TRUMP PROTEST, 2
DOUBLE MASKING, 4
LONDON ABROAD, 5
MINECRAFT CULTURE, 6
Bostonians gathered to condemn former President Donald Trump.
The CDC announced new guidlines for face coverings.
Students in CGS question the status of the Summer London program.
Online culture has toxic tendencies we must address.
THURSDAY, FEB. 11, 2021
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY
YEAR LI. VOLUME C. ISSUE III
BU remains firm on housing deposit deadline in spite of uncertain future Aaron Velasco Daily Free Press Staff Boston University students will have to pay a full $600 housing deposit to reserve on-campus living spaces for the 2021- 2022 school year by the end of February. However some students, including those on the BU Reddit page, have cited this policy as unfair due to uncertainty surrounding the Fall. BU spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email the payment is to ensure students can be guaranteed a living space for the academic year, and it can be refunded for half of the amount until the end of June. “Students unsure of their plans should decide whether or not to participate in room selection,” Riley wrote. He wrote BU expects classes and dormitories will operate as they did before the pandemic by Fall 2021. “We also hope some of the pandemic’s uncertainties will be resolved as vaccine distribution and inoculation efforts increase,” Riley wrote. Riley said there are no plans to reduce the payable amount due for the primarily non-refundable housing deposit in an interview. “This is something that is in place,” Riley said. “It’s the only way to operate when you have 11,000 plus on cam-
pus.” He added COVID-19 testing may still be a regular practice next Fall, and it was “premature” to say otherwise. 575 Commonwealth Ave. — known as HoJo, which is currently being used for quarantine housing — has yet to be designated as a regular living space for Fall 2021. Whether Learn from Anywhere will still be an option is yet to be determined, Riley said, and BU will follow the advice of its own Medical Advisory Group on COVID-19 protocols. “We’ll learn more in the coming weeks as the vaccine is rolled out,” he said. “I think that’s a couple months away from being decided.” Riley added he was proud of how the BU community was dealing with the challenges posed by the past year. “I’m really pleased with the perseverance of students and faculty and staff to forge ahead and do well despite all the challenges they face,” Riley said. Questrom School of Business freshman Syndia Iglesias said the $600 amount is “very unfair” to begin with and the ability to partially refund the deposit does not remedy that price. “You still had to pay those $600 up front,” Iglesias said. “Not most people have those $600 in their pocket.”
Even though some students may be able to get their deposit “deferred,” Iglesias said it is still not fair to charge some students to pay that much to save a room for themselves. “It is unfair that middle-class and higher-income students who are coming in, they do have to pay those $600,” Iglesias said. She added the primarily non-refundable deposit definitely alienates some students from living on campus
and does not offer any real incentives. “It doesn’t clarify anything,” Iglesias said. “It doesn’t tell you if you’re actually going to get a good housing next year.” College of Arts and Sciences freshman Lily Drazin said no student can anticipate what the Fall semester will look like, and paying $600 just as the Spring semester begins is daunting. “It’s putting students in a bit of an uncomfortable situation,” Drazin
SOPHIA FLISSLER/ DAILY FREE PRESS
In spite of uncertainty surrounding the 2021-22 school year, Boston University students must submit their housing deposits by Feb. 28.
said. “They have barely any time to decide.” Drazin said she doubts BU’s belief that normal on-campus operations — those before March 2020 — can continue as soon as next Fall. “I think that’s a pretty hopeful and optimistic assumption,” Drazin said. “I don’t necessarily think that’ll happen.” She said she believes students should be able to get their deposit back in full if they wish to rescind their application. “I think people should get the full refund,” Drazin said. “Especially with the plan for next year being so undetermined and just up in the air, I think that’s super unfair.” Drazin said the daily notification to pay the deposit was sometimes annoying, and she would prefer a later deadline to pay. “It is really overwhelming, especially getting the constant email like every single day,” Drazin said. “I know I’ve talked to other people who feel the same way.” Drazin said she sympathizes with the administration, however, because they are trying to work toward an optimal and smooth school year. “I think they’re doing so without actually thinking about the students,” she said. “They’re more concerned with the technicalities and not actually the well-being of their students.”
BU parents, students voice concerns over mental health resources on campus Taylor Brokesh Daily Free Press Staff Members of the Boston University community have called on the administration to improve its mental health resources for students. Alessandra Kellermann, the mother of a senior at BU as well as the founder of the BU Parents United Facebook Group, said many parents are aware of students’ need for help. “We were hearing more and more … about a need for more emotional support and well-being,” Kellermann said, “much more than you normally would need in a regular school year.” Kellerman recognized Student Health Services Director Judy Platt’s open communication with parents and BU Hillel’s promotion of mental health and social activities. Kellerman added that Sarah Lipson, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Law Policy and Management, is “fantastic.” Kellerman said there hasn’t been sufficient communication from the administration to the BU community. “Especially this semester, the silence
is deafening,” she said. “That’s not okay.” She said she believes the number of students returning home after living on campus reflects BU’s inability to meet their mental health needs. She said a lot of students are “left with a miserable experience.” “That’s a failure on BU’s part,” Kellerman said, “not on the students’ part.” Kellermann said one way the University could assist students is by adding mental health questions and resources to the daily COVID-19 symptom survey. “As silly as it sounds,” she said, “the one day that somebody might be having a really tough day, they might pay attention to it and they might know it mattered enough to put in a self survey.” Director of Behavioral Medicine Carrie Landa wrote in an email there have been fewer therapy appointments requested by students now than at this time last year. “We also have, on average, a < 48 hour wait time to get an initial appointment,” she wrote. Students can call to speak with a mental health professional at any
HANNAH YOSHINAGA | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Student Health Services. Some Boston University students and parents believe BU is not offering sufficient mental health resources, as students grapple with added stress from the pandemic and other challenges.
