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The Setonian
News

Admissions prep program to debut at Tufts

March 30

High school students struggling with the college application process will find relief on the Tufts campus this summer. The first annual Brighton Foundation College Admissions Edge program will be held at Tufts and at the University of California at Los Angeles. The program aims to guide rising high school juniors and seniors through the admissions process outside of the high school environment. According to the program's creator and executive director David Allen, Admissions Edge aims to expose college-bound high school students to college life and to help students tailor their applications to give them the best chance of admission to selective colleges. Students will live on campus and attend workshops that will help them with the college application process. "Colleges don't accept people, they accept applications," Allen said. Students will also be given the chance to visit other area colleges, including Harvard University, Northeastern University, Boston College, and Boston University. Allen said he discovered through talks with high school juniors and seniors that students were struggling to juggle their college applications in their spare time between schoolwork and activities during the hectic fall of senior year. "Kids are finishing these applications at midnight in three different inks," he said. According to Allen, "The more stressful the college admissions process gets, the more parents and counselors are taking over." Allen said he expects the program to motivate the students to work on their applications because students can appreciate the benefits of college while living on a college campus. The program will last nine days and cost each student $2,295. The exclusivity and price of programs like Admissions Edge concerns some college counselors. "The type of kids that go tend to be the kids of doctors and lawyers," said Ralph Burrelle, a college counselor at a southwestern Oregon high school. However, Burrelle said that students who cannot afford to attend summer programs but still devote time and effort to their college applications are not at a disadvantage. "The fact that you can't afford it isn't going to work against you as long as you're doing something with meaning in the time that you have," he said. Burelle also agreed that summer programs can be helpful to students. "Students that I've had that have gone on similar programs have valued the tours they've received, they've valued highly the advice they've been given on how to complete applications," he said. Allen said the program will be a "self-help conference," in which a small group of students can get the focused and individualized attention from professional college counselors so they can complete a top-rated application. Though Admissions Edge is taking place on the Tufts campus, the program is not affiliated with the University. Director of Admissions Allan Clemow said he had not been told that the program was going to take place on campus. Allen said he has had experience working with similar pre-college programs in the past. Admissions Edge went through five years of preparation, during which Allen talked to both high school and college guidance counselors about the process, and held a test session at Pepperdine University.

The Setonian
News

Hannah

March 30

Hannah was one of those friends that made you revert back to being eight. Even at 17, whenever we got together we'd end up rolling on the floors of fast food joints giggling like little girls. Like a real life reenactment of the movie BIG, we had adult bodies, but inside we were pre-pubescent children. When I saw her after freshman year of college something was different. She was too spaced out to even smile at me. We'd try to have conversations, but she'd stare blankly because she was too distracted to know what we were talking about ten minutes earlier. When we went out at night she would make up an excuse to leave after twenty minutes. If her earring fell out, she would start to panic, and she had difficulty going into public bathrooms on her own. While I had spent the second semester of my freshman year deciding which frat party to go to, she had spent it dealing with the aftermath of a rape. She was spacey because of the anti-anxiety medications, and if she didn't take her meds she would suffer from "unexplained" bouts of fear and rage. Any little thing that reminded her of the rape would put her in bad mood at best, or at worst throw her into a full fledged panic attack. Although it's impossible to completely convey the distress that lies in the aftermath of a rape, I can tell you that that summer I watched my best friend lose 30 lbs., her sense of innocence, and her ability to exist free of fear. So then we must wonder, if the experience of being raped is this traumatic, why is it only reported 39 percent of the time? Or why, five years ago, was my neighbor part of a jury that failed to convict a man who admittedly pointed a gun at a woman's head and raped her? And why is it that this acquittal isn't just a random fluke of a redneck town, but rather the fate of 84 percent of accused rapists. Perhaps the answer lies in the way that we see glorified rapes on television, or how we casually talk about rape in everyday conversations. We watch General Hospital and see the studly Luke rape Laura, and then watch Laura fall in love with him. We don't see the realistic depictions of rape victims bleeding, crying, and shaking. We don't hear the part of the story where they suffer from the headaches, health problems and mental disorders that plague real life victims. If we talk about rape in our everyday conversations, it's in a completely irrelevant context. We complain about how we were "ass raped" by a chem exam. We don't even blink when we say, "man, those late fees will rape you;" as though a $7 late fee, or a C on an exam is as traumatic as the actual experience of being raped. We don't want to deal with rape, so we tone it down, and speak about it as though it's a minor setback on the journey of life. And when opportunities arise for us to learn more accurately about rape, we don't take them. We don't go free viewings of rape documentaries, or panel discussions about rape in other countries. Rape is dismissed along with tampons as a "girl problem", something else for those hairy-legged feminists to bitch about. We hear rape statistics, but they roll off us like water on a Teflon pan, as numbers have a way of obscuring the faces of victims. We don't talk seriously about rape because it makes us uncomfortable, so we'd rather not know. In fact, I'd bet that a good number of people who started reading this column didn't make it all the way through because it's not funny, and might put a damper on an otherwise monotonous Wednesday. But as much as we'd like to distance ourselves from rape and rape victims, we can't. They are our teachers, our lab partners, our mothers and our girlfriends. They smile at us on the way to class, and sit at the table across from us in the cafeteria. Rape victims are not just bad girls, dumb broads who walk down dark allies in the middle of the night, or poor women from bad neighborhoods. They are the women we come into contact with every day. So out of respect, maybe we could be more sensitive when making jokes about roofies. We could show some tact and choose not to have Kobe Bryant's face as a buddy icon, and attempt to censor how loudly we call his accuser a "lying whore" until we hear more of the facts. And just perhaps we could show some discretion in how we use the word "rape," as three out of every 20 women and one out of every 33 men wont find the phrase "I raped that test" the least bit witty. All statistics for this column were taken from www.rainn.org, the rape, abuse and incest national network.

The Setonian
News

Let academic freedom ring

March 30

You don't have to be at Tufts for too long before you notice one thing: there is not a whole lot of diversity here. Diversity of thought, that is. Sure, Tufts can boast of an ethnically diverse faculty and student body. If you look more than skin-deep, however, you'll notice that this place resembles more closely a political party or an exclusive social club than a hotbed of free and independent inquiry and thought. Of the hundreds of lecturers at this university every year, David Horowitz, speaking on Thursday, April 1 will be one of just a handful who is a conservative. The commencement address has been delivered by a liberal from time immemorial, and if we look at the faculty, only two are registered Republicans, or less than 2 percent of those surveyed in the spring 2002, and only one faculty member gave to a Republican campaign between 1998 and 2001 out of over one hundred contributions. Now, one may say that Massachusetts is naturally heavily Democratic, that the faculty may be non-partisan, and that in any case the university hires the best people possible without any partisan or ideological discrimination. Massachusetts voted 32.5 percent for Bush in 2000 vs. 47.87 percent nationally. That's hardly 2 percent. If you are ever in doubt, however, about the ideological inclinations of the faculty and the non-partisan atmosphere at Tufts, just take a look at the professors' doors in East Hall, the home of the English and History departments. There are signs, cartoons, and decals for every liberal cause imaginable, sending a clear message to both students and potential faculty applicants about who is "in" and who isn't. Try to find something similar on the conservative side. Then, take a look at the events sponsored by these two departments and at their curricula, along with those of the Spanish, Urban and Environmental Policy, Child Development, Sociology and Anthropology Departments, and of the various academic programs at Tufts: Peace and Justice, American Studies, Women's Studies, and the Group of Six culture centers. Whenever politics is touched upon, it is considered from a Democratic or Green partisan perspective. Even when the political process is not mentioned directly, the discussions reflect the concerns of the well-heeled, liberal Northeastern intellectual elites: environment, racial, gender, and sexual orientation "justice," animal rights, secularism, Third World humanitarianism, multilateralism, multiculturalism, anti-militarism, and an opposition to guns, smoking, and business. Until recently the Tufts Chaplaincy used to feature a disclaimer on its website associating itself with "liberal religion." The disclaimer is no longer there, but the attitude persists. While President Bacow talks about valuing diversity "in every dimension -- as a critical element in adequately preparing students for a rapidly changing world," the radicalized sixties generation of today's faculty and administrators brought their politics and their prejudices along with them to their tenure. They combined them with Boston's Brahmin exclusivity and created a perfect social club, where minorities and foreigners are more than welcome, as long as they are "our people" that is, and don't disagree. Yet, learning from only one perspective in an environment where challenging the underlying assumptions to any extent makes you an outcast in class and hurts your grades is not learning but indoctrination. The result is herd mentality where ideas go largely unchallenged and one comes out with the same cookie cutter mentality as everyone else. For too long this has been true at Tufts. It's now time to open things up. This Sunday, Students for Intellectual Diversity, an affiliate of the Tufts Republicans, will introduce a resolution on the Academic Bill of Rights with the TCU Senate. The bill outlines several key principles -- freedom of speech, non-discrimination, due process, intellectual diversity -- that the university should commit itself to in order to create a climate free of academic bias. We urge the TCU Senate and the faculty Educational Policy Committee to support this proposal, and for President Bacow to call together a taskforce that will address this issue on a university-wide level. Philipp Tsipman is a senior majoring in Economics.

