The Daily Free Press
Year xli. Volume lxxxii. Issue lxxxv.
Campus & City
REST & RELIEF: Students use yoga to better health, lessen page stress
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Monday, March 19, 2012 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University Sports MUSE Monday
DR. (UNDER)DOG: Toby Leaman discusses beanies, cracked tracheas page 5
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MIND ON MINNY: Men’s hockey headed to St. Paul for NCAAs page 8
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American tourists MBTA Fast Five superheroes battle fare hikes, service cuts considered among worst in world By Megan Allison Daily Free Press Staff
By Alexis Gordon Daily Free Press Staff
Americans identify themselves as the worst tourists, with about 39 percent admitting they stole something from hotels and 66 percent reporting they check their email and cell phone while on vacation, according to a recent LivingSocial survey. The survey, which looked behind the “ugly American” myth, debunked the rumor that only 15 percent of Americans have passports, said Dave Madden, LivingSocial Escapes, North America general manager, in a press release. About 78 percent of Americans have visited at least one foreign country, according to the survey. “Americans turn out to be pretty active globetrotters, with the average person having visited at least four countries,” Madden said in the release. “Unfortunately, Americans have pretty low opinions of themselves as travelers, so it’s time to turn on that Yankee charm and improve our global image.” The survey also found Americans have about 16 vacation days, fewer than other countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada, which have more than 20 vacation days. Out of these vacation days, Americans spend about four days outside of the country. Shimshon Erenfeld, owner of BLER Travel in Brookline, said the LivingSocial Survey was misleading. “I know that it is a debatable fact how many have a passport when I researched it; I have seen numbers from 20 percent to 50 percent, and it varies by state or even neighborhood,” Erenfeld said in an email. “It grew lately due [to] requirement to have one for Canada travel.” LivingSocial conducted its survey online with 4,000 Americans in the top 20 media markets and 1,600 others from Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Erenfeld said he has heard few complaints about Americans being bad tourists as far as causing damage and stealing is concerned. The bigger problem, he said, is that Americans do not travel enough compared to the country’s size, as well as its social and financial being.
Tourists, see page 4
While trouble looms for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, one group of real-life superheroes is fighting for plans that could help reduce the MBTA’s $161 million deficit. The group, Alternatives for Community & Environment, has created five “superheroes” that each represent a different solution. “We can see [each solution] being implemented on a short-term basis,” said Lee Matsueda, program director for the T Riders Union at ACE, which created the superheroes. “They have been doing a lot of outreach in the community, speaking to folks [and] saying that there are solutions and alternatives.” ACE’s Fast Five strive for solutions that range from redistributing the T’s budget to holding the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company more responsible for its services. The MBCR Rock Star, one of the Fast Five heroes, wants more fines for insufficiently cleaned stations and delayed commuter rail trains, according to the ACE website. The MBCR Rock Star said she is trying to get the MBCR to cover the $49.6 million the T was entitled to, although they renegotiated their contract to get only a little more than $1 million. “They failed to meet their agreed-upon goals,” the MBCR Rock Star said. “If they didn’t run their service on time they were sup-
Courtesy Alternatives for Community & Environment
The MBTA Super Heroes are fighting for solutions to fix the MBTA.
posed to be fined. We are encouraging the T to collect these fees that the public could benefit from.” People were losing jobs because the train was running late, the MBCR Rock Star said. “They failed to do what they agreed to do,” she said. “They knew what was going to happen if they didn’t deliver.” In the past, the MBTA reduced penalties placed on the MBCR for non-performance is-
sues, ultimately preventing $42.9 million from going to the MBTA from January 2004 until June 2008, according to an independent state audit report released in 2011. MBCR spokesman Scott Farmelant said the MBTA created an experimental penalty system in 2003, which penalized MBCR for all late trains.
