The Heights, Oct. 23, 2023

October 23, 2023

Swim and Dive Program Members Sue BC

By Jack Bergamini Assoc. Sports Editor Natalie Arndt News Editor

Thirty-seven unnamed members of Boston College men’s and women’s swim and dive filed a lawsuit against the University on Tuesday for allegedly imposing an unjustified suspension after recent hazing allegations.

A judge will decide whether to impose a temporary restraining order lifting the suspension in a hearing scheduled for Oct. 24 in Middlesex County Superior Court.

“The BC Athletics Department unilaterally sought to dismantle the BC Swimming and Diving Team in its entirety, engaging in a series of unprecedented and egregious actions, which culminated in the unjustified

suspension of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving program,” the lawsuit reads.

On Sept. 20, BC Athletics said it indefinitely suspended the team after determining hazing had occurred within the program. A letter from an administrator in the Office of the Dean of Students alleged that freshmen were instructed to binge drink and consume their own vomit at one event. Members

allegedly engaged in underage drinking at two additional events.

The lawsuit comes after Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP—the law firm representing the student-athletes—sent a letter to BC’s general counsel on Sept.

21 calling on the University to lift the team’s suspension and issue a public retraction of BC Athletics’ statement.

Defendants named in the lawsuit include Boston College’s trustees,

Athletics Director Blake James, and Senior Associate Athletics Director Reggie Terry. The suit alleges that the student-athletes are entitled to damages and injunctive relief that directs BC to reverse the team’s suspension, remove records of the suspension, and publically issue a retraction of its initial statement.

See Lawsuit, A2

Former Costa Rican Pres. Speaks

Israel-Hamas War Affects Locals

By Will Martino Asst. News Editor Madison Hoang For The Heights

By Ella Song Assoc. Newton Editor Annie Ladd Reid Asst. Newton Editor

Being a leader is about enacting change, not retaining power, according to Carlos Alvarado Quesada, the former president of Costa Rica.

“When we tend to think about politics, there’s such an emphasis on politicians trying to preserve power,” Alvarado Quesada said. “But power, from my view, only serves a purpose if it’s into the service of something—into changing things.”

Alvarado Quesada was elected as president of Costa Rica in 2018 and finished his constitutionally limited term in 2022. He visited Boston College on Tuesday to speak at the Clough Colloquium, hosted by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. Alvarado Quesada said he was always an introvert, never anticipating he would pursue a career as a public leader.

“I always pictured myself as someone being there to help but not in the front,” he said.

After receiving a degree in journalism and political science in Costa Rica, Alvarado Quesada said he received a scholarship to study in the United Kingdom, where he encountered new people and ideas that compelled him to make a difference in the world.

“I was in that mindset, then I thought to myself, I want to go back to Costa Rica—where I was politically involved—to support and to make change happen,” he said.

Alvarado Quesada returned to Costa Rica to help direct communications for a presidential campaign. When the candidate he was working for lost, he found himself searching for a job again.

In response to the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, Newton leaders and school district officials released statements and offered the city’s residents spaces for reflection. For some Jewish and Palestinian Newton residents, this response—as well as the response from other residents—has affected their lives in the city.

“We came here because it’s a rich and vibrant community, and we love living here,” said one resident with Palestinian roots, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.

“And so it’s also sad for us to feel like we’re not wanted and like the trauma that we’re feeling is not justified.”

After Hamas—a Gaza-based Islamist political and military organization designated as a terrorist group by the United States—abducted hostages during an attack near the Israel-Gaza border, Israel declared war on Oct. 7.

Newton residents of both Jewish and Palestinian backgrounds said they are struggling to make sense of the conflict’s effects on their lives in the city.

See Former President, A2

BC MSA Hosts Prayer for Palestine

ALINA CHEN / HEIGHTS STAFF

By Karyl Clifford Asst. News Editor Brooke Ghaly For The Heights

Mahmoud El-Rifai asked a crowd of Boston College students and faculty to reflect on the rising numbers of deaths in Gaza during the “Prayer for Palestine” event on Thursday night.

“They are just numbers to the majority of us,” said El-Rifai, the chaplain of the

Univesity’s Muslim Student Association (MSA) and a Palestinian refugee. “But they are not numbers. They are people with names, dreams, stories, and memories. We should not accept these numbers to keep increasing.”

The MSA hosted the event on the Quad, where the association’s president, Abdullah Sayed, welcomed members of MSA to speak for peaceful remembrance and prayer.

See Prayer, A2

New Neighbors, Noise, and Negotiations BC students live adjacent to residents in Boston and Newton neighborhoods.

A Heights feature explores how these two groups interact and how the University works to manage their relationship.

See Newton, A5

Eagles Lose in Front of Sell Out

By Graham Dietz Sports Editor

The sound of a one-timer from the top of an offensive-zone set play is crisp and satisfying—seconds after the dink of the puck, a swift swishing noise is produced from the laces in the back of the net.

On Saturday night in Conte Forum, Denver produced this sound with just under 10 minutes to play to go up 3–2.

Boston College men’s hockey goaltender Jacob Fowler was not prepared for the Tristan Broz rifle which sizzled by him on a Pioneer power play.

But the sound didn’t end there, as freshman forward Will Smith created some of his own moments later.

See A7

ASHTON KAO / HEIGHTS STAFF

See Hockey, A13

Magazine

Opinions

Columnist Andrew Lim expresses worries about the political world in Australia, where voters denied a proposal to make an Indigenous governmental group.

Heights editor MC Claverie channels her love of vampires and Halloween in this festive dirty shirley cocktail recipe that’s easy to make.

INDEX

INSIDE

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NEWS

Monday, October 23, 2023

This Week’s Top 3 Events

1

The Heights

BC alum Evonne Delaney, chief human resources officer at YETI, will deliver a talk as a part of the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics’ “I Belong” lecture series on Monday at 12 p.m. in Fulton 515.

2

Join the Shea Center on Wednesday for a talk from BC alum Pat Twomey, the director of business operations at Klaviyo, at 3 p.m. in Stokes S195.

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3

Stop by the Office of the Dean of Students for Deans and Donuts on the 4th floor of Maloney Hall for donuts and conversation on Friday from 9 to 11 a.m.

Muslim Student Association Hosts Prayer for Palestine Prayer, from A1 “As I look around, it is a blessing that we have so many people from our community here present today, all of whom I hope are praying for and remembering the lives and stories of the Palestinian people,” Sayed, MCAS ’24, said.

The vigil began with students reciting excerpts from the Quran, before El-Rifai read a prayer to the crowd.

“It’s just good to see so many unfamiliar faces,” said Omar Shaker, MSA executive spiritual coordinator and MCAS ’25. “I think we all stand for the same cause.” Shaker recited verses 152 to 157 from the second chapter of the Quran, Surah Al-Baqarah, along with verse 185 from the third chapter of the Quran, Surah Ali Imran, in Arabic.

Hanan Sjah, MCAS ’25, then read lines 152 to 157 from Surah Al-Baqarah in English. “‘O believers! Seek comfort in patience and prayer,’” Sjah read. “‘Allah is truly with those who are patient.

Never say that those who died in the cause of Allah are dead.’”

El-Rifai shared his story of surviv-

ing three rocket strikes in Lebanon when he was 15 years old. He said he was on his way to his favorite spot—a small, old bridge—with a friend when they were thrown back by a large blast.

“At that day, at that moment, 15-year-old Mahmoud could have been another number on the news,” El-Rifai said. “Just an addition to the total numbers of those who lost their lives. … No one would have known anything about my story, my life, because I was just a number that just disappeared from this earth for a moment.”

According to El-Rifai, while it may appear that the conflict is far away from those at BC, the violence affects people all around the world.

As an example, he referred to the recent killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume in the suburbs of Chicago. The 6-year-old child was stabbed 26 times during an attack prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate, according to The New York Times.

“At that moment, what took place was dehumanization of Wadea,” El-Rifai said. “But every single time dehumanization takes place, the person who started this dehumanization

loses their humanity as well.”

El-Rifai said humans should refuse to accept this hateful treatment of one another.

“As humans, we acknowledge we will have conflicts,” El-Rifai said. “We will have wars. But the one thing that we should never accept and allow to happen is for us to lose our humanity while we are in conflict.”

Attendee Omer Yurekli, MCAS ’26, said it is hard for him to stand back and watch the current suffering in Gaza.

“Like there’s not much I can do here, but even if one person were to walk by here who didn’t know anything and see us doing this, and get moved by that, that’s a win,” Yurekli said.

As the event ended, El-Rifai urged attendees to take action even if they believe nothing can be done to help the people of Gaza.

“Today, we might be watching the news, we might be bystanders to what’s happening,” El-Rifai said. “But we are the future. You will make the news in the future. You will make a difference in the future.” n

SARAH FLEMING / HEIGHTS STAFF

BC community members gathered on the Quad Thursday evening for the MSA’s Prayer for Palestine event.

Members of Swim and Dive File Lawsuit Against BC Lawsuit, from A1 The lawsuit states that BC is violating both Massachusetts state law and the University’s policies. The specific allegations include breach of contract, breach of basic fairness, estoppel, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and a violation of Title IX. The swim and dive team is composed of 35 males and 32 females, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit argues that the University’s decision to suspend the full team was motivated by the fact that swim and dive is a co-ed program.

“This unlawful discrimination in violation of Title IX proximately caused Plaintiffs to sustain substantial injury, damage, and loss, including, but not limited to: emotional distress, psychological damages, loss of education, loss of future educational, athletic,

and career opportunities, reputational damages, economic injuries and other direct consequential damages,” the lawsuit reads.

Additionally, the lawsuit claims that there was no victim who reported the alleged hazing—the University allegedly initiated the investigation after a professor overheard students speaking about their activities over Labor Day weekend.

University Spokesman Jack Dunn said the hazing allegations are both serious and credible in a statement to The Heights on Thursday.

“The investigation and University conduct process involving these credible and serious allegations of hazing is ongoing through the Office of the Dean of Students, and will continue undeterred by any legal action,” Dunn said.

James and Terry declined to comment to The Heights, according to a BC Athletics official.

The lawsuit alleges that BC Athletics

KAIT DEVIR / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

Thirty-seven members of swim and dive sued the University on Tuesday.

first initiated the process to suspend the team on Sept. 11, when Terry called a meeting with seven juniors on the team who live in an off-campus home on Kirkwood Road. Terry said they were suspended from the team because of alleged alcohol consumption at their house, the lawsuit says.

The juniors could not fairly defend themselves as there was no hearing before the suspension, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit then alleges that Terry discussed an instance of an unrelated alleged rape that occurred on campus—causing confusion among the seven swimmers who felt they were being compared to rapists. Despite learning the following week that the freshman event occurred on campus, not on Kirkwood Road, the University never lifted the suspension of the seven members, according to the suit.

“The suspension of the junior boys remained in effect, and continued when AD James suspended the entire Swimming and Diving Team the following week,” the lawsuit reads.

On Sept. 20, the entire team met with James for approximately seven minutes, when he told the members that the program was indefinitely suspended, the lawsuit alleges.

“AD James admitted that the school did not yet have all of the relevant information and acknowledged that not everyone was involved, yet nonetheless called the students ‘disgusting’ while berating and humiliating them,” the lawsuit reads.

On the same day, BC Athletics issued its initial statement.

“University administrators had determined that hazing had occurred within the program,” the statement read.

The lawsuit claims that the University had not determined that any hazing had occurred at the time of its statement.

“Indisputably, as of September 20, 2023, University administrators had not determined that any hazing had occurred, and the affected students were only first notified of such allegations the day prior,” the lawsuit reads.

BC Athletics revised the statement to add that the “the matter will be investigated by the Office of the Dean of Students and adjudicated fairly and impartially through the student conduct process.”

The lawsuit argues this revision was an attempt to “save face.”

The University clarified its original statement on Sept. 21 saying it received “credible reports of hazing.”

“Boston College Athletics has suspended the activities of the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving teams following credible reports of hazing,” the statement read. “Based on the information known at this time, Athletics has determined a program suspension is warranted, pending a full investigation by the University.”

But the revisions were inconsequential, the lawsuit alleges, as the team’s reputation has already been damaged.

The lawsuit alleges that the student-athletes were stalked by various local and national media seeking comments, mistreated by others on campus,

and subjected to public humiliation and embarrassment to the point that they have become worried about their safety and well-being, making it hard to focus on classes and examinations.

“One student even dropped a course due to a low mark that came directly after BC abruptly enacted the suspension—something that this particular student has never done before,” the lawsuit reads.

The University double-downed on Oct. 6, the suit alleges, by canceling remaining meets for the year on the program’s online schedule.

The team members believe the University has never suspended an entire sports program, and it has never done so based on an incomplete investigation, according to the lawsuit. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges several of the students did not attend the events that brought about the allegations, and they will likely not be deemed responsible. As a result of the suspension, the lawsuit alleges that the University deprived the students of their rights to defend themselves through the BC Student Code of Conduct process.

“It is without question that the members of the Swimming and Diving Team could not be considered threats to the health, safety, or well-being of the University community (the allegations concerned events occurring during Labor Day weekend, rather than any ongoing conduct of concern), there was no threat to the effective functioning of the University, and none of the student athletes have been charged with a serious criminal offense,” the lawsuit reads. n

Former President of Costa Rica Talks Leadership Former President, from A1 Though he never anticipated entering the private sector, Alvarado Quesada said that he ultimately found a job at Procter & Gamble, a multinational umbrella company of various consumer brands.

“I remember my first day, they told me you’re going to work with Febreze, and I said, ‘What is Febreze?’” he said, drawing laughs from the audience. “I ended up launching Febreze in Latin America as a brand manager.”

While Alvarado Quesada said he had great respect for the private sector, he decided he needed to do something more fulfilling.

When his former professor and then-presidential candidate Luis

Guillermo Solís asked him to be the director of communications for his campaign, Alvarado Quesada said yes—on the condition that he would have full responsibility in the role.

“The previous campaign I was there supporting from the back,” he said. “The problem is that when you are trying to help but not holding responsibility, you’re not holding the helm.”

When Solís became president of Costa Rica in 2014, Alvarado Quesada became the minister of human development and social inclusion, a role he said he appreciated because it allowed him to tackle issues of housing, climate change, and education to help vulnerable populations.

But as 2016 rolled around,

Alvarado Quesada said he noticed a lack of sound candidates gearing up to run for president after Solís finished his term. Alvarado Quesada said that as the country neared fiscal default, he grew concerned it would fall to populism.

“Real freedom, real liberty is responsibility,” Alvarado Quesada said.

“It’s taking a hold of your capacity to do things, to act.”

Alvarado Quesada thus decided to run for president, and he won, stepping into office in 2018.

But winning was “the easy part,” according to Alvarado Quesada.

“The big chunk of my initial political capital of the world election was put into doing something particularly unpopular, which was enforcing fiscal reform,” he said.

This fiscal reform focused on tax increases for the wealthy, a particularly polarizing move, Alvarado Quesada explained. Nevertheless, this decision helped Costa Rica avoid an impending financial disaster, he said.

“Looking back, we averted a huge crisis,” he said. “No one is going to thank you for something that did not happen. So why do it? One has to do it because it’s the right thing.”

While in office, Alvarado Quesada said that he began thinking about the work his parents’ and grandparents’ generations had done to improve Costa Rica.

“The question was , ‘ What was going to be my legacy for the future?’” he said.

With his legacy on his mind, he

introduced a plan for decarbonization in Costa Rica.

“It was a comprehensive plan … that crossed all the sectors of government and industry, agriculture, transportation, energy—everything,” he said.

Alvarado Quesada said that while skeptics were concerned this plan would negatively affect the economy, an independent study by the RAND Foundation proved the opposite.

“It demonstrated that it was not only good for the environment, but it was good for business and it was good for the country,” he said.

