10-2-2012

Page 1

The Daily Free Press

Year xlii. Volume lxxxiii. Issue XVIII

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Tuesday, October 2, 2012 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

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DELPHI’NG IN

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPS

www.dailyfreepress.com

BU men’s soccer to face Adelphi University on Tuesday, page 8.

Arsenic traces found in some cereals, page 3.

WEATHER Today: Partly cloudy/High 75 Tonight: Showers/Low 60 Tomorrow: 70/63 Data Courtesy of weather.com

SG delays discourse surrounding SEC, upcoming race Brown, Warren clash

on immigration, war in second TV debate

By Margaret Waterman Daily Free Press Staff

Student Government scheduled an emergency meeting for next Tuesday to address concerns with the Student Elections Commission’s handling of the fall semesters’s elections at Monday’s meeting. The SEC was supposed to present its case on Monday regarding running the election season, but notified SG via email that members could not attend. The emergency meeting next Tuesday will offer them an opportunity to speak to SG before the election cycle begins on Oct. 15. The executive board expressed its dissatisfaction with how the SEC handled Boston University’s 2011–12 academic year’s elections, but board members said they wanted the SEC’s performance to improve under new leadership. Jon Donald, SG judicial commissioner, said the SEC owned up to its mistake and that it has taken great strides this semester. “They’ve been working with John Battaglino in the Dean of Students office to get a new elections mechanism,” the College of Arts and Sciences senior said. “You’ll be able to send in your ballot via smartphone ... They’ll be able to know what percentage of the student body has voted at what given time.” The SEC has arranged for a George Sherman Union poster case to go up Tues-

By Allison DeAngelis Daily Free Press Staff

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Student body President and College of Communcation junior Dexter McCoy looks on as Ann Jacobs takes questions about a proposal at the Student Government meeting Monday night in the Photonics building.

day and will also have flyers going up around campus, Donald said. “They have also arranged with the Boston University Ad Club to have assistance for all slates running, which is something slates last year had a problem with,” he said. Aditya Rudra, SG executive vice president, said the SEC will potentially garner

SG’s support despite the delay in conversation. “I really hope that they show us, that they put up a strong show because it would make things a lot easier for us,” Rudra, a School of Management junior, said. Cherice Hunt, director of communica-

SG, see page 2

Janitors agree to tentative work contract after threatening to strike By Chris Lisinski Daily Free Press Staff

In the middle of an impending strike, New England janitors’ unions and contractors reached a tentative agreement for a new contract early Monday morning after the janitors’ former contract expired at midnight. “The deadline was midnight last night — that deadline passed,” said MassUniting Communications Director Jason Stephany. “They were still negotiating, and the tentative agreement was reached a little before 2 a.m. That is a tentative agreement — basically, that’s an outline of what the contract will look like.” Stephany said Service Employees International Union Local 615, a union representing 14,000 janitors in New England, and the Maintenance Contractors of New England had been discussing a contract for weeks. “They had been at the table, physically at the table sitting across from one another for weeks,” he said. Janitors voted Sept. 22 to authorize a strike if an agreement were not reached, according to a SEIU Local 615 press release

distributed Sunday. Community members and janitors held a candlelight vigil Sunday night before the former contract expired in support of the union. “There were definitely several hundred, I would say upward of 500 [people attending],” Stephany said. “Folks braved the rain to stand out and speak out on behalf of their fellow workers.” Janitors went into negotiations with specific goals about hours, wages and health care, among others, according to a SEIU Local 615 press release distributed Monday. “Cleaning contractors agreed to convert a minimum of 680 jobs to fulltime positions over four years,” the release stated. “For janitors who work in the Metro Boston area, wages will increase to $17.85 by 2016 — an 11.9-percent increase.” Wages for workers in other markets will increase from 12.4 percent to 13 percent over the length of the contract, according to the release. The tentative contract also ensures contractors will provide health care, vision and

