Where You Read It First Sunny 57/40 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LVIII, NUMBER 31 MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2009 TUFTSDAILY.COM Students push for medical amnesty BY MATT REPKA This revision amounts to a major theme. Daily Editorial Board crackdown on student drinking, “All the other schools at the an attempt to check the prob- summit said they either have This article is the first in a lem by leveling harsher penal- medical amnesty, or they’re two-part series looking at the ties on offenders to discourage talking about implementing it,” alcohol policies of Boston-area dangerous behavior. But many said Tufts Community Union schools. The second article, to other Boston-area schools prac- (TCU) Senator Bruce Ratain, a appear in tomorrow’s issue, will tice a starkly different approach, junior, who also serves on Tufts’ focus on Tufts’ administrators electing to focus on preventing Alcohol Task Force. response to medical amnesty the likelihood of alcohol over- A medical amnesty, or “Good and additional policies offered dose rather than aiming to con- Samaritan,” policy is currently in by nearby institutions. trol drinking altogether. place at a number of Boston-area At Harvard University, a so- schools in addition to Harvard, As Tufts’ new alcohol policy called “medical amnesty” pol- including the Massachusetts completes its second month in icy has beesn in practice since Institute of Technology (MIT), effect, students on the Alcohol 2003 and was formally added Northeastern University and Task Force, the body charged to the student handbook in Boston University. CHRISTY MCCUAIG/TUFTS DAILY with evaluating the regulations 2007, according to Director Medical amnesty is “a harm- The Boston Under Water 350 Festival was one of countless celebrations on campus, are increasingly of Alcohol and Other Drug reduction approach. It’s not held in over 180 countries on Saturday in honor of the International Day finding that medical amnesty, Services Ryan Travia. designed to reduce the fre- of Climate Action. a policy enforced by many sur- Medical amnesty attempts quency of underage drinking,” rounding Boston-area colleges, to encourage students to seek Daniel Trujillo, associate dean may prove more beneficial to medical assistance when they of the Office of Community Rallies support action students than administrators are overly intoxicated by pro- Development and Substance initially thought. tecting them from resulting dis- Abuse Programs at MIT, told In an interview with the Daily ciplinary consequences. In the the Daily. on climate change in September, Dean of Student past decade, this method has The word “amnesty” can false- Affairs Bruce Reitman called enjoyed a newfound popularity ly connote a sense of immunity BY CHRISTY MCCUAIG In addition to Sharrow, senior alcohol abuse on campus “out among colleges as an approach from consequences for drinking. Daily Editorial Board Daniel Enking from Tufts Energy of control.” Attempting to curb to student drinking and safety. This is not the case, Trujillo said. Forum and Dallase Scott, a grad- the problem, administrators At the Boston Intercollegiate Students who require medical Tufts students and Boston resi- uate student in Tufts’ Urban and eliminated the warning typi- Leadership Council Summit transport because of alcohol dents alike demonstrated in full Environmental Policy and Planning cally issued to first-time under- on Oct. 17, which brought to must still undergo a screening force on Saturday in honor of the (UEP) program spoke. age alcohol violators. First vio- Tufts student government rep- and self-assessment process, as International Day of Climate Action, The Tufts percussion group lations now trigger disciplinary resentatives from several area advocating the need for increased B.E.A.T.S. performed and a rep- probation level one (pro-one). schools, alcohol policy was a see ALCOHOL, page 2 environmental awareness. resentative from the Bikes Not Tufts celebrated with a Global Day Bombs bicycle shop was also in of Climate Action rally held outside attendance, sporting a bike-pow- of the campus center, where student ered blender and allowing passers- Shrinking budgets alter prepaid tuition plans speakers urged their fellow Jumbos by to hop on the bike and mix up to realize their impact on the envi- their own smoothies as a way to BY TESSA GELLERSON Prepaid college tuition plans of increases in tuition costs and ronment. A second, bigger demon- conserve energy. Daily Editorial Board fall under the umbrella of 529 fluctuations in the stock market, stration, the Boston Under Water Meanwhile, in Boston, envi- plans, which include both tuition according to Mark Kantrowitz, 350 Festival, took place later in the ronmental advocates delivered Prepaid college tuition plans and college savings plans. These publisher of the Web sites FinAid. afternoon in Boston’s Christopher an