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

The Heights

Monday, October 23, 2023

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NEWS Senate Talks Montserrat Laundry Program

By Karyl Clifford Asst. News Editor U G B C Vi c e P r e s i d e n t Meghan Heckelman praised the success of the Montserrat laundry subsidy program in the Tuesday night Senate meeting, citing the efforts of Montserrat Student Representative Alexis Thomas and Senate Intersectionality Committee Chair Katie Garrigan, MCAS ’25.

“We set up a form … and sent it out, and after like 10 minutes, we got almost 100 responses, which is pretty crazy,” Thomas, MCAS ‘25, said. “For context, the first 100 people that are deemed eligible, you know, who filled out that form first, will get that subsidy.”

Thomas said the form asked respondents for feedback on the initiative, a program that seeks to provide Montserrat students with laundry money, and what they wanted to see from UGBC and Montserrat more generally. The form received over 300 responses, according to Thomas.

“One [response] I think that really kind of illustrated how important this is, saying ‘I feel gutted

when I have to dig into my small savings because I can’t afford to not wash my sheets for another week,’” Thomas said.

Thomas noted that the most common suggestion from students was Montserrat meal plan subsidies, along with discounted groceries.

“Montserrat does have a good hospitality policy and a pantry, so these things are kind of already provided but still people are mentioning it, which means they don’t know about it,” Thomas said. “So, in a way, we have to keep pushing that and making that known.”

Boston College has provided a meal plan subsidy in the past, but decided not to run the program this year, according to Garrigan.

“Because prior to this year, they were factoring in the cost of two meals a day,” Garrigan said.

“Now they’re factoring in the cost for three meals a day for seven days a week.”

Garrigan said that while a subsidy program will not be run, if students have concerns about food insecurity, they can talk to their financial aid counselor.

“No student is going to go hungry,” Garrigan said.

Another idea that Thomas presented was helping fund travel expenses for students who cannot go home over school breaks due to money problems.

Heckelman said that while it would not be possible to fly students to California, for example, one way that UGBC is helping the student body alleviate travel expenses is by providing shuttles to the Boston Logan International Airport and South Station over Thanksgiving and Easter vacations.

“So even if it’s not like major holiday travel, if we can help in a small way to alleviate an $80 Uber that nobody wants to pay for, that’s a little thing that BC does,” Heckelman, LSHED ’25, said.

Lindsay Meier, environment and sustainability policy coordinator, also spoke at the meeting.

She said she recently met with facilities managers to talk about the state of BC’s turf fields, the replacement process behind them, and if BC would consider using cork turf instead of rubber.

“They had some issues with it,” Meier, MCAS ’26, said. “The primary ones were like drainage, the cork floating and then it

crumbling so it would break into smaller pieces, and then it doesn’t pass the test that it needs to.”

Meier said that she met with a cork representative, who said the issues facilities raised have been solved in the last 10 years.

“There’s a lot of environmental points to it, CO2 negative is renewable, not recyclable, which is above recyclable,” Meier said.

“And then there’s a lot of not en-

vironmental benefits to it … it’s non-abrasive, so you don’t get turf burns, mainly as bad, and it can decrease the temperature on the field by 10 to 20 percent, which would be huge.”

Besides these discussions, the Senate also unanimously voted to nominate Colleen Blascik, MCAS ’27, as the first-generation student representative for the 2023–24 academic year. ” n

KARYL CLIFFORD / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Senate discussed the Montserrat laundry program on Tuesday evening.

Yearly Night Market Lights Up the Plaza

By Angelina li Heights Staff

OWEN BIENEN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Villarosa Unpacks Racism in American Health Care System

By Aidan Gravina For The Heights

Melany Santiago Rivas Heights Staff

Linda Villarosa’s personal experience as well as the stories she has heard from people of color all over the United States culminated in the release of her new book, which reveals the full story of health disparity in the country, she said.

“Black Americans live sicker and die quicker than anyone else in the country,” said Villarosa, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.

The Lowell Humanities Series hostedVillarosa in Gasson Hall on Wednesday evening for a lecture titled, “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation.”

Villarosa, a professor at the City University of New York’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, said the origins of racial health disparity are rooted in racist myths about Black bodies.

“It comes from during slavery and the myth that I really looked into is the idea that Black people have a superhuman tolerance for pain,” Villarosa said. “So now, fast forward to today, this study from 2016 found that 40 percent of medical students and residents

surveyed believed at least one myth about Black bodies.”

Villarosa said Black women with bachelors or advanced college degrees have higher rates of infant mortality than white women with an eighth grade education. On average, Black Americans also have a life expectancy six years shorter than their white counterparts, according to Villarosa.

“People were saying ‘Oh, this is a problem of poverty,’” Villarosa said. “Even if they weren’t saying it, they were thinking it. So if this were a question only of poverty, why is infant mortality hitting women who have a lot of education?”

Villarosa emphasized that lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality is not a problem caused by Black Americans, but it is instead an issue of racism within the health care system.

“The newer explanation of these racial health disparities is not race, something Black people are doing wrong, or something wrong with our bodies,” Villarosa said. “It’s racism. Racism is a risk marker for discrimination, bad treatment, fear, and stress that shortens lives and makes pregnancy and childbirth dangerous.”

According to Villarosa, there is an extensive history of doctors and other medical professionals using Black bodies for experi-

ments.

“The most maddening is the idea that black people have superhuman tolerance to pain,” Villarosa said “It was used as a myth that was grounded in kind of pseudo science at the time, justified mainly by people who were scientists and physicians.

Many of whom work with people themselves, was used to justify the cruelty and validating using science.”

Villarosa also dissected the idea of weathering, when back to back trauma causes wear on your body. Villarosa defined this phenomenon as “the lived experience of discrimination.”

“When [something traumatizing] happens over and over because you are battling any kind of discrimination it creates a kind of toxic stress, and it’s hard to get your mind back to stasis … that is weathering,” Villarosa said Mental health care provided to Black communities in the United States is insufficient because not everyone understands the trauma Black people endure, Villarosa said.

“It’s one of those areas where you just want someone to understand your experience, but that’s also a place where Black people historically and currently are suffering from a mental health crisis instead of receiving aid for their needs,” Villarosa said. n

The typically quiet O’Neill Plaza transformed into a lively hub on Thursday evening, lined by tents adorned with string lights and surrounded by the wafting aromas of cultural dishes.

At this year’s “Night Market,” hosted by the Southeast Asian Student Association (SEASA), 16 cultural clubs were invited to showcase their diverse cultural foods and traditions.

“This has been an annual event, but every single year we are trying to make it bigger and bigger and more inclusive, not just around like the Asian Caucus clubs, but wanting to expand it a little more,” said Denissa Ariestanto, SEASA AHANA representative and CSOM ’26.

The featured dish at the SEASA table was nasi goreng, an Indonesian fried rice. According to David Chieco, SEASA co-president and CSOM ’24, students could earn a sampling of the rice by partaking in a children’s game of pen and bottle.

“You have a glass bottle and a pen that’s attached to some string, and you have to squat down to get the pen into the bottle,” Chieco said.

Chieco said that for SEASA, this annual event provides a great opportunity for the club to share Southeast Asian culture with the Boston College community.

“We really give a place for Southeast Asian students … especially since it’s a culture that’s not really focused on a lot in history or in modernity,” Chieco said.

In the past, SEASA co-hosted Night Market with other organizations, but the club wanted to emphasize ownership over the event this year, according to Chieco.

“We’re trying to give SEASA more popularity,” Chieco said.

“We want other Southeast Asian students or just any students, in general, to know that there is a club here for them, and to bring awareness to what we do and who we are.”

The Night Market also featured clubs relatively new on campus. Jessica Pelaez, founder and president of El Centro and MCAS ’24, said she originally formed the

club in the spring of 2022 because she wanted more representation of Hispanic culture on campus.

“El Centro is an organization that combines indigenous roots with just being ethnically Hispanic,” Pelaez said. “I noticed that there wasn’t [an organization] that highlighted indigenous roots … so I just wanted to make sure that those [cultures] ... were seen and heard.”

El Centro’s table featured garnachas, a taco-like dish that Pelaez said is popular in many Hispanic countries.

“They’re called different things in different countries, but … to us, that’s just an easy, quick meal, for when you don’t have much at home,” Pelaez said.

Among the vast variety of culture clubs represented at this outdoor event was the Hawaii Club, with a canopy stationed close to the front of O’Neill.

“We’re kind of a smaller culture club on campus,” Brandon Lai, co-president and CSOM ’24, said. “We look to spread Hawaiian culture throughout BC, mainly through food events.”

The Hawaii Club treated passing students to shaved ice.

“Shaved ice is a big thing in Hawaii, I would say, because of the weather, and there’s a lot of family businesses in Hawaii that run shaved ice shops,” Lai said.

The Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) offered bánh da lợn to students in exchange for a round of traditional Vietnamese gambling.

“It’s very sweet, kind of like a cake,” said Andrew Pham, VSA co-president and MCAS ’25.

According to VSA Culture Chair Joseph Ikossi Le, MCAS ’26, students were challenged to a betting game, where they could pick one of six symbols.

“Using fake money, if your symbol was rolled on, you make money and you can win a coconut bowl or you may have dessert,” Ikossi Le said.

Like the other clubs represented at the Night Market, VSA used its platform at the event to showcase its culture and unite people through food.

“We’re here to increase community and help people find a sense of belonging on campus,” Ikossi Le said. n

The Heights

Monday, October 23, 2023

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NEWS QLC Leaders Start Trans* Collective on Campus

By Karyl Clifford Asst. News Editor Will Martino Asst. News Editor Queer Leadership Council (QLC) Intersectionality Coordinator Claire Mengel said the hopelessness that coincides with being transgender at Boston College pushed them to refuse accepting that it “sucks to be trans” at BC. “While it would be lovely if this work was already done, or [it] was being done by administration, it’s kind of time for us, if no one else is gonna do it, we’re gonna do it,” Mengel, MCAS ’26, said.

Mengel and QLC Policy Coordinator H Edwards co-founded the Trans* Collective student group at the beginning of this semester. Run by and for transgender students at BC, the collective aims to increase visibility and make a home for trans students on campus.

While both Mengel and Edwards are a part of the executive board for QLC, which is a division of UGBC, Edwards said the collective is an independent group, which has its own meetings that focus solely on providing support for trans students. The group

is then able to turn toward QLC for guidance on the topics that arise during its meetings.

“We are able to bring that back to QLC and use [its] resources, whether that be like money in order for an event or even [Aidan Seguin] helping us out with how to even get a meeting going with administration,” Edwards, MCAS ’26, said.

QLC Chair Seguin, who is not a member of the Trans* Collective, said QLC has taken a hands off approach to the new group, but their relationship would continue to be defined in the future.

“I think one of my key functions in relation to the Trans* Collective is being that point person to connect them to the people that they’re looking to talk to,” Seguin, MCAS ’25, said.

The idea for Trans* Collective first arose when Edwards and Mengel visited Fordham University for the Ignatian Q LGBTQ+ conference last semester.

“There was a group for trans students—trans law students—at Fordham, and hearing their initiatives, the programming that they do, the visibility that they try and create for trans students sort of pushed us to want to form this collective,” Edwards said.

According to Mengel, the Trans*

Collective is a way to ensure that transgender students’ voices are heard, and that they have a platform where they can feel comfortable speaking out.

“We want to make sure that there is a place for trans students that is run by students for them to feel welcome, for them to feel at home,” Mengel said.

Edwards said that in the past he sometimes felt pushed aside due to the lack of trans resources and a trans-specific group on campus.

“Creating this group was mostly to ensure that everyone is keeping in mind the trans voice at BC, but also so that we had a space, in case we didn’t feel welcome through other groups on campus,” Edwards said.

The collective seeks to work closely with the Office of Residential Life and different administrators to create gender-inclusive housing. It also plans to host a “Speak Out” event for transgender people to express themselves anonymously, according to Edwards.

Another event that Edwards and Mengel discussed planning is an on-campus clothing swap.

“Students who may not feel comfortable shopping in sections for clothing that fit them better or students who don’t have the resources, the money for it,” Edwards said. “Everyone can bring

PHOTO COURTESY OF H EDWARDS AND CLAIRE MENGEL

Edwards and Mengel started the group to increase trans inclusivity on campus.

clothes that they kind of want to donate and students can go around picking different items, just to build their little wardrobe.”

While Seguin said it was too early to expect feedback from administrators, the Trans* Collective is gathering research on gender-based housing policies at other universities.

“Different pathways to changing policy at BC are being explored,” he said. “To me, that’s the most important thing.”

Edwards and Mengel said the question of who can join the collective has arisen, because they want to ensure that students who may not be publicly out as transgender feel safe in the collective’s environment. This is why Edwards encourages students to reach out to them first if they are interested in joining, he said.

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

MCAS Introduces New Leadership Positions

By Karyl Clifford Asst. News Editor Annika Engelbrecht For The Heights Boston College has promoted two professors to newly introduced leadership positions within the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences.

Associate sociology professor Brian Gareau said he originally felt unsure about whether he could take on the challenges that came with accepting the new position of senior associate dean for faculty affairs and academic planning for MCAS. “To have added responsibility, to help Boston College bring in a new cohort of faculty and to be a part of the interview process, and to help departments and programs think through strategically what they might want to do in the future in terms of hires was really a humbling kind of moment,” said Gareau, who was formerly the associate dean of the core.

Earth and environmental science professor Ethan Baxter was promoted to associate dean in the science, technology, engineering, and math

(STEM) disciplines. Associate professor of the practice and assistant dean of the core, Elizabeth Shlala, will take over for Gareau as associate dean for the core.

Baxter said he is honored that BC has put trust in him to fill the new associate dean of STEM disciplines position.

“It didn’t exist before,” Baxter said. “So I think we’re all kind of deciding exactly how this will fit within the Boston culture, the Boston College culture and administration, so [I’m] excited and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

The recent momentum and growth within the STEM departments at BC, such as investments in the Schiller Institute and the engineering department in MCAS, contributed to the creation of his new position, according to Baxter.

“I think the time does make sense to have someone who can really step in as a scientist, who has a background as a scientist, who can think like a scientist, to understand some of the unique types of needs and resources that we have in the STEM fields to

really step in and have as their primary job,” Baxter said.

For Gareau’s new position, he will work with the humanities and social sciences departments on the hiring and retiring processes and work alongside Dean of MCAS Rev. Gregory A. Kalscheur, S.J., to introduce and maintain faculty members’ connections to BC’s Jesuit mission, he said.

“Entering the full life of our students is not just a motto, it’s something we ask our faculty,” Gareau said. “So in a lot of ways, we expect a great deal from our faculty at Boston College, and not all junior faculty have had that experience going through graduate school.”

Gareau said he credits the creation of his position to the surplus of work that needs to be managed in the dean’s office.

“I think it’s a sign that the Morrissey College, in particular, has, has really achieved a great amount of success,” he said. “And that success means we need more support.”

Like Gareau, Shlala said she wants to continue assisting faculty and students in their efforts to fulfill BC’s

mission of educating the whole person.

“As the associate dean, I expect that there will be many more opportunities to support students and faculty in creative and mission-driven ways in my new role,” she said.

Shlala said she has many goals for the core, including creating new enduring question and complex problem courses for freshmen and potentially introducing similar models into sophomore- and senior-year experiences.

“It is important that the Core Curriculum remains aligned with

BC’s Catholic, Jesuit mission and that it plays a meaningful role in student formation,” Shlala said.

