The Daily Free Press [
Year xliii. Volume lxxxiv. Issue XXXVI
SORRY GUYS
Thursday, March 28, 2013 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University
THROWN DOWN
Student elections commision issues apology, page 3.
A different look at Game of Thrones, page 5.
]
www.dailyfreepress.com
LACROSS THE RIVER Lacrosse to take on a tough Harvard team Friday, page 8.
WEATHER
Today: AM rain/snow showers/High 47 Tonight: Partly cloudy/Low 34 Tomorrow: 52/37 Data Courtesy of weather.com
Hotel Commonwealth employees protest mgmt. Menino will
not run again
By Trisha Thadani Daily Free Press Staff
Boston University students have joined employees at Kenmore Square’s Hotel Commonwealth to protest against the hotel’s new management, Sage Hospitality, amidst rumors of employee layoffs. Tim Crowley, 29, a three-year bellman at the hotel, said he could count six employees who were fired without ample notice because they were apparently making too much money. “Sage has eliminated and consolidated several positions in an attempt to run this hotel as if it is a cheaper place,” Crowley said. “[Management has] brought the quality of this hotel down.” Talia Leonard, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said she is a member of a group of students that have banded together to show support and solidarity for the rights of Hotel Commonwealth’s employees. “It is important that BU students stand up for the hotel workers because this hotel is on BU’s property and we utilize it for our students and events,” Leonard said. Leonard said although some BU students might not feel directly affected by Sage’s effect on the hotel employees, hotel workers still need the support. “Students should not have to be directly affected by an issue for them to care about human rights,” Leonard said. “We should stand up for the hotel workers because they are in a worthy
By Kyle Plantz Daily Free Press Staff
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will announce Thursday that he will not seek a sixth term in office at a Faneuil Hall press conference at about 4 p.m., according to reports from The Boston Globe. Menino, 70, has been in office for 20 years and in recent months withstood many illnesses that left him hospitalized for eight weeks.
NEEL DHANESHA/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Talia Leonard and other Boston University students talk to Hotel Commonwealth doorman Zelalem W. about his job in relation to the recent allegation of unfair firing practices at the hotel.
fight for their own rights.” Hotel management initially refused to negotiate a contract for a year, essentially creating a pay freeze for employees, Crowley said. Sage officials eventually agreed to hold a contract negotiation on April 2 after employees brought up concerns of inflation. “If they don’t sign the contract, we will have to picket during our lunch breaks or after our shifts,” Crowley said. “Ninty-seven percent of us in the union voted that if all else fails, we
would strike.” Crowley said he and several other employees are in a loyal union with benefits that Sage refuses to recognize. “If I wasn’t in the union, I would have already been fired and the management would have brought in someone else and paid them less,” Crowley said. Hotel Commonwealth General Manager Adam Sperling said no unjust firings have oc-
Hotel, see page 2
Candidates clash in first senatorial special election debate By Sophia Goldberg Daily Free Press Staff
In the first debate to feature candidates from both parties, the three Republican and two Democratic candidates seeking Secretary of State John Kerry’s former senate seat, sparred over social issues, foreign policy and the economy Wednesday night. “This [was] the first chance for many Massachusetts voters to meet and hear from the candidates. I look forward to learning more about where they stand on major issues and what they’d do in the U.S. Senate,” R. D. Sahl, the debate moderator and journalism lecturer at Boston University, said in an email. Republican candidates Gabriel Gomez and Michael Sullivan said in a live-stream video from WCVB they agreed with their party’s pro-life stance, but Dan Winslow separated himself, saying he supported a woman’s right to choose. “I’m pro-choice, … but for me it’s a very personal decision, and for that reason consistent with my view of a limited role of govern-
ment,” Winslow said. “The decision to have that procedure is a question for a person’s conscience, her faith and her family, and those are three areas into which the government has no business being.” Democratic candidates Stephen Lynch and Ed Markey went head-to-head on the topic of the Affordable Care Act. Lynch said he voted against the act because it raised taxes and lowered standards of healthcare. “It was like a hostage situation where we not only paid the ransom, but we let the insurance companies keep the hostages,” Lynch said, adding that he would vote to fix the law. “Now we are in a tough spot.” Samantha Hooper, press secretary for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said she looks forward to the rest of the debates because party members are confident about their two candidates. “In terms of job creation and in terms of the environment, our two Democratic candidates have better ideas to move our state forward,” Hooper said.
