11-20-2012

The Daily Free Press

Year xlii. Volume lxxxiii. Issue XXXXIV

D.C. BOUND? Experts analyze U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s future, page 3.

[

Tuesday, November 20, 2012 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

JUST BREATHE Study investigates health benefits of meditation, page 5.

]

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SENIOR SUCCESS

Kohanchuk to stay strong through senior year on women’s hockey, page 8.

WEATHER

Today: Partly cloudy/High 49 Tonight: Cloudy/Low 38 Tomorrow: 50/39 Data Courtesy of weather.com

BetterBU elected to SG e-board with 1,300 votes Gov. Patrick orders

in-state tuition for DACA beneficiaries

By Chris Lisinski Daily Free Press Staff

Boston University Student Government slate BetterBU won the SG e-board election Monday with votes from about 1,300, or 7 percent, of the undergraduate population, Student Elections Commission officials said.

“Given the circumstances, I’m very happy,” said President-elect Aditya Rudra, a School of Management junior. “I was very concerned we might only get 500 votes, but I’m glad things came out.”

The candidates of BetterBU, who ran unopposed, will become SG’s executive board for the spring 2013 semester.

Rudra, the current SG executive vice president, won the position of president with 1,134 votes. About 215 students voted for write-in candidates.

Lauren LaVelle, an SMG junior, won executive vice president with 1,174 votes, while 164 students voted for write-in candidates.

Justin Jones, also an SMG junior, won vice president of finance with 1,162 votes, while 159 votes went to write-ins. College of Arts and Sciences freshman Jasmine Miller won vice president of internal affairs with 1,192 votes, while 156 votes went to write-ins.

The fall 2012 race marks the second unopposed SG election. The current SG e-board won an unopposed election in April.

Each candidate in the spring 2012 winning

By Jasper Craven Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO BY SARAH FISHER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Student Election Commission members and School of Education sophomores Kerry Ford and Tess McNamara annouce the winner of the Student Government executive board elections Monday night.

slate, Be Unleashed, won about 1,300 votes, less than 10 percent of the 2011–12 undergraduate population, according to an April 25 Daily Free Press article.

School of Education sophomore and SEC co-chair Tess McNamara said she was happy

with the results given the difficult circumstances surrounding the election, particularly the confusion surrounding the election timeline.

Elections, see page 4

BUPD assists BPD in investigation of Ashton St. assaults

By Amy Gorel Daily Free Press Staff

The Boston University Police Department is assisting the Boston Police Department in identifying the suspect connected to the five assaults on female students in the Ashford Street area, police officials said.

“We have been increasing our patrols, so we have specified, defined patrols with a police officer presence in that neighborhood during the times these crimes have occurred,” said BUPD Captain Robert Molloy.

Molloy said these have been unusual crimes for the BUPD to encounter.

“I haven’t been aware of these types of assaults,” he said.

BUPD officials said they did not know about the first two assaults until Nov. 6 because they were reported to the BPD. “It was at that time we determined to

put out the alert because that added to the other ones that we had,” Molloy said. “At that time, we saw that this activity was continuing.”

The first three incidents of a male suspect taking pictures under a female victim’s skirt occurred on Sept. 23 and Oct. 21 and were reported to BUPD. However, the incidents on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 and were only reported to Boston Police, Molloy said.

Once the Oct. 27 incident was reported to BUPD on Nov. 6, Molloy said BUPD saw the need to put out a community alert.

BUPD put out the alert on Wednesday night to warn students about these incidents and remind them of safety tips, including walking with friends at night and being aware of their surroundings.

“It depends on how the incidents happened and the circumstances around them,” Molloy said. “When we found out that Bos-

ton Police had reports of other incidents in October, and we did not know that until the Nov. 6 report.”

Over the past six weeks, five female students have been assaulted in the area of Ashford Street in Brighton between the hours of 12 a.m. and 2 a.m., according to the BPD’s blog. In every incident, the male suspect comes from behind, pushes a female victim to the ground and takes a picture under her skirt using his iPhone.

All of the victims have been BU students, as far as BUPD is aware, Molloy said.

The victims describe the suspect as a white or light-skinned Hispanic male between the ages of 19 and 30. He has a thin or average build and wears dark clothing, but none of the victims could describe his facial features more closely, Molloy said.

BPD officers suggested that people be

Assaults, see page 2

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick granted Massachusetts’s undocumented immigrants instate tuition on Monday, marking a victory for a generation of young immigrants hoping to attend college.

Following an executive order from President Barack Obama in June, the Department of Homeland Security loosened federal immigration policy regarding deportation of young immigrants that meet certain criteria, known as Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals.

Patrick requested in-state tuition for such DACA beneficiaries on Monday in a letter to Richard Freeland, commissioner of the Department of Higher Education.

“I am directing you to advise the various public higher education campuses to take action accordingly so that this policy can be implemented immediately and uniformly across our 29 state campuses,” Patrick said in the letter.

Patrick’s decision will allow all DACA beneficiaries to take advantage of in-state tuition.

Undocumented immigrants were allowed to go to public university before Patrick’s announcement, but did not receive the discounted price others enjoyed, according to a press release from the Governor’s office.

“As I see it, this is a matter of basic fairness and economic competitiveness,” Patrick said in his letter. “Indeed, our Commonwealth is stronger when we embrace the talent, ideas and work ethic of all immigrants.”

Young immigrants in Massachusetts heralded Patrick’s decision as one that would invigorate the state with more educated, able-bodied members of the community.

“Being able to get in-state will change my life forever,” said Daniel Bravo, a Student Immigrant Movement and DACAeligible student in a Monday press release from SIM. “I will be able to go to any school I want and achieve my dream of becoming an evolutionary anthropologist.”

Tuition, see page 4

Elie Wiesel tackles open-heart surgery, existential questions in lecture

By Rachel Riley Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO BY HEATHER GOLDIN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Renowned author and Boston University professor Elie Wiesel greets the audience prior to his lecture, “In Contemporary Writings: Open Heart,” held in the Metcalf Hall Monday night.

At his third and final lecture of the year, Boston University professor Elie Wiesel focused on questions of worth he faced after his recent experience with open-heart surgery.

“Tonight, they will tell of a dangerous and painful period from my recent past,” he said. “When I say they, I mean my words.”

Wiesel read and analyzed passages from two of his most recent books, “Open Heart” and “Hostage,” to hundreds of students and locals during his lecture “Contemporary Writings: Open Heart” in Metcalf Hall Monday night.

The lecture had been scheduled for Oct. 29, but was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy.

Rabbi Joseph Polak, director of the Florence & Chafetz Hillel House at BU, introduced Wiesel by describing situations in which one might question life’s worth.

“A person being wheeled into the operating room in a life-death situation, it seems to me, will be facing this question as

well,” Polak said.

After learning he had five blocked arteries, Wiesel was rushed to the hospital for open-heart surgery in 2011. In the days following the successful surgery, Wiesel remained in the hospital recuperating and contemplating. He asked questions about the tragedies of his past, his medically weak state and what role God played.

“We cannot conceive of God with or without,” Wiesel said. “We cannot think of those places if God is not involved somehow. Where were you, and why were you silent and different?”

Wiesel also unpacked the plot of “Hostage” in his lecture. In the book, an Arab and Italian take hostage Shaltiel Feigenberg, a Jewish storyteller, in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During his imprisonment, the character of Feigenberg writes of his experiences with the Holocaust.

“Although we do not live in the past, the past lives in us,” Wiesel said. “And that, friends, is the theme of the novel called

Elie, see page 4

2

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Ashford Street crime suspect described as Hispanic male in dark clothing, police say Assaults: From Page 1

aware of their surroundings and alert for anything suspicious.

“Don’t assume it can’t happen to you, crime can happen to anyone at any time,” according to the police blog.

Pedestrians are advised to walk

with confidence, carry a whistle or car keys to use if threatened and call ahead to their destination with their estimated time of arrival.

If an unarmed attacker confronts someone, police suggest that the victim try to scare, distract or incapacitate the attacker enough to escape. The victim

should yell words such as “help” to make passersby aware of the situation, according to the blog.

“The most important thing is for people to look out for each other,” said Maureen Mahoney, director of the Sexual Assault Response & Prevention Center.

