The Heights January 29, 2018

Heights

The

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

EST. 1919

www.bcheights.com

Monday, January 29, 2018

‘No exit,’ no escape SCENE

Tear Down SPORTS

The cast and crew of ‘No Exit’ speak on their experiences bringing the fatal story to life.

Men’s hockey scored three goals in six minutes in the second period to chase UMass Lowell goaltender Wall on Saturday.

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Admin Letter Challenges Grad Union on Tactics After letter, Union handed out fliers at Admitted Eagle Day.

By Jack Goldman Copy Editor

On Saturday, senior Katie Burt became the all-time winningest goaltender in NCAA women’s hockey history.

CSOM Honors Students Plan Proposal The program’s officers hope to create a new organization.

By Heidi Dong A1 Editor When Ethan Sullivan, the director of the Carroll School of Management Honors Program, broke the news of the program’s end to current honors students, the announcement was met with confusion and shock—as well as an idea to resurrect the positive aspects of the program within a different organization.

“We were shocked because when the whole A&S Honors decision came around, we were told we wouldn’t have any problem with CSOM and that we were pretty good at the moment,” said Jason Chu, the vice president of the Honors Program and CSOM ’18.

The program consists of approximately 150 CSOM students, and is entirely student-run, with four officers, Andrew Kearney, president of the Honors Program and CSOM ’18, Chu, Gabriella LoGiudice, treasurer and CSOM ’18, Chandler Scoco, secretary and CSOM ’18.

“We did not know ahead of time, we found out the day it happened just like everybody else. Dean Sullivan made us aware and then made a presentation to the entire Honors Program,” Kearney said. “We had no

advance knowledge.”

The C S OM Honors Pro g ram began in 1958, and will end with the Class of 2021. For years, students in the program have had the opportunity to engage with various speakers, participate in service, and move through their Boston College experience with a community of peer mentors, with each class in the program taking many of the CSOM core courses together.

“One of the big components of the Honors Program is sort of growing up with your class and being a mentee and becoming a mentor,” Chu said. “So I feel like a lot of the underclassmen sort of feel robbed of that experience.”

Dean of CSOM Andy Boynton outlined the decision in an email last month to students, alumni, faculty, and staff that closely mirrored the rationale that Dean of MCAS Rev, Greg Kalscheur, S.J., gave when announcing the end of the MCAS Honors Program in October.

The email mentions the difficulty of the decision, the positive aspects of the program, and how Boynton hopes to bring “the best of the Carroll School to all of [its] 2,200 students.”

Boynton declined to comment further and deferred The Heights to his email.

According to an April 1960 Heights article, the original intent of the Honors Program included “afford[ing] superior students the opportunity to

develop their abilities and talents to the highest degree possible.”

“It is now abundantly clear that acceptance into the Honors Program does not increase the likelihood of a student attending BC,” Boynton said in the email. “Those who are accepted into the Program are no more likely to attend than other admitted students with the same academic credentials.”

The email also references the “sadness and disappointment” that many alumni of the program had voiced. Upon the announcement of the program’s end, alumni sent an email to Boynton, Sullivan, Director of Undergraduate Admission John Mahoney, Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley, as well as University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. According to Kearney, the email included over 200 alumni signatures.

“I’m disappointed they didn’t take students’ position into consideration.

The program makes significant contributions to the community. I know of many talented students who picked BC specifically because of its Honors Program,” said Tom Edwards, BC ’16, who was president of the program two years ago.

Moving forward, the officers of the program plan to propose a different organization that embodies all of the opportunities that the Honors

See CSOM, A3

Boston College Vice President for Human Resources David Trainor issued a letter Wednesday to the BC community criticizing recent actions of the Graduate Employees Union, which held a work-in at O’Neill Library one day later in an attempt to bring more attention to its cause. Then, on Sunday, at Admitted Eagles Day, union members gave out flyers in an attempt to raise their profile among potential future members of the community.

“We decided to flyer on Admitted Eagles Day to reach new students,” Bryn Spielvogel, union member and LGSOE ’20, said in an email. “Our hope is that prospective students who are attracted to the social justice mission of the university

will help us call on the BC admin to honor that mission by supporting its graduate workers.”

In the flyers the union members handed out Sunday, the group explained their mission, their current status—attempting to bring BC to the negotiating table—and laid out their arguments in regards to how the Jesuit, Catholic values of the University should push the administration toward negotiation. The union cited two books authored by Catholic bishops that endorsed the rights of workers. The flyer also referred to BC’s appeal as extremely dangerous for graduate employees across the nation, since the NLRB has gone from being helmed by Obama-era leaders to new Trump-era leadership. That turnover could have an effect on the final outcome of the appeal, reversing the previous Columbia decision and revoking the unionization rights of graduate student employees nationwide.

See Union, A3

Concert Canceled in ‘Best Interest’ of Community An invited BU prof is facing claims of sexual harassment.

By Charlie Power Asst. News Editor A concert scheduled for Jan. 29 has been canceled, possibly due to allegations of sexual harassment against one of the planned participants. The Boston College music department was slated to host Boston University music professor Eric Ruske, an acclaimed horn soloist, along with Irina Muresanu on the violin and Roberto Plano on the piano.

“The concert originally scheduled for January 29 has been canceled so that we can reconsider the program and its lineup,” the music department wrote in an email to The Heights. “We feel that this decision is in the best interest of the BC community.”

On Jan. 18, an email was sent by the account victimsofericruske@gmail.com to the music department, calling on the department to uninvite Ruske. The Heights also received the email.

Ruske is accused of inappropriately touching and kissing two former students, who filed a lawsuit against Ruske and BU in

2016 in United States District Court, District of Massachusetts. He had a reputation for making “offensive, vulgar, and sexually charged statements to students,” according to a complaint filed against him that was reported in The Boston Globe.

In an email to The Heights, Ruske declined to comment. Ruske did not answer a follow-up question about the status of his case. According to an editor at The Daily Free Press, Boston University’s student newspaper, there is uncertainty over the status of the case. Ruske remains a professor at BU. One of the students, Erin Shyr, said in the complaint that Ruske greeted her with hugs and kisses on the cheek, and once grazed her lower back with his hand, The Globe reported. The other student, Maria Currie, said that Ruske compared her trumpet performance to sex, saying that “that listening to her play made him feel like the two were having intercourse.” The women also accuse BU of failing to protect them under Title IX, which governs how universities must respond to sexual assault claims, according to The Globe.

His lawyer argued that he intended “affection, not harm” when he touched and kissed the women, according to The Globe. n

CoRo Cafe Rebrands Student Space The former On The Fly sold 60 pizzas on its opening day.

By Colleen Martin Copy Editor The new College Road Cafe & Market, formerly known as On The Fly, reopened last week with new flatbread pizzas and drinks on tap, including iced tea, cold brew coffee, and kombucha. The new design is part of a two-phase transformation that aims to create a student hangout space that can be used for musical

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

performances and to foster a coffeehouse atmosphere.

As the goal of Boston College Dining is to cater to student needs and concerns, the staff has been looking to make changes that could improve the student dining experience on campus.

The project has been underway for the past three to four years, as staff met with student organizations to determine what the best steps would be to accommodate the growing student population.

The first phase is now complete— the pizza ovens are functional, tap is available for iced tea and cold brew, and the new entrance is through the

attached side room rather than directly into the cafe as it was before.

The second phase, which is to be completed sometime this summer, includes replacing the wall between the side room and the cafe with glass, installing new faux hardwood floors, and purchasing furniture to create a comfortable and inviting space.

In addition to stylistic changes, the CoRo Cafe is looking to implement GET, which allows students to order their food online and then pick it up in the store. While it plans to have this service up and running this semester,

See CoRo Cafe, A5

NEWS: International Students FEATURES: Prison Professor

This year the University enrolled 1,751 international students, a record high........A2

Conway shares his story of teaching at a prison to pursuing a Ph.D............................A4

Sam zhai / Heights staff

The CoRo Cafe is also working to implement the mobile GET app sometime this semester.

INDEX

NEWS.........................A2 OPINIONS................... A6

Vol. XCIX, No. 2 MAGAZINE..................A4 SPORTS......................B1 © 2018, The Heights, Inc. METRO........................ A5 SCENE.......................B8 www.bchelghts.com 69

The Heights

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things to do on campus this week

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On Wednesday evening at 4 p.m. in Higgins 310, the physics department will host Fahad Mahmood, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., to lecture on illuminating and manipulating quantum materials with femtosecond light.

Monday, January 29, 2018

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Harvey Mansfield, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University, will lecture in Cushing 001 on Friday at 4 p.m. The lecture is entitled “The Republican Form of Government in The Federalist.” The event is open to all members of the Boston College community.

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The McMullen Museum will hold a preview for its spring 2018 exhibition “Cao Jun: Hymns to Nature” on Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m. John Sallis will lecture at 2 p.m., followed by a painting demonstration at 3:30 p.m. by Cao Jun. RSVP at the McMullen Museum’s website.

NEWS Andersen Traces Historical Evolution of Fake News BRIEFS

By Jaehun Lee

Prof. Wins DOJ Grant

Boston College School of Social Work professor Jessica Shaw received a grant totaling over $300,000 from the Office on Violence Against Women in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Shaw’s project, entitled “Evaluation of a Cross-System Cooperative Response to Adolescent Sexual Assault Victims” will investigate the mandatory reporting guidelines surrounding sexual assault in Massachusetts and how they differ from those in other communities.

Shaw is a member of a task force that is developing discipline-specific practice guidelines for coordinated responses to adolescent sexual assault.

Observing the need for more information on the impact of mandatory reporting procedures across convinced of Shaw of the need to formulate and carry out the study.

Shaw is the first SSW faculty member to receive a DOJ grant. After the study is completed, Shaw hopes her work will shed insight on how communities can improve their response to adolescent sexual assault, and improve coordination among those involved, including health providers, law enforcement, and victim advocates.

“I’m hopeful we can provide useful information to the practitioners addressing sexual assault in their everyday work, as well as to the policymakers and other critical decision-makers who are positioned to change and define system policies, practices, and coordination,” Shaw said to The Chronicle.

The DOJ grant is further recognition of Shaw’s work. In 2015, Shaw was hosted by the White House and Vice President Joe Biden to present research featured in her dissertation, “Justifying Injustice: How the Criminal Justice System Explains its Response to Sexual Assault.”

Luna to Direct BC Pre-Health Boston College named Rafael Luna, the former executive director of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), as the new associate dean and director of Pre-Health Programs, according to The Chronicle.

Luna has directed the NRMN, a mentoring program funded by the National Institute of Health at universities across the country for the advancement of underrepresented groups in the sciences, for the past year. Previously, he spent 11 years at Harvard Medical School as a researcher, teacher, and administrator.

In his new position, Luna will lead a team of advisers to guide around 2,000 students and 100 alumni through the admissions processes for graduate programs in medicine, health, veterinary medicine, and others.

“I am thrilled to take on this new position,” Luna told The Chronicle. “I’m excited to share from all parts of my experience and be a part of BC’s focus on advising and student formation. I feel I can discuss all aspects of education in the health professions and really help students find their own way.”

BC has also named Danielle Taghian, a biology professor and recipient of the BC’s Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award, as the new chairwoman of the Faculty Pre-Health Advising Committee. In her new role she will oversee faculty in advising students pursuing a career in medicine and writing committee letters that act as recommendations for students applying for medical schools.

“It will be a privilege for me to work with them both in the years to come,” Dean of MCAS Rev. Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., told The Chronicle. “I am grateful for their willingness to take on these challenging and important roles in the life of the University.”

Heights Staff

Kurt Andersen, a groundbreaking novelist, media entrepreneur, and public radio host, read selections from his new book Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History on Wednesday evening as part of the Lowell Humanities Series. In Fantasyland, Andersen explores the historical origins of the “post-factual, fake news moment we’re all living through,” arguing that truth-bending is something embedded in America’s national character.

In Wednesday’s reading, Andersen focused on three key points in American history that most significantly contribute to our current situation: the Puritans’ arrival to the New World, yellow journalism, and popular culture entertainment blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.

According to Andersen, a tendency to replace the objective with the subjective is a central aspect of what makes us American. From the Salem Witch Trials in the 17th century to conspiracy theories regarding vaccines, UFOs, and creationism to the 2008 Financial Crisis—which Andersen described as a result of people fantasizing that they could live like the rich—Americans were engaging in fantasization before the country’s genesis.

“This is American exceptionalism in the 21st century,” Andersen said. “Our drift toward … doing our own thing, and having an altogether uncertain grip on reality has overwhelmed our other exceptional national traits and turned us into a less-developed country as well.”

Andersen traced the beginning of Americans’ tendency to fantasize to the Puritans, who initially broke away

from the Church of England to practice their own version of Christianity. They eventually yielded numerous subgroups, each with their own “truth” as to how God should be worshipped and what a good Christian is comprised of. One particular subgroup of the Puritans— the Pilgrims—eventually found their “promised land” in the United States, sowing the seeds of fantasization in the New World. “[Each] individual determines the correct meaning of the Christian fantasies,” Andersen said. “The Protestants’ founding commitment to fierce, decentralized, do-it-yourself truth-finding … naturally led to the continuous generation of self-righteous sectarian spin-offs.”

Andersen then read sections discussing the original generators of systematic fake news: yellow journalism newspapers of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In particular, Andersen focused on The Sun’s “Great Moon Hoax,” a series of six articles that falsely announced the discovery of life forms on the moon.

Andersen not only explained that the story had grains of truth to it and that it seemed plausible, but also noted that people avidly defended the story even after it had been disproved. It seemed that the entertainment value had won everyone over.

“To express a doubt on the genuineness of the great lunar discoveries was considered almost as heinous a sin as to question the truth of Revelation,” Andersen said. “The news was believed not just by the rafters … [s]tudents, professors, doctors of divinity and law, and all the rest of the reading community looked daily to the arrival of the New York mail.”

Influenced by these sensational stories were a generation of entertain-

JOHN EVANS / HEIGHTS STAFF

Kurt Andersen was the first guest speaker of the semester for the Lowell Humanities Series. ers—including P.T. Barnum—whose bread and butter was blurring the lines between the real and imaginary. Barnum opened his American Museum, which housed various hoax attractions.

“If some imaginary proposition is exciting and there’s no way to prove it untrue, then it is my right as an American to believe it is true.” Andersen said.

Andersen argued that Barnum’s fundamental fantasyland mindset and defense for it started a turn towards anti-Enlightenment thinking. Barnum’s plausible, but fake, objects made it difficult for audiences to distinguish between hoaxes and authentic artifacts.

The development of digital technology has further enabled our fantasizations by giving them a new level of “authenticity.” Andersen argued that advances in virtual reality and computer-generated imagery technologies have made our fantasies—which we were previously able to distinguish as fantasies—as authentic as reality. Even

the web’s anonymity has allowed users to become alternate versions of themselves, acting in ways we would never have thought to do in real life.

Although he painted a bleak picture, Andersen holds hope for Americans to break out of this cycle of fantasization.

He pointed to the numerous accomplishments America has achieved, such as decoding the human genome and electing an African-American president, despite having trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy. Additionally, he looked to humanity’s versatility, hoping Americans would be able to snap out of fantasy and live lives of reason.

“I do despair,” Andersen said. “But not everything has gone wrong … These last few decades may have turned out to be a phase … an unfortunate episode in the American experiment that finally will pass and can be chalked up to experience. America may now be at peak Fantasyland. We can hope.” n

‘Braver in 75 Minutes’ Teaches Self-Compassion

By Samantha Karl Heights Staff As a part of the Office of Health Promotion’s #LetsTalkResilience campaign, Rachel Simmons, bestselling author, educator, motivational speaker, and cofounder of the national nonprofit organization “Girls Leadership,” gave a lecture on Friday afternoon called “Braver in 75 Minutes” to help students at Boston College feel more authentic, assertive, and resilient.

Simmons began this conversation by discussing her pressures with achievement growing up, the ways she coped, and the publication of her first book, Odd Girl Out. The goal of Simmons’ lectures and workshops are to inspire people to discover they are braver than they think and helping them figure out that no one is alone in their struggles.

“The complex basically is telling

you that you have to craft yourself into this really perfect specimen,” Simmons said. “We have this sense that no matter how hard we work, we can never be enough, and to me, that is a byproduct of being told you have to be amazing at everything you do.”

Simmons drew upon her experiences working with students at Smith College to formulate her arguments on struggle and stress in college. She discussed how the desire to be perfect has toxic effects on one’s mental health, particularly that of adolescents. She noticed that students tend to take part in the “stress olympics,” which is term used to describe adolescents who compare their high stress levels to others’ around them.

Simmons said courage will emerge when people believe in what they do.

She revealed that a big problem with courage is that people tend to view bravery “as a big climactic moment.”

“Your courage will come from how you think about [failures or setbacks], not about what you do in that moment,” Simmons said. “It is about what your mind is doing, what your mind’s telling you about how courage happens, and what things [when taking risks] mean.”

In a short activity, Simmons asked audience members to write three positive qualities about themselves and three instances in which their actions did not reflect these qualities. The purpose was to demonstrate to the audience that failures or setbacks don’t define a person.

To become more courageous, practice is key, according to Simmons. She believes that people tend to focus on the pressure to practice more skillbased things, but there is not the same pressure to practice bravery.

“I think there is this really pernicious myth that beating ourselves up makes us more adaptive, and this

research does not hear this out,” Simmons said.

The best way to combat self-doubt, self-comparison, and one’s inner critic is to take small risks everyday, Simmons said. She recommends following the three-step practice of self-compassion that Kristin Neff, a world renowned expert on self-compassion, created: mindfulness, self-kindness, and having a sense of common humanity.

Not only does Simmons follow these techniques herself, but she also believes that they are one of the best tools to stop oneself from dwelling on mistakes and, instead, take risks.

“It really, really works,” Simmons said. “The research is truly amazing.

When people ask me what adolescents could most use right now in terms of helping them deal with all this overwhelming stress and anxiety, my answer is always the three-step practice of self-compassion.” n

POLICE BLOTTER: 1/23/18 – 1/26/18 Tuesday, Jan. 23

Wednesday, Jan. 24

Thursday, Jan. 25

Friday, Jan. 26

7:11 p.m. A report was filed regarding a traffic crash.

12:14 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical incident.

1:32 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical incident.

12:11 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious person.

8:49 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a motor vehicle stop.

12:23 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance

12:11 p.m. - A report was filed regarding found property.

10:30 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical incident.

6:10 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an assault and battery.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

CORRECTIONS What do you remember about your Admitted Eagle Day experience?

“It was very welcoming. They immersed you into the community right away.”

—Ryan Kapopoulos, MCAS ’19

“There were a lot of information sessions. They made me feel more ready to come to BC.” —Katie Richards, MCAS ’21

“It was a deciding factor for me coming to BC .”

—Grant Whitney, MCAS ’21

“It was my first time coming to BC. There were a lot of people and I had some culture shock.”

—Yojana Thapa, MCAS ’20

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

The Heights

Monday, January 29, 2018

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On The Fly Rebranded CoRo Cafe, from A1 possibly right after spring break, they are also looking to establish GET Delivery at some point, which will allow students to have pizzas delivered directly to their doors.

The pizzas available to order have a regular crust option and a gluten-free cauliflower one, which is cooked in a separate oven from the ones containing gluten. All of the flatbreads are inspired

by BC: “The Gasson,” “The Heights,” “The Screaming Eagle,” “The Coro,” and “The Plex,” all of which are unique flatbreads with different toppings than those found in the traditional dining halls.

Although there have been some items removed from the shelves, Michael Forcier, the manager of the updated cafe, is confident that they strategically picked which products not to repurchase so that students would not be affected. They chose the top 50 best sellers and kept those, which included mac-and-cheese cups, Nutrigrain bars, and various drinks. The least popular items, ravioli in a can and

pancake mix, will no longer be offered.

During its first day open, the CoRo Cafe sold over 60 pizzas, and Forcier anticipates that this number will rise even higher after they have a grand opening, with more advertising and free samples.

Kira Saunders, LSOE ’18, has been working at On The Fly since her freshman year, and has experienced firsthand all of the changes that it has undergone.

When she began working, they didn’t have Starbucks or pizza. Saunders is excited to see the changes that the project brings.

“It’s definitely more exciting,” Saunders said of her job since the soft opening.

Students like Saunders have made the project not only possible, but exciting, according to Forcier. He is “proud and blessed” to have such an incredible staff, and he’s excited to work with them throughout the year. Currently consisting of 25 to 30 students, the staff is still growing as the CoRo Cafe expands its services.

“This place is for the students, run by the students,” Forcier said. n

Honors Students React CSOM, from A1 Program afforded its members, but this time around membership would be extended to all CSOM students.

The idea was born out of a town hall meeting hosted by Boynton and Sullivan on Jan. 22.

“Our takeaway from [the town hall] was that if we wanted to continue along with the positive aspects of the program, we would have to rebrand and create a new organization with a different name and a different structure,” Kearney said. “So, that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

The plans for this new organization are in the beginning stages, and while the current officers of the program are all seniors,

the committee that is being formed to draft the proposal for the new organization is going to consist of three freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors, and two seniors.