Tim Buckley, communications director for the Massachusetts Republican Party, said Lynch and Markey spent years in the House of Representatives without making any big changes. “Ed Markey and Steve Lynch are mediocre congressman who have been in Washington for 50 years, combined with little to show for it except dysfunction, gridlock and partisan bickering,” Buckley said, “while Republicans will speak on clear terms about why their plans to create jobs and grow the economy are right for Massachusetts.” Scott Palmer, emeritus professor of international relations and political science at BU, said the election will be less about Democrats versus Republicans, and more about Lynch versus Markey. “At this point, it doesn’t look like there will be many fireworks coming out of the Republican camp, mainly because Scott Brown chose not to run,” Palmer said. “But it looks like Markey’s odds are the favorite to win in this election.”
Body discovered in Charles River by BU rowing coach By Margaret Waterman Daily Free Press Staff
Massachusetts State Police officers recovered the body of an unidentified male from the Charles River Wednesday morning after a Boston University rowing coach reported it, officials said. The body was found floating near the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge at about 8 a.m. and has yet to be identified, said MSP Trooper Thomas Murphy. Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman Jake Wark said a BU coach discovered the body in the water and notified officials. MSP Marine Unit officers arrived on scene near the bridge and recovered the body from the water. “Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Marine Unit, Troop H and the Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit responded to the scene and recovered the remains of an adult male,” Wark said in an email statement. “The man’s age and identity have not yet been determined, but the preliminary evidence suggests that it is not that of the missing Brown University student about whom some of you have asked.” The disappearance of Brown University student Sunil Tripathi, a former Class of 2012 member on academic leave who went missing March 15, is still under investigation. Since he disappeared, police have expanded their search past Providence to the Boston, Connecticut and New York areas, according to several news outlets.
Body, see page 2
Palestinian activist speaks on Birthright program during Israel Apartheid Week By Rachel Riley Daily Free Press Staff
Liza Behrendt, an organizer for Jewish Voice for Peace Boston, spoke to Boston University students Wednesday night about the nonprofit, educational organization Taglit-Birthright Israel as part of Students for Justice in Palestine’s Israel Apartheid Week. Behrendt said the program, which is partially funded by the Israeli government and partially funded by outside organizations, and sponsors free trips to Israel for Jewish youth, is anti-Palestinian in nature. “Birthright is an important institution for us to be talking about because of how powerful it is,” she said. “It’s just a massive institution that has a wide reach globally and has so many Jewish people. It’s a real force on campuses because there are thousands of young Jewish people there.” About 15 people attended the open discussion in College of Arts and Sciences room 225.
Behrendt spoke about her personal experience on a Birthright trip in 2008, when Israel had just invaded Gaza as a part of Operation Cast Lead. She said her tour guide was reluctant to answer questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and made offensive remarks directed at Muslims in Israel. While Behrendt said not all Birthright trips occur during a period of strife like hers did, they do affect participants’ views of Israel. “Many Birthright participants don’t think of their experience as political,” she said after the event. “They think that it’s a fun time and that it’s about their heritage. The fact that they don’t relate their own heritage and relationship to Israel to the experience of Palestinians is a problem in itself.” Behrendt said Birthright is pro-Israeli in a way that is anti-Palestinian, and the over-
Birthright, see page 2
KENSHIN OKUBO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Liza Behrendt, member of Jewish Voice for Peace, leads a discourse about Birthright Israel with BU students at the College of Arts and Sciences Wednesday evening.