Baxter said he sees infusing STEM disciplines into Jesuit education as essential because it helps individuals better work through problems and navigate life meaningfully. “[Educating the whole person] is a way of viewing the world,” Baxter said. “It’s a way of experiencing the world, which in my opinion, can be and should be a complement to anybody’s whole experience.” n

GRAPHIC BY PAIGE STEIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Maor Teaches How to Think Like a Cybercriminal

By Gabby Silva For The Heights People who work in cybersecurity cannot just be good defenders, they also have to put themselves in attackers’ shoes, according to Etay Maor.

“I found out we have really, really good defenders, people who really know how to work with the tools that they’re given, but they

don’t think like attackers,” said Maor, the senior director of security strategy at Cato Networks and adjunct professor at Boston College. “They don’t think [about] how an attacker is going to approach certain problems.”

In a lecture titled “Thinking Like a Cybercriminal,” hosted by Information Technology Services and the Woods College of Advancing Studies on Tuesday, Maor shared

techniques and tools that hackers use, as well as the scope of their attacks.

“When you have a breach, it’s a complete and utter destruction of all the security policies, procedures, and systems that you have in place,” Maor said.

Through ransomware case studies and examples, Maor demonstrated how hackers utilize publicly available information to target cer-

ASHTON KAO / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Maor emphasized practicing safety online when sharing personal information on a public social media account.

tain people and companies. Opensource intelligence (OSINT) data can be gathered through search engines like Google, Shodan, Censys, and Pastebin. It can then be used to help fabricate enticing phishing scams personalized to specific targets, Maor said.

Maor emphasized how easy it is to access people’s personal information. In a class he teaches, he asked students to try and gather personal information on a company’s employees, and he said they were surprised at how easy it was.

“People like to share information,” Maor said. “So this group [of students] mapped out the entire management of this company: names, spouses, children, car registration, voting, where they live, home WiFi networks, you can find that out if you really want to as well.”

Maor also warned people at the event about the dangers of hackers gathering personal information on social media, especially if they have a public account.

“I’m not saying don’t use social media, but think about who you’re approving [to follow you], and think about what could be done with that information,” Maor said.

Anyone can be the target of these cybercriminals, as they tend to target ordinary people, according to Maor.

“I keep telling this to organizations, again, why would I, as an attacker, go up against the multimillion dollar security solution when I can go up against Jack from accounting?” Maor said.

Scams get more complicated once AI is involved, as AI image generation renders reverse image searching virtually useless, Maor said. So, scammers can create fake accounts that appear real, leading people to believe they are talking to a real person rather than a bot, he said.

“All of these [profile pictures] are AI generated, none of these people exist,” Maor said.

Wrapping up his lecture, Maor explained how hackers can attack and misuse AI by using “feedback poisoning,” or poisoning the data that the AI is trained on by feeding it incorrect information.

“These [scams] are happening and are a very good way to attack,” Maor said. “And what makes things even more complicated is when you involve AI.” n

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The Heights

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Newton Residents React to Israel-Hamas War Newton, from A1 According to a Jewish resident named Yanina, who declined to give her last name out of fear of retaliation, she and other Jewish residents feel isolated by the dialogue surrounding the conflict, which she s e e s a s f ailing to properly support her community.

“Even in a place like Newton, which is, again, so international, so filled with people that are here to pursue the American dream, so full of Jewish people as well, you still feel alone because—not only from the shock of what happened in Israel—but also from the shock of sort of the lack of this unanimous condemning of the attacks that happened in Israel,” Yanina said.

Jewish resident Nora Lester Murad and her Palestinian husband Hani Murad said Palestinian people around the world are facing mistreatment.

“You have the bitter reality where Palestine and Palestinians have been labeled for a long

time as either a threat to the existence of Israel or the Zionist movement or broadly considered as terrorists, or they don’t kind of … deserve the same value or treatment like any other human being,” Hani Murad said.

This tension continues in Newton Public Schools (NPS), as district leaders work to address the war in classroom settings, according to the Murads.

According to the anonymous Newton resident, Palestinian and Arab parents are concerned about the lack of equitable counseling for their children in NPS. “We don’t want our children to go to school and feel scared that they might be bullied or verbally abused or worse, for stating their opinions and we don’t want them to be afraid to ask for counseling support,” the resident said. “A lot of safe spaces are being created for Jewish and Israeli students but not for Palestinian or Arab students.”

The Murads said their daughters felt excluded in the district prior to the war, so they

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDTIOR

Some residents criticized NPS’ communication about the war.

pulled them out of the school district.

“What our daughters experienced was such a hegemonic supp or t for Israel, that ju st being Palestinian was somehow problematic or controversial or political and it was inappropriate and maybe dangerous or harmful to other students,” Nora Lester Murad said. “There really wasn’t sp ace for v ie w s or e ven life experiences that challenge that dominant narrative.”

Newton resident Retsef Levi, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Te chnolo g y and former Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer, specifically criticized NPS communications following the Oct. 7 attacks. He said communication from the district did not address the war as a terror attack.

“And nothing there was calling out the terror attack, the vicious terror attack and murder of so many people by Hamas,” he said.

Newton South High School Principal Tamara Stras revised an initial statement titled “Response to Violence in Israel,” which was issued on Oct. 9, after backlash from community members .

According to Yanina, the high school’s initial communication about the attacks on Oct. 7 did not adequately condemn the attacks, and in doing so isolated the Jewish community.

“It really makes Jewish people right now just feel alone and unsupported,” she said. “It was just one of the both-isms … you know, it’s erasing the gravity and the trauma of what happened in Israel.”

The anonymous resident said that following the attacks, the societal discourse surrounding Palestinians equates them to Hamas, depicting them as violent

people.

“I’ve grown up as a Palestinian in a Palestinian household, I have family who are Palestinian who are living in Israel as citizens of Israel,” the resident said. “And e ver ything I know about our culture is that it is a very warm and welcoming culture. It’s a very generous culture.”

The conversation surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict has also unfairly depicted the Jewish community, according to Yanina.

“Jews are kind of looked at as this powerful, successful group of people, and we are sort of the enemy, we’re not the underdog,

Jewish community in Newton toward educating other residents, including herself—she attended a Principal’s Morning Coffee meeting at Newton North High School for the first time after the Oct. 7 attacks.

“Traditionally many Jews have disagreed with each other when it comes to Israeli policy, but here, I think this has really brought the Jewish population together and made our voice a little bit louder,” she said.

As the war progresses, many residents in the City of Newton continue to condemn the violence as they navigate its impact on their

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR

A resident said Jewish people in Newton have mobilized to educate others. and it’s so wrong,” Yanina said.

“The reality is that Jewish people have been pushed out, segregated, discriminated against, killed for now thousands of years … we’ve overcome that by staying mentally strong, having strong values, [and] helping each other out.”

Yanina said she has noticed a greater mobilization of the

daily lives.

“I’m devastated at all loss of civilian life, and we’ve seen a lot of bad things on a global scale in our lifetimes,” the anonymous resident said. “But in this moment, it somehow hits a lot harder and a lot more raw … I’m feeling like it’s very difficult to be a Palestinian in Newton right now.” n

Newton Puts Stop Signs at Busy Intersection

By Connor Siemien Newton Editor The City of Newton placed additional traffic signage at the intersection of Watertown Street, Eddy Street, and Eliot Avenue, where a number of traffic incidents have occurred for years.

The city added stop signs in different directions near the intersection, which already included other implements to try to calm traffic and reduce car accidents.

The city installed stop signs on Watertown Street (Eastbound) at Eddy Street in front of 802 Watertown Street, and on Watertown Street (Westbound) at Eliot Avenue in front

of 789 Watertown Street, according to a release from the Newton Police Department (NPD).

The city previously installed a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) traffic light to help pedestrians cross Watertown Street more safely, according to Newton Director of Transportation Operations Jason Sobel at the time of last year’s accidents.

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller recently touted the RRFBs in her newsletter and said the devices ensure a safer environment for pedestrians to cross streets.

“The RRFBs are placed on both sides of a crosswalk and include pedestrian crossing signs,” Fuller’s

newsletter reads. “They are designed to improve safety by increasing drivers’ awareness of pedestrians crossing streets at locations other than intersections.”

She said the technology has proven to improve safety conditions.

“Federal research indicates RRFBs can result in motorist yielding rates as high as 98 percent at marked crosswalks,” Fuller’s newsletter reads.

“Additionally, studies have shown that RRFBs can also significantly reduce the number of pedestrian crashes.”

Last year, residents called for a variety of potential ways to make crashes less likely at the intersection.

Proposed ideas included new traffic

lights, four-way stop signs like the ones installed, and lowering the speed limit.

Eddy Street ranked No. 30 in the city’s 2019 traffic calming prioritization evaluation, while Eliot Avenue ranked No. 79, Andreae Downs, who

chairs the Newton Public Safety and Transportation Committee, said.

The city and the NPD will monitor the intersection to see any effects of the new signage, according to a release from their Facebook page. n

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Two crashes happened on the same day at the intersection last year.

The Heights

Monday, October 23, 2023

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NEWTON Rebooked Breathes New Life Into Used Books

By Ella Champagne For The Heights Elise Kirwin For The Heights Elizabeth Miller believes in giving books new lives.

Through her Newton-based business, Rebooked, Miller recirculates her favorite books and vintage items throughout the area.

Rebooked, founded in 2022, is a project Miller began when she retired. A former practicing attorney with her own law practice and adjunct professor at Boston College Law School, Miller said she has fostered a love for reading throughout her career and life.

“Books have so much meaning and so many memories attached to them because I’ve always been such

a reader,” she said. “I like the idea that you can take out the gems from all of the used books out there.”

Miller dreamt of owning a bookstore, but at this stage in her life she doesn’t want the time commitment of a brick-and-mortar store, she said. Resurrecting discarded books at pop-up shops around New England proved to be perfectly simple, according to Miller, and has become the heart of Rebooked.

“I came up with this idea to do used books, which is less complicated and also has the environmental spin that I like of keeping books from being thrown out,” Miller said. “Books have so much meaning and so many memories attached to them.”

Miller said she hand picks all of the shop’s recycled books. What makes Rebooked unique is that

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELIZABETH MILLER

Customers have said that the old books add appeal to the products offered.

Miller has read and loved every one of the books she sells, she said.

“I’ve had 50-plus years of reading, so I may not always remember what a book was about, but I will remember that I loved it,” she said.

This personal connection to the books on her shelves is precisely what inspires customers to flock to Rebooked, according to customer Julie Scaramella.

“I like the uniqueness of the concept and Liz’s level of knowledge,” Scaramella said. “She is very rare. You could walk into a bookstore and have the person behind the counter say, ‘I’ve read every book that’s here.’”

In addition to recycled books, Miller sells vintage items that she purchases at thrift shops. Miller said she is still learning to trust herself with this aspect of the business.

“If I really love an item and I think it’s cool, then I’ll buy it,” she said. “I know there are things that people would buy because they are hot, but if I don’t love an item myself, then I won’t sell it.”

Rebooked’s careful selection of vintage items attracts a whole different community of shoppers.

Miller intentionally crafts her display of books and items to reflect the demographic of buyers she expects to attend specific markets.

“I particularly like the vintage items that Liz sells,” Elizabeth Ryan, a regular at the business, said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELIZABETH MILLER

The business is a recently opened passion project to sell books and vintage items.

Miller also sells curated book boxes for interested customers. Customers fill out a short questionnaire regarding their genre preferences and favorite books, which Miller then uses to create a personalized box, she said.

“I put together a list of six or more books, and then I send them a picture of those books and ask them to tell me which ones they’ve already read so I can take those out,” she said.

Enticed by her thoughtful selection of beautiful books, Miller said Rebooked’s readers have expressed eagerness to see what she has to offer.

“I’ve been really surprised that a

lot of young people still read books,” she said. “Everybody buys books, and that has been a really pleasant surprise.”

Rebooked is motivated by the possibility of placing old stories in new hands, according to Miller.

Miller said she hopes that the stories behind the books and items she sells can be reimagined by new generations of people.

“They ’re so old,” she said.

“Something could be published in 1896, and you’re holding it in your hand. I deal in stories. Both the stories in the books that I knew, and all my vintage stuff.” n

City Council Strikes Down Parking Ban Petition

By Genevieve Morrison For The Heights Newton City Council struck down a proposed two-year suspension of the city’s winter overnight parking ban in a 17–7 vote on Monday night in response to a petition filed to repeal the ban.

The p e tition concer ne d a Newton law that forbids overnight parking on streets between Dec. 1 and March 21. On Sept. 26, the city clerk certified 5,480 signatures to the petition, which met the 5,000 minimum required to place the issue on the City Council docket.

The council’s Public Safety and Transportation (PST) Committee rejected it in a vote on Oct. 4.

Ward 3 Councilor-at-Large Andrea Kelley motioned for a Second Call on the item, which allows the full council to discuss and vote on an issue that a subcommittee already voted on.

“The PST Committee voted not to approve it nor to approve the proposed two-year trial, which is why I’m bringing it back to all of us,” Kelley said. “I’d like all 24 of us to have a chance to think about this.”

Ward 6 Councilor-at-Large

Alicia Bowman said that a twoyear trial removal of the ban would provide important data about what the city would look like with less restricted parking. According to Bowman, this information would be valuable to voters if an initiative question arose in 2025.

“I think that we’re better off doing a trial,” Bowman said. “It’s supposed to be a snowy winter—that will give us a good opportunity to understand what it’s like when [the parking ban] is overturned and be able to gather that data that would help us make better decisions.”

Ward 1 Councilor-at-Large Alison Leary said the parking ban is necessary to regulate vehicle ownership and traffic in Newton, especially with regard to the Village Center Overlay District—a proposed zoning ordinance that would increase multi-family housing in the city.

“We’re right in the middle of village center zoning … where we’re increasing density in our village centers,” Leary said. “Now I know everyone here has experenced Newton’s traffic, so you get more traffic when you get more liberalized parking.”

Kelley echoed the petition’s

claim that the current parking ban is too extreme, calling instead for smaller, more focused restrictions.

“There’s no broader tool than bluntly refusing to let people park on the streets for four solid months, for maybe two nights of a storm,” Kelley said. “I think this is a very bludgeon-like tool when perhaps tweezers are more appropriate.”

Now that the ban removal has failed at the City Council level, the anti-parking ban campaign is allowed a 45-day period to collect

additional signatures to petition an initiative for the 2025 ballot, according to Ward 4 Councilor-at-Large Joshua Krintzman.

“My understanding is that signatures are being collected,” Ward 5 Councilor-at-Large Andreae Downs said. “This would be [a] binding initiative on a 2025 ballot if the petitioners are successful in obtaining the remaining roughly 2,500 voter signatures, in addition to the roughly 6,000 that they have already.”

Following the failure of the ban’s repeal, Krintzman said that the PST Committee should move to find solutions for specific issues with the ban.

“My suggestion is to send this back to [the] committee,” Krintzman said. “I think we then have 45 days to come up with the plan, and my hope is that we will ask the administration for some assistance and some staffing to develop a parking scheme that accounts for the things that we’ve spoken about tonight.” n

STEVE MOONEY / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

The proposal that the city council struck down would have suspended the city’s overnight parking ban.

Official Outlines Plan To Reduce Waste in City

By Kate Kissel For The Heights A Sustainable Materials Management official from the city’s Department of Public Works, which manages recycling and trash, discussed reimagining curbside trash collection to reduce waste and lower costs in a Newton Public Facilities Committee meeting on Wednesday night.

“For the 2030 plan, the goal is to again reduce trash by 30 percent in 10 years and 90 percent by 2050,” said Waneta Trabert, director of sustainable materials management for the City of Newton Department of Public Works.

Since peak waste in 2004, the City of Newton has been on a steady decline in terms of waste generation, according to the meeting’s agenda. But, there is a continuously reducing capacity for waste in Massachusetts, as the

solid waste combustion capacity is currently being fully utilized, according to the agenda.

Landfills have continuously closed since 2010 with no new facilities planned for construction, according to the meeting’s agenda.

