3-1-2018

BAN KI-MOON AT BU, 2

FREEP TRIES FRIES, 6

LET THEM WALK OUT, 9

PLAYOFF BOUND, 11

The former United Nations leader helped inaugurate the new GDP Center.

Look inside to find FreeP’s favorite french fries.

High school students should be allowed to protest gun violence in school.

Men’s basketball will travel to Lehigh for the Patriot League quaterfinals.

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

BU’s gun-related investments draw attention

YEAR XLVI. VOLUME XCIV. ISSUE VII

Composting methods lack transparency

BY MIKE REDDY

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Left-Sofia Colombo-Abdullah speaks at a rally against gun violence on Monday afternoon. Right-Simeon Atha, Gabrielle Cherfane and Nichole Kyprianou at the rally.

BY MIKE REDDY

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

In the midst of national uproar against gun violence, members of Boston University’s community have been critical about the lack of transparency surrounding the school’s investment ties to firearms manufacturers.

The Executive Committee of BU’s Board of Trustees established a Working Group on Investment in Civilian Gun Manufacturers in January 2013, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, according to the Trustees’ website.

The Group recommended that BU consider its investments in firearms manufacturers within the context of the university’s “socially responsible investment policies” and that the university make no new direct investments in them, but the Executive Committee decided against

divesting in December 2014.

BU Earth and Environment professor Nathan Phillips has been vocal about the need for transparency from BU administrators and the Board of Trustees through protests and social media engagement.

“We can’t be profiting off of bloodshed,” Phillips said.

“Whenever there’s a mass shooting, statistics show that actually gun sales go up. BU profits off of events like what happened in Florida — that’s a reality, and it’s morally wrong.”

Phillips said he thinks a statement issued by the Board of Trustees, which was published in a 2015 BU Today article, gave no justification for why the university decided against divesting.

The statement is broken up into three parts: First, the Board said when it is asked to divest from an industry

or company, “it is being asked to express an opinion …” that is often “not directly related to the operations of the University.”

Second, it said divestment actions based on social or political principles could represent an encumbering institutional position that may dampen discussion of alternative views, and should be rare.

Third, it said those rare circumstances only exist when actions by firms are unacceptable or when potentially negative consequences of the decision “are clearly outweighed by the importance of taking the divestment action in order to lessen or mitigate the social harm.”

“Even those principles, to me, completely don’t justify their decision not to divest in firearms,” Phillips said. “We should all be concerned about gun violence occurring in any school, public

PHOTOS BY JOHN LITTLE/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

place or campus like BU.” In a letter to The Daily Free Press, BU President Robert Brown said the university currently has no direct investments in civilian firearm manufacturers. Phillips, however, said investments do not necessarily have to be “direct.”

“Often what happens is that universities invest their endowments in what are called mixed funds or index funds,” Phillips said. “We can screen out gun manufacturers. If we were serious about this, we could tell our investment managers to divest from those manufacturers who produce assault weapons.”

Attempts to reach several members of the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing for comment were unsuccessful.

Several BU students shared different views about BU’s potential ties with firearms manufacturers, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

When members of Boston Universit y ’s Environmenta l Student Organization toured the Charlestown Waste Management CORe facility in December, they were surprised to discover that BU’s compostable utensils were not being composted as they expected.

The backside of the utensils available at the George Sherman Union have the words “COM M ERCIA LLY COMPOSTABLE ONLY” on them, but ESO President Elizabeth Hannigan and treasurer Ben Atlas were among those who, during their tour, found that some of the utensils do not break down thoroughly enough to go through the entire composting process at the CORe facility.

“Students should know that they’re being lied to when there’s a sign on top of the compostable bins in the GSU that says that [the utensils] are compostable,” Hannigan said. “They might be compostable in other places, but they’re not actually being composted in this case.”

Lisa Tornatore, assistant director of Sustainability@BU, wrote in an email that the CORe facility, which accepts much of BU’s compost, “typically sorts out utensils and sends them to [a] waste-toenergy facility, regardless of the utensil’s compostability.” The rest CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Marijuana summit returns BU students turn to dating for extra cash

BY MICHELLE SHVIMER DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

On Friday, the second Massachusetts Marijuana Summit will bring together panels of legal, political and business experts to discuss the ins and outs of the cannabis industry as recreational marijuana legalization nears.

The panels at the summit will update industry stakeholders and the general public about current regulations, potential federal threats to the industry and financial obstacles for cannabis business owners.

Ji m B org hesa n i, the Massachusetts spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project, said this summit is coming at the precipice of an important deadline to the recreational marijuana industry. The Cannabis Control Commission, a government agency that oversees marijuana rollout in the state, has until March 15 to finalize regulations for the sale of recreational cannabis.

“These regulations, such as establishing qualifications for

licenses to produce and sell, are setting up the framework for the marijuana industry,” Borghesani said.

Borghesani, who will be the moderator of a forum on implementation and obstacles, said the summit will address updates about regulations in their current form and what stakeholders can expect after July 1, the target date for marijuana sales to begin.

James Smith, a partner at Smith, Costello, and Crawford and one of the panelists for the forum, said all dispensaries currently in Massachusetts are for medical use.

Opening dispensaries for recreational use requires communities to set up proper zoning laws across the state, he said.

“My biggest concern is getting these dispensaries open,” Smith said in an interview. “There are 351 zoning authorities, and most of them have done absolutely nothing.”

However, Smith said only a few local areas have actually set up the proper zoning regulations for these CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

“School is always going to be No. 1 for me, but paying for it will always be No. 2,” said the student, who will be referred to in this article as Gina for privacy reasons.

Gina was a freshman in college when she signed up for a SeekingArrangement profile as a so-called “sugar baby,” a term the site uses to describe “attractive people looking for the finer things in life.”

BY CYNTHIA FERNANDEZ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Gina is not a student who spends money on frivolous things. Her hunter green Columbia backpack is well-worn, and her nails look chipped and broken. Finding ways to pay for Boston University’s tuition has often been at the front of her mind — and she’s turned to dating wealthy, older men to do so.

PHOTO BY CHLOE GRINBERG/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Gina is a sugar baby to help pay her tuition.

SeekingArrangement is one of several sites that seek to connect these people with similar goals to “sugar parents,” or “successful men and women who know what they want … money isn’t an issue, thus they are generous when it comes to supporting a sugar baby.”

Gina is one of more than 300 sugar babies at BU registered on SeekingArrangement, according to Josette D’Espyne, a spokeswoman for SeekingArrangement. This makes BU No. 27 on SeekingArrangement’s list of fastest growing sugar baby schools in the nation, D’Espyne wrote in an email. Other Boston area universities, including the University of Massachusetts and Northeastern University, also made the list, at No. 48 and No. 68, respectively.

In a series of interviews, The Daily Free Press found that BU students become sugar babies for a variety of reasons — to pay for college, go on trips, buy expensive clothing or to have someone who’s looking out for them. Three BU sugar babies who were interviewed said that although CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

2 NEWS

Ban Ki-moon speaks at GDP Center inauguration

BY HALEY LERNER

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Ban Ki-moon, the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, gave an address at the inaugural ceremony for Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center on Wednesday at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies.

Ban discussed some of the current challenges in international development, highlighting climate change, and presented opportunities for the GDP Center to address those challenges.

BU President Robert Brown spoke at the ceremony, saying he was enthusiastic about the future of the GDP Center as a space for collaboration.

“If we created the right platform for collaboration,” Brown said, “then we could contribute more effectively to addressing the challenges around the world and better train graduate students to participate in this important work.”

Kevin Gallagher, the director of the GDP Center, said during the ceremony that the mission of the center is to advance policy-oriented research on financial stability, human well-being and environmental integrity worldwide.

Graham Dow, a biology professor at BU, said he attended the event to hear Ban’s perspective and to aid his own research on plant biology.

“I feel that the focus of the Global Development Center reaches broadly,” Dow said, “and I’m always interested in understanding how my research can play into larger aspects of human development and sustainable practices.”

During the ceremony, Ban said the GDP Center will be especially beneficial for students in the current era of global change who want to conduct research on impactful contemporary topics.

“The GDP Center is expected to endeavor to promote important policy-oriented research on essential international issues,” Ban said. “I’d like to extend my sincere congratulations on this

Crime Logs

BY SOPHIA BROWN

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The following reports were taken from the Boston University Police Department crime logs from Feb. 21-24.

Pornographic Post-it notes in Warren Towers A Resident Assistant reported at 11:31 p.m. on Tuesday that Post-it notes with web links on them had been appearing on dormitory doors at 700 Commonwealth Ave., and that when students followed the link, pornographic images were downloaded onto their phones.

Well-being check in Warren bathroom

PHOTO BY YI ZHOU/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Ban Ki-moon after the inaugural ceremony for BU’s Global Development Policy Center on Wednesday morning.

initiative.”

Ban said despite the “tempestuous times” the world currently faces, he sees hope in working together for a sustainable future.

Ban emphasized youth and women’s empowerment movements as signs of hope.

“Much of this progress is grounded in the work of partnership and cooperation to achieve our development goals,” Ban said, “and much of this hope is driven by my belief in youth and women empowerment, specifically students, for their future and their action and engagement.”

Pardee Dean Adil Najam said he thinks Ban gave the exact right message and that he could not imagine a better person to represent the GDP Center.

“He’s such an icon, and United Nations is such a central place, and what he has done there is so central to global development,” Najam said. “I think in some ways, he gave a charge to the center and gave us a vision and mission to work on.”

Najam said he thinks the GDP Center will be a central element in strategy at Pardee. He hopes the center will become a university

hub for all issues related to international development.

Rebecca Cowing, the GDP Center administrator, said she thinks Ban’s remarks were relevant to both the GDP Center and the modern world. She said Ban challenged the center to improve its leadership and follow through with its mission.

“We need to connect what we’re doing here at the university and at the center to people that can make a difference, like policy makers and the leaders of our cities, our country and the world,” Cowing said.

Saliha Agha, a Pardee graduate, said to see Ban speaking at the school was a proud moment for her. “[The center] is going to really take the level of research that’s being done in this institution to new heights,” Agha said. “I wanted to be here to witness it — to see what the Secretary-General had to say about this institution and this initiative that BU is taking.”

Natasha Patel, also a Pardee graduate, said she found Ban’s perspective on climate politics and the current political climate interesting.

“His remarks in general were a very calm approach to the adversity we’re seeing in politics right now,” Patel said, “but he also focused on the one positive — that is we are seeing a resurgence in grassroots-level involvement, which is really important.”

Cowing said the center reached out to a variety of offices across campus for help planning the event.

“Because this is such a big name, we wanted it to be mutually beneficial for the entire university,” Cowing said. “So, we called upon the president’s office, development and alumni relations, the research office and a lot of other offices to make sure we were covering our bases.”

