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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014 THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR XLIV. VOLUME LXXXVII. ISSUE XI.

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PG. 4

2014-15 Basketball

Review: BU On Broadway crafts musical parody with ‘Urinetown’ PG. 7

Season Preview

Inexperienced Terriers optimistic for 2014-15 campaign

PHOTO BY JUSTIN AKIVA/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

BU coach Joe Jones’ (second from right) squad will boast just three upperclassmen this season in juniors (left to right) Justin Alston, John Papale and Nathan Dieudonne.

BY JACKLYN BAMBERGER DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

In its first season in the Patriot League last year, the Boston University men’s basketball team took the conference by storm, dropping just three league games and capturing the regular season title. The Terriers came within 40 minutes of an NCAA tournament berth, but against American University in the Patriot League Championship game on March 12, the team put up its worst offensive performance of the season and fell, 55-36.

Without many of the key players from the 2013-14 campaign, this season presents a wholly different challenge for BU coach Joe

Jones and his team as they attempt to attempt to refocus and rebuild.

“We’ve been trying to make sure that we have a healthy culture within our program and that we’re representing the program in the right way and doing things the right way,” Jones said. “We have so many new and young guys so we want to make sure the culture is right. We want to make sure that the guys understand really what we’re trying to emphasize on offense and defense. We’re also trying to make each player understand the things that they need to specifically do a better job of helping the team win.”

Having already lost forwards Dom Morris and Travis Robinson as well as guard D.J. Irving due to graduation, the Terriers were dealt another blow when three players, including start-

ing point guard Maurice Watson Jr., announced in early April their plans to transfer. Overall, the Terriers lost more than one-third of their offensive production and the last year’s leaders in rebounds, blocks, assists and steals.

Jones said it is too early to tell how his team will fi ll the void in scoring production.

“It’s so early right now that I can’t tell whether or not we’re a good offensive team,” Jones said. “It’s just too early to tell. Right now, my focus has been more on the defensive end.”

The fourth-year coach said the most glaring absence from last season’s team to this year’s is the lack of playing experience.

“I just think overall, it was more about everything that we lost in terms of the experience

and understanding of what needs to be done,” Jones said. “That’s more important than just the offensive output [that was lost]. Having guys with more experience that know what we need to do, that’s what we’re lacking right now.”

Only two starters from the 2013-14 Patriot League regular season championship team return in junior guard John Papale and junior forward Nate Dieudonne.

Papale averaged 9.3 points per game, good for fourth on last season’s squad, and shot 41.4 percent from behind the arc. Dieudonne was second on the team in rebounds behind Morris and averaged 5.2 points per contest.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Boston U. women’s basketball ready to usher in new era

BY KARLY FINISON DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

PHOTO BY MICHELLE JAY/DFP FILE PHOTO

Junior guard Clodagh Scannell averaged 6.8 points per game in 33 games last season.

With a young roster at her disposal, fi rst-year Boston University women’s basketball head coach Katy Steding is eager to start a new chapter of women’s hoops in Boston. Steding replaces Kelly Greenberg, who led the program for 10 seasons before resigning in the spring amid accusations of bullying players.

With Greenberg’s departure, three new assistant coaches, four freshmen and the return of only six veterans accompany the change at the helm to Steding.

Assistant coaches Taj McWilliams-Franklin and Cindy Blodgett, both of who played in the WNBA, and Stephanie Tobey, who has coached at multiple division levels, make up a staff rich in coaching and playing experience.

“I love to brag about my assistants,” Steding said. “It’s pretty amazing. Both Cindy and Stephanie have had such amazing resumes in terms of coaching. They’ve been all over the place. They’ve both been head coaches and assistants for a number of years.

They’re great recruiters. And Taj has blended in very seamlessly.”

She has a reason to brag.

McWilliams-Franklin started her professional career with the Orlando Miracle and was part of the Connecticut Sun, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Detroit (now Tulsa) Shock, New York Liberty and fi nally the Minnesota Lynx, where she won a WNBA title in 2011.

Blodgett was picked by the now-defunct Cleveland Rockers sixth overall in the 1998 WNBA draft. Blodgett also played on the Sacramento Monarchs alongside Steding before starting her coaching career at BU in

1999. She now returns after serving on the coaching staffs of Brown University and the University of Maine.

Tobey, a native of West Yarmouth, played college basketball at Bryant University in Rhode Island. She later coached at Fordham University, Lynchburg College, Lasell College and Brown University, as well.

“They’re honest,” Steding said. “They’re great role models, but they can mentor the kids from such different places. They all have their niche, they have great personalities and they’re just amazing people. I’m constantly in awe.”

The Terriers fi nished the 2013-14 season 13-20 overall and went 7-11 in Patriot League play before losing to the United States Military Academy in the conference quarterfinals on March 6.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

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NEWS

BU Initiative on Cities to move forward despite Menino’s death

BY GABI ARRIAGA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Following the death of former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who was also co-director of Boston University’s Initiative on Cities, the future of the program is uncertain, but members of the center will continue to work toward developing cities into vibrant centers of economic and cultural growth.

Graham Wilson, chair of the political science department and co-director of IoC, said several conferences and seminars are in the works, but discussions about new co-director have not taken place.

“That would be a decision for BU President [Robert] Brown to make and we have not had the chance to talk,” he said. “We did not want to have that conversation until after the funeral. I think it would be difficult to talk until we get past the grievances.”

Menino settled into his role as a political science professor of the practice and co-director of the IoC in Februar y to work a long-term project to advance urban leadership, promote urban policy practice and inspire future leaders, The Daily Free Press reported on Feb. 4, 2014.

“It was a great experience and an honor to work with Mayor Menino,” Wilson said. “That’s something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

I’ve learned things from him and had some ver y good laughs with him.”

IoC will co-host a conference Thursday with the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future titled “Sea Level Rise and the Future of Coastal Cities.” It

will feature mayors and elected officials from around the world, including current Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, to talk about how coastal cities can adapt to rising sea levels.

“When he [Menino] passed, a lot of people asked us if this was still happening,” said Anthony Janetos, director of the Pardee Center. “We’ve been ver y consistent in saying yes, this is the right thing to do. The issue continues to be important, so we felt it was important to keep moving and to do this.”

A faculty seminar series, which began under the direction of Menino will continue with “The Inclusive City” on Dec. 4, Wilson said. The seminar will focus on how cities interact with all residents, regardless of ethnicity, citizenship or sexual preference Katharine Lusk, executive director of the IoC, said the center would continue to work hard to expand on the goals that Menino put forth upon his arrival at BU. “We remain focused on carr ying on his legacy and carr ying out the work he put in place,” she said in an email. “He is irreplaceable, but he made an indelible mark on the university in his time here.

He worked tirelessly to build the Initiative into a program that was valuable to BU and valuable to cities and mayors.”

David Glick, a professor of political science who worked on the first IoC national mayors sur vey about leadership, said moving for ward, there is much more research to be done.

“We have plans with the IoC in the coming months to keep sharing the results and generating interest in what we’ve done and what we’ve found in order to keep contributing to the dialogue

PHOTO BY RODRIGO BONILLA/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Despite an uncertain future, Boston University’s Initiative on Cities will move forward with several projects following Co-Director of the IoC and former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s passing.

amongst mayors, city researchers and policy makers,” he said.

Several students said despite IoC’s focus on cities, policy and leadership, they said its research can be interesting and useful to students.

Lauren Hobler, a graduate student in the School of Theolog y, said the research IoC does can help students know more about the city where they attend school.

“So much of what university students do affects Boston,” she said. “For students to understand the politics of the city they enter is ver y important, so the IoC is definitely something me and a lot of students would be interested in.”

Chloe Ellison, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she hopes more people will be aware about IoC in

the months following Menino’s death.

“Obviously if people don’t know about it [the IoC] already, it could be used as a catalyst to push it in to the spotlight,” she said. “If people don’t know about it, then maybe now is a good time to put it in the spotlight, especially if it was something that was dear to his heart.”

Amanda Colon, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior, said knowing more about city leadership and organization is relevant to students at BU. “If more people knew about it, more people would be intrigued,” she said. “I know there’s a lot of people here from big cities, and we live in one now, so it’s a great initiative and more people should know about it.”

2014 Mass. midterm elections spawn legitimate political parties

BY J.D. CAPELOUTO DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Though none of their candidates were elected governor of Massachusetts, candidates for the United Independent Party and the Green-Rainbow Party still walked away from the Nov. 4 midterm elections victorious, as both were legitimized as political parties in the Commonwealth after acquiring more than 3 percent of the vote.

“There are two people who were walking away from this [gubernatorial] election with something. One of them is the person who won, Charlie Baker, and the other one is me,” said Evan Falchuk, founder of the United Independent Party and a former candidate for governor. “It feels great. We all worked so hard. This started from nothing more than a group of people with an idea.”

Falchuk’s party went from being a “political designation” to an official political party after he received 71,144 votes in the Commonwealth, slightly more than the 3 percent cutoff. For the Green-Rainbow Party, MK Merelice, a candidate for auditor, Ian Jackson, for treasurer and Daniel Factor, for secretary of state, collected 4, 4.1 and 3.6 percent of the vote, respectively.

John Andrews, a spokesman for the Green-Rainbow Party, said the new recognition helps in many ways, including raising the fundraising limit for the party, which previously made “no sense.”

“We’ll also get our names on voter registration forms, which will make it easier to register in our party,” he said.

“We’re also permitted to form town and

ward committees, which we weren’t able to do before. The rules are a little arcane, a little not quite in the best interest of democracy, but we have to play by those rules for the time being.”

Additionally, the newly recognized parties will be able to hold an official primary for the 2016 election. Both Falchuk and Andrews said their parties plan to put up presidential candidates in 2016, which Falchuk said has been “part of the plan.”

Falchuk said the process for becoming an official party in Massachusetts is difficult and works against independents trying to mobilize as a grassroots force.