“Bystanders becoming involved is

important whether it’s in looking out for each other or being aware of what friends and acquaintances are doing.”

Mahoney said the suspect must have friends, acquaintances or roommates who are aware this is going on and it is their responsibility to report it.

“It would be good if they could be active and prevent it,” she said.

SARP has a staff of Crisis Intervention Counselors available to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, Mahoney said.

Chris Lisinski contributed to the reporting of this article.

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The Daily Free Press Crossword

By Tribune Media Services Across 1 Bank statement no.

5 The Miners of Conf.

USA 9 One way to attend a party 13 Lincoln feature 15 __ City: Baghdad suburb 16 Cook book 17 Suggestion to singer Lennox after a garlicky meal?

20 Half of the Brady bunch, to Carol 21 Clothes line?

22 Samuel Johnson portraitist John __ 23 Traitors 24 Jamaican group winding down after a gig?

28 “Yours truly calling” 29 Downed 30 “Ditto” 34 Warmup toss 35 City in Thessaly 39 “Oedipus __” 40 Sylvester’s problem 42 Hägar creator Browne 43 Roman moon goddess 45 Moocher at McDonald’s?

49 Acid neutralizers

52 Outer area of an escutcheon 53 Afternoon service 54 Fragments 58 Feared words from an accountant?

60 Frankfurt’s river 61 Canceled 62 Emcee’s job 63 Nos. divided by dashes 64 He played Obi-Wan 65 Strong taste Down 1 “__ le roi!”: French Revolution cry 2 Tiny amount 3 Mr. Peanut prop 4 Surveyors’ tools 5 Online newsgroup system 6 Does lacework 7 Eponymous ice cream maker 8 Gets by special means 9 Roller coaster sounds 10 Senate apparel 11 Tickle pink 12 Fun partner 14 Pillage 18 “__ Out of My Head”: 1964 hit 19 Language heard in Karachi 23 Flies, in a way 24 Law in the works 25 Paris possessive 26 Writing points

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Sudoku

27 17-syllable poem 31 Libyan, probably 32 You might get one right after being seated 33 Checkup 36 Ticket order?

37 Barbecue order 38 Long Island university 41 Sci-fi weapons 44 Words of atonement

46 Baldwin of “30 Rock” 47 Recent Zippo acquisition 48 Gumption 49 Oldest musketeer 50 It’s on the Aire 51 Carpenter with a soothing voice 54 Nintendo rival 55 This, in Tijuana 56 Make a right, say

57 Industrial pollutant 59 Cut

Solution is on Page 4

Sudoku-Puzzles.net

Difficulty: Medium

Solution is on Page 4

Campus & City Campus Crime Logs Fare Boost

By Robin Ngai Daily Free Press Staff

The following reports were taken from the Boston University Police Department crime logs from Nov. 12 to Nov. 18.

A female BU student reported on Nov. 12 at 8 p.m. that she was pickpocketed while riding the T. She reported her wallet was taken from her bag while on the Green Line. This is the second incident of BU students being pickpocketed on the Green Line in the past two weeks. No suspects have yet been arrested.

Grassy knoll heist On Nov. 12 at about 9 p.m., a BU student reported his laptop and wallet were stolen at 775 Commonwealth Ave. The student left his backpack in the George Sherman Union food court and when he came back to retrieve it, the items were gone. He reported his debit card was later charged on John F. Kennedy Street in Cambridge.

‘Vision quest At 808 Comm. Ave., a flatscreen television was stolen from an art exhibit between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday. A BU employee discovered the television missing and reported the theft the same day.

Free swim At 11:15 pm on Tuesday, a staff member at 285 Babcock St. called BUPD to report an unwanted older male found using the pool Tuesday.

This was his second time found using the pool at the Case Physical Education Center and he was been warned to stay away from the building. Police report if he is reported again, they will be forced to arrest him.

Lovers’ quarrel At about midnight on Sunday, a BUPD officer observed a male student striking a female student multiple times on Ashford Street.

While the two were arguing, the male chased her down the street and struck her again, causing officers to intervene. When officers learned the two people were a couple, they placed the boyfriend under arrest. The girlfriend refused to accept medical treatment. The male was eventually bailed out of jail and will be removed from his BU residence.

Tag it On Sunday at 4:45 a.m., an unknown person activated a fire extinguisher and vandalized the doors and entrances at 750 Comm. Ave. Police report the doors to the building were left unlocked, which allowed the person to enter and commit vandalism.

Sniper, no sniping A female BU employee reported being struck by a paintball fired at 512 Beacon St. on Sunday at 7 p.m. The paintball was fired from a building housing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology fraternity.

She suffered a minor injury but refused medical treatment. BUPD notified MIT police of the incident and no charges have been brought against the fraternity.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

3

Obstacles hurt Sen. Kerry’s chance at Cabinet MBTA one of several transit systems in debt

By Zoe Roos Daily Free Press Staff

While U.S. Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts, lands on a list of people the political world has eyed for Cabinet positions, competition and a lack of experience might decrease Kerry’s chances of landing certain spots in the president’s Cabinet.

Kerry is speculated as a promising candidate for the secretary of state position, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will vacate at the end of the term.

Kerry, a Vietnam War veteran and the 2004 Democratic Presidential nominee, has been thrown into the ring as a possible candidate for Leon Panetta’s secretary of defense position, as well as secretary of state.

Aaron David Miller, vice president of the Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C. and a former U.S. Middle East negotiator, has extensive experience working closely with various secretaries of state.

He said Kerry’s possibility of obtaining the position could be diminished by Susan Rice, United Nations ambassador for the U.S. “The odds that he will be the secretary of state are not great,” he said.

“Susan Rice is the leading candidate if she can get confirmed, and I suspect that the president —having gone

By Alex Diantgikis Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO BY ABIGAIL LIN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

U.S Sen. John Kerry, pictured, and U.N Ambassador Susan Rice are two of the candidates speculated to fill the position of Secretary of State after Hillary Clinton annouced she will step down.

out on a limb and [having] basically told the entire world that he is not going to be pushed around by John McCain — will choose her.”

But recent conflicts in Libya, including the death of Libyan ambassador Christopher Stevens, poses a challenge for Rice, who was attacked politically for mischaracterizing the attack that led to his death.

Boston University professor Thomas Whalen said Rice’s political situation would improve Kerry’s chances.

“She has a big political target painted on her right now,” Whalen, who teaches social sciences, said.

“Kerry has spent so many years up front and he knows both sides of the aisle. It would be a much easier confirmation process.”

Miller said there is a laundry list of qualities necessary to make a good secretary of state.

“You have to be tough and at times pretty devious, and finally you

Kerry, see page4

Green buildings promote well-being, admissions

By Abraham Kalaoun Daily Free Press Staff

Although a recent study by McGraw-Hill suggests the education sector continues to invest in green projects and renovations for reasons other than financial or energy-savings benefits, Boston University officials said they had been aware of the alternate benefits previously.

“Well-being and health are important factors in the education of students,” said Lisa Tornatore, Sustainability@BU outreach coordinator.

“We’re finding each year, more students tell us they come here because of our sustainability projects. It’s not a huge number, but it is growing year to year.”

Both K–12 schools and universities continue to invest in green projects, with more than 75 percent of respondents citing health and well-being of students as being as important as costs savings generated by going green, according to the McGraw-Hill press release Wednesday.

Seventy percent of participants showed green construction results

in improved test scores in K–12 students, according to the release.

For institutions of higher learning, benefits such as increased enrollment were recorded by 39 percent of participants and improved reputation were reported by 65 percent of respondents.

Tornatore said Sustainability@ BU is committed to improving indoor air quality throughout the BU campus.

“At the Center for Student Services, for example, we are employing green cleaning products 100 percent of the time,” she said. “That speaks directly to the positive impact on student health and productivity as well, since that is the newest green building on campus.”

Tornatore said the findings of this study suggest the education sector will always lead the way when it comes to environmentally friendly projects.

“With most construction projects, the main reason for green building is increased energy savings and reducing [the] environmental footprint,”

she said. “Increasingly, this study shows the quality of life for residents and occupants of a building is becoming a more important factor.”

While an official report based on the findings of this study will not be released until the beginning of 2013, there are some important takeaways from the results, said Michele Russo, director of green content and research communication at McGraw-Hill.

“There’s awareness in some capacity about going green,” she said.

