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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2014 THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR XLIV. VOLUME LXXXVII. ISSUE II.

BU Housing allots conservative number of genderneutral options, tests waters in first large-scale offer

BY DREW SCHWARTZ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

As Amir Feinberg walked into his housing selection appointment in April, he looked to his expectant roommates – two of whom were females – with concern. After researching his options, scouring Boston University Housing’s website and calling their department, he was surprised by a note scribbled on the white board in front of him: “One available gender-neutral room in Student Village I,” it read.

“We were a little skeptical going in that we were actually going to end up getting it,” said Feinberg, a College of Arts and Sciences junior. “It ended up just being luck for us. I know some of my other friends who tried to do it. They weren’t so lucky.”

Though some students were frustrated by their inability to acquire gender-neutral housing for the 2014-15 academic year, this is the first time BU is offering the option on a large scale, said Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Marc Robillard, who oversees university housing.

Additionally, the university accommodated every transgender student living on campus, he said.

“The emphasis came from the students,” Robillard said. “The housing people and the residence life people got together and said, how could a gender-neutral housing option work knowing that, on the administrative side, there wasn’t a great demand for it… Gender-neutral is 1 percent of the entire campus.”

Of the 51 residence spaces available for gender-neutral use across BU’s campus, 10 Buick St. (StuVi) offers a single gender-neutral room, now happily occupied by Feinberg, CAS senior Brock Meyer, School of Management junior Mollie Wasser and School of Hospitality junior Kayla Pichichero.

“It takes the stress off of things because I know these are three other people that I’m extremely comfortable with,” Feinberg said. “It’s just – home. It doesn’t feel like a dorm anymore.”

BU now houses over 140 students in gender-neutral living spaces, almost all of which were pre-selected by the university to avoid placing unwitting students in rooms with members of the opposite gender, Robil-

PHOTO BY JUSTIN HAWK/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Roommates Kayla Pichichero (SHA ’16), Mollie Wasser (SMG ’16), Amir Feinberg (CAS ’16) and Brock Meyer spend time together in their gender-neutral Student Village apartment.

lard said.

Still, some students have criticized the housing system for providing what they see as an inadequate number of gender-neutral living spaces on campus.

College of Communication sophomore Tom Laverriere planned to live in a Kilachand Hall quad with two males and one female. However, he was unable to acquire the gender-neutral room he, CAS sophomore Saira Malhotra, COM sophomore Tait Mancosky and College of Engineering sophomore Zach Lasiuk desired.

“The most frustrating and stressful part for us was finding out right at registration, and then because we didn’t want to lose our registration time, having to very quickly come up with a plan B,” he said. “The three of us guys ended up staying together, but we felt awful. Saira now had to be completely random, and we ourselves were also partially random in our suite. It took a little bit of time and stress to get to that point.”

Wasser said any group of students, regardless of gender, should be able to easily select into a room during their housing appointment.

“If you’re uncomfortable living with

GRAPHIC BY MIKE DESOCIO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

someone of the opposite gender, that’s fine.

You shouldn’t have to do that,” she said. “But I don’t think they should put a limit on how many rooms are available for people. If there

are two people of different genders who want to live together, and there’s a room that

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Counter-terrorism efforts in place for university, city, state

BY STEPHANIE PAGONES DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

In the weeks after Islamic militant group ISIS killed two American journalists and made several threats to terrorize the United States from within its borders, representatives from Massachusetts, the City of Boston and Boston University say they are doing everything they can to keep their communities safe and prepare for all possible terroristic threats.

In a televised speech to the nation on Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States was recruiting a global coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is another name for ISIS. In the case of a threatened attack closer to home, like

when the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings occurred, Massachusetts State Police and Boston’s Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation work together alongside other local and federal agencies in the Joint Terrorism Task Force, said Kieran Ramsey, assistant special agent of Boston’s Division of the FBI. “Their [State Police and FBI] posture is to examine the threats that are out there and take measures to not only litigate, but disrupt those threats,” Ramsey said. “They are meant to sit together…share expertise but most importantly take a look and examine very closely and track very closely what threats may be here in this area.”

Ramsey said the FBI currently has a heightened sense of vigilance due to international and geopolitical tension.

“Given again the various threats that we pay attention to around the world, it’s not necessarily going to be tied to

an anniversary [of 9/11],” he said. “Any community could be a target at any given time.”

Aside from tracking, managing and assessing threats, the JTTF holds “table talk” conversations and conducts field training exercises. Ultimately, Ramsey said, raising community awareness is one of the most important aspects of keeping the city safe.

“We actually practice with state, federal and local partners to ask, ‘what is our response going to look like? How are we going to coordinate and communicate?’” he said. “Everybody has to have some level of vigilance. It’s not meant to have people live in fear or be paranoid…It’s meant to make sure that people always maintain a level of vigilance.”

As members of the JTTF, the FBI and State Police work

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NEWS

PHOTO BY ALEXANDRA WIMLEY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The crowd cheers at Boston Calling during day 3 of the music festival.

City discontinues Boston Calling monitoring program used on fans in spring, fall 2013

BY ADRIAN BAKER DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

After tens-of-thousands of fans at Boston Calling’s 2013 spring and fall music festivals were video monitored by the City of Boston without their knowledge, the City decided not to use the same technology during September’s show, which took place from Friday to Sunday.

An exposé published in August by local alternative newspaper Dig Boston revealed that the City’s monitoring program featured technology capable of analyzing body and facial patterns of every Boston Calling attendee. Though the technology can analyze features such as height, clothing and skin color, Kate Norton, press secretary for Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s office, said it was not used for analyzing all attendees.

“The searches were not focused on any

BOSTON CALLING PHOTOS BY ALEXANDRA WIMLEY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Bleachers, top, Spoon, middle, and Lorde, right, perform at the music festival held in City Hall Plaza.

individual characteristics of people at all but rather situations that were deemed a potential threat to public safety,” Norton said in an email, listing abandoned bags and illegally parked vehicles as examples.

The City does not have plans to use the surveillance technology, equipped with facial recognition software, in the future, Norton said.

In May 2013, the City paid the International Business Machines Corporation for a trial run of its “situational awareness software,” which was connected to pre-existing cameras in Boston, with the purpose of evaluating ways to better facilitate large public events, Norton said.

After testing this software under former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s administration, the City decided not to enter into a contract with IBM, however, use of situational technology has not been ruled out, Norton said.

“We have not seen a clear use case for this software that held practical value for the city’s public safety needs,” Norton said.

“We are still exploring options for situational awareness software, but we lack a policy guiding use of this software because we do not have any software in place at this time.”

The City must adopt a comprehensive policy regarding use and data storage before further pursuing the technology, Norton said. Though Norton acknowledged legal and privacy concerns, she said Boston residents might not be aware when similar technology is being tested in the future.

“As the city explores new technology and new public safety tools, it may not necessarily be practical or appropriate to disclose every test or demonstration,” Norton said.

“We recognize that we have a serious obligation to protect the privacy of the people

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NEWS

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BUPD prepares for threats through training, exercises CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

together to gather intelligence and investigate crimes related to those that may lead to a terrorist attack, said Trooper Thomas Ryan, spokesman for State Police.

“We are well aware of the anniversary of September 11 coming up,” he said. “During that time of year, we function with a heightened sense of awareness of the sign of that date, realizing the obvious significance of it and the obvious increased possibility of some type of terrorism issue.”

Ryan said State Police collaborates with other agencies in order to assess potential terroristic threats.

“We address threats as they come,” he said. “Certainly, if we receive a threat of any type of terrorism, that’s something that we would address with all available resources we have, and in partner with other agencies in the War on Terror and in counterterrorism efforts.”

BU’s own police force has put time and effort into terrorism and active-shooter prevention, which is necessary to maintain campus safety and security, said BU Police Department Deputy Director of Public Safety Scott Paré.

“An attack can come in all ways, means, forms and sizes, even in the form of an active shooter, which can be considered a terrorist attack,” he said. “We do active shooter training alongside Boston Police Department and State Police.

We’ve had such things as suspicious unattended packages in the area, and we work on how we respond, and we work together as a team both for IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and unattended packages.”

BUPD prepares for these types of emergencies through a system of protocol, constant training and practice exercises, Paré said. BU also operates under the Incident Command System, a national program for structuring and coordinating an efficient response.

“You never know what the threat is going to be, so we do training for the officers to recognize suspicious behavior, people acting in ways that may arouse suspicion enough that we want to go talk to that individual,” he said. “We expand our eyes and ears out there. We have people who take different roles and train for their roles, and if we have an incident, we know what to do.”