The Setonian
News

Porter Square's got Seoul

March 30

Boston certainly has its share of ethnic dining; Chinese restaurants rule in Little China, and nowhere can one find Italian food quite as authentic as in the North End. But for all its foreign flavors, Korean restaurants have never quite managed to pervade Beantown. But one small restaurant in Cambridge bucks the trend. Seoul Food, a Korean restaurant situated just down the street from Porter Square, offers homemade Korean food at affordable prices, bringing Kim Chee and Bi Bam Bap to the masses. Though the restaurant's interior is fairly small (only a handful of tables are available to accommodate customers, making for a potentially long wait during busier hours), diners have more than enough elbow room to enjoy their meal without crashing into the party next door. The waitstaff at Seoul Food is both friendly and helpful, and the servers are happy to demonstrate the proper way to mix and eat all the dishes. In an ethnic restaurant, where the average diner might not be familiar with all the dishes (or might even be confused as to which sort of utensils to use), the attention is reassuring; it comes as a safety blanket, one that means that a diner can order something different without worrying that the next hour and a half will be spent simply staring at the plate, trying to work up the courage to ask how to take the first bite. And the first bite will be worth it. The restaurant's wide range of inexpensive appetizers (most are under $5) offers a great way to experiment with flavors even if you aren't quite adventurous enough to order the squid stir fry. Guests are greeted with a few small dishes of various Korean dishes, from Kim Chee (a hot fermented pickle made from a variety of different vegetables and seasoned with spices) to marinated bamboo shoots. Other dishes can be added on for a minimal price and either eaten individually or shared with friends. All the entrees at Seoul Food are made to order, with crisp vegetables, fresh meat, and flavorful spices bringing a home-cooked quality to each dish. The menu has such a wide range of tastes, from sweet to spicy, and encompassing so many different flavors, that it is possible to visit time and time again and still experience an entirely different meal each time. Bi Bim Bap (different varieties are $8-12) is a traditional Korean dish that mixes vegetables, meat, kim chee, and rice; diners can order theirs with vegetables, meat, or even raw fish, depending on which sorts are in season. Those wanting something a little more exciting might try the aforementioned squid stir fry ($12), which comes mixed with broccoli and cabbage nearly too hot to eat out of the kitchen. Also available is a Korean beef stew with soybean sauce called Dwenjang Chigae ($10), various types of pan fried noodles, and a selection of vegetarian dishes for those who don't care to eat meat. Good Korean restaurants are rare on the East Coast, but Seoul Food proves that there is a diamond in every rough. The service is quick, the waiters are helpful, and the food is delicious and affordable enough not to cause any winces when the check finally comes. If you're looking for a unique night out or if you simply want to try something new, Seoul Food may be the place for you.

The Setonian
News

Graduate students seek greater inclusion in Medford campus

March 30

Graduate students at the Tufts School of Medicine, Tufts Vet School and Tufts Dental School say they feel consistently disconnected from the larger Tufts community at the Medford/Somerville campus. At a February trustees meeting, graduate student representatives from the Medical, Dental, and Vet Schools expressed concerns that their peers spend almost no time on the Medford/Somerville campus during their years as Tufts students, often stepping foot there only during orientation and graduation. "I feel like I go to Tufts Vet School, which has nothing to do with Tufts," Danielle Goldin-Munday said at the meeting last month. Third-year dental school class president Jean-Paul Boudreau noted that the different schools under the Tufts umbrella tend to naturally separate themselves. "The medical school is in fact attached to the same building as the Dental School in Boston, and there isn't even a whole lot of interaction between them, either," Boudreau said. Although dialogue such as that which took place at the trustees' meeting has taken place, little has been done to make graduate students feel more included on the Medford campus. Boudreau said that he mentioned graduates' concerns about their association with Tufts in a meeting last year with trustees and representatives from the Tufts community. "Nothing seemed to come out of the discussion then, and I would be surprised if anything resulted from [February's] meeting," he said. Classics Department Administrator and Graduate Student Council (GSC) Treasurer David Proctor said that the council was unaware of Boston graduate students' desire for greater inclusion within the Medford/Somerville community. "About a year ago there was a meeting including student representatives from all of Tufts' campuses. There we tried to foster connections between the schools, but admittedly those haven't progressed very far," Proctor said. He said that now that he has heard that students on other campuses are interested in achieving greater inclusion, the University will begin to set up a "dialogue. "We're delighted that they want to be more active within the Tufts community, and want to better incorporate them in what goes on in Medford," Proctor said. Although this issue appears to have been simmering for a few years now, it appears some new programs are starting to take steps to bridge the gap between Tufts' campuses. Though plans for Boston graduate students are not yet fully underway, "we have been working to make the graduate students in the Arts, Science and Engineering feel more like they are part of the Medford/Somerville campus community," Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said. Reitman said that as the school increases dorm space on campus, it will mean more graduate students will be able to reside there. "I hope that after we are able to build more residence halls that there will be more of a residential presence for the graduate students," he said. Furthermore, Reitman said that joint research ventures involving students and faculty from across the campuses are the primary overlap, and that these opportunities are growing with time. Reitman cited the Summer Research scholars program as an example of this integration. "Undergraduates tend to be more involved these days in research projects going on at the graduate campus; graduate students have taken steps to alleviate the situation. Graduate students agree with that assessment. "Some of my classmates have recently visited the undergraduate campus to talk about the Dental School, and to talk with students interested in dentistry. I hope that these attempts will prove to strengthen the bond between the undergraduates and the Dental School," Boudreau said.

The Setonian
News

Marlins unlikely to enjoy repeat success

March 29

Are energy, team chemistry, an ancient manager and a little bit of luck all a team needs to win the World Series? For the 2003 Florida Marlins, that answer was a resounding "yes." Who could forget the comebacks, the Cinderella story, and all the moments created by last year's Florida team? From trailing in extra innings and coming back to win, to that epic play at the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the 2003 Marlins played small ball and proved that you don't have to be George Steinbrenner to bring home a World Series trophy. But October 2003 went into the history books five months ago and, as the old clich?© goes, hope springs eternal for autumn glory throughout the National League this spring. If the story-book Marlins hope to have a snowflake's chance in hell at another World Series, or even another post-season berth, for that matter, they will have to overcome some serious obstacles. Last year's Florida club saw early managerial turmoil result in the hiring of Jack McKeon, fresh off a South Florida golf course after being out of baseball since October of 2000, after Jeff Torborg was fired in May. McKeon led the then-struggling Marlins to a 91-71 record, second place in the NL East, and a wildcard playoff spot. Good news for Marlins' fans: McKeon will be back again this season. McKeon's return, however, could not sway some high profile players to return to Pro Player Stadium for another run. Most notably, catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez packed his bags and headed north for a lucrative contract with the Detroit Tigers. The stocky man behind the plate anchored the Marlins in 2003 and will be sorely missed both on and off the field. Florida also has had to cope with Derrek Lee being lured away by the Chicago Cubs. New closer Armando Benitez will have big shoes to fill in the closer position after Ugueth Urbina went to Detroit with Rodriguez. The loss of Rodriguez and Juan Encarnacion will create lineup gaps the Marlins will have serious trouble filling unless new players such as Hee Seop Choi can break out this season. Back for Florida are scrappy young pitchers Josh Beckett and Dontrelle Willis. Fellow hurler AJ Burnett should soon return from Tommy John surgery and Carl Pavano and Brad Penny should add depth to what looks to be a stacked pitching core. In the field, the Marlins return veteran Jeff Conine and 20 year old sensation Miguel Cabrera, but this team will need a miracle similar to the multitude of seemingly-divine interventions they received last year for a repeat. The Philadelphia Phillies are the pre-season favorite to dethrone the aging Atlanta Braves atop the NL East. Philly opens 2004 in a new ballpark and, if slugger Jim Thome and veteran David Bell stay healthy, Philly should pack some pop at the plate. In the NL Central, the Cubs, barring a tidal wave that drowns Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and new addition Greg Maddux, should contend for their division and for the National League pennant. Derrek Lee could be back in the Series, but with the Cubs this time around. Of course, the Houston Astros' revamped rotation and solid lineup could have something to say about that. Other NL teams to look for as opening day rapidly approaches: the Milwaukee Brewers (no joke) currently lead the Cactus League with a 16-10 record. Though they probably will be just as bad as usual, fans in Wisconsin can't help but hope that spring training means at least something come the regular season. The Montreal Expos are second in their spring training league and, though they will again play many of their games in Puerto Rico due to virtual financial failure, could sneak into the race with their relatively unknown lineup. Otherwise, they could just send all their young prospects to other teams to become stars, as usual.

