3-4-2020

GOING GREEN, 2

FINDING PURPOSE, 6

VOTING IN 2020, 8

DOG FIGHT, 11

Candidates discuss the experience of running as third party candidates.

The “Exonerated Five” found identity in their strife.

Having to navigate convoluted and processes disincentives us from voting.

Terriers face Northeastern for Hockey East playoff seeds.

CELEBRATIN G

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

50

YE A RS

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I N DE PE N DE N T

STU D E NT

J O U R NA LI S M

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

YEAR L. VOLUME XCVIII. ISSUE VI

BU mourns death of beloved Terrier mascot Rhett Sanders and

Warren lead in student primary poll

BY JENNIFER SURYADJAJA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

For many universities, a mascot is just entertainment at sports games. At Boston University, a mascot was a smiling face on Commonwealth Avenue.

Rhett, a Boston Terrier and Boston University’s unofficial mascot, died Tuesday morning as a result of a heart condition at 12 years old. His owner, Calvin Iwanicki, said Rhett died in his owner’s ex-wife’s arms.

Iwanicki said Rhett became ill mid-August last year. He said he brought the dog to the vet, where he had an electrocardiogram and a picture of his heart taken that revealed Rhett’s valves on his heart were failing.

“You see, it wasn’t all glitz and glamor being Rhett’s dad,” Iwanicki said. “In September, I started bringing him on campus again, and he wasn’t the same vibrant powerhouse of energy like he always was.”

Iwanicki announced Rhett’s death to students by putting up a sign in the George Sherman Union. The sign, Iwanicki said, was similar to those he would bring to sports games – but this time it read “Rest in peace! Rhett died today he loved all of you!!!” with a picture of the Terrier.

Iwanicki sat with the sign at one of the red tables in the GSU Link, where he frequently brought Rhett. He said his decision to announce Rhett’s death using a sign fit what he had done in the past.

“I’m not really media savvy, like Instagram or other stuff. I figured ‘you know what?’ I’ll come in here with one of my many signs that I made for him and just put it out there’” Iwanicki said, “and the students will do the rest with their phones.”

Jonmichael Aracena, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he enjoyed having a real-life mascot on-campus. He also expressed his sympathy for the student body.

“It’s terrible, you don’t want to see an

BY ALEX LASALVIA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

GABRIELA HUTCHINGS/ DFP FILE

Rhett sits in front of Marsh Chapel. The Boston Terrier, who was Boston University’s unofficial mascot, died Tuesday morning.

icon at school pass away ever,” Aracena said. “But you know, all good things come to an end. I’m just glad I was here to enjoy him while he was here.”

Rhett has been appearing on-campus with Iwanicki since 2008. Iwanicki said the Terrier had come to know prominent locations at BU, such as the GSU, FitRec and Warren Towers, and knew his way around campus.

“He was too smart for his own good,” Iwanicki said. “I would tell him ‘Rhett, let’s go to lacrosse.’ And he knew which way Nickerson Field was. I didn’t have to prompt him with the leash, he would go.”

Colin Riley, a BU spokesperson, said Rhett’s passing would bring sadness for those who regularly saw him on campus.

“He certainly brought a lot of smiles to lots of folks on the BU campus over the years, going up and down,” Riley said. “And when new students arrived at BU, it didn’t take them long to run into him and get to enjoy him.”

Sergio Guillen, a second-year School of Law student, said Rhett was part of the culture of the school and will be missed.

“Well, I just feel like I really didn’t know that this school’s mascot was a Terrier until I saw Rhett, the actual dog,” Guillen said.

Having raised Rhett since he was a puppy, Iwanicki often regarded Rhett as his son and said that his deteriorating condition was hard to witness. The BU alumnus said his dog had stopped barking the week before his passing.

“I noticed something was wrong and his energy level was way low, and the weekend happened and I was like, ‘Rhett, want to go to campus?’’ Iwanicki said. “But he just wanted to stay in his bed. I tried to bring him to walk, [but] his back legs weren’t working as well.”

Rhett’s impact on students spanned many years, with dozens of students approaching and interacting with the dog each time he came to campus. Grace Alessi, who graduated from CAS in 2017, said Rhett helped strengthen BU’s school spirit and that she was “heartbroken” to hear of his death.

“Talking to Rhett, taking selfies with Rhett and petting Rhett was a huge CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Biden takes Massachusetts on Super Tuesday

BY ANGELA YANG DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Super Tuesday drew to a close in Massachusetts with former Vice President Joe Biden emerging victorious. The candidate took 33.7 percent of votes with 80.5 percent of precincts reporting, earning 31 delegates from the Commonwealth.

Among the 14 states that voted Tuesday, Biden won eight as of midnight. All but Massachusetts were in the South: North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Minnesota and Oklahoma.

At his victory speech in California, Biden referenced his South Carolina victory last week and listed out the states he secured Tuesday.

“Just a few days ago the press and the pundits had declared the campaign dead,” Biden said. “I’m here to report we are very much alive.

And make no mistake about it, this campaign will send [President]

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is the clear favorite Democratic primary candidate among Boston University students, according to a poll conducted Feb. 24 through Feb. 28 by The Daily Free Press.

While not getting majority support, Sanders led the poll, receiving 47.7 percent support from respondents who voted for a Democratic candidate. He was followed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 26.7 percent of the vote.

Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has since dropped out of the race, came in third with 14.3 percent of the vote. Former Vice President Joe Biden followed with 4 percent.

Respondents took the pollthrough an online form, and votes were verified by confirming BU emails through the BU Directory. Only votes from currently-enrolled BU students were counted.

Dino Christenson, an associate professor of political science, said that the results of the student poll don’t come as a huge shock to him.

“I think Sanders is popular among the youth. It’s his key demographic,” Christenson said.

“It’s interesting to see that that popularity has spanned an army of students here.”

The Daily Free Press verified 637 responses to the form.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Warren popular among students at BU polling location

BY JANE AVERY DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

VIGUNTHAAN THARMARAJAH/ DAILY FREE PRESS

Sen. Elizabeth Warren embraces a supporter during her visit to Cambridge, where she voted in the Massachusetts primary Tuesday morning.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Massachusetts is one of fourteen states that voted this “Super Tuesday,” and Boston University hosted a polling station at 24 Cummington Mall as one of Boston’s many locations for students, faculty and residents interested in voting Tuesday.

Polls were open between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm. The Life Science and Engineering Building saw its highest voter traffic during the window of 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren finished the day as the top choice for 11 students reporting their vote to The Daily Free Press out of 23 asked.

Elias Lucero, a first year master’s student in the School CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

2 NEWS

Green candidates run alongside red and blue

BY ANGELA YANG DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

One of the largest ever Democratic fields in a presidential primary election has saturated the 2020 candidate pool with blue. But also vying to win the White House this year are a handful of even more progressive contenders who often go unnoticed — they’re running under the Green Party.

Four of these candidates were on the ballot in Massachusetts for Super Tuesday. Though they run under different party names depending on state, such as Green-Rainbow in the Commonwealth, all are affiliated with the national Green Party.

On Tuesday, the party had ballot access in three of the 14 states that held primaries: Massachusetts, California and North Carolina. Still, its candidates had the chance to pick up more delegates on this day than any other in the 2020 primary season.

The Green platform espouses environmentalist ideals, as its name implies, as well as social justice and grassroots democracy. Democrats are not doing enough, Greens say, and many are corrupted by corporate funding.

Howie Hawkins is one name that appeared on ballots Tuesday. He was one of 62 co-founders of the first national Green organization in 1984.

Having supported various third parties since before he was of eligible voting age, Hawkins said one consequential challenge that comes with running under a lesser-known party is ballot access.

“The difficulty getting on the ballot in this country is more difficult than almost any other electoral democracy in the world,” Hawkins said. “And I would say that party suppression is part of voter suppression.”

Many citizens refuse to cast their ballot on Election Day because neither of the two major parties speak to their needs, Hawkins said, yet alternative candidates who might are often not offered as choices.

“So a lot of people that really support us vote Democrat to stop the Republicans,” Hawkins said. “That’s why one of our major issues is electoral reforms, like … a national popular ranked-choice vote so people can vote for what they want without fear of their worst enemy.”

A common critique of third parties and independents alike is that they pull crucial votes away from the major party their supporters most identify with. However, Hawkins said, third parties have historically driven tangible change as well.

“A lot of people say we’re spoiling

the election,” Hawkins said. “I would argue we’re improving the election, because we’re bringing issues to the fore and putting on the table things that the major parties will not.”

From the Liberty Party challenging slavery in the 19th century to the Socialist Party advocating for the social insurance programs ultimately packaged into the New Deal in the 20th century, Hawkins said third parties have not had to win office to make a difference in U.S. policy.

Hawkins announced his presidential bid in May last year after a buildup of public support from Greens across the country. He said he never considered entering politics as a Democrat or Republican because neither party takes enough action on racial injustice.

“The exclusion of African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, those are race-conscious injuries that require race-conscious remedies,” Hawkins said. “Things like affirmative action and targeted investments in communities that have been oppressed and are poor. And neither party has done that in any serious way.”

Another grievance Hawkins has with both parties is their apparent failure to combat police brutality on young Black and Latino men.

“The rate of police killings has not declined at all, even though the crime rate has been declining steadily for three decades,” Hawkins said. “So I don’t think either party’s dealing with the question of racism adequately.”

Meanwhile, Green Party candidate Dario Hunter once gave the Democratic Party a chance — he is a former member. But while engaging in local politics for years in Youngstown, Ohio, he gradually reached the conclusion that Democrats, who dominated the municipality, would not move forward on social justice.

“The local Democratic Party were interested in their corporate owners and pursuing their needs,” Hunter said. “And so, issues like a state takeover [of failing schools], children stuck in a cycle of failure, they were not responding to those issues.”

Hunter said he aims to confront school-to-prison pipelines feeding children into the mass incarceration system, as well as end redlining and police brutality.

“Our campaign focuses on what we call the People of Color Bill of Rights,” Hunter said, “which is a comprehensive platform to deal with the gap between the rights that it is said all Americans have on paper and what the actual experience is.”

But his central campaign issue is cli-

Crime Logs

BY MARY LULLOFF

DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The following reports were taken from the Boston University Police Department crime logs between Feb. 27 and March 2.

Suspicious vehicle at Warren Towers A caller reported Friday at 5:15 a.m. that a vehicle had been loitering outside Warren Towers with its engine on since 9 p.m. the night before. BUPD reported that the truck was being used to power a broken refrigerator in the building.

