The Daily Free Press [
Year xli. Volume lxxxii. Issue lxxxx.
SOX TALK
Panel discusses Fenway, new book, page 3
Wednesday, April 4, 2012 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University
NO PHONE, NO PROB Columnist details month-long phone drought, page 6
]
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WILD, WILD ‘CATS
Streaking lacrosse hosts UNH, page 8
WEATHER
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Prospective students disappointed by Jan. acceptance Fixed-rate mortgages on the rise, experts, Prospective Boston University student Brooke Eyer said BU was her first choice. economics profs say “I really wanted to go there, and when I saw By Amy Gorel Daily Free Press Staff
that the letter said ‘congratulations,’ I was going nuts and telling everyone,” she said. ”Then I saw that it was for January 2013 and that really caught me off guard.” The high school senior from Oakland, N.J., is one of a “fairly small number of 85 to 100 students,” who were accepted to BU for Spring 2013 instead of Fall 2012, said BU Executive Director of Admissions Kelly Walter. “It changed my mind a little, but I’m still going to try to work it out,” Eyer said. Walter said this was partially due to the strong group of applicants. “Because our pool was so large and so strong, we made a decision to offer a number of students a place in our class — but for January,” Walter said. “There is a January class at the university and there always has been. So rather than having these students reapply for January, we’re giving them the option [now] to begin their studies in January.” Prospective students said they didn’t know the school admitted students for the spring semester rather than for the fall. “I was afraid I accidentally applied for January. I didn’t understand why my letter didn’t say September at first,” said Alex Ben-Jakov, a high school senior from Benicia, Calif., who said she will consider entering BU in 2013.
By Hina Tai Daily Free Press Staff
RACHEL PEARSON/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
New admissions material was released this week from the Boston University Admissions office.
After the initial shock, she said she calmed down. But even after realizing she had definitely been accepted, she said she still felt disappointed. “I won’t be entering BU with the rest of my class and get the real freshman experience, such as coming to school for the first time,” she said.
Ben-Jakov said despite the modified “freshmen experience,” she remains confident that she’ll meet people and find friends. Rosa Dale-Moore from Rainier, Ore., also received a January acceptance from BU. She said she is concerned she will miss key experi-
Admissions, see page 4
Slates announced for CAS Student Government elections By Gina Curreri Daily Free Press Staff
College of Arts and Sciences Student Government slates for the spring 2012 election were released Saturday on the Boston University Student Elections Commission website. SEC listed profiles for two slates, CAS New Directions and BAAAM, which announced their candidacy. CAS students running in BAAAM include junior Alexandra Michel as president, sophomore Avia Bui as executive vice president, sophomore Melissa Chua as vice president of financial affairs, junior Ashley Vineyard as vice president of internal affairs and sophomore Robert Patrovic as vice president of student affairs. Winning the election would allow BAAAM to reach out to students whose voices are otherwise not heard, Michel said. “I’ve basically volunteered to hold events just because I know students wanted to do it,” Michel said. “Throughout the
course of this year, I’ve been watching different members of the student government of CAS, and there’s a lack of volunteering to hold events, to do extra shifts at the [George Sherman Union] Link, basically just not a lot of motivation from the students.” As junior class president, Michel said she listened to students’ concerns about not having enough non-carbonated beverages in CAS, and she was able to get two additional vending machines placed in the building. CAS students running as CAS New Directions include junior Blyss Buitrago as president, junior Abigail Ridley-Kerr as executive vice president, junior Marcos Villarreal as vice president of financial affairs, junior Megan Ware as vice president of internal affairs and sophomore Nicolas Pantages as vice president of student affairs. CAS New Directions’ platform promotes a greater outreach to the student body and better communication between student groups and college governments, Buitrago said in an email interview.
“My slate and I have been involved with CAS Student Government since our freshmen year, so we definitely feel that our experience and perspective on how CAS has been run allows us to take what has and hasn’t worked in the past and the see how we can raise the bar,” she said. Buitrago said she has deep-rooted relationships with administration and a number of student groups on campus. Though Student Union has recently changed its election cycle and will hold elections again in the fall, CAS Student Government will continue to run on a semester year election cycle, Buitrago said. “I do believe that switching to a calendar year cycle is definitely something to consider as it has many pros and cons,” she said. “Yet, the decision to switch or not stems from what cons are worth dealing with in order to benefit from the pros.” Elections will take place from April 16 to April 24, and students in any college can vote via the Student Link.
