The Heights, Oct. 28, 2024

BC Settles Class-Action Lawsuit

By Jack Beckman Asst. News Editor

A federal judge approved a $330,000 settlement in a class-action lawsuit alleging that Boston College mismanaged employee retirement funds.

In a release, the University maintained that the claims in the lawsuit are baseless and that it only entered into the settlement to avoid the cost and burden of further legal proceedings.

“Boston College believes that the lawsuit was without merit and that the University’s management of its retirement plans fully complies with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act,” the release reads. “BC also believes that had the case proceeded to trial, the University would have prevailed and defeated the plaintiffs’ claims.”

Under the terms of the settlement, onethird of the $330,000 will be allocated for attorney fees, with an additional portion covering administrative expenses.

See Lawsuit, A2

“We’ve

Sold-Out Rookie Showcase Stuns Crowd

By nanati Getachew For The Heights

The Margot Connell Recreation Center greeted a rapidly growing crowd of excited students on Saturday night for the annual Rookie Showcase, hosted by Boston College dance group Sexual Chocolate. A buzzing mass of students filled the space with anticipation, and tickets from the sold-out show in their hands. Names of rookie dancers echoed through the venue from supportive friends eager to see familiar faces on the big stage.

Returning this year with 18 featured

dance groups, the show featured a diverse array of movements, music, and people. With the stage at the center of the room, people found space to watch whether in the quickly filled seats, the floors of the aisles, or standing against the walls.

Sexual Chocolate opened the night with a quick dance set that was met with overwhelming cheers and applause from the crowd.

The group followed up with a skit featuring familiar Halloween monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula, and a mummy.

Next, Phaymus rushed the stage dressed in matching black and red outfits. The

Got to Punt Better.”

After securing a 20–0 lead, Boston College football fell to Louisville in its Friday-night matchup. Fourth-quarter punting woes cemented BC's 31–27 loss. See A10

Leonard's Goals Propel BC

Past Western Michigan

By luke evans Sports Editor

With just under three minutes to play in a 2–2 game against No. 14 Western Michigan on Saturday night, No. 2 Boston College men’s hockey’s Andre Gasseau picked up a tripping penalty to hand the Broncos a power play.

As the final seconds of Western Mich-

igan’s power play ran out and BC fans prepared to yell “freedom!” in unison, Ryan Leonard stole the puck from the Broncos and dished it to Gabe Perreault. He immediately sent the puck back to Leonard, who knocked it into the back of the net to give BC a 3–2 lead with just 51 seconds remaining.

See Men's Hockey, A11

hip-hop team delivered a thrilling routine, featuring a mashup of songs by artists like Kendrick Lamar and City Girls. BC On Tap then took the stage with a fun tap routine, skillfully making their way around the space to Flo Rida and Kesha’s “Right Round.”

The newest group of the night, K-Pop Dance Crew, made its Rookie Showcase debut in eye-catching outfits with a consistent pink, black, and white theme. With its constant transitions and swapping out of rookie dancers throughout the set, this group brought a fun energy to the showcase.

Rookie Showcase, A9

Brainerd Reimagines Romance With Ophelia

Bo Brainerd, MCAS ’25, wants to revolutionize how college students date, eliminating superficiality and emphasizing humanity.

By Juliana Parisi Heights Staff

If Hinge is the “dating app designed to be deleted,” then why is it so fun?

Like many other college students, I downloaded Hinge and Tinder at the beginning of my first year of college and was hooked. I was warned of peer pressure and got the “don’t do drugs” talk, but nobody ever warned me of the addictive yet suffocating grip of dating apps. I could doom scroll on these apps for hours, dopamine rushing through me after each Tinder match and Hinge like. My yearning for love and connection became a game of “hot or not.”

On apps like Tinder or Hinge, the possibility of falling in love seems endless, but the cyclical struggle toward this love is just as endless: like, match, chat, first date, get ghosted.

Like, match, chat, ghost. Like, match, ghost. Maybe Hinge is designed to be de-

leted out of sheer frustration.

Sure, some people escape this vicious cycle, but that small fraction of happy relationships that come from dating apps don’t negate the unending pangs of rejection of those who remain stuck. The dopamine rush of likes and matches doesn’t cut it when you are reduced to your looks and can’t land a date. What started as a silly game can become a detrimental blow to self-confidence and self-worth.

Bo Brainerd, MCAS ’25, has witnessed the heartbreaking results of today’s dating culture one too many times, and she has made it her mission to foster meaningful relationships and promote wellness. With the creation of Ophelia, a dating platform that focuses on in-person experiences, Brainerd wants to revolutionize this messy online dating world, bringing the URL to IRL.

SHANE SHEBEST / HEIGHTS STAFF

SARAH FLEMING / HEIGHTS EDITOR

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

NEWS

This Week’s Top 3 Events

1

Get in the spooky spirit with a night of screams and scares. Hosted by the Campus Activities Board, test your bravery at the haunted lawn on Tuesday from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. at the Stokes Amphitheater.

2 3

Hear from the director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, Eve Patten, about the politics of literature parody in Irish history. The event takes place on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. in the Andover Room at Connolly House.

BC Settles Mismanaged Retirement Funds Lawsuit

The remaining funds will be distributed to eligible employees proportionally, based on the assets in their retirement accounts between August 2019 and June 2024.

The settlement also mandates the University to hire a consultant to guide its investment committee on recordkeeping expenses and fund performance for the next five years.

Connie Sellers and Sean Cooper, both former University employees, filed the suit in June 2022 against BC’s trustees, the plan investment committee, and 10 “John and Jane Does.”

The lawsuit claimed that the 401(k) retirement plans BC provided for its employees faced excessive recordkeeping and management fees. It also argued that the investments themselves were imprudent and violated BC’s fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

“Here we have a case where two BC employees, on behalf of a class of more plaintiffs … are bringing

a claim in federal court under the federal law, ERISA, stating that when they turned their cash over to these trustees to invest and to manage it on their behalf, the trustees did not meet their duty of prudence,” said James Mulhern, a partner and law clerk at Mulhern & Scott PLLC and former executive editor of the Harvard Law Review.

The decision to settle came just months after Judge William G. Young—the same judge who approved the settlement—denied BC’s motion for summary judgment and ruled that the case could go to trial after a delay of almost two years since the lawsuit was initially filed.

“In short, this entire summary judgment exercise has been a monumental waste of time,” Young wrote in a memorandum. “And no one ought be surprised.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs declined to comment.

Attorneys for the University said they believe the investment committee met its fiduciary duty and followed best practices in investment management.

“Among other things, the com-

mittee engaged in regular negotiations to lower fees and monitored the retirement plans’ investments and fees with the assistance of its

independent advisor’s regular, industry-standard benchmarking, to continually provide BC faculty and staff with reasonably priced invest-

ments and services to best allow them to prepare for retirement,” said James Fleckner, an attorney for the University. n

Sheila Dillon Details Current Boston Housing Crisis

end real estate transactions.

Boston is experiencing a set of housing challenges that require innovative solutions, according to Sheila Dillon, chief of housing for the City of Boston and director of the mayor’s office of housing.

“It’s become very difficult to build new housing in Boston,” Dillon said. “Lots of people want to be here. We’re not building enough housing. We’ve got low vacancy, and then rent and sales prices, supply and demand—they go up.”

Boston College’s Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate

and Urban Action hosted Dillon Tuesday at a real estate colloquium. The event included a presentation on the current state of housing in the City of Boston followed by a discussion on the city’s challenges, current goals for affordable housing and how to juggle inclusive policies with a developer-friendly market.

Dillon, who has served under four mayoral administrations in the City of Boston, detailed current housing challenges that impact the city’s compact geography and slowly growing population of 675,000.

According to Dillon, Boston housing prices are among the highest in the nation. Forty-two percent of households in Boston

are housing cost-burdened, meaning housing costs exceed more than 30 percent of their gross income, she said.

“It’s worse for renters—50 percent of renters are housing-cost burdened,” Dillon said. “And 30 percent of renters are severely rent burdened.”

The challenges surrounding housing in Boston also disproportionately impact low-income individuals and people of color, according to Dillon.

“In Boston, you have a much better chance of owning a home if you’re a white household—42 percent—or a much lower chance of owning a home if you’re a black resident—32 percent,” Dillon said.

“Seventeen percent if you’re a Latin/Latinx household. So really big disparities, low homeownership rates, and disparities within racial categories.”

The Wu administration, with the support of many city divisions and departments, is working to alleviate these housing issues through initiatives like income-restricted housing, Dillon said, which limits rents at prices affordable to households at different income levels.

“Boston has the highest percentage of income-restricted housing in the country compared to every other major city,” Dillon said. “I think it’s kept Boston a fairly diverse, interesting city, and one where hopefully everyone feels welcome.”

Dillon also highlighted the Welcome Home, Boston program (WHB), which put out city-owned properties for redevelopment.

“We started working with very small, very local developers and contractors of color, and it’s been a very intentional program that we’re building new homes that people can buy,” Dillon said. “We’re also really supporting a new generation of developers in the city.”

Some of the progressive efforts and initiatives of Wu’s team have been hampered by the state. These included rent stabilization, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, which would help renters buy their homes when they are being sold, and a transfer fee on all high-

“Boston is very limited because of its history,” Dillon said. “We have to go to the state to get approvals for a lot of the things we want to do. And it’s not just housing policy, but it’s a lot of other things, taxes and building codes.”

Dillon also emphasized that, as a city official, it is important to maintain a balance between serving the housing needs of the people of Boston while also supporting people who work in the private sector.

“We really want to make sure that we’re building as much affordable housing and making sure that people can stay in Boston or buy a home and stay in Boston,” she said. “At the same time, there’s a very large development infrastructure, and a lot of developers that do good work in Boston.”

Concerning the future prospects of Boston’s housing landscape, Dillon said she believes the priority will be placed on building more affordable housing as well as making existing buildings more climate friendly and energy efficient.

“I think Boston will remain very high cost,” Dillon said. “I think we will just continue to see that divide between the folks who are coming here and have so much money … and those that are just on fixed income, and [it’s about] just bridging that divide and making sure that everybody’s got a place.” n Listen to Dutch vocal ensemble Cappella Pratensis perform a composition by Guillaume Dufay, a fourteenth-century Renaissance composer. Attend the free concert on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in St. Mary’s Chapel.

Senate Talks Transgender Housing Policies, Eagle IDs

QLC and Trans* Collective are working to provide greater transparency surrounding housing policies for transgender students on Boston College’s website this year, said Maeve Yurcisin, QLC policy coordinator, at the UGBC Senate meeting on Tuesday night.

“I think communication is going to be the main thing we’re going to work on this year, so figuring out how to tell prospective and current students about the policy that’s kind of going on behind the scenes,” Yurcisin, MCAS ’27, said.

According to Yurcisin, the

housing application is the only place on the University’s website that states students are housed based on their sex assigned at birth, not their gender identity.

The application can only be accessed after students submit their deposit and officially enroll at BC, Yurcisin added.

“That’s the only place where you can really find it, which is problematic because only enrolled students can access that, so that’s one of the things that we’re going to be talking about,” Yurcisin said.

Later in the meeting, student senator Will Cortes, MCAS ’28, proposed the Senate look into ways to add the link to the Office of the Dean of Students’ (DOS)

reporting website to the back of students’ Eagle ID cards so that they can easily access it.

The reporting website—which officials from the DOS encouraged students to use during their presentation to the UGBC Senate earlier this month—provides students with a central hub to report conduct violations, bias-related incidents, accessibility concerns, and concerns about the well-being of themselves or other students.

“There haven’t been many updates to the Eagle ID cards in quite a long time, so adding that gives students another place to have access to it and see it,” Cortes said.

Also during the meeting,

Danny Wise, student life committee chair and MCAS ’25, said his committee is struggling to make progress on initiatives like installing printers in 2150 Commonwealth Ave. because administrators have been frequently unresponsive to emails, even after multiple follow-ups.

