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Combination of youth and experience benefits lax team

May 17

After four years of tireless work and dedication, the seniors of the men's lacrosse squad closed out their careers with a historic season. The Jumbos compiled a school-record 12 wins en route to a second place finish in the NESCAC, the best finish for the lacrosse team since it joined the NESCAC three years ago. The seniors led the team to three more wins this season than it had achieved in any of the past three years, as well as a victory over Bowdoin in its first home NESCAC playoff game ever and a trip to the NESCAC championship game. The marked improvement over the course of the last four years reflects a goal finally reached by the Jumbo seniors. "Coach always said, 'Leave it better than you found it,'" senior tri-captain Dave Richman-Raphael said. "That's really been the motto of the senior class. The roots have been laid for Tufts as a real competitive program in the NESCAC." Though the defense entered the season without the help of graduated goalkeeper Kirk Lutwyler, the Jumbos returned a veteran unit and proved effective throughout the season. Along with the surprise emergence of sophomore Luke Chicco between the pipes, Tufts sported a veteran unit on defense, anchored by Richman-Raphael and fellow tri-captain and classmate Mike Morley. "A big part of it was that Mike [Morley], [junior] Jesse Miller, [junior] Charles Savicki and myself played together for the last three years," Richman-Raphael said. "We didn't have Lutwyler this year and we are very proud of what we were able to do. It was a result of playing together and the talent meshing." The unit proved to be effective and adaptable. The Jumbos switched between a zone and man-to-man defense all year long that served to confuse opposing offenses. "Well, I think being able to jump in and out of the zone confused teams a little," Morley said. "We also saw tremendous improvements in our clearing game and unsettled defense." At the beginning of the season, it appeared that the clearing game would hurt the Jumbos, but as the season progressed the Jumbos effectively refocused their energy in practice to correct the problem. The work ethic exemplified by the senior captains provided an example of how to improve the squad. "[Tri-captain middie] Alex Kerwin's work ethic really provided an example of the rest of the team," coach Mike Daly said. "You always see him working on his shot. He's out at practice early and often stays late. He showed the younger guys the commitment level that you need." Kerwin lead the way for a mixture of experienced and younger midfielders. As the season progressed, the developing younger shooters emerged as serious scoring threats. Sophomore Devin Clarke placed third in the team in scoring from the middie position, Kerwin placed fifth, and freshman middie Mike O'Brien added 15 points, putting him at seventh on the list. Defenseman Morley described the importance of helping out the younger players and supplementing Daly's advice. "You don't want to sound too authoritative, so coach instructs them about the bigger picture," Morley said. "I'm always trying to tell them some little trick I learned, or when to throw a certain check." The Jumbos remain confident the effects of this year's season will be felt for years to come. Reflected in its first home playoff win over Bowdoin in NESCAC playoff history, Tufts' level of excitement has risen considerably in the past four years. "We have recently enjoyed great recruiting, excitement, and a high quality of players," Richman-Raphael said. "It's a cycle: the excitement allows the players to get better, which makes the team better and attracts more players, which improves the recruiting. We're going nowhere but up." Kerwin believes the program improved relative to the NESCAC competition considerably from the senior class' first year. "My freshman year, we weren't too competitive in the NESCAC," Kerwin said. "This season we were nationally ranked, second in the NESCAC, and the talent level on the team has improved a ton." Having paid their dues, the team's eight seniors will graduate today with the reward of a record-breaking season, and the knowledge that they have consistently improved the program throughout the course of their four years at Tufts. "The captains and all of our seniors played a big role in our run at the NESCACs," Daly said. "They left the program in a better spot than when they came in."

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News

Baseball team bids fond farewell to the class of 2003

May 17

The Tufts class of 2003 has made an indelible impact on the history of Jumbo baseball. It will be remembered as the first class to ever have 20 win seasons in each of its four years. Centerfielder Evan Zupancic, shortstop Brian Shapiro, and pitchers Jon Lee and Dave Martin make up the core of this renowned Tufts baseball class. "They're the most talented class to assemble at a Div. III school I've ever seen," junior teammate Randy Newsom said. "Being the class behind them is like being the red headed step child; we're like Marcia Brady." Coach John Casey had similar sentiments. "There is only one class of 2003," Casey said. "It is not often that four kids have had that impact on a team. 20-win seasons are pretty impressive considering we only play 33 games a year." Evan Zupancic Tri-captain Evan Zupancic began his baseball career as soon as he was big enough to pick up a ball. "My first memory of baseball was when I was about two or three," Zupancic said. "I've been playing competitively since I was six or seven." Over his four year Tufts career, Zupancic excelled as a five tool player. He dominated the lead off spot in the batting order with a career average of .341, 104 RBI, and a Tufts record 22 homeruns. "There have been some great athletes before me," Zupancic said. "To be at the top of the [homerun] list is a great honor. It's one of my best memories of college." "He is an outstanding athlete," Casey said. "Not all guys can take athleticism and make themselves into baseball players, but Evan has been an all-around player. He's the all-time home run leader, but I don't think of him that way. He's a complete baseball player." Brian Shapiro Shapiro started on varsity as a freshman. He gobbled up grounders and anchored the double play combination for four years. "Playing in the hole, he makes things look effortless," Newsom said. Shapiro also was a presence on the pitcher's mound. He has 3.04 career ERA and 5-1 record. Shapiro also set the Tufts career record for saves (12) on Mar. 22 of this year. "He has come in in relief and been huge," Casey said. Shapiro has been a standout at the plate as well. He has a .302 career batting average with 115 RBI, 12 homeruns and 30 doubles. Shapiro was honored with the 2000 NESCAC Rookie of the Year award, along with being named to the All-New England first team and All-NESCAC second team after his junior season. All in all, Shapiro has left an impression on the baseball program. "Shapiro moments are too numerous to recall," Casey said. "These guys have left their mark. There is only one 2003 team." Jon Lee The winningest pitcher in Tufts history has been playing baseball longer than he can remember. "I guess I just started when everyone else was playing t-ball," Lee said. Over his four years in the Jumbo starting rotation, Lee had a 2.62 ERA and won 29 games. The right-hander began and ended his Jumbo career with no-hitters. His first gem came on May 7, 2000 against Bowdoin during Lee's rookie year. He followed up with a second no-hitter on Mar 29 of this year in an 8-0 home win over Bates. "He's a really talented pitcher," Newsom said. "I can't imagine Tufts baseball without him, I'm going to miss [watching] Jonny throw those no hitters." Lee was named 2001's NESCAC Pitcher of the Year as a sophomore and has been the NESCAC's Player of the Week six times in four years. The baseball program will miss having a consistent workhorse like Lee in the rotation. "Jonny Lee is the best pitcher in the history of this place," Casey said. Dave Martin "I started playing tee-ball when I was six or seven years old," Martin said. "[Pitching] just kind of happened. I started when I was eight. The ones who threw the hardest were the pitchers early on; I just kept going with it." Luckily for Tufts baseball, Martin went with it for over a decade. In his four-year stint as a Jumbo, Martin amassed an 18-6 record with a career ERA of 2.96. He pitched in 195.2 innings and gave up just 100 runs. As a junior starter in 2002, Martin was second in the nation with a 0.85 ERA. He earned first team All-NESCAC honors that year for his efforts. "Martin was phenomenal last year," Casey said. "He has continued that this year as well." Newsom recalls Martin keeping the ball low in the zone and forcing opposing teams to put the ball on the ground. "I'm going to miss Dave getting ground out after ground out after ground out," Newsom said. When these four players, along with fellow seniors Mike Byron and Jon Herbert, toss their caps in the air and begin the next chapters of their respective lives on May 18, they will leave behind a legacy of baseball excellence. "You can't replace these guys," Casey said. "They have left their mark." "I don't think you'll see a class like that for a long time," Newsom said. "To have six seniors stick it out that long, it's just amazing."

