The Heights April 7, 2016

MOVIN’ MIL-ON

UP AND COMING

MATT MICHIENZE BAND

SPORTS

METRO

SCENE

Freshman Matt Milon has decided to transfer from BC, B8

Two BC students are running the Boston Marathon for a cause, A4

Junior Matt Michienzie discusses crafting his band and being with The Acoustics, B3

www.bcheights.com

HE

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Vol. XCVII, No. 18

established

1919

Thursday, April 7, 2016

=XZlckp ;feXk\[ <oZclj`m\cp kf ;\dfZiXk`Z GXikp `e )'(+$(, 9P C<@>? :?8EE<CC ?\`^_kj <[`kfi As the presidential election draws closer, students and faculty from universities across the nation join the political race. At Boston College, the conversation between students is diverse, as every background shapes differing political views. When observing donations made to campaigns by BC employees, however, the results are decidedly universal—every donation made by individuals listing BC as their primary employer was sent to Democratic political campaigns.

The majority of campaigns supported by BC faculty were not, in fact, in support of any particular presidential candidates—the campaign garnering the most support was that of Eric Kingson, a Congressman from upstate New York and former BC faculty member.

Twenty-five percent of donations made by faculty members were in support of the professor and social security adviser’s run for Congress. The secondmost popular campaign, however, was in favor of a presidential candidate. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign received 17.86 percent of donations made by BC faculty, a distinct advantage over the 3.57 percent made to Senator Bernie Sanders’ “Bernie 2016” campaign. Other campaigns garnering support included ActBlue, a Democratic

fundraising effort, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

This data isn’t surprising, as it is not unusual to see professors and educators leaning left in their political stances. According to a study published in The Daily Signal in January, professors who identify as liberal outnumber conservatives five to one. Yet the conversation at BC extends beyond left-wing politics.

Jason Donnelly, professor of theology and a current town meeting member in his hometown of Arlington, Mass., elaborated on his experience with politics as a BC graduate school student.

“There was a wonderful political diversity,” he said. “It was great because there was a wide spectrum of political beliefs and a kind of commitment to reasonable engagement. Topics were engaged in confidence, with a kind of trusting relationship—it was never a debate.”

Looking only at active donors may not be an accurate representation of the entire BC community, a fact worth considering before making generalizations based on the public records.

The political discussion on college campuses extends much farther than the limits of Chestnut Hill. In February, the Harvard Crimson released a report with results fairly similar to BC’s. Out of BC professors’ donations to only presidential campaigns, 83 percent went to Hillary

ABBY PAULSON / HEIGHTS GRAPHIC

Clinton, with 17 percent going to Bernie Sanders. At Harvard, 91 percent of donations to current presidential candidates went to Hillary Clinton in a similar majority. Their donation history did differ in that it did include Republican candidates—Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie received funding from Harvard

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faculty, instructors, and researchers.

Harvard does not have a history of subscribing to Jesuit ideals, however, which traditionally align with conservative politics. Georgetown University, a school that promotes the same Catholic values of BC, is also similar in political alignment. The Hoya disclosed in 2008

that over 70 percent of donated funds went toward Democratic candidates, with a distinct majority going directly to candidates’ campaigns rather than general party committees. The political environment on the campus is similarly

See Donations, A8

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8[d`e`jkiXk`fe# L>9:# jkl[\ekj kXcb XYflk gif^i\jj 9P >I@==@E <CC@FKK ?\`^_kj <[`kfi Monday evening, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College and the BC administration hosted a dinner entitled “Boston College Looking Forward.” The event allowed students to discuss their visions for the future of BC while the administrators in attendance facilitated the discussions and recorded students’ answers.

“We made this hybrid event as a starting point, to have more events like this going forward,” Sloan Renfro, UGBC vice president of student initiatives and MCAS ’16, said.

Hosted in the Heights Room in Corcoran Commons, about 60 students discussed issues of school diversity, upholding Jesuit ideals, and the lack of proper communication between UGBC and some members of the administration.

Administrators made it clear at the beginning of the session that the night was not meant to answer specific questions but rather to produce questions to be considered during the administration’s “18-Month Process” for strategic planning.

“Looking at the timeline, there is a lot of opportunity being planned in the fall for feedback based on what we’ve learned here, and how we’re moving forward as a steering committee,” Vice President for Student Affairs Barbara Jones said.

UGBC and the administration aimed to form an atmosphere best-suited to a casual, welcoming environment, where students felt free to provide their opinions and experiences.

Additionally, UGBC saw the event as an opportunity for students to get closer to administrators, Katie Lamirato, UGBC director of transparency and MCAS ’18, said.

Several administrators from multiple departments were present.

“I think we had really good conversations with UGBC at the start about how we might be able to make the event work, and a lot of it was their vision combined with what the University was looking for in terms of student feedback, and I think it turned out really well,” Jones said.

Before students delved into smaller group discussion, Executive Vice President Michael Lochhead and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley explained the goals of the night.

“What kind of university do we want to leave for those that come next?” Quigley asked

See UGBC, A3

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Jkl[\ek$8k_c\k\j :Xcc ]fi 9\kk\i Gc\o 9P J?8EEFE CFE>NFIK? ?\`^_kj JkX]] The plan for the $200 million project to construct new athletic facilities on the Boston College campus is being petitioned for its lack of competitive resources in the realm of Division I athletics.

Last week, an online petition was posted on change.org with the goal of collecting 500 signatures.

According to the explanation, if the desired number of signatures is gathered, the petition will be delivered to BC Athletics.

The current plan includes a new recreation facility that will replace the Flynn Recreational Complex, as well as a field house and fields for use by various athletic teams. The anonymous author of the pe-

tition identifies himself as “BC EAGLES ALL” and begins by describing his excitement about the project. From there, the author moves on to list all of the problems he sees with the project’s plan.

“That new plan will replace the Plex with an under-performing facility that will not meet the needs of intercollegiate athletics, will not appeal to prospective students or recruits, and will actually reduce the options for students to stay active on our health- and fitness-minded campus,” the author writes.

The pool and tennis courts are of particular interest to the author, who explained that, in order to compete with other swimming and diving programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the BC team will need to have access to a pool that is either 25 yards by 50 meters, or 25

yards by 25 meters with a diving well. The author said that the pool that BC plans to build does not reach these standards.

When asked about the petition, Director of Athletics Brad Bates responded by saying that faculty members in his position routinely receive these types of petitions, which often contain inaccurate information. Therefore, it is the athletic department’s policy not to respond to them.

According to Bates’ announcement on Feb. 22, the construction for the project will begin this summer, and is predicted to take two years to complete.

“The plan in the works for the new recreation complex will reflect the University’s needs and address the evolving demands of intercollegiate athletics at Boston College,” Bates said.

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THE HEIGHTS

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things to do on campus this week

Joshua Landis, director of the center for Middle East studies at the University of Oklahoma, will present on ISIS, Christians, and national identity in the Middle East on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Cushing 001. The event is sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public LIfe.

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

Boston College Women’s Summit: Own It will host Sophia Amoruso, founder of Nasty Gal and author of best-selling novel #Girlboss, Susan Bissell, UNICEF’s Child Protection chief, and Libby Moore, Oprah’s former chief of staff. The event is Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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On Saturday morning, the Woods College for Advancing Studies will hold an open house for all undergraduate students.

The event will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Woods College Conference Room in St. Mary’s Hall South.

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Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, BC ’77, will receive the 2016 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston on May 1. He was chosen for this prestigious public service award for his work in defending the U.S. resettlement of Syrian refugees following the Nov. 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris and personally welcoming a family of Syrian refugees to New Haven after they were turned away by another state.

Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s grandson, will present the award to Malloy.

“As half of U.S. governors, leading presidential candidates and countless others across the country voice support for a ban on Syrian refugees from entering the United States, Governor Dannel Malloy took a stand against the hateful, xenophobic rhetoric,” Schlossberg said on the JFK Profile in Courage Award Web site. “In doing so, he put principles above politics and upheld my grandfather’s vision of America that ‘has always served as a lantern in the dark for those who love freedom but are persecuted, in misery, or in need.’”

Malloy has remained committed to helping those fleeing persecution and searching for freedom.

“If refugees—many who are children fleeing a horrific, war-torn country—seek and are granted asylum after a rigorous security process, we should and will welcome them in Connecticut,” Malloy said.

8 E\n MG =fi =XZlck`\j Billy Soo, the accounting department chair, was named as the next vice provost for faculties. He will assume his new position on June 1 following the retirement of Pat DeLeeuw, who is retiring after serving Boston College for 37 years.

“I’ve gotten to know Billy Soo through his energetic leadership of the accounting department and the Catalyst Program in the Carroll School and his committed service over many years to the University-wide Diversity Steering Committee,” Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley said to the Office of News and Public Affairs.

“He has done a particularly good job in hiring and mentoring an exceptional group of faculty at the departmental level. I’m looking forward to working more closely with him in his new role as vice provost for faculties starting this summer.”

In his new position, Soo will help Quigley with faculty outreach, hiring, and retention.

Soo has taught financial accounting and financial statement analysis since he began working at BC in 1990. He has served as accounting chairman since 2006 and worked with the University Strategic Planning Initiative, University Institutional Diversity Committee, Aquino Scholarship Committee, NEASC Review Committee, and University Budget Committee. He has also served as an undergraduate and graduate faculty advisor.

“I am excited to work with them and Provost Quigley in making Boston College the prime destination for faculty who share the University’s goals of providing intellectual leadership and fostering student learning and formation,” Soo said to News and Public Affairs.

Brad Bates, Boston College’s director of athletics since 2012, began his Agape Latte talk Tuesday evening by telling the audience that he was raised in Port Huron, Mich., where has was educated by the same school district that expelled Thomas Edison. His parents, who were both educators, contributed to the importance and value that education carries for him.

Bates’ talk followed a performance by the Heightsmen of Boston College. Through three stories, Bates explained living in the present, God’s presence, and the magnitude of different ideas that students are given access to through the University.

He was raised with exposure to many different religious perspectives—Methodist, First Congregationalist, and Catholic. The minister at the Bates family’s church would invite the local rabbi and the local priest to give homilies. From his childhood, he engaged difference as a source of growth, especially in a religious sense. His faith in God, Jesus, and the afterlife was solidified and validated—at least, until Mr. Miller’s 10thgrade English class.

After reading the book No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain in this class, Bates’ faith was shaken. He doubted the existence of an afterlife, he said. He researched everything he could about the afterlife, out-of-body experiences, doctors reviving flat-lined patients, and anything else he could think of.

Then, when he was a sophomore in college, he took a course

With springtime comes a resurgence of familiar outdoor events at Boston College, but this week, one fashionable feature will make its debut.

UGBC first-years Carolyn Townsend, MCAS ’17, and Hailey Shewfelt, MCAS ’18, have organized a clothing swap to promote sustainability through trading and reusing unwanted items. Townsend is the director of environmental and sustainability programming in UGBC’s student initiatives branch, while Shewfelt is the assistant director. The event will take place this Friday.

“It’s essentially BC’s first-ever clothing swap, and the whole purpose of it is to encourage thrift shopping and wearing used clothes in a way to be more sustainable environmentally,” Townsend said.

Part of Townsend and Shewfelt’s larger goal with the project is to bring sustainable clothing habits into fashion.

POLICE BLOTTER Monday, April 4 8:45 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a traffic crash on the Brighton Campus Roadways.

Tuesday, April 5 4:12 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a fire alarm activation in the modular apartments.

5:14 a.m. - A report was filed regardng medical assistance provided to a BC student at O’Neill Library.

12:17 p.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance pro-

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JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Brad Bates, director of athletics, spoke at Agape Latte’s finale, followed by a performance from the Heightsmen. called Cadaver Anatomy, where he saw his first dead body.

“One of the most powerful ‘aha’ moments of my life was when I walked into that room, and I saw that body, and I realized that [the body] is not soul, that [the body] is just a container,” Bates said. “It’s a way we visually and optically relate to one another, and envision one another.”

After this realization, Bates decided to stop worrying about the afterlife, or whether there was an afterlife, and focus on his current life. He now sees life as a series of “afterlives,” explaining that the afterlife of high school for the audience was BC, and the afterlife of BC would be the real world.

“Live in the moment ,” he urged students.

Bates called the next story he

told “God’s presence.”

He recalled the first time he was introduced to his wife, Michele, who had attended the University of Michigan with him, and was also from Michigan, and how he, regretfully, did not get her number before summer break. That summer, Michele suffered serious injuries from a car accident. She spent four days in a coma with a fractured neck. For the two years following the accident, Michele had to learn how to talk and walk over again.

When she finally returned to school, on her first day, Bates recalled that he ran into her, almost literally, as he was biking to class. Thankfully, Bates left this encounter with her number.

Pausing to reflect, Bates explained how, had Michele not experienced the arduous journey

of recovering from her accident, Bates never would have met her.

“Don’t overanalyze life,” Bates said. “It’ll come to you. God’s presence will take care of it.”

His final story was about how the world outside of football opened up to him during his junior year of college. His friends dragged him to a talk that Noam Chomsky was giving on campus one day, despite having no interest in anything besides football at the time. He entered the room, sat down, and, suddenly, he felt the world open up to him.

Renowned speakers from across the globe, he realized, were coming to college campuses to teach students about their experiences, opinions, hardships, and successes.

“And I only get four years of this?” Bates said.

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“[It’s about] promoting the culture of being able to reuse something and having that be really accessible and attractive for students here on campus,” Shewfelt said.

Townsend and Shewfelt are tabling this week to collect clothing items between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. outside of Carney or in the McElroy Commons lobby in the case of inclement weather. They will also be in Corcoran Commons between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. For each item donated, each student will receive a credit to take home one item from the swap.

The actual swap will take place on Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the Stokes Lawn. Students are free to donate clothing at the actual swap or simply purchase any item for $5. Townsend and Shewfelt stated that they have already collected a number of donations and have even found plenty of clothing to be donated when going through their own closets and their friends’ closets.

Proceeds from the swap will go

to the Nature Conservancy, an international organization that promotes sustainability education and research alongside its conservation efforts.

Townsend came up with the idea for a clothing swap over a year ago.

“When I was going through my closet, I realized that I have all these going-out clothes that I never wore anymore,” she said. “And they weren’t really types of clothing you would donate to Goodwill or a homeless shelter, and a lot of my friends were in the same situation…

So I came up with the idea of a clothing swap for people to get new clothes but without having to spend any more money.”

Shewfelt noted that the two biggest challenges of the swap were figuring out the logistics and promoting it at BC. She and Townsend expect many donations at the actual sale on Friday. They hope for enthusiasm and student participation, which will determine the success of the sale both this spring and in subsequent years.

“This is the first time this has

happened on BC’s campus, so I think a lot of people are unfamiliar with the idea,” Townsend said. “Sometimes it’s hard to communicate new ideas like this, especially when there are so many details. So that’s definitely been a challenge for us, but I think it’s going to work out really well on the day of, and we’re very excited.”

The event precedes BC’s second annual Earth Day Fair on April 22.

The Earth Day Fair, planned by the UGBC Environmental Caucus, will also take place on Stokes Lawn and will feature several groups, including BC organizations, the Environmental Sciences Department, non-BC food vendors, representatives from L.L. Bean, and campus architects. The two events will work in conjunction.

Townsend and Shewflelt hope to promote awareness of and dialogue about issues of sustainability and how students at BC figure into them.

“I think one of our biggest goals is just to show students how big of a role sustainability plays in their everyday lives, whether they know it or not,” Shewfelt said.

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CORRECTIONS

In the article titled ‘PBS Documentary Series on Mental Health,’ it stated that the series would premier in 2017.

The broadcasts started in spring of 2016. It also said that the episodes are seven to 10 minutes, but they are actually half-hour episodes. It is also 12 episodes long.

4/4/16 - 4/6/16

vided to a BC student who was transported to a medical facility from Campanella Way. 12:34 p.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance provided to a minor at the Haley Carriage House Day Care Center.

