The Heights September 11, 2017

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Heights

The

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

EST. 1919

www.bcheights.com

Monday, September 11, 2017

SENIORS TO WATCH

eagles on screen

From Vienna to Tajikistan, six seniors are setting the world aflame.

Hollywood Eagles talk about prospective film projects and expanding on-campus reach.

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Leahy Speaks Out He has condemned both white supremacy and removal of DACA By Connor Murphy News Editor

amelie trieu / heights editor

Turnovers Upturn BC Anthony Brown threw three picks, Jon Hilliman fumbled, and the Eagles suffered an embarrassing home loss to Wake Forest, B1.

AHANA, Female Faculty Hires Rise BC is making a larger effort to support diversity in hiring. By Cole Dady Heights Staff Forty-six percent of this year’s new faculty hires are women and 46 percent of new full-time and tenure-track faculty are AHANA, Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley said Aug. 30 at University Convocation. The AHANA figure is significantly higher than that of previous years, which often did not reach higher than 33 percent, according to past reporting by The Heights. “The school is making a concerted effort to hire more AHANA faculty,” said Vice Provost for Faculties Billy Soo. Last year, Soo said, BC held workshops to eliminate bias in the hiring process. People tend to hire new faculty who look and think like them, he said, rather than those who will reflect the diversity that exists on campus. In 2015, the executive council of the Undergraduate Government of BC called for the University to put together a plan to hire more AHANA faculty. Quigley and Vice President for Student Affairs Barb Jones responded in a Heights letter to the editor. “We are committed in our hiring and

admission processes to support diversity and inclusion,” they wrote. Ana M. Martínez Alemán, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs and a Lynch professor, said BC’s various schools are working to diminish implicit biases. “Search committees review information on implicit biases in faculty recruitment and hiring practices, and discuss how faculty hiring culture can appear diversity neutral but are in fact limiting,” Martínez said. Martínez also said that Lynch is making a serious effort to achieve higher levels of diversity in the search for new faculty. She said the efforts begin with educating search committees on the highest-quality hiring practices and continue on retaining and promoting faculty of color. “At Lynch, we are a community of scholars who understand the importance of diversity to our mission and the advancement of knowledge,” Martínez said. The department of theology also participated in the search for diverse faculty hirees last year, having looked for a joint appointment in the theology department and the African and African Diaspora Studies program. Richard R. Gaillardetz, chair of the theology department, said that he and the department are committed to furthering its gender, race, and ethnic

diversification. The department hired Amey Victoria Adkins, an AHANA hiree. “Obviously we participated in this search with an awareness that we need both more women and more scholars of color to enrich and diversify our intellectual engagements,” Gaillardetz said. Word of mouth is ultimately the greatest motivator for one to join BC’s faculty, according to Soo. If a prospective hiree hears that a faculty member had a great experience at BC, they are more likely to apply to join the community. Soo wants BC to have a reputation of making AHANA faculty feel valued and appreciated. He has been encouraging more discussions among the administration and faculty to reflect the school’s commitment to diversity. New AHANA faculty members this year feel that the school has been accepting and open-minded. One of them is Andrés Castro Samayoa, a Lynch professor. Samayoa, who researches diversity and equity in higher education, said he’s happy to be joining a community that shares a common commitment to fostering diversity. “I believe that intentionally reflecting on the importance of creating intentional communities with diverse identities is deeply connected with the values of an education aiming to prepare engaged citizens,” Samayoa said. n

University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., released a statement last week condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Obama-era executive order that offers protections to some undocumented young people in the U.S., including college students. The program will expire in March 2018, and Trump asked Congress to take legislative action on DACA in the next six months. “The decision to rescind DACA is such a mistake, and so conflicts with our values and heritage as a nation of immigrants,” Leahy wrote. “It is essential that Congress resolve this unfortunate situation as soon as possible. “In the meantime, Boston College will continue assisting DACA students in its community.” Adrienne Nusbaum, director of the Office of International Students and Scholars, said her office does not track DACA students. Citing privacy concerns, University Spokesman Jack Dunn said he could not give many specifics about DACA students at BC. “Boston College has welcomed undocumented students through the DACA program and will continue to support them,” he said in an email. “We fully recognize the many contributions they make to the BC community.”

Harvard University enrolls 65 undocumented students, according to The Harvard Crimson. BC would not disclose a specific count to The Heights. The Division of Student Affairs has previously laid out several ways it will support international and undocumented students, including maintaining the confidentiality of all students’ personal records, in accordance with the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (FERPA), unless required to provide such information by a warrant. BC will also require law enforcement agencies to give prior notification before conducting investigations on campus, according to the document. This is the second time Leahy has publicly defended DACA in the past year, signing on to two statements last November encouraging the incoming Trump administration to continue the program. He and other senior leadership also condemned the “travel ban” put in effect by the Trump administration in January. Occasionally criticized by some students in the past for appearing to not publicly comment on hot-button political issues, Leahy had strong words at University Convocation for the violence of white supremacists in Charlottesville last month. “Since last year’s presidential election, it has become even more difficult to have respectful dialogue about such issues as immigration, race, sexuality, free speech, and religious beliefs,” he said to faculty and staff. “The recent march in Charlottesville by white supremacists, so alarming, reprehensible, and in conflict with America ideals and values, spotlighted extremist views in our country and shows how quickly a small, fringe group can provoke violence and endanger the common good.” n

Grad Students to Vote on Bargaining Rights Eligible employees to go to the polls Tuesday and Wednesday By Heidi Dong Asst. News Editor On Tuesday and Wednesday, eligible graduate student employees at Boston College will vote on whether to establish a formal collective bargaining agreement with the University. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officially ruled on May 17 that the BC’s Graduate Employees

Union - United Auto Workers (BCGEUUAW) can hold the election. After three years of trying to unionize, and despite the University’s attempt to stay the election, the vote is still set for this Tuesday and Wednesday in McElroy Commons from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and again from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. To formally unionize, a simple majority of eligible graduate students needs to vote in favor of unionization. Graduate student employees, excluding graduate students in the theology depart-

See Grad Union Election, A3

Birdball Will Head to Cooperstown To honor Pete Frates, the Hall will host ALS Awareness Weekend. By Andy Backstrom Asst. Sports Editor Seven months prior to championship season, Boston College baseball will play alongside the best of the best—no, not a loaded Clemson

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

or Louisville team, but 317 Hall of Famers. Birdball will travel to Cooperstown, N.Y. in October for ALS Weekend (Oct. 14-15), in honor of former captain and ALS patient Pete Frates. Head coach Mike Gambino’s group will work with the Baseball Hall of Fame to further Frates’ mission of “striking out ALS”. The weekend will kick off with a panel, featuring the Frates family and

NEWS: Demonstrations Policy

The University updated its policy to clarify sections that caused confusion................. A2

Casey Sherman—one of the authors of The Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight against ALS. After that, attendees can participate in Sherman’s book signing and tour an ALS Artifact Spotlight, before watching the Eagles play in the annual Sonny Nictakis Fall World Series. The series is named after the former Birdball captain, who died

See Pete to Cooperstown, B3

METRO: Fleet Feet

Concepts fills Newbury St. with trending street wear from Adidas.........................A4

jake catania / heights staff

Freshmen crossed campus Thursday to hear Lev Golinkin. He spoke to The Heights before Convocation, A3. INDEX

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Vol. XCVIII, No. 28 METRO....................... A4 SPORTS......................B1 © 2017, The Heights, Inc. OPINIONS................... A6 SCENE........................B8 www.bcheights.com


The Heights

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things to do on campus this week

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Shannon Graham, a visiting assistant professor in the department of earth and environmental sciences, will give a lecture titled “The Seismic Potential of Planet Earth: Results from the First Global Block Model” tomorrow from 12 to 1 p.m. in Devlin 201.

Monday, Spetember 11, 2017

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The Career Center will hold its annual Fall Career & Internship Fair tomorrow from 1 to 5 p.m. in Conte Forum. Over 140 organizations hiring for full-time and internship positions across a variety of industries will be in attendance to network with students.

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On Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m., the Office of International Programs will host the Study Abroad Fair in Conte Forum. Academic opportunities in more than 30 countries will be featured at the event. Boston College students back from abroad programs and exchange students will be available to speak to students.

NEWS Union Holds Event With Reps. Kennedy, Capuano BRIEFS By Leo Confalone

GLI to Help Mexican Police

One hundred Mexican police officers will make their way to campus this fall as a part of a program developed by Boston College’s Global Leadership Institute (GLI) in conjunction with a U.S. State Department-funded program. The Mexican Police Professionalization program will help Mexico professionalize its police force through seminars given by BC faculty and meetings with other police officers. BC was one of eight organizations awarded grants by the State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). The INL awarded the GLI a two-year grant of nearly $1 million for the program. Yale University, Stanford University, the Police Foundation, and the International Association of the Chiefs of Police were among the other grant recipients. “This is a big leap forward, and hopefully the first of many opportunities for GLI to put its philosophy and practices to work on a grand scale,” Robert Mauro, executive director of GLI, said to The Chronicle. The seminars at BC will be led by faculty from various fields, including political science, sociology, law, social work, and business. The seminars will provide the Mexican officers with information about American law enforcement and how the structure of the U.S. government relates to police-public relations. Following the seminars at BC, the officers will meet with Massachusetts State Police, members of civilian oversight organizations, and representatives from the state Office of the Attorney General. They will also travel to Seattle to hear from Seattle Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole, BC ’76, former executive director of the BC Alumni Association. “We are confident that, with GLI’s track record in building partnerships, the institute can be a key player in the professionalization of the Mexican police,” Mauro said.

BC Provides Hurricane Help B oston College’s Office of Campus Ministry is working on several efforts to help those affected by the devastation of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The two hurricanes affected thousands of people in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean Islands. Collections at this week’s Masses will be given to Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Church’s official domestic relief agency. Donations to the agency will support disaster response and recovery efforts, including rebuilding and health care services. In addition, the Volunteer and Ser vice Learning Center will coordinate a point drive to support families affected by the hurricanes. At next week’s home football game against Notre Dame, the University will raise money for hurricane relief efforts. Campus Ministry is in the process of planning service-immersion trips to affected areas during Spring Break. The details of these trips are still being finalized. “O u r co m mu n i t y j o i n s i n prayer and solidarity with all those who have been affected by these storms,” Campus Ministry said in an email to the student body on Saturday night.

the University,” Capuano said. “So be it. It’s not about them being bad, it’s about you taking care of yourselves. It’s about you taking care of your brothers and sisters.” Kennedy spoke about the implications of larger economic issues that affect graduate students, such as the high costs of housing, education, and health care in the Greater Boston area. “The way that you win this fight, is you recognize what is going to drive you, your family, and your future forward, you engage in that discussion with your peers, and you come together as a group, and as a community that is willing to make that stand, willing to invest in each other and your future,” he said. In an open letter released last month, Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley announced that BC had filed a motion to delay the Union’s vote to establish collective bargaining rights. The NLRB had previously ruled in May to allow the Union to hold an election next week. If the NLRB does not address BC’s motion before the election—which it hadn’t as of Tuesday night—then the challenge is moot. Caliesha Comley, a Union member and sociology Ph.D. student, said there is a lack of administrative and institutional support for graduate students, and, she said, many graduate students are not told what classes they’re teaching or their compensation until right before the semester starts.” “Coming from a working-class family in rural Kentucky, I know how

Opinions Editor

Members of the Boston College Graduate Employees Union and the Graduate Pride Alliance held a forum last Tuesday with local U.S. Representatives Joe Kennedy III (D – Mass. 4) and Mike Capuano (D – Mass. 7), BC Law ’77. The vote for the Union to receive collective bargaining rights from the National Labor Relations Board is still scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13, despite a challenge from the University. Attendees of the event also included graduate workers from Boston University, Harvard University, and Brandeis University, where graduate students have also been attempting to unionize. Capuano spoke about the history of labor unions in the U.S. and their integral role in the establishment of the middle class, when America was largely divided between the rich and the poor. He said the current lack of union movements is one of the biggest problems facing America, and that the future of America’s economy is in jobs that are currently unorganized. He told the audience multiple times that he would not tell them how to vote, but implored them to vote in their best interest, and to focus on organizing and taking care of each other rather than antagonizing the University. He did say, however, that if he had a vote, then he would vote yes. “I’m not going to demean or besmirch any employers, including

it feels to live with job insecurity and financial instability. And as a graduate worker at BC, my experience is not very different,” she said. Comley explained that a collectively bargained contract would provide secure wages for graduate students, while also protecting those that belong to marginalized communities. Julie Kushner, director of the United Auto Workers Region 9A, the organization currently working with the BC Graduate Employees Union, also spoke on the panel. She discussed past unionization efforts at institutions such as New York University and Columbia University, both of which now have graduate student unions recognized by the NLRB. “It’s really important that Boston College realize that you all, who are going to be voting next week, are really expressing your democratic rights,” she said. “And for the University or a college to stand between you and the opportunity to form a union is a huge mistake. You are going to be not just the next generation of trade unionists, but you are the next generation of voters.” Many of the issues discussed at the forum related to uncertainty and inadequacy regarding working hours, health care, compensation, and job security for graduate students. Members of graduate student union movements, such as those at Boston-area schools, hope that negotiating employment contracts with their universities will help alleviate some of these issues. Zachary Coto, a graduate student in the biology department at Boston

University, discussed that the absence of a contract between graduate students and his school causes a lack of transparency in regards to qualification assessment and job security. This also means that graduate students cannot receive worker’s compensation, even though many in STEM fields deal with hazardous chemicals or conduct research in potentially dangerous environments. These students often have to front medical costs themselves, Coto described, because the health care provided by the university is insufficient. “The university is making profits off of our labor, as STEM people, but they take no responsibility for the damage that we might and do take” he said. Belle Cheves, a Ph.D. student in the history department at Harvard University, offered another perspective on the importance of graduate students’ being allowed to unionize. After the instatement of President Donald Trump’s travel ban earlier this year, international graduate students at Harvard mobilized and petitioned the administration to grant additional protections and resources to international students and workers. Such reactive work, she described, would not be necessary if graduate students had collective bargaining rights, as these protections would be included in a contract. “These universities need to realize they are a part of a larger community, and be held accountable to protect and suppo rt the students that sustain them,” Cheves said. n

Following Sanctions, Demonstrations Policy Clarified By Connor Murphy

with two rallies—organized last year by Eradicate BC Racism—that were not registered with the University. He also met with the Undergraduate Government of BC, the Academic Deans Council, the Graduate Students Association, and the group Faculty for Justice, which had also expressed concerns about the policy. Students involved with Eradicate and the GSA have not yet commented on the updated policy. The new wording stipulates that any demonstration must have a University-affiliated “Organizer,” “whether one or more enrolled students or the authorized officers of a recognized student organization.” The organizer must meet with the dean of students or a designee to coordinate the demonstration. “It was always our practice that individual students and/or student leaders in an organization could register a demonstration,” Mogan said. “In the old policy it was sort of written very passively … and was just sort of

News Editor The Office of the Dean of Students on Thursday updated Section 4.6.9 of the Code of Student Conduct, its policy on registering demonstrations. The updates clarify some parts of the policy that have caused confusion in the past. The policy also has new language that voices Boston College’s support of students’ free expression rights, while prioritizing safety and the University’s ability to “promote the distinctive mission of Boston College without undue disruption or interference.” Dean of Students Thomas Mogan said the language was added after he received feedback that the old policy read as somewhat punitive. At the end of last fall and the beginning of spring semester, Mogan had several meetings with students seeking to clarify the policy, largely as the result of sanctions given to seven students who were involved

poorly written in terms of who could actually do that.” To avoid disrupting classes and offices, the policy also forbids the use of amplified sound before 5 p.m. in certain locations, although alternative locations can be used, as organizers did last year with a “Silence is Violence” march that ended on Lower Campus. The previous policy was that it was not allowed before 4:30 p.m. Some students expressed concern last year that the registration rules were unclear, and Gloria McGillen, LGSOE ’17, and Craig Ford, GMCAS ’21, put together an analysis of BC’s free expression policies and made several recommendations. The most ambitious of those called for BC to create a Commission on Free Expression that could be summoned if students wanted to repeal a decision related to free expression. The policy does not address that recommendation, although Mogan said his office plans to establish a Student Advisory Board to provide feedback on initia-

tives, policies, and overall student experience. Another recommendation called for all students, whether acting individually or as representatives of nonregistered student organizations, to be able to register demonstrations. Mogan said that policy already existed, although is now clearer in the text. Mogan said that recent events at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, and the University of California, Berkeley, justify a review process and student sponsor requirements for demonstrations that ensure safety. “If it’s just our students organizing and participating in an event, I think the likelihood of something like that happening is fairly low,” he said. “However, as we’ve seen with Charlottesville and Berkeley, once you put it out on social media, you sort of lose control over who may end up showing up to an event. So this system is set up to be able to allow us to prepare for these events, and to make sure the students have a positive experience.” n

POLICE BLOTTER: 9/6/17 – 9/8/17 Wednesday, Sept. 6

11:11 a.m. - A report was filed regarding larceny from Stokes Hall.

10:12 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical ambulance at Cushing Hall.

Thursday, Sept. 7

11:10 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a property confiscation at Lower Lots.

11:10 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a property confiscation at the Lower Lots.

1:08 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious person on Campanella Way. 1:11 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a fire alarm activation at Fenwick Hall. 1:51 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a traffic crash at the Beacon Garage Roof.

3:28 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a traffic crash at an off-campus location. 6:29 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical incident at Corcoran Commons.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

CORRECTIONS What would you name your boat if you had one? “My friend has a boat named Truant, and I really like that.” —Meredith Brodsky, MCAS ’20

“Cheila.”—Daniel Yu, MCAS ’19

Please send corrections to eic@bcheights.com with ‘correction’ in the subject line.

“Andy.”—Lauren Deep, MCAS ’21

“My real name, Eleftheria. It means ‘freedom.’” —Ellie Kalemkeridis, CSOM ’20


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A Conversation With Convocation Speaker Lev Golinkin, BC ’03 By Archer Parquette Features Editor A few hours before giving his address at the First Year Convocation for the Class of 2021, Lev Golinkin flipped the Q&A of our interview to make a point. “What are you going to be?” he asked. “What are you working for— writing?” “Yeah, hopefully,” I said. “Well, imagine you write. Imagine you work for a newspaper. All this stuff that you love, that you work for—you’ve done it. And all of a sudden tomorrow you have to write in Japanese.” A moment’s pause. “ Well you’re f—ke d man,” he said. “Sorry. Better get a job flipping burgers, cause you ain’t gonna be a journalist. Because you don’t speak Japanese.” His example was part of his attempt to explain the refugee experience to a non-refugee. It was stark, illustrative, and even darkly comedic. In those ways, it was a vocal equivalent of the writing style that made him successful. His memoir, A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, is an extended exploration of the refugee experience and its life-altering affects. It recounts how Golinkin fled from Soviet Russia with his family at age 9 to escape violent persecution. The threat of pogroms forced them away from their home and across the ocean

to New Jersey, where they had to learn English and begin a new life. “I think if anything , the only thing that refugee experience does is it strips life away from a lot of the bullshit and just makes everything nice and simple,” he said. “Your basic needs are provided by others … It just makes everything more vivid and bright. Everything’s more acute.” When it came time to go to college, he chose Boston College. He chose BC as a way to escape to the Jewish faith. While at BC, he dealt with issues that affect many BC students at some time or another, such as anxiety and loneliness, but found help among upperclassmen in the marching band and through various professors. He talks about a number of professors including the late Father Neenan who helped him throughout his time at BC. That time proved to be transformative and shaped the rest of his life. “I came into BC wanting nothing to do with my past, and I left as a Jew, needing to engage,” he said. Coming out of college, he began a journey to discover more about his past and to find the people who had helped his family escape the USSR. Turning this experience into a memoir has brought him and his story considerable attention. He was particularly surprised by the number of ex-Soviet Jewish people who read and responded to his work. “Some of them hated it, but a lot of them really liked it,” he said.

