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Talking to Clutch

February 9

His name is Clutch. Just Clutch. This 21-year-old bassist is part of the piano rock quintet from Orange County, CA called Something Corporate. Despite a busy touring schedule and an illness, Clutch stopped to talk to me this evening. After suggesting my usual cold treatment, Vitamin C and Echinacea, Clutch provided this revelation: Clutch: I just heard they did a study and Echinacea does absolutely nothing. Tufts Daily: Ha! I knew it; I'll just stick to my Robitussin. C: Vitamin C is still good though. After a few preliminaries we began. >TD: What was high school like for you? C: I hated high school actually. Brian [drums], Andrew [piano/lead vocals] and I went to high school together. Brian loved high school_ I hated it. I went with a bunch of kids who were rich and cool and I wasn't rich or cool, so you know. I didn't get a brand new car for my 16th birthday. So I actually went to school as little as possible. I even took some classes at the junior college so I could spend even less time at school. TD: What was the first instrument you picked up? C: Bass. Never really learned any other instruments besides bass. I can play guitar a little. TD: Read any good books lately? C: Not really .I'm not much of a reader so "No" on that question TD: What is your favorite song to play live? C: It's pretty much changes week to week, tour to tour. Right now it's "Bad Days". It's off our EP and we hadn't really played it that much, but I've been loving it lately. TD: What's your favorite cover? C: We don't play too many covers because we have so many songs of our own. We've been practicing a cover of "Sunday Bloody Sunday." It's sounding pretty good. TD: Who are you listening to right now? C: Foo Fighters, yeah, loving them. The RX band the Progress album. The Blue Weezer album. [Pauses] I haven't really been listening to much music this tour. I've just been really sick for a week and a half. I've just been kind of a blob. TD: Can you describe a particular instance when you've felt especially connected to your audience? C: Every once in a while we'll be playing and it'll just click. We played in Chicago two nights ago and the stage was really dinky and the sound wasn't that great but we had a great time and the crowd had a great time. TD: Okay, it's Saturday afternoon and you suddenly have to dance. What do you put in the CD player? C: Umm, I don't really dance much, and I rarely have Saturdays off, but if I did_ it would be Hall & Oates Greatest Hits. Oh, and Toto. They're both good. TD: You're a child of the 80s. What was you're favorite cartoon growing up? C: I watched Transformers and Ducktales. Oh, you remember the Snorks? TD: Yeah, like the Smurfs but underwater. C: [Laughs] yeah, exactly like the Smurfs but underwater, I loved that show. TD: Who is your favorite redheaded talk show host? C: Sally Jesse Raphael. Yeah. TD: Wow that's not where I expected you to go with that. C: What other ones are there. TD:I was thinking Craig or Conan. C: Oh. Definitely Conan, he's the master. He defies all laws. TD: IM culture question: What quote or song lyric defines you as a person. Basically what would you put on your profile? C: Man, good question. [Singing] "But I'm a creep / I'm a loser / what the hell am I doing here / I don't belong here." That's "Creep" by Radiohead. TD: What special memories do you have with the band? C: Our first tour we toured in a van, that in and of it were all memories. And we did Warped Tour, which is like punk rock summer camp. We made so many friends on that tour. You have to understand being in a band is like hanging out with your best friends every day. When you're in a band everything you do is memorable. Something Corporate is playing with Fiction Plane and the Juliana Theory February 12 th at the Roxy.

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News

Get in line

February 9

Braving sub-freezing temperatures for a chance to see some of Tufts' most distinguished visitors appears to be a thing of the past. In a departure from the long lines of previous years, all 1800 tickets for the 2003 Fares Lecture featuring former president Bush were distributed online through Student Services' WebCenter. While administrators have expressed concern in the past regarding students missing class while waiting in ticket lines, the traditional way remains the more equitable solution. Last year, hundreds of students stood for hours outside the campus center and Dowling Hall for a chance to see former President Clinton. It is these students, willing to brave the cold and long waits, who deserve the chance to see such high-profile speakers. Last year's ticketing system also benefited from multiple distribution times. Half of the student tickets for Clinton's lecture were available at noon on a Friday; the rest were given out at 9 a.m. the following Monday. As a result, a class conflict at one distribution time would not necessarily preclude someone from being able to get tickets. This year, all tickets were available at a single time. At least one engineering class wasn't able to get any tickets due to an exam that began ten minutes prior to the online offering. And they probably couldn't count on their friends outside class to come through for them, either. Unlike previous years, there was only one ticket per customer this time. All hope was not lost, however. The truly resourceful should have been able to find someone who wasn't trying to get his or her own tickets (a parent, for example) willing to log on at the proper time. But it shouldn't have to be this way. Many were also upset when the collective student body tried to get Billy Joel tickets online in 2001, leaving the final ticket decisions essentially to chance. Tufts needs to make an attempt to make tickets available to those who really want them, not just people who are in the right place at the right time. Though it may not be fun to wait in line for hours, it's the easiest way to rank students by their desire to attend. And for the people in line, it can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, rewarded by the chance to see some very famous visitors.

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News

Women's basketball dropped hard by NESCAC foes

February 9

Bowdoin and Colby, the NESCAC's top teams, did not treat the women's basketball team well on its two game road trip through Maine last weekend. The squad suffered a 73-50 defeat last Saturday at Colby and fell to the sixth ranked team in the country, Bowdoin, 63-46 last Friday. The Jumbos are now 15-5 overall, but fell into a tie for sixth place in the NESCAC with a 3-4 conference record. Shooting was just not the Jumbo's forte against Colby. The team shot a dismal 32.3 percent from the field for the game and 13.3 percent (2-15) from behind the arch. "They just weren't falling for us," junior guard Maritsa Christoudias said. "A few times we had to rush our shots because we weren't organized, but sometimes the shots just don't fall." Similar to the Amherst game last weekend, the Jumbos were throttled in the first, but settled down to play a decent second half. Also like the Amherst game, the first half deficit was so large that the team needed more than a decent second half to complete a comeback. At the break, the score was 43-26 in Colby's favor, but the Mules only outscored the Jumbos by six in the second half. "There was nothing special about Colby that made us shoot poorly, we did everything to ourselves," Christoudias said. "In the second half, we picked up our defense a little, but not enough." Part of the reason for Colby's success in the first half was its free throw shooting. The Mules shot 82.4 percent as a team in the first half, converting 14 of 17 attempts. In comparison, the Jumbos did not make it to the line as frequently and did not shoot as well, going 5-8 (62.5 percent). One of the few bright spots for the Jumbos was the play of sophomore center, Allison Love. Love was tied with freshman Jessica Powers for the team high of ten points, but Love did so on 5-7 shooting. She also pulled down 4 boards. One of the keys to beating Colby is definitely to control its center, Sarah Walsh. Coming into the game, Walsh averaged just above 17 points per game and against Tufts she dropped a team high 21. Walsh also grabbed 8 boards in 30 minutes of work. Against nationally ranked Bowdoin, Tufts' problems were similar to those that cropped up against Colby, all stemming from poor shooting. For the game, the team shot 18-56 from the field, which is 32.1 percent. Free throw percentage also hurt the Jumbos as they converted 5-14 in the second half and 41.2 percent for the game. "Free throws are entirely mental," Christoudias said. "We can't dwell on past games or we're not going to be able to focus, which we really need to do this week." Love came off the bench, to score a team high 17 points on 7-15 shooting from the field. Freshman guard Julia Verplank also played well, tallying eight points, while shooting 50 percent from the field. The Jumbos travel to Wheaton tomorrow night to face their last non-conference opponent before matching up against Middlebury and Williams at home next weekend. The confines of Cousens Gymnasium have been good to the Jumbos. They are 9-1 at home this season, with their only loss coming in overtime to Wesleyan 79-76, but are less than stellar on the road with a 5-3 record in away games. The Jumbos are 1-1 in contests with a neutral site. "We are definitely capable of playing on the road," Christoudias said. "But we have had some lapses while on the road. But at home we get some dedicated fans and we're comfortable already. Also, for teams to have to travel from Bates to here for back to back games is a big advantage." Tufts sits two games above Amherst and Trinity, who are tied for the eighth and final NESCAC playoff spot. The Jumbos can clinch a playoff spot with one win next weekend. With a sweep over Middlebury and Williams, the Jumbos would have a shot at the fourth seed in the playoffs, which would allot them one home game.