11:23 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance at O’Neill Library.

7:04 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a larceny from Stokes Hall.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

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THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, April 7, 2016

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By Sophie Reardon News Editor

By Chris Russo Heights Staff Lu Pin, a trailblazing feminist leader in China, founded Feminist Voices, an online journal devoted to women’s issues, in 2009 when she felt it was time to speak out against the Chinese government’s lack of policy regarding LGBT and women’s issues.

Pin, a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, addressed Boston College students in a talk about her feminist activism in her home country of China on Wednesday evening.

The event is a part of the Daniel C. Morrissey ’88 and Chanannait Paisansathan, MD, Lecture Series in Asian Studies and was hosted by the Asian studies program and the history department.

“I received messages from many people,” she said regarding her feminist work in China. “I had found a community I had never heard from before—Chinese feminists.

By 2011, a new feminist community was coming together.”

The creation of Pin’s feminist journal and the emergence of a more vocal feminist movement in China prompted groups of small women to protest against domestic and sexual violence in China.

The first of these demonstrations took place on Valentine’s Day in 2012.

A group of women dressed in bloody bridal gowns marched the streets of Beijing to protest the prevalence of domestic violence in relationships in China. The women who marched had personally witnessed or dealt with domestic violence and spoke out against how acceptable these acts were. For too long, Chinese women have suffered in silence, they said.

The slogan of the march was “Love is not an excuse for violence,” and the women chanted this phrase as they walked through the streets.

Pin also discussed the “Bald Sisters” protest that took place in Guangzhou. To take action against discriminatory admission rates at the university in Guangzhou, a small group of women shaved their heads and held signs, speaking out against the difference in gender criteria to enter the university. Women would have to score higher than men on the exams to be admitted to the university.

In response, the Bald Sisters took action and spoke out against these unfair policies. Questioning Chinese authority openly was extremely risky, so many women supported the movement online, posting pictures of their shaven heads on social media. To the women’s delight, the minister of education eliminated a majority of the gender biased policies in the university’s admission.

“Feminism is still considered radical in China,” Pin said. “Because it is considered radical, the movement has attracted some bold, young people.”

Five young Chinese women who were bold enough to hold protests in China were arrested for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” according to the Chinese government.

Once news of their arrests became public, #FreeTheFive became a trending topic on social media. Although the women were released on bail, they remain under close surveillance by the Chinese government.

“I think this is a very difficult time for feminist activism globally.

People should start at a small scale an attack the patriarchy at different places,” Pin said.

Pin hopes American feminists will pay attention to the feminist movement in China. In the age of the Internet, she encouraged BC students to support the cause via social media. The main page for the feminist activism in China is called “Free Chinese Feminists” and has over 5,000 likes.

Despite some setbacks, Pin has a positive attitude toward the growing feminist movement in China.

“We need to develop more ways to organize to gain more participation,” she said. “As long as the movement has a strong goal, we can create change.”

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Boston College students and faculty laid on Stokes Lawn on Monday, the date of Martin Luther King’s asssassination.

Thirty-one Boston College students and faculty laid on the snowcovered Stokes Lawn on Monday evening to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in calling to end police brutality and racial discrimination. The die-in lasted for 16 minutes—one minute for each bullet that struck Laquan McDonald when he was killed by police in Chicago on Oct. 20, 2014.

The die-in was organized by the Committee for the Integration for Social Justice in Psychology and the Graduate Students of Color Association.

O ver 60 college campuses across the nation held die-ins on Apr. 4, the 48th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., at 6 p.m., the approximate time of King’s death.

The group chose to use McDonald’s death as a guideline for the die-in because the college students who first decided to host the die-in on Monday are from Chicago.

“This all sprouted from their interest in drawing attention to this incident as one example of a larger problem—of police brutality—that basically constitutes a mental health crisis in the U.S.,” Bryn Spielvogel,

LGSOE ’17, said.

In accordance with BC’s code of conduct, the die-in was pre-approved by the University.

“As a committee, we’re interested in getting involved in social justice agendas and trying to further push psychology in the direction of being very active in terms of social justice events,” Spielvogel said.

The group first heard about the nationwide event via email from a student representative from the American Psychological Association.

“In general, it’s something that we all care about,” Spielvogel said.

This event, she said, was also to show that psychologists need to help find solutions to this issue because it affects their clients and their research, and psychologists have the potential to perpetuate racial discrimination.

As graduate psychology students, Spielvogel said, they need to make sure that they are doing what they can to combat racial injustices.

This movement comes on the heels of White Coats for Black Lives, Stacy Morris, LGSOE ’16, said, a movement in which medical students took action to show that they are advocates for black lives.

“This is a response to that, saying that psychologists also have ownership over advocating for black lives,” Morris said.

Jkl[\ekj J_Xi\ K_\`i M`j`fe ]fi 9:Ëj =lkli\ N`k_ 8[d`e% Dinner, from A1 the audience. “What does the world need Boston College to be?

Right now is not about building the wish list of what we want to do.”

He further explained that the steering committee, a group of 24 different committees within the 18month process for strategic planning, is taking this semester to assess the greatest issues.

Students broke into smaller groups to discuss a range of topics. Each table was given three questions: one focused on the vision of the school, one focused on issues internal to the school, and one focused on issues external to the school.

Students’ ideas included improving school spirit, offering a STEM degree, and improving BC’s diversity.

Some students, however, thought that the confrontational nature

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By Taylor St. Germain Assoc. News Editor Eight-foot tall walls, reading “free Palestine” and “peace, not apartheid” tower over passers-by on Stokes Lawn. The walls were put up by Boston College Students for Justice in Palestine (BC SJP), a group attempting to raise awareness of the Palestine-Israel conflict through “Peace, Not Apartheid Week.”

The week, which is held at universities worldwide, encourages students to think beyond biased media about the conflict, which often carries a negative stigma, Kaitlin Astrella, treasurer of BC SJP and MCAS ’16, said. The conflict has been ongoing for over five decades and revolves around issues including mutual recognition, border control, water security, and control of Jerusalem.

The group is holding events from April 4 through 8 to educate students, and encourages them to do their own research on the conflict.

“We are really just trying to start a dialogue on campus,” Katie Mears, BC SJP board member and LSOE ’16, said. “The conflict goes in and out of the news and we find that students don’t really know much about it.”

On Monday, BC SJP held a student panel on Palestine, which featured BC students who have travelled to the country and worked on peace initiatives within the region. The group also provided traditional Palestinian dishes for students in attendance.

BC SJP then held a screening of a movie titled The Wanted 18 on Wednesday night in Devlin 227. The documentary, which features stopmotion animation, tells the story of Palestinians’ efforts in Beit Sahour to kickstart the dairy industry. The movie tells about how the dairy collective was deemed as a threat

to Israel’s national security.

“It’s a funny story,” Astrella said.

“It takes these conflicts in a different direction than most documentaries.

It’s kind of new and fresh so it’s cool to be able to show it.”

The group will hold its final event tonight in Campion 010. The event will feature Nathalie Handal, a creative writing professor at Columbia University who will speak about her experience as a Palestinian-American woman and how her heritage influences her work.

SJP began holding Palestine Awareness Week in 2012 when the president of the club wrote his thesis about the Palestine-Israel conflict.

The club was unable to hold the awareness week last year, however, because of a lack of funding.

The group has been organizing the event since the beginning of the academic year, trying to recruit speakers and publicize its efforts.

The group also went through the Office of Student Involvement to gain approval to build the walls on Stokes Lawn.

Schools including Columbia, University of California, Berkeley, and Edinburgh University are holding awareness weeks similar to BC SJP’s.

“If you go to a big school like Boston College, it is helpful to speak about these issues because you have a certain credibility,” Astrella said. “Educating people about things like this at a well-known university gives the fight to end the conflict some credence.”

BC SJP will hold one more event before the school year is over on April 21. Remi Kanazi, a spoken word poet and PalestinianAmerican, will visit BC to perform at BC SJP’s event.

“I think part of being men and women for others is being aware of how your actions have an effect on others,” Mears said.

of other students, in their actions toward the administration, has not been productive.

“I feel like sometimes different groups of students at BC have almost been confrontational to the administration,” Kanitkar said. “And I think that has been counterproductive to the conversation at times.”

Committees within the aforementioned strategic planning process will each include a diverse group of faculty,

staff, members of UGBC, and general members of the student body. The diversity of the committee will allow the steering committee to most accurately decipher what matters most in “Looking Forward” to the future of BC. Several students were pleased to see their ideas proposed to administrators. Others, however, noted the fact that their ideas may not get serious consideration until next year, when the Board of Trustees meets.

Lamirato said that increased dialogue between the student government, the general student body, and the administration would be beneficial.

“From both the administrator and student perspective, an event like this happening every semester would be really helpful and really important so that we can continue to work together as opposed to working as two separate entities,” Lamirato said.

A4

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, April 7, 2016

STORIES FROM THE MARATHON

CYCLE FOR SURVIVAL

KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Knf `] Yp CXe[1 Ilee\ij =ifd 8ifle[ k_\ Nfic[ I\klie ]fi DXiXk_fe 9P D8;<C<@E< ;Ë8E><CF 8jjk% D\kif <[`kfi Although the biting wind and blanket of snow on the ground might not agree, spring is here, and the 2016 Boston Marathon is right around the corner.

On April 18, Bostonians and spectators from around the globe will gather along a 26.2-mile course to cheer on the many brave souls determined to complete a race made even more demanding

by Boston’s many hills.

According to the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) Marathon fact sheet, 30,000 runners have officially entered the 2016 Boston Marathon, and approximately 1,000,000 people will attend the Marathon as spectators.

Ninety thousand additional people are expected to attend the Marathon’s 39thannual John Hancock Sports and Fitness

Expo on April 15.

The expo will feature over 150 exhibitors showcasing the cutting-edge technology and strategies in the running world.

Admission will also be complimentary, and attendees can expect to see representatives and exhibits from companies such as Adidas, Gatorade, and Clif Bar. The same fact sheet also predicts that the Boston Marathon will generate $181.9 million dollars for the local economy.

With these large numbers , and people attending events that begin three days before the Marathon itself, Marathon organizers are prioritizing safety.

In addition to the almost 2,000 medical personnel and over 3,000 security personnel overseeing the Marathon, 4,176 members of the local, state, and federal law enforcement will be present at the

2016 Boston Marathon.

And although the Marathon is an important event that marks the progression of society, as well as giving cause for celebration, and a reminder of unity within the city of Boston and beyond, it did not always have such a wide reach.

Organized by the B.A.A. in 1897, the Boston Marathon began as a single event in the larger Boston Athletic Association Games. As would become tradition, the race was held on Patriot’s Day, but at this early date, only 15 runners participated.

As the decades progressed, the Marathon gained traction and worldwide attention. Patriot’s Day became an official holiday in the state of Massachusetts, which resulted in an increase in marathon spectators.

Men from around the world participated in the Marathon, and, in 1966, Roberta Gibb became the first woman

to complete the course. Her entry was unofficial, however, and it was not until 1972 that women were officially allowed to enter the Marathon. From there, the Marathon continued to evolve, gaining a wheelchair division, a cash prize, and breaking numerous records.

This year will mark the 50th anniversary of Gibb’s famous completion of the Marathon, and in honor of her achievement, and in celebration of 50 years of women running in the Marathon, Gibb will be Grand Marshal for the 2016 Marathon.

According to the B.A.A., events throughout the week of the Boston Marathon will be held to honor the participation of women in the race, and Gibb will ride just ahead of the runners to alert spectators of their approach.

“Gibb changed the course of running history five decades ago, setting the stage for generations to come,” B.A.A

President Joann Flaminio said in the organization’s press release.“Bobbi will lead 30,000 runners, including more than 14,000 female entrants, on their way to Boston on Patriots’ Day this year.”

This year will be another big year for the Boston Marathon, which has only become a stronger point of public focus after the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.

Just this past Saturday, B oston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, WCAS ’09, and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker unveiled this year’s tribute to the victims of the bombing: a large blue and yellow banner emblazoned with the words “Boston Strong.”

According to Boston.com, the tribute is located on the Bowker Overpass hovering over Commonwealth Avenue, positioned so that the runners can see it as they near their final mile.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF MADISON MEEHAN

Meehan decided to run the marathon with the Dana-Farber to support cancer research as a tribute to her late father (above).

9P AL8E FC8M8II@8 D\kif <[`kfi For Madison Meehan, MCAS ’16, a member of the women’s varsity soccer team, this marathon will be more than just about watching the participants go by and having a good time—she will be one of those running by the Mile 21 sign this April 18.

“I’ve always been a runner, since high school,” she said. “But this is the first time I’ll run a marathon.”

Meehan, along with Chase Ryan, MCAS ’16, joined the Dana Farber team for the Boston Marathon in order to raise money for cancer research.

The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge, in which more than 400 runners run in order to raise funds for the Claudia Adams Barr Program, has made large contributions to cancer research since its inception in 1990.

Because Meehan has had a lot of free time during the spring semester since the women’s varsity soccer team is not in-season, she decided to run.

“When I decided to run, I began looking at different charities I could support,” she said. “I saw the Dana Farber team and immediately thought it would be a good fit.”

Like many of the runners completing the Marathon for the DFMC team, Cancer has personally affected Meehan. Her father passed away from Leukemia two years ago after a long fight. She found no better way to honor his memory than to run for the cause and raise money for future research.

To be part of the team, the runners must raise at least $5,000 for the charity.

Due to the large support network that Meehan has developed over the years she has been able to not only reach that goal, but has surpassed it with over $29,000 in donations to date.

Meehan said that no one reached out to her in order to run, that it was all of her own decision after hearing from one of her friends who is also on the team.

While her high school track experience helped during the training, going beyond the normal six miles she would run during practice was a tough adjustment.

“We have a specific week-by-week training regime to get us in the shape we need to be to run it,” she said. “Taking it week-by-week definitely helped my mentality and got my body used to the longer distances we began to do.”

One of the main sources of support

for her has been her friends and family, with many at BC being very supportive of her and her cause.

“While I am running a lot of the time, I don’t think about much other than the road ahead,” she said. “I concentrate on what I have to do. I also think of all of the support I’ve received, and that keeps me going.”

She says that there are definitely days when she doesn’t feel like running for various reasons, but when those doubts creep up, she thinks about her family, friends, and the cause in order to muster the energy to go out and run that day.

Having all of her friends and family checking in on her to see how she was doing has helped her more than they can imagine Meehan said. She then added that their support has been incredible, especially beyond the donations.

Running the 26.2-mile course for professional marathon runners is not an easy task, so for others who are not used to it it requires an immense amount of dedication. But, anyone can do it, Meehan said.

“If you follow the training regime [the team] gives it is possible for anyone to do it,” she said. “You just have to think about why you’re running, and it gets easier.”

Ever since he was a freshman, the Boston Marathon has been an important aspect of Boston College for Chase Ryan, MCAS ’16.

“I come from a small community in Montana, so to see the hype and energy and to see how many people came out for Marathon Monday my freshmen year was such a highlight of my BC experience,” he said.

This year, however, the economics major will be on the other side of the day, as a runner with the Dana-Farber Institute’s Boston Marathon team.

The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) raises funds for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research. DFMC began in 1990 and since then has raised over $74 million. The program has helped improve survival rates and quality of life for cancer patients. For the 2016 Boston Marathon, “the DFMC team aims to raise $5.4 million in pursuit of the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer,” according to the program’s web site.

Ryan is excited to work with the DFMC team, but his involvement is motivated by a difficult past.

“When I was in high school, my mother battled cancer,” he said. “We were just so blessed with early detection that my mother never doubted that she would pull through.”

Ryan’s mother has since recovered, and this year his family is celebrating five cancer-free years. Since so many people that he has met at BC have also been affected by cancer, he decided to run.

