Over the next two weeks, Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator senior Matt Pohl will screen his full-length documentary on gay marriage and be a groom in a mock gay wedding.
Salaries in higher education sky-rocket this year According to statistics from the College and University Association for Human Resources (CUAHR), median salaries for higher education teachers and administrators rose 3.3 percent for the 2004-2005 academic year - higher than the 2.5 percent growth experienced in the 2003-2004 acadeic year. The rise in salary also surpassed inflation for the eigth year in a row. "My feeling is that the survey is reflecting the economic recovery we've been experiencing since last year," Maria Rodriguez-Calcagno, a senior research associate at CUAHR, said to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The highest paid administrators, according to the survey, are Deans of Medicine, with a median salary of $326,173. Assistant registrars receive the least median pay, at $37,359. The CUAHR survey also compared public and private institutions. Salaries at private institutions rose at a slightly higher rate than those at public institutions.University of Frankfurt professor accused of various misconducts Former Professor of Anthropology Reiner Protsch von Zieten, of the University of Frankfurt, Germany, falsified data, plagiarized, and tried to sell ape skulls belonging to the university, according to a report by the commission to investigate Protsch von Zieten. The commission, composed of administrators from the University of Frankfurt, began the investigation almost a year ago, after allegations surfaced that Zieten had tried to sell the collection of skulls to a private American buyer for $65,000. The skulls were part of his research project on Neanderthals. Protsch von Zieten did not speak publicly after the most recent allegations, but he did assert his innocence and noted that the skulls were his to sell. He resigned from his post at the University almost a month ago. "I know of a number of clear cases of falsification," Sally McBrearty, a colleague of Protsch von Zieten's, said to the Chronicle. "I would say that this is not a surprise to anyone."OSU professor accused of blatant plagiarism Oklahoma State University (OSU) officials forced geography professor George Carney to step down after an investigation confirmed reports that Carney had plagiarized multiple times throughout his career at the university. According to reports, Carney had taken passages from 36 authors as his own, including multiple occasions in which he copied whole paragraphs word for word, since his hiring at OSU in 1972. OSU administrators sent Carney a letter informing him he would no longer be able to teach, and would lose his title of "regent" professor, which is given to faculty members who have received national recognition. Carney has not yet responded to allegations. He has 15 days to appeal the letter. A secretary in the geography department, however, said that he had stopped teaching and was "in the process of retiring," according to the Chronicle.-- Compiled by Brian McPartland from the Chronicle of Higher Education
The cities of Medford and Somerville have decided to file a lawsuit in conjunction with the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) against the state of Massachusetts for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and for reneging on a deal to extend the Green Line. "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. The construction of the Big Dig greatly increased the traffic in the surrounding towns, said Lucy Warsh, Curtatone's public information officer. In exchange for this, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was supposed to extend the Green Line and create more stops. Currently, the only subway stop in Somerville, a city of 80,000, is the on the Red Line at Davis Square. Cambridge, by comparison, has seven stops, and Needham, a suburb roughly one-quarter the size of Somerville, has four. "This is an injustice, a wrong we plan to right through this suit and our other efforts in the years to come," Curtatone said. The MBTA approved a $391,000 feasibility study of the project in Mar. 2004, considering various options. "We are in the process of conducting a study. We are interested in this project," Lydia Rivera of the MBTA Public Affairs Office said. "We do have limited resources. We also, along with this project, have other priorities and realities. Funding is holding us back." According to Rivera, the MBTA will examine the "ridership" of the various routes and services it provides, and take estimates this spring as part of the Green Line extension study. The MBTA will also consider whether to convert existing tracks and equipment or build entirely new rails, as well as the environmental impact of this project. The affected cities, however, have made it clear that they feel this is not progressing quickly enough, and that the state must take immediate action to make good on their deal. "The state is delaying the process," Warsh said. "They're doing what bureaucracies do. They're prolonging the process. They're not doing it. They're just talking about it." In addition to giving citizens access to the convenience of public transportation, Warsh and Curtatone point to the environmental impact of the increase in the number of cars driving through and around Somerville as a result of the Big Dig. "Everyday, more than a quarter of a million cars travel through Somerville. As they do, they spew pollution that leaves us with some of the dirtiest air on the East Coast," Curtatone said. "There is data that says that the Big Dig increased transit by cars by [a certain amount] per day in Somerville," Warsh said. "That is certainly part of the argument, saying listen, this is a huge burden to our community." Given this, the cities filed intent to sue on Jan. 12, and a mandatory 60-day notice means that litigation can begin, at the earliest, Mar.12. The state has begun to hold public hearings and meetings with representatives and citizens from Cambridge, Medford, and Somerville as part of the initial study. According to Rivera, the Green Line is the busiest of the MBTA's subways, with total ridership at around 225,000 per day, out of a total MBTA ridership of 1.1 million per day. Facing a $16 million deficit, however, funding is the biggest obstacle for the MBTA. "If the state decides to direct us to advance this project, we will do so," Rivera said. "We're at a standstill right now." Estimates put the cost of the project at around $375 million, and it is still unclear what the result of the lawsuit will be. Curtatone's wish, however, is for the project to be "implemented in a satisfactory way" by 2011.
