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Women fall to Williams in final meet of season

March 31

The women's swimming and diving team was defeated by NESCAC powerhouse Williams this past Saturday in its final meet of the regular season. Swimming at Williams, Tufts lost the meet 209-91 to make the Jumbos' final record 6-3. Tufts, along with many other teams, have had a history of trouble competing against defending NESCAC champions Williams. The Jumbos have lost to the Ephs, who will end their season undefeated, for the past three seasons. "There was no way we were going to win this meet," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "So our focus shifted to other things." The Jumbos knew they were outmatched in speed and in depth of team, so for this meet they decided to focus on personal best times rather than a team victory. "I was happy with the meet," senior tri-captain Miranda Eagles said. "We knew it would be difficult to compete with Williams. A lot of girls swam their best times of the season. They pushed themselves hard for this meet." The Jumbos only saw two first place finishes last weekend. The first came from freshman Erica Weitz in the 400-yard IM. She touched the wall in 4:40.74, four seconds ahead of the second place finisher from Williams. She posted her best time of the season in this event, which was fast enough to make a Nationals B qualifying time. There are two possible ways to qualify for Nationals. This first is to score an A qualifying finish time, which automatically secures a spot in the national meet. The second way is to score a B time. Once the number of A qualifiers are tallied, the remaining available spots are offered to the fastest B qualifiers. With her score in this meet, Weitz now has her foot in the door for Nationals. Another positive for the team was the return of sophomore Mika Sumiyoshi. Sumiyoshi had returned to the water last week for practice, after recovering from a knee injury that occurred midway through the season. Sumiyoshi was the only member of the squad last season to qualify for Nationals. At this meet, she took the only other first place finish for the Jumbos in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:13.14. She also swam into two second place finishes, the 500 freestyle (5:24.73) and a nail-bitter in the 200 freestyle, losing by only one-tenth of a second (1:58.17). "Mika had three solid swims on Saturday," Bigelow said. "We are slowly getting her back into shape." The Jumbos are allowed to take 24 swimmers to the NESCAC championship, in a week and a half at Williams. For the remainder of the team, the Williams meet was the last meet of the season. This meant light practices and resting as much out of the water as possible, in hopes of finishing in their personal best times of the season. Many of those swimmers succeeded in achieving their best times. Freshman Hannah Gibson scored a personal best time in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:44.08. She took fourth place in the race. Also, freshman Julie Ziegler swam her lifetime personal best in the 100 freestyle (1:02.70) taking fifth place in the meet. "They pushed themselves for this meet," Eagles said. "When we focus and push ourselves we see the results. Those times were really great times." The rest of the team will now begin their taper for the NESCAC championship. Bigelow's goal in the beginning of the season was to see the team grab sixth place. Right now, the team is trying to relax as much as possible, while still swimming hard in practice. Maintaining focus and health are two main obstacles for the team in the two weeks off before travelling to Williams again. For the three senior captains, Eagles, Sarah Hertzog, and Joan Vollero, this will be their final meet of their career at Tufts if they do not qualify for Nationals. "I just want to finish off my career with one strong, memorable swim," Eagles said. "I want to be there with my team, swimming strong as well."@s:Team prepares for NESCACS

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News

"Aw, shucks, thank you, ASET"

March 31

This Viewpoint is written in response to Nahtahna Cabanes's "Congratulations to WHUT on its campaign," in the Feb. 21st Daily. It is strange that Cabanes would begin her Viewpoint congratulating and expressing gratitude to WHUT, because I feel we owe her a debt of gratitude. ASET rhetoric often suggests the union issue is exclusively a graduate student vs. administration issue, with no possible middle ground. For example, compare the ASET and WHUT websites (at http://www.tuftsgrads.org/ and http://www.geocities.com/whut-01/ respectively). One links only to pro-union material, the other links to articles and organizations on both sides, pro and con. By taking WHUT seriously, Cabanes effectively concedes the reality of the issue: two groups of graduate students with opposing ideas on how best to improve graduate education at Tufts. Nonetheless, Cabanes takes issue with some of the points raised by the e-mail, and her well-articulated points deserve to be answered. The WHUT e-mail argues that, as graduate students, we have a diverse range of issues and needs that a union would inherently obscure. Cabanes wishes to allay that concern by pointing out that the projected union "does not apply to all Tufts graduate students, but only to Medford campus graduate students paid by Tufts to work as TA's, RA's and graders. This is a diverse group, certainly, but one that shares several employee concerns." This is remarkable, for it only adds the mixed signals that UAW/ASET representatives are sending on this issue. Carl Martin, in the Dec. 4th Daily, forcefully claims, "...There will be absolutely no leaving any graduate students (particularly those in smaller programs, or Master's candidates) behind; a union encompasses all who are employed by Tufts" [emphasis mine]. Unfortunately, as with their campaign at Brown, the UAW filed briefs with the NLRB in February to gerrymander the bargaining unit at Tufts. If the UAW gets its way, RA's from Engineering, the Natural Sciences (including Math), Psychology, and most RA's and TA's in Nutrition will be excluded, as well as many Fletcher and MA student workers. Evidently, the UAW itself intends to leave a large number of graduate students behind, or at the very least in a disempowered state relative to unionized students. It would be uncharitable to hold ASET responsible for this turn of events. I believe Cabanes and Martin were sincere when they spoke on this subject. But it is ominous that, already, even before the unionization vote has been held, the UAW appears to have more control over the unionization campaign than grad students themselves. Cabanes might well respond, "Does this not address the concern highlighted by the WHUT email, that the diverse group of graduate students can't possibly be served by a union?" Quite the contrary. Considering the profound impact of a union on graduate education, it is troubling that so many would be left out of voting on the issue. As planned, the union would distort the needs of graduate students in favor of those granted union membership and voting privileges. But all graduate students will be impacted by a union's presence. A pay raise benefiting drama graduate students could mean needed lab equipment for science students won't be purchased, English would have to cut back available tenure-track positions, tuition could spike, or the long-awaited Asian American studies department may have to wait even longer for full-time faculty. Because the funds available to Tufts as a non-profit organization are finite, some graduate programs will likely suffer to satisfy union demands, which too easily overlook vital educational values beyond the strictly financial. This is precisely the trouble with recognizing the diverse needs of individual departments and students to which the WHUT email alludes. Students in different departments have unique needs that labor union bureaucracy and favoritism will only frustrate. Cabanes grants that policies about working conditions, pay, and so forth are made by individual departments, not the administration. Unionization would therefore seem a counter-intuitive solution to essentially intra-departmental issues. However, Cabanes observes, "the administration determines how much each department gets." However, can Tufts pay departments more money? What does the administration fund beyond what it already gives to the departments? Only a handful of possibilities come to mind: maintenance, security, staffing, scholarship funding. Surely ASET doesn't believe that any of these are over-funded, or that tuition is too low. But since ASET either cannot or will not reveal its own funding priorities, graduate students would be taking a leap of faith in the UAW by voting for unionization. No one disputes that pay and benefits should be improved. But it does not follow that unionization is the best means of doing so. Departments currently have the most say in determining funding for graduate students (and in requesting more money toward that end), so departments are the logical place to begin. Some issues are relevant to all graduate students, but these are already admirably addressed by the GSC. This brings me to the MA health service fee issue. Cabanes rightly observes that rolling this fee into tuition remission for PhD students alone was not enough. Nevertheless, despite being "dependent on administration benevolence," somehow the GSC accomplished this much without the help of UAW bureaucracy, and made significant progress toward including MA students. This changed when ASET filed for unionization in December. At that point, federal labor law prohibited the University from altering the status of the health care fee, or any other aspect of pay or working conditions. To do so when a union vote is pending would be an "unfair labor practice." If students approve unionization, this issue won't be settled until the labor negotiations are complete, which could take as long as seven years. As well intentioned as unionizers might have been, ASET's unionization drive is a blunt, rusty ax when the GSC's scalpel was sufficient and effective with a proven record. Best of all, the GSC represents all graduate students, and according to former GSC President Wilson, already has a good faith relationship with the administration. Why jeopardize what we have when the benefits of the UAW are murky at best? It is my hope that issues like these can be further discussed and debated by members of WHUT and ASET in the near future. Hopefully, Viewpoints like Cabanes's, Jason Epstein's, Donna Wilson's, and others, will form the groundwork for the campus dialogue that I believe both sides desire as the election nears.Jason Walker studies philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and is a member of WHUT.

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News

Worth a trip back?