Paré said BUPD strives to improve their protocol and skills, not only during high-risk periods, but at all times to keep over 30,000 BU students, faculty and staff as safe as possible.

“We know that anniversary dates are big dates for terrorists, but we’re certainly not going to let our guard down because it’s not an anniversary,” he said. “I would hope that we’re always improving. I hope that it’s monthly, daily, hourly. We’re always trying to improve. Everyone has a heightened sense of awareness, and we are always trying to get the public involved.”

However, Boston could never be 100 percent secure, said international relations Professor Joseph Wippl, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who specializes in security and intelligence.

“The risk of a major terrorist attack in Boston is very low, but not impossible,” he said in an email. “The reason [being that] it would take manpower, coordination, secre-

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

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BU police prepare for terrorism and active shooter prevention through a system of protocol, constant training and practice exercises, said BUPD Deputy Director of Public Safety Scott Paré.

“Terrorists most likely would attack when we do not expect an attack rather than on a day we would.” - Joseph Wippl, international relations professor.

KENSHIN OKUBO/DFP FILE PHOTO

Massachusetts State Police, the Boston Police Department and the Boston Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation all work together to handle any terrorist attack in Massachusetts, such as the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

cy and money to mount a major attack. The risk of a minor attack in Boston is greater because the perpetrators of such an attack would be small in numbers and be limited in their capabilities to obtain lethal explosives.”

Wippl also said it was unlikely the anniversary of any major terrorist attack would prompt another major incident.

“The attack on the Madrid trains took place on March 11, 2004. This is the only attack I can remember connected to 9/11,” he said. “Terrorists most likely would attack when we do not expect an attack rather than on a day we would.”

Several students and residents said they are confident in the capabilities of the police force and those involved in the War on Terror, but people need to be cognizant of potential threats around the world.

Madison Sparber, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said even though BUPD has made noticeable efforts to keep BU’s campus safe, students should understand that the city and the world, is not as safe as it might seem.

“A lot of people think they’re in a bubble, and they feel very safe,” she said. “People try to keep an eye out for things, but in terms of a huge terrorist threat, I don’t think they are really looking out for that right now. It feels safe, but you

Robillard: GNH accommodation “a balancing act” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

will fit them, they should get that room.”

Though this solution may seem feasible, several technological and logistical issues complicate the possibility of this type of “onthe-fly” accommodation, Robillard said.

“It’s a balancing act,” he said.

“If we go through this, are we going to throw off our male-to-female allocation? We’re looking at the size of the freshman class, the transfer classes, we’re looking at all of that.”

Facing a consistently high demand for on-campus housing from an ever-changing proportion of female and male students, the university has to carefully allot adequate male and female bed spaces tuned to the makeup of BU’s student body, Robillard said.

“We really didn’t want another factor making that more diffi-

2

cult, so we played it close to the vest, so to speak, and took a conservative approach,” he said. “Next year, you’ll see us broadening this.”

Several major facets of BU’s operations are managed through a 25-year-old computer software system that links almost all of the electronic data managed by the university, Robillard said.

A total of 62 computer interfaces – including those that control billing, registration and financial aid at BU – are intertwined in a coding language that is difficult to significantly alter, Robillard said. The process of changing a room from an “M” (male) or “F” (female) designation to an “N” designation representing a gender-neutral space could take a matter of months.

“Now you’re in this ancient language trying to find the connections and make sure you don’t break anything, so it’s very frag-

ile in that regard,” Robillard said.

“You can break things inadvertently because you’re not aware of all the connections over there in the system.”

Though optimizing BU’s housing selection process to accommodate any and all “on-thefly” requests for gender-neutral housing may be difficult, it is a capability BU housing is striving for.

The university hopes to update its student-data coding system within two years, Robillard said.

“The first time through, we wanted to be really cautious. As we go forward, as the managers who kind of run the room assignments become more confident in what’s going on, you’ll see more flexibility,” he said. “I know that doesn’t help someone who was back a year ago, but in the big picture of things, it really is the best way to do it.”

wouldn’t really know.”

Sisay Girma Tefera, 34, of Kenmore, said residents have to constantly remain vigilant of their surroundings, especially in the Fenway neighborhood, due to the large volume of people present during baseball season.

“People are comfortable, but I don’t think they should be, especially in an area like Kenmore Square, so close to Fenway Park,” he said. “There needs to be awareness, as in any situation, and people need to keep their eyes out for any suspicious people.”

Asia Alsgaard, a senior in CAS, said BUPD offers services that make her feel safe from any kind of attack, but Boston’s prominence since the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings might have put the city at heightened risk.

“I never really thought of Boston as being a target city, but then again, I would never have thought the Boston Marathon attack would have happened,” she said. “I haven’t noticed any huge changes in the way the city is handling things, but I personally feel very comfortable at BU. I never feel threatened, and if I do, I know I can go to the blue lights.

There are always police cars going by, so I never feel like they’re far away.”

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NEWS

In Greek life at BU, some face a road to recovery

BY JAIME BENNIS DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Several fraternities whose official status on campus has been compromised are taking measures to assimilate back into the Boston University community.

In Feb. 2014, Zeta Beta Tau was suspended after four members were arrested on charges of keeping a disorderly house and violating terms of their probation. Prior to their suspension, the Boston University Police Department responded to two complaints, one of which led to the chapter’s suspension, of large parties held at an off-campus function that members of ZBT were involved in planning, hosting and serving alcohol to minors.

As of the start of the fall 2014 semester, ZBT has been placed on probation status.

They are allowed to take part in community service, philanthropy and recruitment, but they are being monitored carefully.

“Zeta Beta Tau is taking steps to rebuild their chapter after their national office performed a member review,” said Connor Walsh, public relations chair of the Interfraternity Council, in an email. “[The] Council and BU have agreed on a decision to keep them on campus this semester and to work with IFC during their recruitment process to rebuild.”

Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said to his understanding, ZBT has been “whittled down” to six members, undergone a full member review and seen a change in the fraternity’s leadership.

“They’ll be involved with all the sorts of things that are about recruitment, and they’ll try to move their organization forward,” he said. “They’ve got a number of ed-

ucational programs, training programs for their membership that they’ll be doing over the course of the first semester.”

Sigma Chi was suspended over the summer after the Dean of Students’ office received an anonymous complaint in July about a hazing activity took place in Nov. 2013. Elmore said he has been in contact with the fraternity’s national organization and is investigating the complaints.

“I am still putting together the final notes as it regards our investigation about the activity that we were informed about this summer,” he said. “They have to cease their operations until I get back to them, and I’m working on some final details about that.”

In March 2013, Sigma Alpha Mu was placed on indefinite suspension following the death of BU freshman Anthony Barksdale III, who passed away after being transported to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center from an off-campus Sigma Alpha Mu function.

“We don’t want them to use the BU name or any spaces or resources, and we no longer recognize them,” Elmore said.

Overall, Elmore said he encourages students to join any club or organization they want to be a part of, as long as they are happy and remain safe.

“For some students, being in a fraternity or a sorority is a very good experience for them,” he said. “…As long as people are moving forward with their organization and not violating the law, they are welcome at the university.”

Walsh, a College of Engineering senior, said fraternities at BU are pushing to over-

Concert-goers mixed feelings on tech.

come the negative stigma sometimes associated with participating in Greek life.

“Our members are very dedicated to the entire BU and Boston community and have put strong emphasis on their chapter service and philanthropy events,” he said. “We have raised tens-of-thousands of dollars for others, and we are trying to break our academic standards and to be more transparent about the activities that are done on campus.”

One of the IFC’s main priorities is fos-

tering positive relationships with other members of the BU community outside of Greek Life, Walsh said.

“As groups of motivated young men, we also try to elevate our community service hours each year and also to bring in other members who embody a positive attitude,” he said. “Rather than focusing on our own social characteristics, we believe in finding pride in our achievements and constantly try to help shed some light on all that has been accomplished.”

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who come here to enjoy our city and events.”

Boston public safety officials contacted Boston Calling organizers before the May 2013 festival to inform them the technology would be used, according to a Monday statement from Boston Calling.

“Boston Calling Music Festival was not involved in the implementation of the program,” the statement said. “Our practice is to comply with all public safety initiatives the city chooses to implement. Fan safety is our number one priority.”

Attendees at this past weekend’s Boston Calling festival had mixed feelings on being unknowingly subject to the advanced technology, but most supported the idea of enhanced security measures.

“I do wish I had been aware of it, but it doesn’t really bother me,” said Elizabeth Beaupre, 27, of Brighton. “It makes me feel more secure that if something was to happen, they would be on top of it.”

Josie Thiele, 24, of Allston, said she was not shocked to learn how extensively last year’s attendees were monitored.

