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Women improve to 10-2

January 22

The women's basketball team improved its overall record to 10-2 on Tuesday with a 65-52 victory over non-conference opponent the Brandeis Judges. In addition to playing nearly impenetrable defense, Tufts excelled on the offensive end with four players ending with double-digit point totals. With the win, the Jumbos are off to their best start since the 1985-1986 season. Brandeis (8-4) opened the game with a quick 7-0 run catching the Jumbo defense on its heels. "They came out of the blocks really well," coach Carla Berube said. "We had to get our composure and start making plays defensively." After falling behind 11-4 just over five minutes into the game, Tufts recovered to score 23 points in the next eight minutes to take the lead. Brandeis rallied back at the end of the half and were within three points (33-30) of the Jumbos with just under 20 seconds left, mostly as a result of play from junior co-captains Jayne Wise and Danielle Fitzpatrick. Just when it appeared that the Tufts might let the Judges back into the game, the team scored two quick baskets in the final 15 seconds of the half to give them a 37-30 cushion at intermission. It was the first time this season Brandeis had not led in a game at halftime. The Jumbos came out in the second half prepared to continue where they had left off in the previous frame. "We knew we had to play as hard as we could and out rebound them," sophomore Allison Love said. "We wanted to take a bigger lead and blow them away leaving no second guessing down the stretch. We really wanted this game because they beat us right at the end last year." Despite shooting a paltry 23.5% from the field during the second half, Tufts blew the game open as a result of its stifling backcourt defense. The team allowed just one Brandeis field goal in 14 attempts during the first ten minutes of the half and was also able to capitalize on a number of steals and rebounds in its own zone. "We finally really boxed out on the defensive end in the second half," Berube said. "The 'D' buckled down and did a great job getting the rebounds and running with them." With 10:30 left, Tufts appeared to be running away with the game as it boasted a seemingly insurmountable 52-34 lead. "The best part of our game is our fast breaks. When those started to happen, we began to pull ahead," Berube said. But, the game was far from over. In much the same way as they did in the first half, the Judges picked away at the deficit. At one point, Tufts' lead was cut from an imposing 18 to a shaky eight with 3:37 remaining. "We let down a bit; that tends to happen with us. A good team like Brandeis is going to make a good run." Berube said. "We realized against Wesleyan that the game is not over no matter how much time is left on the clock. That happened last night as well." Despite their late run, victory was not in the cards for the visiting Judges. Though determined, the team was frustrated and committed numerous mental mistakes down the stretch. Many of these mistakes resulted in foul shots for Tufts, which drained nine late-game free throws to solidify the win. "Our free throws were not so good overall last night," Berube said. "But Hillary (Dunn) hit some big ones down the stretch that really helped us." Four players contributed over ten points each. Love amassed a game-high 14 points to go along with ten rebounds. Krissy Neirenberg and junior Erin Buckley each notched 12 points, and freshman Julia Verplank checked in with 11. "The great thing about our team is that someone always steps up and contributes. Everyone plays really well and really hard. We are unstoppable when everyone plays together," Love said. Tuesday's triumph avenged last year's 53-63 loss at Brandeis. The Jumbos now hold a 3-1 record against the Judges over the past four seasons. Tufts hopes to carry the momentum from this win into tonight's game away versus the 5-7 Gordon Fighting Scots. "The goal is always the same for us: to get better," Berube said. "We want to play 40 minutes the way we can. Gordon's a good team, but we don't look at the opponent. We just care about what we do."

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News

MFA brings Egypt back to life

January 22

Walk in, flash your ID card at the hostess manning the admission booth, and you'll be let in VIP-style. You can even give a little wave to the other patrons, wink at the guard, let them know that, hey, you do this sort of thing all the time. This is one of the perks of being a Tufts student: free admission to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA). But few seem to take advantage of it. A few seconds walk and one quick right later, you'll find yourself standing at the base of Nubia, the kingdom that stretched below Upper Egypt for thousands of years and, though not as well-known as the Egyptian civilization itself, derived wonders equal to its northern neighbors. The Nubian pieces are fascinating, but they are not your goal today. Glancing briefly over the carved figurines and the remarkable preserved pottery, you make your way down the exhibit and through a glass door. Then, you take a quick left to find yourself in the middle of Ancient Egypt itself. With no one else in the room, it's easy to imagine that you're living a scene straight out of Hollywood fiction. Picture the mummies sitting up, coming alive, giving you accounts of civilizations long since vanquished by the passage of time. Yet, standing under the dim lights and shadowed walls of the MFA's Egyptian Funerary exhibit, it is impossible to shake the feeling that the real story is already there, in the carved figurines, the delicately adorned funeral shrouds, the obelisks and hieroglyphs and gigantic stone coffins, a morbid retelling of millennia long past. For a civilization so accomplished, so capable of great things that they could create pyramids stretching to the sky and minute figurines withstanding the wear of centuries, the Egyptians were almost unnaturally entranced with death. They spent their entire lives questing for an afterlife, wanting to preserve the things they loved so dearly about this world to comfort them in the next. Consequently, almost paradoxically, the most effective way to learn about the lives of the ancient Egyptians is to study them in death, to make sense of the elaborate funeral rituals and burial chambers and to translate what we find there into knowledge about their way of life. Upon entering the funerary exhibit, the most striking feature lies in the center of the room, an elaborate sarcophagus set complete with a well-preserved mummy. Its sides are covered in pictures and pictographs, as finely decorated in death as any of today's creations are in life. It is almost difficult to comprehend the true importance of the hieroglyphic carvings _ for the ancient Egyptians, art and knowledge were so finely intertwined that one could not be separated from the other, so much so that their written language was one of pictures. Every sketched scarab, every winged eye, every engraved image from the imprints of the gods to the smallest circle design has an elaborate meaning, designed to protect and preserve and guide its owner on his or her way to the afterlife. The rest of the exhibit is equally compelling, and no less grand than the Funerary section. There are carved images of gods from Horus to Ra, funeral masks and funeral shrouds, another sarcophagus, figurines that once lined the inside of tombs and pyramids. Two more mummies lie carefully preserved on a right-side display case, complete with portraits in the shape of shrouds that show what they might have looked like in life. The smaller of the pair is that of a child, hard though it is to imagine that someone could live and die so young and so long ago and yet last for so long, and withstand the turning of so many years. Everything about this exhibit amazes and exhilirates the viewer. As you stands in the middle of the museum's Egyptian exhibit, you cannot help but think that perhaps these extraordinary ancient people accomplished their life's goal after all, their accomplishments in death outliving time to teach the people of today so much about their past.

