The Heights, Sept. 30, 2024

September 30, 2024

Eagles Survive Nailbiter

In Grayson James' first BC start, the team achieved its largest fourth-quarter comeback in program history.

BY SOURABH GOKARN Deputy Managing Editor

Coming off a potentially season-defining win against Michigan State, Bill O’Brien’s message prior to Boston College football’s (4–1, 1–0 Atlantic Coast) 21–20 win against Western Kentucky (3–2, 1–0 Conference USA) couldn’t have been clearer.

“If there's a letdown, absolute shame on Boston College football,” O’Brien said on Wednesday. “We need to show up and be ready to play noon kickoff."

Through three quarters of football, however, all the signs of a major letdown were materializing.

See Football, A8

Goo Goo Dolls Energize Conte Forum

The 32nd annual Pops on the Heights raised $12.8 Million for BC's “Soaring Higher” campaign.

BY ASHLEY VALENZUELA Heights Staff

The 32nd annual Pops on the Heights brought students, family, friends, and alumni together in Conte Forum for a celebration of performing arts.

The jaw-dropping and stunning performances from Boston College’s very own student groups provided strong openers for the Boston Pops and the headlining Goo Goo Dolls.

Also known as the Barbara and Jim Cleary Scholarship Gala, Pops on the Heights raises money for BC’s students to provide greater financial aid.

The event raised $12.8 million according to a video message from this year’s Pops on the Heights co-chairs, Paul and Sandra Edgerley, and Patti and Jonathan Kraft. The funds raised will go to the “Soaring Higher” campaign.

McMullen Opens 'States of Becoming' Exhibit

BC Rises 2 Spots in U.S. News Ranks

BY JACK BECKMAN Asst. News Editor

NIKITA OSADCHIY For The Heights

Boston College jumped two spots to No. 37 in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2025 rankings of the best national universities in a tie with Tufts University.

In this year’s rankings, U.S. News assessed nearly 1500 universities on 17 criteria, including academic quality, graduate outcomes, campus culture, strength in individual majors, and financial aid distribution, according to its website.

This year’s ranking saw a significant change to its methodology, removing the six-year graduation rates of first-generation students and reallocating the metric’s weight to Pell Grant-recipient graduation rates.

For the second consecutive year, the rankings placed a heavy emphasis on social mobility and postgraduate success.

The exhibit explores the immigrant experience, featuring the artwork of 17 contemporary artists from the African diaspora.

See A7

BC Beats Stonehill 5 – 1

BY SEBBY FITZGERALD For The Heights

Boston College women’s hockey kicked off the 2024–25 season with a bang at Stonehill, netting a goal just under four minutes into the first period.

The night couldn’t have started better for the Eagles and senior forward Abby Newhook, who glided coast-to-coast and capped the first goal of the season off by slipping it over the right pad.

Just 27 seconds later, though, Stonehill evened things up after junior forward Lily Geist’s quick fire from the left side snuck by BC’s junior goaltender Grace Campbell.

After Stonehill (0–1) tied up the game at one goal apiece, however, the Eagles (1–0) never looked back and rattled off four straight goals to defeat the Skyhawks 5–1 and start the season off with a win.

See Hockey, A9

BY ANNIKA ENGELBRECHT Asst. News Editor

The Boston Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) approved the replacement of the UPS store at the corner of Commonwealth Ave. and Lake St. with an artisanal liquor store.

The store plans to sell craft beers, kosher wines, and spirits just across the street from Boston College.

Both BC and Newton officials voiced their concerns about the development and its implications for underage students.

“The prospect of adding a store adjacent to campus where alcohol, a ‘forbidden use,’ could be procured (and then distributed) is counter to the progress we have achieved for the neighborhood and residents in and around the Boston College campus in recent years,” mayor of Newton Ruthanne Fuller said in a letter obtained by The Heights.

See Liquor Store, A2

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

SHANE SHEBEST / HEIGHTS STAFF

CATHERINE DUTMER / HEIGHTS STAFF

CATHERINE DUTMER / HEIGHTS STAFF

SARAH FLEMING / HEIGHTS EDITOR

NEWS

This Week’s Top 3 Events

Take part in a three-day confer-

1 2 3

ence and learn about the state of Black French studies across the world. Hear from the keynote speaker Mame-Fatou Niang on Thursday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the McMullen Museum.

Learn about the ethics of plastic production and the United Nations Environment Assembly’s Global Plastics Treaty. Jointly hosted by the global public health and theology departments, take part in the conference on Friday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. in Gasson Hall.

Hear from experts at the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve about the plan to restore economic stability after a series of global market shake-ups. Join a panel anytime on Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Murray Function Room.

Artisinal Liquor Store Across from BC Approved

Liquor Store, from A1

Fuller noted the efforts that BC and the City of Newton have taken to curb underage drinking and its effects on the neighboring communities.

“The City of Newton and my office specifically have worked diligently with Boston College over the years to address neighborhood issues in Newton associated with student alcohol abuse and the attendant neighborhood impacts,” Fuller said.

In a statement to The Heights University Spokesman Jack Dunn said the University has plans to voice its concerns to the Boston License Hearing “in the hope of defeating a proposal that is counter to the best interests of the community.”

“Boston College has joined St. Ignatius Church, Secretary of State Bill Galvin, and many local residents in opposing the ill-advised proposal to place a liquor store on Commonwealth Avenue directly across the street from the BC campus and an Archdiocesan parish,” Dunn wrote.

At a public hearing, Joseph Hanley, the lawyer for Andrew Arbeeny, the owner of the proposed store, said that they are aware of the store’s proximity to BC and will take several measures to prevent underage students from buying or distributing alcohol.

“[Mr. Arbeeny] has spent a lot of time in carefully considering the appropriateness of this use, and also looking at different measures

he can adopt to make sure that we are part of the solution when it comes to being near BC, but also serving the needs of the community,” Hanley said. Hanley shared that the store will not sell nips, kegs, or tobacco products, nor will it offer third-party delivery services, which underage BC students have used in the past. The store will also use scanners for all IDs, he added, and out-of-state IDs will only be accepted with a secondary form of identification.

“We understand that we need to be on heightened alert and have a zero-tolerance policy,” Hanley said. “It’s really not a place that students would frequent.”

“We understand that we need to be on heightened alert and have a zero-tolerance policy. It’s really not a place that students would frequent.”

The store plans to have adjusted hours to accommodate Sunday family mass at St. Ignatius Church, Hanley said.

The project aims to fill a hole in the Brighton community, Hanley said. According to the ZBA report, there are currently no liquor stores in the area of the proposed store—the closest is 1 mile away in Cleveland Circle.

“We see that this local convenience, of which we are in, is not being provided as part of Brighton,” Hanley said.

At the same hearing, Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin, a Brighton resident, and BC ’72, voiced concerns for the impact increased underage drinking will have on nearby el -

derly residents and BC students. “The idea that you could put a liquor store literally a few feet away from 5,000 dormitory students, most of whom are underage, is absurd,” Galvin said. “To suggest that this is addressed to anything else but the college-aged population is totally disingenuous.”

Tom Keady, vice president of governmental relations and community affairs, called the proposal “the worst possible idea.” Keady opposed the development, noting the amount of money that BC and the Boston

Police Department already put into managing underage and off-campus drinking.

“We spend $100,000 a year for Boston College and Boston Police details to deal with off-campus behavior,” Keady said. “We also have a full-time person who deals with off-campus behavior on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and that’s at our expense.”

Keady said that he speaks for all of BC when it comes to opposing the development.

“A liquor store right across the street from Boston College— it’s a bad idea,” Keady said. n

BC Rises to No. 37 in ‘US News and World Report’ Ranking

Over 50 percent of the universities’ scores were based on measures related to the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds they enrolled, the support provided to help these students graduate with manageable debt, and graduate salaries, according to a press release.

“By considering factors such as social mobility and post-graduate success, we aim to help students choose schools that not only provide a quality education but also prepare them for a successful and fulfilling future,” Lamont Jones Jr., managing editor for Education at U.S. News, said in the press release.

Last year’s changes resulted in a dramatic shift in the list as many private universities fell steeply on the ranking—Tulane University and Brandeis University plummeted 29 and 16 spots, respectively.

By contrast, this year’s rankings were marked by significantly less turnover among the top 50 universities.

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Lat-

inx-serving universities, however, saw a major climb in the rankings. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio each rose 49 spots.

“We aim to help students choose schools that not only provide a quality education but also prepare them for a successful and fulflling future.”

Among Boston-area universities, BC placed third behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (No. 2) and Harvard University (No. 3) while continuing to outperform Boston University (No. 41),

Northeastern University (No. 54), and Brandeis University (No. 63).