“It’s something on the minds of leaders, administrators and facilities’ staff. But what came out of this study was that improved health due to improved indoor air quality was just as important as energy savings.”

Russo said principals, administrators, facilities people as well as architects, design firms and contractors were all interviewed for the study.

“We always like to see what’s going on in different markets and segments, and the last time we looked at education, we looked very narrowly,” she said. “We hadn’t looked at

Green, see page4

Although the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has the highest debt burden of any U.S. transit agency, transportation systems across the nation still suffer from debt that officials called unavoidable.

The MBTA has an overall debt of $5.2 billion, which rises to $8.3 billion with interest payments, the highest debt burden in the U.S., said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo in an email.

“No transit system in the world turns a profit,” Pesaturo said. “Every transit system is subsidized, in one way or another, with public funding.”

A significant portion of the debt originated from public transportation projects the state committed to build as part of the Big Dig, Pesaturo said.

The rest came from other capital projects and maintenance.

Pesaturo said debt service expenses for the MBTA have grown from $306.8 million in 2000 to $448.2 million in 2012.

“Approximately 30 cents of every dollar in revenue goes to pay principal and interest costs,” he said.

While Pesaturo said the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation are working on a proposal for a long-term transportation finance plan, the debt problem is not unique to the MBTA. “The economic downturn exacerbated the T’s financial situation and limited its means for relief,” Pesaturo said. “In this the T is not alone.

The largest U.S. transit agencies are experiencing financial challenges, and the majority have raised fares since 2007.”

Aaron Donovan, media liaison of New York’s Metropolitan Transport Authority, said the MTA’s current outstanding debt is $32 billion.

“Our debt is manageable,” Donovan said. “Our debt service is currently projected to rise in the coming years, stabilize and then gradually decline.”

He said the MTA spends about $2.3 billion per year servicing that debt. This equates to about 18 percent of the annual operating budget, which is $13 billion a year.

Although these figures are much larger than that of the MBTA, the

Transit, see page4

Immigrants await Obama’s reforms REMEMBERING LIVES LOST Although a number of supportBy Shannon Nargi Daily Free Press Staff

ers were relieved when Obama anMembers of Massachusetts im- nounced his plan to halt the depormigrant groups await President tation of younger undocumented Barack Obama’s immigration re- immigrants in June, the president form, a topic a number of officials has come under increased criticism considered overdue. for a lack of immigration reform.

While the DREAM Act marked Just one week after his reelecone of Obama’s most important tion, Obama spoke about the necessteps toward reform, it most recently sity to implement new immigration failed to pass through the Senate in policy.

2010.

In his first press conference since Congress has continually debat- reelection on Nov. 14, Obama said ed, updated and revised versions of “we need to seize the moment” for the act that would have granted citi- immigration reform, announcing zenship to illegal immigrants who that he would introduce a bill shortly meet certain standards. after his inauguration.

Individuals who qualify for citiSandra Yu, Youth Effect leader zenship through the act must have for the Southeast Asian Coalition of entered the country under the age of Central Massachusetts, said it is still 16, lived in the U.S. for five continu- necessary to be skeptical of any reous years and graduated from a U.S. form, given the previous actions of high school, along with other crite- the Obama administration. ria, according to a document on SEE FULL STORY ONLINE the White House website.

NORA PHILBIN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

College of Arts and Sciences senior KC Mackey protests the attacks on Gaza with Students for Justice in Palestine on Marsh Plaza Monday afternoon as names and ages of those who have died are read

4

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

BU prof. skeptical of Kerry’s potential as possible secretary of state if chosen Kerry: From Page 3

need to have what I call the negotiator’s mindset,” he said. “You need to understand how things fit together and you can teach that. That is something intuitive — it is acquired by the way you look at the world and how you figure out relationships with people and how you get people to do things for you.”

If Kerry is not pulled to become the next secretary of state, he still remains a consideration for secretary of defense. But Whalen said he was

skeptical of Kerry’s ability to become an effective secretary of defense.

“It would not be such a great idea considering his background or lack thereof,” he said. “Just with administrating large organizations, he doesn’t have that kind of experience — a better fit, I think, for state department.”

Jodi Seth, a spokeswoman for Kerry, had no comment on which position Kerry could possibly obtain, instead emphasizing Kerry’s enthusiasm for his current position.

“The speculation season is a gi-

normous waste of time,” she said.

“Senator Kerry’s only focus is his job as senior senator from Massachusetts and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and that is not changing.”

Regardless of position, if Kerry lands a Cabinet position, his seat in the Senate will be vacated, leaving Massachusetts in need of a new senator. Massachusetts would again hold a special election similar to the one held two years ago that elected U.S. Sen. Scott Brown.

Miller said a special election would see Brown running again, and the odds of an election shifting the current balance in the Senate are slim.

“Since the Democrats picked up a few more seats, it wouldn’t make that much difference,” he said. “And Scott Brown’s defeat would add to it.”

Whalen said Massachusetts would likely remain completely blue within the Senate.

“The Republicans don’t have a

very deep bench here,” he said. “Everything would come down to what Scott Brown’s intentions are, but still, it is a Democratic state. If they get the vote out as was the case a few weeks ago, I think that Democrats should be reasonably confident.”

Whalen also said there were a few other possible candidates for the seat, including Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley.

“She might want to throw her hat in the ring here to make a comeback,” he said.

SE Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has BetterBU for freezing tuition $547M of debt, relatively low, spokesman says increases, holiday bus service Transit: From Page 3

debt burden is not as heavy.

“The MTA is a larger organization than the MBTA, with higher expenses and debt, but also higher revenues and state support,” Donovan said.

He said as a whole, the MTA carries about 8.5 million riders a day.

Comparatively, the MBTA services an average of 1.3 million riders every weekday, according to its website.

Donovan said debt has been used as an instrument to finance previous and current capital rebuilding efforts and to rehabilitate the infrastructure that the MTA maintains. This includes tracks, signals, switches, stations and maintenance facilities.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has an overall debt of $547 million with an annual debt payment of $51 million, said SEPTA Press Officer Andrew Busch. The system is expected to pay that amount for the next several

years.

“That is, by pretty much all standards, considered to be a relatively low debt ratio, not only for SEPTA, but by standards of the transit industry and just government entities as a whole,” Busch said. “We are very comfortable with our debt ratio.”

SEPTA has an average weekday ridership across all rail systems of 830 million riders, according to its website.

Busch said SEPTA takes on debt for various improvements, but rarely so.

“When we take out it’s generally for new vehicle purchases, new trains or vehicles. There may be occasionally an improvement project that we might take some debt on, if that’s the best way to finance it,” Busch said. “We are very conservative in terms of our finances in general and [in] keeping that debt number low.”

He said revenues are built through fares, which make up about 40 percent of the budget. The rest

comes through government subsidies.

While the MBTA faces constant criticism for its lingering debt, Busch said it is a challenge for transit agencies to keep budgets balanced.

“It is pretty much standard around the transit industry that you’re operating at a significant deficit,” Busch said.

He said it is not possible to generate enough profit through passenger fare revenue alone to keep the transit system running.

“It would get to a point where the fares wouldn’t be affordable for most riders,” Busch said. “So that’s a challenge that everybody who’s operating transit around the country faces.”

Busch said under these operating circumstances, it is be unlikely that transit systems would operate for profit.

“You have to keep fares affordable for those people and provide a massive amount of service,” Busch said.

SIM member, Colombian immigrant says Gov. Patrick’s decision came as long-awaited surprise Tuition: From Page 1

David Torres, an immigrant from Colombia and member of the Boston University chapter of SIM, said this decision came as a surprise after much lobbying to both the governor and the legislature to address the issue of tuition for undocumented immigrants.

“It came as a surprise in that we’ve been asking for this for a very long time now,” Torres, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said. “We are very thankful and happy this came through.”

Torres said a small percentage of the Massachusetts community will be able take advantage of this new policy, but it will still provide much-needed help to undocumented immigrants.

“Before this tuition victory you could have very well been paying between $30,000 and $35,000 instead of $20,000 at UMass Boston,” Torres said. “That’s a ridiculous amount of money that no one has.”

The University of Massachusetts Amherst website states that out-of-state tuition and room and board cost is about $12,000 more than in-state tuition.