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News

Blotner and Drake help avoid rebuilding year for softball

May 17

For most teams, losing four impact seniors would result in cries for a rebuilding year. However, the women's softball team would not have it that way, despite losing perhaps the best pitcher in Div. III and several key fielders to graduation last year. The team continued to play at a high level of competition, and once again won the NESCAC championships and made it all the way to the NCAA regional championship. Leading the way for the team were the two lone seniors, co-captains Nikki Blotner and Lis Drake, two of the few who were confident the team had not lost its competitive edge. "We weren't even ranked in the beginning of the season, we lost four major players, nobody had high expectations of us," Drake said. "I feel so proud to be on a team that has come together and made it so far." While these two humble players will take little of the spotlight for themselves, the coach and their teammates alike credit both of these captains for helping lead the team both on and off the field to its successful endeavors. "We'e just had good karma all season and it's a big tribute to them," coach Kris Herman said. With only Drake and Blotner returning to their original positions, the losses of players from the previous season left many questions at the beginning of the team's 2003 campaign. Yet instead of allowing nerves to get to them as well, Blotner and Drake quickly helped the Jumbos form a cohesive unit and earn large successes. "Together we saw that it was important from the beginning, that no matter where you were playing or what you were doing, there was a role for you on the team," Blotner said. "That was the way we wanted to help the team come together." Creating team spirit and solidarity was an easy task for these captains, though. With their great love of the game clear for all their teammates to see, getting the rest of the squad into the game came effortlessly. "Both of them always put 100 percent on the field and in practice," freshman Julia Brenta said. "That really set a standard for us and made us work much harder." In her youth, Drake played in tournaments for various sports every weekend and summer. She started playing softball at age 11 and since then, Drake looked into her collegiate career with thoughts of playing Div. I or II. Settling on Tufts for its academics as well as its success as a program, the catcher was confident that her abilities would shine through in college. Showing off her talent was no problem for Drake, who has amassed a sheet of honors and Tufts records, such as the home run record she set in 2001. Most notable for Drake, though, is the All-American status she earned last season, and is expected to earn again this season. "She just has so many amazing physical tools," Herman said. "I think she's one of the best players in the country." Leading by example on the field, Drake has also earned a spot in the hearts of her coaches and teammates with her attitude. "She's just a great kid, she cares about her team and her teammates so much and she makes sure they know it. That makes her a great leader," Herman said. For Blotner, softball began at an even younger age than Drake. Beginning play at age five, this right fielder was always aware of her love for softball above all other athletic activities. "We all played soccer and basketball," Blotner said. "But there's just something different about this game. It's the best." The game did not come as easily for Blotner as it did for Drake. "For some people it comes really easy and really naturally," Blotner said. "I've had to work really hard." Her hard work and constant positive attitude are what her teammates and coaches appreciate most. "She's done her job and not worried about the fact that she's not an All-American player," Herman said. "She wants so badly for her team to win and just be the best player that she can be." Together these seniors throw their caps at graduation with little knowledge of exact future plans, but aspirations to involve softball in their life somehow. Without knowing what the future holds, they can rest assured that they have left their mark on the Jumbos with their spirit and love of the game. "The difference between us and the former teams is spirit," Blotner said. "Clearly everybody loves the game, but I think between the two of us there's something different." "We were a lot closer this year as a team and I know a lot of that has to do with Lis and Nikki," junior Julie Fox said. "They definitely made more of an effort from them to keep us on the same page and to keep us positive. We couldn't have asked for any more from them as leaders."

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News

Alum goes from the Hill to the grill

May 17

So, where can a Tufts degree take you? For graduate Philip Wang (LA '95), his degree took him straight to the kitchen. Wang has worked in top restaurants in cities all over the country with world-famous chefs and has earned praise from the press. Currently, Wang is the executive chef of Truc in Boston, serving up French cuisine that he describes as "more forward-thinking, but without being weird," and is famous for his specialty - frog's legs. The dish was named the best appetizer in Boston by Food and Wine Magazine. But Wang was not always a culinary expert. He hardly cooked, outside of barbeques at his Packard Ave. apartment, while at Tufts; his plate was full finishing an anthropology major, working as a volunteer for TEMS, a member of LCS, and as a brother of Theta Delta Chi. A native of Indiana, Wang came to Tufts intending to go into medicine, but his family's love of food steered him into a tastier direction. "All the family did revolved around food... So, why not try cooking?" Wang said. "It planted a seed in my head." To explore this new career interest, he attended the Connecticut Culinary Institute in Farmington, CT second semester of his junior year. "[I] was kind of bored of Tufts for a little bit," Wang said. "It was just a 'see what's out there' kinda thing; [I] wanted to get away from the classroom for a second." Six days a week, Wang commuted from from Medford to Farmington in order to attend classes at both schools. Although Wang didn't use his newly-acquired culinary skills after his junior year experience, Wang pursued a career in cooking, in part because he "didn't want to be an anthropologist or go to med school." After graduation, Wang attended the Culinary Institute of America, and soon afterward headed to San Francisco to work under the head chef at the restaurant Rubicon. He helped open new restaurants and lived in both Chicago and New York City before returning to Boston, earning important cooking experience along the way. In Manhattan, Wang worked at the high-profile Daniel restaurant under owner and acclaimed French chef Daniel Boulud. At Daniel, Wang really sunk his teeth into the competitive restaurant business, and while he was there the restaurant received four-star recognition from The New York Times. "Daniel was fantastic and it's fun... a lot of pressure, but it's exciting, you really get into what you do," Wang said. "It's fun to watch the contemporary masters work." So, throughout his cooking career, where has Wang's Tufts degree in anthropology benefited him? According to Wang, his degree from Tufts has helped in his career, although the world's greatest chefs frequently range in educational background. "The whole culinary field is a broad spectrum of society. Cooking draws from all over the board... people who didn't finish high school to others with a PhD." He adds that clientele at some of the "super high-end" places that he has worked are impressed when they discover he is a Tufts graduate. "It gives you a bit of respect," he said. His anthropology background has given Wang insight into his clients. "My anthro degree has given me the means to dissect what our diners want," he said. "The different patterns in the city, different diners in the city... More of just like an insight to kinda figuring out which city, what people want, and what you want to give them."

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News

Levesque a natural-born sailor

May 17

Pete Levesque was born in March 1980, and by that June, he'd already started to sail. When his parents first took him aboard their boat off the Maine coast, it initiated what would become a lifelong passion. "Sailing's definitely been a factor in every part of my life for as long as I can remember," Levesque said. Now, as he graduates from Tufts, Levesque will head to graduate school in Michigan to study naval architecture and marine engineering. In his future career, he will likely be "designing anything from harbor entrances to off shore oil rigs to pleasure style of boats - anything that has to do with the ocean," he said. "But in all honesty, I'd much rather sail for a living." Whether he is designing boats or sailing them competitively, Levesque asserts that he will stay involved in the sport for the rest of his life. Levesque has sailed competitively since he was nine years old, and for the last four years has been a leading athlete on Tufts' only Div. I team. Besides his prowess on the water, Levesque has been important for the leadership he's shown throughout, especially this year as a captain. Next month, Levesque will compete at the Fleet Race Nationals, to be held in Detroit, MI, June 2-10. His boat qualified two weeks ago at the New England Championships, where he and senior co-captain Caroline Hall placed second in the A division. When their results were combined with the finish of Tufts' B boat, the Jumbos came out on top, beating close competitor Harvard for first place. A veteran of national sailing competition, Levesque says he will enter this year's regatta with aspirations of winning. Last year, Levesque led Tufts' second-place finish in the team race, and sailed to sixth in the fleet race. As sophomores, he and Hall joined forces to win the A division at fleet race nationals, and Tufts also came in first overall in that race in what the senior classifies as his proudest moment. "That was a really big moment. We beat a lot of really good people as only sophomores, and it was pretty sweet," Levesque said. "We never led until the very last race [of 18]." Since the beginning of his sophomore year, Levesque has typically sailed with Hall. He is a permanent fixture in the number one boat, while his partner switches sometimes depending on who is best for a particular race's sailing conditions. For instance, an especially windy day might call for a bigger partner to help deal with the strong gusts as sailing often demands more physical strength than people realize. "It's definitely physically demanding. [After a race], all my muscles are sore," he said. "It's not like some sports, where you use just your legs and arms. In sailing, your back, arms, legs, and especially your stomach are all being used all the time." While it demands strength, the senior notes that sailing is also a challenge because "there is this weird sort of third dimension where you have to have a very gentle and smooth feel, because you can't force things. You have to have a lot of finesse." Despite the challenges and huge time commitment that sailing entails, Levesque has no regrets about the dominant role it has had in his college career, and in his life in general. "Sailing's definitely the thing that drives everything else in my life," Levesque said. "It's really forced me to figure out how I use my time, because it's a huge commitment. We practice something like 20 hours a week plus regattas all day both days of the weekend. And it's affected the type of people I hang out with - it's definitely shaped me in that it rules my life." Reflecting on both the difficulties of sailing and on his love of the sport, Levesque recalled the worst conditions he has ever sailed in. "On the Charles River, in the basin one time, it was particularly bad. It was 25 degrees out and snowing and the wind was very high," Levesque said. "We were racing against kids from Harvard and Brown and BC and Dartmouth, and all I could think was 'here are all these smart kids doing this stupid sport. We're all so cold and this is so hard, why are we doing this?'" "But, really, it was fun," Levesque concluded. "That's what makes it fun."

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News

The final crush

May 17

Sitting here, writing the last thing I will ever write as an undergraduate, I find myself faced with the daunting task of trying to compose something that sums up an entire era of my life. What strikes me as I prepare to don the cap and gown is how much I've learned at college. I don't mean in class - that's questionable - I mean in college. From Animal Behavior to Latin American Poetry to Race and Ethnicity in America, I feel proud to have run the academic gamut over my four years. But as much as I relish being able to drop esoteric knowledge in casual conversation and read scholarly texts the way a scholar might, these are not the things that I will really be bringing with me when I cross over into the real world. No, it's all the things they didn't teach me that have taught me so much. I've learned to learn for the sake of learning. Being surrounded by some of the brightest minds of my generation, I have been exposed to people with passion, people who care deeply for things I could never imagine caring about at all. And bearing witness to this passion I have discovered within myself a thirst for knowledge I never knew was there. It's not about grades. Grades haven't been of much importance to me; my transcript will tell you that. It's about absorbing as much information as I possibly can while it's all still at my fingertips. What could be better than a life wherein one can wake up each day with nothing to do but to learn something - anything - about the world around him? And what could be better than to be surrounded by hundreds of other probing intellects? It's an illuminating experience to sit around with a bunch of kids, guzzling beer and scarfing pizza, playing video games, and to realize suddenly that you are discussing foreign policy or the work of Gertrude Stein. While it might not be the Girls Gone Wild college encounter that usually comes to mind, it's the careless hyperintellectualism that truly runs rampant on this campus. I appreciate being in a place where I can make a nerdy science joke and have someone besides me get it. This brings me to something else I have learned: as trite as it sounds, home really is where you make it. I hate Boston. Let me repeat that: I hate Boston. And the suburbs, well, they don't jive with me either. And yet, somehow, I simply don't want to leave here. I live in a dilapidated century-old, two-family house off-campus, and I am in no rush whatsoever to get back to my high-rise apartment in Manhattan. The undergraduate years are tumultuous and tenaciously dynamic; summer and semester breaks ensure that no college kid is stationary for more than a few months at a time. But finally I feel settled. For the first time in a long time I feel comfortable. And here I am, preparing to move yet again, this time into a wholly uncertain future. I can take solace in one thought: if I can make Medford my home, I can make any place my home. Quite honestly, I didn't think I could do it. I remember sitting in my freshman dorm room at the end of my first semester, searching other schools' websites for transfer information. Ultimately I decided that leaving Tufts wouldn't solve the problem, and though it took me a while, I became satisfied with that decision. Indeed, today I can say that I am glad I stayed. But it's not that I realized that Tufts was the right place for me. On the contrary, Tufts' reputation aside, it wasn't a great choice for me academically speaking. However, if I hadn't been here, if I hadn't stuck with it, I wouldn't have met the intelligent, driven, funny, thoughtful, insightful people who have become my friends over these past years. The relationships that I have forged - with Tufts as a catalyst - have erased any doubt in my mind as to where I belong. And on top of it all, I have learned so much about myself. College is a microcosm of the rest of the world. With Tufts as my model, I have had to face pressure and stress, responsibility, many a judgement call, interpersonal conflict, and resolution, fear, loneliness, elation, freedom, and so many other considerations of the human condition. But it hasn't been a mere dress rehearsal. No, it's all been real, the pride, the disappointment, and everything in between - it's all been very real. But it's been safe. I knew this was my time to learn, my time to make mistakes. And I'm glad to say, as I leave, that I have done both.