March 31

Ignore the misleading, mawkish commercials and trailers - Time Machine is more imaginative and rewarding than most of the junk released last summer. While not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, here are six reasons in might be worth your time:Reason #1: Guy Pierce makes any film automatically better. Pierce's fame has steadily grown to make him one of the new leading men of Hollywood, and this film proves that he can make anything better. He plays Alexander Hartdegen, a driven but shy scientist who has lines like, "I have a sickness, and the only cure is for you to spend the rest of your life with me." Now, reading that produces a sarcastic chortle, but hearing Guy Pierce say it ... well, you believe him. And when his fianc?© is killed, the look in his eyes says, yes, he will do anything to get her back. Even travel through time, if need be. How he does it we never quite understand. Reason #2: Science Fiction works better as all science or all fiction. And Time Machine is all fiction. Time travel, we learn, involves determination, writing down lots of equations, and getting into a cool looking machine right out of Disney's Tomorrowland. The machine spins and lots of lights come out, and time starts advancing in convenient day measurements. There are films that intelligently deal with the concept of time travel -12 Monkeys for instance - but those movies have different aims than this one, which is simply adventure. When I saw the day/ month/year calculator on the machine, I surrendered to the ridiculousness of it all and just enjoyed the ride.Reason #3: Special effects budgets are often wasted on monsters and explosions. And thank the movie gods, this one is used wisely. There have been lots of time travel films, but few that handle the actual process as creatively as this film does. Seasons change and cities evolve before our eyes, as does civilization and the planet itself. These sequences are the highlight of the movie, and there are moments that rival the effects in Fellowship of the Ring. Once the film arrives at a set destination (800,000 years in the future,) the effects continue to be stellar. Instead of new things to fear and explode, we're actually given a new world to explore. Walls of a canyon teem with primitive life, bizarre windmills stretch into the sky, and a dark cavern crawls with the Moorlocks, headed up by the always-weird Jeremy Irons.Reason #4: Jeremy Irons makes any film automatically more interesting. Whether chewing the scenery in Dungeons and Dragons or outsmarting Bruce Willis in Die Hard with a Vengance, Jeremy Irons is always a man to watch. He brings something to every movie, even if it is utter contempt for the material (Dungeons and Dragons, again) Here, he creates a villain that is always a bit smarter, sadder, and more three-dimensional then he has any right to be. Actually, all of the characters are a little more complete than you would think for a special effects movie.Reason #5: Mark Addy and Orlando Jones need a second wind. Here are two very talented funnymen who have been stuck in shoddy vehicles ever since they briefly hit stardom. Mark Addy came to fame as the fat guy in The Full Monty, and has been stuck in crappy family films like Jack Frost and Flinstones: Viva Rock Vegas ever since. Orlando Jones has proved he can be hilarious, and yet he has been stuck in Eddie Griffin/Keanu Reeves/Brendan Fraser movie purgatory for far too long (Double Take, The Replacements and Bedazzled, respectively.) Here, they are given small but important parts and do lots with them. Addy is endearing in his brief role as Pierce's best friend, and Jones brings a lot of humanity to his role as an interactive database storing all human knowledge. He gets a nice moment where he asks Pierce, "Can you imagine what it would be like to remember everyone and everything, forever?"Reason #6: Simple twists are better than overly complex ones.The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, and Fight Club all had simple answers to their respective puzzles, although that simple answer then redefined everything that came before it. Time Machine wisely follows suit. What drives Pierce's travel is the question, "Why can't he change what the past?" The answer he gets I will not reveal, but it makes you sit back and say, "Huh. Yeah, that is a good reason, isn't it?"The Time Machine is a decent movie. Is it what it could have been? No. But it is certainly more than the advertisements make it look like. The acting, concepts, and effects work are all well above average, and the movie is blessed with good energy and pacing by director Gore Verbinski (The Mexican). Is it worth eight dollars? No. But a trip to Somerville Theater might be just the ticket.

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News

A tale of two directors

March 31

Pen, Paint, and Pretzel's (3Ps) minor production directors, sophomore Taylor Shann and freshman Marc Frost, got together to discuss their shows, 1959 Pink Thunderbird and No Exit. Here's what they had to say about their shows and their rehearsal processes:Frost: Good day, Mr. Shann.Shann: And to you, sir.Frost: So, I guess we're supposed to adver...I mean discuss our shows.Shann: Yes, yes. So, Marc, why don't you start off by promot...I mean, telling me about your show.Frost: Well, No Exit has a simple, if bizarre concept. Three strangers are put in a room and the door is locked. The audience quickly figures out that the room is hell. But hell has no flames, no racks of torture, no pits... in fact, hell is rather well furnished. The creeping realization for these random people, however, is that hell is actually "other people." But before I get off into my existentialism rant, why don't you tell me about 1959 Pink Thunderbird?Shann: Yes, 1959 Pink Thunderbird is a trip to Texas and the stories of the locals in a small town called Maynard. Composed of two very funny one acts, the first play is the afternoon of a hot summer day, where three wives sitting gossiping on a porch. The second play is populated by two of their husbands and a brother. The plays work independently as comedies, but performed together make a lot more collective sense. *******Shann: Now, Marc, of all the plays out there, what made you want to direct No Exit?Frost: Well, Taylor, I have wanted to direct No Exit since I first read the script almost a year ago. To me, Sartre's work stands out as one of the strongest - and most complex - plays of the 20th century. Sartre's philosophy and the way he uses his character's words and interactions to expound his ideas, continually fascinates me. So many plays and films constantly spell out their messages for you. It's like all the characters are saying, "Hey, here's the play's message." But, Sartre avoids this annoyingly obvious method by focusing on his character's intentions and motivations and then slipping his thoughts within the structure of the character's ensuing interactions. Now, weren't you telling me something about this play having some personal relevance to you?Shann: Yes, well, 1959 Pink Thunderbird is sort of a personal journey for me, as my mom directed these shows way back in the day. I have vivid memories of sitting at rehearsal, playing Gameboy and watching the actors. So when I see Graham Griffin play Roy, I'm also seeing a friend of my mom's playing Roy when I was eight years old. It's an odd effect, but since I don't remember much else from that experience except that it was funny, the show itself is made up of my ideas and the inspirations that came from working with the actors. In other words, don't worry, mom, I didn't steal your material.******Shann: Marc, certainly No Exit is no simple play. How did you deal with the challenges you faced mounting the play?Frost: No Exit is certainly quite an ambitious project. I knew that going into it, but I see this as a positive thing. I mean, the show is so complex and has so many levels that it gives us a lot to work with. And the actors and myself have taken these layers in the script and added them into the show. Actually, it's been an incredible rehearsal process filled with creative decision-making. How about you, Taylor? I know your show has a lot of comedy, but I know it's not shallow.Shann: The trick, Marc, was to work in complexity, depth, all of the things that make theater "deep," but never forget that it's supposed to be funny. We are here to make people laugh. If they're spending more time thinking about the characterization or the inherent deeper meanings, the play has failed. Those other themes, about love and life and character, should be things that people realize while thinking back. It's sort of the polar opposite of your play, but in the end, they're both very much about people.Frost: Yes, our plays will definitely have a lot in common. Shann: Right...Frost: Yeah, I mean, mine's French; yours is Texan.Shann: Mine's funny. Yours...isn't so funny.Frost: Mine's more abstract. Yours is more direct.Shann: Mine's real. Yours is hypothetical.Frost: Mine's philosophical. Yours is...Texan. Yeah, maybe they don't have as much in common as I thought.*******Frost: Taylor, directing a minor production means you have a lot less time and fewer resources. Have you been limited at all?Shann: Well, as a minor production, there is a limitation of things we can do. The plays take place at the back of a bar and on a back porch. Obviously, we can't build these things and the focus of the show isn't on an extensive set anyway. Instead, we're trying to give the impression of these places, a simple backdrop and then letting the actors and props fill that space in the audience's heads. Well, that and actual bottles of beer from Texas, sans beer. How about you? How has it been putting together No Exit in such a short time?Frost: Well, we've been able to a lot of good creative work in the short time we've had. The play certainly challenges all of us: me, as a director and the cast, as actors, and the audience, as silent, but implicated observers. What I've stressed to my actors is "play your character's intentions" and they've done a great job doing just that. I chose them not just because I thought they could do show, but also because they seemed to have the best chemistry, which is key to this play. And what about your cast?Shann: Well, there's not much to say about my cast, except that they're ridiculously talented at playing their parts. Given the time frame, I cast the people that I thought could best quickly and completely absorb the characters. Once that's accomplished, you just let them play and make the play funnier and funnier. Most of the best gags in the show aren't because of the lines or my direction, but what came out of these people working off each other. They are the best thing about the show, by far.******Frost: Any final thoughts?Shann: This is a chance for some really talented people to dig into good characters, and on top of that, bring down the house. The situations the characters get in are funny, but the biggest laughs come from the characters themselves. If we get a huge laugh simply because the audience anticipates a character's reaction, before it even happens, I'll be happy. And you, Mr. Frost?Frost: My show is by no means straightforward, but I ascribe to the theory: "Play to the smartest person in the audience." So, I'm directing the play based on the assumption that if you can accept the basic premise, everything will make sense based on that initial assumption. Sartre wrote the play a half century ago, but No Exit still holds the same relevance to its audiences today as it did then. I think that when people understand how the play relates to their individual lives, it'll blow their mind, but in a good way.Shann: Yes, well, let's use this last little space to adver-Frost: Discuss. You mean to discuss our shows (that happen to be playing THIS FRIDAY AND MONDAY!)Shann: It's called tact, Marc. Tact. Let's just tell the people that this weekend offers you the opportunity to laugh, party on Saturday, recover on Sunday and then really think on Monday. The only way to lose is to not show up.Frost: Hah! Tact...1959 Pink Thunderbird will play at 7:00 and 9:30 p.m. this Friday night and No Exit will play at 8:00 p.m. this Monday night in the Balch Arena Theatre.