BU spokesman Colin Riley said the opportunity for students to hear directly from Ban Ki-moon was unique, and will aid the work they do once they graduate.

“Having the former SecretaryGeneral, who understands global issues and the role the U.S. can play in them and the educational opportunities for students at Pardee, is really beneficial for these students,” Riley said.

BU invests in firearms INVESTMENT, FROM PAGE 1 but most agreed the university should be more transparent.

Morgan Scott, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said she would be indifferent if BU had indirect ties to firearms manufacturers, but added that she was unsure as to why the university would be invested in such an industry.

“I don’t know why a university would feel the need to back that,” Scott said. “I don’t understand what the connection between education and firearms is, so that seems a little weird to me.”

Grace Yang, a CAS junior, said she thinks big schools tend to focus on profits, and that she would not be surprised if BU was indirectly invested in firearms companies.

“Even though it’s an institution that caters to people, I

CAMPUS

think sometimes they do have a mentality of ‘forget the people — finances first,’” Yang said.

George Abunaw, a College of Communication freshman, said he is unsure about whether or not BU should break potential ties with gun manufacturers. He said part of his reasoning was that he had no idea what the specific details were.

“I feel they need to be public about it — especially in this time when so many people are hurting,” Abunaw said.

Abunaw added that he would like to see an opportunity for students to ask questions about the decisions of their school.

“A nother statement isn’t going to do much,” Abunaw said. “[President Brown] can say what he wants, but like we’ve seen so many times, if people are asking questions, he’s not going to

A caller reported at 7:27 p.m. on Wednesday that an RA and RA supervisor had forced everyone out of the women’s bathroom on the 16th floor of A Tower at 700 Commonwealth Ave. The responding officer reported blood present, all showers running, all lockers open and a toilet containing a laptop, a notebook and a teddy bear.

One student was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center by ambulance.

Replica weaponry found at 199 Bay State Road A caller reported at 10:12 p.m. on Wednesday that Residence Life staff at 199 Bay State Road had confiscated a replica gun and butt stock from a resident.

CITY

Crime Logs

BY ELEANOR HO

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The following reports were taken from the Boston Police Department crime logs from Feb. 24-26.

BPD drug unit seizes cocaine in probable cause purchase The District 14 Drug Control Unit conducted an undercover probable cause purchase at an undisclosed location in Boston Saturday around 5 p.m. The unit, with the help of an informant, seized a quantity of what was believed to be cocaine.

Burglary, breaking and entering reported at Hotel Boston An employee at the Hotel Boston reported a break in and burglary around 8 a.m. Sunday. A computer, a printer, a device used to program room keys and a box possibly containing a table saw were reported missing. Officers failed to find any of the missing items.

Potential school shooting threat reported at Brighton high school PHOTO BY VIVIAN MYRON/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

There has been recent controversy over BU’s gun manufacturing investments.

be able to dodge away from the truth.”

College of Engineering freshman Brandon Miller said he would prefer for BU to not be invested in gun manufacturers.

Miller said it might be time to rethink the Board of Trustees’

initial decision, and that the BU community ought to know about these positions.

“Your investments say a lot about what you stand for,” Miller said. “[For] people who are choosing a college, that’s a big deal to them.”

An officer was called to Mary Lyon High School in Brighton Monday around 9 a.m. about a private message sent by a student that included a picture of two firearms and text that stated, “Tomorrows is the day.” The suspect was also reported saying, “Good kill all those white people.” The officer conducted a search and found nothing.

NEWS 3

Massachusetts legislators attempt to prevent offshore drilling

PHOTO BY MAGGIE LEONE/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Gov. Charlie Baker is fighting to prevent oil and gas drilling in places off the Massachusetts coast, like the Boston Harbor.

BY JORDAN KIMMEL

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Massachusetts State Senate passed a bipartisan resolution Tuesday challenging possible oil and gas drilling in New England waters.

Coauthored by Sen. Mike Barrett and Sen. Bruce Tarr, the document calls to “exempt” the New England coast from any oil drilling actions.

It also calls for energy diversity, but that this should not come at the cost of the economic and environmental “importance” of the waters.

The resolution came just before a meeting Tuesday called by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management where the public was allowed to give their opinion concerning a proposed Federal oil and gas drilling lease pro-

gram the Bureau is reviewing.

The BOEM is seeking environmental permits for its Jan. 9 draft plan to reopen fossil fuel exploration off nearly every coastline along the continental U.S. and Alaska. March 9 is the deadline to submit public comments on the draft leasing document.

Barrett said in a press release that the U.S. holds excess oil and natural gas resources, deeming the drilling unnecessary.

“In terms of Massachusetts’ and New England’s values, this is one terrible idea,” Barrett said. “This threat of environmental and economic devastation to our part of the nation could not be more pointless, nor more disrespectful to the traditions of the region.”

Emily Norton, chapter director for the Massachusetts Sierra Club, an environmental protection agency, wrote in an email that drilling in New England waters would devastate the ecosystem.

“We should be getting off fossil fuels[,] not increasing reliance on them,” Norton wrote. “… Offshore drilling threatens our tourism, recreation and fishing industries. We know when there is drilling there is spilling, sometimes catastrophically, so this move would cause irreparable damage to our environment and economy.”

Norton wrote that authorities should disband offshore drilling altogether.

“I hope that the Federal

Government will remove Massachusetts from the list of states subject to this offshore drilling plan,” Norton wrote. “… indeed, we believe no states should have expanded offshore drilling off their shores.”

President Donald Trump called for more offshore drilling and energy exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf in an executive order issued in April 2017.

Ezra Lencer, 34, of Jamaica Plain, said the move is on par with the president’s recent constitutional policies.

“The Trump administration has tried to reverse pretty much everything that Obama did to protect the environment,” Lencer said. “This is just another one of those moves.

Offshore drilling harms the environment and the economy as well, so it’s not great.”

Alex Vai, the campaigns coordinator for the Massachusetts Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, an organization striving to protect oceans and beaches in the state, said while there’s no such thing as a perfect plan that will make everyone happy, the administration must make a decision that will protect the earth’s environment.

“You can start from the basic idea that as a society, what we really need to be doing is … moving more away from … depending on fossil fuels,” Vai said. “From that fundamental starting point, expanding the oil and gas drilling makes no sense … Even when everything goes right, you’re talking about thousands of tons of chemical discharges, and you’re talking about seismic surveys that can harm wildlife.”

Vai said the BOEM should seek ways to have more public opinion to

inform better decision-making.

“This particular plan, they’re not reaching out in the same way to get the full public feedback that something of this magnitude really should have,” Vai said. “We’d really like to see BOEM do a better job of making official public hearings and giving more opportunities for the public to speak up — especially with something that poses an existential threat to change the way of life for a lot for coastal communities.”

Jenna Gabe, 27, of Back Bay, said the administration needs to strike a balance between extracting fundamental assets and protecting the ecosystem.

“I know that drilling into the ground for oil has been horrible in the past with catastrophic events such as the BP oil spill,” Gabe said, referring to the 2010 event, which is considered the largest marine oil spill in history. “Is it really worth it to try and get those precious resources, or is the environment worth more? That’s the question.”

The resolution asks the Administration to refrain from drilling off the coast, specifically at surrounding Georges Bank, Stellwagon Bank and Jeffreys Ledge.

Linda Gallup, 54, of Back Bay, said Barrett and Tarr are playing a crucial role in safeguarding the climate.

“The environment, the water, the plants, the animals, the air we breathe every day — that’s all essential,” Gallup said. “This kind of move — typical coming from the current administration — is less than ideal.

I’m glad these senators are stepping up and doing the right thing during a time when we most need people in power to step up for what’s right.”

Utensil composting unclear COMPOSTING, FROM PAGE 1 of BU’s compost goes to compost farms.

Joel Dashnaw, a territory manager and sales representative at Save That Stuff, the waste disposal company that picks up BU’s compost six days a week, led the ESO’s tour of the facility.

Contradicting with Tornatore’s account of what happens to the compostable utensils, Dashnaw said Waste Management and Save That Stuff send organic and compostable materials to the CORe facility, where a machine breaks up the materials into small pieces, and the pieces are passed through a screen.

“There’s some amount of these single-use compostable eating ware items that make it through the screen, depending on how small they’re broken up into,” Dashnaw said. “But then there’s also some percentage of the material that doesn’t and is screened out as residual material.”

Dashnaw explained that plates and napkins are more likely to pass through the screen because they are made of softer materials.

He said it is possible for utensils to be broken down, but that there is no way of knowing what percentage of composted utensils make it through.

“If [the utensils] break up a little bit and those pieces are of the right size and in the right orientation to pass through the

screen, then some of that will pass through,” Dashnaw said.

Any material that does not pass through is deemed trash, sent to a waste-to-energy facility and incinerated with a cogeneration process to produce electricity, Dashnaw said.

Having not known this prior to their tour of the facility, members of the ESO were unsure whether or not BU Dining Services, BU Sustainability or other members of the BU community were aware that this was how the utensils are being processed.

“A lot of students don’t know that,” Atlas said. “We’re trying to tell students that maybe you should just use the metal [silverware] from the GSU so that you can put them back afterwards so [utensils] don’t end up being incinerated.”

Barbara Laverdiere, director of BU Dining Services, oversees the university’s entire dining program. She said she had not previously heard that the compostable utensils were not completely composted, and that BU Dining Services has put a lot of effort into researching which utensils would best serve the university.

“Some of the [utensils] that compost really quickly also melt too quickly in things like soup, or break too easily,” Laverdiere said.

She later added, “We have tried so many products but were told

by Save That Stuff that once the CORe facility was opened, this

PHOTO BY MIKE REDDY/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Compost bins in the GSU.

would no longer be an issue.”

In a follow-up email, after speaking with Dashnaw herself, Laverdiere said that continuing to use the current utensils at BU is the “best option available to us currently.” She added that the best choice for members of the BU community, though, is to use non-disposable silverware whenever possible.

Tornatore said consumers should continue to sort the compostable utensils in the compost bins “as the University continues to explore the best course of action.”

Several BU students said they believe sustainability efforts are important on university campuses,

but that they know little about what happens to sorted compost or recycling after putting it in the bins.

Matt Casavant, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, said he assumed compostable utensils were melted down or reused and that he had no idea they were not being completely composted.

“That’s a little misleading,” Casavant said. “I would think compostable is to be … not treated like regular trash.”

College of Arts and Sciences senior Zoe Cervera said she could not imagine how a fork could get past a screen at all. She said she uses the compostable utensils because she is a “germaphobe,”

but added that she would think about using silverware instead to make her eating practices more sustainable.