All runners who gain a bib number through a charity have to raise a minimum of $5,000, but Ryan has a higher goal of $11,000. He has had to be creative in his fundraising approaches, starting with a letter campaign.

In his letter Ryan outlines his reasons for running, the history of the DFMC and the Claudia Adams Barr program, and how family and friends can donate.

“After experiencing the marathon festivities at Boston College’s ‘Mile 21’ in years past, I look forward to being a part of

this iconic race and of greater importance, raising funds for a meaningful cause,” Ryan wrote.

Ryan also enlisted the help of his two favorite teachers at Core Power Yoga, a yoga studio he goes to frequently.

The teachers hosted a fundraising class for his campaign, asking people to donate whatever they felt comfortable with. The fundraising event had over 50 people in attendance, and Ryan raised over $1,000.

“BC is a very giving and philanthropic community and emphasizes giving back,” he said.

Raising $11,000 and running 26.2 miles are no small feats, and the journey has come with several challenges. But when the challenges arise, Ryan said he finds motivation and support in his family, close friends, and fellow runners like Madison Meehan, MCAS ’16, who is also a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team.

“The Dana Farber team couldn’t be more supportive,” he said. “They have so many resources and team meetings and committees that help us brainstorm.”

One of the coaches is Jack Fultz, who won the Boston Marathon in 1976 and has helped develop training programs for runners of all levels. There are weekly track workouts at Tufts University and group runs on Saturday or Sunday mornings.

“It’s very motivating to have others pushing you and make you want to get out of bed when you don’t want to run 15 to 20 miles by yourself,” Ryan said.

Finally, the night before race day the team will host a pasta dinner for all the runners and their family members.

In 11 days, on race day, Ryan’s friends and family—including his mother—will be on the sidelines cheering him on.

“I think [my mom is] proud that I’ve taken the initiative to join Dana-Farber and help those who aren’t as fortunate with diagnosis and timing,” he said. “I think she’s very happy.”

Ryan encouraged anyone who may want to run the Marathon to go for it.

“It’s great to have a challenge and if you’re running for a charity, to have something to work towards that’s greater than yourself,” he said. “It’s a phenomenal opportunity.”

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, April 7, 2016

A5

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By Joanna Yuelys Heights Staff As founding partners of an architecture firm in Russia, Mikhail Krymov and Alexey G or yainov were constantly travelling around promoting their firm in the continent and found they could not find places to stay in airports or city centers for reasonable prices. So, in 2012 they invented Sleepbox, a way to catch some z’s on the go.

Peter Chambers, another co-founder acting as CFO and COO, described the project as a research development experiment at first, with Krymov and Goryainov initially doing all of the design themselves and then bringing contract manufacturers in Russia and Europe to bring the product to life.

S l e e p b ox s el l s e n c l o s e d modules with about 40 square feet of space with a bed and often a television which users can rent for a given period of time.

They were originally built for an airport in Moscow, where there are about 50 installations.

“Our major installations right now are in a hotel in Moscow, and in Stockholm, Sweden, at the Bo & Bistro hotel, right across the street from the major sports center Tele2 Arena,” Chambers said.

There are also around five other smaller-scale installations in offices in Europe and Russia.

Last year, Krymov came to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to complete a fellowship as part of his Ph.D. program in Moscow. The fellowship itself is unrelated to Sleepbox, but being at MIT has connected the founder to important new networks and had given him

resources to develop and market the product in the United States.

He that noticed many technology and creative companies have started purchasing napping pods for their offices, which made him realize that targeting for Sleepbox in the United States should be more oriented toward these companies than it had been in the past.

There are three main markets for Sleepbox. The first is the adaptation of them in office settings. Sleepbox would typically sell them to an office developer, a real estate developer, or tenants of the office spaces.

“They basically don’t charge the people that are there to use them,” Chambers said. “They let the employees go in, close the door, and sort of take a deep breath to clear themselves from the work for about a half hour, an hour.”

The second use is in the hotel setting, which breaks down into two parts. There is the option to take over a floor or so of an existing hotel and use the space to put in more beds so as to manage space as efficiently as possible. Since these are for longer stays there is typically a communal bathroom for all of the Sleepboxes. Chambers described the third use as similar to the office use—single units can be operated independently as vending machines for transient people to use for napping.

In these cases, the focus is not to offer overnight stays, and wouldn’t require a dedicated bath space. Units for this purpose might be found somewhere like a shopping center, and there would likely be some sort of reservation system available.

Commercially, the price of using a Sleepbox generally ranges

from $5 to $15, but the owners set their own prices after buying the initial unit for around $16,000.

S l e e p b ox i s w o r k i n g t o change the image of sleep in the office space. There is often a connotation that sleeping is not something that should be acceptable during the day in an operating office, and that selfcare should be limited to the home, the founders said.

“As work schedules become flexible and people become more adaptable or amenable to flexible work hours or working at all times of the day, that they are starting to change that cultural understanding and cultural connotation that goes along with sleeping in the office,” Chambers said. “So part of that is changing people’s minds, and the other part of that is best practices to incorporate this.”

Some concerns still exist, however. In traditional office settings, it is important to nap for an appropriate amount of time, taking into account an individual’s REM cycle, otherwise workers can wake up groggy and ultimately be less productive.

This, as well as oversleeping, could pose problems for companies that use Sleepbox.

Sleepbox is not stopping at bedrooms. Chambers said that they are working on another development: a water closet unit that could be used in a hotel.

“It’s another tool of changing the way that we look at generational talent management and business, looking at how we structure the way that people are allowed to work and then recharge and harness their productivity and creativity,” Chambers said in regard to his favorite part of the project.

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D8;<C<@E< ;Ë8E><CF Most of the time, I feel like I have to walk past store windows as fast as possible.

If I slow down, I know that my resolve will weaken, and I will probably end up pulled into the shop, drooling over whatever was in the window.

This ultimately means that there are very few window displays that actually have the power to stop me in my tracks and say something along the lines of “wow.”

Many times, the abrupt halt occurs after I see a display that is truly beautiful in and of itself.

Other times I stop because the items in the windows are so bizarre that I need a few seconds to process what they really are.

This past week, an instance of the latter occurred as I was ambling down the streets of Newton Centre.

As I moved past the quaint shops, I stopped in confusion in front of a store dedicated to running gear—the kind of store that I can honestly say I am not naturally inclined to stop in front of on any day.

I was brought to a halt by the sight of two pairs of running sneakers prominently displayed on pedestals in the window.

I honestly couldn’t tell you if there was anything else in that window at all, or if the display solely comprised these sneakers, that’s how eye-

catching they were.

The sneakers in question were what preppy dreams are made of: the first pair featured a pastel red and blue plaid underneath bright-red piping, and the second pair the same plaid under a pattern of skyblue piping.

On the back of each shoe was a small whale—about the size of a quarter—smiling cheekily at me from behind the glass. The laces were, of course, coordinated to match the piping, and the insoles were covered in more of that same pastel plaid.

As I stared at the shoes, I was filled with a sense of dread and admiration. Dread, because I suddenly realized that I could be looking at the latest Boston College trend.

I could see these sneakers scattered throughout campus alongside Sperry’s, Bean Boots, and all forms of Vineyard Vines.

The admiration came as I thought about the abject confidence that it would actually take to wear these shoes out in public.

Their bright plaid was so distinctive that the sneakers would clash with almost anything, so finding a way to style them that would be un-ironic and still appealing would require the utmost nuance and skill.

I tried to think up a few such options, and quite frankly, I was stumped.

Eventually, I walked away from the sneakers in sartorial defeat, but I couldn’t help but wonder where these shoes came from.

Had Vineyard Vines decided to appeal to the atheleisure trend, and join the legions of brands making the

leap into athletic clothing?

But that couldn’t be, because the little whales weren’t pink, and Vineyard Vines surely wouldn’t withhold its trademark whale from a running shoe.

So I poked around, and discovered that the shoes were created by the Seattlebased shoemaker Brooks, in honor of the upcoming Boston Marathon.

According to BostInno, the sneakers will cost $130, and are actually the second Boston-themed sneaker that the brand has created. The first ones were bright red, and covered in lobsters.

And apparently this tradition of running companies creating sneakers in honor of the Marathon is long-standing. Massachusetts-based brands Saucony and New Balance also designed Marathon shoes.

Saucony’s were inspired by the MBTA’s famous Green line, and New Balance’s emphasized the high number of colleges in the area with what the company called “a collegiate color pallet.”

But isn’t it interesting that the two local companies were able to pay such a nuanced tribute to the city of Boston, while the out-of-towners latched on to such a stereotype?

Because by now we all know that, despite how it might look from far away, there is so much more to Boston than preppy plaids and lobsters.

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PHOTO BY THE BSA

One of the many models on display at the exhibit showcasing the “progressive contextualism” style of Moshe Safdie.

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By Juan Olavarria Metro Editor Moshe Safdie returns to Boston with intent and is taking the city by storm with his new exhibit, Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie.

Opening on March 16 and running until May 22, the Boston Society of Architects will hold an exhibit showcasing the work of Safdie, the 2015 AIA Gold Medal winner. The exhibit is free to the public and features a large collection of Safdie’s models, drawings, films, and photographs of his buildings from his projects all around the world.

Safdie, born in Israel, also holds Canadian and American citizenships. His extensive travels have also exposed him to a vast array of architectural styles and natural environments, evidenced by his commissions that range from places like the Tel Aviv airport to the Peabody Essex Museum located in Salem, Mass. His firm also has offices in Jerusalem, Singapore, China and Somerville, Mass.

The exhibit itself is almost like a work of art, with the models, photographs, and drawings not only arranged in chronological order but also made to fit within the space available and to adjust to the natural light coming through the large windows. Visitors are faced with a large model of Boston as soon as they walk through the door.

Curated by Donald Albrecht, the exhibition includes largescale models of built, unbuilt, and in-progress projects from

Safdie’s career. Around every corner there is another model of a buildings with its own story to tell. Ranging from residential building to museums to libraries to convention centers, each development featured has photographs of the actual building alongside the tangible, miniature displays that show the visitor with surprising detail ever y curve and edge of the building.

The varying degrees of progress of these models trace his development as an architect and highlight the major works of his life, especially Habitat ’67, a housing complex that was commissioned for Montreal’s 1967 world expo.

“In his career, Safdie has tackled the challenges of urban life head-on with solutions that create enjoyable, livable spaces, connecting individuals to nature and their community,” Albrecht said in an email.

The exhibit as a whole also focuses on the critical junctures in the development of Safdie’s style of “progressive contextualism,” where a construction should act both within the natural limitations of the environment but also be an “extension” of the same.

It is organized into five sections: Safdie’s formative years as an undergraduate and the launch of his practice in 1964; the establishment of a branch office and his work across Jerusalem in the 1970s; a period of major institutional commissions across North America throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s; a more recent phase of diverse commissions in new global centers in

India, Singapore, and China; and examples of his firm’s current large-scale work confronting the challenges of dense urbanism around the world.

Going up the translucent staircase brings the visitor to the bulk of the exhibit, with the original model for his now-famous Habitat ’67 among the objects on display. The handiwork done by Safdie is apparent in this model and others.

The show becomes a tangible expression of the evolution of the practice of architecture, from its origins in hand-built models to computer renderings that give the visitors the experience of what a building would look like from the inside.

One of the lasting images of the exhibit, along with the large miniature model of Boston, is that of the model of the Marina Sands Hotel in Singapore.

The large display showcases Safdie at his best: aggressive, as evidenced by the large terrace on the rooftop that serves as a connector between the three towers of the hotel, but delicate, as the building looks at peace with its surroundings.

“I am thrilled to welcome Global Citizen at BSA Space, the first exhibition in a series of shows celebrating seminal firms with roots in Boston,” 2016 BSA president Tamara Roy said to Canadian Architect. “Safdie’s office has made a lasting impact on our local and regional architectural and civic community, and this exhibition will be a testament to an impressive body of work.”

THE HEIGHTS

A6

EDITORIALS

QUOTE OF THE DAY

E\n Gffc E\Z\jjXip ]fi :fdg\k`k`m\ Jn`d K\Xd An online petition posted last week argued that the new Boston College recreation facility, which will replace the Flynn Recreation Complex, will hinder efforts to recruit student-athletes for both the swimming and tennis teams and will not provide adequate resources for students or current BC athletes.

The main concern of the petition is that the pool in the new facility is not large enough for the swim team to realistically use for practice. There is also concern about the reduced number of tennis courts.

In response, Director of Athletics Brad Bates has said that the plan for the new facility will “reflect the University’s needs and address the evolving demands of intercollegiate athletics at Boston College.”

This petition has a legitimate point.

If BC is to ever have a competitive swimming team in the ACC, it requires an Olympic-sized pool of at least 50 meters by 25 yards, or one that is 25 meters by 25 yards that also includes a diving well.

This pool needs to be deeper and have better filtration than the current one in the Flynn Recreation Complex, which is out of date and does not meet these needs.

Every other ACC school, with the exception of Miami, has an up-to-date pool of adequate size available for use.

Each of these schools has an Olympicsized pool. In comparison, BC is far behind the rest of the conference, and the swimming program suffers because of this.

If the swimming pool is not improved in the new facility, the swimming team is facing an uncertain future. By continuing to be vague about plans for a

Thursday, April 7, 2016

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art ... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

-C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

pool, BC is threatening the viability of swimming as a sport at BC. Good facilities are a necessity for BC to show dedication to the program and provide incentive to recruits. As plans for the new facility go forward, this issue should be addressed.

This same principle applies to the tennis team, which has not received adequate information about how many courts it will be allocated in the new facility. BC needs to show a commitment to both the swim team and tennis team.

Continuing to be vague about whether a suitable pool and tennis courts will be built puts these teams in a precarious position. Explicit information should be released in order to ensure that no team is neglected when the new facility is built.

9p Zfek`el`e^ kf Y\ mX^l\ XYflk gcXej ]fi X gffc# 9: `j k_i\Xk\e`e^ k_\ m`XY`c`kp f] jn`dd`e^ Xj X jgfik Xk 9:% This petition brings up a number of important concerns with the new facility. Since considerable donation money is being spent on the new project, it is important that the facility reflect the needs of the student-athletes and non-athlete students who will be using it. Having subpar swimming facilities hurts BC swimming athletically and limits the fitness options of regular students.

The concerns brought up in this petition should be taken into account by the athletic department and plans should be adjusted to meet them.

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Members of the Boston College administration met with the Undergraduate Government of Boston College as well as non-UGBC-affiliated students, as part of Boston College Looking For ward, an event meant to foster communication between the student body and the administration at the beginning of the 18-month strategic planning process.

Students divided into small groups that then met with an administrator at a table, where they voiced their concerns and provided suggestions for the future of B C. The administrators marked down these concerns and suggestions for future use as the strategic planning process continues. These administrators will then meet with the Board of Trustees to present their findings.

UGBC has made progress in opening lines of communication with the administration and needs to work to ensure that they remain open in the future. Now that a line of communication is open, the administration should take these concerns seriously. In addition, the willingness of the administrators to hear concerns from the student body ought to be noted as a positive step. This communication between the students and the administration should lead to an inclusive and successful strategic planning process.

Katie Lamirato, UGBC director of transparency and MCAS ’18, and other members of UGBC proposed having this meeting every semester with the administration. Since the ideas presented were often very large-scale and require long-term discussion and action, a meeting every semester has the

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

possibility for redundancy. Instead, it would be better to have a meeting every year. This helps ensure that as many administrators as possible can attend and the ideas presented will be adequately evolved from the previous meeting.

The administration should continue to attend these meetings and work with UGBC to better understand student concerns in this way. As progress on the master plan continues, these meetings can be used to update the administration on changing student concerns and how well or poorly newly implemented programs have worked. This will help ensure that the master plan does the most possible to help students and improve student life.

