The Heights April 1, 2019

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Monday, April 1, 2019

Patrick Gregorek, BC ’19, Dies Suddenly at Seekonk, Mass. Home

Courtesy of the sun chronicle

By Jack Goldman News Editor Patrick Gregorek, MCAS ’19, died suddenly in his Seekonk, Mass. home on March 24, a month shy of his 22nd birthday.

Joshua Spina-Bett, BC ’18, noted that love defined Gregorek as a person: He loved his family, his friends, he loved his classes, and he loved to run. The vigil held for him as part of a candlelight mass Monday night was packed with members of the Boston College community who mourned Gregorek’s death and celebrated the light he brought into the lives of countless com-

munity members.

The salutatorian of his high school class, Gregorek spent much of his time participating in the Liturgy Arts Group (LAG), where he performed as a tenor in the choir, and BC’s Sons of St. Patrick—a society of “Catholic men dedicated to fostering a community of virtue, character, and faith amongst our peers and surrounding society.”

“Pat ingrained himself very perfectly into [LAG],” said Molly Smith, president of LAG, a singer in the choir, and CSON ’19.

“He just loved LAG. LAG is like this special community, we always say, where everyone comes as they are. It’s this very accepting group filled with love and I think it brought him a lot of joy and peace to find a group like that on campus.

“He was so inclusive, it was something indescribable about him that was just so beautiful.”

Smith and Steve Saville—a pianist in LAG and CSOM ’20—noted that whenever Gregorek sang, his voice stood out from everyone else’s during performances in the basement of St. Ignatius Church. Gregorek was LAG’s only tenor who performed regularly in St. Ignatius, meaning that, when he sang, in a way, he was on his own. But he never backed down from the challenge.

“Every Sunday whenever we would break out into four parts, his tenor voice

would pierce through the air,” Smith said.

“Every time I was like, ‘Oh, Pat got his notes—he’s got it all together!’”

“Pat was louder than everyone else and everyone else was sitting, head in the book, trying not to be too loud or embarass themselves, and Pat’s just sitting up straight singing along,” Saville said.

But he didn’t just shine during performances—what stood out the most to Smith and Saville was how magnetic Gregorek’s personality was. Even though it had been just a few months, Smith said there were plenty of freshmen in LAG who found themselves drawn to Gregorek’s humor and dedication.

Every year, LAG goes to Cape Cod as a part of a team-building retreat. Saville said that reflection times on those trips were some of the most memorable moments he got to spend with Gregorek.

“That was one of the environments where I really saw Pat and his personality really shine through, because especially in a reflective space he just turns it on, and you really see how charismatic and caring he is,” Saville said.

“I think in life, if you’re lucky, you’ll meet some of those people who just really put you at ease, and I’m not quite sure if it was his humor or the intentionality he would bring to a conversation or some combination of a

lot of things. But when you’re with Pat, you know Pat was paying attention to you, Pat was caring about you and for you. He was just a really special guy to be around.”

His brothers at Sons of St. Patrick concurred. John Daniell, BC ’17, met Gregorek for the first time at LAG rehearsal before getting to know him even better as the two of them participated in LAG and Sons of St. Patrick together. Spina-Bett, after transfering to BC, met Daniell and Gregorek right around the same time, and the three became close friends. Daniell stayed with Gregorek in the summer of 2016 for an internship, and the two were joined by Spina-Bett and a few others for Fourth of July festivities. The group saw what Daniell called “the greatest sunset of our lives” and went boating the following day—Spina-Bett calls the experience one of the highlights of his life.

“During the stay, of course, Pat slept on an air mattress while his friends got beds,” Daniell said in an email. “That’s who he was, always looking out for others.

“After graduating, Pat was one of the best about texting and keeping in touch. He always checked in to see how everyone else was doing, even if he himself was stressed about something else. … I can’t believe I will never hear his laugh again. It was so resonant and could light up a room.”

Spina-Bett said that he would always

remember how Gregorek threw himself into his classes, friendships, and clubs. SpinaBett remembered that, while on retreat with LAG, he stood up and shared his struggles with his invisible disability: dyslexia. The moment was important on its own, but what Spina-Bett remembers more about the experience is the letter Gregorek wrote him afterward.

“He wrote me a really beautiful note and basically said, ‘I know what it’s like to struggle, and thank you for being open about yours,’” Spina-Bett said.

“What I’ll never forget about him is his smile, his laugh, his ability to just exude light, his goals to live out the mission of Christ as best as he could each day. He was just always there to talk, always there to listen, and I hope I did that for him as well. He really was just someone who could make you laugh and make you feel very important.”

Natana J. DeLong-Bas, associate professor of the practice in the Theology Department, said that she was always impressed

by Gregorek’s openness. Since Gregorek was a devout Catholic, she was impressed that Gregorek entered her class—“Women and Gender in Islam”—which was one that Gregorek confessed to her took him out of his comfort zone. Although he hadn’t had

See Gregorek, A3

Both Sides File Motions ‘Very Serious’ Surge Took BC Offline telephones, BC in $3 Million Lawsuit Wi-Fi, apps taken offline in A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, ahead of mid-April jury trial.

By Jack Goldman News Editor Representatives from both sides in the $3 million lawsuit pending against Boston College submitted motions to Judge Denise Casper regarding witnesses to be called, admissible exhibits of evidence, and whether there will be a separate hearing to determine if damages will be capped over the past two weeks. A hearing is scheduled for this Thursday, during which Casper will hear arguments in regard to each motion.

The most pressing issues concerning both sides are whether Brett Sokolow, a lawyer who founded the largest educa-

tion-specific law practice in the country and typically works for and represents colleges and universities; Nancy Moore, an expert on professional ethics for attorneys and a Boston University law professor; and psychologists and vocational experts who have evaluated the plaintiff—identified only as “John Doe” in court documents—should be able to testify during the trial.

Doe was covering the 2012 AHANA Leadership Council Boat Cruise for The Heights when the alleged assault occurred.

Sokolow’s testimony was severely limited per a previous ruling by Casper, but the University is still arguing that even this newly limited testimony should not be admissible to the court. BC argued that Sokolow interprets the views of former Executive Director for Planning and Staff

See Lawsuit, A3

Tues. power outage.

By Jack Goldman News Editor A local power surge damaged elements of the power infrastructure in St. Clement’s Hall on Brighton Campus on Tuesday at 9 a.m., taking Boston College’s phone services, Wi-Fi capabilities, Agora portal, Google Suite features, and other technology capabilities offline, according to an email sent to the community by Michael Bourque, vice president of Information Technology Services (ITS). St. Clement’s contains approximately 2,000 computer servers that support academic and administrative functions, Bourque wrote.

The outage was slowly fixed, and BC online functionality returned to full capacity at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday when an

issue with BC Apps was resolved. Most telephone service and Wi-Fi capabilities available on main campus were restored two hours after the outage and four hours before power was fully restored in St. Clement’s, according to a follow-up email from Bourque to The Heights. Brighton and Newton networks were not fully restored until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the ITS website. Every service, with the exception of the BC Apps issue, was resolved by 6 a.m. on Wednesday.

The reason for the longer recovery time was because enough damage was done to require ITS to rebuild layers of the software and hardware environment, according to Bourque’s original email to the community.

Bourque noted in his follow-up that it was not yet clear how much permanent damage has been done to the server farm that will require further repairs, but that ITS and equipment specialists will work to undertake further diagnostic work to figure out if there are any further repairs or replacements

necessary.

Bourque also said that the high voltage used in St. Clement’s made restoring online capabilities more complicated, since working with such levels of electricity requires extreme care in order to bring capabilities back online without causing further delays or damage to the servers.

The St. Clement’s data center was designed to include “appropriate electromechanical and safety measures,” according to Bourque. BC added a 1,500 kilowatt generator, an automatic transfer switch that controls whether power is running through typical sources or the generator, and modular uninterruptible power supplies—which moderate how power is utilized and distributed.

The reason such measures were unable to prevent the outage was because the outage was “very serious,” according to Bourque.

St. Clement’s has never experienced a full

See Bourque, A3

New Details Emerge About Upcoming Sorkin Trial Pre-trial conference report released before May 10 hearing.

By Jack Goldman News Editor The court cases pending against Michael Sorkin, CSOM ’21, were continued to May 10 in both Middlesex and Suffolk District Court this week. Although the ongoing litigation has been pushed back another two months—Sorkin was originally arrested for allegedly vandalizing Welch Hall with racist epithets on Dec. 10—new details concerning where the case in Middlesex County stands in terms of discovery, witnesses to be called, and how Sorkin will plead his case emerged in the case’s latest court filings.

In a pretrial conference report, it is

stated that the defense requested photos, video surveillance, the audio of the 911 call placed on the night Sorkin allegedly defaced Welch, and witness statements on Feb. 13.

All of those requests have not been filled yet, according to the report.

The discovery section for the prosecution cited no outstanding evidence requests.

The prosecution has committed to calling more than two witnesses to the stand, while the defense will only call one or two witnesses, according to the report. The document also estimates that a potential trial will take one to two days to complete.

The document notes that Sorkin did not provide an alibi, but that he has until 30 days before the start of his trial to file one with authorities. The document does say that

See Sorkin, A3

celine lim / heights editor

ALC Showdown Packs Conte for Night of Dance Fuego Del Corazón, PATU, BCID, and F.I.S.T.S. proved fierce competitors and all took home awards.

DI to Drama

Effortless

MAGAZINE

SPORTS

Matthew Del Negro, BC ’94, gave up a spot on BC’s lacrosse team to pursue a career in acting.

Sam Apuzzo scored six goals, and Kenzie Kent set a singleseason program assist record against No. 7 UVA.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

NEWS: Reform in Church

The C21 Center hosted University President Leahy, two others, at panel........A4

Testimonials to Gregorek The friends of Patrick Gregorek pay tribute to him with stories and anecdotes......................... A8

INDEX

NEWS.........................A2 METRO..................... A5 Vol. C, No. 9 © 2019, The Heights, Inc. MAGAZINE.................. A4 SPORTS.................... A9 www.bchelghts.com OPINIONS................... A6 ARTS..................... A16 69

The Heights

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TOP

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things to do on campus this week

1

A “Rights & Resources in Refugee Camps” simulation will take place on Monday in the Heights Room. Students can arrive any time from 6 p.m. to 7:40 p.m. to participate in the simulation, which will take about 20 minutes to complete.

Monday, April 1, 2019

CAB will be hosting a dance workshop event— open to all students regardless of dance experience—Friday at 7 p.m. in Stokes South. Students will partake in 30-minute sessions before rotating to different classrooms.

2

The BC Symphony Orchestra will be performing its Annual Spring concert Sunday at 3 p.m. in Gasson 100. The concert will be free and is set to feature the co-winning soloist from this year’s BC Concerto Competition.

3

NEWS Leahy Suggests Major Reform for the Church BRIEFS

Pivotal BC Admin.

Dies at 93

John T. Driscoll, BC ’49, who served as the first and only vice president for administration at Boston College from 1988 to 1997, died in his Milton home on March 11 at the age of 93. Driscoll directed campus security, dining services, construction management, and other elements of campus life during his time as an administrator, according to BC News.

“John Driscoll brings the perfect combination of managerial expertise, personal qualities, and experience,” said then-University President Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J., when he announced the appointment in 1988, per BC News.

Driscoll was a three-time Dorchester representative in the Massachusetts State House in the ’60s and ’70s.

He then served two terms as the state treasurer of Massachusetts—defeating three different John Kennedys when he ran for the position in 1960 and 1962.

Although Driscoll never defeated the Kennedy who would eventually become the 35th president of the United States, he and John F. Kennedy were friends. In fact, the night before he was elected president, Kennedy referred to Driscoll as “one of the finest men I have ever met in public life” on the podium at a Boston Garden rally, according to The Boston Globe.

Before he was hired by BC, Driscoll was the longest-serving chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, according to BC News, holding the position for 24 years.

During his tenure as BC’s vice president for administration, construction was completed on Corcoran Commons, the Merkert Chemistry Center, the BC Law Library, and the Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street parking garages, said BC News. Driscoll also directed significant expansions to Alumni Stadium and renovations to Devlin, Fulton, and Campion halls, and he reorganized various other on-campus departments. Four of Driscoll’s seven children attended BC, and he served as president of the BC Alumni Association for a year. “[Driscoll was] pleasant, correct, cautious, and courteous,” reads a 1981 profile of him in the Globe. “For all his 26 years in the treacherous world of politics, it seems that nobody—not even those who strongly disagree with him—hates John Driscoll.”

Two Sophomores Win Fellowship Kaitlin Malley and Patrick McGeoghegan, both biochemistry majors and MCAS ’21, have been selected as Beckman Scholars, according to BC News. Awarded to outstanding undergraduate students in the sciences, the fellowship is funded by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, which picks a select group of colleges and universities to receive application invitations for the program every year.

The fellowship will support Malley’s and McGeoghegan’s research for their junior years and the next two summers, and both will be paired with faculty mentors, according to BC News.

“I am most looking forward to being able to develop my own research project where, for the next year and a half, I will be able to focus my efforts in the lab,” Malley said to BC News.

BC will host the first-ever Beckman Scholars Colloquium on May 1, which Malley and McGeoghegan will attend with fellow scholars from around the United States, said BC News.

“This is an honor because the program offers two years of research with experienced mentors, but also allows me to get out of the lab and collaborate with undergraduates from all over the country,” McGeoghegan told BC News.

By Jack Miller Assoc. News Editor

University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., spoke on a panel titled “Revitalizing Our Church: Ideas from University Presidents” on Thursday. The event—put on by the Church in the 21st Century Center (C21)—aimed to address how the Church can be a more effective institution and find a path to restored credibility. It is the second part of an Easter speaker series devoted to the topic. Sister Janet Eisner, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, the president of Emmanuel College, and Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University, joined Leahy onstage.

The three presidents discussed the status of Catholicism, gave advice to church leadership, and talked through potential lessons from Catholic higher education at the lead of the moderator, Karen Kiefer, director of C21. Afterward, audience members asked several questions, mostly concerning potential reforms of the church.

Most of the conversation orbited around ways the Church could learn from Catholic colleges and universities. Although none of the panelists shied away or avoided discussion of the sexual abuse crisis, most answers acknowledged the problem by calling for general reform and revitalization for younger generations.

Kiefer first asked the three presidents to describe the current state of Catholicism.

Eisner, who spoke first, responded with “ever with us, ever God with us,” and “at the center and at the edge.” She went on to explain that, while the Catholic Church obviously plays a large role in everyday life, it also has a significant presence in places outside of mainstream consciousness.

“I can think of no better place to look than at the southern border of our country,” Eisner said. “And I’ve been in touch, today

and in the past, with a number of Sisters of Notre Dame who were down there… and they’re working with the migrants as they come.”

McShane, Fordham’s president, used the word “missionary” to answer the question.

“The American Church is once again a missionary church but doesn’t realize it,” he said. “I think that right now, like Paul in Athens, the church is confronting a culture that it doesn’t understand and for whom it is not calling the shots.”

Leahy’s diagnosis came with a much grimmer headline—he used the phrase “wounded and in too much disarray” before directly mentioning the sexual abuse crisis.

“And so I think the huge challenge for the Church is: How does it move forward in the midst of major issues that are there [that] have to be acknowledged?” Leahy said. “But I want to move forward. I don’t want to stay caught up. I don’t want to forget the past either, especially the sexual abuse, but I want to move forward.

And I think there are a lot of people who want to move forward. It’s how to move forward.”

Leahy’s answer dovetailed into a conversation about advice the panelists would give to Church hierarchy. All three centered their responses on better incorporating current lay people into Church leadership and drew on their experience in Catholic higher education. Combined, the panelists have logged over 80 years as university presidents.

Leahy began by suggesting that the Church adopt a Board of Trustees-esque body of laypeople. He listed a number of functions that the institution performs at Boston College, such as financial matters, construction, and budgeting.

He united the two suggestions by urging the Church to ask parishioners about

Jess rivilis / Heights STAff

Presidents Leahy, Eisner, and McShane spoke about the state of the Catholic Church.

what they want to see moving forward and then constructing a strategic plan to pursue those goals. Eisner honed in on the role of women in the Church. She detailed their place in the history of the Church and how the present moment afforded an opportunity for expansion.

“We were talking earlier about the role of women in terms of building the educational system and the health care system as well,” she said. “And it seems to be a great gift to the Church and needs to continue.

I can’t say enough how important it is to have a seat at the table. There needs to be women present. Some of the difficulties right now may have been alleviated had it been women’s voices heard earlier in the Church.”

About halfway through, Kiefer began asking more specifically about changes in culture and potential approaches for the Church to adopt.

Leahy first offered up suggestions for seminary schools, advising that more seminarians study alongside the laity, in contrast to current “monastic settings.” He also drew attention to educational settings

more generally, which he described as the basis of the Church’s renewal.

Eisner emphasized that church leadership ought to meet students where they are and not wait for people to come to them, which Leahy strongly endorsed.

“We’ve got to embark on a great campaign of listening to individuals, asking them, ‘What’s influenced you in your life?

What bothers you in the Church? What would you like to see?’” he said. “Then we’ve got to sift all that and that’s where the decision-making has to come in.

“We have to say, as I said to a group yesterday, ‘We got to get the fleet out of the harbor. It’s rusting at the dock,’” he said.

After the formal questions came to a close, the panelists responded to a handful of audience inquiries. The final question, in reference to the sexual abuse problems, asked Leahy, Eisner, and McShane if there was an opportunity hidden in the crisis.

“It seems to me the possibility of change is greater now than ever because so much of the previous superstructure of the system is collapsing, and so out of that we see parishes meeting it very well,” Leahy said. n

Student Groups Call for Response to Kraft Charges

By Jack Miller Assoc. News Editor Prosecutors charged New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft with two counts of soliciting prostitution at a Florida spa last February—one of 25 people caught in a human trafficking probe. Kraft is a Trustee Associate of Boston College and serves on the Board of Governors for the BC Chief Executives Club.

Several student groups have called on the University to remove Kraft from his positions and end all associations with him. Another response that groups have proposed is that the University should state exactly what level of association Kraft shares with BC. Associate Vice President for University Communications Jack Dunn said in an email to The Heights that there is confusion surrounding the nature of Kraft’s ties to BC. He noted that Kraft does not currently hold a position on the Board of Trustees or any other governing body of the University.

“There is a Board of Trustees, and Bob Kraft is not a member of it,” Dunn said.

“Bob Kraft served one term on the Boston College Board of Trustees from 2003-2007.

Trustees who rotate off the Board are given the title Trustee Associate, in recognition of past service.”

The BC web page titled “Trustees & Leadership” does not explain the distinction in title and lists Kraft as a Trustee Associate.

Another web page titled “Board of Trustees, Administration, and Officers” does not list Kraft as a trustee or mention his name.

The BC Chief Executives Club hosts several forums for business leaders in the Boston area. Each meeting typically features a keynote from a major CEO or entrepreneur. The University describes the Board of Governors as “a cross section of the city’s top business leaders, representing industries ranging from media to retail to finance to professional sports and more.” The Chief Executives Club is affiliated with the Carroll School of Management.

On March 11, the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YSDA) of Boston College published a statement calling for Kraft’s removal from his position on the Board of Trustees, citing the alleged involvement of human trafficking at the massage parlor.

“Kraft’s solicitation of prostitution from an establishment alleged to be part of sex

trafficking operation makes it clear he can no longer serve on the board or be associated with the university in any way,” the statement said. “There can be no equivocation on this matter. Either Kraft or the school’s claim that it adheres to a set of Jesuit Catholic values must go.”

Four days later, BC Rallying Efforts Against Contemporary Trafficking (R.E.A.C.T.) released a petition demanding that University acknowledge the issue of human trafficking and prostitution.

The petition also called for Kraft’s suspension—and removal, if found guilty—from all official positions at BC. Although it originally included reference to his role as Trustee Associate, R.E.A.C.T. updated the petition, saying that Kraft is not currently a Trustee Associate.

The Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC) Executive Council invoked BC’s Jesuit identity and mission statement in a statement pushing the University to remove him from his position issued on Wednesday.

“Sex trafficking is a grievous human rights issue in the United States and abroad.

In order to adhere to its mission, we believe that it is the duty of Boston College

to sever ties with any individual known to be complicit in such activity,” the statement said. “Kraft’s actions contradict the Jesuit values of Boston College and should be treated as such, resulting in his removal as a Trustee Associate and as a member of the Carroll School of Management’s Board of Governors.”

YDSA of BC also published some of Kraft’s ties to BC, including the creation of the Kraft Family Professor of Philosophy— currently occupied by Rev. James Bernauer, S.J.—and his ownership of the event security company TeamOps, which provides security at Boston College sports events.

Florida prosecutors offered a pretrial deal to Kraft and the others who had been charged. In exchange for dropped charges, Kraft would have to admit that he would have been found guilty, complete 200 hours of community service, take an education course on prostitution, undergo a screening for STIs, and pay $10,000. He would also have to submit a description of his activities in the spa.

Kraft pleaded not guilty on the two charges last week and asked for a jury trial. n

Thursday, March 28

1:34 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical incident at Bapst/Burns Library.

POLICE BLOTTER: 3/27/19 – 3/28/19 Wednesday, March 27 9:15 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical incident at O’Neill Library.

9:21 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a burglary at Hardey Hall.

5:12 p.m.- An officer filed a report regarding malicious damage to a motor vehicle on Commonwealth Avenue.

8:13 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical incident at the Brighton Campus Gymnasium.

9:17 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a well-being check off campus.

12:42 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a fire alarm activation at the Harrington Athletics Village.

5:13 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical incident at Higgins Hall.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

CORRECTIONS What do you think of electric scooters becoming legal in Brookline?

“I think that’s a great idea—college students need that to get around. I want to hop on a scooter and drive.”

“It’s pretty cool because you can go places and you don’t have to Uber.”

— Ray O’Rourke, MCAS ’22

— Scott Sullivan, MCAS ’22

“I love those. That’s a game changer.”

— Liam Coen, MCAS ’22

“I think it’s cool that there’s a new mode of transportation, beyond the T, that’s more convenient.”

— Ben Tsai, CSOM ’22

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

The Heights

Monday, April 1, 2019

A3

Gregorek Remembered: ‘Loving Other People ... Encouraging Others’ Gregorek, from A1 an opportunity to engage with religions outside the one he believed in, he said, he wanted to gain new experience—gain new knowledge that he couldn’t find in the confines of the theology with which he was already familiar.

