THE PITTS
TAKING ACTION
THE SCENE
SPORTS
METRO
SCENE
The Eagles continued their ACC struggles against the Panthers last night, A10
The Youth Jobs Coalition is pressuring the city to increase teen employment, B10
The Scene profiles the 10 BC Idol acts in anticipation of tonight’s competition, B1
www.bcheights.com
HEIGHTS
THE
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
established
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Vol. XCV, No. 12
BC students particpate in sexual assault task force
Disabilities bill delayed by UGBC
BY NATHAN MCGUIRE Asst. News Editor
BY CONNOR FARLEY News Editor
At Tu e s d ay ’s U G B C S t u d e n t Assembly (SA) meeting, the proposed agenda was centered on bringing to the floor and carrying out two primary functions: approving legislature on proposed amendments to the UGBC constitution and the first reading of two bills. The first bill aimed to reform SA Standing Rules, and the other addressed handicap access and disability awareness on campus. While the first reading of the Standing Rules Reform Bill and voting on constitutional revisions were conducted, the disability awareness bill was never read. The first 45 minutes of the original meeting’s agenda—which was chaired by president pro-tempore and Executive Vice President-elect Chris Marchese, A&S ’15—consisted of general SA procedures, such as roll call, executive updates, reports of standing committees, and reports of ad-hoc committees, but it also included the nominations and selections of two new senators: Alyse Belavic, A&S ’16, and Cassidy Gallegos, A&S ’16. After a 10-minute recess 45 minutes into the meeting, executive vice president Matt Alonsozana, A&S ’14, chaired the remainder of the meeting and, on behalf of the SA, invited Phoebe Fico, A&S ’15, to speak before the assembly to promote disability awareness and handicap access on campus. Althoug h Fico w a s or ig inally scheduled to speak at the previous SA meeting, inclement weather conditions resulted in the speech’s cancellation. Fico, who has cerebral palsy and wrote in a Letter to the Editor in The Heights about the lack of handicap accessibility on BC’s campus, was invited by SA to further advocate disability awareness and assist members of SA in promoting and creating enhanced disability services. Fico’s experiences with the University’s Disability Services Office prompted her to seek change, and they were meant to be met with action from UGBC with a SA resolution sponsored by Senator Dan Ibarrola, A&S ’15. Due to prolonged discussion on Standing Rules reform, however, the resolution was never read. Ibarrola had been slated to read the resolution at the last SA meeting, but it was rescheduled due to harsh weather. The tabling of the disability awareness bill at Tuesday’s SA meeting marks the second time the bill has been postponed. The resolution, as it reads, seeks “an increased need for disability-centered advocacy as expressed in Phoebe Fico’s
See UGBC, A3
1919
EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Two BC students were invited to attend a White House discussion on sexual assault prevention.
Jessica Stevens, A&S ’14, and Joseph Palomba, A&S ’15, both staff members at the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), were invited to the White House last week to attend a round table discussion with the Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. President Barack Obama established the task force in January, and last Tuesday Vice President Joe Biden chaired the first of nine meetings before the task force will make a recommendation regarding sexual assault prevention in April. “We’re going to help schools do a better job of preventing and responding to sexual assault on their campuses,” Obama said of the task force during an address on Jan. 25.
Assoc. News Editor
While President Barack Obama often speaks about the end of the highly publicized wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are other, lesser-known operations still taking place outside of declared war zones, according to The New York Times’ National Security Correspondent Mark Mazzetti. Mazzetti spoke on Wednesday night in an event sponsored by the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, and focused on the characteristics and impacts of these fringe, or “shadow” wars conducted by both the U.S. military and the CIA. “The shadow war is a war that is ongoing and doesn’t show any outward signs of ending anytime soon,” Mazzetti said. Mazzetti said that he wanted to center his writing—both for the Times and his latest book—around the shadow wars because the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has
See Bystanders, A4
BC Fossil Free talks divestment Unofficial student group urges discussion on climate change BY CAROLYN FREEMAN Heights Staff
CONNOR FARLEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Gubernatorial candidate and former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Charles Baker, Jr. discussed the Affordable Care Act on Monday.
