PUBLISHED BY THE BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
MARCH 3, 2022 VOL. 29 NO. 11
Grant Aids Groundbreaking Study
INSIDE 2 Around x HeadlineCampus xxxxx. PULSE students aid homeless census; spring break service x Headline trips update. xxx.
3 Forum on Racial Justice x Headline Moore and Fr. Co-directors xxxxx. Kalscheur to form national advisory board. 8 Burns Scholar Social historian Kelly to give talk on March 17.
Funding will support BCSSW research on intergenerational trauma and violence BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR
A five-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) will support a longitudinal study by the Boston College School of Social Work that aims to improve the lives of families affected by intergenerational trauma and violence. The grant enables the school’s Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) to build on its study of war-affected youth in Sierra Leone, which involves tracking the progress of 529 young people whose lives
were disrupted by that country in a variety of ways—including many girls and boys associated with armed forces and armed groups. The RPCA observed how the trauma of their war-time experiences, as well as the post-conflict environment, shaped the lives of these children as they grew into adulthood; some went on to pursue successful careers and start families, others fell into isolation, depression, and despair. In the two decades since the study began, its focus has broadened to include the original participants’ intimate partners and biological children, noted Salem Professor in Global Practice Theresa Betancourt, the RPCA director. The intent is to understand not only how trauma resulting from violence can influence an individual’s psychosocial development, but how the emotional and Continued on page 4
A Powerful Voice Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship winner aims to uplift others with her words and actions BY ALIX HACKETT SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Two years ago, at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Banquet, Kudzai Kapurura ’23 delivered a speech on a concept she’s been thinking about ever since: “Lift as you climb.” She returned to the theme at this year’s banquet, held February 22, where she was named the winner of the prestigious award. “I would not be who I am if others had not lifted me,” she said from behind the podium. “I am, we are, the accumulation of the knowledge, the experiences, and the wisdom of those around us. As I stand here, I look in the room at all the different people who have impacted me throughout my three years at Boston College.” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship is awarded annually to a junior demonstrating superior academic achievement, extracurricular leadership, community service, and involvement with the African American community and African Ameri-
Research Program on Children and Adversity Director Theresa Betancourt photo by lee pellegrini
‘Encuentro’ Lynch School trip to the U.S.-Mexican border offers unique, close-up view of immigration issues BY PHIL GLOUDEMANS STAFF WRITER
Kudzai Kapurura ’23 accepts congratulations after being named the winner of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship last month. photo by flavio debarros
can issues. This year’s finalists included Lubens Benjamin, Tamara Hyppolite, Kapurura, Michael Martins, and E’Sachi Smalls [see separate story on page 5].
“These five individuals offer a powerful legacy and example to us about service,” said University President William P. Leahy,
Continued on page 5
A Lynch School of Education and Human Development class of 12 Catholic educators and Boston College graduate students ventured to El Paso, Tex., and Juarez, Mexico, last week for an encounter with the sub-layers of the religious, social, political, ideological, and economic factors of immigration, and to experience life on the southern border—a journey that has altered the trajectory of their lives and work. Led by Melodie Wyttenbach, executive director of BC’s Barbara and Patrick Roche Center for Catholic Education,
Continued on page 4
When Glenn Youngkin empathized with parents who—interested as they might be in contentious culture war issues arising in their districts—are ultimately much more concerned about schools returning to normalcy, and then he out-performed President Trump, that’s a trend to watch. – asst. prof. michael hartney (political science), page 6
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Around Campus
Students Lend a Valuable Hand in Boston’s Annual Homeless Census On a cold night in February, PULSE program instructor David Manzo ’77 led a team of volunteers through the streets and alleys of Boston’s Chinatown and South Cove neighborhoods as part of the city’s annual homeless census. The counting of people in Boston experiencing homelessness, and inviting them to get shelter, is volunteer service Manzo has done for some 15 years, usually with a cadre of Boston College students and alumni by his side. “I am always impressed by BC students’ willingness to stretch themselves,” said Manzo, who has been teaching in the University’s PULSE program since 1980. “The homeless census has moments that are uncomfortable and eye-opening. The BC students are attentive, responsive, and loving.” He estimates that in total more than 100 BC students have volunteered with him for the homeless census canvassing. During the overnight of February 2324, with the temperature below freezing, Manzo and his team encountered eight people experiencing homelessness. He recalled that one year his team engaged with as many as 17. “The students find it very powerful,” said Manzo, who was aided this year by seniors Elisa Ganzon, Joe McGrane, Haley
PULSE instructor David Manzo with BC undergraduate volunteers and alumni who aided a census of homeless individuals in Boston neighborhoods last month. photo by david manzo
Grieco-Page, Alexandra Pastrana, Emily Trebour, Vanessa Chatfield; juniors Erin Kiley and Gerald Mastellone; and alumni Clare Ryan and Victoria Pouille. Mandated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the homeless census is a count of
people living on the streets, in shelters, and in transitional housing programs. It helps Boston shape its policies on addressing homelessness. Compared to most other large cities in the U.S., Boston has one of the lowest percentages of unsheltered homeless. Manzo
credits that to the efforts of city officials in partnership with nonprofit organizations such as Pine Street Inn, Rosie’s Place, and St. Francis House. For Manzo’s students, the lessons from the personal encounters with those experiencing homelessness stretch well beyond the one night of the census. Manzo weaves the topic of homelessness into his PULSE curriculum. Jim Greene, Boston’s assistant director for street homelessness initiatives who has been part of the homeless census for more than three decades, annually speaks to the students in Manzo’s Values in Social Services and Health Care class. After the census, Manzo and his students spend time reflecting on the encounters and discussing the systemic causes of homelessness, such as lack of affordable housing and mental health issues. Manzo says that through the witness of people like Greene, BC students can see how a vocation of public service can become a career. “Some will go into leadership areas where they can be part of the solution to homelessness, but all will have had a first-hand experience of putting the values of BC—‘men and women for others’—into action.” —Kathleen Sullivan
