The Heights 09/04/14

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BOSTON CALLS AGAIN DETROIT TO BOSTON

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

SPORTS

METRO

SCENE

Football to face Pittsburgh in home opener, A8

Boston Calling Musical Festival will return to City Hall Plaza for the fourth time this weekend, B8

William Bolton, BC ’16, discusses his music career and his new album, Summer Breeze, B1

established

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www.bcheights.com

HEIGHTS

THE

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Vol. XCV, No. 26

Yield for incoming

freshmen expected to rise

BY CONNOR FARLEY News Editor

Acceptance Rate

Class of 2018

34%

By the Numbers

Yield

44 States

{Top five: MA, NJ, NY, CT, CA}

29%

6% 4.5% 2014 2013 Attrition

1960-2150 Middle 50% SAT SCORES

}

}

30-33

Middle 50% ACT SCORES JORDAN PENTALERI / HEIGHTS GRAPHIC

The Weeknd in talks for Fall Concert

This past fall, 23,223 prospective students applied for undergraduate admittance to Boston College. Of those who applied, 7,875 were offered admission.

According to John Mahoney, director of undergraduate admission at BC, the University is approximating that roughly 2,280 of those 7,875 have enrolled—if confirmed, that will result in a yield of approximately 29 percent.

If achieved, this year’s targeted yield would reflect an increase for the fourth consecutive year since 2011—having risen from 23 percent in 2011, 25 percent in 2012, and 28 percent in 2013.

“The steady upward trajectory in yield over the past four years is a sign of Boston College’s increasing attractiveness to top students,” Mahoney said in an email.

In part, the Office of Undergraduate Admission attributes an increased yield in recent years to the addition of a supplementary essay, which marked the first time BC used an additional mechanism to

assess prospective students since it joined the Common Application in 1998.

“I believe the supplemental essay question has allowed us to attract a more serious and intentional pool of applicants,” Mahoney said.

In 2012, the University received more than 34,000 applications for undergraduate admission—a record high for the University. In 2013, the office of undergraduate admission added a 400-word supplementary essay for the incoming Class of 2017, which resulted in 10,000 fewer applications—a decrease of about 28 percent. According to Mahoney, the supplementary essay was designed in part to attract students with stronger interests in attending BC while retaining strong applicant academic qualifications.

“Overall applications have declined the past two years, but the quality of applicants has actually increased,” he said.

“I believe that the essay, by requiring more thought and effort from applicants, has eliminated candidates who applied

See Class of 2018, A3

O’NEILL LIBRARY REPLACES BAPST AS 24-HOUR STUDY SPACE

Rapper Shwayze may also perform at event

BY AUSTIN TEDESCO Heights Editor

Th e new Campus Activities Board of Boston College (CAB) and Associate Director of the Office of Student Involvement Mark Miceli confirmed last Friday that they are working toward booking Canadian R&B artist The Weeknd and rapper Shwayze for BC’s Fall Concert.

The show is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 16 in Conte Forum, but the time and other details have yet to be announced.

The Weeknd is best known for three mixtapes released in 2011—House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence—as well as the artist’s studio debut album, Kiss Land.

California rapper Shwayze broke out with the 2008 single “Buzzin.” His latest release, Shwayze Summer, came out last July.

CAB originally informed The Heights last Friday that both artists had officially committed to play the Fall Concert.

Miceli later clarified that the booking is not final.

CAB president Kendall Stemper, BC ’15, said that the organization is looking to be as innovative as possible with the set up and time of the show.

The Board is also working on the layout in Conte to get the students as close to the artists as possible.

This will be the first Fall Concert put on by CAB, which is taking over programming from UGBC. Last spring’s Modstock, headlined by Hoodie Allen, was the last major concert put on by UGBC’s programming body. 

JULIE ORENSTEIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BY ELEANOR HILDEBRANDT Editor-in-Chief The main room of Bapst Library has been replaced by O’Neill Library as the 24/5 study space for students since classes started at Boston College. Just as Gargan Hall did in past years, O’Neill will remain open continuously from Sunday through Thursday, and close at 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Bapst will close at 2 a.m.

Both spaces will still be open 24/7 during study days for exams.

With more space and more staff, said University Librarian Thomas Wall, O’Neill is the University library that best provides what he termed a “blended landscape”—a space with a host of different opportunities for students, including technology use, research and material circulation, locations for isolated quiet study, and group study spaces.

“When I first got here, I wouldn’t have even considered having [O’Neill] open 24/5, because the facilities hadn’t been looked at with any eye toward how people

UGBC redesigns website

BY NATHAN MCGUIRE Asst. News Editor In an effort to open up the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) to the students it represents and to fulfill a primary campaign promise, the organization’s new administration revamped its main website over the summer to give students a one-stop shop for UGBC services and campus resources.

The new site features two columns on the homepage—one that lists links to general information about UGBC and its structure, and another that includes links to UGBC services, campus resources, and other sites that the organization maintains.

The redesign is the latest in a number of steps UGBC has taken in the past few years to increase its web presence to better serve students.

Over the summer, the organization created ‘Dummies’ Guides’ to explain University policies to students in simple terms. These are accessible via the site’s homepage, as are links to academic and GLBTQ resources and a new mental health blog, ‘Be Conscious.’

The BC Textbook Exchange and Campus Voice, both new

services offered by UGBC this year, are accessible via the main site. BC Textbook Exchange, one of the first initiatives completed by the new administration, allows students to buy and sell books among themselves or compare prices from a variety of third party sites, such as Amazon, Chegg, and Valore.

On Campus Voice, launched in the spring, students can post ideas or suggestions and vote on others’. Once a post receives at least 50 votes, the Student Assembly (SA) will respond to the suggestion.

In another push toward responsiveness, contact information for each of the 50 senators is listed on the new main website under the committee on which that senator serves.

The site’s homepage also features a standard contact form, should students not know where to direct general questions.

In their February campaign to lead UGBC, President Nanci Fiore-Chettiar and Executive Vice President Chris Marchese, both A&S ’15, critiqued the now-former administration on its failure to make available to students information about the organization and its financial and legislative operations. Information about SA proceedings, for instance, was buried or non-existent and contact information for

See UGBC Website, A3

use it since the building opened, frankly,” Wall said.

Before working at BC, Wall was involved with the design of new libraries in Chicago and at the University of Pittsburgh and Duke University. He’s also written about the subject of library functionality, and says that transforming library spaces is his professional specialty.

Gate counts at the University’s libraries have tripled since Wall arrived six years ago. In O’Neill alone, the number of users has risen from approximately 600,000

per year to the range of 1.5 to 2 million.

Wall attributes this change to efforts that have been made every year to make the space more user-friendly. He estimates that around 400 seats have been added in O’Neill, including the study rooms on the first floor and the large room left of the entrance on floor three.

As gate counts accelerated in O’Neill, Wall and the library staff began paying attention to student use patterns. On a

See University Libraries, A3

SEE C1

2014 FOOTBALL PREVIEW EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

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Top

things to do on campus this week

The Heights The Church in the 21st Century Center will welcome Natalia Imperatori-Lee, an associate professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, to Gasson 100 this evening at 5:30 for a presentation on the role of the marginalized in ecclesial reforms.

Everyday first days

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As I was backing out of my driveway last week for what likely was my last time moving myself back up to Boston as a Boston College student, my mom yelled down to me to, “Have a great last first day of school!” I turned that phrase over and over in my head on the drive up to Chestnut Hill with a lot of sadness that my journey was coming to an end, but soon decided that perhaps it’s not entirely accurate. Of course, being a senior, I no longer have any more “first days of school” left, at least in the foreseeable future. Who said, though, that a first day couldn’t exist anywhere else but a school? The spirit of a “first day of school” is ever-present in our lives as we grow and encounter new experiences.

Think back to your first day of kindergarten or elementary school. New backpack, new shoes—maybe even a new awkward haircut if you’re anything like me—and a brand new experience laid in front of you.

Personally, I found this to be eerily similar to my first day at BC three years ago. The same feelings of ambiguity, surprise, apprehension, the excitement of making new friends, the gloom of leaving old friends, were as present then as they are today. What the idea of a first day of school contains is the necessity of going forward into uncharted territory, but doing so with an open mind and a willingness to learn, be challenged, and turn your world upside down.

First days are a lot like first steps of a journey, and we experience them in a variety of settings and over time. The beginning of a new job, a new relationship, a new home, a new way of doing things—they are all happenings throughout our lives that test us in some of the most worthwhile ways.

It’s often easy to retreat back into our comfort zones and individual worlds at times like these, but that’s exactly the opposite of what the experience is calling us to do. Speaking up instead of standing back, talking to a stranger, and doing things differently are all ways to seize the ineffable magic that a “first day of school” has to offer.

Life is full of first days of school, or experiences that demand our strength and test us in the more important ways.

They allow us to rethink prior beliefs and ways of living and offer up a new path if we so choose to take it. The cliche goes that if life is about the journey, a journey always commences with the first steps.

And, it does not only have to be a few steps down Linden Lane or up the Million Dollar Stairs—it could very well be off a plane in a new city, or into a new office, or into a new way of thinking. First days demand that we show up, open our hearts and minds to the magnitude of the present, and dive headfirst into a fresh new experience with patience and wonder.

Alex Gaynor is a senior staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at news@bcheights.com.

Tina Packer, founding artistic director of Shakespeare and Company and the Monan Professor in Theatre Arts, will lead student actors in a Shakespeare workshop in Robsham today at 6:30 p.m. Observers are encouraged to attend. Monan will facilitate discussion with the audience.

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Check out the Student Involvement Fair tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Linden Lane and throughout Middle Campus. Over 200 organizations, offices, and clubs will have tables set up. Information about how to get involved with campus groups will be available.

Haven program stresses students’ role in preventing sexual assault on campus

By Mary Rose Fissinger Special Projects Editor

Alex Gaynor

Thursday, September 4, 2014

This summer, as Boston College’s class of 2018 prepared for its first year on the Heights, all members were required to complete not only AlcoholEdu—the online alcohol education program that has been required of new students for over 10 years now—but also Haven, a new program of a similar type focusing on sexual assault. Like AlcoholEdu, Haven is completed online and run by the D.C.-based education technology company EverFi. It covers issues such as the meaning of consent, the definition of “sexual assault,” and what constitutes a healthy relationship.

Although this is the first year that new students were required to complete both an online alcohol education program and a sexual assault education program separately, this is not the first time BC students have received some form of online sexual assault prevention training prior to arriving on campus. Previously, most of the information covered

by Haven was contained within the AlcoholEdu program, but two years ago EverFi decided to expand the sexual assault content and make it into its own program.

According to Rob Buelow, associate director of partner education, EverFi decided to separate Haven to allow colleges the freedom to purchase either the sexual assault education, the alcohol education, or both, rather than only offering a joint program. In addition, the company wanted to make sure that they were sending the right message in their online programming.

“Having the program embed-

ded within AlcoholEdu and having sexual assault strictly confined to an alcohol prevention program could potentially send the message that sexual assault is inextricably tied to alcohol and vice versa,” Buelow said.

“These issues are connected, but we felt that they were enough standalone issues that they warranted their own individual programs.”

“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of a synergistic, strategic, and communitybased approach to ending campus sexual violence,” - Rachel DiBella, assistant director for Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Buelow made clear, however, that in order not to downplay the interconnectedness of the issues, both programs continue to contain information from the other.

Haven is structured similarly to AlcoholEdu—it contains videos and interactive portions, as well as surveys and quizzes. It is broken down into sections, and users can save their progress and return to the

program later. All in all, it takes about 45 minutes to an hour, according to associate director of the Office of Health Promotion Robyn Priest, and it should be completed by the time students arrive on campus.

“I think as a way of welcoming new people to the community, I feel like it sends an important message when the University says, ‘We think these issues are important, and therefore we require you to do something about this,’” Priest said.

Buelow explained that Haven was created and refined in conversation with the nation’s leading experts on sexual assault education and prevention. It attempts to communicate the information clearly and in a way which is most likely to stay with the students.

Haven opens with a video that cites the frequency of sexual assault on college campuses and explains that all students must play a role in making their campus a safe place.

“I think that’s a really empowering message, and it draws on the fact that we know that most students have really healthy attitudes and behaviors when it comes to relationships and hooking up,” Buelow said. “So, we don’t want to talk to students as being parts of the problem, we want to talk to students as being necessary parts of the solution.”

Other parts of the program ask students to give their personal views on relationships and safety. These surveys were designed with the intention of collecting data so that specific universities may then develop campus-specific programming to target the issues most prevalent at their schools. Buelow described this method as much more effective than “programming for the sake of

programming.”

More than 350 colleges and universities are now using Haven, up from 200 last year. While Buelow is excited about the sharp increase in participation, he made clear that no one online education program will stop sexual assault on campuses, and complementary programming must always be present. Priest echoed this sentiment, remarking that any campus hoping to see an impact must develop a truly comprehensive set of programs.

Rachel DiBella, assistant director for Sexual Violence Prevention and Response, agrees that Haven is an important step toward making the entire community aware of the problems of sexual violence on campus and more willing to act. Her position at BC was created this summer and is geared toward providing a stronger focus on sexual assault prevention.

DiBella has played a role in adding a sexual assault education component to Welcome Week and has been working to ensure that all members of the class of 2018 complete Bystander Intervention training by the end of the year.

“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of a synergistic, strategic, and community-based approach to ending campus sexual violence,” she said in an email. “We must regard this as a community-wide issue that affects survivors, their friends and loved ones, bystanders—all of us.

Thus, we must make sure that we’re reaching out through multiple programmatic efforts to enable everyone to call out problematic behavior, support those affected by sexual assault, and carry with them the belief that one survivor in our community is too many.” n

Programming board a mix of old and new

By Austin Tedesco Heights Editor The new Campus Activities Board (CAB) will release a tentative events schedule for the fall semester as well as its budget within the next week.

The Board, which will take over all programming from UGBC—aside from heritage events put on by the AHANA Leadership Council and the GLBTQ Leadership Council—is comprised of 70 to 75 members and will be run by President Kendall Stemper and Vice President Alex Orfao.

Stemper said that CAB already has the entire fall semester planned out, although it is subject to change. CAB has four departments in charge of event programming: Live Entertainment, Trips and Excursions, Special Events, and Campus Engagement.

Live Entertainment consists of concerts, music, and non-music subsections. This department will handle the Fall Concert, other musical events, and it will also bring acts such as a cappella and comedy groups to campus.

“Non-music is just a descriptor, per se, to hold people accountable for different types of events,” Stemper said. “So that we’re not just focusing on concerts in live entertainment, but we’re looking into working with comedy groups or a cappella groups and speakers and make sure all of the eggs don’t get put in one basket.”

The subsections in every department are there to make sure every student’s interests are represented, according to Stemper.

“We’re brand new, so there’s really no structure of what we’re expected to do,” she said.

The Trips and Excursions department will include the popular BC2Boston events, as well Interactive Outings and Beyond Boston.

BC2Boston will handle all ticketed events, Interactive Outings will include things that don’t include tickets like kayaking or apple picking, and Beyond Boston will get students out of the city. There will be about one or two Beyond Boston events per semester, with a trip to Salem or a Broadway play in New York given as

POLICE BLOTTER

Tuesday, Sept. 2

12:15 a.m. - A report was filed regarding property confiscated in Duchesne East.

10:35 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance off-campus.

1:01 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an attempted larceny in the Mods.

2:36 p.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance provided to a BC employee who was transported to a medical facility.

2:04 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an underage intoxicated BC student who was transported to a medical facility by ambulance.

can come and talk to us and offer up suggestions.”

To go along with the four programming departments, CAB will also have finance, marketing, and recruitment & retention departments.

The finance and marketing departments will have liaisons assigned to the four programing bodies, and the recruitment & retention department is set up for any new members to join who are not already a part of the board with year-long positions. The Marketing department will primarily use social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote events.

Along with these changes comes the dissolution of Nights on the Heights (NOTH). CAB is not required to have events on every weekend night, like NOTH was. There will be at least one event per week, according to Stemper, but it could be any day and could be run through any department. CAB is encouraging weekend events because more students are available, but the events are not bound to weekends. n

A Guide to Your Newspaper

The Heights Boston College – McElroy 113 140 Commonwealth Ave. Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467 Editor-in-Chief (617) 552-2223 Editorial General (617) 552-2221 Managing Editor (617) 552-4286 News Desk (617) 552-0172 Sports Desk (617) 552-0189 Metro Desk (617) 552-3548 Features Desk (617) 552-3548 Arts Desk (617) 552-0515 Photo (617) 552-1022 Fax (617) 552-4823 Business and Operations General Manager (617) 552-0169 Advertising (617) 552-2220 Business and Circulation (617) 552-0547 Classifieds and Collections (617) 552-0364 Fax (617) 552-1753 EDITORIAL RESOURCES News Tips Have a news tip or a good idea for a story? Call Connor Farley, News Editor, at (617) 552-0172, or email news@bcheights.com. For future events, email a detailed description of the event and contact information to the News Desk.

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Call Connor Mellas, Sports Editor, at (617) 552-0189, or email sports@ bcheights.com.

Arts Events For future arts events, email a detailed description of the event and contact information to the Arts Desk.Call John Wiley, Arts and Review Editor, at (617) 552-0515, or email arts@bcheights.com.

Clarifications / Corrections The Heights strives to provide its readers with complete, accurate, and balanced information. If you believe we have made a reporting error, have information that requires a clarification or correction, or questions about The Heights standards and practices, you may contact Eleanor Hildebrandt, Editor-inChief, at (617) 552-2223, or email eic@bcheights.com.

CUSTOMER SERVICE Delivery To have The Heights delivered to your home each week or to report distribution problems on campus, contact Marc Francis, General Manager at (617) 552-0547.

Advertising The Heights is one of the most effective ways to reach the BC community. To submit a classified, display, or online advertisement, call our advertising office at (617) 552-2220 Monday through Friday.

The Heights is produced by BC undergraduates and is published on Mondays and Thursdays during the academic year by The Heights, Inc. (c) 2014. All rights reserved.

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

9/1/14 - 9/2/14

Monday, Sept. 1

2:23 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a well-being check on an off-campus BC student.

examples of potential trips.

Campus Engagement will include events like pub series and trivia nights—anything that brings people together to interact in some way, according to Stemper. The Special Events department, which was created last, will run Homecoming, as well events like the Christmas tree lighting and Boardwalk that don’t fall under the responsibilities of the other departments.

Most of the budget for CAB will come from the student activities fee, according to Stemper, which is set at $316 per student for the 2014-15 academic year.

“We’re big on transparency this year,” Stemper said of the budget, “so another thing is we want people to know what that number is so people aren’t confused.

“It is a lot of money. It is something that, you know—we’re by and for the students. We want to make sure that they feel like they know what we’re doing with their money and they like what we’re doing with it. If not, I want them to feel like they

3

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

What’s Who is your your biggest favorite regret BC Dining from this employee? summer?

“Never had a regret in my life.”

—Jonathan Leuthner, A&S ’17

“You don’t want to know.”

—Daniel Mendez, A&S ’17

“Working as much as I did.”

—Cassie Chapados, A&S ’17

“Not going to Maine.”

—David Griffin, A&S ’16

The Heights

Thursday, September 4, 2014

A3

Summer attrition drops for freshman class Class of 2018, from A1 simply due to the ease of the Common Application.”

For the Class of 2018, the middle 50th percentile range for SAT scores is 19602150, with a mean of 2039; the middle 50th percentile range for ACT scores is 30-33 with a mean of 31.

Admitted students for the incoming class also represent 44 states, the top five of which are Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California.

Of the 7,875 admitted applicants, approximately 55 percent are female and 45 percent are male. This year’s incoming class also consists of about 28 percent minority ethnicity students, with Chinese and Korean applicants representing the largest number of students admitted from foreign countries.

The Class of 2018 Presidential Scholars Program—a merit scholarship program within the University that provides full tuition to a select group of students—consists of 19 students, with a 73 percent yield among those admitted to the program.

This year’s wait list for prospective stu-

dents was actively kept at about 2,000—a figure consistent with most years. Of the 2,000, the same number of applicants were offered admission as in 2013 for the Class of 2017.

When evaluating the waitlist, Mahoney said he maintains continuous contact with admissions directors at competitor schools such as Georgetown University, University of Notre Dame, and Fordham University to predict the number of students likely to leave the waitlist—a figure college admission offices refer to as summer attrition.

“Once the May 1 Candidate Reply Date has passed, I contact most of my counterparts at top competitor institutions to gauge the extent to which they will use their waiting lists,” he said. “These conversations inform the assumption I make about our likely summer attrition.

“Generally, we have about 2,000 active students on our waiting list,” Mahoney said.

“We offered admission from the wait list to about the same number of students this year versus last year.”

Forecasting summer attrition is a useful method for the Office of Undergraduate Admission to better target the number

of students that will come off the wait list in order to achieve a class size of roughly 2,280—a class size that has remained mostly static for years at BC. “Summer attrition, or ‘melt’ as admission directors call it, is the percentage of students who enroll by May 1 but then decide not to matriculate at Boston College,” Mahoney said. “Boston College’s typical attrition has been close to 6 percent, but this year’s dropped to just 4.5 percent.”

Similar to an increased yield in enrolled students, Mahoney believes a lower level of attrition reflects a growing interest in BC as a first-choice university among prospective students.

“To me, [lower attrition] is yet another indicator of Boston College’s growing academic reputation, as we are clearly holding on to more students over the summer as other top competitors are going to their waiting lists,” he said.

Although the Office of Undergraduate Admission projects a finalized number of 2,280 enrolled students, it will not have a finalized number until the census for the undergraduate populations is completed in October. n

UGBC expands website features, resources UGBC Website, from A1 student senators could not be found.

Unlike in past years, this administration hopes to constantly update the site with information about ongoing initiatives, UGBC events, and SA proceedings. An event calendar will soon be filled with various UGBC programs.

