12-5-2012

The Daily Free Press

Year xlii. Volume lxxxiii. Issue XXXXXI

[

Wednesday, December 5, 2012 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

]

www.dailyfreepress.com

Students taken aback by Mugar arrest, man taking inappropriate photos

By Chris Lisinski Daily Free Press Staff

Boston University Police Department officials arrested a man not affiliated with BU in Mugar Memorial Library Monday night for inappropriately photographing female BU students, officials said.

The suspect was a 37-year-old white male, said BUPD Deputy Director of Public Safety Scott Paré. BUPD declined to release the suspect’s name.

Paré said BUPD received reports from students of an unknown male taking inappropriate pictures of female students seated at desks on the third floor at about 9:15 p.m.

He said officers were able to make the arrest without causing a large disturbance. The sus-

pect was arrested for secret photographic and electronic surveillance.

“Because of what was going on, we had a couple of officers in plain clothes,” Paré said.

“The officers in plain clothes went to the third floor while uniformed officers were on the ground floor.”

Paré said the suspect began to get up and leave when plainclothes officers arrived and the officers escorted him down to the ground floor and placed him under arrest.

“We were able to access his phone and there were a number of pictures of females in the library,” he said. “The pictures were of an inappropriate nature. He just took these pictures while sitting in the area, as far as we can see, but he may have walked by at some point.”

The suspect was released on bail and will be arraigned Tuesday in Roxbury District Court, Paré said.

The suspect is banned from BU property, Paré said.

“If he sets foot on BU property, he is subject to arrest,” he said. “His picture is up, officers are aware [of what he looks like].”

Paré said officers do not believe there is a connection between this incident and a string of assaults in the Ashford Street area, in which a male suspect pushed female students to the ground and took pictures under their skirts.

Between Sept. 23 and Oct. 28, there were five reported incidents. BUPD issued an alert to raise awareness on Nov. 6.

Paré said the description of the suspect in

the string of Ashford Street assaults was consistently a younger Hispanic male. The suspect arrested Monday in Mugar was a 37-year-old white male.

Brett Engwall, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said the arrest occurred quietly, as he was on the second floor of the library during the incident and did not notice anything unusual.

“I’m assuming they did a really good of keeping it under control because I was there for about three hours and I didn’t hear anything,” he said. “I didn’t hear any reactions from anyone around me that was anything out of the ordinary.”

Engwall said while he does not feel threat-

Mugar, see page 2

Some stores forego plastic bags as Brookline prepares for ban SG, SAO team up to sell ads on BUS

By Brian Latimer Daily Free Press Staff

When Laura Adams, a sales associate at Second Time Around in Brookline, asks customers if they would like to use a plastic bag, half of them decline.

“People usually come in with backpacks or purses,” she said. “You can put a shirt in your purse, you know? It can work.”

The store is one of many in Brookline that will have to adhere to a new ban on non-recyclable plastic bags that takes effect in December of 2013. Brookline town meeting members voted 142 to 153 in November to ban non-recyclable plastic bags for retail establishments larger than 2,500 square feet, pharmacies with at least two locations in Brookline and supermarkets with annual gross sales of $1 million.

But the attitude of people in Brookline stores might mean stores will not have a problem discontinuing the use of plastic bags.

Adams said all the employees at Second Time Around in Brookline try to conserve plastic bags by asking customers if they need them, even though the manager has not made that store policy.

“I see people going to CVS and Walgreens and they all walk out with plastic bags,” Adams said. “They must go through so many bags.”

In Allston, one store voluntarily embraces the move to go bag-less. Buffalo Exchange stores nationwide stopped giving out plastic bags in the fall after the company stopped ordering the bags, according to a November press release. The store offers a bag made of recycled soda bottles for $2.

“Eventually plastic bags will become such a nuisance that they will not be allowed to exist in most places anymore, and people need to find alternatives,” said Kerstin Block, president

By Margaret Waterman Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO BY JACKIE ROBERTSON/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Buffalo Exchange in Allston phases out plastic bags as Brookline businesses prepare to do the same s the result of a plastic bag ban passed Nov. 15.

and founder of Buffalo Exchange. “We can go to paper, but paper is also hard on the environment.”

When the company stops using bags entirely, including at the Allston store, retailers throughout the country in states that have not already banned polyethylene can expect to save a combined 350,000 plastic bags, according to the release.

Block said many places in the Southwest have already outlawed plastic bags.

“We say this all makes really good sense,” she said.

As Buffalo Exchange voluntarily gives up plastic bags, stores such Simons Shoes in

City scorecard shows signs of improvement

By Jasper Craven Daily Free Press Staff

The City of Boston has garnered positive accomplishments in fire, police and other departments, according to a new website that tracks the performance of city departments in an effort to increase transparency and accountability.

The Boston About Results Performance Management Scorecard results, released Tuesday, is part of a project using SAP AG municipal government software to track the progress of city departments in meeting specific goals.

“Providing these tools to city officials enables them to continuously evaluate services and ensure we’re all doing our part to improve quality of life in Boston,” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said in a press release issued on Tuesday. “I’m proud Boston is leading the way in using innovative technology to better serve our residents.”

Sixteen departments are measured on the website and include fire, neighborhood development, transportation and police.

In one of the city’s goals, the Boston Police

Department aimed to forge a closer bond with locals through more walking and bicycle beat controls, said Devin Quirk, the citywide performance manager.

“They set a strategic goal of doubling patrols that they would do out of their cruisers, actually face to face over the past year,” Quirk said. “If you look at their scorecard, you can see they have come very close to that goal.”

Between July and September, BPD carried out 46,575 neighborhood beats, coming closer to the goal of 200,000 of beats by the end of the year, according to the BAR website.

“Our approach is comprehensive,” Quirk said. “We track over 2,000 performance measures on a monthly or quarterly basis across all 45 departments.”

Other city feats on the site include 145 avoided foreclosures for homeowners, statistics that 66 percent of all fire department responses were under four minutes and increased efficiency in the Public Works Department.

SEE FULL STORY ONLINE

Brookline plan to comply with a mandatory ban and move away from polyethylene bags to more eco-friendly alternatives.

“Our boss has been talking about switching to biodegradable bags,” said Kenny Jahan, a Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumnus and Simons Shoes associate. “They degrade in something less than a year.”

Other retailers in Brookline are not as ready for the shift from polyethylene bags.

Edith Dovek, an associate at Israel Book Shop on Harvard Avenue, said he advocates for plastic bags because of their durability.

SEE FULL STORY ONLINE

Boston University Student Government and the BU Student Activities Office have collaborated during the fall 2012 semester to bring student group advertisements to the BU Shuttle beginning in the spring 2013 semester, SAO and SG officials said.

Student groups will be able to design their own advertisements that will run on the inside of the shuttle for two weeks, said Taylor Sevigny, coordinator of programs at SAO. “Any student group is able to advertise on the shuttle,” Sevigny said. “It’s really open to anyone.”

Sevigny said a number of student groups on campus have voiced that they will use the new advertising program.

“Specific groups that will probably utilize this are the groups that are already active on our campus,” she said. “Anyone from a Greek Life organization to the Programming Council. A lot of our cultural groups will use it and our groups that have performances.”

SG President Dexter McCoy said there is already interest surrounding the new advertising method.

“We’ve gotten a couple of organizations’ leaders who have come into our office asking about it,” McCoy, a College of Communication junior, said. “A lot of groups are really interested in it.”

The program will allow students to run advertisements at an affordable cost for two weeks at a time and will ensure the advertisements are evenly distributed among the differ-

BUS Ads, see page 2

SUGAR, SUGAR

PHOTO BY SARAH FISHER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

College of Communication freshman Nicole Zubata and School of Management junior Rick Anderson mix ingredients to make Challah to sell for Challah for Hunger Tuesday night at BU Hillel.

2

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Mugar Library quiet during arrest, CAS sophomore says

Allston, because in Allston, unfortunately, it’s something that comes with the territory,” she said. “You expect it’s sketchy Allston and it has that reputation. Mugar is definitely some place you should be able to feel safe.”

Chrstianna Gilbert, a School of Education freshman, said while she found the incident concerning, she was pleased by BUPD’s response.

“That they were able to do it quickly means they are on top of things,” she said. “It stinks they couldn’t have prevented it, but the fact that they were able to respond quickly when something like that does happen is reassuring.”

Amy Gorel contributed to the reporting of this article.