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News

Painting a clearer picture of Israel

March 31

Over the past several weeks the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has figured prominently in the media, and has been the subject of numerous Viewpoints. While it's great that we have such an open forum for discussion, I can't help but feel that Israel has been inaccurately portrayed, especially in comparison to the actions of her neighbors. One recurring theme is that Israel is a bellicose occupier desiring the continual oppression of the Palestinians. A brief examination of the conflict in fact proves quite the opposite - Israel is in fact a nation that has been seeking peace since its very inception. Israel agreed to the UN partition plan in 1948, the Palestinians and other Arab countries declared war. After the Six Day War in 1967, Israel offered the return of all captured territory (except Jerusalem) in exchange for peace (as it was and still is demographically undesirable to remain in the West Bank and Gaza). Everyone, including Jordan, the previous "occupier" of the West Bank, refused. Finally, after yet another war, Israel made peace with Egypt. A few years ago, Ehud Barak attempted to make peace with Syria by returning the Golan Heights, an offer that was rejected by King Assad. Barak also offered the Palestinians the most compromising peace plan ever, and instead of responding with peace - or at least negotiations - Yasser Arafat chose violence. On a more personal note, it is interesting to examine the rhetoric emanating from the region. The first female suicide bomber, who recently attacked Jerusalem, drew praise in the Arab press for her heroism and her advancement of the feminist cause. Dr. Adel Sadeq, head of the department of psychiatry at Ein Shams University in Cairo, invoked Christianity by saying, "From Mary's womb issued a child who eliminated oppression, while the body of Wafa became shrapnel that eliminated despair and aroused hope... it is not surprising that the enemy in both cases was the same" (New York Times, 1/11/02). Alleged human rights violations are also at the center of this controversy, and I personally support better human rights and security for everyone in the region. However, we need to apply our standards for human rights on a universal basis, and Israel is unfairly singled out. Israel is a true democracy, with Arab representation in its parliament, making it the only one of its kind in the region. Some of Israel's most vociferous critics include Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, decidedly non-democratic countries. My research with the State Department's reports on human rights turned up the following for the year 2000: First, in Iran there were "numerous" extrajudicial killings while at least 20 Kurds were killed during violent suppressions of demonstrations, following a government-led poison gas attack in 1988 that killed 5,000. Citizens were also sentenced to death without trial. Although torture is constitutionally forbidden, many dissidents were burned with cigarettes or beaten. Second, Saudi Arabia does not have an elected government. Incidences of prisoner torture, including corporal punishment, were widely reported. Saudi Arabia also maintains refugee camps for prisoners from the Gulf War. The Mutawwa'in (religious police) enforces a strict dress code and adherence to their definition of Islamic law. Third, Syria maintains a strong military presence in Lebanon (call it an occupation?). Prisoners/dissidents are subjected to torture, including electrocution and beating, although the government denies these claims. According to Amnesty International the government detains some 1,500 Palestinians, Jordanians, and Lebanese. In addition, Syria has been an ardent supporter of the terrorist group Hezbullah. In closing, I'd like to focus on some positive Israeli contributions. Over the past few years, Israel has led medical advances in cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes research. It has also remained at the forefront of high-tech research and development. Agricultural research has resulted in better crops being planted to help fight famine in Africa and Arab countries. Israel has also provided assistance to other countries in times of need, sending its elite rescue units abroad to disaster sights, including Turkey and Peru.Although Israeli action has not always been commendable, it has surely received a disproportionate amount of criticism. We all hope for an end to violence and improved living situations for Palestinians and Israelis. But when we talk of human rights, let's be fair and hold everyone to the same standard.Aaron Markowitz-Shulman is a freshman majoring in international relations.

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News

Bendetson receives record number of early decision applications

March 31

Applications are pouring in and acceptance letters are flying out in record numbers as Tufts admissions officers begin selecting the class of 2006. In concurrence with a nationwide trend, the University's early decision applications for round one - and the percentage of applicants filing online - reached all-time highs this year. Early decision applications are up 11 percent from last year, and 202 percent since 1995. A record-breaking 768 students applied for round one admission, compared to 254 in 1995. Bendetson expects to receive an unprecedented number of regular applications as well. This also marks the first year that over half of early decision applicants applied online. Electronic applications are processed more rapidly, and therefore allow officials to schedule alumni interviews more quickly. The admissions process has become increasingly electronic as more students take advantage of faster, easier online applications. Tufts, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Yale all sent out electronic letters announcing admissions decisions to applicants along with letters sent via US mail. Previously, the University restricted electronic acceptance notices to international students and students on the West Coast. Saying the electronic notifications came as a surprise, some applicants, particularly those denied admission, responded negatively to last year's e-mails. This year, Tufts gave students the option of waiting for a letter to arrive in the mail or checking online. About 96 percent of applying students have e-mail addresses. "Students are used to operating electronically," Dean of Admissions David Cuttino said. "It avoids the problem of wondering if something has gone awry. Everyone can hear the same time about their decision." The University, which offers two rounds of early decision in addition to regular decision, sent out the first volley of admissions decisions on Dec. 15. Though there is no official difference between round one and round two, Cuttino said that round one students typically find out their admissions decision before deadlines arise for other applications. "When you've done your homework and you feel that you know where you want to go, to have that answer takes pressure off of the student," he said. Last year Tufts admitted nearly 40 percent of the incoming class through early decision, the largest percentage ever. Though the admissions office expects another record year, officials said yesterday that it might be unwise to raise the percentage any further. "We'd hate to see that grow too much larger," Cuttino said. "We want to make sure we have the ability to review all the students at regular decision." "The focus is how to make the best class and get a variety of students with different perspectives, talents and experiences, whether we find them at early decision or regular decision," he added. The admissions office is currently in the process of reviewing round two early decision applications and preparing for the regular decision applications that continue to arrive at the office in large numbers. More than 64 percent of the students admitted were from public high schools, with 28 percent from private schools and four percent from religious schools. Reflecting the University's emphasis on diversity, early decision applicants hailed from 43 states and 27 countries. About 18 percent of applying students were interested in the school of engineering, and most accepted students were in the top 8 or 9 percent of their classes.

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News

Proponents of Greek life "pledge" that stereotypes are misguided

March 31

For many students, this weekend will mark the beginning of the process of pledging a fraternity. The process occupies the entire semester for most Greek house, and many students are critical of fraternities and the pledge process because they feel that it distracts students from their academic obligations. But many of those who have endured the long nights and top-secret events of pledging reject the stereotypes that fraternities are not conducive to getting good grades and being a good citizen. "Having a full schedule, helps me personally, and a lot of people, get more stuff done," Alpha Epsilon Pi president Josh Gold said. "My GPA during pledging was my second highest during my time at Tufts." There are also certain fail-safes in the system, as well as academic benefits to being a member of a fraternity, Gold explained. "We have brothers studying in every field - basically someone majoring in every department at Tufts - to help [pledges] out," Gold said. "Whatever they need to do, education is, up front, the most important, and [pledges] can always get help within the frat." In addition to help from the other brothers, most fraternities still institute library hours for the pledges to do their schoolwork."We care about academics a lot," said sophomore Jon Bram, whose fraternity, DTD, mandates three library hours per day for its pledges. "Grades come first, sports second, pledging third." Despite the internal help and library hours available, some pledge brothers still found it difficult to balance academics and pledging, as sophomore Matt Raucci explained. "Everyone felt the pinch, but some people got through it better than I did," said Raucci who pledged Sigma Phi Epsilon last spring. "[Pledging] did hurt my academic standing, but I bounced back last semester."While some say the Greek system should be changed to allow pledges to focus on education, many brothers feel that that would be going against the time-honored traditions of entrance into any fraternity. "People have been doing the same things to get into fraternities for decades," said Raucci. "I wouldn't want my experience to be a watered down version of what pledging a frat is supposed to be. It would be disrespectful to tradition and I wouldn't want to take any part in it." Sigma Phi Epsilon president Jeff Fox does not view pledging as a major threat to academic success. "I don't believe that [pledging and academics] are mutually exclusive," Fox said. "To do well in academics doesn't mean that you have to have a watered down pledging." According to Fox, there is nothing in the fraternity system that causes pledges to do poorly academically. It is the individual's responsibility to balance the pledging and schoolwork effectively, and when those individuals ignore their obligations to both their schoolwork and the fraternity, it hurts the entire Greek system. Fox believes that it is the reputation - not the reality - of fraternities that leads people to judge them as being detrimental to academics. "A lot of people like to push up the tough drinking angle and embellish, but it's not true," Fox said. "People like to embellish stories to make them look cool...When people perpetuate these rumors it just makes it harder for all of us." Events in recent years at fraternities across the country have caused a change in reputation for Greek life, Fox said, specifically the 1997 death of an MIT freshman from an alcohol-induced coma. According to administrators, Fox's theory is in many ways, correct. "In the past, faculty critics of the Greek system voted to do away with fraternities as they then existed," Dean of Colleges Charles Inouye said. "The contention was that life in some of the frats was blatantly sexist, homophobic, racist, elitist, crude, etc., etc. As a faculty member, I voted against the fraternities." But if given the chance to vote today, Inouye said he would take a different stance. Living with the Greek system in an educational environment is an exercise in patience, the dean said. "If I had to do it again, though, I think I would probably vote to keep them around," said Inouye. "If we really are interested in the educational possibilities of diversity, and if we cherish free speech and the free exchange of ideas, then it seems wrong to do away with Greek life because we may not like it." According to Fox, the aspects of Greek life that give rise to opposition and negative views of fraternities are magnifications and generalizations of individual actions. "When one negative thing happens, it is blown up and strict measures are taken," Fox said. "Sometimes an individual will do something that the whole group would not agree with and then the whole fraternity gets punished, not just the member who gets drunk and does something stupid." Though many fraternity brothers dislike the stereotyping, they know that it is not completely off base. Bram admits that some fraternity brothers do exemplify the stereotypes, though at the same time, many do not."I think to some extent, [the stereotypes] can be true," said Bram. "There's a lot of drinking going on, but there's guys who don't drink, if they don't want to drink or party they don't have to."Some brothers even believed the stereotyping before they decided to pledge."I used to think frats were not the thing for me," Raucci said. "But once I saw what they were actually like, I realized that they were just a group of people who share a common name, common idealism, brought together toward common goals." Though the whole process of pledging can be disruptive at times, many brothers feel that it is integral to preserving this common goal. "[Pledging] is a trial to see if you have the force to survive and become a brother," said Raucci. "For what I've done, becoming a brother is the ultimate award."