time they need, Landa wrote. “Of course, we always have a clini cian to speak with in the event of a mental health emergency,” Landa wrote, “which is available 24/7.” Rosa Rodriguez, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said students’ mental health could be improved if professors adjusted their course work. “College is a workload, but it shouldn’t be as much of a workload
during a global pandemic,” Rodriguez said. CAS junior Savannah Majarwitz, co-chair of the Student Government Mental Health Committee, said students are still struggling to get used to the circumstances of the pandemic. “No one really signed up for virtual learning, we’re all kind of adapting still,” Majarwitz said. Majarwitz helped write the petition that led BU to grant students two
Wellness Days in March after the cancellation of Spring Recess. “We all kind of hear, ‘this is an unprecedented time,’” she added, “but there’s kind of a disconnect between what’s being said to students and what’s actually being done for students.” Majarwitz suggested that counselors be staffed in residence halls so students can have direct assistance in case of a mental health emergency. Christine Yoh, a freshman in the College of Communication, said BU could implement a buddy system for people who are adjusting to life on campus. “It could make that transition easier,” Yoh said, “because I think that plays a role in their well-being and feeling a sense of community.” Kellermann said the University should give mental health resources the same effort it puts toward its COVID-19 response. “BU’s done such a fantastic job with the testing, and managing to keep COVID from spreading on campus,” Kellermann said. “That’s the kind of energy and passion we want to see in terms of the well-being of the students.”
2
NEWS
Boston looks to add dog parks to every neighborhood Isabella Abraham Daily Free Press Staff The Boston Parks and Recreation Department aims to put a dog park in every neighborhood in the city, according to Project Manager Allison Perlman, who spoke at a Friday meeting to discuss improvements to West Roxbury’s Millennium Park. Currently, there are four official BPRD dog recreation spaces out of 24 City-recognized neighborhoods — none lie south of Dorchester. “It’s a big issue,” Perlman said during the meeting. “Boston Parks does recognize the need to provide a space for all and as such, we are working towards having a dog park in every neighborhood.” The City budgeted more than $3.2 million for the renovation of Millenium Park, but those funds were specifically earmarked for the playground, pathways and a restroom feasibility study, according to Perlman. Friday’s meeting was the first in a series of three in which residents could voice their concerns, provide input on what should be renovated and ask city workers questions about the project. This phase of the updates didn’t include space for a dog park, but several of the 30 people attending the meeting brought the topic up during the Q&A portion. “Two friends of mine have been attacked by loose dogs on
the pathways,” Roslindale resident and park regular David Wean said. “Some of the dog owners seem to feel really, really entitled. Obviously enforcement is important, but that really shows there’s a need for a dog park here.” Perlman said she’s happy to discuss avenues to create a dog park, but those discussions would need to take place in the future and be kept separate from talks of the current stage of the Millenium Park project. Residents are welcome to contact her directly to discuss, she said. “We only have three meetings to gather community feedback and it’s important to focus discussion on our current scope,” Perlman said. The City needs to ensure Millenium is a safe area for a dog park because it used to be a landfill, said Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods. The department would ask for help from the community to find a suitable location if Millenium Park is not the best option, Woods said. Interested parties could provide a proposal to Boston Parks highlighting a BPRD-owned location that isn’t in close proximity to neighbors, children’s playgrounds, slopes and sensitive habitats or outfields. “There’s all these regulations that have to be met,” Woods said. “There’s all these boxes that you have to check. It’s more involved than just putting up a fence in a park and calling it a dog space.” Beyond an area that meets this criteria, community support is needed, Woods said.
Woods added that the support of a civic or nonprofit “friends” group to oversee development and long-term maintenance would be especially important. “We have to have a committed group that wants to engage and be involved,” Woods said. “When there’s problems at the dog park, it’s the friends group, the nonprofit group that forms around this, that helps deal with the issues.” HANNAH YOSHINAGA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF Boston Parks and Recreation announced Friday it plans to build a dog park in every city neighborhood. Paul Odelson is a member of Common Canine, a Friends of the include applying for grants and public, for the good of the entire Public Garden program at the Boston advocating to City councilors for community and not just one group,” Odelson said. Commons. He said he remembers capital funding. “I’m a huge believer in community Woods said the entire process for his involvement to create an off-leash dog recreation area there about 10 and communication,” Odelson said. “I each park could take upward of a year, would say any group that’s starting to depending on the resources available years ago. “We were very happy to work with form to reach out to the community and commitment of those involved once funding is in place. the Friends of the Public Garden, and get their opinions, their advice.” Alternatively, through Boston’s Odelson added that dog parks can and of course the Boston Parks department,” Odelson said. “There Parcel Priority Plan, residents can help keep dogs out of areas designated wasn’t that many off-leash areas at suggest parcels of land for acquisition for other activities, such as field sports the time, with the exception of Peters by BDPR to add to the park system or childrens’ play spaces. and give feedback on how the city “I would love to see [a dog park] in Park.” Many “friends” groups, including should use it — including as a dog every area,” Odelson said. “If they’re able to work with communities Common Canine, needed fundraising park. “If you want to use city land or to get dog slots in almost every to meet the sufficient budget for a dog park — about $250,000 to $275,000, public land, you really have to work neighborhood, that would be according to Woods. Other methods to make sure it’s for the good of the fantastic.”
Boston protesters encourage Trump’s conviction Aaron Velasco Tanisha Bhat Daily Free Press Staff Protesters gathered outside of South Station Wednesday afternoon to condemn the actions of former President Donald Trump and advocate for his conviction in this week’s Senate impeachment trial. Jade Tisdol — an organizer for Refuse Fascism, one group that helped organize the protest — railed against Trump’s reaction to the results of November’s presidential election in a speech. “To throw out millions of votes, many from Black voters in swing states, he demonstrated his refusal to accept a peaceful transfer of power by mobilizing his fascist base to carry out a coup,” Tisdol said. “Normally any unsuccessful coup leader would either be in jail or forced to flee the country.” As Tisdol spoke, activists passed out flyers and, as a part of the protest, a man wearing a Trump mask writhed in a cage — satirizing Trump’s treatment of families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Tisdol said Senate Republicans want Americans to move on and forget about the former president’s transgressions. “What will happen next, he gets away with all this?” Tisdol asked the crowd. “Whatever’s going to happen in the next four years? It’s game on.” As she concluded her speech, Tisdol led the crowd in an explicit chant against the former president: “F--Donald Trump.” Tisdol said the rally was a fight against modern fascism. “We just wanted to make sure that
people see we’re out in the streets, wanting to make sure that people know that it’s very important for Trump to be convicted of all of his crimes that he’s committed as a president,” Tisdol said in an interview. The Senate voted 56-44 that Trump’s trial was constitutional Tuesday. Six Republicans crossed party lines and voted alongside Democrats to proceed. Tisdol said she did not think Trump would be convicted, but that continued action was necessary. She cited protests in Russia following the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. “If he’s not convicted, who knows where this country can spiral off to?” Tisdol said.