“In all of life, people are unaware of how much they’re being monitored, on the Internet and in public,” she said. “People should expect it — not that it’s a good thing that they should expect it, but it’s happening all the time.”

However, Nikki Haggan, 21, of Fenway, called it “a little alarming” to know the details of the surveillance. She said patrons ought to have been made aware of the technology beforehand.

“It might have acted as a deterrent so people were safe and well behaved, but people didn’t know about it until after the fact,” she said. “It’s probably better to know that there’s this technology out there.”

Rob Hill, 27, of Brighton, said he understands the increased attention being placed on security given recent events in Boston, including the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

“Honestly, you don’t have much to worry about if you’re not doing anything wrong,” he said. “Necessary? I don’t know, but I don’t have a problem with it because it’s keeping things from happening.”

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5

INBUSINESS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

Campaign finance plays active role in gubernatorial race

BY OLIVIA DENG DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

It’s a clear Sunday afternoon in Dorchester. The Martha Coakley for Governor campaign office is bedecked with encouraging signs. One volunteer walks in carrying a packet, announcing that he has just knocked on 78 doors. The rest of the volunteers are still out doing just that, hoping to sway prospective voters and raise some last-minute funds for the campaign.

By the end of Tuesday’s primary, the Coakley campaign had nearly 3,000 volunteers who knocked on over 100,000 doors and made over 550,000 calls to voters, said Bonnie McGilpin, press secretary for Coakley’s campaign.

But it is not always the number of knocks or phone calls that has had the largest outcome in elections. Funds and fundraising are an important part of the campaign process.

After the polls closed Tuesday evening, it was Coakley who emerged victorious over Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman and former Medicare administrator Don Berwick in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. This can be partially attributed to the fundraising mechanisms each candidate used for their respective campaigns.

In a University of Massachusetts Lowell/7News poll released Sept. 2, Martha Coakley was in the lead with 52 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, followed by Steven Grossman with 20 percent and Don Berwick with 9 percent.

The Berwick campaign relied heavily on grassroots campaigning for fundraising, said Leigh Appleby, press secretary at Don Berwick’s campaign.

“The way we’ve done our fundraising has been through grassroots,” he said. “These people who are supporters of Don are asking their friends and neighbors to become supporters of Don. The grassroots approach has been a very effective one.”

In the weekend prior to the election, 2,000 individuals volunteered their time to the Berwick campaign with the targeted goal of knocking on 80,000 doors and making 2,000 phone calls, Appleby said.

Only a month ago, Berwick had the lead in fundraising. Berwick raised $97,000 from Aug. 1 to 15, compared to $83,000 raised by Grossman and $69,000 raised by Coakley over that same period, according to the Massachusetts Of-

Patrick acted quickly to bring more transparency and acfice of Campaign and Political Finance.

Berwick’s focus on grassroots funding led him to rely countability to super PACs in Massachusetts election.

“However, the only way to keep super PACs out of the less on super PACs than his running mates.

Super PACs, which are independent expenditure-only race for governor is for Coakley’s opponents to join her in committees, raise money to advocate for or against candi- signing a People’s Pledge. Coakley was the fi rst attorney dates. But unlike political action committees, super PACs general to support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and has stated repeatedly that secret special have no monetary limit on donations.

Super PACs have proven to be an effective, if not con- interest money has no place in Massachusetts elections.”

Despite this anti-super PAC stance, the Coakley camtroversial, mechanism for campaign fi nance. In the gubernatorial race, they have accounted for more than 40 percent of paign accepted $5,000 from a super PAC funded by the National Association of Government Employees in April. total campaign spending over the past two months.

However, Coakley also joined other politicians ¬¬¬— Grossman received a boost from super PACs, notably Mass Forward, which has contributed more than $475,000 including Berwick — in an agreement to limit campaign to his campaign. The money from Mass Forward was used to funding in exchange for public fi nancing back in August, launch an ad titled “Mothers” on July 28 aimed at Coakley’s according to a Sept. 3 press release from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance. stance on gun control.

Some campaign staffers see fi nances as an important elShortly after the ad was released, a Massachusetts law was passed that requires state super PACs to disclose top do- ement to political victory, whether those funds are coming nors for TV spots. This led to the discovery that Grossman’s from grassroots efforts, super PACs or other means. “[We’re spending] enough to win this thing,” Appleby mother, Shirley Grossman, was among the Mass Forward said of campaign expenditures. “Our fi nancial goal is meetdonors, contributing $100,000 to the super PAC. Grassroots fundraising is tied to super PAC advertise- ing our goals, and we are very happy with how fundraising ments in the Grossman campaign, said Josh Wolf, campaign has gone.” manager of Grossman’s campaign.

“One beneficial tool for this has been [contribution site] ActBlue, which makes it easy for grassroots supporters to chip in small amounts whenever they’re inclined,” he said. “When they hear exciting campaign updates, such as the release of our recent ad, it gives everyone an opportunity to chip in multiple times during the campaign. We’re using our resources to communicate with voters in a wide range of capacities – at their doors, on the phones and through TV advertisements.”

The Coakley campaign criticized Grossman for his reliance on super PACs. McGilpin said the lack of transparency loses voters.

“Massachusetts voters have already made it clear that super PACs have no place in our elections. We believe that voters are most impacted by the one-onPHOTO BY OLIVIA DENG/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF one conversations about the issues that are impacting Massachusetts families, not super PAC ads,” she said. Throughout her campaign for Democratic gubernatorial can“We are pleased that the Legislature and Governor didate, Martha Coakley agreed to limit campaign spending in exchange for public funding.

SCIENCE TUESDAY Q & A with General Chemistry II Professor Tom Tullius, an academic at heart sity?

PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM TULLIUS

Chemistry Professor Tom Tullius advises incoming freshman to prioritize academics.

BY REBECCA DEGREGORIO DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Despite the eye rolling that prerequisite courses and library overnights induce, the true formula for success remains two parts curiosity, three parts passion and all parts hard work. The Daily Free Press was lucky enough to verify this method with one of its loyal proponents, Dr. Tom Tullius.

FreeP: What’s your official position at Boston Univer-

Tullius: I’m a professor of chemistry, and I’m also the director of the Bioinformatics Program.

FreeP: And what classes do you currently teach?

Tullius: Right now, I’m teaching a graduate course called DNA Nanotechnology, and in the springtime, I teach Chem 102 [General Chemistry 2].

FreeP: I guess a general question worth asking is, “Why science?” Did you always know that you wanted to pursue a profession in it?

Tullius: Well, back in high school I took a really great chemistry class, and the teacher was a wonderful teacher. I had always liked science, but chemistry really seemed like something that I wanted to end up doing…So in college, I went to UCLA [University of California, Los Angeles] as an undergraduate…I got my degree in chemistry at Stanford [University], my Ph.D., and then I was postdoctoral at Columbia University for three years. I then had a faculty position at Johns Hopkins [University] and moved to BU around 17 years ago. I’ve been doing chemistry for a really long time.

FreeP: Why does chemistry excite you?

Tullius: It’s a really fundamental science for everything that’s around us in the world…But the other thing about chemistry, which is different from any other science, is that you can make and do things that have never existed in the world. Chemical synthesis is really a unique human endeavor.

FreeP: How did you fi nd yourself at BU? Tullius: I moved here in 1997…I was actually hired to move here to become the chairman of the chemistry department…So I was the department chairman for eight years, and a couple of years later, I became the director of the Bioinformatics Program.

FreeP: What sort of research does your lab, the Tullius

Group, do?

Tullius: We’re interested in DNA. So we’ve been working for quite a while on developing new kinds of experiments where you can get structural information on DNA molecules using chemistry…We developed the chemistry of something called the “hydroxyl radical.” It’s a very reactive free radical, and it reacts with DNA and makes strand breaks in DNA. It turns out that that pattern of strand breaks gives you an image of the shape of the DNA molecule…It’s quite exciting. A lot of people around the world have adopted the methods that we’ve developed in my lab, which is quite gratifying and fun to see.

FreeP: Since you’ve taught general chemistry many times, why do you think the class is commonly viewed as a “weed-out” class?

Tullius: It’s not a “weed-out” class. We have no interest in “weeding anybody out.” [Laughs] It certainly is a demanding course, and we think it’s probably the hardest course that our students take during their freshman year in terms of time and effort. But I think the effort is really repaid.

Freep: Do you remember what your least favorite class was in college?

Tullius: I don’t know. That’s hard. I kind of liked them all. [Laughs] I really had a great time, and I think I learn something interesting from everything.

FreeP: Given your educational background, do you have any good tips for fi rst year students?