The department described the main goals as reducing trash, maximizing environmental protection, and reducing costs or minimizing cost increases, according to Trabert.

Composition trash studies have identified organics as making up about a third of trash disposal in Newton, representing a large amount of material that could have been composted, Trabert said.

The department is looking to put in place a pilot program for in-home food waste processing, and it sees this as feasible to be implemented within the year, she said.

Trabert also went over several other recommendations for combating the issue of recyclable or compostable materials going into the already strained waste stream, including reducing trash cart sizes to 35 gallons, half what they currently are, and transitioning from a tax-based funding model to a utility-based funding model, she said.

The City of Newton is currently offering compost bins at a subsidized rate, according to the meeting’s agenda.

“What we pay for trash is double that for recycling,” Trabert said.

David Kalis, Ward 8 councilor-at-large, said the issue demands further examination. “[It] is a complex challenge and for the administration to figure out what goes first, what goes second, what is the timing with everything, and how do we do the

best, we communicate with people as this is gonna change a lot, there’s gonna be a lot of questions,” Kalis said.

The committee asked for future periodical updates regarding the process of refiguring trash collection.

The construction of Countryside Elementary School, including issues surrounding environmental safety as it pertains to flooding and stormwater drainage, were also discussed.

Emily Norton, ward councilor from Ward 2, said that environmental issues should be of utmost importance in the city.

“B etween us and mother nature, mother nature is gonna win,” Norton said. “And this was a wetland that is where water is going back to, and we can’t wish that away, and I don’t believe the data shows we can engineer it away in this site.”

Concerns among the committee surrounded the previous year’s flash flooding issues in the Newton Free Library parking area.

Josh Morse, commissioner of public works, said that for flooding to occur in the library’s parking lots, over 20 inches of rain would have to fall in a 48-hour period. These would be hurricane level events that are not likely, he said.

Notably, the school will also be making use of geothermal energy and has currently just completed its first well test run, according to Morse.

“We are reducing the peak f low and the peak volume of stormwater leaving our site,” he said. “We are increasing the flood storage capacity on our site … reducing the impervious area … [and] not directing any stormwater from our site onto any other residential properties.” n

M AGAZINE Monday, October 23, 2023

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A Look Into the Relationship Between Off-Campus Students and Local Residents

PHOTOS BY ASHTON KAO / HEIGHTS STAFF, FALLON JONES / FOR THE HEIGHTS, AND ERIN FLAHERTY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

By Erin Flaherty Magazine Editor Eliza Hernandez Projects Editor Walking down Foster Street on a busy night, one would likely catch a glimpse of LED lights shining through house windows and hear songs like “Doses & Mimosas” by Cherub or “Hotel Room Service” by Pitbull blasting through speakers.

And by the end of the night, Foster is often lined with red Solo cups and crushed cans.

These houses, many of which are adorned with Boston College flags, are occupied by BC students who live off campus.

Just hours after nighttime festivities wrap up, when the sun rises in the morning, these same streets are bustling with Newton and Brighton residents driving to their early morning jobs and children heading to their nearby elementary schools.

On these streets where both BC students and local residents reside— Foster, Kirkwood, Gerald, Greycliff, Lake, South Street, and more—the transition from night to day tells the story of two different communities coexisting within one neighborhood.

“You know, when you live in a neighborhood, you respect that there’s people that go to work every day,” said John Boyle, a Boston Police Department (BPD) sergeant detective. “And it’s not helpful when people are up till two o’clock in the morning partying, and you’re working a shift the next morning at 6 a.m.—it’s a mutual respect kind of thing.”

According to the BC Residential Life website, the majority of incoming students receive three years of guaranteed housing—these students are required to live off campus during their junior year. Students are allowed to stay off campus for their senior year, but over 90 percent choose to move back on campus, the website states.

Kimberly Mattson, LSEHD ’25, said she knows many people who started planning their junior year housing during freshman year. So, because Mattson and most of her friends received three years of guaranteed housing, they decided to start touring housing options during freshman year as well.

“Everyone’s like ‘You got to secure your housing for junior year,’ and a lot of our friends, they only had three years too,” Matson said. “We met with the realtor, and we were looking at a bunch of houses.”

In March of her freshman year, Ava Ellis, MCAS ’25, sorted out her off-campus housing for junior year.

Ellis said the pressure to figure out your junior year housing plans so early can be problematic—sometimes, the people who you choose to live with freshman year are no longer your close friends by the time junior year rolls around.

“Luckily, we all are still great friends,” Ellis said. “But I know not everyone’s had that same experience.”

For some students, the decision to live off campus is part of a last-minute effort to improve their living situation for the upcoming school year.

This was the case for Ian Schoenbaum, CSOM ’25, who said he and his roommates decided to live off campus for their sophomore year. Schoenbaum and his friends tried to live in suitestyle housing on campus, but they ended up being placed in doubles in Greycliff Hall, a traditional-style dorm.

Schoenbaum and his friends were unsatisfied with this outcome and chose to find off-campus housing instead.

“We had an interesting experience being kind of the only sophomores who lived off campus on one of these Gerald, Foster, Greycliff streets—but we actually loved it,” Schoenbaum said.

For some students, like Schoenbaum, the decision to live off campus for a year is voluntary. For others, living off campus for their junior year is a mandatory reality.

Because students who live in off-campus houses and apartments are situated near non-BC residents, complaints from both BC students and local residents arise. In recent years, the University has taken steps to ease the tensions between students living off campus and their local neighbors.

In 2021, the Boston Marathon was delayed from April to October due to COVID-19 restrictions. On the morning of the rescheduled marathon, herds of students rushed to off-campus streets to celebrate the occasion. After this event, the University said local police received many complaints from residents who were bothered by the behavior of these students.

“Boston Police received a significant amount of complaints from the neighbors about … thousands of students that gathered in the streets where they were blocking the roads, and also we received reports about behavior that was disruptive to the community,” Tom Mogan, the current associate dean of MCAS and the former associate vice president for student engagement and formation, said at the time.

Following these complaints, Mogan asserted that BPD would likely have a lower tolerance for this sort of behavior during the spring marathon.

To remedy the situation, Mogan and Shawna Cooper Whitehead, BC’s vice president for student affairs, met with student groups to brainstorm less disruptive ways to alternatively celebrate the marathon.

The solution they eventually settled on was revamping the on-campus programming offered during the marathon. BC’s Division of Student Affairs brought in Jason Derulo to perform in the Mod Lot. The University also enticed students to stay on campus by sponsoring breakfast and food trucks and planning other activities for students to engage in.

But complaints from local residents regarding BC student behavior still persist.

Matt Jones, a Brighton resident, said he moved to his neighborhood in

September because he wanted to live closer to his work.

Jones said his BC student neighbors are generally pleasant, but he has experienced issues with students’ noise levels and trash.

“I mean they’re generally pretty pleasant, but they’re loud,” Jones said.

“They’re a bit messy— there’s garbage everywhere. They throw garbage on my lawn.”

One resident, who declined to give her name, lives near BC students and said the street she lives on gets noisy at night. As students head from party to party, they talk loudly as they trek up and down the street.

Sometimes, when the ruckus is too much for her and her husband to handle, the resident said they call Andrew Klopstein, BC’s assistant director of off-campus student living, to complain about the noise.

Reilly Gilroy, LSEHD ’25, said her adult neighbors likely called in a noise complaint when she and her friends were playing music outside.

“We have a balcony and we were playing music, and a cop said we had to turn it down because we got a noise complaint, which we’re assuming is from the non-student neighbor,” Gilroy said.

Some students possess a more direct line of communication with their neighbors. This is the case for Schoenbaum, who made sure to introduce himself to his neighbors when he moved into his house during his sophomore year.

“Last year, when we were moving in, we met them which I think was just kind of the appropriate thing to do as students,” he said.

When Schoenbaum and his roommates are playing music, his neighbors will ask him directly to turn it down rather than calling in a noise complaint.

“We’ve had a few instances where maybe we’ll be out on our deck like at night and the neighbors, if they’ll say anything, they’ll just be like ‘Hey, do you guys mind just turning it down a little bit’ and then after that, it’s totally fine,” Schoenbaum said.

This year is Schoenbaum’s second year living in the same off-campus house on Gerald Street, and he said he has noticed some changes in student behavior at night. Last year, his street was rowdier than it is this year, he said.

“People would be roaming the streets on the weekends,” Schoenbaum said. “As for this year, I think Foster is primarily usually the busier street, and I think that you can say that this year as well.”

Lauren Kenny, MCAS ’25, also emphasized that off-campus streets differ in their noise levels and party scenes.

“I would say it’s usually more like kickbacks and chill kind of things that are just like smaller groups on this street,” Kenny said. “I feel like Foster’s kind of a little bit more hectic.”

When Ellis and her roommates moved into their house, Ellis said the landlord informed them that they are not allowed to host parties.

“We have a basement but it’s very strict,” Ellis said. “You’re not allowed to have like parties.”

This has not been much of a problem for Ellis and her roommates, Ellis said—they tend to go out to other people’s houses rather than invite people over. And, when they do play music, they make sure to keep it at a reasonable volume level.

“We only have like a small speaker, and we’re not really over here throughout the night that much,” Ellis said.

Before Mattson moved into her house, the group of students who lived there before her warned her that the neighbors are sometimes uptight about noise and partying “We try to respect everyone that lives around here,” Mattson said.

“Whenever we have people over, we try not to be that loud.”

The BC Police Department (BCPD) collaborates with University offices to ensure smooth integration of students into local communities, said Lieutenant Jeffrey Postell, who oversees BCPD’s community policing, community relations, and crime prevention initiatives. One of these offices is BC’s Office of Community Affairs.

Steve Montgomery, BC’s off-campus student community liaison, works under community affairs and aims to bridge the gap between BC students and local residents, according to the office website.

“The Liaison is available as a referral resource to assist in resolving issues or tensions that may arise between students and neighbors,” the website reads.

Kate Goggins, MCAS ’25, has never interacted directly with Montgomery, but she said he frequently drives around to monitor student activity.

“We’ve seen him drive around a few times,” Goggins said. “So he’s definitely there. But we’ve never really had a reason for him to come over.”

Although Schoenbaum knows of situations where Montgomery has stopped by while students were hosting parties, he said he has never interacted with him. Many students refer to Montgomery as the “off-campus RA.” “I know some other houses have had the RA drop by for various issues,” Schoenbaum said. “We haven’t had any issues with the RA. We’ve never actually met the RA.” When it comes to off-campus policing, Postell said BCPD supports and assists the Newton and Boston Police Departments.

“The primary jurisdiction falls to the city in those areas—it’s privately owned property that’s being rented out to Boston College students,” Postell said.

Though BCPD is not technically responsible for these geographical areas, the department is constantly in contact with local police departments, according to Postell.

“We are very much an active stakeholder in office campus living issues, safety, and responses,” Postell said.

BPD Officer Stephen Borne said BPD maintains a close relationship

with BCPD. The departments coordinate directly to respond to complaints and monitor off-campus streets—especially on weekend nights, he said.

“We have a close relationship that we are in communication back and forth with both BC and us, as far as what goes on outside of the BC campus and particularly with their off-campus housing,” Borne said.

Borne said BPD sends “party cars’’ that drive up and down off-campus streets on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Borne said these cars typically respond to the noise complaints that BPD receives.

“At the end of the day, we do get complaints that the students are carrying on ’till one or two in the morning, and it’s a Thursday, and you know, people have to be up for work or there’s families with little kids or something like that,” Borne said.

Outside of these points of collaboration, Postell said BCPD and BPD come together for neighborhood visits or “knock and talks,” where officers go to off-campus houses to engage with the BC students living off campus and set expectations about student behavior.

BCPD ramps up these preventative measures ahead of “problematic” weekends when off-campus partying and noise is suspected to peak.

“We do that around hot button times—whether it be during the Halloween weekend, marathon weekends, Saint Patricks Day—all the times we see an uptick in the problems in off-campus areas,” Postell said.

Hoping to steer students in the right direction, Borne gives a speech each year at the mandatory off-campus meeting at the start of the fall semester. In this speech, Borne said he introduces safety precautions for students—encouraging them to lock their doors and windows and to ensure their houses are up to Boston code—as well as general tips on how to interact respectfully with the Brighton community.

“That conversation goes really well with the students,” Borne said. “For the most part, we typically don’t have any pushback from them, as far as you know, what’s expected.”

Postell said BCPD officers also meet with local homeowners and residents to discuss what measures would be successful in relieving tensions with BC students.

“A lot of the partnerships there are based on grassroots efforts [and] collaboratively working together for a common goal to make sure everyone is safe,” Postell said.

Boyle said that the local Brighton community welcomes BC students, and he ultimately hopes that students act not only as college students but also as residents of a working community.

“We also remind the students that they’re moving into a community—a hard working community where people are,” Boyle said. "It’s not college life.

You know, it’s not the Mods.” n Genevieve Morrison contributed to reporting.

The Heights

Monday, October 23, 2023

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M AGAZINE

Campus Cocktails: Damon’s Spooky Dirty Shirley

By MC Claverie Newsletter Editor It’s no secret that my roommates and I are obsessed with vampires. From the large Edward Cullen blanket hanging in our hallway to the sultry Vampire Diaries poster prominently displayed in our cozy common room in 2150, our love for all things vamp is clear

MC CLAVERIE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

MC’s drink is perfect for Halloween.

from the moment you step into our room.

With Halloween just around the corner, this cocktail—Damon’s Dirty Shirley—is the perfect ode to all things vampire.

Inspired by Damon Salvatore, one of the main characters on The CW’s hit show The Vampire Diaries, this drink is a unique twist on a dirty Shirley.

Though the ingredients are consistent with a typical dirty Shirley, the drink’s presentation is what sets it apart.

Rather than just pouring grenadine into the cocktail, my recipe calls for a plastic syringe that injects the grenadine into the lemon-lime soda and vodka mixture.

Just like Damon, this cocktail is sweet, strong, and a little spooky. It’s the perfect drink for any Halloween party, pregame, or vampire-themed event.

DRINK: Damon’s Dirty Shirley

GRAPHIC BY PAIGE STEIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

INGREDIENTS: For one serving 6 oz of lemon-lime soda (I used Sprite) ½ oz of grenadine (If you like your drinks a bit sweeter feel free to add more)

1 ½ oz of vodka (I used Tito’s) Optional One plastic syringe One straw INSTRUCTIONS: Fill a highball glass with ice.

Add vodka and lemon-lime soda to the glass.

Fill the syringe with grenadine.

Add leftover grenadine to the glass.

Inject the grenadine-filled syringe into the glass.

Stir with a straw and enjoy. n

Catalina Rey-Guerra Researches Gender Disparities

By Annabell Langford Heights Staff As Catalina Rey-Guerra studied to become an economist, she learned how to navigate complex statistical problems—but she soon discovered a passion for researching complex human issues rather than numerical ones. “ We are always tr ying to understand how people think and behave, right?” Rey-Guerra said.

“In different ways and through different theories. But, in the end, we mainly want to understand how people behave. I started feeling that I had a lot of tools from economics, like statistics and also theory, that helped me understand part of the picture but not the whole picture.”

Now, in her fifth and final year as a doctoral candidate in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development (LSEHD), Rey-Guerra is gathering data for her dissertation and working to finalize her research. And since winning the National Academy of Education’s Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, she’s finishing up her research on a full-time basis.

The National Academy of Education’s Spencer Dissertation Fellowship provides financial support to doctoral candidates in their final year of research. According to the academy’s website, the fellowship committee selects the most talented researchers with interests relevant

to the field of education.

Rey-Guerra’s research focuses on gender disparities in education and parenting, a topic that affects many people throughout the world, she said.

