new recruits
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 Vol. XCII, No. 5
super bowl ads
SECESSION IN SUDAN
Sports
the scene
marketplace
Boston College football signs 23 recruits for the Class of 2015, A10
The Scene discusses the most important part of the Super Bowl: commercials, B1
Southern Sudan has regionwide referendum concerning secession, B10
The Heights Thursday, February 3, 2011
www.bcheights.com
At war with the elements
Snow presents issues to maintenance staff By Taylour Kumpf News Editor
In response to the massive amount of snow that has been piling up throughout campus, Ground Maintenance Facilities and the Department of Transportation and Parking have busied themselves clearing snow and keeping the buses running as smoothly as can be expected. The snow has affected the bus schedule as well as parking availability, but Paul Cappadona, manager of Transportation and Parking, reminds students and faculty to plan ahead. “The snow does impact both parking and the shuttles,” Cappadona said in an e-mail. “Like all other vehicles around BC, the shuttles may operate more slowly due to the weather or traffic. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to plan extra time and check [BC Transloc] to determine where the shuttles are located. This
Cecilia Provvedini / Heights editor
See Snow, A4 andrew powell / heights staff
Two BC students flown out of Egypt Study abroad cut short due to recent political tensions By Patrick Gallagher Heights Senior Staff
On Tuesday the two Boston College students who had been in Cairo on an external study abroad program were flown out of the country in response to escalating tensions. The two students were taken to Athens as a part of the U.S. State Department’s optional evacuation of American citizens from Egypt, said Bernd Widdig, director of the Office of International Programs (OIP). Prior to last weekend, the students had planned to remain in Egypt to
ITS keeps up with technology trends By Daniel Tonkovich
pursue their studies at the American University in Cairo, said Christina Dimitrova, assistant director of international development in the OIP. By Sunday morning, the students, along with their parents and officials of BC and the American University in Cairo (AUC), reached a joint decision that the two would be best off leaving the country, Widdig said. Widdig said that the OIP was in constant contact with the students and with representatives of the AUC since the protests began just over a week ago. “Over the last week, our office has been in contact with our students, their parents, and the AUC staff several times a day,” he said in an e-mail. “Despite some communication blockages, AUC has been able to send us constant updates on the situation and the safety of
See Egypt, A4
sang lee / Heights staff
Heights Editor
Ap file photo
Throughout the process, the OIP was in contact with students.
myBC consolidates events
Meeting the technological needs and expectations of students and faculty in order to foster a rich academic environment can be a difficult challenge, especially with rapidly developing technology offerings. Boston College administrators, however, said that the University remains competitive in the use of technology to support and enhance academics. “In the e-teaching arena, our technology is very competitive,” said Rita Owens, executive director for academic technology for BC. “We offer a full complement of services, some within the Blackboard Vista system and others as independent services. These include discussion boards, lecture capture, blogs, wikis, polling, modern classroom technol-
ogy, and remote classroom tools.” Part of how BC ensures competitive technology offerings is through the development and execution of a comprehensive plan for technology upgrades and new product integration. “We have a planning process for capital investments in technology,” said Michael Bourque, vice president of Information Technology Services (ITS). “For the technology related to student and faculty needs, we utilize steering committees. For instance, we have a broad program called University Core Systems, which is focused on a set of administrative systems such as BC University Information Systems (UIS) and related systems. For high performance research computing, we have a Linux cluster that
See Technology, A4
Eagles fall prey to uNC
Office of Student Affairs launches streamlined webpage By Daniel Tonkovich Heights Editor
The Office of Student Affairs has announced the debut of a new student programming portal, myBC. The site, available at www.bc.edu/mybc, is available for the entire Boston College community to access starting today. “MyBC is the new online portal for all activities and events outside the classroom,” said Benjamin Hall, a graduate assistant in the student programs office. “It will allow the BC community the opportunity to find out the latest information about clubs, organizations, and events.” The portal provides information about student organizations and events on campus. It also offers internal organization management features for program officers. The portal has been in development since the beginning of the academic year. “The site came from listening to student concerns,” Hall said. “MyBC centralizes the student organization process. Previously information about clubs and events was posted in various locations, like the O’Neill stairs, and on various websites. Now, all student organization information will be in one central location. It also simplifies the internal operations of clubs, streamlining the process for purchase and
payment orders, promotional activities, and booking rooms.” All registered student organizations have or will be receiving access to myBC to manage and promote their organization. As the site becomes more widely used by students, Hall said he expects the site to grow with even more information accessible to students, such as event photographs and program rosters. The system also offers the ability to
match a person with potential organizations and events of interest through the completion of an interest profile. The portal was created by Collegient Link software and branded specifically for BC. Institutions such as Boston University, Duke, University of Virginia, and Villanova already use the Collegient Link platform to promote and manage student organizations.
See myBC, A4
alex trautwig / heights editor
cecilia provvedini / heights editor
The new myBC website will consolidate information about upcoming activities and events.
Despite a Conte Forum filled to the brim with Superfans, the men’s basketball team left the glass half empty against the University of North Carolina. For more, see page A10