Editor’s Note: Olivia Joung, Natalie Arndt, Lucy Freeman, and Will Martino—our news editors—have compiled the biggest news stories from the Class of 2023’s time on the Heights. From pandemic adjustments to new buildings, the BC community witnessed a multitude of changes over the last four years.
This story was originally published on Oct. 28, 2019.
By Jack Miller News Editor aBByHunt
Assoc. News EditorSuffolk County District Attorney
Rachael Rollins announced at a Monday morning press conference the indictment of Inyoung You, MCAS ’20, for involuntary manslaughter. You is being charged in connection with the suicide of her boyfriend
Alexander Urtula, BC ’19.
You was tracking Urtula’s location on her phone on the day of his suicide, and she was present when he jumped to his death in Roxbury. He died on May 20, hours before he was set to cross the stage at Commencement. His family came from his hometown of Cedar Grove, N.J., to attend the ceremony, Rollins said.
Rollins said that You engaged in a pattern of physical, verbal, and psychological abuse throughout their 18-month relationship. The abuse worsened in the days and hours leading up to Urtula’s death.
This story was originally published on April 13, 2022.
By erin SHannon News Editor aMy PalMer Assoc. News Editor and Sofia laBoyAsst. News Editor
A representative of the Campus Leadership Project (CLP)—a conservative leadership development organization designed for college students—has repeatedly contacted and offered resources to a number of Boston College students involved in UGBC.
CLP Senior Victory Coordinator Michael Yurkovskiy first reached out to Julia Spagnola, UGBC vice president–elect and MCAS ’23, while she was still a representative in the Student Assembly (SA). Spagnola said that when she first received the LinkedIn message from Yurkovskiy, she had no idea that he had also reached out to other members of UGBC in the past.
“I just thought it was a little sketchy to be honest,” Spagnola said. “I believe very strongly in partisan politics staying out of student government. I know that people have their own opinions but … that doesn’t translate very well into the work we do on a daily basis as student representatives.”
CLP is an offshoot of Turning Point USA, a non-profit that works to build a powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses, according to Turning Point’s website. The organization has ties to former President Donald Trump and has been criticized for pushing extremist, right-wing misinformation.
This discovery adds UGBC to a long list of student governments with representatives approached by CLP or Turning Point coordinators in their attempts to recruit, support, and train student leaders across the country. Both organizations have in some cases offered thousands of dollars in financial support to various student representatives as well as opportunities to participate in leadership retreats and summits sponsored by CLP.
Yurkovskiy in particular contacted and offered campaign support to student leaders and representatives at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. in the fall of 2020.
Yurkovskiy did not respond to requests for interview or comment.
Spagnola said she first saw Yurkovskiy in person on election day. As she and Lubens Benjamin, UGBC president–elect
“Students come to Boston from around the world to attend our renowned colleges and universities, eager to learn and experience our vibrant city,” Rollins said. “Their families and loved ones certainly do not expect them to face unending physical and mental abuse.”
Associate Vice President of University Communications Jack Dunn told The Heights in an email on Monday that You withdrew from classes last August.
You, who is currently residing in her home country of South Korea, is still listed in the University directory as a member of the Class of 2020. In the two months before his death, Urtula and You exchanged over 75,000 text messages, more than 47,000 of which were from You, according to an investigation by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Police and Suffolk County prosecutors.
Rollins said that hundreds, if not thousands, of You’s messages encouraged his suicide. She repeatedly told him to “go kill himself” and “go die,” and she said that she, his family, and the world would be better off if he did so, according to a press release from Rollins’ office.
“Many of the messages clearly display the power dynamic in the relationship, wherein Ms. You made demands and threats with the understanding that she
had complete and total control over Mr. Urtula both mentally and emotionally,” Rollins said.
The investigation revealed that You used manipulative threats and attempts of self-harm to control Urtula, Rollins said. It also found that she was aware of the spiraling depression and suicidal thoughts her abuse had brought on, but she persisted in encouraging Urtula to take his own life.
“The indictment alleges Ms. You’s behavior was wanton and reckless and resulted in overwhelming Mr. Urtula’s will to live, and that she created life-threatening conditions for him that she had a legal duty to alleviate, which we allege she failed to do,” Rollins said.
More details will be presented during the coming arraignment, Rollins said.
Urtula’s family and classmates had witnessed the abuse, which was also documented extensively in Urtula’s journal entries, Rollins said.
You has been in contact with the district attorney’s office through a representative, according to Rollins.
Rollins said her office is attempting to bring You back to the country voluntarily. If You is not willing to voluntarily return, Rollins said her office will use its power to extradite You.
“We are fully fluent in the ways we
can get her back if she doesn’t want to do so voluntarily,” Rollins said. “We are hopeful, but cautiously optimistic that she will return on her own, but we’re moving forward with this case.”
You is facing the same involuntary manslaughter charge that Michelle Carter was ultimately convicted of in 2017. Through phone calls and text messages, Carter—a Plainville, Mass., native— committed involuntary manslaughter by encouraging her boyfriend Conrad Roy III to kill himself. Roy ended up taking his own life in 2014. In February of this year, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld Carter’s conviction, and Carter received a sentencing of 15 months in prison.
While there are some similarities between the two cases—both took place in Massachusetts and involved encouragement of suicide by the victim’s girlfriend— Rollins emphasized that You and Urtula’s case follows a distinct fact pattern. In the 2017 case, Carter had very limited physical contact with Roy prior to his death the moments leading up to his death.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2019/10/28/former-bc-student-facing-involuntary-manslaughter-charge-following-boyfriends-suicide/.
and CSOM ’23, passed through the Quad, they noticed a man standing at a table with vice presidential candidate Caleb Wachsmuth, MCAS ’24—who ran alongside Kudzai Kupurura, MCAS ’23.
According to Spagnola, she recognized the man, who she said was passing out donuts and encouraging passersby to vote for Wachsmuth and Kapurura, as Yurkovskiy.
Spagnola said she and Benjamin then reported what they saw to the Elections Committee.
“I was more concerned about the implications that this could have for UGBC elections in the future, because it’s one thing to get sanctioned, but it’s another to have people funneling resources or actual volunteering help,” she said. “I think that should be entirely on the students to either fund their own campaign or to, you know, get the volunteers they need on their own.”
The Elections Committee reviews complaints, determines if candidates violated the election code, and sanctions teams accordingly, said Matt Razek, associate director for student programming in the Office of Student Involvement (OSI).
According to Wachsmuth, Yurkovskiy reached out to Kapurura over Instagram on March 21. He congratulated her on her campaign bid, but unlike when he contacted several other UGBC members, he did not disclose his relationship to the CLP or Turning Point.
“I feel tricked by his messages to us, as we thought he was acting out of personal interest, rather than corporate,” Wachsmuth said in an email to The Heights. “Other campaigns have received messages from him before, but were very impersonal.”
On election day, Jack Bracher, UGBC president and MCAS ’22, said that he went to visit both candidates’ tables on O’Neill and Gasson quads. When he approached Kapurura and Wachsmuth, Bracher said he saw Yurkovskiy at their table.
“Yurkovskiy handed donuts and put them on the table and the candidates had said, ‘Oh, it’s so great to finally meet you,’” Bracher said.
After seeing Yurkovskiy, Bracher said he went to confirm it was the representative that had messaged him with UGBC Vice President Gianna Russi, MCAS ’22.
Seeing Yurkovskiy on BC’s campus was alarming, Bracher said.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/04/13/turning-point-repeatedly-contacts-ugbc-members-reflecting-nationwide-pattern-of-tar-
This story was originally published on June 25, 2020.
By Scott Baker News EditorBoston College is rejecting a recent call from the Vatican for Catholics to divest from companies and industries engaged in activities “harmful to human or social ecology” and the environment. The call appeared in a Vatican document released on the fifth anniversary of the publication of Pope Francis’ papal encyclical calling for action against climate change, Laudato Si’.
“As a private university, Boston College’s decisions regarding investments and governance are made by University leadership, in concert with the Board of Trustees,” Associate Vice President for University Communications Jack Dunn said in an email to The Heights. “While we welcome the Vatican document, our position regarding divestment remains unchanged.”
BC keeps its investments private, but the University has resisted calls to divest from the fossil fuel industry for years, saying that the University does not see its investments as a vehicle for social progress.
BC has also said that it does not view divestment as a viable response to climate change and that members of the BC community should work to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainable activity.
Chief Investment Officer John Zona’s office declined to comment on the University’s decision not to divest after the release of the Vatican document.
The Vatican manual released Thursday, titled “Journeying toward Care for Our Common Home – Five Years After Laudato Si’,” calls on Catholics to “shun companies that are harmful to human or social ecology, such as abortion and armaments, and to the environment, such as fossil fuels,” according to Reuters.
Though the document comes out of the Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, it is not official Catholic teaching, meaning that Catholics are not required to follow the Vatican’s calls to divest.
“In a major development yesterday the Vatican called on Catholics around the world to divest from fossil fuels,” Climate Justice at BC (CJBC) said in a statement.
“The debate CJBC has been having with the administration of Boston College for over 7 years is now over.
There can be no more obfuscating or denying BC’s moral obligation to take action. It is time to divest.”
Divestment has received substantial support from BC students in recent years.
In the 2019 UGBC election, a non-binding referendum calling on BC to divest from fossil fuels passed with more than 80 percent of the vote, with more than 2,000 students casting ballots in favor of divestment. BC rejected the referendum.
BC has a pattern of ignoring popular student referendums—in 2018, a non-binding referendum calling for BC to allow a student organization to distribute contraceptives on campus passed with 94 percent of the vote. BC rejected the referendum, citing the University’s Jesuit Catholic values.
BC also continues to reject student demands for an LGBTQ+ resource center, saying BC supports its LGBTQ+ students in other ways. In 2005, BC canceled a dance hosted by the new GLBTQ Leadership Council, saying it promoted a lifestyle conflicting with Catholic values.
Many other colleges and universities have recently announced that they are divesting from fossil fuels, including the University of California, Cornell University, Middlebury College, and the University of Massachusetts. Seattle University and Georgetown University, two Jesuit schools, had both previously announced plans to divest from fossil fuels, citing commitments to sustainability inspired by their Jesuit Catholic values.
“Animated by our Catholic and Jesuit identity, our University has sought to strengthen opportunities for our community to contribute to a more sustainable future by fostering dialogue, research, education and the engagement of all members of our community,” Georgetown President John J. DeGioia said in a Georgetown release earlier this year.
In late February, BC agreed to conversations with CJBC surrounding environmental sustainability. Shortly after a meeting between CJBC, Associate Vice President for Student Engagement Tom Mogan, and Vice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore to set the agenda for the conversations, BC moved classes online for the semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mogan emailed CJBC in March postponing the conversations until students returned to campus in the fall and saying that preparation for the fall semester was the administration’s top priority.
Several days after CJBC participated in virtual Earth Day protests calling for “climate justice,” Mogan sent an email to CJBC member Kyle Rosenthal, CSOM ’21, in which he said he and Moore had been forwarded an email that Rosenthal sent to a senior administrator regarding divestment.
“Communications by you and members of your group that include demands and threats are counterproductive and work against your stated goal of having a productive dialogue,” Mogan wrote in the email.
“As I stated in my earlier communication, when we return to campus in the fall we will plan to set up a meeting, provided that you cease sending emails to senior administrators with language that includes demands and threats. If you would like to discuss this, I am happy to set up a Zoom call.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2020/06/25/bc-rejectingcall-from-vatican-to-divest/.
the needs of the students who may not be in the LGBTQIA+ community,” Katz said.
Megan Kelly News Editor By Julia Kiersznowski Assoc. News EditorSecretary of Labor and former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh signed a petition calling for Boston College to create an LGBTQ+ resource center on campus and include gender identity in the University’s nondiscrimination policy, according to BC Students 4 Equality and Walsh’s office.
“Having political leaders and prominent alumni like Secretary Walsh speak out is incredibly important because it shows BC there is broad community support for LGBTQ+ students on campus and that Father Leahy and the Board of Trustees cannot simply ignore student voices and hope these issues go away,” said James Mazareas, a BC graduate student who launched the petition in March of last year, in an email to The Heights
The petition has garnered high-profile support in the past, including a retweet from Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, and an endorsement from former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, both last March.
“I’m all on board for this,” Williamson tweeted. “These kids should have their needs met, and all of us should stand up for them.”
Walsh, BC ’09, was sworn in as U.S. secretary of labor last Tuesday after serving as the mayor of Boston for seven years. He officially resigned from office on March 22 following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
During his time as mayor, many praised Walsh for his LGBTQ+ policies, including the allocation of $2 million for Boston’s first LGBTQ+-supported senior housing development and support for legislation that would protect transgender people in Massachusetts from discrimination in public places.
Mazareas said he began talking to Walsh about LGBTQ+ issues on BC’s campus in 2018 when Walsh met with graduate student unions from BC and Harvard.
“Even though we already met about the union, later in the evening he was kind enough to take time to speak with me further about issues related to queer and trans students at BC,” he wrote. “He took time to listen and ask questions and was just very supportive.”
Alexandra Katz, a UGBC Student Assembly representative and Lynch ’23, said the University’s refusal to acknowledge the petition contributes to the underlying issue of alienation for LGBTQ+ students at BC.
“It very much adds to the permeating cultural norms that essentially prioritize
Katz said she thinks Walsh’s signature will pressure the administration to acknowledge and address the petition.
“I think this is incredibly significant, just the fact that he signed this petition in support of this community on campus,” Katz said. “… He has publicly asserted his desire to improve conditions for LGBTQIA+ students here, and this is an immense step in the right direction, because in my opinion, it places more pressure on administrators to openly respond to these cries for more tangible resources on campus.”
Students at BC have a decades-long history of advocating for an LGBTQ+ resource center and increased support from the University.
“An LGBTQ+ Resource Center would foster a strong sense of belonging and security among Queer and Trans students,” the BC Students 4 Equality petition reads.
“It would serve as a tangible sign of inclusion and care offered to LGBTQ+ students, who often have a more difficult time finding these vital necessities on campus.”
Mazareas referenced a 2018 Student Experience Survey in which LGBTQ+ students expressed that they were unsure if they were welcome or safe on campus.
“It is incredibly troubling that BC acknowledges its own data reveals queer and trans students don’t feel welcome or safe being out on campus, yet Father Leahy and the Board of Trustees still refuse to make necessary changes to create a safe and supportive environment,” he wrote.
Katz emphasized that a resource center would provide a space for LGBTQ+ students where their right to exist is not being constantly debated.
“At Boston College, there is not a space for LGBTQIA+ students to exist without having to experience the constant anxiety and fear that comes with having your identity constantly debated,” Katz said. “… Our most basic right to exist in society is just constantly being tossed around as a matter of casual discussion, and the fact that there is nowhere on campus for LGBTQIA+ students to feel protected and insulated from this constant scrutiny, that is what is most fearful to me.”
After the Vatican’s recent statement that the Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions, students called for BC to clarify its stance on LGBTQ+ rights and support its queer students and alumni.
BC’s Communication Department directed The Heights to faculty in the theology department, who were not immediately available for comment.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/04/01/marty-walshsigns-petition-calling-for-lgbtq-resourcecenter-at-bc/.
By Julia KiersznowsKi
Members of the Boston College community sent complaints beginning in the 1997-98 academic year to University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., accusing Rev. Ted Dziak, S.J., a Jesuit at BC from 1990 to 1998, of inappropriate conduct with students. Dziak—who went on to work at Jesuit schools in Jamaica, New Orleans, and New York—was accused last week of raping a postgraduate volunteer in Belize in 2004, according to nola.com.
In one instance, members of the chaplaincy—which is now Campus Ministry— submitted a letter to Leahy during the 1997-98 academic year containing student complaints about Dziak’s troublesome behavior.
In the spring of 1998, Dziak announced he would be leaving the University for a position at a school in Jamaica. Matt Stautberg, BC ’99, said he met with Leahy in the summer of 1998, while Dziak was on his way out of BC, to discuss the Ignacio Volunteers program, which Dziak had been directing since 1991. During this meeting, Stautberg said he also brought up Dziak’s troubling behavior.
“At that point I was more focused on continuing the program and finding us a new staff person to help,” Stautberg said. “But I did express that [Dziak] was inappropriate. Childlike stuff, where he wouldn’t talk to chaplaincy … My memory was that [Leahy] was very thoughtful and listened and [was] understanding.”
Stautberg also wrote a separate letter—
of which he sent Leahy a copy—in the fall of that year to Rev. Robert Levens, S.J., the provincial, or leader, of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus at the time. In the letter, which was obtained by The Heights, Stautberg describes how Dziak emotionally abused him and expressed that he did not think Dziak should continue working with young people.
Beth Eilers, BC ’97 and BCSOE ’99, also wrote a letter that was obtained by The Heights to Levens on March 18, 1999, where she emphasized Dziak’s pattern of emotional abuse. Leahy was copied on Eilers’ letter as well.
Tim Ballard, a DePaul University graduate and a volunteer who served from 2004 to 2006 through Jesuit Volunteers International (JVI)—an organization launched by Dziak—alleged that Dziak raped him four times during a trip to Belize. Three of those times, the two had been drinking together, Ballard said, and Ballard alleges that he was drugged all four times.
BC has not made any public statement regarding allegations against Dziak or whether Leahy read the letters sent to him, but directed The Heights to the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus, which was established in 2014 to combine the New England and New York provinces, and could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dziak and Levens could not be reached for comment. Dziak was also accused of engaging in inappropriate conduct toward students while at Loyola University New Orleans.
In 2011, when Dziak was director of the Jesuit Center at Loyola, Katrina Weschler, a member of the center, filed a complaint to human resources about Dziak based on student accounts of his behavior, according to nola.com. Dziak stayed at Loyola another nine years, officially leaving in 2020.
Though Dziak took over Ignacio Volunteers at BC in the 1990s, this was not his first time directing a volunteer service
program. Dziak launched JVI through Georgetown University in 1984, which placed college graduates into international service experiences, according to Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
Dennis Heaphy, an early volunteer at JVI, told nola.com that Dziak tried to get the two to watch movies and drink beer together, and the priest was angry when the invitations were denied. Dziak also kissed Heaphy on the head and said “I love you” while the two were traveling to Belize, Heaphy said.
Heaphy’s time in Belize was cut short by a diving accident that left him paralyzed, according to nola.com. Decades removed from the trip, Heaphy said he still remembers Dziak’s actions.“Ted used the classic steps of a pathological abuser,” Heaphy said to nola.com. Jeffrey Robinson, BC ’00, attended a trip to Belize with Dziak through BC’s Ignacio Volunteers program. Robinson said that Dziak encouraged the attendees to change their clothes in front of one another during the trip.
“He came into the room and was visibly upset or emotionally upset, and what he said to us was ‘This group doesn’t seem to be open with one another,’” Robinson said. “‘The group that I took here last time got naked around each other much more frequently. They were a lot more open with their nudity, you know, and I don’t feel that this group has achieved that level of comfort yet.’”
Jose Tamayo, BC ’97, said he volunteered with Ignacio Volunteers in Jamaica his senior year and in Belize the following winter as a group leader. Tamayo said that during the first trip he had a friendly and light relationship with Dziak, but noticed that the graduate group leaders constantly seemed exhausted.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/04/26/complaintssent-to-leahy-and-jesuit-years-prior-torape-allegations/.
This story was originally published on March 1, 2021.
By Julia landwehr Heights StaffYik Yak, Snapchat, Yolo, Ask.Fm, and now, Herrd. There seems to be something so enticing about the ability to post anonymously.
“It’s a tight knit community I’d say, even though it’s anonymous,” Isaiah Mathieu, co-founder of Herrd, a new app for Boston College students, said.
“For example, if you go and scroll through the app you’ll see a bunch of posts and the majority of them, they relate to BC in some way, shape, or form. So, it’s sort of like, ‘If you know you know.’” Herrd co-founders Mathieu and
Carter Beaulieu, both BC ’20, began working on an app during their senior year at BC in order to help people learn more about what events were happening in their area and who would be attending them.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and there were no longer events taking place, Mathieu and Beaulieu had to shift their plans. Their solution?
A platform where BC students could communicate anonymously.
“COVID was sort of a blessing in disguise, because after we all got booted off campus the second semester of last year, Herrd, I feel, has allowed students to stay connected,” Mathieu said.
Herrd has about 2,000 sign-ups and 500 active users, who anonymously post questions, memes, or anything that’s on their mind. Other users can up
or downvote a post—somewhat akin to likes or dislikes on other social media platforms—and can comment and chat with each other.
“It’s all anonymous, so at the end of the day if your post gets upvoted you can just feel good inside, but there’s no superficial stuff,” Beaulieu said.
Though anonymous online communities are not a novel concept, Beaulieu and Mathieu wanted to make Herrd distinctly different in their approach to safety and the monitoring of posts.
All Herrd users must have a valid BC email to use the app—a move meant to make it easier for the founders to trace harmful or hateful content back to whoever posted it.
Though the veil of anonymity might encourage people to post something offensive, Mathieu and Beaulieu believe that having students’ emails connected to their profiles makes them think twice before posting something negative.
They’ve only received one incident so far in which a student’s content violated Herrd’s terms of service, and the user’s account was subsequently suspended. Mathieu and Beaulieu also said that if they deem content harmful enough, they would consider getting the BC administration involved in the case. Though Mathieu and Beaulieu are always on the lookout for reports of offensive content to make sure
Herrd is a safe and welcoming online community, students have still been enjoying the app.
The co-founders said that the most trendy posts right now are jokes and discussions about the UGBC presidential election and Kirkwood Cookies, a student-run company that delivers cookies to the BC community.
Students using the app have been forming new connections—something Mathieu and Beaulieu are proud of, especially in the era of COVID-19—and are asking for new features to be added to the app.
Though Mathieu and Beaulieu both have full-time jobs and have to manage Herrd on the side, they’re planning to launch a messaging function soon so that students can connect with each other one-on-one.
Looking to the future, Beaulieu and Mathieu said that they are excited for what’s to come. Though BC is functioning like a test community for now, they hope that Herrd can one day expand to other college campuses, or even beyond, incorporating event information from their first app, anonymous chatting, and other new features.
“I think it can be kind of your all-inclusive hub to understand everything that’s going on and ask questions and do stuff like that,” Beaulieu said.
The partners said that they are utilizing different promotional strategies
to grow Herrd’s user base. Mathieu, who primarily handles the business end of the project, said they use social media, student ambassadors, and partnerships with local businesses as avenues to grow.
Josh Gottbetter, a student ambassador for Herrd and CSOM ’22, helps Beaulieu and Mathieu stay connected to what’s happening on campus.
He said that he provides context for topics that students are talking about on Herrd, helps advertise the app on social media, and monitors posts for negative content.
Though he’s seen conversations become toxic and overly political at times, Gottbetter believes in the app’s mission and thinks students really enjoy having access to a community like Herrd.
“I think the coolest thing was when I started to see people posting about it that I didn’t even know, people on their Snapchat stories were like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this app is free,’” Gottbetter said.
Part of making Herrd sustainable is securing revenue, Gottbetter said, so he helps Mathieu and Beaulieu make connections with local businesses and potential advertisers.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2021/03/01/bcgrads-create-anonymous-social-me
This story was originally published on Jan. 20, 2022.
By amy PaLmer Assoc. News EditorThe arrival of the highly anticipated Integrated Science Building at Boston College has attracted visitors from all over campus, which is exactly what it was made to do.
“This building is designed to bring in faculty and students from across all disciplines to solve complex problems,” Tom Chiles, vice provost for research and academic planning, said.
The Integrated Science Building is also known as 245 Beacon—not to be confused with the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society that is housed within the building. It officially opened on Tuesday after around two years of construction.
The five-story, 150,000-square-foot building’s construction cost $150 million and is part of a $300 million total investment BC plans to make in the sciences, according to Ed Hayward, senior associate director of University communications.
One of the key themes of 245 Beacon is transparency, with more windows than any other building on campus and lots of interior glass, said Chiles, who was involved in its planning.
“This notion of transparency is to
allow people to come together and talk and collaborate,” Chiles said.
Mia Astralaga, MCAS ’24, said she was both excited and nervous to have her environmental sociology class in the new building.
“I was pretty excited to see where it was,” Astralaga said. “I was a little bit nervous [about] the classroom, just because some of those classrooms are kind of like fishbowls, like you can see directly through them.”
By allowing people to see everything happening, Chiles said he hopes curiosity will draw people in and help get them involved with 245 Beacon.
“If you’re outside, regardless of your major, we want you to see what’s going on, and we want to draw you in because your ideas are just as important,” Chiles said.
This academic building is the latest in a series of developments across campus that are part of the University’s 10-year
Institutional Master Plan, which called for the construction and renovation of academic buildings, housing, and facilities across campus. Chiles said the Integrated Science Building is not just for the sciences, but is really a hub for the entire school.
“It’s a hub to come and imagine, whatever your major is, and … if you want to extract that imagination out of your head and into something, we have the facilities for you to do that, and we have the staff and the faculty to do that,” Chiles said.
One of the main ways Chiles hopes to attract students to 245 Beacon is the Tully Cafe, which features Mediterranean bowls as well as a selection of drinks and beverages. The first-floor cafe offers both indoor and outdoor seating.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/01/20/integrated-science-building-opens-on-campus/.
By the time Haraden Bottomley and his roommates woke up in their Mod Saturday morning, none of their showers were turning on.
“We were like, ‘That’s pretty strange,’” Bottomley, MCAS ’23, said. “And then we realized that only cold water was coming
said their
soon started working again. Upon walking downstairs, however, he and his roommates saw water pouring out of an electrical outlet mounted on the ceiling. And the events at Bottomley’s Mod are not an anomaly—pipes froze throughout Boston College’s campus due to dangerously low temperatures from the arctic blast that swept the Greater Boston area this weekend.
On the other side of campus, Carney Dining Hall temporarily closed due to flooding caused by frozen pipes this morning, according to an Instagram post from BC Dining. Read the full story online at https://www.