Mugar: From Page 1

On December 15, THINK SUMMER—

BOSTON SUMMER UNIVERSITY TERM 2013

Summer 1 May 21–June 28 Summer 2 July 1–August 9

STARTING DECEMBER 15, PLAN YOUR SUMMER AT bu.edu/summer.

An equal opportunity, affirmative action institution.

The Daily Free Press Crossword

Pub:

Run Date:

placed in Daily Free Press77. Usually metalDec. 3, 5, 10, 12

By Mirroreyes windows to prevent escape Internet Services 79. Polished Corporation ACROSS 1. Shows position of a reflecting surface 5. Joseph __, choreographer 9. Take the place of work of someone on strike 13. The rate of some repeating event 17. Private school in New York 18. A mark left by the healing of injured tissue 19. Carbonated drink flavored with extract from Kola nuts 20. Sole 21. Anagram of ytdo 22. Dish 23. Whiteness 25. Fencing swords 27. Wipe out 29. Having or covered with leaves 30. Terminates 32. Auricle 33. The foot or fleshy cushionlike underside of the toes of an animal 34. The 17th letter of the Greek alphabet 36. Shaped rotating disk to convert circular into linear motion 37. Hit lightly 38. More (Spanish) 39. They think algorithms 42. Mammal genus 44. Coins 46. Parrot 48. Lucullan 50. Calorie (abbrev.)

51. A whip with nine knotted cords 52. Riding horses 53. Artillery designed to shoot upward at airplanes 55. Denunciations 58. Businessmen 59. Frosts 61. Destroy a limb 62. Cornmeal mush (British) 64. An independent ruler or chieftan 67. Deers 70. Billy __, evangelist 74. Nocturnal lemur 76. A young child

80. Exhaled 82. Sound units 84. GM auto 85. Request 86. Male parent 87. Dutch painter Gerard __ 88. Stain an object by immersing it in a liquid 90. __kosh, near Lake Winnebago 91. Top part; covering the chest 92. Get free of 93. Surrendering 95. Languages of Sulu islands 98. Basque province 100. Goods carried by a large vehicle 103. Conductor 105. Biblical Hamath 107. Tropical woody herb with showy yellow flowers and flattish pods 108. A piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area 109. Expression of sorrow or pity 110. Augury 111. A sword similar to a foil but with a heavier blade 112. Drives 113. City on the Waal 114. Moving quickly and energetically 115. Larger of two tall fast-running flightless birds similar to ostriches DOWN 1. A painful wound caused by the thrust of a stinger into skin 2. Coil 3. An act of undue intimacy 4. A person to whom money is paid 5. Time used in far western states of the U.S. 6. Marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning esp. its trivial aspects 7. Footsteps 8. Jocks

Size: 5.875” x 8”

Color: BW

ened, he understands how people would feel violated.

“Generally people on campus feel safe in the library,” he said. “I know I’m one of them. I don’t feel personally violated, but that’s a gender thing. It is definitely a feeling of breach in some sort of security when someone who’s not supposed to be where they are is doing something they’re not supposed to.”

Engwall said the situation was both unsettling and strange.

Hannah Morrison, a CAS junior, said she was surprised such an incident occurred in Mugar.

“I’m more alarmed than in

BOSTON SUMM UNIVERSITY BUS ads step to ‘improve access’ forTE groups’ publicity, SG president says BUS Ads: From Page 1

people going in and out of the shuttles

“It’s also important that it’s accessible and that people are able to use it,” he said.

Sevigny said the advertisements will need to pass SAO guidelines and so they need to be submitted two weeks ahead of time.

“Groups will have to request this through our office, through our events management process,” Sevigny said. “They’ll have to do it well in advance.”

Organizations that want to advertise on the BUS will need to plan in advance when they want to run the advertisements, McCoy said.

Since SG is an advocacy group for the student body and students expressed an interest in advertising, McCoy said it is important to pursue.

“It was something that would improve access to advertising and to publicity for student groups,” he said.

“One of our priorities was improving the student experience and access to resources at SAO.” Lauren Morales, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said the new advertising opportunity will benefit clubs struggling to publicize their activities.

“It’s good because there’s always

in the George Sherman Union, but not all BU students regularly go to the GSU. “If a club caught my eye or an event or something that was publicized on the BUS, I’d definitely want to check it out,” Morales said.

Michael Snyder, a College of Engineering junior, also said the advertising will be good for clubs who have trouble getting the word out.

“It’s a big campus and it’s linear,” Snyder said. “Lots of times if you’re just advertising on West Campus, you’re not going to be able to reach the kids on the other side of campus.”

The BUS advertisements will help inform students of different activities happening around campus, said Rachel Gill, a CAS freshman.

Gill said even though the advertising space costs money, groups will probably pay to use it.

“Ultimately if they [the clubs] want it, they’ll go out of their way to advertise,” she said.

Snyder said BUS riders will notice the student groups’ advertisements when they run next semester.

“I notice the stuff on the T whenever I ride it,” he said. “I imagine that it would be the same for the BU bus as well.”

every21–June day,” Morales said.

“It’s a good Summer 1 May 28 ent buses, Sevigny said. way to get the word out there and let McCoy said pricing was a sig- people know what’s going on.”

Summer 2 theJuly She 1–August 9 advertise nificant concern while planning said clubs typically initiative.

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS -- $$ SPERM DONORS WANTED $$ Earn up to $1,200/month and give the gift of family through California Cryobank’s donor program. Convenient Cambridge location. Apply online: SPERMBANK.com

Sudoku 9. Scarabaeus sacer 10. The vividness and individuality of something 11. Chinese mountain range 12. Founder of Babism 13. Fixed 14. Pier, side of porch 15. A musical notation written on a staff indicating the pitch of the notes following it 16. Aerie 24. American state 26. A baglike structure in a plant or animal 28. Repasts 31. Causing sorrow 33. Political action committee 34. A fabric with prominent rounded crosswise ribs 35. Hawaiian town 37. Set, mark, or draw the boundaries of something 38. Atoms 39. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers 40. Irvin __, American

humorist 41. Tiny leafy-stemmed flowerless plants 43. Acetylsalicyclic acid 45. Free from gloss 46. Villain 47. Algonquian 49. Ad __ 51. Reindeer 54. The common gull of Eurasia and northeastern N America 56. Tell on 57. A way to sink 60. Satisfied 63. Married woman 64. Ancient Greek City 65. Mas 66. Asian nation 68. The fruit of any leguminous plant 69. Spanish for “saint” 71. 3 dimensional picture 72. & & & 73. Work together in harmony 75. Someone who obtains pleasure from inflicting pain on others 78. One who ransoms 81. The bill in a restaurant

82. Pop 83. __ Caesar, comedian 87. Take away one’s investment 89. Popular PC graphics file format 91. Seconds 92. Measuring instrument 93. A strip of metal with ends bent at right angles 94. Ralph __, consumer advocate 95. People descended from a common ancestor 96. Wings 97. Being nothing more than specified 98. __ contendere, plead no contest 99. Alphabetic characters 101. Clairified butter used in Indian cookery 102. Evergreen trees and shrubs having oily oneseeded fruits 104. Radioactivity unit 106. Used of a number or amount not specified

Solution is on Page 4

3

4 1

4 1

5

1

6

4

2 8

9

Sudoku-Puzzles.net

3

7

6 Difficulty: Medium

9

1

2

5

4

8

5

8 4

3

Solution is on Page 4

2

Campus & City City Crime Logs

By Regine Sarah Capungan Daily Free Press Staff

The following reports were taken from the Allston-Brighton D-14

crime logs from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4.

Wonder brawl An incident of assault occurred at The Wonder Bar, located at 186 Harvard St., at about 10:20 p.m. Friday. Bouncers and other people present told police that a man at the bar was extremely intoxicated and threw punches at both of them. When the police confronted the suspect, the suspect seemed to be unsteady and said the bouncer assaulted him.

He later stated many times that the police were harassing him, and that he wanted to be left alone. Police told the suspect to leave the bar but the suspect refused. One officer attempted to escort the man out, but the man pulled his arm away. Officers then tried to restrain the suspect, who was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Gotta get that Rogaine At 1 p.m. on Friday, an incident of larceny occurred at a CVS Pharmacy store in Allston at 1266 Comm.

Ave. A CVS employee told officers that the suspect stole three boxes of Rogaine.