The Setonian
News

Blue Devils, Cowboys, Yellow Jackets survive close calls

March 29

This weekend's regionals gave college basketball fans some of the best Elite Eight games in recent memory. With three games that went down to the final minute, including one overtime game and one with a game-winning shot with less than ten seconds to go, college basketball took all the opening highlights on Sportscenter. The UConn Huskies benefited greatly from the Stanford Cardinal's early exit in the Phoenix Region. Without meeting the No. 1 seed or the No. 3 North Carolina State Wolfpack, the Huskies had a cakewalk to the Final Four. They faced the Alabama Crimson Tide in their regional final, but the game soon turned into a joke. Even with Emeka Okafor being smacked in the neck and getting a stinger down his right arm, UConn still won, 87-71. This score doesn't even reflect the lopsidedness of the game, which was basically over before it started. In Okafor's absence, Ben Gordon exploded for 36 points in the final and was named the regional MVP. Gordon scored over 50 points in the two games in Phoenix, and was helped by the sharp shooting of Rashad Anderson on the wing. The Crimson Tide were completely outmanned and outmatched. In the East Rutherford Regional Final, the St. Joe's Hawks ended their dream season in an utterly disappointing manner. John Lucas, the Oklahoma St. Cowboys' point guard, hit a clutch three-pointer with 6.9 seconds to go to put his team up by two. This game came down to the fact that the St. Joe's guards just didn't shoot well enough to compensate for their size deficiency and lack of rebounding up front. Jameer Nelson and Delonte West had good games, but wingman Pat Carroll, despite hitting a late three, shot poorly throughout the contest. St. Louis' Regional Final produced one of the best games all season with a ticket to the Final Four in San Antonio on the line. The Kansas Jayhawks took the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to overtime after trailing for the whole second half, in a game that Tech's leading scorer, B.J. Elder, sat out all but two minutes of with a sprained ankle. Tech's sophomore point guard Jarret Jack was forced to step up and assume more of an offensive role and he did it with ease. Jack was outstanding, carrying the Jackets for most of the second half and scoring eight of his team's 13 points in overtime against the Jayhawks. Tech center Luke Schenscher also came up big in the regional final, dominating Kansas, which had no answer for the six foot 11 Aussie. Schenscher ended the game with 15 points on five of five shooting and was a menace on the defensive end with one block and an increased level of intimidation on the interior. One of the biggest surprises from the Atlanta Regional was the play of the Xavier Musketeers. Going into the A-10 Tournament, the Musketeers were a bubble team on the brink of entry to the tournament. And when they blew out the then-undefeated and No.1 Hawks, most people saw it as a sign that St. Joe's wasn't that good. But Xavier turned out to be the surprise of the tournament. Coach Thad Matta's team played brilliantly the first 36 minutes of the game, but couldn't hang on after a couple of huge plays by Duke's Luol Deng. Xavier's guards, Lionel Chalmers and Romain Sato, played well in the first half, but both were shut down completely in the second half by Duke's man defense. Still, with 12 minutes to go, things did not look so good for the Blue Devils. Anthony Myles was single-handedly killing Duke with 16 points and ten rebounds (five of them offensive). But then Myles was called for his fifth foul on the inside and instantly Xavier's one option that was working fouled out of the game. The Musketeers continued to hang around for ten more minutes, but eventually Duke just made more shots down the stretch than the underdog, winning 66-63. If the Elite 8 games are any indication of things to come, we are in for a great Final Four. Look in Friday's paper for a Final Four preview

The Setonian
News

Cycling team prepares for Beanpot

March 29

If asked, one would be hard-pressed to find a single person on Tufts' campus that enjoys the fact that we live on a huge hill. A lot of students would rather wait for the Joey for 15 minutes on the campus center patio than walk all the way up to their class in Olin. But there is a small group of students that looks at our hill as a challenge and tackles it with the same gusto most of us use to tackle Carmichael Pasta night. This is also the same crew that considers riding 40 miles (read: not in a motorized vehicle) on any given Wednesday, "a pretty good ride." These students make up the Tufts Cycling team, and come April 4, they will host over 300 collegiate cyclists in a criterium race around the Tufts campus, a loop that is heralded as one of the more challenging and technical courses during the cycling season. "Our crit is very technical and has a lot of hills, so that keeps it interesting for the riders," junior cyclist James Gronek said. A criterium race is different from a road race in many respects. It is much shorter than a road race, usually only a half to one and a half miles long. The focus of the race is on sprinting, and using the techniques of cornering and pace lining. The Tufts course is a one kilometer loop that leaves from the front of health services, and contains four turns, and one short steep hill climb. While some cyclists are more suited to one type of race over the other, the cycling team encourages its members to participate in both race types. "Some people naturally gravitate towards one type of race, based on skills and body type," Gronek said. "But we encourage everyone to do everything since there is no limit on how many people we can enter in a race." Gronek, along with senior teammate Carolyn Whitten, is one of the coordinators of the annual Boston Beanpot Cycling Classic. Tufts is one of six area schools (along with Harvard, BU, BC, MIT, and Northeastern) that is coordinating the Beanpot. The weekend consists of a time trial hosted by BU and the Tufts criterium on Saturday, followed by a road race in Grafton on Sunday hosted by Harvard. "The race and the courses are well-established, so we did not have much to organize in those respects," Gronek said. "Our focus this year was to put on a real event and get solid sponsorships. We are aiming to have over 300 people participate." Gronek and his committee have been successful thus far in their goals. They secured many sponsors, with Dunkin' Donuts leading the way. There will be tents set up with free samples of products and on Saturday night there will be a dinner for all the racers at the Catholic Center. "The races are great because you get to meet people from all over New England," Gronek said. "It establishes friendships and those friendships lead to a lot of intercollegiate events like the Beanpot." The Jumbo cyclists belong to the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC), along with 49 other schools from around the area. Currently, the team is in the midst of its spring road-racing season, and for its members, the opportunity to ride and socialize is what makes practicing with this team so worthwhile. "I like riding, and its fun to do it with people," Gronek said. "Having people to talk to makes it easier to motivate yourself to train and makes it more fun to go on long rides." The usual schedule for a cyclist is close to four practices a week, usually including one long ride, and one or two races a weekend. Practices depend on the weather, and often are spinning classes inside of Gantcher. As for the outdoor rides, the team's motto is "when in doubt, go West," because that takes them away from the city. Usually as the season starts, the focus is on getting the people who are new to the sport race experience. The goal is to try and get as many people to the races as possible, a feat which sometimes proves difficult due to lack of transportation. Once there, according to Gronek, the team is proud when its members complete their races. As the season progresses, team members begin to set time goals and team goals. "Since we are a club sport, we try to accommodate everyone," Gronek said. "There are people who are really into competing and racing, and then there are people who are just biking for biking's sake." After the Beanpot, the biggest race of the season is the Eastern conference championships that will be held the last weekend in April at the University of New Hampshire. Many cycling teams use this race to earn enough racing points to participate in the national competition. Tufts has recently been competing in the slower racing brackets, brackets that are worth fewer points. Going into the championship, Tufts' goal will be to get as many people there to race as possible.