At Saturday morning's first panel in Cabot Auditorium for the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) Symposium, the panelists focused on their various regions of specialty, from Nigeria to Venezuela to the Middle East. Each provided different perspectives on the incendiary natural resource. As one of five panelists who offered their thoughts in the panel "Oil: Blessing or Curse?" Universidad Central de Venezuela professor Carlos Blanco said oil has been "a powerful tool for industrialization" and has solidified stabile democracy in Venezuela. Blanco also said, however, that oil has led to an oversized, weak state and widespread corruption. He said what many other panelists did as well, oil is not a blessing or a curse - it is both. Hossein Askari, a former Special Adviser to the Saudi Arabian Minister of Finance, said that in the 1970s, everyone thought "the Middle East would own every stock in every stock exchange in the world in 10 years," but today a different path has befallen the region. Askari blamed corruption, a lack of growth in the private sector, and the ever-permanent conflicts and instabilities of the region for the lack of economic growth. Following Askari's presentation, Obiageli Ezekwesili, The Special Assistant for Budget to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, was presented with the 2005 Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award. Ezekwesili followed with a speech focused on the troubles facing the Nigerian oil industry. Nigeria's biggest barrier to benefiting from their oil reserves came from rampant corruption. Ezekwesili also passionately condemned the bureaucrats in Western nations who pass judgment over Nigerian corruption while simultaneously allowing its continuance with the use of their own banks and funds. According to Ezekwesili, Nigeria has already taken a step away from corruption with the formation of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). Darren Kew, EPIIC alumnus and Assistant Professor in the Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, also discussed Nigerian oil issues. Kew said that one of the most important reforms that the Obasanjo government has been promising to make is to privatize Nigeria's oil industry. Election reform will also be crucial, according to Kew. As an observer to the 2003 elections in oil-producing regions, he said that "they were stuffing ballots right in front of our faces." Andrew Hess, former executive for the Arabian American Oil Company and professor of Diplomacy at the Fletcher School, said that it is important to remember the differences in developmental history between the West and the East when analyzing conditions in the Middle East. In the 1970s, Hess said, much of Saudi Arabia was still a "nomadic, oasis society." There is still a gap in science and technology, which must be changed by "put[ting] into motion an education system that is going to move them forward for the future."
Greater than the sum of his parts Marco Visconti-Prasca is not your typical grad student. At the age of 47, this 'aspiring' composer and native of Italy has already received the equivalent of a master's degree in music from the Italian public conservatory system, but has had to work his way up from scratch since entering the American university circuit. The veteran baritone sax player, along with virtuoso clarinetist Michael Norsworthy and a talented ensemble will perform six original works of Visconti-Prasca's this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in Alumnae Hall. When asked to describe his sound, the composer was hesitant to comment on his craft. "The music should speak for itself," he says. He does, however, offer a few cryptic hints. Self-proclaimed as more of a writer than a true composer, Visconti-Prasca explains that his creative process is a visual rather than an aural one, pointing to his well-developed writer's bump as a testament to his compositional skills. Finally, he compares his music to an Alexander Calder sculpture rather than the work of another musician in order to illustrate how his works are comprised of individual rhythms that work within a larger form. But as Visconti-Prasca says, reading a description in a newspaper is "pointless" without hearing the music to back it up, so check out his concert this Wednesday to get the full scoop. The 'ins and outs' of eating disorders As a society, we often laugh off the ravages of eating disorders as the ridiculous attempts of privileged celebrities to appear even more impossibly beautiful. But for the millions of regular people who have to deal with the effects of such disorders on an everyday basis, eating disorders like bulimia nervosa are no joke. Michelle Blair brings the struggles of bulimia victims to light with her touching documentary, "Inside Out: Stories of Bulimia," which will be shown in Barnum 104 this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. by Health Services. Bulimia is fast on the rise on college campuses with 1 percent to 2 percent of all students diagnosed annually, and unlike its more publicized counterpart, anorexia nervosa, is experiencing disturbing popularity among both males and females. Clinicians and a nutritionist will be on hand to discuss the risks factors and health detriments of bulimia and other eating disorders after the film presentation. Living the 'chai' life In honor of the Tufts Hillel Chai (Life) Week that begins with a special faculty Shabbat on Friday night, world renowned singer Neshama Carlebach will perform at the Hillel Center at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. "We're so lucky to have such a famous Jewish singer coming to Tufts," says Shir Appeal member and Tufts freshman Penina Goldstein. Carlebach has indeed achieved celebrity status, both for her lineage and illustrious career. The daughter of famed religious leader and composer, the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Neshama began singing after the death of her beloved father in 1994. Since then, she has made a name for herself, touring the world with her soulful and spiritual musical style, and teaching about Jewish traditions, history, and contemporary issues as she goes. The concert is open to all who wish to attend, as are the Havadallah (end of Shabbat) services in which Carlebach will also participate at 7:30 p.m.-- by Kelly Rizzetta
Becoming a writer was something of a family rite for Gregory Maguire (G '90), the author of numerous bestselling novels, including "Wicked" and "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister."
Playing against first seeded Trinity, the Jumbos needed a major upset. Alas, the Jumbos did not have the luck they had hoped for, falling 9-2 to the favored Bantams in the quarterfinal round of the NESCAC Hockey Championship Tournament at Kingswood-Oxford Rink. Trinity, ranked No. 3 in the nation, improved to 20-2-2 and extended its unbeaten streak to 11 games, while the Jumbos closed the season with a 12-12-1 mark. The Jumbos fell to Trinity last weekend 5-2 as well. "It was a good season," McCarthy said. "The seniors and this team have laid a foundation these past years, especially this season. The mentality we had at the end of the season was there. We were good enough to beat any team and hopefully that will carry over to next year." While Tufts' season ended with the loss to Trinity, the Bantams will continue their quest for a NESCAC Championship. Hosting the tournament semifinals for the first time, Trinity will play Bowdoin on Saturday. In the other semifinal match-up, Middlebury will play Colby. The Jumbos headed to Trinity this past Saturday with an ambitious spirit to break their streak of bad luck in the playoffs. But for the third consecutive year, the Jumbos saw their season end in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament. "We definitely could compete with Trinity, we just fell short at the end," junior forward and co-captain Kenny Cleary said. The Bantams jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period. The three goals all came within a four-minute time span, slipping between the pipes past freshman goalie James Kalec. The Jumbos answered back late in the first on a power play opportunity. With assists from freshman Greg O'Connell and sophomore John Murphy, senior captain John Hurd stepped up and netted the first of the two Jumbo goals. The wrist shot by Hurd trickled in behind Bantam senior goalie Doug Kisielius with 5:50 left in the first period. "We both knew each other's game," junior Matt McCarthy said. "We analyzed their tapes and they analyzed ours. They knew our style of play and that worked against us this weekend." The Bantams dominated the second period as they took a 5-1 lead with two minutes left in the period. But McCarthy wouldn't let Trinity head into the locker room feeling that the game was lost as he netted his 19th goal of the season and trimmed the Bantam lead to 5-2 with a quick shot off a face-off with 1:26 remaining in the period. The score came on another power play opportunity for the Jumbos. In the third period, Trinity capitalized on Tufts penalties, scoring four goals with the extra man to seal the victory. Trinity junior Cameron Finch netted two power play opportunities on his way to a hat trick. He now has 22 goals on the season, tied for tops in the NESCAC. The Jumbos were short one man on the ice on seven different occasions in the contest, surrendering five goals. Trinity, on the other hand, gave up goals on just two of their five shorthanded sequences. The Bantams out-shot the Jumbos, 36-23 while Kalec and fellow freshman goaltender Issa Azat combined for 27 stops. Regardless of the outcome of the game, Tufts knows this season qualified as a moderate success, especially compared to last year. "This season as a whole, we have taken some pretty big steps towards improving not only as a team, but also as a total organization," Cleary said. "I think we had a pretty successful season and everyone contributed some way to the team."
