The Heights February 27, 2017

THE

HEIGHTS The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

EST. 1919

WWW.BCHEIGHTS.COM

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

HALFWAY THERE

DECADE OF DANCE

SPORTS

ARTS & REVIEW

Katie Burt and Co. shut out Merrimack, advancing to the Hockey East Semifinals.

Boston College Irish Dance celebrates 10 years in its inTENsity showcase.

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ANDY BACKSTROM / HEIGHTS EDITOR

LeclZbp J\m\ek_ D\eËj _fZb\p \e[\[ k_\ i\^lcXi j\Xjfe fe X j\m\e$^Xd\ n`ec\jj jki\XbÇ`kj cfe^\jk jki\kZ_ j`eZ\ (00+Çkf cfj\ k_\ Ef% ( j\\[ `e k_\ ?fZb\p <Xjk KflieXd\ek# 9(%

L>9: Mfk\j ;fne ÊGif$C`]\Ë GifgfjXc J8 d\dY\ij ]\ck k_\ i\jfclk`fe j_flc[ X[[ Êgif$Z_f`Z\Ë X[mfZXZp% 9P ?<@;@ ;FE> 8jjk% E\nj <[`kfi On Sunday night, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College’s Student Assembly voted down a resolution sponsored by Michael Proietta, MCAS ’19, that called for UGBC to acknowledge and recognize “prolife activism” as a “legitimate and important form of advocacy,” which would allow UGBC’s

advocacy “to become more comprehensive and effective in affirming the diverse interests of students.” Members of the SA felt that in order for the resolution to be comprehensive and unbiased, it would need to be amended to include the support and recognition of prochoice advocacy. The vote was 13-5 against in a blind ballot.

Recognizing that “pro-life” has many facets, Proietta quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which reads, “human life must be respected and protected absolutely, from the moment of conception.”

Though the terms pro-life and pro-choice are commonly used when referring to abor-

tion, Proietta said that his use of pro-life based on the Catechism includes opposition to euthanasia, capital punishment, social irresponsibility, and other issues that fall on both sides of the nation’s political spectrum.

Proietta also recognizes that abortion is among the most controversial and poignant issues to be discussed on a college campus.

Proietta also stressed that recognition is not the same as affirmation, and that passing this resolution is not the same as declaring UGBC as pro-life. During the debate and questioning periods, various SA members

See SA Resolution, A3

For the last two years, the AHANA Alumni Advisory Council has worked to encourage Boston College to include more diverse perspectives among members of the Board of Trustees and at BC in general, according to Darcel Clark, the Bronx County district attorney and BC ’83. Clark said she is one of two voting black trustees currently on the Board. The other is Steve Pemberton, chief diversity officer at Walgreens and BC ’89, who joined the Board this past fall.

Last March, a Boston Globe article on the state of Boston College Athletics said that, at the time, there were no African Americans on BC’s Board of Trustees. That was untrue—Clark has served on the Board since 1998.

But in an interview with The Heights last week, Clark said diversity on the Board has generally remained low during her time as a trustee. She estimated there have usually been one or two African Americans, one or two Hispanics, and one of Asian descent in the last 10 years.

Clark said the council met last year with John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction and the chair of BC’s Board, to recommend people to serve as trustees.

Clark said they would continue to make recommendations of qualified people to the Board’s Executive Committee, and noted that although the council’s constituency is alumni, non-alumni can also be trustees. She thinks diversity on the Board can only strengthen BC.

“Sometimes people don’t see what’s right in front of them, so it’s a matter of making people more aware of how important it is to have diversity and inclusion,” Clark said. “It’s good business for Boston College, it’s good community for Boston College, it’s just good for BC.” Clark said she thinks the additional perspective of more diverse trustees would improve discourse and conversation on the Board, even if it does not necessarily make the Board operate differently.

“When you have everybody that’s kind of the same, you’re going to get the same,” Clark said. “Any successful university or business, the most successful ones are always the ones that are committed to diversity and inclusion.”

University Spokesman Jack Dunn said in an email that BC is committed to diversity in all areas, including the Board.

“The BC Board is diverse in its composition, and recruiting a diverse membership for the future remains a priority,” he said.

Juan Concepcion, BC ’96, BC Law ’03, is the co-chair of the council and a trustee associate for BC. He served as a full voting member from 2010 to 2014. He said the University should start preparing for the changes in the student body that are projected as the AHANA community continues to grow nationally.

“It no longer is just a matter of the right thing to do, the politically correct thing to do, it really is about the future of Boston College,” he said.

Concepcion said there is no specific timeline or plan in place for increasing diversity on the Board. He said

Board of Trustees, A3

Pfle^ ;\dfZiXk`Z JfZ`Xc`jkj >iflg J\\bj Le`m\ij`kp I\Zf^e`k`fe K_\ ZclY `j j\XiZ_`e^ ]fi X ]XZlckp X[m`jfi Y\]fi\ `k ZXe Xggcp% 9P :?I@J ILJJF 8jjfZ% E\nj <[`kfi In light of President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders, forms of resistance against him, including protests, have become more prevalent in the United States. One group that organizes many of the protests is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Boston College will soon see its own rising

group of socialists, as the Young Democratic Socialists of BC (YDSBC) seek to become a registered student organization (RSO) on campus.

“The primary purpose of the club will be to produce a more in-depth discussion [about socialism] on campus,” said Joshua Behrens, creator of the club and MCAS ’18. “I feel like critiquing capitalism is something we never discuss on campus and I think it’s a very important issue.”

The group has yet to submit official papers to request to become an RSO, but will do so once it has found a faculty adviser. Behrens said the group has

talked to a few faculty members so far, but no one has officially been picked.

The idea for creating a BC chapter of Young Democratic Socialists, a youth wing of the DSA, came to Behrens after Trump won the election.

“Democrats failed to stop this crazy tangerine from winning the presidency,” Behrens said. “I felt like there had to be a better solution—a better way.”

Behrens is also an op-ed columnist for The Heights. His opinions are not affiliated with the paper.

Behrens was a supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. He said he thought the Democrat-

ic Party treated Sanders poorly during the primary, considering Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee, ignoring the progressive base of the party Sanders energized early in the election. Behrens felt like there was not enough conversation about this on campus and began to do more research on democratic socialist organizations. He eventually came across the DSA and wanted to learn more about the group.

Last weekend, while attending a DSA conference in New York, Behrens met other young students from across the U.S. who started chapters at their own schools and had success. It was

then that Behrens became passionate about establishing a chapter on BC’s campus.

On Tuesday, Behrens created a Facebook page for YDSBC and posted a link to a Google doc in which students interested in joining the group could submit their information. Behrens said almost 30 people have filled out the Google Doc, but many others have messaged the YDSBC page expressing their interest. The group currently has three people on the “officer board” who make decisions and has a GroupMe with

See Socialists, A3

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On April 15, 2013, the newlywed

INSIDE

THIS ISSUE

couple was watching the race in close proximity to the finish line when Boylston Street erupted. Two homemade explosives, constructed by brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, sent a citywide celebration of human accomplishment into pandemonium.

Three people lost their lives, one of them an 8-year-old child. Downes and Kensky each lost a leg. The trauma led the couple, along with many others, down a journey of physical and emotional recovery.

After an introduction from Downes recalling the profound effect the trag-

edy had on his family and the rest of Boston, the audience viewed the HBO documentary Marathon.

The film focused on the long-term impacts the bombing had on its victims and archived the recovery of families of those who lost limbs, including Downes and Kensky. It documents the horrors of the event and its aftermath, but most importantly the resiliency of the survivors.

Early on in the movie, the audience experiences real footage of the finish

LIZZY BARRETT/ HEIGHTS EDITOR

See Downes, A3

Downes talked about his life after April 15, 2013, when he and his wife each lost a leg.

NEWS: Tell the Truth

FEATURES: To the Max

Neuropathologist Bennet Omalu talks head injuries in long-time football players........ A2

Get the 411 on ’80s day at the Plex, which featured rad tunes and sick threads.............A4

INDEX Vol. XCVIII, No. 12 © 2017, The Heights, Inc. www.bcheights.com

NEWS.......................... A2 SPORTS......................B1 FEATURES...................A4 ARTS & REVIEW............B8 OPINIONS................... A6

THE HEIGHTS

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TOP

things to do on campus this week

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A panel of faculty from the fields of economics, sociology, philosophy, and computer science will address the question of how automation technologies, such as robotics, could affect human employment in the future. The panel will be held this afternoon from 3:15 to 6:30 p.m. in Stokes S195.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

2

The Alcohol Screening and Prevention Initiative (ASAP) will host a screening event in which students can reflect on their alcohol use and learn about resources available to them on campus. The event will take place on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Carney Dining Room in McElroy Commons.

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Author Chuck Collins will give a talk about his book Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good. Collins gave away his inheritance at age 26 and began to work for equality. The event will take place on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in McGuinn 121.

NEWS If^\ij KXcbj I\c`^`fe# =i\\[fd# Xe[ :fddfe >ff[ BRIEFS 9P D@:?8<C QLGGFE< For The Heights

Gif]% KXb\j *' P\Xij f] J\cÔ\j Karl Baden, a photography professor at Boston College, has been taking selfies every day since Feb. 23, 1987. His “Every Day” project turned 30 on Thursday and now has nearly 11,000 photos.

Every day since 1987, Baden has taken a simple black and white photo of himself. He has tried to remain faithful to the first image he took, posing with the same neutral expression and using the same camera, backdrop, and lighting.

“The act itself is like brushing your teeth,” Baden said to apnews.com. “I’ll just take the picture and get on with the rest of my day. It’s not a holy ritual or anything.”

He has also kept his face cleanly shaven and his hair in the same style since he began the project.

“I have to turn all these variables into constants so that I’m not distracting from the aging process,” Baden said.

His changes over the years are not very dramatic until he underwent chemotherapy to treat prostate cancer in 2001. Starting then, Baden became noticeably thinner. Now that the cancer is in remission, the pictures show Baden bouncing back from the disease.

“As much as I try to make every picture the same, I fail every day,” he said. “There’s always something that’s a little different, aside from the aging process.”

Robert Mann, a New York City gallery owner who exhibited Baden’s photos on its 10th anniversary, is impressed with how Baden has continued his project two decades later and does not plan to stop.

“Watching Karl age (gracefully) in front of the camera has been an honor,” he said to apnews.com.

9: IXeb\[ (0k_ ]fi <dgcfpd\ek Times Higher Education released its global university employability survey, which ranked the best universities in the country for preparing graduates for jobs this week. Boston College was ranked 19th in the United States.

Nearly 100 universities were included in the U.S. ranking. Ranked first was New York University followed by Harvard University, Princeton University, and the California Institute of Technology. Boston University was ranked seventh, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was ranked 10th, and the University of Massachusetts was ranked 24th.

The survey has run for six years as a collaboration between human resources consultancy group Emerging and employment research group Trendence.

In the global survey, 150 universities were included from 34 different countries. BC did not make it into the global ranking. This was partly because countries like France, Germany, and Switzerland build professional experience into their degree programs. Universities from these countries are ranked as high as universities in the United Kingdom and the U.S. Both Germany and Japan have a university in the top 10. China and Canada also have universities high in the ranking.

Freedom of religion and religious discrimination have been put under the spotlight since the inauguration of President Donald Trump. His executive order suspending immigration from several Muslim-majority countries was extremely unconstitutional, according to Melissa Rogers, former special assistant to President Obama and former executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

On Thursday, the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life hosted a discussion featured Rogers titled “Religious Freedom and the Common Good.”

“The founders clearly believed that respecting the rights of conscience in these ways was essential to promote the common good,” Rogers said. “Because we have been very vigilant about protecting these guarantees, we have become a nation that not only has great freedom, but one that also has remarkable religious

vitality and incredible cooperation across a range of faith and beliefs.”

Rogers acknowledges, however, that there are still important debates about exactly how the guarantees of religious freedom should be applied.

These often involve disagreements over whether granting religious freedom claims in certain cases promotes or undermines the common good.

One such controversy that has gained national attention in recent years was a disagreement over whether the Pledge of Allegiance should include the words “under God.” The religious clauses in the First Amendment of the Constitution include the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause, which together state that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Over time, the courts have applied these clauses to the state and local governments as well.

Rogers explained that the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from advancing or denigrating a particular religion or

expressing a preference toward one faith over another. The clause is often mistaken as a protection solely for non-religious people and members of minority faiths, Rogers said. It is also an important protection for the majority faith, as even by embracing a majority faith, the government could corrupt, weaken, and manipulate it.

The Free Exercise Clause prohibits the government from targeting particular faiths for poor treatment and guarantees the equal right of all Americans to practice their faith.

“When these clauses were put into our Constitution, it was really a revolutionary proposition,” Rogers said. “It ensured that all have equal citizenship whether one is a member of the most numerous faith in the country or a member of the faith that is the smallest minority.”

Rogers believes that society has benefitted greatly from the work of religious organizations that are protected by the religious clauses in the Constitution, such as the Catholic Relief Services.

“By respecting religious freedom, we create a bridge from which we

can all unite,” she said. “The religion clauses are not articles of faith, but articles of peace.”

For this reason, Rogers is deeply troubled by Trump’s recent executive orders suspending immigration from several Muslim-majority countries.

Trump’s actions signal a dramatic reversal of policy from the Obama administration, which sought to increase the annual level of refugee admissions in light of the ongoing global migration and refugee crisis.

“More than 65 million people around the world have been in some way displaced,” she said. “We have a higher number of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people than at any time previously on record.”

Trump’s executive orders have been met with a flurry of legal challenges in recent weeks. A Virginia federal trial judge recently issued a preliminary ruling on one of these challenges. After reviewing the history of Trump’s immigration ban, she found that the purpose behind it was constitutionally impermissible under the Establishment Clause.

“In the context of entry, it disfavors one religious group,” Rogers said. “In the area of refugees, it favors another religious group. The judge found that there was discrimination as a purpose against Muslims and preferences for Christians.”

Rogers believes there is a silver lining in spite of the recent developments. She highlighted how Vice President Mike Pence recently visited a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis that had been desecrated by a group of attackers. She noted that Pence spoke out forcefully against anti-Semitism and praised Missourians for coming together to support the Jewish community and people of all faiths. She hopes that Trump will take similar actions in the future.

“I believe that we must insist that an attack on any faith is an attack on all faiths,” Rogers said. “And that obligation falls first and foremost on government leaders, who must speak out consistently on these despicable acts and who must ensure that law enforcement has both the resources and an aggressive plan to deal with these heinous cases.”

FdXcl K\ccj k_\ Kilk_ 8Yflk =ffkYXcc Xe[ :feZljj`fej 9P AFJ?L8 ?FCKQ Heights Staff Bennet Omalu, the NFL’s public enemy number one, who Will Smith portrayed in the 2015 movie Concussion, spoke at a lecture Thursday at Boston College’s Yawkey Center. “[Football] helmets don’t protect your child’s brain, but we’re not doing anything about it,” said Omalu, a forensic neuropathologist, who described his childhood, his move to the United States, and his scientific work.

The event was was sponsored by the Carroll School of Management’s Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics and co-sponsored by the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center’s Black History Month Committee.

Omalu holds eight degrees, has published more than 50 academic papers, has testified twice at congressional hearings, and in 2016 received the American Medical Association’s Distinguished Service Award—its highest honor.

The worldwide renowned Omalu now enjoys for his revolutionary research on brain damage caused by playing American football, however, came grudgingly, and only after a lengthy struggle.

Born in a Nigerian refugee hospital during the Biafran War, Omalu survived military bombard-

POLICE BLOTTER Wednesday, Feb. 22 7:55 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical incident at Maloney Hall.

ment and malnutrition as a child.

Later struggling with depression and war-induced mental trauma, Omalu said he discovered the “immense power of knowledge” as an escape from the circumstances of his youth.

Omalu exhibited a prodigious intellect at a young age, starting grade school at age 3, attending medical school at age 15, and becoming a doctor at age 21.

In 1994, Omalu received a scholarship from the World Health Organization to pursue a fellowship in epidemiology at the University of Washington, and arrived in Seattle with $250 in his pocket.

In 2002, while studying at the University of Pittsburgh, Omalu heard of the death of Mike Webster, an American football player who played in the National Football League (NFL), on television. At the time, Omalu knew little of the game of football.

“They were talking about this game I saw, while I was growing up in Nigeria, on satellite TV—a game where people dressed up like extraterrestrials, running around the field wearing big helmets, fat shoulders, and tiny legs,” Omalu said.

He was shocked, later that day, to find Webster’s remains on his operating table awaiting an autopsy.

Omalu’s examination of Webster has been called “the autopsy that changed football.” It yielded an

1:47 p.m. - A report was filed regarding confiscated property at Gabelli Hall.

4:31 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical incident at Gasson Hall.

TAYLOR PERISON / HEIGHTS STAFF

Bennet Omalu, the world’s leading expert on CTE, spoke on Thursday. ber’s question, Omalu said that more technologically advanced helmets do nothing to prevent CTE or other brain injuries from occurring on the football field.

The brain, which floats, suspended in fluid, in the skull, is damaged when sudden changes in momentum cause it to impact the inside of the player’s skull. Helmets can do nothing to prevent this, as they merely protect the surface of the head, Omalu said. In fact, football helmets increase the risk of brain damage by making a player’s head heavier, increasing the weight and force of damaging impacts that they are powerless to prevent.

Helmets also “weaponize” the head—they make helmet hits more attractive to players by reducing the the more obvious effects of helmet-to-helmet contact, like bruises, broken bones, or external bleeding,

Omalu said.

Without a known cure, and causing death in extreme cases, CTE poses a grave danger to players at all levels of the game. Children, according to Omalu, are particularly vulnerable to extensive brain damage.

Children with merely a concussion are more likely than their peers to die before reaching age 42, to struggle with drug addiction, and to drop out of school, to say nothing of the severe mental damage caused by an early, traumatic case of CTE. Omalu said that there is “no justifiable reason” for a child below age 18 to play football, due to the extreme risk posed by playing in even a single game. “[It is acceptable for adults to choose to] play football, play Russian roulette, or skydive—but not for children,” Omalu said.

2/22/17 - 2/24/17 5:46 p.m. - A report was filed regarding confiscated property at Welch Hall.

8:03 p.m. - A report was filed regarding an intoxicated person of legal age.

9:53 p.m. - A report was filed regarding 11:43 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a fire alarm activation at a medical incident at the Plex.

Lyons Hall.

Thursday, Feb. 23

unwelcome discovery—that the late superstar had been suffering from a serious, football-induced medical condition unknown to science.

Omalu called the new condition “chronic traumatic encephalopathy” (CTE), and published his findings in a prominent neuroscience journal.

He was promptly fired.

Ostracized, vilified, ridiculed, and accused of conducting “voodoo medicine” by fellow scientists, organized football, and the National Institutes of Health, Omalu was undaunted. He continued to examine the brain tissues of former football players who he believed had suffered “in silence and obscurity” from CTE. “No university or institution in America gave me a platform to do the work I was doing, so I took my work home,” Omalu said.

Years later, and in spite of the best efforts of the NFL, the scientific community forced itself to face a disturbing truth—that football-induced CTE was a reality, and a problem. Omalu attributes the initially reflexive—and spirited—rejection of his findings to the successful efforts of professional football to make itself synonymous with America’s national identity.

“The NFL has done a brilliant job of making America believe that [involvement with] football is what it is to be American—that playing, watching or sponsoring football is what it is to be patriotic,” Omalu said.

In response to an audience mem-

Friday, Feb. 24 12:49 a.m. - A report was filed regarding damage to a property by grafitti at the Mods.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

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CORRECTIONS Please send any corrections or clarifications to eic@bcheights.com.

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THE HEIGHTS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

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9cXZb ?`jkfip Dfek_ :\c\YiXk`fej :cfj\ N`k_ N\Y J\i`\j JZi\\e`e^ 9P AFJ?L8 ?FCKQ ?\`^_kj JkX]] Boston College’s Black History Month celebration came to a close Friday night with song, food, and powerful testaments to the past.

The dinner and video screening took place in the Cabaret Room in Vanderslice Hall, and was sponsored by the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center and co-sponsored by the Black History Month Committee.