Rey-Guerra was born in Colombia and received her undergraduate degree in economics from Universidad del Rosario and her master’s degree in economics and public policy from Universidad de Los Andes.

Born to an engineer father and scientist mother, Rey-Guerra said her parents pushed her to pursue a more scientific field, which prompted her to study economics.

Once she started her undergraduate degree, she became passionate about how economics impacts real people, she said.

“I knew that I wanted to do something social,” Rey-Guerra said. “I wanted to interact with people and understand people, so I pursued this line of studies of behavioral economics, economics of education.”

Through research projects within her university, she began interacting with Colombia’s Ministry of National Education. In her work with this government ministry, she crossed paths with many psychologists. This work eventually inspired her to pursue a career researching developmental psychology, she said.

“This psychologist started showing me this whole new world

that I hadn’t really heard about before,” Rey-Guerra said.

During this time, Rey-Guerra heard a bit about Boston College, and she knew the City of Boston had a large concentration of universities and an increasing international population. She began to look into doctoral programs in the Boston area, she said, eventually landing at BC. Although Rey-Guerra faced the challenge of starting her program amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she still worked to foster relationships with her cohort members, according to Naoka Carey, another doctoral candidate and friend of Rey-Guerra’s. She brought the cohort together in spite of how hard it was to connect, Carey said.

“She did a lot of work to make the department a more supportive place for students,” Carey said.

One day, Carey said she explained how difficult she found it to present her research. After hearing this, Rey-Guerra worked to bring together students from the cohort so they could practice their presentations in front of each other before presenting to a board of professors.

“She’s thoughtful about other people’s work,” Carey said. “She asks wonderful questions when they’re presenting and she’s thinking about what they’re saying.”

When Rey-Guerra was admitted to BC’s doctoral program, Eric Dearing became her adviser—who

PHOTO COURTESY OF CATALINA REY-GUERRA

Rey-Guerra’s research focuses on gender disparities in education and parenting, which affects many people in the world.

she conducts research beside and consults for advice on her dissertation. Dearing originally accepted Rey-Guerra into the program, he said.

“When first reading Catalina’s application, it was really impressive and appealing because of the breadth of the research she had already done and her background in economics,” Dearing said. “Increasingly, schools of education have become interdisciplinary—I think in really healthy ways that have brought together not just education researchers, but developmental psychologists like myself, economists, sociologists, anthropologists, and experts with all of these diverse interests.”

Now, in her final year of her program, Rey-Guerra’s studies investigate how gender affects the way caregivers, teachers, and others treat children, she said.

“Our gender affects the way we behave, but it also affects the way that we see other people,” Rey-Guerra said.

A large breadth of past experience informs Rey-Guerra’s research. Before beginning her time at LSEHD, she worked on research projects at other universities and conducted research for Fundación Apapacho, an NGO she started in 2016 when Colombia signed a peace agreement with guerilla groups.

After the 2016 referendum was signed, Rey-Guerra and some of her colleagues decided to start Fundación Apapacho to promote the maintenance of peace through collaborative work with families and policy makers. They lead workshops on parenting practices and engage in advocacy work. The group is also pushing the Colombian government to implement a law banning corporal punishment, she said.

“We are trying to expand the impact as much as we can, through as many hats as we can,” Rey-Guerra said.

Students in a doctoral program spend the first few years taking classes, working on research alongside professors, teaching classes, and taking comprehensive exams.

Once they pass these exams, they begin work on their dissertations, Rey-Guerra said. If lucky, they receive a grant of some kind and are able to spend their final year solely committed to research.

If they don’t receive funding, they work while they finish their research, which can be difficult to manage, Rey-Guerra said.

Early on in her doctoral studies, Rey-Guerra knew that the Spencer Fellowship was a goal she wanted to pursue. Rey-Guerra

proposed the idea of applying to Dearing in her third year.

“I knew all along that she was qualified and had a very good chance of getting it,” Dearing said.

Once Rey-Guerra told Dearing about her goal, the pair started to prepare for the application process.

“I wanted her to have the best chance she could have in getting it,” Dearing said. “You want to pursue things on an ambitious timeline.

But the nature of the work is such that sometimes taking the time to have an even more beautiful proposal can be just enough to put you over the top.”

One of the qualifications for the Spencer Fellowship is that the applicant’s research is currently relevant. For Rey-Guerra, the possibility that her research could impact government policy is what makes her research timely and impactful, she said.

“For a researcher, one of the higher expectations or goals is to get your research to impact and maybe change some policies or cultural norms,” Rey-Guerra said.

“It challenges you as a researcher to make your research more approachable, way more understandable for other people that are outside of academia.”

Through using meta-data and conducting qualitative interviews with families, Rey-Guerra said she is able to grasp the bigger picture while also exploring the niche intricacies of her research subject.

Rey-Guerra is spending her final year researching for her dissertation in Colombia, where she collects data through family interviews.

When Rey-Guerra discovered that she won the Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, she said it felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders—she knew then that she would have the freedom to devote a year to her research.

Following the completion of her dissertation, Rey-Guerra wants to work with families in some capacity while expanding on her research and her work for Fundación Apapacho. Regardless of whether she finds a position as a professor, researcher, or government official, Rey-Guerra said she hopes to continue pushing to improve the communities around her with her work.

“She has the combination of a passion to do outstanding work on behalf of children and families, combined with the intellectual skills to really have a deep theoretical and conceptual knowledge base that allows her to not just attempt to do good in the world, but to really try to make the world a better place,” Dearing said. n

OPINIONS

Monday, October 23, 2023

A9

The Heights

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.

Avoid Your Life’s Fire Alarm

Olivia Franceschini Traditionally, fire drills are emergency exercises that simulate a building evacuation in the case of a fire. In the corporate world, however, a “fire drill” is what you call it when shit hits the fan.

I like this phrase because it goes beyond just calling something an emergency. During a real fire drill, we don’t just become aware of the situation—we drop everything, take action, move quickly, and stay calm. When that alarm goes off, the only priority is getting out of the building safely. Outside of these narrow circumstances, most people rarely find themselves in situations where they act so quickly and so desperately with such a narrow focus.

Unless, of course, you’re a Boston College student.

In my personal experience, BC students have 1,000 fire drills a week—not real fire drills, but little personal ones. You forgot you had a big exam this week for your statistics class and now you’re dropping everything to study. The president of the club you’re in texted you that they need answers to these three questions, right now. You’re in class, but you didn’t submit an assignment that’s due for a different class in a few minutes, and now you’re panicking.

The main difference between real fire drills and the fire drills BC students face on a daily

basis is that in a real fire drill, you’re supposed to remain calm. If you’ve ever encountered an overachieving BC student during the day, calm is not the word that would come to mind. Just visit the Rat between classes or the O’Neill printers before 9 a.m., and you’ll see what I mean. We’re always doing something—running to somewhere, running from somewhere, or putting out some fire. There always seem to be several emergencies in our lives, but why?

At first, this phenomenon might sound like the result of poor time management skills, but the most organized people I know suffer from the most intense fire drills. What these fire drills really demonstrate is a lack of personal boundaries within our personal goals, responsibilities, and expectations. When we let unexpected requests, assignments, exams, or other stressors consume our lives, we succumb to fire drills. The result is that we’re often anxiously and irrationally funneling our time into unexpected issues while neglecting our pre-planned responsibilities.

Ironically, we rarely set off fire drills for ourselves. Instead, it feels like all of these emergencies flood into our lives from various sources. In this sea of external crises, we may never be able to pull the fire alarm when the problem is about our own needs.

I’m the first to admit that I really struggle with this. Just two weeks ago, when I contracted COVID-19, I realized that it took being completely bed-ridden, brain-fogged, and quarantined to give myself a break. Even while being tested at University Health Services I was stressfully moving meetings online and sending out communications that I would be “out of office.” I felt terrible that I was letting people down simply because I needed a few days off.

What I was really struggling with, though,

was the ability to put my responsibilities into perspective with my health and the health of others. I needed to let go of the feeling that the world was ending because I was unable to be productive for a few days.

The solution to fire drills is not to drop all responsibilities and to stop communicating entirely with those who depend on you. But maybe it is time we cut ourselves some slack and do a better job of knowing when something is actually as urgent as a fire drill. This might mean gently pushing back on others’ perceptions of crises. When someone is running frantically out of a building, it’s really easy to assume we should be doing the same—but if we’re all in hysterics all the time, when will we ever relax?

Setting boundaries for ourselves and others doesn’t have to be difficult work. Sometimes it can be as simple as regulating our emotions or reflecting on why we feel a certain way. I’d argue that a lot of the time we act disproportionately to the size of the problems we encounter.

When people text you with a question, they’re typically not expecting you to answer right that minute anyways. And if they are, and it’s not an emergency, it’s okay to communicate that you’re unable to answer it immediately, but you will shortly.

So, the next time you feel yourself reach for that alarm, I want you to ask yourself, is this a fire drill? Take some time to reflect on what truly constitutes a fire drill. If this question does not get answered this second, what will happen? Will this person just have to wait a bit?

Will they be mildly inconvenienced? Will the building burst into flames? Probably not.

Olivia Franceschini is a columnist for The Heights.

She can be reached at olivia.franceschini@bc.edu.

Retreat-ing for the Weekend

If you have not yet taken advantage of one of Boston College’s many retreat opportunities, now is the time to do so! From 48Hours, Halftime, and Kairos to specific club and mentorship retreats, BC offers many weekends away from campus to reflect, decompress, and connect with other students and staff. Many BC upperclassmen rave about their formative experiences in these environments and would surely join us in encouraging anyone new to retreat culture to try signing up. We at Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down promise it will be an unforgettable experience.

Red Bandanna Run

Long a tradition for BC students, our red bandana spirit never falters. This weekend was no exception as students showed up and went all out for the annual Welles Crowther Red Bandanna 5K. Whether Eagles were running, jogging, walking, or cheering on friends, Linden Lane was packed bright and early with students donned in red bandanas and ready to show their support. If one thing is true for all BC students, it is that we know the name Welles Crowther, and we will strive to honor his legacy. Along with the Red Bandanna football game earlier this year, this 5K rounded out our celebration of his life in a wonderful and positive way.

GRAPHICS BY PAIGE STEIN AND PARKER LEAF / HEIGHTS EDITORS

On Voice, Vitriol, and Visions

Andrew Lim This is not the column I hoped to publish.

There was so much in the past fortnight I could have talked about: Collingwood winning a record-equaling Australian Football League premiership (to jubilation or groans, depending on how you were brought up), strikes and picket lines back at my home university, or maybe even just the chilly fall air starting to infiltrate BC’s campus.

But this column cannot be about any of those things.

You see, the day before I wrote this—on Oct. 14—Australia went to the polls. Whether at the primary school a few blocks from my Melbourne home, 10,000 miles away via postal ballot, or the one Antarctic polling place at the far reaches of the earth, Australian citizens across the globe cast their ballots.

A simple one-page proposition was up for debate—the story of which begins some 65,000 years ago (no, that’s not a typo!). Around that time—well before homo sapiens ventured to Europe or the Americas—Indigenous Australians already occupied Australia. But, thousands of years later, when the British colonized the continent in the late 1700s, no treaties were signed with Indigenous peoples, unlike in New Zealand and the United States, with the nation deemed terra nullius (“land belonging to no one”). This led to centuries of torment for Aboriginal people, from downright genocide to babies being ripped out of the arms of their mothers as late as the 1970s. In the past few decades, acts like the 1967 referendum, the 1992 Mabo decision, and the 2008 National Apology have slowly tried to make amends.

But there remains an extensive gap—in life expectancy, education, and incarceration—between Indigenous Australians and the rest of

Australia.

Recognizing this, in 2017, a bipartisan-appointed Referendum Council convened the First Nations National Constitutional Convention. It settled on one 440-word petition: the Uluru Statement from the Heart. This called for, among other things, a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice—an independent Indigenous body to give non-binding advice to the government about Indigenous issues. This, then, was the referendum: Would Australia agree to put the Voice in the Constitution?

Last night, by a margin of about 60 percent to 40 percent, the answer was ‘No.’ There were many reasons—some felt the Voice weak, linked to a colonial constitution. Others felt the constitutional amendments were too strong, risking vexatious litigation and bureaucracy. Others were annoyed by campaign rhetoric that often seemed to focus too much on lofty ideals and ‘the vibe of the thing’—to them, a message built for my world of the avocado toast–eating, flat white–sipping inner Melbourne suburbs, but not for the country at large.

But I am not here to retread the arguments of the campaign—such an exercise would be futile for many, painful for some and, frankly, boring for an American audience. Nor will I offer a postmortem or prognosis for Indigenous policy. I won’t add to what Lorena Allam, an award-winning journalist and Gamilaraay-Yuwaalaraay woman, has rightly described as a “national conversation that is forever about us, without us.” Rather, in keeping with this column’s spirit, I want to consider some of the questions the campaign has raised about civic kindness, American trends, and Australian national character.

You see, Aussies are often proud of our approach to democracy. Australia is the land of compulsory voting, where, without any need to push blokes from your ‘base’ to turn up, pollies appeal to the center ground. Your adversaries can be both “mad as a cut snake … on this issue” and “personally … not a bad bloke.” To boot, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is a gold standard for organizing federal elections, using four-wheel drive

vehicles, boats, planes, and even helicopters to let even the farthest reaches of the country easily have their say. Voting culture is so strong in Australia that it caused alarm in 2022 when voter turnout reached a record low at just below 90 percent (by contrast, America’s 2020 election hit a record high at merely 66 percent).

But it’s not just reliable elections. As per my last column, in broad strokes, Australians dislike grandiose speeches and bold visions. The nation is generally conservative (temperamentally, not politically), believing in democratic and social institutions and viewing politics as a means to tweak things—a train line here, a tax bracket there—not to turn the world upside down. So conducive is the Australian environment to political civility that we’re the home of the democracy sausage, turning elections into block parties as ideologically opposed volunteers chat on election day over a few pieces of cake (named with the worst puns ever heard).

It’s why in 2016, as U.S. elections turned ugly, my mates scoffed: “That could never happen here! What would we have—a food fight?”

After this referendum campaign, I’m not so sure. The past few months have seen attacks on the AEC’s integrity, Indigenous crisis support helplines flooded with racial abuse, and fact-checking teams stretched thin countering conspiracy theories from the end of live sports to a UN takeover of the country. These attacks often emanated from the fringes of the ‘No’ campaign and, while they may not have started it, the campaign leaders’ reluctance to clearly condemn such behavior has only added fuel to the fire. On the Monday before the referendum, my home university, the University of Melbourne, sent out an email to all students emphasizing support services and spaces for Indigenous students, citing how a “polarized and vitriolic campaign has caused enormous dismay and distress.”

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com Andrew Lim is a columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at andrew.lim.4@bc.edu.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

BC weekends bring a world of fun—whether you find yourself cheering at home sports games, hanging out with friends, or having an adventure in the city. Recent weekends, however, seem to have brought their fair share of rain as well. Gray skies make our applepicking Instagram posts look sad, drizzles dampen our moods, downpours ruin our favorite fall shoes, and bitter winds force us to cover up our favorite jeans-and-sweater outfit combos. But never fear! Before you know it, the rain showers will be replaced by flurries of soft, fluffy snow.

No Grades, No Gauge

As midterm season descended upon us just a few weeks ago, we at Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down expected to get our most important midterm grades back right around … now. Yet, the “Grades” pages on our Canvas accounts remain empty, like soulless voids, as we wait for professors to grade our stacks of exams and papers. Without the ability to see our scores after the first leg of midterm season, many Eagles are left confused on which classes to prioritize—which professors are the “nice ones”?

Which courses are too demanding? Which instructor will we angrily post a bad review for on Rate My Professor? Until we get these grades, we cannot gauge.