An even bigger surprise was how relevant his work became to contemporary news. When he first set out working on the memoir, which was published in 2014, his editor told him that it wasn’t particularly relevant at the moment—there was nothing in the news about refugees, Russia, or anti-semitism. “Life comes at you pretty quick, man,” he said. “It’s been crazy that I wrote this—a piece about the Cold War—and all of a sudden it feels like we’re right back to 1989. All of a sudden CNN is stealing my material.” This sudden resonance extends to Ukraine, which was at war during his childhood and is once again now. He has taken his experience with these issues to write for various newspapers—including The Washington Post and The New York Times—about topics such as the refugee crisis and Jared Kushner’s position as a prominent Jewish American. The refugee crisis above other contemporary issues sticks with him. “Knowing that there are people in Europe now who are going through something that makes my family’s experience seem like a luxury cruise … to me that is very disturbing,” he said. “To see things from 25 years ago come back.” When discussing the treatment of refugees and their experience in America, he was straightforward. “These people, they have pasts they have experiences, they have everything—just because they can’t

Jake Catania / Heights StaFF

Lev Golinkin, BC ’03, addressed the Class of 2021 at Convocation on Thursday. share it doesn’t mean that they’re worthless or that they just are babies,” he said. “People treat refugees and immigrants like they are children. Even if you listen to somebody talking—they use the same squeaky tone of voice that they use to talk to children. They’re not children.” Back at BC to talk about those experiences and more, he was in the same position as those mentors like Father Neenan who helped him determine his path forward. The freshmen were all given the chance to read his memoir before his convocation talk, and during the interview he offered another book recommendation: Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman. The story of a Hassidic Jewish woman growing up in Brooklyn, leaving her tight-knit com-

munity, and being ostracized brought out a number of important themes that show up in Golinkin’s own work: belonging and breaking out. Before leaving to give his talk, Golinkin had some advice for both freshmen facing four years at BC and seniors about to set off into the unknown. “If I look back at BC there’s not a lot of things I’ve done that I regret,” he said. “The things I regret are more the things I haven’t done … What was the thing you wish you did at BC—try not to repeat that mistake. You might move to a new place, and you might start feeling lonely. Don’t panic, because remember how you were—you might have been the nervous the first time you went to orientation. And you turned out OK.” n

Union Members Optimistic About This Week’s NLRB Vote Grad Union Election, from A1 ment and the School of Theology and Ministry, are eligible to vote. In the run-up, members of the BCGEU-UAW have been busy phonebanking and text-banking to spread the word about the election. “I’m here giving up my Sunday doing phone calls and trying to talk to people about why voting ‘yes’ for the union is what grad students need to do right now,” Andrew Donnelly, BC ’10, said yesterday. Donnelly is now a graduate student at Harvard University. While not part of BC’s graduate student union, Donnelly, upset with Harvard’s attempts to block its graduate students from unionizing, dedicated his Sunday afternoon to helping BC grad students spread the word about the election. “I saw the anti-union messaging coming from the University, which, as an alumnus of the University, is ridiculous and abhorrent to me because it is totally contrary to the Jesuit values that were taught to me when I was here as an undergraduate,” Donnelly said. Two of BC’s faculty groups, Faculty for Justice and the BC chapter of the American Association of University Professors have publicly supported the

grad students’ efforts to unionize. This weekend, BCGEU-UAW has also been confronting arguments from an anti-union student group, the Concerned BC Grad Students. The group first surfaced last Wednesday, sending an email to BCGEU-UAW with its criticisms, and has put up flyers around the University. The group has made a website featuring anonymous student letters of concern, most of which appear to have been posted on Friday. BCGEU-UAW does not know who is behind the group. Among the points outlined in the group’s “Grand Purpose,” is that BC graduate students “are primarily not workers, but rather scholars.” This echos the open letter from Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley published on Aug. 21. “We believe that the collegial relationship among our faculty and their graduate student teaching and research assistants would be irreparably altered by a change in this dynamic, at the expense of future generations of teachers, researchers and scholars,” BC wrote on its union FAQ page. The Concerned BC Grad Students website also argues that the University has goals and functions that are very different from most companies, that

Amelie Trieu / Heights Editor

Members of the Graduate Employees Union met with Reps. Joe Kennedy and Mike Capuano last week ahead of their election. the distinction between religious and secular graduate students is separating BC from itself, and that unionization assumes that graduate students’ interests oppose the administration’s interests. The group—which Caliesha Comley, a sociology Ph.D. candidate and BCGEU-UAW member, thinks is an individual—has three main accusations against the UAW: that the BCGEU-UAW has not hosted a public debate, that the group sends “secret emails,” and that there is an illegitimate voting process.

Comley said that the BCGEU-UAW is not required to hold a public debate, but said the three-year effort to unionize has been a very public one, and the organization had hosted a public graduate worker forum last Tuesday where anyone could have asked questions to a panel. Comley was unsure what the accusation of “secret emails” meant, but explained that the University is required to compile a listserv of eligible graduate students and BCGEU-UAW has used the

listserv to spread information about the election process. Regarding the claim that the UAW has an illegitimate voting process, Comley said that the election rules are set by the NLRB. “I’m very optimistic,” Comley said. “This has been a long time coming. After three years of organizing I think we’re ready to win, and I think we’re positioned well to do so. I’m looking forward to counting the votes on Wednesday, and moving forward with our union after that.” n

Norwegian Duo Nico & Vinz to Headline Stokes Set Sept. 23 By Barrette Janney Editorial Assistant The Campus Activities Board (CAB) announced Thursday that Nico & Vinz will headline Stokes Set on Sept. 23. The second-annual fall concert will take place on Stokes Lawn from

5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Nico & Vinz, an act comprised of two Norwegian artists, are known for their pop hit “Am I Wrong,” which was released in April of 2013 and later was one of the biggest songs of 2014, hitting No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer and ending up at No. 14 on the year-end list.

Their song was hugely successful globally, too, charting highly across Europe and hitting No. 1 on the UK Singles chart. Their international success fostered collaborations with huge mainstream artists such as David Guetta and Bebe Rexha. Their album Black Star Elephant

hit No. 45 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, partially on the strength of their big supporting single. Originally performing under the stage name Envy, Nico & Vinz draw inspiration for their music from the positivity that radiates throughout the landscape of Africa, and the duo melds sounds of reggae and R&B with

those of traditional hip-hop. Last year’s show, the first-ever Stokes Set concert after CAB restructured to having a fall, winter, and spring concert, featured MisterWives. Tickets for the show will soon be available to purchase through the Robsham Theater box office. n


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Monday, September 11, 2017

With Help From Kuvée, Make Each Bottle of Wine Last By Nathan Xie Heights Staff After a long day, you’re probably going to want some food. A comforting dinner, maybe a steaming plate of pasta paired with a glass of red wine. You only want one glass—not the entire bottle by any means—but cringe at the thought of essentially wasting the entire bottle, after all once opened wine doesn’t keep too well. What if there was a way that you could truly preserve the remainder of the bottle without sacrificing the taste? Well with Kuvée, there just might be. “When you open a bottle of wine during the week, you enjoy three good glasses, one average glass, and one awful glass,” Vijay Manwani, founder of Kuvée, said with a slight laugh. “You’re really only enjoying 60 percent of the product.” To Manwani, the complicated process and amount of energy spent into synthesizing wine itself was astonishing when he considered that consumers can only enjoy a fraction of the actual product. And from this astonishment, Kuvée, an attack on the pitfalls in the luxurious wine industry with a business that delivers carefully chosen wines in high-tech bottles, was born. Since immigrating to the United States from India in 1990, Manwani has persistently pursued many endeavors—Kuvée is his sixth startup. Manwani studied mechanical engineering in India, and uses his expertise and software background to complement his colleagues, many of whom have hardware backgrounds. This includes Manwani’s co-founders, Geoff Lansberry and Mike Tomovich, as well

as a growing team of seasoned team of wine enthusiasts whose vast experience in various disciplines complement each other perfectly. After meeting through mutual friends, these co-founders quickly became determined to attack the wine industry’s shortcomings, by developing a product that would give any bottle of wine a longer shelf time and high-tech packaging advantages. The result was a vertically integrated business focusing on a wine platform that allows for drinking wine by the glass through smart-dispenser technology. Kuvée’s FreshPour bottle of wine is meticulously designed to prevent wine from spoiling for up to 60 days. The bottle’s screw cap protects the innovative valve from dents or damage. Below the cap is the bottle valve, a patented component that prevents the oxidation of the wine inside while still allowing wine to flow out and into a glass. The FreshPour bottle also maintains a flexible inner layer that protects the wine inside while collapsing to allow pouring. Moreover, Kuvée’s wine bottle is unconventional in the sense that its material on the outer shell is synthesized from recyclable plastic, and not glass. In addition to the bottle’s exterior design, it comes with touch screen that acts as a hub of wine information. The screen not only educates the consumer on the story behind each wine, but it also suggests food pairings and tips. To Manwani, this kind of smart technology was the natural next step for the wine industry.

“It’s similar to when beers went to cans and milk transitioned to cartons,” Manwani said. “Kuvée is to wine as Kindle is to paper.” Throughout the startup process, Manwani and his co-founders faced many challenges that forced them to pivot and adjust along the way. In the beginning stages, for instance, many advisers claimed Kuvée would struggle to built a portfolio within a habitual industry. Undeterred, Manwani and his co-founders tackled the challenge, and are currently refilling through partners in the Napa Valley. In addition, Manwani and his team tackled the industry’s conservative nature by focusing on a wide audience. Manwani explained that there are roughly 60 million consumers who drink wine once a week, approximately 30 million of whom drink it three times a week. There is, however, another population mostly comprised of millennials and adults in the age range of 25 to 35. These are the individuals that fall under the category of enthusiasts, and are essentially daily drinkers according to Manwani. Kuvée engages all three of these combined segments as its market. Manwani has also realized through the problem-solving process that the real value of Kuvée is in its two essential parts. Primarily, Manwani pointed to the value in Kuvée’s packing format—the innovative sealing systems that keeps the wine fresh. Unlocking that value has a great effect on transforming the nature of the wine industry with regards to consumption and preservation.

Photo Courtesy of KuvÉe

With the Kuvée’s FreshPour technology, Manwani sets a new industry standard. The second integral component of Kuvée, according to Manwani, is in the bottles themselves. The FreshPour bottles are a fraction of the weight of a glass bottle, which means about half the cost of normal winery transportation, and of delivery as Kuvée ships bottles to its subscribers. Kuvée has delivery plans ranging from a monthly plan to 12-month membership plan. Within each plan is a versatility that allows consumers to switch and taste a multitude of wines much more efficiently.

With most of the challenges that Kuvée’s founders were warned of now behind them, Kuvée’s team is confronting the classic startup dilemma of getting their business to scale. An essential part of their business is in direct sales, and thus, they must now convince wineries to adopt their platform as well. Kuvée’s next task is straightforward, and one that Manwani believes to be well within the team’s grasp: becoming the new independent standard for the wine industry. n

Concepts Brings Adidas Streetwear Experience to Newbury By William Batchelor Asst. Metro Editor We’ve all seen the classic threestripe Adidas silhouettes being paraded all over campus. Whether it’s a pair of Ultra Boosts worn with tapered joggers, or an allwhite set of Stan Smith’s, one thing is certain. The Adidas sneaker fad is here to stay. Last month, Boston streetwear retailer Concepts launched its first ever co-curated boutique with Adidas. The new permanent retail space is situated next to the likes of Vince and Marc Jacobs on the upscale end of Newbury St. The store is stocked solely with limited edition Adidas and Concepts footwear and apparel. The Adidas Brand Experience Store is discreetly located below street level, giving the space a warehouse-like feel. The shop’s red brick walls fade into sleek gun-metal gray renderings as you make your way to the changing rooms. Footwear hangs like art on a gallery wall, lit up by modern lighting fixtures suspended from the ceiling. The Cambridge-based retailer opened its Harvard Square store back in 1996, before expanding its influence into the trendy TriBeCa neighborhood of New York. Now, Concepts wants to bring its brand to the heart of Boston’s fashion

scene, according to store manager Annie Morgan. “We have a good footprint in Cambridge,” Morgan said. “I think what we wanted to do was bring more of the feel from Cambridge over to Newbury Street and make our presence known in the Back Bay area.” For Concepts, collaborating with Adidas was a natural fit. According to Morgan, the partnership between the two has evolved over the years. The retail company decided to stray away from the hackneyed ‘popup shop’ concept that has become mainstream. Morgan acknowledges that Concepts has become increasingly popular in the last few years due to the rise of streetwear, but insists that the company has always stayed ahead of the curb. “Concepts be came a popular name because of our storytelling behind special releases,” Morgan said. “There is always a story behind each shoe and each collaboration that we do.” Concepts’ popularity comes at a time when fashion on the runway is meeting the fashion on the streets. Outdated luxury labels are reinventing themselves by recognizing hip-hop culture and designing apparel catered to a younger demographic. Morgan added that the athleisure clothing movement and the versatility of fitness apparel has put streetwear at the forefront of

William Batchelor / Heights Editor

After opening in August, Concepts has filled Newbury St. with the latest trends in the world of Adidas streetwear. fashion trends. Of all the exclusive Adidas footwear in the store, Morgan claims that the most sought after shoe of the moment is the EQT, the resurrected ‘90s sneaker that’s making a comeback in 2017. The store also carries sought after colorways of the sporty NMDs

and the widely popular Stan Smith’s. Morgan also explained that the store will be the place where streetwear enthusiasts will go for the much buzzed about Yeezy releases. Concepts has been spearheading the streetwear retail sphere for over two decades after getting its start in Cambridge.

The retail outlet has extended its brand onto a global platform with a store in Dubai, and providing a premier online shopping experience for those after the most exclusive streetwear products. But now that it’s on Newbury St., all that far-flung exclusivity is just a T ride away. n

Something You Were Missing Found on Singing Beach Madeleine D’Angelo I like being outside, but I’m not someone who considers themselves one with nature. There are just too many bugs, and I think that I’m allergic to the sun. I’m also not someone who would ever really consider sitting in a car without automatically putting on my seatbelt. It’s just a bad idea. So to me, packing four people into the backseat of a car meant for three people is a no-go. The seatbelts don’t work, it’s uncomfortable, and the whole experience is more than a little frightening. As the tiny car that I would squeeze into hurtles down the highway, I might grip the seat in front of me, or the arms of the friends that I’m wedged in between. My fingers would almost certainly be twisted and tangled in my

lap, crossed in a desperate hope that no one comes to a sudden stop, that nothing goes wrong. Every minute that the car is in motion, I would envision the worst case scenario in which I go flying out the dashboard window, becoming the tragic story that every driving instructor warns the class about. In my mind, every inch on the road would be a moment of stupidly playing with my life. Considering all this, it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to hear that I spent Monday doing just that: squeezing into the backseat of a car like one of many sardines on my way to visit nature—specifically a beach. The day itself had started fairly early, waking up at 7 a.m. to get a few last chores in and pack lunches for the day. Strangely enough, packing a lunch for the beach was something that I was really looking forward to, something about putting the straightforward little sandwiches in clear plastic baggies reminded me of being a kid. If there were Ritz crackers in the kitchen, I probably would’ve made a

mountain of peanut butter crackers to bring along as well, something that I vividly associate with afternoons around the age of 7. Then it was a rush, hurrying into the little silver car to get on the road to beat any traffic that might be in our way. At first, I was distracted enough by trying to lock the doors—although it had never occurred to me, it turns out that automatic locks are a pretty modern invention—that I didn’t fully appreciate my lack of seatbelt until we were well on the road. Once it hit me I began feeling slightly queasy. Not the kind of queasy that you might get if you know you’re guilty of something (it turns out that Massachusetts only requires seat belts by law if you’re in the front seat), but the kind of queasy that I get when I know what I’m doing is particularly dumb. I silently wondered if anything, let alone a day at the beach, was worth potential death by idiocy. But at this point there was nothing to be done, so I spent the next hour trying to distract myself, looking out the window at

the strangely huge buildings and parade of strangely desolate chain restaurants that populated the world bordering the highway. And all of a sudden we were there, safe and sound at Manchester-bythe-Sea’s Singing Beach. I hopped out of the car, obviously just eager to have gotten there, and hustled toward the beach’s entrance. I burrowed my feet into sand that felt incredibly soft, and looked around, squinting in the sunlight at the people lounging under striped umbrellas in their pastel bathing suits, and realizing that I couldn’t actually remember the last time that I had been this close to the ocean. Then we set up camp, laying out blankets and barricading our carefully packed lunches from the aggressive and moody-looking seagulls. I eventually made my way down to the shore, hesitantly sticking my toes into the frigid New England water and staring out at the little boats that bobbed in the distance, dotting the horizon along with craggy clusters of rocks.

As I slowly lost feeling in my feet, I recognized a feeling still pretty alien to me, but one that I had experienced for the first time this summer after spending time in a city where nature was more myth than fact, and where most instances of greenery were tender-looking shrubs that generally resulted in feelings of pity. It was the feeling of rediscovering something that I had missed without realizing it, a feeling of unexpected relief. When you get that feeling it’s unnerving—unnatural to realize that something has been wrong and you never even noticed. But like last time I decided not to dwell on it, and closed my eyes for a second. According to Google, if you listen closely enough to the sand on Singing Beach, it really sings. Apparently the noise is always there, you just have to pay attention.

Madeleine D’Angelo is the metro editor for The Heights. She can be reached on Twitter @mads805.


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While We Were Gone: Recapping the Boston Mayoral Election By Molly Duggan Heights Staff With the arrival of September, things have begun to heat up for those running in the 2017 Boston mayoral election. Incumbent Democratic mayor Martin J. Walsh, WCAS ‘09, has been challenged by city councilman and fellow Democrat Tito Jackson, as well as two nonpartisan candidates: Robert Cappucci and Joseph Wiley. Walsh has been Mayor of Boston since 2014. According to his campaign website, his priorities are that “every Bostonian has a fair shot at a good job, affordable housing, and a great education.” Walsh aims to help Bostonians obtain good jobs by supporting small businesses, job training programs, and education for a strong workforce. He also promises to implement a “school-to-career connection” that includes plans for free community college and partnerships between employers and colleges. Walsh hopes to increase opportunities for homeownership among the middle class of Boston by expanding public housing and building more affordable homes. As for education, Walsh’s platform includes investing $1 billion into Boston’s schools over the next 10 years and establishing “universal access to free, high-quality pre-kindergarten.” Walsh has also placed emphasis on his Imagine Boston 2030 plan, which, according to his website, is Boston’s first citywide plan in more than 50 years. This plan was built to address “all of the major trends affecting our city: population growth, housing demand, inequality, climate change, innovation, and more.” Jackson’s platform includes education reform that focuses on teaching trade skills that can lead to profitable careers. He plans to do this by creating partnerships between trades and schools to “build pathways for anyone seeking training.” As for housing, Jackson believes that Boston should offer housing opportunities to people of all economic levels in order to promote healthy neighborhoods. On his campaign website, Jackson also calls to attention the “33 year difference in life expectancy from the north end of my

district to the south … Zip codes should not determine longevity.” He says that Boston “must address healthcare disparities head-on.” He also lists employment as being a major part of his platform, urging Boston to “provide access to jobs for younger residents, seniors, the disabled and everyone in between.” Jackson recognizes the important role small businesses play in a successful city, and argues that Boston should support local business owners and be “proactive to ensure small businesses thrive and are an integral part of our community.” Wiley, a nonpartisan candidate, places education as a top priority, stating that “every student in Boston schools deserves an education that thoroughly prepares them for college, and/or to compete successfully for a good paying job.” Affordable housing is another issue that is put in the forefront of his campaign. Wiley stresses the importance of building affordable housing for the middle class and people of lower income, stating that building more affordable housing will help to address Boston’s “unacceptable” homeless problem. Wiley also brings up the issue of income inequality. According to his website, “In 2013, the Boston’s top 5 percent made 54 times more than the bottom 20 percent.” He believes that the Mayor of Boston should “forcefully” advocate for a minimum wage that is $15 an hour, and that Boston residents need better access to adult education and training, as well as adult literacy and English classes. Cappucci, a retired Boston police officer and a lifelong resident of East Boston, has a platform that focuses on a few key issues. These include not allowing Boston to become a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, placing a moratorium on all real estate development, and defending the first and second amendment rights of the residents of Boston. Cappucci also says that he will “never forget all our veterans,” and “will protect the life and quality of life of everyone.” Cappucci has made clear his willingness to communicate with President Donald Trump’s administration in order to receive federal dollars, stating that he would not take away money from the middle class in

order to fund affordable housing. According to The Boston Globe, Cappucci also believes in “better cooperation with the federal deportation authorities and blocking anyone from coming from out of town to have abortions.” Over the summer, prospective candidates worked to collect enough signatures in order to enter the race. To run for mayor, a candidate needs 3,000 verified signatures of registered Boston voters. Walsh was the first certified candidate to get onto the ballot, collecting over 38,000 signatures by mid-May. This was among the highest number of signatures for a mayoral campaign ever collected in Boston. Jackson was the next candidate to meet the 3,000 required signatures, and for a short time it appeared that there would be no need for a preliminary election in September. In late May, however, Wiley changed that, as he was able to gain the required signatures with the help of a hired professional petition gatherer who he paid with his own funds. Cappucci was also able to enter the race in late May, saying that he was able to use 72 volunteers in order to gain over 4,000 signatures. A preliminary election will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 26. To vote in the preliminary election, you must be registered to vote at least 20 days before, but you do not have to be registered with a particular political party. The candidates with the two highest vote totals are the ones who get to move on to the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 7. According to The Globe, some drama unfolded when Wiley entered the campaign, as some thought that he was encouraged by Walsh’s campaign to “run as a foil” in the race and further divide the votes among those who did not support Walsh. Wiley, however, completely rejected these unfounded suggestions, stating that he was running because he knew he was a “better candidate than any one of those guys.” Walsh made headlines in early June when he said that his city wouldn’t “back down” if President Trump decided to walk away from the Paris climate accord, instead promising that Boston