BC remains the third highest-ranked Catholic university as the University of Notre Dame climbed two places to No. 18. and Georgetown University fell two spots to No. 24. According to U.S. News, BC ranked No. 6 in “Best Undergraduate Teaching,” an increase of two spots from the previous year; No. 7 in “Service Learning,” a drop of two spots; and No. 9 in “First-Year Experience,” also a decrease of two spots. It remained at No. 17 in “Learning Communities,” rose five spots to No. 36 in “Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects,” and dropped one spot to No. 52 in “Best Value Schools.” The Carroll School of Management ranked seventh in finance, ninth in analytics, 10th in entrepreneurship and marketing, and 11th in accounting and management. The Connell School of Nursing ranked ninth among other nursing schools—its highest ever placement on the ranking. n

Rana Evaluates the Future of American Democracy

BY PAIGE FOLLI

For The Heights

Aziz Rana sparked conversation about the potential flaws of the U.S. Constitution in a lecture on Thursday, introducing his newest book, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document that Fails Them.

Rana, a legal researcher and professor at Boston College Law School, addressed the ongoing debate on whether America should hold the Constitution responsible for the many governmental and legal issues it influences, considering it was written over 200 years ago.

“The book is really motivated by this sense of a basic tension between what we can think of as the political moment we’re

all experiencing in some way around the Constitution, and just the cultural experience of what living in the U.S. has been with respect to this text,” Rana said.

“There is a basic tension—or sort of foundational confrontation, it seems—between the politics and the culture.”

Rana suggested that basing presidential election victories on electoral votes rather than a popular majority can be interpreted as deeply undemocratic. Nevertheless, there are benefits to the Constitution, he said, including preserving individual autonomy.

“The Constitution protects a sphere of individual autonomy for speech, for religious worship, that ensures preservation of what amounts to one’s own freedoms from an overweening state authority,” Rana said.

Despite these positives, Rana also examined the frequently contested issue of how not following a “one-person-one-vote” system has resulted in leaders winning presidential elections when they don’t have the majority of the country’s support.

“There is this broken feeling that there are some pretty foundational problems with the Constitution, especially when it comes to its ability to represent all Americans in a fair and equal way ,” Rana said.

Rana pointed out how this misrepresentation is also reflected in the Supreme Court, where justices are individually selected at the president’s discretion.

“There is this strong sense of constrained representative government tied to the account of the Supreme Court, which speaks to

why the U.S. is understood as exceptional, why the U.S. is viewed as distinct from the rest of the world, and why our Constitution can be thought of as imperfect,” Rana said.

The reality of the situation, according to Rana, is that the process has too often led to the dangerous issue of misrepresentation, as well as simply a common sentiment of disappointment among the American people.

“And so it might be the case that more people vote for one party in a particular state, but as it turns out, the folks that end up getting elected to congress are overwhelmingly from the other party,” Rana said. “And it’s not just the House of Representatives, it also plays out in basically all other elements of our federal system.”

Rana highlighted the importance of debunking the assumption that the Constitution is simply a physical document only relevant to lawyers and politicians. The Constitution, he said, symbolizes a system that impacts the lives of all American citizens and requires our attention.

Rana suggested that a potential solution to the Constitution’s failure to represent the American people equally is to take tangible action toward highlighting underrepresented populations.

“Simplify the amendment process so that you can change the text and include various types of positive socioeconomic rights and alter the basic administrative units of representation so that those units more clearly map on to population centers,” Rana said. n

ANNIKA ENGELBRECHT / HEIGHTS EDITOR

An

Duffy Presents Collection of Her Irish Modern Artwork

BY RAMIRO TOVAR For The Heights

Rita Duffy reminded an audience of Boston College students, staff, and local visitors to always seek joy and beauty in unlikely places at an event hosted by the Lowell Humanities Series on Wednesday.

“Only die when you’re dead,” Duffy said. “To love and to be loved, to never forget your own insignificance, to never get used to the unspeakable violence or disparity of life around you. Seek joy in sad places, pursue beauty to its layer, and above all, to watch, to try to understand to never look away to never, never forget.”

Duffy, a renowned Irish visual artist widely recognized for her innovative public art projects, grew up in Belfast during a time of tense conflict between Protestants and Catholics, an upbringing that she said inspired her artwork.

“Childhood in Belfast had no easy ways, different schools, different culture,” Duffy said. “Boys were in control. No monsters under the bed were needed with them. There were real men with real guns all around, and fear was a ritual.”

But Duffy’s parents taught her that education was a means of ending conflict, she said. During her studies at the Belfast School of Art, Duffy recognized the inequality of opportunities between men

and women and used it to propel herself forward in her artistry.

“She chose violence, I chose paint,” Duffy said, recalling once watching a BBC News report depicting the violent protest that led to the arrest of a young woman.

Duffy recounted her project proposal for “Thaw,” in which she aimed to address environmental and political concerns by having an iceberg physically towed to Belfast.

Although the project never fully materialized, the proposal alone is often credited for popularizing Duffy’s work.

“I was told that there was a possibility that they were going to rebuild the Titanic,” Duffy said. “‘Titanic’ is the third most recognized word on the planet. I realized with that narrative, there’s something that kind of reaches a global population.”

These experiences, coupled with rising global gun violence, inspired Duffy’s creation of a chocolate AK-47, she said.

“All of these very sophisticated, artful young people looked at it and smelled it and started talking about chocolate,” Duffy said. “Then I showed it as a part of the Belfast Festival, and as people approached and looked very closely and immediately perceived the serial number on the chocolate gun.”

Another major focus point for Duffy’s works of art were women’s

contributions during wars and conflicts, which gave birth to her idea for The Shirt Factory

“In 2013, I was given a major commission for the city of Derry, a famous city that produced mass amounts of shirts for the African American Civil War,” Duffy said.

“The women who stitched these shirts often stitched their address into some of the American Air Force shirts simply because they wanted to meet the Air Force men

and possibly immigrate to America.”

Duffy’s Shirt Factory project explores the labor that women endured during wartime and symbolically recreates the conditions they faced. With this project, Duffy said she attempted to bring feminist values to light through her art.

“I specifically targeted older women who once worked in shirt factories to tell us their narratives, and we recorded it because up un -

til this, there wasn’t a single tribute to these women,” Duffy said.

Duffy’s reputation as a prominent feminist figure was further apparent in her recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper , where she represented Jesus and his disciples as women.

“This is obviously The Last Supper reinvented as a group of women,” Duffy said. “The whole idea was powerful and to represent the various women in Belfast .” n

Coupe Talks Journey to Co-Founding ReVision Energy

For The Heights

Co-founder of ReVision Energy Phil Coupe credits much of his success to reading the news.

“You’re going to hear me talk a lot about newspapers and about reading newspapers and reading a lot of current events, because I feel like that has probably been one of the most powerful kinds of infuence,” Coupe said.

Coupe, BC ’90, joined Boston College students at an Ethics and Lunch event, sponsored by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics, to discuss his life’s work and business philosophy. Coupe shared

his personal experience building a successful life from the ground up—a journey of perseverance, he said.

“I’ll never quit, I’ll never give up, and I’ll do whatever the hell it takes to achieve the outcome that I want,” Coupe said.

At the luncheon, Coupe answered questions varying from the characteristics of his company to the deeper roots of how one can achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.

Coupe’s first job out of college was working as a reporter for the Dorchester Reporter, a Boston-based weekly newspaper, but he said his interest in business was sparked when he was assigned

to write an article about a purifed water wholesale company called DrinkMore Water.

He became so passionate about the subject that he asked the owner to work for the company and received a position doing heavy lifting and cleaning foors, he said.

“Te guy was impressed by my hustle and the willingness to do just about whatever it took to succeed, and so he invited me to join his business and get an ownership stake,” Coupe said.

Success takes time and patience, Coupe added, but hard work is the best way to turn dreams into reality. Coupe and three other business executives eventually founded

a solar company in 2003, ReVision Energy, which now spans across northern New England.

The early days of ReVision Energy were foundational to what the company grew to become, Coupe said. Since the day the solar company was formed, it has grown and developed.

“You could argue that it’s one of the biggest and most successful solar companies,” Coupe said. “I don’t want to brag about it too much. It’s not about ego.”

As a company, they have also gone to great lengths to avoid a “winner takes all approach,” which Coupe said is one of the biggest problems in the energy industry today.

While looking back on his experience at BC, Coupe reassured the audience that college provides the perfect opportunity to craft their futures and accomplish the lives they desire.

“Te best antidote is to work your tail of,” Coupe said. “We can almost always see a path to working a little harder and hopefully nudging a better outcome.” n

For Coupe and the other co-founders, it has never been about a competition of who can become the best, he said. Rather, their mission is simply “to make life better by building our just and equitable electric future.”