But Patrick’s decision spurred some dissent in the State House.

House Minority Leader Bradley Jones of North Reading issued a statement on Monday condemning Patrick’s use of executive action and demanding an end to in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.

“Governor Patrick’s most re-

cent attempt to usurp the power of the Legislature is cause for concern,” Jones said. “Instead of engaging elected officials from both political parties in constructive conversation and debate, he has put his interests, both politically and personally, above those of Massachusetts’ residents.”

Still, Torres said this would help everyone in the Commonwealth.

“It’s a great opportunity for immigrants to go out and become something,” he said. “The state invests all this money in them, and now they can actually do something with that money that they received and apply themselves. You never know what they can become.”

SAR student: ‘We need voices like his to reach out’ Elie: From Page 1

‘Hostage.’”

Wiesel said this story is also driven by profound questions of humanity.

“The intellectual question driving from the situation is timeless,” he said. “Who are we? Are we meant to be God’s prisoners or victims on Earth?”

Wiesel reflected on his accomplishments as an author and asking whether or not words are capable of making a difference.

How could they, he asked, if the horrific events of the Holocaust had not wiped away racism?

“If there is an answer, you young students and your parents and your older friends, the answer

is yours,” Wiesel said at the end of the lecture. “And I accept it with deep gratitude.”

Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior Alvin Matthew said he became more acquainted with Wiesel by attending the lecture.

“It just really reaffirms the point that the world that we live in is a dark place and we need voices like his to reach out,” Matthew said.

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Felicia Estrada said that, being Catholic, this lecture was more relevant to her than the other two lectures, which focused on Judaic teachings.

“It really connected to other students compared to the other

lectures [this year],” Estrada said.

“Since I’m of a different religion, it was harder to understand the lectures, but this one, it really connected.”

College of Engineering freshman Isaac Metta said Wiesel’s lecture was insightful.

“I completely loved it,” Metta said. “It was fantastic. He’s so wise. Everything he says — it’s truly a pleasure to hear him.”

CAS freshman Molly Skoff also praised Wiesel’s ability to portray tragic situations in a positive light.

“He’s very good at communicating with his audience how he felt,” Skoff said. “He makes me hopeful that the future will be brighter.”

Election: From Page 1

“In the end, it went well, and we did a good job overcoming those obstacles as they came,” she said. “It definitely has prepared us a lot for the next semester, so next semester, now that we have the election process completely confirmed, it’s going to go a lot more smoothly, especially because we’ll have a lot more time to plan.”

BetterBU will serve a special single term from January to May after SG voted in October to hold a special election. In May of 2013, the election cycle will revert to an academic-year term where e-board members serve from May to May. BetterBU ran on a platform of halting tuition hikes, establishing a holiday bus system, increasing safety and increasing communication between SG and other organizations on campus.

“We want to put an extra focus on off-campus safety in any way possible, highlight some things that make BU students feel unsafe and see what ways we can address them with alternative strategies,” he said.

Rudra said that while he thinks elections should have competition he does not believe the unopposed

victory will detract from interactions with the administration at all.

“We’re having another election again next semester,” he said. “It matters a lot more to me that the election at the end of next semester is contested than this election was contested. Our focus was on making sure we’re ready and we campaigned hard, and I don’t think we would have gotten the votes we did if we hadn’t.”

Rudra said the e-board will need to work vigorously from the start of next semester.

“We don’t have a whole summer to figure out what’s going on, so I had to meet with all the cabinet and say, ‘Hey, are you going to continue to serve next semester? Do our goals match up with yours?’” he said.

He said the senators will all remain the same and he hopes the cabinet will remain the same as well.

Rudra said his administration hopes to increase the role and prestige of SG on campus.

“That’s going to happen two ways — one, fixing the election system, second, by making a difference on campus,” he said. “We need to make things happen so we earn the respect of our peers rather than just demand it.”

Official environmental report made available in ‘13, rep. says Green: From Page 3

schools since 2007. The green building market has changed dramatically since then.”

Overall, Russo said the education sector represented a small percentage of green construction in 2008. However, in 2011, 54 percent of schools surveyed had invested in green construction.

“There’s also a pressure from the next generation of young people that’s motivating that awareness,” she said. “And higher education is coming in from a competitive standpoint whereas in public schools, competition is not a factor. In any private sector, competition plays a huge role.”

Amit Persaud, president of the

U.S. Green Building Council at BU, said student well being and green projects are linked together.

“The health of a building reflects on the habits of its occupants,” he said. “You see that at BU with the new dining hall.”

Persaud, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said the findings of the study could be utilized in future green projects to convince students of the need for more green projects at BU. “Using sustainability as a selling point through enhanced health is a great idea aside from energy conservation, which is sometimes hard to appreciate unless someone is already interested in it,” he said. “But health is something we all see eye to eye on.”

Today’s crossword solution brought to you by...

It’s Thanksgiving!

5

Relaxing Paths to Good Health Study shows meditation training might have long-term benefits

B

By Jessica Carichner Features Staff

oston researchers might have new insight into the ways in which meditation helps one’s health in the long term due to magnetic resonance imaging technology. A recent study performed at Boston University and the Martinos Center at Massachusetts General Hospital indicates that meditation triggers long-term changes in emotional reactivity.

The study, which was published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in November, ranked in the top one-third percent of 20,000 projects submitted to the National Institute of Health to be funded as part of the American Recovery Reinvestment Act, passed by President Barack Obama to jumpstart the economy, said Boston University professor Eric Schwartz, one of the researchers of the study.

The Research The research in Boston was in collaboration with a project conducted at Emory University by colleagues Dr. Charles Raison and Geshe Lobsang Negi, Schwartz said.

The researchers at Emory had been focusing on the comparison between different types of meditation and the inflammatory and immunological responses they prompted.

The Emory project included three groups of participants. The first group learned Mindfulness Attention Training, which involves focusing one’s attention to “cultivate a dis-attachment with the content of mentally and bodily state, maintaining a focused attention on the process of awareness,” Schwartz said.

A second group learned Cognitive Based Compassion Training, Schwartz said, which included mindfulness training as a foundation, but emphasized the development of compassion and empathy.

A third control group was trained in various aspects of a healthy lifestyle, which included exercise and relaxation, but no meditation.

The eight-week study had these subjects train for two hours a day and practice meditation for 20 minutes a day.

They received PDAs to record progress.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers obtained a 3-D image of brain responses to the mental state of the subject. Schwartz said fMRI is active, just like looking at one’s metabolism or blood flow.

“Since neural activity modulates blood flow very finely, neurons that are active in the brain cause an immediate increase in metabolic activity and blood flow and we can detect that with a scanner,” Schwartz said.

In the scanner, subjects looked at a standard set of images and labeled them positive, negative or neutral depending on their emotional effect.

“We wanted people to just watch emotional images as they normally would, without attempting to manipulate their mind state,” Gaëlle Desbordes, a researcher of the study at Massachusetts General Hospital, said.

A Unique Study This study was the first of its kind, due in part to the type of participants involved, Schwartz said. The majority of meditation studies focus on trained meditators and often record data after years, or maybe decades, of training participants.

The research that Schwartz and Desbordes conducted, however, included beginners who attended training courses for a period of only eight weeks.

This unique aspect of the study is the key to its significance, Schwartz said.

“Our study was using naïve subjects who had no prior meditation experience, so we were able to get brain-imaging data from subjects before they were trained and after the training.”

With a clear before-and-after picture, the researchers were able to visualize the effects of meditation on the brain directly.

Findings The fMRI scanner recorded changes in the amygdala, an area of the brain previous studies have linked to emotional responses, the researchers said.

The MAT subjects showed a decrease in the activation of the right amygdala in response to the images. This reduction correlates with a decline in emotional activity after meditation, the researchers said.

Photo Courtesy of Bernie McDaid

Researcher Gaelle Desbordes adjusts the mirror a subject in the study will use to watch a television monitor while Eric Schwartz watches.

“Reduced emotional activity is consistent with the overarching hypothesis that mindful meditation practice reduces perceived stress and improves emotional stability,” Desbordes said.

The study also suggested that the CBCT subjects had decreased depression symptoms after performing meditation.

“This amygdala increase was correlated with a decrease in depression scores, suggesting that becoming more sensitive to other people’s suffering, through this practice of cultivating compassion, is actually beneficial for oneself,” Desbordes said.