John Harris, an organizer for the Boston May Day Coalition — another group behind Wednesday’s protest — said by disbanding global health preparedness programs like PREDICT in 2019, Trump was guilty of “sabotaging” measures that may have prevented the COVID-19 pandemic. “We of the May Day Coalition, charge Donald J. Trump with being a saboteur, deserter and traitor in the war against COVID-19,” Harris said to the crowd. As Harris said Trump betrayed the United States, a man without a mask drove by and yelled out to the crowd, “communists!” The protesters vowed to give Trump their own “people’s trail” where they would reiterate his crimes
and publicly denounce his actions. “Members of the jury, people in this trial, how do you find Donald J. Trump?” Harris asked the protesters. The crowd answered back: “Guilty!” Harris told The Daily Free Press the protest was to denounce Trump’s “crimes against humanity” and call upon the federal government for a conviction. “We’re calling on the national, the state and all local governments to declare that the rising fascist movement in this country is a threat to the Constitution and our democratic institutions,” Harris said. Stan Lawrence, a regional organizer with Refuse Fascism, said Trump was the cause of the storming of the
U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, calling it a “serious attempt at overturning the election.” “If there is not a powerful movement in the halls of Congress, and more importantly, if there is not a powerful movement in the streets,” Lawrence said in a speech Wednesday, “Trump and his followers and others will take this as a green light.” Lawrence said the protestors also denounced Congressional Republicans such Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Ariz., for continuing attempts to overturn the election even after the Capitol storming. He also said the Democrats did not take strong enough action to combat Republicans such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — a supporter of QAnon conspiracy theories.
AARON VELASCO/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
The Boston May Day Coalition and Refuse Fascism New England protested at South Station Wednesday to demand the conviction of former President Donald Trump.
FEATURES 3
ARTS
Student Artists-in-Residence at Innovate@BU to create exhibit encouraging students to slow down Caroline Bowden Daily Free Press Staff As the Spring semester begins to pick up pace, schedules and deadlines start to dominate student life once again. But do they have to? For College of Fine Arts seniors Angela Lian and Jay Li, the perceived constraints of time don’t have to be a burden, but rather an inspiration for a new exhibit. “We as students never feel satisfied with our time, being surrounded by language like ‘we don’t have enough time’ or ‘we’re wasting time doing this,’” Lian said at the announcement event Friday. “This installation will encourage students to consider how delicate their balance for time might be, and lead to a careful appreciation for time as something that is precious and needs to be nurtured.” The two seniors were selected on Friday as artists-in-residence for Innovate@BU’s 2021 IDEA Conference —the fourth annual, one day conference for Boston-area student entrepreneurs to learn more about innovation through talks, workshops and other activities. This year’s event will be held virtually Feb. 27. As the selected artists, the pair will work with Innovate@BU to install a permanent exhibit for the 20-foot wall in the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center on Commonwealth Avenue, which can also be viewed from the street. The BUild Lab is a section of Innovate@BU that serves as a space for students to collaborate and programs to encourage innovation on
campus. project’s selection committee, said. Lian, who is studying graphic “I really liked that they had ‘time design, and Li, studying advertising possessed and time appreciated,’” and graphic design, submitted a Clancy said in an interview in proposal to the Innovate@BU team reference to the project’s proposal, in January. “and they spoke very in-depth about Their design, which was chosen out their motivations for the piece.” of four artists’ proposals, will feature Lian said the duo’s decision to a digital projection and preserved moss — a plant which often travels by wind collecting water and, to the artists, symbolizes the BUild Lab’s commitment to “fostering innovative seed ideas” in its students. “The vertical garden is meant to contrast the stark coldness in our professional and academic pursuits,” Lian said at the event, “and invite onlookers to stop and smell the roses.” As the artists bring their ideas to fruition, they said they plan to cover the metal wall BUild Lab, which hosts Innovate@BU programs. College in the moss while Lian were named Innovate@BU’s artists-in-residence Friday. coding animated art to project over the greenery, creating a apply was “spontaneous,” but the secondary garden for students in the concept for the design bloomed over lab to interact with. Those flowers the summer, she said. Li added they will also use motion tracking so applied with a desire to enter the next students can interact with and watch step in their career post-college. as the animated petals bloom at Mary Yang, CFA assistant certain times of the day, Lian said. professor of graphic design and Their proposed design won the art and a member of the selection praise of the selection panel not only committee, said the BUild Lab wall for its practical application, but also has gone unused due to its position for its strong conceptual framework, in the room — in the center of the Dana Clancy, director of CFA’s student and alumni workspace — but School of Visual Arts and part of the the challenge was a chance to change
that. “The wall wasn’t really being utilized by the lab because it was so deep and it was hard to reach,” Yang said in an interview. “Part of the challenge was thinking about how can this be repurposed or utilized in a way that can become functional.”