Kaitlin Meeks / Heights Staff

The primary election will take place later this month, narrowing down the race. would continue to stay invested in clean energy. A few weeks later Walsh received endorsements from LGBTQ+ leaders, including state senators, state representatives, and community members ahead of the Boston Pride Parade. According to Walsh’s website, “The leaders cited Walsh’s long history of standing up and fighting for the LGBTQ+ community and his ongoing commitment to equality.” In mid-June, Walsh enjoyed another key endorsement, this time coming from UNITE HERE, a politically powerful Boston union comprised of food and hotel workers that boasts around 10,000 members. While Walsh benefitted from early summer endorsements, a late June poll showed that things were not looking as good for Jackson. A poll from Suffolk University and The Globe put Walsh 31 points ahead in the race for mayor. Of 500 surveyed, around 54 percent said they favored Walsh. The poll also found that almost half of those surveyed did not know who Jackson was. In late June, Meghan E. Irons of The Globe reported

that over the summer, Jackson’s campaign experienced a serious lag in donations, writing that donations “ground to a halt” by the end of May. From May 22 through June 1, Jackson’s campaign raised only $250. Jackson, however, made headlines of a different kind when in mid-July, he called out Walsh over violent crime in Boston, describing Walsh’s attempts to manage escalating violence in Boston as “flatfooted.” In a mid-July mayoral forum he also made the news when he said that he would push for all members of the Boston police force to have body cameras, as well as require officers to undergo training to recognize “implicit bias” they hold. The biggest test so far for the four candidates will occur on Sept. 26, when the voters of Boston will pick the two who will go on to run in the general election. While most polls favor Walsh and Jackson to be the two, both Wiley and Cappucci remain hopeful that they will get their chance to impact the city of Boston in a positive way. n


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Editorials

QUOTE OF THE DAY

New Demonstrations Policy Marks Necessary Clarification The Office of the Dean of Students updated the section of the Code of Student Conduct regarding campus demonstrations on Thursday. The policy was clarified in order to make the demonstration registration process clearer, and the language of the policy itself less punitive. These changes to the language of Boston College’s policy are timely and necessary. Last year, students and faculty alike asked that the administration update its regulations concerning demonstrations, and that the process for registering protests be made more transparent. Such updates are necessary in order to help avoid future situations in which students are sanctioned for holding unregistered protests, as was the case with multiple members of Eradicate BC Racism last year. One of the primary points of controversy in the sanctioning of these students was their claim that they were not made aware that individuals could register protests on behalf of non-registered student organizations. BC has stated that it has always had the policy of allowing individuals to register protests. Now that the rules are laid out in clearer language, Eradicate and other similar student groups can move beyond these disputes with the University regarding the rules of demonstrations and focus on their

core messages. The BC administration deserves some praise for responding to the requests and concerns of students and faculty members in updating its policy. Dean of Students Thomas Mogan held meetings with multiple campus organizations at the end of last semester, including the Faculty for Justice and the Undergraduate Government of BC, demonstrating that the University took into consideration the BC community’s input when updating the wording of its policies. This dialogue represents a constructive and inclusive way to ameliorate issues on campus in which multiple parties have competing concerns. In the future, the University should continue to seek to clarify and update its policies and engage with faculty members and the student body in making these decisions with regularity. One notable change to the policy is that the hour that students are permitted to use “amplified sound” at protests, such as a megaphone, has been pushed back from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. This is a positive change, as some classes begin at 4:30 p.m. or even later, and can therefore be disrupted by loud demonstrations occurring in places such as O’Neill Plaza or Stokes Lawn, both of which are in close proximity to classroom buildings.

Other locations for protests that would be less disruptive include outside of Corcoran Commons and Gabelli Plaza. These are also places where a lot of students congregate, and would be able to see the protest. Members of activist groups such as Eradicate and Climate Justice @ BC have said in the past that they are frustrated by the University’s bureaucratic red tape, and that they would rather spend time focusing on their respective agendas. Now that BC has updated its policies to affirm that the University has a “commitment to protecting the right to free expression, including the right to protest,” and has made the process for registering demonstrations clearer than in the past, campus activist groups should be able to return to carrying out their intended missions and to discussing messages of social change within the BC community and beyond. Shifting the focus from conflicts regarding conduct policy to conversations about issues such as racial equality on campus represents the first step in returning to a productive relationship between student activism groups and the BC administration. The updated demonstrations policy will be crucial in bringing about this change.

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Monday, September 11, 2017

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Letter to the Editor The Faculty for Justice in Support of BC Graduate Employees Union

Treseanne Ainsworth, English

Sarah Babb, Sociology Betty Blythe, Social Work Benjamin Braude, History Karen Breda, Law Library Mark Brodin, Law School Michael J Clarke, Chemistry (emeritus) Kyrah Malika Daniels, AADS/Art, Art History & Film Charles Derber, Sociology Lauren Diamond-Brown, Sociology Nicole Eaton, History Robin Fleming, History Rhonda D Frederick, English & AADS William Gamson, Sociology Yonder Moynihan Gillihan, Theology Pamela Grace, Nursing Paul Gray, Sociology Kent Greenfield, Law School Laura Hake, Biology Lori Harrison-Kahan, English Aeron Hunt, English Mary Jo Iozzio, STM Regine Michelle Jean-Charles, RLL & AADS Andrea Javel, RLL Marilynn Johnson, History Andrew Jorgenson, Sociology Tom Kaplan-Maxfield, English Eileen Donovan Kranz, English Priya Lal, History Deborah Levenson, Capstone Adam Lewis, English Ramsay Liem, Psychology (emeritus) Robin Lydenberg, English Brinton Lykes, LSOE Ray Madoff, Law School Michael Malec, Sociology Paula Mathieu, English John McDargh, Theology C Shawn McGuffey, Sociology & AADS Patrick McQuillan, LSOE Sarah Melton, BC Libraries Karen Miller, History Rebekah Mitsein, English Cathy Mooney, STM Kevin Newmark, RLL Arissa Oh, History Kevin Ohi, English Kevin O’Neill, History Prasannan Parthasarathi, History Caleb Pennington, History Stephen Pfohl, Sociology Zygmunt JB Plater, Law School Patrick Proctor, LSOE Jennie Purnell, Political Science Virginia Reinburg, History Elizabeth Rhodes, RLL Susan Roberts, English Chelcie Juliet Rowell, BC Libraries Sarah Gwyneth Ross, History Dana Sajdi, History Natalia Sarkisian, Sociology Kalpana Seshadri, English Juliet Schor, Sociology Sylvia Sellers-Garcia, History Jessica Shaw, Social Work Dennis Shirley, LSOE Min Hyoung Song, English Eve Spangler, Sociology Robert Stanton, English Chris Staysniak, History Martin Summers, History & AADS Lad Tobin, English Tony Tran, Communications Anjali Vats, Communications and AADS Peter Weiler, History (emeritus) Eric Weiskott, English John Williamson, Sociology David Wirth, Law School Liesl Yamaguchi, RLL Ling Zhang, History

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Dear University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley, As faculty, we are writing to express our dismay at the University’s efforts to challenge the upcoming union certification election for graduate student employees. Scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13, the election is the culmination of months of organizing by graduate students who have formed a local chapter of the Graduate Student Employees Union under the United Auto Workers. Last summer, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) affirmed that graduate teaching and research assistants were employees under federal law and have the right to vote on union representation. While graduate students at public universities have had this right under some state laws for decades, the NLRB’s decision effectively extends this right to students at private universities. Boston College is seeking to halt the upcoming election on the grounds that graduate assistants are students not employees and that the mentoring relationship between faculty and students would be “irreparably altered” by unionization. We disagree with this view. As faculty, we understand that graduate assistants are both students and workers, as the NLRB has affirmed. As such, we believe in their rights under law to decide whether or not to join a union. As for unionization’s impact on the mentoring relationship, there is no real foundation for the University’s claim. In a 2000 study surveying three hundred faculty members, a Tufts University researcher concluded “the collective bargaining agreement does not play a role in defining faculty’s educational relationships with graduate students, as theorized by university administrators.” Another study, conducted at Cornell University in 2013, compared the impact of u nionization on graduate student employees and their educational outcomes. They too found that “unionization does not have the presumed negative effect on student outcomes, and in some cases has a positive effect.” In short, the assertion that unionization will adversely affect BC’s educational mission is not supported by the facts. BC is also challenging the upcoming election on religious grounds, arguing that as a Jesuit Catholic institution, BC should be exempt from the National Labor Relations Act and NLRB oversight. The legal grounds for such an argument are questionable, and in any case, the Catholic Church has long been an outspoken supporter of labor’s right to organize. We appreciate the hard work that our graduate students put into teaching and research and recognize the immense value of their labor to undergraduate education and scholarly research at BC. In the spirit of the recent Labor Day holiday, we also affirm the fundamental legal rights of all workers in this country, including the right to organize collectively. Thus, we call upon BC to respect the NLRB’s recent ruling in favor of BC graduate workers’ right to form a union. We further urge the administration to adopt a principled position of neutrality toward the electoral process and to respect the BC graduate workers’ right to decide for themselves whether or not unionization is appropriate and beneficial.

Editorial Anthony Rein, Copy Editor Alec Greaney, A1 Editor Abby Paulson, Creative Director Connor Murphy, News Editor Riley Overend, Sports Editor Caleb Griego, Scene Editor Archer Parquette, Features Editor Madeleine D’Angelo, Metro Editor Leo Confalone, Opinions Editor Julia Hopkins, Photo Editor Max Roth, Online Manager

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Jacob Schick, Assoc. Scene Editor Isabella Dow, Asst. Scene Editor Shannon Kelly, Asst. Features Editor William Batchelor, Asst. Metro Editor Amelie Trieu, Assoc. Photo Editor Lizzy Barrett, Asst. Photo Editor Hannah McLaughlin, Social Media Director Francisco Ruela, Jr., Multimedia Editor DJ Recny, Executive Assistant Barrette Janney, Editorial Assistant

Jack Powers, Business Manager Kelsey McGee, Outreach Coordinator Kipp Milone, Collections Manager Will McCarthy, Account Manager Mike Rosmarin, Account Manager Chris Chilton, On-Campus Ads Manager Griffin Elliott, Systems Manager


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The BC Graduate Employees Union Election The Whale On Sept. 12 and 13, in an election with the National Labor Relations Board, graduate student employees at Boston College will vote on granting the BC Graduate Employees Union official collective bargaining rights with the University. It is the culmination of a yearslong organizing process. Two graduate student employees have given their opinions.

Why We Need a Union Nathan Nesbitt Almost three years ago, in January 2015, Boston College’s administration surprised the whole campus with an abrupt decision to end health insurance coverage for Master’s students altogether, and for Ph.D. candidates after their fifth year. Following substantial confusion and chaotic negotiations, the administration backed down on Ph.D. candidates, but held fast regarding Master’s students. One friend of mine had just transferred into a Master’s program with a promise of health insurance—only to arrive here and be told the administration had changed their mind. This followed on the heels of the administration’s decision to interview and hire the President of the Graduate Student Association, our student government, diminishing democratic representation on campus. It was amidst student groups being denied the official recognition necessary to organize events, post flyers, or even meet on campus. This included Climate Justice @ BC, which endured three years of intimidation and academic probation—they gained official recognition only after press coverage and protest from students, faculty, and politicians. A general sense of obstruction frustrated students on campus enough in 2014 and 2015 that two Rights on the Heights rallies were held, a collaboration between Climate Justice @ BC, the Social Justice Coalition, Students for Sexual Health, UGBC’s GLBTQ Leadership Council, and UGBC members. I was in the Graduate Arts and Sciences Association at the time, and in addition to managing widespread confusion about health insurance coverage, it was all we could do to try and get a meeting with the Board of Trustees, to, possibly, suggest the idea of a parental leave policy. We were afraid if we pushed too hard that we wouldn’t get future meetings. Ultimately, we realized we had no power—we were at the whim of administrators and trustees, should

they feel inclined to lend us a sympathetic ear. It was in this atmosphere that myself and a number of other graduate student employees started to meet regularly to discuss forming a graduate employee union. This eventually included graduate students from every school and department on campus. We reached out to the United Auto Workers, the largest union for academic workers in the U.S., to request their help to create the best union possible for our campus. They agreed to help, and provided an organizer to advise us at our weekly meetings. I was very impressed by the knowledge of every UAW representative we worked with, and grateful for the importance they always stressed on us running our union—they were there simply to advise. Two years later, in 2017, when we needed legal assistance to file our petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board, UAW provided the necessary lawyers. This expert advice, which we already benefit from, is what our dues will pay for when we have a contract. From start to finish, though, this is our union. It is our effort to take responsibility for our lot in life, and it is our hours of hard work that run this campaign. I take offense to Provost Quigley’s recent letter, which implied our union somehow belongs to the UAW, not the grad employees of BC. It is a collaboration between grad employees from every school and department at BC to ensure fair compensation for the valuable, world-class, professional work we provide in classrooms and laboratories across campus. It is how we ensure future generations are guaranteed, through a legally binding contract, the same or better access to the higher education that we benefit from. It is our responsibility to take care of ourselves and our peers. Forming a union gives us the power to do this. And it’s why I’ll be voting in favor of forming our union on Sept. 12 and 13.

Nathan Nesbitt is a Ph.D. candidate in the physics department.

A Case Against the Union Brad Van Uden I don’t know about you but I didn’t come to graduate school for the dental care. I came to study, to learn, and sometimes to teach. I applied wanting and expecting precisely this. Apparently I’m in the minority. Apparently the majority of graduate students want to form a union in order to better represent their intere sts in the face of the brutal and domineering Boston College administration. Did you hear their latest chant? They say they are advocates for the newest class of oppressed: graduate students. Did you know that graduate students are an oppressed class? Just as the auto worker on the shop floor daily risks the safety of his life and limbs, so too the graduate student risks … what exactly? Is there any class of people more pampered than graduate students? To those agitating for the union I say the following: Please, check your privilege. Better yet, use your privilege to advocate for those less fortunate than you: the undergraduates. Indeed undergraduates deserve a union far more than graduate students. Not only do undergraduates have to pay for their tuition, they often have to take five or six classes per semester and work a part-time job, for which they are no doubt inadequately compensated. I miss the days when these dogooder types were collecting lunch money to send to Africa. (But really, guys, Africa could use the help). In truth, I do not blame those that favor the union. They are innocents deceived by the extortion racket which is the United Auto Workers (UAW), an extortion racket looking for its next victim: universities. Here’s how it works: the UAW has

been sending its representatives out to each of the big-time private universities. These representatives scour the campus for the frustrated idealisttypes. They hire these students to work part time ($25 per hour, 20 hours per week—it’s true, I’m not making this up). They canvas the school, collect the signature cards, petition the National Labor Relations Board, and the NLRB sanctions the election. It sounds like a lot of work, but, remember, the payoff is huge: $1 million annually (2,000 students multiplied by $500 in dues). Establish a local union at 10 new universities per year and you’ve got yourself quite the racket. I feel pity for the tender souls suckered in by the scheming of the UAW reps. And yet, I can’t help but admire the attachment they display to the principle of justice. By and large, these unwitting mercenaries are moved by a pure and unselfish philanthropy. But we must not allow our noble feelings to get the best of our reason. The truth of the matter is that our indignation is far too great and our grievances far too small. We are bringing a cannon to a knife-fight. If we were wise, we would have used the prospect of a union as a threat to bring the administration to the negotiating table. But we were not, and now we are facing the prospect of a perpetual tribute to the union bosses in the hope that they might negotiate on our behalf. We revolted against a mild, generally beneficent administration in order to curry favor with treacherous tyrants. Thankfully, we still have time to mend our ways. BC will receive us with gratitude for the good sense we display when we VOTE NO on Sept. 12 and 13.

Brad Van Uden is a Ph.D. candidate in the political science department.

When Noah Won’t Be Able to Save the Mods

Rachel Loos In the past few months, the effects of climate change have become even more apparent. I just returned to Boston College from Seattle, a city known for its moisture, that went a record-setting 55 days without rain this summer. My anxietyprone mother is constantly nervous about natural disasters and survival preparation, and in light of the recent super-storms shocking our country, I think we should all be a bit more worried. We know now that climate change intensifies already destructive storms that occur naturally. Greenhouse gases cause heat to get trapped near the earth’s surface, warming the air and raising the temperature of the ocean at the surface level. Tropical storms feed off that warmth, becoming more intense, larger, and longer lasting, according to Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. We saw this with Hurricane Harvey, which quickly progressed from a tropical depression into a category 4 hurricane. Because we as humans tend to be self-centered, many people’s immediate response to our changing climate is wondering how it will affect “me.” I’ve got news. Climate change and the resulting intensified storms and precipitation events will most definitely affect us in Boston, and certainly within the BC community. This past summer, heavy rain led to

flash flooding throughout Boston, washing out roads and leaving many people stranded. It is likely that intense weather like this will become more common. The 2011 Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Report predicts increased precipitation and flooding, as well as an increase in extreme weather events. Many scientists, including Paul Kirshen of the UMass Boston School for the Environment, predict that Boston will experience more rampant flooding in the coming decades, resulting from rising sea levels and stronger storms. This is especially problematic because Boston is situated in a topographic lowland, the Boston Basin, surrounded by a ring of hills. Kirshen, head of the Sustainable Solutions Lab at Umass Boston, is now researching the feasibility of a massive hurricane barrier, and whether it could protect Boston and its surrounding communities from flooding. BC is pretty far from the coastline, but if the city of Boston is already preparing to defend against changing weather patterns, perhaps we should too, as the problem is only going to get worse. Even if BC is not willing to divest from fossil fuels and help stop the perpetuation of global warming, the least it can do is prepare for when the weather gets bad. We’ve all noticed how mucky Lower Campus gets during heavy storms and when the snow melts in the spring. This flooding has been well documented over the years. For example, after a rain storm in 2012, The Heights reported flooding in and around the Mod Lot, with some water entering parts of the ground floor of Maloney Hall. This is not surprising considering the fact that Lower Campus is topographi-

in the Room

cally much lower than the rest of campus, and was part of a smaller reservoir until 1957, when construction began to fill in the area. According to the city of Boston’s Open Space and Recreation Plan for 2015-21, which includes a map of flood zones in the city of Boston, the area in and around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir is known as a flood hazard area, or a 100-year-floodplain. This means that a flood event has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year. Many of the flood hazard areas on the map are found within protected open spaces, areas without buildings, ensuring that development in these areas, if any, will be limited. But at Lower Campus, near the flood zone, BC has started new construction projects including a 200,000 square-foot student recreation complex, and a 285,000 square-foot university center. Urban land, land that is 85 percent or more covered by impermeable surfaces such as concrete and asphalt, has less capacity to store rainfall and snowmelt. The proposed new Field House on Lower Campus, in what may be a flood-prone area, will replace the grassy land of the baseball and softball fields with urban land, making it more vulnerable to flooding. I read the Project Notification Form for the new Field House, and I was pleased to find that the new construction will incorporate sustainable design and construction principles. Since 2006, the University has experienced a 20-percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary carbon sources. According to the form, the project site is outside of the 100-year floodplain associated with the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, so the project is not anticipated to be susceptible to

conditions of flooding or predicted sea level rise. Additionally, on-site stormwater retention systems and filtration will be employed to accommodate severe rain events. Various consultants have evaluated the BC campus and found that the most prominent contributor to flooding is runoff from the surrounding elevated areas on campus. Looking forward, as climate change intensifies storms, Lower Campus will need better systems to deal with more severe flooding events. These new buildings will need rain barrels to capture roof runoff, water that can then be redirected and used for grounds maintenance. After all, we know how much BC loves to water its grass! I’d like to see more “green” roof installations, rooftop gardens with native species. This will help control runoff flows and reduce building energy needs. BC should use porous pavement and loose material instead of asphalt in its construction pavements. Much of these ideas have already been proposed, but I truly hope that BC follows through with these preparations against future damage. Though it may seem that these storms and droughts are occurring solely in other places, adverse weather will undoubtedly eventually affect all of us. Maybe I’m paranoid, but it’s always better to be prepared. If you only care about how climate change will affect you, then picture a vicious, murky flood sweeping the Mods away and up Commonwealth Ave. Maybe that will get our school to think seriously about climate change.

