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Sexual Chocolate shared the stage to honor its rookie members, B8
Bio professor looks to the past to understand viruses today, A4
Men’s hockey won games against UMass and Providence, B3
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The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Vol. XCVII, No. 42
established
1919
Monday, October 31, 2016
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SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR
K?< JKI<8B @J FM<I 9: ]ffkYXcc \e[\[ `kj ()$^Xd\ cfj`e^ jki\Xb `e k_\ 8:: Yp Y\Xk`e^ E: JkXk\# )($(+# 9(
:A9: IXcc`\j 8^X`ejk =fjj`c$=l\c @em\jkd\ek @e gfli`e^ iX`e# jkl[\ekj Z_Xek\[ ]fi k_\ Le`m\ij`kp kf [`m\jk 9P :FEEFI DLIG?P :fgp <[`kfi About 40 students stood in the biting rain on Friday afternoon in front of Gasson Hall at Climate Justice at Boston College’s (CJBC) “non-protest rally,” as members of the group sarcastically referred to the event. Members and supporters of CJBC stood in the Quad holding signs and mirrors that read “No Coal” and “Boston College Supports Climate Violence.” Demonstrators also chanted “Board of Trustees, hear our cries. Invest in our future, not our demise.” CJBC’s primary goal is to push the University to divest its endowment from fossil fuel-related assets. Representatives from the University have stated that they do not view the endowment as a tool to promote social justice. CJBC responds that to not divest is a violation of the University’s ethical investment guidelines, which state that BC “is firmly committed to the promotion of the dignity of the individual,
A female Boston College student was followed and assaulted on Sunday at 2:30 a.m. She was returning to her off-campus residence from Mary Ann’s, a bar in Cleveland Circle. According to an email sent to the off-campus student community by the Boston College Police Department Sunday night, the student was walking behind 2000 Commonwealth Ave. when two males approached her. A black male introduced himself as Jimmy and is believed to be between 5-foot-8 and 6 feet tall, with a flat-top haircut. The other male, who was not directly involved in the assault, was described as white with brown hair. The suspect grabbed and physically assaulted the student, according to the email. The student was able to break free and flee the area. John King, executive director of public safety, said that the Massachusetts State Police and BCPD are investigating the case. BCPD told students to avoid walking alone at night, to take advantage of Eagle Escort, to walk in well-lit areas, to know where to get help if they were to need it, and to report suspicious behavior and activity to authorities.
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personal freedom, and social justice.” “You don’t have to be a CSOM major to understand divestment,” said Sissi Liu, a member of CJBC and MCAS ’17. “Morally, it’s sending a clear a message that if it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage. … Even if [divestment] doesn’t immediately impact the bottom line of these industries, it’s starting this dialogue.” At the beginning of the rally, Liu said that the group had tried to obtain permission to use a megaphone at the rally, but that its request was denied by the Office of the Dean of Students. Instead, speakers used a rolled-up piece of poster paper with “Not a Megaphone” written on the side to emphasize their discontent. Dean of Students Thomas Mogan said in an email that general policy on amplified sound is that it is only approved for use after 4:30 p.m. He said a megaphone would have interrupted classes in Fulton, Gasson, and Lyons during the protest, which began at 3. Alex Kontopoulos, MCAS ’17, had choice words for members of the BC administration. “They never really wanted to listen to us when we call into question their ethics and
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The Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) partnered with the Connell School of Nursing to provide T passes for nursing students traveling to their clinicals. UGBC contributed $3,500 to the initiative, which is still in its pilot stage. Russell Simons, UGBC president and MCAS ’17, acknowledged that the funding will not cover the entirety of travel costs for every nursing student. Simons said that the pilot program, rather, is meant to assess the feasibility of the entire structure of the initiative. UGBC and the Connell School of Nursing will assess the processes of ordering and distributing the T passes. In past years, students have raised JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
See CJBC, A8
A student holds a sign encouraging the University to divest from fossil-fuel companies.
See MBTA, A3
I\jfclk`fe ]fi =`eXeZ`Xc :fdd`kk\\ N`k_`e J8 =X`cj kf GXjj K_\ d\Xjli\ nXj jkilZb [fne Jle[Xp Yp X mfk\ f] ))$) 9P K8PCFI JK% ><ID8@E 8jjfZ% E\nj <[`kfi A resolution that would have established a financial committee within the Undergraduate Government of Boston College’s (UGBC) Student Assembly (SA) was not passed on Sunday night. The resolution, which was proposed by Raymond Mancini, CSOM ’19, and Michael Proietta, MCAS ’19, was struck down by a vote of 22-2. The two assent-
ing were the co-sponsors of the bill. Because the resolution would have created a change in the structure of UGBC, the group’s constitution would have to be amended. This would have required a two-thirds vote. Mancini and Proietta hoped to create an external committee to handle UGBC finances. It would be composed of the UGBC president, the executive vice president, the vice president of financial affairs, and four outside appointees. The four appointees would have been drawn from the student body and confirmed by the SA. Currently, the Executive Council is responsible for creating the annual budget, through the UGBC president,
executive vice president, and the vice president of financial affairs. The SA must approve the budget before it is enacted for the year. Mancini and Proietta were concerned that the Student Assembly does not have thorough debate when it comes to approving the budget. According to Mancini, budget proposals are often voted for or against unanimously. “I think that the way that the allocation is now aligns a lot with the Student Assembly’s interests,” Mancini said. “Because of that, and because the SA has one ideology, they don’t feel the need to debate.” Mancini and Proietta hoped that their proposal to create an external
committee would remove bias when it comes to financial matters. During the debate period, SA members raised concerns about the proposals. Members were concerned that without ample knowledge of the inner workings of UGBC, the appointed members of the financial committee would not have the knowledge necessary to deal with the group’s budget. For example, a majority of the allocations within the Diversity and Inclusion Programming Board go toward the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC) and the GLTBQ Leadership Council (GLC). Less funding currently goes toward the Council for Students with Disabilities
(CSD). SA members were concerned that an outside budgetary source would not understand that ALC and GLC put on more programming than CSD, therefore, requiring the additional funding. Nikita Patel, UGBC’s vice president of financial affairs and CSOM ’18, did not support the resolution. Patel said that the budget already goes through a number of checks before being presented to the SA. The budget is created with the financial advice of several divisions of UGBC and does not carry a heavy bias, she said. “I think [it] is a really unnecessary step to add into the budgetary process,” Patel said.