Schwartz said there was a correlation between subjects who practiced meditation more and a stronger emotional reaction.

“What is surprising is that in relatively naïve subjects with relatively little training, a long-term longitudinal change in their emotional reactivity can be seen,” Schwartz said.

Colleague Dr. Charles Raison, Schwartz said, in his previous research, found that compassion meditation also seems to reduce inflammatory markers in the blood.

“This is a clinically important finding because inflammatory processes are a common source of damage to the body, associated with a wide variety of disease processes,” Schwartz said.

In further explanation, Schwartz added that meditation could a low-cost intervention and may impact the course of inflammatory-based diseases, including arthritis, lupus, diabetes and possibly the aging process itself.

Responses A number of students said they are interested in meditation and its potential health benefits.

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Elise Marrinan said she did meditation with her mother at 13 years old, but did not experience any effects because she was distracted at that age.

“It has the possibility to work if you’re able to stop giving in to outside things,” she said. “You really have to be committed to clearing your mind and focusing on the meditation.”

Marrinan said she wants to have an outlet, such as meditation, to help her focus more.

“Being able to truly meditate is a skill I wish I had,” she said.

Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences senior Sami Hamdan enrolled in the BU Fitness and Recreation Center’s course “Zen Meditation” for the spring 2013

semester and said he is looking forward to the benefits of meditation.

“Meditation has helped people for thousands of years,” he said. “I’m really excited to try meditation and see how it works for myself.”

“Eastern philosophy has been successful for improving concentration and affecting peoples’ minds for a very long time,” Hamdan said. “It only stands to reason that there is a physical basis for these results.”

Students differed in their reactions to the notion that the results of meditation are long-lasting.

Lydia Souroufis, a CAS senior, was unaware that meditation could have long-term effects.

“That’s very shocking,” she said. “Three weeks is [not] a long time. From my perspective, it was more of a shortterm thing.”

Mena Tookhi, a junior in CAS, said she had past meditation experience and was not too surprised by the results of the study.

“I’ve done meditation,” she said. “I enjoy it and it keeps me very relaxed.”

A neuroscience major, Tookhi said she was familiar with the amygdala and its function.

“The amygdala is a region in the brain that is associated with fear in particular and emotions in general,” she said.

Tookhi said the results of the study make sense, as meditation should decrease anxiety and fear, which could be associated with healthy benefits.

The Future Schwartz is collaborating with Lama Willa Miller, the founding teacher of natural dharma and an outstanding expert in Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Unlike mindfulness meditation and compassion meditation, this type has had virtually no study.

Researchers are looking at somatic yoga, a third type of meditation that focuses on internal, central body states. It is a follow-up experiment to the eight-week one.

Schwartz also has hopes that meditation will follow the path that yoga has taken.

“In the ‘60s, when I started yoga, there were virtually no studios,” he said. “Yoga overcame its counterculture of strangeness. People realized it’s a route to a better state of health.”

Today, 15 million to 20 million people practice yoga.

There are people, Schwartz said, who think that meditation is on the same exponential curve, but in its beginnings.

6T

uesday,

Novemeber 20, 2012

Opinion

The Daily Free Press

The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University 42nd year F Volume 84 F Issue 44

Steph Solis, Editor-in-Chief Sydney L. Shea, Managing Editor Lauren Dezenski, Online Editor Emily Overholt, Campus Editor

Amelia Pak-Harvey, City Editor

Kevin Dillon, Sports Editor

Meaghan Kilroy, Opinion Page Editor

Divya Shankar, Features Editor

Abigail Lin, Photo Editor

Clinton Nguyen, Layout Editor

Cheryl Seah, Advertising Manager

Shakti Rovner, Office Manager The Daily Free Press (ISSN 1094-7337) is published Monday through Thursday during the academic year except during vacation and exam periods by Back Bay Publishing Co.,Inc., a nonprofit corporation operated by Boston University students. No content can be reproduced without the permission of Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright © 2010 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Black Friday off to an early start From the advance, online deals to the Thursday night store openings, it seems like Black Friday is getting off to an early start. Some retailers, such as Walmart, Sears and Toys ‘R’ Us will be opening their doors at 8 p.m. on Thursday. Online deals began even earlier. On Monday, Best Buy offered “Black Friday” specials to its Reward Zone customers.

And for the retailers who refuse to open their doors before Friday, they still promote deals well before the actual day. As early as October, some retailers “leaked” their Black Friday promotions.

A 2012 National Retail Federation report states that every year about 40 percent of consumers start holiday shopping before Halloween. While retailers do not begin holiday advertising until at least October or November, a number of retailers are putting holiday merchandise on the shelves as early as September to cater to consumers’ spending trends, according to the NRF. Nonetheless, it seems unnecessary to remind consumers of those promotions several weeks before they actually take place.

The barrage of emails and in-store signage remind consumers that Black Friday is ap-

proaching, but unless those deals are currently taking place, it is unlikely people will rush out to the stores to buy, buy, buy.

Over the years, financial experts have called the economic benefits of Black Friday into question, arguing that the shortterm surge in sales provide small economic relief. While some major retailers in 2011 reported many sales on the day of, their numbers throughout the rest of the season were mediocre at best, according to an article in The Washington Post in December 2011.

While Black Friday might provide some small assistance to the economy, the early advertisements seem unnecessary. Consumers do not have to be reminded that Black Friday is approaching. We seem to be at the point where Black Friday is so universally recognized that these reminders are not needed. Not only are they not needed, but they are also annoying.

Looking forward, it will be interesting to see whether Black Friday’s early start will translate into increased sales. With the incentive to shop sooner, will people spend more? Really, only time will tell.

Letter to the editor: On Gaza To the Editor: Israel has launched more than 1,700 strikes on the Gaza strip, an area and population roughly equivalent to the greater Boston area (including Cambridge, Newton and various other local towns).

Think about how you would feel if 1,700 strikes were launched in this area in six days and over 100 Bostonians were killed and nearly 1,000 wounded with 860 houses destroyed. Smoke and fire are seen all over the city, and the whizzing of drones and F16s is a constant sound to accompany the moans of the wounded and laments of devastated families.

Add to that the fact that you cannot leave the area, the Internet has been shut down by Israel (so you probably cannot even read what I am writing) and the water-treatment facility is barely working.

Meanwhile, 60 percent of the population or more is unemployed, an incredible amount of your neighbors are experiencing traumatic triggers of PTSD from the last major assault, power is pretty much non-existent as the power plant in operation has power blackouts ... food and medicine is only being let in in small amounts and this will continue for a prolonged time with the threat of a widening barrage and ground troops ... including tanks in our streets.

Think about this, and now imagine that it is actually far worse. That is Gaza.

Many of the people in Gaza are refugees two times: first from the mass expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 and also again in 1967. They are living in one of the most

densely populated areas in the world, and despite the fact that they had forced out illegal settlers living there in 2005, still have to make due with Israeli-controlled airspace and borders, having to either buy Israeli goods (those that are allowed in) or have to buy tunneled goods at enormous prices. A majority of the strip is under the age of 18 and has known nothing but the siege, much less the occupation.

Now think about what you would actually do about it if you were living there, lacking internet and telephone lines (which have been shut down by the Israeli government) and seeing that the main media building was bombed ... What do you do? You cannot leave, and you can be killed in your house or in the streets if you do decide to venture out. You cannot go out and protest, because it won’t be seen by anyone (and if you venture too close to the border you can be shot and killed by an Israeli sniper). A recent example is the Palestinian 12-year-old who was shot and killed on the border and was the catalyst for the most recent situation.

Palestinians are humans just like Israelis are. They don’t deserve to be occupied, besieged and destroyed in a nationalist bid of expanding land for a state, which has prejudicial ethnic views of citizenship. Israel’s bombs are bought with US taxes … our money! We can stop it!

Ian Chinich is a fourth-year post-doctorate student in political science at Boston University. He can be reached at ichinich@gmail.com.

N

No Shame November DAVID FONTANA

ovember is truly a beautiful month, is it not? Squished between October and December, it embodies the best of both worlds: falling leaves and snow, warmth and cold, not just fall and winter, but finter, if you will. November is a magical month filled with changing weather, many “thanks” and, of course, mustaches.

