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EAGLES STAY ALIVE
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 Vol. XCII, No. 13
bp drills in the arctic
Sports
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A win at Virginia Tech keeps BC’s NCAA Tournament hopes alive, A10
Pop music has recently found itself inundated with new, electronic-style beats, B1
Despite complications in 2010, BP expands drilling operations, B10
The Heights Thursday, March 3, 2011
www.bcheights.com
Voting station promotes student vote By Molly LaPoint Asst. News Editor
kevin hou / heights editor
The elections committee set up a voting station outside the CTRC on Monday and Tuesday.
The elections committee set up a voting station outside the Campus Technology Resource Center (CTRC) that presented students with information about voting and the candidates’ platforms during both the primary and final elections from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the intention of encouraging students to vote. “We’re trying to raise awareness about the election and about the voting process to get more of the student body engaged in voting,” said Michael O’Hara, co-chair of the elections committee and A&S ’11.
This year, there were 3,284 votes cast in the primary election, a 70 percent increase from the previous year. During the final election, 3,918 votes were cast, up from last year’s 2,887. O’Hara said he believes there were a number of factors involved in bringing these numbers up. “We think the voting station, along with the considerable efforts of the candidates, the elections committee’s other publicity initiatives, and coverage by campus media, was definitely effective in increasing awareness and increasing voter turnout,” O’Hara said. The station was implemented as a trial
to see if it had any positive effect on voting. “It [was] kind of a trial run to see what kinds of results we got,” he said. “We’re getting positive feedback because it has shown us positive results, and we do plan on increasing voting stations next year.” Because of the success, the elections committee will likely expand the number of voting stations next year to gain more foot traffic, O’Hara said. “Based on the great results and feedback that we’ve gotten during this election, the committee intends to expand its use of voting stations next year,” he said.
See Voting, A4
Online forum, SpeakUP, to foster student dialogue
UGBC ELECTION 2011
SpeakUP intends to promote open, anonymous discussion on AHANA and GLBTQ concerns By Taylour Kumpf News Editor
SpeakUP, a new online forum for discussing campus issues including, but not limited to, AHANA and GLBTQ topics, is in the beginning stages of development. Nick Domino, UGBC senator and A&S ’12, is working to bring this forum to fruition. Modeled after Orchid, a similar forum at Wellesley College, SpeakUP hopes to engage the entire student body in open and anonymous dialogue regarding a variety of student life concerns. “When students are in classrooms, they’re more hesitant to talk about certain issues because [of how they might be perceived] based on their race and gender,” Domino said. Domino said SpeakUP would allow for a larger segment of the population to be brought into these discussions. “What SpeakUP aims to do [is engage the] stu-
dents who want to talk about these issues, but who fall into this group where they don’t speak up about them. [SpeakUP] will allow students who aren’t otherwise talking about these issues to do so.” “This dialogues starts online,” he said. “But the main objective is to have it go back into the real world. It’s all about getting back to talking in person, getting dialogue going, then bringing it back to face-to-face.” Domino said that the forum can also compliment larger University events. “After a speaker comes, for example, the organizers of that event could post questions on the forum to help continue the discussion after the fact.” In addition to AHANA and GLBTQrelated discussions, Domino said the forum can similarly be a place for lighter conversation as well. “You can enlighten yourself and learn more and more,” he
See SpeakUP, A4
UGBC senate ELECTION 2011
Nick Rellas / heights staff
Mike Kitlas and Jill Long, both A&S ’12, will be representing the interests of the student body for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year.
Kitlas-Long to lead UGBC A total of 3,918 votes were cast in the final election
By Molly LaPoint Asst. News Editor
Mike Kitlas and Jill Long, both A&S ’12, won the election for president and vice president of the UGBC, with 50.4 percent of the vote. They beat out Mike Joyce and Justin Portes, both A&S ’12, by 85 votes. “We had everyone on the campaign team gathered together so we would all hear the news at once and when it was announced everyone erupted,” Kitlas said in an e-mail.