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News

Misrepresentation of the Trustee luncheon

March 31

There have been several Viewpoints addressing last Saturday's luncheon with the Board of Trustees in Dewick-MacPhie dining hall. The letters to the editor have come from a variety of sources and have had varying opinions on the issues related to student life. We would like to clarify our intent and purpose as well as our understanding of the events that took place at the luncheon with the Board of Trustees. For the students not in attendance, the presentations by members of the TCU Senate and the student organizations were not disrespectful or aggressive. On the contrary, we, the students were unified and presented a thought-out and organized presentation about the lack of tolerance and diversity on this campus. As a collective group, we spoke on topics such as the 1997 task force on race and the need for resources, and we raised questions about the need for resources for students. We have challenged the administration to take responsibility for and take action against those acts that contribute to or create a hostile environment for students on campus. Regarding the increased acts of intolerance and bigotry, we have asked the administration what mechanisms it has or will put into place to promote a climate where acts of intolerance are regarded as the antithesis to the tenets of the University. We have also asked the administration to work with us to improve student-to-student relationships, as well as the relationships between and among students, faculty, and administration. The allegations that students are ungrateful for what has already been accomplished with regards to diversity or that we are constructing an aggressive environment are entirely baseless. By no means did we create or attempt to create an antagonistic atmosphere during the meeting. We understand that indeed there was and is tension; however, we simply attempted to use the question-and-answer forum during the luncheon to address some of the concerns of members of the student constituency. Never have we stated nor have we suggested that we are ungrateful for the progress Tufts has made with regards to diversity. In fact, we applaud these efforts. We have simply articulated that with increased acts of intolerance and the need for support and resources for an ever-growing student population, we must ask again: what is the University's comprehensive commitment to diversity? Despite the criticism and controversy, we feel that the luncheon was a success. The kind of forum that allows for disagreement and dialogue is part of the road to creating a more tolerant and diverse Tufts University. We know that nothing happens overnight. However, for many of us it has been four years, and as we review the history of the University, many of these questions resurface again and again. Tufts has made progress. In an effort to understand and work within our changing world, we must all appreciate and value diversity and provide the necessary resources to allow all students to flourish. If we vow to continuously follow through with proposals and recommendations already established and encourage additional commitment on the part of the Board of Trustees and members of the administration, the long term future of Tufts will be brighter. The events of Saturday were positive in many ways. For one, a positive feeling of solidarity has emerged among a number of students. The issues are not simply about black and white students. What we witnessed on Saturday afternoon was a coalition of students attempting to hold hands, extend ourselves, and reach across the divisions of administration, faculty, trustees, and students. We do think that race continues to be a problem in the US and furthermore in this institution. However, we think that sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia are issues that are of equal concern. These issues are not only pertinent to students of African descent, as the articles in the Daily may suggest, but also to over one third of the Tufts community including Asian students, students of European descent, Middle Easterners, Latino students, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) students and women. In other words, we believe that diversity is of value and that acts of intolerance are unacceptable to most members of the Tufts community. These issues are relevant, because when students' educations are impacted, the University has not fulfilled its commitment to creating an environment conducive to learning. Writing off the events on Saturday as sheer "activism" and blaming it on "rowdy kids" is not only missing the point but purposely erasing most of the presentation and the important questions raised. We encourage everyone to reread (or perhaps for some of you it will be the first time) the Tufts Vision Statement. The opening lines state: "As we shape our future, quality will be the pole star that guides us." The students that attended the open forum lunch on Saturday were guided by a pole star of quality. The unity was not rooted in disdain but rather in the action of not one or two people but a group of individuals united to increase the quality of the experiences for members of the student body. We are committed to Tufts, and therefore it is our responsibility to take a stand. We ask that, as a community, we try and stand together. Finally, on Saturday a group of dedicated students formed to, as cited in the Vision Statement, "obtain, evaluate, and use information", "be receptive to new ideas" and "sensitive to ethical issues and able to confront them." We encourage faculty and members of the administration to take our extended hand in our efforts to enhance the quality of the institution and students' experiences, and, of course, to create a vision that is promising and lives up to the doctrine and creed of the University.Hassa Blake is a sophomore majoring in economics. Ify Mora is a sophomore double majoring in Spanish and quantitative economics. Ivan Padilla is a senior majoring mechanical engineering. David Wu is a sophomore majoring in American Studies. All four students attended the Feb. 9, 2002 trustee luncheon.

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News

Students call for reform to freshman meal plan

March 31

Nearly two years after a "new and improved" freshman meal plan was introduced, some freshmen are still calling for Dining Services to change its policies. Many cringe at the price of the "premium" plan and lament its lack of options. Dining Services, however, says the premium plan is necessary to provide a financial base to offset the cost of maintaining two dining halls and their extensive food offerings. All freshmen are required to purchase Dining Services' premium plan, which gives unlimited meals and ten guest meals at campus dining halls for $1,950 per semester. Sophomores and upperclassmen can choose from a variety of other meal plans, which combine dining hall meals and points. The cheapest sophomore plan, however, which features 160 meals and $525 worth of points is only $130 less than the freshman plan. Points can be used at different campus eateries, such as the Commons and Brown & Brew. Complaints about the meal plan are heard every year. "It's wrong that they force us to go with their plan. It's a lot of money and I don't eat that many meals there," freshman Dori Hirsch said. Dining Services Director Patti Lee Klos emphasized the importance of eating at the dining halls from a social perspective. Freshmen and sophomores eat in the dining halls most often, because they are required to live on campus. Though she admitted the plan is expensive, Tufts is "in the upper echelon as a university," academically and cost-wise Klos said. "It's important to the living, learning experience." Though the freshman plan is almost entirely composed of meals, freshmen can purchase food from Hodgdon in exchange for one meal. Upperclassmen can use their meal plans to purchase food at various campus eateries and from some off-campus restaurants. The meal plan is based on what the average student eats, 14 meals per week. "If you eat more than that you're coming out ahead," Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator Josh Belkin said. The fact that freshmen must use on-campus dining facilities gives Dining Services a solid base of customers. Since upperclassmen use the dining halls less frequently, Dining Services relies on freshmen to consistently visit the dining halls. Many also say that pushing freshmen to eat in dining halls promotes a sense of community and helps them make friends by having them congregate in a few areas. The Senate has worked to address the concerns. "We hear about it a lot, but it will be one of the hardest things to change due to the financial issues," Belkin said. In the past the Senate worked to change the plan for sophomores so that now they have 525 points and 160 meals. "A lot of freshmen like to buy their own food or go out to eat [but Dining Services] makes their money from the freshman meal plan," former sophomore Senator Pritesh Gandhi said. He brought the issue up the to the Senate before Spring Break, but dining services was not receptive because of the financial realities. "In order to keep two dining halls, they need the money that the plan generates," Gandhi said. "I like the food at Tufts," freshman Allon Bloch said. "It's at least as good as other schools I visited." Nevertheless it is not possible to please everyone. Some freshmen complain about the quality of dining hall food, in addition to the meal plans. "It's excessively obscene. Brown rice, carrots, cereal, and yogurt is the only stuff at Dewick that doesn't make me sick," freshman Joe Gulezian said. While rumors may fly about the presence of laxatives in the food, others point out how much worse the food is at other schools. Dining Services constantly evaluates what students think of the food by offering surveys and comment boards. "We constantly add new things, new menu items based on input," Klos said. Based on how much food is consumed and the input received, students are relatively happy with Tufts dining according to Klos. Some students on special diets say the meal plan does not cater to their needs. "My meal costs the cafeteria much less. Lettuce is really cheap so I end up paying much more," vegetarian freshman Steven Lloyd said. But not everyone is complaining. Freshman Noah Yuan-Vogel is a vegan and he says, "I don't feel like I got gypped at all. As a vegan, I think there's often more selection for me at Dewick than there would be at any restaurant and certainly more selection than I could cook for myself."

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News

Women's soccer back on track

March 31

The women's soccer team begins the season with high hopes after a disappointing 2001 campaign. Following a spectacular 2000 season, which saw the Jumbos reach the finals of the NCAA tournament, last year's squad stumbled, finishing with an 8-6 regular-season mark, and a first round lost to Amherst in the NESCAC tournament. "Last year, we had a good team, but we couldn't quite get it done when we needed to," Whiting said. "There were a couple situations where we had mental lapses, and lost the game in the final minutes." A former all-star goalie for the Jumbos, Whiting has already added to the success of a program that has seen just one losing season in its 22-year history, posting a 35-16-2 (.679) record in her first three years. As she begins her fourth year at the helm, she remains confident in her team's ability to bounce back and put together another strong season. "Last year will be a good building year for this year," Whiting said. "Mentally, we'll be tougher, and we should be able to come through a little bit better in those tougher situations. We've got such a great group coming back that I've been excited for a while." But in order to approach the 2000 team's success, the squad will have to overcome the loss of a talented and deep graduated class. Of the six players gone from the Hill, five were regular starters, and all played major roles both on and off the field. "We relied heavily upon those guys all last year," Whiting said. "And even since they were freshmen they've been a big part of the squad." The team will look to its new co-captains, midfielder Alle Sharlip and defensive back Cara Glassanos, to help fill in the gap left by the departed seniors. "So far Alle and Cara have been tremendous leaders," Whiting said. "They, along with the other seniors, are going to provide great, great leadership. And as the years go by, I realize just how important that is to the team. There's a direct link between the leadership you have and how successful you can be. Whiting expects big things from Sharlip, the team's attacking center midfielder who is currently the team's second-leading scorer, with five goals and six assists in 51 career games. Glassanos anchors the defense, and has also contributed three goals and an assist in her career. "Cara is a great leader out of the back," Whiting said. "She communicates very well, and is able to direct not only her back four but also the players in front of her. Just having her there in that central position will make everyone around her more confident." Whiting also helped prepare her team for the seniors' graduation by making sure to get her strong group of freshmen the experience they would need to step up into feature roles this year. Of the eight entering sophomores, the six position players all saw significant playing time last season, contributing a combined six goals and four assists. In addition, goalkeeper Meg McCourt played in two games last year, posting a shutout against Wesleyan in her first collegiate start, while Jess Gluck saw time in the net for the junior varsity squad. "It's a nice transition for them to now be sophomores and have a year under their belts. All eight are so much more confident than they were last year. Even though we're losing a big class, we have strong juniors and sophomores to fill the gap." With the graduation of goalkeeper Mara Schanfield, McCourt and Gluck will compete for time in goal. Although Whiting is still unsure who will get the starting nod when the season opens, she is confident that either will be able to handle the position. "Right now, they're both a little bit hobbled with nagging ankle injuries. But from what I saw when they were able to get out there and really go hard, it'll be a good competition between the two," Whiting said. "They both have their own strengths and weaknesses, but I feel like with either one we'll be strong." But the biggest shoes the Jumbos will have to fill this year are those of Lynn Cooper, Tufts' second all-time leading scorer. The forward finished with 85 points on 34 goals and 17 assists, and also provided the team with senior leadership. With Cooper's departure, junior forward Jess Trombly assumes the role of the team's leading active scorer, with ten goals and ten assists. Starting up front with Trombly will be fellow junior Becca Doigan, who missed most of the 2001 season with an ankle injury. She has three goals and an assist in her collegiate career. "Both of those guys came back so fit after working hard all summer," Whiting said of her starting forwards. "No doubt we're going to miss Coop a lot - she's one of the best scorers we've had in years - but last year with Becca hurt, we lost a whole dimension from the striker's perspective. This year we've lost Coop, but now we have Becca back strong, fit, and ready to play. She and Trombly will be a great pair up front." Sophomores Lindsey Wolejko and Becky Greenstein will also see time up front, as will incoming freshmen Sarah Callaghan and Ali Blaufarb, and Jen Baldwin, a sophomore transfer from Johns Hopkins. Greenstein finished tied for the lead in goals scored last season, with four. "We can keep our strikers fresh now," Whiting said of her new-found depth at forward. "Last year we had to rely on certain people at striker even when they were dead tired." Joining Sharlip in the midfield are seniors Brenna O'Rourke and Elizabeth Tooley, O'Rourke at defensive center-mid and Tooley on one of the wings. Sophomores Sarah Gelb and Greenstein will see time opposite Tooley. Freshmen Michelle Gauvin and Lydia Claudio will give the Jumbos depth at center-mid, while Baldwin and Blaufarb may also get in minutes in the midfield. On defense, Tufts will return to a flat-back four alignment, a system they abandoned last year but which led them to their NCAA Tournament runs in 1998 and 2000. The Jumbos switched to a more traditional defensive setup last season because it was easier for newer players. "I think [the flat back] is a better way to defend. It's very hard to play through," Whiting said. "We weren't ready last year because we were so young. A third of our team was new, and if you have a new group, it's not such an easy thing to teach. But we're ready this year. We did it the other day in practice and it's looking pretty tight already." Along with Glassanos, juniors Jess Lovitz and Abby Herzberg and sophomores Catherine Benedict and Alina Schmidt will all see time on defense. Freshmen Ariel Samuelson and Lindsay Garmirian will also be worked into the mix. "We don't really have a need for a freshman to start anywhere on the field, which is a nice position to be in," Whiting said. "It takes pressure off of those freshmen. You don't want to have to step in right away and be a big star." The Jumbos open their season Tuesday, Sept. 10 at Gordon. The Fighting Scots finished last year with a 14-5 record, outscoring their opponents by a 52-12 margin. But the Jumbos have put together an impressive winning streak against Gordon, including three shutouts in the last four years. Even so, Whiting is never one to take an opponent lightly, but she is anxious to see what her new team has to offer. "Gordon always gives us a good game, especially when we go up there," she said. "They're a tough team at home, and coming into the season, you don't know what to expect the first game. You have an idea, but you don't know until you really see them out there against another team.

