Vol. XCVII, No. 25 Monday, May 2, 2016

HEThe Independent

Student Newspaperof Boston College

www.bcheights.com

e s t a b l i s h e d

FEATURESBC’s Elections Committee is coming off of a hectic year, A4

EC DOES ITARTS & REVIEWThe BC band was pulled off the stage in the middle of its set Thursday night, C6

JUICE GETS SQUEEZEDSPORTSBirdball took two of three from lowly Virginia Tech over the weekend, B1

TWO MUCH FOR TECH

Father Marcel Uwineza’s story is a

long one, he warned early on in

the interview. “I can spend whole

nights thinking about it,” he added, fi dgeting

in his seat as he sat up straighter on the fl oral

couch of Ricci House. He then started his

40-minute summary of his experiences in the

Rwandan Genocide, and how he transitioned

from being raised by Catholic parents, to hat-

ing the Church, and fi nally to dedicating his

life to the Church.

Uwineza is a Ph.D. student in the theol-

ogy department at Boston College studying

systematic theology—a branch of theology

that encompasses many diff erent fi elds of the

subject, he explained. While accepted into fi ve

other institutions, including Notre Dame, to

pursue his Ph.D., Uwineza ultimately chose

BC, even though he doesn’t like winter.

“Th is is a small place, but really a home,”

he said.

Uwineza was born in Ruhango, Rwanda,

and raised in a Catholic family. So, from a very

early age, he was connected to the Church. His

mother and father, he said with a reminiscent

smile, helped the poor in his neighborhood

by sponsoring many children to go to school.

Some of those children, however, then turned

against his family during the Rwandan Geno-

cide, which began in April 1994.

“So sometimes the good we do is not

returned, sadly,” he said.

Th e Church itself played a controversial

role in the genocide, in fact, supporting an

interim government which carried out an

enormous amount of the killing—largely in the

interest of supporting politicians with Church

ties. Th is apparent moral sanctioning of the

mass killing left Uwineza apprehensive about

the Church and its intentions.

On April 13, 1994, his house was burned,

and he was forced to fl ee with his mother, two

brothers, and sister. His father had been killed

already because of false allegations that he had

been corroborating with the rebels of Kagame.

His family sought refuge in a church, where the

parish priest promptly kicked them out. But

in hindsight, this may have been a blessing, as

many people were killed in that very church

the next day. He was able to survive because

a man named Joseph Kabera hid him and his

family in a beehive compound.

With bees comes stinging, and I couldn’t

help but ask about this. We shared a laugh that

promptly trailed off as he responded:

“Th e bees were more friendly than human

beings at that time.”

During the genocide against the Tutsi, if

someone was found to be hiding Tutsi by the

militia (interahamwe), either he would be

killed together, or he could pay for his life to

be spared. Uwineza’s family soon put Kabera

in the danger of having to face this trade off ,

and decided to leave the bee compound upon

learning that it would be searched the follow-

See Uwineza, A8

MOVING ON UP

After years of promises, printers

will be installed on the second floor of

Corcoran Commons in June, accord-

ing to Thomas Napoli, Undergraduate

Government of Boston College presi-

dent and MCAS ’16, and Olivia Hussey,

UGBC executive vice president and

MCAS ’17.

UGBC has been working with IT

Services to get the printers installed

in Corcoran Commons.

Matt Hugo, a UGBC senator and

MCAS ’16, and the Campus Improve-

ment committee drafted a proposal for

additional printers around campus in

the spring of 2015, but it was received

with negative feedback by ITS and

the administration for financial and

logistical reasons.

The University responded to the

request by adding printers to O’Neill

Library, said Joey Dorion, a UGBC

senator and MCAS ’17.

But when students continued to

complain on UGBC’s suggestion Web

site, Campus Voice, the Student As-

sembly realized that a different course

of action needed to be taken. When

Napoli and Hussey were elected as

president and vice president last

spring, they chose to address the is-

sue.

“By no means was it just us who

ended up doing that,” Hussey said.

“That is the result of a long line of

UGBC-ers coming in and saying stu-

dents really want it.”

The printers, which Hussey said

have been part of UGBC presidential

platforms for the past decade, were

purchased earlier this semester. Be-

cause of logistical holdups—electri-

cal outlets, wireless Internet routers,

bureaucratic holdups, and zoning

laws—the installation date has been

repeatedly pushed back for the past

few months.

Hussey said that all parties involved

in the planning process have given

final approval for the installation.

“We were really committed to

actually making it happen,” she said.

“This is not just another campaign

promise to get people excited. This is

something that could actually make a

major difference in the daily lives of

students.”

Thomas Napoli, Undergradu-

ate Government of Boston College

(UGBC) president and MCAS ’16,

and Olivia Hussey, UGBC executive

vice president and MCAS ’17, set out

to accomplish various improvements

on campus throughout their term,

including expanding resources for

LGBTQ and AHANA students and

improving students’ relationship with

the administration. In a year marked

by clashes between students and the

administration, UGBC was often

able to form a bridge. Th ough it did

not accomplish all of the policy goals

that it had hoped to, it believes that

actions it took this year will make

it possible for future generations to

make change.

Napoli and Hussey began in Sep-

tember with the “big fi ve” goals—ex-

panding mental health resources and

awareness, protecting free-expres-

sion rights, increasing resources for

LGBTQ students, creating a more

inclusive environment for AHANA

students, and improving the fi rst-year

transition process. In each of these

areas, they experienced successes and

failures. Napoli and Hussey plan on

releasing a comprehensive summary

to their term later this week.

“Progress does come in small

steps,” Napoli said.

Much of Napoli and Hussey’s

campaign in the spring of 2015 fo-

cused on the free-expression policy,

an addition to the Student Guide that

would make it possible for students

to protest and distribute fliers on

campus. Th e original proposal also

suggested that the University form

a Committee for Free Expression.

After two protracted semesters of

regular meetings and discussions, the

policy aspect was ultimately rejected,

though the formatting was changed.

Napoli and Hussey later released a

demonstration form to make it easier

for students in non-registered groups

to protest. But, this was later declared

irrelevant after the University’s policy

changed to allow individual students

to protest on campus.

Although they were unable to

change the student guide to expand

freedom of expression, Hussey said

this has been the most active year for

protests on BC’s campus since she’s

been at BC. All nine demonstrations

that students applied for were ap-

proved by the Dean of Students Offi ce,

Napoli said.

Napoli and Hussey also created the

incubator phase program, a proposal

to allow more student organizations

to have expression rights. Th is will

probably be approved for the 2016-17

school year, they said.

Change has come in small steps

for the LGBTQ community as well.

Th is year, UGBC was unable to change

gender identity and gender expression

ABBY PAULSON / HEIGHTS EDITOR

DREW HOO / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

ABBY PAULSON / HEIGHTS EDITOR

See UGBC, A3

THE HEIGHTS

UGBC is hosting a finals stress survival guide event on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on O’Neill Plaza. There will be information about mental health resources on campus as well as free pizza and Insomnia Cookies. There will also be puppies on the Quad from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 1

The Shea Center for Entrepreneurship is hosting a year-end event to celebrate its first year and the 2016 venture competition winners on Monday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Fulton Honors Library. The winners of the competition will be announced at the event. 2

Monday, May 2, 2016 A2

The chemistry department is hosting a speaker series on Tuesday at 4 p.m in Merkert 130. The series will feature individuals from industrial organizations and from the private sector, including Boehringer-Ingelheim, Strem Chemicals, and Abbott Laboratories.

Top

things to do on campus this week

3 3

What is your favorite study spot for finals?

NEWSBRIEFS

Eamonn Kelly, LGSOE ’17,

underwent a double lung trans-

plant six months ago. This past

Saturday, however, Kelly par-

ticipated in a charity 5K for St.

Columbkille Partnership School

in Brighton to raise money for

student scholarships and finan-

cial aid.

Kelly currently has a lung

capacity that is 85 to 90 percent

of that of a healthy person. He

suffers from cystic fibrosis, a

disease that affects the digestive

system and lungs. The disease

affects over 30,000 Americans.

Kelly’s transplant was a life-sav-

ing procedure.

“After the operation I thought

this would be a good milestone,”

Kelly said to The Big Story .

“But this is also a big event for

the school, which has been so

supportive of me and is such a

wonderful community.”

Kelly began his rehabilitation

and training after his double

lung transplant by running just

15 seconds at a time. Through-

out his training, he slowly moved

his way up to three miles.

Kelly said that he ran to sup-

port the students at his school.

He also said, however, that he

ran in honor of the person who

donated his or her lungs to save

his life.

“If people see what I am do-

ing, perhaps it will inspire them

to become organ donors and give

other people the same second

chance as me,” Kelly said.

—Source: TheBoston College

Police Department

POLICE BLOTTER 4/27/16 - 4/29/16

Wednesday, April 27

4:41 p.m. - A report was filed re-

garding a fire in Stuart Hall.

6:31 p.m. - A report was filed re-

garding a suspicious circumstance

at the BCPD headquarters.

10:11 p.m. - A report was filed

regarding vandalism to a residence

at Voute Hall.

Thursday, April 28

7:01 p.m. - A report was filed

regarding a larceny from a build-

ing at Cushing Hall.

7:09 p.m. - A report was filed

regarding a well-being check at

Fenwick Hall.

Friday, April 29

5:30 a.m. - A report was filed

regarding a property confiscation

from the Beacon Garage.