Kearney hopes to have an approved, fully vetted, organization ready to go by the end of the semester.

“The frustrations are just as much there now as they were when the decision immediately came down, and we’re just going to channel that frustration into something better, something that leaves a lasting impact on CSOM as a whole,” Kearney said. “Our ultimate objective here, and our ultimate objective in doing the Honors Program is to make BC a better place, and that’s what we hope to do in whatever new organization comes out of this.” n

2 UGBC Teams Declare

By Cole Dady News Editor Two teams have declared their intention to run for the Undergraduate Government of Boston College president and vice president spots for the next academic year. To move on to the formal campaigning stage, the teams must gather 250 signatures by Wednesday.

Reed Piercy, MCAS ’19, and Ignacio Fletcher, MCAS ’20, are currently collecting signatures to run, as well as Taraun Frontis, CSOM ’19, and Aneeb Sheikh, MCAS ’20.

Piercey, an International Studies major originally from California, began in UGBC freshman year as a member of the Undergraduate Leadership Academy.

He spent this time on the Diversity and Inclusion division, planning events such as the annual ALC Boat Cruise and the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) Gala.

As a sophomore, he became a senator for the class of 2019 in the Student Assembly (SA). His proudest accomplishment was passing a resolution to establish “Lean on Me” (LOM BC), a non-emergency text-based mental health hotline slated to launch later in the next few weeks.

“I’ve been working with Samaritans through 4Boston since freshman year,” Piercey said. “I’ve been very personally impacted by this work and am most impacted by mental health advocacy.”

Frontis, originally from Harlem, N.Y., is a junior concentrating in marketing and minoring in African and African

Diaspora studies (AADS). While at BC, he has served as the chair of the AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC), a Bowman advocate through the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center, a social media coordinator for United Front, and a part of the Compass Mentoring Program.

Fletcher, a political science major originally from Columbia, immigrated to Puerto Rico with the aspiration of gaining U.S. citizenship and studying at a U.S. university. He spent freshman year on the Cushing Hall Residential Hall Council and “had the experience of learning about the freshman class.”

He was elected as a senator to represent the sophomore class in the SA, and is most proud of a resolution establishing a Puerto Rico Relief Committee, following Hurricane Maria. Through this resolution, he hopes to help Puerto Rican students know that they are supported away from home.

Sheikh, originally from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, is majoring in political science and minoring in AADS. At BC, he has served as a senator for the class of 2020 in the SA, an E-board member of the Muslim Student Association, and the Social Media Coordinator for LOM BC. Campus wide campaigning will begin Feb. 5, following a campaign kickoff event.

The final debate will occur on Feb. 11, the UGBC Primaries are scheduled to occur on Feb. 13 (depending on the number of teams running), and voting will take place on Feb. 15. n

NICOLE CHAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

NICOLE CHAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Record International Enrollment

By Cole Dady News Editor Boston College’s combined undergraduate and graduate international student population rose from 1,606 last year to 1,751 this year, a new record for the University, according to BC News. Over the past 10 years, total international student enrollment has increased over 70 percent.

While total enrollment has remained at a relatively stable level over the past 30 years, hovering at just above 14,000 students, international students are continually increasing in total enrollment.

“At the undergraduate level, we continue to experience steady growth,” Adrienne Nussbaum, the director of the Office of International Students and Scholars, told BC News. “We saw a nearly nine percent

increase, which is a cumulative effect of admitting more international freshmen over the past few years, as well as welcoming more exchange students in both the fall and spring semesters.”

A variety of factors have contributed to the growth of the international student population on campus, including significant growth in the representation of students from countries in Asia, who constitute 65 percent of the total, as the figures in the BC Fact Book show.

The amount of Chinese students on campus has increased over 1,200 percent since the early ’90s, with 793 currently in the undergraduate and graduate population. One hundred sixty-two Korean students currently attend BC. European students compose the second-largest continental group of interna-

tional students, with Spain’s 51 students representing the largest contingent.

Within the graduate schools, the overall number of international students increased by more than 9 percent this year. The Fact Books demonstrate that these increases are largely due to higher enrollments in the graduate programs in the Carroll School of Management and Lynch School of Education, the School of Social Work, the School of Theology and Ministry, and the Woods College of Advancing Studies.

According to BC News, economics is the most popular field of study among international undergraduate students, followed by finance and mathematics. BC further noted that accounting, theology, and finance are the most frequently studied fields among graduate international students. n

Admin Criticizes Union in Letter Union, from A1 The handout ended with an appeal to readers to email or call Leahy and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley and ask for the BC administration to drop its appeal.

In August, the University filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board requesting that the board review its May decision to grant the union an election and requesting a stay in the election. The request to stay failed, and the election was held in mid-September, but BC’s appeal with the NLRB is still pending. The union’s end goal is to get the University to the bargain with it, while BC believes entering into bargaining voluntarily before the NLRB rules on its appeal is a legal shortcut.

The University believes that no unionization action should be taking place, that the 2016 decision in a case involving Columbia University was wrongly decided, and that the NLRB does not have jurisdiction over the matter because of BC’s Catholic and Jesuit identity, Trainor said in his letter.

“As a faith-based institution, the idea that the NLRB can determine which components of our academic enterprise are religious and which are secular is a gross misunderstanding of our mission and ignores the direct role graduate research and teaching assistants play in the formation of students,” he wrote.

The University has also taken issue with the union’s characterization of BC’s appeal.

“Boston College did not appeal to the NLRB to overturn the election as the United Auto Workers and its supporters have inaccurately claimed,” University Spokesman Jack Dunn said in an email. “Rather, the University filed an appeal before the election based on its legal opinion that the NLRB does not have jurisdiction at a religiously affiliated institution. The right to appeal over a question of jurisdiction is a central component of the NLRB process, which the union realizes but refuses to acknowledge.”

In an email last semester, Dunn said, “Our position remains that our graduate students are best characterized as students–not employees–and that the collegial relationship that exists between our faculty and students would be irreparably altered through

graduate student unionization. In addition, as a faith-based institution, we assert that Boston College should be exempt from the jurisdiction of the [NLRB] in accordance with the 1979 Supreme Court decision NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago.”

Trainor wrote that BC is following the legal procedures established by the NLRB to invalidate the vote. He said that the union is behaving inappropriately by calling for BC to bargain with it while the legal status of graduate students is still under review.

Trainor’s letter also objected to the union’s “campaign of disruptive and disrespectful conduct that too often interferes with the rights of others in our community.”

Thursday’s work-in was the second that the union has held since September.

Graduate student employees sat at tables behind the reference desk on the third floor of O’Neill. Each table had signs that read, “I’m working on …” with an empty space detailing the subject matter they were focusing on, such as writing dissertations or grading papers.

Graduate students involved in the union think the University is unjustly attacking the election with the NLRB that they legally won, with a final vote of 274-225.

“Legally, the University has the right to appeal the election,” said Amelie Daigle, GMCAS ’19. “But that absolutely does not make it the ‘right thing to do.’”

The context of the previously scheduled work-in was changed significantly by the University’s letter. Union members said they were surprised by the release, based on their continued attempts to meet with Leahy and Quigley.

“They haven’t been talking to us,” Daigle said. “We’ve been scheduling a daily visit to Leahy and Quigley’s offices to see if they would be willing to discuss the unionization process with us, any of their concerns—they haven’t been speaking to us, so no, we had no idea this was coming. There has been no communication.”

The primary concerns the letter raised, according to Spielvogel, were the University’s categorization of the union’s work and existence as “disruptive and disrespectful.”

She said the work-ins weren’t meant to be disruptive, but rather to show that the

union is made up of employees rather than students.

Trainor’s letter expressed that BC values the contributions that graduate students make to the community. He cited tax-free tuition remission, competitive stipends, and health insurance coverage fully paid by BC provided for doctoral students as examples of BC’s appreciation of its graduate students.

The union does not necessarily interpret these actions as symbols of gratitude.

According to Daigle, the University has complete control over the stipends and insurance of graduate students, and can change them as they wish. She also said that BC took away tuition remission and health care benefits for GMCAS students who were teaching assistants in early 2015.

“A union and a collectively bargained contract will give us a voice in these decisions,” Daigle said. “In addition to improving our stipends and health insurance packages, a union would be able to advocate for many additional benefits including securing a parental leave policy for all graduate workers, creating a fair and effective grievance process, and strengthening protections against sexual harassment.”

“The University’s stance is grounded in the claim that we are not employees—that the contributions we make to the University don’t amount to ‘work’ and therefore we aren’t entitled to the same legal protections as other workers,” Spielvogel said.

“There is no legal or moral basis for that argument, which is why six other universities have chosen to respect graduate workers’ choice for unionization.”

While he was frustrated, Michael Bailey, GMCAS ‘24, did not call the University greedy—he believes BC’s motivations lie elsewhere.

“I think it’s power,” he said. “They don’t want to cede any power to us, because if they recognize the union and engage in collective bargaining, then we have to have a contract that’s legally binding, and therefore they can’t resign their benefits.”

“We’re not going away.” n

THE HEIGHTS

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MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2018

Conway Teaches Freshman Writing and Federal Penitents

BY JOAN KENNEDY Magazine Editor Besides the first time, I’ve never really gotten nervous about interviewing someone. But I made the mistake of reading Patrick Conway’s short story, “How It’s Done: a Criminal Defense Investigator at Work,” right before we were scheduled to meet. In the story, Conway seamlessly describes a few of his experiences as a former criminal defense investigator in Washington, D.C., a job which he decided upon his senior year at Bates College—craving daily excitement and work for others, not a cramped office and eventual self-help books. The narrative was gripping, but what caught me—in the kind of nervous, impeding way a chain link fence catches your jeans as you’re climbing it in a rush—was the way he described his prowess at getting witnesses to tell him (the guy who was working for the alleged criminal) their story so that they could be pinned up against the wall by a defense attorney in court.

After I read about how Conway, LGSOE ’23, got a witness to talk to him for over two hours after a long day at work, forget his preliminary suspicions that Conway and his team would use his words against him in court, then thank him as he left, I felt like I was about to be on trial, as if the Chocolate Bar would turn into a courtroom any minute and I would be put away for life in a proceeding that wasn’t mine.

“Hey, Joan?” said a man in his 30s through a beard.

The Miranda Rights spun violently through my head, along with my imagination’s deliberate misunderstanding of both the justice system and reality.

“Yeah, have a seat.”

Conway worked as a criminal defense investigator for three years before coming to BC to get his master’s in English. He then worked with the Boston University Prison Education

Program, which helps prisoners obtain BU degrees upon finishing academic programs. Now, he is working on a Ph.D., so that instead of just teaching within programs like BU’s, he can set them up and develop them.

“A lot of times we treat prisons, as, you know, places to discard people and … I think that there should be something other than that. I think there should be ways to improve people and focus on rehabilitation,” Conway said.

While a public defender, while getting his master’s, while teaching to prisoners, while pursuing a Ph.D., Conway is driven by the firm belief that everyone deserves a strong defense whether they can afford it or not.

The only semblance of insecurity he has encountered has been for his own safety when walking through seedy neighborhoods in D.C. at night—he was robbed once by three individuals.

He has never doubted the equality, and worthiness of every person, criminal or king.

Conway teaches The Great Gatsby to kids with records exemplary enough to get them into Boston College, and Conway taught it to people of various ages (ranging from around 19 to 60) with records tarnished enough to land them in MCI-Norfolk or MCI-Framingham. As can be imagined, Gatsby is seen as a very different character by those two audiences. How the class approached Gatsby—the crook and bootlegger—differed based on the context. Gatsby’s self-tailored heroism and eventual downfall, his appreciation for fine things, his desire for life, his extravagant desperation, and his sad hopefulness mean vastly different things for someone in an orange jumpsuit as opposed to someone wearing Vineyard Vines.

The classroom is a place that prisoners are eager to find themselves, instead of the perpetual boredom that is a premise of imprisonment. In the classroom there is engagement and a certain sense of autonomy. Those

enrolled realize the pertinence of education and feel lucky to have been admitted to the BU program. Education is important to Conway, especially within prison, given that education makes someone think of his or her place in the world, and reevaluate his or her surroundings and relation to them. Conway says that not providing ways to keep people’s minds active in prison, and just sending them away to be ignored for a few years, rips out the bolt-locked doors and replaces them with revolving doors.

“Far fewer people end up returning to prison because they’ve had education in prison … There’s a whole range of positive impacts even in the most basic level of just saving taxpayers’ money. People return less to prison, taxpayers don’t have to pay as much,” Conway said.

It’s easy for Conway to empathize with those prisoners he taught, especially because having worked as an investigator, he has seen firsthand the inhumanity in the system and sees education as a way of returning that humanity to those going through a system that strips them of it.

When Conway was growing up in Maine, the dinner bell often meant much more than just food. Conway’s childhood suppers were vibrant, dishes paired with conversation, words from various languages interwoven with English. His mother was an ESL teacher. Over these dinners and through his mother, he was exposed early on to the difficulties others faced, developing a detectable sensitivity to them, a sensitivity that fuels the bounce in his steps every day.

Conway carries this sensitivity on his shoulders to the Lynch School of Education, where he is researching the effectiveness of college-level prison education in hopes of refining his budgeting and financing skills to eventually run a program like the one he is teaching in now. He works with Andres Castro Samayoa, an assistant professor who specializes in

what Conway does—listening to and helping under-resourced and underrepresented communities. Samayoa describes Conway as an emerging researcher who already has a clear vision of the kind of work that he wants to do, and as an emerging researcher who asks people to think about communities that need to be focused on in terms of educational research.

“He has such a powerful voice and a really keen ability of listening to others and amplifying theirs,” Samayoa said.

As girls talked louder about things less interesting and less important at the table next to us, I found myself somewhat swept up in their conversation though, my brain shifting from Conway’s words, even though I struggled against it. Their words were like quicksand: the more I worked not to fall in, the deeper I sunk. His words blended with the “and then she was like’s.”

“I might go out tonight because I don’t have class until 12.”

“Certainly if you don’t have money and are accused of something, you’re put in a bad position. So I think that the system to me is relatively unfair.

Not only are you going to be wrapped up in this system that has serious problems, but we’re not going to give you an education while you’re there.

That goes against sort of my ideas of how you judge others and a sense of forgiveness.”

“I was thinking about going to the gym tomorrow morning … but I don’t want to have to shower before class.”

“I can understand the perspective of, ‘Oh, is it fair that they earn a college degree,’ but at the same time if you’re questioning fairness, there are a lot of steps along the way that aren’t fair.”

“My high school theater productions were so huge and I was in all of them.”

“To question it all of the sudden at this point seems a little crazy to me.”

Silence was engulfed by giggling and the crucial conversation in front

of me drifted to the background. Only after did I realize how fitting it was that I ambled away from the matter at hand. My mind was mimicking American attitudes toward criminals which Conway was explaining. Ignore them, push them to the side, put them away.

Hard conversations are way too easy to ignore. Conway thinks that prison shouldn’t be a strictly punitive experience, given both the flaws within the judicial system, and its effect on the criminal and on the victim.

“I’m not sure how much it does make victims really feel better. I mean if something terrible happens to you, I’m not sure how much redemption there is in seeing someone else suffer in the end of it. I suppose there’s some sort of gratification there but I’m not even sure its a good kind of gratification,” Conway said.

When Conway got up and walked away, I couldn’t help thinking about his short story, and imagined him walking away from his robbers with the same determined passiveness.

After a long day working to help the underdog, he looked up the cold, smooth barrel of a gun, his backpack ruffled through in pursuit of wealth he didn’t have—he only had white papers not green ones. The irony of a public defender being robbed on his way home from gathering material to help an alleged criminal is obvious, as is the glaring possibility that had those kids been caught, Conway’s agency might have been defending them.

The thre e men who had approached him left with pockets as empty as Conway’s, saying “That’s how it’s done. Easy.” The way Conway speaks about educating prisoners is simple and concise. For others who may hear about his work, including myself, a million questions swirl around in the mind—questions about the ethical conundrums surrounding the situation, the politics, the risk, the stories, the benefit—but it is for Conway, as it was for the guys who robbed him: “That’s how it’s done. Easy.” 

From Southern Air to Subway Fare: My Long Journey Home

TIMMY FACCIOLA I stood in the hall of my seedy dorm in the left armpit of Virginia, staring at the calendar on the poster board.

In purple and gold letters—the most tacky combination conceivable—it read, “September 19: Last Day to withdraw from JMU (but don’t!)”

Oh yeah? Is that a challenge?

It was the end of the second week of classes and I had been at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va for 20 days. Orientation week was a carefree haze and after four years at an all-boys Jesuit high school in New York, I was entranced by the newfound freedom of riding in a pickup truck tailgate, $4 packs of Marlboro Reds and, droves of blonde girls named Lexi, Kaylah, and Morgan.

But once classes started, I wondered if I was the only one there not just because my parents could afford to send me, or because I wanted a job, but because I wanted to learn and question and ponder and think critically and wonder and argue with professors and disagree with classmates and push arguments to their limits. I still want to.

After toiling over the college process, I refused to give up, accept my position in life, and invest the next four years—potentially some of the best of my life—in a plastic-handlevodka induced fog, coasting through 300-person lecture halls without a purpose for my education.

To be clear, I have no gripes with plastic-handle-vodka, but during the day I want to read Plato, Hemingway, and Vonnegut. Where’s the fun in unwinding without being wound up in the first place?

For parents weekend, I went home, having no intention of planting any roots on campus or subjecting my parents to the nine-hour drive on the two-lane trucker highway away from

civilization, through West Virginia, and then back into regular Virginia just to tailgate with people who flew purple-and-gold JMU confederate flags—once sold in the bookstore—or rub elbows with mothers who shotgun beers for their daughters’ Snapchat stories.

There are two ways to escape the Shenandoah Valley: coach bus or railroad. The Amtrak station is a $60 Uber ride away, trains only run on Saturday morning and they don’t return until Tuesday. In order to maximize my time at home, I opted for the bus that picked up in Harrisonburg at 2:30 a.m. Friday morning and arrived in New York at 11:00 a.m.

When the bus pulled in to pick me up in the parking lot of the local Chinese restaurant, it screamed of a tragic headline of an unlicensed drunk driver flipping his bus, and there I was, the enterprising college student with so much potential. I could picture my obituary in my mind, and most upsetting was that I would be identified as a freshman at JMU. The bus smelled like the apartment of the guy from an anti-smoking commercial, the one who used to love swimming.

The bus dropped me off in the heart of Chinatown on Pike Street.

The other customers were what could be imagined of people who take buses that stop at 2:30 a.m. in Harrisonburg, Va. On Sunday, I walked into the bus office and showed the lady at the desk the confirmation email on my phone. She scribbled a few characters on a sticky note and said to go wait across the street and hand it to the driver.

In that weekend, plus the three other weekends I journeyed back to New York, I toyed with the idea of living at home. Things seemed much more relaxed than when I was in high school and I didn’t hate the idea of bumming for a semester while figuring out my life out. But I was unsure of what I wanted to do next and I was terrified of moving back home and never escaping my mother’s basement.

One weekend that fall, while visiting my friends at Georgetown, I had an epiphany as we explored the city, rode the metro, enjoyed a Jesuit hom-

COLLEGE

BACK HOME

ily and ate Pho—Pho tends have that effect. Some of my best ideas began as bowls of noodles with twists of steam drifting up my nose and into my brain.

Jesuit homilies work similarly.

It was in Georgetown, when I wasn’t belligerent before noon on a Saturday in one of the generic fraternity townhouses built with the same architectural vision as an assisted living community, that I realized how badly I missed my Jesuit high school— the minds it attracted, the friendships it fostered, and the sense of purpose it challenged students to discover.

In high school, when I was leading retreats, talking with Jesuits after class, and participating in Campus Ministry, if you asked me what mattered to me, I would have said, “I don’t know.”

My answer changed after being in an environment in which work was not done Ad maiorem Dei gloriam, and absent from the four year plan was cura personalis, and I was challenged to do well on tests instead of to pursue the magis.

I decided I wanted to transfer to a Jesuit university, and because I knew this by Halloween, I didn’t want to spend six more months forging bonds I’d eventually dissolve.

One of my friends from JMU, ‘Kaylah with an H,’ still says I should have stuck it out, and I will acknowledge that the first week of second semester

I could have found something to make me fall in love with the place. But only a coward doesn’t follow his gut.

I decided to withdraw after the first semester. On Dec. 12, I unpacked my room, unsure if I’d ever live in a dorm again. Rather than enrolling in the local community college for the semester, I glamorized my scenario a bit and enrolled for the semester at CUNY Hunter College on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

At Hunter, as a straight, white, privately educated, Catholic male, I was the bane of everyone’s existence. My very being was upholding Judeo-Christian colonial standards that disenfranchised millions and as a benefactor of the broken system, I also perpetuated it. Sorry about that guys, it was me.

For the first time, I found myself before teachers whose worldviews did not include a belief in the chief supremacy of the Catholic Church.

That isn’t to say my previous 13 years of Catholic schooling were shaded from scientific inquiry or doubt, but after examining criticisms of Catholicism, we typically came full circle and ended up recognizing the absolute legitimacy of the Papacy, despite the Church’s flaws.

