finally, I heard Coulter referred to as a "nutcase" more than once. If that is true, then she is certainly a nutcase in high demand with several popular books, and one who can gracefully hold her own in a room full of hate. Above all, this debate cast a shadow on my vision of America's political future. While I fully embrace the freedom of discourse and encourage it wholeheartedly, I believe these highly partisan debates can bring nothing but regression. They breed hate and further solidify political schisms. They make people cry out for censorship. They work in no way towards understanding. How much longer can America stand if its most educated citizens are so deeply divided by misunderstanding and hate? Every great power has unknowingly induced its own demise. My fear is that Abraham Lincoln has already foreseen ours with his statement that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." My genuine plea to fellow believers in the human mind is to throw off self-righteous mantles of partisanship and to work instead towards a more progressive dialogue. Let us make Tufts a birthplace of objective communication in a world of such disarray. Objectivity is the human's only key to truth and provides the only framework within real progress can be sought. I went home that night and tore my Bush-Cheney sticker off my door, and took my Bush "Taking America forward" pin off my bulletin board. I no longer consider myself a Republican, or even a conservative. From this day forward I choose the path of true progress. Consider me an objectivist.Ashley Samelson is a sophomore who has yet to declare a major.
Wednesday night's debate between conservative pundit Anne Coulter and liberal editor Peter Beinart has no doubt stirred debate on campus, as was most likely its intent. Under the skillful moderation of Political Science professor Deborah Schildkraut, Coulter and Beinart attacked each other's platforms and beliefs on issues ranging from taxes to terrorism and No Child Left Behind to the national debt. Certainly, it is hard to come up with an ultimate conclusion as to who won Wednesday's debate, and in the spirit of the Lecture Series, I will leave it to the reader to decide. However, it is important to recognize the role of the single most important entity in any debate or forensic event: the audience. Prior to the debate, I was fearful that the exchange would break down as the frustration many liberals on campus have towards Coulter's views boiled over. We had already seen this occur at another Boston College, where Coulter spoke only a few months earlier. As at any university, people at Tufts have opinions. They care. So what would stop someone from standing up against that which they believe to be wrong? What a true champion against conservative/liberal ideology that person would have been. Certainly, the University and TUPD (whose presence at the debate was, to say the least, noticeable) realized this potential as well. While at the start of the debate Peter Beinart walked in unescorted, Anne Coulter was accompanied by two body guards, and the police were ready to go. The moderator reiterated the need for free exchange of ideas and opinions in a healthy democratic society prior to the debate. Senior Eitan Hersh called for both debaters to refrain from attacks on parties specifically and focus on the issues. But hardly a boo or impolite remark was to be heard. While the overall paradigm of the audience was clear, outright rudeness at no point took over. In fact, sharp remarks originated almost exclusively from the opponents (Audience member: I'm getting married, what advice do you have as to how I should relate to my wife; Beinart: You're asking marriage advice from Anne Coulter). It was truly impressive to see the civility with which Tufts students approached the debate, especially considering that practically all of them disagreed with one or maybe both of the speakers at points in the debate. As any student of Introduction to American Politics can tell you, tolerance is not necessarily allowing for many ideas. Rather, it is the willingness of a society to tolerate members whose views significantly differ from those of the majority. The marketplace of ideas is absolutely essential to providing the necessary discourse to progress in a society. But the United States in general is a very intolerant country. As Moderator Schildkraut teaches in her own American Politics class, just after Sept. 11, 31 percent of Americans polled favored the internment of American Arab citizens, similar to Japanese internment. 32 percent polled supported surveillance of Arabs after the attack. Clearly, as any member of the Academic Freedom Project will tell you, people are tolerant - of positions with which they agree. The true measure of a democratic society, ultimately, must be its citizens' ability to trust that, regardless of how radical the position, one idea alone cannot destroy a country. They must understand that an idea (and ideas in general) serves, contrarily, to strengthen a democracy, and that stifling such ideas is counterproductive to democracy's very nature. We cannot simply stifle the ideas of those with whom we disagree, and the students of Tufts University showed their comprehension of this vital concept to an extent which is, considering the circumstances, extremely impressive. In the coming days, discussions and written expressions on this debate will be issued and may break down into diatribes or rants. In an environment of free speech, this is almost inevitable. However, I point toward the civility and respect of the students of Tufts as evidence that the University is in good hands. Wednesday's debate was not just an attack on the beliefs of the audience in Cabot Auditorium, it was a challenge of the principles which mold student behavior and belief to its core. Regardless of whether or not people think Coulter or Beinart won the exchange, the ultimate winner in this debate was the audience. They allowed challenges to their beliefs to be considered and debated internally. They did not get defensive, and instead got analytical. More importantly though, while so hard to cultivate in many environments, civil discourse ultimately won out in this debate, and credit ought to be given to those who allowed for it, and free exchange, to occur. Scott Weiner is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.