Rachel Loos is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

The opinions and commentaries of the op-ed columnists and cartoonists appearing on this page represent the views of the author or artist of that particular piece, and not necessarily the views of The Heights. Any of the columnists and artists for the Opinions section of The Heights can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

Michael Razis

It was June 2015. I had graduated high school only a few short weeks before, and the first day of orientation was upon me. I lugged my duffel bag into a bedroom on the fifth floor of Vanderslice Hall and sat alone on the sturdy, bare mattress. I was about to spend my first night of many at Boston College. At orientation, at Welcome Week, and during the first few weeks of my freshman year, I was inundated with an influx of new peers, who came from many walks of life. I met individuals from different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds, as well as some who identified as LGBTQ+ or gender queer. Identities that, while nominally accepted, never really manifested themselves in high school. Before I got to BC and met new people at such a rapid rate, I was made hyper-aware of two BC-specific stereotypes: that everyone here wears Vineyard Vines, and that all of the males that do so can more or less fall under the category of a “BC bro.” While I always understood the importance of keeping an open mind, I quickly found myself labeling every male donning a light blue quarter zip as the archetypal, homophobic, misogynistic, plex-dwelling BC bro. I immediately became anxious that I would be confronted with the toxic masculinity of the BC bro that I had been warned about in the period leading up to freshman fall. Living in BC’s freshman dorms on Upper, where each floor is single-gendered, was particularly overwhelming. Throughout the beginning of my freshman year, I walked through the first floor of Cheverus Hall and wrote off every one of my fellow residents as a BC bro as a reflex. I took one glance at them, or listened to pieces of their conversations, and immediately decided that these guys fell into that stereotypical category. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The BC bro does exist to some extent, and the problems of toxic masculinity are unequivocally prevalent on campus. It is incredibly important for students to engage in dialogue about the gender dynamic at BC and it’s great that students have been doing so. I find that the predominant conversation on campus surrounding gender, however, hinges on an image of the BC bro as a straight white male who sports Vineyard Vines, white mid-calves, and Vans. It seems that our conversation about masculine fragility on campus is hasty, and it really ought not to be. A conversation that has the potential for depth or that could explore solutions is suddenly compromised by pretending that the problem is concentrated solely within a population that is often generalized. Such hastiness is dangerous because those who fit the superficial, physical appearance aspect of the BC bro are held accountable for the behavior of the actual BC bros, some of whom may not outwardly appear to fit the part. A discourse that continues in this direction will continue to cast negativity on individuals based on their appearance rather than their actions, thereby leaving us with no progress on gender equality both inside and outside of the classroom. The culture of toxic masculinity is something that pervades BC, but it is not exclusive to this institution. It’s imperative to spend less time whining about BC bros wearing preppy clothing and to start dissecting “bro culture” more generally. This approach additionally requires the application of intersectionality, and recognizing that the fragility tied to masculinity is not exclusive to straight, white males. Groups at the intersections of various non-white and non-straight identities also exhibit behavior that is toxic and disparaging of women. The best way for us to move forward is to look at masculinity, femininity, and gender fluidity through a lens that surveys a greater scope of individuals. If we begin to make assumptions about people and their impact on the gender dynamic based on the type of shirt that they wear, we too play into the very same stereotyping that already harms racial, sexual, and religious minority groups.

Michael Razis is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.


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Dually Noted

THE HEIGHTS | SENIORS TO WATCH

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

From South Korea to Vienna, Hanna Um fuses her love of music and English. DJ Recny | Executive Assistant

For most, academics and extracurricular activities remain separate. For Hanna Um, MCAS ’18, they can’t be torn apart. Her affinity for music sets her apart from the average English major, while her love for poetry adds a dynamic element to her study of music. She is currently writing a thesis on how poetry and music live in harmony. She pursues her passions with relentless vigor, yet by merely speaking to her you couldn’t fully appreciate the nature of her work. Once she fits her unassuming frame behind the glossy finish of a cello, Um makes the instrument come alive. When she gets her small hands on a ballpoint pen, Um turns mere words into works of art. Music is her specific passion, something that she has engaged in for 15 years now. Since childhood, Um has always lived her life through music. Following in the footsteps of her mother, Um began playing the piano at the age of 5. She picked up the cello three years later, and, driven by her own motivation, has continued to improve since. Driven by her motivation to improve on the strings, Um quit the keys to have more time to practice cello. She chose to continue playing in college, settling on music as one of her two majors in order to more intently pursue the performance aspect of the art. Practicing as many as three hours per day, Um has developed not only an affinity for the instrument, but a love for it as well. This comes as no surprise to her father, Hyun, who said that Um has always been passionate about the things she does, if not outright diligent in their execution. “We just let her go,” he said. “Hanna has always strived for a challenge, and takes that upon herself.” Um’s devotion to music came with a new passion upon arriving at BC, albeit not through typical circumstances. Striving for more than just a music degree, Um picked English as a second major for no reason other than she didn’t know what else to pick. After several semesters of exploring and taking classes, a mild interest developed into a dedication. Um throws herself into language the same way she has with music. She’s stuck with the major and in-

tends to graduate with an Honors thesis in the topic, which perhaps proves that her stab in the dark found its mark. Now as a senior, Um pairs her ability to read music with her love of reading words, translating one into melodic notes and the other into emotional, purposeful poetry. Um expresses the cello through BC’s Chamber Music Society and while studying abroad during her junior year. Beginning in South Korea, where her family originates, the Gig Harbor, Wash. native found herself enthralled in a new country without the stresses of American university life. Without those stresses, however, Um also found herself without her beloved wooden instrument. She chose to leave her wooden friend at home in the States while adventuring in Asia. Even before her cello-less arrival in Korea, though, Um found herself wavering in her love for music. “I came to a point where everything was stressing me out,” she said. “I was pretty low in all aspects. And I thought, ‘I don’t need cello, I don’t need to play anymore.’” In fact, Um put practically every aspect of her life on hold while studying at Seoul National University. The academics were far less rigorous than back home, and her music took a backseat to exploring her temporary home. It was a time for play, in the mental sense rather than the musical one. But still, the cello kept calling. “Being away from it for so long only made me want to play it more,” Um said, speaking as though her instrument were an old friend. “I felt like I had to catch up for all the time I’d missed and things I’d forgotten.” After a Winter Break back in her home state, she picked up the cell once again. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Um’s love is no different. While in South Korea, Um was without her instrument—now, she needed it. She packed her bags and flew to Vienna—one of the the world’s classical music hubs—for another semester abroad, this time accompanied by a bulky, yet precious, four-stringed cargo. Home of renowned composers such as Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart, Um primed herself for success in the small European nation. She used her time in Vienna to explore her love of

Hanna

KAITLIN MEEKS / HEIGHTS STAFF

language as well. One class in particular solidified Um’s interest in a fusion between English and music. She had wanted to find a way to merge the two passions since freshman year, but hadn’t yet found a solid intersection. In this class, she found her inspiration: the German Lied. The Lied takes classical music and pairs it with poetry, the perfect combination of Um’s passions. “I think that being in Vienna really reignited her love for music,” Hyun said. “I think it also taught her how to keep both her passions for music and English.” In her thesis, Um focuses on the intimate pairing between music and poetry, this time in English. In addition, she is writing a lengthy, thesis-style piece for her music seminar, and is working toward five hours of practice a day in preparation for auditions for music conservatories. A subject of nervous excitement, conservatories offer Um a unique opportunity to continue performing after graduation in a well-renowned setting. Auditions are no laughing matter, however. Um said that veterans often

Omeed

Journey of Discovery

Omeed Alidadi became fluent in Farsi and taught English to local students in Tajikistan. Cole Dady | Heights Staff

Omeed Alidadi starts his day with a four hour all-intensive class, before heading to the English language learning center to teach his Tajik students English. To get to know them better, he adventures around Dushanbe with them, exploring the monuments and famous landmarks. When he isn’t teaching them in English, he’s speaking in Farsi, having conversations with locals, discussing politics and complex issues—all in a language he’s still learning. One may wonder, “How did Alidadi end up studying abroad in Tajikistan?” The country, a place covered 93 percent with mountains, is certainly not a destination most BC students think to study abroad. With the language barrier and difficult terrain, it’s a far cry from the usual destinations. Alidadi, MCAS ’18, knew it would be difficult to accomplish all he wanted to in Tajikistan, but that didn’t stop him. His semester abroad was part of the McGillycuddy-Logue Fellows Program, a selective multi-semester study abroad program in which students tackle global problems through the methods of service and justice. If accepted, students participate in a class during the spring semester of their sophomore year, which serves as a platform for them to discuss privilege, poverty, and other important issues. The group then goes abroad during their junior years and is required to engage in volunteer experience in each of their respective countries. “The purpose of the class is to engender change agents at Boston College and give us the tools to address issues that are occurring abroad and at home,” Alidadi said. Going into the program, he wanted to study Central Asia, a region of the world that he thinks has little scholarship. Tajikistan specifically has fascinating cultural roots with both Iran and the former Soviet Union. Traveling there also served as an outlet for Alidadi to discover his Iranian roots. As an Iranian, he knew how to write and read some Farsi but would sometimes struggle to communicate with his grandparents. He wanted to use the program as an opportunity to become fluent in Farsi and better understand his ancestor’s culture. Immersing himself in Tajikistan life was the only way to make this happen. He feels that many BC students take an opposite approach while abroad. They retreat into their BC friend groups and hardly engage with the unique culture around them. For him, as the only student from BC in his program, this wasn’t an option. He was forced to navigate the cultural differences and push himself out of his comfort zone. This affected even the most mundane aspects of his life. For example, every wedding, breakfast, and event required every family member to be present, since the emphasis on family is so strong. After his daily classes—which forced him to master Farsi—he dedicated himself to making his English language classes unique and more than just a lecture. While much of his class aimed at preparing students for the TOEFL exam, which is for young people who want to attend English-speaking universities, he wanted to engage with his students outside of this. That meant spending time with

KAITLIN MEEKS / HEIGHTS STAFF

them outside of class, instead of just returning to his host family’s house and relaxing. “I played soccer with them, ate dinner with them, and went on some adventures around the capital, really experiencing a day in the life of a Tajik,” he said. His travels took him around the region, including a week-long trip to the Afghan and Chinese borders. He and his classmates stayed at various homestays, reaching an elevation of up to 12,000 feet. From the vistas, the physical exertion, and even the shortness of breath, it was an experience unlike anything he had ever felt before. The trip has left Alidadi an enthusiastic advocate for studying abroad. Having also traveled to Morocco to teach English through a Mizna fellowship and to Kuwait to learn about the Persian Gulf and oil politics, he believes nothing compares to seeing places like these up close and in person. The value of a trip extends beyond scholarship. It has shaped his character and prepared him for a life of meaningful work. “Before I went to Tajikistan, I was more afraid to take risks. After returning, I am able to take part in activities and try things I might not have otherwise done had I not went to Tajikistan,” he said. He’s already put this into action. Instead of simply going home and taking a break during the summer, he took a job at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington D.C. The think tank was a fantastic fit for him because many of its scholars study Central Asian issues. It brought together his interest in politics and all the practical experience from his months abroad. He has become more drawn to teaching English and learning about education in the Islamic world due to his trip. At the moment, he is writing a thesis on the state of education in the Islamic World and plans on using case studies in the Persian Gulf and North Africa. Last year, he also founded an English language learning program for BC’s international graduate students. Noticing that BC tends to highlight the undergraduate experience and not the graduate one, he felt that international graduates did not have access to quality English language learning resources to help them become successful in classes.

practice for five to six hours per day, on top of performing and other daily obligations. With that comes a challenge with which every student is familiar: the cat-and-mouse game of finding enough time for everything in a 24-hour day. Five hours of cello, homework, classes, thesis writing, eating, sleeping, and the occasional call home leave little time for much else, but if there’s anyone up to the challenge, at least according to her dad, it’s Hanna. “If you understand Hanna, she’s always busy,” he said. “And she puts that pressure on herself.” It’s that pressure that has built Um’s version of the Lied. For Um, notes and words flow together as the Danube does through Vienna. Through the lens of the Lied, poetry finds a home as a compliment to Um’s musical talents—which has led her to a thesis and two degrees. “To me it’s pretty easy,” Um said. “If you have two passions, you can always find a way to make them work together.” 

He collaborated with a graduate student in the political science department and submitted a proposal to the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to put together a class to solve this problem. He received funding to hire Ph.D. students in the department to teach the class and buy textbooks. Once a week in last year’s fall semester, the program invited 12 graduate students in the social sciences department to the class to learn to write better. “It was a great feeling knowing that we were able to pull in all of these resources that BC has to help a part of the community that is vulnerable and alienated from the rest of us,” Alidadi said. When he started on his Tajikistan journey, he had to adjust to a new culture and new language. Now he’s more than adjusted. He’s confident and ready to go back. He is currently in the process of applying for a Fulbright research grant to return to Tajikistan after graduation next year. Fluent in Farsi and experienced in teaching, he wants to explore whether Tajikistan has the capacity to invest in English language learning solutions that incorporate mobile technology. He thinks that mobile technology is potentially the best tool with which to teach English. A couple of his ideas are to encourage Tajiks to create mobile applications and push Tajik telephone companies to sponsor Hackathons. If this grant does not work out, he would love to volunteer in the Peace Corps. Then he hopes to attend graduate school for international studies. He ultimately aims to work in the public sector as a foreign service officer in the U.S. Department of State or in a multilateral organization such as the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. On the whole, he believes it is of vital importance to be civically engaged and to understand the surrounding world, especially in today’s political climate. Despite its flaws and inconsistencies, politics shape the course of our lives. In addition, he emphasizes the importance of serving others as a part of a life well lived. “BC helps you develop the inclination to help others,” Alidadi said. “It’s ingrained in the atmosphere and in my four years, I’ve become more conscious of the people around me.” 


THE HEIGHTS | SENIORS TO WATCH

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Legal Eagle

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Miriam George pursues justice for those hurt by discrimination. Grace Gvodas | Asst. Copy Editor

Advocate and Educator

Discrimination, traveling around the city of Boston to give presentations to minority groups about the options available to them through the law when they feel they have been discriminated against. In 2016, she worked for the Attorney General of Massachusetts’ office in the civil rights division, handling real-life complaints from minorities who felt they were being discriminated against—and ended up resolving 120 of them. Although George already had those personal experiences of employment discrimination, by calling employers and coworkers and working to settle an agreement, her passion for and understanding of how widespread the issue of employment discrimination really is grew. It led to her latest internship this past summer, where she worked in Washington, D.C., at the Department of Labor and furthered her understanding of employment law, solidifying her already developed passion. Between all of her accomplishments, it’s no surprise that George was awarded BC’s Asian-Aquino scholarship last semester, which is judged on the criteria of strong academic performance in a challenging course load that integrates personal goals, and leadership and participation in activities that serve others and help the Asian American community and its contributions to the larger American society. As for her senior year, George’s main goal is to get into law school: Harvard to be exact. “That’s my number one goal,” she said. “It’s pretty much all I can think about right now.” George’s goal in the long term is a career characterized by service and a determined focus on bettering the lives of those in marginalized communities. Although the start to that long-term goal is a year away, it doesn’t stop her from having an immediate impact on the community she is still currently a part of. As an RA in Walsh, member of Generation Citizen, Model UN, and the flute ensemble, George hopes to influence the younger members in the same ways older members influenced her. Although George’s humility may try, the impact of her work can’t be kept under the radar, both on and off the Heights. 

Justine Miriam

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUSTINE SHEEHAN

Most students’ alarms go off with a beep. Miriam George’s, MCAS ’18, goes off with a crash— the 6:30 a.m. hauling of the dumpsters outside of Walsh. The cream-colored blind is rolled up, the empty Mod Lot and the silent spires of Gasson now visible through the modest light that creeps in her window. Within a half hour, George puts her backpack on and walks up the stairs in O’Neill to the fourth floor, where she’ll be for the next three hours until her first class at 10:30. George’s passion for combating employment discrimination against minority citizens is what has driven her time at Boston College, and has motivated her to start the day with hours in the library before class—every single morning. As a woman of color, it hits home. She has seen discrimination against her own parents, who she regards as the smartest and most hardworking people she knows. Both are doctors and have been harassed for their accents on multiple occasions. A coworker once told her father to “go back to India.” “They have given everything up for me and worked so hard to provide for me and it makes me so driven and so wanting to take advantage of every opportunity I get here,” George said. “Because I know how lucky I am to go here.” Knowing that people as intelligent and hardworking as her parents can be discriminated against, George has realized that discrimination doesn’t discriminate—and that something should be done. A political science major and Spanish minor, George has cultivated and strengthened her passion for civil rights and the fight against employment discrimination of minority groups. Twice a week for one hour, she travels to Brighton High School to teach a class on government advocacy and civics through Generation Citizen, a nonprofit organization that she discovered at the involvement fair freshman year and has been involved in since. George has spent her time through the organization teaching high school seniors, and has faced illiteracy, behavioral issues, and a general sense of apathy among her students. “Part of my goal is just to get them excited about education again,” she said. For the first half of each semester that George teaches, she focuses on educating the students on government advocacy and civics. The second half implements those tactics on an issue of the class’s choosing. Last semester, the students focused on racially motivated traffic stops by Boston police. At the end of the class this past spring, George guided her students as they worked with three senators and representatives on Capitol Hill and lobbied on behalf of the issue. They gained legislative response for a bill that strives to achieve two main things. First, the bill would require police to provide documentation in the form of receipts to any civilian they stop. And second, it would require all police departments in the Commonwealth to record information in a reviewable database, which would include race, gender, location, and reason for the stop that can be reviewed by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. “The fact that they were spearheading the issue by the end was something I never could have foreseen happening,” George said. In response to their lobbying, the Senate Judiciary Committee in Massachusetts held a hearing on the bill and voted to move it forward to a vote by the House and Senate. Their bill, No. 1575, is currently undergoing a study. George and her students hope for it to be passed soon. Outside of her BC experience, George has had an internship working with civil rights issues every summer since her freshman year. In 2015, she worked for the Massachusetts Commission Against

Justine Sheehan devotes herself to helping children with special needs. Barrette Janney | Editorial Assistant The average preteen girl fills her summers with boy band concerts, watching TV, and reading Tiger Beat. She might lust after that brand new tote bag in a mall window or attempt to sneak into a couple R-rated movies. Not Justine Sheehan, LSOE ’18. At age 12, she strived to charge her summer with as much service as possible, daily lending her hands to the education and development of kids far younger than she at an early childhood program. “I kind of asked my mom, ‘I want to volunteer somewhere,’” she said. “I was too young to really babysit, so then she said, ‘If you want experience [with kids], why don’t you go here?’” “Here” was Shrewsbury Children’s Center, an education hub for preschool to toddler-aged children in her hometown of Shrewsbury, Mass. Not only did her time there ingrain in her a spirit of service, but it also ignited an interest in helping children, particularly those with learning disabilities like herself. “I think, throughout elementary school, remembering how much I struggled and learning things to help me along the way kind of sparked how much I wanted to help kids learn how they can get to their full potential,” she said. She found herself particularly drawn to assisting low-income families with children who had special needs as she realized firsthand the extreme costs associated with acquiring special education. The tutors she was fortunate to study under throughout her early years required high hourly fees, fees that quickly added up and would be a financial burden on those in lower-income brackets. Her focus on low-income families extended particularly to the parents, as Sheehan believed enlightening them about their rights involved in the education of their child could alleviate confusion and tension in the future. These procedural safeguards, enacted through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, included the parents remaining actively involved in actions taken by their child’s school pertaining to his or her disability. With these budding realizations and interests in mind, Sheehan decided that she wanted to become a child advocate attorney. When she came to Lynch, she pursued a degree in applied psychology and human development. She desired to shape her undergraduate course load so as to equip herself with any tool she might need with future clients in the field of child advocacy. Audrey Freeman, then the Lynch dean, assisted her in arranging her schedule to accommodate minors useful to her future career. David Scanlon, a Lynch professor, and his Educational Strategies for Teaching Students with Special Needs course inspired her to focus on policy change within the realm of special education, which differentiated her ambition to be an attorney from Lynch students who aimed to become teachers. Along with her studies in Lynch, Sheehan continues to intimately experience the development of children with disabilities through her service. She served as a volunteer at BC’s Children’s Center, a play-centered developmental center for young children, and Allston-Brighton Head Start, which provides an individualized curriculum as well as special needs services to 3- to 5-year olds. “I think you can learn from the book as much as you want, but when you’re on the ground with kids,” she said. “I could see them grow.” Her most recent summer service endeavor was participating in the Cuddler Program at St. Vincent Hospital where she held babies undergoing drug withdrawals. “I could kind of see first-hand the symptoms of drug withdrawal situations,” she said. “It was sad, but I loved doing it.” Sheehan stepped into the legal scene of child advocacy when she began interning with the Worcester County District Attorney the summer

following her freshman year. In the summers following, she served as an education attorney intern at Worcester Legal Aid and as the Governor’s Council intern. Within these programs, she developed her inclination for leadership by heading programs for handling sexual assault cases on college campuses and by assisting in processing judicial nominations. As if her involvement in aiding others wasn’t enough, advocacy meets athlete in Sheehan. She has continued to play for BC field hockey throughout her four years on the Heights, two of which the team advanced to the NCAA Tournament and even reached the Elite Eight in 2015. Regardless of the heavy time commitment field hockey requires, Sheehan still manages to stand out within her sport as a leader and steward. She was voted Community Service Chairperson for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a role in which she coordinates the pen pal program, where over 200 student-athletes exchange letters once a month with kids at the Thomas A. Edison School in Brighton. “It’s good for them because they’re a low-income population and a lot of them are immigrants,” Sheehan said. “It’s good for them to see a college campus because a lot of them will be first-generation college students.” She notes that, aside from the other projects she involves herself in as service chairperson, her most personally significant accomplishment to date is receiving the the ACC Top Six for Service Award, which celebrates student-athletes who exhibit an exceptional inclination for service within their community, saying “It reminds me how important it is to give back.” Along with service, field hockey also offers Sheehan an outlet to burn off steam and spend time with her best friends. “I think, coming into BC, I definitely loved having 20 girls immediately as friends,” she said. “That was great. We’re basically together all the time, they’re a great support system for me.” This support extends to the next challenge on Sheehan’s horizon—law school. She’s nearing application deadlines this fall and hopes to attend any institution located in Boston. After application and field hockey season are over, she plans to soak up her final days at BC by savoring the campus lifestyle. Serving others in all she does, from sports to legal aspirations and beyond, she embraces every new challenge with a warm heart, curious mind, and unflinching resoluteness. 

