2-26-2013

The Daily Free Press

Year xliii. Volume lxxxiv. Issue XXII

NEUTRAL ZONE GN BU continues to press for gender-neutral housing, page 3.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

WHATCHA DRINKIN’

Study examines popular alcoholic drinks of underage drinkers, page 5.

]

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CLINCHED

WEATHER

Women’s Hockey captures top spot in Hockey East, page 8.

Today: Partly cloudy/High 42 Tonight: Light snow late/Low 35 Tomorrow: 41/39 Data Courtesy of weather.com

Israel Peace Week kicks off with youth music concert After filing papers, Sean Bielat backs out of Senate race

By Margaret Waterman Daily Free Press Staff

To kick off 2013’s Israel Peace Week, members of Boston University Students for Israel hosted Heartbeat, an Israeli-Palestinian youth music community, Monday evening.

About 90 students, professors and community members gathered at BU Central in the George Sherman Union to attend the group’s showing, which BUSI co-president Rachel DuShey said was a gathering of music and love.

“The message of this group perfectly coincides with my personal message and the message of the series Israel Peace Week, which is coexistence,” she said. “We’re focusing on social efforts at coexistence and grassroots efforts as opposed to lofty political goals.”

DuShey, a College of Communication junior, said while people often talk about a need for peace, it cannot exist unless it begins at a basic level.

“People talk about local borders all the time, they talk about wrong moves that the Israeli government is making, wrong moves that the Palestinian governments are making,” she said. “But it’s all about the people in the end and what the people choose to do.”

Leora Kaufman, BUSI co-president and COM junior, said she discovered Heartbeat during her gap year in Israel after high

By Sophia Goldberg Daily Free Press Contributor

not been met with full support across the state as legislators and state officials debate the urgency and lasting impact of the bill.

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement that minimum wage is not a current priority of his — as minimum wage is still above the federal minimum — but that he is still open to the bill.

“I support the president,” he said. “We already have one of the highest minimum wages in state law, but I’m willing to look at that.”

Ryan Kearney, general counsel at the Retail Association of Massachusetts, said raising the minimum wage could negatively impact small businesses by forcing them to pay more for labor, making it more difficult to stay active.

“It puts Massachusetts at a competitive disadvantage,” Kearney said. “So if it has to be done, it should be done at a federal level so we can stay competitive with other states.”

Kearney said Massachusetts already has

After coming off two losses in previous Congressional elections, Republican businessman Sean Bielat bowed out of the special senate election race Wednesday, striking a blow to an already small republican field with few established candidates.

“Over the past few weeks, I have given a lot of consideration and exploration towards running for the U.S. Senate in the Massachusetts special election, but I have made the decision not to run at this time,” Bielat said in a press release Wednesday.

Bielat, who was originally reported to be running in the race for John Kerry’s senate seat, said another campaign within three years would be hard on his family.

“Running a third campaign in a highprofile race in three years with a one and a two year-old would be particularly difficult on our family,” he said in the release. “The most compelling reason for me to run is for our country’s future and for our children’s futures, but at this point, I hope and I feel that I can do the most for our children simply by spending more time with them.”

Bielat ran in the 2010 U.S. House of Representatives election and lost to incumbent Barney Frank. He ran for the seat again in 2012 against Joseph Kennedy III, but lost.

Tim Buckley, communications director for the Massachusetts Republican Party, said even without Bielat in the race, there will be great Republican candidates on the ballot.

“I don’t think Bielat’s decision not to run hurt the Republican Party at all,” he said.

“We have three fantastic candidates, Gabriel Gomez, Michael Sullivan, and Dan Winslow.

Three very solid candidates who will all very likely be on the ballot. And whoever emerges from the Republican side is going to be a breath of fresh air.”

Mass. Rep. Daniel Winslow kicked off his campaign Feb. 8 as the first declared Republican candidate. Former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez announced Feb. 11 that he would run as well. Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said Feb. 14 that he was collecting the signatures needed to be included in the primary.

Samantha Hooper, press secretary for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said the

Minimum Wage, see page 4

Bielat, see page 2

SARAH FISHERDAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Heartbeat, an Israeli-Palestinian youth music group, performed at BU Central on its first American tour Monday

school.

“Coexistence through music is such a human thing,” she said. “That was really the highlight of the event, that we could get together and forget our political ideologies for a minute and just enjoy something.”

Kaufman said Heartbeat’s membership is constantly in flux, but about half Israeli and half Palestinian.

Although they were invited, BU Students for Justice in Palestine members did

not make an appearance at the concert, Kaufman said.

“I do wish that the Students for Justice in Palestine could have come because that would have really started some dialogue on our campus,” she said. “If we have a similar event in the future we’ll really put an emphasis on them coming. We did invite them, but they didn’t accept this time.”

Israel, see page 2

Proposed minimum wage in Mass. to reach $11/hour

By Jenna Lavin Daily Free Press Contributor

Massachusetts legislators are considering a bill that, if passed, would gradually increase the minimum wage to $11/hour over the next three years — an even more ambitious wage increase than that proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Massachusetts’s minimum wage is one of the highest in the country, but state legislators are concerned that $8 is insufficient to cover the growing costs of living in the Northeast, particularly in the winter.

Mass. Sen. Marc Pacheco is one of the leaders pushing for this wage increase — the first since 2008.

“It needs to be fixed nationally,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “But we are long overdue to increase the minimum wage here in Massachusetts.”

Massachusetts law already mandates that the state minimum wage must be at least 10

cents higher than the federal minimum due to the Commmonwealth’s high cost of living. This would ensure a wage increase should Obama’s $9 minimum be accepted.

Massachusetts American Federation of Labor and Congress of International Organzations Legislative and Communications Director Tim Sullivan said a minimum wage raise is long overdue regardless of federal wage minimums.

“A law [increasing the minimum wage] hasn’t been passed since 2006, and the cost of everything has continued to go up,” he said.

“It is long past time for a raise in the minimum wage.”

Sullivan said a wage increase could also be beneficial for businesses “We believe strongly that [the increased minimum wage] positively impacts small, local businesses,” he said. “The more money working class people have, the more money they have to spend in these small businesses.”

The dramatic wage increase proposal has

Student Government members voice support of later MBTA weekend hours

By Rachel Riley Daily Free Press Staff

MADISON FRANCOIS/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Saurabh Mahajan, director of advocacy for Student Government, fields questions about the proposal of extended MBTA hours at the SG meeting Monday night.

Student Government members passed a proposal Monday stating the student body’s support of a section of a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority extension plan dealing with improvements to the T. The proposal urges Massachusetts legislators to consider funding an extension of T service hours on Friday and Saturday nights from midnight to 2 a.m., said SG Director of Advocacy and spokesman Saurabh Mahajan.

“What we have in front of us is a plan from the Massachusetts State Governor [Deval Patrick]’s office, but it’s not a bill,” Mahajan, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said.

SG’s proposal is essentially a statement of support of Patrick’s “The Way Forward: A 21st Century Transportation Plan,” specifically the “State of Good Repairs” section of the plan, which discusses improvements to Boston’s subway system, Mahajan said.

Although the section does not specifically mention an extension of T hours, the proposal

urges Massachusetts’s legislators to consider this as part of improvements.

Mahajan said extension of T hours provides a necessary service for student safety.

“The T is a safe, affordable and reliable way to get home for students,” he said.

SG Vice President Lauren LaVelle said the transportation plan is an opportunity for SG to assist in improving the city of Boston.

“We saw an opportunity to do something in the real world, to do something on a larger scale,” LaVelle, a School of Management junior, said. “We can leave a legacy here that has bigger implications than Boston University.”

SG officials hope to work with student body governments at other universities to issue a similar statement from multiple supporters, including Harvard University and Simmons College, Mahajan said.

“Fellow student governments in the Boston area, they are going to look at the same resolution and do what we just did today, and

SG, see page 4

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Bielat’s political career not over with drop from special election race Bielat: From Page 1

Republican Party would need to organize itself if the GOP is to be competitive in the race. “[The Republican party] has been a little scattered in terms of who they’ve been able to choose and who is actually going to be running, while we have people who are dedicated to running,” she said.

“We don’t really know what to expect at this point but we are ready and hoping to move forward.”

Bielat said his decision not to

run in the special election does not signify the end of his political career.

“Based on everything we have seen, and the data and information we have, I am confident that we could have run a strong race and would have stood a good chance of winning the general election. However, this is simply not the right time for our family,” Bielat said in the release.