This story was originally published on Feb. 5, 2021.
By Haley Hockin Special Projects Editor Julia Kiersznowski Assoc. News Editor and Megan Kelly News EditorDestiny Gonzalez returned to her dorm in Xavier Hall around 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday night to a commotion on the third floor.
“I’m asking one of the girls [on Xavier 3] what happened, and she said two boys had walked down the hallway, chanting, ‘colored girls this, colored girls that,’” Gonzalez, a resident of the third floor and MCAS ’24, said. “But screaming at the top of their lungs, so it’s not, like, whispers or anything. They wanted people to hear.”
Tuesday’s event is the latest in a series of reports of racially motivated incidents from the residents of the Multicultural Learning Experience (MLE) floor of Xavier Hall, where residents have described instances of vandalism and harassment dating back to last semester.
A student who lives on Xavier 3 and was granted anonymity by The Heights said she and her friend were walking down the hallway on Tuesday night when they saw two male students walking down the hallway.
“We heard them singing a song, but we weren’t paying any mind to it because we were just still in the hallway trying to get into my room, and then they said something in the song about ‘colored girls,’” she said.
Gonzalez and Letacianna Stoudmire, another MLE resident and MCAS ’24, con-
firmed that the two male students had used the term “colored girls” while walking down the hallway.
The anonymous student said the two boys then went into a room in the Loyola 3 hallway, which is adjacent to Xavier 3, and tried to hide from the MLE residents, which Gonzalez and Stoudmire confirmed.
“And then they kind of took off … towards Claver and Loyola, and two or three girls hid them in their room,” Stoudmire said. “
… There was a big problem because [the girls] were trying to say that like, ‘There are no guys there.’ Basically just calling us liars.”
Many members of the MLE hallway heard the commotion and gathered in the hallway, according to Gonzalez.
“By this point, the whole MLE floor is out, [and] we’re angry,” Gonzalez said.
The resident director took statements from the MLE residents who witnessed the event, talked to the two male students for a short period of time, took down their names, and let the boys go, according to three sources who witnessed the event.
“They get to walk out of the building,” Gonzalez said. “So that angers the hall a lot, because [the RD] spent 20 minutes taking statements from … the girls who were there the whole time, which I think [was] three or four girls. He spent a long time talking to us. The boys, it was maybe 30 seconds. And they got to walk out.”
Gonzalez said it was frustrating for the residents on Xavier 3 not knowing whether the two male students would be punished.
“We know that they’re still on this campus somewhere, probably making another person of color uncomfortable,” Gonzalez said.
The anonymous student described previous incidents on the MLE hallway last semester, which were confirmed by multiple sources, that she believes were racially motivated, from people banging on their doors in the middle of the night to tearing down hallway decorations and name tags.
“We also had guys walking through our hall, just like trying to make fun of us basically like, ‘Oh haha, this is the MLE floor,’” Stoudmire said. “And then when my friends opened their door to see who it was, they kind of ran, so obviously they had some malicious intent behind what they were saying.”
Executive Vice President and Acting Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Lochhead addressed the multiple reports of bias-motivated behavior on the MLE floor in an email on Wednesday. The email referenced the allegations of the students singing a song with racist lyrics, another incident of students laughing while in the hallway, and earlier reports of vandalism in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“No one at Boston College should ever be made to feel unsafe or threatened, particularly within the confines of their residence hall,” Lochhead wrote. “This conduct will simply not be tolerated.”
The events of the past week have left some residents of the MLE floor feeling on edge.
“Honestly, last night, I was scared to go to sleep,” Gonzalez said on Wednesday. “This has happened three out of the four nights that we’ve been back to school.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/02/05/mle-residents-report-pattern-of-harassment-in-xavier-hall/.
This story was originally published on Feb. 14, 2023.
By Lucy Freeman Asst. News EditorIn a sold-out auditorium on Tuesday night, Terrence Floyd shared the story of how he first met his brother George Floyd at a family gathering.
Floyd said they were able to form a strong connection, but just four years after that day, in May of 2020, his brother was taken from him.
“That’s why this story is so powerful to me,” Floyd said. “And I still want to speak for my brother, because I got a chance to hear what he had to say, hear what he wanted to do, hear his plans.”
UGBC hosted Floyd in Robsham Theater at an event titled “In Conversation with Terrence Floyd.” Upon entering the
auditorium, attendees were handed a slip of paper with the name of a victim of police brutality on it. There was a moment of silence to honor these victims before Floyd was brought onstage.
Floyd is the founder of We Are Floyd, a nonprofit organization that he started after his brother George Floyd was killed by a police officer in 2020, which spurred protests and debates about police brutality across the United States.
Floyd said his friends encouraged him to start his nonprofit after they saw him deliver a speech about his brother’s death that resonated with people.
Floyd said he later gave a different talk at his former elementary school, where he realized how his brother’s death affected people of all ages.
“These children need to heal, the young adults need to heal, and the adults need to heal,” Floyd said. “So that’s what I’ve been
doing now, as far as We Are Floyd, going around to different schools … I basically thrive off of going into schools and talking to the students.”
According to Floyd, his conversation about his brother’s death and legacy was not about race, but about issues that affect all human beings.
“I’m speaking for my brother tonight,” Floyd said. “I’m not speaking for myself. So I want whatever he would say to you, whatever answers he would give to you, I want to be able to give to you. I want to be able to let you know that it’s not a Black or white thing, but it’s a human being thing.”
Floyd then spoke about his relationship with his brother, sharing that even when they had fights, they still loved each other. According to Floyd, he looked up to his brother and gained advice from him.
“I want people to understand he was the type of person to look up to, to get advice
from, just to be that shoulder,” Floyd said.
“He wasn’t, you know, the demon that social media tried to make him out to be. He was a real person.”
Since his brother’s death, Floyd said he has carried on by helping others.
“I just put my purpose before my pain, if that makes sense,” Floyd said. “You know, because my pain is going to help someone else. And prayerfully—not hopefully, prayerfully—it’ll stop it from happening or hitting somebody else’s doorstep.”
Floyd encouraged the audience to advocate for equality by posting on social media and exercising the right to vote.
“Don’t think your voice don’t matter,” Floyd said. “Educate yourself and vote. Don’t just vote for who your friend is voting for, or what you feel is comfortable.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/14/purpose-beforemy-pain-terrence-floyd-highlights-advocacy-at-ugbc-event/.
This story was originally published on March 11, 2020.
By oweN fahy Special Projects Editor
On-campus classes and all University courses are canceled beginning Thursday and are set to resume online starting March 19 as a result of the novel coronavirus, according to a letter University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., sent to the Boston College community Wednesday afternoon.
Students will be required to move out of University residence halls beginning Thursday at 3 p.m. and ending on Sunday at 9 p.m.
Those who cannot return to their homes are permitted to stay on-campus if they can provide evidence of “serious personal reasons,” international travel restrictions, or university obligations, according to the email. The Office of Residential Life must grant permission, and these students will likely be required to relocate elsewhere on campus.
Leahy reaffirmed previous University statements that no one at BC has contracted the coronavirus but said that the move was made to prevent the spread on campus and in the community.
All on-campus academic events have been suspended, in addition to all Uni-
versity-sponsored travel unless approved by the provost, executive vice president, or Office of the President. The email says that all other University operations will continue at this time.
Some schools, departments, and individual professors had already moved their classes online in advance of this notice as early as Monday, while others had altered their attendance policies.
Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley and Vice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore will be communicating with students to provide more details.
“I realize that these decisions will bring challenges to many at Boston College, particularly members of the Class of 2020,” Leahy said in the email. “But knowing the abundant spirit, generosity, and commitment of our University community, I am confident that we will resolve any issues we face, and I ask that you join me in praying for those affected throughout the world by COVID-19.”
BC had previously closed study abroad programs in China, Italy, South Korea, and Madrid. There has been no notice of plans for other study abroad programs.
The email advises those with urgent questions to email covid19@bc.edu.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2020/03/11/university-moves-classes-online/.
This story was originally published on Oct 14, 2022.
By eriN ShaNNoN News Editor Natalie arNdt Newsletter EditorA masked individual attempted to break into an off-campus house on Kirkwood Rd. on Thursday night at around 10:15 p.m., according to a Boston College Police Department (BCPD) bulletin.
“The victim reported that an uniden-
This story was originally published on Sept. 18, 2022.
By olivia JouNg News Editor Natalie arNdt Assoc. News EditorThe Boston College Police Department (BCPD) is currently investigating reports of fraudulent credit card activity following purchases of online tickets for campus events, according to an email University administrators sent to the BC community on Friday.
“The reports concern transactions involving online tickets purchased through AudienceView’s website in January and February of 2023, and do not pertain to tickets purchased in person at the Robsham Theater Box Office, or for tickets sold by BC Athletics,” the email reads.
The tickets were purchased through the University ticketing website, which is hosted by the third-party vendor AudienceView, according to the email. AudienceView said the fraudulent activity resulted from a security issue that occurred within the company.
“In a notice to Boston College, AudienceView confirmed that a security incident involving consumers’ credit card information had occurred at their organization, which affected individuals at several colleges and universities that use their service,” the email reads.
Britton Smith—whose credit card information was stolen after buying an online ticket—woke up the morning of Feb. 14 with two texts from his billing provider, alerting him to a charge at Walmart as well as a series of other purchases he did not make.
“One was like a $400 purchase at Viasat … that got declined and then a $2000
purchase at Lowe’s, which was declined,” Smith, CSOM ’24, said. “And then I received an email as well on my BC email, saying that I’d been signed up for like a Milo’s membership or something like that.”
Looking back at his prior purchases, Smith said the only one that stuck out as a potential cause of the suspicious card activity was a recent charge from the Robsham Box Office for a ticket to the ALC Ball on Feb. 1.
“But that didn’t really click until my mom saw on the BC parents Facebook that a bunch of other BC students have apparently gotten their credit card info stolen,” Smith said. “So, I looked through Herrd, and, yeah, I saw a bunch of other people who had the same experience.”
Emily Hyder, MCAS ’23; Maddy Mitchell, CSOM ’23; and Kayla Vidal, MCAS ’23, were all notified of fraudulent charges to their credit cards after purchasing tickets to the 100 Days Dance from Robsham Box Office.
“The Wednesday after [the dance], I got a notification from my credit card that said that someone was trying to spend $375 at Walmart.com,” Hyder said. “So I called, and I canceled the card, and then I went on to my statement online, and it said that someone had just spent $50 on Amazon and also bought an Amazon Prime membership.”
Mitchell first noticed a fraudulent charge on Feb. 16 for an $180 purchase in a Walmart in Bentonville, Ark.
“Obviously, I was not in Arkansas,” Mitchell said. “So I texted my mom and basically just ended up … reporting the charge as fraud and canceling my debit card because it said it came through my debit card … and issued myself a new one.”
By Tuesday, Mitchell said she began hearing about students who had similar experiences.
“A lot of other people were also saying charges from Walmart in Arkansas and obviously like various other ones as well … so I realized that it was connected to a bigger thing and not just a personal thing that I had dealt with,” Mitchell said.
Vidal received texts from her bank account notifying her of the fraudulent charges on the night of Feb. 22, two weeks after she bought a ticket for the 100 Days Dance.
“I got a text overnight that was like please verify these claims,” Vidal said. “A couple of them were the ones … that I have made but the last couple were the ones from Walmart. And I think it was $152 that they charged on my card on my account to Walmart.”
Vidal said she realized the charges were related to her purchase through Robsham after hearing how other students were affected.
“I didn’t really use my card much,” Vidal said. “So like the common denominator in terms of what people have been thinking, for me, would just be the dance. I didn’t charge it anywhere else.”
According to the email, AudienceView is currently in the process of identifying a list of those potentially impacted by the security issue and will communicate directly with them either through letter or email. For the time being, online ticket sales through AudienceView will be suspended until the issue is resolved.
“We regret that some members of the BC community who purchased online tickets for campus events through this vendor’s platform have been affected by this security issue,” the email reads.
“We encourage you to look out for correspondence from AudienceView in the coming days, and follow the company’s recommendations to protect yourself from fraudulent activity.” n
tified male, thin build, approximately 6 foot tall, wearing a white REI zip-up rain hoodie, light-colored cloth mask and black gloves had attempted to gain access into the residence on two different occasions this date,” the bulletin reads.
The bulletin states that both BCPD and the Boston Police Department responded to the incident. The suspect was observed leaving the area in what appeared to be a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler or a similar vehicle. For students like Tierney Wold, MCAS ’24, living close to the house where
the attempted break-in occured is nerve-wracking.
“I don’t live in the house that had the attempted break-in,” Wold said. “I live three doors down from it, and I know a couple of people in there vaguely, so that was kind of scary because like they are people that I know of, and it seemed very real.”
Read the full story online at: https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/10/14/ masked-individual-attempts-to-breakinto-off-campus-house/.
This story was originally published on Sept. 18, 2022.
By eriN ShaNNoN News Editor amy Palmer Assoc. News Editor aNd Sofia laBoy Asst. News EditorWhen the Student Organization Funding Committee (SOFC) informed club leaders that it had already allocated its entire budget for the semester, Hollywood Eagles President Dominic Floreno said the news spread like a shockwave through campus.
“SOFC point blank is the lifeline,” Floreno said. “It’s like the IV drip … for all clubs on campus. … It is the only thing that keeps all the clubs alive because it’s where all the money comes from.”
The chairman of SOFC emailed club leaders on Thursday that the organization reached its maximum allocation after approving over 170 budget requests. As a result, SOFC will no longer be accepting any appeals or line item requests for the semester, the email states.
According to SOFC Chairman Ethan Guell, the club is composed of
17 to 20 undergraduate students that make decisions on proposed club budgets before they are sent to the Office of Student Involvement (OSI). The organization is overseen by a graduate advisor and a full-time advisor.
During his three years on SOFC, Guell said he has never seen the club commit all of its funds for one semester. Running out of money in September is unusual, he said, but it indicates that SOFC is funding a lot more than before.
“I think while I didn’t expect this to happen, it’s a great thing for a lot of clubs since they’re getting to spend more money than they have in the past,” Guell said.
Lexie Arteaga, co-vice president of Boston College’s dance club Phaymus and MCAS ’23, said she was shocked SOFC had run through its funding so quickly and worried about how it would affect her club.
The news from SOFC also caught Will Manzi, treasurer of the German Club and CSOM ’23, completely off guard.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/09/18/sofcruns-out-of-funds-for-fall-semesterdisallows-new-budget-requests/.
This story was originally published on May 9, 2022.
By Natalie arNdt Newsletter EditorHundreds of Boston College students cheered “Jacob, Jacob” as Jacob Elias walked onto the Upper Campus Basketball Courts Sunday evening for the “Jacob Elias Pizza Party.”
“It was the most magnificent pizza party—and probably event—that Upper [Campus] has ever experienced in the history of Boston College,” Martin Brozman, MCAS ’25, said. “The turnout was magnificent. The execution of the planning committee was marvelous. And the pizza tasted phenomenal.” Elias, CSOM ’25, said he spent nearly $1,000 of his meal plan to supply the BC community with 60 pizzas, as well
as 48 brownies and cookies, from Lower Dining Hall.
As the semester nears an end, Elias said he had too much money left over on his meal plan and wanted to give back to the BC community.
“I overheard some of my roommates talking about [a Gavel article] that basically said you can host a pizza party with your meal plan money,” he said.
“And I said, ‘Hey, I have about $1,200, why not just do something to give back, you know, because I’m leaving soon.’”
Elias said he wanted to create a space for BC students to destress from final exams and to provide food for those who have less meal plan money.
“I personally don’t even eat a lot of BC dining food, which for me, I think is actually a privilege because a lot of people don’t have that luxury,” Elias said. “A lot of people can go out to eat,
and a lot of people can do Uber Eats, but I know that a lot of low-income students don’t have that privilege. So I knew how important this would be for some people, so I decided to get as much pizza as I could.”
Elias said that the Office of Residential Life contacted him with concerns about the event and advised him that he should cancel it.
“[ResLife] gave amazing points [over the phone],” Elias said. “[ResLife] mentioned how it’s quiet hours 24/7 [for exams] … and we made sure everything was quiet and peaceful. I understand a lot of people are studying.”
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/05/09/student-planned-pizza-party-brings-hundreds-of-undergraduates-to-upper-campus/.
Editor’s Note: Newton editors Connor Siemien, Shruthi Sriram, and Ella Song have compiled the most prominent stories of Newton reported during the Class of 2023’s time at Boston College. The following local news stories shaped the community the University resides in during the last 4 years.
raignment on Wednesday according to The Boston Globe. She is due for her next court appearance on Oct. 31.
Police determined that 43-year-old Ke, a former tenant of Garber, had allegedly stolen over $40,000 from Garber through forged checks and had allegedly been spending time with Garber in the days before his body was found, Ryan said. Garber confronted Ke about the theft sometime between last Thursday and Sunday, according to the district attorney. Ke then allegedly struck and killed Garber, Ryan said.
This story was originally published on Sept. 28, 2022.
By Victor StefaneScuMetro Editor GaVin ZhanG
Assoc. Metro Editor
Newton resident Xiu Fang Ke pleaded not guilty to murder in Newton District Court Wednesday after a
65-year-old man was found dead in his Newtonville home Tuesday, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. Police found Leonard Garber wrapped in a curtain and pressed under construction materials and other heavy items at his Mt. Vernon Terrace home at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Ryan said at a press conference.
Ke, charged with the murder of Garber, pleaded not guilty at her ar-
Family reported Garber missing on Monday evening.
Officials saw an individual identified as Ke enter and exit Garber’s home multiple times in the days prior to Tuesday in surveillance camera footage, according to Ryan.
Police had previously visited the home on Monday when Garber was first reported missing but did not locate him. They visited again early Tuesday before finding Garber’s body in the afternoon,
the district attorney said.
Based on preliminary investigation, the body appeared to be hidden and left in the front hallway of the home for several days, Ryan said.
Police arrested Ke Wednesday morning without incident, according to Ryan.
Mt. Vernon Terrace is a no-through street with only a handful of houses. Patrick Hamilton has lived across the street from Garber’s home for nearly 25 years.
Hamilton said Garber had been a good neighbor. He also said that before Garber moved in, college students and other random groups rented the property.
“When he came in here, the house across the street was kind of run down,” he said. “He bought it, fixed it up a lot.”
The Mt. Vernon Terrace home sits in the Newtonville Historic District and was built in 1880. It is nearly 4,000 square feet, and the city assessed its value at $1.22 million in 2022. Garber bought the home in 1999.
When Hamilton heard Garber was
missing, he said he hoped the neighbor had taken an unannounced trip. He felt shocked when he found out Garber had died, he said.
“You don’t think it’s going to happen to someone across the street,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the police became less communicative with neighbors as time went on after Garber had been reported missing.
“The police didn’t tell us much of what was going on,” Hamilton said. “The first officers that came here we talked to, and they were looking for him as a missing person, but as it went on, they would say less and less. But I don’t blame them for that.”
The Globe reported this is the first homicide in the City of Newton since 2009.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/09/28/formertenant-arraigned-in-court-after-newtonville-man-found-dead-official-says/.
This story was originally published on April 3, 2022.
By Julia remick Digital Director connor Siemien Asst. Metro Editor and oliVia JounG Copy EditorAlana McCarthy, a teaching assistant at Oak Hill Middle School, repurposed one of her classroom posters into a protest sign. She wrote “Art, Music, Special Education, and Mental Health” in marker on jagged pieces of printer paper and glued them above the words “School Looks Different With Cuts.”
McCarthy said her homemade sign depicts how she feels about the possibility of Newton Public Schools (NPS) cutting important faculty and staff positions as a result of a budget deficit.
“Everyone in Newton cares so much about their children’s education—how could we support them taking anything away?” McCarthy said.
McCarthy—with her handmade sign—took a stand against proposed layoffs and position cuts at Newton Public Schools. Over 300 teachers, parents, and students attended the “Stop the Cuts” rally organized by the Newton Teachers Association (NTA) on Thursday.
Much of the NPS community first learned of the 74 potential faculty and staff position cuts from David Fleishman, NPS superintendent, on March 8. The district’s fiscal year 2023 budget, though, increased by nearly $9 million from fiscal year 2022.
The main reason for the cuts is a $4 million budget gap, according to Fleishman’s presentation. It is Massachusetts law to balance the school budget.
Wielding blue and yellow “Fund the Schools” signs, rally-goers walked around Newton City Hall to protest the proposed staff cuts for NPS next year. Their “Stop the Cuts” and “Fund our Schools” chants
were met with supportive honking from passing cars.
Last week, the Newton School Committee and leaders from NPS met on three nights to present the details of the 2023 fiscal year budget.
The representatives gave detailed summaries of the budget at the meetings. They went over which positions NPS proposes to cut, including literacy and math interventionists. They also discussed a projected strain on school resources, such as heightened caseloads for guidance counselors.
Several School Committee members said cutting staff positions should be the district’s last resort.
“We are in the exact opposite situation I had hoped we’d be in,” said Rajeev Parlikar, a Newton School Committee member from Ward 1, on Monday night.
“We are taking things away when we should be building them up.”
McCarthy said students in special education are struggling more than other groups of students in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a sentiment that another NPS special education teacher, Elizabeth Opiyo, also expressed.
Opiyo said that despite politicians speaking about how much students are suffering, the budget cuts will limit the resources available to them in elementary, middle, and high schools.
“The school board says, ‘Our big mission is to care about the mental health of our students,’ and then turn around and say, ‘Well, one of the areas that we’re definitely cutting is mental health,’” Opiyo said. “That’s just surprising.”
The potential consequence of the proposed NPS budget for the fiscal year 2023 is strongest in the district’s counseling departments, according to Henry Turner, Newton North High School principal.
2023: Newton
This story was originally published on Feb. 13, 2023.
By connor Siemien Newton Editor ella SonG Asst. Newton EditorOn March 14, Newton residents will vote on three ballot questions regarding Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s proposed $15 million tax increase in compliance with Massachusetts’ Proposition 2 ½ procedure. According to the proposition, Massachusetts municipalities cannot raise property taxes by more than 2.5 percent annually without community approval via an override vote. Newton’s present ballot includes one operating override question, which will permanently increase Newton’s taxes by $9.175 million a year for general operating and capital expenses. The other two ballot questions are regarding debt overrides, which would temporarily raise taxes by $2.3 million and $3.5 million, respectively, to cover the reconstruction of Countryside Elementary School and Franklin Elementary School. Residents will vote on all three questions separately, allowing for the passage of one, two, all, or none of the questions.
Supporters of the Override
With the March 14 special election date drawing closer, Newton residents supporting an override vote have become more determined to make their case heard.
“This is the place that we live, and this is a moment where we can make the investment … that we need,” Kerry Prasad, Newton resident and co-founder of Vote Yes for Newton, said. “It’s like sometimes, you have to replace your roof, and no one can see it and no one even thinks you did it, and it costs money, but you have to do it to keep everything in order.”
Vote Yes for Newton is a pro-override campaign working to garner support for the tax override ahead of the special election. Christine Dutt, another co-founder and Newton resident, said her and Prasad’s frustration with the city’s underfunded schools motivated the project.
“There’s been a structural deficit in the [Newton Public Schools] budget for a couple of years, and it does predate the pandemic,” Dutt said. “And so Newton needs to find a renewable and reliable source of funds for its operating expenses.”
Newton Public Schools (NPS) needs the override money to avoid more budget cuts, according to Dutt. Even if the override passes, NPS predicts a $2 to 4 million budget shortfall, compared to the predicted $6 to 8 million shortfall should the override fail.
Two of the three ballot questions are debt exclusion questions regarding the funding of reconstruction for two elementary
schools within the city. A debt exclusion override is a tax raise that expires when the city-proposed funding for the project is achieved.
Prasad, whose children previously attended Countryside Elementary School, which would receive funding from the override, expressed frustration with the building.
“Countryside was built in a floodplain, so the basement is always flooded,” Prasad said. “It just depends on how deep the water is, which is not healthy for people to be working or going to school.”
The Countryside Elementary School Building Project—the city’s initiative for Countryside’s reconstruction—is in the feasibility design phase in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), but the MSBA will review the project if the override fails, a document from the organization reads.
Franklin Elementary School—which is the other school included in a debt exclusion question—is also in need of repair, Prasad said.
“It’s 85 years old, and it has problems with the heating, there’s flooding problems,” Prasad said. “My favorite fun fact about it is there’s a little room that was built as a bicycle storage space in 1938. Just like so quaint, pre–World War II, and that is the art room now. So there’s not enough room.”
Beyond renovation, Mike Zilles, president of the Newton Teachers Association, said the passage of the override would provide the funding needed for educator pay.
“We’re in the middle of a contract negotiation,” Zilles said. “If the override doesn’t pass, they’re not going to offer us much money in contract negotiations.”
The Newton Teachers Association said one of the reasons it is advocating strongly for the override and other initiatives that would dedicate more funding to the school system is that the budget deficit is detrimental to teachers.
“Next Tuesday and Wednesday, we’re going to be holding standouts in front of all of the school buildings in the city of Newton,” Zilles said. “They will be educator community standouts—every building, 22 buildings.”
According to Newton resident Laura Towvim, budget problems pose a threat to her children’s education.
“You don’t just find money, it doesn’t grow on trees,” Towvim said. “I’m worried for my own children in terms of availability of courses they can take in high school, if there are less spaces for AP classes, for example, or honors classes. Or electives getting cut, or athletics might be impacted.”
In addition to education, the override will also bolster Newton’s sustainability efforts, incorporating sustainability into the reconstructed school buildings, Prasad said.
“It is our stated purpose in the city that we will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” she said. “So the new school buildings … are going to be carbon neutral, zero carbon footprint buildings.”
Other areas—such as senior services, streets and traffic safety, and green spaces—also require more funding through the override, according to Prasad.
“The amount that the city has been able to raise taxes has just, hasn’t kept up with the cost of everything else over the past 10 years,” Prasad said.