The employee said he was able to stop the suspect outside the CVS and recover this and other stolen items, including an Usher brand cologne kits, a six-pack case of 5-Hour Energy and Duracell batteries. The value of the goods he took is $236.

The employee described the suspect as a man with scruffy facial hair who wore all black and said he knew the suspect from previous shoplifting attempts. The suspect fled before the police arrived at the scene, and police could not find him after surveying the are Memo: Thief in office A wallet was stolen from a woman’s purse between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. on Thursday while she was at work at 1168 Comm. Ave. in Brighton.

The victim said she left her wallet in her purse, which was left at her desk. The wallet included credit and debit cards, her driver’s license and her Social Security number. The woman reported that there were several fraudulent charges at grocery stores on her credit and debit card, including at a Star Market in Chestnut Hill.

3

BU Students fight for meat-lite Mondays in dining halls

Drug Lab to Go

On Saturday, police responded to a call at about 12:52 a.m. regarding a possible abduction at 2025 Commonwealth Ave. in Brighton in which a man pushed a woman into his vehicle. When the police arrived at the scene, both women seemed upset and nervous. Police apprehended the suspect, who was sitting in the rear seat of the vehicle.

He was uncooperative with the officers and refused to answer questions. When the police frisked him, they found a small plastic bag that officers believed to contain heroin on the ground where the suspect was standing. The police also found a bag of suspected marijuana, a small electronic weighing scale and half of a pharmaceutical pill in the suspect’s pockets.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

PHOTO BY MICHELLE JAY /DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

College of Engineering junior Mathew Farmer takes a plate of black bean cakes from the vegan station at Marciano Commons Tuesday.

By Shannon Nargi Daily Free Press Staff

A number of Boston University students are proposing a new campaign to serve less meat on Mondays in the spring 2013 semester to cultivate food options and environmental friendliness, students said.

Meat-Reduction Mondays are being proposed as part of a sustainability campaign to increase the number of vegetarian options by 75 percent on Mondays in the dining halls and reduce, but do not eliminate, the meat options, said Gunita Singh, organizer of the campaign.

“A school like BU has an undeniable obligation to reduce its car-

bon footprint as much as possible,” Singh, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said.

The main focus of the initiative is reducing the carbon footprint of BU Dining Services. Singh said he hopes the initiative will address BU’s role in contributing to greenhouse emissions.

“If BU purchases less meat products one day of the week, the demand for meat goes down,” she said. “It all makes a difference in bringing down the supply of an industry which pollutes indiscriminately.”

BU Dining Services has a program called “Make A Difference

Monday” to offer more vegetarian and locally grown food options, said Sabrina Pashtan, the sustainability coordinator for BU Dining Services.

“One Monday per month, we have Make A Difference Monday in our dining rooms,” Pashtan said.

“It showcases foods with a lower carbon footprint and also locally grown food.”

Make A Difference Monday does not make as much of a difference as it could, Singh said. Since it only takes place once a month and there are often university holidays on Mondays, the initiative is not often implemented.

“That is not as substantial an impact as this Meat-Reduction Monday initiative would be,” Rachel Atcheson, CAS junior, said.

“We’re talking about 15 Mondays a semester versus three Mondays a semester. That’s five times more impactful.”

While some students said they support the efforts to decrease BU’s greenhouse gases, they are not convinced the implementation of the initiative would be accepted.

“I support it, I just feel like it could bring a lot of problems,” said College of Communication junior Melanie Rieders. “I think people may get offended.”

Rieders said although it is an interesting idea, having the initiative once a week might be too often.

“We already have something like that once a month,” she said.

“Make A Difference Monday still serves meat but in a healthy way, which is good.”

COM sophomore Erica Shulman said she understands why people would be opposed, but believes the additions for vegetarians would leave more choices for everyone.

“It would be healthier,” Shulman said. “There are only a few vegetarian and vegan options in each dining hall, so to know there’s a place everyone can go, even just once a week, to get a good meatless meal is great.”

While the food served under the initiative would include less meat options, Singh said the point is not to entirely eliminate meat. The group leading the action would be able to design the meals to be flexible, without alienating students who do eat meat.

“I understand completely that some people might feel as though, since they are adults, the school has no right to impose a day without meat on them,” Singh said. “We simply want to provide them foods that have not been manufactured with violence and cruelty, and have less, if any, of a carbon footprint.”

Katie O’Neill, a CAS junior, said despite initial reservations students might have, they should look harder at what can be achieved by implementing the initiative.

Longer class time for public schools Boston’s innovation, universities land could lead to more diverse colleges it as ‘Smartest City in North America’

By Rachel Riley Daily Free Press Staff

While a collaborative effort by state leaders, the Ford Foundation and the National Center on Time and Learning to add 300 hours of class time to select public schools might not directly affect BU students, School of Education professor Philip Tate said BU’s diversity might increase as a result.

Tate said the initiative is expected to help students in low-income neighborhoods that do not perform well in school, and some might become competitive enough for BU. “I would like to think eventually it would mean that BU would be accepting more students from high schools in working class and poor neighborhoods than we are now,” he said. “I’d like to think that eventually it might lead to a little more diversity in our student body.”

The TIME Collaborative, a threeyear pilot program, is expected to affect 5,066 students in Lawrence and Fall River during the 2013–14 school year and add class time to school year calendars in Colorado, Connecticut, New York and Tennessee.

“Something that we believe here is that it’s important not just to add a few hours onto the beginning or end of the day but really to make sure you’re using those hours wisely and thinking about, strategically, what are the students in your school maybe struggling with,” said Heather Johnson, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education.

Johnson said students, teachers and parents in Lawrence and Fall River school districts will have a part in choosing if the 2013–14 calendar includes an extension of school days or the school year.

“We want to make sure that schools who are using additional time are not just tacking it on to the beginning or end of the day, but that

they’re really using the time strategically to figure out what their students need to be able to be able to succeed and master their core subjects and give them the additional time they need to do that,” she said.

Students at school with extended learning initiatives should be better prepared for college, Tate said.

“They should have more content knowledge, and hopefully if they take our advice and do more interesting things with the extra time, they should actually be more creative and imaginative students as well,” he said.

Programs involving education time have been on the state agenda for a long time, Tate said.

“We have a good department of elementary and secondary education at the state level, and one thing they’re good at is thinking big,” Tate said. “They’ve always been looking for ways to improve student achievement and this is one of the things they’ve been thinking about for a long time.”

Tate said the state should avoid adding “drill-and-kill” instruction.

“If the use of extra time is for things like music lessons or robotic lessons or tutoring or individual projects, then students benefit from the extra time to solve problems and create,” he said. “Schools that have done that with their extra time have found that they’ve had a lot of success.”

Tate said adding instruction time to the school year could be successful, but will not eliminate other problems in the U.S. education system such as teaching quality.

“Adding hours to the school year in general is a good idea,” he said.

“They’re limited to how much that’s going to improve our schooling in the U.S. There are many other issues that we need to tackle if we want to improve the way we educate students in Massachusetts and in the country.”

SEE FULL STORY ONLINE

By Kyle Plantz Daily Free Press Staff

Boston’s Innovation District, the New Urban Mechanics office and density of university knowledge are a few reasons why the city lands as the smartest city in North America, one ranking system finds.

The ranking, conducted by Boyd Cohen of SmartCitiesHub.com, ranked cities based on the development and implementation of smart city strategies in the economy, environment, governance, living, mobility and people, Cohen explained in an article on the website Co.EXIST. Cohen said he developed a “smart cities wheel” as a universal model of smart cities and sought quality data to represent each of the six components of cities.

“I have developed a set of indicators and a range of actions that cities may choose to implement to achieve those drivers and to continue their smart cities journey,” Cohen said in an email. “I am now working with a major metropolitan city to develop a baseline for their city and then to develop targets and a range of shortand long-term smart city goals.”

Boston was the only city that was rated in the top five for each of the six components, he said.

“Boston achieved first place on my Smart Economy and Smart People,” he said. “Boston’s university system may be the most robust in the world. Furthermore, Boston’s innovation ecosystem is really impressive.”

Boston has an impressive entrepreneurial ecosystem supported through the mayor’s Innovation District and a world-class innovation system demonstrated by the New Urban Mechanics office, Cohen explained in his post on Co.EXIST, which cited San Francisco and Seattle as the second and third smartest cities.

But such rankings are dependent

on the perspectives of the person creating the system, said Nigel Jacob, co-chair of the mayor’s office of New Urban Mechanics.