K_\ X[d`e`jkiXk`fe j_flc[ Zfek`el\ kf Xkk\e[ k_\j\ d\\k`e^j Xe[ nfib n`k_ L>9: kf Y\kk\i le[\ijkXe[ jkl[\ek ZfeZ\iej% One notable absence from this meeting was University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. Leahy should consider attending meetings like this in order to demonstrate a direct engagement with student concerns.

Although much of the job of University President involves fundraising and boosting University prestige, it is important that Leahy takes the time to meet with UGBC, even if it is just this meeting or similar meetings, to ensure that communication is taking place and that ideas are being heard.

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

HEIGHTS

THE

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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 ww bcheights.com, by e-mail to editor@bcheights.com, person, or by mail to Editor, The Heights, 113 McElro Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

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THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, April 7, 2016

A7

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J<8E JL;FC SNOW - Yeah, I bet you were expecting a little thumbs down action on this one, huh? But no! We here at The Heights are all about subverting expectations, switching things up, hitting them with the ol’ one-twoswitcheroo. Just when you think we’re going to complain about the sudden cold, the ice-coated sidewalks, and the snow-covered boots, we give you a little flip-de-doo. We love the cold and the snow. There’s no better way to get alert for your first class than to slip in front of the door and land flat on your patookis in front of a crowd of laughing freshmen. It’s better than coffee, I tells ya.

BALCONIES - If you want to live a truly dramatic life, you’ll spend a lot of time on balconies, probably smoking a cigarette and gazing wistfully at the darkening horizon. “I don’t know if it’s worth it,” you’ll whisper when your friend walks out to see if you’re all right. “I’ve been fighting for justice in this neighborhood for 32 years now, and these streets don’t look no better to me.” “What are you talking about?” your friend will say. “You’ve only been alive for 20 years. Why are you talking in that weird accent? What happened to your normally impeccable grammar?” You’ll shake your head, flick your cigarette butt off the balcony, and walk back inside as the credits begin to roll.

RETROGRADE - In this world of constantly shifting slang, it’s important that we jump on top of trends immediately. Everyone who’s anyone knows that the newest super-fly thing to say is “retrograde” as in “Dawg, that’s so retrograde” or “I was retrograding the other day and then I bought a keytar and dawg, it was pretty freakin’ retrograde.”

What is the point of a university?

For a senior who is (hopefully) graduating this May, it might be too late to be asking this question: Why am I here? Why did I enroll at Boston College, and why was it imperative that I attend a full-time, in-residence, fouryear university program? My existential musings aside, this question seems imperative as college costs continue to rise and more and more people call for a reorganization of the education system. In many ways, this politically charged moment speaks to the failings of the modern university in providing a coherent, necessary service and how it might be too late to revive its relevance.

For many young people today, the main reason to attend a university is to attain a respectable job. Traditionally, the university was aptly positioned to do this, as a college degree delivered success in the technocratic world. A university education was able to carry people up the socioeconomic ladder, acting as the meritocratic equalizer that strengthened America’s middle class. Today, a university education is just as necessary for maintaining a standard of living in the economy, but not because college students can enter quickly into successful career paths.

Rather, a bachelor’s degree often provides students with a position for which they are overqualified, as the lower-skilled portion of the economy shrinks and employers increasingly shift job-training to graduate programs.

Thus, college-educated students are now working jobs that wouldn’t have required a degree, and the debt that goes with it, in previous years.

The foremost goal of the university is to provide an education. The university is meant to act as a meeting place between the world’s most skilled educators and most driven students to transmit knowledge and expose them to new ideas. This service not only benefits the individual, but also provides society with educated leaders and intellectuals. For hundreds of years, the university was the only place where this could occur because the expense of accessing scholarly

FINDING YOURSELF STUCK IN THE BUBBLE - No one hates jargon more than this alien, but there’s something very real about the BC Bubble. After weeks on campus, you sometimes realize that you haven’t ventured forth into the world at all, you’ve just been stuck eating, sleeping, and pretending to have done the readings in a never-ending cycle of despair.

You’ll go to the city tomorrow, you decide, waggling your eyebrows decisively. But then tomorrow you have some work to do, and it’s kinda cold, so forget it. You know you’ll never break free. This is your life now. Get used to it.

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feel entitled to place restrictive conditions on campus political rights. Student-athletes are not allowed to organize to receive compensation for the money they bring to universities.

Students are not allowed to have their voices heard in endowment investments. Students are not allowed to promote ideas or events without their first being approved by administrators. Ultimately, university governance structures are completely isolated from the students who provide the majority of their funds, in an oppressive way akin to “taxation without representation.”

The last goal of the university is to expose students not only to a wide range of ideas, but also to a diverse set of people who will foster community and deep relationships across society. In this, universities have had some success in the last half-century, acting to diversify their student bodies through active admissions programs. In the measures of diversity that are a bit more challenging and require sacrifice on the part of the university, such as changes to governance structures or the training of underrepresented peoples to improve faculties, it has been much slower to change. Another issue that hinders diversity on campuses is the social stratification that occurs between populations of students during their time at university. Discussions about these differences remain tightly controlled, and many members of marginalized communities feel unsafe or unappreciated at university because their political voices are sharply curtailed and policies do not accurately assess the issues important to them.

Ultimately, these failures of the American university arise from the hollowing out of its purpose to provide a public good, replaced by the idea that it is maintaining a consumer product. Rather than serving as a space to transmit knowledge and foster humanistic community, the university has become a place to create employees. In the process, the university has been forced to take on new forms, as corporate entity and autocratic state, to perpetuate itself and hide the increasingly transparent emptiness of its mission. The university will be able to regain its relevance in modern society only if it can grow the individual person and create an educated and humanistic citizenry.

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WHISPERED CONVERSATIONS WITH TWOINCH FACIAL SEPARATION - There’s no worse scene in a movie or television show than when two absurdly attractive people stand about half an inch away from each other and whisper about their problems. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.” “It’ll be fine babe.” “I’m scared.” “Don’t be scared.

We have our love, and no one can take that away.” “What?” “What?” “I can’t hear you. Why are you whispering so softly, Paul?” “Can you avoid P-words? You just spit on my chin.”

“I seriously can’t understand a word you’re saying.” These scenes are the scourge of our existence and must be eliminated.

material made universities imperative. Today, the Internet has made access to information nearly free in comparison to its former costs. Students entering college today are better-educated than any previous generation, and they have the tools to access information about nearly anything. Many educational institutions are starting online college classes meant to match the level of their campus programs.

The counterargument to this technological education is that one cannot possibly be exposed to a diversity of ideas through the Internet, which cannot provoke challenges or provide questions to preexisting ideas. But it is not so clear that the university plays this role either. The university and it students are increasingly acting in the “academic modus operandi.” This means they are narrowly focusing on standardized criteria of success: grade point averages and well-developed resumes. With this competitive academic atmosphere, creativity and passion are sidelined and only appreciated as supplements to academic success. Students applying to university feel increasing pressure to meet intense marks for these criteria, and the time and effort that they spend on these measures of success come at the expense of their social development, creative capacities, and mental health. Educators also feel the pressures of this narrow academic mindset, as the tenuous positions they hold at universities in the pursuit of tenure— and increasingly, many try to make a living without even the option of it—mean they are pressured to meet higher academic standards. This places a systematic preference for research and publication over the importance of teaching.

The university also serves to provide an arena to experiment with new freedoms. For many students, university serves as the first opportunity to live outside the shelter and control of their families. It is a time to learn the powerful possibilities and responsibilities of independent action. The life of a modern college student, however, greatly restricts freedom in a strange mix of oppression and false privilege. On the one hand, students today are given everything they need to be happy and successful during their time at university: food, shelter, security, support, technology. This lifestyle seems ideal, but payment plans mask its consequences by pushing debt down the road. In exchange for the provision of these goods, universities

Last week, President Obama made one of the most important trips of his presidency—a visit to Cuba. His visit was met with praise from many on the left and scorn from many on the right.

Despite the criticism of some in elected office, a majority of the American people agrees with ending the embargo on Cuba and allowing the American people to travel to the country without restriction.

Feeling this way does not make one any less of a conservative, but rather affirms one’s faith in the free-market principles the United States was built on.

The embargo on Cuba has failed.

President John F. Kennedy’s initial goal for the embargo was to isolate the island nation, leading to the fall of its communist regime, yet here we stand, 52 years later, with a communist Castro still in power in Cuba. It is an obvious fact that the embargo, though well-intentioned, was a futile attempt to end the Castro regime and instead hurt the Cuban people.

By isolating Cuba from the United States since 1962, America has harmed the very people we claimed to be helping.

Cuba has suffered from outdated infrastructure, transportation, and essential services, in large part due to the isolation it suffered during the U.S. embargo.

Instead of Cuba going forward with the United States, it has been stuck in the past. The Castros are not the ones who suffer from this. In fact, the Castros are probably able to use U.S. isolation as a political tactic to help garner anti-American and anti-capitalistic sentiments within Cuba. The U.S. has turned a blind eye to the people in need and it is time that we unleash the power of U.S. industry to help free them.

True free-market conservatives should

be confident enough that by ending the barriers to trade, the Cuban people will see the benefits of capitalism. Only then will real change happen. We are far beyond the years of the Cold War, and the Cuban people must now choose their own government without the control of the United States. They have as much of a right to self-determination as does the rest of the world, and allowing them to experience free markets and American ingenuity will only help expedite their path to capitalism and democracy. After all, one of America’s largest trading partners is none other than the communist state of China. Is it not a double standard to do business with China but ignore Cuba? If the United States still had such strong anti-communist feelings, consistency would be necessary. It is obvious that these divisions are antiquated, and

K_\ \dYXi^f _Xj ]X`c\[% C\k lj \ogfj\ :lYX kf ZXg`kXc`jd Xe[ Xccfn `k kf gifjg\i% it is obvious that China’s transition from communism to capitalism has led toward more pressure for democracy from the Chinese people.

What does the United States truly have to lose by ending the Cuban embargo? Perhaps American leaders still do not want to admit that it has been a failure, but it is time to admit the truth and acknowledge the facts. If anything, the U.S. and U.S. companies stand to gain greatly from a repeal of the embargo.

Many Americans are drawn to the idea of visiting Cuba, and airlines in the U.S. stand to gain greatly from expanded travel with new routes generating new revenue. American tourism will help the impoverished people of the island nation and will help American travel companies, too, a win-win situation for all parties.

The opening of American companies

in Cuba will help generate wealth and opportunities for the Cuban people as well, and the opening of a new market will help generate increased demand for American exports. The U.S. has nothing to lose. By helping the Cuban people generate wealth and helping American companies, U.S. government policies will finally reflect the values America stands for—freedom and opportunity.

Those who disagree with lifting the embargo often do so with many valid reasons. It is true that the Castro regime still holds political prisoners and limits freedoms. The Cuban government is well-deserving of intense scrutiny and criticism. But people who feel this way and support the embargo are only holding the Cuban people back. By limiting their access to the outside world we are shutting them out from seeing and experiencing another way of life. In fact, lifting the embargo could very well give people inside the communist country more access to outside information, a freedom that has been quite restricted inside of Cuba. Furthermore, the import of U.S. goods will help improve Cuba’s infrastructure, improving the quality of life of many of the citizens there. Cuba’s exports of world-renowned cigars and rum to the U.S. will also help employ Cubans by giving them more purchasing power. A growing middle class is the key to tackling communism.

Although it is unlikely for a Republican Congress to give President Obama a perceived policy victory in an election year, it is time for Congress to work together and carry out the popular opinion of the American people. Let us expose Cuba to capitalism and allow it to prosper. Cuba’s path to freedom begins with an opening of trade and travel between our two countries. A sharing of goods comes with a sharing of ideas and culture. Let’s let capitalism free Cuba.

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M8C<I@< :?<I9<IF I love eating alone. There, I said it. I love ordering whatever I want and not worrying about a predatory fork from a fellow diner. I love eating slowly and deliberately. I love getting swept up in the chatter and the clatter of restaurants. Call me a selfish diner or a loner, but I absolutely love eating alone.

I didn’t always feel this way. Eighteenyear-old me hated eating alone. She used to walk into Mac with a heavy heart and sweaty palms. Looking out at the sea of unfamiliar faces and crowded tables, she felt an inconsolable sense of defeat.

She felt completely and utterly deserted.

Maybe you felt this way too. Maybe you still feel this way. There’s something terrifying about walking up to a table alone and claiming it for yourself. This fear stayed with me throughout freshman year.

I began wrapping up my dinners to go when none of my friends were available. I left the tables for closer squads than mine.

Somewhere along the line, I got over the fear. I think I can trace it to sophomore year. As the only one of my friends with a 9 a.m., I had a choice. I could eat breakfast alone, or I could skip it altogether. I struggled through two weeks of grumbling stomachs and exhaustion during classes before trudging into Lower at 8:30. At first, I resisted. I set myself up with a bowl of cereal and a textbook. Or a study guide. Or my phone. Anything to distract from the silence and the empty seat across from me. One day, I looked up from my steaming cup of coffee and glanced around. I noticed that I wasn’t alone. Groups and couples and a smattering of other single diners surrounded me. And none of them were looking at me. None of them were judging me for being alone, mistaking my empty table for loneliness or rejection.

This discovery changed everything.

Slowly, day by day, I learned to put down my phone. I left my textbooks and study guides in my backpack. Although I did occasionally pull out a book, I mostly learned to enjoy the silence. I started ordering more lavish breakfasts: omelets and croissants and the occasional stack of pancakes. I ate slowly and with as much pleasure as one can find in cafeteria food.

With my eyes out of a textbook or off of the table, I started to notice things.

I noticed that Lower looks downright cheery in the early-morning sun. I noticed the ebb and flow of diners at 8:45 a.m. I noticed the group of BC dining workers laughing and enjoying breakfast before their shift. Above all, I noticed how calming and empowering these solo meals could be.

With a newfound sense of confidence and independence, I started seeking out more adventures on my own. I went on long walks and coffee dates and afternoon movies, with only the streets of Boston to keep me company. I started trying new restaurants and coffee shops, not because my friends wanted to, but because I did.

I became a selfish diner, and I didn’t even feel bad about it. I no longer felt alone or afraid. My own company was enough.

Sometimes I think back to 18-year-old me. I think back to the stressful dinner runs and the to-go boxes. I wonder how I ever felt so scared of eating by myself.

But I know that fear extends beyond the dinner table. Who wants to be alone?

Who wants to feel lonely or unwanted or forgotten? Perhaps it’s just at a table, alone, that we must confront these terrifying feelings. Learning to let them go, learning to stand (or sit) on our own two feet, can take time. It takes courage and acceptance and probably an inconvenient class schedule. But let me tell you, once you work through the fear and the insecurity, those meals might just be the best part of your day.

So here’s my challenge. I want you to go on Yelp and find an intriguing new restaurant. Put on some lipstick or a tie, and take yourself out. Say those dreaded three words: “table for one.” Say them again and again until they roll off your tongue with ease and pleasure. Keep your phone in your pocket and your book tucked away.

Sit and eat and watch and listen. Above all, enjoy.

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THE HEIGHTS

A8

Thursday, April 7, 2016

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PHOTO COURTESTY OF ENERGIZE

Energize, a juice bar located on Washington Street in Brighton set to open in the next few weeks, is spreading health benefits by serving freshly squeezed juices infused with superfoods like goji berries.

9P C8LI8 >8CC@>8E ?\`^_kj JkX]] Nestled among the slew of restaurants already located on Washington Street in Brighton, Mass., Energize, a new fast food restaurant serving fresh juices, blends, and salads, is set to open in the next few weeks.

Ivo Dimitrov and three of his friends, all life-long athletes who immigrated to Boston from Eastern Europe, were looking for better workout-recovery drinks and better nutrition in general when they conceived the idea to open Energize, Dimitrov said. The restaurant’s menu will incorporate locally sourced plant-based foods when possible, as well as “superfoods” like goji berries. The team started experimenting with different flavor combinations when it decided that opening a restaurant would be a smart idea.

“We were like, ‘Wow, this is working. Why not just go with it?’” Dimitrov said. “We took a hobby and decided to provide it to others.”