You’ve all heard of “Movember,” right?

That one month during the year when men are finally released from the shackles of society, run by women, and allowed to fully celebrate what it truly means to be a man, what defines our “y” chromosome, what I’m sure every woman enviously writes about in her diary: body hair.

As a man, I am a full proponent of this No-Shave movement. But what many young women and men forget are the true roots of this NOSHemeber. I’m talking about that first Thanksgiving, of course, all those years ago, back in 1621 in our very own Plymouth.

Everyone knows the story of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag: Squanto, maize, Puritans and their awkward buckled shoes. The wonderful feast the two groups had and the lifelong friendships they all formed. The Pilgrims and Wampanoag, alike, went around the table and each gave their “thanks.” But when it got down to the last person, Little Billy, something strange occurred. Stroking his mustache, an odd sight on a 7-year-old Puritan boy, he profoundly said, “I’d like to give thanks to the Indians, who were more than happy to help us mustached foreigners acclimate to their strange land.” The chief of the Wampanoag was greatly moved by this little boy’s touching words. He turned to Billy and said, “No little one, it is we who are thankful for you all. As you walk around with your funny garb and large hairy faces with pride, you have taught us to live without shame.”

The Wampanoag and Puritans all gave little Billy three cheers and yelled with joy.

After throwing him in the air, they carried him on their shoulders all the way to the nearest IHOP to celebrate over pie. Thus began two great historical events: the eternal debate over what pie should be served at Thanksgiving (pumpkin, duh) and No Shame Day. However, after all these years, the passionate words of Billy and the chief were lost to our country. It was only on a pilgrimage to a far, far away land, known to some as Ethpanya (Ow), that this hidden treasure, this long lost tradition was found. We suddenly realized that our normal customs were strange in this ancient country. Yet, in our moment of despair, one among our group had a dream of

a large-mustached man who shared with her a story. The story was of friendship between cultures, a bond that reached beyond the wall of differences, of oddities and of shame.

Upon waking, we learned of the dream and were taken by the moving message, the true meaning of what it means to be an American — to act without shame.

We knew that this day of “No Shame” had an important message that needed to be spread to the four corners of the earth. So, we gave it a whole month. “November sounds good.” And thus, No Shave November was born!

I think a day in America’s history that still stands as a monument to Billy and the Chief, is none other than (sound the trumpets, please) Black Friday — that day when our animal instincts rise to the surface and stores across our great nation, become an all-out brawl. I’m not talking about the tame “Wild Wild West” with the pampered Prince of Bel-Air. I’m talking about a World War II documentary-style free-for-all. And all over the last cover for the iPhone314. Shameless? I think so.

Now, this isn’t to say that there aren’t still things that are worth being shamed over. Every country, society and city has its own truly atrocious deeds. But, for the rest of us, November has become a time when we can own up to our guilty pleasures, the silly things we do in life that for some reason we’ve decided are wrong, embarrassing and inaccurately shameful.

So, if you want to eat three plates at Thanksgiving dinner before your two plates of pie, then go ahead and unbuckle your pants and shoes with a smile on your face. Or, if you feel like paying $50 to buy a remaining box of Hostess treats, all so you can encrust one of the last Twinkies of the world in gold, well, call yourself Midas and get on with your bad self. And if you feel like wearing a winter jacket that finds it’s necessary to say “Sean John” 13 times on it, just in case you’d forgotten, well you might want to rethink your priorities in life. But, you can go ahead and save that for a more shameful month, like December.

We must never allow the memory of Billy’s heroic deed to die. NOSHember will forever be remembered as a month with no shaving, and more importantly with no shame.

Happy No Shame November to you all.

David Fontana is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and a Fall 2012 columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at fontad5@bu.edu.

Why the delay?

On Nov. 14, Boston University students received an email from the BU police alerting them that in the past six weeks, five women had been assaulted. The suspect pushed the victims to the ground, lifted their skirts and took a picture of them, according to the email.

Officers from the BU Police Department said they are still investigating the assaults, assisting Boston PD in finding the suspect.

Immediately after receiving the email, some students questioned why they did not hear about the assaults earlier.

BUPD Captain Molloy told The Daily Free Press on Monday that some of the victims contacted BPD instead of the BUPD. The BUPD did not know about the fourth incident, which took place on Oct. 27, until Nov. 6, Molloy said.

Although that might explain the delayed alert, it brings to light a more pressing issue, that the BPD and the BUPD are in some way disconnected. Molloy said as far as BUPD is aware, all of the victims were students. If that was the case, then the BPD should have

notified the BUPD immediately, not several days later. The delay in communication is disconcerting.

These incidents also reveal that not every BU student calls the BUPD to report a crime, despite that students are told at orientation to contact the BUPD in the event of an emergency. While these assaults occurred off campus, the BUPD has worked outside of its jurisdiction before in cases that involved the safety of BU students.

Should students contact the BUPD first in cases such as these? Might patterns be revealed more quickly?

Looking forward, the BUPD needs to clarify whom students should call for onand off-campus emergencies. It is not everyone’s first instinct to call the BUPD. Over the course of the semester, students have seen an increase in the number of BU alerts and more transparency from the BUPD, which is reassuring. However, these incidents reveal that, if the disconnect continues to show, BUPD needs to reevaluate its relationship with the BPD.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

7

Neff: Football has become part of annual Thanksgiving tradition Neff: From Page 8

ery town.

One of the best games in Boston is the Boston College High School and Catholic Memorial Thanksgiving game which has been held for more than 50 years.

The game decides the Catholic Conference championship and is usually a pretty intense matchup.

Since 2005, BC High has beaten the CM Knights in every Thanks-

giving Day game.

BC High is ranked better than CM this year, but anything can happen.

Last year, CM tasted defeat in what looked like a lock of a championship season. They play at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

I think it’s worth noting that BU Academy could field a heck of a team. They are undefeated in Thanksgiving Day play.

If you’re like me though, you

might be staking out the perfect spot on your couch. The one with the best eye line to the TV, easy access to the fridge for beers, a convenient route to the bathroom and isolated enough that you don’t have anybody sitting next to you with useless conversation.

That’s the spot.

I’ll be locked in, with my fantasy football app open, to all the games that day. And you should be too. It’s the one day of the

year (besides Sundays between September and January) where it is socially acceptable to pass out on the couch watching football because “Oh, there’s tryptophan in the turkey and that makes you sleepy.” I hate when people say that. Because everybody pulls it out around Thanksgiving like it’s new, acquired knowledge. Cut it out. I’m asleep because I’m stuffed, drunk, and this CowboysLions game sucks.

So join the Thanksgiving and American tradition this year.

Whether you’re actually playing in a game, just watching from the sideline, or snoozing on the couch watching the NFL at home, I hope this Thanksgiving is “classic.”

Mike Neff is a weekly columnist for the sports section. He can be reached via email at mneff@ bu.edu or via Twitter at @mneff2.

Women’s basketball seeks first win on road Women’s basketball: From Page 8

we’ve been able to put players in good situations. Defensively too, I feel we can shut down their guards pretty well.”

The numbers have the Terriers ahead of the Huskies in most areas on offense, including field goals and 3-pointers. The same is true on defense as well, as the Terriers have almost twice as many blocks.

Still, BU has had its home crowd at every game so far. Even though Northeastern is only across town, an away game is something the team has yet to experience in the early going.

“We have talked a lot about how fortunate we were to have the three home games to start off the season … but this is very different from those three games,” Greenberg said. “Even though we won last year, there was a lot of havoc on the floor … but I don’t have to motivate my team that much because they know the importance of it.”

All four of the Terriers’ key players thus far are upperclass-

men.

Senior guard Chantell Alford leads the team with an average of 21.7 points per game, and she racked up a career-high 30 points last Monday against No. 14/22 West Virginia University.

Senior captain Mo Moran leads the team with 20 assists, 13 more than anyone else, and is second in points per game with 12. She has started every game and has played more time than any Terrier this season.

As for defense, while Alford and Moran still have an impact, junior captain and forward Rashidat Agboola and junior forward Whitney Turner have had the most impact. The two of them account for just under half of all rebounds and 72 percent of all blocks.

“We need to physical on defense and we’ve done a good job of that,” Greenberg said. “If we can get really get [the Huskies] out of their game, tire them out, we’ll have much less to worry about.”