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News

Trunk-full of competition as men's track triumphs

February 9

For the third time in four weeks, the men's track team raced to victory, triumphing over a strong field of 13 teams on Saturday at the Gantcher Center. Anchored by some of the season's most impressive performances, the Jumbos defeated Ithaca College by 36 points. Bates and Colby finished third and fourth, while rivals Keene State and St. Lawrence failed to show up. "There were no slow races all day," coach Connie Putnam said. "Ithaca, Bates, Colby, and to a lesser degree Stonehill, gave us all that we needed in every race." The day started on a bad note, when in the 4x200 senior tri-captain Greg Devine re-aggravated an injury sustained last week. However the Jumbos rebounded with dominance, including key efforts by several freshmen team members. Freshman Shawn Hansberry (1:22.49) broke sophomore teammate Ray Carre's school record (1:23.03) in the 600 meter run, winning the event by nearly four seconds. "I just went out and ran my race," Hansberry said. "There were a couple good guys in the heats, it was very competitive, and I was pretty surprised [by the result]. There were some good personal records today, and we're looking good going into the New Englands." Fellow freshmen Seth LaPierre, Patrick Mahoney and Trevor Williams also excelled. LaPierre won the pole vault with a vault of 4.27 meters, comfortably beating Bates' Matthew Ondra (4.12). Junior Adrian Clarke (3.81) finished fifth, giving the Jumbos multiple scorers. Mahoney (52.06 seconds) and Williams (PR 52.31) finished third and fifth respectively in the 400, followed by Carre (52.37) in sixth. The three combined for 13 points, a huge positive considering Devine's absence from an event he usually dominates. "The freshmen are a huge part of the team," senior tri-captain Bryan Pitko said. "The way they've matured through the season is great, and they'll be a real asset when the championships come around." Junior Ryan McPherson (13.00 meters) finished fourth in the shot put, while freshman Jason Galvin (12.31) scored his first shot put point of the season, finishing eighth. It marked the first time in three years that the Jumbos have had two point scorers in the event at one meet. This has an important effect, according to Putnam, because it helps neutralize often dominating point hauls made by opponents in the event. Bates, boasting one of New England's better throwing teams, is one such opponent. Its throwers scored 32 points in the two throwing events, almost a third of Bates' total score of 102. In the distance events, sophomore Aaron Kaye (PR 4:01.55) ran fourth in the 1500, a race Putnam described as 'sterling.' Sophomore Nate Brigham (PR 15:11.05) and junior Peter Bromka (15:25.85) came second and fourth in the 5000, while senior tri-captain Adam Sharp (1:57.23) set a career-best in the 800, placing fourth. "It was a breakthrough race for me in terms of my time," Kaye said. "I felt like we've been working really hard in practice and it's been paying off. There were a lot of really great performances today." In the 3000, sophomore Michael Don (8:48.77), junior Jon Rosen (8:54.87) and freshmen Kyle Doran (8:55.68) and Matt Lacey (8:56.03) finished third, fifth, sixth and seventh. It was the first time in several years that four Jumbos have finished under nine minutes, something Putnam said showed the team's progress and hard work. The relay teams raced well, finishing second in both the 4x400 (3:27.21) and 4x800 (8:15.47). In the 4x200, despite aggravating his injury, Devine gritted out his leg of the race and the team still managed a third place finish (1:33.80). "Greg was running comfortably, then went looking for an extra one percent," Putnam said. "He spasmed, and I don't want to risk an All-American in a silly last chance meet [next week]." Devine was pulled from his remaining events, but his absence in the 55 hurdles was overcome by a one-two finish by Pitko (7.85) and sophomore Nate Thompson (7.97), a sign of the strength and depth displayed by the team. Thompson also finished second in the long jump (6.51 meters) and third in the triple jump (12.66). "You never get to the game with the best lineup intact," Putnam said. "It's the mean of that group that leads you there." All in all, it was a satisfying day for Coach Putnam, who can look forward to the team's next meet with great confidence. "When guys put in like that, the coach goes home with nothing to complain about," Putnam said.

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News

Jumbos heat it up against defending National Champion

February 9

In an unexpected turn of events, the women's track and field team saw themselves ahead in the rankings against defending National Champions Wheaton College Lyons. With its second first place finish in many weeks, the team has begun to prove that it is ready to contend in the competitive arena of New England Div. III track. Though the Jumbos came out on top with a score of 220.5 points to Wheaton's 197, the meet was much closer than the final scores indicate. By the time the 4x400m relay got underway, Tufts was down by 2.5 points with the fate of the meet hanging in the balance. "We were strong where they were not, in the middle distance and distance events and in the throws," coach Kristen Morwick. "It was a close meet right up until the 4x4, and then we put them away with our relays and the shot put." The Jumbos scored five of eight possible places in the shot for a combined 24 points, which was instrumental in executing a trouncing of the Lyons. With a toss of 41' 2.25'', sophomore Katie Antle captured first place and edging out National contender Jana Bromell by a distance of almost 3.5''. In the weight throw, junior tri-captain Jessica Gauthier garnered second place with a lob of 42' 5.5''. Junior Jessica Trombly anchored the 4x400 squad in 56.5, helping the team achieve another season best and also reach the National qualifying mark with a time of 4:00.45. In the 600m race, Trombly's time of 1:34.29 was 0.27 off Sarah Deeb's school record and a full four seconds ahead of the second place finisher. The 55m hurdles pit Trombly against two Wheaton All-Americans, in which she emerged victorious with her fastest time ever (8.52s), qualifying for NCAA's in the process. Also a member of the speedy 4x400 squad, freshman Rachel Bloom ran her first open 400m this past weekend. She sped to fourth place overall, finishing the race in 60.04m, which qualifies her through the Div. I Championship meet. "I'm still trying to figure out the pacing, I'm used to running shorter sprints," Bloom said. "I'm really proud of the team though. We're hoping to get pretty far and get people qualified further, especially the 4x4 team." Junior Lauren Caputo also qualified though the Div. I meet with her performance in the 1000m run, winning the event with a PR of 3:05.95. Fellow 1000m Jumbo competitors, senior Danielle Perrin (3:06.97) and sophomore Katie Sheedy (3:07.02), both raced to PRs and ECAC qualifiers in their third and fourth place finishes. The 600m race provided another event in which the Jumbos dominated the standings. Like the shot put, the team earned five of the eight scoring spots, with the five people competing all achieving season bests. Trombly took top honors, while juniors Katie Higley and Emily Bersin, and sophomores Claudia Clarke and Ayako Sawanobori stockpiled in fourth through seventh. Other PRs and postseason qualifiers were attained by three athletes within the distance crew. Freshman Becca Ades and senior Ashley Peterson both had PRs in the 3000m run, with the duo finishing one-two and Ades meeting the ECAC qualifying time. In the 5000m run, senior Kristen Munson snagged second place with a PR of 19:08.17, beating out third-place Kim Nolan of Stonehill College by 0.7 seconds. While the Jumbos met the goal of helping more people qualify for the postseason, the defeat of perennial track powerhouse Wheaton College was all the more impressive. Though Wheaton did not put its best foot forward and didn't necessarily put the best people in each event, neither did Tufts. As the Jumbos head into the last meet of the season this weekend, they do so with a newfound spring in their step and a renewed edge as they prepare for the upcoming Div. III Championship meet. "Our whole team contributed to the victory, every place counted and we got the job done not by strategizing or doubling up our kids, but by everyone pulling together and doing their job," Morwick said. "I'm really proud of this group, we're seeing huge improvements in all event groups and are starting to look like a championship team."