SARP promotes student leadership, advocacy By Rachel Riley Daily Free Press Contributor

In its first month on campus, the Boston University Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Center has offered training and education as well as help for students, officials said. “I think at this point, since we’ve basically been open a month, a lot of the impact is on the individual students that have come here,” said SARP Director Maureen Mahoney. In 2011, the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism and other members of the BU community proposed a center for sexual assault victims. SARP was officially announced in May after a number of instances of alleged sexual assault and hazing at BU. Mahoney said the center is tackling sexual assault in two ways, response and prevention, as denoted by its name. In response to incidence of sexual assault, SARP is able to provide counseling and support for victims and families of victims as well as

medical advocacy on the students’ behalf, according to SARP’s website. “The mission of the SARP is to provide confidential care, support and advocacy for victims of sexual assault, while simultaneously promoting awareness and prevention programs on campus,” the website stated. The center is located at 930 Commonwealth Ave. Mahoney said an important part of prevention is community building. SARP members have focused on training residence assistants in what they do and making more students aware of the center. About 1,000 students have been trained in bystander intervention, Mahoney said. The training involves a two-hour program designed to teach people how to prevent gender-based violence. “The bystander intervention program does

Center, see page 2

dental benefits and creates a new minimum shift of four hours for all janitors working in commercial office buildings of more than 100,000 square feet, the release stated. Stephany said the tentative contract must still be ratified, and will last four years if ratified. He said the contract is a victory for unions and janitors in New England. “The workers would be very proud to say they have won on numerous fronts,” Stephany said. “This is a breakthrough agreement that will improve the lives of 14,000 New England janitors.” Stephany said the negotiation was a long process with difficulties, but he is pleased with the result. “There were some speaking points between the contractors and janitors on many issues,” he said. “They wanted to come to an agreement that would help improve their quality of life and get to a contract that would be good for the janitors, for the contractors, for the industry and for all of New England, and I think that’s what this result represents.”

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic Senate opponent Elizabeth Warren disputed each other’s approach to foreign affairs and jobs in their second televised debate Monday night. Warren again emphasized her Republican opponent’s job bill history, which Brown said was a “misrepresentation of the facts.” The candidates also confronted each other on the War in Afghanistan, taxes and immigration, along with issues related to partisanship. “Meet the Press” anchor David Gregory moderated the hour-long debate, which was held at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in conjunction with the Boston Herald. While character again made up the first chunk of the debate, Brown and Warren dove into prevalent issues such as tax policies, which played a large role in their discourse about job creation. Brown told UMass Lowell senior MaryKate Hazel, an audience member who was selected to ask the candidates a question, that tax relief was part of his plan for job growth, citing regulatory and tax uncertainty for squashing job growth. “People are concerned,” he said. “They don’t know what’s next. They don’t know what the tax policy’s going to be. They don’t know what new regulations are going to be imposed on them and as a result. There’s less people hiring and even looking to hire.” Warren said although Brown portrays himself as an Independent, he stands with Republicans in tax policy, advocating tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. “What Sen. Brown doesn’t want to talk about is that he signed an extremist right-wing pledge never to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires,” she said. She said Brown voted in step with Republicans on jobs bills, which Brown denied, saying it was a “misrepresentation of the facts.” “I’m not a student in your classroom — please let me respond,” Brown said after Warren’s objection to his statement. Warren has repeatedly pointed out Brown’s rejection of three jobs bills in 2011, which she said would have put “paychecks in people’s hands” and was “exactly the right thing to do.” The candidates contended further over the DREAM Act, which would give children of undocumented immigrants who fulfill certain requirements the opportunity to become U.S.

Debate, see page 2

MEET THE PRESS

KIERA BLESSING/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

College of Communication sophomore Jay Colomaria and junior Vijatya Narang interview College of Arts and Sciences senior Shemifhar Freytes about the presidential campaign on the COM lawn.


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