The Daily Free Press
Year xlii. Volume lxxxiii. Issue XXIX
NIGHT RIDERS Nighttime cabbies face more issues than daytime ones, page 3.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University
SAY CHEESE
Study shows how smiles affect social interactions, page 5.
]
MAGIC 8
W. soccer defeats UNH, lands 8–0 in America East conference, page 8.
WEATHER
Today: Partly cloudy/High 64 Tonight: Partly cloudy/Low 44 Tomorrow: 57/48 Data Courtesy of weather.com
Martyrdom, suicide, sins spark Elie Wiesel lecture SG votes to hold special elections, 1-semester term By Regine Sarah Capungan Daily Free Press Staff
Boston University professor Elie Wiesel addressed the perceptions surrounding martyrdom and suicide in Jewish culture as he spoke before hundreds of students Monday night. In Wiesel’s lecture, “In the Talmud: Is Martyrdom or Sanctification of His Name a Valid Response?” he focused on whether the act of martyrdom was accepted or legal in Jewish culture. He said suicide is forbidden in Judaism, as life is always of greater importance than death. “When a wedding procession encounters a funeral procession, it is the latter who stops, allowing the wedding procession to proceed,” he said. The lecture, held in BU’s Metcalf Hall, was the second of Wiesel’s three annual talks. During his lecture, Wiesel lectured on both traditional Jewish culture and his personal history. “A tortured person dies more than once, and his or her memory lasts a lifetime,” he said. Wiesel drew on examples from religious texts to support his argument. He gave an illustration of martyrdom by introducing the three largest sins of Judaism: idolatry, or worship of a false idol, murder and adultery. Wiesel used the story of Rabbi Hanina as an example of martyrdom. Hanina defied Roman law and taught the Torah. As a result, Hanina was sentenced to death and Roman soldiers burned him to death at the stake as punishment. “We are always amazed at the life and death
By Margaret Waterman Daily Free Press Staff
DANIELA AMAYA/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Political activist, professor and novelist Elie Wiesel speaks at the second of three lectures titled “In the Talmud: Is Martydom or Sanctification of His Name a Valid Response” in Metcalf Hall Monday night.
of these great teachers,” Wiesel said. He said suicide was uncommon even during the time he spent in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. “Usually suicide was not for us an option ... we do believe that we can honor the creator who gave us life by living,” Wiesel said. Professor Steven Katz, director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, provided the introduction for the lecture. “The theme [Wiesel chose] is a highly potent one,” Katz said. “Martyrdom is one of the
formative elements of Judaism.” Some students said they attended because they felt connected to Wiesel through Judaism. “I thought it would be a good learning opportunity to hear him talk,” said Carly Baxer, a College of Communication junior. “I’m Jewish so I’ve learned about him. I thought he was a really good speaker, he is very intelligent.” Nate Klein, a COM freshman, said he was motivated to attend by Wiesel’s legacy.