In classes at Hunter, I was the lone voice pointing out that for hundreds of years, the Church fostered much of the world’s scientific studies, and that

ANNA TIERNEY / GRAPHICS EDITOR

the “misogynistic” Church was indeed responsible for abolishing arranged marriages in Europe in the 11th century by instituting the sacrament of marriage, which requires both spouses consent and desire to be in holy union.

In high school, I loved pushing buttons and asking religion teachers if born-in-a-manger Jesus would approve of the grandeur of the papacy.

But once in ideological freefall, I found myself grabbing on to what was most familiar.

In between classes that semester, my favorite walk to kill time was to St. Ignatius Loyola Church on 84th Street and Park Ave. to take refuge from the courtyard at Hunter, where activists canvased for donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. On those walks, amidst the unfamiliar faces bustling around me, the marble cornerstone church was a beacon of familiarity—a reminder that I could always go back to the Jesuits.

In May, I was one of the 75 students admitted to transfer to BC. With a renewed sense of purpose, I happily accepted the offer, thrilled to return to an environment in which work would be done Ad maiorem Dei gloriam—for the greater glory of God. It’s never too late go home. 

Timmy Facciola is a Magazine editor for The Heights. He can be reached at magazine3@bcheights.com.

The Heights

Monday, January 29, 2018

A5

Breadboard Bakery Serves Unique Treats to Boston Streets

By Chloe McAllaster Assoc. Metro Editor

Beginning around 8 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays in Brookline Village, the bakery displays at Cutty’s sandwich shop fill with sweet treats baked inhouse by pop-up Breadboard Bakery.

Daisy Chow, the baker behind Breadboard, has been perfecting her craft for the past 16 years.

After working for a year as an electrical engineer, Chow decided to take a risk by pursuing a passion many would consider quite different from the field of her degree: baking.

The name “Breadboard” blends

Chow’s two backgrounds of baking and electrical engineering. A breadboard is a tool used in electrical engineering to model a circuit. In baking, bread is a staple and Chow’s specialty.

In lieu of formal culinary training, Chow learned by working as a pastry chef at a former French bakery in Boston.

In this role, she gained experience executing basic pastries, such as tarts and croissants.

Repetition of these fundamental skills proved invaluable in developing her technique and building confidence.

Today, Chow works full-time as a

head baker at Clear Flour Bakery in Brookline, Mass. Operating Breadboard Bakery as a pop-up gives Chow the flexibility necessary to maintain a full-time job while she grows her personal business.

For Chow, having a pop-up business has been the best way to gradually enter the Boston bakery market.

Initially intimidated by the sheer number of bakeries operating in the Boston area, Chow was hesitant to jump straight into owning a permanent bakery.

She wanted to gauge the public’s response to her treats, some of which are unconventional for the Boston area,

photo BY Chloe Mcallaster / hEIGHTS EDITOR

At Breadboard Bakery, Chow serves fresh kolaches, a traditional Czech pastry that is not commonly found outside of Texas.

before establishing her own bakery.

The impetus behind Chow’s decision to start Breadboard a year and a half ago was two-fold. Chow was inspired by her friend Mary Ting Hyatt, owner of popular bagel shop and popup Bagelsaurus.

Hyatt also began her business in partnership with Cutty’s and now owns a permanent shop in Cambridge.

Chow began working at Cutty’s making sandwiches and attributes the idea for beginning the pop-up to the owners, Charles and Rachel Kelsey.

One day, Chow brought in a sample of her kolaches and wacky cake, and the Kelseys encouraged her to sell them at Cutty’s as a pop-up.

“They knew I wanted to start my own business, but I hadn’t even considered a pop up at all,” Chow said.

“So they were the ones who [said] you should start a pop-up and that will kind of help you gain traction towards opening a business.”

Operating Breadboard at Cutty’s has had a number of positive benefits for Chow.

The Kelseys have been a valuable resource for the practical components of running a small business, and they serve as a model for success.

In terms of baking, using the kitchen at Cutty’s has been an exercise in improvisation.

At Clear Flour, Chow has access to state of the art equipment, whereas at Cutty’s she must work with far fewer tools at her disposal. Chow believes this experience will be advantageous when she opens her own bakery, which may

not be fully equipped initially.

Chow primarily features three baked goods at Cutty’s: kolaches, wacky cake, and croissants.

Kolaches are fluffy, round pastries filled with cream cheese or fruit. They are traditionally a Czech pastry but are popular in Texas where Chow grew up.

Chow seems to have cornered the Boston market for kolaches, and many of her customers come to Breadboard exclusively for the treat.

“Kolaches are a standout item,” Chow said. “I meet a lot of Texans who haven’t had a kolache outside of Texas.”

The wacky cake has a similar nostalgic aspect. Originally created during the time of World War II rations, the dessert was an elementary school favorite of Chow’s.

Its popularity at Breadboard is due in part to its low cost and simplicity.

“It’s a very economical cake so we don’t charge too much for it,” Chow said.

“So that kind of helps people who are on the fence to actually try it. For $2.50 how can they turn down a piece of cake?”

The buttery, flakey croissants are another staple. Chow said fresh croissants can be hard to find in the Boston area. This theme of novelty is not accidental. Chow intentionally bakes items she believes are lacking in competing bakeries.

“I was trying to think of things that were unique that people couldn’t get anywhere else,” she said. n

International Panel Talks Immigration, Refugee ‘Travel Ban’

By Isabel Fenoglio Asst. Metro Editor

Last Monday, residents of Boston gathered in District Hall to discuss the current state of the global refugee crisis, the U.S. refugee resettlement program, and the status of the “Travel Ban,” President Trump enacted one year ago.

The event, “Uniting For Refugees: Marking One Year Since President Trump’s Travel Ban,” was hosted by Oxfam, an international confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty and social injustice.

The night featured a panel discussion along with the art exhibit The Museum Without a Home. Panelists included Susan Cohen, an attorney from the Mintz Levin law firm and chair of the firm’s immigration practice; Jeffrey Thielman, president and CEO of the International Institute of New England; Cynthia Gabriel Walsh, senior director of the Organizing and Activism Unit for Amnesty International; and Isra Chaker, Syrian Ameri-

can and refugee campaign leader for Oxfam America.

Abby Maxman, the president and CEO of Oxfam America had a simple message: refugees are welcome.

She stressed that the fight against global poverty and inequality is more relevant today than ever, and the need for informed citizens to advocate for refugees and humanitarian aid is vital.

“Our country now accepts the lowest number of refugees in the history of our resettlement program,” Maxman said. “Yet, at the very same time, the world is facing an unprecedented global displacement crisis.”

There are more than 22 million refugees in the world today and 65 million people are displaced by conflict.

More than half of them are children.

And yet, said Maxman, President Trump set the refugee cap this year at a mere 45,000—less than half of what has been set by his predecessors from both parties.

Executive Order 13769, what became known as the “Travel Ban” or the “Muslim Ban,” was signed into effect last January. The order banned entry

to the United States by all citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Public outcry was immediate, and the next day protests broke out on city streets and outside of airports nationwide. In Boston, thousands gathered in Copley Square and Logan Airport to support immigrants.

“My first reaction was this can’t stand,” Cohen said. “The order was blatantly illegal in so many ways. It was very clear to me that a lawyer had not been involved in writing it.”

Cohen immediately got to work, and with the American Civil Liberties Union, was able to secure a court hearing. Coincidentally, this was the same night of her best friend’s birthday party.

“My shoes were off and I was dancing when I got the phone call that the judge was ready,” joked Cohen. “So I raced home, put on something more conservative, and ran straight to the courthouse.”

But missing the party was worth it. At around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 29, just two days after the order was passed, the judge passed a temporary halt to

the travel ban.

Like Cohen, when Isra Chaker heard about the order, her immediate reaction was utter shock.

As a Syrian American with family still overseas, “My heart stopped,” Chaker said. “I felt like I was constantly on edge last year. I was constantly paranoid, in fear of something happening to me, something happening to my family.”

The night ended with panelists urging the audience to stay active.

“We do have quite a fight ahead of us, but we have to stay strong and show that there are more of us than them, and this climate of fear, hatred and bigotry is not going to be tolerated,” Gabriel said.

“The best way to help is to stay involved with this issue,” Thielman said.

“We can’t let immigration fall off of the radar. Stay engaged, stay involved, and stay educated.”

Afterwards, audience members vie wed the exhibit The Museum Without a Home and listened to a performance by Chadwick Stokes, a local musician.

Stokes is also the co-founder of

the organization Calling All Crows, which partners with musicians and fans to create change through hands on service and activism. He performed two original pieces, “Keepsake” and “All My Possessions Inside.”

Upon first glance, the objects displayed in the exhibit may seem ordinary or even insignificant to viewers.

But to their recipients, these objects are priceless.

A black and yellow jump rope from Greece. A handmade toy car from Central African Republic. A powder blue baby blanket from Italy. A soccer ball covered in signatures and scribbles from the United States.

All of the items featured were given by ordinary people from all over the world to refugees, both as a gesture of solidarity and to help provide them with comfort in their new homes.

The museum arrived from Athens, where it was first created as an initiative by the Greek section of Amnesty International and Oxfam in 2016.

It has since expanded to celebrate the inclusivity communities have shown all around the world to immigrants. n

Tea Basics Class Provides Immersive, Hands-On Experience

By Catherine Cremens Asst. Investigative Editor What’s better than ending a long day with a hot cup of tea? You can do just that—and much more—at MEM Tea’s tasting room in Somerville, Mass. MEM Tea, a company that provides restaurants and coffee shops with specialty tea, has also reached out to the public with its many tasting and brewing classes.

At 6:30 last Thursday night, the company provided one of its popular Tea Basics classes, which gives the public a chance to learn about the immense world of tea.

With a group of about 15 people plus an instructor, the shop created an intimate and serene setting for customers.

Located in Davis Square, the training center and tasting room were established by MEM tea in 2016. Before its creation, MEM performed tastings in the restaurants and shops of its patrons.

“We wanted to have a place where we could invite people, because we taste all the time with restaurants,” said Suanne Scalise, director of training and education at MEM. “And sometimes it’s difficult for us to do in their location, so it’s nice to have a tasting room.”

Though MEM established its tasting room primarily for other businesses, they realized that they could expand into a completely different sector: providing services directly to the public.

“We realized we had all of this space to use,” Scalise said. “Why not invite the public as well?”

MEM educates the public in classes like Tea Basics every week, though they also hold more specialized events such as Matcha Workshop and Blending the Perfect Cup, which teaches the history and preparations of chai.

They host guest speakers to teach classes, including experts in kombucha and mushroom tea.

The tea basics class is a much broader source of information, and it’s most helpful for beginners.

The class progressed through five varieties of teas, including white, green, black, oolong, and pu’er, describing the flavor profiles and origins of each tea leaf.

The difference between black, green, and oolong teas, as described in the class, is based on the tea leaf ’s level of oxidation.

Scalise, the instructor, traced the tea’s journey from being hand-picked to its arrival at MEM. The company imports only whole leaf or specialty tea,

photo BY Catherine cremens / HEIGHTS EDITOR

MEM’s Tea Basics class educates participants on the origins of tea and allows them to brew and taste an oolong variety. which accounts for about 3 to 4 percent of tea produced around the world.

MEM sources all of its ingredients separately and makes its own blends.

Its tea is hand-picked or picked by machines that mimic hand motions.

The class not only discussed the origins of tea, but also provided helpful advice for brewing tea at home. When asked about the sweetness of a particular variety of green tea, Scalise explained that if a leaf is given the right temperature level and amount of time, you can

hit the sweet spot (no pun intended) and avoid any bitterness.

Moving on from the education portion of the class, participants tasted teas that fell within each variety.

Some teas were definitely more popular among participants in the class than others. The matcha, a thicker tea with a deep green color, was les well received than the jasmine pearl. Toward the end of class, Tea Basics also provided a hands-on experience for participants to brew their own variety of oolong tea

using Japanese tools and techniques.

The results ranged from a deep orange color to a yellow-gold, emphasizing the immersive tea experience that a specialty company such as MEM can provide to patrons.

“Tea Basics is a good immersion into the world of tea, if you don’t know a lot about it,” Scalise explained.

“But even if you do know a lot about it, you get to taste a large selection of teas, and the experiences in the class are just the tip of the iceberg.” n

THE HEIGHTS

A6

EDITORIALS

MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2018

QUOTE OF THE DAY

New CoRo Cafe is Promising Initiative

“Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy.”

- Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day

Last week, Boston College is shifting to become a sit-down the new options available that Dining Services reopened On dining experience with the im- appeal to students’ most popular The Fly in McElroy with a new plementation of a pizza oven and dining preferences. identity: College Road Cafe & on-tap beverages like iced tea, BC’s creation of a new casual Market, or CoRo Cafe. This new cold brew coffee, and kombucha. dining area will allow students, dining establishment is the be- The pizza oven will produce especially freshmen and dissatisginning of a continuous project flatbreads, similar to those at fied sophomores living on CoRo, that should be complete this Addie’s. The pizzas, named after more comfortable socializing coming summer. In the future, BC staples such as “The Gasson” spaces, and it’s a good step for the University plans to connect and “The Screaming Eagle,” have the school as BC considers conthe cafe to a side study room the option to be made with reg- structing a student center on for more seating, install Lower Campus at some faux hardwood flooring, point in the future. and refurnish the generIn order to improve BC “...it’s a good step for the school as al area. Hoping that the students’ dining experience, BC considers constructing a student the CoRo Cafe is a pleasant finished product mimics a coffeehouse, BC aims to alternative for students to center on Lower Campus...” provide students with a get not only snacks, but friendly, relaxed ambiance also better tasting food with in which they can socialize and ular or gluten-free cauliflower options that are healthier and safer work. This change comes fol- crusts. The CoRo Cafe will also for food intolerances. The products lowing a refurbishment of the soon implement GET, a delivery available are students’ most purRat, in which a more modern, service, so that students will chased items as well as new, popular sleek look was installed in order have the option to obtain full elements that students frequently to make the dining hall a more meals more conveniently. Nev- purchase at other dining locations. adequate facility. ertheless, the cafe will continue This shows a significant effort on Having already served Star- to sell a limited supply of the behalf of the administration to bucks drinks in the snack shop, products that were available at make campus a more pleasant the atmosphere of the CoRo Cafe On The Fly while still promoting and hospitable environment.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR A Note on The Heights’s Coverage of UGBC Elections Dear readers,

A Guide to Your Newspaper

Reed Piercey, MCAS ’19, a candidate for Undergraduate Government of Boston College president, is one of my roommates. Objectivity is always a priority for us, and to avoid even the appearance of favoritism or biased coverage, we aretaking the following steps: First, DJ Recny, the managing

editor, and Heidi Dong, the investigative editor, will have final sign-off responsibilities on any article related to this year’s UGBC presidential campaign. Second, I will attend meetings for, but will not vote on, this year’s Heights UGBC candidate endorsement process.

Connor Murphy Editor-in-Chief

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The Heights

Monday, January 29, 2018

A7

My Addiction to Social Media A Campus Divided 69

69

Kelly Christ Warm Weather in January - It’s the middle of winter, but I’ve shed my parka for a short while to revel in the uncharacteristically spring-like weather this past weekend. The high was 53 degrees on Saturday, only 10 degrees fewer than the record high for Jan. 27, and it’s much warmer than the day’s average high of 36 degrees. I understand that some don’t enjoy this unnatural fluctuation of temperature during a time that is supposed to be strictly cold—these are the people that want it to constantly snow during winter and always be sunny during summer. Nevertheless, I think that we were bestowed with the gift of a brief hiatus from the chill of the season, and I personally took it upon myself, for a brief few hours, to truly appreciate the day. Like any other Saturday, I woke up at the crack of noon, but instead of making my usual tired trudge to the dining hall, I dragged a friend with me on a leisurely stroll to Newton Center. Taking out my sunglasses and putting away my parka, I watched the gray mounds of snow that permanently decorate campus during winter shrink significantly. The whole hour that I spent outside was just long enough for me to enjoy the sun and warmth.

I hope you also took some time to appreciate the uncharacteristically warm breeze summoning spring, which temporarily hid winter.

69

Many of us don’t think twice before checking social media almost immediately after waking up. Instinctually, we feel the need to catch up on what we missed during the blissful ignorance of sleep.

It’s Sunday morning. When I wake up, I unplug my phone and check for notifications. Out of an unfortunate habit, I open Snapchat. The dashboard of stories is filled with newlyloaded, unseen footage of the antics of friends and acquaintances on their nights out. Just another Sunday morning, right?

But as I watch the multitude of pictures and videos load, I feel my heart sink just a bit. I had spent my Saturday night watching a movie in my dorm. Honestly, I enjoyed it. I appreciated the time on my own to unwind after a long week. But seeing my old friends from home and new friends from school post their highlights of Saturday night, causes regret to fill my stomach.

Even though I had enjoyed my night in the moment, I feel like I’m not doing enough. It feels as though I’m the only one who didn’t go out and have the time of her life.

Why does social media steal that inner peace from so many of us? We could be perfectly happy being on our own, and with one quick notification, it feels as though all of our friends are screaming into our heads “we’re having more fun than you!” And, most importantly, why do we keep coming back to it?

From my own experience, I find that there’s an almost addictive quality to the pain social media can cause us. It has become so common for many of us in our daily lives that its occurrence has become comfortable.

Looking at social media can act as a guilty pleasure, like watching celebri-

ties on reality television shows. Our own peers have become both the stunning models you would do anything to look like and the trainwreck socialites you can’t keep your eyes off of. But these aren’t celebrities, they’re closer to us. They’re our friends, peers, and classmates. In a way, we have developed a celebrity-like attitude toward the people in our own lives. And in many ways, that’s the relationship that we have with so many people. But when social media is the only thing that keeps us together, can we even call it a relationship?

Sure, we all have friends that we see on social media that we are close enough with in real life to see through the facade they present online. In fact, the posts of our close friends often make us happy. But it’s the people we don’t know well enough to recognize that they are real people too—the ones we follow but haven’t actually spoken with— who affect us in this way. The people whose personalities we have learned almost exclusively from their online sharings are the ones who make us feel the worst.

Going into my freshman year of college, it felt that these people were everywhere. All of my social media feeds had been infected with the Incoming Boston College Fever and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

I hadn’t met any of them in person, yet I felt like I knew them. I saw their friends, their boyfriends or girlfriends, their home lives, and their excitement for school. I couldn’t help but compare myself. How would I fit into this crowd of perfection that seemed to constitute my new school?

College students are among the heaviest of social media users. According to reports by the consumer insight service Experian Simmons, 98 percent of college-age young adults use social media. A survey of college students from UCLA showed that 27.2 percent of students spend more than six hours on social media every week. With anxiety now becoming the most prevalent mental health disorder among college students,

this constant fear of not being good enough is easily aggravated by this constant social media use. College students, especially freshmen, are very susceptible to this anxiety. With so many new changes, from meeting new people, moving to a new place, and leaving your friends and family behind, these students have enough on their plate without the added pressure. I know firsthand that social media can cause us to feel like we are constantly falling behind our peers— not getting things right, and having all of social media notice. These specifically cultivated images of seeming perfection in all areas of life causes each of us to fear our own inferiority.

But the reality is this: that seemingly perfect person in the photo feels exactly the same way when they scroll through their phones.

At the same time, there’s a thrill that’s just as addictive when you’re the one in the spotlight posting those hilarious videos from a night out or the totally-not-candid candid photo with your best friend. There’s nothing wrong with sharing these happy moments, but when we become more focused on the likes and comments than the joy these moments brought, the happiness is lost.

I can admit that I’m guilty of doing things just so I could post a picture or video later to prove my own confidence, which was, in fact, nonexistent. As I continue to wade through the treacherous waters of college, social media is becoming less important to me. I still use it, of course—especially to keep up with old friends—but I post what I want now: pictures of my favorite books or places that don’t get nearly as many likes as photos of myself with friends.

After all, whether you like it is really all that matters.

So I leave you with one piece of advice (from the internet, of course): “Do more things that make you forget to look at your phone.”

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

On Union, BC Sides With Trump Climate Change - Yes, it was exceptionally enjoyable to walk to a coffee shop wearing a light jacket instead of a long sleeved shirt underneath an itchy wool sweater underneath a down parka topp e d with an obnoxious scarf that looks like a blanket. But this prematurely mild weather, besides taunting everyone with a brief taste of spring, conceals a frightening phenomenon that becomes increasingly problematic while people continue to deny its existence. This unnatural evolution of weather patterns shows a continuous change in the state of the atmosphere occurring at a greater rate than it should. Even people who recognize that the climate is changing in a way that’s harmful to the planet don’t take the precautionary measures to diminish their contribution to the occurence, myself included. There are things that I know I can do to lessen my effect on the rate of climate change, but it’s hard to make issues that seems so distant, even if they’re actually very present and evident, a priority. I’m not selfless enough to keep the well-being of the world at the forefront of my mind—I’m more concerned with the unthinkable 30 extra seconds it would take to put a reusable plate in a bin rather than just throw out a paper plate into an overflowing trash can. Anyway, all I’m trying to say is climate change sucks, and I’m doing very little to diminish my contribution to it.