“We were told from the beginning, not only that it couldn’t be done, but that it shouldn’t be done. This is a political establishment that just does not want to see a challenge,” he said. “And here we are, less than two years later, and we’ve created it. So that is just such a remarkable accomplishment, but it’s only the beginning because we now have a lot more work to do.”

That work involves recruiting more people to join the party, Falchuk said.

In order to stay an official party after the 2016 election, the United Independent Party and the Green-Rainbow Party will each have to either get 3 percent of the state electorate in the 2016 election again, or have 1 percent of the population, approximately 43,000 people, officially registered under their party, said Brian McNiff, spokesman for Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.

McNiff, however, said both options are difficult goals to overcome.

“At the moment, all the political designations taken together only have about

22,000 people in them,” he said. “So that sort of gives you some idea of what the 43,000 [means]. It’s a bit of work. If you look back through the election results for president over the years, you would see that somebody getting 3 percent … is pretty rare.”

Falchuk said he is enthused and ready to work enrolling voters in his party to keep his ballot status.

“We’ve got an urgency to enroll people for practical reasons, but also because we need all their help and support as we go through the process of selecting candidates to run in 2016,” he said. “Here we are, at the threshold. We created the party, now it’s time to really do something with it.”

Several residents said they have mixed views on the role of independent parties, and whether the 3 percent requirement is appropriate to legitimize a party.

Sean O’Keefe, 18, of West Roxbury, said the cutoff is beneficial.

“If you get less than 3 percent, you can have anyone making up any party running a primary,” he said. “Any crazy could just make up a party and run. So 3 percent says just enough people are backing them that it actually matters.”

Karl Gerds, 54, of Newton, said he likes independent parties and the requirement is unfitting of political reality.

“It seems a little high,” he said. “It’s almost impossible for anyone to get votes unless you’re one of the major parties. It should be a lot lower [and] easier.”

Sergio Brice, 38, of Hyde Park, said he sympathizes with independent parties and wants to see their ideas brought forward

more in government.

“As for independent parties, I just feel like they’re the underdogs of the world, a lot of people are very cynical,” he said. “In this nation, if it’s not Democrat or Republican, they don’t necessarily look at it.

Maybe a free party that comes with new ideas and comes with something to the table could give a breath of fresh air. It could be innovative.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE GREEN RAINBOW PARTY AND THE UNITED INDEPENDENT PARTY

Although their candidates were not victorious on Election Day, both the Green-Rainbow Party and United Independent Party were legitimized because they each received more than 3 percent of the vote.

NEWS

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Survey provides insight into how millenials perceive work

BY MINA CORPUZ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

As members of the Millennial Generation make their way through college and into the workforce in large numbers, a Tuesday study revealed millennials’ perspective toward work and tackled some of the stereotypes about the generation.

The study, part of PreparedU Project at Bentley University, focuses on understanding how millennials work to better understand how to support them.

“Whether you like it or not, whether you’re a baby boomer and you’re sitting there frustrated with what you perceive as millennial attitudes that don’t meet with yours, they [millennials] are going to be the largest workforce in histor y,” said David Perr y, chief marketing officer of Bentley. “They’re already shaping the workplace.”

Kevin Lang, an economics professor at Boston University, said starting dialogue about millennials entering and making it in the work place is important because of the impact the generation will have on society.

“People entering the workforce now have greater familiarity with new technolog y [and] social media. They learn in different ways because they have more access to electronic information than earlier generations,” Lang said. “Younger people are going to be more able to adapt to new technolog y. It changes the way people work rather than the personalities of a generation.”

The study is a follow up of the project’s initial study in Januar y that focused on defining preparedness for the workforce and coming up with solutions

to the issue, Perr y said.

Half of the responders said poor work ethics left them unprepared for the workforce, reinforcing the stereotype that millennials have a poor work ethic, according to the report.

“What you may perceive as a lack of work ethic is just simply they [millennials] are adhering to a different standard, a different approach,” Perr y said. “To credit millennials, they’re ver y scrutinizing of themselves and grade themselves hard. They’re ver y self aware, transparent and open to feedback.”

About 77 percent of respondents said they favor f lexible work hours over a typical 9-to-5 workday to make the workplace more productive, according to the study.

Lang said millennials’ preferences about what hours to work has helped define work culture.

“It will be interesting to see whether there is an increase in self-employment as this generation ages,” he said.

“It certainly has been a case for a while now when you talked to elite MBA students when perhaps 30 years ago they wanted to be CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations. The desire in recent years has been to go into venture capital and into startups to run one’s own firm.”

Millennials define career success ver y differently than other generations, according to the study. 66 percent of the generation said they aim to start their own business and 37 percent want to work on their own rather than strive for top leadership positions.

Several students said recognizing changing values of each generation could lead to a workforce that is more conducive to their creativity and pro-

GRAPHIC BY SAMANTHA GROSS/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A survey by the PreparedU Project at Bentley University studied millenials’ perspectives on work to better understand how to support them

ductivity.

Yingzi Ma, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the use of technolog y plays a key role in how millennials work and contributes to their unique understanding about the workplace.

“In our generation, technological development is a boost,” she said.

“There’s a lot of economic development [because of it]. We’re gathering much more information than older generations did because of these technological developments.”

Nicole Gerber, a freshman in the College of General Studies, said doing away with some of the stereotypes about millennials will help people understand how the generation operates differently.

“With ever y generation there’s always new customs. Our generation is evolving into the current society needs,” she said. “We’re not lazy. We’re pretty innovative and innovative people have creative minds. Creative people don’t like to be told what to do or be bossed around.”

Perr y said it is important to include millennials in the conversation in order to know how they are doing, in order to provide them the support they need to achieve.

“It’s important to have greater awareness about how millennials feel because people are talking about them, so it’s important to give them a voice in the dialogue,” he said. “This generation has a lot of value.”

OPINION

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

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

T H E I N D E P E N D E N T S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R A T B O S T O N U N I V E R S I T Y

44th year | Volume 87 | Issue 11 The Free Press (ISSN 1094-7337) is published Thursdays 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.

Clinton Nguyen, Multimedia Editor

Conor Ryan, Sports Editor

Mina Corpuz, Campus Editor

Taryn Ottaunick, Opinion Editor

Stephanie Pagones, City Editor

Hannah Landers, Features Editor

Emily Zaboski, Photo Editor Shakti Rovner, Office Manager

The Daily Free Press crowdsources more than $70,000

BY TARYN OTTAUNICK DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Supported by large donations from high-profi le donors, The Daily Free Press, Boston University’s independent student newspaper, raised more than $70,000 in about two days to allow the paper to continue printing in the spring semester.

After faced with a Dec. 31 deadline by its publisher, Turley Publications, the FreeP, as the paper is commonly known, launched a crowdsourcing campaign through social media and GoFundMe Monday. The fundraising effort was back by $50,000 from president and CEO of New England Subaru Ernie Boch Jr., $10,000 from Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly and more than 300 other contributions from alumni of the newspaper, faculty members of BU, students and family and friends of staff members.

“Thanks to the many donors, former FreePers, current FreePers, your parents, your sisters and brothers, your friends and people who love journalism, we are able to keep doing what we love to do,” said Tyler Lay, chairman of The Back Publishing Co., Inc., the governing body that oversees the paper, to a roomful of cheering editors and staff members in the Kenmore Square office.

“We are very thankful.”

The publication was founded in 1970 after the Kent State shootings sparked violent protests on the BU campus. Although initially a daily print newspaper, the FreeP announced in May that the publication would shift to a digital-fi rst model, posting content daily to its revamped website, and publish a paper once a week.

“We’re going to pay off Turley Publica-

tions as soon as we can,” said Lay, a senior in the College of Communication at BU. “We’re going to continue to strengthen our relationship with them. They’ve been great to us up to this point…and now we can continue to move forward.”

O’Reilly, an alumnus of BU who worked at the paper, called the FreeP Tuesday to do-

PHOTO BY ALEXANDRA WIMLEY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Daily Free Press staff celebrates Wednesday upon hearing news that the publication surpassed its fundraising goal of $70,000.

nate $10,000 to the publication’s operations, according to Editor-in-Chief Kyle Plantz, a junior in COM. Boch’s publicist, Peggy Rose, got in touch with Plantz Wednesday morning and offered to donate $50,000 once the FreeP raised $20,000, which it had with O’Reilly’s contribution, Plantz said.

“Bill O’Reilly was an alum of BU and of the FreeP so we have some of his archives

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ly and, yes, collegiate level are all vital parts of our democracy,” he said in a Wednesday statement. “A vibrant newspaper ensures for a free exchange of ideas and Boston University’s independent student-run newspaper, The Daily Free Press, should continue to have that opportunity for its readers.”

FreeP alumni made up a significant portion of donors, with former FreeP-ers such as Don Van Natta Jr., a Pulitzer Prize win-

ning reporter for ESPN, donating $300 and Andrew Cohen, a CBS News legal affairs correspondent, contributing $250 through the GoFundMe campaign.

“Kick ass, Free Press! From a grateful and proud alum (and editor-in-chief ‘84-‘85),” Van Natta wrote when he donated.

David Carr, a columnist at The New York Times and BU professor, and Thomas Fiedler, dean of COM, also donated to the cause.

Given a fresh start, free and clear from debt, members of the FreeP’s editorial board said their experience at the FreeP was invaluable and they are glad they can continue printing.

“Going through this stressful process of fi nding out that we are in debt and then rallying to raise the necessary funds really solidified for me, and for all of us I believe, why we are here,” said Stephanie Pagones, city editor. “Going through all of this made me realize how much The Daily Free Press really means to me. I don’t know where I’d be without the FreeP, and I’m happy I don’t have to fi nd out.”

Acknowledging the contributions from over 44 years of FreeP alumni, Clinton Nguyen, multimedia editor, said the experiences the FreeP gives, and will continue to give its writers, is something that will be remembered by all staff members.

