Tufts University Police Dep- artment (TUPD) officers found three brothers from the Sigma Nu fraternity in possession of narcotics last month, the Daily

Sophomore Adam Koltun said he has withdrawn from Tufts. Junior Andrew O\u2019Hara has also decided to withdraw while junior Jacob McNutt has chosen to go through the university\u2019s

judicial process, according to a member of the fraternity\u2019s exec- utive board. O\u2019Hara and McNutt could not be reached for com- ment.

The charges come during troubled times for Tufts\u2019 SigNu chapter, which has been under

scrutiny from its national orga- nization after an infraction in spring 2008, when TUPD discov- ered a beer keg in the fraternity\u2019s house. Having the keg there vio- lated university policy.

Is dog racing in Massachusetts a cruel, archaic pastime or a respon- sible industry that supports the livelihood of hundreds of people?

Voters will decide the fate of hun- dreds of workers and thousands of greyhounds on Nov. 4 when they vote on the Massachusetts state ballot\u2019s Question 3.

A number of animal rights groups have endorsed Question 3, \u201cThe Greyhound Protection Act,\u201d which will determine whether dog racing remains legal in Massachusetts.

Passage of the referendum would close the two pari-mutuel grey- hound racetracks in Massachusetts and potentially put hundreds of people out of work.

Question 3\u2019s opponents argue that greyhound tracks follow state- imposed regulations and thus, do nothing wrong. Anti-greyhound

racing activists contest that the rules themselves are inhumane and the conditions at the tracks amount to animal cruelty. The Massachusetts State Racing Commission (MSPCA) oversees the industry.

Since 2002, more than 800 dogs have been injured while racing in Massachusetts. Nearly 80 percent of these injuries have involved bro- ken legs, while other injuries have included paralysis, cardiac arrest and broken necks.

Christine Dorchak, co-chair of the Committee to Protect Dogs, a group that supports Question 3, told the Daily that hundreds of dogs will continue to be injured if grey- hound racing continues.

\u201c[Dog racers] keep dogs boxed up in 32-inch-wide-by-34-inch- high cages for an average of 20 hours a day,\u201d she said. According to state records, one dog goes down

Junior Jesse Faller led all Div. III runners at Open New Englands over the weekend.

Schools across the coun- try look to hotels to deal with housing crunches.

Somerville residents and a range of Tufts community members turned out in record numbers for the 13th Annual Somerville Homeless Coalition (SHC) 5K Road Race on Oct. 4, helping the SHC meet fundraising goals despite the negative economic climate.

University President Lawrence Bacow and his wife, Adele, led a conglomerate of Tufts students, faculty and staff members who ran the race. Another group of students provided assistance.

\u201cAdele and I have run this race many times. It is always great to see so many Tufts students, faculty and staff turn out for the run. It gives me yet another reason to be very proud to be President of Tufts,\u201d Bacow told the Daily in an e-mail.

The SHC received less corporate sponsor- ship this year due to the national financial turmoil. While this meant that there were fewer funds raised than the year before, the SHC still raised enough funds to continue operations.

Over 1,000 runners participated in the road race, 300 more than last year. \u201cI was surprised by the number of people. As I was approaching the finish line I saw a lot more people than I had expected,\u201d said sophomore John Atsalis, who participated in the race.

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Students can often be found pedaling up the Hill or down College Avenue to Davis Square. But those heading all the way to Cambridge may want to take extra precaution.

With a recent rise in the num- ber of bicyclists on the road, the city has come under scrutiny for its enforcement of particularly strict cycling laws.

\u201cWe have been enforcing these laws for over a decade,\u201d Sgt. Kathleen Murphy of the Cambridge Police Bicycle Unit said. \u201cNow we\u2019re suddenly getting press for it.\u201d

Many cyclists do not consider themselves bound by the same laws as motorists, Murphy said. When such cyclists are pulled over, they frequently argue semantics with police officers, she said. The rules of cycling in Cambridge are stricter than those of the surrounding towns, and the discrepancy causes confusion.

David Watson, executive director of the advocacy group MassBike, said the discrepancy might be amplified by bureau- cratic practices that prevent some towns from enforcing cycling laws.

write a ticket for cyclists,\u201d Watson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a separate process from issuing a ticket to a motorist, and it\u2019s an administrative burden, so most towns don\u2019t want to do it.\u201d

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Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) officers responded to a call at 1:40 a.m. on Oct. 12 reporting that someone had broken a window at 123 Packard Ave., the Theta Delta Chi fraternity house. When officers arrived, the suspect, a Tufts student, was walking away with a female companion.