The Setonian
News

From a Jumbo to a Patriot

March 29

Last week, the men's lacrosse team loss a key player, senior attackman David Taylor, after Taylor was informed that he will commence his duties in the U.S. Army just two weeks after graduation. The decision to quit the team came after Taylor's commanding ROTC officer informed him of his June Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC) date via e-mail. He recognized the need to focus his energies on preparing for the course. "When I received the e-mail with my IOBC date, I knew right away that I was not prepared physically or academically for the training I was going to undergo," Taylor said. Coach Mike Daly expressed support for Taylor's decision when the senior broke the news to his teammates in a meeting last Thursday. "I'm torn between being a lacrosse coach and a U.S. citizen," coach Mike Daly said. "It's hard for me to have hard feelings towards [Taylor] because he's leaving the team to defend what we do here." His teammates' response to his departure was one of Taylor's biggest anxieties. The team, however, respected his decision and was appreciative of the calm and thought-out manner in which Taylor broke the news to them. "I wasn't so sure the guys were going to understand completely, but the reception I got was amazing," Taylor said. "Everyone stood up, shook my hand and gave me a hug. The immediate support for what I had to do was amazing, and it showed they are an amazing group of guys Senior tri-captain Tom Mulcahy reaffirmed that the team is fully behind Taylor and appreciates what he's doing for the country, according to Taylor. "Nobody was really angry," Mulcahy said. "We are all sad for him that he had to make that kind of decision. We know how much he loves the team and lacrosse, and we respect him a lot for telling us the way he did." Despite Taylor's dominance on the field, Daly is confident that the squad's depth will be able to step up and fill his role. "Anytime you remove a player from the mix, it changes the team dynamic," Daly said. "But I've always tried to develop my team as interchangeable units, and I'm confident the other guys will step in and take advantage of the opportunity given to them." "Performance-wise, we can't replace him; he was a great player, a leader, and a veteran, but we'll do as good a job as we can," Daly said. Taylor received the e-mail notice Wednesday morning before the lacrosse team's spring break trip. However, he intentionally deferred telling his teammates and coaches for two major reasons. "I wanted to wait specifically until after the trip because we were playing Whittier College a week later and I didn't want to distract them from the game," Taylor said. "A win would have put us in the national spotlight, so my number one concern was not distracting the team." He also wanted to consult his family for advice beforehand. Taylor, who started all 16 games for Tufts in 2003, was given NESCAC All-Second team honors after scoring 28 goals and dishing out 22 assists, both only second to Griffin for the team lead. This season, Taylor played in and started three games for the Jumbos, and was fifth on the team in both scoring and assists (4G, 2A). The Jumbos faced their first test without Taylor on Sunday afternoon against the Western New England Golden Bears, and if their 18-9 win is any indication of how the Jumbos will respond to Taylor's loss over the rest of the season, they have little to worry about. "To lose a senior like Dave who did so well for us and still come away victorious is a real testament to the guys on our team and the job coach Daly is doing," Mulcahy added. "We have a lot of guys that can step in, including a bunch of younger guys." Usually, cadets coming out of college do not get called for assignment until six months to a year after they graduate. Fourteen other Tufts students are involved with the Army ROTC program. Taylor's IOBC date is the earliest of four other seniors in the Army ROTC. In June, Taylor will first be sent to an Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC) for a 13-week program, during which his army career will officially start and he will cease to be a civilian. Upon completion of the course, Taylor will be sent to Ranger School for nine weeks. After ranger school, he will be assigned to an overseas unit and will be put in charge of an infantry platoon of 40 soldiers. Taylor spent his freshman year in 1999-2000 at the University of North Carolina, where he both played lacrosse and enrolled in Military ROTC. After a year in Chapel Hill, Taylor left for personal reasons and embarked for China for the next two years. In the fall of 2002, he enrolled at Tufts as a junior where he joined the Jumbos lacrosse program, while switching to Army ROTC from the marine unit. While Taylor only played lacrosse for the Brown and Blue for one full season and three games this year, he was quick to make his mark both on and off the field. He and junior All-American Bryan Griffin formed a high powered one-two punch in leading the team to the NESCAC championship game last season.

The Setonian
News

Revenge of the nerds

March 29

The year was 1999. I was a na??ve high school senior with a gleam in my eye and a song in my heart. That song was "Pass the Toilet Paper" by the Outhere Brothers. I was applying to college and was reading up on and visiting a bunch of potential schools. It wasn't long before I realized the school that would be a perfect fit for me: Brown University. But I didn't get in there. So it was off to another liberal school with fewer hippies and the fine city of Boston nearby: Tufts University. I arrived at Tufts in September of 1999 wearing a hideous khaki hat that said "Tufts 2004" on it. It was one of those hats with the buckle in the back. Tufts sent it to me as a gift when I accepted their invitation to join their next class. I heard that Brown sent out a cool-looking sweatshirt. But that wasn't important. Because I was at Tufts and I was ready to tackle my fate head-on. Earlier that year I went to April Open House and met some of my prospective classmates. They immediately started debating the meaning of "The Matrix." I was worried. I stood there on the academic quad surveying my new surroundings. Many thoughts were entering my head. The first was, "Why does the Jumbo statue have a scrotum?" Then I had some other thoughts. I thought, "I wonder what my classmates will be like. Will they be like those Open House guys or will they be more like me?" Now I have other thoughts. I wonder to myself if I were a high school senior now, in 2004, with the same credentials I had back in 1999, would I still get into Tufts? I scored in the high 1300's on my SATs and was 37th in a class of 320. Not bad. But every year the qualifications for getting into Tufts get increasingly strict. Each year, the number of applicants to Tufts increases, and the average SAT scores, GPAs, and class standings of accepted students increase along with it. What does it take to get those great scores and grades? A lot of work, a lot of studying, and a lot of sacrificing of free time. There are many people at Tufts who can proudly say that while their classmates were goofing off in high school, they were working their asses off so they could get into a reputable school. Now that they are finally here, what do they with their time? They spend it in the library. And for some people, that makes sense. If you plan on applying to grad school, grades are very important. But what about people like me? I have no career path. I have no goals or dreams. I'm an English major. If I get a B instead of an A, what are the consequences? Nothing. I'm not going to get a worse job if I have a 3.0 instead of a 3.3. So a lot of the time I goof off instead of doing work. I watch TV, I write lousy scripts, I drink with my friends, I chat on Instant Messenger, I play video games, and I jerk off. Sometime I do these things even when I have work due. And I really don't care. "Andy," you might say. "Your parents are paying $40,000 a year so that you can get an education. When you cut a class, it costs your parents $500 so you can sit on the roof of your house and get high." Yeah. So what? One day I'm going to have kids, and I'm going to be paying $80,000 a year while my kids do things that will probably be even worse than what I do. I'm gettin' while the gettin's good. And, baby, it's good. There's a lot of fun to be had on campus. It's not as dead as you think. And it doesn't always involve drinking, drugs, or promiscuous sex. Though I do support those things. There's many opportunities for debauchery or, if you'd prefer, some good-natured fun. Either way, my message is clear: GET THE HELL OUT OF THE LIBRARY. CUT CLASS. HALF-ASS YOUR WORK. GET A B INSTEAD OF AN A. CHILL OUT. RELAX ALL COOL. SHOOT SOME B-BALL OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL. THESE ARE THE BEST FOUR YEARS OF YOUR LIVES. IF YOU WORK YOUR WHOLE LIFE AND RETIRE A MILLIONAIRE, THOSE NEXT FOUR YEARS WILL NOT COMPARE TO THESE SO STOP OVERACHIEVING AND JOIN THE DARK SIDE. Phew. See you next week, everyone.

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What [not] to wear: Campus trends across the country and the years