“We are killing our planet and we need everything that we can use to prevent that or at least slow down that process,” Cervera said.

Kurt Castro, a CAS freshman, said he believed the utensils were “compostable with an asterisk.” He said providing information to students about what happens to the utensils might lead them to use more silverware instead.

“I feel like there’s so much of an emphasis on sustainability,” Castro said. “If it says it’s going to be composted, I want to know that it’s going to be composted.”

4 NEWS

Massachusetts joins gun data-sharing coalition in light of epidemic

BY SAMANTHA DAY DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and recently, Massachusetts, have created a coalition to share current gun data, particularly on gun owners. This effort is seeking to combat the current “gun epidemic” in the United States.

Along with Puerto Rico and Delaware, Massachusetts joined the “States for Gun Safety” coalition Monday. With these new members, the coalition now represents over 35 million people nationwide.

The announcement of the formation of the coalition on Feb. 22 followed the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida just over a week earlier. The shooter killed 17 people.

The coalition, in a memorandum of understanding, stated that this group was necessary due to the “loss of innocent lives” because of the federal government’s failure to protect the country. It states that despite the presence of gun control laws of the states involved, those laws are often “significantly eroded” due to people coming and transporting guns across borders from states that have less restrictive laws.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement that joining the coalition will “enhance the strong gun control measures” currently in place in the Commonwealth as well as promoting stronger communication between states to “keep our communities safe.”

A n n ie W h ite, 61, of Dorchester, said she respects Baker for recognizing the need for Massachusetts to take a firm stance on gun control.

“It’s really important for Massachusetts to stand up against gun accessibility, especially after the Florida school shooting,” White said. “We need to take a stand and show that we’re not okay with this happening again, not in our communities or any other.”

The memorandum states that a multi-state task force will be created to trace and intercept illegal guns and will establish a regional gun violence research consortium to help develop new “evidence-based” strategies to end gun violence.

Participating states will also increase efforts to collect and share gun data across state lines.

Michael Meltsner, a law professor at Northeastern University, wrote in an email that he thinks the memorandum could be beneficial, but that people should be holding each state accountable to their commitment. “… I think the most important aspect of the agreement is contained in the last substantive paragraph of the memorandum of understanding which provides for an interstate partnership to support gun research,” Meltsner wrote. “Given the present congressional ban on such research[,] this could be a significant step in our learning more about how to facilitate gun safety.”

Jim Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners’ Action

PHOTO COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Massachusetts is joining a coalition of states that will start sharing gun data.

L ea g ue of Massachusetts, said he supports the move by Massachusetts to join this coalition.

“I am mostly shocked — most of the things in here — why haven’t they been doing this for years?” Wallace asked. “If we are truly trying to identify potential killers — if we are dealing with gun trafficking, illegal trafficking — why hasn’t this been done for years?”

Wallace said he believes these steps should have been taken a long time ago, and that they bring up a large issue of the “human” side of the gun control debate.

“We also just found out that Massachusetts has not been keep-

ing compliant with the national list and check system,” Wallace said. “They are way behind in getting their records up to date, which surprised me. That’s something where, if this had been kept updated, some of this would have already been happening.”

In terms of something like this being conducted on a national level, Wallace said had one hesitation about the type of information that would be shared.

“I get really cautious when people start talking about sharing lists,” Wallace said. “We already have the national list and check system which is supposed to have all the information on

people who are prohibited from either mental health issues or criminal issues. We definitely don’t want dangerous people to have guns, but in Massachusetts, a police chief can deny you a license for virtually no reasons.”

Luc y Shu lson, 32 , of Downtown Boston, said she thought that states working together could be powerful in the absence of federal legislature.

“Without a doubt, this is the first step we can take to having more nationalized gun legislation, because clearly, our legislators aren’t going to do this at a national level so it’s going to probably fall on states like Massachusetts,” Shulson said.

Second Marijuana Summit coming to Boston before new regulations SUMMIT, FROM PAGE 1 types of dispensaries.

“There are just no initiatives or incentives in the local communities,” Smith said.

Borghesani said local governments can determine where the dispensaries will be located and set up construction applications.

He said towns should take steps to set up zoning for opening up dispensaries will benefit them and the state as a whole. “[Opening dispensaries] will be a positive for everybody,” Borghesani said. “It would displace criminals, create more jobs, generate new revenue for the town and collect taxes to help the state economy.”

Recent developments on the federal level may be an obstacle to the marijuana industry in Massachusetts, Borghesani said. U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a statement that if prompted, he would be willing to prosecute cannabis businesses that are legally operating in the state.

For potential cannabis business owners, Aaron Bluse said the marijuana industry is a very “cap-

ital intensive market.” As CEO and director of Altitude Organics, Bluse will speak to the business side of the marijuana industry at the summit.

Bluse, another panelist in the forum, said his expertise will give the potential business owners in the Commonwealth some perspective on how to safely and successfully sell medical and recreational cannabis. However, he also said Massachusetts has its unique challenges. “[Cannabis] has to be produced state-by-state, and in Massachusetts, there’s a much higher barrier to entry,” he said.

“There’s several check-gates.

We’ve gone through two different zoning and planning hearings, two different town hall meetings, getting background checks, etc.”

The Department of Public Health for Massachusetts thoroughly reviews dispensaries’ proposals, Bluse said. “[The] DPH holds a pre-construction meeting where they look at the design of our facility from security down,” he said. After this meeting, businesses are granted a provisional certificate of registra-

PHOTO BY BETSEY GOLDWASSER/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The second Massachusetts Marijuana Summit will be held in Boston this Friday.

tion, which allows for construction of the facility to begin.

The CCC will likely adopt a similar approval process for aspiring recreational marijuana companies, Bluse said. Until the release of the official recreational marijuana regulations, he said he is looking forward to the expansion of the industry in Massachusetts.

“It’s a tipping point right now for the Commonwealth,” he said.

“This is one of the emerging markets in the nation, and especially on the eastern seaboard, and we just want to try to be a part of that and help do it right.”

A second forum will highlight possible financial issues entrepreneurs could face when entering the industry for the first

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time, including how to juggle the new regulations with getting personnel.

Borghesani said the recreational marijuana industry has the potential to generate $200 million of tax revenue from the state by putting marijuana sales into the hands of legal businesses controlled by government regulations.

FEATURES 5

BU among SeekingArrangement’s fastest growing sugar baby schools

in contact with one of her sugar daddies — a 39-year-old tech worker. He wrote in an email that he has been on the site for four years, and that he does not look for sugar babies who have vices he considers negative. “[I’m looking for] someone who is doing this for a positive reason; they aren’t in a desperate situation looking for money, feeding an addiction,” the sugar daddy, who asked to be kept anonymous for privacy reasons, wrote.

sugar baby. After he graduated from high school, he found out he could find sugar parents online through Craigslist.

He began watching movies with an older man for $300 a night.

Eventually, he was paid $500 per visit, but the friendship had turned awry. The man would incessantly contact Michael and leave him packages of clothes at his family’s home until Michael cut him off because he said he had begun to feel unsafe.

Michael eventually applied to BU, where he began looking for Boston sugar parents through Craigslist and OkCupid, he said.

“I’ve tried [SeekingArrangement], there aren’t many women there, it’s mostly men and nothing else,” Michael said. “SeekingArrangement doesn’t work for guys unless you’re gay.”

On OKCupid, a traditional dating site, Michael met his current sugar mama, a 42-year-old businesswoman. She took interest in his goals and education and decided to help him financially, including paying for him to attend workshops at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he said.

“It’s almost motherly, like a weird mentor,” Michael said. “She’s groom-

However, he added, some men on the site have intentions to harm.

“There are guys out there moving through the world with enough money to do whatever they want; they move through escorts, massage parlor girls, sugar babies with the same disregard for the person; it’s all about what they can do to or with that person using their money and power,” he wrote.

While men make up a smaller portion of sugar babies — 17 percent in the United States according to the numbers provided by SeekingArrangement — they still look for sugar daddies and “sugar mamas” in similar ways.

Michael, a junior at BU who also requested anonymity for privacy reasons, said he was 17 when he found himself alone and broke and trying to finish high school, so he became a part of that 17 percent.

His senior year of high school, Michael found himself unsupported by his family. He was trying to find a way to make ends meet when he encountered a woman who was visiting the area on vacation, and “one thing led to another.”

Michael said he left with $500 — this was the first time he was paid for sex. The woman came back a second time with her husband and another $500, he said, and encouraged him to continue accepting money for sex.

This income is what turned Michael on to the idea of becoming a

ing me to be something.”

He said he’s also currently seeing a sugar daddy — a retired Harvard professor — up to four times a month for casual dates.

Michael has used the money he’s made to help pay his tuition and buy textbooks. One couple even gave him the computer he uses. He has used the money he makes being a sugar baby to pay his student account balance and other expenses like books and plane tickets to and from orientation.

Gina said that if someone on the site hurts her, there is not much she can do other than report the user.

“I accept that there are certain risks in meeting these individuals and although they should be held accountable for any wrongdoings, it is not realistic in this sort of situation since reporting to the police could put myself at risk as well.

Rich people often get away with quite a lot and this shows that,” she wrote in an email.

But Gina still encouraged people not to become sugar babies unless they have to.

“You can have nice sex with boys your own age. It’s really easy to write these people off as hookers and say that I have no morals or self-esteem,” she said. “Maybe to an extent that’s true, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Easy money is easy and it can get addictive.”

SUGAR, FROM PAGE 1

spending a few hours with an older companion for a few hundred dollars seems easy enough, the sugar babies know they could — and sometimes do — find themselves in dangerous situations. Despite the risks, the sugar babies continue to date older people as a way of earning money.

Gina said she first met up with a man in his 40s who works in tech, who she found through SeekingArrangement. Their first date seemed almost normal to her — they went to a coffee shop and had polite conversation. Then he paid for her drink, as well as her company.

“Right off the bat, he gave me 80 bucks just for having coffee with him,” Gina said. “I was like ‘OK, this could work.’”

Her relationship with this man eventually became intimate. He paid up to $800 a month to meet with her in a hotel room and have sex. Still, he wasn’t a steady source of income for Gina — he had a wife, and was often traveling for business.

For others, like Stephanie, another BU student who requested her identity remain anonymous for privacy reasons, the site allows them a bit more luxury.

In short, Stephanie is polished — she has a structured leather purse cradled in the bend of her arm, and what she says is a $300 ring on her right hand. She, unlike Gina, goes on casual dates where only touching is allowed. She claims she has never accepted less than $300 for a lunch date.