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Josh Behrens Last week, the Boston College administration sent out an email to the BC community entitled, “Update on Graduate Student Unionization.” While many undergrad students may have simply archived the seemingly monotonous email, the six paragraph-long message is an elaborate attempt to cover up one simple fact: BC is siding with Trump.

For the uninitiated, hundreds of graduate workers at Boston College have been organizing a union for three years. Grad workers are graduate students who work for the University in various roles such as researchers, TAs, and professors. BC grad workers began to unionize in 2015 following an effort by the University to take away the health care of grad workers who are here for more than five years (even though the average Ph.D. student spends 8.2 years completing their dissertation). Without a union to fight for them, BC grad workers realized that BC could take away benefits like health care at a moment’s notice. After a campaign started and led by BC grad leaders, BC grad workers voted democratically to unionize last September.

American workers have the legal right to unionize. Grad workers are no exception.

In 2016, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) affirmed in a case against Columbia University that grad students working for private universities are legally considered employees and can unionize (a right grad workers at public universities have had for years). Six private universities have since seen the creation of unions within them.

Despite this, BC does not believe grad workers have the right to unionize. BC filed an appeal with the NLRB last year in order to have the Columbia decision struck down and classify graduate workers as students,

not workers. In essence, BC is trying to stop the BC grad union from forming by claiming the workers that research and teach in BC labs and classrooms are not employees.

You have to read between the lines to understand why BC is appealing the decision.

The 2016 NLRB that made the Columbia decision was staffed with Obama appointees who were pro-labor. Now, the NLRB is staffed with anti-labor Trump appointees who BC hopes will undo the Obama-era decision and restrict grad workers from unionizing. In continuing to fight for the appeal, BC is betting on Trump’s appointees. BC’s anti-union argument has two components: 1) BC believes grad workers should not be able to unionize because they are not workers; 2) BC has a religious exception to unionization.

BC’s first assertion that grad workers are not workers not only goes against contemporary legal precedent, but is also demonstrably false. Grad workers teach and research the same as any professor.

They are the backbone of this institution, doing the thankless labor that allows BC to continue rising in the ranks.

Secondly, the claim that BC is ‘religiously exempt’ from labor laws is utterly laughable. Besides the fact that a 2015 case against Pacific Lutheran University stated that religious institutions are not exempt from labor laws, the Catholic Church has a long-standing theological tradition of fervently supporting workers and labor laws. The U.S. Catholic Bishops (USCC) stated in 2007 that, “Catholic social teaching supports the right of workers to choose whether to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively, and to exercise these rights without reprisal.” BC is spitting in the face of the Church’s staunch solidarity with workers’ rights when it tries to crush the grad union. Proving this further, U.S. Catholic Bishops said: “No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself.” It’s clear that BC is attacking grad workers’ human dignity by denying their right to organize.

Herein we see that BC is not only siding

with Trump but is also acting like Trump.

BC is deliberately skewing the truth to push its own narrative, something our president is an expert at. Wednesday’s email was a clear distortion of facts. Masquerading as a fair negotiator, the email is a smoke-screen that disguises the bare truth that BC doesn’t want its workers to be democratically represented and will pursue every legal avenue to deny that right. Trump’s loose relationship with facts is echoed in BC’s unsupported claims like, “the union persists with its campaign of disruptive and disrespectful conduct that too often interferes with the rights of others in our community.” The email does not contain any evidence to back up this ridiculous assertion. All of the demonstrations the union has held have been respectful and non-disruptive—like their recent silent work-in at O’Neill Library. Furthermore, it is a legal right for all unions to be able to hold demonstrations at their workplaces. To deny this would interfere with the rights of the grad workers.

BC also cloaks their anti-union stances in religious dogma, something Trump does with his purported Christian faith regularly.

In opposing the grad workers union by claiming religious exemption, BC is using its Jesuit values as a cudgel to beat down some of its most vulnerable workers just like Trump uses Evangelical values to beat down some of America’s most vulnerable citizens like the transgender community.

I am not proud to be a part of an institution that is siding with Trump—that is denying the legal right of its workers to unionize.

BC is not only siding with Trump by relying on his NLRB appointees, but is also adopting his same sleazy political strategies of skewing the truth and cloaking hateful policies in religious dogma. This PR stunt will not work. The BC community will see through the administration’s smokescreen and stand in solidarity with our professors, our researchers, and our peers.

Josh Behrens is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. He 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.

Matthew kelly

Hidden in the depths of everyday life, it can strike at anytime, anywhere. No one has ever managed to fully flee from its scrutinizing eye. In many ways, the side of you it brings forth is the only side that many others hold of any importance—the side that defines you as friend or foe. It’s the dreaded political conversation. The one whose hand draws a line down the middle of any classroom, extra-curricular event, family reunion, or social gathering.

Despite being molded within the liberal arts education that is Boston College, the prospective diverse and multifaceted person we all strive to be is often reduced to one fiber of our being: which political party we identify with. Hyper-partisanship—a sharply polarized situation in which political parties are in fierce disagreement with each other—has spread among college students like an influenza, and the hopes for a cure are fleeting.

Here at BC, a microcosm for millennial communities everywhere, hyperpartisanship has played a major role in the clubs we decide to get involved in, the classes we decide to take, and the relationships, or lack thereof, we form with our peers. And this is a tragic setback to the atmosphere that we all desire to cultivate here. Being an institution that constantly promotes the ideal of students’ formations, it is time that this rampant ossification be recognized and discouraged.

If doubt lingers about the extreme degree of this partisanship, simply walk into any lecture and ask students their opinions of our current president. The ensuing reactions will be no less than volatile, and it is hard to imagine anything less than verbal warfare breaking out in what was before a neutral setting. Why does this hyper-partisanship seem to follow us at every turn? Certainly it is promulgated by each party’s leaders insistently spewing that the other side is full of corrupt, antiintellectual reprobates who have no sense of the real problems in our country. Often missing is a basic appreciation of students as multifarious beings who are much greater than the political beliefs they hold.

Holding true to the Jesuit ideal of being a well-rounded and diverse community, we must seek out those we disagree with rather than turn them away. In terms of “the great conversation” that BC strives to foster, it will soon be the sound of silence if we’re unwilling to offer deference and interest in what other students have to say.

This foundational aspect of BC must be preserved through the expansion of each individual’s acceptance. We must engage those whose viewpoints leave us aghast and converse as friends, directly challenging the polarization that divides us.

In the name of reflection, one of the defining aspects of a Jesuit education, we all must investigate who we have invited into our lives and who we have alienated due to differences in political taste. In the view of some, partisanship is natural, and people always flock to those they view as holding the same values and convictions.

While this may be true, it is also evident that, surrounded by those exactly like us, we will never experience growth. If we only hear what we already believe, and nothing to counter it, how can we know if we are truly right? Furthermore, how can we refine these very beliefs and convictions if we adamantly refuse to listen to the most persuasive arguments against them?

This way hyper-partisanship is stunting our growth and limiting our relationships that could be beneficial to our formation.

Aristotle states that, “Man is by nature a political animal,” and while politics may be central to the lives of all in the BC community, we must be willing to break down the barriers it has built around us.

We must lend our ears to our peers, and never ostracize the people who hold the ideas that seem to threaten our own, but instead embrace the wonders that come with having a friend so different from us.

Hyper-partisanship is threatening our friendships, our formation, and our community, and we must fight it with all the facets of ourselves. As we do so, surely we will come to realize how we have elevated ourselves and the BC community as a whole to the quintessence of bipartisanship and overall human formation.

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

THE HEIGHTS

A8

MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2018

Rat Gets Rowdy: From Beer Cans to Buttered Croissants The basement of Lyons was once Boston College’s premier drinking destination for a Thursday night to remember.

BY BROOKE KAISERMAN

Assoc. Magazine Editor

It’s 9:52 a.m. and your calculus TA has a tendency to ramble. You have less than 10 minutes to quell the growling in your stomach and make it to your history lecture in Stokes South. What do you do? If you’re not a freshman, you know that there just happens to be a conveniently quick and easy, grab-and-go dining hall nestled comfortably in the basement of Lyons Hall and smack dab between the two buildings: the Rat. Back in 1951, however, the Rat told a very different story. Boston College’s website contains nothing more than the building’s official namesake—Rev. Charles W. Lyons, S.J., who served as BC’s 14th president. Why does the nickname of the Rat persist? It’s not a cheap shot at the food, facilities, or cleanliness of the dinning hall, which was remodeled earlier this year. It’s short for Rathskeller, which is German for a beer hall that exists in the basement of a municipal building.

Yes, the Rat used to be a bar, and accommodated many a wild night. In The Heights series, Voices of the Dustbowl, when asked of his most memorable BC experience in the past year, Scott Farley, BC ’88, responded, “Waking up after the Rat without my car on Friday Morning. If anyone finds it, please return it.�

Every Thursday night beginning in May 1973, the Rat would open starting at 9 p.m. and feature beers, bops, and bonanzas. The Undergraduate Government of BC cooked up colorful theme nights—from Las Vegas Night and Mardi Gras Festival to Do it in the Dark Dance and Beers and Careers events.

Anyone over 20 could buy tickets in the neighborhood of $1 to $2 for an evening of cards, roulette, and craps (Casino Night)

to enter a raffle for an all-expense paid five-day trip for two at Bermuda’s Sonesta Beach Hotel (Bahamas Night). Upperclassmen never knew exactly what they were in for when they walked into the doors of the Medieval-themed establishment, but they knew it would be a night to remember.

In 1975, the Rathskeller became a fullfledged beer hall with doors that opened daily. In 1989, Amy Anderson, Vice President of Student Services and David Caffrey, Director of Student Services, noted that the Rat “becomes part of the BC experience when students reach legal drinking age ‌ [It’s] one of the most unifying activities for Boston College seniors.â€?

Similarly, Rocko Graziano, reporter for The Heights, summed up the experiences of bonding the Rat used to entail. The age of grab-and-go eating starkly contrasts with the Rat’s social, carefree environment which thrived throughout the 1970s and 80s. “People who would normally never say a word to each other end up as dialectic partners for the evening. Old wounds do not matter, opinions and grades do not matter, it is the Rat and everybody talks to everybody,� Graziano said in a 1987 article entitled “Talk is Cheap.�

In 1983, the future of the Rat as a frequented bar joint for BC’s upperclassmen was threatened by a bill traveling through the Massachusetts Senate on a mission to raise the drinking age from 20 to 21. The seemingly incremental increase sparked outrage across campus, however, as the policy would effectively halve the Rat’s clientele and make it difficult for the hall’s doors to stay open after dark.

Led by Art Laske, that year’s UGBC president, BC students took action, disseminating petitions, lobbying Senate President William Bulger and planning a

demonstration at the Massachusetts State House. “It’s nobody’s fight but ours,� said an impassioned Laske. Despite their best efforts, in Dec. 1984, Governor Michael S. Dukakis signed the bill into law. The Rat’s reputation as one of the premier Thursday night activities was now threatened with the tapering of its demographic.

The commotion continued in 1989 with a new Dining Services policy that accepted only Massachusetts state identification as proof of legality at any on-campus event where alcohol was served. Not only was the price of a Massachusetts liquor ID unreasonable for many students (roughly $50 today) who didn’t have driver’s licenses from the Bay State, procuring one was extremely inconvenient as it could only be done at certain times on location at various registry branches. “It’s caused an uproar in the senior class,� said Mary Clark Linbeck, the UGBC Pub Series director from 1988-1989 and BC ’90. “People are in a bind.�

This unfortunately coincided with BC’s enforcement of a $5 cover charge, which rapidly decreased public sentiment for the Rat. The glory days of the once infamous beer hall had ended with a crashing halt.

Many students shared the impassioned sentiments of Sherri Martens, BC ’90, and Jeanne Beth Reingold, BC ’90, who warned fellow seniors that “there is now a new morgue in the town of Chestnut Hill‌ A.K.A. the Boston College RAT!!â€? The “traditional Thursday night stomping groundâ€? had transformed into the “Night of the Living Dead,â€? and the allure of free mozzarella sticks was simply not enough of a draw for more than a few dozen students.

At the turn of the century, however, the Rat experienced a reboot by bringing in vibrant musicians and bands. In Feb 2000, the Rat hosted rapper Vanilla Ice for two

sold-out shows with over 500 students in attendance. He ran up on stage, bursting with energy and shaking his cropped, bleached hair. He performed a 12-song set, peaking with his hit single, “Ice, Ice Baby�: the entire crowd jumped to its feet, and deafening screams extended even past the Mods.

Later that year, nearly 400 Eagles flocked to the Middle Campus eatery in Nov. 2000 to hear the Pat McGee Band’s anticipated debut concert. Budding acoustic guitar soloist Howie Day opened the concert. At 19 years old, he had just released his first solo album, and would soon go on to pen one of the millennium’s most poignant sing-in-theshower anthems, “Collide.�

A few years later, the Rat again hosted a then largely unknown neo-soul singer touring with Kanye West—“On the cusp of super-stardom,� as Canyon Cody, then the assistant arts and review editor for The Heights, put it. The fledgling artist had just released his first album, Get Lifted, which featured R&B piano ballads with modern hip-hop influences. In Dec. 2004, John Legend packed the Rat. As the years progressed, a different but equally staggering change conflicted the Rat—that of the food. Long before the shelves were peppered with “Turkey on Multigrain� and “Andy’s Sunbutter Snack,� the Rat rivaled Late Night with its selection of greasy wonders such as chickwiches, burgers, onion rings, chicken tenders, and fries. The interior, which featured a “McDonald’s style setup,� was sure to provide a “greasy and filling meal,� according to the 1997 Assistant Features Editor for The Heights Brian Thomas.

In 1997, new changes were brought to the dining hall, which provided a self-service style. Rather than dealing with indecisive loiterers at the front of the endless lines, stuMAS SAC

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1951

1973

MADISON MARIANI AND ANNA TIERNEY / HEIGHTS EDITORS

Joseph 885 Centre St. n, MA Newto

The doors to this late night destination begin to open daily, hosting musicians, parties, and dances.

The Rat opens its doors to upperclassmen every Thursday night, transforming into a beer hall.

1975

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1984

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Welch Dining Room in Lyons, serving cravings such as chicken tenders, onion rings, and fries, opens.

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dents could now grab a tray, pick what they wanted for lunch, and pay on the way out.

Students were largely indifferent to the new change, “as long as the fries stay greasy.�

After nine years of this, the Rat was fully revamped to match the new age of healthy eating as well as its grab-and-go atmosphere. The menu swapped French fries for flatbreads, and lemon soda for lo mein. “I was craving the hash browns! They didn’t tell me about the changes. I don’t like surprises,� said Clarissa Spears, BC ’07. This sentiment was echoed by Dani Wilson, BC ’07, who agreed: “Even the nurses need their junk food.�

In 2012, the Rat experienced a short but sweet reboot as UGBC advertised the 21+ event “Welcome Back Eagles.� Although it would never return to its former glory as a nightly beer joint, the “makeshift watering hole� provided a tantalizing menu of foreign and domestic beers, wines, sliders, and pigs in a blanket. Later that year, the Pub Series continued with a Mardi Gras celebration featuring po’ boy sandwiches, jambalaya, Creole-inspired music, and of course, beer and wine. Limited methods of publicizing the event were available given that alcohol was served, which prevented a full-fledged restoration, but over 100 students came.

Although the Rat’s days as the effervescent Rathskeller are nothing short of legend at this point, it will be forever remembered by the BC students it happily served for decades. “The Rat could solve all the world’s problems,â€? Graziano wrote in 1987. “We could have a World Leader Night at The Rat, Reagan and Gorbachev could get together, find a table, and come to terms on SDI, nuclear weapons, Central America and Afghanistan, all while downing drinks from smiling beer maids." ď Ž

M

D

6-01

200

Joseph

Sm ith

BC Dining only accepts Mass. state identification for alcoholic events and instates cover charge.

1989

Massachusetts Senate passes an act raising the legal drinking age from 20 to 21, signed

by Gov. Dukakis.

2000 Rapper Vanilla Ice performs his bop “Ice, Ice Baby,� packing the Rat with over 500 students.

CE

VANILLA

I

ICE ICE BAB Y

Tora Japanese Introduces Fresh Cuisines to Bostonians

Owners Patrick Zhong and Kenix Wan bring the classic Japanese dish, Kaisen Don, to Boston after years of effort.

BY SHAN RIZWAN Heights Staff Walking through the dimly lit, snowcovered streets of Boston’s Chinatown, it can be a struggle to find a good place to eat. With so many Chinese and Japanese restaurants available, it sometimes feels like they all blend together. How can one decide?

Recently, a new restaurant opened up that aims to introduce a new cuisine to Boston: Kaisen Don. At Tora Japanese Restaurant, owners Patrick Zhong and Kenix Wan are bringing a classic Japanese dish to the city of Boston.

Kaisen Don, a raw fish bowl typically served over rice, shares many similarities with sushi but provides a freshness completely its own.

Tora Japanese Restaurant appeals to people of all backgrounds. Pop music quietly plays in the background as families and businessmen relish in the cultural experience it provides.

Originally from Japan, Zhong and Wan have been working for years to bring Kaisen Don to Boston. They first toured around Japan, sampling many different dishes and learning cooking techniques at the same time. They used this knowledge and applied

their own culinary creativity to craft original recipes for sauces and dishes. This would lead to them eventually opening their own restaurant this past November.

Regarding the name, “Tora� translates to “tiger� in Japanese. “‘Tora’ is lucky for me,� said Zhong.

Upon entering the restaurant, the first thing one notices is how spacious it is. Its sleek, wooden tables have considerable room between them, allowing for parties to have intimate conversations and feel at home. There is also a large open floor plan that is hard to find at a typical Boston eatery.

The owners opted to decorate Tora in a minimalist style with simple grey, white, and black colors. White brick walls line the restaurant. At the entrance is a large black chalkboard listing the evening specials in a white font along with an illustration of the main attraction: Kaisen Don. Patrons also have to option to sit at the sushi bar and get a front-row seat to the cooking process. Fresh cuts of fish adorn the counter like trophies. Behind it, Zhong and Wan have brought in a local chef to prepare the food. The two have made

SHAN RIZWAN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Kaisen Don is a raw ďŹ sh bowl, typically served with rice, that has a unique freshness that distinguishes it from sushi. sure to teach their employees many of the techniques used in traditional Japanese cooking.

After an order is placed, the chef delicately cuts fillets of fish like clockwork. The level of speed and precision in the food preparation is impressive. In a matter of a few minutes, a dish is ready to serve.

SHAN RIZWAN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Zhong and Wan traveled Japan sampling different dishes and learning new cooking techniques to create the original recipes they serve.

The true secret to Tora’s success, however, lies in its ingredients. “How my wife and I want to treat food, we want to provide the best quality food.

That’s how we do it,� Zhong said.

From the fish to the wasabi, every ingredient is carefully hand-selected for each dish. The fish is ordered every other day from Japan and then prepared in the kitchen, giving the dishes a high level of freshness. Some of the most popular options include the bluefin tuna, the salmon, and the mackerel.

Unlike the typical sushi chain, Tora also makes its wasabi in-house using a traditional Japanese recipe. It gives the paste a unique texture and freshness that blows store-brand wasabi out of the water.

According to Zhong, even the uten and the bowls have been imported from Japan.

Tora’s Kaisen Don is served on a large wooden tray hand-crafted from Japan. It includes the raw fish bowl along with hot miso soup and bright purple Japanese pickles. Before eating, Zhong explained that the proper way to eat Kaisen Don is with the wasabi and soy sauce mixed into the bowl.

The bowl itself is carefully filled with each cut of fish, shrimp, sea urchin, and

squid in a way that offers a satisfying presentation. Visually, the dish is stunning.

Vibrant colors from the salmon and sea urchin are contrasted with the fine cuts of mackerel and bluefin tuna.

As for taste, every element adds something unique that when combined together creates an unprecedented flavor combination. Strong fish flavors pair well with sushi rice to form savory bites.

The highlight of the Kaisen Don was the mackerel: It had an unparalleled richness and freshness that was unparalleled.

In almost every area of this restaurant, Tora has attempted to recreate the experience of dining in Japan. All of these little details pay off for the restaurant, as the meals taste both fresh and authentic. “We are focused on good-quality food, ingredients, and that would be all.

That’s our main goal,� Zhong said.

For all those wary of trying Kaisen Don, Zhong assures patrons that most people initially don’t understand the cuisine but ease into enjoying it. As for future goals, Zhong has a vision to open at least two more restaurants in the Boston area under the Tora brand. ď Ž

SPORTS

MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2018

B1

@HEIGHTSSPORTS

Unrivaled Star Power

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

ANDY BACKSTROM

1.46

Career Goals Against Average

the first scoring play of the game, freshman Daryl Watts earned BC a 2-0 lead, logging her third shorthanded goal of the season.

Watts intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and slid the puck past Myers for the Eagles’ second goal.