Protest at the GSU COURTESY OF HOWIE HAWKINS

Green Party candidate and party co-founder Howie Hawkins is one of four candidates running for the party’s nomination in the 2020 election.

mate change.

“You are not going to save this planet by focusing solely on what we do within our borders,” Hunter said.

America must build better relations with other chief carbon emitters such as China, Hunter said, to fully address a global climate catastrophe.

“We also focus on other major environmental crises because climate change is not the only one,” Hunter said. “We have plastics showing up in the deepest of ocean trenches so plastic pollution and associated global bans on that, that’s a big part of our unique environmental focus as a campaign.”

Peace is another pillar of the Green Party platform. While all the 2020 Green contenders advocate for peace, Hunter said his campaign is the only one pushing for a federal department to enforce it.

“Instead of just cutting the military budget, we are then going to reallocate that amount to creating a Department of Peace,” Hunter said. “We do have a State Department to deal with diplomacy, but this is so much more than that. Peace-building means global community-building and that’s what our Department of Peace would do.”

Green candidate Kent Mesplay, who wrote in an email he has run in every U.S. presidential election since 2000, also has plans to reallocate the war budget.

“We need to gracefully shift military spending into actual protection (rebuilding our infrastructure and creating a system where people don’t really need jobs as we think of them today),”

Mesplay wrote, “instead of wars for empire expansion passed off to an unsuspecting, non-critical-thinking citizenry.”

Mesplay wrote that he first looked into the Green Party in 1995, and was immediately drawn in by its environmentalist vision.

“I grew up in a tropical rain-forest, so I see things a little differently than the average bear,” Mesplay wrote.

“Climate Change really is the World War III of our time, and our ‘leaders’ are asleep at the wheel. Time to grab the wheel.”

Mesplay then announced his first candidacy that same year, before he was officially old enough to run. He wrote that polling numbers do show potential for a Green win, but people remain reluctant to peel votes away from the main parties.

“Would we be accused of taking away non-votes, too?” Mesplay wrote.

“This works best when the candidate believes in winning, not just showing up to build the party incrementally.”

Mesplay wrote he believes the U.S. needs a “viable” third party that can rally national support — and other candidates agree.

Hunter said the Green effort will extend past 2020, and he will continue to travel the country to help lift local would-be Green leaders.

“I strongly believe that when people see Green communities, when they see what we represent and how different it is, they will see this as a viable option and we can break through the current duopoly in power today,” Hunter said. “But we’ve some footwork to go. I’m excited about it.”

BU’s unofficial mascot Rhett dies Tuesday morning RHETT, FROM PAGE 1 part of my four years at BU,” Alessi said. “He just had this beautiful energy that kind of permeated throughout campus.”

Mia Kelly, a sophomore at CAS, expressed the same sentiment. She said Rhett’s spirit could be felt throughout campus.

“I think he obviously brings some positive energy to BU,” Kelly said. “It’s very helpful having an adorable mascot. It makes you proud to be from BU.” Riley said having a real-life mascot was comparable to having a schoolwide pet, the benefits of which he said are immense.

“Pets bring so much to the families and the people who care for them,” Riley said. “They just give a lot of love.”

Iwanicki said that despite the sadness surrounding Rhett’s death, his legacy will carry on.

“I think everybody will remember.

It sucks that it had to happen like this, but hey, we all have a shelf life, right?” he said. “He’s in mascot doggy heaven.”

Rhett’s owner said he died peacfully, with the same positivity he brought to campus so often.

“He died with a smile on his face,” Iwanicki said.

CAMPUS

A small group reportedly protested Aramark outside the GSU Thursday around 1:30 p.m. Protesters were gone by the time BUPD arrived.

Theft at FitRec A caller reported that their backpack was stolen at FitRec Thursday around 11 a.m. They believed the thief was still in the building.

BUPD arrived and the backpack was recovered.

Noise complaint near South Campus Multiple callers reported that a vehicle was playing loud music on South Campus Sunday at 12 a.m.

One caller stated that the vehicle was a navy blue SUV. When BUPD arrived, the Simmons Police Department was handling the situation.

Disorderly conduct at Case Athletic Center Several disruptive skateboarders were outside the Case Athletic Center Monday around 4:30 p.m.

BUPD arrived and removed four individuals from the area.

CITY

Crime Logs

BY ANGELA YANG DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The following reports were taken from the Boston Police Department website from Feb. 27 to March 2.

Breaking and entering in East Boston

Officers responded to a call Monday evening for a break-in on Lexington Street. They arrived on the scene to find a basement door open, then entered the building to find four male suspects fleeing down the stairs. Police arrested two immediately and called for backup to pursue the others. In a recovered backpack, officers found various tools and a single black sneaker. They later located a third suspect, who was wearing the other sneaker.

Loaded firearm in Dorchester

Around 7 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to a verbal domestic dispute.

Upon arrival, police found the suspect waving a handgun at a family member.

They ordered the suspect to drop the weapon without incident, then placed him in custody after discovering he did not own a valid license to carry.

Drugs, cash and firearm recovered in Mattapan

SOPHIE PARK/ DFP FILE

Rhett with his owner, Cal, outside Marsh Chapel.

Officers conducted a traffic stop Thursday evening to investigate a suspicious vehicle. They approached to find the driver attempting to stuff cash into the center console and cup holder. After removing the driver and passenger from the vehicle, police found bags of marijuana and 14 opioid pills, as well as a loaded Glock handgun and a large sum of cash.

NEWS 3

Presidential primary poll finds Sanders leads among BU students CAMPUS POLL, FROM PAGE 1 Among those, 596 people voted for a Democratic primary candidate and 69 people voted for a Republican candidate. Among respondents, 95.6 percent stated they are eligible to vote in the 2020 U.S. general election.

Of the 69 respondents who selected a Republican primary candidate, 68.1 percent voted for President Donald Trump, while 31.9 percent voted for former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

The poll also contained additional optional questions, which 456 people chose to answer. These questions involved voter registration, voting plans, party affiliation, Democratic candidate rankings and top issues.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the most common last choice for the Democratic nominee among respondents at 48.2 percent, followed by U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard at 23.2 percent.

82.9 percent of respondents stated they plan on voting in both the primary and general elections in 2020. They were followed by 14.5 percent who only plan on voting in the general, 2.2 percent who don’t plan to vote at all, and 0.4 percent who only plan to vote in the primary.

The poll found that 75.3 percent of respondents identify as Democrats. 10.1 percent identify as Independents, 6.8 percent identify as Republicans, 1.1 percent identify as Libertarians and 0.4 percent identify with the Green Party. The remaining 6.2 percent entered a different party or do not have a party affiliation.

The poll suggests that the

GRAPHIC BY ALEX LASALVIA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The top Democratic choice among Boston University students was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who received 47.7 percent of the vote. 637 respondents took the poll via an online form and were verified by confirming BU emails through the BU Directory. Only votes from currently-enrolled BU students were counted.

GRAPHIC BY ALEX LASALVIA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Climate change, social equality and health care were the most important issues to Boston University students based on 418 responses

top issue for BU students is climate change — 30.4 percent of respondents stated it was the issue that motivates them most to vote. Climate change was followed by social equality at 21.5 percent and health care at 19.1 percent.

When respondents ranked the Democratic candidates, Sanders led again but still did not obtain majority support on first choice. From these results, The Daily Free Press played out a ranked choice scenario, eliminating the lowest-polling candidate and re-allocating that candidate’s voters to their next choice until one candidate received a majority of the vote.

No candidate received a majority until all candidates other than Sanders and Warren were eliminated. Sanders won the ranked choice vote with 54.3 percent support, and Warren received the remaining 45.7 percent.

Among Sanders’ first-choice voters, Warren was the overwhelming second choice, at 79.9 percent, followed by Buttigieg at 10.1 percent.

The poll found that 77.7 percent of respondents would definitely vote for a Democratic nominee in the general election, even if it is not their first choice. 16 percent stated they might vote for the nominee depending on who it is, and 6.2 stated they would not vote for the nominee if it is not their first choice.

Christenson said that the ‘opt-in’ nature of the poll made the results more interesting, as most who took the poll had similar preferences.

“It’s interesting that those who are interested had a strong Sander’s preference,” Christenson said, “and that they wanted to communicate that.”

Local Boston residents share voting booth choices, thoughts

BY ANGELA YANG DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Sen. Elizabeth Warren returned home to Cambridge to cast her vote for president on a balmy Super Tuesday morning. Across the river in Boston, citizens filed into their local polling stations to do the same.

Throughout the day, Massachusetts residents voted along with 13 other states across the nation that held primary elections and caucuses.

Allston resident Leslie Sterling, 62, said those who wield the right to vote “have to” do so on Super Tuesday, as this set of elections is often a turning point in the primary season: it’s when the largest number of delegates will be apportioned. Results can redirect the trajectory of many still in the field.

But exercising one’s suffrage is important in general, Sterling said, for several reasons.

“For so long, Black people were not allowed to vote,” Sterling said.

“Many people protested and died so that I could have the right to vote as a Black person, and then there were women who protested and died so that I as a woman could have the right to vote.”

2020 will be the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which enfranchised women in August 1920.

Sterling, who voted for Warren, said the symbolic occasion further incentivized her to turn out this year.

“I thought it was symbolic to be able to vote for a woman on the 100th anniversary of women voting,” Sterling said. “I would be happy with any Democrat, but I like her. I know that she’s good. I know she’s smart. I know she’s competent. I know that she can get things done.”

Ashley Schwartzman, 33, of Allston said she chose to vote because it is

SOPHIE PARK/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A polling station at Jackson/Mann K-8 School in Allston. Massachusetts was one of 14 states that voted on Super Tuesday.

important to take part in democracy. She said she casted her ballot for Sen. Bernie Sanders because of his plans to distribute wealth for the benefit of the majority rather than a few.

Schwartzman said although Warren shares many of the same progressive values as the Vermont senator, Sanders holds a longer track record of consistency.

“I have followed Bernie Sanders since the 2016 elections, and a lot of his things that he stood for, he has stood for that for a very long time,” Schwartzman said. “And some of the

things that Warren is standing for has been since the 2016 elections.”

Another Sanders voter, 26-yearold Skylar Schuman of Allston, said this same tenacity was part of what impressed her.

“I feel like we’re not going to come across another Bernie Sanders ever again, who has this long of a track record of just fighting for everyone,” Schuman said. “And I think he’s going to continue his fight throughout his presidency if he gets elected.”