“Have you ever watched “Breakfast at Tiffany’s?” The FreeP is like Holly’s cat — that ragged thing that you just pick up and can’t just abandon, no matter what goes wrong, no matter how old you get,” he said.

“It brings young journalists together, and the support that we’ve gotten shows that the love for this imperfect little thing can never really die.”

This week’s crossword is dedicated to all of our FreeP supporters!

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here,” Plantz said. “But Ernie Boch Jr. has no relation to BU or journalism for that matter.

We’re excited that he saw a worthy cause and I’m glad he donated.”

Boch said he donated to the fundraising campaign to ensure that the print version of the FreeP “stays alive and viable.”

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ACROSS 1. Hole-making tools 5. Highly skilled 10. Shove 14. Accomplishes 15. A radioactive gaseous element 16. A single time 17. A fi nancial asset 19. Biblical kingdom 20. Barely manage 21. Of very poor quality 22. Seethes 23. Futile 25. Layers 27. Animal doctor 28. Dawdling 31. Egg-shaped 34. Bore 35. Caviar 36. Dry riverbed 37. Bobbins 38. “___ we forget” 39. A late time of life 40. Smidgens

DOWN 41. Carnival attractions 42. Merited 44. Foot digit 45. Creator 46. Lewd 50. Splines 52. Tumbler 54. Furrow maker 55. Body of water 56. Dressmaker 58. Not under 59. An independent fi lm company 60. Away from the wind 61. Cautious 62. Metal 63. Bankrolls

1. French farewell 2. Dweebs 3. Embankment 4. South southeast 5. A creative person 6. Curses 7. Biblical garden 8. Long hair pulled back (plural) 9. Explosive 10. Verse 11. Unwanted 12. Flat-bottomed boat 13. Skirt lines 18. Horse 22. Peddle 24. 57 in Roman numerals 26. Ailments 28. Great fear 29. Schnozzola 30. Obtains 31. Was indebted 32. Sheltered spot

33. Handicapper 34. Cleanser 37. Wander 38. Mortgage 40. Bothers 41. Get out of bed 43. Diner 44. Anagram of “Steals” 46. Bog hemp 47. Pincer 48. Fleeced 49. Affi rmatives 50. Not fast 51. Magma 53. Stow, as cargo 56. Female sib 57. Uncooked

OPINION

5

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

The Magic of Kasum

BY TRISHA THADANI COLUMNIST

A guy named Brandon Weiss lived down the hall from me freshman year. I knew him as the guy on the diving team who was in my COM 101 class and always had a hum of bass coming from his room. Two years later, this guy who got written up by our RA for blasting his music too loud, is now known by hundreds of thousands of people around the country as a DJ named Kasum.

Weiss has one of those inspiring college kid success stories: A spark of underappreciated talent that was fostered in a cramped dorm room and, after some hard work, finally caught the unstoppable momentum it deserved.

The word “luck” is often thrown around when people talk about their road to success.

But Weiss said he’s careful to use the word “luck” in fear of undermining the meticulous planning and long hours that he puts into creating his music and brand.

“Luck is something that happens when hard work and opportunity meet, and that isn’t something that has happened to me yet. Maybe one day,” he humbly said during our interview Monday, as he had two shows lined up at large venues in Boston and Philadelphia during the upcoming weekend.

He chose the moniker Kasum, the Hebrew word for magic, as a symbol for the magic tricks he would practice in his room while growing up to disconnect himself from a slew of family hardships. Today, he said he still uses magic, but in a much different form — through his music, an avenue to simultaneously disconnect his audience from the rest of the world so he can connect with them.

Weiss creates the kind of music that just gets into your body and has the ability to move your head, feet and mood on its own. He played his music in the background during our interview, and there were several points where I noticed him close his eyes and – just for a split second – he would let the sudden drop in the music go right through him. And every time he would snap back to reality, there would always be a subtle sense

of pride in his eyes for the sounds he created.

“I like to make things that get into people’s heads and that are hum-able,” he said, acknowledging the funny juxtaposition between the intensity of Dubstep and the simplicity of humming. However, he said this “infectious hum” he strives to create is a lot harder to achieve than just throwing a myriad of sounds together.

While were sitting at his computer, he showed me how each sound, even those as small as a simple ding on a keyboard, go through a meticulous editing process in which it obtains its own personality, purpose and potential. Careful planning goes into each beat, just as everything else that goes into the Kasum brand.

“I’m 40 percent a musician and 60 percent a businessman,” he said.

While a typical song takes him about 70 to 100 hours each, he said just as much time, if not more, goes into planning, networking and building his brand. Only two years into being Kasum, Weiss already has a manager, lawyer and booking agent. So, when Weiss says he has to “call his people,” he actually has people to call.

Despite his rising fame and the fact he’s a DJ based out of New York over the summer, he’s still a student based out of his Student Village II dorm room during the school year.

“No matter what, I still plan on getting a degree,” he said. “If an opportunity comes that I absolutely cannot say no to, obviously I’ll take it. Then I’ll just plan on getting my degree later.”

When you see Weiss, the seemingly normal BU student on campus, you would never expect him to be as big of a deal as he is in major cities like New York, Boston and Philadelphia. But, at the same time, you wouldn’t expect Kasum, the well-known DJ in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, to have the most played song on his iTunes be Suite No. 3 in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach either.

But perhaps all of this is the key to Weiss/Kasum’s success – a confident sense of modesty with something always unexpected waiting up his sleeve (or in his iTunes).

On the background of his iPhone, Weiss set a picture his favorite quote: “What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.”

For a 20-year-old DJ that has already has a huge fan base, dozens of upcoming shows and thousands of dollars in his pocket, that quote must trigger some pretty exciting thoughts.

“I’m still only 1/16th of what I want to be one day,” he said.

The ‘War’ on Women

BY KATE HOFBERG COLUMNIST

I hear that there’s a war on women these days.

It’s not that I don’t believe it. The literature, statistics, history and the stories told by discriminated women say plainly, that it’s true. The war on women is real.

But I’ve got to be completely honest.

I feel pretty unaffected by the tragedy of the war against my gender. Perhaps it’s a gift to have never felt the plight of my gender’s inequality and injustices. Sometimes, part of me wishes that my own personal collection of life experiences could help me understand what it feels like to be a lesser human in the eyes of the world that I live in.

In terms of wage, for example, women face inequalities in the workplace everyday. Doesn’t it frustrate and anger me that on average, in America, women only make 78 cents for every dollar that is earned by a male counterpart in the same position? Of course it’s not a statistic that pleases me, but, in my own experience, wage inequality is never something that has affected me personally. In fact, my own experience in the workforce has taught me that hard work is compensated with fair pay and that my gender is irrelevant when it comes to determining my salary.

When I was an undergraduate college student, I began working as a hostess at a popular beachside restaurant in Santa Barbara, California, to help pay my rent, to keep my fridge stocked with Bud Light and to keep my pantry full of boxes of Kraft Mac N’ Cheese and Cocoa Puffs. When I got hired, I was offered minimum wage, plus cash tips, which was a rate no better or worse than the hired males, and because my stock of mediocre beer was dangerously low, I quickly accepted.

Shortly after being hired, I quickly moved up the ranks from hostess to food runner to server to bartender and then, when I was just 23 years old, I was offered a management position that offered salary pay. After the quickest deliberation, I accepted the

management position at a salary rate that many people who work their whole lives in the restaurant industry are never offered.

When on duty, I was in charge of a full front and back of house staff restaurant full of people. It was my job to build the schedule, manage staff and fi x problems on the floor and in the kitchen. It’s an understatement to say that my days were busy. Busy is a word that just doesn’t do my days justice.

Mad. Insane. Crazy. Chaos. Those are words that seem to fit better.

But, for all the money I was making, it was well worth the stress and exhaustion because it wasn’t just a paycheck that I received for all of my hard work. But, perhaps, a form of payment that was just as satisfying to me as the money was the respect that I earned from my staff and regular customers. I did my work with a smile on my face, because the recognition I was earning as an instrumental part of the team that contributed to the overall success of restaurant was rewarding to me.

I was woman, hear me roar.

The male members on staff ? They were my equals, not my superiors. They weren’t paid more than me just because we had different reproductive organs. Equal pay for equal positions. That’s what we want, right ladies?

It’s not to say that women with jobs in other industries and fields don’t feel devalued, under appreciated and discredited, but, again my own personal life experience in this realm makes those feelings of frustration and anger difficult for me to relate to.

It could be a lucky circumstance for me that I haven’t personally experienced gender inequality in my own life and I’ll admit that I’m slightly ignorant to the problem that many women feel victimized by. I am not trying to come across as unsympathetic or oblivious to the disadvantages that my gender face. What I am saying, however, is that my personal experience in the work force leaves me little room to complain.

I can only hope that women feeling disadvantaged and betrayed by the reproductive organs that defi ne their gender start to become the exception to the rule rather than commonplace sooner than later. I know that I am a lucky girl to have grown up in a place and time that has made me proud to be a fierce woman at work in this world, and, although I know that there are many other women around the country and the globe who are have not been as fortunate as I have been, for now, all I can do is hope that one day all of you ladies will feel as powerful, influential, smart, deserving and proud as I do.

Interrobang The Daily Free Press raised more than $70,000 through an online crowdsourcing campaign. We here at the ol’ Free Press were wondering how BU people would raise such a hefty sum: SHA: Sponsor an airbnb in the dorms.

President Brown: Raise tuition again.

SAR: Have a Sargent Choice Whole Grain Oatmeal Cookies Bake Sale.

BU Greek Life: Host a flag football fashion show complete with firefighters.

CGS: Build a lemonade stand.

ENG: 3D print the money.

SMG: Manage multiple hedge funds.

FreeP: We Did It!

6

FEATURES

SCIENCE TUESDAY THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

GRAPHIC BY MIKE DESOCIO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

New algorithm makes traffic predictions easier, study suggests

BY BECCA DEGREGORIO DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Honks and profanity are surefi re ways of letting off some five o’clock steam, but when all is said and done, there’s a reason why the phrase “stuck in traffic” sticks. But the inch-by-inch stop-and-go might have just gotten more avoidable, with a new formula for traffic flow prediction developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Notre Dame, among others.