“The biggest thing we want this site to do it to convey what UGBC is doing on a weekly basis,” Marchese said. “As a result it needs to be updated on a weekly basis, which is something that’s really new for UGBC. In the past the website usually was updated in August and then stay[ed] that way through the following year. We are looking to change that.”

Most important for Marchese’s goal of increased transparency are two new features: the “To Do List” and what the organization calls “The File Cabinet,” a subpage that houses all of UGBC’s public documents.

Attendance records from every Sunday night SA meeting will be made available

online for students’ viewing. This year, roll call will be taken twice—at the beginning and end of meetings—to ensure that senators remain present for the meeting’s duration.

Last year, a large number of senators often failed to attend SA meetings or would leave shortly after attendance was taken, prompting this administration to take steps to prevent a similar situation.

In addition, the “File Cabinet” will include monthly financial documents, breaking down how much and on what the organization spent its budget in a given month. The UGBC constitution, SA Standing Rules, and voting records of senators can also be found there.

The “To Do List” will show progress updates on UGBC’s main initiatives. During their spring campaign Marchese and FioreChettiar outlined a substantial platform that organized initiatives into tiers, based on the time required to achieve each. As pledged during election season, their administration has rehashed that entire platform on the website, with updates on the status of each initiative.

“We hope to show that Nanci and I are really trying to deliver on our campaign promises, so all of our campaign platform points are up [there] and we show you where we’re at with [each],” Marchese said.

To deliver on those promises, Marchese acknowledged a high level of coordination between UGBC departments is required. A process for updating the site with correspondence from the executive departments has been created. The organization is currently searching for a new webmaster to maintain the site at least once a weekly basis and whenever else necessary.

The organization plans to drive student traffic to the site during the first few weeks of the semester. All UGBC t-shirts and other printed materials will include the website address this year, which, according to Marchese, has not been done in the past. In the coming weeks his administration plans to publicize the new site and attract visitors via a social media blitz and by handing out fliers to students in the dining halls and across campus. n

Drew Hoo / Heights staff

With the CTRC’s closing, the former computer lab’s resources have been moved to O’Neill.

BC libraries change hours University Libraries, from A1 typical weeknight, he said, there weren’t many students left in Gargan Hall after 1 or 2 a.m., while as many as 30 to 50 people had to be kicked out of O’Neill on a regular basis.

Wall consulted with the Quality of Student Life Committee (QSLC) to get more data on students’ studying preferences, and distributed surveys throughout the two main libraries to get a random sample of student respondents.

The survey’s results revealed that—with the exception of the final exam period—O’Neill was, overall, the study space of choice, according to Wall.

“Over there [in Gargan Hall], it’s just a place of quiet study—there’s no technology, there’s no assistance, no circulation, it’s just a quiet study space—which I value, I totally get it,” Wall said. “We don’t want to discount the ambiance of Gargan Hall, we all love it.

It’s phenomenal. But in terms of what’s best for students in those hours between 2 in the morning and 7 or 6 in the morning, [O’Neill] provides more opportunities for them.”

Those opportunities will include the equipment from the Campus Technology Resource Center (CTRC), which closed over the summer. Its computers have been moved to O’Neill’s third floor, with multimedia software and hardware in O’Neill 205, and additional printers on the first and third floors.

The Center for Teaching Excellence, an initiative to support and improve the teaching practices of faculty and graduate students, is set to open in the CTRC’s old location.

“The Center will sponsor events, seminars, grants programs, and awards, new and ongoing, and will cooperate with Boston College schools and departments to support their efforts to enhance and review teaching,” Vice Provost for Faculties Pat DeLeeuw said in an email. “It will house the existing Instructional Design and eTeaching Services, including its Interactive Media Lab and learning manage-

ment system, as well as the Writing Fellows Program and the Apprenticeship in College Teaching Certificate Program for graduate students.”

A door is currently being built on the second floor of O’Neill that will provide direct access to the Center for Teaching Excellence, and will open concurrently with the Center.

The construction project reflects another consideration in the decision to keep O’Neill open overnight: ease of access for people with disabilities. Complaints have arisen in the past about Gargan Hall’s inaccessibility—while not the sole concern, it was certainly a factor, Wall said.

“As we tried to say, ‘Okay, what are all the variables here?’ that was one of them,” Wall said. “We knew that there were accessibility issues, and we’ve been addressing those aggressively … there’s been a big push on campus to become much more accessible—to be accessible, fully, not ‘much more’—and the library’s equally committed to that.”

Wall also noted that the shift is not based on a desire to save money—in addition to the past and present construction changes to O’Neill, he anticipates that costs will increase in the fall with the provision of minimal late-night services. While Gargan Hall only required the presence of security to remain open, O’Neill will likely have two to three students and one staff member working as well, in order to help with circulation and reserves.

Finally, he emphasized that the University library staff and administration is open to feedback about the switch, and the facilities in general. Almost every change to the libraries— including both design and functional adjustments, such as leaving all libraries open 24/7 starting a few weeks before final exams—has involved student input through QSLC. “We all have blind spots,” Wall said. “If we didn’t have our ears and eyes open to other people’s perceptions, we’d be fools.” n

The Heights

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Editorials

QUOTE OF THE DAY

An overdue update for our online presence In May, The Heights announced the launch of a revamped website in the fall.

While our blogs were updated sporadically over the summer months, the main website was down for maintenance. Today, the new and improved BCHeights.com has officially launched, and can be accessed by desktop, tablet, and smartphone.

This website redesign has been in the works for over a year and has been overdue for even longer. The old iterations of our website were clunky, unresponsive, and did not adequately serve our readers or our writers—explicable back in 2006, perhaps, but less forgivable in recent years.

Our new site is, we believe, a significant effort to address the areas in which we have lagged behind.

Up until now, another organization held the BCHeights.com domain and served as a middleman for the publishing and configuration of content—along with the aesthetic redesign of the site, The Heights has also ceased its partnership with that outside company. The Heights, Inc. has complete control over and ownership of the new site, which will

Thursday, September 4, 2014

All things are taken from us, and become / Portions and parcels of the dreadful past.

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892), Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom

allow us to respond quickly to design and functionality concerns and to integrate multimedia elements, better showcasing our contributors’ work and providing a more reader-friendly experience.

In addition to serving as a platform for The Heights’ content, we hope that the new BCHeights.com will facilitate discussion and our readers’ involvement to a greater degree than in the past. We have updated the comments system and the submission form for Letters to the Editor. There is also an events calendar on this site, which we anticipate will become a comprehensive, organized collection of events that are of interest to Boston College students. All individuals and groups are encouraged to submit events for the calendar, to ensure that all relevant information is easily accessible.

Our physical paper will continue to be printed twice per week, on Mondays and Thursdays. As our online presence grows and improves, we look forward to refining our print issues as well, so that readers can expect quality content from The Heights week in and week out.

Encouraging changes in UGBC and programming Over the summer, UGBC completely redesigned its website, which is hosted on Boston College’s OrgSync site. The update significantly improves on the old version—which was static, hard to navigate, and rarely used—by combining an intuitive layout with valuable content. It promises to serve as a useful resource for students searching for information about different aspects of life at BC. The new website compiles a guide to services offered by UGBC. On the main page, students can easily access PEPs, a BC-specific professor evaluation system; Laundry View, an electronic tracking system for campus washers and dryers; and the new textbook exchange. Additionally, the site includes important information about the University and about UGBC itself. The University information is formatted in what UGBC has labeled “Dummies’ Guides,” which cover many University policies, including the Help Seeking Policy, the Harassment Policy, and the Disabilities Grievance Policy.

The UGBC information contains a detailed breakdown of each of the divisions of the organization, complete with a staff list and messages from the vice presidents. The site also includes an itemized list of all of the goals and campaign promises of the administration, categorized by stage of completion. Both of these aspects represent an important step toward a more transparent student government. With complete staff lists online, students can know what to expect not only from their representatives, but also from the organization writ large. With the organized list of initiatives, students can hold Nanci Fiore-Chettiar, president of UGBC and A&S ’15, and Chris Marchese, executive vice president of UGBC and A&S ’15, responsible for fulfilling their campaign promises.

Another transparency initiative, begun by the previous administration, was posting important UGBC documents and meeting minutes online.

Although the idea was sound, its execution was poor, as it was difficult to find the documents and folders on the old website. The new “Filing Cabinet” feature is a significant upgrade to the old system, providing a centralized location for all UGBC documents, which includes all of their work thus

far. Throughout the year, UGBC should continue to upload new documents and maintain the feature’s utility.

While UGBC was revamping its website, the new independent programming board—the Campus Activities Board (CAB)—finalized the details of its new structure. Under this structure, CAB members are not elected.

Even without a democratic mandate, the new board should keep in mind that it still has an obligation to use its portion of the Student Activities Fee (SAF) responsibly. Just as UGBC did last year, the board should publish its budget, so that students know how their money is being spent and can raise objections if they do not agree with the direction the board is taking.

Last year, the committee that created the structure of the new board was unsure of which former programming bodies would be left intact and which would be discarded. It is encouraging that CAB is continuing the successful and popular BC2Boston department, which frequently sold all of its allocated tickets to events in the city such as a performance of Book of Mormon. One notable improvement is the dissolution of Nights on the Heights (NOTH), a change for which this newspaper has frequently advocated. An organization that was dedicated to providing alternative programming every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night and constrained by University guidelines on event start times, NOTH’s events were often expensive to host and poorly attended. Now, CAB is free to allocate that money (and the budget that formerly went to the UGBC programming department) as it deems appropriate.

Hopefully, they will use the opportunity to host less frequent, more popular events that will draw many different students from across campus while still offering alternative activities for students who do not wish to drink.

Over the summer, UGBC and CAB made significant changes that have the potential to benefit the student body.

Both organizations must keep in mind that the outward appeal—whether that be of a new website or of a new structure unencumbered by the expectations of former organizations—must be followed up with substantive action for the changes to have any lasting significance.

The views expressed in the above editorials represent the official position of The Heights, as discussed and written by the

Editorial Board. A list of the members of the Editorial Board can be found at BCHeights. com/opinions.

Heights

The

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 Eleanor Hildebrandt, Editor-in-Chief Marc Francis, General Manager Joseph Castlen, Managing Editor

Editorial

Kayla Famolare, Copy Editor Connor Farley, News Editor Connor Mellas, Sports Editor Kendra Kumor, Features Editor John Wiley, Arts & Review Editor Ryan Towey, Metro Editor Andrew Skaras, Opinions Editor Mary Rose Fissinger, Special Projects Editor Emily Fahey, Photo Editor Maggie Powers, Layout Editor

Emily Devlin / Heights Illustration

Letter to the Editor Endorsement of Warren Tolman I first met Warren Tolman nearly 20 years ago as he was a 1986 graduate of the Law School. Back then he was a natural leader. Since then, I have watched his career and had the pleasure of working with him on issues we both care about. In each of my interactions with him, Warren has impressed me with his warmth, intelligence, and his commitment to his convictions. Warren is currently running in the Democratic Primary for Attorney General, and I am encouraging my fellow professors, students, friends, and neighbors to support him.

Warren is a proven progressive with bold ideas to protect our communities. As Attorney General, Warren will prioritize taking on gun violence, ending violence against women, tackling opiate abuse, and enforcing mental health parity. He has a fivepoint plan to work with colleges and universities like our own school to reduce campus sexual assaults.

Additionally, Warren is the only candidate to commit to using the current powers of the Attorney General’s Office to require smart gun technology on all new guns sold in Massachusetts. This reform will keep guns out of the hands of unauthorized users, such as children and thieves. This technology will save lives.

None of these challenges come with easy solutions and in some cases solutions require going up against powerful special interests. I know that Warren Tolman is the leader with the conviction, the experience, and the vision to take on these tough fights and win. Please join me in voting for Warren Tolman for Attorney General in the September 9 Democratic primary election.

The Heights welcomes Letters to the Editor not exceeding 400 words and column submissions that do not exceed 700 words for its op/ed pages.

The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity, accuracy, and to prevent libel. The Heights also reserves the right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accompany pieces submitted

to the newspaper.

Submissions must be signed and should include the author’s connection to Boston College, address, and phone number. Letters and columns can be submitted online at www.bcheights.com, by email to editor@bcheights.com, in person, or by mail to Editor, The Heights, 113 McElroy Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

Jordan Pentaleri, Graphics Editor Nicole Suozzo, Blog Editor Austin Tedesco, Online Manager Corinne Duffy, Assoc. Copy Editor Evan D. Gatti, Asst. Copy Editor Julie Orenstein, Assoc. News Editor Nathan McGuire, Asst. News Editor Marly Morgus, Assoc. Sports Editor Alex Fairchild, Asst. Sports Editor Samantha Costanzo, Asst. Features Editor

Robert M. Bloom Professor of Law

Ariana Igneri, Assoc. Arts & Review Editor Michelle Tomassi, Asst. Arts & Review Editor Bennet Johnson, Asst. Metro Editor Emily Sadeghian, Asst. Photo Editor JT Mindlin, Asst. Layout Editor Breck Wills, Asst. Graphics Editor Arielle Cedeno, Editorial Assistant Sarah Moore, Executive Assistant

Business and Operations

Mujtaba Syed, Business Manager Chris Stadtler, Advertising Manager Tricia Tiedt, Outreach Coordinator Donny Wang, Systems Manager Pamela Taylor, National Advertising Manager Katie O’Connor, Account Manager Jessica Turkmany, Account Manager Catherine Duffy, Collections Manager Russell Puleo, Project Coordinator

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, September 4, 2014

A5

Beyond achievement

VICTORIA MARICONTI VENMO - We discovered this fantastic new peer-to-peer payment system called Venmo over the summer. It really made collecting utilities money from our roommates so much easier. Instead of having to send our cousin Vinny over to their rooms with a baseball bat to collect cold, hard cash, we just kindly requested that they remit payment via the Internet.

It required no trips to the bank to deposit checks. It required no payments to Italian mobsters. (As a side note, you would be surprised at the size of the cut they take. We really lost a lot of money on that one.) It was quick and easy, just the way banking should be.

‘BOYHOOD’ - Without a doubt, this was the best movie we saw this summer. It was beautifully done, and we believe it did a remarkable job of capturing the spirit of certain parts of Texas. For those of you who were wondering, yes, it’s true, we did say the Texas pledge in elementary school growing up. We did not know it was weird then. We certainly do now.

Around mid-summer I discovered a new literary genre: Ivy League-bashing. Three or four articles from respectable sources—Arts & Letters Daily, The New Yorker—cropped up all at once in response to William Deresiewicz’s new book, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. My contact with Excellent Sheep comes only through reviews, but these sufficiently summarize its main point: “The Ivy League is, collectively, a moribund institution, a triumph of marketing whose allure far exceeds its social utility.”

In Deresiewicz’s experience as a Yale English professor, students are “anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose.” They are “achievement machines who ‘have been conditioned, above all, to jump through hoops’” (“American Horror, Ivy League Edition,” Newsweek, Alexander Nazaryan).

After privately savoring self-righteous feelings of vindication that arrived four years too late, my smugness faded. I was forced to admit that Deresiewicz’s indictment—exaggerated though it may be—is as relevant to Boston College as it is to our neighbor across the River Charles. We do, after all, consider ourselves the institutional equals of those overgrown climbing weeds. Or, at least, we feel compelled to promote ourselves as such to prospective students and alumni. As a community, we should be confident enough to celebrate BC as its own standard of excellence rather than define its worth in relation to Harvard or any other university. It would be fascinating to trace the public discourse of administrators, students, and alumni to identify the moment at which BC self-perception

first became tainted with Ivy-anxiety.

Sadly, there was a time that I gained little consolation from the fact that we are certainly intellectual equals. I am now confident enough to profess this as truth because to think otherwise is to admit that the material and intangible benefits of prestige conferred upon Ivy students amount to actual differences of ability and potential. We are all vested with individual gifts whose worth cannot be delineated by the admission letters we do and do not receive. Our human dignity is forfeited the moment we allow an external entity to define and curtail what we are capable of. Yet, this is small consolation for freshmen with whom I have spoken. Those who attend BC as their second-choice school are frequently plagued by the thought that they should be somewhere else, somewhere better. Nor is it uncommon for these same students to experience feelings of unworthiness that are manifested as ambivalence or rejection of the BC community. I have heard others verbally express these sentiments, and I have wrestled with the same thought patterns myself. These self-indulgent feelings of disappointment, however, diagnose the same problem that Deresiewicz analyzes: high school students of high ambition typically invest their self-worth in imaginary currencies of tradition-enriched labels and positions.

Look again at the complete title: Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life.

When I do get around to reading the book, I expect Deresiewicz to offer a clear vision of the meaningful life. But that assumes that Deresiewicz, you, and I agree on what it means to live an actualized, meaningful life (in my mind, such a life is self-discovered and created through conversation with others, not packaged in one book). At any rate, Excellent Sheep implies that a good life and an Ivy League/comparatively competitive education are mutually exclusive—all the reviews agree on this much. I doubt this is true.

BC prides itself not only on being elite intellectually, but also on its spiritual and moral mission. I sat through enough Orientation Masses, lectures, information sessions, seminars, and homilies to know we enthusiastically celebrate our ability to engage students on the good life. BC shapes thinkers and contributors. BC develops men and women for others—and I whole-heartedly believe this, read no mocking in these words. But, because this has become an integral part of our marketing strategy, BC students may experience a heightened sense of tension between rhetoric and reality. If an economics student is going to secure a competitive internship, there are certain hoops that she must jump through. Does this make her an inauthentic person, an excellent sheep? Is a theology major with a faith, peace, and justice minor living the meaningful life, and is he precluded from being wealthy? Most of us find these ideas ridiculous, but insecurities nevertheless run amok on campus. Just think of the popular Harry Potter analogy: A&S students are Gryffindors, Lynch students are Hufflepuffs, nursing majors are Ravenclaws, and CSOM students are the infamous Slytherins. We are too ready to embrace the stereotypes that maim positive self-image.

The most I can conclude right now is that the tension is the source of resolution. BC students may perceive themselves as lacking in personal/intellectual maturity or in the ability to successfully navigate mechanical and soulless job markets. But here we have a subtle advantage over the Ivy League—BC staff, faculty, and administrators are more willing to challenge students to take up the beautiful struggle between meaning and material demands. Students may enter as excellent sheep formed in the pens of secondary education, but those who engage this special tension leave as shepherds.

Victoria Mariconti is a staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

The scary truth about Meatball Obsession THIN WALLS - When we lived offcampus, we thought that we had the thinnest walls in housing history. Then, we experienced the Mods. We would like to make it overwhelmingly clear that we are not throwing the Mods a thumbs down—just how thin the walls are there. We could hear the (incredibly inane) conversation of every freshman biddy and bro walking past our abode. Forget ever getting any sleep. Then, there is the noise from within the Mod itself. Those bedrooms are very small and very close together.

LATEX ALLERGIES - Do you know how many things you cannot do if you are allergic to latex? You cannot play with balloons. What kind of childhood is that? An incredible deprived one, that’s what kind it is. Think about every visit to the doctor you have ever had.

Now think about those visits with latex allergies. It certainly would not have been as medically sound.

Also, think about Chem Lab—how are you supposed to protect your hands from dangerous chemicals?

There are just so many activities that are precluded.

WHATABURGER DEPRIVATION - Every time we board our plane to come back to BC, we are sad about the great southern institutions we leave behind. One of those truly great establishments is Whataburger. Open 24 hours a day, they serve excellent greasy burgers, chocolate milkshakes, and, most importantly, honey butter chicken biscuits. For the uninitiated, a honey butter chicken biscuit might seem like a simple breakfast item, but it is so much more. From 11 p.m. to 11 a.m.—the only hours during which the item is served—it is the only acceptable thing to order. Each magnificent assemblage of golden-brown biscuit, fried chicken, and sweet honey butter is a life changing experience in and of itself. Our lives are empty without them.

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NATE FISHER The following epistle was found in a bush outside of Corcoran Commons.

I don’t have much time. Their agents are watching everywhere. There’s a chance that by the time anyone reads this I’ll have been turned into one of those things. But people must see the truth. There’s something going on with Meatball Obsession.

It began quietly … almost too quietly.

When Meatball Obsession first opened, it raised a collective eyebrow of confusion.

“Meatballs?” everyone seemed to ask. It’s not even that it wasn’t the best use of that space, far from it. The creation of Meatball Obsession (pause for emphasis—“MEATBALL” “OBSESSION”) defies any reasonable explanation. How many hundreds of more logical ideas must have been deemed unusable for the powers-that-be to settle on something so positively loony? It was a rhetorical question that lacked anything close to a believable answer. So, Meatball Obsession then faded from public consciousness about as swiftly as it had entered it, jokingly visited as a small shrine to the University’s caricaturesque outof-touch-ness. No one pays it much mind, and certainly no one is leading a charge to replace it with something better.

In this, the administration got exactly what it wanted. The school banked on the fact that you, the student body, have come to accept wholly your lot in life that your school’s space is not for you to use. Yet, I doubt Meatball Obsession was intended as a stunt for the school to see just how ludicrous a turnkey it could get away with. There had to be some significance to its decision. A meatball stand? Why would they narcotize an entire student body into accepting the conversion of a prime Boston College location into something as genuinely surrealist as

a store with a pathological fixation on a random food product? How could administrative authorities justify it even to themselves?

Follow the meatball.

Sometimes the bitterest pills come wrapped in the most peculiarly disarming balls of meat. Just ask your dog. There had to be more to the story. And so, I grew obsessed with Meatball Obsession. I watched it day and night. I watched all the future students and their parents buying meatballs in droves.

I tracked the movement of the workers. And a few days in, something struck me. Not once did any of the employees leave the kiosk to get more meatballs. They seemed to have an endless supply of meatballs. But where were they coming from? One night I broke in to Meatball Obsession to see the mysterious source of all of these meatballs. Sure enough, the kiosk revealed a small door in the ground that led me into a dark cave.