Beaumier Highlights Forming Bonds at Agape Latte

between freshmen students.

BY RILEY DEL SESTO

The

“Love is not dependent on reciprocity,” Beaumier said. “ Te more we give of it, the more we can trust to fall into it.”

Beaumier, director of Boston College’s Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, spoke on Tuesday at

Casey Beaumier, S.J., does not sign of his emails with a standard pleasantry. Instead, he ends them with “Your Friend.” Beaumier said that love is not always shared equally among people.

the frst Agape Latte event of the school year, expanding on what it means to be a loving person and how to love without caution.

Beaumier said that in his 17 years residing in Fenwick Hall as a mentor and spiritual director, he has observed love manifest in many forms—one being the bonds

He shared a story in which St. Ignatius of Loyola frst encountered a group of friends who called themselves “the friends of the Lord” at the University of Paris. Te friend group was composed of St. Francis Xavier, Peter Favre, and St. Ignatius. Tey never saw each other again after departing on separate missions, but their bond continued through a series of letters, Beaumier said.

“‘I give thanks, frst of all, to God, and then to you for the fact that God has made you; that I derive such great consolation from bearing your names,’” Beaumier quoted Xavier’s last letter to Ignatius.

“ Tat’s a tangible sign of the depth of love that originated in student housing.”

Beaumier then moved to the issue of loneliness that many students feel, emphasizing that students must be vigilant against the “bad spirit.”

“Loneliness is of the bad spirit,” Beaumier said. “It’s the bad spirit suggesting that you’re not worthy, that everybody else has it fgured out, and that’s not true.”

Te facade of stability and social aptitude is especially prevalent at BC, Beaumier said.

“BC students are good at blufing, right?” Beaumier said. “You can make it seem like you made your besties in 24 hours. I’m not buying

it. I mean, it takes time to fnd each other.”

Beaumier also discussed his personal understanding of friendship.

“When I think about the gift of friendship, I often think about my little sister,” Beaumier said.

Beaumier and his sister have been exchanging the same birthday card for the last 45 years, he said. In his opinion, this perfectly encapsulates what friendship is about: the act of giving to others.

But for the good spirit to manifest in friendships, it is imperative to seek out others—even strangers, according to Beaumier.

“ Tere are people waiting to be found,” Beaumier said. “We’re meant to be together. We’re meant for each other.”

Students must open themselves to the possibility of deep, meaningful human connection through following their heart despite the chance of rejection, and BC aims to foster this type of environment, Beaumier said.

“First and foremost, we’re a university, but we’re a Jesuit, Catholic university, and that means that there’s a school of the heart for us to participate in,” Beaumier said. Te school of the heart is meant to train the senses of the heart. Heart has reason for which reason knows not.”

PAUL CRIADO / HEIGHTS STAFF

Duffy shared several of her art pieces at a presentation titled “You Can’t Hope for a Better Past” on Wednesday.

B Y S AVA NNAH L OCKWOOD

EWTONN Schwartz Passionate About Participation as New State Representative For Newton

BY GENEVIEVE MORRISON Assoc. Newton Editor

Greg Schwartz, the new state representative for Massachusetts’ 12th Middlesex congressional district, frst interacted with politics in 2001, when he joined a Democratic committee in his then-home of Jamaica Plain to advocate for the construction of a new bus depot.

It didn’t go well.

Te depot was built, but despite his eforts, it stood further away from housing in the neighborhood, something Schwartz said he and his neighbors saw as a missed opportunity to connect the community.

He said that experience taught him a valuable lesson about democratic participation.

Tere’s a limit to how much they’re going to listen to you,” Schwartz said.

Today, Schwartz fnds himself in a greater position of responsibility than he had 23 years ago. In the time since, he’s worked as a primary care physician for close to 25 years, served on the Newton City Council, and advocated for healthcare reform on the state level.

He said his experience as a citizen interested in politics has informed the way he interacts with

his constituents.

“You always want to try to make sure that your time and efort is being valued,” Schwartz said. “And I think that there were times when people felt they were being listened to, but not heard.”

Schwartz holds doctorates in both medicine and law from Yale, a combination of his two life-long passions.

Schwartz said his interest in medicine grew from his experiences with his mother’s chronic illness.

“I got to college planning to be pre-med because of my interest in medicine and experiences growing up, interacting with the medical feld, with my mom having been dealing with a chronic illness,” Schwartz said.

But he also had a passion for politics. As an Harvard undergraduate, Schwartz said he was inspired by the political leaders who would come to speak there.

“A lot of people who were running for president came, people who are doing all kinds of [work], at the state level, at the federal level—people who had a say in how our policies were implemented,” Schwartz said. “It made me feel less alienated from the system and kind of excited to be a part of it.”

Schwartz was fascinated by

the fact that leaders who had such infuence on the nation, people like then-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Michael Dukakis, were so accessible to the public.

“To feel like, there were people that you could go down after the speech and talk to who had a role,” Schwartz said. “It was fairly inspiring and encouraging, a little daunting, a little intimidating, but accessible.”

He decided to get involved himself, majoring in government and taking internships as a legislative aide to then-U.S. Rep. Ted Weiss. After he graduated, he spent a year working for a member of parliament in London.

Tese experiences are what led him to pursue both medical and law school, Schwartz said.

“When I was looking forward to pursuing the medical career, I had an opportunity to also do a law degree, and I felt from those experiences that that was a really valuable set of skills and training to bring to bear on policy, when and if I might be involved in that,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz said that in law school, he didn’t just learn what the law was, but also how the law can be used to achieve more justice in the world, something he sees as valuable for his new position as

Newton Housing Partnership Talks Working with Nonprofits

BY SARAH VERGURA Assoc. Advertising Director

Newton Housing Partnership evaluated programs and updated members on projects going on in the city in its monthly meeting on Tuesday night.

Director Gamuchirai

Madzima detailed the growth of Newton Thrive, the program providing mentorship and a monthly income of $250 to low-income Newton residents negatively impacted by the pandemic.

“It is one of the largest providers of family homeless shelters in Massachusetts,” Madzima said.

In the time since the mentoring program began in February 2023, it has grown to its full capacity of 50 members, all of whom earn 50 percent or less of the area’s median income, Madzima said.

Through this program, the number of participants who followed a budget rose 20 percent, the participants who received adequate child care rose 20 percent, and the participants who paid their rent on time rose

10 percent, according to Madzima.

Madzima read one participant's response in an anonymous survey about their experience in the program.

“It has allowed us to breathe a little deeper, feel a slight cushion to be able to dream and not feel these dreams are impossible,” an anonymous participant said.

Going forward, the program will focus on ongoing participant engagement and retention, ofering monthly economic mobility workshops and group training, according to Madzima.

Madzima said Newton Trive recently became certifed to run a digital skills training course in partnership with Tech Goes Home.

“The team and myself recently became certifed to run a digital skills training course in participation with Tech Goes Home, which we are going to be offering participants in the program where they get to walk away with a laptop and 12 months of internet service, which is incredible,” Madzima said.

Ten, the partnership moved on to a presentation from RKG Associates, an economic, planning, and real estate consultancy group,

state representative.

Te state legislature is kind of the real place where that kind of experience can really be brought to bear,” Schwartz said. “I'm really excited to dust it of and try to make some sense of how to use the law training to make policy.”

At the same time, Schwartz sees his medical background as especially useful to consider healthcare issues at the state house.

“I'm really excited about bringing this experience to the state legislature and help with some of the healthcare initiatives that they're already engaged in,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz won the contested Democratic primary for the representative seat over Rick Lipof and Bill Humphrey, and he will

run unopposed in Nov. 5’s general election.

Schwartz said since the toughest competition is over, he can focus on preparing for office by meeting with advocates.

“I have been able to spend a lot of this time that would otherwise probably be focused on campaigning, instead focusing on learning and connecting with leaders and advocates in many diferent areas,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz said he is still passionate about political participation, even though now he’s on the other side of the table: a representative instead of a citizen.

“Tat's so inspiring to me, that if you decide to get involved, you can actually have your voice heard as a citizen,” Schwartz said. n

City Reviews Building Emissions Guidelines

BY NIKITA OSADCHIY

For The Heights IONA LEE

For The Heights

Newton’s Zoning and Planning Committee (ZAP) reviewed the proposed Newton Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) on Monday night, which would require large property owners to report energy use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Synapse Energy Economics

led by Kyle Talente.

“[RKG] was involved back in 2019 and is familiar with Newton,” Talente said. “Tey are also very familiar with greater Boston, having looked at many community IZ ordinances.”

According to Talente, RKG created a program that assesses Inclusionary Zoning housing developments based on factors like size, amount of affordable units, land cost, and material cost to more accurately anticipate rates of return.