“We all know it’s an important topic,” said Marta González, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT and one of the study’s researchers.

“Traffic was something that we could work on to try and improve foundations.”

But highly congested traffic zones consume much more than just a commuter’s time, said Jonathan Levy, a professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health. High concentrations of vehicle emissions can lower air qual-

ity and even affect physical health.

“Congestion hot spots can become air quality hot spots within a short amount of time,” Levy said. “If you as an individual are stuck in a car and you’re driving in traffic, you’re spending more time being exposed to potentially higher levels of air pollution. The same thing goes for bikers and pedestrians along that roadway.”

Ultrafi ne particles and combusted pollutants from gasoline and diesel fuel are the road’s most common threats to air quality, Levy explained. In urban areas, such as Boston, motor vehicles contribute a large percentage of both.

“Traffic is really the dominant source of those,” Levy said.

In order to collect data for the study, which was published on Nov. 6 in Nature Communications, researchers fi rst pulled population distribution, work location and highway network data from the U.S. Census Bureau. With this information on hand, the team could model their algorithm, which aims to prevent inconveniences and envi-

NOW IS

ronmental stressors triggered by the onset of traffic, based on human destination sites.

These sites within the traffic flow prediction formula were then categorized into “absorbers” and “emitters,” with absorbers marking daily locations that draw in large numbers of people — like Boston University, for example — and emitters marking the places where people live. Average measures of daily commuters between any two given points were then corresponded to a specific voltage in an electrical system — the higher the voltage, the higher the occurrence of traffic.

“It’s very powerful because it connects the traffic with…population distribution in quantity,” González said. “This can help us to not only predict but explain why certain areas are more congested, and that helps to develop more route strategies.”

For BU students who live off -campus, travel time is the most pressing issue, compared to reducing emissions or improving physical health.

“It’s totally bad,” said Simone Rauch, a

senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“You can’t predict any traffic patterns ever.

There’s always traffic everywhere, and it’s ridiculous.”

Rauch said she largely drives to see her horse multiple times a week, commuting from her apartment in Fenway to Hanover, a 40-minute drive south of Boston.

“It’s the worst on Storrow Drive and roads like that,” she said. “There are just too many people, and they’re redoing the bridges and the concrete all over Boston. Basically once you’re out of the city, you’re good.”

Kevin Huang, a sophomore in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said the research team’s traffic flow prediction algorithm could serve as a helpful tool for students who drive.

“Having an accurate prediction of when traffic starts and ends could help my schedule in terms of classes, extracurricular appointments,” said Huang, who commutes to campus from Winchester every day.

CONTINUED AT DFPR.ES/TRAFFLOW

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7

MUSE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

PHOTOS BY BETSEY GOLDWASSER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Top: Jordy Shulman (CAS ‘17) and Mary Kate Heagerty (SMG ‘17) perform at Boston University On Broadway’s technical rehearsal of Urinetown at the Tsai Performance Center on Nov. 5. Right: Shulman and Heagerty perform with the ensemble of Urinetown during BU On Broadway’s technical rehearsal.

REVIEW: BU On Broadway’s musical parody “Urinetown”

BY ANNA NOVIKOVA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Urinating on something is an age-old method of showing insult. In a similar — and more playful — way, “Urinetown: The Musical” mocks and tears apart the traditional model of musical theater by paying sarcastic and overdramatic homage to it.

Boston University On Broadway’s production of playwright Greg Kotis and lyricist Mark Hollmann’s “Urinetown,” which ran at Tsai Performance Center Nov. 6 to 8, definitely lived up to the musical’s name, putting on a hilarious yet thought-provoking performance.

Directed by Amir Feinberg, “Urinetown” is a satirical musical about a town where all residents must “pay to pee.” A 20-year drought has led to Great Depression-like times and in order to regulate the water shortage, private toilets have been outlawed. Instead, all residents must use public amenities owned by Urine Good Company (UGC), a corrupt corporation run by the greedy Caldwell B. Cladwell (David Olson).

The musical opens with narrator Officer Lockstock (Jarrett Kleitz) welcoming the audience to Urinetown — “not the place, the musical.” He repeats this so much throughout the show that it becomes not only funnier each time, but also less believable. Urinetown the place is a mysterious location where residents are sent if they do

not pay their amenity fee or if they urinate publicly. In essence, it’s a fear tactic and a tool of power.

The poorest of the poor must use the dingy Public Amenity #9, run with an iron fist by Penelope Pennywise, played by BU on Broadway President Caitlin Donohue. How could a musical dramatize something like peeing? Donohue pulls it off spectacularly, with her powerfully and beautifully sung rendition of “It’s a Privilege to Pee,” explaining how water is worth its weight in gold ever since the reservoirs dried up.

Bobby Strong (Jordy Shulman) works at Public Amenity #9 and is ridden with guilt after his father is sent to Urinetown for public urination. He meets the beautiful Hope Cladwell (Mary Kate Heagerty), who makes his cold heart feel better. He falls in love with her, unaware that she is a Cladwell.

These two events spark Bobby’s decision to start a revolution for freedom and the right to pee for free.

Lockstock, who narrates directly to the audience, brings a great meta-musical vibe to “Urinetown.” He and poor orphan Little Sally (Meaghan Collins) often talk aside from the rest of the cast about aspects of the musical and subtly make fun of themselves, the musical and the audience. “Why not hydraulics?” Little Sally asks Lockstock as they discuss the musical’s singular focus on toilets.

Perhaps nothing illustrates the musical’s breaking of traditional rules and conventions like Bobby and Hope’s duet, “Follow

Your Heart.” As they fall in love, they tell each other to listen to their hearts — literally, comically putting their ears on each other’s chests and straining to hear. “Even your heart is telling you to follow your heart!”

Hope exclaims. The song expertly and sarcastically makes fun of the cheesy Broadway musical, with its broad and vaguely inspirational lyrics and gestures.

This is furthered by the outrageous variety of musical song-and-dance styles the show employs, imitates and mocks (it becomes hard to discern the difference). The play’s fi rst song immediately breaks the barrier between the story and the audience, but is sung in a sophisticated and harmonious way reminiscent of dramatic musicals. Later, “Mr. Cladwell” is sung and performed in a 1940s show-tune style, and the musical later even includes gospel-inspired performances.

As sarcastic as they may be, the songs are quite catchy. Once Bobby fi nds out that Hope is Cladwell’s daughter, he decides he must kidnap her so Cladwell will bow to the revolution. While she is held hostage, the ensemble launched into a dark, excessively snappy and swinging rendition of “Snuff That Girl.” It is purposely out of place, but completely infectious, due to the impressive choreography by Abby Bornstein.

Throughout the play, Bobby acts in a comically dramatic manner that is somehow both ridiculous, yet still believable. The actors deftly build off of one another’s silly, over-the-top antics in a way that feeds into

the show’s multi-layered humor. One of the strengths in this production lies in its dedication to the mockery.

Most great humor has at least a sliver of truth to it, and the plot of “Urinetown” has quite a few slivers. Despite mocking traditional musical models, Urinetown’s humor is steeped in philosophical and ideological confl ict on issues of politics and Malthusian theories of human nature and the effects of overpopulation. When Hope joins the revolution, her father explains that he used to believe in the same ideals as her, but realized there were more important things than love and freedom, because “worldwide ecological devastation has a way of changing a man.”

“Urinetown” was written in 2001, but BU On Broadway’s performance illustrates that the themes of the musical are perhaps even louder and more important today, as global climate change and natural resources become more and more hotly debated issues.

The ending, then, leaves one slightly stumped. The people of Urinetown seem no better off after the revolution than before, and it is difficult to tell in which case the people were “better off,” to what extent the plans of both the politicians and the urinary revolutionaries were wrong.

One leaves the musical debating the right way — economically, philosophically and morally — to control such issues as greed, overpopulation and climate change, while simultaneously humming something catchy about a privilege to pee.

SPOTLIGHT BU in competition to raise most money for Coaches vs. Cancer

BY KIMBERLEY RENDON DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

On Sunday, the Boston University men’s basketball team will not just be playing to beat Northeastern University. They will also be fighting to win a bigger battle: eradicating cancer at the Coaches vs. Cancer Tripleheader.

“We all know someone who has been affected, and we now get to use the game of basketball to try and help fi nd a cure,” said Shaun Morris, associate head coach of the men’s basketball team. “Coaches vs. Cancer is a great cause for our program because it allows us to help aid in the fight against this terrible disease.”

Coaches vs. Cancer is a nationwide pro-

gram created by a partnership between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. At the tournament in Boston, six of the Commonwealth’s Division I NCAA basketball teams will be matched up in three different games to raise money for the American Cancer Society at TD Garden. The six teams include BU, Northeastern, Boston College, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Harvard University and College of the Holy Cross.

As an added twist to this year’s tournament, each team has nominated a fundraising leader whose job it is to try and raise more money than all of the other colleges and universities. Connor Lenahan, a sophomore in the College of Communication, was nominated as BU’s fundraising leader by the

men’s basketball team.

“BU chose me because they know about my relationship with the basketball team,” he said. “They knew that I love to help out with a great cause and the American Cancer Society obviously is [one]. There’s no one alive today that hasn’t been impacted by cancer in some way, whether…it’s a friend or a family member.”

Lenahan became involved with the athletics department and the men’s basketball team in Fall 2013 after running into Maurice Watson Jr., a former point guard on the men’s basketball team. Lenahan recognized Watson from high school as a player on one of the opposing teams his basketball team played, and was introduced to the rest of the players and coaches at practices through

Watson.

“He brought me in … to the team. I remember it all led up to the same event that is happening on this Sunday,” Lenahan said, referring to last year’s Coaches vs. Cancer game. “We played in this game last year against Northeastern too, and that was my fi rst game where I went and sat by the court and with the team. It was perfect.”