Towvim said her prior experience with a failed tax override in Newton is a reminder of the upcoming vote’s pressing nature.
“There was an override in 2008 that failed, and what they said was that the libraries would all close,” she said. “We had, I think, like four to six branch libraries, and we have a main library. The main library stayed open, but all the branch libraries closed. And people were shocked.”
An override is not without its individual financial downsides, according to Prasad. She said to mitigate the difficulties of a tax raise, residents can look to city resources.
“There are tax assistance programs that the city has—seven tax assistance programs … for injured veterans, and for elderly—for people over the age of 70 who are on fixed incomes,” Prasad said.
Ultimately, according to Towvim, the proposed override is about paying for the features Newton residents want.
“People want first-rate education for their children,” Towvim said. “People want nice roads, and streets, and trees, and all these things, and you have to pay for it. It doesn’t just happen.”
Opponents of the Override
Newton’s proposal to override Proposition 2 ½ is misguided, according to some political and business leaders in the city.
“I have said to everybody that this proposal for an override is way premature, and doesn’t reflect what the current conditions are, and the current monies that are there and set aside for reducing the tax rate,” Paul Coletti, a Ward 5 alderman—the previous title for city councilors in the city—for 32 years and chair of Newton’s finance committee from 1984 to 2009, said.
Randy Bock, president of the Newton Taxpayers Association, said the city should examine the funds it already has.
“Right now we have a current budget in excess of a half a billion dollars, and at least $30 million in unspent cash at the end of 2022 and $35 million in unused federal funds,” Bock said. “This Mayor insists on an additional $15 million in taxes.” Read
der two weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy implored the U.S. Congress to do more for his country.
This story was originally published on March 19, 2023.
By Connor Siemien Newton EditorMount Alvernia High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Newton, will close at the conclusion of the 2022–23 academic year, according to a release from the school’s board of directors and the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who own the property at 790 Centre St.
Following the announcement, several alumni of the school spoke out against the decision on Facebook, calling it detrimental to the education of young women. A petition on Change.org has gathered 3,548 signatures by the time of publication.
graduated 26 girls, and some of my best friends to this day are from high school,” Joyce said. “We had outstanding faculty, a real, true sense of community, and to this day we all get together because of our friendships that developed.”
The Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception said the school will close because the sisters are no longer able to live on the property where the school is located.
“As they move, it will be unsustainable for MAHS to continue alone, and the property on which the school sits will be sold,” the release reads. “The MAHS Board of Directors worked tirelessly to explore all options, including maintaining the MAHS community in a new location, if at all possible.”
and the school believes deeply in cultivating women of courage who are ready to create their own individual future,” the release reads.
Joyce said she has questions about the sisters’ approach to selling the school.
“I believe the sisters could have been more creative—they could have shown more leadership,” Joyce said. “I believe the sisters could have shown more leadership, and be more creative and could have brokered a deal—a future deal—that included the school, not just the sale of the land for money.”
The Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception did not respond to three requests for comment.
Both the City of Newton and Boston College have shown interest in buying the land where the school currently resides.
By Victor Stefanescu Metro EditorCongressman Jake Auchincloss said the United States should consider threatening sanctions against China at a Newton rally for Ukraine on Friday—the same day U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNBC such actions would not be appropriate.
Auchincloss said China has implicitly supported Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
“China needs to know that they cannot sit on the sidelines of history,” said Auchincloss, who represents Massachusetts’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. “They will be judged, and they must stand on the right side.”
Auchincloss joined Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, other Massachusetts politicians, and over 100 residents in calling for more efforts at home and abroad to support refugees and bring an end to the conflict.
Both Auchincloss and Fuller said they hoped the U.S. would accept more Ukrainian refugees following President Joe Biden’s administration’s announcement on Thursday to accept up to 100,000 refugees.
“Our country is ready to take in 100,000 refugees from this war,” Fuller said. “I hope we can do better. I actually think we must do better.”
State-level politicians at the rally said the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a role to play in the conflict as well.
Cynthia Stone Creem, a state senator representing the 1st Middlesex and Norfolk district, which includes Newton, said Massachusetts is terminating all of its contracts with Russian state-owned businesses.
The State House also approved $10 million in mid-year spending to assist Ukrainian resettlement this month, according to WBUR.
Auchincloss co-sponsored the “Yachts for Ukraine Act” on March 18. The bill proposes using liquidated, sanctioned assets of Russian oligarchs and senior officials to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine. At the rally, he also said that he is exploring how the U.S. can target Russian forces with electronic warfare.
“I’m working with the administration and my colleagues in Congress to chart a path forward for how we can tighten the sanctions on Russia, how we can provision more lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine, and how we can target electronic warfare against Russian forces in Ukraine so that they are undermined and impaired at every turn,” Auchincloss said.
Auchincloss spoke at the rally just un-
“This hero closed powerfully in English,” Auchincloss said about Zelenskyy’s March 15 address. “He said to us directly, said ‘Be a leader. Be the leader of the world. Be a leader for peace.’ How do we lead for peace?”
For Martina Jackson, one of the protest’s organizers and a member of the Newtonville Area Council, the war in Ukraine is personal.
“My father was born in Ukraine,” she said. “I think that the travesty is so overwhelming that … it really goes right to the heart of war crimes and crimes against innocent people. And I think we all have to be out here making it clear how much we disapprove—how much we are revolted by it.”
The conflict was personal for many others in the crowd, too. Julia Zis, a participant who found out about the rally through Instagram, immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine when she was nine.
“I’m from a town … which hasn’t really been impacted highly as of yet,” Zis said. “But [for] the friends I do talk to, that I have still there, sirens just go off every single day, and it’s something that they’re just used to, which is crazy.”
Viera Proulx, another Newton resident, immigrated to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968.
“It’s very close to my heart, and I’m trying to not think about it, because if I do, it hurts too much,” Proulx said with tears in her eyes.
Jackson said she thought of the idea for the rally on Monday. She said the March 25 date of the protest coincides well with Biden’s trip to eastern Europe.
Olga Kissin, a Newton resident who learned about the protest through Fuller’s newsletter, said she felt called to attend the protest because the conflict in Ukraine affects everyone.
“I think it’s important to understand that everyone’s lives are impacted—that it’s not somebody else’s world,” Kissin said. “The whole free world needs to step up.”
At the rally’s 4:30 p.m. gathering time, only a few residents and a sound crew populated the Newton Centre Green at the corner of Centre and Beacon Streets. But in the next half hour, droves of attendees filled the greenspace.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/03/27/politicians-call-for-greater-sanctions-humanitarian-aid-at-newton-rally-for-ukraine/.
“We do believe in the life and mission of St. Francis of Assisi, and all-girls education gives girls the chance to learn, and grow, and become the person they were created to be, and losing another all-girls school is really unfortunate for women’s education,” said Mary Kate Feeney, former director of communications at the school and Mount Alvernia ’01.
Another alumna, Kathleen Joyce, former chair of the board of alumni and Mount Alvernia ’92, said the school lent itself well to creating strong friendships and connections.
“We were a very small class ourselves, we
Enrollment in the school has steadily decreased in the last 15 years, according to an article from The Boston Globe. Membership in the sisters’ mission has also gone down, something they discussed at a forum last month, according to The Boston Globe.
Currently, the school plans to merge with another all-girls school, Fontbonne Academy in Milton, Mass., allowing all students in good academic standing and applicants who have already been admitted to Mount Alvernia to automatically enroll at Fontbonne for the 2023–24 academic year.
“Fontbonne is aligned with our culture and commitment to developing the full person,
“This news is difficult for the students at Mount Alvernia High School and their families,” a statement from Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller reads. “We recently learned of the closing, and like any large property that becomes available in the City of Newton, we will explore the options and undertake our due diligence to better understand the opportunities.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/03/19/88-year-old-newton-catholic-schools-closure-prompts-outcryfrom-alumni/.
This story was originally published on Jan. 5, 2021.
By Julia Remick Metro EditorNewton police officers fatally shot a 28-year-old male who was carrying a knife at a store in Newton Highlands on Tuesday, after receiving a report of an armed robbery and subsequently being unable to de-escalate the situation, alongside Massachusetts State Police troopers.
According to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, Newton Police received a 911 call at approximately 1:43 p.m., from the candy store Indulge! on Lincoln Street.
“This is a tragedy and we feel this loss of life deeply. My heart goes out to everyone who was touched by what happened in the heart of Newton this afternoon, including the family of the young man who died,” Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ryan said in a press conference on Tuesday that two Newton police officers first
arrived at the scene and located the man, who was a resident of an apartment above the candy store, in possession of a knife. The officers then pursued the man to the third floor of the building, according to Ryan.
Ryan said that the police called for backup, including additional police officers and a clinician with mental health expertise.
Additional Newton police officers arrived on the scene, as well as two Massachusetts State Police troopers.
Newton police officers used less-thanlethal force to subdue the man by using a beanbag shotgun, according to Ryan. One of the Massachusetts State troopers also used a taser at 2:01 p.m.
“Both of those uses of non-lethal force were unsuccessful in detaining the subject,” Ryan said.
Ryan said that two Newton police officers then fired their service weapons, striking the man carrying the knife, who was subsequently transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital and later pronounced dead. The name of the man who was killed has not
yet been released, pending next-of-kin notification.
Ryan said that several officers were hospitalized after the incident but none sustained serious injuries.
“Members of the public here in Newton, though, please know that this incident is over, [and] that it is now safe here in Newton,” Fuller said. “Our hearts go out to the family of the young man who was lost.”
Ryan said that the District Attorney’s Office is still in the early stages of the investigation and that additional information, including the facts and circumstances of the altercation, will be released as it becomes available.
“The Newton Police Department looks forward to cooperating fully with the District Attorney and with the state investigation, and we are so thankful there will be a thorough and complete investigation,” Fuller said. Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/01/05/man-withknife-fatally-shot-by-police-in-newton/.
For the Heights
Newton City Council voted unanimously to seize Webster Woods from Boston College via eminent domain on Monday. Mayor Ruthanne Fuller first announced her plans to secure funds for the acquisition in September.
In addition to the mayor’s request to seize Webster Woods via eminent domain, the approved proposal also includes the Community Preservation Committee’s (CPC) recommendations to acquire and appropriate $15 million to take the woods via eminent domain, as well as to appropriate $725,000 for legal fees and $15,000 for costs relative to conservation restriction.
The proposal also includes the mayor’s request to accept and utilize a $200,000 donation from the Friends of Webster Woods, an activist group that aims to preserve the woods.
“We are disappointed with the City’s
decision to seize Boston College’s property by eminent domain,” Associate Vice President for University Communications Jack Dunn said in an email. “This costly ordeal could have been avoided if the Mayor had not cut off negotiations, or had agreed to a land swap.”
In an interview with The Heights in September, Fuller said that she worked to come to a resolution with BC before
deciding to move forward with reclaiming the woods.
“While I understand that they’re disappointed the City of Newton is moving forward, I’m also disappointed we couldn’t come to an amicable solution to this,” Fuller said in the interview. “They see this land as critical to their future, but we, the City of Newton, know it is critical to ours.”
Dunn said that the University will challenge the taking and the mayor’s appraisal of the land’s value in court.
“Our contention remains that the Mayor and City Council have grossly underestimated the value of the property and the legal cost associated with its seizure,” he said.
Under eminent domain, the government can take land from private groups as long as it pays them fair market value and maintains the land for public use. The woods were appraised to have a market value of $15.2 million.
BC purchased Webster Woods, which spans about 17 acres, along with the former synagogue and parking lot at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway for $20 million in 2015.
At Monday’s meeting, the City Council also unanimously approved a resolution from Leonard Gentile, councilor at large of Ward 7 and chair of the Finance Committee.
The resolution states that the mayor’s office will ask the CPC to bond the $740,000 in funds that will be appropriated to cover legal fees of the acquisition
so that the committee will still have this money in its account to fund other items.
Councilor Lisle Baker put forward a motion for the City Council to reconsider its decision to seize Webster Woods with a recommendation that the council vote it down so the process of passing the proposal could be completed Monday evening.
The councilors were told to vote “no” if they wanted the earlier vote on the acquisition of Webster Woods to stand, and the council voted “no” unanimously.
The audience burst into applause as the City Council voted to uphold its decision.
Marc Laredo, president of the City Council, gave thanks to the people who took part in the process, especially Baker, who was a member of Fuller’s Webster Woods advisory panel.
“I think we all owe a great debt of gratitude and thanks to Councilor Baker, who is instrumental and tireless in leading the efforts in this as he has put in countless hours,” Laredo said. “He has organized our efforts. He has been exceptionally thorough, and I am deeply grateful.” n
or at least to pray and believe.”
By Shruthi Sriram Assoc. Newton Editor Ella SongAsst. Newton Editor
On 21 Curve Street in West Newton, a quietly regal white building sits facing the road. The sign in the front identifies the structure as the historically Black Myrtle Baptist Church. For 149 years, the church has been a cornerstone of the African American community in Newton, creating a space for worship, togetherness, and empowerment.
“I think, overall, the general sort of tenor of the community is very, very warm and welcoming,” Rev. Alicia Johnson, an assistant pastor at the church, said. “We are formally, officially, a welcoming and affirming community.”
Myrtle Baptist is unique as it has a history of activism and community work, allowing it to act as a haven for those that need it.
“The reality is that people are wrestling with a lot of thoughts, a lot of pressure,” said Anthony Crossan, the first vice president and chair of religious affairs at the NAACP Boston Branch. “The church often is the place where we can pour those things out in a place where faith can meet with answers …
The church is uniquely focused on preserving its history, and it sees its past as an important basis for its future.
“Myrtle has been a place that tries to reach out as well as care for those who come,” Johnson said. “That aspect of our history continues to drive us toward finding new ways to do that.”
Inside the building and above a balcony overlooking the main body of the church, museum-style panels depicting the history of Myrtle Baptist Church line the walls. It’s a part of a church project that started in 2014 as an effort to preserve and celebrate the church’s rich heritage.
“We’re very proud of our history, and I want to say that our members know our history,” Shelby Robinson, the church’s history committee co-chair, said. “We always, you know, we celebrate our anniversary, we always do a big reading of the history.”
Myrtle Baptist Church was founded in 1874 when a group of Black Newtonians left the church now known as Lincoln Park Baptist Church in Newton to create their own place of worship. Rev. Edmund Kelley, a former slave, was invited to preach to the group, and he became Myrtle Baptist Church’s first pastor.
“He was a huge activist, in terms of, obviously, the anti-slavery movement, and, you
know, Black people having autonomy and things as such,” Robinson said. “He helped empower Black communities to begin their own churches.”
The creation of Myrtle Baptist Church was not without its opponents. Nathaniel Allen, a prominent white abolitionist and educator, criticized the creation of a Black church and insisted that it was a step back for the Black community, according to a letter Allen sent to The Newton Journal in 1874, provided by Robinson.
In response, Kelley wrote a letter in The Newton Journal defending the new church as a space for greater Black autonomy.
“We deny that there is any proscription in the colored churches, for they open to all classes … the differences being that [Black people] are as eligible to the front seats, as they are to the back seats in the white people’s churches when they are permitted to occupy any seats at all,” Kelley wrote.
According to Crossan, the church in general has played an irreplaceable role in mobilizing the African American community.
“[The church] was the one place where they could be free together, where they could worship, discuss issues,” Crossan said. “And that has been really long-standing, and when we look today, we would not be near where we are without the church.”
Despite Allen’s criticisms, the members of Lincoln Park Baptist Church were supportive of Myrtle’s creation and the departure of their Black members, according to Robinson. They completed church construction in 1875 on land gifted by D.C. Sanger, a deacon from Lincoln Park Baptist Church.
“The people at the Lincoln Baptist Church totally got it … it was all done, as they like to say, with love and support,” Robinson said.
In 1897, however, a fire destroyed Myrtle Baptist Church. There is speculation about whether or not the fire was lit intentionally, according to Robinson.
“There was a fire, okay, which Newton papers described as a fire of an incendiary na-
ture,” Robinson said. “It was always thought that the fire was lit deliberately.”
Within the year, church members rebuilt the church on the same plot of land, where it remains to this day. Notably, the new structure included two stained glass windows, which now cut a striking image over Curve Street.
As the years progressed, the church acquired a generational history, according to Karen Haywood, wife of former pastor Rev. Howard Haywood.
“I used to look at the elders of the church and say, ‘Oh, you know, look at the elders of the church,’ and now I am them,” Haywood said. “So, a lot of people have passed on a lot of people that have had the same characteristics that I had passed on. There are many people that are born and bred.”
The church’s community, in addition to being home to a family-like legacy, also carries memory of its hardships. Between 1962 and 1965, the homes of 21 church members were taken by eminent domain and demolished for the extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike (Mass. Pike), according to History of a Church, a book outlining the history of Myrtle Baptist Church.
“That was the Black community,” Rob-
inson said. “That was where everyone lived. Everyone went to church there. Everybody knew each other. It was a whole community. And then it was the issue of the Mass. Turnpike coming, and homes were taken by eminent domain.”
Many residents were not getting fair prices for their homes and were shut out from renting in Newton, according to Robinson.
“It was just a really bad time,” Robinson said. “They weren’t paying people what their homes were worth. They wouldn’t pay you. They told you that you couldn’t know how much they would pay you until you actually left your house. I mean, it was just a lot of shady stuff that went on, it was very bad.”
The Mass. Pike is 50 yards away from the church, across the back parking lot, according to Robinson.
“Our concern when the Mass Pike came was that we would lose the community, and we would lose the church and everything,” Robinson said.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/23/myrtle-baptistchurch-remains-a-cornerstone-of-newtonsblack-community-throughout-its-149-yearhistory/.
This story was originally published on April 25, 2021.
By Julia Remick Metro EditorThe possibility of a gun store, Newton Firearms, opening in Newton has been met with opposition by Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, all 24 members of the Newton City Council, and members of the community.
“The news of a firearms dealer wanting to open in Newton comes after years of so many mass shootings in so many places from schools, theaters, and concerts to grocery stores and business places,” Fuller said in a statement on Thursday. “It comes after so many gun deaths reported on the news seemingly every day, ranging from a stray bullet killing a grandmother on a front porch to a teenager on the street to a convenience store clerk during a robbery.”
Newton Firearms advertises a firearms sale floor, ammunition, gun
accessories, safety training, and other services, according to its website.
Fuller first learned that a proprietor applied to open a gun store a few weeks ago, she said.
Although Fuller and the council asked Interim Chief of Police Howard Mintz and the Commissioner of Inspectional Service if it was possible to deny a license, they were told that the applicant met the qualifications for a license, Fuller said.
Newton does not currently have zoning in place to regulate where a gun store can open and relies on state and federal regulations of gun sales, according to Fuller.
Fuller and the council signed an amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance on April 16. If passed, this ordinance would restrict all firearms dealers in particular zoning districts.
The council made the proposed zoning amendment publicly available on Friday.
“The revised zoning ordinance would also require businesses of fire -
arms sales uses to be approved only by special permit by the City Council and will create specific special permit criteria, including a buffer zone between a firearms dealer and potentially residences, schools, parks and other sensitive locations,” Fuller said.
Newton City Council will discuss the proposed Firearm Business Use Zoning Amendment for the first time during the Zoning and Planning Committee meeting on Monday. Public comments will not be allowed at this meeting, but the council will hold a public hearing about the ordinance on May 10, Fuller said. Following the public hearing and input from the community, the council will recommend the ordinance to the full council for a final vote.
The three-page document says that a firearm business, firing range, or gunsmith cannot be located within a radius that is yet to be determined of any residential property line, private or public K-12 school, daycare center, preschool, child care facility, public park, land or
structures used for religious purposes, library, another firearm business, firing range, or gunsmith.
The prospective store is located on the same street as Cabot’s Ice Cream and within one mile of Newton North High School, F.A. Day Middle School, Newton Early Childhood Program, Jason Walnut Park, and Horace Mann Elementary Schools.
The amendment also says that no graphic symbols or images of firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories can be visible from the outside of the firearm business, and that the council may impose additional restrictions on signage to mitigate the impact on the neighborhood.
If a proposed firearm business has not begun operating by the public hearing date of May 10, it will be subject to the zoning amendments when they are passed, according to the FAQ about the ordinance on the Newton government website.
Due to constitutional protections, more restrictive regulations imposed
on firearm sales are more likely to be challenged in court, according to Newton’s website.
“While we are continuing to research all our options, it appears that Constitutional protections would make it legally very difficult, if not impossible, not to identify at least a few locations where such an establishment might seek permission from the City Council to operate,” Fuller said. “I recognize that this will not be an easy conversation for our residents or the City Councilors but it has to be approached in a legally defensible manner.”
Newton’s Inspectional Services Department (ISD) issued a stop work order on Tuesday at 709 Washington St., where the store is set to open, since renovations were being done without the necessary permit, according to Fuller.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2021/04/25/ newton-mayor-councilors-community-oppose-gun-store-opening/
the City of Newton and the Newton Fire Department on June 17, 2021. In the complaint, Gilliam requested compensation for emotional distress caused by a hostile work environment due to racism.
According to the complaint, Gilliam, who is African American, began working for the fire department in 2004 and has since faced racist remarks.
“On several occasions, when a crime story was featured [on TV], firefighters would comment ‘[of] course, it’s a black guy,’” the complaint reads. “When Gilliam spoke up he was called ‘princess’ and would be told by the others ‘not to be so sensitive.’”
According to the complaint, in 2018, after working at the fire department for 14 years, Gilliam did not receive a promotion despite qualifying for the position. Instead, the position went to a less qualified Caucasian department member.
A superior who clashed with Gilliam on multiple occasions with alleged racial motives played a significant role in Gilliam not receiving the appointment, according to the complaint. Gilliam
confronted the superior for his alleged involvement, and further conflicts erupted between the two.
“Instead of privately discussing the matter with Gilliam, [the superior] confronted him in front of the entire firehouse,” the complaint reads. “[The superior] told Gilliam that he ‘lacked intelligence.’ As Gilliam walked by [the superior], he called him a ‘monkey’ under his breath and then went on to publicly belittle him further in front of his supervisors and colleagues.”
Gilliam not only experienced racist remarks from his Caucasian colleagues, according to the complaint. In a separate incident, a Black colleague made colorist remarks to him, alluding to Gilliam’s mixed African American and Caucasian heritage.
The Newton Fire Department has since terminated the firefighter who made the remarks to Gilliam, according to that firefighter’s appeal for reinstallation.
Gilliam will receive the $1.56 million settlement from the city.
In her statement, Fuller wrote that
Newton is working toward creating a more inclusive environment throughout the city’s municipal departments.
Newton has hired its first director of community engagement and inclusion, she wrote, and plans to recruit “an experienced firm” to further institutionalize inclusiveness. Multiple municipal departments, including the Newton Fire Department, are also undergoing workplace discrimination training.
“Every member of the Newton Fire Department has been trained on harassment, discrimination, and respect in the workplace,” Fuller wrote. “This training in the Newton Fire Department will continue with more sessions and related programs.”
Gilliam and his attorney David Summer declined to comment.
Edgardo J. Melendez, another firefighter in the Newton Fire Department, will receive the $65,000 settlement for a separate lawsuit.
Melendez could not be reached for comment. n Olivia Joung contributed to reporting.
This story was originally published on March 28, 2021.
By The heighTs ediTorial Board
Boston College should validate its LGBTQ+ students by breaking from the Vatican regarding its recent statement that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex marriages and that such relationships are sinful. The University should release a statement in support of its LGBTQ+ students and commit to establishing an on-campus resource center.
LGBTQ+ students have said they feel unwelcome and out of place on BC’s campus. Alexandra Katz, Student Assembly representative and LSEHD ’23, told The Heights , “As somebody who is openly and unapologetically gay on this campus, I can attest to the fact that the mere act of existing as an LGBTQIA+ individual on this campus is an act of courage and nonconformity in itself.”
BC has broken from official
church doctrine before—within the past year, in fact. The University stated its refusal to divest from fossil
will serve as confirmation that it selectively follows the direction of the Vatican.
Editor’s
Note: Opinions editors Tommy Roche and Meadow Vrtis have compiled the most notable editorials and columns published during the Class of 2023’s college career. Inside are the opinions voiced by the BC community.
fuels in June of 2020 in response to the Vatican’s call for Catholics to divest from anything that is “harmful to human or social ecology.” The University should choose to break from church doctrine again—this time, in support of the LGBTQ+ community. BC’s decision not to contradict the church on this issue
This story was originally published on Feb. 26, 2023.
By The heighTs ediTorial BoardBoston College needs to ease its policies and restrictions on student demonstration to better support its students’ free speech rights.
Section 11.10 on student demonstrations in BC’s Student Code of Conduct forbids students from hosting any demonstrations without approval from the administration in advance. Students are also not allowed to disturb any day-to-day operations of the University through their demonstrations or hold events that “adversely impact the mission of Boston College, especially its Jesuit, Catholic dimensions.”
These statutes contradict BC’s self-defined “longstanding commitment” to its students’ freedom of expression. These rules should be amended to provide a more welcoming environment where students feel comfortable voicing dissent.
BC has a long history of hosting controversial student protests. In the late 1960s, BC community members held protests and counter-protests against Dow Chemical Company’s efforts to recruit BC students, as the company provided napalm to the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.
And in the 1970s, UGBC organized a schoolwide class strike in response to the U.S. bombing campaign in Vietnam, in which approximately 60 percent of arts and sciences students did not show up to their classes for days. BC would not allow these protests under its current Code of Conduct, which prohibits any demonstrations from “disrupting the ordinary operation of the University.”
Protests did not stop after the nationwide unrest of the Vietnam era. In the late 1980s, students worked with recent alumni to protest BC’s denial of full professorship to prominent feminist theologian Mary Daly. Since then, BC students have protested subjects ranging from the Iraq War to racial injustice.
But things are different now. In October 2021, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranked BC at 151 out of 154 in a list comparing free speech climates on university campuses.
Interim Associate Vice President for
Heights that only one student demon-
stration was registered with the office in the last year.