CAROLYN MOONEY/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
of Fine Arts students Jay Li and Angela
Selection committee member Ahlea Isabella-Cochran, marketing and communications manager for Innovate@BU, said this challenge was a way to bring engaging visuals back in the conference, especially now that it’s virtual. “It’s always been this space that we thought is just right for something more creative or innovative,” Isabella-Cochran said in an interview. “Now that this year we are doing IDEA Conference virtually and we
still wanted to have an artistic piece and artistic involvement, we thought this would be a great challenge.” Isabella-Cochran said the wall where the installation will exist is a space students can regularly engage, which she thinks will allow them to look up and take something away from it. “We really hope it’s something that they can just look over to,” she said. “Take a break from their computer screen and look up and see something that either just sparks a new idea, gives them just a little bit of a break in their mind, helps them relax a little bit.” Lian said the botanical aspect of their proposal meshed well with the values of Innovate@BU and the BUild Lab, which are centered around student collaboration and innovation. “Moss is … a much more friendly and comfortable type of natural environment,” she said. “We wanted to have that reflection of the garden in our execution, but also have it be a stark contrast to fast-paced environments.” The artists will begin the process of planning, installing and documenting the exhibit throughout February, and complete the rest of the exhibit in the months to come. If all goes according to plan, passersby of Commonwealth Avenue — as well as those studying and collaborating inside — will gaze at the exhibit for years to come, Isabella-Cochran said, and hopefully remember to slow down. “This is one we hope is there for a really, really long time,” she said in an interview. “Any piece that we do put in the BUild Lab, we usually hope that it’s there for as long as possible.”
VSCO year-in-review features young Bostonian, celebrates artists’ resilience Emma Varcirca Daily Free Press Staff Last year was a colossal year for everyone. VSCO, a popular photography app, aimed to capture the impact of the historic year with art and photographs, releasing “The VSCO Lens: 2020 Year In Review,” which recounted the most popular trends on the app and impactful moments throughout the year. The list was released Dec. 15 of last year. The premise of the project was to
showcase the art that 2020 allowed people to create. Shavone Charles, head of communications and creative partnerships at VSCO, spearheaded the 2020 Year In Review. Charles encompassed the year’s trending hashtags, art and statistics into the review to illustrate how teenagers in 2020 used creative outlets like VSCO as a form of “self care,” she wrote in a statement. “Our community shared their most authentic moments and how creativity helped them to navigate through 2020’s ups and downs,” Charles wrote.
Alexis Higgins, a 22-year-old artist from Boston, was selected to have her art published for the Year In Review. Higgins, who attends Massachusetts College of Art and Design and is passionate about creating collages, said being featured in VSCO was “a huge opportunity.” “I’d never been published before,” she said. “I had seriously never been in a zine before this, so this was really, really exciting for me.” VSCO posted several of Higgins’ original works, including an “abstract painting” she said she is especially proud of. The feature also contains
Boston-based artist Alexis Higgins was featured in VSCO’s 2020 Year in Review. ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH YOSHINAGA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
other pieces made by hand, as well as a couple collages. After being laid off twice during the pandemic, Higgins turned her time and creative pursuits to art, she said — more specifically collage making. “In my free time, I was always collaging, especially right after I’d been laid off,” she said. “It gave me a lot more free time to explore my style and what I wanted to do with my work.” Higgins used her art during quarantine as an escape, she said, especially through the pandemic’s first few months. Her collaboration with VSCO, she said, allowed her to feel connected to people in a time when everyone was so far apart. “It was a way to just kind of sit back and escape,” Higgins said. “I got so much feedback from people that I hadn’t talked to in years. Especially during a time of extreme isolation, it made a huge difference in knowing that everybody is going through the same thing.” Higgins was not alone in seeking creative stress relief — a survey VSCO conducted with JUV Consulting revealed just how intrinsic this desire for creativity was for Generation Z, Charles wrote. The survey, conducted in November, had 1,000 respondents aged 14 to 25 years old from across the globe and featured “significant” responses from people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.
Of respondents, 34 percent said creative outlets were the “most important” factor in getting through the year. Connecting with loved ones and practicing self-care were ranked lower on the list. Charles added 66 percent of respondents reported spending more time on creative hobbies and 44 percent reported reduced stress levels when doing so. To Charles, this project demonstrated how even in times of struggle, art persists. “History proves that even in the hardest of times, creativity can thrive and have a profound and positive impact on people’s lives,” Charles wrote. “We saw it firsthand on VSCO throughout 2020 and that resilience inspired us to create our first-ever Year in Review to explore how nextgen communities spent their year creating and thriving, against all odds.” For many, most of 2020 was spent within the same four walls. COVID-19 was and still is a dominating factor in everyone’s lives. Highlighting artists such as Higgins, Charles wrote, was an important way to illustrate how art allows people to heal and cope. “They made creativity part of their daily routines and a form of self care,” she wrote. “They showed us how they were preserving connections—even in isolation—with images celebrating relationships with family and friends, both near and at a distance.”
4 FEATURES
BUSINESS
BU Questrom Panel emphasizes diversity, inclusion in business Ashley Soebroto Daily Free Press Staff After awareness around the Black Lives Matter campaign skyrocketed over the summer, diversity and inclusion within academic and workplace environments — or lack thereof — became a point of national dialogue. Diversity and inclusion becomes even more relevant when crafting a job application and leveraging a unique identity to secure that dream job. UBS, a multinational investment bank and financial service company, held a webinar with Boston University’s Questrom School of Business Monday titled “Embracing the power of being uniquely you,” to advise students on how to apply for their ideal career while embracing their identities. The webinar featured members from MOSAIC and PRIDE, UBS employee networks promoting diversity and inclusion for ethnically diverse and LGBTQ+ communities, who shared their own experiences of landing their careers. Mariana Atencio, an award-winning news personality, motivational speaker and author, co-hosted the event. In her keynote presentation, she
spoke about the importance of not discounting one’s own identity when applying for jobs — though she understands the temptation of trying to fit in. “I was an immigrant from Venezuela, I had a slight accent … so my first inkling was to hide some of those things, to look like everybody else,” she said. “That’s the first mistake I want you to avoid.” However, she said only stating one’s identity as an advantage during the job application process is not enough: She said people should provide an answer that challenges the “status quo” and relates to the unique skill set a person can bring to the company. “Show them you have integrity by showcasing how passionate you are about these things you do,” she said at the event. “But also, don’t only think of you. One of the foundations of storytelling, that’s my expertise, is knowing your audience.” She also said when interviewing for jobs, applicants should view it as “the beginning of a very important relationship,” comparing it to a marriage. Joseph Hershberger, vice chairman of financial institutions at UBS Group AG, said an important strategy for individuals navigating a career path is creating networks and connections with others through storytelling.
