2-8-2018

READ ALL ABOUT IT, 2

MIRROR MAZE, 5

LADY CHIPS, 9

SOFTBALL PREVIEW, 11

New public library opens in Chinatown – the first in over 60 years.

Museum of Science exhibit explores hidden patterns in nature.

PepsiCo annouces new line of chips targeted toward women.

BU softball will look for a championship this season.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

YEAR XLVI. VOLUME XCIV. ISSUE IIII

Racist slur on students’ door spurs investigation

BY ANDRES PICON

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston University Police Department is in the midst of an investigation after a student reported someone had written a racist slur on a whiteboard on their door Monday morning.

The slur, which was discovered Monday, the morning after the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII, was followed by lewd comments about the Eagles and President Trump scrawled over a note that read “GO BIRDS.” “This is an attack on our residents and community, and is antithetical to who we are as a larger community and to the basic respect for human beings that we, personally, hold,” Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said in an email to the residents of the dorm at 33 Harry Agganis Way. “This is unacceptable and we are better than that.”

While the investigation is still underway, Elmore said the BUPD believes it has identified the person responsible for writing the slur.

BU Spokesman Colin Riley said university officials hope to update students on the status of the investigation in the coming days.

As for the consequences the culprit will face, Elmore said, there will be formal, university-enforced consequences, but perhaps more significant are the social and moral consequences the culprit will endure from their peers.

“There are a lot of ways you can hold people accountable, and

I think the sanctioning, or the lack of sanctioning, among peers is probably one of the more powerful ways,” Elmore told the Daily Free Press. “Whoever this person is, they have friends, they interact with people, and I hope that the people they interact with are also holding their friend or their peer accountable.”

In the meantime, while officials attempt to understand the context of the incident, Elmore said he hopes students engage with each other about the significance of the issue. Unfortunately, he said, the incident is representative of a larger problem that exists in society — a problem that exists at but is not necessarily unique to the university.

“I don’t think we are far away from the society, unfortunately,” Elmore said. “I don’t think it’s isolated, but that’s why we have to keep working at this and I hope that people are able to engage each other around this sort of thing in a constructive way and also in a way that lets you talk about your anger and the offense and the deep-seated hurt that goes with this too.”

Elmore added that despite the pain that an incident like this one brings to the university, he is hopeful that it will prompt students to unite and take action against the attitudes and behaviors that are exhibited by the people who commit these kinds of obscenities.

“You’ve got to deal with your own anger, you’ve got to

Mass. ranked most educated state in U.S.

BY SARIKA RAM

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A student wrote a racial slur on a door in StuVi2.

deal with your own frustration, you’ve got to deal with your own fatigue around things like this and you also have to deal with each other,” Elmore said. “People don’t leave the Earth who do and say these things, and so we still

PHOTO COURTESY DEV BLAIR

have to deal with each other.”

The university is asking that anyone who has information that could be helpful to the investigation share it with the BUPD, BU Residence Life, or the Dean of Students office.

Massachusetts was ranked the most educated state in the country, beating out Maryland and Connecticut for the top spot.

The report was conducted by WalletHub, a personal finance website, and evaluated several categories, including overall educational attainment and quality of education, both of which Massachusetts ranked first in.

The state notably has the highest proportion of residents with bachelor’s, graduate and professional degrees in the country.

The high rate of educational attainment among Massachusetts residents is caused in part by the presence of the technology, medicine and higher education sectors. These high-profile industries attract migrants to the state, said Tricia Kress, graduate program director of the Urban Education, Leadership and Policy Studies doctoral program at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

“Because of the particular context of Massachusetts, you wind up having an influx of migrants to the state, whether they’re domestic migrants [or] international … for a particular industry,” Kress said.

Alex Jelicich, 27, of Fenway, said a college degree is probably necessary to be hired in CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

CGSA advocates for more gender-inclusive housing, restrooms

PHOTO BY JOHN LITTLE/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Rachel Bennetts speaks during a meeting at the CGSA office in the George Sherman Union.

BY HALEY LERNER

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University’s Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism has finalized a proposal that advocates for transgender and

non-binary students in regards to housing and bathrooms. The proposal is meant to update the current gender-neutral policies at BU. The group is meeting with

Crystal Williams, BU’s associate provost for diversity and inclusion, next week to present her with the Gender Inclusive BU proposal they have been developing over the last semester.

Rachel Bennetts, a collaborator on the project, said the proposal has been in the works since the time of the original gender-neutral BU campaign in 2013, which was also led by the CGSA. The group decided to present the proposal this year because of Williams’ appointment last fall.

“She is new to the university, and she has fresh eyes, and we kind of wanted to tell her what it’s like before she maybe falls into step with what everyone else thinks,” Bennetts, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.

Williams wrote in an email that she hopes to learn more about the proposal in her meeting with CGSA, in an effort ensure that the two parties have an understanding of the issues at hand.

“I’ll now circle around to them to make sure we’re all on the same page and that their expectations are in accord with my own.”

One policy Bennetts said the CGSA wants BU to expand upon is gender-neutral housing. The fact that the housing program is

centered around student choice often excludes students who really need it.

“The bulk of our housing proposal is that it’s supposed to be centered around the people who need it more and that it should be on an unlimited basis,” Bennetts said. “We think that everyone who wants to be in gender-neutral housing should have the choice.”

Brian Stanley, CGSA’s internal liaison, said gender-neutral housing at BU should also be accessible to freshmen, which it currently is not.

“I think it can almost come across as invalidating if you’re a freshman and you can’t access this housing,” Stanley said. “I think that really puts a negative stigma on all of this. So, it’s important to have it accessible. A lot of our strategic peers have it accessible for freshmen.”

Stanley said the proposal will also include a request for more gender-neutral bathrooms in BU buildings so transgender and CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

2 NEWS

Library returns to Chinatown after more than 60 years CAMPUS Crime Logs

BY HANNAH SCHOENBAUM DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston Public Library opened its new Chinatown branch last Saturday, becoming the first public library in the neighborhood since 1956. Though this branch is a temporary installation, a new library is scheduled to open in a few years, closer to both the center of Chinatown and the previous library’s location on Tyler Street.

Located on the bottom floor of the China Trade Center near the Boylston T station, the library is clearly marked with signage along the side of an escalator. It is smaller than most other branches of the BPL, but houses a unique collection of books, discs and other equipment, with a prominence of materials written in Mandarin Chinese.

Branch librarian Allen Knight said he has seen firsthand the community-building effect the library has had, even on its opening day last Saturday. “[Chinatown residents] are very thankful for the library and it really is being used and appreciated.” Knight said.

Knight, a Dorchester native and former head librarian of the Dudley branch of the BPL, said he was chosen to head this library due to his prior experience and fluency in Mandarin.

“Last Saturday, when the library opened and we had the red ribbon cutting, the kids who had campaigned to get the library open when they were still [grade school] students came back to celebrate what they had done,” Knight said. “Some of them even traveled home from college to see it.”

The Chinatown library has already attracted large crowds in its first week, with most visitors populating the communal section in the front of the library, where visitors can sit and read once they have checked out their books. The library has additional access to the BPL database, which makes up for its lack of physical space, Knight said.

The library is primarily staffed with multilingual librarians, like Knight, who speak English and Mandarin and are able to commu-

BY SOPHIA BROWN

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The following reports were taken from the Boston University Police Department crime logs from Jan. 31- Feb. 4.

Armed robbery at 73 Ashford St. BPD reported at 10:19 p.m. on Jan. 31 that an armed robbery had occurred in the rear of 73 Ashford St. BPD and BUPD officers searched the area but did not find anything.

Malicious property destruction in Warren Towers

The Boston Public Library has opened a branch in Chinatown.

nicate with community members of various ethnic backgrounds.

Susan Roman, 38, of East Boston, said she is happy to see the return of a Chinatown library, and thinks the community can benefit from the establishment.

“There are all these kids of different ethnicities living in the Chinatown area now,” Roman said. “I think it will be good for them to be able to take advantage of the educational programs offered by the Boston Public Library system in their own neighborhood.”

Another unique feature of the library is a prominent children’s section, which takes up over a third of the library’s space and is stocked with children’s books in both English and Mandarin.

Annie Li, 7, of Chinatown, said she was so excited to have a library in her neighborhood that she asked her mom to bring her there every day this week after school. Although Li said she cannot read all the words in every book just yet, having access to a nearby library has inspired her to learn new words so she can read them all one day.

“I get all these books now,” Li told The Daily Free Press as she

skipped down the children’s fiction aisle. “They’re all mine and I’m going to read them all and we’re going to get one of the cards that lets you take them home if you want. Can you believe that?”

Such advocacy groups such as the Friends of the Chinatown Library and the Chinese Youth Initiative have been petitioning the Boston government for a new library for over a decade. According to the FCL website, the original Chinatown library was closed to make way for the Boston Central Artery freeway project, which made it easier to drive straight through Boston without having to travel down side roads.

Since the closing, temporary “pop-up” libraries and “book mobiles” have appeared in Chinatown for many decades, the website states.

However, no attempt at a permanent library was made until the then-candidate Boston Mayor Martin Walsh signed a pledge in 2013 to bring a public library back to Chinatown.

In his 2017 State of The City address, Walsh promised to reinstate a Chinatown public library, according to a press release from Walsh’s office. He said the new library location will function for three to five years while plans for a longer-term

PHOTO BY VIVIAN MYRON/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

library facility are created.

“I’m so proud that today fulfills our promise to the Chinatown community and brings library services back to this neighborhood for all to enjoy,” Walsh said on the opening day of the library. “So many Chinatown residents have waited decades for this day and the opening of this space marks our commitment to ensuring all neighborhoods have the resources and support they need. I look forward to residents benefitting from this space and services.”

Mike Wilder, 53, of Dorchester, said he came to explore the new library to see what resources it provides to the Chinatown community.

Wilder said he was impressed with what he saw and thinks the new branch is an important institution for young residents.

“The local kids here needed a space to come learn and have access to books and tapes in their native language and now they have that,” Wilder said. “I’ve seen so many kids in here with their families, talking in all different languages, and I think this has the potential to be a really special space for them.”

John Turini contributed to the reporting of this article.