Tim van Opijnen, a researcher

and an assistant professor of biol-

ogy at Boston College, has been

awarded a five-year, $10 million

grant by the National Institutes

of Health to study how antibi-

otic-resistant bacteria affect the

immune system.

Van Opijnen uses robotics

to study bacteria and antibi-

otic resistance. The challenge

his research seeks to remedy is

how infectious organisms have

adapted to the drugs designed to

kill them.

Van Opijnen will use genomic

research techniques to analyze

millions of genetic sequences and

identify gene functions in bacte-

ria. The process he developed,

Tn-seq, will help to identify genes

in bacteria that cause them to sur-

vive antibiotics and the disease-

fighting immune system.

“We want to comprehensively

determine how bacteria interact

with the immune system of the

patient and how these interac-

tions permit or prevent the evo-

lution of antibiotic resistance,”

van Opijnen said to the Office of

News and Public Affairs.

Van Opijnen will work with

evolutionary biologists, infec-

tious disease specialists, comput-

er scientists, and mathematicians

to improve the efficiency of data

analytics in the field of biology.

The project is a chance for his

research to cross over into other

disciplines, which is often a rarity,

van Opijnen said.

“I am very exc3ited about this

collaboration with Tim,” Jose

Bento, assistant professor of com-

puter science, said. “It is focused

on solving a pressing problem and

coming up with solid new ideas

that might help solve other new

problems.”

In the article “Let’s Talk About Sex,” it stated that Yolanda Hobin sees five to seven students per day, but

she actually sees five to seven students per week.

CORRECTIONS

Bill McKibben spoke about the global implications of climate change.AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

On Friday afternoon, Jeff Hoff-

man, a renowned sales executive,

entrepreneur, and visiting lecturer,

spoke about the four steps of per-

suasion—attention, interest, desire,

and action.

Hosted by the Sales and Busi-

ness Development Club of Bos-

ton College, 20 students from all

schools were invited to hear Hoff-

man speak. Hoffman has spoken

at BC before for the Sales Club,

but most students who attended

his lecture this year had never

heard him before. He engaged the

audience by relating the business

of sales to the everyday lives of stu-

dents through relatable examples

he called paradigms.

He began by explaining how

when he attended Cornell Uni-

versity, he wished someone would

have come to speak about the sales

business. In order to prevent BC

students from feeling the same way,

he decided to share his guidance,

advice, and wisdom.

Having his entire career post-

graduation in sales, Hoffman is

the president and founder of M.J.

Hoffman and Associates, which

reaches a range of clients, includ-

ing the Boston Celtics, Google,

and Microsoft.

What is the purpose of sales?

“Inspiring interest where none

exists,” Hoffman said.

As a mix between a science

and an art, he began by introduc-

ing the acronym AIDA as the four

steps of sales—attention, interest,

desire, and action. These four

words are the pathway to selling

your product. But Hoffman didn’t

limit his presentation to the sales

field. Instead he emphasized us-

ing the art of persuasion in one’s

current life, through networking,

interviews, and how we as students

present ourselves.

An important aspect of the

AIDA method is that each step

must come one at a time. You

cannot skip a step or combine

steps because each level provides

entrance to the next.

Starting with attention, Hoff-

man introduced the topic of social

paradigms, which are the roles

that people often fall into when

in sales, with the most common

being buddy/buddy, host/guest,

buyer/seller, and interviewer/

candidate. Oftentimes, there are

actions that people fall into when

placed into these social paradigms,

and Hoffman explained that it is

vital to be aware of the paradigms

we play into.

He said that sales is a mix of

both art and science.

“You need to be creative and

conversational and like people, but

when it comes to art and science,

the longer you have a relationship

in business the more art is required,

because the [more] you get to know

the person ... more creativity is

required,” he said.

Attention is the first step to

sales, followed by persuasion and

the process of breaking through to a

customer. The first step to grabbing

attention is often through phone

or email, and Hoffman offered tips

on how to best grab someone’s

attention.

He said that the timing of the

call or email is key. Email between

five minutes before or after every

hour. This is when meetings end,

lunch breaks begin, and when

people check their smartphones

for emails.

With the change of technology

in smartphones comes the change

in the connection rate with a cus-

tomer. With email, there are a few

key notes to remember that Hoff-

man pointed out. The email needs

to fit on the screen of a smartphone,

about three sentences. Keep it

concise, remove adjectives and

adverbs, have a brief subject line

that references a date and time, and

have a definitive closing.

Call in the late afternoon, he

said, and later in the week. Friday

afternoon is ideal. Whomever you

are trying to reach will be a little

tired, and your call, if done cor-

rectly, can be that bright light to

wake them up, Hoffman said.

The goal of these emails and

calls is to grab the person’s atten-

tion. Once that is achieved, he

said, move on to grab their interest.

Make them want to know more, but

also provide a definitive answer to

what they want, Hoffman said.

He used the analogy of a movie

trailer to explain how to get some-

one’s attention.

“Be the source of tension and

then its relief,” Hoffman said.

Once interest is achieved, move

on to the concept of making them

desire whatever you are provid-

ing, but never, he said, through

manipulation. If you want someone

interested in you, show interest in

them.

“Demonstrate the behavior you

wish to inspire,” Hoffman said.

He said that to get the client to

spend his or her money it is impor-

tant to be a genuine person. By al-

ways being authentic, Hoffman said,

you can allow the customer or client

to listen to what you are saying. This

will lead them to take action, which

in sales means spend money.

“Be patient with people, but

impatient with your goals and

purposes,” he said.

Bill McKibben, an environ-

mentalist, author, and journalist,

found himself “mildly depressed”

Thursday night in Higgins 300,

when spoke about the global impli-

cations of climate change. He had

just returned from visiting coastal

areas that are the most vulnerable

to climate change.

McKibben is the founder and

leader of the anti-carbon campaign

group 350.org and has written sev-

eral books about climate change.

He was featured in Rolling Stone last

November, discussing his campaign

against the Keystone XL pipeline.

In 2013, he won the Gandhi Peace

Award for his work spreading

awareness of the negative effects of

climate change.

The event was organized by

Carolyn Townsend, MCAS ’17,

and Haley Shewfelt, MCAS ’18,

the director and assistant director

of Environment and Sustainability

Programming in the Undergradu-

ate Government of Boston College,

under the division of the Environ-

mental Caucus.

McKibben had just returned

from visiting a few low-lying island

nations and coral reefs in the South

Pacific. These are the areas most

vulnerable to climate change, as

they are most susceptible to sea-

level rise, McKibben said. He wit-

nessed firsthand the desperation of

climate refugees along the coast.

As he traveled, he noticed that

impoverished people across the

world are negatively impacted by

climate change.

“The people who are most af-

fected by climate change are the

people who least caused it,” he

said.

McKibben detailed the science

behind climate change. He said

that the melting glaciers will cause

unprecedented sea-level rise. In-

creasingly warm temperatures allow

for more water vapor to stay in the

atmosphere, causing more frequent

and stronger storms.

“We knew things would be bad,

but we didn’t know how fast it would

play out,” he said. “Change is com-

ing faster and at a much larger scale

than we expected.”

McKibben then pointed out

how the greediness of the fossil fuel

industry has played a large role in

environmental degradation.

“Fights are always about money

and power,” he said.

Exxon and other fossil fuel com-

panies knew about climate change

for years but spent millions of dol-

lars to keep it under wraps, accord-

ing to McKibben. It was more prof-

itable and better for their business

models to not publicize scientific

findings about carbon emissions in

relation to climate change. McKib-

ben said that these companies built

their oil empires with the expecta-

tion that the environment would

change. They specifically construct-

ed their equipment—pipelines, for

example—to last through changing

climate conditions. He said that he

and his organization had to figure

out how to stand up to moneyed

fossil fuel interests.

McKibben believes alternative

forms of energy are becoming more

practical with new developments in

technology. The price of solar panels

has decreased by 80 percent, and

more Americans are installing solar

panels than mining coal, he said.

“It is now very possible to imag-

ine a world run in democratic forms

of power,” he said.

McKibben then emphasized

the importance of activism around

the world. In his travels, he found

young people who were enthu-

siastic about speaking out about

climate change.

“They’re very much your broth-

ers and sisters in this fight,” he said.

“I am so happy to hear students are

heading to Father Leahy’s house to

sleep in.”

McKibben also cited Pope Fran-

cis’ recent environmental encyclical,

Laudato Si, in his talk.

“The Pope would be out there

with a sleeping bag as well,” he

said.

Political change starts with

people, according to McKibben.

He mentioned Hillary Clinton’s

wavering position on the Keystone

Pipeline as an example. Just a few

years ago, Clinton was a fervent

supporter of the pipeline. But as she

campaigned for the 2016 presidency

and talked to young voters who

were unhappy with her position, she

changed her position on the issue,

and now opposes the pipeline. This

shows the power of public opinion,

McKibben said.

McKibben ended by directly

addressing Climate Justice at Boston

College, which hosted Thursday

night’s sleep-out in front of Leahy’s

home, Barat House.

“There’s nothing radical about

what you are doing,” he said. “The

radicals work at oil companies.”

THE HEIGHTS Monday, May 2, 2016 A3

Following environmental activist

Bill McKibben’s talk on climate change

Thursday night, Climate Justice at Bos-

ton College (CJBC) held a vigil and slept

out in front of the office of University

President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J.

After McKibben’s talk ended, CJBC

led a procession of about 15 people to

Leahy’s office on College Road. The goal

of the sleep-out was to educate the BC

community about the implications of

climate change, including the reality of

climate refugees. Ultimately, the group

hopes the University will divest from

fossil fuels.