“Folks on Wall Street, people at UBS, are always looking for people who can hit the ground running,” he said at the event. “I think really leveraging your network, going out and meeting, or going through the various recruiting processes … is the best advice I can give.” Jessica Senquiz, a junior in Questrom and the College of Communication who works at the Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Questrom, said the center provides opportunities for students to create networks with others in similar fields. She said taking a Questrom seminar has also helped her craft her network. “As a student of color and first generation college student, I found that was really, really impactful to have those professional connections that I wouldn’t have had otherwise,” Senquiz said, “which really can mess with your confidence.” Senquiz said the seminar gives students the chance to participate in company visits, allowing them to gain a better understanding of professional organizations. The UBS webinar also touched on imposter syndrome, which Senquiz said is a big concern among college students and something she is trying to combat through her work. “For a lot of students, it manifests in the way of feeling like you don’t be-
THALIA LAUZON/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF Questrom School of Business. Questrom hosted a webinar with UBS Monday to discuss the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in the job application process.
long here,” she said. “What we work on is trying to make sure that students believe that they are supposed to be here and they’re very qualified and they should be confident.” Senquiz said the Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion works to help students overcome that imposter syndrome, which often affects minority students. “Oftentimes it can also happen, not just because of qualifications, but because of representation,” Senquiz said. “If you’re going to a company and you don’t see anybody who looks like you, you’re going to feel like this isn’t the spot for me.” The Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offers academic men-
toring and workshop events to help students combat those feelings of professional inadequacy by fostering confidence, Senquiz said. Senquiz said it’s important for students of color and those in the LGBTQ+ community to feel welcome in academic and business environments, both for themselves and for the institutions they belong to. “If we’re not able to bring our authentic selves into spaces, our perspectives are going to be lost from the conversation … and our perspectives are valuable,” Senquiz said. “Homogenous thought is never useful for innovation, complex decision making or simply empathy and understanding.”
SCIENCE BU students reflect on COVID-19 safety during Spring semester, layering face masks Sophie Nye Daily Free Press Staff As COVID-19 protocols continue through Boston University’s second semester with the continuation of the Learn from Anywhere model, some community members noticed varying levels of adherence to health protocols, as new variants arise and cases grow. Sharon Zou, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the length of the pandemic could be causing more people to become careless in regard to COVID-19 guidelines. “I feel like there are people who are getting lax on following the rules because [of] COVID fatigue,” Zou said. “I think there are students who should definitely do a better job, but there are also people who are continuously following the rules.” The University’s F--- it Won’t Cut It campaign began recommending that students start adding another barrier of protection by doubling up on masks this semester. In a tweet Wednesday, the group cited a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an article by The Wall Street Journal about the effectiveness of added mask protection, writing “Two masks are better than one.” Gwyneth Burns, a junior in the College of Communication and Public Relations Manager at F--- it Won’t Cut It, wrote in an email the campaign supports a commitment to
COVID-19 regulations. “We’re encouraging the community to stay vigilant and continue following public health guidelines,” Burns wrote. She added the CDC announced Wednesday new guidance about masks, encouraging wearing a tightly-fit surgical mask or “double masking,” which Burns wrote she hopes the community will adopt. Ronald Corley is a professor of microbiology and director of National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at BU. He said COVID-19 is spread from person to person through respiratory drops, which can include coughing, breathing, and even talking without a mask covering your mouth. “One of the interesting features of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is that people who are infected with this virus can spread it before they’re symptomatic,” Corley said. “Which is one of the reasons why we find ourselves in this pandemic.” As far as mask wearing, Corley said the type of mask — the number of layers, type of material and fit — is essential because it directly relates to how these respiratory droplets can spread. “One layer of cloth you could still breathe through,” he said. “If you just have on your mask and you blow, hold your hand up a few inches away and you blow and you can feel it, you
know that mask is not preventing the spread of all the respiratory droplets.” Corley said he started doubling up on masks two or three months ago. “The general rule of thumb is at least three layers is what you should be striving for,” Corley said. “So a good three-layer surgical mask, if it fits well. Otherwise, paper mask and then a cloth mask on top of it.” He added four-layer masks, while difficult to find, are also considered to be the “best protection.” He said the mask’s fit is also important. Sometimes, when people wear only one mask, there are noticeable holes on the sides of their face that particles can get through, he said. “The reason people say wear two masks, if you wear cloth masks on top of a paper mask, sometimes you get a much better fit around your face as a result of that,” Corley said, “and that better fit gives you more protection.” Although Corley recognizes the success of BU’s testing program and contact tracing, he said there is a continued need for individuals to stay vigilant and continue practicing safe protocols. Zou, who said she works in Residence Life, felt similarly about urging her fellow Terriers to take steps to protect themselves and the campus community. She said though the majority of students have been continuously following the rules, she also recognized that certain students have become more relaxed. “I feel like there are definitely groups of people who are not following rules and then going to parties
HANNAH YOSHINAGA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Boston University’s F--- it Won’t Cut It campaign and College of Arts and Sciences professor Robert Corley recommend wearing two masks to better protect against COVID-19 and its variants.
and gathering together,” Zou said. “Students definitely need to do a better job of not letting that happen.” Another CAS freshman, Hailey Moon, said BU also could do a better job of educating its students and staff about quality masks, though she said F--- it Won’t Cut it has been helpful. “They could increase mask education, which one’s most effective,” she said. “More on which types are good, if it doesn’t quite fit, how to make it fit, how to DIY masks.” She said she has seen some people, including a professor, wearing a neck gaiter — a fabric tube that stretches over a person’s head, covering their nose to the bottom of their neck. Corley said the issue with neck gaiters is they consist of only a single cloth layer. Some studies, he said, have even proven that neck gaiters facilitate the spread of the virus. “It can actually help break up the respiratory droplets to even smaller droplets and those tend to stay in the
air longer,” he said. “That makes them in fact, in some respects, not only not particularly effective, but actually potentially more dangerous.” Corley said there is still much to learn about how vaccine rollout will affect the pandemic — such as if the mRNA vaccines can prevent a vaccinated individual from spreading the vaccine. “We only know they protect against disease symptoms,” Corley said. “There’s still a lot that we need to learn, and we’ll only learn that over time, as more and more people are vaccinated, and then they are studied, following for long periods of time after their vaccination.” Burns wrote she hopes the community continues to be proactive in the fight against COVID-19 and follows new guidelines. “Double masking is another little step that makes a bigger difference,” she wrote. “We’re looking forward to seeing more people double masking on campus and around Boston.”