Stephanie has been on SeekingArrangement since she was in high school, but said she still doesn’t feel completely safe using the site. She markets herself as a “girlfriend” on SeekingArrangement, and has never agreed to sex with a sugar daddy, fearing it could turn dangerous. However, she said if it were not for the laws around prostitution, she would consider it.

Being a sugar daddy isn’t illegal until there’s money on the table for

a direct exchange of sexual activity.

But Alison Bass, a former Boston Globe reporter and professor who has done extensive research on sex work, said there’s often little difference between being a sugar baby and a sex worker, other than societal perception.

Regardless, Bass said, with “sugaring,” comes a power structure.

“If the woman is doing it of her own free will and she is over the age of 18, then of course there’s a power dynamic, but she is consenting to it,” she said. “Is there danger? Yes. Some men feel like they could do whatever they want because they’re paying.”

Stephanie said she takes pre-

Michael once made $500 on a date.

cautions before she decides to meet with a sugar daddy. She will usually find information about a potential sugar daddy’s work and personal life by using their name, phone number or email to find their profiles on LinkedIn or Facebook.

She first joined the site to pay for a trip to Spain while in high school. She went on lunch and dinner dates and says she received up to $1,200 per date just for offering sugar daddies her companionship. Since then, Stephanie said she has used the money she’s made being a sugar baby to fund trips to Walt Disney World and to fly her friends into her hometown in Pennsylvania.

“Do I consider myself vapid, interested in 45-year-old men? No,” she said. “But will I play the part for $1,000? Yeah.”

And it seems a growing number of young people feel the same way.

SeekingArrangement’s D’Espyne wrote that since 2016, the site has seen a 19 percent increase in users.

Carmen Rowe, a doctoral candidate in sociology at BU, has focused part of her research on sugar babies.

She interviewed 16 women engaged in sugaring, and all but one were either starting college, in college or recently graduated. “[W]hile not a representative

sample, it reinforces this sense that sugaring may be particularly a trend among young college women,” Rowe wrote in an email.

She explained that BU’s tuition increase might be a motivation for someone to become a sugar baby, especially because sugaring offers college students the potential to earn more money than typical jobs might.

“Tuition and student loan costs are a major concern facing college students and recent graduates, and these costs [are] continue to rise,” she wrote.

Targeted advertisement, like SeekingArrangement’s “Sugar Baby University” online campaign which

PHOTO BY CYNTHIA FERNANDEZ/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

promotes the idea of sugaring to pay for tuition, may also be a factor in the popularity of the site among college students, Rowe wrote.

Rowe explained that when SeekingArrangement uses targeted advertising toward college-aged women, “there is certainly a financial incentive to it – tuition and student loan costs are a major concern facing college students and recent graduates, and these costs continue to rise.”

BU spokesman Colin Riley wrote in an email he had “no comment” on the subject of sugar babies at the university.

Gina said she primarily pays for her tuition through scholarships, and even has a “regular” job as a concierge. But that does not cover all of her expenses — including food, housing and textbooks — so she signed up for a SeekingArrangement profile when she was 18. Now, Gina said she sees multiple sugar daddies.

Although she said the money is good, she’s aware of the precarious nature of her work.

“I know what risks I am in, in terms of physical safety,” she said. “I have to trust these men, and if something wrong happens, there are not really any options other than not contacting them again.”

Alexis Germany, a spokeswoman for SeekingArrangement, wrote in an email that sugar babies who have been assaulted or have been in dangerous situations should contact law enforcement, and that the company would provide any assistance necessary.

“We have created a place for like-minded individuals to connect, but like any website we cannot control what happens offline,” Germany wrote.

SeekingArrangement caters to young people who are in financial need. Sugar babies are provided a free basic account with full access — something that sugar daddies have to pay a monthly fee to access.

Some sugar babies like to present themselves as goal-driven, and though they tell their sugar daddies they need money for tuition, they actually spend it elsewhere, Rowe wrote. This technique was promoted by “Let’s Talk Sugar,” a website that is linked throughout SeekingArrangement, by advising sugar babies to be “goal-diggers” and not “gold-diggers.”

Stephanie said that although she has used the money she earned on the site to pay off her student account balance at times, it wasn’t her initial motivation. She meets with sugar daddies to earn supplemental money.

Gina put The Daily Free Press

6

FEATURES

BY AMELIA GRIFFITHS, MADISON FRILOT, SAM DRYSDALE AND GURSIMAR SAWNEY

ARTS

FreeP vs. Food: French fries

Saus Located on a side street in the North End, Saus was an intriguing first stop on our french fry trek. Its modern, fun interior is hidden by a monochromatic facade that matches the many pubs and markets surrounding it.

We were pleasantly surprised by the ‘80s pop music and the colorful art covering the walls, and the wooden floors and countertops emphasized the space’s relaxing vibe.

Though the menu provided 14 different variety of side sauces, we chose the “secret saus,” their most popular dip, which cost 75 cents. The “saus” was delicious with a creamy texture infused with flavorful spices.

The fries, which ranged in price from $5

B for petite to $7 for big, were not as impressive. They lacked the flavor and crispiness we had expected and tasted later that day.

Though Saus has received various awards for their french fries, we think their fries would be better enjoyed as a compliment to one of their main dishes, rather than as a destination delicacy.

Saus was worth traveling to for a quirky experience in a great part of town, but next time we’ll opt for one of their mouth-watering Belgian waffles instead.

Amelia’s Rating: B Madison’s Rating: BSam’s Rating: B Gursimar’s Rating: B+

Boston Burger Co. The 45-minute wait for our food at Boston Burger Co. was not ideal. However, the restaurant’s great location on Boylston made it easy for us to kill time while waiting.

Once inside, the atmosphere was fun and upbeat. With the combination of musicthemed decor and crazy, towering, Instagramworthy milkshakes, the David Bowie quote painted on the wall: “I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring,” seemed fitting for Boston Burger Co. The fries were unique and flavorful. It was a french-fry-reviewer’s dream to open the menu to a whole section labeled “fries” with 13 different options to choose from. We settled

A-

on the Garlic Parm variation and were not disappointed.

Thickly cut wedges were smothered in butter, and every bite was full of flavor. However, our excitement was dampened a little when we realized that one order of fries was going to cost us $9.50.

Boston Burger Co.’s atmosphere and food won our hearts, but wait time and cost brought us back to the sad reality of a college schedule and budget. It is absolutely worth returning to for a special occasion visit.

Amelia’s Rating: A- Madison’s Rating: B+ Sam’s Rating: A- Gursimar’s Rating: B+

PHOTOS BY LEXI PLYNE/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Tasty Burger Our next stop was Tasty Burger, a classic American chain. Upon entrance, you’re transported back to the 1950s. There was a retro pool table right behind where we sat, and a bowling tournament playing on TV. The fries were thin and crispy, but obviously mass produced. They weren’t served with any special sauces, but typical choices were available at the table for all the dunking and dousing we desired.

The fries were somewhat McDonald’sesque, delivered to the table almost immediately, mimicking their fast-food shoestring style and saltiness. There wasn’t as much tender love and care put into these

C fries as we saw at some of the other locations. However, they were crazy cheap, at $2.27 for a regular size.

By no means were these fries bad — they simply just did not stand out. If you’re looking for a staple fry without any bells and whistles, Tasty Burger has the fries for you. However, in this age of countless types of milk, meat substitutions and boxed water, it’s hard to attract praise for being basic. While these fries were a solid choice, they were the backup dancer to a meal, not the star of the show.

Amelia’s Rating: C+ Madison’s Rating: C Sam’s Rating: C Gursimar’s Rating: C+

Roxy’s Grilled Cheese Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, one of many popular restaurants in Allston, should definitely not be ignored. After tasting their fries, we couldn’t imagine what else they would have in store with their wide variety of both vegan and non-vegan grilled cheese and burger options.

The atmosphere was perfect for a Sunday afternoon snack — Atari video games lining the yellow-striped wall and classic board games stacked on a shelf in the exposed kitchen added to the laid-back vibe.

Carefully crafted and full of flavor, Roxy’s take on this classic were our favorites by far.

Their hand-cut shoestring fries are first fried in truffle oil, then tossed with a generous helping

BUSINESS

A+

of sea salt, rosemary and garlic.

Presentation-wise, the fries spoke for themselves: perfectly crisp, toasty brown and evenly coated with seasoning. Paired with truffle mayo — you can never have too much truffle — these fries carried a subtle, perfectly orchestrated flavor. The garlic was not overdone, and the fried rosemary added another layer of depth.

The truffle oil can get a tad heavy, but we would easily make the compromise again. At $4 a serving, the size was satisfying and definitely worth the price.

Amelia’s Rating: A Madison’s Rating: A+ Sam’s Rating: A+ Gursimar’s Rating: A+

Innovate@BU kicks off ‘Donuts & Design Thinking’ discussion series

BY AVERY CARLISLE DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Midway through his Donuts & Design Thinking lecture, Tom Stat proclaimed that design thinking is our only hope to create the future.

The series kickoff event was held Feb. 22 at Boston University’s BUild Lab, and featured a presentation by Tom Stat, a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, class of 1974.

Stat began his presentation with an exercise, asking the crowd to think of a problem they have. Instead of complaining about the problem, Stat had attendees find an opportunity to innovate. Instead of just griping about the T, Stat encouraged attendees to ask: “What is the future of inner-city transportation?”

This, he said, is what design thinking is.

“Everybody is actually natively creative and a design thinker,” Stat said. The mindset, he said, is beat out of you around the second grade, but that design thinking is an innate skill that can be recovered.

During the exercise, an audience member said that nothing ever really changes. Stat disagreed. He said technological evolution is exponential, while human evolution is linear.

Design thinking, Stat said, is generative and paradigm busting. Instead of identifying or solving problems, a design thinker focuses on the opportunities for improvement. He listed Amazon, Google, Starbucks and more as examples of companies that have benefited from design thinking.

“Over and over again we see the leading players are never the innovators,” Stat said.

This is because, he said, the leading players are caught up in the paradigm at work, and are too focused on problems in their respective industries to have true insights about it.

“Innovation rarely begins with a problem — it almost always begins with an insight,” he said.

The process of design thinking starts with this insight, and then moves to a concept. From there, prototypes are developed rapidly, changing over and over again, he said.

In order to be a successful design thinker, Stat said, one has to be optimistic, courageous and curious, but most importantly, ignorant.

Paradigms, biases and assumptions that established thinkers have must be thrown out the window in order to truly innovate. For example, no car service company ever thought of running a car service company without owning any cars –– the business model of Uber.

“My best work was often when I knew nothing about the subject,” Stat said.

During his time at BU, Stat majored in social psychology and minored in astronomy.

But in all honesty, Stat said, he didn’t know what he wanted to do in school — which he argued is good for college students. However, he knew he was interested in both the outer world and the inner world.