Tullius: One thing they shouldn’t do is just read the textbook and think that that’s enough to understand what’s going on. You really have to be an active learner. When you’re reading a textbook, you need to have a pencil and paper available…You have to question yourself and admit it when you don’t understand something and try to figure out the answer.

6

FEATURES

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

SONS OF SERENDIP

PHOTO COURTESY OF SONS OF SERENDIP

Stringing It All Together: BU alumni make it to the big stage

BY REBECCA DEGREGORIO DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Serendipity: A term derived from the old Persian tale of three princes from Serendip who took an accidental journey through the Far East whilst searching for a lost camel. Now, add a fourth prince, change the setting to Cambridge and substitute the camel with the coveted title of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”, and you have the 2014 revision.

“None of us tried to make this happen. We didn’t have any big, lofty dreams,” said Kendall Ramseur, the cellist for Sons of Serendip, a musical ensemble comprised of four Boston University alumni who happened to stumble across one another and, recently, some well-deserved fame after they auditioned for “America’s Got Talent” and made it to the Top 12 round.

“We’re rehearsing like crazy to prepare for Tuesday,” said Micah Christian, referring to the Top 12 performances on Tuesday night. “And we usually rehearse at least four hours a day.”

This comes as no surprise. The group was in the Top 12 acts, earning their place covering songs such as Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know,” and transforming the familiar ballads into some beautifully escapist listening.

After their performance of Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World” on Tuesday, judge Howie Mandel called the Sons “the most musically talented group in the competition.”

And America seemed to agree.

On Wednesday night, the group was voted through to the fi nale next week, putting them in the Top 6 and bringing them one round closer to the million-dollar prize.

The group was officially formed in February, but Micah Christian, Cordaro Rodriguez, Mason Morton and Ramseur became comrades a couple of measures earlier than that.

“I met Kendall in 2010 when I just packed my bags and drove to Boston…We just became friends in that way,” said Morton, the group’s harpist and constant reminder that the more strings you have, the better.

“I just remember him [Morton] walking into the apartment one day and he asked if there was an extra room,” Ramseur said, laughing. “You would have never known that we would end up in a group together years down the road.”

Rodriguez, the group’s pianist and guitarist, knew Ramseur from an entirely different setting. The two grew up together in Charlotte, North Carolina, and happened to pursue their individual endeavors at the same Boston institution. Ramseur and Morton studied at BU’s College of Fine Arts, Rodriguez at BU’s School of Law and Christian at BU’s School of Theology.

The group of friends attempted small performances at fi rst, one of which took place at Marsh Chapel in 2010.

“That recognition was there, but we didn’t do anything with it,” Ramseur said.

From about 2011 to 2013, the individual musicians dabbled in the fi ne art of playing music with one another. Over this period, a combination of casual playing and formal studying produced the string-infused buildup to the group America knows today.

Despite the implied limitations of playing with instruments usually associated with classical music, Morton said Sons of Serendip’s genres of influence are almost as diverse as their coincidentally crossed paths.

“Our music is a fusion of classical elements, neo-soul and this sort of rock, I would say,” he said. “And so all of that together, it should almost blend like maybe that of a soundtrack.”

And with this distinct musicality came a “carpe diem” mentality to match. When Christian, the group’s lead vocalist, brought up the idea of auditioning for America’s Got Talent in February, there were no second thoughts.

“I had heard about the auditions, and the fi rst guys that popped into my mind were Cordaro and his roommates,” Christian said. “When this came up, I was like, ‘Well this could be a cool opportunity to see what could happen.’…I asked Cordaro if he could ask his roommates if they’d be interested.”

After a quick first concert at Simmons College, the Sons of Serendip were ready to make the conversion from an audience of 20 friends and family members to that of several million American viewers. And, despite the tremendous track record of the group’s fate, the Sons of Serendip have decided to take things into their own hands since their arrival in New York.

“The style that we aim for is anything that’s moving. So I guess it’s not necessarily limited to a genre,” Rodriguez said. “That mixture helps the group stay well-rounded.”

And it just keeps getting better for these BU Sons of Serendip as they celebrate the happenstance of their past with the heart and soul of their present. Although they were forged along Commonwealth Avenue, they’ve found their place among the bright lights of Sixth Avenue.

“When I’m on the Radio City Music Hall stage I feel at home playing in front of people,” Morton said. “It feels like this is where I belong.”

!

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George Sherman Union, Metcalf Hall

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8/28/14 1:56 PM

FEATURES

7

SPOTLIGHT Apps by Boston University students encourage face-to-face communication

BY HEATHER GOLDIN DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Students are criticized today more than ever for their dependence on phones, tablets and laptops. Facebook and Twitter have us glued to our screens and refreshing feeds while apps like Snapchat have become substitutes for being in the same room with friends.

“It’s called social media, but it’s very antisocial,” said Dani Gálvaz, Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alum and GoBe Groups founder.

Gálvez, who graduated from BU in May, is preparing to launch the beta version of an app that he hopes will bring users face-to-face. On the GoBe Groups team are College of Communication seniors Eunkyung Park and Ou Sheng Chen , as well as 2013 COM graduate Sean Finn.

GoBe Groups, named after the interdependent relationship between the goby fish and the pistol shrimp, allows users to create and join local groups that match their interests.

Gálvez describes the app as a “platonic Tinder .”

“Will you be my pistol shrimp?” read the subject line for an e-mail that Gálvez sent to friends, introducing his app to receive feedback.

The app syncs with a user’s phone contacts, allowing the user to invite contacts to start using GoBe Groups and join the groups — some private, some public — within the app. Groups that have been created within a designated radius will show up on the “discover” page, which can be sorted by categories like athletics, games, lifestyle, quick jobs and more. Users can create groups with a specific location, description of the group, start time for various activities within the group and maximum participants al-

lowed.

“The possibilities are endless,” Gálvez said.

For safety reasons, app users won’t be able to see details such as exact location of the group until the group leader approves their request to join.

What makes GoBe Groups unique is its reliability ratings. Based on user attendance in previous groups, group leaders can see how reliable the users are who requested to join the group and can then decide whether to approve or deny their request to join based on this measurement.

GoBe Groups will be available for iOS at the end of September and available for Android in October.

But GoBe Groups isn’t the only app designed by BU students to bring people together.

Downtyme , co-founded by College of Engineering juniors Barron Roth and Luke Sorenson , aims to connect users with Facebook friends close by.

The app, which launched March 2014, started as a fi nal project for Sorenson and Roth’s Introduction to Software Engineering course with classmates John Moore, an ENG senior, and Timothy Chong, an ENG junior. Downtyme takes advantage of the user’s calendar to match their free time with the free time of their Facebook friends.

“No one likes eating alone,” Sorenson said. “No one likes doing anything alone.”

Students are only meant to spend a minute or two on the app, so they can spend less time online and more time doing things with friends in the real world, he said.

Within the app, users can also create lists of friends for mass invites and change the type of activity from a simple hangout to something more specific, such as working out or getting coffee. If users are looking for some “alone-tyme,” the app also offers a “hide” feature.

Although there are apps such as Merge and Ufree with

calendar sync functions similar to Downtyme’s, Roth said they are only available on iOS systems. Downtyme is built for both iOS and Android.

Based on user feedback, Roth and his team are already making improvements to the app for the full version they plan to launch in Jan. 2015. He wants to add a messaging feature in place of users responding yes or no to requests as well as the ability to see an individual’s exact location when meeting up with them.

Both GoBe Groups and Downtyme have been successful so far in their development.

Downtyme’s team placed fi rst in ENG’s third annual Imagineering Competition in spring 2014, winning $2,500, and was also featured in Product Hunt ’s “Best of Boston” category.

GoBe Groups already has plane tickets to Dublin for the technology conference Web Summit in November.

Gálvez and his team are invited to the Summit’s BETA program, attended in the past by start-ups such as Uber , Spotify and Dropbox .

The concept of meeting face-to-face is present in both apps, and both seem to be a step up from Facebook events or texting friends en masse to hang out. However, Roth said he doesn’t believe that apps like his will become major forms of communication, but rather a planning tool directed at students with busy schedules.

“It’s something you use when you need it,” Roth said.

If anything, these apps instill hope that our millennial generation can break free from technology, if only for a few hours. As the Downtyme co-founders put it, these apps will “save you from your smart phone.”