When pondering Wagner, the opera stereotype is the first thing that might come to mind: the 600 pound Viking woman screaming her lungs out. And yes, "The Flying Dutchman" is set in Norway, so Vikings would not be completely out of place. However, at the performance of "Flying Dutchman" by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), this is not all that viewers will get. Under the direction of James Levine, the BSO performed the opera in concert over the weekend. They eliminated lavish sets and overdone costumes, bringing this work down to its essentials. The original soprano Deborah Voigt, who was cast as Senta, was ill on the evening of March 11 and the leaner English soprano, Elizabeth Byrne, was called in to replace her. It's a story we've all heard millions of times. Girl (Senta) loves boy (Dutchman). Boy is fairy tale character forced to roam the seas until the end of time, coming to shore only every seven years to find a true love, breaking the curse. Boy comes to shore after seven accursed years at sea and meets girl's dad (Daland). Girl and boy get together. Girl is happy. Boy catches girl breaking up with boyfriend (Erik) and thinks she still loves him. Boy curses girl. Girl jumps off cliff. It's simple, really. The overture presents the Dutchman's theme in the very first seconds of the opera, and unlike the other themes presented in the overture, the Dutchman's is never treated by voice throughout the remainder of the opera, but simply interjected by the orchestra here and there, whenever the Dutchman is mentioned. The six principle performers collectively get a B+, with individual grades ranging from C to A+. Bass-baritones Juha Uusitalo and Mikhail Petrenko, the Dutchman and Daland respectively, were amazing in their roles. Not only did they sing near-perfectly, but they injected into their roles just the right amount of emotion and theatrics appropriate for an orchestral concert performance. The duet between the Dutchman and Daland at the end of act one is regarded as one of the most technically difficult in all of opera. They pulled it off brilliantly, and made it one of the performance's several highlights. American tenor Paul Groves receives an A+ for his role as Daland's steersman. The steersman is a minor character, but Wagner provides him with an aria or two, just enough for Paul Groves to show his worth. These three performers made the first act absolutely breathtaking. The other tenor of the bunch, Alfons Eberz, was not as successful playing Senta's disgruntled boyfriend Erik. Erik is the principle tenor of the ensemble, and upon the first note that escaped his mouth, one wished that Paul Groves had sung in his place. He sounded almost like a baritone who was reaching too high, and completely out of place in the cast made up of otherwise impressive talent. He generously gets a C. Mezzo-soprano, Jane Bunnell, was competent as Mary, Senta's nurse. The role is not very impressive, but Bunnell did her job well although she was often drowned out by the chorus of maidens during her principle passages. Not entirely unwelcome, the brilliance of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus under direction of John Oliver was yet another highlight. The third act is the most choral of the three, and the chorus was able to produce an absolutely incredible sound that truly brought the opera to life. Finally, Elizabeth Byrne as Senta has an impressive history singing Wagner roles, and an equally impressive record covering Wagner roles in times of need. She has covered Br??nnhilde in "Ring," at the Metropolitan Opera, and has even dabbled in Senta with the Austin Lyric Opera. During her first scenes, the replacement seemed like a disappointing decision. When someone is called in as a replacement, physical theatrics must be sacrificed, and Byrne was unable to match some of the emotion of her bass-baritone counterparts. As the opera progressed, the audience learned to let Byrne's powerful voice speak for itself, and it spoke volumes, giving her the A+ that she deserves. In the end, this listener even learned to forgive the transgressions of Alfons Eberz and look at the production as a spectacular whole. Four sensations out of six soloists, a magnificent chorus, and one of the best orchestras in the world come together to produce Wagner's peerless "Flying Dutchman," and most importantly, no glass-shattering, scale-breaking Viking princesses.