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News

Tufts on the small screen

March 31

Tufts' presence in TV land is small, but notable. The Medford/Somerville campus makes a cameo in the opening credits of "Sabrina: The Teenage Witch" and on ABC's show "Two Guys and A Girl," created by Tufts grad Kenny Schwartz. The "Two Guys" are Tufts students and one of the main sets is a pizza place near the University (rumored to be Espresso's). And what about the fictional Tuftonians on the small screen? Jill Hennessy, from "Crossing Jordan," is one; she is a Tufts Medical School grad, as is the show's supervising producer, Todd Ellis Kessler. Nina Myers, played by actress Sarah Lively on Fox's drama, "24," has a masters degree from Tufts' Fletcher school. Kenny from the show "Ed" is also a Tufts alum, like the show's co-creator and producer, Rob Burnett. Other TV characters with Tufts degrees are Seinfeld's Elaine, The Geena Davis Show's Judy Owen, and Providence's doctor, Sydney Hansen. The Sopranos' Dr. Jennifer Melfi also holds a degree from the University. In real life, Tufts alum Jonathan Tsilimos won $64,000 on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" earlier this month.

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News

Silence of the Rams

March 31

Super Bowl XXXVI had all the makings of another New England disappointment. The New England Patriots built up a 14-point cushion in the fourth quarter, only to watch the St. Louis Rams pull even with 1:30 to play. Could the ball possibly go through Buckner's legs again? Maybe this is a new generation of Boston sports fans. One that doesn't have its dreams crushed in the harshest of fashions. One that can enjoy the elation of pouring emotion into a team and coming out with a championship. This year, the Patriots didn't fold when the Rams came back to tie a game New England had dominated for 50 minutes. Quarterback Tom Brady, only 24 years old and symbolic of this new generation of New Englanders, calmly took over with 1:30 to play and the game tied. Brady had thrown for only 92 yards before coming onto the field for the final drive, but chipped away at a suddenly soft Rams defense for 53 yards while John Madden was in the booth telling a nation full of suspenseful viewers that the Patriots should have sat on the ball and prepared for overtime. Like the rest of us, Brady didn't listen to Madden, and with seven seconds remaining in the season had the ball positioned at the 31-yard line. It was Adam Vinatieri time. New England's kicker, sporting a full beard, had kicked a game-winning, 45-yard field goal in the snow to beat the Oakland Raiders two weeks ago, so this should have been no problem. It wasn't. Almost immediately after the ball cleared the line of scrimmage, Vinatieri was doing his best Martin Gramatica imitation because he knew he had given the city of Boston its first championship in 16 years. And it's the first championship this generation of fans can savor. Just wish it would have come against the Yankees. After the game, Brady was handed the MVP trophy, and though he was certainly deserving, it probably should have been handed out in the same fashion the Patriots were announced - as one unit. Unlike the Rams, New England opted to have none of its players announced, either to prove that they play as a team, or because they didn't want Pat Summeral butchering their names on the P.A. system. Speaking of MVP's, give one to coach Bill Belichek, who figured out a way to hold the Rams to 17 points. The statistics were unimaginable going into the game. The Rams didn't get into the red zone until 11 minutes were left in the game. Marshall Faulk rushed for only 76 yards and never found the end zone. Though Warner threw for 365 yards, his two interceptions were the spring boards the Patriots needed. The first came midway through the second quarter, as Mike Vrabel broke through the St. Louis line, disrupting Warner, who threw an errant ball into the hands of cornerback Ty Law who took it to the house. The second was an Otis Smith pick late in the third quarter, and led directly to a Patriots field goal. New England managed to force a third turnover, a Ricky Proehl fumble late in the first half. And though Proehl caught the pass that momentarily knotted the game near the end, it was this play that could stick in his memory. Safety Antwan Harris knocked the ball from Proehl and Terrell Buckley picked it up, a play that set up a Brady touchdown pass to David Patten at the end of the first half to give the Pats a 14-3 lead at the break. Belichek's scheme the first time these two teams played was to blitz Warner as much as possible. The Rams scored 24 points that day. Yesterday, Belichek decided to rush only three or four men, dropping seven, eight, and sometimes nine men in coverage. And though it often looked like Warner had a lot of time to throw, what he had was too much time. He ended up growing uncomfortable in the pocket, forcing those two interceptions, getting sacked three times, hit 11, and hurried six. Not only did the Patriots force three turnovers, the same number they created the last time these two teams played, but they didn't have any of their own. Brady was cautious throwing the ball, and running back Antowain Smith punished the Rams defense for 92 yards without fumbling. In fact, the only major mistake the Patriots made all day was a penalty on defensive lineman Willie McGinest. It was a play that, at the time, looked like it might cost the Patriots the game. With 10:29 left in the game and New England holding on to a 14-point lead, the Rams had a fourth and goal at the three-yard line. No receiver was open when Warner dropped back to throw, so he decided to make a run at the end zone. Before he could reach it, he was stripped of the ball, and Tebucky Jones scooped it up and ran 99-yards for an apparent touchdown. On the play, however, McGinest was called for a hold of Faulk, and the play was called back. Two plays later, the Rams scored to cut the lead in half. Give McGinest credit, though, for not hanging his head. On the Rams second to last possession of the game, he had a sack of Warner that helped stall the drive. The Patriots had two more possessions following the score, but failed to move the ball, giving it back to the Rams with two minutes remaining. All season, St. Louis had been noted for its instant offense, but last night, it was too quick. The Rams only took 30 seconds off the clock in scoring the game-tying touchdown, allowing way too much time for Brady and Vinatieri to create one more miracle. It's now officially time to stop calling the Patriots a team of destiny. They're a talented group that plays together, plays with confidence, and most importantly, is extremely well-coached. So for a new generation of Boston sports fans, maybe last night's championship ushered in a new era of winning. Of course, with pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training in less than two weeks, maybe not.