Bielat said he is putting his support toward the Republican that wins the primary.

Israel: From Page 1

Kaufman said SJP’s Israeli Apartheid Week, set to take place in March, is indicative of the differences between BUSI and SJP. “Israeli Apartheid Week is something that we completely disagree with,” she said. “We want BUSI to be a place for difference of opinions ... We would never have a week devoted to criticizing something and being negative and posting bloody pictures.”

She said BUSI plans to mirror SJP’s tabling efforts during Israeli Apartheid Week to educate and inform BU students about Israeli democracy and how it is different from apartheid.

Kareem Chehayeb, a member of SJP and College of Arts and Sciences senior, said Israel Peace Week is a counter to Israeli Apartheid Week in that it tries to show a brighter side of Israel.

“They try to cover up these atrocities and human rights violations and other terrible things that Israel has been committing for such a long time,” he said.

Chehayeb said SJP is often criticized unfairly for its Israeli Apartheid week.

“When we have these events that criticize the apartheid nature of Israel, or treatment toward minorities, we come across as people who hate Israel,” he said. “In

reality, we just want equal treatment under the law. We want human rights.”

While BUSI did not officially invite SJP to the event, the BUSI Facebook group wrote on SJP’s Facebook wall an hour before the concert inviting SJP members, said Zena Ozeir, SJP president and CAS senior.

“To be for peace is to be for the human rights of all human rights of all people living in that area, and I don’t really think that is what BUSI stands for,” Ozeir said.

Ozeir said although she has no problem personally attending Israel Peace Week events, SJP as an organization will not attend.

“There is no reason for us to normalize relations with them because that skews the fight for Palestinian human rights and makes it look like it’s an equal-sided battle, which it’s not,” she said.

Guy Gefen, a Heartbeat musician and resident of Rehovot in Israel, said Heartbeat came to BU to show that Palestinians, Israelis and Americans can all come together and bond through music.

“Our being here is no simple thing and your being here is no simple thing,” he said. “After this show you are now all ambassadors of peace — you can’t argue with what you just saw. You just can’t.”

Freepblog.wordpress.com

SJP member: SJP seeks ‘human rights’ in Israel, demonstrates in March, Israel Apartheid Week

“I sincerely hope our supporters, volunteers, and donors will join me in working hard to ensure that we elect a candidate who will serve us well in the Senate and provide much needed leadership in Washington,” he said in the release.

Signatures are due Wednesday for potential candidates to be considered for the primary, which will be held April 30. The special election will take place June 25.

William Mayer, professor of political science at Northeastern University, said it was not in Bielat’s

statesman Herbert H. ______ (1878-1963) 48. Canadian province 52. Actress ____ Merrill 53. Color of royalty 54. Able to read 58. Flightless birds 59. Froth 61. Excavations 62. Frost 63. Great Lake 64. Makes initial wager 65. Vipers 66. Lairs 67. River in France DOWN 1. Tug 2. Operatic solo 3. Found in pockets and clothes dryers 4. Latin for “Consideration” 5. “Pegged” 6. Forays 7. A single time 8. Lowest prime number 9. Art movement based on irrationality 10. Lambchop puppeteer _____ Lewis 11. Claw 12. With 13. Annoint 21. Soviet Union 23. Entreaties 25. Group of experts 26. Points 27. Right away 28. To the middle or

won an election before, so it’s not as though he was a juggernaut just waiting to run,” he said.

He said there is a high chance the Democrats will take the lead based on the list of candidates running.

“A Democrat will win,” Mayer said. “It’s a very strong Democratic state. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible for things to be the other way, but against that background, it’s hard to make out the case that a Republican has a real good shot of winning this time around.”

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self-interest to run in the special election.

“He’s campaigned in the last two house elections, so part of it [his not running] was that he’d already done it and he didn’t think he could win,” he said.

Mayer said Bielat likely would have been a better candidate than those currently confirmed for the Republicans.

“He probably would have been a little stronger than the people they’ve [the Republicans] got [already running], but he’s never

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Campus & City Campus Crime Logs

Still Better Than Twilight

By Robin Ngai Daily Free Press Staff

The following reports were taken from the Boston University Police Department crime logs from Feb. 18 to Feb. 24.

A female BU student was arrested for allegations of domestic violence Wednesday night at 3:36 a.m. at 277 Babcock St. The female, an international student, was placed under arrest for assaulting her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, also a BU student, allegedly sustained bumps, bruises and a bite mark but refused to be hospitalized.

Hate mail Thursday at 11:47 a.m., a female student reported an offensive note at 90 Bay State Road.

A male tenant wrote the note after the female student previously confronted him about noise. BUPD officials handed the issue over to the rental property owner.

Blazin’ and blazes Students smoking marijuana set off a fire alarm at 3 Buswell St. Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.

Boston Fire Department firefighters evacuated the building and no damage was done. No culprit is held responsible because there were no witnesses.

Don’t touch me, I’m sterile BUPD officers assisted Brighton Police Department officers in issuing a restraining order to a student living at 277 Babcock St. Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The other party who filed a domestic no-contact orders is a non-affiliate.

Like that scene in Home Alone Two non-affiliated high school students flooded a bathroom at 928 Comm. Ave. Friday at 2 p.m. They turned on water faucets to full blast in a School of Hospitality Administration men’s room, resulting in large amounts of flooding in the bathroom and to the carpeting outside. Although they were videotaped earlier selling candy on campus, the suspects have not been caught.

Condom Fairy’s evil twin A student reported a harassing note left on her door at 277 Babcock St. on Saturday at 6:17 p.m. The note had crude words and a condom attached to it. BUPD officers are investigating the case.

Benched Four students were found damaging a bench they claimed had already been broken Sunday at 3 a.m. An officer caught them throwing slabs of wood across Nickerson Field. In addition to being charged with malicious damage to property, three of the students were caught with falsified licenses.

They will be summonsed to Brighton District Court for their hearings.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Gender Neutral BU seeks student support Mass., Colombia

forge relationship for science, tech.

By Kayla Canne Daily Free Press Contributor

As Boston University officials continue to consider implementing gender-neutral housing, Gender Neutral BU members set plans Monday night to engage the community in advocating for gender-neutral options on campus.

“This semester GN BU has been talking about talking to the student body and getting everyone on board,” said GN BU member Rea Sowan. “People don’t really know what gender-neutral housing is. We need to reach out to them and tell them what it really is.”

Members gathered at the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism Monday for the first of weekly meetings for GN BU. Participants planned to reach out to students and to work with administration officials in securing gender-neutral housing.

Sowan, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said the group decided to begin focusing on student support when BU administration officials directed the Committee on Student Life and

By Clinton Nguyen Daily Free Press Staff

Policies to assess gender-neutral housing’s plausibility.

“The administration has told us that they have delegated this to a committee, which we don’t know a lot about, but we do know that they are working on it,” Sowan said. “At this point, we have discussed and come to a consensus that we are comfortable that the administration is working on this.”

Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, who is on the committee, said committee members are researching gender-neutral housing and are responsible for making recommendations to BU President Robert Brown.

“We’ve had three meetings and we’re in the process now of drafting some recommendations for

ed by guidance counselors at their schools, according to the study. Students’ responses on where they wanted to enroll for college determined the schools’ rankings in the study.

“This means that for our sample of high school graduating seniors we had information on the schools that accepted the students, and the school that the student selected from among those choices,” said Mark Glickman, BU School of Public Health professor and co-author of the study in an email.

Glickman said the analysis has limitations because it was based on data collected from 2004 high school graduates.

“The actual rankings may be out of date and not exactly relevant to 2013,” he said. “Also, the rankings have some uncertainty connected to them because they are based on a limited sample of comparisons.”

Avery said BU’s desirability ranking would most likely increase if the data were made current.

“Many colleges, including BU, have changed in selectivity since then,” he said. “The rankings would probably be considerably [higher] today if we had data and could use

the same methods for more recent student enrollment.”

BU spokesman Colin Riley said the study’s results might be flawed based on how the researchers decided what is desirable.

“The validity of any ranking depends on the methodologies and values ascribed by the individuals [who] do the ranking,” Riley said.

“They are the ones who determine the weight of a particular variable and that is always a debatable point.”

A number of BU students said they do not believe this ranking is worth consideration.

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Sarah Blackwell said desirability is an unspecific term and undermines the value of the rankings.

