DON’T FIRE DONAHUE
IN GOOD HANDS
‘CHORDUROY SEASON’
SPORTS
METRO
SCENE
Asst. Sports Editor Alex Fairchild makes a case for Donahue’s coaching style, A10
Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans discusses his role in the city, B10
‘The Scene’ previews the tracks on Chorduroy’s newest album of student artists, B1
www.bcheights.com
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
established
1919
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Vol. XCV, No. 10
BC
HEIGHTS
THE
UPSTATE UPSET
Syracuse Syracuse
62 59
Following a difficult series of losses, the Eagles rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat No. 1 Syracuse in an overtime victory at the Carrier Dome. See A10
KEVIN RIVOLI / AP PHOTO
Fiore-Chettiar and Marchese win 2014-15 UGBC election BY NATHAN MCGUIRE Asst. News Editor
A re cord numb er of student s voted in a new UGBC administration Wednesday, culminating a momentous campaign between the two teams. The Elections Committee (EC) announced Wednesday night that the team of Nanci Fiore-Chettiar and Chris Marchese, originally the only team that filed for candidacy and both A&S ’15, will serve as the UGBC president and executive vice president for the 2014-15 school year. According to unofficial numbers released by the EC, Fiore-Chettiar
and Marchese garnered 2,327 votes—54 percent of the record 4,332 undergraduates who vote d. Lucas Levine and Vance Vergara, both A&S ’15, received 2,005 votes. Both numbers represent the totals before sanctions were applied for both teams . The Student Programs Office (SPO) is expected today to release the official numbers. Before the results were announced, the EC announced that the LevineVergara team had been docked 50 votes for campaigning in a residence hall when they were not permitted to do so. Monday, Fiore-Chettiar and Marchese were sanctioned 75 votes for
an unspecified campaign smear directed at Levine and Vergara. Fiore-Chettiar and Marchese, who were originally running uncontested, as they were the only candidate team to file before the original Jan. 16 deadline, won every class year. According to the EC’s unofficial numbers, the freshman class turned out the most voters (1,335), followed by the junior class (1,192), and the sophomore class (1,177). Only 628 seniors voted in the election. Fiore-Chettiar and Marchese fared best in their own class year—the only
See UGBC Elections, A4
DREW HOO / HEIGHTS STAFF
Fiore-Chettiar and Marchese were elected UGBC president and executive VP on Wednesday.
Faculty, administrators to establish core renewal goals New task force will review core requisites BY JULIE ORENSTEIN Assoc. News Editor
JUSEUB YOON / HEIGHTS STAFF
Sakena Yacoobi, who founded the Afghan Institute of Learning in 1995, discussed the role of education and female leadership in Afghanistan.
Yacoobi talks rebuilding Afghanistan BY JENNIFER HEINE Heights Staff Boston College’s Institute for the Liberal Arts welcomed Sakena Yacoobi to campus on Tuesday for an event entitled “Aid Through Action: Reconstructing Education and Health Systems in Afghanistan,” part of a series of lectures that focus on contemporary Afghanistan. In conjunction with professor Kathleen Bailey, the
Political Science Department, and the Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies Student Association, the university invited Yacoobi to speak on her experience as an advocate for women, children, and education. Yacoobi is best known for her work with the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), a female-led NGO (non-governmental organization) that she founded in 1995 and for which she continues to serve as president and executive director.
In addition to seeking education for both boys and girls, the institute provides training for other educators and promoting health education for women and children through its Learning Centers for Afghan Women. She has also founded the Professor Sakena Yacoobi Private Hospital in Herat, and the Professor Sakena Yacoobi Private
See Yacoobi, A4
Nearly three years after efforts began to renew the University core curriculum, Boston College administrators and faculty are stepping back from specific proposals and logistics in order to clearly establish a vision for the new core. Fourteen faculty and administrators constitute the Core Foundations Task Force, which, over the next two months, will seek to accomplish a number of changes. These goals include ensuring that the core’s vision aligns with Jesuit educational ideals, incorporates student formation as a fundamental characteristic, and focuses on overall outcomes, rather than content alone. In a town hall meeting Tuesday evening, Interim Provost Joseph Quinn reviewed the path the University has taken in the core renewal process since discussions were initiated in the spring of 2011. Extensive meetings began in earnest in the fall of 2012 with the Core Renewal Committee, chaired by English professor and director of the Institute for Liberal Arts Mary Crane,
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) David Quigley, and Dean of the Carroll School of Management (CSOM) Andy Boynton. This committee focused on the key theme of what kind of people the University wanted its students to be when they graduated, and how the core could contribute. Last spring, the Core Renewal Committee released its proposed 42-credit core, which included two six-credit courses for freshmen focusing on enduring questions and complex problems. Quinn said that the renewed core was rooted in six principles that were not all that different from the principles guiding the existing core, which was instituted in 1991. The proposal was met with hesitation from faculty on some aspects, including the course load that would be required of math and science majors, the impact on enrollment in the Perspectives and PULSE programs, and first-year students’ ability to handle interdisciplinary courses on complex topics. In response to these concerns, a second version of the renewed core was released in August, and there was discussion about piloting courses in the fall of 2014. “The philosophy behind this effort has
See Core Renewal, A4