Senate Working to Strengthen Connections With
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Today: Mostly Cloudy THE TUFTS High 56 Low 47 Tufts’ Student Tomorrow: Newspaper Mostly Cloudy Since 1980 High 64 Low 54 VOLUME LII, NUMBER 54 DAILY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2006 Senate working to strengthen Remember to eat your fish now Incorporating fish into the The study, which was pub- connections with Tufts alumni diet may cut the risk of demen- lished in November’s issue of tia and Alzheimer’s disease by Archives of Neurology, followed BY ROB SILVERBLATT mation about the professions can currently access the net- nearly 50 percent, according to some 899 participants, aged Daily Editorial Board in which they are involved. work to search for and contact a study recently published by Dr. between 55 and 58, over a “The whole idea behind the alumni in fields they’re inter- Ernst Schaefer of the Jean Mayer nine-year period, during which A coordinated effort aimed mentoring program is for stu- ested in. USDA Human Nutrition Research 99 developed dementia and 71 at strengthening the ties dents to be paired with people Despite its availability, he Center on Aging (HNRCA). were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s between students and alumni who are working in the field said that many students are “Just like your mother said, disease. is currently underway. that the students are inter- presently unaware of this eating fish is good for you,” Dr. After controlling known risk With the help of the Tufts ested in,” she said. resource. Schaefer said. factors for dementia such as Community Union (TCU) “The alum would then be “I think a lot of students Founded in 1981 by then- age, gender, and homocysteine Senate, Career Services, and a resource on possible grad don’t realize that option cur- Tufts President Jean Mayer in levels, Schaefer found that par- the Alumni Association, the school programs, possibly rently exists, and one of the cooperation with then Speaker ticipants with the highest levels objective is to pair students [about] internships, [and] things that we’re exploring is of the House Tip O’Neill, the of DHA in their brains were 47 with alumni who share their information about the field.” how to get the word out better center is located on Boston’s percent less likely to develop interests. The program, which is still on that,” he said. Tufts Medical School campus dementia and 39 percent less According to TCU Senate in the planning phase and will A related problem, accord- and devoted to the study of likely to develop Alzheimer’s President Mitch Robinson, the likely be unveiled in a pilot ing to Robinson, is that many human nutrition and aging. than the participants with com- initiative came in response to program late next semester or students find the alumni and Shaefer currently serves as paratively lower levels. student interest and was dis- early next year, will build upon career services networks to be director of the Lipid Metabolism Schaefer said that he has cussed when this year’s sena- existing resources. confusing. Laboratory and yet to perform a placebo-con- tors were running for office “We’re trying to improve “A lot of students feel that focuses his research on nutrition, trolled randomized clinical test last spring. some of the things that are the career network and the genetics, aging, gender effects, to determine conclusively that “One of the things that stu- already in place through alumni network are hard to lipoproteins, and cardiovascular DHA can prevent dementia or dents were talking about a lot Career Services,” freshman navigate through,” he said. disease risk. even Alzheimer’s, but his results is the need to have a closer TCU Senator Duncan Pickard According to Breed, many In this study, he postulated have not come as a surprise, as relationship with alumni,” he said. alumni are willing to fix that that the docosahexaenoic acid DHA has long been viewed as said. Pickard serves on the problem. (DHA), which is critical to infant one of the acids most critical to In the proposed program, Administration and Policy “I think the alumni are very development and accounts for maintaining healthy brain func- which will be optional, stu- Committee, which together interested in working with much of the fat found in human tion, vision, and reproduction. dents will be paired with with the Education Committee students, in offering whatev- breast milk, may be critical in Schaefer has worked at the alumni based on a number of is spearheading the efforts er they can to students,” she maintaining neurocognitive nutrition center since it opened factors that include profes- to promote the plan in the said. functions in the aging brain. in 1982. sion, geography, and major. Senate. Pickard said that this com- DHA, also helpful in prevent- He said that the center, which, The pairings will likely come The main mechanism