March 29

Whether absent for the naked quad run or hidden by graduation robes, clothing is a part of Tufts' history. Style trends on campus have changed across the years, however, from the jackets and dresses of the 1950s to the pajamas and sweatpants of today. "Women were not allowed to wear pants. There was definitely a dress code," alumnae Elaine Kasparian, who graduated from Tufts in 1958, said. "We were much more structured. Men as a rule wore jackets in the classroom; they didn't have to wear ties." Campus was geared towards dressing up: "Most of our events were more formal," she said, citing concerts, formals, and lots of smaller dances. "Only the engineers got away with [dressing down]: they didn't have to wear a jacket in the lab," Kasparian said. In more recent years, however, the "uniform of the college student" hasn't changed all that much," Professor Grace Talusan, who graduated from Tufts in 1994, said. "Mostly college students wore what they wear now -- jeans, T-shirts, college sweatshirts from their friends at other colleges -- casual wear." Today's students are very informal in the classroom: pajamas and sweats are not an uncommon occurrence. "[Style] ranges. There are the kids who think that pajamas will impress their professors," sophomore Rachel Greenspan said. Even if it's not pajamas, many students don't put a lot of effort into how they dress for class. "I wouldn't say that most students make a noticeable effort to dress nicely," junior Jenn Lash said. According to many students, however, while pajamas may be an appealing option for time-crunched students on the way to a morning class, showing up to class after rolling straight out of bed isn't appropriate. "Personally, I think it shows a lack of respect for the professor and the subject being taught," junior Phillip Hummel said. "I think wearing pajamas is inappropriate outside of the dorm or home, because it shows laziness, disrespect," Lash added. Still, the pajama phenomenon is nothing completely new to the hill: "We did that too; we woke up late sometimes and threw clothes on over our pajamas," Kasparian said. The casual attire of the college set can come into conflict with the working world: students may be unprepared for professional dress standards, unlike past decades when workplace-appropriate attire was the norm. "Part of college is learning what to wear -- 'work casual' and clothing for professional life. Everything is much more informal today, but that doesn't mean that there aren't times when you don't need to know [how to dress professionally]," Kasparian said. But professors are often understanding of the necessity of casual clothing in college: "Some of my students come to class after sports practice -- they are in exercise clothes, but I don't feel those students are being disrespectful," Talusan said. "I believe that basically the professors have adapted to the changing social customs," Kasparian said. Style trends vary from campus to campus. According to many students, Tufts' overall style is "notably preppy". "[The campus] may be a little bit more preppy as a whole, but there are definitely some exceptions. Compared to Boston College or Holy Cross, we are more casual," Hummel said. Students at larger schools than Tufts, such as UCLA, say that there is more variety, style-wise. "UCLA is such a large school with a really diverse student population," UCLA junior Grant Landry said. "You see a lot of UCLA apparel, sweat and pajama pants. You are pretty much entitled to wear what you want. Athletes wear sweats, Bel Air girls wear Gucci, and theater kids wear random things. It just ranges from the 'I seriously just got out of bed and I don't care' look to more colorful dresses and creative uses of thrift stores." Notre Dame sophomore Susan McCarthy said many opt for very casual attire. "Athletes tend to wear their ND athletic apparel to class. Many people just wear pajamas or sweats or other comfy clothes." But despite the trend toward comfort, some seek more individual styles or put more effort into their appearance. "We have a few punks, and, as with any private college, we have our share of preps. A few of my friends do their makeup religiously every time they leave the dorm," McCarthy said. Geography, however, is largely related to styles. Many students at southern universities say that it is unacceptable not to "dress up" for class. James Madison University sophomore Alaina Cox says her female classmates are always dressed to impress: at the Virginia university, girls usually sport "a skirt, boots, and always a nice sweater." Despite the formal attire of certain schools, there is a casual trend at universities across the country. This informal classroom attire, however, may be more of an American trend than a global one. Tufts students abroad notice a sharp distinction between the casual style of the Medford campus and international universities. Junior Jessica Katz, who is studying abroad in England, noticed a change in style at the University College London. "They definitely don't [wear pajamas or sweats]. No one looks like they just rolled out of bed," Katz said. "If you wear pajamas everyone will stare," she added. "It's really easy to pick out the Americans because of dress styles."

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Pay inequity at Tufts: a TA's testimony

March 29

Consider this a Tufts TA's testimony as to why labor unions make sense. Last semester, I was offered a grader position in one Tufts department, and a teaching assistant position in another. In case the difference in positions is not clear, there is not much of a difference: I attended lectures and graded for both, but led sections twice a week as a TA (for a total of about three extra hours a week) including out-of-class interaction with students. The problem, as it turned out, was less the pay than the pay inequity. By the end of the semester, I had worked a comparable number of hours in the two courses -- but one department paid me $4,000 while the other paid me less than half -- $1,800. Could I have just personally raised this discrepancy with the two departments? Sure, but the answer would probably have been that the one department for which I graded has a more limited budget, and hence cannot afford to pay more. The fundamental problem here is not that one department has less money than another. The problem is that, unlike other universities, Tufts fails to coordinate course funding across departments to ensure that TAs and graders get paid equally no matter the department. Instead, according to officials in the Tufts finance and human resource offices, departments pay according to what they deem appropriate given their budget, so TAs and graders get paid differently depending on the department. "Free" market conservatives may claim that departments and their TAs get the money they deserve, but who is to decide why one TA will get paid more than another for doing the same amount of work at the same type of job? Furthermore, students pay the same tuition regardless of what department their course is in, so shouldn't their TAs accordingly be paid equally? There is no lack of schools across the nation that uphold pay equity. For instance, the University of Wisconsin, for which I worked as a TA several years ago, has a university-wide policy which ensures that all TAs are paid equally, adjusted for workload and experience. Can't Tufts administration resolve such pay inequity without a union of graduate student employees, you ask? Well, they have not yet, so what gives any of us the sense that they will now, without organized pressure? It is a truism in life that nothing changes without effort, and in politics nothing changes without pressure. Couldn't I have just asked the professor who hired me to do more of the work? If only employee-employer relations were so simple! Like most employers, professors who employ graduate students have a lot of power, no matter how sympathetic they may be. Employing professors not only hold the keys to the jobs they offer, they often write recommendations and can put in good or bad words for graduate students seeking future work inside or beyond the university. Under these conditions, it is in the graduate employee's interest not to do anything that might irritate the professor, including raising problems of pay or overwork. This is not to deny the often amicable working relations between professors and their graduate employees. It is in part precisely because of these amicable relations that graduate employees (including yours truly) often do not feel comfortable raising work and pay issues personally with faculty. This is one of the reasons why unions make sense. Unions are designed to bargain publicly for all graduate employees on those touchy issues we often find so difficult to broach privately, given professor-student power dynamics -- not to mention the often limited power professors have to raise pay or lighten workloads. Power is more likely to be abused behind closed doors. Unions open the doors to power, allowing workers to help determine the work conditions that affect their lives. Isn't that the spirit of democratic self-government? This semester, I am a TA for two courses. For each course, I am paid $2,500 out of a larger grant separate from any department budget. My employing professor estimated that that would amount to about $15 per hour of work. That is not too shabby if I worked full time. At 40 hours per week, 48 weeks per year, that equals $28,800. However, TAs are mostly students, and students are expected to complete their degrees in a timely fashion. In order to advance toward degrees, most TAs do not work full-time, so our reality cannot be compared with that of a full-time worker. In reality, my TA pay this academic year totals $10,600 gross, and about $9,000 net after taxes. Interestingly, that is about the poverty line for a single person: $8,980 in 2003, according to the federal government. And that $8,980 is unadjusted for the higher cost of living in the Boston area. Ever so ironically, some faculty members respond that such poverty-level income is all the more reason to finish graduate school quickly. Yet how can we finish our degrees quickly when we have to work to live, and work more because we are paid less? This is why I also work as a waiter for a catering company, to supplement my otherwise inadequate income as a Tufts TA. As a waiter -- a job which requires relatively little skill or knowledge -- I make $20 an hour plus occasional yet handsome tips, as compared to the $15 or so I am paid as your TA -- a job which requires substantially more knowledge and skill to teach and evaluate your work as undergraduates. These are some of the reasons why I look forward to the day when Tufts' administration recognizes ASET, its union of graduate student employees. Paul Lachelier is a teaching assistant in the Sociology Department and a member of the Association of Student Employees at Tufts (ASET). This is the first in a series of five viewpoints by Tufts teaching assistants about their working conditions.

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Let's lead the way

March 29

Tufts' administrators have an amazing opportunity on their doorstep to increase the prestige and further the reputation of Tufts University by aggressively applying for federal grant money and providing the necessary resources on campus for new language studies in Arabic, Persian, Pashto, and Greek. The National Security Language Act introduced by Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) is brilliant in that it appeals to the U.S. administration's "war on terror" while also providing funding for education. A nation of people who are familiar and fluent in the languages of the Muslim world will be better prepared to deal with terrorist groups who speak non-western languages and dialects. It will also be better able to understand unique and different cultures, furthering good relations rather than exacerbating cultural tensions. Tufts' renowned international relations program has a language requirement that most students complete with a European language, though the most popular foreign policy courses focus on the Middle East and the Arab world. The availability of non-western languages such as Persian and Javanese would gap this disjunction. For Tufts to produce fluent speakers of these languages, academic deans should inform all incoming freshman about their availability and reassure students that the language will be taught for all four years into advanced levels. Locating qualified professors of these languages will not be easy, and those available will be highly sought after. This is a severe impediment, but one that Tufts can overcome because it offers, beyond a salary, opportunities and an exciting academic environment. To stay where you are, you have to keep moving ahead. The university has the right ingredients, federal encouragement, faculty commitment and motivated students, to develop an impressive language program that transcends the European predisposition. Activism from all three groups, plus guidance from the Department of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Development, and the associate provost for research would be invaluable to ensure that Tufts does more than stay where it is, and moves ahead. There is no better way for Tufts to help itself and help America than to lead the way in undergraduate language education.