Last year, CJBC was approved as a

registered student organization, after

several attempts since 2012.

“We have had very little real in-

teraction with the administration in a

productive way,” Elisa Tedeschi, MCAS

’16, said. “We keep trying to raise the

question of divestment … and they don’t

want to consider it.”

Last year, CJBC delivered a letter

to Leahy, asking for BC to divest from

fossil fuels. According to CJBC member

Delia Ridge Creamer, MCAS ’16, the

administration has not acknowledged

the group since. The sleep-out, she said,

serves to remind the administration

that the group is still passionate about

the cause.

Members of CJBC set up a table on

Stokes Lawn on Thursday afternoon

to encourage students to join with the

group in camping on Leahy’s lawn. They

held signs that said “Ask me why I am

sleeping on the president’s lawn.”

The sleep-out began with a vigil

honoring climate refugees across the

world. Participants lit candles and stood

in a circle, saying a prayer and singing

songs. The group then opened up a

discussion, in which people shared their

thoughts about McKibben’s talk and

Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical

Laudato Si.“Investing in fossil fuels—we have blood

on our hands,” Joan Hwang, MCAS ’18, said.

“We won’t stop fighting for it because it is

what’s right.”

The U.S. just saw its first climate refu-

gees, an indigenous tribe in Louisiana,

Hwang said. Due to sea-level rise, the

tribe’s members have been displaced from

their homes.

“They don’t have a choice in the matter,

but we do,” Hwang said. “Tonight we’ve

brought our bodies in front of Father

Leahy’s doorsteps in solidarity with those

in the world who are suffering the conse-

quences of climate change, which we’ve

contributed to.”

After the vigil ended, students began to

pull out their sleeping bags to stay in front

of Leahy’s house for the night.

“I am proud of CJBC for being the voice

for divestment on campus,” Hwang said.

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

SOPHIE REARDON / HEIGHTS EDITOR

in BC’s non-discrimination clause, although

a bill was passed in the Student Assembly

over a year ago. The Queer Peers Program

and the GLBTQ Undergraduate Society

were also institutionalized this year, fol-

lowing a time of tension between LGBTQ

leaders and the administration.

Last semester, following several high-

profile protests, Napoli and Hussey, along

with Afua Laast, UGBC vice president of

diversity and inclusion and LSOE ’16, ad-

dressed the University Board of Trustees

with a working proposal about addressing

problems of diversity on campus. At the

Dec. 7 meeting, they discussed institutional

racism and inclusivity, using student nar-

ratives. They set a Jan. 19 deadline for the

University to respond to the plan, but the

University did not adopt an official plan of

action by that date.

This year’s leadership also hoped to im-

prove mental health resources on campus.

They were unable to implement a mental

health awareness program due to a lack of

support from the Office of Health Promotion.

But, they were able to assist in adding two

more counselors in the University Counseling

Services, starting next year. It should not end

there, Hussey said.

“In my opinion, there are never enough

resources, so that is tough because I think

every year you can come back and advocate

in different ways,” she said.

A lot of the goals that they accomplished,

she said, were because of their outlined goals

going into their term. Although not every goal

on Napoli and Hussey’s 42-page platform was

reached, it did help guide them throughout

their term, Hussey said. Despite a lack of suc-

cess in shifting University policy, they were

also able to accomplish things that were not

on their original platform, including events

like Politicizing Beyonce, SLAM! the Stigma,

and Bring It to the Table.

They are both proud of bridging the

gap between students and administrators.

Napoli and Hussey helped to organize

events such as the information town hall

meetings and BC Looking Forward, which

brought in high-level administrators to

engage with students.

“We’re proud of the organization for really

pushing along as an advocate for students,”

Napoli said.

Napoli and Hussey also aimed to improve

student life on campus. UGBC met with BC

Dining Services to advocate for continued

avocados in the dining halls, for example. They

also helped to make the first floor of O’Neill

Library open 24 hours a day.

“We have our big advocacy goals, and then

we also wanted to do stuff that really impacts

students on a day-to-day level,” Hussey said.

Over the course of the academic year,

UGBC held over 90 events on campus, includ-

ing mental health advocate Kevin Breel and the

What I Be photo campaign.

“We hope that going to an event can make

you think or change your perspective and

hopefully improve the students’ BC experi-

ence,” Hussey said.

Napoli said he wished that they had been

more transparent insofar as informing the

student body of what UGBC was doing behind

the scenes. For example, not many students

know that they worked with Dining Services

to get healthier food at Late Night.

“That’s something that we started to

learn in the second half of the year—com-

munication was really difficult because

UGBC already has a stigma, what students

think about it, how students interact with

the organization,” Napoli said.

He said that they tried to implement an

outreach program. They did a March Mad-

ness policy bracket to try to better understand

what students wanted to see on campus. He

hopes that future president Russell Simons

and EVP Meredith McCaffrey, both MCAS

’17, will continue to try to institutionalize such

outreach programs.

Hussey said that such communication

would also allow for students to understand

why UGBC cannot accomplish certain goals.

She said that during their term, she and Napoli

tried to communicate with the student body

through interviews, articles, and newsletters,

but she sees that there is room for improve-

ment in being transparent with students.

Napoli and Hussey were, however, able to

do a lot of preliminary research and organize

several meetings to get the conversation going

on some of these issues. For example, they met

with Vice President for Human Resources

David Trainor about gender identity.

“This is a conversation that’s probably go-

ing to be had for the next three to five years,”

Napoli said. “Progress can be like a trickle,

especially at BC.”

Similarly, many of the goals that Napoli and

Hussey accomplished had been in the works

for many years. For example, the installation

of printers in Corcoran Commons was an

initiative started almost 10 years ago.

“So by no means was it just us who ended

up doing that,” she said. “That is the result of

a long line of UGBC-ers coming in and saying

students really want it.”

In order to get these long-term goals ac-

complished, Napoli said, the administration

needs to see a well-researched, well-written

proposal to understand what the effects of the

new initiative will be.

“They also need a degree, I think, of social

pressure—knowing that students want this,”

he said.

Through their various programs and the

two Evening with the Deans held this semester,

Hussey said, the administration has been able

to see what the students really care about.

“The administrators hear direct feedback

from students who aren’t necessarily in UGBC,

and if you hear the same themes more than

once and from different groups of students,

you have no choice but to listen and respond,”

Hussey said.

A lot of their work, Napoli noted, however,

does not require so much response. A lot of the

work that they did simply required emailing

administrators and setting up meetings to get

things accomplished.

As for the future of UGBC, the next presi-

dent and executive vice-president are highly

qualified for the positions, Napoli said.

“I think they have a really comprehen-

sive understanding of how politics at BC

works,” he said. “I don’t think they really

need our advice.”

In its 12th year of existence, the GLTBQ

Leadership Council is the recipient of the

2016 Ever to Excel Award for its outstand-

ing contribution to Boston College in areas

such as education, social justice, service, and

safety. The award is the first the group has

received from the administration since its

founding year.

The Office of Student Involvement (OSI)

awards 16 groups, individuals, and faculty ev-

ery year for their contributions to the BC com-

munity. The award that GLC received could be

given to student groups that are not considered

official student organizations by OSI.

Last year, the award was given to the Stu-

dent Athlete Advisory Committee.

GLC was nominated for the award by

Mark Miceli, the associate director of human

engagement, Mark D’Angelo, the graduate

assistant for LGBTQ student outreach and

support, and Nick Minieri, chair of GLC and

CSOM ’16.

“GLC works tirelessly to make our campus

a more inclusive space for queer students,

thereby improving their college experiences

and actualizing BC’s Jesuit mission and pas-

toral ideas,” D’Angelo said.

In the past year, GLC has worked to

increase programming for students of other

identities. The group has held a bisexual

student panel and an asexual student panel to

educate about the different groups students

could identify with. GLC also added a Latinx

panel, to highlight Latino LGBTQ experiences,

as well as a Black Queer student panel.

GLC has also added an LGBTQ roundtable

in the Dean of Students Office. Members of

GLC meet monthly with administrators who

deal with LGBTQ issues on campus. The

round table was created by Collin Pratt, direc-

tor of policy for GLC and MCAS ’17, in order

to talk about the quality of student life or any

upcoming events or proposals.

“It gives us a new avenue to speak about

our problems or issues directly,” Minieri said.

GLC also moved to get the Dean of

Students Office to take over the GLTBQ

Undergraduate Society and Queer Peers, a

group of mentors who are available to have

conversations with students about LGBTQ

matters. This change will be implemented for

the 2016-17 academic year.

The GLTBQ Undergraduate Society and

Queer Peers were created by students in

GLC and were previously completely student-

run. Next year, they will be implemented as

permanent and legitimate programs by the

University. Minieri said that GLC has been

advocating for the Dean of Students Office to

take over the programs for years.

In January, GLC also planned to have

Laverne Cox, an actress and transgender

advocate, speak on campus. It was considered

a significant accomplishment to have the Uni-

versity approve her visit, Minieri said. Due to a

filming conflict, Cox had to cancel, but GLC is

working to get her to speak next year.

GLC also hopes to continue with their

initiative to add gender identity to the non-

discrimination clause. The group drafted a

report on gender expression and identity in

February, but little progress has been made

in the last year, Minieri said. GLC hopes to

receive definitive answers from the adminis-

tration in the coming year.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge the

hard work of all of our student organizations

do when we can, even if that work is not always

visible to the greater community,” Miceli said

in an email.