“How do you even determine what desirability is?” she said. “It’s subjective. I would think it would be more desirable because we were ranked seventh in employability [among colleges in the U.S. according to an October survey published

by The New York Times].”

Alex Michel, a CAS senior, said she did not consider rankings strong-

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick and President Juan Manuel Santos Calderon of the Republic of Colombia signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday that will grant formal collaborations between the two entities in the areas of science, technology and innovation.

“Massachusetts is a leader in the life sciences, clean energy and other innovation economy sectors,” Patrick said in a press release Wednesday.

“In order to maintain that edge, we must position ourselves for success in growing markets, like Colombia, to drive job growth and catalyze international investment.”

Santos said Massachusetts has the resources to aid Colombia in the fields of innovation and research.

“I am aware of how important the innovation ecosystem, technology and research are to Massachusetts, and they are also important to Colombia. The state of Massachusetts has a lot to offer to Colombia and Colombia has much to offer to the United States and the state of Massachusetts,” he said in the release.

The memorandum will build upon the free trade agreement that U.S. President Barack Obama signed in 2012, as well as the 10-year $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative enacted in 2008 by Patrick, according to the release.

Bryan Jamele, vice president of government relations and policy at the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, said the memorandum provides a great opportunity for the Commonwealth to collaborate with an emergent economy. “[We need to be] making sure that we have that exposure point early on and that we start those discussions with the Colombian government ... so that we can identify the policies that we need ... to collaborate in a way that’s mutually beneficial for Massachusetts and Colombia,” he said.

Jamele said Massachusetts’ and Colombia’s companies, research facilities and universities could collaborate on projects and share information.

Rankings, see page 4

Colombia, see page 4

SARAH SIEGEL/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

College of Fine Arts freshman Lennie Naughton and School of Management sophomore Fiona Chen deliberate how to inform the student body about General Neutral Housing at the GNH meeting Monday night at the Center For Gender, Sexuality and Activism.

GNH, see page 4

BU’s low ‘desirability’ ranking outdated, officials say

By Lee Altman Daily Free Press Contributor

Boston University was ranked in the bottom 20 percent of schools surveyed on the basis of desirability, according to a new study. However, the study is dependent on old data and may not be representative of BU’s current reputation, said co-author and Harvard University professor Christopher Avery.

“We ranked colleges in this study solely on the basis of choices by students who were admitted to multiple colleges,” he said. “We rank colleges based on the preferences indicated by students, with more preferred colleges getting higher rankings.”

BU was ranked 90th out of 110 schools surveyed in desirability, according to the study released in the February issue of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. This position is almost 40 places lower than its U.S. News and World Report ranking of 51.

The results were based entirely on student interpretation and opinion, Avery said.

About 5,100 high school seniors were surveyed and were hand-select-

Two MIT professors given new $3 million life sciences award

By Holly Bieler Daily Free Press Contributor

Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers were among the first recipients of the new Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Wednesday, a new philanthropic venture which rewards scientists with a $3 million prize for contributing research focused on curing intractable disease and elongating human life.

Dr. Eric Lander, and Dr. Robert Weinberg were both recognized and given the prize. Lander is a leader in human genomics research and a founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Weinberg is a founding member of the Whitehead Institute of MIT, author of the seminal cancer textbook “The Biology of Cancer.”

Lander and Weinberg were among 11 life scientists honored for their contributions and awarded $3 million.

Weinberg said he was shocked when he was notified of the award.

“Everyone gets those e-mails [that say] you’ve just won $100 million, now just give us your bank account number,” he said. “That’s what I was thinking. But this one turned out to be true.”

Phillip Sharp, an institute professor at MIT and a faculty member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Department of Biology, said colleagues’ recognition is well deserved.

“They’re both outstanding scientists,” he said. “Professor Weinberg continues to lead cancer research.

His textbook on cancer is now used for teaching students around the world. He’s one of the intellectual leaders in cancer research. And Professor Lander has done just brilliant work analyzing the genetic complexity of many human diseases.”

Both scientists have contributed major work to the field of life sci-

MIT, see page 4

CHRISTIANA MECCA/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The president and founding director of the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Eric Lander, and associate member Robert Weinberg were among 11 winners of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

4

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

MIT Koch Institute prof.: Recipients ‘great human beings’ MIT: From Page 3

ences. As a principal leader of the Human Genome Project, Lander has worked extensively on researching human genomics and utilizing this research to better understand human disease, according to his website.

Weinberg is a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and was the first scientist to discover the human oncogene, a gene that causes cancer when mutated, Sharp said.

Robert Langer, a professor at

the Koch Institute at MIT, said both professors are ideal recipients for this award.

“They are both fantastic,” he said. “We would not know what we do today without [Lander’s] enormous contributions. [Weinberg] has made pioneering contributions to cancer. He discovered the first human oncogenes and has done terrific work on tumor stem cells.”

Langer said both scientists are also upstanding people.

“Not only are these two individuals among the world’s top scien-

tists, they are also very nice people and great human beings,” he said. “I feel privileged to know them.”

The Breakthrough Prize was founded this year by four of Silicon Valley’s elite figures. The founders include Google co-founder Sergey Brin, his wife and founder of the genetics company 23andMe Anne Wojcicki, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist Yuri Brin.

Wojcicki said in a press release Wednesday, that she was excited to

be able to honor these scientists on such a large scale.

“We are thrilled to support scientists who think big, take risks and have made a significant impact on our lives,” she said. “These scientists should be household names and heroes in society.”

Milner said in a press release Wednesday that the complexity of the research merits an even greater prize.

“Solving the enormous complexity of human diseases calls for a much bigger effort compared to

fundamental physics and therefore requires multiple sponsors to reward outstanding achievements,” he said.

The Fundamental Physics and Breakthrough Award prizes stand as the world’s most valuable academic rewards, more than two times the Nobel Prize’s $1.2 million award.

Weinberg said figuring out what to do with the prize money is his next big challenge.

“No ideas,” he said. “How could I even vaguely know?”

GN BU developing info. video CEO: Mass., Colombia share innovation goals GNH: From Page 3

Brown,” Elmore said in an with The Daily Free Press Thursday. “I suspect we’ll probably be able to get him something within the next week or two after everyone takes a look at it and workshops it.”

However, after committee members send recommendations to Brown, the final decision is entirely up to him, Elmore said.

“A lot of that next step depends on what he wants to do with what we give him — it’s his decision there,” Elmore said. “We’re at a step right now, and we’ll see what he wants to do in terms of continuing the conversation or how to make an ultimate decision about this.”

Lennie Naughton, a GN BU member and College of Fine Arts freshman, said educating students about the specifics of GN BU and gender neutrality will help gain more support for gender-neutral housing.

“If I didn’t talk to them about that then they’d have no idea, but now that they know they’re very

on board for it and are very supportive of the cause,” Naughton said.

While they wait, GN BU members are seeking approval as an official student group from the Student Activities Office at BU, which they hope will help provide them with more supplies and space they need to continue their student outreach project, said GN BU member Hanna Stolarski.

GN BU members are currently working on a promotional video that will highlight why genderneutral housing is a necessity at BU, Stolarski, a College of Communication sophomore, said.

“We want to have a mixture of informational and personal testimonies [in the video] about why this is necessary on campus,” Stolarski said. “We’re hoping to make it more of a personal issue, and really focusing on getting people aware of what the actual stakes are and what we’re actually fighting for.”

Chris Lisinski contributed to the reporting of this article.

Opinion Letter: From Page 6

This fear is also physically displayed in Israel’s construction of what will be the world’s largest detention center for asylum seekers and migrants on the land of the Ktzi’ot prison in the Negev desert. As quoted in an April 17, 2012 Guardian article, Israeli spokesmen Mark Regev asserted, “We are currently the only first-world economy and the only democracy in the region. But for people coming from countries like Somalia and Sudan, we cannot be the solution.”

However, these stories merely illuminate a fraction of the larger problem of systemic racism in Israel and Palestine. Racism not only against Arabs and African immigrants, but also within the Jewish community, is a hallmark

of the superstructure upon which Israel has built its apartheid state.

But will Ms. Desta of Israel at Heart bring to the fore the experience of the forced sterilization of Ethiopian women? Will she convey the intense racism experienced by minorities throughout Israel? Judging from my experience with the Israeli propaganda machine, I think not.