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Zouein sisters compete at the NCAA National Fencing Championships

March 29

When you think of famous sisters in the sporting world, Venus and Serena are probably the first to come to mind. They may not be as well known as the tennis stars, but Tufts has its own dominant sister act consisting of Katherine and Louisa May Zouein, nationally competitive saberists on the women's fencing team. The sisters had a chance to show off their fencing prowess over spring break, when, on Friday and Saturday, Katherine and Louisa May competed in the NCAA national fencing championships at Brandeis. In the saber category, Katherine and Louisa May, finished 19th and 21st, respectively, out of 24 qualifiers. The sisters' performance resulted in a tied 25th place finish for Tufts as a team out of 32 schools. In a field that featured saberists from big name schools such as Duke, Penn State, Ohio State, and Notre Dame, Tufts was the only Division III school to qualify more than one fencer. The tournament started out with a bang for the Zouein sisters: they were seeded to face off against one another in the first bout of the day. While the two sisters are as close to even as possible in terms of their fencing abilities, Katherine, a year senior, has had the edge throughout the sisters' collegiate careers. This was not the case on Friday. Louisa May, a freshman, defeated her older sister for the first time in two years. Louisa May would go on to win four more bouts in the tournament. Katherine would finish the tournament with six victories. The one victory edge resulted in the older sister's slightly higher finish in the overall rankings. While happy for her younger sister's initial victory, Katherine expressed disappointment over her overall performance in the tournament. "On the first day of the tournament I was doing really well, and I came out of it feeling really excited," Katherine said. "But on the second day I really just had an awful day." Despite this, the Zouein sisters are clearly two of the most talented saberists in the nation. Their performance led Tufts to a national finish well above all but a handful of Division III schools, and you can expect the Zouein sisters to continue to lift the Tufts fencing program to the top ranks of the NCAA for the next several years to come. By the time the two graduate, the youthful Katherine and Louisa May might be as nationally dominant at fencing as Venus and Serena are at tennis.

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The battle to build a new dorm

March 29

The University and the City of Somerville are renewing their efforts to break a stand-off over the construction of a new campus residence, Sophia Gordon Hall. The dorm has been approved by the Board of Trustees and the necessary $13 million has been raised, but nearly a year after the ground-breaking ceremony, not one brick has been laid. In order to build, Tufts will have to obtain the approval of the Somerville Historical Preservation Commission (SHPC), which must sign off on any demolition of historic property. The school and the SHPC have been meeting periodically over the past year, but have reached an impasse. The problems stem from the location of the building, which would require the demolition of three properties on Talbot Avenue and Professor's Row. The SHPC specifically objected to the removal of 20 Professor's Row, the oldest wood-frame building on campus and the home of Tufts' first president, Hosea Ballou. Next month, officials from new Somerville mayor Joe Curtatone's administration will try to break the deadlock by sitting down directly with the University. The mayor does not have authority over the SHPC -- an independent body -- but according to Curtatone representative Mark Horan, the mayor does exert influence. The discussions will address not only the new dorm, but a range of issues that have developed between the town and school. On the campaign trail, Curtatone said the University should do more financially for the community. Horan said noise complaints and increased police patrols in parts of the town that border campus would also be addressed during the meeting. The talks were proposed after President Larry Bacow and Curtatone had a meeting in January. "I think it makes sense to deal with all of these issues at once," Horan said. Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel was reluctant to make predictions on results from the upcoming discussions. While Rubel praised the city's historical preservation staff, she described their efforts as "narrowly focused." "We have neighborhood issues, open space issues, and campus planning issues -- among others -- that we also have to take into account," Rubel said. The University does have some support with one Somerville official, though. Ward Six Alderman Jack Connolly supports the University's viewpoint on the demolition of 20 Professor's Row. "I don't particularly consider it historical," Connolly said. "From my perspective, the [new] building is allowed as a matter of right to the University." How the dorm was able to reach this stage -- fully funded and designed but unable to be built -- stems from poor communication between city departments and school officials. According to Rubel, the school believed the situation was covered under previous agreements the University made with the city in the late 1980s. The city had set up an overlay district -- a specialized zoning area -- which dictates development around the University. Matters changed in May when the Historical Preservation Board informed the University in a letter that there would also be a necessary historical review process. SHPC Chairman Michael Payne said the board first heard of the demolition review when plans were being circulated around City Hall. "We then notified Tufts of our concern and started a series of meetings and discussions to discuss what kinds of things could be done," he said. Discussions between the University and the committee began last summer, and focused on two possible alternatives to the destruction of 20 Professors Row. The first solution was an alternate, smaller design for the dorm that would not extend all the way to Professors Row. In response, the University has already worked with the firm that originally designed the dorm, Graham Gund Architects, on "several alternative concepts," Vice President of Operations John Roberto said. He said the firm did just enough to determine that the alternatives presented new problems and did not adequately address the city's concern. Another option is to relocate the 20 Professors Row building to another spot on the street. This would not be the house's first move -- when President Ballou lived on the site it was located near the present Gifford House. It was moved to its current location in the early 1870s. Payne, however, called the relocation plan a "less desirable alternative," but said it might be acceptable as long as the building "stays part of the streetscape" on Professor's Row. University officials have been pushing for demolition rather than finding space on the already tight Professors Row area. The school has yet to formally apply for the review under the demolition ordinance, but Payne said a similar set of talks would occur when that happens. Payne said the informal discussions where alternatives were explored have concluded, and it is now up to the school to debate their options, and that he has not heard back from the school since. Although the school has explored these other options, that does not mean it has resigned itself to the changes. "Tufts would like to build the dorm as it was designed," Rubel said. "Considerable planning and thought about a range of issues went into the site selection and design." The University's last long-term land-use plan, which was designed to cover the years 1985-1995 but is still in effect, shows a tentative footprint for a building similar to that of Gordon Hall site. The school has considered other locations for the dorm, including next to Hill Hall and behind Metcalf Hall before settling on the current site. The school never did have a truly explicit agreement about preservation. Rubel said that while the issue was discussed in the late 1980s, "it wasn't separately formalized." Rubel said the school believed that because of the agreements made at that time, the school had a level of "dimensional freedom" in that area. Students were frustrated by a process they saw as imposing unnecessary delays on a residential hall needed to ease a housing crunch. They saw no easy answers to the problem, however. Senior Jill Bier gave a presentation at February's trustee meeting on improving city-school relations. She said the delays exposed a fundamental problem. "We need to live somewhere, if not on campus, where are we living?" she said. Finding a common solution may not be simple, but both sides were confident they could find some sort of middle ground. During the 1988 survey of Professor's Row, 11 buildings were identified as historic. "It's hard to talk about Professor's Row in terms of houses," Payne said. "Each of the buildings are important individually but they are also important as a group." Successful discussions could also yield future dividends. Officials hope to create a blueprint to follow for future projects, including the construction of a new music building. Plans also call for the destruction of 72, 80 and 128 Professors Row -- the Dearborn House, the Zeta Psi fraternity, and the former building of the Institute for Global Leadership. Patrick Gordon contributed to this article

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Getting burned: spring break packages deceive students