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News

Make the most of it

March 31

I would like to echo my support for Emily Schaffer's and George Farish's previous Viewpoints, which argued that the Omidyars are, indeed, a good choice to speak at commencement. But I wish to elaborate upon a specific thought, one which Mr. Farish's Viewpoint brought to mind: Are Tufts students, as a whole, too concerned with "brand image?"An informal survey by the Tufts Daily found that students' biggest priority for a commencement speaker was "celebrity status." ("Bacow books unidentified commencement speaker," 1/24/02) That idea, to me, is reflective of the majority of our campus. Consider last year's Issam Fares lecture. Over a thousand eager students filed into the Gantcher Center to watch the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, speak. Consider the hype surrounding former president Bill Clinton's speech to be held at the Gantcher Center in only one week, or the complaints regarding limited seating availability at Al Gore's lecture last month. People want to attend these lectures. But how many come to hear their messages, and how many people just come to hear famous people talk?Tufts draws a myriad of speakers every year. Just this past weekend, Tufts hosted the EPIIC Symposium, in which a large collection of renowned figures converged on the Hill for a weekend of intense intellectual discourse. Panel discussions involving economists, ambassadors, academics, NGO leaders, authors and other well-respected individuals made their way to this Symposium to discuss global inequities along many different facets. How well-attended was EPIIC? Well enough to fill Alumnae Lounge roughly 50 percent of the time. That is pretty good, but suppose that a household name were to appear in a panel. Students would be lining up around the block to get tickets. Inevitably, there would be another uproar on Tufts' campus about limited seating availability at a public speaking event.Forget academics for a second. Not everybody is an intellectual (although one would hope to find more than a handful at this school). Few people are not lovers of music. That is why Cohen Auditorium was jam-packed with students when Billy Joel came to Medford last Nov. 13. Yet, why is Goddard Chapel's Noon Hour Concert Series perpetually poorly-attended? Last Thursday, a little over a dozen people came to watch, much to the thrill of the performers who had hoped to draw at most a crowd of six. Where were people at last Saturday night's Tufts Symphony Orchestra concert? Cohen Auditorium was barely half full for that event. I would hazard a guess that the missing hundreds were out at the frats, exploiting the underage drinking scene. Hats off to the ones that missed the TSO concert for the 8:00 pm EPIIC Symposium panel discussion; that's okay in my book.It's likely that I'm beginning to sound elitist to some, using phrases such as "intense academic discourse" and "symphony orchestra." The association of elitism with such words is a real tragedy, but I will spare the reader in this case. I am just trying to ask the question, what is it about fame that attracts so many Tufts students (or people in general, for that matter)? Why do people base their judgments around such artificial credentials? I heard once that placing famous people in advertising works because it gives the target audience the impression that a product vendor is wealthy enough to afford well-known figures.Well, that's an uplifting statement considering that we all know that the richer a company is, the better the quality of the products it turns out, right? That's why Microsoft is ahead of the competition; its products are better than others. It has nothing to do with the fact that it has more lawyers than programmers, and more marketers than lawyers. Surely, that is why Home Depot is better, and why it wiped out the tiny Mom and Pop hardware store in your hometown; its hammers are obviously better than Mom and Pop's hammers because Home Depot is a behemoth corporation. And finally, that is why Harvard is definitely better than Tufts. It has an $18 billion endowment and we do not.If you believe anything in the last paragraph, I have some Argentine pesos to sell you. I have been at Tufts for four years, and I, too, was once concerned with Tufts' reputation and its slipping in the US News and World Report rankings. But in my later years, I have learned to look past that and focus on more important issues, such as my education. There are so many learning opportunities at Tufts that it is simply astounding. If you want to capture this experience, go and audit a class just for the simple joy of learning. Attend a panel discussion or lecture on a topic with which you are completely unfamiliar. Enjoy intimate music-making in Goddard Chapel some Thursday afternoon, or visit the little-known Tufts art gallery the Daily wrote about last Friday. Dare to engage in intellectual discourse rather than frat house imbibing.Raise your standards and raise the common denominator at Tufts. Then ponder this for one moment: Doing all of this just might heighten the public's perception of Tufts University, and (dare I say it?) it might do something to improve Tufts' own brand image - what a refreshing change that would be. Much better, if you ask me, than students repeatedly asking administrators to fix Tufts' lack of reputation. Do you know how many students I have heard complain that other Tufts students are apathetic? It hurts me when I think of the numbers. But who can blame them when less than 12 people showed up to the freshman election debates in February? Prove them wrong and, please, prove me wrong, too.Ted Shevlin is a senior majoring in computer science with a minor in multimedia arts.

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News

A new pastime

March 31

The Daytona 500 was on Sunday, and some redneck won the race after a crash. I missed it. I was watching the Duke-Maryland game, which Maryland won after Duke's offense crashed. There are four points to this boring anecdote. First, I'm not sure the Blue Devils can win without "Duke" Vitale cheering them on. Second, NASCAR has become so popular that to consider yourself a true sports aficionado, you must follow the sport. And third, I'm glad I'm not a sports aficionado. To watch NASCAR, I would have to pretend that I'm interested in a sport. That's why we have the Winter Olympics. For two weeks, you get real into the biathlon, curling, and short track speed skating, only to store those events in the back of your brain somewhere near high-school world history for the next for years. But the difference is, these sports are exciting when watched every four years. Well, maybe not curling, but the rest of them are. I've watched one NASCAR event from start to finish in my life, and that will serve me just fine. Four years is enough time in between luge events. Four eons can satisfy me between NASCAR events. In 1999, my freshman year, my roommate and I decided to take the plunge. We set the alarm. We went to Dewick earlier than normal. We got out the chips and pretzels. We shut the door and turned off the phone. Our away messages read, "Watching NASCAR, go away" Four years ago last weekend, I watched my first NASCAR race, the Daytona 500. We watched from start to finish. I went in with an open mind and tried to give it a fair shake. Look at how much concentration is required, and the stamina, I thought to myself. Wow, I thought. And can you believe this finish, I remarked in my inner monologue. Dale Earnhardt squeaks past Jeff Gordon to win his first ever Daytona. The Holy Grail that had eluded him throughout his illustrious career. It had all the drama of a Disney movie. Earnhardt was Driver of the Year, there were Angels in the Pit. I thought I would need pliers to get the smile off my face, it was plastered on there like I was posing for a family portrait. What was everyone so happy with? He drove. That's it. It's tough, I know. I can't even drive down to Hollywood Video without almost getting in four accidents, but at the same time, no one is watching me on a Sunday morning, and Pepsi isn't trying to get its logo on my Honda CRV. That's what I came away with that day. I may have watched the best Daytona 500 in the history of the Daytona 500, but I couldn't escape the fact that all I saw was cars making left turns. It's a clich?©d argument against the sport, but it's true. It's not that NASCAR drivers lack the skill of other athletes or that the sport is without its intricacies. On the contrary. NASCAR drivers are tougher than most athletes, and the strategy involved places the sport on a slightly higher level than watching the Mass Pike. It's just that it's boring. Watching people go in an oval for two hours is boring. Can you imagine the Kentucky Derby if it lasted most of the afternoon? There would be world records set for mint julep consumption. Unfortunately for me, the NASCAR doesn't care what I think (though I'm sure you do). They don't need me to watch: they already have millions of Busch-swigging, undershirt-sporting, Jerry Springer addicts tuning in. And that's just the college crowd. The ratings go even higher when you get to redneck country. Alas, NASCAR is slowly taking over the sports world. NBC has essentially dropped its coverage of every other sporting event in order to bring you the Busch series. Soon, Bob Costas will be covered in grease, doing reports from the infield. I guess it's okay. NASCAR represents everything that's right with sports. It's competition at its most basic level. Whoever goes faster wins; there's no French judge there to take your trophy away. NASCAR's as pure as the virgin Mary. Just don't mind the cars and drivers awash in corporate logos. Oh, and try to ignore the racism that runs rampant throughout the sport. And don't pay any attention to the sexism faced by the few women drivers trying to wedge their way into the sport. NASCAR is the new American pastime.

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News

Wheaton eliminates softball from tournament

March 31

The women's softball team was eliminated from the NCAA Regional Tournament last Saturday in a 3-1 loss to Wheaton College, ending the team's hope of qualifying for the College World Series. The Jumbos finished their season as NESCAC Champions for the second year running. Highlights from the spring include a sparkling 29-9 (8-0) record, a number eight national ranking and a 16-game winning streak. The year ended in somewhat disappointing fashion, as the team could only muster one run in what turned out to be the season finale. After Wheaton scored three runs in the top of the second, Tufts responded with their lone run when freshman Courtney Bongiolatti scored on senior Emily Ferrazza's sacrifice fly to left field. After the second inning, Wheaton's sophomore hurler Jackie Demling regained control of the game and shut down Tufts for the remainder of the afternoon. In seven innings of work, Demling surrendered only two hits while striking out three. In the final game of her career, Jumbos' co-captain Jodie Moreau gave up four hits and struck out seven. The loss to Wheaton came only a day after Tufts dropped a 2-1 decision in 13 innings to Bridgewater State, bringing an end to the team's 16 game winnings streak. Despite the two losses to close the season, the year was nevertheless successful. "All the work we've put in is to get success at the highest level," coach Kris Talon said. "We've reached circles we wanted to, including being undefeated in the conference and winning NESCACs. It comes from a great team effort and tremendous leadership with contributions from up and down the line-up." Tufts defeated Western New England by a 1-0 margin in game two of the NCAA Div. III New England Regional tournament. It also handled Williams College two times in the NESCAC tournament. In the Jumbos' second game of the NESCAC Championship tournament against Williams College on May 5, they came away with a 2-0 victory and the NESCAC Championship. Moreau brought her winning ways to the mound, giving up just two Williams hits - both in the first inning. Moreau concluded the game by retiring 19 out of the final 20 Ephs who came to the plate. The scoring started in the top of the first when senior Tiffany Trahan tripled with two outs. A single by sophomore Julie Fox drove in Trahan to put Tufts on the board. It wasn't until the top of the seventh that the second run was scored, on a towering solo home run by Bongiolatti. Aside from providing offensive clout, Bongiolatti also made a diving catch that saved the tying run from scoring early in the game. Trahan, Fox, and senior co-captain Ferrazza ended the day with two hits apiece. Tufts struggled against Williams pitcher Katherine Baldwin in the first game but figured her out in the second. "On Sunday we were smarter [than they had been in the first matchup the day before], and we weren't swinging at Baldwin's riseball, and so we were able to score earlier," Fox said. "We also got a lot more solid hits off Baldwin during the second match-up." The first game against the NESCAC title contenders was not so easy, though the Jumbos were able to pick up a narrow one run victory. In what amounted to a pitchers duel between Moreau and Baldwin, Baldwin gave the Jumbos a scare, as she retired the first nine she encountered. However, in the fourth the streak was broken by Ferrazza, who led off with a single and later stole second. When senior Jen Mackey reached base on catcher's interference, Trahan laid down the ground work for the run by putting down a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third. A single by Fox scored Ferrazza and was the only run of the game. The top of the seventh presented the Ephs with an opportunity to even the score, when Courtney Gordon got to second on an infield throwing error. Mary Baccash would follow with an infield single to advance Gordon to second, but Moreau took care of business striking out the last two Williams players to seal the win. Defense ruled the day in both contests, and Moreau had help in her pair of shut-outs from junior catcher Lis Drake. Drake picked a runner off second base and threw a runner out trying to steal third, as well as calling two solid games behind the plate. "We need to be perfect on defense, much like what we were for these two games, one or two mistakes can make the difference. In addition to staying consistent on defense, we need to hit the ball a bit better. If we get offense going earlier, it will create a bit more of a cushion," Talon said. Although the team has been eliminated from the postseason, accolades for this stellar squad are already pouring in. Moreau was named the New England Intercollegiate Softball Coaches Association Player of the Year. She was also selected for the 2002 Verizon Academic District I College Division Softball team along with senior teammate Jen Mackey for their academic and athletic combined prowess. With a 0.52 ERA and a 19-1 record, Moreau is also in the running for national pitcher of the year. Drake shares All-New England First Team honors with Moreau, while Trahan, Mackey, and Fox earned All-New England Second Team berths. Despite all the individual recognition the players remain more concerned with the team as a whole. "Softball is the ultimate team game. Individual honors are great to receive, as it is always nice to have your hard work recognized." Mackey said. "But it shouldn't be overlooked that people are also singled out because of the efforts of the team around them. We are lucky to have a successful program, and the awards that people receive are really a testament to this team as a whole." @s:Accolades abound for softball players