It is high time BUSI revokes its unwavering support for the apartheid state of Israel and bends toward justice by advocating equal rights for all citizens in the land between the river and the sea.

Kristen Martin CAS 2013 BU Students for Justice in Palestine kmartin6@bu.edu

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Colombia: From Page 3

“This happens quite a bit actually, but sometimes you can find that they can actually work together,” he said.

CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Alicia Barton, said there are Colombian organizations whose goals align with those in Massachusetts.

“They’re [Colombian organizations] looking at new forms of alternative and renewable energy and how to employ those in Colombia,” she said. “They’re looking at technology solutions for environmental problems like water quality, and we have a lot of companies in Massachusetts that are focused on solving that very problem.”

CEO of Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Pamela Goldberg, said the market for innovations stretches beyond the borders of the United States.

“Working collaboratively with our colleagues in Colombia will strengthen the Commonwealth’s position as a global innovation hub,” she said. “There is growth in our innovation economy in all corners of the Commonwealth. There is an abundance of regional collaborative activity happening that will spur even more growth throughout the Commonwealth.”

Barton said the ability to work together to identify and solve mutual problems with Colombia would be a beneficial opportunity provided by

the collaboration.

“Having the opportunity for us to work with foreign governments to identify market challenges is going to help our Massachusetts big businesses have an understanding of the market opportunities,” she said.

Taylor Boas, professor of political science at Boston University, said collaboration between the two countries is a step in the right direction, but the memorandum will not be a binding contract for such agreements to continue to take place.

“Encouraging collaboration of any sort is good,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to imagine there’s going to be a huge increase in collaborative research because two governments are encouraging that verbally.”

Gov. Patrick ‘willing to look at’ increase in min. wage Minimum Wage: From Page 1

provisions that ensure workers are fairly paid. Kearney used the example of “Blue Laws,” which require workers to be paid more on Sundays and other holidays.

Kearney said an increase in the minimum wage could also hurt youth employment numbers.

“With teen unemployment at its highest levels in history, to make people pay a little more for these wages — $12 on a Sunday for some of these part time jobs — can create more unemployment and less opportunity.”

Iyana Rountree, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences at

Boston University, said raising the minimum wage would help support many workers in Massachusetts.

“People who have minimum wage jobs don’t really have a lot to begin with, so raising the minimum wage would help them,” she said.

“Also the cost of living [in Massachusetts] is higher than in other places.”

Angelina Pizzulli, a freshman in the School of Management, said the wage hike could be used to motivate workers.

“Raising the minimum wage is a good thing because it could act as an efficiency wage and make workers more productive,” she said. “How-

ever, it shouldn’t be raised over the equilibrium wage, because that could lead to more unemployment.”

Andrew Velichansky, a freshman at BU in the College of Communications, said minimum wage increase would have a positive impact on the younger portion of the work force.

“For people our age, the minimum wage is especially impactful,” he said. “If we work in school or over the summer, most [students] tend to work at the minimum wage. Some economists say that raising the minimum wage is bad for unemployment, but on an individual level I think it’s great. My summer salary could go up.”

SG proposes creation of grand Executive Board SG: From Page 1

then they are going to vote within their bodies,” he said. “For all the schools that pass it that want to be a part of this, their presidents are going to meet together for a press conference.”

Officials also announced a town hall meeting March 5 where Allocations Board members will announce changes to policies on lending student groups money for charitable events.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the Photonics Center in room 206.

SG officials tabled a dialogue on an amendment to the SG constitution proposed by fall 2012 Student Body

President Dexter McCoy for the next senate meeting. The amendment would create an Executive Board that would bring together members of the Allocations Board, Residence Hall Association and SG. “It creates a more centralized body of leadership on campus,” McCoy, a College of Communication junior, said.

McCoy said the Executive Board would create benefits for students by bringing together essential functions of the student body to work on problems within BU. Under the proposed amendment, the Executive Board would be comprised of the Allocations Board Chair, the College Government President’s Council Chair, the RHA Pres-

ident, the SG Vice President and the Student Body President. The board would meet at least once a week.

Mahajan said the proposed amendments might help students by establishing a unified body that emphasizes communication, working together, a unified leadership and a center of government.

The proposed amendments would allow more students to become familiar with leaders and how to contact them, McCoy said.

“Students should be the ones at the table discussing things on campus,” McCoy said. “Because we are so segmented right now, that conversation does not happen. That conversation really can’t happen because we’re not all a part of the same body.”

CAS freshman: ‘Desirability’ ‘subjective’ term

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ly when deciding to attend BU. “BU has such a good reputation because of its ranking,” she said.

“In my case, I thought less about the rankings since BU was so well

known already.”

Adam Bloch, a School of Management senior, said published rankings influenced his choice to attend BU when he was in high school.

“I didn’t get a chance to visit that many different colleges before ap-

plying so rankings were the easiest way for me to compare academic programs,” he said. “I do think you need to look at a bunch of different factors though, in order to make the right decision for yourself.”

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BU researchers deem Bud Light most popular among underage drinkers

I

n Boston — home of the tight-budget college student and the common hipster — certain brands of beer are expected at parties. Pabst Blue Ribbon — maybe Natty Ice if the budget’s extra tight that week — or, if the hosts are feeling classy, some Rolling Rock.

However, a new Boston University study suggests that underage drinkers are actually stepping it up — if one considers Bud Light an improvement.

Lead researchers of the study said the results might have wider implications for the future advertisement of alcoholic beverages.

Alcohol Preferences A new study conducted by the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health surveyed more than 1,000 youth drinkers to determine the top 10 most consumed alcohol brands among the underage population.

The most popular brand was Bud Light, which 27.9 percent of the survey participants said they had consumed within the past month. Behind Bud Light, Smirnoff malt beverages took second place at 17 percent and — surprise! — Budweiser in third at 14.6 percent.

The study, titled Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research and published online on EurekAlert, is the first of its kind, according to a Feb. 11 EurekAlert press release.

Researchers said no study has ever looked at youth alcohol preference by brand before.

“What I discovered, to my surprise, was that there are no data on alcohol brand preferences of underage drinkers. It just doesn’t exist,” said lead researcher Michael Siegel.

Siegel, a SPH professor of community health sciences, said he developed the idea for the study after looking at people’s preferences for cigarette brands.

For years, Siegel worked in the area of tobacco and studied the relationship between brand-specific advertising and youth preferences. Recently, he decided to shift his attention to alcohol.

“I wanted to get data on what brands of alcohol underage youth are drinking and then compare that to the brand advertising patterns of alcohol,” said Siegel.

While there are thousands of alcohol brands worldwide, Siegel’s study focused on the most popular brands.

Siegel said he plans to conduct another study to compare the brands’ marketing strategies.

Methods Funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Siegel’s study used a pre-existing Internet panel: A group of youths, aged between 13 and 20, who agreed to take surveys periodically. The panel was selected to represent a national population.

Siegel said the survey consisted of several categories of alcohol, including vodka, beer, rum and tequila. Each category had a

Kiera Blessing Features Staff

less appealing to underage youth,” he said.

He even compared alcohol advertising to cigarette ads, which he said are no longer allowed on public transit systems, billboards or television.

“If it turns out that marketing does affect youth alcohol use, then I think it would be reasonable for the federal government to regulate the exposure of youth to alcohol advertising,” Siegel said.

“Maybe ads [affect popular brands] a little bit,” Wong said, “but at this point, not too much, because that’s just what everyone buys anyway.”

Boches said an item’s perceived value also makes it more desirable. “[It] comes down to ‘Well, if it’s cooler, then I have greater permission’ or ‘The persona I convey is better because this is the brand I’m holding in my hand or I’m serving at my party,’” he said.

In other words, it is more than just advertising at work: The classic and everpresent peer pressure is also to blame.

“Advertising is an easy target, but I wouldn’t put all the blame on it for sure,” Boches said.

Siegel also mentioned that while many of the top 10 beverages were preferred by both adults and youths, he said ir was “particularly concerning” that Smirnoff malt beverages and Mike’s were more popular among youths.

“In the case of Budweiser, they probably do not target youth as much as they create advertising that is appealing to youth,” Boches said.

He said this sort of advertising likely appeals to adults as well.

However, for some companies that realize they have become the “beginner’s drink,” — to take Boches’ example, Southern Comfort — advertising may be specifically formulated to attract their biggest consumer group.