FEATURES 5
COMMUNITY
CGS Class of 2024 ponders effects of COVID-19 on London program Amanda Cappelli Daily Free Press Staff For the past year, Boston University students have encountered tremendous and sudden changes to the quintessential college experience. On top of it all, College of General Studies Class of 2024 students, who arrived at BU this Spring, face additional hurdles. The Class of 2024 arrived on campus last month after a Fall gap semester — a typical component of the CGS program, but one that occured in a very atypical time given the pandemic-related limits on internships, travel and activities. The draw of the CGS program tends to be the London summer program in usual times — when students study abroad in the Spring or summer after their first semester in college — but last year’s students conducted the program remotely. CGS is expected to announce its Summer 2021 London plans to students and faculty March 1, Sam Nafie, a CGS freshman, said. “I’m trying not to get my hopes up,” she said, “just in case.” Another CGS freshman, Adelene Jeneid, said the gap semester felt like an intimidating chunk of time to fill. “Honestly, I’ve always looked forward to college, and getting this semester off was definitely a smack in the face,” she said. “It was like, ‘Oh
my gosh, what do I do with this time?’” Due to COVID-19, Jeneid had to stay home and work for her local government instead of working at an American embassy abroad over the gap semester. For Jeneid, the possibility of going to London for six weeks is more than just an exciting experience — it’s something she looked forward to even more after the pandemic started. “In my head this whole time, I’m thinking ‘It’s going to be worth it, you’re going to London, six weeks, it’ll be a blast, you’ll make amazing memories,’” she said. “I just hope it happens.” Jeneid said she is interested to see how the London program will operate if it’s able to and whether BU will require extra safety measures for participating students, despite the trip being a little over a month long. “How are they going to administer COVID tests when they’re there?” Jeneid said. “Are they going to make us take the vaccine before we go? Are we quarantining there for two weeks before we attend in-person classes? The whole thing is six weeks.” She said being accepted to start in the Spring and not the Fall was another “curveball” to an already unsettling year, but hopes the pandemic doesn’t continue to affect her college schedule. “It’s something that I’ve, in my head, put as an excuse as to why I didn’t start according to my timeline,” Jeneid said. “I really wanted to
start school in the Fall.” Rayhan Bhamani committed to BU early decision before the pandemic last year. However, he said though activities such as the gap semester and London program could potentially be affected by the pandemic, those aspects of the program weren’t the core reason he chose BU. “I was undecided in my major, and it allowed me to explore a bunch of different options that BU has to offer,” he said. “I feel like the London program was just another plus.” Nafie said she committed to BU in late April of last year, but said she tried to limit her exposure to the virus and socially distanced before starting classes. However, BU’s pandemic preparedness and its academic adjustments made her feel confident about her decision. “I’ve found that a lot of professors are actually making the best of what we have,” Nafie said. “Sometimes I feel like, honestly, Zoom could be more useful in terms of discussion groups with the raise hand feature and everything.” Professors have also been adjusting to the new group of students and their learning obstacles. Shawn Lynch, a social sciences lecturer in CGS and member of the CGS Faculty Council, said he has been feeling the pressure. “It is a challenge, I have some anxiety about being in the classroom and managing that well,” Lynch said. “However, I know that BU has been working hard and they are trying to do
everything they can to build this infrastructure.” So far, Lynch said, the semester has been going very well. “Our team has had an extremely strong start,” Lynch said. “I’m very pleased, despite the challenges.” Lynch said to his students he will keep his classes as “normal” as he is permitted to. He added he will teach as he always does — just on Zoom this time. Lynch said he was saddened to watch his students miss out on key programs, especially when the Class of 2023 lost their London Program last summer. “I’ve had bad moments, but the worst moment of my life was going to Zoom when they cancelled London,” Lynch said. “That was just awful. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, how I was going to face them. Because they earned it, and it was taken away from them.” Through these losses, Lynch said he learned of his students’ resilience over the past year. They helped him have optimism moving forward, he said. Despite the challenges both the CGS Class of 2023 and 2024 faced, Lynch said he believes their time at BU has not been a waste. “I don’t believe that they were all cheated,” he said, “Maybe I’m naive, but I think that the bond that our team, lecturers and professors, formed with them, I really believe that they were 100 percent honest.”
EDITORIAL Students hold a responsibility to be sustainable, but so does the University A new waste-disposal system was recently implemented in West Campus Residence Halls, allowing students to separate their waste into food waste, trash and single-stream recycling bins on every floor that has a trash room. Previously, West Campus dormitories each had only one recycling site on the lower levels of the buildings — an inconvenient trek for students who needed to discard their recyclables. The bins also come with color-coded guides to help with sorting waste. This is a definite improvement for students who are already actively recycling. And, the new system makes sustainability more accessible to dorm residents. However, true change takes more than new recycling bins on every floor. A dualstream recycling system has been available on every floor of Warren Towers for several years
now, and upon initial installation, recycling rates among dorm residents went up 10 percent, according to sustainability@BU. But today, it’s become commonplace to see an overflowing trash bin next to a virtually empty or misused recycling bin. Students need to be proactive about their habits in order for the alternative waste streams to be effective. But those who are not environmentally conscious may not be motivated to take advantage of the three-stream waste disposal. It may be easy to throw all your trash into one bag and then into one bin, but it also isn’t much harder to be conscious about where you’re disposing your paper and plastic. However, the sustainability effort doesn’t solely fall on students. Although these additional recycling bins are undoubtedly great news, it feels too little too late. Warren Towers, as previously mentioned, has had recycling on every floor for over six years now. In a 2014 sustainability@BU article, Corinna Cusson, then-Assistant Director of Residence Life at Warren Towers, said the recycling bins were a unique feature on campus that “students have been clamoring for for about a decade now.” The initial implementation and funding took several months but certainly not several years. If it was relatively fast and evidently very popular,
why did it take a decade for Warren Towers to first receive this recycling system? And why did it take half a decade for it to be expanded to other dormitories on campus? sustainability@BU zero waste manager Kaity Robbins said they are looking to next apply the initiative at 1019 Commonwealth Ave., but further development of the initiative would require students to successfully use the waste system. While it’s understandable to want this project to do well before investing in other sites, the responsibility isn’t just on the students. Student Government shouldn’t have to continuously petition for such basic recycling. Instead, the University should be providing us with these resources from the get-go, which means expanding to all dorms as soon as possible. Especially for apartment-style buildings, such as 10 Buick St. and 33 Harry Agganis Way or the brownstones on Bay State and South Campus, the addition of food waste bins — or even trash disposal that is inside their buildings, rather than outside — could make a huge difference. On a larger scale, too, most of the responsibility falls on the University: how it runs the school and its buildings, its development and construction, its dining halls and its investment in fossil fuels. The University’s carbon footprint is much greater than our own.