“He hadn’t really had the opportunity to engage the religious ‘other’ growing up,” DeLong-Bas said. “This class provided the space for doing that, both through the material and, more importantly, through his classmates. Whatever fears or concerns he had, he approached the class with respect and a willingness to listen and think deeply. I think he learned a lot about valuing other perspectives and about himself in that course. It took courage to stick with it.”

Spina-Bett remembered what it was like to watch Gregorek take that class. He took pride in the fact that he was learning so many new things about a culture that was essentially brand new to him. Spina-Bett said his passion for theology showed through more during that semester than ever.

But ultimately what impressed DeLongBas the most was not just his dedication to her class, but his positivity.

“He always brought a smile and personal warmth to class,” she said. “I think that reflected the values he embodied: loving other

people, respecting human dignity, wanting to encourage others, reaching out whenever he saw someone hurting—all of that while he struggled with his own anxiety and fear of not being accepted by his peers. Whatever he was feeling inside, he always brought the sunshine with him.

“I will miss his gentle presence.”

Kirsten Morro, vice president of BC Club Running and CSON ’19, met Gregorek during their freshman year while they lived in Fitzpatrick Hall together, and while enrolled in the same small Spanish class.

Gregorek’s commitment to his faith stood out to Morro, who described his understanding of his own religious identity “awesome.” She said she believed it played a large part in the advice he’d give out to his classmates and was directly linked to his ability to listen to people with passion—Spina-Bett and Smith both said that they didn’t know anybody who lived in the present quite like Gregorek did.

In their second semester together, Morro and Gregorek became even closer when they joined WeRunBC—the predecessor to BC Club Running and, at the time, BC’s unofficial running club—together. Morro confessed to Gregorek that she was afraid to run alone, and Gregorek immediately offered to go with her.

“He was always willing to go above and

beyond for his friends and was the biggest supporter of anything that his friends found important,” she said. “We went to practice together every day, and he immediately won the hearts of all of the members of the club.”

Tina LaRitz, president of BC Club Running and MCAS ’19, met Gregorek when he and Morro joined running club their freshman year. She found him easy to talk to—an invaluable resource to guide her through some of the nervousness inherent to freshman year.

But the moment that stood out to her most of the many she spent with Gregorek over the years had nothing to do with running.

“I had a conversation with Pat at the job fair in Conte Forum our junior year that I think about often,” LaRitz said in an email to The Heights. “We both found ourselves in the same line waiting to talk to a representative from an economic consulting firm. I immediately felt comforted by the sight of Pat’s familiar face. I could tell he was just as overwhelmed as I was, faced with the prospects of determining our futures.

“Over the course of our conversation— which ranged from the mundane topic of our economics electives to reflections on our faith—I felt such deep relief that someone else was feeling the same as I was and was

willing to talk about it.”

Andrew Craig, BC ’16 and STM ’19, met Gregorek during Craig’s junior year—Gregorek’s freshman year—and was constantly entertaining Gregorek’s “interesting, sometimes quirky questions.”

“One of my favorite memories with Pat was when he suddenly wanted to jog a couple of miles to a small donut shop,” Craig said in an email. “We got lost along the way, but the entire trek we talked. We talked about movies, life, philosophy, and jokes. I can’t remember the donut, but I do remember us all smiling, sweaty as we sat down at a tiny diner table eating and talking.

“No words could ever fully describe Pat, but when I think of the Pat I came to know and love, I think of a man who was open to everyone, loving, faithful, hilarious, and curious about everything.”

Daniell and Smith agreed—the positivity Gregorek exuded was exactly what made him so remarkable to the community he built up around himself.

“When someone passes there is often a tendency to romanticize the deceased, but I am being completely honest when I say that I never heard him say a malicious word about anyone,” Daniell said. “He made me laugh harder than anyone. He gave the best hugs. There was never a conversation that he didn’t end by saying, ‘I love you, brother.’

He brought so much life to everyone else around him. He always had a smile on his face,” Smith said.

“Whatever I was feeling that day, whenever I ran into him it was always such a blessing, because he was just so happy. He just gave off this effervescent joy that just couldn’t be contained.”

Gregorek’s funeral mass will be celebrated on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Taunton Avenue, Seekonk, according to the obituary released

by Gregorek’s family. He will be buried in St. Francis Cemetery in Taunton, Mass.

A wake will be held on Monday from 4 to 8 p.m. in the Perry-McStay funeral home at 2555 Pawtucket Avenue, East Providence, R.I. In lieu of flowers, Gregorek’s family has asked that donations be made to Boston College’s The Liturgy Arts Group c/o Campus Ministry, McElroy 233, 140 Commonwealth Ave, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.

Interim Vice President of Student Affairs Joy Moore announced in an email that BC will provide transportation to the services for students who would like to attend. Students who would like a seat on the bus should email fiorentk@bc.edu by 10 a.m. today.

Condolences may be sent to his parents, John and Christine Gregorek, at 350 Brown Avenue, Seekonk, MA 02771. n

Students, Admin Talk Mental Health Lawsuit Trial Weeks Out

By Jack Goldman News Editor Students and administrators came together for the third Student-Administrator Gathering of the semester this past Tuesday to discuss on-campus mental health issues with the leaders of University Counseling Services (UCS). Craig Burns, director of UCS, and Julie AhnAllen, assistant director of diversity and inclusion and director of training at UCS, joined Interim Vice President of Student Affairs Joy Moore to answer questions attendees had about improving counseling services and getting the word out about programs the group has made available to students.

After Burns and AhnAllen offered brief opening remarks, the three administrators took questions from the audience for an hour, which touched on accessibility, stigmas surrounding counseling, and where students felt UCS and Student Affairs needed to work on outreach in order to properly inform the Boston College community about what services are available at UCS. Moore led off the event by asking for a moment of silence for Patrick Gregorek, MCAS ’19, who died last Sunday. Burns gave a few remarks detailing the different challenges UCS faces, including offering aid for BC, before providing some statistics about student visits to UCS offices in Gasson Hall.

He explained that there are currently 17 full-time clinicians, which includes the four postdoctoral fellows who are a part of UCS for a year, in addition to the 13 full-time licensed clinicians. He said that UCS also employs three part-time psychiatrists, two part-time on-call clinicians, some social workers, and three administrative assistants.

He described the staffing as pretty robust before noting with a laugh that, though UCS could always use “more of a resource,” he believed Moore had been strong advocate for UCS, especially as the group pursues further staffing needs moving forward.

Burns said that over his 14 years with UCS, the staff has grown “significantly.” That growth has been required—Burns said that around 1,900 students visit UCS for care every year. Last year, those students came in nearly 12,000 times total.

Burns went on to say that UCS has introduced a same-day consultation program, giving students the opportunity to attend sessions on the same day—though he noted that all same-day sessions take place during the afternoon to ensure they are all filled—outside of emergency sessions. Emergency sessions are specifically built for students who feel overwhelmed or in a dangerous mental place that requires care as soon as possible—Burns noted that emergency requests from students were up 13 to 14 percent in 2017-18 and that there has been a 200 percent increase over the last 10 years.

Moore asked Burns to elaborate on national trends affecting college students, and Burns noted that he’s seen elevated levels of distress among college-aged students, particularly in reference to increased reports of anxiety.

He pointed out that the purpose of same-day sessions is to provide an alternate entry point for BC students into UCS if they feel the need for counseling.

Burns noted that one drawback of having same day sessions is that, although such a service increases short-term availability, it hurts UCS’s ability to provide longer-term care. Burns explained that he is going to choose accessibility over depth in this area every time, since BC still has the ability to provide in-depth, shorter-term care—and that short-term care is a relative term, especially because there is no limit students are held to in regard to how many sessions they can attend. Burns also said that essentially no university counseling service care provider across the country is set up to give long-term care.

One of the first questions posed to Burns and AhnAllen related to that matter, and AhnAllen emphasized that, when students come in, UCS emphasizes that there are no session limits, but creating a treatment plan—which can involve outside resources—is a primary concern. She noted that the lone time that she’ll highly recommend a student to utilize outside resources is if she feels a student really needs resources the University cannot provide, and the patient is in serious need of significant treatment.

The University’s makeup requires that short-term be prioritized, since students aren’t a part of the institution for long enough that long-term treatment can be UCS’ top priority, Burns said. Longer-term care that UCS counselors believe requires resources outside the University is only used when counselors are sure students who require care for extended periods of time are comfortable with such a situation. In addition, UCS policy is that either counselors or administrative assistants will check in with students who go off campus for care in order to make sure the situation is a workable one and that off-campus care is not a hindrance, according to Burns.

He also said that the introduction of the same-day consultation program had led to an increase in marginalized students coming into UCS’s offices, though he cautioned that the data available was based on a relatively small sample size. He did say that the creation of the program was geared toward increasing accessibility to UCS services for marginalized populations—57 percent of the students who have come in for same-day consultation have been AHANA+.

AhnAllen then spoke more specifically about diversity and inclusion within UCS, noting that she requires every counselor, regardless of identity, to be culturally competent so that each counselor can provide appropriate care to any student on campus.

Burns would later mention that there are no specialists who work at UCS, and AhnAllen said that ensuring access for all students rather than limiting students of certain identities to talking to therapists of certain identities is tantamount in the way she considers providing care.

AhnAllen also pointed out that working through different stigmas each culture present on campus may have is a point of emphasis for UCS. On that front, UCS has been emphasizing getting the word out about the different types of services it provides, according to AhnAllen, to different student populations in order to provide different types of access points for every student at BC. She noted that providing treatment for first-generation students has also been one of her priorities, since the intersection of

different identities under that broad banner—before even considering the difficulties inherent to being the first member of your family to attempt to attain a college degree—creates a unique challenge that UCS has worked to be more prepared for.

“So whether that’s through certain programs that we collaborate with like [Options Through Education] … and trying to forge relationships to let people know that we’re here and that we want to support students who are going to be going through the college experience without a lot of guidance,” AhnAllen said.

But, she said, working with marginalized students is also difficult because reactions to racial trauma or extraordinary loss is always going to be difficult, and that’s normal.

Balancing the fact that students naturally react a certain way with giving students the chance to process their emotions without detracting from their day-to-day college experiences is far from a simple proposition.

Another student question touched on the prevalence of eating disorders on campus, which AhnAllen said she’s personally noticed as a trend within UCS. Typically, students come in for treatment, during which counselors will discover that the patient is also dealing with an eating disorder. Increasing awareness around eating disorders and ensuring students suffering from them get into treatment is of chief concern to AhnAllen.

One of the issues students brought up over and over again, though, was a lack of student awareness about the services UCS provides and the protections disabled students—students dealing with mental health issues are considered disabled by law—are afforded by the University. Burns, AhnAllen, Moore, and Dean of Students Tom Mogan—who was present at the gathering as an attendee and volunteered his thoughts from the audience—all said they were open to student input on how to better advertise what services are offered.

Mogan noted that UCS is one of the offices mentioned in his email to the community at the beginning of the year, but arranging more materials geared toward consistently pushing out information related to services provided by UCS could be something Mogan’s office can put a greater emphasis on going forward. Moore added that the issue is one that University administrators could perhaps partner with the Undergraduate Government of BC to further address the problem. Reed Piercey, UGBC president and MCAS ’19, and Michael Osaghae, UGBC president-elect and MCAS ’20, were both present at the gathering.

Another student in the audience brought up that she had had bad experiences dealing with administrators in the past when she’s had to meet with them while amid a panic attack or under serious mental pressure, advocating for increased training for members of the administration to deal with students who are working through serious mental health issues.

AhnAllen said she could work more closely with administrators to train them in a more in-depth fashion, pertaining to emergency situations, as well as work individually with administrators and students to facilitate improved relations between students under duress and administrators tasked with aiding them. n

Lawsuit, from A1 Development Carole Hughes—who currently serves as a senior associate dean for Student Affairs—and former Dean of Students Paul Chebator, which couldn’t be possible since Sokolow did not experience the events firsthand.

The University argued that Sokolow leapt to a conclusion based on how the University handled distributing a Sexual Assault Notification Form, making his testimony regarding that matter inadmissible. Sokolow argued in his submitted testimony that the administration passed over an error on the Sexual Assault Notification Form that influenced how Hughes, Chebator, and the hearing board members approached the case, violating Doe’s rights to a fair hearing.

The University is arguing Moore shouldn’t be allowed to testify because her previously filed testimony does not have to do with the two remaining issues the jury must decide on: whether BC influenced the hearing board’s final decision and whether an alternate

culprit was “put at ease,” negating the basis of Doe’s defense. Instead, the University argued that Moore is concentrating solely on the actions of BC General Counsel Joseph Herlihy, and neither the First Circuit Court of Appeals nor the Massachusetts District Court have found fault with Herlihy in the past.

Casper actually dismissed the plaintiff ’s argument that Herlihy should be added as a one of the lawsuit’s defendants.

Doe is arguing that Moore provides expert testimony that identifies Herlihy’s actions as affecting the fashion in which Hughes gave special treatment to the potential alternate culprit, as well his conflicts of interest that prevented Doe from having a fair hearing.

Casper will also issue rulings related to various individual exhibits of evidence that the University has asked be rendered inadmissible for reasons varying from exhibits being irrelevant to exhibits being incomplete documents to exhibits being hearsay. The jury trial is scheduled for April 22. n

ITS Repairs Capabilities Bourque, from A1 outage within the data center since it was constructed in 2006, despite the physical building experiencing many outages over the past 13 years, Bourque said.

In preparation for dealing with issues like this, ITS has been performing disaster recovery tests for over 10 years, according to Bourque. At a third-party facility, ITS employees work to recover equipment at that site while BC users test the recovery efforts remotely from campus, Bourque explained.

Recovery is accomplished by configuring operating systems, security measures, restoring networking capability, and restoring access to various applications.

Bourque said that he believed ITS successfully leaned on that experience and performed admirably, despite the serious nature of the outage. ITS’ recovery plans emphasize quick recovery of key services, such as internet and telephone access, which is why those services came back online on Main Campus relatively quickly, despite some slower progress across the entirety of campus.

One of the slower aspects of BC’s online capabilities to come back online was access to the Google Suite, and more

specifically being able to send and receive emails exchanged between bc.edu accounts.

Part of the reason for that was by the time key services had been recovered by ITS, at which point connections to Google apps were restored, it took hours for the servers to catch up on the hours worth of emails that they had gathered. Those emails, while the servers were down, were unable to reach intended recipients.

The University’s Canvas website—used by students and faculty as a document sharing platform and online discussion area—also took a long time for ITS to bring fully back online and was not a part of the initial key services restoration. ITS’ website noted that Canvas and the Agora portal—which provides students and faculty access to proprietary University information, as well as course availabilities, billing, and degree audit information—were not fully restored until 12:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Security and integration systems within Canvas and Agora served as issues that took longer for ITS to resolve.

Bourque said that, moving forward, ITS will concentrate on improving resiliency and recovery capabilities so that, if a similar issue ever occurs in the future, full service can be reached at a faster rate. n

Tests Holding Up Sorkin Sorkin, from A1 Sorkin is seeking to defend himself through an argument of possible lack of criminal responsibility—a defense more commonly known as an insanity plea.

This plea means that prosecutors will have to prove that Sorkin both engaged in the criminal activity he’s alleged to have perpetrated, as well as proving that Sorkin bears responsibility for committing those crimes.

Sorkin was psychologically evaluated at the time of his arrest, and police reports explained that one of the reasons Sorkin was

not questioned in more detail at the scene of the crime was because Boston College Police Department officers who responded to the scene believed he was under the influence of a substance of some sort.

Sorkin’s lawyer who is representing him in the Suffolk County case said that one of the issues holding the trials up is obtaining an accurate competency evaluation. A competency evaluation details whether a defendant is in a mental state capable of moving forward with a trial and deciding how a defendant would like to plead in a criminal case. n

The Heights

A4

Monday, April 1, 2019

Acting Out

By Brooke Kaiserman Magazine Editor

A

s he whizzed through back roads and side streets, Matthew Del Negro, Boston College ’94, struggled to stay on the telephone line—Waze and the hustle-bustle of cars at the height of the Los Angeles rush hour were to blame for the multiple dropped calls.

Fresh out of a session with his acting coach in Silverlake, Calif., Del Negro navigated the city while still reminiscing about his senior year in the Mods. Laughing, he recalled a group of friends who blocked two neighboring Mods and then proceeded to knock down the connecting wall with a sledgehammer.

“It was like its own little makeshift doorway from one to the other,” he said. “So instead of it being a six-man, it was like a 12-man. I think they hung like a towel or something between the two.”

Today, Del Negro is credited with having acted in several television shows, appearing in The Sopranos, The West Wing, Scandal, and Goliath, as well as movies such as Hot Pursuit with Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon and Wind River alongside Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner.

His love for acting would be realized late, after countless years spent on the field instead of the stage.

“I was really into sports, I played everything as a kid. And, you know, there was really no interaction with acting at all for me at an early age,” he said.

Del Negro grew up in woodsy Westchester County in the town of Mount Kisco, about an hour north of New York City. As the youngest of three children, Del Negro looked up to his older sister and especially his older brother. His brother, Artie, graduated from BC in 1991, at the end of Del Negro’s freshman year. Likewise, his parents served as role models—his dad was an attorney and his mom taught special education at John Jay High School, which Del Negro attended.

When it comes to sports, there are only a few that Del Negro hasn’t played. Following stints in baseball, basketball, and football during his childhood, Del Negro picked up a lacrosse stick in seventh grade and stuck with it for the rest of middle school and the entirety of high school.

During his junior year of high school, Del Negro made the bus trip out to Chestnut Hill to visit Artie, who was then a sophomore at BC. His brother had prepared the quintessential BC weekend, complete with sports and socializing, but Del Negro didn’t bite.

“He makes fun of me because I went up there, it was freezing cold— and he says it was like the perfect weekend. We went to a BC basketball game, BC hockey game, there was a party on campus, and I was just in such a different phase in high school that I really didn’t embrace it when I was there. So all I remembered was waiting at the bus stop, freezing,” he said.

Instead, Del Negro was intrigued by the warmer weather and larger sports culture of the Southern schools—like Duke and Virginia. Del Negro planned to only apply to these schools, but his dad—who was nor-

mally laissez-faire when it came to Del Negro’s decisions—told him he really wanted him to apply to BC. So Del Negro filled out the application as a favor to his dad and, shortly after, received word that he had been waitlisted. Del Negro said that at that moment, something inexplicably clicked—he was still unable to explain it all these years later during our interview. He decided that he would be a student at BC, whatever it took. Even if he wasn’t admitted, Del Negro wanted to take classes in the Woods College of Advancing Studies and re-apply to become a full-time day student the following semester.

But that wasn’t necessary, as Del Negro was removed from the waitlist and admitted to BC’s Class of 1994.

“Literally, like the day that I got to BC, I remember getting out of the car. It was a beautiful, blue-sky day, and I just felt like, ‘This is where I’m supposed to be.’ … I was not one of those kids who thought from when he was 8 years old he wanted to go to BC, but the way it worked out, day one, I loved it,” he said.

Many students confront their fair share of identity crises during college, but Del Negro’s self-described “split-experience” was more staggering than most.

He walked onto the men’s lacrosse team—a varsity program on campus until 2002—his freshman year, and for the first two years of his BC experience he found himself plunged into the all-encompassing pressure cooker of college athletics. The demands of D1 athletics gave him no time to pursue other interests. Del Negro even had to forfeit his semester abroad junior year—he’d had his sights set on Australia—because it overlapped with the spring season.

Instead, Del Negro chose to go to Italy as part of a program the summer before his junior year. He felt out of his element in the unfamiliar small town of Perugia in central Italy and began to ask himself if he was on the right path, in addition to questioning if he was getting everything he could out of his college experience.

“I basically did all this journal writing kind of going like, ‘Is lacrosse what I want to be doing?’” he said. “I just felt like I had lost the fire for lacrosse. So I think over there I kind of thought, ‘Maybe I’ll be a writer, maybe I’ll be an actor,’ like that’s written in that first journal, but there was no backing at all. … It was just something that came up.”

When he returned to BC in the fall, he quickly fell back into his old routine—but as he played fall ball in preparation for the spring season, these feelings of doubt slowly crept back into his mind until one day, he finally snapped.

“It was at the end of fall ball—we were at practice, and I was jogging around Shea Field. And I remember thinking like, ‘Man, I wish I rolled my ankle. I just don’t feel like being here.’”

Because he wasn’t on a full-ride scholarship for lacrosse, Del Negro didn’t see himself tied to the team.

Del Negro loved his teammates but trusted his gut feeling that lacrosse simply wasn’t what he was meant to be doing. After that practice on Shea Field, Del Negro went to then-head coach Ed Moy’s office and told him, “I think I’m done.”

After he stopped playing, he had a “mini freak-out,” wondering if he’d made the right decision. Out of nowhere, Del Negro decided to audition for a BC theatre production that winter and was rejected. ne month later, he tried out for a se cond and clinched the lead role in a tiny production of Hello Out There!

by William Saroyan. The production wasn’t big enough to score the prime real estate of Robsham Theater—instead, the group was relegated to a lecture hall for their two-night performance. Despite the small scale of the play, the experience largely influenced Del Negro’s decision to pursue acting as a post-college career.

“You couldn’t get any further away [from lacrosse]. It was a direct, complete 180. And people looked at me like I had two heads—but I did it,” he said. “And I just decided I was going to be an actor. It was a real turning point for me.”

Del Negro continued to participate in on-campus productions and picked up a film studies minor along the way.

He chose to major in English—and in retrospect, Del Negro thinks his major in English makes sense because he spent years studying literary characters and their relationships with one another, a technique he would later employ in the acting business.

“I kind of never turned back. I mean, part of me thought it was bananas. … It was like I got the call, and I had to take it,” he said.

After graduation, Del Negro returned home. He was committed to pursuing a career in acting, but it demanded a lot of work, determination and tenacity to turn it into reality.

That summer of ’94, he worked for a mason, laying patios to make ends meet while simultaneously acting in a musical in Wilton, Conn. at a community theater. From there, one of the actors he’d met through that musical got him a job as a waiter in Stamford, Conn.

He started taking a train into New York City two nights a week to take acting classes while saving every dollar he earned waiting tables. On Jan. 1, 1995, Del Negro moved to Manhattan.

“I lived in a crappy, fifth-floor walkup, rent-stabilized apartment for seven years while I slugged it out.”