Akosua Achampong, chair of the AHANA Leadership Council, presidentelect of the Undergraduate Government of BC, and MCAS ’18, said in her opening remarks that the night’s theme was “celebrating womanhood and empowerment [of women].”

As dinner was served, Famous, a BC performance group, danced to the songs “Ready,” by B.o.B., and “Bad and Boujee,”

by Migos.

After this musical interlude, the co-founders of Anawan Street Productions—Rui Lopez, Duane Denny, and Zair Silva—were introduced by Osamase Ekhator, a member of the student dance group Sexual Chocolate and MCAS ’17.

The three men co-founded the visual media company, along with Edilasio Manuel, who was not present at the event, in Brockton, Mass., in Dec. 2015, and

now produce video commercials, music videos, and sponsor acting workshops.

Their goal is to create content that will “provoke and entertain” while spreading positive messages of inspiration and hope, Ekhator said.

In early 2016, Anawan Street began production of a 10-episode web series called “Inspired By.” Each episode featured an ordinary person, and focused on the motivations, aspirations, and inspiration that propel them forward through life.

After Ekhator’s introduction, Lopez, Denny, and Silva screened four episodes of the series for the audience, which featured four women—Josefa DaSilva, Elle Silva, Baroneza, and Dagi— and highlighted their unique lives.

DaSilva is a fashion designer who owns and operates a boutique in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood. She was invited to display her autumn and winter collections at New York Fashion Week, and her designs have appeared in the Huffington Post.

During her episode, DaSilva said that she strives to be a role model for others aspiring to work in the fashion industry, which is highly competitive, and that she values the connection she feels to the public by providing her unique designs.

“It makes me really proud to to see that people are actually recognizing my

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Baroneza, DaSilva, and Dagi each were featured in four episodes of a new web series of profiles called “Inspired By.” work and [that] they’re loving what I do,” DaSilva said.

Baroneza, a poet and founder of the Baroneza Project, a youth creative writing workshop, said that she does so with the hope that young people will find an avenue to express themselves openly, whether in writing or out loud with classmates.

“Poetry is just your feelings on paper, and [writing poetry] is not something that’s difficult to do,” Baroneza said in her episode.

Baroneza emphasized the importance of passion and hope in achieving

one’s dreams, and said that it’s crucial to follow one’s innermost desires when pursuing them.

“Not many people can say that they love what they do,” she said. “With art, you have to love what you do to do what you do.”

Dagi, a visual artist and painter, said that her dreams initially faced resistance from her family, who were worried that her art wouldn’t support her financially, but eventually, after realizing the depth of her passion and commitment to her craft, gave her their blessing.

“Stay on the path that you envision,”

JfZ`Xc`jk >iflg kf CXleZ_ Socialists, from A1 20 others who are helping to organize the club.

Behrens said that YDSBC won’t be focused on BC, but rather the greater Boston community. It will work to get students interested in socialism connected to the greater activist community in Boston. The group will help students find ways to resist Trump’s administration, including connecting them to protests in the city.

Behrens believes that Sanders, although he focuses progressive causes, isn’t a true democratic socialist.

“Bernie Sanders, even though he calls himself a democratic socialist, never critiqued the actual system of capitalism,” Behrens said. “As socialists, we critique the actual system of

capitalism. We see capitalism as an undemocratic economic system.”

Democratic socialists want to reform the system and establish a “one worker, one vote” system, in which companies are democratized and workers have more of a say in the company.

Democratic socialists also speak out against other systems of oppression such as sexism, racism, and homophobia. The group seeks not only economic justice, but political and social justice as well.

“An important thing to DSA and our local chapter is fighting what we see as an oppressive president and oppressive administration that is doing some horrible things,” Behrens said. “We see these things as very dangerous, and the democratic party right now is not stepping up to resist that.”

;fne\j fe GXk_ kf I\Zfm\ip Downes, from A1 line, ignorant to the impending doom, silenced Gasson Hall, the audience daring not to breathe.

Once the documentary was over, Downes reflected on the psychological steps he had struggled through by his wife’s side, along with his motivations to move on and continue living.

Unfortunately, it has been difficult for Downes and his wife to move on completely. Kensky endured many complications with her injury, and has had dozens of operations on her leg.

As shown in the film, the constant inand-out of the hospital had worn her out emotionally, making small tasks into obstacles.

“We don’t know what to say anymore, it’s awful, it’s a persistent hurt,” Downes said.

Downes recounted times when he and his wife had taken some scary falls, their brains still believing their bodies had two feet.

“Sometimes it’s just kind of funny, but other times it can be catastrophic” Downes said, citing the reason for his wife’s most recent trip to the emergency room.

Despite the challenges of daily life, Downes dove back into running as soon as he could, determined to conquer the Boston Marathon with a running prosthetic. In 2016, he accomplished his goal, leading to an emotional moment with his wife at the finish line.

He spoke about the daunting task of simply training for a marathon, and how he was spurred on by his wife’s desire to have him “reach his full potential.”

Of the 26 miles he ran, and he said that the 21st mile passing BC was his most memorable.

“I usually run a mile and walk a minute, but when I hit BC, I just walked the whole way because I wanted to soak it up,” Downes said.

Downes said he’s thankful for the

education he received at BC, commenting that it was the school’s teaching him how to sort through the gray areas in life that made his recovery more manageable.

Downes contrasted his involvement in Marathon to that of the new movie, Patriots Day, a reenactment of the five

“It’s such a cool representation of community, and then of course there’s this incredible black mark on it.”

- Patrick Downes, BC ’05, on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing

days between the blasts and the arrest of the final brother. He said that he was much more involved in HBO’s portrayal, because the other film’s producers “cut him a check” and interviewed him for just a couple of hours.

Downes was also unsure about whether either film was a successful portrayal.

“You have to take all of these stories [about the bombing] as a whole,” Downes said.

Downes described how exciting the race is to bystanders—the whole city finally getting out into the spring weather and partying on all sides of the course—and expressed his sadness that the terrorists would target something so innocent, and that the damage to its image would last forever.

“It’s such a cool representation of community, and then of course there’s this incredible black mark on it,” Downes said.

Dagi said. “Never give up—even if you don’t see the benefits [of your efforts] right then and there.”

In addition to her art, Dagi also works with social services and youths, providing mentorship and counseling.

Silva, a CrossFit trainer and juvenile parole officer, said she derives motivation from the happiness of gym-goers who find their lives enhanced by physical exercise, and from the demanding nature of her profession.

“No matter who you are, you have to put in the work—talent is nothing without desire,” Silva said.

:cXib Xe[ :feZ\gZ`fe <p\ ;`m\ij`kp Board of Trustees, from A1

HEIDI DONG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

J8 I\a\Zkj C`]\ I\jfclk`fe SA Resolution, from A1 expressed concern about how the other side of the issue, pro-choice activism, was not recognized by the resolution. Proietta was unwilling to amend the resolution to include recognition of pro-choice activism.

The next speakers were Abigail Young, president of the Pro-Life Club of BC, and Natasha Bednarz, both MCAS ’17. Proietta introduced them by saying that as women, this issue directly affected them, although he later stated that the proposal was not about abortion, which he called a minor part of pro-life activism.

“To deny the legitimacy of a particular form of activism is fundamentally contradictory to the essence of advocacy, and frankly denies the creation and activity of a significant portion of the student body,” Young said.

Bednarz said that she is a feminist because she is “pro-woman,” and that she is pro-life because she is pro-woman.

“I think that women deserve more than abortion,” Bednarz said. “The social and cultural currents that push abortions as the ultimate liberating choice and an easy, sensible, ‘no-strings-attached’ way out do not actually have women’s best interests in mind.”

Bednarz said that “unrestricted abortion” has created an idea that there is an “easy way” to deal with pregnancy and “make it go away.”

She said that there is a stigma against being pregnant on college campuses, and many pregnant women may feel pressured to get an abortion to avoid this stigma. “[A pregnant woman] would be alone because everyone would know that she had this way out, but she chose differently,” she said. “But it feels like this choice has become an expectation.”

Hagop Toghramadjian, MCAS ’17, spoke next, voicing his support for the resolution by quoting what Akosua Achampong, next year’s UGBC president and MCAS ’18, said during an interview with The Gavel: “I value life, in a general sense, and I think everything else that I prioritize stems from that,” he read. “Because I value life, I value advocacy, and my religion and the way I grew up plays a lot into this ... It’s along the lines of [thinking] every single person is of immeasurable importance and value, and everyone deserves to be a person.”

Toghramadjian then asked if the senators disagreed with the newly-elected UGBC president.

Achampong, who was not present at the meeting, texted Molly Newcomb, a senator and MCAS ’18, in response to being quoted

in support of the resolution to clarify her position.

“I believe that’s a decision that individuals should make for themselves,” Achampong said in the text message. “I can’t in good conscience tell another person what to do with their own body. Pro life is a larger umbrella term and not specific enough to garner my unwavering support.”

Toghramadjian also asked senators to think about how many unplanned pregnancies there are at BC. Without producing a number, he speculated “dozens, hundreds a year.” He then asked the senators how many pregnant women were seen on campus, implying that many students at BC were experiencing unplanned pregnancies and receiving abortions in response.

“Do we think that every single one of these women who ended up pregnant without planning on it wanted to get an abortion?” he said. “Do you think that they all, their choice, was not to become a mother? Do we think that this stigma, that some of the women who just spoke had referenced, played into forcing them into making a decision to get an abortion?”

He said that it is shameful and “antichoice” to think that the women he is referencing don’t deserve UGBC’s support and recognition.

Senators discussed and debated how recognizing pro-life activism and not pro-choice activism was problematic and would seem very one-sided to many students.

“I don’t think we should affirm one more than the other,” said Josh Frazier, MCAS ’19.

“However, we have a pro-life club. We don’t see a pro-choice club ... We need to reaffirm both sides of the issue because as a University, we haven’t.”

Drew Boland, CSOM ’19, spoke out in favor of the resolution, saying that simply recognizing a legitimate form of activism is important and does not de-legitimize the other side. He thinks that because many students at BC support this, UGBC should advocate for it. He also mentioned that Proietta’s voice was one that is not often heard in UGBC, and is an important one that needs to be listened to and advocated for.

The senators emphasized that their decision to vote down the resolution was not because they do not support pro-life activism, but rather because there needs to be more deliberation.

“This was one of the more split votes that I have seen in SA,” said Meredith McCaffrey, UGBC executive vice president and MCAS ’17.

he would like other people to have a seat at the table, but the nature of the Board is that there can’t really be a formal plan for adding more diverse members—those appointed need to be competent in business and understand the needs of BC. He hopes, rather, that the conscientiousness of the University is heightened to the point where it intentionally seeks to add more diverse people to the Board.

“We’re a class-A institution, our numbers look good,” Concepcion said, highlighting the fact that about 30 percent of students identify as AHANA. “But when you talk to the students, as I have, they feel like there’s something missing.”

According to Concepcion, the University Strategic Planning Initiative does not contain a specific diversity section as part of its proposed 10-year plan, the details of which have not yet been released publicly.

He questions how the University could not have it as a standalone objective, which he also said is a critical element of BC’s business.

Dunn said BC ’s commitment to diversity is clearly stated in the USPI, which will be discussed at the Board’s meeting in March.

Senior administrators told the council that diversity and inclusion were implicitly captured in other elements of the plan, and the council said its position was that implication was not the same as expressly stating BC’s goals on paper.

Concepcion said everybody on the council works in partnership with BC, and that though there is some disagreement, they have been trying to “gently” make sure the University understands its perspective.

Concepcion thinks the 10-year plan should be focused in part on trying to figure out how BC can target specific areas that will allow it to yield more AHANA applicants.

He said he does not care about professors’ skin color, as long as their scholarly perspective is inclusive and diverse, but he realizes the importance of professors’ skin color if it is tied to a specific perspective.

He thinks in general it is “indefensible” for the USPI to leave a void in diversity and inclusion, although he does not think there is necessarily a connection between lack of diversity among the Board members and its absence in the 10-year plan.

“This isn’t about personal feelings, this is about caring for an institution that does a lot for so many people,” he said. “And we hope to actually prepare the institution to continue to do that in a changing environment.”

THE HEIGHTS

A4

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

EXd\ k_\ ?\`^_kj F]]\ij ;fefij Ê(, D`elk\j f] =Xd\Ë 9P 9<IE8;<KK< ;8I:P For The Heights From snow y walks down Linden Lane, to tailgates in the Mods and all-too-quiet moments on the second floor of Bapst, Boston College students make memories across campus during their four years in Chestnut Hill.

Throughout the month of February, BC alumni had the opportunity to make their mark on campus again, if only for a little while. Designed by the Office of University Advancement of the Cadigan Alumni Center, the Name the Heights fundraising campaign was intended to raise money for various University programs and engage the BC community in a lighthearted way.

The campaign was conceived in fall 2016, when Andria Silva, director of marketing and participation for annual giving, brainstormed and researched fundraising concepts with her marketing team. The team communicated with other universities about successful campaigns they had done in the past. One of the schools had launched a successful fundraising campaign centered on the idea of naming places on campus after alumni. The Office of University Advancement drew upon these campaigns for inspiration.

The first step for the marketing team was finding campus landmarks to name. Traditionally, major buildings on campus are named after people who played important roles in shaping the B C community. For example, Bapst Library is named in honor of Rev. Johannes Bapst, S.J., the first president of Boston College.

As a result, the team looked for smaller landmarks to name, and turned to alumni for inspiration. Members of the marketing team reached out to alumni and asked about their favorite on-campus memories. Because the campaign was intended to be far-reaching and multigenerational, the team selected places and things that would relate to alumni of all ages.

“The campus has changed over the years, but some landmarks are classic, like a chair in Bapst Library or a tree on Linden Lane,” Silva said.

Next, emails were sent out to alumni about the campaign.

Videos, graphic designs, and messages were all developed

by University Advancement’s communications and marketing teams. The videos promoting the campaign broadened interest and sparked curiosity among alumni and current undergrads alike.

Donors who participated in the Name the Heights campaign could be entered into a drawing to name one of eight minor landmarks across campus. Thus far, six of the landmarks have been revealed and named: a quad in the Mods, the 8 a.m.

Newton Bus, men’s hockey head coach Jerry York’s whiteboard, a table for two in Corcoran Commons, a tree on Linden Lane, and a chair in Bapst Library.

All landmarks were affixed with nameplates that featured the name and graduation year of winning donors for their “15 minutes of fame.”

Two landmarks are revealed each week on the campaign’s website, and the winners are randomly sele cte d and announced in the following days.

The last two landmarks will be

revealed on Tuesday, Feb. 28, and winners will be announced on Friday, March 3.

Photos of the newly-named landmarks are shared with the BC community via email, social media, and the Name the Heights website. The Name the Heights campaign team sends the winning donors a congratulatory package, which includes a framed photo of their landmark.

In addition to naming campus landmarks after people who greatly impacted their college community, universities often name buildings after donors as a sign of appreciation for major donations. Our very own Stokes Hall, which opened in January of 2013, was named after Patrick T. Stokes, BC ‘64, and AnnaKristina Stokes, who made a $22 million gift to the university.

Unlike Stokes Hall, named such as a permanent designation, the campus landmarks of the Name the Heights campaign are named temporarily, often for less than a day.

The Cadigan Center holds a variety of fundraising campaigns throughout the calendar year. Most recently, November’s Giving Tuesday campaign, which has been a national event for many nonprofits following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, raised over $625,000 for the University, including $200,000 donated by a single anonymous donor to support student financial aid. “ D o n o r s a re h el p i n g to strengthen priorities like financial aid, academics, mission and ministry programs, and student activities,” Silva said. “Gifts of all sizes add up and demonstrate the collective strength of the BC community.”

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Those who donate to the campaign could have their name on iconic BC locations, such as a quad in the Mods.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOSTON COLLEGE RECREATION

E\fe Xe[ 8\ifY`Zj1 Jkl[\ekj :\c\YiXk\ Ë/'j ;Xp Xk k_\ Gc\o 9P 8J?C<P JK8L9<I For The Heights

Despite the sweat and fatigue, buoyant and joyous energy floods the spin class room as Madonna and Dexys Midnight Runners blares in the background.

Down the hall, clad in neon tank tops and pink head and wristbands, Total Body Conditioning Steppers bop to the beat of the ’80s as they do their cardio moves. No, this is not a scene from Footloose, but Boston College’s own BC Rec celebrating National Recreation Day. Commemorating the National Intramural Recreation Sports Association’s inception on Feb. 22, every year BC puts on an event to bring awareness to its anniversary. Although most members were born before the era, the Student Staff Advisory Board, which meets monthly to plan improvements for the Flynn Recreation Complex, chose the ’80s as this year’s theme for the event. According to Taylor Palumbo, a member of the board and pool office manager, the theme bridges a gap so that students can understand the era, and employees who lived through it can rock along with the songs.

“Someone threw out the ideas for ’90s, but if this is working out, what decade is most iconic for working out?”

Palumbo said. “The ’80s.”

Palumbo spoke about the dedication and effort that went into planning the day as well as what his own experience has been like working at the Plex.

Last year, the board decided on a neon theme for the day, but this year, it worked to make the theme more specific and engaging.

In addition, after three years on the board, Palumbo believes that it has done a better job of promoting the event this year.

The day consisted of six ’80sthemed spin, x-fit, and zumba classes complete with high-intensity music from 7:15 a.m. to 7:45 p.m., as well as additional strength competitions from 3 to 6 p.m. consisting of push-up, pull-up, and benching contests.

At the classes , participants were given a plethora of free neon tank tops, wristbands, and headbands.

Participants could also send in their best ’80s costume photos in hopes of winning assorted prizes.

Burns Library also supported National Recreation Day by posting photos up on its walls

of BC students working out back in the ’80s.

“I think the community appreciates what we do, but we really just wanted to take a day to celebrate and bring awareness to it,” Palumbo said.

The BC Rec staff consists of over 400 student staff members who are either at the Plex or Conte Forum daily from 6 a.m. to as late as 1 a.m. While other operations may stop or alter their schedules on a snow day, the Plex was still open on Feb. 9, allowing motivated students to trudge through the snow and toward their fitness goals, despite the bitterly cold conditions outside.

“At BC maybe more than a lot of other schools, campus recreation is so integral to student life, whether that’s club sports, intramurals, or just working out individually,” Palumbo said. “As a way to give back to student employees, the students that use the Plex and everyone else going forward, we’re hopeful that this day can only keep getting bigger.”

Bigger than ’80s hair, per se.

While National Recreation Day was a one-day-only event, the committed and avid staff at the Plex make every day look like a great day to break a sweat.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

THE HEIGHTS

A5

EagleDate Carson Truesdell

Mika Chesnutt

Year: 2017 Major: Finance Favorite Song: “Tonight is the Night”

Heights: What did you do on your date?

Carson: We went to Coconut Cafe in Newton for dinner.

Heights: What did you order?

Carson: Yellow curry.

Heights: Did you do anything to prepare for your date?

Carson: No. I looked her up on Facebook to know what she looks like, and asked people I know if they knew her.

Heights: What was it like when you first met each other?

Carson: We met right outside of Mac, and she had obviously looked me up too because she knew what I looked like, and she walked over with her friend and said hi. I called an Uber and it was basically ready right then, so we got in and just started talking.

Heights: What did you talk about?

Carson: We talked about a lot of different things—about mutual connections with things that we have, running, things at BC, Appa. We found out that we actually know a lot of the same people, and she’s from Portland, Ore., which is where two of my roommates are from.

Heights: Did anything awkward happen?

Carson: Oh, no. She’s really easy to talk to, down to earth, nice. Conversation flowed really easily. Nothing uncomfortable. It would’ve been funny if there was something, but there wasn’t.

Heights: What do you think the future holds for you two?

Carson: She’s really nice. I’d go on another date with her. I want to get to know her.

Year: 2019 Major: Computer Science Favorite Song: “Reflections”

Heights: What did you do on your date?

Mika: We went to Coconut Cafe and got some Thai food.

Heights: What did you order?

Mika: I had Pad Thai. It was really good.

Heights: Did you do anything to prepare for your date?

Mika: No. One of my roommates came with me though to check out the guy before we went.

Heights: What was it like when you first met each other?

Mika: It was good. We just asked some basic questions, and it turned out that he actually lives with two guys I know from high school, so that was funny.