ARTS

The Heights

Monday, October 23, 2023

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Eras Tour Film Recreates Concert Experience

By Parker Leaf Graphics Editor On Oct. 13, the highly anticipated Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour brought Swift’s once-in-a-lifetime concert experience to theaters, attracting an enthusiastic audience of Swifties.

Swift’s movie depicts her almost three-and-a-half-hour long concert celebrating nine eras of her career thus far. This movie is dedicated to the thousands of fans who could not overcome the almost impossible mission to secure tickets to The Eras Tour. The movie was filmed over the course of three shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., where the final leg of Swift’s U.S. tour was held.

The opening scene displayed the iconic Eras Tour clock and then

gradually zoomed in from a bird’s eye view into SoFi Stadium. The audience in the theater cheered loudly as Swift sang her opening song of the concert, “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince.”

Throughout the two-hour and 48-minute film, the crowd’s energy persisted: As Swift transitioned from one era to the next, everyone applauded and cheered as if they were experiencing the concert from SoFi. For Swift’s second era of the show, her album Fearless, the audience stood up, transforming the energy in the room. For Swift’s classic, “You Belong With Me,” everyone danced with the people around them and sang along. Each time Swift sang the bridge of one of her songs, the singing in the audience turned to screaming. These

nostalgic songs were celebrated by audience members as they danced along with Swift. The camera close ups showed her smiling as she sang the songs from her second album.

During Swift’s song “marjorie,” which shares a name with her late grand-mother, the audience turned on their iPhone flashlights, a moving tradition at The Eras Tour. In fact, all of the traditions from her world tour were mimicked by the people in the theater, creating an environment that brought the show to life. The choice to show fans in their outfits from different eras, holding up flashlights or singing along, brought the experience to life.

The majority of the crowd seemed to be in its Reputation era, as viewers rose from their seats and applauded louder for Swift’s

MOVIE

‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ Released Oct. 13

“...Ready For It?” entrance than for any era before.

During the transition from “Don’t Blame Me” to “Look What You Made Me Do,” the camera quickly circled around Swift as the lights flashed in the stadium.

This specific shot was incredible because it was something that fans would not get to experience at the concert. The different camera shots

showed a mixture of Swift’s facial expressions, backup vocalists and dancers, and birds-eye views to show the animations on the stage, ensuring that each angle of the incredible production of the concert was captured.

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

‘Loki’ Has Lost Its Sense of Urgency and Purpose

By Jack Weynand Asst. Arts Editor Loki seems to be running out of time. Or so it seems through the show’s attempt to save the timeline from chaos and destruction without hinting a strong direction going forward.

The second season of Loki, which premiered on Oct. 5, is meant to be a cornerstone project for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and its

overarching plot of the multiverse.

It’s a problem that after the start of season two, Loki doesn’t feel like it has a purpose.

Loki picks its second season up almost immediately after the first ended—He Who Remains aka Kang the Conqueror ( Jonathan Majors) is dead, and the Time Variance Authority (TVA) is thrown into disarray as its members discover that they are real people taken from their respective timelines. A lot is going on at the end of season one, and season two

TV

‘Loki’ Season Two Released Oct. 5

decides to address almost none of that.

The main focus at the start of season two is saving Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from “time-slipping,” which is a concept where a person is spontaneously dragged between two different points in time.

Time-slipping is a filler plot while there are more pressing issues that Loki has to deal with.

Most prominently, there’s no leader of the TVA, and no one is moving to fill the void.

B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) is the only member of the TVA who is genuinely annoyed that she was ripped from her timeline. These are real, show-altering issues that lack the significance they demand.

Beyond the time-slipping fiasco, Loki hints at what’s next for the god of mischief. The show really wants its characters to find Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), who went missing after she killed He Who Remains last season.

Loki and the TVA need better motives to find Sylvie, though.

Loki wants to reunite with his lover, and the TVA wants to hold someone responsible for the collapse of the sacred timeline. It’s puzzling that neither entity is more moved to fix the problem that could potentially destroy the multiverse.

The new season does have some bright spots. The visuals and aesthetic for the second season are on par with the first season of Loki.

The TVA still retains its retro and classic decor—it feels perfectly larger than life but overwhelmingly simple at the same time.

The color palette is also an exquisite ’50s aesthetic. The interior is usually a mix of oranges and browns on wood and stone, while some of the lower rooms are filled with pastel blues and pastel yellow accents. The viewers are really transported to a place outside of time when the characters are in the TVA. Ke Huy Quan is another highlight of the second season. His new character, Ouroboros aka

O.B. is just the breath of fresh air that Loki needed. O.B. is naive and knowledgeable at the same time, having been cooped up in a workshop for his whole life. He brings much-needed levity to the relatively boring time-slipping arc.

The main task Loki has to accomplish in its second season is the rise of the franchise’s next big villain, Kang (or more specifically, a new Kang from the multiverse).

The MCU is in the midst of the “Multiverse Saga,” which debatably has only had a real effect on a handful of projects.

Kang himself has only been spotlighted so far in Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. If he’s really supposed to be the next major villain for The Avengers to battle, he needs to start making some impact in the remainder of the season.

Without making any moves to solve its big problems or move the MCU forward, Loki becomes an unnecessary filler plot that isn’t worth the viewer’s time. n

BC Theatre’s New Play Is Innovative and Inclusive

By Maria Beatriz Saldanha For The Heights “Imaginative storytelling.”

These were the words director Luke Jorgensen used to summarize what the audience will experience when watching the Boston College theatre department’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

The show will run from Thursday through Sunday at the Robsham Theater Arts Center.

Based on the 2003 novel by Mark Haddon, the play follows Chris, a 15-year-old with autism, as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and growth while solving the mystery behind the murder of a dog.

While the original text has the main character as a boy called Christopher, BC’s version of the show opted to change the protagonist to a girl, and shortened the name to Chris.

Jorgensen, who is the acting theatre department chair and professor of the practice, said he had the opportunity to discuss the creative matter with Mickey Rowe, who was the first actor with autism to play the part. Jorgensen said Rowe indicated that he deems the gender swap as an interesting measure, considering that many people automatically associate autism with young boys, while the condition affects all genders.

Faith Wladyka, MCAS ’26,

delivers a stellar performance as the protagonist. From her repeated hand gestures to constant rocking back and forth, her portrayal of a girl on the spectrum surpasses any expectations the audience could have.

The story is set in Swindon, England, so it required the cast to speak in British accents, which the actors executed impressively. Casey Corcoran, MCAS ’26, and Abigail Wickman, MCAS ’24, who play Chris’ father and mother, respectively, likely had many audience members convinced they were actually British.

Megan Malcolm, MCAS ’24, who plays Siobhan—Chris’ teacher and the person who encourages her to write the book on the investigative case—also made an impact with her Irish accent.

In order to collect creative experience and inspiration for his directive work, Jorgensen said he went to London and trained with the Frantic Assembly group this past summer. He said the hands-on experience allowed him to bring back those movement-focused techniques which ultimately make this production different from the Broadway version. On top of that, the music and projections, made

by George Cooke, were specifically crafted for the show, guaranteeing smooth transitions for the fast-paced scenes.

The production’s dynamic

nature, with its sudden change of scenery and gradual increase in music, was also intended as a means of authenticity, according to Jorgensen.

Part of the play’s purpose was “representing how a person on the spectrum, like Chris, often feels sensory-overloaded at times,” Jorgensen said.

Jorgensen said character development was important to the central message of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

“It is about the journey the character takes where, by the end, she realizes she can do anything,” Jorgensen said.

Facts regarding neurodiversity will also be displayed in the lobby, so

the audience can inform themselves on the topic both before and after watching the show, according to Jorgensen.

Jorgensen said as a way of being inclusive to the community, and following Rowe’s advice, the theatre department decided to make its Sunday show a “relaxed performance,” which means it will be tailored to the people with sensory needs.

These sensory accommodations include different light settings which allow the audience to move around, as well as simulcasting in a separate room, with a cool-down space, for those feeling overwhelmed, according to Jorgensen. There will also be a program which will let the audience

know beforehand when loud sounds will be played, Jorgensen said.

Ultimately, according to Jorgensen and Max Rodriguez, associate director and MCAS ’26, the main goal of the production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is to get the audience to experience the story, rather than being told what it is about.

“In a broad sense, it is about the fact that, no matter [how differently] our minds work … and the way we view … and interact with the world, we all come at things with various strengths and support needs— whether you’re someone who’s neurodivergent or not,” Rodriguez said. n

ALINA CHEN / HEIGHTS STAFF

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NIght-Time provided audience members sensory accommodations.

The Heights

Monday, October 23, 2023

A11

ARTS

Blink-182 Returns With Album

By Anastasia O’Reilly For The Heights Pop-punk legend blink-182 has released its ninth studio album ONE MORE TIME…, and according to television presenter Zane Lowe, it is “the best album [it’s] ever made.”

The album is a musical journal of self-reflection on the band’s history, drawing on its musical inspirations and traumatic past events.

In typical blink-182 style, the first track “ANTHEM PART 3” starts with the classic fast-paced punk rock drumbeat, reminiscent of the band’s first two albums.

This song is significant because it completes a trilogy of songs titled “Anthem,” including “Anthem” off the band’s 1999 album Enema of the State and “Anthem Part Two” from its fourth album Take Off Your Pants And Jacket. The three are connected

by Mark Hoppus’ arpeggiated bass solos and Tom DeLonge’s lead vocals.

“ANTHEM PART 3” lives up to the other two songs that compose the trilogy, building high expectations for the rest of the album.

The second track, “DANCE WITH ME,” is a tribute to the Ramones who were arguably the pioneers of punk rock and have greatly influenced blink-182.

The music video of “DANCE WITH ME” consists of guitarist and vocalist DeLonge, bassist Hoppus, and drummer Travis Barker cosplaying as Ramones and features

a mix of reconstructions of the Ramones’ music videos for “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “She’s The One.” “FELL IN LOVE,” the third track, also pays tribute to one of blink-182’s influences, The Cure.

The Cure’s lead singer Robert Smith is credited as co-writer of this song even though he wasn’t. This may be because “FELL IN LOVE” features an interpolation of The Cure’s song “Close To Me.” The lyrics of “FELL IN LOVE” convey mixed emotions about a past relationship with a lover, but they could reflect the feelings of regret and fondness that consumed the band’s past.

“And honestly (When I look back) / I needed you (When I look back) / You needed me, it’s crazy,” Hoppus and DeLonge sing in the pre-chorus.

In 2001 DeLonge and Barker created a side project called Box Car Racer, which caused tension between them and Hoppus.

“TERRIFIED,” the fourth track, is an unreleased song born from this project. The fact that the band decided to record it and put it on this album is a significant sign that the band members have healed those wounds and are comfortable with each other and their history.

Next is the title track and arguably most significant song of the album, “ONE MORE TIME.” The reflective ballad directly addresses the history of the band and everything it’s been through in a way that suggests it’s at peace with

MUSIC

‘ONE MORE TIME...’

Released Oct. 20, 2023

it all and in a healthy place.

“I wish they told us, it shouldn’t take a sickness / Or falling out of the sky,” Hoppus sings, referring to the first time that they reunited in 2009 after Barker had been in a plane crash and after Hoppus survived stage four cancer.

These song lyrics expose the band members’ realization that they should not take what they have for granted. While the title of the album, ONE MORE TIME… refers to the band reuniting one more time, it does not signify that this will be its last time.

The accompanying music video is emotional as it shows the band standing in front of a green screen with significant scenes from its careers, including big shows and clips from music videos, playing in the back. This is also the first time that Travis sings, even though it is only one line.

Blink’s reunion single “EDGING” came out a year ago and is the first song that all three of the band members have released together since 2012. It has a swing feel to it which is new for blink-182.

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’VE GOT” is another song that directly addresses the band’s history.

It was released a few days before the album and is, again, about it realizing how fortunate it is to have what it has.

“I begged for your forgiveness / I made a deal with God / I took you all for granted / You can write my epilogue,” Hoppus sings.

“HURT (INTERLUDE)” is just under a minute and a half in length but sounds very reminiscent of Angels & Airwaves’—a band formed

by DeLonge the first time that blink-182 broke up—debut album from 2006.

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

MOVIE

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Released Oct. 20, 2023

Scorsese Directs a Complex New Film

By Julian Roch-Hernandez Heights Staff Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic crime drama of a true story about an exploited Native American population. Piercingly poignant, Martin Scorsese makes visible to the world an out-of-sight piece of American history, riddled with relevance to contemporary society.

Set in the early 1920s, the film follows a cunning and charismatic businessman, William Hale (Robert De Niro), as he welcomes his nephew Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) to their family estate on the Native American Osage land in Fairfax, Okla.

William Hale, who goes by King, has a rapport of devout respect and teetering fear with both the white inhabitants and the Osage people. His wealth grants him more agency over others’ lives than anyone should possess. When Ernest arrives in Fairfax, King demonstrates that even family is only an asset with a cold welcome.

“You can call me King,” Uncle Hale utters to Ernest at the dinner table.

What follows is a story of greed, oppression, and love driven by Ernest’s marriage to Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone), a native

of the Osage lands and member of the wealthiest family on the reservation. Having the only voice-over lines in the movie, it is through Mollie’s character that the viewer is invited to qualify King’s apparent benevolence and begin to question his motives.

Mollie is experiencing an internal conflict between her love for Ernest and Ernest’s relationship to King. Ernest’s commitment to his wife and family is pure but challenged by his uncle’s pursuit of wealth and brutal gaslighting.

“Mollie’s pregnant,” Ernest repeats multiple times at dinner one evening, awaiting a reaction from his uncle. King finally necessitates a smile after a loud silence, but causes viewers to question: Why isn’t King thrilled?

Much like many of Scorsese’s other works, murder was a strong motif in Killers, but it bore alternate meanings.

Viewers become desensitized to the brutal killings on screen as they occur, spurring feelings of disgust and nausea toward the white forces exploiting an already-ravaged, post Manifest Destiny Native American population.

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

New Takaezu MFA Exhibit Feels Authentic B y K at h y L u For The Heights Almost everyone has played with mud at one point in their lives. To take the earthy material and turn it into a work of creative innovation is a true feat. For this artistic accomplishment, Toshiko Takaezu is someone to look up to.

With over 20 pieces from the museum itself and some from

As part of the MFA’s mission to introduce American artists of diverse cultural heritages, Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction highlights Takaezu’s practices and explorations on crossing cultural boundaries and integrating modern abstraction with traditional Japanese pottery.

To s hiko Ta ka e z u : Sh aping Abstraction is a comprehensive exhibition featuring her lifelong

KATHY LU / FOR THE HEIGHTS

The MFA displays Takaezu’s pottery on the wall as Takaezu would have. private collectors, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, Mass. is displaying a special full-year exhibit titled Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction from Sept.

30, 2023 to Sept. 29, 2024.

Takaezu, an Asian American ceramist and painter, impressed the world with her mastery in ceramics and abstract paintings.

Born to Japanese immigrant parents in 1922 in Hawaii, Takaezu forged her own path as an innovative, multidisciplinary artist in the United States.

work in ceramics, as well as some acrylic on canvas paintings and a ne wly acqu i re d l a rge-s c a le weaving.

“You are not an artist simply because you paint or sculpt or make pots that cannot be used,” Takaezu said. “[Art] has mystery, an unsaid quality; it contains a spirit and is alive.”

The exhibit resides in Gallery 332 in the Art of the Americas section of the museum. The area is an open space where visitors can move freely around and view

the exhibit in any order of their preference.

Unlike most exhibits that take viewers through an artist’s creative journey in a chronological way, this layout was interesting and relaxing because of the option to wander around, stay a little longer at certain sections, return to pieces, and make connections among them.

The layout of the gallery is very simple—neutral color backdrops with dim lights cast onto each piece, emphasizing the unique colors and textures of each artwork.