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News

May you live in interesting times

May 17

Right around the time the Class of 2003 entered college - months shy of the new millennium - the news media bombarded the public with fatalistic predictions of doom and chaos. No, they were not warning us against an imminent nuclear war or the coming of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. A more mundane event was apparently threatening our way of life: computers all over the world would not be able to recognize the year 2000, thinking time had reverted to 1900! Boy, were we damned or what? Within the circuits of our own robotic progeny laid the seeds of our destruction. Fortunately, however, all those last-minute runs to the grocery store to buy extra gallons of water, extra cans of soup, and maybe even some duct tape - always reliable against external threats - proved to be futile. The world didn't collapse, we were still alive, and most importantly, our computers were still up and running. The Y2K bug story turned out to be a hoax... or did it? We may have felt relief to see that everything appeared normal during the first few days of the 21st century. But that was about to change pretty soon. As any graduating senior can tell you, his or her years in college, which have coincided with the first years of the new millennium, have been filled with bizarre and catastrophic incidents. Throughout their college years, today's graduating seniors have witnessed an inordinate number of strange historic events, many of which have changed their lives - and ours - forever. Perhaps the Y2K chaos predictions were mistaken in terms of delivery and timing, but not magnitude. Here are a few tragic and unfortunate events over the last four years. The 2000 Presidential Election: Americans had not completely recovered from the moral hangover of the Monica Lewinsky affair when the national trauma of the 2000 election hit them by surprise. Of course, this election was supposed to be unusually tight, but everybody expected a swift and quick result. Instead, the outcome of the election remained unknown for over a month, until the US Supreme Court decided in favor of George W. Bush. Who can forget those long hours watching CNN at the dorms, waiting for the anchors to call a state for Bush or Gore, only to take it back in a matter of minutes? It really makes no difference whether you wanted Gore or Bush to win. Everyone in this country experienced something they had never experienced before: we realized American democracy was not perfect, that this country was no different than any other country that struggles with a democratic system. September 11, 2001: We will never forget where we were when we first found out. We were here, at Tufts, in our rooms or in the Campus Center. We will never forget the images of two planes crashing into the Twin Towers. We watched those images in horror with our roommates, our friends, and our professors. We were all afraid, and we all knew that our lives had changed significantly from that very moment. It was a time of mourning, sadness, and fear. We struggled to make sense out of what happened. Abruptly, we were introduced to a new era, in which security concerns surpassed all others. Our world had changed in ways we had not expected. The War in Iraq: Our generation will also be marked by war. Not long after US military forces defeated the Taliban regime in Afghanistan - by all means, a just and necessary war - the Bush administration decided to turn to the Persian Gulf and oust Saddam Hussein. The prelude to the war was both longer and more controversial than the war itself. Nonetheless, we experienced a vigorous debate on the wisdom of going to war here at Tufts, and that had a powerful impact on all of us. We discussed politics passionately and we learned to listen to those who have different opinions than ours, if only to search for holes in their arguments. The immediate reasons to go to war are still questionable - weapons of mass destruction have not yet turned up - but we can all agree that we have witnessed an important shift in US foreign policy, wherein the United States will throw its weight around the world in a more assertive manner. Indeed, we have all lived through interesting times over the past four years. The images of these events will stay with us for the rest of our lives, and will be inevitably associated with today's graduating seniors' college experience. "May you live in interesting times" is said to be an ancient Chinese curse, but I think that it can be interpreted differently. It is in times of crisis that the best opportunities arise to change things for the better. Today's seniors have been marked by times of peril and distress, but they should be optimistic. No matter how bad things look in our lives we can count on our human spirit to overcome difficulties. Remember what William Faulkner said: "I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail."

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News

Task Force releases final report

May 17

After nearly two years of intensive study of college life at Tufts, the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience was scheduled to release its final report last week. The report contains several proposals that would dramatically change the University if they are approved by donors, administrators, and faculty. Members of the Task Force expect some of the first proposals to be solidified by the end of next year; others will take longer to surface as the report addresses the direction Tufts could take over the next decade. The Task Force was formed by President Larry Bacow soon after assuming his position in 2001 and charged with evaluating undergraduate life at Tufts. Comprised of administrators, faculty, and students and supported by a Student Advisory Committee (SAC), the Task Force held several meetings, interviews, and forums as it formulated its proposals. Tufts' curriculum was one area the Task Force deemed in need of attention. The unreleased report recommends that Tufts "emphasize communication skills over all four years" by including a four-year writing requirement and additional public speaking instruction. The Task Force report also proposes restructuring "the curricular requirements to reflect Tufts' educational goals," though any change to the curriculum is subject to faculty approval. "It's really up to the faculty to make these changes," Task Force chair Gilbert Metcalf said, but added that "there is a widespread view that these recommendations should be taken seriously." The institution of a college system will likely be the most difficult to implement of the Task Force's proposals. It calls for the division of the Medford campus into four districts, complete with separate advising and programming - and would require substantial funding. "Clearly it's going to be very expensive," Metcalf said. "Bold ideas can be expensive." Bacow expects that the University will need to increase fundraising to pay for the Task Force's proposals. "I'm not surprised that it will require resources," he said. The Task Force, Bacow said, was told to make proposals in anticipation of the next capital campaign. "This would be a bold idea that we hope would captivate the imagination of donors," Metcalf said. Another expensive proposal is a need-blind admissions policy. Bacow said he "immediately embraced" the idea of a need-blind policy and that the administration and alumni support the goal as well. "It's a commitment," Bacow said. According to Metcalf, the University "will need serious help" to implement need-blind admissions but the idea was so compelling "that we hope that donors step up for it." The University, however, has yet to set a timetable for the next capital campaign. "It is a function of developing a clear picture of our priorities," Bacow said. "We also need an economic climate that is conducive to a capital campaign." But not all of the proposals, such as improving undergraduate-alumni relations, will require major funding. Through building a comprehensive database of Tufts alumni, the Alumni Association can help Career Services link graduating students who are looking for jobs and alumni who are already in the field. Career Services, Metcalf said, should be "a bridge between students and alumni." In addition, Career Services should create an advisory board comprised of students, faculty, and alumni, Metcalf said. This board would serve as "a sounding board and a source of ideas," he said. A proposed summer reading program would also link alumni and undergraduates. The summer before their freshman year, students would receive a book to read from the Alumni Association with a message reading something akin to "Your intellectual odyssey begins now," according to Metcalf. Whether the book would be required reading for a freshman course is "a detail that the faculty would have to work out," he said. Although many of the Task Force's proposals will not be carried out for some time, some of the recommendations have already been implemented. Provost Jamshed Bharucha's Summer Scholars program, which provides undergraduates the opportunity to do research with professors during the summer, is an outgrowth of certain Task Force recommendations. "We're thrilled to see that the administration is already picking up on one of our recommendations," Metcalf said. The decision to include a resident faculty member and a number of common spaces in the proposed Gordon dormitory was influenced by Task Force discussions. The creation of Tufts High Table, a monthly faculty dinner seminar led by University Professor Daniel Dennett, also came out of a Task Force suggestion. Students who participated in the Task Force felt that the University is already seeing the benefits of their work and that more would come. "The Task Force was truly a unique opportunity for Tufts to reassess the whole undergraduate experience and make large-scale changes, which is something that universities rarely do," said junior Charline Han, a member of the Task Force and one of three co-chairs of the SAC. The SAC attempted to incorporate the ideas of all types of Tufts students. "I felt that as an engineer I'd have something to offer being how engineering students are a minority in comparison to liberal arts students," senior SAC member Danny Pierre said. But most of the students involved in the Task Force will not be at Tufts to witness the implementation of their proposals as they are either graduating or rising seniors. "Regardless of whether I see them or not, I am proud of our accomplishments and if nothing else, the experience of being on the Task Force alone has enhanced my opinion of Tufts and its faculty members and students," said junior James-Christian Blockwood, a Task Force member and SAC Co-Chair.