Some BC Spring Break Service Trips Are Set to Resume After the coronavirus pandemic forced the Boston College Appalachia Volunteers to replace their weeklong nationwide service trips last year with four weekends of service in Eastern Massachusetts, the group—more commonly known as “Appa”—will be returning to their spring break trip model when 250 students travel to 26 different locations around the country next week to work alongside underresourced communities. “Appa has experienced so much in its 43-year history at Boston College, especially after creatively navigating through pandemic realities,” said Campus Minister Jacob Blicharz, the administrator for Appa. “Our patience, trust, and faith has led our planning process and allowed for us to make a return to our roots this year.” In addition to the week of service, participants meet biweekly throughout the school year to learn about the structural injustices and social realities that marginalize people and how BC’s Jesuit tradition can guide the response to these problems. ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Jack Dunn
SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Patricia Delaney EDITOR
Sean Smith
Each service trip has two student leaders who are trained on servant leadership and service-immersion practices. Rebecca Fontana ’22 will be a leader for this year’s trip to Ivanhoe, Va., where students will work with the Ivanhoe Civic League, an organization that facilitates community rebuilding projects in the former coal-mining town. “As a program and a group of student leaders, we are very cognizant of the fact that the pandemic is still ongoing, and that many of the sites that we serve through Appa Volunteers are vulnerable communities and have more restricted access to health care than we do here at BC,” said Fontana. “Our site coordinator told my co-leader and me over the phone that the community of Ivanhoe was hit hard by COVID. This will likely be a focal point of our trip and a topic of discussion during our group’s reflections—specifically, how the pandemic has impacted rural communities throughout the country like Ivanhoe.” Blicharz said he has been especially in-
CONTRIBUTING STAFF
spired by this year’s student participants, leaders, and community partners. “I believe this Appa chapter speaks profoundly to what its story is all about—a courage to love, a desire to learn, and a commitment to community—even in the more uncertain of times.” All travel involving BC programs has to be authorized by the University because of the current restrictions in place. In addition to Appa, the Magis Civil Rights spring break trip to Alabama and Georgia has been approved. Meanwhile, students who enrolled in the Arrupe international immersion program—originally scheduled for January—now have the option to go during Easter break next month or after Commencement in May. Spring break international service trips, including the Dominican Republic ServiceLearning and Immersion Program and Jamaica Mustard Seed, were canceled for this year as both locations have level-four travel advisories in place. —Christine Balquist
Christine Balquist Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan
Chronicle
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Seniors Kimberlyn Jones and Darnell Fils were the inaugural winners of the Sr. Thea Bowman Excellence Award, presented at the Black Excellence Gala on February 19 at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway. photo by frank curran
The Boston College Chronicle (USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published biweekly from September to May by Boston College, with editorial offices at the Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135 (617)552-3350. Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to The Boston College Chronicle, Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135. A flipbook edition of Chronicle is available via e-mail. Send requests to chronicle@bc.edu.
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National Advisory Board Is Envisioned for Forum BY JACK DUNN ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
The co-directors of the Forum on Racial Justice in America said they are focused on creating a national advisory board, consisting of individuals who can help Boston College identify specific issues of racial justice and reconciliation that the University and its faculty are uniquely positioned to address, with the goal of making Boston College a leading voice in the national discourse on race. Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., and Vice President Joy Moore, who assumed leadership of the forum in September from former BC Law School Dean Vince Rougeau, said that they are recruiting a diverse group of individuals who are leaders in higher education, business, law, criminal justice, and advocacy to identify issues of national importance that Boston College—through its mission and intellectual resources—can study and address in effective ways. “Faculty colleagues from across BC’s schools and departments possess a wealth of expertise related to race, racism, racial justice, and reconciliation,” said Fr. Kalscheur.
Forum on Racial Justice in America co-directors Joy Moore and Gregory Kalscheur, S.J. photos by lee pellegrini
“In concert with the national advisory board, we look forward to working with them to develop scholarly programming that will promote depth of thought and creative approaches to addressing the critical issues facing our nation, as we strive to build equitable and inclusive communities in which all people can flourish.” “We hope a national advisory board will guide us as to what are the most pressing concerns regarding racial injustice on a na-
tional level, to which we should be directing our energy and offering our help,” said Moore. “BC has many resources, including the expertise of its faculty and the wide range and depth of their scholarship. Highlighting the work of faculty within the forum will help expand our knowledge, and broaden our viewpoints and perspectives.” The Forum on Racial Justice in America was established in 2020 by University President William P. Leahy, S.J., as a University-
wide initiative to provide a meeting place for listening, dialogue, and greater understanding about race and racism in America. Since being named co-directors, Fr. Kalscheur and Moore said, they have been focused on the forum’s two key objectives: providing a meeting place for listening, dialogue, and greater understanding about race and racism—especially ideas for dealing with current challenges and planning for a better future; and serving as a catalyst for bridging differences regarding race in America, promoting reconciliation, and encouraging fresh perspectives. Both said they would work closely with Fr. Leahy and senior leadership of Boston College, as well as its national board of advisors, to achieve the forum’s objectives. The co-directors said that as they work on constructing the national advisory board, they are also discussing ideas for a forum event either in the spring or fall. “We are committed to promoting racial justice through the important work of this forum,” said Moore. “We look forward to working with our University partners and the national advisory board in the years to come.” For updates about the Forum on Racial Justice in America, see bc.edu/forum.
