The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919
THE HEIGHTS THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010
Vol. XCI, No. 12
Ross: ‘We disagree on this issue’
www.bcheights.com
Class of ’14 athletes get a start BC currently hosts pre-freshmen football players on campus
BY MICHAEL CAPRIO News Editor
BY TAYLOUR KUMPF Asst. News Editor
Michael Ross, City of Boston councilman, pressured a group of students and administrators last night to “appreciate” the circumstances surround the city’s “No More than Four” zoning law – an issue currently dividing city and student leaders. “I didn’t come here to be convinced to go back on this issue,” Ross said, who authored the zoning law in 2008. “You have to know that we disagree on this issue.” During his speech to a group of members of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC), Ross responded to student statements that said the zoning ordinance is discriminatory toward undergraduate students and that it forces them to pay higher rent than they would with more roommates. Members of the UGBC Senate invited Ross to BC to speak on the housing issues. During a question and answer period following his presentation, Tyler Schenck, UGBC senator and A&S ’12, raised the issued of discrimination against college students. “This law singles out one group of the populace, and to me that strictly is discrimination,” he said. Ross, who represents Boston’s district eight, defended his zoning law, stating that he had the interests of local families and the development of Boston’s communities in mind. “There are families that lost their home,” he said. “And that’s something that didn’t come up until two hours into the meeting. And that’s wrong. These people aren’t in this room. They’re not even in the neighborhood.” During his introductory presentation, Ross discussed what he saw as an issue facing the City of Boston – the loss of its young post-graduate population. “Despite that fact that we have a steady flow of [students], our undergraduate population rises by about 2 percent every year, we are losing you,” he said. “The 20 to 34-year-old population in Boston KEVIN HOU / HEIGHTS EDITOR
See Ross, A4
Boston City Councilman Michael Ross encouraged BC students to consider the rationale for his zoning law.
Walsh Hall to host check-in station Pilot program aims to supplement swipe card system in enhancing security in campus residence halls BY ANA T. LOPEZ
Special Projects Editor Students who secure suites in Walsh Hall in this week’s housing lottery will notice a difference in their new residence even before they enter the front doors next fall. As part of a pilot program designed by the Office of Residential Life (ResLife), the building’s current card reader will be exchanged for a manned security desk from Thursday afternoons to the early hours of Sunday mornings beginning in the fall of 2010. The desk will act as a barrier against uninvited guests from outside the Boston
INSIDE SPORTS
College community, preventing them from entering the residence hall. BC students will be required scan their IDs at the desk to be admitted during the specified times, while those not affiliated with the University will have to be signed into the building by residents. “We want to make sure our building is open for the BC student, but that people that don’t belong here should not be in the buildings,” said Henry Humphreys, director of residential life. “The idea is that it would challenge anyone that is not affiliated with BC at all to just walk into the building at will.” Humphreys said that BC students
would notice little difference in entering the building. “Just as a BC student would be able to swipe to be able to get into any other building, they would be able to do it here as well,” he said. “The nice part is that if someone was to find a BC ID and swipe it and get in, you now have someone watching them swipe and saying, that’s not the person.” BC is one of a few major universities in Boston that lacks a desk security program in residential halls, mainly because it is a residential campus. But because of this, Humphreys is intent on ensuring that the program will not interfere with the lifestyle that BC students have come
to expect. “For students in Walsh next year, this is not to take away from their residential experience, but this is to provide more enhanced security in their environment,” he said. “I want to make sure that whatever desk program we develop, it does not take away from the culture of BC students being able to see each other.” Student leaders from the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC) collaborated on the program’s development, and some had qualms about how the desks would be staffed. Humphreys said that
In the past several years, Boston College has allowed select student-athletes to enroll early in the spring semester of what would be their senior year of high school. Although many universities view the chance to enroll athletes early solely in terms of the students’ athletic potential, BC only offers the opportunity to athletes who are competitive academically. “We only look at incoming student-athletes with good academic standing, who are done with all their high school work,” said Chris Cameron, associate athletics director of media relations. “It’s not a fit for everyone. We would never talk to a student who wasn’t academically ready.” Cameron said that the practice originated due to schools’ desires to get football players onto the practice field in time for spring workouts. “Although having the ability to work out with teammates can benefit [these students] athletically, this is not our philosophy,” Cameron said. “It’s more like the icing on the cake.” The practice of early enrollment is relatively new for BC, which has only offered the opportunity to athletes for the past four years. “BC has had very few football players enroll early,” Cameron said. Three players enrolled early this year, the most ever according to Cameron.