The Huskies have two major players to watch out for.

Redshirt senior Kashaia Cannon did not play last season, but she led her team in points in the only loss the Terriers have had against Northeastern in recent years. She remains a threat this year as well, for is second on the team in scoring with 13.3 points per game.

The biggest threat however, according to Greenberg, is senior guard Deanna Kerkhof. She nets 14.7 points per game, good for first on the team.

“Kerkhof is definitely their best player,” Greenberg said. “She can play inside-out … Our returning players are used to her and Cannon though. We’re definitely ready for them.”

After NU, the Terriers travel to Michigan during the long weekend to take on the University of Michigan (2–1) and Eastern Michigan University (1–2).

“We’re really excited to play them both,” Greenberg said. “It’s going to be quite a challenge for us. We’re going to have a lot of fun, but we really want to come back with two Ws.”

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS FILE PHOTO

Senior guard Mo Moran has averaged 12 points per game and leads the team with 20 assists on the season.

Men’s basketball to take on Women’s hockey earns back-to-back wins Rutgers in search of 1st win Women’s hockey: From Page 8

Men’s basketball: From Page 8

BU head coach Joe Jones. “We need to kick it out more, make better decisions. The great thing for us is that we weren’t as big as GW, but we were faster. I feel we had poor shot selection sometimes. We need to play better together consistently, the times we did that, we played well.”

BU will have a chance to build on that Tuesday against the Scarlet Knights (2–1), and needless to say, the matchup against Rutgers is going to be a tough one for the Terriers.

Right out of the gate there are noticeable differences between the two teams.

The first is the difference in conferences. The Scarlet Knights belong to the Big East Conference, which is known for its competition with other teams including Syracuse University, the University of Connecticut and Villanova University.

Then comes the difference in players. One of the problems BU will face all season — and especially against Rutgers — is a difference in height. To put it simply, the Scarlet Knights are just a much bigger team. Six of them are at least 6-foot-8.

BU dealt with a similar issue against the Colonials. Fortunately for BU in that game, it only came in the form of one player, Joseph Armwood. Armwood, a transfer from Villanova, had a field day against the Terriers offense, recording a careerhigh eight blocks while grabbing 12 rebounds and scoring six points.

This only leads spectators to believe that Terriers will have their hands full when outsized across the

board against Rutgers, a team with multiple Joseph Armwoods.

There is a way to combat this problem. Something the Terriers did against George Washington that helped close the large deficit they faced was switch to a full-court press. The BU backcourt includes freshman Maurice Watson Jr. and junior D.J. Irving, arguably two of the fastest players in the country.

Their tenacity on defense on while running the full-court press Saturday helped force turnovers, which created opportunities for BU on the other end. While it brings on a lot more fatigue, the Terriers could switch to a full-court press to put pressure on the Scarlet Knights, utilizing the fact that they are undersized in comparison.

“We’re not going to be a pressing team, but we will use the press,” Jones said.

This game is also not a guaranteed victory for the Scarlet Knights.

Although Rutgers is a bigger team in a better conference, the Terriers are hungry for a victory. Also, Rutgers has a young team, with seven sophomores and just two seniors.

Some speculators are comparing this game to BU’s game against Boston College in 2011 when it went to Chestnut Hill and beat the Eagles, who are in the competitive ACC conference.

“We need to get smarter with fouls, play better defense and share the ball more,” Jones said of what his team needs to do on Tuesday.

“That’s what hurt us.”

Tuesday night’s game will be shown on ESPN3 and begins at 7:30 p.m.

“[She has] tremendous talent, speed, she can shoot the puck,” Durocher said of Kohanchuk. “She can make hockey plays. We’re very lucky to have her here … obviously this weekend, she had a super weekend.”

Warren widened the lead at the 9:45 mark in the second period,

scoring on an assist from senior forward Isabel Menard to extend the Terriers’ lead to 2–0.

The Crimson attempted to fight back in the third period, as Harvard freshman Mary Parker scored to cut the Terrier lead in half.

But a staunch defensive effort from the Terriers preserved the lead and allowed BU to come away with the 2–1 victory.

“The defense made a couple of long-bodied plays,” Durocher said.

“Obviously Kerrin [Sperry] made some wonderful stops for us, but our forwards also played 200 feet tonight. Everyone was doing their part today.”

The Terriers will resume action after the Thanksgiving break when they face the Russian National Team in an exhibition game on Nov. 26.

Kohanchuk continues impressive comeback Kohanchuk: From Page 8

27 games. She tied for second on the team in goals and power-play goals (five).

In Kohanchuk’s junior year, she showed that she could do more than score. She gathered a career-high 21 assists on the season to go along with 10 goals and a total of 31 points, equaling her point total from 2008– 09.

However, Kohanchuk sustained a season-ending injury in the seventh game of the 2011–12 season. A season that was supposed to be spent scoring goals and ending a fantastic collegiate career was instead dedicated to rehabbing and getting back on the ice.

BU coach Brian Durocher noted how fortunate BU is that Kohanchuk was eligible for a redshirt senior year.

“We’re very lucky to have [Kohanchuk] here because she was within one game or maybe two of losing that redshirt possibility,” Durocher said. “Thankfully, it happened in the seventh game where she could come back and obviously it’s been our benefit.”

Despite not playing competitive collegiate hockey for almost a year, Kohanchuk was able to bounce back

to top form quickly.

The forward is already taking advantage of her second chance at a complete senior campaign. Kohanchuk is ninth in America East in points (15), sixth in goals (six) and seventh in assists (nine) through 13 games.

Durocher said he credits the timing of the injury to her ability to get off to a quick start during the season.

“The good thing was late last year, right at about the time the season was ending, she was back to good health,” Durocher said. “She got to take advantage of this spring and all summer.”

“She played a good bit of hockey and got her timing and got her rhythm back.”

Kohanchuk, on the other hand, said her teammates are the major reason she has been able to have success early on in the season.

“With my teammates supporting me and helping me in practice and during the games, it has helped me come back into the game a lot quicker than what I thought [I would],” Kohanchuk said.

With the third best points, goals and assists totals on the team, Kohanchuk is a crucial factor to BU’s

success on the ice. But Durocher said she has just as much of an impact off the ice.

“She is a tremendous talent with speed. She can shoot the puck, she can make hockey plays and she has been a real good person in the locker room too,” Durocher said. “[She is] somebody who has got the experience of being around here for now her fifth year and you like to do things and set the standard in practice and set the standard across the street in the weight room.”

Kohanchuk said her absence from the team during the 2011–12 season changed her perspective and approach going into her final campaign.

“Being out makes you want to play the game just as bad,” Kohanchuk said. “You take nothing for granted when you come back and you just live in the moment and cherish it.”

This Terriers team would be much different without the on-ice and off-ice presence of Kohanchuk.

When asked if returning for a redshirt senior year was a difficult decision, her answer was blunt. “[It] definitely was not a difficult decision at all,” she said.

“

Quotable

“

I feel we can shut down their guards pretty well.

-BU women’s basketball coach Kelly Greenberg

Page 8

Tuesday’s Take Turkey day pigskin

Mike Neff Turkey Day football.

It’s almost as old a tradition as Thanksgiving itself.

Thanksgiving and football just go so well together.

Like peanut butter and jelly.

Or vodka and Red Bull.

Or turkey and stuffing.

Football games on Thanksgiving date back to before professional football was even formed.

Whether it’s a high school rivalry, a college tradition, a family exhibition match or NFL football, any pigskin game on Thanksgiving is a classic.

As much as the day is built around family, food and giving thanks, it is equally built around football.

Scanning my DirecTV listings, there are options for the football fan on TV from 10 in the morning until midnight ranging from local games, to college games, to pro games.

There are plenty of options on TV, but what if you want to hit the gridiron yourself?

In my younger, more athletic (read: before beer) days, my friends and I would often play pickup games at a local park.

We’d pick teams and play all day, or until everybody had to go for dinner. We’d usually play until it was impossible.

The days when it snowed were the best.

It’s a bit harder as you get older to get the crew together to play so, another, potentially hilarious option for many families is the backyard Thanksgiving Day “Classic.” What’s really classic about it? I think we’re using the wrong word there. Thanksgiving Day Debacle? Yes. Nothing works up an appetite or tension, like a game of touch or tackle football out in the backyard.