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News

Trustees hear funding options at annual meeting

February 9

Members of the Board of Trustees began the difficult work of choosing funding priorities at one of their three annual meetings this past Friday and Saturday. Since the February meetings usually focus on interacting with students, the Board heard a lot from members of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, though they had little contact with other undergraduates. The trustees are currently involved in planning for the next capital campaign, scheduled to begin in about five years. At the meetings, the Board's three committees each focused on a difference aspect of the process of defining priorities and then raising the funds to achieve them. At the meetings the Board of Trustees also selected Jim Stern (E '72) to replace outgoing chairman Nathan Gantcher [see "Stern to become board chairman"]. The process of identifying priorities began with a presentation by the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience. The trustees were receptive to the Task Force's overarching goal of combining education and community, but did not necessarily embrace its specific recommendations. In particular, Gantcher called the recommendation to implement a residential college system a "first stab" at the problem of expanding intellectual life at Tufts beyond the classroom. Some of the trustee representatives' recommendations dovetailed with those of the Task Force, such as the proposal to build Phase III of the Mayer Campus Center. Phase III would complete the campus center's original plans by adding a faculty dining hall, a large multipurpose room, and an expanded recreational space, Raji Iyer, a Senate Trustee representative said. "Right now the Board of Trustees is determining priorities before starting a new campaign," Gantcher said. The Task Force is a long-term project, and its recommendations must be "honed down into a realistic list you can afford," he said. Given the number of spending options Tufts will have during the next capital campaign, trustees will face a number of tough decisions. The trustees on the Administration & Finance Committee, which focuses on funding issues, have yet to make any concrete decisions about where money will be allocated. Aside from the Task Force's report, the trustees' other window into undergraduate life was through the presentations of the three Senate trustee representatives, Matt Kane, Sarah Sandison, and Raji Iyer. Kane's presentation centered on the importance of increasing support for interdisciplinary programs at Tufts. Since such programs do not have a core faculty, they often have an inadequate number of professors, regardless of the fact that they create much of today's cutting-edge scholarship, Kane said. Interdisciplinary programs at Tufts include Community Health, International Relations, and Latin American Studies. Finally, the Committee for University Advancement _ until recently called the Development committee _ put its focus on alumni relations and the need to create a lifelong connection to the University. Sandison suggested ways to increase valuable interaction between current students and alumni. The February presentations to the Board are traditionally the most important task the trustee representatives perform, since they present on any topic they consider to be "of critical importance to students," Kane said. It is unclear how influential these presentations will be when the Board begins to formulate future funding priorities. The meetings were followed by a luncheon on Saturday, attended by the trustees, and a few professors, administrators, and graduate students. Undergraduates were represented by the full body of the TCU Senate. At the luncheon, senators delivered a short speech addressing the observed disconnect between students and administrators. As a result of these communication problems, the senators suggested re-creating the position of vice president of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering. This administrator would act as a "designated point person" to whom students could bring their needs and desires for change," the senators said in their speech. The senators' speech also stressed the importance of implementing need blind admissions and increasing the availability of international aid. "As Tufts undergoes a new capital campaign, we hope you'll think of undergraduates," the speech said. In response, Gantcher noted that the Gantcher Center, Dowling Hall, and the Jaharis Center were examples of the trustees' response to students' needs. The trustees really do listen when the students speak, Gantcher said, although they may not be able to fulfill student's needs until well after they have graduated.

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News

The Shape of Things does not take to SpeakEasy's mold

February 9

The script is unparalleled: one of the most fascinating ideas I've seen onstage this season. Tackling such obtuse subjects as art, love, and morality, the ideas expressed in The Shape of Things at the SpeakEasy Stage may leave you speechless. That is, if you don't get bogged down with all the melodrama. The show begins with a chance encounter between awkward undergrad security guard Adam, played by Tommy Day Carey, and indie activist post-grad student Evelyn, played by Laura Latreille. The two meet, she spray paints her number on his jacket, they go out, bring a camera into the bedroom, and so on _ you know the usual alternative dating protocol, except that as the play progresses you realize that Evelyn isn't really dating Adam at all. Instead, he is her art project for the semester. While he falls in love with her, she is using that love to test his free will. To her, he is just a living, breathing, hunk of flesh. It would have been marvelous to watch that idea unravel, however it is just one of several story lines, infused with melodrama on the level of middle school crushes and temper tantrums. In between Adam following Evelyn around like a sick puppy (and believe me he was), there is his best friend Philip (Walter Belenky) and Phillip's fianc?©e, Jenny (Stacy Fischer), mucking up his life. In one scene, Phillip and Jenny discussed their plans to wed underwater. It might have been romantic if Jenny's voice wasn't so high and sing-songy that you wanted to dunk her under the sea prematurely. Moving on to the theme of the show, the whole idea, the cr??me of the questions asks simply, "How far would you go for love?" If your significant other would find you more desirable if you were twenty pounds thinner and had a slightly different nose, is it worth it to change yourself for them? Adam would say yes. Throughout the show he decides that this is a valuable investment, so much so that by the end of the play he has essentially transformed himself into a better looking and better dressed Adam for Evelyn. As an audience, you believe Carey's performance. You see how much he just wants to be liked, telling Evelyn in a bout of sheer honesty, "You are dangerously close to owning me," and you empathize. It could happen. It probably does every day to some extent to real people in real relationships. However, Latrielle's performance as Evelyn lacked that sense of believability. As the play's key manipulator, she became a stereotype: the bitch. As the premiere artist, she needed to be more voyeuristic about their relationship, more analytical in terms of why her significant other was behaving the way he was, instead of the sheer spite that she seemed to work from. It was disappointing, as her character had the possibility for the most dimensions of anyone on stage. For while she's the artist, the man-eater, she also was the student who had never tried to shape the will of another so completely. Yes, to be brief, the show is sadistic. But the way human beings can be manipulated, how they place value in their lives is also tantalizing. The Shape of Things has the potential to dazzle. It's fresh, different, and psychologically stimulating, which is why it's such a shame that it has been directed into such a corner. In trying to be different, the play instead became predictable. Everything in the production seems to be vying for the traditional alternative feel, ranging from the retro, multi-color lighting to the way the actors handled the stage changes. The stage itself looks like it has been drawn upon with crayons. And, while slightly curious at first, it ended up distracting from the story, focusing too much on being different than being well done.