Boston economic and mortgage experts said increased demand in the housing or property market might not have anything to do with mortgage rates, which a Freddie Mac survey reveals have been slowly on the rise. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from lows in February to a little more than 4 percent for the week ending on March 22. The rates broke the 4 percent barrier for the first time since October 2011, when the rates averaged 4.1 percent, according to a Freddie Mac press release. Freddie Mac Vice President and CEO Frank Nothaft said in the press release that mortgage rates are “catching up with increases in U.S. Treasury bond yields.” “Bond yields rose over the past two weeks in part due to an improving assessment of the state of the economy by the Federal Reserve, better than expected results of commercial bank stress tests and the likelihood of a second bailout for Greece,” Nothaft said. But the slight increase in mortgage rates may signal an improved economy. Cameron Dietrich, a senior loan consultant at the Boston-based MBA Mortgage Corporation, said the general trend is that when the economy is good, the rates are usually bad and vice versa. Dietrich said the increase in demand might have more to do with people’s confidence in the economy than the mortgage rates. “I think the fear is starting to alleviate,” Dietrich said. “People have been fearful of owning and buying over the past couple of years.” Paula Callaghan, realtor at McCormick & Scanlan Real Estate in Jamaica Plain, said she has noticed a recent increase in demand for properties in Boston. “There’s more than one demand on multiple properties I’m seeing here [compared to] last year if there was a property on the market,” Callaghan said. “I think the market is hot right now and people are taking advantage of the rates.” But Dietrich said the recent increase in housing demand is correlated with the mortgage rates, since the rates were just as good last year. “As far as purchases from last March to this March . . . it seems like more people
Mortgage, see page 4
‘Kony 2012’ creators to release sequel, BU Invisible Children awaits screening By Sam Fouad Daily Free Press Staff
Boston University’s Invisible Children awaits the upcoming sequel to “Kony 2012,” which will provide updated info on the Lord’s Resistance Army, led by warlord Joseph Kony, in Uganda. The video will include an update on “Cover the Night,” scheduled for April 20 nationwide, and will detail the activities of the LRA to show the army and its outcomes are “still prevalent and still active,” said Amanda Crawford-Staub, BU’s Invisible Children president and a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore. “The second video is really targeted at people who really do want to stay educated and who want to know what they can do next toward the ultimate goal of ending the war,” Crawford-Staub said. “Kony 2012: Part II” is expected to be re-
leased this week. BU IC gained more than 200 new members on Facebook a few days after “Kony 2012” premiered March 5, Crawford-Staub said. The group is set to screen “Kony 2012” for an audience Wednesday. Invisible Children representatives and a “roadie” from Uganda will be in attendance. The original 30-minute video, which aimed to make Kony “famous” for capture, gained Internet fame with nearly 87 million views on YouTube since its release. Many students were critical of how much money Invisible Children spends to create its campaigns, including production and travel costs, Crawford-Staub said. “People forget that Invisible Children is not an ordinary nonprofit,” Crawford-Staub said. “They work to produce videos. They started out as filmmakers.”
However, other critics of Invisible Children and the campaign, such as College of Arts and Sciences freshman Luca Moneti Schliemann, said the nonprofit organization oversimplifies a complex problem. “People felt the need to share [“Kony 2012”] with others,” Schliemann said. “I think they had the misconception that simply by sharing the video they were actually doing something to help the cause, whereas [in reality] they weren’t actually getting up and trying to work themselves to try to find a solution to the problem.” Schliemann said the bad press about director Jason Rusell removing his pants in the streets of San Diego during a mental breakdown turned his interest away from the campaign. “I knew that there was nothing in my power
Kony, see page 4
COURTESY/invisible children
The second film from Invisible Children, Kony 2012 Part II, releases on Thursday, April 5.