“We’ve kind of noticed this semester a major lack of responsiveness from [administrators]— not just on one or two initiatives, but on a wide variety of them,” Wise said.

Many administrators do not work directly with students, so they might be unfamiliar with the UGBC Senate or what it does, said Katie Garrigan, UGBC vice president and MCAS ’25.

“A lot of the administration are typically not student-facing, so I think sometimes that can also come into the issue of when they receive an email from X student, they might not even be sure who UGBC is, what the relationship is to the organization, and that can also lead to some delays in getting things done,” Garrigan said.

Garrigan stressed that student senators must be creative and find other ways to approach administrators.

“I think that’s where it gets tough—sometimes we have to go back to the drawing board with our ideas and look at things a little bit differently,” Garrigan said. n

MOLLY BRUNS / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

NANATI GETACHEW / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Dillon, chief of housing for the City of Boston and director of the mayor’s office of housing, spoke at BC on Tuesday.

The lawsuit was originally filed in June 2022 by two former University employees, Connie Sellers and Sean Cooper.

Lawsuit, from A1

Bogan Inspires Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

By PAige FoLLi

For The Heights

nicoLe MurPhy

For The Heights

Zoe Bogan, founder and CEO of the female-focused investment firm, ZB Agency, advised college students eager to engage with the business world to surround themselves with the right people throughout their work.

“What I always say to college students is to just keep going,” Bogan said. “But you have to put the work in. You have to put the work in. You have to surround yourself with the right type of people. You have to be coachable. Be intentional with what you are doing.”

Bogan shared her journey from working in the corporate world to building entrepreneurial success at the Women in Leadership Forum on Tuesday evening, hosted by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics.

Bogan discussed the struggles

and worries she experienced in the early stages of her career, noting the importance of humanizing the often competitive reality of business professions.

“I do think at times that what got to me was fear,” Bogan said. “I was like, ‘I’m new to the firm. This project is zoomed in on me. It’s big. What am I going to do?’ But you know what? You raise your hand, you take a deep breath, and you knock it out of the park.”

Bogan emphasized the critical importance of developing connections and networking, regardless of career stage.

“Network outside of your role, because that really matters,” Bogan said. “That is where people will start to learn your name, and it’s really important also when you get into a corporation. Get out there and stretch yourself, because what you want to do for opportunities is have people say your name when you’re not in the room.”

Bogan also spoke about her commitment to diversity and inclusion in the corporate world, emphasizing the importance of allocating more funding to diverse entrepreneurs and businesses.

“We don’t have a diversity problem, we have a revenue problem,” Bogan said.

Bogan also emphasized the importance of having male allies to aid this effort, noting that she often has men on her panels at conferences who provide their perspectives on the corporate sector.

“It is great that we have women-owned funds,” Bogan said. “It is great that we have funds for people of color. But we need allies in terms of bringing the scope so we’re all kind of engulfed with one another. We actually do need men at the table to deploy more capital to diversity entrepreneurs.”

Bogan urged those interested in corporate success to find a mentor or coach. In her own expe-

rience as a mentor, Bogan said she prioritizes finding mentees who are eager to succeed.

“I want you to win, but you actually have to focus on wanting to win,” Bogan said. “There’s an intensity. That’s an exchange share.”

Though much of Bogan’s advice highlighted the female experience in business, her guidance can be applied to all people of all professions, she said.

“It really all matters,” Bogan said. “The corporate and entrepreneurial journey was challenging, but what I want to say to everybody here is to take a step back and look at the whole chessboard.” n

McCauley Explores the Lives of Former Nuns

By AnnA LAuinger

For The Heights

Modern-day nuns are often thought of as out of touch with the rest of society, but this is untrue, according to Bernadette McCauley, associate professor of history at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

“There is a frequent depiction of 20th-century American nuns as irrelevant, out of touch, and silly,” McCauley said.

McCauley visited Boston College on Tuesday at a colloquium titled “‘Our Stories Need to Be Told’: Memoirs of Former Nuns.” Having read numerous memoirs by former nuns, McCauley dove into the reality of life within the convent and the motivations that led several women to abandon their religious lives.

“They all share the desire to set the record straight and open a window on a life that was unknown,” McCauley said. “It was secret, and people didn’t know what was going on, and they wanted to get that out there.”

McCauley researches the relationships between Catholic history, social welfare, and women in the United States. This particular topic caught her attention when several memoirs of nuns appeared in her Amazon recommendations, she said.

Former nun narratives gained

popularity after World War II when an abundance of nuns left their lives of devotion, McCauley said.

“There was a slew of memoirs written by women who were part of what is often referred to as the exodus from American convents in the late 1960s and early 1970s,” McCauley said.

Being a nun is a declining vocation. In 1965, there were approximately 180,000 nuns in America, but as of 2022, there are only 42,000, the majority of whom are over 80 years old, according to McCauley.

In many of the memoirs, McCauley said, the authors grew up and entered the convent out of high school, worked for years, and eventually left the religious life voluntarily. Years later, they chose to recount their experiences and reasons for departure.

“I think they’re more like oral histories,” McCauley said. “Some people would call these life writings rather than a memoir.”

These writings revolve around the themes of the emotional and spiritual journeys of the authors, their religious upbringings, and challenges they faced leaving the convent, McCauley said.

“Although they say this is a story of an ex-nun, it’s more than that,” McCauley explained. “The story that they tell is of a much broader life.”

Most ex-nuns described in -

tense religious backgrounds leading to their decision to join the convent, many viewing the choice as a personal calling.

“They don’t suggest that they were pushed into it,” McCauley said. “It was a decision.”

The authors often reference leaving boyfriends to join the convent, according to McCauley, making the difficult decision between a romantic life and commitment to religion.

“They want to make a point that they had lived this other life, and it included men,” McCauley said.

The former nuns reached their decision to leave the convent in various ways. For some, it was an abrupt choice, while for others, it took place through a lengthy process. Some had doubts from the beginning, while others became more critical over time. Almost all of them, however, shared the same core reason for leaving.

“The most frequent explanation is that they found that life was no longer relevant, and the biggest complaint is that it was based on a model that did not work in the contemporary world,” McCauley said.

After leaving the convent, most women married, worked, and had children.

“They went on to live lives much like other women,” McCauley said.

The authors wanted to publicize their stories to show that they decided to enter a life of religious piety, lived full lives during their time as sisters, and thoughtfully made the decision to leave.

“They depict very full and meaningful lives,” McCauley said. “That’s what they want us to know. It wasn’t a bad decision to go in, and it wasn’t a bad decision to leave.” n

Metzl Addresses the Complexity of U.S. Gun Control

By PAige FoLLi For The Heights

Jonathan Metzl, a professor, psychiatrist, and gun violence expert, argued that the topic of mass shootings in the United States is incredibly complex.

“This is a story not only of guns, but of Americanness,” he said.

On Thursday, the Boston College Park Street Corporation

Speaker Series featured Metzl, a professor of sociology and psychiatry and director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. Metzl spoke on the intersection between politics, historical context, geography, race, class, and other variables that can dra-

matically impact conversations surrounding mass shootings in the United States.

“So part of this story of America is really normalizing something that you shouldn’t have to normalize in the context of civilian life, which is we have more mass shootings than days,” Metzl said.

Metzl referenced his newest book, What We’ve Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms, where he explores how the topic of guns is not only a conversation about safety or law but more importantly an issue of identity.

“There are issues about identity that I think are important to think about, which is the polarization where people’s identities become oppositional to each other,” Metzl said. “People get on different sides of these issues, about issues of safety, and for them that’s a really deeply existential and deeply psychoanalytic topic of asking how exactly these identities form.”

Not only does the topic of guns have a strong correlation

with American identity, Metzl said, but drastically different opinions across our country have only fed into a more deeply polarized political sphere among voters, politicians, and legislators.

“Americans basically are divided almost down the middle about what mass shootings mean,” Metzl said. “So half of our country thinks we need more regulation and the other half of the country says this means we need more guns.”

While the United States has made powerful strides toward resolving other public safety concerns by enacting a ban on smoking or educating the public about its associated risks, the same cannot be said about gun safety, Metzl said.

“So we changed perception,” Metzl said. “We made people believe, and rightly so, that second hand smoke is a risk, that being in a car without a seatbelt is a risk.

The question is, why didn’t we convince the entire country to do the same thing, but with guns?”

While Metzl began his re -

search and authorship by viewing gun control as a matter of public health and safety, he recognized through his deeper exploration into the topic that America’s obsession with guns is deeply rooted in other societal issues.

“I started to see that guns were not just a health problem, they were a democracy problem, they were a race problem,” Metzl said. “They were all these issues that public health wasn’t talking about.”

Metzl talked fondly about how his journey continuing to research a topic he was already incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about helped progress his perspective and challenge any previously held attitudes.

“As a scholar, something can change your mind about everything you think you know which is part of the story of this project—that I thought one set of things about gun violence and race and guidance, and I ended the project thinking something totally different,” Metzl said.

ELLIE EL-FISHAWY / HEIGHTS STAFF

Bogan offered advice based on her experience as a woman in the corporate world.

ANDREW MARION / FOR THE HEIGHTS

McCauley visited Boston College on Tuesday to discuss the memoirs of former nuns who left the convent.

Mayor Presents Capital Improvement Plan

By Sarah Vergura Assoc. Advertising Director

Mayor Ruthanne Fuller presented at Newton’s City Council meeting on Monday, providing her and Jonathan Yeo’s Capital Improvement Plan for the next five years.

Fuller took the stage to review the capital infrastructure projects her administration has accomplished over the last seven years.

“Since January 2018, when I became mayor, our team … [has] invested more than $423 million in just the building and grounds projects throughout Newton,” Fuller said. “Josh Morse, who knows our buildings inside and out and the dates they were constructed, doesn’t think it’s purely speculative to suggest that we have invested and are investing more in infrastructure than any other seven-year period in the history of Newton.”

Completed projects include, but are not limited to, the two new and completed Gath Pool and the splash pad. Currently in the works are four school projects at Lincoln-Eliot, Horace Mann, Countryside and Franklin Elementary Schools, as well as the Cooper Center for Active Living.

“In addition to operating investments of $9.5 million annually in our roads and sidewalks, we directed an additional $17 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to improve roads, calm traffic, repair sidewalks, and make bicycling safer,” Fuller said.

According to Fuller, these invest-

ments mark the final stages of their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) investments.

“We directed close to $40 million of these funds into permanent improvements in our infrastructure,” said Fuller.

Much of the investment money went toward Newton schools, as well toward the improvement of the safety and accessibility of roads and sidewalks across the city, said Fuller.

Continuing, Fuller explained her plans for upcoming five years including a bridge on Christina Street, a community garden, improvement to the Oak Hill Park Memorial Playground, and a new fire ladder.

“Importantly, 30 percent of the projected capital spending in the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) over the next five years is actually to improve water, sewer, and stormwater systems,” Fuller said.

According to Fuller, this capital spending will allow the city to finish water meter replacements, upgrade sewer pump stations, and tend to a critical covered water storage facility.

Yeo, Newton’s Chief Operating Officer, presented the breakdown of five new ARPA projects for the city.

These projects, which include the Cooper Center for Active Living, Countryside and Franklin Elementary School’s new schools, and the renovations for the Lincoln-Eliot and Horace Mann Elementary Schools, are all set to be completed within the next several years according to Yeo.

“[These are] the five biggest proj-

ects in the works right now, around $264 million in the next five years,” Yeo said.

The funding for these projects comes from city funding, state grants, Community Preservation Act funding, and other funding sources including ARPA and free cash, according to Yeo.

Fuller reminded residents of how these projects will likely require override funding, however, in order to maintain annual debt service payments.

“Debt exclusion overrides may also be needed in the future, especially for these larger projects,” said Fuller.

She urged Newtonians to remember how they’ve stepped up to override funding of projects in the past, which includes the building of several Newton elementary schools and the Fire Headquarters.