Charles Baker, Jr. addresses health care BY NATHAN MCGUIRE Asst. News Editor
Charles Baker, Jr., the leading Republican gubernatorial candidate and former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, delivered the keynote address on Monday at a health care forum sponsored by the Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW). The forum, titled, “From Policy to Practice: Health Care Reform,” sought to address the impact that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, will have on the social work field. “I am delighted that our school of social work takes a leadership role in the local and national conversation about health care reform,” said Alberto Gondenzi, dean of the GSSW, in his welcoming remarks. “We need
to be at the table when the issues of quality, access, and cost control are discussed. We need to demonstrate that social workers play a crucial role in the design, implementation, and regulation of health care reform.” The Obama administration’s landmark reform was signed into law in March 2010, but most major provisions of the law will be phased in over the next year. Full implementation of some provisions is not expected until 2020. Among other things, the law allows young adults to stay on their parents’ heath plans until age 26; creates state-based health insurance exchange marketplaces where Americans can compare and shop for federally regulated health plans; and requires individuals to have health care or pay a penalty fee.
Baker accepted an invitation by Marylou Sudders, the former state commissioner of public health and now an associate professor within GSSW, to attend Monday’s forum before he had decided to run for governor for a second time after losing to Deval Patrick in 2009. Baker, who served as the state secretary of health and human services from 1992 to 1994, made clear that his address was not a political one. “For those of you looking for some sort of political stump speech, you will be sadly disappointed,” he told the audience of mostly social workers. Rather, his focus was on the implications that ACA will have for social workers in
See Baker, A4
Afghanistan 2014 series hosts ‘Shadow of War’ BY JULIE ORENSTEIN
“Because college should be a place where our young people feel secure and confident, so they can go as far as their talents will take them.” Stevens and Palomba, who were invited to the Feb. 18 forum via an email from Biden’s office on Feb. 14, both work in the WRC’s Bystander Intervention program. The program, which is in its fourth year at Boston College, trains and educates about 30 students each year to lead presentations that educate students about sexual assault and help identify the role of bystanders in sexual assault prevention. Presentation leaders typically present to campus groups, classes, and in dormitories. Stevens and Palomba recently created an
been discussed thoroughly in the years since the Sept. 11 attacks. “The contours of these conflicts have been fairly well drawn,” Mazzetti said. “But so much of the history, in my mind, of what has happened since Sept. 11 has happened far outside of declared war zones: in Pakistan, Yemen, and parts of Africa. In many ways, this is the more interesting war to look at because this has set the terms and the rules for what is going to happen in the future.” A unique facet of this type of war, Mazzetti said, is the multitude of legal implications surrounding the interrogations, targeting killings, and CIA movements that make up the bulk of these operations. “This is a war that is run, more than ever, by lawyers,” he said. “The issues that have been hashed out in this conflict have been more at the center of the legal parameters for how the U.S. carries out operations.”
See ‘Shadow of War,’ A4
EMILY SADEGHIAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR
‘NYT’ correspondent Mark Mazzetti spoke on CIA and U.S military affairs on Wednesday.
The planet is close to its climate change tipping point, but three panelists hosted by BC Fossil Free on Feb. 26 in Higgins 300 led discourse on how divesting from fossil fuels could help reduce damage to the environment. Divesting is a tactic where schools, churches, and cities take money out of an industry they find morally reprehensible and invest it in something else, said panelist Alli Welton said. BC Fossil Free, an unregistered student group that is working to persuade the University to divest, hosted Divest For Our Future: A Panel Discussion on Divestment. The organization applied to be a registered student organization in the fall, but was rejected because their goal is to push the administration in a certain direction, said Alyssa Florack, A&S ’17, who joined the group in the fall. “ You c an’t tr y to change the administration,” she said. “We are trying to get registered for next year because we want to be seen as a legitimate student organization. This is a climate justice movement.” Climatologist Jeremy Shakun spoke on the uncertainty the planet faces in terms of climate change. At this point, most of the big picture is known, but it’s the small details that will be discovered as climate change progresses, he said. “We’re only a little way into this global warming story,” he said. “We’re really at a critical point where we can totally change which direction we’re headed. A lot of the uncertainty in climate change is really in the details. “Climate change ha s a lot of inertia—once the environment starts to warm up, it is much harder to turn it around,” Shakun said. “How long does it take to reengineer the entire infrastructure of energy systems on this planet? That’s going to take quite a while,” he said. “This ship is hard to turn around.” Welton, who took time off from Harvard to focus on divestment, then spoke on the ripple effects divestment can have within the fossil fuel industry. The decisions made in the next few years are the ones that will determine the future of fossil fuels and clean energy, she said.
See BC Fossil Free, A4