A grizzly clue awaited me as I descended into the cave. I saw the remains of a struggle, and a tattered piece of a jacket. It read “The No- Fa-” and was smeared with dried marinara. From the looks of the marinara trail, someone had tried to escape. As I followed the trail, I heard grinding. Rounding a corner, I saw the machine. It was an industrial-size meat grinder chopping up what looked like BC students. Yet, these were not BC students anymore. Their bodies had atrophied into what looked like steak—their blood was chunky and smelled like an Italian restaurant.

Still, I recognized some of these unfortunate souls. I had seen them as early as freshman year, full of optimism, many with vibrant and unique personalities that had been desiccated and ground down over the years. And here they were, being ground down into ground beef. This visceral literal-ization of their plight turned my stomach, and I raced for the exit. Stumbling through the dark passageways, I found myself running up a long conveyor belt. I wondered with horror what the source of this conveyor belt would be. At the conveyor belt’s starting point, I climbed through a trap door only to realize that I stood on the field of Alumni Stadium. Next

to me was the stage, which only days before had been used for graduation. This trap door was located just at the right of the stage, directly in the path of graduates collecting their diplomas.

This sinister plot has been in motion for years. The student body has been directed and coerced toward a catatonic state where questions are a thing of the past. The first two phases are complete. After years of questions gone unanswered, the school set about convincing the student body that questions were not worth asking. Yet, the only way the administration can achieve total control is through the third phase—eliminate the capacity for questioning within us. So, they will feed us ourselves in the form of homogenized meatball until we all become the meatball inside and out. Then, it’s off to the conveyor belt and down into the cave for harvesting.

We have become a snake that eats its own tail. We were turned away from the apple of knowledge because this school prefers to feed on itself, the narcissistic sustenance of total sameness and homogeneity. The student body is drawn into a consumptive circle until no shred of the original creature is visible—it remains only an auto-digested ball of flesh and red ooze. All the administration has to do is scoop that ball into a cup and sic it onto unsuspecting future students and parents alike. The snake will then continue to have more of itself to digest, perpetuating this navel-gazing gluttony of the self for the rest of time. This is the University’s utopia, and we are lucky enough to be food for it. Authorities will say I saw only what I wanted to see, that I bent the truth to fit the conveniences of my narrative. But I know what I saw. The snake is still down there, grinding, rolling, and cooking away.

Meatball Obsession is people.

Meatball Obsession is people.

Meatball Obse--The rest is unreadable, smeared with dried marinara.

Nate Fisher is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at opinions@ bcheights.com.

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THE HEIGHTS

Email opinions@bcheights.com for more information.

The opinions and commentaries of the staff 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.

Recalling our origins KRISTY BARNES For some of us, orientation was three years ago, for others it was just three weeks ago, but no matter how foggy those three days of overwhelming pep from your OL are, one tidbit was certainly drilled into your head: you are blessed and smart enough to be receiving an education only 6.7 percent of the world has—now go use it for good. The responsibility that comes with being a part of such a staggering statistic is something of which we are constantly reminded at Boston College, as it is, variously, the highlight of speeches at award ceremonies and the focus of casual posts from the history department’s Facebook page. It is subtly hinted at daily when we are told to go set the world aflame or to remember the school’s Jesuit values. While these are important instructions, when something is mentioned consistently, it unfortunately becomes white noise rather than a thought-provoking challenge. So, let us revisit the task we have been given, look at it in a new light, and bring it back to the forefront of our minds. After all, isn’t it a challenge worth such attention?

Let’s first put our education in perspective of our own country and families. In the U.S. alone, 50 percent of college students are first generation. I myself am among that number. In fact, I recently discovered that my grandfather—who lived to see the new millennium—spent his entire life illiterate. Take a moment to think about the fact that, while I sat in calculus learning how to derive a function or in philosophy contemplating what a good life is, my grandfather could not read a street sign.

Although this is not the case for all students, it is not uncommon that students at BC are receiving an education of which even their recent forebearers could only dream. In fact, behind each of us are ancestors with a common desire to make a better life for their posterity.

No matter what your history, there has been great sacrifice for you to receive a diploma.

Now here we are, reaching the peak of their dreams—we are on track to graduate from a top-ranked university with a college degree that will lead to successful jobs and lives. This is not only a great achievement for first generation college students, but to each student and family who will sit in Alumni Stadium on a hot day in early May. Of course, that scroll stands for a great achievement on the individual’s part as well. At BC, it means you have not only mastered a subject or two, but also completed requirements that have challenged you and helped mold you into a well-rounded individual. That’s the beauty of a liberal arts education: the diploma means you know how to think, to participate in an intellectual conversation, to create and assert original ideas.

With such achievement comes great responsibility. Of course, the opportunities that have been afforded to you must be passed onto your own posterity. Yet since your family has reached the educational peak, BC tells us it’s time to pass the gift to others who have not been as fortunate.

What does that mean exactly? Is BC going to condemn CSOM students who take offers at Deloitte or political science majors who going to law school? Of course not—if they did, BC would not have one of the largest university endowments. What about pre-med students and those looking to work for nonprofits? They are going to be using their hard-earned education for the benefit of others in everyday life. Isn’t that what BC is asking for? Well, not exactly. BC challenges us to think critically about our talents and skills that have been cultivated on the Heights, and use them to help fight for justice and equality. This means going beyond what is required to bring home the bacon—you must assess how on an individual level you can make a difference. For each person, this path will be different. For some, it could be spending a year to help companies create sound economic decisions. For others, it could be doing pro-bono surgeries for those in need. Maybe your skills are not academic, but you can relate well with teens and could become involved with local youth. Our liberal arts education has taught us how to think, to recognize our abilities, to harness our potential. We have been offered the position to help others receive the opportunities given to us by our families’ sacrifices. In essence, the responsibility of your education is to do what your past generations have done.

You are challenged to sacrifice and work hard to create a better life for others. Just think, if your parents and grandparents hadn’t done it for you, where would you be?

So, are you ready to go set the world aflame?

Kristy Barnes is a staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at opinions@ bcheights.com.

The Heights

A6

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Men’s soccer’s switch to the diamond midfield is forward thinking From Column, A8 slides into the diamond and the other takes up the full back position is something Kelly will have to decide.

At right back, Wendelken will be more comfortable in terms of his positioning, which will allow him to advance down that side, because Giuliano Frano and Nick Butler, who have filled in for him so far, aren’t meant to be playing out there.

Also, the diamond is suited toward a pressing style, which means the team should be closing down opponents more often and higher up the pitch. To help that process, the team is using a much higher line than that of years past, because of the athleticism of Len Zeugner and Atobra Ampadu.

A diamond midfield can be used without the high line, but it’s not as effective.

The goal of the high line is to squeeze the

game and put your opponent under pressure. Forcing the other team into tighter spaces leads to them playing a poor pass to a teammate or a long ball that’s easy for the center backs to defend. If there is a long ball that gets behind the line, Zeugner and Ampadu have the speed to track back and defend it.

In midfield, Giuliano Frano should take over the holding midfield role once Wendelken returns from injury. Kelly will face a dilemma once that happens though, because Henry Balf has been impressive as the base of the diamond in the first couple of games. Outside of Zeiko Lewis, Frano is the most influential player on the field. He started as the right-sided shuttler in the diamond against Fordham, but is best suited to be the anchor.

As far as the front three are concerned, Lewis, Isaac Normesinu, and Phil Sandgren need to get into the flow

of things. With BC threatening the most down the wings, it seems they forget that there’s space in between the lines.

Playing in the hole, Lewis must be encouraged to get on the ball in more creative positions, where he can play the killer balls that led to his 11 assists last season. Lewis has done that a few times on the counter, but is yet to do so in a buildup from the back.

Sandgren is an extremely strong forward who was partnered with Normesinu in the Fordham game. Sandgren’s physique allowed him to hold off defenders and take BC’s attack to the next step. If he and Normesinu become the first-choice strike partnership, they’ll have to work out who slashes through the channel and who holds up play. While Sandgren is stronger, he’s not always going to be available to get the ball. In fact, for most of the first half against the Rams, Normesinu

was sitting in space. The instructions to the full backs and wide players in the diamond are to feed the ball into the striker’s feet almost immediately upon receiving possession.

The unpredictable play of Boateng and his defensive work rate is something to behold, but at times he does things outside of the system. In the first couple of games, he has dribbled all over the pitch and been dispossessed on multiple occasions. He draws a lot of fouls, though, and his ability to close down makes him ideal for the tip of the diamond, or as one of the shuttlers.

The entire team has to be tactically disciplined for the change to work, though. The difference between successful diamonds and unsuccessful ones is that the best ones stick together. Liverpool used it to great success last season at times, and Barcelona did it under Johan

Cruyff, playing 3-4-3. The genius behind both formations was that the diamonds were very compact. In high school, teams use a diamond midfield, but with wide midfielders, which leaves a huge gap in the middle of the park for the opposition to exploit.

Additionally, the team has to move as a unit. Arrigo Sacchi, who coached the great AC Milan teams of the 1990s, made sure his center forwards and defenders were never more than 25 meters apart.

Being so compact made the Rossoneri difficult to breakdown and in attack they were able to move forward together.

If men’s soccer is to get further than the first round of the ACC tournament, it will have to do the same.

Alex Fairchild is the Asst. Sports Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@bcheights.com

THE HEIGHTS

EDITORS’ EDITORS’PICKS PICKS

Thursday, September 4, 2014 The Week Ahead

Standings

Men’s soccer will look to build off its first win of the year against Quinnipiac on Sunday at Harvard Univeristy, because the Newton Campus Field is under repair. The women’s team goes to Illinois State for a clash on Sunday. Football’s home opener is Friday night against Pittsburgh. Green Bay and Seattle kick off the NFL season with a Thursday night battle.

A7

Recap from Last Picks

HEIGHTS STAFF

3-1

CONNOR MELLAS

2-2

MARLY MORGUS

2-2

ALEX FAIRCHILD

2-2

Game of the Week

Mike Gambino’s baseball team failed to make the ACC Tournament despite a late season push. Softball beat Maine to close out its season at home. Women’s lacrosse beat BU before the NCAA Tournament, and Germany’s Mario Gotze scored in extra time to beat Argentina to give Die Mannschaft its fourth World Cup triumph.

Field Hockey

Boston vs.

UMass College

Guest Editor: Ryan Towey

After beating Quinnipiac 3-0 to open its season, No. 13 field hockey suffered a disappointing defeat to Lafayette, 4-2. Boston College will want to reboot its season after it faces Providence on Friday night with a win over UMass. Brittany Sheenan has tallied two goals in the team’s first two games, while Abby Bascetta has a goal and an assist. BC’s goalie, Leah Settipane, made six saves during the first two games. UMass is ranked No. 10 in the country, but has yet to win a match, as it lost 3-2 to No. 1 Maryland and 2-0 to Temple.

Metro Editor

“O, behave.”

CONNOR MELLAS

This Week’s Games

Sports Editor

MARLY MORGUS Assoc. Sports Editor

ALEX FAIRCHILD

RYAN TOWEY Metro Editor

Asst. Sports Editor

Men’s Soccer: BC vs. Quinnipiac

BC

Quinn.

BC

BC

Women’s Soccer: No. 25 BC vs. Illinois State

BC

BC

BC

BC

Football: BC vs. PIttsburgh

Pitt

BC

BC

BC

Seattle

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NFL: Green Bay vs. Seattle

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Power-run games set to clash in Alumni opener From Football, A8 what BC has yet to display is an ability to make big, breakout plays for longer stretches of yardage. With Andre Williams graduated, the Eagles don’t have a replacement back with the same kind of power, and thus are forced to take the yards as they come in smaller bits. “ We’ve gotta be ver y efficient,” Addazio said. “We’ve gotta have an executing offense with an ability to sustain long drives, because we’re not going to be able to get as much in chunks, so it’s a little different.”

Right now, the run game is the biggest weapon that Murphy and the BC offense have, but that doesn’t mean that the team is opposed to getting the ball in the air more often.

“In a perfect world, we’d love to have more balance,” Addazio said. “I think we have the capability more this year than last year. We are a different make up now for different reasons.”

On the offensive line, the Eagles will still be missing impact player Harris Williams, who left Saturday’s game in the first quarter after sustaining an ankle injury. He has since had surgery, and will likely make his return in six to eight weeks. In his place at right guard will be Aaron Kramer, a 6-foot-7, 293pound graduate student from Duxbury, Mass.

Despite facing a short week, the defense will be able to get a good look at Pitt’s offense.

“We can simulate their offense,” Addazio said. “We are a base 4-3 defense like they are—we may be a little more pressure orientated,” Addazio said.

In other weeks the Eagles may face

teams that work more through the air, challenging the secondary, but Friday’s test will be almost certainly be on the ground—Pitt has a strong core of backs that rushed for 409 yards in its 62-0 demolition of Delaware last weekend.

“We better be darn good, because that’s as good of a running team as there is in America,” Addazio said. “We’re a pressure outfit and we’ve gotta really be gap-sound and be able to get off blocks, and we’re going to be tested. We’re not playing a finesse team … You’ve got to be able to stop a downhill team, and the way you do that is with penetration.”

With the rest of the team settling into their roles, the one complicated scenario remains at the kicking position. Addazio chose to use two different kickers last weekend, Alex Howell from longer range, and Joey Launceford from closer in. He plans to do the same on Friday.

“Our opinion right now is that Alex Howell has a big leg,” Addazio said.

“Longer field goals belong to Alex. The shorter range is Joey [Launceford] right now. But [Mike] Knoll may have the best stroke and best kick on the ball. I think he’s going to be a really good kicker.

He’s young right now. That’s where we are today.”

With a short week to prepare for a very formidable opponent, some of the work the Eagles have done has had to involve looking in the mirror and deciphering what it will take to overcome a power running team.

“The thing about the game is it will be very physical game, because they’re a power running outfit,” Addazio said.

“I don’t think either program is going to trick each other in this game.” 

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

No. 35 Tyler Rouse, No. 32 Jon Hilliman, and No. 23 Myles Willis, along with dual-threat QB Tyler Murphy, share the load on offense.

Fresh off dominant win, Panthers set sights on Chestnut Hill From Pitt, A8

KEITH SRAKOCIC / AP PHOTO

The Pitt offense put up big numbers against Delaware last weekend, and will bring its aggressive, pounding run game to Chestnut Hill on Friday.

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the Blue Hens, holding them to five first downs and just 57 total yards while forcing three turnovers in their first game without stud defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who was the 13th-overall pick in the NFL draft in May. As the Panthers look ahead to their Friday night date with the Eagles, it’s easy to see Pitt head coach Paul Chryst utilizing the same strategy he used last week, the one by which Boston College head coach Steve Addazio lives and dies—pounding the rock. As they showed last week, though, the Eagles have some issues with defending the deep ball, and should Boyd play, he’ll likely cause BC fans to wring their hands every time Voytik launches a deep pass in his direction.

Overall, however, this will be a game decided in the trenches. Each of Pitt’s five starting offensive linemen weighs in at over 300 pounds and easily manhandled Delaware last week.

On the defensive side of the ball, Pitt’s linemen weigh an average of 273 pounds, and they will be hard-pressed to keep up with the BC offensive line.

Chryst understands that BC is going to run the ball with a number of different

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and multi-faceted options.

“You’ve gotta play sound, and you’ve gotta be able to adjust … How we defend it is gonna be a big part of the game,” Chryst said of the BC multi-faceted running attack. Chryst was particularly impressed with Eagles’ quarterback Tyler Murphy, who made his debut last weekend. “Boy, he’s a good player … I thought he looked comfortable with what he was doing,” Chryst said.

It’s the ACC opener for both teams on Friday night, as well as BC’s home opener. The Panthers are now in their second year of ACC football and seem poised to show the rest of the conference they’re no bums. Four hundred and nine yards and seven rushing touchdowns are serious numbers, and linebacker and captain Sean Duggan says the team isn’t taking those numbers lightly just because they came against an FCS opponent. “Any team that puts up those types of numbers … it’s definitely impressive,” Duggan said.

While Pitt’s performance was definitely eyebrow raising, it was powered by the strong, powerful, quick, rumblin’, stumblin’, bumblin’ running back James Conner. The Eagles have to know what’s coming their way—the question is, can they stop it? 

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

Change is hard, but inevitable THE HEIGHTS’

FOOTBALL PREVIEW

For exclusive content on Boston College’s football team, which includes interviews with Myles Willis, Tyler Murphy, and Mehdi Abdesmad, flip to THE HEIGHTS’ annual football preview.

SEE C1

2014

FIGHT NIGHT BC’s versatile ground game must come up big against Pitt’s similar style of play

BY MARLY MORGUS Assoc. Sports Editor It’s no mystery what Boston College is up against on Friday night.

Soon after 7 p.m., when the first snap is taken, you can expect one thing regardless of which side wins the coin toss: an aggressive, ground and pound run game.

It has been 10 years since BC and Pitt last met, but this weekend the two will play a classic hard-fought, physical Northeastern battle, and neither side will be unfamiliar with its opponent’s offensive strategy.

“Some people run it, some people know how to run it,” BC head coach Steve Addazio said. “[Pitt head coach Paul Chryst] knows how to run it.

So we know this will be a real line of scrimmage game, a real physical game, two programs that want to establish the run, two programs that want to play physically on defense, so that’s the kind of

TYLER MURPHY MAKES HIS ALUMNI STADIUM DEBUT ON FRIDAY NIGHT

match.”

With a fresh, diversified core of running backs, as well as a new dual-threat quarterback, the Eagles relied heavily on their run game last weekend against UMass.

“I think our run game, we ran the ball well,” Addazio said. “And we did it with a collection of people, not only the quarterback but a bunch of running backs, and as I said earlier in the year, that’s kind of who we’ll be this year. We don’t have kind of the one guy that we’re going to hand the ball, at least right now, 40 times a game to, so we’re going to be a little bit more diverse in our run game approach.”

Six different Eagles had carries last Saturday, and quarterback Tyler Murphy led the way with 118 yards.

He was followed by Tyler Rouse and Myles Willis, who had 87 and 65 yards, respectively.

While there are several players who have the ability to chip away at the yardage toward the end zone,

See Football, A7

Power-running Conner will be no surprise for BC’s defense, but can it stop him anyway?

BY TOMMY MELORO Heights Staff

SEPT. 5. 2014 BC vs. Pitt.

7 p.m. ET ESPN

KEITH SRAKOCIC / AP PHOTO

JAMES CONNER HAD 153 YARDS RUSHING ON 14 CARRIES AGAINST DELAWARE LAST WEEKEND. THE 6-FOOT-2, 250-POUND RUNNING BACK IS JUST ONE OF THE MANY WEAPONS THAT THE PANTHERS HAVE ON THE GROUND, INCLUDING TWO OTHER PLAYERS WHO TOOK 14 CARRIES EACH AGAINST THE FIGHTIN’ BLUE HENS. THE OFFENSE TOTALLED 409 YARDS RUSHING IN ITS 62-0 WIN, IN ADDITION TO 501 YARDS OF TOTAL OFFENSE.

Mike Alstott played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at a listed 6-foot-1, 248 pounds of all muscle and no fear.

When anchoring SportsCenter or Sunday NFL Countdown, Chris Berman would shout about how Mike Alstott was “rumblin’, stumblin’, bumblin’” his way through the defensive line for a touchdown.

James Conner is the Pittsburgh Panthers’ star sophomore running back, listed at 6-foot-2, 250 pounds.

Had Berman been narrating the highlights of Pitt’s 62-0 thrashing of the Delaware Blue Hens last Saturday, his voice might’ve gone hoarse from all the rumblin’, stumblin’, and bumblin’ it would’ve been doing. In the first half alone, Conner ran for 153 yards on 14 attempts and found the end zone four times.

For his first touchdown, Conner refused to go down after being stood up just short of the end zone, and with the help of a few of his linemen, he was able to push forward over the

goal line and score.

Twice, Conner hit a hole only to see a Delaware defender sliding in to cover it up. Twice, Conner lowered his shoulder and forced his way into the end zone. On Conner’s final touchdown, he showed a quickness and nimbleness that belied his size as he made a quick cut and used a burst of speed to outrun the defensive backs and finish off his final 19-yard scamper.

The Panthers finished Saturday’s game with 501 yards of offense, 409 of which came on the ground (which, amazingly, is good for just sixth in the nation).

Quarterback Chad Voytik finished the day 10-13 with 84 yards and two touchdowns, one of which went to sophomore standout wide receiver Tyler Boyd. Boyd later left the game with a dislocated finger, and though he practice d b oth Monday and Tuesday, his status for Friday night is unknown.

Defensively, Pittsburgh suffocated

See Pitt, A7

Hayley Dowd’s header gives Eagles win over Huskies

BY ALEX FAIRCHILD Asst. Sports Editor Set pieces are an enigma in soccer because a lot of goals are scored off them, but they rarely work. Some teams base their whole strategy around them, while others blow them off completely.

Being able to take successful corners, throw-ins, or free kicks is a tool, though, and they come in handy when trying to break down a defense. Defending set plays is supposed to be easy. There is zonal marking, man marking, and a mix between the zone and man—similar to basketball’s box-and-one. Sometimes,

though, a player loses track of their mark, a good ball is served in, and a team wins a game on a set play.

On Wednesday evening, the Boston College women’s soccer team put a few balls into the box to create chances: Coco Woeltz crossed to Stephanie McCaffrey, who shot wide, McCaffrey sent an early ball into Hayley Dowd, which went wide of the frame, and no ball into the area was more important than Lauren Bernard’s corner, which found Dowd’s head inside the six. The sophomore finished from point-blank to give the Eagles a 1-0 advantage with 36 minutes gone.

BC outshot the Huskies 5-3 in the

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first half, but struggled to hit the target, putting just two shots on frame. BC started the second half strong though, as a couple of Eagles attackers made runs at the bi line looking to cut the ball back into the middle. Jana Jeffrey nearly scored when a cross trickled across an empty net, but the midfielder was unable to finish the chance, as she was shielded away by a Northeastern defender. A scramble in the box on 54 minutes saw freshman center back Allyson Swaby fail to turn and score, though the end of the move was well-defended by the Huskies.