It was an intense, all-consuming, heartbreaking time. Del Negro was taking classes while grasping for every acting opportunity he could get his hands on. He did black box theater for free, student films, independent films—most of them were “bad,” he noted, but one of them, called The North End and set in Boston “turned out to be pretty good.”

He started to make some money through commercials but relied heavily on bartending—which replaced waiting tables—to get him through those long, lonely years in his dingy walk-up in the city. Del Negro began to doubt his path when, one night, BC alumni walked into the bar where he worked. Hotshots from Wall Street, Del Negro could only dream of the paychecks they got.

“This was like late ’90s, you know, making money hand over fist, and I’m pouring them a Guinness, and you start to question your choices a little bit. But it was what I loved, and I kept

O

HBO

Del Negro appears in Season Four of The Sopranos as Brian Cammarata, Carmela’s cousin who tries to help Tony invest his money legally.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MATTHEW DEL NEGRO

Del Negro left the BC lacrosse team as a junior to act in University theatre productions. doing it, and eventually, that led to a big break.”

The break came in the form of a recurring role on the fourth season of The Sopranos, playing Carmela Soprano’s financial advisor cousin, Brian Cammarata, who aids Tony in his illegal antics. This was the platform he used to launch himself into roles for big-ticket performances and finally earn recognition for his work.

But this only came after eight long years of living paycheck to paycheck.

Throughout the entire experience, Del Negro didn’t give up.

“People drop off like flies in my business, so the older I get, the less guys that I started with are competition, because a lot of people have stopped,” he said. “And so I kind of just had this Rocky Balboa approach to it, which was, if I could keep getting better, keep taking hits, keep getting up after I’ve been knocked down, eventually I get my shot at the title.”

After his eight-episode stint on The Sopranos, Del Negro continued bartending for another two years as he waited for an acting job that would stick. n 2005, he moved 2,789 miles across the country to Los Angeles for a job on the secondto-last season of The West Wing.

Simultaneously, he was jetting to Toronto to work on another show, Beautiful People. But as soon as he began to feel comfortable with the thought of acting full time, his roles on both shows ended.

Del Negro continued to pick up smaller roles and fly out to L.A. for auditions during pilot season. He thought his luck had returned when he booked a recurring role during the sixth season of Scandal—he played Michael Ambruso, the gay prostitute-turned-lover of politician Cyrus Beene.

He was then told by a producer on the show that his role would expand in the following season—“We want you for the next season, we’re going to do a lot with you,” he was told—before being cut unexpectedly.

These “lean times,” according to Del Negro, are what inspired him to create his podcast “10,000 No’s with Matthew Del Negro.” On each episode of the podcast, Del Negro sits down with high-achieving actors, writers, directors, and producers—as well as entrepreneurs, athletes, cancer survivors, and beyond—to talk about how they crafted success stories in the face of failure.

“I experienced so many ‘no’s’ and so many setbacks as a result of what I do that I have kind of become obsessed with resilience and perseverance and how you pick yourself up after you’ve been knocked down, and that really came from my own experiences because it has not always been an easy path—at all.”

With the podcast, Del Negro hopes to help young actors in similar situations, as well as anyone in need of a little motivation. The tagline “Failure is Opportunity” is boldly emblazoned on the top of the website, which features the full collection of episodes—the most recent of which is titled, “Ep 84: Poo~Pourri/Supernatural CEO Suzy Batiz, How to Create a $500 Million Empire & Make the World Believe Your Poop Doesn’t Stink.”

“I think one of the reasons why he’s also just such a good podcaster, too, is because he’s actually genuinely interested in other people,” Parenthood and

I

Goliath director and guest on “10,000 No’s” Lawrence “Larry” Trilling said.

“A lot of actors are very self-absorbed, and Matt’s the opposite.”

Aside from his podcast, Del Negro now enjoys the ability to act full time. Most recently, he’s worked with Trilling on the TV shows Parenthood and the Amazon Prime original series Goliath. As a director and executive producer of Parenthood and the showrunner of Goliath, Trilling worked extensively with Del Negro and placed great trust in his ability to convey the intentions of his characters—both as Timm in Parenthood and now as Goliath’s deceptively charming Danny Loomis, ruthless consiglieri of Santa Monica’s most powerful politicians and businessmen.

“They really hire the people that they want to hire, and then they let those people bring their particular flavor to the role—it was very collaborative,” Del Negro said. “The first time I worked with Larry, I did a scene with Craig Nelson, who played the dad. And we did it, and Larry said, ‘That’s great, just dirty it up, Matt.’ And I was like, ‘Dirty it up?’ … I’ve never experienced that on a network show.”

Likewise, Trilling emphasized that improvisation is a two-way street between the actor and the director. It requires a certain strength of conviction, but also an openness to outside opinions, something that Del Negro excels at.

“I love working with Matt because he’s very prepared and collaborative and has a lot of great ideas,” Trilling said. “And he’s also very open to being directed. So it’s kind of the best combination of an actor who has a lot of strong ideas but is also very flexible about collaborating and finding a third idea that was better than either of us could’ve come up with on our own.”

Unlike other roles, Trilling gave Del Negro the freedom to make the characters his own, a refreshing change from Del Negro’s previous recurring roles.

“Sopranos—we said everything to a T. Everything was written, that’s exactly how we did it. West Wing, same thing. Every ‘um,’ ‘ah,’ everything, because it’s such a metered show, it’s part of that Sorkin, stylized world.

Scandal, Shonda Rhimes has a very particular meter.”

Del Negro may have been navigating the congested Los Angeles roads during this article’s interview, but now he’s taking a break from circumnavigation to jet-set to New York City, where he’s promoting his new Netflix original series, Huge in France, which streams April 12. He plays a low-rung actor with not two, but three names. Jason Alan Ross and the rest of the characters are thrown into some bananas situations in this heartwarming comedy shot in the style of a French film.

Though his time as an Eagle has long since passed, Del Negro remembers his time at BC and lacrosse days vividly. The experiences he had as a player and teammate have made Del Negro the successful actor he is today.

“For the most part, the lessons I learned in sports are really what have, I think, helped me as an actor, career-wise,” he said. “Which is, you put the work in, regardless of the immediate results. You have to put the work in, you have to prepare. You’re gonna get knocked down, that’s part of the game. And if you can’t get back up, then you shouldn’t be doing this.” n

The Heights

Monday, April 1, 2019

A5

Bill to Fund Planned Parenthood Passes BPS Safety and Security Addressed in City Council

By Isabel Fenoglio Assoc. Metro Editor

After overwhelming approval from the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate earlier week, Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill on Friday that will allocate $8 million of state funds to offset the potential loss of federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other women’s reproductive health organizations under proposed policy changes by President Donald Trump’s administration.

The bill was created in reaction to Trump’s proposed changes to Title X, a federal program that provides more than $250 million each year to family planning clinics that offer a wide variety of reproductive health care services ranging from STD testing and treatment to cancer screening to contraception.

Under the new rule, posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs, any organization that provides abortion services, referrals, or even basic information to patients about services would be ineligible for Title X funding.

Although funding is expected to halt in early May for health centers that discuss abortion, 22 states including Massachusetts

have filed lawsuits seeking to block the policy from going into effect.

Opponents call the proposal a “gag rule” that will significantly limit the resources of Planned Parenthood and other clinics that provide a wide range of reproductive health care services outside of abortion, primarily to low-income women.

Planned Parenthood clinics serve 41 percent of Title X recipients nationwide alone, and if these regulations go into effect, access to reproductive health care for four million low income women will be jeopardized, according to National Public Radio.

“It gives women more options for their health care when a lot of times choice can be limited and restricted for reproductive health,” said Chloe Cuggino Zensky, student employee at the Women’s Center and MCAS ’21. “This bill protects women’s rights to more freedom and agency in making their own decisions and figuring out how to pay for it.”

In a statement released by the Associated Press, according to the most recent figures provided by the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Massachusetts received $6.15 million in federal Title X funds and served about 75,000 patients in the 2017 fiscal year.

The House bill would replenish the $1.6

million that Massachusetts health clinics could lose before the end of the fiscal year, devoting $800,000 to the Department of Public Health, $428,500 to the Action for Boston Community Development and $375,750 to Health Imperatives.

“Once again, where Washington falls short, we in the Commonwealth are ready and willing to step up and fill the need and gap,” said Representative and House budget chief Aaron Michlewitz in an official statement to the press following the passing of the bill in the House on Wednesday.

“We in this House are ready to put the pieces back together that those in Washington are shattering,” he said.

A staunch advocate of abortion rights from the onset, Baker voiced his opposition to the proposed changes and supported the bill. “I think there’s unanimity among us that we should make sure that the federal policy change here does not affect women’s ability to access reproductive services in Massachusetts, period,” Baker told reporters from the Boston Globe.

“Signing this bill into law ensures women’s health providers across Massachusetts will continue to have access to these critical funds and we thank our colleagues in the legislature for their swift response to changes in federal policy.” n

Vegan Ice Cream, Pastries Come to Fenway

By Isabella Cavazzoni Copy Editor Nestled in a little, shoebox-size storefront amid the hustle and bustle of baseball season in Boston is FoMu’s newest location endeavor.

The Boston-based creamery—with the word “creamery” used loosely, as FoMu’s doesn’t serve your typical dairy-filled ice cream—opened its Fenway location on March 22, squished right alongside the caffeine-fueled foot traffic of a busy Starbucks.

Albeit a bit pricey, FoMu delivers alternative ice cream to an area rich with the burgers and beer standard to Fenway.

FoMu broke into the ice cream scene of Boston about eight years ago, putting a twist on traditional ice cream and pastries filled with dairy.

Here’s the deal: Instead of whipping up ice cream with milk like traditional creameries do, FoMu primarily uses coconut milk to design its delicious flavors.

Why coconut? According to FoMu’s website, coconut is classified as a “functional food,” giving its ice cream a nutritional kick unlike the others on the market. FoMu takes into consideration not only health when crafting its non-dairy ice cream, but also allergies. Unlike many other dairy substitutes that are crafted with almond or cashew products, coconut generally does not afflict those with tree nut allergies, providing a non-dairy alternative that is considerate of food allergies.

Deena Jalal, owner of FoMu, said that her vegan ice cream products were new to the Boston area when FoMu stores first started popping up. At first, FoMu shook the local ice cream market, creating an alternative, vegan ice cream product new to the Boston area.

“When we started eight years ago, there

ISABELLA CAVAZZONI / HEIGHTS EDITOR

FoMu uses coconut milk as the base for its cookies and cream ice cream. were no options even similar,” Jalal said in an email to The Heights. “… More and more companies started making non-dairy flavors and a select few in the country have dedicated to making non dairy ice cream. I think our history, research, and dedication to this specialty product has keep us a leader in the industry.”

Coming on the heels of a FoMu pop-up shop in Fenway a few years ago, the team decided to permanently open a location after loving the feeling of Fenway. Barely a week into its newest business venture, Jalal is happily surprised with the traffic at FoMu Fenway.

“It has been pleasantly busier than we thought! A few years ago it was a lot of office customers, but now we see more residents and visitors,” Jalal said.

Breaking the traditional mold of dairy ice cream, FoMu accommodates vegans looking for a sweet treat and non-vegans cutting back on dairy alike, providing delicious non-dairy ice cream that packs the punch of its dairy-filled cousin.

For instance, the cookies and cream—a

decadent, coconut milk-based ice cream brimming with creme-filled cookies akin to Oreos—was both velvety and light. Impossible to know that it isn’t the fat-packed ice default of Ben and Jerry’s, FoMu’s cookies and cream was both “healthy” and satisfying.

FoMu also features vegan pastries.

Alongside to-go pints of ice cream flavors, FoMu Fenway has premade chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches stuffed with their housemade vegan ice cream.

The bakery case, while small and with somewhat limited options, had cookies and FoMu-famous Magic Bars—a coconutty, dulce de leche bar that’s a bakery staple for FoMu. Still, FoMu’s prices are a bit steep. For a “mini” size of its crowd-pleasing flavor Peanut Butter Cookie and a pint of its Cookies and Cream, FoMu charged over $4 and $9.25, respectively. But, its large selection of vegan (and mostly tree nut-free) flavors make up for a hefty price, especially with the convenience of a locale close to Fenway for all of your faux ice cream needs throughout Red Sox season. n

WOW AIR Shut Down Permanently

By Isabel Fenoglio Assoc. Metro Editor Thousands of travelers were stranded at airports throughout Europe and North America on Thursday when WOW AIR, an Iceland-based low-cost airline, abruptly announced it was ceasing all operations immediately.

On their website, WOW released an official travel alert: “WOW AIR has ceased operation. All WOW AIR flights have been cancelled.”

No explanation was given, and customers were advised to check available flights with other airlines, some of which offered “rescue fares,” or reduced prices. Offers were made by multiple other low-cost airlines, including Icelandair, easyJet, Norwegian, Wizz Air, Aer Lingus, XL Airways, and Virgin Atlantic, among others.

Little information, in terms of whether or not refunds would be offered from the airline, was provided—the carrier simply stated that customers could receive compensation “in accordance with European regulation on Air Passenger Rights.”

Customers who purchased tickets with a credit card or through a European travel agent were encouraged to contact those businesses directly.

Founded in 2012 by entrepreneur

Skuli Mogensen, WOW offered cheap flights from New York, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Boston, or Detroit to Europe via Iceland.

By 2018, the carrier employed more than 1,000 people and had flown nearly 3.5 million passengers in its 11 aircrafts.

For less than $200 round trip, customers could fly to London, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, Dublin, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Brussels, Alicante, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Tenerife, and Reykjavik, sometimes saving hundreds of dollars compared to customers who used standard airlines.

With an increase in oil prices and a number of bad customer reviews, however, WOW quickly began to slip in sales.

Indigo Partners, a private equity firm, which holds stock in several other low-cost airlines, entered into initial negotiations to purchase WOW at the beginning of the year, but the deal fell through, and many cite this as the final straw in the airline’s ultimate end.

Among the customers affected was Claire Madden, MCAS ’20. Madden had flown WOW before to visit her sister in the Netherlands and was about to buy another ticket from the airline to visit her again this summer, until the airline shut down.

“I was literally looking at tickets a week ago, which is really funny, and I was about

to buy a ticket when my sister texted me and was like, ‘Don’t buy a ticket, they are shutting down.’”

Madden had flown WOW from Boston to Iceland to Amsterdam, and said that it was fine, but “kind of a trash airline,” with deceiving hidden fees.

Hidden fees are common with low-budget airlines, and from extra charges for baggage to seat selection, excessive and costly hidden fees can raise ticket prices considerably, narrowing the distinction from more expensive and comfortable airlines.

Madden said her sister used to fly with WOW all the time to come home, but her only major problem was checking bags.

“The carry-on bag size was really small, and usually they don’t charge you for having a carry-on but they charged me $50 each way and I had this tiny bag which was annoying,” she said. “The size requirement was ridiculous.”

Despite the fees, Madden still planned on using the airline.

“It is annoying and sad, because it was the cheapest ticket I could get to go see my sister,” she said.

“Otherwise, I’m paying at least $800, so it’s kind of annoying, and I don’t know if I can go visit her anymore, because I don’t have any other airline option that goes direct to the Netherlands.” n

By Madeleine Romance Heights Staff A hearing regarding school safety and security measures was held in the City of Boston on Tuesday.

The hearing analyzed both safety and security measures taken to protect school environments from threatening situations, and it featured a panel from the Boston Police Department (BPD) as well as members of the public.

“A safe school environment is more than just locks and training, although those are incredibly important,” said Annissa EssaibiGeorge, the councillor who sponsored the hearing. “It’s also about creating a community that is safe and welcoming.”

Matt O ’Malle y, the Di str ic t 6 representative, emphasized that each district across the United States should be engaging in these conversations of safety, ensuring that plans are made ahead of time before there is any threat of danger.

He also said it was “incredibly sad” that there is even a need for these conversations.

There are various stages of preparing for incidents of violence in school—prevention, preparedness, and response—said Kimberly Pelletreau, executive director of Safety Services for Boston Public Schools (BPS).

The last stage, response, involves a key threat assessment process, which is used to determine if a student actually poses a threat, not just if they have made a threat. She said, aside from school safety, the “ultimate goal” is to give students the support they need.

When a student poses a threat, the BPD School Unit will do further assessment outside the school environment, Sergeant Detective Tom Sexton said on behalf of the department. BPS will pay a visit to students’ homes and speak to parents or guardians to get a sense of the social and emotional wellbeing of a juvenile in order to determine whether or not they truly pose a threat.

They try to give families the support they need, however, they usually just find that these students are going through a crisis and are having an outburst but do not actually pose a threat.

“I’ve been a police officer for 30 years and I would say the Boston Police Department is now probably more ready than ever to deal with any kind of an active shooter situation city-wide—whether it be, God forbid, in a school, but also anywhere in the city,” he said.

The actual number of active shooters has dropped in the last decade or two, and it has only seemed like it has risen because of media exposure, said John Hanlon, chief of operation for BPS. He stressed, however, that this doesn’t mean they are not preparing schools for the threat or active shooters.

Hanlon stressed that, although safety is not just locks on doors, that is a factor.

Originally there was a $2.5 million capital investment to improve the quality of doors, locks, keys, and other things, but the mayor increased it to $5 million in April of 2018.

He hopes to implement cameras to heighten the level of security in schools.

“That is the kind of line item that we expect to continue to see in the capital plan for many years to come,” he said.

Essaibi-George said that she would be advocating for additional support services for BPS through the budget process.

There are approximately 75 officers across 43 schools, and there is a desire to increase that number, according to Eric Weston, chief of police for Boston Public

Schools.

The hearing then shifted to the topic of safety concerns that exist outside schools.

With regard to this, Pelletreau called on the entire community.

“It’s incumbent upon a school system and other agencies in the city to make adjustments for prevention,” she said.

“This is an issue that requires our entire community—our parenting community, our nonprofit community, and our business community, because I think that school leaders are in a really tough spot with what they have to combat tha happens outside of schools.”

Essaibi-George addressed a major crisis across BPS: needle exposure. Although Hanlon said that, to his knowledge, there had only been two incidents within the last two years in which a child was struck with a needle, at Orchard Gardens and Quincy Elementary, Essaibi-George said she knows of at least two more cases at two additional elementary schools.

“It is important that we have better data,” she said.

Hanlon assured that BPD does take this matter very seriously, but that it is a situation that expands across multiple sectors and departments. They are working to install additional needle kiosks at these schools to ensure that they are being properly discarded, he said.

There is a critical need for a fence and comprehensive cleanups, because the cleanups that are being done do not appear to be satisfactory, said Suzie McGlone, a sixth grade teacher at Orchard Gardens K-8 and member of Orchard Gardens United Group.

On her walk to school, she sees many things that children, who walk the same route, should not be seeing, she said, such as prostitution and drug use. For students who have been exposed to these things, she stressed the need to expand mental health services.

Jada Rakard, a fifth grader from Orchard Gardens Public School, said that she and her friends are unable to go to the field beside their school because it is unsafe and they are afraid of being pricked by a needle.

Aside from that, even her walks to school contribute to her feeling of being unsafe because she sees people who appear to be “sleeping standing up.”

“What services are you going to provide for me and my friends?” she asked. “What are you going to do for all the kids who are afraid, who have to walk to school and see the needles on the ground, or the drug addicts?”

Rakard concluded her testimony by demanding improvements in safety, including that someone is hired to clean the school grounds daily and that someone is there to protect students before and after school.

“I don’t believe that’s too much to ask for,” the fifth grader said. “I might respectfully remind you that I’m young now, but one day I may grow up to be your future.”

Her mother, Jenina Rakard, a member of Orchard United, emphasized her daughter’s grievances and further stressed the need for a fence.

She said that to her knowledge, there have been only four people hired for the whole district to clean up the needles, which is evidently not enough.

“We know it’s a big and broad issue but the kids didn’t ask for it and it’s not fair to them,” she said. n

Yawkey Station Renamed

By Colleen Martin Metro Editor Yawkey Station will be renamed as the Lansdowne Station, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) announced on Thursday.

Lansdowne was chosen to be the new name of the station because it fits the MBTA’s naming policy, which prioritizes using the names of local streets, neighborhoods, or squares, according to the MBTA’s statement.

The station and MBTA signs are being updated now, and the change is set to go into effect on April 8—prior to the first Red Sox home game so as to avoid confusion for people traveling to the game on the T. “While we are disappointed by this decision, the Yawkey Foundations will carry on the mission of Tom and Jean Yawkey, a legacy of giving that has provided more than $500 million to organizations in Boston and beyond,” the Foundation said in a statement.

“The work Tom and Jean began while they were alive is as important as ever, and we will continue to focus our efforts on sustaining their dedication to helping those in need.”

About a year ago, Yawkey Way was renamed Jersey Street after the Red Sox filed a petition with the City of Boston’s Public Improvement Commission and several public hearings.

Tom Yawkey, former Red Sox owner, has been called a racist since his death in 1976.

Under his ownership, the Red Sox was the last team in the major leagues to integrate in 1959, 12 years after Jackie Robinson started playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Yawkey Athletics Center at Boston College will not be renamed, the University said last year.

Since the Yawkey Foundation gave a grant allowing the complex to be built, BC is required to keep its name on the building, University Spokesman Jack Dunn told The Heights last year. n

The Heights

A6

Monday, April 1, 2019

EDITORIALS

QUOTE OF THE DAY

ALC Showdown Should Combine Culture and Competition Awards

ALC Showdown, the annual dance competition hosted by the AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC), has undergone a physical evolution since its inception in 2002, growing first beyond the capacity of Robsham Theater, then the Flynn Recreation Complex, and finally settling in Conte Forum, a venue the event still sells out. This year, however, ALC made structural changes to the competition.

In past years, more than a dozen dance teams performed in three categories—Competition, Culture, and Showcase—each with different time constraints.

Teams in the Competition category were given eight minutes to perform, while teams in the Culture and Showcase categories were limited to six and four minutes, respectively. First and second place prizes were awarded in the Competition category, while only first place was awarded in the Culture category. All teams were eligible for a People’s Choice award, decided by audience votes via text.

Each dance group designated a charity to which their prize money would go, should they win.

This year, ALC leadership eliminated the Showcase category.

Teams were designated as Competitive or Culture and could compete accordingly. All teams were eligible for the ALC Choice award, an award given to the team that best embodied the mission of ALC and that garnered the most crowd engagement. The award is in place of the original People’s

Choice award.

Teams connected to a culture organization on campus are required to compete in the Culture category. This requirement has prompted other teams to break with previous cultural club affiliations over the last few years.