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News

African-American alumni athletes discuss experience at Tufts

February 9

On Saturday morning, for the first time in Tufts history, nearly 20 African American Tufts graduates convened to remember their experiences at Tufts University, both as students and as athletes, in a meeting organized by History Professor Gerald Gill. In conjunction with the symposium, Gill also put together an exhibit at Aidekman Arts Center that chronicled the stories of many of Tufts black athletes through past newspaper articles and pictures. The symposium took place prior to a 3:00 p.m. basketball game where two of Tufts' ECAC championship teams were honored at halftime. The athletes were broken up into two discussion panels _ one of athletes from the 70s and the other drawing from the 80s and 90s _ and each discussed team and social experiences. The stories reflected many different perspectives, with recollections of pain juxtaposed with those of glory and triumph. Amongst the most highly touted athletes ever to don the Brown and Blue, Madaras Jihad, formerly known as Darrell Brown, who graduated in the 70s, spoke of his tumultuous four years at Tufts. While at Tufts, Jihad amassed many honors including recognition as an All-American in Div III for football and basketball, as well as the Bob Cousy award, honoring the best basketball player in New England under six feet. Jihad curtailed his discussion of his awards by explaining that, although his athletic accomplishments were staggering, they fail to tell the whole story of his struggle. Later supported by other athletes, Jihad spoke of his painful athletic career, saying that he was "prostituted" by the University for its athletic program. His dreams were not as easily achieved as he had hoped. "I wanted to escape the ghetto and go pro but it was a lot different than I'd imagined," Jihad said. All-American track star, James Lavallee '96 related his story of struggle at the Tufts' campus and the refuge he found on the track. He discussed how at the end of the year banquet for athletics he did not win the Tufts' athlete of the year award, although his accomplishments, as well as those of another black athlete, seemed far more deserving of the award than those achieved by the winner. After this, he recalled that he turned his back on the University in response to his experience. He correlated problems with the athletic program, to the university's revenue problem. "One reason that we don't give back is that we don't have a great athletic program," Lavallee said. "It's much different than Williams and Amherst." Troy Cooper, the soft-spoken star center on the Tufts basketball team through 1983, recounted his struggle to secure his degree, as well as his experience on the basketball team. Cooper told how he came from a different time of basketball, when the fans packed the stadiums and the famous coach John White recruited the team from more modest backgrounds. This program fostered a much different demographic on the team and provided a focal point for the black community on campus. Despite what Reggie Evans '74 called a time when it was "good to be black," Cooper recalled having a stigma attached to him. He recalled White's blunt explanation of this stigma. "He told me, 'You are a 6'6" black man. People are going to be afraid of you, especially white people,'" Cooper said. Cooper recounted his struggle to stay for a fifth year when his basketball eligibility had run out, as well as his work to finally claim his Economics degree with the help of Professor Saul Schwartz. Some players observed that the current percentage of African Americans, both on athletic teams and at the University as a whole is lower than it once was. During the 1970s, the University's black population grew both in size and stature, dwarfing the current 5.5 % in this year's freshman class. The basketball team in particular featured a large ratio of black to white players. "The nature of the basketball program has changed," Tufts' all-time leading scorer Greg Davis said, describing the change in current recruiting tactics. Despite all of the problems with the program, the camaraderie between all of the players was evident _ a point which Gill emphasized in his closing remarks. "I've had good times and bad times," Gill explained as he spread his hands over the panel of athletes. "But the reason I keep coming back is for this."

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News

Stern to become Board chairman

February 9

Jim Stern (E '72), the vice chairman of the Board of Trustees, will assume the board's leadership when Chairman Nathan Gantcher (LA '62) steps down in November. To smooth the leadership transition, Stern, an investment banker from New York, has been elected "trustee designate," a position he will hold until Gantcher's term officially ends. Gantcher will step down as chair after seven years in the post. Originally elected as an alumni trustee in 1982, Stern has been the Board's vice chair for five years. He has chaired several committees, most recently the Tufts Tomorrow campaign with Gantcher. There probably was no other trustee who had served on as many committees as Stern, according to Trustee Secretary Linda Dixon. As a student, Stern studied engineering and played while setting himself up for a career on Wall St. "During summer breaks from Tufts as an undergraduate, I worked as a runner on Wall St. at Lehman Brothers, where I ended up spending much of my career," Stern said in an interview for the online bulletin for Harvard School of Business, where he earned his MBA. Stern is now the chairman of The Cypress Group, a private equity firm in New York which he founded in 1994. In 1999, Stern donated funds to endow a chair in the history department in honor of his parents. Stern also played a critical role in raising support for the Gantcher Family Sports and Convocation Center. Earlier this academic year, the committee on trusteeship, which governs the Board's operations, began looking for Gantcher's replacement. Trustees worked with President Larry Bacow to identify the needs of the Tufts community in choosing potential holders of the position. Gantcher, after 20 years on the board, plans to "keep busy from a philanthropic point of view." He is credited with creating an atmosphere of generosity toward the University, but his most visible gift to the University is the Gantcher Center. Gantcher had planned to leave the board at the end of the last academic year, but agreed to stay while Bacow adjusted to his new post, which he assumed in 2001.

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News

Tufts Jazz Show to feature cutting edge performers

February 9

This year's Winter Jazz Show, featuring Soulive and Joshua Redman, will showcase an off-the-beaten-path type of Jazz, with the qualities of funk, soul, and hip-hop incorporated into the older traditional jazz, which will push the tunes to new levels. In past years, the Tufts Jazz Show has held the best of modern jazz performers as headlining acts, including performers like Grammy winner Bella Fleck and the Flecktones, the acid jazz likes of Medeski, Martain, and Wood, guitar greats John Scofield and Charlie Hunter, and last year's more traditional performers, Nicolas Payton and the Aaron Goldberg Trio. This year's show, to be held next Sunday, will feature three sets and is looking to meet and perhaps exceed past shows. "Jazz is a broad term and people are always redefining it," said Ariel Santos, the chairman of the Concert Board, which organized the show. Soulive has been one of the leaders in the new movement of jazz, carving new roads in the industry and carrying the music to new heights. With their fusion of funk, soul, R&B, and hip-hop into the framework of jazz, Soulive has reached an array of different fans. Their name alone will most likely pack Cohen Auditorium. While the trio's style is different from the accepted standard of straight jazz, their Blue Note label, which has a history of signing traditional jazz acts, proves otherwise. The Trio of Eric Krasno (guitar), Alan Evans (drums), and brother Neil Evans (keyboards) appeared on the cover of this month's Downbeat Magazine, proving to the world of jazz that they are a leading force in the scene. This new wave of jazz is "more of what the college crowed is looking for," Santos said. The opening act of saxophone extraordinaire, Joshua Redman, will feature new sounds of jazz as well. Redman "has always been on the cutting edge of jazz and he's playing the new funk that is really hot right now," said Santos on the issue of Redman's playing style. Of course with the lineup he has of Marcus Baylor on the drums and Sam Yahel on the Hammond B3 organ, the set looks to be very funky. Combined with Redman's years of jazz superiority, the set looks to be an enjoyable one. If everything goes according to plan, there will be a third set of music with Redman sitting in with Soulive. The Tufts Jazz Show has sometimes been "less to do with style, and more of an attraction because of name recognition," said Santos. As Soulive is the bait for the Tufts community, they will be pleasantly entertained by the 70s-era funky jazz of the Joshua Redman Trio. The Winter Jazz Show will be held from 7:30-11 p.m. next Sunday in Cohen Auditorium. Tickets for the event are on sale at the box office in the Aidekman Arts Center.

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TILIP symposium addresses China's struggles for change

