NEWS The BPDA approves new development projects designed to provide more affordable housing in the city. p.3
MUSE Drake introduces his new album “More Life,” but it falls behind in new, innovative content. p.6
19°/45° CLOUDY
SPORTS The men’s hockey team prepares for a showdown against North Dakota in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. p.12
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THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2017 THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR XLVI. VOLUME XCII. ISSUE IX.
Boston teachers rally to improve contracts, protest budget cuts BY NOOR ADATIA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Teachers and students from the Greater Boston area gathered outside of the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building Wednesday afternoon with the Boston Teachers Union, advocating for the union’s new contract and expressing concerns over education in President Donald Trump’s administration. The union and its supporters gathered at the Bolling Building with signs and posters because most of the Boston Public School’s administrative offices, in which teachers and BPS administrators hold their meetings, are located there, according to the rally’s Facebook page. The BTU’s current contract expired in August, according to the BTU’s Facebook page, and now they are seeking improvements including better working conditions, reduced class sizes and paid family leave. Richard Stutman, the president of the Boston Teachers Union, told The Daily Free press before the rally that despite the number of hours spent negotiating with the BPS district officials, not much progress has been made. “We’re not looking so much for them to cave on an issue but for them to come CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
PHOTO BY NOOR ADATIA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Members of the Boston Teachers Union gather Wednesday night at the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building to fight for better working conditions.
SG election to begin March 27 BY JACQUELINE CONTRERAS DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
With Boston University Student Government Executive Board election starting in a week, Student Election Commission held an information session for students interested in running Monday night, hoping this year’s election will focus on candidates’ policy and result in a more productive SG for next school year. Eleven students attended, all of whom are planning to run for positions on SG Executive Board. Co-chairs Christina Lucas and Ramya Ravindrababu, both former executive board members of the College of Arts and Sciences Student Government, led the meeting. Despite this, both Ravindrababu and Lucas said they are excited for the election and believe the new policies have great potential for improving SG’s performance. The meeting mainly consisted of a briefing on new policies for this year’s election. All of the policies have been completely revamped to ensure a stable infrastructure and transparency within SG, Lucas said. “We want to have an open door of communication [and respect] at the bottom line,” the CAS senior said. One of the biggest differences is the new requirement for students to run as one unit on a slate — a president, an exec-
utive vice president, a vice president of financial affairs and a vice president of internal affairs — as opposed to previous years, when students were allowed to run individually, Lucas said. Although in previous years, candidates could group themselves together by campaigning as a slate, during the voting process, students were required to cast a vote for each candidate individually. Hence, this year’s executive board consists of four members from two separate slates. Both commissioners hope this change will increase productivity in the next year. “We think it’s really important to keep that cohesion within [a] group,” said Lucas, “All [the] policies would go in line in the next year.” Running as slates would also shift the focus away from individual popularity and put more emphasis on the slate’s policies. When voting for slates, students will only see the slates’ names and not the names of its individual members, Lucas said. Additionally, the rules for campaign funding have changed. In previous years, SG gave each campaign $100 from SG’s budget. Now each slate will receive $500. This way, campaigners can purchase more campaigning materials with the money without having to worry about personal expenses, Lucas said. The commissioners also wanted to address donations, a controversial factor from previous years. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
BU changes scholarship policy BY BREANNE KOVATCH DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Boston University is lowering GPA requirement for students to maintain merit-based scholarships, according to an email sent to students during spring break. Presidential Scholarships, which are given to only five percent of freshman based on academic achievement, are most drastically affected. The GPA requirement was changed from a 3.2 to a 2.0, said Julie Wickstrom, executive director of financial assistance. Wickstrom said a 2.0 is the lowest the GPA could be brought down while “aligning it with the graduation requirements.” The students who earned these scholarships came to BU proving that they have “academic strength,” and the university wants to move in a direction where these students can continue to challenge themselves in other ways, Wickstrom said. “We want to move more in a direction where we are allowing students more flexibility to explore different coursework without worrying about losing their scholarship due to a GPA average,” she said. Wickstrom said the goal is to alleviate some of the anxiety students may have while choosing their coursework, while also allowing them to explore outside of their comfort zone, or even their major. “We also want them to not shy away from taking several difficult classes in a semester if that works best for their schedule because
we don’t want them to worry that they’ll lose the scholarship.” The idea came from BU’s new Scholarship Assurance program, a change made this year to assure students that the amount of need-based financial aid they are given during their first year will be offered until graduation. “We wanted to include all of our awards in this program … so that students can not worry about those as well, and really think of those as a part of the assurance as well,” Wickstrom said. The required GPA to maintain the Trustee Scholarship — the most prestigious merit-based scholarship BU offers to 20 students per year — was also lowered from a 3.5 to a 3.0, Wickstrom said. Andrew Hoang, a program assistant in the Dean of Students’ office, said the GPA requirement was also changed from annual GPA to cumulative GPA. “If you went below for a semester [with an annual GPA], you could save it by doing well the next semester, for the year,” Hoang, a junior in the College of Engineering, said. “But, the new rules mean that if you go below this 2.0 threshold, then you’re automatically ineligible.” Hoang said the new GPA requirement, along with the new pass/fail policy, allows students more academic freedom. “Those together really give students a lot more freedom to choose maybe things that they’ve heard would be difficult, and CONTINUED ON PAGE 3