Yet, there are a variety of student organizations—registered or otherwise—that regularly and openly oppose BC’s institutional choices.
Climate Justice at BC (CJBC), for example, opposes BC’s investment in fossil fuels. When the group hosted a protest where pro-divestment messages with vulgar language were sent to University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., the University sanctioned the group.
On the other hand, BC does not even recognize Students for Sexual Health (SSH) as an official University organization, and it has routinely banned the group from distributing contraceptives on campus. As an independent organization, it would not be allowed to host student demonstrations on campus.
Groups such as CJBC and SSH show that there are dissenting student voices that want to change the University for the better. But protest policies shielded by a veil of cherry-picked “Jesuit Values” undermine students’ abilities to advocate for themselves and others. As such, the policies set out by the University may deter student attempts to register a protest if they do not want to sit down to a meeting with a BC administrator.
To get a protest approved by the University, students must meet with the associate vice president for student engagement and formation and provide detailed plans about the event. Organizing and conducting an unregistered demonstration can result in the University punishing student demonstrators.
Section 11.10 on Student Demonstrations in the BC Student Code of Conduct further prohibits demonstrations that go against the Jesuit, Catholic mission of Boston College.
But these same Jesuit, Catholic “dimensions” that BC cites in its Student Code of Conduct do not limit student activism at peer institutions. Unlike BC, the demonstration policies of Georgetown University, Marquette University, and Loyola University Chicago—all institutions founded in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition—possess no explicitly Catholic restrictions on student demonstrations.
Affirming students’ identities in light of the Vatican’s statement is a good first step for the University to take, but it is the bare minimum—an LGBTQ+ resource center is still needed. The University does offer students some resources, but they are not enough. BC offers Pride Peers mentoring,
the Spectrum retreat, discussion groups for LGBTQ+ students, and a special celebration at graduation to celebrate the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ students. But LGBTQ+ students still do not feel comfortable on campus. Other Jesuit schools have made more impactful efforts to facilitate inclusive environments on campus by creating physical spaces dedicated to LGBTQ+ students. For example, Georgetown University has an LGBTQ+ resource center and the University of San Francisco has a gender and sexuality center. BC should follow the example of its peer institutions and establish an LGBTQ+ resource center on campus. Campus culture should be actively welcoming, but this cannot happen if the University does not voice support for its LGBTQ+ students. Students should also actively participate in creating a more welcoming environment on campus. A good first step for students is to sign the petition that the GLBTQ+
Leadership Council has created, calling on the University “to clarify their position on LGBTQ+ rights and to make a statement in support of Queer students and alumni.”
BC’s 2020 resource guide for LGBTQ+ students states that “Boston College, as a Catholic and Jesuit university, has a responsibility to promote the pastoral care of all members of the university community and is committed to the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of all our students.
The university seeks to foster a campus culture that welcomes diversity, embraces inclusivity, promotes dialogue, and creates a safe and supportive environment for all.”
BC should live up to this statement and the Jesuit concept of cura personalis: care for the whole person.
A person’s sexual orientation is not a choice and is part of who they are. The University has a responsibility to care for its LGBTQ+ students, regardless of what the Vatican says.
This story was originally published on Feb. 24, 2020.
By The heighTs ediTorial Board
The Heights calls on Boston College to divest from fossil fuel companies. Divestment is an opportunity for BC to be an ethical leader among Jesuit and top-40 institutions, and investing in fossil fuels betrays BC’s Jesuit, Catholic roots and ethics.
The University has maintained that its investments are not designed to promote social or political change. The University currently has nearly $2.5 billion in the endowment, and what it does with those $2.5 billion has a social and political impact, whether the University intends it to or not.
week, Georgetown University, also a Jesuit university, announced it will divest from fossil fuels within the next 10 years. Georgetown has shown leadership and initiative, and by not following Georgetown’s lead, the University is set to fall behind a competitor Jesuit institution. If BC wants to be the top Jesuit university in the United States, it must become a beacon of ethical leadership. If BC divests, it could also influence fellow Catholic universities such as the University of Notre Dame and Loyola Marymount University to divest from fossil fuel companies.
that damage the planet.
The University said in a statement to The Heights that the best way for it to respond to climate change is for “all members of the University—along with corporations, organizations, and individuals—to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainability.” There is only so much that individuals can do to combat climate change alone. Because of the massive size of BC’s endowment, divestment will do much more to protect the planet than students switching to metal straws or using less water.
students-free-speech-rights/.
Continuing to invest in fossil fuels also puts the University at odds with calls from Pope Francis. Francis’ encyclical, Laudato si’, lays out the perils of climate change and the Catholic moral imperative to fight it. Francis stated that Catholic social teaching now includes the environment, as the poor are disproportionately affected by climate change. Laudato si’ also outlines how a blind pursuit of money harms the environment. “Where profits alone count, there can be no thinking about the rhythms of nature, its phases of decay and regeneration, or the complexity of ecosystems which may be gravely upset by human intervention,” writes Francis in no. 190. Heeding the Pope’s call will help BC become a stronger leader among Jesuit institutions. Just last
BC has said that it needs returns from fossil fuel investments to fund programs such as financial aid and research. Although this is true, there is no reason why these returns must come from fossil fuels. Georgetown plans to invest in renewable energy following its divestment from fossil fuels. There are many situations in which investments in renewable energy are more competitive than ones in fossil fuels. Currently, renewable energy makes up 26 percent of the world’s total electricity. That number is projected to become 30 percent by 2024. BC said in a statement to The Heights that because the University relies upon fossil fuels to power itself, it would be contradictory to divest from fossil fuels companies. BC should reconsider this all-ornothing argument. BC is able to determine for itself what it invests in, and as such, has an ethical duty to ensure that those investments do not support fossil fuel companies
BC has taken great strides to be environmentally friendly. Building LEED-certified buildings and committing to a litany of sustainable dining initiatives are just a few of the significant initiatives that are overseen by the Office of Sustainability. This commitment to on-campus initiatives are useful and necessary, but they do not preclude the University from taking further, potentially more impactful steps to combat climate change. An editorial from The Heights in 2013 stated that calls for the University to divest were an “overly simple response to a complex issue.” In light of the environmental developments of the last seven years, we now believe divestment is one of many important steps to combat climate change. Human-caused climate change is the biggest threat of the 21st century.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2020/02/24/bc-should-divest-from-fossil-fuels/.
The Heights is appalled and saddened by the killings of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and the countless other instances of racist violence and police brutality around the country. We stand in solidarity and support of all Black Boston College students and Black Americans, and all who have been protesting these horrific injustices.
The protests across the country have once again called national
attention to police violence and the systemic racism ingrained not just in policing and the justice system, but in all walks of American life. Concrete action must be taken to rectify these countless instances of injustice against Black people in America—and to ensure they will not happen in the future.
The Heights stands in solidarity with Black BC students and Black Americans.
Non-Black students at BC have the responsibility to speak out against this injustice and take action to combat racism. Non-Black students should donate, protest, sign petitions, vote, and listen to and elevate Black
voices—but this is by no means an exhaustive list.
The Heights is dedicated to reporting accurately and fairly on the protests that are held in Boston in response to Floyd’s death. We are committed to being a venue where all voices can be heard, whether it be through our reporting or our op-ed pages. BC has a responsibility to support its Black students. BC students have had to protest racism on campus too many times, even just in the past several years.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2020/06/03/blacklives-matter/.
tion numbers had more than doubled, and the school was ranked in the top 40 among national universities according to the U.S. News & World Report in 1996.
This story was originally published on April 24, 2022.
By Jerry yorkDear BC Community,
Pulling on a BC hockey jersey almost 60 years ago was a dream come true. When Fr. Monan offered me the opportunity to return to the Heights in 1994 as the men’s hockey coach, it gave me the chance to relive that dream for the past 28 years.
A team is the most special group of which a person can be a part. Everyone is equally invested in achieving a common goal, something larger than themselves. My team has
been Boston College for as long as I can remember. I’ve considered all of you—students, faculty, superfans and alums—part of the BC hockey team and true teammates. You helped to make every day I spent on campus special and every game I coached memorable.
I want to thank Fr. Leahy and the University administration, faculty, and staff for all they do to form our students in and out of the classroom.
I also am grateful for the wonderful services provided to the Boston College community by offices such as Admission, Campus Ministry, Student Affairs, Residential Life,
Boston College Police Department, and BC Dining. Our trophies are certainly your trophies. Let me say to the administrators, coaches, and student-athletes who have made up my athletic family that I have loved working alongside you and watching and cheering for you as you have represented BC so proudly and successfully over the years. I have learned much from all of you, and you have made me a better coach and Eagle.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/04/24/letter-to-theeditor-jerry-yorks-letter-to-the-bostoncollege-community/.
By The Heights Editorial BoardThrough his 24 years at the helm of Boston College, former University President Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J. saved BC from financial ruin and bolstered the University’s status as a top institution of American higher education.
Now, regardless of its financial interests, the University should honor Monan’s transformative presidency by naming 245 Beacon Street after him.
Monan arrived at BC in 1972 at a time when the University faced financial debt. It was also predominantly male and largely a commuter college. But from the beginning, Monan saw BC’s potential.
“I would like to ask that all of us not only always pursue excellence and always achieve excellence by others’ standards,” Monan said at a gathering at the start of his presidency. “I want to ask something more, because I think we have the opportunity and the resources for more. I ask that we create new standards of excellence, and that we be the first to achieve those standards. I believe we can do it.”
And by the time he finished his tenure leading BC, the University exceeded those high-reaching standards.
The University’s endowment was among the highest in the nation, applica-
Almost 30 years later, Monan’s legacy is impossible to avoid. During his presidency, Monan facilitated the construction of Robsham Theater, O’Neill Library, Conte Forum, Merkert Chemistry Center, the McMullen Museum of Art, the John J. Burns Library, and Newton Campus’ Law Library. He also oversaw immense renovations to Bapst Library and Alumni Stadium. But Monan’s impact extends beyond these physical markers of growth. The Jesuit embodied BC’s principles of educational advancement by striving to put students first.
“I will try and give all the time I can to students because after all students are what we are all about,” Monan said in his first interview with The Heights in 1972.
Despite Monan’s immense contributions to the University, he is not honored with any major physical memorial on campus. As of 2023, BC’s tributes to Monan are minimal— chief among them are a visiting professorship title in the theatre department and a general University fundraising tier level.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/12/a-historic-manwho-deserves-recognition-boston-collegeshould-name-245-beacon-street-after-rev-jdonald-monan/.
Boston College should require students to be vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to return to campus in the fall.
If the University does not require the vaccine, students should get the vaccine anyway, in order to do their part in promoting the health and safety of the BC community.
The University has required students to report for asymptomatic surveillance testing all year, so requiring vaccination next year would be a logical next step for the University.
Several colleges have already an-
nounced that they will require students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including Northeastern University, which announced on April 6 that it will require students to provide proof of inoculation in order to return to any of its campuses worldwide in the fall. Boston University also announced on Friday that it will require students to be vaccinated in the fall, and will help students get vaccinated upon their return to campus if they are unable to get vaccinated over the summer. Requiring students to get vaccinated will likely become a tricky legal and political issue. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida banned “vaccine passports” in response to Nova Southeastern University’s announcement that it will require all students, faculty, and staff to be vaccinated
against COVID-19 in order to return to campus in the fall. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said on April 7 that he will not be instituting vaccine passports, as he wants the state to focus on getting people vaccinated. People who argue against requiring proof of inoculation say that it is an issue of patient privacy. This argument does not hold in education, though, as schools already require students to provide proof of vaccination against other viruses in order to enroll. The difference with the COVID-19 vaccine is that it has received emergency use authorization rather than full FDA approval. This does not mean that the vaccine is any less effective, it means that people were able to receive the vaccine sooner after the clinical trials were
finished.
BC requires students to submit proof of inoculation against tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and meningitis. Massachusetts required all students to receive the flu vaccine in 2020 in an attempt to lessen the burden on the health care system. The deadline to receive the flu vaccine was extended from Dec. 31, 2020 to Feb. 2021.
The mandate was dropped in January after the Massachusetts Department of Public Health determined that it was a mild flu season, so students were never actually required to provide proof of vaccination. While many students did not end up needing to provide documentation, the mandate likely
prompted more students to get the flu shot than usual.
With the COVID-19 vaccine becoming more widely available, BC should require students to be vaccinated to return to campus in the fall. University Health Services currently has the COVID-19 vaccine listed as “highly recommended,” but the University should follow the example of Northeastern, BU, and the growing list of other colleges, and make vaccination a requirement, not just a recommendation.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/04/11/editorial-vaccination-should-be-required-for-studentsto-return-to-boston-college-in-the-fall/.
This story was originally published on March 26, 2021.
By Alli HArgrove Heights StaffThe week of March 8 came as a godsend to Boston College students.
The sun was shining and temperatures were high during one of the many dreaded midterm weeks. Students flocked outside, filling the quads and outdoor spaces to revel in an anomaly: a week above fifty degrees in Boston in mid-March.
My mental health reaped great benefits from spending most of my time outside that week, and my roommates said theirs did too. We all saw a positive effect on our mood and concluded that, overall, being outside in the pleasant weather rendered us happier through the otherwise daunting and laborious work week. There are indeed well-documented health benefits to being outside. Notably, the effect of the sun spurs
production of Vitamin D in the body.
Vitamin D is known to enhance bone health, promote cell growth, and reduce inflammation. Surely, though, there must be other benefits to spending time in nature that are favorable to physical—and even mental—health. One possibility that has recently gained the attention of scientific communities is the benefit of having a physical connection with the earth, whether that be walking barefoot outside or sitting directly on the ground. Certain cultural practices have actually, for ages, pointed to walking barefoot as a means for improving physical and mental health. The practice has recently been coined “earthing” or “grounding.”
I first heard of earthing during a yoga class when I was in high school.
It theorizes that there is some healing power that comes from direct physical contact between skin and earth. I initially dismissed the idea as a pseudoscience—I mean come on, let’s be real here. Are we really saying the earth
could magically heal our body just through touch?
In short, yes.
Further research has revealed that there is actually great merit in the practice of grounding. Grounding is still not a widely-researched topic, but in light of recent studies, some are calling for grounding to be included among alternative medical practices.
The basic belief of grounding is that the electrical connection made between a human body and the earth through physical contact has healing properties. These properties can be likened to the way that acupuncture remedies ailments.
This research has proven that the electrical charges from the earth produce sustained benefits to human health. And, even better, the mechanism of healing via the electrical charge can be explained by physics and science. The current leading theory is that the Earth’s free electrons (cue flashbacks to chemistry classes) are released from the ground and
absorbed into the body, where they can be utilized for their antioxidant properties. The application of electrons in healing and in medicine is not new either—physical therapy facilities use electrical stimulation pads for the same purpose. Once these electrons enter the body, they stabilize the body’s frequency, which can manifest itself in reduction of inflammation, anxiety, stress, or in improvements in circulation and sleep.
While the scientific language we use to discuss grounding is relatively new, grounding is not a novel idea. In the past, cultures have acknowledged and respected the physical connection between our human flesh and the earth as well as the healing effects that connection can produce.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/03/26/you-wouldntget-it-its-really-underground/.
Editor’s Note: Arts editors Josie McNeill, Paterson Tran, and Sofía Torres have pulled together some of the most memorable Boston College arts stories from the last four years. The Class of 2023 witnessed iconic events interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the creative community adjusted to virtual formats.
This story was originally published on Oct. 21, 2020.
By Katherine Canniff For The HeightsAs the number of coronavirus cases climbed and the world fell into chaos this past spring, Boston College student artists Van Xu, CSOM ’21, and Kaitong Hu, CSOM ’21, picked up their cameras. Through their lenses, Xu and Hu question what has happened to our lives since the pandemic began and how we have coped. Their collaborative exhibit Sheng, now on display in Carney’s Gallery 203, provides an abstract yet honest view of life in 2020.
The 11 large prints line the gallery’s white walls, their clear order guiding viewers through the room. The first
section of the exhibit, shot by Xu, is a series of four photographs that feature a person figuring out how to function with the latest accessories: a face mask and bright blue medical gloves. Hand sanitizer sits among other common bathroom products in the second photograph as Xu focuses on small details scattered throughout the subject’s space.
The inescapable disinfectant is also hidden among condiment containers and casually rests between two figures on a couch in two other pieces that elicit a knowing chuckle.
Xu’s off-campus apartment became a makeshift studio when he set up the backdrop and lights that were used to create the dark and moody images, he said in an email to The Heights. Disorienting blue and purple lighting expresses the strangeness of the new normal that
people have had to build.
“I decided to use a very cinematic, hyperbolic, dramatic, or ominous color scheme, in order to stress the weirdness or bizarreness that we might have nowadays under the pandemic,” Xu said.
Empty shelves and masked figures lit by harsh department store lights interrupt the first wall of dark and more personal photographs.
Hu’s work occupies the second wall of the gallery and captures a gray, plastic-shielded environment. A haunting shot of bare shelves in a department store triggers memories of frantic shopping done in an even more uncertain time.
In another striking photograph, shocking headlines pop out against the gray walls of a convenience store. The shift from Xu’s depiction of a single character dealing with personal lifestyle
This story was originally published on Oct. 25, 2020.
By Jillian ran Arts EditorIn the wake of the racial justice protests that erupted over the summer, the libraries at Boston College have addressed the current climate in a variety of ways. They have clarified now ubiquitous phrases like “defund the police” and created virtual book displays on racial inequality. But by far their most ambitious and visible project yet has been a simultaneous exhibit across all the libraries—the first of its kind—of posts from the Instagram account @blackatbostoncollege.
The @blackatbostoncollege account shares anonymous stories from Black students and alumni describing their experiences with racism at BC.
The account’s Instagram bio states that it is “a space to uplift and share the voices, stories, and struggles of Black community members” of BC.
When the BC Libraries found out about the account, they set out to amplify these stories further, Associate University Librarian for Public Services Scott Britton said.
“A group of us at the libraries that
had been working on equity, diversity, and inclusion issues for the libraries got together and said, ‘This is important. We want to do something to help the students. We want to do something with this Instagram account, the information in there, beyond just reposting or agreeing with the posts,’” Britton said.
The libraries messaged the administrators of the account through Instagram to gain permission to put on an exhibit.
While the administrators were not directly involved in planning the
exhibit, they approved each aspect of it, including which posts were selected to be included in the exhibit, according to Britton.
The result is the display of around 130 posts across all the libraries—including O’Neill Library, Bapst Library, and the BC Law Library. The exhibit, which has been running since September, will be up through the end of the month.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2020/10/25/ black-at-bc-exhibit/.
changes to the wider public scenes in Hu’s work reminds the viewer that the pandemic is also a shared experience.
The naturalistic style of Hu’s pictures depicts how common public spaces have been altered by the pandemic. Hu took the photographs in local convenience, grocery, and retail stores. The unstaged and unsaturated images are meant to express the dismal state of the economy.
The third wall of the gallery features lurid close-up images of Xu’s character as he shows how people have come to cope with the stress of the pandemic. Under the intense blue and pink lights, a drop of disinfectant falls and the model closes his eyes, suffocating under his mask.
Dark humor that seems to run throughout some of Xu’s pieces returns in the final photograph, as the model faces the camera and sips wine through
This story was originally published on April 20, 2022.
By Paterson tran Asst.Arts Editor
Music from The Black Eyed Peas and Katy Perry, among others, blasted as fans dressed in eclectic outfits shoved their way to the front to catch a glimpse of Jason Derulo. From students dressed up as the Blue Man Group to blow-up shark costumes, Boston College students embraced the festivities of Marathon Monday.
BC’s Division of Student Affairs invited Derulo to perform in the Mod parking lot as part of BC’s celebration of the Boston Marathon on Monday.
The roar of the crowd increased when the screen on stage played an introduction video to signify the start of the concert. Jae Murphy, a touring DJ, music producer, and songwriter, presented himself with thunderous beats and prompted the crowd to
cheer. Murphy stirred up the energy in the Mod parking lot prior to Derulo’s appearance, calling out to each undergraduate year to draw cheers from the crowd.
Derulo’s entrance garnered enthusiasm from students as they screamed for the pop star. He immediately jumped into a remixed rendition of “Whatcha Say,” accompanied by the emergence of his dance crew. “Whatcha Say” featured a dance break, showing off the synchronicity of his crew. Students sang along, and many filmed the opening track on their phones.
Derulo wore an oversized patchwork jacket, while his dancers sported denim. By the end of his performance, all the performers had stripped down to matching black tops.
The singer performed only the major hits of his discography, next performing “Tip Toe” and “Wiggle.” The crowd chanted enthusiastically throughout the duration of “Wiggle.” The audience’s recollection of Deru-
lo’s lyrics exemplified the mark that he left on the 2000s and 2010s pop music scene. After “Wiggle,” Derulo addressed the audience.
“Doesn’t it feel good to be out amongst friends, amongst family, in a large public area?” Derulo asked the crowd. He also mentioned his TikTok account, which has 39.9 million followers, and his online collaborations with Nicki Minaj and Snoop Dogg. His song “Savage Love,” which went viral on TikTok, played later in the show.
“We’re all trying to figure out where to utilize our time—for me it’s on an app called TikTok,” Derulo said. “Does anybody out here follow me on TikTok?”
After his brief speech to the audience, “Take You Dancing” began to play, and Derulo sang with noticeable intensity and passion. He prompted the audience to sing along to “It Girl.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/04/20/derulo-marmon/.
a hole in his mask.
The exhibit takes advantage of the spacious gallery walls, allowing a visitor to step back and observe all the pieces with their varying colors and subjects. The order of the images astutely guides a visitor through the different parts of our lives that have been upended by the pandemic: our personal living spaces, public places, and emotional states.
The title of the exhibit, Sheng, refers to a Chinese character that encapsulates the existence and lifestyles of living beings. After deciding to combine their photographs, Xu and Hu realized that both of their works explore the evolution of this nuanced character.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/02/07/alc-announces-showdown-2022/.
This story was originally published on Feb. 7, 2022.
By Katherine Canniff Arts EditorDance groups at Boston College will once again perform at Conte Forum for the annual ALC Showdown after two years of cancellations. The AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC) announced Monday in a video on its Instagram that it will hold the dance competition on March 19.
“We’re thrilled to announce that BC’s premier legacy dance competition is making it’s return,” ALC said in the Instagram post.
With a montage of clips from Showdown 2019 and dancers’ performances in Conte Forum from 2021, ALC, which is a council within UGBC, promoted the event that has drawn large crowds of BC students in the past.
Lubens Benjamin, chair of ALC and CSOM ’23, said that ALC has been planning the return of the competition since November 2021. ALC informed the dance teams about the date of the competition on Jan. 27, Benjamin said.
Matt Razek, OSI’s associate director of student programming and UGBC’s advisor, said that Showdown is an event ingrained in BC’s culture and tradition, and OSI was eager to plan Showdown’s return this year.
OSI considered both the University’s COVID-19 precautions and the need to bring back BC traditions in making the decision to hold the event again this year, Razek said.
“This is kind of a year of where we’re trying to bring everything back and part of that is Showdown normalcy,” Razek said.
Sixteen dance groups are currently planning to participate in this year’s competition, according to Benjamin.
Although the competition is returning to its traditional location in Conte Forum, the requirements for dance teams and judging categories have undergone changes for the 2022 competition. In past competitions, groups have had to choose to compete in either the culture or competition categories. This year, all groups will be judged together, Benjamin said.
ALC now has a new requirement that all groups demonstrate an element that speaks to the culture that is associated with the team, Benjamin said. Teams can incorporate this element with a variety of creative components, including their introduction video at the performance and their choreography.
The council added this component to Showdown in order to highlight that the competition’s main purpose is to celebrate the range of talent, cultures, and experiences that exist in the dance community at BC, Benjamin said.
Members of ALC felt that the emphasis on diversity has not been at the forefront in past competitions and implemented the new cultural criterion in order to put diversity in the spotlight, Benjamin said.
“It’s more of a time of accepting everyone in the community for what they bring to the community and really celebrating these differences and really realizing how those really make our culture and our campus more vibrant,” Benjamin said.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/02/07/alc-announces-showdown-2022/.
come engage with these objects just means we’re going to learn so much more about [the art] in the years to come,” Wunsch said.
An informal gathering of dance groups drew throngs of students to the lawn of 2150 Commonwealth Ave. Thursday evening, as seven teams shared their planned routines for AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC) Showdown. The dance competition was scheduled to be held on April 4, but will not happen due to the cancelation of in-person classes and order for students to return home by Sunday.
In response to yesterday’s announcement, hip-hop group Synergy organized the impromptu show. It originally planned to hold the gathering in one of the dance studios on Brighton Campus, but they were unexpectedly locked, which led to the groups performing on the lawn of 2150 Commonwealth Ave. instead, according to Synergy member Sunny Lee, CSOM ’22.
An audience of dancers and their close friends quickly swelled over the course of
the evening as curious passersby joined the celebration and students found out about the event through social media and word of mouth. Full Swing, Dance Organization of Boston College, UPrising, BC On Tap, Fuego, Phaymus, and Synergy all showed up to perform.
A speaker stationed in a fourth-floor apartment blasted the groups’ routine soundtracks through open windows. Some audience members settled on the grassy steps of the lawn, while others watched from the sidewalk. Despite a few technical hiccups and adjustments, the evening came together remarkably smoothly.
“We didn’t have transitions, and we didn’t have a full soundtrack until now,” said Lee. “We always practice each of the pieces separately, and that’s why there was a lot of confusion, like, ‘Which piece is next, when does it start?’ because the music was really low and we couldn’t really hear it.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2020/03/14/showdown-impromptu-staging/.
By Katherine Canniff Assoc. Arts EditorOliver Wunsch was scrolling through the news early on Tuesday morning when a headline about Boston College caught his eye. While reading about Peter Lynch’s donation of his art collection worth upward of $20 million to the McMullen Museum of Art, Wunsch realized the gravity of welcoming the collection to BC.