Just moments later, a corner from the

home side nearly ended in Mackenzie Dowd equalizing for the Huskies, but her attempt on goal was cleared off the line by Bernard from her set position on the back post.

BC was on the back foot for the final few minutes, as the Huskies crashed the box from the right side in the 86th minute, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity which would have leveled the match close to the death. Kimberly Slade turned and shot on the half volley. Her laser of a shot had Alexandra Johnson beat, but her rip cannoned off the bar and just ahead of the goal line to preserve the Eagles’ 1-0 road victory. 

The Interweb: BCHeights.com is back in action

After a much-needed redesign, our website has returned and is significantly better than ever. Check it out on your computer or mobile device.

ALEX FAIRCHILD Change sucks, but sometimes you have to do it to stay afloat.

Yes, people will still go to Eagles Nest—despite its updated tiling and menus—for its pressed sandwiches and deceivingly healthy salads. And yes, the football team has an out-and-out dualthreat quarterback for the first time this century. But more importantly, the men’s soccer team is playing in a diamond midfield.

In the past, teams and coaches who fail to adapt to the present have been tossed under the bus. Just look at the England teams who played 2-3-5 in the era of the W-M, and the American high school teams that use a double diamond 4-4-2 in the age of the 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1.

Changing systems can be a nerveracking experience for both coaches and players. It can click immediately, or it can take a long time—look at Manchester United. For the men’s soccer team, change has been … okay.

While Boston College’s opposition has not been of the highest quality, with Fordham standing off and letting the Eagles have the ball, and Iona struggling to break forward when given the opportunity, head coach Ed Kelly’s team hasn’t had to face a difficult test yet, which is both good and bad.

When the U.S. entered the World Cup this past summer, supporters and pundits never really had a sense of how good the men’s national team was. For the Eagles, the same is true, and this season could go a few ways. 1) They click and play really well within in the diamond with a fast, direct attack. 2) They get forward quickly and create lots of chances only to fluff them at the end (see the Iona game). 3) Everything breaks down and building back up to Kelly’s prime in the mid-tolate 2000s is set back another season.

Last season, and in the past, Kelly’s teams have done what most American teams do, and that’s play 4-4-2/4-4-1-1.

It’s easy to teach and simple for players with little tactical understanding of the game to understand. It was the basis for coaching in England for years and a lot of high school teams play it as well. But times have changed.

In England, the only teams playing a traditional 4-4-2 are Championship, League One, and League Two squads.

Few teams do it in the Premier League, besides Manchester City, but it has versatile wide players who come inside to give the Citizens numbers. The English mentality has been that the 4-4-2 won them the World Cup in 1966, and that applied until Glenn Hoddle coached the team to play 3-5-2 in the late 1990s (even though they really won it playing in a 4-1-3-2).

The bottom line is that they could have switched to the diamond, which gives you natural strength in the middle.

BC has the personnel to fit that system.

For soccer coaches, one of the most important theoretical questions to answer is should their system fit their players, or should their players fit their system? As a college coach, Kelly is someone who thinks the former is correct. He can’t go out and buy what he needs, especially when there are injuries, so he has to be flexible and work with what he’s got.

The new system does not entirely fit the back four right now, but it will once Matt Wendelken gets back from injury.

With a flat system, the full backs can get forward, but the wide players ahead of them make it less necessary. In the diamond, the right and left back have to move past half and get involved in the attack, otherwise everything is narrow and predictable, which is easy to defend.

Every team needs width, and players like Ado Kawuba and Mohammed Moro are suited to that perfectly. Kawuba combined well down the left with Normesinu against Fordham, while Moro did the same when Nana Boateng played off the diamond down that in the team’s opener.

Both can be left backs, so whether one

See Column, A6

Scoreboard...........................................................................................................A7 Editors’ Picks.........................................................................................................A7

Album Review

Maroon 5’s ‘V’

A Decent but ultimately dull outing with the iconic pop group, Page B4 Boston Calling

THIS WEEKEND In ARTS

WIfredo LAM

The Cuban Surrealist comes to Devlin, and more this week, Page B3

Gentlemen Hall

An exclusive interview with the Boston Act performing at sunday’s festival, B3

Scene Thursday, September 4, 2014

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See B3 Photo Courtesy of Billy Foshay | Jordan Pentaleri / Heights photo illustration

The Heights

B2

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Wiley’s Follies

A random walk down Linden Lane

John Wiley Friday’s Student Involvement Fair will ruin your college career—not necessarily in the worst of ways, but (for any freshmen reading) you can reasonably expect to throw away two-thirds of your college career on a completely random activity.

And odds are, it will have little or nothing to do with your chosen major.

It might be a matter of which table you stop by first, or it might be directly correlated to your opinion of a tablecloth.

A random walk down Linden Lane on Friday will prove an incredible risk for most of BC’s career-oriented, forward looking recruits. Many freshmen will quite confidently choose five to 10 activities—looking back on the success of their respective high school careers— and assume, with some luck, they’ll wind up president of two or three.

Hedging your bets and spreading out your time is a wise strategy here, if only for the reason that it will gloriously fail.

Make no mistake—it will be one (or potentially two) organizations that ruin any plans you might have, steal away your time and money, as well as an undisclosed anount of GPA points along the way. The best advice I can give is to find your life-ruiner as quickly and haphazardly as possible, and commit to it immediately, before you realize just how much free time you might find yourself with otherwise.

As someone who has spent many a Friday night photographing marginally attended concerts and looking for random event flyers in deserted hallways, I must disclose that I can tell you frightfully little about BC’s vibrant social culture. From what I hear, it does exist.

I have, however, had plenty of exposure to dozens of performing groups at BC, and hope to offer a short guide to the arts on your random walk down Linden Lane.

A Cappella Groups Make no mistake—we’re really talking about cults here. From what I hear, there’s a fair deal of inbreeding between them, as well as plenty of other bizarre traditions to accompany said mating practices. Getting accepted into an a cappella group, however, is perhaps the closest you’ll get to winning at freshman year—immediately bestowing on the lucky few all the benefits of being an upperclassmen.

I would strongly recommend attending at least one a cappella show during your first semester at BC. And if you’re interested in entering one of the University’s most coveted subcultures, I would recommend auditioning for a few, as many groups are looking for only specific voice parts (even if they don’t disclose that they are) and also are interested in how your personality fits with the group.

Dance Teams Every year, one of BC’s most impressively attended events is Showdown, a massive dance competition in Conte Forum that shows off several of the campus’ dance groups. While auditions for some of these organizations can be very competitive, part of the allure of BC’s dance scene is that many are not, and even the more difficult groups to get into tend to be very accommodating to those who haven’t danced before, but are eager to learn.

There also are several performance groups tied to culture clubs that are designed to teach you a new type of dance in a no-risk environment. If you want to dance at BC, there almost certainly will be an opportunity to do it, even if you are first rejected.

Comedy Groups BC takes its comedy seriously. Because of the small size of the few groups here, getting brought into one is a more unlikely result of your random walk down Linden Lane. That said, BC routinely receives regional recognition for the strength of its comedy groups. These groups practice more than most any on campus, and have a strong sense of community.

Theater Please refer to above entry on “a cappella groups.”

These few categories cover much of what you’ll see in the arts on Linden Lane, but certainly not all of it. If you happen upon a table at the Student Involvement Fair, and think, What the hell is this (and then no one sitting at the table can offer a concrete explanation of it either), promptly sign yourself up. It might just be the best of countless terrible mistakes you happen to make your freshman year.

John Wiley is the Arts&Review Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

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Summer Breeze

By Ariana Igneri Assoc. Arts & Review Editor While William Bolton, CSOM ’16, probably won’t ever reveal where he buys his bright, uniquely patterned button downs, the Boston College artist is always eager to talk about his music, including his newly released record, Summer Breeze—which just happens to be as colorful as his wardrobe.

Bolton quickly created a name for himself during his first two years on campus. He was a business student double majoring in Perspectives, showing an extraordinary propensity for camo print pants, and as it would happen, music. He came to BC from Detroit, and he brought his Motown roots with him to Boston.

Initially recording under the moniker Times New Roman, Bolton offered a fresh take on the neo-soul genre. He installed a recording studio in the closet of his eight-man in Vanderslice Hall and started performing concerts on campus wherever he found the space (including two performances in the Mods last semester, which raised a few eyebrows at the Office of Residential Life when The Heights ran a review of one). Bolton was a disruptor, and he had big plans to shake up the University’s independent music scene.

Bolton didn’t fall in love with playing music until he was 11. His two instrumentally inclined brothers did expose him to piano, drums, and guitar at a young age, but he didn’t care for the theory behind it all—he wasn’t interested in reading notes.

His mother, however, wasn’t ready to let him give up. Bolton recalls how she persuaded him to take one guitar lesson, promising that if he didn’t like

it, he wouldn’t have to go back—but he did go back, again and again, building a connection with his teacher, Eric Gustavson, as well as with his electric guitar. “It sounded so cool,” Bolton said.

“I’d come home, sit in my basement, and play for hours.”

Bolton became obsessed with the guitar, to the point where he wrote research papers about it and even tried his hand at building a couple with his grandpa. He also started to write songs and record beats using software and equipment that one of his siblings left behind after leaving for college.

Inspire d by R adiohe ad— whose CDs his brother would play in the car on their way to school—and by Mayer Hawthorne, a hip-hop-soul singer with an old but distinctly modern feel, Bolton defined his characteristic style before coming to BC. He developed an ear for retro, classic music, sampling jazz and funk on his songs, but blending it with more contemporary elements like R&B beats and rap.

Bolton considers Summer Breeze, released at the end of August, to be an undiluted representation of this sound that he spent the past few years honing. While last fall’s Satisfaction EP was musically consistent in the end, his approach wasn’t very refined. He recorded 20 songs, only four of which complemented each other. “I focused a lot more on one sound for this project, rather than making a bunch of stuff and picking and choosing,” Bolton said of his latest record. “It’s a very cohesive and timeless work.”

Like its tracks, the visual aesthetic to Bolton’s album is both fresh and vintage.

Billy Foshay, CSOM ’16—the photographer behind the project’s artwork and

promotional footage and one of the founders of Exposure Productions—had full creative leeway when it came to the pictures. “He really had a sense of what I wanted,” Bolton said.

Aptly named Summer Breeze, Bolton’s album is sunny and upbeat, flowing from one song to the next as effortlessly as warm days long gone. He wanted to make something that harkened to the past, but that was also relatable and happy.

He recorded Summer Breeze to have the feel of a daydream. The concept for the record came to Bolton while sick in class last semester. He struggled with his health, and he frequently found himself staring off in class. After more than one bad day, Bolton turned to music as a remedy. “I would make these beats in my room just to feel better,” he said.

“So really, the album isn’t about what my life was or is like—it’s what I wish it was like.”

From start to finish, Summer Breeze took Bolton six months to complete. Although he had some beats lying around from the winter, the bulk of the album was recorded over the summer while Bolton was interning in New York City with producer Ryan Leslie. “He was the coolest guy ever—a huge mentor to me,” Bolton said. He met Leslie through mutual friend Shalin Mehta, CSOM ’16.

Together, Bolton and Leslie developed an app called DMM, which allows artists to connect to their fans by collecting listener data. Bolton, who currently uses the app to connect with his own fans, said that he’s had about 2,000 people download Summer Breeze from his website, and he can see, on a map, where each of his supporters is from. He can even thank them via text, phone call,

or email for backing his work.

Cultivating a strong base of devotees is a goal for Bolton. He has his phone number posted on his SoundCloud page as well as at the end of his music videos, giving his followers something personal to latch on to. “That’s what’s going to keep me being able to do this for a really long time,” he said.

Bolton’s popularity is swiftly growing both here in the U.S. and internationally.

His first single from the album, “Let’s Stay Together”—which took no more than an hour to finish—made it to the top of the charts at egoFM, a new indie radio station catering to five cities in Germany, suggesting that European hipsters don’t just like beer—they like Bolton, too.

Although his plans aren’t definite yet, the positive global response to “Let’s Stay Together” has Bolton hoping to study abroad in England before graduating from BC, taking some time to tour and perform in London. He’s kept in touch with various record labels there and knows a manager who’s well connected in Britain.

For now, Bolton’s keeping to some immediate plans: another CD and a video blog featuring live performances, behind-the-scenes material, and possibly explanations to what inspires his tracks. The commercial success has been nice, but Bolton says he’s just proud to be creating songs—songs that he can jump around to in his room or dance to with his friends. The music has evolved over the past couple years, but the motives, according to Bolton, have hardly changed.

“I make music so I can be really happy,” Bolton said. “All I want is to have a good time.” n

The Heights

Thursday, September 4, 2014

B3

outside The Lines

The last first day of school

Michelle Tomassi

Photo Courtesy of 44-Communications

Members of Gentlemen Hall share their thoughts on other Boston Calling acts, signing with Island Records, and breaking into the Boston music scene.

Gentlemen Hall talks Boston Calling, forthcoming album The Boston natives discuss performing at this weekend’s festival with ‘The Heights’

By John Wiley Arts & Review Editor As legend goes, Boston band Gentlemen Hall took its name from an encounter with actor Mark Wahlberg. Folklore has it that several members of the band, then Berklee students, were sitting in a North End diner when Wahlberg entered the scene. Having just broken up with his girlfriend, he was visibly upset and took kindly to a short interaction with the young strangers. The chance meeting ended with Wahlberg declaring, “You guys are gentlemen, all”—a phrase misunderstood and later adopted by the then-nameless band.

This story is ostensibly untrue. When I asked Gavin Merlot, lead guitarist of Gentlemen Hall, and Rory Given, the band’s bass guitarist, about the name, they could not remember who first said it. Still, the Wahlberg story continues to circulate around the interwebs, with several reputable news sources still quoting the band on it.

It’s a lie that fits Gentlemen Hall quite nicely, as their real story’s just as deeply entangled with Boston mythology.

Initially meeting at Berklee College of music, Gentlemen Hall came up through Allston’s house party scene, working its way through Boston clubs, and eventually emerging as a nationally recognized act with hits “Sail Into the Sun” and “All Our Love.” Theirs is a path hundreds of young artists in Boston’s music scene hope to follow.

Gentlemen Hall is slated to play this Sunday at the Boston Calling musical festival in the City Hall Plaza, alongside acts including Nas, the Roots, Spoon, and The 1975. The Heights spoke with Gentlemen Hall about performing at Boston Calling, as well as the band’s forthcoming major label debut with Island Records.

Heights: For those who have never seen you perform live before, what should they expect at Boston Calling?

Given: Even for those who have seen us live, it’s pretty much all going to be brandnew material. We’ve been in the studio all summer, and we’re really excited to get all

these new songs out. You can expect an emotional roller coaster—a lot of really extreme highs, also some contemplative lows, a chance to examine your soul a little bit.

Merlot: It’ll be really cool. It’s going to be like our new stuff. We’re trying to be a bit more dynamic, a little bit more interesting. We always have a lot of fun, we bring as much energy as we can, and this new stuff will definitely be a mix of high energy moments and more like—I don’t want to say ballads—but we’re trying to do a powerful, slow thing as well. It’ll be a dynamic show, for sure.

Heights: Do you have a favorite act that’s playing at the show with you?

Given: Definitely a couple. I’m really excited to see The 1975. We’re big fans of them and have seen them a couple times. They put on a great show. Nas, definitely—a lot of respect for Nas’ career—and Future Islands. A lot of us are really psyched about Future Islands. I’ve gotten into them over the past couple of months.

Merlot: We actually fell in love with that band after their performance on Letterman. Have you seen it? It was like the famous performance of the year.

Heights: I’ve heard about it. Didn’t get the chance to see it just yet.

Merlot: The singer did this crazy, crazy dance that Letterman ended up making a meme out of—he kind of made a joke out of it—but it really made the band talked about all year, so yeah, we’re excited to see them, too.

Heights: So, moving the conversation away from Boston Calling for now, who would you say is worth paying attention to right now in Boston’s music scene?

Merlot: There are three bands out of Boston that I’m really, really excited about, and the first is called Clifflight, and my favorite part about this band is that the lead singer has one of the most characteristic, smoky old-soul vocals I’ve ever heard, and the

songwriting is really great, too. Absolutely check them out.

Another one is called Magic Man, and the band is friends of ours that we play with at loft parties and house party-kind of environments. They signed a pretty big record deal, and are getting pushed pretty hard right now, and are doing a lot of pretty big tours with bands we love. So, they’re doing it—they were at Boston Calling last year.

Another band is called RIBS, and they’re this real rock and roll band. You don’t hear a lot of stuff like that, but I think they are a rock and roll band that can be relevant in a time where Lorde is winning the best rock and roll music video, and she’s not rocking at all.

Heights: Let’s talk about your deal with Island Records. What can you tell us right now about the new album?

Merlot: This is the most excited we’ve ever been as a band. We finally feel like we’ve

This is the most excited we’ve ever been as a band.

We finally feel like we’ve come to the point where we’re making our best material ever. come to the point where we’re making our best material ever—like really big, arena, anthemic material. We’ve always been really focused on songwriting, but now there’s something more happening here: a bit of a hip-hop aesthetic in the production, the melodies are strong, the lyrics are stronger, and we’ve gotten to the point where we thinks it’s really going to be a bold statement to the world. But personally, I’m most excited about lyrical concepts. We’ve dived into some really deep poetry, which

is sort of new for us.

Heights: What advice would you have for young musicians that are looking to get into the business, that are going to school in Boston like you were?

Given: First, the most important thing is your material. If you’re a songwriter, you just gotta write the best songs you can. You gotta be writing all the time.

You have to be willing to recognize that 90 to 95 percent of the time, the stuff you write is not up to your best material, so you have to be willing to let that stuff go, and aside from that, you just gotta figure out how to make yourself unique. What can you do that no one else can? Find that and really hone in on that.

Thirdly, go out and see as much as you can.

Find music and absorb it, meet as many musicians as you can, trade stories, put shows together with other bands you get to know. Really immerse yourself in the scene.

Especially in Boston, you’ve got a great music scene, a lot of cool clubs, definitely the house parties. It’s a really great place to start getting your name out.

Heights: I’m interested in how you, as a band, have been handling all national attention you got when “Sail Into the Sun” appeared in commercials for both Target and Samsung. How did you handle Gentlemen Hall suddenly becoming a national name?

Given: It’s incredible to get recognition on a larger scale anytime it happens. The trick is taking a moment and turning that into something even bigger. It’s really cool, you start getting recognized more and more, you know: “Oh, I heard you here, I heard you there, I heard you on a radio station now.” It’s super exciting. It’s encouraging.

It motivates you even more to get out there and make new stuff. It’s really cool.

Sometimes we turn on the TV and see it playing. We’ll hear all the time, “We heard you here.” It’s great. It’s just another step—something you hope eventually will happen—and we’re hoping more opportunities arise like that. n

This weekend in arts

By: Ariana Igneri | Associate Arts & Review Editor

Bollyx (Thursday 9/5, 6 p.m.)

Make Music Boston (Thursday 9/5 and Friday 9/6, 6 P.m.)

East meets West at the Esplanade Association’s BollyX, an Indian dance/workout extravaganza held at the DCR Memorial Hatch Shell on the Charles River. The free fitness event will include music, prizes, and healthy snacks. No prior experience is required.

Take the T to South Station and catch local indie-folk acts perform at the Lawn on D, a new, outdoor interactive space for public and private events. The 2.7-acre green hosts numerous free programs, including Make Music Boston. For directions, hours, or more information, see lawnond.com.

Boston Calling (Friday 9/5 to Sunday 9/7)

SOWA Open market (Sunday 9/7, 10 A.M. to 4 p.m.)

“Royals” star Lorde reigns supreme on Saturday, as she headlines this fall’s annual Boston Calling music festival at City Hall Plaza with The National and Nas x the Roots. Three-day, weekend, and single day passes for the concert are available online at fall.bostoncalling.com.

‘Guess Who’s coming to dinner’ (Friday 9/5 to Sunday10/5)

The Huntington Theater invites you to be its guest as it stages Todd Kreidler’s comedy, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Starring The Cosby Show actor Malcolm Jamal Warner, the play is about what happens when a young woman brings her African American fiance home to meet her liberal, white parents.

Visit huntingtontheatre.org for showtimes and tickets.

Local artisans, farmers, and food trucks come together in South Boston on Sunday mornings for the SOWA Open Market, located on Harrison Avenue. For more information, go to newenglandopenmarkets.com/sowa.

Photo courtesy of the ica

ICA First Fridays: Endless Summer (Thursday 5/1, 3:30 p.m.)

The Institute of Contemporary Art isn’t letting go of summer just yet, and you shouldn’t either. Join the museum as it celebrates the season with specialty cocktails, a pop-up oyster bar, live music, and even a local caricaturist—all on the Boston Harbor at sunset. The event is 21-plus, free for members, and $15 for nonmembers.

Wifredo Lam: Imagining New Worlds (Ongoing)

Chronicling the development of Wifredo Lam’s (1902–82) Picasso-inspired style, the McMullen Museum’s latest exhibit explores the cultural, political, and literary influences of the global artist’s work. More than 40 paintings are on display, some of which are considered Lam’s greatest masterpieces. Admission is free.

From my first year of pre-school to my final year of university education, I have had 19 first days of school. That’s 19 days of my life on which I was ready for a new beginning, and excited for the numerous possibilities that a new school year would bring. As a senior at Boston College, my 19th “first day,” of course, held special significance—it was quite possibly my last first day of school.

With the first day of classes inevitably comes the question, “How was your first day?” While my response to this question has been fairly consistent in years past (usually an underwhelming “fine” or a sarcastic “great”), this year’s was quite different. For my final first day, I was able to give a much more enthusiastic response. Not only were my classes great (really great), but I was also able to go to a museum exhibit—the newest installation at the McMullen Museum, Wifredo Lam: Imagining New Worlds.