Talente said doing so was valuable because developers and investors look for certain percentages within the marketplace to see the project as a viable investment.

“While those numbers don’t really mean anything to you, per se, it means a lot from when we’re doing the analysis to understand whether a project would be competitive in the marketplace,” Talente said.

This model will thus allow them to analyze in advance substantial modifications to various zoning inputs and to understand how it impacts return expectations. n

Principal Associate Philip EashGates said Building Performance Standards such as BERDO are an effective way to decrease city greenhouse gas emissions, especially since, according to the city, the 400 largest buildings in Newton contribute 27 percent of the city's total greenhouse gas emissions.

“Building Performance Standards are seen as a leading policy tool available to local governments for building decarbonization,” Eash-Gates said. “They have an outsized impact by regulating relatively few buildings—we're talking about 23 to 28 percent of the emissions citywide across all sectors by regulating on the order of [300] to 400 large buildings.”

If adopted, Newton’s BERDO would initially apply to large non-residential buildings, with a floor area of 100,000 square feet and more. This includes campuses, commercial properties,

laboratories, and other large facilities.

The current proposed BERDO plan progressively tightens the emission standards for these buildings over time.

“Six buildings will need to make changes in year 2027, and that ramps up to about 40 buildings by 2030, so about 10 buildings will be impacted each year,” Eash-Gates said. “And that trend continues all the way out to 2050 and we find that most buildings—67 percent of them— we expect to comply until year 2040, so that gives a decade and a half for these building owners to plan and make changes.”

Te City of Boston adopted a BERDO in 2021, requiring buildings over 20,000 square feet and residential buildings with 15 or more units to gradually reduce their emissions to achieve net zero by 2050.

Newton’s version draws on Boston’s BERDO, but adopts a more gradual emissions reduction timeline. Larger buildings in Newton will begin compliance in 2027, with all buildings required to reach net zero by 2050. Meanwhile, Boston’s reductions are set to start in 2025.

“A Newton BERDO would be based on Boston BERDO, but tailored to Newton,” Newton’s Energy Project Manager Bill Ferguson said during a March 2022 City Council meeting on BERDO. “We can use the lessons they learned and challenges they faced to speed up our own process.” n

STEVE MOONEY / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

IMAGE COURTESY OF GREG SCHWARTZ

Schwartz is running unopposed in the general election on Nov. 5.

Schiller Institute Makes STEM Interdisciplinary

B

In the wake of increased discussions about race in 2020, Boston College’s Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society organized a seminar on environmental racism.

“We brought in speakers to talk in an interdisciplinary manner about environmental racism and got a lot of great audience,” Laura Steinberg, the Seidner Family executive director of the Schiller Institute said. “George Floyd had just happened, and it was such an important time for the university-wide conversation on these topics.”

With the opening of 245 Beacon Street in January 2022, the Schiller Institute established a home on BC’s campus. Te Institute aims to support interdisciplinary learning, research, and projects at BC within three categories: environment, energy, and health.

Although most students began interacting with Schiller in 2022, the idea for the Institute began in 2014 under the leadership of Steinberg and Greg Adelsberger, director of fnance and operations at the Institute.

Kaley McCarty, assistant director of programs for the Institute, said one of the unique aspects of Schiller’s interdisciplinary approach is bringing sciences, art, and humanities together in conversation.

“One example of a way we bring that to life is we have a poet laureate, [an] undergraduate student we met through the ‘U.S. Constitution: What Does the Constitution Mean to Me’ event that we co-sponsor,” McCarty said. “She will learn from what some of the researchers are doing and then write a poem inspired by that.”

The institute’s programming offers four interdisciplinary courses covering a diverse range of subjects, including Steinberg’s Entrepreneurial Leadership in energy, environment, and health class.

“I’ve seen there is a desire to be, to do, to go beyond learning for the sake of learning but to go out and be a

change agent,” Steinberg said. “I think my entrepreneurship class is about enabling that sense of ambition … I think we are giving students the tools that they want to make that diference.”

Talia Chaves, MCAS ’24, saw this in action when she attended the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt through the Institute. In preparation for the conference, Chaves took a class titled climate policy through the COP Process.

“Every week they would try to bring in a diferent speaker that could speak to a diferent area of climate change, and a few of those speakers had been to COP conferences themselves,” Chaves said. “We started to build an overview of [knowledge] of the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN in general, and how COP conferences started and what purpose they serve.”

The COP program takes two groups of students and faculty to each of the session of the conference. Te days are flled with talks, negotiations, and panels on various climate-related topics—Chaves attended a panel at COP27 surrounding the topic of green hydrogen.

“The idea of green hydrogen is using renewable energy like solar or hydro or wind to power something called electrolysis, which basically takes water molecules and breaks them up … so that the hydrogen is free for use and then you can use it to put into fuel cells or burn it or diferent things like that,” Chaves said.

She was so inspired by the panel, it ended becoming the topic of her senior thesis.

“I actually wrote my senior thesis on it,” Chaves said. “I wrote specifcally about if it’s possible to develop equitably in the global south because a large issue with a lot of climate solutions in general is greenwashing and making it seem more friendly to the environment than it actually is.”

Tis interest has continued into Chaves’ life outside of BC. She cur-

rently works at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston and has been able to engage with projects dealing with greenwashing and energy.

Chaves said she is grateful for the unique opportunity that the Institute aforded her and wants to give more people the opportunity to benefit from its resources and transformative experiences.

“Once I fnished the conference, I was like, ‘Why do people not know about Schiller and take their classes?’” said Chaves.

When Chaves returned from COP27, she decided to apply to the Schiller Student Board, stayed on through her graduation, and eventually became its president.

Sancia Sehdev, MCAS ’25, is currently on the Schiller Student Board and works with its communications and events committee which plans events to engage the BC community with the institute.

“I think one emphasis that Schiller has right now is trying to get a lot of new faculty to come in,” Sehdev said. “A lot of these faculty members are involved in research topics that are super interesting to students, so we’re organizing a faculty-student mixer sometime this month to allow good opportunities for students who are

interested in those areas to come and talk to faculty members who might be doing research they’re interested in.”

Sehdev attended COP28 in Dubai as part of the BC delegation and said she appreciated the interdisciplinary nature of the preparation class, which discussed areas of climate policy that her biology classes hadn’t taught her.

“It’s really interesting to be able to talk to people from so many diferent backgrounds and understand those nuances better,” Sehdev said. “And I think a lot of Schiller’s programs tend to be like that, because there are so many people from felds like economics, political science, law, and other diferent felds in the humanities, and then obviously a lot of STEM.”

Sehdev also participated in the Eagles Sustainability Competition, one of the many events that the Institute puts on to try and engage the BC community.

“I know Schiller hosted a table for Green Week last year,” Sehdev said. “And they kind of engage students to come in, talk about some specifc issues while making cute pot holders, or things like that. So we really try to engage students through activities like that, and then talk about their programming.”

Tis theme of approachability is

something that the Institute tries to emphasize, McCarty said. One of the main ways the Institute gets the word out to students is through its email newsletter, which comes out four times a year.

“We want it to come out more,” McCarty said. “So rather than doing the big one more frequently, we’re doing one that’s geared towards students, specifcally to speak to things that would be interesting to students. So we’re going to launch that by the end of the fall semester, and it’s going to be called the Schiller Scoop.”

Te Schiller Institute is also interested in helping advise student organizations. Whether through mentorship, sponsorship, or providing meeting spaces, Steinberg said the Institute actively works to foster student growth and collaboration.

“Send an email,” Steinberg said. “We almost always make time to visit. And the kind of help we can give, we can sponsor clubs and we can also provide mentoring guidance for the clubs. We have space available on request. What makes Schiller such an important organization on campus is that we have full-time staf and whose job, whose only job it is, to work for the Institute and do these sorts of things with students and faculty.” n

A Guide To Maximizing Your Lofted Triple Space

B Y C ARLIE V IRAY

For The Heights

Like many others entering their freshman year, I spent the summer anticipating my Boston College move-in, anxiously waiting for the housing portal to update. In August, however, I was met with a shocking surprise—I had been placed into one of the loathed lofted triples.

Lofted triple housing is back at BC. Though I was initially frustrated to discover that I was one of the “unlucky few,” I have learned that being in a lofted triple is nothing to be annoyed about if you use your space wisely. With that said, here are my tips

for making the most out of your lofted triple!

Storage As someone who loves to buy clothes and considers myself an over-packer, storage was one of my biggest concerns regarding the lofted triple life. Each person is given a five-drawer dresser to store clothing, as well as a closet space with shelves and hanging rods. My biggest tip for packing is not to bring everything you need at once. If possible, move in with only your warmer-weather clothes and essentials at first. Then, bring over (or bring back) other clothes, items, and decor the next time

you go home or your parents visit. This way, you are not overcrowding the space. Additionally, the perfect place to store your luggage, laundry bag, or laundry drying rack is under your bed. While you may not have the room to store extra drawers, the under-the-bed space is valuable real estate!