For more information on GoBe Groups e-mail info@gobegroups.com For more information on DownTyme e-mail founders@downty.me

The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

Katrina Uy, Blog Editor Adrian Baker, Associate News Editor

44th year | Volume 87 | Issue 2

Jaime Bennis, Associate News Editor

Kyle Plantz, Editor-in-Chief Felicia Gans, Managing Editor

Mina Corpuz, Associate News Editor Stephanie Pagones, Associate News Editor

Clinton Nguyen, Multimedia Editor

Justin Pallenik, Associate Sports Editor

Drew Schwartz, News Editor

Jacklyn Bamberger, Associate Sports Editor

Conor Ryan, Sports Editor

Olivia Deng, InBusiness Editor

Taryn Ottaunick, Opinion Editor

Rebecca DeGregorio, Science Tuesday

Hannah Landers, Features Editor

Editor

Emily Zaboski, Photo Editor

Kimberly Rendon, Spotlight Editor

Shakti Rovner, Office Manager

Sarah Kirkpatrick, Muse Editor

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 © 2014 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

The results are in! The 2014 obesity rates for all 50 states were released Thursday by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and they are a little heavy (pun totally intended).

Mississippi and West Virginia were tied for the most obese states in the country with a 35.1 percent obesity rate.

Forty-three states have obesity rates of at least 25 percent, and every state is above 20 percent, the report states.

One-third of American adults are obese, and scariest of all, 1 in every 3 children in the United States is overweight or obese.

As alarming as these numbers are, it probably isn’t a surprise to too many people that America struggles with its weight. And while the government has taken steps to increase awareness and promote better health, the national waistline continues to expand. While a little extra weight isn’t necessarily a crisis, the extent to which Americans are tipping the scale could potentially sink the country.

The average U.S. citizen does his or her own grocery shopping, meal planning and decision-making as far as dietary choices go, but here at Boston University, students are somewhat reliant on the school to provide our dining options. Every freshman student at BU is required to live on campus and purchase a dining plan. Therefore, BU Dining Services have at some point, fed almost every student.

BU Dining Services operates all three campus-dining halls as well as all food services owned by BU. Their goals include providing “quality, variety, flexibility, convenience or pure deliciousness,” to all BU-located dining options, according to their website. Their website also heavily promotes the Sargent Choice Nutrition Center, which works in tandem with BU Dining Services to provide healthier meal options to students.

Allie Wimley, Associate Photo Editor

THE STUDENT BODY “The Sargent Choice program works with the chefs in BU Dining Services to provide meals that are delicious and satisfying, that sound and look appealing, while also meeting specific nutritional criteria,” said Sargent Choice Nutrition Center dietitian Rachel Reynolds. “Sargent Choice includes and highlights health promoting foods like whole grains, lean proteins, low fat dairy, heart healthy oils, fruits and vegetables.”

Whole grains and lean proteins sound like pretty good nutritional options, but those looking for them can’t always get what they want. Sargent Choice provides one pizza option, one soup option, two entrée options and recommended

PHOTO VIA SHUTTERSHOCK

New reports show obesity epidemic is increasing throughout the country.

everyday items, such as granola and whole wheat bread at every meal. However, the meals they create aren’t always tasty, and sometimes, the cheeseburger looks a lot more palatable than the weird vegan broccoli lasagna roll.

Mike DeSocio, Associate Photo Editor Falon Moran, Associate Photo Editor

It is true that Sargent Choice makes an admirable effort to provide healthy dining options, even if they aren’t exactly delicious, and they also provide complementary nutritional counseling, even if few take advantage of it. Still, there are some things about our campus that make weight maintenance somewhat difficult.

In addition to the soft-serve ice cream machines with convenient take-away cones, a veritable buffet of desserts is served at both lunch and dinner in BU dining halls, and no, there is no Sargent Choice option included. Ever look at the Late Night Café menu at the Warren Dining Hall? If you missed the regular dinner hours, you could fi nd yourself facing a menu comprised of chicken fi ngers, mozzarella sticks and French fries. Campus vending machines are crammed with candy bars and chips, and the campus-partnered Domino’s Pizza is open until 3 a.m.

And what about exercise? Sure, the Fitness and Recreation Center, affectionately known as FitRec, is a state-ofthe-art fitness facility accessible to all members of the BU community, but it is located at the far end of West Campus, quite a hike for those living in East Campus. Though you could make the argument that the walk there is additional exercise, it is understandably difficult for many East Campus residents to make their way there to get their daily exercise fi x. Perhaps a smaller East Campus workout facility could provide a remedy to that struggle.

Despite campus dining complaints, BU is not an outlier in the national trend of less-than-perfect campus dining, and we are probably far better than many other schools. But if the United States is concerned about the obesity rates of future generations (like our generation), the health options of college campuses are worth taking seriously.

While BU should be held accountable for providing palatable healthy nutrition options, it isn’t their job to be the food police. We are adults, and it is up to us to choose the healthiest options for the moment. But a little extra encouragement – and education – from BU wouldn’t hurt.

HOFBERG: Challenges to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Phenomenon

BY KATE HOFBERG COLUMNIST

I used to think pictures of my friends’ newborns and the never-ending posts about the trials and tribulations of my oldcollege-friends-turnednew-parents were the most irritating things to happen to social media, besides, of course, my parents. Then, the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Ice Bucket Challenge began. After weeks of watching videos of my friends soaking themselves with buckets of water, please, dear God, tell me it’s over.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months, you probably already know the premise of the challenge. If a friend nominates you, you have 24 hours to either douse yourself with a bucket full of freezing-cold ice water, fi lm it and pass the challenge on to others via social media or donate $100 to the ALS Association.

The challenge is aimed at not only raising money for the ALS Association, but also for raising awareness. However, as far as educating people with any substantive information, how donations will be used or why the money is needed for the ALS Association, the Ice Bucket Challenge videos that clog my News Feed seem to be anything but informative. Instead, for weeks on end, my Facebook has been a montage of self-congratulatory videos that are more eff ective in raising awareness of my friends’ own attractiveness in teeny bikinis or see-through wet T-shirts.

Which brings me to why ALS? It’s not to say that those approximately 5,600 people who are diagnosed with the paralyzing disease annually don’t deserve donations for research for a cure, but what about funding research for other diseases that affect much larger numbers of people across the country every year? In 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 596,577 people died from heart disease, 576,691 people died from cancer and 84,974 people died from Alzheimer’s disease. It seems to me that other organizations, for example, the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society or the Alzheimer’s Association, whose research focuses on curing diseases whose combined fatalities dwarf the numbers of those affected by ALS, are equally, if not more deserving, of at least a portion of the $41.8 million in contributions that the ALS Association has received this year alone.

Let’s get one thing straight. It’s not that I’m against raising awareness or money for ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, the progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord of approximately 30,000 people in the United States. I do, however, have several problems with the trendy, social media phenomenon of which actually donating money to charity appears to be secondary in the minds of most of my friends who are seemingly more focused on the fun of pouring a bucket of freezing water on their heads.

I have to wonder how many of my friends are participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge because they personally know someone that is affected by ALS and how many of them are participating just because they want to up the number of likes on their social media pages. As well-intentioned

as the viral video challenge is, here’s what participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge actually says: “I don’t actually care enough about fi nding a cure for ALS to make a monetary donation, so I’ll just substitute this trivial activity for more genuine involvement in charitable activities.”

But perhaps what’s even more troubling to me than my friends using the challenge to boost their popularity on the Internet is their blatant disregard for how environmentally irresponsible it is to waste such a precious natural resource as water. Shame on all my friends, particularly in California, who chose to spend money on bagged ice instead of just donating that money to charity, especially in the wake of the state’s exceptional drought conditions.

Despite the fact that nearly 84 percent of the state suff ers from extreme drought, the National Report recently reported that nearly 33 million gallons of water are wasted on the Ice Bucket Challenge daily in California alone.

Congratulations Ice Bucketers! Not only has your staged drenching contributed to your viral popularity, but it’s also lent a hand in making a mockery of the severe water shortages that plague not only California, but much of the globe and contribute to serious human suff ering.

It’s time to wise up, you guys. I need you to start using your social media accounts a little bit more responsibly, not only for the sake of saving me from having to watch one more painfully unoriginal wet T-shirt contest in disguise, but also to save our planet and our terminally ill friends. I know it’s a lot to ask to make a small donation to a worthy cause without the promise of receiving likes on Facebook in return, but somehow, I think you’ll survive.

OPINION

9

Don't Sleep Through Midterms!

Coming of Age in Iraq: A retrospective

BY SARA RYAN

BY BEN GAGNE-MAYNARD

COLUMNIST

COLUMNIST

In just a few short weeks, midterms will be here. Most of us will be vastly underprepared and at least borderline apathetic. A dedicated few will stay up through the night; just a handful will obsessively check for the results. The best part? Aside from the millions of dollars spent in the process, these midterms won’t make a difference.

No, I’m not talking about your Grecian history midterm from hell. Our topic this week is the 2014 U.S. midterm elections. I’m going to explain why this year’s elections are utterly uninspiring and why you should still vote anyway.