Now, first days of school are generally similar year by year: wake up earlier than necessary, have time to actually sit down and eat breakfast, pack a bag with clean notebooks and empty folders, and make your way to new classes, where you will see faces both new and familiar. For my last first day, I decided to stop by the McMullen in between classes—a new twist to my generic first day routine.

When I walked into the museum space, however, and took a preliminary glance around the room at the paintings inhabiting the wall space, a strange feeling came over me: this is all very familiar.

It was strange because I had never been previously acquainted with Lam’s work, and I didn’t know much about the artist himself. So, how could this all be so familiar, as if I had seen it before?

As I began in the first section of the room, showcasing the work of Lam’s early years in Spain, I read about his own journey as an artist, and his movement from a realist style to an embracing of surrealism. Lam is often noted for his unique “hybrid” style, infused with cross-cultural symbolism, which was reflected in the many pieces included in the collection. I read through the caption labels beside each painting, learning that Lam drew inspiration from painters such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso—artists who I had studied in previous art history and 20th-century culture classes.

It was one of those “ah-ha” moments when you actually put something you learned in class to real-life use, and I realized why Lam seemed so familiar.

It may not seem like much of a big deal to some, but for me it served as an affirmation of just how much I have gained from taking the time to learn about the fine arts, and what it means to have a course come full-circle.

In that moment, I felt as though my mid-day museum excursion was like my first class of the day: the artist and the course were both new to me, but there were still some familiar faces scattered throughout. And, while the possibility of something new is always exciting, there’s something very comforting about finding the familiar amid a change. It’s natural to make those connections, and whether through art or an academic course, it can feel empowering to bring your previous experiences and knowledge to a new situation.

As I embark on my final year as a BC undergraduate student, I look forward to the new faces, adventures, and challenges that I’ll encounter.

However, I’m even more excited for the chance to reconnect—with old friends, favorite books of the past, and lectures that have really stuck with me—and use everything that BC has given me to make this the most memorable year yet.

Michelle Tomassi is the Asst. Arts & Review Editor for The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

THE HEIGHTS

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Thursday, September 4, 2014

Maroon 5 sacrifices originality in hopes of staying on the map

BY LIZ HOLMAN For The Heights

Maroon 5 is kind of like that kid you used to be best friends with in middle school, but as you got older, you grew apart. Despite this, you still harbor a certain emotional attachment to said kid. You guys had such great times together—how could you ever forget those Sunday Mornings?—but then he started caring about his reputation a little too much and ditched you for the popular crowd even though you always thought he was totally cool anyway. Yeah, that’s exactly how I would describe my relationship with Maroon 5.

The band has come a long way from its “Sunday Morning” days, practically trading its trademark, soft-rock sound for that of a boy band. One thing Maroon 5 has always kept constant, though, is the band’s relevance. Be it simple acoustic sounds or electro-pop beats, Maroon 5 has consistently climbed the charts. After the 2012 hit “Moves Like Jagger,” the six-piece group has been working toward emulating that success again and again, with a combination of Levine’s sultry lyrics and the beats of big-time pop producers

Shellback and Benny Blanco.

The new album, aptly named V, is just as much the work of Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, and guitarist James Valentine, as it is the work of a formula that’s been put together by the band’s previous successes, and V continues to delve into the pop culture scene.

The album kicks it off with “Maps” and “Animals,” both of which are already climbing the charts. With lyrics like, “Baby I’m preying on you tonight / Hunt you down, eat you alive,” Levine’s talent still shines through, despite the dominance of Maroon 5’s “new” sound. The next song “It Was Always You” is reminiscent of a good hookup—it’s fun and makes you feel good, but, dare I say, it lacks depth.

Much of the rest of the album follows this same example. It’s enjoyable while it’s happening, but afterwards, you almost immediately forget what you were just listening to, which makes you question whether Maroon 5 is actually sacrificing quality for popularity.

Just when you’re thinking that most of these songs sound the same, though, Adam Levine surprises us with a sultry side we’ve never seen before in “Sex and Candy.” Yes, Adam Levine has always been sexy, but be-

lieve me when I say that there is nothing sexy about this song. It’s almost like having to sit through a sex scene with your parents, or like your weird uncle just took his pants off in the middle of the living room and you’re all confused and skeeved out.

One saving grace in the album, however, is “My Heart is Open” featuring Gwen Stefani. It’s in the lyrics of this song that Adam Levine reminds us what he’s capable of—the raw emotion that brought Maroon 5

to the forefront in the very beginning (“I know you’re scared, oh I can feel it”; “One more no and I’ll believe you”; and “I can’t spend another minute getting over loving you”). These are just a few of the lyrics that make this song stand out and reclaim that personal touch that a lot of Maroon 5’s songs have lost.

Overall, the album is like being invited to your middle school friend’s birthday party. It’s super fun, because it’s a birthday party,

but then you realize … wait, what’s the point? Why was I invited? Do I even know this person anymore, or does her mom just feel bad for me? And then it hits you that this birthday party, as fun as it is, isn’t really significant to you anymore.

This friend is no longer the friend she once was—she’s not telling you that you will be loved. So, please, Maroon 5, reach out to your original fan base again, because it’s becoming harder to breathe. 

V MAROON 5 PRODUCED BY INTERSCOPE RECORDS RELEASED AUG. 29, 2014 OUR RATING

More than 10 years after entering the rap game, Young Jeezy has brought his music far outside the borders of Atlanta, Ga.. Following the success of five studio albums and countless features, Jeezy’s raspy, canned verses have become all too familiar. Seen It All: The Autobiography, Jeezy’s most recent release, delivers that familiar sound through a tracklist littered with bass-heavy drug anthems. The record features some impressive guest artists, including fellow trap rapper

Rick Ross, Compton’s Game, and R&B superstar Future.

While the majority of the album is more or less what you’d expect from Young Jeezy, the veteran street rapper makes a solid attempt at diversifying the record—with an emphasis on melody in the album’s instrumental production and a couple unusually sentimental tracks. Three years after the release of his last full studio album, Jeezy comes back with an enjoyable record, succeeding in providing his listeners with his familiar sound, and a little something new.

The album opens up with three

PHOTO COURTESY OF INTERSCOPE RECORDS

Maroon 5’s ‘V’ has a more mainstream sound than its previous albums, but has a few redeeming tracks.

hard-hitting tracks, the first of which is easily the best of the lot. “1/4 Block” starts the album with a bang. The synth- and snare-heavy instrumental pairs seamlessly with Jeezy’s gravelly voice, creating a track guaranteed to make your head nod. The following tracks, “What You Say” and “Black Eskimo,” have similarly absurd amounts of bass—which is cool—but end up feeling repetitive and contribute very little to the albums overall success.

On the record’s fifth track “Holy Ghost,” Jeezy raps over an emotional instrumental backdrop. He begs the Lord for forgiveness, over—you

SEEN IT ALL JEEZY PRODUCED BY DEF JAM RECORDINGS RELEASED SEPT. 2, 2014 OUR RATING

PHOTO COURTESY OF DEF JAM RECORDINGS

Even after 10 years in the rap industry, Jeezy manages to bring a new sound to his latest release ‘Seen It All.’

guessed it—a sufficiently sentimental hook. This hook breaks up verses detailing Jeezy’s past and present pain. The album’s first single, “Me Ok,” provides another bass-heavy trap anthem produced by Drumma Boy. Seen It All has an impressive list of producers, also including Mike Will Made It. While the aforementioned tracks provide the majority of the record’s substance, “Beautiful” and title track “Seen It All” are the true highlights of the record. Any song involving three veteran moguls of the rap game should certainly be good, if not great.

Rick Ross, Game, and Jeezy do not disappoint with “Beautiful.” While the smooth, soulful beat produced

by Black Metaphor has been used by an array of rappers (Curren$y, Mellowhype, Logic, etc.), none is as successful as Jeezy and friends. Game and Jeezy switch off, exchanging bars until Rozay finishes the song with great finesse.

“Seen It All” provides a slightly different sound than we’re used to hearing from Jeezy. The beat for “Seen It All” is produced by Cardo (known for his production for artists like Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign, Mac Miller, and Meek Mill), and brings the track into the territory of being the best of Jeezy’s career. Oddly, Cardo recorded the track’s initial sample for Detroit rapper Big Sean, but then accidentally sent it to Jeezy in an email

mix up. Jeezy should be thankful, as his scratchy voice fit flawlessly with the beautiful instrumental. Jay-Z also adds an incredible verse, arguably better than anything on his most recent album, Magna Carta Holy Grail.

The remainder of the album has its moments, but is brought down by several weak attempts to add variety to the record—including (but certainly not limited to) “4 Zones,” “Been Getting Money,” and “No Tears.”

With “4 Zones,” Jeezy tries his hand at creating a Future-esque autotuned chorus, but instead comes up with an awkward-sounding and ultimately undesirable refrain. Jeezy also struggles with the record’s eighth track, “Been Getting Money” featuring Akon. The artists fail to recreate the collaborative success they had with 2009 hit “Soul Survivor.”

The album finishes strong with “How I did It (Perfection),” closing the project nicely with a laidback, jazz-inspired beat. Jeezy raps about his beginnings and the road to success, explaining how he truly has “seen it all.”

After “seeing it all” myself (or to speak more accurately but less punnily, “listening to it all”), I will say the album has more wins than losses, with standouts like “1/4 Block,” “Beautiful,” and “Seen It All” making up for any deadweight. 

Counting Crows migrates to new music territory with latest album

BY MARIAN WYMAN For The Heights

Adam Duritz, lead singer of the popular rock group Counting Crows, is widely known for his personal, deliberate lyrics. Duritz has been a strong advocate for those suffering with mental illness since his career started in the early ’90s, and he frequently turns to his music to portray his own battle with depersonalization disorder, a dissociative disorder that greatly inhibits a person’s sense of self, and his illness limits the extent to which he can be present to the world going on around him.

That said, Duritz has created tangible presence in his music––something real and significant and much harder for him to ignore. “All my songs are where I am,” Duritz said in a 2004 interview with Teen Hollywood. Certainly, this could be said of Counting Crows’ past albums, which have contained lyrics that were specific to Duritz and his worldview.

Somewhere Under Wonderland, however, is more than that. Released on Tuesday, Counting Crows’ newest album takes a liberating and exciting leap, delving into the lives of many, instead of just one.

Somewhere Under Wonderland includes the first new music Counting Crows has released in two years. The most obvious differences are simple:

the subject matter, the speaker, and the way the story is told. Departing from the band’s typical lyrics—ones close to Duritz’s own experiences—Wonderland’s are less focused. Vacillating between confusingly haphazard and pleasantly whimsical, the storytelling in this album encompasses diverse elements of Americana culture. It’s not about Duritz, it’s about the world’s passersby and the lives they’ve led.

The first track of Wonderland is entitled “Palisades Park” after the New Jersey amusement park, and it embodies all the vibrant energy the now-closed attraction represented.

For an artist who grew up in Northern California, it is clear that this subject matter isn’t exactly personal to Duritz. Instead, the song details the experiences of a man named Andy. “Palisades Park” itself is over nine minutes long, sparing no expense to tell what Duritz and the rest of the band consider a valuable, important story. Andy is a dreamer with plans to see and experience the world, and the song portrays his life amid fanciful, eccentric lyrics and beautiful melodies. “Palisades Park” is just one of the many vignettes told in the album.

With a leisurely listen, though, Somewhere Under Wonderland is sure to appeal to those who enjoy the acoustic, upbeat rock of Counting Crows. Sure, there are allusions

made to other genres (“Palisades Park” begins with a soft jazz intro; “Scarecrow” is reminiscent of classic American rock; and “John Appleseed’s Lament” features a slight gospel sound, for example), but each song is unmistakably, unapologetically Counting Crows. For all the attention given to different stories—ranging from New Jersey to Hollywood in “Elvis Went to Hollywood”—the band’s familiar ring enhances each track. This album release marks its first significant work with Capitol Records, a shift made specifically to support the group’s popularity.

Through successful records, covers of popular music, and interaction with fans through a variety of music and lyric videos, Counting Crows has secured a loyal and vast fanbase. Before Wonderland’s official release, Counting Crows’ YouTube account created both music videos and lyric videos for various songs: “God of Ocean Tides,” “Scarecrow,” and “Earthquake Driver,” to name a few.

The powerful melody in “Dislocation,” and the fun, familiar beats of “Earthquake Driver” and “John Appleseed’s Lament” ensure

TOP SINGLES

1 Shake It Off Taylor Swift 2 Anaconda Nicki Minaj 3 All About That Bass Meghan Trainor 4 Stay With Me Sam Smith 5 Rude Magic!

6 Black Widow Iggy Azalea feat. Rita Ora 7 Break Free Ariana Grande feat. Zed

TOP ALBUMS

With rap veteran Jeezy, you haven’t ‘Seen It All’ yet

BY HARRY MITCHELL Heights Staff

CHART TOPPERS

enough variety and character to keep listeners entertained. Although there are weaker tracks, and some whose lyrics seem to ramble more than convey (“Elvis Went to Hollywood” specifically seems to aim itself toward something intellectual but is really bizarre), the album as a whole is a sure success.

It is a new direction for the band, but ultimately a change Counting Crows makes with grace. Under the guidance of Capitol Records, Counting Crows put together a record that resonates with fans even as it explores new territory. 

SOMEWHERE UNDER WONDERLAND COUNTING CROWS PRODUCED BY CAPITOL RECORDS RELEASED SEPT. 2, 2014 OUR RATING

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAPITOL RECORDS

‘Somewhere Under Wonderland’ marks a shift in Counting Crows’ career, but still appeals to fans of the rock group.

1 My Everything Ariana Grande 2 Moonshine in the Trunk Brad Paisley 3 Promise to Love: Album IV Kem 4 Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack Various Artists 5 In the Lonely Hour Sam Smith

Source: Billboard.com

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK

BY LUIZA JUSTUS

“BREAK THE RULES” CHARLI XCX

You might recognize her name, but it always seems to come after the term “feat.” in your music library. Charli XCX has had special appearances in a few hit songs lately—she assured us of her fanciness in Iggy Azalea’s hit song, as she grooved alongside the rapper in her schoolthemed video. Last week, Charli came out with a single and music video of her own, but was obviously still not ready to abandon the whole schoolgirl aesthetic.

The video portrays a perfect stereotype of a high school straight out of a ’90s movie, complete with ultra-revealing uniforms, impossibly high-budget homecoming dances, and a legion of extras clearly way too old to be there.

If done cleverly and with cool pop culture references, the obnoxiously overdone “high school” theme might even work in Charli’s video, as it did with Iggy Azalea’s nicely done Clueless spoof, but all you get from “Break the Rules” is all varieties of skimpy clothing, uninteresting dance routines, and cliche visuals. During the video, Charli XCX and her friends leave school to go shopping at a trashy lingerie store. This storyline is alternated with scenes of Charli dancing by herself on top of a school bus in classic Donald Duck fashion (i.e. no pants), all shot at a conveniently low angle so that the audience can have a clear view of her, erm, buttocks.

I’ll skip the commentary on this video’s destructive message to young girls (skip school to try on trashy underwear with your friend—only then will you be cool) because , let’s face it, that ship sailed a long time ago with Miley Cyrus as its captain. If your song’s music video is going to be a personal advertisement of how hot you can look in several different outfits, however, at least try to make it a little less obvious. 

SINGLE REVIEWS BY RYAN DOWD TIM MCGRAW “Overrated”

RYAN ADAMS “Tired of Giving Up” The title here almost begs to be mocked—to write off Tim McGraw as overrated. But you get the sense that McGraw threw more heart into “Overrated” than any mainstream country single probably deserves. It’s a thrifty little banjo anthem about love and all of the other stuff that, in the end, doesn’t really matter. Take, that beer, trucks, and blue jean-clad women.

MARY LAMBERT “Heart on My Sleeve” This is a song that you might hear on your O.A.R. Pandora station. “Tired of Giving Up” is a nice throwback to alt-rock of old.

Adams’ steady beat lets the guitar stroll pleasantly down the street that you might soon run on with this song. It sounds like a song you’ve heard before, minus the oncenecessary core of angst.

Of “Same Love” fame, Lambert is headed in a groovy direction. Moving from ballad “She Keeps Me Warm,” her single skirts the tropes of the year’s generic pop hits. It may not have the lyrical playfulness or heart of some of her earlier offerings, but it doesn’t rely on a dramatic drop of the bass. Instead, it leans on Lambert’s voice and an eclectic production.

Thursday, January 17, 2014 Thursday, September 4, 2014

Community Help wanted $$ SPERM DONORS WANTED $$ Earn up to $1,500/month for less than 5 hours’ time. Help families with California Cryobank’s donor program. Convenient Cambridge location. Apply online: www.

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The Heights The Heights

B5 B5

The Heights

B6

Bennet’s Banter

Freshmen, make use of your home Bennet Johnson

I know students at Boston College have only been back at school for less than a week, but I want to offer a piece of advice to students—especially freshmen: Go into the city of Boston.

Now, I know we have just settled into our dorms, attended our first set of classes, and even completed our first homework assignments (or maybe not) as part of what is known as “Syllabus Week,” but I want you to understand that there is much more to your college experience than what is contained within the “BC Bubble.”

Although many freshmen are content with staying on campus most weekends, I urge them to explore the city that is at our fingertips and find some of the things that make Boston special.

As an editor of the Metro section of The Heights, I’ve had many opportunities to explore the city in our backyard and share my experiences with BC students this past year. What fascinates me the most about the city is not what I originally planned.

While being in close proximity to a city full of sports, fancy restaurants, and shopping malls is appealing to many people, I’ve found my own version of Boston present in more traditional aspects—its many different neighborhoods.

The North End—A traditional Boston location, the Italian roots of this neighborhood along with the old cobblestone streets make you feel like you’re in Italy.

The North End is home to the best restaurants in the city, which will be packed for lunch and dinner every weekend. This neighborhood is also home to Mike’s and Modern pastries, which are signatures of the Boston food scene.

Newbury St.—A Boston landmark for tourists and nearby residents, Newbury St. displays some of the best shopping around the world.

Whether you’re looking for the most expensive designer stores, or just want to grab a bite to eat at Trident Cafe or Trattoria Newbury, this is the place to be. You will also see street artists and musicians playing during the warmer months, and you might catch Tom Brady or Gisele Bundchen walking to their nearby home.

Fenway—Some of my favorite memories of going into the city are attending Red Sox games, especially last year when they won the World Series.

Nothing unites a city more than 37,000 people singing “Sweet Caroline.” Plus, students from any of the multitude of colleges in Boston can get a student discount to games at this iconic stadium.

Harvard Square—Just a quick ride on the T over to the center of Cambridge will give you a distinct college vibe. Harvard Square is swarming with students and tourists looking to see one of the country’s oldest campuses and college hotspots.

Harvard Square also offers many cheap dining options that won’t put a dent into your new college-student budget. For those who plan to stick to Mac food, Harvard Square also is home to some great museums, including the Peabody museum and Sackler art museum.

This past summer, I found myself missing Boston and its various neighborhoods. As I was sitting in my cubicle in the suburbs of Minnesota, I felt myself longing for a run by the Charles River, a visit to Faneuil Hall, or even a chance to eat a cannoli from Mike’s.

Even though I’m just a sophomore, I believe that I have taken advantage of the numerous opportunities available to me as a student living in Boston during my first year; however, I also know many seniors who look back on their college experiences, and wish they had further explored the city they are supposed to call home.

Although the school year has just begun, my advice to you as we begin the new semester is simple: Go explore your city.

Bennet Johnson is the Asst. Metro Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at metro@bcheights.com

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Real Life Analytics looks to alter advertising

By Gus Merrell Heights Staff Walking down Newbury St., shoppers are bombarded by countless ads for various high-end boutiques, many of which do not apply to each shopper. Now, however, there is a technology that could identify certain characteristics of an individual shopper and display a personalized ad based off of those characteristics.

Real Life Analytics, a Boston-based startup, has created a demographic detection software that will allow retail stores to accurately collect data on the age, sex, and gender of customers entering the store and create a more targeted advertising campaign.

“We wanted to create an ad network that would personalize brands,” said Robert DeFilippi, co-founder and COO of Real Life Analytics. “Something that would enable retailers to really connect with their perceived consumer instead of throwing some stuff out there and hoping something sticks.”

DeFilippi said that ads offline are still sold the exact same way they have been since advertising first started. Instead, the founders of Real Life Analytics wanted to create an offline ad network that would make ads responsive and in real time, much like Google’s AdWords.

By using the demographic detecting software, retailers would be able to figure out the demographic that visited their stores and could then adjust their ads and billboards accordingly.

When DiFillipi was in London, England, he and his friends were walking down Regent Street and they saw an ad written in Chinese selling apartments.

Although he realized there might be some number of people in London who spoke Mandarin, he knew that there could be a much better placement for such an ad.

“We got to talking, and we thought, ‘Why can’t we advertise on these billboards like Google does online?’” he said, referencing the personalized ads Google sells through AdWords.

Simply put, retailers would have a vast amount of data about the type of people that visited their stores, and could possibly even tell what the demographic would be like spread out over the different seasons, or days of the week. If the data showed that mostly men visited the

Photo Courtesy of Robert DeFilippi

Robert DeFilippi, co-founder and COO of Real Life Analytics, decided to create his startup after seeing ineffective ads in London. stores on the weekends while women were the primary customers during the week, the store would know to place ads on the weekend that would target men, and use ads during the week that would target women.

DiFilippi stressed that their system doesn’t invade a shopper’s privacy in any way, despite any fears that consumers might have. Real Life Analytics isn’t in the business to collect names from customers, since that information is already volunteered when a credit card is swiped.

“We simply don’t store any information,” says DeFilippi. “We don’t process any images. We also comply with all the privacy laws in the U.S.—we aren’t in the business of trying to find people’s names or anything like that. We just want to know that demographic so we can give them ads based on that.”