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News

Jumbos oust 5th-ranked Lyons

January 22

The men's basketball team moved to above .500 for the first time since the beginning of the season with a convincing 95-82 victory this past Tuesday night at Wheaton College. The Jumbos have won five out of their last six contests, including three straight, and moving to 7-6 overall on the season (2-0, NESCAC) with the victory. In the victory, senior co-captain Brian Shapiro notched the 1,000th point of his collegiate career, joining classmate Mike McGlynn as the only current Jumbos to achieve such a feat. "Brian has had an amazing career," senior co-captain Jim Wilson said. "He's played great all four years here to achieve this. He's an extremely humble guy and a great team player, so he didn't make too big a deal out of it, but I feel really awesome for him more than anything that he was able to achieve this personal feat." The Jumbos, riding their two-game winning streak, went into the game unintimidated by Wheaton's 12-2 record and its fifth-place ranking in New England. "They were 12-2 coming in, but if you look at their schedule, you'll see that they didn't play the best quality teams," Wilson said. "We were not too intimidated to play them, because we know that if we play our game, we are hard to beat. This was definitely a good confidence builder." With seven minutes to play in the first half, the Lyons pulled ahead 26-25, after both teams had gone on mini-runs for the first 13 minutes. But that was the last time the Lyons would hold the lead, as Tufts caught fire and went on a 22-4 run to close out the first. "The key to that run was defense. Guys like Craig Coupe, Reggie (Stovell), and Blaine (Lay) and Dan (Martin), the freshmen all played great D during the run," Wilson said. "When we get stops, our shooters, like Mike McGlynn, get open looks and just two shots can lead to a 6-0 run." Despite being down by 17 to start the second, Wheaton did not give up. The team began the half with seven unanswered points to cut Tufts' lead to 10, 47-37, with fifteen minutes to go in the game. But the Lyons would get no closer, as the Jumbos continued their hot shooting through the rest of the half, hitting 18 of 33 of their shots in the second period. The Jumbos extended their lead to as much as 27 points midway through the second half, but again, the Lyons never gave up, outscoring Tufts 27-14 in the final ten minutes of the game. Tufts benefited from solid performances by several different players. McGlynn led the team with 23 points and posted three rebounds and four assists. Wilson added 17 points and seven boards. Shapiro and sophomore Reggie Stovell netted 13 and 12 points respectively, while sophomore center Craig Coupe pulled down a game high eight rebounds. While the Jumbos 7-6 record does not suggest a strong team, the win against Wheaton moved the team up to number four in the New England men's basketball power rankings. These rankings are not only a measure of a team's record, but also of the strength of its schedule and its margin of victory. The Jumbos have one of the toughest schedules in all of New England, and while the team's record isn't stellar, the strong competition has helped it prepare for NESCAC play. "Everything before NESCAC play is to build up confidence and team unity," Wilson said. "Some choose to play easy teams and have 12-2 records going into conference play, but Coach Sheldon has done a great job to schedule tough games to prepare us for one of the toughest conferences in all of D3." With ten games left this season, of which seven are against NESCAC opponents, making this final stretch extremely crucial for the Jumbos. "We have a lot of confidence as a team," Wilson said. "We're playing together, and know that we can be very successful in the conference if we continue to play our game, just like we have been during this current streak."

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News

No policy changes planned in response to fire

January 22

With many trying to find someone or something to blame for the death of junior Wendy Carman, it is becoming apparent that there are no easy solutions to the problem off-campus housing. Administrators said this week that Tufts will not be changing its housing policies after the fire which claimed junior Wendy Carman's life. The state of housing in the area around Tufts has been poor for years, but the Medford Building Authority says that there is not much it can do to improve conditions. The loft where Carman lived did not meet building regulations for a habitable space, according to Medford Building Commissioner Paul Mochi. The only way out was via a stairway, which Mochi said does not meet the building code, which requires a structure to have at least two egresses. "The off-campus housing situation is tough," Mochi said. "The only time we can go in is when [residents] call." Neighborhood inspections are impossible. Students who live in rundown, and sometimes even dangerous housing situations do not call authorities for help because they are not aware of their rights, senior Emily Bernstein said. In the house where Bernstein lived last year, the water heater leaked, there were electrical fires and water seeped from floor to floor. "Maybe we should be better educated, but we're not home buyers," Berstein said. "You just don't know what to look for." Bernstein said the University should take a more proactive role in teaching students what they need to know to live off-campus. Amie Prudhomme, a spokesman for the Hillsides-Tufts Area Neighborhood Association agreed. "Tufts says it's not the surrogate parents, [but the University] does have to take some responsibilities," Prudhomme said. He feels that Tufts should not enroll more students than it can house. There are many others clamoring for Tufts to take a more active role in helping students with their off-campus living arrangements, but Dean of Students Reitman does not know what more the University can do. "We can offer advice, we can provide checklists, we can be helpful," Reitman said. "Ultimately, it's always going to come down to your own continued vigilance to ensure your safety." The Office of Off-Campus Housing, which helps students find non-university accommodation, has an unstable history. The office was dismantled in the late 1990s, and a coordinator was hired to reinstate it in the spring of 2000. The coordinator left last year, and the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) did not initially see a need to hire someone new for the position. But ResLife Director Yolanda King, who assumed her post at the beginning of this year, said she hopes to fill the position by the end of February. ResLife plans to hold information sessions for students this semester to help inform them of off-campus safety issues. It already provides checklists on its website for students seeking off-campus housing. ResLife has been planning the changes since the beginning of last year, and the office has not made any decisions in response to Carman's death. "We already had an action plan outlined before the unfortunate incident," King said. "There are no immediate changes that are going to take place," other than those already outlined. King did say that she was open to suggestions, and that ResLife is prepared and willing to provide students with more assistance and guidance. The University is facing attacks from the Boston Globe and neighborhood groups for its student housing policy. Globe columnist Eileen McNamara wrote in yesterday's edition that Tufts' housing policy supported greedy and careless landlords by forcing some students to live off-campus. From Prudhomme's experience in Medford, students do not take responsibility for their houses, from garbage collection to parking regulations to fire safety. He said that Tufts should not accept more students than it is able to house on campus, especially after a death to a member of the student body. But such thinking is not realistic in the short term, according to Reitman. "I think they're going to feel the University should provide students all the housing... [but] there are no universities in the city that don't have neighborhoods provide some of the housing," he said. Neither Reitman nor King believes that there will be a significant change in the number of students seeking on-campus housing, despite Carman's death. Reitman said that next year will be much like last year, with more seniors wanting to live on campus, forcing juniors to either go abroad or live off campus. But most of the current sophomores interviewed for this article did not have many safety concerns about off-campus living. "I feel as though it was an unfortunate accident, but I don't think that it changes much for me," sophomore Laura Frye said. The fire "will definitely raise awareness among landlords and I'm sure houses that are unsafe will be remedied as a result." Mochi said that the type of residence that Carman was in is by no means typical of the area. "The particular case was fortunately unique... I can't remember a situation similar to what happened to this poor girl," Mochi said. But some students believe their personal feelings or the state of off-campus housing in the end do not matter. "It is not like I have many other options," sophomore Caitlin White said. "Where would I live if I didn't live off-campus next year? I'm forced to be comfortable living in an off-campus apartment."

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News

Hockey finishes road stretch with a tie

January 22

The hockey team finished its six game road stretch Tuesday night with a 4-4 tie at Suffolk University. The non-league game brought the Jumbos record to 4-4-3 and did not affect their sixth place standing in the NESCAC. While pleased it did not lose the game, the team certainly was not ecstatic that it had to settle for a tie. "We didn't play well at all," senior co-captain Mike Carceo said. "We played down to their level, and that can't happen." Tufts went into the game at somewhat of a disadvantage with players missing time due to injury. The Jumbos were without their starting goalie, junior Ben Crapser, as well as one of their leading scorers, sophomore forward Gino Rotondi. But for those who played, these injuries could not be used as an excuse. "We can't blame the injuries," sophomore forward Shawn Sullivan said. "We expected to beat these guys pretty good even without those guys, but they just wanted it more than we did." Often when a team comes back from being down and achieves a tie, it can be encouraging. But the Tufts was the team in this game that could not hold the lead and even though it out shot Suffolk 47-34, it was forced to settle for the tie. Although they outshot Suffolk 15-12, the first period started out slow for the Jumbos. They went to intermission down 1-0 on a Sean Delaney goal past freshman goalie Tim Kane, who was making his collegiate debut. "We came out flat in the first period," sophomore forward John Hurd said. In the second period, the teams played more evenly. Freshman defenseman Pat Walsh scored the first goal of his career 2:26 into the period on passes from freshman forward Rick Baker and junior forward Timm Schatz to knot the game. Twelve minutes later, Tufts went up 2-1 on Sullivan's fifth goal of the year, assisted by freshman forwards Matt McCarthy and Ken Cleary. But only three minutes later, the Rams' Pat Donovan would score to knot the game at 2-2. The third period was characterized by back and forth play and the inability of either team to gain any momentum before its opponent would thwart it. McCarthy continued his stellar debut season with his fifth goal of the year 2:10 into the period. The 3-2 lead would not last for long, though, as Suffolk's Ricky Morrell snuck the puck past Kane five minutes later. The Jumbos did not let that discourage them though, as less than a minute after Morrell's goal, Cleary netted his third tally of the year on assists from Sullivan and McCarthy. But the Rams would not allow the Jumbos to keep them down. Tufts junior defenseman John Van Pelt was called for interference with Tufts up 4-3 and only 4:59 left in regulation. Suffolk made the most of the power play opportunity, as Morrell netted his second of the game with only two seconds remaining on the Jumbos' penalty kill. Overtime proved to be a stalemate, even though the Jumbos out shot the Rams 5-1 in the session. The team was displeased with its inability to put the other team away. "After a tough loss [last Saturday at Skidmore 3-2], we needed to win this one to start a winning streak," Hurd said. "A tie is unacceptable." Sullivan agreed. "We needed an insurance goal or two, and we couldn't get any," he said. "We didn't have that killer instinct, but we're going to need to find it before this weekend." This weekend holds two of the Jumbos biggest and toughest games of the season. They play host to Bowdoin (10-2-0, ranked #7 in the country) only to follow it up by seeing Colby (9-3-0, ranked #11 in the country) invade Malden Arena on Saturday. The Jumbos know that only bringing their best game to the rink will produce wins in these two games. "We have to play up to our potential," Carceo said. "If we do that, as well as learn from the mistakes we've made the last couple of games, we should be able to get some points out of the weekend."