February 9

In what was the culmination of nearly a year of cross-continental programming and education, over 40 academics and policy makers from around the world converged on Tufts' campus this weekend to participate in a symposium on China. The symposium, "China in Transition: Development, Urbanization, Migration, and Political Change," consisted of 11 panels and was organized by participants of the Tufts Institute for Leadership and International Perspective (TILIP). Now in its fifth year, TILIP is a joint effort of the Tufts Institute for Global Leadership, Peking University, The University of Hong Kong, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. This year's program was planned by the 26 TILIP students: the 13 from Tufts who visited China last summer, and 13 from the other three universities. Panels made up of professors and policy makers addressed the country's development from many different perspectives. The panel on "Sustainable Development: The Three Gorges Project and Beyond" presented differing views on the environmental and human impact of the project, which, when it is completed in 2009, will be the world's largest dam. The dam, on the Yangtze River, will generate electricity, ease navigation for large ships on the river, and control the flooding common to the region. However, the construction of the 360 mile-long, 610 ft.-deep reservoir is expected to displace over one million people. With a price tag of $24 billion, the Three Gorges Dam is "the only project in the world that's costs exceed the Big Dig," quipped William Moomaw, a professor of international environmental policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the director of the Tufts Institute of the Environment. When Tufts students were in China, they visited the dam construction site during a five-day cruise up the Yangtze River. The Friday evening program, "China's Future in the Balance: The Impact of Inequity," addressed the impacts of the growing disparity between rich and poor in China. According to Joan Kaufman, a panelist and the director of the AIDS Public Policy Training Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, "the poor have less access to information and services." Therefore, Kaufman said, "HIV is concentrated in poor, minority regions near drug trafficking routes." Poor women in rural China often have gynecological infections that would be easily treatable with access to proper facilities, Kaufman said. This makes these women "sitting ducks for HIV infection," she said. However, Kaufman is optimistic that the Chinese government can apply anti-infection strategies. "If China can do Falun Gong, they can do AIDS," Kaufman said. At the "Building Megacities: The Promise and Peril of China's Urban Plan" panel, TILIP students described the two research projects they conducted _ "Information and Communication Technologies in Hong Kong and Shanghai: A Comparative Study" and "The Impact of Special Technological Zones in Major East Asian Cities" _ that will be submitted to the World Bank Development Economics Research Group. Last May, the Chinese and American students began communicating with each other through an online message board. The group then assembled in Hong Kong in July. Following a three-day Outward Bound experience, each student was paired with a Chinese student to participate in six-week internships in Hong Kong in organizations that ranged from shipping companies to the Tourism Commission. During their time in Hong Kong, the students also attended various lectures, went on tours and day trips, and conducted case studies comparing Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Xi'an. They also went on a two-week tour of mainland China. In Xi'an, the group toured both the city and its surrounding villages, in addition to visiting schools in high-tech zones, museums, and historical sites. Beijing, the Chinese capital, was the group's final destination. There, the students attended lectures on the history and current politics of US-China relations by Peking University professors. The group also visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Zhong Guan Cun Science Park before they returned to the US in September. Since the summer, the students have been communicating through e-mail and video-conferences to plan the symposium. The Chinese students arrived in the US on Jan. 28, and they attended lectures and took tours at the United Nations, CBS News, and the US Military Academy at West Point in New York, and at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the Big Dig, and Harvard University in Boston. The symposium was the last stop in the US for the Chinese students before they return home on Wednesday.

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Ice Hockey finishes weekend with split results

February 9

Rounding off another weekend with a win and a loss, the men's hockey team now moves to a 6-7-4 record that puts them in a precarious position going into this upcoming weekend. Currently tied with Williams, one point above Amherst and one below Hamilton the team now needs victories against both upcoming opponents to ensure themselves good standing in the playoffs. "Next weekend is potentially the biggest weekend in Tufts hockey history for the playoffs," senior co-captain Mike Carceo said. The Jumbos slightly helped their own cause with a blowout win on Saturday against the UMass Boston Beacons. Facing a winless Beacons team, the Jumbos had four players score a pair of goals on their way to a 9-0 trouncing that dropped the team to 0-17-2 overall and 0-14-1 in ECAC play. "It felt good to get a blow-out win," Carceo said. "We've spent a lot of time on the other side of the stick." "We'd been on the receiving end of those games a lot last year and it feels good to be on the giving end," senior co-captain Chris Martin echoed. Sophomore Shawn Sullivan was the first to draw blood as he scored only one minute into the contest. A mere two minutes later junior Pat Byrne scored, followed only 49 seconds later by freshman Adam Dulaney-Winn's goal to put the team up 3-0. The Jumbos roll continued as the team put offensive pressure on the Beacons throughout the afternoon. At one moment Beacon goalie junior Craig Pasteur was forced to make ten saves in a span of 29 minutes. On the other side of the ice, freshman Matt Nineman played two periods making 15 saves only to be relieved by freshman Tim Kane who held onto the shut out. In the end, the Jumbos improved their record to 6-7-4 overall moving them into sixth place in the standings tied with Amherst. Though the team does not want to get too excited about their victory over a struggling team, the blow-out, feel good victory may be just what the Jumbos need going into this weekend. "Hopefully Saturday is a momentum builder," Carceo said. The Jumbos momentum unfortunately only began on Saturday though as the team faced a difficult loss on Friday against a much stronger Babson team. Facing a 12-5-3 Beavers team, the Jumbos knew they would need a much more solid effort in order to emerge victorious. After finishing the first period tied 1-1 with the Beavers, a second period onslaught where Babson scored four goals plunged the Jumbos into a deficit the team could not overcome. Scoring three unanswered goals in the opening minutes of the second period, the Jumbos' attempts at a comeback were smothered by the Beaver's defense. The team only took six shots in the second period but with 12 in the third, junior goalie Craig Werner helped his team stay ahead blocking 26 goals overall. "Their goalie made a bunch of amazing saves on us that really killed us," Carceo said. Along with a stifling defense, the Jumbos were unable to capitalize on power play opportunities finishing the day 0-5 on power-play opportunities. In contrast to Babson's ability to capitalize going 3-4 on power-play opportunities, the Jumbos attempts were not enough to overcome the Beavers. "They were a good team, we knew that coming in," Carceo said. "They got a couple good opportunities and we didn't capitalize on ours." The Beavers also had several lucky breaks that helped them achieve their win. "We weren't getting any calls or any bounces and we knew we'd have to battle," Martin said. "And they got lucky shots and rebounds." The inability to convert on power plays is nothing new for the Jumbos as the team has gone 1/12 in the three games before playing the Beavers. This lack of capitalizing on opportunities is a problem the team knows it needs to address before the upcoming weekend. "We gotta get our power play going. We've been getting a lot of opportunities and we're not doing anything," Carceo said. Martin agrees. "I really don't know what's wrong with our power play," he said. "We need to shoot more, maybe get more people in front of the net." Gaining offensive momentum is what will be most important this upcoming weekend. The team will put their efforts to the test again on Friday night on the home ice against Hamilton and also Saturday against Amherst in must-win situations. "We gotta play our game and be physical," Carceo said. "It's a must win weekend," Martin said.

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Hockey team continues playoff push this weekend

