Irish join the acc
boston struts fashion file
sports
metro
the scene
Notre Dame will be joining the ACC in all sports besides football, A10
Fashion’s Night Out visits the city for a night of clothes, food, and fun, B10
The Scene brings you the best dressed of New York Fashion Week, B1
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Vol. XCIII, No. 28
UGBC Budget Released
Senior Pass no longer offered after violation Over 300 students will receive refunds for purchased tickets By Devon Sanford Heights Editor
The 2012 Boston College Senior Pass is no longer being offered to BC seniors due to a policy violation involving BC’s indicia. The Senior Pass, created by Michael Nardella, A&S ’13, and Anthony Russo, CSOM ’13, was offered to seniors as an all-inclusive pass to events throughout the fall and spring semesters. The $129 ticket included a pass to six events: a booze cruise
and pub crawl in downtown Boston, a “Freight Fiesta” Halloween party, a “Top of the Hub” event on the top of the Prudential Center, a Valentine’s Day event, a March Madness tournament with a grand prize, and a second booze cruise and pub crawl event during Senior Week. The ticket also included a t-shirt and photo album. Before its cancellation, over 300 seniors had purchased a Senior Pass. The program, which was intended to provide a convenient access pass for BC seniors, was originally designed by Nardella and Russo this past summer and held no affiliation to Boston College. “The Senior Pass [was] a ‘one ticket one
See Senior Pass, A4
Enterprising senior sells style and customization By Julie Orenstein For The Heights
alex manta / heights graphic
$595,000 will be divided between ALC, GLC, Cabinet, and Senate for 2012-2013 By David Cote News Editor
The UGBC will receive $595,000 for the 2012-2013 academic year, according to a recently released budget report. Each of the four branches of the UGBC—Cabinet, Senate, the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC), and the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC)—reported increases in budget from the 2011-2012 academic year. The budget is derived from the student activities fee, which rose this year to $304 per student per year. “The UGBC budget is determined by the vice president of student affairs office, and our total budget rises proportionally to the student activities fee,” said Molly Mc-
Carthy, vice president of Senate and A&S ’14. “This year, the student activities fee rose, and thus, our budget did as well.” The Cabinet, which receives the most significant portion of the funds, will receive $352,550 for the year. The ALC, with the second most, will receive $101,890. The GLC and Senate will receive $40,110 and $26,000, respectively. To determine how the money in each branch gets budgeted, the presidents and vice presidents of the four branches receive budget requests from their individual department directors. Each of the directors submits requests for events or programs that they hope to put on during the year. After all of the requests have been submitted, the heads of each branch evaluate each
request and determine allocations to each department. “The presidents and vice presidents of ALC, Cabinet, GLC, and Senate spent a considerable amount of time together this summer working through the budget, so that major budgetary decisions could be discussed across all four branches,” McCarthy said. The collaboration between branches was meant to increase the unity of the organization as a whole. McCarthy, who also served as budget committee chair, was able to report back to members of the Senate. “As budget committee chair, I was also charged with presenting the budget to the Senate for approval,” McCarthy said. “During this process, it was helpful to be able to provide the senators with information regarding how the budgetary decisions
See UGBC Budget, A4
While University of Miami student Jason Shuman sat in a fraternity chapter meeting one Sunday night two years ago, two observations struck him: One, the items being pitched to him and his brothers by sales representatives were overpriced and of subpar quality. Two, nearly everyone in the room was wearing the exact same shoes: Sperry Top-Sider boat shoes. Upon considering these facts further, Shuman, then a sophomore, realized that he was stumbling across a market niche that had not been filled before: customized boat shoes made specifically for fraternities, bearing their Greek letters. He immediately contacted his four best friends from his childhood in the Boston area, including Greg Karelitz, A&S ’13, and shared his idea. After collaborating with shoe manufacturers and working through nearly 10 prototypes, the five men formed Category 5 Boat Shoes in 2011, now recognized as the first and only manufacturer of customizable boat shoes with officially licensed fraternity branding. Launching on over 80 college campuses this fall
and expanding to over 200 schools by next semester, Cat 5’s signature shoe, The Yachtsman, is available customized or non-branded through on-campus representatives, as well as through their website.
See Boat Shoes, A4
Daniel lee / heights editor
Greg Karelitz, A&S ’13, (above) is the Chief Technology Officer of Category 5 Boat Shoes.
Drug and alcohol abuse addressed through program Peer group focuses on substance abuse and recovery By Brigid Wright Heights Staff
This fall, Boston College’s Office of Health Promotion and the Alcohol and Drug Education (ADE) Program are starting a support group for students on campus who are in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions. BC, like many other schools nationwide, is looking to create a supportive and welcoming environment for those students who are returning to college campuses after recovery, or are seeking assistance with a problem they are currently facing or are afraid they are developing. In general, ADE works to help students by preventing, educating, and supporting them through the obstacles that college life presents for substance misuse or abuse. A division of the Office of Student Affairs, ADE works to challenge illegal and unhealthy behaviors and encourage students to make well-informed decisions about alcohol and drugs. Statistically, it is difficult to determine what percentage of student populations are in recovery for substance abuse, as college campuses are not the most sympathetic
environments for these students, and many choose to not come forward. Studies have shown, however, that campuses in the Northeast, campuses with a high percentage of students involved in Greek life, and campuses with successful and notable sports teams are some of the schools with higher rates of drinking issues. Lindsay Napier, assistant director of the Office of Health Promotion, discussed a trend throughout the country of developing different kinds of programs for students who are recovering from addiction. “A real model is Texas Tech, which has something called a CRC—Collegiate Recovery Committee,” Napier said. “They offer a variety of different programs, some peer counseling, some professional, to offer support to their students.” Napier also noted that campuses getting involved in this movement range in their programs, offering options such as substance-free housing, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and even live-in staff and intensive recovery programs. Both Napier and the peer advisor assisting with the support groups commented on the most difficult parts of being a recovering student on a college campus. “There’s a stigma attached to being an alcoholic between the ages of 18-22,” said one of the student advisers, who chose to speak anonymously. “In college, the social
See Alcohol Education, A4
joseph castlen / heights graphic
Boston College ranked fourth among medium-sized schools in 2012, contributing 53 graduating seniors to the Teach For America corps.
BC ranks 4th among mid-sized schools for TFA 53 graduates from 2012 enter TFA corps By Gabby Tarini For The Heights
Earlier this month, Teach For America released its fifth annual ranking of the colleges and universities that contributed the greatest number of graduating
seniors to its teaching corps. This year, Boston College ranked fourth among all medium-sized schools, contributing 53 of its seniors to the organization. Teach For America is part of the broader movement to end educational inequality in the United States. Its goal is to ensure that all students are provided with equal educational opportunities, and the organization is one of the most successful of its kind. Over the past two decades, Teach For America has gone from the
idealistic senior thesis of one Princeton student to a national non-profit with an annual budget of $212 million. Teach For America corps members are top college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools. The hope is that these dedicated young graduates will help to minimize the disparity in educational opportunity between children of low-
See Teach for America, A4