Officers approached the individual and asked him what happened. He told them that he had been with a group of friends and they had all gotten into the party except for him, according to TUPD Sgt. Robert McCarthy.

According to the student, he started knocking on the door, but pounded too hard and broke a window. The student said that he would take responsibility and pay for the damage.

TUPD officers responded to a fire alarm at 3:28 a.m. on Oct. 12 at Latin Way. The alarm went off because of steam from a shower, but officers had trouble resetting the alarm due to a problematic smoke detector.

The officers went into the room where the detector is located and found an indivual sleeping on the floor. The smoke detector

The individual told officers that he had removed the detector because it was too loud and he could not sleep. He was written up and a report was sent to the dean\u2019s office for failure to leave a building during a fire alarm.

A TUPD officer heard a fire alarm going off at 12:18 a.m. on Monday in the Hillside Apartments. Students exiting the building told the officer, who had been called in for emergency duty because of this weekend\u2019s blackout, that there was a fire inside. TUPD officers responded along with the Medford Fire Department.

A student had lit a candle, which fell onto a t-shirt and ignited it. The student put out the small fire and tossed the shirt into his hamper, but the fire reignited and spread to the hamper.

The student gave a TUPD officer his key, and the officer retrieved the hamper and brought it outside. No damage had been done to the room, but the apartment had filled with smoke. The Medford Fire Department pumped fresh air inside.

coalition provides case management, housing and shelter services to the homeless popula- tion of Somerville and surrounding areas.

\u201cWe have very low administrative over- heads, so most of the money will go directly toward providing case management services and shelters,\u201d SHC Development Coordinator Shannon Moriarty told the Daily. Moriarty is a Tufts graduate student.

Eighty percent of the coalition\u2019s budget comes from public sources, and the coalition needs to raise about $400,000 annually for its operating fund. The annual road race is one of its biggest fundraising events.

Volunteers from various community orga- nizations and local businesses provided man- power support for the road race. Five Davis Square restaurants gave out brunch after the run.

The local chapter of National Student Partnerships (NSP) fielded a team of run- ners and provided logistical support, using a Leonard Carmichael Society van to bring traffic directors to their stations. Tufts students and alumni accounted for most of the NSP repre- sentatives at the 5K. NSP seeks to link strug- gling local residents with student mentors and resources to succeed.

Follansbee was pleased with the run\u2019s final out- come. \u201cThe event could not have gone more smoothly. With the support from the volunteers and the community, everything came together very well. It was a beautiful day and so far the feedback has been great,\u201d Alston-Follansbee told the Daily.

The general sentiment appeared to be posi- tive, despite a change in course due to con- struction and an overabundance of runners. \u201cI think it was exceptional, the turnout was greater than before, the weather was perfect. Overall it was a wild success,\u201d NSP Site Coordinator Leah Staub-DeLong (LA \u201908) said.

While the SHC met its fundraising goals, financial uncertainty remains for the organiza- tion, especially if current economic conditions persist. \u201cIt is going to be difficult to sustain corporate sponsorship levels, so we appreciate any support from and partnerships with com- munity and student organizations,\u201d Moriarty said.

Staub-DeLong reiterated the need for the SHC in the community. \u201cThey are an excep- tional community partner, the housing and counseling services they provide are crucial to the community. So in light of the recent finan- cial troubles, we are glad that the event was such a success and that they got the funding they need and we hope that they continue to do so,\u201d she said.

Detractors to Question 3 contend that such claims are a gross misrepresentation. George Carney, the owner of one of the larg- est dog racing tracks in the state, said that racetracks treat greyhounds well.

\u201cTo the best of our knowledge, the MSPCA has never had a complaint; in 40 years I\u2019ve never heard from them. I think that is very important,\u201d said Carney, who owns Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park.

Grey2K USA, a national network of humane-minded citizens working to pass stronger dog-protection laws, approved all of the kennels at Raynham Park, according to Carney.

He called it an \u201cabsolute lie\u201d that grey- hounds are typically caged for 20 hours per day. \u201cWhy would a person keep a dog in those conditions if they expect the dogs to go out and run and make money to sustain their livelihood?\u201d

But the Committee to Protect Dogs\u2019 Web site claims that Grey2K sets much more stringent standards than state-approved cages at Raynham Park and other tracks meet.