“These rankings are interesting and they are certainly something to shoot for, but at the end of the day, I don’t know how helpful they are,” he said.

Nicole Fichera, Innovation District manager of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said innovation is a major part of Boston’s identity.

“Boston is historically an innovation city,” Fichera said. “We always have smart people here working on innovations.”

The Innovation District is Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s initiative to transform more than 1,000 acres of undeveloped land in Boston into a place where innovators live and work, according to Boston’s Innovation District website.

Fichera said although the city never provided information for this report, officials are content with the result.

“This is an independent report and the city didn’t provide information for it, but we are happy that Boston came out on top,” she said.

“What is important for us is that we are doing everything we can to support innovation in Boston.”

Jacob said New Urban Mechanics focuses on creating partnerships with different sectors to solve real problems in the city.

New Urban Mechanics is an approach to innovation that is focused on supplying services to Boston residents supported by Menino, according to the New Urban Mechanics website.

“Any city needs to be smart,” Jacob said. “It is really an approach or a way of thinking to be reflective and [seeing] how we are operating and adapting to these services for the population.”

SEE FULL STORY ONLINE

Boston decks the halls: 4

‘Tis the season: Holiday shopping on Newbury

By Carly Hoff Features Staff

T

he holidays might be the most wonderful time of year, but they can also be the most expensive. While buying festive presents for the entire family, shoppers empty their wallets and might even lose their holiday cheer along the way.

In an attempt to make life more affordable and enjoyable for shoppers, The Newbury Street League returns for the third year and offers more activities for participants.

Between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Dec. 8, the streets and stores of Newbury will come alive with live music, giveaways, decorations and special appearances — including Santa, his elves and the minions from Universal Pictures’ “Despicable Me,” said Newbury League Executive Director Michele Messino.

Stroll pulls in customers Since the holiday season is such a crucial time for retailers, the Newbury Street League — a group whose mission is to “beautify, market and promote businesses,” Messino said — dedication to activities like the Holiday Stroll are critical to the success of the busy shopping street.

“We started the Stroll to drive people to Newbury Street during the holiday season,” Messino said. “We know that we need to do something to attract people here. Members come up with great discounts and in-store promotions to bring customers in.”

The Holiday Stroll has grown year after year, starting with 47 stores, then 57 and now 71.

“It is usually really difficult to find affordable gifts for my family, so an opportunity like the this is a great way to purchase what they would like but within my price range,” said Lindsey Schwartz, a sophomore in the School of Management.

However, this one seasonal event is not all that the Newbury League has accomplished, Messino said. On a daily basis, the League is aware that marketing needs and

For G20, the holidays have proven to be “good for our business because brings in new people. And we do see new clients after events like this [Holiday Stroll], Fashion Night Out and Spaliday,” said Carlinne Adames and Taylor Marsh, who both work at the salon.

KIERA BLESSING JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Shoppers on Newbury Street brave the cold and the rain in preparation for the holiday season Tuesday afternoon.

strategies have changed, and they are dedicated to keeping up with consumers.

“We continue to work with our members daily to find out what their needs are [and] to create new ways to fulfill these different needs,” Messino said, describing the League’s marketing techniques. “Now we are more event oriented than print, although we do print still.”

An employer’s perspective Employees on Newbury Street said that the Holiday Stroll is beneficial to their businesses.

“The Holiday Stroll is a good way to get involved with the Newbury League and get into the holiday spirit,” said Morgan Burbank, who works at Britt Ryan, a women’s boutique on Newbury Street.

Many of the 2012 Holiday Stroll stores are not only offering goodies like cookies

and coffee to their browsers, but great deals as well, employees said.

To celebrate the Dec. 8 occasion, Burbank said that the Britt Ryan store plans on giving out Christmas cookies and holding drawings for $100, $200 and $300 Britt Ryan gift certificates.

“I think it [Holiday Stroll] is a good because it will bring a lot of new foot traffic — whether looking to buy gifts for friends and family or for a holiday outfit for themselves,” Burbank said.

Many stores also offer their own holiday promotions besides the collaborative efforts of the Holiday Stroll.

In addition to having people come in and get their “passports” stickered during the Stroll, the G20 Spa and Salon said they hosted a gathering called “Spaliday,” which attracted about 600 customers to the storefront this year.

Businesses focus on production Despite the amounts of promotion that the Newbury League has done for the 2012 Holiday Stroll, and the many stores affiliated with the walk, there are still many store employees who said they have opted out of the festivities.

Patrick Vardaro, Boston Olive Oil Company owner, decided not to partake this year, although he has in the past. This was not a deliberate decision he said.

“I didn’t get my act together in time to get involved,” Vardaro said.

However, Vardaro said he does not foresee his choice will hurt his holiday business, explaining that foot traffic is typically the same during the holidays, even without the Holiday Stroll bringing in new potential customers.

“We see a lot of student business,” he said. “It increases around the holidays because they are all buying for their parents.

Plus we see a lot of parents picking up their children coming in.”

Vardaro also said he is a member of the Newbury League, despite his inaction this holiday season, and that as a member, he is entitled to ad promotion, tree decorations outside the store and discounts with advertising opportunities, and he must attending monthly meetings.

As the holidays here, the Newbury Street Holiday Stroll is here to alleviate the stressors that come along with gift shopping. Whether seeking a merry environment or jolly treats, shopper can likely expect a unique holiday experience on Newbury Street Saturday.

Santa keeps spirits up despite upcoming fiscal cliff

By Melissa Adan Daily Free Press Staff

Standing in line to see Santa Claus with her 11-month-old daughter Maggie, Lincoln resident Jennifer Butler is one of many shoppers who are not deterred in their holiday shopping by impending talk of the “fiscal cliff.”

“The economy is not really affecting our Christmas shopping or our Santa photo-taking this year,” Butler said. “Since it’s her [Maggie’s] first Christmas we’re just going all out.”

Butler said she wants to make the “Santa in the City” activity a tradition for Maggie.

Although Santa Claus appeared at the Shops at the Prudential Center amid negative talk of the impending “fiscal cliff,” the state of the economy does not bother holiday shoppers, Saint Nicholas said.

“The economy doesn’t seem to be bothering them [shoppers],” said the Prudential Center Santa Claus. “I don’t think that’s much on anybody’s mind.”

The Shops at Prudential Center are sponsoring the “Santa in the City” occasion through Dec. 24, where families can come and take photos with Santa Claus.

This holiday season Santa’s photographer, Mark Ufland, owner of Memories

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

Cherub 3

8

6

7

4

2

9

1

5

9

1

4

5

8

6

7

2

3

7

8

6

5

4

1

2

2

3

9

4

7

6

5

5

7

1

2

3

8

9

9

6

8

1

2

3

4

1

9

2

3

5

7

6

3

4

5

7

1

9

8

4

2

3

6

8

5

1

8

5

7

9

6

4

3

6

1

4

In An Instant, said he has witnessed an increase in shoppers and customers.

“We’ve had a ton of repeat customers from last year,” Ufland said.

“I think that the number of shoppers doesn’t seem to be down, but I think maybe the number of bags that shoppers are carrying possibly is.”

Mathematics teacher Jeff McCalla said he is able to meet his personal objectives because he is on a budget, but the government is not.

“We kind of got ourselves into this and we need to start being more responsible as a nation, and it starts with our leaders spending less,” McCalla said.

“I live on a personal budget, and why can’t the government too?”

Ufland photographed McCalla and his co-worker teaching Santa Claus how to use a calculator in hopes of encouraging others to be fiscally responsible.

“We need to do something different,” said McCalla, a Memphis instructor. “I am a math teacher and the government is just spending too much money. They are not

being very fiscally responsible.”

Ufland said “Santa in the City” prices stayed the same to reflect the uneasiness with the economy among the general public.

Prices for Santa Claus photos range from packages starting at $19.99 to $22.99.

Customers can also add on Santa photo accessories and get key chains or snow globes with their photo.

McCalla said he had a feeling the government would solve the issue somehow.

“This whole term ‘fiscal cliff’ to me is a made-up thing,” he said. “I’m not sure that the world is going to end if they don’t fix it.”

As for Santa, despite the economy, he said this is more than a job.

“Once you put the red suit on you know right away whether it fits or not,” Santa said.

This is his 15th year in the Santa suit and overall he observed a positive trend.

“There are more people here this year than last year because now they know that we are here,” he said. “Word is spreading.”