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR


THE HEIGHTS | SENIORS TO WATCH

A10

Young Executive

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

In four years, Riley Soward turned an interest in market research into a successful company. Archer Parquette | Features Editor

In a gloomy Carney classroom littered with Dunkin’ iced coffee bottles and candy wrappers, Riley Soward types rapidly into his laptop. It’s pitch dark outside, and he’s been working for hours. When the sun rises, he’ll have to face one of the greatest challenges of his young career. He is the CEO and co-founder of the startup market research company Campus Insights, and he’s less than 10 hours away from trying to secure a new client—Chegg, the major textbook rental company. He and Ameet Kallarackal, CSOM ’18 and Head of UX strategy and Research at Campus Insights, won’t sleep until late tomorrow, after they give the big presentation. Along with Irene Kim, who’s studying at the University of Michigan, they’ve spent months trying to get this chance to pitch their unique brand of services. Now, with only caffeine and processed sugar to keep them up through the night, they have to perfect their one shot at reeling in this huge client or else watch this opportunity slip away. It’s a situation they’ve faced before—convincing a professional organization that a student-run company with six employees can provide better marketing research than large firms. Soward, CSOM ’18, didn’t start Campus Insights with massive funding and years of experience under his belt. He started it the October of his freshman year after having coffee with Patrick Allen, BC ’13. They talked about future plans, ambitions, interests—normal fare for a talk with an alum—but when Soward mentioned his interest in apps and his habit of contacting companies to give them feedback on their product, Allen gave him a cool idea. Why don’t you go around the Quad asking people what they think of apps and taping their responses? That quick comment took root in Soward’s mind. Wandering around the Quad with a camera confronting people about apps might be a little bit goofy, but there was a sound idea in there. Companies want to market to college students. They need to know what these students really think. Without that information, they can’t effectively move forward. “When you’re building a product and you know the product better than anyone else … and you’re spending all of your time in an office room mapping out the product, you just don’t know what someone who’s never even heard of the idea will think of it,” Soward said. So he started out small. He spoke with his brother Stephen, then a junior at Michigan, and figured out a way they could approach mediated market research on a

college campus. The two founded the Campus Insights and began conducting the research. He sent out notices in Facebook groups, went to nearby dorm rooms, and found interested students who were willing to use a product and then give their opinion about it. He asked questions and videotaped responses in an attempt to evaluate the student’s genuine opinion. Those findings would be sent to a company to be further develop the product. With all this college student market research, all he needed now was a paying client. At the beginning, Soward gave his research to companies for free. He and his brother were still figuring out the best ways to conduct and present the research and trying to get their name into the public eye. As a fledgling student startup, they needed to give companies a reason to trust them over established operations full of professionals with advanced degrees. The experience was necessary, but there was only so far they could go without actually selling their services. Fortunately, BC’s alumni network proved helpful. Soward spoke with alumni about his company and offered their services to anyone who might be interested. Peter Tuan, BC ’12, was impressed and told Soward about a company that was going through the same accelerator as Tuan’s own and was looking to market to the college demographic. This company—Rocki—built speakers that allow you to play music from your phone over Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth, which allows multiroom, longer-distance playback. They enlisted Campus Insights’ help. More importantly, they paid for it. Soward gave interested students a Rocki speaker and had them try it out. Did they understand how it worked? Did they like it? Soward recorded his research and gave it to Rocki to complete Campus Insight’s first paid project. “We have come a long way,” Soward said. “But in terms of feedback we got from Rocki it was all positive.” From there, Campus Insights started to grow. John Gallaugher, a CSOM professor, introduced Soward to another potential client, which he successfully pitched. Companies wanted their research, and Soward and his brother had to quickly learn how to meet the demand. “In the beginning, we went through a slow patch because we didn’t make the jump to hire our first person, and as a result we were just very overwhelmed by the projects themselves,” Soward said. The next step was expansion. Soward and his brother couldn’t run the company and simultaneously conduct the research projects without turning the

Riley

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

company stagnant. They needed fresh hires who could generate ideas and conduct research, while they focused on sales and growth. “The long-term plan for Campus Insights is actually always for it to be a student-run business,” he said. He took this principle into the hiring process and brought on three student employees to conduct research projects. Now that he and his brother were freed up, they could focus on taking the company forward. Soward’s brother Stephen didn’t see this success coming. When Riley first approached him with the idea of a college market researching company, he was excited. He liked the idea of providing feedback and knew working with his brother would be enjoyable, but he was unsure of the scope and didn’t know how far something like this could go. “There’s a lot of unknowns out there,” Stephen said. Despite that, Stephen knew his brother was capable of great things. Back in high school, Riley and one of his friends, a musician named Zach Gospe, raised $10,000 on Kickstarter so they could go to Los Angeles, meet with Mark Mazzetti, a record producer who has worked with notable performers such as Elton John, and record an album. For someone who hadn’t even graduated high school yet, it showed that Riley was capable of taking on seemingly overambitious projects and achieving success. Campus Insights proved this once again. Riley and Stephen began pitching to bigger clients and used the stigma of a student-run company as a benefit rather than a drawback. “At the end of the day, a student talking to a student is a more natural conversation than maybe a 45-year-old

researcher talking to a student,” Soward said. This approach proved convincing. As Soward’s clients became more public and he learned the ropes of holding together a startup, he sought advice from BC alumni, including lawyers who helped him pro bono. Surrounded by all these opinions, some from experts in their fields, he had to maintain the vision of the company and rely on his team and himself. “I began to trust myself a bit more, rather than just saying ‘Oh, well this really smart person suggested this, so we should do it,” he said. His decision-making paid off. After nearly three years spent building a base of clients and promoting across universities, Riley and Stephen eventually led the company to the crucial meeting with Chegg. *** The late night spent preparing for the meeting ends before noon the next day. Sleep-deprived but full of energy, Soward and his team put the finishing touches on everything, clean themselves up, and meet with the head of research at Chegg. They pitch their student-run company and show how it rivals major firms. Approaching three years since their start, it’s a bold proposal but a solid one, backed up by successful projects and satisfied clients. The head of research hears them out, and Soward thinks it goes well, but they still have to wait for final decision. Once the moment of truth has passed, Soward finally gets back to his bed and gets some sleep. Shortly afterward, the head of research takes the proposal and presents it to the top 40 executives at Chegg, including the CEO. They say yes. 

Risk Taker

Gabby

Gabby Zabbo is the co-president of Students for Sexual Health, which advocates for sex education. Shannon Kelly | Asst. Features Editor

At the beginning of freshman year, most students at Boston College find their niche at the Student Involvement Fair. Bombarded by hundreds of students and rows of tables, they sign their free time away to upperclassmen pledging interesting meetings, handson experience, or just meaningful social opportunities. The listserv emails pile up in your bc.edu inbox, and the club you signed up for because its president pretty much begged you seems to never stop sending out updates. Paralyzed by choice, you may never become invested in any of these organizations. Or you do what Gabby Zabbo, CSON ’18, did. Overwhelmed by the options at the 2014 Student Involvement Fair, Zabbo walked back up to Fitzpatrick Hall without finding a single club that suited her. As she crossed College Road, she noticed one small table, far away from the rest that were festooned with decorations on Stokes Lawn. “Did you know you can’t have sex on campus?” one sign read. Well, that certainly got her attention. She started talking with a few of the upperclassmen at the table, who said they were part of Students for Sexual Health (SSH), a club on campus that is technically neither of those things. Since it is not a registered student organization due to the topics it tends to discuss— sexual health and safety in a college environment, as well as being a subsidiary of Planned Parenthood—it can only inhabit the space on CoRo, considered “off campus.” “It was the only club on campus that wasn’t allowed, which was very attractive to me for some reason,” Zabbo said. “I had like an innate need to rebel, so I was like ‘This is the one that I need to do.’” Four years later, Zabbo has turned a serendipitous meeting on Upper into a college-career investment, from active member to co-president. In the nursing program, she has contributed hours of her time and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to learn more about providing the best care. She even wants to come back next year to become a nurse practitioner. And she’s worried she may not even graduate. Running an underground club that is best known to the administration for distributing condoms in dorm rooms does not make for a stress-free life. There’s the day-to-day operations of running the club, mobilizing people, and outlining topics for meetings and educational materials. And then there are calls and emails to the American Civil Liberties

Union, to make sure everything is legal and within the rights of students on a Catholic campus. In a nutshell, Zabbo plays the roles of a general manager, teacher, and a lawyer. Despite her involvement in SSH over her four years, some things have been out of her hands. While 90 percent of students approved of having sexual education and health resources on campus in a 2009 Undergraduate Government of BC referendum, it was an opinion at odds with the University. The semester before Zabbo arrived at BC, the administration and SSH clashed over the latter’s institution of “Safe Sites,” dorm rooms on campus that distributed condoms to students who showed up. Following the administration’s threat of disciplinary action against the residents of rooms that were Safe Sites, SSH switched to tabling on CoRo. The Heights detailed much of SSH’s history last year. The current administration did not reply to requests for comment at the time of publication. Zabbo strives to make every minute of her work count, but there’s only so much she can control. She tries to shoot for tabling on CoRo every other week, but the weather and other extenuating circumstances can hinder that plan. Sheer numbers can also prevent her from doing what she’d like. Since the club only gains exposure on Upper, the window to reach upperclassmen is limited. The number of active members is low compared to registered student organizations on campus. With few hands, SSH cannot do as much as Zabbo would like it to. Her newest plan circumvents the issue of reach for SSH. Its program, which is a more convenient way to help students, was launched on a website last year. The service will not be stated here for the sake of privacy, but it was cleared by the ACLU before the program was developed. Zabbo wanted to go to BC before she visited campus. Once she was accepted, she made the trip, and instantly fell in love. The nursing program no doubt helped—Zabbo’s mother is also a nurse, rotating around in maternal health over her career. She thought she would follow in her footsteps and become a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, but once she found SSH, she shifted her focus to reproductive health in general. One of her clinical experiences this semester falls into that category. Working on a gynecological oncology floor, Zabbo finds it rewarding, intense, and sad, but she is optimistic that some of the patients only need

LIZZY BARRETT / HEIGHTS EDITOR

preventive care. Even against the grueling hours, Zabbo has used the time blocks to structure her training for an upcoming half-marathon. With the passion for the subject material mastered, Zabbo has also made great strides in the academic field of nursing through the Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Zabbo and her professor, Joyce Edmonds, just published a paper on labor symptoms in the Nursing for Women’s Health Journal. They’ve applied to take its contents on the road to Kentucky to a conference for the International Childbirth Education Association that is coming up in April. It wouldn’t be the first time Zabbo has traveled for the nursing program. In lieu of studying abroad, Zabbo went to Switzerland for a month over the summer for a global health course, where she bonded with fellow BC nursing students and expanded her knowledge from hands-on medical practice to public policy in regard to health insurance. Zabbo does not keep her love and skill for nursing to herself. Her friends have been the beneficiaries of her knowledge and help from the very beginning of the rigorous program that churns out just a handful of graduates each year. “Since day one of orientation, Gabby has been there helping me study and get through difficult courses,” Emily Merino, CSON ’18, said. Most clubs don’t just fade out one year, ceasing to exist as membership dwindles or an interest falls to the

wayside. But Zabbo believes SSH is the exception to the rule. Once a leader leaves, it is always at risk of being forgotten. She wants to help with that, whether she comes back for a fifth year or not. Past leadership has passed down knowledge and advice even as they moved states and jobs, and Zabbo wants to continue that tradition. To her, there are things that people would just ignore if certain groups on campus didn’t try to push the issue. Zabbo likens the need for sexual health resources on campus to the need for an LGBTQ+ resource center for identifying students like her, who don’t fall into the normative gender or sexual orientation. Her reasoning for both of these things is in a Jesuit vein, focusing on cura personalis, or care of the whole person. The language she uses mirrors such used in a UGBC resolution for sexual health resources last year— people are sexual beings, and ignoring sexuality or sexual expression is a refusal to care for the whole person. “I just feel that they don’t have to be conflicting ideals,” she said. But Catholic justifications aside, Zabbo has another basic reason for pouring her soul into an organization that may not exist in the future: She cares about people. She doesn’t want to control the conversation, she wants people to come to her with what they want to talk about, even if it’s just for a few minutes at a small table on CoRo. “I want people to be safe, more than anything,” she said. 


B1

@HEIGHTSSPORTS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 FOOTBALL

KAITLIN MEEKS / HEIGHTS STAFF

Demon Deacons senior John Wolford (10) outdueled redshirt freshman Anthony Brown and dealt the Eagles a brutal 34-10 defeat in Saturday’s home opener. BY RILEY OVEREND Sports Editor In Saturday’s ACC opener between Boston College football and Wake Forest, the visiting Demon Deacons didn’t always look like the better 34 team—but they did Wake Forest Boston College 10 look like the more experienced one. Led by John Wolford, the most experienced quarterback in the conference, Wake took care of the ball, capitalized on favorable field position, and converted red zone trips into scores in a 34-10 rout of the Eagles at Alumni Stadium. For head coach Steve Addazio, the problem is that his Eagles (1-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) aren’t all that young. In Year Five of his master rebuilding plan, the team features a seasoned defensive line, an experienced secondary, and a receiving corps that returned all of its top targets this season, with plenty of talent among the younger ones. At quarterback, though, the age disparity couldn’t have been more clear. Wolford was cautious with his throws while redshirt freshman Anthony Brown was, for much of the game, erratic. The teenager finished 11-of-29 for 119 yards and a touchdown.

His three interceptions were the most by a BC quarterback since November of 2015, when John Fadule tossed a trio in a loss against NC State. “They were unbelievable momentum killers,” Addazio said of the turnovers. “And we paid the price for it.” The issues on offense started early, when Jon Hilliman fumbled the ball deep in his own territory. Wolford turned the turnover into points with a beautiful endzone fade to Greg Dortch, breaking a streak of six consecutive punts to begin the game. Two drives later, the senior signal caller again kept the chains moving for the Demon Deacons (2-0, 1-0). Wolford rushed for an eight-yard gain, then found Chuck Wade down the sideline for 14 yards and another first down. On the next play, he capped off the 64-yard drive with a 29-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0. With six minutes remaining in the half, Brown found somewhat of a rhythm in his second career start under center. The redshirt freshman fired a bullet to Kobay White before a pass interference call brought the ball to Wake’s 23-yard line. There, he picked apart the Demon Dea-

See BC vs. Wake, B3

BY ANNABEL STEELE Assoc. Sports Editor Everything was set up perfectly for Boston College football to open its 2017 home season with a victory over conference foe, Wake Forest. The sky was blue and sunny, the temperature was perfect, and fans turned up to support the Eagles at Alumni Stadium. BC, coming off of a season-opening victory against Northern Illinois last week, seemed poised to defeat the Demon Deacons for the second consecutive season. But from the opening drive, the Eagles never seemed to click, while Wake Forest took advantage of its opportunities. In the end, BC fell to the Demon Deacons, 34-10, in a sometimes painful, perpetually frustrating performance. Here are a couple of takeaways from the game. Missed Opportunities The game may very well have gone completely differently had BC capitalized on some prime early opportunities. After being forced to punt to end their first possession, the Eagles then made a defensive stand to earn the ball back. Wake Forest’s punter Dom Maggio gifted the Eagles with good field position when his punt only went 29 yards.

BC seemed to start the ensuing drive off strong. Rushes from Jon Hilliman and starting quarterback Anthony Brown resulted in a fresh set of downs for the Eagles. Then Brown connected with Jeff Smith for a 23- yard gain. But just as the Eagles seemed to heat up, an ill-timed mistake from freshman center Ben Petrula, who filled in late for the injured Jon Baker, derailed the momentum. Petrula’s snap sailed over Brown’s head, forcing Brown to retreat and fall on the ball to preserve possession. The play resulted in a 24-yard loss for the Eagles, and they couldn’t overcome it. The drive ended in a punt. Rather than make up for the lost opportunity, BC failed to capitalize on prime field position again in its next drive. Maggio’s punt was short again, and the Eagles started their drive on the Demon Deacons’ 49-yard line. This time, however, there was no momentum built up at all—Brown couldn’t connect with Smith, A.J. Dillon’s run was stuffed short, and then Brown couldn’t connect with tight end Tommy Sweeney. The drive, beginning in Wake Forest territory, resulted in a three-and-out and another wasted opportunity for the Eagles.

See FB Notebook, B3

Crowther’s Red Bandana Game Deserves Better Scheduling RILEY OVEREND On Sept. 14, 2014, a screaming sea of red bandanas hurled insults at the University of Spoiled Children as the raucous crowd lifted Boston College football to a 37-31 upset of the No. 9 Trojans. Just like that, a tradition was born. The annual Red Bandana game, which honors fallen Sept. 11 hero Welles Crowther, BC ’99, certainly began with a bang. And it’s no coincidence that the Eagles’ most impressive win of the last decade came during Crowther’s tribute. Inspired by his life-saving mission

INSIDE SPORTS

during the 2001 terrorist attacks, players and fans alike appeared invigorated with energy. BC’s uniforms featured red bandana-themed designs and fans sported actual red bandanas, courtesy of the athletic department. The atmosphere was just enough like Tuscaloosa to fool USC for a night. Slowly but surely, though, the Eagles’ best tradition is drifting away from its Red Bandana roots. And, in part, it’s a product of its own success. Instead of memorializing Crowther’s Sept. 11 heroics by scheduling the Red Bandana game in the first couple weeks of September, BC chose its Friday, Oct. 23 matchup with Florida State for this year’s tribute. Since the first game, the date has steadily been pushed back to accommodate big-name op-

ponents at marquee times and dates. What started as a red bandana helmet sticker to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks has become a marketing tool to be used for nationally-televised games. Not to say that scheduling the Red Bandana game in late October is some sort of injustice against Crowther. But it doesn’t feel quite right, either. Because in the end, this is about Welles. It’s about the red bandana he carried with him from his days on BC’s lacrosse team until his last moments in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Crowther used the fabric to cover his face and shield himself from smoke and debris while he led over a dozen survivors to safety on the ground. He carried one woman

down 17 flights of stairs amidst the chaos. Then, Crowther did the unthinkable: He went right back up where he came from. There were more people who needed rescuing. The legend of Crowther could be recognized and praised on any day of the year, and it would still be powerful. But there’s something about holding the Red Bandana game closer to the Sept. 11 anniversary that feels more genuine and significant. Think about how hype next Saturday’s matchup with Notre Dame would be if a red bandana chapter was added to their storied rivalry. Or how different last Saturday’s loss to Wake could have been under the right atmospheric circumstances. Next year, Martin Jarmond, the new Director of Athletics and former football schedule specialist at

FIELD HOCKEY: Eagles Top Providence WOMEN’S SOCCER: BC Beats Rival BU BC earned its fifth straight nonconference victory on B4 Sunday, taking down the Friars at home............................

The Eagles cruised to a 3-0 win over the Terriers, thanks to Alexis Bryant’s six saves in goal...................................B4

Ohio State, should work to ensure a better fit for the Red Bandana game. Whether that means lobbying for a night game earlier in the season or settling for an afternoon game against an prime opponent like Notre Dame, either option signifies a step in the right direction. Most institutions struggle to find model representatives, but BC is lucky enough to boast two real-life heroes as alumni (see: Pete Frates). As the University celebrates Crowther, it needs to be wary of using his image as a marketing tool. Otherwise, one of the most meaningful new traditions in college sports is at risk of becoming just another theme.

Riley Overend is the sports editor for The Heights. He can be reached on Twitter @RileyHeights.