cur- mitment from alumni has the ing cardiac death, can be found according to its Web site has after the students declare a rently in place through Career same core objective as the cur- in vegetable oils, soybeans, wal- received recognition because major. Services is the Tufts Career rent Capital Campaign, which nuts, and wheat germ, with of the applicability of research According to Tufts Alumni Network. was announced earlier this the highest concentration found done there. “The research is Association President Sunny According to Brian month. in fatty fishes, or fishes found relevant to people [today],” he Breed (J ‘66), the alumni will McCarthy, the chair of the “We’re trying to get alumni in primarily cold-water environ- said. play an advisory role for the Alumni Association’s Career ments. —Erin Baldassari students and can provide infor- Services Committee, students see ALUMS, page 2 POLITICS Dancing up a storm Massachusetts Republicans regroup after Election day BY ROB SILVERBLATT Daily Editorial Board Three weeks after Democrats swept the elections, not much has changed for the Republican Party in Massachusetts. Despite having lost the governor’s office, two seats in the state House of Representatives, and one seat in the state Senate, in-state Republican poli- ticians and activists plan on pursuing business as usual, just with a little less assurance. “I think we’re going to continue to fight for the Republican ideals, which [are] smaller government, smarter gov- ernment, and less regulations so that individuals and companies can thrive in the Commonwealth,” Representative George Peterson, the Minority Whip in the state House, told the Daily. Peterson, whose job it is to maintain party unity, said that a major difference will be that now the Republican contin- gent in the state legislature, rather than JAMES FOLTA/TUFTS DAILY the governor’s office, will be determin- Nicole Schechter, Dani Warner, Paul Rosenstrauch and Naomi Berlin showed off some Israeli dancing last night at Hillel. As well as teaching and performing some moves, they were looking for interest for an Israeli Dance Club for next semester. see REPUBLICANS, page 2 Inside this issue tuftsdaily.com Today’s Sections ALBUM REVIEW CAMPUS COOKING News 1 Viewpoints 9 The Arts Department has Forget TheraFlu: Tina Ye Features 3 Comics 12 appointed Jay-Z Chairman has all the home remedies Arts | Living 5Classifieds 13 of the Bored. you‘ll need for the upcom- Editorial | Letters 8 Sports Back ing flu season. see ARTS, page 5 see FEATURES, page 3 2 THE TUFTS DAILY NEWS Wednesday, November 29, 2006 WORLD IN BRIEF LAWMAKERS BACK STATES AS Collaborative program will likely start out small TEST LABS FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM ALUMS “Current students are future alums, Communications and Media Studies c ontinued from page 1 so whatever we can do to build the Program. Significant health care reform stands little bond between alums and current stu- Such programs are often tailored chance of getting through Congress, and more involved with the students and dents just helps keep the cycle going,” specifically to certain career fields, that political reality is unlikely to change with the campus in general. This is a great he said. he said, making it easy to find alumni the recent election. way to do that,” he said. The TCU Senate is working to shore matches for students. A group of lawmakers and policy analysts “There are benefits to the alumni, up support from Career Services and McCarthy emphasized the need to would use states as laboratories to test dif- benefits to the students, benefits to from alumni, Pickard said, and at the start slowly when building up the pro- ferent approaches for expanding insurance the University as a whole.” earliest the program will begin in a gram. coverage, improving quality and controlling The program will also help show pilot form is the end of next semes- “We might have to walk first before costs. current students the importance of ter. we can run,” he said. “[Right now] In some ways, it would be similar to becoming active as alumni, according He said that initially it might tar- we’re trying to figure out how to welfare reform, which was modeled in part to McCarthy. get smaller departments, such as the walk.” after a Wisconsin program. The goal would be to find out what works and, maybe just as important, what doesn’t. The idea appeals to conservatives and liberals alike. It recognizes that states have Republicans set on agenda despite smaller numbers taken the lead in health care reform. And it acknowledges that there may not be one REPUBLICANS room for absences during voting. in the elections. sweeping solution that works equally well c ontinued from page 1 Even so, the Democratic surge at the According to Tufts Republicans in states as dissimilar as Massachusetts and national level may not lead to many President Jordan Greene, not even the Mississippi.