A caller reported at 11:53 p.m. on Sunday that someone had come to the Residence Life Office in 700 Commonwealth Ave. to file a vandalism report. The report was filed and the Office of Facilities Management and Planning was contacted to make repairs.

CITY

Crime Logs

BY ELEANOR HO

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The following reports were taken from the Boston Police Department crime logs from Feb. 1.

Officer responds to heroin overdose

An officer responded to a call for an unconscious male at 9 Tip Top St. at 2:03 a.m. Thursday.

When the officer arrived at the scene, Emergency Medical Services informed the officer that the victim was revived via Narcan after overdosing on heroin.

Name, pictures used to create false PayPal A victim reported an incident of fraud/impersonation to an officer around 11:15 a.m. Thursday at 100 Linden St. The victim stated that someone used her Facebook profile pictures and name to create fraudulent PayPal, Yahoo Mail, Align Credit Union and Glu accounts.

Doctoral students to receive expanded benefits in the coming year

BY KIRAN GALANI

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University’s Office of Graduate Affairs is expanding Ph.D. student benefits and resources this year, introducing several changes, including a three percent increase to the stipend rate for Ph.D. students on the Charles River Campus beginning next fall, according to Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs Daniel Kleinman.

Additional changes include a Ph.D. summer internship program for students studying humanities and an increase in the resources available for Ph.D. students with children.

BU currently operates under a full-funding model for Ph.D. students. Based on this model, every student who is accepted into a Ph.D. program on the Charles River Campus is guaranteed a five-year stipend, tuition, health benefits and other relevant resources.

The new changes planned for Ph.D. student benefits are structured

to expand upon the resources already available through the full-funding model. Kleinman said there were many motivations that led up to expanding Ph.D. student benefits.

“In an ideal world, you want to provide students support so that they’re able to get the best education possible and they are able to take the most possible advantages from being here,” Kleinman said. “[This] would include doing research and so on, opening up a broader sense of opportunity for these students.”

Kleinman, who recently began working at BU from the University of Wisconsin, said he introduced several new ideas to the department in the last year. He said his experiences in Wisconsin helped him look at BU’s situation with a fresh perspective, allowing him to bring in ideas that have been successfully implemented at other universities.

“We’re competing with other universities for these students,” Kleinman said. “And the better

benefits we can provide to these students — the more programming we can provide for these students that is co-curricular, in addition to their curriculum — the better we’re going to be able to recruit students.”

Will Koch, a fourth-year Ph.D. student studying computer science, said he is in favor of the new changes because they would help improve students’ quality of living and the quality of their work.

“Right now, we’re basically getting paid just enough to get by in Boston, so any increase in our stipend would definitely help a lot,” Koch said.

One of the biggest new opportunities is the Ph.D. internship program, created through a joint initiative between Kleinman and the Center for Humanities at BU. Susan Mizruchi, the director of the BU Center for the Humanities, said the changing nature of work in society signaled that it was time to adjust what the department has to

offer to Ph.D. students.

“Even my best students end up in non-academic career paths, not necessarily involuntarily, but because those seem most exciting to them,” Mizruchi said. “They seemed to offer the best prospects to them of having both substantial careers and good economic compensation but also just doing exciting intellectual work.”

Mizruchi said the department hopes interns learn from their experiences the kinds of skills they have been developing at BU. Some BU students said they were concerned about the fact that the decisions to expand Ph.D. benefits were made after a group of graduate students decided to come together to form a union.

Roland Welter, a graduate student studying mathematics, said he believed these changes might have negative connotations.

“In 2015, the National Labor Relations Board [said] grad students can form unions and win contracts to

have stable work environment with stable benefits,” Welter said. “This increase in benefits seems to me as a diversionary measure to discourage us from forming a union.”

Other students said that regardless of the intentions behind them, the changes present several new opportunities to the Ph.D. students who wish to make use of them.

Katie Kao, a graduate student studying psychology, said she sympathizes with Mizruchi’s point of view and that she thinks the benefit expansions could give potential interns more applicability if they wanted a career in a field outside of academia.

“It’s hard, because I know just from being in my PG program that there’s not a lot of free time,” Kao said. “A lot of our time goes to research, so it’s hard to find those opportunities, so it’s nice if BU provides the resources and it helps [Ph.D. students] get more real-life experience.”

NEWS 3

BUild Lab showcases innovative student clubs on campus

PHOTO BY LEXI PLINE/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Esther Tu, a member of the Guerilla Marketing Society, talks to an attendee of the Innovation Club Fair at the BUild Lab.

BY CAMILLE MOJICA

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The new BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center, which opened its doors for the first time last week, is a central component in Boston University’s new plan to promote student initiatives. On Wednesday, Innovate@BU hosted a student club fair at the BUild Lab, showcasing student-run clubs that have an emphasis on innovation and impact.

Jenny Li, a senior in the Questrom School of Business and one of the student program assistants at Innovate@BU, said the goal of the club fair concept was to host a sort of “mini-Splash,” showcasing clubs that were specifically focused on innovation and having an impact on the community.

“[We wanted to show] how we’re supporting them, and how students and clubs on campus already are doing this great work, and we just wanted to highlight them and support them even more,” Li said. “This gives students another opportunity to join clubs they otherwise may not have heard of before.”

Li said the club fair had been in the works for months, since before the end of last semester, as organizers sought to engage innovative student clubs with the BU community.

In novate@BU Exec utive Director Gerald Fine said the club fair reinforced Innovate@ BU’s mission to encourage and empower students to do impactful things while they are students at BU.

“Our job is to encourage people to reach beyond the classroom to have an impact on the community, be it the BU community or the Boston community,” Fine said. “We want to make sure that students are aware of all the great opportunities that the clubs on campus are giving them.”

Student groups at the fair focused on topics ranging from app-building to environmental issues to public relations.

Questrom junior Paulina Giron, the marketing director of the BU Fashion and Retail Association, said her group takes an innovative look at the fashion industry.

“We’re the only outlet for fashion at BU, and we wanted to provide a holistic approach to the fashion industry and to get a bet-

ter idea of what everything the fashion industry entails,” Giron said. “It’s not just about clothes and designers. It’s about the retail side, the marketing side, the industry side and the production and everything.”

Some of the clubs that participated, like React to Film Boston University, represented impact more that strictly innovation.

React to Film member Qianqian Zhao, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the club screens documentaries on social and political issues to engage students in discussion.

“It’s all focused on creating a social impact on campus and inspiring students to engage in social discussion,” Zhao said “[We’re] focused less on film theory and [more] on social justice.”

BU STEAM (S cience, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) member and CAS senior Julia Pan said she thinks it is important to have clubs focused on innovation at BU because sometimes those topics aren’t completely explored in the courses that students take.

“When you enter college, sometimes your focus is just on your coursework, and you don’t really recognize the ways in which it can be applied beyond the classroom,” Pan said. “These spaces are really important because they involve students in things that they won’t be exposed to in their day-to-day lives.”

CAS junior Francis Frimpong, a member of the UNICEF club at BU, said he thinks supporting clubs that have a focus on impact and innovation is the foundation for a better tomorrow.

“I think everyone who comes

to college definitely has this mindset of trying to change the world and to make the future a better place,” Frimpong said. “Having a lovely space like this and people who want to do that — it fosters a brighter future where people can live a life they want to.”

Questrom junior Shena Lohardjo, the lead project manager for the business group BU Venture Accelerator, said she was enthusiastic about the Innovate@ BU’s push toward innovation.

“Compared to other schools, entrepreneurship and innovation has definitely been lacking at BU,” Lohardjo said. “So I think that now, with BUild Lab, it marks the beginning of BU trying to really change that … Being in this ecosystem in Boston, innovation is the most important thing.”

Daniel Legmann, a program intern at Innovate@BU who focuses on international student engagement, said emphasizing entrepreneurship is especially important in today’s world.

“Entrepreneurship is the now — it’s hot,” Legmann said, “especially in such an innovative society and where things are changing … There are a lot of industries where improvements can be made all the time.”

Li said she thinks innovation is an incredibly important skill not just for work, but for life. “[Innovation] is not just a hard skill that you do at a 9-to-5 job,” Li said. “It’s really critical thinking ability — the ability to problem-solve creatively — so having this initiative and putting such an importance on it just goes to show how much we value and care about what students do outside of BU.”

Massachusetts comes out on top in national education rankings EDUCATION, FROM PAGE 1 Massachusetts due to the prevalence of higher education institutions.

“There’s a lot of different undergrads around here, a lot of different schools, so I imagine that the area has a lot of well-educated people,” Jelicich said. “I’d imagine that because there’s so many people who are highly educated, it’s competitive if you don’t have a degree.”

Because Massachusetts values education as a policy priority, Kress said its K–12 educational programs foster high college and career readiness among its young people. She said initiatives such as dual enrollment programs and informational workshops encourage students to pursue professional and higher education degrees.

Kelsey Cole, 24, of Brighton, said the abundance of universities and colleges in Boston breeds a culture of high educational attainment.

“Just here in Boston, there are so many very good universities,” Cole said. “The sheer number [of] people probably motivates a lot of kids in high school and younger ages to value education.”

Despite Massachusetts’ promising rankings, Kress said these measures fail to recognize the gaps that exist for minority students.

For example, she said while the

average graduation rate for all students is 87 percent, the graduation rate for English language learners is between 50 and 60 percent.

“The high numbers tend to obscure what’s really happening for particular subgroups of students,” Kress said. “There are still gaps in terms of how students are achieving in schools based on socioeconomic background, between students of different ethnic and racial background … students who are English language learners [and] students who have special needs,” Kress said.

In order to truly have the best quality education in the country, Massachusetts must invest in programs that consider the specific needs of all types of learners, Kress said.

“There are also lots of innovative programs that are being developed for these particular [vulnerable] populations that I would recommend the state continue to invest in so we can say that not only is Massachusetts number one in the nation for education, but that we support all learners equally towards success,” Kress said.

Annissa Essaibi George, a Boston city councilor at-large, said despite the number of colleges and universities in Massachusetts, higher education is largely inaccessible to Boston’s own students.

GRAPHIC BY ERIC MARKUS AND BREANNE KOVATCH/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Massachusetts was ranked the most educated state in the country, a recent report by WalletHub found.

“There are a number of different programs that support our kids, but it is still very expensive to go to college,” Essaibi George said.