Most political experts, like FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver, can agree on two things. First, Republicans will keep the majority in the House, and second, because of this, none of the other federal elections matter.

For those interested, it looks like Republicans have a good chance of winning the majority in the Senate. According to Silver’s calculations, there is a 63.8 percent chance that this will happen. While it’s not a landslide, it’s nothing the Senate Democrats are looking forward to come January.

Other than the new business cards for Senate leadership, there wouldn’t be any real effect on Washington politics. U.S. President Barack Obama will still have the ability to veto anything the Republican Congress passes. It will just be another two years of gridlock and partisanship.

If this was the Land of Unicorns and Rainbows, this divided federal government might put aside their differences and work together to do what’s best for the American people. Then, we could all ride off into the sunset together, friendship bracelets and all.

I don’t have any data to back this up, but I’m going to say the odds of this happening are pretty low.

In the fi nal two years leading up to the 2016 presidential election, expect growing animosity between the two parties. Both Democrats and Republicans will receive criticism for the lack of productivity, but don’t hold your breath for any work getting done. The months leading up to a presidential election can be the most vicious in American politics. Republicans and Demo-

crats will try to differentiate themselves as much as possible heading into Nov. 2016.

Now, I’ve just spent the last 350 words explaining why this midterm doesn’t matter. Of course, the logical conclusion would be, “Well gee, Sara. Since we should just expect more of the same, I don’t have to vote, right?”

That is where you are wrong, my dear reader. Regardless of a perceived election outcome, we should always make an effort to be informed and participating voters.

Every single U.S. citizen reading this should be registered to vote (unless you’re one of those super geniuses who came to college early and aren’t old enough yet)! You can either vote in your home district by absentee ballot or register here in Boston. It’s a little bit of work, but this is a civic right!

We have to pay taxes, serve jury duty and follow a bunch of laws most of us could live without. We do all of that, so we can have a say in who runs our government. It’d be silly to do all of the work and then not take advantage of the perks. That’s like having a Dunkin’ Donuts Perks card and not getting your free medium drink on your birthday!

Voting is an important right (and responsibility) that young people don’t take advantage of. On May 8, 2013, the Pew Research Center, also known as Statistics Mecca, reported that only 41 percent of 18 to 24 year olds voted in the 2012 presidential election. Compare this to the 65 and older age group, which saw a turnout of 71.9 percent.

I know that old people don’t have anything better to do than vote and play bridge (Love you, Grandma!), but they know what’s up. Do you know what the government spends most of its budget on each year? Go ahead. Guess. The answer is Social Security and Medicare. According to National Priorities, a website dedicated to making the U.S. federal budget comprehensible, the federal government will spend almost $2 trillion dollars on these two programs alone.

Is it a coincidence that the age group (65+) with the highest voter turnout also benefits from most of the government’s most expensive programs? It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out what’s going on here.

Young people don’t vote, so our issues aren’t a priority. If our government doesn’t do anything for us, it doesn’t matter. We won’t vote them out. We won’t even show up at the polling place. You want education reform and more Pell Grants? You want to #420BlazeIt? Do you care about the environment you’re going to be living in for the next 60 years or the national debt you’ll be paying for in 10 years? Then register to vote.

It’s always funny to hear myself or other members of my generation say such blatantly ironic things as “I’m getting old.” It might be a TV commerical or a song that brings such a phrase out. Or it might be a person’s own self-reflection on all that they’ve experienced (as a person, as an American) within the last two decades that causes them to feel a little old.

For someone born in 1930, this feeling would make some sense. But for someone born in 1993, such as myself, the irony of feeling a little older and wiser than I did a decade ago is obvious. For example, I remember when Iraq was still ruled by Saddam

“I hope that ISIS will be disintegrated, but after 13 years of experience as a bystander to chaos and ‘missions accomplished,’ I cannot help but be skeptical.”

Hussein, when George Bush claimed that the mission (whatever that meant) was “accomplished” and when, 13 years ago today, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in my fi rst week of second grade.

To look back at those events is to look back into my past as an American and place them into the “timeline” of my life. I was seven. I didn’t have to shave. I didn’t know where Iraq was. If the president said we were going to war, we were going to war.

Yet the irony of my looking back on Sept. 11, 2001 and feeling a little old feels absurd when I realize my Grandfather was two years old when the people of the Kingdom of Iraq were even officially given that title.

When he was two, the places known as Iraq and the Middle East were full of neat, often straight and arbitrary lines in the sand that seemed to stand for boundaries between peoples and nations. However, those lines meant nothing when you found out that most of them were drawn by 80-year-old British men who liked straight lines and disliked thinking about the people who lived there and who had lived there for 6,000 years and effectively founded civilization itself.

Yet if you look at the Middle East and our relationship to it today, how much has changed? Those lines are still there. Those people are still there. And after 82 years, it doesn’t seem as though either party really understands one another. A complete disregard for life has been present on both sides.

One needs to look no further than what happened 13 years ago, to the merciless response of American forces to “terrorist aggression” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, etc. that has effected murderers and innocent civilians alike, or the beheadings of two U.S. journalists and the murder of at least 500 Iraqi Yazidi minority members at the hands of ISIS, to recognize just how horrible such loss of life is. So it is with a sense of irony and sadness that I heard U.S. President Barack Obama proclaim the plans to deliver a speech on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in which concrete military plans to begin the process of destroying ISIS will be laid out.

This is not to say I feel ISIS should be left untested by American military might and that such a brutal and insidious force should be left alone. ISIS must be stopped.

Yet the greatest irony of Obama’s speech on the anniversary of 9/11 is that even though I have lived for 20 years, I feel like I have heard this speech many times before. Because like most Americans above the age of 13, I have. And that it is why I feel old. I hope that ISIS will be disintegrated, but after 13 years of experience as a bystander to chaos and “missions accomplished,” I cannot help but be skeptical. By erasing ISIS, we erase people as they would wish to erase us.

So with a sense of bitter nostalgia, I will watch President Obama give his speech.

And I will hope that a foreign policy, an idea and a war which has gotten old as I have gotten old, will consider its age and think a little about what it has accomplished.

Interrobang The 2015 Guinness Book of World Records, which was released Tuesday, shows new record-holders like Nick “The Lick” Stoeberl, who set the record for world’s longest tongue, measuring 3.97 inches from tip to closed lip.

We here at the ol’ Free Press were wondering which world record people at BU would set?

Student Health Services: World’s biggest bowl of condoms BU Dining Services: Largest number of complaints on a Monday ENG: Highest number of turned-down dates

CGS: World’s largest finger painting mural CFA: Highest potential for lung cancer President Brown: World’s highest salary The FreeP: Longest number of hours without sleeping

10

SPORTS

PHOTO COURTESY OF YAN SHIBUTANI

The Boston University inline hockey club team traveled down to Pennsylvania to take part in Nationals last season.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SCOTT FLICKINGER

Members of the Boston University men’s and women’s club water polo team poses at SPLASH.

Boston University club sports continue to grow presence on campus

BY CONOR RYAN DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

In stark contrast to the thousands of students who will flood the area in the next few hours, the Boston University campus is eerily quiet at 6 a.m., with just a few joggers breaking the monotony of the early morning commute on Commonwealth Avenue.

However, the scene tends to be much more lively on West Campus, as a group of individuals donning cleats and soccer gear on Nickerson Field are prepping for their upcoming campaign by running drills and scrimmages.

Committing to the idea of waking up and practicing at such early hours would make sense for any heralded Division 1 team, but that’s not the case for this unit.

This is the Boston University men’s soccer club team — a group of players who have set aside their schedules and committed hundreds of hours to practices and travel purely for the competition and the love of the sport.

“Dedicating yourself and wanting to be good at club [sports], is really no different than if you want to be good at men’s varsity basketball or men’s varsity soccer,” said Intramural and Club Sports Manager Scott Nalette.

“We might not have the organized study halls and organized team meals every day…but in general, some of these teams are getting up early [for practice] before class because that’s when the fields are available.”

The men’s soccer club team’s early practices and dedication certainly do not make them an outlier of BU’s 32-club roster, which has as many as 900 participants practicing several times a week with their

respective club sport and playing most of their games on weekends.

Taking part in club sports at BU is much more than simply showing up to play, as each team has a set of responsibilities, including generating funding and planning trips to road games.

“They are kind of your movers and shakers on campus,” Nalette said. “These are student leaders…

These are highly active, highly engaged and obviously very smart people, so they have a lot of on-campus presence.”

