SCENE
2013 HOCKEY PREVIEW
The Scene chooses the non-essential services of modern pop culture, C1
Captain Pat Brown stands at the helm of the nation’s youngest team as the Eagles move past last year’s postseason struggles and set their sights on a sixth national championship, B1
POP SHUTDOWN
www.bcheights.com
HEIGHTS
THE
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
established
1919
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Vol. XCIV, No. 35
Montserrat bids farewell to founder Pastrana established coalition to support low-income students BY DEVON SANFORD Assoc. News Editor
JORDAN PENTALERI / HEIGHTS GRAPHICS
The Montserrat Coalition was started in 2010 by Boston College alumna Marina Pastrana.
On Friday afternoon, students, faculty, and administrators gathered in the foyer of the Brock House to celebrate and bid goodbye to Marina Pastrana, the former program administrator and founder of Boston College’s Montserrat Coalition and BC ’08. Pastrana recently accepted a position at Catholic Extension, a national fundraising organization that supports poor mission dioceses across the country. The BC alumna developed and worked with the Montserrat Coalition, an initiative under University Mission and Ministry that assists students at
high levels of financial need, since its formation in 2008. Her work with the Monsterrat Coalition is rooted in her own experience as a BC undergrad. “My first two years of college were really hard,” Pastrana said. “I am a first generation immigrant and a first generation college student … I didn’t know how the college system worked and I didn’t connect with students on a real level. I had friends, I went out, and it was fun. Other students were wonderful but I didn’t feel like they could understand the background I was coming from or the challenges I was facing.” Pastrana was born in Mexico and grew up in Californa. Traveling to the east coast and studying in a private New England university, Pastrana experienced culture shock. “Within the first week, I felt isolated on campus,” Pastrana said. “The freshman Welcome Week program cost students $100 at the time. I couldn’t go because I couldn’t afford it.
It was very easy to tell—when the masses of freshmen went to these events—who was left behind. During the first week of school, it was incredibly challenging.” Pastrana often felt that she could not relate to her peers, many of whom were from affluent families in the New England area. She spent much of her free time working to pay for tuition and bills and, as a result, did not get involved on campus during her first two years of college. It wasn’t until her junior year that things began to change. “I was randomly placed in Vanderslice my junior year with a group of women who were incredibly involved,” Pastrana said. “One of them had me apply for Arrupe.” Knowing that she could not afford the $200 acceptance fee, Pastrana originally decided not to apply. Her roommate persuaded her to fill out the application, however, and after speaking
See Pastrana, A3
Moderators shut down ‘Confessions’ BY ELEANOR HILDEBRANDT News Editor Following the response to post No. 7122 on the Boston College Confessions Facebook page last week—a post that detailed three alleged cases of sexual assaults on campus—the moderators of the page announced Monday afternoon that they would stop accepting submissions. “After some discussion among the page moderators, we have decided that it is time for us to shut down the page,” read the post. “We sincerely appreciate all of the people who have continued to read and contribute to the page; it is all of you that made the page what it is. The constant stream of supportive comments has shown that no matter what you might be going through, the BC community is willing to help you through it.” A tacit acknowledgement of last week’s events was followed by a reiteration of the page’s original purpose. “We hope that, despite some controversy, BC confessions has had a positive impact on our school,” the moderators wrote. “It has reminded us that we never know exactly what our fellow students are going through, and an action as simple as a smile can make a world of difference. We apologize to those that relied on this page for both entertainment and for support, and we would like to remind everyone that BC has support systems in place for anyone who might need it.” Many students commented on the update, expressing disappointment and clamoring for a new, retitled confessions page. The page administrators responded to one query about obstacles that they faced: “The only roadblocks we had was that we would have had to change the name so that it is unrelated to BC,” read a comment from BC Confessions. “The decision was a personal one and was not at all forced by the administration.” After a new Facebook page titled “Eagle Confessions” posted a link to its page, the moderators of the Boston College Confessions page commented again: “The bc [sic] administration told us we could not use the words BC, Boston College, Eagles, or Heights.” Less than an hour later, a page titled Confessions from a University in the Vicinity of Chestnut Hill commented on the update: “After some deliberation, we’ve decided to march on and continue receiving confessions from students attending The-UniversityWhich-Must-Not-Be-Named.” Dean of Students Paul Chebator confirmed in an email Tuesday morning that he and the three site moderators had a conversation about the Facebook page after the events surrounding post No. 7122 last week. “The discussion centered on how they were dealing, personally, with the impact of the post in question and, secondly, my concern that they were using BC’s trademarked terms without authorization,” Chebator said.