Yet the game was far from over. In fact, the Friars gave BC a scare late in the frame. Providence sophomore Avery Fransoo whipped a shot on net, but Burt was there to make the stop, covering the puck in the crease. The officials initially blew the whistle

With over a month left in the regular season, Boston College women’s hockey (24-2-3, 17-1-3 Hockey East) has already clinched a 20-win season and locked up the regular-season Hockey East title for the fifth year in a row. But the No. 2 Eagles are in uncharted territory.

Thanks to underclassmen Daryl Watts and Caitrin Lonergan, BC is the only women’s hockey team in the past five years—and just the second program in the sport since the 2015-16 season—to carry the top two highest scorers in the country, and it’s not even close. At the moment, Watts (69 points), just a freshman, holds a six-point lead over her teammate, Lonergan (63 points). Yet, aside from those two, no other player in the nation has eclipsed the 60-point mark, let alone recorded 55 points. What’s even more staggering is that if the season ended today, Watts and Lonergan would both conclude the 201718 campaign with more points than last season’s scoring leaders, Cayley Mercer and Kelly Pannek (both 62 points).

Assuming that the Eagles play the same number of games as they did a year ago (39), Watts and Lonergan are on pace to finish with 85-plus points apiece—a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by a tandem of players since Wisconsin’s Meghan Duggan (87 points) and Mercyhurst’s Meghan Acosta (86 points) did so in 201011—and they weren’t on the same team.

Having two star-studded players lead the nation in scoring isn’t as rare in the men’s game. In fact, starting in 2013-14, a duo of skaters representing the same program stood atop the scorer’s table for three-straight seasons: BC’s own Johnny Gaudreau and Kevin Hayes (2013-14), Boston University’s Jack Eichel and Evan Rodriguez (2014-15), and Michigan’s Kyle

See WHOK vs. PC, B3

See Unrivaled Star Power, B2

115

.936

Career Save Percentage

Career Wins

With Saturday afternoon’s 3-2 victory over Providence, women’s hockey senior Katie Burt became the all-time winningest goaltender in NCAA history.

BY ERIN WALSH Heights Staff While Boston College women’s hockey’s 3-2 win at Providence on Saturday afternoon marks its 17th conBoston College 3 ference Providence 2 victory of the year, effectively clinching the Hockey East regular-season title, the Eagles’ triumph extends beyond this season. Earning her 115th career win, goaltender Katie Burt one-upped Minnesota’s Noora Räty and became the N C AA’s all- time winningest netminder.

No. 2 B C (24-2-3, 17-1-3 Hocke y East) kicked off the first period with an immediate offensive burst. Senior Kenzie Kent and freshman Maegan Beres broke through the No. 10 Friars’ (14-9-6, 10-5-4) defense, as Beres skated around the back of the net and slotted the puck to an open Kent in front, whose shot barely missed wide.

The next se veral minutes featured multiple chances for Providence, but it wasn’t long before the Eagles got back in the swing of things—oddly enough, right after picking up their first penalty: Once junior Makenna

Newkirk was sat down for sending the Friars’ Brooke Boquist airborne, BC began to create more goal-scoring opportunities, forcing Providence goaltender Madison Myers to make save after save. Even though the first period ended scoreless, the Eagles outshot the Friars, 11-8.

The second period started with a bang: Just 1:48 into the frame, sophomore Caitrin Lonergan put the Eagles up, 1-0, with a shot from the high slot on the power play, assisted by Serena Sommerfield and Caroline Ross.

Less than three minutes after

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Orange Creates Separation in Second Frame, Blows Out BC

BY PETER KIM For The Heights On one possession late in the second quarter, Andie Anastos missed an open 3pointer off the front rim. Syracuse grabbed the defensive Syracuse 75 reb ound and Boston College 57 worked the ball down the court and around the perimeter before finding an open shot in the corner.

This time, the ball hit nothing but net.

The 30-second snapshot provided an apt summary of Boston College women’s basketball’s game Sunday afternoon against Syracuse. The Eagles were ice-cold from 3point range, shooting 0-for-8 in the first half and missing several open shots. Meanwhile, the Orange, paced by Digna Strautmane and Gabrielle Cooper’s combined seven 3-point-

ers, shot over 50 percent from downtown in the first half, allowing it to pull away in the second quarter and roll to a 75-57 win.

For most of the first quarter, BC (6-15, 1-7 Atlantic Coast) had a clear strategy—get the ball down low to Emma Guy and Georgia Pineau for some easy baskets. The two teamed up to shoot 6-of-6 without attempting a single shot outside the paint, keeping the Eagles in the game, as they trailed by just three after the first 10 minutes of play.

The game remained close at the start of the second, as the Eagles continued to feed Guy and Pineau in the post. The duo continued to find success, scoring BC’s first six points of the quarter. Yet after the last of these three baskets—a Guy layup that cut the Syracuse (17-5, 5-4) advantage to just two—three consecutive 3-pointers from Strautmane and Cooper stretched the lead

back to 11. The Orange went on the run behind a full-court press defense that forced five BC turnovers in the second quarter alone. The Eagles scored just four points the rest of the half, entering the break trailing by 14 and in dire need of a spark on both sides of the ball.

Syracuse methodically extinguished any hopes of finding that spark in the third quarter, though, steadily creating further distance on the scoreboard. After yet another missed open 3-pointer by Milan Bolden-Morris, the Orange hit eight of its next 15 shots—including a trio of 3-pointers—extending its lead to a game-high 25 points near the end of the third. BC drilled a pair of 3-pointers and made 7-of-8 free throws in the quarter, but Syracuse’s full-court press forced four more

See WBB vs. Syracuse, B4

CELINE LIM / HEIGHTS STAFF

Andie Anastos shot 0-of-4 from the field and coughed up the ball five times in the loss.

MEN’S HOCKEY

Eagles Open Floodgates in Second Period Against UMass Lowell

BY MICHAEL SULLIVAN Heights Senior Staff

TIGER TAO / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Defenseman Connor Moore recorded his third goal of the season on Saturday night.

INSIDE SPORTS

If Boston College men’s hockey didn’t have such a dearth of defensemen, Jerry York could’ve considered moving Connor Moore to forward perUMass Lowell 2 manently.

Boston College 5 It’s likely that the Cumming, Ga. native caught the bug from fellow defensemen Casey Fitzgerald and Michael Kim. The two blue line captains love sneaking forward on goal-scoring opportunities. This season, that’s spread to Moore, who has shown his willingness to attack. He even once played forward earlier in the season.

“I’ve always been a little offensive in my game,” Moore said. “I’m always trying to incorporate it into my game … be the last guy

back in the offensive zone, create chances on odd-man rushes.”

He had arguably the most impressive blast of his young career in a 5-2 defeat of Massachusetts Lowell on Saturday night, a victory which will help BC (13-10-3, 13-6-0 Hockey East) maintain its lead over Northeastern atop the Hockey East standings.

Early in the second period, the No. 16 Eagles swarmed Lowell (15-12-0, 10-8-0) goaltender Tyler Wall—team captain Tyler Mueller got caught for a slash at the end of the first, giving BC an immediate one-man advantage. Graham McPhee and Julius Mattila added early pressure by slapping at a couple of loose pucks that disoriented Wall in the crease. With River Hawk defenders cleared out of the way, Mattila kicked it out to Moore at the top of the right circle.

Moore wound up and fired a slapshot that

WBB: Eagles’ ACC Skid Continues at Duke MBB: ’Cuse Runs BC Out of Carrier Dome

snuck through a tiny opening above Wall’s right shoulder. More notably, he sent Wall’s water bottle flying.

“I saw it off the back of the net, and I think Graham came over and told me it broke, and I didn’t think it broke, but it felt good when he told me that,” Moore said.

Moore’s offensive explosion—water bottle included—shouldn’t come as a surprise to Eagles fans. But the offensive explosion that followed? Well, it was Gaudreau-Hayes-Arnold-esque and completely uncharacteristic of the offensively starved iteration of BC in 2017-18. The five-goal output was just the third time BC reached that mark this season.

And, unlike that legendary offensive team, the Eagles diversified their scoring: Five skaters hit the twine against two different Lowell

See MHOK vs. Lowell, B3

SPORTS IN SHORT................................ B2

The Blue Devils stormed out to a 20-point lead and never Syracuse shot 60.4 percent from the field on Wednesday WOMEN ’S HOC K EY.................. B3 looked back, rolling over BC on Thursday night............B2 night, handing the Eagles their fifth ACC loss...............B4 MEN’S BASKETBALL....................... B4

The Heights

B2

Monday, January 29, 2018

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Watts, Lonergan Headline Most Prolific Team in College Hockey Unrivaled Star Power, from B1 Connor and J.T. Compher (2015-16), but not to the same degree as Watts and Lonergan. In each case, the pairings primarily consisted of at least one “assist-man” of sorts, whereas Watts and Lonergan rank inside the top three in scoring, in addition to racking up more assists than anyone else in the country.

In recent memory, there’s only been one Eagles duo reminiscent of Watts and Lonergan. For two-straight years, they were the faces of women’s collegiate hockey: Alex Carpenter and Haley Skarupa, both BC ’16. Both seasons, Carpenter led the nation in scoring, even winning the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2015. Her partner in crime wasn’t far behind, finishing third in the scoring ranks in the two campaigns mentioned above.

You could even make the argument that Watts and Lonergan are one of the best, if not the, best scoring tandem in major college sports this year. This past football season, Southern California, Memphis, and Oklahoma State were the only three FBS teams with a top 10 passer and rusher/receiver, but none of them ranked first in both touchdown passes and reception/rushing touchdowns. The closest you can get is Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph and James Washington: The two Cowboys led the nation in passing and receiving yards, respectively. As far as scoring is concerned, though, neither cracked

the top three at their position. If you move away from the gridiron and look at the hardwood, you’ll see that not a single team in the NCAA, both men’s and women’s, has two top-50 scorers this season.

Quite simply, Watts and Lonergan are a different breed. They currently fall somewhere in the top 10 of every one of USCHO.com’s major statistical categories, including first and second in scoring, assists, and power-play goals, as well as first and third in total goals scored.

The scary thing is that the Eagles aren’t a two-man show. They’ve got another pair of top-15 scorers in Makenna Newkirk (seventh) and Toni Ann Miano (tied for 15th). Newkirk is one of five players in the country hovering around the 50-point mark. Returning to her freshman year form, the Scottsdale, Ariz. native has upped her goal-scoring numbers from last season and is on the heels of Watts and Lonergan in the assist department. Then there’s Miano—one of three defenseman in the country to crack the top 15 of the scoring ranks.

All four Eagles have taken over games this season and single-handedly churned out victories. Watts has recorded nine multi-goal performances so far, dating way back to October when she notched in a hat trick against then-No. 4 Minnesota Duluth, completing the series sweep of the Bulldogs. Lonergan has logged a team-high six game-winning goals and has tallied three or more points 11 times this

season. In December, Newkirk rattled off two consecutive four-plus point games, orchestrating a pair of blowouts over Merrimack and New Hampshire. Out of nowhere, Miano scored seven goals in a span of a week earlier this month, avenging BC’s loss to Northeastern and pulling out a narrow victory against Vermont.

Players like Kenzie Kent, Willow Corson, and Serena Sommerfield add the finishing touches to an Eagles offense that comes in at second in the country with 4.34 goals per game—an entire goal more than last season’s scoring average. BC scores in bunches and is arguably one of the most watchable teams in the NCAA. Just ask SportsCenter: on Jan. 6, Watts was featured on the program’s acclaimed Top 10 segment, megging a defender and flinging a shot past New Hampshire goaltender Kyra Smith.

The one team ahead of BC in the national rankings, Wisconsin, pales in comparison. Abby Roque, who has netted a mere nine goals this year, is the Badgers’ lone top-25 scorer. The sophomore’s 31 points are less than half that of Watts and Lonergan’s scoring outputs. After Roque, there’s a drop off. Wisconsin’s second-leading scorer, Presley Norby, is 43rd on the national scale, five spots behind Kent—the Eagles’ fifth-best offensive player. The only men’s team close to rivaling the Eagles is Northeastern.

Adam Gaudette (39 points) is tied for the national lead in scoring, and teammate

Dylan Sikura (35 points) trails by four points, holding down the seventh spot.

Neither, however, is putting up the sheer volume of goals and assists that Watts and Lonergan have—not to mention that Gaudette has yet to distance himself from the pack like Watts did months ago.

Not all of the Eagles’ star power is on the offensive end of the ice. In reality, their most established players are the ones protecting the cage. In addition to Miano, Sommerfield, Grace Bizal, Caroline Ross, and Kathleen McNamara have more than just held down the fort this year. Time and time again, the Eagles defense has played an integral role in setting up BC’s forwards, often recording points of their own. Part of the reason why the defensemen can even do that is because they know they have Katie Burt in net—now, as of Saturday afternoon, the all-time winningest goaltender in NCAA history.

Burt is the staple of consistency in the realm of college hockey. She’s on the brink of her fourth-straight 25-plus win season, posting a career .936 save percentage. This year, the senior’s numbers have slightly dipped, but it’s important to remember that she’s playing without three Olympians in front of her.

This winter, BC is sending the largest contingent of Eagles to the Olympics in school history. Alongside alumni Skarupa and Emily Pfalzer, BC ’15, freshman Cayla Barnes and juniors Megan Keller and Kali Flanagan will represent Team U.S.A.

on the sport’s biggest stage, making BC the only NCAA school to send more than one current collegiate skater to Pyeongchang, South Korea. The three of them together make up nearly half of the American defense—a testament to just how good BC could have been, at least on paper, if this had been any other nonOlympic year.

Still, the Eagles are poised to make another deep playoff run. They could very well go just as far as Watts and Lonergan take them. In BC’s two losses this season, the underclassmen have combined for a meager one goal. The rest of the Eagles’ offense didn’t fare much better, as the team posted one and two goals, respectively, in the defeats. When push comes to shove, the Eagles’ offense might just be too top-heavy to last an entire postseason.

There’s no doubt BC has talent: With the best goaltender to play the game, a pair of star-studded forwards, and a handful of other skaters not too far behind, the Eagles are by far the most prolific team in the sport of college hockey.

Unfortunately for BC, that just means that the expectations are that much higher to finally bring a trophy home to Chestnut Hill—not a Beanpot or Hockey East championship, but a national title.

Andy Backstrom is the sports editor for The Heights. He can be reached on Twitter @Andy_Heights.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Duke’s Defense Wreaks Havoc in Decisive Victory Over Eagles

By Mike Malley Heights Staff

The odds were stacked against Boston College women’s basketball when it traveled to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday night.

Boston College 50 Rolling into Duke 75 Durham, N.C. on a four-game losing streak, BC—the second-lowest scoring team in the conference—was up against the 29th-best defense in the country and the top-ranked unit in the ACC. Throughout the year, the Blue Devils had held opponents to a mere 56.5 points per game. The mismatch didn’t bode well for the Eagles, as Duke, led by Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell, pulled away in the second quarter and never looked back, topping BC for the third-consecutive year, 75-50.

Right from the get-go, both teams ran in transition, pushing the ball up the court. It wasn’t always pretty. In fact, the two sides combined for a total of seven

turnovers in the first quarter. Eventually, the game settled down­­—four minutes in the No. 18 Blue Devils (16-5, 5-3 Atlantic Coast) and Eagles (6-14, 1-5) took to the half court offense.

Duke was clearly running a very complex offense with lots of screens and cross-court passes. The Blue Devils routinely drove into the lane. looking to kick the ball out to an open shooter.

Early on, the dribble-drive worked to near perfection, creating a lot of open shots for Brown, who finished the quarter with 14 points. The Eagles, on the other hand, tried a different strategy. BC attacked the paint, dishing the ball to Emma Guy down low. Positioned inside, the talented sophomore forward could either attempt a shot herself or find a cutting teammate on the weak side. The chances were there, but the execution was not, and the Blue Devils strung together a 16-0 run with five minutes left in the opening quarter. The Eagles were quickly down by 10, 24-14, through 10 minutes of play.

The second quarter was more of the same, with Duke continuing to score at will from behind the 3-point line, going 5-of-10 from long range in the frame. The sharp shooting along with a high-pressure defense baffled head coach Erik Johnson’s team and forced a handful of Eagles turnovers. Capitalizing on loose balls and riding Greenwell served Duke well. Along with Brown, the second “splash sister” lit up the BC defense from downtown, finishing the half with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. BC had its chances inside, but again, poor finishing, wayward passes, and unnecessary offensive fouls killed opportunities, allowing Duke to take an even larger lead, nearly doubling the Eagles’ point total.

BC didn’t get off to the start it was looking for after intermission. Instead, Duke’s unrelenting scoring duo of Greenwell and Brown kept piling on buckets.

The Blue Devils are third in the ACC in 3-point shooting and they showed why on Thursday, attempting 18 triples and

making eight of them, hovering around the 44-percent mark from 3-point land on the night.

To make matters worse, Duke’s swarming man-to-man defense caused more Eagles mistakes—namely turnovers—and, of course, fatigue. As time went on, sloppy mental errors, in addition to errant passes, dictated BC’s play.

The Eagles have a notably short bench, with very few non-starters making an impact. They finished with only eight total bench points, whereas Duke logged 29 in that department. The one bright spot for BC was Guy, who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds to secure her fourth double-double of the season. But the 6-foot-3 sophomore had to sit out the end of the third quarter with foul trouble and eventually injured her ankle later on in the fourth frame, effectively putting an end to BC’s offensive output for the evening.

The final quarter did not get any better for the Eagles, with Duke’s reserves

playing to the level that its starters had over the course of the opening three periods. Notably, BC’s leading scorer, Milan Bolden-Morris, was held scoreless for the entire game, finishing with just two rebounds and three turnovers.

One of the biggest differences in the contest was star output. Bolden-Morris, Georgia Pineau, and Taylor Ortlepp—the Eagles’ three-leading scorers—were all held in check, while Duke’s splash sisters, Brown and Greenwell, shined, combining for 38 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.

But, scoring aside, the Eagles didn’t even do the little things to give themselves a chance to upset Duke. BC coughed up the ball 20 or more times for the fourthstraight game and shot below 60 percent from the charity stripe. If the Eagles are to beat ACC opponents on the road, let alone a ranked one, they’re going to have to start playing fundamental basketball.

Otherwise, there’s no telling when BC will reenter the win column. n

Jarmond, Athletics Unveil Student-Athlete Fueling Station

By Andy Backstrom Sports Editor As soon as Boston College Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond arrived at BC this past June, he began to assess the needs of his student athletes. Time and time again, nutritional concerns were raised. Due to their practice schedules, mandatory meetings, and course loads, student athletes reported that they often struggle to find time in their day to make it to the dining hall and grab a bite to eat. In response, the first-year AD made it his priority to come up with a solution. Seven months later, his vision

became a reality.

On Monday morning, Jarmond unveiled the department’s new fueling station, located inside the student-athlete lounge on the first floor of Conte Forum.

The installment—something that he had seen while working at both Michigan State and Ohio State—is designed to offer nutritional snacks and refreshments to all student-athletes year-round.

The lounge is lined with refrigerators containing Powerade, water, chocolate milk, and other pre- and post-workout drinks. The main attraction, though, can be found at the center of the back wall. Sandwiched between two rows of

cabinets, lies an assortment of snacks, including, but not limited to, fruit, granola bars, cereal, and trail mix. In addition, the room features a handful of tables, chairs, flat-screen televisions, and leather couches decorated with the BC logo.

Everything is accessible and within the confines of the student-athletes’ training facility and home arena—just how Jarmond drew it up.

“I am a firm believer that you have to make it easy for people,” he said. “We have to make it easy for our fans to come to games. We have to make it easy for our student athletes to get the nutrition

and what they need to be their best.”

Several student athletes, representing their respective teams, were in attendance for Monday morning’s announcement. Kenzie Kent—the 2016-17 ACC Athlete of the Year—spoke on their behalf. The senior described the fueling station as something that addresses a long-lasting need and will directly impact the daily lives of her fellow student athletes.

“Competing at this high level, takes a toll mentally and physically,” Kent said. “To be able to come to get a little something extra in our bodies will be a big help.”

In the grand scheme of things, the fueling station is a physical sign of the department’s growth. With the new recreation center, baseball field, and indoor practice facility still in the works, Monday’s opening, like the renovated hockey locker rooms in the fall, gave everyone a glimpse of what is to come.

“We can’t always see and feel all the good things that are happening to us under Martin’s leadership, but today’s a little different—we can see it,” head lacrosse coach Acacia Walker said. “This is tangible evidence of our commitment and their commitment to our studentathletes and [their] success.” n

SPORTS in SHORT ACc WOMen’s basketball Conference 8-1 Louisville 8-1 Notre Dame 8-1 Virginia 6-2 Florida State 6-3 Duke 6-3 NC State 5-4 Syracuse 5-4 Miami 4-4 North Carolina 3-6 Virginia Tech 2-7 Georgia Tech 2-7 Wake Forest 1-7 Boston College 1-8 Clemson 1-8 Pittsburgh

overall 22-1 20-2 15-7 18-3 17-5 17-5 17-5 15-7 14-7 14-8 13-9 10-12 6-15 11-11 9-13

Numbers to know

5

Number of years in a row that women’s hockey has won the Hockey East regular season title.

22.5

Number of points per game for men’s basketball guard Jerome Robinson in ACC play, second in the conference.