Carney said that Question 3\u2019s passage could threaten the livelihood of over 1,000 Massachusetts residents who work in the greyhound-racing industry. Question 3 pro- ponents say the number of affected work- ers would be much lower.

Massachusetts state regulations for racetracks dictate safety requirements for greyhounds. These regulations include having an on-sight veterinarian to exam- ine the greyhounds before and after races, commissioning random drug tests for dogs and consenting to unannounced inspections of the kennels and racing facilities.

Dorchak said that racetracks\u2019 treatment of greyhounds is still not up to par. \u201cPerhaps people [do not] consider what [happens] to greyhounds,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe they [do

not] know that greyhounds are very fragile by nature and when they collide when rac- ing, many of them break their legs, backs and necks.\u201d

Racing opponents also claim that dogs are often fed a diet based on \u201c4-D\u201d meat, which comes from dying, diseased or dis- abled livestock.

But Carney said that racetracks do not feed dogs sub-par food, as such a diet would hinder their performance.

\u201cGreyhounds are bred to run, they love to run \u2014 they are not house pets,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a horse doesn\u2019t have to be taught to run; it runs because it has been bred to and has a natural instinct.\u201d

In 2000, a proposal similar to Question 3 came up for a vote and was defeated by a two-percent margin.

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals\u2013Angell Animal Medical Center, the Greyhound Protection Group and the Humane Society of the United States have come out in sup- port of Question 3. \u201cOver two dozen law- makers and almost every major animal shelter in the state\u201d have given their back- ing, Dorchak said.

But Carney said that racetracks remain committed to the welfare of their grey- hounds, despite claims otherwise.

Raynham Park has contributed over $1 million to set up a fund to transfer retired greyhounds into homes, he said. The pro- gram boasts a 100-percent adoption rate, he added.

Proponents of the ballot measure say that the tracks are failing economi- cally anyway. Since 2002, gambling rev- enues have decreased by 65 percent at Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Mass., and by 37 percent at Raynham Park. In a 2006 interview with the Boston Herald, Wonderland Park President Richard Dalton said, \u201cWithout significant chang- es in how we do business, we are not going to be able to stay in business much longer.\u201d

The member of the SigNu executive board, who requested anonymity, said that the fraternity\u2019s national organiza- tion and the university administration are viewing the arrests as isolated incidents.

\u201cTufts and Nationals will under- stand, because they recognize we\u2019re trying to step up and improve,\u201d he said. \u201cThis came as a huge surprise.\u201d

The executive added that the bust might inhibit the fraternity\u2019s efforts to move beyond past infractions.

Tufts\u2019 Inter-Greek Council (IGC) pledged to work with SigNu and pro- vide support. \u201cIt is unfortunate that we have encountered this situation, but we stand together always as a com- munity and as a family and we will work together to ensure that this chap- ter and its members will be able to move on from these events and grow in a positive direction,\u201d IGC President Jacob Maccoby and Press Secretary Jessica Snow, both seniors, said in a statement to the Daily.

Koltun said he was not expecting the police to turn up at his house. \u201cFor me, it was totally out of the blue,\u201d he said.

The American Society for Nutrition awarded Robert Russell its David Kritchevsky Career Achievement Award in Nutrition before he retired this summer from his posi- tion as director of Tufts\u2019 Jean Mayer United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA).

The American Society for Nutrition is a professional organization of nutritionists and researchers dedicated to promoting nutritional research. Russell, who received the honor in April, is the third recipient of the Kritchevsky Award.

Russell said he was selected for a vari- ety of reasons. \u201cWhen you\u2019re recognized by your peers, it\u2019s for the research you\u2019ve been involved in \u2014 your own research \u2014 and for training others and supporting other researchers,\u201d he said. \u201cIn truth, I am very grateful.\u201d

Russell, a former professor of nutrition and medicine, headed the HNRCA for seven years, serving as associate director for the 18 years before that. He has been president of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition and chair of the U.S. National Committee to the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, according to a May article in the Tufts Journal.

Russell stepped down from his position at Tufts in July and now works for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on policy issues. \u201cI\u2019ve been at Tufts since 1981, and I\u2019ve been the director of the USDA HNRCA for the last

In his current job, Russell helps the NIH\u2019s Office of Dietary Supplements decide where to put resources and perform research. \u201cNIH is the fundamental research source and funding source for medical research in this country,\u201d he said.