Schuman said Sanders also advocates for ideas that align with her beliefs on social justice issues.

“A lot of the Democratic nominees do,” Schuman said. “But I think that he has the passion and drive throughout his entire career to prove that he’s going to continue working for the people.”

Allston voter Josh Witkowski, 43, said he although he believes in many of Sanders’s views, he ultimately leaned toward Warren partly because he feels she is best qualified to realize concrete action upon taking the Oval Office.

“I feel like Warren is more prepared to play the game in Washington,” Witkowski said. “And I feel

like she probably is a little more willing to work within the system. I feel like [Sanders] might be less willing to reach across to the other party in the way that Elizabeth Warren probably will.”

Among voters polled throughout the day in Boston’s Ward 21, which encompasses Boston University, Warren and Sanders emerged as top contenders for most popular. Several also expressed support for former Vice President Joe Biden, who came in first in Massachusetts.

One 20-year-old voter, Shweta Shreyarthi of Fenway, was drawn toward Biden based on name recognition.

“I voted for Biden just because he was the candidate I knew the most about,” Shreyarthi said. “And I went to Syracuse and he’s an alumni and did a bunch of stuff while I was a student there.”

Kathleen Sum, 47, of Allston said she voted for Biden because he has established himself as a national frontrunner and is already familiar with the workings of the White House.

“It’s where my heart went,” Sum said. “He has momentum, he’s got past experience.”

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, meanwhile, rolled into fourth place in the state.

Fenway resident Allison Brown, 33, said pitting a billionaire president against another billionaire candidate might be the most effective way to replace him.

“I voted for Michael Bloomberg,” Brown said, “because I feel like he’s the only one who can maybe beat Trump.”

Inyeong Kim and Emma Lindsey contributed to the reporting of this article.

4 NEWS

Warren most voted-for among students at BU polling location POLLS, FROM 1 of Theology, said that he voted for his second choice candidate because his first choice dropped out the day before.

“My main motivation was just to vote for someone who could beat [President Donald] Trump, and I opted for Warren because my first choice [Mayor Pete Buttigieg] dropped out,” Lucero said. “I was deciding between [Warren] and Bernie, and she seems, one, more electable to me, and two, I just feel like she has more concrete policies that I’m aware of.”

Seraaj Fay yaz, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he voted for Warren because he aligns with her views on current events and education issues.

“I liked her because I support her views on the coronavirus and how to help it,” Fay yaz said, “and also her pre-college education plans.”

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders trailed Warren, gathering the second highest percentage of supporters at seven respondents.

Noemi Guevara, a senior in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said that expressing her thoughts through the process of voting is important to her, and that she voted mainly with a focus on healthcare issues.

HANNAH YOSHINAGA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The polling station in Boston University’s Life Science and Engineering Building. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was the most popular candidate among BU students, earning 11 of 23 votes in exit polls.

“I voted for [Sanders],” Guevara said. “Right now, the U.S. healthcare system is not working out for all of us, and his free ‘Healthcare for All’ is really standing out.”

Katie Wilson, a freshman in the School of Hospitality Administration, said that she’s a first time voter and chose to support Sanders.

I came to vote because I’m a first time voter. It was exciting,” Wilson said. “I voted for Bernie

Sanders because he’s been just an advocate for all the rights I’ve been in support [of ] for a really long time.”

Emerson Lawton, a junior in the College of Fine Arts, said that she is a first time voter and chose Sanders because of his environmental and climate change policies.

“I wasn’t old enough to vote in the last presidential election, so I’m excited about being able

to vote now,” Lawton said. “I voted for [Sanders] just because I’ve been really excited about his policies and I feel like he’s going to do a lot, especially for environmental causes.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has been endorsed by former candidates Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, also gathered a modest percentage of votes at BU’s polling location with 17 percent of votes.

Olivia Han, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said that it’s our right to exercise our civil liberties and she voted for a more moderate candidate, Biden.

“I’m studying history, so I know that literally 100 years ago today women wouldn’t have the right to vote, so it’s our right to exercise our civil liberties,” Han said. “I voted for Joe Biden, because he’s not too left.”

Reilley Connelly, a senior in the Questrom School of Business, said that she voted because she wasn’t happy with the current political leadership in the United States and feels that she needs to exercise her right.

“I just don’t agree with a lot of the things that are going on in politics right now. I feel like I have to vote and feel obligated to because a lot of people can’t,” Connelly said. “I voted for Joe Biden. I was planning on voting for Buttigieg, but because he dropped, I wanted to make sure that I was voting for someone that could possibly take out Trump in the election.”

Despite entrepreneur Andrew Yang’s withdrawal from the race for Democratic nominee, one student cast their vote for him.

His name, along with Buttigieg and Klobuchar, remained on the ballot.

Polls close Tuesday to find Warren third place in home state ELECTION, FROM 1 Donald Trump packing.”

Following Biden’s lead was Sen. Bernie Sanders with 27.1 percent of the vote and 22 Massachusetts delegates. Sanders also took his home state of Vermont, as well as California, Colorado and Utah.

He spoke about the strength of his Super Tuesday showing to a sea of supporters waving white and blue “Bernie” signs at his Vermont watch party.

“When we began this race for the presidency, everybody said it couldn’t be done,” Sanders said.

“But tonight I tell you with absolute confidence we are going to win the Democratic nomination, and we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who in previous public opinion polls had been neck and neck against

SOPHIE PARK/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A voter fills out a ballot at the Jackson/Mann K-8 School polling location in Allston. Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren finished third in the Massachusetts primary Tuesday after former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sanders as 2020’s leading progressive candidate, trailed behind in third place at 20.7 percent in her home state. She will move

forward with 10 delegates from Massachusetts.

The senator returned to Massachusetts Tuesday morn-

ing to vote in her home city of Cambridge, where she pulled in an overwhelming victory over Biden and Sanders.

Greeting crowds of supporters lining the streets, Warren made her way to the polling station at Graham Parks and School with her husband Bruce Mann and family dog Bailey. Elementary school students waved out the windows of their upper-floor classrooms.

Warren and Mann purchased treats from a bake sale near the entrance of the voting room before stopping to speak with a group of schoolchildren. One among the young crowd posed a question: would children have a voice in everything she does as president?

“Yeah,” Warren said. “In fact, I already made a promise that our Secretary of Education not only has to be a public school teacher, that person will also have to meet with some school kids.”

After arriving in Detroit, Michigan later in the day, Warren made it clear to voters she will remain in the fight.

“My name is Elizabeth Warren and I’m the woman who’s going to beat Donald Trump,” Warren said. “I am also going to help take back the Senate and put Mitch McConnell out of a job.”

Tuesday was also the first time former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s name appeared on states’ ballots, as he had opted out of the first caucuses and primary elections of the year.

Bloomberg attained 11.7 percent of votes in Massachusetts. He did not make first choice in any of the state’s 351 municipalities.

Though he ended the night without major headway in the states, Bloomberg won the U.S. territory of American Samoa and has collected more total delegates than Warren.

CAMPUS CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4

THURSDAY, MARCH 5

THURSDAY, MARCH 5

FRIDAY, MARCH 6

FRIDAY, MARCH 6

Breakfast for Dinner

Women’s History Month Concert

BU New Venture Competition

Dean Elmore’s Our Hour at the HTC

Movie Night: Class Divide

5 p.m.

All Dining Rooms Hosted by BU Dining Services

12:30 p.m.

855 Commonwealth Ave. Hosted by CFA School of Music

6 p.m.

BUild Lab Hosted by Innovate@BU

5 p.m.

Howard Thurman Center Hosted by Dean of Students

5:30 p.m.

CAS, B36 Hosted by City Planning and Urban Affairs Program

FEATURES 5

BUSINESS

BU professionals, peers advocate for passion in summer job search

BY LILY KEPNER DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

With the sun warming Commonwealth Ave. into the spring season, student stress is rising with the temperature. Questions of internships versus jobs and passion versus practicality dominate the air, but not for long.

Olivia Hoffmann, Yawkey internship coordinator at Boston University, said students are more often asking how, when and where to find internships.

“This is a great time to be thinking about the summer,” Hoffmann said. “It’s not too late, I think that’s a big thing to focus on for students.”

Students often place too much stress on finding the perfect summer experience, Hoffmann said, but there is no guideline she knows of detailing what students should do each summer.

“Students worry that they don’t have experience or don’t know what the right experience is,” Hoffmann said. “Depending on what you’re looking for out of it, it doesn’t always necessarily need to be a formal internship opportunity.”

Passion and practicality don’t have to be mutually exclusive when it comes to choosing work experience, Hoffmann said. Especially with a short-term experience like an internship, she said it’s a great excuse to try something new, and

possibly add a unique skill set to one’s future career. “[Internships] are still really crucial exposure experiences,” Hoffmann said. “In terms of passion and career, we want them to overlap and [then]… articulating that in the future to employers about what a great experience that was.”

The third Internship Insights event of this academic year was held at BU’s Center for Career Development on Friday — an informal event that connects BU students with upperclassmen who have completed internships in a certain field. Friday’s event focused on media, arts and communications.

Gabriela Ferrari, a junior in the College of Fine Arts studying graphic design, said she hoped to offer advice to underclassmen at the CCD event. Two summers ago, Ferrari interned at CNN, and last summer, she said she prioritized location and free housing in her summer job choice, working at Summer Challenge, a summer program for high schoolers through BU. Though Ferrari was not working in her field specifically last summer, she said gained many valuable, and applicable, tools she could carry with her into work. “[Summer Challenge] was an interesting work experience that wasn’t necessarily related to my field,” Ferrari said, “but there were

JASMINE LI/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University’s Center for Career Development is particularly busy during the Spring semester helping students find summer internships and jobs.

still a lot of skills like teamwork that [are] still very useful.”

Ferrari said the best advice she can give others about how to stand out in internships is to pursue what excites them, not what they feel like they have to do.

“Think about what makes you unique — out of everything in your resume what are you passionate about? And then try to bring that to the front,” Ferrari said. “If you want to stand out, the easiest way to do it is by actually talking about something you care about.”

Mengling Wu, a junior in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences studying nutrition, said her internship the summer before her sophomore year at a clinical nutrition department in

a hospital complemented her classes and expanded her knowledge of the field.

“I’m taking a medical nutrition service course right now and they’re focused on how nutrition, some nutritional therapy [helps] for the certain disease,” Wu said. “I think experiencing the internship really helped me to get a brief idea before taking this course.”