Heights: What did you talk about?

Mika: He’s a runner, so we talked about running, because I also like to run.

He’s involved in a lot of service organizations and lecture series and we talked about that because that’s also something I’m interested in. We talked about his plans for next year, since he’s a senior, and his abroad experience.

Heights: Did anything awkward happen?

Mika: No. Hopefully he said no too.

Heights: What do you think the future holds for you two?

Mika: I really enjoyed getting to know him and would definitely hangout again in the future.

To sign up for EagleDate, email features@bcheights.com

K_\ Dlij[Xp <]]\Zk :_Xgk\i -1 K_\ J_X[fn Fm\i :_\jkelk ?`cc ILK?<I=FI; J?@I<KFE @M “The Mursday Effect” is a humorous piece created pseudonymously by two authors, with each devoting him or herself to an alternating chapter each week. The newest installment in the serial will appear in each Monday issue of The Heights.

It can also be found online with the previous chapters.

After speeding through the Middle West region of these United States, Joanna Oxford and I, Rutherford Shireton IV, found ourselves mired in horrible traffic on that mythic road they call the Mass Pike.

“Traffic,” I scoffed, scoffingly. “When the day comes that I must write every other chapter of a mighty recounting of these events, how will I be able to work in something so terribly banal as a traffic jam? The eloquence, elocution, and elevation of my illustrious, illustrative, and illuminating prose cannot lower itself to something so mundane.”

Joanna did not acknowledge me. Most likely because she is a cold-hearted person with very few, if any, redeeming qualities. As I write this now, from a place of complete mental clarity, hunched in this small cabin somewhere in what I believe is Northwestern Canada, I realize that I should have known Joanna wasn’t to be trusted. But at the time, young, naïve little Rutherford never expected the terrible things that would soon come to pass.

“Something’s not right,” Joanna whispered.

“Maybe it’s the drugs you’ve been abusing,” I said, in my confident, quite manly and distinguished voice. “They must be throwing your judgement.”

“What? Speak up. I can’t understand that meek, quite girlish and undignified voice of yours.”

Wait, no, I mean, she said, “Rutherford, you are a beautiful and successful man, whose mother loves him and who never betrayed the only friend he ever had.”

“I know, Joanna, I know,” I said, exhibiting my truly remarkable baritone voice.

With cars lining the pike to both of our sides, Joanna parked the car and stepped out. She squinted out over the sea of cars into the distance. Her face went slack.

“Tim,” she said. “We have to go. A tear is opening.”

“What?” I said. “My name’s Rutherford.”

But she was already running in between cars, weaving her way toward something she had seen ahead. I stepped out of the car and totally didn’t trip on my way out. Looking after her, I saw her leap onto the roof of a car and begin jumping from vehicle to vehicle down the highway, provoking a chorus of outraged and profane screams.

At that time, I did not realize what was occurring just a short mile down the road. After the close of Joanna’s previous chapter (full of lies and deception, per usual), Retrograde, George, Bridget, and Darren were cruising toward the airport in an Uber, Athena and her goons far behind them. While Joanna and I sat in our car, they were stuck in the same jam.

“So, where are you guys from?” Darren said, looking over at Bridget and George.

The three of them were squished together in the backseat, thighs awkwardly rubbing against thighs, while Retrograde sat up front and discussed Australian politics with the driver.

Bridget turned and stared Darren

straight in the eyeballs without speaking.

There had once been a time when she wasn’t finished with this crap. That time had passed.

“I’m from Timbuktu,” George said.

“Really?” Darren said.

“No, I lied to you,” he said, holding an open hand in front of Bridget’s face, as though expecting her to high his five.

“You’re the third wheel, Day-ran.”

“God give me strength,” Bridget said, staring straight ahead and refusing to acknowledge the five being highed her way.

“Is there any way to get this thing moving faster?” Retrograde said. “We really gotta get out of here.”

“Nope,” the driver said. “See that massive rip in the very surface of reality from which the denizens of unknown worlds of unfathomable cruelty and pure darkness pour forth upon us?”

Retrograde turned to the left and saw a massive rip in the very surface of reality from which the denizens of unknown worlds of unfathomable cruelty and pure darkness poured forth upon them. It looked like a large slice of pizza hanging over the highway, except with monstrous tentacle creatures pouring forth from it.

Mouth agape, Retrograde looked at the driver and saw the empty smile creasing his face. Slowly, and with the maximum amount of unnecessary gore, oatmeal and porridge poured out of the driver’s eye sockets down his face, and he began to chant: “Reality is Mursday. Reality is Mursday.

Reality is Mursday. Reality is Mursday.”

“It’s happening,” Retrograde said. “Get out of the car. We have to run for it.”

Bridget looked at the massive tear in reality hanging over the highway, but

before she could get a proper glimpse a gigantic tongue, oozing red from its scabby, pink surface, appeared from over the roof and slapped against the window.

As you might imagine, Darren and George both screamed and clutched each other.

Although I do not have empirical evidence to back this up, I believe that Darren may have soiled himself at this point.

The car began to shake.

“Retrograde, what do we do?” Bridget yelled. “Save us.”

The tongue disappeared, and the car stopped moving for a second. Then a large foot, with small human fingers squirming up from cuts in the skin, smashed onto the front of the car. Then another. And then, with a violent leap, the creature landed on the pavement in front of the car and turned to look through the windshield at them.

A twisted, burnt, fungal creation from some other corrupt reality looked straight into Bridget’s eyes. It’s bulging, bubble stomach distended as the imprints of screaming faces pushed against it from within. Two massive tentacle arms squiggled from the creature’s chest, each with a gaping mouth on the end. It had the head of a dolphin, with its jaw broken open and hanging bloody down to its chest, a thick, yard-long tongue lolling out of its throat.

Retrograde turned slowly toward Bridget. He lowered his aviator glasses.

She saw that he had kind, brown eyes, and they were brimming with tears.

“I’m sorry,” he said, reaching one hand into the backseat. “There’s no way out.

Close your eyes.”

The three students in the backseat grabbed his hand, Darren and George whimpering and Bridget shaking, as they waited for the final moment.

“SUCK ON THIS, TENTACLE BOY,” Joanna screamed.

Bridget looked over and saw a woman standing on the roof of the car next to her wielding a large, silver bow and arrow.

Of course, Bridget did not realize that this was our Reporters Guild Archery Kit of Archer Freedom, which we use to vanquish creatures from other worlds when our editors demand it of us.

Joanna pulled back on the bow and unleashed a volley of specially-enhanced arrows straight into the bulging gut of the beast. It screamed and lunged toward her, but before it could move an inch she had already loaded up another volley and sent the arrows into the creature’s head.

It fell to the ground, but behind Joanna an entire horde of these otherworldly monsters rampaged through the traffic jam.

Joanna looked down at the passengers in the car.

“You must be the aberrations,” she said.

Retrograde opened the door and stepped out. They looked at each other silently for a moment, before Joanna turned back to the oft-mentioned and rapidly-approaching horde.

“Go,” she said.

George, Bridget, and Darren piled out of the back seat and sprinted after Retrograde. Pulling open the door of an abandoned, still-running truck, Retrograde waited for them all to pile in and then pulled up onto the curb and sped around the traffic, the bumper shrieking against the concrete barrier, sparks flying.

With reality as we know it falling apart at the seams, Retrograde assumed that the lines at the airport would suck, so he knew there was only one option left to finally get them to Canada: the harbor.

THE HEIGHTS

A6

EDITORIALS

QUOTE OF THE DAY

9fXi[ f] Kiljk\\j Dljk :fek`el\ kf @eZi\Xj\ ;`m\ij`kp Increasing institutional diversity should be one of Boston College’s most important goals for the coming years. According to Juan Concepcion, BC ’96, BC Law ’03, co-chair of the AHANA Alumni Advisory Council and a trustee associate for BC, in its current state, the University’s 10-year plan does not include a specific section for diversity. While it is possible that plans to foster greater diversity could be contained in other individual sections of the plan, it is imperative that this goal be one of the foremost considerations for the University in its planning initiatives moving forward.

An important step in achieving this goal is increasing the number of AHANA members on the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees is responsible for planning and managing the business interests of the University, and expanding the diversity of the Board will allow it to better work toward the diversification of the University and to reflect the growing AHANA student population at BC. This process will be gradual and should inevitably parallel the growth of the AHANA student population, but is essential to the development of the University nonetheless.

Darcel Clark, the Bronx County district attorney and BC ’83, recently noted the lack of diversity on the Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the AHANA Alumni Advisory Council, a group that advocates for the inclusion of a diverse range of perspectives on the Board. Currently, she and Steve Pemberton, chief diversity officer at Walgreens and BC ’89, who joined the Board this past fall, are the only two black voting trustees.

Concepcion said he believes that the Board should seek to increase diversity to better reflect the growing AHANA population nationally and at the University. AHANA students currently make up 30 percent of the student body.

Recent campus events reflect a call for increased diversity at BC from the student body. Akosua Achampong, MCAS ’18, was recently elected the first African-American female president of the Undergraduate Gov-

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

“She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

- Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

ernment of BC by a significant margin. Her platform is focused largely around promoting diversity and inclusion at the University.

The Muslim Students Association held a demonstration on O’Neill Plaza this month to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order that restricted immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.

University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. has weighed in on some of the issues concerning diversity at BC. He signed two statements supporting DACA, an Obama-era executive order that offers legal protections for immigrant students.

He sent a direct email to the BC community expressing disdain for Trump’s travel ban and communicated his support for those affected by the discriminatory act. University Spokesman Jack Dunn said in an email that the administration is committed to increasing and promoting diversity at BC and on the Board of Trustees.

It is crucial that increasing diversity be a primary consideration in the Board’s longer-term planning efforts. The principle of diversity deserves its own unique section within the developing 10-year plan, rather than being spread out among the other parts of the initiative. It is not enough for the growth of diversity to be an afterthought or a secondary consideration. It must be explicitly stated within the plan as one of the primary objectives of the institution.

There are multiple ways in which the Board can focus on achieving this goal. In its meetings, the Board should focus on increasing the diversity of faculty members and course offerings at the University. The Board should also look for new ways to interact with the University’s growing number of AHANA alumni to encourage increased involvement and to receive input from a diverse group of perspectives when establishing plans and goals for the institution. As the University’s identity continues to develop and diversify over time, it is imperative that its educational offerings, faculty, and approach to the future do as well.

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Clarifications / Corrections

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The views expressed in the above editorials represent the official position of The Heights, as discussed and written by the Editorial Board. A list of the mem-

bers of the Editorial Board can be found at bcheights. com/opinions.

HEIGHTS

THE

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College <jkXYc`j_\[ (0(0 D@:?8<C JLCC@M8E# <[`kfi$`e$:_`\] 8M@K8 8E8E;# >\e\iXc DXeX^\i K8PCFI JK% ><ID8@E# DXeX^`e^ <[`kfi

The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity, accuracy, and to prevent libel. The Heights also reserves the right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accompany pieces submitted to the newspaper.

Letters and columns can be submitted online at www. bcheights.com, by e-mail to editor@bcheights.com, in person, or by mail to Editor, The Heights, 113 McElroy Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

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THE HEIGHTS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

A7

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AFJ? 9<?I<EJ THE INVALUABLE - Boston College is a buzzing university. Thousands of students flow through its campus each day, moving between various dining, classroom, lecture, and residence halls. Between homework, club meetings, service trips, workouts at the plex, and finding time to sleep, students are undeniably busy, and often so wrapped up in their own lives that they fail to acknowledge the people around them that make their everyday experience possible. The dining and custodial staff at BC are some of the most hardworking and considerate people I have encountered during my travels and time spent in different institutions. They are dedicated to making sure the University can serve the needs of its many students, faculty, and visitors day in and day out, and often receive little credit for their integral contribution to campus. The next time you’re checking out to pay for your lunch, or throwing away your Tuscan Chicken container in Eagle’s Nest, remember to say thank you to the staff that work to make your college experience comfortable.

ONE MORE WEEK - Spring Break is creeping up on BC like a lion on the prowl, ready to pounce and feast upon the motivation, bank accounts, and morality of the student body. Whether they are embarking on service trips to various destinations across the country, or hopping on a plane to Punta Cana, students will soon be released from their academic mindsets, and a much needed break will be had.

If Bernie Sanders showed us anything in 2016, it’s that the next generation is no longer afraid of the word “socialism.” Bernie’s ascent from political obscurity to nearly winning the Democratic primary vote is astounding, especially when using the word “socialist” has been political suicide for generations. The mainstream narrative is that Sanders used his brash Brooklyn accent to charm millennials into nearly giving him the Democratic presidential nomination, but that he was ultimately unelectable because he called himself a socialist. But I’ll argue that Sanders’ popularity was not in spite of his socialist label, but because of his socialist label, and that democratic socialism is the only way we can successfully resist Trumpism.

Let’s leave our baggage surrounding the word “socialism” at the door and start with a clean slate. Socialism does not equal government control. Let me say this again. Socialism does not equal government control. Socialism does not entail a tyrannical federal government taking control of businesses, but rather its inverse. Socialism means deepening democracy.

Under American capitalism, we have political democracy. We vote for our mayors, congressmen, and senators to represent us and make laws that we feel are in our best interest.

Political democracy allows us to have a hand in creating the society we want to live in, and if our representatives aren’t doing a good job, we can vote them out.

Calling American capitalism “democratic” is only half-true, however. Despite having political democracy, we do not have economic democracy. Think about a horrible boss you’ve had. Were you able to speak up and change their behavior? In the vast majority of cases, no, of course not. You’re beholden to your boss, and at the end of the day, their word is law.

Many employees have little to no control over a company’s decisions, even if they do have fair bosses, because of the traditional “top-down” system. In essence, companies are little tyrannies where shareholders have all of

the control and the workers are at the mercy of their judgment. If shareholders want to liquidate a company to make a couple million dollars and throw thousands of people out of work, hire a corrupt CEO, or pollute the environment—the employees have no power to say no. Make no mistake about it—this is economic tyranny.

Democratic socialism’s solution to economic tyranny is deepening democracy by democratizing the workplace. This means extending the American democratic ideal of “one citizen, one vote” to the workplace and creating a “one worker, one vote” workplace democracy. Rejecting the state-run models of Soviet-style socialism, economic democracy is a fundamentally different system than the socialist experiments of the 20th century.

Under economic democracy, workers aren’t at the mercy of their bosses, because the workers are the ones electing their bosses in a ‘bottomup’ system. This way, every boss will have a mandate to run the company with everyone’s interests in mind, including the workers. If the bosses don’t do a good job, they get voted out.

The ownership switches from shareholders to workers, from tyranny to democracy.

Many democratic companies already exist.

Companies run democratically are called cooperatives, and you can find them all over America and the world. You don’t even need to look far. Boston’s very own Harpoon Brewery is employee owned.

One of the most successful cases of economic democracy is found in Spain. The 10th-largest corporation in Spain, the Mondragon Corporation, is democratically run as a cooperative and has nearly 75,000 employees working in sectors such as manufacturing, retail, and finance. If any sector of the Mondragon conglomerate goes under, the company re-trains its employees and hires them in a different sector that needs their labor. Each year, a portion of the profits is given to every employee, making everyone accountable for their actions and creating a culture of participation, because every worker benefits when the company does better.

Mondragon values both ethical business practices and efficiency, creating true sustainability that is extremely rare under the current system of economic tyranny. In fact, it has been shown that cooperatives last longer than top-down corporations and avoid creating market bubbles that lead to market failure like

we saw in the Great Recession.

At the heart of economic tyranny’s failure is the incentive structure. As any Econ student will tell you, economics is all about incentives.

Companies today are incentivized to create value for their owners, the shareholders, which is often a detriment to everyone else in the company. This creates the insane amount of economic inequality that plagues America today, because companies are incentivized to push for higher profits over higher wages.

With economic democracy, companies are still incentivized to create value for their owners, but since the workers are the owners, the company operates in the interests of everyone.

Economic democracy creates more ethical and stable companies, which in turn creates a more equal and stable society.

Economic democracy attacks poverty and inequality at the root, removing the need for the government to come in and redistribute the wealth, because wealth will be distributed fairly naturally. Government programs like welfare and food stamps aren’t needed because companies are incentivized to pay their owners (i.e. the employees) a living wage. The economy is run from the bottom-up, creating a more prosperous and more equal society without government intervention.

Economic democracy is democratic socialism, and it is the only way forward because everything else had failed. American capitalism has run its course. We tried laissez-faire capitalism in the 19th and early 20th century, and it caused the worst economic crash in world history. We tried Keynesian reforms in the 20th century that ended in stagflation, and our Keynesian reforms after the Great Recession have failed to bring about a recovery for the majority of Americans (95 percent of jobs added under Obama were temporary).

The average American wage is the same as it was in 1979 while expenses such as medical bills and college debt continue to push Americans to the brink of bankruptcy. Both Democrats and Republicans have been complicit in this rigged system, and this economic malaise is the very thing that fuels Trumpism and the alt-right. If we are to stop Trump, we need a new approach. It is time to deepen democracy.

It is time for socialism.

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8C<O 9ILEJK8; SCREW THE FIRST - King Cheeto is at it again. He’s taken a perspective on the media that is unprecedented in the history of the American presidency. He has consistently criticized and attempted to discredit some of the country’s most reputable institutions such as The New York Times, CNN, and NBC, in an attempt to convince the American public that the organizations they have trusted to report the news for years have suddenly become corrupt, conspiratorial, and “fake.” The toupée-dawning wannabe autocrat that currently runs our country has proven that he is too immature to handle critical and honest reporting. Or, perhaps he is just so naïve and easily persuaded that he actually believes the deceit that his henchmen, primarily Steve Bannon, chirp in his ear on a daily basis. His decision to not attend the White House Correspondents Dinner will only further burn the well-established bridges between his office and the media. The barring of multiple major news organizations from attending a White House press briefing is an egregious and pointless assault on one of the most important components of American democracy. Regardless of what the spray tan emperor wants, however, the Fourth Estate isn’t going anywhere, and the truth will inevitably prevail.

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Boston College’s campus is full of beautiful people who seem to constantly work out, eat well, study diligently, and post flawless photos on social media—so it can be easy to assume BC students generally practice healthy habits. In conversations in between classes, in the dining hall, or even in the library, I can’t help but notice the pervading topic of physical health and appearance. Within these conversations, however, there is a noticeable focus on calories, weight, and food. Plenty of Lululegged reminders of the BC fitness culture walk around campus everyday. Although these daily reminders to work out and eat well can be motivational for some, it is also important to realize how they can represent a larger, campus-wide issue.

Upon speaking with BC’s new nutritionist and my Health Coach supervisor, Kate Sweeney, I realized my perception of this “fitness fad” isn’t an over-exaggeration. Already, many students have come to her, feeling pressure to exercise excessively and sometimes restrict their food or make changes to their eating patterns. As Sweeney shared, signs of over-exercise include exercising through injury or sickness, feeling anxiety if not able to exercise, using exercise to compensate for food or alcohol intake, and experiencing medical complications like fatigue.

Over-exercise can happen at any frequency and duration of exercise. A healthy exercise regimen includes fueling appropriately and regularly, which means consuming enough carbohydrates to fuel the brain and muscles. Healthy exercise habits also include allowing for recovery days, stopping when injured or sick, and most importantly, truly enjoying the activity.

While some varsity athletes train for two hours or more per day, the recommended amount of exercise for the average adult

is five hours per week. There is significant pressure to exercise and participate in the BC “health mentality,” even if it doesn’t exactly promote a healthy mindset.

I was definitely affected by this pressure my freshman year. Eager to fit in and look a certain way, I began frequenting the Plex more and more often. Initially, I went for one hour, five days per week. Then six days, then seven. After the football season ended, so too did my dance practices on Tuesday and Thursday nights. To compensate, my treks down from Upper Campus to the Plex became more frequent. I was working out twice a day, everyday, sometimes for over an hour each session. Before I realized it, my conception of “healthy” had exploded, manifesting itself into an obsession.

Yet it seemed perfectly normal to spend hours at the Plex. After all, I often saw the same girls next to me on the elliptical, treadmills, or stair climbers, sweating just as profusely as I was. While using the cardio machines, sometimes I’d watch homework-related tutorials on my iPad, or even listen to lectures in order to make up for lost studying time.