As the end of the indoor track season approaches, the men's track and field team has increasingly fewer chances to break records, set personal bests and qualify for nationals. This weekend, at the All-New Englands at Boston University, the Jumbos took full advantage of opportunities to do just that, setting several career bests, shattering one school record, and provisionally qualifying a few for nationals. Boston University has a banked track, which can shave time off the sprints, but can make distance running slightly more challenging. Yet, as the end of the indoor season approaches, the runners are in the top form required to set records regardless of the track. In addition to several individual accomplishments, the Jumbos placed 10th out of 36 schools at the meet. Their finish was impressive considering the stiff Div. I, II, and III competition they faced. The Jumbos even racked up more points at the meet than Williams, who edged out Tufts in the New England Div. III Championships last weekend on their way to a first place finish. This weekend, the Ephs placed 16th with 12 points. Tufts finished the meet sandwiched between ninth place rival MIT, who earned 30 points, and fellow Div. III program Bates, who finished 11th with 20 points. Although many Jumbos set career records, most of the team's points this weekend can be attributed to sophomore Fred Jones. He handled his competition, jumping his way to a second-place finish in both the long jump and the triple jump (7.06 and 14.10, respectively). His distance in the long jump was his second best career performance. His two impressive finishes earned the Jumbos 16 of their final 23 points. The 1000 was the most remarkable event of the weekend for the Jumbos. Senior Aaron Kaye earned two points for Tufts in the 1000 finals with a seventh-place finish (2:30.10). Kaye's race was the biggest of the meet for the Jumbos. His preliminary time of 2:28:93 obliterated the Tufts school record set in 1982 (2:29.32, by Paul Murray). "I was strictly going for time," Kaye said. "So when a lot of the people were thinking about position, I was thinking about time. I took the lead on the second lap because I wanted to push the pace, so I pushed it to keep my pace pretty level and just give everything on the last two laps." "I didn't ever expect to be running for a school record," Kaye added. "So it was definitely very exciting to do it for all my teammates. My coach was pretty excited for me." Although Kaye did not anticipate his record time, Coach Connie Putnam was anticipating a strong performance from him. "By and large, we had some pretty good performances," Putnam said "The most exciting event of the weekend was Kaye's school record time in the 1000. I saw that coming, so I was really excited to see it happen." Junior Trevor Williams placed 15th in the 400 meter dash preliminaries (50.56 seconds), but could not earn the top 10 time required to advance. In the 800 meter preliminaries, junior Patrick Mahoney placed 13th (1:54.49), provisionally qualifying for Nationals as well as breaking his career record and marking the first time he's raced under 1:55. Mahoney's time is the second fastest in Tufts history in the event. He was less than half a second away from finishing in the top nine and advancing to finals. The sprints weren't the only events that marked career bests for Tufts runners. In the distance events, several Jumbos set career records. Junior Matt Fortin placed 12th in the 1 mile preliminaries with a personal best (4.16.24). Senior Brian McNamara also shattered his own personal record and finished 15th (4:18.99). Sophomore Ciaran O'Donovan placed 15th in the preliminaries (2:31.55), with a personal best time only three seconds behind Kaye's record-breaking run. Senior Michael Don placed 17th in the 3000 (8:42.77). In the 5000, Matt Lacey ran a personal best and finished fourth (14:42.83). In addition to earning five points for his team, he improved his provisional qualifying time and increased his chances of going to Nationals. Senior Nate Brigham placed 14th in the 5000 meter run (15:04.76) and sophomore Josh Kennedy placed 17th (15:08.65). Sophomore Jamil Ludd placed 13th in the 55 meter hurdles semifinals (8.11). Nate Thompson placed 20th in the 55 hurdles preliminaries (8.38). The Tufts 4x400 relay team placed ninth (3:20.57), only .09 seconds behind the last team to earn points. It was the fastest time this season for the team of Williams, Mahoney, freshman Nate Scott and sophomore Nate Cleveland. The 4x800 team finished in 11th place (7:53.89). The Distance Medley Relay (DMR) team placed 13th (10:30.75). The young runners were trying to gain experience and ran impressively. Nate Cleveland opened the race running 3:09 in the mile leg and handed off his decent positioning to freshman Andrew Gordetsky, who ran the 400 (53 seconds). Gordetsky passed off to Dan Sullivan, who ran the 800 (1:58) and then freshman Ayenda Inyagwa closed the race for the Jumbos in the 1200 leg (4:30). "We ran a young DMR team, which was experimental, looking towards next year and the year after," Putnam said "They ran very well. A really good performance, I thought, for who they are and where they are in the development." In some of the field events, the Jumbos weren't as successful. Freshman Jeremy Arak finished 11th in the high jump (1.86 meters). Junior Seth LaPierre struggled in the pole vault. This weekend, the Jumbos will make a last attempt to qualify more runners for Nationals at the Trinity Last-Chance Invitational, hosted by Trinity at Yale University.