It is this research that separates the USDA and the NIH. \u201cResearch is a minor part of the USDA portfolio. Their major things [have] to do with entitlement programs and farming issues,\u201d Russell said. \u201cBut [at] the NIH, which is a branch of [the Department of Health and Human Services], its business is research and medical research.\u201d

Russell believes there are important issues facing nutrition and nutrition research and says that obesity is one of the most impor- tant. \u201cAlmost any chronic disease \u2026 you can name is related to obesity,\u201d he said. \u201cCardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, arthritis: [The] list goes on and on.\u201d

\u201cIt\u2019s the way our lifestyle has changed over the years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re less active and much more sedentary, part due to TV and part due to the recent rise of computers and computer games. We sit in front of these machines for untold hours a day.\u201d

The HNRCA has a 30-year-old partner- ship with Tufts and the Agriculture Research Service in the United States Department of Agriculture. The center, located next to the Tufts Medical Center, \u201cexplore[s] the relationship between nutrition, aging and health,\u201d according to its mission statement.

stop the cars that break rules. We stop the bikes that break rules,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t stop pedestrians for jaywalking because that\u2019s a one-dollar fine, but that\u2019s about it.\u201d Murphy added that the regulations \u201care not about the money.\u201d

The members of Tufts Cycling, a team that bikes recreationally and competes against schools in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference, have not received any citations, as far as senior captain Glenn Ferreira is aware. The group is unlikely to be affected by the Cambridge crackdown, he said.

\u201cWe usually ride away from the cities,\u201d said Ferreira. \u201cIt\u2019s nicer to bike out where there are less people and less cars.\u201d

Watson believes that cycling laws and regulations are important because they greatly reduce unexpected actions on the road.

\u201cPredictability is a good thing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more predictable cyclists are, the safer they are because motorists will be able to better anticipate their actions.\u201d

ans at a crosswalk and struck an elderly woman in Cambridge last month. \u201cYou really have to educate people about the rules,\u201d Murphy said.

She encouraged cyclists to be aware of state regulations and to follow simple safety practices such as wearing helmets, attaching lights to bikes for night riding and biking on the correct side of the road.

Cyclist safety has long been an issue in Massachusetts. The Bicyclist Safety Bill, which aims to consolidate cycling and motorist violations and institute manda- tory police training in regard to cycling, has rattled around in the state legislature for four consecutive sessions without a consensus.

Some cyclists are against strict regula- tions because they enjoy the freedom of biking, Watson said, but he argued that safety is a higher priority.

\u201cCyclists should be following the law,\u201d Watson said. \u201cThe law gives us the right to use the road, but it also gives us responsi- bilities. It\u2019s just human nature that people want the best of both worlds, but there\u2019s got to be a compromise between safety and freedom.\u201d

When Rice University engineering professor Rich Baraniuk decided to publish his work on digital signal processing in 1999, he was concerned that the two-year

publication process would make it impossible to keep the information up to date. Instead, he found collabora- tors in his field and published his work online alongside theirs by creating an online network called \u201cConnexions.\u201d

Not only did Baraniuk\u2019s decision solve his own prob- lem, but it also may allevi- ate the inevitable strain \u2014

Baraniuk\u2019s brainchild marked the beginning of a site that now receives 552,000 visitors a month from

countries. Although the site began at Rice, the vast majority of users now come from out- side the institution.

From a legal standpoint, the site operates around the Creative Commons License, under which authors can post their work to be viewed and reused. Nearly 1,000 authors have put their con- tent on the site.

\u201cThere are many Creative Common Licenses,\u201d said Joel Thierstein, associate Provost

eople love famous places. They\u2019ll trav- el far and wide to see the country\u2019s only roller skating museum (Lincoln,

Neb.) or the world\u2019s largest ball of twine (Cawker City, Kan.). Any road trip will undoubtedly yield multiple tourist attrac- tions and distractions, with localities boast- ing things like \u201cthe best apple pie on this side of the Mississippi.\u201d

It was on my most recent road trip when I discovered that New Zealand, already pret- ty random in itself, is also home to many obscure roadside attractions. After a week driving on one of the few major highways (which are often unpaved), I blame this country\u2019s general awesomeness for releasing my inner shutterbug and turning me into a huge sucker for all things nerdy.