“Infrastructure is the skeleton upon which all our work is done,”

said Fuller. “Reinvesting in technology lets us do our homework or city and school work more effectively and efficiently.”

Following Fuller’s address, the city council also discussed the revised Community Preservation Committee recommendation to appropriate $2 million in funding to the First Baptist Church in Newton for the restoration of its bell tower.

The amendments added to the revised document include a provision requiring any purchaser of the church within the next 30 years to allow the community to continue using the space, otherwise to pay part of that $2 million back.

According to Ward 3 Councilor Julia Malakie, she is comfortable with how the change addresses future use for the space.

“They have addressed the issue of continuing community use in the building if perhaps the building were

to be sold,” Malakie said. Ward 5 Councilor Bill Humphrey raised the question of separation of church and state and whether funding church reconstruction crosses said line.

“This is our third request for community preservation aid to a religious institution and it will be my third vote no,” said Humphrey Humphrey explained that despite legal arguments or Supreme Court rulings, he feels the issue regarding the First Baptist Church restoration is a matter of principle.

“I’m intensely committed to public secularism, and I think that we’ve crossed that line, whether or not the lawyers have come up with arguments to say that we haven’t,” Humphrey said.

Regardless, the item—which needed 13 favored votes to pass— passed with 21 votes in favor, two opposed, and one abstention. n

City Talks Increased Housing Density Proposals

By Nikita OSadchiy For The Heights

The Newton Land Use Committee approved a proposal to build three single-family dwellings in two buildings on 56 Chapel Street, and postponed a proposal to build four dwellings in two buildings on 51 Oak Avenue at their meeting Tuesday.

The committee emphasized the importance of involving local residents in the proposal process.

“I will not vote for any special permit on a project like this without a neighborhood meeting having been conducted well in advance,” said Ward 7 Councilor-at-Large and mayoral candidate Marc Laredo.

According to the Zoning Review Memorandum for the Chapel Street proposal, the new proposal more than doubles the square footage of the previous unit to allow space for two additional family residences.

Laurance Lee, who spoke on behalf of the developer for the Chapel Street project, said that he remained in close contact with neighbors throughout the planning process and hosted a neighborhood meeting to address concerns regarding the project. Additionally, a neighboring resident assisted with plans for a retaining wall at the back of the property.

“I have met with the developer and Mr. Lee several times, we talked

about the wall,” said resident Mark Negrotti, whose property abuts the development. “We worked on some concepts or some alternatives, and I think we’re almost there. So, I think I’m in favor.”

The committee voted unanimously in approval of the Chapel Street proposal.

“I also understand we need more housing,” Ward 1 Councilor-at-Large Alison Leary said. “That’s the other thing that I’m cognizant of, and it’s better to have housing built closer together.”

The committee also considered a permit request for four single-family attached dwellings on Oak Avenue. While neighbors acknowledged the need for more housing—especially increased density housing— they also raised concerns about the development’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

Katherine Kiel, a resident across the street from the property,

said she supports increased density developments in Newton but is concerned about parking access.

“The fact that this has come this far with no parking study and no traffic study concerns me a great deal, and I hope that people in the government at Newton are taking the time to really think through the impact that all of this increased density, which is very consolidated, the impact that it has on people,” Kiel said.

Ward 3 Councilor-at-Large Pam Wright also expressed concern about the project’s design in relation to the rest of the neighborhood.

“This layout is not reading the street, it’s not welcoming to the street,” Wright said. “I think rethinking some of this layout might help.”

The committee voted to hold the docket item to allow for further modification of the proposal and better engagement with local residents. n

Programs and Services Approves Purchase of Land for Christina Street Bridge Project

B y g e N e V ie V e M Orri SON

Assoc. Newton Editor

Newton’s Programs and Services Committee approved the purchase of a plot of land for a new bridge over the Charles River to connect Newton Upper Falls and the town of Needham on Wednesday.

“This is a win-win for both communities, and we think for the state as well,” said Jonathan Yeo, chief operating officer for the City of Newton.

The original Christina Street bridge was built in 1959 for train passage over the river. It was removed from rail service in 2010, and ice and water have worn away several of the piers that hold it up.

“A lot of those supports are

broken off in the middle,” said Jenn Martin, director of transportation planning in Newton. In 2021, engineers for the city determined a walking and biking bridge would be better to connect trails between Newton and Needham, as well as to drive foot traffic to new developments in the area, including the projected Northland housing project in Newton.

The Programs and Services Committee voted to buy a $430,000 parcel of land from the neighboring Price Center, a service agency for people with special needs, that will allow public access to the bridge.

“This is going to be open space for—it’s really just for—safe passage of pedestrians and bicyclists across this area,” Yeo said. Yeo said this purchase was

necessary because, without it, pedestrians would have to pass through the parking lot of the Price Center in order to get to the bridge.

“We needed to first acquire this land to make this even possible,” Yeo said. “Both from a construction standpoint, but then from an operational standpoint, we couldn’t be having people go through the Price [Center] parking lot.”

A state grant will cover the land purchase in addition to the design of the bridge, according to Martin. The $1.5 million grant is an earmark through the American Rescue Plan Act, the 2021 federal COVID economic stimulus bill.

But the demolition of the existing bridge, combined with the construction of a new one, will cost

an estimated $4.8 million according to Martin.

According to Yeo, the remaining cost of the project will be funded through a mix of sources, including the city budget, private companies that would benefit from foot traffic near the Northland development, and other potential state grants like through the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

“We certainly hope this will be similar to … things that the city has taken and pushed forward, and then the state has constructed and completed the project,” Yeo said.

Since the city is buying the land in order to create open space, it will need a third party to review a conservation restriction, a legal agreement to make sure that public

land is permanently used for conservation purposes, according to Ward 7 Councilor Lisle Baker.

According to Baker, Newton Conservators, an environmental nonprofit in the city, is usually the body to enforce such conservation restrictions.

“If you’re going to do this, just make sure you’ve got not only the right restriction, but someone who can enforce it,” Baker said.

Yeo agreed that the conservation restriction is necessary, but said it would be better to approve the land acquisition first, since the grant used to pay for the land will expire by the end of the year.

“We need to spend this money now,” Yeo said.

The motion to buy the land passed in a 6–0 vote. n

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

The committee emphasized the importance of resident engagement when creating land development proposals.

M AGAZINE

Ophelia Seeks to Revive Meaningful Online Dating

“With AI and everything right now—it's just been out of control—I think we've lost our humanity, and we've become so disconnected,” Brainerd said. “With Ophelia, we are just essentially trying to help that and create a better version of not only ourselves, but for other people.”

Once a user makes an account with Ophelia, they will receive 10–13 potential matches, and, upon receiving these matches, the user must go on a date within 10 days. Ophelia is partnered with various date spots in Boston—including Fenway Park, Kured, and concert venues—to set up your perfect date at a discounted price.

This dating site does not have a chat feature as typical dating platforms do. Instead, Ophelia provides a selection of pre-written messages that strictly relate to their date.

Brainerd hypothesized that the problem with Tinder and Hinge is the seemingly unlimited number of potential matches. With the reduction of choices and chatting, Brainerd hopes to eliminate as much superficiality as possible.

Christina Quinn, BC ’13 and general partner at SSC Venture Partners, explained this phenomenon of limitlessness.

“I think Gen Z and millennials are similar in this way,” Quinn, one of Brainerd’s mentors, said. “It's like we all want to optimize, right? We all want the best of something. We want to know that we're going to the best restaurant or we're going to the best concert, whatever. I think it's really easy when there is a limitless supply to think, well, maybe if I just swipe to this next person, they'll be the right one.”

When creating an Ophelia profile, users are prompted to fill out a questionnaire. Here, you identify your ideal first-date spot—a factor that will later determine compatibility with potential matches—and are also assigned a “dating archetype,” a term coined by Brainerd.

There are five of these archetypes: cautious dater, hopeless romantic, commitment seeker, friends with benefits, and serial dater.

By creating these archetypes Brainerd has greatly reduced the chances of users falling for someone who is not looking for the same thing in a relationship. Brainerd wanted to ensure that a hopeless romantic would not match with a serial dater who would ultimately break their heart, something she once experienced and would never wish upon

anyone else.

“There's users and givers in this world, and I will never let a taker take from a giver ever again,” Brainerd said. “That's my main mission in this. I don't care what I have to do; I will do it. I just want the world to become more humane again.”

Although Brainerd’s personal dating experience has influenced her mission, Ophelia originated not from her heartbreak, but from witnessing her close friend drowning in the dating pool.

“Going through it yourself is one thing, you deal with it, but watching your best friend destroy herself because she thinks that she's not beautiful enough or smart enough, I was like, 'I can't do this,'” Brainerd said. “That's when I finally was like, 'we need to do something about it.' That's when Ophelia was born.”

Even before the inception of Ophelia, Brainerd has been a matchmaker. Ophelia’s roots sprouted as Brainerd acted as a matchmaker for her friends, creating couples that still are going strong today.

When Ophelia first launched, Brainerd manually matched couples, but the quickly growing platform has since implemented an algorithm to accommodate Ophelia’s 3,000-plus user base. Using an algorithm does not prevent Ophelia from remaining Brainerd’s personal, matchmaker’s touch, as Ophelia has sent 300 couples on dates, with 600 users with an 80 percent return rate, as of early October.

Brainerd described herself as a very sensitive person. She acknowledged that this is typically identified as a feminine trait that is frequently dismissed in the male-dominated world of entrepreneurship, but this heightened capacity for connection is exactly what makes her so successful.

“I'm not afraid to be in touch with my humanity and my femininity,” Brainerd said. “And because I'm not afraid to face that, I can help lead the way for others so that they can do the same. I think especially with my interns too—I can tell immediately who is not in touch. I can tell immediately who is here because they believe and are also followers of that mission.”

Quinn noted the importance of uplifting women’s voices in the male-dominated world of investing, as women-led entrepreneurship ventures receive less than 2 percent of the venture capital dollars that are allocated, which is the highest it has ever been, according to TechCrunch.

“There are just differences in how women are treated as entrepreneurs,

and like the challenges that they face as a founder relative to male counterparts,” Quinn said. “And that's not just like women-specific, I think, across a range of identities. People who aren't a white, straight, cis man building in tech have different experiences than those that are.”

Despite these challenges, it is apparent that Brainerd is not one to back down from a challenge, not only in her entrepreneurship ventures but in her community work.

As a high school student, Brainerd climbed her way from working with her state senators to working with Joe Biden, where she was in charge of campaign strategy in her district. Along the way, she led the plastic bag ban in Connecticut, which went into effect in 2021.

Here, working in the world of politics, is where Brainerd learned how to talk to people, hear their problems, bring problems to her state senator, and enact laws quickly. She quickly applied this process to the issues she saw in her generation’s dating landscape.

“I listened to the people, I listened to myself, what was going, what was going wrong, and then immediately found a solution,” Brainerd said. “It's all about learning to hear people and not just listen to them.”

In the summer of 2024, Brainerd was selected for SSC Venture Partners’ Summer Accelerator program, a 12-week program that provides selected student entrepreneurs with a $10,000 investment and mentorship in exchange for 2 percent equity. She additionally won second place in the Strakosch Venture Competition, where she won $5,000 to put toward her company.

These are exceedingly impressive feats for a solo startup founder, Kudzai Taziva, BC ’13 and one of Brainerd’s mentors at the SSC Summer Accelerator said.

“Bo brings great energy, and she has a charismatic ethos that makes you want to listen to her idea,” Taziva said. “And she's also a solo founder, which we typically don't love at SSC, or any investor, per se. And so we, I think, first and foremost, invested in Bo before we considered Ophelia.”

Brainerd doesn't have a co-founding team around her, which is frequently an obstacle in the startup world because a solo founder doesn’t have sounding blocks. A solo founder has to be willing to keep going and not burn out despite how many hats they have to wear.