See BC Confessions, A3
TATIANA PETROVICK / FOR THE HEIGHTS
With the go-ahead from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Univeristy will tear More Hall down next year in preparation for a new building at 2150 Comm. Ave.
Boston Redevelopment Authority approves construction More Hall to be razed, Allston-Brighton Task Force accepts $17.5 million benefits package BY ANDREW SKARAS Asst. News Editor In 2009, Boston College received approval for the University’s Institutional Master Plan (IMP) that included designs for new and renovated buildings across campus. Since then, Gasson Hall was
renovated, Stokes Hall was constructed, and restoration of St. Mary’s Hall has begun. After a meeting of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) on Tuesday evening, BC has obtained final approval for the next step in the IMP—the construction of a new residence hall on the current site of St. Thomas More Hall.
Originally, the BRA was expected to vote on the proposed construction during their Sept. 26 meeting. The vote was postponed, however, due to concerns from members of the Allston-Brighton community and their representatives on the city council that not enough time had been given for them to consider the ramifications of the project and what was contained within the community benefits package offered by BC. In between, the Allston-Brighton Task Force (ATF) met
with members of the community and representatives from BC, including University Spokesman Jack Dunn and Thomas Keady, vice president of governmental and community affairs, to discuss the merits of the benefits that BC was offering. At the Sept. 30 meeting, the ATF began to go over each item in the benefit package and questioned the BC representatives on the specifics of each line item. In addition,
See More Hall, A3
Successful Start coordinates annual winter clothing drive BY JENNIFER SUH For The Heights
Successful Start, the financial literacy program in the Office of Student Services, has organized its third annual Winter Clothing Drive for Boston College students in need of winter clothing for the cold months ahead. While adult sizes are preferred, students can donate gently used sweaters, jackets, and coats, as well as new scarves, hats, gloves, and mittens of all sizes in the labeled boxes in the lobby of Lyons Hall now through Oct. 25. All members of the BC community can also help by setting up donation boxes for the clothing drive. “What I enjoy most about the clothing drive is being able to meet a need and seeing students walk away happy, grateful, excited, and feeling blessed,” said Marisa Kreaime, director of Successful Start. “One of the students last year stated that he would never be able to afford to buy all that he got for himself and his family.” The goal of the Winter Clothing Drive is to provide warm clothing to students in need and international students who are not from areas with cold weather. All of the donated clothing will go to members of the BC community.
“Successful Start saw a need and responded with an opportunity to give back to the community,” said Steve Rugg, graduate assistant for Successful Start. “We talk about budgeting to meet our goals, and a lot of people forget that community support should be a part of our plans. This type of community involvement and support is a habit that BC students can inculcate and take out to the world.” Last year, Successful Start distributed over 325 articles of clothing to BC students. This year, the program hopes to exceed that number. “Our annual Winter Clothing Drive has been immensely successful in the past,” Rugg said. “It’s always wonderful to see the support that students have provided for each other.” Successful Start was founded in the 200506 academic year, when Kreaime and the Office of Student Services realized that students had a need for information about debt management and borrowing student loans. After students were asked what they knew and what they wanted to learn concerning their financial futures, Successful Start offered four workshops on budgeting, credit card management, loan repayment, and investing.
See Clothing Drive, A3
JENNIFER BISHOP / FOR THE HEIGHTS
Author Paul Tough spoke about the effect of stress on children’s academic success.
Tough talks school success BY NATHAN MCGUIRE For The Heights
Over 250 students, faculty, and members of the BC community packed the dimly-lit lecture hall in Gasson 100 on Wednesday evening to listen to a lecture given by New York Times bestselling author Paul Tough. The event was sponsored by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics as part of the Lowell Humanities Series. Tough, who is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, spoke mostly about the ideas behind his newest book, How Chil-
dren Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. The book is a collection of stories about specific people and places Tough encountered while reporting on education and poverty-related issues. “The center of the book is that the conventional wisdom that has governed our thinking for the past couple of decades about education and childhood development has been misguided,” Tough said. “We’ve been emphasizing the wrong skills and abilities in our children and we’ve been using the wrong strategies to
See Tough, A3