“We have, as a city, a really good program with community colleges in creating an opportunity for kids to go for free. But when we talk about traditional four-year programs within the city limits, they are often still difficult for our own students to access.”

To empower Boston’s youth to consider college, Essaibi George

said college admissions representatives and students should spend more time empowering students in the city’s K–12 classrooms.

“College students should be in our classrooms, directly working with, mentoring, tutoring, supporting our kids,” Essaibi George said. “Our kids can [then] see their future in that college student so they can realize and witness and hopefully see themselves as future college students.”

Leah Hoover, 58, of Roslindale,

said while higher education is prevalent in Boston, she feels everyone should have greater access to their services.

“I also see the underserved not being educated to the same level that everyone deserves,” Hoover said. “I don’t like the system where not everyone receives the same levels and same benefits.”

Solange Hackshaw and Daniela Rivera contributed to the reporting of this article.

4 NEWS

From first use, opioid overdose victims live an average of 36 months

PHOTO COURTESY ANN SCALES

Dr. Monica Bharel, the Massachusetts health commissioner, shared the report Feb. 1 at the Massachusetts State House.

BY JORDAN KIMMEL DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A groundbreaking medical study conducted by Massachusetts Health Commissioner Monica Bharel found that for those who have died from an opioid overdose, the average survival time from their initial prescription to their death was just 36 months.

Bharel presented this research at the Massachusetts State House on Feb. 1 using pulled data from the most recent quarterly opioid-related deaths report, in addition to the chapter 55 report. The experiment followed opioid naïve patients for 66 months after their preliminary prescription.

Ann Scales, the director of media relations for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, wrote

in an email that most individuals are unaware of substance use disorder, a condition in which the use of a substance leads to clinically significant impairment or distress.

“For too long, SUD was seen as a morale choice or character flaw and we therefore didn’t have much data to help us understand the trajectory of the disease,” Scales wrote.

“In Massachusetts, we are in our third year of looking at this medical decision through a precision public health lens in order to improve our understanding of who is at greatest risk and where the critical points of intervention are.”

Scales wrote that Bharel’s data represents a need to swiftly help those who are struggling with addiction or at risk of an overdose, espe-

cially when the average time period between first exposure to an opioid and death is very short.

“This serves as an important reminder that we have to screen individuals to identify those at greatest risk, balance the risk of opioid misuse with the need for pain management and provide treatment and recovery in an expedited manner,” Scales wrote.

The Department of Public Health will work tirelessly with their community partners until the issue subsides in the state, no matter how long it takes, Scales wrote.

“It will take a sustained, comprehensive effort to bend the curve of this epidemic, including strengthening our efforts around prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery,” Scales wrote.

Eighteen years ago, the state reported a mere 379 opioid-related deaths, while 2016 saw an estimated 2,190 deaths. The first nine months of 2017 saw 932 confirmed opioid overdose deaths.

Autumn Beaudoin, 22, of Jamaica Plain, said the issue goes beyond those who are overdosing on the drug, as it can stretch all the way to the doctors prescribing or distributing the drugs.

“There could be a lot of interventions that could be beneficial for these people,” Beaudoin said. “There are just so many different variables involved with people making those decisions and there are so many different ways that we can tweak the human experience that would eventually decrease that statistic.”

David Rosenbloom, a professor of health law, policy and management at Boston University’s School of Public Health, said due to legislation that was passed a couple of years ago, the capacity to combine databases to compare data now allows for this type of thorough analysis.

“The state now has … the capacity to bring lots of different databases together, which, for the first time, allows for this kind of analysis,” Rosenbloom said. “It was just impossible to know until very recently what happened to a person who had an overdose — what were the arrest records, what were the prescription records, what were the insurance claims, etc.”

Rosenbloom said tackling the problem will include greater access to hospice care for those affected.

“I think it’s going to be a multi-

pronged attack,” Rosenbloom said.

“There should be a significant expansion of access treatment immediately on demand so that any individual who suffers from an overdose, or recognizes that he or she has a problem, will get treatment immediately.”

Throughout the past 20 years, the total number of opioid-related deaths has increased five-fold. To put this into perspective, Massachusetts hasn’t seen such an increase in a single category of deaths since the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s.

Richard Ruggiero, 27, of Fenway, said as a former mental health clinician, he used to deal with opioid and similar trauma cases regularly.

“I feel like it’s something that was being pushed, and before we were able to do anything about it, it just got out of control and now it’s just everyone pointing the finger at each other,” Ruggiero said. “I think legalizing marijuana is going to help, I definitely think that people will turn to that as a better alternative to opioids.”

Nyle Rioux, 26, of East Boston, said he knows opioid addictions are an issue in Massachusetts because of the media attention the drug has gotten in recent years.

“I think a lot of people start off because they’re in pain, but then they just get addicted to it,” Rioux said. “I think there should be more oversite of the pharmaceutical industry because they’re incentivized to push the drug on people.”

Solange Hackshaw and Laura Al Bast contributed to the reporting of this article.

CGSA vies for more equity CGSA, FROM PAGE 1

non-binary students can feel safe and comfortable on campus.

“I think that there are legitimate health and safety concerns that are involved with what we are talking about,” Stanley said.

“I know that trans people just end up not using bathroom facilities.

And there are elevated health risks because of that.”

Breann Tobias, a sophomore in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said she doesn’t think BU has enough gender-neutral bathrooms available for students.

“I’ve seen one or two I think — definitely not enough,” Tobias said.

“I feel like there’s nothing wrong with implementing more of them on campus.”

Stanley said the proposal combines a lot of research and personal narrative the CGSA has collected over time.

“It sort of formalizes it in a way that’s supposed to create a positive and productive working relation-

ship,” Stanley said. “All the appeals within the proposal are, we think, manageable, focused around centering trans people and centering non-conforming people. I think it can be really beneficial overall.”

Bennetts said the proposal is not meant to suggest that the student body or BU’s administration does not care about the issues that transgender and non-binary students face.

“I think it’s that they generally don’t know,” Bennetts said, “because it’s such a small portion of the university that are people who are affected everyday by these issues.”

Bennetts said she wanted to emphasize that the proposal is meant to work in collaboration with the administration to try to update BU’s gender-neutral policies.

“We just want to let them know that these are problems and that we are starting to lag behind our peers a little bit,” Bennetts said.

“We’re behind Harvard, MIT, Northeastern who all have these things for their students. We just

Flags hanging in the CGSA office in the George Sherman Union.

want to catch up a bit.”

Renzhe Wang, a junior in CAS, said the introduction of more gender-neutral housing and bathrooms would be beneficial for students, but could also be costly for the university.

“I think that’s a good thing for

equality, but it’d be a big change, so I think that they would also spend a lot of money on that,” Wang said. “I don’t know where the money would come from. So that’s a concern.”

Caroline Stokowski, a sophomore in SAR, said she thinks advocating for more gender-neutral

PHOTO BY JOHN LITTLE/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

housing would be a great thing.

“From the perspective of having a boyfriend maybe and being able to live with him and sharing things with him, [that] would be good, but also being accepting of people who are more gender fluid,” Stokowski said.

CAMPUS CALENDAR THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

BOARD GAMES & TRIVIA

LUNCHTIME CONCERT

LEBANESE NIGHT

ICE SKATING AT AGGANIS

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSION

HOWARD THURMAN CENTER

TSAI PERFORMANCE CENTER

METCALF BALLROOM

AGGANIS ARENA

TRUSTEE BALLROOM

Hosted by Actively Moving Forward

Hosted by BU Symphony Orchestra

Hosted by BU Lebanese Club

Hosted by BU Alumni Association

Hosted by Research on Tap

7 – 8:30 P.M.

12:30 P.M.

8:30 – 11:55 P.M.

2 – 4 P.M.

4 – 6 P.M.

SCIENCE

FEATURES 5

‘A Mirror Maze’ reveals mathematical patterns found in nature

BY KATIE CAMERO DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Have you ever observed the branching of your eye’s blood vessels?

Or listened to a piece of music composed using symmetry?

At the Museum of Science’s new temporary exhibit, “A Mirror Maze: Numbers in Nature,” visitors can see how mathematical patterns surround people every day. Throughout the 1,700 square foot exhibit featuring 86 mirrors and 30,000 LED lights, visitors learn about symmetry and tessellation.

The exhibit, created by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, “teaches about different topics in as many diverse and unique ways as possible,” said Grace Ignarri, temporary exhibits logistical coordinator at the Museum of Science.

“Visually it’s very beautiful, but it also hits the topic of math in a lot of different ways,” Ignarri said.

“The mirror maze itself is an incredibly unique immersive experience. I think it really hits home with the idea of tessellation and all these different patterns that create an experience.

[The exhibit] is a fun thing to want to bring to the museum.”

An array of videos, interactive stations and games are located outside of the mirror maze where visitors could deepen their understanding of spirals, the Golden Ratio, Voronoi diagrams and fractal branching.

These hands-on activities show

The “A Mirror Maze” exhibit is currently on view at the Museum of Science in Boston.

how patterns in nature, in humans and even in music, art and architecture are rooted in mathematics.

Godha Bapuji, a graduate student at Harvard University who visited the exhibit, came with her eighth-grade daughter, whom she homeschools.

“I find that, unfortunately, math is not taught in a way it should be, and a lot of kids, especially girls, lose their interest in math,” Bapuji said. “[This is] because of the rogue learning and the complexity that is introduced in the curriculum, which I think is unnecessary.”

Bapuji said she and her daughter “started exploring number and art patterns in math and nature, and that’s how we ended up here looking at Golden Ratios, honeycomb patterns and so many other things.”

While children dominated the interactive stations, there was one hands-on activity that attracted a long line of excited adults.

Standing in front of a large mirror, people could interpret their body’s dimensions through superimposed patterns and proportions that moved with their bodies in real time,

PHOTO BY FELIX PHILLIPS/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

showing how “perfectly imperfect” humans bodies, which follow the Golden Ratio proportions, are.

Kenneth Nikaido, 43, of Brookline, who visited the exhibit with his 5-year-old son said the “Proportioned from Head to Toe” area of the exhibit was “hands down the best one.”