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BU sees small percentage increase in tuition, room and board rates By Chris Lisinski Daily Free Press Staff
Tuition and room and board will increase by $2,032 for the 2012-13 academic year at Boston University, according to an email sent to students Friday morning. BU President Robert Brown announced in the email that the tuition rate would increase by 3.79 percent, which he described as one of the lowest in 40 years. The Board of Trustees decided on a tuition rate of $42,400 and room and board rate of $13,190. Tuition for the 2011-2012 year was $40,848, while room and board was set at 12,710, according to statistics on the Admissions website. In his email, Brown stated the average financial aid award will increase by 5 percent
next year. Fifty-seven percent of undergraduate students receive some aid from school, according to the email. Although this increase will not address every case, BU spokesman Colin Riley said some current students will see a slight increase in their financial aid. “Our practice generally is that the increase in financial assistance to those students receiving it will cover a portion of [the tuition increase],” he said. “The other contribution for those increases will come from the students themselves and the parents.” About $187.5 million were given out in undergraduate need-based aid for the 2010-11 academic year, according to the common set
data. The statistics for 2011-12 were not available. Riley said the increase is on par with the past three years – about 3.8 percent – and less than average costs at similar universities. “These increases as a percent have been below the national average for private higher education institutions [of the same size],” he said. The increase in tuition accounts for the increase in the costs of running BU, Riley said. The operating budget measures at about $2 billion. Tuition accounts for just less than half of BU’s operating budget. The largest expenses come from research and instruction funding, he said.
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BRAWLIN’ BRUIN Students encouraged to get behind the camera, capture life at BU By Thea Di Giammerino Daily Free Press Staff
AUDREY FAIN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton gets physical with Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mike Commodore at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Tuesday.
Starting Monday, film majors won’t be the only students shooting footage at Boston University. More than 100 students committed on Facebook to work with the Institute for Intellectual Independence to create a documentary about life at BU. The institute asked students spend the week shooting for the documentary, titled “BU in a Week.” Darrien Garay, a graduate student in the science and medical journalism program and director of the project, will compile the footage into a film, which will screen at the BU Ideas Festival on April 20. The concept for the documentary was inspired by the “Life in a Day” documentary directed by Kevin MacDonald. The 90-minute film was a compilation of footage shot by people around the world on July 24, 2010. “The way I imagined it, and the way ‘Life in a Day’ was, was really chopped up,” Garay said. “It was made almost by making a video collage of people’s lives. It becomes less important who they are. It’s kind of just, what is BU from a student’s perspective?” The objective of the project is to define BU
based on students’ daily experiences, said College of Arts and Sciences junior Demarius “DJ” Walker, founder of the institute and one of the leaders of the project. By reaching out to different groups on campus, Walter said he hopes to represent BU’s diverse community. “Hopefully, through the power of reaching out to those groups we get enough people to submit footage that will allow us to see [not only] the diversity of BU but also the similarities,” Walker said. Walker said “BU in a Week” incorporates the institute’s goals to promote intellectual independence and inclusive, substantive public discourse. “We’re trying to hold these conventions, idea festivals, conferences where we get students together who normally wouldn’t be talking to each other,” he said. “To connect that to the ‘BU in a Week’ project, the reasoning behind it is one we want to get people to actually start thinking about reflecting about what it is that they’re doing on a daily basis.” The Liquid Fun Improv Comedy troupe is one of the student groups submitting footage of its annual “Running on Empty” 24-hour improv marathon March 23, said President Shawn
Musgrave, a CAS senior. “We figured we’d submit some footage that we were already going to take of the marathon,” he said. “A lot of funny stuff happens because everyone is up for a full 24 hours.” Musgrave said Liquid Fun members were enthusiastic about the documentary and curious to see how it turned out. “A lot of people talk about the BU experience as if there were just one,” he said. “I think this is a cool way to show how many different ways people approach being at BU.” Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior Gina Mucciardi, who committed to shooting footage for the project, said she hopes to get the most realistic footage possible. “I want to get the stuff that every BU kid deals with throughout the course of the day,” she said. “From little minor things, from the crosswalks to opening some of the doors. You know, some of the doors get stuck. Really small things like that that everybody experiences.” Mucciardi said the project is one of the first projects that has encouraged her to become involved in the BU community beyond class and work.
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