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News

The Travelling Lush

May 17

Earlier this year, the Arts Department - after enjoying our journalistic stylings within the Sports Department - asked if we would help fulfill the role of the Travelling Lush. At first we both balked: we didn't want it to get in the way of serious academic pursuits that involved longstanding stints at Tisch. However, after a deep consideration, we realized that we couldn't turn down the opportunity to go out and show off the dance moves we practiced in the mirror or during a few wild nights in fraternity basements (ahem, Manali) and in the EPDC (Beibhinn; she's an engineer). And so began our brief, albeit memorable, stint as the Traveling Lushettes. We could have taken on a variety of topics in this last piece, from the exploits at Sophia's on senior pub night, to an all-night pre-spring break party in Faneuil, to a sweeping review of establishments from here to Boston. But in all of our travels, we've created our best memories closest to home in Davis Square. To start, we chose to pay homage to one place where we feel everyone might really know our names (the doorman, Patrick, has at least half the senior class' numbers, literally) - the Burren. Nestled in the heart of Davis, just a quick ride on the Joey will get you to the door of this popular Thursday night senior attraction. What brings herds of Jumbos out on Thursday isn't the wide selection of drinks, or the traditional Irish band in the front, or even Patrick (well, maybe a little), and it's definitely not the upscale d?©cor. We all go for the same reason, the Swinging Johnsons. This cover band is known to play everyone's favorite selection of cheesy hits from the 80s and 90s, and we've seen enough of you "singing" along to "Sweet Caroline" to know you love it. Though it gets crowded, and sometimes you have to wait in a long line to get to the "Back Room," it's always worth it to see that mousy girl in your history class breaking it down to "Pour Some Sugar On Me" in the front row. We will miss this place, especially the tall band member on the left who speaks gibberish between sets. In the event that the Burren line deterred you, the Joshua Tree is across two lanes of mild Davis traffic and offers a more low-key and urbane (well, for Davis) atmosphere. Big-screen TVs have showcased a plethora of thrilling sporting events, and a wide drinks selection helps make the stay enjoyable. That's about it. We all know it's a second-choice - it's just more awkward when you start singing along to songs at the Joshua Tree. If dancing is out of the question, and the bar scene is too stifling, a walk down a side street will land you at Benny's oasis - Yee's Village. (Manali: Do you think that's the restaurant owner's last name? Do you think his name is Benny Yee?). Yee's offers a great opportunity to catch up with some friends over a potent scorpion bowl. No one's sure what's in these bowls, considering they taste different every time; we're not even sure Benny knows, but no one has complained yet. (Have you ever seen him mix them? He talks, watches TV, eats, reads, and throws a stunning array of bottled substances into a tacky, but endearing, bowl all in just under a minute). The good thing about Yee's is that there is an extensive food menu that can compliment nicely the liquid diet many patrons intake. While perhaps not the most exciting weekend outing, Yee's is just the place to quench a mid-week thirst. And so it goes, as it appears our appearances in Davis watering holes are essentially over, given that going out to the Burren next year is akin to showing up at a frat party after you graduate. As we head our separate ways, at least we have memories of (or pictures reminding us of) shenanigans and fun times had at our neighborhood bars. To Mom and Dad and everyone else reading this, we want it to be known that Manali and Beibhinn are both graduating in very good standing, despite what it may seem like from this article. Congrats to the class of 2003, go forth and use our advice wisely while exploring your new neighborhood nightlife.

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News

Worth it?

May 17

These days we are very careful to count. Especially with regard to our money, which we are anxious to see well spent. We want our movies to be worth our ten dollars. And, on this great day of Commencement, we want to know that our $140,000 was worth it. I think that such a cold calculation is a bit unwise. It might be healthier to think, not in terms of dollars and cents, but in months and years. We should measure the quality of our experience by the time invested - it is our lifetime, after all. We only get so much. Has Tufts been worth the last four years of my life? That should be the question on one's mind. How does one answer it? Not by looking at a GPA. While the GPA may be a good measure for merit and hard work, it is a terrible barometer for value. It is not certain that a 3.6 student has gotten more out of Tufts than a 3.4. Better to ask, what do I know from being at Tufts? What knowledge have I gained from my four years here? I do not mean simply knowing how to "do things." Though that's important, even robots know how to "do things." People must know why we do these things and how we figured out how to do them. The future will only bring new things to be done and our minds need to be free and powerful enough to discover how to do them. That is the purpose and the meaning of a "liberal" (free) education. It is to change and cultivate the mind. Students, administrators, even teachers have been heard to solemnly declare, "The greatest education occurs outside the classroom." This sentiment seems to echo with great profundity - until someone asks the logical question, "then why go to school?" Shouldn't one maximize his education by cutting class? Perhaps we could cut that old "tuition" figure from our bursar's bill. If the sentiment is true, our post-grads should be sent to Club Med, not med school. This is not what they mean, of course. They mean that those things about which we care most deeply occur outside the classroom: Finding friends and keeping them while sailing through betrayals and jealousies. Looking for love and intimacy, finding it, and then nursing the pains from ripping it apart. Fighting for fairness in the face of bigotry and favoritism. Talking until 2 a.m. about the meaning of life and forgiveness with your weirdly religious friend. Mourning the tragic losses of friends and family. These are the ideas, questions, and problems that make us human: Love. Friendship. Justice. God. Death. And they are precisely the issues that should be central to our classrooms. Our education, guided by our professors, should not only confront us with these issues but also expose us to the smartest thinking about them in our human history - whether our concentration is as engineers or philosophers. After four years of your life at Tufts, are you a different person than when you arrived? If you've learned anything about those major issues, then you probably are. The knowledge gained by a liberal education ought not be merely passive, nor merely technical. Coming to wrestle with the truth of things ought to change someone, hopefully for the better. Education should affect all areas of one's life, one's outlook on the world around one, and one's relationship to it. Questions to ask at the end of that education include, how should I decide between what is right and wrong? How do I treat my neighbors, particularly the ones I don't like? How do I relate to my parents? In short, has Tufts helped make me a better person? Am I wiser? If in retrospect your time at Tufts has not been as fruitful as you hoped, there is no reason to despair. You do still have the rest of your life ahead, after all. It is not all downhill from here. For, while much of your time will be spent working to provide for life, life also will provide time for leisure. In that leisure you are free, free to choose with what your mind will be occupied and what you will feed to your inner self. Simply make the next four years, and the next forty, very worthwhile.

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News

Putting your words into action

May 17

One of Tufts' goals is to foster citizenship and leadership in its students. But what does that mean for those of us receiving our diplomas today? Have we really learned how to be active citizens, and are we committed to being politically and civically engaged? How can we put Tufts' grandiose words of fostering active citizenship into meaningful action? Tufts does an excellent job of creating globally and socially conscious graduates. Many of us are active in community service during our tenure at Tufts. Nearly half of us study abroad, and most of us keep informed and care about what is going on in the world. After graduation, many of us seek employment and other opportunities abroad, and Tufts continues to be a top contributor to the Peace Corps. But community service is only one part of the solution. Political participation is also necessary to be truly engaged and active citizens. Nearly 90 percent of those in our generation have been involved in community service and believe that it is an important way to solve social problems. But only a small fraction of us feels that way about political service. We have all been told repeatedly how important it is to vote and to be engaged politically, but many of us have little to no faith in our political system. Recent events on campus and around the country underscore the importance of being politically involved. If we do not make our voices heard and our presence felt, then another year might pass without a Fall Fest and Spring Fling, the Senate might continue to quibble over who gets to act as president when one steps down and how many candidates can run for president, and students will continue to have to move off-campus into potentially dangerous housing due to the lack of options on campus. If we do not make our voices heard and our presence felt, politicians will continue to say that they ignore us because we ignore them, we will see unrepresentative intolerance from elected officials, such as Rick Santorum and Jim Moran, and decisions of war and peace will continue to be made without balanced, national debates. We witnessed many protests over the war in Iraq, but little political opposition. Where were the voices of our Congressmen and Senators that are supposed to represent us? Maybe they were silent because we were. We were too busy interrupting speeches of former Presidents instead of demanding more accountability and representation from those who are supposed to serve and represent us. The argument is not that social activism is a waste of time. Far from it. Social activism, volunteerism, and community service comprise only half of the solution, though. Political participation is essential for effective and positive change. To those who argue that getting involved doesn't matter and doesn't make a difference, it is more than just caring about politics and getting involved. Our challenge is to move beyond that and change it - if we don't like the system, and it is obvious that we don't, we need to make a difference so that we can inspire those who come behind us to get involved. Let us pledge to leave things better than we found them. Let us decide as a generation to reject the petty political games of the previous generation and let us pledge to revitalize politics as united leaders, holding ourselves accountable to a new standard. Let us commit ourselves to voting, working for campaigns, voicing our opinions to our public servants, and even running for office. We can only change things if we pledge to get involved ourselves. Some argue that politics is a sketchy game that they don't want to play and that there is no point in getting involved because those who try to change the game end up losing. Our challenge is not to worry about the game. There are two types of people who run for political office: those who run just to get elected, who view their office as an end in itself, and those who run because they have great ideas, and see the office as a means to an end, as a way to change things and make things better. That is our challenge: to become involved, to play the game if necessary, but only so we can move beyond that and do great things. The first step is getting involved, not declaring defeat without even attempting to put up a fight. Many Tufts graduates have stepped up to the challenge: Nanda Chitre, former Assistant Spokesperson for the State Department and former Deputy Assistant to President Clinton and his Deputy Press Secretary; Colin Durrant, Assistant Director for Common Cause, Massachusetts; Michael Feldman, senior advisor to Vice President Gore; Jesse Levey, Larry Harris, Jack Schnirman, and Erin Ross of United Leaders; Bill Richardson, former Energy Secretary for President Clinton; Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former Senator from New York; John Olver, Congressman from Massachusetts; Frank Pallone, Congressman from New Jersey; and Peter DeFazio, Congressman from Oregon. They are among the politically engaged grads who were inspired by Tufts' pledge to inculcate the notion of active citizen participation within its students. Let us follow in their tradition and, whatever our individual views, pledge not only as a campus but also as a generation, to revitalize politics and solve the very real world problems that we are about to inherit. As we graduate and go about our lives, let us incorporate the ideals of service that Tufts and the University College of Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS) taught us. Let us have the originality to choose jobs based on where we can make the most difference. Let us have the courage to stand up for our convictions. Let us not treat community service and political activism as mutually exclusive ways to create a positive impact in our communities. When we leave Walnut Hill for the last time as undergraduates, let us put Tufts' lessons and words into action.