Philosophy Does Well in Newest QS Rankings BY LUCAS CARROLL SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Boston College’s philosophy program is the 13th best in the United States and 39th best in the world, according to the recently released QS World University Rankings by Subject. Prepared by British firm Quacquarelli Symonds, QS surveys are considered to be among the most influential providers of international university rankings. QS studied the academic reputation, employer reputation, and research impact of more than 13,000 individual university programs to come up with this year’s rankings of 48 academic disciplines. The QS citation for Boston College noted its faculty/student ratio of 13:1, a “very high” research output, and an impressive number of citations per faculty member, among other highlights. “I’ve always thought that we were a premier department, so I’m glad that we’ve been recognized as such,” said Joseph Professor of Catholic Philosophy Dermot Moran, chair of the Philosophy Department. “I’m very proud of the Philosophy Department—I think we are doing exceptionally well.” This academic year, there are 265 philosophy majors at BC, up from 174 in 2018. Philosophy is now the University’s fourth most popular minor, with 198 enrolled. The department includes 36 fulltime and 28 part-time faculty members, as well as 37 active doctoral students and 54 master’s degree students. Associate Professor of Philosophy
Giovanni Pietro Basile believes that an appreciation for philosophy “is something that belongs to the spirit of Jesuit institutions. We care about these questions.” Boston College, which according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produced the fifth-most philosophy majors of any university nationally over the past decade, is something of an anomaly in its continued prioritization of philosophy and the humanities more broadly. Sixty-six percent of American universities don’t offer philosophy as a major, according to the NCES. This lack of opportunities elsewhere, combined with philosophy’s reputation at BC, has made the University a hotspot for those pursuing careers in the field. “We had 191 applications for our Ph.D. program this year, and we can choose only five people,” said Basile. “They are all asking to study with us because they can only find what they are looking for at Boston College.” BC takes a decidedly more multidisciplinary approach to philosophy, according to students and faculty. More than half of the philosophy majors at BC are doubling or tripling with another area of study, for example, and faculty members Patrick Byrne and David Storey traveled to last fall’s COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow to present a humanities-based argument for curbing climate change. “There is a great deal of diversity in the disciplines to which people are drawn. So, they’re doing philosophy plus economics, or philosophy plus English, or philosophy
Philosophy Chair Dermot Moran hails the multidisciplinary interests of many philosophy majors at BC: “It enriches our subject, and also enriches other subjects.” photo by lee pellegrini
plus another major,” Moran explained. “And that’s very good, because it enriches our subject, and it also enriches other subjects, as students are able to bring their philosophy acumen with them into every classroom that they’re in.” “When I started at BC, I had a budding interest in philosophy, but as an accounting major in the Carroll School of Management, I never believed I’d take more than the philosophy requirements all BC students need to take,” said Nick Arozarena, a Carroll School senior double-majoring in philosophy, and editor of Boston College’s undergraduate philosophy journal, Dianoia.
“After having a transformative experience in my freshman year philosophy classes, I was convinced that I should pursue philosophy as a dedicated academic pursuit.” Lubens Benjamin, a Carroll School junior minoring in philosophy, came to the program through a similar path. “My interest in philosophy was one that I didn’t know I had until coming to Boston College. I found myself fascinated after every class.” Among those with bachelor’s degrees, the median earnings of philosophy majors exceed those of majors in any other humanities field, according to The Wall Street Journal. A 2014 analysis of data from the Law School Admissions Council by University of Iowa College of Law Professor Derek Muller found that philosophy majors are also the most successful law school applicants among all majors. “One of the things I often do when students come in to declare a major or minor is ask them: ‘What made you decide to do this?’” said Paula Perry, administrative and undergraduate program assistant for the Philosophy Department. “And it’s always based on a particular class or a particular professor who got them interested in a specific topic, and that’s really nice to see. “We try to make sure that students know that there are lots of places you can go with a philosophy degree,” she added. “A lot of our students go on to law school or medical school—it’s a good background for a lot of different career paths.” Lucas Carroll is a senior in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
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Lynch School Class Examines Immigration Issues Continued from page 1
and Roche Center graduate assistant Mike Warner, a M.Div. candidate, the contingent spent a five-day immersion—the crucial element of an el encuentro, or encounter—sandwiched between on-campus meetings that each featured relevant guest speakers. During their trip to El Paso, the group stayed at the Missionary Society of St. Columban’s Mission Center; met with the U.S. Border Patrol, the Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, and Jesuit Refugee Service; served meals to more than 550 migrants at Sacred Heart Jesuit Parish; and discussed the realities of educating culturally diverse communities with local school administrators, teachers, and parents. In Juarez, they visited shelters and met with religious and lay ministers who have been grappling with the challenges of immigration for decades. “This course provides students with the opportunity to examine the contexts and realities of global and United States immigration through the lens of Catholic teaching and tradition,” said Wyttenbach. “Using Catholic social ethics and the multiple, rich and varied experiences of el encuentro, the class challenges students to critically evaluate their understanding of immigration in light of their roles as educators and administrators in Catholic schools.” The genesis of the class stems from “Catholic Schools in an Increasingly Hispanic Church,” a report co-published in 2017 by School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor Hosffman Ospino and Patricia Weitzel-O’Neill, then the Roche Center executive director, based on the first National Survey of Catholic Schools Serving Hispanic Families. Its core question centered on how Catholic schools should respond to demographic changes and the challenge of educating the next generation of American Catholics. Emanating from that query, the Lynch
