The Heights will return on Jan. 16. Happy holidays! GONE BOWLING
HEALING HANDS STATE OF THE ARTS
SPORTS
METRO
SCENE
Heisman finalist Andre Williams will lead the Eagles in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl, A10
A brother-sister duo is supporting art therapy in Boston with a new startup, C10
The Scene lists the six most powerful BC arts events this year, C1
www.bcheights.com
HEIGHTS
THE
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
established
1919
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Vol. XCIV, No. 48
Dias named new director of Montserrat Coalition BY DEVON SANFORD Assoc. News Editor The Montserrat Coalition welcomed a new program manager to its office this November. Paula Dias, BC ’07, was appointed as program manager on Nov. 18, replacing Marina Pastrana, the former program manager and founder of the coalition. Pastrana accepted a position at Catholic Extension, a national fundraising organization that supports poor mission dioceses across the country, in midOctober. The BC alumna developed the Montserrat Coalition, an initiative under University Mission and Ministry that assists students at high levels of financial need, and developed it since
UGBC revises rules for 2014 elections
its formation in 2008. Dias says she is excited to continue Pastrana’s work. “The reason I applied for the position is because I think that this program has become a really important part of Boston College,” Dias said. “Marina did such an amazing job building it from the ground up and I was really impressed with the University’s commitment to supporting her.” Dias joins the BC community after working at Middlesex Community College—a mid-size commuter college in Bedford and Lowell Massachusetts—for four and a half years as a student engagement specialist, developing programs to integrate academic and
See Montserrat Director, A3
BY MUJTABA SYED Heights Editor
ROBIN KIM / HEIGHTS STAFF
Paula Dias succeeds Marina Pastrana as the director of the BC Montserrast Coaltion
Report confirms decline of female self-esteem at BC Perceived Skill Change, Freshman to Senior Year
A&S A&S CSOM CSOM LSOE CSON MALES
FEMALES
FEMALES
MALES
FEMALES
FEMALES
Academic Ability Computer Skills Drive to Achieve Leadership Ability Mathematical Ability Public Speaking Ability
Self Confidence (Intellectual) Writing Ability Positive Change
Negative Change
No Change
Recommendations by Commitee Housing Causes
Collaboration with Faculty
Revise the Housing selection process, which cause immense unneeded stress, and increase adult presence in dorms.
Provide ways in which faculty can interact with students and become familiar with issues faced outside of class.
Mentoring Programs
Early “Messaging”
Increase opportunities for relationships between faculty and female students, and between younger women and older students.
Introduce students early on in their BC careers to the role women can play in the intellectual life at BC.
Campus Conversation
Alcohol on Campus Support the current efforts to address the drinking culture at BC and the resulting problems.
Provide more forums for discussion on the topic, create more retreats for women, and establish a speaker series. JORDAN PENTALERI AND BRECK WILLS / HEIGHTS GRAPHIC
BC Law School launches experiential learning center BY JULIE ORENSTEIN Heights Editor Beginning next September, opportunities for students at Boston College Law School to learn the practical skills of their profession will be consolidated into a newly created Center for Experiential Learning located on the law school’s campus in Newton Centre. Currently, BC Law students can participate in in-house clinical training that allows them to serve as advocates for underserved populations in civil litigation, housing law, immigration cases, and juvenile rights advocacy, among other areas. For over 40 years, the law school has also operated a clinic in Waltham that has been able to serve clients who do not have access to the campus itself. Students are also given the chance to complete externships, working alongside lawyers in practice and taking classes to connect their experience to their educational goals. Within the realm of experiential learn-
ing, all of these offerings will be combined under the purview of the new center, which will be headed by Paul Tremblay, a clinical professor of law. According to Tremblay, resources that were previously designated for the Waltham off-site law firm now will be sent to the programs centered on the Newton Campus, with plans in the works to create several additional satellite or storefront locations in the community. Preliminary conversations have also begun with the BC Neighborhood Center in Brighton, which provides social services to low-income clients, particularly immigrants. “BC has such a strong connection to Brighton and, frankly, most of our students live right near there, so that adds to the service area that we would otherwise not be meeting,” Tremblay said. For the on-campus center, Tremblay said that construction will take place over
Experiential Law, A3
BY MARY ROSE FISSINGER Heights Editor The ad hoc Faculty Committee on Undergraduate Women, formed in the spring of 2012 in response to the statistic revealing that female Boston College students’ self-confidence declines during their four years at BC, recently completed a report that sheds greater light on this issue. The 40-page document compiles all the relevant data from both the survey that initially uncovered this statistic and the committee’s subsequent investigation into the matter. It concludes with recommendations for how BC can begin efforts to reverse this problematic trend and foster a culture that is academically and socially supportive of women. Among the findings presented in the report is the fact that women’s self-perception of their academic skills and related abilities most often declines or remains the same during their time at BC, while men’s self-perception is more likely to increase or remain the same—despite the fact that, in general, female students have higher GPAs than their male classmates. The report goes on to note that female students believe that the social culture at BC has a large effect on their confidence in an academic setting, and it points to the “Plex culture,” body image pressure, and the stress of the housing selection process as elements of life at BC that corrode a female student’s self-esteem. The first portion of the report presents the quantitative data gathered from two surveys completed by the Class of 2011—one at the beginning of their freshman year and one during their senior year. Both surveys were administered by the Office of Institutional Research, Planning,
See Self-Perception, A3
On Monday, the Elections Committee (EC) hosted a mandatory meeting for all candidate teams interested in running for UGBC president and vice president. The EC used most of the time to introduce an extensive set of changes to both the election season and the rules that teams must abide by, including the movement of the race to February and the shortening of the campaigning period to two weeks. The meeting, facilitated by EC members Ross Fishman, CSOM ’14, and Rachel Fagut, CSOM ’14, was attended by three candidate teams and began with announcing the new dates for the election cycle. The campaign kickoff and t-shirt distribution will occur on Feb. 3 in the Vanderslice Cabaret Room to allow for greater student body attendance. Campaigning will occupy the following two weeks, with primary voting on Feb. 10; the final debate shortly after on Feb. 12; and final voting from Feb. 13 to Feb.14. These dates signify both a shift to hold the election cycle significantly earlier than it occurred last year, as well as a notable shortening of the campaign period. “It was such a drain on the people running in terms of grades, money, and sleep,” Fishman said. “It is more for the candidates’ benefit than anything.” This change is the result of the University’s insistence that the campaign cycle in years past has taken too much time—leading to detrimental effects on those running and a loss of interest from the student body as campaigns lingered on. This year, the EC hopes a shorter election period will more adequately sustain student interest in the race. “I actually think total votes will go up, because I think a lot of times in the past people just got tired of the amount of campaigning,” Fagut said. While it remains to be seen whether the student body will more actively engage this elections race, the EC is also confident that the earlier cycle will help the winners of the election get a firmer grasp on the government structure than in years past. “It gives the new president and VP ample time to learn under the past system. They will have all of March, April, and May to learn from the past government,” Fishman said. Additionally, the placement of the presidential elections a few weeks prior to Student Assembly (SA) elections will allow unsuccessful candidates the opportunity to sustain their involvement in UGBC—a feature that was not present in past years. The
See UGBC Elections, A3
ANDRE WILLIAMS SELECTED AS HEISMAN FINALIST
GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS EDITOR
With 2,102 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns in 2013, Williams will join four other Heisman finalists in New York this Saturday, A8