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News

Women's squash down but not out

January 22

The women's squash team fell to Wesleyan for the second time this season 3-6, and to Mt. Holyoke 2-7 last weekend at the Amherst Invitational. Although their 2-8 record is far from par, the Jumbos, who are Div. I in squash, have encountered all top- notch opponents. While the squad had few hopes of victory over the weekend, one of the few bright spots was an unexpected string of victories by upstart sophomore Eliza Drachman-Jones. Over the weekend she doubled her previous season win total of two. Drachman-Jones had lost her previous match against Wesleyan's Maya Roberts 3-0 in December, but similar to a big brother beating his younger brother in a game of basketball in the backyard, she was unknowingly trained by Roberts. All the hard work Drachman-Jones put in to prepare for last weekend's match paid off as she defeated Roberts 3-2. "Because I lost to Maya at the beginning of the season, I especially wanted to win this match," Drachman-Jones said. "I knew that it was going to be tough, but I was able to remember some of her weaknesses from the previous match, so I used that to my advantage." Drachman-Jones showed strong determination in pulling out a comeback victory. The match started with Drachman-Jones splitting the first four games until she finally dispatched Roberts in the fifth game. "I was down 4 or 5 points in three of the games, but I tried not to let that bother me," Drachman-Jones said. "Instead of getting frustrated when I lost a point, I focused on how I was going to win the next one." "Eliza is very competitive in that she wants to win. You can tell that she wants it out there on the court. She sets a very good example to other players," senior co-captain Winnie So said. Sophomore Nicole Arens, who plays the number three spot, and So at the number one spot accounted for the other Jumbo victories against Wesleyan. Despite losing 2-7 to Mt. Holyoke, the team was happy with its performance. "Yes, we played very well against Mt Holyoke, but with a full line-up we can beat them," coach Doug Eng said. "Are we satisfied? No. We need a full line-up and then let's see if we can win." The team has enjoyed a recent surge from Drachman-Jones (six spot), senior Emma Fletcher (seven spot) and freshman Sarah Lucas (eight spot). Their combined record over the weekend was 3-3, accounting for three out of the five individual wins. "Our numbers seven through nine are fairly inexperienced but it turns out some teams are less experienced," Eng said. "At full strength, we'd like to be competitive at every position." Although she lost both of her matches, senior Emma Fletcher sent both to five games. "Emma is a fighter who may be half-down but doesn't know when to stop," Eng said. "That's exactly what you want from your athletes." Fletcher's play over the last few matches has provided a definite boost for the team. "Emma played extremely well and was determined not to give up," Drachman-Jones said. "As the underdog in both of our matches, it was great to see such determination."

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News

Comparative Religion Department still without chair

January 22

Despite hopes that Professor Mohamed Mahmoud would overcome visa problems and return to Tufts this semester, the Sudanese national is still stuck outside the country. Mahmoud, the chair of the Comparative Religions department and its resident expert on Islam and modernity, left Tufts for the 2001-2002 academic year to teach at Oxford University. But the Immigration and Naturalization Service tightened immigration regulations after Sept. 11 and Mahmoud has been unable to obtain a visa to re-enter the country. Professor Joseph Walser, who is acting chair of the department, said that there is no news from the INS about when Mahmoud would able to return. He was told that a background check would take six months but nothing has yet happened. "It is ironic that [Mahmoud] is still in England because at this time, with everything going on in the world, students need to learn about Islam, his area of expertise," Walser said. He said the ordeal was "really frustrating." Last semester, Tufts scheduled Mahmoud to teach two classes, hoping he would return. But the department has had to keep Harvard professor Alnoor Danani to teach Mahmoud's classes. While previously a visa would take about ten days to process, the time has increased drastically, especially for nationals of the 26 countries identified by the State Department as potential harbors for terrorism, including Iran, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Under the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Bill, signed earlier this year, visa applicants from those countries are subject to an additional 20 days of security screening and scrutiny by US officials. But the reforms to the system of issuing visas lead to a backlog, which may have delayed Mahmoud's return. Mahmoud's absence has had a substantial effect on the Comparative Religions department because of its small size _ there are only three-tenure track professors, two adjunct professors and eight teaching assistants. The small department is seeking to expand by attracting more students, partly "by building a curriculum attractive to students." Some administrators have suggested amalgamating comparative religions and another department, such as history. Former professor of comparative religions Howard Hunter, who retired in 1996, campaigned for this idea with the help of many students. Mahmoud was hired to chair the department in 1997 and Professor Walser was hired in the fall of 1998. Peter Theusen was also hired as the department's resident Christianity expert at about the same time. Walser described all the hirings as "a lot of new professors in a very short amount of time." The three tenure track professors will come up for tenure soon. Walser does not expect the department to hire new professors anytime soon. "All departments want more professors," Walser said, but that doesn't mean they can hire them.

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News

OCH must take action

January 22

As the community mourns the loss of Wendy Carman, the administration must commit to a plan of action in response to the tragic fire that took her life. While the Off-Campus Housing Office (OCH) publishes materials and offers guidance for students seeking off-campus housing, the circumstances of Wendy Carman's death should serve as a wakeup call. The current relationship between OCH and the students it serves is unsatisfactory. Students are not getting the information they need. OCH needs to aggressively inform rising juniors of the safety procedures and inspections necessary for choosing and maintaining an off-campus house. The OCH website provides all the necessary information, but it requires students to seek that information out and certainly does not reach everyone. In order to guarantee that all students are receiving the guidance they need, OCH should distribute copies of their safety checklists to all sophomores living in residence halls, ideally when housing lottery numbers are released and the search for housing begins. It goes without saying that college students are old enough to care for themselves, but most do not have experience negotiating such large scale arrangements. How many students are familiar with all of the fine points of tenant rights and landlord responsibilities? Most students living off-campus know if they have smoke alarms, but how many know if they have alarms for carbon monoxide poisoning and other safety hazards? It is unfair to ask college students to choose and maintain safe living spaces without actively providing them with the means to do so. Nobody is asking for a babysitter, but at the same time, students don't turn 20 and magically gain all knowledge of how to live on their own.

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News

A tragic loss

January 20

Last Saturday morning's fire on Harris Road was one of the darkest tragedies to affect Tufts in recent memory. The Daily expresses its deepest condolences to the family and friends of junior Wendy Carman, who died in the blaze. Though nothing can temper the grief, Tufts is fundamentally a close-knit community, where support from friends, counselors, and chaplains is always available. It is through the help of others that we can find the strength to persevere. It is possible that insufficient fireproofing and a lack of exit routes may have compounded this tragedy. Many students are forced into leasing arrangements for the first time due to dorm shortages on campus, and may not be familiar with local fire or safety regulations. The Office of Off-Campus Housing needs to become much more diligent in identifying students who are planning to move off-campus and informing them about home safety inspections before they sign a lease. In addition, the Office of Off-Campus must devote more attention to facilitating relationships between the University and area landlords, in order to ensure that the most stringent safety regulations are adhered to. When students' lives hang in the balance, no precaution is unnecessary.

