GOV. CENTER TO REOPEN A ROUGH SKETCH
CAROLINA BBQ’D SPORTS
METRO
SCENE
The Eagles led most of the way against the Tar Heels, but lost a valiant fight, B8
The Government Center T Station, closed since 2014, is set to begin service March 26, A5
Prof. Joe LaRocca discusses his new podcast, as well as tricks and tips for the podcast world, B1
www.bcheights.com
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
HE
established
1919
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Vol. XCVII, No. 7
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After a series of investments in research over the last several years, Boston College qualified for the highest ranking in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education on Feb. 1. Just as BC moved up into this exclusive bracket, several schools, including Dartmouth College, were dislodged. “This latest recognition of Boston College’s place among the nation’s leading research universities affirms the wisdom of the investments we’ve made over many years to strengthen our research enterprise and our graduate and professional programs,” David Quigley, provost and dean of faculties said. Beginning in 2008, the University’s Light the World campaign raised $468 million toward academic excellence. The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education began issuing the classification of schools in 1973. According to the Commission, the project was undertaken in order to support its program’s research and policy analysis. At first, there was no standardized amount of time between updates, but now the committee releases a report every five years. This means that the most recent rankings are from 2010 and 2015. There are a total of 335 doctoral universities that are classified by the committee into three different divisions that work as a scale. R1 is the label used to identify
See Research, A8
the show
JULIA HOPKINS | AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITORS
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8jjfZ% E\nj <[`kfi In order to park overnight on campus, Boston College students must pay $630 a semester. The parking spaces available to them are in the Beacon Street and Comm. Ave garages, and the Mod Lot, Edmond’s Hall lot, Shea Lot, between Gabelli, immediately adjacent to 66 Comm. Ave., and behind Rubenstein Hall. Michael O’Connor, LGSOE ’18, noted that this year the prices were increased by 11 percent with no warning from the University prior to receiving his bill. While the rise in price was a disappointment, what bothered O’Connor was the lack of communication from the University that such a change was going to take place. “I get that sometimes fees increase,” O’Connor said. “But for me, there was no communication. There was no real saying as to why it was happening.” Jennifer Tanglao, the Graduate Student Association executive director, said that the issues of rising prices and limited parking spots have been brought to her attention mostly through informal conversations.
Tanglao met with the Department of Transportation and Parking last semester to learn more about on-campus parking. In the meeting, she said, the department explained that the prices were raised by 10 percent to offset the loss of over 300 parking spots due to construction. It also estimated that the prices would continue to increase by 10 percent each year. After this information was relayed to the GSA Senate, it decided to write a formal letter to BC Transportation and Parking to express concerns regarding price increases, Tanglao said. She indicated that the department was willing to work with them on the issue and to consider their concerns about graduate student parking. When students receive a pass, O’Connor explained, they do not get a single spot. Instead, there are designated floors within the garages that graduate students who have a permit may use. As a result, he said, it can be difficult to find an open parking space. Many graduate students need parking, he said, because they are often commuting from off campus—many of them are parents who need to drop their children off at school, while
others go to work before coming to class. When O’Connor was in his first year at BC, he would walk to BC from his house in Brighton Center. It was not practical, so he began to park on campus. Jessica Albert, LSOE ’18, has parked on campus for the past two years. She first obtained a permit her freshman year because she needed to use it to get to her PULSE placement. After emailing the University and having her PULSE supervisor sign off on a form saying that she was indeed working there, she was able to get the permit. Albert lived on Newton Campus and said that it was relatively easy to park there because all of the parking lots surrounding the dorms were available to permit holders. On Lower Campus, however, finding a parking spot is not so easy. “It’s impossible to find a spot,” she said. Many students who live off campus, she said, park in the Mod Lot during the day. As a result, Albert tries not to move her car during the week or else, she fears, she will lose her spot. Another issue that students who park on campus face, Albert said, is when there is a
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snow storm or on game days. If it snows, the students parked in the lots must move into the garage. And if there is a football game, students must move their cars to Newton the night before. Often, the parking lots run out of available spaces, so students will park in any extra space, whether it is a designated spot or not. As a result, many students receive parking tickets. “It’s kind of crazy,” Albert said. She believes that BC needs to make more spots and allow students to park in the two parking garages. Similarly, Ian Wyllie, MCAS ’18, was able to obtain a parking permit his freshman year through the disabilities office. Because he applied and received the permit midway through the semester, he did not have to pay for the entire semester. In the spring of last year, Wyllie applied for a permit for 2015-16 and was told there was no way he could get one. He had heard from upperclassmen that it was difficult to obtain one. The rumor among students, Wyllie said, is that there is some sort of lottery system in
In light of their desire for increased transparency within the Undergraduate Government of Boston College, the presidential campaign for Elizabeth Foley, MCAS ’17, and Joseph McCarthy, CSOM ’17, is requesting a change in the construct of the UGBC debate. Currently, questions for the debate are drafted by members of the Elections Committee, UGBC’s GLTBQ+ and AHANA Leadership Councils, and anonymous students. The questions, which focus on current campus issues and the candidates’ plans to reform UGBC, are then presented by the Elections Committee. While the Elections Committee is under the Office of Student Involvement and a completely separate entity from UGBC, ALC and GLC are groups within UGBC. Because of this, Foley and McCarthy see GLC and ALC’s involvement in drafting the questions as a conflict of interest. They hope to discontinue UGBC’s involvement from the debate, as they think that candidates who were involved with UGBC prior to the election are at an advantage. Neither Foley nor McCarthy were involved with UGBC before announcing their campaign for president and executive vice president. “We are not targeting ALC or GLC from the drafting process, rather directing our concern with UGBC as a whole,” Joseph Arquillo, the team’s campaign manager and LSOE ’17,
See Parking, A3
See UGBC, A8
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