The group will also be working to add a

gender non-conforming option to University

document,. It also hopes to change the sin-

glestall bathrooms in Gasson and Campion

to gender neutral.

Minieri thinks that the Ever to Excel

Award is a step in a positive direction for

GLC, and hopes that it will encourage other

faculty or students to reach out to the group.

He also hopes that the award will encourage

leaders in the future to continue the work

that their predecessors have already done.

“I see that as an award for the work we

have been doing in the past 10 years or

since we have been created,” Minieri said.

“Finally, we are being recognized by the

institution saying ‘this is a great organiza-

tion, we do support and love the things they

are doing.’"

Napoli, Hussey, from A1

THE HEIGHTS Monday, May 2, 2016 A4

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Mike Sacco suddenly goes from

joking around to waving his hands and

then quietly bowing his head, instantly

getting the attention of the 15 or so

students in front of him.

I can tell that he has done this many,

many times before. “I would like to start

today’s class with the Examenito. It is

based on the Examen, which as many

of you know is an Ignatian spiritual

practice used by men and women to

reflect….”

This little spiel is Sacco in a mo-

ment — slightly playful, very measured,

an embodiment of Boston College’s

Ignatian values, but with every word

chosen to be entirely inclusive.

Sacco speaks to make sure he is

understood. This takes many different

forms. He gestures big with his hands,

he speaks in metaphors — about ducks

and chefs and other things that seem

like unusual choices for metaphors; he

communicates in the lingo of his stu-

dents, using words like “humble brag”

and “BC Bro;” he calls students by the

names their peers give them — it’s not

unusual to hear him call someone by

their last name in class; his students

easily call him “Sacco;” he bolsters his

statements with numbers, seamlessly

weaving statistics into conversation, not

just random, ra-ra BC stats, but data

put to use in a very real way, qualified

It’s not a stretch to say that things

didn’t necessarily go as planned during

this past Undergraduate Government

of Boston College (UGBC) presidential

election cycle.

“It was definitely the most hectic

elections season I’ve had during my

time here,” said Casey Doyle, incoming

co-chair on the EC and CSOM ’17.

Hectic might even be an understate-

ment—the election pack seemed con-

stantly in flux, jumping from four teams

down to two, then down to one “satirical”

team, and eventually back up to six, all

over the course of a few weeks.

Sweating it out at the center of

this madness was the EC, a group that

operates independently of UGBC to

organize and execute undergraduate

elections—most notably the presidential

election.

Consisting of 15 students and one

graduate assistant, the EC’s agenda fills

up quickly during the election each

spring, featuring responsibilities rang-

ing from managing debates, overseeing

campaigning activities, and, of course,

presiding over the voting process.

After some discussion of all the

responsibilities the EC takes on every

year, it was pretty surprising to see about

how little is truly known about it—par-

ticularly that it was an independent body

from UGBC. A somewhat unostentatious

Sherban plans to bike across the country upon graduation, collecting stories along the way

by comparisons to peer institutions or

national data. But every one of these

methods is to make sure that the maxi-

mum number of people are understand-

ing him.

This is no different on a Tuesday

afternoon in late March. Sacco sits in

front of me in a picturesque office in

Rahner House on College Road. Gas-

son is quite literally glowing in the

late-afternoon sunlight through the

window over his right shoulder. He’s

behind a huge, dark, curved desk, but

only because I need to have my phone

plugged in so I can record him — I can

tell he would prefer that we were just

hanging out on one of the two couches

in his office. Sacco and I met at the end

of my freshman year. We didn’t even

meet, really. I just became aware of

who he was.

He was giving a presentation to a

leadership program I was in — a talk

that was pretty impactful for me, though

just an average day for him. “I like to

joke that I have my clicker and I travel,”

he said.

Sacco is the director of the Center

for Student Formation, an office at BC

that, at its most basic level, is a center

to give support to students in their aca-

demic, social, and spiritual growth, and

to collaborate with other departments

throughout the University to assist

with designing and implementing new

programming.

For Sacco, this means his job takes

many forms. There’s the “travelling

clicker” piece of his job, speaking at

Parents Weekend and to new staff

about how to supervise and deal with

students, and guest speaking to various

student groups.

There’s also the less fun, behind-the-

scenes stuff like dealing with IT to make

sure that its server is working and that

we are designing databases for students

to sign up for programs, keeping an eye

on the budget, emailing, and going to

meetings.

And then, there is what he, arguably,

is best known for — running or assisting

at some of BC’s more popular programs,

like Halftime and Freshmen League.

He’s also my professor for a once-a-

week Cross Currents seminar, Thinking

About Gender.

Freshmen League is a program de-

signed for freshmen boys led by junior

and senior “Captains.” It helps them

get to know other guys outside of their

floor, gives them something to do, and

gives them access to upperclassmen

mentors. It seems like a pretty simple

formula, but when Sacco and his col-

leagues were starting it even they didn’t

realize that they were tapping into

something pretty significant.

What started out as an engagement

initiative quickly turned into helping

students recalibrate their masculine

construct within the BC community.

This sounds very lofty and academic,

but when Sacco explains it, it makes a

lot of sense.

“Boston College students were

highly successful in high school — all of

them,” Sacco said. “Men, women, every-

body. And they come to BC being very

accomplished. This happens at most

other colleges. Coming in as a first-year

student you lose a lot of power, you lose

a lot of influence, you’re not familiar

with surroundings.”

Pair this with a contemporary culture

that doesn’t give men as much permis-

sion to seek help or express weakness as

female students, and the result can be

some pretty bad decision-making and

suffering grades.

“I think it helps our culture because

BC students are organizational kids and

so far as they are very good at reading

the organization, figuring out what the

rules are and, for better or for worse,

often times they will conform to that set

expectation,” he said. “And, at its best,

Freshmen League resets the masculine

rules at Boston College and it creates

spaces for first-year men, and junior and

senior captains, to express themselves in

authentic, vulnerable ways that, at least

in my research and experience, are not

as prevalent on this campus.”

Cameron Granger, CSOM ’16, is a

two-year Freshmen League captain and

is also using Sacco as his senior thesis

adviser. Even though he knows Sacco

in many capacities, he thinks he gets

most excited when he tells people about

Freshmen League especially when they

have not heard about it before.

Sacco is not the only administrator

who deserves credit for a program that

now attracts hundreds of students,

but he does have a unique relationship

with it.

He recently finished his dissertation

to get his Ph.D., using Freshmen League

as a case study—hence his ease with

tossing in theory and statistics while he

talks about the program.

If I make this sound academic and

critical, I’m not capturing Sacco. Talk-

ing to him about students and students

about him, there is a two-way flow of

gratitude.

“My favorite thing about working

with Mike is seeing his work ethic in

everything he decides to do,” Granger

said. “At first it can be a bit intimidating,

but he has a way of inspiring everyone

around him to push themselves to do

something positive.”

This attitude makes students invite

him into their lives — former students

often contact him to tell him about

getting jobs, getting married, or hav-

ing kids.

After offhandedly telling me this

incredibly touching fact, that, frankly

he should consider very high f lat-

tery—what better measure is there

of an educator who is reaching their

students?—Sacco added one more sen-

tence, much quieter than before: “It’s a

real privilege, this work, to be invited

into a person’s life.”

After graduation in May, Paul Sherban,

MCAS ’16, doesn’t have stereotypical plans.

He won’t immediately be getting a job, nor

will he be attending grad school.

Rather, he will be biking from Lan-

caster, Pa., to an undetermined destina-

tion on the West Coast. Along the course

of this ride, Sherban will be interviewing

and capturing the stories of Americans

across the nation and publishing them in

a brand new project of his own creation,

operating under the name of Untold

Stories.

“Right now, [Untold Stories]

doesn’t have a solid name or a solidified

format, I just want to get out there and

do it,” Sherban said. “But I know that

I want to meet people that I’ve never

met before, and more than that, I want

to record their stories. I want to create

this collection of voices, because all of

it is so real and is truly American.”

In other words, Sherban hopes to

be a storyteller, an agent for connect-

ing the long and diverse narrative of the

American spirit.

“I want to serve as a middleman

between people and the world, I want

people to tell me their stories,” Sherban

said. “I want to capture the American

voice, because it is all a part of the hu-

man experience.”

Sherban is looking forward to

encompassing a breadth of the human

experience—all 4,000 miles of it.

“I love talking to people,” he said.

“And I’m really excited when I think

about projects like this.”

This trip began as an idea planted

in a dinner conversation Sherban had

with an old friend.

Complaining that they didn’t want

to get jobs after college, Sherban’s

friend suggested that they run across

the country to get away from it all and

to experience the “real America.”

Although the trip has been changed

from running to biking (for physical

and logistical purposes), and Sherban’s

friend is no longer able to join him,

Sherban is still eager to saddle up for

the ride.

“I think biking across the country is

definitely the move,” Sherban said. “This

whole project is about other people, so I

think that by biking I can move quickly

enough to progress, but not so fast that

I miss out on things. Plus, I need to be

alive if I want to talk to people at the end

of the day, which I wouldn’t be if I [were]

running.”

Although Sherban is currently go-

ing at this project alone, he is actively

searching for a partner to follow him in

his adventures. Unfortunately, his origi-

nal partner is no longer able to make

the time commitment to the trip, and

Sherban has been forced to approach the

trip as a solo venture. Though not neces-

sarily enough to alter his plans to bike,

Sherban certainly doesn’t underestimate

the importance of a partner.

“This makes me realize how much

more planning I need to do,” he said.

“This is the stuff that’s really impor-

tant.”