“They know, legally, that they can’t target that age group, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to figure out imagery and possibly even media that would target that age group,” Boches said.

Ultimately, Boches was clear that while advertising may affect brand preference, whether it causes underage drinking is another question entirely.

He said he does not believe banning alcohol advertisements will reduce the number of underage drinkers.

Other influences Edward Boches, a BU advertising professor, said he had a different view from Siegel.

“Certainly, marketing has a large part to do with consumer preference, but I don’t know if it’s 100 percent responsible for the specific brands that people pick for beverages,” Boches said.

Boches said that for any product, advertising simply elevates awareness, visibility and recognition of the product, which inevitably makes it more desirable.

But he also mentioned that the single most important influencer of alcohol preference is what is seen being consumed in a bar — or, in this case, at parties.

Emma Schrader, a freshman in the School of Education, agreed that peers’ alcohol preferences might be more influential than advertising.

“When I hear about alcohol most, it’s from other people. It’s not from advertisements,” Schrader said. “I feel like it’s the same way with most people.”

Jason Wong, a junior in the School of Engineering, agreed with Schrader.

Other reactions Shapiro said he believes advertising contributes to the popularization of certain alcohol brands.

“That’s what they’re trying to do, right?” he said. “They’re trying to get into your mind.”

Whether regulating the ads would make a difference in the number of underage drinkers, Siegel seems to believe it is a possibility. He suggested the government could regulate alcohol ads the same way cigarette ads have been regulated in the past.

Siegel said whether action should be taken depends on the results of his next study, which will be designed to determine if advertising is in fact influencing drinking behavior in youths.

However, CAS freshman Renee Qvistgaard said regulating alcohol advertisements would not affect the number of underage drinkers.

“If kids want to drink, they’re going to drink,” Qvistgaard said. “It’s not going to be a deterrent — kids already know the brands. They’re going to see it, even if the government tries to regulate it.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE JAY

Researchers used a survey to calculate the top 10 alcohol brands underage drinkers consume during a 30-day period. Participants could choose more than one option.

drop-down menu with specific brands.

Participants were asked to indicate brands they had consumed within 30 days.

When they indicated they had consumed a certain brand, the survey asked them to answer how many days and, on average, how many drinks per day.

The results, which were published in the press release, revealed that the top 10 most popular alcohols were, in order: Bud Light, Smirnoff Malt beverages, Budweiser, Smirnoff Vodka, Coors Light, Jack Daniel’s, Corona Extra, Mike’s Hard, Captain Morgan Rum and Absolut Vodkas.

Leo Shapiro, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he was surprised some other popular alcohols did not make the list.

“I thought PBR would be on there,” he said.

Implications If Siegel’s follow-up study yields the results he anticipates, alcohol advertising could change dramatically.

“My hypothesis is that they [youths] are drinking these brands because these are the brands that are most heavily marketed toward them,” said Siegel.

Siegel said he thinks marketing is responsible for creating the most popular brands because the top 10 alcohols from the survey are all heavily advertised.

Siegel also said he thinks that the companies marketing these popular brands should alter their mode of advertising. “[They] need to try to find ways to alter their marketing to try to make these drinks

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6T

uesday,

February 26, 2013

Opinion

The Daily Free Press

The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University 43rd year F Volume 84 F Issue 22

Emily Overholt, Editor-in-Chief T. G. Lay, Managing Editor Melissa Adan Online Editor Jasper Craven, City Editor Chris Lisinski, Campus Editor Gregory Davis, Sports Editor

Anne Whiting, Opinion Editor

Kaylee Hill, Features Editor

Michelle Jay, Photo Editor

Clinton Nguyen, Layout Editor

Cheryl Seah, Advertising Manager

The Daily Free Press (ISSN 1094-7337) is published Monday through Thursday during the academic year except during vacation and exam periods by Back Bay Publishing Co.,Inc., a nonprofit corporation operated by Boston University students. No content can be reproduced without the permission of Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright © 2010 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

9-year-old Lil’ Poopy raps about coke Lil’ Poopy’s first mixtape was titled “Coke Ain’t a Bad Word.” In the song, he justifies the title in a high-pitched voice: Coke is just short for Coca-Cola.

But Lil’ Poopy is nine years old, so that justification isn’t doing it for some critics of his work. Actually, his more recent critics are spokespeople for the Department of Children and Families concerned about the child-rapper’s welfare. And they are not alone in voicing concerns. Many are offended by the nine-year-old’s lyrics and music videos, in which he spanks females and advertises the Coke Boys, a derivative group of rapper French Montana’s Cocaine City Records label. We’re offended not because this isn’t something we hear in rap songs these days (we do), but more so because we don’t feel the child is educated enough to know what he’s actually doing and saying. The fourth grader is being raised to degrade women and abuse drugs, among other things.

And true, an individual’s values are determined by the culture in which he or she is raised — and we’re not here (nor qualified, either) to denounce rap culture. We are here, however, to denounce brainwashing a child with unhealthy life choices before he better understands what he’s saying. (But then again, we’re being bigoted

by saying they’re unhealthy.) Still, coke is a bad word if you don’t know what you’re talking about, seeing as the drug can cause serious problems in people’s lives.

A new investigation is underway regarding the home life and wellbeing of Luie Rivera, Jr. (Lil’ Poopy’s real name), one that will include interviews with people in Lil’ Poopy’s home along with others who have contact with the nine-yearold, such as school officials, according to WCVB news. But then again, at what point can anyone actually step in and do anything? Luie is not our child — his culture is not ours. Do Child Protective Services have any say in the matter?

Ultimately, we just hope that he doesn’t grow up damaging himself with abuse of both sex and drugs. We hope someday that he’ll be able to choose a different lifestyle, if he wants to. It’s unlikely that a fourth grader can discern what he does or doesn’t want for his life at this point. If, in fact, this “cocaine cowboy” really does want coke — well, that’s a problem. (Again: He’s nine.) But the life of the rapper is glamorous and lucrative — even if Lil’ Poopy isn’t writing his own lyrics, he’s certainly benefiting from them financially.

That, often, is the goal of such an enterprise anyway.

First Lady’s Questionable Oscar Appearance At Sunday’s Academy Awards, First Lady Michelle Obama announced (from the White House) Ben Affleck’s Argo as winner of the “Best Picture” award. Her appearance, coupled with the choice for the winning film, has provoked some discussion. Iranian news sources are wondering if her presence embodied a sort of political propaganda. Others have questioned whether political figures have any place at the Oscars at all.

Argo is about the escape of American Embassy staff from Tehran during the hostage crisis. But it’s been argued that the film exaggerated the violence during the storming of the compound, which obviously sheds negative light on the Iranian administration of the time. The Global Post reported Monday that Iran has dismissed awarding an Oscar to the film “Argo” as an “advertisement for the CIA” and a Zionist plot to misrepresent an event arising from the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s Fars News has decried Argo as an anti-Iran film, holding that Warner Brothers is a Zionist company.

This claim makes the First Lady’s involvement slightly controversial. Is the White House advocating a potentially

Anti-Iran film? Fars News said Obama’s presence politicized the award, which has angered some film critics who feel that politics, even if the theme of a film, should be kept out of the Academy Awards, which determine the level of artistic success in a film more than a film’s actual political message.

Said one conservative journalist, according to Fox News: “Forget separation of church and state — we need a separation of Hollywood and state.”

It’s true that Michelle Obama has ingratiated herself with pop culture and with American’s younger generation. And it could have been coincidental that many of the films up for Best Picture this year were nationalistic in theme or plotline. Moreover, the First Lady is not the first White House-based politician to make an appearance at the Oscars — former First Lady Laura Bush participated in 2002, and U.S. President Ronald Reagan once appeared in a taped greeting. But in case her presence did present a politicized message that could get in the way of the Awards’ purpose, she should have avoided this controversial endorsement.

Gu est P erspec t ive ? l etter s@da il yfreep re ss. c o m L ett er t o t he E d it o r? l etter s@da il yfreep re ss. c o m

THE AMERICAN IDEA

Here’s to 28 COLIN SMITH There’s nothing in the world riper for fictional portrayal, for fictional adulation, than the American college experience. Whether it’s the classic National Lampoon comedy Animal House, a more serious portrayal like The Social Network or one of the countless modern day “reality” shows professing to accurately portray a quasi-college lifestyle, it seems there’s nothing that holds our wistful attention quite like this relatively small slice of life enjoyed by a relatively small section of the American population.

