THE TUFTS DAILY Est

Where You Sunny Read It First 71/49 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LXIV, NUMBER 4 MONday, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012 TUFTSDAILY.COM Sigma Nu house becomes transfer student residence BY NI N A GOLDMA N The house is now in good condition, Daily Editorial Board and the residents are happy with where they are living, she said. This year, the house at 92 Professors “I think we all really like being with Row, occupied for nearly 30 years by other transfer students,” Boxer said. the brothers of Tufts’ Sigma Nu chap- “Especially at the beginning, it makes ter, is instead housing female transfer it easier to meet people who are in the students after the fraternity inflicted same situation.” significant damage to the house. However, the move-in has not gone so Early this summer the university smoothly for some. According to a Tufts told Sigma Nu members they would University Police Department (TUPD) no longer be able to live in the house, report, residents spotted two unidenti- according to Director of Fraternity and fied males in the basement of the house Sorority Affairs Su McGlone. early in the morning of Aug. 30. “At the end of last year, an extensive Officers were tipped off by a call at amount of damage had been done to 2:40 a.m. from a student who smelled the house, so they were asked not to smoke in the house. return,” McGlone said. TUPD officers found a bag of Quikrete She said the house was then offered concrete on the basement floor, a cor- to Sigma Phi Epsilon, but when it was ner of which had been charred. unable to fill the residence, the uni- Residents also stated that one of the versity assigned the address to transfer males had stepped into the doorway of ANDREW SCHNEER / THE TUFTS DAILY students. one of the students’ rooms, according Medford/Somerville this summer was raised to a “high” threat level of West Nile Virus, Former Sigma Nu House Manager to the report. prompting the university to undertake safety precautions. Charles Haverty, a junior, said that “[The men] were as scared as [she] Sigma Nu had been prepared to accept was,” Boxer said. “They ran.” financial responsibility for the dam- Haverty said Sigma Nu plans to try ‘High’ threat level of West ages, which he estimated at $11,000. to return to the house whenever pos- “We would have paid for the con- sible, though administrators are uncer- struction on the inside,” Haverty said. tain about the future of the house at 92 Nile Virus issued “We had a payment plan set up.” Professors Row. He said the university paid for the “I’m not sure about the housing BY JOSH WEI N ER Environmental Safety, said that the interior repairs, readying the house for arrangements for next year,” said Office Daily Editorial Board risk of developing serious illness its current residents, 10 sophomore of Residential Life and Learning Director from West Nile Virus is minimal and women transferred from other schools. Yolanda King. “[This year] it made itself The Massachusetts Department of that only 67 people in Massachusetts The incoming residents were aware available in a positive way, at least for Public Health on Aug. 23 designat- have been diagnosed with the virus of their house’s former Greek identity, incoming transfer students.” ed the Medford/Somerville area as in the past 11 years. although some thought it had previ- McGlone emphasized that fraternities a “high” threat level of the West Nile Though WNV is usually not a seri- ously been a sorority house, according Virus (WNV) in response to a case that ous illness, students should do all to Ally Boxer, a sophomore resident. see SIGMA NU, page 2 popped up in nearby Cambridge. they can to avoid contracting the The mosquito-borne illness is virus, Bartlett said, citing the use of found all over the globe, but was insect repellant as one way to avoid introduced to the United States in getting bit. 1999, according to the U.S Centers “We’ve worked with Patti Klos [of for Disease Control and Prevention Tufts Dining Services] to get EPA- (CDC). Since then WNV has spread approved insect repellant on sale in from New York City to the West Coast the [Mayer] Campus Center,” Bartlett and is now considered an endemic said. “It’s not always there, but we planning departments virus, meaning that it has found a want to allow students to follow the BY SHARO N LAM Ready|continuity, a new continu- permanent home in the U.S, accord- right precautions.” Daily Editorial Board ity planning resource for emergency ing to Sam Telford, associate pro- Renault-Caragianes said that stu- Tufts offers newpreparedness, emergency according to Geoffrey fessor at the Cummings School of dents should protect themselves The Tufts Department of Public Bartlett, Director of Emergency Veterinary Medicine. with adequate layers of clothing and and Environmental Safety (DPES) has Threat levels for WNV have been repellant, particularly if they are out- used a $503,138 grant to fund Tufts see PLANNING, page 2 raised all over the Boston area, side during the dawn and dusk, when according to Somerville Director mosquitoes often swarm in greater of Public Health Paulette Renault- numbers. Caragianes. Though alert levels for “People should always be cau- the virus typically increase in the tious,” she said. “Club teams may fall, the warm winter months of 2012 even want to rethink their practice allowed mosquitoes in the area to schedules and train indoors during breed especially easily, resulting in the nights; it makes sense to limit one of the highest alert levels in time spent outdoors when mosqui- recent years. toes are most out and about.” “A lot of natural controls weren’t Stephen Larson, the director of in place,” Renault-Caragianes said. Environmental Health and Safety, “There was no significant amount of said the university is keeping an eye snow, meaning that a large group of on areas that attract virus-carrying mosquitoes never died off. It really mosquitoes, such as clogged sewer led to it being an optimal environ- drains and puddles on the sidewalk ment for them to breed in.” where stagnant water collects. Medical Director of Tufts Health “We are eliminating risks by elimi- Service Margaret Higham, who issued nating breeding grounds,” he said. the WNV warning to the Tufts com- Larson noted that students can do munity on Aug. 24, listed the most their part by not collecting rainwater common symptoms as the flu and in buckets, inflatable pools or other a mild headache. Most people who areas where still water could attract contract the virus are not aware of it, mosquitoes. she said, though the infected have a “It only takes four days for mosqui- small chance of developing encepha- toes to breed, so if you’re collecting litis, a more serious illness. water outdoors, it can take only four Geoffrey Bartlett, director of days to cause this problem,” he said. DILYS ONG / THE TUFTS DAILY emergency management at the “Pour that water out, and you’ll keep The Department of Public and Environmental Safety recently unveiled Tufts Ready|continuity, Tufts Department of Public and it from ever happening.” a planning resource that helps university departments prepare for emergencies. Inside this issue Today’s sections The new falafel restau- News 1 Op-Ed 9 rant in Davis Square Men’s soccer beats rival dishes out pockets of Middlebury 2-0. Features 3 Comics 10 goodness. Arts & Living 5Sports 13 Editorial | Letters 8 see ARTS, page 5 see SPORTS, page 13 2 THE TUF T S DAILY NEWS Monday, September 10, 2012 Visiting the Hill this Week MONDAY American Revolution and its French FRIDAY runs through the weekend and begins “Constitutional Liberty in France: The counterpart. “The World Damba Festival” Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and Sunday at Influence of the American Constitution When and Where: 5:30 p.m. to 7:15 Details: Tufts will be hosting a three- 10:00 a.m. on the Constituent Assembly in 1789” p.m.; Coolidge Room, Ballou Hall day celebration of the culture of north- When and Where: 1 p.m.; Granoff Details: Aurelian Craiutu, professor in Sponsors: Office of the President, ern Ghana, which will include perfor- Music Center the Department of Political Science at Department of Political Science, the mances, an academic symposium and Sponsors: Department of Music Indiana University, Bloomington, will Office of Undergraduate Education, and participatory workshops in traditional discuss the relationship between the the International Relations Program music and dance styles. The festival —compiled by Jenna Buckle PLANNING you can use to carry on or restore the Tufts Ready|continuity. utilize the new software. continued from page 1 core functions.” “We applied for the grant at the tail “We’re working with the Offices of Management. Continuity Planning Specialist end of the H1N1 pandemic influenza, the Provost and Vice Provost, Student NewTufts Ready|continuity, resource developed software Matthew Hart helps identified departments the five memorializing somerecover of what we hadafter Services, emergencies operation division, parts for institutions of higher education by components of emergency planning learned with the response and trying of finance and parts of University the University of California, Berkeley, as department identification, criti- to apply that to a more deliberate plan- Information Technology (UIT),” Hart is web-based software that provides cal function, information technology, ning process,” he said. said. instructions on how to resume the instruction and key resources. Bartlett encourages depart- The grant, awarded in the spring of critical functions of a department in “To begin the process you submit a ments to begin to implement Tufts 2011, also funded a series of manage- the event that it is disrupted by emer- consultation, which then goes to two Ready|continuity.

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