Despite his brittle bone disease that will never allow him to compete athletically, Lenahan said the basketball team often “forgets” that he’s not an athlete because they just accept him “as part of that world,” which has made this the best thing to happen to him in college.’

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

8

FEATURES

INBUSINESS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

The ABC’s of CSS: A Guide to Coding in Boston

BY OLIVIA DENG - DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Although a U.S. Department of Labor report announced Friday the lowest unemployment rate since July 2008, issues such as minimum wage, which the report also indicated has only increased 2 percent since 2013, continue to threaten the security of the job market. In Boston, which has become a hub for both successful and budding tech companies, knowing one’s way around a keyboard could be a make-or-break skill in the job market. For those who feel as though their coding skills might not be up to snuff, here is a list of places to learn the ABCs of CSS in the local Boston area.

General Assembly

Girl Develop It

Launch Academy

Location: 51 Melcher St., Boston Cost: $11,500

Location: Various locales throughout the Boston area Cost: $10-12 per hour, $90 average per course

Location: 33 Harrison Ave. #501, Boston Cost: $12,500

With 13 locations worldwide, including one in Boston, General Assembly aims to decode the complexities of mobile and website development through classes and workshops, said Anna Lindow, general manager of campus education and operations at General Assembly.

“We saw a need in the marketplace,” she said. “We saw that companies wanted to work with people who had the skills for internships.”

In order to prepare students for the competitive job market, General Assembly teaches students a wide range of programming languages.

“We teach HTML, CSS, JavaScript, [Apple programming language] Swift, [web application framework] Ruby on Rails,” Lindow said. “And then we also teach the JavaScript framework, so [that includes things like] Angular — those are a little bit more technical.”

In addition to teaching programming languages, General Assembly also teaches data science, Lindow said. Originally focused on website development, General Assembly started adding more diverse program offerings in 2011.

Although General Assembly offers full-time degree programs at a significant cost, they also have “drop-in” classes that students can attend free of charge.

“It comes down to the fact that there is a need for the marketplace,” Lindow said. “People can get jobs that are interesting and pay well, so that’s one part. Also it’s inspiring and empowering to make your ideas into reality so we are always excited to help them do that.”

Unlike General Assembly and Launch Academy, Girl Develop It is catered to empowering women who want to learn how to program.

“Girl Develop It is a nonprofit organization that teaches women…to learn programming,” said Elizabeth Long, a leader of the Boston chapter of Girl Develop It. “And the goal is to eliminate barriers that women have encountered when trying to learn programming.”

The program is especially popular among college students. Approximately 20 percent of the attendants in each class are college students, Long said.

“There are a variety of students who are doing graphic design or web design as a major and realize they need the technical component. Or there are women who are just getting started in [computer science] who want to get experience with more programming languages,” she said. “It’s really small, really intimate and we have a whole community around those people.”

Although the group’s lack of a permanent meeting space has made it difficult for interested women to fi nd them, Long said, Girl Develop It manages to schedule classes in donated business spaces and offers scholarships in order to accommodate as many future female coders as possible.

“I hear all the time that they want more women to apply [in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields],” she said. “How can we help that? It’s [by] giving women the skills they need. So that’s what we are doing.”

PHOTO BY ERIN BILLINGS/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston community members mingle before the “Intro to the Boston Design Community” at the General Assembly meeting at 51 Melcher St. Tuesday night.

Launch Academy, a software development boot camp, stemmed from a void at a software development consultancy, said Evan Charles, co-founder of Launch Academy.

“My co-founder, Dan [Pickett], owned a software development consultancy and oftentimes at his consultancy, clients would ask him for recommendations for software engineers to work on his project,” he said. “The talent pool is so low that oftentimes an individual wasn’t able to work for the fi rm he was consulting for. So he took on people who didn’t have experience and had them work at his consultancy and taught them on the job at the consultancy how to code.”

Out of this on-the-job training, Launch Academy was born.

“What we do is we replicate the work environment of being a software developer,” Charles said. “So that when you graduate, they have applicable skills they can put to use [on] day one on the job.”

The immersive experience and long hours of the Launch Academy boot camp allows staffers to build relationships with the student, Charles said. As the program progresses, the relationships get stronger.

Launch Academy serves as a pipeline for students to obtain entry-level developer jobs, Charles said. On “Career Day,” students have the opportunity to network with Launch Academy’s hiring partners and showcase their projects.

“People will build individual projects and people will build projects within a group and the resulting apps they build will be showcased,” Charles said. “So rather than showing companies a resume, they are showing them real products they built during the program.”

And the support does not end with the boot camp.

With its postgraduate support program, which consists of six months of technical and career support for students, Launch Academy ensure that students’ needs are met, Charles said.

Though Launch Academy is more career-oriented than some other programs, Charles said, college students who are not necessarily seeking to be hired immediately will still fi nd the program useful.

“Learning software development prepares you with skills that are going to be applicable in the workforce today,” he said. “It also teaches you a new way of thinking. I think the combination of those two skills is extremely beneficial to anyone seeking a job or interested in building technology when they graduate college.”

Money from basketball fundraiser goes to American Cancer Society COACHES FROM PAGE 7

“I’m a fi rm believer that everyone when they come to school, you eventually fi nd your way in the area that you’re involved in,” he said. “I knew coming to BU that athletics would be it for me because I’m a huge sports fan and I always have been.”

Lenahan agreed to raise money for the American Cancer Society because it will not just benefit for the organization, but also BU and Lenahan himself.

“It’ll be good for the American Cancer Society because that money will go to helping people in need,” he said. “It’ll show that BU cares about this really important cause and it’ll be good for me because I’ll be happy that I helped out something so deserving.”

Lenahan said besides the benefits, there is an added incentive to raising money as well.

“There’s also the little fun part about [how] the top two

[fundraisers] get to compete in the shoot out contest from the TD Garden floor where the [Boston] Celtics play,” he said. “I can hold that over my friends’ heads for life.”

The original goal was to raise $1,500 for the American Cancer Society, but Lenahan has already surpassed that goal, putting him in fi rst place of the other school representatives with $1,705 raised as of Wednesday.

“The good news is that we’ve been able to make a dent for them [the American Cancer Society],” Lenahan said.

“Even if I don’t get on the court, as long as I’ve raised money for them and I’ve helped with a good cause, I’m going to be more than happy. And I think that’ll be something to be proud of for everyone that’s donated.”

Lenahan, who is also the official announcer for the women’s basketball team, said he loves helping out the athletic department that has given him great opportunities to become involved on campus.

“I had defi nite hard points in my life with breaking a

bunch of bones, but at the same time I’ve been so blessed in other areas that I never focus on the fact that I can’t be on the court,” Lenahan said. “I get to see things that none of my friends from back home get to see.”

Like Lenahan’s experience with the men’s basketball team, Morris said sees the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament as transcending the small stuff to focus on the bigger picture.

“We talk all the time about how certain things are bigger than the game, and this is certainly one of those examples,” he said. “We need the BU community to come support our team and this cause at the Garden to help the fight against this terrible disease.”

The Coaches vs. Cancer Tripleheader will take place at TD Garden on Sunday with the BU vs. Northeastern game at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster, and those who would like to donate to the American Cancer Society via Lenahan’s fund can do so on the Coaches vs. Cancer website.

NEWS

9

1 of 4 Massachusetts residents living at, near poverty level

GRAPHIC BY EMILY ZABOSKI/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A Monday report by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center has found that 1 out of 4 Massachusetts residents is living at or near the poverty level.

BY GABI ARRIAGA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

One out of every four Massachusetts resident is living at or near the poverty level, according to a Monday report.

The report, released by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, entitled “From Poverty to Opportunity: The Challenge of Building a Great Society,” determined that the poverty rate in Massachusetts has remained stagnant since the 1960s. The study, written by Nancy Wegman, and fund-

ed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, stated that only the top 1 percent of earners experienced economic growth over the years.

With productivity growing since the 1960s, wages have remained stagnant for low and middle-income families, according to the report. While Massachusetts is one of the wealthiest states in the country, there has been no significant progress in eliminating poverty. About 1 in 4 people in Massachusetts make incomes under 200 percent of the $18,800 poverty rate.

The Massachusetts Association

for Community Action, an organization focused on ending poverty with the help of 24 non-profit advocacy groups, commissioned the report.

Executive Director Joe Diamond said the study was necessary on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which marked the start of the War on Poverty.

“Inequality is a challenge that we’re facing across the country, and there is a renewed interest in addressing it,” Diamond said. “The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. We thought it was very important to take stock of what is happening in the state of Massachusetts.”

One of MASSCAP’s main goals is to make the economy work for everyone, he said. The organization plans to create a task force on poverty in Massachusetts to raise awareness, perform research and develop recommendations to reduce the rates of poverty in the Commonwealth.

“It’s important to note that this is an effort that we believe will be successful, but only if people work together,” Diamond said. “A broad group of interested parties who can recognize that there is increased interest in addressing inequality. We have an opportunity now to really make a dent.”

More than half of those living in poverty in Massachusetts are high school graduates with jobs, according to the study. However, Diamond pointed out that welfare programs such as Medicare, food stamp, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Social Security and Head Start, an

organization that provides early childhood education, keep over 800,000 Massachusetts residents out of poverty.

Paul Bailey, president of the board of directors of MASSCAP, said the agency offers safety net programs to support those living in poverty, with the hope of easing their burden.

“We are seeking for Massachusetts an economy that provides opportunity for all,” he said in a Monday press release. “Lifting the income of low and moderate wage workers is one way to achieve that vision and to help prevent poverty.”

As for action taken by the city, Gabrielle Farrell, a spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, said the mayor is planning to reduce these high poverty rates by implementing new programs that will greatly benefit the city.