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News

Students look off campus to avoid fitness rush

January 20

Every January, the Gantcher Family Sports Center fills with people trying to fulfill their New Year's resolution to get in shape. But instead of putting up with crowded exercise rooms and lines to use equipment, a growing number of people are opting to exercise in private gyms off campus, despite the expense and requisite commute. "I had been working-out at Tufts for three years and I got sick of waiting for all the cardiovascular machines and getting kicked out by the athletes," said senior Julie Sulman, who is now a member of Bally Total Fitness on Boston Ave. in Medford. "The hours at my gym are better and I like the classes they offer." Off-campus fitness centers like Somerville's Above the Rest Health & Fitness are becoming increasingly attractive, especially to students, according to the gym's manager Ralph, who did not give his last name. The gym, he said, "offers plenty of equipment and you don't have to wait." Above the Rest currently has about four members who are Tufts students. Several dozen Tufts students and staff make the trip to the all-female Healthworks Fitness Center in Porter Square for the center's convenience and variety of options, according to General Manager Beth Gaudet. "I think they enjoy the amount of equipment we have," Gaudet said. "We offer so many treadmills, elliptical climbers, Nordic tracks, and unlimited yoga, boxing, and step classes on the hour, every day." Many former Gantcher-goers are also joining Sulman to work out at Bally. The Gantcher Center was designed to handle 600 people a day. But with numbers at Gantcher reaching 1,200 in one day during the first weeks of the semester, it is easy to understand why many find the Tufts gym undesirable, Athletic Trainer Michael Pimentel said. "[Overcrowding has] been a growing concern over time because fitness is no longer a trend," he said. "It has really become a lifestyle." The university has plans for a 2,500 square-foot balcony which would accommodate more aerobic equipment, according to Pimentel. "If money were not an issue, we'd probably have that tomorrow," he said. Until then, the students must put up with crowded exercise rooms and lines. For students who join off-campus gyms, the wider selection of equipment, better hours, personal attention, and more fitness options make the monthly membership fee of $40 to $50 worthwhile But Ralph suspects there may be another reason. He said some universities do not provide adequate supervision for their workout facilities. "Kids are getting hurt," he said. "It makes a big difference to not be in a room where no one's helping you." But Smith-King said that safety was not a problem at Tufts. "No one's allowed in there without supervision," she said. "Mike [Pimentel] is very meticulous about safety." Pimentel, whose 15-year background in fitness includes a specialty in sports medicine and rehab, said that he deals with all technique and program design questions. The fitness center also provides orientation in how to use equipment and also how to spot. Machines are checked and replaced regularly at the Tufts fitness center and students say they feel safe in that environment. "I don't think safety's an issue at all," sophomore Farzana Hoque said. Ultimately, the decision to go elsewhere comes down to personal preference, Smith-King said. "But if I was a student spending $36,000, I'd take advantage of the free fitness center." Some colleges will admit members of surrounding towns to their fitness centers, but Tufts opens its facilities to only a small number of Medford residents living on select nearby streets to avoid exacerbating the overcrowding problem. At other colleges, private fitness clubs have resented this gesture toward the surrounding community, The Boston Globe reported last May. Colleges, the private clubs say, "have an unfair competitive advantage." At Pennsylvania State University, local gym owners voiced concerns about a possible loss of business when the university began to expand its fitness facilities in 2001. But at Tufts, local fitness centers do not believe they suffer any loss of business because of the limited open-door policy. "We're general friendly neighbors," Healthwork's Guadet said. "I've never heard of the Tufts fitness center," said Heidi Semenchuk, the manager of Medford's Curves for Women. "I didn't think that non-students could go to most university gyms," she said. Most non-students cannot, Smith-King said, and she said she does not think that off-campus gyms view Tufts as a competitor. "We're all trying to educate students about how to eat healthy and exercise," she said. But both Guadet and Ralph explained that their centers offer unique products, which, in their opinions, had the University center beat. "I think [the Tufts] facilities are adequate for a lot of the teams for strength training," Guadet said. "But I don't think they're at the point to have the ability to offer regular classes." But even if students decide to exercise off campus, it still serves the ultimate goals of the Athletics Department, Smith-King said. "I think it's great that students [join other gyms]. It's wonderful that they're attempting to stay fit and doing what they need to do to reach their goals." The majority of students value convenience over some of the more expensive options, however, and are satisfied with the Tufts facilities. "I think even though the gym can get really crowded, if you just go at the right time it's really not too bad," senior Jeff Fox said. "It's free, it's close, and it's got the equipment I'm looking for. It's a good deal."

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News

Hockey splits weekend games

January 20

This past weekend the hockey team continued a long and tiring road trip, traveling to face ECAC/NESCAC foes Mass. College and Skidmore. Though the Jumbos returned home victorious against Mass. College 5-3 to create a three game winning streak, that streak would be snapped the next day in a 3-2 loss against Skidmore. Facing Skidmore on Saturday afternoon, the Jumbos were prepared for a difficult match-up. Though they only amassed a 3-9-1 record entering the game, the Thoroughbreds record was a deceiving indicator of their abilities. "I knew it would be a tough game because they've played everybody in the league tough," coach Brian Murphy said. Though the Jumbos were able to jump out to a 2-0 lead early in the game, they were unable to hold off a Skidmore rally. After a powerplay goal from sophomore John Hurd, Tufts increased its lead to 2-0 early into the second period on freshmen Zak Smotherman's first goal of the season and his collegiate career. Quickly responding to Smotherman's goal was Skidmore's Fred Orisa who scored only a minute after the Jumbos second goal. Entering the third period with a 2-1 lead, the Jumbos were unable to hold down the Thoroughbred's for their fourth consecutive victory. Despite Ben Crapser's 36 saves in the game, Skidmore was able to sneak two goals by its opponent to finish the third period with a 3-2 victory, its third in a row. Skidmore's newest winning streak is most impressive as it follows a previous eight game losing streak. The loss for the Jumbos dropped the team to 4-4-1 in the NESCAC and 4-4-2 overall. While the Jumbos felt that they had more skill and talent than Skidmore, it was the team's inability to keep up intensity that hurt it in the end. "We lacked the heart and intensity to hold them down," senior co-captain Chris Martin said. Penalties also hurt the Jumbos this weekend and did the most damage for the team against Skidmore. Tufts entered the game without Martin, who was out for misconduct in the previous Mass. College contest, and was plagued by multiple other penalties that broke the Jumbos intensity in the third period. "Whenever we'd get something going we'd get a penalty and everything would die down," Martin said. Working on playing a smarter game with fewer penalties is something Murphy will work on in future games. The team will also focus on improving its shot taking and defense by attempting to limit shots from opposing teams. Tufts only took 28 shots on Skidmore, compared to the Thoroughbred's 39 shots. Most notable was that the Jumbos were only able to muster up 9 shots in the final period. "The thing we need to do a lot more is shoot. We get outshot in most of our games," Martin said. "And against Skidmore, it started out where we got a ton of shots and then we just stopped." The Jumbos loss to Skidmore followed another difficult match-up on Friday night against Mass. College. Facing one of the most challenging rivals of the season, the Jumbos were pleased to leave Mass. College with a 5-3 victory. Squaring off on a small ice rink against a physical team, the Jumbos had to show off their offensive abilities in order to take down Mass. College. "[Mass College] may be the most difficult place to play in the league," Murphy said. Coming off a solid 7-3 victory against Conn. College the Tuesday before, the Jumbos were poised to continue their winning streak on Friday night. Despite the loss of Martin early in the first period on a game misconduct penalty, the team secured a victory behind Crapser's 49 saves. "Ben's playing really well for us. He's seeing the puck well and that's what you need to win in this league," Murphy said. Trailing 3-2 going into the third period, the Jumbos were able to score three goals to mount a comeback and leave with a 5-3 victory. Behind late into the third period, it was senior co-captain Mike Carceo's goal, followed only 36 seconds later by a score from freshman Matt McCarthy, that put the Jumbos up 4-3 with only four minutes left in the game. With only ten seconds left in the game, freshmen Rich Baker secured the Jumbos victory scoring on an empty net goal to put Tufts up 5-3. As the Jumbos rounded out the weekend with mixed feelings about the split games, they looked forward to the final contest of their six game road trip on Tuesday against Suffolk.