School launched the one-credit course titled El Encuentro: Immigration and the Catholic Educator’s Response in 2020, designed for elementary and secondary Catholic school educators, as well as for graduate students in theology and education. Students explore topics such as the history of global and U.S. immigration; the political, economic, and social causes of immigration and the role and response of Catholic schools; the journey of the migrant; ways to make the classroom, pedagogy, and school more culturally responsive; and how to personally address the question of being called to live a life of service as a faith response to justice. Erin Flanagan M.Ed. ’22, a third-grade teacher at Brighton’s Saint Columbkille Partnership School and a member of the Urban Catholic Teachers Corps 2020-2021 cohort, described her encuentro as “eye opening.” She explained, “This experience has greatly impacted how I will interact with immigrant individuals and how I will form my teaching pedagogies moving forward. In Juarez, we visited a Catholic school for students with disabilities—an area I’m passionate about and that Mexican public schools tend to not be supportive of—and it showed me a spark of hope, even among all of the challenges we’ve witnessed. I left inspired.” For Elizabeth Looney M.Ed. ’16, principal at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mission Grammar School in Roxbury, Mass., her participation in the class and trip was spurred by the desire to inform herself about “a walk of life” that she had not experienced personally. “As an educator, I make decisions every day that impact students and families, and I recognize that I can’t make informed and equitable decisions if I don’t have information about lived experiences outside of my own,” she said. “People are migrating to
In Mexico, the Lynch School contingent met Sister Betty Campbell, center, who works to preserve the names and memories of trafficked, abused, and victimized migrants. She “lives her life by retelling these stories for folks who are unable to tell them anymore,” said one visitor. photo by luisa arumi ortiz rangel
the U.S. to escape danger and violence in their home countries but the process of this migration is perpetuating trauma and has been for generations. I need to find ways to support students whose childhood has had elements of this trauma; it’s not fixable but it is supportable.” Campus Ministry graduate assistant Luis Melgar M.Div. ’23 shared a story of Betty Campbell, an elderly Sister of Mercy he met in Juarez, who has turned her passion toward preserving the names of the countless migrants who have been trafficked, abused, and victimized by the cartels, to ensure that they are recognized as people and not just statistics. “They are people, people with lives, stories, and families, who have experienced so much trauma and anguish in their pursuit
for a better life,” he said. “Sister Betty lives her life by retelling these stories for folks who are unable to tell them anymore, to keep their memory alive, and to share how the violence and the U.S. policy are really affecting the Juarez community and communities beyond.” Brazilian native Mariana Lima Becker Ph.D. ’23, a past participant who addressed the class just prior to their departure, characterized her own border experience as “transformative.” “I was struck by the question of how, as educators, can we adjust to better serve immigrant children and their families?” she said. “What should we be doing to ‘build’ culturally sustaining schools, to address the trauma that results from immigration?”
$3.3m Grant Funds Next Phase of RPCA Study Continued from page 1
behavioral effects of trauma may travel across generations, she explained: The NIMH grant will enable the researchers to gather quantitative data based on biological indicators of stress reactivity and self-regulation, such as inflammatory markers and telomere length. “We will be adding a new biological perspective to understand the embedding of the trauma-related stress response in more simple terms: how war-time stressors get ‘under the skin,’ including heritable biophysiological disruptions, and what the implications are for the next generation,” said Betancourt. “Understanding leverage points in how to improve parent-child interactions, despite a family history of trauma, is very important for helping to inform development of evidence-based interventions that are scalable and high-quality even in the most low-resource of settings.” Betancourt’s research in Sierra Leone has
been cited as the most extensive examinatialed professionals for implementation; intion of post-war intergenerational relationstead, these are delivered by non-specialist ships since studies of Holocaust survivors. workers, including well-trained and wellShe has also undertaken projects in Rwansupervised community health workers. da, Uganda, India, Mexico, Ethiopia, and “We have found that these sorts of the Russian Federation. interventions can be de“An interdisciplinary reBetancourt is currently ployed via new and innoinvolved in intervention sponse is sorely needed,” vative delivery platforms studies to help promote such as social protection says Betancourt, “to deal early childhood developprograms, or educational ment and prevent violence with the intergenerational and livelihoods programs. among families in extreme When delivered with challenges that result from high quality and fidelpoverty in Rwanda, and works with refugees reset- war and other situations ity, we have found that tling in New England and non-specialist-provided of violence globally.” in communities around interventions can have the world. an important impact on She noted that the interventions develpromoting both child development and oped by RPCA—and being evaluated for mental health while also reducing intereffectiveness as well as feasibility and acgenerational violence. ceptability—do not require highly-creden“We have seen this in some of the fam-
ily-based preventative work that we have been doing in post-genocide Rwanda that we are working to bring to west Africa as well as to migrant and refugee populations globally. In fact, our team is presently beginning collaborative work to help respond to the Afghan refugee resettlement across the United States, adapting similar models of family-based prevention.” Betancourt hailed the long-term collaboration RPCA has had with its many partners in Sierra Leone, including CARITAS and the University of Makeni, and the new opportunities for collaborations with Kenema General Hospital and Tulane University under this NIMH grant. “An interdisciplinary response is sorely needed to deal with the intergenerational challenges that result from war and other situations of violence globally,” she said.
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“I stand by my mission to use my voice as a tool in the fight towards social justice,” says Kudzai Kapurura. “It starts with a speech, with a word, and with a crowd willing to listen that history can be made.”