Wiesel, see page 2
Romney, Obama clash on foreign policy, military in final debate By Mary Yatrousis Daily Free Press Staff
In their last major public appeal to the American people, President Barack Obama defended the nation’s military strength and feats as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called for a stronger economy to secure the nation. The foreign policy debate focused on the Middle East, though both candidates managed to squeeze in rhetoric on some domestic issues and the strength of the American military. Bob Schieffer of CBS News moderated the Monday night debate at Lynn University in Florida, and it was broadcast on WHDH in Boston. The first question from Schieffer focused on the death of an American ambassador in Libya after an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, a topic that has put Obama in the spotlight in previous debates. Romney said the country is seeing a
“pretty dramatic reversal” of the hopes the U.S. had for that region. “We’ve seen in nation after nation a number of disturbing events,” Romney said, referring to the death of the Libyan ambassador as well as the killing of Syrian civilians by their own government. Obama countered by defending his record as commander-in-chief. “We ended the war in Iraq,” Obama said. “[We] refocused our attention on those who actually killed us on 9/11. And, as a consequence, al-Qaeda’s core leadership has been decimated.” Obama said Romney’s foreign policy plan is “all over the map,” and lacks consistency, which is crucial on the world stage. “You’ve got to be clear, both to our allies and our enemies, about where you stand and what you mean,” Obama said. Throughout the debate, Romney made the point that the world needs more peace and it is America’s purpose to help make
that happen. “We want a peaceful planet,” Romney said. “We want people to be able to enjoy their lives and know they’re going to have a bright and prosperous future, not be at war. That’s our purpose.” Romney attacked the Obama administration by saying the country needs a stronger economy to make this happen, and Romney could do that. Romney said the former joint chief of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, agreed with him about the importance of a vibrant economy. “Mullen said our debt is the biggest national security threat we face,” Romney said. “We have weakened our economy. We need a strong economy.” Obama countered by saying that America is stronger now than when he entered office. “Because we ended the war in Iraq, we
Debate, see page 4
Boston University Student Government passed a motion at Monday night’s meeting to hold a special election in November, the winners of which will serve for the spring semester. The motion, which passed with a 25-to4 vote, decided that students voted into the executive board in November will serve an abbreviated six-month term from January to May. The election timeline will then revert to the academic-year system where executive board members serve from May to May. “We were contacted after our last Senate meeting by a number of stakeholders who expressed concern,” said Aditya Rudra, executive vice president of SG. No specific date in November has been set. SG voted Oct. 15 not to reinstate an amendment on their election cycle since it had been found unconstitutional. The amendment, which passed in February, had changed the election timeline to a calendaryear system. Rudra said the Dean of Students Office was concerned with the possible repercussion of the election timeline change. “No one had said anything, but that doesn’t change the principle of the matter, which is that what we would be doing, what the effects may be, may be misinterpreted or may set a poor precedent for the future,” Rudra, a School of Management junior, said. Rudra said the current executive board was elected for only the fall semester. “When we were elected this semester we were elected only for this semester because the understanding was that we have a different election timeline,” he said. Rudra said that if the Senate voted to not hold a special election, he personally would have to step down and run again on principle. “There is no way that we, in good conscience, could continue to serve for another semester [without a special election], for it could set a precedent where every [executive] board could change the election timeline and extend their own term,” Rudra said.
SG, see page 2
NSTAR’s monopoly in Boston utilities nearly inescapable, advocacy groups say By John Ambrosio Daily Free Press Contributor
Although state officials and Boston residents have called for more accountability and better service from NSTAR, Bostonians face few other options for gas and electricity. In light of recent outages and other problems over 2012, NSTAR has come under consistent criticism, especially as it is the only natural gas and electricity provider in the city of Boston. “In short, their product is too expensive and the quality is too low,” said Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice spokesman Patrick Mehr. The company provides 1.1 million households and businesses with electricity and 300,000 with gas, according to their website. NSTAR also serves all 625,000 residents of Boston, said NSTAR spokesman Michael Durand. Mehr said he sees this situation as a mo-
nopoly and a threat to consumers, and is the reason why NSTAR is rarely held accountable for outages. “The reason why the investor-owned utilities have a monopoly is because the state law describes specifically the way that a town can create a municipal power distributor to challenge the incumbent power distributor, and that statute was created over a 100 years ago,” he said. Mehr said NSTAR owns all the infrastructure, and no one can afford to compete with them, so there is no way to be an upstart gas and electric distributor. “The town could say, ‘Okay, I’m interested in buying the utilities infrastructure,’” he said. “Then the law says one of two things can happen — either the incumbent utility can say, ‘Ok, I’m willing to sell for that price,’ or they can say no, and then the city or town just has the right to start from scratch.”
NSTAR, see page 2
MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
NStar, which supplies all of Boston with electricity, has amassed harsh criticism over the years from consumers and state officials over quality of service.