“I understood that this was going to forever change the McMullen Museum and the place of Boston College, and the broader U.S. museum world,” Wunsch, an assistant professor of art history at BC, said. “It really puts Boston College on the map.”
The donation includes 27 paintings and three drawings from the private collection of Lynch and his late wife, Carolyn. The collection—named the Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection—includes pieces by artists working during the 19th and 20th centuries, including Pablo Picasso, John Singer Sargent, Diego Rivera, and Mary Cassatt.
Wunsch, who has focused his research and teaching on European and American painting in the 18th and 19th centuries, said that the arrival of the collection will offer both art historians and other members of the BC community valuable opportunities to engage with the art.
“I think that the choice of Boston College … with people from all different areas of the University ready to
As the departmental chairperson of art, art history, and film, Stephanie Leone said she foresees that profes -
painting provides insight into the global context of art created in the United States, Wunsch said.
Some of the works the McMullen will welcome also present opportunities for interdisciplinary study, according to Wunsch. In a painting by
sors will incorporate the pieces into their lectures and discussions. With the artworks just down the street from BC’s main campus, students will also be able to utilize the pieces as research topics, Leone said.
The collection can also allow students pursuing a concentration in museum studies to research the pieces, drawing connections between the works and formulating exhibitions, Leone said.
The art provides students with an opportunity to discover the works’ global connections, Wunsch said.
Before creating “Orchid and Hummingbirds Near a Mountain Lake,” one of the donated paintings, artist Martin Johnson Heade traveled to Central and South America, according to Wunsch. The striking naturalist
William Bradford titled “Among the Ice Floes,” jagged icebergs protrude from a green-tinted ocean. A wooden ship is beached on an icy shore while small human figures stand nearby. Wunsch said that the painting can be used to pose questions about art’s connection to climate change.
According to Leone, the collection will not only enhance the study of art history, but also has the potential to inspire art and film students who are creating their own creative projects.
“I think it will really help us to enhance our students’ education, their interaction with works of art, and really prepare them well for going on to future careers in art, in art history, or simply becoming … great museum goers when they leave BC,” Leone said. n
This story was originally published on Jan. 31, 2022.
By Katherine Canniff Arts Editor Josie MCneill Assoc. Arts EditorMadison Baker laid her notebook down on the table. The front and back covers are enveloped by a homemade collage that she pieced together, and its pages are stuffed with notes about The Mad Ones, the musical that occupied the intimate Bonn Studio Theater from Jan. 27 to 30.
Opening the notebook at its centerfold, Baker, director of The Mad Ones and MCAS ’22, revealed that the lined pages are enshrouded by splashes of dark colors pierced by vibrant blues. Beside these harsh contrasts of light and dark, ordinary images of roads and highways appear sinister.
The notebook contains Baker’s creative inspiration for the musical and represents the process of getting the show from the page to the stage, a process which began in March 2021.
The Boston College theatre department reserves the position of director of its winter production for senior theatre majors, who apply for the position and submit a proposal for the show they want to put on. Baker said that she has been anticipating the opportunity to direct a production since starting at BC.
“I was just so moved by the piece,” Baker said. “And I thought that it was such an important story to tell, but [it] still describes stress and anxiety and fear and vulnerability in a way that I had never seen before or articulated before.”
After the department accepted her application in the spring, Baker met with the show’s ensemble of student designers: scenic designer Lily Telegdy, LSEHD ’23, costume designer Franny Giangiulio, MCAS ’23, and lighting designers Jun Choi, MCAS ’23, and Sophia Lombardo, MCAS ’23.
The group brainstormed the show’s visual themes, which Baker’s eclectic collage embodies. The Mad Ones is the first student-directed musical that the BC theatre department has produced,
although it has produced student-directed plays in the past.
Standing before audience members as they trickled into the blackbox theater was a three-dimensional version of the images Baker had laid out in her journal. A gray board sat in the center of the stage with its surface fragmented by triangular pieces. Vibrant LED lights lit up from behind the pieces. In front sat the steely outline of a car.
The musical opens with Samantha (Giovanna Befeler, MCAS ’23) singing “The Girl Who Drove Away” in front of a backdrop reminiscent of an explosion.
Up until her senior year of high school, Samantha’s life had been complicated yet planned to a T. She had the same boyfriend, Adam (Nick Rossi, MCAS ’23), for three years. Her overbearing mother, Beverly (Julia Parks, CSON ’24), was hell-bent on having Samantha follow in her Ivy League footsteps.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/01/31/themad-ones-musical/.
This story was originally published on Nov. 8, 2020.
By Grace McPheeFor The Heights
Amid a chorus of guitars being tuned, mics being tapped, and the tolling of Gasson’s bells, the Boston College Music Guild and Campus Activities Board (CAB) teamed up on Saturday to present the Fall Showcase, a live concert featuring student bands and artists.
In a two-act format, five BC musical acts performed to a socially distant audience of about 30 on O’Neill Plaza’s lawn. On a wide stage in front of Devlin Hall, the performers were able to look out into the crowd of friends, family, and fans and become reacquainted with the rush of performing live.
Student band Sleepwalkers opened Act One with a five-song set including guitar-driven covers of The Beatles’ “Come Together” and “Don’t Let Me Down,” as well as Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.” It capped off its performance with two original songs, one called “Movie” and another titled “I Wish.”
Katelyn Ginley, MCAS ’23, followed with a cover of Jack Johnson’s “Upside Down” and two originals titled “Rasp-
berries” and “High School Friends.”
Ginley, an E-board member of the Music Guild, found her community working with the Music Guild last year, further fostering her aptitude for performance.
Joining the Music Guild club itself and becoming a freshman E-board representative last year helped me make some of my best friends,” Ginley said.
“There actually is no better word to describe our E-board than a community. It’s a large board—about 25 people—but it is such an inclusive environment and we all support each other.”
Adrianne Goodfriend, MCAS ’23, closed the first act with three acoustic original songs titled “Lily-Rose Depp,” “Reservoir Love Song,” and “Bridges.”
In precedented times, live shows were a common occurrence for the BC Music Guild. Now live shows are few and far between. Matty Hogan, the co-vocalist and guitar player of student band Photo Negative, president of the Music Guild, and CSOM ’22, spoke on the difficulty of actually making the showcase happen this year.
months of work and meetings I went through, which normally wouldn’t have to happen.”
Despite these production obstacles, the Fall Showcase went on smoothly. Following a 30-minute intermission, Act Two was opened by student band Uncommonwealth. The five-piece’s band six-track setlist included covers of Green Day’s “Holiday,” Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” The Black Keys’s “Lonely Boy,” TOTO’s “Hold the Line,” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Alongside these well-known songs, the band played an original song titled “Verona.”
For the second act of Act Two and the final of the show, Photo Negative opened its 30-minute set with a cover of Drake Bell’s (from Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh)
“I Found a Way,” followed by a cover of The Kinks’ “All Day and All of the Night.”
Next, it played two originals titled “Envy” and “2 AM”—the latter off its 2020 EP A Great Big Hole in the Wall followed by a cover of Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom” and another original song called “Mess Around.” The five-piece band returned to tracks off its EP to perform “Modset,” and closed the show with a cover of Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” followed by its original
single “Whatever Floats Your Boat.”
In spite of the restrictions the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed upon the live music industry, the Music Guild is still finding ways to connect students to the arts through writing and performing music.
Hogan spoke on the way the Music Guild has provided a sense of community to its members, both pre- and
post-COVID-19.
“The Music Guild has been the biggest influence on my BC experience thus far … I love it so much,” Hogan said. “I was welcomed right away my freshman year, instantly as part of the group. From there on out it has been putting on fun events, becoming a better musician, and meeting some of the best people I’ll ever know.”
This story was originally published on April 19, 2021.
By Grace Mayer Arts EditorA series of spring traditions have been entirely canceled or undergone extreme reinvention since the COVID-19 pandemic. Marathon Monday and Spring Break were erased from calendars. The AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC) Showdown has transformed into a showcase event and shifted from the bustling stands of Conte Forum to an outdoor viewing event, with screens scattered throughout campus for students to socially distance themselves on the grassy quads.
But, the annual Boston College Arts Festival—an event open to all BC students, alumni, and neighboring Boston communities—is returning to BC’s campus as a hybrid
of in-person, virtual, and pre-recorded events after converting to an entirely digital format in the wake of the pandemic last year.
“We made it happen even in a really weird form in late April last year when literally everything was insane,” Arts Fest production manager Allison Lardner, LSEHD ’21, said about pulling together the entirely virtual Arts Fest last year. “Why can’t we make it happen again a year from then?”
Lardner, who is responsible for organizing the event and ensuring COVID-19 protocols are followed when the festival begins, said the Arts Fest team, comprised of 12 full-time BC Arts Council student members and Arts Fest director Tatiana Flis, has been making preparations for the event since August. This year, the Arts Council had to start entirely from scratch when converting the festival to its hybrid format.
From Thursday, April 29 to Saturday, May 1, a slew of events featuring 28 arts
groups will occur on BC’s campus, and videos will be uploaded on the Arts Council’s newly designed Arts Fest website and promoted on its social media pages. Adapted to abide by social distancing requirements, the in-person portion of the festival will partly take place under a tent on Stokes Lawn and on a large performance stage on the O’Neill Plaza. A new Arts Walk, spanning across locations on campus from Robsham Theater, Maloney Hall, Devlin Hall, and Carney Hall, will also showcase artwork.
For performances that take place in person, unique virtual content will be made available online at the time the performances are being performed live. A livestreamed poetry performance of the Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters, will also be accessible from the Arts Fest website. Live-streams will also be made available on the Arts Fest website as arts groups perform in-person.
The festival’s theme, “A New Wave of Creativity,” is reflected in the range of art pieces and performances as well as the hybrid formats Arts Fest is utilizing in order to pull off the three-day event. Although Arts Fest is packed with group singing, dancing, and theatre performances, the Arts Fest team has also focused on highlighting individual student, alumni, staff, and faculty artists on campus through Instagram story takeovers and a podcast series that features student artists on BC’s campus.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/04/19/arts-fest-2021/.
tion to the show and her desire to challenge herself as a director.
By Erin Pender Heights Staff Katherine Canniff Assoc. Arts EditorA rock musical that tackles the sexual exploration and mental health struggles of a group of adolescents in the late 19th century sounds anything but tame—and might seem like an even more shocking choice for a musical performed at Boston College.
But, Devyn Itula, the director of Spring Awakening and MCAS ’22, said the show could communicate emotions and experiences that sometimes cannot be expressed solely through words.
According to Itula, the show immediately spoke to her when she discovered it in her sophomore year of high school, and her decision to direct it for the BC Dramatics Society was influenced by both her personal connec-
Although she said she viewed putting on the show as a personal challenge, her production also ran into challenges with BC administrators.
As a student-run organization, the Dramatics Society must get its budget approved by the Office of Student Involvement (OSI). According to Itula, the group turned in its budget in the first week of August for OSI to review before the start of the semester. In the meantime, the Dramatics Society was able to book spaces for auditions and rehearsals, Itula said.
But when the week of auditions arrived in the first days of school, there was an indication that OSI was not fully on board with the show when the group did not receive approval for rehearsals and performances, Itula said. Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/12/07/spring-awakening-musical-journey/.
This story was originally published on Sept. 13, 2020.
By Jillian Ran Arts Editor Grace Mayer Assoc. Arts Editor and Nathan Rhind Asst. Arts EditorSpring semester’s abrupt end hit the Boston College theatre department hard. Two plays that were in the works, City of Angels and The Wolves, were canceled, and acting classes had to be reimagined to fit an online format.
“At the time, it was really sad,” BC Theatre Department Chair Luke Jorgensen said. “The musical got canceled, there were students who were so excited, they had just got the lead, they had been to one rehearsal.”
“It was very devastating,” City of Angel’s former assistant director Ally Lardner, LSEHD ’21, said of the cancellations.
But now, as students and faculty members reconvene on campus, the department is ready to start anew. Producing a play in the age of COVID-19 means striking an innovative balance, finding ways to stay true to the art of theatre while following public health guidelines.
This fall, BC Theatre is putting on two
plays in two different formats. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night will be pre-recorded scene by scene in front of a green screen in Robsham Theater and stitched together using video editing. Lynn Nottage’s Sweat on the other hand, will be performed live over Zoom, with actors working from the safety of their own rooms.
“We’re theatre people. We have one set of skills that we’re used to, and now all of the sudden we’re doing green screens and filming and camera angles and all this other kind of stuff,” Jorgensen said. “We are all learning a lot every day, trying to keep up with how to make this happen.”
Producing these plays means tackling a host of challenges, from keeping rehearsals socially distanced to learning how to use unfamiliar film equipment. It was decided that the student musical, usually held in the fall, would have to be postponed because of the logistics of singing while wearing masks.
Even the idea of putting on a full-scale production in Robsham Theater had to be abandoned. There was simply no way to work around the issue of actors having to stay six feet apart, or for that matter, the difficulty of giving an expressive performance while wearing a mask. Those hurdles eventually led to the decision to turn both plays into socially distanced productions.
In the wake of these changes, Lardner, now the stage manager for Twelfth Night, has found herself taking on more tasks than a stage manager’s usual job description.
“I think the most important part is making sure that the actors are all safe and they feel advocated for,” Lardner said. “But it’s also going to be a bigger responsibility with making sure that everyone’s six feet apart at all times—if not more than six feet because they’re moving or they’re speaking loudly—disinfecting surfaces, and making sure that everyone is going to be okay.”
Scenes in Twelfth Night that require close contact among actors must be reworked entirely. In the final reunion scene, which features 14 characters, all of the actors can’t fit into the frame without bunching together. And a fight scene must be altered so that the actors look like they’re sword fighting without actually getting close to each other.
“I’m curious to see how the fight choreographer is going to ask actors to manipulate their own bodies and to move in their own spaces in a way that still kind of is artistic and cool and doesn’t look like people just writhing around,” Lardner said. Because of copyright restrictions, the theatre department cannot prerecord a performance of Sweat. Live performances will happen at the same times as a regular
This story was originally published on Feb. 22, 2021.
By Grace Mayer Arts Editor Katherine canniff Assoc. Arts Editor and alicia KanG Asst. Arts EditorWith dance competitions and a capella showcases canceled across campus due to COVID-19, the only audience that Females Incorporating Sisterhood Through Step (F.I.S.T.S.) had last semester was their phone cameras—and possibly a roommate or two.
Although members filmed their routines separately to send to each other for critique, virtual practices couldn’t replace the exhilarating feeling of commanding Robsham Theater.
Now, Amanda Rodriguez, F.I.S.T.S dance captain and MCAS ’22, scrolls through old performance videos, remembering when she used to rhythmically step on stage alongside her teammates.
“I was watching those videos and just like I was remembering how I felt during those exact moments,” Rodri -
guez said. “And I’m so sad that we can’t perform, because it is an experience that you can’t get anywhere [else].”
The sense of community these creative outlets, like F.I.S.T.S., foster is dimmed by COVID-19 restrictions.
As a result, the Boston College arts scene hasn’t been able to demonstrate its usual support for equity and inclusion, through culture showcases, fashion events that celebrate the Black diaspora, and R&B and soul a cappella performances.
But the importance of safe creative spaces was amplified this year by the recent events on the Multicultural Learning Experience (MLE) floor of Xavier Hall. Many senior members of F.I.S.T.S. lived on the MLE floor during their freshman years and were distressed by the violation of this space on campus, Rodriguez said.
During a time when nurturing safe spaces is paramount on BC’s campus, students involved in the arts scene have resorted to activism on social media and online meetings to amplify Black students’ voices.
This summer, Black Experience in America Through Song (BEATS) used its Instagram to demand justice for people of color killed by police
officers. Emphasizing that merely posting on social media isn’t enough to generate change, BEATS also supplied a list of social justice organizations for its followers to support. Presenting Africa To U (PATU) and Sexual Chocolate released statements following the killing of George Floyd in the summer.
PATU and Sexual Chocolate did not respond to requests for interviews.
Several other arts organizations, including BC Irish Dance and BC Dance Ensemble, echoed these messages by condemning racism.
Over the summer, the Bostonians and Bollywood-inspired dance group Masti ran fundraisers in support of the Boston Arts and Music Soul (BAMS) Fest and the Massachusetts Bail Fund, respectively. Other arts groups including a cappella groups the Common Tones of BC and the BC Acoustics, and dance groups UPrising Dance Crew and BC Full Swing also directly addressed the recent incidents on the MLE floor.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2020/09/13/ lights-camera-zoom/.
play would: Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, and a Sunday matinee. Attendance will be free, but viewers will have to register for a ticket in order for the department to avoid Zoom bombers.
“Nothing compares to live theatre,” said Sweat stage manager Angela Salisbury, MCAS ’22. “I think we all miss it. I think it’s more about instead of figuring out how we can get as close as we want to be to what it used to be. We’re kind of discovering a new normal and new ways
to be creative, given the circumstances, and new ways to connect.”
While conducting the play over Zoom isn’t anyone’s first choice, the technology’s film-like aspects could potentially lead to more nuanced performances, since the actors’ faces will be more visible, according to Salisbury.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2020/09/13/lights-camerazoom/.
you know … everybody on campus knew about it, so I was like, ‘I hope it doesn’t invite more [attacks].’”
Editor’s Note: Magazine editors Erin Flaherty, Beth Verghese, and Spencer Steppe have spotlighted long-form stories about issues, patterns, and anniversaries at Boston College.
This story was originally published on Feb. 8, 2021.
By anna lonnquist Magazine Editor stEphEn BradlEy Assoc. Magazine Editor and Mc claVEriE Asst. Magazine EditorIn the early hours of the morning on Jan. 30, residents of the women’s Multicultural Learning Experience (MLE) floor awoke to aggressive knocking on their doors and the sound of commotion in their hallway.
community from ResLife on Jan. 31.
Corey Kelly, director of the Office of Student Conduct, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Just four days after the incident in Xavier, MLE residents reported that two male students had walked down their hallway singing a song about “colored girls.”
By stEphEn BradlEyMagazine Editor Mc
claVEriEAssoc. Magazine Editor and Erin
FlahErtyAsst. Magazine Editor
Destiny Gonzalez still remembers watching her hallmates knock on doors on the third floor of Loyola Hall in early February of last year. The residents were searching for two boys who had walked across the adjacent Xavier Hall chanting a song about “colored girls.”
“I don’t know their names, but I know their faces,” said Gonzalez, a resident of the Multicultural Learning Experience (MLE) floor last year and MCAS ’24.
At the beginning of the 2021 spring semester, MLE residents reported an incident of racist vandalism that included knocked over trash cans, torn off door decorations, and aggressive knocking on their doors. MLE residents, however, said this was not an isolated incident, describing a pattern of racial harassment targeting the third floor of Xavier Hall on Upper Campus.
One year later, MLE residents are still grappling with the lasting effects of the harassment and the University’s response to the incidents.
“It makes me really uncomfortable because it doesn’t seem right for people like that to be here and around us when they directly are trying to make other people’s lives uncomfortable or unbearable,” Gonzalez said.
Ayanna Rowe, another resident of last year’s MLE and MCAS ’24, said that in the days following the incidents, she was worried about another possible attack on their floor.
“I was kind of just holding my breath, hoping that another attack wouldn’t happen,” Rowe said. “Because it was just like,
Isiaah Clark, a Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center (BAIC) ambassador and MCAS ’24, was a resident of the men’s MLE on the fourth floor of Xavier Hall last year. Clark said he heard about the incidents through his roommates.
Their initial response, he said, was anger.
“We couldn’t fully understand why something like this would happen,” Clark said. “But then also we were angry because of the response time of the BC administration to actually step in and handle these situations.”
At first, Gonzalez said it was difficult to equate the incidents to racially motivated harassment, rather than the behavior of drunk college boys.
“At first, it started very early in the semester, like you get really loud door knocks in the middle of the night, waking you up and like you just think ‘Oh my gosh, like just stupid college boys,’” Gonzalez said. “And then it kept happening every weekend on the same doors. And then people were throwing over our trash cans. And then everything just continued to escalate, and then you start to think to yourself, you’re like, ‘Wait, this is a race thing, like this is racially motivated.’”
After the incidents occurred, Gonzalez felt on edge and unsafe in her own dorm, she said.
“[I was thinking], ‘I’m kind of scared to go to sleep at night or like, I have to be on edge,’” Gonzalez said. “‘I have to make sure that no one’s going to attack me or attack my home, or I don’t feel safe in my own living space.’ Like that was a lot to digest at the time.”
One student, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said the incident deeply disturbed them.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/02/14/one-year-latermle-residents-are-still-left-in-the-dark/.
Upon entering the third floor of Xavier Hall on Upper Campus, these students saw that decorations were torn off their doors, trash was spread along the hallway, and tiles were knocked out from their ceiling. Looking at the neighboring halls of Claver, Loyola, and Fenwick, they noticed that the vandalism was contained only to their hall.
MLE residents quickly began to wonder whether this incident was a targeted attack, and many were left feeling unsafe in their own living space.
“Looking down the hallway and seeing that no one else’s floor was trashed, it was a little bit like ‘What’s going on? Why is it only our floor?’” Sierra Sinclair, a resident of the MLE floor and CSON ’24, said in an interview with The Heights. “Why do we have to always hear loud noises that interrupt our sleep? Why us?”
The Boston College Police Department (BCPD) was able to identify the two individuals responsible for the vandalism. The perpetrators, who did not live in the building, are currently facing disciplinary sanctions for their behavior through the Office of Student Conduct according to an email obtained by The Heights sent to the Claver, Loyola, Xavier, and Fenwick (CLXF)
Residents of CLXF were notified of the first incident via an email obtained by The Heights sent from ResLife on Jan. 30, the same day the first incident took place. The rest of the BC community was notified about the incidents through an email sent by Executive Vice President and Acting Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Lochhead five days after the first incident.
“I hope all of us can learn from this incident, and realize the pain that can be caused by reckless behavior,” Lochhead said in the email. “No one at Boston College should ever be made to feel unsafe or threatened, particularly within the confines of their residence hall. This conduct will simply not be tolerated.”
When asked for comment, Lochhead directed The Heights to the statement in his email.
The Office of University Communications did not respond to a request for comment.
Rev. Michael Davidson, S.J., director of the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center (BAIC), said that these incidents have left students of the MLE floor feeling jeopardized and disrespected in their own home. In order to alleviate this, BC needs to work more closely with non-AHANA+ students to make BC’s campus more inclusive, Davidson said.
“We need to stop teaching to the choir,” he said. “We need to have more robust diversity workshops for non-AHANA students.”
These incidents come just over two years after AHANA+ students at BC were threatened by a hate crime. On Dec. 9, 2018, Michael Sorkin, formerly CSOM ’21, defaced walls, blinds, and furniture in Welch Hall, covering them in racist epithets. Some of the graffiti read “n—–s are the plague.” University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., never publicly responded to the hate crime, despite student pressure.
At a community gathering hosted by UGBC the following Wednesday, students asked why Leahy did not release a statement.
Vice President for University Communications Jack Dunn responded to student calls for Leahy to speak by stating that Vice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley are responsible for reaching out to students and faculty, but that Leahy’s beliefs are reflected in their statements.
Moore’s statement was released the same day as the Welch vandalism, asserting that acts of such hatred and racism will never be tolerated at BC.
Quigley released his statement the following day, expressing how his outrage at the incident was heightened by the fact that 14 months earlier, on Oct. 13, 2017, Black Lives Matter signs were defaced in Roncalli Hall.
A series of meetings between students and faculty ensued, leading to the creation of a mandatory student learning module on diversity and inclusion, along with a Student Experience Survey and commitments to hire more diverse faculty and increase the frequency of meetings with student leaders.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/02/08/tired-of-feeling-targeted/.
This story was originally published on April 16, 2023.
By Erin FlahErty Magazine Editor BEth VErghEsE Assoc. Magazine Editor and spEncEr stEppE Asst. Magazine EditorDanielle Ellerbe was seconds away from crossing the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon when a bomb detonated in the distance.
“I saw it but it was still far enough away,” said Ellerbe, a sophomore at the time and BC ’15. “I looked at a police officer who was standing along the race, and they didn’t respond or react. So I just went right back into go mode, like ‘Alright, let’s sprint. Let’s finish.’”
The second bomb went off about 10 seconds later, Ellerbe said.
“I was half a block away,” Ellerbe said. “I immediately lost my hearing. To be honest, my very initial reaction was, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
In milliseconds, Ellerbe said she saw debris flying all around her and realized everyone was in a panic. Alongside other runners, she trampled over the gates enclosing the race route and clutched the sides of a building.
“People were hysterically crying, calling for their loved ones,” she said. “After a few more seconds, I realized I had to run. I ran only about a block or so away, just
to the first door that I could find. I spent about five minutes crouched under the bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.”
As she waited, Ellerbe said she repeated Isaiah 41:10, the bible verse she had memorized to keep her motivated during the race, over and over in her head.
“I remember praying,” Ellerbe said. “I said ‘I’m not afraid to die, but I don’t want to die like this.’”
Ellerbe was eventually ushered out of the hotel, and she found the parents of another Boston College student.
“I walked them to try to find their son … eventually we went to Uno’s Pizza in Kenmore Square,” Ellerbe said. “That was when I first saw on the TVs, I saw the news headlines. That’s when I first realized, oh my gosh, the gravity of what happened, and that it was an actual bomb.”
Ellerbe said she broke down crying. The gravity of the situation had finally hit her.
At 2:49 p.m. on April 15, 2013, during the 117th Boston Marathon, two domestic terrorists detonated two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line in downtown Boston. Three people were killed and more than 280 were injured.
In the moments following the bombing, BC students and community members rushed to contact runners, friends, and family who were in the area. Less than an hour after the bombing, volunteers from BC’s Campus School created a Google doc listing the names of over
300 undergraduate students running the marathon and asked members of the BC community to update the document once they knew a runner was safe. By 7 p.m., almost all of the runners were accounted for.
Meanwhile, hundreds of runners who were near BC when the race stopped soon flooded Lower Campus. Students, administrators, and the Boston College Police Department quickly responded to support the influx of people.