Dimitrov hopes to reformulate what “fast food” means, expanding beyond the widely-accepted unhealthy connotation of the phrase.

“What we want to do primarily is redefine fast foods,” he said. “We want people to think fast foods can be healthy.”

Dimitrov and his colleagues are focusing on hiring employees who generally care about healthy eating, as they are

likely to understand how nutritious food works. Energize’s employees will be able to recommend certain juices and blends to customers, paying particular attention to pre-workout and post-workout drinks.

According to Boston.eater.com, Energize hopes to appeal to all kinds of customers, not just those following a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle.

Dimitrov and his team want to spread health benefits to everyone, by serving freshly squeezed juices, juice blends infused with superfoods, and salads, using local produce as much as possible to incorporate into their plant-based, vegan menu.

Dimitrov mentioned that Washington Street is lined with restaurants serving pizza and other similar items, and hopes that Energize will bring something new to the table.

According to the restaurant’s web site, many people turn to convenience stores and coffee shops in search of sugar-filled, caffeinated beverages. Dimitrov and his colleagues believe that what the body is really in search of is energy, which one can acquire through the juices and blends offered at Energize.

Madison Sweedler, MCAS ’19, is a practicing vegan, but admits that it is sometimes out of her price range to be constantly purchasing food off campus.

“As a vegan, you have to be more aware of what is in your food,” she said. “Veganism requires a little more creativity, and if one is willing to apply this, then it is problem-free.”

Sweedler believes that the BC community will take full advantage of the new restaurant.

“Given BC’s student body, which tends to be pretty healthconscious, I absolutely think a good portion of BC’s students would be thrilled by Energize’s opening,” she said.

Sweedler is excited to try the restaurant herself, especially because it caters specifically to the vegan lifestyle, she said.

The restaurant’s menu has a few pre-selected juices and blends, but mostly lists ingredients, allowing customers to be as creative as they please. Sweedler believes that the combination of creativity and nutrition will be popular with vegan and omnivorous BC students alike who struggle to find reasonably-priced yet nutritious options that are easily accessible from campus.

Vegetarian Madison Hynes, MCAS ’18, said that there are a fair amount of restaurants in the Allston-Brighton area, but that there is still a lot of room to grow.

“Energize’s emphasis on juices and smoothies is something new to the Brighton community, which is great,” she said.

In addition to the influx of college students Energize hopes to attract to its new restaurant, Dimitrov and his colleagues are excited to be a new addition to the Brighton community.

“The people who are going to work at Energize are very passionate and understand how food works,” he said. “That’s how we’re trying to separate ourselves from everybody else.”

9: =XZlckp ;feXk\j Fm\in_\cd`e^cp kf ?`ccXip :c`ekfeËj :XdgX`^e Donations, from A1 diverse as well. Scott Fleming, assistant to the president for federal relations, said that “political dialogue on our [Georgetown] campus is pretty balanced” between parties. Based on their donation patterns in the past few years, both BC and Georgetown can be considered

progressively liberal.

Policy appears more restricted when considering the University of Notre Dame, another notable Catholic institution. While BC allows for its faculty to consider their own political beliefs without consideration for the Catholic tradition, Notre Dame has proven to be more involved with its employees’

political alignment. In 2011, the National Catholic Register reported that Roxanne Martino “abruptly resigned” from her role on the university’s Board of Trustees after a month-long scandal concerning her sizable donations to political-action committees that identified as pro-choice.

The National Catholic Register calls

“the nation’s preeminent Catholic university,” and it has received pressure from Catholic institutions to uphold traditional Catholic ideals. After the university honored President Barack Obama in its 2009 commencement ceremonies, bishops across the country renounced the university, and the Cardinal Newman Society launched a petition campaign

in favor of the faith’s traditional values.

BC and Georgetown’s faculty are still afforded open political liberalism as the institutions have avoided backlash from the Catholic Church.

While Catholic values may not align with the political left-wing, BC’s faculty does—at least according to the public records available on campaign donations.

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AL8E FC8M8II@8 Last week, an event held by General Electric to discuss its upcoming move to Boston was met with stark opposition from individuals who believe the move will be detrimental to the City.

During the event, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, MCAS ’09, discussed and supported the possibility of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour statewide.

“When you look at the disparities, and income inequality, and what’s happening, I think it’s important for us to work on the issue,” Walsh told The Boston Globe. “And the way we work on the issue is by increasing the minimum wage over

a period of time.”

The discussion about raising the minimum wage in the state is not a new one, with former Governor Deval Patrick previously approving a minimum wage increase to $10 per hour in 2014. At the time, Massachusetts was the only state with a minimum wage that high—it was later joined by California and New York.

Thus the question is whether the state needs the change and whether it would be fiscally responsible to do so, taking into account that to afford the higher wages, companies would have to either see an increase in revenue or lay off some employees. Unions across the state have applauded the proposal, citing the need for a living wage for all individuals.

Critics of the proposal have come mostly from business groups who are concerned with the costs of such a measure.

Chris Geehern, executive vice president at the Associated Industries of

Massachusetts, did not agree with raising the minimum wage again, he said to The Boston Globe, as employers across the state are still digesting the Patrick wage increases, which made the minimum $10 per hour in 2016 and will increase it to $11 next year.

The city is currently experiencing a boom in the startup scene, and to continue to be an attractive spot for these sprouting companies, it needs to provide an environment where business can prosper.

For employees, this would provide a great incentive to work in the state.

But the opposite is true for employers who would have to raise prices or lay off workers to meet the new wage floor, were it to come into effect.

College students, however, would benefit from the increase.

It would provide a heftier source of income to help many not only pay their bills, but also put a greater dent into their

tuition payments and, in turn, reduce their debt, especially as the process to repay loans remains confusing.

Leaders in the state, include Governor Charlie Baker, will have to look holistically at the effects that such a proposal would have, especially since the wage is still set to increase again at the end of the year.

Yes, having higher wages would only benefit those receiving those wages, but not if those wages are not going to a large enough group of people.

The state and the city have to ensure that economic conditions exist so that the largest amount of individuals can benefit and prosper. It might be in the best interest of the statewide economic climate to wait for the economy to digest the current wage increases and adjust accordingly before making decisions about future spikes in the wage.

Politicians are often guilty of making rash economic decisions without having

adequate data or because they wish to effect immediate change in the short run, without much thought about the long term, especially in election years such as this one.

We must take the mayor’s remarks with a grain of salt and understand the reasons behind why such a measure would be beneficial and whom it would benefit. In today’s economy, one that is still recovering from the latest recession, the City has seen remarkable progress over the past few years.

Boston needs to remains an attractive startup market, and now with GE’s move to the city, it would be imprudent to shift the economic conditions without first seeing how all of the current, moving parts fit together.

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REVIEW

‘DOG SEES GOD’

BONN STUDIO EXPLORES THE TEENAGE ANTICS OF THE ‘PEANUTS’ GANG, PAGE B2 COLUMN

A DIFFERENT DIRT ROAD

MCGRAW’S ‘HUMBLE AND KIND’ TAKES COUNTRY BACK TO ITS ROOTS, PAGE B3

REVIEW

‘The Boss’

MELISSA MCCARTHY’S LATEST MOVIE DOESN’T STRAY FAR FROM HER USUAL FORTE, Page B4

THURSDAY | APRIL 7, 2016

THE

ABBY PAULSON / HEIGHTS EDITOR

THE HEIGHTS

B2

Thursday, April 7, 2016

A FULLER PICTURE

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I’m a skeptical guy and, frankly, being a skeptical guy in the age of unlimited “information” can be extremely tough. Day after day, all day long, I feel like I’m bombarded with statistics—statistics that seem to contradict each other and statistics that are thrown out without a source.

Maybe it’s just my friends (I highly doubt it’s just them), but no one seems to care to offer a source to accompany these types of claims. They either tell the table I’m sitting at what they want to hear or read from some random post that popped up on Facebook.

That’s why I always loved watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. When I started taking an interest (albeit a superficial interest at first) in national politics, they seemed to be the first voices I heard that cut through a lot of bulls—t. Especially with Stewart, a lot of the claims that he made over the years had their sources on-screen when he cited them, and I appreciated that transparency a lot.

Stewart also made the point to correct himself whenever he made a mistake. After stating in a segment on police brutality that a black man had been shot by the San Bernardino County Police Deparetment, Stewart issued a correction and apology the next week on his program.

In a heated debate with FOX News’ Chris Wallace, Stewart asked Wallace, “Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers?” Stewart let the tense air sit for a moment, and then went in for the kill.

“The most consistently misinformed? Fox, Fox viewers, consistently, every poll.” Stewart was corrected by politifact.com for his comment, apologized to his viewers, then went on to show that FOX News consistently holds one of the most misinformed viewerships on cable television.

It’s this sort of integrity that has always drawn me to Jon Stewart and his disciples (Colbert, Trevor Noah, John Oliver, and Samantha Bee). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cable news program issue a correction or apology for a false statement, yet those programs spend all day commentating on whatever they consider news. I’ve always sympathized with satirical news programs’ bewilderment over the 24-hour news cycle, and I’ve found a solace in these hosts’ company and wisdom over the past few years.

But, there is one facade I feel these late-night political crusaders need to cast away—being comedians. I’m not saying that hosts like Bill Maher and Bee should stop being funny. I’m saying that they need to stop saying they’re comedians.

Discussing why his program could talk about the controversy surrounding Donald Trump and Ted Cruz’s wives and why MSNBC, CNN, and FOX shouldn’t touch it, Maher stated, “They’re news networks.

[Real Time] is an entertainment program.” In that interview with Wallace, Stewart made it clear that he felt that, “[he’s] not an activist, [he’s] a comedian.” Even John Oliver, in his popular segment on Trump, made the point that he assumed few people cared about his show.

These three hosts have been the main voices I’ve listened to in political conversations. Maher, Stewart, and Oliver all have separate opinions, but they have all made an effort to hold the credibility of their programs to a very high standard. Even if Stewart has left his desk at Comedy Central, he’s still one of the standard bearers of American political satire. Even now, he has the chance to be a leading voice in the national political discussion.

Speaking on the politifact.com correction he made, Stewart stated, “I defer to their judgment and apologize for my mistake. To not do so would be irresponsible. … That would undermine the very integrity and credibility that I work so hard to pretend to care about.”

It’s obvious that Stewart did care. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have spent segments of his program correcting his mistakes. Late-night political hosts need to acknowledge that, although they want to maintain the semilighthearted nature of their programs, they are major players in a national conversation. I’m tired of hearing my heroes dismiss themselves.

:_i`j =lcc\i `j k_\ 8ikj I\m`\n <[`kfi ]fi K_\ ?\`^_kj% ?\ ZXe Y\ i\XZ_\[ Xk Xikj7YZ_\`^_kj%Zfd%

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Ê;f^ J\\j >f[Ë <ogcfi\j X ;Xib\i# Fc[\i J`[\ f] ÊG\XelkjË 9P :?I@J =LCC<I 8ikj I\m`\n <[`kfi It’s hard to resist imaginig what some of the most beloved children’s cartoon characters would grow up to be. Who wouldn’t want to see where Tommy and Chuckie from Rugrats ended up in their 20s, or if Dexter would still be fiddling around in his laboratory in high school? But, at the end of the day, we’re often left only with our imaginations, picturing scenes and conversations between our favorite characters that will never be real.

The latest production from Boston College Contemporary Theatre, on the other hand, is not satisfied with keeping the fates of Charles Schulz’s beloved Peanuts characters left confined in the minds of fans. Dog Sees God, “an unauthorized parody” of the Peanuts comic strip and TV specials, sees the eclectic gang of rascals trudging through its high school years, embodying a tone and language that audiences are entirely unaccustomed to seeing them in.

As an unauthorized parody, Dog Sees God is not allowed to feature the actual Peanuts characters. Instead, the characters’ well-known names are replaced with standins. Charlie Brown is CB, Sally is CB’s Sister, Linus is Van, Pig Pen is Matt, Schroeder is Beethoven, Peppermint Patty is Tricia, Marcy is Marcie, and Lucy is Van’s Sister. These substitutes can often feel clunky and forced, marking the first of a few qualities of Dog Sees God that suggest that working off of Schulz’s cherished characters might not have been the best move. While there is a point to corrupting such an innocent entourage, the writer, Bert V. Royal, could have explored the themes he’s

discussing without such a large distraction.

The play opens with CB’s dog’s funeral.

CB’s dog had contracted rabies, and after CB finds him frantic, foaming at the mouth, and next to the carcass of a little yellow bird, CB is forced to put him down. CB’s Sister, who has decided to be a Wiccan for the week, halfheartedly consoles her brother, but berates him for holding a funeral no one attends.

Over the course of the first few scenes, we are introduced to Van (a stoner), Matt (a sex-obsessed bully), Tricia and Marcie (two alcoholic, loud-mouthed narcissists), and Beethoven (a secluded, picked-on pianist).

CB tries to talk with each of these kids about the death of his dog and what they think life and death are really all about, but no one will listen except Beethoven, who is still reluctant to have anything to do with CB because he considers him a bully. CB and Beethoven have a touching conversation and begin to consider romantic feelings toward each other. While the play progresses, Van’s Sister sits in a mental institution for lighting a little red-haired girl’s hair on fire.

The main point of Dog Sees God is to show audiences that life doesn’t remain simple for long for anyone. It wants people to see that even the most innocent characters imaginable are susceptible to the trials, errors, and pains of real life. To a degree, it does this well, but where it starts to falter is in maintaining a logical growth from the characters that people know and love to the characters that we are given on stage.

Aside from CB and Beethoven, none of the other characters seem to exhibit any of the traits that they are famous for. In effect, they’ve all grown out of their childish personalities

into “realistic” stereotypes that feel really forced. Pig-Pen (Matt) never exhibits any sign of being a rotten kid in Peanuts. As a teenager, Pig-Pen is openly snorting cocaine in the hallway of his high school while shouting, “I love p—y.” Peppermint Patty and Marcy were always a bit kooky, but now they’re openly drinking Svedka in the cafeteria and having a three-some with Pig-Pen. It’s extremely difficult to reconcile these types of absurdities throughout the play, and the discrepancy between the purity of the cartoon characters and these melodramatic manifestations of their older selves distracts the viewer from really appreciating the message that Royal is trying to get across. This is all, however the fault of the nature of the show, not of the performances given.

Several members of the relatively small cast of Dog Sees God take on their characters in memorable fashion. Will Krom, MCAS ’16, and Andrew Gaffney, MCAS ’16, playing CB and Beethoven, respectively, have a noticeable and engaging chemistry together and portray their characters’ struggle over their sexuality very genuinely. Pothead Van, played by Andrew Meck, MCAS ’18, easily releases much of the tension in some of more serious scenes with a witty, albeit slowly delivered quip. For the one scene Danielle Wehner, MCAS ’16, is in, where CB visits Van’s Sister in an institution, she steals the spotlight as Van’s Sister. Charlie Brown and Lucy have the most cemented dynamic in the Peanuts specials, and the scene between CB and Van’s Sister holds the most weight and shows the audience a relationship that is heavily anticipated. Though the writing for the older iterations of the Peanuts’ clan seemed a bit shoehorned and their teenage

personas under-developed, the cast of Dog Sees God brings an immense amount of energy to the performances and keeps the piece both entertaining and captivating.

The set in Bonn Studio Theater also fits the mood of Dog Sees God well. Spray-painted across the front of the black stage is a yellow zig-zag emblematic of Charlie Brown’s iconic shirts. One corner of the stage is made to look like a classroom wall with a window whose panels are blocked out by Peanuts comic strips.

The brick wall where Linus and Charlie Brown often talk out their existential crises is broken down the middle, laced with spray paint.