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News

Goddard's stained glass saga

May 17

During these spring and summer months, the President's Lawn is a popular hangout, especially for those students who harbor ambitions of becoming professional Frisbee golfers. But have those students, in their frisbee-golf-induced reverie, ever thought about what would happen if one of their errant Frisbees were to collide with one of the four stained glass panels that line the south side of Goddard Chapel? Luckily for them, the result would be somewhat anticlimactic: plastic outer coverings, complete with vents, protect those stained glass windows. But believe it or not, the danger posed by Frisbee fanatics is not the reason for the coverings. The real culprit? Dirt. Yes, dirt. Prior to their restoration, the four windows at the rear of the chapel "were so dirty we didn't even think you could see out of them," University Chaplain David O'Leary said. "When we first moved back into the chapel [after the restorations were completed], we saw condensation beneath them every morning and were worried that it would damage the woodwork. We called in stained glass experts and they determined that the dirt had been acting as insulation." As a result, the windows now have outside insulating coverings - which, O'Leary says, serve the added benefit of "protecting them from the Frisbee golfers." And Goddard's stained glass is certainly well worth protecting; because of the historical value of its stained glass, the University Chaplaincy is in the process of putting Goddard on the National Historical Registry. "We've got the pedigree," O'Leary said: five of the chapel's stained glass windows resulted from the joint efforts of J. Phillip Rinn, Goddard Chapel's architect, and Tomasso Juglaris, a renowned artist. While working with Juglaris on those panels, Rinn developed a pioneering process in which the glass' color was etched rather than painted on. Adding to the stained glass' historical significance is the fact that one panel - the Pitman Easter Lilies Memorial Window - has been officially documented as a valuable, original Tiffany piece. Louis Comfort Tiffany was a renowned artist of stained glass around the turn of the century. Additionally, "the [newly restored and installed] six panels on the right of the altar are rumored to be original Tiffany," O'Leary said. "It hasn't been documented for sure, but all indications indicate that [Tiffany] threw them in along with the larger work." Substantiating the clich?© that "one man's trash is another man's treasure," two of those panels were only recently discovered in Goddard's basement, where they had been gathering dust for years. According to an official statement of purpose, Goddard should "serve as a place of worship for all faiths on campus." In light of the non-exclusive credo of the Unitarian-Universalists under whom Goddard was built, the chapel's overtly Christian iconography is particularly surprising. Since the Unitarian-Universalists were believers in universal rather than selective salvation, O'Leary said "it stands out that so many of the stained glass panels depict Christian scenes and New Testament figures." He noted, however, that "the Buddhist, Ba'hai, and Hindu faiths that gather [in Goddard] don't seem to have a problem with it." Many students and alumni have expressed a deep appreciation of the stained glass: "Now that the glass has been restored, a lot of alumni have come back and just been awed," O'Leary said. This year's large-scale restoration of the Chapel has stirred an interest in its stained glass perhaps not seen since the mid-1980s, when the University Chaplaincy sponsored a trivia contest based on who could correctly identify the windows' subjects. Unlike the windows' subject matter, which mainly consists of Christian iconography, the Latin inscriptions that run across and around many of the panels are mostly secular. They are not all Biblical wisdom or hallowed moral pronouncements; rather, they are largely "all sorts of good things about the person who gave the money for the window," O'Leary said. The lettering at the bottom of the Chapel's north window, which depicts St. Paul, is an exception from the majority of the windows' scripts: instead of flattering benefactors, the text exhorts "Stand ye, quit like men - be strong." A noble statement, to be sure, but also an ironic one: the window was shattered in 1955 during a fierce windstorm. It was reinforced and refurbished soon afterwards. The north window has also weathered storms of another sort due to the ambiguity of the large sword St. Paul is pictured with. "[Former Tufts president] Jean Mayer told me that if anyone wanted to break that window, he would throw the first stone," said art history professor Madeline Harrison Caviness, who has published numerous works on medieval art and stained glass and served as President of the Corpus Vitrearum, an international stained glass cataloguing project. "The sword is a bit off-putting if you don't understand the iconography of Christian saints," Caviness explained. In truth, however, images of St. Paul are often accompanied by a sword to symbolize the weaponry by which he was killed under the Roman emperor Nero. The sword, then, is far from an endorsement of violence: rather, it serves as a reminder of violence's consequences. The Chapel's south window, located opposite the one of St. Paul, depicts St. John and is dedicated to Tufts' first president, Hosea Ballou II. In 1982, the window - which also includes an eagle, a symbol of dignity and contemplation of the divine associated with St. John - was removed and restored to prevent it from collapsing. The panel on the Chapel's East side depicting a figure sowing seeds strikes viewers as odd for a very good reason: it is backwards. "On purpose, though," O'Leary said. "The preacher used to sit in the meditation room on the other side." The window, which looks "normal" from within the meditation room, was initially meant to inspire the chaplain as he contemplated his sermons or homilies. The Founder's Window, the largest of three stained glass panels on the West side of the Chapel, is the only memorial window that is secular in nature. Though official descriptions say its subject matter is an oak-wreathed memorial scroll for Charles Tufts and Silvanus Packard, O'Leary said that he's "always thought that [the window] may be a portrayal of the earth surrounded by peace." In support of his interpretation, O'Leary points out that the earth-like green and blue at the window's center is surrounded by olive and palm branches - traditional symbols of peace. In a 1994 Speculum article, Caviness described the Medieval philosophy that "whereas the light of God was immaterial, the light of the sun and moon was matter; it was thus a miracle...that the physical matter of light could pass through the physical matter of glass without breaking it." The view of stained glass has obviously changed a little since medieval times. Although we no longer regard them as the same kind of miracle, Goddard's stained glass windows are still remarkable, both for their aesthetically pleasing and historical qualities. Just pray that Frisbees - and Jean Mayer - steer clear of them.

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News

Lessons and surprises

May 17

Seniors always feel that they have accumulated wisdom during college, and they feel obligated to pass it on. Daily writers and columnists always feel that they have to say goodbye in some sincere, serious way. You can imagine the pressure I think I'm supposed to feel here. Oh well. I may not have wisdom, but you learn a few useful things in four years. Food and Money It's better to have a friend with a meal plan than to be on a meal plan yourself. And if you are on a meal plan and get stuck taking your freeloading friends there, you are entitled to demand favors as repayment. Believe me, they'll do it. If you're stuck on the Premium Plan, Hodgdon is an excellent option. Otherwise, it's a rip-off for anyone who still uses dining hall meals. I'm not saying it isn't good (and it's fine for points purchases, too), I'm just saying that it isn't worth the money. Look at the price you pay per meal at the start of the semester, and then look at the dollar value Hodgdon assigns to your meal. Feel stupid? I can't say it enough, people: Hot Deli Sandwiches (or Sandwich's, as the sign used to say). Cheaper than a regular sandwich, covered in melted cheese, and provided with a free side of chips. If you don't have the time or inclination to go off-campus for lunch, this is as good as a sandwich will get. Cutting your own hair may not be a necessary skill, and it may not be the way to go for everyone, but I think it's something everyone should try. Why is this one aspect of life assigned only to professionals? You can shave yourself. You can wash your own clothes. You can trim your fingernails. Sure, there are professionals who can do it better, but I don't see why my hair is so far superior to all parts of me. Cutting your own hair is cheap and fun and cheap. Much like me. Ordering things off of Amazon.com is fine. Telling yourself that you're saving money when you order two extra CDs just to get free shipping is also fine. Classes and Sleeping People in the library don't mind if you decide to take a nap while you're in there. They appreciate it - it shows your dedication. They do mind, however, if you bring an alarm clock with you. And they really mind if you hit 'snooze' when it goes off. If you have to choose between falling asleep during class and skipping class entirely, go to class and fall asleep. This way, you will at least know about homework and exams announced in class. If you aren't concerned about them, though - say you have a very thorough syllabus - you're better off skipping the class. It's better that your professors not know who you are than know that you sleep during class. There are two schools of thought on all-nighters. One group will tell you that you think better on a good night's sleep. The other claims that going to sleep makes you forget what you've studied. I've found that both are true. If you know your material well, extra sleep will help you use it. If you don't, sleeping will take away whatever edge cramming may have given you. My balance: Study the night before, sleep for at least a while, and study again in the morning before the exam. The panicked energy you get will make up for lost sleep, and the morning studying will refresh whatever you "learned" the night before. (Some people claim that there's a third school of thought, the "what are you doing here if you aren't bothering to learn in the first place" hardliners. Funny that I've never met any of these people. I may not feel the need to study all night, but I'm not going to get all holier-than-thou on people that do.) Everyone suffers through morning classes at some point in college (at least I hope everyone does, since I know I have). Please, don't show up for all of your early classes looking manicured and made-up and gelled and ironed and washed. It really bothers the rest of us. It inspires a unique moral outrage. That being said, it's worth getting up early enough once a week to make yourself presentable and wear something a little nice to class. It's especially fun if you take it overboard. A $4 sweater vest will get you noticed where no amount of expensive warm-ups, t-shirts, and jeans will. Hard Truths Engineers who claim not to be nerds are lying to themselves. It's okay, people. The profession demands us all to be just a little bit geeky. Being a nerd doesn't have to mean no social-life, no social-skills, no natural light - hell, most of the people at Tufts are one step closer to being nerds than they will admit. But fellow engineers: if you can talk about moments and gradients and deanimation processes and mass balances and find it at all interesting, you can't pretend that there isn't just a little nerd in you. I'm here to tell you that it's okay. Parents: Your children drink. Trust me. You can imagine that they don't if it makes you feel better, but the odds are pretty far against you. Oh, go ahead and ask them. If they say they don't drink but their friends do, they probably act like their friends. There are a handful of teetotalers at best, and I'll bet you your child isn't one. You win some, you lose some - and if you regard your children drinking as "losing" one, you're not being realistic. Fact: Tufts is liberal. As universities go, it borders on left wing. I can't complain about that, but I think there are some obvious implications that our campus politicos seem to ignore. Conservatives: If you're a conservative, you're a minority at Tufts. You don't even have to be a Republican to get labeled a conservative (or a Republican) here. This is okay. In other places in the country, the political atmosphere is different. If it really bothers you, I guess you can leave. Members of The Primary Source seem to know their place here. They know that the most vocal people on campus do not agree with them, but they're willing to stand up for it anyway. Liberals: For better or for worse, this campus is more on your side than you have any right to expect a university to be. Personally, I'd love to see protests stop for just a little while so we could celebrate that. Have you learned to do nothing but complain about what you want changed? Can you feel anything but anger at the world around you? Appreciate the size of your following, appreciate the scope of your influence, appreciate the leeway that a respected university allows you. The rest of the world will not handle you this gently. The rest of the world will not be so willing to listen. This is a fantastic place for you to be. Appreciate it! And in closing: Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Thank you.