“I wasn’t expecting much. I thought it was more about a bunch of mirrors, but it had the mathematical implication as well. My son is in [pre-kindergarten] right now so I think the best expectation from my

perspective is that he realizes there’s patterns in the world,” Nikaido said.

Full-body scans were only a portion of what the exhibit had to offer.

Visitors were able to create musical scales using a playable harp, make computer-generated landscapes and even observe tangible, patterned items found in nature — bighorn sheep antlers, honeycombs and an aluminum anthill casting.

“Everything we create at MSI is designed to inspire the inventive genius in everyone,” said John Beckman, director of exhibit design and development at MSI in a press release. “While concepts like fractal branching can be intimidating to some, our hope is that this exhibit inspires all guests to look at the world around them with a new appreciation.”

Siu-Cheong Lau, assistant professor of mathematics at Boston University who focuses on symplectic geometry and mirror symmetry, said the exhibit has great educational value.

“Visitors get more imagination and perspective on space, and it certainly introduces different kinds of shapes and curvatures,” Lau said. “I think this is interesting and beneficial for people of all ages, including myself.

I think more exhibits like this should be displayed in museums all over.”

“A Mirror Maze: Numbers in Nature” opened Sunday and will remain open through April 25.

Harvard’s Veritas Forum hosts physician-assisted suicide debate

BY MINALI PRASAD DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

For patients suffering from terminal illnesses, the extent of pain and hospitalization can become unbearable. Some consider physician-assisted suicide to be an option of ending life comfortably, while others believe it contradicts the very nature of a physician’s humanitarian responsibilities.

Both sides discussed the issue at length at “PhysicianAssisted Suicide or Physician-Aid in Dying?” hosted by Harvard Medical School’s Veritas Forum at Tosteson Medical Education Center Friday evening.

Veritas Forum discussions began at Har vard University “to facilitate deeper questions of meaning and purpose in life,” said Nathan Nakatsuka, a fifth year MD/PhD student at Harvard Medical School, who spearheaded the event.

The “Death with Dignity” bill, which supports medically-assisted suicide, returns to Massachusetts legislature in 2018. In 2012, a ballot question supporting the bill failed to pass with a 51 to 49 percent vote.

Nakatsuka said she wants people to “be informed on all levels, not only on political and clinical, but also on moral, philosophical and spiritual.”

Moderated by Dr. Alexandra Cist, M.D. at Massachusetts General Hospital, the event’s speakers included Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, a professor of biomedical ethics at Georgetown University and Dr. Lachlan Forrow, a pro-

fessor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

During the first hour, Forrow and Sulmasy presented the reasoning behind their stances on medically-assisted suicide. Forrow, who supports euthanasia, said physician-assisted suicide protects a patient’s autonomy. “[Patient suicide] happens anyway … It’s just hidden and we don’t know whether it’s done with proper safeguards, making sure the patient knows all the options,” he said to the audience.

Forrow shared a clip with the audience of Brittany Maynard, a former California resident who relocated to Oregon after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer to undergo physician assisted suicide.

“Once [Maynard] knew that [her illness] got to be too bad, she could and she ultimately did take the prescription that allowed her a sense of confidence and freedom,” Forrow said. “[She] was enjoying life with a vividness … right up to the end because she had this choice.”

Forrow closed with a question.

“Was writing that prescription about death or was writing that prescription a profoundly prolife thing that she did with her doctor?”

Sulmasy, who opposes euthanasia, disagrees with Forrow about the nature of patient autonomy.

“Autonomy is not absolute and it should never be absolute,” Sulmasy said during the talk.

When asked about this concept of patient autonomy, he said

A forum on assisted suicide is held at Harvard Medical School on Friday.

a patient’s self-determination in medical care doesn’t mean a patient has a right to demand certain treatments.

“There is certainly, in my view, no duty to provide sleeping pills just because the patient asked for them. I don’t think we should be practicing Michael Jackson medicine,” Sulmasy said.

In an interview with The Daily Free Press, Sulmasy said his degree in philosophy led him to think more carefully and profoundly about all the factors involved, including the key differences between “killing” and “allowing to die,” and in general, the meaning and goals of medicine.

“The principle of respect for autonomy needs to be balanced with other kinds of principles that

guide medical ethics, such as our duty to do good for patients, our duty not to harm patients, our duty in justice,” Sulmasy told The Daily Free Press.

Zaev Suskin, who attended the event, is a medical student at Georgetown and pursuing masters degree in bioethics at Harvard Medical School. While studying at Vanderbilt University, Suskin wrote his undergraduate thesis on physician-assisted suicide.

“I think that what’s often lost in these talks is that the focus here … is on compassion,” Suskin said. “If my last act for that patient could be one of compassion, then I am definitely comfortable helping a patient in [this] way.”

While the speakers had opposing viewpoints, Suskin said, both

PHOTO BY SOFIA KOYAMA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

focused on human relationships.

“I really do think a message from both of [the speakers] is to consider the role that another human plays in our lives,” Suskin said, “especially for people who may not value their own life, [we must] consider what roles that confers to [physician’s] to play in their lives.”

As medicine’s capabilities to extend life continue to grow, Sukin said, it’s important to consider the potential weight of longer lives.

“We really are advancing to the point where we can keep patients alive like never thought possible,” Suskin said. “So now more than ever [this discussion] seems important, as we get better and better at … extending life, but also at extending a life that contains a lot of misery.”

6 FEATURES

COMMUNITY

‘Let Us March On’ depicts civil rights movement’s past, future

Pieces from the “Let Us March On” exhibit at the Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, on view Feb. 2 through March 25.

BY SAMANTHA DRYSDALE DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Pictures of Ferguson, Missouri hang alongside stills of peaceful protest in Washington, D.C. Boston Un iversit y Art Galleries’ new exhibition, “Let Us March On: Lee Friedlander and the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom” presents the work of photographer Lee Friedlander who covered an often forgotten civil rights march in 1957.

The exhibition is on display at BU’s Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery. The march, held on the third anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education court case that made the segregation of public schools illegal, is considered a precursor to the 1963 March on Washington.

Friedlander’s photos include a predominantly African-American crowd at the Lincoln Memorial

in Washington, D.C. watching Martin Luther King Jr. give his first national address. Other civil rights leaders such as Mahalia Jackson, Roy Wilkins and Mordecai Johnson were present at the event.

The images are paired with the art of three contemporary photographers, whose work highlights the ongoing fight for racial equity. Nancy Musinguzi, a Minneapolis-based artist, created some contemporary pieces on display at the exhibition.

“Lee Friedlander’s work is really good content to start that conversation around,” Musinguzi said. “How do we remember our past, and how does that shape our present and our future as a consequence of how we’ve learned or treated these past events? Not as relics but as a continual experience that takes different forms in the now.”

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The three artists whose works accompany Friedlander’s focus on the Black Lives Matter movement and civil unrest of the last decade.

One of Musinguzi’s photos shows two young black children in a protest on the two year anniversary of Eric Garner’s death. The photo was originally published by The New York Times and later selected for the exhibition.

Musinguzi drew parallels between Friedlander’s work and her own, but said she wanted to showcase different emotion.

“The work is beautiful, but I don’t want to keep photographing people in pain and struggle,” Musinguzi said. “I want to show people that look like me in a different light.”

Whitney Curtis, a St. Louisbased artist, also created pieces on display at the exhibition.

Curtis’s photographs of the riots

PHOTOS BY BETSEY GOLDWASSER/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 hang side-by-side with the peaceful protest of 1957.

“One of my takeaways photographing the protest in Ferguson is how to me, it felt like a protest that was women led,” Curtis said.

“African-American women were at the forefront, and … they came together and collaborated with each other.”

The predominance of women of color was described by The Los Angeles Times in an article following the protests. Describing the situation in Ferguson, the article also said, “many women will be behind the protest bullhorns in the days and weeks ahead.”

Curtis spoke about her potential bias as a white woman and the importance of objectivity.

The artists displaying work at the exhibition comprise a group including perspectives from black

men, black women and white women.

To compliment Friedlander’s peaceful protesters and photos of some of the harsher realities of 21st century racial controversies, Artist Sheila Pree Bright wanted to display the people protestors were fighting for.

“In my work, and being on the ground, I didn’t want to show what the media showed of black people,” Bright said. “There’s the stereotype of the angry black man, so I showed instead a man with tears running down his face.

I wanted to show the humanity of blacks. We are not disposable.”

All of the art on display shows perspectives from different eras, places and types of people around the country, engaging with a movement which unifies them all.

The exhibition will be on display through March 25.

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BUSINESS

FEATURES 7

Black Restaurant Challenge celebrates history, promotes equity

BY HANNAH EDELMAN DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

When Cecelia Lizotte immigrated to the United States from Nigeria in 1999, she experienced an immediate culture shock — everything around her was different. She found comfort in cooking, the same activity she used to do with her parents growing up. Her hobby turned into catering from her home for events hosted by friends and family, which almost 13 years later, turned into her own restaurant serving African cuisine.

The restaurant, Suya Joint, opened in Roslindale in 2012 with a menu of food from Nigeria as well as other African nations like Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Lizotte moved the establishment to Roxbury in 2016 because of the neighborhood’s proximity to local universities and its history as a central point for Boston’s black community.

“It’s opening the doors to non-Nigerians that will have the flavor of African food,” Lizotte said. “We had a lot of African-Americans who had never had that food, so it was great for us to expose the flavor to the community.”

Suya Joint’s interconnectedness with African culture made it an ideal spot to host the kickoff party for the Boston Black Restaurant Challenge, event organizer Frank Farrow said.

The Feb. 1 celebration marked the beginning of a new annual tradition in Boston in honor of Black History Month dedicated to promoting black-owned establishments.

Suya Joint in Roxbury is one of the Black Restaurant Challenge’s featured restaurants.

“It’s a great way to support but also to bring the community together; to be able to meet and hang out with folks from your neighborhood, hang out in an establishment in your neighborhood,” Farrow explained.

The challenge encourages Bostonians to visit at least four blackowned restaurants in the month of February. The concept originated in Baltimore, in an effort to benefit African-American businesses and draw attention to the presence of possibly less-known establishments.

Boston is the first other city to accept

the challenge.

Farrow coordinated with Lizotte to plan the kickoff party at Suya Joint, one of Roxbury’s 10 featured black-owned restaurants, because of the restaurant’s sit-down layout, ability to host a DJ performance and Lizotte’s license to serve alcohol.