Logistical details aside, this trip is

meant to create something uniquely hu-

man and distinctly American. Although

he hopes to end in the vicinity of San

Francisco, Sherban will be taking the

trip one day at a time. After all, he is

biking from September to March, and

doesn’t want to lose sight of the overall

goal of Untold Stories.

“This trip is more about the people

than the biking,” he said. “I’m not look-

ing for anything specific, nor do I have

any expectations. I just want to prompt

people and see what they have to say in

an indiscriminate way.”

While Sherban’s collected and de-

liberate manner served him well, there

was no hiding the hint of nervousness

that he had throughout talking about the

process.

The physical component obviously

being essential to the success of Untold

Stories, Sherban is justifiably anxious

about the concept of pedaling across

a vast country with no long-term plan

and well over 4,000 miles to cover. Along

with this worry, however, comes an in-

centive to succeed.

“I’m definitely concerned,” he said.

“But I know that, hopefully, once I find

another person to ride with me, I’ll stay

motivated out there on the road to keep

moving and to keep the project going.”

As the old cross-country biking ad-

age goes: “You’re going to wake up in one

place and fall asleep in another, and it’s

what you do in the miles between those

two points that matters.”

group , its members insisted that they get

that all the time.

“Yeah, nobody knows that,” said

Rachel Mills, a current co-chair of the

committee alongside Adam Rosenbloom,

both MCAS ’16, visibly not shocked by

my own surprise at hearing that the EC

operates independently of UGBC. “It’s

kind of important to have an organiza-

tion outside of UGBC to run the UGBC

elections, just to prevent any conflict

of interest issues. So us being kind of

the rule makers, we can’t be a part of

UGBC.”

“It’s not that we don’t like them or

anything,” assured Tyler Waddell, an EC

member and CSOM ’17. “We just feel

it’s safer and makes for a more fair elec-

tion.”

The EC likes the UGBC so much,

in fact, that its coordinating goes well

beyond that of the centerpiece president/

EVP elections. The fall brings freshman

elections, and in the spring, along with

presidential elections, the annual caucus

elections require a large amount of orga-

nization.

For those unfamiliar, the caucus

elections are set in place to designate

a student representative for each cat-

egory—from academic, to cultural, to

social, and beyond—of student organiza-

tion. Unlike the presidential elections,

which are decided by a popular vote, the

caucuses are a different kind of referen-

dum.

“We have these little town hall de-

bates where people who want to run for

those positions will meet in a classroom,

along with the presidents and vice presi-

dents of those clubs [in each category],”

explained Mills said of the caucus system.

“The presidents and vice presidents

then choose the candidate that they feel

will best represent those interests in

UGBC.”

More than anything else, however,

the primary function of the EC is to serve

as a vehicle for fair elections and the

processes that surround those elections.

Not least among these is monitoring

the residence hall campaigning which,

done in excess, had been deemed a bit

of a nuisance in the past. In other words,

its around to make sure everyone plays

fair.

Which is exactly what made this last

election so interesting.

On the eve of the election this se-

mester, the news broke to the EC that one

of the teams had been widely soliciting

votes using social media—a blatant trans-

gression against the code all candidates

had been informed of prior to campaign-

ing began. When this news broke—or,

fell on the lap of an EC member who was

solicited—the Committee sprung into

action. The team of Nikita Patel, CSOM

’17, and Joseph Arquillo, LSOE ’17, was

docked 70 points for soliciting votes

through Facebook messages—including

to one of the members of the EC.

“We met and determined it was

falling in a certain tier, which is negative

votes,” explained Tyler Waddell, a com-

mittee member of the EC and CSOM

’17.

The reason why the controversial

negative rules are a thing? You can thank

past candidates for that.

“People campaigning would just

break all of the rules on Friday at the very

end, because the only things that we had

to work with were taking away ResHall

campaigning, confiscating T-shirts, tak-

ing down banners,” Mills said. “By the last

day, it doesn’t really matter anymore. It’s

definitely a last resort.”

Fortunately, precedent saved the day

on this occasion—built into the candidate

campaigning code, a sanction pyramid

was recently written that evaluates the

basis for punishment based upon levels

within the framework. The punishments

themselves, however, are strictly mat-

ters of discretion—and for good reason.

Evaluation of degree of sanction prevents

a certain “gaming” of the sanction system

by candidates.

“Obviously we’re not trying to de-

cide an election on taking away votes,”

Waddell said. “But at the same time, you

could think, ‘oh, if I send 1,000 Facebook

messages and 200 of them actually vote

for me, and the Elections Committee

takes away 25 votes, that’s worth it.’ So,

it has to be enough to make it kind of

hurt.”

The committee had flirted with the

idea of assigning certain vote penalties

to certain actions, but decided against it

in the interest of avoiding this potential

for “calculated” cheating.

“You’d have teams saying, ‘Oh, I

think it’s worth 60 votes to do this or

that,’” Mills explained.

With this need for discretion in

mind, the EC decided to take a poll of the

committee as to how many votes should

be detracted. From here, an average was

taken, and the magnitude of the sanction

was determined.

All high-stress decisions aside, the

EC undoubtedly handled past election

cycle gracefully—an accomplishment

that it attributes to the precedent of prior

years. Between the 15 of them, their allo-

cation of responsibilities, along with the

thoroughness of their work, lends itself

to a strong track record of success. This

track record, however, also lends itself

beyond University politics. The team

prides itself on the food selection it has

been known to provide.

“Yeah, that’s my job,” Waddell said,

taking credit for the exquisite roast beef

sandwiches featured at this year’s UGBC

kickoff event.

Other keys to success?

“We had good leadership this year,”

Romano said with a glance in the direc-

tion of Rachel and Rosenbloom, eliciting

a smile and blush from the graduating

duo.

“Thank you,” Mills responded—and

rightfully so, after the longest and most

confusing election period in recent his-

tory.

THE HEIGHTS A5Monday, May 2, 2016

KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

After meeting for breakfast in

Mac, my lab partner and I took an

Uber to Fenway. Boston was just

waking up to a gray Sunday morn-

ing, but we had already leaped out

of the backseat and were walking

determinedly toward Blick Art

Materials. We strode into the store

on a mission to buy materials for

our fi nal poster presentation in

our introductory biology lab. You

wouldn’t think the two laughing

friends running around Blick’s were

the same two nervous students who

had dressed in blue lab coats and

purple latex gloves on the fi rst day

of class.

Everyone who’s taken a science

lab at Boston College would agree

that the extra hours working in lab

and writing reports for an apathetic

TA to give you an arbitrary grade

in a one-credit course is a form of

cruel and unusual punishment.

But they’re getting too far ahead of

themselves—everyone in lab knows

that your entire experience in the

course depends on who’s assigned

to be your lab partner on the fi rst

day.

Being lab partners with a total

stranger defi nitely makes you more

aware of being your brother’s

keeper just to cover yourself. Th e

lab experience is a gamble—your

performance depends on how well

you and your partner work together,

so if he or she slacks or is too over-

bearing, both of your grades suff er. I

guess the seeds that produce stereo-

typically neurotic and socially inept

scientists are planted in these poor

lab experiences.

Memories of previous chemistry

lab experiences fl oated on the out-

skirts of my mind as I walked into

bio lab for the fi rst time. I desper-

ately wanted to shrug off the past,

to remind myself that this class was

in a subject area I was interested

in, to hold my head up high and

give myself a fresh start. Because of

the structure of the class, students

worked in groups of three for the

semester. I practically linked arms

with my two friends as we walked

into the lab room, only to have our

small band forced apart and scat-

tered in diff erent directions.

I was assigned to work with two

people I’d never met before, but

reminded myself I would just have

to deal with the hand I was dealt.

Our group of three worked fi ne for

the fi rst week, but when the third

person in our group suddenly with-

drew from the class, we were left as

the only duo in bio lab. I cautiously

approached this new dynamic,

always trying to do my fair share

of the work and silently hoping my

partner wouldn’t be too judging of

me. While we had to do more work

than the other groups, we learned

to support each other with each

experiment we performed, presen-

tation we prepared, and report we

wrote. It turned out that we shared

common interests but were still

able to learn something new from

each other. For example, I learned

some Russian vocabulary from my

lab partner, and she learned just

how bad organic chemistry was

from me.

With the blooming of the fi rst

buds of spring came the realization

that bio lab was coming to a close.

Students and TAs alike became

more lighthearted, joking around

a little bit more and playing their

Spotify playlists a little bit louder.

When it came time to start working

on our fi nal poster presentation,

we already knew that we would put

as much eff ort as possible into this

assignment, as we had for all the

other ones.

So the idea was to go to Blick’s,

get everything we needed, and head

back to campus. After running

around like kids in a candy store

and checking cardstock, glue sticks,

and push pins off our shopping list,

we stopped by a table display next

to the cashiers. Th e shiny covers of

coloring books drew us to the shelf,

and with a knowing smile we threw

two Lost Ocean coloring books and

two boxes of colored pencils into

our basket and continued to the

register. We left Blick’s with three

plastic bags of art supplies and a

celebratory gift to commemorate

the end of our semester in lab.

It wasn’t until I was back in

my dorm that I was able to take a

closer look at the coloring book.

Th e full title was Lost Ocean: An Inky Adventure & Coloring Book. I

like to think the title is symbolic of

the somewhat-masochistic journey

that is lab. You’re assigned to a lab

bench, paired with a partner and

told to perform an experiment that

no one knows the outcome of. It’s

pretty much guaranteed that you’ll

get lost somewhere along the way

and not have a clue about what

you’re doing, but having a friend

with you is always a comforting

thought. And even if you don’t

get the experimental results you

expected, you can always walk away

with matching coloring books.