“What always stood out to me about her is just how self-motivat-

ed she is, and how she has a really strong drive to make things happen, and has that bias for action, which is important," Quinn said. “I think, that she definitely has initiative and she is a really reflective person. That's the philosophy side, I think coming into play.”

As a philosophy major, Brainerd’s entrepreneurship plans are filtered through a philosophic lens of unconditional compassion.

“When you get to know her, she does really have this bigger framework of thinking for how she approaches entrepreneurship and business building,” Quinn said. “She really cares deeply about the problem she's trying to solve and about the people she's trying to solve it for. I'd say she has sort of a relentless focus.”

Taziva said that Brainerd embodies the values that BC represents, with helping people at the core of her business.

“Bo is someone who I found to be very open-minded, very ingrained in terms of the ethos of what I think BC represents, and also ambitious in what she wants to create, which is a new platform and a new paradigm for dating in light of the digital forces that have entered our social fabric,” Taziva said.

When Brainerd says that she cares about people, she truly means it. Her company is driven by her passion for helping others, and nothing else.

“I feel like a lot of guys here are like, ‘I'm gonna exit in five years, and I'm gonna cash out,’ and I'm like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’” Brainerd said. “You should be doing business because you want to fix a problem, and you want to help people, not because you want the money. Like, it's disgusting to me.”

Brainerd has gone to intense lengths to prove her compassionate integrity, so far as to go out on 40 dates in one day.

This past summer, Ophelia experienced a major hiccup. On a day that

the platform had planned 40 dates, Brainerd was notified that many people were planning on missing their dates, without informing their match they would not be showing up.

No way was Brainerd going to let these people get stood up.

“I was like, I'm not gonna leave these people hanging,” Brainerd said. “So I literally went on like 40 dates within like one day. Just continuously met new people. Like, fully, not thinking that that's what I was gonna do. But, again, I'll do anything for our users. I’ll literally go on dates with like, random people.”

Ophelia is still in its beta version and will release Ophelia 1.0, its fully functioning platform, this November. As a result of this experience, Ophelia will have consequences for those who continuously drop dates or do not initiate a date. In Ophelia 1.0, users will be granted three strikes—if a user continuously “flakes” on people, their account will be deactivated for 30 days.

In preparation for this launch, Brainerd is not only busy making final tweaks to the website itself, but she is also busy with getting the word out. With her contagious energy, it is not surprising to hear that she landed broadcast interviews with CBS Boston and Newton News.

Brainerd shared that the process of preparing for these interviews was quite nerve-wracking—she does not have any media training, and she wasn’t quite sure if she was ready to let Ophelia, her “baby,” be released into the wild.

But she ultimately decided that it was her and Ophelia’s time to fly.

“I've built this,” Brainerd said. “I don't have a co-founder—I don't have someone. I'm fully bootstrapping this. I need to have Ophelia’s name be heard. How are we ever going to help people if we don't put ourselves out there? How are we ever going to find a person to connect with if we don't put ourselves out there?” n

How BC Buildings Would Dress for Halloween

y C laire C ortland

B

For The Heights

Although midterms may be the scariest part of October, Halloween is back on the Heights! What better way to get into the spooky spirit than to start picking out costumes for Hallo-weekend?

Whether you and your roommates are matching in a group costume or you plan on going solo, your outfit is sure to be a treat. You’ve

likely been curating the perfect ensemble for yourself, but have you ever wondered how your favorite Boston College buildings would arrive at the function? Look no further.

Gasson: Statue of Liberty

An illustrious structure that has time and again personified the epitome of grace and intelligence. There is truly no one classier and more coveted than Gasson herself. Likewise, I see no other option than

to grace her with the timeless title of Lady Liberty. Think turquoise sparkly mini dress with a crown and a flaming blue torch. As the tourists gather down Linden Lane to admire her coveted reputation, she stands confidently, serving as a picturesque vision of wisdom and strength—truly a main character moment.

McMullen Museum of Art: Where’s Waldo?

A hidden gem of BC tucked away atop a hill on the Brighton campus, it is often overshadowed by the more popular buildings of the University. Few students can point to this richly curated museum on a map, but it is well worth the short walk down Comm Ave. So, McMullen, put on a red and white striped shirt and some vibrant blue pants and maybe you’ll begin to stand out in the crowd. The finer things in life can indeed be harder to come by.

Walsh: Party Animal

Rumor has it that the residents of Walsh Hall have been preparing

for Hallo-weekend since move-in day. Home to around 35 percent of the sophomore class, this building is sure to be the life of the party. Walsh, throw on your best leopard print dress (or shirt), a noisemaker, and a party hat, because this costume will be wild. If you happen to walk past the vibrant glow of colored LED lights shining through almost every Walsh window, be sure to look out for the safaris of eight-man suites having a howling good time.

Stokes North and South: Milk & Cookies

There is nothing more exhilarating (and often cringe-worthy) than seeing your favorite couples donning matching ensembles. For the past month, students across campus have been pestering their partners to buy the latest costume they saw trending on TikTok. Stokes North and South, on the other hand, have always been one for the classics. Joined together in their love of literature, language, and philosophy (and the bridge that physically connects them), the two

Stokes’ make the sweetest couple. And what’s sweeter than milk and cookies? An homage to The Chocolate Bar and its giant M&M cookies. With all the couples costumes we’re sure to see this year around campus as BC’s lovebirds flex their ongoing relationships, this duo might just be the most romantic of all.

Merkert: Ghost

A building with quite a notorious reputation, Merkert Chemistry Center may not be the fan favorite, but it is certainly a classic. Haunted by the blood, sweat, and tears of students strenuously performing experiments in their hours-long labs, anyone stepping into the scary abyss of Merkert Chemistry Center is sure to feel a chill sent down their spine. Make sure to look out for your friends in organic chemistry—with their copious workload, they may not have time to put together any costume other than a sheet with two holes. Let’s just hope that their midterms don’t come back to haunt them. n

Ophelia, developed by Brainerd, aims to revive in-person dating.

GRAPHIC BY PARKER LEAF / HEIGHTS EDITOR

PHOTO COURTESY OF BO BRAINERD

Ophelia, from A1

What Your Favorite Halloween Movie Says About You

By Connor o’Brien For The Heights

With the scramble to find costumes and big bags of candy popping up in grocery stores, Halloween is fast approaching! For most people, an undoubtedly important part of the season is a cozy night spent watching a scary movie while making your way through a bag of funsized Twix. Regardless of what candy you go for, the movie you choose is equally important in making or breaking your night.

Few holidays can rival Halloween for the sheer amount of classic films produced and enjoyed by fans year after year, with each one garnering its own unique fanbase. Whether you’re looking for something wholesome and nostalgic or want to feel your heart racing after a successful jumpscare, your favorite Halloween movie says a lot about your personality this spooky season.

‘Hocus Pocus’

This was your favorite Halloween movie growing up. A timeless Disney take on Halloween cinema, you’ve seen this movie at least a dozen times and now catch yourself quoting iconic lines under your breath. You’ve definitely tried to do a Winnie Sanderson voice impression with words like “sisters” and “Thackery Binx” (often without much success). You don’t just like this movie more than others, you are obsessed with it and feel personally hurt when

someone says they’ve never seen it.

‘Corpse Bride’

Tim Burton is one of, if not your favorite director. You’re always bringing up how impressive the claymation is when watching with friends, especially because you “can’t imagine all the time it must’ve taken to set up every frame.” You like the creepy, nostalgic vibe, and you probably love The Nightmare Before Christmas too, although you swear it's a Christmas film. You listen to the soundtrack from time to time and have tried to convince your friend group to dress up as the characters for countless Halloween parties in the past.

‘Scary Movie’

You don’t like taking things too seriously, and you have a good sense of humor. You laugh during jump scares and don’t hesitate to critique the less-than-brilliant choices characters make in actual horror movies.

Your past Halloween costumes have probably been a mix of punbased outfits or satiric takes on classic costumes. You like going to haunted houses with friends not because you like getting scared but because you want to laugh at their reactions. You don’t buy into all the spooky lore that comes with the Halloween season, but you can appreciate free candy and partying.

‘Ghostbusters’

Instead of gore and goosebumps,

you vibe with a more wholesome Halloween. You love the classics and have dreamt of driving the iconic Ectomobile. You love the theme song and add it to the Spotify queue at every Hallo-weekend party. You probably want to live in NYC at some point in your life, and will not take any criticism of the dated CGI. You grew up watching this movie and are, to some extent, still a kid at heart. You don’t like the remake and believe no sequel will live up to the original.

‘Scream’

You like the classics but can’t take anything seriously. There’s nothing wrong with this choice, but it's not blowing anyone’s mind. You claim you predicted the ending the

first time you saw it, and you like playing detective in scary movies. You don’t mind gore and are always cracking jokes no matter how dark the film is. You flood your friends’ DMs with memes and appreciate the ’90s Halloween aesthetic and vintage vibe of the movie.

‘The Shining’ You are a film critic at your core and want something more thought-provoking than silly ghosts and candy. You have strong opinions on every Halloween movie and will not shy away from the opportunity to talk about the symbolism in this classic. You’ve read the book by Stephen King and can go on for hours talking about the choices Stanley Kubrick, the director of

the film, made. You seek something unsettling when spooky season rolls around and probably study either psychology or political science.

‘Little Shop of Horrors’

You’re either a former or present theater kid who likes a campy Halloween season. A musical about a man-eating plant isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it definitely is yours, and you let it be known. Your dorm’s windowsill is probably cluttered with plants, and you are always looking for your next plant baby to add to the collection. Your ideal night out in October is going to a nice dinner in the city followed by a live performance of Little Shop of Horrors, but watching the movie in your dorm isn’t a bad alternative. n

Snell Publishes Guide to Careers in Social Work

By AThenA VinCh Heights Staff

The social work career services community is quite a small one. So small that Cindy Snell, director of career services and alumni relations for the Boston College School of Social Work (SSW), is one of just 20–25 people across the country who focus on career development for social work students.

“I am in a professional association, a small one of people like me who do this work,” Snell said. “We get together every year and talk about ways that we can share tips but also have a mission to support all of the social workers who don’t have access to a career services person. From that, I think, launched the idea of this book.”

Snell has been at BC for almost 20 years working with students and alumni in the SSW and recently published a book, “The Social Work Career Guidebook: How to Land Your Ideal Job and Build a Legacy,” designed to guide readers through their career development in the social work.

Snell published the book with two co-authors, Jennifer Luna, who formerly served as director of the DiNitto Center for Career Services at the University of Texas at Austin, and Michelle

Woods, who currently serves as director of career services at the University of Michigan School of Social Work.

“Collectively, we have decades of experience having helped students and alumni, and we really wanted to pull all of our expertise together and share it in the form of a book so that individual social workers or advisors for social workers could use this book to advance their own careers,”

Snell said.

Snell emphasized that the book was written for people at all stages of their careers—not just university students.

“There’s certainly a lot of sections at the beginning about people that are just curious about social work and what that means, or people that might be thinking about majoring in that at an undergraduate level through masters degrees,” Snell said. “But also people that are 10 to 15 years out who want to pivot or make a different contribution or aren’t sure how to advance their career at that point.”

The book is also designed to be interactive, thought-provoking, and reflective rather than be skimmed through cover to cover, she said.

“We start each chapter with an action plan,” Snell said. “There are four or five things that we hope you get out of this and

things that you should try to do when you are finished with the chapter.”

Many exercises prompt readers to reflect on key career questions—what their values are, what they enjoy, their skills, and how these align with potential jobs. Other exercises focus on specific topics, such as evaluating job offers.

“I was encouraging some of our faculty advisors to have that be an exercise that they could do together with their advisees and then share what they learned collectively to kind of gain information in that way,” Snell said.

Marian Concepcion, BC ’19, SSW and CSTM ’24, previously worked as a graduate assistant for Snell after being matched with her through the graduate assistantship program. Part of her work included editing parts of Snell’s book.