For example, AerodynamiK was previously connected to the Korean Students Association, and Females Incorporating Sisterhood Through Step (F.I.S.T.S.) and Sexual Chocolate were connected to Black Student Forum.

These teams have since become unaffiliated with these cultural organizations in order to compete in the Competition category. The Competition category awards are generally more highly valued than those of the Culture category, even though the prize money is the same. When 12 dance teams compete in one category, and only three compete in the other, the current distinction seems a little meaningless.

Like the ALC Choice Award, Showdown should embody ALC’s mission. ALC should eliminate the distinction in categories. To ensure that the charities are not adversely affected, ALC should designate first, second, and third place awards, along with ALC’s Choice. The monetary values should also be adjusted accordingly.

In prior years, the Culture category was necessary to ensure that cultural dance styles were represented at the event and were not cut during auditions. This year, the

audition process that was once selective in choosing the teams for the Competition category was eliminated, and all teams that applied were allowed to compete.

In light of this change, there is no longer a need for a delineation between Culture and Competition.

The Culture category should be dissolved, as its original purpose has been accommodated by the change in the audition process.

This should allow Presenting Africa to You (PATU), Masti, and Vida de Intensa Pasión to compete for the most highly valued awards at Showdown. Further, the newly-added ALC’s Choice award—which is decided based on votes by ALC members—ensures that one team is recognized for highlighting diverse experiences through its performance.

The difference in categories, especially with unannounced changes, is also confusing to audience members. A single category streamlines and simplifies the competition and its rules.

The different categories are extraneous and limiting because of the rigorous and elite nature of groups in both categories. Dance teams throughout both the Competition category and the Culture category perform at similarly elite levels.

Denying Culture groups the opportunity to be judged for their talent in the greater context of all BC dance groups is a disservice to the hard-working and accomplished members of the dance community.

“What we do in life echoes in eternity.”

- Gladiator (2000)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR In Response to: “Upcoming Lies Feminists Tell Event Sparks Controversy on Campus” Dear Editor, “Woman” or “feminist”? It is not synonymous, nor should it be, but the words are associated. Not every woman needs to be a feminist, and it is abundantly clear that not every woman is. Feminism has redefined itself from generation to generation.

However, the lifeblood of the movement has always been to push for equality, and yet, year after year, it seems the movement takes one steps forward and two steps back.

On March 19 BC’s Pro-Life Club brought in Kristin Hawkins, the president of Students for Life, to speak. The talk was called “Lies Feminists Tell,” an admittedly eye-catching title. The president of the Pro-Life Club conceded that they used the title in order to help with the “struggle to get attendance at its events.” The name was not meant to spark rage, but instead an interest in the event. Nonetheless, the title is troubling, especially for these allegedly “deceitful” feminists.

Without even going to the talk it is understandable why every poster with the offensive phrase was ripped down by members of the BC community.

The discussion of this speech is supposedly on the matter of ” pro-life” or “pro-choice”, but the conversation began before the event even started, with the damaging title.

Editor’s Note On Monday, March 25, the Editorial Board of The Heights published an Editorial titled “Following Hockey Incident, BC’s Statement Brief and Insufficient.”

Since then, it has become apparent to the Board that much of this Editorial rested on the assertion that a racist remark was proven to have been said by a player on the Boston College men’s hockey team to a player on the Providence College men’s hockey team. This assertion, however, was based on

a single website, College Hockey News, that cited only unnamed sources. This Editorial was not based on any original reporting by Heights editors.

Although the Editorial page of The Heights is a place for the Board to share its opinions on events and happenings at the University, these opinions must always be based on objective, known, and reliable sources and reporting—The Heights is not in the business of making unfounded

Editorial Editor-in-Chief (617) 552-2223 General (617) 552-2221 Managing Editor (617) 552-4286 News Desk (617) 552-0172 Sports Desk (617) 552-0189 Metro Desk (617) 552-3548 Magazine Desk (617) 552-3548 Arts Desk (617) 552-0515 Photo (617) 552-1022

claims in any of its coverage of the Boston College community.

The Editorial this Board published on Monday did not reflect the rigorous standards which all editors of The Heights are required to uphold. As a result, we have chosen to retract this Editorial in its entirety, and will reconsider the matter as a Board more accurately in the future.

Steven Everett President, Editor-in-Chief, The Heights

In Response to: “LTE: Professors Debate Over Immigration, Border Wall”

Dear Editor, John Thompson’s assertion that “[Democrats] have increasingly bought the full open borders agenda...while their media allies provide cover by chattering about ‘separating families,’ ‘demonizing immigrants’ or the morality of building walls” is stunning to see in this paper.

It is not only baseless, but comprises an oft-used narrative used by far-right ideologues to reduce the immigration debate to a false choice between erecting a concrete wall or having no borders. Let’s note some facts. In 2016, Hillary Clinton did not argue for open borders. I haven’t seen any mainstream 2020 Democratic presidential candidate advocate for it either. I myself am opposed to open borders and I feel right at home in the Democratic Party.

In light of this, Thompson’s assertions are woefully misleading and his glossing-over of human rights abuses makes one wonBusiness and Operations der if he wants American ideals preserved General Manager (617) 552-0169 at the border or elsewhere.

Advertising (617) 552-2220 We can have a humane immigration Business and Circulation policy while enforcing our borders - in(617) 552-0547 deed, we must do both. This could include Classifieds and Collections reforming—but not abolishing—Im(617) 552-0364 migration and Customs Enforcement, Fax (617) 552-1753 handling more asylum cases from Central America, and increasing the number of immigration judges so as to cut down on the backlog of cases in immigration courts. It’s clear that separating families Advertising The Heights is one of the most effective ways to reach the is wrong and un-American. And would BC community. To submit a classified, display, or on- Thompson want to argue that caging line advertisement, call our advertising off ice at children is good for them or America’s (617) 552-2220 Monday through Friday. global leadership role?

No, that’s obvious. What’s less obviThe Heights is produced by BC undergraduates and is published on Mondays during the academic year by The ous is his argument offered out of context.

Heights, Inc. (c) 2019. All rights reserved.

He ignores that on a per-capita basis, illegal immigrants are less likely to commit homicide or be convicted of a crime than are native-born citizens, according to the Cato Institute. Omitting such facts risks having any informed reader wonder if there’s a nefarious purpose behind the omission. We wonder all the more when we realize that Thompson is weaving a narrative in which America is on the brink of being overrun by millions of lawless, illegal immigrants and our only hope is to build a damn concrete wall.

Even without a wall, border apprehensions have fallen significantly during this century, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. America can continue this trend by promoting a specially tailored aid program to the most devastated communities in Central America, which would aim to combat violent crime while simultaneously boosting economic opportunity. As President Trump has yet to spearhead any policy that effectively targets either, it’s hard to take his commitment to solving the illegal immigration question seriously. It’s just as hard to ignore the not-so-subtle racist narrative about immigrants, who are cast as lawless thugs, and the equally unsubtle caricaturing of any pro-reform Democrats as enablers of crime and chaos.

Thompson would have us believe that the choice is between a Soviet-style wall or the end of America. We can do better, and we can start by respecting the facts—and the intelligence of our fellow citizens.

Signed, Matthew Terry MCAS ’19

The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity, accuracy, and to prevent libel. The Heights also reserves the right to Editorial Board. A list of the members of the Editorial Board write headlines and choose illustrations to can be found at bcheights.com/opinions. accompany pieces submitted to the newspaper. Letters to the Editor and guest columns respresent the views of the author and do not

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Letters and columns can be submitted online at www.bcheights.com, by e-mail to editor@ bcheights.com, in person, or by mail to Editor, The Heights, 113 McElroy Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

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Editorial

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Heights Established 1919

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Steven Everett, President, Editor-in-Chief Kristen Bahr, General Manager Anders Backstrom, Managing Editor

Throughout history, women have been invalidated emotionally and physically by a system that preaches female hysteria. In the past few years, it has been clear to see with the “#Me Too Movement,” that women have lived in fear of being seen as liars.

Many women are now coming forward, including Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, and Lady Gaga, just to name a few. They are bravely discussing the realities of sexual assault. Previously, it has been demonstrated that survivors did not want to use their voice out of a rational apprehension of not being believed. This phenomenon has be seen time and time again, even in the highest court, with Kavanaugh’s fall 2018 Senate hearing being one such example. Unfortunately, within this movement, victims are forced into the “he said, she said” narrative, which actively works to discredit a female’s character and destroy her account.

The reality is that the title “Lies Feminist Tell” propagates this idea of women lying. It loudly broadcasts the inaccurate narrative of women being duplicitous, so before saying that this talk is merely a result of the pro-life, pro-choice debate—and is not meant to hurt women—one must simply look at the title to know the truth.

Sincerely, Audrey Kang MCAS ’22

Jacob Schick, A1 Editor Emerson DeBasio, Creative Director Jack Goldman, News Editor Bradley Smart, Sports Editor Kaylie Ramirez, Arts Editor Brooke Kaiserman, Magazine Editor Colleen Martin, Metro Editor Madison Haddix, Opinions Editor Celine Lim, Photo Editor Danny Flynn, Copy Chief Emily Rosato, Layout Editor Ikram Ali, Graphics Editor

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The Heights

Monday, April 1, 2019

A7

An Open Letter to Kristan Hawkins differently, because I don’t see the person who is on the pill as somehow genetically superior. To say that anyone believes so is completely absurd.

And, on the flip side of that coin, if you want me to address me as “pro-abortion,” then you should address yourself only as anti-abortion. You stated that pro-lifers oppose abortion but do not support life in all circumstances. You cannot make such a broad claim for your platform, when in fact, the exact opposite is often true.

Many in the pro-life party maintain a “consistent pro-life ethic,” which means they advocate for the lives of all people, including “people living in poverty, people suffering from police brutality, immigrants and refugees.” Sad to say it, but I don’t think I can call you the face of the pro-life generation—maybe you can head the anti-abortion generation, but I guess that doesn’t sound as nice.

In your question and answer segment, you asked if a baby born during a failed abortion is as much of a baby as one that crosses the border in an illegal immigrant mother’s arms. The woman who answered your question stated that the failed operation does not yield a baby, but I have to disagree with her. I find that the former case does, in fact, yield a baby. In the talk, however, you yourself admitted that the first case is rare (though you didn’t mention that “less than 1 percent of all abortions are done after 24 weeks,” and much of that 1 percent is in order to protect the mother’s life). In contrast, the entire purpose behind Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric is that so many of these women are crossing over with their babies that we will have to support off taxpayer dollars.

I believe that both babies have just as much of a right to life, and the case you referenced has to be rarer than the case of illegal immigrant children. Both babies would be provided for in a perfect world, and there is nothing saying that one should be preferred over the other. So if you are going to use this example, you have to admit that a baby on the border deserves as much of a chance at life as a baby resulting from a failed abortion.

You also equated aborting a pregnancy from rape to killing a 2-year-old child. You stated that abortion is just as sinful as a mother choosing to give birth to her rapist’s child, and then murdering that child because she is constantly reminded of her painful past. Again, I would 69

Alicia Kang Dear Kristan Hawkins, As a pro-choice—or “pro-abortion,” as you prefer—young woman, I rarely get the chance to hear pro-life arguments. The few pro-lifers I have met simply explain their stance using their Christian faith, but they hardly ever provide enough reasons to give an hour-long talk. So when I heard about your event, “Lies Feminists Tell,” I was eager to learn about the pro-life party from a direct source. And after hearing your talk, I am eager to respond to you.

I wanted to address why I found your terminology of pro-abortion versus pro-life confusing.

Personally, if I claimed that I was pro-choice, and someone “corrected” me and said, “no, you’re proabortion,” I would say yes. I would say that I support the choice to abortion. I do not hide behind the word. Your claim that people would know abortions are immoral if they saw them happening is simply baffling to me. Given the thousands of OB-GYNs who regularly perform abortions, I doubt witnessing the procedure could be as morally scarring as you say it is—otherwise, no OB-GYN, pro-choice or not, would condone it.

But the reason why it is not my first instinct to say I am “pro-abortion” is because I am not advocating for abortions in every single circumstance. I am not going up to pregnant mothers and telling them to get abortions. I am advocating for choice.

I do not believe women need a special hormone to make them equal to men, as you claim pro-choicers say. I am saying we should have an option to be on birth control. People who do not want to take that option can still do whatever they want. I don’t look at women who do not take birth control any

have to disagree with you on account of a pivotal difference in the two cases: In the case of an abortion, the mother knows that she cannot take on the child.

She knows that it would be too painful for her. But, the morally repugnant aspect of the case you gave is the fact that the mother decided to take on that life.

The mother decided to have that baby. Because that decision is so momentous and life-changing, it is not one that can be forced onto someone. However, such a case is much more likely in a world where abortions are outlawed, and mothers are made to take on lives they cannot handle.

Finally, I want to share why I choose to be a feminist in the 21st century. I choose to be a feminist because I know that I do not have to be categorized as different from men. I also know that implying that women are superior is wrong, even if it is in a joking way about how my husband can’t cook hamburger patties. I choose to be a feminist because I want to have these discussions with pro-lifers, anti-abortionists, whatever you choose to call them, and because I want to ask questions to people like you—though, from the Q and A session, I felt that it was you who didn’t want a discussion to happen.

As much as you say pro-lifers are the next wave, I would disagree with you. And as a democratic feminist, I think this disagreement is okay. Dear Kristan Hawkins, I think you are stuck in first and second wave feminism, and I think that if you cared to see what third and fourth wave feminism are really about, you would know that we’re not trying to force unnatural hormones onto every girl in the country.

We’re not saying she needs a pill to be equal. We’re saying she has rights, and that she can use them as she pleases. We are the ones who see her not as a means for having a baby, not as someone who can only have sex when she is ready to be a mother. We see her as a human, as a person.

Sincerely, Alicia Kang

Alicia Kang is an op-ed columnist for The Heights.

She can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Thumbs Up — The Sun

This weather slaps. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, people are playing basketball

by O’Connell, and Chad is wearing pastel shorts and boat shoes. All is right in the world.

Thumbs Down — Wi-Fi

After 30 minutes without WiFi, BC students start malfunctioning. Two hours in, and the entire campus throws itself into chaos and riots start. Is St. Clement’s Hall even a real place?

Thumbs Down — Creamer

The lack of coffee creamer in Mac. First, we lost almond milk. Next, the soy milk disappeared. We’re unsure entirely what to dilute our caffeine with now that the creamer has also disappeared.

Thumbs Up—Fuego

What champs. Imagine waking up and knowing that you could do freaking air gymnastics in front of thousands while wearing a sparkly red dress and heels. Congratulations to all Showdown teams.

Despite Rough Exterior, The Plex Offers Positive Tennis Memories shout and clap, and I can account for many lost played our opponents before, and even beaten voices through these experiences. We count on them in the past. Each one of us competed in our teammates to coach one another through the the same national junior circuit known as the frustrating moments, calm each other down when United States Tennis Association, and we all we are struggling to win, and cheer one another hold wins against the top players in the counon when we need every ounce of energy to keep try. But college tennis is not only about past fighting. wins or even individual victories—it takes four Maria Ross Every year, we set out a list of goals for the matches to win an entire match. It has proven The Flynn Recreation Complex takes a lot of upcoming season, the elephant in the room being difficult to continue wanting to go to the Plex the banner that hangs above the courts stating for practice and into Conte Forum to train heat from the student body regarding the quality of the facility. There is a lack of air conditioning, “NCAA appearances: 1998.” It has been precisely after a disappointing loss, but we do it together the locker rooms are atrocious, and sometimes I 21 years since we last clinched an NCAA Tourna- as a team and push each other in the hopes feel like the roof could concave. Despite this, as ment berth. that we’ll string together an ACC win streak a tennis player at Boston College, the Plex has Each year, my desire for postseason play and finally prove that we can compete at the become my home. Everyday, I, along with my 11 increases, but the competition heightens as well.

NCAA Tournament level. teammates, head out to the courts for practice.

It certainly isn’t easy competing in a conference Not many people realize how exciting tenEach one of us brings something special to BC as strong as the ACC, and with 12 women on the nis can be. There is no adrenaline like rushing Athletics. Whether it be a tennis skill, an uplifting team, all competing for a spot in the lineup, tento the net for a drop shot, or playing a tieattitude, or strong support, we all give our best sions can run high. We are driven to succeed, and breaker in the third set to win the final match. efforts to the team and to one another. In my past with that mentality, each match becomes the most Not a lot of students at BC come to matches, two years playing tennis at BC, I have learned a important of the season. but I know if they did, they would go to class lot about what it takes to be a good teammate.

However, it isn’t easy when you’re facing adthe next day with a pretty harsh voice and The inner workings of a team have proven to be versity and disappointment and have to get back no regrets for how they spent their Saturday more complicated than I would have thought, and on your feet and do it all over again. Last weekafternoon. the pressures to succeed academically and on the end, we played Florida State, ranked 12th in the The Plex, soon to be demolished, holds court can be overwhelming enough to make the nation and a national championship contender. many memories for me and the team. The best of us crumble.

Against all odds, down 3-0, we began a comeback, matches we will remember for years, ups and All of my teammates come from different bringing the match to a tie at 3-3. The last match downs, learning to live, love, hate, and support backgrounds and offer a different perspective was pushed to the final third set. As my teamone another, as well as growing and maturing of camaraderie. Bickering about who plays with mate was playing, the rest of us stood in a line on all manifested under that roof. I am excited whom for doubles and why someone didn’t run as the sideline, some barely able to look because of for the Connell Recreation Center and all the fast during the sprints is a daily occurance, yet I the anxiety, others chanting, their voices heard upgrades it will bring, but the original Plex will have learned how to cope with the “office politics” throughout the Plex. always hold a special place in the hearts of the Despite our best efforts, we lost the match, 3-4, BC women’s tennis program and its alumni. and compromise. Despite whatever arguments may occur, there is no stronger union than when another heartbreaking defeat. It seems like we get a teammate plays a match and has others cheering so close every time yet can never manage to tip Maria Ross is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. for her on the sidelines. The Plex rumbles as we the scale in our favor. It’s not like we have never She can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

The opinions and commentaries of the op-ed columnists appearing on this page represent the views of the author of that particular piece, and not necessarily the views of The Heights. Any of the columnists for the Opinions section of The Heights can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

Monthy Series - Masculinity

Masculinity is Empathy Keenan McAuliffe Guest Columnist

My father cries. He cries at movies, speeches, and even television commercials. It’s not a choked-up, guttural wail. It’s more focused around the face. A red pigment spreads around his face, and his eyes become reflective against the television light. It’s almost silent. His cheeks blow up like a pufferfish, and he lets out only a sniffle, but all the meaning is there.

He doesn’t need to wail to show his emotions, rather he displays his emotion on his face. My dad cries when I sing. He cried when my brother graduated high school. He cried when Trump won the 2016 presidential election. He cried when he told me how much he loved my mom. My father cries.

Since moving to Boston and being away from family, I have noticed a trend. A common characteristic of the archetypal man I see is that men who cry are viewed as unattractive or undesirable. In my experience, I have to argue for the opposite. When someone—man, woman or otherwise—cries to another, he, she, or they lets a barrier down. They are vulnerable in that moment, and vulnerability is sexy. Especially seeing a man who is so in tune with his emotions that he can display and communicate his emotions healthily is very attractive, because he is completely himself.

You can probably tell from the first paragraph that my father is kind of a softie, but he wasn’t always like that. In fact, I did not see my father cry until I was well into my teens. I was very young—maybe five or six—when his mother passed away, but I do not remember him crying. When his brother passed away two years later, I do not remember him crying.

When my mother’s father passed away, I remember him crying. It was not because he saw a father figure in my mother’s father, but more that he felt my mother’s emotions for her.

“Empathy” is a complex and often misunderstood word that means to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathy is something that my father expresses effortlessly, which I feel—sadly—is something that a lot of men are unable to do. Expressing emotions of sadness can be hard enough for men, due to the “masculine” archetype of having to not care and conduct yourself without emotion. People who are feminine are supposed to be more sensitive and emotional, and that’s nonsense. My father is the most masculine man I have ever met. He grew up with seven brothers and no sisters, he played football and basketball, and he cries.

My father moved from our home in New Jersey to Colorado at the beginning of the school year for his work, so he does not see my mother as much.

Recently, I called him on the phone, and I always knew this, but hearing my father say it affirmed my thought: “I hate being away from your mother.” His sharp breath right before the statement indicates that his voice will break any second. Mother. That’s the word he broke on. As I have grown, my father and my’s relationship has become more emotional. We laugh, we yell, we cry, we love. He does everything out of love. My father taught me love. We are allowed to be upset and communicate that to each other. I am thankful to have a role model like that, who taught me that crying is okay.

My grandfather was authentically himself. To be specific, this is my mother’s father who I saw far more than my father’s parents. That is what my grandfather taught me, discipline and a respect for women. A Vietnam War U.S. Army vet, my grandfather was extremely regimented in his day-to-day life with waking up at 5 a.m. every morning to make my grandmother coffee, going to work, doing the yard work well into his 70s and being there as much as he can for his children. That disciplined life is something I strived for and still continue to strive for in my day-to-day life. You do not have to be masculine or even a man to have a disciplined life, but, for me, I feel masculine when I am taking care of my family.

Respecting women is also paramount to masculinity. Throughout my life, I have been surrounded by strong women. My mother’s mother was the strongest of them. My grandparents had the most balanced relationship I ever saw. My grandfather would put on the coffee so early because my grandmother always woke up around 5:15 a.m., and then both of them would prepare the breakfast and clean together.

There was no “woman in the kitchen” complex in that family.

Even in my current family, both my parents cook and clean. My mother would even correct my father on how to clean because of what her father taught her. Everyone should respect women, but there is something to be said about men respecting women.

It’s about coexisting and living a balanced life with one another. You are not being “masculine” if you make money and then your wife makes the food, cleans the house, and raises the kids; you’re just negligent..

What I take away from these two people is that being your authentic self is being masculine. Masculinity is not one thing. For me, it’s being empathetic and caring for your family. Those are the two most important traits I hold close to my heart.

Keenan McAuliffe is a guest columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at opinions@ bcheights.com.

The Heights

A8

Monday, April 1, 2019

Members of the BC Community Pay Tribute to Patrick Gregorek I first met Pat at a rehearsal for the Liturgy Arts Group (LAG) in sometime early in the spring semester of 2016. Right away, I took an instant liking to him and knew that he was someone I wanted to be friends with. He was so eager to learn about LAG. At the time he had long hair down to his shoulders, a look that was something of his trademark during his freshman year.