“I decided I would get a degree in psychology, focusing on social psychology, because I even at that young age knew that general understanding of human behavior wouldn’t hurt and might be the foundation of everything,” Stat

said in an interview with The Daily Free Press.

“Which turned out to be true.”

The presentation was geared toward BU students, but many adults from Boston’s innovation community attended the presentation, too.

Al Davis, 64, of Brookline, said he was inspired by Stat’s presentation.

“I thought that the experience was very validating for what we’re trying to do,” he said.

“It was very cohesive. Even at 64, you can still innovate.”

Rachel Spekman, the program director of business ventures at Innovate @ BU, said design thinking gives students and innovators the tools to create meaningful change.

“I think every person on the planet, and every person at BU, wants to feel like they’re making an impact and creating value in the world,” she said. “And I think that the design thinking tools are truly a way to actually say what matters to me, what am I passionate about, and how can I uniquely contribute to the solution, to the opportunity as Tom said.”

FEATURES 7

SCIENCE

Experts say mass shootings should be treated as public health crises

BY MINALI PRASAD DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

In the wake of the Parkland shooting, America’s national dialogue on gun violence resurfaced.

Many discussions focused on regulating firearm sales or addressing untreated mental illnesses, but some took a different approach: labeling mass shootings as public health crises.

Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor of community health sciences at Boston University’s School of Public Health has conducted research on alcohol, tobacco and firearms. Siegel said communities should consider gun violence a public health issue.

“When parents can’t send their kids to school without worrying about whether they’re going to come [home] alive, then yeah, you have a public health problem,” Siegel said.

“There’s no question about it.”

Some, arguing against the public health approach, have said that because gun violence is inflicted by others, it’s not a health care concern.

Siegel disagrees.

“There are a lot of public health issues where the disease or illness is inflicted by others.”

Examples, Siegel said, include lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan, drunk driving accidents and secondhand smoke.

“In this country, we basically have accepted firearm violence as a way of life. There needs to be an equivocal declaration that this is not acceptable, that the status quo cannot hold,” Siegel said. “The Second Amendment is really not an issue …

Visitors stand in the Garden of Peace, a memorial to victims of homicide in Boston.

public health officials are not trying to take away guns from law-abiding citizens.”

Siegel said public health officials advocate reasonable restrictions to keep firearms away from dangerous individuals at a high risk for violence.

Dr. Cornelia Griggs, a chief general surgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, had similar recommendations for reducing gun violence.

“It has to start at the level of the legislature,” Griggs said. “[We need to] understand that our Second Amendment rights comes with responsibilities.”

Deniz Gaberz-Mah, a freshman

in the College of Arts and Sciences, disagrees on civilian disarmament.

Gaberz-Mah’s thoughts on the issue were influenced by time he spent teaching English to children in a Brazilian slum with great poverty and gang violence. “[In Brazil], having a gun for self-protection is [an insufficient] reason [to own] a gun. Officials and police seize guns from residents,” Gaberz-Mah said. “Out of the 17 million estimated number of guns in Brazil, nine million of those are illegal … and in the hands of criminals.”

The intentional homicide rate of Brazil is six times that of the United States, according to a comparison of

PHOTO BY HANNAH ROGERS/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

crime statistics by NationMaster, despite gun control measures like the requirement for documented evidence explaining the reason for owning a gun.

Regardless, Gaberz-Mah said gun violence is a public health issue in the United States and suggested focusing on improving mental health.

“Perhaps focusing on … tightening gun control may not be the heart of the issue here,” he said. “Perhaps focusing on mental health and having our doctors ensure [their] patients are mentally healthy may be the way to preventing future tragedies.”

Griggs recently published a paper in the New England Journal of

COMMUNITY

Medicine titled “The Quiet Room” in which she advocated for additional recommendations made by the American Academy of Pediatrics including mental health services and firearm storage laws.

“I see the clinical effects of gun violence beyond just the bodily harm that it causes … [like] the emotional and psychological trauma that it causes to the patient and their family,” Griggs said.

Doctors and other health care workers, Griggs said, can have a larger voice in the conversation by pressuring politicians to change laws.

Gun violence differs from other public health issues because of the Dickey Amendment. Championed by the NRA in 1996, Congress restricted the Center for Disease Control from funding gun violence research because it was deemed politically motivated and a violation of the Second Amendment.

“We are not able to study gun violence as a public health issue, at least at a federal funding level,” Griggs said. “If you want to study it [as an] academic researcher, your funds must come from elsewhere, [such as] private donations and nonprofit interest groups.”

Moving forward, Siegel said, Americans should think of gun violence not just as a public health crisis, but also a leading one.

“We can’t forget the fact that firearm violence is an everyday problem,” Siegel said. “When the news media coverage of this Florida shooting subsides, it’s not going to be the end of firearm violence.”

‘In Your Own Words’ gives students venue to discuss intersectionality

BY DIANA LEANE

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A classroom filled with people erupted into cheers and applause as three students laid their hearts on the line. On Thursday, UMOJA: The Black Student Union and the African American Studies Program hosted “In Your Own Words: A Student Spoken Word Event.”

The event featured students’ poems that addressed what identity and labels meant to them as people of color. “In Your Own Words” was one of a series of events that the African American Studies Program hosted for Black History Month.

The night’s performers included Dev Blair, a junior in College of Fine Arts, Jessica Samuel, a student in the American Studies PhD Program, and Lynae Bogues, a student in the African American Studies Masters Program.

Blair opened the night with a poem about their objections to labels because they felt that many of them, including labels like queer and non-binary, weren’t made to include people of color.

Samuel dedicated her first piece to the movie “Black Panther.” She spoke about having pride in the black nation and remarked that her self-identity is no longer white people’s to debate. Bogues focused her poems on intimacy and the stigmas

that surround the sexuality of black women. She touched on what’s it’s like to be “the side woman” and the experience of being fetishized.

Ashley Griffin, a junior in both the College of Communication and the College of Arts and Sciences and an office assistant for the African American Studies Program, brainstormed this event after attending a spoken word event last semester.

Griffin said she many of the performers’ poems resonated with her.

“I like that they all touched on black love, because that’s just a really important topic to me, especially in college because what they were talking … how men not texting you back or being non-monogamous and things like that, that’s real,” Griffin said. “I feel like a lot of people who are interested in men sexually, they really connected with that as well.”

There, she learned of the presence of spoken word amongst students and discovered the potential impact an event like this could have.

“We often hear the perspectives and the statistics around AfricanAmerican studies, but I’m really excited that Dev [Blair] was here, so they could share their experiences as well because I think that being non-binary is something that isn’t talked about as much in life and in

academics,” Griffin said.

In addition to addressing issues the non-binary community faces, Griffin said, raising awareness around issues of intersectionality is important.

“There’s never too much of [addressing intersectionality],” Griffin said. “I feel like our program does a good job of trying to get solidarity on different levels, not just race.”

Addressing these issues via artistic creation often makes them easier to unpack, Bogues said.

“Honestly, I think things like this do more for racial solidarity as well, because we tried to do a racial solidarity event last semester, and it didn’t go as planned because people come with a lot of baggage,” Bogues said. “In a situation where you can use some art to express those things, I feel like it’s much more receivable.”

Art is also special because audiences can interpret the messages personally, Bogues said. “[Art] has a way of crossing boundaries and allowing people to feel,” Bogues said. “You get out of it what you take out of it. It’s not like someone’s forcing something down your throat. You’re taking in something and interpreting it the best way that you know how, and that’s the most comfortable space

PHOTO COURTESY ASHLEY GRIFFIN

Lynae Bogues and Jessica Samuel at the “In Your Own Words” spoken word event.

to do that kind of stuff.”

Joseph Salzo, a sophomore in College of Arts and Sciences, said he found the student performances eye-opening.

“There’s a lot [that we] –– me as a white person as well [as] society –– can learn, just about not being

ignorant of other people’s experiences and of other people’s lives and how they live,” Salzo said. “It’s really powerful to hear their spoken word, their poems and just their art and how they speak, and it really resonates. It builds a connection between each other.”

8 OPINION

EDITORIAL

Colleges should ensure applicants’ freedom to protest College tours and their accompanying brochures hawk authenticity: “Find yourself — right here!” they cry. Now, those same prospective students are faced with a question fundamentally tied to their self-identities and their college applications: to walk out or not to walk out?

Following the shooting in Parkland two weeks ago, a Houston high school said it would suspend protesting students who disrupt the academic day and distract fellow students from their studies. Other high schools across the nation took a similar stance, saying that students were not allowed to join in organized walk-outs during school hours to support gun control laws. But with a nation fed up with the number of mass shootings we see, it’s all the more important that schools give students the space to express their opinions without fear of getting rejected.

Many colleges, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dartmouth College, have issued statements supporting student protests in response to concerns of how a disciplinary citation on their applications may be reviewed by admissions departments. Boston University joined the ranks in acknowledging the importance of students engaging in these peaceful protests and exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly. In a strong statement released by BU Admissions, the university ensured applicants that it stood in support with their actions.

It is crucial for colleges to assure applicants they won’t be penalized for engaging in a national conversation and to give them the permission to do something that is protected by the Constitution. Students are trying to heal

and mourn for their fellow classmates. They are growing increasingly embittered by politicians in Congress who aren’t taking action on gun laws and regulations. Protesting is a way for students to cope with what’s happening to the world around them, and to try to change it for the better. It’s a way for them to try to get some

Wednesday it would no longer be selling assault-style rifles in its stores. Countless companies have withdrawn their funding from the National Rifle Association. There are conversations going on right now about increasing the age to 21 for owning a gun.

While it’s understandable that high school

PHOTO BY LEXI PLYNE/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Maya Anand, who had a close friend involved in the parkland shooting, sheds a tear while listening to speeches at the BU Rally Against Gun Violence held in Marsh Plaza Monday.

justice for their classmates who were violently shot. Young people everywhere are leading and organizing protests calling for their representatives to enact change.

And it seems like they’re doing much more than politicians in office right now. Many concrete actions we have seen in the last few weeks were inspired by the outrage expressed by students. Dick’s Sporting Goods announced

CROSSWORD

administrators are trying to maintain order by stopping students from protesting, at this point in time, it’s unfair to penalize them for practicing their right to free speech. High schools are responsible for the education of its students, and this should include empowering them to act on the issues that matter most to them.

They shouldn’t have to wait until college to feel like they are allowed to speak their minds.

Even though the age gap between a high school senior and college freshman is insignificant, college still becomes a platform for people to have a voice. College admissions departments are treating their applicants as the young adults they are, and rightfully so.