SPORTS IN SHORT................................ B2 MEN’S SOCCER.................................... B2 MEN’S BASKETBALL............................. B2


The Heights

B2

Monday, September 11, 2017

MEN’S SOCCER

Gallagher Tallies Hat Trick, BC’s Skid Continues Vs. Notre Dame By Riley Overend Sports Editor Jon Gallagher put No. 6 Notre Dame on his shoulders in the ACC opener, scoring all three goals in a 3-1 victory over Boston College Notre Dame 3 men’s soccer on Boston College 1 a cloudy Friday evening in Newton. Gallagher’s hat trick gave the Eagles (2-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) a hat trick of their own—three straight losses since opening the season with a pair of 4-0 blowouts. Against the Fighting Irish (4-0, 1-0), as was

the case throughout the team’s skid, BC played long stretches of dominant defense and showed promise in the attack, but was ultimately derailed by sloppy mistakes down the stretch. Notre Dame’s elite defense spoiled BC captain Len Zeugner’s return to the pitch. The redshirt junior defender saw his first minutes since 2015 and looked like his old, aggressive self, making hard tackles and winning every ball in the air that came his way. But in the 15th minute, the crowd fell silent when Zeugner went down grabbing his ankle in pain. After taking a quick

breather on the sidelines, he returned to the field as BC fans breathed a collective sigh of relief. Both teams struggled to possess and pass the ball early on. It wasn’t until midway through the first half that either side began to sustain possession, and even then, both keepers kept the game scoreless. Gallagher earned his first chance of the game off a set piece outside the box, but Antonio Chavez Borrelli dove to his left to make the stop. The Fighting Irish were first to break the scoreless bout in the second half. Gallagher lined up for another penalty kick

six yards outside the box, and this time he didn’t miss. The senior forward curled his shot around the Eagles’ wall and drilled the side netting in the upper right corner of the net. Chavez Borelli didn’t stand a chance. In the 74th minute, the BC defense committed a fatal error by leaving Notre Dame’s best player, Gallagher, wide open in the far corner of the box. Sean Dedrick found the unmarked striker for a header finish, pushing the Irish lead to 2-0. The Eagles got one back in the 81st minute thanks to a heads-up hustle play by Beto Luna. Younes Boudadi started the sequence with a cross to the far post,

where Lasse Lehmann was waiting for a header. Instead of shooting it, though, he sent a cross back into the box, finding the noggin of a streaking Luna, who finished the header for his first career goal. “He just works hit tail off,” Kelly said of the freshman. “Never stops, never stops working.” But soon after, any hope of an equalizer to force overtime was squashed. Once again, Gallagher found himself in the exact same spot outside the box, and placed a screamer into the identical side netting for his third goal of the night, sealing the 3-1 defeat with a dagger. n

Lizzy Barrett / Heights Editor

Just like No. 6 Notre Dame, BC recorded 11 shots on Friday night, but only two of them were on goal. The lack of legitimate scoring chances cost BC the ACC opener and its third-consecutive match. WOMEN’S SOCCER

Eagles Drop Match Against Harvard for First Time in 15 Years By Jimmy Mitchell Heights Staff After inclement weather washed out Wednesday’s scheduled match, Boston College women’s soccer took the field under clear skies Boston College 0 in Cambridge Harvard 1 against crosstown rival Harvard. The Eagles entered the contest winners of three straight and looked to continue their roll. It was the second of three consecutive

matchups against Beanpot schools for BC. The Eagles look forward to these local rivalry games against these Boston schools for good reason. Since 2014, the Eagles are 9-1 against Northeastern, Harvard, and Boston University. BC came out of the gates controlling possession and the pace of the match against the Crimson. BC had several of the few scoring opportunities in the half, but failed to convert. Junior Elysa Virella recorded her first shot of the season in the third minute. Sam Coffey continued her

hot start to her freshman season, firing a game-high six shots, three of which were on goal. Sophomore Jenna Bike tallied three shots with two on goal as well, but the Eagles were held in check by Harvard goalie Danielle Etzel. In the second half, the Eagles continued to dominate possession and generate scoring opportunities, to little avail. Although the Crimson had just one shot on goal all night, the team made it count. In the 69th minute, following a Harvard throw-in, Crimson senior Candy Janach-

owski booted a long pass down the field to junior Leah Mohammadi. After a few moves in the box in front of BC goalie Alexis Bryant, she found the top-right corner of the net from 15 yards out, giving Harvard a 1-0 lead. It was Mohammadi’s second goal of the season, and it was enough to give the Crimson a 1-0 win over the Eagles. Harvard’s victory was its first in the series against BC (4-3) since 2002. The Eagles shut down Harvard (4-1) for the entire night, but they let one slip by and

that was the difference. The story of the game was definitely BC’s inability to convert on scoring opportunities. The Eagles outshot the Crimson 14-4, including 6-1 with shots on goal. BC also had 10 corner kicks while holding Harvard to two. On the season, the Eagles have a nation-leading 73 corner kicks and have limited opponents to just 23, a demonstration of their aggressive offense that has been incapable of tallying goals. Harvard is by no means a mediocre team, but this is a game the Eagles would surely like to have back. n

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Men’s Basketball Releases Full Schedule for 2017-18 Season By Andy Backstrom Asst. Sports Editor

When Boston College men’s basketball hired head coach Jim Christian back in 2014, the former Kent State coach was tasked with rebuilding a disjointed program in an unforgiving conference. Naturally, he was given time to rebuild. But after three years, 67 losses, and a handful of outgoing transfers, the pressure is on for Christian to start winning. With a nationally renowned backcourt, a bonafide graduate transfer, and a slew of young talent, BC has a chance to finally be competitive in the ACC again. Whether or not that happens is to be determined. On Thursday, the team released its full schedule for the 2017-18 season. The Eagles have 31 games—13 nonconference and 18 ACC—on tap for this year. Unlike last season, BC will play its first ACC opponent before finishing its non-conference slate. And for the first time in eight years, the Eagles will open up conference play in the first week of December. BC will kick off the season with nine consecutive non-conference contests. For some Power Five teams, November is a time to pad the win column. That hasn’t been the case for the Eagles.

During the Christian era, BC has lost 16 non-conference games—an average of close to 5.5 per season. The Eagles will host the first three games of the season, starting with Maine on Nov. 10. After taking a one-year hiatus, the two New England schools will meet again in the season opener. The last time out, BC torched the Black Bears by 31 points. And that was the infamous 2015-16 team. BC will finish out the home stretch with games against North Carolina State and Sacred Heart. The following weekend, Christian and Co. will travel to Uncasville, Conn. for the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament—the Eagles’ only early-season tournament. On Nov. 18, BC will take on Big 12 foe Texas Tech. The last time the Eagles played a team from the Big 12—Kansas State in the 2016 Barclays Center Classic—they lost by 18 points. Then, one day later, BC will suit up against either Lasalle or Northwestern. If it’s the latter, the Eagles will get a look at former teammate A.J. Turner’s new squad. BC will return home for a game versus Colgate on Nov. 22. But immediately after that, the Eagles will get back on the road for another three games. On Nov. 25, BC is set to play Providence in the annual rivalry matchup. The two teams have split the last four meetings, but the

Eagles currently own bragging rights. Last year, Robinson’s near double-double carried BC to an eight-point victory over the Friars. The next week, the Eagles will visit Nebraska for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. In 2016, BC was the only ACC team left out of the annual inter-conference competition. A couple days later, the Eagles will fly back east. They’ll have an opportunity to avenge last year’s twopoint loss to Hartford on Dec. 2. A week later, ACC play begins. And the stakes couldn’t get any higher. BC will face off against Duke in a nationally televised game in Conte Forum. Last year, the Eagles gave the Blue Devils a run for their money. After falling into a deep hole in the first half, BC worked its way back to within six, with less than a minute to go. After that, the Eagles will get a twoweek break from the ACC. BC will host Columbia (Dec.12), Central Connecticut State (Dec. 17), and Richmond (Dec. 23) before hitting the road again. Christian will most likely use this time to assess his team. By playing Duke so early in the 2017-18 campaign, BC will be able to gauge its development prior to facing the brunt of its conference. Essentially, it can make adjustments before it’s too late. On Dec. 30, the Eagles will make the trip to Charlottesville, Va. to play

Virginia. Last season, the Cavaliers embarrassed BC in front of its home crowd. The Eagles were held to just 54 points and 38.5 percent shooting. Then, on Jan. 3 and Jan. 6, BC will have a pair of home games against Clemson and Wake Forest, respectively. As soon as the Eagles play North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Jan. 9, they’ll once again pause ACC play. Just like last year, Dartmouth will travel to BC to wrap up the Eagles’ non-conference schedule. From that point forward, every game will be played within the ACC. In the last month and a half of the regular season, BC will play Florida State, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Miami twice. The final stretch begins on Jan. 15 with a home game versus FSU. Last year, the Seminoles poured on 104 points in the teams’ only meeting. About a week later, the Eagles will make the trek to Louisville, Ky. to play a sansDonovan Mitchell Cardinals team. And then a few days after that, on Jan. 24, BC will travel to New York for its first of two games against Syracuse. As February approaches, the Eagles will venture back to Chestnut Hill. They will play Virginia Tech on Jan. 31 and Georgia Tech on Feb. 4. Despite ultimately falling, BC fared decently well against both of these teams in 2016.

In fact, it even led Georgia Tech by seven points at halftime in last year’s matchup. The Eagles will play Notre Dame in two of their next four games (Feb. 6 and Feb. 17). In between those matchups, BC will host Miami on Feb. 10 and play at Pittsburgh on Feb. 13. Three days after the Eagles’ second bout with the Irish, BC will fly south for a game against North Carolina State—one of the two teams in the conference that the Eagles have defeated over the course of the past two years. BC will stay down south for its next game, as Christian’s group will play at Miami on Feb. 24. The Eagles’ final home game will be against Syracuse. The last time BC hosted the Orange, Ky Bowman scored 30 points, the Eagles shot 16-of-26 from 3-point land, and, most importantly, the team broke its two-year ACC winless streak. BC will return to the state of Florida once more before the season’s end. The Eagles will close out their home-andhome series against FSU on March 3 to conclude the regular season. For the second year in a row, the ACC Tournament will be held in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The date of BC’s first postseason game is dependent on BC’s regular season performance. n

SPORTS in SHORT ACc Atlantic Men’s Soccer Conference Atlantic Wake Forest 1-0 NC State 1-0 Syracuse 0-0-1 Clemson 0-1 Louisville 0-1 Boston College 0-1 Coastal Notre Dame Duke North Carolina Virginia Pittsburgh Virginia Tech

1-0 1-0 1-0 0-0-1 0-1 0-1

overall 4-1 2-1 3-0-2 4-1 3-1-1 2-3

4-0 4-0-1 4-1 3-0-1 2-3 2-3

Numbers to know

3

Number of top-20 wins field hockey has recorded this season.

87

Average number of plays head coach Steve Addazio has called through the Eagles’ first two games of play.

118

Number of shots women’s soccer has logged in 2017—65 more than its opponents.

QUote of the week

“We’re going to have some growing pains. That’s the way it is.” — Steve Addazio,

on his team’s turnoverriddled performance against Wake Forest.


The Heights

Monday, September 11, 2017

B3

FOOTBALL

Wolford, Wake Forest Roll to Dominant Victory Over BC BC vs. Wake, from B1 con defense with short passes in the red zone. Brown started with a dump to Michael Walker, then picked out Jeff Smith with a dart over the middle, and finally found Hilliman in the flat for a six-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit in half. After the defense forced a punt, Brown and the Eagles took the field again for a two-minute drill, similar to their season-opener at NIU. But this time, a pass intended for White was tipped and ended up in the hands of sophomore defensive back Essang Bassey, who took it to the house for a pick six. Brown’s third interception of the game was also his last throw of the afternoon. Max Schulze-Geisthovel opened the second half with an out-of-bounds kickoff, and things only got worse from there. After both sides traded field goals, Brown threw into double coverage and was intercepted by Jessie Bates III, who returned it all the way down to BC’s two-yard line. Two plays later, Cade Carney

crossed the plane for a three-yard touchdown run to increase Wake’s lead to 31-10. In the fourth quarter, the Demon Deacons pieced together a six-minute drive that culminated in a field goal, upping the score to 34-10. Despite the final score, the defense actually played deceptively well. Without Wake’s 21 points off of turnovers, it could have been a manageable 14-10 contest late in the game. But the offense, which seemed to find its identity in last week’s 23-20 victory over Northern Illinois, once again faces a serious question going forward. Is this the same old BC team with a new offensive scheme? Four of BC’s next five games are against opponents that entered the day in the AP Top 25. Two games into the 2017 campaign, and a harsh reality is already beginning to set in. The Eagles may seem like a more talented team than they were last year, but their potential return to a bowl game looks more unlikely by the day, after a game they probably should have won. n

Kaitlin Meeks / Heights STaff

BC’s offense faltered against conference foe Wake Forest on Saturday, despite promises of an up-tempo scheme change.

Brown’s Interceptions Doom Eagles in Loss to Demon Deacons FB Notebook, from B1 These drives both occurred in the first quarter, when the game was scoreless. Had BC managed to take advantage of its opportunities and put points on the board, the momentum of the game would have swung firmly in its favor. Instead, the Eagles just wasted prime opportunities. Turnovers BC struggled immensely with turnovers, surrendering one fumble and three interceptions over the course of the game. Wake Forest scored 17 points off of turnovers, ensuring that the Eagles paid dearly for their mistakes. The first turnover came courtesy of Hilliman, who fumbled the ball deep in BC’s territory in the first quarter. Although the play was reviewed, the refs ruled that the original decision would stand, gifting the Demon Dea-

cons prime field position to set up a scoring drive. A few plays later, Wake Forest quarterback John Wolford connected with Greg Dortch to put Wake Forest up 7-0. But Hilliman wasn’t the only player to struggle with ball control. Brown, who put up a rough overall performance on the day, threw three interceptions. The first, a tipped pass intended for CJ Lewis, stopped another BC drive just as it threatened to head into Wake Forest territory. The second was far more brutal for the Eagles. In the final two minutes of the first half, trailing 14-7, Brown looked to lead BC down the field and put points up heading into halftime. Instead, his pass was picked off by Essang Bassey, who took it to the house and doubled Wake Forest’s lead. Brown started the second half in

spite of this, but showed his inexperience as he threw his third pick of the game in the third quarter. He threw into double coverage, straight at Jessie Bates III. Bates III returned the interception to BC’s twoyard line, and just a couple of plays later Wake Forest ran it in for another touchdown. Predictably, Darius Wade came on to replace Brown after the third pick. The redshirt senior failed to revitalize the slumping offense, however, and BC continued to look out of sync with Wade under center. “You can’t turn the ball over,” head coach Steve Addazio said after the game. “Our kids had a great look in their eye, they played hard, they did some good things ... but you’re gonna turn the ball over like that, you’re gonna turn the ball over. That can’t happen.” n

Kaitlin Meeks / Heights STaff

Jeff Smith (6) caught five passes for 56 yards, but also dropped a touchdown pass.

3

INTs, most by a BC QB since 2015

19

first downs, four more than Wake

21

Wake points off of BC turnovers

Amelie Trieu / Heights Editor

Anthony Brown (13) finished 11-for-29 with 119 yards, three interceptions, and a touchdown in his second career start. BASEBALL

Baseball Hall of Fame To Honor Birdball Legend Pete Frates Pete to Cooperstown, from A1 of leukemia at the young age of 25. Every year, Nictakis’ No. 8 jersey is handed down to the player who best represents BC baseball. Last season, shortstop Johnny Adams carried on the tradition. Birdball will play its first of two games on Saturday, Oct. 14 on Doubleday Field. Then, one day later, the Eagles will wrap up the series with another afternoon contest. In addition to the game on Sunday, the Baseball Hall of Fame will also offer a plaque tour, celebrating the accomplishments of the only two major league baseball players who are both hall of famers and ALS victims, Lou Gehrig and Catfish Hunter. Gambino is excited for his team to take in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Playing in, let alone visiting, Cooperstown is a ball player’s dream. But above all else, Gambino emphasized that they will be making the trip for one reason: Pete. “Pete’s mission is our mission and we

will do whatever is necessary to wipe out this disease,” Gambino told BCEagles.com. That mission started back in 2014, when Pete pioneered the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge—a social media charity campaign that has raised over $220 million for ALS research in just three years. But this past spring, Pete and Co. received news greater than any sum of money. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that new treatments have been approved to slow the progression of ALS. This summer, Pete donated the glove and hat he wore at BC, as well as the bucket and sunglasses he used in the inaugural Ice Bucket Challenge at Fenway Park to the Hall. And come October, Pete will present the Hall with a signed ball. The memorabilia is on display in the Today’s Game exhibit of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum. So even after Pete and Birdball depart Cooperstown on Oct. 15, part of him will still be there. n

Alec Greaney / Heights Editor

Pete Frates and Boston College baseball are headed to Cooperstown in October to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame.


The Heights

B4

Monday, September 11, 2017

VOLLEYBALL

After Loss to Temple, BC Bounces Back With Win Over Delaware By Kate Peaquin Heights Staff

At first, it appeared as if Boston College volleyball’s matchup against Delaware was going to be yet another in a long stream of disappointments this season. Right from the get-go, BC trailed the Blue Hens. But as soon as the Eagles dropped the first set, they switched into another gear. Thanks to Cat Balido, BC rallied to win threestraight sets and its first road match of 2017. Delaware (0-7) took an early 7-1 lead over the Eagles (3-5) on Saturday and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. But a timeout provided BC with a chance to regroup and halt the

onslaught. After the break in play, the Eagles recovered some momentum, and the game continued with neither team maintaining possession for more than three points at a time. This stretch of play was defined by mistakes. In fact, seven of the teams’ first 15 points resulted from some kind of error. Despite pulling within four on multiple occasions, BC still found itself down by seven late in the game. Balido led a 9-3 scoring run, but it was too little, too late, as the Blue Hens ended up taking the first set, 25-20. Building off its scoring spree toward the tail end of the first set, BC looked sharper in take two. But after two back-to-back kills from Balido and Amaka Chukwujekwu, Delaware went

on a 5-point run to make the score 5-2. Delaware upped its lead to six in the following minutes. Yet, unlike the first set, the Eagles didn’t let this one get away from them. BC responded with an eight-point run of its own, reclaiming the lead. But the Blue Hens were not going to go down without a fight either. Liz Tobey recorded two kills, putting Delaware right back into the driver’s seat. As the set neared conclusion, the game remained tight. With the score tied at 24, the tension was palpable. But this time it was the Eagles who took control of the situation. Balido came up with two blocks to give BC the second set. High on confidence, BC jumped out

to an early lead in the third set. Balido, Lynn Braakhuis, and Clare Naughton all logged kills, propelling the Eagles to a 4-0 advantage. Time and time again, the Blue Hens shot themselves in the foot, committing a handful of unforced errors. Delaware never really found its footing, and BC went on to steal the set, 25-9. Like the previous set, BC stormed out to an early lead in the fourth set. Led by Braakhuis, the Eagles quickly established an 11-4 advantage. But this time, Delaware broke double digits. Still, strong play from Balido—who recorded four of BC’s final nine points—ensured the victory for the Eagles. One day earlier, BC lost a match to Temple that, according to all of the sta-

tistics, the Eagles should have won. At that point in the season, the prerogative for BC seemed to be that it would play well until it mattered, at which point the team would fall apart. The Eagles were able to find and maintain a lead in the first set, until it really mattered. Only four points away from taking a one-set lead, BC choked. Temple strung together a run, and proceeded to capture the set, 25-22. The next two sets followed a similar pattern. Each time, the Eagles built up an early advantage, only to stutter in the latter portion of play. The inability to finish cost BC the match, as Temple went on to win the final two sets, 25-20 and 25-23. n

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Thanks to Bryant’s Six Saves, BC Holds Terriers Scoreless By Nicole Pla Heights Staff

It was a big week of crosstown rivalries for Boston College women’s soccer. After tough matches against Northeastern Boston University 0 Boston College 3 and Harvard, respectively, the Eagles closed out their week with a matchup against their biggest rival: Boston University. BC jumped out to an early lead to edge past the Terriers with a 3-0 win. To call the beginning of the first half physical would be an understatement. The Eagles’ first throw in was met by a near head collision between both teams. Immediately following, Sam Coffey almost kicked Julianna Chen in the head trying to block the ball, resulting in a foul called on the Eagles. Soon after, a strong kick by Madison Kenny from the blue line set up a nice shot for Olivia Vaughn, but she couldn’t connect for an early goal. The early shot started a trend, however, with the Eagles continuously keeping the ball on the Terriers’ side of the field.

When the Eagles put pressure on the Terriers, BU responded with surprising speed that led to some scoring opportunities. And when the shots didn’t go wide, Alexis Bryant was always there with the save, making sure the Terriers didn’t pull ahead. Lauren Berman had a second chance for the Eagles to get the first goal of the game when she sent a strong kick towards the goal, but the shot went straight into the arms of Amanda Fay. The Eagles soon got a chance to show their skill in corner kicks when Coffey set up a powerful shot. The kick went straight to Gianna Mitchell, who guided the ball into the back of the net to give the Eagles the first goal of the game. With an early lead the Eagles continued to bombard Fay with shots, but found it hard to get a second goal to increase their lead. In the last five minutes of the half, Riley Lochhead attempted to increase the BC lead but her shot was just barely wide, sending the Eagles into the half with a one-goal edge on the Terriers. Heading into the second half, the Terriers were much more aggressive, determined to get on the scoreboard.