Like many freshmen, he had some trouble finding a home at BC during his freshman year, but he soon found one through friends he met in LAG and Sons of St. Patrick.

My most important memories with Pat come from the summer of 2016, in which I stayed in Boston to intern downtown. Pat and I went to Boston Calling together, where Sia was the headline act. A few weeks later Pat invited a few of us over to his house in Seekonk for the Fourth of July weekend. He took us to an amazing Independence Day celebration in Bristol, R.I., on July 3, where we saw what we agreed was the greatest sunset of our lives. The next day we went to his aunt’s lake house and went boating. During the stay, of course, Pat slept on an air

to everyone else around him. -John Daniell, BC ’17 We first met Pat on our trip to Washington D.C. to attend the March for Life. We immediately noticed his incredibly joyful spirit, his smile that lit up every room he entered, and his kind nature.

Pat would make conversation with anyone he came across and had a way of empowering, encouraging, and re-energizing those he spoke to.

With Pat around, it was impossible not to smile, laugh, and feel loved.

He not only reflected God’s love, but he poured God’s love into our hearts.

We will never forget Pat’s beautiful soul. May he rest in peace. -Sofia del Rio & Kristof Fogarasi, BC ’17 I came to know Pat his freshman year when I was a junior. He carried himself with joy and a curiosity. He always asked the most interesting, sometimes quirky questions, but always in genuine earnestness. One of my favorite memories with Pat was when he suddenly wanted to jog a couple of miles to a small donut shop. He and our friend Jon Wing met me on Newton campus where

Courtesy of molly smith

do, as a great friend and person.

-Kirsten Morro, MCAS ’19, Tina LaRitz, CSON ’19, and BC Club Running

and asked the questions that were on everybody’s mind. I am grateful to him for that, and I deeply miss him.

-John Knowles, BC ’18

I remember I was on the Comm.

Ave bus last year one night going who knows where. But Pat got on the bus too, and he sat next to me and he was telling me all about how he was writing his Authentic Eagles post and how he was nervous for it to be released but how it was nice to be vulnerable. And we talked about vulnerability a lot and how it is so hard. Pat was alway so open and vulnerable and never shied away from talking about the hard and messy parts of life. After having that deep conversation he then randomly asked me if I had ever thought about wanting to be a dog and what it would be like to be a dog. Pat always asked the most random questions.

But his curiosity and openness made Pat Pat. He was always so welcoming to others and made you feel so at ease. Pat was a light in my life and he will be so missed. -Bianca Passero, Lynch ’19

One of my favorite moments with Pat took place right at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year. A friend and I were struggling to move the enormous pieces of a giant futon into her dorm room in Vouté at 7 a.m. Pat, who was entirely unin-

late for breakfast, but it was a classic Pat moment—always showing up in a person’s time of need and instantly sharing their burden. After we finished moving, my friend and I laughed out loud for a few minutes with him about the sheer ridiculousness of the situation he seamlessly strolled into, and she said to me as we walked away, “I almost forgot to thank Pat for appearing out of thin air and helping because he’s just so

I will forever remember Pat as a kind hearted, curious friend who embraced the unfamiliar and spread joy to everyone fortunate enough to find themselves in his company.

-Jack Betcher, MCAS ’19 courtesy of john daniell

mattress while his friends got beds.

That’s who he was, always looking out for others.

The following year, Pat decided to commute from home to BC. On Thursdays after class he would often come to our room to nap before the Sons of St. Patrick meeting at 6 p.m.

I remember walking in and seeing him stretched out on our couch in Stayer, his long legs extending over the edge of the seats.

After graduating, Pat was one of the best about texting and keeping in touch. He always checked in to see how everyone else was doing, even if he himself was stressed about something else. We usually tried to meet up when I was in town. I can’t believe I will never hear his laugh again. It was so resonant and could light up a room. When someone passes there is often a tendency to romanticize the

I was an RA, and we jogged/walked a few miles. We got lost along the way, but the entire trek we talked.

We talked about movies, life, philosophy, and jokes. I can’t remember the donut, but I do remember us all smiling, sweaty as we sat down at a tiny diner table eating and talking. Pat always had time to talk and would gladly listen attentively, while giving his own thoughts throughout.

He was invested in every person he met. Even after I graduated, Pat and I met every now and then, and whenever we did there was never any pressure. It was always a good time.

No words could ever fully describe Pat, but when I think of the Pat I came to know and love, I think of a man who was open to everyone, loving, faithful, hilarious, and curious about everything. -Andrew Craig, STM ’19

courtesy of molly smith

deceased, but I am being completely honest when I say that I never heard him say a malicious word about anyone. He made me laugh harder than anyone. He gave the best hugs.

There was never a conversation that he didn’t end by saying, “I love you, brother.” He brought so much life

We speak on behalf of our entire team when we say that he was a well-loved teammate who made everyone smile and was quick to offer friendship and encouragement. We have been missing Pat dearly on our runs, and we hope that this reflection helps others to remember Pat as we

Pat would crack up laughing when the tenors had to sing one of their weird harmonies, alone, in rehearsal. His sense of humor was so refreshing and so needed. I will always remember Pat with a big smile on his face, probably thinking of something funny to say. -Clare Flanagan, BC ’18 I saw Pat on a weekly basis for the past two years. He had the sweetest smile and the most adorable laugh, and each week he shared those gifts with us. For me, LAG rehearsals always brought an opportunity to compliment Pat on his outfits and to see him blush in response. He would graciously respond with a compliment of his own, then we would chat for a few moments. Because of these interactions between friendship and flattery, I especially looked forward to LAG’s special events—where Pat would break out THE black velvet sports coat. To this day I am convinced that no one will ever wear it better or smile more brightly than him. -Julia Nagle, MCAS ’20 I had the pleasure of seeing Pat every week in the Liturgy Arts Group office for make-up rehearsals last semester. He was a consistently warm, funny, and cheerful person.

LAG was better for having Pat’s voice and his kind spirit in our group. I will miss running into him on campus, when he would always say hi and ask how I was doing, and I will miss getting to hear him sing the tenor line during our rehearsals and performances. He was truly loved and will be deeply missed. -Keara Hanlon, MCAS ’21 Several friends, including Pat and me, had a class together with Professor Peter Kreeft. Everyone was scared to ask Dr. Kreeft questions, especially at first. Not Pat! In his bold, smiling way, he put up his hand

courtesy of molly smith

volved in the situation, appeared seemingly out of nowhere just as we were on the edge of giving up. With a smile, he immediately and wordlessly grabbed one end of the futon and carried all of the pieces in with us. He might have been 10 minutes

gracious that I feel like he does this all the time.” Pat’s grace, kindness, and humor shine through every memory I have of him, and there’s no one else I would rather move a futon at 7 a.m. with than Pat! -Lexy Bader, BC ’16 n

courtesy of john daniell

courtesy of john daniell

SPORTS

Monday, April 1, 2019

LACROSSE

A9

16

@HeightsSports

9

Dime A Dozen

Jonathan ye / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Behind Sam Apuzzo’s six goals, No. 1 BC rolled past No. 7 Virginia to extend its 12-game unbeaten streak.

By Michael Fredericks For The Heights For Boston College lacrosse attacker Sam Apuzzo, it seems as if a clash against a top-10 team is no big deal. Whether it’s a scarcely attended February game against Dartmouth or an April showdown against No. 7 Virginia in front of 1,500 people, Apuzzo has proven that she is unstoppable.

That was the case on Saturday afternoon with a capacity crowd watching—after a quiet first two minutes of play, she rolled to a six-goal performance against the Cavaliers, lifting the Eagles to a comfortable 16-9 victory.

BC (12-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) committed some uncharacteristic errors early on,

and it looked like the Eagles might be locked in a tight game Saturday afternoon, but only for a moment. After its early stumbles, BC took no prisoners and cruised to a comfortable win over the seventh-ranked Cavaliers (9-4, 1-4). The Eagles gained momentum early and never truly lost it, scoring 10 goals in the first half, doubling up their visitors in draw controls in the process.

Following a shot clock violation in the first minute, BC’s offense settled down, thanks to some senior leadership. The Eagles’ dynamic duo of Apuzzo and Kenzie Kent teamed up for the first goal of the afternoon when a cutting Apuzzo buried a goal off a flashy feed from Kent behind the cage—UVA goaltender Charlie Campbell had no chance. Apuzzo wasn’t done,

Jonathan ye / HEIGHTS EDITOR

though. Two minutes later, the reigning Tewaaraton Award winner scored again after making a quick back-door cut to the net. UVA’s Ashlyn McGovern answered for the Cavaliers two minutes later, but it was all BC and Apuzzo for the remainder of the half.

The Eagles offense erupted in the last 20 minutes of the first frame, closing the period on an 8-0 run. Junior midfielder Cara Urbank opened the BC scoring deluge with the first of her three first-half goals. Dempsey Arsenault followed suit, with Apuzzo tossing a beautiful assist.

Next up was Sheila Rietano, who scored an impressive unassisted goal to put the Eagles ahead, 5-1. After watching Rietano singlehandedly break down the UVA de-

fense, Cavaliers head coach Julie Myers called timeout.

Unfazed by the stoppage, the Eagles’ offense didn’t let up. Jordan Lappin and Urbank combined to score three goals in 90 seconds, with Urbank’s two goals both coming off a pair of attacking drives from behind the cage. Apuzzo completed her first-half hat trick off a feed from Dempsey Arsenault, pump-faking twice before squeezing the ball past Campbell.

BC went into halftime leading, 10-1, due in no small part to the Eagles’ defense.

BC forced turnovers left and right, and sophomore goalie Abbey Ngai made five saves in the opening period.

See LAX vs. UVA, A11

BASEBALL

Pelio, Eagles Take Two of Three From No. 21 Florida State

By Bradley Smart Sports Editor On Friday night, it was the senior leadership of Gian Martellini and Dan Metzdorf that vaulted Boston College baseball to a series-opening win over No. 20 Florida State. Two days later, after the Eagles lost on a walk-off in the second game, it was a much more youthful crop that lifted BC to its first series win of the year—and first against the Seminoles since 2009.

Freshman Mason Pelio hurled seven shutout innings, classmate Sal Frelick hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh, and the Eagles cruised to an 8-0 blowout of the ranked Seminoles. Pelio was practically unhittable, turning in his fourth quality start of the year, as he scattered two hits and a walk while striking out eight batters.

In his final inning of work, with BC (14-13, 5-7 Atlantic Coast) protecting a recently acquired 3-0 lead, Pelio hit an FSU (18-9, 6-6) batter with one out and then issued a walk. With the game-tying run at the plate, BC associate head coach Alex Trezza trotted out for a meeting with his young ace. The break settled down Pelio, as he struck out Cooper Swanson on three pitches—the last of which was a curveball that froze the Seminoles designated hitter.

The Eagles’ offense came alive behind him, although they were unable to do so until they got to the FSU bullpen. Seminoles starter Shane Drohan pitched into the sixth, allowing six hits but striking out eight and slipping out of jams. The same couldn’t be said about his replacements, as Conor Grady and Clayton Kwiatkowski—two of FSU’s most reliable arms—com-

bined to allow seven runs.

BC found plenty of solid contact against Grady, with Chris Galland opening up the seventh with a double down the left field line. A batter later, Galland was trotting home with ease after Frelick deposited a 1-0 pitch beyond the right field fence for his fourth home run of the year. Frelick was fired up and greeted by a crowd of teammates at the dugout steps, and that energy quickly fed into an offensive outburst. Jake Alu followed with a double and scored when Martellini lined a base hit up the middle.

Grady gave way to Kwiatkowski in the eighth, but the results were similar. Galland singled, stole second, and scored on a Brian Dempsey single. Then, after an Alu single and a pinch-hit walk from Peter Burns, FSU dug itself into a deeper hole. Jack Cunningham grounded a ball to the

third baseman Drew Mendoza, but Seminoles first baseman Carter Smith was unable to keep his foot on the bag on the ensuing throw. Dempsey and Alu alertly scored on the play to stretch the lead, and Cody Morissette followed with an RBI single. Dempsey capped the scoring in the ninth, adding an unnecessary insurance run with a sacrifice fly to score Galland.

It was a resilient performance from the Eagles, who lost a tough 4-3 decision the night prior. BC outhit its hosts, 11-4, and erased an early 3-0 deficit, but ultimately was handed defeat via a Mike Salvatore single in the bottom of the ninth.

Eagles’ starter Joe Mancini got off to a shaky start, quickly loading the bases with one out in the first after allowing a bunt single and issuing two walks. Robby Martin brought in one run with a groundout, then

J.C. Flowers cleared the bases with a two-run single. That inning proved to largely be an outlier for the BC pitching staff, though, as Mancini followed with a pair of scoreless frames before handing the keys to the bullpen. Zach Stromberg, Sean Hughes, and Will Hesslink bridged the gap to the later innings, combining for three strikeouts in three innings of work.

Meanwhile, the Eagles’ lineup was struggling to find success against FSU starter C.J. Van Eyk, who worked around seven hits while striking out five in six innings. They were able to put the ball in play but struggled mightily with their chances, even leaving the bases loaded in the fifth.

Eventually, B C broke through in an unexpected way. Van Eyk, who pounded the strike zone during the

See BASE at FSU, A10

On the Outside Longingly Looking In: BC and March Madness

Bradley Smart Chances are, you filled out a March Madness bracket. Maybe you even filled out two or three or four.

Maybe you filled out one on the women’s side as well, because the same drama—albeit tragically less covered—is present there, too.

This year, if you watched any games at Conte Forum, you saw plenty of future NCAA Tournament teams. For the men, Minnesota, Virginia, Florida State, Louisville,

INSIDE SPORTS

Syracuse, and North Carolina all swung through Chestnut Hill. On the women’s side, Boston College squared off against North Carolina State, Florida State, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Syracuse—and these were just home games. Such is the life of playing in the ACC, one of the nation’s premier conferences.

But, come March, BC was nowhere to be found in either 68-team field. In fact, the men’s team last reached the NCAA Tournament back in the 2008-09 season, and the drought is even longer for the women—they last made it in the 2005-06 season.

It’s been year after year of disappointment with both programs, and that trend doesn’t seem to be close

to ending any time soon. Despite posting 19 wins and reaching the NIT in 2017-18, men’s head coach Jim Christian failed to take the next step this season, even with an NBAcaliber point guard, an experienced 3-point marksman, a blossoming center, and newfound depth. On the other hand, one does have to give newly hired women’s head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee several years at the very least to instill her system and build a program from the ground up.

So, we find ourselves at a crossroads. March Madness is the most watched and arguably most anticipated event that the NCAA puts on each year, and it’s a joy to watch, but that comes with a small pit that

forms in your stomach—when will I get the chance to have “my team” in the tournament? For the jaded senior, will it come five years down the line when they’re sitting in a corporate office, longing for a chance to be on campus when the chance to finally win on the national stage comes about? For the freshman, has the cynicism around blown leads and bad perimeter defense taken hold, dissipating hope already?

It’s pretty easy to make a bracket when you have no rooting allegiance. There’s no need to balance the thought of picking against your own school if you actually care that much—surely they can pull off an upset, it doesn’t matter if you went to North Dakota State and your

MHOK: Players Begin to Sign Pro Contracts FB: Walker, Smith Headline Potential UDFA

first round opponent happened to feature a 6-foot-7 superstar in Zion Williamson. Naturally, your team inevitably loses several rounds before you picked them to, but such is the way of sports fandom.

It’s a lot less exciting to watch, though. March is still incredible and the tournament never ceases to amaze, but it means a little more when you’ve got a horse in the race.

Back in 2013-14, I remember that my dad’s school—Arizona State— earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for for the first time since they had a certain current NBA player with a beard on their roster.

There they were, printed neatly on

See March Sadness, A10

SPORTS IN SHORT...................................

A10 Goaltender Joseph Woll and forward Oliver Wahlstrom are BC will have several players drafted, but there are also a few SOFTBALL..............................................A11 the two most notable players of the departing crop........ A12 potential undrafted free agents in the mix.......................A11 WOMEN’S TENNIS...................................A12

The Heights

A10

Monday, April 1, 2019

BASEBALL

BC Notches First ACC Series Victory, Beats Florida State on Road BASE at FSU, from A9 during the game and didn’t walk a batter, hurled a wild pitch with Dempsey standing on third base for the Eagles’ first run.

Van Eyk was robbed of a deserved win after his quality start, though, as the Seminoles bullpen quickly ran into issues. Tasked with protecting a tworun lead, Jonah Scolaro immediately gave up the lead—a throwing error from Drew Mendoza brought in one, then Dempsey singled in another.

BC failed to capitalize on another bases-loaded situation in the top of the ninth, and reliever Joey Walsh—who came out in the bottom of the ninth for his third inning on the hill—quickly ran into trouble.

He walked Tim Becker, who entered hitting just .182, then a sacrifice bunt pushed Becker into scoring position.

Salvatore stepped up and evened the series with a game-winning single through the right side.

On Friday night, BC scored in

each of the first four innings, building a healthy seven-run lead, but the bullpen made things interesting. After FSU clawed back within one after a four-run eighth inning, the Eagles tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the following frame and escaped Mike Martin Field with a 10-7 series-opening victory.

Metzdorf, save for three runs allowed in the fourth, worked six solid innings. The senior needed 109 pitches, but left having scattered six hits and three walks while matching his season-high in strikeouts with six.

He was staked to an early lead—Martellini launched a three-run home run in the first inning—and immediately loaded the bases in the first, but escaped the jam.

BC’s lineup rewarded him, striking in a variety of ways the next three innings. Galland had a sacrifice fly in the second, and Frelick added an RBI single. Next, Dempsey got in on the action with a single that brought in a run, then Lucas Stalman grounded

into a bases loaded double play but the run still scored.

Metzdorf ’s hiccup came in the fourth inning, where he allowed a two-run double to Martin and an RBI single to Jonathan Foster. He followed with back-to-back scoreless innings, though, and Thomas Lane bridged the gap to the final two innings with a scoreless seventh.

That’s when things got a little iffy for the Eagles, as Walsh started his weekend on the wrong foot. He allowed four runs, struggling with command as he loaded the bases with two walks and a wild pitch before Martin had a two-run single and Salvatore added a two-run double.

BC added two in the top of the ninth, however, and former starting pitcher Matt Gill—the team’s newly converted closer—shut the door.

Gill allowed a pair of singles and the game-tying run was at the plate with just one out, but he got consecutive flyouts to seal the win.

It was a nearly perfect weekend

Celine Lim / Heights Editor

Cody Morrissette batted 5-for-15, helping the Eagles take two of three from FSU.

for the Eagles, as taking two of three on the road from a top-25 team is no small feat.

BC’s bullpen has been unable to turn in consistently good performances, but with Metzdorf and Pelio dealing and the lineup buzzing, the Eagles are in great shape. They’re just

two games under .500 in conference play and have taken at least one game in each of their four ACC series thus far. Now, they’re rewarded with a 10game homestand, which includes the Beanpot, three other non-conference games, and matchups with North Carolina State and Georgia Tech. n

Eagles’ Pitching Struggles Continue in Series Finale Against Wolfpack SOFTBALL

By Luke Pichini Asst. Sports Editor

Boston College softball has struggled in the circle throughout this season. Entering their series finale against North Carolina State, the Eagles’ pitching staff had posted an N.C. State 16 earned run avBoston College 9 erage of 4.29, third-worst in the ACC. And through 29 games, BC gave up eight or more runs on 11 different occasions.

After notching a comeback victory and following that up with a disappointing defeat on Friday and Saturday, respectively, the Eagles entered Sunday seeking their second straight series victory. But that plan didn’t come to fruition. BC dug itself a massive hole right from the get-go, allowing six runs in the first inning and 10 more the rest of the way. As a result, the Wolfpack cruised to an easy victory, 16-9.

Originally slated to start at 12 p.m., the game was pushed up to 10 a.m. in order to avoid rain that was forecasted in the afternoon. Camryn Dolby started the contest for the Eagles (11-19, 3-6 Atlantic Coast), but she found herself in trouble very early on. After allowing

Sam Russ and Logan Morris to get on base, Dolby gave up a three-run home run to Brigette Nordberg. Still, Dolby could not gain command. The freshman then walked Skylar Johnston and hit Randi Farricker with a pitch.

Head coach Ashley Obrest had seen enough, pulling Dolby and replacing her with Susannah Anderson, who also couldn’t silence the N.C. State (19-15, 2-7) bats. First, Anderson walked Angie Rizzi to load the bases. Then, the Wolfpack scored a run off a Jenna Ergle error.

April Visser completed the scoring with a single, drawing in two runners. Obrest made her second pitching change of the inning, removing Anderson in favor of C.C. Cook. The sophomore stopped the bleeding with two fly-outs.

BC did narrow the deficit in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of a wild pitch and an error to score two runs. But, by this point, the damage had already been done, as the Wolfpack had built an insurmountable lead.

Both teams traded runs in the second inning when N.C. State’s Angie Rizzi had a RBI groundout and BC’s Lexi DiEmmanuele hit a triple to drive in Carlie Sanders. On the afternoon, DiEmmanuele hit 3-for-5 with two

triples and two RBIs. Over the next three innings, each team scored a single run before the Wolfpack once again exploded in the sixth inning. Cook, who had been pitching well and had only given up two runs in 4 2/3 innings pitched, began to unravel. Hits by Morris and Farricker batted in two more runs, and a single

by Chandley Garner, combined with an error by the Eagles, scored both Farricker and Johnston. A wild pitch in the bottom of the inning by N.C. State’s Sydney Nester plated a run for the Eagles, but the Wolfpack held a sizable 12-5 lead.

Even though the Wolfpack sported a seven-run lead, it refused to let up.

Cook remained in the game, and she could not regain control. After walking both Russ and Morris to start the inning, Cook gave up a single to Nordberg, which loaded the bases.

Johnston picked up her second hit of the afternoon, a single, which—paired with another BC error—guided two runners home. Cook was relieved by Kendra Friedt, who cleaned up the last batters, but not before coughing up a two-run double to Rizzi.

While the Eagles faced a massive

Delaney Vorwick / For The Heights

Susannah Anderson gave up a run in relief, and BC lost the series finale to N.C. State.

deficit, they didn’t give up. A triple and a single by DiEmmanuele and Ellie Mataya, respectively, scored two BC runs. Nester, who pitched 5 1/3 innings, was pulled for Brittany Nimmo. Nimmo gave up two more runs before dispatching the Eagles for good.