The recycling dorm initiative is practically an empty gesture coming from a school that should have made recycling the standard long ago and could have chosen to enact even more practical changes. The most relevant example comes from the pandemic’s exacerbation of an already questionable dining hall. The takeout containers are not only tremendously unsustainable, but also don’t allow for proper portion sizes. And before the pandemic, mountains and mountains of food — food that students didn’t have to dispose of properly, but just chucked onto a conveyor belt — would go to waste. Rather than constructing yet another giant building on Commonwealth Avenue — despite the cool and sustainable architecture — BU should shift its attention to pre-existing issues such as sustainable dining hall practices. As students, we must make an effort to actually recycle and consume less, whether it’s with the food we get at our dining halls, the plastic we use or the unsustainable products we buy. As for the University, it needs to take on more practical and impactful responsibilities to reduce its environmentally unfriendly policies and practices. Yes, the new waste-disposal initiative is a positive, but we should also make sure it’s used properly and followed by further substantial change.
ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIA NIZHNY
EDITORIAL BOARD Colbi Edmonds, Editor-in-Chief Nick Kolev, Campus Editor Charles Moore, Sports Editor Hannah Yoshinaga, Photo Editor
Cameron Morsberger, Managing Editor Daniel Kool, City Editor Alexia Nizhny, Layout & Graphics Editor Emma Sanchez, Blog Editor
Abbigale Shi, Opinion Editor Jackson Machesky, Podcast Editor Lily Kepner, Features Editor GRAPHIC BYEditor ALEXIA NIZHNY Andrew Hardwood, Multimedia
OPINION 6
COLUMNS Ask Sophia: Valentine’s Day Sophia Yakumithis Daily Free Press Staff With Valentine’s Day around the corner, love is in the air. And, assuming we’re all following CDC guidelines, it’s the only thing in the air. I have an interesting relationship with Valentine’s Day. I think it’s one of the dumbest, most arbitrary holidays that only benefits capitalism. However, since my time writing for my high school newspaper, it generates a lot of creative inspiration in my little pea-sized brain. Maybe it’s because I’m always horny, maybe it’s because I watched a lot of “The Millionaire Match-
maker” at too young of an age. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I know for a fact I’m qualified to serve up some wisdom on this consumer-dependent holiday that forces people across the globe to go out of their comfort zone to express or proclaim their love for another individual. This week, our question is simply put: My dear friend, for you, I could write a thesis. But in short, just be your cute ol’ self, and every five-foot-three, “Psych”-loving sorority girl will be swooning. Not that you seem to have a “type” or anything. But if you happen to not be the person who sent in this question, I’ve got some universally applicable tips guaranteed to spark romance and
spice up your world this Valentine’s Day. We’re in a pandemic this V-Day, so facilitating any kind of celebration might seem impossible. But fret not, singles. If you don’t already have a Valentine, go on a “blind date” using a completely safe, non-sketchy video chat platform, like Omegle. Not only is this a fun, socially distanced way to celebrate, but there is a very, very, VERY good chance you’ll be matched up with a stranger who’s also feeling, uh… it? If you’re not into video sex with strangers, going to the hospital is the next best thing you can do to get a Valentine. Hear me out: I needed treatment for some health issues last December
and was incidentally admitted to the hospital the week of Christmas. I mean it in complete sincerity when I say it was one of the best Christmases ever. My nurse, Connor, treated me so well simply because I was the “sick kid” on a day that’s supposed to bring nothing but joy. If that man showered me in candy and stuffed animals on Christmas, imagine the lengths hospital staff members would go to to make sure you have a special Valentine’s Day. Not feeling either of those choices? Be your own Valentine. Who needs other people to feel loved? Not you. I hope you have a happy Valentine’s Day. And remember: the mask stays on during sex.
violence that would have killed more than 300 men, but he was also bound by his oath to faithfully execute the laws. I will not defend the morality of the decision to have a mass execution because I oppose the death penalty. But I will consider Lincoln’s record holistically and present him not as a savior but as a good yet imperfect man. Lincoln’s most significant achievement was abolishing slavery. Contrary to what is taught in school, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free enslaved people. Instead, it was a signal to the South that the war was about slavery and its inevitable extinction, not just preserving the Union. However, Lincoln did oversee the Union’s victory over the Confederacy, which led to the passage of the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery. Despite his tangible accomplishments, one of Lincoln’s greatest gifts to the United States was his words — a unique American cocktail of humor, reason and virtue. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address has endured as one of the great speeches in American history. The Gettysburg Address showcased not only Lincoln’s rhetorical mastery but also his humility. “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,” he said. If only Lincoln had known how many times politicians would quote his speech more than a century after his death. Lincoln’s famous 1858 speech, “House Di-
vided,” correctly predicted the nation could not remain “half slave and half free.” In a speech in Chicago on July 10, 1858, Lincoln gave a cogent argument as to why he hated slavery and why the institution was on the path to extinction. In the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, Lincoln needled former Sen. Stephen Douglas for his spineless support for popular sovereignty. These debates catapulted Lincoln to national stardom and aided his successful presidential campaign in 1860. And in his second inaugural address, he spoke of healing, “with malice toward none; with charity for all,” a suggestion we could all learn from in today’s polarized political landscape. The full texts are all worth reading and add immense value to Lincoln’s legacy. If you consider Lincoln’s entire career, you’ll see he wasn’t a problematic president and an entirely bad man — certainly not one unworthy of having a school named after him. Monday is Presidents’ Day, a day on which we honor former presidents Lincoln and George Washington, who, similarly to Lincoln, had problems of his own outside of office but is still revered for his groundbreaking presidency. I’m not going to ask you to celebrate Lincoln on this day. After all, I’m named after him, and I won’t spend all of Monday poring over his speeches and writings. All I ask is to be spared from pseudo-historical posts defaming our greatest president.