In the first 10 minutes, Jenna Bike was given the opportunity for the perfect shot, having made her way past Fay to give her an open goal. Fay didn’t give up that easily, however, successfully tripping Bike before she could shoot. The action prompted a free kick taken by Berman, whose shot on the left side of the goal increased the Eagles’ lead to two. BU came back heavy, managing to sneak past BC defenders to close in on Bryant. She narrowly saved the first shot the Terriers took, but the ball rolled out of her hands before she could secure it. BU took possession again and tried for a second time, but Bryant never took her eyes off the ball as she dove to catch the ball before it could sail into the back of the net. Minutes later, Anna Heilferty sprinted toward Bryant and took a sliding shot, but it connected directly with the redshirt junior for another save. BC’s two-goal lead didn’t keep the team from continuing its conquest, as a pass from Berman to Carly Leipzig got through all of BU’s defenders. Leipzig didn’t waste any time with her shot, and a kick to the left side of

Jake Catania / Heights Staff

Goaltender Alexis Bryant recorded a season-high six saves in Sunday’s victory.

the net easily slid past Fay to increase the Eagles’ lead by yet another goal. Bryant continued with her impressive saves as she jumped up to block a high shot made by Alivya Wimmer. In the second half, BC only had two shots on goal and connected on both, but the Terriers couldn’t solve the puzzle that was Bryant, heading back down Commonwealth Ave. without a single goal made.

With seven impressive saves made throughout the game, Bryant could only credit her success to her teammates. “We’ve just been putting the work in outside of games in practice,” Bryant said. “We’re going hard, my teammates are giving me a lot of repetition, really challenging me, so I was really prepared for today thanks to them.” n

FIELD HOCKEY

Eagles Log First Shutout Victory of the Season Vs. Providence By Annabel Steele Assoc. Sports Editor

Just two days ago, Boston College field hockey suffered a crushing home loss to Syracuse University. You couldn’t have guessed Providence 0 that, though, Boston College 4 from the way the Eagles rebounded Sunday afternoon against Providence College. No. 8 BC constantly pressured Providence’s defense, forcing Friars netminder Megan Guilbert into making 14 saves just to keep her team in it. Despite Guilbert’s best efforts, however, BC torched her for goals four times over the course of the game. Freshman

Elizabeth Warner scored twice to bring her career goal tally to three, and Brooke Matherson and Cassidy Atcherson added goals to round out the Eagles’ scoring for the day, securing a 4-0 victory over the Friars. It took BC (5-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) no time at all to get into the groove. From the beginning of the first half, the Eagles tested Providence (3-3), including on penalty corners, but failed to break through for a goal. Just 30 seconds into the game, Lucy Lytle recorded BC’s first shot of the day. A few minutes later, Guilbert denied Ymke Rose Gote and Jaime Natale in quick succession. Frederique Haverhals took a shot off of a penalty corner, but her shot was

deflected. Head coach Kelly Doton sent substitutes into the game almost 13 minutes into play, a decision that would pay off several minutes later. Warner replaced Matherson at forward, and Guilbert’s luck ran out five minutes later when Warner scored the first goal of the game to give BC the lead. After scoring the first goal, BC kept the pressure up, forcing Providence’s defense and Guilbert into making saves just to keep the Friars in the game. At one point, Guilbert, facing a barrage of shots, recorded three saves in 17 seconds. Despite BC’s best efforts, the first half ended without another goal. The Eagles picked up the second

half just where the first half ended, and it took less than 10 minutes for BC to find the back of the net again. Atcherson went to handle a penalty corner, sending the ball sweeping in to her teammates. Fusine Govaert sent a shot toward the net, but Guilbert managed to block the ball. Atcherson was there to handle the rebound, however, sending the ball flying past Guilbert and doubling BC’s lead. The third goal of the game came 10 minutes later, when Matherson rocketed a shot past Guilbert, assisted by Caroline McGovern. Even after allowing her third goal of the game, Guilbert stayed sharp, denying three straight shots to limit BC’s lead. Her luck would run out again, however, again thanks to Warner.

Brigid Wood handled a penalty corner, and Bovaert again took the first shot. It was blocked, but she handled the rebound and took another shot that was, again, blocked. When the ball fell to Warner, she managed to pass Guilbert for the fourth and final goal of the game, sealing the score in BC’s dominant victory. BC played well all-around, testing Guilbert with 29 shots, including 18 shots on goal, and limiting the Friars’ chances on defense. BC goalkeeper Sarah Dwyer faced just two shots on goal during the game, and handled them with ease. Including Warner, Atchison, and Matherson, 11 different Eagles recorded shots in the game. n

Against Syracuse, Field Hockey Suffers Worst Loss Under Doton By Matt Peterson For The Heights

Heading into Friday’s matchup with No. 5 Syracuse, No. 8 Boston College field hockey knew that one team would inevitably reSyracuse 6 turn home Boston College 0 with their first loss of the season. Unfortunately, it was the Eagles which experienced an unfortunate crash to earth Friday night. In what was ultimately a one-sided affair, the Orange put on an offensive

clinic as it handed BC its first loss of the year, 6-0. Beginning with a BC draw, the early minutes of the first period went as one would expect with two undefeated squads. Neither team was willing to give an inch, and the middle of the pitch remained hotly contested as each pass was challenged. The tides began to turn in the favor of the Orange (5-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) after the fifth minute passed. Taking hold of some early offensive energy, Syracuse managed to push deep into BC (4-1, 0-1) territory.

Capitalizing on the advantage, the Orange opened the scoring in the sixth minute as forward Elaine Carey found the bottom-left corner of the goal. Despite the initial shock, the Eagles responded with energy in the face of a deficit. Refusing to roll over, BC fought a hard 15 minutes to stifle a Syracuse offense that was chomping at the bit. But the Orange wouldn’t be denied forever, and the shots were beginning to add up. The 23rd minute is when it all went

Lizzy Barrett / Heights Editor

From start to finish, Syracuse dominated Friday’s match, dealing BC its first shutout loss since the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

wrong for the Eagles. On a beautiful assist by forward Jennifer Bleakney, Laura Hurff scored Cuse’s second goal of the night, extending the lead to 2–0. Sensing vulnerability, Syracuse didn’t hesitate to put the foot on the gas. Crashing the offensive end, the team scored twice more in the next six minutes of the first period off the sticks of Jennifer Bleakney and Caroline Cady. With 35 minutes in the books, the Eagles took a rough 4-0 deficit into the locker room. Still refusing to quit, the Eagles came out in the second period with energy on both sides of the ball. Striving to create offensive opportunities, BC pushed into Syracuse territory with several promising inlet passes and even generated an attacking-free hit. A phenomenal save by goalkeeper Borg van der Velde, however, seemed to stifle BC’s early-period energy while keeping the shutout intact for the Orange. It seemed that every time BC came out with some fire, Syracuse had the exact formula to put it out. Surging into the fast break after a failed BC attack, Cuse’s offense again took advantage of a reeling Eagles defense. The Orange’s biggest weapon of

the night, Elaine Carey, scored her fifth goal just eight minutes into the second period. She finished the game with an impressive two goals and two assists. Never easing up, the Orange earned an attacking free kick of its own in the 15th minute and executed flawlessly, scoring off the stick of Lies Lagerweij to give Cuse a six-point advantage. Staunch defense from van der Velde capped off the 6-0 shutout for the Orange. With relentless offense and a cool composure that its opponent lacked, Syracuse simply looked like the dominant team on the pitch last night. Handling both sides of the ball confidently, the Orange looked like a team that not only deserves to be undefeated, but seems ready for the intense ACC play that lays ahead of it this year. BC, on the other hand, looked a bit more glossy-eyed. Call it home-opener jitters or simply bad luck, but the Eagles seemed blindsided Friday night in spite of winning three consecutive games against top-20 ranked opponents in the past two weeks. Although the first loss of the season is always the toughest to swallow, especially when it’s a blowout, the Eagles can now look forward and focus on improving. n


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B6

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Scott Satirizes Horror Genre in Netflix’s ‘Little Evil’ BY JACOB SCHICK

Assoc. Scene Editor Step-fatherhood is never easy. Children often refuse to communicate openly, or act out in various ways. But no book on parenting prepares one for step-fathering the literal antichrist. Most children don’t conjure massive tornadoes when their parent marries a new man. Most children don’t ignite birthday clowns after their step-father tries to reach out to them. Certainly, most children don’t exclusively communicate through a goat sock-puppet named Reeroy who speaks with the voice of Satan himself. What’s a guy to do?

Little Evil, Netflix’s latest movie, begins on a dark and stormy night as creepy gothic music plays in the background. Lightning strikes, illuminating the creepiest child known to man, who is standing underneath a broken swing set on an upturned pile of dirt. A woman sprints toward the scene shouting “Gary!” After she puts the child in time-out, she digs up a pine box and pries it open to reveal a shaking man. She pleads with him to say something, but all he can get out is an emphatic “I want a divorce!” Flashback one week earlier. Gary (Adam Scott) is moving into his new wife Samantha’s (Evangeline Lilly) house. Out back, her son Lucas (Owen

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Atlas) is swinging on the squeakiest swingset that has ever existed. What’s even creepier: Lucas is wearing a beret. As Gary and Samantha talk (read: exposit), they allude to a horrible disaster at their wedding. The audience learns that Gary is a realtor, as he gives Rev. Gospel (Clancy Brown) a tour of an abandoned nunnery. He prophesies the end of the world, but Gary brushes this off after the Reverend agrees to purchase the property. Gary is suddenly called away to his stepson’s school because Lucas was in trouble. The principal tells Gary that Lucas told his science teacher to go to hell. She proceeded to pour lye on her face and then threw herself out the window, impaling herself on the fence. Kids can be so cruel. Most of these events are common horror tropes and clichés. Little Evil pulls them off well because, like Cabin in the Woods, it pokes fun at the genre it is a part of. Little Evil is a part of the diametrically opposed and sparse group of movies known as horror-comedies. Finding this on Netflix is especially remarkable, as the horror section on the website is scarier than the movies themselves. Gary’s continual acceptance of incredibly unnerving and ridiculous situations is played ad nauseum to demonstrate the frustrating ability of horror movie characters to ignore every sign of their

impending doom until the bitter end. Lucas chews on the scenery in his attempt at creepiness, drawing attention to many horror flicks unabashed use of corrupted children to play up the fear factor. Samantha casually brushes off Lucas’ demonic actions as eccentricities and mentions his conception during a satanic cult ritual in an off-hand conversation to illustrate horror characters fervent denial that anything out of the ordinary is happening. Little Evil does, however, suffer from a few problems of its own. Halfway through, the film tries to pivot to an entirely different tone, but stumbles for a while along the way. Little Evil also tries to push a moral message which, while sweet, ends up leaving a saccharine taste in the mouth. Fans of the horror genre who aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves a little will find it very fun, akin to Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. On the other side of the aisle, those who look down on horror as a genre, in favor of the more refined “thriller,” will also enjoy Little Evil. All of the actors do a very good job playing along, and the film gives glimpses of many other comedic actors in bit parts, which adds to the wink-wink nod-nod feeling of the movie. Little Evil doesn’t break any new ground in terms of comedy or horror genres, but this small film is a fun diamond in the rough of Netflix’s meager content. 

‘Mountain Moves’ Eschews Deerhoof ’s Origins BY TRISTAN ST. GERMAIN For The Heights

From bit-tune power noise to children’s nursery rhymes, San Francisco experimental-rock outfit Deerhoof has nearly exhausted the list of musical flavors that could together make an uncomfortable listening. It is this feeling of unease that has made the band’s work so attractive. We’re washed in a barrage of genres personified as extreme caricatures of the cultures that spawned it. Everything’s unhinged from its source. Unfortunately, a detour into the world of a more conventional alternative has marked an end to Deerhoof’s courageous experimentation. Its latest release, Mountain Moves, hit the shelves two weeks earlier than its release date (in a move similar to that undertaken by fellow noise-rock practitioners Death Grips), and was available on its Bandcamp page for a price of the buyer’s choosing. All proceedings from the album go to the Emergent Fund, an organization providing support to marginalized communities affected by the Trump administration. As fans of Deerhoof well know, the band is no foreigner to political discourse. Its 2003 release “Apple-O” is a quintessential anti-war anthem for the 2000s. While there are certainly traces of political statements present on Mountain Moves, concocting catchy dance patterns and deconstructing unrealized elements of its previous work seems to be of greater importance than making any call for political revolution. Indeed, lead singer Satomi Matsuzaki‘s vision of revolution is always youthful and innocent, and often contradicts the content of her lyrics. Songs like “Slow Motion Detonation,” on which Matsuzaki takes aim at those inhibiting social progress (“Future that you could have saved / slow motion detonation”) remind us of a fantasy

war between elementary school children. “Freedom Highway,” the most politically focused track on the record, imitates the country-riffs of classic rock acts familiar to anyone with an FM radio. In “There is just one thing I can’t understand,” Matsuzaki declares in the monotone of a marching general, “why some folks think freedom is not designed for all men.” It’s a complex message put in terms that are comical and simple, in the vein of punk’s tradition to satirize the dense obscurity of American bureaucracies. But whatever punk ethos Matsuzaki advocates for is drowned in a glitzy wash of pre-programmed drum beats. While we still have those cacaphonic drum collisions which occasionally assault our eardrums, they are sprinkled sparsely throughout the record’s 39 minutes, and are predictable to a fault. Rather than providing a backbone to the instrumentals, Matsuzaki and crew use these descents into chaos to strategically undermine those hip dance tempos one might feel inclined to groove to. For example, both the xylophone sprinkles on the title track “Mountain Moves,” and the carnival-tinted organ of “Kokoye” disintegrate into lucid nightmare fuel for sake of reprimanding the desire to sound enjoyable. Fans of the avant-garde need not worry about enjoying the ethos of contemporary pop music. With a little distortion, and disclaimer that they’re being serious, Deerhoof abuses the elements that made the band so intriguing in the first place. This is not to say the record doesn’t have its moments of authenticity—its cover of “Gracias a la Vida” originally by Chilean musician Violeta Parra substitutes the loosely strung guitar echo of the original for an oozing, beautifully airy string section. Though one of the album’s sincerer efforts,

its adjacency to two songs that sound like outtakes from a Primus album doesn’t make for the smoothest listening. While it worked on previous Deerhoof records, this blending of styles feels discontinuous, less involved in the postmodernist pastiche of soundscapes the band has proven to be so great at formulating. Which brings us to those songs, often catchy pop melodies, which have a habit of dissolving into loosely structured cacophonies reminiscent of something a Transformer would sing. On tracks like “Sea Moves,” and “Your Dystopic Creation Doesn’t Fear You,” listeners are teased with hints of a malevolent presence that never takes over fully. It is background screeching and drum clashes which embellish, rather than lead, the still accessible reggae-tempo. Occasionally, the desired effect of these superimposed dissolutions is achieved more faithfully through a subversion of

the genre from which they’re borrowing. On “Singalong Junk,” Matsuzaki tells the story of going to a picnic by the lake with her family. This segment overlaps a two minute-long interlude of harmonic voice quavers provided by singer Xenia Rubinos. We feel trapped in the synthetic beauty of an afternoon outing—strangely textured synth organs turn the family into an object of distrust. The scene is just as fabricated as the title of the song suggests. If only this could be said for the rest of the album. Unfortunately, Deerhoof has eschewed its punk and noise-rock origins for a trite replication of its most superficial aspects. By attempting to lean in a more accessible direction, they’ve become false parodies of bands of lesser merit. One can hope Mountain Moves is a minor digression in Deerhoof’s discography, and that the band will return in the future to a sound more daring, whatever sound that may be. 

Scene Editor

Our fears may never change, but they harbor the potential to change us. In the latest season of the anthology series American Horror Story: Cult, viewers find individuals, on both sides of the political aisle, as recipients and the wielders of fear. After a tumultuous 2016 political season, AHS capitalizes on the primal emotions of its audience to offer up a commentary on the extremes camps in which well-meaning people may find themselves heavily entrenched. The first episode of Cult find speople in various emotional states after the election of Donald Trump. Ally Mayfair-Richards (Sarah Paulson) and her wife, Ivy (Alison Pill),

are wrought with anguish, while Kai Anderson (Evan Peters) is startlingly invigorated by the news. Ally finds herself falling back into old bouts of paranoia and phobias including intense hallucinogenic episodes involving killer clowns. Later Kai, inspired by the Trump victory, finds himself seeking to change the world in his town, while his sister Winter (Billie Lourd) begins to babysit for the Mayfair-Richards’ son, Oz. Given the current political climate, it may be difficult for some viewers to discern the earnestness of the show based on this first episode. The extremeness of the views presented are so far downfield, one may be, according to Poe’s law, unable to discern them from the viewpoints being parodied. But after careful watching , it

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“...READY FOR IT?” TAYLOR SWIFT

The newest single from Taylor Swift’s upcoming album Reputation has many Swift fans asking if they’re … ready for it? This single, in addition to “Look What You Made Me Do,” have been receiving both positive and negative feedback from fans as Swift tries on a new style. The singer-songwriter’s new music is daring and courageous and is different from what we’re used to hearing. Swift has reinvented herself a few times during her career, but this may be one of the most drastic transformations the singer has ever undergone. In Swift’s first release from her upcoming album, “Look What You Made Me Do,” Swift says the old Taylor is dead. What she meant by this is still a question fans are eagerly awaiting the answer to. The singer is famous for her hidden messages. Swift comes on the scene unapologetic in this song. Brash and bold, the singer comes at it without looking for permission. She is powerful and is in complete control of the decisions she makes and what’s ahead of her. Her half-speaking, half-rapping style accompanied by a strong beat and background music makes this a really powerful single. She also shows a daring and playful side with her lyrics, “Me, I was a robber/ First time that he saw me / Stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry.” This seems to be a far cry from the Taylor we all knew who sang “Teardrops on My Guitar.” This new Taylor is someone we should be keeping our eyes on. She’s sure to keep surprising us. 

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Pointed Satire in ‘AHS’ Makes America Horrific Again BY CALEB GRIEGO

SINGLE REVIEW

becomes abundantly clear that AHS is effectively mocking both political avenues. For those who are tired on the current state of bickering and political dissent, this is a welcome change of tone. These facts makes the first episode intriguing as it likely will stray more from the innately political lens and shift to, as its name suggests, the more sinister aspects of ideological enshrinement—the cult. But, at least in this first episode it illustrates the problem with extreme, deeply emotional views. Inside a supermarket, Ally overhears a muffled portion of one of Trump’s speeches. To the cashier, Ally expresses she cannot believe what he is saying, to which the cashier replies, while taking out and sporting a “Make America Great Again” hat, that he is glad someone in the country is speaking their mind—the horror. But the genius of a scene like this is that it illustrates the enshrined, predisposed behaviors into which both parties fall. Neither acknowledges the content of what is being said during the speech itself. Each adopts an assumed, predetermined behavior—undying outrage or undying support. Now that is ideologically horrifying. The acting is superb in conveying these ideas. Paulson, as Ally, really embodies dread in her scenes. Her ability to be perceived as psychologically stable, only to be completely turned into a rambling madwoman

really captures a slew of emotions. Her despair is so extreme to be pitiable, and yet so intense to be comic. On the other end, Peters, as Kai, strikes a different note of psychological instability and madness. His eyes scream insanity—as many of his of AHS characters have—while presenting his character as outwardly unassuming and pathetic. The character then straddles the lines of pathetic and comic, as he hurls urine at Mexican migrants, who then beat him, or attends city council meetings only to be harshly mocked. In this way, neither character is thought to be superior or inferior, rather they represent a side of the same sad, misunderstood coin. In another respect, the shot composition of this first episode really hammers home the idea of horror. Several quick pans into Paulson’s face, slightly off-kilter camera angles, and intense ringing sounds helped supplement the obvious clown jump scare laden throughout. Much of the horror is contextualized in this way, making viewers feel uneasy long before anything frightful takes place on screen. The world is shot as a dark, unforgiving world and, from the perspective of the characters, this is perfect. AHS rarely sticks to one topic for too long and this political excursion is likely to open up more doors into unexpected realms. But for the time being, the premier episode of Cult served its purpose without dividing an audience over tired political lines. 