Aaron Kaye, Men's Track & Field The senior had a record-breaking weekend, running in the All-New England Championships at Boson University. Kaye obliterated the long-standing Tufts record in the 1,000 meter event, set by Paul Murray in 1982 (2:29.32). Facing strong Div. I, II, and III competition, Kaye ran his record time of 2:28.93 in the preliminaries of the 1000. Kaye cruised through the beginning of the race and then took the lead as the pace of the pack slowed. In the final fifth lap, he charged and crossed the line right behind Div. I competitors. Kaye advanced to the finals in the 1000, where he finished in seventh place and earned two points for the Jumbos (2:30.10). Overall, Tufts placed 10th out of 36 schools with 23 points. This is the second time Kaye has put his name in the record books, this season. The senior ran the leadoff leg of the DMR team that broke the school record at BU's St. Valentine's Invitational earlier this month in a time of 10:01.33 and will likely advance to Nationals in March.Distance Medley relay, Women's Track & Field The team cruised to an 11:59.80, shattering their time from the St. Valentine's Invitational by ten seconds and setting a new school record. The team of Senior Katie Sheedy, junior Rachel Bloom, and freshmen Katy O'Brien and Laura Walls also likely solidified its entry at the NCAA Championships in two weeks at Illinois Wesleyan. O'Brien led off in 3:39 sticking with some stiff competition from DI and DII schools, improving her time on the leg by two seconds. Bloom ran the 400 leg in a blistering 57.7 with Sheedy then running a 2:19.5 for the 800. Laura Walls then ran the mile leg in 5:02, seven seconds faster than her time at St. Valentine's. The team broke the school record, set by Colleen Burns, Sarah Deeb, Lauren Esposito, and Leslie Crofton, which they set at the NCAA Championships, taking third in 2000. The girls currently own the fourth fastest time in the nation. "I told the girls after the race that they exceeded expectations and I never say that," coach Kristen Morwick said.
Sunnyland Distribution CEO Abbas Bayat intoned 18th and 19th century poet Samuel Coleridge when he told the crowd gathered in Cabot Auditorium that the world faced "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink." Panelists at Saturday's Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) Symposium, "Commons or Commodity? The Future of Water," discussed the current perplexity of water distribution: society is destroying the very life force that sustains it. More than 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and over two billion people have died in developing countries from preventable diseases linked to poor water sanitation. Peter Gleick, Co-Founder and President of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, and one of the five panelists, summed up the seeming paradox of the world's shortage of clean water. "Despite improvements in the grand scale of water management, we are faced with a global water crisis," he said. The symposium focused on the question of how we should approach the problem of distributing safe water to all. Marcia Brewster, Senior Economic Affairs Officer of the Sustainable Development Division in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations said there is a "debate over whether water is an economic good, a commodity, or a human right, a social good." Brewster focused on the issue of privatization - the distribution of water by privately owned companies. Most western countries have public, or government-controlled, water supplies, she said. In developing countries, however, "governments are unable to provide basic water needs of their citizens because they lack financial capital and have corruption, and privatization is the common solution," Brewster said. Brewster doubted the prospects of successful privatization. She said growing corporate interest that leads to the benefit of a wealthy few at the hands of many. Gleick pointed out that monopolies inevitably form in the water distribution business. "Governments must regulate them," he said, "There needs to be government oversight." Anthony Turton, Head of the Africa Water Issues Research Unit at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, said, "Governments and institutions are key." Turton presented a diagram illustrating governance as interconnected relations between government, society, and science. He said that before we enact policies, "we need to understand the socio-cultural and economic history. Mature democracies are different from fledgling democracies." Bayat, whose Belgium-based Sunnyland Distribution distributes water, said it was the "responsibility of academics to create practical models" to address the water crisis. He said humans seek instant gratification, using water faster than it can be replenished, sometimes on projects such as golf courses in deserts, which he deemed unnecessary. "The question is about life itself," he said, "evil does exist [in the forms of] greed and individual desire for power." "It's time to look elsewhere, to new ideas, to new answers," Gleick said. "[Water mismanagement is] more than an embarrassment. It causes huge suffering." The panelists conveyed optimism regarding the future of water. "The answer depends on the choices we make," Gleick said.
A typical day on campus brings a student or visitor at Tufts a vast array of conflicting sensations: the green (or white) campus and the perpetually crowded streets, or the clang of Goddard's bells and the relentless honking of car horns. Although Tufts may bill itself as a "suburban" University, the reality on the ground, as most Tufts students know, is that the Medford and Somerville communities in which Jumbos live and learn are very urban. They are also underserved by public transportation, a situation which is an unfair hindrance to economic growth and quality of life in the two cities. When the Big Dig was started, certain concessions were made to affected communities to offset the environmental disturbance that the dig would bring. Now with the Dig winding up, the state and the MBTA need to take steps to fulfill assurances made to Hub communities years ago. This is not simply a matter of goodwill on the part of the parties involved: the Green Line extension, for one, has been mandated by two separate court decisions. In order for the stations of the extension to be in place by 2011 (as required), planning must be expedited. The right-of-way, after all, is already in place as a commuter rail line that runs along Boston Avenue. A Green Line extension would do much to ease the lives of residents in Medford and Somerville. Somerville, the most densely populated city in Massachusetts, has long been underserved by the MBTA, with the results being traffic, pollution, and noise. It isn't just a pain, it's unhealthy: Somerville has the highest rates of lung cancer in the state, a statistic that is almost certainly due in part to the prevalence of air pollution in the city. On the other side of the hill, Medford residents would greatly benefit from a rail extension that would make the town a bit quieter and more mobile. The extension won't just mean physical mobility for the two towns: it will be a huge economic boon for businesses and residents alike. Residents used to dealing with traffic in their journeys to Boston will gain a quick, convenient, and cheap way to access all that the metro area has to offer. Businesses across the area will see their fortunes look up when T stations bring people and pocketbooks into Medford and Somerville. Tufts, of course, would also benefit, as the current plans call for a T stop essentially on campus. Gone will be cold midwinter walks to Davis, replaced by convenient transportation that allows students a quick way in to Boston and affords visitors an easy way to get to campus. Bringing the Green Line out to the hillside will finally bring the residents of local communities the transportation they have paid for and deserve. The trains are not a luxury: they are absolutely necessary. Somerville and Medford residents deserve the same transportation options afforded to the more affluent and influential inner 'burbs, and now is the time to work for transportation equality. The MBTA needs to get its act together and make the next stop for the Green Line extension progress.