“Everybody was extremely excited to know that there’s an establishment like this serving African food. I’m happy that we were able to pull through,” Lizotte said.

People from across Boston began to gather at Suya Joint at 6 p.m., with the line stretching out the door in

ARTS

PHOTO BY FELIX PHILLIPS/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

less than two hours. Patrons could order discounted dishes and drinks while listening to mixes by local DJ Shamara Rhodes.

Rhodes, 27, of Dorchester, blended songs ranging from Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” entertaining visitors for the hour and a half before Rep. Chynah Tyler borrowed the small stage to give a speech. Rhodes said she had a good relationship with Suya Joint to begin with, and when Tyler invited her to DJ at the kickoff party, she “couldn’t turn that down.”

“We turned what I usually do here and [Farrow’s] vision into something nice and lovely,” Rhodes said.

“This is where you break bread, this is where you talk to people, this is where you open up. If we’re gonna get 28 days, we might as well make good use of it.”

Tyler also talked about the importance of celebrating Black History Month, especially with the African-American and activist history centered in Roxbury. Suya Joint is in Tyler’s locale, the 7th Suffolk district, which experiences substantial income inequality on the basis of race. She said it’s her duty to constituents like Lizotte to “make sure that this place thrives.”

“If we want to be able to strengthen and be able to do away with being number one in income inequality, especially for minority people, then we need to be able to support initiatives that will be able to help do away with that. The Black Restaurant Challenge is one of very many in the city of Boston to be able to do that,” Tyler said.

Kwame Sarfo-Mensah, 34, of Dorchester, said he appreciated the opportunity to bring more attention to black-owned restaurants and establishments in the area.

“There’s always a need for more representation, particularly with people of color, more specifically black people,” he said, “So to have a Black Restaurant Challenge that addresses that need is really important.”

The challenge runs through Feb. 28.

INTERVIEW: Berklee grad Ashe talks inspiration, independence

BY AMELIA GRIFFITHS DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

As a young girl, pop artist Ashe hardly imagined she would pursue a career in music. Now one of 20 Vevo Dscvr Artists to Watch in 2018, the budding performer is defying all of her childhood expectations.

After releasing her first single, “Used To It,” and collaborating with duo Louis the Child on “Right To It” in early 2017, Ashe released a sassy sophomore single in November that has pop fans turning up the volume.

“Girl Who Cried Wolf” will be part of Ashe’s first EP. In an interview with The Daily Free Press, the 24-year-old California native, known to family and friends as Ashlyn Miller, said she is proud of the team that united to write the single: herself and her two favorite writers.

“I’m a storyteller,” she said. “I kind of say that in my own world I’m telling my own stories.”

Professional writers help bring these stories to life in a relatable, clever way, Ashe said. The team approached the song with an open mind, not worried about the expectations of pop radio.

The result was a self-empowerment anthem the singer said reflects her own insecurities in her writing and career. Ashe said she wanted the song’s message to be, “I

can do this, I am good enough … I can make it on my own standards and in my own way, and nobody’s gonna tell me different.”

Since writing “Girl Who Cried Wolf,” Ashe said she’s applied that same self-assured attitude to her general outlook on her career as a musician.

“The fact that … all I have to worry about is being honest and authentic and being 100 percent myself and making music that I one hundred percent back is a pretty amazing thing,” she said.

Though she did not grow up in a very musical family, Ashe said talk of a music career was neither discouraged nor encouraged throughout childhood. She cites artists such as Carole King, Stevie Nicks, The Beatles and The Beach Boys as some of her biggest inspirations.

Her interests led her to Berklee College of Music, but even as a college senior, the singer said she was still unsure if a musical path was right for her.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna do music, I guess I’m gonna wing it,’” Ashe said.

Her leap of faith has brought her a life of professional songwriting, performing for thousands of fans and touring all over the country.

Regardless of her goals for her Berklee experience, Ashe said she looks back on her college days

The Berklee grad musician Ashe will perform at Brighton Music Hall on Friday.

fondly. She said jazz played a large role in refining her sound while in school, crediting the transformation to Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and John Coltrane, whose melodies inspired her.

“I didn’t grow up listening to a lot of jazz but fell in love with it at school,” Ashe said.

She is currently touring with Lauv, who wrote and sings the 2017 hit “I Like Me Better.”

“He’s on the edge of just burst-

ing into a thousand stars,” Ashe said of Lauv. “The tour’s been nothing but amazing.”

Ashe said her favorite aspect of tour life is being surrounded by music all the time. Getting to perform almost every night for a happy, excited crowd is what drives her to go on stage.

The emerging songstress said she hopes to maintain an autonomous career, like Lauv.

“He writes and produces his

PHOTO COURTESY DANA TRIPPE

own music, which I really admire,” she said. “Not every pop artist, especially in his sort of pop world, does.”

The singer will be returning to Boston on Friday for a performance with Lauv at Brighton Music Hall in Allston.

“Boston goes hard,” Ashe said of her last experience performing in her college town. “It was one of the best shows of the whole tour … I’m interested to see how it goes again.”

8 OPINION

EDITORIAL

Legislators should focus on more vital issues than ‘SMILF’ ads Stereotypes run rampant on television shows, with actors embodying typical characteristics of the people they’re supposed to represent. While many of these characters are stereotypical, and some even verge on offensive, they are often grounded in some truth. Even though that might not be the best justification for these shows, we have to realize they’re being made for production value, and many of the stereotypes get exaggerated for the sake of entertainment. Still, many people find television programs that do not accurately portray the group that’s supposedly being represented as derogatory, and in some cases, even degrading.

Showtime’s television program “SMILF” follows the life of a poor, single South Boston mom struggling to make ends meet.

The title of the show, of course, speaks for itself, as much of the show is dedicated to the main character Bridgette’s tragic love life.

Regardless, the show was well received by critics this awards season and has attracted many viewers. The cable-television giant Showtime recently renewed the show for a second season, which is expected to premiere sometime in 2019.

In response to posters advertising the Golden-Globe nominated “SMILF” around areas in South Boston, many Southie residents have voiced their anger to their local representatives. Boston’s District 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn, who represents the neighborhoods of Chinatown, South Boston, the South End and Bay Village, took action by addressing the concerns of his constituents Tuesday. He wrote in a Facebook post

saying he reached out to the City of Boston to and indecency, the ad is surprisingly clean have these posters taken down. In the state- and innocent. The poster does not feature ment, he cited several South Boston mothers any obscene content. Furthermore, the ads who voiced they found the show “degrading, are only located in the parts of the city that crude, and inaccurate.” He also wrote in the show is trying to represent. Surely the the controversial post that he was “ … tired residents of those areas know that a fictional of Hollywood making a profit off of these show about a single mom is not representaabysmal shows that in no way capture the tive of everyone’s life in their neighborhood. real lives, character and contributions of the There’s more to the South Boston than this people of South Boston.” one show that may or may not poorly capMany residents seem to be channeling ture the true nature and spirit of its residents.

S

outhie — a neighborhood often stereotyped for its impoverished population — should be focused on solving bigger issues than how it’s portrayed in the media. their anger toward an ad that isn’t offen- Residents and city councilors alike should sive itself. Rather, they are more upset with know this and realize one show cannot do the the the show the ad is promoting and how city justice. Surely, this isn’t the first time a it inaccurately depicts life in South Boston. TV show or otherwise has portrayed Southie Southie — a neighborhood often stereotyped in an unfavorable light. for its impoverished population — should be In other words, residents should be able focused on solving bigger issues than how it’s to take some of this negativity without portrayed in the media. taking drastic measures like complaining In regards to the poster itself, the only to their local legislators. This is Councilor thing that can be gleaned from the ad is that Flynn’s first year in the office and his statethe show is about a single, smart, Southie ment calling for the removal of these ads is woman. For a show that showcases depravity one of the first major efforts he has under-

CROSSWORD

This week’s crossword puzzle is brought to you by Phil Vogels

COURTESY OF MIRROREYES.COM / CROSSWORD ANSWERS AVAILABLE ON http://dfpress.co/2BMwjht

ACROSS 1. Tropical tuber 5. Formula 1 driver 10. Arab chieftain 14. Coral barrier 15. Run away to wed 16. Fizzy drink 17. Mathematics 19. A young male horse 20. Hairpiece 21. Dog-___ 22. Sharpens 23. Not strict 25. Decorative jugs 27. Sum 28. A smart alec 31. Strollers 34. Strange 35. Frozen water 36. Parsley or sage 37. Portion 38. Plant fiber 39. Consume 40. Pig sounds 41. Bearskin 42. Squirms

46th year | Volume 93 | Issue 4 The Free Press (ISSN 1094-7337) is published Thursdays during the academic year except during vacation and exam periods by Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc., a nonprofit corporation operated by Boston University students. No content can be reproduced without the permission of Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright © 2018 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

gone thus far. Bringing this complaint to their respective city official might not have been the most necessary, effective action constituents could have taken. Regardless of whether the ad was actually offensive, there are more pressing issues South Boston needs to address. This certainly was not the best use of the Councilor’s time.

While the show verges on being rather vulgar and degenerate, many of the problems the show depicts do ring true for at least some struggling Southies. There are many impoverished, single moms who live in one of Boston’s poorest neighborhoods. They are struggling to earn money and find jobs, which are the sorts of the issues that do require serious action.

Incidents like these upset people, but in reality do not serve their best interests in terms of legitimate progress and change.

For example, many female pedestrians have complained that the pedestrian sign that tells them they can cross the road should not just depict a man, but include a woman as well.

However, in the greater scheme of things, including a female stick figure on a traffic sign would not result in great change and progress in the feminist movement. These symbols aren’t things that feminists should lose sleep over — they aren’t doing any real harm. Rather, it’s working to address the more nuanced gestures and improving fundamental systemic issues that can bring about real change and progress. Residents of Southie shouldn’t be upset by ads for shows painting them in a bad light — they should be upset with the inequality and struggles they face every day with no help.

44. Mongrel 45. Experiences 46. Bouquet 50. Japanese cartoon art 52. Grasps 54. Lenient 55. Hubs 56. Become similar 58. Not odd 59. Express a thought 60. Not under 61. Indian dress 62. Banana oil, e.g.