Making it Your Own

Your desk is a space you can easily make your own. With such tight space in a lofted triple, your desk is the one place you can truly express yourself. Don’t be afraid to decorate it with photos of your friends and family—an instant mood booster if you are

crying over calculus homework or perspectives readings. Add a nice lamp, your chargers, and a plant if you are feeling fancy. Keep it authentic to you, and give yourself a cozy study space for when you don’t want to walk to Bapst or O’Neill.

Utilize the Space Outside your Dorm

Avoid cabin fever by exploring BC’s campus and the city of Boston. Scour every building, library, and even outside for the perfect study space. Take the T and explore the endless activities that Boston and Chestnut Hill have to offer. Let the lofted triple be your calm retreat in a big and busy world, and don’t spend too much time in your room!

How to Make the Most of Each Bunk

Your choice of bunk can change the quality of your lofted triple life drastically. Each bed holds its pros and cons, determining the trajectory of your comfort. My bed of choice is the bottom bunk. Late night of studying? Late night out in the city? Food coma? No problem. The bottom bunk allows you to crawl into bed without worrying about the perils of a ladder.

If you’re living on the bottom bunk and want to add a little privacy or avoid late-night lamp lights, I recommend hanging a blanket along the bars of the bunk

as a makeshift curtain.

If you are particular about people sitting on your bed with their outside clothes, however, you may want to choose one of the other two bunks. Due to the limited space of the beloved lofted triple, the bottom bunk doubles as a seating space for guests.

The top bunk is the perfect place to live out your childhood fantasies. With the top bunk, your bed is your space, and you also don’t have to worry about visitors plopping themselves on your sheets. If this is your spot, feel free to put things on your ceiling and enjoy looking out at the room from above!

If you choose the loft you are automatically gifted the space underneath your bed equipped with a desk and a dresser. You can make this space your own. Add some lighting—fairy lights or LED strips—and you have yourself a cozy office to study in.

Be prepared, though: a secret of the lofted triple is that there is only one ladder! Hone your parkour skills and be prepared to launch yourself from your desk onto your bed when the ladder is on your roommate’s side.

If you are a bottom bunker, show some compassion and do your roommates a favor by grabbing their phone from their desk for them, or moving the ladder so that they can get down peacefully. After all, the biggest perk of the lofted triple is having two built-in friends. n

PHOTO COURTESY OF THALIA CLAVES

OPINIONS

Erin Flaherty Editor-in-Chief

“Acting like you’re above country music is not a personality trait.”

Will Martino Managing Editor

“Living in an of-campus apartment is better than living in an of-campus house.”

Luke Evans Sports Editor

“Turkey dinner is the best dining hall food at Boston College.”

Associate Opinions Editor

“Boston College is a spawning ground for investment bankers.”

Parker Leaf Graphics Editor

“Nighttime football games are better than daytime games.”

Connor Kilgallon Opinions Editor

“Hillside is the best place for food on campus.”

The opinions and commentaries of the

Let the Kids Be Sheep

“You guys are boring.”

Twenty sets of eyes zero in on a professor as he explains the alleged anonymity of Boston College students.

“You sort of fall in line … like sheep.”

He went on.

“We joke that it’s a Catholic thing. Someone tells you to jump 3 feet, you jump 3 feet. You sort of follow the rules ... You all dress the same!”

While our student body is visibly more homogenous than many larger schools with more international students and higher percentages of students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, this view of BC students is a bland overgeneralization.

In the winter of my freshman year, I started packing up to leave my public speaking class when a girl decided to speak quite openly on my choice of clothing.

“Is that a Canada Goose?”

“Um, no, it’s not.”

“Oh good! I don’t know if I could speak to you again if it were .” Finding myself speechless—a rare occurrence—we walked out of the building, heads bent against the cold, while she muttered about how ridiculous it was that so many people on this campus owned the same jacket.

We went our separate ways, and I debated borrowing a Canada Goose coat from someone and wearing it to our next class just to see how she would react. Would that have changed her under-

standing of my character or my personality? Why does owning a certain coat make you change your opinion of someone so radically?

It’s one thing to take issue with hyper consumerism or with harmful animal treatment in the making of a coat (I would have to look into how Canada’s geese are doing). But this classmate seemed to be annoyed mainly by the price tag on the jacket and its prominence on campus in spite of the, admittedly high, cost.

For reference, a Canada Goose winter parka costs between $1,000 and $2,000, with the bestselling Shelburne Parka Heritage at $1,775.

I think there are less expensive jackets that accomplish the same goal of protecting against cold weather and keeping the wearer insulated, but when it comes to cost-efficiency, you could make the same argument for almost anything.

I brought up this conversation to a friend, and he said he agreed with the girl—it’s nonsense to spend so much money on a piece of clothing. I reminded him that he drove a Range Rover in high school. He said, “Well that wasn’t my choice. My parents bought it many years ago.”

What is the difference between a Range Rover and a Toyota Corolla? They both get you from Point A to Point B. The difference lies in a higher level of comfort, smoothness, and luxury, in addition to the price that accompanies those features. My friend’s parents enjoy those features and can spend money to have them.

People choose to spend money on different things—some people find they have a little extra cash after payday and go get ice cream, some people can have holes in their shirt but prefer to get a new pair of shoes, and many others, unfortunately, can’t afford to make those choices at all.

It’s completely natural to marvel at the injustice of circumstance and to wish

people didn’t spend so much money on a jacket, but it is another thing entirely to assume something about a person’s character or integrity based on a piece of clothing.

Judging someone for having something can be almost as harmful as judging someone for not having it. This also calls into question whether something can be too cheap and the implications behind the quality of items. Do you judge a person for buying from SHEIN, a company with questionable ethical practices but very affordable prices?

There is more to a person than what you can see at first glance. We are all composed of a long personal history, compounded by a series of small choices made every day.

My professor’s comments made me want to point out the little differences in the way people express themselves and encourage people to dress however they want.

But at the same time, I wanted to ask him to take a closer look at the people who may be dressed the same.

You know what’s boring? Intellectual cynicism. It’s as boring as it gets. Professors, instead of generalizing an entire student body, try to get to know your students. Take an interest in them and learn what makes them unique. Most of the people I have met at BC are incredibly well-rounded, interesting people.

At face value, the observation that a lot of people wear the same wide-leg jeans and black top on a Friday night is true! But to assume all the wearers are the same is deeply uninspiring.

Let this be a reminder for students to be themselves and for professors to see their students as people they can positively influence and learn from. Not just … sheep

On Being Content Where You Are

Freshman year, it felt almost impossible not to compare everything about my college life to the college lives of my friends at other schools.

From classes to dining halls and dorm decor to social life, I found myself constantly comparing and contrasting my experiences with the experiences of others, trying to anxiously convince myself that I lived a life just as fun and fulflling as my friends’.

Tings about Boston College that I never thought would bother me—not having Greek life, living on Newton Campus—started to stand out as strikingly “diferent.” Eventually, I began to view these things that felt “diferent” as inferior.

Te comparison became all-consuming, especially when looking at other schools I had considered in the application process. I questioned whether I made the right choice by coming to BC.

But my doubts were purely products of comparison.

I was enjoying myself and my time at BC. Tere was nothing in particular that I didn’t like about my life on the Heights, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing out on something somewhere else. Beyond that, the innumerable unknowns in the three years ahead left me wondering if these feelings would become standard to my experience.

Eventually, as I began to settle into a better routine and found a great group of friends, the comparison slowly started to settle down. I became content with all of BC and recognized that what might be “diferent” here is actually a better ft for me.

Tough it took time (a lot of time), I started to acknowledge that every school has its pros and cons, and I reminded myself of why I chose BC in the frst place.

“ Te grass is always greener …” I told myself each time I reverted back to my cycles

of comparison. Now, as a senior, the discomfort of not knowing what comes next has started a new cycle of comparison.

As I see friends accept job ofers and solidify their trajectory for the foreseeable future, the unknowns of my gap year before applying to medical school have reignited my feelings of discontent with the status quo.

Similarly, these feelings are complex and multifaceted. I don’t even know what I want to be doing, so the uncertainty of my plans feels appropriate, if a bit uncomfortable.

Tis time, though, I feel I have a more mature outlook on how to cope with these feelings of uncertainty, learning to embrace the periods of unknown as periods of self-discovery.

Having worked through these confusing (and often contradictory) feelings once before, I now know how to make peace with unpredictability. Tough it’s a dynamic process to navigate, it has taught me to be content with where I am.