At a time when many students are thinking critically about gun control laws — or rather the lack of them — in this nation, there is an overwhelming desire to take a stance. However, these students feel trapped between their opinions and what image they’re trying to project to universities. Now, with colleges saying that protesting will not incur a penalty, students can rest assured that in the long-run, there are institutions that protect them and respect their rights.

Still, high schools should be more respectful to their students and acknowledge that young people’s voices deserve to be heard. It shouldn’t take until students turn the magical age of 18 that their opinions suddenly matter and are given a platform. While high schoolers should own up to their actions and accept the consequences of missing a class period, they certainly shouldn’t be penalized for any more than just that.

This wave of college admissions departments supporting students represents an important shift in attitude toward young people protesting. In years past, universities stood in the way of protests organized by students. But the sentiment expressed by several colleges right now echoes the thoughts felt by the nation. Sometimes, the fate of our country rests in the hands of a small but mighty group of individuals passionate about their cause — and this time, it’s high schoolers.

This week’s crossword puzzle is brought to you by Rick Sacks COURTESY OF MIRROREYES.COM / CROSSWORD ANSWERS AVAILABLE ON http://dfpress.co/2GRWAcl

DOWN

ACROSS 1. Gangs 5. Academy freshman 10. Anagram of “Dice” 14. Frenzied 15. Celebrate 16. Connecting point 17. Characterized by habitual skepticism 19. Blackthorn 20. African antelope 21. Anoint (archaic) 22. “Smallest particles” 23. Gist 25. S S S S 27. Barely manage 28. Overshadowed 31. Ellipses 34. An inferior black tea 35. Mistake

36. Small boat 37. Drugged 38. Roman moon goddess 39. Not brilliant 40. Malodorous 41. Cozy 42. Astronaut 44. Air movement device 45. A worker of stone 46. Small depressions (botany) 50. Seize 52. Accustom 54. Gender 55. Vandals 56. Nonsectarian 58. Against 59. Cooks 60. Headquarters 61. Plateau 62. Highly favored 63. Mining finds

1. A skin disease 2. Portents 3. Phony 4. Calypso offshoot 5. Son of a king 6. Embankment 7. Wicked 8. Entreated 9. Shade tree 10. Arch of the foot 11. A large amphitheater 12. Biblical kingdom 13. D D D D 18. Armored battle wagons 22. Largest continent 24. Evasive 26. Sleigh 28. A red fluorescent dye 29. Sea eagle 30. Heavy cart 31. Probabilities

32. Voice Over Internet Protocol 33. Munitions 34. Relating to plants 37. Audition tape 38. Solitary 40. Gala 41. Shelter 43. Chinese cinnamon 44. Woods 46. Exhaust 47. Academy award 48. Rental agreement 49. Wheel shafts 50. “Pow!” 51. Graphic symbol 53. Microwave (slang) 56. Diminish 57. Nigerian tribesman

Ellie French, Editor-in-Chief

Rachel Duncan, Managing Editor

46th year | Volume 93 | Issue 7

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The Daily Free Press (ISSN 1094-7337) is printed 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.

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Nicole Havens, Sports Editor

OPINION 9

FLICK CRITIQUE:

COLUMNS

Is money the root of all evil?

C

BY VICTORIA LARA COLUMNIST

onsumerism is often seen as the driving force in the United States, a country known as capitalism’s most ardent fan. Nonetheless, several movies have been quick to point out the repercussions of having a zealous support for consumerism.

One of the many consequences of excessive consumerism is the blurring of personal identity. This loss of self is seen in the thriller “American Psycho,” where the protagonist, Patrick Bateman, resorts to mindless killing almost as a way to differentiate himself from his co-workers. He is often mistaken for others, illustrating how a society focused on goods results in a uniformity and lack of uniqueness.

Ultimately, Bateman is able to hide behind his expenses and use his lack of individualism as an alibi, leaving him immune to the consequences of the real world. In “Fight Club,” consumerism is portrayed almost as a religion, with propaganda serving as a guide for identity and masculinity. The narrator’s identity is mostly defined by his possessions and obsession for material goods, while his alter ego, Tyler Durden, is his complete opposite, pushing back against consumerism with violence and chaos. With consumerism, the only result is a boring sameness that does not allow for any sort of individuality without ensuing disorder.

Another lesson anti-consumerist movies teach us is that money does not equal happiness.

A prime example is Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby,” in which Gatsby spends his fortune throwing lavish parties in hopes of attracting his old flame, Daisy. In the end, this ostentatious display of wealth is useless, as it does not give Gatsby the status and class he needs to keep Daisy.

This moral that money is not always synonymous with happiness is also seen in “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Martin Scorsese’s hit movie shows the quick downfall of those who rely on material goods for their sole source of joy. Character Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, says in the film: “… my first time in prison, I was terrified. For a moment, I had forgotten I lived in a world where everything was for sale.” Used to living in a society that revolves around capitalism, Belfort feels alienated in prison, not only because of his different environment, but also due to the shift in priorities and values.

When he is no longer able to rely on wealth as his source of happiness, Belfort is left empty and alone. Similar to Gatsby, Belford realizes that while money makes things easier, it does not guarantee everything will go the way he expects.

Movies that criticize society’s emphasis on material goods often show that consumerism inevitably leads to moral decay. In Gatsby’s case, it is heavily implied that the money he has accumulated to impress Daisy is the result of his involvement in illegal businesses. In “American Psycho,” as Bateman is visibly stuffing a dead body into his trunk, he is stopped by a man, only to ask him where he got his overnight bag from. Consumerism blurs the line between right and wrong, often leaving people blind to anything but their ultimate goal of gathering more possessions.

Rather than prioritizing the well-being of others, people end up putting material goods first. They no longer care for others, but rather only focus on what they may gain for themselves. In “The Wolf of Wall Street,” everyone gives up their close friends to the police as long as they’re protected from the law. On the other hand, when someone tries to be moral and protect their friends, they are eventually backstabbed and harmed in the long run. In the classic film “Soylent Green,” overpopulation has resulted in scarcity. Instead of looking for alternatives, those who produce the miracle food are so driven by their greed that they resort to using people as food. By placing their rapacity over their regard for human lives, the audience is left wondering if humanity has a place in a world driven by consumerism.

In a society where there is so much importance on the material, we risk losing sight of what is truly important. Evidently, these movies serve as a warning that, while society may sometimes encourage us to base our identity and happiness on material items, the best things in life are not for sale.

MAX VS. MEDIA:

Democracy is failing elsewhere

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BY MAX BERMAN COLUMNIST

iven the recent turmoil facing American politics, it would seem like the United States is the laughing stock of the world. It’s not like U.S. leadership under President Donald Trump hit a historical low of 30 percent approval in 2017 — wait a second. Though this approval rating might have dropped 18 points from Obama’s presidency during 2016, democracy isn’t doing much better in other corners of the world. Just look at recent news from Israel, Italy and China.

Israel was formed in 1948 as a democratic state. It has held elections ever since in a parliamentary system similar to those in Western Europe. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has challenged the democratic characteristics of Israel (not to say it’s a perfectly liberal democracy) through his various scandals, which must be numbered for comprehension.

1. Netanyahu received $300,000 in gifts from Arnon Milchan and James Packer allegedly in exchange for striving to attain generous tax breaks for Milchan among other things.

2. He allegedly bargained with a newspaper publisher for better coverage in exchange for his influence in limiting a competitor’s circulation.

3. He pushed for the purchase of submarines against the military’s advisement where his personal attorney (and cousin) represented a firm involved to gain profit.

In case you were wondering, Netanyahu has taken a somewhat sophisticated Trumpian approach. He has dismissed the news as biased and ludicrous, refusing to give up his power.

If you were to ask Americans what politics are like in Italy, I would assume more than 90 percent would have little to no idea. Can you name the prime minister? I can’t without googling it, so don’t worry. I knew little of the democratic crisis in Italy until John Oliver ded-

icated an entire segment to the turmoil there.

There are three main candidates in the Italian election: Luigi Di Maio of the far-right (code for racist) Five Star Movement, Matteo Renzi, the former centrist prime minister and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Donald Trump.

Berlusconi, another former prime minister, was convicted of tax fraud in 2013 and was banned from seeking office for six years. But the Italian election is next month, so unless six years has been calculated through some bizarre mathematical operations, it seems Italian democracy has some issues.

Italy, like the United States, has its own fake news problem. This has contributed to an extremely divided public in a country with high debt, high taxes and an inclination for fascist-like leaders.

Since Mao and his fellow communists established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, China has swayed from varying levels of authoritarianism. Mao held a cult of personality, which allowed him to maintain the chairmanship of the communist party to his death in 1976. Now, it seems like President Xi Jinping is following in the footsteps of these leaders.

The communist party in China recently abolished term limits on presidential elections, effectively allowing President Xi to lead China.

During the party congress last year, President Xi ensured steps to achieve Mao-like status.

His name and ideas were written into the party constitution, making it heresy to question to question him. President Xi is leading China into a new age of global leadership. Therefore, Chinese-style governance (also known as authoritarianism) is supporting developing economies, rather than spreading economic liberalism like the United States has been doing for the last 70 or so years.

China does not nearly entertain the same level of public discourse as in the United States.

So news — “fake” or otherwise — is only disseminated through the government. This even extends to the censorship of “Winnie the Pooh.” Winnie the Pooh has been used as a satirical point against President Xi because of the likeness of their figures.

Whether you are an Israeli with a corrupt prime minister, an Italian choosing between three terrible parties or a Chinese citizen with an authoritarian megalomaniac, I wish you luck. American democracy isn’t in great shape, so I hope the current conditions of the above countries urge us to fight for freedoms and transparency. I never want to live in a country where “Winnie the Pooh” is censored, where news organizations can be bribed or where John Oliver is the best choice for prime minister.

CARTOON BY RACHEL CALLAHAN/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

INTERROBANG

With Spring Break coming up, many of us will find ourselves bingeing our favorite shows over the next week. We here at the ol’ Free Press want to know — what TV show would BU students watch?

CGS: Little Einsteins

Allston: Drunk History

BU Shuttle: The Magic School Bus

Questrom: Pretty Little Liars

Myles: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

RAs: Narcos

SHA: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

CFA: Bob Ross

FreeP: The Office

10 SPORTS

Men’s basketball travels to Lehigh for Patriot League quaterfinals

BY LIAM O’BRIEN

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Once again, the Boston University men’s basketball team is on a collision course with Lehigh University in the Patriot League conference tournament.

One year after falling to the Mountain Hawks (16-13, 11-7 Patriot League) at Case Gym in double-overtime during the 2016-17 conference semifinals, the Terriers (14-15, 10-8 Patriot League) will now travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Thursday night for the 2017-18 Patriot League quarterfinals.

“They’re a very, very good team.