8

Want more holiday cheer? Check out the blog!

2

freepblog.wordpress.com

9

7

Holidays light up Hub

5

Holiday Special brings extravaganza Mayor’s Holiday Special Activities Boston offers a plethora of holiday shows, gatherings and more. Among them are the annual Mayor’s Holiday Special activities.

Here are some upcoming highlights for students, locals and tourists to keep in mind this holiday season.

Craftboston Holiday, The Boston Center for the Arts Shop handmade gifts for loved ones in the South End this weekend while viewing local artwork Price: $15

Downtown Boston Holiday Market Downtown Boston keeps up its outdoor venues with a holiday market open every day until Dec. 29, featuring Santa Claus and other performers Price: Free

Anthony Williams’ Urban Nutcracker See a different interpretation of the holiday classic, the Nutcracker, with a mixture of hip hop, tap and more.

Playing throughout December at John Hancock Hall.

Discounted Price: $12.50-17.50

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas Musical Get into the holiday spirit with this musical at the Wang Theatre Discounted Price: $20.50-$37.50

Clay Aiken performance See the American Idol star, who released Merry Christmas with Love in 2004, perform at The Wilbur Theatre on Dec. 9 Discounted Price: $32.50

PHOTOS BY MICHELLE JAY AND MADELEINE ATKINSON/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Bostonians gathered at the Copley Square and Boston Common Tree Lighting for holiday festivities Nov. 27 and Nov. 26, respectively.

By Zarah Kavarana Daily Free Press Staff

With seemingly endless festive affairs, including low-cost shows, dining deals and numerous free activities, Boston has embraced the holiday season with the ninth annual Mayor’s Holiday Special.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino partnered with nonprofit ArtsBoston, which works with 170 Boston arts organizations to increase audience awareness and participation in holiday festivities throughout the city.

The program provides city-goers with halfpriced tickets to popular shows, dinner deals with a $10 voucher for purchases more than $40 at participating restaurants and free activities, including tree and menorah lightings, light shows and visits from Santa.

Tree lightings are a holiday staple in any city, and Boston has 37 of them, said Christopher Cook, director of Arts, Tourism and Special Events for the City of Boston.

Menorah lightings can be found citywide as well, he said. Nonprofit civic and business associations provide funds for the lighting.

“They really make everything possible,” Cook said.

The city partnered with Macy’s to bring Ma-

cy’s Enchanted Trolley Tour & Tree Lightings to the public, Cook said.

“The trolley, filled with Santa and his elves, will stop in 17 neighborhoods for a short play and a tree lighting countdown,” he said. “Our job is to provide the labor, and Macy’s provides the money.”

The tour puts donated trolleys, metro sponsors and actors all to good use, providing many residents with the joy of the holidays.

Kim Hine, account director at Slotkin Communications for ArtsBoston, said the program has been successful.

“This is the ninth year we’ve put on the Mayor’s Holiday Special, and each year it grows in popularity,” she said. “This year we’re definitely beating ticket sales of the past. The events offer something everyone can love.”

Cook said the festivities attract a recurring family demographic each year.

“Boston is a great home for the holidays.

It’s basically the same people, year to year, who come to these events,” he said. “Some people grew up skating on Frog Pond at the Boston Common and now make it a point to bring their kids there every holiday season. It’s something people keep circled on their calendars.”

The Holiday Special also features a series of artistic performances, including a Clay Aiken performance and a modern interpretation of a holiday classic, “The Nutcracker.”

A new, six-week LED light show, entitled Blink!, entertains people at Faneuil Hall with more than 350,000 lights and Boston Holiday Pops music, according to the Mayor’s Holiday Special website.

Residents from nearby communities said the city does a lot for the holidays.

Lisa Paulino, a 41-year-old stay-at-home mom from Uxbridge who stood in line to see Santa Claus at the Prudential Center, said Boston does a lot for the community.

“I don’t attend as often as I would like to, but I go a few times a year,” she said.

Shahid Ullah, 32, a businessman from Brighton, said he was impressed by the grandiosity of the projects.

“The city organizes decorations and light shows almost everywhere,” Ullah said. “When you see every little street here, and there it doesn’t seem that big, but when you see one street, then another street, then another street and put it all together, it’s a really big project. I think it’s quite impressive.”

Latkes for all: Hillel House gears up for annual Latkepalooza celebration

By Nora Philbin Daily Free Press Staff

The Florence and Chafetz Hillel House is preparing to host hundreds of Boston University students at its annual Latkepalooza feast on Dec. 11 to celebrate the Hanukkah season.

It is expected to offer free latkes, sufganiyot, or jelly donuts, and chocolate candy coins known as gelt, according to the Hillel website. Organizers will have dreidel games, a DJ and Chaim, the dancing dreidel, who will be available for photographs.

“It’s really just to celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah which is coming up,” said Julia Brandeis, vice president of outreach for Hillel’s Student Board. “The event is just free food, free traditional food that we eat on Hanukkah, and it is open to the whole BU community. We do a lot of events for good causes but this one is just to celebrate.”

Brandeis, a Sargent College of Health

and Rehabilitation Sciences junior, said the dinner is a celebration for everyone.

The gathering is a long tradition at Hillel to celebrate Hanukkah and has been running for about 20 years, said Hillel Director of Student Activities Lauren Shuman Perry.

Perry said 2012’s Latkepalooza has been advertised differently than in previous years.

“They’ve done a better job advertising for it,” she said. “So while it used to be just the dorm flyers, that is not one of the most important ways of communication at BU. People don’t really see them, they might not even get up on a floor and it’s been a lot about face-to-face communication, peer engagement, classes — just talking to people.”

Perry said she is expecting a significant turnout as a result of the new advertising.

“You can’t go by Facebook,” Perry said.

“But on Facebook it says, I think, there were

more than 300 people going, but I expect even more than that will actually show up.”

Brandeis said Latkepalooza will build on a donor program offered first at Latkepalooza in 2011.

“It’s called Gift of Life,” she said. “It’s a foundation that does cheek swabs for people, and so at the event you can go to the table and get your cheek swabbed and then they send it to a national database and then if you are a bone marrow match for someone, they call you and if you want to you could donate bone marrow.”

Brandeis said as a result of the bone marrow donor drive in 2011, one attendee received a call from a bone marrow match.

Despite increased political tensions due to the recently escalated Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Latkepalooza plans were not affected, Brandeis said.

“That is not connected with that event at all,” she said. “This is just a social and

cultural event, so it’s not really focusing on any political aspects.”

Alex Yedid, a College of Communication sophomore, said he is excited for Latkepalooza.

“I actually did not attend last year, but I am looking forward to it this year,” Yedid said Jade Perkins, a College of Engineering junior, said she was considering attending the dinner.

“I’ll go as long as I don’t have too much work, but it sounds like fun,” she said. “Everybody likes free food.”

“I’m just going for the latkes,” said COM sophomore Laura Meyers. “I don’t know anyone, but it seems like it will be a lot of fun and a lot of people will be there.”

Latkepalooza will take place on the third floor of the Hillel House in the dining hall from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Dec. 11.

6W

ednesday, december

5, 2012

Opinion

Rodeo Drive of the East Coast?

The Daily Free Press

The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University 42nd year F Volume 84 F Issue 51

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

P

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.

Ethics and photography

The New York Post received backlash for the cover photo of its Tuesday edition, which showed a man clinging to the side of a subway platform as a subway train comes rushing toward him. The man, 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han, was allegedly pushed into the tracks by an unidentified individual Monday. A freelance photographer captured Han struggling to lift himself onto the platform before Han was fatally struck by a train, according to an article in CNN. On social media networks Tuesday, users condemned the Post for running such a graphic image, and rightly so. The photo depicts the man struggling for his life, his death eminent.

If a reader finds this image is disturbing, imagine how Han’s children would react. Publishing this image on the cover, let alone at all, seems unethical. Aside from the graphic nature of the photo, the headline was also executed in poor taste. The words “DOOMED” run across the bottom of the page, while the sub-headline reads, “Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die.” On top of running a graphic image, the Post completely dehumanized the subject. Han was a father, a friend, not a spectacle. What is also disturbing is that at a glance,

the cover could look like a meme. Memes have distinct typefaces that seem to have been replicated here. While the word “doomed” in all caps could aptly convey fear and conflict in another story with a different page design, the headline, photo and layout in this story run the risk of conveying a different tone.