ISABELLA PIERETTI

GRAPHICS BY PARKER LEAF / HEIGHTS EDITOR

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

JENNY HOTCHKISS

Jenny Hotchkiss is a columnist for The Heights She can be reached at hotchkij@bc.edu.

Annual Pops on the Heights Raises $12.8 Million

At Pops, the Krafts announced their campaign has reached the halfway point to their goal, having raised $1.5 billion so far. Since its founding, “Soaring Higher” aims to grant a formative experience to all students and plans a legacy of accessibility to a college education for all students called to BC’s mission of “men and women for others.”

Starting off the night, the Screaming Eagles were joined by the BC University Chorale to play “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley. Te entire audience was on its feet, dancing to the music and showing of its school spirit.

Following the marching band were BC’s a cappella groups, including the Bostonians, the Sharps, the Heightsman, and the BC Dynamics. Te groups all sang popular songs such as “It’s Raining Men” by Te Weather Girls and “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of Tis)” by the Eurythmics.

The Boston Pops Orchestra, led by conductor Keith Lockhart, then took to the stage alongside solo performer Sofa Burke, MCAS ’25, as she performed “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” She was rewarded with a standing ovation at the performance’s fnish.

After a short intermission, the Boston Pops Orchestra returned

to perform a ’90s mashup of wellknown hits that even the Class of 2028 would know.

The medley started off with Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” followed by the iconic Friends theme song “I’ll Be Tere for You,” which got the entire crowd involved , as people clapped along to more ’90s hits.

Te Boston Pops fnished their set with Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” Ten, the entire audience rippled with cheers as Goo Goo Dolls took to the stage. Goo Goo Dolls were formed in 1968 and have since become timeless musicians that continue to reach audiences in new generations.

The main singer of Goo Goo Dolls, John Rzeznik, recognized University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., and the Kraft and Edgerley families for their dedication to BC and for allowing him to perform for their cause.

Rzeznik described BC as a place of fond memories from his youth and shouted out the ’90s graduates in the arena as he readied for his frst song “Slide.”

“Our friend invited us to play at a party,” Rzeznik said. “He was a football player so we couldn’t exactly say no … Tat night was a time.”

Goo Goo Dolls continued with performances alongside the Boston Pops, performing hits like “Black

Balloon,” “Sympathy,” and “Let Love In.” Te band then got ready for its last and most popular song, “Iris.” Te frst three chords of the song made the entire crowd go wild, and the audience stood for the entirety of the song.

“And I don’t want the world to see me / ’Cause I don’t think that they’d understand,” Rzeznik sang alongside the audience. “When everything’s made to be broken / I just want you to know who I am.”

Te Boston Pops made their fnal song “For Boston” as Baldwin the Eagle hyped up the crowd one last time.

Yellow and burgundy balloons fell from the ceiling to wrap up a magical night. n

New Exhibit Explores the Immigrant Experience

BY DOMINIQUE WILLIAMS

For The Heights

With the academic year of to a new beginning, so are the artists featured in the McMullen Museum of Art’s new exhibit, States of Becoming.

Te exhibit, which opened on Sept. 9 and will be up until Dec. 8, features the artwork of 17 contemporary artists from the African diaspora in their search for self

after resettling in the United States. Trough their art, they explore the challenges and joy of immigrating to the United States.

Temes of assimilation, family, home, and opportunity merge together in this new exhibition, with all its rough edges exposed.

While this new exhibit portrays the stories of artists who have crossed an ocean, their narratives may parallel those of college students crossing the threshold from

childhood to young adulthood. Tese artists are thrust into the multidimensional melting pot that is the United States, and, similarly, college students strike out on the microcosm of the world that exists on Boston College’s campus.

Entering the exhibit, one is immediately faced with Masimba Hwati’s tintype portraits. Tintypes are a form of photography that creates an image on a thin piece of metal or iron. Te self-posed, Zimbabwe-born, mixed-media artist uses the stark contrast of black and white in these photos to evoke attention.

In his two portraits, certain elements hint toward the artist’s complicated heritage, his relationship with his father, and the scars guerrilla warfare left on them both, as explained in the work’s description. In both portraits, the viewer must linger and make eye contact with the subject’s emotionless expression.

Perhaps in coming to a new country, these artists were hungry to

be seen in their entirety. Tese artists, immigrants studying America for its faws and charms, also hope to be seen in their incompleteness.

Te collection, assembled by curator Fitsum Shebeshe, focuses on the construction identity in the face of relocation and resettling, he states.

Immigrants entering this country are faced with countless hurdles to overcome. They may face the challenge of not being American enough to ft or too American in a self-neglecting manner. Tey may fnd themselves navigating a constant tension between honoring their heritage and participating in American culture.

College students also balance the tension between who they are and what others expect of them.

Like mass-produced airport art, how many elements can one discard without losing one’s essence?

Another highlight of the exhibition is the short animated flm, “Zikir” by Kibrom Araya. “Zikir,”

which translates into “remembrance,” follows the story of Kibrom in his quest to fnd his identity in his home and his church, ultimately forming his worldview and artistic voice.

Embedded throughout this plot is the constant image of a caterpillar attempting to climb a tree, only to fall every time. It’s a metaphor for becoming. Self-discovery is not a linear quest, the flm suggests. It requires picking yourself up and attempting, again and again, the gargantuan task of re-defning yourself.

States of Becoming has many intertwined stories of seeking home, community, and identity. Te exhibit, however, is more of an emotional experience than an intellectual one. As students from all years ponder their States of Becoming for the 2024–25 school year, these 17 artists from across the African diaspora have much to ofer from their experiences crafting identity in a new place. n

Ktoridi: Here’s What Films to Watch This Fall

By Angeliki Ktoridi Heights Staff

What better time to watch a movie than the fall season? In my opinion, the best months end with “-ber.” September introduces us to the marvelous world of falling leaves, sweater weather, and flm season. As it gets colder and the Boston College throat tickle makes its way around campus, watching

a movie is a great way to spend a Friday night in. With midterms coming, the beginning of fall is the best time to take advantage of what are (probably) going to be the last few stressfree weeks before fnals and severe weather changes. Fall signifes diferent things for diferent people, and based on your fall mood, here’s my recommendations for what flms to watch!

Feeling: Spooky, Mysterious, Halloweeny and Festive

With fall comes the best holiday: Halloween. Whether you choose to celebrate or not, the crisp weather can put anyone in the mood to watch a nice eerie movie, even if it’s not a horror flm! As we begin embracing the ghostly and supernatural side of autumn, here are some great ficks to watch when you’re in the mood.

Coraline (2009), Te Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), or Corpse Bride (2005) are great choices if you’re in the Tim Burton mood or enjoy claymation! Practical Magic (1998), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Beetlejuice (1988) are some ’90s Halloween classics—or even The Goonies (1985) if you’re an ’80s flm fanatic.

Feeling: Studious and Dark Academia

If Halloween isn’t your main concern but studying is, then fall will defnitely help you settle into that “dark academia” mood. Intellectual, moody, and brooding with themes of art, philosophy, and hidden secrets, Bapst will defnitely be your hiding spot for the next few weeks.

If you’re not preparing for Halloween, but instead that upcoming midterm, make sure to take a break while staying in that academic mood! These movies capture the intellectual and moody atmosphere of fall while giving your mind a brain break from all those notecards.

and

and the

are great movies set in the world of academia, which can act as motivation. Cruel Intentions (1999) and Sleepy Hollow (1999), although not set in academia, still give that dark and brooding vibe that you’re craving. Lastly, a known favorite is Gilmore Girls. It might not be a movie, but Rory Gilmore’s persona will defnitely keep you in that studying mood.

Feeling: Earthy & Grounded With the changing weather, it’s also nice to see Boston’s colorful and distinct seasons. Whether you’re a freshman or a senior, it’s no secret that BC’s campus is the perfect place to see this sweet earthy change.

CALLIE OXFORD AND SARAH FLEMING / HEIGHTS EDITORS

On Sept. 27, the 32nd Annual Pops on the Heights fundraiser, held in Conte Forum, featured performances from the University Chorale, Boston Pops, and Goo Goo Dolls.

CATHERINE DUTMER / FOR THE HEIGHTS

McMullen’s new exhibit features 17 contemporary African disapora artists.

Te Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), Te Graduate (1967), Te Skulls (2000),

Harry Potter

Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

Pops, from A1

GRAPHIC BY PAIGE STEIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

SPORTS

“I

Took That Personally”

Boston College football’s Donovan Ezeiruaku racked up a career-high 14 total tackles, three sacks, and had a game-defining strip sack

Football, from A1

With starting quarterback Tomas Castellanos sidelined due to an undisclosed injury, backup Grayson James took over an offense in disarray.

