downed by dartmouth
cover the night HOlogram fest
sports
metro
the scene
The baseball team got by St. John’s but lost to Dartmouth yesterday, A10
Invisible Children’s publicity event does not come to fruition, B10
The Scene resurrects and reunites some of the best acts from the past, B1
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Vol. XCIII, No. 23
O’Neill Plaza going green for the fall Cherry trees and grass will replace the existing concrete in one of the University’s most traversed areas By David Cote News Editor
When students return for classes next fall, one of the most traversed spaces on campus will have a brand new look. Starting the day after Commencement, May 22, the University will begin renovating O’Neill Plaza to transform the area into a green space, with trees and grass replacing the existing concrete. Though often regarded as one of the least aesthetically pleasing areas on campus, the changes to the plaza
will create a new green space following the destruction of the Dustbowl last fall. “This will serve to ‘soften’ the look of the plaza in front of O’Neill,” said Mary Nardone, associate vice president for capital projects. “But at the same time, the lawn is designed to still be able to handle—with perhaps some minor adaptations—the regular slate of events and activities taking place there.” The main diagonal path across the plaza, from the library to the Quad, will remain concrete, with grass on each side and trees ringing the edges of the plaza. The
plaza will still be available for large-scale activities, like the Mass of the Holy Spirit each fall, as well as events put on by various student organizations. Besides the addition of trees and grass, the plaza will be regraded so that the lowest level of the plaza will be even with the entrance to O’Neill Library, removing the stairs in front of the library. The project will be completed by the fall semester, according to Facilities Management, but the plaza will remain largely closed during the summer months. Pedestrians will have to circumnavigate the plaza during the summer when traveling from Lower Campus towards
See O’Neill Plaza, A1
photo courtesy of the office of news and public affairs
The view of O’Neill Plaza from the Quad (above) will be vastly different in the fall of 2012. The University plans to replace the existing concrete in the plaza with grass and trees.
BC’s invisible disabilities brought to light Issues for students with disabilities go unnoticed By Andrew Millette Assoc. News Editor
This is the first in a three part series on student disabilities at Boston College. Boston College students are forced to think about the activities of a variety of student groups every day as they pass by bright advertisements while walking through campus. It is not unusual for thousands of BC students to be aware of the upcoming activities of a group composed of only 25 people. There is a group of approximately 200 students united by a commonality, however, that the general BC population is rarely, if ever, forced to consider: students with disabilities. Students with learning disabilities, including conditions like dyslexia and ADD, may be the least considered of all, as they lack the cast or wheelchair that obviously differentiates them from someone without disabilities. Many BC students are therefore unaware of the struggles that these students go through, and the differences between their academic experience and that of a student with disabilities. Paulette Durrett, assistant dean for students with disabilities in the Office of the Dean for Student Development (ODSD), is very aware of the needs of students with disabilities, and works each day to make their academic experience as normal as possible. “My office ensures that the accommodations that students get help them to be
See Disabilities, A4
Spring concert sends no students to the hospital
GLC elects leadership for 2012-2013
By Andrew Millette Assoc. News Editor
Tingley, Hendricks to further develop council By Brigid Wright Heights Staff
On Sunday, the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) had elections for presidential and vice presidential positions for the 2012-2013 academic year. With one candidate running for president and four for vice president, the current council deliberated on Sunday night after positions were proposed and a question and answer session. Joshua Tingley, A&S ’13, was elected GLC president and Erica Hendricks, A&S ’14, was elected GLC vice president. Carolyn McCrosson, current GLC president and A&S ’12, expressed her satisfaction with all the candidates, the results of the election, and the future of the GLC. As many of her own goals were accomplished during her time as president, she anticipates further development and growth from the new council. “I relooked at my platforms [before the elections] to tell the candidates what to expect, and realized I did a lot of the things I set out to do,” McCrosson said. With ambitions to have transgender awareness become more prominent, McCrosson mentioned she was pleased to begin the reintroduction of transgender issues, because a lot of times these issues get left out. McCrosson also discussed the 10year plan GLC has outlined and how she anticipates it will progress in the coming years. “Progress has been slow because of the administration, but we’re taking another look at what we’re supposed to be doing this year and seeing if we’re on track,” McCrosson said.