I began in Auckland. Though you won\u2019t find the most esoteric stops here amongst the busy, over-commercialized streets, Auckland isn\u2019t lacking in whacky venues. Take, for instance, the Sky Tower. Similar in design to Seattle\u2019s Space Needle, the Sky Tower stands as the crowning glory of the Auckland skyline. Hovering at 328 meters, it is also the tall- est free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere. And, in true Kiwi style, you can bungee jump off the side of it.

A more clandestine Auckland attraction that I found particularly amusing was tucked away on a tiny street corner in the Central Business District. It was a little white build- ing with Uncle Sam painted on the front wall, pointing at passersby and declaring, \u201cI Want You.\u201d After further investigation, my travel buddies and I found this little slice of home to be none other than the White House \u201cexotic dance\u201d club. Clearly some Kiwis took Bill Clinton\u2019s actions while president a bit too literally. Nice one, executive branch.

Traveling up north from Auckland, I passed through Wellsford and stopped at Utopia Caf\u00e9, a hippie coffee shop shaped like a mystical tugboat. This place was so crunchy that I nibbled on a vegan bran biscuit while meditating in the outdoor prayer garden.

In the nearby city of Whangarei, I vis- ited Clapham\u2019s Clock Museum. I kid you not folks, an entire museum devoted to timepieces. If that weren\u2019t enough, outside in the town basin stands the world\u2019s largest sundial, which is just a giant pole sticking out of the ground \u2014 more like the world\u2019s largest letdown.

Further up the coast, I passed through Kawakawa. Now if the name of this town isn\u2019t enough to send you into a fit of imma- ture giggles, its acclaimed roadside attrac- tion will. Kawakawa boasts what are argu- ably the world\u2019s most photographed public restrooms. Designed by Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the toilets feature tile mosaics, sculptures, a liv- ing tree and a grass roof. Peering through my camera\u2019s viewfinder, I pondered the irony of taking a dump in a piece of art.

Of course, it wouldn\u2019t be New Zealand without at least one Lord of the Rings-themed tourist trap every 500 kilometers. Aside from the actual Hobbiton set in Matamata, the town of Waitomo offers travelers the luxury of spending the night in a hobbit-hole motel. I was impressed with the circular doors and wild pigs traipsing in the front lawn, though happy I didn\u2019t have to check for Ringwraiths under the bed that night.

I\u2019ve given up on trying to escape this pen- chant for all tourist attractions, despite the inherent tackiness that comes with wearing a camera around my neck at all times. I\u2019m willing to sidetrack an extra hour just to see Tane Mahuta, the largest tree in the Southern Hemisphere, and to fly all the way to Dunedin to stand at the bottom of Baldwin Street, allegedly the steepest street in the world. Yes, I do plan on taking another trip just to see a replica of Stonehenge in the Wairapa Valley, and yes, I will take enough photos of sheep to fill an entire Facebook album.

For 387 of Boston University\u2019s 16,000 undergraduates, living at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge is skew- ing the college experience.

And according to a recent article in U.S. News and World Report, they are not alone. Several schools across the country are pushing students off cam- pus and into hotels as student over- flow is causing housing crunches. The University of Massachusetts, Lowell, has placed about 250 students in a nearby hotel for the year, while both

Colorado State University, Pueblo and the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, have sent about 50 stu- dents apiece to off-campus hotels.

For those BU students \u2014 who are either volunteers, new transfers or part of a semester-long English language program \u2014 living in hotel rooms, advantages and disadvantages are both evident, BU\u2019s Director of Housing Marc Robillard said.

\u201c[It\u2019s] a pretty nice little setup for students,\u201d he said. \u201cThe disadvantage of it is it\u2019s only for one semester \u2026 We\u2019ll move them onto campus when we know we\u2019ll have space, but we

Last year, Tufts offered rising soph- omores the option of living in rooms with flat-screen TVs, free laundry service, newspaper delivery and maids to make the beds and take out the trash.

While these amenities might have summed up a college student\u2019s dream living situation, there was just one catch: These heaven-sent rooms were not cozy dorms nestled within the vibrant Tufts campus, but hotel rooms

Ally Gimbel is a junior majoring in English. She can be reached at Allyson.Gimbel@tufts. edu.

\u201cI think that putting books
online could be a good solution
[to the high prices of textbooks].
My concern is that students don\u2019t
read as closely when they read