James, an FIU transfer making his frst start in an Eagles uniform, looked jittery and indecisive, struggling to fnd an early rhythm.

Te game refused to fare any better for the Eagles on the other end either.

WKU took just about whatever it wanted from BC, piling up 247 overall frst-half yards, a number of chunk plays, and a 20–7 lead heading into the fnal 15 minutes.

But with less than seven minutes to play and the Eagles still down 20–14, Donovan Ezeiruaku had seen enough.

“I felt like we started of very slow,” Ezeiruaku said. “We didn’t really pick it up until the second half. And I took that personally.”

After already logging a career-high 14 total tackles and two sacks up to that point, BC’s senior edge rusher had one more highlight play left in the tank. On a 3rd-and-5 backed up in his own territory,

WKU quarterback Caden Veltkamp looked downfeld to convert on an easy completion, just as he had done for the past three quarters.

Ezeiruaku, meanwhile, zeroed in on his target, broke through the edge, and jarred the football loose.

It was BC’s ball, and eventually, BC’s win—signed, sealed, and delivered by its star game-wrecker.

“[Ezeiruaku] knows when the time is right to make a play,” O’Brien said. “He’s got good timing. He knew that we needed a play right there—he made a play.”

Six plays later, James connected with his high school teammate Jerand Bradley in the back of the end zone to give BC its frst lead and the 21–20 victory.

“Once he called it, I knew it was a touchdown,” Bradley said. “I told [Lewis Bond], I was like, ‘Tis is a touchdown.’

And then I see the coverage that we had—it was perfect. Grayson, I see him roll out a little bit. He gave me a perfect lob, and I knew I had to get it.”

Te win clinched the Eagles’ best start since 2021 and is their largest comeback of the season so far.

“It’s a credit to our kids,” O’Brien said. “Tey work very hard. I’m happy for them.”

that led to a BC score.

WKU imposed its will on BC’s defense from the jump, needing less than 18 minutes to establish a 14–0 lead. And even after catching a break with a Veltkamp interception late in the frst quarter, James gave the ball right back to the Hilltoppers, who cashed in with their second touchdown of the afternoon.

Though BC eventually added a touchdown a few drives later courtesy of Kye Robichaux, WKU notched a chip-shot feld goal just as the frst half expired and headed into the locker room up 17–7.

“It wasn’t a real happy locker room at halftime,” O’Brien said. “I’m just speaking for myself here, but we have very—I have very high expectations for the team. So I look at it as defnitely my fault when we don’t play well. And I see that crowd, especially the students—I see the students, and I feel bad.”

For the second straight game, the Eagles trailed at the half.

“I’ve got to fgure out what I can do better to get these guys playing better in the frst half, because I take that to heart,” O’Brien said.

Te Hilltoppers knocked BC onto the ropes midway through the third quarter, and the Eagles appeared to be

crashing back down toward .500.

But led by Ezeiruaku, the Eagles stayed composed enough to fght back into the game.

Te message from player to player was just, ‘No panic,’” Ezeiruaku said. “‘There’s no need to panic. We are a resilient team.’”

James—who fnished the game with 168 yards and two touchdowns—picked up his frst score as an Eagle early in the fourth quarter in a drive sparked by a Kam Arnold interception.

And from that point on, BC’s defense clamped down.

Te Eagles’ defense shut down WKU in its fnal three drives, enough for BC to cap of the game with a pair of James kneel downs.

“I think our defense balled out today,” James said. “I don’t think we get the job done today without them making some crucial stops.”

With the win, BC picked up its largest fourth-quarter comeback in program history.

“We have to fgure it out and get better,” O’Brien said. “But yeah, our guys hung in there. They’re very resilient. Tey’re a very tough group of guys.” n

Notebook: Ezeiruaku Propels Eagles to Victory

BY MARIA STEFANOUDAKIS

Asst. Sports Editor

Western Kentucky was not supposed to be a trap game for Boston College football. BC head coach

Bill O’Brien made that clear in the week leading up to the matchup.

Tere should be no trap games with Boston College,” O’Brien said. “Every single game that we play at BC is vital to this program.”

But when BC found itself

season with a 63–0 loss to Alabama. Here are three observations from the Eagles’ narrow win.

First-Half Woes Continue Despite eventually earning an exhilarating victory over Michigan State last week, BC’s chances at a win looked uncertain in the f rst half of its Red Bandanna Game. Te Eagles tallied only a single yard of forward progress on their opening drive before being pushed back four yards and ultimately turning the second game bigthan the first, though, as Treshaun Ward got all the way to the Spartans’ 9-yard line before fumbling. The Eagles were lacking defensively, too. They gave up a 40-yard pass that set the Spartans up for a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and although BC’s nally found the endzone earlier in the quarter, even that success wasn’t out its gles: Luca missed

what I said to the players,” O’Brien said after the MSU game. “I’d have to go to confession.”

Despite O’Brien’s strong feelings about last week’s first-half showing, few things seemed to change against WKU in terms of how the Eagles started the game. In fact, they might have been worse.

BC’s defense gave up backto-back 9-yard completions on 3rd-and-12 and 4th-and-3 on the frst drive of the game, before being spared by a couple of penalties that restrained the Hilltoppers in a way the Eagles’ defense seemed incapable of.

BC’s opening drive was underwhelming in every sense of the word. Except for an 11-yard completion to Jeremiah Franklin, BC did not muster any more than two yards on any play.

BC’s second drive ended in a punt as well, and an interception on its third drive of the game was the cherry on top.

Keondre Williams picked of Grayson James’ pass and returned it for 23 yards, setting the Hilltoppers up for a touchdown that made it a two-score game.

O’Brien paced the sideline with his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

At the half, WKU held a 17–7 lead as the Eagles had once again started the game with their heads not in the game.

“I look at it as definitely my fault when we don’t play well in the

frst half,” O’Brien said.

Quarterback Struggles

It’s true that playing without your starting quarterback is a difcult adjustment for any team, and that held true for the Eagles.

James’ frst pass of the game was an 11-yard completion—a strong start to the FIU transfer’s BC career. But things went screaming downhill from there.

His next four caught passes went as follows: 1-yard loss, 1-yard gain, 1-yard gain, and an interception.

James ended the game 19for-32 for 168 yards, one passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, and one interception.

He looked panicked nearly every time the defense applied intense pressure—under and over-throwing open receivers and holding the ball too long at times, leading to two sacks.

One key redeeming factor for James’ performance was the fact that Caden Veltkamp may have played worse than James did.

Te WKU quarterback threw two interceptions and was sacked three times, one of which resulted in a crucial fumble with 6:26 remaining in the game.

While the timing of Castellanos’ return has not been announced, it’s clear that BC’s ofense did not— and maybe cannot— operate the same in his absence.

Ezeiruaku’s Excellence

Donovan Ezeiruaku was clearly the most important player for BC on Saturday, and maybe so far this season.

“I felt like we started of very slow,” Ezeiruaku said. “We didn’t really pick it up ’til the second half.” He continued.

“And I took that personally,” Ezeiruaku said.

He sacked Veltkamp three times, totaled a career-high 14 tackles, and forced a fumble. Te senior has already beat his career-high in sacks with eight, and he’s done it just fve games into the season. In a game where the ofense struggled throughout, Ezeiruaku continuously put BC in a position to succeed. Down 20–14 with less than seven minutes remaining, the Eagles had lost momentum. A pass interference call provided the Eagles with their only f rst down of the previous drive—which ended with a punt. On 3rd-and-5 at WKU’s 27-yard line, Veltkamp received the snap.

Te tension in Alumni Stadium was palpable. Everyone seemed to know—this play might determine the game. Ezeiruaku fought, just like he had all game. He delivered a sack as Veltkamp looked to throw, knocking the ball out of the passer’s hands, giving George Rooks the chance to scoop it of the ground and secure possession for BC.

Te play gave BC’s struggling ofense the short feld it needed to score the touchdown that ultimately won the Eagles the game, helping them avoid disaster in Chestnut Hill.

GRAPHIC BY BROOKE GHALY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR & TRISHNA CONDOOR / HEIGHTS STAFF

Ekeland Saves Eagles From Loss, Ties Louisville 1–1

BY QUINN WALSH Heights Staff

After 30 minutes of fast-paced, game-controlling offense, Boston College men’s soccer finally found a real opportunity to break the game open.

Louisville

goalkeeper AJ Piela dove to deflect a rocket that came off star sophomore Xavier O’Neil’s foot, which was bound for the bottom-right corner of the goal.

After the save, the ball landed right where the Cardinals didn’t want it—in the foothold of BC midfielder Marco Dos Santos. With Piela still sprawled on the ground, nothing but open air stood between Dos Santos and the back of the net.