When asked why he took the photo instead of helping the man, the freelancer said he did try to help, but his idea of helping was firing his camera’s flash to warn the driver, according to CNN. The argument is weak at best, but from this emerges an age-old dilemma for journalists, especially photojournalists: whether to act as a reporter or a human.While we would have preferred the photographer put down his camera and assisted the Han, he was not obligated to do so. The rules of photojournalism dictate that a photographer does not interfere with the scene he or she is trying to capture. Some instances call for action, this is one of them. But, really, it is up to the individual photographer to decide whether or not to act.

In light of the criticism, it would be interesting to see if this incident encourages any photographers to come to the aid of the people they are filming in the future.

The Boston University Police Department arrested a 37-year-old male non-affiliate in Mugar Memorial Monday night for allegedly photographing female students.

It is frightening to hear that a non-affiliate was taking advantage of students, especially in a setting as seemingly peaceful as the library.

There, students’ greatest concerns are often with final projects and exams. Those studying at the library tend to rely upon the library as a space with few, if any, disturbances, which makes Monday’s incident all the more unsettling.What is also aggravating about this incident is its timing. It’s the end of the semester, and soon every seat in the library will be occupied by diligent, even frantic, students. This incident is one of the last things they want to think about. Not to mention, the BU community is still reeling from the string of assaults that involved several female students a few weeks ago. In November, BU students received an email from BUPD 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. While those assaults do

not appear to be connected, Monday’s incident is nonetheless disconcerting.

Looking forward, hopefully the BUPD takes some larger steps to protect students in the library — either by stepping up patrols or restricting access in some way. Mugar should be available for public use, within reason. We are entering the last week of classes. Finals are approaching, and soon the library is going to be open 24 hours. Students should feel comfortable studying there. Other universities restrict access to their libraries. For instance, Harvard University requires individuals to swipe their Harvard IDs upon entering Widener Library, the university’s flagship library. And it’s not like the public has limited access to these resources. The Boston Public Library and its many branches are available to them.

The suspect is banned from BU property, but whose to say a similar incident could not happen again? Monday’s incident is unsettling.

Hopefully the BUPD makes some larger effort to protect students at the library, especially in these last few weeks of the semester when the library is at its busiest and students are focused on preparing for finals.

Arrest in Mugar raises concerns

RACHEL CHISTYAKOV

ick up any tourist guidebook about Los Angeles and one of the first spots it will tell you to visit is Rodeo Drive.

Lined with designer shops, Rodeo is the perfect place to either go spend your parents’ entire fortune or window shop, dreaming of a day when you could possibly afford to live this type of lifestyle. Along with the luxurious shops, Rodeo is also surrounded by many popular restaurants that many people (including myself) can only afford to go to once or twice a year for a special occasion. The last time I visited Rodeo was over Thanksgiving break to celebrate my brotherin-law’s birthday.

My sister, who is 32, also made a big transition a few months ago when she decided to move her own family to Chicago. This was also her first time being back in months, and we had both forgotten about the splendor of Rodeo. We both stared into Chanel, Tiffany’s, Gucci and Valentino. We began to relive our fantasies of being able to walk into any of these stores with our pockets filled with money, spending it on whatever we could get our hands on.

But visiting these stores only made me think about the street that many people call “The Rodeo Drive of the East Coast,” Newbury Street. What I like about Newbury is that while it is home to many luxury stores, that is not what defines it. If I told my dad I was going to visit Rodeo for the day, he would immediately grab my wallet and car keys and then he would secure his bank account. But if I called him and told him I was making a trip to Newbury, he wouldn’t have the same reaction because while it has many of the fancy stores that also inhabit Rodeo, it also has many small salons and cute restaurants. Newbury offers shopping for many different people, not just the rich folks from Beverly Hills like Rodeo.

I also like that I can walk down Newbury and not feel pressured that I should be a multi-millionaire. Rodeo would always make me feel like I was setting my standards too low, as if I should be looking to start up my own business rather than become a therapist or even a school counselor. Being on Rodeo would make me believe that money

is all that matters, because it’s all that would surround me. There is no scenery around Rodeo, just the fancy stores next to the fancy restaurants on a street with all of the fancy cars. Tourists flock Rodeo as if it were the Jerusalem of California. I always feel so small and insignificant when I am there, as if I don’t matter in comparison to the huge brand names around me.

Newbury is much different. The stores aren’t so intimidating, and I can afford most of the things that I see when I go to visit.

Newbury is also extremely beautiful — I could go just to take a walk and not feel like I had to go inside of a store. The atmosphere is completely different, mostly because there are no tourists taking pictures of all of the stores or the nice cars. It’s relaxing. I never feel bombarded when I walk down Newbury, and I never feel ashamed of my family’s background or myself when I’m there.

Although some stores are very expensive, it’s nice that not all of them are. Being on Newbury is like a nice vacation away from the craziness of Rodeo.

I also have noticed that these two streets come with two very different reputations.

If I told someone new that I had just come back from shopping on Rodeo, they would instantly stereotype me as a rich princess from Hollywood who has access to her daddy’s wallet (or at least that’s how I stereotype all of the girls that I know who shop there).

But if I told someone that I was just shopping at Newbury, it wouldn’t have the some connotation. I’m not even sure if it would have a connotation, it just seems like another street with many stores lining it. Maybe I don’t know Newbury as well as Boston natives know it, but I can definitely tell that it is nothing like the infamous Rodeo. While most girls are sad to leave the luxury of Beverly Hills and Rodeo, I’m happy to say that I’m glad I’m not there anymore. It was very easy for me to say goodbye.

Rachel Chistyakov is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences and a Fall 2012 columnist for The Daily Free Press. She can be reached at rachelch@bu.edu.

Want your voice heard?

Submit a letter to the editor to: letters@dailyfreepress.com

Terrier Talk Reflections

The Daily Free Press asked students how they are celebrating the holidays in these coming weeks.

Here’s what some of them said.

INTERVIEWS AND PHOTOS BY MAYA DEVEREAUX

BONNIE ZENG

“I am going to the BU Chinese Student Association’s Christmas Exchange event.”

- COM freshman

BRIAN BARY

“I would celebrate on campus, but it’s the end of the semester, and my schedule is way too packed right now.”

- ENG junior

WASIF BALA

“I have to Secret Santa circles going on right now, one with a few floormates and the other with people in my medical program.”

- CAS freshman

ANNA STRANSKY

“My friends and I went to the Christmas Tree Ceremony in the Commons, and we also went ot see ‘The Nutcracker.’”

- CAS junior

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

7

Marasco: Sports rivalries should not lead to actual malice among fans Marasco: From Page 8

He missed the point. He took it way too far. He couldn’t separate a prank from real, tangible malice. He just didn’t get it.

I remember talking to the principal in her office about why we would do such a thing to each other — we all got lumped in with the one kid who took it too far.

On Saturday night, all I heard was a muffled smash, and a friend say, “Are you serious?” as we walked through the campus of Boston College after the Eagles’ 5–2 victory over BU. A sprinting student, wearing a BU hockey jersey in the distance, and a shattered, first-floor dorm window came into my sights.

In his frustration and anger, a peer of mine — which is painful to say — shattered the window

of a poor girl’s dorm room — her home.

Sweet, dude.

Her expression and indignantly raised arms said it all — “Why would anyone, especially some kid I don’t even know, break my window because of a hockey game?”

I will never have an answer for her.

BU-BC is a rivalry. The schools are down the road from each other. Both have elite hockey programs. Naturally, there’s a certain amount of back-and-forth poking that develops between those schools.

The games are exciting. It’s fun when there’s a little extra on the line — you want to beat your rival.

It raises the stakes and adds in-

trigue — the clashes with BC are the can’t-miss games.

But we don’t actually hate them. We don’t hate the team, fans or students on a personal level. That would be ridiculous! Why would anyone think that?

C’mon, man. Be able to separate chants and cheers from actual malice.

I witnessed a BU student periodically shooting off double-barrel middle fingers to the general masses of Conte Forum for what ended up totaling probably a third of the game.

He started taking “selfies” of himself and his buddy holding up their middle fingers to the crowd.

Sick, bro.

“Aww, dude. Check it. BC sucks, man. I hope they die.

Haha.”

You’re an idiot.

You don’t get it.

When people do their chants and jeers at BC, it’s supposed to be in good fun. The BC students do it back. Some chants are clever, some are a little racier, but at the end of the day it’s harmless.