Kapurura Wins Scholarship Continued from page 1
S.J., who presented the award. “When I think about Dr. King, I think about a person who had an abiding sense of mission, and who had a sense of purpose that sustained him. We need people who can help inspire us, who can bring strength.” Kapurura, an economics major and African and African Diaspora Studies minor, grew up in the predominantly white city of Salem, Ore., the daughter of Zimbabwean parents. She enrolled at Boston College in 2019 “ready to experience some diversity, some different cultures, some different people, different perspectives,” she recalled. “I wanted to be in a place that was new, exciting, and fun.” She dove in headfirst, completing BC’s Options Through Education program, designed to support first-year students who have demonstrated potential and leadership in spite of challenging educational and financial circumstances, which helped her adjust to college life and build a network of support. Since then, she’s become an ambassador for the Thea Bowman AHANA Intercultural Center, gone on a Magis Civil Rights Immersion Trip—a six-day tour through Georgia and Alabama with stops at major sites related to the civil rights movement—and served as a facilitator for Courageous Conversations, a program promoting dialogue around racial justice. She also co-chaired the organizing committee for last year’s Black History Month opening ceremony. Kapurura’s personal mission, inside and outside the classroom, has always been to promote social justice. In high school, she
served as a student advisor to the State Board of Education working on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. And at BC, she chose economics as her major because it was centered around problem solving and, combined with her African and African Diaspora Studies minor, would equip her to combat the inequities she observed growing up. Her most powerful tool is her voice: A charismatic public speaker and talented writer, she won the title of America’s Best College Poet in 2021 and has delivered two TEDx talks, one on racial stereotypes and another on how her bicultural identity has helped her pursue a meaningful life. “Kudzai has the imagination and vision of an artist and the practicality of an economics major,” said Cooney Family Director of the PULSE Program Meghan Sweeney. “She uses her gifts and skills to draw people to her and build community as a leader.” Kapurura plans to attend law school after graduation, and to continue to inspire others with her words, as Dr. King famously did with his “I Have a Dream” speech. In her acceptance remarks, she marveled at the power of oratory to break down barriers and ignite social progress. “I stand by my mission to use my voice as a tool in the fight towards social justice,” she told the audience, which included her parents. “It starts with a speech, with a word, and with a crowd willing to listen that history can be made.” Alix Hackett is a senior digital content writer in the Office of University Communications
University President William P. Leahy, S.J., and Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center Director Michael Davidson, S.J., flank MLK Scholarship finalists (L-R) Tamara Hyppolite, Kudzai Kapurura, Lubens Benjamin, and E’Sachi Smalls (finalist Michael Martins was not present). photo by flavio debarros
A look at the other finalists for the 2022 Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship: Lubens Benjamin, Boston Major: marketing; minor in philosophy A member of the AHANA+ Leadership Council, Benjamin has worked in the Student Summer Admissions Program and served as a mentor in both the Big Brothers and the Multicultural Leadership Experience programs. He also served as a leader in the Appalachia Volunteers Program and on a Kairos retreat. After graduation, Benjamin hopes to work on nonprofit campaigns that benefit educational programs in his childhood neighborhood. Tamara Hyppolite, Tewksbury, Mass. Major: nursing; minor in psychology The Lift as You Climb and Bowman Advocates programs have been two of Hyppolite’s most meaningful commitments while at Boston College. An Options Through Education scholar, she has also participated in the Jamaica Magis and Magis Civil Rights immersion trips. After graduation, Hyppolite plans to pursue a Ph.D. in nursing, specializing in psychology, in order to treat children who are struggling with mental health while also educating parents
on how to better help their children. Michael Martins, Walpole, Mass. Major: political science; minor in International Studies In addition to working at the Thea Bowman AHANA Intercultural Center, Martins is a mentor for the Boston College Democrats FLAME Mentorship Program and participated in a Magis Civil Rights Immersion Trip. Off campus, Martins was an intern for the Coalition for Social Justice, where he engaged in politics at the local level. He hopes to pursue a career in law or politics. E’Sachi Smalls, Bronx, N.Y. Major: nursing Smalls cites her employment in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, where she has worked since her freshman year, as among her most formative experiences at Boston College. She is also an MLE Mentor, the head coordinator for Nursing Outreach, a student ambassador for the Student Admissions Program, and a Bowman Advocate. She hopes to pursue a career in nursing, with a special focus on addressing health disparities facing Black women.
How Consumers Handle the Truth About Credit Scores BY ED HAYWARD STAFF WRITER
For some consumers, it may make more sense to avoid information they receive about themselves. That’s a takeaway from a new study by Carroll School of Management Assistant Professor of Marketing Megan Hunter, who found that for some consumers checking a credit score ultimately leads to a drop in that number. Hunter and a colleague studied data about the actions people took when they were reminded by a consumer services firm to check their credit scores and the subsequent impact on those scores, said Hunter, a co-author of the report in the journal Marketing Science. The study’s most intriguing findings center on consumers with declining credit score trends. First, those consumers were more reluctant to check their credit score, said Hunter. And those that saw their scores had declined were less likely to
Megan Hunter photo by lee pellegrini
check their score the following month—an indication that this segment of consumers did not try to make changes that would improve their scores. The researchers looked at what happened when the company asked its users—
via email—to check their credit scores. “Users who are on a declining credit score trend, when nudged to check their credit score, upon checking, their score declines an additional 23 points,” Hunter said. The researchers saw different results for consumers whose credit scores were stable or improving. “For users on an increasing or flat credit score trend, upon checking their score, their score increases an additional nine points,” said Hunter, who added that the results were similar for consumers with low, medium, and high credit scores. Hunter said the findings are important for companies who communicate personal financial information to their customers. Computer simulations run by Hunter and co-author Jessica Fong of the University of Michigan also showed that sending such information can decrease consumer retention as well as harm the consumer’s outcomes, depending on the consumer’s current status.
Information avoidance has been a topic of study for several years, said Hunter, who added that many of the results were surprising. “We would have expected that users who had avoided looking at their credit score, upon seeing that they were doing badly—or had a declining credit score— would have been inspired to work to improve their credit score, but we see instead that they do worse,” Hunter said. “Additionally, we find that this result holds even for users in the top tercile of credit scores.” But for users with top credit scores that are trending upward, upon checking, their credit score increases an additional 21 points, said Hunter, noting that it is difficult to improve upon the highest credit scores. Hunter said the next steps in the research will be determining the driving forces behind these results. Among the factors that deserve further attention is the role of credit card debt and debt repayment strategies.