63. A musical pause

DOWN 1. Setline 2. Eagle’s nest 3. Rule 4. Frequently, in poetry 5. Incarcerate 6. Aware 7. Pigeon’s home 8. Outbreaks 9. Record (abbrev.)

10. Accompany to a party 11. Lowermost mainmast sails 12. Doing nothing 13. Rodents 18. Pays attention to 22. Group of cattle 24. Poetic foot 26. Merchandise 28. Searches 29. It forms on a wound

30. Alluring 31. Expresses relief 32. Back 33. Inventor 34. Stores for wine 37. Tablet 38. Pelts 40. Curved molding 41. An exchange 43. Third sign of the zodiac 44. Old man 46. Duplicate 47. Spry 48. Stares 49. Put forth, as effort 50. Beers 51. Exploded star 53. Leave out 56. Furrow maker 57. Neither ___

Ellie French, Editor-in-Chief

Rachel Duncan, Managing Editor

Andres Picon, Campus Editor

Noor Adatia, Editorial Page Editor

Caitlin Fisher, Blog Editor

Breanne Kovatch, City Editor

Vivian Myron, Photo Editor

Kaya Williams, Multimedia Editor

Jenni Todd, Features Editor

Shaun Robinson, Layout Editor

Shakti Rovner, Office Manager

Nicole Havens, Sports Editor

OPINION 9

MAX VS. MEDIA:

COLUMNS

MISS LEADING:

The Republicans who cried wolf I vote no to ‘lady-friendly’ chips

BY MAX BERMAN

T

COLUMNIST

he Earth is flat. We live in the eye of a blue giant. The Earth is 6,000 years old. Infants come from storks.

While everything I just said is complete nonsense, in today’s America it seems as though some or all of the above lies are “up for debate.” Why? Because many media sources tend to respect people not on the basis of telling the truth, but by the position they hold.

Take David Nunes as an example. As a congressman, you would expect he is rational, intelligent government worker, not the president’s personal henchman. Nunes made a decision to reveal a (formerly) classified memorandum containing information that would demonstrate corruption in the FBI. On “Hannity,” former Trump staffer Sebastian Gorka claimed the memo has an impact that is 100 times worse than the cause of the American Revolution.

In case you were not aware, because either (a) you were in a coma or (b) you live in the remote wilderness, the memo revealed only one thing — Republicans are really good at crying wolf.

Sean Hannity, the uncle you avoid at all costs, cried wolf so badly that everyone in the village thought there was a pack of werewolves with rabies about to strike. Hannity said on his show Friday: “If we as a country, if we care about the Constitution, if we believe in civil liberties, if we believe in those protections, then the special counsel must be disbanded immediately.” There are so many issues with this statement that 100-plus page thesis papers will be written on this very subject. Here’s my attempt at an outline: 1.) The memo did not reveal anything that contradicted civil liberties.

2.)

The FISA application mentioned Carter Page and was reauthorized three times,

meaning that substantial information was most likely found before each reauthorization.

3.) Page wasn’t even associated with the Trump campaign when the court order was approved.

4.) Republicans have traditionally been strong supporters of the FISA process and keeping government intelligence information more secretive.

5.) Sean Hannity would say anything to please Trump while he eats a cheeseburger in bed at 10:30 p.m.

Yet so many Republican politicians, and not just paid Trump supporters on Trump Television (also known as Fox News) are claimBY NAMU SAMPATH ing that the information revealed in this docuCOLUMNIST ment is “worse than Watergate.”

Many Republican leaders have expressed n objectively the greatest day of they find the Nunes memo to be the next the American year — the Super greatest thing in American history. On Friday, Bowl — many major companies Rep. Jeff Duncan tweeted: “Finally, there needs put out their newest ads, often to be a discussion as to whether the Mueller making them as extreme and eye-catching investigation is truly needed, seeing that the as possible. Over the years, there have been main premise that launched the investigation many ads that have not only been controverturned out to not be credible and was both sial, but also have contributed to national directed and funded by political opponents. conversation. Last year, Pepsi’s ad with #FISAMemo.”

Kendall Jenner sparked an outcry from peoBut the investigation was not even sparked ple of color all over the United States because because of the FISA process. It was sparked of its gestures toward ending the Black Lives after Trump’s foreign policy advisor George Matter movement with one bottle of Pepsi Papadopoulos, who lacks credentials, bragged from a white woman. This year, on a differto an Australian diplomat that Russia had polit- ent, yet similar theme, Doritos made an ad ical dirt on Hillary Clinton. that resulted in the Twitter-world bursting Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson claimed on up in flames.

Fox News there was a “secret society” within Earlier this week, KFC put out an ad the FBI against the sitting president. Now that that starred its first female celebrity, Reba would be bigger than Watergate, but for some McEntire, as the new Colonel Sanders. reason, Johnson doesn’t understand that sar- Shortly following that, Doritos put out casm exists in texting. In normal circumstances, a report that it plans to produce a “ladyJohnson would apologize for making such an friendly” chip — one that does not crunch outrageous accusation and the Senate might when a woman chews it. This idea is the most even censure him. But we are far from normal. absurd thing I have ever heard. When asked The lies espoused by the president and his about the consumer ideas on the “gendered fellow Republicans is so enormous that it’s hard differences” that propel the development of to uncover what the truth is. This lying results products, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said, in panels on cable news that debate over facts “[women] don’t like to crunch too loudly versus lies and innumerable op-eds in the Wall in public. And they don’t lick their fingers Street Journal that are meant to defend one’s generously and they don’t like to pour the tribe. Partisanship should be about defending little broken pieces and the flavor into their one’s party’s ideas — not its lies. However, the mouth.” Maybe it’s just me who eats chips the backbone of Paul Ryan is as flimsy as a pool supposedly more masculine way, but either noodle, and the Trump loyalty held by the way Nooyi’s proposition that every woman Nunes memo is as strong as titanium. would enjoy the equivalent of a stale chip is The sad truth is the answer to the following: utterly ridiculous. In addition, her argument What do you call a Republican politician who for this new product is that Doritos will make doesn’t constantly lie? Unelected or retiring. a bag that fits comfortably in a handbag and

O

is easy to carry around. While this bag would be convenient to some, it is not ideal or fair to think that making “purse-sized chip bags” would be a better way to market to female consumers.

Many infuriated women expressed their frustrations with the ad on various mediums.

In an incredibly satire article published by The Washington Post, a fellow female writer who actually enjoys eating Doritos regardless of who she is in the presence of, expounded on Doritos’ new idea for the progression of its company. However, seeing a company come forward about their product and thinking of ways to make it more “feminine” or appealing to the female audience, is not a new concept, unfortunately. This idea that there are products just for women, and that these products are more expensive than the identical ones that target men, is something known as the Pink Tax. Some examples of these products include Bic Cristal “For Her” pens, along with other shampoos and razors. In a world where it is already difficult to be equal to men, it is disheartening to see companies with female leaders talk about how they want to make their products appeal to women and overall perpetuate the idea of sexism.

However, they have produced nothing that is beneficial to the women’s rights movement, like equal pay in the workplace. This perpetuation of a gendered society where women are still seen as the dainty, pure, objectified people who could never enjoy the cheese dust after eating a bag of Doritos is completely wrong, and especially for an ad put out during the Super Bowl — another place where women are treated inferior when it comes to knowledge of sports.

On Monday evening, after an entire day of getting denounced by the Twitter community, Doritos tweeted: “We already have Doritos for women — they’re called Doritos, and they’re loved by millions.” This statement officially ended the controversy about creating a more “lady-friendly” chip. As a girl who actually enjoys watching the game during the Super Bowl as much as I like eating junk food, I’d say that I’d rather eat Doritos from the normal bag, rather than chips that are not loud when I crunch them.

(I’m still not quite sure how that works — I’m pretty sure those would just be stale chips?)

But I’m sure millions of women would agree with me that they, too, love eating Doritos from the regular bag.

CARTOON BY RACHEL CALLAHAN/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

INTERROBANG

The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics will take place this Friday.

We here at the ol’ Free Press want to know — what “sport” would BU students gold medal in?

BU: Grade deflating

GSU: Table snatching

SHA: Napkin folding

CGS: Stair climbing

Kilachand: Ghost hunting

Dnaielsen: Speed walking

Tour Guides: Backwards walking

Allston: Shotgunning

FreeP: Slacking™

10

SPORTS

Men’s basketball struggles on road, falls to Colgate 74-60

BY JOSH ROTHSTEIN DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston University men’s basketball team was unable to complete its season sweep of Colgate University Wednesday night, falling 74-60 on the road.

Despite the Terriers (12-12, 8-5 Patriot League) knotting the contest midway through the second half, they trailed for a majority of the game and did not garner any points for the last two minutes and 47 seconds.

The Raiders (14-10, 9-4 Patriot League) were led by senior guard Jordan Robertson’s 20 points from off the bench while four of their starters notched 10 points or more. “ They made plays dow n the stretch to win the game for the second game in a row and we didn’t make plays,” BU head coach Joe Jones said. “The same thing happened at Lehigh [last weekend].”

Sophomore for wa rd Ma x Mahoney started start strong for the Terriers, scoring seven of BU’s first 11 points. However, the Terriers trailed 14-11 early on.

Senior forward Jordan Swopshire had six for Colgate, who led 19-13 midway through the first half. The Raiders then opened a nine-point lead courtesy of a Robertson three.

BU actually shot a higher percentage than Colgate through the first 20 minutes, but the Terriers turned the ball over six times while the Raiders only turned over the ball three times near the end of the frame.

Senior guard Will Goff hit backto-back threes to cut the Colgate

lead to five with 4:22 remaining in the half. Goff, who was shooting 1-for-12 in his past three games from behind the arc, connected on three triples over the first half.

Freshman guard Javante McCoy hit a three as BU heated up late in the first half.

However, the Raiders would end the half on 8-3 run to take a 40-33 lead into the locker room. Robertson led all scorers with 12 while Mahoney and Goff had nine apiece to pace the Terriers.

Colgate connected on seven three pointers in the first half of this contest after only making six threes overall in the first meeting against BU. Sophomore forward Tyler Scanlon had a balanced first half, with three points, four assists and two rebounds.

The Raiders thrived off the bench in the first half, outscoring the Terriers 16-6.