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News

The ABC's of Work Study

March 31

If washing dishes at Dewick or watching sweaty kids work out at the gym isn't your ideal job, you're not alone. But few Tufts students realize that there is an alternative to the work-study jobs most commonly held by undergraduates. The Tufts Literacy Corps (TLC) offers work-study opportunities for students who want to tutor children in Medford and Somerville. The program covers transportation costs as well as preparation time for planning lessons. TLC was established in 1997 through Tufts' Center for Reading and Language Research and the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Department, yet few students are aware of it. The program's mission is to help children in Medford and Somerville succeed in school. As part of the program Tufts students are trained as tutors through a yearlong seminar led by Program Director Dr. Cynthia Krug, a reading specialist. Throughout the year tutors meet with Dr. Krug once a week as a group for an hour and a half. During these meetings they discuss problems and situations that they have encountered during the week and try to think of solutions for each other. They attempt to develop new strategies for tutoring and innovative ways to keep the students' interest. They also use different collections of available literature to devise games and different teaching methods. The training comes into practice when each tutor visits a school twice a week to work individually with two children. The TLC hired 35 tutors last year, who worked in three public schools in Medford and three public schools in Somerville. Students in many different fields are drawn to the program and certainly everyone is encouraged to apply. However, most tutors tend to be Child Development majors. According to junior Lynelle Cortellini, tutors do not work with children who have intense learning disabilities. They work with children ranging from grades one to five, but most often third-graders who are a grade level behind their class in reading or math. "The two boys I'm working with now are working on writing stories. At the beginning I tried a couple of strategies that I didn't have much success with; they weren't really interested," Cortellini said. "Then I had this idea to have them draw a picture and write a story about it and they wrote great stories. It was great, they were so excited - it was a matter of finding a way of connecting with them." Working with children is an extremely rewarding experience, according to past tutors. One past tutor practiced reading and writing with her student and at the end of the year they exchanged letters. Junior Chuck McGraw also believes TLC to be a rewarding work-study experience. "I thought [TLC] was a thrilling way to fulfill my work-study. I worked with a third-grader and I got to know him pretty well. He was more of a trouble student, he seemed like he didn't have much direction in school and I think I was sort of a role model to him," said McGraw. However, tutoring children is not for everybody. "It's not the kind of thing where you just go in there and let the kids do what they want. You have to have time for it, you have to be prepared. If you don't have some structure you're not helping them at all. You can't get frustrated with the kids if they lose interest. You just have to keep trying to bring them back to it," said Cortellini. "I definitely got a lot back from the program. I think maybe I affected this kid's life some way," said McGraw.

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News

A whole new world... or not?

March 31

Friends, lovers of animation, give me your Mickey Mouse ears. I have come to praise Atlantis: The Lost Empire and bury Disney. What was once the leader of animation has become a sadly misguided corporation, punishing invention and rewarding repetition. Once upon a time, the company produced artistic and commercial successes year after year, creating unforgettable moments that are ingrained in our popular imagination: the epic nature of The Lion King; Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin; the ballroom sequence of Beauty and the Beast (the film itself was even nominated for Best Picture). Then Jeffery Katzenberg left the company to become the "K" in DreamWorks SKG, and thus came the fall. Oh sure, the last few years has given us the computer-animated wonders of Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc, and Shrek. However, the first four were all Pixar films, and the last was from DreamWorks. Pixar may work for Disney, but Disney has no hand in its creative process. Pixar has the best track record of any film company on earth, with every film earning well over $150 million domestically and winning critical kudos. Disney, however... Of the six Disney animated films that followed The Lion King - Pocahontas, Hunchback, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, and the computer animated Dinosaur - which of these sparks any memory? Were there memorable songs? Characters? Any break from formula? True, Pocahontas and Hunchback were just as beautiful animation-wise as their predecessors, and Tarzan used computer animation to create amazing trunk-surfing sequences, but...Hercules and Mulan were mediocre in both storytelling and animation, and all show no trace of the greatness that once surrounded the studio. Dinosaur, in particular, used computers to render a visually unforgettable world, only to have the credibility come crashing down with cute sidekicks and brutish villains. Only The Emperor's New Groove showed some spark of life, with all the comic timing and seriousness of the best Goofy cartoons. Yet, it grossed the least of all of these films, partly due to shoddy advertising and a bad release date. Fast forward to the summer of 2001. Atlantis: The Lost Empire is released, and subsequently sinks in a sea of sickly summer offerings - no thanks to Disney. The studio had three major summer releases: Pearl Harbor, The Princess Diaries and Atlantis. Extra credit if you can guess which received the least push in terms of advertising. Pearl Harbor was given a huge release and all of Memorial Day weekend, and Disney played up the hey-it's-rated-G! angle to death for The Princess Diaries. Atlantis, on the other hand, was given a limp and muddled ad campaign and dumped on the same weekend as Tomb Raider. Given that the audience they were going for was male and 12-16, this was possibly not the best choice. That was combined with a proper critical dunking. "Oppressively tedious," according to the New York Post. "Mindlessly follows an old formula," said Steve Rhodes on his website. "The essence of craft without dream," said Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (let us not forget this is the same man who called Oh Brother Where Art Thou? the worst film of 2000). Did we all watch the same film? It boggles my mind how I can walk away with such a different take. Here is a film with real humor, exciting unparalleled action and engaging characters. The writing is crisp, edgy and full of life. It is a true animated adventure, one that doesn't stop to get sidetracked by songs, animal sidekicks, goofy villains, or dancing teacups. Where's the formula? Are these the same people who praised Tarzan, a well-animated film that creaked with formula from sidekick to villain? I don't know what else to say in its defense other than that it's a great animated movie that happened to be produced by Disney. We are taken to the bottom of the ocean and back by means of great imagination and skill. Flying machines, giant creatures, all the toys that made Jules Verne want to write. But the studio left it out to dry so they could sell The Princess Diaries, and critics dumped on it because... well, who knows. Sometimes I wonder what getting price people pay when they get paid to see movies.Atlantis fizzled at the box office. Now, it has been given a stand-up, collector's edition, double-disc DVD release (plus a simpler, one-disc version) and subsequent ad campaign, which is wonderful. Judging from the documentaries, deleted scenes, original story boards and story treatments, and the like, Disney knows well enough to give the film a great coffin for it to sail into the video/DVD afterlife. But why didn't they care enough to give it the backing it needed? Why does the studio care more about a second Peter Pan movie than the new stories there are to tell? Maybe the answer lies in the similar treatment the hilarious Emperor's New Groove received in 2000: "If it ain't a musical or rated G, we can't sell it." On the DVD, however, comes the true nature of the ugly path Disney is heading down. I distinctly remember when The Return of Jafar - the sequel to Aladdin - came out. It wasn't a bad idea for a sequel, as Aladdin at least formed some kind of mythology for the characters to continue to venture out. But the sequel itself was ugly, uninspired and, most painfully, did not have Robin Williams as the Genie. They also made evil sidekick Gilbert Godfried into a "good" sidekick, and once you've lost the ability to hate Gilbert Godfried, you've lost everything. But at least it made sense; there could be more stories to tell in the Aladdin world. Then came Beauty and the Beast 2: The Enchanted Christmas. That's right; they made a sequel to a story that was already over. The Beast became the prince, they live happily after ever. End of story, nothing left, you can go home now, take your jacket with you. So the genius idea they came up with to make this bad idea a reality was... this is the hidden story that we didn't learn in the first movie! Yes! The movie is a huge deleted scene! Highlights include more crappy animation and Tim Curry as the computer animated evil Organ Forte, who conspires to make sure that Belle's Christmas plans are thwarted. I wish I was kidding. Since then, this sad saga has produced Lion King 2, Pocahontas 2, Aladdin 3, Lady and the Tramp 2, Little Mermaid 2 and the soon to be theatrically released Peter Pan 2: Return to Neverland.But that's not all! Coming soon, and advertised on the Atlantis Double Disc Set: Hunchback 2, 101 Dalmatians 2, Jungle Book 2 Mulan 2 and last but most certainly least, Cinderella 2: Happily Ever After. Most kids go to animated movies because they like the use of color, shape, and the freedom of imagination that comes with putting a pen to paper. Disney is answering their call with sequels to virtually every single film they have made - even the unsuccessful ones. It is a sad statement for the studio that once made every kid go dead silent with an off-screen gunshot in Bambi. What can you expect from sequels to films that needed no sequel? What else can be said about Mulan that needs to be said? What else is there to learn in TheJungle Book after Mowgli leaves? And for the love of old Walt, why do we need another chapter in Cinderella? Go download the trailer and see if you can stomach your way through it. The very phrase - "a new rendition of bibbity-bobbity-boo!" - was more then enough to bang my head against the wall for a few hours. My apologies to my hallmates. Will future generations have to grow up on a Cinderella 3? Is it too much to ask for fresh ideas and new stories to tell? It's easy to view the past through a filter, remembering only the good films and forgetting the mediocre ones. But Disney has a record, a history of quality films that dominate a large part of my childhood imagination. Dumbo, Bambi, Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, Peter Pan, even The Rescuers - these films all once meant something. Atlantis holds a similar spot in my collection. But someday in the future, when DVD is outdated and we're all driving rocket cars on the moon, I can see myself driving to a Blockbuster for my kids and seeing Dumbo 3: Return of the Magic Feather on the shelf. This might make me do something drastic. Like read to them instead.