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March 3, 2022
Study Mulls Impact of School Closure on Elections BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR
During the first several months of the pandemic, public school closures in the United States were largely viewed as an unpopular but necessary measure to protect the health and safety of students and school employees, and their families. Nowadays, however, parents in many states are less likely to tolerate school shutdowns— and their frustration could have nationwide political implications, according to two Boston College researchers. Assistant Professor of Political Science Michael Hartney and doctoral student Renu Mukherjee say that, based on their analysis of last year’s gubernatorial race in Virginia, Democratic candidates may pay the price in this fall’s midterm elections for their support—whether tacit or explicit— of remote learning. The pair presented their findings in a recent article for City Journal, a public policy magazine and website published by the Manhattan Institute for Research. At issue, Hartney and Mukherjee explained, is that many of the school closings last fall were less related to COVID and more in response to other, longstanding problems pre-dating the pandemic, such as staff shortages, employee grievances, labor politics, and mental health “burn-out” among teachers. In Virginia—where nearly 10 percent of school districts curtailed in-person learning days for non-COVID reasons in the fall of 2021—the two researchers found that GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin’s criticism of school closures was a significant factor in voters choosing him over Democratic incumbent Ralph Northam. In fact, looking at districts with local public schools open for less than a month of in-person learning during the 2020-2021 academic year, Hartney and Mukherjee noted, Youngkin’s numbers were significantly better than
Michael Hartney and Renu Mukherjee analyzed the 2020 Virginia governor’s race, and found that criticism of school closings—many of which were unrelated to COVID—was a major factor in the GOP victory. photo of hartney by lee pellegrini
those of Donald J. Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Media coverage and polling strongly suggested that parents who went for Youngkin were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of understanding by the so-called “laptop class”—mainly higher-income voters, and likely to vote Democratic—of the burdens that remote learning placed on middle- and working-class families, noted Hartney and Mukherjee. The two researchers sought to evaluate Virginia voters’ concerns about school closures in comparison with other salient education campaign issues, notably those related to school districts’ diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives (DEI), on a district-by-district basis—examining whether, for example, a district’s mission statements prioritized equity issues and whether it formally employed a DEI officer.
“DEI issues certainly played a role in the Virginia election,” said Hartney, “but closures appeared to have had an even stronger effect on voting patterns across districts.” The Virginia project echoes a 2020 study of nearly 10,000 districts nationwide, co-authored by Hartney, which found that voters’ partisan attachments were the strongest determinant of whether schools reopened for in-person learning in the fall of 2020: Counties that voted solidly for Hillary Clinton in 2016 were less likely to hold in-person classes than those that backed Donald Trump. Districts with stronger teachers unions were also far less likely to bring students back to the classroom, according to that study. Earlier in the pandemic, Hartney said, schools were often widely viewed with sympathy for their efforts to serve students
despite the challenges of COVID protocols and remote learning—but that time may have passed. “Public school districts have received an unprecedented amount of federal funds— nearly $200 billion—during the pandemic, but even some Democratic officials have begun to express frustration at how little of it has been spent by local districts,” he explained. “In many states, governors also put teachers at the front of the line to receive vaccinations. But what we’ve seen from many large urban school districts in the past year is a knee-jerk pivot to remote learning, and not necessarily because of significant increases in COVID risk either. “So when Glenn Youngkin empathized with parents who—interested as they might be in contentious culture war issues arising in their districts—are ultimately much more concerned about schools returning to normalcy, and then he outperformed President Trump, that’s a trend to watch.” Even though school closures, COVIDrelated or not, might decline as the pandemic eases, Hartney thinks Democrats can ill afford to think the issue is behind them. “A lot of damage is already done. Communities where kids didn’t go to school and had trouble with remote learning are concerned about potential educational and social development problems among children. And if there are more COVID outbreaks, given their track record, it won’t take much for schools that closed to do so again, so it’ll be a one step forward, two steps back situation. That will not sit well with many voters, especially in suburban communities like those that unexpectedly gravitated to Youngkin because they agreed with him about school closings. If they swing to the GOP, that is big trouble for Democrats.” Read Michael Hartney and Renu Mukherjee’s article at city-journal.org/schoolclosures-have-electoral-consequences
STM Showing Positive Results in Placing New Grads Despite the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the School of Theology and Ministry saw another strong year of placement for new graduates. Ninety-six percent of 2021 graduates secured placement within six months of graduation. Top areas of placement were parish ministry (18.9 percent) and high school teaching (15). As a school grounded in the Ignatian tradition, discernment—particularly vocational discernment—is central to STM’s approach to formation and career development. Formation staff, faculty, and alumni all contribute to the personal process of offering assistance to students in their discernment of ministry and career options. “The way the STM is able to combine academic rigor in theological study and holistic ministerial formation accounts for the school’s success in assisting students to find meaningful work after graduation,” said STM Associate Dean for Student Af-
fairs and Career Services Jacqueline Regan. “I am frequently contacted by employers from across the country as they seek to recruit STM graduating students or alumni for positions at their organizations. The size of the STM and our growing alumni network work to our advantage. We are small enough to offer one-on-one personal assistance, connecting STM students with alumni mentors and employers. At the same time, STM students have access to the outstanding resources of the Boston College Career Center. On either side of Comm. Ave., there is someone eager to work with and assist our graduating students.” The extent of STM’s personalized support was appreciated by graduates, especially in the midst of pandemic-related adaptations. “I’m grateful for the holistic support I received from the STM when I began my job search,” said Anna Ryan M.Div.