According to a recent joint study conducted by Tufts and Boston University (BU) researchers, it is only a matter of time before unhealthy impacts of climate change on Boston's infrastructure become apparent. Dr. Paul Kirshen, Tufts research professor in the departments of civil and environmental engineering, served as the Project Manager, and said that researchers worked for five years to complete the study. "From 1999-2004 we looked at how climate changes will affect infrastructure," Kirshen said. "We looked mostly at the effects on service, public health and energy." The conclusions were published in a report entitled "Climate's Long-term Impacts on Metro Boston (CLIMB)," he said, and were presented to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in October. Kirshen explained that by using advanced computer modeling systems, researchers created multiple scenarios of possible future environmental changes, and how the city's infrastructure would need to be altered to function in spite of the impacts of those changes. One major aspect of the study was metropolitan drainage systems. With the continued melting of the polar ice caps, Boston should expect "more coastal flooding after storms in the next few decades," Kirshen said. "There will be a far greater flooding area around the Charles River basin, as well as an extended area from the North End to South Boston," he said. The Charles River basin area is also the site of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus. Kirshen said that "we already get major storm surges as it is. Imagine the added destruction that just three feet of water elevation would cause." Increases in water levels will put a possibly unbearable strain on existing drainage systems in place around Boston. "We're going to have to change our drainage standards, reservoirs, and health warning systems, because an increase in water level will almost certainly spell an increase in diseases," he said. Even slight changes in temperature will affect current wastewater systems in the city, Kirshen said, as these systems are very sensitive to climate changes. Though pessimistic about how developing countries around the world will fare as a result of climate change, Kirshen said he believes that it is not too late for Boston to prepare itself for the impacts of climate change. "The significant part of this study is that taking action earlier will result in [preventing] a lot of damage in the next decade or so," he said. "We'll be able to buy our way out of this [if the city acts quickly]." Kirshen said he thinks that if Boston upgrades its infrastructure early enough, the city could save up to a half to two-thirds of the total cost of damage caused by climate change. "I think most of the industrialized world will be able to work through climate changes," he added. "People will adapt to changes in climate." David Gute, associate civil and environmental engineering professor, a researcher for CLIMB, said that the importance of this study was in "its attempt to make the impact of global change real to local policy makers and appointed and elected officials." CLIMB was one of the few studies that included "a strong community partner in the research who was very interested in the impact on local cities and towns," Gute said. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council was one such partner. The Council "helped shape the questions that were researched, and were a partner that helped ensure the results were disseminated back to the local policy makers," Gute said. These sorts of strong community relations are not always present in academic research studies, Gute said. In addition to helping to shed light on how Boston will react to future climate changes, CLIMB has helped researchers understand how other regions of the world will react. According to Kirshen, they may not be as lucky as Boston. Kirshen said he predicts that developing countries will not be able to adapt to climate changes as easily as U.S. cities, and will therefore suffer the brunt of "our self-indulgent lifestyle." "In the developing world, in the poorest [countries], such as [in] West Africa, the people are very tied to agriculture, which, in turn, is closely tied to climate," Kirshen said. The developed world's emissions of green house gases, which cause an increase in world temperature, must be curbed if the effects of climate change are to be minimalized, Kirshen explained. "At this point, things are only going to get worse," he said. "The best we can do right now is control green house gas emissions, which will at least slow the rate of climate change." The eleven-person research team received a grant from the EPA, and their work was meant to be an academic research study. According to Kirshen, researchers in many fields including economists, urban experts, hydrologists and geotechnical engineers were consulted in compiling the study's conclusions. The media, including the Boston Globe, have covered the study's results, which, according to Kirshen, was a boon for this sort of research. "Hopefully public attention to these issues will allow similar studies to focus on other cities," he said. "While most studies focus on climate change's impacts on agricultural areas, it's important not to forget that the world is urbanizing quickly," he said. Kirshen explained that, in a few decades, the majority of people on earth will be living in cities, rather than in rural areas. This adds a new importance to the possible effects that climate change will have on urban centers. Kirshen attributed the study's success in part to Tufts' research structure. "Tufts was one of the few institutions where [a project of this sort] could be carried out, based on the skills in interdisciplinary research," he said.
Five experts on oceanic affairs addressed issues ranging from the anarchy of the shipping industry to the potential marine microorganisms have as new energy sources in the panel, "The Blue Frontier: Oceans and Economic Security" on Saturday. The panel was part of the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship's (EPIIC) 20th anniversary symposium. Oceanographer and marine biologist Sylvia Earle was presented with the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award on behalf of EPIIC. "Water is a driving force [for life on earth]," Earle said. She said that in the past 50 years, humans have depleted 90 percent of the big fish in our seas, including tuna, swordfish, grouper and cod stocks. "If we continue as we have been doing for the past 50 years, we will find ourselves in ever more serious danger," Earle said. She said that there are possible solutions to Earth's growing environmental problems, including an investment in communication, extended protection of marine natural systems and increased governance over unregulated ocean territories. Now, only one percent of the ocean enjoys the same protections that 12 percent of terrestrial environments do, Earle said. William Langewiesche, correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, also spoke about the lack of regulation on the high seas. His lecture, however, focused on the political, rather than environmental, ramifications of such an unfettered setting. "The ocean is the perfect environment [for terrorists] to operate in," Langewiesche said in a discussion focused on the transnational shipping industry. He said there is a "disconnect between regulation and operational reality" on the seas. "I don't know if this is good or bad," Langewiesche said. "What counts is to face it honestly and not to fool ourselves with false constructs of order that are so easily ignored." Dr. Juan Enriquez, senior research fellow and director of the Life Sciences Project at the Harvard Business School, said that after sampling water from across the Pacific Ocean, Enriquez discovered thousands of new species and genes. "Five water samples led to a 100 fold increase in the ways to take sunlight and convert it to energy," Enriquez said in reference to the discovery of new microorganisms. He urged the audience to "start getting literate in this stuff" because "this is going to change the world in a fundamental way." Earle said she hoped that that people would be willing to "see fish swimming in something other than lemon sauce and butter."