Once, however, I overheard two beautiful girls talking about needing to get rid of their nonexistent “tummies” before Spring Break. The brunette gingerly touched her flat stomach, pinching some skin. The slightly taller one flexed her arm, remarking something about “arm flab.” I was baffled. Yet I knew I said similar, if not worse, self-deprecatory remarks to myself on a daily basis. Standing there, I realized I would never point out a loved one’s flaws, nor would I fabricate critiques that simply weren’t true. And besides, even if a woman did have a bit of a “tummy” or some “arm flab,” she’s still fabulous and should love herself regardless.

Although I have drastically changed my own exercise habits since then, I think the BC “Health Craze” is still an important topic to address. Furthermore, I am not suggesting this is primarily a women’s issue. As most (but not all) women seem to wish to “slim down,” men at BC, too, are under pressure to become “bulky.” Apparently, if you’re not guzzling protein powder

like it’s water and lifting twice as much as the guy behind you, you’re less of a “man.”

In reality, however, women and men could really care less about how much a man bench presses.

On college campuses, the rate of eating disorders is high, and this problem is rarely addressed. In fact, 20 percent of college students said they have or previously have had an eating disorder, and 91 percent of female college students have attempted to control their weight through dieting. This rate could potentially be even higher, due to the under-documentation of disordered eating and habits.

But the issue of disordered exercising seems to be even more difficult to tackle.

How do we correctly discern the fine line between unhealthy and healthy exercise habits when the standard at our University tinkers on the edge of disordered? It is important to actively address the situation, rather than avoid it, and to at least attempt to reduce the pressure of the BC norm. For me, it was initially difficult to change my exercise habits into healthier ones because exercising is generally perceived as a positive, respectable activity. It shows motivation, determination. Upon returning from a long gym session, my friends would rarely say anything negative. When I complained about not working out yet that day, a friend would respond, “Wait up, I’ll go to the Plex with you.”

I am not suggesting we tell our friends to stop working out entirely. But we should—both individually and collectively—look inward to evaluate our true motivations for exercising. If a friend seems even more stressed or disheartened after a workout, or even criticizes herself, perhaps we can try and turn the conversation around. Similarly, we should treat ourselves with the same respect we show for our dearest friends. With a greater awareness of the BC fitness culture, hopefully we can encourage a healthier, campus-wide perspective on exercise.

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:8IFCPE =I<<D8E The city of Newton passed an ordinance Tuesday night that made it a sanctuary city, affirming its commitment to immigrants, both authorized and unauthorized. When the ordinance passed, the crowd, made up of more than 150 people, including some wrapped in Pride flags and holding “We Are All Immigrants” signs, stood up and clapped.

After the ordinance passed, Newton mayor Setti Warren delivered his State of the City address, saying that the ordinance has “the right outcome for everyone in the city.”

Warren is a likely challenger to Governor Charlie Baker in the 2018 gubernatorial election of Massachusetts. His speech reflected an ideal of a hopeful future, a message that, perhaps, Warren hopes will propel him into the governor’s mansion.

A few miles down Comm. Ave., the leadership of Boston College has also offered some measure of support to students affected by the immigration ban. University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., in a rare gesture, emailed the student body to express his support to immigrant students. Prior to this, he signed two separate documents that stated BC is committed to upholding DACA and managing the challenges immigrant students face, though he hasn’t signed a third, more specific document from the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. Then, recently, a small newspaper in Treasure Coast, Fla., published an in-depth interview with Leahy where he expressed frustration with Trump and disagreement with his policies. Leahy has spoken more publicly since Trump’s first day in the White House than he has in the past three years.

In the recent past, Leahy has dispatched deputies and vice presidents to do the work often done by presidents of other universities, like meeting with student groups and corresponding with the campus community. Students tend to believe, and his actions reflect, that he’s a president with a primarily financial focus. Leahy’s strategy has worked—in his 20 years in office, the University has crept up the U.S. News and World Report ranking from 37 to 30.

In 1996, at the beginning of his tenure, Leahy took a more aggressive and involved approach to student problems and activism.

A Heights file photo from 1997 shows him gesturing at a town meeting. Students sit at his feet, listening. He’s commending the student body for showing “admirable civility” in the face of an event that strained race relations at the University. That’s not the Leahy many current students would recognize.

In columns in The Heights, impassioned speeches from club leaders, and a rally last semester, students have implored Leahy to speak, to little avail. This is why his recent spate of correspondence has been so strange.

Is Trump’s presidency pushing Leahy out of his zone of silence? Or, more likely, perhaps he is paying lip service to the extraordinary circumstances, spurred on by a fellow Jesuit who is unafraid to speak his mind.

In the TCPalm interview, he expressed his concern about Trump, his belief that everyone needs to find common ground, and his optimism that America will survive, just as it survived other predicted disasters like the Andrew Jackson administration— though not everyone survived the Jackson administration, which led to the widespread removal of Native American tribes from their rightful land in the Trail of Tears.

Ultimately, Leahy’s viewpoint, as expressed in the interview, is that “there is the possibility of renewal, reform.” He’s talking about Trump, still, but that line reflects what wishful-thinking students may have said about his own presidency. Everyone can change, even college presidents with a spectral presence and an indirect approach to addressing student interests.

In Newton, the city that houses the majority of Leahy’s Gothic campus, all immigrants have protected status. Warren’s desire to make Newton a sanctuary city is honorable. But perhaps some small part of his motivation lies in his need to appeal to both the stalwartly liberal Massachusetts voting base and the commonwealth’s large immigrant population. And perhaps Leahy has honorable intentions too. But it’s been 20 years since he began as president of the University. It’s possible that, perhaps, he is thinking about his time in office and the praise and criticism it has received.

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THE HEIGHTS

A8

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

N_Xk 9\Zfd\j f] k_\ Kfg f] k_\ :cXjj BXi\e 8iefc[ jkl[`\j mXc\[`Zkfi`Xej Xe[ k_\`i c`m\j gfjk$^iX[% 9P :FC< ;8;P =fi K_\ ?\`^_kj Being valedictorian is one of the highest honors one can achieve in high school. But what does it mean after graduation passes?

An entire field of study revolves around this question, and one of the foremost authorities on it is Karen Arnold, an associate professor of higher education at Boston College. Because of her insatiable desire to find this answer, Arnold has uncovered how prejudice seeps into the academic realm and developed effective methods to advance social equality.

While attending graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Arnold came in contact with Terry Denny, a professor of educational psychology, who was conducting a study on high school valedictorians. Denny focused on figuring out what made students good at school, and why some could rise above the others to become valedictorians.

Though he had already attended numerous high school graduations to profile each school’s valedictorian, he could not conduct all this research on his own.

Arnold found herself in the right place at the right time and offered to join the study as an apprentice. Little could she have imagined that it was to carry on for 14 years and become

groundbreaking work in the field.

Detailed in her book Lives of Promise: What Becomes of High School Valedictorians, the study follows the lives of 81 valedictorians for 14 years after graduation. She first found that they are not one-sided individuals that solely focus on academics, but are multifaceted and well-rounded. These qualities help them thrive beyond school.

“They get school,” Arnold said. “While they’re not entrepreneurs or mold-breakers, valedictorians continue on to succeed in mainstream institutions.”

In contrast, she also discovered that the gender gap affected valedictorians as they progressed into their careers. For men and women who performed equally well in college, women left college with lowered intellectual self-esteem and achieved a lower level of success in the workplace than men.

On the whole, the study was an immense success that opened doors to new research opportunities, such as one from the organization Big Picture Learning. Its mission is to engage socioeconomically disadvantaged students in an innovative approach to schooling that connects to their interests and passions. Arnold worked to uncover whether this style of education predicted success, and her findings were rather grim.

“Race and class stopped these students from achieving future success,” Arnold said.

“It was a scandal.”

Furthermore, Arnold discovered another phenomenon influencing the organization’s

students: “summer melt.” Students’ motivation to attend college faded between the time they accepted their offers of admission to when school began in the fall, so much so that they never turned up. Often, financial aid failed or an obligation to help the family came up that prevented students from showing up in September.

Her findings led to interventions to keep Big Picture Learning students on track to attend college. While admissions programs previously stopped working with students the moment they committed to a college, they now continued work over the summer to assure attendance in the fall, giving these students the opportunity to make something of themselves through a college education.

When she was offered the chance to lead research initiatives behind two massive institutional interventions, she discovered more about the complex process behind getting these students to attend college. One, funded by the Department of Education, put 30,000 seniors in a treatment group that received year-long college advising through text-message interaction and 30,000 seniors in a control group that did not receive help.

The goal of the study was to see if the advising group enrolled in college more than the control group. Conducting data mining of the treatment group’s text-message interactions and gathering the rate of students attending college, she found that those who received some form of intervention had more success— something as simple as a text message could get

more students to go to college.

The other study was on CollegePoint, an organization funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies that worked to enroll high-achieving, low- and moderate-income students into high-ranking private universities. CollegePoint provided students virtual advising through text-message, Skype, and many other forms of online communication.

Arnold’s goal was to follow a group of the class of 2016 advisees through the experience of their first semester at college. The students of the group made an audio recording twice a week and a video on Instagram once a week capturing their college experience.

“The study gave us an illustrated diary of their first semester,” Arnold said.

They had the freedom to talk about anything, be it their grade on a midterm, problems with roommates, or struggling to meet financial obligations. As the project progressed, the students opened up and revealed more personal information about what their college experience was like.

Arnold will conduct a follow-up study

on an initiative that gave students of color interaction with NASA scientists at Goddard Space Flight Center. Arnold will be tasked with figuring out why these students were more likely to have graduate degrees and work in STEM fields in the future.

Looking back, she emphasizes that her path has been unpredictable yet motivated by passion. Due to her persistent desire to learn about the valedictorian post-graduation, her research has generated significant strides toward equal opportunity through education.

“I believe success lies in three areas: your education, your career, and your life satisfaction,” she said.

Through her research in the first area, Arnold is one step closer to helping highachieving students of many backgrounds pursue success beyond the confines of school.

And, even if they can’t be their school’s valedictorian, her work will help them enjoy all of the same benefits.

C\^XZp >iXekj Gifm`[\ Fggfikle`k`\j ]fi Jkl[\ekj kf J\im\ Fk_\ij J`eZ\ )'(*# k_\ ^iXek gif^iXd _Xj ]le[\[ +' jkl[\ek `e`k`Xk`m\j% 9P 8I:?<I G8IHL<KK< =\Xkli\j <[`kfi Bulky black cases bump against the floor of the Green Line train as students board.

Moving through the crowd of passengers, some students drag their heavy cases while others haul smaller ones. They might get annoyed looks as they take up space, but that’s not important. The truly important thing is where they’re going—Franciscan Children’s Hospital. Each of these students is a musician, taking his or her instrument of choice across town to serve others. As part of the Music Guild Volunteers, these students visit teenage psychiatric patients and help them learn to play their favorite songs. The music helps these kids through difficult times and lets BC students use their talents to bring happiness to others.

Without the Boston College Legacy Grant, this service—and many others— would never have been possible.

“It was one of the first projects we funded,” said Colleen Claflin, who formerly directed the Legacy Grant program.

After applying for a grant in the 2013-14 school year, John Guzzi, BC ’15, and Tabitha Joseph, CSOM ’17, successfully launched the Music Guild Volunteers using the

$2,500 they were given. In the years since, it has expanded as an organization on campus and continues to support service initiatives in the community.

The Music Guild Volunteers is only one of 40 projects that the Legacy Grant program has funded since its inception in 2013. As a partnership with the senior class gift, the Legacy Grant program offers students funds to pursue projects within wide-ranging fields. These projects include arts, the environment, technology, and more. The overarching theme that connects these projects is a commitment to service and Jesuit values.

One of those projects, pitched by Ryan Dontas, Ryan Lee, and Nate Schwan, all BC ’16, was TradeRoutes. The program was based on the popular educational computer simulation Oregon Trail, which allows players to experience the journey of settlers coming from the Eastern United States to the West.

Expanding on that idea, TradeRoutes created virtual simulations for multiple historical journeys, such as the Silk Road and the Freedom Trail. These simulations were combined with comprehensive lesson plans, homework assignments, tablet components, and a mobile application that used Google Cardboard to create a virtual reality experience.

“When they actually came in to interview we got to test out the equipment, and it was pretty lifelike,” Claflin said. “It was

hands down one of the most unbelievable interviews we ever had because … till that point, we hadn’t had a project come in that was so far along.”

Each year, when the senior class gift reaches a certain milestone, more funds are unlocked for Legacy Grants that assist projects such as this. University Trustee Drake Behrakis, BC ‘86, challenges each graduating class to achieve a level of participation, and pledges Legacy Grant funds for when that goal is reached. This year, the class of 2017 has an 85 percent participation goal and has managed to pass three milestones and unlock $15,000 of the $25,000 total available grant funding. This process began with the class of 2013, which raised funds for the next year’s projects. Since that beginning, every class has achieved its participation goal and unlocked the full amount of funding.

During its first year, the Legacy Grant program had to overcome the difficulties of spreading the word and informing students of the opportunities available to them. But as students like Guzzi and Joseph, who received their Music Guild Volunteers funding during the program’s first year, were successful with their project, more people became knowledgeable about the opportunity.

“Our visibility has increased each year,” said Michelle Murphy, the director of Annual Giving and Volunteer Engagement.

As the program has grown, so has the

KYLE BOWMAN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Meghan Dunn (right) runs the program, while Amy Dattilo serves as an associate director. money available to students. This year the program experienced a major change, as the grant available doubled from $2,500 to $5,000 dollars. Meghan Dunn, who currently directs the Legacy Grant program, mentioned how this increased funding will allow for more complex and multifaceted student projects.

Online grant applications are reviewed by a board of University students and administrators that searches for the strongest, most sustainable projects to fund. Students whose projects have been reviewed by the board undergo an interview process and must demonstrate the impact their programs will have on the community. After this process occurs each semester, the successful students receive their funding and go on to build and develop their projects.

“We’re looking for projects that are very well thought out, that have clear implementation plans and that also have a sustainable component to it,” Dunn said. “So what will happen once the funding runs out, how will these programs continue on and leave a legacy?”

Programs like the Music Guild Volunteers continue to make an impact and provide an example of the success that Legacy Grants can bring. Now, with the funding available doubled, projects of even greater scope are possible this year. As “men and women for others,” BC students are called to serve their community, and as Amy Dattilo, the associate director of Strategic Marketing and Writing, said, Legacy Grants are “a great way to have students actually go out there and live that.”

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9P J?8EEFE B<CCP

The thought of you brings butterflies to my stomach. Your touch against my lips feels like an addict’s first hit, every time—a euphoric burst of energy as a boundless smile crosses my face. You are warm and feel like home, the scent of you comforting me wherever I am.

McDonald’s French fries, I love you.

There is nothing in this world that is as satisfying to me as a McDonald’s French fry: thin, yet substantial, soft and salty.

I’ve never timed it, but I bet I could eat a large box in under five minutes. The burgers don’t disappoint, either—the minced onions and sour pickles, all slathered with ketchup and cheese that still retains its square, Kraft singles shape that indicates this might not ever have been warm enough to melt. I’ve been to Italy, Ireland, and the east coast of Australia, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t get McDonald’s there.

The only fame I want to reach is whatever level will allow me to become Krispy Kreme’s exclusive sponsor, for which I receive a lifetime supply of its glazed chocolate cake doughnuts. Needless to say, I’m an expert at all things carbs.

It should be noted that I, like probably everyone else on this planet (or at least everyone else at this school) have a few complaints about my body. From the buck teeth that two interminable years of braces corrected to the meticulous application of SPF 15 moisturizer onto my freckled face every day, there are things that I just plain don’t like.

My thighs sport thick white lines from finally growing to my adult height of 5-foot-1, in-laid marks that look like a caveman drew simplistic rivers on me that I woke up to one day. I have tried to feel more confident through the ancient art of “eating right” and “exercise,” but let’s be real, McDonald’s is a drug I can’t quit.

Mac and cheese is delicious, and if there’s a doughnut nearby, I’m eating it.

This weekend, my sister signed us up for a class at SoulCycle, something I had never done but had heard a lot about from devotees ranging from friends to my mother. I heard about a girl I knew who lost 30 pounds just from attending classes.

So I came into this with a lot of expectations, mostly that everyone there would be so chipper it would make everything uncomfortable, and everyone would look at me with concern as I dry heaved.

The closest SoulCycle to campus is part of the Shops at Chestnut Hill, across the road from Shake Shack, which I have once a week and basically drink the cheese sauce I get with my fries. It is sleek and white inside, with those pleasant women I

was worried about manning the front desk.

They handed me a pair of what looked like futuristic clogs over the counter, after I signed a form. There’s a sign on the desk that says your seat will be given up if you’re five minutes late, so you know this place is the real deal and there are countless riders at the ready, waiting for someone to get in traffic. The clogs were specially made for the bike so that you are locked in, which conjured up thoughts of myself passing out from the strain of exercise, only to hang upside down while my feet were stuck on the pedals.

SoulCycle is probably one of the nicest places I’ve ever been, at least for a place that considers itself a gym. It smells like a hotel pool, which is arguably a top-10 smell for everyone on this earth because it’s partially a clean smell and partially a smell that is addictive, like huffing paint.

Once we stored our things in a locker, it took 10 minutes for me to get on the bike, with an instructor measuring the seat to my hips and formatting the handlebars so I could reach. As I looked around the dark room, I realized that I could hardly make out the faces of the people around me. I whispered a “Thank God” and locked my clogs into place as a woman climbed onto her platform and sat on her bike. She was like Oprah, but probably 100 pounds and 25 years old.

“Let’s go, Saturday!” she yelled. “We’re gonna get strong today!” Okay, settle down, lady, I thought, it’s 1 p.m. After a minute of

pedaling to beat-heavy music, she screams for us to get up, get our butts two inches off the seat. Just when I thought this was going to be manageable, the real stuff actually started.

To say that I thought I was going to die is an understatement. My mouth was being coated with a taste of iron, and my lungs felt like they were on fire. The instructor was glistening with sweat, but was talking to us while she pedaled like a madwoman.

“Only do what you think is right!” the instructor screamed. “Any choice makes you strong!” I watched as a woman in the front row, which is reserved for experienced riders who follow all of the choreography without issue, pedaled furiously.

She differed from the ballet of toned arms and stylish string sports bras of the front row, each with a perfectly-arched ponytail.

She wasn’t skinny—her thighs touched like mine, her arms thick like my own.

“Yes!” our leader shouted, yelling the woman’s name. “You are killing it!”

In the dark of the room with the loud music and no phone to distract me and no air to waste on talking, I thought about how this was different from what a healthy life meant to me. It meant watery celery sticks and salads that seemed to never end, yet never made you full. It meant drinking gallons of water to feel satisfied in the place of a Chipotle burrito, hundreds of crunches that made your neck sore because you didn’t really know how to do them, but the woman on FitTV was telling you to.

Maybe I can have both things, I thought. Maybe McDonald’s and SoulCycle can live together amicably, like parents who divorced because they were so different, but look at each other like they respect the others’ decisions. This instructor wasn’t telling me that I was going to be beach-body ready, or that my butt was going to shrink two sizes that day—those things didn’t matter. Feeling strong and pushing yourself, but not hurting yourself, were the goals of the class.

The longer the class went on, the more powerful I felt. Yes, I will move the resistance up. I can handle that. I tired in the last five minutes and felt like I couldn’t finish, but the trainer encouraged the class at the beat drop of Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill.” I pedaled as fast as I could, my legs extended as far as I could go. I felt strong. I felt like I could do this every week, as long as I could also have my doughnuts, my burritos, and of course, my French fries.

I was satisfied as I walked out of the clean white building, feeling like the picture of health as I slid into the Uber with my sister.

It took us to Johnny’s Luncheonette in Newton Centre. We had cinnamon-sugar doughnuts and French toast. And that was awesome, too.