It’s just college kids being dumb and having a little fun at the game.

When people call BC an “outhouse” or poke fun at the students, they don’t actually believe that to be true.

You really think that campus resembles an outhouse?

You really think when BU students boo BC fans on the jumbotron it’s because they have actual ill-will toward them?

Of course not. It’s just fun to mess around with your rival.

There’s no harm in a few boos

and hisses.

You’re not supposed to actually hate another human being because of a sporting event. That’s ridiculous!

Don’t be an idiot. Do not break the window of someone’s home.

Are you kidding me?

Don’t be that guy.

You, the middle-finger guy, you, the window-smashing guy — you’re not funny.

You don’t get it.

You embarrass yourself, and it embarrasses me to be called your “peer.”

Don’t ruin everyone’s fun.

We separate things in life — church and state, business and pleasure, drinking and driving, apple pie and tuna fish.

Learn to separate a sports rivalry from actual malice.

Watson Jr., BU’s Grzelcyk tabbed Hockey East’s top rookie in November Papale make early impact Men’s hockey: From Page 8

Men’s basketball: From Page 8

His 3-point shooting was on point, and for a BU offense that was struggling a bit, it was just the spark they needed.

Starting during the Terriers’ loss at Rutgers University (4–2) on Nov. 21, Watson Jr. has begun to limit turnovers, which hurt him earlier in the season. He has been scoring more and is doing a much better job of playing point guard.

His play, along with the play of his fellow teammates, has been a great improvement and is an integral part in the team earning its first two wins.

“It’s what I thought when we recruited them,” Jones said. “They’ve all contributed the way we expected them to. We’re hoping that [they] keep getting better.”

Crashing the Glass Going into this season, one of the struggles facing the Terriers was how their team was going to do in terms of rebounding. Compared to other teams, BU is not the largest physically. Its tallest players are freshman forward Justin Alston and senior Chris Kurz, who both stand at 6-foot-8.

Its center, junior Dom Morris, is not a traditional center, as he is only 6-foot-7.

Despite being outsized by most of the teams they have played thus far, the Terriers have done a pretty good job of playing “big.” During the team’s first victory against Coastal Carolina (2–4), BU was only out-rebounded by one.

This statistic came as a bit of a surprise, considering how much larger Coastal Carolina’s forwards and centers are in comparison to BU’s. Coastal Carolina was also out-rebounding its opponents by nearly 10 rebounds per game.

Despite the Chanticleers’ rebounding prowess, players like sophomore forward Malik Thomas, who are not necessarily the largest, but have long arms, have been coming up big for the Terriers on the boards, helping the team to be successful.

“We were concerned about our rebounding at the beginning of the season,” Jones said. “We’re a much better rebounding team than I thought, for sure. Everybody is contributing now, which has been a big help for us.”

Parker praises York In the final minutes of Saturday night’s game, with then-No. 1 Boston College comfortably leading BU 5–2, the home crowd rung out a chant far more common on daytime TV than at Conte Forum: “Jerr-ry! Jerr-ry! Jerr-ry!”

No, the BC students were not chanting for Springer. They were cheering for York, the 19-year Eagles head coach who with the win tied former Bowling Green and Michigan State University coach Ron Mason as the all-time winningest NCAA hockey coach with 924 victories.

BU coach Jack Parker congratulated York at center ice after the game and afterward gushed with praise for his long-time friend.

“He deserves all the accolades,” Parker said. “It’s hard for people to believe this because he’s been around so long and he’s been so successful and he’s won so many games, but I still don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.”

York got his start at Clarkson University, where he won 125 games in seven seasons. He then replaced Mason himself at Bowling Green, adding another 342 wins over the course of 15 seasons.

He returned to BC, his alma matter, for the 1994–95 season and has been there ever since.

After a few seasons of mediocrity, York’s Eagles have made the NCAA tournament 13 times in the

last 15 seasons.

“He has done an unbelievable job making this program the best it’s ever been,” Parker said. “And this is a place where they’ve had two other coaches that have won 500 games, so this place has had a lot of good hockey for a long, long time.

“He’s the best they’ve ever had here.”

Grzelcyk selected to WJC preliminary roster As has been the case in recent years, BU may be without one if its prominent young players during winter break.

USA Hockey announced Tuesday that BU freshman defenseman Matt Grzelcyk made the primary national junior team roster for the upcoming World Junior Championships. He will practice with the team for a week before the final roster is announced Dec. 23.

Should Grzelcyk make the team for the tournament, to be held in Russia Dec. 27 through Jan. 5, he will miss at least two BU games: at the University of Denver on Dec. 29 and at home vs. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Jan. 4.

Team USA’s final roster has included a Terrier each of the last five years, most recently Charlie Coyle and Adam Clendening on last year’s team.

Hockey East honors Terriers Hours after USA Hockey announced the news about Grzelcyk and the national team, Hockey

East named him the league’s rookie of the month.

Grzelyck continued his apparently seamless transition to the college game, putting up eight points and a plus-4 rating in November. Both of his two goals game against Boston College.

“He’s been pretty poised since he arrived,” Parker said of Grzelyck Friday after the rookie scored the game-winning goal against BC. “He’s a pretty confident kid.”

Additionally, freshman Sean Maguire was runner-up for goalie of the month. Maguire, who has in effect been BU’s number two goalie this season, had a 1.68 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage in three November starts.

Hockey East on Monday honored sophomore forward Evan Rodrigues as co-player of the week for his three-point (two goals, one assist) weekend against the Eagles.

Gill/Ahti with strong games Friday While it may not show in the box score, Grzelcyk and Rodrigues were not the only players with strong showings against BC. After Friday’s 4–2 win, Parker singled out freshman defenseman Ahti Oksanen and junior forward Sahir Gill as having played particularly well.

“Ahti Oksanen had a great night, might have been his best night playing for us,” Parker said. “I thought he really played sharp.”

Parker has spoken highly of the Finnish import, an offensiveminded blueliner, for much of the season, especially after Oksanen won a consistent spot in the Terrier lineup.

Oksanen’s five points (three goals, two assists) rank third among BU’s seven non-goalie freshmen.

On the other end of the ice, Gill’s move a couple weeks ago to the third line seems to be paying off.

While the point production may not totally be to Gill’s liking, he has performed better when being paired with freshmen Wes Myron and Sam Kurker.

“Of all our forwards, Sahir Gill played the best,” Parker said after Friday’s game. “He had an unbelievable game, really worked hard [and was] great in the corners making some plays.”

They’re number one The latest version of the national rankings came out Monday, and BU was slotted seventh in both the USCHO and USA Today versions.

It is the team’s highest ranking all season.

The two other Hockey East mainstays, UNH and BC, stayed at the top of both polls, though this week they flip-flopped: UNH is now No. 1, BC No. 2.

So, when BU visits UNH in Durham, N.H., Thursday night, it will be the third straight game in which the Terriers play the topranked team in the country.

Minutewomen to bring strong offense to matchup with Terriers Women’s basketball: From Page 8

Greenberg about the 2011–12 season’s matchup. “We didn’t play our best game, and I know they’ll definitely want to play better than last time.”

The last two seasons did not go the way the Minutewomen wanted.

The 2011–12 season saw UMass finish a lowly 8–21 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

This season has not started much better for UMass. Although it opened the season with a win against Kent State University, it dropped six of its next seven games, most recently losing its last game to Miami University by 10 points.

Looking at the numbers, it is odd to see UMass at such a low record. In their first eight contests, the Minutewomen are shooting 42.6 percent from the field

and 38.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc, culminating in a scoring average of 62.9 points per game.

They also have three players who are averaging double-digit points on the season. They are led in most part by senior center Jasmine Watson. Watson, who is in her final year at UMass, has already compiled a strong season.

She is shooting 56.1 percent from the field and is scoring an average of 14.3 points per game.

Also playing a large role in the offense is senior point guard Dee Montgomery. She leads the team in assists with 38, giving her close to five assists per game.

“We’ve been doing a nice job shutting down the other team’s best player,” Greenberg said. “So we’re ready for Watson and their point guard Montgomery.”

Not only have the Minutewomen scored at a nice clip, but they also have a positive rebound margin by 4.3 rebounds per game, helped in large part by Watson’s 7.1 rebounds per contest. They are also averaging 1.6 more blocks per game than their opponents.

However, these numbers do not tell the full story. There is one key factor that has been hindering UMass all season long — turnovers. Through eight contests this season, it has averaged 24.4 turnovers per game, giving it a staggering negative 6.5 turnover margin.