“My role was reading parts of a couple of chapters from a student lens,” Concepcion said. “The material was already done, so it was me being part of a lot of other people, other students, who also gave final eyes once everything was done, telling her if it made sense or not to students.”

Before getting a master’s degree in theology and social work, Concepcion earned her bachelor’s in management with concentrations in marketing

and information systems. But when working with Snell and reading the book offered a new perspective on her career search, Concepcion pivoted.

“I think it made me realize how transferable and important the skills I learned in CSOM were because they have continued to be important for me,” Concepcion said. “I think those [skills] are all really important, but I also liked how in Cindy’s book, she has specific parts about taking the time to really discern like what you’re good at, like where your strengths are at.”

Concepcion currently works at the University of San Diego running the Search Retreat, which she described as a similar experience to the Kairos retreat at BC. As she got her career footing after achieving double-Eagle status, she was grateful to have Snell’s guidance, she said.

“Cindy was really helpful in the process,” Concepcion said. “We had a lot of conversations about negotiation and that stage of the job process and figuring out what my nonnegotiables were for the job and what was important to me and what were the goals I had both in the short term and long term.”

Social work offers a wide range of career paths and practice areas, but sometimes it can be a challenge for students looking to go outside of the traditional clinical social work path.

Marielena Feliciano, SSW ’24, said students in the field of social work are presented with a distinct set of challenges upon graduation. Feliciano was in the Global Practice program within the BCSSW, a unique program allowing students to explore routes different from traditional clinical social work with a more macro or global perspective.

“In the macro spaces, there isn’t like a specific goal like for clinical social workers … so it’s sometimes kind of hard to find a job title that says macro social worker needed, because there isn’t, it’s not like a licensed clinical social worker,” Feliciano said.

Through her program, Feliciano had the opportunity to work with the International Catholic Migration Commission headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, where she gained a variety of skills that overlapped with and added to the social work field.

“I was doing a lot of project coordination, management, and communications for them,” Feliciano said. “I learned the skills at that internship, but, even now I’m kind of rebranding myself as a communication social worker.

Currently, Feliciano works as a recruiter and project manager for her alma mater La Sierra University in Riverside, California in their Department of Social Work. Like Snell, Feliciano said she wants to educate students about career possibilities within the field of social work.

“I basically promote the program because it’s very small,” Feliciano said. “I’m going to different college fairs, high schools, and community colleges and talking to them about the field of social work.”

One of Snell’s larger goals is to get students to consider what they are passionate about and explore the wide range of possibilities within the field of social work.

“All of our students come feeling very passionate about wanting to make a difference in the world, but that looks different depending on the sorts of passions of that person,” Snell said. “I am a big proponent of educating everyone about how many different things you can do with an MSW degree.”

Next semester the SSW is planning an exhibit in the Social Work Library that coincides with an alumni panel being held on Nov. 13, that is meant to showcase the diversity of social work careers.

“My mission this year is to kind of get the word out about that,” Snell said. “And I think the book is helpful for you to kind of try to position yourself and figure out what’s important to you and then move forward with it." n

GRAPHIC BY WILL MARTINO / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Snell’s new book provides a comprehensive guide for students on how to pursue social work as a career.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CINDY SNELL

GRAPHIC BY PARKER LEAF / HEIGHTS EDITOR

OPINIONS

The opinions and commentaries of the op-ed columnists appearing on this page represent the views of the authors of those particular pieces and not necessarily the views of The Heights

Stop Climbing the Ladder Every Week

I know our campus is on a hill, but we don’t always have to be climbing up.

A couple of Thursdays ago, I found my shoes sticking to the adhesive floor at Loretta’s Last Call and thought to myself, “What the hell am I doing right now?” I had a meeting at 9:00 a.m. the next day, I had 50 movies on my watchlist that I’d been dying to sit down for on a nice quiet night, the only people I was interacting with were the same ones I see in my common room, and every drink cost north of 10 bucks. What. The. Hell?

I think I might get a lot of pushback for this article, but what do I care? I’m on the back nine of these college links anyway. So, with that wisdom, I’m going to make this statement:

As Boston College students, we possess an unyielding mentality to do things that we might not want to do because everyone else is doing them. Our mob mentality makes us social climbers rather than true friends.

The best friend roommate from day one. The club that’s going to provide us with friends. The boyfriend or girlfriend who gets along with all of our friends. The perfect Foster house for junior year. The best internship for next summer. The Nashville fall break. That mod gameday photo—even when we don’t have a mod.

Oh yeah, and let’s make sure to somehow post it all in a timely fashion. Let’s prove we actually went, and let’s prove to ourselves that these “what-am-I-doing-here” memories are

actually the ones we should cherish because we finally feel like we fit the BC standards. I know our campus is on a hill, but we don’t always have to climb up for “cool” social status. I really wanted popularity to end in high school.

Typically, there’s about 10 to 15 guys and 10 to 15 girls per friend group. And there’s one or two that call all the shots. The “queen bees” or “quarter-backs”—QBs if you will. They’ll tell everyone through a text what they’re doing over the weekend, why they’re doing it, and who else is going to be there. This text is followed up with a heart from the QB’s direct roommate which prompts the rest to follow. Some of the guys see the text knowing they would just sit around in their common room all night otherwise, so they’re in. One guy responds on behalf of all his roommates.

Next thing you know, everyone is at Circle only talking to their individual friend groups because you can’t intrude into someone else’s hive other than saying a mandatory but brief “hi.”

And, if you somehow manage to escape the hive for the night, you typically catch flack the next morning in the form of passive aggressive guilt-trips or backlash.

“Why didn’t you come out with us last night?”

You may want to reply with: “Oh I don’t know. For one, I just wanted to watch a movie. Secondly, I’m not exactly swimming in my own funds. Three, if I’m talking to my friends, I’d prefer to hear them instead of shitty bar music. And lastly, I can’t bother with the hook-up drama of our friends who don’t even care about each other.”

Yet, you know that sting would cause more issues than solve problems, so you bite your tongue and reply with the classic: “I had a lot of homework this weekend. I’ll be there next time.”

Maybe I’m just fortunate enough to have a few really good friends, but those conversations I could be having at the overcrowded bar with the 10-dollar cover fee and 10-dollar drinks have always felt shallow and unfulfilling to me. Very

rarely do I leave Cityside thinking, “Wow! I feel like I know so-and-so much better now.” And I know for a fact other people have this feeling too. It’s just not one we like to discuss openly. Yes, there is fun in going to a bar, an off-campus basement, a Walsh party, etc. In fact, I’d even go so far as to argue that every now and then we all need to let loose in this way. But often at this school, going to these places feels more like social climbing. It’s performative—a chore we have to do to “make our rounds” and say our hellos while making our friends look “cool” and ourselves look pretty.

There’s nothing cool about not doing what you want to do, and more people need to understand this. My truest friends are my truest friends because they let me be me. They do not care if I go out on a weekend or not. Obviously, they care when I’m not their shoulder to cry on or there for their club event that they desperately need people to go to. They care when I don’t show up to the lunches and dinners they keep inviting me to, but it’s never about the times I don’t go out with them.

I know before we all got here, and even within that first month of school we had this picture-perfect idea of what BC was supposed to look like. The roommate. The club. The date approved by the whole friend group. There’s something about this campus that just makes us want it all. But, that can’t control our true friendships. Because, I hate to break it to you, you’re probably not going to find it when you’re masking your true self with cologne and perfume.

Real relationships take time and effort. But you have to be willing to put that time and effort in, and the only way to do so is by controlling yourself. Honey might be sweet, but a beehive isn’t. Lucky for us, there might be a maple tree not too far away. We just need to seek it out a little more.

An Exercise in Joy

A couple of years ago, I had an argument with my grandmother over her perfectly cooked pink salmon. While I don’t remember the specifics, I know that we disagreed on the meaning of the word “alegría,” which means “joy” in Spanish. I think she thought of joy as something fleeting, an emotion that can be experienced in specific, easily recalled moments.

I argued that the word she was looking for was happiness, while joy is something deeper—a mindset or approach to life that is consistent and founded in choice instead of chance. For me, joy is about a series of choices made several hundred times every day. It is in our ability to choose who and what we let affect us and what we choose to believe about ourselves.

At a school like Boston College, it is easy to find people grinding in the library at any time of the day or go down a LinkedIn rabbit hole where everyone is “so thrilled to announce” their newest job position, published paper, or research findings. It starts to feel like there is an elusive key, an answer that everyone else has to that million-dollar question: “What do you want to do?” or “What comes next for you?”

As a senior, there is an increasing sense of urgency to secure the perfect job in the right city, soak up every waning second of living with our 2,500 classmates, and be a student for what may be the last time. Some are ready to begin the next chapter, but most are not.

Yesterday a friend said, “I have to become ‘adult me.’ I’ll never be this way again.” I rushed to say, “You’re still you though!” If we see graduating and whatever comes after that as the end

of who we are, we do ourselves a disservice. I would hate to see my life peak at 21 years old. Wouldn’t you?

Aside from paying bills, living somewhere new, and continuing to study, work, or volunteer, one of the biggest post-grad challenges is having to intentionally carve time out for hobbies and spending time with people. It’s different, but it might not be such a bad thing.

Instead of asking someone to get lunch at Lower, you get to be creative and develop experiences to get to know people. Instead of running from a class to a club meeting to a networking event, you might be able to join an improv group, work a second job, or take up painting again. Instead of walking around the Res for the 6,789,534th time, you can explore a new place or get to know your hometown in a fresh way.

While the job market is worrying and you might not even know what you want to pursue, we are lucky to be graduating from BC, something that will inevitably open up a wide range of options and opportunities unavailable to most. The question then lies in how to find joy, regardless of place or situation.

At some point in the last four years, I realized that joy is both discovered and chosen. Joy is not blind optimism. It is not naive. There are bad days and good days, devastating years and golden decades. People who practice joy are those who do not change their approach to each day, throughout each decade, despite the external circumstances or factors that may be at play in their life.

My mom is joyful. She experiences hurt, grief, frustration, and anger just like the rest of us, but she wakes up each day and operates on the belief that she is good and that life is good, that there is something good in every day. This belief is evident in the way she treats everyone with the utmost respect and kindness, her ability to turn people’s tears into laughter, and in the very little time she spends thinking about herself. She chooses joy, especially when it is most difficult to do so.

But joy can also be sought out. You don’t

Hallo-Weekend

The end of October is a flurry of excitement. Midterms are coming to a close, fall is (almost) in full swing, and Halloween is just around the corner. With the holiday falling on a Thursday this year, one pressing question has been circulating campus: when is Hallo-weekend? BC students are seizing the opportunity to celebrate not just once but over two weekends, back to back. So if you didn’t get the chance to wear your dream costume last night, don’t worry—you’ll have another opportunity next weekend!

Rookie Showcase

After months of late-night rehearsals and pent-up anticipation, the new members of BC’s beloved dance teams finally got their chance to stand in the spotlight at this year’s Rookie Showcase. The Rec Center buzzed with excitement as students gathered to watch the incredible talent of the new recruits, cheering on BC’s fanfavorite teams. One thing is certain: the dance teams will never fail to impress us!

have to buy plane tickets to a tropical destination, quit your job, delete social media, or channel an Inside Out character. It means making small changes in your day-to-day life that lead to experiencing joy as a constant, underlying force. Two summers ago, I was back home, a little bored, and free long before my parents were done working for the day. I wanted to do something special for them and my siblings without interrupting the evening routine or spending a lot of money.

I decided dinner would be replaced by an evening in Paris. I dug up some escargot, which was being saved for a special occasion, from the freezer, bought a baguette and some macaroons, wrangled my three siblings into their Sunday best, and convinced (probably bribed) them into finding candles and making seating cards. We jumped our parents as soon as they opened the door, and they indulged us in closing their eyes and walking to the backyard, as the warm sounds of Ratatouille’s “Le Festin” and Édith Piaf filled the air. We ate and talked, and that night became the first of several themed dinners that summer.