international call to political traditionally provide families with types of plans, named after the org and FastWeb.org. Columbus Park on the waterfront. action. The Boston Under Water 350 a low-risk way to pay for a child’s 529 tax code, provide families with Plans of this sort serve as an At Tufts, students urged their fel- Festival was directed specifically at higher education. But recently, options to save for their children’s attractive option for families hop- low Jumbos to work actively to less- Bostonians, highlighting that a rise costs associated with this type of education in advance. ing to avoid dramatic increases in en their environmental footprint. in sea level could one day put their plan have significantly increased Prepaid college tuition plans tuition costs because they transfer “The whole point is to realize that city underwater if no further action to keep pace with the tumultu- allow families to purchase aca- the risk of the investment away you are just sitting on your own is taken to mitigate climate change. ous economy, and companies are demic credit hours or pay the from the family and onto the com- potential,” said junior Sally Sharrow, The event featured water- reneging on their pledges to pro- current rate for a year’s tuition pany that administers the plan or a member of Tufts Environmental themed activities like canoe relay vide families with a fixed tuition at their state university with the onto the state. Consciousness Outreach and Mass racing as well as group singing rate. Families already feeling the guarantee that their investment In practice, however, these Power Shift, a college-led group and theatre. All attendees gathered pains of the downturn are bearing will be worth a year of tuition or investments are not entirely focused on finding sustainable cli- together at around 4 p.m. to take a the burden of thousands of dollars a specific number of credit hours mate solutions. “Some people just in unanticipated costs. years down the road, regardless see TUITION, page 2 need to be shown the way.” see CLIMATE, page 2 In Cambridge, Obama speaks on environment New way to report SAT scores is not accepted by universities nationwide BY ADAM MANDELL Rice and Yale, have criticized the new Contributing Writer policy and continue to require that applicants submit all of their SAT scores. A new feature provided by the College Representatives from several of these dis- Board this year to give students more senting schools warn that the new policy say over the SAT scores they send to may have unintended negative repercus- universities has recently come under sions and contend that they already have fire, as some argue that it undermines protocols in place to reflect a student’s the academic value of tests and favors test-taking ability. wealthier students. Under the Score Choice policy, students The new “Score Choice” policy allows can choose one test date and have the students to choose which SAT scores their critical reading, mathematics and verbal prospective colleges see. The policy is not scores from that specific date submitted to mandatory, and if certain students do not colleges. The policy counters measures by wish to use the feature, all of their scores colleges that would otherwise choose the will be automatically sent to the colleges student’s highest sectional scores from a of their choice. variety of test dates. While the College Board, which produc- The College of Wooster is one such es the SAT, allegedly aimed to lessen the school. An applicant’s best compos- pressure of the standardized exam with ite score — determined by combining COURTESY DOMINICK REUTER, MIT Score Choice, several institutions around the highest scores on each SAT section President Barack Obama spoke on Friday at MIT about the need for clean energy and the country are responding negatively to from any number of tests — is used for green environmental initiatives. new feature. Several universities, including Cornell, see SCORE CHOICE, page 2 Inside this issue Today’s Sections A Harry Potter theme Another edition to the News 1 Op-Ed 11 park scheduled to pop-culture vampire open soon already fad, ‘Cirque du Freak’ Features 3 Comics 12 has fans of the series fails to keep viewers’ Arts & Living 5Sports Back spellbound. blood pumping. Editorial | Letters 10 see FEATURES, page 3 see ARTS, page 5 2 THE TUFTS DAILY NEWS Monday, October 26, 2009 Amnesty policy in eff ect at other schools Climate change rallies part of ALCOHOL continued from page 1 internationally recognized day well as a one-on-one meeting with him. CLIMATE internationally-recognized day serve to Call for help or not, the penalties for a continued from page 1 stunt their influence. second infraction at MIT are stricter, but photo — in line with similar events held “Events like this are our weapon against the policy seems to have proven effective. around the world — as a visual form of that,” he said.