I’m a freshman here at BU, and I remember back in September piling out of my family’s car on Bay State Road, along with my parents and older brother. I remember the excited force-feeding of change into the parking meter (not unlike my own force-feeding of a wayoversized breakfast that morning); I remember looking breathlessly for my correct number Brownstone, urged to go faster by my nervous family; I remember lugging big plastic containers up too narrow staircases, the banging of shins and kneecaps, as we hurried to get it me moved in as fast as possible. It was as though they were afraid my acceptance would be revoked at the doorway or something, the dream dashed, and me destined to join the common crowd back home. College isn’t a fantasy for my family — they’ve all done it — yet somehow it holds on to its magic element, especially when my father looks at me glassy eyed and a little jealous and tells me to have fun.

I matriculated to BU as an English major.

It’s at first worrying and then quite gratifying to know that I will most likely be unemployed when my four years here are up. The worthwhile tradeoff is that, at least for now, I’m free to pursue what interests me, to enroll in classes purely because they tickle my fancy. I’m free to think, read and feel abstract ideas, and not worry about those ideas’ marketability in a post-collegiate world. My little bohemian artsy lifestyle here is mirrored nicely by the two guys I share a floor of a brownstone with, and who live across the hall from me. Pre-med majors both, they came here to be doctors, with a set plan in mind and almost daily goals they need to check off, not to mention obscene amounts of homework. I’ll often find myself passing by their room, a literary classic under my arm and a disgustingly high calorie snack in my hand, and see them clacking away at florescent screens in the darkness, intent on and content with the idea of the lives they’ll be saving eight years from now.

I was as goal-oriented when I first got here too, though in a different way. I was determined to find a party that weekend, and not just any party, a real and legitimate “college” party,

one complete with togas and trouble and sexual shenanigans and any other college cliché I could wrap my head around. I was not alone in my pursuit; columns upon columns of unsurefooted freshman girls in slinky short dresses marched up and down those Allston streets with me, looking nervously left and right for cops and fun, while less organized groups of guys followed behind, some with their hands on one or two water bottles full of vodka if they were lucky.

I don’t remember if I found a party that night to tell the truth. Some nights I’ve searched for them high and low to no avail while other nights they’ve come right to me. I’ve made mistakes in my time here, I’ve had adventures, I’ve even made a good decision or two.

What I’m mostly doing, I’d say, is surviving, and the question that really interests me about my time here, because it’s probably the one I’ll be asked by my friends back home this summer, and by my kids one day, is: Have I had “the college experience”?

They won’t ever ask this question directly, in flat out simple English, but it’s what they’ll mean, more or less. And when I think about the answer to this question I most often think of a conversation I had about a month ago, with Zach, one of the pre-med majors from across the hall. We were sitting there with me lecturing him half-ironically on Shakespeare and him lecturing me half-ironically on cell systems. All of a sudden he got this sort of wistful look in his eye. It was late, and he must have been tired.

“I can’t wait until 28, man, I’ll tell ya that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I’ll be out of college, out of med school, done with my residency. I can finally take a break from all of this.”

I must have chastised him then, assuring him that this was the best and brightest spot of his life, that it was all downhill after college.

Because that’s what I’d been told. I must have.

But now that I think about it, I’m resting a hell of a lot more hope in his life vision than mine. I hope this isn’t the best part of my life, not that it’s all that bleak or empty or unsatisfying or anything. But I hope I’m not done, I hope I’m not finished becoming the person I’m going to be. And if it means never truly finding this “college experience,” if it means sacrificing the ultimate era of joy and youth and all the Allston parties in the world for a lifetime of growth, I’m okay with that.

Colin Smith is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, and a weekly columnist for the Daily Free Press. He can be reached at colin1@bu.edu.

Letter to the Editor: Israel Peace Week The ironically-termed “Israel Peace Week” will return to campus this week in a further attempt by Boston University Students for Israel (BUSI) to whitewash the continued and brutal occupation of Palestine. This systematic campaign is conceptualized, pre-packaged, and dispersed to pro-Israel groups on campus annually by propaganda outlets such as Stand With Us and Hasbara Fellowships, an affiliate of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While cloaking their language in peace and love, these pro-Israel advocates grotesquely distort the human rights violations purportedly committed by Israel daily.

Up first on the propaganda agenda this year is the event “The Ethiopian-Israeli Experience,” which is sure to be an attempt to whitewash the barrage of criticism Israel has received over its treatment of African immigrants and minorities. BUSI will host speaker Danielle Desta of the group Israel at Heart, which, according to its website, sends out delegations of Ethiopian Israelis to “present the multicultural aspect of

Israeli society not known to outside communities.”

Upon examining the real multicultural experience of Ethiopian Israelis and other African immigrants in the region, there are some devastating facts that should be brought to the forefront by Ms. Desta — though it is likely she will leave them out: For example, in an article on Jan. 27, Haaretz, a prominent Israeli newspaper reported that Israeli Ministry of Health officials finally admitted to the practice of administering the long-acting contraceptive Depo-Provera to women of Ethiopian origin. Some of these women were aware of the fact that they were being administered birth control (though were threatened with deportation if they refused), while others were simply told they were receiving routine inoculations. Clearly stemming from racism, this story speaks to the fear of some Israelis that both Arabs and African immigrants represent a “demographic threat” to Israeli society...

Letter, see page 4

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

7

Morris: Forcing athletes to play one year in college is useless Morris: From Page 8

to always make the right choice. You would still have a number of players who enter the draft before they should, a la Gerald Green and Sebastian Telfair.

But do you honestly think it makes a difference if you’re waving that money in front of the face of a 19-year-old? Do you think that one year in school is going to all of a sudden instill wisdom that makes these kids decide to stay in school and get their degrees? No! You’re still going

to have players, such as Austin Rivers of the New Orleans Hornets, who declare for the NBA Draft too soon.

I mean, honestly, he’s having one of the worst years in NBA history. He clearly could have used a few more years playing at the collegiate level.

You can never stop players from leaving early unless you make them wait until they’re four years out of high school, which will never happen. Some players are too physically ready out of high school to make them wait that long.

I understand that college basketball would suffer without some of its stars for at least one year. If there wasn’t a rule forcing players to wait until they’re 19, that would likely mean I never would have gotten to see Kevin Durant play for my University of Texas Longhorns. But that’s a sacrifice I’d be willing to make.

College sports as a whole would benefit from a rule change. You would have players who actually want to be in college, as opposed to

players who are only there because they can’t declare for the NBA Draft.

A rule change would also likely benefit the teams that you root for because you would have fewer players only going for one year. If you were a Kentucky fan, you wouldn’t have to relearn the roster every year. You could actually follow guys throughout their four-year careers. It would probably also make recruiting easier because you wouldn’t have to worry as much about guys leaving after a year.

But most importantly, a rule change would stop the sport from laughing at the idea of a student athlete. The current rule forces players to attend prestigious colleges for the sole purpose of playing basketball.

That’s just not right. And once again, I’m not at all blaming the players.

I’m blaming the NBA and college basketball for allowing this atrocity.

There will never be a perfect system, but Noel’s injury is just another reason why a change is desperately needed.

Terriers lose 2 games by mercy rule in Fla. Softball: From Page 8

a runner at second, per softball extra inning rules. Junior infielder Brittany Clendenny scored the game-winning run on a walk-off single by Ekart, giving the Terriers the 2-1 win to open up the season.

“We were down and came back,” Gleason said. “It was great. Great starting point for our team.”

The Terriers’ winning play didn’t last long. Later that day, BU took on the University of Wisconsin and lost by a score of 11-3. The Terriers labored through the first two innings, as the Badgers (10-1) feasted on senior pitcher Erin Schuppert. The Badgers jumped quickly on the board with two runs in the first inning, but did even more damage in the second, sending nine runs across the plate.

Freshman pitcher Lauren Hynes came in for damage control and did not allow any runs in her 2 1/3 innings. Although the

Terriers scratched out three runs, they lost in five innings due to the eight-run mercy rule.

“We knew going in they were tough,” Gleason said. “We knew they were off to a hot start.”

On the second day, the Terriers dropped both games by the score of 9-1. Tuthill got the first start of the day in a game against Wisconsin. She kept the Terriers in the contest, allowing four runs in six innings of work. In the sixth inning, the Terriers got on the board as freshman pinch runner Haley King scored her first career run on sophomore left fielder Mandy Fernandez’s fielder’s choice.