It sounds cliché and might not be for you, but joy and surprise can take so many different forms. Joy is on the other side of caring whether something is cliché or not, refusing to give other people power over what you enjoy. If you want to have the kind of friend group that throws crazy wine nights, buy some wine and tell your friends to come. If you’ve always wanted to go on a road trip, start by pulling up maps and figuring out where you want to go. Maybe all you do is switch up the way you walk to class, eat eggs instead of cereal for breakfast, wear something you usually wouldn’t, or read on a bench instead of in your bed—these little disruptions add up to remind us that we have a choice in how we spend our time and how we live. You are not confined to the way you’ve always done things or the way you think you should do things. Joy is in your hands.

Election Season

As November approaches, so does the tension and excitement of the upcoming presidential election. For many students, this will be their first time voting in a major election. With important decisions to make about candidates who will shape the future, the pressure circulating campus is palpable. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed while trying to navigate discussions about policies and the mailin ballot process, but remember—this is your chance to make your vote count!

Lines, Lines, Lines

Maybe it’s the increasing presence of tour groups that’s making campus feel packed to the brim, but recently it seems as though this school has been overtaken by lines around every corner. From the Maloney elevators to the Chocolate Bar, the lines stretching across campus seem longer than ever. Whether during the morning rush for coffee or lunchtime scramble to grab a Mac salad, the patience of students is being tested now more than ever. As we wait in these seemingly never-ending lines, it’s hard not to dream of the day that coffee runs between classes won’t be a 20-minute ordeal.

Pat Connell

GRAPHICS BY PARKER LEAF / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Pat Connell is a columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at patrick.connell@bc.edu.

Isabella PIerettI

Isabella Pieretti is a columnist for The Heights She can be reached at isabella.pieretti@bc.edu.

OPINIONS

Op-Ed: Acknowledge Sudan.

Anywhere from 20,000 to 150,000 people have been killed. No one knows for sure because it’s impossible to get enough reliable data. Over 7.5 million people have been displaced—on top of the 2.8 million in the country that were already displaced before this war.

Twenty-five million people—half the population—are food insecure. For only the third time in the 20-year history of the Sudan Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the U.N.’s standard for food security, the U.N. has declared a famine. On top of that, there’s substantial evidence of genocide.

The situation in this country is, by most objective measures, the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Yet for some reason, this country doesn’t seem to get the attention it deserves.

I’m writing about the war in Sudan.

Of course, there are lots of reasons why it makes sense that people in the United States—namely, college students— are more interested in and outraged about Gaza than Sudan. Because our country has invested in supporting Israel and our country has more diplomatic leverage over Israel than any other country does, we have a clear role to play in finding a solution to that war and the wider conflict.

By contrast, the war in Sudan is much muddier, with two anti-democratic generals fighting to the death over who gets to run a military junta. There is a fundamentally weird network of support for each side’s military.

The United States does not have friendly relations with either general—we supported the civilian government that the generals worked together to overthrow. But the scale of devastation in Sudan is everyone’s problem.

Some estimates suggest that there could be more deaths this year from famine in Sudan than the entire population of the Gaza Strip (~2.1 million). That’s about a third of the number of Jews killed

during the Holocaust—all dying from just famine (i.e. starvation and related disease), notwithstanding deaths from the ongoing war . I cannot use italics enough—that is horrifying

If the scary part isn’t enough, there’s a big frustrating part. “Raising awareness” won’t fix the issue. As much as we may wish it could, the United States government doesn’t have a magic “stop the famine and genocide” button.

It’s true that the U.N.’s 2023 and 2024 humanitarian plans for Sudan have only been half-funded, but the United States is already providing a colossal amount of aid to Sudan—more than half of all 2023 and 2024 humanitarian aid to Sudan through the U.N. plan has been provided by the U.S. government.

Counting both years the United States has provided nearly 2,000 times the humanitarian aid that China has (Russia has provided more than China but none since last year, preferring to sell weapons to both sides). Student demonstrations in the United States won’t convince China to support Sudan’s people. Furthermore, the food security component of this year’s U.N. plan is fully funded. The problems go deeper than allocating money for calories.

At a U.N. Security Council briefing in June, representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)—the “official” military of Sudan, and one of the two sides of the war—denied the existence of a famine. It is worth noting that until recently, the SAF denied aid convoys permission to pass through a key border crossing in enemy territory, alleging it would enable weapon smuggling—even though the border crossing is and was controlled by the opposing army, the U.N. needs official SAF permission for its humanitarian work anywhere in the country.

Last week, Sudan’s Minister of Finance called for the crossing to be closed again (lest you think that means the opposing army, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is “better,” know that it is

the RSF—with its roots in the Janjaweed— committing a new genocide in Darfur).

Back at the Security Council, Russia, after criticizing the United States for the failure of its diplomacy, said “it is unacceptable for the difficult humanitarian situation to be used as a pretext for intervention in the domestic affairs of Sudan”—in other words, it is the sovereign right of warlords to have millions of civilians starve to death, a sentiment that Stalin would agree with. Paralysis at the U.N. level makes it impossible to take direct action to stop the war and famine.

If the situation is so stuck, what’s the point in knowing about it at all? The simplest answer is that people should have some basic knowledge of such a massive catastrophe.

Other reasons include the risk of chaos leading to regional destabilization and global terrorism—Osama bin Laden was based in Sudan for five years. But perhaps the most depressing reason is that Sudan demonstrates the limits of diplomacy and international cooperation. The United States and other constructive actors have to continue pushing for a just and lasting peace in Sudan, but for the foreseeable future the fate of Sudan’s 50 million people lies in the hands of two probable war criminals.

Photo Gal lery

At Boston College, we’ve seen the vigils and vandalism—including so many stickers—promoting the lives of Palestinians and, to a lesser extent, of Israelis. I don’t need to “take sides” on the conflict in the Middle East to acknowledge that this is communicating a commendable concern for the lives of many innocent people. But if what you really care about is the universal value of life, you shouldn’t tunnel-vision yourself into only seeing one mobilizing slice of horror. You can’t call yourself a human rights activist if you’re blind to the death and destruction beyond your personalized feed—that’s a criticism that I’m sure pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli activists are both used to giving.

The more the electorate knows and cares about an issue, the more time politicians can spend publicly addressing it—and it is very problematic that neither U.S. presidential campaign talks at all about Sudan even though our country is among the loudest international advocates for peace there.

Read actual news, seek out different views, and above all, pay attention . We live in a democracy. That’s what we count on you to do.

Connor McClung is a member of the Class of 2027. He can be reached at mcclungc@bc.edu.

Connor MCClung

ARTS

Sold-Out Rookie Showcase Packs Rec Center

The Golden Eagles Dance Team left their spirited mark on the night with their sequined tops and signature pom-poms gliding through a sharp routine to songs like “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan and “Shut Up and Drive” by Rihanna. The group was followed up by one skit of many from the night, as the hosts tried to find the scariest “monster” of all, coming across hilarious characters, including the love monster, brain rot monster, and career monster.

The crowd roared through UPrising’s fiery dance routine as members made their way all around the stage, creating a sassy spectacle in a matching red and black look.

“It was so much fun to see our rookie set come to life,” said Madeleine Anders, a new member of UPrising and CSOM ’28. “All of the teams are so supportive of one another and Rookie Showcase was such a fun introduction to the dance community at BC.”

Full Swing followed the seasonal theme as it took the stage in couples as Halloween characters, dancing to “Monster Mash” and honoring its name with swinging stunts.

Masti brought Bollywood

fusion to the night with dancers in matching jerseys. Its thrilling blend of modern and traditional moves and music reverberated throughout the room as the cheers got louder throughout their routine.

Rookies from the Dance Organization of Boston College performed skillful classical spins and leaps to “Maneater,” by Nelly Furtado. They were followed by Vida de Intensa Pasión as spinning bright green dancers flooded the space. The group delivered amazing stunts and thrilling Latin choreography.

Fuego del Corazón also brought up the energy, as its black and white sparkling looks and stunts brought the crowd to an overwhelming uproar. Delivering a contagiously exciting routine to the popular Christian hip-hop song “King Jesus,” Capital Dance Ministry performed in swift synchronization.

BC Irish Dance created an impressive display of Irish dance through its small but mighty crew of three rookies to Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova.” AEROdynamiK’s metallic silvers soon flooded the stage with quick moves to familiar voices like The Weeknd and Ariana Grande. Their simple but elevating outfit changes brought the already

electrified crowd to an overwhelming roar.

F.I.S.T.S. opened its routine with a school-themed skit, with half of the g roup dressed in schoolgirl costumes while the other half wore cheerleader outfits.

The all-women’s step team brought chairs on stage, telling a story and delivering a flawless step routine with engaging coordination and passion.

An animated crowd sang along to Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” as BC Dance Ensemble’s impressive kicks and spins made its

mark on the night. Then Synergy took the stage, moving passionately through a fast-paced hip-hop choreography to artists like Soulja Boy in matching zip-ups.

Presenting Africa to You opened its routine in lab coats and goggles for a skit which built up to an outstanding use of the dance space, with multiple afro-beat songs and skillful moves creating an unforgettable performance.

Last but certainly not least, the Sexual Chocolate rookies took the stage with immediate flips and jumps, inciting a new wave of roars

from the crowd. The hosts of the night delivered a thrilling routine of their own to popular songs like Drake’s “Best I Ever Had”. This closing performance also incorporated individual dancers as they led the group into different parts of their routine with heightened energy.

With their final step closing the night, the last eruption of cheers filled the room. This year’s Rookie Showcase presented yet another unforgettable display of the passion, creativity, and talent found in BC’s dance teams, setting the stage for an impressive year to come.n

BC bOp! Stuns with Annual Fall Performance

B y M addie M ulligan

Copy Editor

Despite a busy Saturday night on campus with Rookie Showcase and the Boston College men’s hockey game, BC bOp! had no issues garnering an impressive crowd for its “Live at the Cabaret Room” performance.

The group’s annual fall performance featured 15 songs in total, which alternated between

vocal charts and solely instrumental pieces.

The night kicked off with “I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love with Me,” and the easy, vocally led song immediately demonstrated bOp’s sophistication. A striking saxophone feature by Nathan DePaola, CSOM ’28, coupled with scatting advanced for a college group, shows precisely why bOp! gained such a crowd.

Quickening the tempo, the band

followed with “Hay Burner,” a trumpet-led piece showing just how sharp the group’s brass section is. A duet from trumpet player Allison Eidt, CSOM ’27, and saxophonist Ella Weinstein, MCAS ’28, was the true showstopper here. With precision, Eidt and Weinstein joined as a centerpiece to this brass masterpiece.

As if feeding off the band’s immediate display of its expertise, the vocalists returned back to the stage for “Tuxedo Junction,” in which the artists perfectly blended their voices together to display jazz vocals of the highest quality.

While the instrumentalists and vocalists shined as groups, the trio of songs “Kansas City,” “Hearts Take Time,” and “Big Band Swing” each gave particular artists the spotlight. From instrumentalist solos in “Kansas City” to vocalist features in “Hearts Take Time,” individual expertise was highlighted among the collective talent of the band throughout the entire concert.

This was just the case with Sofia Burke’s, MCAS ’25, solo performance of “Misty.” Showing off the same talent she got a standing ovation for at this year’s Pops on the Heights, Burke again left the audience in awe with her breathtaking vocals.

With a voice arguably as mature as some of the most well-known jazz artists, Burke’s solo was a master-class performance.

After Burke’s outstanding solo, Sebastian Bonaiuto, director of bands, took the only intermission to praise Burke on all she does for the band. Bonaiuto not only commended Burke’s abilities as a singer, but he explained to the audience that Burke has helped with technician duties and stepped into the role of vocal director for the year.

“So, Sofia Burke, thank you for all,” Bonaiuto said.

Reinvigorating the crowd with “Cafe Caliente,” bOp! created a remarkable groove with its percussion.

As members of the band exchanged impressed looks, it was clear that it was time for the percussionists to show off their prowess.