’21. “The many resources offered by STM career services were invaluable to me, in particular the creatively re-imagined ministry expo [multi-field career fair] into virtual panels of STM alumni in specific fields, and the one-on-one support from resume and cover-letter writing to salary negotiation. “In a time of pandemic-era uncertainty, the STM helped me feel secure in my skill set and prepared to market my experience to potential employers,” added Ryan, who now serves as director of campus ministry at Chestnut Hill College in Pennsylvania. John Morton M.A. ’21 said, “When it came time to find a position after graduating from the STM, the Career Services at the school were so important to me. I received helpful information including relevant job listings that outlined positions I should apply for based on my past work experience. STM Career Services also provided tips on building a strong resume and
improving interview skills.” He also pointed to elements of STM’s approach to formation as essential to his career discernment. “I think what was most meaningful for me in the job search process was the STM formation that came through classes such as Spiritual Formation for Ministry and Contextual Education. Through these classes, I learned that it was important to always take the opportunity to step back and spend time with God in prayer in order to discern the next step for me while keeping an open mind and heart to where the Holy Spirit would lead.” Morton now serves as the director of development for the Catholic Parishes of the Blue Hills. “The formation I received at the STM spiritually and professionally has made such a strong impact in helping me grow as a disciple that it will lead to success in this new role.” —Anthony Russo and Jacqueline Regan, School of Theology and Ministry
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Chronicle
March 3, 2022
Q&A: Kent Greenfield
Palin vs. The New York Times—What Happens Now? On February 15, a jury found that The New York Times did not defame Sarah Palin in a 2017 editorial, a day after the federal judge presiding over the case said he would dismiss the former Alaska governor’s libel lawsuit regardless of what the jury ultimately decided. Palin had sued the Times and its former editorial page editor, James Bennet, over an editorial that falsely linked her to a 2011 mass shooting that killed six people and severely injured Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The Times later issued a correction, stating that “no such link was established” between Palin and the shooting, and during subsequent testimony at an evidentiary hearing, Bennet clarified that the editorial was meant to critique heated political rhetoric, not to blame Palin for the attack on Giffords and the others. Supreme Court precedent in the 1964 case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan shields journalists from liability over honest mistakes made when covering public officials or figures like Palin. The so-called actual malice standard means reporters are only liable for defamation if they knew the statement was false when they published it or if they had a reckless disregard for its falsity. First Amendment scholars, including Boston College Law School Professor Kent Greenfield, closely watched Palin’s suit, the first libel case against The New York Times to go to trial in the United States in 18 years. Last week, Greenfield spoke with Chronicle about the implications of the Palin case and what it may portend for the future. Palin is expected to continue her fight, but given that the judge and jury sided with the Times, her appeal has been characterized as an “uphill battle.”
Snapshot
Kent Greenfield: “Compared to other modern democracies, our standards for libel are much more protective of journalists.”
What different strategies and/or new evidence would her legal team need to introduce to succeed in the court of appeals? Greenfield: Ironically, a loss may have been exactly what Palin was going for. The judge and jury almost certainly got the result correct under the protective standard of Sullivan, which protects reporting about public figures unless journalists are reckless or intentionally wrong in their reporting. But judges and scholars are increasingly questioning whether Sullivan’s standard is too protective, and Palin could not have appealed a victory. She needed a loss in order to appeal up the chain of the courts,
with hope of getting to the Supreme Court. If she were to make it to the Supreme Court, how would you characterize Palin’s chances? Greenfield: At least two of the current justices, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, have indicated that they believe Sullivan should be overturned. Their point is that with the expansion of modern news, Sullivan is too protective of falsehood. I am not sure, however, where Palin could find three more votes to reverse Sullivan. One vulnerable aspect of the law is that the protective standard applies to reporting about any public figure, even those who do not intentionally thrust themselves into the public eye. (Justice Elena Kagan even made such a point in a law review article before she was on the court.) That is not Palin. I think the chance of overturning, or limiting Sullivan is higher in a case in which the plaintiff is more of an I-just-got-caught-upin-a-public-controversy kind of person. Some observers and commentators have expressed concern that any Supreme Court change to the Sullivan precedent would have significant detrimental effects on press freedoms. How would you characterize those prospective changes and their respective impact? Greenfield: Compared to other modern democracies, our standards for libel are much more protective of journalists. There is little doubt that when Sullivan was decided, it was a crucial decision that led to a robust, vibrant journalistic culture. One prominent First Amendment scholar said at the time that Sullivan was “occasion for dancing in the streets.” But also true is that the Sullivan standard does not deter carelessness—only recklessness or worse—on
Jobs
photo by tim correira
Masquerade Ball
The African Student Organization hosted its annual fashion show on February 25 in Robsham Theater. This year’s event, titled “Masquerade Ball,” featured a short film, interspersed with a fashion show and a performance by the Presenting Africa to You student dance troupe.
the part of journalists. When I teach Sullivan, my students and I discuss how a legal rule that under-deters carelessness will increase the amount of carelessness in the system. And more carelessness leads to more falsehoods. In the end, it comes down to a choice between (1) a legal framework that protects journalists at the cost of more falsehoods or (2) a framework that restricts journalists but has fewer falsehoods. Critics of the outcome have cited that there were no repercussions for James Bennet, who wrongly accused Palin of inciting the murders of six people, and his false accusation was then widely distributed through the paper’s multiple channels. Why should Sullivan allow this to happen without any penalties for the author? Are the protections for journalists afforded by Sullivan too broad and do they need to be revised? Greenfield: I am of the mind that a good amount of our free speech jurisprudence could use some updating. We in the United States have more protections of speech than any other country at any time in history. I would, for example, rethink the level of constitutional protections provided for corporate speakers, for campaign expenditures, and for violent or injurious speech, among other things. And I do think that reasonable people can disagree about the proper level of protection afforded journalists, especially since “journalists” now include everyone from reporters at The New York Times to social media influencers on TikTok. We live in a world created in part by Sullivan: a vibrant, pulsing world of news and commentary bombarding us constantly—much of which contains falsehoods. —Phil Gloudemans
The following are among the recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources. For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/jobs.