Real Life Analytics is part of MassChallenge, a massive startup incubator that culls through thousands of startups, eventually bringing together 128 finalists who compete for a million dollars in cash prizes. MassChallenge sets up meetings

for the startups with different mentors and financial backers, and in the process creates an atmosphere that really encourages collaboration. DeFilippi stressed the importance of the inspiration that being at MassChallenge provides, as opposed to the networking opportunities that are set up.

People at MassChallenge are certainly smart, qualified, and driven, and come from all over, DeFilippi said. He said it’s really a blessing to be there, because one can see people from all over the world working hard and trying to accomplish something bigger than themselves.

“You can network anywhere, but you don’t get to see this kind of talent anywhere else,” DeFilippi said.

Real Life Analytics, like many Boston based startups, has built its initial employee base from interns, primarily college students. Paul Howard, CSOM ’17, started working at Real Life Analytics at the end of July, and said that working as a BC student has been a great experience.

“A lot of the startups in Boston are looking for anyone with a background in marketing, economics, or computer science,” Howard said. “I came on as a marketing intern, did social media and stuff like that, but since then it’s expanded a little more to learning more about the company.”

For Howard, the biggest allure of interning for a startup is the fact that he has a much bigger responsibility. Even as a college student with a limited amount of experience, he is expected to go beyond his marketing responsibilities and work with social media, do research, and attend meetings. Working for a startup is an excellent way for students to have a larger role in a company, he said.

“Unless you’re the CEO you don’t really get a lot of say in anything, but he [DeFillipi] had us as interns and says, ‘Hey, I want you to look into this and see where it can go,’ and we get to go do all the research and talk to people and see where it could go,” Howard said.

“It’s really cool because I can do a bit of everything.” n

Walsh vows increased oversight of student housing ‘Allston Christmas,’ from B8 Boston’s biggest move-in day is known for traffic congestion caused by the thousands of college students moving into their new homes.

“There are a lot of U-Haul trucks on the street that seem to be slowing down traffic and causing problems on this day,” Andranyk Stapana, a firstyear student at Bay State College, said on Monday. “Now I’m afraid to take my car anywhere.”

The infamous Allston Christmas is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the City of Boston and major institutions—mainly Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University, and Harvard University—have been trying to mitigate the event’s impact for the past five to six years, as the student population has skyrocketed in those areas, and many students are forced to share overcrowded apartments.

The movement is tied to the expansion of many universities within the area that date back to 1960. With a higher number of students comes a drastic increase in demand for housing and a subsequent increase in student population density in nearby neighborhoods like Allston.

This year, the mayoral administration tried to prioritize safety on Sept. 1. In his first year in office, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, WCAS ’09, deployed 50 workers from the Inspectional Service Department (ISD) this past weekend in heavily populated student areas, including Allston, Brighton, Fenway and Mission Hill, targeting random apartments and also housing with a history of violations, according to BostInno.

“All weekend we have been doing inspectional sweeps,” Walsh said at a news conference Monday afternoon outside of a rundown house in Allston. “It’s different this year, because we are working closely with colleges now. This week will help us establish housing safety for students and ultimately everyone.”

Part of Walsh’s increased security campaign is due to the problems associated with off-campus housing for students.

Some landlords and tenants have resisted efforts to follow city housing codes, and students themselves say they are forced to share crowded apartments simply to afford the rent.

“There seem to be some two to three pages of violations with our home, and we don’t want these new issues to affect our

Emily Fahey / Heights Editor

Each year, Sept. 1 marks the infamous ‘Allston Christmas,’ a reference to the detritus that lines the streets on moving day. studies,” said Pratik Singh, a biomedical engineering student at BU. “The authorities are doing a great job of taking care of the situation.”

This past weekend, the ISD found 120 housing violations and issued 1,100 tickets for code violations, as well as 21 tickets of $300 each for unsafe or unsanitary units, according to Walsh at Monday’s press conference.

“Some of the biggest problems we saw over the weekend were mice droppings, padlocks on rooms, a lack of smoke detectors, and obvious signs of mold and water leaks,” William Christopher, the commissioner of the Boston’s Inspectional Services Department, told The Heights. “Trash is also something that we are dealing with—a lot of people left a lot of debris here.”

In his first year as mayor, Walsh made improving the student move-in process a priority. He is seeking to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods like Allston, and make them not only cleaner, but safer for students in future years.

“The bottom line is that the city of Boston is being proactive,” he said. “We are getting on top of student housing now before the problem gets to become

more dangerous. We will move swiftly, not just this weekend, but every weekend to address the problems of safety and the quality of life of all residents.”

Part of Walsh’s plan to clean up the neighborhoods of Boston includes making sure students are safe in these neighborhoods, where many residents include families with small children. ”I want students to know that we are going to be watching the neighborhoods to make sure you’re safe and that you’re going to be conducting yourselves properly,” he said. “We are not going to let what’s happened in the past happen this year.”

Massachusetts State Representative and Brighton resident Kevin G. Honan was also present at the news conference on Monday. Honan stressed that the world-class universities in Boston with over 250,000 students require stronger facilities.

“This is an extraordinary time in the life of the new students, and we as the city need to keep these students safe,” Honan said. “We have the best and the brightest in the country living in our neighborhood, so there is no reason why the people living here can’t join in

with us and help keep our streets clean and safe.”

Looking to improve the move-in process for the future, Walsh explained that the ISD will attend orientations at local Boston colleges and universities, looking to educate students and officials on their rights and responsibilities for housing.

“Next year the mayor plans on making this process even better by hitting the ground running even earlier,” ISD commissioner Christopher told The Heights. “The universities are all onboard to work with us, so it’s up to us to make sure it makes the most sense so there is not so much disaster on one day.”

With the conclusion of another Allston Christmas, Walsh is hopeful about the progress he can continue to make in the years to come.

“I think we’ve had a pretty good weekend,” Walsh told The Heights. “There’s obviously going to be problems or bumps in the road, but in order to make this move-in process a little smoother in the future we are going to learn today from our actions and continue to improve each year.” n

Thursday, September 4, 2014

The Heights

B7

MIT’s creativity reflected in student inventions MIT Museum, from B8 “We wanted to let our visitors see some of the amazing work that students produce, as part of classes, clubs, or just personal projects,” Goldowsky said.

Preparations for the showcase began with a campus-wide call for submissions, with students submitting their concepts to various MIT departments and labs—including the MIT Media Lab, the School of Architecture and Planning, and the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics—which then chose the submissions that best reflected MIT’s values of creativity, ingenuity, and practical problem solving.

Many of the showcase pieces involve audience interaction, making the process a learning experience not only for the students but also for the museum staff who were involved in the setup.

Goldowsky noted that there is a difference between designing and arranging an invention for one user versus for an exhibition with 100,000 museum visitors. “I love the sounds [the exhibition] produces, a mix of several of the musical works and the sounds of visitors,” Goldowsky said.

Susan Timberlake, assistant exhibit developer and project manager at MIT Museum, described her role within the process as interviewing each student whose work was accepted into the exhibit to learn about his or her process of design and invention. These stories are told in the exhibit label text to give visitors a feel for who the students are. “We hope to communicate that MIT students learn not just through their classroom experiences, but also through a variety of creative and real-world projects,” Timberlake said. Goldowsky added that, while there is no way to capture the incredible diversity of what occurs at MIT, he hopes the showcase “gives a flavor of the energy and creativity of the students.”

Some inventions serve practical purposes, while others are

T for Two

Caution as school begins Sarah Moore

Photos Courtesy of MIT Museum

The inventions of MIT students have been on display at the school’s museum since May, and can be viewed through Dec. 31 for $10 regular admission. aimed at addressing large-scale issues. For example, seniors in the civil and environmental engineering program invented the MIT Air Quality Network, which is a network of sensors that collects data about air quality around MIT’s campus. MIT student Adam Whiton’s The Zipperbot serves a more practical use by opening and closing zippers using motors and gears. Another visitor favorite is SproutsIO by Jennifer Broutin, a smartphone-controlled appliance that grows plants without soil, which serving as a micro-farm that encourages eating locally grown food.

Reflecting the musical creativity of MIT students is DrumTop,

a creation of doctoral student Akito van Troyer and one of the showcase’s most popular inventions—a visual representation of the intersection of music, science, and technology. Van Troyer works in a group called Opera of the Future in the MIT Media L ab, which focuses on music performance, composition, and expression-related research with the goal of using innovative, cutting-edge technology to engage people in music. Appropriately, van Troyer’s specific research area is “innovating ways to turn anyone into a composer and a performer of music.” By creating musical environments or interfaces that allow people to explore and play

with music, van Troyer further experiments with how this act of playing music can then turn the participant into what the talented student deems a “practitioner of music.”

Van Troyer’s dedication to his research goals led him to create DrumTop, what he described as “a tangible musical sequencer that transforms everyday objects into percussive musical instrument.”

He explained that the main goals of this invention include creating a simple physical interface that gives voice to everyday objects, affording self-expression for novices, and encouraging these novice musicians to explore the musical potentiality of their surroundings

through musical interactions with everyday objects.

In addition to the 11 inventions on display, the showcase also includes seven “kinetic art” sculptures from MIT’s Exhibiting Science class, as well as a talk

by MIT Museum Director John Durant. Inventions: 2014 Student Showcase will be on display at the MIT Museum through Dec. 31 at $10 for regular admission.

Goldowsky hopes, above all, that visitors will be inspired by the student work they see. “I hope when you see what can be done by creative students working together or individually, it inspires you to create something of your own,” he said. n

Boston Calling will return to City Hall Plaza Friday

Photo Courtesy of Mike Diskin

The National, Lorde, and Nas x the Roots will headline Boston Calling.

MIT Museum, from B8 his own band is nearing the conclusion of a tour that started around the first Boston Calling installment, which it also headlined.

“We’re thrilled to have them at the front and the back of this whirlwind that they’ve been on,” Appel said of the band.

While the May installment of the festival is usually too late for most of Boston’s college students to attend, Appel expects students to turn out in droves this weekend, as a result of marketing initiatives designed specifically to attract college-age students.

In general, Boston’s younger population—at least those above 21—will have substantial reason to enjoy the festival this year, thanks to a change that was implemented at the last installment of the festival: the removal of restrictive beer gardens, which created a designated space in which people could consume alcohol and became a part of the festival at the request of former Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration.

According to Appel, however, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, WCAS ’09, agreed to the removal of the beer gardens provided security and ID policies were up to code. The move is consistent with many initiatives that Walsh has supported to convert Boston into a city more likely to attract and maintain a population of people in their 20s and 30s, including later weekend hours for the T, which began in March, and

later closing hours for Boston bars, which were rejected by city lawmakers in June.

Appel said that the removal of the beer gardens had a positive impact on the festival in May, as attendees could bring a drink with them up to the stage to watch the performances.

If music and beer are not sufficient entertainment, Appel said that there are plenty of other ways to have fun during the three-day event.

Canvases by featured artists will be displayed around City Hall Plaza, and the festival has joined forces with the annual Samuel Adams Octoberfest, which will include stein-hoisting contests and lawn games.

Additionally, the festival has a readmission policy, which Appel says encourages attendees to enjoy downtown Boston throughout the day if a certain musical act does not serve as an attraction. Appel is confident, however, that ticket-holders should be able to find even those acts scheduled to perform earlier in the day enjoyable.

“I’m particularly excited to see the War on Drugs,” he said of the ascending indie-rock band. “I can’t wait to see them midafternoon out on the plaza.”

Even as organizers prepare for Boston Calling’s fourth outing, Appel said that the festival will not suddenly become the event they envision it to be, but should continue to develop over time.

“You’ve got to always keep improving and working to keep it better,” he said. n

As the city prepares for school, the city’s students are preparing as well. Although registered parties in the Mods are on hold until this upcoming weekend, students have not hesitated to reengage in some of their favorite activities during syllabus week.

Hopefully the Uber drivers are ready—they will soon be driving a few hundred students to their favorite stop on Beacon St., as tickets to Arc Lounge and Nightclub are already sold out for this week. Although the poorly-lit bar in Kenmore Square is definitely not the most luxurious of the city’s nightlife locations, BC students are buzzing excitedly around campus about the upcoming return to their favorite, sticky-floored destination.

While an evening at Arc will almost definitely entail a few entertaining tweets, some poorquality Facebook photos, and enjoyable, but fuzzy, memories, a night out is not always just fun and drinking games. Be it Arc, Mary Anne’s, Cityside, the Mods, Walsh, or any syllabus week destination, colleges and universities across the country are beginning to heavily highlight the not-soglamorous realities behind our red cups, especially in advance of a new school year.

According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five women have experienced either an attack or attempt at sexual assault during their time at college. As the issue is a personal one, though, many cases go unreported, establishing sexual assault on and around college campuses as a “silent epidemic,” per the National Institute of Health (NIH). Also according to NIH, at least one half of such instances involve the consumption of alcohol, leaving school officials with the responsibility to monitor not only student drinking, but its potential consequences as well.

While colleges and universities are required to report cases of sexual assault publically through the Clery Act, many cases remain overlooked, whether because the victim desires privacy or due to the undesirable nature of the situation for the school. Regardless, multiple Boston-area schools are still included in the highest percentages of students affected by sexual assault in recent years.

Harvard College, Boston University, and Emerson College are just three local schools that are under investigation for such.

Due to the severity of these cases, part of the preparations made for the new school year include mandatory sexual assault prevention seminars on campuses across the city. This year, Everfi, a Washington D.C.based company with an office in Boston’s South End, is supplying over 40 local schools with its Haven sexual assault education software that all incoming freshmen will be required to complete.

BC, MIT, and Tufts University have already implemented the prerequisite. Emerson College also announced on Tuesday that it will establish multiple measures, including anonymous student surveys, during the start of this year to both prevent attacks as well as to continue the conversation about sexual assault prevention.

For most students en route to Arc this week, the most important thoughts they will be contemplating surround what to chase their raspberry Rubi with, but back-toschool preparations should—and, with the implementation of new sexual assault prevention policies across Boston, hopefully will—include consideration of more critical decisions.

Sarah Moore is an editor for The Heights. She can be reached at metro@bcheights.

METRO

B8

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

EDGE OF TOWN

Avoiding the blame game RYAN TOWEY Anyone who has ever had a younger sibling knows the trick: When the glass of milk hits the kitchen floor and Mom or Dad comes to check it out, point the finger at the kid across the table.

As controversies regarding off-campus student housing continue to mount—following a Boston Globe series that exposed rampant overcrowding and safety violations in neighborhoods like Brighton and Allston—it seems that there may be yet another opportunity for city residents to point the finger at the area’s younger college students, saying that if those kids weren’t here, those neighborhoods wouldn’t be having trouble, Allston Christmas would be a thing of the past, and everyone would be able to enjoy the pristine streets of an area formerly overrun by college kids.

But anyone who read the Globe series knows that the newspaper’s investigators captured the real picture: College students are victims of a flawed system, in which their own numbers, the carelessness of landlords, and high rents are working against them.

College students are victims of this system just as much as the family who lives down the street from them, if not more so.

Boston’s students are invited by colleges across the region to call this city home, only to find when they get here that there is nowhere to reasonably put them, as colleges generally do not have anywhere close to the on-campus residential space required to house these massive populations.

Meanwhile, as the Globe series found, landlords throughout Boston consistently ignore a city rule that bans more than four full-time undergraduates from sharing a house or apartment.

College students themselves have no incentive to obey the rule. In fact, they have an incentive to disobey it—only by shirking the regulation can they possibly hope to afford exorbitant rents.

Should the rule suddenly be more strictly enforced, it is hard to imagine where college students would be forced to scatter—a change that could have consequences both for their proximity to their respective schools and for their bank accounts.

Certainly, there is plenty for which city residents can blame college students. They are noisy, often drunk, and frequently disrespectful of private property. Non-college residents of Boston, however, should strive to remember all of the good that students bring to this city—inventions, startups, and philanthropic work.

At Boston College alone, members of volunteer organizations like 4Boston take large amounts of time out of their weeks to assist those in need, students launch fast-rising startups like Jebbit, and undergraduates contribute to stimulating academic research that will reside in Boston for years to come.

To further improve their communities, college students should strive to take pride in where they live—just as they take pride in their achievements. No one should blame them for disobeying a city rule that they generally cannot afford to obey, but they should be expected to treat their neighborhoods with respect and care.

It often seems to be the case that college students leave homes and apartments worse than when they found them—but I invite them to reimagine their role in their immediate neighborhoods, to keep the streets clean, to extend generosity to their neighbors, and to partake in community improvement as if it were their permanent home.

This way, should anyone point the finger at college students for being the root problem in a flawed system, they can pull out another trick from childhood: When an older sibling blames the younger one for spilling the milk, the latter diverts parental rage by immediately grabbing a paper towel and doing something to clean up the mess. Then maybe the parents will get the picture—that no one person is to blame.

It’s time to work together to clean up the mess.

Ryan Towey is the Metro Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at metro@ bcheights.com

BY RYAN TOWEY Metro Editor The Boston Calling Music Festival will return to City Hall Plaza this weekend for the fourth time since its inception in May 2013—a rate that has been integral to the festival’s development, Boston Calling co-founder Brian Appel said in an interview.

“The fact that we’ve gotten four cracks at this in two years means that we were able to make improvements quicker,” he said of the festival. “We were able to bring more artists through Boston at a faster rate than if we were just once a year.”

For this installment alone, 23 musicians and bands—led by headliners The National, Lorde, and Nas x the Roots—will entertain the city Friday through Sunday.

“We’re really excited for the lineups for all three days this time,” Appel said, citing the representation of diverse music genres at the festival, including Spoon’s indie rock, Girl Talk’s EDM, and music by local bands such as Gentlemen Hall.

Aaron Dessner, songwriter and guitarist for the National, has co-curated all four installments of the festival thus far, and

See Boston Calling, B7 PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE DISKAN | PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRECK WILLS | HEIGHTS EDITOR

‘Allston Christmas’ leads to traffic, trash As college students move back, housing issues are illuminated

BY BENNET JOHNSON Asst. Metro Editor

PHOTO COURTESY OF MIT MUSEUM

A robotic arm is among the student inventions that the MIT Museum has on display.

MIT Museum displays inventions of students

BY LAUREN TOTINO Heights Staff The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum is featuring several student inventions in an exhibition called Inventions: 2014 Student Showcase.

Among the inventions displayed are a robotic arm and a device that allows one to grow plants in a soil-free environment with the touch of a smart phone. These original inventions and nine others have been on display and open to the public since May 30.

I NSIDE METRO THIS ISSUE

The featured projects and prototypes are the work of both undergraduate and graduate students at MIT, who developed their respective inventions for a variety of reasons—to learn, explore, play, communicate, create a product, and improve the world. Alexander Goldowsky, the director of exhibitions at the MIT Museum, explained how the Museum works with students through a variety of programs and classes, and the exhibit grew out of this relationship.

Real Life Analytics

See MIT Museum, B7

Emily O’Connor, a junior at Northeastern University, sat outside her former Allston residence in the sweltering heat on Monday, surrounded by her possessions.

“Today is what you’d anticipate—the whole city moving in and out on the same day,” O’Connor said of the day infamously known as “Allston Christmas.”

The colloquial name refers to the numerous items—from TVs to furniture—left outside by former owners who see the used possessions as trash, or at least not worth hauling to their next residence.

Often, these items are left in their wake for people to take or the City of Boston to clean up.

“It’s really frustrating we have to be out of here at a certain time, but can’t move into our new home until an hour later, so all of our stuff is piled out in the streets,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor’s scenario is representative of a larger problem facing the city—how to deal with the neighborhoods of Boston that are dominated by students.

Following a fire at an overcrowded

A startup is changing the way that companies advertise by helping them reach the demographics that will consume their products ...........................B6

off-campus residence that killed Binland Lee, a 22-year-old Boston University student, community activists demanded that colleges in Boston publicize the addresses of their off-campus students to enable the city to monitor living conditions—especially after the publication of a Boston Globe series in May that exposed rampant safety violations, including the repeated violation of a city rule that bans more than four full-time undergraduates from sharing a house or apartment.

Two weeks ago, the Boston City Council voted to require colleges with a presence in the city to provide a list of off-campus addresses where students are living—an effort to counter overcrowding and provide safe student housing.

Last Monday, as September began and thousands of students move in and out of off-campus housing in Allston, the neighborhood’s annual anti-holiday, was in full swing.

Along with the heaving piles of trash,

See ‘Allston Christmas,’ B6

Column: Bennet’s Banter ....................................................................................B6 Column: T for Two.........................................................................................B7

The Heights 2014 Football Preview

CHANGING OF THE GUARD MYLES WILLIS CHASING THE INEVITABLE

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ABDESMAD’S PEACE UNDER PRESSURE AND

MURPHY’S LAST RUN

2 THE HEIGHTS SEPT. 4, 2014

FOOTBALL PREVIEW OPPONENT OUTLOOK

PITTSBURGH 9/5

The Eagles are facing familiar foes and a few uncommon enemies in 2014. Here’s what’s coming up.

The Panthers had two running backs gain more than 750 yards in 2013.

Freshman James Conner rushed for 799 yards and eight touchdowns, while his backfield mate, junior Isaac Bennett, rushed for 797 yards and seven touchdowns. As a team, the Panthers rumbled to the tune of 1,634 yards in 2013, the team’s first year in the ACC, while facing powerhouses such as Navy, Old Dominion, New Mexico, and Virginia. Meanwhile, in Chestnut Hill, Andre Williams was busy finishing up a Heisman Finalist campaign, rushing for 2,177 yards. Pittsburgh’s top defender, DT Aaron Donald, the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft, racked up 28.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks for the Panthers, winning nearly every major defensive award: ACC DPOY, the Lombardi Award, the Bronco Nagurski Trophy, the Chuck Bednarik Award, and the Outland Trophy. An impressive haul, it comes close to matching former BC linebacker Luke Kuechly’s trophy case from 2011-12, when he became the ninth-overall pick of the draft.