Next came the crowd-pleaser, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Cheers erupted after the first few recognizable notes and continued as Brendan Short, MCAS ’25, took center stage for his solo. Starting off soft and easy, the band erupted as the chorus hit, livening the crowd even more.

“Chu Cho” and “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” kept the rhythm flowing and compelled the crowd to clap along as the female vocalists took the forefront during “This Will Be.” The stunning harmonization of Burke, Madeline David, MCAS ’26, Elizabeth Powell, MCAS ’28, and Kathleen Shepard, MCAS ’28, stole the show here.

Boston Ballet’s 61st Season: The Fall Experience

By Angeliki Ktoridi Heights Staff Maria Beatriz Saldanha Heights Staff

Billed as “a dazzling and dynamic program that you won’t forget,” Boston Ballet premiered its first of many performances of a new piece, The Fall Experience, at the Citizens Opera House this week. Running from Oct. 24 to Nov. 3, the show ranged from contemporary to classic ballet pieces, with hints of lyric movements throughout.

The show consisted of neo-classical pointe work and divine synchronized movements that left the audience enamored with the choreography. When the lights dimmed low and everyone took their seats, all eyes were on the stunning performance of the dancers and live orchestra. The symphony was timely, and music ranged from classical piano such as Johann Sebastian Bach to more contemporary instrumentals.

The harmonious melange of choreography sent viewers into a trance, as the dancers represented the inevitable unpredictability of life we experience when we take leaps into

the unknown.

The costumes were modern and subtle, so as not to distract from the dancers’ performance. The audience could see the dancers as one large group that intertwined beautifully together, yet also stood out as individuals. Although dressed and moving somewhat in sync, each dancer had their own distinctions that set them apart from each other.

Executive Director Ming Min Hui emphasized the Ballet’s “innovative artmaking” and “dedication to making dance accessible for all.” She also shed light on the Company’s efforts to promote the voices of female choreographers in the field.

The ballet consisted of four parts: “The Seasons’ Canon,” “After,” “Ein von Viel,” and “Plan to B.”

The first part of the show, “The Seasons’ Canon,” is supposed to represent the four seasons from an emotional and human perspective.

“Set to Max Richter’s take on Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, her choreography draws on human emotion from her own life experiences,” reads the dance’s program notes.

Choreographed by Crystal Pite, the piece intertwined contemporary

music and movements between dancers to create a dynamic work that portrayed the transition between seasons, all through group sequenced movements that left the audience in awe.

“After” was choreographed by Principal Dancer Lia Cirio, who has been with Boston Ballet for two decades. This dance marks her second choreographic work for the Boston Ballet mainstage. Cirio’s ballets showcase a brilliant pairing of her own personal style and technique with her ability to highlight the unique talent of her fellow dancers.

The artist revealed how she was inspired by an apocalyptic, dystopian atmosphere, and drew influence from Lera Auerbach’s preludes for their emotional dynamism. The sensitivity-charged efforts were seen through the elements on the stage reminiscent of paper sculptures.

According to Cirio, the set embodies the qualities that make her choreography unique, including vulnerability and strength.

When describing the significance of “After,” Cirio shared how the piece encapsulates “everything [she’s] learned as a professional dancer.”

Accompanied by Bach’s renowned Goldberg Variations, Sabrina Matthews’ “Ein von Viel” presents an intimate dance between two performers and a solo pianist. The classical ballet-heavy piece was originally commissioned by Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen for Alberta Ballet in 2001, and was crafted with two male dancers in mind.

For The Fall Experience, however, performances will alternate, featuring either two male or female dancers, offering the audience different perspectives on the piece.

Last but not least, “Plan to B”, which had its world premiere in 2004 and was choreographed by Jorma Elo,

consisted of different trios, duets, and solos as the show’s grand finale.

“The simplicity of a trio is juxtaposed by the required complex technical skills,” Matthews said. “The work explores our human connection.”

More intimate than the previous parts, this final piece consisted of the dancers and a solo pianist working together to create a harmonious ending to the show. Its playful gestures, although at times a bit too contemporary, overall worked well together and kept the audience engaged throughout, never leaving time unfilled with a fluid movement.n

KELLEN DAVIS / HEIGHTS STAFF

SHANE SHEBEST / HEIGHTS STAFF

Boston College’s freshmen dancers took the stage for the first time for the annual Rookie Showcase.

BC bOp!’s annual performance highlighted inidivudal and group talent.

SPORTS

Cardinals Complete Comeback

By Graham Dietz Alumni Director

Bill O’Brien has heavily emphasized limiting turnovers this season.

Louisville Boston College 31 27

After a loss to Virginia in which turnovers sparked a 24-point comeback for the Cavaliers to beat Boston College football, O’Brien said there was no correlation between losing the turnover battle and winning the game. He has repeated it multiple times since.

But there has been another recurring problem, which the Eagles have yet to find a solution for.

While BC won the turnover battle in its Friday-night matchup with Louisville at Alumni Stadium, forcing three and surrendering zero, it punted miserably. Two fourth-quarter punts, which flew 24 and 30 yards, set the Cardinals up with ideal field positioning and they capitalized on both.

The Eagles went into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead and led 20–0 with just over six minutes left in the second quarter. But for the second time in the last three games, they let the opponent get the best of them in the final two quarters because of a fatal flaw. Before, it was turnovers. This time, it was special teams.

Despite making it interesting with some bold fourth-down conversions for touchdowns in the first half, and a career night for Quintayvious Hutchins, BC (4–4, 1–3 Atlantic Coast) could not

overcome its punting woes in a 31–27 loss to the Cardinals (5–3, 3–2).

“I have no idea,” O’Brien said of how he is going to fix the punting issue. “We’ve got to punt better. I don’t know. We’re not coaching it good enough.”

Between Ivan Zivenko and Sam Candotti, the Eagles could not figure it out with their boots. While the punting was a game-long issue, it came back to bite for one last treacherous stretch in the fourth quarter.

Zivenko’s 24-yard punt turned into an 18-yard rushing touchdown for Isaac Brown, and Candotti’s 30-yard punt on the next drive turned into a six-yard scoring connection between Tyler Shough and Nate Kurisky to give Louisville its eventual four-point win.

Above all, it was a finishing problem, according to O’Brien, quarterback Thomas Castellanos, and nickel Cameron Martinez.

It has been for the past three games, as BC has been outscored 46–0 in the fourth quarter combined.

“I think the second half, we just didn’t come out with the energy we needed to finish this game,” Martinez said. “I think that’s been a problem for us all year so far, is really not finishing in second halves.”

Martinez said if the Eagles can stay consistent for all four quarters, they can compete with anybody.

“We start out really hot,” Martinez said. “I think we can beat anybody in the country, too. We’ve just got to put that together for four quarters.”

While Hutchins didn’t have a start-

ing role on the defense heading into this season, his physical growth over the summer transformed him. Hutchins grew 3 inches in the 2024 offseason, becoming a 6-foot-3, 246-pound force off the edge. His utilization started to increase under O’Brien.

With a first-quarter interception and a second-quarter forced fumble and recovery, Hutchins was a one-man wrecking crew in BC’s loss. Two essential fourth-down plays and Hutchins’ interception allowed the Eagles to slip away with a one-score lead in the first quarter.

On 4th-and-2 from BC’s 42-yard line, the Eagles forced Shough out of bounds for a gain of just one yard, resulting in a turnover on downs with 12:37 left in the first quarter.

While BC went three-and-out, it reclaimed possession with its 10th interception of the season on Louisville’s next offensive drive.

The Eagles faced 4th-and-short, but opted to go for it with conviction.

Kamari Morales looped around the line of scrimmage and broke loose. He hauled in a light toss from Castellanos and trotted into the endzone for the 54-yard touchdown reception.

The Eagles went for it on fourth down again on their next offensive drive.

Treshaun Ward capped off a 10play, 61-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown catch on 4th-and-goal after runs of 25 and 18 yards. Ward accounted for 57 of the 61 total yards on the drive.

“What got us open in the first half was a couple of gadget plays,” O’Brien said. “We didn’t really do anything in the first half. It was pretty even. They turned the ball over. We did some good things in the first half but it wasn’t … we didn’t do much on offense tonight.”

Hutchins’ stellar night continued, though. The defensive end delivered a massive hit on Louisville’s Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, popping both the receiver and the ball out of midair, and landed right onto the football.

BC capitalized, as Kye Robichaux scampered in from four yards to make it 20–0 after a failed point after attempt. But Louisville cut the deficit to 10 points with a touchdown one minute before the half ended on Brown’s fouryard rushing touchdown, and a field goal with 10:35 left in the third quarter.

The two sides traded blows to make it a 27–17 contest heading into the fourth quarter.

Then it became a three-point affair after Zivenko’s shanked punt, and Louisville proceeded to score again on the next set of downs as well.

The Cardinals finished the game with 461 yards of total offense, and 332 passing yards. Despite getting the ball with 1:25 left in the game, BC’s second-half offense floundered once again.

“The first half we played good complimentary football,” Castellanos said after the game. “It’s the same thing occurring over and over again. We got to find a way to finish when we start fast. Maybe we got to practice harder.” n

Notebook: Eagles Remain Consistently Inconsistent

By maria StefanouDakiS Asst. Sports Editor

For the entire first half of Boston College football’s game against Virginia Tech, Eagles fans watched their team look brutally incapable of playing winning football as BC went down 28–0 in the first half on primetime national television.

The Eagles eventually showed some resemblance to the rising team they were perceived to be in the first few weeks of the season, scoring all 21 of their points in the third quarter. But that’s all BC could muster, as its momentum fizzled out and the Hokies outscored the Eagles 14–0 in the fourth quarter.

BC head coach Bill O’Brien said after that he needed to teach his team what it takes to win.

“They don’t understand,” O’Brien said.

It seems the Eagles still don’t understand.

BC defeated its first-half demons against Louisville, getting off to a 20–0 start that sent Alum ni Stadium into a Friday night frenzy. BC’s chances at an upset seemed high. But the Eagles somehow turned a 20–0 lead into a 27–10 lead, and finally into a 31–27 loss.

They were outscored 14–0 in the fourth quarter.

The reason a 20-point cush ion wasn’t enough to help BC to a win was because of a deeper-root

ed problem: The only thing the Eagles have been consistent with this season is their inconsistency. Here are three observations from the loss.

Consistent Inconsistency

It’s something O’Brien has stressed all season. He’s consistently asked students and fans to get to Alumni Stadium early and provide BC with the juice it needs to get off to a strong start.

But no matter how early the fans get there, and no matter who the Eagles are facing, they consistently fail to string together four uninterrupted quarters of good football on both sides of the ball.

Against Western Kentucky earlier this season, the Eagles scored just one touchdown in the first half. Two touchdowns in the fourth quarter allowed them to come away with an all-too-close 21–20 win.

the game. The Eagles lost 24–14 against Virginia Tech, BC’s 28–0 first half hole, 21-point third quarter, and scoreless fourth resulted in a double-digit loss.

Friday’s loss to Louisville was just another point on the line of inconsistency the Eagles have been toeing all season. Getting outscored 24–7 in the second half is hardly ever the recipe for a win.

Plagued by Punting

On Tuesday, O’Brien seemed confident in BC’s punting.

“I think the punting’s improved,” he said in a post-practice media availability. “Ivan is our punter—he’s improved, no doubt about it.”

To be fair, the Eagles didn’t put punter Ivan Zivenko in a position to succeed on the first two drives of the game.

On its opening drive, BC’s offense couldn’t get past its own 23-yard line, then a false start penalty pushed them back to their own 18, where Zivenko had to line up and boot a punt that traveled just 32 yards.

On BC’s next drive, a false start from Owen McGowan once again forced Zivenko to retreat five yards, and his ensuing punt once again traveled 32 yards.

But even when mistakes didn’t interfere with his position, Zivenko’s performance was an utter failure. Two of his fourth-quarter punts traveled 24 and 30 yards. The Cardinals scored on both of the resulting drives.