4

Number of goals men’s hockey scored in the second period of Saturday’s win, the team’s first time doing so in almost two years.

QUote of the week

“I took him out as a mercy. I didn’t want to subject him to any more.”

— UMass Lowell head coach

Norm Bazin on why he pulled starting goaltender Tyler Wall on Saturday night.

The Heights

Monday, January 29, 2018

B3

MEN’S HOCKEY

Five Different Skaters Score, BC Splits Series With River Hawks MHOK vs. Lowell, from B1

2 power-play goals

24 saves by goaltender Joseph Woll

20 second-period shots

goaltenders. Only a late game misconduct penalty by Jacob Tortora allowed the River Hawks to make the game closer than it ever really was.

“I thought Lowell was a touch better than we were last night in their barn, and tonight we were a touch better than they were,” York said. “I thought tonight we reversed the table and moved pucks and did some really good things from a coach’s perspective for our team.”

After a back-and-forth first period, the Eagles took their first lead with under two minutes to go. Thanks to a sloppy tripping penalty by Ryan Dmowski, BC caught a late power play. Logan Hutsko, who gave hints of what BC would be able to do against the River Hawk defense in the game’s first few minutes, slid a pretty cross-ice pass through a few defenders parked in front of Wall right to David Cotton. The Parker, Texas native bounced it off his right foot and onto his stick, going top shelf for the power-play goal.

Six minutes after Moore’s goal, the Eagles returned to even strength. Graham McPhee swung through two Lowell defenders on a

feed from Christopher Brown to push the puck hard at Wall’s chest. The Lowell goaltender couldn’t reel it in—his careless play turned an easy save into an easier goal, right through his five-hole. Just 16 seconds later, the Eagles turned in a near mirror image of that play. Casey Fitzgerald found J.D. Dudek streaking down toward Wall seconds after the opening faceoff. His pass weaved through Dudek, who split the defense, and then split Wall. The goal caused Lowell head coach Norm Bazin to go to his backup, Christoffer Hernberg.

“I don’t fault Tyler whatsoever, I took him out as a mercy,” Bazin said. “The shots that were scored on him were legitimate goals. I thought the rest of the team in front of him wasn’t that great. I didn’t want to subject him to any more.”

But it made little difference. Hernberg gave up equally potent rebound chances on which BC could deliver. Four minutes after his entrance, Tortora did just that. Christopher Grando heaved up a desperation shot from the right side, which Hernberg perfectly—for BC, that is—pushed into the slot. Tortora arrived in the nick of time to capitalize.

The freshman, however, put the lead in jeopardy. He boarded Charlie Levesque,

picking up a five-minute major and a game misconduct. Combined with a Luke McInnis hooking penalty, the River Hawks reeled in two goals—one during the extended one-man advantage, one just as it ended—to cut the lead back to 5-2.

Don’t let BC’s offensive performance or the late goals, however, distract from what it did defensively overall. Through two periods, Joseph Woll looked bound for his first shutout of the season. And especially during the 5on-3, Kim and Fitzgerald came up with huge blocks, both with their feet and their sticks.

“Joe was very good tonight for us, I thought,” York said. “He came into the locker room, head back, shoulders tall, very confident. That helps our team win when your leader does that coming off a tough loss Friday night.”

With these kinds of offensive nights few and far between for BC, it’ll need every ounce of those defensive efforts—even if Moore might one day do better as a forward.

“I thought Connor was outstanding tonight,” York said of his Georgian defenseman. “His power-play goal kind of set the stage, a one-timer that might’ve broke the water bottle … Offense from a guy from the Southeastern Conference.” n

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Despite Third-Period Scare, Eagles Hang on to Sweep Providence WHOK vs. PC, from B1 for a faceoff, but then reviewed the play to see whether or not the puck crossed the goal line. After the referees upheld the call, the second period continued and came to a close with the Eagles winning by two.

Because of penalties toward the end of the second frame, the final period began with each team down two players. Just as a BC penalty expired, 17 seconds following the second intermission, Providence’s junior Christina Putigna cut the lead to one with a backhander.

With just over 13 minutes left in the period, BC sophomore Erin Connolly was sent

to the box for tripping. Soon after, Lonergan joined her for a hooking, giving the Friars a 5-on-3 advantage for 44 seconds. Once Connolly’s penalty expired, freshman Chloe Gonsalves tied up the game with a goal from the high point on the power play.

The Eagles responded with numerous attempts to reclaim the lead with breakaways and tic-tac-toe passing by Kent, Beres, and Connolly, yet not a single Eagle could find the back of the net.

Finally, with less than four minutes to play, Watts scored the third and final goal of the game on the power play. Toni Ann Miano relayed the puck to Kent, who then connected with the freshman for the game-winner.

The final minutes of the frame were nothing short of hectic. With penalties being called left and right, Providence had a 6-on-4 advantage with 2:17 left, which eventually became a 4-on-4 match with about a minute and a half remaining.

As the game came to a close, the Friars pulled Myers out of the goal, hoping to equalize in the final seconds. Fittingly, Burt and Co. held down the fort, securing the series sweep and the goaltender’s monumental victory.

Whether or not the Eagles win the national championship this season, or even make their fourth-straight Frozen Four, it’s safe to say that Burt will have achieved college hockey immortality. n

Sam Zhai / Heights Staff

BC clinched its fifth-straight regular season Hockey East title with the 3-2 win.

MEN’S HOCKEY

After Equalizing, BC Concedes Game-Winner at UMass Lowell

By Andy Backstrom Sports Editor Boston College men’s hockey’s trip to the Tsongas Center on Friday night marked the Eagles’ first time playing UMass Lowell since they lost Boston College 2 the Hockey East UMass Lowell 3 Championship and, in effect, an NCAA bid to the River Hawks last March. Three hundred fourteen days had passed, but nothing had changed.

Just like last year’s conference title game, neither team stole the show in the opening frame. Once again, UMass Lowell dominated the second period, logging a pair of momentum-shifting goals. Right on cue, the Eagles fired back—over the course of the final 20 minutes of play, BC outshot the River Hawks, 11-3, tying the game in the process, only to see its comeback fall short.

Chris Schutz recorded the game-winning goal and goaltender Tyler Wall held on to seal UMass Lowell’s 3-2 victory, its fifth straight over the Eagles.

As soon as the puck dropped, both sides turned on the jets. The first period was fast paced but far from pretty. No. 16 BC (12-

10-3, 12-5-0 Hockey East) and the River Hawks (15-11-0, 10-7-0) traded possession after possession, failing to control the puck.

Eventually, though, the game got a little more physical, and UMass Lowell began to generate scoring chances. Racking up seven of the game’s first 10 shots, the River Hawks soon made a home in the Eagles’ zone, forcing BC goaltender Joseph Woll to work for every one of his nine first-period saves.

The Eagles were called for two penalties in the opening frame—the second of which bled into the next period. Luckily for BC, it had no trouble on the kill. After regrouping during the first intermission, the Eagles shut down UMass Lowell’s power play. Head coach Jerry York’s team wasn’t as fortunate when the teams returned to even strength, though. A minute and a half after the River Hawks’ power play, Mattias Goransson relayed the puck to Colin O’Neill in BC’s zone.

While the sophomore surveyed the ice, Ryan Collins set up shop near post. Seconds later, O’Neill evaded an Eagles defenseman and delivered a pass to Collins. Without hesitation, the Newton, Mass. native slid the puck into the back of the cage, giving UMass Lowell the lead.

BC had its chances to equalize. In fact, the Eagles were awarded two power plays in a three-minute span prior to the midway point of the period. Yet, even though BC was proactive on the offensive end, it couldn’t seem to squeeze the puck past Wall. On the Eagles’ second go-around, Graham McPhee whipped a shot from the point that Wall instinctively deflected. Before the River Hawks could clear the puck out of their own territory, Christopher Brown scooped up the rebound in the slot and ripped a shot—the only problem was, it was aimed directly at Wall. The puck hit the UMass Lowell netminder in the chest protector, and, soon after, the Eagles’ power play expired.

It was only a matter of time before the River Hawks were back in the driver’s seat.

Following BC’s flurry of one-man advantages, UMass Lowell rattled off nine-consecutive shots, enough to overwhelm Woll.

Connor Wilson tracked down the puck in his own zone and then dished it out to Ryan Dmowski in the neutral zone. Wilson quickly caught up with Dmowski, and the two skated toward Woll. At that moment, Jesper Mattila lost his footing and took a spill, leaving Connor Moore all alone on the

back end. Now on a 2-on-1, Dmowski eyed a wide-open Wilson, but instead of making the pass, he flung a shot into the back of the cage for the River Hawk’s second goal of the period.

Desperate to cut into its two-goal deficit, BC recorded five shots in the final five minutes of the frame. Although the Eagles didn’t light the lamp, their momentum carried into the third period. Two minutes in, UMass Lowell’s Niklas Folin was sent to the box for interference, and for the fourth time in as many games, BC came through on the power play. Hovering around the point, Connor Moore rifled a shot in traffic. The puck ended up at the feet of Aapeli Räsänen, who tried to muscle it past the goal line. Wall was there to make the stop, but he didn’t account for a charging McPhee, who capped off the scoring play.

The sophomore wasn’t done yet. Three minutes and 16 seconds later, he received a feed from Brown, posted up in the right circle, and sniped a wrister through a handful of River Hawks, including Wall. Singlehandedly, McPhee erased UMass Lowell’s lead and recorded his second two-goal performance in the past three games.

But the stalemate, which lasted all of 66 seconds, was short-lived. Ryan Lohin caught the Eagles sleeping and located Schutz along the blue line. Out of position, BC’s defense was helpless. A couple of strides and a wrist shot was all it took for the redshirt freshman to put UMass Lowell back in front.

Looking for another game-tying goal, the Eagles did all they could to even the score. Naturally, BC’s offense upped the ante toward the end of the game, but so did Wall.

The Leamington, Ontario native survived a host of Eagles shots, not to mention both a 5-on-4 and a 6-on-4, as BC went on the power play and pulled Woll in the game’s final minute.

With the loss, the Eagles moved to 1-5-1 in their last seven games at UMass Lowell.

Up until the 2014-15 season, BC owned the Tsongas Center, boasting a 17-5-1 record in the facility. Since then, the River Hawks have thrown the Eagles off their game, frequently calling upon their physicality and veteranlike experience. If BC is to maintain first place in Hockey East standings, it’ll have to do just as good of a job protecting its home ice in the back half of the home-and-home series. n

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Eagles Score Five Goals in Final 25 Minutes to Rout Friars

By Bradley Smart Assoc. Sports Editor Just four years after Minnesota’s Noora Räty graduated with an NCAA-record 114 wins, Boston College women’s hockey goaltender Katie Providence 0 Burt joined her Boston College 5 atop the leaderboard, turning away 22 shots in a 5-0 win over visiting Providence on Friday night.

The No. 2 Eagles (23-2-3, 16-1-3 Hockey East) extended their win streak to five and distanced themselves from the No. 10 Friars (14-8-6, 10-4-4) in the Hockey East standings, stretching the lead for the regular season title to an impressive 11 points.

It took BC a period and a half to break through, but the floodgates opened as it scored five goals in the game’s final 25 minutes. The scoring spree provided more than enough support for Burt, who withstood a second-period barrage of shots before watching her offense go to work.

Ryan Little scored twice, Caroline Ross had a pair of assists, and Daryl Watts added

another goal to continue her impressive freshman campaign. After entering the third with a narrow 1-0 lead, BC erupted for four goals in a complete reversal of the first 35 minutes or so.

“They play a very hard-fought style,” Eagles head coach Katie Crowley said. “It took us a little bit to get used to that.”

Watts got things going with an impressive scoring play, coming right after the Eagles nearly conceded a shorthanded goal in the waning minutes of the second period.

The freshman phenom blocked a shot and traded passes with Caitrin Lonergan before burying a wrister into the roof of the net from the left side.

With the exception of a breakaway denied by Burt, the third period entirely belonged to BC. Serena Sommerfield scored from near the blue line at the five-minute mark, putting a knuckler on net that glanced in off a Providence defender.

Makenna Newkirk followed with a deflection in front of the cage, capitalizing on a puck thrown on goal by Ross. Little—who entered with three goals on the season—then

scored twice in the span of five minutes.

Her first was opportunistic, coming after an Erin Connolly shot tipped off Delaney Belinskas in front of the Friars’ net, with Little positioned to clean it up. She put the exclamation point on the four-goal explosion on a later power play, with BC finally finishing on the advantage after squandering five early chances.

“Ryan (Little) had two goals by just putting a puck to the net and that’s something we need to do,” Crowley said. “We need to get gritty goals, get in front of that net, screen, and try to get tips.”

Providence played well in the opening two periods, but twice shot itself in the foot with penalties after drawing a power play of its own. In the opening period, an embellishment penalty went against defenseman Whitney Dove, resulting in a 4-on-4—one in which neither team recorded a single shot.

Next, after going down, 1-0, in the second, a holding penalty on forward Blair Parent canceled out the bodycheck by Connolly.

Eventually, the missed chances and penalties haunted the Friars, as the game quickly

Sam Zhai / Heights Staff

Erin Connolly (left) recorded her first assist in 10 games in the Eagles’ decisive victory. slipped through their gloves. They managed just eight shots in the final period, none of much difficulty for Burt. Her strong effort saw her record improve to 11-1 all-time against Providence. Already considered one of the best netminders in NCAA history, having rewritten both the BC and Hockey East record books, Burt only added to her tremendous college hockey career against the Friars. The senior, who began her time

in Chestnut Hill with a 30-win season as a freshman, can break the record on Saturday afternoon against the Friars in Rhode Island.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to come in and play basically every game,” Burt said. “I’ve played on some phenomenal teams and had some great defenses in front of me. I’ve had teams that put 10 pucks in the net, which makes my job a lot easier.” n

The Heights

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Monday, January 29, 2018

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Perimeter Blunders Haunt BC in Sixth-Straight ACC Loss WBB vs. Syracuse, from B1

Seline lim / Heights staff

Georgia Pineau (top) scored a team-high 17 points against Syracuse Sunday Afternoon.

turnovers and continued to cause issues. By the time the quarter ended, the Eagles staring at a 63-41 deficit with almost no hope of a comeback.

In the fourth quarter, Syracuse finally cooled off from deep, going 0-of-6 in the period. The sharp decline in production from beyond the arc allowed the Eagles—who employed a full-court press of their own—to cut the Orange lead to 15 points with just over four minutes remaining. They never got any closer than that, though, as Syracuse managed to finish the game cleanly. Pineau led BC’s effort on the offensive end, scoring 17 points and pulling in nine rebounds, while Guy chipped in 15 points, marking the third time in the past four games that the

forward reached double figures. Perhaps the one bright side from yet another dispiriting ACC loss for the Eagles was the tandem’s performance. Both clearly showed the ability to be valuable contributors on both ends of the floor. Unfortunately for BC, one of the duo’s best games all season was ultimately wasted by a poor perimeter shooting night.

The big headline, ultimately, was the Eagles’ struggles from beyond the arc, as they shot just 22.2 percent from long range.

Bolden-Morris followed up a scoreless day against Duke with just 10 points, hitting just 2-of-8 from 3-point range. Additionally, Taylor Ortlepp’s 11-point effort was plagued with missed 3-pointers, as she finished 1-for-6 on the day. One could argue that some of the missed open shots were simply unlucky. Several 3-pointers went in and out,

or just barely caught the inside of the rim, resulting in BC head coach Erik Johnson seeming optimistic afterward.

“I thought we were ready to shoot,” Johnson said. “We just didn’t knock them down tonight.”

But for the Eagles to start winning games, they don’t just need to be ready to shoot, they have to knock them down.

The balanced scoring—four players finishing with double-digits in points—was offset by limited bench production, as they managed just four points. The Eagles were also undone by 16 turnovers, a season-long problem that has to be fixed if they want to climb out of the ACC’s cellar. As today’s game proved, for BC to have a shot the rest of the way, it’ll need every player to produce. n

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Eagles Fail to Keep Pace With Syracuse’s Shooting Barrage

By Andy Backstrom Sports Editor

Syracuse, losers of four of its last five, entered Wednesday night’s game against Boston College men’s basketball with the worst Boston College 63 field goal perSyracuse 81 centage and 3point percentage in the ACC. In order for the Orange to win, it was going to have to shut down the Eagles’ trio of guards: Ky Bowman, Jerome Robinson, and Jordan Chatman. Well, that was the narrative at least.

Led by Tyus Battle, Syracuse turned the game upside down, shooting a season-high 60.4 percent from the floor, including a scorching 43.8 percent from beyond the arc. In a performance reminiscent of the Eagles’ ACC opener against the Orange last January, Syracuse was practically unguardable, even knocking down its fair share of contested shots.

Although the Eagles converted 11 of their 23 triples and close to 48 percent of their total field goal attempts, they had no answer for the Orange on the other end of the court, allowing five Syracuse players to reach double figures. When all was said and done, the backcourt duo of Frank Howard and Battle looked like one of the best tandems in the ACC, even better than that of Bowman and Robinson. The two combined for 42 points, guiding the Orange to a 81-63 victory—its most decisive win since late November.

Four minutes in, it appeared as if the Eagles (13-8, 3-5 Atlantic Coast) had figured out Syracuse (14-6, 3-4) head coach Jim Boeheim’s famous 2-3 zone. Using dribble-drive penetration, BC repeatedly attacked the key, only to dish the ball back outside for an open

perimeter shot. It worked to perfection—literally. The Eagles drilled their first five field goals of the game, four of which were from downtown, jumping out to a 14-7 lead.

Syracuse was saved by a Battle layup and a media timeout. As soon as the Orange broke the huddle, it put its foot on the gas. Immediately, Syracuse strung together a mini 5-0 run to tie it all up.

Bowman and Robinson did their best to keep the Eagles competitive, netting a handful of free throws and dialing up a highlight-reel, backdoor alley-oop dunk.

That was, until Oshae Brissett took over the game. The freshman forward scored 10-straight Orange points, sinking a pair of 3-pointers, and single-handedly propelled Syracuse to a four-point lead.

To make matters worse for BC, Steffon Mitchell—the Eagles’ all-encompassing stretch-four—took an inadvertent elbow to the face, as Bowman tried to tip a Syracuse pass directed toward the paint. The 6-foot-8 freshman left for the locker room and was eventually ruled out. The team’s official Twitter account reported that he will go through concussion protocol.

The absence of Mitchell severely depleted BC’s interior. Soon enough, Paschal Chukwu—the 7-foot-2 center from Westport, Conn.—began to assert his presence down low. Time and time again, the junior altered inside shots, effectively taking the Eagles’ remaining big men, who finished a combined 1-of-6 from the floor, out of the game and forcing BC’s guards to live by the jumper.

Brissett handed the keys to Howard, who went on a 10-point run of his own, building a double-digit Syracuse advantage. Logging 18 points for third time in his last four games, the 6-foot-5 guard showcased the ability to shake defenders on his way to the basket, absorb contact,

Melissa Rice/ Heights staff

Ky Bowman (left) commited five turnovers, and the Eagles dropped their 22nd-consecutive ACC road game on Wednesday night.

and drain the long-range shot. Chatman hit a couple more 3-pointers to close the gap in the waning minutes of the period, but Chukwu got the last laugh of the half, getting an inside shot to go, one second before the buzzer sounded.

The Orange—a team that averages the fewest bench minutes in college basketball this season—didn’t lose a step in the back half of play. Meanwhile, BC, just two spots ahead of Syracuse in reserve usage rate, fell apart.

After Bowman drilled a shot from NBA-range to start the period, the Eagles disappeared in the shadow of a 11-0 Orange run. Marek Dolezaj came to life, driving to the lane and finishing off-balanced and acrobatic layups with ease, and Battle—who tallied 15 of

his game-high 24 points in the second half—caught up to Howard in the box score.

Down 18, it looked as if nothing else could go wrong for BC. Then, a few minutes later, Ervins Meznieks picked off a Brissett pass, pushed the ball up the court, elevated, and missed a wide-open, breakaway layup off the front iron—perhaps a sign that it simply wasn’t the Eagles’ night.

Bowman rivaled Sunday’s turnoverhappy performance, coughing up the ball five or more times for the secondconsecutive game, and Chatman picked up a flurry of personals, putting himself in serious danger of fouling out. That danger became a reality with under six minutes to go, when the junior was

called for an illegal screen, virtually extinguishing any sort of potential BC comeback. Syracuse, namely Battle and Howard, exploited the Eagles’ makeshift lineup—consisting of Bowman, Robinson, Vin Baker Jr., Luka Kraljevic, and Nik Popovic—the rest of the way, capping off the blowout win.

Throughout the season, Eagles head coach Jim Christian has frequently stressed that, while depth is a concern, he has five capable scorers at his disposal.

Pending an MRI, the fourth-year coach could very well be down to four. Now two games under .500 in the ACC, BC’s fate rests on the health of its freshman forward. Without him, the Eagles look eerily similar to last year’s unit that ended the year on a 15-game losing streak. n

Defensive Breakdown, Turnovers Thwart BC at Carrier Dome

By Chris Noyes Heights Staff

Boston College men’s basketball forward Ervins Meznieks had logged just 21 minutes this season prior to Wednesday night’s game at Syracuse, so it was understandable that he’d be exceptionally eager to make an impact play when he checked into the Eagles’ eighth ACC game, midway through the second half.