Following this series, BC now stands at eight games under .500 and possesses the second-worst overall record in the conference, only ahead of Pittsburgh.

The three-game set marked a great opportunity for the Eagles to pick up a

couple wins. Coming into the weekend, the Wolfpack was winless in the ACC, but at BC’s expense, it picked up its first two conference victories of the season.

At this time last year, the Eagles found themselves in the midst of a 13-game winning streak, a stretch that propelled them to their third consecutive 30win season. If the Eagles fail to string together more consistent results in the near future, then it will be quite difficult to reach that 30-win mark for the fourth year in a row. n

BC’s Athletic Struggles Only Magnified by March Madness March Sadness, from A9 bracket, a 10-seed next to their name. It was exciting and refreshing, and naturally I picked the Sun Devils to make a Sweet 16 run. They tragically fell in the first round to No. 7 Texas by just two points, but the point remains: There’s something incredibly fun about having your team in that massive 68-team field, even if they have the smallest of shots to pull anything off.

All things considered, this might just seem like whining. There’s 356 college basketball teams, and only 68—that’s 19 percent for those counting at home—make it in a given year. The odds are even more stacked when you consider the fact

that the Eagles play in the ACC, which sometimes sends double-digit representatives to both tournaments.

However, when your football team has failed to win more than seven games since 2009 and the other BC sports have offered a healthy dose of lows as of late—following roller coaster scripts during the season before eventually meekly bowing out in disappointing manners—it’s painful that both basketball teams are mired in a decade of down years, and March offers no relief.

That brings us to this point: BC Athletics is mired in a unprecedented run of disappointments, casting shadows over plenty of strong years,

and lord does this school’s fan base need that to change soon.

Covering these teams, or even watching them, plunges most into a steady pit of despair and missed chances. Lacrosse lost back-toback national championships, the second in a heartbreaking manner by a single goal. Women’s hockey dropped consecutive overtime games to quietly finish this year, falling in the Hockey East final and first round of the NCAA Tournament, respectively.

Men’s hockey was struggling for much of the year, made things interesting with a late postseason push, but fell a game shy of the NCAA Tournament despite a valiant comeback effort. Women’s soccer

was a national seed after an impressive ACC season, but they too fell in an upset fashion.

This was just in the last year.

Go back a few years, and things get even more grim across the board.

Baseball was a game away from the college baseball world series in 2016. Women’s hockey lost a perfect record and the 2015-16 national championship game in one fell swoop. Men’s basketball didn’t win a conference game that same year, and to make it even worse the football lost eight straight games to end the year. Men’s hockey hasn’t been to the NCAAs in three years but they’ve been awfully close each time.

With this never-ending stream of tough endings in mind, watch-

ing the plethora of March Madness games—and realizing that BC might not be there, in either bracket, for years—is just another low in what has been several years full of disappointment for BC’s revenue sports.

Sure, it’s thrilling to watch Purdue’s Carsen Edwards go off, or watch Duke tiptoe past opponents thanks to some fortuitous bounces, but, at the end of the day, there’s no bracket pool you can shamelessly put BC winning it all in, there’s no noontime tip to watch them play during class. And we might as well just call it a day.

Bradley Smart is the Sports Editor for The Heights. He can be reached on Twitter @bradleysmart15

SPORTS in SHORT ACC Baseball STANDINGS

Numbers to know

Conference overall

N.C. State Clemson Louisville North Carolina Georgia Tech Florida State Virginia Notre Dame Miami Boston College Wake Forest Virginia Tech Duke Pittsburgh

10-2 9-3 9-3 7-5 7-5 6-6 6-6 6-6 5-7 5-7 5-7 4-8 3-9 2-10

27-2 22-6 22-6 22-7 19-9 18-9 16-12 11-14 18-10 14-13 15-14 16-12 14-14 7-18

.378

Batting average for freshman Sal Frelick, a mark that leads the team and is fifth-best in the ACC.

13

Victories for women’s tennis after it defeated Houston and Louisville, a total that matches its win count from last season.

44 6

Assists for Kenzie Kent, a mark that leads the nation and tops BC’s single-season program record (41).

QUote of the week

“Playing against him is an absolute dream ... I’m really happy that I got to do something special like that.”

— Baseball outfielder Sal Frelick, on switching his number from 11 to 35 to honor FSU head coach Mike Martin, who is in his final season.

The Heights

Monday, April 1, 2019

A11

LACROSSE

Apuzzo’s Six Goals Lead Eagles to Comfortable Win Over UVA LAX vs. UVA, from A9 After the break, it seemed the Eagles would continue its first-half dominance, as Apuzzo scored her fourth goal of the afternoon just 35 seconds into the second period. UVA, however, rallied unexpectedly, rattling off four unanswered goals to cut the deficit to six. McGovern and Sammy Mueller led the charge for the Cavaliers offense, combining for three quick goals, while the UVA defense stymied the Eagles for more than 15

minutes. Campbell’s play also picked up in the second half—the junior netminder stopped four BC shots in a 10-minute span.

Although the Cavaliers fought back to make it a 11-5 game, their second-half comeback bid didn’t last long enough. With 13 minutes to go, Apuzzo scored an unbelievable goal, her fifth, to get the BC offense back on track. With less than 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock, Arsenault lobbed a pass to a streaking Apuzzo, who caught the ball and fired a shot

quickly behind her head in mid-air.

It was the most impressive play of the game, worthy of being shown on SportsCenter’s “Top Ten” segment.

For the final 10 minutes of regulation, both teams traded goals. Arsenault scored two more for the Eagles’, while U VA’s Mueller and Aver y Shoemaker responded with goals of their own. Rietano recorded the dagger with less than eight minutes left to play, while Apuzzo put the game further out of reach with her sixth goal of the day.

Even with a 16-minute scoring drought, the Eagles mustered 16 goals, more than enough to dispatch their seventh ranked foe of the season.

Without a doubt, Apuzzo was the star of the game. The ACC’s leading scorer logged six goals and an assist. Kent continued to display her unrivaled passing ability with three assists, while teammates Dempsey Arsenault and Cara Urbank notched hat-tricks of their own. Ngai was also solid in the crease for BC, making 10 saves on Saturday.

As for Apuzzo, the six goals she scored on Saturday against UVA now give her 59 on the season. What’s even more impressive is that the Eagles have only played 12 games, meaning that the senior is averaging nearly five goals per game. The comfortable win over UVA just furthered the impressive encore campaign for the West Babylon, N.Y. native. She is poised to win another Tewaaraton Award and, if the team continues to elevate their play against the nation’s best, perhaps a national title as well. n

IKRAM ALI / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Dempsey Arsenault (left) had three goals and two assists, and Kenzie Kent (right) chipped in three assists as the Eagles rolled to a thorough seven-goal win over the visiting Cavaliers, who entered the weekend No. 7 in the country.

SOFTBALL

Errors, Offensive Struggles Plague BC in Loss to N.C. State

By Peter Kim Assoc. Sports Editor Friday night against North Carolina State, Boston College softball fell behind early but used a seventh inning offensive outburst to N.C. State 6 rally and defeat Boston College 3 the Wolfpack in dramatic fashion. Saturday, the Eagles dug themselves into another hole in the early innings before once again attempting to conjure some late offensive magic. This time, however, it wasn’t enough.

Ellie Mataya’s single drove in a run in the seventh inning to kickstart a rally, and BC managed to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Jenna Ergle, but the

redshirt freshman popped out to first base, and the Eagles lost to N.C. State, 6-3.

Camryn Dolby got the start for BC after 3 1/3 stellar innings of relief on Friday, but was immediately in trouble, walking Sam Russ on four pitches to begin the game. The left fielder promptly stole second base and moved to third on a throwing error from Boccagno, then scored on another error from the Eagles catcher to give the Wolfpack an unearned run and a 1-0 lead.

Dolby would recover to get the final two outs, then maneuvered her way out of a jam in the second inning after walking the bases full. She was pulled after walking two more batters and hitting a third to begin the third frame, though.

Susannah Anderson entered in relief,

but BC’s sloppy play continued. N.C. State second baseman Natalie Jones chopped a grounder to third base for what should have been an out, but Emme Martinez’s throw home flew wide of Boccagno, allowing all three Wolfpack base runners to score. Yet another error from Dolby allowed Jones to cross home plate, and when the inning had finally ended N.C. State had a comfortable 5-0 advantage.

Meanwhile, the Eagles’ bats were held down by Devin Wallace, who pitched into the seventh inning for the second consecutive game. Unlike Friday, however, Wallace finished off a complete game effort, pitching seven innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. Ergle—who finished the day 1-of-4—hit a leadoff

double in the fourth inning and scored on Maddison Hamilton’s grounder to shortstop to get BC on the board, but Gianna Randazza was thrown out stealing second base after being hit by a pitch to end the Eagles threat.

BC would further cut into the Wolfpack lead in the sixth. Boccagno was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Carlie Sanders was substituted as a pinch runner.

She advanced to second base on a passed ball before Allyson Moore lined a double into center field to drive in a run. That was all the Eagles would get, though, as Randazza popped out to second base for the final out of the inning.

N.C. State added its final run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Logan Morris

in the following frame, setting the stage for BC’s attempted comeback, but ultimately the Wolfpack was able to take the second contest of the three-game set and even the series at one game apiece.

The loss highlighted yet another one of the Eagles’ problems this season: errors.

After committing three errors which led to five unearned runs Saturday, BC has made 56 errors this season, 10 more than any other team in the ACC. Much of that can be attributed to the Eagles’ youth, but that has to be cleaned up if BC wants to win more consistently this season. In a competitive conference like the ACC, its untenable to spot a team five runs like the Eagles did Saturday and still expect to come out on top. n

Eagles Use Seventh-Inning Comeback to Defeat Wolfpack

By Peter Kim Assoc. Sports Editor Heading into the bottom of the seventh inning of Boston College softball’s Friday night game against North Carolina State, things looked N.C. State 3 bleak for the EaBoston College 4 gles. Wolfpack pitcher Devin Wallace was working on a no-hitter, and BC trailed, 3-1. And with Wallace trotting back out to the mound to try to finish the game, BC’s prospects of scoring one run, let alone two, were slim at best. Yet, improbably, the Eagles found a way to flip the script and orchestrate a comeback victory.

Emme Martinez sent a ground ball back up the middle to break up the nohitter, and Gianna Boccagno followed suit

with a grounder into left field to put two runners on base with no outs. No-hitter no longer intact, Wallace was swapped for Sydney Nester, but the change in pitcher didn’t help N.C. State stem the tide.

Jenna Ergle worked a walk to load the bases, bringing up Allyson Moore, and the senior came up clutch, lacing a double into the gap in left-center field to drive in two runs and knot the game at three.

Ergle was thrown out at home on the play trying to score the winning run, leaving it up to Maddison Hamilton to complete the comeback. On a 1-1 count, the freshman slapped a weak grounder to Wolfpack shortstop April Visser. With Moore sprinting home, it looked like the freshman had a chance to get the out at the plate, but her throw sailed wide. Moore slid in for the winning run, and the Eagles were able to

celebrate an unlikely 4-3 win.

BC (11-17, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) only had one other scoring threat, which came in the third inning. Hamilton walked on four pitches, then took second and third on wild pitches. Wallace put Kristin Giery on base with another walk, and Kennedy Labshere managed to score Hamilton with a high-bouncing ground ball to Visser. Wallace recovered to get the final two outs of the inning, but the Eagles had the early 1-0 lead.

The advantage didn’t last long for BC. Susannah Anderson—who got the start in the circle and had allowed jun st three hits in the first three innings—quickly ran into trouble in the fourth inning. Bridgette Nordberg started the frame with a sharp single into left field, before Skylar Johnston

worked a four-pitch walk. N.C. State (17-15, 0-7 Atlantic Coast) first baseman Randi Farricker stepped to the plate and wasted no time driving them in, sending the first pitch she saw over the fence for a three-run home run to put the Wolfpack on top.

Anderson was pulled two batters later for Camryn Dolby after allowing a single to Natalie Jones. The freshman was excellent in relief, striking out Visser to end the threat. She would pitch the rest of the game for the Eagles, striking out seven and allowing just one hit in 3 1/3 innings.

Dolby’s strong pitching looked like it would go to waste, as BC continued to struggle to find offense. Labshere gained first base, thanks to a fielding error from Visser to lead off the sixth, but Carlie Sanders entered the game to pinch-run and was

promptly thrown out trying to steal second.

Somehow, though, the bats finally woke up after Dolby struck out the side in the top of the seventh, and the Eagles started off the weekend on the right foot.

The win marks the third time in the past month that BC has scored the winning run in the seventh inning or later, so it’s certainly fair to say that the Eagles have a penchant for late drama. However, it’s also fair to say that BC still needs to find more consistency on offense. The Eagles are one of just two ACC teams that have scored under 100 runs this season. The pitching tandem of freshmen Dolby and Anderson has been solid after a shaky start to the season, so if BC is able to find a way to have more innings like the seventh frame of Friday’s game, the Eagles should be in good position to continue to win games. n

FOOTBALL

2019 Eagles’ Top-Five Potential Undrafted NFL Free Agents

By Andy Backstrom Managing Editor At least seven Boston College football prospects are expected to hear their names called this April during the 2019 NFL Draft, more than the program’s ever had selected in the league’s seven-round model (1994-present). But there’s also a handful of other Eagles who could find themselves on a training camp roster.

Heading into the last week of March, here are BC’s top-five potential undrafted free agents.

1) Michael Walker Height: 6-foot | Weight: 195 In the NFL, there’s always a spot for players that can make a name for themselves on special teams, and Michael Walker could very well be one of those guys. The Naples, Fla., native rounded out his BC career with back-to-back seasons atop the nation’s combined kick return

yards chart. This past year alone, Walker— an All-ACC Second Team selection—finished seventh and 22nd in punt and kick return average, respectively. That said, he did have trouble with ball security—the senior coughed up four fumbles during the Eagles’ 12-game slate. One thing’s for sure, though, he’s got the athletic tools to line up outside. At BC’s Pro Day last week, he recorded a 4.46 40-yard dash, a 36.5 inch vertical, and 21 bench press reps.

2) Jeff Smith Height: 6-foot-1 | Weight: 195 Will Harris might have stolen the show at the NFL Combine, but Jeff Smith owned BC’s Pro Day. The quarterbackturned-wide receiver flashed a 4.34 40-yard dash—a time that would rank seventh among 2019 Combine participants—and a brisk 6.87 three-cone drill.

Smith turned in the most productive season of his career as a senior, recording 529 yards from scrimmage and seven total

touchdowns. At times, he looked like a premier ACC wide receiver, like when he racked up six catches, 145 yards, and two touchdowns at Wake Forest. On other occasions, the 6-foot-1 speedster was a non-factor. His versatility—a wideout that can play the slot and run the jet sweep—is attractive, but it’s his 40 time that will turn heads.

3) Taj-Amir Torres Height: 5-foot-9 | Weight: 180 Considering that BC has sent four defensive backs to the NFL in the past three years and could very well have two more drafted this April, it’s understandable that Taj-Amir Torres has been slightly overshadowed. That’s not to say that he doesn’t belong in the same conversation.

According to Pro Football Focus, the senior logged 16 stops in coverage, the most among ACC cornerbacks. Not only that, but—as of mid-November—he was leading all other defensive backs in the

league in coverage grade from the slot.

Like teammate Hamp Cheevers, Torres is undersized and, more importantly, has had his fair share of lapses in coverage.

Still, his 4.37 40-yard dash at BC’s Pro Day and game film are enough to warrant scouts’ attention.

4) Ray Smith Height: 6-foot-1 | Weight: 305 Like Torres, Ray Smith was surrounded by a host of NFL-caliber players during his four years in an Eagles uniform. The stout, but deceptively quick, interior lineman quietly stitched together an impressive career on the Heights. The three-year starting nose tackle served as an anchor of sorts in the trenches, piling up 50-plus tackles each of the last two seasons.

This past fall, Smith logged four tackles for loss, batted down three passes, and tallied his first career interception. The 305-pound All-ACC Third Team selection dove to haul in a deflected pass for a high-

light-reel pick that capped a Week One blowout victory over Massachusetts—that play and his 4.9 Pro Day 40-yard dash just go to show that he’s more than just a burly nose tackle.

5) Connor Strachan Height: 6-foot | Weight: 230 Wherever the ball is, there’s a good chance Connor Strachan isn’t too far behind. A bully of a linebacker, Strachan is as tough as they get, as evidenced by the 2018 campaign. After suffering a season-ending knee injury as a senior, the Wellesley, Mass., native returned as a graduate student this past fall and totaled a career-high 91 tackles. Even though he doesn’t have the coverage ability of many prospects at his position, he has no trouble closing gaps, plugging the run, and occasionally rushing the passer. Strachan’s character and experience will undoubtedly give him a fighting chance in training camp somewhere. n

The Heights

A12

Monday, April 1, 2019

MEN’S HOCKEY

Woll, Wahlstrom Headline Eagles’ Offseason Departures

By Peter Kim Assoc. Sports Editor

Boston College men’s hockey saw its season end one game short of the NCAA Tournament just a few days ago, but its name has still been popping up in the news, due to a number of notable roster changes. as of right now, here’s what we know about which players are moving on from Chestnut Hill. For the updated list of players that are leaving or staying, make sure to check out our departure tracker online at bcheights.com.

Michael Kim and Chri stopher Brown: Signed With the WilkesBarre/Scranton Penguins Two of BC’s senior captains are sticking together after graduation, as Michael Kim and Christopher Brown both signed amateur tryout contracts with the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins for the remainder of the 2018-19 season. Brown finished his Eagles career with 151 games played, making him just the 46th player in program history to reach that mark. Kim—who led all BC defenders with 15 points this season—also signed an AHL contract with the Penguins for the 2019-20 campaign, according to a release from the Penguins organization.

Casey Fitzgerald: Signed With the Buffalo Sabres The Eagles’ other captain, Casey Fitzgerald, signed with the team that originally drafted him in the third round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft: the Sabres. The defenseman has agreed to a two-year entry-level deal that will begin at the start of the 2019-20 season, and he will initially report to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Fitzgerald finished the season with 14 points—the second most among BC defensemen in 2018-19.

J.D. Dudek: Signed With the Binghamton Devils In a press release from the AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils, it was announced that Dudek will join the team on an amateur tryout contract, the length of which is not clear at the moment.

The senior finished his Eagles career with 56 points in 149 career games played.

Oliver Wahlstrom: Signed With the New York Islanders After days of speculation regarding Oliver Wahlstrom’s future, it was finally announced in a press release that the No. 11 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft had signed a threeyear entry-level contract with the Islanders, the team that drafted him last year. The contract will begin at

the start of the 2019-20 season. The Quincy, Mass., native becomes the second early departure for the Eagles after it was announced that Joseph Woll had signed an entry-level contract with the Maple Leafs. He leaves after a largely underwhelming rookie season that saw him notch just 19 points in 36 games.

Joseph Woll: Signed With the Toronto Maple Leafs Woll was the first departure to be reported by the Eagles, as the junior goalkeeper signed an entry-level contract with the Maple Leafs just a day after BC lost the Hockey East final to Northeastern.

The former third-round draft pick finishes his Eagles career with a record of 47-45-8 and a 2.51 goalsagainst average.

David Cotton The junior enjoyed a fantastic campaign, pacing BC with 23 goals—a mark that led Hockey East.

That led to some speculation that the Eagles could be losing him to the Carolina Hurricanes, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL entry draft.

A report from the Boston Globe, however, suggested that Cotton does in fact intend to stay with the Eagles for his senior season. That could be huge for a team that will likely be lacking experience next season. n

PRO DESTINATIONS

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins: Michael Kim and Casey Fitzgerald will be joining the AHL affiliate of the five-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton also has a history of winning. It has made the playoffs in 16 consecutive seasons, though it has yet to win an AHL championship.

Binghamton Devils: The Devils, who signed J.D. Dudek to a tryout contract, only recently began playing in Binghamton after relocating from Albany. In its first season, Binghamton finished fifth in the AHL’s North Division, and will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season in 2018-19.

Buffalo Sabres: The Sabres are one of 12 teams in the NHL that have yet to win the Stanley Cup. Casey Fitzgerald—who signed with the Sabres but will initially report their AHL affiliate in Rochester —will hope to help change the fortunes of a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since the 2010-11 season.

New York Islanders: Oliver Wahlstrom, who the Islanders drafted with the 11th overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft, will join the franchise at the beginning of the 2019-20 season. New York has clinched a spot in the NHL playoffs this season, and will hope to win a playoff series for just the second time since the 1992-93 season.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Toronto, one of the six original NHL teams, signed Joseph Woll to an entry-level contract. The Maple Leafs lost a seven-game series to the Boston Bruins in the first round of the NHL playoffs in 2017-18, but are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference and well positioned for another playoff berth in 2018-19.

Peter Kim / HEIGHTS EdiTOR

Jonathan Ye/Heights Editor

Six BC players, including graduating seniors J.D. Dudek (left) and Casey Fitzgerald (right), have signed with professional franchises after the Eagles fell short of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.

MEN’S TENNIS

BC Pulls Doubles Upset, but Skid Hits Three Against Harvard

By Chris Whelan For The Heights

After falling to a talented Virginia Tech squad on the road last Friday, Boston College men’s tennis returned to action closer to home Sunday afternoon at Harvard. The match proved to be a test of grit for the Eagles, as the Crimson are ranked No. 44 in the nation and were ready to pounce on a weary Eagles following their lopsided loss in Blacksburg.

Harvard (12-5), which boasts a strong record and first doubles team in Logan Weber and Andy Zhou—which entered the afternoon ranked 33rd nationally as a pair—clearly had the upper hand on paper. Surprisingly, Weber and Zhou went down, but BC was unable to win the doubles point and eventually walked away with a 6-1 defeat.

The Eagles (5-12, 0-8 Atlantic Coast) were competitive throughout, as BC’s duo of Derek Austin and Conor

Mullins bested the talented pair of Weber and Zhou, 6-3. The Eagles challenged Harvard early, as BC’s Chris Grasel and Markus Nordby had the opportunity to win the doubles point, but the Crimson’s Robert Wrzesinski and Brian Shi defeated them to give Harvard the lead.