Alex Warshauer, MCAS ’14, was the president of Eagle EMS (EEMS)—a student-run, emergency medical care provider—at the time. That day, Warshauer and other EEMS workers were stationed around campus to offer both students and runners typical support. When EEMS heard news of the bombing downtown, Warshauer and other workers had to act fast.
“The first thing that happened was that all the local EMS resources immediately left campus and went into the city,” Warshauer said. “So we were kind of left alone to be the sole providers for campus and the surrounding areas.”
The impromptu shutdown left hundreds of runners unexpectedly stranded at BC. While the finish line was set up and staffed to aid runners after they completed the marathon, Warshauer said these resources were not available at the Mile 21 mark near BC’s campus. EEMS quickly spoke with the BCPD chief of police to set up a response, he said.
“The finish line has enough water,
warming blankets, medical tents, all ready to take care of runners,” Warshauer said. “The challenge there was that all of our normal EMS resources were pulled into the city. So we had to stabilize those patients ourselves. As an EMT we’re not set up for IVs and things like that, so it was a lesson in applying our skills and stretching them past what our normal scope of care is.”
Runners sought shelter in the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola on Lower Campus, Warshauer said. By working with the Office of Emergency Management, EEMS ensured food and drinks from the dining hall got to the runners.
“We’re just keeping the runners safe and warm until we know more about what’s going on,” said Catherine-Mary Rivera, then–associate director of the Office of Residential Life, at around 3:30 p.m. on the day of the bombing. “We just needed to get them into the church after they stopped running so abruptly.”
Michael Padulsky, LSEHD ’15 and BCSSW ’17, had just reached BC’s campus and Mile 21 of the race when a police officer told him the race was over. During his sophomore year, he decided to run the 2013 marathon to honor his brother Tim, who passed away from cancer in 2008.
Padulsky said he and his sister, who ran alongside him, were shocked to hear they could not finish the race.
“At the top of Heartbreak Hill, that’s when really my heart broke because they said ‘Your race is over’ and I just remem-
ber kind of sitting down in the road just being like ‘Wow, I trained for months and months for this,’” Padulsky said.
Padulsky said he did not know exactly what was going on, but he began to worry—he had friends who were also running the marathon and his family members were waiting for him near the finish line. His aunt, who was also running the marathon, met him at his dorm room in Walsh, and they tried to contact their family members.
“The cell towers were overactive,” Padulsky said. “Things weren’t going through, so trying to send texts or calls wasn’t always the most reliable thing. Just trying to get a hold of everyone to make sure everyone was safe was really what the afternoon was.”
Once the Boston Police Department (BPD) said downtown Boston was safe enough for runners to return, buses provided by the Boston Athletic Association began transporting runners downtown, and by 7:30 p.m., most of the runners had left BC’s campus.
On a day when Warshauer and his team usually would have helped the occasional runner with shin splints or students who drank too much alcohol, EEMS ended up caring for about 500 stranded runners.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2023/04/16/ tragedy-recovery-and-community-recounting-and-reflecting-10-years-after-the-boston-marathon-bombing/.
By Anna Lonnquist Asst. Magazine Editor
Stephen Bradley
For The Heights
MC Claverie
For The Heights
John Kalil
For The Heights
Eleanor Crowley
For The Heights and Colleen Conley
For The Heights
The collegiate Gothic architecture and manicured quads on Boston College’s Middle Campus paint an image of prestige. By comparison, the reddish, wooden-paneled structures that clutter Lower Campus may appear to be an eyesore, but the Mods have cultivated a legacy that traverses generations of Eagles.
Students flocked to the Mods in celebration after Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary pass in 1984. After authorities caught the Boston Marathon bomber in 2013, a sense of relief and release fell over the Mods as students gathered there. In March of this year, when students received news that the University was closing campus and sending them home due to COVID-19, the Mods were
the site of some of the strongest emotions, with seniors attempting to cram Senior Week activities into their final five days on campus.
This year, despite an unusual quietness in the Mods due to COVID-19 residence hall policies, seniors have found creative ways to preserve a sense of normalcy. Fifty years on, what was intended as a temporary solution for a campus housing crisis has become, in many ways, the heart of the BC experience.
The Birth of the Mods
In 1970, with BC becoming co-ed and many more students choosing to live on campus rather than commuting for classes, BC had a housing crisis on its hands.
In August of that year, then-BC Housing Director Kevin P. Duffy made one of his first decisions on the job—constructing a group of modular apartments to compensate for a lack of housing for the academic year.
The University gave upperclassmen who were in need of housing the option to live on Upper Campus, the newly acquired South Street dorm, or in the Modular Apartments, once they were constructed. More than 600 upperclassmen volunteered to live in the “Mods,” as they would come to be known, and by September, construction was underway. In the meantime, BC
housed students who chose to live in the Mods in nearby hotels.
Construction on the Mods got off to a rocky start.
The University originally set the opening date for Oct. 3, but had to push it back to Oct. 15 when plumbers hit rock while trying to install pipes, a misfortune that set the tone for a fall full of challenges. As a crane was lowering the first of 43 Mods into place, it dropped the prefabricated home, destroying it upon impact.
On Oct. 27, the kitchen-bathroom portion of a Mod unit tumbled off the flat bed trailer across I-84 as it was being transported from Connecticut to BC, creating a highway blockage that lasted six hours. Although various factors frequently slowed construction down, by the end of October, the first six Mods opened their doors to 72 students. Upon moving in, though, not all logistics had been settled, which led to situations like students having to temporarily shave in mirrorless bathrooms.
Becoming a BC Icon
Partying quickly became a primary trait of the Mods. When the Mods first opened, BC gave the first batches of students a short, five-item list of policies to comply with, mostly surrounding not damaging the building and furniture. But
the quickly emerging party culture forced the administration to add more rules, and with this new reputation as a party hotspot also came some negative press. By 1976, students had to register parties of more than 15 people and pay a BC security guard an hourly rate of $32 to be present at gatherings larger than 30 people. The University also banned outdoor Mod parties in hopes to limit outsiders and lessen drunken vandalism that had taken place, according to Dean of Students Rev. Edward Hanrahan.
In September, the University fined
residents of Mods 248 and 278 for holding a joint party that exceeded the guest limit of 75 people per Mod. Students felt they had been unfairly charged and vandalized the Mods in response.
This vandalism, according to Hanrahan, was largely due to “the just incredible pervasiveness of beer as a constant and solitary beverage.”
Read the full story online at https:// magazine.bcheights.com/index.
php/2020/how-temporary-became-tradition-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-mods/.
Over the last 50 years, a temporary solution to a housing issue became tradition at BC.
This story was originally published on March 15, 2021.
By AnnA Lonnquist Magazine Editor stephen BrAdLey Assoc. Magazine Editor MC CLAverie Asst. Magazine EditorWhen Boston College students and faculty returned to campus on March 8, 2020, few could have predicted that campus would be empty again in a week’s time. One year later, students and administrators are still reflecting on and processing those final five days on the Heights—the decisions that were made, the chaos that ensued, and the lasting effects that being sent home had on the community.
Sounding the Alarm
Philip Landrigan, director of BC’s Global Public Health Program and Global Observatory on Pollution, said that when
the first cases of COVID-19 began appearing in the opening weeks of 2020, he had little sense of the severity of what was to come.
“I wasn’t that clear from the beginning, partly because the initial reports were kind of sketchy, and partly just a normal human reaction that it was far away, you know, it wasn’t here,” Landrigan said. “Then during the months of January and February, as the number of deaths started to mount up, it was becoming increasingly clear to all of us that this was a very, very serious threat and that we needed to buckle down.”
Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley said that every administrator was keeping an eye on COVID-19 throughout January and February. He recalled a meeting with the Board of Trustees during which one board member asked him what was keeping him up at night.
“It was Friday, February 7 and late the previous night, the doctor in Wuhan, Li Wenliang, had passed away,” Quigley said.
“The 30-something doctor … was one of the first to sound the alarm. And I’m not usually an alarmist, but I said that was something that had me a little bit worried.”
Quigley said that there were several
meetings entering into Spring Break about COVID-19, but no one yet understood the gravity of the situation.
Landrigan said that he briefed top administrators about COVID-19 in a meeting on Feb. 28, the final Friday before BC’s Spring Break.
“None of us in the room at that point were yet ready to close the place down,” Landrigan said. “I gave my best advice as to what steps BC should take … then over the next 10 or 11 days it became increasingly clear that this was a much much more dangerous situation than we had realized.”
Stanton Wortham, dean of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, said that there was some planning to move classes online before Spring Break even began.
Informational Technology Services had begun to ramp up Zoom licenses, and there was communication from department chairs to faculty urging them to begin planning for the possibility of the transition to remote learning, he said. Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/03/15/one-year-latercovid-19/.
On Oct. 11, many Boston College students woke up earlier than usual for a Monday morning, dressed up in funky outfits, and crossed Commonwealth Ave. to party on off-campus streets. After 910 days, Marathon Monday had returned.
Some BC students, though, woke up with a different agenda—to begin a 26.2mile run. After over two years without
an in-person Boston Marathon due to COVID-19, certain students embraced its return by deciding to run it themselves.
After fundraising and training throughout the summer and fall, they tightened their shoelaces and affixed numbered bibs to their clothes. Here are their stories.
Shevanna Yee
Shevanna Yee, MCAS ’22, was not a runner in high school, she said. But over eight years ago, on April 15, 2013, Yee’s world changed when her cousin, Lingzi Lu, a then-graduate student at Boston University, died tragically in the Boston Marathon bombing.
Lu’s extended family established the Lingzi Foundation, which is based in Boston, in Lu’s memory. The foundation seeks
to provide opportunities for people who share Lingzi’s ambition and dreams through a variety of programs. The foundation also supports many local organizations that align with its mission through grants. Over time, the foundation has had many charity runners run in Lu’s memory.
Before her cousin died, Yee never could have fathomed running a marathon, she said. But, as Yee grew older, she became more inspired to run the marathon.
“Over time, like as I grew, I was able to kind of learn more about the foundation and get more involved with it, and just kind of see I was, like, really inspired by the other runners, being able to raise money and just kind of crossing the finish line for us and [our] foundation,” Yee said. “Coming into BC, I learned how big of a holiday Marathon Monday was on campus, and that kind of made me, kind of, fall in love with it more.”
Harris Craycraft
Harris Craycraft, MCAS ’22, is a fouryear member of the BC club running team. Since the spring of his freshman year, he has slowly been working his way up, from participating in track events, to half marathons, to finally the full marathon, he said.
Craycraft never had plans to run the Boston Marathon, but after running the Cambridge Half Marathon in November of 2019, things started to change, he said.
“That was really fun and people just started talking about training for a marathon,” Craycraft said. “And so within the club it sounded like a fun idea … It seemed like a really fun challenge. I thought the extra miles would be fun to train for.”
Craycraft qualified for the marathon at a small race in Columbus, Ohio last year, he said. Craycraft trained for the marathon both over the summer and once he arrived
back on campus. In the summer, the most challenging part was training mostly alone in the Cincinnati, Ohio heat. But overall, Craycraft felt that it went really well, he said.
“Each week you win a little race,” Craycraft said. “There’s a bunch of different milestones as you go and finishing every single week is in itself really rewarding. So, obviously, the final race day is great but each week I just found a lot of satisfaction.”
MajernikEmma
As a native of Wellesley, Mass.—the halfway point of the marathon—Emma Majernik, MCAS ’22, has aspired to run the marathon her whole life. Seeing several family members and friends run in the marathon helped Majernik realize that this goal could be a reality. Majernik said watching her first Marathon Monday as a freshman is what really set the gears in motion.
“It was really like freshman year doing Marathon Monday here,” she said. “I was more invested in the runners. I was like, ‘I want to be that,’ so that’s sort of how it started.”
Majernik had trained and fundraised for the 2020 Boston Marathon, but after its cancellation, she restarted the process for the 2021 marathon.
Because this marathon took place in October, runners had to train in the summer heat, which can be more difficult than training in the winter months for the typical April marathon. Majernik did the bulk of her training while studying abroad in France this summer.
“I was really nervous there wasn’t gonna be a running culture and that it was gonna be really weird that I was out running,” she said. “[But] where I was staying with my host family was close to a walking, running park area, so I was, you know, able to run there and find the trails nearby … It was a
great way to explore … I got to literally see places I probably wouldn’t have seen if I hadn’t been running, which is really cool.”
Claire Floyd
Running the Boston Marathon had always been on Claire Floyd’s bucket list, she said, but it being her senior year at BC, she felt it was the most opportune time to accomplish that goal.
Floyd, CSON ’22, ran this year’s virtual marathon on Oct. 8, the Friday before Marathon Monday.
She said that she had always been drawn to the idea of running a marathon because she loved the idea of setting small, weekly goals in pursuit of a larger goal.
Floyd ran cross country in high school, and prefers to run long distances at a slower pace. Running the virtual marathon suited this preference, she said, as she didn’t feel any pressure to match the pace of other runners.
“It was kind of a cool experience to be able to be just racing against myself and really like in the mindset for that, and that’s always kind of been what running is to me,” she said.
Olivia Colombo
For senior Olivia Colombo, LSEHD ’22, running is not a new part of her life. She grew up running throughout her childhood and into high school. Colombo, who is enrolled in a five year master’s in the social work program at BC, wanted to continue running and was working toward being recruited to college, she said, when gastrointestinal health issues began to interfere.
When she came to BC, Colombo joined club running to try to keep doing what she loved, she said.
Square One
In 1899, eight years before becoming president of Boston College, Rev. Thomas Gasson, S.J., spoke to a crowd at Trinity College in Washington, D.C. about the lack of women in higher education.
“Is man alone gifted with understanding?” he asked the crowd. “Is man alone dowered with reasoning faculties? Can man alone grasp truth? The harmony between the inner and outer world? Are men the only pilgrims to the shrines of wisdom? Are men the only torchbearers of knowledge?”
“If these questions cannot be answered in the affirmative, and assuredly they cannot be answered affirmatively by anyone who has not bid farewell to common sense, then we must come to one conclusion,” he said. “And that conclusion is that the blessings of higher education should be placed within the reach of women.”
Despite these words spoken by the namesake of BC’s most iconic building, the University would not open the doors of all of its colleges to women for another
70 years. Oberlin College became the first school to admit women in 1837. Over the next century and a half, colleges throughout the country would become co-ed. Though BC, which was founded in 1863, began letting women into its School of Education in the ’50s, it did not admit women to all of its colleges until 1970.
The Class of 1974, the first co-ed class at the University, was the culmination of decades of small changes that expanded the presence of women on campus. Though 1970 was the official year that BC became co-ed for all undergraduate schools, women at BC—students and faculty alike—had been working behind the scenes for years to establish their presence on campus.
And though the ’70s were a contentious time in the fight for equality, the struggle for equal opportunity on campus continued over the span of the past 50 years and persists today.
Behind the Scenes
Margaret Magrath and Olivia Pennell became the first women to earn degrees from BC in 1926, receiving master’s of arts. Magrath and Pennell have died.
Three decades later, a young mother was blazing the trail for women at the BC Law School. Margaret Heckler, previously O’Shaughnessy, BC Law ’56, was admitted to Harvard Law School in 1953, but she was not able to attend because her husband wanted to enroll, and Harvard did not allow spouses to enroll together.
In search of another school, Heckler found her way to BC Law, where she was
Magazine Editor
Asst.
For Valentine’s Day, Boston College students can send their valentine a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers. Or, they could send them a bag of condoms.
Boston College Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH), an independent student group committed to providing students with sexual health and sex education resources, distributes “condomgrams” to members of the BC community every Valentine’s Day. At no cost, students can send their valentine a bag of condoms. But BCSSH does not just provide students with resources on Feb.14—the group also runs Rubber Hub, a program where students can order condoms, lube, and dental dams throughout the year. To fund its services, BCSSH receives a grant from Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive and sexual health care.
BCSSH is not associated with BC and is
not officially allowed to distribute condoms on campus. On the 2018 UGBC election ballot, 94 percent of BC students voted in support of a referendum allowing BCSSH to distribute contraceptives on campus. The University then doubled down on its disallowance of contraceptive distribution, citing other Jesuit schools’ policies and its commitment to BC’s Catholic identity.
BC’s Sexual Activity Policy
Another policy stemming from BC’s Catholic identity is the University’s stance on sexual activity. The University prohibits students from engaging in intercourse outside of marriage in policy 11.8 of the Student Code of Conduct.
“All students have a responsibility to respect the values and traditions of Boston College as a Jesuit, Catholic institution, including adhering to the Church’s teachings with respect to sexual activity,” the policy reads. “Consequently, incidents of sexual intercourse outside the bonds of matrimony may be referred to the Student Conduct System.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/14/the-absenceof-abstinence-students-reflect-on-sex-culture-and-policy-at-bc/.
familiar with the Jesuit mission, having attended Catholic school for her entire life. Heckler would go on to graduate as one of the top six students in the Class of 1956. Her husband dropped out of Harvard during his first semester.
Heckler died in 2018. Her daughterin-law, Kim Heckler, is in the process of writing a book on Heckler’s life.
After her graduation, Heckler worked as a lawyer, although she initially struggled to find work because many law firms only wanted to hire women as secretaries, Kim said.
Heckler eventually left law and ran for the U.S. House, becoming the first woman from Massachusetts to win a seat without succeeding her husband. She went on to become the secretary of Health and Human Services and the United States ambassador to Ireland.
As Heckler was making a name for herself, BC continued to slowly shift toward being co-ed. In 1959, the nursing school completed its move from Newbury
Street to the now-demolished Cushing Hall, which brought 700 more students and faculty members to Chestnut Hill.
But women were still barred from the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Management. Male-only events and inferior dorms, among other things, led female students to write a letter to the editor in The Heights in 1964 calling for change. The call resulted in improvements—later that year, a new residence hall for women was opened in Brighton.
The Vestal Virgins University President Rev. Michael P. Walsh, S.J., feared that BC was missing out on intellectual talent, and he instructed Rev. Charles F. Donovan, S.J., vice president for Academic Affairs at the time, to find and enroll a cohort of female students who could demonstrate they were prepared for the rigors of a college education.
Seven women enrolled in the college of Arts and Sciences in 1959 and were
colloquially known as the “Vestal Virgins” by their classmates. Six of them graduated with honors, and the seventh joined a convent, according to Peg Bonarrigo. Bonarrigo, previously McLaughlin, was one of the seven. A Catholic woman from Jamaica Plain, Bonarrigo received her acceptance letter to BC without even submitting an application.
“One of the Jesuits came to my school and told us that Boston College had decided to accept women into the next class. That interested me greatly,” Bonarrigo said. “I went home and told my parents that they were doing that. They kind of scratched their heads because they hadn’t heard about it before.”
After discussing it with her family, Bonarrigo decided to enroll as a math major.
Read the full story online at https:// magazine.bcheights.com/index.php/2020/ a-co-ed-campus-50-years-down-theline/.
Commonly referred to as “The Heights,” Boston College’s campus is known for its hilly topography. For some students with disabilities, BC’s many staircases and inclines impair their ability to get around campus.
In January 2014, the state of Massachusetts received a pair of complaints about the lack of campus accessibility at BC. In response, the Massachusetts Department of Safety Architectural Access Board (AAB) investigated BC’s campus for its compliance with the Code of Massachusetts Regulations Title 521, a collection of AAB codes. This investigation followed another inspection in 2015 after students and alumni filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in 2013. Since the investigations, the University has made several strides to improve campus accessibility. General Counsel at BC Nora Field said advancements include building renovations, improved maintenance, and continued monitoring of campus and students’ needs in an email to The Heights
“The improvements are too numerous for me to list, but include new ramps at Vanderslice, a new walkway and ramp between Maloney Hall and O’Neill library, a new ramp at Trinity Chapel, and improved signage throughout campus,” Field said.
“In addition, all new buildings, including, most recently, 245 Beacon, are compliant
with accessibility standards.”
While the University has made an effort to meet state standards, students continue to push for increased accessibility on campus along with increased inclusivity of students with disabilities.
Most recently, UGBC’s Council for Students with Disabilities (CSD) is collaborating with BC Athletics to include closed captions for gameday videos and broadcasting on the jumbotron in addition to working with the University to create a more accessible pathway to Upper Campus, according to Jonah Kotzen, MCAS ’24 and the CSD policy coordinator.
As a student in the late ’90s, Adriana Mallozzi, BC ’00, she said she had a generally positive experience as a student in a wheelchair, relying on back doors and roundabout ways to get to her classes.
But in 2014, when Mallozzi revisited BC, she said the campus was much less accessible than she had remembered it to be due to several construction projects.
“When I did come in 2014, I just heard of horror stories that people were dropping out because they weren’t getting the services that they needed to be successful in school and to be able to live on campus to be able to get to class,” Mallozzi said. “It was very disheartening because I had such a positive experience at BC even though it was so long before that, and to hear it getting worse instead of better was very disheartening for me.”
After the AAB—which “enforces regulations designed to make public buildings accessible to, functional for, and safe for use by persons with disabilities”—investigated the 2014 complaint, it found over 55 violations in or around 22 different locations on campus, such as Stokes S-195, Gasson Hall, and Cushing Hall.
The violations ranged from a lack of a listening system in a lecture hall to ramps with elevation rates above the maximum slope to inaccessible building entrances, according to documents obtained by The Heights
Under Massachusetts state law, the AAB is authorized to act against violators of its regulations, including but not limited to taking legal action to prevent the further use of an offending facility. The AAB also has the authority to impose fines of up to $1000 per day per violation for willful noncompliance with its regulations.
When she returned to campus in more recent years, Mallozzi noted some of the updates made since her 2014 visit.
“I have been on campus recently, and I saw, finally, an access point to the front door of O’Neill Library, which is really great,” she said.
Capital Projects Senior Designer Mark Lewis said in an email to The Heights that Facilities Management has a quality relationship with the AAB, as the two organizations often work together. Lewis also said his office’s consulting architects take accessibility on campus seriously and follow the law to the full extent.
“Over the years any new buildings constructed on campus are required to be fully accessible,” Lewis said. “We have used these opportunities to be able to connect parts of campus that have previously been difficult to access. The newly completed 245 Beacon Street Science Building and new Residence hall at 2150 Comm Ave … are both very good examples of this.”
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/11/20/creating-a-campus-for-all-students-and-advocacy-groups-push-for-greater-accessibility/.
This story was originally published on April 24, 2020.
By Maeve ReillyMagazine Editor BRooke kaiseRMan
A1 Editor Danny Flynn
Assoc. Magazine Editor
anD anna lonnquist
Asst. Magazine Editor
When senior Michael Zuppone returned from Spring Break, he was on what can best be described by him as an “Appa high.” Zuppone had participated in the Appalachia Volunteers Program—one of Boston College’s many service-immersion opportunities—for the third time since his freshman year at BC. Through the program, he had previously traveled to Roanoke, Va. and New Orleans, and he spent his final Appa trip in Trenton, N.J.
The week he returned to BC, Zuppone felt as though for the next two months, the world was his oyster. He was aware of the fact that other universities were switching to remote instruction due to COVID-19—he just never thought BC would be one of them.
March 10, the day Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts, was the day that Zuppone felt as though everyone around him had transitioned into “panic mode.”
That evening, he participated in a virtual UGBC Senate meeting to discuss campus safety in the midst of COVID-19. Out of 33 senators, 25 voted in favor of a letter urging the University to switch to online instruction, and Zuppone was one of them.
Though he supported the letter, Zuppone never expected BC to send students home.
Zuppone was not the only UGBC member who was feeling the pressure in midMarch. Leonardo Escobar, MCAS ’22, had been hearing about the coronavirus since
late December on podcasts he listened to— but the virus still felt like a distant problem until that point. As a UGBC senator, Escobar first experienced a heightened realness regarding the coronavirus at the Senate’s last Tuesday night meeting, which was held over Zoom.
“We were asking, ‘Do we know anything at this time?’” Escobar said. “That night, it became a lot more real from a UGBC standpoint, since everybody was expecting someone to know something.”
With family in China at the time of the initial outbreak, Flora Ding, MCAS ’23, had been acutely aware of what the spread of COVID-19 could spell for the United States when the time came for BC to shut its doors for the semester. Hailing from Wuxi, Ding had seen what the initial spread of the virus across China meant for her family.
“I was really worried back then, because my family and friends were all in China, and they were at risk of this contagious disease,”
Ding said. “I just hoped it wouldn’t spread outside of China to America, to BC.”
But once BC moved classes online for the semester and told its students to move out, Ding was one of many students who didn’t know exactly where to move out to. Being thousands of miles away from home was just one of the worries that Ding and her parents shared about the move out. Travel restrictions at this time can be tough to navigate, and the very act of flying on a plane could put her at further risk, Ding said.
So Ding successfully applied to stay on BC’s campus—BC said it would allow students with “international travel restrictions, serious personal reasons, or University obligations” to stay on campus. She stayed put in her Loyola double as campus emptied around her. When her fellow extended-stay students moved from their former residence halls to freshman housing on Upper Campus, the halls were filled again. Thousands of miles away, Isabella DePalo Garcia Perez,
MCAS ’21, was spending her spring semester abroad in Quito, Ecuador. Perez was one of many BC students who said goodbye to Chestnut Hill in December and embarked on what they thought would be months of abroad learning. Due to the novel coronavirus, though, she found herself in the same position as students across the world, being told to leave her university early.
Perez said a screenshot of the email that classes would be moving online from BC was sent to her and her peers on March 11—and discombobulating panic ensued. Her friends were receiving messages from their universities demanding they come back. Though she thought she had more time to say goodbye, hearing from her program director that she had to be out of Ecuador was jarring in more ways than one.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2020/04/24/hiatus-fromthe-heights/.
Former Boston College women’s soccer coach Alison Foley is suing the University for gender discrimination and improper wiretapping after allegedly being forced to resign in 2018 following her record-setting 22 seasons. In the lawsuit, which was filed in November 2020, Foley alleges that she was dismissed from BC “for advocating on behalf of herself and her female student athletes to be treated fairly and equitably.”