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News

The real world

May 17

Graduation. Every one of us graduating seniors is now receiving earloads of "sally forth, lad (or lass), into yon Real World and use The Things We Have Taught You" speeches. And sally we must. Unless we are going to grad school. In any case, the world we are entering today is a radically different place from the world we left when we matriculated here at Tufts University. There are reasons to be concerned. This world is not as easy or happy as the other one. This great nation is a troubled one. Here are some reasons to be afraid of leaving Tufts: Increasingly Americans are segregating themselves based on their political beliefs. There is less and less tolerance and desire for opposing viewpoints. People are liable to lash out against people with whom they don't agree. CDs are being burned and invitations canceled because of political views. We're not talking about treason here. We're talking about expression of opinion. The source of these outbursts, I think, is because even the most fervent nationalist, or the most sarcastic dissident, really isn't sure what's true anymore. So much mud being slung by world political leaders, so many people dying every day from starvation and bombardment, so many disasters happening and waiting to happen, that it's hard to understand why the world is such a difficult place. It is easier to trust in America, or blame all the world's ills on it. It's either all good or all bad. It brings simplicity to a world that is actually complicated. This is why people become not only argumentative when their views are challenged, but downright combative. The world loses its simplicity and it is disturbing. The easier alternative is to lean on social settings and media outlets that support what we already believe. And this is true of both sides of the political spectrum, whether they burn Dixie Chicks CDs or American flags. This is the world that we are entering. What's more disturbing: it's getting worse. Political views are affecting more and more dimensions of our lives. Dissension from the prevailing view in your circle is increasingly difficult. I'm not saying the right to free speech is gone-that would be the kind of alarmist statement you might hear from a sheltered leftist. The right is still there. It just takes more courage to claim it. How far will this go? We're not far away from job decisions being made based on political views, even for non-political jobs. Speaking of jobs, there's one more reason to be worried. This year already, 500,000 people have been laid off. Far fewer jobs are being created to replace them. There is no end in sight. Fears of a "double-dip" recession have returned. The Federal Reserve is almost out of gas, running dangerously close to zero percent interest rates and deflation panics. International political discord is threatening to ruin world free trade. As the US plans to "punish" its political adversaries with higher tariffs, Europe will likely respond with the same. As the world's richest countries set bad examples, smaller countries will wonder why they have to follow the rules when America and Europe don't. A return to this kind of 30s-style competitive macroeconomic policies could lead to... well, 40s-style war and destruction. So we may be headed towards world war. But I don't want to tell you that it's all bad. There really are reasons to be excited about graduating in 2003. We are a troubled nation, but not a nation in crisis. Where some see chaos, confusion, and division, others see opportunity. As I said before, people are really unsure, whether they admit it or not. They're just waiting for someone with a clear vision to unite the country for a common cause. And the world is looking to America for the same thing. It is the opportunity of a century. What if, for instance, we really did build a decent Iraq? What if we created a Palestinian state that honored its obligations to Israel? What if we brought North Korea back into the real world (it has been in college for the last 50 years, I think), relieved the great suffering of its people, and removed a great threat to South Korea and Japan? There is no shortage of challenges. And there is no better place in the world to take on a challenge than America. In America, we have access to the most talented people and most recent technology in the world. We have the freedoms to use those resources to produce goods, services, and most importantly, ideas. Even through the division of our society today, there is no country in the world that has the power and the will to change the world. The world may be disappointed with America these days. But that is only in part because we have acted differently than they would have wished. It is also because their expectations of us are high. What little hope the world has is vested in the United States of America. The world knows what America and its people are capable of doing. This is the country that fired the Shot Heard 'Round the World, the country that has taken the dregs of the world's population and turned them into heroes, the country that saved Europe from genocide and then protected the free world for 50 years when communism threatened destroy it. This is the country that invented baseball. Before you leave Boston, go to Fenway Park one last time. Remember that green grass, that aged, beautiful building, that drunk guy yelling at Trot Nixon. Consider the absolute geometric perfection of the field. The game is utterly American, and a fitting allegory for our current role in international affairs. The game is a series of one-on-one confrontations, all of which depend on the skills of other team members, completely individual and completely collective at the same time. The seventh inning stretch is nearing, the dreaded Sox bullpen is starting to warm up. Look up at the flag. By the time Ramiro Mendoza enters the game, you'll realize: that flag is ready. That flag is ready to lead people. It has determination. It has conviction. It has flown over more than 80 heartbreaking seasons of Red Sox baseball. But here are over 30,000 desperately passionate Red Sox fans who come to sing the national anthem before every game. That flag knows the meaning of dedication through hardship, of still being there through the bombs bursting in air. That flag is ready to lead. Are you?

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News

Alum speaks about his life as a musician after graduation

May 17

When Chris Lianne left the Hill he had the same question as many undergraduates: What am I going to do with my life? For the 26 year old Massachusetts native, the answer was music. "My family's pretty musically active." said Lianne "My dad's in a band, my brother is in one, and naturally it followed to start my own band." His current musical venture is Boxborough, which is named after Lianne's hometown. The group is less of a band and more of a solo project with outside participation. "It's pretty collaborative." Lianne said, "I'll write the songs and then have family and friends join in." Boxborough's sound has a dual nature, according to Lianne. "Basically it's two styles of music, kind of old-style George Jones and Brit-pop like Belle and Sebastian." He cites major influences from British band Stone Roses and folk/country legend Willie Nelson. Although this project is fairly new, Lianne used to play in what he called a "spiritualized British symphonic band," he has certainly has been flourishing in his new circumstances. When asked for his favorite performing experience, Lianne describes the pleasant turmoil since forming Boxborough. "Everything's been changing since I've got this set up. The most recent shows, the ones in New York, have been best," he said. Lianne had his first performance at the age of 19 at Boston's haven for local music, the Middle East, bypassing legendary Tufts venues such as Hotung, although he said he once played at a friend's party on College Ave. Another difference between Lianne and the typical campus band is that he doesn't play tired covers. The exception is "There's a Light That Never Goes Out," by The Smiths, on his EP. Also, he has been known to play the occasional New Order song every now and then. "People know them but they don't know how they know them - it's not doing a bad job of singing other people's songs." As for his own songs he enjoys playing "Be You Arthur" a catchy tune which he says has garnered some positive feedback. At Tufts, Lianne was a dual degree student who studied studio art at the Museum School. Academically Lianne says his Tufts experience was "really good - for both the art education and the solid academic education." However, Lianne didn't really involve himself in Tufts socially. "I didn't get too involved in the Tufts community," he said, "Though I think I went to about four salsa dances at Dewick." Every budding artist has a day job, and despite his undergraduate studies, Lianne's current job doesn't involve the arts. Lianne currently works at Harvard at the John Kennedy School of Foreign Relations; his department is sponsored by the United Nations. In reference to his job, Lianne said that he "really didn't want it, but I fell into it."