Porcelain and stoneware plates are hung up against the wall, just like how Takaezu would display them. This method of display recreates Takaezu’s desire for plates to resemble paintings and how she used unconventional materials—like sculptural surfaces—as her canvases.

Upon entering the ex hibit, visitors are invited to sit down and watch a short video. In the video, Takaezu explains her artistic visions and viewers can see Takaezu in her artistic element.

The video explains that Takaezu experimented with various forms of craftsmanship, such as hand glazing her ceramic plates in a free-flowing fashion.

The highlight of the gallery is undoubtedly the center area, where pottery of various sizes and shapes are placed on a waveshaped platform. The layout allows audiences to view the same pieces at different angles, fully immersing the audience in her craft. With each different angle, gallery viewers can discover new details on the potteries’ surfaces.

Toward the back of the gallery, there are two wooden chairs titled “Pair of Conoid Chairs.” Despite being part of the museum’s collection, visitors are invited to sit on them as part of an immersive experience.

T he ch a i rs or ig i n a l ly f u rnished Takaezu’s home, made by her close friend George Nakashima. Both artists shared a love for nature and a commitment to hand-craftsmanship and individual artists’ expression.

The large woven piece “Ao-Ao” is also something to look out for.

Takaeazu takes on the traditional weaving method called “ryijy” in Finnish or “rya” in Swedish modernized by Scandinavian artists.

Instead of using traditional wool and linen, Takaeazu mixes both natural material and synthetic f ibers, includ ing wool, nylon, and rayon. The rya rug is mostly dark blue, with a hint of brownish yellow on the bottom rim.

“Ao-Ao” stood out because it was ver y different from Ta-

kaeazu’s other artworks, where she foc u sed on cera m ics a nd non-useable art. Her rya rug really emphasizes her ability as a versatile, well-rounded artist.

Throughout the exhibition, various sounds and chimes can be heard spontaneously. Takaezu worked extensively on sound, and one of her artistic innovations was accidently birthed from the dropping of a pot’s rim into a vessel. After she began to drop clay balls into her closed finished pots, creating unique sounds through the rattling of ceramics and later bronze bells found in Japanese temples. This addition made the exhibit appeal to another sense: hearing. The chimes were very soothing and meditative.

The MFA’s exhibition Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction takes visitors through the lifelong artistic practice of Asian American artist Takaezu and reflects on her lasting impact on merging abstract designs with traditional Japanese art forms. n

KATHY LU / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Takaezu’s woven pieces contrasted the ceramics in the exhibition.

SPORTS

Monday, October 23, 2023

A12

The Heights

STOLE THE [ROBI]CHAUX

BC football running back Kye Robichaux bolstered BC’s rushing offense, which is ranked No. 15 in the nation, with 165 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns in Saturday’s victory.

By Jack Bergamini Assoc. Sports Editor Boston College football may have taken a knee before to end games this season. But it has never taken one with the cushion of a double-digit lead.

BC cornerback Elijah Jones’ second interception of the Eagles’ Week Eight matchup against Georgia Tech (3–4, 1–3 Boston College 38 A t l a n t i c Georgia Tech 23 Coast) on Saturday changed that for BC (4–3, 2–2). There would be no wire-to-wire, nail-biting finish Saturday afternoon in Atlanta, Ga., as quarterback Thomas Castellanos’ knee touched the field with conviction to cap off a dominant 21-point BC fourth quarter and a 38–23 win—its third straight victory.

“It’s a good feeling when you know you got that clock all the way down under 40 and there’s nothing they can do about it,” BC head coach Jeff Hafley said.

The Eagles are no stranger to playing in close games. Heading into Saturday, five of its six games had been decided by three points or less, featuring zero double-digit, second-half leads.

So when BC took a 31–23 lead off Castellanos’ electrifying 4th-and-1, 43yard rushing touchdown with 8:44 left in the game, it appeared Georgia Tech would fire back, as the Yellow Jackets had done all game. BC had allowed teams to do it all season.

Instead, Jones picked off quarter-

ALINA CHEN / HEIGHTS STAFF

The Eagles notched back-to-back 300-yard rushing games for the first time since the 2017 season.

back Haynes King and Kye Robichaux subsequently exploded for a 57-yard rush that set up his own 3-yard touchdown to put BC ahead 38–23. Any Georgia Tech final chance evaporated with Jones’ second interception with less than six minutes remaining, pushing BC over .500 for the first time since the 2021 season.

“At one point, I thought the game was gonna be 27–24 like the rest of our games,” Hafley said. “Instead, we put our foot on the gas, and we finished them.”

Castellanos and Robichaux beat up Georgia Tech on the ground all game to help BC notch 308 total rushing yards.

Castellanos totaled 128 rushing yards on 13 carries for two touchdowns, while Robichaux totaled 165 rushing yards on

21 carries for two touchdowns as well.

“He’s big and strong,” Hafley said of Robichaux. “And then you can see in the second half he just starts to wear people out. … Really glad to have him back.”

Another trend of BC’s season has been starting games slow. But that was not the case on Saturday, as the Eagles put up 17 points in the first half to take a 17–10 halftime lead.

A 24-yard Liam Connor field goal at the 3:49 mark in the first quarter gave BC its initial 3–0 lead. Georgia Tech responded with a 10-play, 69-yard drive that Jamal Haynes capitalized on with a 16-yard rushing touchdown.

Cornerback Amari Jackson fell on the play, allowing Haynes to waltz into the end zone untouched.

But Jackson certainly made up for it with his pick-six at the 1:42 mark— batting the ball down with his left hand while simultaneously pinning it to his hip, running 30 yards for a touchdown as the Eagles’ sidelines exploded to put BC back ahead 10–7.

“I was going for the [pass break up],” Jackson said. “I was just trying to swipe the ball down. It stuck to my hip, and I just took off running.”

It marked BC’s first pick six since Jahmin Muse’s 22-yard pick six against Colgate in 2021.

While Castellanos only rushed once in the first quarter, BC started calling more designed runs for the speedy signal caller in the second quarter. On one drive alone, Castellanos rushed six

Notebook: BC Establishes Run Identity

By Graham Dietz Sports Editor With the transfer portal inundated with players departing college football programs after name, image, and likeness legislation went into effect, revolutionizing offenses can be a painstaking process. That clearly hasn’t been an issue for Boston College football head coach Jeff Hafley, offensive coordinator Steve Shimko, and starting quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who transferred to the Heights from Central Florida this past offseason.

The adjustments this team has made, behind Castellanos’ athleticism, are unprecedented.

The Eagles finished last in the nation with 63.3 rushing yards per game in 2022. They started the 2022 season with eight different starting offensive line combinations in their first eight games played. Yet, they currently sit at No. 15 overall in the country in rushing yards per game and have the top rushing attack in the ACC at 211.3 yards per game. No other team in the ACC is averaging more than 200.

Castellanos is first in the nation in total rushing yards for non-running back players with 628 rushing yards and No. 28 overall including running backs. Castellanos is ninth in the nation in rushing touchdowns—counting any position— with nine rushing touchdowns as well.

Other than undefeated No. 4 Florida State, who BC nearly upset in Week Three, no team in the ACC is on a longer winning streak. Three straight BC wins, including two conference victories amid those three wins, has put an identity back in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

The Eagles notched back-toback 300-yard rushing games for the first time since the 2017 season.

Castellanos is also the first Power

Five quarterback with multiple 100yard rushing games this season.

According to FPI, BC has a 67.1 percent chance of making a bowl game. There isn’t much more you can ask for from this team at this current moment, especially when compared to last year.

Here are two observations from BC’s 38–23 win at Georgia Tech.

Creating—and Preser ving—an Identity Every week that BC has played this season, the run game has distinguished itself from the rest of the offense. It’s now into a further dimension—this run game is an identity. And the way we’re talking about this identity every week is how you’d probably talk about a team like Michigan, Ohio State, or FSU. It’s that consistent—every single game the Eagles play.

Shimko, a first-year offensive coordinator for the Eagles, needs to be credited. It’s safe to say now that while Hafley praised now-backup quarterback Emmett Morehead to be the leader of this offense in the spring, that plan evaporated once Castellanos arrived in the summer as a transfer. Castellanos’ swag, dexterity, and sheer agility is frankly outstanding.

While the sophomore signal caller rushed just once in the first quarter of the game, he took off with his explosiveness for the rest of the afternoon. Castellanos finished with 128 yards on the ground in addition to two rushing touchdowns and was complemented by an even stronger performance by Kye Robichaux, who has stepped in for the backfield starter, Pat Garwo III. Robichaux piled on 165 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns of his own.

Castellanos finished with an interception, but he passed for 255 yards on 17 completions. Much of that success in the air has come from

play-action run fakes, which has opened up abundant options.

The intensive run-game approach has led to plenty of deepshots this season, and you don’t see Shimko direct Castellanos to make shallow or mid-range throws often. Typically, either a swing pass on a wide receiver screen or a deep throw with time in the pocket is featured due to this hard sell on the run, catching opposing defenses off guard. Castellanos can be prone to throw interceptions for this reason— he has six this season—but he makes up for it with his feet.

Great power comes with great responsibility, and Castellanos possesses all of the offensive power for the Eagles. While BC solely relies upon Castellanos—he makes up 42.5 percent of the rushing offense and 69.0 percent of the total offense—he is living up to the responsibility he carries into every single game and setting up an identity that BC can preserve for years to come. He has the potential to become a program great, will likely go down as the best rushing quarterback in BC history, and clearly has those intentions.

“I will say this—we are turning this thing around,” Castellanos said after the game. “Boston is back. Boston College football is back. We’re no longer the laughingstock of college football or the ACC. We’re back and we’re rolling.”

Ball Hawk Hafley, who possesses defensive expertise as a former defensive backs coach at Ohio State and in multiple NFL stints, faced criticism after a blowout loss at Louisville in which Cardinals quarterback Jack Plummer passed for 388 yards and five touchdowns on just 18 completions.

Plummer’s longest pass of the game was 75 yards to the house, and four of his touchdown tosses went at least 42 yards in the air. It was one of

the worst defensive showings in BC’s secondary during Hafley’s tenure so far.

But since then, BC has limited opposing quarterbacks to an average of 185.3 passing yards per game and opposing offenses to 23.6 points per game. In that span, the Eagles have accumulated four interceptions as well. And the first interception in BC’s win over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday was one for the highlight reel, as it became SportsCenter’s No. 1 play on Sunday.

With just over a minute left in the first quarter on Saturday and down 7–3, Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King dropped back in the pocket and zipped a pass to the far sideline, intending for Dominick Blaylock on a simple out route. BC cornerback Amari Jackson had other plans in mind.

Diving toward the spiraling ball in perfect pass protection, Jackson swatted the ball with his non-dominant left hand to record a simple pass break up. But, as if there was glue stuck to Jackson’s gloves, the football stuck firmly between his fingers and his torso. Jackson pinned the ball with just one hand, shook off the wide receiver, and made a beeline for the end zone with nothing in front of him but air.

Blaylock, after realizing he didn’t come up with the catch, froze.

Once he caught a glimpse of Jackson running down the sideline with the ball in his hands, he started an attempt to catch up. But there was no DK Metcalf–esque chase down from Blaylock, who helplessly stared at King’s first interception of the game and BC’s first pick six of the season.

Jackson’s pick six was just the first of the Eagles’ three interceptions in the game, as Elijah Jones tallied two of his own en route to the 38–23 win. n

times en route to his 12-yard designed rushing touchdown to give the Eagles their seven-point lead heading into halftime.

Castellanos’ 11-yard rush on 4thand-1 the play prior allowed BC’s drive to stay alive.

“Today was one of those days where we came out fast, and we did what we needed to do,” Castellanos said. “We need to see more of that.”

The Eagles came out of halftime running the ball even more, and it worked. Robichaux notched 30 yards on the ground on three consecutive runs, but Castellanos’ play-action deep shot to Joseph Griffin Jr. proved costly. Griffin lost the ball in mid air, and Ahmari Harvey intercepted it. Just four plays later, King split BC’s defense, bursting for a 71-yard rushing touchdown. And four drives later, King orchestrated an eight-play, 89-yard drive to put Georgia Tech ahead 23–17.

But a 31-yard pass to Lewis Bond and a 27-yard pass to George Takacs— who previously had two drops in the game—catapulted BC down the field.

Robichaux’s second-effort, two-yard rush, in which he lunged for the end zone, put BC ahead 24–23. And BC never looked back in the 38–23 victory.

“We are turning this thing around,” Castellanos said. “Boston is back.

Boston College football is back. We’re no longer the laughingstock of college football or the ACC. We’re back and we’re rolling.” n

The Heights

Monday, October 23, 2023

A13

SPORTS

Conte Sells Out For BC’s First TOP-three Matchup since 2011

Conte Forum drew in 7,884 attendees for Friday’s matchup between No. 3 Boston College men’s hockey and No. 2 Denver, which ended in a 4–3 victory for the Pioneers.

PAUL CRIADO / HEIGHTS STAFF

Hockey, from A1 And this time around, Smith’s goal produced a lot more sound that followed—sound that drifted from Denver 4 the blackBoston College 3 adorned student crowd, rippling a tsunami of soundwaves to the ice.

S m i t h’s p o w e r- p l a y, game-equalizing tally at the 6:39 mark in the final frame marked his second goal of the contest. But a barrage of late-game penalties proved costly for the Eagles, who relinquished the game-winning goal to Carter King just over four minutes later. King propelled the No. 2 Pioneers (3–1–0) to a 4–3 victory over No. 3 BC (3–1–0) in Conte Forum’s first top-three matchup since Oct. 14, 2011.

“Yeah, I’ll be honest, I mean usually it’s pretty quiet here,” Denver head coach David Carle said.

“And tonight it was rocking. I hope it’s like this all the time.”

With just under nine minutes to play in the first period, Gabe Perreault crossed the blue line on Denver goaltender Matt Davis’ left side, sizzling toward the net. The closest Eagles’ shot of the game up to that point landed into Davis’

glove, however.

Prior to the season, BC head coach Greg Brown said that once his p owerhous e f re shman recruiting class started to create goals, it would give them the confidence to keep bolstering the offense and gel. Will Smith’s second goal of the season, and first of the game, showcased that belief coming true.

With 4:02 left in the first frame, Smith grabbed the puck on the top of the circle to Davis’ left, coasting in with his stick off a loose rebound from behind the net. Turning his head on a dime, Smith squeezed the puck through Davis’ five hole, catching the goalie off guard with his zippy shot to grab a 1–0 lead for t h e Eagles. Linemate Ryan Leonard dumped the puck in for Smith, and Perreault screened the goaltender for the shooter.

“They’re getting more comfortable,” Brown said of the Smith, Leonard, and Perreault line. “Every game, they read off each other.

One of the key parts was Gabe going to the net and creating traffic,

so when [Smith] sends it there, I don’t think the goalie got a clean look at it. They see the game very similarly.”

Fowler continued to be a rock in net for the Eagles five minutes into the second period, saving all 10 shots on net he had faced so far.

After Colby A m brosio nearly slotted

home one-timer, whif fe d, D env e r ’s M a s s i m o Rizzo flew in on a two-on-one opportunity with just one BC defender wedged between the puck and the net.

The defender crept all the way into Fowler, knocking him onto his a but

back, and Massimo slotted home the easy chip shot to tie the game 1–1 6:12 into the second period.

“That’s where most goals are scored,” Brown said, referring to the close-range shot. “[Fowler] had a very good game. We have to be a little better boxing out, picking up sticks, but in general, defensively, we’ve been pretty decent. It wasn’t huge, glaring mistakes.”

Just when the student-crowd noise began to die down to less-audible whispers and jeers, Oskar Jellvik staged a second-goal effort.

Locating the puck off a Will Vote zone entry, Jellvik corralled a loose dribbler and flung a shot to the far-left post.