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News

The joke that has become the UN

January 20

For years now, the United Nations has become a biased institution which has shown little to no leadership in the world. But especially in the Middle East, the fallacies of the UN are magnified. I cannot help but laugh as daily, CNN reports of the UN inspectors bouncing from site to site in Iraq coming back empty handed. Even the 12,000 page report submitted to the United Nations was most likely the biggest waste of paper I have seen in a while considering that the report answered none of the questions the world had of Saddam Hussein. And now the UN boasts about how they are interviewing Iraqi scientists to "get to the bottom of it all". In reality, it is clear that any Iraqi scientist, who would even fathom deviating from Saddam's contention that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, would be assassinated with no hesitation at all. For years and years, the United Nations has allowed Saddam's dangerous weapons building to go unmonitored and now after about seven years, the inspectors are supposed to uncover it all. It just is not logical, yet the United Nations continues to believe that the inspectors are the answer to proving that Saddam is not responsible for any wrongdoing and does not support the use of force to disarm Saddam. But it is not just in Iraq, where the UN fails to lead. It is also with the Israeli Palestinian conflict as well. The United Nations can send out meaningless condemnations of Israel time and time again, but the result changes nothing on the ground. People are being killed and busses are being blown up, yet somehow, each time a bus is blown up, the UN fails to pass a resolution totally condemning Yassir Arafat or his Palestinian Authority. It only asks for peace and for human rights to be respected. I ask, what about the people who are sitting on a bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, are their human rights not infringed upon if and when the bus blows up? When a desperate suicide bomber takes his own life and the lives of those around him, the UN doesn't "feel" that human rights were violated, however; if the Israeli army takes a pre-emptive measure and kills a terrorist before he is able to strike, Israel is condemned. Where is the balance? Where is the fairness? How can the United Nations be trusted by Israel when it has in the past among other things declared that Zionism was a racist movement? It is absurd and unheard of. Even when Israel complies with a UN resolution like it's May 2000 pullback from Southern Lebanon, the UN fails to guarantee safety. After the Israeli army left the area, the UN forces responsible for safeguarding the Lebanese side of the border, allowed Hezbollah terrorists to abduct three Israeli soldiers during a routine border patrol. It was later revealed that these terrorists had the help of United Nation's workers and soldiers. Yet, no actions were taken to punish anyone in the incident and Israel still does not know the fate of these three young men. But still, the United Nations expects Israel to trust it and allow UN soldiers to guard their boarders with the Palestinian areas. Israel cannot and should not be expected to trust United Nations soldiers at this point. If the United Nations and the Palestinians want peace, they have a funny way of going about it. The problem lies in the notion that for years now, many have contended that the powerful Israel was bullying the weak Palestinian people; however, in all honesty it has really been the small Israeli nation against the world. Israel has been scrutinized, criticized and unfairly boycotted by many factions of the world and a lot of this has to do with the one-sided and narrow minded views of the United Nations. There has to be change. When a terrorist haven such as Syria, sits on the all important Security Council, something is very wrong. The United Nations needs some balance and reform to once again gain the respect of the world and especially the respect of those nations which it is trying to change and protect. Ilan Behm is a freshmanmajoring in Environmental Engineering.

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News

Trustees to hold invite-only forum

January 20

In an effort to improve the student body's relationship with the University's governing organization, students will get a chance to discuss their ideas and concerns with three members of the Board of Trustees at a forum next Monday. The forum was organized by the three representatives to the Board of Trustees from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate _ Matthew Kane, Sarah Sandison, and Raji Iyer _ and is by invitation only . The forum's audience is designed to be a "representative cross-section of Tufts," Kane said. "Because of the sheer limitations of the room, we had to limit the number of invitations to the event," he said. The actual selection of students will be left to their respective organizations. Invitations were sent to both formal organizations funded by the Senate and informal student groups, such as the Greek system, sports teams, the Ex College, and the Institute for Global Leadership, thereby ensuring "a wide variety of perspectives," Kane said. Kane, however, did say that not everyone was going to be able to go. Some segments of the campus, will not have specified representatives attending. "We wanted to make it as democratic and student driven as possible," Kane said. "We had to pick...at some point there was no way to be totally impartial." Organizers will attempt to avoid the confrontational tone of last February's trustee luncheon with students in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall. Students' aggressive questioning caused Board Chairman Nathan Gantcher to visit the hospital after the meeting, Trustee Norman Silverman said earlier. Three trustees will attend the forum: Dana Callow (LA '74), Bernard Harleston, and Irwin Heller (LA '67). Callow, a partner and founder of Boston Millennia Partners, and Harleston, a psychologist and former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Tufts, are newly-elected trustees. Heller has served on the Board since 1998, and garnered experience with student-trustee relations during his chairmanship of the presidential search committee two years ago. Students unable to obtain invitations via student groups can compete for a limited number of at-large seats through a lottery. Tables will be set up in the dining halls and the campus center on Tuesday to take students' entries. A limited number of administrators specializing in student services have also been invited to the forum. Many students are not familiar with the workings of the Board of Trustees, a problem that the Senate trustee representatives are trying to combat. The trustees focus on matters such as fiduciary responsibility, academic affairs, buildings and grounds, and the hiring and firing of important University personnel. "I think there really isn't a strong relationship with [the trustees]," sophomore Isabel Alonso said. A student-trustee forum would be helpful "because it allows one to converse about different issues face-to-face," Alonso said. The Senate trustee representatives will serve as the event's hosts, and they will welcome the crowd and set a number of group rules, designed to let as many people speak as possible. The trustee representatives will also remind attendees that "the tone of the evening is cordial," said Trustee Secretary Linda Dixon, who assisted in the event's planning. At Monday's forum, "people are welcome to speak their minds," Kane said, adding that he anticipates a "positive, upbeat, open event." The forum's format will allow open conversation between students and trustees, and will be followed by a brief reception. Though "problems probably won't get resolved on the spot," Dixon said, the purpose of the gathering is to allow for an exchange of ideas between students and trustees. There are no plans to make student-trustee forums a permanent addition to campus life. Administrators will evaluate the success of Monday's forum before making any further long-term plans. The last time students were able to extensively voice their concern to the trustees was during the search for a new president after John DiBiaggio's retirement. As chair of the presidential search committee, Heller held open forums for both students and faculty on the Boston, Medford, and Grafton campuses. At the November meeting of the Board of Trustees, Kane made a presentation to the Academic Affairs Committee on the relationship between students and trustees and advocated "more and better communication between them," he said. The decision to hold the forum was made by President Larry Bacow and Provost Jamshed Bharucha over winter break. "The president and trustees are responsive to the student desire to have more interaction with the trustees," Dixon said. "The topic of communication and dialogue between trustees and students has been on the table all year long," Kane said. "This forum is really a culminating point in that dialogue." The forum will take place from 7-9 p.m. in Barnum 104 on Monday, Jan. 27.