A sequel to her hit music video “Now or Never,” Halsey’s “Bad at Love” continues to push her carefree and rebellious ambience. The video begins with Halsey getting off a motorcycle at a desert gas station, where her rugged look foreshadows the theme of insurgency within the video. She picks up a newspaper, where the viewer can see that she is wanted by the police. Somehow, Halsey is untouched by her predicament—she eats candy and snacks and dances around even though she is running from the cops. When the police arrive at the gas station, Halsey and her new friends successfully distract the cops in an unrealistically seamless and flirtatious manner. They escape from the authorities to an arid open road, where they laugh and are free from the confines of societal pressures. The video, overall, however, was dry (no pun intended). The plotline of the video lacked substance or excitement, and as a whole the content was illogical. Halsey’s plight was resolved halfway through the video when she escaped the police, leaving the remaining few minutes trivial and uneventful. The music video did have certain elements that reflected the lyrics and overall theme of the song. The bad-girl feel of the video complements the song’s title. Throughout it, Halsey sings of her previous relationships gone wrong, all while incorporating a tough, grungy atmosphere in the music video. Her new short haircut is edgy and her clothes look straight out of a Hot Topic catalog. Her attitude is inciting and somewhat hostile—in one scene she physically fights with the girls who will soon become her sidekicks. This badness portrayed throughout the video directly parallels the lyrics to the song—not only is she bad in terms of her looks (thigh-high boots, motorcycle, and so on), but she is also bad at relationships. Halsey’s artsy new video was released in support of her new album, hopeless fountain kingdom, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 back in June. The video is the perfect goodbye to summer. A cop-eluding joyride through the desert in a convertible may be an activity restricted to the warmer months, but the music video lasts year-round. 


THE HEIGHTS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

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King’s ‘It’ Terrifies, Captivates With Capable Direction, Cast BY ANDRES GARCIA ANGULO For The Heights While many are rightfully skeptical of Stephen King movie adaptations—simply watch The Dark Tower—most will be extremely surprised and incredibly pleased with It. This film is an adaptation that, while staying faithful to its source material, is able to be its own entity. It chooses to omit and accentuate parts of the book in an independent artistic fashion. The film is a refreshing mixture of horror, thriller, comedy, and depth. But most importantly, it is a well-scripted, well-directed, and superbly acted piece of cinema. On the surface, this film is about a mysterious clown, Pennywise, or It, (Bill Skarsgård) that, for mysterious reasons, torments the quiet town of Derry, Maine. The clown starts by gruesomely abducting and killing a little boy, Georgie, (Jackson Robert Scott) and later takes it upon himself to terrorize Georgie’s brother, Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) and Bill’s group of friends—the Losers Club. In an attempt to rid the town of this ancient evil, the kids deal must confront their worst, most deeply held fears head on.

In true blockbuster fashion, the movie opens with a scene that leaves the viewers with their jaws on the floor. The director carefully makes the audience care for the two brothers and their strong bond (Georgie and his brother Bill) only to then quickly rip the relationship apart. What follows next is something that has been missing from this summer’s movies: characterization. Much like Spielberg did in Jaws, director Andy Muschietti hooks the audience with a riveting and engaging scene and then invites them into its characters’ lives: their family, their personality, and, most importantly, their fears. On a deeper level, this movie is about fear itself, especially in relationship to childhood. It perfectly details how isolating fear can be when no one believes or understands you, and how the power of friendship can help you overcome said fear. It is often said that “nothing brings people together like a common enemy,” and never has that been more true than in this movie. The bond shared by the Losers Club is genuine, they are outcasts and pariahs, and the child actors convey that through their sullen performances. Each character

is used strategically—both by the film and by the Losers Club itself—to play up their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. No single character seems superfluous. The reason this film works so well seems evident—everyone involved is doing their best work. The cinematography works wonders to haunt the viewers, yet simultaneously intrigue them. Through its use of camera pans and unsettling tilts, the cinematographer invites the viewers to experience the horror with the children. The editing cuts out or lingers when it needs to in order to create a truly terrifying yet entertaining experience. The score fits the story and the action in unexpected ways. It is loud and alarming when it needs to be, but it does not shy away from being quiet and intimate in more tranquil scenes. The script is tailor made to captivate the audience and to create truly memorable characters. Wonderfully structured and paced, the script creates a cinematic experience that will be remembered as a classic. The acting is believable, endearing, nuanced, and layered. Some standouts are Bill, Eddie and Beverly. The film knows this,

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and focuses a lot of its screen time on these three. While at first shy and reserved, Bill grows into a leader and makes the audience want to follow him. In the middle of the movie, the audience sees Bill deliver a truly poignant speech and it elicits a feeling in the kids and the audience that a lesser actor would not have been able to convey. Muschietti’s directing perfectly captures the essence of all these components and creates a film like no other. He brings a

sense of reality to a film that is very much unbelievable and creates what is one of the best King adaptations to date. Even if you are not a fan of horror films, this is a film you cannot miss. It is fun and exciting while still being deep and interesting. It has its jumps and scares like you’d expect, but they do not overtake the movie. Viewers will get invested in the characters and the story right away, leaving you waiting for the sequel. 

Bapst Exhibit Explores Campus Group History BY CAROLINE MCCORMACK Heights Staff By attending fanfare events like the Student Involvement Fair, the sheer number of groups B oston College sponsors is made known to the student body. But the expansive history of BC’s student organization goes beyond the yearly sign-up sheets on tables that lined Stokes Lawn. Gatherings like this call to mind the history of students organizations at BC. The numbers and scope of BC oncampus organizations has progressed from humble beginnings to its current mind-boggling scale. The Group Formation exhibit in Bapst just outside Gargan Hall, takes a look back at 100 years of BC’s clubs and organizations. Sub Turri, the BC yearbook, has featured photos of these groups in the pages of their yearbooks. This exhibit allows the viewer to turn back the clock and catch a glimpse of a variety of BC clubs from the past hundred years. Primarily, the exhibit serves as an interesting turning back of the clock, featuring many clubs that once existed at BC and have since been disbanded. For example,a photo of the School of Nursing Glee Club from 1957 depicts that obviously BC is no longer home to a glee club for members of the school of nursing, but has since evolved to house singing groups like the Bostonians, the Dynamics, and the Common Tones, just to name a few. As times have changed, the needs for other clubs on campus have as well. It makes sense that as the size of the student population has gone up, the number of clubs and organizations has as well—BC now has 273 clubs and organizations that are recognized by the University, with a student total population of 14,000. From a historical perspective, for groups that still exist on campus today, older photos from groups like

My Mother’s Fleabag, the Orchestra, and the Marching Band allow onlookers to compare them to what the organizations are in their modern incarnations. Based on the group and the times the photos were from, the manner in which students comported themselves was an ample point of comparison. Students from 1956 that were a part of the Intown Gregorian Choir donned suit jackets and ties to what appears to be a rehearsal. In 1974, students from the Science Fiction Club wore flashy pants, oversized jackets, and large glasses. Students from 1994 in My Mother’s Fleabag wore matching shirts, with one student sporting a pirate hat, presumably for a performance. In addition to the photographs from older groups on campus, there are also stickers, flyers and promotional materials that are more recent than the Sub Turri photographs. These materials included a flyer from the B C Computer S cience Society, one with information on the Student Nurses Association, snippets of information about Jazz auditions with B C bO p!, and information about the first General Meeting for the Vietnamese Student Association. These little additions serve to remind viewers that BC student organizations are very much alive and active. Although they may have dressed differently with different hairstyles, these students were in a very similar place to where we find ourselves now. Despite the amount of time that has passed since the origin of some of these groups, the passions and curiosity that brought these people together are what continue to bring us together today. And the questions students may have asked about the rhythm in a piece of music at band practice 50 or 60 years ago might be the same thing a student is finding themselves hung up on today. 

ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

Though some groups have ceased on campus, many more live on to this day.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MCMULLEN MUSEUM

McMullen Collection Captures the Complexities of Nordic Landscapes BY ISABELLA DOW Asst. Scene Editor While picturesque natural landscapes remain accessible and revered in modern life, they captivated the attention of some artists starting in the sixteenth century. The McMullen Museum of Art opened their latest exhibit, Nature’s Mirror: Reality and Symbol in Belgian Landscape on Sunday, and presented visitors with the origins of landscape art and the aesthetically varied collection of work that the genre contains. Sixteenth century artists in Belgium and the Netherlands created landscape art in response to the infinite variety of nature and the complexities of contemporary cultural and aesthetic shifts. The development of the genre continued into the 19th century, and with it, the form evolved to dialogue with urbanization and the political pressures of the era. The 16th and 17th centuries hailed printmaking as a prominent artistic medium, and portrayed the bustle of everyday life in the region. Mixing spiritual and empirical influences, the prints could reach a mass audience through production of multiple copies, giving them the opportunity to influence public opinion. One artist, Pieter Bruegel, created allegorical images about virtues in daily life, while Hieronymus Cock published them. In one image, “Allegory of Fortitude,” an angel stands for fortitude amidst a brutal battle scene resembling the conflict of 16th century Belgium. The black and white print is filled with collapsed figures and glinting weapons, while the distant natural landscape is sparse and dotted with sturdy trees. The angel, Fortitude, and the background landscape starkly

contrast with the violent chaos that dominates the image, which integrates moral commentary on the contemporary political landscape. Drawing on realist art of the late 19th century, the symbolists used symbols and allegory to augment their subjective experience of everyday life. Some artists used natural scenes to convey their emotional states, which includes the work of William Degouve de Nuncques. In his painting “Barge on a Canal” of a Belgian farmhouse property, Degouve de Nuncques captures the countryside at dusk. Complete with a modest boat docked in calm water and a rich red farm house, the scene conveys a quiet serenity. The orderly lineup of willowy trees is a glaring contrast from another image, “The Servants of Death (Nocturne).” In the dark, ghostly pastel, Degouve de Nuncques presents a man with a razor-sharp saw carefully ripping into a chained log, presumably for coffins. The nearly monochrome image presents overwhelming mortality salience, and offers a grim counterpoint to the soft, placid scene of “Barge on a Canal.” A foggy, dark pastel, “Canal, Bruges,” casts the glow of a weak street lamp over a mysterious canal. The image conveys a disconcerting amount of uncertainty and ambiguity through the dimly lit landscape, and the pair of figures walking in the shadows accentuates the notion that people can become one with their surroundings. In this case, the landscape grips the figures in its eerie embrace, along with viewers of the painting. Coming out of the School of Tervuren, other artists of the 19th century created art featuring a balance between agricultural,

industrial, and natural landscapes. “Landscape with Pond” an oil on canvas painting by Théodore T’Scharner, highlights the brilliant sun bursting through a mildly threatening patch of clouds onto an earthy marshland. The white, glowing sunlight contrasts with the otherwise muted landscape to draw the viewer to the center of the painting and command their attention. Another work by T’Scharner, “Ships,” features teal, glassy water under dark, jagged ships, which stand out against the visible brushstrokes of the sky. The scene develops a dreamy quality, and allows the ships—the only evidence of human life—to remind the viewer of a concrete, bounded presence in the scene. Franz van Kuyck’s oil on canvas, “Marsh at Twilight” presents another image of a commanding sky over a watery landscape. The stunning painting highlights an iridescent sunset pressing through thick clouds, and delicately glows off of the scarce marsh of the scene. A meager boat gives humanity a presence in the painting, and the work presents the natural world in a soft, warm light. As a group, the “Nature’s Mirror” collection spans centuries and presents idyllic natural phenomena alongside occasionally grim depictions of daily life. The works are woven together through artists’ dedication to truthful presentations of the world around them and their perception of it. The range of landscapes included in the Belgian art collection showcase are contributions influenced by the romantic and realist movements, which connect the states of human life to the expansive environment in which they live. 


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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

@BCHEIGHTSARTS

New Film Dimensions On the hunt for the best frame, line, and sequence, these Eagles dive into the process of creation and production.

CALEB GRIEGO The seats lurched forward and a stale air was sprayed into our faces. My immediate thought, understandably, was: Why? This is what the theater experience had come to? As the seats continued to pitch to and fro I eyed the nearest exit. I don’t think I can do this. But then again, I am not one to waste money, least of all at a movie theater. More stale, rubbery, shoebox air waft sover my face and eyes. Then again, there is a first time for everything. Resolve is clearly needed here. I will watch the film, paying no mind to the belches of air and constant vibrations happening in my seat. A simple task really. Ignore the world around you. I’ve been doing that for years. This just might work. Ah, but now the air is spitting at my ankles as we roll forward to such an angle I feel as though I might fall out of my seat entirely. My first 4D experience was startling. Walking into the theater, I had no idea that the tickets I had purchased would also serve as admission to this mock-roller coaster ride. These initial minutes were awkward, but soon my body became accustomed to the style. I re-established a feeling of comfort as my body began to categorize moviegoing as an immersive experience rather than a purely sedentary one. Once I began to anticipate the gusts of air and the rumbling in the film itself, it felt almost natural. This got me thinking about how the moviegoing experience has changed and how we, as viewers, have been receptive to these changes. There is always resistance to change. Whether it be to preserve the past, or to avoid corruption, these changes and innovations are often met with some form of resistance or hesitant adoption. When 3D first hit the scene, it was remarkably shitty. Many of those initial 3D film sought to profit solely on the implementation of the technology rather than on the merits of the film itself. It was a gimmick. George Lucas was condemned for his overuse of CGI in place of practical sets and effects in the Star Wars prequels. But as soon as 3D began to use itself as a way to supplement, or even enhance the moviegoing experience, its merits and our ability to appreciate them greatly increased. The use of CGI progressed in much the same way. Initially, it was a gimmick lacking a tangible thread into credible filmmaking. But once the technology progressed to such a point, CGI was regarded as a viable means of storytelling, when implemented with tact. In The Revenant, the grizzly bear attack was a centerpiece of the film and needed to be believable. Going back even further, during the advent of sound in film, viewers wondering if these ‘talkies’ watered down the effect of film. F. Scott Fitzgerald said as much in an Esquire article from 1936 when he described this phenomenon happening all over the world: “[The] mechanical and communal art that, whether in the hands of Hollywood merchants or Russian idealists, was capable of reflecting only the tritest thought, the most obvious emotion.” Of course, many today would contend that the breadth of emotion has expanded, rather than contracted, through the use of sound. But Fitzgerald hints at an important point. We will undoubtedly lose something when we continue to add to the moviegoing experience. They will never be the same after we have included all these supplements. We may end up with something unrecognizable to our eyes. It may be a movie by name, but does it feel like a movie anymore? To be sure, some of these additions are compelling and can add something new and exciting to movies. But there is also beauty in simplicity. I find that criticizing additions to old media help us make them better and not lose sight at what made film great in the first place.

Caleb Griego is the scene editor for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@ bcheights.com.

INSIDE SCENE

on the Heights MEG DOLAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BY CALEB GRIEGO Scene Editor Though a continent’s width apart and far from the stars dotting Hollywood and Vine, the Hollywood Eagles try to bring a little bit of that filmmaking spirit to the stairs and hallways of Boston College. From dramas, to mockumentaries, to the now infamous Mod of Cards, the Hollywood Eagles have brought down the spotlights on themselves as one of BC’s most prolific film groups. Together as a unit of creative energies, the Hollywood Eagles seek to amass student talents to create a succinct series of short films for BC and beyond. For most through the filmmaking process, the difficulties encountered along the way are much the same, and the Hollywood Eagles are not different. Whether it be Hollywood’s next big blockbuster or the next endeavor of the Hollywood Eagles, personnel, production, and artistic vision remain overarching areas of concern. Artistic vision is of paramount concern for the Hollywood Eagles as they embarks on the filmmaking process. At the same time, the Hollywood Eagles are a student group which focuses heavily on integrating the input of all its members, Peter Manfredonia and Andrew Whitaker, both MCAS ’20 and the group’s president and vice president, explained. Therein lies the conflict. When the credits roll at the end of a film, everyone whose name appears should feel that the film is, in part, theirs. But, should too many hands be involved in any area of the process, the result could look more like a surrealist expose, à la Un Chien Andalou, rather than a singular, cogent short film. To combat this, the Hollywood Eagles effectively delegate tasks to its members and writers to create a succinct, cohesive piece. As they delegate writing, directorial, and crew positions, it is key to ensure each position is staffed with a person that can most fully realize the role. One of the most important roles, that of the writer, falls on only a few individuals. The

writers, as Manfredonia and Whitaker explain, give the language with which the rest of the crew works, namely in the conception of the characters. In the writers’ room, experienced and novice writers alike collaborate to create a script to fit the story the group has chosen to tell. But the Hollywood Eagles offer one of the most unique writing experiences on campus because it is so different in its end goal. Writing for a screenplay is much different than other types of writing, especially in academia, Manfredonia explained. “Our writing that we are used to doing for school, which are very proper and very boring, you could say, are different from writing for a film, because no one talks like that,” Manfredonia said. “It doesn’t translate to a general conversation on screen.” The dialogue has to feel lived in by a character, Manfredonia and Whitaker explained. People talk like people, not like essays. As a result, the Hollywood Eagles really harbor the potential challenge for prospective writers to write in a new form. That living energy seen in the creation of characters is also something the Hollywood Eagles try to convey in all aspects of production. A dynamic and lively set is crucial for a successful production. Manfredonia explained that if a director or producer is feeling stiff or disinterested, it is likely the actors and actresses will feed off that energy and deliver a role fitting that environment. For example, last year, responding to a shortage of actors, the Hollywood Eagles had to fill their cast list with many of their cinematographic team. Whitaker explained his contributions for the sake of the team as an actor. Though they were not easy, no individual is bigger than the overall project. “When people signed up for the club, they signed up for filmmaking, not acting,” Whitaker said. “Last year we got to a point where we said ‘Who do we have who is willing to put themselves out there and do it?’” Whitaker said it was this question that allowed him to stumble into the leading role of last year’s The Of-

fice-inspired mockumentary. Even in the face of this new challenge on the opposite side of the camera, Whitaker was reassured by the fun derived from the whole process. Speaking to one scene in particular, Manfredonia spoke about how hard it was to maintain composure. “We were trying to do one scene and I think we shot it at least 30 times because halfway through someone, without fail, would bust out laughing,” he explained. “Yeah, then you forget you keep 45 quarters in your jacket pocket,” Whitaker added. “And then your jacket falls down and quarters go everywhere, [...] that hysteria sets you off track for another 20 or 30 minutes.” That kind of energy, especially present on the set of a comedy, helped create a vision that the entire crew could see and work toward. With that in mind, the Hollywood Eagles hope that fact, in addition to the enjoyment they find in the process, is apparent to viewers. “Even if we are not giving an interview after and putting it in the post credits saying, ‘We loved making this film,’ people will be able to feel that through the performances of our actors and actresses.” If not simply for the writing or acting, the Hollywood Eagles believe there are certainly a plethora of areas in which to foster new talents and ideas. Each individual’s varied background helps them contribute something new to the group, wherever that may be. Manfredonia discussed his own background and how it helped him within the context of the club. “I do a little photography and cinematography. Designing shots, coming up with a shot plan, drawing my terrible stick figure picture plots,” Manfredonia said. “I always think what can I do to keep focus and draw them in with the beauty of what they are seeing.” Despite all the fun they have in the filmmaking process, the Hollywood Eagle still hope to expand their horizons and reach on campus. Ironically, in looking to the future, the Hollywood Eagles spent

a good time looking into their past. In previous years, the club had had a larger presence on campus, besides its in-house productions. Manfredonia and Whitaker discussed a great interest in expanding its ventures in film appreciation and screenings throughout the year, culminating in a film festival, hosted by the group, in the second semester of this academic year. In the future, the Hollywood Eagles would also like to work more closely with the theatre department and any of its prospective actors. The inclusion of these new talents would defer the brunt of the acting work on those Hollywood Eagles with little to no acting chops. Speaking to the overall direction of the group, Anne Green, treasurer and MCAS ’20, laid out prospective areas of expansion. “I would like to see Hollywood Eagles become a platform for prospective film students to practice film and grow together,” Green explained. “Although the film community at BC is small, it is important that we learn from each other’s skills, sharing our own niches and learning new ones in the process.” As they look to this year’s production, possibly a horror film, these are the things the Hollywood Eagles keeps in the forefront of its collective mind. As one of the most prominent groups on campus dedicated to the medium, the Hollywood Eagles certainly have a leg up, for, in many ways, film transcends words and tells a sequence of events with little more than carefully composed images. Through film, a complete experience is crafted. Each frame offers an opportunity to send a specific message if only for a moment. “Most importantly, film is a medium of storytelling, and stories are art within themselves,” Green said. “We often think, how we can convey emotions and details simply through the frame, without saying anything at all?” In this way, for the Hollywood Eagles, a frame may be worth more than a thousand words. 

COURTESY OF HOLLYWOOD EAGLES | CALEB GRIEGO / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Looking to the future, Hollywood Eagles hopes to expand its on campus activities including a potential film festival, hosted by the group, in the spring semester.

‘Little Evil’

Netflix’s new horror-comedy satirizes the tropes of both genres, but ensures an enjoyable experience..................B6

‘Group Formation’ Catalog

The Bapst Library exhibit documents BC’s rich and varied history of student organizations.........................................B7

American Horror Story: Cult............................. B6 ‘It’............................................................ B7 ‘Mountain Moves’................................ B6


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