BU eventually shot 49 percent from the field, but was unable to pull out the win due to its defense. Jones PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF noted that this is something he’s never Freshman guard Javante McCoy scored 13 points in BU’s road loss to Colgate Wednesday night. had before.

“We didn’t play good enough offense Colgate struggled offensively in Robertson notched three and five Jones said. “They made more effort to win,” Jones said. “Overall we’re the second half, as it was stuck on points, respectively, to give Colgate plays than we did, that’s kind of what executing, but right now we’re not 48 points for almost four minutes. a 62-54 lead. happened after we were able to tie it.” getting stops. Tonight we didn’t get During this stretch, BU was able to “We were playing good man-toColgate’s defense was also able to stops in the zone.” cut the deficit to two after McCoy man defense and we were scoring with keep BU off the board for the last two Another area the Terriers strug- netted seven points. some consistency then I thought we minutes and 47 seconds of the game. gled in was rebounding. The Raiders Scanlon was able to heat up in got tired,” Jones said. “We had to sub Although the Terriers will return outrebounded them 32-24. the second half with eight points, and then we just hit a wall.” home this weekend to play the College “There were balls that were up and including a three to cut the score The Raiders continued this offen- of the Holy Cross, Jones said he remains they got [to the] loose balls,” Jones to 54-52. sive attack while the Terriers were concerned about his team. said. “I guarantee you, they either Mahoney tied the game at 54 only able to tally six more points for “It’s always good to get back home,” out rebounded us or got more 50-50 with a layup, which capped a 17-6 the remainder of the matchup.

Jones said. “I’m more concerned about balls and when that happens we can’t Terrier run.

“We didn’t get great shots in that our ability to make effort plays right win. When we were winning, we were After its run, BU remained unable stretch. We turned it over, we forced now. That’s what I see right now. [The] making those plays. Right now we’re to score for over five minutes while it, we didn’t execute down the stretch last two games, we just haven’t made not making those plays.” freshman guard Jack Ferguson and of the game on both sides of the ball,” enough plays.”

Women’s basketball beats Colgate in overtime, first win in six games

PHOTO BY CHLOE GRINBERG/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Senior center Sophie Beaudry totaled 12 points against Colgate.

BY LIAM O’BRIEN

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

On the verge of suffering its most heartbreaking defeat of the season, the Boston University women’s basketball team stepped up when it mattered most.

Down 58-54 with 10 seconds left in regulation, the Terriers (9-13, 4-8 Patriot League) fought back with reckless abandon and recovered to down Colgate University 66-64 in overtime.

Behind 19 points from sophomore forward Nia Irving, 12 points from senior center Sophie Beaudry and 10 points from freshman guard Tenisha Pressley, BU snapped its

six-game losing skid.

With 7.4 seconds remaining, a wing three-pointer by freshman guard Katie Nelson, who had nine points and six assists, kept BU alive by cutting the gap to 58-57. The Raiders (4-19, 0-12 Patriot League) then flubbed the inbound pass and the Terriers raced down the f loor on a fastbreak, setting up a junior forward Naiyah Thompson free throw with three seconds left to take the game to overtime.

“We didn’t even intend to go for a three,” BU head coach Katy Steding said. “We just needed a shot. We ran it, [Nelson] got open and ‘wham!’ We have had some

heartbreaks in some close games so it was nice for her to hit that.”

It was the Irving show in the extra frame, as the Fairfield, Maine native scored six of her 19 points to pace the Terriers to the narrow victory.

With 38 seconds remaining, Irving converted her biggest shot to date. Posted on the right block, Irving forced her defender on her back hip with a drop step before rising up to score the go-ahead bucket. “[Ir ving] is a magician sometimes,” Steding said. “I’m like, ‘Wow, that went in.’ I don’t know how she does it sometimes. She’s just got agility. She was able to finish some good shots tonight.”

Junior forward Summer King and junior guard Chelsey Koren were the only Raiders with double figures in scoring, putting up 15 points apiece as Colgate was saddled with the familiar weight of a Patriot League loss.

The Raiders hopped out to a 9-5 lead five minutes into the contest after a layup by sophomore guard Tegan Graham, but the Terriers responded with a 5-0 run.

Nelson canned a three-pointer before Pressley went coast to coast on a layup to give BU a slim lead going into the second quarter.

The Terriers entered the second frame firing on all cylinders.

A Pressley layup broke a 12-12 tie before a spinning f inish by Irving bumped the lead to 16-12.

With five minutes to go, BU held a

five-point advantage after a corner using a pump fake to create space three-pointer by sophomore guard before absorbing contact as she Vanessa Edgehill. converted a left-handed layup.

The Raiders were able to close Beaudry made a layup to give the gap to 26-22 near the end of the BU their biggest lead of the night at half, following senior guard Kateri 45-36, but the Raiders were deterStone’s three pointer. However, it mined not to let the night end there. was the Terriers who entered the Koren made a three-pointer break with momentum. at the shot clock buzzer on the Colgate shot below 30 percent ensuing trip before freshman guard from the field in the first 20 min- Nia Ahart made a fall away baseline utes while ma king less than 15 f loater to cut the deficit to 45-41. percent of its three-pointers.

Another Koren three from the But the Raiders f lipped the right corner made it 47-44 with script at the onset of the second half. under six minutes remaining and After an Irving bucket on the senior forward Tori Pozsonyi tied first possession, Colgate responded the game with a crucial and-one with a layup from forward Mylah finish on the right block on the Chandler and a King and-one finish subsequent possession off an entry to tie the game at 28 apiece. feed from Chandler.

Beaudry responded with critical One Graham free throw later senior leadership. and the Raiders had completed a After regrouping the team in a 12-2 run to seize the lead. huddle following the King bucket, With 1:16 left, Chandler drove she bailed her teammates out with a baseline and finished with a layup bank shot in the lane as the shot clock to put the Raiders up 54-52. expired on the very next possession.

BU turned over the rock on the A few series later, she drop- following possession, and Koren stepped her way to a left-handed poured in a dribble-drive finish finish to bump BU’s lead back up with 28 seconds remaining to douto 34-30. ble the gap.

On the subsequent possession, But BU was not deterred, as Beaudry found a cutting Pressley Irving’s overtime barrage sealed on the baseline for an open layup, the home victory. and Pressley surged with her second “[Irving] is a tough kid,” Steding steal-and-score of the game to up said. “She’s got a lot of room to the gap to 38-32. grow, but you know she wants the Ir ving propelled the lead to ball in crunch time. You got to seven with a picturesque and-one appreciate a kid that loves to score. finish to begin the fourth quarter, She’s special.”

SPORTS 11

Softball looks to build on Patriot League Championship run

BY JOSH ROTHSTEIN DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston University softba l l tea m is com ing off a successful Patriot League campaign and is looking to get over that Championship hump once again.

The Terriers had won the Patriot League and secured an NCAA tournament berth in the 2016 season.

They ended their 2017 season in defeat during the Patriot League Championship to Lehigh University.

BU head coach Ashley Waters has set high expectations, and for good reason.

Waters is entering her third season, after she delivered back-toback Patriot League Championship series appearances.

“Our expectation when we get on the field is to win,” Waters said. “We want to have a great overall preseason record and to get some of our kids in a better spot for conference play, and then obviously win the Patriot League Championship.”

Last season, the Terriers struggled through their non-conference tournaments, but excelled in league play, as they did during the 2016 campaign.

Including the beginning of last year’s Patriot Leag ue tournament, BU won eight games in a row before falling to the Mountain Hawks in the best-of-three Patriot League Championship.

The Terriers actually held the advantage in the double-elimination tournament. After BU and Lehigh beat the United States Military Academy and the College of the Holy Cross, the Terriers beat the Mountain Hawks 14-7 to catapult themselves straight into the championship and put Lehigh into a must-win situation.

The Terriers trailed that game 4-3 entering the fifth, but a four-run inning followed by a seven-run sixth

inning put Lehigh out of sight.

Senior outfielder Emma Wong had three hits and five RBIs while senior outfielder Jilee Schanda had four h its a nd th ree R BIs. Sophomore Kali Magane pitched 2.2 innings for the win.

The Mountain Hawks then narrowly edged Army to set up the rematch for the conference crown.

Lehigh quieted the Terriers’ bats in its two wins, shutting BU out in the first game and only giving up three runs in the second matchup.

In the rotation, BU lost its ace from former pitcher Makinna Akers.

Akers’ 2.08 ERA was almost a whole run lower than the next closest hurler, sophomore Kali Magane, who had an ERA of 3.03 last season.

Waters said she believes that in order to become a successful pitcher, you first need to accept your faults and mistakes.

“Understanding that [the pitchers] are going up against some really great teams and that they are going to have good days and bad days,” Waters said. “The best pitchers, they keep competing and keep throwing. They can’t get too much in their head preseason, just enjoy themselves and have fun.”

The Terriers will begin the season in sunny Boca Raton, Florida on the campus of Florida Atlantic University as BU will compete in the FAU Kick-Off Classic for the second year in a row.

The five other teams joining the Terriers and FAU are Northern Illinois University, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Duke Universit y and BethuneCookman University.

BU is scheduled to play five games, against every team but the FAU Owls.

The only rematch from last year will be against Bethune-Cookman.

The Wildcats won 5-1, though the Terriers out-hit them 11-6.

As far as this season goes, Ohio

Senior outfielder Emma Wong will be an important member of this season’s offense.

State is BU’s most dangerous opponent, according to the NCAA’s Rating Percentage Index rankings.

The Buckeyes are ranked No. 36 in RPI, losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season after falling in the Big Ten Championship.

This season, the Terriers are going to have to replace two of last season’s top three average hitters in Moriah Connolly and Gabi Martinez.

A l on g w it h C on nol l y a nd Ma r tinez, Rachel L ev ine a lso graduated, leaving three available positions in the starting lineup.

Waters did not go very deep in her bench last season, having only

nine players reach 50 or more at-bats.

Waters said she is hoping that the ret u r n of sen ior i nf ielder Brittany Younan, who received a medical redshirt after missing the season due to injury, can help the team’s offense.

“Getting Brittany Younan back is obviously a huge offensive catalyst for us,” Waters said. “We also have a freshman [pitcher], Maya Kipfmiller, who is really going to step in and fill that power role.”