On Sunday night, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, King of Gonzo and Lord to All Freaks, took a .45 pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. I was heading out the door for a night of revelry when my friend, Corey, called me up and gave me the news, and I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I was in a funk the rest of the night and did the only thing I could think of to celebrate the Doc's life - I filled my body with any and every substance I could lay my hands on. It seemed appropriate. You most probably know Thompson as the guy Johnny Depp impersonated in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Few know him as one of the most influential journalists of the past fifty years. Fewer still know who the heck he really was, underneath the layers of drugged out madness and personal myths he had built around himself. I sure as hell do not. But now, as preparations are underway to shoot his ashes out of a cannon, I've finally figured out why I cared, and what his death meant to me. Despite all his cynicism and hate, Thompson's writings were strangely optimistic. There was a belief that despite all the lying and evil in the world, things would get better. In the 1972 election, he was convinced until the final moments that the evil, bloated beast that was Richard Nixon would be brought low by the tide of truth and righteousness that the people would bring about. He believed that America, an idea so pure and perfect, couldn't be killed by the scallywags and putrid interests trying to murder it just to ride its carcass like the maggots they were. Even after the election, however, he was optimistic that things would work themselves out. And they did, with the Watergate scandal. His essays from that time are some of my favorite works of his. There is hate and anger there but also a sense of victory, that the bastards had been crushed and that we'd taken our country back for what it was supposed to be. We'd won, and the Doc was right there celebrating with us. The common thread of his work is America. In a 2003 interview, Thompson commented, "I think I'm one of the most patriotic people that I've ever encountered in America." To people with only a casual knowledge of his works, that seems a ridiculous claim. Here he is, a left-winger (and an NRA-registered gun nut until the moment he died) who once spent an afternoon talking football with Nixon before nearly blowing up Air Force One with a cigarette. He called Ed Muskie a "weasel." He referred to today's White House as being full of "racists and hate-mongers." And he claimed to be a patriot - and it was the truth. Thompson cared about America deeply, and it showed. "Las Vegas" was dirty, but it was all about the American dream - specifically, its death - but still. He became involved in politics, even running for office, because of his intense passion for our country. He was a patriot in the truest sense, and it came across in his works. He hated Nixon so much not because he had policies the Doc disagreed with, but because he was a cheat and a liar and willing to kill everything good about America just to get ahead - and I agreed wholeheartedly with the Doc when he said that the Bushies are worse and we should throw them out on the street. That's another thing. Hunter was willing to do what the media wasn't - say the truth. It's a no-no to call the President pure unadulterated evil and to express a desire to watch his advisors boil alive in a pitcher of crude oil, but he would do it. So why does the death of one 67-year-old drug-addled crazy bastard matter so much to me? It's very simple. If he'd died of a drug overdose, or of old age, or getting whacked by Dick Cheney, it would all be fine and good. But the fact that it was suicide - assuming he wasn't just tripping out and thought there was a bat in his skull - struck a chord with me. Because it meant that the optimism was dead. Something was coming that Thompson didn't want to face, that he didn't feel he could overcome. Some people think he wanted to go out in a blaze of something, instead of wasting away in a nursing home. This makes a certain amount of sense, although the mental image of the Doc running around a nursing home steeling barbiturates from Alzheimer's patients and munching on them like candy while beating off the orderlies with a pimp cane makes me giggle like a little school girl. Whatever it was, he decided going out now was better than sticking around for what came next. I feel the same way Hunter did about this country. I love it. I love what it stands for and what it can be. And it makes me sick to see it being turned into the hideous mockery it is today, run by a bunch of scumbags like Wolfawitz and Rumsfeld who find sending our peers off to war a cheap replacement for popping several Viagra pills. To me, his death was giving in. Is that a selfish way of looking at his suicide? Yeah, sure, but one can make a pretty compelling case that suicide is selfish too. But his death hit me because it was the eternal optimist about my country killing himself. It was, in some ways, the final death of the American dream - a death that started in 1968 and finished last Sunday with a single pull of the trigger. So Mahalo, Doc. Go with your old Attorney and Ginsberg and whichever other freaks rule up in heaven. Pour yourself some Wild Turkey, have a good time, and enjoy yourself. You've earned a break. But come back soon. Because we need the Truth, and there are precious few people left to say it.Aaron Mehta is a sophomore majoring in history.
Over the past few years, several Tufts students have worked for Earth Train, an international, non-profit organization that, according to its Web site, aims to "provide young people with the skills, the practical experience, and the global network of support they need to develop into effective leaders in fields contributing to the quality of life."
Panelists at the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) Symposium, "Adapting to Climate Change," offered attendees several unique perspectives on mitigating and adapting to a world amidst a rapidly changing climate. The event, which took place Sunday afternoon in Cabot Auditorium, entailed taking a closer look at such issues as global warming and the Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol is one of many steps the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has taken toward reducing carbon dioxide emission rates. An increase in carbon dioxide over the years has been linked to an increase in global warming - the phenomenon associated with rising temperatures and sea-levels across the globe. Gwin Prins, a research professor at both the London School of Economics and Columbia University, addressed his own reservations and criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol in light of global warming. "Europeans have signed the treaty despite doubts about the ability to meet a target," Prins said. This target, according to Prins, is a consensus on the rate at which carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced globally. Prins also warns that the treaty will be hard to fulfill given European nations' "unwillingness to build enough [in terms of] non-fossil fuel generating capacity." In addition to criticizing the ambiguity of the treaty's goals, Prins said that the Kyoto Protocol is "fatally flawed" in part because it has "fallen a victim of bad timing." Prins said that, in the wake of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, environmental activism fostered in the early 1980s has ebbed toward anti-war activism. Richard Lindzen, professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), agreed with Prins that the Protocol is faulty. Lindzen said that a failure in "alarmism," or ability to incite immediate action, renders the Protocol ineffective. "The trouble with the Protocol is that it doesn't imply alarm but instead leads to an opposition to alarm" Lindzen said. Lindzen said that the "public has been lulled into not having to understand anything" with regard to the Kyoto Protocol's objectives, in part because of the vastness of the effects of global warming. "Regional climate change is vastly greater than global climate change," Lindzen said. William Moomaw, Professor of International Environmental Policy at the Fletcher School and recipient of one of this symposium's Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Awards, said there are a variety of ways in which humans will have to adapt in light of climate changes. According to Moomaw, several countries are already "paying the price" for failing to adapt to a rise in temperature and sea level. He gave cities in Peru as an example, as these cities are currently experiencing shortages of water due to the rapid shrinking of glaciers that are commonly used to store and supply water.