“Mayor Walsh has aimed to address many of the contributing factors leading up to poverty by instituting a number of programs and initiatives,” she said in an email. “Recently, he opened an Office of Financial Empowerment in Dudley Square, Roxbury and has been constantly working to address and improve matters of chronic homelessness and recovery services.”

Farrell also mentioned grants that will help the unemployed find jobs in Boston.

“The City of Boston’s Office of Jobs and Community Services, an affiliate of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, also recently awarded just over $1 million to 19 community-based employment and workforce development programs,” she said. “More than

200 Boston residents will receive job training under these grants.”

Several Boston residents said they were not shocked by the findings of the report and offered some possible solutions to the issue.

John McGann, 30, of Brighton, said the issue of poverty begins with the homeless, who lack the most in opportunities.

“I just moved from Allston, and that’s where I see most of the poverty,” he said. “I see a lot of homeless people in all sorts of weather conditions. They definitely feel like they don’t have opportunities.”

Lena Khan, 18, of Allston, said politicians could take action to reduce the poverty rates, directly helping those at the low-income level.

“Politicians could increase the employment rate and minimum wages, because people are living in these conditions due to their low incomes,” she said. “They need to support their families and they can’t do that while paying rent and other bills.”

Angie Boehler, 49, of Brighton, said she predicts the rich are going to get richer, especially with the results from recent elections.

“With the elections voting in mostly Republicans all over the country, I think they’re more able to help the 1 percent over the middle class,” she said. “To help the economy, you need to bolster the middle class and that’s not going to happen. There’s going to be lots of jobs out there, but they’re all going to be minimum wage and parttime, which does not help the economy or the poverty rates.”

Revamped Mass. Health Connector more functional for health care users

BY ALEXANDRA DAVID DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Massachusetts Health Connector has been revamped for the upcoming health insurance open enrollment period that will go live on Saturday. The Health Connector is an independent state agency that helps Massachusetts residents find health insurance coverage and avoid tax penalties.

The major difference between the updated Health Connector and the old Health Connector is the application process, which determines which program people belong in, said Jason Lefferts, spokesman for Massachusetts Health Connector.

“This new system will allow people to create an account,” he said.

“They will be able to fill out an application, when they complete the application they will find out what program they belong in, whether that would be MassHealth [Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services] with their Medicaid program, whether they qualify for the subsidy through the Health Connector, or whether they can just purchase a plan unsubsidized through the Health Connector.”

About 250,000 Massachusetts residents are currently enrolled in health insurance through the Health Connector site, helping the Commonwealth achieve the highest rate of health insurance coverage in the nation, according to the site.

“The key part, that we have this time that we didn’t have last time, was the program determination. The point

where we can figure out whether it was MassHealth or the Health Connector,” Lefferts said. “We weren’t able to do that last year. So that’s going to be the key part of all this.”

Users often could not properly complete the application on the original Health Connector site because they had a hard time determining which program, MassHealth or the Health Connector, they were eligible for, Lefferts said. Additionally, when filing for subsidies, users would be put on temporary coverage. The site, which had previously only been in English, also presented problems for those who did not speak English as a first language.

The open enrollment will continue through Feb. 15, Lefferts said.

During open enrollment, those who are on MassHealth temporary coverage can reapply for insurance.

“If someone filled out an application during the last open enrollment and they were looking for a subsidy, what we did was put them in temporary coverage,” Lefferts said. “They’ve been in that temporary coverage since they applied and this fall they can submit a new application and then figure out definitely where they belong and pick a plan.”

Beth Baker, director of Health Access and Wellness Services at the Boston Public Health Commission, said the website is being revamped because the previous site had not been as successful as they had hoped.

“The new system aims to ensure that those seeking a health care plan will be able to complete an applica-

tion with little to no issue,” she said.

“This open enrollment ... there will be a functioning website, so people will be applying on online applications and gain real-time eligibility for the various programs, if they qualify for tax credits or if they qualify for care through MassHealth they’ll be finding that out in real time.”

Baker said since last year, The Affordable Care Act has funded BPHC, and health care organizations nationwide, to reach out to community partners to meet people where they are and make it more convenient for them, no appointment necessary. While the Massachusetts Health Connector facilitates assist residents in finding the right plan, the BPHC is more engaged with the community to help them.

BPHC is a certified navigator organization, meaning that they are trained by the state to assist people with their health insurance applications, Baker said. In an effort to break down barriers, they have navigators who speak a total of eight different languages including, English, Spanish, Haitian, Creole, French, Portuguese, Cape Verde Creole and Vietnamese.

Many of those who would seek help through the Massachusetts Health Connector can be considered “vulnerable populations,” such as the elderly, the illiterate and those whose first language is not English, Baker said.

The updated Health Connector site can be accessed in English and Spanish, as well as the paper application, Baker said. However, the online application can only be viewed in En-

glish.

“That’s why there is the role of the navigator because that’s not what the Connector is equipped to do,” she said. “So we’re filling that gap. We might have a little more language capacity than the Connector has as far as staff who actually speakers the language versus than the language line.

Again that’s why there are navigators.

That’s the idea, that we’re in the community, we know the community.”

Several Massachusetts residents said they have mixed feelings about the updated Health Connector.

AJ Landau, 26, of Brighton, said he would prefer if there were a way to give those seeking help from the Health Connector more of a choice.

“It’s a tough one because I get where they’re coming from in terms of being helpful with people,” he said.

“But at the same time I’m big on people choosing for themselves and having

free choice and not being cornered in to something.”

Meghan Pipp, 22, of Brighton, said she can see why some people might have an issue with the site, but thinks it is a good program for the people of the Commonwealth.

“It sounds like a great program, especially because I’m having difficulty right now, where I just moved here and I can’t find a provider near me so I’m going to have to probably switch health plans and I think it sounds like a great resource,” she said.

Maroof Alam, 37, of Bowdoin, said he is impressed by the initiative the government is taking by partnering navigator organizations, such as BPHC, with the Health Connector.

“It’s definitely a good thing, and it’ll help with bringing more people into the program,” he said. “It’s an attempt from the government to reach out and I think it’s good.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXANDRA WIMLEY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Massachusetts Health Connector has updated its website to include easier accessibility for foreign language speakers and user-friendly capabilities for those who are unsure which plan is correct for them, and will be accepting open enrollment on Saturday.

10

SPORTS

20 Q’s: W. basketball senior Mollie McKendrick

BY JOE CALABRESE DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

As the Boston University women’s basketball team looks to get its 2014-15 season underway, it will be facing a number of challenges. Between an overhauled coaching staff and a roster that sports only three upperclassmen, the Terriers will be looking to their veterans for guidance. Senior forward Mollie McKendrick is one of those veterans.

Last season the Mildura, Australia native averaged 9.1 points per game and shot 38.5 percent from the floor. The only senior on the roster this year, McKendrick will shoulder the burden of leadership and said she hopes to set a good example for her fellow Terriers this winter.

1. HOW’S YOUR SEMESTER GOING?

“Really well. I’m glad to be back in America and back working, playing basketball, back in classes. It’s going really well.”

2. WHAT’S YOUR MAJOR?

“I’m a criminal justice major.”

3. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH THAT ONCE YOU GET OUT OF SCHOOL?

up-tempo style that Coach Steding wants, we’re going to be a fun team to watch this year. As you said we lost our starting scorers, but in the same sense, we all feel like we can all contribute this year. We want to be a team that’s hard to scout and hard to guard knowing that we have five really good players on the floor and five on the bench that could easily be subbed in.”

8. WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS A LEADER OF THIS TEAM?

“It is a bit of a different role this year knowing I am the only true senior and that we are kind of a very young team, so I’m just trying to be a good role model for the young girls — just trying to set the pace and set the tone. They knew coming in that we were going to be young but we’ve expected a lot from them from the beginning and they’ve responded really well to that. We all learn from each other and we’re teaching each other every single day. I think the freshmen have done a great job and even the sophomores are really stepping up. A lot of people will say this year that we are a young team, but I don’t want that to be an excuse, and I don’t feel like that is an excuse for us at all.”

9. DO YOU HAVE ANY GOALS FOR THIS SEASON? EITHER TEAM-WIDE, PERSONAL OR OTHERWISE?

“I want to end up going to law school back home in Australia and become a defense attorney, so that’s kind of my goal with that.”

4. ARE YOU TAKING ANY COOL CLASSES THIS SEMESTER, OR ANY CLASS THAT YOU REALLY LIKE?

“Unfortunately nothing too exciting this semester. Last semester I was able to take a violence and trauma class that I really enjoyed, so that was really interesting and fascinating.”

5. SO HOW WAS YOUR OFFSEASON? HOW DOES THE TEAM LOOK?

“Really good. I was able to go home to and spend some time home, but I stayed in contact with them the whole time I was home and kept up with them and the signing of the new coaches and everything. The offseason was really good. I think we all got some time off and got some kind of time to regroup and be fresh for the upcoming season.”

“Of course the Patriot League Championship is right there for us as a team. That’s where we want to be. That is that goal that we’re always preparing for. And just personally I want to be a good role model and do whatever I can to help the team get there. …

So I guess that my goal is to be a consistent role model and a consistent contributor on a nightly basis with my game.”

10. IS THERE ANY GAME ON THE SCHEDULE THAT YOU’RE REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SEASON AND WHY?

“Every game. It’s kind of scary thinking about your senior year and how quickly time flies when you’re in college, so every game is going to be a whole new perspective for me, knowing the first game of the season is going to be my last home opener or my last game against someone like Northeastern [University], so every single game is going to be special to me. Every single game is going to be a new challenge.”

11. YOU’RE FROM AUSTRALIA. HAD YOU COME TO THE U.S. BEFORE COMING TO BU?

6. WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT YOUR NEW COACH, ARE YOU EXCITED TO WORK WITH HER?

“I’m really excited. Coach [Katy] Steding is a great coach and all the coaches on that coaching staff have just got so much experience and knowledge. Already you can tell how much they can share with us and really talk from their own experiences. … Every day we’re all learning with them and learning how they want us to play and how BU basketball is going to be this year.”

7. WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS TEAM IS GOING TO HAVE TO DO TO BE SUCCESSFUL THIS YEAR?

“[We just need to] play as a team. We have a talented group of 10. Everyone can contribute in so many ways. As long as we keep playing as a team and we keep playing that

“No, so I visited Boston University a couple of months before I actually came and moved here for good. So it was kind of a whole lot of new experiences in a very short amount of time.”

12. WHAT WAS THE TRANSITION LIKE?

“It was definitely difficult. We didn’t really have any other international players on the team at that time so it was a new thing for them as well. … It was tough from the beginning but I feel like as time progressed and I got to know the city more and I got to know the BU community more, I felt more and more at home and now it’s kind of sad thinking it could be coming to an end at the end of the year.”

13. WHAT’S THE BASKETBALL SCENE LIKE IN AUSTRALIA?

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVE MCLAUGHLIN

Mollie McKendrick recorded four double-doubles last season with the Terriers.

“It’s good. We’ve got a really developing scene.

I personally believe the women’s program has been up there, probably not as good as the U.S. team, but we’ve been right up there with winning silver in the World Championships and winning bronze at Juniors, so the women’s program has always been good. The men’s is definitely developing and we’re hoping to get to the point where we can compete with the European teams like Spain and Greece and places like that, but I definitely think that basketball in Australia is developing and our junior participation is increasing.”

14. WHAT GOT YOU INTO BASKETBALL?

“I honestly can’t even explain it. I just clicked with it. I never really played when I was younger. I always played tennis because that’s always what my family did. Weirdly enough, I’d always be in the backyard kind of practicing and playing basketball with myself, just shooting around and teaching myself to shoot, which is probably why I shoot so strange now, but I always just had a little click with basketball. Then I had a very, very small opportunity to play and I kind of jumped on it straight away and it was kind of surreal how it all happened. One team turned into the state team, turned into playing at nationals, and then next minute I’m in Boston. It was a very surreal, dreamlike trip and basketball has just been an amazing sport that has really changed my life.”

15. DID YOU HAVE ANY PLAYERS OR CLUBS THAT YOU LOOKED UP TO OR IDOLIZED OR TRIED TO EMULATE?

“Probably not. I love the game of basketball, I love watching [the] NBA, I love watching college, I love watching any type of basketball and I think I’m always watching to learn as well.

Of course I loved watching the [San Antonio] Spurs play, and even now I love watching [Los Angeles] Lakers like Kobe Bryant. But I also love watching the WNBA and seeing people like [Phoenix Mercury guard] Diana Taurasi and players like that who’ve changed the women’s game as well.”

16. DO YOU HAVE ANY PRE-GAME RITUALS?

“Absolutely. I have two songs that I have to listen to. One is “Holy Grail” by Hunters & Collectors, which is an Australian pop song. I tried getting it on to the warm up in the past but I guess being a senior now I can throw it on there and no one can really complain. And then there’s a song by T.I. called “Bring ‘Em Out,” and that’s just kind of been a song I would go to listen to before a game when I was younger, so I just kind of listen to it all the time.

17. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE IN BOSTON?

“I’d have to probably say Faneuil Hall and down by that area. I love Quincy Market, the harbor down there. The food down that way is amazing. I love going down there and relaxing and kind of having a chill out session and kind of a break from BU.” 18. SO GOING OFF THE FOOD, WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?

“I actually love The Cheesecake Factory.

It’s one of my favorite places in America.

It’s so good — the bread, and the macaroni and cheese bowls and the nachos. But my favorite food has to be the Cajun chicken jambalaya.”

19. WHO IN YOUR OPINION IS THE FUNNIEST PLAYER ON THE TEAM?

“I’d probably have to say [guard] Meghan Doogan. She’s one of the freshmen this year and ever since I met her when I got back from the summer she’s just been hilarious. She’s always cracking jokes, putting things in our group message and just making funny statements.”

20. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR HOBBIES OFF THE COURT? I KNOW YOU MENTIONED PLAYING TENNIS WITH YOUR FAMILY WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO?

“I’m a pretty relaxed person. I love any sport and watching any sport. I usually try to go to as many BU games as possible.

Or I love just hanging out and watching a movie with friends or going shopping. I’m a pretty easygoing person but I defi nitely love getting involved in the community, like going to see movies and just stuff like that. [I also] love traveling and that’s something I really look forward to doing after BU as well.”

BOTTOM LI NE THURSDAY, NOV. 13

Mark Sanchez won a game in the

FRIDAY, NOV. 14

SATURDAY, NOV. 15

SUNDAY, NOV. 16

M. Hockey @ Maine, 7:30 p.m.

Field Hockey @ Syracuse, 11:30 a.m.

W. Basketball @ Northeastern, Noon

W. Soccer v. Northeastern, 2 p.m.

p.m.

M. Soccer v. Army, 4 p.m.

W. Hockey @ UConn, 3 p.m.

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

MONDAY, NOV. 17

M. Basketball v. Northeastern, 12:30

NFL again. This isn’t a joke.

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

SPORTS

11

2014-15 Patriot League Men’s Basketball Power Rankings

BY MICHAEL JOSCELYN DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

1. American University - American comes into the season as the reigning Patriot League champion after its 55-36 win over Boston University in the conference final on March 12, 2014. This year’s squad is returning many of the same faces, as eight of the nine top scorers from last year’s team remain except for Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Tony Wroblicky. A lack of experience at the center positions may put American in some tough spots, but the Eagles will have enough firepower to d claim their second-straight NCAA Tournament berth.

2. Lafayette College — After a down season last year, Lafayette looks to stake their claim at the top of the Patriot League with the return of key players. With four seniors on the roster who all play a significant role out on the court, the Leopards are poised for a breakout season behind last year’s scoring-leader in forward Seth Hinrichs. Hinrichs missed 10 games last season, yet still made Third Team All-Patriot League by averaging 16.4 points per game with a 3-point field-goal percentage of .417. With a healthy Hinrichs, the Leopards are in a prime position to make a run for the Patriot League title.

3. U.S. Military Academy — Army will return this season with the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year in junior Kyle Wilson. Wilson averaged 18.4 points per game last year, which was good for the league lead, while shooting 3-pointers at a 43.4 percent clip. Joining Wilson is fellow junior Tanner Plomb, who averaged 10.4 points per game. To reach the top of the Patriot League, this group is going to have to rely on their core of junior scorers to power them.

4. College of the Holy Cross — Holy Cross does not look to have one dominant scorer coming into this season, but rather, points by committee. The top returning scorer would be senior Malcolm Miller with 11.0 points per game. Sophomore Anthony Thompson will be looking to improve on his stellar freshman campaign in which he averaged 9.4 points per game and also led the team with 80 assists.

Holy Cross will miss top scorer Dave Dudzinski, but its wealth of extra scorers should keep them in the upper levels of the Patriot League.

5. Lehigh University — Another team that lost its top scorer, Lehigh will live on after guard Mackey McKnight as it looks to find leadership in sophomore sensation center/forward Tim Kempton. Kempton not only earned the Patriot League Rookie of the Year, but was also in the running for the Kyle Macy National Freshman of the Year Award with 13.0 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game. Kempton will have help in the form of junior forward Jesse Chuku, who had three double-doubles last season with an average of 8.7 points per game. On the backs of Kempton and Chuku, the Mountain Hawks should have a strong frontcourt that will be able to carry them to the middle of the Patriot League pack, if not beyond.

6. Bucknell University - Without the 2014 Patriot League Player of the Year in guard Cameron Ayers, Bucknell may struggle on the offensive half of the court if players do not step up the way they did toward the end of last season. It will be crucial that Third Team All-Patriot League selection guard Chris Hass continues his ascension and improves upon his 11.1 points per game last season.

7. Colgate University — With three of its top four scorers returning this season, Colgate should not be losing too much depth, but they will be without forward Murphy Burnatowski and his 14.2 points per game. After transferring from Monmouth University and sitting out a season, guard Austin Tillotson stepped up in 2013-14 by averaging 13.3 points per game and 4.4 assists per game. With multiple capable scorers, Colgate will be in contention for a Patriot League Tournament spot and could surprise some teams with its ability to score.

SEE THE REST OF THE POWER RANKINGS ON DFPR.ES/BBPOWR

Katy Steding excited for first season with Terriers W. PREVIEW, FROM PAGE 1

Last season, BU scored an average of 59.6 points per game, ranking second-to-last in the Patriot League, while the team’s .366 field goal percentage put them above just Loyola University-Maryland and Colgate University in the conference stat sheets. Much of BU’s scoring last season, however, came from players who have since graduated, so Steding will be challenged to generate scoring with this year’s less experienced personnel.

The newest additions to the 2014-15 roster include forwards Erin Bayram and Kara Sheftic, and

guards Corrine Williams and Megan Doogan.

Senior forward Mollie McKendrick — who averaged 9.1 points per game last season — and junior guard Clodagh Scannell, who started in 15 games during the 2013-14 campaign and scored 6.8 points per game, are expected to help lead the Terriers out on the court this season. Yet Steding will look to all of her players to be leaders on the floor.

“Everyone takes on the mantle of leadership in one form or another,” she said. “Some people are great role models. Some are leading from experience and by example.

Some people are great verbal motivators.”

In the first few weeks of practice, Steding said her team has been focused on fine-tuning their transition offense, post and guard interaction and improvements to their conditioning.

The Terriers’ frontcourt is rounded out by sophomore forward Meghan Green, who played 9.7 minutes and contributed 3.5 points per game as a freshman.

BU’s backcourt also includes sophomores Sarah Hope and Courtney Latham and redshirt junior

Troi Melton. Hope and Scannell appeared in all 33 games, while Melton appeared in only eight games.

Steding and her staff have the challenging but unique opportunity to redefine BU women’s hoops, however they will face competitive Patriot League and non-conference powers like Harvard University and Marist College.