Austin largely led the charge for the Eagles, as he seemed to build off the previous doubles victory over Weber and Zhou. Austin dropped the opening set, 6-4, to Wrzesinski but battled

back in the second, ultimately claiming the frame, 7-6. Unfortunately for BC, Austin came up short in a nailbiter of a third-set tiebreaker, 7-6. Chris Grasel’s singles match against Harvard’s Zhou also reached a third set, but it had a similar fate, and the Crimson ended up notching a victory in the number two singles spot.

BC’s only point on the rainy Sunday afternoon in Cambridge resulted from Conor Mullins’ dominant singles performance in the number five spot

against Harvard’s Lane Leschly, defeating him, 6-1 and 6-4, in two straight sets.

Despite their recent three-game losing streak, the breakdown of each doubles and singles performance reveals BC’s resilience. Austin and Mullins proved to the rest of the Eagles team on Sunday that a formidable opponent can be met with top-notch competition, and that, even with a shaky record, BC is capable of hanging around with ranked opponents. n

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Eagles Beat Louisville on the Road, Match 2018 Win Total

By Nicole Pla Heights Staff

On Sunday afternoon, Boston College women’s tennis hit the road to square off against conference rival Louisville, looking to build off its Friday victory against Houston. Despite the absence of top player Yufei Long, BC was able to walk away victorious, beating the Cardinals, 4-2, on Senior Day. The afternoon started off well for the Eagles (13-7, 3-7 Atlantic Coast), who fought hard to come out victorious in two doubles matches to earn the doubles point.

On the first court, Jackie Urbinati and Kylie Wilcox teamed up to face the Cardinals’ (10-10, 2-8) top pairing of Sena Suswam and Dina Chaika. Wilcox and Urbinati were too much for Louisville to handle, however, and the Eagles walked away with a 6-4 victory.

Natasha Irani and Loren Haukova fell to Aleksandra Mally and Chloe Hamlin, 6-4, on the third court, but Laura Lopez and Elene Tsokilauri were able to come back and best Raven Neely and Diana Wong by a 7-6 margin to give BC the doubles point.

BC ran into a little bit more trouble when it came to the singles matches. That

said, the Eagles needed just three players to win to secure a victory—they found their saving graces in Lopez, Urbinati, and Reagan Posorske. Irani was the first to fall, losing in straight sets to Neely, 6-1, 6-2. For a brief moment, the ACC foes were tied.

The Eagles were able to build on their early lead, though, when Lopez pulled away from Diana Wong in straight sets of her own. The freshman made quick work of Wong, 6-2, 6-3, to keep BC’s hopes alive.

Fresh off her doubles win alongside Wilcox, Urbinati continued her success and defeated Nikolina Jovic, 6-2, 6-3. Following

Urbinati and Lopez’s matches, the Eagles needed just one more win to secure a victory for the afternoon.

Louisville had a burst of luck when Mally edged out Tsokilauri for her second win of the day. After dropping the first set, 1-6, Tsokilauri took the second one, 6-2, but fell in the third, 6-3. The Eagles still held a 3-2 lead, but it was up to Wilcox and Posorske to finalize BC’s win.

In the end, Posorske gave the Eagles their winning point on the sixth court. The sophomore came back from 6-1 deficit in the first set to beat Chaika in the final two

frames, 6-1, 6-3.

It was a highly successful weekend for BC, which—with five regular season matches remaining—has a solid chance to secure 15 wins on the year, something it hasn’t been able to accomplish since 2003. The Eagles didn’t have Long but still possessed the firepower to beat a slumping Louisville side—the Cardinals have dropped seven straight—and Friday’s win over Houston was even more comfortable. While BC only has three conference wins thus far, it has shown solid progress, as it aims to improve upon last year’s five-win ACC campaign. n

BC Rallies to Top Cougars, Stay Perfect in Non-Conference Play

By Luke Pichini Asst. Sports Editor

Boston College women’s tennis entered its Friday matchup against Houston sporting a perfect 9-0 record in non-conference play. Coming off a weekend in which they dropped a pair of close matches against ACC foes Florida State and Georgia Tech, the Eagles were in need of a bounceback victory. But it would not come easy, as the Cougars were a far more intimidating opponent compared to BC’s past out-of-conference competition. Houston came into the weekend riding a six-game winning streak and stood at seven games above .500. After

a poor start though, the Eagles rallied in singles play to notch a 5-2 victory over the Cougars.

With Yufei Long sitting out, Jackie Urbinati and Kylie Wilcox played on the first court and picked up a quick 6-1 win over Houston’s Mimi Kendall-Woseley and Elena Tairyan.

Unfortunately for BC (12-7, 2-7 Atlantic Coast), its other two doubles teams could not close out the point.

At second doubles, Laura Lopez and Elene Tsokilauri fell in a close set to Sophie Gerits and Ndini Ndunda, 75. Loren Haukova and Natasha Irani struggled against Phonexay Chitdara and Jovana Vukovic, losing 6-2, which sealed the doubles point for the Cou-

gars (11-5, 1-0).

But from that point on, it was all BC. Wilcox faced a tough challenge at first singles from Nduna. The junior dropped the first set, 7-5, but she rallied back. With 6-2 and 6-1 wins in the second and third sets, respectively, Wilcox secured the victory on the first court. Following Wilcox was her doubles partner, Urbinati, who continued her strong play. The senior captain made quick work of KendallWoseley, dispatching her opponent in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.

BC continued its roll down the lineup. Irani fell to Gerits in the first set, 6-3, but much like Wilcox, she found a way to rebound. She prevailed

in a close second set, 7-5, before wrapping up the match with a 6-4 victory in the third and final frame.

Another three-set thriller took place on the fourth court, as Tsokilauri faced Vukovic. Tsokilauri was outplayed in the first set, 7-5, but she slowly rounded into form with a 7-5 win in the second set and a dominant 6-2 triumph in the last set. Lopez put on a strong showing, dominating Chitdara, 6-1, 6-1. With the overall match already decided, Haukova was pitted against Stephani Belovukovic in an eight-game pro set, which she lost, 8-6, to close out the afternoon.

“We played hard in doubles but need to make better shot choices at

times,” said head coach Nigel Bentley after the game, per BCEagles.com.”

“I thought Houston competed very hard, played well. The team rallied in singles, though—we had to really focus and fight. We won all the third sets in singles, which was huge.”

After BC ’s rally fell just short against the Seminoles the week prior, it must have been encouraging for Bentley and Co. to see the team come out on the winning side this time around.

As has been evident all season, the Eagles have the talent to compete with any team in the country—it’s just that many recent matches have not swung in their favor. Perhaps this is the weekend for BC to right the ship. n

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Pack it in for Pachiderms: ‘Dumbo’ Remake Fails

By Jacob Schick A1 Editor While I didn’t pay any money for my tickets to Dumbo, I did buy a Coke slurpee from the AMC Boston Common concessions counter—which is, as a brief aside, the least urgent place I have ever patronized—so I had a financial stake in this movie being good. And, like the unnamed extra who walks out of a bad circus performance halfway through Dumbo, I left the theater shouting “I want my money back!” I think I would have gotten more weird looks had a few dozen people not already gotten up and left before the last scene ended.

The latest Disney cash-grab (or, as I am now inclined to believe, money laundering

scheme) is a live-action version of 1941’s Dumbo. The original animated cartoon featured engaging animation, a compelling storyline, great music, and racially controversial crows. The new live-action version features actively bad CGI, a drawn out and tiresome storyline, cartoonish (in the bad way) characters, poor acting, little to no music, and no racially controversial crows. Way to go, Disney. Dumbo is probably one of the worst “blockbuster” movies that Disney has made in recent memory (at least John Carter was fun to watch). If you’re going to eschew all creativity or originality by simply re-releasing a movie you already made, at least try.

It’s actually worth explaining the plot of our new Dumbo because, for some reason,

Film

dumbo Tim Burton distributed by walt disney pictures Release march 29, 2019 Our rating

walt disney pictures

they decided to divert from the original. So, Dumbo opens on the failing Medici Brothers, owned and operated by Max (Danny DeVito). We are blurrily introduced to a host of side characters like the strong man, the snake charmer, the mermaid, the magicians et. al. They are used throughout the movie as “comic relief” but really bear no further mention. The audience (and the children that comprise it) next meet our heroine and hero—siblings Milly and Joe Farrier (Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins, respectively).

Dumbo does a great job at showing that outstanding child actors are very hard to come by. Very hard. Their father, Holt (Colin Farrell), returns home from World War I minus one arm. They struggle to make do at the circus until a baby elephant is born with enormous ears (guess who?). The children discover that Dumbo can fly, and the movie stumbles along from there.

First, Dumbo didn’t need the introduction of so many human characters. The talking animals that appeared in the original movie are nowhere to be seen (1941’s Dumbo featured the ringleader as the only human character). Now, we are forced to endure a tour de force in flat lines delivered by dead-eyed, robotic children and scenechewing by every adult in the film. Farrell is the least egregious actor in the movie, which is really saying something. He has adopted a tough and gruff exterior, accentuated by a deep and curt drawl. In any other movie,

he would be over exaggerated to the point of ridicule. Here, he is a much-needed reprieve of realism just by relation. His other on-screen counterparts vomit out their cliched lines of dialogue. The movie also just looks bad. One would think that, in a movie where the lead and titular character is a moving collection of computer-generated images, it would be very important to the film’s creators to get it right. But there are multiple scenes in which Dumbo and the other elephants look awful and fake.

And the parts that everyone remembers about the original are gone. “When I See An Elephant Fly” is nowhere to be found, and “Pink Elephants on Parade” is a travesty.

There’s no singing, and the remake’s version of the elephant parade is a pale reflection.

All of the musicality of the original that made it enjoyable to watch is abandoned in favor of poorly delivered lines and weird side stories. The score of the new version is perfectly serviceable, but it’s either used very sparingly or nearly unnoticeable.

One more thing. This movie is 112 minutes long. The original was 64. To nearly double the film’s length is clearly a terrible idea. There’s just not enough of a story there.

Disney could’ve made this movie 90 minutes, saved itself a ton of money (and spent more time on the CGI and maybe on some retakes of Keaton’s lines). Also Tim Burton directed this, I guess? Wouldn’t have known watching the whole damn thing. n

Billie Eilish Explores Her Dark Side on New Album

By Grace Meyer Heights Staff It’s hard to imagine a time when Billie Eilish wasn’t bending, twisting, and crawling within the borders of the music industry, given her name is irreversibly evolving the understanding and interpretation of teen pop-stardom. The 17-year-old, whose musical work entangles depth and darkness, released her greatly anticipated (or greatly feared) album when we all fall asleep, where do we go? on Friday.

Her new album title, a lyric extrapolated from her song “bury a friend,” poses a morbidly mind-bending question, and the album includes 14 new songs, four of which were pre-released—“you should see me in a crown,” “when the party’s over,” “bury a friend,” and “wish you were gay”—each one of them bearing the darkest parts of the artist’s life. Sinking into the delirious state of late-night thought, dreams, nightmares, desires, and fears, her album focuses on what happens at the end of the night, as Eilish sings, when the party’s over.

Back in 2017, when Eilish’s EP, “don’t smile at me,” was officially released, the world was introduced to the 15-year-old who composed testaments to copy-cats, fake friends, and fake love combined with elements of anarchy. She harnessed her mind as a rebellious teen to defy the constraints of rules and devoid of parental authority. Yet her voice, soft and demure, still possessed

elements of adolescent naїvete. It was an EP about love in the most uncharted sense of the word—she explored the depths of its definition by drawing out emotions and stories from it that most people in music don’t focus on.

Followed by a snippet of dialogue between Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell (with whom she’s written and composed most of her music), her first song, “bad guy,” picks up on the joking, jabbing tone of the two siblings. “xanny,” a slow, intoxicating song that’s deceptively sincere, further lures listeners in because there’s a sense of familiarity—this song maintains a similar tone to Eilish’s EP: A lamenting, angelic voice sings beside a paired-back beat.

But “you should see me in a crown,” a spine-tingling tune, contains an intriguing lyric—“Fell for these ocean eyes”—which alludes back to her career-launching single, “Ocean Eyes.”Then the music takes a darker turn. Her song, “all good girls go to hell,” begins with the chimes of church bells, fading into auto-tune. It’s the same, morbid tonality that carries “bury a friend.” Playing into horror-themed ideas, more than one song on Eilish’s new album—even after more than one listen—instill shock and are rather unsettling.

Like “xanny,” Eilish’s song “8,” a ballad between young Eilish and present-day Eilish, retains lingering themes and a similar sound to her EP—specifically, “party favor” comes to mind as a ukulele strums, while a young

Eilish’s voice begins the song. Whether the sound of young Eilish is actually her voice or just auto-tune is not entirely clear—regardless, the song, beautiful and honest, is a testament to the fact that Eilish has been writing songs for years.

Yet, the most amusing song on Eilish’s album, “my strange addiction,” contains dialogue pulled straight from The Office episode “Threat Level Midnight.” Michael Scott’s voice interrupts the album, beginning this song admitting “No Billy, I haven’t done that dance since my wife died.” Bouncing between the show’s dialogue and Eilish’s voice, this song is refreshingly comedic compared to the dark subject matter Eilish tends to dwell on.

In her debut album, Eilish leans full throttle into the dark side of her personality, crafting lyrics that are explicit, sad, somber, desperate, and hopelessly personal. But her voice fools you into believing you’re safe from harm, when a lot of what she sings about comes from the uncontrollable nature of the mind: depression, bad thoughts, delirium—things that can’t be controlled. Her lilting falsetto is twisted behind perverse lyrics detailing unsolicited confession and demented auto-tune, melding into a sinister, addicting sound. It’s a strong introduction into the new persona Eilish is cultivating for herself in the music industry, and her voice will be ringing in your ears long after you’ve stopped listening. n

music

when we all fall asleep, where do we go? billie eilish distributed by interscope records Release march 29, 2019 Our rating interscope records

Balog Uses Film to Raise Climate Change Awareness

By Isabella Cavazzoni Copy Editor Earth, air, fire, water. In The Human Element, producer James Balog, award-winning photographer and BC ’74, argues that nature’s four known elements combine a fifth, unlikely element to create the world as it is today. Humanity, he argues, can no longer be left out of earth’s elemental equation.

The Human Element, directed by Matthew Testa, comes directly off the success of Balog’s first film, titled Chasing Ice. Chasing Ice, a 2012 documentary, explores Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey, which he started in 2005. By setting up a series of time-lapse cameras across the world, he captured the essence of Earth’s rapidly deteriorat-

ing glaciers, showing just how much the Arctic landscape has melted and changed in an era of heavy carbon reliance.

Now, Balog makes his way back to his alma mater. And though the distinct differences of his many interests—photography, mountain climbing , and earth sciences to name a few—seemed like a mash of seemingly unrelated subjects, Balog has an Emmy award and a New York Times photo credit to prove his success. Still, he acknowledges that life didn’t really make sense at first, especially with a foothold on the edge of a mountain, but also a handhold on a camera.

“There’s no clear formula or plan,” Balog said in reference to combining his disparate disciplines.

Ashton Caroll / heights staff

‘The Human Element’ producer James Balog spoke to students about his film.

But, with a camera in hand, Balog went on to pursue photography for real in 1977. And now, seated in Devlin 008 with decades of photography and two movies under his belt, Balog seeks to tell the story of how humans are altering nature.

“We are a force of nature,” he said before the film screening. “If we’re altering nature for the worse, … we can also alter nature for the better.”

The film is neatly sectioned into each of nature’s four elements. For each element, Balog incorporates stills he shot with filmography—a surprising shift from the motion of his subjects to a stationary shot. The stills he integrated into the film struck viewers—throughout the screening, the silence of the still shot on the screen was often accompanied by sighs and sounds from the crowd, evidently thinking about what exactly each photo showed.

The characters in Balog’s film made humans’ effect on nature much more intimate and captivating. For each element, Balog chose to follow people from across the country personally affected by climate change.

In California, Balog accompanied a group of CAL FIRE firefighters during the Soberanes fires in Monterey County.

The 2016 fires killed a bulldozer operator—a Balog photo of his memorial and interviews with firefighters close to him displayed the casualties

of the wildfires.

For the “earth” portion of the film, Balog trekked to Pennsylvania and Kentucky, interviewing his own father and other local coal miners on the impacts of new renewable forms of energy on the coal industry.

And for “air,” Balog sent a weather balloon, which soared to almost 100,000 feet, to capture pictures above Earth’s breathable atmosphere. But it was during the “water” portion that Balog’s film took off—and it came together with a simple question in which Balog asked himself : “How are we going to tell the sea-level rise story?”

To accomplish a monumental task, Balog focused on Tangier Island, a residential island on the Chesapeake Bay that is on track to disappear in a few decades.

With Balog’s expert photography and effective sound bites from Tangier residents, he explained the life-threatening effects of a rising sea level— Tangier’s residents have nowhere to go as the Bay continues to flood the island, even on sunny days. Though he has no concrete plans to create a third film, Balog isn’t done yet.

Using photography and film, Balog shows an Earth rapidly deteriorating due to climate change in The Human Element. His next stop: Greenland, he said. Something in his bones is telling him there are more photos to capture. n

Single review gio laviolle

‘downhill lullaby’ sky ferreira

It’s been almost six years since Sky Ferreira’s last album—2013’s Night Time, My Time—a pop record that was deemed by many publications to be one of the best albums of the year.

She has been extremely vocal since the album’s release about her problems with her label, detailing how they forced her off her own SoundCloud account and prevented her from releasing her music. Her follow-up album, Masochism, was originally scheduled to be released in 2015, but label conflicts and personal problems delayed its release.

On March 27, she released her first single for Masochism, “Downhill Lullaby.”

The haunting track opens with violins, before Ferreira comes in like a ghost, dragging her voice throughout the gloomy song. Accompanied by a string melody throughout, Ferreira’s pained vocals create an atmospheric music, similar to Lana Del Rey’s work on her second album, Ultraviolence.

The track is a cool departure from her songs of the past, and a hint at what else is to come on her album. n

music video Emily Himes

‘what a time’ julia michaels

Julia Michaels stripped down her song “What a Time” ft. Niall Horan for an acoustic glimpse at the reminiscent track. The video, like the song, is simple but simultaneously long and boring. It only gives the viewer two landscapes to watch.

The first shows Michaels and Horan sitting in leather chairs singing. Both of them are dressed casually as they sit in an empty room in front of a white curtain.

The video flips between this and beautiful imager y of mountains underneath a colorful and vibrant sunset. Without a doubt, all of this is pleasant scenery. But the video is over three minutes long, and that’s all the viewer has to rest their eyes on—it’s the type of video you watch the first minute of and then close out immediately because of just how dull it is.

The beautiful sunsets are a nice contrast to the simplicity of the room where Michaels and Horan are sitting, however they don’t provide much motion. The video is in desperate need of a little more action—mixing in more people would surely make the video more engaging.

Instead, it falls flat on the screen and looks like it was made by high schoolers on iMovie.

The song itself is not bad, but it is extremely repetitive. The lyrics are reminiscent of good times in the past that you will never get back. It’s not a sad song, though—Michaels sings of these memories fondly as she brings them up one by one. The repetitive nature of the song made the video drag on for hours. “What a Time” works as a pop song, but the lyrics don’t match the slower nature of an acoustic ballad.

The acoustic version of “What a Time” did not need a video. Since the original song already had a video, which incorporated more of a storyline, there was nothing left for this video to portray on a visual level.

While watching Niall Horan strum a guitar for three minutes isn’t a bad sight, there are definitely better uses of your time. n

ARTS

A16

SHOWDOWN @BCHeightsArts

Monday, April 1, 2019

By Kaylie Ramirez Arts Editor

Emily Himes Assoc. Arts Editor

And Jillian Ran Asst. Arts Editor

Boston College students often show up in large numbers at Conte Forum for a hockey or basketball game, but on Saturday, Conte was home to a different kind of athletic competition.

ALC Showdown, the annual dance competition hosted by the AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC), featured 15 different student dance groups all competing for a total of four awards.

Three of the four awards were a result of judges’ scoring. Liz Ronka, an Assistant Coordinator of Dance at Boston University; Emily Stromski, a dance teacher in Massachusetts and former dancer for the Celtics and Demi Lovato; and Eric Rivera, a member of a dance studio in Cambridge and a Resident Director at BC, judged the teams based on cleanliness, creativity, and engagement. The other award—ALC’s Choice, an award that took the place of People’s Choice and was voted on by ALC members—was given to the team that best exemplified the mission of ALC in its performance and engaged the crowd throughout its routine.

The dance teams were divided between two categories: Competition and Culture. Competing in the Competition category were Fuego Del Corazón, Boston College Irish Dance (BCID), Females Incorporating Sisterhood Through Step (F.I.S.T.S.), AEROdynamiK (AeroK), Boston College Dance Ensemble (BCDE), Dance Organization of Boston College (DOBC), Full Swing, On Tap, Phaymus, Sexual Chocolate (SC), Synergy, and Uprising.

Meanwhile, Presenting Africa to You (PATU), Masti, and Vida de Intensa Pasión (VIP) all competed in the Culture category. Fuego took first place in the Competition category, while BCID came in second. For the second year in a row, PATU took first place in the Culture category. And F.I.S.T.S. took home the ALC’s Choice award.

All awards were presented by Amaka Nnaeto, chair of the Under-

utes into its routine, Fuego assumed the role of a losing team on a mission to come back strong in its Step Upthemed routine—a role Fuego wouldn’t have to worry about playing at the end of the night. Fuego danced with a fiery passion to take first place at Showdown. The Latin dance team opened its breathless sprint of a routine with acrobatic stunts before slipping into its seductive style of partner dance.

Hip-hop steps added a fun flair to the group’s performance during Bad Bunny’s “Fuego (Fire).”

Fuego earned loud cheers from the crowd, as it performed a traditional salsa onstage, a segment of the dance that was as equally eye-catching as some of the group’s more daring stunts. Jaws dropped when several members of the team formed a human staircase for the Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan) stand-in to run across and fall into the arms of her unlikely dance partner Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum), as a sound clip from the film played. Fuego amped up its passion for a crowd pleasing “Gasolina” segment that featured human swings. During the final moments of the dance team’s performance, it became abundantly clear Fuego would not suffer the same fate as the fictional team it portrayed onstage. Fuego donated the proceeds from its prize to the American Civil Liberties Union, specifically citing its work with vulnerable immigrant families as a worthy cause.

BCID Behind its glamorous Great Gatsby theme laid the familiar steely precision that has made BCID a force to be reckoned with on campus—prior to Showdown 2018, BCID had taken the

light, and the music suddenly halted when the dancers drummed out a harsh percussion on the floor. Viewers knew what was coming, but the sight of Gatsby dropping to the floor was still a striking conclusion to the flawless routine. BCID donated the proceeds from its second place prize to Rosie’s Place, a women’s shelter in Boston.