As he leapt into the passing lane to snare a crosscourt feed intended for Frank Howard, left hand extending as far as physically possible, it looked as if that nervous energy had propelled the junior from Latvia to make his mark on the contest. With nothing but open court in front of him, Meznieks dribbled down the floor as fast as he could, headed for the kind of easy basket players dream about.

One step inside the foul line, he collected the ball in his right hand, rising up for a powerful finish, but as he neared the rim, Meznieks came to an unsettling realization—he had severely overestimated his horizontal leaping ability. Though he frantically tried to correct his mistake—attempting to lay the ball in on his way down—it grazed harmlessly off the front of the rim and fell to the floor.

Meznieks’ stellar play followed by a painful gaffe summed up the Eagles’ night in the Carrier Dome quite succinctly. With a strong shooting performance from beyond the arc canceled out by a complete defensive breakdown, BC dropped its second game in a row,

81-63. Jim Boeheim’s Orange (14-6, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) shot a whopping 60.4 percent from the field and scored a season-high 47 points in the first half, rendering the Eagles’ (13-8, 3-5) 47.8percent mark from 3-point land moot, denying them their first ACC road victory of the season.

Two Up 1) Attacking the Zone From the Free Throw Line In the game’s opening minutes, BC had great success carving up Boeheim’s vaunted 2-3 zone by entering the ball to the foul line area and then spacing its shooters in a way that stretched the defense, leaving one man open. After a dunk in transition by Jerome Robinson gave the Eagles their first points, their next three baskets all came on triples generated by getting the ball to the middle of the zone. The common denominator in all three plays was Nik Popovic serving as the triggerman, using his underrated passing skills to spray the ball to his shooters, creating clean looks for his guards.

In one instance, Popovic got the ball from Bowman, and caught Syracuse’s Tyus Battle napping at the top of the zone. By merely looking at Robinson on the far wing, he got Battle to drift sideways, completely forgetting about the fact that Jordan Chatman was standing right behind him. The junior marksman had plenty of time to shoot and knocked down the easy 3-pointer.

On the next play, as Popovic set up shop at the foul line, Oshae Brissett seemingly ignored Robinson on the wing, flashing down low to double the

Bosnian sophomore. As Battle flew over to cover Robinson, Popovic kicked it out to Chatman, who made the extra pass past a scrambling Howard to Ky Bowman for another open shot from deep, which forced Boeheim to call a timeout.

Soon after, Robinson followed up an entry pass to Popovic by cutting down the lane. With Pascal Chukwu—Syracuse’s 7-foot-2 center—occupied by Popovic, Brissett had to bump down to meet the cutter, leaving Chatman free on the far wing for another easy triple.

2) Turning Offensive Rebounds into Perimeter Shots One of the best ways to generate 3-pointers in basketball is during the scramble that ensues after an offensive rebound. This is especially true against a zone defense, where defenders don’t have individual box-out responsibilities, leaving an opponent plenty of chances to clean up on the offensive glass. Though BC only had five offensive boards against Syracuse, it made the most of its opportunities, highlighted by a stretch in which the Eagles used offensive rebounds to set up two 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the first half.

Both times, Jordan Chatman was the play’s final beneficiary, hitting his third and fourth triples of the half. The second sequence serves as a particularly fine example of how ball movement eventually picks apart a defense scrambling to reset after allowing an opponent a second-chance possession.

Two Down 1) Defending Penetration There’s no hiding the fact that BC’s

defense was suspect across the board, from start to finish. You don’t allow an opponent to shoot over 60 percent from the floor without a team-wide breakdown. Battle and Howard hurt the Eagles all night long, combining to score 42 points on 15-of-28 shooting from the field, with five 3-pointers. The duo certainly hit their fair share of tough isolation jumpers off the dribble—shots that BC defenders might’ve been able to contest better, but otherwise couldn’t do much about.

But they also managed to slice into the paint numerous times with minimal resistance, getting clean looks at the rim.

Early in the second half, Howard used a hesitation dribble to slip past both Chatman and Luka Kraljevic, exploding to the rack and laying the ball in, all while working around a Popovic block attempt. With under two minutes left in the game, Howard again used a lefty hesitation dribble, this time slipping by Bowman near the half court line, with more than 20 feet of open hardwood in front of him. He zoomed past Popovic, and finished softly at the hoop.

It’s certainly not fair to blame Popovic for not blocking these shots. The sophomore has strengths, but being an athletic rim protector is not among them. Rather, these moments illustrate just how crucial airtight perimeter defense on athletic guards is to BC’s team defense, given its deficiencies at guarding the basket. In a league teeming with some of the most explosive guards in the nation, the Eagles must

improve in this department if they are to have any chance of winning future ACC games.

2) Depth After Bowman inadvertently whacked Mitchell in the side of the head with an elbow midway through the first half, the freshman from Shakopee, Minnesota entered the concussion protocol at halftime, missing the rest of the game. Mitchell played just 18 minutes Wednesday, less than half of his 36.4 minutes per game average in ACC play entering the night. As a result, BC was forced to test its frontcourt depth, playing Popovic and Kraljevic together and experimenting with a Kraljevic-Reyes frontcourt pairing at times. Head coach Jim Christian even dusted off Meznieks for a brief three minute cameo in the second half.

Excluding Popovic, those other three players combined to score just one point across 27 minutes. They posed minimal threats on offense, without the ability to be either accurate shooters or quickly gather the ball in the paint and go up for a dunk or layup. As a result, Syracuse’s zone was rarely stressed below the foul line, with all of its attention focused on the Eagles’ perimeter shooters.

Since it would be naïve to assume that any of the players outside BC’s starting five—with the possible exception of Kraljevic—could establish themselves as a potent scorer by the end of the season, Wednesday’s lineup chaos only serves to prove just how paper thin Christian’s rotation is. Mitchell missing any time with a potential head injury would spell disaster for BC. n

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Jack Black Reigns Supreme in the ‘The Polka King’

BY JACK GOLDMAN Copy Editor The Polka King begins with a voiceover and white words on a black background.

Perhaps not the start one would anticipate from a movie about a Ponzi-scheming polka singer/gift shop owner/pizza delivery guy.

Have no fear, the words spell out the following: “This really happened.” Then a beat.

“In Pennsylvania.” The lights come up on a polka performance, led by an overweight blonde man dressed in a white suit and a red shirt in 1990, serenading a bunch of old people, backed by a dancing chicken.

So perhaps it’s the start one would anticipate after all.

Jack Black produces and stars as Jan Levan, a Polish immigrant who at the start of the feature is working away at making it as a polka band leader in small-town Pennsylvania. Jenny Slate plays his loyal, if insecure, wife Marla, Jason Schwartzman steals the movie as Mickey Stutz, while Jacki Weaver snarls her way through the movie as Marla’s mother.Director Maya Forbes (The Larry Sanders Show) had quite the script to pull together: a true story about a polka band member, his family, his best friend Mickey, bribing the Vatican, a Ponzi scheme, a stabbing, and plenty of romantic drama is quite the task—and she almost pulls it off.

Coming in at just over 90 minutes, The Polka King isn’t here to sweat the details. It

FILM

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can’t—there are too many to string together.

Yet some of the characters leave you wanting more. Black owns the screen—Levan is in almost every shot of the movie, his lilting accent and relentless, upbeat nature pulls the audience along much like he pulls his posse with him: potentially a little unwillingly surrounded by the elderly and polka music. Schwartzman’s transformation as the scenes tick along is hilarious, and you can’t help but root for the vain but well-meaning Marla. Unfortunately, Jan’s son David (Robert Capron) doesn’t have enough to do, but is the emotional hinge of the movie.

The lesser band members are constantly in the background, but little about them is mentioned or explained. Vanessa Bayer (Saturday Night Live) is in a good bit of this movie as a dancing bear, but the only details we learn is that she stirs the pot, isn’t well liked, and wants to have sex with one of the married members of the band. There isn’t much context given, and although it seems like that would be ridiculous enough to be funny, the jokes need a little more background for them to hit consistently.

By no means is this movie an unenjoyable watch. Netflix is the perfect landing spot for it. Call it ridiculous, but low stakes is the kind of intellectual property that can suck up your entire night when the streaming service is at its best, and The Polka King fits the bill. The story is more than engaging, and the performances are solid. Does it

matter how Jan’s name is pronounced? In his words, no, even he doesn’t know which way it is: Yahn or Jan. In a sense, the lack of stakes behind the man’s own name describes the lack of stakes you feel even though Levan is running a Ponzi scheme on a bunch of old people to try to make his family, friends, and even his awful mother-in-law happy.

There are more than a few funny moments: Mickey’s confession to what he wants his stage name to be is the best scene of the movie, and the moment has an impact on every action Schwartzman takes for the rest of the movie.

The film parodies its “white-out” cast well in every scene they’re able to have a black person in—rural Pennsylvania isn’t depicted as any more diverse than it actually is, but luckily we get some JB Smoove time out of it, who, even in a restrained form, is a pleasant addition. It’s enjoyable to ride in the blue-white-and-red Jan Levan Band van.

That’s what The Polka King is: enjoyable.

More enjoyable than listening to polka, and more enjoyable than David Lynch finds Philadelphia to be.

“I’ve said many, many, many unkind things about Philadelphia, and I meant every one,” the director once explained.

The Polka King makes the argument that he should at least try the surrounding towns, but the director won’t find much beyond a small town doing small things that somehow creates a likable Ponzi schemer. 

Migos Flirt with Over-Saturation, Fall Short on ‘Culture II’

BY CANNON FEW Heights Staff

If the release of “Bad and Boujee” toward the end of 2016 didn’t solidify Migos as the top curator of the sounds dominating hiphop, then the release of Culture in January of last year definitely did. Culture debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, the U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and the Canadian Albums Chart. By July it was certified platinum. It was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 60th Grammy Awards, alongside Kendrick Lamar’s Damn and Jay Z’s 4:44. When the release of its sequel, Culture II, was announced, the hip-hop community was faced with the question: How were the Atlanta rap kings going to follow it up?

As it turns out, they couldn’t. The 24-track sequel is pretty underwhelming.

The majority of the songs follow the same formula and lack the magnetism and charisma Migos claims its stake on. The bulk of the album just sounds like the throwaways from Culture. The lengthiness and linearity of the album make sitting through the entire thing feel more like work than enjoyment.

And it’s not groundbreaking or rewarding work—it’s more like the busy work your high school teachers gave you to keep you occupied. Culture II is more of a playlist than an album, and it doesn’t achieve the broader net appeal of a longer project, such as Drake did with Views and More Life, for example.

Make no mistake, there are some great songs on Culture II. When Migos drops 24 tracks, a few are

bound to hit home. The second single from the album, “Stir Fry,” released in December, really stands out in contrast to the rest of Culture II. Armed with the production genius of Pharrell, “Stir Fry” features a refreshingly different rhythm and flow from Migos’s other work. Its syncopated beat and synth-reliant instrumentation give it an enticing energy. More standouts from the album include “Gang Gang,” an auto-tuned gem that opens up with Takeoff, typically the least recognized member of Migos, wondering “Would you love me if I ran away?”

This track kicks off a more serious and somber tone than Migos’s usual confident and cocky style. Takeoff is reminding us here that the Migos’s members are, in fact, human and do experience emotion behind their shades and gold, a sentiment Quavo quickly follows up with singing “Whole lotta gang shit gang gang gang,” on what could be a pop-hit instrumental. You have to love these guys.

“White Sand” boasts the most features on the album with Travis Scott, Ty Dolla $ign, and Big Sean. Though at times this song can be a little cluttered and crowded, Big Sean’s verse and the hook by Scott and Quavo hold up its weight. “Made Men,” which comes second to last on the track list, really should have been the intro. On a heavily R&B-influenced beat, Takeoff addresses the audience, “Hello world, hi. / I would like to welcome you to the Migos show.” The rest of the beat necessitates more in-depth lyricism that, unfortunately, wouldn’t coincide with the Migos brand.

Nevertheless, the change of pace is intrigu-

ing and offers an example of the different things Migos needs to be doing to continue its role as the top proponents of the culture its last two albums glorify.

The best track on the album is “Notice Me,” a slow-tempo beat that features an incredible hook from the master of incredible hooks, Post Malone, and excellent verses from both Takeoff and Offset. This isn’t the radio hit that Post had with Quavo in “Congratulations,” but it is proof that the two artists’ sounds are great together.

If you’re in any way aware of the world around you, Migos is inescapable. Since its rise to the forefront of trap music, it has consistently been putting out content that assures at least some part of the world’s gaze on it. And it’s been working. But with their third studio album in three years, one with

a colossal tracklist and much of the same sound that took them to the top, at what point does all this content oversaturate the genre? At many moments on the album you can feel Migos clinging on, seemingly desperately, to the same methods, the same lyrical subject, and the same ad lib-filled group flow that it has become known for. To invoke the wisdom of Gucci Mane, maybe Migos is getting lost in its own sauce.

Culture II isn’t exactly a flop, but it certainly doesn’t hold itself up to the standard Migos has set for itself. It dropped one day before the one-year anniversary of its tour de force in Culture, but it seems so rushed and unnecessary when you work through it that one wonders if they should have forfeited honoring the first Culture for taking their time. 

MUSIC

CULTURE II MIGOS DISTRIBUTED BY MOTOWN RECORDS RELEASE JAN. 26, 2018 OUR RATING

MOTOWN RECORDS

Soderbergh Presents Compelling Drama in ‘Mosaic’

BY LUIS FIALHO For the Heights

Mosiac is, fittingly, a fractured masterpiece. Steven Soderbergh’s new HBO miniseries is a complicated and confusing murder-mystery that demands attention. Originally created as an interactive phone app, it has been recut to form a more traditional six-part miniseries with the hope that the show will get the wider audience it deserves.

Soderbergh is at his best in this project, seeming to find his place in the no man’s- land between television and film that is the mini-series. Each episode is around an hour long, but so well produced that each feels like

it could be a movie in its own right (sometimes similar in this way to the widely popular BBC series Sherlock).

The camera is personal and intense, regularly adopting vantage points through mirrors or around walls to give a sense that the viewer is a voyeur. Close-up shots of faces with clearly audible salivations by the cast create a tense, personal, and slightly uncomfortable feel that hovers over the whole series, just like the best mysteries do.

The writing is sharp and realistic, each character rejecting hard stereotypes, making the detective work all the harder, and as such, all the more realistic. In the moments where there is no dialogue, the soundtrack steps

TELEVISON

MOSAIC STEVEN SODERBERGH PRODUCED BY HBO RELEASE JAN. 22, 2018 OUR RATING

HBO

in flawlessly. Synthetic bass lines with harsh reeds intensify the simplest moments, constantly setting the viewer on edge.

Sharon Stone as Olivia is incredible in her portrayal of a lonely and bitter woman, providing a strong center for the show to build a foundation on. Her two men of interest, Joel and Eric, portrayed by Garrett Hedlund and Fred Weller respectively, are phenomenal foils for her character. Both actors manage to portray characters who are complicated and mysterious but still understandable. While Stone is irreplaceable in her performance, Hedlund’s portrayal of Joel and his painful descent provide the most intriguing character arc of a series dominated by interesting characters.

What the show suffers from is what makes it so incredible: its depth. The show gives a lot of fragments for the viewer to put together, which causes some of the scenes to be a bit drawn out. Certain points seem like sheer exposition for minutes, and overall, the series progresses at a pretty slow pace, weighted by an overwhelming amount of detail. The latent tension in the scenes is enough to keep dedicated viewers watching, but too often audiences might be left wondering when something is going to pick up the pace.

As Mosaic is partnered with the app of the same name, it bears discussion here. After accepting the completely alien viewing experience, navigating around the app is surprisingly intuitive. The show might be a shade too long, but it wouldn’t be surprising if some viewers liked the app better. Every aspect of the show that is great is still there, but in an order and format that fit the detective mode perfectly. It’s definitely not perfect, but it prompts consideration of what the future potential of such a viewing experience could be.

Mosaic is a good show. It’s streamlined, and incredibly well shot, directed, and acted. Anyone looking for the next small binge of six hours would find a rewarding series in Mosaic. For the person who wants to try something new the app might be a welcome addition to the viewing experience. With more material, more mystery, and more interaction with the story it leads to an overall more rewarding experience. Whether the experiments of Mosaic will make it past the fringe is yet to be seen, but with the explosion in popularity of the innovative and interactive trivia show app HQ, television may soon be changing. If nothing else, Mosaic is trying to be part of that change in a spectacular fashion. 

MUSIC VIDEO KAYLIE RAMIREZ

‘HARD TO IMAGINE’ THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

The Neighbourhood combines elements of their Sept. 22-released Hard EP and their Jan. 18-released To Imagine EP in its most recent music video, appropriately titled “Hard to Imagine.”

The California-based alternative rock group hangs onto its signature black-and-white aesthetic and L.A. symbolism in the seven-and-a-half minute video, which takes place in what appears to be a dilapidated Hollywood home.

Striking visuals and a coherent artistic vision carry frontman Jesse Rutherford and his bandmates through the inspired video project.

An outside shot of the old cracked-stone mansion serves as the background for the title screen.

The appearance of red words is perfectly timed to the opening tones of “You Get Me So High” before the screen fades to black and displays the trademark Neighbourhood upside down house symbol.

The bass-heavy beat of “You Get Me So High” ushers in a shot of Rutherford, whose bleach-blonde hair and flannel recall images of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, lighting a joint while slumped against a dusty wall.

The first of four songs in the video involves a camera racing through the house, finding band members performing mundane activities like smoking a cigarette or answering a telephone call. The song ends with a time-lapse sunset shot from an outdoor archway that captures an image of the Los Angeles skyline framed by palm trees.

Morning arrives to find Rutherford stalking through the house to a muted recording of “Scary Love,” an upbeat track from To Imagine, to arrive at a makeshift stage on which band members Zach Abels, Mikey Margott, Jeremy Freedman, and Brandon Fried wait to perform.

Rutherford takes hold of a microphone chained to the ceiling like a chandelier as the room goes black and bright stadium lights create a perfect silhouette shot of the group.

The deep black of the room and Rutherford’s leather jacket contrasted with the bright white light creates a sultry feel for the gyrating synthetic beat.

An interlude of muted sounds from “Stuck With Me” creep down the hallway to find a wall telephone suspended in midair in a messy kitchen.

The eerie sound morphs into the track from To Imagine as the camera discovers the musicians dispersed throughout a drained pool for the duration of the song.

The song ends with the band standing in the back of a woodlined room with a wall of windows slowly allowing the outside light to flood in.

Again, the telephone symbol returns as black telephone cords wind in criss-cross fashion across the ceiling of a monochromatic corridor.

The cords sprawl throughout the disheveled house to the instruments that compose the sound of the final track of the video, “Sadderdaze.”

A violin, the defining instrument of the unusual sound for the band, screeches as the monochromatic hues shift to dim blues and greens and the camera pans to a shot of the evening sun.

The order of the songs in the video seems to spell out the course of a relationship—the uplifting onset of “You Get Me So High” fading quickly to a tragic end in “Sadderdaze.”

The combination of songs from The Neighbourhood’s latest EPs and California-centric images stays true to the band’s persona while the fade to color and experimental new sounds hint at a fresh take from the band. 

The Heights

Monday, January 29, 2018

Social Critism Abounds in ‘Art and Tech’ Exhibit Lights Off in Havana

By Tristan St. Germain Heights Staff

Constant exposure to billboards, street signs, corporate logos, and a whole slew of virtual advertisements that populate the internet and social media can become somewhat overwhelming. The eye has been trained to compartmentalize the images we see on television screens and even in photographs—comprehending the multidimensional content of a flat surface, as opposed to letting it dissolve into the natural environment. Exhibited on the first floor of O’Neill Library is an installation that challenges the way we absorb media. Walking into the room, which contains an array of digital works by various students, is like a thousand ads popping up on your computer screen at once. The pieces exhibited grab playfully at every cultural icon conceivable, creating a collage of images that teeter between

the humorous and political.

The exhibit showcases work from students of Karl Baden, a professor of photography at Boston College.

The cluttered yet quiet feel of the project—a splurge of information that assaults cultural icons while hiding inconspicuously behind their general recognizability—is indeed correlative to Baden’s own work as a fully-fledged artist. Every day since Feb. 23, 1987, Baden has taken a photograph of his face against a white background, stringing the images into an animated sequence that shows the effect of time upon the body. Aside from commentary on themes such as the self and aging, the “Every Day” project is impressive for conceptually encapsulating the superfluous abundance of the “selfie” some decades before it was even a social phenomenon.

Likewise, O’Neill’s photographic mixed media collages—measuring just about the size of standard printer

Jake Evans / Heights staff

The Art and Digital Technology Exhibit examines the nature of pop culture in society.

paper, though some were formatted cubically—are best appreciated in juxtaposition to one another, from a vantage wherein their individual contents are less noticeable than the dizzying array of colors they present collectively. That they surround the hunched figures of studying students, like some virtual wallpaper that never demands the “audience’s” attention, better suits the overall artistic intention than if each were presented individually. Furthermore, the works are without labels or the names of their creators—just pictorial non sequiturs floating along a pervasive backdrop.