Minority Report:
Don’t defame our greatest president
Lincoln Currie Columnist
The San Francisco Unified School District decided Jan. 26 that former President Abraham Lincoln did not deserve to have his name on their schools. The decision makes sense to me, but not in the way the school board intended. If a school board is so foolish that it deems Lincoln’s name unworthy, then the school district does not de-
serve to use Lincoln’s name. These pseudohistorians on the board are seeking to discredit the man who freed enslaved people and preserved the Union — two feats we now take for granted but were far from a guarantee in Lincoln’s day. Rather than considering Lincoln holistically, the school board chose to focus on his order for the mass execution of 38 Dakota Native Americans in 1862. Three hundred three Dakota Native Americans were initially sentenced to death by a military court for killing hundreds of white settlers who took over their land. Lincoln took the time to review each trial record and commuted the sentences of 265 of those charged, according to Eric Foner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.” Never mind that commuting so many sentences was politically unpopular — this reality is inconvenient, and thus, irrelevant. A cursory knowledge of Lincoln shows he was constantly trying to reach the golden mean, which made him a target of the Confederates and the Radical Republicans. “Anxious to not act with so much clemency as to encourage another outbreak on the one hand, nor with so much severity as to be real cruelty on the other, I caused a careful examination of the records of trials to be made,” Lincoln said in a message to the Senate Dec. 11, 1862. The above quote paints a fair picture of Lincoln. He did not want to submit to the mob
Gaming the System:
Minecraft cheating as a case study in subculture drama
Nick Speranza Columnist
In the past decade, a new genre of mobile games has exploded in Japan and the world at large: the “gacha” game. Named for real-life gachapon — coin-operated machines that dispense random capsule toys — gacha games are free to play and make money by allowing the player to roll for random in-game valuables. Users typically get some free spins on the roulette, but the monetization model is simple: If players want the best prizes, they will have to pay real money for more tries. This may not sound very profitable on paper, but that model underestimates the spending power of a dedicated subgroup of the gacha playerbase. Most players spend some money on spins, but retain a level of control. GRAPHIC BY ALEXIA NIZHNY
It is a dedicated few who are so addicted they keep the whole enterprise afloat. Look no further than one man who spent an estimated $70,000 on gacha juggernaut “Fate/Grand Order,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Make no mistake: This is exactly as cruel as it sounds. One form of gacha was even outlawed by Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency in 2012 for being too misleading about probability. The odds of winning the best characters are slim, and most gacha games use characters from beloved video games or anime series to ensure fans will gamble for them. The aforementioned Fate franchise even includes a character named Gudako — a gambling addict who parodies its own user base. By using examples such as Gudako and the fan-favorite phrase “gacha hell,” we can dismiss the argument that the buyer is to blame. The players know exactly what is going on and that it’s not healthy, but they keep going anyway. Developers drain them of every last cent — or yen, as is often the case — and it’s often impossible to escape. However, Fate is more than five years old at this point, which is practically an eternity in video game years. What does the future of gacha look like? For that, perhaps we should look to “Genshin Impact,” which released Sept. 28 of last year for mobile, PC and PS4 platforms to overwhelming success. The platforms are an important distinction — most gacha games on the market are mo-
bile-only, with repetitive 2D combat and barely animated cutscenes. Genshin — to its credit — is a vast, open-world action game, but it still uses the dangerous gacha monetization model. In fact, one Genshin player reportedly spent $2,000 dollars in search of one character and immediately regretted it, according to an article in Polygon. This new game sets a uniquely terrifying precedent. Gacha predecessors such as Fate are nakedly honest about the bottom line — with simple gameplay, there’s no pretense. They seem to taunt, “This is a shameless cash grab, so what?” But Genshin offers lovingly crafted visuals and engaging gameplay. It also creates new characters rather than licensing them from an existing franchise. There’s something more sinister about making a fleshed-out console role-playing game and profaning it with gacha bloodsucking regardless. Not that you can blame them. Genshin cost game developer miHoYo $100 million to produce, according to the South China Morning Post. Getting a moneyed portion of the playerbase addicted to gambling is a highly effective way to recoup such a loss — and the game did just that within two weeks of its release. But these financial tactics also demonstrate how nothing is sacred. I don’t even play Genshin, and it still stings to see people online — some of them my friends — spend so much money gambling on pixels. In that sense, the game acts as a constant little
reminder of suffering. Whenever I see someone post about the cool new anime character they won in Genshin, I know they probably blew way too much of their disposable income — and they’re one of the lucky ones. “Genshin Impact” is the perfect game for a global pandemic for all the wrong reasons. It doesn’t speak to or remedy our devastating isolation — instead, it mirrors the background of grief brought by COVID-19. At Boston University, 125 students currently live in isolation, sick and alone. Almost everyone has lost a loved one to the virus or knows someone who has. The death toll of nearly 450,000 people in the United States is incomprehensible. Our real world is too much to bear, so we escape into the fantasy world of Teyvat — in which the “Genshin Impact” game takes place — where the underlying pain comes from loss of money, not lives.
ILLUSTRATION BY EMMA MONEUSE