With the Terriers down only three going into the seventh, they could not complete the comeback attempt. Freshman Lauren Hynes came in to pitch and with the help of a BU error, the Badgers scored five times, ending BU’s chances.

The second game was Hynes’ first career start, as the Terriers faced Georgia Southern again.

Her first three innings were strong, and she held the Eagles

scoreless. However, the fourth inning was a disaster for BU, as Georgia Southern tallied nine runs, starting with a leadoff homer by Thomas. Although the Terriers scratched out a run on a Clendenny infield single, they didn’t score any more and were again victim to the mercy rule.

The final game of the Citrus Classic saw Wisconsin continue its domination over the Terriers as the Badgers grabbed the win 5-1, their third win over BU in the weekend series. Tuthill got the start for BU and had a strong effort, going six innings, striking out three and allowing four earned runs. The story of the game was Badger pitcher Meghan McIntosh, who struck out eight and only allowed three hits en route to the complete-game victory.

Despite the outcome of the tournament, Gleason was not displeased with her team’s effort.

“It’s tough to play a team three times,” Gleason said. “It’s a good measuring stick for us.”

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Terrier senior second baseman Emily Roesch earned two RBIs at the Citrus Classic in Orlando, Fla.

Terriers’ offense surges in second period, scoring 4 goals en route to comeback win Women’s hockey: From Page 8

after her struggles in the opening period. She allowed four goals on just seven shots. Junior goaltender Kerrin Sperry played the remainder of the game.

“It’s frustrating for [Alissa] Fromkin, and it’s certainly disappointing for me, too,” Durocher said. “Sometimes the stars don’t line up, and all you can do is let them know how much you appreciate them and tell them there’s going to be those days … It’s a tough scenario, but she finished in style and class.”

But even Sperry got off to a poor start. Just 2:52 into the

frame, forward Brittany Berisoff got a puck past the goalie to extend UConn’s lead to a seemingly insurmountable 5-1. Fortunately for the Terriers, the offense began to show its teeth in the face of the large deficit.

At the 3:23 mark of the second period, Farrel took a checking penalty to put BU on the power play. The Terriers’ top powerplay line of Kohanchuk, Poulin and Lefort converted on the opportunity, as Lefort found twine and began BU’s unprecedented comeback.

About 10 minutes later, the Terriers put together a string of two goals in 38 seconds. The first

came from Lefort. It was her second of the game and it brought her team to within two goals, 5-3, quickly changing the momentum of the contest.

“From a three-goal margin to a two-goal margin, we’ll take our chances here with a good crowd with the excitement of Senior Night,” Durocher said. “Low and behold, we got a whole bunch in the second period and became tied.”

BU’s line of senior forward Isabel Menard, sophomore forward Kayla Tutino and junior forward Louise Warren stepped up to complete the comeback. Shortly after the Husky lead was cut to two,

Menard netted a puck to bring the surging Terrier offense just one goal away from turning a fourgoal deficit into a tie game.

Just 12 seconds before the end of an already disastrous second period for UConn, BU struck again. Warren fed the puck to Menard, who set up junior defenseman Shannon Doyle for the equalizer. It was Doyle’s sixth goal of the season, which leads all BU defensemen. The period ended with the score tied up at five goals apiece, and all momentum swaying to the Terriers’ side of the ice.

BU carried its second-period success into the final frame. At the 4:43 mark of the period, Tutino

put a puck past goaltender Elaine Chuli to put the Terriers ahead 6-5 and complete an incredible fourgoal comeback.

Kohanchuk’s second goal of the game with about two minutes remaining in regulation time sealed BU’s come-from-behind 7-5 victory. Tutino’s goal early in the third stood as the game winner.

With a 4-2 victory over the Huskies in Storrs, Conn., the next day, the Terriers clinched the top seed in Hockey East.

“We had to finish the deal,” Durocher said. “Otherwise we’d have a less than joyful weekend.”

BU lineup remains similar in big game Menard, Warren and Tutino must continue success Men’s hockey: From Page 8

save percentage are both near the top in Hockey East.

After an early-season goalie platoon, Marotta separated himself with a 1.3 GAA in his last eight games.

“I would be flabbergasted if [Marotta is] not playing tomorrow. He’s playing very well,” Parker said. “[To score on him] you got to make sure there’s indirect [shots], rebound opportunities to get there. You’re not going to get direct shots by this kid.”

The Terriers, meanwhile, will remain static, with a goalie rotation in place and midseason departures having sapped BU’s depth. BU will have zero lineup changes as freshman goaltender Matt O’Connor (2.91 GAA, .909 save percentage) gets the start between the pipes.

Parker did say, however, that he plans to rotate the top three lines while giving the fourth sparse ice time. Fourth-line center, senior Ryan

Santana, will continue to get his time on special teams as the coach tries to get his top skaters going with more ice time.

With Merrimack sitting in fourth place in the conference, just three points ahead of sixth-place BU with five games to play, Parker said Tuesday is a must-win for the Terriers — as they all are this time of year, he insisted.

But if the team wants to turn it around and finagle a top-four spot to get home-ice advantage in the Hockey East quarterfinals, it has to stop trying too hard and stop holding its sticks so tight, according to Parker.

“As a team, we’re worried about the little things,” Parker said. “If we had won five in a row we wouldn’t have that feeling. But it starts to weigh on you. You lose your confidence. A ‘here we go again’ type of thing. We just have to push through that as well.”

Impressive line: From Page 8

feeling because we knew we could do it, and it was reassuring for the team.”

BU coach Brian Durocher said while the line’s success has to do somewhat with the group’s chemistry, it also has to do with the skill and ability of each player to fill her own role.

“The bottom line is that line continues to be a good facet of our team,” Durocher said. “They’re taking care of business and playing well as a team. They just enjoy playing with one another.

“Part of that is the results, obviously, but also, they respect each other and the pieces to the puzzle are there — a classic centerman, a shooting right wing and a kid that goes hard on the left side.”

While the three forwards have created a consistent offensive output

for the Terriers this past season, each player has found success in previous years as well.

In her first year with the Terriers last season, Menard, who transferred from Syracuse University, had the most assists of any player on the team during the 2011-12 season. Furthermore, the Ottawa, Ontario, native was second on the team in points scored and finished the season with a plus-12. During Saturday’s contest, which celebrated Menard and the rest of the senior class, the forward picked up her 14th goal of the season and tacked on two assists as well.

Likewise, Tutino and Warren have found success in previous years. In her rookie season, Tutino was second on the team in goals and third in points. Meanwhile, Warren nearly doubled the amount of points she scored during her freshman year in her second season in a Terrier uniform.

With the Terriers’ regular season coming to a close, BU will need Menard and her linemates to continue to continue their strong offensive play.

With its sweep of the Huskies this past weekend, the Terriers picked up their second Hockey East regular season title.

BU will need to remain consistent if it wants to make it back to the national championship game for the first time since 2010-11. Part of that consistency will rest on whether the team’s second line can continue to provide offense when BU needs it.

“We’ve been able to create some good plays and obviously the impact is that it’s going well,” Menard said.

“They’re keeping us together, and everything is pretty smooth so far.

“Everyone is contributing — my linemates and other lines — but I think my line is playing pretty well. I think if we can keep going like that, it would be good.”

“

Quotable

“

We were excited to play and ready to hit the dirt.

-BU coach Kathryn Gleason on the start of softball season

Page 8

Sports

Comeback

The Daily Free Press

kids

The Boston University women’s hockey team was down 4-1 in the second period, but came roaring back to win by two. P.8.

[ www.dailyfreepress.com ]

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Driving The Lane

Terriers clinch Hockey East regular season title

Age Restrictions

BU overcomes 4-goal deficit in 7-5 victory

BU 2nd line chemistry key to surprise win

By Gregory Davis Daily Free Press Staff

By Meredith Perri and Kira Cole Daily Free Press Staff

John Morris

Unviersity of Kentucky rookie phenom Nerlens Noel’s recent ACL tear has sparked a debate over when a player should be allowed to declare for the NBA Draft. Currently, the NBA’s age minimum is 19 years, which equates to one year out of high school. Noel, who almost certainly would have been the number one pick in the upcoming NBA draft had the injury not occurred, will likely see his draft stock fall. This also means he will lose millions of dollars on his first contract.