Joyce and Portes garnered 48.2 percent of the vote, with 1.4 percent of the voters choosing to vote only in the Senate elections. A total of 3,918 votes were cast in the election, up from last year’s 2,887. The senior class vote made for the largest discrepancy between the teams – Joyce and Portes received 147 votes from seniors, whereas Kitlas and Long garnered 312. Joyce and Portes led the primary elections, with 48.6 percent of the vote. Kitlas and Long received 27.3
percent of the primary votes, and as a result, they ramped up their campaigning, Kitlas said. “Mike and Justin were running a great campaign and we knew we had a lot of ground to make up to get where we wanted to be,” Kitlas said. “The one thing we heard particularly about our campaign during the primaries was that we weren’t visible enough. That’s what we changed. We became much more visible in
See Kitlas-Long, A4
Journalism to open for more students By Zachary Halpern Heights Editor
The administration recently announced that, beginning in the fall of 2011, all journalism courses currently offered through the communication department will be offered as general university courses. The number of journalism classes offered next year will not change. David Quigley, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) said, “I’m convinced that the best approach for training journalists is to offer these courses to all arts and science undergraduates.” Lisa Cuklanz, chair of the communication department, said that there is no evidence that any student has dropped
the major as a result of these changes. She said in an e-mail that she is open to discussing the changes with any student who is uncertain or concerned about how the new policy will affect them. Quigley said he has engaged in a dialogue with the students and instructors affected by the policy. “A number of students and faculty have asked questions about the change,” he said. “I’ve been pleased with my conversations with most stakeholders on campus. I’ve explained my serious interest in journalism and A&S’s ongoing commitment to the field.” Cuklanz said that the change is part of a transformation of the communication department. “This change is part of ongoing strate-
UGBC Senate members elected for 2011-2012 term By Elise Taylor Heights Editor
In addition to voting in the UGBC presidential election, members of each class democratically selected fellow classmates who will represent them in the 2011-2012 Senate. This year’s winners were: For the Class of 2014, Sam Gervase, Molly McCarthy, Ricky Knapp, Brandon Short, and Nate Schlein. For the Class of 2013, Brian Raab, Vanessa Gomez, Scott Monaco, Constantine Schidlovsky, and Katie Moore. For the Class of 2012, Derek Lo, Cam Cronin, Danny Martinez, Nick Domino, and Layne Petrie. The UGBC Senate plays a vital role in campus life. As representatives of the undergraduate voice, they must balance approving the UGBC budget, reallocating funds, checking executive power, and initiating legislation aimed at improving the Boston College community. Comprised of 15 democratically elected senators, this governing body asserts student opinion.
“These are the leaders who listen to students’ feedback on a myriad of issues and work with other students, faculty, and administrators to address them, in a constant effort to make BC a better place to live and study,” said Ben Hall, advisor to the UGBC election committee and A&S ’12. Despite this importance, the UGBC Senate race has historically taken a back seat to the more widely promoted presidential and vice presidential elections. This year’s presidential election was a close race, with Michael Kitlas and Jill Long, both A&S ’12 winning the final election by 85 votes, but the Senate election’s results were also marginal. In this year’s overall election, 3,918 students voted, which was a 35 percent increase from last year. In total, almost 43 percent of the study body casted votes. The UGBC elections committee highlighted the importance of this positive voter turnout, especially for the senatorial
See Senate, A4
gic planning within the department that aims to create a curriculum that more closely reflects the research strengths of the faculty,” she said. “Next year, the department will offer several new electives and writing intensive seminars designed to do just that. These new courses include New Media and Society, Visual Media, Rhetorical Criticism, and Communicating Nonverbal Messages.” Quigley said that the administration will begin to develop a long-term plan regarding the journalism courses soon. “This year and the year after we’ll start to think about long term programmatic solutions,” he said. The University will analyze the level sara Davey/ heights staff
See Journalism, A4
Senate-elects campaigned similarly to presidential candidates via dorm walks and Facebook.