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SPORTS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

B1 @HEIGHTSSPORTS

MEN’S BASKETBALL

8^X`ejk ?fb`\j# <X^c\j ;ifg ()k_ >Xd\ `e X Ifn fe J\e`fi ;Xp 9P :?I@J EFP<J ?\`^_kj JkX]] After finishing the first half of Senior Day’s game on their feet, Boston College fans remained standing during halftime, as the 91 Virginia Tech school honored Boston College 75 John Bagley and Dana Barros. The two BC legends emerged from the tunnel, en route to seeing their jersey retirements, with highlights from the glory days flashing

on the big screen overhead. Footage of the 1980s Big East—one of the most competitive eras for a conference in college basketball history—momentarily whisked fans to another time, freeing them from the current struggles of the program. Barros’ video particularly wowed those in attendance. The sweet-shooting guard—who shot 43.2 percent from beyond the arc and made more than three triples per game as an Eagle— effortlessly drained shots from all over the court in the clips.

Keeping this in mind, you couldn’t blame the fans for assuming the second half was just a continuation of Barros’ highlights, as the ball repeatedly dropped through the net on one side of the court, with shots coming from every possible angle. Unfortunately, the team in maroon and gold was on the receiving end of those baskets, looking every bit as helpless as the defenders in the halftime montage.

Behind a second half explosion, in which they shot a whopping 75 percent

from the field, Virginia Tech spoiled BC’s Senior Day, sending the reeling Eagles to their 12th-straight defeat on Saturday afternoon, 91-75. The loss was the fifth time in conference play that BC (9-20, 2-14 Atlantic Coast) has allowed an opponent to score at least 90 points. A day that started with so much optimism—BC honored senior Garland Owens and graduate transfers Mo Jeffers and Connar Tava before the game, with all three players entering the starting lineup—ended with a late

collapse that was all too familiar to head coach Jim Christian.

“We’re not understanding yet the price you have to pay to win in this league,” he said after the game. “So the price is not a 30 minute effort. The price is 40 minutes, every possession.”

Similar to their last two home games—losses to Pittsburgh and Notre Dame—the Eagles started off with good effort and execution. Despite trailing

See MBB vs. VT, B3

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MEN’S HOCKEY

I@C<P FM<I<E;

closest the Warriors came all period to scoring a goal was when Burt couldn’t catch the puck after making a block. As she reached forward to try to secure the puck in her glove, she left a large gap between herself and the goal. Despite the opportunity to secure a point, the Eagles were there to help cover Burt.

Ten minutes into the second period, Newkirk suddenly keeled over on the ice, unable to get up. During a fight for the puck a Merrimack defender came up behind Newkirk and grabbed her jersey, flinging her to the ground. Instead of sending a player to the box, the referees

One of the biggest complaints about Director of Athletics Brad Bates—who announced last week that he’s stepping down from the position in June—was that he ran Boston College’s athletic department like a mid-major program.

Critics claim that Bates, previously the AD for Miami (OH) University, had trouble adapting to life in a Power Five conference, and that this lack of Power Five experience permeated throughout the department.

Unfortunately, none of the 65 ADs at Power Five schools are expected to pursue the vacancy at BC. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other qualified candidates who could help turn around the program. Without further ado, here’s an assessment of Bates’ possible successors.

Frontrunners Ed McLaughlin, Director of Athletics, Virginia Commonwealth University McLaughlin is a BC graduate with a striking resume and an equally impressive Twitter game. At VCU, McLaughlin helped balance the department’s budget, as both overall revenue and fundraising for the Ram Athletic Fund has doubled since his arrival. Thanks to the success of the men’s basketball team, ticket sales skyrocketed during a school-record 83 game sellout streak. McLaughlin also brought in a guaranteed $22 million through a 10-year deal with Learfield Sports that outsourced multimedia rights for the first time in department history.

After head coach Shaka Smart left for Texas in 2015, McLaughlin was tasked with finding a replacement for one of the best young minds in all of college basketball. He hired Will Wade, a former assistant under Smart, and the transition has been nothing but smooth. Wade has led the Rams to a 48-16 record, including their first Atlantic-10 title in 2015-16. At only 34 years old, Wade is also rumored to be in consideration for the head coaching position at NC State next season.

Before VCU, McLaughlin served as Niagara’s athletic director from 2006-12.

Under McLaughlin, the Purple Eagles won more conference championships in six years than in the previous 75 years combined, setting numerous attendance records along the way.

His lack of Power Five experience does raise eyebrows, but he does have an understanding of the NCAA’s innerworkings. McLaughlin is currently the Chair of the Atlantic 10 Council of Athletic Directors, and has served on several national college hockey committees throughout the years, including working closely with Merrimack and Hockey East.

Considering the next AD will likely pick head coach Jerry York’s replacement, a thorough knowledge of New England college hockey is a big plus.

Boo Corrigan, Director of Athletics, Army Corrigan was considered for BC’s AD job after Gene DeFilippo retired in 2012, and he’ll likely be a finalist again this year. In six years at Army, Corrigan has surpassed fundraising goals and upgraded several facilities, checking

See WHOK vs. MC, B4

See AD Analysis, B2

Downward Spiral 8]k\i c\X[`e^ ?fZb\p <Xjk n`i\$kf$n`i\# 9: ]X`c\[ kf n`e `e `kj j\m\ek_$jkiX`^_k ^Xd\ fe k_\ j\XjfeËj Ô eXc [Xp kf Ô e`j_ Xj k_\ Ef% * j\\[ \ek\i`e^ k_\ kflieXd\ek% 9P D@:?8<C JLCC@M8E <[`kfi$`e$:_`\] LOWELL , Mass. — Joseph Woll had given Boston College men’s hockey one last gasp of life.

Boston College 1 Luke UMass Lowell 3 McInnis had just failed to get back in position. His desperation hook on John Edwardh gave the Massachusetts Lowell forward a penaltyshot attempt.

But the junior shot it right at Woll’s stomach, an easy save for the Eagles’ freshman goaltender.

And after Colin White cut the River Hawks lead in half to start the third period, J.D. Dudek blasted down the ice. He knocked one off the crossbar, showing off the fire the Eagles needed to make a two-goal comeback.

Yet Dudek couldn’t help himself. His frustration with not getting that puck just an inch low-

er—and, perhaps, the team’s performance in February—couldn’t be held back. Dudek got into a scrum with Lowell goaltender Tyler Wall and several defensemen, giving him a seat in the box.

Though the Eagles survived the penalty kill, they lost all of the momentum. And when Jake Kamrass wrapped the puck around Woll in net, sliding it past the goaltender’s right pad, BC’s season was just about lost, too.

A collapse three weeks in the making was, at last, complete.

In its final regular-season game of the year, No. 14 BC blew its chance at the top overall seed in the Hockey East Tournament, a distinction it had been in place for wire-to-wire from the beginning of the year. After a 3-1 loss to No. 5 Lowell at the Tsongas Center, the Eagles will now enter the playoffs on a seven-game winless streak.

See MHOK Friday, B3

9P D@:?8<C JLCC@M8E <[`kfi$`e$:_`\] Boston College men’s hockey has reached the point where it’s more exciting when it doesn’t have a man adUMass Lowell 4 vantage.

Boston College 1 Unlike most teams that get power plays, the No. 14 Eagles become anemic, not electric. After an 0-for-4 Thursday night on the power play, BC’s special teams dropped to 46th in the nation. That’s a mere 14.7 percent conversion rate (22-of149) and almost half as effective a rate as its opponents, No. 5 Massachusetts Lowell.

It’s not that the Eagles aren’t taking shots—against Tyler Wall, they had 29. But the shots are either unable to create rebound attempts or, when they do, BC has no skater ready to take advantage. As he begins to reflect on this season, it’s something head coach Jerry

York knows he must fix heading into the playoffs.

“It’s been disappointing for us on the power play this year,” York said. “We’ve got to get more shots on the power play.”

Yet even the best power play in the nation couldn’t help the Eagles right now, not with this cold streak.

Without any ability to match Lowell’s third period three-goal breakout, BC fell 4-1 in its final regular-season home game of the season. The Eagles’ (18-13-4, 13-5-3 Hockey East) once-strong buffer in the PairWise Rankings has vanished, and now they may need to win the conference to make the NCAA Tournament.

BC’s winless streak now stands at six games (0-4-2), its longest since Nov. 2008. And York attributes that cold stretch to his team’s inability to score.

See MHOK Thursday, B3 LIZZY BARRETT / HEIGHTS EDITOR

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

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Only 24 hours after shutting out Merrimack College in the first game of the Hockey East tournament, Boston Colle ge women’s 0 Merrimack hockey suited Boston College 1 up for another game against the Warriors in Kelley Rink. BC advanced the tournament by topping Merrimack in a 1-0 win.

After last night’s shutout, the Warriors (11-22-3, 7-18-0 Hockey East) changed up their starting goaltender, replacing Léa-Kristine Demers with Samantha Ridgewell. BC (25-5-5, 17-

INSIDE

SPORTS

4-3) came out aggressive again, but the Warriors kept a tighter defense and gained possession of most rebounds off Ridgewell’s pads. BC had its first chance at a goal when Andie Anastos skated the puck down the length of the ice and made a pass to Makenna Newkirk. She took a powerful shot on the sophomore goaltender but Ridgewell wasn’t keen on letting one in so early. Caitrin Lonergan gained possession of the rebound but still couldn’t find a way to push the puck past the goal line.

The Eagles found their second chance in Megan Keller, who received a pass from Anastos. After evading the sticks of multiple defenders, Keller

took a risky shot from outside of the circle and the puck narrowly passed under Ridgewell’s arm before settling in the back of the net. The remainder of the period was tame, with neither team taking a single penalty. While the Eagles headed into the locker room comfortably ahead of the eighth-seeded Warriors, Merrimack headed off the ice with the same bitter taste of falling behind early into the game.

When the players returned to the ice, Merrimack tried everything in its power to tie up the game. But every time the puck made its way across the blue line with a Merrimack player in tow, there was always a BC stick to block it. The

LACROSSE: BC Wins in Overtime

BASEBALL: Birdball’s Pitching Returns

The Eagles capped off a crazy comeback against Harvard with a game-winner in OT................................................. B2

The Eagles notched two wins on the weekend behind strong outings from Jacob Stevens and Matt Gill.............................B4

TU/TD......................................................... B2 SPORTS IN SHORT................................... B2 SOFTBALL.................................................. B4

THE HEIGHTS

B2

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

THUMBS UP

BAGLEY AND BARROS - It’s always nice to stop and honor the important basketball players in BC’s past—especially in the middle of another depressing season. To that end, the jersey retirement ceremony for John Bagley and Dana Barros during halftime of the Virginia Tech game was a touching ceremony.

Now we get to look forward to Ky Bowman’s inevitable jersey retirement in 20 years.

8]k\i Jcfn JkXik# 9: <e[j I\^lcXi J\Xjfe N`k_ Cfjj 9P JFG?@< 98E:?F== =fi K_\ ?\`^_kj On Senior Day in Chestnut Hill, Boston College women’s basketball took on Virginia Tech. Both teams came into 82 Virginia Tech Boston College 79 the game badly needing a win. After VT had a promising start to its season, it dropped its last 11 games. BC faced a similar situation, having gone 1-13 in its last 14 games. Both teams left everything they had on the court, but the Hokies sealed the win , 82-79, thanks to their

DUNKING SZN - Picture yourself at age 15. Could you dunk the basketball in the middle of a game? No? Ok, us too. But one Colorado 15 year old, Francesca Belibi, just made news for her third dunk of the season. Yes, a sophomore has dunked three times. Even more remarkable?

She’s only been playing basketball for a year and a half.

THUMBS DOWN

BAD DAD - We get it—it’s natural to be proud of your kid. But LaVar Ball, father of UCLA sensation Lonzo Ball, has a habit of finding himself in front of a microphone and talking too much. A few days ago he said Lonzo would only play for the Lakers. Be quiet, Mr. Ball. Please.

PIERCING INSULTS - This week’s NBA controversy came courtesy of Paul Pierce and Draymond Green.

Pierce says he informed Green that his success is down to Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson.

Green taunted Pierce, in his final season, by unfavorably comparing his farewell tour to Kobe Bryant’s.

Like Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?

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second half, BC continued to show hustle and determination. The Eagles grabbed offensive rebounds, but did not capitalize on them. BC’s shots kept falling short of the basket, while VT continued its streak of treys, allowing it to extend its lead back up to eight at the end of the third quarter.

In the final quarter of the game, it seemed as if the Eagles would let the game slip away. At the start of the fourth quarter, they forced up shots and turned the ball over, which caused them to fall behind by 16 points with 3:30 remaining.

BC continued to fight and showed

that they were not going to give up.

Hughes demonstrated her senior leadership in the last few minutes by scoring three 3-pointers, cutting the the Hokies’ lead to one point in the final few seconds of the game. VT’s Samantha Hill was fouled and made two clutch free throws which secured the Hokies’ 82-79 win.

Head coach Erik Johnson lamented on the team’s inability to get going early offensively. “We waited way too long for us to really get it going,” he said after the game. “For us to make shots, to grab balls, and Virginia Tech did that for most of the game.”

?XikËj Fm\ik`d\ >fXc C`]kj <X^c\j Fm\i ?XimXi[ =fi K_\ ?\`^_kj Boston College lacrosse trailed Harvard by three goals with just five minutes left in the game. As the pouring rain 12 Harvard intensiBoston College 13 fied, the game seemed to be slipping out of reach. Then the Eagles showed their resilience.

Dempsey Arsenault sparked the BC offense with her third goal of the season, cutting Harvard’s lead to 12-10 with under four minutes to play. With under a minute and a half to play, Kaileen Hart scored her 12th goal of the year, to cut the Crimson’s lead to just one.

With under 30 seconds to play, Kate Weeks rose to the moment and tied the game with her 24th goal of the season. After coming back with so little time left in the second half, the momentum was now completely with the Eagles. Going into overtime, the

fans and players alike sensed that the afternoon would belong to BC. Finally, Kaileen Hart sniped an unassisted goal in overtime, bringing the crowd to its feet and sealing a dramatic 13-12 overtime win in a rollercoaster game for the Eagles (5-2).

It was a tough back-and-forth test for BC in this early-season matchup against its nearby rival. The game looked as if it would be a blowout early on, as the Crimson (1-1) took a commanding 4-0 lead early in the first half. In the 13th minute, Weeks got the Eagles going with her first goal of the afternoon, while Sam Apuzzo got the assist.

Two subsequent goals by Harvard’s Marina Burke deflated any chance the Eagles had at building momentum, as the Crimson extended its lead to 6-1. Fighting until the final whistle, BC mustered two late first-half goals from Hart and Kayla O’Connor, shifting the game’s momentum, and cutting Harvard’s lead to just 6-3 by halftime.

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Eagles rush the field and celebrate following Kaileen Hart’s game-winning overtime goal against Harvard.

The Eagles kept momentum on their side at the start of the second half, with another spectacular goal

by O’Connor off a lob pass from Mary Kate O’Neil. Harvard finally responded with two goals of their own, though, seemingly squashing the momentum the Eagles built. Now an 8-4 game, the outlook seemed decidedly grim for BC. Showing

their persistence yet again, the Eagles fought on. Apuzzo assisted O’Connor to cut the lead to 8-5, and a barrage of BC goals insued. Kate Taylor’s goal, assisted by Laura Frankenfield, cut Harvard’s lead to two, making the score 8-6. Weeks’ 20th-minute goal cut the lead to just one.

But, as the team managed to do throughout the game, Harvard again

responded, scoring three goals of its own. Seemingly every time the Eagles made the game close, the Crimson was able to extend its lead, and shut down the comeback. After the two teams exchanged goals from Apuzzo, Taylor, and Harvard’s Keeley MacAfee, making the score 12-9, the stage was set for the Eagles’ late-game heroics.

9: J_flc[ :fej`[\i K_\j\ :Xe[`[Xk\j ]fi E\n 8; AD Analysis, from B1

HOCKEY LEAST - Men’s hockey faced several all-important games over the past couple of days. Wins would keep the Eagles atop the Hockey East— where they’d been all season. But BC lost twice to Lowell, meaning it is seeded No. 3 heading into Hockey East postseason play.

of the court. Taylor Ortlepp made a strong power move in the paint, scoring the basket and drawing the foul. Her completion of the threepoint play cut VT’s lead to five and motivated the rest of the team.

By continuing to play aggressively on defense, senior Kelly Hughes was able to get the ball and score twoconsecutive 3-pointers which tied the game shortly before halftime.

The crowd erupted in cheers and the Hokies immediately called a timeout.

Going into halftime, the Hokies led 40-38.

Coming out onto the court in the LACROSSE

9P 8E;P M8IM8IF DEFEATED - We may not be able to win a game ourselves, but we can still rejoice when another team loses. Gonzaga, after going almost the entire season undefeated, fell to BYU in the final game of the regular season.

dominant 3-point shooting.

The Eagles (9-19, 2-13 Atlantic Coast) started off slow against the visiting Hokies (16-12, 3-12) by allowing them to score three-consecutive 3-pointers in the first few minutes.

VT’s Regan Magarity, who had a stellar overall game, started off with a hot hand, scoring 10 points in the first quarter. The Eagles couldn’t respond to the Hokies’ early shooting success, causing them to fall behind by 10 points at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Eagles responded with more tenacity by playing aggressively on both sides

two key boxes for the open BC position. Army’s annual athletic fund grew by $3 million and the “For Us All Capital Campaign” improved by $55 million. Corrigan signed new deals with Nike and Coca Cola to bring in additional revenue, and established new endowments for 10 programs. He also started the construction of a new lacrosse building, added a huge video board to Tate Rink, and expanded Doubleday Field to include a press box.

Corrigan has guided the Black Knights to success on the field, as well. Last year, they posted their highest winning percentage (.581) since 2005, and the seniors were the winningest class since the Class of 1994. Most notably, Army football won the “Star” series with Navy and stole the overall series against the rival Midshipmen.

Dark Horses Mark Jackson, Director of Athletics, Villanova While it may seem like a longshot, stealing Jackson from Villanova might be the best possible outcome for the football program. The Boston native has an extensive background in football that includes working for the New England Patriots and Oakland

ACC LACROSSE STANDINGS

Raiders as a coaching assistant and Director of Football Development, respectively. He even played defensive back at Colby College.

Jackson has also worked to secure record donations from alumni during his time at Villanova. He capitalized on momentum from the Wildcats’ 2016 March Madness run by bringing in a $22.5 million gift from alumnus William Finneran to renovate the Pavilion. In addition, Jackson raised money to build new facilities for the football, field hockey, and baseball teams.

With a men’s basketball program that appears to be a national title contender for years to come, it may seem like a stretch for Jackson to now take the reins of a struggling BC basketball program. But if there’s any hope, it’s in the money: Jackson would probably be accepting a hefty pay increase if he earned a $650,000 salary like Bates did.

Chris Iacoi, Sr. Associate Athletic Director and Chief Financial Officer, UCLA Iacoi is young, but his connections to the Heights should place him on the radar of search firms looking for BC’s next AD. The Rhode Island native graduated from BC in 2001 and earned his master’s degree from the Carroll School of Management in 2005. He spent 12

years in Chestnut Hill, first as an undergraduate worker, then as a Fiscal Coordinator and Business Manager, and later as the Assistant Athletic Director of Business Operations.

In 2014, he moved to UCLA, where his duties include being the main advisor to the head athletic director. Iacoi is a financial specialist who is often called upon to assess available resources during planning of new facilities and other major fiscal endeavors. He also helped negotiate lucrative contracts with IMG and Under Armour, both of which represented the largest deals in the nation in their respective areas at the time.

Desiree Reed-Francois, Deputy Athletics Director, Virginia Tech Reed-Francois is among a select group of women at Power Five schools who help manage day-to-day operations of a highlevel FBS football program. As Deputy AD, she recruited Justin Fuente to replace legendary head coach Frank Beamer, and so far the hire has been applauded by many.

Reed-Francois is adept at handling student-athlete relations as a former student-athlete herself and law specialist.

What she lacks in experience as a head athletic director, she makes

NUMBERS TO KNOW

CONFERENCE

OVERALL

Syracuse

1-0

4-0

Virginia Tech

1-0

6-1

Duke

0-0

4-0

Notre Dame

0-0

4-0

Louisville

0-0

5-1

North Carolina

0-0

3-1

Virginia

0-0

1-1

Boston College

0-2

5-2

420

Number of points Ky Bowman scored over the course of his first regular season as an Eagle.