You might think it’s sad that

I make friends in my classes, but

I honestly prefer meeting other

people that way instead of at dimly

lit parties that reek of sweat and

alcohol. I was downright lucky that

I had such a positive experience in

bio lab, but it also goes to show that

you can meet new people and make

friendships in the most serendipi-

tous of places.

I like to think we ended up

leaving Blick’s with more than

just cardstock, glue, and coloring

books—we left with a newfound

friendship, too.

THE HEIGHTS Monday, May 2, 2016A6

HEIGHTSTh e Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

THE

“In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.”

-Charles Krauthammer

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Th e Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity,

accuracy, and to prevent libel. Th e Heights also reserves the

right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accom-

pany pieces submitted to the newspaper.

Letters and columns can be submitted online at ww

bcheights.com, by e-mail to editor@bcheights.com,

person, or by mail to Editor, Th e Heights, 113 McElro

Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

EDITORIALS

The views expressed in the above editorials repre-

sent the official position of The Heights, as discussed

and written by the Editorial Board. A list of the mem-

bers of the Editorial Board can be found at bcheights.

com/opinions.

The 2016 Ever to Excel award was giv-

en to the GLBTQ Leadership Council for

its contributions to the Boston College

community. This annual award is given

by the Office of Student Involvement and

is meant to honor the most impactful

groups on campus in areas such as service

and education.

GLC, which is part of the Under-

graduate Government of Boston College

(UGBC), is receiving this award for the

work its done over this past year, such

as the programming its implemented for

many different students and the creation

of an LGBTQ roundtable in the Dean of

Student’s office.

These new programs have shown many

students how they can identify with GLC’s

mission and get involved. In turn, this has

expanded the influence of GLC and helped

bring it to students’ attention.

Giving this award to GLC is a big step

for the administration and the student

body. Since GLC’s official creation 12

years ago, the group has never received

an award or acknowledgement such as

this. The award demonstrates not only

that GLC has accomplished a number of

good things this year, but also that the

administration has openly recognized its

work and lended it approval.

After many years of working, GLC has

now received an official commendation that

should bring about further cooperation.

This recognition should also translate into

increased support from faculty while giving

GLC more exposure.

Hopefully, this bodes well for the ini-

tiatives GLC is planning for next year.

While the Ever to Excel award is a great

acknowledgement of past success, the

best way to support GLC is to help it

work toward its future goals. Some past

efforts at advocacy for LGBTQ issues

have not achieved the success previously

mentioned. Last year’s attempt to encour-

age the creation of an LGBTQ resource

center was never fulfilled. Now that the

administration has officially recognized

the group, it should begin working to find

middle ground with GLC on some of the

issues that have been contentious.

This award sends the message that the

administration should work to produce the

tangible success and goals that GLC has set

out. Communication between the group

and the administration is of paramount

importance to achieving any of these goals.

One of the biggest goals for next year is the

inclusion of gender identity in the non-dis-

crimination clause. The clause has already

been expanded to include sexual orienta-

tion, but does not include anything about

gender identity. This is something that GLC

has been advocating on behalf of for the

past year and hopes will be accomplished

soon. There have not been many definitive

answers from the administration regarding

this issue and GLC hopes for more informa-

tion from the administration.

This award should hopefully lead to fur-

ther cooperation between the two groups,

and more progress can be made. The of-

ficial recognition that this award brings is

important, but what really matters is ac-

complishing these future goals.

Bike BC, a bike-sharing program, has just

introduced its pilot program. The program

will allow students to borrow bikes from the

Comm. Ave. garage for free and keep them

for three days.

The purpose of this is to promote an

eco-friendly method of transportation

while also providing a cost-free service

to students.

Students will have to receive bike safety

training and sign a liability waiver before

being able to use the service.

Once this training occurs, students will

be free to use the bike as they wish for three

days. As the program goes through its pilot

program, steps should be taken to ensure

that it is implemented in the best way pos-

sible and that students are both encouraged

and incentivized to participate.

Although it remains to be seen whether

this new program will be a success, it still

provides a useful example of how student

groups should find avenues of cooperation

with administrative groups.

Bike BC is a student organization that

has partnered with O’Neill Library to pro-

vide these bikes for the students.

By partnering with an established part of

Boston College like the library, the group

receives support that it otherwise wouldn’t.

This means that its efforts have a better

chance of finding success. Attempts that

might have never gotten off of the ground

are given legitimacy through these sorts of

partnerships.

Increasing sustainability and eco-friend-

liness on campus has been a contentious

issue in recent years, and there has not been

much success on the part of environmental

activists at BC.

Calls for divestment and other sustain-

ability initiatives have received little official

response. While the recent announcement

of Ernest Moniz, U.S. Energy Secretary

and strong proponent of environmental

sustainability, as Commencement speaker

seems to indicate a possible trend toward

increased eco-friendly efforts, there has still

been little action taken.

Facing this, student groups have to work

to find other methods of approaching the

issue. There are a number of groups inter-

ested in promoting this cause. It is neces-

sary that they focus their energy and find

the best possible way to achieve something.

Areas where groups can join together and

cooperate with administrative support is

the first step toward accomplishing some

sort of tangible change.

While Bike BC remains a relatively

small initiative, it still exemplifies the

way these efforts should be undertaken.

By finding one simple way to promote

sustainability, Bike BC was able to achieve

administrative partnership and create this

bike-sharing program.

Other student groups should determine

how they can also do this.

By focusing on one program, groups

can encourage support and find other

ways to push BC toward a more eco-

friendly campus.

College students should feel righteous

indignation, and they should hold their

institutions accountable for addressing the

systemic inequalities and injustices that

those institutions’ own mission statements

profess to abhor. Students should speak up

and speak out; they should demonstrate;

and they should circulate petitions. These

truths are dear to me. Accordingly, I read

with interest the article in yesterday’s

Heights by Shannon Longworth and a simi-

lar piece by Pei-Ling Lee in the BC Gavel

on April 24 recounting how students in

Meghan Sweeney’s class, The Challenge

of Justice, examined BC’s Core curriculum

and the history department’s contributions

to it and issued the charge of Eurocentrism.

There is truth in that accusation: Legacies

of European actions and perspectives are

legion in our classrooms and in the wider

world. Yet these articles seem unaware of

some realities on our campus that are also

worth pondering. A number of departments

have taken significant steps over the past

decade to rectify the pedagogical injustice

about which the students legitimately com-

plain. I cannot speak for others, but I would

like to clarify two things about the history

Core program and invite readers—students,

faculty, and administrators—to engage with

our department as we continue long-term

processes of self-redefinition.

Point of Clarification #1: The Eurocen-

tric rhetoric to which Professor Sweeney’s

students objected came from a 1991 state-

ment that remains part of the University’s

literature but which the history department

long ago abandoned. In 2007, we crafted

a new Core mission statement, which has

appeared on the history Core website ever

since. I was puzzled that the students did

not consult our site. For the record, here are

a few passages from our current statement:

“History Core courses examine the complex

historical processes that lie behind modern-

day transnational relationships, values, and

ideas “ and “all history Core courses trace

the political, social, economic, and cultural

changes that created the modern world. As

part of the Core Curriculum, these courses

seek to broaden students’ intellectual ho-

rizons by exposing them to new places,

periods, and perspectives.”

Point of Clarification #2: We are thrilled

to have “African Diaspora in the World I and

II” as a Core option next year, but history

faculty have also spent a decade globalizing

the frameworks and content of their pre-

existing Core courses, and building new

ones. Here are some recent history Core

sequences:

Asia and the World I and II

Atlantic Worlds I and II

Globalization I and II

Latin America and the World I and II

Our faculty also teach Complex Prob-

lems and Enduring Questions Core Renewal

Pilots that put questions of race, gender,

social justice, and global interactions center

stage.

Is there truth to the charge of lingering

Eurocentrism in the Core curriculum? Ab-

solutely. But while we continue to address

that problem, we should bear in mind that

students and faculty have pushed—for

years—against that old paradigm. Students

concerned about injustice have battles to

fight, but they also have allies, perhaps more

than they realize.

So, let’s talk.

Tough Truths and the BC History Core: A Response to

“Students’ Petition Calls for Changes in the Core”

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

THE HEIGHTSEmail opinions@bcheights.

com for more information.

See this blank space? Want to fi ll it?

Draw a weekly comic for

nationwide. Washington, Vermont,

and Montana followed Oregon’s lead.

California felt pressure to legalize physi-

cian-assisted suicide after the case of

Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman

diagnosed with terminal brain cancer

who wanted to take her own life. As a

resident of California, she couldn’t re-

quest physician-assisted suicide, so she

and her husband established residency

in Oregon, where the process is legal.

She obtained a prescription for lethal

pills from a doctor, and her death cre-

ated a big push for the legalization of

physician-assisted suicide in her home

state. She should’ve been able to die in

the peace of her own California home

with her husband by her side.

A lot of controversy surrounds the

physician-assisted suicide debate, but

there’s a key difference between assisted

suicide and euthanasia. Assisted suicide

involves providing the tools necessary

for someone to kill him or herself or

providing the person with the instruc-

tions to do so. Active euthanasia is

the act of killing someone, and passive

euthanasia is the act of letting someone

die before he or she naturally should

have. Assisted suicide requires the

patient to actively participate in his or

her own death. In the case of terminally

ill patients, physician-assisted suicide

would mean the patient must press the

button to let the morphine flow or take

lethal pills without the help of anyone

else, although a doctor has to provide

the patient the lethal drugs. Physi-

cian-assisted suicide ought to be legal

because it is a human right to be in

charge of one’s own body and make per-

sonal decisions about one’s own physical

health.