February 6

Last Saturday, the men's hockey team picked up their first win since Jan. 17 as they escaped Malden Arena with a 4-3 triumph over Southern Maine. The Jumbos and their fans can only hope that such a win can be a stepping stone towards the consistency the team has lacked all season long. The Jumbos face the test of consistency as team travels to Babson College in Wellesley tonight for a 7 p.m. tilt and goes to UMass-Boston for a 3 p.m. game tomorrow. Continuing with the season's ongoing theme, the squad is looking for redemption after losses to both these squads last season. On their way to a 6-17 record last season, the Jumbos lost 3-1 to Babson and 7-4 to UMass-Boston on consecutive days. In addition, Tufts scrimmaged Babson before this season, and there was apparently no joy in Jumboville after that game as well. "[Babson] beat us pretty good in a scrimmage this year," sophomore forward John Hurd said. "Both teams played us very physically last year, so we have to be physical right back." Tonight's game will be the tougher of the two weekend matchups as Babson enters with an 11-5-3 record. Looks can often be deceiving though, as the team has notched many of its wins against lesser opponents. Thus, they are currently fourth in the ECAC East with only a 5-5-3 conference record. The Beaver's high powered offense presents the Jumbos largest threat. Led by junior Dustin Kim (31 points), the team will display four forwards who have notched over 20 points. The Beavers are second in their conference in scoring with an impressive 5.63 goals per game. In addition, they are the best team on the power play in the ECAC East, converting 30.3 percent of the time. "We're going to have to clamp down in our defensive zone and limit shots better than we have been," sophomore forward and team scoring leader Shawn Sullivan said. In addition to a potent scoring attack, the Beavers boast junior goalie Jason Hart who is third in his conference in goals against average and fourth in win percentage. As a team, the Beavers are third in ECAC East on defense, giving up only 3.47 goals per game. The Jumbos are aware that a big task awaits them tonight. "We have to play smarter and tougher than we have been playing," coach Brian Murphy said. "Those two factors will be the key to winning this game." Regardless of Friday's outcome, there will be a short recovery period before a 3 p.m. faceoff at UMass-Boston. The Beacons go into the game at a miserable 0-16-1. They are last in ECAC East in every major statistical category. The lone somewhat bright spot has been freshman Luke Niemiec, who leads the team with 11 points. Needless to say though, 11 points in 17 games from a team's leading scorer is undesirable. Records aside, the Jumbos still need to show up and play their game. "We're not good enough to take anyone lightly," Sullivan said. "They're still looking for their first win, and we sure don't want them to get it against us." Coach Murphy agrees. "We can't look past anyone at this point. Each game is too important," he said. While neither Babson or UMass-Boston is in the NESCAC, all games with ECAC East teams are still considered league games. They hold as much weight in the standings as the NESCAC games. From the Jumbos' perspective, they really have no other option than to win. "We need to get four points this weekend to separate ourselves from the pack behind us and to close the gap on Williams and Hamilton," Murphy said. Hurd echoed those sentiments. "Nothing is a sure bet, so we have to win now to give ourselves better positioning and a better chance to win once the NESCAC playoffs start," he said. To "separate from the pack," the Jumbos will have to rely on a defense that has given up 4.6 goals per game, ninth in the NESCAC. In goal, the action this weekend will be divided between freshmen Matt Ninneman and Tim Kane, as junior Ben Crapser is still out with a leg injury. Offensively, though, Tufts has proven solid. They have scored a steady 4.07 goals per game and they are third in the conference on the power play. "We've been getting scoring from each line," Murphy said. "Our top three scorers [Sullivan, senior co-captain Mike Carceo, freshman Matt McCarthy] are all on different lines. So that's really encouraging." With wins this weekend, the Jumbos would be adding a large boost to their playoff push. They know what they need to do. "We are the only ones who can control our fate," Sullivan said. "We have to get it done."

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Interview with author of timeless The Hours

February 6

The Hours, a Pulitzer Prizewinning novel written by Michael Cunningham and recently made into a major motion picture, is about the intertwining lives of three women living in post-World War II America. One character is based on Mrs. Dalloway, the title character of a famous Virginia Woolf novel; another is based on the 1920s London author herself; and the third is Laura Brown, a 1950s housewife trying to be everything to her husband and son who slowly loses herself in the process. Below are Cunningham's articulate answers to questions about his college inspirations, his thoughts about the movie, and the promise he made to Julianne Moore at the end of filmmaking. Tufts Daily: What about Virginia Woolf makes you want to integrate her character into your novel? MC: Woolf was the first great writer I ever read. I read Mrs. Dalloway in college, and I remember thinking that though I didn't understand the book, I could see the sentences; I could see the music and complexity. She could do with language what Hendrix does with a guitar. It thrilled me in a way that language never had before, and I hoped to do something one tenth as good as that. It started me thinking about reading and writing. It was my first book, the way you have a first kiss. TD: What's it like to be a male author portraying a woman's intimate thoughts? MC: That's rather mysterious. I can either get a character or not get a character. Gender doesn't seem to make all that much difference. There may be questions of character that run deeper than our genders. I also feel like I don't know everything about women, but I think women know men very well and men know women. Writers are just the ones who sit alone in a room for years, thinking about it. TD: Did you expect the novel to be a hit? MC: Never. Neither did my agent, my publisher, my editor, anybody. The plan was to get out very few copies and retire as gracefully as possible. TD: Did you take anything away from the movie that you hadn't before? Did it teach you anything about writing? MC: It taught me what the actors do; lose language but gain Meryl Streep's ability to separate an egg that tells you miles about what she's thinking. You can have her break down in a bathroom but say "I'm fine" in a perfectly cheerful voice. You can't get that in a novel. TD: How did you feel after winning the Pulitzer? MC: I honestly thought, "What next? Is it all downhill from here?" I struggled with that for awhile, and then decided, well, if everyone's gonna hate the next book I write, I'm free to write whatever I want! I might as well work with that. TD: What were your other influences, besides Woolf? MC: I was in college during the 70s renaissance of movies. Godfather, The Conversation... every week, another great movie out. This has affected my writing. I don't have that thing about books and movies and TV as discreet entities that must not interact. We're surrounded by stories in so many forms I think they should bleed. TD: Was there any kind of message you were trying to send with the book? MC: I'm not trying to send a message; messages don't belong in fiction. You lose sight of the lives of your characters, because we as humans don't fit any political agenda too well. We are complicated, and we are criminal of terrible acts of selfishness. I believe a man can be a feminist, and I think of myself as one. If I can be of any help to portray as accurately as possible the lives of women, that's great. TD: How do you define the sexuality of your main characters? MC: I don't think the women could be described as gay or straight... I want to help complicate our sense of sexuality. I don't think the terms gay, straight, or even bisexual tell us anything about the idiosyncrasies of our sexualities. TD: Would you write a screenplay without writing a novel? MC: I would love to. I promised Julianne Moore she'd play someone who isn't neurotic and doesn't have any children whatsoever. TD: Do you have a target audience? MC: Not really. I guess I just think of any novel I write as being intended for somebody smarter than I am.

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News

Need for speed on men's track

February 6

With an impressive array of out-of-state opponents flocking to the Gantcher Center this weekend, the men's track meet promises fierce speed, determination and competition. The Jumbos' previous meets have featured many talented teams and close fought battles. But the difference this week is the large number of schools Tufts has not yet faced this season. Ithaca, St. Lawrence, Keene State, Wheaton and Colby will provide the stiffest competition, according to coach Connie Putnam. "Our major expectation is that there will be great fields," Putnam said. "And there'll be great competition within these fields." With each school having strengths in different events, Putnam and assistant coach Ethan Barron are aiming to create the most competitive match ups possible with the Jumbo roster. While the lineup is still a work in progress, there are several potentially exciting and intriguing clashes to look out for. Sophomore Ray Carre, who won the 400 meter dash last week at Bowdoin in a season-best 50.29 seconds, will likely face off against Wheaton junior captain Erik Benson. Benson, whose season-best 400 time is 48.94, has been named ECAC Track Athlete-of-the-Week twice already this season, including last week. The jack-of-all-trades won the 200 and 600, placed 11th in the shot put, and led Wheaton to victory in the 4x400 relay (3:26.83). Senior tri-captain Greg Devine is coming off a minor injury sustained during last weekend's 55 hurdles. While he will almost definitely not compete in that event, Putnam will likely use Devine's speed in the 200 and 400. Senior Bryant Coen, who has run in the 400, 600 and 800 this season, is nursing an Achilles injury. He remains doubtful for this weekend. "[Coen's] conditioning is down, because of the injury," Putnam said. "But Greg [Devine] has been cleared to run, although we'll steer him away from the hurdles." In the middle distance events, the name to watch out for is Keene State's Mark Miller. Miller, who holds school indoor track records in the 1000, 1500 and 1 mile, as well as in three outdoor events, will race in the 1500 (3:49.8), his dominant race. The Jumbos will likely send sophomore Aaron Kaye (4:11.19) and freshman Kyle Doran (4:11.99) to face Miller. "Miller is probably one of the two fastest [Division III middle distance] runners in the country," Putnam said. "It should be a fast race." Keene State, along with St. Lawrence and Colby, is strong in the sprint and hurdle events, creating an interesting scenario with an absent Devine. Fellow senior tri-captain Bryan Pitko, who won the 55 hurdles last weekend, will probably race again in the event. Wheaton, on the other hand, is loaded with sprinters and jumpers. The Jumbos' jumping squad, particularly in the long and triple jump, will need a powerful performance to match Wheaton. Junior Tyrone McClain (6.82 meters) holds the season's best jump for Wheaton, while sophomore Nate Thompson (6.62) holds the Jumbos' best jump this year. The distance events will feature what Putnam described as an 'eclectic' group of runners from the visiting teams. Sophomore Nate Brigham (15:14.97) and junior Peter Bromka (15:30.63) will compete in the 5000, while sophomore Michael Don (8:53.64) and junior Jon Rosen (9:01.81) race in the 3000. Senior tri-captain Adam Sharp (2:01.64) will race in the 800 against what should be a highly competitive, tight field. Putnam is optimistic that the pace of the races will bring out the best in his athletes. "There are some pretty good athletes coming in," Putnam said. "Fast people make fast times." The men's track and field team competes this Saturday, Feb. 8 at 11 a.m. at Gantcher Center.