A significant amount of responsibility, when it comes to running these self-administered teams, lies in each club’s set of elected officials, who are responsible for attending meetings, fi ling paperwork, overseeing team fi nances, forming travel itineraries and reserving facilities — certainly no easy task when juggling classes and other commitments.

“They’re devoting large chunks of their time each day and each week to managing their team and making sure it runs, because if they don’t do that, it doesn’t get done,” Nalette said. “We’re here to help you along the way. We’re here to help you get any questions answered, talk to other schools, whatever it is, but in general, it starts with the students.”

The praise goes both ways between the teams of BU club sports and management, as many club officials have commended Nalette and other program leaders for both their accessibility and stance on letting each group operate independently.

“Scott is really easy to get along with,” said BU inline hockey club Vice President Mark Flitsch, a senior in the College of Communication. “It’s really no issue for us to come to them when…anything

goes wrong. There’s a lot of trust and loyalty in the club-to-advisor relationship.”

There seems to rarely be a dull moment with any club on campus, as most teams play both home and away games against a multitude of teams while participating in various leagues. Often times, certain clubs are able to generate enough money to organize team trips to national tournaments, as the women’s volleyball club made the trek to both Dallas and Reno, Nevada, over the past two seasons.

“It’s just a great bonding experience,” said BU women’s volleyball club President Kevyn Garcia, a junior in the School of Management.

“When you fly to Dallas and you worked really hard during the year to fundraise, you get to go with your whole team and all the members, and everyone works really hard. That was great.”

While it may not have the flash of varsity sports, club sports are certainly no joke, Nalette said.

“It’s highly competitive,” he said. “There are some teams that people choose BU to play on that team. People choose to come here to be on the figure skating team.

People choose to come to BU to be on the equestrian team. That’s a major decision maker in their process of looking at colleges.

“We get calls from juniors and seniors in high school and their parents every year, because they see our club sports program, they learn what club sports are…and a lot of them are forgoing playing D-III [Division 3] varsity somewhere because they want the BU/ Boston experience.”

While BU clubs take themselves more seriously than a normal pickup exhibition or intramural match, Garcia acknowledged that

she still appreciates the fun-loving atmosphere that playing in a club sports environment presents.

“I think club sports are so appealing to so many people because it has athletes that are just as competitive as a D-I sport, yet it’s not as much commitment, and you can still enjoy the sport,” Garcia said. “You don’t have to be the best player out there. You can be having fun and really be a team player.”

The BU club sports program has come a long way since the men’s rugby and sailing clubs were established in the early 1970s, and with word of mouth from current players about the positive takeaways from joining the ranks of the

program, Nalette said he expects that many teams’ presence on campus will only continue to flourish as time goes on.

“Schools are more and more going to start evaluating the benefits of clubs, the program, the benefits that all the students get, and frankly, the low cost that it costs a university to run a club sports program,” Nalette said. “We’re going to start to see a proliferation of knowledge of what club sports are passed down the ranks to younger people, and that’s going to start to influence their college decision more, which is only going to influence how important universities look at the program on campus.”

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Contact Attorney Kenneth N. Margolin for a free copy of A Guide to College Disciplinary Proceedings.

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BOTTOM LI NE THURSDAY, SEPT. 11 NO EVENTS SCHEDULED

Suspended Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was spotted tailgating at the Notre Dame-Michigan game Saturday.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 12

W. SOCCER VS. AKRON, 7 P.M. FIELD HOCKEY @ BOSTON COLLEGE, 7 P.M., M. TENNIS @ BROWN INVITATIONAL, ALL DAY

SATURDAY, SEPT. 13

SUNDAY, SEPT. 14

MONDAY, SEPT. 15 NO EVENTS SCHEDULED

M. SOCCER VS.

W. SOCCER VS. NORTHEASTERN,

MASSACHUSETTS, 7 P.M.

1 P.M.

W. GOLF @ DARTMOUTH

W. GOLF @ DARTMOUTH

INVITATIONAL, ALL DAY

INVITATIONAL, ALL DAY

Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame football team are now being investigated for possible connec-

M. TENNIS @ BROWN

M. TENNIS @ BROWN

INVITATIONAL, ALL DAY

INVITATIONAL, ALL DAY

tions to the Biogenesis clinic.

SPORTS

11

20 Questions: Field hockey junior midfielder/forward Sofi Laurito

PHOTO BY MIKE DESOCIO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Junior midfielder/forward Sofi Laurito was named Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

BY JUSTIN PALLENIK DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

As the Boston University field hockey team enters the midseason stretch of its 2014 campaign, it will surely look to its seasoned veterans to guide it through the Patriot League and into the NCAA Tournament.

One of these leaders in particular has already provided a major spark for the Terriers (2-2).

Junior midfielder/forward Sofi Laurito leads the team in points with five and is tied for the teamlead in goals with two. The BU vice-captain led her team back from the jaws of defeat on the road at Ohio University on Aug. 31 with two late goals that tied, and eventually won, a 4-3 affair for the Terriers.

However, the Buenos Aires, Argentina, native adds much more to the BU dynamic than stat-packing its box scores.

1. How has the fi rst week of classes been?

“It’s going pretty well. It’s just a little difficult with field hockey and the practices and games. The transition between playing games and coming back and doing class can be weird.”

2. What’s your major?

“Advertising, but I just recently left CGS.” 3. Do you have a really interesting or fun class this semester?

“I have a lot of creative stuff for this advertising class that I’m taking, which is cool after being in CGS. And I’m taking a drawing class just for fun, because why not?”

4. What was the biggest transition for you when you came to the United States?

“Speaking in English, on the field and in class, was defi nitely a challenge. Taking notes in class in English was also really new for me. As a whole, it’s just another lifestyle here in the U.S. I’m used to field hockey being the main part of my life, but here, it’s kind of an outside thing, and I focus more on my studies. Everything that happened when I came here was pretty much a shock though.”

5. What do you miss most from home?

“Food! I’m just not used to American food. I’ve never had eggs with my breakfast before. Usually back

home, we have them with our lunches and dinners.”

6. What do you think of the food here in Boston? How does it compare to the food back home?

“I think some of it is great, but I don’t know if it qualifies as American. I like Italian pasta a lot. But I just really miss the truly Argentinean dishes: empanadas and everything else. There are a couple Argentinean restaurants here, but I haven’t really tried them.”

7. What’s your go-to pregame meal?

“It depends, but if we go to the dining hall, I usually eat pretty light, usually just pasta. But, sometimes we go to T. Anthony’s and get some chicken and rice. It’s pretty much become the team meal.”

8. What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment since coming to BU? “One of my biggest challenges coming to BU was speaking English all the time. So for me, being able to overcome that fear and succeed at classes, it was a moment of pride.”

9. What are your personal goals for this season?

“Being made vice-captain made me realize that I have teammates that believe in me and rely on me.

It showed me how much I want to help out this program and this team. I know we had a tough loss last year to American University in the [Patriot League] championship, but I want to make us the best that we can be. Becoming vice-captain made me realize all the behind-the-scenes things that are necessary to make a difference for the team.”

10. How long did it take you to perfect that backhanded shot from just inside the half circle?

“I was a pretty aggressive kid, I’m not going to lie. And I’m pretty competitive, so at home when I was given a challenge, I wanted to take it. My backhand shot was actually the fi rst shot I learned because I wanted to be ahead of everyone else. My coach told me it was a hard shot for the goalie to

pick up, so I decided to try it out.

I never even learned a normal shot for a long time.”

11. What did you focus on in the offseason to prepare and get better for this year?

“I stayed here the entire summer with some of my teammates who did Summer I and II [terms]. We made our fitness a big point of emphasis. We knew we were going to be a smaller team [roster-wise] from last year. So we still obviously tried to do more personal and technical stuff, but we defi nitely made fitness one of our goals. After I got injured in the preseason last year, I had a really tough time getting back to my normal pace.

“I also really wanted to make sure that as a team, we were looking to a singular goal. We can do all of what we want if we do it together. It went beyond field hockey. As a personal thing, I wanted to make sure that my team was working together.”

12. What’s the biggest difference between last year’s team and this year’s team?

“I think that being a smaller team, everyone’s really focused on everything that we’re doing. If there are 30 people on a team, then some people know they’re not going to play, and maybe don’t participate as much. But as a team of 19, everyone needs to know what’s going on at all times. There have been a lot of position changes. I personally think it’s pretty cool. We’re able to try people out at different positions, which can be really fun.”

13. Most memorable game you’ve played in?

“The one that pops into my mind was my freshman year. We played against Northeastern [University] at Harvard [University], and we won from behind. The game went into overtime, and I had no idea that there was overtime and that it was seven-on-seven. I stayed on the field for the whole overtime period, and as soon as we scored, my legs just gave up.