7

Number of consecutive winless games from men’s hockey to close out the regular season.

24

Number of goals scored by Kate Weeks in the first seven games of lacrosse’s season.

up for in her extensive knowledge of the ACC, especially in the football department.

Nicki Moore, Senior Associate Athletic Director, North Carolina Like Reed-Francois, Moore hasn’t managed an entire athletic department. But she does know the ACC particularly well, serving as the Chair of the Atlantic Coast Conference SWA Committee. She also put in place UNC’s first fulltime sport and counseling psychology position to facilitate the new Carolina Athletics Mental Health & Performance Psychology Program (CAMP).

Before UNC, Moore worked at the University of Oklahoma for 11 years as Senior Associate AD for Student Life and Strategic Planning, later occupying the role of Senior Woman Administrator. In college, she was a four-time captain of Missouri’s track and field and cross country teams.

Or Nah Jim Paquette, Director of Athletics, Loyola Paquette has a long history with BC that dates back to 1994. When DeFilippo began his AD tenure, Paquette was the first person he brought with him. Paquette’s biggest success came in the fundraising sphere, setting several fundrais-

ing records for BC during his 16 years with the department.

At Loyola, he has seen athletic improvements that have earned him national recognition. Last March, Paquette was named the Division I-AAA Athletic Director of the Year. But because of his affiliation with DeFilippo’s administration, Paquette probably shouldn’t be seriously considered for the AD position at BC. Ken Kavanagh, Director of Athletics, Florida Gulf Coast Dunk city! The first thing most fans think when they hear FGCU is the men’s basketball team’s Cinderella run in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. But Kavanagh has built a well-rounded program down in Fort Meyers—since he took over in 2009, the Eagles won 26 Atlantic Sun regular-season titles, 14 ASUN Tournament titles, and six Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) championships.

A 1982 BC graduate, Kavanagh has accomplished a lot at FGCU, but his shortcomings are the same as Bates’: he doesn’t know how a large Power Five program operates.

I`c\p Fm\i\e[ `j k_\ jgfikj \[`kfi ]fi K_\ ?\`^_kj% ?\ ZXe Y\ i\XZ_\[ fe Kn`kk\i 7I`c\p?\`^_kj%

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Just not a lot of puck luck on our side tonight.”

— Jerry York,

on his team’s loss to Lowell to close out the regular season.

THE HEIGHTS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

B3

MEN’S BASKETBALL

9: 9cfnj 8efk_\i ?Xc]k`d\ C\X[ Xk ?fd\ 8^X`ejk M`i^`e`X K\Z_ MBB vs. VT, from B1 14-2 after just three and a half minutes—eerily reminiscent of their game at Virginia Tech (20-8, 9-7), where they fell behind 36-18 in the first half—BC refused to wave the white flag.

Backed by eight points by Jordan Chatman and three forced turnovers, they engineered a quick 11-0 run in the next three minutes to close the deficit to one point. From that point until the end of the half, neither team led by more than five.

After allowing the Hokies to drain their first three triples, all assisted by point guard Justin Robinson, who easily penetrated along the sideline before rifling passes to the weak side corner, the Eagles tightened their perimeter defense. Virginia Tech only made two of their next seven long-range attempts.

Additionally, the Eagles began to anticipate Robinson’s desire to snake into the paint and throw passes to his shooters, jumping into passing lanes and running players off of the 3-point line.

Their defense on Seth Allen was also impressive. In the half, Virginia Tech’s best perimeter player scored just three points and committed five turnovers.

BC forced nine first-half turnovers overall, totaling 15 points off of the Hokies’ miscues.

The turnovers allowed the Eagles to play up-tempo basketball, racing down the floor and seeking easy chances. They were able to attack Virginia Tech before it had time to set its defense,

forcing panicked rotations and leaving open shooters. Jerome Robinson was particularly impressive in the half, scoring 13 of his game-high 25 points and hitting all three of his shots from downtown.

“In the first half, we did everything we were supposed to do to win,” Christian said. “We drove the ball, we got to the foul line, we got stops and we attacked them in transition.”

But just as it has for the majority of the last month, the Eagles’ second-half woes predictably reared their ugly heads, as the Hokies scored 53 points in the frame, the seventh-straight contest that BC has allowed at least 45 points in the closing stanza. With 13:30 remaining and the score tied at 50 after a Nik Popovic dunk, Virginia Tech ripped off a 21-6 extended run over the next five minutes of play. The run, sparked by a technical foul on Jeffers, concluded with a pair of threes by Justin Bibbs, including one on which he was fouled by A.J. Turner and given the opportunity to convert a 4-point play.

Despite their turnover problems—for the game, the Hokies committed 19 turnovers—they picked apart the BC defense with crisp ball movement during this decisive stretch. Justin Robinson—who finished the game with 13 points and 11 assists—dominated in the second half, expertly manning the pick and roll and finding Bibbs and Ty Outlaw—who finished a perfect 5-5 from beyond the arc—for

open threes. Six Hokies scored between 12 and 18 points, striking a perfect balance of aggression and teamwork.

Christian wasn’t concerned so much about the complexity of the Hokies’ offense as he was about his team’s response to it.

“Whether it’s fatigue, whether it’s toughness, whether it’s communication—it’s probably some combination of all three—that’s how you lose the game,” he said.

Discussing the long-term trend of second-half futility, Christian mentioned the fact that, in the first half of home games, the team plays defense in front of the BC sideline. The coaches and bench players can constantly communicate with the players on the court, directing traffic and mitigating missed rotations or blown switches. But during the second halves, the players are on their own on the other side of the court, where they must serve as their own support system, cut off from the guidance of the coaching staff.

“When the ownership has to go to the team in the second half on the defensive end of the floor, we’re not doing it,” he admitted afterward. “We don’t have any defensive leadership out there, we don’t have enough communication.”

The discussion about the communicative abilities of his players stood out, especially in comparison to the glowing manner in which Buzz Williams spoke of the men in his locker room. Despite losing sopho-

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

AJ Turner (11) boxes out a Virgina Tech forward during the Eagles’ 91-75 loss on Saturday afternoon. more forward Chris Clarke—the team’s leading rebounder—to a torn AC L two week s ago, the undermanned Hokies have now won three of their last four contests.

“I think they’re playing with great, great spirit,” he said about his players. “I think their chemistry and the way they’re working is at an all-time high.”

Given the way he speaks of his team now, it’s easy to forget the turmoil the Hokies went through just a few years ago.

When the former Marquette coach took over Virginia Tech before the 2014-15 season, the Hokies had been the ACC’s lastplace team two years in a row. In

his first season—also Christian’s first in Chestnut Hill—the team again finished last in the conference, winning a measly two conference games.

“When you live through that, it scars you,” he confessed after the game.

But last year, after Virginia Tech had won just 8 total ACC games in the prior three seasons, Williams and his team made a historic turnaround, winning their final six games to finish 10-8 in ACC play. This season, the team has won 20 games and is all but assured of a spot in the NCAA tournament, which would be the culmination of a seemingly miraculous rebuild.

Mired in his own three-year rut—with just six ACC wins in his tenure at BC—Christian can only hope to one day replicate Williams’ rebuilding model, looking longingly at next year as a possible turning point. With the blossoming backcourt of Robinson and Ky Bowman, the future does seem to hold potential. But before the Eagles can realize it, they must first learn to build a communication network that will sustain them for a full 40-minute effort.

And on that day, Christian will delight in taking the podium and gush about his team’s togetherness, echoing the journey Williams endured before him.

MEN’S HOCKEY

N`k_ Cfjj Xk Cfn\cc# <X^c\j ;ifg kf Ef% * J\\[ `e ?fZb\p <Xjk MHOK Friday, from B1 The program has not endured such a streak since Nov. 1-26, 1994, the inaugural season for head coach Jerry York.

“Just not a lot of puck luck on our side tonight,” York said, dejected after Friday’s defeat.

Similar to Friday night—and to most of their first periods—the Eagles (18-14-4, 13-6-3 Hockey East) started out strong against the River Hawks (22-9-3, 14-71). BC earned a power play 5:18 into the frame when Evan Campbell took a seat, two minutes for interference. Though the offense kept the puck squarely in the zone, nothing found the twine.

For much of the opening frame,

the Eagles kept up that pressure on Wall. They controlled the time of possession in a way that would have made Steve Addazio proud, blasting shot after shot toward the net.

Similar to Thursday night, however, many of those shots came without a skater ready for the rebound or across the crease without anyone ready to push it home.

BC also caught a bad break when Matthew Gaudreau took an elbow to the face, causing him to fall onto the ice for a few minutes. Though the senior did not return to the ice in the first, he came back in the second.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the rest of the team—especially

Woll—did not.

Just 19 seconds in, Woll gave up one of the softest goals he has allowed all year. Edwardh shot it right at the meeting point of Woll’s pads. But somehow, it squeezed through an opening, trickling into the net for Lowell’s first goal of the game.

Kamrass helped the River Hawks double the lead with a cross-crease backhanded pass to Ryan Lohin. The Tampa Bay Lightning prospect took advantage of a wide-open net on Woll’s left for the easy tap-in.

Three minutes into the third, White cut the deficit with his 15th goal of the year—far less than what had been expected from the Ottawa Senators’ first-

round pick. Scott Savage took a blast from the blue line that deflected off Wall right to David Cotton. The Parker, Texas native dished it to White, who was ready for the easy goal.

Yet once Kamrass got the game-clincher seven minutes later, Norm Bazin’s famed shutdown defense did the rest.

Based on his postgame demeanor, York has all but faced the writing on the wall. And though he remained confident in his team’s ability, the fact remains: the offense can’t make up for a defense that can’t stop anyone.

“To stay alive and advance, we have to score more goals,” York said. “Otherwise, we have to play

the perfect 1-0 game.”

Now, trophy season officially begins. To begin the month, the question was not if BC was going to make the NCAA Tournament.

It was a matter of where fans should plan their vacations, if the path the team might take would be smooth enough to extend the program’s NCAA record to 26 Frozen Fours.

BC does still own a firstround bye in the tournament, which gives them next week to regroup. And, as of Boston University ’s 4-1 win against Notre Dame on Saturday, the Eagles actually share the Hockey East regular-season title with BU and Lowell.

But because of they have

gone winless in because of the PairWise Rankings and a low RPI, the Eagles are all but certain forced to win the Hockey East Tournament to make it back to the Big Dance. In a season in which BC has gone winless against BU and Lowell in five tries, causing the team to be the No. 3 seed and set up a potential rematch with a Vermont team it had tied twice, that is the biggest of ifs.

No, this season’s question is one York rarely has to face, not since the 2008-09 season.

If they were to somehow accomplish that feat and get an NCAA berth, based on the last few weeks, would they even deserve it?

9: :fek`el\j Gfn\i$GcXp Jkil^^c\j `e J\XjfeËj =`eXc ?fd\ >Xd\ MHOK Thursday, from B1 “Clearly, we have to score some more goals,” York said.

“We’ve got to get shots to the net in traffic.”

It’s not as if the Eagles were without their chances. BC earned a power play just over a minute into the game—a John Edwardh hold on Jesper Mattila—but gave up the same amount of shots on goal as Lowell (21-9-3, 13-7-1) did. Halfway through the opening frame, Michael Kim and Mike Booth saved BC on a terrible line change. Both swooped in to stop Tyler Mueller and Ryan Dmowski on a breakaway attempt, helping out goaltender Joseph Woll.

After killing off a Ryan Fitzgerald rough to open the second, Matthew Gaudreau put up a couple of golden chances low slot right on Wall to no avail. His attempts drew a hook by Niklas Folin, but was soon negated by another Fitzgerald penalty. Again Woll had to make several impressive saves to keep the Eagles in the game. He went into two full splits after C.J. Smith poked a breakaway attempt at center ice. Joe Gambardella tried corralling the rebounds, but Woll was there again.

Yet the Eagles couldn’t hang on forever against the No. 2 power play in the country. Austin Cangelosi’s weak roughing call set up Chris Forney to blast one from the

blue line that just tipped off Woll’s glove for a 1-0 Lowell lead. The Eagles had a chance to close out the second with a power play, but still couldn’t find that magic.

Cangelosi, the senior center, made up for his miscue as soon as the third opened up, with a goal off an initial shot by Gaudreau just 25 seconds into the closing frame.

His 17th of the season appeared to give the Eagles all the momentum they’d need to keep pace in the race for a regular-season trophy.

But, as Gambardella mentioned after the game, Lowell merely got better as the game went along. The Staten Island, N.Y. native went top shelf past Woll’s right shoulder on a feed from Smith behind the net to reclaim the River Hawks’ lead just three minutes later. Gambardella returned the favor for Smith with a pass to fellow linemate Edwardh, who sent it cross ice for Smith’s 18th of the season. The trio has been Lowell’s first line for the last three seasons, and a lethal force for Norm Bazin’s crew.

“They complement me as much as I complement them,” Gambardella said.

But to close it out, Gambardella worked on his own. He broke away after a turnover at center ice, skating untouched until Connor Moore hooked him right in front of Woll. No matter, as Gambardella simply went low past Woll for

Lowell’s fourth of the game.

With one game remaining in Lowell tomorrow, BC’s lead for the Hockey East regular-season title has now dwindled to just two points with a game at Lowell remaining. Because of that, the team no longer controls its own destiny. The Eagles are still locked into a first-round bye, and can fall no lower than third. But there are other teams chasing them down fast.

“Lowell plays for trophies, too,” Bazin said, noting that his team can claim the title if Boston University splits with Notre Dame this weekend. “It’s not just BC.” For York, it’s all about remaining positive. His team is in far better shape than he had anticipated entering the season, given the massive exodus of upperclassman talent. And, as he said after the game, the path to the Frozen Four at Chicago’s United Center was never going to be easy.

“I never thought it was going to be a linear line from October to Chicago without some bumps and dips,” York said. “We’ve put ourselves in a situation where we can win a trophy in the last week of the season. Now we have to close it.”

Don’t turn out the lights on BC just yet, because the party technically isn’t over. But it’s time to start dimming them and closing the shades.

9P ;A I<:EP <o\Zlk`m\ 8jj`jkXek Boston College men’s hockey just can’t get it done. Losing to Massachusetts Lowell Thursday night, the Eagles extended their winless streak to the longest since the 2008-09 season.

The offense can’t find the back of the net, the defense is giving up scoring opportunities on turnovers in the defensive zone, and the power play is anemic at best. Joseph Woll, Scott Savage, Luke McInnis, and some others are playing good hockey, but the team chemistry is lacking and BC cannot win as a result.

Lowell came out swinging in the beginning of the first period, and only increased its vigor throughout the course of the game. The intense forechecking pressure forced BC on its heels early, causing turnovers in the defensive zone that eventually led to scoring opportunities for the River Hawks.

This pressure continued on the penalty kill, which saw plenty of work given that the River Hawks took four penalties. The penalty-killing Lowell attacked the Eagles on the power play, leaving few shooting lanes, if any. Those shooting lanes that appeared open were quickly sealed, meaning that few shots managed to find their way to freshman goaltender Tyler Wall. The Eagles were unable to convert on any of their power play opportunities, a trend that has been sorely apparent in recent games.

The River Hawks’ intensity continued to give the Eagles fits through the latter half of the game. All four of Lowell’s goals came from hustle or turnovers. The first was a result of quickness in the offensive zone in conjunction with BC’s lackluster defensive box. The second came from a defensive breakdown that left alternate captain Joe Gambardella wide open in the slot. The third came from a bad turnover in the corner that led to a cross ice pass with one man back. The fourth was a breakaway on a turnover that had Woll scrambling with no help after an incredible, full-split pad save (not his first of the night, either) that left a rebound.

The Eagles’ defense did play well on offense. They poured in shots from the points, leading to 29 shots on net.

Savage and Michael Kim consistently hammered home one-timers from the blue line, which eventually led to Austin Cangelosi’s goal early in the second period. The passing between the D-men was crisp and consistent, yet the passing to the slot couldn’t find open men to get more shots on net.

The blue liners struggled in the defensive zone, however, as is apparent in the Eagles’ last five games, in which they have given up 3.8 goals on average. Unforced turnovers in the defensive and neutral zones led to three goals against the River Hawks, and poor defense, which saw BC sitting in a passive box, led to the other. Yes, the defensemen bear part of the responsibility when it comes to

creating opportunities in the offensive zones. As is in their title, however, the primary responsibility of a defenseman is playing defense. This they did not do well against the River Hawks.

As of late, Woll has been taking criticism from both casual and dedicated fans for allowing a significant uptick in goals in his last dozen games. He has had his moments that leave people asking, “What was he thinking?” But more often than not, he has moments where his composure, flexibility, and athleticism have prevented goals. Thursday against Lowell, his save percentage was not indicative of his play, but rather of his defense’s. On Gambardella’s second goal of the night, he was left wide open on a breakaway with nothing between him and Woll but ice. Woll was fooled on the initial deke, but stretched the full length of his wingspan to block the driving senior. The rebound from that stellar save sat in front of the net for some time before Gambardella was able to gather it and put two more shots on net, one of which found the twine.

When Woll makes mistakes, it’s fair to criticize—it’d be hypocritical of this writer to not. But criticism for Woll on a grand scale is unfounded.

Many of Lowell’s opportunities on Thursday were uncontested, high quality shots. Men left wide open are going to score on the best goaltenders in the league—it is the responsibility of the defense to defend the net as well as its netminder.

THE HEIGHTS

B4

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

BASEBALL

FbcX_fdXËj NXcbf]] Glkj ;Xdg\i fe 9`i[YXccËj N\\b\e[ JlZZ\jj 9P B8K< G<8HL@E =fi K_\ ?\`^_kj Coming off a three-game sweep

by Bethune-Cookman, Boston College baseball looked for a change of momentum this weekend. It appears that a trip west was just what was needed for the Eagles, as Birdball headed to Norman, Okla. for the 19 Ways Invitational to face off against Oklahoma, Northern Illinois, and Villanova.

BC (2-4) finished out the weekend against Oklahoma (8-1). The first-ever meeting with the Sooners started out strong for the Eagles.

In the top of the second, BC took the early lead when a groundout to second by Mitch Bigras allowed Gian Martellini to score the first run of the day. The Sooners quickly responded, tying up the game with a Brandon Zaragoza single RBI.

From this point, BC quickly took the momentum of the game, spurred on by the strong play of sophomore pitcher Dan Metzdorf.

Over the course of the next four innings, BC drove in three more runs to go up 3-1 thanks to a Strem walk, a Martellini single, and an Oklahoma fielding error that allowed Palomaki to score. During this same period, Metzdorf allowed only three hits, struck out four, and retired the last 11 batters that he faced.

Going into the bottom of the eighth, BC led 4-1. The commanding lead prompted BC to make a pitching change as Zach Stromberg came in to close out the game. A walk and a single put Sooners on first and second, and a second single brought in a run for Oklahoma. This quick score by Oklahoma caused BC to switch in Bobby Skogsbergh for Stromberg midway through the

bottom of the eighth. This choice proved disastrous, as a single loaded the bases which set up an easy score for the Sooners on a fielder’s choice.

A passed ball by the Eagles let the tying run in for Oklahoma.

With a tie score going into the ninth, it was time for BC to step up and take back control of the game.

The Eagles managed to get one hit, but they failed to gain any tangible traction as three quick outs did little to minimize the momentum gained

by Oklahoma.

In the top of the ninth, Ben Hollas singled up the middle, scoring Renae Martinez and walking off with the three-run comeback win.

This game was won and lost on account of pitching. Metzdorf shined in his first game of the season as he managed only one run in seven innings and recorded a career-high six strikeouts. But the Sooners

quickly made it up and took the lead once Metzdorf came out after the seventh inning. A pitching change at the top of the eighth had the opposite effect for Oklahoma as BC struggled to get hits late in the game when they needed them most. This game is a story of closing pitching letting the offense down, but it also shows how the batting was not able to support the pitching late when it was most needed.

The Eagles were confident going into their matchup against Villanova (0-7). This confidence appeared to be misplaced by the end of the first inning. While BC failed to register a single hit, Villanova managed five hits and three runs against Matt Gill. Going into the second inning, the Eagles could have let themselves get flustered and thrown away the game, but instead they remained calm in both facets of the game.