If Noel was able to enter the draft right out of high school, he still would not have gone number one, due to the likes of Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. As long as his draft stock doesn’t slip too much because of the injury, it may be a wash. But if being forced to go to college loses him even one penny, it’s valid to ask the following question. Should basketball players be allowed to declare for the NBA Draft right out of high school?

I emphatically say yes. I don’t really care if Nerlens Noel loses a little bit of money. He’ll be fine. But forcing players to go to college for just one year makes an absolute mockery of the concept of a student athlete.

There are a number of players each year who go to high-class institutions only to play basketball and get ready for the next year’s NBA draft. These athletes are only playing college ball because NBA regulations don’t give them a choice.

Do you honestly think they give a rat’s ass about their classes and schoolwork? Do you think that while Anthony Davis was sitting in Sweathogs 101 he was thinking, “Hmm, I wonder if this will be on the midterm?” No! He was thinking, “It was sick when I swatted that kid’s shot last night,” and “I wonder how many millions of dollars I’m going to make next year.” I’m in no way trying to fault Anthony Davis. I’m blaming the system. Since players are forced to go to college, you get all these bogus oceanography and geography majors who have no actual intentions to ever use their degrees.

When I told my friend this opinion, he said, “Well can you really expect an 18-year-old kid to make a logical decision when you’re waving millions of dollars in his face?”

Well, it’s true you can’t expect a kid

Morris, see page 7

Despite facing a four-goal deficit early in the second period, the No. 4 Boston University women’s hockey team came back to defeat the University of Connecticut 7-5 at Walter Brown Arena on Senior Day Saturday afternoon.

Going into the game, the Terriers (23-5-3, 18-2-1 Hockey East) were on the verge of clinching the Hockey East regular season title.

With Boston College’s 1-1 tie against the University of Vermont the same day, BU had a chance to capture the title with wins in its next two games.

“Right before the game, we all knew the score of the BC vs.

Vermont game, which has opened the door for us to win the regular season,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “And that’s one of the goals you have.”

BU got off to a bad start against a Husky (3-27-3, 1-18-1 Hockey East) team that has struggled to win games all season. UConn opened the scoring just 3:05 into the game, as forward Rachel Farrel put one past senior goaltender Alissa Fromkin to get the Huskies on the board first.

MICHAEL CUMMO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Terrier Redshirt senior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk contributed to BU’s come-from-behind win, scoring two goals in the victory over UConn.

The Terriers responded about 11 minutes later, when freshman forward Sarah Lefort and junior co-captain Marie-Philip Poulin assisted on redshirt senior Jenelle Kohanchuk’s game-tying goal.

But then the floodgates opened.

UConn scored three goals in the final five minutes of the opening period. The first came from forward Michela Cava at the 15:14 mark of the frame. About

M. Hockey v. Merrimack, 7 p.m.

Women’s hockey, see page 7

Impressive line, see page 7

Softball loses 4 of 5 games in Men’s hockey expects tough Orlando to begin season 1-4 Merrimack team Tuesday

By Andrew Battifarano Daily Free Press Staff

With wintry weather at home, the Boston University softball team ventured down to sunny Orlando, Fla., to open its season in the Citrus Classic. Although the Terriers (1-4) competed at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Disney World, there was no fairy-tale ending for the team, as it dropped four out of five games in the tournament.

The first game saw the Terriers take on Georgia Southern University. It was also BU coach Kathryn Gleason’s first game with the Terriers, replacing Shawn Rychcik, who left after the 2012 season for a job at North Carolina State University.

“We were excited to play and ready to hit the dirt,” Gleason said.

The contest pitted Terrier senior pitcher Whitney Tuthill against Georgia Southern (7-7) junior Allie Miles. Tuthill had no trouble settling in and was in control of the game. She gave up only five hits, one walk and struck out nine as she kept the Terriers in the game through her eight innings of work. Tuthill did not allow an

Eagle to reach second base until the sixth inning, and that runner was eventually stranded at third.

Miles was nearly as impressive as Tuthill, going 7 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and striking out eight.

Neither team broke through until the seventh inning, when Georgia Southern got on the board first in the top of the seventh with first baseman Tabby Douberley’s leadoff solo homer.

The Terriers looked poised to come back with sophomore first baseman Kendra Meadows and sophomore right fielder Emily Felbaum reaching base on a walk and single respectively, and advancing to second and third on a sacrifice hit. Down to their last out, senior second baseman Emily Roesch singled, tying the game and forcing extra innings.

Georgia Southern nearly grabbed the lead again in the eighth inning on a single to right field, but Felbaum threw out right fielder Kaitlyn Johnson at home with a great throw to junior catcher Amy Ekart.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Terriers started out with

Softball, see page 7

The Bottom Line

Tuesday, Feb. 26

three minutes later, the Huskies scored two goals in 16 seconds to take a commanding 4-1 lead.

They went into the locker room 40 minutes away from pulling off the upset.

While backup goalie Fromkin started in honor of the Senior Day festivities, BU coach Brian Durocher pulled her from the game

Over the course of the past five months, the No. 4 Boston University women’s hockey team has shown once again that it is one of the elite teams in the country. Yet, with all of the successful cogs that the Terriers have working for them, one of the most consistent pieces of BU’s success has remained the second line of its offense.

The line, composed of senior Isabel Menard, junior Louise Warren and sophomore Kayla Tutino, accounts for close to a third of the Terriers goals and points so far this season, and Saturday’s comeback effort against the University of Connecticut featured much of the same.

With the Terriers (23-5-3, 18-2-1 Hockey East) down 5-1 just 2:52 into the second frame, Menard, Warren and Tutino played roles in four of BU’s goals, including the game winner, helping BU to defeat the Huskies (3-28-3, 1-19-1 Hockey East) 7-5.

“Today we had to dig deeper on the ice,” Tutino said after Saturday’s game. “We had good chemistry, but we worked hard, and we had to keep things simple and put some pucks on the net. Finally being up was a good

Wednesday, Feb. 27 W. Lacrosse v. Massachusetts, 3 p.m.

W. Basketball v. Maine, 7 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 28 M. Basketball v. Stony Brook, 7 p.m.

By Tim Healey Daily Free Press Staff

The No. 19 Boston University men’s hockey team may not have had practice Sunday, but BU coach Jack Parker spent his afternoon the same way a lot of college hockey fans in the area did: Watching No. 4 Boston College beat No. 17 Merrimack College in overtime.

And what Parker saw concerned him to an extent. The Warriors held Hockey East’s top offense — the third best in the country — to a single goal in regulation using a defense extremely similar to the one that stifled the Terriers (14-14-2, 11-9-2 Hockey East) all weekend. “[Merrimack] played exactly like Lowell,” Parker said, referring to the team that held BU to one goal in two games over the weekend. “One man went down and then backed off. The other four guys waited at center ice because they wanted to bottle BC up and not give them anything through center ice.

“The bottom line is they played BC completely differently than they’ve played all year long.”

It could spell trouble for BU when the Warriors (14-11-6, 12-7-3 Hockey East) visit Agganis Arena at 7 p.m. Tuesday, a game the teams

Friday, Mar. 1

M. Hockey v. Vermont, 7:30 p.m.

Softball @ Wildcat Invite, 3 p.m.

Track IC4A/ECAC Championships, All Day

have to squeeze in after winter storm Nemo postponed it from its original Feb. 8 date.

Parker said he expects Merrimack to play its usual aggressive forecheck Tuesday — rather than the trap it rolled out against BC — but the team prepared for both Monday afternoon just in case.

“I would imagine we’ll see the usual stuff from Merrimack,” Parker said.

Unfortunately for the Terriers, “the usual stuff” also features Mike Collins, seen by some as a conference player of the year candidate.

Collins has put up 15 goals and 20 assists, head and shoulders above Merrimack’s next best point-getter. A trio of juniors, forward Shawn Bates (six goals, nine assists), defenseman Jordan Heywood (five goals, 10 assists) and forward Rhett Bly (five goals, 10 assists) have notched 15 points apiece.

“They have one guy with a lot of points, but he’s not getting those points by himself,” Parker said.

“They have a lot of speed, too.”

At the other end, junior Sam Marotta has been rock solid in net for the last month and a half. His 2.01 goals-against average and a .931

Men’s hockey, see page 7

Saturday, Mar. 2 Softball @ Wildcat Invite, 2 p.m.

W. Hockey vs. UConn, 3 p.m.

M. Hockey vs. Vermont, 7 p.m.