WORDS TOMMY MELORO

MAINE 9/20

USC 9/13

The Black Bears went 10-3 in 2013. One of those wins came against UMass, while two of their three losses were against the University of New Hampshire. While the Black Bears beat out the Wildcats for the Colonial Athletic Association regular season crown, the Wildcats defeated the Black Bears in both their regular season finale and in the FCS playoffs. Overall the Eagles are just 4-3 all-time against the Black Bears, but their last meeting was a lopsided affair that ended without the Black Bears scoring a touchdown in a 34-3 victory for the Eagles at Alumni Stadium.

Last year, the Trojans had a revolving door at their head coaching spot.

Beginning the season was Lane Kiffen, who was fired (reportedly at the airport) after going 3-2. D-line coach Ed Orgeron was promoted to the head gig and went 6-2 over the final eight games. When he was passed over for the job in favor of Steve Sarkisian, Orgeron quit rather than coach the Trojans’ bowl game. While Sarkisian was named coach on December 2, almost three weeks prior to the team’s bowl game, Clay Helton, offensive coordinator, was the interim head for the game.

For a little perspective, BC hired Tom O’Brien in December 1996, and has hired just three other head coaches since.

COLORADO STATE 9/27

CLEMSON 10/18

NC STATE 10/11

Former leading rusher Kapri Bibbs compiled an impressive 1,741 yards on just 281 carries last year, an average of 6.2 yards per rush. In an early-season game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, however, Bibbs was only able to gain 12 yards on five carries for 2.4 yards per carry as the Crimson Tide completely stifled the Rams’ rushing attack. Meanwhile, in its two games against ranked competition, BC rushed for 321 yards on 66 carries for an average of 4.9 yards per carry, and the Eagles return both Myles Willis and Tyler Rouse while adding a number of highly touted freshman backs.

In 2013, the Wolfpack finished a miserable season with a record of 3-9, going 0-8 in ACC play. The Wolfpack had a day to forget (or remember, for BC fans) at Alumni Stadium in 2013. Andre Williams rushed for 339 yards and two touchdowns on the day. In this performance, Williams secured BC’s single-season and single-game rushing records, tied the school record for carries in a single game, and set the ACC single-game rushing record. Meanwhile, Nate Freese’s three field goals and three extra points on the day gave him the title of BC’s all-time leading scorer, and, as an exclamation point on the day, BC became bowl-eligible for the first time since 2010 with its 38-21 handling of the Wolfpack.

Clemson was an offensive juggernaut in 2013, scoring 40 or more points in eight games, five of which were over 50 points. The Tigers were only trailing at halftime in four games on the year, against Florida State, South Carolina, Ohio State, and BC. The Tigers came back against the Buckeyes and Eagles, but fell to the Seminoles and Gamecocks. Clemson lost its top four offensive skill players—quarterback Tajh Boyd to the New York Jets (he has since been cut), wide receiver Sammy Watkins to the Buffalo Bills, wide receiver Martavis Bryant to the the Pittsburgh Steelers, and running back Roderick McDowell, who has yet to stick with a team in the NFL.

VIRGINIA TECH 11/1

WAKE FOREST 10/25

The Hokies had the third-best defense in the nation in 2013, including the ninth-best rush defense. That did not stop Andre Williams from continuing his torrid pace—rushing for 166 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Logan Thomas led a passable offense that got the Hokies to an 8-5 record, including a bowl loss to the UCLA Bruins. The Hokies also forced 26 turnovers last year, while only losing 19 of their own. Four of those turnovers came against the Eagles—two interceptions from Thomas and two lost fumbles—helping the Eagles upset the Hokies at home.

Wake Forest allowed the 14th-fewest yards in the nation in 2013 on defense, an average of just 366 yards per game. On the flip side, the Demon Deacons finished 121st in the nation on offense, gaining just 291 yards per game and scoring an average of only 18.3 points per game. Wake actually outgained BC in 2013 through the air, 2,359 yards to 2,012 yards, but the Eagles were far more effective on the ground while Wake Forest struggled mightily—the Demon Deacons put up a total of 1,129 yards on a painful 2.9 yards per attempt. Offensive issues doomed the Deacons to a 4-8 record in 2013.

LOUISIVILLE 11/8

FLORIDA STATE 11/22

SYRACUSE 11/29

Louisville allowed the fewest yards in the nation last year, and gave up the second-fewest points per game, at 12.2 points per game. Led by first-round pick Teddy Bridgewater and now-Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong, Louisville went 12-1 in 2013, including a bowl win in the Russell Athletic Bowl over the Miami Hurricanes.

Louisville scored an average of 32.2 points per game, outscoring its opponents by an average of 20. Now in their first season in the ACC, the Cardinals have already secured their first ACC win, defeating Miami in their home opener by the score of 31-13. The Cardinals cue the start of the roughest portion of BC’s season when they come to Alumni in November.

The Seminoles, in case you hadn’t heard, are the defending ACC and National Champions. In 2013, they went undefeated en route to beating the Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Championship game and the Auburn Tigers in the National Championship Game. The Seminoles were fourth in the nation in total offense and seventh in the nation in total defense, a potent combination. They dropped 80 points on Idaho in late November, and their lowest point output of the year was in the National Championship game, when they scored 34 points. Apart from Auburn, the Eagles put up the best fight of any team on FSU’s schedule—BC scored 34 points, the most FSU gave up in a single game, and lost by 14 points, second to Auburn, which kept the game within a field goal.

In its first year in the ACC, Syracuse had its ups beating Maryland, NC State, and Wake Forest, and its downs losing to Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Clemson by a combined score of 164-17. The Orange snuck past the Eagles by a score of 34-31, becoming bowl eligible in the process.

After recovering a late turnover, the Eagles were forced to settle for a chip-shot field goal by Nate Freese, allowing the Orange to drive down the field and score the winning touchdown with just six seconds remaining on the clock, dashing BC’s hopes for an eight-win season. Losing starting RB Jerome Smith to the NFL is a blow, but most of the team’s other offensive weapons will return, including QB Terrel Hunt, who is hoping to help the Syracuse offense pack a little more punch than it did in 2013.

SEPT. 4, 2014 THE HEIGHTS 3

FOOTBALL PREVIEW FEATURE

A RUN WITH THE EAGLES

WORDS ALEX FAIRCHILD PHOTOS EMILY FAHEY

WITH BOSTON COLLEGE, TYLER MURPHY GETS HIS LAST RUN AS A DUAL-THREAT

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f you’ve followed Boston College football for the past decade, you were probably caught off guard when, on his second snap as quarterback, Tyler Murphy ran for 13 yards. By the end of the game, he ran 12 more times for 118 yards and a touchdown.

Of course, the hype for Murphy was already there.

Even though everyone knows his pedigree, it was still strange to see a BC signal caller get out of the pocket and look comfortable.

The Eagles have not had a quarterback that can air it out and gain yardage on the turf since Dominique Davis in 2008. Murphy went to Florida for four years, but was redshirted as a freshman and is now a graduate student at BC with one year of eligibility remaining. Head coach Steve Addazio recruited the Wethersfield High School football star when he was the offensive coordinator for the Gators. To build a relationship with his offensive line, he baked them cookies and played video games. He saw the field at Florida last year, but his season ended due to a shoulder injury. During the spring, he established himself as the starting quarterback—but here’s something you don’t know about his past.

In the 8th grade, Murphy’s Pop Warner team played in the national championship for American Youth Football, which was held at the University of Arizona. His team lost to Dale City, Va. by three points.

If he were less humble, he would pin the loss on a lack of preparation, because in middle school, there’s very little tape. The looks Dale City threw his way may have confused him.

At the collegiate level though, Murphy has a bit more access to film. Even as a backup at Florida for three seasons, he would watch tape of the opposition.

“Enough to the point where I was comfortable, and usually, I would always be paranoid until warmups,” Murphy said. “There’d be nerves, jitters, I’d be anxious, but to give you a time limit—I’d be a liar no matter what I say.”

The Wethersfield, Conn. native watches at least an hour of film each day to get a grasp on what the opposition does on each down. Playing against

UMass meant little tape was available for him to study. The Minutemen changed coaching staffs, and while Murphy watched tape of their spring game, little could be taken from it.

A non-conference matchup is an opportunity to prepare for ACC competition, though, and for Murphy, a better way to get acquainted with his offense. While the offense seemed to click against the Minutemen’s defense, it was never that simple.

In the spring game, Murphy traded time with quarterbacks Darius Wade and James Walsh, who has since left the football program. Murphy was the best of the bunch. Smooth in the pocket and at ease when forced to roll out, his footwork and vision down field gave Addazio no choice but to name him the starter.

Over the summer, he has been perfecting the playbook and watching himself on film to account for the details.

“I try to make sure my footwork is perfect, whether it’s handing the ball off or a running back-quarterback exchange,” Murphy said. “I try to make all my play fakes look as if it’s play-action, and my play-action is looking as if I’m handing the ball off to run.”

He gave the ESPN camera crew at Gillette Stadium on Saturday a tough time, faking them out on multiple occasions. Murphy’s versatility lends Addazio’s offense another dimension. What was a handoff to Andre Williams or pass to Alex Amidon game plan has turned into a multi-pronged and unpredictable assault going forward—which defined Murphy’s role at Wethersfield High School.

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s a quarterback, running back, and kick returner in high school, not to mention a school-record holder in the triple jump, he leaned on the athleticism that he developed at 6:30 a.m. workouts to own opposing defenses. He was an all-state return man, who once scored six touchdowns in a game, which included taking back a kick and a punt for a score. His high school head coach, John Campanello, let Murphy do his thing in high school, though that had to

change in college.

“I kind of became a run-first quarterback, throw second,” Murphy said. “When I got down to Florida, that’s when things had to switch up, because everybody’s just as fast as you, if not faster.”

Murphy has adapted to pocket passing. Over the summer, he picked up the tendencies of some of the professional quarterbacks he emulates from watching film of Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, and Drew Brees.

“Tom Brady’s so smooth in the pocket,” Murphy said. “He doesn’t panic if there’s a rusher coming at him. He’ll just step out of the way and let his line pick them up. His delivery—he always has his shoulders level.

He’s always using his hips to help with his throwing, he doesn’t really throw with his arm much.

He uses his body, which allows for prettier balls and more accurate balls.”

Murphy admires Russell Wilson’s knack for extending plays and throwing on the run, because as good as Murphy’s legs are, there is a lot of emphasis on playing within the pocket. In practice, one drill sticks Murphy in between four cones with a coach in front, who points in different directions, so that he can become a great passer. So much work on that makes it easy to forget that he has his legs to scramble. There are times that Addazio has to remind Murphy about the extra piece of his game.

Tips and reminders like that are free flowing among BC’s offense, especially with the quarterbacks. The trio of signal callers study the playbook together to make sure everyone is on the same page. Murphy’s football IQ and experience helps him teach his freshmen how to be leaders—something Murphy is still learning.

“Your quarterback has to be a captain-leader, regardless. Make no mistake about the fact that he’s got to be the most dominant leader on the field, and right now, he is.” — Steve Addazio, Head Coach

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“The quarterback still has to be one of the biggest leaders on the team. He has to be able to run the offense.” — Darius Wade, Quarterback

have.

“I try to be an extension of the coaching staff in a way,” Murphy said. “If guys don’t feel like going to the coaches about something or they want to talk about something or vent about something, I try to

eadership is complex, though.

There are those who approach situations with a flamboyant confidence, like Jameis Winston, and those who use character, hard work, and a win-first mentality to get things done, like Tom Brady. The best leaders do it all, but most importantly, if they tell someone to do something, they will do it.

“I’m not one of those big rah-rah guys, and coach Addazio’s gotten onto me about that,” Murphy said. “When it’s time to be a rah-rah guy, I have to step up and do that.”

As a field general, Murphy must deliver instructions to teammates and motivate those around him. Murphy did not meet the criteria of an official team captain, which required players to be in the program for at least a season, but he’ll have to act like one.

Even though sophomores like Myles Willis and Tyler Rouse have been at BC longer than he has, Murphy has been a student-athlete in a major football conference longer than they

be a guy that’s there that they can talk to.”

The above pertains to the aforementioned Wade and Flutie. While Murphy did not have the experience of training his successor in high school, who was a slot receiver, he did have to compete with Wade in the spring, and he now mentors both in a two-way relationship.

“Anytime, they’re willing to say something, I’m definitely open to listen, and evaluate, and watch the film, and really just take it as if they were Coach Day telling me something,” Murphy said.

There is little time left for learning, though, and Murphy will be the first to tell you that the season goes by in a flash. For a young team with dreams of Charlotte, N.C., it will need a quarterback, who has running backs behind him that have been on Chestnut Hill longer, to step up regardless of a squad status. Murphy not only has to run the offense, but control it. When necessary, he’ll have to crack down on teammates to get them in the right position. At BC, the all-state returner will lead a young offense, and with a bit more preparation available to him, perhaps he won’t come up three points short in his next championship game. 

4 THE HEIGHTS SEPT. 4, 2014

SEPT. 4, 2014 THE HEIGHTS 5

FOOTBALL PREVIEW FEATURE

SHIFTING LANES WORDS CONNOR MELLAS PHOTOS EMILY FAHEY

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il W s e l y M , r e b Last Septem ms supernova, ia ill W e dr An e th of st id m e th in y nc va football rele playing a breakout game a gainst FSU. Willis quickly became the No. 2 back, suprisin g defenses wi th his dynami a lowered sm and speed shoulder . Now, with , Willis is trying to go from s urprise g uy to the guy.

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t’s a perfect day for football. Autumn will follow the Boston College football team to South Carolina eventually, but on this October Saturday, summer rules. Grills are firing by the thousands, Friar’s Tavern readies gallons of Jet Fuel for the thirstiest breed of tailgaters, and the baby-blue sky creates a striking contrast with the tens of thousands of orange-clad Tigers fans swarming Death Valley.

BC is playing Clemson, the No. 3 team in the country, and to the horror of the increasingly frustrated horde of home-team fans, an entire quarter has elapsed—but the scoreboard still reads 0-0. That’s about to change.

Second and 10, Chase Rettig takes the snap—it’s a draw. Rookie running back Myles Willis takes the handoff, gets a diving block from his tight end, and turns on the jets, bursting into wide space. Nearly 400 ecstatic BC fans, assuming Andre Williams is barreling down the field, holler a variation of “Dre” or “Andre” as Willis shrugs a freshman defender and finishes his 38-yard trip to the end zone. Later in the day, they’ll realize that No. 44 was on the sideline. Right now, though, they’re simply savoring BC’s unexpected lead. In the end zone, as the rumbling boos of the Clemson faithful score the aftermath of his first career rushing touchdown, Willis does the same.

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lmost one year, 16 pounds of muscle, and countless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches later, it’s inevitable. Well, actually, he’s inevitable.

“If the shoe fits, you gotta wear it, and I just beat everybody constantly,” Willis said, stifling a laugh.

“I mean, it gets to the point now, like I feel bad,” he continued. “I started nicknaming myself ‘The Inevitable.’”

Willis is, of course, referring to the now defunct college football video game, NCAA 14. According to the sophomore running back, he’s the best on the team— and quarterback Tyler Murphy is often a victim of his expertise, allegedly. Willis hates playing as himself or as BC, though—his superstition means that a fumble or bad performance on the screen spurs fears of similar problems

on game day.

Ever since Williams played the last down of his record-obliterating senior season in Shreveport, L.A., Willis has been tapped as a leader of BC’s running back hydra. With 346 yards and two touchdowns off of 60 carries last year, the Georgia native excelled when called upon, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. He posed a threat in the air, recording five catches for 60 yards and a touchdown, and returned 30 kickoffs over the course of the season. Not much has been said about who Willis is, though. Most stories tend to circle back to comparisons with Williams—played-out discussions of the passing of wisdom and talent from the Doak Walker Award-winner to his understudy. To begin understanding Myles Willis, it helps to look backward.

“I mean he just absolutely is like a little kid on Christmas morning, every day,” drawled Willis’ high school football coach, Marist’s Alan Chadwick, over the phone one afternoon.

Chadwick was eager to talk about Willis— just about everyone is. The coach affirmed an interview request with instructions to call anytime and noted that Marist Football still loves Willis to death.

“He’s worked my camps every year that I have for little kids,” Chadwick said. “And I’ll be up there speaking in front of the kids and all the other coaches are back in the background kind of jerking around and all that stuff, but Myles is right up there next to me hanging on every single word.”

Since he began playing football in kindergarten, or whenever the earliest age he was allowed to play was—he can’t remember anymore—Willis has played for just three head coaches and occupied almost every position on

gets to the sideline. Breaking into fourth gear, he crosses into the end zone for his first touchdown.

His father runs with him along the edge of the field, jumping up and down and celebrating his son’s moment.

How important are these two memories? It’s not completely crazy to think they may represent two forces swirling and battling, pushing Willis forward: a love of the game and fierce desire to compete, and a lurking fear of what could happen if he doesn’t do everything in his power to succeed.

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hen you really break it down, the difference between a five-yard run and an 80-yard touchdown, a lot of times it’s the little things,” Willis explained. “But if you’re consistent in what you do on every play, then you never know which play’s gonna be the 80-yard touchdown. You never know if that back side safety’s gonna make a wrong move, and that’s gonna open up the front lane, and you’re gone.”

BC officially lists Willis at 5-foot-9, 203 pounds—he ate and worked his way up from 187 pounds over the course of the year, and now that his body is capable of withstanding more punishment, he’s focusing on consistency. That means thinking about football constantly and finding moments of relief only when the game is over.

“I wake up, heart beating fast, because I was

Willis scored his first career rushing touchdown against Clemson, reaching the end zone on a 38-yard run.

GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

the field other than kicker. During his high school years with Chadwick, he spent time on both sides of the line of scrimmage, playing in the secondary his sophomore year before becoming the team’s starting quarterback for his junior and senior seasons.

As quarterback and captain, Willis spearheaded a predominantly option-based offense and became acquainted with different defenses and the art of making lightning-quick decisions—invaluable skills for a college running back. What Willis still considers his most valuable trait—his competitive nature—was there long before high school, though.

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illis brings up two diametrically opposed football memories. In the first he is 10 or 11 years old.

It’s the first thought that comes to his mind. His team is 2-0,

heading on its first road trip. There’s music playing in the background, and it’s a sizeable crowd for a little league game. Willis and his team are so nervous they can barely warm up, let alone play. Before long, they’re losing badly. It’s 40-something to nothing and the clock is winding down, but Willis is still running, chucking up passes, and acting like his team can claw back into the game. They lose, but he never stops competing, and Willis’ dad, his coach, is proud of him. Willis believes this is the moment his dad realized he was a true competitor. This is his most lasting memory of football growing up.

The second memory is a happier one. Willis is wearing No. 18 and playing for the Colts. It’s his first year at quarterback. He favors the run significantly more than Peyton Manning. Naked bootleg, 18-sweep—Willis feints to the right and

THE REST OF THE RUNNING BACK CREW

Height: 5’8” Weight: 194

Tyler Rouse

Height: 6’0” Weight: 215

John Hilliman

Height: 5’10” Weight: 207

Marcus Outlow

Height: 5’10” Weight: 212

Richard Wilson

dreaming about scoring a touchdown, or preparing for whatever blitzes they might come at and how to attack the defense,” Willis said, describing his nights leading up to a game. “I’m always that type of person thinking about the game, and it’s almost like a relief once the game is over, because you can take a rest—because you spent so much time with your mind circled around the game that it’s ridiculous.”

Last Saturday, Willis 2.0 premiered in BC’s 30-7 win over UMass at Gillette Stadium. As one of the fastest players on the team and a possessor of “competitive speed”—the ability to run his best when chased by defensive backs looking to rip his head from his shoulders—Willis always poses a breakaway threat.

At his core, Willis remains a flashy one-cut, outside speed runner. Just get north and go, try to book it past everybody. Attempting to become BC’s serviceable every-down back means developing a bigger power running game, though, which is exactly what Willis has done. It’s this combination of style—speed, flash, and power—that can turn Willis into a deadly threat on all four downs.

While the big run never came on Saturday, Willis showed he’s capable of making the transition from a fleet-footed sprinter to a barreling northsouth runner. Splitting carries with his classmate Tyler Rouse, Willis picked up a touchdown and 57 yards on 16 carries and took a bruising rushing and blocking up the middle.

So, what happens next? Can Willis become

the guy for B C? Does BC even need the guy?

Addazio’s running back pipeline is loaded with young talent. Between the sophomores,—Willis and Rouse—and the freshmen—Jon Hilliman, Marcus Outlow, and Richard Wilson—there are some seriously big bodies in the mix and a variety of running styles at BC ’s disposal.

One thing is certain, though—when Williams graduated, Willis’ place on the team began to change.

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ome never drifts Quarterback Tyler Murphy and Willis have developed a close relationship. too far from fight against is, he and Rouse, they’re so accountable, Willis’ mind. Any chance he gets to hook up his iPod in they’re so determined that they almost try too hard the locker room means two things: Atlanta rap, and sometimes,” Addazio said. “They want everything groans from teammates who are sick of Willis’ Atlanta perfect, they’re like that. Just relax and go play a little rap. He talks to his family constantly, leaning on them bit.”

The perfectionism goes back to the very beginfor support as he attempts to shoulder the stress of ning. With his dad as his coach, Willis grew up trained becoming a leader.

“It’s different because you feel a lot older than to think like a coach, correcting mistakes in his mind you actually are,” Willis said. “A lot as soon as they happened, and making adjustments of the times, I feel, I feel like a senior. even before he could be told. To this day, when he lets Andre left, and I’m stepping in his down a coach, inside he feels like he’s letting down spot, but really you gotta remember his dad. you’re only a sophomore, and everyt’s a perfect day for football if your name is thing’s different for everyone.”

Myles Willis. The sky is clear and the late-sumWillis speaks like a leader almer sun is baking the Alumni Stadium turf ready. Describing the strengths deep into the 80s, but it doesn’t come close to and styles of his teammates and the fazing the kid from Georgia. Willis is sweatpotential of the running back unit, Willis comes off as humble yet con- ing from top to bottom. Friday night’s ACC match fident, flattering but utterly sincere. against Pittsburgh is on the mind—it has been ever Rouse? He’s a really well-balanced since he ran back into the tunnel immediately after type of runner. Hillman and Wil- the UMass game.