During the 2012 general election,

Massachusetts put a “Death with Dig-

nity Act” up for vote on the state ballot.

The passage of the Death with Dig-

nity Act would have allowed mentally

healthy, terminally ill patients to decide

to end their own lives. Some patients

are in an excruciating amount of pain,

do not have the finances to pay for all of

their medical bills, and know they are

going to die soon and want to do it on

their own terms. This initiative became

known as Question 2, and I think it

should’ve become state law, even a na-

tional one. The Death with Dignity Act

garnered a lot of support but lost, 51

percent to 49 percent.

I believe that despite this loss, laws

similar to the Death with Dignity Act

will continue to be passed in states

around the country, but I think this

issue needs to be taken up with the

United States Supreme Court after the

upcoming November election. When

these types of issues are left to the

states, it becomes a constant battle

between supporters and people who

oppose the issue. Legalization of gay

marriage, an issue previously left to

the states, made it to the national level

this past year, and I hope this issue will

triumph similarly in the coming year.

Legalizing physician-assisted sui-

cide in the United States would decrease

death tourism in countries like the

Netherlands, where physician-assisted

suicide is legal. It would also minimize

painful, botched suicide attempts, and

give terminally ill patients one last piece

of control. The legalization would also

make it fair and accessible for termi-

nally ill Americans who do not have the

financial means to pack up and move to

a state where the practice is legal. May-

nard’s case was rare, and many patients

do not have the funds or ability to move

to find a doctor willing to help them to

end their lives of sickness. I’m not argu-

ing that all terminally ill patients should

commit suicide, but I think they have

a right to do so if they choose. I would

want the right to choose when and how

to die if I became terminally ill, and I

think others, like my great-grandfather,

should be provided with that right.

THE HEIGHTSMonday, May 2, 2016 A7

THE LAST WEEK - I don’t know about

you folks, but the thumb-meister

has decided to forget about walk-

ing and will instead ride to his final

week of classes on his horse Nuggets.

Mustering for the final battle, I will

trot my trusty steed back and forth

in front of Gasson, declaring my

victory over classes before riding

blindly into the warped battlefield

of finals.

STAPLING A PAPER - When we swipe

that card, hear that little electronic

beep, and click on that line of text,

a shiver runs down our spine. Page

after page of warm paper is tranmor-

phalatized inside that giant grey box.

We hold it in our hands, beholding

the work we have created, the pile of

utter nonsense and badly researched

bologna sausage that some people

might call a final paper. Pushing

down on the stapler, we listen for

that telltale click and then pull the

pile of tree pulp free and see the

small piece of metal in the corner. “It

is done,” we whisper quietly, before

falling to our knees. Clutching the

paper to our chest, we grab the ankle

of a passerby and look up at them,

our eyes swimming with tears. Then

we get kicked out of the library.

LOOKING BACK TO WHEN THIS START-ED - As the end rapidly approaches,

it’s worthwhile to take a couple of

moments (roughly 285 words) to

consider where you were before

entering into the wild and wacky

world of Boston College.

ACCIDENTALLY BITING OFF A SIZE-ABLE CHUNK OF NAIL - We hate to

get too bodily-harm-focused here,

but sometimes there are issues

that the people really care about,

and that’s what these thumbs are

all about. You’re just sitting there,

nervously chomping down on the

old fingernails, when the old max-

illary lateral incisor slices through

a little bit more than expected.

You move your hand but the nail

is somehow stuck to your tooth

and you pull even more at the nail.

Casually attempting to hide your

now-bleeding fingertip, you wipe it

on your jeans and leave a sizeable

red streak. You’ve made a terrible

mistake. Your nervousness has led

to behavior that should make you

nervous which makes you even

more nervous which contributes

even further to this nervous-mak-

ing nervous behavior. It’s all one

giant circle. It’s all one big joke and

you’re the punchline. It’s all … one

… … … … … thumb. Gasp. You look

down at your bleeding digit and

realize that it’s your thumb you’ve

been biting this whole time. The

blood pooling around your nail be-

gins to coagulate rapidly and then

disappears into thin air. Your nail

heals immediately. There’s some-

thing special about your thumbs.

Something magical. You hold your

hand in the air, fingers splayed.

Closing your eyes, you focus on the

world around you, feeling its ups

and its downs with the tentacles of

your mind. After a few seconds a

wry smile crosses your lips. With

one sharp movement you form a fist

with your thumb jutting outward.

Slowly you turn your hand until

your thumb points to the ground.

“Thumbs Down,” you whisper, real-

izing your untold power. Thunder

cracks overhead. A hero has been

born this day … or maybe a villain.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

The majority of Republican primary vot-

ers have spoken, and Donald Trump is their

choice for presidential candidate. Barring a

series of unlikely and, frankly, undemocratic

steps taken by the Republican National Com-

mittee, he is headed irreversibly toward the

nomination. However much of a victory this

is for the disenchanted masses who voted for

him, it puts millions of centrist Republicans

in a difficult position. Trump has drawn the

party far in the direction of dangerous intol-

erance on issues of immigration and religious

liberty, far in the direction of conflict and

chaos on issues of foreign policy, and far in

the direction of crippling protectionism on

issues of economic regulation. The reason-

able Republican has been left stranded and

candidate-less.

But it’s time now to move past these wild

primaries and consider the national election.

Here there is a glimmer of hope. Finally, for

the first time in this entire process, the choice

is clear for the center-right voter. There is

only one thing standing between Trump and

the presidency, and that is Hillary Clinton.

Many conservatives will balk at the

concept of crossing party lines in a national

election. We have our economic principles,

our practical views on tax reform and

government spending, and our allegiance to

a free market, all of which we embrace with

America’s long-term financial stability and

competitiveness in mind, and we will never

willingly throw them to the wayside while

voting. The good news is that, in 2016, we

may not have to.

Though Bernie Sanders and a year of

hard-fought primaries and debates have

dragged her to the left, Clinton is, by nature,

a centrist. Historically, Clinton has leaned to-

ward more conservative macroeconomic and

right-wing foreign policy agendas. It is only

over the course of the last two years—also

known as her most recent bid for the Demo-

cratic nomination—that she has started

seriously preaching to the voters of the left,

arguing for minimum wage increases and

top-bracket tax spikes. And she has always

been behind a more clear-cut, authoritative

foreign policy, a high level of military spend-

ing, and a tough-on-terror approach, even

while serving under Presdent Barack Obama

as Secretary of State and being hampered by

his administration’s international placidity.

By these metrics, coupled with Clinton’s

general business friendliness and under-

standing of international economic affairs,

one could say the leading contender for

the Democratic nomination is actually a

moderate Republican, at least in the realm

of fiscal and foreign policy—Clinton is a

sheep dressed in wolf’s clothing. And even if

these predictions of her economic friendli-

ness, based on her pre-Sanders platform

and her history, turn out to be nothing more

than wishful thinking, there is the matter of

international safety and stability to consider.

At some point, though this should not be the

case, voters may have to sacrifice allegiances

to a certain type of domestic agenda in order

to elect a president who is qualified to repre-

sent America on the global stage.

The greatest danger facing this country

is a not another financial collapse, but a col-

lapse in American prestige on a global level,

and the military conflicts that might erupt

from heavy-handed, Trump-style diplomacy:

full-scale ground war in the Middle East

and the escalation of territorial tensions

with China. The international community is

watching this election with a combination of

disbelief and concern. At some point, con-

servative voters have to understand that the

current relative stability of the global system

is at stake in this election. Basic diplomatic

relationships and alliances that we take for

granted might not survive a Trump presi-

dency—conflicts that we can’t even conceive

of now might be born. Clinton, on the other

hand, is an internationally respected figure

who knows how to navigate the American

political scene and the international system.

America under Clinton might not flour-

ish economically the way it would under a

true, avowed fiscal conservative, but it would

certainly be safe. And as unfortunate as this

choice is, conservative voters should consider

crossing the aisle in November. Perhaps we

won’t see economic recovery at the pace we

desire, but we also won’t see the collapse of

the modern world order. That’s a tradeoff

some of us will be willing to make.

no one is going to dictate our freedom.

Stay strong.”

I would bet my life there wasn’t a

single person in that ballpark thinking “if

only Big Papi were white.” Tragedy strips

away the superficialities of our culture

and calls us to acknowledge the senti-

ments of our souls. When Ortiz made

that declaration it wasn’t about being

white or black, or even about where you

were born. It was about community. His

statement reminds us that being Ameri-

can is a spirit and an endeavor. With the

six letters of our city scrawled across his

chest, Ortiz reminded us that Boston

doesn’t belong to just anyone, it belongs

to everyone. Not mine, not yours. Ours.

And I didn’t realize it then, but maybe

the city and her suburbs are struggling

with racism just as much as anywhere

else in the country. We spend so much

time in the modern era worrying about

external forces and threats like terrorism

attempting to dictate our freedom that

we often don’t realize the threat we pose

to each other’s freedom. Some person or

persons, event or accumulation of events

over time made the man I met think he

wasn’t free to be black or free to need

help. Those freedoms and ones like them

are integral to the long-term survival and

prosperity of a community. Boston and

her greater area cannot thrive if we allow

ourselves to focus more on what makes

us different than that which makes us

similar. When he came up to my window,

what I saw was a kid with a beat-up car

who needed help, as I had been enough

times in my life. I was fortunate enough

to have a big brother to call, but maybe

he didn’t. Maybe the only people he had

to lean on were those around him, and

he shouldn’t have had to qualify who he

was in order to ask for help.