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News

State funding for Vet School still in question

May 17

In a late night session last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted in favor of a House Ways and Means Committee recommendation to appropriate roughly $3 million towards the Tufts Veterinary School. This allotment is about $600,000 less than last year, and a $2.3 million cut from the funding the Vet School received from the State just two years ago. However, the decision by the House contradicts Governor Mitt Romney's request to cut all funding from the Vet School for the year. After a Senate decision, Romney still has the power to veto the budget after a closed-door discussion period. This is the second time Romney has attempted to eliminate the entirety of the Vet School's funding from his budget. The first attempt, which was for the fiscal year 2002, Tufts objected to on the grounds that the monies were for services already performed by the Vet School. Funding for that year was later reinstated after lobbying pressure from Tufts. A significant portion of the state funding goes to veterinary care of the Massachusetts State Police dog and horse units. Romney's office explained that due to the state budget crunch, officials originally found it easier to pay the bill for police animals themselves, rather than pay Tufts. This year's funding decision currently rests with the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which has yet to look at the issue. According to the Committee, the decision will be based on how much the State can afford to spend, but they have received many letters and calls of support for the Vet School. The Senate should make a decision by the end of May. Senate President Spokesperson Anne Defrain said that the Senate has been "very strong" on education issues so far, but that Senate President Robert Travaglini is not willing to comment on the issue yet. "The Senate is not going to commit to any one idea or the other until it has been fully debated." The Vet School is not willing to speculate on the outcome, and will make no comment about any contingencies or alternate plans if state funding fails to arrive. At the moment, the Vet School is also not aware if the funding will be for the academic year 2003 or 2004. Massachusetts is facing one of its biggest funding crises of recent memory, being forced to cut funding to nearly every city and organization in the State. The current budget shortfall sits at over $2 billion. As the governor is opposed to raising revenue through increased taxes, the deficit must be made up through budget cuts. Democratic Party Consultant and Tufts lecturer Michael Goldman said that the funding is just not there for the Vet School, when other programs such as public housing and city budgets are being chopped. "On a priority scale, the Tufts Veterinary School is a minor problem," Goldman said. Although the $2 million already cut from the Vet School seems like a small amount in the context of the entire State budget, Goldman said that it does not matter. "Bottom line: there ain''t no money." According to Goldman, the government has misled the public about what services the Vet School will be able to provide without funding, and now the public has been convinced that it should not be forced to pay for State programs. "There are hundreds of thousands of these $2 million programs that are important to the quality of life in Massachusetts," that will face funding cuts. The total Vet School budget equals $44 million. Asked how important the State funding is for the Vet School, spokesperson Barbara Donato said that every dollar counts. "No vet school has ever survived, long-term, without state funding," Donato said. The Vet School's state funding was originally $5.3 million, but that was trimmed down to $3.6 million last year in cuts under Governor Jane Swift's administration. Before the cuts, the Vet School already received some of the lowest funding in the country. While the school receives 14 percent of its operating budget from the state, other vet schools around the country typically receive between 26 to 36 percent of their endowments from state governments. Massachusetts entered into a contract with Tufts nearly 25 years ago to give money for basic operating support. Tufts Veterinary school is one of only 28 in the country and was established in 1979.

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News

A year of controversy and botched elections challenge Senate

May 17

In a year marked by presidential resignations, unprecedented election complications, and low voter turnout, the 2002-2003 year has not been an easy one for the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate. Declining outside interest in the Senate further complicated its already difficult struggle to improve its relationship with the student body. As the year comes to an end, the Senate is still trying to answer the fundamental question of its role in representing the interests of the student body. However, graduating Senator Ted Schwartzberg sees the lack of direct student involvement as a sign that the Senate is doing its job. "The fact that few students vote and even fewer attend our open meetings must mean they think we're doing something right." Many other senators feel that the student body's meager participation in Senate proceedings is indicative of a somewhat fragile relationship with the students. As a result, improving Senate outreach has been one of the major initiatives of this year. "Senate and student government in general has been a very insular group," said Chike Aguh, the recently-elected TCU president. "Student government must become more open for it to fulfill its mandate of representing students." This year, the Senate made initial progress toward this goal under former TCU president Melissa Carson. Inspired by the Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs (CECA) Committee's new bylaw requiring its members to attend a culture-related organization's meetings, Carson extended this outreach policy to the entire Senate by asking each senator to voluntarily attend meetings of student organizations. Many felt that to maximize outreach, Carson's proposal needed to be made more official. "I think the single reason [past outreach efforts] have not worked is because there has never been accountability attached to them," Aguh said. To overcome this problem, Aguh and freshman Senator Dave Baumwoll coauthored the Outreach Responsibilities bylaw, which officially assigns each senator to one or more student organizations. "When people run for Senate, they'll know that these are their responsibilities," he added. "Hopefully, we'll get the right types of people to make changes." Additionally, an amendment to the new TCU constitution approved last month has expanded the culture representative system. Any TCU-recognized student organization can apply for a representative spot by presenting a petition. The request would then be put to a student vote at the next scheduled presidential election. Although they admit that the relationship between the Senate and the student body needs work, returning and graduating senators are encouraged by these recent outreach efforts. "The student apathy that exists right now is partly something that we have inherited from student governments of the past," Aguh said. "The present Senate and its counterparts are responsible for trying to undo some of that damage and make every effort to create the faith that students need to have in their representative bodies." Many believe that the outlook for next year is quite good. Although freshman Senator Rafi Goldberg admits that participation among upperclassmen remains quite low, he thinks that the increased participation and involvement of this year's freshman class might be the start of a new trend. For the first time in years, the spring Senate elections were contested, with 14 freshmen senators running for 12 seats. Over 35 percent of freshmen voted in that election, a higher percentage turnout than at this year's presidential elections. "The gains that we saw this year are indicative of increased student concern with improving the Tufts community through student government," Goldberg said. "Next year, when the outreach bylaw and other programs are fully implemented, I expect that student participation will grow even more dramatically." The Senate has also been busy dealing with internal matters this year. In the fall semester, Senate Historian Allison Clarke motioned to impeach then-Vice President Andrew Potts. Although the motion did not pass, 13 senators had already sent Potts a letter asking for his resignation. In February, TCU President Melissa Carson resigned from her position to recover from surgery. Controversy over how to replace her was resolved with a closed-door decision to not hold new elections and that Potts would fulfill the president's duties but not hold the official title. Presidential elections forced the Senate and the Elections Board to fill in holes in their regulations after junior Senator Randy Newsom's rescinded his nomination, an unprecedented move. The Senate then nominated Chike Aguh in Newsom's place - despite the questionable constitutionality of the procedure. The TCU Judiciary ruled that the nominations would have to be cancelled and that a third nominations meeting would have to be called. Aguh won against his opponent, sophomore Senator Joe Mead, in a rescheduled election with significantly lower voter turnout than last year.

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News

A year in the life of art in Boston

May 17

This year Boston has seen one of the coldest winters on record, one of the most tumultuous springs, and a whole lotta art. From a free production of Carmen in the Boston Common in late summer to Cher's blockbuster tour this past winter, we've been treated to a multitude of quality ventures. In terms of music, Toad the Wet Sprocket mounted a revival tour playing old favorites at the Avalon, once again exciting audiences with their particular brand of music after their breakup in 1998. In what might be the autumn of their career, they've come back with a new spark that just might provide them with a longer Indian summer than ever previously anticipated. Another big bill that played this year included Tom Petty and Jackson Browne who rocked this city in December, serenading audiences at the Fleet Center in a well over three-hour concert extravaganza. With his latest album The Last DJ, Petty has proven that politics and music can intermingle, as long as that kid who claims to be Bill Clinton's brother stays out of the equation. The Strokes, Badly Drawn Boy, Beck, Bella Fleck. The Vines, Dar Williams, and Busta Rhymes, are some other examples of the eclectic mix of hot shows that hit town this year. Oh wait, scratch that last act. He was washed away by the rain that cancelled Spring Fling. The 2002-2003 season also brought many an interesting performances to the stage. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the story that chronicles the life of Hedwig/Hansel Schmidt, was a highlight at the Axis. Hansel is a "slip of a girly boy" from East Berlin, who falls in love with American rock 'n roll, and later an American lieutenant who promises to marry him and take him to America. In order to get there, though, he has to "leave a part of himself behind" in order to be the appropriate gender to marry a man - hence the "angry inch." With a punchy score and colorful cast, it rose highly above its night club setting. On the other end of the quality spectrum was the new musical Marty, starring John C Reilly, which provided a lackluster retelling of the 1950's hit movie. With stereotypical characters and a bland score, this one produced more snores than memorable melodies. Broadway in Boston, an organization originally set up in Chicago to bring Broadway shows to other cities, also gained momentum this year, bringing numerous fine shows of varying genre to the city. Stomp, Blueman's Group, The Exonerated, Jesus Christ Superstar, 42nd Street, and Contact were just a few of the shows to breeze by here for a weekend or longer while on their national tours. Meanwhile local theater also produced some provocative and interesting shows this season. A Piece of My Heart, a Vietnam drama performed by the Delvena Theater Company, consisted of personal memoirs of women who served in Vietnam, a number of whom are registered nurses. The play focused on many of the fundamental issues that still perplex us today about the war and deftly presented racial, class, gender issues that tore at the psyche of the human spirit throughout the fighting. Finally - the best show of the year. There are certain shows that take your entire perception of theater and hand it back to you as an entirely different, entirely spectacular commodity. Liberation! Films' production of The Seagull, at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), did just that. Using such mediums as dance, rock music, and even the occasional chalking, the show took Chekhov's century old words and revitalized them for a modern day audience. If one of the overreaching goals of art is to progress, discovering beauty and moments of wonder in the process, while still keeping its integrity intact, then there can be no better example than this production. Kudos to taking risks and achieving beautiful results in return. May all of the Boston Theater be so bold as to strive towards that ambition next year. Thanks for a great year of entertainment, Boston.