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News

Backpack to Briefcases' a big hit

February 6

Seniors participated in "From Backpacks to Briefcases" Wednesday night, a series of panels and seminars designed to ease the transition into the workforce. This year the event attracted three times as many attendees than the "Future Feast," which the event was called in previous years. Tim Brooks, director of Alumni Relations, said the event means to "fill in the gap between graduation and job placement," through the advice and experience of older professionals. Students attended seminars ranging from "Lifestyle Transitions and Personal Finances" to "Negotiating Your Salary" in an effort to give students an edge on their job search. The program was free for all seniors. The panel was comprised of seven Tufts graduates from a variety of professions as well as 25-30 additional alumni in the audience who were available for consult during a reception. Ranging in graduation years from 1964 to 2000, the panelists offered personal anecdotes and advice to students in the hunt for a job. They touched on a variety of questions including how to engage people in an interview, how to make connections more readily, how to make yourself stand out of a crowd, and how to start a dialogue between an employer and yourself. Facing a flailing economy and massive job cuts, many seniors expressed concerns about salary, job-connections, and networking strategies. Others wondered about the relationship between job location and career possibilities. "I enjoyed it. The practical knowledge from recent graduates is good advice that can be applied," senior Kevin Halter said. On helping students find jobs this year, Jean Papalia, director of Career Services, said that "Career Services has taken on quite a few new initiatives this year to address the current economy and the job search challenges facing Tufts students." The event, traditionally called "Future Feast," went through an extensive overhaul since it failed to attract much attention in the past. Tim Brooks, director of Alumni Relations felt that the original name didn't work and the name was changed to emphasize the program's "fresh feel." Brooks said that it was time to update the program. "We wanted to make this event relevant considering the times," he said. These initiatives include two new workshops, "Using the Web for your Job Search," which instructs students on how to use resources to research opportunities and apply for jobs, as well as "Networking Workshop," which teaching students strategies for networking, learning about careers, meeting alumni, and making contacts. "There is so much information on the Internet, it can be unwieldy. We show students key resources, some of which we subscribe to for their benefit, including CareerSearch and Vault," Papalia said. Networking is a device employed by both Career Services and the Tufts University Alumni Association (TUAA) which allows seniors to develop connections. Recent graduates and alumni relocating to new communities can take advantage of this worldwide web of people. Network contacts can analyze starting salaries and give advice on how to make a counter-offer, along with giving general advice to new entrants to the job market. "From Backpacks to Briefcases," is part of a series of Career Services job preparation events including, "Communications Networking Night" and "Wall Street Night." There will also be a "Law Day" held during April. The continuously offered Nuts and Bolts workshops work with students on topics such as resume and cover letter writing, interview skills and finding summer jobs/internships.

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Women's basketball prepares for toughest weekend thus far

February 6

The women's basketball team takes its show on the road this weekend to battle the top two NESCAC teams _ Bowdoin (17-1, 6-0 NESCAC), ranked sixth in the country, and Colby (15-4, 5-1 NESCAC) _ contests which will go a long way toward determining the playoff picture. The Jumbos are currently 15-3 and 3-2 in the NESCAC, good for a fourth place tie with Williams and Bates. "[The games this weekend] are going to decide a lot about the seedings," coach Carla Berube said. "I don't care too much about that. I care about this because it is a big test. These are two great programs; they have been that for years. We want to see where we are at." Bowdoin's only loss on the season came in a 46-44 loss at Cal-State Hayword, other than that, the Polar Bears have been downright filthy against all opponents. However, the Polar Bears one weak spot could be the fact that they have no go to scorer. The team's leading scorer, Laura Trenkle, averages only 14.6 points per game. On the other hand, Trenkle's relatively low scoring could be attributed to the team game that Bowdoin plays, rather than to the lack of a superstar. The Polar Bears have three players averaging double digits in scoring and three others who chip in six points per contest. "Bowdoin is the sixth ranked team in the country, they have a great all around team, they play hard, play smart," Berube said. "We have to play our basketball. Bowdoin as well as Colby have great attendance. We have to talk and move." In wins against NESCAC foes Colby and Middlebury, Bowdoin's women's basketball team drew crowds of 530 and 430 respectively. After the contest against Bowdoin on Friday night, Tufts travels to another rural part of Maine on Saturday to battle the second most ferocious beast in the NESCAC, the White Mules. While their name might radiate an aura of weakness, beware the most dangerous of these Mules is Sarah Walsh. In 19 games, Walsh averages 17.2 points per game and to complete the double-double, pulls down 11.4 rebounds per game. "Colby has some big players who will be tough to guard," Berube said. "Both teams have good outside shooters." Regardless of Bowdoin's rank and Colby's success throughout the season, Berube feels her team should not change its game plan. She holds fast to the same tenants, which have the Jumbos at 15-3 and ranked ninth in New England. "We need to defend like we know how to defend, get into the passing game and play good post defense," Berube said. "We also need to box out and run our break. We will see what happens from there. Same thing every game for me, I want us to play our best game night in and night out." Last Tuesday night's game against Lasell was too fast paced to give the Jumbos much opportunity to work on their half court offense. In response Berube worked on the motion offense with her team at practice this week in order to get some points off set plays this weekend. "Lately it hasn't been as good as I want it to be," Berube said. "We are not executing like we could. We have been working on our offense in practice. We will be okay to execute when it comes down to it." Berube feels her squad can run with the NESCAC elite, but in order to pull out a victory the team must play consistently for the entire 40 minutes of the game. "Our goal is to work on defensive principles and give them a good game," Berube said. We have nothing to lose. I'd like to see a great competitive game."

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Jumbos prepare for another big NESCAC weekend

February 6

The men's basketball team brings its 9-10 overall record (3-2 NESCAC) to Cousens Gymnasium this weekend in its second to last NESCAC weekend of the season. The Jumbos, currently fifth in the conference, face off against the Bowdoin Polar Bears tonight, and the Colby White Mules on Saturday afternoon. "We're really gearing up for these last two weeks of the season," coach Bob Sheldon said. "We have no more non-conference games left, it's all NESCAC now, and we need to take it one at a time, because if we win our games, we get in the playoffs. That's the bottom line." The Jumbos look to end their two game skid and climb back to .500 on the season Friday night against Bowdoin, a team that currently stands tied for eighth in the conference with a 7-12 overall record (1-5 NESCAC). The Polar Bears have lost ten of their last 12 contests. The Jumbos, who have won two out of the past three meetings with the Polar Bears, look to avenge last year's 19-point blowout. "We cannot afford to lose this game," Sheldon said. "They are lower than us in the standings, but we are preparing for this game like it's the national championship." Tufts looks to work the ball from the inside out against the Polar Bears, who have had trouble dealing with big men in the NESCAC. The Jumbo offense features sophomore center Craig Coupe, who averages 14 ppg and a 13th best in the nation 11rpg. The Jumbos also rely on the strong outside shooting of senior guard Mike McGlynn, Tufts' leading scorer with 18 ppg, who with 294 career three pointers, is just nine short off 20th on the all-time three-pointers made in Div. III history. "We are considerably bigger than they are," Sheldon said. "So we basically are going to pound the ball into our big guys inside and work our way out." The Polar Bears, because of their lack of size inside, are a team that loves to shoot the three. They average almost 20 three-point attempts a game, making 36 percent of them per contest. Less than 24 hours after the game against Bowdoin, the Jumbos return to Cousens Gymnasium to face the Colby White Mules, who are tied for eight place in the conference with Bowdoin. Tufts and Colby have squared off four times over the past three seasons with both teams coming away with two victories. The White Mules are 5-13 overall (1-5, NESCAC) this season, but have lost seven of their last eight matchups. Similar to Bowdoin, Colby is a smaller team that loves to shoot the three pointer. They have taken 314 three pointers thus far this season, but have converted only 30 percent of them. "Because both teams take a lot of three's, its kind of nice that we can get ready for both of them with one plan," Sheldon said. "We've worked on different defensive techniques this week, but basically we need to get in their shooters faces and not give them any open looks." In practice, Sheldon concentrated mainly on defensive strategy, not really worrying so much about offense. "We're sort of letting the offense take care of itself. We're scoring 80 points a night, and nobody's really been able to stop us," Sheldon said.