Names are a staple of every civilized society. Without names, our conversations would be reduced to "Hey, Asshole," or "No, I'm talking about the other guy with eyebrows."
Since I came to Tufts last year, I have noticed that students here have the tendency to complain about the lack of "social" opportunities on campus. Social, in this case, serves as a euphemism for drinking. Countless articles and editorials are written constantly criticizing the president and calling for a party scene that will ignore underage drinking laws and allow college to be a haven for uncontrolled alcoholic fun. I am not going to decry the use of alcohol on an occasional basis, nor am I going to agree with the validity of a legal drinking age as high as 21. I am, however, going to strongly disagree with the views of several of my quite vocal fellow classmates. I find that at college, there is way too much of a premium placed on the use of alcohol. As far as I am concerned, a social life should not rest solely on getting drunk. Student social life at college is becoming one-dimensional, since it is now the case that many people find that they can only have fun at a party if they are both getting drunk and hooking up. This mentality feeds into a vicious cycle for college students. Obviously, not everyone who lives on campus is getting drunk every single Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. However, there is a fairly implicit understanding that if you don't like to drink, there is not much to do on campus during the weekend nights. This lack of non-alcoholic activity leads more people to drink to merely evade boredom. When non-alcoholic options are proposed, however, they are immediately shrugged off because people assume that everyone is getting drunk on the weekends. Even when activities are planned as an alternative to the usual frat parties, they are often overcome with students who have taken the liberty to pregame and thus arrive fully drunk. This not only ruins the events for the people who take them seriously, it also discourages event planners from creating sober weekend activities. As far as activities for the drinking population (by this, I am referring to those who see alcohol as their primary means for release), they are both easily accessible and plentiful. Even if the frat party scene doesn't mimic that of "Animal House," activities for drinkers are much more pervasive than they are for non-drinkers. President Bacow is not to blame for limiting the party scene on campus. His sole objective, contrary to popular belief, is not to "suppress all fun at Tufts," but rather to advance the University and enforce the law. Bacow himself believes that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. When he takes disciplinary action against a fraternity, he is simply doing his job in enforcing the rules. Perhaps a better way to change drinking ordinances is to petition the federal government. The largest problem I see on campus is not with the drinking population, but with the students who choose to stay sober for most weekends. We assume that since the most vocal campus voices are pro-drinking, we are nearly alone in our views. This causes many would-be spokespersons to keep quiet amongst most conversations about weekend activities. I propose a Yahoo! Group, located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SoberSocialGroup/. This should be used to promote social activities that do not involve alcohol or drug use. Please feel free to register and post events or suggestions.While speaking to some of my friends at dinner, I realized that we are greater in number than we seem. Perhaps if more of us would be vocal in our dissatisfaction with the non-alcoholic social life at Tufts, changes could be made and weekends on campus could be livelier.Marc Sittenreich is a sophomore majoring in economics.
The sudden and unexpected passing of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Raffik Hariri was a severe blow to his beloved country. Lebanon prides itself on being a cradle of moderation and sectarian coexistence in the Arab world. However, because of its tiny size, any regional conflicts have impacted its social order, body politics and economy. Known for its tolerance and progressive leanings, this country, a multicultural mosaic on the eastern golden coast of the Mediterranean, played host to the first American university in the Middle East more than a century ago. Decades before that, Quakers from Switzerland established a European modeled high school on a mountainous resort, called Broummana, not too far from the capital city of Beirut. During the tumultuous years of the Lebanese civil war in the '70s and '80s when the region was experiencing a high degree of instability, the country of Khalil Gibran, a world renowned thinker, philosopher and writer, was savaged. Sectarianism showed its ugly face, plunging Lebanon into anarchy and creating a chaotic environment in which warlords grabbed power and amassed wealth to the detriment of civil society. Tens of thousands of innocent people perished while the outside world watched in horror, without lifting a finger. Then it was left to the Lebanese people to pull back from certain collective demise. Yet only one leader, someone who had no blood on his hands, a person who made a fortune for himself the old fashioned way - with hard work and ingenuity, was destined to steer Lebanon to the path of rebuilding, prosperity and democracy. Raffik Hariri symbolized the best of Lebanon. Abandoning his affluent lifestyle Parisian and risking physical security, this billionaire son of a simple farmer from the south of Lebanon returned to his beloved homeland to champion the cause of the underprivileged masses. He wanted to lead Lebanon back to the days of glory. Under his stewardship, the devastated capital city of Beirut was rebuilt with amazing speed and efficiency. And it even turned out to be more majestic than the old one. Hariri single-handedly brought together the warring factions of Lebanon, stifled the voice of religious extremists, both Christian and Muslim, and presided over Ministerial Cabinets formed mainly of technocrats, whose commission was to remake the country and reestablish tolerance and harmony. Nevertheless, Hariri remained a man of the people.Using his own funds, he established many foundations, both in Lebanon and overseas, to help educate the post-civil war generation of Lebanese so that the new crop of educated youth could serve the country with the same distinction, dedication and dynamic zeal that he exhibited during his shortened public life. He contributed to the education of more than 30,000 Lebanese young people in different disciplines of academia so that Lebanon could once again regain its rightful place in the heart of the Middle East as a magnet of commerce and intellect, a mecca of tolerance and reconciliation. He was indeed a legend, and not because of some war time bravado. Anecdotes abound about his countless deeds of charity. It is told that an old woman from the slums of Beirut wanted desperately to see then Prime Minister Hariri to tell him about her family's plight. After being dismissed by his aides, she finally was granted an audience with the Prime Minister who attentively listened to her sad story. Her only son, the sole bread winner of her extended family, had traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to find meaningful employment and send some remittance back home to support his family. There, the young man was duped into an embezzlement scheme and subsequently jailed, depriving his family of any income. Hariri asked one of his aides to immediately go to the UAE and see this young man and render all possible assistance. The aide, having met with the jailed Lebanese citizen and with local judicial authorities, was alarmed of his findings. He reported to Hariri that this was not a case of a small embezzlement and that a handsome amount of money was involved. Thus, so long as full restitution was not made; this person would sit in a foreign prison cell. Hariri responded to his aide, "Do you think that if a small amount of money was involved, this poor woman would have bothered to knock at my door?" The aide returned home along with the freed young man. This act, an act of nobility and utmost humanity, along with many others like it earned Hariri the title of Mr. Lebanon. It unmistakably shows Mr. Hariri's faith in his beloved people. It is no wonder that during his funeral procession, with a sea of people participating, church bells rang loudly while religious prayers were offered from nearby mosques. Thousands of people, waving the Lebanese flag, mourned the passing of a legend while searching for an answer to the senseless assassination that had robbed Lebanon of its true leader. In these uncertain times, will the country of the pacifist Gibran produce yet another Hariri, the son of a modest upbringing who lifted Lebanon from despair and put his cherished watan on the road to the Promised Land? Taleen Babayan is a junior majoring in history.