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News

Sudden finish for the defending champions

May 17

Cruising into the end of the regular season on a seven-game winning streak, it looked like everything was finally in sync for the Tufts baseball team. The pitching, which was strong all season, continued to exercise authority and command from the mound. The offense, after battling early-season inconsistency, was producing in the clutch. But in the end, it came down to scoring, and the Jumbos could not. The defending NESCAC champions scored just one run in two games - suffering back-to-back 5-1 and 6-0 losses to the Amherst Jeffs and Williams Ephs - and were eliminated in last weekend's NESCAC Playoffs. "We didn't perform as a team," senior tri-captain Dave Martin said. "We just didn't score. As the season went on, we were playing better as a team and I was encouraged. We had that big win against [ranked first in nation] Eastern Conn. and I thought that would continue into the playoffs." Williams, who improved to 27-9 with the decisive 6-0 win on Saturday May 10, attacked early and often to pressure the Jumbos. Martin (6-2, 3.59 ERA) lasted just one and two-third innings, surrendering four earned runs on five hits while walking two. The Ephs opened the game with two runs on a double, a single, a walk, another single and a sacrifice fly to give sophomore starter Chris Bodnar (4-2) all the runs he needed for victory. Williams added a pair of insurance runs the next inning to chase Martin. Freshman Erik Johanson relieved, avoiding further trouble when junior catcher Greg Hickey caught Williams first baseman Jabe Bergeron stealing second to end the inning - the first of three Ephs runners Hickey nailed in the game. Senior Mike Byron and sophomore Jeremy Davis pitched in relief and kept things in control for the remainder of the game. Byron, in his final college appearance, allowed just two hits in four shutout innings, while Davis added his own scoreless inning. Bodnar, meanwhile, shut down a Jumbo offense that batted .297 with 189 runs scored during the regular season. Tufts never threatened, managing just five hits against the lefty, who struck out seven and walked three. On Friday, May 9, the Jumbos locked horns with Amherst in what started as a pitching duel. Senior starter Jon Lee (9-3, 2.20 ERA), vying for his 30th career win, sparkled for the first seven innings. The Manhasset Hills, NY native limited the Jeffs to five hits and one run, with the lone run coming on Amherst shortstop Zach Schonberger's solo homer in the third. The Jumbos tied it in the fifth, playing smart baseball against Amherst starter Andy Kerns. Senior left fielder Jon Herbert beat out an infield single, advancing to second on sophomore second baseman Frank Dinucci's sacrifice bunt. Herbert then stole third before scoring on a sacrifice fly by sophomore catcher Bob Kenny. But Kerns buckled down, striking out senior tri-captain Evan Zupancic with a runner on second to end the inning. Kerns, who upped his season record to a perfect 6-0, did not allow another hit for the rest of the game, allowing just two Jumbos to reach base, on sixth inning walks. He struck out nine in earning the complete game victory. "It was just heartbreaking, to sum it up in one word," Zupancic said. "We didn't come to play that weekend, and we were severely punished for it." The Jeffs jumped on Lee in the eighth, loading the bases with no outs on two singles and an error by first baseman John McBride. Cleanup man Dave Levinson followed with a single to score the eventual winning run, breaking the scoring gridlock. Junior Randy Newsom, summoned from the bullpen to relieve Lee, was greeted by designated hitter Fran Morales' two-run single. Amherst capped the scoring with two more runs that inning. It was a disappointing end to a successful career for Lee, who broke the 53-year-old Tufts career wins record in his previous start against Babson. Lee finished with a 29-7 record (.805 winning percentage) and a 2.55 ERA, fourth-best in Tufts history. He combined with Martin and Newsom to form one of league's toughest starting rotations this season. The trio went 19-4 with a 2.45 earned run average, notching 119 strikeouts and just 33 walks in 168.2 innings of work. Zupancic and Hickey also joined to form a deadly offensive duo. The pair combined for a .382 average with nine homers and 57 runs batted in. Zupancic also broke the career record for homers, hitting his 22nd career blast this spring. However, according to Zupancic, personal achievement was far from his main focus. "To tell you the truth, I'd trade all my stats and numbers for a shot to be in the regionals and go further," Zupancic said. "I wouldn't have had the stats if it hadn't been for a bunch of talented guys I played with. They put up some great numbers too."

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News

Funding of Omidyar Scholars program changed to provide greater flexibility

May 17

Now completing its third year of existence, the University College of Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS) is making some of the most intensive modifications of its history to its core program, the Omidyar Scholars. The changes are aimed at increasing student accountability and responsibility concerning their use of UCCPS funds. The 48 Omidyar scholars, who are sophomores, juniors, and seniors, receive a $6,000 annual scholarship and are required to work eight hours a week on a community project that they organize. Concerns over previous changes in policy led to a movement in the fall headed by several upperclassmen scholars for increased student involvement. "The staff used to decide policies but the students stepped in and wanted to be involved in the process, so things weren't going over our head," senior Lou Esparza said. One source has previously accused UCCPS administrators of not being organized or focused enough, and former Lincoln Filene Center Director Badi Foster said last semester that some of them could be considered "incompetent." In response to the student concerns, this semester UCCPS introduced the Funding and Policy Committees, which have staff members and administrators on them, but are run by students. The Funding Committee approves all requests for Community Project funds, and the Policy Committee debates any changes in regulations. Student response to the creation of the committees has been mostly positive, although some were concerned with difficulties with the budgetary process. Last year students were automatically reimbursed up to $4,000 for project-related expenses. The Funding Committee now reviews all requests on a case by case basis. By shifting from a system in which each student automatically receives $4,000 to one in which students must apply to receive part of a large pool of money, UCCPS officials have attempted to create more flexibility. "Now, there's no incentive for students to have additional expenses, so we're encouraging them to do more with less," said Omidyar Scholars Director Molly Mead. "The program should make scholars comfortable approaching [them] for money," sophomore Chloe Kaplan said. Members of the new Funding Committee were "sticklers for the rules," Kaplan continued, creating conflict between students. Other students complained about the detailed estimates and breakdowns in spending that the Funding Committee required before approval. However, the Omidyar Foundation, which fronted the initial $10 million to create UCCPS, called the new budgetary process an "excellent upgrade to the program." According to Omidyar Foundation Vice President of Civil Engagement Lisa Spinali, the new process forces students to work in an environment similar to that of the non-profit community. The change in funding allowed junior Matt Gasbarro to complete his work developing a Community Garden at the Mystic River Watershed. The project, which will include plots for Medford residents, had a higher than usual budget of $9,800, but it was approved by the Funding Committee anyway. The push for more fiscal responsibility has been coupled with a drive to ensure actual results in the community. Students are required to meet with their advisors bi-weekly and fill out a progress report. Mead and the UCCPS staff conduct final evaluations at the end of year to ensure scholars will continue in the program. "Last year, it was more relaxed," sophomore Chloe Kaplan said. "This year you'd better have a community project." Students have been pushed actively this year to plan and complete a project, along with involving Tufts students in the community. Mead pointed to Omidyar Scholar projects as having been particularly successful at recruiting other Tufts students. Fun Fridays, which was organized by sophomores Kim Boehler and Kaplan, brought Tufts students to a Lawrence elementary school to run an after-school enrichment program for five weeks. The program was so popular with parents and teachers that Boehler and Kaplan plan to continue offering classes in the fall. This year marked the first time freshmen were not included in the Omidyar Scholars program. Instead they were required to enroll in a new "pre-program" to decide if they wanted to continue. The move came after survey of Scholars found students were overwhelmed by the expectations placed on first-year students. "It was tough being a freshman in the program," sophomore Zach Baker said. "They ask you to do a community project and you are still trying out who you are on campus." Baker spent last year planning this year's Giving Camp. Several other freshman Omidyar Scholars were also unable to complete projects, which they blamed on having a lack of community knowledge and personal maturity. "We spoke to people, and they all said, 'this is a lot' for freshmen," Mead said. This year students filled out applications in the summer and fifteen were chosen to take a class, attend workshops, and assist in community projects to help decide whether or not to continue on in the program. Although all but one scholar decided to stay, next year freshmen will apply in October after they have several weeks to acclimate to college life. Mead said the move was part of a continuing trend of ensuring that all students are given an equal opportunity to enter the program. Surveys also found dissatisfaction from senior scholars, which, according to Mead felt that they had outgrown the program. In response, UCCPS has instituted more of a "ratcheting scale," where students are given increased responsibility over four years. The Omidyar Scholars program's two main goals are expanding student knowledge and improving the community, Spinali said. UCCPS receives the majority of its funding from an Omidyar Foundation grant, although it is trying to shift its focus toward alumni giving, Dean of UCCPS Rob Hollister said. Hollister hopes alumni ties will help to improve "community leadership," and assist the Omidyar Scholar program. UCCPS has already taken steps to encourage projects which connect students with graduates and faculty. An internal memo addressed to President Bacow last year said that the Omidyar Foundation was bringing increased pressure on UCCPS to diversify and improve the level of its funding, so that it is not as dependant on the Foundation financially. The Faculty Fellows program, which was introduced this year by UCCPS, provides the means for faculty members to conduct projects to further active citizenship. Mary Smith and Matan Chorev have been working with Faculty Fellow Richard Lerner to design a course of study in positive youth development, a theory which emphasizes improving children's lives by encouraging them to perform service. Spinali is encouraged by the changes to UCCPS. The Omidyar Foundation, she said, is pleased with the "bold leaps forward and big improvements" UCCPS has made in the last year.

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