The ragged, yet somewhat familiar setting combines with the complicated tone of the play to create an impressive duality that strikes viewers, regardless of their interpretation of Dog Sees God. It’s strange to see a warped version of a favorite cartoon. That’s what makes Dog Sees God, at the very least, intriguing. At times, the play seems to have gone too far in making every single character face or take the role of some extreme adversity or quirk.

The Peanuts cartoons are a staple of classic animation, and it’s difficult to see their natural innocence torn apart and replaced with this somewhat realistic representation of social problems. Some might feel that Royal went too far in choosing the obstacles that lay in these characters’ paths and the personas they take on in their teenage lives, while others will see what Royal has created as a good dose of reality to a flowery, romantic ensemble.

Either way, Contemporary Theatre’s Dog Sees God gives audiences an energetic, possessing, intriguing performance of the controversial material.

THIS WEEKEND in arts

BY: HANNAH MCLAUGHLIN | ASST. ARTS & REVIEW EDITOR

‘EYE IN THE SKY’ (NOW PLAYING)

RIHANNA (SUNDAY AT 7 P.M.)

Complications arise when orders of a drone missile strike meant to thwart terrorist activity in Kenya go awry. Starring Helen Mirren, this drama/thriller fusion is a suspenseful film sure to keep audience members on the edge of their seats.

The R&B queen is coming to The TD Garden this weekend to promote her critically acclaimed album Anti. To see Rihanna perform live, grab your tickets before they sell out!

‘GOD’S NOT DEAD 2’ (NOW PLAYING) When Grace Wesley gets into legal trouble with the school board after voicing her feelings regarding religion, the high school history teacher fights to justify her actions with the help of a determined young lawyer. This new drama asks profound questions about strength, courage, and identity.

J’OUVERT (SATURDAY AT 2 P.M.) Join the Carribean Culture Club on the Newton Campus for BC’s first annual J’Ouvert paint party. Join in on the fun and kick off the Caribbean carnival season with delicious food, fun Soca music, and a lot of dancing.

ENTERTAIMENT ONE

‘MEET THE BLACKS’ (NOW PLAYING) Horror and comedy converge in this odd, R-rated film.

When Carl Black suddenly acquires a large sum of money, he decides to move his family from Chicago to Beverly HIlls. What follows is a series of mysterious happenings and a plotline straight out of The Purge.

MFA EXHIBIT- MEGACITIES ASIA (APRIL 3 THROUGH JULY 13) The improv group is performing its annual spring “Big Show” this weekend. Head over to the Vandy Cabaret room for some witty one-liners and hilarious skits at this free event.

SPEAK FOR YOUR CHANGE (THURSDAY AT 7:30 P.M.) Come see Faces Coucil’s 5th annual “Speak For Your Change” event Thuresday night in the Rat to see a range of performances from JUICE, the Dynamics, Voices of Imani, Conspiracy Theory, and various slam poets.

STEVE MARTIN AND MARTIN SHORT (FRIDAY AT 8 P.M.) This weekend, the two comedy greats will get together to perform for a Boston audience at the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theater. The performance is expected to be an uproarious fusion of comedy, silly banter, and music.

B3

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, April 7, 2016

A MCLAUGHLIN MINUTE

if you build it, They will jam SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Complete with a sax and drum kit, Matt Michienzie crafts his rock band.

9P ?8EE8? D:C8L>?C@E 8jjk% 8ikj I\m`\n <[`kfi After a brief moment of hesitation, Matt Michienzie, MCAS ’17, exhaled sharply and, with a nervous chuckle, decided to come clean.

“NSYNC,” he said finally, sporting a small grimace tinged with slight embarrassment. “Technically, that was my first concert. But I don’t really count that.

Instead, I consider my second concert—a Dave Matthews Band show—to be my first big music experience on record.”

Far more enamored with the creative freedom DMB allowed itself than the strict confines of the early-2000s, frosted-tipped Timberlake’s bubbly teen pop, Michienzie has from the advent of his music career identified most with the genre-hopping, rule-breaking, free-wheeling types like Dave Matthews Band.

As the singer enthusiastically elaborated on his admiration for the popular American rock band and other artists who boast a similar inventive style, his demeanor transformed. Michienzie’s initial wince, perhaps a product of having reminisced about the overly produced pop tunes and synchronized dance numbers characteristic of the ’90s boy band genre, dissipated almost immediately as the junior passionately prattled on about DMB’s bluegrass and progressive-rock blend through an animated grin.

A current film major and aspiring singer-songwriter, Michienzie is used to having a microphone in front of him.

The Foxborough, Mass., native has been performing in front of crowds and booking gigs in local pubs since his early high school years. In recent months, he’s become quite comfortable under the bright lights at The Middle East in Cambridge.

Michienzie currently serves as the

music director for the Boston College Acoustics, a co-ed a cappella group Michienzie has called family since his freshman year. Of the entourage of Acoustics members that supports his personal music endeavors outside of the tight-knit campus group, Michienzie said, “We’re like family. They come to my gigs, and, honestly, they fill up half of my fan base in the audience.”

As far as personal music pursuits outside of a cappella are concerned, Michienzie had for years stepped into the spotlight solo—each new performance an opportunity to showcase his signature sound: blues-infused rock, rife with impressive belts. It wasn’t until recently, however, that the singer decided to ditch the life of solo artistry and form a good, old fashioned, multi-faceted band instead.

“My first thought was, ‘I need a sax,’” Michienzie said of his band’s early, formative days. “I need a saxophone or a trumpet so that if we don’t have a drummer, we can still make something cool.”

Enter Paul Wagenseller, MCAS ’16, into Michienzie’s search for a partner-incrime. A fellow BC a cappella singer and music enthusiast, Wagenseller’s talent and unique instrument of choice was integral to fulfilling Michienzie’s bluesy jazz vision of what sound he wanted the band to embody.

“I knew [Wagenseller] played sax, I jammed with him,” Michienzie said. “He’s unbelievable. Turns out, Paul tells me, his brother is a drummer, and he goes to Northeastern. That’s how we got Evan to join the band.”

In addition to the three core members, Michienzie acknowledges Funky Giant guitarist Nick Rocchio-Giordano, MCAS ’18, as a vital asset to the success of The Matt Michienzie Band thus far, as the sophomore often lends his tal-

ents when he can. No longer a solo act, Michienzie and his eclectic crew have coalesced into a band on the rise—which, with the help of this year’s Battle of the Bands competition and other upcoming on-campus events, will increase the band’s presence as a fresh-faced, talented BC band.

Big-name artists of varying genres— such as John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and, of course, DMB—make the short list of Michienzie’s major musical influences.

“I like John Mayer’s blues guitar,” Michienzie said. “He’s often seen as a womanizer, a bad dude. But there’s a small group of people who actually really listen to his music and his riffs—” Michienzie cut off suddenly, searching for analogies that wouldn’t come. “Well, they’re just something else.”

Michienzie is something else, too. In fact, that’s precisely what’s most appealing about his music.

Veering away from the alternative, rap, and synth-heavy tracks that have for so long saturated BC’s music scene, Michienzie’s signature sound is an experimental and ever-evolving melange of genres—it’s soulful rock layered with elements of old-school jazz and topped with that sweet-sounding, rockabilly

vibe of the south. It’s gritty at times and smooth during others. Able to incorporate this style into both his original tracks and covers, Michienzie stresses his love of experimenting with different sounds and challenging belts. According to Michienzie, he has never sung a song exactly the same way.

“I gravitate toward stuff that I can be free with my voice and don’t have to stick to a script,” he said. “Same goes for my music-writing, I guess.”

Michienzie’s original songs “Drunk” and “Skylines” boast catchy hooks and meaningful lyrics. The singer attributes the inspiration for “Skylines” to his eagerness to get into the industry and passion for music.

“I was sitting in an office one day, and I started thinking about what I want to do next. The song embodies that idea of getting out there and being vulnerable,” Michienzie said. “I love being put in a situation where I have to figure it all out.”

Michienzie sat back in his chair, contemplative. After a moment of quiet reflection, he spoke up. “I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know what I’ll do.

I just want to go,” he said. “And if music is the only thing that’s static, then that’s fine with me.”

SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Ê?ldYc\ Xe[ B`e[Ë Gifm\j :flekip :Xe Jk`cc ^\k J\i`flj BENNET JOHNSON Country music is easy to criticize. Opponents frequently find fault with many of its themes, looking at countless songs about beer, trucks, tractors, and girls.

Take, for example, Jason Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor,” Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” or practically anything

by Florida Georgia Line. These songs are known for their fun, lighthearted lyrics that make you want to roll your windows down and cruise—or be somewhere on a beach with Dierks Bentley.

Nashville has recently been under fire for the rise of what is known as “bro country,” and many in the industry are well aware that these uptempo, booze-themed songs may not have the most substantive themes. But as bro country continues to rule the business, Tim McGraw’s latest hit, “Humble and Kind,” exemplifies what country music is all about and proves that artists can still have big results with serious

songs.

“Humble and Kind” is a touching, lump-in-your-throat kind of song that has a simple, universal message. The song was originally written by Grammy-winning songwriter Lori McKenna. The Bostonbased mother of five wrote the song for her children, hoping the lyrics would inspire her kids to understand the proper way to treat others, growing up in an age dominated by cell phones and social media.

Besides being humble and kind, McGraw’s song includes advice about the importance of going to church, visiting Grandpa, and helping others. These themes are classic country—and closely resonate with some of the all-time greats, like the Dixie Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces,” Brad Paisely’s “Letter to Me,” and Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.”

The song’s greatest strength is its direct message, which allows “Humble and Kind” to reach an audience well outside of country music: “Hold the door, say please, say thank you / Don’t steal, don’t cheat, and

BIG MACHINE RECORDS

don’t lie / I know you’ve got mountains to climb / But always stay humble and kind.”

“Humble and Kind” is presented from the perspective of a parent sending his or her child off into the world, and he McGraw is the ideal artist to convey the song’s message to a wide-ranging audience. As a husband and father of three daughters, he gives the song a voice that would not have the same effect as someone younger and less known. In fact, McGraw cried through every take recording the song, since he and his wife, Faith Hill, had recently sent their oldest daughter off to college.

McGraw’s performance of the song—his 52nd top-10 single and latest release from his album Damn Country Music—has helped McKenna’s message reach an audience of tens of millions. Part of that success has come from the music video for “Humble and Kind,” which features footage from Oprah Winfrey’s Belief series. The video shows touching clips of people from around the world celebrating faith and life, including a man dressed in an army uniform and a woman in a hijab.

In addition to the thousands of fans who’ve chimed in with their own related stories about acts of kindness, many celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey have praised the song. Even Oprah herself weighed in, tweeting “I love this song. Every word feels true.”

It’s hard to imagine comparing the emotional lyrics of “Humble and Kind” to some of the songs at the top of country charts nowadays. The business is changing—and the emergence of artists like Sam Hunt, Florida Georgia Line, and Chase Rice proves there’s a huge demand for bro country.

Listen to Rice’s “Ready Set Roll” and you’ll hear numerous references to Fireball shots, pickup-truck dates, and sexy country girls.

After releasing his latest single, “Whisper,” Rice even went as far as to write an open letter to his fans, admitting his song lacked any real substance. What kind of message does that send about country music?

As the snow finally melts and the summer concert season approaches, more and more songs about girls, trucks, beer, and drinking beer with girls in trucks are going to surface—because that’s what people want. It’s hard not to sing along with Bryan’s latest single, “Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day.” These songs are catchy, fun, and are an intrinsic part of the industry. Plus, they dominate country radio and sell tickets to summer concert tours. So sit back and crack open a cold Coors Light, because they aren’t going anywhere.

But even as bro country rules, “Humble and Kind” has proved that there is still a place for serious songs in country music.

In one of the most moving moments at the award show known as “Country’s Biggest Party” on Sunday night in Las Vegas, McGraw was joined by dozens of diverse groups of people on stage, spanning ages, genders, and ethnicities, as they sang along in front of thousands of fans and viewers.

“Every parent should make their kid listen to ‘Humble and Kind’,” tweeted one fan right after McGraw’s performance. “Scratch that. Every adult should listen too.”

Now that’s what country music is all about.

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?8EE8? D:C8L>?C@E Few things in this world sound sweeter than a unique and recognizable voice, that sing-songy cadence carried by someone familiar. It comes in the form of an old childhood lullaby, your favorite singer’s light and airy love ballad, or any track off Norah Jones’ dreamy debut album Come Away With Me—take your pick.

For me, however, “music to my ears” means the fluctuating nasal tone of a raspyvoiced, Connecticut man in his late ’60s.

Well, that and screeching bagpipes paired with screaming vocals. Wait—don’t go. Let me explain.

“Swing and a ground ball, stabbed by Foulke. He has it,” the familiar voice barks hurriedly, the tone saturated with escalating excitement. “He underhands to first, and the Boston Red Sox are the Woooorld Champions.” The word is dragged out for miles, high-pitched and as scrappy as it gets. “For the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox have won baseball’s World Championship.”

Shocked, he squeaks, “Can you believe it?”

The incomparable Joe Castiglione has one heck of a voice. A long-time affiliation with the Red Sox has made his name practically synonymous with the organization.

He’s been there for it all—pivotal changes to the lineup, the astounding end to an 86-year curse, and a lot more losing seasons than Sox fans are willing to acknowledge. He landed a role in my childhood as that disembodied radio voice that for years lulled me to sleep on long, nighttime car rides home from wherever my family happened to venture.

His voice is rough, it has a whole lot of character, and it ain’t too pretty, if we’re being quite honest.

The Dropkick Murphys are like that, too. The Boston-based band’s hit 2004 song “Tessie” is a discordant convergence of poorly played bagpipes and slurred refrains.

It’s a chaotic track that fits better as a tuneless drinking song than a celebrated stadium anthem. “Tessie” is a far cry from Neil Diamond’s melodic “Sweet Caroline,” and it lacks the jaunty background beats in the other Fenway favorite, “Dirty Water” by the Standells. Instead, it’s sloppy, it’s far too loud, and—perhaps because of all this—it’s just plain awesome.

This is the sweet sound of Boston, I’ve found. It’s derived from the incessant car honks of impatient drivers who just want to get to the nearest Dunk’s before the Pike jams in the morning. It’s the deafening boos heard outside the ballpark when our friends from New York pay a visit. It can be heard in the intolerable screeching of an incredibly ineffective public transport system. Most notably, it’s emphasized in my family’s complete “disregahhd” for consonant sounds usually implied by the letter “R.” Perhaps the best thing about this supposedly shining “city upon a hill” is that it’s not perfect—far from it, actually (sorry, John Winthrop). But the ever-imperfect, roughand-tumble type of charm Boston boasts beats any other city’s by a mile. The city’s raw strength and brilliant resilience is glaringly apparent. For me, Boston’s sound is comforting, it’s reliable, and it’s home.

Now, if I had to venture a guess, Castiglione probably couldn’t carry any semblance of a tune for all the tea in Chin—er, Boston Harbor. But who cares? Though he’s not a native Massachusetts man, the guy boasts an unmistakable sound that perfectly encompasses the quintessential elements of the city. So does music from The Dropkick Murphys—and the Red Sox, too, while we’re listing things.

While 2004 brought strange fads like Livestrong bracelets and Napoleon Dynamite, it also brought together an even stranger band of ragtag baseball players whose unkempt beards and untucked shirts were the laughingstock of the AL East—that is, before they trounced every team unfortunate enough to have been placed in their path.

Boston’s signature sound is (and always has been) harsh rather than harmonious. It’s ugly, yet intriguing. It doesn’t pretend to be glitzy, but instead opts for the unflattering.

Then again, for a city closely associated with baked beans and 2004 World Champions who enthusiastically referred to themselves as “idiots,” what did you expect?

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THE HEIGHTS

B4

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Ê9fjjË DXb\j 9X[ @em\jkd\ek# ;`d`e`j_\j :fd\[`Z I\klie 9P :8C<9 >I@<>F 8jjfZ% 8ikj I\m`\n Every established comedian has something about their that makes their distinguishable from the crowd.