And yet, sometimes internships or jobs can seem out of reach for students.

Samantha Johnson, the assistant director of career education at the CCD, wrote in an email that students should not be discouraged if they do not fit every listed requirement on a job description. She wrote that the CCD advises students

to advocate for their strengths in their resumes and cover letters, and to have confidence in their experience, even if it’s untraditional.

“I encourage students to think broadly about their experiences and skills,” Johnson wrote. “Employers are not interested solely in hearing about their internships and jobs; experience also includes relevant course projects, research, study abroad, community service, leadership, and student organizations.”

Networking, though it can make people uncomfortable, can start very simply, Johnson wrote.

“Start with people you already know and build comfort there first,” he wrote. “Networking can help you explore career options, build relationships with professionals in a field of interest, get feedback, advice, recommendations, and insight that can help you access your desired industry.”

Another important aspect to focus on in a job search, Hoffmann said, is accessing the resources and connections available to you and saying yes to opportunities.

“What can you be working on that will matter for multiple other industries and multiple other jobs?”

Hoffmann said. “Although it’s a broad answer, just not being scared of taking advantage of whatever opportunity is in front of you and using [BU’s] resources.”

SCIENCE

Game to Grow panel shows video games can help improve mindset

BY MIRIAM FAUZIA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Video games have always had a bad reputation. In 1982, they were believed to be addictive and dangerous to young children, and in 1993, the rise in graphical violence spurred the Senate to pass the rating system well-known today. But in recent years, attitudes toward video games have become more accepting and one group seeks to utilize this paradigm shift to help improve human behavior.

Game to Grow, a non-profit orga n ization based out of Washington state, attended this year’s annual gaming convention PAX East to present a panel entitled, “The Player is Evolving!

Using Games to Foster Growth Mindset.” The talk, which was held on Friday, was part of a series spanning all weekend, focusing on improving mental health through gaming.

Jared Kilmer, a member of Game to Grow and discussion moderator, introduced the concept of a growth mindset to the nearly 100 people in attendance. “[A growth mindset] is the attitude that one’s skill can grow in response to increased effort and positive learning strategies,” Kilmer said during the panel.

Elizabeth Kilmer, also a mem-

COURTESY OF KIKO

The video gaming convention PAX East was held in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center this past weekend, where the non-profit organization Game to Grow presented a panel on improving mental health through gaming.

ber of Game to Grow and clinical psychology doctoral candidate at the University of North Texas, said it is important to have a growth mindset rather than its polar opposite fixed mindset.

“It’s a lot about having the belief that skill and ability is something that is f lexible and changeable instead of static,” Kilmer said at the talk. “So like ‘I can get better at math’ instead of ‘I’m just good at math or I’m bad at math.’”

Aside from the Kilmers — a husband and wife duo — speakers at Friday’s panel included Adam Davis, executive director of Game to Grow, and Justin Swain, host of the @ever yone

podcast.

Behavioral responses to setbacks and an individual’s desired outcomes of a situation, Davis said, determine whether they lean toward a growth or fixed mindset.

“The mindset is most revealed when it comes to how we engage with the challenges in our lives,” Davis said during the panel. “When we see a setback and we say ‘I can overcome this, I can work hard’ versus ‘This is a static setback that I cannot respond to, this is just the way it is.’”

The panelists said video games can foster a ver y crucial element of a fixed mindset

called grit, which Davis said he developed while playing “Dark Souls,” an action role-playing game that forces the user to try again and again.

“Grit is perseverance in the face of challenges and adversity, or passion and perseverance for your long-term goals,” Davis said in the panel.

“Playing Dark Souls literally did give me the strength and resilience to push through a lot of challenges in my relationships, in my grad school and in starting a business.”

Attendee Allison Battles of Minneapolis, has followed Game to Grow and collaborated with them in the past.

She said she was excited to hear such a positive and constructive message about gaming.

“I think one of the greatest things about gaming are the opportunities for growth” Battles said, “and emphasizing how games can build in growth mindsets and how important that is for our overall well being as human beings.”

Christine Emerick of Ha r r isbu rg, Pen nsylva n ia , who attended the talk, said they felt the most significant takeaway was the message of perseverance.

“One of the biggest things that video games teaches you

is perseverance,” Emerick said.

“Continuing to try despite failing — so the growth mindset.”

A particular growth mindset tool that attendees can use during gaming, or outside of it, is called the OODA loop — observe, orient, decide and act — which describes the behaviors an individual should exercise in taxing situations. The concept was developed by the U.S. military, Davis said, for rapid response of servicemen.

Swain said OODA loops can be used in gaming to become better and refine analytical skills.

“Gunfights in video games tend to be like, ‘All right, I’m going to observe the other players, there could be a radar in your corner,’” Swain said in the panel. “These are all little, tiny micromanaging bits.”

Jared Kilmer ended the panel by recommending attendees consider what their current, i n- t he - moment e x p er ience means to them.

“Ask yourself, ‘What can I gain from this experience?’”

Kilmer said. “It doesn’t really matter the context, but ask yourself that question as frequently as you can and you might be able to find you can extract a lot more growth from some of those frustrating moments than you might have initially realized.”

6 FEATURES

COMMUNITY

One of the “Exonerated Five” says everyone is born with a purpose

BY MITA KATARIA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

In 1989, Yusef Salaam was one of five teenage boys wrongly accused and convicted of sexually assaulting a Central Park jog ger. Salaam, Korey Wise, Ray mond Sa nta na, A ntron McCray and Kevin Richardson were dubbed the “Central Park Five,” and served a varying five to 12 years in prison. After two decades, in 2002, when serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the crime, their convictions were overturned.

Salaam, now a public speaker and member of the newly-titled “Exonerated Five,” has taken up the fight against the criminal justice system that he said unfairly treats “the Black and brown community.”

On Friday, Salaam shared his lecture, “Born on Purpose and With a Purpose,” with nearly 500 BU students and faculty at the Tsai Performance Center, where he focused on the importance of education and the effects of incarceration and disenfranchisement on young men of color.

While incarcerated, Salaam said he experienced a spiritual turning point. By discovering and rethinking his identity and personal philosophy, Salaam said he was able to develop the mindset to change his circumstances and free himself.

“30 years ago, I was ran over by a spike wheel of justice, and I got a big smile on my face,” Salaam said during the talk.

“What happened to me was the most beautiful thing that could happen to anyone, because when you rearrange and readjust your focus, you realize that you have to thank the Lord for the lessons, and thank you, Lord, for the blessings.”

The event was hosted by the Islamic Societ y of BU, who invited Salaam to celebrate Black History Month. Azanta Thakur, president of ISBU, said the organization wanted to focus on a current Black Muslim voice.

Thakur said she hoped the audience would take away dual lessons of empathy and activism from the lecture.

“Stories like [Salaam’s] are so common, unfortunately, and he is one of thousands and thousands of people that this is happening to,” Thakur said in an interview.

“We need to walk away with empathy and compassion and make sure that things like this [aren’t] happening.”

At the beginning of the lecture, Salaam said he lived his first several days after birth without a name, a popular practice in the community he grew up in. Now, Salaam manages to make his name and his purpose known, saying that he found meaning in his life despite the injustice that had befallen him.

“Allah blessed me to go through what I had to grow through, in order to tell especially young men [that] prison is not a rite

of passage, you don’t have to go there to become a man,” Salaam said during the lecture. “I went to jail and got a college degree … but it was a bit of a struggle, because I had to believe in myself first of all.”

A recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by former President Barack Obama in 2016 and an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Anointed

by God Ministries Alliance & Seminary in 2014, Salaam criticized the prison industrial complex, which he said is biased against people of color. To prove his point, Salaam spoke about the Central Park Five case and how many continue to suffer the same fate he had endured.

Repeatedly, Salaam spoke about how Black and brown men, even today, have to consider their odds of childhood imprisonment. Just because minorities have a “complexion for rejection,” Salaam said that does not mean that they could not make their lives meaningful.

“Give them all opportunities to experience life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Salaam said, in reference to the prison system. “I was in the prison, but one day I was free.”

Emma Chrisman, a senior in the College of Fine Arts, said she found great value in Salaam sharing his personal experience at BU. “I’m glad he took the opportunity to try and build on things we didn’t know and understand the way that he sees the world,” Chrisman said after the event.

“He could really spin these narratives out of these little stories and make [them] into something bigger.”

Having been sentenced for a crime he did not commit, Salaam spoke about his upward journey out of prison and into advocacy and academia. In reference to his incarceration and frustration with the U.S. prison system, Salaam shared verses from the same rap song he delivered in court some 20 years ago.

“Sitting here at your table doesn’t make me different,” Salaam said, repeating the words he had spoken to the judge.

“Just like being here in America doesn’t make me an American.”

Salima Taylor, a master’s student at Tufts University, said she attended the lecture to appreciate Black Muslims. Listening to all that Salaam had accomplished, despite the trials and tribulations he had to face, Taylor said reinvigorated her mission to serve.

“I think that we need authentic, strong, genuine figures to really present us with the facts and information, but also with the emotion and the feeling of what occurs in the struggle,” Taylor said. “I need to be [acting], because I do have a voice and I do have perspective, and I want people to see that energy and engage with it, and I want to create change.”

JACOB COLLING/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Yusef Salaam discussed the importance of education and the effects of incarceration on young men of color in his speech, “Born on Purpose and With a Purpose,” at the Tsai Performance Center Friday.

JACOB COLLING/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore introduces Rev. Yusef Salaam at Tsai Performance Center Friday.

JACOB COLLING/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Yusef Salaam of the “Exonerated Five,” formerly known as the “Central Park Five,” speaks at the “Born On Purpose and With a Purpose” event at Boston University’s Tsai Performance Center Friday.

FEATURES 7

ARTS

JUSTbeU Art Collective makes art accessible with T. Anthony’s art show

BY MATTHEW DATTOLO DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Many people think of art as being limited to the walls of museums. But a group of student artists is looking to remind the public that art can be found anywhere — even local pizzerias.

The JUSTbeU Art Collective, a group of aspiring student artists dedicated to creating complex art shows in easily accessible places, hosted a vibrant pop-up art show at T. Anthony’s pizzeria on Sunday. A lively crowd of both students and Boston locals alike viewed tables of art exhibits as they conversed over pizza and music.

Sam Weinberger, a junior in the College of Fine Arts, is a mural artist and graphic designer who founded the group in late 2019.

Weinberger said his vision is to make art more accessible to the community and remove social barriers — like traditional museums and formal galleries — that isolate potential admirers of art.