The installation gives the impression of having reached into a database of random images, connected only by the cultural currency they embody.

This fragmentation of any single thematic picture works to the exhibit’s benefit in many cases. Political statements are given the same aesthetic grounding as blatant commercial advertising. Absolut Vodka, Air Jordans, and iPhones line up against photos of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, or perhaps other objects of fashion that lose all meaning in context of their neighboring visual icons. This actual content is often plastered artificially to a glossy background that makes the object’s foreignness obvious. It is like a (perhaps unintentional) parody of how commonplace these symbols are among their ad-centered landscapes. The posters of films that bear an at-best cursory resemblance are cross-cut into movie mashups whose relationship or string of compatibility relies on the most superficial attri-

butes. One student rearranged the poster for Pixar’s Up to resemble the photograph-within-a-photograph of Christopher Nolan’s 2001 thriller Memento, while another student turned Harry Potter into a stoner comedy on the sheer basis of his name including the word “pot.” Truly creative genius at its finest.

One panel contains a loose association of politically motivated pieces.

Whether they were done by the same artist or many cannot be determined.

Trump appears in a few of them, digitally altered to look more reptile-like than usual.

The section that best encompasses the overall goal of the installation is a series of fashion ads and urban landscapes. Rather than becoming the sole focus of our attention, the commercial products depicted (mainly Supreme and other clothing brands) aim to embellish an overall atmosphere that generates from the composition, in the phased-out images of models standing against city backgrounds or the drink aisles of grocery stores.

One poster shows a face recoiling in two-dimensionally rendered slow motion, the contours of her revolving expression like smeared chalk on a blackboard.

Simple iconography plastered against real life images, all of which is seen through the lens of a low-quality camera attempting to become vintage, more “true to life,” becomes the artistic centerpoint of the exhibition, encapsulating in a few well-designed posters what the rest can only do as a collective. n

UPrising Brings Talent, Grace to ‘Waves’ Show

By Isabella Dow Heights Senior Staff

As the lights dimmed to begin the show at Robsham Theater, the crowd’s fervent cheering erupted to welcome UPrising’s hip hop showcase, “Waves.” The group choreographed and danced several detailed numbers to well-known hip-hop music, sharing its infectious energy with the spirited audience. The showcase also featured several Boston College dance groups, including Masti, AEROdynamiK, Fuego del Corazon, Dance Ensemble, and Synergy, as well as one Boston-based guest group, Queens with a Mission (QWAM).

“Waves” opened with a smooth, slowtempo opening number. The dancers embodied the John Mayer-esque track, with crisp hand movements, highly stylized precision, and isolated body movements. UPrising has a remarkable unison between its dancers, and the cohesive dance allowed for a seamless transition between the medley of songs in the number. When Sam Smith’s “Too Good at Goodbyes” blasted onto the stage, the audience screamed in approval.

Pairing emotive choreography with visually dynamic stage formations, UPrising set the bar high for the rest of the night.

The show switched off between its guest performers and UPrising numbers, which led to AEROdynamiK taking the stage. When Portugal the Man’s “Feel it Still” remix brought its poppy, upbeat sound to the stage, the group responded with effervescent movement.

Among the guest performances was Fuego del Corazon, which presented fiery Latin dancing and show-stopping lifts that contributed an intricate interpretation of the energy of hip hop dance. Masti appeared with its trademark Bollywood Fusion dance, its dancers all smiles as they carried out assisted backflips and bouncy movements to the likes of “Swalla.” Adding yet another shade of dance to the evening, Dance Ensemble filled the stage with sweeping, contemporary choreography.

The crowd was a riot throughout the performance, loving the tribute to “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls. Synergy took the stage with their signature hip hop attitude and a sultry number, complete with head tosses and dynamic choreography.

UPrising maintained its magnetic presence throughout the night, bringing flashy numbers to the stage, such as its Nicki Minaj medley.

The dancers embodied Minaj’s cold,

Celine Lim / Heights staff

UPrising mesmorizes the audience through cohesive and precise dance performance. sleek, tough demeanor through each segment of the performance. The segments built on each other to develop the roaring energy required to carry out its graceful elements as well as its more staccato ones.

UPrising’s Drake number began with “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” and opened with the silhouettes of the dancers, which allowed the audience to appreciate the whole of the dancers’ movements and their unity on the stage.

UPrising’s performances seemed to escalate as they transitioned into a Be-

yonce number. Opening with silhouettes and red lighting for “Formation” and paying tribute to the iconic song, the dancers were fierce and conveyed the larger-thanlife persona of the pop culture queen.

Finally, the show closed with UPrising’s Kendrick Lamar performance, which contrasted moments of stillness with explosive creativity. The effect was a dance that attended to the song’s catchy lyrics, before transitioning into a lively closing sequence that had the audience singing along to the prolific track. n

‘No Exit’ Examines Nature of Hell for Humanity

By Stephanie Liu For The Heights

Filled with smooth music and comfortably warm lighting, No Exit’s beginning gives little hint to the tension about to arise.

With a deceivingly simple set consisting of only five props, No Exit tells a grim and complex tale about self-deception and identity through three deceased characters, ultimately concluding that the human company is torture itself.

No Exit begins with a rigid valet (Hal Knowlton, MCAS ’21) entering a room with three cloth covered furniture pieces and a strange bronze statue to the background of soft jazz music. The background is made of cold, gray brick and the room has a single,

unrelenting door. The valet soon removes the clothes, revealing three ordinary, “hideous” couches that comically mismatch the stony backdrop. After the valet cleans the room, he snaps his fingers and the ambiance shifts immediately. The lights become piercingly bright and any comforting background noise is gone. The room adopts a sort of sterility and unbearable silence.

The characters, Garcin (Grant Whitney, MCAS ’21), Inez (Nicole Hayes, MCAS ’20), and Estelle (Isabel Litterst, MCAS ’21) enter the room one by one. The setting and the characters both remain mysterious with only subtle clues to their identities, but the characters soon note that the lights never turn off and no mirrors are found anywhere in the room. The valet cruelly teases that the

Kristin saleski / Heights staff

‘No Exit’ explores a personal hell for three hapless people trapped together for eternity.

doorbell to summon him might not always work, leaving the members to no one but themselves in the room. The audience slowly discovers that Garcin was a journalist from Rio de Janeiro, Inez was a postal clerk, and Estelle was a trophy wife in Paris. The setting of the play is also slowly revealed to be hell, and all the characters are in fact, dead.

Garcin and Estelle quickly tell a complete version of their stories—Garcin declaring himself a pacifist hero who was shot for refusing service and Estelle painting herself as a dedicated wife, while Inez looks on wryly. The characters realize that their punishment is each other, and they make a pact to stay on their own sofas and make no noise, but conflict soon arises.

It becomes evident that no one is in Hell by mistake, as each of them had committed unforgivable atrocities. The characters wonder about their own self-identity and try to latch onto each other to find some evidence of existence. They try to get reassurance from each other to find some semblance of their past pride. They grasp onto each other but also push each other away. The characters act as perfect torturers, and the play becomes more and more disturbing.

Even more haunting is the valet’s silent appearance around the set. If audience members turned away from the stage, they could sometimes spot the unblinking valet intently watching the room along the audience, satisfied at the chaos within.

Hayes especially shined in her portrayal

of Inez, a lesbian postal clerk who had died from the gas oven. Inez was deeply disturbing—sometimes seeming the most reasonable, while other times hysterical. Inez is the only character out of the three to accept her wickedness from the beginning, calling herself a “damned bitch” and acting unsurprised at her place in hell. Inez is the most astute of the characters not only because she recognizes her own circumstance but also because she also sees through the the other two. She interrupts their willful selfdelusion and forces them all to face themselves in their viciousness. Hayes made the character come alive, becoming a complex and spiteful character that tormented not only the others but herself as well.

No Exit is perfectly absurd, as the most intense anguish arises from the most quotidian scene. Leaving three people in a room together is hellish enough. Hell as Jean-Paul Sartre pictures is not a torture chamber or grueling physical punishments. Most of all, hell is other people.

Because there are others, the characters try to find validation from each other.

Because there are others, they taunt and spite each other. Because there are others, they constantly guess at the others’ judgments and can never achieve peace.

Hell is not fire and brimstone, or eternal torture at the hands of a demon with cloven feet. Hell is a drawing room with two other people and an eternity to spare. n

B7

Emily Himes

Today’s music scene revolves around the use of the internet—without WiFi, how would you access Spotify? And even if you don’t use Spotify (what year are you living in?), and you download your music, you need internet connection for that too. How about producing and distributing music? Most producers use modern technology to record, and advertise online to distribute their music.

My mom and her family fled Cuba in the early ’60s to escape political and religious persecution. Her father was imprisoned for absolutely no reason other than intimidation—freedom of speech was nonexistent. At 17 years old, my uncle was not allowed to leave the house as my grandmother was afraid he would be taunted or attacked because of the family’s political beliefs. And this all still happens today, without showing signs of relief.

Cuba is considered one of the most disconnected countries on Earth, which takes a toll on its access to American and international music and recording technology. Severe censorship, alongside intense technological and financial restrictions, create astronomical problems for emerging musicians. Until three years ago, the internet was virtually nonexistent in Cuba. Even now, Cubans wait in line to get scratch-off cards to receive outdated, censored, and slow internet access (that is, if they can afford it). Some Cuban residents have even gone as far as creating their own type of internet (illegally, of course) in which data is put onto hard drives and distributed to as many as three million Cubans. American music, movies, and TV shows are often smuggled onto these hard drives, known as “Paquetes,” by friends or relatives across the strait. State-controlled media doesn’t allow for much access in terms of arts and culture.

Cubans are effectively excluded from a worldwide dialogue. A Cuban group that has succeeded in the United States and internationally is Gente De Zona. They have shown unprecedented triumph, but have put in the work. Alexander Delgado, the group’s founder, used egg cartons as sound insulation. They broke out of the Cuban music scene with the help of Descemer Bueno, a Miami native who has worked with other Latin musicians. Gente De Zona became internationally popular when they were featured on Enrique Iglesias’s hit “Bailando.” They have since become an inspiration to Cuban artists.

The music scene, with all its struggles, becomes more complicated the more it gets promoted. Herein lies the problem— since the embargo was lifted a few years ago, music festivals in Cuba featuring bigname DJs are becoming more prevalent.

Musicabana was a fairly well-attended music festival in 2016 that featured popular DJs such as Major Lazer. Originally, multiple Cuban artists were in the lineup, but they never performed (a little suspicious, don’t you think?). You might think to yourself, “Great! More tourism equals more wealth for Cuban residents.” Wrong.

More money going to Cuba means more money going to the Castro regime. The more money the regime has, the worse off Cuban residents are. The profits made from music festivals and the tourism that will indisputably follow will not assist the poverty-stricken Cuban residents in the philanthropic ways most think they will.

The government is the entity benefiting most from tourism. The more money, and consequently power, a dictator has, the more they will oppress the people—that’s just how communism works.

This is a long way of saying that attending music festivals in Havana brings more oppression to Cuban residents. It’s a loselose situation. This money isn’t stimulating the economy, it’s benefiting a historically oppressive regime that drove my family and countless others out of their homes, as well as sustaining a culture of intense poverty and general exclusion (of minorities within the country, and of the country as a whole from a modern world).

My friends and classmates in the Cuban-American Student Association were just as appalled as I was. When I thanked them for sharing their opinions, one replied, “Always a pleasure to shit on the Castros.” Enough said.

Emily Himes is the asst. arts editor for The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

ARTS

B8

MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2018

@BCHEIGHTSARTS

‘No Exit,’ No Escape The famous play by Sartre explores the nature of eternal damnation from an unusual perspective.

The cast and crew of ‘No Exit’ speak on their experiences bringing the fatal story to life.

BY KAYLIE RAMIREZ Assoc. Arts Editor

“Hell is other people!” bellows Garcin in the revealing climax of JeanPaul Sartre’s No Exit, a 1944 abstract existentialist play that highlights man’s most terrible qualities. The Boston College theatre department’s latest production delivers all of the fire and fury of a psychological hell while punctuating the piece with perfectly timed bouts of humor and tragedy.

No Exit tells the story of four characters’ journey through hell and the dirty deeds that landed them an eternity of misery. The driver of the action of the play is a valet, played by Hal Knowlton, MCAS ’21, who locks three wretched souls in an inescapable room and watches from offstage as they slowly

however, when he realizes he is subject to an eternity with no rest—the lights are always on in hell. Despite noticeably recoiling when touched by the menace, Garcin frantically pounds on the door when left alone.

Inez and Estelle, played by Nicole Hayes, MCAS ’20, and Isabel Litterst, MCAS ’21, respectively, are then ushered into the room. While Inez enters in a panicked state, calling the name of her dead girlfriend out into what she does not yet know is a void of endless pain, Estelle enters with many questions and complaints about the furniture. Estelle’s concern with superficial matters reflects her vanity—she also breaks down when she discovers there are no mirrors for her to use to fix her lipstick in the room.

The student performers detailed their process for achieving convincing

KRISTIN SALESKI / HEIGHTS STAFF

Nicole Hayes delivers a judgmental stare as she portrays Inez, an aggressive matriarch. unravel. He is the first to enter the room and theatrically removes the covers from the furniture, eagerly preparing for his guests’ arrival. Knowlton metaphorically describes his character’s role as setting up two incompatible friends on a blind date and “showing up at the diner” to watch them “drive each other crazy.”

Garcin, a journalist at a WWII-era pacifist paper in Rio de Janeiro, is the first to be escorted by the unsettling valet into the stone-walled room, which contains just three chairs, a bronze statue, and a knife. Played by Grant Whitney, MCAS ’21, Garcin’s response to the lack of chains, whips, and burnt flesh is humorous at first, as he fires an unrelenting round of questions at the devilish valet. Garcin’s tone shifts,

entrances into hell on stage. Just before entering the room through the door on center stage, the actors imagine dying.

Each thespian gets in the headspace of their character and tries to mimic their emotion as much as possible. Whitney imagines he is sent to his own execution by electric chair, although Garcin dies after being shot 12 times in the chest.

Inez dies when her girlfriend turns on the gas stove while they sleep, effectively suffocating both of them in the dead of the night. Meanwhile, Estelle spends her final hours in a diseased daze and eventually dies from pneumonia.

Knowlton’s process is slightly different than that of Whitney, Hayes, and Litterst, who all play human characters that experience an actual death. Rather

than picturing himself confronted with mortality, Knowlton prefers quiet contemplation. The valet plays the role of a satanic being in this version of hell, a role that presents both physical and mental challenges for the actor.

Because Garcin describes the valet as “unblinking” in Sartre’s script, Knowlton is not allowed to blink on stage for up to 20 minutes at a time. Combined with his smug smile, Knowlton’s ability to remain wide-eyed on stage makes for a very sinister appearance.

Despite Estelle’s qualms about the dreary set, student director Kylie Fletcher, MCAS ’18, detailed the significance of each piece on stage in an interview. Fletcher discussed how the set was updated to convey her vision for the play to a modern audience.

While a 1940s audience would easily find the set’s Second Empire style chairs too ugly to spend an eternity with, Fletcher also took from the brutalist style of architecture that moderns find unattractive today to create the walls and floors, citing O’Neill Library as an example of a brutalist eyesore.

Because Sartre incorporates both philosophy and psychology in the abstract piece, Fletcher had to be creative to convey the memories of Earth the characters recall throughout their time in the grey brick room. Stage manager Meg Ellis, MCAS ’20, is in charge of the sound and lighting cues during the show, and she discussed how the production team managed to give the audience a peek into the characters’ most private thoughts. Each time a character experiences a flashback, a certain color lighting pervades the stage to convey the singularity of the experience.

Light music, whispers, and other sound effects are paired with the lighting to allow the audience to have the same experience as the characters when they are eavesdropping on Earth. Additionally, each character’s chair in the room is the same color as the light that accompanies their memories. While Ellis’s primary objective is that the audience enjoys the theatrical experience, she also hopes the hard work and intentional effort behind the scenes do not go unnoticed.

While Estelle is perched on her blue settee, she is suddenly struck by a vision of Earth where she sees a past suitor canoodling with a woman named Olga.

The color blue illuminates the small stage as she stares into the distance, falling deeper and deeper into despair as she realizes she is losing her ties to her past life. Meanwhile, Garcin’s memories and visions are accompanied by a green light and Inez’s by red.

From the moment Inez enters the room, she immediately clashes with Garcin. While Inez is an independent and rambunctious woman, Garcin displays a violent misogyny during both verbal and physical confrontations with the female characters. Hayes describes her character as “confrontational” but with “little windows into her vulnerability,” a combination she hopes an audience

KRISTIN SALESKI / HEIGHTS STAFF

Hal Knowlton stares blankly in classic valet fashion as Grant Whitney as Gracin fires a frantic round of questions at his unusual host.

INSIDE SCENE

Art & Digital Technology Exhibit

Student and faculty artists explore social criticism through pop culture and artistic expression..........................................B7

will relate to.

“Everyone puts [on] a face,” Hayes said.

While Fletcher hopes the theatergoers can relate to the characters, there are certain aspects of the French play an American audience may find unfamiliar.

The script is a British translation that contains a few colloquial terms that may sound strange to an American ear.

There are French cultural references that are largely inaccessible to those unaware of the history between France and Brazil—in France, Brazilian men have a negative “machismo connotation” according to Fletcher.

That may explain why Sartre depicts Garcin’s character as brutish and overly masculine. The audience learns of Garcin’s violent tendencies toward women and of his history of unapologetically cheating on his devoted wife. In a candid moment of self-reflection, Garcin reveals he would often bring women to the home the couple shared and his loyal wife would serve the impolite lovers their morning coffee.

However, Garcin’s character is much more complex than he appears. Whitney describes Garcin as an “asshole” who uses his masculinity and brutishness as a veil for his cowardice—Garcin is murdered because he avoids serving in the army during WWII, an act that is punishable by death in his home country. Much like Inez, Garcin’s soul

Throughout the play, Estelle constantly seeks validation from Garcin and makes multiple attempts to seduce the man. This impetuous pursuit creates a massive power struggle between the characters, as Inez tries to divide the two to drive Garcin insane and Estelle tries to give herself leverage over the aggressive Inez by capturing the love of Garcin.

Ultimately, Garcin gives into temptation and shares a steamy makeout session with Estelle, a scene that Whitney joked he was not to excited for his mother to witness from the crowd.

As the characters dive deeper into their inescapable, troubled minds, the valet watches from the audience. He creeps up unannounced and pierces the audience and cast members with his unwavering stare, creating a remarkably eerie feeling in the room. While the valet may come off as unrelatable, Knowlton believes the concept of reveling in others’ pain is comparable to watching reality television—to some extent, everyone finds comfort in the problems of others.

All four actors were tasked with assuming an uncomfortable role in some way. Each performer had to convey egregious character traits that manifest themselves to a limited extent during life on Earth. Despite the heavy content of Sartre’s existentialist masterpiece, the backstage area was bursting at the seams with lighthearted banter and uplifting support prior to the production’s dress

NICOLE CHAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

KRISTIN SALESKI / HEIGHTS STAFF

Isabel Litterst assumes the position of generous host as she enters the room as Estelle. is unmasked during his time in hell, and this proves to be a much more unsettling experience than physical torture for the guarded individual.

Despite her physical beauty, Estelle possesses the ugliest soul in the play. She describes her past, in which she marries young to a wealthy older man, only to meet her soulmate while betrothed to someone else. When the younger, more handsome man impregnates Estelle, she is devastated. After going to Switzerland to have the baby in secret, she drops the baby girl into the cold lake below her balcony to release herself from the burden of motherhood.

Her overtly materialist views cause her to refuse to raise a family with a poor, unsuccessful man. Although Estelle’s egregious actions make her seem despicable in the worst way, Litterst believes the troubled character will find redemption in the fact that she really only seeks attention and support due to her hard past and yearning to be loved.

UPrising ‘Waves’ Show

BC’s UPrising dance group brought talent and grace to the stage, along with performances by other groups.................B7

rehearsal last week. Knowlton joked the production’s theme song is “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC and Hayes recalled the time the entire production broke out in a spur-of-the-moment rendition of Kanye West’s “Gold Digger.” Contrary to what one might expect after tearing each other apart on stage rehearsal after rehearsal, the cast of No Exit exhibited a genuine comraderie off the stage.

The climax of the play is reached when the three damned souls are finally able to open the door through which they all entered an indeterminate amount of time before. Despite desperately looking for an escape for the duration of their time in hell, Garcin, Estelle, and Inez can’t seem to leave their quaint quarters. Perhaps the fear of what lies beyond the door cripples the poor souls from escaping, but more likely, the characters have realized that no matter their physical location in the underworld, there is no escape from the guilty conscience brought about by their earthly injustices. 

‘The Polka King’................................................ B6 ‘Culture II’........................................................ B6 ‘Mosaic’.......................................................... B6