For some it is the quality of their jokes. Others find their craft in their presence and personality. And for those like Melissa McCarthy, it is all about delivery. Much like a car and a car salesman, jokes need to be sold, and if there is one thing McCarthy does well, it is sell. In The Boss, Mc-

Carthy does well to sell as the colorful and brash industry businesswoman Michelle Darnell, but, as in business, one is only as strong as one’s weakest link. With inconsistent or otherwise tactless jokes and a supporting cast poorly versed in the art of comedy, The Boss will leave moviegoers chuckling at times and stoically unimpressed at others.

The Boss follows Darnell (McCarthy), a successful industry titan who has made millions off many investments and crafty entrepreneurial

endeavors. Orphaned as a child and fueled by her abandonment, Darnell steers clear of emotional attachment to become a vicious and, at times, heartless competitor. After her arrest for insider trading, Darnell finds herself with liquidated assets and nowhere to go. Turning to her former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) for help, Darnell soon finds herself at the head of another profitable business venture, Darnell’s Darling Brownies.

Some might say McCarthy has been typecast as this kind of loud,

FILM

THE BOSS BEN FALCONE DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES RELEASE APR. 8, 2016 OUR RATING

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

cheeky, heart-of-gold character. While that may be true, she does little to mitigate that stereotype. Her husband and director of The Boss, Ben Falcone, helps her propagate this image in his films. His directorial debut, Tammy (2014) was an abhorrent mess that found McCarthy as distasteful and unfunny as the film itself. The Boss—though not as bad as Tammy—is frustrating in many of the same respects.

McCarthy does have some moments in the film when her delivery as the character makes for some genuinely funny encounters. As she insults, berates, and belittles her opponents, the verbal thrashings are worth a smirk or two. In these moments, McCarthy feels sincere in her role. Her comedic timing lines up perfectly with her characters’ succinct vicious stares.

Darnell is mean and unforgiving and McCarthy makes her sinister behind unassuming eyes and smiles. That being said, insult humor is relatively low-hanging comedic fruit and it does not always land as intended, but it is better than much of the throwaway humor interlaced through the rest of the movie.

Much of this throwaway humor has no set-up and is immediately foreseeable. One such gag has to do with a pull-out couch, on which Darnell must sleep when staying at Claire’s apartment. Instantly, audiences may

understand the simple gag that is to come as the scene slows and she begins to lie down. It is of almost no surprise when she is thrown from the bed into the wall. It is a cheap laugh. It is an undeserving laugh. It will likely leave audiences feeling betrayed.

The narrative is most engaging when dealing with Darnell’s antics in regard to the brownie business and reclaiming her fame. Unfortunately, this is interlaced with the dull ongoings of Claire’s life and otherwise unfunny content. As the film tries to shoehorn in heart, it leads some to wonder if it would have felt more cohesive if it embraced the darker demeanor of its protagonist.

The supporting cast, especially Bell and Peter Dinklage, the main antagonist, are not paramount examples of comedy, nor should they be. Their acting chops lie squarely in genres outside of comedy and it shows. Through Dinklage has dabbled in films like Elf (2003), Death at a Funeral (2007) and Pixels (2015), his forte is not in the comedic sphere.

They are not unfunny so much as they are not funny.

The Boss highlights what McCarthy has become known for, but is bogged down by unnecessary additions and throwaway gags. In many respects The Boss is cheap, but coming from the likes of Falcone and McCarthy, it could have been worse.

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For the longest time, one of the very best things about The Walking Dead has been its level of accessibility. The casual viewer can enjoy the tension, the action, and the riveting sense of dread and terror that permeate every step the show takes. Others find themselves deeply immersed in the interpersonal relationships and development of the wide array of characters that The Walking Dead has to offer. The most devoted fans can be found trawling through Web forums, press releases, and comic books (the source material for the show), desperate for any shred of info concerning upcoming plot arcs.

The Walking Dead’s inviting nature is what makes it AMC’s biggest show to date. Generally speaking, this is perhaps the premier trait of AMC’s production arm—look no farther than Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and Better Call Saul for evidence of large fan bases that flocked to shows at different times. AMC’s slogan—“Something More”—rings true.

Indeed, something more for everyone, even if the “something” is different from person to person. In many ways, the show’s accessibility is a great thing—with a multitude of fans watching for different reasons, everyone finds their niche. The show is constructed in an ingenious way, re-

ally: The Walking Dead is a television program that has an incredible array of tools to form itself into the greatest television drama of all time.

Unfortunately, if the man behind the hammer is incompetent, the house has to crumble sooner or later.

In many ways, the sixth season of The Walking Dead has been plagued by much, much more than “walkers.”

A few notable examples are easy to come by—for instance, the apparent killing-off of a beloved character, only to revive him four episodes later, feels less like compelling writing and more like lazy fanservice. This cop-out style of writing shows up over and over: directorial choices made after the third episode’s “reveal,” the midseason finale, and, most egregiously, last Sunday’s season finale.

Poor writing has always been at the top of the list of criticisms of the show, but up until this Sunday, these flaws had been forgivable. If “Last Day on Earth” (the show’s season-six finale) is any indication, however, turning a blind eye to The Walking Dead’s weak points has only served to exacerbate the problem. It has become clear that AMC no longer respects the will of its audience—fanservice, of course, is undoubtedly bad, but outright disrespecting the source material of your television show is dangerous in multiple ways. The show risks weakening the program and fanbase.

In fact, this is precisely why the season finale spits in the face of every type of fan. The most casual fan loses the sense of action they seek. Those who are most invested in the characters themselves are left hanging, wondering which of their favorites is most at-risk. Die-hard comic fans are the most disappointed of all—watching the most famous and anticipated adapted scene of a magnificent work being butchered before your very eyes is not a glorious sight. AMC has proved its unwillingness to make risky choices, choosing instead to betray its fans with money-grubbing tactics far

too commonly seen in media today.

And this is a real shame. As said before, The Walking Dead has the tools to be an incredible television program. The actors are consistently spectacular. The cinematography has never been better. Music choices enhance the story 1,000 times over. On a technical level, The Walking Dead is nearly perfect. But more than any other show currently running, it is evident that, without quality writing, even perfect technical skill means little in the face of a failure to write a compelling plot.

Here’s the reality: The Walking

Dead is a “good” television show.

AMC’s biggest hit has the essence of a compelling plot. As unfortunate as it is, though, the inability to conclude a story has the ability to invalidate the work as a whole. For 99.5 percent of a season, AMC has delivered highquality programming. The truest fans of the show hold to this with good reason. If The Walking Dead is ever to become the best of the best, the writers must stop pulling their punches when the stakes are high.

Otherwise, the show will fade into obscurity, which is a fate no fan wants to see.

In many ways, The Ranch is nothing but a typical multi-cam sitcom with an increasingly predictable laugh track. The characters are somewhat compelling, if not framed with an intentional dash of mediocrity. And the relationships between the characters are anything but dynamic and unforeseeable. But The Ranch does generate some benefit from the Net-

flix treatment. Unlike most sitcoms, with their bubblegum aesthetics and over-reliance on consumer friendliness, The Ranch is able to subvert the typical situational comedy.

Looking at the main characters, first there’s the typical anti-hero and prodigal son Colt Bennett (Ashton Kutcher). Despite his tendency toward chronic underachievement, he’s the sort of guy who has had it easy. He’s coming back to small-town America after an unsuccessful series

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TELEVISION

THE WALKING DEAD FRANK DARABONT PRODUCED BY AMC STUDIOS SEASON 6 16 EPISODES OUR RATING

AMC STUDIOS

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CHART TOPPERS

of attempts at becoming a professional football player. Although his lack of success is surely attributable to his burgeoning alcoholism and hedonistic lifestyle, Colt is still considered a sort of legend in his hometown of just over 500 inhabitants. After all, Colt took his football team to state his senior year of high school. And as the show would have you believe, in small-town America, that’s one of those big deals that has generational staying power.

As such, Colt enjoys plenty of social

TELEVISION

THE RANCH NETFLIX PRODUCED BY RANCHO HAND RELEASE APR. 1, 2016 OUR RATING

RANCHO HAND PRODUCTIONES

graces for otherwise questionable behavior. He’s not much in the way of a unique, dynamic character, but is the sort of guy that probably has tons of crazy stories worth a listen. And then there’s everyone Colt left behind.

His brother, Rooster Bennett (Danny Masterson) is the underappreciated son who stayed home to help his father take care of the ranch.

He comes across as a little jaded, albeit sincere enough to admit that he’s happy for his brother to be back home. Instead of trying to escape the comparisons to That 70’s Show, which were perhaps inevitable, and possibly intentional, the show reprises the antagonistic, love-hate relationship between the two actors and continues the trajectory within this new, country setting.

Beau Bennett (Sam Elliott) is the hard-working, emotionally distant father. Beau and Colt have the typical on-again, off-again spat that centers on a general theme of disappointment. Beau is the typical blowhard, uncompromising and rough around the edges. Then there is Abby, the one girl Colt ever truly fell for. She’s the one who actually seems to understand Colt and she never puts him on a pedestal. Most unfortunately, however,

she is tragically unavailable.

The characters seem to be cast within an accessible narrative, and it’s easy to predict how each character will react to a given situation. At times this can make the show come across as slow and something to get through.

Regardless, each of the characters fits well within a setting typically reserved for Budweiser commercials and country music videos.

The Ranch is not particularly family-friendly. It’s not much compared to other Netflix releases like Masters of None, but the characters on The Ranch are constantly swearing and referring to sexual innuendos. Not for nothing, this sort of approach may be one of the most appealing aspects of Netflix Originals. It’s refreshing and exciting to witness a spate of original releases free from the typical network standards of censorship and family decency. The Ranch gets an opportunity to play around with a genre of television that has been largely tonally set in stone since its inception. But, The Ranch is nothing special.

The show can be entertaining and funny—as long as the audience doesn’t expect too much.

Just when the world thought Zayn Malik couldn’t possibly climb any higher on the popularity ladder, he left One Direction and became a pop enigma in his own right. The Zayn Train has been chugging along mightily for months now, fueled by hits like “Pillowtalk.” A Timberlakeesque evolution from boy-band heartthrob to mature pop artist has been hoped for, if not expected from Zayn—and his recent success suggests it just might happen. But for now, Zayn is stuck in an awkward musical puberty, which forced attempts at maturity ultimately threaten the quality of his work.

The story in the “iT’s YoU” (yep, that’s how it’s officially written) video is all too common: a tortured lover admires a beautiful girl from afar as she flirts with other men, all while she shoots him glances that scream “I’m totally into you, too.” No one would be surprised if this video was originally written as a Great Gatsby tribute, complete with elegant parties, a sophisticated but disgruntled male protagonist, and even a swimming pool scene. Taking no chances, the video embraces every imaginable cliche of dramatic unrequited love—from contemplative cigarette drags to cheesy black-and-white slowmotion shots. To remind us of the new Zayn’s edgy persona, a few unnecessary expletives are thrown into the otherwise mellow lyrics. The finest point of the song and video is the chorus, which is just striking enough to make you temporarily forget the lackluster verses.

It wouldn’t be unfair to question the future of this newly minted solo artist. At some point, his name alone will fail to propel him to the top of the charts and his music will have to stand by itself— and if the music continues to be average, that task may indeed prove difficult.

SINGLE REVIEWS BY LEIGH CHANNELL KYGO “Raging”

JASON DERULO “If It Ain’t Love”

BROODS “Free” In his new track, “Raging,” Kygo takes on a new challenge by partnering with Irish band Kodaline. The Norwegian producer’s trademark summer-house style generally lends itself to heavily produced pop music, not the acoustic rock feel Kodaline has perfected, yet the unlikely mashup shows promise.

Broods has quietly been infiltrating the U.S. electronic pop scene since their debut single, “Bridges.” Their newest single, “Free,” may just make into the top-200 mainstream.

Showcasing Georgia Nott’s impressive voice, the lively track combines catchy tribal vocals with a modern electronic score.

Pop icon Jason Derulo strikes out with “If It Ain’t Love.” The song is peak Derulo, utilizing his vocal range, bubbly synth, and love-story lyrics.

It feels as if it is trying way too hard to suit his found niche of success. While it will appease his fans, success comparable to hits “Want You to Want Me” or “Talk Dirty” is unlikely.

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believe that the Huskies are the best thing for the sport.

Think about it. Would anyone—anyone—be talking about women’s college basketball without UConn’s dominance? The answer is no. It’s a harsh truth, but it’s a truth all the same. Just look at the WNBA. It doesn’t have one team consistently blowing everyone else out of the water, like UConn does, and nobody talks about it. According to a report, attendance at WNBA games dropped by 3.4 percent this year to the lowest point in the league’s history. At the end of last summer, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver admitted that TV ratings and attendance were below the ideal target.

I’d love it if people paid more attention to the WNBA, but there’s just no interest in the league. This suggests that women’s sports need dominance or else nobody will pay attention. And if you don’t believe me, I have plenty of examples.

I’d argue that the two most popular women’s sports in this country are soccer and tennis.

The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) has absolutely dominated on the international stage recently.

In case you were living under a rock last summer and didn’t hear, it beat Japan and won the World Cup. Four years ago the team was the gold medalist at the London Olympics. Five years ago the team nearly won the world championships but lost in heartbreaking fashion— to Japan, no less—in the World Cup. (Speaking as a goalie, penalty kicks are the worst, you guys.) And the Americans also triumphed at the 1991 and 1999 World Cups.

Meanwhile, Venus and Serena Williams—but mainly Serena—are single-handedly keeping American tennis relevant on the world stage. Sorry, John Isner—I still love you, but they are the best thing about American tennis right now.

Serena Williams is unquestionably the best women’s tennis player in the world. Last year she won the Australian Open, Miami Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and Western & Southern Open. A close loss in a U.S. Open semifinal killed her chances of winning all four Grand Slam events in one year.

Over her career, Williams has won 21 Grand Slams. That’s more than the biggest icons of men’s tennis—Roger Federer (17), Rafael Nadal (14), and Novak Djokovic (11).

I don’t hear people complaining about the USWNT dominating on the international level. I don’t hear critics arguing that Serena Williams’ success is bad for tennis. Even those who claim that her attitude detracts from the sport can’t deny the numbers. Fans were so excited at the thought of witnessing Serena completing a calendar Grand Slam that the Women’s U.S. Open final last year sold out before the men’s for the first time ever.

One of the major criticisms leveled against UConn is that its games aren’t even close. But the United States scored four goals on Japan in 16 minutes in last summer’s World Cup final, and Serena routinely destroys her competitors. It doesn’t affect whether or not people are willing to watch them. So if the two most popular women’s sports include historic dominance, that should tell us something. When it comes to women’s sports, it’s very clear that dominance is what draws interest.

People—not just UConn fans—pay attention to the Huskies. They tune in to see the unbelievable performance Auriemma’s squad will give.

They marvel at senior Breanna Stewart’s stats and stature— she has a wingspan longer than LeBron James’ while standing a full four inches shorter.

And UConn is more than just a national powerhouse— it’s an example to young female basketball players everywhere.

The Huskies offer heroes to

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AJ MAST/ AP PHOTO

youth players all across the country. Some of the most famous WNBA players are UConn products, including Diana Taurasi and Tina Charles. Stewart is almost certainly going to be the next WNBA star, and is already the champion of women’s collegiate basketball. This year she was named Player of the Year by the Associated Press for a record third time. It was the first time in history that a player was unanimously voted to win the award. If that wasn’t enough, she has won the Final Four Most Outstanding Player award a record-setting four times. Nobody, male or female, has done that in college basketball history. Just as tennis needs Serena Williams to be the iconic female figure, women’s basketball needs UConn to provide the heroes.

So, Shaughnessy is wrong.

Women’s sports aren’t as inherently popular as men’s sports. Evidence suggests that dominance is needed for people to pay real attention to women’s sports. UConn, then, is the best possible thing for women’s college basketball.