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News

An unjustified war

January 20

With the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq, and the beginning of the Bush Administration's attempt to undermine the UN's work, a thorough reexamination of the rationales for war seems in order. As the countless viewpoints and op-eds published across the country suggest, there is presently no consensus in America on the need for a war with Iraq. Given the President's obsessive determination to finish what his father started, it is time to counter the assertions the President Bush has offered to rationalize his ill-conceived and horribly-timed determination to topple Saddam Hussein. The call for an invasion of Iraq began shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11. Somewhat ironically, though, the events of Sept. 11 actually condemn the Bush administration's resolve to invade Iraq as nothing more than an arrogant desire to flaunt American power and secure access to oil. I have posed the following question to countless supporters of American military action, and none of them has been able to provide an answer: What has changed so dramatically from before Sept. 11, 2001 that now requires an assault on Iraq? Supporters of military action cannot find a convincing answer because the truth is that nothing has changed. There was no call for an invasion of Iraq before Sept. 11, and now there is. Nonetheless, no one _ let alone the leaders of the American or British governments _ can rationalize the change. The most common excuse I hear from the American government, and from other defenders of the war, including some writing on these very pages, is that Iraq has the potential to support terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda. Notice that they justify war because of a potential threat from Iraq. They no longer claim that Iraq has in fact given concrete support to terrorists in the past. Until just recently, however, that was the claim of many pro-invasion advocates. Until the American government, and CIA Director George Tenet in particular, acknowledged that there was absolutely no evidence linking Iraq and Al-Qaeda, hawks had been arguing that Iraq had given financial and technical support to Al-Qaeda. In reality, evidence of such support is nonexistent. If the Administration wants clear evidence of links to Al-Qaeda, it just has to look south of Iraq, to Saudi Arabia. Naturally, though, the United States is willing to ignore this link, given the quantity of oil in Saudi Arabia and its willingness to host to American troops. Next from the hawks comes the argument that Iraq possesses chemical and biological (and perhaps nuclear) weapons, threatening its neighbors and American interests in the Middle East. Certainly, Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, but there is as of yet no evidence that Iraq has nuclear weapons, let alone the capability to deliver such weapons. However, there are many other countries in possession of these types of weapons, countries that are more inclined to flaunt them. North Korea, for example, recently disclosed that it has made tremendous progress secretly developing nuclear weapons, despite a 1994 agreement to stop such development. But the Bush Administration is willing to pursue a "diplomatic" course with Kim Jung-Il, despite the fact that a nuclear North Korea unsettles a region more than a non-nuclear Iraq, which itself is surrounded by other oppressive regimes equally "rogue" and similarly "evil" in their policies. The contradictions in American policy toward Iraq are innumerable. Before Sept. 11, Iraq was not providing support to Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group; now, there is one less group for Iraq to potentially support. Before Sept. 11, Iraq had amassed a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons as large as it possesses today; now, with the UN inspections, that supply can be eliminated. Before Sept. 11, Iraq had not funded or supported a direct attack on the United States; now, with an invasion of Iraq, there will be even more resentment of the United States because of its Middle East policy, resentment that directly contributed to the attacks of Sept. 11. In other words, the pre-Sept. 11 threat from Iraq was even greater than it is today. The minimal threat that Iraq poses now _ which is arguably less than the threat from other countries that also possess powerful weapons and have actually supported and funded terrorist groups, i.e., Pakistan and Saudi Arabia _ does not warrant a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. Essentially, then, what it boils down to is this: Saddam Hussein is a ruthless and brutal dictator who has nearly enslaved his people, and in the minds of the hawks, that justifies an invasion of Iraq. If that is true, then after Iraq I expect to see these same advocates of American invasion lining up to support military action in Africa, where there are countless dictators who are at least as savage as Saddam Hussein. Somehow, though, I doubt there will be a huge movement to intervene in Africa any time in the near future. Need I remind anyone of Rwanda? Adam Mueller is a junior majoring in History who is studying abroad in Spain.

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News

Duke falls at the hands of Maryland as conference play begins

January 20

The beginning of conference play is the start of a whole new college basketball season, where rankings mean nothing and records are forgotten. Just ask the Duke Blue Devils about their 87-72 loss to conference foe Maryland Terrapins on Saturday. Being ranked number one not only has no intimidation factor, it often provides more incentive for a rival to knock a team of its throne. It no longer matters that your team beat a non-conference opponent, because now you are traveling into the den of your most bitter enemy who knows your team as well as anyone. After playing against each other so often, conference foes begin to dislike each other more and more. It is in these great rivalries that a team's pride and school spirit are truly seen. A win means bragging rights for a year, or at least a month until the next meeting. Duke had been the last undefeated team in Division I with a 12-0 start. Coach K has been juggling his starting lineup all year, trying to find the right mix of freshmen stars and upper classmen experience to anchor his team. Veterans Chris Duhon, Dahntay Jones and Daniel Ewing have been great in providing leadership while this team continues to search for its identity. Duhon, in fact, leads the Blue Devils and the nation in assists at better than eight per game. Jones is the teams leading rebounder and is in the top ten in the ACC in scoring. On a team with six freshmen, three have made a big difference in the teams first thirteen games. J.J. Reddick, Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams have all shown that they are capable of big performances. J.J. Reddick exploded for 34 points on Wednesday against a skilled Virginia Cavalier team, and is garnering praise for being one of, if not the best, shooter in Duke history. Both Randolph and Williams have been more inconsistent, but as of late Randolph has been an offensive force and Williams has become a rebound machine. Unfortunately, these freshmen were not prepared for a formidable conference rival when they came to the brand new Comcast Center in College Park, MD. Maryland showed that they are still the national champions and are still a force to be reckoned with in the ACC by defeating Duke by fifteen points - a large margin in this normally competitive match-up. The Terps pounded the boards and out-rebounded the guard-laden Blue Devils. Attention Duke bigmen: Hit the weightroom!! While Duke has amazing shooters, it needs to develop some low post presence or teams will just continue to abuse its skinny, soft frontcourt. Maryland dominated the inside game with Ryan Randle and Taj Holden and guards Drew Nichols and Steve Blake playing a near perfect game with their scoring and playmaking ability. These two teams will definitely play one more time at Cameron Indoor Stadium in February and you can be sure both teams will come ready to play once again. Most college basketball fans knew that Duke was not the real number one at this point in the season. The Arizona Wildcats, the preseason number one team, have been dominant all year with the exception of one fluke loss resulting from Luke Walton's absence. Walton, an All-American point forward, missed several games with a lingering ankle sprain, but he now joins sophomore Salim Stoudamire and senior Jason Gardner in creating a very intimidating offense. Not only does Arizona seem to be the best team in the nation, there seems to be no real competition for them in the Pac-10. After defeating the over-rated Oregon Ducks on the road without Walton, and after giving UCLA their worst home loss ever at Pauley Pavilion, the Wildcats have clearly distanced themselves from the rest of the pack. The beginning of conference play also handed losses to other highly ranked teams including UConn (6 ESPN/6AP), Illinois (8 ESPN/8AP) and Notre Dame (9 ESPN/10AP). Conference play has turned Michigan from the laughing stock of college basketball into the king of the Big Ten. After starting 0-6, the Wolverines have won 11 games in a row and now sit atop the conference standings at 4-0. Ultimately, it is these games that separate the contenders from the pretenders and the good teams from the great teams. If you can win in January and February, your team will most likely be headed to March Madness.

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News

Is cable TV for the best?

January 20

Ah, winter break. A month-long journey away from the college life that brings some of us to exotic locales, others to interesting winterships, and most of us to the monotonous livelihood that is home. Home is the setting for catching up with old friends, cursing slow dialup connections, and for one frustrated television reviewer, watching TV without cable. It is amazing how four months of cable television at school can erase the pain of eighteen straight years of a household with no exciting abbreviations like ESPN, MTV, HBO, or HGTV. But is it really all that painful? Would television be that worse off if cable didn't exist? Let's take a look. The Boredom/Procrastination Factor: During long periods of procrastination or boredom, both of which are dominant in the college lifestyle, cable television is often the cure because it provides hours upon hours of mindless entertainment. Where other than TBS can you watch "classics" like The American President or Back to the Future three times a week? On the Game Show Network you can see the controversial Richard Dawson kiss seventy-year-old grandmothers with mullets on Family Feud, and on Comedy Central you can reminisce with friends about how Saturday Night Live used to be funny. The advantage cable stations have is that they can weed out the worst episodes of Cheers and The Cosby Show and show the best reruns repeatedly. All that regular network television can offer are cheesy soap operas, Judge Judy rip-offs, and pathetic syndicated talk shows which have the same five topics each week. By a landslide, when it comes to quelling your boredom, cable is the only option. Sports: It all comes down to ESPN, the center for everything remotely athletic. They even cover figure skating. SportsCenter has become an American institution, with host Stuart Scott's signature "Boo-yah" close to becoming a mainstream exclamation. There is no equivalent on network television; sports segments have become increasingly shorter on local news to give more airtime to the constantly inaccurate weathermen. ESPN Original Entertainment is also churning out programs such as the enormously successful Pardon the Interruption and the enormously irritating Around the Hornwith Max Kellerman. Yet when it comes to watching the best sporting events, network wins hands down. Watching highlights of the San Francisco 49ers-New York Giants finale on ESPN cannot compare to watching it live on FOX. Monday Night Football has been an institution on network television for the past 30 years. The greatest sports television innovation since MNF is coming up in two months, the NCAA Basketball Championship. For two weekends in the end of March, the entire sporting nation is glued to their televisions watching Dick Vitale shout out inane comments praising Duke on CBS. So while cable leads the way in sports analysis, network has the best of the sporting events, with national rights to basketball, baseball, and football. The edge goes to network, but if ESPN gets rid of Max Kellerman, you have to reevaluate everything. Looking for Something New: Producing new material is cable television's kryptonite. In the past two years, cable's efforts have improved with shows like The Shield on FX (which won Best Drama at the Golden Globes Sunday night). The rare competition that cable can offer is thanks to MTV and The Osbournes. All of this is ignoring the divine offerings of HBO, which shows the mind-blowing dramas The Sopranos and Six Feet Under and the hilarious comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Yet since HBO is not offered on most basic cable listings, it fails to meet the parameters of the debate. Network television, however, has numerous interesting and entertaining programs currently on the air. In spite of many disappointing offerings such as American Dreams and Boston Public, dramas like CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and FOX's 24 bring innovative concepts to television and provide exciting entertainment. Even veteran programs have gained popularity over the last year as Friends, The West Wing, and The Simpsons have all recently had their contracts extended. The Simpsons is on track to become the longest-running prime-time comedy in history, as it enters its sixteenth season. Newer fare like Andy Richter Controls the Universe provides nutty and absurd commentary that bends the constraints of the typical situational comedy. Hands-down, when it comes to original programming, network television destroys cable. Final Tally: Taking a look at three of the most common motives for watching television, its clear that network television is all that's really necessary. Then again, doing my school work is so unappetizing, and there is that E! True Hollywood Story on Saved by the Bell on now.....who am I kidding? Cable is everything a television junkie needs.