March 29

For students who went to tropical locations for spring break, there could be worse things than a bad sunburn: getting ripped off. Starting early on in the school year, posters lure students with all-inclusive spring break packages to destinations like Cancun and Acapulco. These seemingly blissful and convenient packages are a college student's dream -- planning a trip without having to do much research. As many students can attest, however, these deals often aren't exactly what they say they are. This month, the State Public Interest Research Groups' Higher Education Project released a report, "Spring Broke: How to Avoid a Spring Break Ripoff," that examined the deceptive advertising practices of travel companies which target college students. According to the report, which surveyed travel company posters across the country, hidden fees for each trip (usually only mentioned in fine print) totaled on average up to $367 -- resulting in a trip price 62 percent higher than advertised. After a disappointing spring break package to the Bahamas her sophomore year, senior Ani Altoonian opted to use a travel agency to book her spring break to the Dominican Republic this year. "We just ended up spending a lot more money [last year] than we had anticipated once we got there," she said about her sophomore spring break. Altoonian and her friends had found out about Suncoast Vacations' Bahamas package from posters on campus. The trip promised fun in the sun and free drinks, but Altoonian and friends had to wait in the airport for their charter flight and the free drinks were limited. "You thought it was [all-inclusive], but it wasn't...they said something like 20 hours of free drinks or something... [but] it would end up being that the bar that had the free drinks was across the island, you had to take a cab to get there, and once you got there, there was 1000 people there and you get one drink before they ran out." For the same reasons, senior Mike Stevenson booked his vacation to Jamaica with a travel agent and not a travel company. "It was all-inclusive," Stevenson said about his spring break package. "If we had wanted to stay on the resort the whole time, we wouldn't have had to spend any extra money at all." Not all spring break deals are a nightmare, however. Sophomore Sarah Feldberg enjoyed her sunny spring break, which she booked with Student Travel Agency (STA) that uses Student Travel Services (STS) once they arrived in Jamaica. Her $807 package included the flight, airport shuttle, and hotel with additional food and drink options. Her group opted for the $160 drink package, which Feldberg says was worth the extra money. "It was really nice not having to carry lots of cash or pay cover charges," Feldberg said. "Looking back it probably would have been worth it to do the food too." For students who don't plan on drinking heavily every night of their week-long trip, however, such drink packages may not be worth the cost. "It was a good deal as long as you are crazy enough to drink that much," sophomore Jessica Brauser, who also went on Feldberg's trip, added. Many services, such as STS, offer additional deals once students have arrived at their spring break destination. In Jamaica, for example, excursions such as climbing waterfalls and jumping off cliffs or the "booze cruise" are offered and range in price from and extra $25 to $65 extra dollars. Once on vacation, students are often eager to see and to do as much as possible, giving these services the chance to reel in even more money. According to sophomore Gabby Lubart, who also went to Jamaica, it may have been cheaper to plan the excursion themselves. "We probably could have saved some money by renting our own bus," Lubart said. She added, however, that the safety of having a guided trip and chaperones made it worth the extra cost. According to the report, "In addition to deceptive pricing, companies also require travelers to give up many of their rights. Travel companies reserve the right to change travel and accommodation plans at their discretion. In addition, companies require travelers to sign contracts in which they must waive or limit their legal rights to file disputes with the travel company."

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Hook-up culture

March 29

Whatever happened to dating? College students have been asking that question for years. Every once in a while, even a newspaper will pick up the question and interview a few co-eds. The reporter finds dating's departure mostly blamed on what is universally called "the hook-up culture". While there are no (as of yet) proposals for the Senate to take on a Hook-up Culture Rep, I do not think many would deny that the culture is here and thriving at Tufts. But where did it come from? And is it here to stay? The hook-up culture is simply an environment that expects casual sexual encounters that do not necessarily lead to anything further. Common sense would say that people hook-up for basic physical needs. They do not want to get involved in a relationship, but they do have intense desires for a sexual partner. In a word, they are horny. So they hook-up -- either with a friend or a stranger. But something makes me think folks hook-up for something more than just the raging hormones. What makes me think horniness cannot fully explain the hook-up culture is this question: Would you hook-up with someone who was fast asleep -- totally unresponsive? You could kiss them, touch them, make them touch you, whatever you would like. But they would remain completely oblivious to you and just lay there dead to the world. Not exactly appealing, is it? A bit like eating cold oatmeal. All the physical parts are there, all the same sensations, but something is missing -- an energy, a spark, a life. There must then be a pleasure that is not strictly physical. What makes a hook-up more desirable than any pornography or anything you could do to yourself is the one pleasure neither of those could ever provide -- the consent of a partner. A lively, animated partner is lively and animated for you and (for the moment at least) you alone. You are special. What your partner does not let the world see, she lets you see. Personal space that is ordinarily walled off from the outside world becomes open to you alone. You are being let in, given privileged access. You become, for a few moments, the center of his attention. The real thrill of a hook-up is not simply what you do with a partner, but the fact that your partner wants to be doing it with you! It is not just "She's so hot," but "She's so hot and she wants me!" Not just "He's so cute," but "He's so cute and he likes me!" The physical pleasure does not, and cannot, exist by itself. It is inextricably tied up with the emotional. The body and soul are one. To give someone your body is to give them all of yourself. A sexual encounter is in its essence an act of deepest intimacy, and so to be considered worthy of that intimacy is powerfully affirming and very exciting. Everyone wants to be loved that much. Consensual sex is an affirmation so powerful that the porno fiend fabricates it and the rapist steals it. It is a feeling of acceptance so intoxicating that it gets pursued weekend after weekend in frat after frat. Is it being found there? Well, how could it be? How can you find love and intimacy in a system that presupposes the meaninglessness of sex? If sex is simply handed out to anyone, then sexual intimacy becomes no big deal. Even if it happens to get handed over to you, you are no longer special. You are just a fling. The premise of the hook-up culture is to receive pleasure without commitment. But the pleasure really being sought can only come from commitment, from someone saying "Yes, I want to give my all to you and no one else." But hooking-up is all about holding back, not giving all of one's self, not committing. The more that commitment gets detached from sex, the less sex means anything. The less it means anything, the less enjoyable it becomes, and so the more hook-ups are made to get the old thrill. And on it goes, spiraling down. Trying to find intimate fulfillment by hooking-up is like trying to dig your way out of a hole in the ground. Some people claim that they are not at all bothered by emotional needs. They get a thrill from the display of independence and sexual virility that serial hook-ups can give. Now this used to be said mostly by men. They do not talk like this much anymore (at least in public), as it seems to hinder their ability to get much play. Appeals to self-determination and sexual empowerment to support hook-ups are now given by women. And this I find strange. I wonder what is so empowering about being, in essence, an unpaid prostitute. The boys may politely clap and publicly congratulate the women for liberating their sexuality and owning their miniskirt and so on, but privately they are having a good laugh and passing the word on who is the easy lay. A woman who embraces the hook-up culture is simply making it easier for guys to treat her as a sex object. Is this women's liberation? Both sexes can use a partner for their own selfish gratification, but more often than not, it is the woman whose hopes of a relationship get tossed in the trash. The real sexual power a woman has is to refuse to give away sex until the man has proved his commitment to her. The hook-up culture is very deceptive. Hooking-up promises to be liberating and strengthening. Yet people find themselves needing more and more 'liquid courage' to even make the first move. Hooking-up promises fun and fulfillment and no regrets, but when morning comes it delivers the 'walk of shame.' The hook-up culture has tricked us. It has led us to believe that our emotions are disconnected from our bodies, that love is divorced from sex. What can we do about it? Well, a culture only lasts as long as people are willing to live it. If we refuse to believe its false promises, then we can build a new culture that says sex is just too good to be thrown around. We can bring back some middle ground between random hook-ups and being joined-at-the-hip. We can bring dating back to life. Or not. We can also make the break between love and sex complete and final. We can become dead to the ache within for intimacy. We can consider ourselves simply people with assets: he has what she wants, she has what he wants. Just a mutual exchange. Just business. Cold, soulless, heartless, loveless business. Jack Grimes is a senior majoring in Philosophy. He can be reached at grimes@tuftsdaily.com

The Setonian
News

Water lab washes away woodshop

March 29

The recent decision to close the school's woodshop to make room for a new water lab has left some students miffed. The woodshop is closed for the rest of the semester and it is unclear if it will be relocated. The woodshop was located in Anderson Hall's Engineering Project and Development Center (EPDC). Construction for the water lab has not yet started. Environmental engineering professor Linfield Brown said that the department still does not know much about the planned water lab other than it is still in development. Brown currently has no plans for using the new lab. The new water lab was initiated by the new Dean of Engineering Linda Abriola, whose background is in environmental engineering on groundwater hydrology and contaminant fate and transport. "Dean Abriola came to Tufts and part of her new plans for the school included this lab, which will serve primarily as a research lab for environmental engineers," former director of the woodshop Robert Lind said. Abriola has been out of town for the past couple of weeks and was unavailable to comment. Despite the new addition of a water lab, many students are upset about the woodshop's closure. "I loved that woodshop," junior engineering student Todd Ryan said. Ryan is among several engineering students who relied heavily on the woodshop for projects that were needed for classes and for their own recreation. Ryan is currently working on a petition to persuade the University to bring the woodshop back to the engineering building. "I can't say enough good things about this shop. It was little known, but it was widely used by those who knew of it. According to Ryan, who served as an engineering teaching assistant (TA) in the woodshop, basic materials provided by the shop included wood, screws, nails, and glue. "Materials were not very expensive, mostly everything was already in place, and the only other costs were the TA's pay and replacing old tools," Lind said. Combined, Lind said that the TAs worked approximately 30 hours a week. He estimated the cost of running the woodshop was around $3,000 per semester. Ryan said Lind had done a superior job maintaining free resources and materials for the students to use. Ryan added that if a student felt a certain unavailable material would be widely used, Lind would sometimes purchase that material himself for the student and the woodshop. The woodshop was open to all students, regardless of whether they were enrolled in the School of Engineering. Students were required to take a safety test before operating machinery and given instruction on how to use unfamiliar tools, Ryan said. Lind was an invaluable resource for the students, Ryan said. "Bob Lind and the rest of the TA staff were always on hand and willing to help with projects and teach students how to use the tools in a safe manner," Ryan said. "For me, it was a great job because I became proficient on all the power tools, made many projects for myself, and was able to help others with theirs'." Sophomores Ilya Lozovsky and Jordan Levie used the woodshop earlier in the year to construct various items for their Latin Way suite, including a spice rack for their kitchen and a roll-out bench for their room. "We really just wanted to have more convenient stuff for our suite and it just seemed like it would be more fun and a little cheaper to just make these things ourselves," Lozovsky said. Both students were impressed with the materials supplied, which greatly lowered their construction costs. Ryan said common projects included tables and bookshelves for apartments, and projects for engineering classes. "It was a really great resource that we are missing greatly, especially in courses like ES93: 'Electronic Musical Instrument Design,'" Ryan said. Lozovsky said he had been looking forward to working on future projects and was unaware the shop had closed. "I wish I could have had more say in the matter," he said. "I think the woodshop gets plenty of use from students and I don't see why it needs to close."