Davis wasn’t fast enough to lock his eyes on the puck, which sizzled past the Pioneers’ sole defender en route to BC’s second goal of the game—and Jellvik’s third of the year— with just over seven minutes to play in the second.

Aram Minne ti an received a penalty just 1:45 into the third period, but Fowler’s staunch defensive efforts kept the Eagles on top.

Part of that success originated with shot blocking—the Eagles blocked 16 alone in the first two

frames.

That lasted until 15 minutes were left in the final period, as Denver’s Connor Caponi won a loose-puck battle in a clogged crease and slotted home the equalizer, making the score 2–2.

“You gotta execute better,” Brown said. “Can’t take three penalties late in the game. Can’t give the refs an opportunity to be involved.”

While Broz’s goal ignited a fire in Denver’s offense, making it 3–2 Pioneers at the 10:19 mark, those flames were short-lived as Smith’s buzzer deflected off Davis’ pads and sailed into the net on a rainbow-like trajectory to tie the game three minutes later.

But moments after the Pioneers rang the crossbar on a BC penalty kill, King guided home the game-sealing goal from the crease once again with 2:02 remaining, landing a quick-reflex shot that Fowler could not halt.

“The kids are still so excited,” Brown said of his players’ reactions to the student crowds. “[The] student body the last two home games has been incredible. The players feed off their energy. That’s the atmosphere you want to play in.” n GRAPHIC BY PAIGE STEIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Eagles Tie Holy Cross but Drop Extra League Point

By Brassil Moran Heights Staff In the second period of Boston College women’s hockey’s game against Holy Cross on Saturday, the Eagles Holy Cross 2 f o u n d Boston College 2 themselves with a five-on-three power play after two Crusaders penalties. But BC failed to score during the advantage, just as it struggled to do all game: The Eagles only found the back of the net twice on 37 shots.

“Thirty-seven shots is quite a few, and I think when we have some offensive opportunities, we gotta find ways to bury pucks,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “This weekend we had a lot of odd-man rushes and opportunities to put that team away and we weren’t able to do that, so they hung on and were able to take the shootout win.”

BC (3–4–1, 3–0–1 Hockey East) and the Crusaders (1–4–0, 0–1–1) needed an eight-round shootout in Conte Forum to determine who would earn the extra Hockey East point after overtime ended in a 2–2 tie. Holy Cross’ Carmen Elliott put one past goalkeeper Grace Campbell in the shootout, and Gaby Roy missed her subsequent attempt to hand Holy Cross the extra point.

BC outshot the Crusaders 37–26 on Friday and came back from down one goal twice. But it wasn’t enough for the victory, and the Eagles finished the weekend with a win and a tie.

The Eagles attacked the goal early, sending bodies to the net to fire shot after shot—totaling six in the first five minutes. Jade Arnone almost scored at the three-minute mark, but Holy Cross goaltender Madison Beck moved in front for the save.

It was the Crusaders who opened the scoring in the 13th minute. Emmanuelle Gendron broke past the Eagle’s defense and popped the puck past Campbell to give Holy

Cross a 1–0 lead.

The Eagles, however, went on the power play at the 14:44 mark minute after Lilly Feeney committed a hooking penalty. Sidney Fess took advantage, tying the game up at 1–1 less than a minute later. Fess shrouded the net, caught a rebound, and pushed the puck into the back of the net.

“We’ve struggled on our power play a bit in the past, and we’re certainly finding ways to score goals right now and hopefully that continues,” Crowley said. “When you get those opportunities, you’ve got to find ways to bury that puck.”

Holy Cross had a power play of

SHANE SHEBEST / HEIGHTS STAFF

The Eagles recorded 37 shots in their matchup against Holy Cross.

its own with four minutes remaining in the first period via a penalty on Julia Pellerin for interference. The Crusaders regained their lead on the power play, as Charlotte Sonntag picked up a rebound near the circle and fired it toward the goal, where it was deflected and bounced.

The first period ended with Holy Cross ahead 2–1. BC, however, tallied 15 shots in the first period compared to the Crusaders’ 11.

Holy Cross started the second period on the offensive, as officials booked BC for another hooking penalty at the 2:22 mark, this time on Annaka Mettler. While Roy almost scored while on the disadvantage, the Crusaders failed to score during the power play.

Feeney and Lane Lewis, however, received back-to-back penalties, and BC quickly found itself on the five-on-three advantage. The Eagles hounded the net, firing off three shots, but failed to find the tying goal.

Each squad struggled to score until Holy Cross’ Bryn Saarela committed a major penalty after a rough hit, putting the Eagles on another power play. And this time, BC took advantage.

At the 17:44 mark, Katie Pyne scored a rocket from near the circle, sending the puck flying past Beck to the top left corner to tie the game

at 2–2, which remained the score heading into the third period.

“I like that we’re able to come back, but I think we need to have a little bit more of a mentality when the game first starts, the ‘Let’s try to go up on a team,’” Crowley said. “I’m really happy with the battle we put out to come back.”

Roy almost put BC ahead five minutes into the third period, firing off consecutive shots, but Beck deflected both.

Holy Cross, meanwhile, almost took the lead at the 9:45 mark, as Gendron found herself on a one-onone breakaway. But Campbell stood strong to come away with a save. She finished the game with 24 saves.

The Crusaders had another chance to take the lead as Arnone was called for hooking with three minutes left, but Holy Cross failed to score, and regulation ended in a 2–2 tie.

The Eagles started the three-onthree overtime on the offensive, but Holy Cross had a quick breakaway and forced a save from Campbell.

Neither team, however, could find the net, and the game went to a shootout.

Through seven rounds, no one could score, with Campbell and Beck notching seven consecutive saves.

But Elliott finally scored, and Holy Cross walked away with the extra Hockey East point. n

The Heights

Monday, October 23, 2023

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SPORTS

Eagles Draw With Virginia 1–1 for Third Straight Tie

By Jack Bergamini Assoc. Sports Editor Heading into Sunday’s game against Virginia, Boston College women’s soccer’s Aislin Streicek had scored Boston College 1 twice this Virginia 1 season.

Both goals came against Sacred Heart on Sept. 10.

But the junior transfer from Alabama changed that on Sunday, finding the back of the net once again when she faked out Cavaliers’ goalkeeper Cayla White in a Euro step–like fashion on the fastbreak to give BC a 1–0 lead four minutes into the second half.

The Eagles, however, couldn’t hold onto the lead, as Virginia (7–3–6, 2–3–4 Atlantic Coast) scored at the 60-minute mark to tie BC (3–9–5, 0–6–3) 1–1 in Charlottesville, Va. It marked BC’s third straight tie and third straight game ending in a 1–1 score. The game also marked the Eagles’ second-to-last game of the regular season.

BC totaled nine shots in the game while the Cavaliers registered 15. The Eagles, however, tallied only one corner kick compared to Virginia’s 11.

Goalkeeper Wiebke Willebrandt locked down Virginia for most of the afternoon. The junior tallied four total saves to bring her season total to 72.

Virginia’s Jill Flammia fired off the game’s first shot at the 1:51 mark, placing the ball at the bottom center of the goal, but Willebrandt stepped in front to notch her first save of the game and keep the match scoreless.

Laura Gouvin almost responded with a goal of her own. After the Cavaliers’ defense blocked Emily Sapienza’s initial shot , Gouvin sprinted at the free ball to blast a shot in the bottom left corner. White laid out using her outstretched arms to record her first save of the game.

The save marked one of two White saves on Sunday.

Maggie Cagle was up next for Virginia. She sailed a curving shot

to the right corner through traffic at the 15:43 mark, but Willebrandt lunged in midair to punch the ball out of bounds.

BC had another sequence of good chances 12 minutes before halftime. Sapienza’s shot couldn’t find the mark , howe ver, and White recorded a save off Riley Kerber’s shot. The score remained tied at zero heading into halftime.

But the game didn’t remain tied for long, as Streicek found herself on a fastbreak sprinting toward the net as four Virginia defenders raced after her to no avail. Streicek meandered around White to send a firm shot to the right corner with her left foot to put BC ahead 1–0 at the 49:14 mark.

Virginia’s Meredith McDer-

mott, however, responded with a strike of her own that swept past Willebrant to tie the game at 1–1 in the 60th minute.

Each squad traded chances for the remainder of the game but no one broke through. Virginia’s final corner kick provided one last opportunity, but Willebrandt flew into the pack to jump on the ball and seal the draw. n

PAUL CRIADO / HEIGHTS STAFF

Travelling to Virginia, BC totaled nine shots in their 1–1 tie with the Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon.

Hurricanes Sweep BC on the Road

By Emily Roberge For The Heights Down 17–7 on the wrong side of a 10–0 run, Boston College volleyball needed to string together momentum to prevent going down 2–0 to Miami.

But the Eagles failed to do that or even deliver a single set win against the Hurricanes on Sunday, as BC (14–10, 3–7 AtlanBoston College 0 tic Coast) Miami 3 fell 3–0 to Miami (14–6, 7–3) in Coral Gables, Fla. The loss marked the third straight game BC has been swept in.

BC registered nine blocks and 28 kills, while Miami registered four

blocks and 42 kills.

The set scores were 25–23, 25–16, and 25–19.

Miami jumped out to an early lead in the first set. Following consecutive kills from Angela Grieve, Grace Lopez and Flormarie Heredia Colon, BC fell behind 9–5. The Eagles, however, fought back, and Jenna Pollock notched back-to-back kills to bring BC within 17–16.

But after more back and forth rallies, Miami came out on top via Grieve’s match-point kill to win 25–23.

Grieve tallied nine total kills while Lopez and Colon combined for 24.

BC recorded 12 kills and hit .219 in the first set, while Miami recorded 15

EMILY AHERN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Alayna Crabtree, pictured above, tallied eight kills in the Eagles’ loss.

kills and .229 hit percentage.

“I think the offense, and being able to generate more kills, was mostly the problem and what could have gone better I believe,” BC head coach Jason Kennedy said.

Following its first set loss, BC generated offensive success with Alayna Crabtree’s kill and a Miami attack error, which propelled the Eagles to a 3–1 lead. But the Eagles did not capitalize off this streak, as Miami went on a 10–0 run to take a 17–7 lead.

For much of the second set, BC failed to tally points, as its offense registered 10 kills compared to Miami’s 14.

The second set ended with another Miami kill, as Lopez notched the finisher to take the set 25–16. Lopez tallied the most kills of any Miami or BC player.

“We have to figure out taking care of generating our own points a little bit better than we have so far the past weekend,” Kennedy said.

Julia Haggerty fired a kill to give the Eagles a 1–0 lead to begin the third set. This lead, however, would be shortlived, as Miami used a 6–0 run to go ahead 16–11 over BC. But BC didn’t give up, as Haggerty recorded back-to-back blocks, which minimized the Eagles’ point differential from being down 16–13 to only 16–15.

Blocks have been a strong suit for the Eagles all season, as they are ranked second in the ACC in blocks per game with 2.43.

“I think the blocking has been good since the start of ACC play,” Kennedy said. “I think our team does a good job at knowing what is coming from the other side of the net, so generally speaking, we are able to have a pretty good idea of what the other team is trying to run and being able to slow it down.”

But the Hurricanes carried their lead throughout the rest of the third set, and Lopez ended the match with a service ace.

Kennedy noted how well Haggerty has played all season.

“Julia Haggerty has been phenomenal all year,” Kennedy said. “We have to continually recognize how good of a job she is doing anchoring the middle of our defense, but that is something that she has been able to do night in and night out for the last several matches.”

Following the loss, Kennedy said he hopes to see some improvements in a few aspects of the Eagles’ offense.

“I think we have to revisit some of the things that we are doing on offense,” Kennedy said. “I think we have to worry about ourselves a little bit more and not worry so much about what the other side of the net is doing.” n

Eagles Top RPI Behind Gauthier’s Two Goals

By Robert Brennan Heights Staff As fans in Conte Forum started a “Let’s Go, Eagles!” chant to begin Boston College men’s hockey’s game against Rensselaer 1 RPI Polytechnic Boston College 6 Institute on Friday, Cutter Gauthier stepped up to the faceoff dot. Gauthier won the faceoff, and the Eagles took the puck into the offensive zone with ease.

From there, BC cycled the puck, never letting RPI get it back. Before the Engineers knew it, Gauthier fired a shot into the top corner past netminder Jack Watson just 28 seconds into the game, setting the tone for the Eagles.

From there, the Eagles never took their foot off of the gas.

“I thought it was probably our best start,” BC head coach Greg Brown said.

“It was great to get out, get a couple goals early. I think that set a good tone.”

No. 3 BC (3–0–0) dominated RPI (0–0–3) to the tune of a 6–1 beatdown.

Gauthier scored two goals in the first period, and freshman linemates Gabe Perreault and Will Smith each scored their first goals of their BC career.

Just six minutes after Gauthier’s goal, BC would have another similar opportunity. The Eagles were already on a power play due to a penalty on Max Smolinski, but when Lucas Matta was given two minutes for boarding, the Eagles still had the puck, resulting in a delayed penalty.

BC emptied its net and sent on the extra attacker. And as it cycled the puck, in came Gauthier, blasting it past Watson to double the Eagles’ lead and notch his second goal of the night at the 7:21 mark.

The game’s intensity was high at some times, with tempers flaring particularly wildly in the first frame.

BC goaltender Jacob Fowler was hit while trying to play the puck, and while no penalty was called, the Eagles retaliated.

Drew Fortescue pushed his way into a scrum right after the incident, and play remained extra physical throughout the rest of the first period.

Throughout the period, Charlie Leddy, Jack Malone, and Ryan Leonard all threw massive hits.

“Yeah, definitely, they’re a heavy team,” Brown said of the physicality.

“They played very physical, heavy

sticks, too.”

Fowler recorded 21 saves in the win.

Sutter Muzzatti, RPI’s lone draft pick—a Predators fifth rounder—cut BC’s lead in half 4:40 into the second period after the puck was deflected and landed in front of Muzzatti, who took a slap shot in front of the goal. The goal happened after three prior RPI misfires in the period.

“Really, our only down section of the game was the first 10 minutes of the second period,” Brown said. “I don’t know if it was because we were ahead or just didn’t come out of the locker room with the right intentions and definitely let the momentum swing to RPI.” BC, however, would swiftly respond with two goals in quick succession later in the period. First, Perreault recorded his first collegiate goal when he took the puck away at the blue line and used his first-round speed to skate down the ice and finish a breakaway to put BC up 3–1 at the 11:20 mark.

And just 31 seconds later, Colby Ambrosio executed a slick play, making a centering pass to Oskar Jellvik with his backhand. Jellvik finished the play to give BC a commanding 4–1 lead.

Connor Joyce finished up Gentry

Shamburger’s rebound to add to BC’s lead, putting the Eagles ahead 5–1 at the 6:54 mark in the third period.

BC’s sixth and final goal of the game came on a Smith sequence. The 2023 No. 4 overall pick got open in front of the net and his longtime teammate Perreault managed to pick him out. When Smith got the puck, he shot it quickly, hitting the top bar and bouncing back off Watson and back into the net.

“Yeah, [Smith and Perreault] created offensive chances all three games,” Brown said. “It was great to see him rewarded for that. That line, they have some familiarity with each other, and

they’ve been able to generate chances each night, so you want to see some of those go in so they feel good about it.

But we’ve been happy with their play in all three games, so hopefully they continue.”

The Eagles tallied 32 total shots and finished a perfect 3 for 3 on the penalty kill.

“The goals were great, but I think just overall play, it was much better the second half of the second period, and then the third was solid too,” Brown said. “So it was good, overall, it was a good night for us. … So hopefully we continue with that.” n

OWEN BIENEN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Friday marked the first meeting between the two teams in eight years.