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News

Group of 28 returns from Cuba

January 20

While most Tufts students were sitting at home over winter break, 19 undergraduates, seven graduate students, and two faculty members traveled to Cuba for nine days of community service and education. The trip, sponsored by the Latino Center, marked the second time that the University has given students an opportunity to visit the communist country. The most significant difference between this year's and last year's trip was the expanded access to all areas of Cuban society. Last year, Tufts students had some contact with Cuban government officials, but were restricted from visiting schools. Between trips, Professor Claudia Kaiser-Lenoir of the Romance Languages Department, who co-led the trip with Latino Center Director Rub?©n Salinas-Stern, discovered a service organization called Proyecto Espiral. Proyecto Espiral, which is directed in Cuba by Rodrigo Gonzalez, a researcher at the University of Havana, allowed the students to visit an elementary school, a secondary school, a family clinic, and a daycare center. According to Salinas-Stern, "we didn't have that access last year." The expanded contact increased the students' opportunities to both learn from and help the Cuban community. This year's trip, Salinas-Stern said, was "more intensive, more educational than the first trip." Students met with Cubans of "relatively their own age" to discuss sex, religion, politics, AIDS, and abortion. During the discussions, no limits were placed on what either side said, and government was openly debated. "It wasn't like we were censored at all," Salinas-Stern said. As senior Angie Brice explained, contact with Cuban students was an important aspect of the trip. Normally, students, "only hear from the American side." Visits to schools and doctors offices were followed by community service projects at the establishments, and included helping with gardening and building projects at the schools. Participants also donated laptops and computer supplies to Cuban schools, an opportunity not available last year. The primary focus of the trip was education for Tufts students about Cuban society and its way of life. The majority of the students had never been to the country. Professor Richard Levins from the Harvard School of Public Health was invited to speak to the students before they left to prepare them for their educational undertaking. Through the partnership with Proyecto Espiral, the students were able to learn through first hand experience supplemented by lectures. "[The students] learned... about agriculture by lectures but also by spending time in a small farm; about medicine by a general introduction but also by visiting family doctors' clinics; about culture by visiting artists and seeing the artistic production of community groups," Kaiser-Lenoir said. The students' reasons for participating were generally the same. Because permits are difficult to obtain, senior Dianna Darsney said, the trip was "an opportunity that I won't have at any other time." According to senior Veenita Kaushik, the trip was a "rare opportunity... to sort through all the stereotypes." The students' lack of understanding about Cuba reflects a broader ignorance of Cuban culture said Kaiser-Lenoir. "Because of the long standing US embargo against Cuba, people in this country are, in fact, pretty much 'embargoed' as well in terms of any real, balanced, unprejudiced knowledge about that society," Kaiser-Lenoir said. Kaiser-Lenoir believes that Cuba's "social laboratory" of public services such as healthcare, education, and environmental conservation make the island a tremendous attraction for students and researchers. "Across schools at Tufts, I have found not just high interest in exposing students to various aspects of Cuba, but on-going involvement of students and faculty in projects there," he said. Students at Tufts are able to obtain educational visas to visit Cuba thanks to a license held by the University, and Salinas-Stern in particular. Students outside of the two Latino Center groups have used the license, including a handful this winter break. The license, which is granted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in the US Treasury Department, expires this August; and Salinas-Stern is concerned about the success of the renewal process. "The US has been really messing around with Cubans who want visas," Salinas-Stern said. Nevertheless, he is optimistic about trips in the future, ideally for some type of credit. Even with all of their appointments and programs, the students managed to squeeze in some recreation. According to Salinas-Stern, at the end of the trip, the group took over a discoth??que, and invited the Cuban students, the bus drivers and their wives, and Tufts alumni who were in Cuba at the time. On their second to last day in Cuba, the students were allowed to spend two hours at the beach. All of the participating students expressed a tremendous satisfaction in the organization and focus of the trip. The only complaints were about the short length of the trip. "A week was a tease," sophomore Eric Paskowski said. The students will meet as a group in the upcoming weeks to discuss a means of sharing their new knowledge with the Tufts community.

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News

Student dies in tragic blaze

January 20

Wendy Carman, a 20-year old Tufts junior from Tacoma, WA, died early Saturday morning when the loft where she was sleeping caught fire. According to Medford Building Inspector Paul Mochi, the loft, which was above a garage at 20 Harris Rd. in Medford, may have been illegal because it did not meet fire safety regulations. "There shouldn't have been anyone occupying that space," Mochi told The Boston Globe. He said there was no record of a permit for the structure, which would need fireproofing gypsum board on the walls and ceiling and at least two egresses to be habitable. "There wasn't even a doorway, there was just a ladder," Mochi told the Globe. The house is owned by Frederick Shaffer of Reading. The penalty for a building code violation is $1,000 and up to one year in jail. The fire began at 4:24 a.m., according to Deputy Chief Steve Howe of the city's Fire Department. Firefighters who arrived on the scene called for backup at 4:33 a.m. because of the garage's proximity to other buildings and sub-freezing temperatures. Linda Autio, who lives in one of the houses next to the scene of the fire, was awakened by the sound of breaking glass. "The fire had obviously been burning for some time," she said. "I ran to the phone and contacted 911 _ the fire department was here very quickly." Jason Nickerson, another neighbor, said that when he woke up, "the entire top floor of the garage was completely engulfed in flames." By the time the fire department arrived, Nickerson had already broken down the front door of the main house. He said that the residents were unaware of what was going on. "They were pretty confused," he said. "Their apartment was pitch black." At the time, Nickerson did not know that there was a person in the loft over the garage, although he said one of the residents kept saying, "Wendy is back there." Medford Fire Department Deputy Chief Edward O'Brien said that when the firefighters reached the scene "the fire had already consumed the entire loft of the garage." Firefighters mounted the roof of an adjacent garage to extinguish the fire. They also sprayed surrounding houses to protect them from the flames, although the heat caused windows to crack and vinyl siding to melt on some houses. "The flames were going over our house across to Pinkham," said Charles McCarthy, who lives in the house directly behind the garage and was forced to evacuate. He said he would have to wait until the ice thawed to see if his roof was damaged. The fire caused the floor and the ceiling of the loft to collapse before it was extinguished at 6:30 a.m. Firefighters and fire trucks remained on the scene until mid-morning, blocking off the street for about five hours, according to one neighbor. Nearby Boston Ave. also had to be closed off because one of the fire hydrants burst, spewing water across the street and creating an ice patch. Investigators did not formally release Carman's identity until yesterday morning after conducting a medical examination. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Carman was known to smoke and O'Brien said that the fire's source "could very well have been cigarettes, but this time of year it could also have been a space heater of some sort or an electrical fire." Fires are also more likely to start in cold, dry weather, O'Brien said. Carman and three of her friends, all Tufts students, leased the first floor apartment of the house, and another group of Tufts students lived in the upstairs apartment. The loft where Carman lived and the garage below were connected to the main house by a breezeway. The rest of the house suffered only smoke damage in the blaze, O'Brien said. Neighbors were surprised to learn that the loft, which resembled a finished attic on the interior, was actually used as a bedroom. "I thought it was a room where they hung out maybe," Nickerson said. Dan Bullenkamp, a neighbor who occasionally smoked with Carman outside, did not know she lived in the loft. "I couldn't imagine someone living above the garage," he said. "The house was huge. I wouldn't have done it." The fire was not the only one that affected Tufts students this weekend. At 10:24 a.m. on Saturday morning, a house on Chester Ave. in Medford caught fire and sustained damage inside its walls. No one was injured, although at least six students were forced to move out. The Medford Fire Department is still investigating. The fires have raised questions about the safety of off-campus living. But the University does not intend to change how it deals with off-campus housing. "We can promote safety certainly, living in off campus apartments and being smart about what type of facilities one rents," Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said. The University provides information on off-campus housing safety through the Residential Life website, including a checklist for students looking for apartments. "We offer all the information we can," Reitman said. He acknowledged, however, that even when all safety precautions are adhered to, accidents can still happen. Carman, a Spanish major who planned to minor in art history, attended Annie Wright School and Henry Foss High School in Tacoma, WA. One of two siblings, Carman was very close to her family. "She would always be on the phone with her mom and would always hold the phone up so we could shout 'hi' into it," a friend said. Branden Yee, one of Carman's close friends, recalled her love of dogs and her caring personality. "She was very affectionate and outgoing," he said. Carman's family issued a brief statement yesterday about her death. "The world is a different place without Wendy," the family said. "She was a wonderful daughter and will be terribly missed by her family." An informal support gathering was held yesterday afternoon in Goddard Chapel and the University will hold a memorial service for Carman in Goddard on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. In a mass e-mail sent on Saturday, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Susan Ernst said that Tufts was providing room and board to students displaced by the weekend's fires, including Carman's housemates. "Those guys are moving out, but I have to look out my window every day at her room," Bullenkamp said. "She didn't deserve that." Adam Cooper contributed to this article.