If you aren’t the football type, at least take this opportunity to try to silence those obnoxious relatives with an accidental chop to the throat while enthusiastically signaling first down.

So say you aren’t the playing type, and you want to watch a game in person, but not pay $85 to do so, what do you do? There are some great, free local high school games in pretty much ev-

Neff see page 7

Sports

W. Basketball @ Northeastern, 7 p.m.

M. Basketball @ Rutgers, 7:30 p.m.

[ www.dailyfreepress.com ]

a

Puck

Redshirt senior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk has shined in her return from a season-ending concussion last season, scoring 15 points in her first 13 games this season. P.8.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Women’s hockey defeats Providence, Harvard BU bounces back with wins over Friars, Crimson

Kohanchuk has early success in 2nd senior season

By Sarah Kirkpatrick Daily Free Press Staff

By Gregory Davis Daily Free Press Staff

Following three consecutive games without a win, the No. 7 Boston University women’s hockey team got back on track with back-toback home victories against Providence College and Harvard University.

After a 7–1 loss and a 5–5 tie against Boston College and a 4–2 loss against the University of New Hampshire, BU coach Brian Durocher said the team was looking to get back in the right direction.

“You don’t want to have slumps, you don’t want to have multiple lost games,” Durocher said. “It’s important as we look at Hockey East points but also the national picture ...

You’ve got to keep putting together wins, and the best way to do it is get one, and then you can get two and three and so on. We didn’t want to have anything that was a real negative streak going on.”

On Friday night, BU (9–3–1, 4–2–1 Hockey East) defeated Providence College (7–5–3, 5–2–2 Hockey East) at Walter Brown Arena, 7–1.

Senior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk was the star of the game, totaling a career-high five points on two goals and three assists.

“I brought an A-game to the ice,” Kohanchuk said of her performance.

“I just played generally very well.”

Junior co-captain Marie-Philip Poulin also had a strong impact in her first game after competing for Team Canada in the Four Nations Cup in Finland. Poulin had four points on two goals and two assists.

“She’s a kid who can make a difference in the game,” Durocher

“It was nice to see a bunch of people playing well,” Durocher said.

While Durocher said that Friday’s win was a confidence booster, he also noted the strength of the upcoming opponent.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but that’s all it is, is one step, one win,” Durocher said.

“Come Sunday, we’ll play a different team. This is a team that’s big and usually defends hard at their net, goes to the net hard. Harvard is a little more of a skating team, and we’re going to have to be ready for a slightly different pace skatingwise.”

The Terriers kept up with No. 5 Harvard (4–1, 2–0 ECAC), hanging on to beat the Crimson 2–1 on Sunday.

Late in the first period, Kohanchuk scored her sixth point of the weekend by tapping in a shorthanded goal at the 19:09 mark off of a pass from Poulin to give BU a 1–0 lead.

Redshirt senior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk of the Boston University women’s hockey team put up six points in games against Providence College and No. 5 Harvard University, thus continuing her second attempt at a successful senior campaign.

Kohanchuk had a career day against the Friars (7–5–3, 5–2–2 Hockey East) at Walter Brown Arena on Friday night.

She netted two goals and picked up three assists, totaling a careerhigh five points on the game. BU (9–3–1, 4–2–1 Hockey East) won the game in a rout, 7–1.

The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native finished her superb weekend with a crucial goal against Harvard (4–1) in a nail-biting 2–1 victory.

Kohanchuk said the important goal was all started with a strong play by junior co-captain Marie Philip-Poulin to force a turnover.

“Poulin and I were on a forecheck and she caused a turnover from the other team and she paced it back to me and I got the goal,” Kohanchuk said.

Kohanchuk’s success with the Terriers goes far beyond the weekend.

In her freshman year, Kohanchuk led the team with 31 points on 15 goals and 16 assists in just 28 games.

Her 15 goals were tied for the team lead and even stood as the third-highest season total in program history.

Her sophomore year heeded similar success. The forward totaled 21 points on 12 goals and nine assists in

Women’s hockey see page 7

Kohanchuk see page 7

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS FILE PHOTO

Senior forward recorded five points (two goals, three assists) in BU’s 7–1 win over Providence on Friday. said. “[She is] a world-class player who tonight was finding people, and had two goals herself. She changes the complexion of our team … not only of the line she’s on, but ideally maybe almost every line on the team in some way, because you find another great player in there, it puts an impression on the team.”

Poulin said her teammates helped her out in her return.

“It was a team effort,” Poulin said. “We played as a team, we executed well what the coach said, and we came out with the win ... I feel pretty fortunate to play with them.”

Durocher also praised the rest of the team for its solid efforts during the game.

Four other players had multipoint games — freshman forward Sarah Lefort (one goal, two assists), sophomore defenseman Shannon Stoneburgh (one goal, one assist), sophomore forward Kayla Tutino (one goal, two assists) and junior forward Louise Warren (two assists). Junior goalie Kerrin Sperry recorded 19 saves.

BU looks to upset Rutgers, Terriers travel across Boston avoid another 0–4 start for battle with Northeastern

By Christopher Dela Rosa Daily Free Press Staff

It has not been the great start to the season that the Boston University men’s basketball team set out to have when they walked into Matthews Arena Nov. 9 to take on the Northeastern University Huskies.

But the team will have another chance to snap its winless streak Tuesday when it travels to New Brunswick, N.J., to take on the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University.

That first Friday night against Northeastern, the Terriers (0–3) fell to the Huskies on a buzzer-beater 3-pointer after leading for almost the entire game.

The opening loss was followed by another road loss against Canisius College. For the first time, the Terriers had to play from behind, and after closing the gap to three with a few minutes remaining, their shooters went cold and could not get

The Bottom Line

Tuesday, Nov. 20

‘Chuk

The Daily Free Press

Wednesday, Nov. 21

No Games Scheduled Monday Night Football featured a pair of backup quarterbacks, Jason Campbell and Colin Kaepernick...

the job done as the team fell 83–75.

The cold streak continued for the Terriers Saturday afternoon when they faced George Washington University for the 2011–12 season’s home opener at Case Gym. In front of 1,007 fans, BU seemed as if it was going to start off hot when they took a 2–0 lead following tip-off. Things then went from bad to worse as the Terriers tried to get it started from deep and could not hit shots, while the Colonials (2–1) continued to score.

About two minutes into the second half the Terriers were at their lowest point of the season as they trailed the Colonials by 20.

Despite a valiant effort in the second half, the early deficit was too much to overcome and BU lost 72–59 to fall to 0–3.

“The big thing we have to do is make better choices at the rim,” said

Men’s basketball see page 7

Thursday, Nov. 22 No Games Scheduled ...That makes it a classic battle between David and...David.

By Steven Dufour Daily Free Press Staff

After three games in about two weeks in Case Gymnasium, the Boston University women’s basketball team leaves home for the first time Tuesday night — and it won’t be going far. The Terriers will challenge Northeastern University for the first and only time in the 2012–13 season in the Huskies’ territory.

The Terriers (2–1) have thus far beaten all unranked opponents, and they have done so with a constantly improving attack. Conversion percentages for all shots, free throws inclusive, have not dipped once, jumping as much as 19.1 percent between game one and game three.

The Huskies (1–2), however, have been less consistent over the course of their three games.

With the exception of a jump in

Friday, Nov. 23 W. Basketball @ Eastern Michigan, 7 p.m.

free-throw conversion, all contestable shots have jumped by at least 15 percent between the first two games, only to then drop by at least 10 in the third. “[NU] really create[s] a lot of havoc,” said BU head coach Kelly Greenberg. “They really play in attack mode on both ends of the floor.”

Since the 2006–07 season, BU has won five of its six meetings against NU, the only loss coming in the 2010–11 season at Northeastern. For every other game, the final buzzer has left the Terriers up by as much as 14 points.

They expect nothing less this year.

“We really want to continue what we [have been] doing.”

Greenberg said. “We’ve done a real nice job of keeping very good spacing on the offensive end and

Women’s basketball see page 7

Saturday, Nov. 24 M. Basketball @ George Mason, 4 p.m.

W. Basketball @ Michigan, 4 p.m.

M. Hockey vs. St. Lawrence, 7 p.m.