I think they’re playing probably the best out of anybody in the league right now,” BU head coach Joe Jones said. “They’re going to be awfully good. We’ve got to be ready and I think our guys feel good that we’re back to being healthy again.”

The No. 5 seed Terriers finished one game below the Mountain Hawks, who have won eight straight, in the regular season conference standings while Lehigh lost a tiebreaker to the United States Naval Academy to slide into the No. 4 seed in the tournament.

BU and Lehigh faced off twice in the span of a month during the regular season, with each team emerging victorious on their home court.

On Jan. 8, the Terriers’ offense flourished in a 92-81 victory at home.

BU had four scorers in double figures with sophomore forward Max Mahoney scoring 22 points, senior guard Will Goff swishing five

three-pointers en route to 17 points, season, busted onto the scene in the sophomore forward Tyler Scanlon tilt with 23 points on 8-for-13 shootadding 17 and freshman forward ing in 27 minutes to carry Lehigh.

Walter Whyte breaking out for 16 In the six games since, Bennett points. has scored 18 points, and it would be The Terriers enjoyed one of unlikely if he receives the looks nectheir more potent halves of offense essary to grab 20-plus points again in the first half of the contest, scor- come Thursday night. ing 49 points while making seven Lehigh senior guard Kahron three-pointers and 18 field goals.

Ross, on the other hand, is someJunior guard Lance Tejada, one the Terriers will need to keep in Lehigh’s leading scorer, dropped check.

21 points in the contest to carry Ross scored 18 points on four the Mountain Hawks in the first three-point makes in the win over meeting.

BU, and has developed even further In the following matchup as a scorer to propel the Mountain between the two squads at Stabler Hawks on their recent winning Arena on Feb. 3, Lehigh’s offense streak. broke out, even without Tejada in In an overtime victory over the lineup due to injury.

American University on Feb. 10, Ross The Mountain Hawks shot 51.8 exploded for 30 points on 13-for-21 percent from the field while knock- shooting. ing down 11 three-pointers, a perforOver his last four games, Ross mance that paved the way for a 80-75 is putting up 15.0 points per night, win. a string including a 20-point per“Defensively, I thought although formance in a win over Loyola we played hard, they shot a really University Maryland. high percentage,” Jones said of Jones noted Lehigh’s offensive the second game. “Offensively, I depth and stressed the importance was pleased with our output and I of playing well as a team. thought we had a great will to win “… With individual guys, we have and we just came up short.” to do a good job of understanding Jones said a key focus for his team what they like to do,” Jones said. going into this playoffs matchup will “Bennett crushed us [in the second be defense. game], but any of their guys can have “… They’re such a great three- big nights if you’re not ready to play point shooting team, we’ve got to try so I don’t know if [any] one guy is a to contest as many threes as we can bigger [threat] than the other.” and try to do our best to limit their One thing boding in the Terriers’ makes,” Jones said. favor is that the team posted two Freshman guard Caleb Bennett, solid performances against the who averages just 5.5 points for the Mountain Hawks without their

PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DFP FILE PHOTO

Senior guard Cedric Hankerson will be an important player for men’s basketball as playoffs begin on Thursday against Lehigh..

leading scorer, senior guard Cedric Hankerson.

After missing five games with an injury, Hankerson has averaged 12.6 points per game over his past five contests.

His Feb. 21 showing against Lafayette College was critical in BU snapping a five-game losing skid. He shot 5-for-6 from three-point land while notching 17 points.

Whyte has also returned back to the lineup after missing four games due to injury and also helped the

Terriers end their regular season on a two-game win streak, netting 14 and 10 points against Lafayette (10-20, 7-11 Patriot League) and the United States Military Academy, respectively.

“With [Hankerson and Whyte], we’re 7-2,” Jones said. “When Walt plays, we’re 10-4, so we’re definitely one of the top teams in the league when we’re healthy and we play the way we’re capable of playing, and now we’ve just got to go and get it done.”

College hockey’s changing: from social media to the Olympics

PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

BU men’s hockey junior forward Jordan Greenway was one of four collegiate players to compete in this year’s Winter Olympics.

BY MATTHEW MARTIN

Buccigross wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press. “A lot of young men W h i l e w a l k i n g a l o n g and women are covering and talking Commonwealth Avenue on a Friday [about] college hockey. Also, there or Saturday night during peak hockey are more games on television than season, one cannot help but observe there was 10 years ago.” the copious amounts of scarlet and Buccigross is not the only person white hockey sweaters that say around the game who has noticed “Boston.” An outsider might assume the impact of the Internet and social they are seeing people heading to an media on college hockey.

NHL game, but they aren’t — they For the past 33 years, BU hockey are headed to Agganis Arena to fans have been able to turn on their watch the BU men’s hockey team. radio and listen to Bernie Corbett’s Despite the fact that college insights as he does play-by-play. hockey has been around since 1896, Corbett noted that social media ESPN SportsCenter anchor John has also played a major impact on the Buccigross said he believes there sport — both good and bad. has been an increase in viewership Because of social media, people of the sport over the past decade. are now more easily able to follow “It seems to have increased. hockey, Corbett said, and just havTwitter has assisted a lot in that,” ing the coverage is a great thing for DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

the sport. ger, or Terry Pegula pulled the trigger But he is also aware of the issues and gave Penn State 120 million it can bring. dollars or whatever it was, once that “If people can get on there and happened and they knew they were [be] hyper critical or irrational or going Division I, the next day it was unfair in their criticism of players like bang, Big Ten hockey,” Corbett and coaches or whatever, that’s some- said. “And it was beautiful, because thing that’s disheartening,” Corbett the Big Ten was just starting their said. “They can do that [and] they TV network, and guess what? They can hide behind whatever.” needed programing.”

BU head coach David Quinn Quinn said the media has grown became a hockey coach in 1994 when over the course of his coaching career. he took a job as an assistant coach “There’s more outlets, there’s at Northeastern University. just more people talking to you and Since 2013, Quinn has been the there’s more stories out there,” Quinn head coach of the Terriers. He said said. “When I first got into coaching, social media has made his job harder. it was the Globe, the Herald and “It’s put a lot more pressure on The Daily Free Press. Now you’ve these kids [and] there’s a lot more got blogs and websites … which is distractions,” Quinn said. “Obviously good for the sport.” they all value their coach’s opinion This past month, fans were and their evaluation of them, but treated to see four collegiate aththere’s a lot more going on in their letes represent Team USA on the heads … It’s a challenge from a coach- 2018 Olympic squad. ing perspective and it’s certainly made BU junior forward and assistant coaching more difficult.” captain Jordan Greenway, University Corbett also pointed out the of Denver junior forward Troy Terry, importance of TV coverage.

Harvard University freshman forward Corbett said Hockey East and Ryan Donato and St. Cloud State NESN began at “virtually the same University junior defenseman Will time” in 1984, and since NESN Borgen all wore “USA” across their needed programming, a great TV chest in Pyeongchang, and made deal emerged between the new net- their presence known. work and the new conference.

Despite competing against and This was similar to when the Big playing with from the American Ten hockey conference and Big Ten Hockey League and the Kontinental Network were developed around the Hockey League, the four college same time as one another, he said. players showed why they deserved The hold-up was that they only had to have the spotlight. five schools, and needed six to form Corbett said one could make a a league that could receive an auto- case that Greenway, Donato and matic bid to the NCAA tournament. Terry were the best players on the “Once Penn State pulled the trig- team.

The Olympics also allowed these NCAA players to show that there is value in going to the NCAA. “I think it’s great for the sport [and] the growth of the sport. It’s great for players, [especially for] the elite players to know that [college hockey] is an option for them,” Corbett said. “Because there are options … look at [Toronto Maple Leaf forward] Auston Matthews going to Switzerland.”

Although a player has the option to play in major junior leagues, the NCAA offers a variety of benefits that those other leagues can not offer.

Quinn added that the NCAA is a better “brand of hockey,” due to the league having older and better players.

He also said that there are benefits off the ice as well such as it allows players to “grow up” away from the rink as well.

“We are not a business,” Quinn said. “Every decision we make is for the student athlete’s best interest.”

Quinn said that the shift toward college players not staying in school as long does not impact how he coaches, but it does impact how he recruits.

“If guys … leave, they leave. If they don’t like what coaches are doing, so be it,” Quinn said. “You can’t coach thinking this kid might leave … That being said, you want to create an environment where people want to stay.”

While the landscape of college hockey is ever-changing, the game itself still remains a passion for the players and the fans alike.

SPORTS 11

Women’s basketball loses regular season finale to Loyola 65-52

PHOTO BY CHLOE GRINBERG/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Junior guard Payton Hauck put up eight points against Loyola Wednesday night.

BY NICHOLAS MIATA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston University women’s basketball team dropped its season finale on the road against Loyola Maryland University by a score of 65-52 Wednesday night.

The Terriers (10-18, 5-13 Patriot League) found themselves down against the Greyhounds (9-20, 7-11 Patriot League) by 13 points at the

end of the first half, but were able to make it a close game down the stretch, scoring 21 points in the third quarter.

BU ended its 2017-18 regular season in the midst of a five-game losing streak before it will play Lafayette College in the first round of the Patriot League playoffs.

BU head coach Katy Steding said she was happy to see her team rebound in the second half.

“‘Go out and play harder and quit playing scared. Don’t worry about making a mistake, and get the ball in the paint,’” Steding said of her half time message to her players. “I felt like they were really coming after us physically and we knew that. We needed to respond and we did.”

The Terriers jumped out to the early lead to open the first quarter thanks to layups from senior guard

Corrine Williams and sophomore sive run themselves. forward Nia Irving.

A three-pointer from freshman The rest of the quarter was a back- guard Katie Nelson at 9:28 brought and-forth affair. However, by the end BU within 13 points. of the first quarter, BU’s offense had A 7-0 run cut the deficit to eight, gotten off to a good start and the and three of those points came conteam led 14-12. secutively from junior guard Payton But an 18-3 run in the second Hauck within a 32-second span. quarter by the Greyhounds allowed Hauck finished her offensive spurt them to take their largest lead of the with a layup to bring the score to 36-29. night at the half.

Another three-pointer from Eight turnovers over the quarter Nelson with 1:19 remaining brought prevented the Terriers’ offense from the lead to within two. Nelson fingetting consistent looks in the paint ished the night going 3-for-4 behind like they have tried to do all season. the arc.

Loyola’s top scorers got numerous However, Loyola responded immeopportunities at the other end of diately on its very next possession with the court and tallied nine points off a shot from beyond the arc from Gray. of turnovers in the frame.

Hauck ended the quarter with The Terriers didn’t score a point a layup with one second left on the in the final 8:26 of the half, allowing clock, and the two teams entered the the Greyhounds to gain a 13-point lead. fourth quarter with the score 41-38.