The turnovers have created many opportunities for opponents to turn the tide in games.

“Yeah we’d like to get turnovers,” Greenberg said. “But we’re not going to give any easy buckets, especially in transition, which they like to do.”

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Senior forward Mo Moran has averaged 11.0 points per game this season.

“

“

Quotable

We’ve been doing a nice job of shutting down the other team’s best player.

-BU coach Kelly Greenberg

Page 8

The Empty Net Sweet, Dude

Frank Marasco When I was in seventh grade, my friends and I discovered a strange, but at the time hilarious (to us) prank that took the school cafeteria by storm.

All of us had to wear plain, white uniform shirts to school every day. They stained very easily.

Any sort of little blemish would boldly stand out on the boring white button-downs.

We discovered that pricking tiny holes in grapes, then tossing them at unsuspecting classmates would leave noticeable and funny-looking purple dots on the drab shirts.

“Graping” someone, we called it.

You’d grape your buddy, he’d grape you back. We’d share a laugh. We’d look funny in our purple-spotted shirts. Mom would wash the shirts at the end of the week, and the stains would come out. No big deal.

Getting hit by a grape doesn’t hurt anybody. Yeah, we were dumb kids, but it was fun for us.

It brightened our day a little bit. It was harmless.

Well, it was harmless until someone took it too far.

I remember watching it. A kid in our grade took a bag of grapes and smashed it on the back of a less-popular classmate’s neck while he wasn’t looking — while the principal was strolling through the cafeteria.

We all face-palmed. “You idiot,” we collectively thought.

The kid who did it thought he was being hilarious.

It wasn’t funny. The fun of graping was to scatter harmless purple dots on the white shirt of a friend, not forcibly hitting random people from behind.

We didn’t want to humiliate less popular kids or cause anyone physical harm. We didn’t have any malice behind it. It was just one of those stupid little pranks that kids do to each other for kicks.

Were we a bunch of knuckleheads?

Sure.

But were we doing anything harmful?

No. It was just friends messing with friends.

Marasco, see page 7

Sports

W. Basketball vs UMass, 7 p.m.

to win it

The Boston University women’s basketball team is set to take on the University of Massachusetts at Case Gymnasium Wednesday night. P.8.

[ www.dailyfreepress.com ]

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Cissé leaves men’s hockey team

By Tim Healey Daily Free Press Staff

Redshirt sophomore forward Yasin Cissé has left the Boston University men’s hockey team, according to a team press release Tuesday night.

The 20-year-old forward had a tumultuous two-and-a-half years on Commonwealth Avenue, during which totaled two goals and five assists in 39 games while battling injury and confidence issues, both of which led to a struggle for playing time.

Cissé, a quick, 6-foot-3, 215-pound right wing, was highly regarded when arriving at BU, but a number of injuries limited him in terms of reaching his potential.

BU head coach Jack Parker, who would not comment Tuesday night, said on multiple occasions during Cissé’s tenure as a Terrier that he could be a big-time point scorer for BU. “Cissé is a candidate to make a big jump,” Parker said in late September. “He’s been away from the game for two years because of injury, one a really severe injury.

He’s playing with more confidence now than we’ve seen.

“I have no question he has the ability to be a very, very good player in this league and a guy that could get a lot of ice time for us.

I think he’s more mentally ready to do that now than he ever has been. Some guys are late bloomers because they’re late bloomers.

Some guys have injuries.”

Count Cissé among the latter.

He missed much of the 2009– 10 season and the all but one game of the 2010–11 season after injuring the same ankle twice.

He got off to a late start the

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Redshirt sophomore forward Yasin Cissé left the Boston University men’s hockey team Tuesday. The Westmount, Quebec native had recorded two goals and five assists in 39 games with the Terriers.

following year, his first full one as a Terrier, due to a concussion. After shaking off the rust for a few weeks, Cissé got into the lineup 25 times, usually on the third or fourth lines, during the 2011–12 season. He finished with two goals and three assists.

Cissé was not content at times last season and reportedly left the bench early during a late January

game against the University of Maine.

The Westmount, Quebec, native struggled points-wise throughout the first two months of his sophomore season, but had been on the first line the last few weeks and started to garner some time on the power play.

The BU release stated Cissé “has decided to pursue other

hockey endeavors in his native Canada.”

The Atlanta Thrashers, now the Winnipeg Jets, picked him in the fifth round (150th overall) in the 2010 NHL Draft. Cissé was also drafted by the Montcon Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2008.

Men’s hockey, see page 7

Men’s basketball gets back on Women’s basketball set to track after slow start to season take on struggling UMass

By Christopher Dela Rosa Daily Free Press Staff

It was not a pretty start for a Boston University men’s basketball team that entered its first game against Northeastern University with only two seniors — both walkons — on the roster and two freshman, a sophomore and two juniors in the starting lineup. Needless to say, it is a very young team overall.

The Terriers (2–5) faced the Huskies (4–3) and suffered a heartbreaking defeat as guard Demetrius Pollard pulled up from the 3-point line with the clock winding down and nailed a last-second shot, leaving BU with 0.7 seconds to heave a full-court shot that would ultimately prove futile.

Following the loss at Northeastern, the losing trend continued for BU as it dropped its next four games.

Aside from arguably its worst loss, which came against George Washington University, the team suffered other close losses, like its 81–79 loss at Rutgers University.

“I thought before that [first win] we were playing very well,” said

The Bottom Line

Wednesday, Dec. 5

Minute

The Daily Free Press

Thursday, Dec. 6

M.Basketball @ Coastal Carolina, 7 p.m.

M. Hockey @ New Hampshire, 7 p.m.

BU coach Joe Jones. “We were just a few possessions away from winning games.”

The team got its first win in a major way, as they hosted Coastal Carolina University and sent it back to South Carolina with a 74–44 loss.

The Terriers followed this victory with their first road win by defeating St. Peter’s University, 74–66, thus sending the team in the right direction as the season enters its second month.

Valuable Young Talent Due to their overall young age, the Terriers came into this season as a team building for the future. They recruited well by getting one of the nation’s fastest point guards, freshman Maurice Watson Jr., a top-25 shooter, freshman guard John Papale and former Mr. Kentucky, freshman forward Nathan Dieudonne.

These players have all had big impacts on the team thus far. Earlier in the season, the most impactful player of these three was Papale.

Men’s basketball, see page 7

Friday, Dec. 7

No Events Scheduled The Hornets will change their name to the Pelicans. The Bobcats are expected to follow by becoming the Kitty Cats.

By Andrew Battifarano Daily Free Press Staff

After taking back-to-back games, the Boston University women’s basketball team will seek its third victory in a row when it takes on the University of Massachusetts at Case Gymnasium Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

The last two games saw the Terriers (5–3) take control on both sides of the court. After defeating the University of Rhode Island single-handedly by a score of 54–29, the Terriers pulled an upset Saturday by defeating No. 15/17 ranked St. John’s University. St. John’s (4–2) came into the game highly ranked and regarded as one of the premier teams in the NCAA, but the Terriers made it look easy, cruising to a 17-point victory.

The Terriers did a great job spreading the ball around. Junior forward Rashidat Agboola and senior guards Mo Moran and Chantell Alford each scored in the double digits. The movement of the ball kept the Red Storm off balance and allowed the Terriers to

Saturday, Dec. 8 M. Hockey vs. Maine, 8 p.m.

W. Hockey @ Minnesota-Duluth, 4 p.m.

W. Basketball @ Marist, 7 p.m.

control the flow of the game.

Junior captain Danielle Callahan added 14 points in the win. The guard has been a strong presence off the bench so far this season, averaging 8.5 points per game while recording a .432 3-point-shooting percentage.

The offense was accompanied by a strong defense led by junior forward Whitney Turner. Their defense held the Red Storm to 26.7 percent shooting for the first half, and a game total of 30.6 percent shooting from the field. BU held the Red Storm to only one doubledigit scorer and held top offensive threat, guard Shenneika Smith, to only nine points.

Now standing in the way of a Terrier three-game winning streak is in-state rival UMass (2–6). Last season, the two battled it out in the early part of the year and BU dropped a close game by a score of 55–49.

“Our returning players remember that one,” said BU coach Kelly

Women’s basketball, see page 7

Sunday, Dec. 9 W. Hockey @ Minnesota-Duluth, 4 p.m.