It was one of the toughest games of my life, and by far the most rewarding.”

14. You guys have taken a lot of road trips across the country.

Which one has been the most

fun to date? Why? “The only time that I remember going around a city was in Williamsburg, [Virginia]. We went around, and these people were all dressed up in 1800’s American gear. It was so weird, but defi nitely one of my favorite trips.”

15. If you had one day in Boston, what would you do?

“This summer, I went to the Boston Common for the first time in my life, which I know is bad. But we bought a bunch of bread, and then we fed the squirrels in the park.

They come right up to you and take it from your hand. It was so cool!”

16. Do you have a goal song for this year? What is it/What would it be?

“We don’t have one yet! We’ve been trying to decide for weeks. I need a pump up song for me. Last year it was ‘I Can’t Stop.’…Then some random song came on, and we had no clue what was going on.”

17. Favorite television show?

“I’m actually a show freak. So I’m watching 15 at the same time right now. It’s so hard to choose. One of my favorites is ‘The Big Bang Theory’ for sure, and I just fi nished ‘Friday Night Lights’ too. I still can’t believe it’s over.

18. Funniest teammate?

“Probably [sophomore forward] Taylor [Blood]. We have this question among us all the time.

Between me, her and [sophomore forward] Amanda [Cassera], I can’t tell if we’re actually funny or if it’s just an inside joke kind of thing.”

19. What sport would you play if you didn’t play field hockey?

“I don’t know, but if I were born in the U.S., I would definitely try ice hockey. I used to be a sprinter, but I need a team and an open field. Table tennis is something I’d do for sure too. But if you put some skates in front of me, I’d hop on the ice.”

20. Standing order at T. Anthony’s?

“Well if I’m feeling healthy, I’m doing chicken and rice. But if I’m just like, ‘Whatever,’ I’ll do chicken fi ngers and fries.”

Sports

“I’m just really thankful for the opportunities I’ve gotten at BU. BU’s given me, like, everything.” — Kerrin Sperry

JOIN THE CLUB

The future looks bright for the Boston University club sports program, p. 10

PHOTO BY MICHELLE JAY/DFP FILE PHOTO

Kerrin Sperry set program records for wins, shutouts and save percentage with the women’s ice hockey team.

Kerrin Sperry’s BU journey ends on field hockey pitch

PLAYS IN HER SECOND NCAA TITLE GAME IN THREE YEARS WITH THE TERRIERS

N AS O SE 14 -2 0 13 20

12

NAMED HOCKEY EAST TOURNAMENT MVP FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT SEASON

20 1420 15

MADE 83 SAVES IN THREE HOCKEY EAST TOURNAMENT GAMES TO LEAD BU TO SECOND CONFERENCE TITLE

no matter how many minutes they got, and I was able to look to their experiences and be like, ‘Look, they did it, and they did it well, and it made me super successful,’ so mentally that hasn’t been too tough,” Sperry said.

In addition to leading by example in terms of how hard she works, Sperry also noted that in her four years on the ice hockey team, she realized that being a teammate is not just about being at practice and doing the drills or coming to the games. It is something more, and she’s confident that everything she’s learned through hockey can benefit her new team.

“People look to you. People look to each other to find strength to accomplish things that they don’t think they can accomplish by themselves,” she said. “What I can bring to field hockey is no matter if I’m on the bench, on the field, or just in the locker room, I feel like I can help my teammates do things that they don’t think they might able to do themselves, and that’s what my bottom line is. If I can contribute something, anything, it’s to try and make my teammates believe in themselves.”

Flash forward to Sept. 2014. The former women’s ice hockey netminder smiles in the lobby of Walter Brown Arena after coming from a team meeting, with a Box O’ Joe from Dunkin’ Donuts in each hand.

“Thank you for everything this morning,” BU field hockey assistant coach Tracey Paul said.

“Any time, Trace,” Sperry replies. She had brought doughnut and coffee to the gathering for everyone.

“Sperr, give me a hug,” BU associate coach Sarah Shute says, thanking Sperry as well.

“No problem, Shuter.”

She’s well on her way to an eventful season and an even more eventful ending to the year, graduating in May, getting commissioned when she fi nishes ROTC and then getting married, all within three weeks of one another.

“I hope I don’t get a pimple or something,” she laughs. “[That’s] a lot of pictures.

“I’m just really thankful for the opportunities I’ve gotten at BU,” Sperry continued. “BU’s given me like everything, and I’m going to graduate from here with a bachelors degree, a masters degree, an officer commission, my wife, four years of college ice hockey, a year of field hockey that I never thought I was going to get. I’m the luckiest person in the world.”

SET PROGRAM RECORD FOR WINS IN A SEASON (24), CAREER WINS (14) AND CAREER SHUTOUTS (11)

24 ,2 01 3

01 1-2 20 1

PLAYED BOTH ICE AND FIELD HOCKEY AT LAWRENCE ACADEMY

2

20

MOVED TO HOCKEY EAST ALL ROOKIE TEAM

-2 0

13

It’s 3:00 a.m. in June in Fort Knox, Kentucky. The 90-degree day has cooled down some, but it is still uncomfortably warm, and no one is awake. Except for Kerrin Sperry. She’s doing sprints.

She runs from one porta-potty to the other, taking advantage of the only hardtop surface in the camp, again and again. She’s at Reserve Officers’ Training Camp, but these sprints aren’t to train her for the Army. They are to train her for field hockey.

After 14 years of ice hockey and four years of holding down the fort in between the pipes for the Boston University women’s ice hockey team, Sperry is moving on. With a career .922 save percentage, a pair of Hockey East Tournament MVPs and a trio of Hockey East Championships, the 22-year-old North Reading native will be doing some different things in her fi nal year at BU, namely fi nishing up a twoyear masters program and completing a two-year ROTC program as well. And, also, playing field hockey.

“I loved playing field hockey in high school, and I loved watching field hockey while I was an undergrad here,” Sperry said. “When I started thinking about what my last year at BU was going to look like, there was this athletic hole.

“I really thought about what could I contribute to another team, and I was like, ‘Well, I’m not the best field hockey player around, alright, but I feel like I’ve had so many experiences that I feel like I want to share with another team.’”

She expressed interest in joining the field hockey team last winter, reaching out to BU coach Sally Starr and letting her know what the situation was — that she was coming back for a fifth year of school and was eager to try and play for her.

“I told her [to] take two weeks off at the end of the ice hockey season last year and then come and see us,” Starr said.

“She did that, and she really worked hard, took a lot of individual sessions with both my [assistant coaches] and worked really, really hard.”

Sperry’s work ethic and focus was something BU women’s ice hockey coach Brian Durocher noticed and something he highly praised her for, not just on the ice, but in everything she does.

“There are some people who say all the right things, or some people who are blue-collar workers, or some people who lead through their talent,” Durocher said. “She was somebody who defi nitely led through her work ethic. She was always somebody who worked hard in the gym. She was somebody who fought on the ice. She wasn’t the biggest goalie we’ve ever had. She probably wasn’t the most technically sound goalie you’ll ever see, but she was ultra-competitive.

“That’s probably where she was a leader,” Durocher continued. “She wasn’t the kid who was the clubhouse leader or the ‘bringing everybody together’ leader, but without a doubt, she was a leader from her competitive nature and her work ethic.”

But hard work and competitiveness are not the only things that helped Sperry earn her spot on the team. Durocher stressed the amount of effort that she put into being the best she could to “earn her stripes,” and prove that she was skilled and committed enough to play for Starr. She was not “handed a free pass” because of her character. She worked her way on. “[Sperry] proved enough to them that she could be a valuable piece, even if it’s in a reserve role or backup role or practice role,” Durocher said. “Those people are very, very important in college athletics, and she earned her keep, and I think they were surprised probably to some extent but mostly appreciative of what she did.”

The transition from ice hockey to field hockey is no joke, though more so physically than mentally for Sperry.

It was a different kind of training; one that focused more on movement and being able to run as opposed to skate, and then learning how to play the sport at such a high level when you haven’t done so in years is a feat in and of itself. Mentally, though, Sperry found herself having an easier time making adjustments.

Sperry acknowledged that there’s defi nitely a change in the role she’s fi lling this year. She is no longer the last line of defense, the “all-pressure player,” but instead is someone who is now taking on a more supportive and mentoring role.

“I had so many people to look up to when I played on the ice hockey team who played that role all my four years, who were always the ones in the locker room between periods making sure that I was doing okay, talking to me, who were cheering on the sideline, who were supporting the team

MA RC H

BY JUDY COHEN DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

JOINS BU FIELD HOCKEY AS A GRAD STUDENT