Campus Minister
Space & Data Planner
Residential Life Administrator
Asst./Assoc. Director, Sports Medicine, Football Program Director, Ever to Excel Business Analyst Staff Nurse Accounts Payable Supervisor Patrol Officer Director, Catholic Religious Archives Program Assistant Director, Data Visualization Laboratory
Speech/Language Pathologist Resource Acquisitions Assistant Assistant Director, Biology Labs Health Care Assistant Lead Teacher, Pine Manor College Laboratory Safety Specialist Student Services Associate Post-doctoral Research Fellow (multiple positions) Front Ensemble Writer/Instructor Third Class Engineer III Sp 2 Food Service Worker (35 hrs. per week) Academic Building Operations Manager
Assistant/Associate Director, Alumni Operations
Research Systems Administrator
Executive Education and Advisory Content Developer
Head Librarian, Access Services
Email Marketing Manager
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Chronicle
March 3, 2022
Burns Scholar Uses Social History as Research Lens BY SEAN SMITH CHRONICLE EDITOR
For James Kelly, the John J. Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies at Boston College this semester, history is best observed at ground level, rather than through sweeping narratives of landmark events and highprofile personalities. Kelly’s lenses for examining Irish history include sport, dueling, gender relations, the practice of medicine, food rioting, and satirical writing and imagery; in recent years, he also has taken an interest in climateand environment-related aspects. Such is the toolkit for a scholar of social history, he said. “Social history allows you to get a sense of the construction of the world that people lived in, in ways that focusing purely on political or intellectual history cannot,” explained Kelly, a professor of history at Dublin City University, and until recently the head of its School of History and Geography. “The study and teaching of history has, for many generations, been concerned with ‘the national story,’ but that ignores other stories that are equally fascinating and revealing. Through social history, we can engage in all sorts of inquiry and investigations that give us an often far more meaningful picture of lives in the past.” On March 17, Kelly will present the Burns Lecture, “Satirical Fun: Irish Single Sheet Caricature in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries,” at 5:30 p.m. in the Burns Library Thompson Room. His talk will be preceded by a 4:30 p.m. reception. Both are free and open to the public. The caricatures to be presented by Kelly, produced in Dublin between the late 1770s and late 1820s, were mostly Irish copies of images developed in London by famed caricaturists like James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson. But they offer a
unique perspective on what people living in Ireland found humorous and are revealing of the politics and society of the era, according to Kelly. “These caricatures interest me because they convey what visually appealed to people then, and what they found satireworthy—the pomposity of soldiers and their colorful uniforms, for instance—in everything from high fashion to politics,” he said. “The period in question begins a few decades after the death of Jonathan Swift, one of Ireland’s great authors, who demonstrated the capacity of satire to cast a critical eye on people and events.” Since 1991, BC has invited distinguished academics, writers, artists, journalists, librarians, and notable public figures who have made significant contributions to Irish cultural and intellectual life to serve as Burns Scholars. Appointees teach courses, offer public lectures, and use the University’s John J. Burns Library in their ongoing research, writing, and creative endeavors related to Irish history, art, and culture. Kelly concentrates his research on the years 1660 to 1860, a period when Ireland made the transformation from “Early Modern” to “Modern,” he explained: “In the 1660s, Ireland was still very inward looking, and only beginning to find its place in the Atlantic world; its people had access to a limited diet and were susceptible to famine and disease. But this was also the beginnings of what would become the Enlightenment, when humans began seeking to identify solutions to the problems they faced, rather than simply accepting them as beyond their control. The danger in doing so, as they sometimes found, is that the answers can generate new problems.” During his tenure at BC, Kelly is delving into several Burns collections, including nine volumes of pamphlets assembled by renowned 19th-century Irish Catholic political leader Daniel O’Connell—who sought to repeal the Act of Union that
James Kelly: “Social history allows you to get a sense of the construction of the world that people lived in, in ways that focusing purely on political or intellectual history cannot.” photo by caitlin cunningham
incorporated Ireland into the United Kingdom—and another of correspondence between Irish immigrants and family members back home around the time of the Great Famine. “These and other materials in Burns provide interesting insights into how people—whether O’Connell or others less prominent—saw what was happening around them, and how they expressed their views on what it meant,” said Kelly, who also is teaching a seminar which explores the exercise of Protestant power in Ireland and the challenges to it by, among others, O’Connell. Social history can help illuminate or even correct our understanding of past events, behaviors, and mores, said Kelly, such as in his study of dueling (That Damn’d Thing called Honour: Dueling in
Ireland, 1750-1860). “We tend to think of dueling as an indulgence of man’s violent impulse, but it was not without an underlying rationale. Male society of that age was an honor-based society; without honor, a man lost his place in society. Dueling was, as one contemporary wrote, a necessary piece of a young man’s education.” Kelly’s research on food rioting in Ireland, meanwhile, contradicts the impression that Irish people did not take action in the face of food scarcity, including during earlier crises preceding the Great Famine. In fact, he found there had been more than 280 food riots—in which protestors targeted ships, barges, and carts transporting foodstuffs, then sought to make it available to the public at an affordable price—from the early 18th century through the beginning of the famine in 1845. “The people who rioted weren’t hungry: It was the threat and fear of hunger, and the availability of food, which drove it,” he said. “People were in fact very active early in the Great Famine. But after that they were too exhausted or ill to do anything.” Kelly’s favorable impressions of Boston College and the Burns Library were first fueled by the experiences of friends and colleagues who served as Burns Scholars, and later by his 2018 visit to the University to take part in a book launch—walking around the campus, he recalled, “I was struck by its elegance.” Having been here now for almost two months, he said, “I am full of admiration for BC. The Burns Scholar position has great status and prestige in academia, and I welcome this opportunity to be among those fortunate to have held it.” An active member of various historical societies and bodies, Kelly has served as president of the Irish Historical Society, the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society, and, most recently, of the Irish Economic and Social History Society.
BC Scenes Dancing Around
PHOTOS BY CAROLINE ALDEN AND TIM CORREIRA
A spate of cultural events and performances in recent weeks spotlighted Boston College’s numerous student dance groups, including (left) Boston College Irish Dance, which presented its annual show on February 26; (above) Vida de Intensa Pasion, appearing at the February 18 Organization of Latin American Affairs showcase; and Masti, a mainstay of the South Asian Student Association extravanganza held on February 19. All events took place in Robsham Theater.