For Willis, Friday’s home opener presents son? They are two big, strong kids.

Outlow? Well, Outlow reminds another chance to explode on the field. It’s another Willis of Willis, nice feet and really opportunity to break tackles, hit the open lane, and nice hips. unleash his competitive speed. It’s another 60 minutes The growth isn’t lost on Addazio, of the game he’s played for as long as he can rememwho called Willis a veteran and not- ber, the game capable of making him nervous simply ed his confidence, but also pointed because he’s worried that he’s not already nervous. It’s out the double-edged sword of another day of doing what he loves, and making his Willis’ obsession with detail. family and friends proud in the process. It’s another Willis’ sophomore debut against UMass was solid if unspectacular, he recorded a touchdown and 57 yards on 16 carries.

“I think the thing Myles has to chance for Myles Willis to become The Inevitable. 

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“

As a player you want to surround yourself with guys like Myles. So I’m looking forward to playing with him this season, he’s going to have a great season, and I think teams are gonna really be surprised at how fast he can be, how elusive he can be, and [how] if he needs to, he can put his shoulder down.” — Tyler Murphy, Quarterback

6 THE HEIGHTS SEPT. 4, 2014

FOOTBALL PREVIEW RECAP

DIVERSIFIED RUN GAME UNLOADS ON MINUTEMEN IN OPENER MARLY MORGUS Last year, Boston College fans grew accustomed to a certain level of consistency: Andre Williams rushing again and again, racking up a significant portion of the Eagles’ offense through his powerful run game.

On Saturday, observers of the BC-UMass game didn’t get what they were used to, though.

With Williams suiting up in blue for the New York Giants this season, replacements needed to come along and fill his 2,000-plus-yard gap. While many expected sophomore Myles Willis to take the lead, Saturday’s game turned into a multi-part effort as Tyler Rouse, freshman Jon Hilliman, and transfer quarterback Tyler Murphy bolstered the Eagles to a 30-7 win.

The BC offense dominated the first half, though it didn’t immediately show on the scoreboard. While Alex Howell and Joey Launceford each posted a field goal, six points were all the Eagles had to show for their 276 yards of total offense on 45 plays—blowing UMass’ 84 yards and 24 plays out of the water.

On two occasions, the Eagles got in their own way and took costly holding and false-start penalties that pushed them back a total of 55 yards in the game.

“Thought our team played a strong, hard, pretty clean game … a couple early penalties cost us in the red zone,” said head coach Steve Addazio.

All of the numbers besides the most important ones—the score—were there. Willis had 11 carries for 63 yards in the first half and was followed closely by Rouse, who had nine carries for 57 yards. Eclipsing both was dual-threat Murphy, who had more yards on his feet than he did through the air in the first half—running for 92 yards on nine carries and passing for 65 yards on 15 attempts.

“I don’t want to get in the habit of just relying on my feet,” Murphy said. “I want to take what the defense gives me … if somebody’s open, take it … that’s something I want to do, but

“

sometimes a gap opens up, it might be third and short, it could be a close throw, and I really just want to get that first down. I don’t want to rely on my feet, but if it’s there, Coach always says don’t be afraid to take off and get the first down.”

While Willis and Rouse acted as workhorses, neither of them managed to break through coverage and put up longer runs—neither had a gain of more than 13 yards on one carry in the first half.

“We are a real strong, physical, kind of move-the-ball-down-the-field team,” Addazio said.

“But I would like to see if we can create big yardage explosives.”

The Eagles entered the second half with a significant statistical advantage, and from there they cracked through UMass’ defenses and started putting real points on the board.

On their first drive of the half, the Eagles moved more efficiently downfield. Hilliman took his first carry for seven yards, and Rouse and Murphy provided steady gains, including a 19yard pass completion to converted wide receiver Josh Bordner. After a pass interference call in the end zone put the Eagles on the 2-yard line, Willis took two handoffs for a yard each to score BC’s first touchdown of the season.

The Eagles would make it to the end zone on their next two possessions, settling for a field goal on their second to last possession of the game. The final statistics would show a shared load between Willis and Rouse, with 16 and 19 carries, respectively, for a total of 57 and 87 yards.

Ahead of both of them on the stat sheet was Murphy, who finished the game with 13 carries for 118 yards on the ground and one touchdown.

“We were extremely proud and excited about Tyler today,” Addazio said. “He managed the game like a veteran big-time player … he was strong, had a great look in his eye.” 

Thought our team played a strong, hard, pretty clean game—a couple early penalties cost us in the red zone.”

— Steve Addazio, head coach

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

A win’s a win, but bring on the weird CONNOR MELLAS

On the first Saturday of college football in 2014, Tyler Murphy sprinted and stutter stepped his way to 118 rushing yards, Myles Willis and Tyler Rouse bruised UMass’ defense with 27 bulldozing runs, Boston College’s secondary bent frequently but only broke once, and the Eagles picked apart the Minutemen 30-7 in a game that started a few minutes late because UMass students walked approximately 67 miles through a desert of fire to reach their seats.

Despite the fact that BC somehow managed to rack up 276 offensive yards in the first half but hit the locker room with just a tenuous six point lead, Saturday’s strangest scene occurred midway through the fourth quarter.

With an uncomfortable combination of fascination and confusion, I watched as three grown men sporting black pants, black baseball caps, and burgundy No. 32 UMass jerseys pinned their arms to their sides and rolled back and forth behind the field goal like three pathetic hot dogs spinning on a shady turf hotdog roller.

For a time I managed to focus on the game again, but within minutes the terrific trio was back to their outlandish ways, lying on their backs and staring at the cumulus cloud-dotted New England sky, likely imagining a world in which UMass was not down 20 points and they did not have to imitate earthworms.

Finally, after waving their arms in unison and performing lackadaisical stretches, two of the worm impersonators got on their hands and knees to form a base, onto which the third hopped to provide the tip of a three-man pyramid. At that point, I determined that they were cheerleaders, and that I was not hallucinating, which I had secretly feared.

I bring this weird anecdote up for two reasons. One, it’s haunting

me, and two, its surreal bizarreness presents a perfect anti-metaphor for The Battle Of The Bay State.

Heading into BC’s season opener, there was a very slim chance the Eagles were going to fall to the Minutemen. And they never came close to losing—even when the score was tight, Steve Addazio’s team was firmly in charge of the game. The way BC won, though, was exactly how a team that lost key leaders in every skill position can be expected to win in its first game. Mistakes were made, new guys stepped up, and it took a while, but BC found its groove. It was a perfectly adequate and predictable game, and the only truly unexpected maneuvers came from those UMass cheerleaders.

After losing Nate Freese, who stayed perfect through 20 field goal attempts in 2013, BC missed a field goal and cycled through two kickers, neither of whom Addazio seemed particularly thrilled with after the game.

As predicted, Willis and Rouse stepped into the big-time running back gigs, averaging 5.6 and 6.3 yards a carry, respectively, and Murphy showed exactly why Addazio brought a veteran quarterback in from Florida—with the exception of one bad throw, the QB was a sharp decision maker and excellent on the day.

Defensively, Josh Keyes was a physical presence to be reckoned with, and BC pressured the hell out of UMass all day and held the Minutemen to 202 total yards of offense.

Overall, not too much was revealed about Addazio’s team on Saturday. The pint-sized thunderbolt Sherman Alston only got in on a few plays, Murphy never had to worry about falling behind and playing catch-up, and BC stuck with the same game plan all day— pound the rock until it breaks.

But come Friday night, perfectly average isn’t going to cut it against a Pitt football team that blew Delaware into the stratosphere with a 62-0 beatdown. BC’s second matchup was already vitally important, and last week it became significantly more interesting. I, for one, wouldn’t mind if it gets a little weird out there.

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

SEPT. 4, 2014 THE HEIGHTS 7

FOOTBALL PREVIEW FEATURE

WORDS MARLY MORGUS

T

PRESSURE POINT

here is an innate contrast between Mehdi Abdesmad and the function that he serves on the football field.

In football, defense takes on a different nature. While on other fields you have a ball to protect or a goaltender to support, as a defensive lineman, the only thing that you have to protect is your field position.

Defense, in football, is an attack based on the aggression of the linemen, who do all they can to pin back the offense.

“I’m a firm believer that you play the game on the balls of your feet, not on your heels,” said defensive coordinator Don Brown when he was hired in 2012. “From day one, we’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to attack the line of scrimmage.

We’re going to get after the quarterback. We’re going to play with our hair on fire on defense. I’m a big believer in playing for tackles for loss and being disruptive and making life difficult for the quarterback. We’re going to attack. That’s the style of defense that I’ve employed. We’re going to fly around and attack the pass.”

Abdesmad’s job is all about pressure and attack. He takes the field, lines up opposite the center, and jumps as soon as the ball is snapped. The 6-foot-7 defensive lineman from Montreal is charged with applying enormous pressure to anyone who gets in his way and doing his best to transfer that pressure onto the opposing quarterback and wreak havoc on the opponent’s offensive plans.

Have a conversation with Abdesmad, though, and the pressure and aggression that he exerts on the field vanishes. He’s not loud or flashy, but rather is soft spoken and of few words. When he does speak, in his short sentences with a hint of a French-Canadian accent, there are two phrases that come out of his mouth most often.

“I want to go hard every game.”

“I have to just do my job.”

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rowing up in Montreal, football was not always the clear direction for Abdesmad’s athletic pursuits. As a young boy, his father encouraged him to play soccer, but it didn’t last for long.

“My dad wanted me to play soccer,” he said. “Then I didn’t like it, and one day I was walking and saw a poster like, want to try football? I saw the guys practicing, and I tried it and I liked it.”

While his father didn’t initially approve, when he saw his 9-year-old’s aptitude at linebacker, he came around. Although Abdesmad’s father passed away when he was just 16, he never let the family tragedy deter his athletic pursuits.

“Me and my family were always tight, and that just made us tighter—they’re always coming to the games,” he said.

Abdesmad says that it’s his family—his mother and two older sisters—that motivates him to this day.

“My mom, she’s a really strong woman,” he said. “Since my dad died, she’s stayed really strong, with my family and all that. She was there for all my rehab, and she comes to every home game.”

These strong family ties played a role in his decision to come to BC. While he knew that he was looking for a good academic school with a strong football program, those are characteristics that any player will look for. For Abdesmad, there was one more.

“It’s a good school, a good program, it’s always been known for a good defense, and it’s close to home,” he said. “My family can come to games, so that’s best for us.”

Upon his arrival at BC, the biggest adjustment for Abdesmad came in terms of the speed of the game.

“As a freshman you have to learn to be fast and play strong, and you get used to the game and just get into it,” he said. “O-Lines here, if you don’t go hard they’ll knock you off the ball, so you have to go hard.”

Abdesmad played in 19 games over the course of his first two years, operating as a defensive end in Frank Spaziani’s system. The arrival of the Addazio era, however, brought a literal shift for Abdesmad. They moved him inside to defensive tackle. All of a sudden, not only did he have to learn a new playbook—he had to learn a new position.

The decision made sense. Abdesmad had gotten bigger, and at 6-foot-7, 297 pounds, the only defensive player for the Eagles that surpasses Abdesmad in height is Brian Mihalik, and no one on the defensive line weighs more than him.

With the transition to defensive tackle going smoothly, 2013 was gearing up to be a break-out year. At his new position under the new coaching staff, Abdesmad was adjusting and building in the opening weeks. He had two solo tackles against Villanova, then two solos and three assisted against Wake Forest.

Those two solid performances led Abdesmad and the 2-0 Eagles up to a big test at USC, and while Abdesmad put up one of the best performances of his career with seven tackles and a sack for a loss of eight yards, the Eagles did not, losing 35-7.

“I’m trying to go hard every game,” Abdesmad said. “It’s not like if the team is losing, it isn’t anything, you have to go hard and try to help the team win. If I have a big game and we lose it doesn’t mean anything.”

BC faced another test the next week, this one against the eventual National Champion Florida State team. Despite most expectations, BC hung with the ’Noles for the better part of the game, and Abdesmad put together another powerful performance through the first half and into the second. In the third quarter, though, he rushed from the line, applying his pressure to Jameis Winston, and he was blindsided, the hit coming at a time when his foot wasn’t planted right—his left patellar tendon was torn.

The injury was season-ending, and Abdesmad had to watch from the sideline as the Eagles finished their first 13-game schedule since he arrived at BC. “At first I was angry, but you just have to move on and get back,” he said. “It was hard. I came here to play football, so when I was off and seeing my team playing it sucked. I was staying in the booth and watching the guys playing.”

The road to recovery was a long one. Unable to play any spring ball, Abdesmad had to stay on the sidelines until the Eagles’ summer camp, focusing on rehab and assisting his teammates in whatever ways he could. Come camp, though, he was able to play, and with each day of practice he felt a steady improvement in his condition.

“

We’re going to attack. That’s the style of defense that I’ve employed. We’re going to fly around and attack the pass.”

— Don Brown, Defensive Coordinator

W

ith a new season comes a healed knee, and Abdesmad played in the Eagles’ first game last Saturday against UMass in which the BC defense held UMass with a firm grip, limiting the Minutemen to just 202 yards of total offense.

As a senior on a team that lost a significant number of its weapons on both sides of the ball, he sees it as his duty to transition into a leadership role, which is split an even 50-50 between upperclassmen and underclassmen. Once again, though, he does not take his leadership role with the aggressive, attacking nature of his position.

“I have to be a leader and just go hard and show the guys how to make plays,” he said. “I’m not a verbal leader. If I need to do it, I’ll say something, but usually I’m more like doing things.”

The example that he sets is one of calm focus before the snap and quick aggression after it. While he admits to feeling nerves on game day, he never lets those nerves get the best of him—especially when he steps on the field.

“In the locker room, I’m trying to make jokes and stuff, but on the field I’m more focused,” he said. “I’m not thinking too much, I’m just trying to do my job, that’s it.”

His expectations for this season are simple. While some have jumped to make a comparison between his season this year and Kasim Edebali’s breakout last year, he shrugs off any of the pressure that may put on him, sticking to his guns and saying that all he expects from himself is to do his job and do it well. If he does that, he says, other good things will come for the team.

Abdesmad is not daunted by the Eagles’ first big test on Friday against a powerful Pitt run game. When he steps onto the field, it’s going to be another game day, and his calm focus will not be on expectations of a breakout season, but simply on doing his job, and his job isn’t to focus on dealing with pressure—it’s all about applying it. 

ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

8 THE HEIGHTS SEPT 4, 2014

FOOTBALL PREVIEW STATS

BURNING

NUMBER OF STARTING QUARTERBACKS? Well, Tyler Murphy was one horrible throw away from a fairly perfect debut, and he owned that interception like a pro after the game. Still, expect to see Darius Wade start a game at some point this season.

The freshman quarterback isn’t going to steal the spot from Murphy, but it’ll be a near-miracle if BC can start the quasi-veteran in all 12 or 13 games. He rushed all over the field against UMass—mainly out of necessity.

If his legs are BC’s best weapon, he’s going to be a serious injury risk, especially considering he had to miss time at Florida last season. Don’t expect Troy Flutie to make it three starts, though. Flutie flashed some great play during preseason camp, but Wade is planted firmly ahead of him on the two-deep. BC would love to redshirt Flutie and separate the two QBs’ graduation dates, which could open up the potential for Josh Bordner to play if needed.

QUESTIONS WORDS | AUSTIN TEDESCO

W

hen ESPN asked Boston College football head coach Steve Addazio to describe his team in one word, he chose “young”—and that makes sense. Even after one game, this Eagles squad is pretty much a mystery.

We’re here to help you out with answers to nine burning questions you didn’t even know you had about the Eagles.

WHAT IS AN ACCEPTABLE NUMBER OF WINS?

1-

9 7-

2

3-4

WILL THEY HAVE A 500-YARD RECEIVER? In each of the last 10 seasons, BC has always had a 500-yard receiver. Colin Larmond, Jr. put up 528 yards in 2011, and Bobby Swigert snuck above the cut with 504 yards in 2010. So, it’s been close a few times, and the Eagles have the potential to finally break this made-up streak in 2014.

Dan Crimmins had 52 yards in the opener and Josh Bordner had 81, so they’re both on pace for 500, but pump the brakes a bit. The BC passing game should attack differently from week-to-week, with the speedsters like Shakim Phillips, Sherman Alston, and Thadd Smith contributing some weeks, and the tree-sized giants Bordner, Crimmins, and Callinan matching up better against other teams. Combine that with the run-centric offense, Murphy’s quick feet, and some solid passing defenses, and it doesn’t look like any one receiver is going to break through with 500 yards this year.

Anything between one and three wins is going to cause grumblings among the fan base, because that would mean BC is not able to take care of Colorado State, Maine, and Wake Forest. The Eagles looked solid in the second half against UMass. Not being able to pull out those three games to get to four wins would be a major step backward for the program.

If the Eagles handle the four teams they are supposed to beat and they grab another win, there should be mild acceptance, given the youth and potential of the team. Another bowl appearance and potentially a bowl win would be enough to give plenty of excitement heading into 2015.

If Steve Addazio can take this team to eight wins or more, it’s probably time for Brad Bates to renegotiate his contract so he doesn’t take off for Gainesville (no, that’s not a joke). The margin for error to hit that number is incredibly slim, but BC can get there if the freshmen come along quickly enough.

DO THEY WIN IN NOVEMBER? DO THEY ALLOW MORE OR FEWER SACKS THAN LAST YEAR? Zero sacks is a pretty good start for this offensive line, even after losing Harris Williams for the rest of the game with an ankle injury. He’ll be out for a while, according to Addazio, but Aaron Kramer is a solid substitute.

This offensive line could be better than last year’s, and it helps that Murphy is at the quarterback position instead of Chase Rettig.

Murphy appears to be better than Rettig at getting rid of the ball when there’s pressure, and he’s much better with his feet. As long as he uses them right and does not get himself into trouble, there isn’t much holding this group back from allowing fewer than 22 sacks this year. The young backs will need to improve their pass protection, though. That’s their only real weakness.

The last month is the toughest stretch of the season for the Eagles, with the only break coming in the form of a bye week before a trip down to Tallahassee for a matchup with the Seminoles. Heading into the season, even one win during these last four games seemed questionable. Syracuse needed double overtime to beat Villanova in Week One, though. The Orange were missing quarterback Terrel Hunt for most of the game, but it stills bodes well for BC. As long as the Eagles have injury luck, they should be able to close the regular season out with a win.

Louisville looked great against Miami. It’s the perfect offense to take advantage of Don Brown’s defense with big plays, and Florida State won’t be surprised like it was last year. With the Hokies also looking for revenge, anything more than one November win would be incredibly impressive.

NOVEMBER

DOES WILLIS ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN 50% OF THE RUNNING BACKS’ CARRIES? Andre Williams had more than 75 percent of the carries among running backs last season. It would be a stretch to think Willis will also dominate the touches. He and Tyler Rouse were essentially interchangeable in the opener, with Rouse taking 19 carries to Willis’ 16. Once you factor in freshman backs Jon Hilliman, Marcus Outlow, and Richard Wilson slowly eating up more touches, as well as Sherman Alston’s touches on sweeps and reverses, there’s pretty much no way that any of the backs—including Willis—will consume a majority of the carries.

This is the one place BC can afford an injury, because there’s a ton of depth in the backfield.

Willis is the best overall back right now, but no matter how well he plays, he’s unlikely to star in the backfield the same way that Williams did.

Hypothetical percentage of carries

Andre Williams’ 2013 percentage of carries

HOW MANY FRESHMEN LOG STARTS? There are 18 true freshmen listed on the two-deep. We’ve already projected that Wade will get at least one start, and a freshman is almost guaranteed to take over the return duties by the end of the year once they gain the coaches’ trust. So, who else has a chance?

Harold Landry, one of the top recruits in the class, definitely has an opportunity to work his way ahead of Kevin Kavalec by year’s end. But besides that, most of the other starters are firmly cemented in their places. Injuries could put a freshman back atop the depth chart, and different matchups could swap a rookie into one of the three wide receiver slots, although that might be more information than Day and Addazio would be willing to give away to an opponent prior to kickoff.

WILL THEY HAVE A POSITIVE TURNOVER MARGIN ?

The Eagles finished with a plus-three turnover margin in 2013, largely assisted by Williams’ ability to hold onto the football and Rettig’s decently low interception rate. Another year under Brown should help this defense create more chaos leading to fumbles and interceptions, so the real pressure falls on the offense.

BC balanced out Murphy’s pick on Saturday with an interception by Justin Simmons, so they head into the rest of the year even on the plus/minus. Murphy hasn’t proven that he can safely deliver tough throws.

Even worse for the offense, some freshmen are going to have to handle the ball. The ball mostly remained in the hands of Rettig, Williams, and Alex Amidon last season, but now any number of players can cough it up. Given that, the Eagles should slide into the negative.

CAN THEY HIT A TWO SACKS PER GAME AVERAGE? Don Brown has never coached a defense that put up fewer than two sacks a game since he’s been in Division I. The Eagles had 36 sacks in 12 games last year in Brown’s debut, and they got a head start with three sacks against UMass.

But 65 percent of the sacks created last year are gone, with Steele Divitto, Kevin Pierre-Louis, Kasim Edebali, Kaleb Ramsey, and Jaryd Rudolph all moving on. Josh Keyes, Steven Daniels, and Mehdi Abdesmad are going to have to lead the charge this year if the Eagles are going to get to 26 or 24 sacks to keep the two-per-game average. Manny Asprilla and Bryce Jones will need to sneak into the backfield on occasion, and some help from the likes of Malachi Moore, Kevin Kavalec, Truman Gutapfel, and Harold Landry wouldn’t hurt either.

Anything fewer than 25 sacks could spell serious trouble for this defense. If they’re not getting to the quarterback, that likely means the quarterback is getting the ball to the end zone.