Fresh ma n for wa rd Isabel la “I thought she played really hard,” Therien and sophomore guard Alexis Steding said of Hauck’s performance.

Gray heated up down the stretch, “Her effort was there, and if Payton’s scoring eight and seven points in the got a lane, there’s nobody that can first half, respectively. stay in front of her. She’s such an As a team, Loyola shot 43.3 per- athlete. There’s not many people cent from the floor versus BU’s 38.9 better than her in the league in getpercent during the first 30 minutes. ting to the rack.”

“I think we could’ve recognized Therien and Gray stepped up for when [senior guard CaLee Gelbaugh] the Greyhounds in the final quarter, was starting to get warmed up and had helping to prevent BU from taking the a couple of shots in space,” Steding lead. The pair scored 16 of Loyola’s said. “We could’ve played her tighter. 24 fourth-quarter points.

Sometimes we just don’t take care of Despite BU’s rally attempt and our matchups as well or our rotations Irving’s 19 points, the team could when we’re in zone.” not complete the comeback.

Gelbaugh finished the night with “We did some different things 13 points while Therien and Gray also against their zone tonight,” Steding finished in double digits with 15 and said. “I think we showed that when 19 points, respectively. we went man-to-man. They really Despite being at a deficit to had trouble with us so they stayed start the third quarter, the Terriers with the zone. I thought we could’ve bounced back and went on an offen- handled them better.”

Dropping the Gloves: Rick Nash unlikely to fit in with Bruins DROPPING THE GLOVES, FROM 12

Since the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals when the Bruins lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston hasn’t been able to make much ground in the playoffs. The Bruins might just be looking for ways to make it past the second round of the playoffs. But this attempt seems a little desperate.

There’s no doubt that Boston lost in this round, but a quick look over to the Rangers’ locker room tells a completely different story.

Yes, it seems a little empty right now, but this is a rebuild that was well overdue.

Despite trading captain Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York needed the purge.

And the Rangers still have a good, core group. Jimmy Vesey, Pavel Buchnevich and Kevin Shattenkirk are all hitting their strides as relatively new additions to the roster.

New York certainly dodged a bullet with a potential Rick Nash debacle. He was getting a little diva-ish, especially with that no-trade list. In that situation, it’s always good to take a page from New England Patriots head

coach Bill Belichick and cut out the nonsense.

Calling him a diva may be a bit of an exaggeration, but Nash isn’t worth all the money the Bruins are paying for him. Yes, it’s half of the contract from the Rangers, which is a great discount, but Nash comes with a lot of baggage.

There’s no way to spin it.

Boston lost in this deal. Yes, the team might get to round three of the playoffs this year with this little boost, but it won’t last. It’s not a stable relationship.

The Bruins should learn from New York and start a rebuilding process for themselves.

Nash is more of a rental property than anything for the team.

If it doesn’t work out, he won’t be there for long.

Bottom line, Nash is better suited in a lower-level NHL team.

The Bruins don’t need the veteran leadership of Rick Nash right now. They don’t need the distraction before they head into the playoffs. Maybe Buffalo or the Ottawa Senators would be better Atlantic Division fits for Nash.

And if not an NHL team, Nash would probably be best suited for the AHL in the last few years of his hockey career.

Rick Nash was recently traded from the New York Rangers to the Boston Bruins.

PHOTO COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Follow along with BU Sports on Twitter: @DFPsports

“You want to create an environment where people want to stay.”

- Men’s hockey coach David Quinn on coaching college hockey, p. 10

DROPPING THE GLOVES:

Bruins lose in Rick Nash trade

Sports Thursday, March 1, 2018

“Now we’ve just got to go and get it done.”

- Men’s basketball coach Joe Jones on the upcoming playoffs, p. 10

Walter Whyte becoming leader for men’s basketball

BY LIAM O’BRIEN

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston University men’s basketball team is destined to look much different next year with the departure of its five seniors.

Usually, this would raise questions as to where leadership would come from and who would be poised to assume a head role on the team.

However, freshman guard Walter Whyte may already be solving that issue for the Terriers (14-15, 10-8 Patriot League).

“He’s one of the more likeable guys on the team,” BU head coach Joe Jones said. “Great demeanor, great guy, mature. We are going to look for him

BY JESSICA CITRONBERG to take a step forward next season.”

COLUMNIST Whyte, the Terriers’ most anticiRick Nash peaked in a decade pated recruit for the class of 2017, has ago. But for some reason, teams emerged as a commanding presence treat him like he’s a one of a kind in the locker room and on the court player. Based on his salary alone, as the regular season progressed. one would think he’s the most iconic “I like the team,” Whyte said. “The left wing of the century. team chemistry, I love it. These are Newsflash, he’s really not. my brothers.”

Nash is a mediocre player, who, Heading into Thursday’s Patriot for some reason, is treated like League quarterfinal matchup, Whyte an idol. And it’s been getting to is averaging 13.2 points over his last his head. five games after notching double Earlier this month, Nash sent digits just three times in the nine in a list of 18 teams he didn’t want contests that preceded this stretch. to be traded to. He could sense a “He does a lot,” Jones said. “He’s trade might be coming, since his our best offensive rebounder. He can huge salary was holding the New score the ball and he’s disciplined York Rangers back from doing around the basket. He doesn’t make a anything productive. lot of mistakes and can guard multiple PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DFP FILE PHOTO Nash is being treated like he’s positions.”

Throughout the 2017-18 season, freshman guard Walter Whyte has developed into an offensive force for men’s basketball. still a top pick in the NHL Entry Rebound-wise, the New Haven, Draft like he was back in 2002. Connecticut native has become a handling the rock and shooting threes the Christmas holiday.

I am just trying to stay focused and Alert the media, it’s not 2002 any- force as well. from the perimeter.

In the Terriers’ Patriot League do my job.” more, and not every top draft pick After averaging just 3.7 boards The learning curve Whyte faced opener against Army (13-17, 6-12 However, what has impressed ends up playing the career they per game entering Patriot League was evident in the first few weeks Patriot League), Whyte notched 16 Whyte’s BU counterparts more than predicted. competition, Whyte has upped that of the season. After averaging 9.0 points and six rebounds, helping his his maturation on the court has been Nash’s intuition was right, and number to 4.9 per tilt. points through BU’s first four games, team to an eight-point win. his development off the court. he was traded to the Boston Bruins Two games later, Whyte was at it “He’s a great teammate,” freshman “I feel more comfortable out there,” Whyte saw his minutes and producon Sunday.

Whyte said. “Everything has just tion decrease over the following three again on the glass, hauling in seven guard Javante McCoy said. “He’s real The Bruins also signed 39-year- turned up to another level.” contests. rebounds to accompany eight points positive on and off the court as far old forward Brian Gionta, who was While his scant 17 minutes against in a 68-65 loss to Loyola. as being vocal and leading.”

Most recently, after missing four formerly on the Buffalo Sabres, to games to injury, Whyte has rein- Wheaton College can simply be Whyte has not been bashful in During the contest, BU was out-rea one-year, one-way contract. vigorated BU, leading them to two chalked up to the Terriers facing bounded by the Greyhounds 43-36. the locker room, fitting in nicely Buffalo chose not to renew his consecutive wins and the No. 5 seed Division III competition, Whyte saw Whyte noted the importance of this with the senior-laden group with a contract during the 2017 off-sea- in the conference tournament. just 12 minutes against the University facet of the game in his team’s success. strong sense of humor. son. So with some extra time on Living with his freshmen counHe netted 14 points on 6-for-11 of New Hampshire “If we out-rebound the other team, h is h a nd s, Gionta wa s j ust i n shooting against Lafayette College He then hit just one of his five we win 100 percent of the time,” terparts has allowed Whyte to create Pyeongchang playing in the 2018 on Feb. 21 before helping the Terriers field goal attempts at the then-No. Whyte said. “We are just trying to bonds that will last throughout his Winter Olympics and captaining to a comeback win over the United 10 University of Miami, decreasing crash the glass as much as we can — college tenure, and his personality has Team USA. States Military Academy Saturday his points per game average to seven. offense, defense. [Jones] has really made its mark on the rest of the team.

On its surface, the Nash trade afternoon with 10 points.

This slide led Jones to lend Whyte been emphasizing me hitting the glass.”

“He’s a great guy,” McCoy said. might seem like a good move for The St. Luke’s School product a seat on the bench for the subsequent With this added confidence came “Really funny.” the Br uins. Nash can play on a was a decorated high school player, outings against Elon University and a more dangerous three-point shot.

With the Terriers slated to have line with center David Krejčí and earning NEPSAC Player of the Year Harvard University, a multi-game As Whyte became more comfortable just one senior next season, guard add some depth to the second line. twice while wearing the badge of stint that got the wheels in motion for playing in the backcourt, his shooting Kamali Chambers, the door will be He’s a veteran guy and has playoff being the only mid-major baller to Whyte’s emergence in conference play. followed suit. ajar for Whyte to step into a pilot experience. That would make sense perform in the 16th annual Jordan “I wasn’t producing,” Whyte said.

He knocked down two of the trio role on the squad. if it was a different player, but Nash Brand Classic.

“That time on the bench helped me of threes he attempted in the triumph Leading on the court and in the can’t and won’t be that guy for the However, it took Whyte a little think about what I needed to get over Army before going 3-for-3 in a classroom with a sense of humor intact Bruins. while to transition to playing college done. I gotta get things done and I three-game span from Jan. 8 to Jan. 14. is a role one can expect to see Whyte Gionta could fit in well with basketball. wasn’t doing it. I deserved to be on “I take open shots, good shots, and fulfill as his college career progresses.

Boston’s mantra and playing style. they are falling,” Whyte said. “I am “He’s a leader,” McCoy said. “He’s After using his 6-foot-6 frame to the bench.”

Nash certainly doesn’t.

The move motivated Whyte, as not trying to do too much. I am not a student. He focuses on his work and play in the front court in high school, Whyte had to make the switch to he returned with a vengeance after trying to do anything too difficult. gets it done.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

THURSDAY, MARCH 1

Men’s basketball will begin playoffs

against Lehigh in the Patriot League quarterfinals, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

Softball will begin the three-day San

Diego Classic against California State University, Northridge, 11:30 a.m.

BOTTOM LINE SATURDAY, MARCH 3

Men’s lacrosse will face off against Air Force in Colorado Springs, 1 p.m.

Women’s basketball will play Lafayette in the first round of the Patriot League tournament, 2 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 4

Women’s lacrosse will matchup against Duke in Durham, 1 p.m.

MONDAY, MARCH 5

The Boston Celtics will travel to

the Windy City to play the Chicago Bulls, 8 p.m.