See GLC, A4
eun hee kwon / for the heights
Jackson Katz, an anti-sexism author and educator, spoke about ending violent masculinity.
Katz links language and violence By Mary Rose Fissinger Heights Editor
Modifying convention proved to be the theme in all senses of anti-sexism educator, author, and filmmaker Jackson Katz’s talk Monday night. Sporting jeans, a t-shirt, a blazer that seemed to be made of black felt, earrings, and a 5 o’clock shadow, he asked the audience’s permission to step out from behind the podium for his speech, because, he said, “stuffy isn’t really my style.” The talk, titled, “Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity,” took place in Devlin 008 and was the spring event for the Golden Key Honors Society. It was co-sponsored by the African and African Diaspora Studies Program, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, and the Women’s Resource Center. The dominant theme of Katz’s speech was how certain constructs of our current society, such as language and media, inadvertently serve to perpetuate the problem of sexual abuse. They dictate how we perceive and process information, and they need to be changed for real progress to be made. “If you can help people think about the way they think, it’ll have an exponential
effect on them, on you, on us,” Katz said. Shortly after abandoning the podium, Katz dove into a critique of the use of the term “women’s issues” to mean sexual assault. “Calling it ‘women’s issues’ gives men a reason to not pay attention,” he said. As the co-founder of the Mentors in Violence Protection program and one of the creators of the Bystander Approach, both sexual abuse education programs geared primarily towards men, Katz is an advocate for getting men more involved in the prevention of sexual assault. “True prevention means going to the root cause of the problem, and the root cause of the problem is not girls and women,” he said. He identified conventional terminology in matters relating to sexual assault as one of the huge obstacles to his goal. He noted that statistics are always phrased in the passive voice: “This many women were raped this year,” rather than “This many men raped women this year.” He claimed that the absence of an agent shifts the focus to the victims rather than the assaulters. He then referenced Julia Penelope, a
See Katz, A4
After hosting two consecutive concerts that featured between 30 and 40 alcoholrelated medical transports, the UGBC has managed to organize a concert that didn’t send a single Boston College student to the hospital. “No one was sent to the hospital,” said Mark Miceli, associate director of the Student Programs Office. “We’re very happy about the concert. It’s a great outcome.” The 2012 Spring Concert featured a total of three medical incidents, only two of which were alcohol-related. These students were treated by Eagle EMS in conjunction with the BCPD and then released. The event, which was headlined by Third Eye Blind and Nelly, ended the moratorium placed on concerts held at Conte Forum by the administration after the large number of transports at the Fall and Spring Concerts of the 2010-2011 academic year. Last Friday’s concert was only allowed after a number of UGBC-proposed
measures intended to limit drinking were accepted by the administration as part of its review of the future of concerts in Conte. The adopted measures included an earlier start time, an earlier doors-close time, and bigger headliners. “I don’t think you can attribute the decrease in transports to one particular factor,” Miceli said. “I’m sure there were a lot of factors involved. The earlier start time resulted in an earlier doors-close time. The UGBC and Sharon Blumenstock, the assistant director in our office who was advising the concert, did an excellent job of getting the doors-close time out. We actually had everyone in the concert by 6:10, which I think was a huge contributing factor.” Though the planned anti-drinking measures were certainly effective, Miceli believes unanticipated consequences of the time change also played a role in limiting alcohol consumption. “A factor we didn’t consider was that Conte Forum has skylights,” he said. “It was
See Future Concerts, A4
daniel lee / Heights editor
Only three concert-goers required medical attention this year, with no transports to the hospital.