The pitching staff chose to leave Gill in the game, proving to be the correct choice in the end. The Wildcats only managed to get one more hit out of Gill and scored no more runs for the rest of the game.

The offense responded in the third inning as an RBI from Bigras finally put the Eagles on the board and a double from Martellini added three more runs to the Eagles’ total, giving them the lead for the first time in the game.

The Eagles continued to dominate, scoring two more in the sixth, one in the seventh, and three in the eighth. Despite a slow start, the Eagles were able to persevere and come away with a big 10-3 win against the Wildcats.

The week started out in a very sunny way for the Eagles as they won their first game of the invitational against Northern Illinois (2-5). The

end score of 9-1 would suggest that the Eagles dominated the game throughout, but this was not the case. It was Northern Illinois who scored the first run of the game at the top of the second. It seems that this run finally woke up the Eagles, as they responded with four runs in the bottom of the second and five more in the eighth. The Huskies failed to register any more hits for the rest of the game as the Eagles turned what was at first a concerning game into a convincing game.

Just as was the case for the game against Oklahoma, pitching is what set BC apart in this game. Righthanded pitcher Jacob Stevens dominated the day as he allowed just two hits in a career-high seven innings of play. Stevens’ stock has been on the rise so far this season, as he has yet to give up an earned run in 13 innings of play over two games.

SOFTBALL

<X^c\j JkldYc\# Fecp 9\Xk N`jZfej`e `e J_\iXkfe @em`kXk`feXc 9P 8EE89<C JK<<C< 8jjfZ% Jgfikj <[`kfi After starting out the season on a strong note, Boston College softball faltered at the Florida Gulf Coast University/Four Points by Sheraton Invitational in Fort Myers, Fla. this weekend.

The Eagles managed to defeat the University of Wisconsin, but lost to FGCU, Rutgers University, Florida International University, and Hofstra University.

In their final game of the invitational, the Eagles fell 3-1 to Hofstra.

For the most part, both BC (8-7) and the Pride (5-5) struggled offensively, recording hits in just one inning apiece. But it was enough for Hofstra to build up a lead impossible for BC to overcome.

All of Hofstra’s action came in the third inning. Courtney Scarpato started off the offensive flurry with a single, but was thrown out at second

when Kristin Hallam singled. Jordan Weed walked Brielle Pietrafesa, then Megan Patierno reached first, loading the bases for the Pride. Thanks to an error on the Eagles’ part, Brittany Allocca drove Hallam, Pietrafesa, and Patierno home for three quick runs.

BC’s offensive production came in the top of the seventh inning thanks to Tatiana Cortez. The senior homered to left field to put BC on the scoreboard for the first time. The rest of the team did not have her hot bat, however, and the game ended with Hofstra preserving its 3-1 lead.

On Saturday afternoon, Florida International (10-5) defeated the Eagles, 2-1. In the top of the first, Jessica Dreswick expertly contained FIU, forcing three-straight groundouts to set a dominant tone.

In the bottom of the first, the Eagles scored their only run of the game. Abby Summers walked Taylor Coroneos, putting a runner on base with no outs. The next two batters

struggled, however—Chloe Sharabba fouled out, then Cortez struck out.

With two outs, Jordan Chimento was up to bat. She singled, sending Coroneos home for the first run of the game and giving BC an early 1-0 lead.

Over the next two innings, Dreswick continued to stifle the Panthers, preserving her no-hitter through the end of the third inning.

In the fourth inning, Jackie Schoff broke through with a single to left field. Later in that inning, Stephanie Texeira and Kasandra Castle found themselves on base with Dani Mowry at the plate. Mowry cracked a triple to right field, sending Texeira and Castle home to take the lead from the Eagles. Neither team managed to score again, and the game ended with the Panthers’ 2-1 lead intact.

Earlier on Saturday morning, BC fell to Rutgers 4-0, handing the Scarlet Knights (1-8) their first victory of the season.

Unlike in the Florida International game, BC struggled early. Fortunately for BC, it also took time for Rutgers to warm up. But the Scarlet Knights were ready for an offensive showing by the third inning.

Nicolette Anico and Taryn Atlee each singled to reach base. With Anico on third and Atlee on second, Nicole Bowman stepped up to the plate. She drove both of them home with a single to left field, giving Rutgers a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth, Bowman drove Atlee home once again, this time with a double to center field. And in the sixth inning, Anico doubled, sending her teammate Hailey Hoklotubbe home for the final run of the game.

On Friday night, tournament hosts FGCU (8-5) defeated the Eagles 3-1 in a walk-off victory. Once again, the Eagles jumped out to a lead early in the game, but squandered it late.

In the second inning, Cortez reached base on a double. DiEm-

maneuele’s sacrifice RBI sent Cortez home and gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

That lead lasted until the seventh inning. Racquel Fournet reached base thanks to an error and was replaced by pinch runner Emily Demurias.

Brittany McGuire doubled, driving Demurias home and tying up the game.

Despite controlling all of the momentum, FGCU failed to score again in the seventh, sending the game to the eighth inning tied at one apiece.

Neither the Eagles nor FGCU managed anything in the eighth inning, and FGCU stifled BC once again in the top of the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, with Ashley Swiderski on base, Fournet hit a walk-off home run to secure FGCU a 3-1 victory.

The Eagles’ only victory of the invitational came in the first game, when they defeated Wisconsin 4-1 on Friday afternoon. It was the Badgers’ (12-2) only loss of the entire

invitational.

BC started the scoring off in the second inning when Madison Paulson drove DiEmmaneuele home to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. In the third, BC cushioned its lead when Cortez singled to drive Coroneos home. In the fifth, the Badgers reached the scoresheet when Brianna Flugaur reached home thanks to a Sara Novak RBI single.

BC doubled its lead in the fifth inning. With Cortez on first and Sharabba on third, the Eagles had runners on the corner. Wisconsin pitcher Kaitlyn Menz walked Annie Murphy, loading the bases for BC. DiEmmaneuele then singled to left field, advancing Cortez and Murphy and driving Sharabba home. Menz then walked Allyson Moore, sending Cortez home for another run.

Neither team mustered up any more runs in the game, ensuring that the game finished with BC’s secure 4-1 lead.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

?fb`\j <ogcf[\ `e k_\ J\Zfe[ ?Xc]# Hl\cc IfY`ejfeËj <]ÔZ`\ek Flk`e^ 9P KFD ;<MFKF ?\`^_kj J\e`fi JkX]] On Saturday afternoon, Boston College played 30 strong, spirited minutes of basketball against Virginia Tech. Unfortunately for BC, it also played 10 very bad minutes at the end of the game, and those were the ones that made all the difference.

The Eagles (9-20, 2-14 Atlantic Coast) couldn’t match the secondhalf shooting clinic hosted by Virginia Tech (20-8, 9-7). The Hokies scored an astounding 53 points in the second stanza en route to a 91-75 win over BC. It’s the Eagles’ 12th consecutive conference loss, a streak that goes back nearly a month and a half.

Three Up 1) Honoring Old-Timers As is customary for the final home game of the season, the Eagles took time before the game to honor three senior players (and one manager) who would take the floor for their final time in Conte Forum.

Senior Garland Owens, along with grad transfers Mo Jeffers and Connar Tava, were recognized before tip-off at center court, and head

coach Jim Christian slotted each of the three in his starting lineup.

For Owens, who has taken on a diminished role this season, the day was especially sweet. He played 19 minutes, his highest total since the first game of the season against Nicholls State, and tallied six points. Each bucket came at a critical interval in the first half as the Eagles took back momentum following a slow start to the game.

Owens is the only player left on the roster to be recruited by former head coach Steve Donahue. Though Christian didn’t bring Owens to BC himself, he’s certainly glad that Owens decided to stay.

“Garland deserved to have the night that he had tonight,” Christian said. “I was proud of him.”

Not only was it Senior Day on the Heights, but BC also retired the jerseys of basketball legends Dana Barros and John Bagley. The duo has 24 years of NBA experience between them, and they’ve played for a combined eight NBA teams.

It was clearly an emotional afternoon for Bagley and Barros, and one they won’t forget for a while.

With their names hanging in the Conte Forum rafters, future BC fans

will remember them, too.

2) Jerome’s In the House Sophomore guard Jerome Robinson has struggled lately with his scoring efficiency, but he turned in his best offensive performance of the past month against the Hokies.

Robinson shot 50 percent from behind the arc and didn’t miss a single free throw all game in what was one of his more efficient contests in the second half of this season. The sophomore, who led all players with 25 points in 39 minutes, looked more comfortable on the court than he has in some time.

Generally, the Eagles go as Robinson goes, so it’s important that BC has him firing on all cylinders.

3) Forced Turnovers The Eagles forced Virginia Tech into 19 turnovers, one of its best performances of the season in that regard. It didn’t make much of a difference, of course, because the Hokies shot the lights out from the field.

Two Down 1) VaTech Catches Fire With about seven minutes remaining in the second half, the Hokies’ second-half field goal per-

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Jerome Robinson shot 8-of-17 from the field, recording a game-high 25 points in the loss to Virginia Tech.

centage was about 87 percent. For about 13 minutes, Virginia Tech went through a stretch where it only missed two or three shots from the field.

That’s astronomically high.

The Hokies’ overall field goal percentage eventually came back down to earth and settled at a still absurd 67 percent.

2) Missing Out on Wins Though BC won four games this season against legitimate opponents—Providence College, Auburn University, Syracuse University, and North Carolina State—current BC students likely didn’t see any of those games because they all happened away from campus or over Winter Break.

Wins are wins, but it would be really great if some of those wins came when students could, you know, see it happen. You can’t build excitement around the program nationally without building excitement around the program locally.

The team needs student support, but that won’t happen if every time students show up, BC loses.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

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JAKE CATANIA / HEIGHTS STAFF

Megan Keller scored the Eagles’ lone goal in their Hockey East Quarterfinal victory over Merrimack on Friday.

called icing, and had the women face off as Newkirk skated off the ice. The only penalty of the period was given to BC, as Erin Connolly was whistled for slashing. Despite the player advantage, the Warriors still couldn’t find a hole in the BC defense and headed into the locker room behind again.

The Warriors came onto the ice in the same aggressive fashion that they started during the latter half of the second period. Connolly was tripped and sent sailing into the wall early on, but the referees failed

to call a penalty. Frustrated by the the possibility of a second shutout, Merrimack was becoming frantic.

Like Connolly, Ryan Little was tripped by a defender’s stick and caught between two players after falling to the ice, but again nothing was called. The aggression the Warriors showed caught up to them, with Marie Delarbre getting sent into the box for body checking.

The Eagles couldn’t capitalize, and when the game returned to full strength, the Warriors pulled Ridgewell and attain a player advantage. Despite two minutes with an extra player on

the ice, the Warriors didn’t tie up the game and it ended with another narrow victory for the Eagles.

Head coach Katie Crowley didn’t mind the physicality of the second half of the game, and is proud of how her team handled it.

“We did a pretty good job at holding down the fort there especially when they came at us pretty good in that part of the second and into the third,” Crowley said. “Overall, we’re really excited to be moving on to the next round of the Hockey East playoffs and that’s the big thing for us now.”

Thursday, January 17, 2014 Thursday, 7, 2016 M ONDAY, FApril EBRUARY 27, 2017

THE HEIGHTS THETH HEEIGHTS HEIGHTS

B5 B5 B5

THE HEIGHTS

B6

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

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Early on in Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall, William (Matt Damon) and Commander Lin (Tian Jing) engage in an exchange of words.

William, a mercenary who recently arrived at the Great Wall of China, describes, to Lin, his backstory—a life as a wandering warrior, fighting for whichever nation will compensate him. Lin is immediately taken aback by this, revealing that she has fought for the Nameless Order on the Wall for her entire life. In this revelatory moment, she glances away from William and softly mutters, “We are not the same.” This exchange epitomizes the internal morality of this extravaganza: loyalty—in particular to one’s own nation—is championed above all else. Lin deduces from William’s inability to remain loyal to a single nation that she cannot trust him to fight for her.

Zhang’s nationalistic spectacle begins when William and a fellow mercenary, Tovar (Pedro Pascal), are taken as prisoners by Lin, a member of the Nameless Order. Coincidentally, rumblings are heard in the far distance and before William and Tovar are locked away,

a monstrous siege on the Great Wall begins.

Prison sentences are quickly put on hold, and William and Tovar are taken to the top of the Wall to conveniently look on when the horde of dog-like, emerald-colored monsters, the Taotie, begin to storm the Wall. As it turns out, these alien-beasts arrived on Earth via a meteor that smashed into the planet two thousand years prior. The obedient soldiers of the Nameless Order put on an impressive show for the mercenaries, as they kill the oncoming monsters in every possible way imaginable. Inflamed cannonballs fly across the sky alongside groupings of deadly arrows, all on their way to kill as many monsters as possible. Of course, Williams and Tovar soon join the fight and help hold off the Taotie for the day—both are, obviously, very impressive fighters. They are recognized for their skill, and are asked to help fend off the horde. William and Tovar seem to disagree about what to do going forward—whether to help the Chinese or to leave by escaping. This predicament sets up the conflict for the remainder of the film, pinning loyalty to a greater cause against the benefits of a rugged individualism.

As a strictly visual spectacle, this film

works well. Chinese auteur Zhang Yimou brings to his films a uniquely distinct visual style that is, frankly, impressive. The Great Wall represents Zhang’s foray into big, blockbuster filmmaking and for the most part, his style translated well. Zhang utilized his entire 150 million dollar budget, using hundreds of extras to create a truly epic film. Each army regiment is designated a different color, giving the film a certain vibrancy and fun. Smoke signals, drum-lines, and large-scale military formations stand as proof of Zhang’s visual sophistication. The most breathtaking of the film’s set pieces, however, takes place when William and Lin find themselves in a tower with walls mostly made up of polychromaticstained glass, with strong pink and blue hues.

Beams of sunshine stream through the glass and down upon the film’s heroes, creating a striking kaleidoscope effect.

As much as audiences will appreciate the film’s visual style, many other components of the film will detract from its aesthetic beauty.

The aggressive use of CGI in this movie, while necessary, proved to be incredibly distracting.

The Taotie, in particular, look totally unconvincing and, consequently, unthreatening.

FILM

THE GREAT WALL ZHANG YIMOU PRODUCED BY LEGENDARY RELEASE FEB. 17, 2017 OUR RATING

LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT

An antagonistic force, like the horde in The Great Wall, crushes any stakes that this film attempted to build up. The juxtaposition of Zhang’s thoughtfully crafted images, alongside a poorly-rendered CGI monster army, tainted the beauty of the film. In addition, the stale dialogue and its deliverance came off as manufactured and trite. Unfortunately, these issues spoil the film.

While there is fun to be had with The Great Wall, it could not protect itself from the problems typically found in contemporary blockbuster films. The film tries to push a message of loyalty, arguing for trust and devotion.

Ironically enough, the film’s uncompromising devotion to CGI effects and graphics hindered the film in the end, as Zhang’s distinct style, sadly enough, was compromised.

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Eight years ago, the band Black Kids seemed to be the next big thing. Black Kids, a band composed of siblings Reggie (lead vocals and guitar) and Ali Youngblood (keyboards and backign vocals), along with Owen Holmes on bass guitar, Kevin Snow on drums, and Dawn Watley on keyboard and backing vocals, got off to a great beginning.

What started with an extremely successful EP, Wizard of Ahhhs, that gathered the approval of Rolling Stone, BBC, and, surprisingly, Pitchfork, led onto a wellperforming album, Partie Traumatic, which, despite not pleasing the critics was received well by the public. The band, formed in Jacksonville, Fla., was on everyone’s radar.

The eight years of silence since were a surprise to most, as in some way, Black Kids had contributed to the definition of a subgenre, indie electropop. With its jumpy tunes and witty lyrics, Black Kids had pledged to lead an emerging scene.

That promise was clearly left unfulfilled. Only almost a decade later, the five-piece band from Florida self-re-

leased its second full-length on Bandcamp. The new album, Rookie, includes 10 songs, and a cover featuring the nowrelevant-again-by-the-force-of-theInternet “cool S.” It is an unpretentious ode to youth and inexperience, delivered through Black Kids’ still-distinctive sound and candid aesthetic.

The opener, “IFFY,” is a good turn on the band’s usual style. Despite its extremely repetitive and cheesy lyrics, something arguably constant through all of Rookie, the song is a solid, addictive tune one can definitely imagine dancing to in a party.

Half-way through the album, “Rookie” also follows the Partie Traumatic handbook, yet not straying away from it enough to make the song relevant.

Moreover, “Rookie” proves Black Kids did not learn a lot from their debut album. As in many songs from Partie Traumatic, Reggie Youngblood’s vocals seem often out of place, and the overall sound is somewhat awkward at times.

The rest of the songs, however, seem to explore different directions than the band’s first work, some of them clearly gathering inspiration from the early moments of the genre. “In A Song” is a pleasing song that features The Smiths-

MUSIC

ROOKIE BLACK KIDS PRODUCED BY CHASE PARK RELEASE FEB. 17, 2017 OUR RATING

CHASE PARK TRANSDUCTION

like echoed vocals, and a general atmosphere that is similar to the original moments of indie pop. It is a feel-good piece with a complex sound, relative to Black Kids’ usual work. The lyrics are simple and sincere (“I hate to tell you in a song that I love you”), and in this case, they are good enough.

Similarly, “If My Heart Is Broken,” presents an old-style bass line and an ‘80s synth, which would make for a remarkable try in the direction of melancholic pop if it was not for Youngblood’s awkward vocals.

Despite this, Youngblood’s distinctive voice does shine in other moments, such as the closing song, “Way Into Leather,” which features low-key vocals that are similar to The Velvet Underground and that are joined by upbeat synths, a dry guitar, and a subtle instrumentation.

Rookie does not fall short of experimentation. In “Natural Born Kissers,” Black Kids seem to dive into something almost exclusive in electronic music—it is an almost instrumental track, with the only lyrics being, “Thinking about your love, thinking about your kisses.” The phrase is repeated over and over, backed by an electropop number. Even if it does not result in a particularly remarkable song, Black Kids’ attempt at innovation is laudable. “Obligatory Drugs” follows the same path.

“V-Card (Not Nuthin’)” and “Illin’” present fresh sounds, and make up for the more solid part of Rookie. The lyrics for the first one are undeniably witty: “I want my first time to be / with someone who loved me / I want the second one, for fun / To be for lost, just because / I want the third time to be for money / And the fourth, it should be for fame / I want the fifth time to be a baptism / In his name.”

In this same path, “All The Emotions” emerges as the best track in the album. It is an upbeat song about falling in love for the first time, about being a rookie in love. It is a brilliant tribute to innocence, a cheerful track with sincere lyrics and a catchy sound.

Black Kids’ second album is a combination of old tricks and clever experimentation. At times, the sound is repetitive, and the vocals still sound a bit out of place as in the band’s debut album. In most of Rookie, Black Kids manages to produce a fresh and complex sound, a solid album about taking the first steps in love.

1 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE REPORT TITLE

WEEKEND GROSS

1. GET OUT

WEEKS IN RELEASE

30.5

1

2. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE

19

3

3. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO

9

3

4. THE GREAT WALL

8.7

2

5. FIFTY SHADES DARKER

7.7

3

TRENDS IN MOVIE MONEY The weekend of Feb. 24-26 grossed a total of $117 million. This is down about $24 million from last year, but this fact can be attributed to the great run of Deadpool last year. This year, we have no Deadpool. Instead we are stuck with Fifty Shades Darker, a flaming pile of garbage. Why? Why does this movie continue to be in the top-five spots for the third week in a row?

Please America. Please. You’re better than this. What’s worse, Matt Damon’s latest foray into bad movies, The Great Wall, is number four. Don’t do this to me. I am just your hapless box office trends writer. My greatest wish is that good movies (i.e. The LEGO Batman Movie and John Wick: Chapter Two) will make money. If good movies make more money, more good movies will be made. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” We think Mark Twain said that. Regardless, you can make a difference. With your $12, you can buy an overpriced ticket and send your money directly to the studios that make good movies. We don’t work for the ASPCA. We’re not Sarah McLaughlin.

We can’t sing “In The Arms Of The Angels” to you. What we can do is write these box office trends that few read in the hopes that we can make a difference. We don’t want to see bad movies, and we don’t think you do either.