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News

TUPD plans negotiations with University

March 31

They give you parking tickets. They break up on-campus parties. But they also let you into your room when you are locked out, come to the rescue in emergencies, and maintain campus safety. Now, the Tufts University Police Association (TUPA), the collective bargaining representative for the police officers of the University, is asking for a increase in compensation for their services. Last week, off-duty police officers distributed Tufts University Police Association leaflets on the Medford and Grafton campuses. The leaflets were entitled, "Labor Relations Update Volume I," and were in regard to the current negotiations over a new collective bargaining contract with the University. Negotiations began last spring to replace an old contract that expired on June 30, according to Director of Public and Environmental Safety, John King. King adds that it is not unusual to go through continued negotiations after a contract has expired.King believes that the two groups will come to an agreement soon."The relationship with the University and the union has always been good, after negotiating over a period of time, we'll ultimately have an agreement, come to a resolution, and sign a contract," King said.The TUPA includes only University police officers, and does not include supervisors, like King. Vice President of Operations John Roberto also stated that such negotiations after a contract has expired are routine. "[The University] has a series of contracts with the association," Roberto said. "We are in the process now currently in negations for a successor agreement."Both Roberto and President Bacow's contact information are listed at the bottom of the newsletter, as the TUPA asks the community to contact these two individuals to show support for the TUPA. Neither King nor Roberto would confirm the specifics of the newsletter - namely the salary comparisons to officers at neighboring schools such as Harvard, MIT, Boston College, and Boston University - but the newsletter points out that the University's campus police officers receive a lower salary compared to neighboring schools such as MIT, BC, and BU, while providing the same kind of public safety service. According to the TUPA's newsletter, the TUPA has "reached an impasse" in their negotiations with the University. TUPA president, Sean Donlon, says that Tufts police officers are only trying to earn salaries that are marginally competitive with other Boston schools. Of the aforementioned universities, Boston College police officers receive the lowest salaries - $20.50 per hour. The TUPA is asking for $20 per hour, and only for officers who have completed a five year program with the department. According to the recently distributed newsletter, the current TUPD salary of a full-time police officer is $400 to $500 a week after taxes."We're trying to catch up," Donlon said. He adds that TUPD officers are all as well trained as other area university police officers, and some have special training in certain fields such as emergency medical procedures. The department varies; some officers have been with the TUPD for as long as 20 years, and some for only one year. Donlon says that the purpose of the newsletter was to garner support from members of the University. "[The TUPA is] appealing to the public to support us, we feel we have a good relationship with the community on all three campuses, and hope the administration will meet with us somewhere [in the negotiations]," Donlon said.While some may compare these salary negotiations with the very public negotiations between campus custodians and the University, the TUPA emphasizes that their negotiations date back to the end of the last academic year. Still, Roberto believes that the University's response to the custodians may have sent a message to the TUPA."Clearly the University is committed to the negotiations," Roberto said. According to Donlon, the TUPA will continue to hand out leaflets to bring the issue to the public's attention. Both sides hope to achieve a resolution at the mediation session planned for the end of February."[The mediation] is not a binding meeting, [but] hopefully something will be resolved by it," Donlon said.

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News

Out of the woods and into Cohen

March 31

Throw half a dozen fairytales, 18 actors with beautiful voices, and 14 musicians into Cohen Auditorium, and watch the magic unfold. This weekend, Torn Ticket II presents Steven Sondheim's Into the Woods, directed by senior Tom Damassa with musical directors senior Yeechin Huang and sophomore Tim Nelson. It's a performance filled with cleverness, absurdity, laughs, bittersweet moments, and buckets of juxtaposition that form an incredible show about the pursuit of happiness. The story is simple. Little Red Riding Hood is on her way to grandmother's house. Cinderella wants to go to the ball. A spell has been cast on a baker and his wife, leaving them childless. Jack (of beanstalk fame) has only one friend - a cow. Cinderella's mother's ghost lives in a tree. Two horny princes just keep running into each other in the woods. A witch wants to be young again and makes the baker and his wife acquire ingredients for a spell. And that's only the first act - okay, so maybe the story isn't so simple after all. Plot twists further complicate the story, taking happily-ever-after endings to new levels by adding the typical Sondheim angle of darkness. Though the first act serves nicely as a children's musical, the addition of the ominous second act heightens the conclusion and retells the fairytale stories with an aura of defeat. Torn Ticket II is the musical theatre group that brought the Zombie Prom to Balch Arena Theatre and Hair to Alumni Lounge last semester. The sassy Kate Goldberg, who stole Zombie Prom as Miss Strict, returns as a hilarious, manipulative, and powerful witch - a part originated on Broadway by Bernadette Peters. The Witch's role is demanding, requiring a big voice as well as strong comedic acting abilities. Kat Mulready's angelic voice of Toffee is now that of Cinderella, who runs away from princes and talks to birds. Mike Robb and Dan Balkin play those princes who sing of their "Agony" with great pathos. Those interested in the music will get their money's worth with the Baker's Wife's beautiful solos sung by Suzanne Corbette (Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Scarecrow in Oz). Vanessa Schiff as Little Red Riding Hood provides just the right amount of spunk to keep the audience chuckling. For general silliness, Mike LaFazia entertains with a foolish Jack. So many characters, so much interaction, the show keeps going and going without losing impetus, though often changing direction. The play's scenery places the audience directly in the woods. Jennifer Bien's funny-shaped houses and caricature of a cow show a distorted world - a true fairy tale kingdom. Costumes distinguish each set of character's worlds, courtesy of Chris Gibson. The nobility features renaissance fashion, the poor baker and wife dress in simple brown tones, while Jack and his mother have mismatched clothes for their eccentric personalities. The musical presents many vocal and technical challenges, and the fact that the undergraduates in the cast are able to master complex Sondheim melodies is a testament to the enormous talent and dedication of Tufts students. The pit orchestra, under the expert direction of Nelson, is also first rate and makes sense of often dissonant chord progressions and syncopated rhythms. "Wishes may bring problems, such that you regret them," sings the cast at the beginning of second act. "Better that though, than to never get them." This lyric sums up the overall sentiment of Into the Woods, incorporating a microcosmic world filled with surprises and changes. The show is a classic that musical lovers should not miss, and promises to be a performance you will not regret watching. Gauging by how fast Zombie Prom sold out, students interested in seeing the show should hurry over to the box office in Aidekman. $7 tickets for 8 p.m. shows today and tomorrow are still available.

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News

Wild wild West: noise, rodents, and poor maintenance

March 31

As the only dorm located directly on the academic quad, West Hall's singles, doubles, and quads have long been the most sought-after rooms for incoming sophomores. But times may be changing, as many disillusioned sophomores regret their decision to live in West this year. Faced with crumbling dorm rooms, a mere two washers and two dryers, and the many vermin that also call West Hall home, many are anxious to move out this spring. Sophomore Courtnay Thomas, who has caught seven mice in her room, is one of them. "Don't live here," she said. "There's garbage and beer cans all over the place, I can't do my laundry, and there are rodents everywhere." Sophomore Adam Blickstein learned firsthand that "rodents" does not always mean your run-of-the-mill mouse. "I caught a bat that was in my room with a coffee tin and then released it to the wild - it was definitely not a pleasant experience," he said. "Bats are [one of the] most common carriers of rabies." Students with high lottery numbers, who have the pick of the litter when it comes to dorm rooms, have historically ranked West at the top of their lists. But many West residents say that unless you can get a quad or triple, many rooms are not as large as some may think. The doubles facing the parking lot behind West, for example, are significantly larger than those that border the quads. "There's no point in living here unless you can get a triple or a quad because all of your other friends will most likely be living elsewhere," sophomore Todd Walters said. "You might have a great number, but if you're far away from your friends, a great number isn't going to be enough to make you happy." "Living in West, I lost contact with most of my friends from last year," sophomore Mike Stevenson said. "Friends are so much more important than location, and I really regret choosing West." Stevenson's quad-mate, sophomore Doug Smith, agrees that losing touch with close friends he made as a freshman was one of the many drawbacks to living in West. Inadequate facilities are another common complaint about the once-popular dorm. "The fact that the electricity constantly goes out, that West has the smallest showers ever, and that someone keeps [defecating] in the [hall] closet certainly doesn't help," Smith said. "I was ready to kill myself by Christmas." While many deem West the most social dorm on campus, many of its residents argue that life on the academic quad is often too close for comfort. "The walls in West are really thin, and you can hear other people's music - as well as the people [who live] below you having sex," sophomore Evan Turgeon said. "Also, another big cause of frustration is that I have to do all my laundry in Miller because we only have two washing machines and two dryers for the entire dorm." The washers and dryers in West are located in the basement restrooms, leaving only one washer and one dryer are accessible to each gender. Despite the many complaints, there are students who are happy living in West and have learned to put up with the admittedly poor conditions. "We live with mice and roaches, but we're at the very top of the hill," sophomore Jack Grimes said. Grimes points out, however, that as Oscar Wilde once said, "We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars." Sophomore Christina Michael called West a "fun place to live" and said that she still has "a great time" in spite of "the bad bathrooms, the lack of washing machines, and the mice." Michael acknowledges that West Hall does not have the best effect on one's work habits, but that "if you have discipline, you can get stuff done."

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