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News

Western Conference turned on its head

January 20

The Western Conference of the NHL is facing a serious upheaval this season, as four teams that made the playoffs last year might be looking forward to a whole lot of golf in the spring. The Pacific Division, home to past playoff performers such as the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings are instead doing all they can to stay afloat. Even the Colorado Avalanche, Western Conference finalists last year, Stanley Cup champions the year before, are reeling from the effects of the upheaval. They now sit in fourth place in the Northwest division and ninth in the conference, forcing the front office to fire Coach Bob Hartley. Despite a brief improvement for a few games under new coach Tony Granato, Colorado remains lackluster with a 4-5-1 record in their last ten games. However, at least the Avalanche is still in the playoff hunt. The Sharks were supposed to be the new powerhouse of the conference, possibly the league. Instead, after All-Star goalie Evgeni Nabokov's holdout at the beginning of the season, the Sharks sit in eleventh with an 8-11-4 record at home. Any of these teams could still make the playoffs, but unless their play seriously improves, or another team has a collapse, it does not look likely with less than half of the season left. At the other end of the spectrum, the Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks are looking to carry the division leads for the rest of the season. Dallas seems unstoppable, with last year's backup Marty Turco carrying an unbelievable league leading 1.80 Goals Against Average (GAA). Dallas also recently traded for playoff sparkplug Claude Lemieux from the Phoenix Coyotes, which should make the Stars a very difficult team to beat come the second half of the season. Vancouver, despite less than amazing play since its ten-game winning streak in November, has fought through some injuries and mediocre play by goalie Dan Cloutier to keep the Minnesota Wild at bay. Defending champions Detroit can only get better with a new starting goalie, a new coach, and a returning Steve Yzerman all looking to improve in the second half of the season. On the other side of the country, the Eastern Conference focuses more on financial concerns than playoff woes these days. The best team in the league, the Ottawa Senators, has a very uncertain future. The money has not appeared to buy the team, which is mired in bankruptcy, and rumors of contraction are starting to circulate around the league. The Buffalo Sabres are still waiting for a group of local businessmen to front the cash to purchase the team, and like Ottawa a few weeks ago, the Buffalo players are having problems getting their paychecks on time. Poach of the week The Atlanta Thrashers hired fired Avalanche coach Bob Hartley and made the best steal of the season. Hartley led Colorado to success every year except for this one since he became head coach in 1998. The Thrashers, after signing free agent Byron Dafoe earlier this year, are starting to build a respectable base to build on. If Dafoe can ever get healthy _ he has been in and out of the lineup with a groin injury this year _ and if Hartley works as well with the young players as Atlanta is hoping, the Thrashers might push their way up the Southeast Division next season.

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News

Don't wait to see 'Godot'

January 20

Fifty years ago this month, one of the most influential plays ever written was first produced on a small stage in France. Unlike anything the stage had ever seen, it forever changed the nature of theater and even how people think about life. That play was Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Last night, in a small theater in an old church at the end of the Green Line in Newton, Godot was revisited by the New Repertory Theatre. Under the inspired direction of Rick Lombardo, the small but talented cast tore into Beckett's timeless work with a focused energy that enabled the play to resonate with the minds of modern audiences. The abstract tragicomedy that defined the genre stars Boston favorite John Kuntz as the forgetful clown, Estragon, and Austin Pendleton as the somewhat wiser, somewhat more serious Vladimir. Interestingly enough, Pendleton has had previous Godot experience, as he was Estragon in the definitive 1976 production staged by Beckett himself. The pair played the two old friends with ease, creating a chemistry that suggested they had been waiting for Godot for quite a long time. Of course neither can remember for sure. Nor does the duo know why they are waiting, or who Godot really is. But they know they must wait, and are helpless to leave. Will Godot ever show? It seems unlikely. One can cut the existentialist symbolism with a knife. Estragon cannot even remember from one day to another, bur rather he wanders along time with only Vladimir to guide him. He periodically asks Vladimir why they cannot leave, to which Vladimir replies with a sigh, "because we're waiting for Godot." Estragon grimaces in horror and folds his hands above his head. This repeated comedic bit becomes less and less funny. Not because it gets old, but because as the duo continues to wait for Godot it becomes increasingly apparent that Godot will never come. We realize that Godot represents everything we hope for in life, everything that is always just beyond our reach. As Vladimir and Estragon drift along in a world where they are only defined through the mundane action of waiting, where they can only relay on each other's intangible memories for information, and where their existence is an illusion that depends upon the recognition of others, Beckett's views of the world can seem bleak and frightening. Of course, he depicts it devoid of meaning and filled with absurdity. However, even in this world, Vladimir and Estragon always had each other, and if nothing else, a sense of humor. Kuntz's physical comedy brings Estragon to life and would have made Beckett proud, since the playwright was a large fan of mime and clowning. Kuntz's comic timing is precise; he can be loud and silly and larger than life one minute, and refined and subtle the next. His periodic outbursts raging against the oppression of his predicament are tragic. Pendleton's Vladimir is the perfect compliment to Estragon, taking in his fits of anguish with a relaxed air of knowledge. Pendleton's facial expressions always seem to be between a smile and a frown as if to indicate that his refined Vladimir knows the absurdity of his situation as well as his helplessness to change it. Vladimir and Estragon's monotony is broken up by the pompous and abusive land owner Pozzo, played aptly by Ken Baltin, and his sickly slave Lucky, played by a frightening Bates Wilder done up in Frankenstein-like makeup. These two enter halfway through the first and second act, both times abrasively disrupting the more natural repartee between Vladimir and Estragon that the audience is more comfortable with. However, as vulgar and disturbing as Pozzo and Lucky can be, in the second act they are a very welcome distraction for Vladimir and Estragon, who are coming to grips with the hopelessness of life. Godot is a play for anyone who has ever struggled, has been overwhelmed or sat up late dreading that fact that morning always comes. It is a sympathetic work that acknowledges all of life's mysteries, answers none of its questions, but does not let any of that stand in the way of a good joke. Waiting for Godot is playing through Feb 9 at the New Repertory Theatre in Newton Highlands. Call (617) 332-1646 for information.

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