The Terriers will start their season against Northeastern University Friday on the road. From there, they will then face Harvard University, Boston College and the University of Vermont before traveling to Albu-

querque, New Mexico, for the University of New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament from Nov. 28 to 29.

When asked what she hoped her team’s identity would be this year, Steding said she was confident that her team would be one defined by its competiveness.

“The thing for me is that they never give up, never quit, always play as hard as they can all the time,” she said.

“That’s all I ever really want my teams to stay focused on. If you compete as hard as you can, my staff and I are going to put you in situations to help you be successful.”

Men’s hoops focused on staying competitive in 2014-15 M. PREVIEW, FROM PAGE 1

With a less experienced roster, role players from last year should see a significant increase in minutes and in leadership responsibilities.

Jones said junior forward Justin Alston, who had a breakout 17-point performance against Lafayette College on Feb. 8, and sophomore guard Cedric Hankerson have stepped up to the challenge in the early going. Last year, Hankerson averaged 6.0 points per game in 14.6 minutes and made 41.2 percent of his field goal tries.

“Right now the three juniors have done a good job,” Jones said. “Cedric Hankerson has also done a good job of being someone that’s at least becoming more vocal. We’re going to have to lead more by committee.

Those are the guys that I’m going to point to. We have to use them.”

As has been the case for the last

two seasons, the Terriers are expected to feature a guard-heavy lineup. However, this year’s BU team will have some added height in sophomore center Blaise Mbargorba. The 6-foot-11inch transfer from Southern Methodist University, who sat out last season due to NCAA regulations, is the only true center listed on BU’s roster.

“Blaise has great length and size,” Jones said. “His greatest gift is that he really competes and plays hard. He’s a team player who wants to see the team win. He’s a defensive presence and at times it’s tough to cover him because he’s so long. He’s done a great job of getting better.”

Another transfer student, sophomore guard Eric Fanning., should also make an immediate impact on the court.

“Fanning is a great scorer,” Jones said. “He’s learning our system and what

we’re trying to do, but he’s a great scorer.”

After facing off against Northeastern University at TD Garden on Sunday, the Terriers will hit the road for a series of non-conference matchups. On Nov. 19, BU will visit Norfolk State University, who upset the Terriers 86-82 in overtime last season at Case Gym. On Nov. 21, the team will make the trek to historic Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, to meet up with NCAA runner-up University of Kentucky. The game will serve as a homecoming for Dieudonne, who played his high school basketball in at Trinity High School in nearby Louisville, Kentucky.

BU then returns to the Northeast to take on the University of New Hampshire on Nov. 25 before opening up play at home with three-straight games at Case Gym against the Univer-

sity of Massachusetts-Lowell (Nov. 30), Binghamton University (Dec. 3) and St. Peter’s University (Dec. 6).

Other key non-conference matchups include trips to crosstown rival Harvard University (Dec. 8) and the University of Dayton (Dec. 20).

The Terriers will kick off Patriot League play on Dec. 31 at the College of the Holy Cross. Jones’ squad should receive its biggest tests in conference play from preseason favorites American, which the Terriers host Jan. 21 and meet up with again Feb. 18. The U.S. Military Academy, which BU visits Jan. 29 and welcomes Feb. 25, should prove to be another challenging conference opponent.

While his team was picked to finish sixth in the Patriot League preseason poll, Jones said although some players may use preseason rankings as motivation, he does

not give them much credence.

“Right now I’m more concerned about us trying to get better and what we can teach our guys,” Jones said.

“That’s the most important thing right now. Our guys can kind of use that as motivation and I think that’s a positive thing.”

Above all, Jones said he wants this season’s team to be known for its competitive spirit and team unity.

“I want to have a team that really, really competes,” Jones said. “I want a team that we can be really proud to say represents us. It’s important that our guys understand that they’re representing a program and a university and be team that is going to go out and compete every night and play together. That’s important. Competing and playing together and playing smart — those are the main things we want to accomplish.”

POWER RANKINGS Michael Joscelyn breaks down the top teams in the Patriot League for the 2014-15 season, p. 11

Sports

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

LAST SENIOR STANDING BU women’s basketball senior Mollie McKendrick talks the upcoming season, moving to the United States and more with Joe Calabrese, p. 11

Dieudonne primed for leadership role with Terriers

PHOTO BY JUSTIN AKIVA/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Junior forward Nathan Dieudonne ranked second on the Terriers last season with 4.7 rebounds per game.

BY ALEX ROZIER DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Bearing a black eye, 6-foot-7-inch junior forward Nathan Dieudonne strolled into the athletic communications office and had a seat, ready to talk about his inherited task as a leader of the Boston University men’s basketball team.

“I just got an elbow from one of my good friends,” Dieudonne said, addressing the bruise reassuringly.

What isn’t assured — to Dieudonne or anyone else — is how this year’s fresh-faced Terrier squad will fare, or how long it will take to reclaim the Patriot League supremacy that last year’s team achieved.

The 2014-15 Terriers, though, will bear little resemblance to last year’s squad, as it works to construct a new identity. Last season’s seniors — guard D.J. Irving and forwards Dom Morris and Travis Robinson — along with transferred star guard Maurice Watson Jr., leave BU without its top three scorers from 2013-14 and are in search for new leadership.

“In terms of Travis, Dom, and D.J. and them leaving, it threw [junior guard] John [Papale], [junior forward] Justin [Alston] and me into automatic leadership roles,” Dieudonne said. “We’ve been here for a few years, and I know the coaching staff well enough.

With a lot of young guys coming up, us three had to focus on becoming more vocal leaders and doing things by example, and not just for our own minutes but so the young guys fall in line.”

Dieudonne came to Boston from Louisville, Kentucky, about an hour’s drive from preseason No. 1 University of Kentucky.

Sports consumed him from a young age, having grown up with three athletic siblings and a father who played football for the Air Force Academy.

Yet basketball didn’t become a clear part of Dieudonne’s future until after his freshman year at Trinity High School. Having been “mainly a soccer player,” as he described, he made his school’s varsity team in his fi rst year and became the starting goalkeeper. Despite his success at the position, Dieudonne’s allure toward basketball caused him to cross over from soccer fully.

With Dieudonne, the Trinity basketball team grew close and began to distinguish itself throughout the state.

“We all grew up playing together,” Dieudonne said. “Everyone knew their role was a big part of [the success], and everyone knew what to expect. It was comfortable, but it was also competitive. We were fighting each other, but it was a pushing each other to get better kind of thing.”

By the end of his senior year, Dieudonne had conquered — on both an individual and team level — high school basketball in his state. In 2012, Trinity won its fi rst state basketball championship and its captain, Dieudonne, was named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball (a title held by former NBA players such as Wes Unseld and Allan Houston) and earned a place on the All-State First Team.

“We were just really good, there’s not much to it,” Dieudonne said. “We were just better than everyone else.”

After becoming a state champion, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball headed for pursuits outside the state borders, garnering attention from schools on the East Coast such as Yale University and Lehigh University. “[The recruiting process] was tough for me,” Dieudonne said. “There were a lot of mid-majors, on the same level as BU, so it was hard to differentiate where to go or where to even visit.

“The thing is, I came up here, and I got to know some of the guys who were on the team that were in my grade like Mo, and

[BU] Coach [Joe] Jones and the other coaches were really cool about stuff. And I think that’s why I ended up coming here.”

Upon arriving in Boston, Dieudonne dealt with the twofold challenge of adjusting to BU: converting from a rural to an urban lifestyle — “I’ve probably walked more in the past three years than I have in my whole life,” he remarked — and fi nding a place on an already successful Terrier team.

“It was a really competitive community,” Dieudonne said. “There were a lot of guys that were here and knew how to win.

They won the American East their freshman year, D.J. and them. They knew how to play.

“Everything was off the bat really competitive, everyone was fighting for a position. Even pickup was tough. Practice was tough. Everything was a battle for minutes.

I was comfortable with it, but it was tough as a basketball player.”

Despite the competition, Dieudonne managed to get on the court as a freshman, averaging 4.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in 17.1 minutes per game.

As a sophomore last season, Dieudonne and the Terriers switched conferences to the Patriot League, where the team sprinted to the top of the standings and remained for the season. Dieudonne averaged 5.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game over the season, while shooting .508 from the floor.

After winning the regular season title, BU was favored to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Ultimately, the Terriers fell in the conference fi nal to American University on March 12, and had to settle for an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament.

“It was a rollercoaster ride,” Dieudonne said. “We didn’t really end the conference [schedule] like we wanted to, but once we got to the conference tournament we turned it up. We were playing really well, it was a lot of fun.

“Then the American game [in the fi nal], I don’t know, just different stuff obviously didn’t work out. I think the emotions were so high after winning the regular season championship and after winning the fi rst few games in the tournament, [the emotions] just ran out.”

Over the summer, the team traveled to Italy, primarily for basketball, but with time to enjoy the surroundings as well.

“The teams weren’t really as good as we were hoping,” Dieudonne said. “But it was good for the young guys to get confidence that we can win games, for them to play together and see how everything works. It was a lot of sightseeing and culture, and a lot of the guys, like myself, wouldn’t get the opportunity to do something like that without basketball.”

Dieudonne, along with classmates Papale and Alston, will lead the younger players into the start of the season, which will begin for BU on Sunday against Northeastern University. Another highlight on the Terriers’ schedule will be Nov. 21, when the team travels to Kentucky to play the nationally top-ranked Wildcats. For Dieudonne, the trip will serve as both a homecoming as well as a reminder of success — his last time playing at the Wildcats’ Rupp Arena, he became a high school state champion.

“I’m really excited going back there,” he said.

For now, Dieudonne is both anxious and conservative as he looks forward to the upcoming season. He said the Terriers are currently a project, but still has the chance to surprise any doubters.

“Basically, we’re a two-year team,” Dieudonne said. “We’re going to have the same group of guys for 2 years. Defi nitely to get back to the conference championship game would be my goal. That feeling was terrible, losing.”