F.I.S.T.S. F.I.S.T.S. incorporated an impressive theme, props, and overall set into its performance. The dancers wore pink tank tops that read “Barbie” and denim shorts. Large pink Barbie boxes lined the backdrop of the stage, with giant teddy bears leaning against them. Everything about F.I.S.T.S.’s performance screamed girl power, from their donation to Strong Women, Strong Girls to the statement behind its theme. “Girls can do anything” was the group’s overall message to the audience, especially when Ken—a male guest performer—made an appearance.

“Girls can be doctors and lawyers, too,” the girl group screamed at Ken. The team was impressively loud, which is important in a step performance. Even as they fell to the floor,

CELINE LIM / HEIGHTS EDITOR

graduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) Diversity and Inclusion Programming Board and MCAS ’20.

Audience members were also treated to outside entertainment. Hosts Savannah Clarke, MCAS ’19, and Samir Aslane, MCAS ’19, gave a comedic introduction to the event before taking a moment of silence for Patrick Gregorek, MCAS ’19, who died suddenly on March 24. Alex Gardiner—one of Gregorek’s roommates, a member of VIP, and MCAS ’19—also took the stage to commemorate Gregorek.

Gardiner recalled how Gregorek, who was a member of Full Swing, would constantly beg him to reveal VIP’s Showdown theme and was always interested in how their performance was coming together.

“Tonight I dance for you, Pat,” Gardiner said. “... I bet the seats are pretty good from heaven.”

Despite a tearful start to Showdown, the larger dance community was able to come together around a shared love of the artform to provide dazzling entertainment for the Conte audience.

Competition Fuego Del Corazón Simulating a dance competition awards ceremony just a couple min-

INSIDE ARTS

first place prize in the Competition category two years in a row. In this year’s performance, the group banked on especially intricate moves. Risk was met with reward when BCID won second place, as well as an especially enthusiastic crowd response.

“We had a lot of new members this year, and we are so happy that they got to start out their BCID career with such a high,” Eileen McAleer, captain of BCID and CSON ’20, said of ushering in a new class of BCID members at Showdown.

The group made use of clips from Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and favorites from the soundtrack like will.i.am’s “Bang Bang” and Fergie’s “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody.”

Half the team was decked out in flapper dresses and headbands, while the other half wore dapper fedoras and all-black outfits. Continuing its nod to the ’20s, BCID even incorporated the Charleston into its choreography. The audience went wild as the dancers glided across the floor, rapidly arranging themselves into different shapes while their feet continued to stomp in perfect unison. BCID conveyed the tragic ending of Gatsby through a dramatic dance off. The stage was bathed in crimson

‘NECTalks’

the audience could hear the precise moment when they hit the stage. The performance was perfectly coordinated—although at one point, one dancer fell a few seconds early—and, overall, it was spectacular. F.I.S.T.S. used crowd-pleasing songs throughout the set, including the “Barbie Girl” theme, “Good Form” by Nicki Minaj, and “7 rings” by Ariana Grande, which drew cheers from the audience. F.I.S.T.S. won the ALC’s Choice award, and it was clear the group rehearsed a great deal to produce a pristine performance. The articulate stomps and claps made for an impressive and unique performance.

AeroK AEROdynamiK (AeroK) won the crowd over with a playful Pokémon theme. The dancers, decked out in red and blue windbreakers, black pants, and white sneakers, began with a peppy hip-hop number. Familiar characters from the Pokémon universe made appearances throughout the performance, including Ash Ketchum and Professor Oak. A dancer dressed as a Charmander led a pack of male dancers in an energetic, trap-heavy routine. Then, the ladies took the stage to the tune of a gentle R&B song. The

dancers formed a tight circle, and, suddenly, it was the moment the crowd had been waiting for: Pikachu himself made an appearance. Cheers erupted as red light flooded the stage and he led a posse of dancers in a swaggering, upbeat finale.

BCDE BCDE’s ladies were the “Dancing Queens” of this year’s Showdown. The Mamma Mia! theme received cheers throughout the audience, and everyone was singing along by the end of the set. The team’s precise coordination ranged from its impeccable synchronized spins during “Voulez-Vous” to its unique costumes. All 30 dancers wore red jumpsuits, matching bandanas, and ponytails. The performance included ABBA crowd pleasers such as “Dancing Queen,” “Mamma Mia,” and “Super Trooper.” During “Super Trooper,” the group closed the set with an impressive triangle formation, one in which every member was in sync.

In between songs, BCDE even played out key scenes from Mamma Mia!.

Three of the dancers were dressed up as Sam, Harry, and Bill, Sophie’s fictional fathers in the movie. The crowd’s familiarity of the songs and overall

theme made for plenty of audience engagement throughout BCDE’s set.

DOBC DOBC clued in Conte to its flawless technique during its Clue-themed routine. The all-female team moved across the Showdown stage with effortless precision and grace after starting off the performance with a lift that flipped one clue piece backward and across the board. Members of the team, all dressed in black aside from the sparkling colored Clue pieces, carried giant game cards onto the stage while dancing to Panic! At The Disco’s “Death of a Bachelor,” following a stomach-lurching scream that sprung the board game into action. DOBC added dimension to its set by creating levels with staggered formations onstage while dancing to Loud Luxury’s “Body” before forming a pyramid formation for a “Wasn’t Me” segment that was equal parts comical and risqué. The audience looked on with awe, as a group of girls pirouetted for a mind-numbing period of time amid one final fierce act during Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.” Full Swing Conspicuously absent from last year’s Showdown, Full Swing made a dazzling return with an elaborate Back to the Future-themed performance. It was a clever choice for a group that brings retro swing dancing to a modern crowd, allowing the dancers to combine classic moves with modern twists in its performance. To represent the time machine, a squad of dancers in metallic garb performed precise movements to Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” Full Swing entered its element during a ’50s school dance scene that soon erupted into an acrobatic fight set to Elvis

‘Battle of the Bands’

‘New England Classic’ writers took to the stage for a series of Unit One, Shady Lady, and Word on the Street advanced to satirical presentations at NECTalks............................................ A15 the second round of Battle of the Bands................................ A15

Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.” Brightly hued a-line dresses and greaser-style leather jackets completed the backin-time illusion. The group’s daring stunts amazed the enraptured crowd.

Jumping back to the present, Ke$ha’s “Timber” accompanied the dancers, as they shed their prim and proper outfits for sequin hot pants and vests. It was a playful finish for Full Swing that left no doubt that it can hold its own in a competitive environment.

On Tap Controversy ensued when On Tap announced the theme of its routine—Michael Jackson—in the video screened prior to the start of the group’s routine. The tap group followed up with an acknowledgment of the recent controversial HBO documentary, Leaving Neverland, that detailed the late pop star’s rampant child sex abuse, stating that the theme had been picked prior to the documentary’s release—despite the fact that Jackson was first accused of child sex abuse in 1993. To compensate for the choice, On Tap detailed its outside contributions to the National Children’s Alliance and altered its costumes for the performance—each

member wore all black. The dancers performed to Jackson and The Jackson 5 hits, such as “Smooth Criminal,” “ABC,” “P.Y.T.,” and “Thriller.” Although cheering was relatively muted during the performance, On Tap earned a few screams while performing segments of the iconic “Thriller” video that integrated tap into the famous steps.

Phaymus Phaymus, one of BC’s hip-hop dance teams, brought the speed to Showdown. The group’s NASCAR theme was both unique and exciting.

The costumes were red and black, with some team members wearing checkered accent pieces. Phaymus also incorporated checkered flags and gas cans as props, and used screeching tires and horns blowing throughout.

To stay consistent with the theme, the group danced to “Gasolina” about halfway through the set, which encouraged the audience to cheer and dance throughout the song. At the end of the set, the group even brought out a trophy for the race’s “winner.”

The group comically fought over the trophy as they were on the quest to win the Showdown trophy. Phaymus’ set was energetic and different, and the dancing was clean and clearly well-rehearsed.

Sexual Chocolate Sexual Chocolate, whose theme revolved around the concept of brotherhood (the same theme it performed with at last year’s Showdown), began with a standard hip-hop number to Chris Brown’s “Kriss Kross.” Members wore Timberland boots, red and white sweatpants, and simple black sweatshirts. The music disappeared and the group returned to its roots with a traditional step routine.

“SC, OK!” chanted the members as they stomped and clapped across the stage.

SC pulled off their sweatshirts to wild cheers from the crowd to reveal white t-shirts before jumping into another hip-hop routine to Migos’ “Pure Water.” When the lights turned red, the crowd knew exactly what was coming.

Members brought chairs onto the stage and performed an approximation of a

See Showdown, A15

‘Dumbo’..................................................... A14 ‘when we all fall asleep’............................. A14 ‘The Human Element’.................................... A14

The Heights

Monday, April 1, 2019

A15

BC Dance Teams Heat Up Conte at Showdown Wrongs to Showdown, From A16

lap dance to Chris Brown’s “Famous,” albeit this time without anyone in the chairs. SC finished with a fast-paced, stunt-filled number to “Twerk” by City Girls. Demonstrating brotherhood in action, the team packed into a tight structure, as one member climbed to the top and raised his fist triumphantly.

Synergy Last year’s Showdown champs showed up with more hip-hop highlights during its Oregon Trail-esque choose-your-own-adventure routine.

Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead” ushered in a pounding set of high-energy movements. Reciprocated energy radiated off the crowd when the group screamed the final “God” of the track in synchrony. Synergy slipped into a smoother style of hip-hop during Sage the Gemini’s “Gas Pedal.” Synergy conveyed its theme through storyboard video-game style segments where sound clips would give the audience two options in a given scenario, a feature that seemed to be aimed at audience involvement but did not quite achieve its goal. The crowd, however, cheered on the team throughout its performance. Aside from the footwork that carried the dancers across the stage, the group’s clean formations allowed Synergy to exhibit its strong technical skills throughout the routine.

Uprising Uprising was the first to perform at

Showdown and set a high bar for the teams that performed after it. With a theme of love, Uprising detailed the ways love shows itself in different stages of life, starting with a cute number as school kids set to Louis the Child’s “Better Now.” Shifting from the chillingly precise isolations of the first part of the dance, the members of Uprising easily cozied up for a steamy high school number featuring flannel shirts and partner work. The group also utilized two plastic dividers to stage a dance off before segwaying into a high-power hip-hop segment.

Smooth movements characterized the final moments of the hip-hop crew’s routine—members glided across the stage while Kanye West’s evocative “Ultralight Beam” played over the Conte speakers, earning a resounding round of applause in the process.

Culture PATU For the second straight year, PATU won the Culture category at Showdown. The team entered the stage with cheers from the audience hoping the team could keep up the winning streak. The Avatar: The Last Airbender theme was unique, and, while it wasn’t extremely evident from the dance moves, the background screens clarified any confusion, allowing the audience to focus on the performance itself. The costumes were vibrant and colorful, varying among red, blue, and yellow pieces.

PATU is the master of being perfectly coordinated without being rigid or too stiff—the group is effortlessly synchronized. It’s the type of performance that only comes from intense and repeated rehearsing. The lighthearted atmosphere PATU brings lines up very well with its uber-coordinated moves, which require a great deal of talent.

PATU donated proceeds to CameroonOne, an organization that connects orphans in Cameroon to surviving relatives and ensures they receive an education and health care. PATU has truly perfected its craft—the group has proven to be a consistently strong team of individuals, each with their own unique flair but impressively consistent as a whole. From the costumes to the songs to the dancing itself, PATU always stays consistent with its mission and continues to set the standard for the culture category.

Masti Masti brought the throwback spirit with its Showdown performance.

While the South Asian dance troupe’s theme wasn’t evident at first, toward the end of the performance it became clear that it was in fact Scooby-Doo. In the beginning of the set, one of the characters got kidnapped, which gave away the fun theme that took the audience straight back to childhood.

Many of the dancers donned costumes of Scooby-Doo characters, such as Fred Jones and Scooby himself. The rest

of the team wore traditional South Asian clothes. The team was very noticeably coordinated at the end of the performance and was able to effectively mix modern, popular songs with more traditional numbers. The set got better as it progressed, ending with the dancers performing in a clean and synchronized triangle formation.

VIP As the familiar opening whistles of “The World Es Mi Familia” rang out, the crowd stirred with excitement.

VIP incorporated the soundtrack of the beloved animated film Coco and imagery from the Academy Award winning film for its festive, timeless performance. VIP began by paying homage to the old school, dancing the salsa to Tito Puente’s “Ran Kan Kan.” Then, the ladies of the group, wearing colorful masks, seized the stage to perform a hip-hop inspired routine to Bad Bunny’s trap-heavy “La Romana.”

Screens framing the stage displayed colorful geometric patterns, as the men of the team emerged from the darkness wearing skeleton button down shirts, reflecting Coco’s Day of the Dead theme. The audience erupted in cheers when it heard the opening horns of Cardi B’s Latin-inspired hit, “I Like It.” The routine came to a climax when the members formed intricately twisting circles, rapidly switching partners and forming a rotating pinwheel shape before dramatically dropping into the splits. n

NECTalks Parodies TEDx With Satire and Humor

By Kaylie Ramirz Arts Editor

Words jumped off of the pages of The New England Classic’s website and into Cushing 001 for the satirical publication’s inaugural NECTalks. A parody of TED Talks just in time for Saturday’s TEDxBostonCollege conference, The Classic taglined the

event “Ideas Worth Ruining” and certainly lived up to what it promised.

Steve Jorsh (Josh Artman, MCAS ’19) and Billnmelinda Gates (MaryElizabeth Mooney, MCAS ’20) kicked off the night as the stars of an introductory video that offered a brief history of the NECTalks.

During the video, Jorsh and Gates recalled their favorite talks, including a 2007 talk

DELANEY VORWICK / FOR THE HEIGHTS

‘The New England Classic’ currated a lineup of “idea-ruining” speeches for the event.

encouraging listeners to invest in subprime mortgages. Clips of the cast of speakers detailed each speaker’s reason for performing at the event: Katie Ovoian, MCAS ’22—who later gave a presentation titled “What Can We Learn From Fossils”—alleged she had been kidnapped and forced to perform. Following the clip a red warning that stated “Do not call the police” flashed on the screen.

Doug Girardot, a staff writer for The Heights and MCAS ’21, was the first to present with “ASMR Isn’t As Sexy As People Think.” During the talk, Girardot waxed ASMR kink to bring audience members to the brink of a “brain orgasm.” Girardot acted out three ASMR-induced brain orgasm triggers: calmly drawing a penis on a chalkboard, flipping through a gentlemen’s magazine, and sealing an envelope in a sexually suggestive manner.

Although lofty terminology and demonstrations worked to Girardot’s advantage, Kathleen Garrity, MCAS ’21, opted for a different approach in her speech: selling out to cracker corporate giant Nabisco.

Titled “How to Build More Meaningful Relationships,” Garrity’s talk was sponsored by and completely centered around the new brown rice sweet potato and roasted onion Triscuits.

Another crowd favorite immediately followed when Shea Rulon, CSOM ’20, took the floor for “The Power of Poetry.”

Rulon performed a poem she wrote for Spencer (Jerry Trainor) from iCarly as a black and white highlight reel played from the eccentric character’s tenure on the Nickelodeon show.

“Put your spaghetti in my taco,” Rulon said as a video of Spencer scooping spaghetti into a taco played on the lecture hall screen behind her.

Throughout the night, there were many moments that made it almost unbelievable that NECTalks was taking place in a classroom—these moments came often during “Taking the Pain Out of Finding a Job,” a talk by Peter Zogby, MCAS ’21. Zogby instructed his captive audience that the first thing they want to do when searching for a job is “remove [their] ball gag.” Zogby went on to detail which sex toys were acceptable (butt plugs) to wear during an interview and which weren’t (just about everything else).

No Boston College event is complete without a healthy dose of Catholic guilt, and Fr. Robert Drencher, S.J. (Sabel Flynn, a former columnist for The Heights and CSON ’19) made sure to shame students about watching hentai during “The Corruption of the Christian Man.” “Transsexual anime characters are a threat to society,” Drencher said.

Luke Layden, MCAS ’19, rounded out the night with “The Global Impact of Meme Culture,” a presentation that threw the audience back into 2003, a year in which Tobey Maguire was Spider-Man, the U.S. invaded Iraq, and “the notoriously circumsised internet icon” Crazy Frog was born. Dedicated to his cause, Layden laid out the complicated web of connections that linked the Jamster-created internet sensation to ISIS. Layden demonstrated that, when slowed down, the Crazy Frog ringtone clearly states “Death to America.”

Typically working in anonymity without names attached to stories in print or online, The New England Classic spotlighted its uncanny sense of humor when the humans behind the headlines stepped out of the shadows for a night—and at NECTalks, the publication served up much more than just chips and a pickle. n

Three Groups Advance After Battle of the Bands

By Jillian Ran Asst. Arts Editor

The Vanderslice Cabaret Room was the site of an intimate evening of original music on Thursday, as five Boston College bands competed in the first round of the annual Battle of the Bands. The event, jointly organized by Music Guild, the Arts Council, and the Campus Activities Board (CAB), provides an opportunity for the three winning bands to perform at the Arts Festival in April, where they will compete for the chance to open for the headlining artist at Modstock in May. Despite the high stakes, the atmosphere was convivial, with band members enthusiastically cheering on their opponents and joining the crowd to dance along.

The first band to take the stage, Haze Surfer, was true to its name, summoning a wall of reverberating sound from a fleet of four guitarists that included Jared Holzman, MCAS ’22. Drummer Roger Palacios, MCAS ’21, served as the steady backbone of the group. Dreamy shoegaze gave way to a more rambunctious song, be-

fore the band finished with a crowd-pleasing cover of Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So.” Indie rock group Word on the Street helped coax the somewhat timid audience into a more spirited mood. Vocalists and guitarists Madeleine McCullough, MCAS ’20, Peter Toronto, MCAS ’20, and Dan Pflueger, MCAS ’20, harmonized for earnest love songs, with Alex Eichler, MCAS ’20, on drums. The most experimental of the bunch, K.C.Q. performed a series of largely free-form jam sessions that relied on members’ talent for improvisation. Jazzy chords and an unexpected mish-mash of instruments—saxophone, trumpet, electric keyboard, guitar, and drums—made K.C.Q. the unorthodox stand-out of the evening.

Trio Unit One was the smallest band to perform, but it certainly knew how to fill the stage. Vocalist Rachel Moon, MCAS ’19, and guitarist Nick Sucre, MCAS ’19, riffed off each others’ energy, instantly shifting from moody introspection to bombastic energy. Shady Lady—the crowd favorite, winner of last year’s Battle of the Bands, and incumbent Modstock opener—finished off the night with a slick, bluesy performance

JESS RIVILIS / HEIGHTS STAFF

Unit One performed songs from its debut album ‘Altered State’ at Battle of the Bands.

with plenty of attitude. Lead singer Nicole Rodger, MCAS ’19, executed precarious vocal runs with ease, and the group had an easy-going chemistry onstage.

The trio of judges, consisting of one representative from each of the three associations that organize Battle of the Bands, quickly made their decision. With little fanfare, they announced their top three

picks: Shady Lady, Word on the Street, and Unit One will be advancing to the Arts Festival at the end of April. There was plenty of excitement from the winning acts, yet the event was also the site of a good deal of camaraderie among the competitors. After all, the Battle of the Bands is a sign that the music scene at BC continues to flourish, and that’s a win for everyone. n

Right Brain Emily Himes

We are witnessing education grow to be dangerously competitive—if the recent college cheating scandal doesn’t frighten you, maybe you should rethink what higher education means to you. And every year it seems like students and their parents are worried about college at an earlier age. At the rate we’re going, kindergartners will soon be required to enroll in SAT prep courses.

Now more than ever, everything high school students do is for college applications. While the varsity athletes, yearbook creators, debate team captains, student government presidents, and community service pros might not sit at the same lunch table, they all have a common goal: acceptance to an elite university. And while colleges across the country pride themselves on accepting well-rounded applicants, America’s schools aren’t very good at producing well-rounded students.

Arts departments in schools are continuously being left behind in terms of funding, especially in this time of diminishing subsidies for schools as a whole. In the recently released 2020 budget proposal, the Trump administration requested a $7.1 billion cut in education funding. Thankfully, in past years, Congress has disregarded these massive requests, leaving education in the hands of state governments, but it’s outrageous nonetheless.

On the 2020 budget proposal, one of the programs proposed for elimination is Arts in Education, alongside Innovative Approaches to Literacy and Comprehensive Literacy Development Grants (not to mention important non-arts programs such as the Special Olympics). On top of all the outside pressures put on students of all ages by parents, teachers, coaches, and even friends, all students should have the opportunity to engage in some sort of creative program at school.

And while arts education might focus on developing the right brain, hard data and left brain statistics help explain the importance of keeping creativity in schools. There is a plethora of evidence that both artistic and musical training allow for quicker, more well-rounded development of children’s brains. Art classes make way for various benefits, such as improved academic performance and motor skills in elementary-aged children, but even more importantly, they play a significant role in mental health. Currently, 25 percent of teenagers currently suffer from anxiety disorders, which is a statistic that is getting higher every year.

And the truth of the matter is that, even without all the statistics regarding cognitive development and memory formation, art is always fun—no matter how old you are. The arts don’t have to provide some sort of scientific benefit or mathematical function—what’s important is that art classes provide a level playing field, time for utilizing a different side of the brain, an environment for engaging with other students in a more casual classroom setting, and moments that allow for true creativity and self expression in a school day.

Over the last 15 years, education funding has seen a rapid decline—and arts programs are usually first to feel the effects.

As tensions within schools are running high and reports of anxiety and depression are on the rise (up to 49 percent of high schoolers reported experiencing heavy stress on a daily basis), this is certainly not the time to be eliminating programs that have the potential to help students cope with extreme stress.

In this age of increasing pressures and heavy competition within schools, students of all ages should have access to art and music classes. Opportunities for self expression in a school environment can prevent the early onset of anxiety and depression in students, and there is even evidence that lower-income students who are involved in the arts are twice as likely to graduate college than their peers without arts exposure.

Luckily, the chances of these proposals being passed are slim. But it is incredibly unnerving that the American government is not investing in programs that contribute to the holistic cultivation of the minds of our country’s children and teenagers.

Emily Himes is the assoc. arts editor for The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.