“We are a collective that comes together and creates pop up shows in unconventional spaces like the one you see here today,” Weinberger said. “It’s really about accessibility.”

Weinberger said the idea of hosting these public pop-up art shows emerged from his experiences as a pianist in benefit con-

COURTESY BIG SAM’S PAINTS

The Just BeU Art Collective hosted their pop-up show at T. Anthony’s Sunday, which featured works by aspiring artists who strive to make art more accessible to the public.

certs. Soon after, Weinberger began exploring street and mural art, creating his pieces in public spaces he said.

“Getting the public eye on your work is really where the inf luence came from,” Weinberger said.

Alli Raina, a sophomore artist and musician at the Berklee College of Music, said the fact that the art show was held at T. Anthony ’s made it more

approachable, especially among the primarily college student attendance.

“I think it’s really special and really interesting that it’s in a pizza place, I think it’s more welcoming,” Raina said. “People our age especially probably feel more comfortable coming here than they would to a stark art gallery.”

Weinberger said he hopes attendees recognize the passion and effort of student artists.

“[I hope] they see the potential of the collective, they buy some merch hopefully, they enjoy the show, they get free pizza and they see the amount of work that all these artists are putting into their lives and work to make a successful career out of being an artist,” Weinberger said, “which is not an easy task to do.”

Matthew Guattery, a junior in CFA, said The JUSTbeU Art Collective’s pop-up art shows have become routine for the group. Not only have their events worked to generate more interest in art among college students, but have even inspired members within the collective to discover and experiment with more art styles and mediums.

Inspired by another member of the art collective, Raina said she has started incorporating her art onto T-shirts and has branched out to various art styles, including pointillism, acr ylics and watercolors.

“I really like abstract work, so a lot of [my art] is abstract,” Raina said. “I’m also a musician and a lyricist, so some of them have words on them.”

Guatter y said this show has allowed him to learn more about various kinds of art.

“I think it’s really interesting just how many different artists are here … it’s definitely opened my eyes to different artists,” Guattery said. “T. Anthony’s was

really helpful when Sam was first looking for a place to go to and they were really open to having an event like this.”

Weinberger said these pop-up art shows have been popular among college students because of how they lack the social barriers that some may find “pretentious” at formal art institutions.

“I really feel like they should be able to experience art and experience art in such a dynamic atmosphere and environment and a place where it’s really supporting,” Weinberger said. “It’s a place where people can come and smile and have a great time and not have to worry about who they are.”

Levi Golden, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, attended the event to support Weinberger and the other artists, and said he was impressed by the atmosphere the space provided.

“I’m not really a big art show guy,” Golden said. “It feels more casual being at a place just out in the open like this.”

Weinberger said he worked hard to achieve his goal of creating a group for artists who want to present their art to the Boston community in a down-to-earth approach.

“It’s all about action, it’s about doing it,” Weinberger said. “It’s about not thinking, not conceptualizing your ideas … The way to make it happen is to do it.”

COMMUNITY

Agassiz Village summer camp strives to support at-risk Boston youth

BY MOLLY FARRAR DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Hersh Baraznik immigrated to the United States from Russia in the late 1800s, changing his name to the Americanized Harr y Burroughs. Like many young men tr ying to make a living, he worked as a newsboy in Boston, before attending Boston University School of Law and passing the bar exam in 1912.

Burroughs’s humble upbringings a nd subsequent success led him to establish the Harry E. Burroughs Newsboy Fou ndation i n 1926 a nd Agassiz Village in 1935, where now almost 750 at-risk Boston youth attend ever y summer, according to their website.

Agassiz Village, a summer camp in Poland, Maine, has been providing support for under priv ileged, inner -cit y children of the Greater Boston area for 85 years, servicing children ages eight to 17. Maine, a safe haven from the city, is also where Burroughs first arrived in America before walking to Boston to begin his new life, according to an information sheet provided by the camp.

Lisa Carter, Agassiz’s executive director, said the camp is unique from other non-profits

she has worked with in the past.

During the summer, Agassiz Village becomes a space where children and teenagers can physica lly and emotiona lly escape the trials of Boston life and establish friendships and mentorships within different programs, Carter said.

“It’s important to us to give these kids this opportunity to get away from whatever they’re facing at home, and to experience fun for the summer,” Carter said, “but at the same time, learn some really great foundational leadership skills.”

Campers are taught different life lessons and skills depending on their age group, and trains those aged 15 to 17 to become counselors and role models for the younger campers, according to Agassiz’s website.

Joshua Clachar Jr., a future counselor and former camper, said he has attended Agassiz for three years. He said he most looks forward to being a role model to other children, who were in the same position he was last year.

“It’s definitely home away from the city, where kids can let their g uards down and really be themselves and just grow as individua ls while

COURTESY OF CAITLIN GOODHILE

The Agassiz Village Summer Camp in Poland, Maine, gives underprivileged, at-risk youth the chance to escape Boston’s city life and learn valuable skills.

they’re there,” Clachar Jr. said.

“It’s a short period of time, it’s actually only around two weeks, but I feel like working with all the kids, they open up a lot and they also grow and change as people a lot in that little time period.”

Ash Bahi, a year-round camp director, said Agassiz’s programming is worth continuing for future generations because of its impact on the children it serves.

“We have quite a high staff-to-camper ratio, which means that a lot of our kids are able to find a staff mem-

ber that they can have a connection with,” Bahi said. “We have a lot of Hispanic and African-American, Black staff members which they are role models for these kids, especially the male campers.”

Originally only for impoverished, inner-city newsboys in the 1930s, Agassiz is now a reprieve for children and teens exposed to personal or familial strife and in need of strong relationships and support systems, which Carter said the camp intends to provide.

Parents of the villagers pay on a sliding scale, Carter said,

meaning that a family’s contribution to the camp depends on their financial situation.

She said that last year, 30 percent of campers attended for free, while the average family paid $144. However, the camp spends about $1,500 per child.

Because Agassiz’s funding through campers and attendees is limited, Carter said the organization is always looking for financial support from donors in Boston.

“We would love people to not only donate, but volunteer their time to help us,” Carter said. “Or maybe they’re interested in being a board member or want to serve in a different way.”

Carter said her passion for children is for the simple reason that children are the future. She said she believes in securing that future and helping children have the best f uture possible, a nd said Agassiz Village is a path toward that.

“I believe that if we can support [campers] in these little ways, that gives them the foundation that they need to be successful in school and in life,” Carter said. “It just takes a little bit of support from the community in something like Agassiz Village.”

8 OPINION

EDITORIAL Voting is made intentionally difficult to suppress the public’s will Super Tuesday gave a significant number of Democratic voters the opportunity to voice their opinions about their preferred nominee. But that number could and should have been higher had certain measures not been in place.

Particularly over the span of this administration, U.S. politics has become more polarized than ever. During debates and law-making, politicians focus their energy on winning power and influence for their party instead of advocating for their constituents.

In order to accumulate influence on Capitol Hill and throughout the country, it is a non-starter to get as many from your party into office as possible. However, politicians have approached this aim in alignment with Machiavellian philosophy: that the ends justify the means. The means in this case being voter suppression.

Voting is indispensable to a functioning democracy. In practice, it should be an understandable and convenient process. But the reality of voting processes in the U.S. does not stand up to that low expectation due to the contemporary nature of political motivations.

Politicians desire outcomes that will benefit their party. When voting can foil those potential outcomes, the logical next step to take is to diminish voters’ influence.

Although they are not able to literally eliminate them, politicians have discovered and implemented methods to discourage people from voting.

These obstructive efforts operate in a variety of insidious ways. To the average person, malicious intent isn’t immediately obvious. In fact, some of the rules in place

(e.g. purges of voter rolls) look like and are promoted as though they are meant to streamline the vote counting process. Yet, the biases underpinning these rules and regulations is precisely why we must be critical.

For instance, former and current felons generally lose their right to vote, but the duration of and timing of that loss varies from state to state. Taking that right away is equivalent to dehumanizing this group of people non-human, but committing a crime should not have that effect. Everyone has

Something structural is punishing them so much that they lack feasible ways to live within the boundaries of the legal system.

The same cannot be said for the wealthy, though; although they commit crimes, they have the resources and power to evade punishment. Worse yet, they retain the right to vote and power to advance their special interests within the political arena. Therefore, for the less privileged, incarceration is punishment enough and sometimes too much.

Another particularly pertinent example

GRAPHIC BY VANESSA BARTLETT/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

done something immoral at some point in their lives.

Supposedly, the judicial system punishes those whose actions had palpable harm on their communities. However, in deciding that punishment, the system makes sweeping assumptions about character. Just as all people who do something immoral are not evil, not all felons are evil.

CROSSWORD

of voter suppression is the absentee ballot system in its current state. The U.S. postal system has been unreliable before — ballots can get lost. Currently, there is no way to track a first class letter. And in some states, absentee ballots are completely dismissed in the final count unless they dramatically change the end result.

For the numerous college students who

study out of state, an effective absentee ballot system is imperative for us to fulfill our civic duty, but also take advantage of our first major opportunity to participate in democracy. Young people are becoming an increasingly visible voting block as we organize to have a say in the world we are inevitably going to live in.

However, we would show up in even greater numbers to vote if the process was more convenient and significantly less convoluted — this is not a simple matter of apathy or lack of incentive. How can we vote for our future president if we cannot even understand how to do so?

This sense of ambivalence is not unique to college students. Other populations are likely grappling with the exact same question because of how the next elected official can significantly impact their lives, for better or for worse.

But when there are far too many hoops to jump through, how can a single voter willingly overcome that friction without the certainty that his or her vote will be meaningful? If voter suppression becomes even more extreme, campaigns themselves will become meaningless tours that squander resources. A disincentivized voter is not an engaged one.

We can each do our part to combat voter suppression. We can proactively educate ourselves on preparing to vote, even though that should not be the case. We can write our representatives and give rides to our peers and neighbors on voting or election days.