It’s true that the Eagles’ offensive stagnation can’t be blamed fully on dismal punting. But spe -

cial team woes certainly didn’t help BC recover any momentum lost on the offensive end. Consistently hand-feeding the Cardinals excellent field position, then expecting the defense to come up with stops, proved to be a grossly ineffective strategy.

Winning is hard. It’s even harder when the other team only has to come up with 58 yards of offense to score a touchdown.

Run, Run, Pass, Punt

In the first quarter of Friday’s game, Thomas Castellanos started BC’s fourth drive with a rush that resulted in a one-yard loss on 1st-and-10. The next play was identical. This time, he picked up a three-yard loss.

Just like that, it was 3rdand-14. On 3rd-and-long and in need of yardage, BC decided the time had finally come to attempt a pass play. Castellanos’ pass to Lewis Bond never had a chance, as Quincy Riley broke it up and forced the Eagles to punt.

With less than two minutes left in the third quarter, BC’s once-dominant lead had been cut to a 27–17 advantage.

On first down the Eagles handed it off to Kye Robichaux, who rushed for one yard. The Eagles responded by handing it off to Robichaux again on 2nd-and-9. He rushed for three yards.

Faced with a 3rd-and-6 situation, BC abandoned its run game strategy and decided to let Castellanos pass the ball. His pass was broken up, and BC was forced to punt from its own 25-yard line.

BC’s offensive stagnation on Friday night seemed at least in

part due to the fact that the plays themselves were designed that way.

O’Brien and his staff consistently chose to run the ball on first and second down, regardless of whether it was working. Then, on third down, Castellanos tried to create on pass plays. Those often went poorly.

Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, Castellanos got sacked on third down for a loss of seven while attempting to create such a play, resulting in another three-and-out.

Unable to get past their 24yard line, the Eagles allowed the Cardinals to start their drive on BC’s 42-yard line.

Louisville’s drive ended in an 18-yard rushing touchdown that put Louisville within three points.

Another ineffective run, run, pass, and punt on BC’s next drive was the last time the Eagles saw a lead.

The Cardinals capitalized on the short field once again. Tyler Shough threw a six-yard touchdown to put Louisville up 31–27. BC ran the ball three times in a row on its next drive, ending in another three-and-out.

When Castellanos finally was given the call to pass the ball—in a frantic situation on BC’s last drive of the game—he threw four incomplete passes in a row, ending the game with an abysmal offensive sequence that was fitting for the game played.

The Eagles’ resistance to a more aggressive offensive game plan ruined their chances at an upset from start to finish.

GRAPHIC BY BROOKE GHALY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR & PAUL CRIADO / HEIGHTS STAFF

Leonard’s Heroics Propel No. 2 Eagles to Victory

Twenty-eight seconds later, Leonard potted an empty-net goal to seal the Eagles’ win and send Conte Forum into a frenzy.

“Ryan Leonard happened,” Western Michigan head coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “He puts a lot of pressure on you.”

Thanks to Leonard’s heroics, the Eagles (3–1–0) downed Western Michigan (3–1–0) and picked up their second ranked win through four games.

“Gabe gave me the whole net, so there was no reason for me to miss that,” Leonard said.

Despite playing in front of yet another sold-out crowd in Conte Forum, the Eagles let Western Michigan set the tone of the first period.

The lines looked a little different for the Eagles in this matchup.

BC head coach Greg Brown opted to split up the dynamic duo of Leonard and Perreault ahead of the tilt.

“Those lines, the way we started, looked good,” Brown said. “It was more that we didn’t start well, not that those lines didn’t start well, it was more to just try and find a little spark.”

Just over two minutes into the matchup, Western Michigan’s Owen Michaels tapped the puck past Jacob Fowler and into the back of the net to cap off a play that included a series of smooth passes from Tim Washe and Robby Drazner, giving the Broncos an early 1–0 edge.

BC found itself playing catchup for the next 41 minutes.

Although the Eagles rattled off high-quality looks, Western Michigan’s were the only ones finding the back of the net.

With 9:28 remaining in the first period, Drazner executed on a bardown goal to extend the Broncos lead to two.

BC found its first power-play opportunity of the night in the waning minutes of the first period, but came up empty and took a 2–0 deficit headed into the second frame.

It took nearly 17 minutes for the Eagles to find the back of the net in the second period.

Eamon Powell laid a monster hit on a Bronco that got the crowd back into the game, and in the following minutes, BC snapped its scoring drought.

“He’s always had great skating, but now he’s using it even more,” Brown said. “The turning point of the game might have been when he stepped up and hit that guy in the neutral zone.”

Gasseau stepped into a one-timer that whizzed by Hampton Slukynsky and cut the Broncos’ lead in half with 3:33 left in the second period.

The Eagles continued that momentum into the final period.

Teddy Stiga glided toward the net, created separation from his defender, and snapped a close-range shot past Slukynsky to tie the game a minute into the third frame.

“This is probably his best game,” Brown said of Stiga, who logged two points in the Eagles’ win. “But he’s an outstanding hockey player, and he shows us every day that he’s got a great motor.”

Eighteen minutes later, “Leonard happened,” and the Eagles penciled in their third win of the season.

“He’s playing the right way, he’s

No. 2 Tar Heels Trample No. 9 Eagles

By emily roBerge Assoc. Sports Editor

As the game clock signaled the end of the first frame, North Carolina’s Kelly Smith swept the ball through the legs of Charlotte Kramer and into the back of No.

9 Boston College field hockey’s net, scoring the first goal in the matchup. From that point on, the No. 2 Tar Heels did not look back.

UNC (14–0, 7–0 Atlantic Coast) only built on its lead in the ACC matchup in Chapel Hill, N.C., defeating the Eagles (11–5, 5–2) 4–0. After tallying a loss against No. 11 Duke on Friday, BC now stands at 5–2 in conference play despite entering the weekend previously

undefeated in ACC games.

In the first frame, the Eagles managed to contain UNC’s offense. Kramer came up big on two consecutive penalty-corner plays at the end of the first quarter, keeping the Tar Heels from converting on both scoring opportunities.

“That was easily Kramer’s best performance against an elite team, all year,” BC head coach Kelly Doton said. “She looked confident in goal and she made some really athletic saves, and she definitely kept us in the game when that scoreline could have been higher if she was not in goal. She did a fantastic job, and it was easily the best game that I have seen her play.”

The game was a back-and-forth battle for possession until it wasn’t anymore.

By SeBBy Fitzgerald

For The Heights

Coming straight out of the gate, Boston College women’s hockey seemed trapped in its defensive zone, Western Michigan Boston College 2 4 unable to generate many chances.

The shots on goal stood at one for BC (5–3–0, 2–1–0 Hockey East) to 12 for No. 3 Clarkson (6–2–0) eight minutes into Saturday afternoon’s game.

But the Eagles survived those offensive woes and ultimately defeated the Golden Knights 4–3.

BC had some solid clears after a slashing penalty from Keri Clougherty to keep the slate clean during its penalty kill. But with 9:58 remaining in the first period, Clarkson’s Jenna Goodwin netted a backhand breakaway goal to crack the scoreless tie.

The Eagles started to pick up the pace, allowing Abby Newhook to sneak her way through the dots for a shot off the pads.

The puck found its way to Molly Jordan who cleaned things up for her second goal of the year to make it a 1–1 game just above the four-minute mark.

BC headed into the first intermission with greater control of the matchup, but the second period remained relatively quiet for both sides.

“I thought that was a struggle period for us,” head coach Katie Crowley said. “[Clarkson’s] hard to play against. They’re fast, they have some really, really good players, some high-end talent.”

Goaltender Grace Campbell kept it shut down in the crease, stopping all of Clarkson’s 15 shots in the second period—including a SportsCenter Top Ten-worthy save with 20 seconds remaining to keep

While Kramer tallied a save off a UNC penalty stroke 1:38 into the second quarter, the Eagles were unable to fend off the following Tar Heel offensive possession.

After UNC goaltender Abigail Taylor saved Martina Giacchino’s shot, Ryleigh Heck quickly dribbled the ball down the opposite side of the field.

Dodging her BC defenders on the play, Heck inched toward Kramer in the back of the net. Winding up her shot and firing the ball unassisted, Heck’s shot flew through the air and bounced into the back of the Eagles’ net, marking her 11th goal of the season.

As the clock wound down in the second quarter, so did BC’s chances of gaining any scoring opportunities. Within the last few minutes before halftime, the Tar Heels tallied two shots on net and registered two penalty-corner opportunities.

While neither scoring chance resulted in a goal, the Tar Heels still entered halftime with a two-goal lead.

“I thought we started the first half very well and were able to get the ball into our midfield, but we couldn’t maintain that for 60 minutes,” Doton said. “Kudos to the team because we were down at the half, but still in the game. We weathered their storm, it could have been a higher number.”

BC needed to find a way to respond, and quickly. But the Eagles proved unable to do that as their scoring drought continued through the second half of the game.

the game knotted up.

“I don’t know why I dove, really,” Campbell said. “I was just thinking, there’s 10 seconds left … and everyone else was battling in front of the net. So it’s hard not to want to battle, too.”

A quiet second period translated into a scoring frenzy in the first six minutes of play in the third period.

Clarkson’s Rhea Hicks received a centering pass and slipped one through the bottom-right corner for a 2–1 lead. Then, after a cross-checking call on BC’s Jade Arnone, the Golden Knights added their third goal behind Anne Cherkowski’s bottom-left snipe.

It didn’t take long for the Eagles to respond—cutting Clarkson’s lead in half via Katie Pyne’s wrap-around tuck just 30 seconds after.

“As soon as Katie got that goal, we were like, ‘All right, this is our turn,’” Julia Pellerin said in reaction to Pyne’s goal. “And there was an energy

Even though the third quarter was silent for both teams, UNC continued to hammer Kramer with shots. During the third frame, BC tallied just one shot on net, while the Tar Heels registered nine.

It wasn’t fully clear whether a BC comeback could be in the works until the fourth quarter. Off another penalty corner, UNC scored its third goal of the game.

Then, with less than two minutes left to play in the matchup, Sanne Hak faced Kramer one-on-one for a penalty stroke.

Despite a diving effort, Kramer was unable to save the shot, and the Eagles fell 4–0.

“They exploited us sometimes with their speed, and their ability to remain at speed with the ball,” Doton said. “I also thought that some of the corners we gave up were mistakes on our end. And I think, credit to the defensive penalty corner unit, because those guys are scoring a lot of goals. We did well defensively on those corners, but you just cannot give that many shots and corners to a good team like that and expect to win games.”

Despite the score, Doton remained optimistic about her team’s performance.

“The scoreline really doesn’t represent some of the areas where we played well, but I think we had moments of weakness,” Doton said.

“We allowed them to take control of the game and that’s why they are No. 2 in the country.” n

switch on the bench.”

Nearing the halfway mark of the third period, Gaby Roy delivered a goal from the left side to even the game back up at 3–3. BC then found itself with a 5-on3 opportunity. All the momentum had shifted in their favor after scoring two unanswered, but the Eagles were unable to capitalize. Just four minutes

later, though, Pellerin snagged the puck midair and went on to slide one through the five-hole on a breakaway to give BC a 4–3 lead with 2:25 left in the third.

“I think that our team hasn’t been given the respect we deserve,” Pellerin said. “I think it’s just us putting our name back where it deserves. We’re not upsetting other people. We’re just winning.” n

getting great chances,” Brown said. “We know that with his shot and his tenacity, that they’ll start to go in, and we’re fortunate they did tonight at the end.” n

Boston

No. 3 Clarkson tallied 41 shots compared to BC’s 31 shots in the matchup. CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Ryan Leonard scored two goals for BC in the final minute of play.

SARAH FLEMING / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Western

No. 2 North Carolina tallied two strokes in Sunday’s matchup against BC.

TRISHNA CONDOOR / HEIGHTS STAFF