The right side of the infield is where BU now has the biggest hole. Connolly and Martinez both played on that side, with Conolly playing shortstop and Martinez

PHOTO BY JUSTIN HAWK/ DFP FILE PHOTO

playing third base.

In addition to Akers on the pitching staff, Sydni Overly will not return to the rotation for the Terriers in 2018. The BU pitching staff will now consist of two sophomores and three freshmen.

Waters said she is excited for what the newcomers in the lineup can bring and the potential this unit has in the upcoming season.

“I think our offensive lineup will be pretty good one through nine,” Waters said. “We have a lot of returners … and we have some kids that really can turn it on. I just hope we can find more consistency throughout.”

No need to worry about the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference EASTBOUND AND DOWN, FROM PAGE 12 Finals in an even weaker Eastern Conference this season.

Despite all the new and unique storylines emerging in Cleveland’s locker room, the plot has ironically stayed the same. The Cavaliers will coast through the rest of the regular season with one of the top seeds in the East, and meet the Warriors in the NBA Finals yet again.

Cleveland has an abundance of veterans who all know the value of conserving energy during the regular season. With 82 games and 16 teams playoff teams, giving maximum effort on a nightly basis isn’t sustainable for many of the Cavaliers’ players.

Don’t get me wrong. I just watched Cleveland lose to some of the league’s top teams this past month in embarrassing fashion. I watched a game where the team gave up 148 points and another where players looked like they had given up in the second quarter.

The team’s defense is slow. They are the oldest team in the league by a significant margin. However, come

playoff time, the Cavaliers’ biggest regular season weakness — age — might be their greatest strength.

The Cleveland roster is stacked with guys that have proven themselves as clutch shot-makers and sav v y defenders. B eyond just LeBron James, the Cavaliers have numerous players who have individually willed old teams to deep playoff runs.

Last year, point guard Isaiah Thomas took the Boston Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals before being traded to Cleveland.

Shooting guard Dwyane Wade has shown his ability to perform in big games with and without LeBron James. Even point guard Derrick Rose took the Chicago Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2011, falling to James and Wade’s stacked Miami Heat team.

One of the Celtics’ best assets is its youth and athleticism, something the Cavaliers are used to playing against. The team is one of the best defensive squads LeBron has faced in his career, yet stands no chance in the playoffs against Cleveland.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers often face scrutiny around January.

Give me Wade and Thomas late in a playoff game to make big plays over Boston’s inexperienced shooting guard Jaylen Brown and small forward Jayson Tatum. Give me the top three shooting guard of all time

over the athletic and inconsistent shooting of Brown. Give me the 5-foot-9 guy, who averaged nearly 30 points per game last season, over the rookie.

In May and June, intangibles

PHOTO COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

always seem to overshadow the stat sheet. The team that makes the smartest plays, the clutchest shots and plays the best defense down the stretch is the one that wins. Again this year, that team is the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“Our expectation when we get on the field is to win.” - Softball coach Ashley Waters on the upcoming season. p.11

Sports Thursday, February 8, 2018

EASTBOUND AND DOWN:

No need to worry about the Cavaliers

BY AARON HALFORD COLUMNIST

After dropping a season-high eight games in January, losing an All-Star big man in Kevin Love for potentially two months, enduring the shaky play of a recovering Isaiah Thomas and facing the uncertainty of LeBron James’ future with the team, so far, the Cleveland Cavaliers have sustained yet another season under scrutiny.

Another year, another overreaction.

In LeBron James’ 2015 return to the Cavaliers, he promised the city and organization a title. Not only did he deliver, but he brought the team to three consecutive NBA Finals. Yet despite his success, it has almost become tradition that he and the team undergo scrutiny in January.

In 2015, after reports surfaced about James’ poor relationship with Cleveland head coach David Blatt, speculation loomed large about the Cavaliers’ ability to contend and gel under Blatt, notwithstanding Cleveland’s Eastern Conference Title.

Just one year later, the Cavaliers fired Blatt midseason and gave the starting job to their associate head coach Tyronn Lue. The media scrutinized both Cleveland’s relationship with Blatt, and Lue’s ability to get the job done.

However, the Cavaliers finished that season by defeating a 73-win team in the finals.

Last season, James called out Cleveland’s front office, claiming he needed additional playmaking after the Golden State Warriors acquired All-Star forward Kevin Durant. Members of the media, who did not seem to have a problem with Durant’s move from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Warriors, were up in arms about James’ call for help.

The Cavaliers turned on the switch, finishing the playoffs with a 12-1 record before losing to Golden State in the finals.

So here we are, January of yet another year, questioning LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ abilit y to reach another N BA CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

“You got to appreciate a kid that loves to score.” - Women’s basketball coach Katy Steding of sophomore forward Nia Irving. p.10

Carpenter leads men’s hockey through adversity

BY MATTHEW MARTIN DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The name “Carpenter” has almost become synonymous with Bostonarea hockey.

First, Bobby Carpenter spent time with the Boston Bruins in the early ‘90s. His daughter Alex skated for Boston College, where she captained the team in the 2015-16 season and won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award in 2015. She then went on to play a season with the NWHL’s Boston Pride.

Now it is Boston University men’s hockey junior forward and assistant captain Bobo Carpenter’s turn to make a name for himself.

BU (15-11-2, 10-7-2 Hockey East) head coach David Quinn noted how Carpenter has made strides of improvement every year, which he thinks stems from the forward’s maturity and confidence.

“I think you see that in a lot of great players,” Quinn said. “They have good freshman years and even better sophomore years and now for him, he’s made that next jump.”

Quinn added that even though people like to talk about the impact freshmen have on the team, it is imperative to the success of the program for players to make these jumps.

This season, Carpenter finds himself tied for No. 12 in the country with 16 goals and tied for fifth in the Hockey East conference for point scoring with 27 points, leading the Terriers in both categories.

Although he is an impact player on the ice, perhaps the largest inf luence Carpenter has is in his leadership capabilities.

This year he is a member of the team’s leaders alongside senior forward and assistant captain Nikolas Olsson, junior forward and assistant captain Jordan Greenway and senior defenseman and captain Brandon Hickey.

Carpenter said that it’s a pretty special feeling to wear the “A” on his sweater.

“Not many people get that it’s kind of an eye-opener,” Carpenter said.

“You want to help the team as much as you can and getting that recognition is really nice from your teammates.”

As an assistant captain, Carpenter said it’s his duty to show the younger guys what’s best for the team and to get the underclassmen caught up in how the team does things.

One player who has benefited from skating on the same line as Carpenter for a majority of the season is freshman forward Shane Bowers.

“He’s a great player and really easy to play with because he is always going all out,” Bowers said. “He makes great plays [and] he’s always in the right spots so he makes my

PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Junior forward Bobo Carpenter has embraced his leadership role as assistant captain for men’s hockey this season.

job easy and it’s been fun playing with him.”

Carpenter said that he tries to lead by example, something Hickey and Quinn both echoed.

“His dedication … shows the freshmen and the younger guys that it doesn’t come easy, [you’ve] got to come to the rink everyday,” Hickey said. “He’s our leading scorer for a reason. He’s at the rink working on his game [and] working on his shot.

He’s showing everyone that it’s not an easy game to play and it’s something you got to keep working at.”

Quinn said Carpenter’s leadership this season has been “outstanding,” and that he is a player the other members of the team respect for his work ethic and personality.

“He does everything right,” Quinn said. “No matter what aspect of his life it is, he’s doing it right. He’s a great example for our guys.”

Although Carpenter is leading his team in scoring, hockey has not been always kind to him.

Despite being ranked No. 119

by NHL Central Scouting among North American skaters before the 2014 NHL Entr y Draft, he went undrafted.

Not having a professional team next to his name left a chip on his

shoulder, and he said he has set out to prove people wrong.

“It definitely gave me a little motivation to kind of prove people wrong,” Carpenter said. “Those are the things that can hurt you, but I had a lot of helpful people such as my sister, my family and my dad that kept pushing me and they knew if they kept pushing me it would work out in the end.”

Carpenter added that he looks up to his sister and his father in terms of leadership. He also noted that he looks up to his former BU captains Matt Grzelcyk and Doyle Somerby, as well as Hickey.

Though both Carpenter and his sister have successful hockey careers, he mentioned that there is no sibling rivalry between them. “ … There’s some good jokes here and there every once in a while,” Carpenter said. “But we definitely help each other and we have fun with it, so it’s pretty cool.”

The current 2017-18 season has been sort of a tale of two seasons for Carpenter and the Terriers.

BU struggled to find any consistency in the first half of the season and became unranked for the first time since the end of the 2013-14 season.

However, since the start of the second half of the season, the Terriers have only lost one game and are riding a six-game win streak after beating Harvard University 3-2 in the opening round of the Beanpot tournament in double overtime.

BU is now just fou r poi nts behind BC (13-12-3, 13-5-0 Hockey East) for the conference lead and finds itself third in the league for scoring offense, averaging 3.21 goals per game.

Carpenter said that he believes this success is because of how hard the team works and that he can see the difference from the previous semester to this semester.

Although he is not the most voca l leader, Hickey sa id that perhaps the greatest aspect of Carpenter’s leadership is his ability to lead by example.

Just like the Terriers, Carpenter doesn’t just talk the talk, but walks the walk and this has served them and himself well through hardship.

“The biggest thing he brings is that he leads by example,” Hickey said. “You need those kind of guys on your team because not everything needs to be vocal, you just got to show everyone how to do once in a while.”

SATURDAY, FEB. 10

SUNDAY, FEB. 11

MONDAY, FEB. 12

Men’s lacrosse will hope to continue its early season success at Ohio State, 12 p.m.

Softball will continue the FAU Kick-

Men’s hockey will compete in the

and Ohio State, 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

Northeastern at TD Garden, 7:30 p.m.

BOTTOM LINE THURSDAY, FEB. 8

The Boston Celtics will travel to play the Washington Wizards, 8:00 p.m.

FRIDAY, FEB. 9

Men’s hockey will look for its 7th straight win against UMass Amherst, 7:30 p.m.

Softball will begin its 2018 campaign against Duke and Bethune-Cookman, 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

Off Classic against Michigan State

Beanpot Championship against