But on a structural level, the federal government can do the bare minimum to lift the obstacles in our way when it comes time to vote.

ner

CamScan Scanned with This week’s crossword puzzle is brought to you by Helga Dimitrov COURTESY OF MIRROREYES.COM / CROSSWORD ANSWERS AVAILABLE ON https://dfpress.co/2MGBWlc

ACROSS 1. Smell 6. Percussion instrument 10. Rapscallions 14. An essay 15. Emanation 16. Filly’s mother 17. All excited 18. Ailments 19. Impoverished 20. Relax 22. Sea eagle 23. Lad 24. Lofty nest 26. Humorously vulgar 30. Adhesives 32. Glorify 33. A change in style or genre 37. Tidy 38. Liquid from fruit or vegetables 39. Zero 40. Loose high-

DOWN necked blouse 42. Female domestics 43. Rolls up 44. Defeat soundly 45. Gorillalike 47. Soak 48. Relating to urine 49. Self-centered 56. Cab 57. Relating to aircraft 58. Betel palm 59. Region 60. A style of design 61. High, low and neap 62. Corridor 63. Three-handed card game 64. Lyric poem

Victoria Bond, Editor-in-Chief Samantha Kizner, Campus Editor

1. WW1 plane 2. Eatery 3. Sweeping story 4. Roman emperor 5. Shiver 6. Anagram of “Diary” 7. Govern 8. Website addresses 9. A female massager 10. Emotionless 11. New Zealand native 12. Lying facedown 13. Arid 21.

Detachable container 25. Aye 26. Telephoned 27. Bright thought 28. Wild hog 29. Not natural 30. Gratings 31. Hubs

33. Select 34. A gain or acquisition (archaic) 35. Cocoyam 36. Coarse file 38. US Marines (slang) 41. Public transit vehicle 42. Mogul 44. Suffering 45. A kind of macaw 46. Picture element 47. Dash 48. Salt Lake state 50. Eccentric person 51. Killer whale 52. Journey 53. Start over 54. Anagram of “Dice” 55. Carryall

Jennifer Suryadjaja, Managing Editor

Angela Yang, City Editor

Sarah Readdean, Features Editor

t h e i n d e p e nd e nt st ude n t n ewspap e r at bo sto n un i versity 50th year | Volume 98 | Issue VI 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 © 2020 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Chris Larabee, Sports Editor Ausma Palmer, Photo Editor

Hillary Hao, Editorial Page Editor

Caroline DeHaven, Video Editor

Sophia Yakumithis, Blog Editor

Maya Chadda, Layout Editor

Justin Tang, Podcast Editor

OPINION 9

2020 Breakdown:

COLUMNS

Subverting the will of the people, one brokered convention at a time

BY GABRIELLA APONTE COLUMNIST

It’s Super Tuesday and the race to win the Democratic presidential nomination is well on its way.

Five candidates are still actively vying for the nomination, which has political pundits and party strategists pondering how this primary season will end. Will it end as it typically does with a smooth and relatively drama-free nomination process? Or will it end in a contentious brokered convention, the likes of which Americans haven’t seen since 1952?

With a crowded field, there is a small likelihood that a single candidate will earn the majority of the pledged delegates needed to secure the nomination. However, one candidate will walk into the Democratic National Convention with a plurality of the delegates rather than a majority.

Generally speaking, pledged delegates proportionally represent the number of votes each candidate receives in a state primary and caucus races. The candidate with the most pledged delegates is typically the candidate with the most votes.

And the candidate with the most votes should win the nomination, right? Not according to the Democratic National Committee’s nominating rules.

If no candidate earns a clear majority of pledged delegates after the first round of voting, something called a brokered convention occurs. After the first round of voting, delegates and officials begin bartering and negotiating amongst themselves, offering up the vice presidency or other important roles in hopes of reaching a majority during the second round.

And if you thought this process couldn’t get any more complicated, you’d be wrong.

Along with the shady back-room dealings, a second round of voting also introduces 771 superdelegates. Unlike regular delegates, superdelegates are unpledged and free to vote for whomever they like, completely independent from the result of the popular vote.

Superdelegates include Democratic Party elites such as former presidents, vice presidents and DNC chairs. Historically, party elites tend to throw their support behind establishment candidates, arguably disadvantaging anti-establishment contenders.

Much like the electoral college system, the

person with the most votes and most support from Democratic voters could still lose the nomination because of this process.

While delegates and superdelegates rarely vote against the will of the people, Democratic Party officials have revealed that 2020 might just be the year they do.

In recent interviews with The New York Times, 93 superdelegates and other party officials expressed “overwhelming opposition” to nominating Senator Bernie Sanders if he won a plurality rather than a majority.

Last month at the Las Vegas Democratic Debate, all but one of the candidates echoed these sentiments. When asked whether or not the person with the most delegates should win the nomination, Vice President Joe Biden replied, “No, let the process work its way out.”

In an appearance on MSNBC, former South Carolina State Representative Anton Gunn said plainly, “The party decides the nominee. The public doesn’t really decide the nominee.”

And if it wasn’t painfully clear enough that the Democratic Party establishment no longer cares about the will of the people, one party member decided to clear things up.

“This election is about saving the American experiment as a republic,” William Owen said in an interview with The New York Times.

Notice Owen’s word choice there, “This election is about saving the American experiment as a republic,” NOT a democracy.

There couldn’t be any more damning evidence of the Democratic Party completely abandoning its core values and beliefs than this.

In the DNC’s most recent party platform, it states, “The Democratic Party was founded on the promise of an expanded democracy.

The right to vote is at the heart of our national vision. It is a core principle of the Democratic Party to maximize voter participation for all Americans.”

What good is the right to vote when the party encouraging you to participate is the very party actively admitting that your vote doesn’t count? That it knows better than you and ultimately, “the party decides the nominee?”

According to their very own platform, the Democratic Party is supposed to fight for democracy. It’s supposed to be the party that fights to expand the electorate and elevate the voices of the marginalized and disenfranchised. And above all else, it’s supposed to be the party that respects the will of the people, not the party that subverts it at a brokered convention.

Clearly, the Democratic Party has strayed from the values and principles that made it what it once was. We can only hope that when the time comes to elect the Democratic nominee in July, the Democratic party will remember its promises and respect the will of the people.

INTERROBANG

Mind Your Business:

Presidential race neglects to address the pressing mental health epidemic

BY ABBIGALE SHI COLUMNIST

As voters head to the polls today, they should recognize that there is one incredibly important issue that hasn’t been covered as much as it should have.

On Feb. 25 during the South Carolina debate, the only health issue debated was that of private versus public health insurance. During the debate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders focused on his “Medicare for All” plan — one that has become a hot button issue in the 2020 Democratic race.

But while so much energy has been spent debating the cost of Medicare, there has been less than satisfactory coverage on and conversation about one of the leading causes of death in America.

Depression and anxiety are at an all time high, and a recent report from the American Psychological Association in 2019 showed the percentages have significantly increased among the youth. Suicide rates have increased a shocking 33 percent from 1999 to 2017 and it is, unfortunately, the second leading cause of death in teenagers and young adults. As Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg pxut it in the South Carolina debate, “We don’t have an adequate mental health system to support kids.”

In July 2019, Mental Health For US, a non-partisan educational initiative, sent out a survey to the presidential candidates. As of today, Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have all completed it. Notably, Sanders’ and Warren’s plans to improve mental healthcare are largely set in providing access to all through Medicare.

All of the candidates also addressed mental health for veterans.

On his campaign page, Buttigieg actually detailed a proposal, “Healing and Belonging in America: A Plan to Improve Mental Health Care and Combat Addiction” to tackle the mental health crisis. It involves improving access to mental healthcare and increasing education and intervention in schools.

Klobuchar also released a $100 billion plan to prioritize mental health and combat substance use disorders. Her plan also focused on early intervention in schools,

but put a greater emphasis on targeting the opioid crisis, holding opioid manufacturers accountable for their role and treating alcoholism.

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg released a mental health and suicide prevention plan as well — one that focuses on screening, prevention and housing. However, Bloomberg’s proposal was not as comprehensive as Buttigieg’s or Klobuchar’s. His plan did not address eliminating stigma towards mental health, education for students in school, nor funding to empower communities. His plan also didn’t detail the cost of the plan.

Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Bloomberg were the only three to release proposals specifically targeting the mental health emergency. Warren’s campaign page briefly mentioned mental health, but only in relation to her Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act. Despite Former Vice President Joe Biden’s foundation advocating mental health, he only had listed one bullet point on his campaign website stating his plans to expand access to mental healthcare and enforce parity laws. No official plan to target the issues has been released during his campaign.

Finally, Sanders’ plan for mental health was intrinsically linked to his Medicare proposal. If Medicare does not pass, how will he improve mental healthcare?

Even though these presidential candidates recognize this ongoing crisis, the coverage of our media remains stuck on the repetitive argument for or against Medicare rather than informing the public on each candidates’ plans for mental health, as well as the feasibility and cost of these plans.

And in light of both Buttigieg’s and Klobuchar’s recent resignations, the only Democratic candidate left standing with a real plan to prioritize mental health is Biden, highlighting the lack of emphasis on mental health in our country.

Klobuchar and Buttigieg are now both endorsing Biden. For such an important, pressing issue — one that has claimed so many lives — it’s unfortunate that only one of our still running Democratic candidates has done more than the bare minimum to address these concerns.

The fight for “Medicare for All” has overshadowed an equally important epidemic.

Though healthcare is important and undeniably a human right, the singular focus on Medicare versus private options eliminates the conversation we need to be having about other health issues.

Mental health has been a persistent and ever-growing problem in America. With the increasing depression and anxiety in teenagers, it’s imperative for our future leaders to not only address the issue, but to also take action.

Super Tuesday primaries were held on Tuesday in Massachusetts and some candidates were written into the ballots. We here at the ol’ Free Press want to know — who would BU groups write in?

FreeP: Josh Cain

COM: Pete Souza

South: Trader Joe

CFA: Tchaikovsky

SHA: Mr. Moseby

QST: Themselves

LAW: Judge Judy

CGS London: The Queen

Pre-Med: Meredith Grey

10 SPORTS

7th Inning Stretch: Make baseball games better, not shorter

BY JACOB GURVIS COLUMNIST

For a sport played primarily without a clock, Major League Baseball is rather concerned with timing. I get it, trust me. Most fans don’t want to sit through a four-hour game. But I think the conversation about pace of play is all wrong. Almost as wrong as Mookie Betts in Los Angeles Dodger blue.

Here’s my crazy idea: what if we focused on the quality of baseball games rather than their length?

According to a study performed by FiveThirtyEight, the average length of an NFL game in 2019 was three hours and 23 minutes. In the 2019 postseason, the average MLB game lasted three hours and 45 minutes.

Pretty comparable, right?

Is anyone panicking about the pace of play in the NFL? Crickets.