The Tufts Lectures Series-sponsored debate on Wednesday night between Ann Coulter and Peter Beinart aimed to bring the two wings of the political spectrum into the same arena and have them duke it out. Unfortunately, that's about all that happened. If you went to the "debate" to listen to each side spout tired campaign talking points, rehash old and pointless rhetoric or just yell at each other, then you had a good time. However, for those who went hoping that these influential voices from opposite ends of the spectrum could somehow acknowledge their opposition's legitimacies or engage in an intelligent, open discussion for once, you probably felt like vomiting afterwards. Ann Coulter, pundit extraordinaire and columnist for Human Events, faced off against Peter Beinart, editor of The New Republic. From his opening statement, Beinart weakly tried to argue that there was a cause and effect relationship between the presence of Republican voters in Red States and their lack of social welfare programs. His premise was that because these states "go red," they are doomed to a future of poverty and high infant mortality rates. He did not point to actual specific policies that hurt residents in Alabama (a state he brought up multiple times), but rather argued that the mere presence of a Republican majority hurt poor Southerners. For a balanced listener to buy this argument, Beinart had to prove 1) that poverty was a direct result of a Bush policy; 2) that these states were not last in the rankings under a Democratic President, who he implied would magically fix every social problem by throwing money at it; and 3) that these states are not worse off because of other factors, such as poor state economies, poor state-level management, history of state government mismanagement, or government regulation that favors companies in other states. He could have tried to back up these statements with more than the "studies" he quoted, but preferred instead to end each of his statements with an outrageous claim or attack on Coulter or President Bush's Administration that inevitably drew applause. Coulter, whose reputation as the right wing's Ice Princess preceded her, relied on a similar assumption that the audience would hang on to every word she said. Essentially, she argued that liberals can afford to preach social welfare and government hand-outs because they live in luxury in Malibu and Westchester. While everyone is aware that sometimes this is true, to hear a well-known pundit use it as a basis for all liberal policies was ludicrous. Just as ridiculous was the cable news channel style of "debate" they employed, which, as we are sadly all familiar with, became a shouting match over which party got more poor voters. Such banter, usually used to fill hours at CNN or FOX News, has no place in a legitimate political discussion. Effectively, Coulter and Beinart turned the "debate" into a verbal boxing match, at which point those who were looking for an intelligent discussion gave up and tried to find some humor in the situation. One thing the combatants did not address was the essential fact that America is mostly middle class and whether that group is liberal or conservative. The protection of the middle class is most essential to the success of the society and the capitalist system and should be the moral basis of both political parties. Most audience members probably forgot at some point during the shouting that the debate's topic was supposed to be "The State of Moral Values in America," not a screaming match about Joe McCarthy and the Marshall Plan. The "debate" was entertaining, and both sides are certainly well-versed in political humor, but political humor is not political intelligence. The audience went to hear - we hope - a little more than talking points. Beinart started to sound like one of those "revolutionaries" you hear in the New York City subway; Coulter came off as that nasty girl who made you cry during high school debate class. Did these people get paid for this? Did our tuition bring these "experts" here? Is Tufts giving refunds? While Lecture Series feebly but nobly attempted to limit the debate to a discussion on "morals," the event inevitably turned into a rehashing of Campaign 2004. And we all know how well we all got along during those fall months. It's nice to envision that the state of political discourse at this university and in this country might be more even-handed and productive than this event shows, but every day such a view gets harder and harder to maintain. Whether you're conservative or liberal - or in Coulter-Beinart terms, fascist or communist - please bring more to the table when you have a political discussion. Be willing to admit your own errors and at least pretend to listen to your opponent. The 2004 Election is over. Republicans won, Democrats lost. Now we can start over with some intelligent conversation about American politics and the true direction of domestic and foreign policy instead of arguments and ad hoc attacks between talking heads. Our generation is one of the most politically active in years. If we can respect each other long enough to have a discussion that doesn't resemble "When Animals Attack," we might be able to get something done. Michael Devine is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major and Rebecca Frank is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.
We write in response to Thursday's article, "Making hunting for hookups into a science," March 10). We find it hard to believe that The Tufts Daily not only condones, but clearly encourages, the behavior portrayed in the article by men on campus. By portraying this lifestyle as normal and acceptable, the Daily is, in turn, encouraging sexual violence against women and unsafe and unhealthy attitudes about sexuality. To begin with, college women are referred to as girls (clearly indicating their inferiority to men), but they are also treated as animals to be hunted. The headline, "Making hunting for hookups into a science," in combination with a quote from Bill saying that "girls want to be chased," directly implies that men are predators out to hunt their victims. Women are also referred to as "prey" throughout the article. According to the article, women are projects for men to pursue; they are voiceless and dehumanized, making the job of a player that much easier. Not only is Bill clearly stalking his prey by observing her, observing her friends, and "find[ing] out what kind of guys she used to hook up with," but there are also signs of sexual assault in the article. Bill says that if you take a woman back to her room to hook up "she'll be willing to let go of her inhibitions there." But this only happens after both prey and predator are clearly intoxicated, according to Bill. Taking advantage of someone while they are intoxicated is rape. What does this say about consensual sexual relationships on this campus? Is this type of behavior common and do students at Tufts realize the effects of this behavior? As two students heavily involved with organizing this year's Sex Fair at Tufts, we condemn this behavior and hope that programs like the Sex Fair help spur discussion on what healthy sexuality and sexual responsibility is to students. Why don't more students speak out against treating women like animals instead of using their energy to speak out against sex education programs? We hope that this article and the Daily's choice to condone this lifestyle will make you to think about what a healthy sexual lifestyle is to you. This was both an offensive and distasteful article and we hope students begin to make healthier decisions regarding sexuality.Judy Neufeld, President of Tufts Voices for Choice Louise Weed, Head Organizer, "The Vagina Monologues"
New faculty members - whether they come to Tufts with years of experience or straight from their doctoral work - are in a similar situation to incoming undergraduate freshman: the Hill is not a familiar place. The transition of new faculty members is aided by an orientation period, faculty mentors and department-specific practices.