If this was a fable, the moral of the story would be “Hey, don’t go see Fifty Shades Darker or any of its spawn.” Also, Get Out is a really good movie. Go see that. It’s number one this week.

3 2

3 WARNER BROS

LIONSGATE STUDIOS

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I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore is best illustrated by a quote from the character Ruth (Melanie Lynskey): “The way people treat each other—they’re disgusting.”

This notion strikes Netflix’s newest movie release to its core, highlighting the fundamentally flawed human disposition with its embodiment of absolute vulgarity and repeatedly tumultuous characters and outcomes.

Macon Blair drew inspiration for this peculiar comedy crime thriller from his own life, with exact pieces from the plot matching his personal experiences, such as a mysteriously stolen laptop. He created the film in an effort to comment on his pointed observation of people and their interactions with others—namely, that people can be terrible. And the film itself captures this overriding meaning—and torments it, and kills it altogether.

The movie centers on Ruth (Melanie Lynskey), a nursing-home aide who faces a constant succession of less than favorable situations, including her crude dying patients,

shoppers who never fail to cut her off at the grocery store, and jerks at the bar who spoil the ending of the book she’s reading at the counter.

These events individually may seem easily disregardable, but their staggering compilation incites a kind of crisis within Ruth, causing her to question why people are this terrible and ultimately what the point of living around these deplorables is anyway. The epitome of her metaphysical breakdown arrives when Ruth stumbles upon evidence of a break-in within her precarious home and consequently discovers the absence of her laptop and family heirlooms. The authorities are nearly transparent in their negligence to actually investigate the case, and Ruth is left to fend for her home and overall dignity by herself. That is, until she befriends her unconventional yet desperately benevolent neighbor Tony (Elijah Wood). He becomes her sole ally in the quest for justiceturned-vengeance.

An eclectic cast of characters shapes the outlandish trajectory of the story and serves as the essential foundation for its fusion of humor, thrill, and darkness. Tony’s singular rattail and equipment of ninja stars and fatal nunchucks merge with his God-revering,

sensitive self to create the unsuspectingly loyal best friend and potential lover of Rose.

He presents to her a flame of optimism when her existence seems most bleak. This positivity melts with the presence of the film’s enemy, a group of drug-induced, selfindulging miscreants. This bunch survives on the profits from a dubious consignment shop as a result of their robberies. Besides their inflaming, immediate disgust of their entrance and their despicable perishing, they also initiate a long chain of explicit violence that grounds the entire rest of the plot.

This same wicked violence is also the source of that terrorizing gut instinct that causes viewers’ stomachs to churn about halfway through, as well as the source of admonishment as Ruth slowly chips away and no character or even body part remains unbloodied. The abrupt shift from nonviolence to its grotesque extremity is what agitates viewers so fiercely that no eye can peel away from an otherwise repeatedly downtrodden series of events.

The cinematography also provokes a sense of distress, artfully utilized by Blair to capitalize on the poignant desperation of his protagonist.

MUSIC

I DON’T FEEL AT HOME MACON BLAIR DISTRIBUTED BY NETFLIX RELEASE FEB. 24, 2017 OUR RATING

NETFLIX

In one memorable shot, the camera zooms down the hall toward the suspicious noise of an intruder, inclusive first of a hanging of kitchen knives that a hand swiftly grabs and then seconds later holds erect at the bottom of the same frame. Even with a slew of comedic lines and situations, other technical moments such as these exploit trepidation and metaphorical nail biting.

I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore ultimately accomplishes its intended goal of fascinated panic and enthralling characterization. Regardless of audiences’ positive or negative reactions to its ongoings, its play on the dark truth of the human condition rings undeniably true and affirms that, really, no one should feel at home in this gruesome world anymore.

THE HEIGHTS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

B7

E\\cp <ogcfi\j Xe[ I\Zi\Xk\j 9fjkfeËj @i`j_ Dlj`Z ?\i`kX^\ 9P :8C<9 >I@<>F 8ikj I\m`\n <[`kfi Old-timey sound emanated from the stage and was brought into the present. Recorded from ages long before our own, its imperfections and grainy nature audibly tethered listeners into the spirits of Irish music as it existed in early 20th century Boston. This notion of a tether to the connections of past and present, was pervasive during ethnomusicologist Daniel Neely’s talk From the Variety Stage to the Shamrock Band: A Brief History of Irish Music in Boston. Documenting the rich and interconnected history of Irish musicians in Boston, Neely described his findings as he sought to piece together a community lost in time.

Neely, a Newton native, received his Ph.D. from New York University in 2008—his dissertation was on the development and evolution of Jamaican music. His affinity for music history extends into Irish culture as he as attempted to explore the same kind of development in Boston.

Through newspaper clippings, personal accounts, recordings, and archival research, Neely hoped to show in a substantial way the nature of the Irish music community in the early 20th century. Proving the interconnected nature of musicians— in personal lives and performances— was a difficult task to substantiate, given that more than a century has passed since the era about which he spoke. But the findings Neely presented helped create a cohesive and intelligible narrative.

Recounting the history of Irish music in Boston, Neely set a scene that was markedly neither ethnic nor Irish. In the beginning, Neely said, many Irish musicians found work

through stage shows. These shows were less about their musical content and more concerned with broader entertainment. This was often fulfilled through less refined variety shows and minstrels. Though this offered many musicians an entry into work in Boston, it was a far cry from anything culturally groundbreaking.

In relaying these ideas, Neely focused on the journey of one family in particular—the Sullivans. Daniel Sullivan, Sr. and Daniel Sullivan, Jr. were key figures in developing the craft in Boston. Sullivan, Sr., an immigrant from Ireland, had come to the U.S. and worked in many of the shows and became a prominent figure, collaborating with many other artists du jour as well as extending into other spheres within the Greater Boston area. Initially his son worked as a piano salesman and composer.

Sullivan, Jr. strayed away from the performance in dance-halls his father adopted and began to compose pieces of sheet music for various events and shows instead of proper performance.

Later on in his career, Sullivan, Jr. began a foray into the performance with a unique ethno-centric lens.

After penning a few Irish-themed pieces, he began to find success and recognition within the community.

Through this attraction, Dan Sullivan’s Shamrock Band was formed in the ’20s. Many of the groups of the time enjoyed record deals and more success within their genre until the beginning of the Great Depression, when many record labels cut their smaller niche markets signings.

The speaking portion of the night was a compelling wealth of information about the nature of Irish music in Boston in the early 20th century. The findings Neely presented were in many cases newly

verified, as many of the connections between performance, groups, and individuals could be verified for the first time. Additionally, the visuals Neely brought were also new, giving viewers a taste of photos of individuals that could not have been found in public records. The night’s speech adopted a sense of intrigue and investigation as Neely shared what he found.

Though individually each shred of evidence, whether a newspaper fragments, a small excerpt from a book, or a photograph, may seem insignificant, they help paint the larger canvas of this transgenerational story.

The night ended with Neely, Joey Abarta, and Sean Clohessy treating the audience to renditions of songs from the Shamrock Band and its members. Playing banjo, uilleann pipe, and violin/piano respectively, the renditions were the ultimate form of reverence to the recounted histories.

Showing the versatility of such music, the trio graced listeners with two jaunty jigs, enveloping the crowd in a warm and welcoming sound. Strong stamping of the feet and hearty yowls brought a flavor of authenticity to the songs as these would be traditionally danced to. A waltz saw the pace slow and tenderly progress with folkish embellishments of the pipes and banjo.

As the last notes of the pipes rang true and Abarta’s flurry of fingers ceased to dance about the instrument, the admiration for this kind of music was palpable.

Throughout the performance, the visual expressions between the trio and the sideways glances and smiles offered testament to a heritage being kept alive in word and in practices.

CALEB GRIEGO / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Neely painted a transgenerational story as he tied many musical elements into the fabric of Boston’s history.

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

9:@; Jk\gj kf @kj GXjk# =lkli\ BCID, from B8 mance by a guest group. The first was a performance by the Boston College Dance Ensemble, a group of female dancers at BC. It began with a slow beat progression as the dancers glided across the stage cloaked in shadow. As the music, “Cool Girl” by Tove Lo, picked up, more of Dance Ens emble j oine d the st age.

Dressed in tight black leotards, the performers demonstrated amazing flexibility while they g racef ully f lowe d b ack and forth. The second performance was by Fuego Del Corazon. As usual, BC’s Latin Dance team gave a stunning and sensual performance.

After the intermission, the crowd was in need of a little “pumping-up.” The first performance of the second act conjured images of Boston sports as the first notes of Celtic punk song, “Shipping Up To Boston,” played. Each of the members of the Irish Dance team was dressed in their favorite Boston sports teams’ gear, with one member representing the best Boston sports team, Boston College. inTensity was nothing if not eclectic in its choices for music taste. Mixed between the traditional music and Celtic

rock were genuine pop songs like “Can’t Stop the Feeling”

by Justin Timberlake—Jacqui Andrews, MCAS ’17, choreographed the number. She is one of the seniors on BCID, and despite its label as a generic pop song, chose it for its message.

“This song was chosen at the start of senior year when feeling a bit nostalgic thinking about the past years in dance,” Andrews said in the showbill.

Other modern songs chosen included “Hips Don’t Lie”

by Shakira—in which the dance team skillfully stepped in time with the beat while also adding a touch of flare and some purposeful hop swings, to the wild applause and cheers of the audience—“Bye Bye Bye” by *NSYNC, bringing the full range of Justin Timberlake to Robsham, and a number titled “The Life of Pablo,” which served as “a tribute to Kanye West and his ever growing artistry (and downward spiral),” according to choreographer Amanda Williams, MCAS ’17, in the program.

The highlight of the evening came at almost the very end of the performance. The second to last song was titled “Seniors,” featuring only the senior members of BCID. Besides the wealth of talent between the six perform-

ers, the audience could feel the sense of family between them.

As the graduating members of the team danced their hearts out, a slideshow of pictures played across the screen behind them.

Glimpses of the group at parties or dance gatherings with smiles from ear to ear added a heartfelt touch to the end of the show.

After the group photo slideshow, the photos changed to a collage of pictures featuring each senior as a young girl garbed in her traditional Irish dance dress. Smiles played across the faces of each audience member in reaction to the striking comparison, and contrast, between the little girls on the screen and the women dancing on stage. These dancers had choreographed a large part of the show, and it was clear that this one was special to them because, as well as being the 10th anniversary of BCID, it was their last. The inTensity show put on by BCID was stunning, powerful, and eclectic.

The club’s team is very deep, displaying clear talent from the younger members of the group.

While the show was a stunning performance and a fitting tribute to 10 years of Irish Dance, inTensity left the audience eager for next year’s performance.

Especially in the city of Boston, Irish Dance is alive and well.

B8

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

ARTS&REVIEW

@BCHEIGHTSARTS

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JULIA HOPKINS/ HEIGHTS EDITOR

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9P A8:F9 J:?@:B 8jjk% 8ikj I\m`\n <[`kfi High in the back rows of Robsham Theater, family and friends brimmed with eager anticipation. While waiting for the show to start, members of the crowd spent their time looking at the senior dedication pages in the showbill.

As the lights dimmed, signalling the start of the performance, an excited shout rose up from the crowd, embellished by cheers and applause.

The defending Showdown champions had arrived.

A voice blared over the speakers, announcing the title of the first dance number, “Light It Up,” in a distinct Irish brogue. The members of Boston College Irish Dance (BCID) , all female, appeared on stage complete with black tights, skirts, and the custom t-shirts depicting the name of the performance that night—inTensity, a celebration of the 10th anniversary of BCID. Stepping high on their toes, the dancers flew across the stage, forming moving lines and spinning circles. One group movement popular among the audience was, in lay terms, a “circle dance.” The dancers would join hands in a circle, spinning around and around. At a change in beat of the music, the circle would quickly divide in half, forming two spinning

circles. At a second change, these two circles would divide again. The patterns of whirling dancers were mesmerizing to watch. “Light It Up” seemed to be the perfect start to the show. The choreographer for the number, Aine McGovern, MCAS ’17, a senior on the team, said that she chose the song specifically for its pump-up value.

“I wanted our opening number to make a statement,” McGovern said in the show’s program. “To immediately get the crowd dancing in their seats and excited for what more is to come.”

After the dance team exited the stage to prepare for the next song, the lights dimmed again. The audience’s excitement, however, was not muted in the slightest. In the dark, the dancers were not on stage to entertain the crowd, so the crowd began to entertain itself. From every corner of the room, audience members yelled various whoops and hollers, met by giggles from the surrounding rows. Shouts of “Marco!” and answers of “Polo!” echoed through the main-stage auditorium of Robsham. A pseudocompetition from the different support groups for each performer began, shouting the names of the people they had come to see. Those who came to support “Maeve!” were out in especially vociferous numbers.

“Heartbeat” was the next song in the

performance, and it marked a brief transition from electronic music to more traditional Irish music. Choreographer Camille Homa, MCAS ’18 and a sports staffer for The Heights, chose the song after she saw the recent Boston show, “Heartbeat of Home.” “‘Heartbeat’ pays homage to the traditional Irish dance shows of our youth,” Homa said in the program. “No matter where I am, the heartbeat of Irish dance brings me home.”

The song was certainly more traditional, but the dancing seemed more modern. The performers stepped much faster, their feet flying back and forth. This dance put more on the line for BCID. The music was much quieter at times, and all the audience could hear was the tapping of shoes. This meant that if any of the performers slipped up and missed a step, the audience would have been able to hear it. No one missed a step, however, and the music was brought up in volume again—this time with a distinctly Spanish flavor. The dance number was aptly named, because as the song progressed, the heartbeat of the audience matched the rhythm of the music. Feet tapped the floor and heads bobbed in unison throughout the crowded auditorium.

In each of the acts, there was a perfor-

See BCID, B7

SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

Mf`Z\j I\`^e `e ?\Xm\ecp :_fiXc\ N`ek\i :feZ\ik 9P :8C<9 >I@<>F 8ikj I\m`\n <[`kfi The sopranos’ voices fluttered higher and higher, unleashing an upward cataract of notes, as if to challenge the rain pouring from the sky outside. The lower voices supported them until, all together, they reached a stunning conclusion of a unified final note. As conductor John Finney signaled the end, the silence thereafter allowed the beauty of that final note to mature, even after the reverberations of vocal chords had stopped.

In the concise rendition of Maurice Durufle’s “Tu es Petrus,” one can find larger themes present in the University Chorale of Boston College’s Winter Concert. Executing acutely with a wealth of talent, Chorale brings a life to its chants, no matter their duration, subject, or time of day. For that rainy night, much like St. Peter, Chorale remained a hallowed aural rock on which to comfortably rest.

Music Librarian Eddie Dols, MCAS ’18,

INSIDE

ARTS& REVIEW

described this concert as a preview for many of Chorale’s upcoming ventures in the spring.

As a foray into the spring’s content, Chorale treated listeners to two sections, “Quoniam tu solus sanctus” and “Cum sancto spiritu,” from Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria.” Such actions are used to create a continuity between each of Chorale’s distinct performances throughout the year.

Many of the pieces sung by Chorale began in a rather reticent fashion, only to give way to more complex vocal arrangements.

This was especially stirring when the voices diverged and subsequently reintegrated later in the piece. “Domine, non sum dignus” did this throughout, leaving listeners under a cyclic spell, as if watching a flower bloom and close in succession.

When not creating quietly emouvant moments, the raw power of Chorale’s many voices is immediately felt. Such power does not rest solely on the shoulders of the vocalists, as it points thematically to the higher power many of these songs touch upon. As many of the notes were raised,

a listener might be inclined to follow the progression upward with one’s eyes. The sound of these classical pieces coupled with the ornate architecture of St. Ignatius Church espouses the heavenly overtones to lyrical content of the pieces, the musical stylings, and the setting.

At one point, in a moment indicative of the valued relations forged in Chorale, Finney ceded his place as conductor to Kyung won Seo, MCAS ’17, for the performance of “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place.” The senior tenor and talented conductor had conducted the piece throughout the year during practice and, as a testament to his commitment did so once more for a rousing rendition of the German original.

In addition to its classical repertoire, Chorale also chanted more modern songs which allowed the night to adopt a different pace. “Wondrous Love,” arranged by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw, resounded widely and with strength with each addition of a vocal range. The song adopted a regal feel as the vocalists sang out emphatically “Oh my

soul, oh my soul.”

Spiritual hymn “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit” adopted a call and response format between the low and high voices, creating an audible connection with the audience and each other.

Director of publicity, Mimi Sperl, LSOE ’18, described the addition of more modern pieces as a breath of fresh air for Chorale.

Although many members are classically trained, interjections with modern pieces give a break from those more stringent, intensive pieces.

“This is one of our more fun concerts in the sense that we do some more contemporary pieces rather than the older classical music we feature throughout the year,” she said.

The night was one of elation as its members prepared for their Spring Break Tour in Rome. As they sang out, Chorale members attested to a bright future, unified in sound, heart, and mind. Though they may find success elsewhere in the world, their home will always harken them back to BC—beneath the crucifix in St. Ignatius.

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Nicolas Cage is one of, if not my overall, favorite actor. Though he has his fair share of faults, which critics regularly cite, seldom are his accomplishments spoken of. Recently, on an NFL panel discussion regarding who Hollywood would cast in a Tom Brady biopic, unanimously, the panel placed Cage as in the role of Commissioner Roger Goodell.

One of the members, Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, said, “A bad commissioner deserves a very bad actor, so Nic Cage goes with Roger Goodell.”

It troubles me that Cage has become synonymous with “bad actor.” In my mind, Cage is a great actor with a track record of questionable casting decisions. His roles have always, for better or worse, left a lasting impression. I don’t believe the phrase, “so bad it’s good” could exist without Mr. Cage. To me, his career embodies a famous quote by Oscar Wilde: “There is only one thing in this world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

This, in conjunction, with the idea that all publicity is good publicity attests as to why there is such a prominent social perception about Cage as an actor.

But what I am more interested in is why Cage is so often attributed as the poster child of bad acting. In many cases, actors’ careers are laced with ups and downs, successes and failure, but Cage, which has a lengthy list of both, often falls to disfavorable ends. Though the list detailing his commercial and critical successes may be much shorter, the notion that his status as an actor is as disparate as it is characterized is disingenuous.

I looked to films such as Raising Arizona, Wild At Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation, Bringing Out the Dead, and Joe as some of his best. Even The Rock, 8mm, The Weather Man, Next, and Knowing were enjoyable, though imperfect. His films that straddle the line, like Face/Off, Con Air, and Gone in 60 Seconds were enjoyable despite glaring problems and absurdities. Though it may seem I am just rattling off Cage’s films, I am really doing something more important. I am remembering them. Regardless of their content, sharing a common factor of one man, I can recall a lot about these movies. This is a testament to Cage’s success outside of the commercial and critical realms as he never leaves us bored, uninterested, and rarely are his performances forgettable.

People have also seen similar things and access why Cage has garnered his current reputation. Author Linsey Gibb, in a 2015 interview with Vice Magazine about her book Nicolas Cage: A National Treasure, explained why Cage has had such scrutiny put upon him.

“I think it’s because he’s a character actor who happens to be really famous. If someone else did it, they would be that guy in that film who you keep seeing,” she said.

“But because he is the top-billed guy in movies, they expect a certain type of actor, or someone who’s cultivated a career that is one thing. But because he does so many different things, it’s hard to make sense of him.”

Cage is known for trying new things and seeking to further himself in the acting craft. Though this does not always pan out, he embarks on such forays wholeheartedly. I would venture to say that there are few performances in which Cage is simply phoning it in. Though criticism has been leveled against him in relation to his spending habits and choice in roles, his acting almost never feels subservient to any other master than Cage himself.

Addressing criticism from Sean Penn, who said “He’s not an actor, he’s a performer,” Cage responded strongly and resiliently in a 2013 interview with The Guardian.

“In a way I agree with him,” Cage said. “I would rather be a performer than an actor.

Acting to me implies lying. ‘He’s the greatest actor in the world’ is like saying, ‘He’s the greatest liar in the world.’ To perform, in my opinion, is more about emotion.”

Emotion is something Cage surely does not lack. With every eccentric performance added to his volumes of work, Cage feels alive and well—a performer like no other.

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