In fact, football has never been more popular. In 2019, the NFL accounted for 41 of the top 50 mostwatched broadcasts in the United States and 73 of the top 100. Game 7 of the World Series –– one of the most intense occurrences in professional sports –– clocked in at 28th, with 23 million viewers. The Super Bowl? 98.2 million.

MLB’s pace of play conversation was reignited (again) recently with the newest slate of rules changes announced for the upcoming season. Among them are a three-batter minimum for pitchers and a reduction of time allowed for managers to challenge plays. Both are aimed at shaving idle time off games.

I have no issue with limiting managers to a 20-second window to decide

Finally, and by far most importantly, the league must place a much stronger emphasis on marketing its stars.

whether to challenge a play, rather than the previous 30-second allotment. But seriously –– how much time is that actually going to save?

The three-batter minimum, on the other hand, is not my favorite. While I certainly accept that endless commercial breaks can take away from the enjoyment of a game, I do not like the notion of changing the strategy of the game itself. Requiring a reliever to face a minimum number of batters fundamentally alters not only the training, preparation and utility of pitchers, but also the way that managers operate their bullpens. It changes how the game is played. There’s got to be a better option.

This takes me to my solution:

improve the product on the field. How do we do that? There’s no simple, snapof-the-fingers solution, but rather an amalgam of opportunities to strengthen the game’s appeal.

To begin with, encourage more expression and personality from players.

I’m talking bat flips, personalized cleats and on-field celebrations. Some found it arrogant, but I loved watching the 2017 Red Sox dance in the outfield after each win. It was an entertaining and endearing display of whimsy from a team and a sport that can often be business-only.

Next, let’s mic up more players.

Remember when Betts cracked jokes while playing in the outfield? How about this week, when Anthony Rizzo

made headlines for his mid-game sass?

Baseball is a sport perfectly fit for more in-game audio, with players spending much of the game standing in the field and sitting on the bench. The league announced that umpires will have microphones to explain challenge decisions –– an idea I love –– so why not more players, too? I’m not usually one to advocate for more technology in baseball, but this is a perfect way for players to engage with fans, show more personality and make the game more fun.

Finally, and by far most importantly, the league must place a much stronger emphasis on marketing its stars. You’d be hard-pressed to find a sports fan anywhere in the world who couldn’t

name or recognize LeBron James. Or Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, or Tiger Woods. But how many could pick Mike Trout out of a crowd?

It’s way past time for MLB to invest in a far more aggressive marketing strategy. Commercials, endorsements and advertising deals, you name it.

Baseball may be a team sport, but if there are superstars earning upwards of $300 million, they should be way more of a big deal to way more people.

Especially young people.

In ESPN’s 2019 list of the world’s 100 most famous athletes, guess how many baseball players made the cut?

Zero. How about soccer? Three of the top four. Not a great look.

At the end of the day, baseball games are too long. I concede that.

But so are football games, and yet millions of fans tune in every Sunday, because the quality of the product on the field is second to none. When the games are exciting, people don’t care if they’re two hours or four.

Even as the NFL continues to struggle with controversies over head injuries, collective bargaining agreements and early retirements, the game itself remains strong. I, myself, often contemplate “boycotting” the NFL for its gross mishandling of everything from domestic violence to its preference for profit over social justice or player safety. But I still watch it every week.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred should call up his equally disliked counterpart at the NFL and ask for some advice. The clock is ticking.

The 2-3 Zone, featuring Jayson Tatum’s Rise and the Thunder

BY SEAN GOLONKA COLUMNIST

The “3” Jayson Tatum’s beard finally connected. And he’s been unstoppable ever since.

Photo evidence from a Boston Celtics game against the Phoenix Suns shows the Tatum’s beard finally became fully connected on Jan. 18 of this year. Many Celtics fans across Twitter had been waiting for that day, often claiming that Tatum’s game would hit another level once his growing beard became fully connected.

Their claims have seemingly been confirmed. From that day onward, the Celtics are 12-4 in the games that Tatum has played in.

And Tatum has been a top-10 NBA player ever since that date.

Tatum has been dominant as a scorer, a defensive brick wall and he’s doing it all with absurd efficiency.

He’s even doing it on the biggest stages, coming up big in key moments for the Celtics. He scored 39 points against the Los Angeles Clippers on more than 60 percent shooting and embarrassed Kawhi Leonard in the fourth quarter and overtime. And just two games later, he outplayed both LeBron James and Anthony Davis in a narrow loss to the Western Conference’s top team, while also tying his career-high 41 points.

If Tatum continues to play like this, the Celtics are surefire title contenders in the Eastern Conference.

A couple other league stars are enjoying the spotlight recently,

If Tatum continues to play like this, the Celtics are surefire title contenders in the Eastern Conference.

though for very different reasons. James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo are in an all-out petty contest. And I am loving it.

Antetokounmpo criticized Harden for being selfish with the ball during the All-Star draft.

Then, in an interview with Rachel Nichols, Harden indirectly slighted Antetokounmpo with the statement: “I wish I could be seven feet, run and just dunk.

That takes no skill at all.”

The two were in the race for the Most Valuable Player Award last year, and this year it once again seems like Antetokounmpo will beat out Harden for the award.

The rivalry between the two seems to run far deeper than just those few incidents, but there’s no denying that their mutual contempt is currently reaching new

heights.

Regardless of who the better or more skilled player is though, this beef between star players is pure fun. The league is a far better place when this kind of battle is happening.

A team with about as much juice as those two players right now is the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I’ve previously given love to the clutch heroics of Chris Paul and the bench leadership of Dennis Schroder, but this whole team deserves a mountain of praise.

Before the season started, the Thunder were rocked by roster turnover that saw both Paul George and Russell Westbrook leave town. With all that roster turnover in mind, many predicted that the Thunder would finish toward the bottom of the Western

Conference.

But right now, head coach Billy Donovan has this team sitting at sixth in the conference with more wins through 60 games than they were supposed to have all year.

All of that is coming after a shaky start. Since Thanksgiving, the Thunder are 31-12, and only the Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks have a better record in that time frame.

The most impressive part of this team is their absolute dominance late in the game. The Thunder have a league best 2.5 plus-minus in the fourth quarter this season. Their trio of guards, including Paul, Schroder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, all dominate in the clutch with extremely efficient scoring.

This team is a still-surging monster, and they should be a for-

midable first-round playoff opponent for any team they face.

The “2” The team most worried about the Thunder’s continued dominance is probably the Utah Jazz.

After a 19-2 stretch against a soft schedule, the Jazz have come back down to earth. Their identity has vanished. Their lineups are a mess.

Mike Conley has fallen apart yet again.

However, the Jazz can pull it together before the Thunder and Dallas Mavericks push the Jazz down to seventh in the West.

Their lineup of Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Ingles, Royce O’Neale and Rudy Gobert is one of the best offensive units in the league, and that lineup is also a defensive force to boot.

If the Jazz can figure out how to work in more Ingles and less Conley, they may find a recipe for success.

Finally, it’s time to talk about Daniel Theis, the most unheralded Celtic. The German big man has been one of the Celtics’ five most important players this season, but he gets little love outside of Boston.

He does all the little things: hitting threes, carving out space for the Celtics’ stars to work, while also passing at a respectable level.

Most importantly, he’s played AllNBA level defense almost all year.

Even as the Celtics have spent the year without a more wellknown or well-respected big, This has held his own on the defensive end. And his play has been key to the Celtics’ top-five defense.

SPORTS 11

Joe McSorley embracing leadership role on a young team

BY MATT MEUSEL DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Joe McSorley knew he was in good hands that would set him up well for recruitment into college athletics while he was playing goalie for the lacrosse team at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, Maryland.

Despite Calvert Hall being a 30 minute drive from his hometown of Forest Hill, McSorley said his travel time was pretty normal for the average student.

“My parents definitely sacrificed a lot getting me there every day until I got my license,” McSorley said.

Although he played just about every sport growing up, McSorley fell in love with lacrosse and became one of the top high school goalies in the Baltimore area, earning him a spot on the Ba ltimore Under Armour Underclass team his junior year.

After making the Under Armour team, McSorley got his first contact from BU and was in Boston touring the campus, where the senior said he saw himself attending the school in the future.

“I fell in love with it from the jump,” McSorley said. “I knew it was all going to work out.”

McSorley entered his freshman year knowing he would probably be backing up All-American Christian Carson-Banister, but was told by Terrier head coach Ryan Polley that it was an open competition at the position.

“We knew [McSorley] was good,” Polley said, “and we really thought

he could compete for the starting job.”

McSorley played in just four games his freshman year but noted that he learned a lot from players like Crason-Banister, who he has a close relationship with. “[Crason-Banister] was amazing, I learned so much from him,” McSorley said. “He was the big mentor that year. It’s just been a lot of older guys since then, that I’ve been a part of the goalie group with.”

McSorley said his freshman year was a unique moment in the program’s time.

“I got to be here at a very cool time,” McSorley said. “My freshman year was when the senior year was the inaugural class … seeing how much they cared about the program was a motivating factor for me.”

Fast forward to this year and McSorley is playing in his final season as a Terrier and has been the starting goalie since sophomore year. He’s been named to the Academic All-Patriot League Team in 2018 and 2019. He’s been Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week on six occasions and led BU to its biggest win in program history last season over No. 2 Loyola University Maryland, making 14 saves.

When asked about what his most cherished moment at BU has been, McSorley said the victory over Loyola took the top spot.

“I think Loyola was the best, to be honest,” McSorley said. “Playing against Pat Spencer, who was one of the greatest to do it, and we shut him down defensively. It was a massive upset and put us in a great spot heading into the Patriot

League playoffs.”

BU has never won the Patriot League, nor has it made a conference championship appearance, but McSorley is hopeful and confident that the Terriers can achieve things they never have before in his final campaign.

“I think we’ve got all the pieces,” McSorley said. “We have great leadership, great coaching staff and we have definitely have a shot of making a run at it.”

Polley has been at the helm of the Terriers since 2012 when they became a varsity sport and is currently in his sixth season as head coach. The two-time New England Division I Coach of the Year has been with McSorley every step of the way in Boston and spoke very highly of his character.

“I think he’s a super likeable kid,” Polley said. “He’s a true example of what a student-athlete is.”

The role of a goalie is the “quarterback” of the defense and the rest of the field. The leadership McSorley has show n, which is evident when speaking up when watching film and suggesting ideas to make changes for future games, has been integral to BU’s success, Polley said.

“When he speaks, certainly guys listen,” Polley said.

McSorley spoke just as highly about Polley in terms of his leadership style and the kind of mentor he has served as during his career at BU. “He always tells us it’s our team,” McSorley said. “He gives us free reign but he always trusts we’re working hard and he’s pushing us.”