See Athletes, A3
The Heights will host two guest lecturers – NPR correspondent Martha Bebinger and BBC foreign correspondent James Reynolds – in the Walsh Hall Function Room at 7 p.m. this evening.
See Door Program, A4
Students produce two new shows BY MATTHEW DELUCA Editor-in-Chief
BC enters Hockey East tournament as one of the favorites, A10
THE SCENE
The Scene explores the artistic wonders of Spain , B1
MARKETPLACE
Chile struggles to reach victims in aftermath of earthquake, B10 Classifieds, A5 In the News, B10 Editorials, A6 Editors’ Picks, A9 Forecast on Washington, B7 On the Flip Side, B6 Police Blotter, A2 Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down, A7 Videos on the Verge, B2 Weather, A2
In the tradition of the Baldwin student film awards and student-produced shows like The BC, a new wave of students have turned their wit and wide-angle lenses on campus life. Two new student shows, BC Senior Five and The Hillsides, take a comic turn on all things Boston College. It was two days before spring break, but Ryan McDaid, Christian Harrington, and Ted Dillon, all A&S ’10, and Mike Wolf, A&S ’12, had turned a room in the O’Connell House into a film studio. Reilly Dinius, CSOM ’10, in a black suit with white socks – “They draw the eyes,” he said – sat in front of a large potted plant. They were filming the next video in the BC Senior Five series, conceived by Dillon and McDaid. As most BC students will know, the senior five is one of those student traditions that is not likely to make its way into the freshman orientation program. Members of the senior class make a list of the five people they want to hook up with before graduation. McDaid said that the idea for a series of videos came to him while home over Christmas break. He filmed the first video himself, which he sent to some friends. In the video, McDaid played a mustachioed Arizona Iced Tea imbiber who struggled to define what exactly the practice of senior five is: “Senior five is like Christmas in that you make a list and then get presents in the form of girls. That doesn’t sound good,” he says. “It’s a time when you get to make ends meet. Get to have meetings with people. With girls.” The videos are hosted on their own site, bcseniorfive.com, which has had about 7,000 visits. The four principle Senior Five players have produced five videos since winter break. “Every episode has a premise that gets derailed by the people who are in it,” McDaid said. Wolf, Harrington, McDaid, and Dillon have created characters and running jokes for themselves over the episodes they have produced so far, but each installment also features some other member of the student body, like Dinius, making a guest appearance. “We’ll have an idea, then write it about a person on campus who is not in our group,” McDaid said. “The goal is to get BC involved in it.”
KEVIN HOU / HEIGHTS EDITOR
The cast of the online series Senior Five poke fun at a notorious senior tradition using the campus as their television studio. Each video takes shape over the course of the filming and editing process. Though the crew starts out with a script, the finished product may end up looking like something else entirely. “I love how most of this isn’t fake,” Wolf said. “What sucks is that we have to edit these down to about five minutes.” Wolf said that the show is not just for seniors. As the de facto representative for underclassmen, Wolf said that he is a reminder that making out is not just for those about to graduate. Wolf holds the boom mic on the set, but does not stay out of the camera’s view for
long. During the shoot, he and Harrington, as much as Dillon and McDaid, guide the video’s direction. By the time they wrap, Wolf will have offered careful critiques of McDaid’s character, debated the finer points of Lady Gaga’s posture, and walked around with ab muscles outlined on his stomach in discount eyeliner. Wolf said that he is working on a dating guide for underclassmen “to show that there are ways to find love in all parts of the BC community.”
See Student Shows, A3