The Setonian
News

Do you know your backyard?

March 29

What do you first think of when someone says, "Somerville"? Davis Square, downhill, maybe Broadway Street... and then what? I know I do not speak for all Tufts students when I say this, but I would like to argue that defining or describing Somerville beyond the spaces that border campus and the businesses that serve us food and drinks is actually a difficult task. Even those of us who venture into various other areas of Somerville through Tufts community service groups or other student organizations do so typically with other Tufts students and experience those spaces as being something outside of our community. Some people might say that this is not a problem; that they came here to go to Tufts and not to get to know and experience Somerville outside of Tufts. I recognize that most people find themselves here because of what Tufts has to offer and not what Somerville has to offer. It is only natural that Tufts dominates our lives and our experiences for the fours years we are here. It still saddens me, however, that most Tufts students do not seem to have a relationship with, or connection to Somerville that exists beyond our Tufts "bubble." Not only are there several other areas and neighborhoods in Somerville, but there are resources we may have never realized we have access to, people with whom we share common spaces, issues that affect us, and a very interesting history. Did you know, for example, that a train used to run above-ground down Mass. Ave. from Harvard Square into Arlington, that there is a debate raging in the city over what to do with Assembly Square in East Somerville, that the city has been hit especially hard by the recent state budget cuts, or that there are 39 parks and 13 public schools in Somerville? Some of this information I did know before, but much of it I did not, and it was not until sociology professor Susan Ostrander assigned my class to learn something new about Somerville that I realized how little I know about this city in which I spend so much of my time. This assignment forced me to stop and think about who lives in Somerville, what kinds of resources exist here, what is important to the people here, and how our being here might affect the city. I chose to go to Somerville City Hall on Highland Street to gather my information for this assignment, and I honestly enjoyed the experience of going there and speaking to the people there. The City Hall staff with whom I spoke was extremely friendly and helpful, and I think pleased that a Tufts student was showing interest in learning more about the city in which we live and study. My classmates researched topics such as the current demographics, the economic history, and the apparent housing crisis in Somerville. I strongly suggest that you take the time to look for and read their "Viewpoints" in future editions of The Tufts Daily, but I also suggest that you do some exploring of your own. I enjoyed going to City Hall, talking to people I normally would not have met, and stopping to think about Somerville from the perspective of a resident and not just a Tufts student. I am not saying that you need to take the time out of your busy schedules to do a formal research project on Somerville, but simply that you try new places and open your eyes to parts of Somerville you might have overlooked before. For those of you without cars there is an easy to navigate public bus system that can take you to most parts of the city, and for those of you who do not feel like venturing out to new places you could simply pick up a copy of the Somerville Journal, the city's principal paper, or you could even just take a moment to observe a little more closely the parts of Somerville that you already do know. There is a lot that we can learn from Somerville and I think it is a great loss if we miss out because we confine ourselves and our minds to the walls of Tufts. Lucia Carballo is a senior majoring in sociology.

The Setonian
News

Marching Madness

March 29

Last Thursday evening, just as Oklahoma State was cruising to a 63-51 victory over Pittsburgh on the way to the Final Four, and as the honorable Avalanche were having an off-night against the cruel, godless Red Wings, thirty-some-odd parents gathered in a high school cafeteria to decide the winner of a different kind of competition. Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado -- my high school, the second biggest high school in the state and one of six high schools in the wealthiest school district in the state -- had decided to pull out of competitive marching band. Though the marching band will still perform at halftime at football games and the occasional school festivity, Smoky Hill will not enter the district qualifying competition for the state tournament. At a school where the football team is, let's just say, basically non-competitive itself (during each of my four years, they lost the homecoming game by at least 40 points), pulling out of the state marching band competition is huge. This past year, 98 students were in the marching band out of 171 students in all band programs. After the spring concert band, symphonic band, and wind symphony concert that Thursday night, the school's principal, Jeannine Brown, and the band director, Marty Krusniak, organized a meeting with the band members' parents to discuss the plans for next year. Prior to the meeting, Krusniak had distributed a position paper to his students outlining the evidence to support his plan. In the paper, he said the majority of the band program's budget was going to support only a select group of band students -- those in the marching band. He said the money would be better spent on updating the school's instruments, buying music technology computer stations, and improving the school's musical facilities. This, he said, would better benefit the band students who were not in marching band and the other students at the school in other music programs. In addition, the position paper lambasted the state marching competition as unfair and biased toward schools with higher budgets that are able to spend more on instruction and choreography. Another complaint was that the competition places no limit on the number of students allowed to be in a marching band. Krusniak blamed the system for the Smoky Hill marching band's weak finishes in competitions in the past few years. But when parents arrived at the Thursday concert, they were presented with a second position paper -- this one by parents who were circulating a petition to save competitive marching band. The dissenting paper blamed the school for not requiring marching band members to engage in fundraising to help keep the marching band financially independent of the school. It also cited examples of small marching bands with small budgets performing well at the state competition. So when parents and school administrators filed into the cafeteria following the wind symphony's rendition of movements one and three of Gustav Holst's "First Suite in Eb, op. 28, no. 1," every able-bodied Auroran expected a showdown reminiscent of Neo and Agent Smith. "What we're telling our kids is, 'We can't win so we quit,'" Band Parents Association President Kathy Ambrose said. Krusniak fired back: "I made the decision based on sound principles of music education." He said with President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program, he has to meet achievement standards for all of his band students, and that focusing on marching band would detract from this. "We are not meeting those standards now," he said. "It borders on educational malpractice." Moni Gonsalves, another parent, turned her sights directly on Krusniak. "We have smaller bands that are beating us, so it's not the size of the band, it's the way they are taught." She continued, "It's not the money, it's the time, it's the commitment." Brown tried to take some of the heat off Krusniak. "My intention is not to take that venue away, but to revise it," she said. The main problem parents identified, though, is that they don't see the light at the end of the tunnel -- they don't know where Brown and Krusniak's revision will take them and their children. The parents, who weren't consulted on the school's decision ahead of time, said their kids couldn't commit to non-competitive marching band before they knew what non-competitive marching band was. They asked Krusniak to provide a list of possibilities for non-competitive performances, such as local parades. They were rebuffed. In a Catch-22 where in the end, the only losers will be the kids, Krusniak said he couldn't come up with possibilities until he knew how many students he would have. "I do not have those answers now," he said. But the decision is made. The school has committed to a year trial-run of non-competitive marching band, whatever that may be. A school with 2,800 students, a school that has won state titles in soccer, baseball, cross-country, and volleyball in the past five years, a school that sends its girls tennis team out every spring with brand new fleece pullovers, knowing none of the girls will qualify for the state tournament, is canceling its competitive marching band. What it comes down to in the end is a question of priorities. Rather than give the marching band competitive status on par with any of the sports teams or academic competition clubs, the school has placed the marching band solely in the grasp of the fine arts world, devoid of the competition most kids in band don't get any place else. Laying the foundation for music education at the school for the next several decades is indisputably essential, but to do so at the expense of current students, without mandating fundraising, without consulting the parents to come up with a creative solution, is unforgivable. In sports, team management must often decide which year to scrap the roster and rebuild. Smoky Hill High School just chose to scrap the franchise.

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