The Terriers currently sit at 3-3, and are 1-0 in the Patriot League this season as conference play is in full-swing.

With the 2020 lacrosse season in its early stages, McSorley has high aspirations for his team. However, graduation is quickly approaching for McSorley. He said he hasn’t

shut the door on continuing his lacrosse career after his days in the Questrom School of Business.

“Whatever happens with that and falls in place, I’ll figure it out,” McSorley said. “I don’t have a clue yet lacrosse-wise, but I haven’t heard much and whatever happens, happens. I’d love to keep playing.”

LIBBY MCLELLAND/ DFP FILE

Senior goalie Joe McSorley, shown in the Feb. 1 against Providence College, has been described by head coach Ryan Polley as a “true example of what a student-athlete is,” and must help lead a team of 19 freshmen for the Terriers this season.

McCoy’s offensive stats have improved in Patriot League BASKETBALL, FROM 12 “We had a conversation and he was the one that said ‘I really feel like I just need to be more aggressive with how I play,’” Jones said.

“I really felt like it was something that would give us a boost, I really trusted him that he would go out and play the right way and he’s been great.”

In conference play this year, McCoy has really shown his improvements. Since the start of Patriot League play this season, McCoy is averaging 14.2 points per game and has improved his field goal percentage to 46 percent.

McCoy pegged his relationship with his coach as a major reason for his improvement over the past three seasons.

“He’s been very supportive, he’s been alongside every step of the way telling me to stay aggressive, stay locked in,” McCoy said. “Just reminds me what I’m capable of every day, and what I can bring to the table as a leader … I love Coach Jones and I wouldn’t trade him for any coach in the world.”

Jones had nothing but praise for McCoy, describing him as both skilled and smart on the court.

“He’s talented and he’s got a will to win. And I think that the combination of that is really good,” Jones said. “He understands the game.

He has a good feel for the game.

He’s an intelligent basketball player.”

While McCoy still has one season left at BU and wants to remain focused on the team now, he does

have goals for after his time at BU. “My goal is to let basketball take me as far as I can [go],” McCoy said. “Where I want to play, I’m not sure, I just want to let it take me as far as I can.”

Jones believes that McCoy’s goal of playing professional basketball is more than an achievable one as well, saying he might as far as the NBA. “I think he’s someone that is going to be on the radar for NBA teams,” Jones said. “I’m not quite sure he’s going to become an NBA player, but I think he’s capable of putting himself in a position where he’s going to be recognized as someone that they’re going to take a look at.”

McCoy will look to continue his strong play into the start of Patriot League tournament play Thursday, as the Terriers play host to the U.S. Naval Academy (14-15, 8-10 Patriot League) in the first round of the tournament.

The Terriers have had a successful season posting a 12-6 conference record, their best conference record since the 2016-17 season, while also earning the school’s first win over an SEC opponent when the Terriers took down the University of South Carolina.

But despite their strong regular season, McCoy is adamant that the Terriers’ season is far from over.

“I’m trying to win this Patriot League tournament,” McCoy said.

“I think there’s no limits on where we can go. I think it’s up to us, and right now that’s where my mind’s at.”

EDWIN HERNANDEZ/ DFP FILE

Junior guard Javante McCoy, shown in a Jan. 23 game against Navy, has improved his offensive stats since Patriot League play has started as he is averaging 14.2 points per game and improved his shooting percentage to 46 percent.

Follow along with BU Sports on Twitter: @DFPsports

“I think he’s a super likeable kid. He’s a true example of what a student-athlete is.”

- Coach Polley on men’s lacrosse goalie Joe McSorley.

Sports

“I love Coach Jones and I wouldn’t trade him for any coach in the world.”

- Junior guard Javante McCoy on his relationship with BU men’s basketball coach Joe Jones.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Introducing the Patriot League’s newest star: Javante McCoy

BY ZACHARY DUPONT DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

It’s been a hectic week full of accolades for Boston University junior Javante McCoy. First, McCoy scored his 1,000th career point last Wednesday in a game against Lehigh University, making him the 39th player in BU history to hit that milestone. On Monday, McCoy was named to the All-Patriot League third team for the first time in his career.

While these superlatives are an indication of the high level of basketball McCoy has delivered over his career, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin native said that his focus remains elsewhere.

“It’s always great to see your hard work pay off,” McCoy said.

“But I can’t let it distract me too much because I’ve got to stay focused on what matters.”

McCoy has been a mainstay in the starting lineup for the Terriers since his arrival on campus in 2017, starting 85 of the 93 games he has played in over his three seasons at Boston University. In that time, McCoy has career averages of 11 points, 2.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game.

While McCoy has been a vital member of BU since day one, the transition from his high school days in Texas was difficult for him.

“You’ve got to think more self lessly, you’ve got to think about what’s best for the team,” McCoy said. “It’s not just scoring. A lot of times in high school, you could get away with just being aggressive on offense and trying to outscore opponents. But in college ball everybody is bigger, everybody is stronger, everybody is more talented on the court.”

This season though, McCoy has elevated his game to a new level, according to BU head coach Joe Jones. While his average of 12 points per game this season doesn’t jump off the page compared to his past numbers, Jones said McCoy’s improvement in being more aggressive on the offensive end has been key for the Terriers this season.

“He’s been much more aggressive as an offensive player, keeping himself aggressive throughout the game,” Jones said. “The way we play, we kind of play a system and a style that we’re kind of a passing [and] moving team. I think at times, he would get lost in that, trying to make sure we were playing the right way and making sure the ball is moving and not always sure of how to stay aggressive.”

Jones credits McCoy for finding the f laws in his game from the start.

CONTINUED ON 11

ANRAN XIE/ DFP FILE

Junior guard Javante McCoy, shown in the Feb. 23 game against American University, was named to the All-Patriot League third team earlier this week and became the 39th Terrier in program history to score 1,000 points last week.

With Hockey East coming to an end, playoff seeding is far from final

BY BRADY GARDNER DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The 2019-20 Hockey East regular season is approaching its conclusion. After five grueling months jam-packed with close finishes and constant drama, each team’s postseason fate will be decided by the end of Saturday night.

The stakes are as high as ever entering the final weekend of the regular season. Eight of the conference’s 11 teams are still jostling for playoff position with two or fewer games remaining on their respective schedules. With so much left on the line, this weekend will be sprint to the finish.

To BU head coach Albie O’Connell, playoff hockey has begun already.

“We’re in the playoffs now, really,” O’Connell said. “We’re fighting for a playoff spot, fighting for home ice.”

The Terriers (12-12-8, 9-8-5 Hockey East) currently sit in a tie for sixth, still capable of finishing anywhere between third and ninth depending on this weekend’s results.

Advancing to third or fourth would see BU’s postseason run begin at Agganis Arena, while finishing between fifth and eighth would have BU hit the road in the first round.

Dropping to ninth would mean miss- captain Patrick Curry knows this ing the playoffs altogether. weekend’s doubleheader won’t be easy.

In O’Connell eyes, there’s no way “It’s going to be a playoff series,” to predict how this final weekend will Curry said. “It’s playoff hockey, so play out. you’re seeing every team’s best.

“If you look around the league, it’s Therefore, you’ve got to bring your been pretty back and forth, [with] best.” teams fighting and clawing for points,” The Terriers are also entering on O’Connell said. “It’s coming down to their worst skid of the season, falling the last weekend.”

4-1 to Boston College last Saturday The only opponent left on BU’s night to bring their losing streak to schedule is Northeastern University, three games. The Eagles are the only which the Terriers will see twice this playoff-bound team whose finishing weekend in a home-and-home series point is confirmed, perched atop the between Friday night at Matthews conference on 32 points with the reguArena and Saturday afternoon at lar season title already in hand.

Agganis Arena. Like the Terriers, the O’Connell hasn’t been discourHuskies (17-12-3, 10-11-1) are experi- aged by his team’s recent downturn encing their fair share of postseason in results, but he does think finishing uncertainty, currently clinging to the strong will require his Terriers to put last spot in the playoff picture. previous struggles behind them.

The Huskies have dropped a sea“We’ve just got to make sure we son-high of four consecutive games, stay positive,” O’Connell said after most recently suffering a two-game the loss to BC. “There’s no reason for sweep at the hands of a University negativity at this time of year. We like of Vermont squad that had not won our team, we’ve liked it all year.” a game in conference play all season.

With four points up for the taking, The slide has put Northeastern only a there are numerous potential landing single point ahead of the University of spots for BU. Two wins would put New Hampshire in the battle for the the Terriers on 27 points, equaling final playoff berth. the current third-place University With Northeastern aiming to of Massachusetts at Lowell, who fend off UNH by gaining critical only has one game left to play. The points in this weekend’s series against University of Connecticut and the Terriers, BU senior forward and University of Maine are at 26 and 25

HARRIS FREEMAN/ DFP FILE

Heading into the final series of the regular season, senior forward and captain Patrick Curry, shown in a Feb. 29 game against Boston College, said the playoffs have already started and the team must prepare to face the best version of each team.

points respectively, and both will also play just one game this weekend.

Should the Terriers trend the opposite direction in the final series of the season, they could be at risk of being overtaken by Providence College, which is tied with BU but has only one game to play. This weekend’s opponent could also jump the Terriers in the standings, as the Huskies are two points behind BU. UNH cannot be overlooked either, as a two-win weekend could see the Wildcats surpass BU if the Terriers go 0-2 against Northeastern.

With so much potential for move-

ment, O’Connell says BU just needs to focus on getting as many points as possible and letting the rest of the league play out as it will.

“We want to put ourselves in the best spot and that’s the focus,” O’Connell said. “Hopefully we can be as healthy as we can going into next weekend and play our best hockey.”

The Terriers will look to make a final push this weekend when they face off with the Huskies at Northeastern’s Matthews Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. before returning home to Agganis Arena for the regular season finale at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7

MONDAY, MARCH 9

BOTTOM LINE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4

Women’s Basketball f inishes its season at Case Gym versus Army at 6 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5

FRIDAY, MARCH 6

Men’s Basketball hosts Navy

Track and Field hosts the

Men’s Hockey finishes its season

Women’s Lacrosse travels to

in the Patriot League

IC4A/ECAC Championships

versus Northeastern University

take on Jacksonville

quarterfinals at Case Gym at 7 p.m.

at the Track and Tennis

at Agganis Arena at 7 p.m.

University at 1 p.m.

Center.