In the suit, Foley alleges that BC held her to a different standard than it held male coaches, specifically concerning her contract status and the way that athletics department members dealt with complaints about her leadership style from student-athletes.
Foley’s lawsuit alleges that the University broke the first and fourth clause of Massachusetts General Laws, Title XXI, Chapter 151B, Section 4 by insisting on single-year contracts and forcing her dismissal. The two clauses protect workers from being discriminated against as a result of their membership in a variety of demographic groups, including gender, and ban employers from threatening or firing workers for lodging a complaint in response to discrimination.
Though her removal from the University was publicly called a resignation, Foley alleges in the suit how then-athletics director Martin Jarmond and University Vice President for Human Resources David Trainor called her into a meeting on Dec. 10, just over a month after the conclusion of the 2018 season, and gave her the choice of resigning or being fired because the “whole team” had complained about her leadership.
Trainor allegedly told Foley that he had a file on her relating to concerns around her team culture and referenced two specific events: a report that she had “pitted two players against each other” during practice and that she had sounded drunk during a phone call with a student-athlete.
Foley alleges that Trainor did not offer any more details about the forced competition between the two student-athletes at practice.
The student-athlete who made the phone call, Kayla Jennings, played at BC from 2016 to 2019 and allegedly called Foley after getting out of an evening class on campus while Foley was at home. Foley says in the lawsuit that it is possible she had a glass of wine on the night in question, but she denies wholeheartedly that she was drunk.
Jennings recorded the call, unbeknownst to Foley, and provided it to Jarmond who reviewed it along with Trainor and then-senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator Jocelyn Gates, prior to the decision to terminate Foley, according to the lawsuit. The wilful use of a recording taken without the consent of the other party is considered a crime in Massachusetts.
Thomas Newkirk, one of Foley’s attorneys, told The Heights that Jennings is not a defendant in the case because there is “no point” in suing a student-athlete. He also spoke to Foley’s coaching style, and said that nothing significant happened on the call.
“Nothing transpired,” Newkirk said. “Coach Foley … [has] always exhibited behavior at all times that was not just meeting the basic standards of what you would expect of a coach in college but exceeding
that. And everybody knows this.”
Jennings did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and Gates declined a request for comment.
Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications Jason Baum said that the University could not comment on the matter, as the lawsuit is still ongoing.
Foley also denies that she had ever been informed prior to the Dec. 10 meeting that there were concerns about her drinking. In the lawsuit, she counters that male head coaches frequently drank much more than she did. She specifically mentions then-head men’s soccer coach Ed Kelly, who she alleges drank on team flights. Kelly did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Foley alleges that she was not allowed to defend herself at the meeting, and was told by Trainor that “the decision was made” to fire her and gave her the option to resign or be fired. Trainor allegedly said that if Foley “wanted to go after them, BC would make it real ugly for her” and that she “would never get another job again in coaching.”
Foley alleges that the Dec. 10 meeting was the culmination of a number of conflicts with the athletics department. After a series of single-year contracts, Foley requested a multi-year contract in 2015, along with a pay raise, as she says she was the only soccer coach in the ACC not on a multi-year deal, according to the lawsuit.
Foley alleges that then-athletics director Brad Bates told her that he supported the request in 2015, but Trainor resisted the move and reportedly only agreed once Foley obtained an attorney and brought concerns that she was not being treated equally as a result of her gender. Bates did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
That contract expired in June of 2018, and Foley was not renewed to a new multi-year deal, but instead returned to a single-year deal, according to the lawsuit.
When Foley and Jarmond first met in the summer of 2018, he told her that she needed to win in 2018 or their “post season meeting was going to be very different,” Foley alleges.
Foley defended herself, crediting the positive team culture that she created during her tenure. Jarmond allegedly responded with hostility.
“I don’t give a fuck about your culture … how do you think I feel being the only ACC AD without a championship?” Jarmond allegedly responded, according to the lawsuit.
Jarmond did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Multiple of Foley’s former players also did not respond to requests for comment.
In the 2018 meeting, Jarmond allegedly outlined four requirements for the upcoming season: Foley’s team had to finish in the top half of the ACC, reach the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, and raise $25,000 for the newly built soccer locker room, according to the lawsuit. BC vastly outperformed preseason projections and broke into the top 10 nationally.
Jarmond allegedly told Foley in November that she was doing a great job and that next season would be even better.
The program ultimately met and exceeded all of Jarmond’s requirements during the 2018 season, finishing fourth in the ACC, earning a spot in both postseason tournaments, and even raising $125,000 for the locker room, $100,000 more than Jarmond had allegedly outlined, according to the lawsuit.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/10/12/former-womens-soccer-coach-sues-bc-gender-discrimination-improper-wiretapping/.
GREG FIUME / COURTESY OF NCAA PHOTOS
2021: BC Wins First NCAA Title
By eMMA HeAly Sports Editor
TOWSON, Md. — As fans decked out in Boston College lacrosse’s signature neon yellow t-shirts swarmed her team, head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein stood about 30 yards back, all by herself, with her hands at her mouth in disbelief. Snippets of the net adorned the Eagles’ necks like the finest jewelry, and Cara Urbank, exhausted from a rush of adrenaline and 60 minutes of championship-level lacrosse, hoisted the trophy above her head. All Walker-Weinstein could do was stand back and admire.The Eagles, haunted by the shadow of three straight crushing National Championship losses, had every reason to win. After taking down seemingly untouchable UNC in the semifinals, Boston College had proven it was a National Championship team. It was only a matter of time before the confetti cannons shot maroon and gold streamers.
In its fourth straight National Championship appearance, and after three long years of heartbreak, fourth-seeded BC (18-3) finally sealed the deal with a 16-10 win over No. 3 Syracuse (17-4), claiming the Eagles’ first ever national title. For Walker-Weinstein, an NCAA title wasn’t just a goal, it was the goal.
“We had a dream a long time ago that we were going to win a championship, and people told us we were crazy. And we just did it,” Walker-Weinstein said in her postgame press conference. And the milestones don’t end there.
All season long, Charlotte North has been inching toward the perfect season. Broken record after broken record, she has cemented herself as one of the greatest players—if not the greatest—to ever don the maroon and gold. The one record it took her all 21 games to break? The NCAA record for goals in a single season—100, set by Stony Brook’s Courtney Murphy.
Fittingly, North’s 97th goal was the first of the game. She surprised Asa Goldstock with a shot through her five-hole just over two minutes in. Urbank made it 2-1 for BC on a free-position shot after Syracuse’s Sam Swart had tied it up at one.
In another minute came goal number 98 for North, a long-distance rocket that snuck inside the post. Perhaps the most pivotal moment of the first half came 12 minutes into the contest. With a clear look at goal, Urbank fired a point-blank shot, which rang off the post and straight into the awaiting stick of Goldstock.
Four scoreless minutes after Emma Tyrrell slotted one home in transition, the Orange once again had a fast break, and freshman standout Emma Ward picked the corner on the run to tie the game up at three apiece.
The momentum had suddenly swung in the Orange’s favor, and Syracuse wasn’t stopping there. A save by Rachel Hall was called back as a free-position shot, and though the Eagles stopped the initial attempt and wore the shot clock down to single digits, Sierra Cockerille slotted
one home to take the Orange’s first lead of the game.
Maybe it was the pressure of the national stage, or maybe the teams were just that evenly matched, but BC and Syracuse traded the lead back and forth five times in the first half alone. The biggest run of the half was that 3-0 sprint capped off with Cockerille’s goal.
Just minutes after Tyrrell—the Orange’s fourth leading point scorer—recorded her first goal of the game, officials handed down her second yellow card, ejecting her from the game and putting a damper on Syracuse’s otherwise dominant offense.
Whether or not her absence made a difference on the scoresheet, the wind was back in BC’s sails. Each time BC opened up a lead, Syracuse whittled it back down, and every time Syracuse scored, the Eagles matched it. Belle Smith, as she has for much of the season, put on a stick work clinic in the first half.
Her first goal of the day came on a highlight reel–worthy shot from the left post. With possession of the ball and her right shoulder to the left goal post, Smith went up and over her defender to sneak the ball past Goldstock, breaking the 4-4 tie. Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/05/30/boston-college-wins-national-championship/.
2022: Blake James Hired
By AMy PAlMer Assoc. News Editor
For the third time in five years, members of the athletic department and the media gathered to hear from Boston College’s newest athletics director on Thursday. Newly hired athletics director Blake James, however, gave his listeners a reason to believe this would be the last introductory press conference for a long time.“When you look at my record, those that know the industry know that having been at Miami for nine years, there’s plenty of opportunities if I would have wanted to leave
to take advantage of those opportunities,” James said. “As I said to Father Leahy, I plan on being here through retirement.”
James—the former athletic director at Miami (Fla.)—replaces Pat Kraft, who left BC for the same position at Penn State in April after two years on the Heights. James will assume the role on July 1.
In his new role, James said he will continue in his determined pursuit of excellence in all aspects of Division I athletics at BC.
“We will compete for championships with integrity,” James said. “We will provide a world-class student-athlete experience. We will retain and attract tremendous coaches and staff, and we will do it all together as a BC community.”
The University had specific goals in
mind—one being this pursuit of excellence— during its search process for its next athletics director, according to University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J.
“The committee’s charge was to identify people who had certain goals and records in their lives—people who were successful, proven leaders in intercollegiate athletics with experience at the highest level, and who could mentor players, coaches, and staff,” Leahy said at Thursday’s press conference.
Leahy said Blake meets these goals, as he is known for his commitment to integrity and advancing many of the values that BC upholds.
“I’m guided by my core values and by my faith, and I’m driven by a constant pursuit of excellence,” James said. “As an athletics program, we’ll strive for excellence in all that we do in alignment with our Jesuit mission and values.”
James spoke about a number of changes and challenges the ACC is facing, including finding ways to increase revenue and navigating name, image, and likeness legislation, but he said he is confident that BC will help shape the conference’s future.
n
This story was originally published on May 30, 2021.
This story was originally published on May 1, 2022.
By Megan Gentile Sports EditorWhen Tommy Cross arrived on the Heights for his official visit with Boston College men’s hockey while he was in high school, he showed up with expectations of being overwhelmed with state-of-the-art facilities and high-profile alumni right off the bat.
“When I’d go to visit other schools … the first person they’d introduce you to, sometimes it was a big former player that was in the NHL, or they’d introduce you to the strength coach, or they’d show you the new hot tub, cold tub,” Cross said.
But for Jerry York, none of that mattered.
“On our visit to BC, the first stop after we met Coach York, he took us to meet Father Tony Penna,” Cross said. “It was so important for him to take us there immediately.”
For York, BC ’67, more than locker rooms or fancy equipment, relationships are what matter most.
“I don’t think it’s buildings. I don’t think it’s campuses. I don’t think it’s where you are,” York said in his 2019 speech following his acceptance to the
Hockey Hall of Fame. “It’s the people that you are involved with that make a place special.”
As the winningest coach in NCAA hockey history, York made an impact at BC from the time he arrived as a player in 1963 to his retirement in April after 28 years.
While his resume boasts nearly every accolade and accomplishment a hockey coach could gather, the memories and stories of his players and colleagues prove that York’s legacy at BC is not just about a filled trophy case, but rather, his impact off the ice.
York returned to the Heights as a head coach in 1994 after a seven-year stint as the head coach at Clarkson from 1972–79 and 15 years at Bowling Green from 1979–94. He found success at Bowling Green, winning a national championship in 1984, but his return to BC in 1994 was a homecoming and a chance to coach at his alma mater—something he had always dreamed of.
“In ’94, when Father Monan brought me up to his residence on College Road and sat me down … he says, ‘Jerry, I’d like you to become the next head coach at Boston College,’” York said in his retirement press conference on April 20.
“That was probably the most memorable moment—that night. It was something I
always aspired to.”
York’s return to BC came amid a tumultuous time for BC men’s hockey. Coaches had been in and out of the program, and the Eagles were on the heels of two losing seasons. BC went 7–12–5 in Hockey East under former head coach Steve Cedorchuk in the 1993–94 season before Mike Milbury replaced Cedorchuk in March 1994. Milbury only lasted three months,
abruptly departing in June, and from there, York took over.
“He came my junior year,” said David Hymovitz, BC ’96, who played during York’s first two seasons as head coach. “The program was trying to figure everything out. … It’s one of the most storied college hockey programs, and … two coaches left in a matter of a couple months. And then comes Jerry in July, and from day one, you could
tell [there] was … gonna be stability.” Upon York’s arrival, there was an immediate shift, Hymovitz said. York was determined to bring success back to his alma mater and quickly shifted the locker room culture to become more positive.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/05/01/jerryyork-leaves-lasting-legacy-at-bc/.
born deaf. It only shaped a new perspective on life. … This committee’s not just hardof-hearing and deaf people, it’s visible and non-visible disabilities. … I’m trying to make it as general as possible.”
The disability subcommittee is one of four subcommittees that make up Eagles for Equality. The three other subcommittees are the race and ethnicity, gender, and LGBTQ+ subcommittees. While the group now tackles issues surrounding all four topics, the original idea for Eagles for Equality came as a response to racially motivated crimes during the summer of 2020.
ANNIE CORRIGAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR
This story was originally published on Nov. 20, 2022.
By mEgan gEntilESports Editor
All her life, Marne Sullivan has felt like she’s been playing catch up.
Sullivan, who competes for Boston College women’s track and field, is deaf and has a cochlear implant.
For most of her life, Sullivan has felt like she is always one step behind her peers, she said.
Time spent in speech therapy and audiologist appointments has left her playing the chasing game, always racing to keep up with those around her. But when Sullivan’s feet hit the track, she’s no longer chasing.
“In track, … I don’t feel like I’m catching up with my peers,” Sullivan said. “I was getting my confidence from track, and beating people in races, and kind of just creating a sense of community with my teammates.”
Sullivan is the leader of the disability subcommittee of Eagles for Equality, BC’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committee for student-athletes. The group’s mission is to build an inclusive environment for marginalized student-athletes on campus, according to BC Athletics’ website.
For Sullivan, being a part of Eagles for Equality is a chance to no longer play catch up, but rather, to be a leader of the pack and change others’ perspectives about what having a disability might look like.
“I think a lot of people focus on the absence of something,” Sullivan said of her disability. “I haven’t lost anything by being
Assoc. Sports Editor
By Emma HEaly Sports EditorBoston College announced on Thursday
a plan for a new men’s and women’s basketball facility on the heels of a $15 million gift from University trustee Michaela “Mikey” Hoag, BC ’86, and her husband Jay. The facility, named the Hoag Basketball Pavilion, will include approximately 40,000 square feet of basketball-specific space.
“It was important to us to support both basketball programs and help position them for success for years to come,” said Mikey and Jay Hoag in a statement from BC Athletics. “The belief we have in the future of both
programs under Earl Grant and Joanna Bernabei-McNamee’s leadership, along with the direction of BC Athletics under Pat Kraft, was a critical factor for us. We feel very fortunate to be able to help future generations of student-athletes improve both on and off the court in this exciting new facility.”
The facility will be connected to Conte Forum and include a 10,700 square foot practice gym, six courts, instructional areas, and a replica court of that in Conte Forum. The Hoag Pavilion will also include a 2,220 square foot strength and conditioning center attached to the practice courts, a 1,400 square foot sports medicine center, and 2,100 square foot locker rooms, including lounges and video review rooms.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2021/05/27/bc-basketball-new-practice-facility/.
“Eagles for Equality grew out of the social unrest of 2020 and the things that happened with George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor,” said Michael Harris, director of student-athlete academic services. “There clearly were other challenges in terms of diversity that were happening on campus, but what prompted the group and the level of emphasis placed on diversity at that time was the current events.”
Eagles for Equality started as a subcommittee of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), according to Harris.
“In the summer of 2020, we didn’t have an athletic director at that point in time,” Harris said. “We realized that we needed a vehicle for our students to be the change that they talked about—to be a part of social justice and to also keep diversity and inclusion a part of our DNA.”
With that mission in mind, Eagles for
Equality began to separate from SAAC, Harris said. Part of the group’s long-term plan was to become an officially recognized student group on campus, which would provide the students involved with more independence in the group’s activities and less oversight from the athletics department.
Jewel Strawberry, a former BC volleyball player and BC ’22, was the chair of SAAC’s diversity and inclusion subcommittee when Eagles for Equality was first introduced. Strawberry became Eagles for Equality’s president when it broke away from SAAC, a transition that came naturally, according to Harris.
“I think Jewel did a really good job of bringing people together, being the face of the organization,” Harris said. “2020 … was a really difficult year, politics were pretty high, tensions were high, and I think Jewel did a really good job of having others at the table, making sure others’ voices were heard as we navigated some of those challenges as an athletics department.”
While Eagles for Equality centers its conversations around student voices, Harris said that as an administrator, his responsibility is to make sure student-athletes are educated on the issues they take a stance on and understand the different perspectives behind them. He also said that he works to ensure Eagles for Equality is aware of other DEI-related events and information, including those announced by the NCAA and ACC.
“We do want student-athletes to take initiative,” Harris said. “We see it as a group where our student-athletes can participate and be a part of something greater than just athletics. My role is really to create synergies and collaborations across campus and to make sure that we’re in alignment with BC as an institution.”
The surge of the Black Lives Matter movement as a result of racially motivated crimes during the summer of 2020 encouraged Sydney Moore, a member of BC women’s soccer and the current president of Eagles for Equality, to become involved with DEI advocacy.
She said the mission of Eagles for Equality is to not only be a support system for student-athletes with marginalized identities, but to also educate and spread awareness about the experiences of individuals with those identities. The group also does community outreach.
“I do think that it can be challenging to be a student of color,” Moore said. “I feel like we have resources, but I don’t know how supported they are. I do feel like every year we brag about the amount of students of color we’re bringing in, but I don’t know that we’re fully supporting them to the best of our abilities.”
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/11/20/student-athletes-advocate-for-marginalized-individuals-with-eagles-for-equality/.
This story was originally published on March 15, 2021.
By Emma HEaly Sports Editor asa ackErly Assoc. Sports Editor and EtHan Ott Asst. Sports EditorBoston College has hired Earl Grant of the College of Charleston to replace Jim Christian as head men’s basketball coach, BC Athletics announced on Monday afternoon.
“After a comprehensive national search, it was clear that Earl is exactly what we were looking for and what our basketball program needs at this moment and I am confident he will have tremendous success in Chestnut Hill, on the court and off,” BC Athletics Director Pat Kraft said in a press release.
The Eagles welcomed Grant to the Heights with a video narrated by former BC star and current Los Angeles Lakers forward Jared Dudley.
Jon Rothstein first broke the announcement on Twitter.
In seven seasons with Charleston, Grant led the program to a 127-89 overall record, an NCAA tournament appearance in 2018, and an NIT appearance in
2017. In three seasons, he brought the Cougars from 10th in their division with a 9-24 overall record to tied for first with a 26-8 record and an NCAA tournament bid. Grant also led Charleston to three straight 20-win seasons from 2016-2019.
Grant’s coaching career began in 2002 when he was hired and served for two years as an assistant at The Citadel. He was then hired as an assistant at Winthrop University under head coach Gregg Marshall in 2004. When Marshall moved to Wichita State in 2007, Grant followed and stayed on as an assistant coach. Grant transitioned to another assistant job at Clemson University in 2010 before he was hired as head coach by Charleston in 2014.
Grant was a 2019 finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, which honors a coach who not only achieves success on the court but also displays moral integrity off the court.
While at Clemson, Grant notably recruited future NBA players Jaron Blossomgame and 2014 ACC Defensive Player of the Year K.J. McDaniels. During his time at Charleston, Grant led one of just 21 NCAA Division I programs to have players drafted in both the 2019 and 2020 NBA Drafts. Jarrell Brantley and Grant Riller became the third and fourth all-time Charleston players to be
drafted into the NBA.
“I look forward to representing such a prestigious academic institution, to coach in the top basketball conference in America, and do it in one of the best cities in the world,” Grant said in the statement.
Grant inherits a program plagued by losing season after losing season that is looking to regain relevance in the ACC. Under Christian, the Eagles posted just one winning record in nearly seven years, when the Eagles went 19-16 during the 2017-18 season. In six and a half years under Christian, the Eagles never posted a winning record in the ACC. BC Athletics fired Christian mid-season after opening the 2020-21 season with a 3-13 record. The Eagles finished the regular season with a record of 4-16 and 2-11 in the ACC. The Eagles haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2009, and this season, they departed from the ACC Tournament in the first round.
“When we began our search for a new head men’s basketball coach, we set out to find a leader of young men, someone who shares our vision and our values, who could lead our program to championships while ensuring a worldclass student-athlete experience and education for our players,” Kraft said in the release. n
Entering Wednesday night’s contest against No. 6 Virginia, Boston College men’s basketball had not won three games against ranked opponents in a season since the 2008–09 season.
Wednesday night—for the first time in 14 years—the Eagles did just that. BC (14–15, 8–10 Atlantic Coast) defeated the Cavaliers (21–5, 13–4) 63–48 behind a defensive masterclass and an all-around gritty performance, sending shockwaves through the college basketball world. Just as the final whistle blew, Eagles fans stormed the hardwood of Conte Forum amid a sold-out crowd.
After two weeks, a bowl announcement, and several rumors, the wait is finally over for Boston College football. Rece Davis announced on ESPN’s College GameDay Saturday morning that BC has hired Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
“Honestly, I thought it was like a dream come true,” Jaeden Zackery said. “Because when you’re a little kid, that’s what you always think about, beating a ranked team, seeing everyone storm the court for you.
It’s just a special moment for us and this program.”
The victory also marked the Eagles’ first win over a top-10 opponent since Dec. 9, 2017, when BC took down No. 1 Duke in Conte Forum. BC’s eight conference wins this season are its most since the 2010–11 season.
“We’re in pursuit of being a good program,” BC head coach Earl Grant said.
“That takes a lot of belief, blood, sweat, and tears and commitment and time.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/22/boston-college-basketball-upsets-virginia/.
Hafley, 40, is the youngest Eagles head coach since Ed Chlebek (1978-80). He will replace Steve Addazio, who posted a 44-44 record with BC and guided the Eagles to the postseason in six of his seven years with the program, but lost 17 of his 18 games against ranked opponents and was just 22-34 in the ACC. Hafley was a finalist for the Broyles Award this year, an honor given to the top assistant in college football, and oversaw a Buckeyes defense that made the jump from 72nd to second nationally in total defense.
BC was the last of the Power Five programs to fill its head coaching vacancy this year. Following Addazio’s dismissal, Athletics Director Martin Jarmond announced that BC wide receivers coach Rich Gunnell would serve as the Eagles’ interim head coach but would not interview for the full-time job. Jarmond stated that he was looking for a candidate that could make BC more competitive, both in the ACC and on the national stage. BC conducted a national search and targeted Hafley early on in the process.
BC officials flew out to Columbus, Ohio
last week to meet with the Montvale, N.J., native for a Thursday night meeting, according to Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports. One week later, Hafley came to Boston for a follow-up interview, Thamel reported. Hafley is still expected to coach Ohio State during the College Football Playoff. Along with co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, Hafley has spearheaded a unit that has only allowed 247.6 yards (No. 2 nationally) and 12.5 points (tied for second) per game this season. Hafley, who the Buckeyes hired last January after he spent seven years as an assistant in the NFL, has helped Ohio State rank inside the top five in scoring defense for the first time since 2016.
Before joining Ryan Day at OSU, Hafley served as the San Francisco 49ers secondary coach from 2016 to 2018. Hafley and Day overlapped in 2016, when Day was San Francisco’s quarterbacks coach. While with the 49ers, he worked with defensive backs like Antoine Bethea, Eric Reid, and Richard Sherman.
“His preparation is some of the best I’ve seen,” Sherman said, per Ohio State Athletics.
“I’ve had some great defensive back coaches, some great defensive coaches and defensive minds. He is right up there with his preparation and how he breaks down film … how easy and simple he makes the game plan sound and how easy he makes it for guys to understand.”
Prior to his three-year stay in San Francisco, Hafley was the Cleveland Browns’ secondary coach from 2014 to 2015. Before that, he spent two years with Greg Schiano and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a defensive backs assistant and then a secondary/safeties coach. Hafley’s jump to the NFL came with Schiano
after Hafley served as Schiano’s secondary coach at Rutgers in 2011. While an assistant at Rutgers and, in the preceding years, Pittsburgh—where he also coached defensive backs from 2006 to 2010— Hafley established himself as one of the best recruiters in the Big East. What’s more, Rivals. com named him one of the country’s top recruiters in both 2011 and 2012. He’s maintained that standard, even after spending the greater portion of the 2010s in the professional league. In fact, 247Sports ranked him as the third-best recruiter in the nation for the Class of 2020. Hafley’s recruiting prowess impressed BC officials, according to Thamel. The Eagles could use some help in that department, especially on the defensive side of the ball. BC is currently on pace to concede the most points per game in program history (31.7) and has already reset the school record for most yards allowed in a single game twice: at Louisville (664) and Clemson (674).
There are a few question marks surrounding the Eagles’ offense as well, after three-year starting quarterback Anthony Brown entered the transfer portal on Monday, star running back AJ Dillon declared for the 2020 NFL Draft on Tuesday, and offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian was officially hired away by Northwestern on Wednesday.
Hafley has a lot to sort out in these next few weeks, but in the meantime he’ll get an early taste of the ACC, when No. 2 Ohio State plays No. 3 Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 28—the kind of opponent that Jarmond hopes BC will finally be able to compete with in the coming years. n
For the first time in two years, Boston College baseball is back in Baseball America’s Top 25, checking in at No. 18 after finishing 4–1 over Spring Break with road wins against then-No. 3 Tennessee, North Carolina Asheville, and then-No. 10 Virginia Tech.