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News

University gets new wave of trustees

February 6

The Board of Trustees will hold its most important annual meeting tomorrow, marking the first time that most of this year's seven new trustees will come together to plan the University's long-term future. The Board is likely to experience a period of transition with a large percentage of new members _ seven out of a total of 37 _ as well as the departure of its chairman, Nathan Gantcher (LA '62), at the end of the academic year. It remains to be seen how the dynamics of the Board will change, but new trustee Deborah Jospin (LA '80) said, "there is a leadership structure in place on the Board which really seems respectful of new voices." The names of several new trustees may be familiar to Tufts students. Trustee Dan Kraft's (LA '87) family donated funds for the Kraft athletic field during his sophomore year. Kraft also directs the Kraft Group, a private holding company best known for its ownership of the New England Patriots. "I feel like a freshman just walking into orientation," Kraft said of joining the Board. Kraft met his wife during his freshman year in Carmichael Hall and has an interest in athletics and student life at Tufts. Another trustee whose name students may recognize is Fares I. Fares (LA '92), who created the Issam M. Fares lecture series in honor of his father. Fares studied art history at Tufts and currently directs Wedge Advisors Ltd., a London-based investment group. The existing Board is also joined by two new alumni trustees this year, Jospin and Edward M. Swan, Jr. (LA '63). Seeing Tufts as "a great University that has not publicized enough," Jospin hopes to reengage alumni and expand upon Tufts' long history of encouraging public service. Tufts should "educate students for a lifetime of civic and community engagement," Jospin said, a goal she has tried to nurture by serving on the national advisory council for the University College for Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS). She emphasized the need for a strong student-trustee relationship. "The University exists to serve students; the trustees exist to serve the University," Jospin said. Swan is the second new alumni trustee to join the Board and he is also involved in many other public service activities. Swan also serves on the Board of Trustees at Dillard University and has worked with the Boston Boys & Girls Club and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Many of the new trustees have long-standing relationships with the University. Though he is now at U-Mass Boston, new trustee Dr. Bernard Harleston was hired as an Assistant Professor of Psychology in 1956. Harleston moved on to a number of positions during his 25-year career at Tufts, including serving as Dean of Arts & Sciences. Harleston maintains many contacts, which might prove useful as a trustee. At a recent trustee forum, for example, Harleston said that University Professor and Former Provost Sol Gittleman was the best psychology student he ever had. Another trustee who has seen Tufts' development over the last 30 years is A. Dana Callow, Jr. (LA '74). The parent of a current Tufts student, Callow has been affiliated with Tufts through the administrations of its last four presidents and holds a particular interest in building the endowment and strengthening the University connection with alumni. Other trustees have newer relationships with Tufts. Karen Mavrides became affiliated with the University when her daughters attended during the 1990s. Mavrides, a resident of Greece, now hosts dinners for Tufts groups at her home in Athens to raise interest for the University in the Mediterranean. Alumni trustees are elected by the body of living alumni _ over 60,000 _ who receive ballots to choose from among the nominees. The Alumni Association works with the trustees to select candidates that will complement the Board's strengths and weakness. A separate trustee committee is currently working on finding the next trustee chairman, who will be chosen from the current 37 members.

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News

In CARA awards, eight nominations of Tufts a cappella groups

February 6

Tufts' a cappella groups have received more nominations than groups from any other university for the 2003 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards. The Contemporary A Cappella Society (CASA), a non-profit organization devoted to fostering and promoting a cappella music, recently announced the nominations for the awards and Tufts' Shir Appeal, Essence, and The Amalgamates collectively received eight nominations in the collegiate categories. Founded in 1992, the society consists of over 50 judges worldwide. The industry professionals listen to every released a cappella recording in each given year before making its awards selection. Shir Appeal, Tufts' only Jewish a cappella group, previously received a CARA nomination in 2000 for arrangement for the song "When You Believe" from their second CD What Are You Saying...?. However, this year was the first time a Jewish a cappella group has received a nomination for Best Mixed Collegiate Album. "Shir Appeal is absolutely thrilled," said the group's president, Shula Waldoks. "We work very hard on making our albums and put a lot of time and effort into recording. It is really a wonderful feeling to have the album recognized." At the same time, the group feels excited about the promise that such a nomination entails. "We hope it opens up the door for other Jewish groups and raises the bar for the standard of Jewish a cappella," Waldoks said. The group's song "K'mo B'tmunah," from the lauded album Unpealed, was also nominated for Best Mixed Collegiate Song. The Amalgamates, Tufts oldest co-ed a cappella group, were equally honored by CASA's accolades. Adam Pulver, who served as tour manager, historian, and co-producer of the nominated album Bamboo, credits soloist Becky Rubin for her second award nomination. Rubin won the award for Best Mixed Collegiate Soloist two years ago for her rendition of "I'm Your Baby Tonight." This year, her version of "Killing Me Softly" was nominated for the Best Soloist Award and for Best Mixed Collegiate Song. Although extremely excited about the nominations, Pulver explains that the awards themselves do not have any influence on their musical production: "There are many avenues for accolades in the a cappella community, and often there are conflicts between the different awards. We aim to please ourselves musically and to have a great time performing. In doing so, we know that the audience will also appreciate our music." Essence, the Tufts all female a cappella group dedicated to singing music of the African Diaspora, received four nominations for their second album At Last. Rael Nelson-James was nominated for Best Female Collegiate Soloist for "Mary." Dionna Avery and Sarah Sutton's arrangement of "It's Love" was nominated for Best Female Arrangement; "Summer Rain" received a nomination for Best Female Collegiate Song, and At Last was nominated for Best Female Collegiate Album. Business manager Sarah Sutton expressed surprise as well as gratitude for the nominations. "I didn't think we'd be put in the arranging category. We think it's an opportunity for us to get out there and for more people to hear about us and be interested in listening to our music." Like Shir Appeal, Essence sees the nominations as a statement that "you can be a group that only sings its particular genre and yet still be nominated with all the other big groups in the other schools." The CARA nominations were not the first recognition the three groups received this year. The Best of College A Cappella CD (BOCA) compilation includes two of the CARA-nominated songs, "Killing Me Softly" and "K'mo B'tmunah." The Recording A Cappella Review Board also named Bamboo and At Last as two of the best a cappella albums of the year. "We are most proud about the fact that Tufts' A Cappella groups are always represented both on BOCA and in the CARAs," Waldoks explained. "The Amalgamates have always set a high standard, and this year, Essence, the Mates, and Shir Appeal are all representing Tufts in terms of CARA nominations. Tufts produce good a cappella, and we have had a great role."

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