When UConn dominates, it makes headlines. When the Huskies run their opponents out of the gym, people talk about it. Not everyone is happy about it, but that’s alright. Not everyone was happy about John Wooden’s UCLA teams, either, but people managed to survive anyway. I’m sure they can now, too.

Sports Editor BC has done extraordinarily well overcoming the March demons that have plagued the team over the last few years. This offense is stellar, and Thatcher Demko should win the Hobey Baker.

That being said, North Dakota and its feared CBS line put up too much offense, and Cam Johnson is too good. The Eagles will beat Quinnipiac, whose easy schedule in the ECAC has overrated that 31-3-7 record, but will fall to NoDak.

Prediction: North Dakota 4, BC 2 RILEY OVEREND

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MEN’S HOCKEY

=ifq\e =fli Gi\m`\n1 <X^c\j <p\ J`ok_ K`kc\ Frozen Four , from B8

Possession: BC’s semifinal opponent is a top-five Corsi For club in the nation, checking in at 56.3 percent. This is the second straight year that Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold’s seasoned outfit posted a mark above 56 percent.

Gamebreakers: Junior Sam Anas was sixth in the country in goals with 24, tying Hobey Baker finalist Jimmy Vesey of Harvard. Per multiple reports, Anas was banged up during the East regional but still managed to pick up a point against RIT and Lowell. Senior Travis St. Denis had 46 points on the year, also tied with Vesey as well as BC junior Ryan Fitzgerald.

Goaltending: Senior Michael Garteig has started at least 35 games each of the last three seasons and improved every year. He has a .926 save percentage this year.

Power-Play Prowess: BC’s possibly fatal flaw is its propensity for penalties. If the Eagles lose it may very well be because a stupid penalty finally burns them. That could happen on Thursday. Quinnipiac scores on the power play 27.4 percent of the time, good for fourth in Division I. N o r th D a k o t a ( 3 2 - 6 - 4 , 19-4-1-1 National Collegiate Hockey +75 goal differential, beat Michigan 5-2 in Midwest Regional Final) Po ssession: The ne wly dubbed Fighting Hawks slightly edge out Quinnipiac as the best

possession team in the Frozen Four with a Corsi For of 56.8 percent. In this realm, new head coach Brad Berry has been an upgrade over former coach (and current Philadelphia Flyers boss) Dave Hakstol, as this year’s mark is a 5 percent improvement over last year’s.

Gamebreakers: Vancouver Canucks first-round draft pick and freshman Brock Boeser’s 54 points were good for fifth in the country. His linemates, senior Drake Caggiula and sophomore Nick Schmaltz, are equally dangerous. The two combined for 100 points this year.

Goaltending: After playing just two games last year, sophomore Cam Johnson came on this year and posted an elite .934 save percentage in 32 games.

Power Play Prowess: North Dakota converts on just less than one-fifth of its man-advantages, going into Thursday with a 19.5 percent success rate.

D enver (25-9-7, 17-5-2 National Collegiate Hockey, +40 goal differential, beat Ferris State 6-3 in West Regional Final) Possession: The Pioneers were the 12th-best possession squad in Division I this year with a 53.8 Corsi For. Gamebreakers: B oston Bruins prospect Danton Heinen was a top-10 scorer in college hockey, and it’s easy to picture why after reflecting on his performance during Denver’s 4-3 loss to BC in October. Heinen touched up BC for a goal and an assist and was easily the

scoreboard

best skater on the ice the entire game. Defenseman Will Butcher adds some flair from the back end, too. He was the fourthhighest-scoring defenseman in the nation.

Goaltending: Sophomore Tanner Jaillet is the least-pedigreed netminder in this year’s Frozen Four. In only 30 games this season, he’s racked up a .923 save percentage.

Power Play Prowess: Denver has the least lethal power play out of the four remaining squads, but not by much, scoring at a 19 percent clip.

BC (28-7-5, 15-2-5 Hockey East, +75 goal differential, beat Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 in Northeast Regional Final) Possession: With a 52.3 Corsi For, BC controls the run of play the least of the four semifinalists. BC’s goal differential, however, is comparable to North Dakota’s and Quinnipiac’s because BC has the best overall shooting and save percentages of all four teams.

There have been plenty of games this season where, when the Eagles have roughly tied or lost possession, they still won because they have better finishers and a better goalie than the opposition. We’ll see if that persists against the best of the best.

Gamebreakers: Fitzgerald has 46 points, and Colin White, Zach Sanford, and Austin Cangelosi are all in the top 50 in scoring nationally. As BU found out in the Beanpot final, though, Alex Tuch and his tranquilizer

of a wrist shot only need a few seconds and a couple feet to change a game, so his number may be circled on the whiteboard in Quinnipiac’s locker, as well. Also, White’s ability to create both smooth and greasy goals could be big in a tight spot.

Goaltending: Junior Thatcher Demko is the only goalie still up for the Hobey Baker for good reason. You don’t need to know his .936 save percentage to know how much of a monster he is. He’s transcendent and BC’s biggest advantage in Tampa. If the Eagles win it all, Demko likely will be reasons one, two, and three.

Power Play Prowess: BC features a dangerous power play, converting at 21.5 percent, good for ninth-best in the country.

All of this information could be irrelevant by midnight on Sunday—or even 8 p.m. tonight. A few pucks might go off a skate or an arm, and a referee might have a bad night, and the team that deserved to win it all might go home with a lifetime of regret. Yet in ride-or-die, singleelimination hockey, “deserve” ain’t got nothing to do with it.

All the s e te ams are s o evenly matched that any one of them could claim to be the best despite what happens at Amalie Arena. The Frozen Four might not determine who the best team is, but it does crown a champion, and everyone wants that ring.

Trophies are nice. Diamonds are forever.

M. HOCKEY

WORCESTER, MA 3/26

BASEBALL

CHESNUT HILL, MA 3/29 SOFTBALL

MIN-D 2 BC 3

FARLEY 1 G 1 A DOHERTY 2 G

CONN 9 BC 4

YAHN 2B 2 RBI BC SAUTER 2B 3 RBI BU

SOFTBALL BC 1 HARV 2

CAMBRIDGE, MA 3/29 DAULTON 1 H 1 RBI LANTZ 1 RBI 1 R

BASEBALL BC 11 MASS 5

3 0

Tonight’s matchup is a contest between two New England schools with electric offenses and presidents with remarkably similar names (Leahy vs. Lahey). But ultimately, BC’s size will overwhelm Quinnipiac, and the country’s best goalkeeper will show up to play as always. The finals will mark a rematch of the 2001 title game, infamous for Krys Kolano’s overtime winner.

UND knocked off a hot Northeastern squad —the same one that eliminated BC from the Hockey East tournament—on its way to Tampa. But, like 15 years ago, expect Jerry York’s squad to prevail.

Prediction: BC 3, North Dakota 2 ANNABEL STEELE

Asst. Sports Editor Call me an optimist . First B C will roll over Quinnipiac. Then the Eagles will shut d o w n th e fo r m i d ab l e N o r th D a k o t a a n d bring another national championship home to C h e s t nu t H i l l . Ye a h , I k n o w, I k n o w.

North Dakota is a ver y good hocke y team.

But I think the conditions are perfect for B C throughout the Frozen Four. Thatcher Demko is on top of his game and will hold North Dakota to just one goal, while the talented offense will come together to net a few on Cam Johnson for the win.

Prediction: BC 2, North Dakota 1

BOSTON, MA 3/30 5 4

AMHERST, MA 3/30 BASEBALL STREM 3 H 3 RBI FSU JENNINGS 1 HR 2 RBI BC

Assoc. Sports Editor

CORTEZ 2 H 1 HR MARTINEZ 3 H 2 RBI

CHESTNUT HILL, MA 4/1 LUECK 3 H 1 R KING 8 1/3 IP

Charlottesville, 4/21Boston, Mava 11/11

Lacrosse BC UVA

14 15

KENT 2 G 2 A BEHR 4 G 1 A

15 11

CHANDLER 3 G 1 A MCEVOY 4 G

Newton, MA CT 11/09 New Haven, 3/2

Lacrosse BC YALE

SPORTS

B8

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 WOMEN’S HOCKEY

*($*$. RECORD

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(-$($, IN ECAC

GOALS SCORED PER GAME

BOSTON COLLEGE vs.

QUINNIPIAC 5 P.M. ESPN2

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7TH OVERALL JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

GOALS SCORED PER GAME

*%//

4TH OVERALL ALLOWED (%0' GOALS PER GAME

CHOSEN FOUR 5TH OVERALL

KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

K_\ <X^c\j n`cc kXb\ fe Hl`ee`g`XZ kf[Xp Xk , g%d% `e k_\ EXk`feXc J\d`Ô eXc# Xe[ k_\ n`ee\i n`cc ]XZ\ \`k_\i ;\em\i fi Efik_ ;XbfkX ]fi k_\ EXk`feXc :_Xdg`fej_`g% 9P D@:?8<C ?F== ?\`^_kj JkX]] Boston College hasn’t won a national title in four years.

In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a long time. But if BC flies home empty-handed from the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla. this weekend, it will be the first time since 2007 that one of Jerry York’s senior classes will graduate without a championship ring. Quinnipiac, North Dakota and Denver aren’t particularly worried about BC’s senior class’ legacy because they want that ring as badly as anyone could want anything.

Single-elimination hockey produces maximum desperation.

These four teams are all roughly equal and that, combined with such desperation, will make for an awesome product on Thursday and Saturday. Three of these teams, though, will remember this weekend in Florida as anything but awesome, and the prospect of such despair and emptiness will make every blocked shot and battle in the corner non-negotiable.

Because hockey is so random, a team’s record is not as indicative of team quality or predictive of its future success as puck possession is. The percentage of shots that a team attempts during its games while at even strength—which

discounts special teams—is the best proxy for puck possession. The abbreviated version of this stat is Corsi For. That’s not to say strength on the power play isn’t important. And, in a single, tightly contested matchup, teams often need their offensive gamebreakers to make something happen. Finally, there is goaltending, hockey’s great equalizer. We preview each of the Frozen Four participants through the lens of these four elements.

Quinnipiac (31-3-7, 16-1-2 Eastern Collegiate Athletic, + 81 goal differential, beat UMass Lowell 4-1 in East Regional Final, will play BC in National Semifinal today at 5 p.m.)

),$0$- RECORD

*)$-$+ RECORD

(.$,$) IN NCHC

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*%*'

GOALS SCORED PER GAME

11TH OVERALL ALLOWED )%*' GOALS PER GAME

13TH OVERALL

DENVER vs.

NORTH DAKOTA 8:30 P.M. ESPN2

*%-+

GOALS SCORED PER GAME

7TH OVERALL ALLOWED (%/- GOALS PER GAME

2ND OVERALL

KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

MEN’S BASKETBALL

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8EE89<C JK<<C< Every time I rewatch The Office, I tell myself that I won’t get upset at Steve Carell’s departure. Every time I rewatch The Office, I get exceedingly upset and emotional when it’s time to say “Goodbye, Michael.” At this point, I’m not even surprised. I know for a fact that it’s going to upset me.

In a similar way, UConn dominating women’s basketball is not a surprise to anyone anymore. In a development that shocked absolutely nobody, earlier this week the Huskies defeated Syracuse, 82-51, to win their fourth consecutive national championship and their 11th in Geno Auriemma’s 31-year stint as head coach.

UConn is synonymous with domination in women’s collegiate basketball. The Huskies have set three winstreak records since 2000—they won 70 straight games in the early 2000s followed by an astounding 90 straight from 2008-2010. The 90-game streak snapped the previous record of 88 games established in the 1970s by John Wooden’s UCLA teams. After this year’s national championship, they have won 75 games in a row.

If that wasn’t enough, UConn’s perfect 38-0 campaign marks the sixth time it has gone undefeated during Auriemma’s tenure. Overall, Auriemma has guided the Huskies to 11 national championships since 1995. To quote my eternally wise and wonderful grandfather, “UConn is to

women’s basketball as the Yankees were to old-school baseball.”

With this much dominance, it’s easy to see why some people believe the Huskies are bad for women’s college basketball. When the margin of victory is more than 40 points on a consistent basis, it opens the door for claims that UConn is turning people off of women’s college basketball.

This year alone, the Huskies defeated their opponents by an average of more than 41 points per game. Their closest margin of victory was 10 points against both Notre Dame and Maryland. Blowouts breed disinterest, people might say. Nobody wants to watch a game when he or she already knows how it’s going to end, because that takes the fun out of it. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy argued this point—first in a tweet and then in a column.

Shaughnessy conceded that the Huskies play pure basketball better than anyone in history—the type of basketball, as he says, that the legendary Red Auerbach preached. But he believes that their dominance has created unwatchable games and an unstoppable dynasty with absolutely no rivals across the country. This is wrong.

UConn is still very much watchable, and the numbers prove it. According to ESPN, this year’s Women’s NCAA Tournament has seen ratings jump by 46 percent compared to last year. On average, 108,000 more people watched each game of the first two rounds this year. UConn has dominated throughout this season and the tournament. If UConn was hurting women’s college basketball, then the ratings wouldn’t be improving so much, plain and simple.

INSIDE SPORTS THIS ISSUE

And on the rivalry question?

Stanford, Tennessee, and Notre Dame each have heated rivalries with the Huskies. Stanford was the school that ended the Huskies’ historic 90-game win streak back in 2010. In 2014, Stanford snapped another UConn streak, this time at 47 games, with a thrilling 88-86 overtime victory. The Cardinal and the Huskies meet every regular season for a rivalry game.

Tennessee and UConn also have a rich history. The two teams duked it out for the national title four times, with the Huskies triumphing each time. And Notre Dame and UConn have met six times in the Final Four, with the series split at three apiece.

The Huskies also defeated the Irish in the national championship in both 2014 and 2015.

Each of these teams has also won national championships in the past.

In fact, only with the victory in this year’s national championship did UConn pass Tennessee as the most successful program in Final Four history. Tennessee is a historic powerhouse in women’s college basketball— under the legendary Pat Summitt, the Lady Vols won eight national championships. Notre Dame has won once and Stanford has won twice. Even though UConn dominates, it’s not like there are no other successful programs in women’s college basketball.

So Shaughnessy is wrong. Sure, I’ll concede that competitive games are really fun to watch—like Villanova’s buzzer-beater victory in the men’s national championship earlier this week.

Even so, UConn women’s basketball is far from the worst thing for women’s college basketball. In fact, I firmly

See UConn’s Dominance, B7

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Matt Milon scored 163 points for the Eagles this year, including 25 against Syracuse in Feb.

=i\j_dXe J_Xigj_ffk\i DXkk D`cfe kf KiXej]\i 9P I@C<P FM<I<E; Assoc. Sports Editor Boston College men’s basketball got bad news today, as freshman guard Matt Milon announced he will transfer after this semester. The news was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.

Milon later confirmed the report to The Heights in an email, but said he has not yet decided between mid-major or high-major programs for his next destination.

The Oviedo, Fla., native averaged 5.4 points in 16.6 minutes per game for the Eagles in his first year under head coach Jim Christian.

The highlight of Milon’s freshman campaign came during a 25-point outburst at home against rival Syracuse. The 3-point specialist drained 5-of-7 shots from beyond the arc on

Hockey: The Long Road to the Frozen Four The Eagles flew south to Tampa seeking their sixth national championship, but had to pass these teams first........B6

his way to a career day, sparking high praise from Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim.

“Milon’s a deadly shooter, and they did a good job of finding him,” Boeheim said after the game. “I don’t like to see him out there against us.”

Milon also scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers, in a November win against Harvard.

Despite periodic flashes of scoring potential, he struggled with earning a spot in the rotation, eventually losing playing time to fellow freshman guard Sammy Barnes-Thompkins.

The decision by the sharpshooter to leave the University comes just days after Western Michigan University’s Connor Tava announced he would transfer to BC for his final year of eligibility, reuniting with high school teammate A.J. Turner.

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