“We say this is our thing,” BC head coach Mike Gambino said. “What we mean by that is we don’t care what anybody else is saying, right? Whether we’re picked first or picked last, whether we’re ranked higher or not ranked, like, we just care about who we are and what we’re doing. We care about the standards.”
And despite not being ranked heading into the first of those five games against the Volunteers (14–3) in a rowdy environment, BC stayed its course, throwing seven pitchers in a 7–6, extra innings victory.
After pulling off their upset in Knoxville on Tuesday, the Eagles (12–2, 2–1 Atlantic Coast) knocked out the Bulldogs (11–4) with 11 runs on Wednesday, and then captured a series win over the Hokies (12–4, 1–2) over the weekend, winning two games of the three-game series. By improving to 12–2,
BC achieved its best start to a season in program history.
“The thing that I like about it is if you look at our lineup as a whole, right, [we’re] hitting .273,” Gambino said. “You know, if we were hitting .373 right now, I’d be like, ‘man, this is not sustainable.’ But we’re hitting .273. … I love hitting home runs, but we don’t need, we don’t need the home runs.”
Throughout the five-game stretch, the Eagles hit a combined 11 home runs as a team, and seven individual players registered at least one home run. Two of BC’s batters—first baseman Joe Vetrano and outfielder Cameron Leary—already have six home runs on the year.
“Going into the year, you know, we thought they’d both have a chance to hit 20,” Gambino said. “I mean, that’s kind of what they’re on pace for. … We have the ability to steal bases, right. But the rest of those runs, it was situational hitting, and, you know, driving in runs a lot, especially in two-out RBI situations.”
Two different batters—outfielder Barry Walsh and catcher Peter Burns—currently hold a batting average of over .350.
“Peter’s settling in,” Gambino said. “I don’t know if he’ll hit .360, but he’s going to be able to give us those types of bats. And again, I don’t know that Barry’s gonna hit .380, but I think Barry’s going to continue
to give us good at-bats.”
Players in the heart of BC’s order, like outfielder Travis Honeyman, infielder Nick Wang, infielder Vince Cimini, and outfielder Cohl Mercado, all boast an on-base percentage of over .330, but have lower batting averages. The only player on the team who falls below those averages is infielder Patrick Roche, who has 51 at-bats this season.
“Patrick is not swinging it, but I also don’t see that we have as a lineup gotten hot,” Gambino said. “We haven’t as a lineup started to really go. I think Adonys [Guzman] is gonna continue to give us good at-bats, I think Parker Landwehr is going to come back and help us. I think Patrick will raise his average, I think Vin will raise his average, I think Nick will raise his average, I think Travis will raise his average.”
Guzman—BC’s rookie catcher who has shuffled into the lineup for Burns on several occasions—has turned the jets on when the opportunity for him has arised, batting .316 in 19 at-bats.
“Catching every other day with those guys,” Gambino said of the rotation between Guzman and Burns. “Peter on Friday, Adonys on Saturday, Peter on Sunday, and then split the mid-weeks. You know, Adonys, I believe he’s going to be a superstar, but he’s also a freshman in college.”
On Saturday in the Eagles’ 8–5 win over
Boston College has fired men’s basketball coach Jim Christian after six and a half years at the helm, BC Athletics announced on Monday.
Christian has been on the hot seat for the past few seasons, as the Eagles have struggled to produce good results year after year. Since Christian was hired as the head coach in 2014, BC has only had one winning season, when the Eagles went 19-16 during their 2017-18 campaign.
Christian concludes his tenure with the Eagles with a record of 78-132 and an ACC record of 26-94.
According to a statement from BC Athletics, Athletics Director Pat Kraft opted to release Christian mid-season, effective immediately. Scott Spinelli, six-year assistant coach at BC, will serve as the interim head coach.
“I know that Jim gave everything that he had into leading our program and mentoring our student-athletes,” Kraft said in Monday’s press release. “Ultimately, the program is not
headed in the right direction and though I hesitate to make a mid-season coaching change in any sport, now is the right time for us to look forward. We wish Jim and his family all the best in their future endeavors and thank them for their service to Boston College.”
Though the news officially came on Monday at noon, Christian’s firing has been in the works for a while. Shortly after BC men’s basketball lost its game against Florida State last March—a crushing 80-62 loss that capped off the Eagles’ disappointing 2019-20 campaign—news began to leak that Christian would be relieved of his coaching duties.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, secured Christian’s job on a temporary basis. Then-Athletics Director Martin Jarmond opted to keep Christian on for another season.
“There’s uncertainty when we’re going to have students back on campus, there’s uncertainty about graduation, there’s uncertainty about the fall,” Jarmond said about his decision, as reported in The Boston Globe. “With so much uncertainty, I just feel like it’s important to have stability in your leadership.”
With his job saved by the pandemic, Christian has shown no improvement during the 2020-21 season, as the Eagles have slipped even deeper into the depths of the ACC standings. BC is currently last in the ACC with a woeful 1-9 conference record. BC has recorded just three wins during the 2020-21 campaign.
The firing is the first major move for Kraft, who was hired by BC in June of last year. Kraft oversaw one men’s basketball coaching change during his time at Temple with the hiring of head coach Aaron McKie in 2019 after longtime Owls head coach Fran Dunphy retired. Huge losses became something of Christian’s signature during his time on the Heights. The Eagles lost five games by at least 20 points during the 2019-20 season and have lost by that margin 26 times during Christian’s six-plus years in charge. BC’s 38-point loss to Syracuse earlier this season put his proclivity for huge defeats on full display, a loss only exceeded by the 39-point drubbing that Duke levied against the Eagles last season.
Since finishing above .500 in the 2017-18 season, Christian has seen the Eagles take a large step back in terms of performance, unable to compete on the conference and national level. While BC had hoped to maintain its momentum following the departure of Jerome Robinson—replacing him with Jairus Hamilton and then-junior Ky Bowman—the Eagles failed to replicate their winning season, instead taking a dramatic step back from the season prior.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/02/15/jim-christianfired/.
Virginia Tech, Guzman filled in and posted a hit, an RBI, and two strikeouts in three at-bats. Gambino said he still has a lot to learn, and mentioned that his camaraderie with Burns will spark his growth.
“When Adonys was in high school, the value of the close-edge pitch on an 0–0 count or a 1–1 count wasn’t even a thing,” Gambino said. “Whereas if you see what Peter’s doing on the edges right now, and on the edges of the strike zone, you know, he’s changing games. And Adonys has that ability and he will have that ability, but he’s just learning and growing and getting them there.”
Part of BC’s formula for success—rotating the lineup and looking for players deeper in the clubhouse—is reflected in Guzman’s rotation with Burns behind the plate, according to Gambino.
“I kind of like the thing we have going on with playing some hot hand,” Gambino said. “I mean obviously, you know, Travis and Cam and Joe are gonna be in the middle, and you know, moving some of those guys around them, I think that’s gonna continue to happen. The combination of Barry and Cole, and then Sam [McNulty] is coming back and he’s almost healthy. We have good pieces.” n
North Carolina, a team that defeated the Eagles twice already this season, in the 2022 National Championship.
By Robert Brennan Heights StaffWhen Charlotte North transferred from Duke to play for Boston College lacrosse after the 2019 season, she was already regarded as one of the top players in the sport.
Now, three years later, North can make a case to be the greatest athlete to ever play women’s college lacrosse. She helped bring a National Championship to the Heights in 2021. North looked to cap off her career by doing it again on Sunday against
But four goals from North weren’t enough for the Eagles on Sunday. In the two teams’ third meeting of the season and arguably college lacrosse’s biggest rivalry game, North Carolina came out on top once again, and the Tar Heels took down BC 12–11 in the 2022 National Championship, ending the Eagles’ quest to bring home a repeat title to the Heights.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/05/29/boston-college-lacrosse-falls-to-north-carolina-in-national-championship/.
This story was originally published on May 6, 2022.
By Graham Dietz Asst. Sports EditorBoston College hired Greg Brown, a former All-American for the Eagles, as its next men’s hockey coach, according to an announcement from BC Athletics on Friday. Brown will become the fifth head coach of BC men’s hockey since 1932.
The news arrives shortly after former BC coach Jerry York, the Hockey Hall of Famer who won five NCAA championships and the most games in college history, announced his retirement in April after 50 years of coaching.
In 14 seasons as an assistant on York’s staff from 2004–18, Brown, BC ’90, helped bring three national championships to the Heights in 2008, 2010, and 2012. Brown became the associate head coach at BC following the 2012 NCAA title—BC’s third championship in a five-year span—after eight seasons as an assistant coach.
During his 14-year tenure at BC, Brown helped lead BC to six Hockey East Tournament championships, seven Hockey East regular season championships, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, and seven trips to the NCAA Frozen Four. On three separate occasions, Brown was selected to be an assistant coach on Team USA’s staff at the IIHF World Junior
Championships.
Brown headed to the NHL after 14 years with the Eagles, where he coached the New York Rangers, and his most recent position was with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL, where he spent this season as the head coach.
With the Rangers, Brown served as an assistant coach for three years from 2018–21. In those years, Brown coached former BC hockey forwards Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes. As the head coach of Dubuque, Brown led the Fighting Saints to a second-place finish in the USHL Eastern Conference and an increase of 16 wins from the year prior.
While playing at BC, Brown earned back-to-back Hockey East Player of the Year awards in 1989 and 1990 and was named a First Team All-American and a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, which is given to the top NCAA men’s ice hockey player in the nation, both years. In his three NCAA seasons, Brown recorded 24 goals and 96 assists for 120 points in 119 games.
Brown captained the Eagles as a senior from 1989–90, winning 28 games and reaching the NCAA Semifinal. In Brown’s three seasons on the Heights, BC went 84–33–5, winning Hockey East championships in 1987 and 1990. Brown was selected to the U.S. Olympic Team during his sophomore year for the Calgary Olympics in 1988 and again at the Albertville Olympics in 1992. n
Up 24–20 in the fourth set of its contest with Drake in the finals of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC), Boston College volleyball looked like it was just about ready to secure the win.
In a turn of events, the Bulldogs rattled off five straight points, taking command of the set. Drake needed just one more point to send the match into the fifth set, but the Eagles put the pressure on the Bulldogs again, taking a 26–25 lead.
After two more points, the Eagles faced a 27–26 deficit, but Kate Brennan and Alayna Crabtree executed on three straight kills to defeat Drake in the NIVC.
“This has, by far, been the most enjoyable season I’ve had as a coach,” BC head coach Jason Kennedy said. “Because this is the most selfless group that I’ve ever had a chance to do it with. … To wake up and still be excited to see that group and know we’re getting better, and knowing that we’re gonna go out winning our last match, you can’t ask for much more than that as a coach. It’s a good deal.”
The Eagles (24–13, 7–11 Atlantic Coast) capped off a historic season during which they earned a program-first 24 wins with their fourset victory over Drake (30–8, 16–2 Missouri Valley) Wednesday night in Des Moines, Iowa. BC won by scores of 25–22, 21–25, 25–18, and 29–27.
The victory marked Kennedy’s 82nd career win, a program-best number. Kennedy eclipsed the all-time wins record after BC’s semifinal win over Southern Mississippi Saturday.
The set scores against Drake were 25–22, 21–25, 25–18, and 29–27.
The game’s momentum shifted toward BC early in the first set, as the Eagles went on a 9–0 run—led by three kills from Katrina Jensen—to go up 13–4. The Bulldogs rallied back, cutting their deficit to just four points and forcing the Eagles’ first timeout.
Drake got as close as 24–22 before an attack error from the Bulldogs gave BC the first-set win.
“I think my role, especially as a person with more experience and being older, and being in those situations a lot in my career, I think my role specifically was just to make sure that everyone stayed calm and had confidence in themselves,” Brennan said.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/12/14/boston-collegevolleyball-defeats-drake-wins-nivc/.
This story was originally published on November 12, 2022.
By Graham Dietz Assoc. Sports EditorThe foundations of a losing season can sometimes pay dividends down the line for a college football team.
That’s the case for NC State, which improved from a 4–8 record in 2019 to a 7–2 record heading into its Week 11 matchup with Boston College football in 2022.
Two or three years from now, BC (3–7, 2–5 Atlantic Coast) can only hope it will have rebounded as well as NC State (7–3, 3–3) has this season.
BC took a step in the right direction on Saturday. Head coach Jeff Hafley’s Eagles took the Wolfpack down, spoiling senior night in Raleigh. BC shocked No. 17 NC State with a 21–20 victory, pulling off its first win against an AP Top-25 ranked opponent since beating then-No. 9 Southern California in 2014.
In MJ Morris’ second career start for NC State, the young signal caller—start-
ing in place of Devin Leary, who’s out for the rest of the season—imploded in the second half, leading to the Eagles’ go-ahead touchdown from backup quarterback Emmett Morehead to freshman Joseph Griffin Jr. with 14 seconds remaining.
“Hugs, tears, dancing, loud, a lot of hugs,” Hafley said of the locker room atmosphere after the game. “A lot of guys are just letting it all out. It’s the No. 16 team in the country going for 17 straight wins at home [with] 30-plus fifth-year [and] sixth-year guys walking out. No one thought we could win.”
It wasn’t going to be easy for Morris to best his last two performances—he passed for a combined 475 yards and six touchdowns in victories against Virginia Tech and No. 20 Wake Forest. For much of the first half, Morris, who BC picked off once and who fumbled three times, showcased his arm talent and ability to escape the pocket, but mishandling of the ball in the second half led to the Wolfpack’s defeat.
On NC State’s first play of the game, wide receiver Thayer Thomas made a
ridiculous grab over Jason Maitre for 23 yards. Four plays later, Morris identified redshirt junior tight end Trent Pennix— another one of his veteran playmakers streaking across the field—and fired a 27-yard touchdown pass.
“We knew what they were going to run,” said defensive end Marcus Valdez. “They came out with that first grip on us. They came out with a few trick plays, and there were some wrinkles we needed to make some adjustments to, and we made them. I was preaching to the guys—they don’t know the adversity that we’ve been through.”
NC State’s fiery defense, led by junior Drake Thomas, junior Payton Wilson, and graduate student Isaiah Moore, ranked first in the ACC in points allowed per game, rushing yards allowed, and thirddown conversion. It was tied for first in interceptions heading into the week. The defensive unit caused havoc for the Eagles early in the game.
BC’s offensive dry spell—which included two three-and-outs to start the game—continued as the Wolfpack got rolling again on their next offensive se
ries. Morris piled onto the points total, trotting into the end zone on a 10-yard run that put the Wolfpack up 14–0.
Zay Flowers provided a spark for BC’s offense when Morehead connected with Flowers on a 17-yard touchdown pass, cutting NC State’s lead to seven points.
“I put him up against any wide receiver in the country,” Hafley said of Flowers. “To be honest, there’s not
another wide receiver I want on my team. Any wide receiver, he’s the one I’m picking because I know exactly what I’m going to get out of him. It’s so much bigger than football for [Flowers]. It’s the type of kid he is. It’s the right choices he’s made.”
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/11/12/boston-collegefootball-defeats-nc-state-2/.
Flowers
This story was originally published on April 27, 2023.
By Graham Dietz Sports EditorBefore Thursday, Boston College football had not had a wide receiver taken in the NFL Draft since 1987, when the Dallas Cowboys selected Kelvin Martin with the 95th overall pick. In almost 90 years of the NFL Draft, BC has never had a wide receiver taken in the first three rounds of the draft.
But on Thursday night, Zay Flowers changed that narrative forever. The Baltimore Ravens selected the former BC wide receiver and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native—who owns the school record for total receiving yards, total receptions, and total touchdown receptions—with the
22nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Flowers declared for the NFL Draft on Dec. 1, 2022.
“This is what I expected—this is what I worked for,” Flowers said of his preparation for the NFL Draft at BC’s Pro Day on March 24, 2023.
For the first time since Luke Kuechly and Anthony Castonzo were selected in back-to-back NFL drafts in 2011 and 2012, BC boasts a first-round selection in the NFL Draft in back-to-back years. The Los Angeles Chargers took Zion Johnson 17th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Ever since the 2022 season, in which BC went 3–9, ended, Flowers said he has only had one mindset: prepare.
Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/04/27/zay-flowersnfl-draft-2023/.
BC shocked NC State, pulling off its first win against a ranked team in eight years.
This story was originally published on Dec. 10, 2022.
GrahamBy
Deitz Assoc. Sports Editor Hanging down from the rafters in Conte Forum is a lineup of retired jersey banners. Names such as John “Snooks” Kelley, Brian Gionta, Brian Leetch, and Joe Mullen—all Boston College men’s hockey legends—stand out. But one of these banners is different—it stands on a level of its own. This one’s got Jerry York’s name on it.
BC hosted “Jerry York Night” on Friday during the 288th Battle of Comm. Ave., honoring York’s historic career through showing a York tribute video during the first- and second-period intermissions, with York himself out on the ice to watch it unfold.
The winningest coach in NCAA hockey history and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, York retired on April 13 after the conclusion of BC men’s hockey’s 100th season. York’s retirement came after his 50th season as a Division I head coach and 28th year at the helm of BC’s program.
After a scoring frenzy unfolded in the second period, the Eagles (6–5–4, 5–3–3 Hockey East) capitalized on their 7–5 lead heading into the third frame to pummel No. 7 Boston University (10–5–0, 7–4–0) 9–6.
“Nice to win, especially against
them,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Over the years it’s been such a great rivalry, and tonight was one of the crazier games. I actually heard a stat [that] I played the last time it was a 9–6 game.”
The scoring barrage got underway— and never stopped—after 15 minutes in which both teams’ goaltenders stopped a combined 24 shots.
Twelve minutes in, BU’s Luke Tuch outskated Marshall Warren to the puck and went on a breakaway, but Mitch Benson redirected the puck out of bounds.
The Terriers skated circles around BC throughout much of the first period, and the Eagles could not get a break in the crease, where they consistently lost tight-window situational battles.
“We’re growing,” Brown said. “I would say we’ve been, on the whole, pretty sound defensively, we weren’t really a high-flying offensive team until tonight, but defense will still be our calling card. [It was] a little bit more of [a] grind game.”
With 7:40 left to play in the first period, BC got its first powerplay of the night.
On the man advantage, Oskar Jellvik sauced the puck from one side of the offensive zone to the other, setting up Lukas Gustafson with a one-timer. Gustafson ripped the puck to Drew Commesso’s short side, putting the Eagles up 1–0.
Seconds later, Cutter Gauthier sent
the puck high toward the net but missed wide. The puck ricocheted off the glass behind Commesso and landed on Charlie Leddy’s stick. Leddy fired the puck into the net.
Courtesy of Matt Brown and Quinn Hutson, the Terriers bounced back right away with two goals of their own, tying the game at two apiece. After BU’s Case McCarthy missed a shot to start the second period, Cade Webber regained possession and took the puck to the net. Wilmer Skoog found an open lane for another BU goal, and the Terriers went up 3–2. BC tied the game again five minutes into the period with a tic-tactoe passing series. Liam Izyk received a pass from Nikita Nesterenko and slotted the Eagles’ third goal of the night.
The scoring spree didn’t stop there.
BU took the lead for a second time off a Jeremy Wilmer empty lane shot from Benson’s blocker side. Wilmer found himself in position to pot a dainty chip shot right over Benson’s pad.
BC didn’t stay quiet, though. On the next offensive line shift for the Eagles, Gauthier skated right into the middle of the two circles and redirected a wrap-around pass from Connor Joyce through Commesso’s legs, tying the game at 4–4.
Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/12/10/boston-college-hockey-defeats-bu-on-jerryyork-night/.
Julia,
We could not be more proud of what you have done with your time at Boston College and the young woman you have become. We love you so much and can’t wait to see the next chapter of your life unfold.
With love, Mom, Cole, Nathalie, Dad, & Michelle
Congratulations Michael McCabe on a great four years at Boston College!
Congratulations, Evan and the Class of 2023! Wishing you all abundant blessings.
Mom and Dad
Congratulations, Caroline!
We are so proud of you. Love, Mom and Dad
Best wishes to the Class of 2023. Go Eagles!
Singing, “Don’t worry about a thing ’Cause every little thing gonna be alright!”
— Bob Marley &the Wailers
“Every great move forward in your life begins with a leap of faith, a step into the unknown”
Rebecca,
I am so very proud of you!! We are very proud of you and love you very much! All our love!! God Bless You Always!!
Dad and Vicki
Dear Lucas,
Discipline has been the bridge between your goals and many accomplishments. Your graduation from BC is a very proud day for our family. We wish you the most wonderful journey in your life!
Much Love, Mom, Dad and Bella
Taylor,
Congratulations! We couldn’t be prouder of all that you have accomplished at Boston College. Your passion, determination, faith and perseverance have helped shape you into the amazing young lady you are today. We can’t wait to watch you go out and write the next chapter of your life. Put your trust always in God and live your life knowing we will always be your biggest fans. We love you so much!
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” Nelson Mandela
Love, Mom, Dad, and Ashlee
Congratulations, Class of 2023! But especially to our Lucie Andreas Quinn! We love you more than we can say!
xoxo, Mom, Dad, Maggie, Sam, and Eloise
Congratulations on graduating from Boston College, Ashley! We are so proud of you! You have accomplished amazing things at BC and will always cherish the wonderful memories of the past four years! Your future is bright! The best is yet to come!
All our love always, Mom and Caitlin
Congratulations Meaghan and BC Class of 2023!
BC has become your home away from home. We have watched with admiration and pride as you grew to be a confident woman for others ready to conquer what life has in store for you. The work you put in is realized, now let yourself feel the pride, and always stay humble and kind.
We love you so much, Mom, Dad, Brendan, and Matthew
Sadie, Caroline, Anna, Chloe, Amanda and Liz,
Congratulations on your graduation!
May your beautiful friendship and all of your BC memories light the way into your future, and may you hold tight to each others hands and hearts in all of your amazing days and years to come!
Cheers to you all! The Jacksons
“Some people arrive and make such a beautiful impact on your life that you can barely remember what life was without them.”
~Anna TaylorCongratulations, Julia!
We are so proud of you and all you have accomplished at Boston College. We are amazed by your hard work and we can’t wait to see you succeed in law school.
Love, Dad, Mom, Anthony, and Nicholas
Innovator, strategic thinker, integrator, leader, brother, son, partner, and kind-hearted human — we love you and are infinitely proud of all that you have accomplished. We are even more proud of who you are. Go be a positive force in the world. We love you!
Dear Hannah,
We are so proud of you and all of your accomplishments at Boston College! You have so much to look forward to, but don’t forget that life is an adventure, so buckle up and enjoy the ride!
Love, Mom, Dad, Sarah, Abigail, and Grandma Wiederman
Congratulations, Aidan Fitzgerald Krantz!
We are all so proud of you!
Love, Dad, Mom, Ryan, Your Grandparents, and Rookie too!
LUKE STRECKENBACHBe who you are and be that well.
~St. Francis de SalesCongratulations Brendan—may God continue to lift you the way you lift others!
Much love, Mom, Dad, Owen, and Molly
Congratulations Emily Ann Kaderabek
Always remember that you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved more than you’ll ever know. We are so proud of you!
We love you, Mom, Dad, April, Frosty and Michael
Congratulations Rachel! We love you!
Mom, Dad, and Chloe
“Kid, you’ll move mountains.”
Congratulations Alex DiBlasi and the Class of 2023! Go forth and set the world on fire.
Love Always, Marco, Cristian, Dad, Mom, and Maggie
Sto qui a guardare il sole di mezzanotte che scende fino all’orizzonte, ma poi si ferma e non entra nel mare. Penso a mio padre, penso alla mamma, e penso a te che mi hai sempre detto che tutto è bello: mi sa che avevi ragione, tutto è veramente bello…!
Dear Gabriel,
We are all so proud of you. Everything is, indeed, beautiful. You, your life, your future.
All our love, Mamma and Dadda
Congratulations, Sarah Costello!
All the places you’ve taken us. And all the places, we will go. The sky is the limit, Bean! We are so incredibly proud of you!
Love, Mom and Dad
Congratulations, Michael F.S.
Our family is celebrating your accomplishments at Boston College. You worked hard with academics & the BC Marching Band “Screaming Eagles.”
“Keep reaching for the best of you”
Love, Mom & Dad, Jason, & Derek
Congratulations, Joey and Class of ’23!
You leave BC having cemented your moral compass, built the foundation for your career, wholly committed to serving the needy and forever bonded to friends for life. Congratulations, we are beyond happy for you!
Love, Mom and Carson
Sara,I’m amazed at the woman you have grown into! I can’t wait to be a witness to your next adventure! Congratulations, I am crazy proud!
Love, Mom
Lucas Gatz
Your years at BC have been filled with learning, adventures, and wonderful friends. We are so proud of you.
Love, Dad, Mom, and Michael
Dear Katie,
We are so very proud of your accomplishments! We know you will “light the fire” and inspire your future students.
Love, Mom, Dad, Matt, Andrew, Emily & Cooper
Julia Evelyn,
We are so proud of the strong woman you have become. You are an amazing leader committed to social justice and the common good. We cannot wait to see how you will soar next. You will set the world aflame. Once an eagle, always an eagle!
We love you, Mommy, Daddy, Emma, & Anna
Congratulations, Teddy!!
We are incredibly proud of you, always — and especially today. May your future be filled with light, laughter, love, and many, many blessings!
We love you, tons and always!
Mom, Dad, & Elizabeth xoxoJon-Jon,
To the amazing, intelligent young man you have become. Watching you cultivate the gifts and talents God has given you has been amazing. We also admire your determination, resilience, confidence, and thirst for knowledge. Your ambition will serve you well as you make your way into the world. We could not be prouder of you! You are such a blessing to our family, and we look forward to what lies ahead for you on this journey.
Congratulations on your graduation from Boston College!
Love Daddy, Mama, Saborn, Joshie, and Family
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
~William Butler Yeats
Congratulations, Chris!
From a Bulldog to a Hawk and now an Eagle! So proud of all your accomplishments!
“Go forth and set the world on fire!”
Love you, Mom, Dad, Sarah, Jack, & Casey