But he missed it wide right, keeping the game scoreless.

Missed opportunities like these were what plagued the Eagles (3–2–5, 0–2–2 Atlantic Coast) on Sunday afternoon as they eked

out a 1–1 draw against Louisville (4–3–2, 0–2–2).

“Honestly, I felt like we played really, really well,” BC head coach Bob Thompson said. “It was just a matter of being a little bit more clinical in the end. Louisville—we tied. We played neck and neck to Pitt and Clemson—top five teams in the country. It’s hard to find wins in the ACC, but we’re close, we’re close.”

The match started off hot, with BC forward Michael Asare launching a shot on goal within the first 10 seconds that Piela stopped.

Again in the ninth minute, Eagles forward Ask Ekeland ripped a laser headed right toward the middle of the net, only to soar right into Piela’s hands.

The next 20 minutes saw action, with BC firing off two shots on goal. The Cardinals’ best chance to take the lead came in the 20th minute, but goalkeeper Brennan Klein made a diving save on a ball zooming toward the topleft corner of the net.

In the last 15 minutes of the half, the Cardinals controlled the pace of play—sailing a shot above the crossbar, then picking up two corner kicks. The Eagles looked shaky, but still entered halftime deadlocked in a 0–0 tie.

The Cardinals did not let up early in the second half. Within the first five minutes, they fired three shots, the last of which saw tensions rise as Louisville head coach John Michael Hayden called for a penalty from the sidelines.

Shortly after, Michael Lee fired a cross to forward Gage Guerra that landed about 3 feet short of the goal’s bottom-right corner.

Guerra immediately capitalized on the opportunity, redirecting the ball off a hop and sending it just under Klein’s arms and into the back of the net, putting the Cardinals up 1–0.

The rest of the match saw the Eagles trying to play catch-up and stave off another ACC loss.

They notched 12 shots throughout the second half, com -

pared to the Cardinals’ four. But continued missed opportunities kept the Eagles out of the scoring column.

An hour in, O’Neil fired a missile toward the wide-open left side of the goal. But it strayed just far right enough for Piela to get a hand on it, deflecting the ball into the left post and then out of bounds.

With five minutes remaining and things beginning to look grim for BC, Ekeland came to the rescue.

Off a BC corner kick, Asare headed the ball high into the air,

Eagles Record Fourth Straight Loss

BY EMILY ROBERGE

Assoc. Sports Editor

The last time Boston College volleyball defeated North Carolina was in 2018, when the Eagles swept the Tar Heels for the first time ever.

Seven years later on a Sunday afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C., BC fell yet again to North Carolina 3–1, giving the Tar Heels a 26–1 advantage in the all-time series.

While the Eagles (7–7, 0–2 Atlantic Coast) dominated the matchup in the first few plays of the first set, UNC (10–1, 2–0) then took control of the matchup, capitalizing off consecutive BC service errors, and the Tar Heels never looked back from that point on.

The first set went back and forth with four lead changes and 11 ties—until BC’s sloppiness began to show in the last few volleys. The Tar Heels went on a 6–0 run in the latter end of the first set, taking the lead 24–18.

BC prevented the Tar Heels from ending the set with the first set point following a service error by UNC’s Zoe Behrendt, but the Tar Heels were able to close it out with a kill to make the score 25–19.

After the first set, it seemed as if the Eagles’ chances of taking

a set were rapidly diminishing, and that a UNC sweep was in the works. But BC would not go down so easily.

While UNC started the second set with a 3–0 lead off two consecutive kills and a BC service error, the tables started to turn for BC. Slowly, the Eagles chipped away at the Tar Heels’ advantage.

After a Jackie Taylor kill for UNC to bring the score to a 18–16 Tar Heel lead, BC started to heat up. After going on a 6–1 run, the Eagles held a 22–18 lead.

A few minutes later, with the score tied 24–24, the teams battled for a second frame victory.

BC ended the set victorious after a bad set by UNC’s Mabrey Shaffmaster and an attack error by Chelsea Thorpe.

The Tar Heels tallied 13 kills in the second frame compared to BC’s 17, giving the Eagles an edge going into the third frame.

But the next two sets proved to be less than successful for the Eagles.

Even though BC took the first point of the third set, which it had failed to do in previous sets, the Eagles were unable to sustain consistency in their on-net attacks and blocks.

With the score at a 16–16 standstill in the third set, UNC’s Shaffmaster launched herself into the air, swiftly slamming the ball into BC’s side of the court.

But they were not done. Point

after point, UNC hammered the BC defense as it went on a 6–0 run.

After a powerful UNC stretch, the Eagles were unable to stand their ground, and the Tar Heels took the set 25–23 going into the final set.

UNC closed the game by capturing the fourth set with hardly any opposition. With just nine kills in the final frame, the Eagles were no threat against the Tar Heels’ 15 kills.

The difference maker for UNC was Shaffmaster, who posted 19 kills in the match alone. The Tar Heel trio of Shaffmaster, Safi Hampton, and Alexis Engelbrecht each notched double-digit kills against their ACC opponent.

Ending their weekend with a loss in UNC, BC walked away with yet another disappointing series.

Despite starting 6–1 on the 2024 season, the Eagles have since dropped six of their last seven, with Sunday’s matchup marking its third consecutive loss in the past two weekends.

Coming off losses to LSU and San Diego to end the LSU Invitational last weekend, BC entered its Friday game against Duke having lost four of its last six games.

Duke, too, came into the match on a two-game losing streak after leaving the Big Ten/ ACC Challenge last week 0–2 with losses to Michigan State and

Michigan.

BC failed to capitalize on a 4–1 opening lead and traded the lead four times in the first set.

Although the Eagles ultimately secured a 25–22 win in the first set on a kill from Halle Schroder, they dropped three and ultimately surrendered a 3–2 loss to Duke.

In another tight second set, the Eagles and Blue Devils began tied at 4–4 and remained close until an ace from Morgan Riddle and a kill from Schroder forced a Duke timeout.

Following the timeout, Duke took a 21–19 lead and closed out the set 25–22 to tie the match.

The Eagles finally broke through a close third set, finding a 22–17 lead late in the set.

While a late rally from the Blue Devils seemed promising, the Eagles won the set 25–21 after a commanding kill from Sam Hoppes at the net.

Coming into the fourth set 2–1, the Eagles lost momentum early on and were only able to respond to the Blue Devils’ advance with a late four point run to cut the gap to 24–20.

Duke won the set 25–20 to equalize the match, sending both teams into a game-deciding fifth set.

Trading points early in the fifth set, the Eagles held the Blue Devils to a one-point game until Duke pulled ahead 13–11, and eventually earned a 15–12 win.

and Ekeland wasted no time taking advantage of the assist.

Taking a huge leap off the turf, he headed Asare’s header, launching it past Piela and into the goal’s top right corner.

The Eagles had finally tied things up.

“I kind of had a feeling it was going to come eventually,” Ekeland said. “For me as an attacker, it’s only about being prepared when the opportunity is there.”

The match did not see much more action, and ultimately ended in a 1–1 draw.

Eagles Steamroll Stonehill 5–1 in Season Opener

After squandering two power plays, the Eagles got lucky thanks to senior defenseman Keri Clougherty, who threw a prayer from the red line Boston College Stonehill 5 1 and lit the lamp with 5:51 left in the frst period.

After another few penalties on both sides, the scoreboard remained at 2–1, with BC closing the frst period leading the shots on goal and keeping the intensity up going into the second.

BC registered 19 shots on goal in the second to Stonehill’s three.

Senior forward Jenna Carpenter entered the zone looking to extend the Eagles’ lead, pushing one to the middle of the ice, but had it batted back to her below the net.

This didn’t faze Carpenter,

though, who added an insurance goal and a comfortable 3–1 Eagles’ lead with 10:12 remaining in the second.

Te Eagles continued to put the pressure on as the clock wound down toward the third period.

Sophomore goaltender Bailey Callaway subbed in halfway through the second period for the Eagles and kept her slate clean.

BC didn’t slow down, adding its fourth goal of the night after sophomore forward Sammy Taber streaked past Stonehill’s defenseman and found an opening between goaltender Alexsa Caron’s padding with 8:15 left in the second.

Nearing the home stretch, Callaway defended the pipes well, keeping a late Stonehill push of fve shots out of the back of the net in the fnal minutes of regulation, earning herself a zero on the scoresheet.

BC’s freshman forward Tricia Piku nabbed her f rst collegiate

In BC’s season opener against Stonehill, the Eagles registered 25 more shots than the Skyhawks. SARAH FLEMING / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BC’s draw to the Cardinals marks its fifth of the 2024 season. PAUL CRIADO / HEIGHTS STAFF

Women’s Hockey, from A1