I need help. I admit it. Somewhere out there, there is an anger management meeting for sports fans that I should be attending. I should be in a church basement or a town hall, sitting in a fold-out aluminum chair with a cup of coffee in my hand. Bobby Knight would be there, I think, next to Ron Artest and George Steinbrenner and a brooding Latrell Sprewell, with Carl Everett slouching in the corner. We'd each stand and give the typical AA speech. "Hi. My name is Andrew. I'm an angry sports fan." Admission is the first step to success. I used to think I was just like every passionate fan, yelling and cheering, kicking chairs and punching walls with my team's successes and failures. Being a sports fan (especially a Boston sports fan) and being angry just seemed to be as natural as Nomar's at-bat rituals. It was part of the game. For years I convinced myself that I was fine. I could control it if I wanted to. I never killed or maimed anyone in a fit of Red Sox-induced rage, so what was the problem? But then I entered college, and the monkey on my back finally got a name. It called itself Fifa. It was a fateful Autumnal day. I was walking through the video-game department of Wal-Mart, filling up on back-to-school supplies when I saw it: Fifa 2004. Now, I love sports, but soccer for me ranks right up there with curling and professional ping pong, excuse me, table tennis. But my friends had all told me how great the game was, and its $19.99 price tag seduced me like a harpy. That X-Box logo was a disguise, however, and as my buddies and I would learn, Pandora's Box would have been more suitable. It started innocently enough: two or three games each night, nothing we couldn't handle. But soon a few friendly games turned into massive tournaments, hours slipped into days, grades began to plummet, and tensions rose. Curses that would have made George Carlin blush poured out of my room. Trash cans, desks, walls, and doors all took the brunt of our anger after a loss. Yet we played on. Finally, after three broken controllers and $90 later, we had to put a stop to it. Oh, we tried to regulate games second semester, but we were addicted (don't let anyone tell you it's not a disease). So with traffic cone in hand (don't ask), we smashed that game that Satan himself must have devised in half. I've been Fifa-free for almost a year now, except for three short games I played with a friend over the summer, resulting in a hole in my bedroom wall. I guess you're never really cured. Now, I know some will say it's just natural competition, but it was something more. I don't put holes in my wall when I lose in Halo, but I go crazy after a failed third down conversion in Madden, or a called third strike in MVP baseball. Why is it that sports bring out the worst in people? And this technically isn't even a sport: it's a video-game! Can you imagine what would happen in real life? Well I can, because I'm not only a recovering Fifa-junkie. My original sin will forever be on the tennis court. Tennis-great John McEnroe once lamented, "I want to be remembered as a great player, but I guess it will be as a player who got angry on a tennis court." Besides McEnroe, there have been other great racquet maulers like Goran Ivanisevic, Marat Safin and Ilie Nastase. I can relate to them all. Something happens to me when I hit a tennis court, literally. I've played almost my entire life, worked for hours on my serve and my volleys and every other physical aspect of the game, but I never could get the mental edge down. A forehand that sailed wide, a backhand into the net, a double fault - it didn't take long before I lost my composure and the match. Six perfectly good racquets have all met the same fate because of it. Three Princes, a Wilson and another pair of Dunlops are all up in that big green tennis court in the sky. The last hangs on my wall, its frame bent at an almost perfect 90-degree angle. It's a testament, but most certainly not the last. Outbursts in sports are far from uncommon. From Knight's infamous chair toss to Sprewell choking his coach, anger is a natural emotion in athletes and coaches, but over the years it has gotten more and more outrageous. Culminating in the "Fracas at the Palace," which highlighted Ron Artest taking on, well, just about everyone, sports and their fans just don't seem to play well with others. Some propose banning alcohol from sporting events. Others call for harsher fines for violent outbursts. Clearly, however, there is a greater force at play here. And whatever it is - call it passion, call it intensity, call it insanity - it produces the same effect in all those who love sports. The power that made Trot Nixon go postal on a water cooler after losing the ALCS two years back is the same that makes me kick a trash barrel in after shanking a virtual free-kick. Forget about money and endorsements. What it comes down to is that no one likes to lose and everyone likes to win. It's a sentiment we all can share. So yeah, maybe I do have some anger issues when it comes to sports, but like my tennis coach used to say, sometimes you have to know when to use that anger in a positive way. I guess I'm still in the denial stage.