When we allow our fears and

prejudices to insulate or divide us, we

lose some critical part of what makes

us human. That, in turn, robs us of the

opportunity to truly be a community.

Boston is our city and we cannot allow

anyone to take it from us, especially

each other.

chusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the

first African-American units in the Civil

War, to Martin Luther King, Jr., earning

his doctorate on our very own Com-

monwealth Avenue just down the way at

Boston University. I naively didn’t think

it was a problem up here, let alone in

my own backyard.

My mother was a little girl growing

up in Boston during the busing crisis.

And yet, some 20 years later, she brought

me into the first generation seemingly

destined to inherit a post-racist culture

and desegregated society. Growing up,

our generation’s idols weren’t chosen on

the basis of skin color but by the conduct

of their character and their ability to

inspire or entertain us. We watched Full House and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,

cheered for David Ortiz and Tom Brady.

But somewhere along the line we got lost.

Life has gotten harder in many ways and

maybe this uptick in racism is just manifest

scapegoating. More and more we seem to

be privileging ourselves and disdaining our

neighbors. It seems some of the only mo-

ments during which we come together as a

community are moments of tragedy.

When we think back to the days

after the Boston Marathon bombing,

we each feel something a little different.

We remember where we were and how

we were affected. But we also remem-

ber shared experiences. We remember

laying sneakers or flowers at the Copley

Square memorial. And we remember

the words of survivors, politicians, and

people from all over the world mourn-

ing with us together. Perhaps one of the

best-remembered phrases in the wake

of the Marathon came from a man born

on an island nation over 1,600 miles

away. Ortiz stood on the field at the

first home game since the attack sur-

rounded by dignitaries and guests and

said simply, “This is our f-cking city, and

This past Marathon Monday I found

myself sitting in a Stop & Shop park-

ing lot listening to the last inning of the

Red Sox game on the car radio. It wasn’t

long after I pulled in that a young man

approached on the driver’s side and

drew my attention through the open

window. “Hey man, sorry to bother you.

My hunk of junk car over there ran out

of gas. Could you spare anything?” I

glanced over his shoulder at the beaten-

up Pontiac and pulled out my wallet. My

mother always taught me that if you’re in

a position to help someone, you do it. As

I was asking him how much he thought it

would take to fill the tank he said some-

thing that shocked me. “I know what you

must be thinking, black kid coming up to

your window like this….” It was then that

I realized this encounter was going to

cost more than a tank of gas, and I would

be paying in innocence and naivety.

I shook my head and downplayed

his comment, telling him not to worry

about it. But in the quiet of my heart

I was wondering all sorts of things. I

don’t think I look like a racist. And yet,

something had made this kid feel like

he had to qualify the color of his skin

in order to ask for help from a member

of his own community. My hometown

of Weymouth doesn’t have a significant

African-American population, just a few

percent overall. So though I have hardly

felt the tension up here, it comes as no

surprise that race relations have been

deteriorating in our country for the past

few years. News story after news story

of discrimination or violence elsewhere

in the country might as well have been

across the world. I certainly worried

about it, but it didn’t seem real to

someone who had grown up in a racially

progressive region. Boston has patches

of ugliness in its history, of course, like

the busing crisis of the 1970s. But over-

all, the Northeast has always trended

toward equality, from the 54th Massa-

My great-grandfather lay in bed

wracked with pain during his final days

battling prostate cancer. The disease

had spread to various organs and he

didn’t have much time left. He stopped

eating and drinking to speed up the

process because he didn’t want to suffer

anymore. His nurses had him hooked up

to a morphine drip and told him if he

had enough morphine, his body would

shut down.

His wife, my great-grandmother,

would bring him a glass of water with

dinner every night. After she left the

room, he would ask one of his children

to empty the water cup and throw away

the food for him. One Sunday night, my

great-grandfather asked his daughter,

my grandmother, to sit with him while

he pressed the button on his IV drip to

give himself a large dose of morphine.

He said he was in serious pain and

wanted it to stop. His body filled with

the painkiller until his breath became

very slow and shallow. His breathing

stopped altogether by Monday morning.

My grandmother told me this story

over lunch a few weeks ago when I asked

about her views on assisted-suicide

practices. She said she doesn’t know how

she would label what happened with her

father, but felt it was the right thing to

do in his case. He was a terminally ill

patient, mentally competent at the time

of his death, and wanted the pain to

end. I completely agree with her stance.

I brought up this conversation topic

after sitting through Death and Dying, a

sociology course taught by John B. Wil-

liamson, this semester.

Oregon was the first state to legal-

ize physician-assisted suicide in 1994,

and I’m surprised it hasn’t become legal

THE HEIGHTS Monday, May 2, 2016 A8

To: Incoming Freshmen

You’ll be like a week in and already

know like 47 people, give or take. This

group will consist of: the 20 people

on your floor, the 12 kids from your

orientation, the five kids from your

town, your state (if you’re from Idaho),

or your country (if you’re from Co-

lombia), and a grabbag of kids who did

laundry with you the first time or have

your same birthday. Here’s my humble

advice. I think that as a collective,

you guys should make a vow to never

awkwardly stop saying hello (before

or after you’ve met). I predict it will

only enhance overall positive vibes.

Also—without spreading yourself too

thin—try to meet people outside of the

circles you move in. Some of the great-

est people I’ve met at Boston College

were a product of me nervously tug-

ging on the straps of my backpack and

asking someone on a coffee date. They

don’t have to fit your group aesthetic,

they’re people you go out of your way

to get to know because they are so

interesting. Trust me, it works out.

To: Whoever is buying spring at BC

Dude let things die. I too, under-

stand the satisfying ease of instant

gratification. Let’s admit, however,

it’s eerily dystopic. As soon as a plant

starts to die you guys replace it. Where

do they go? I keep picturing a cemetery

of toasty, dejected trees. I’m gonna

go ahead and read into this. I think it

is healthy to acknowledge the natural

processes of growth and decay in life.

To: Professor Chopra

One of the afternoons when I had

my TA hours in 013, you mentioned a

not-so-good film written by Matthew

Weiner after he’d finished Mad Men.

You said something along the lines of

“not everything you make is going to

be perfect, but you gotta make some

bad stuff if you wanna be great.” It was

like a tailored version of Ira Glass’

famous taste gap quote. That honest

investment in my work coupled with

your knack for humane storytelling in

film has shaped my entire approach

to filmmaking. Also, I think that five

classes with you counts as a minor in

“Chopra.” Thank you.

To: Professor Wells

First of all, thank you for giving me

the idea for this column. Secondly, I

admire your ability to oscillate grace-

fully from lofty ivory towers to the

run-of-the-mill and mundane. I’ll ex-

plain. You’re the person I would go to

if I had a question about Foucault, but

I’d probably also go to you to ask what

a “mortgage” means and “do I need

one?” You mostly lead by example, and

that’s very rare. Thank you so much.

Now that I’m staying in the area, don’t

be surprised if I show up at your office

hours.

To: Professor Ingram, a.k.a. Brett

George Saunders says that when

you read a good short story you come

out “6 percent more awake to the

world.” You do that when you teach.

To: Entry doors in O’Neill

Thx for providing me with the only

upper body workout of my four years.

To: People who hold the door open for

you when you’re approx. 20 ft. away

I appreciate the gesture, but please

let go.

To: Devlin 013

You have been my second home.

To: Infinite Jest Reading you the last semester of

my senior year was torturous at times

but mostly incredible. I encourage

anyone with a couple hundred hours

to spare to read this book, especially

while you’re here. We all need to be a

little more like Mario.

To: Student Programs Association

Here are some of the clubs I failed

to start.

After School Club: We tend to

dichotomize work and play at this

school. I wish there was more bleed-

ing of the academic into the social. We

should open spaces where people can

chill and be friends and also talk about

some deep stuff, nah?

Midnight Rollerblading Club: I’d say

this one is self-explanatory. However,

it does have a twist. I believe the club

would benefit from being selective and

self-entitled. There will be backlash,

and they must stay strong.

BCollective: Erin Grunbeck and

I started this club last year with the

hopes of getting filmmakers and writ-

ers together at BC to produce outside

of class. Please someone else take

this on! We had so many people show

interest but we lacked that CSOM-y

drive.

To: Walsh

I love you in all your grit. Do you

sublet to alumni?

To: Friends

Thnx for the mems <3 I’ll not text

ya in public. Ly.

To: Lower

You open?

To: All of y’all men and women for

otherz

It would be a copout to say I imag-

ine you as a sea of salmon [shorts] and

sunglass bands (What are those? And

why is it that only preppy white boys

can pull them off?). I think that’s just a

lie we tell ourselves so we can share a

common enemy. Jokes aside, the idea

of masses of people engaging in the

same activities is scary. Sometimes

heritage and tradition are there for a

justifiable reason, but a lot of times

that reason doesn’t hold up anymore.

When I avoided putting my idea of

BC against my lived experience, I was

much happier. I love this school for

its majesty, for the people I met, the

classes I took, and even for the ways it

made me hate it. I’ll stop before I get

choked up and drip more cheese on

this. Thank you!

Emily Sadeghian

In the fall of 2016, Boston College

will introduce an on-campus bike share.

Bike BC, the student organization for the

bicycling community on campus, held

a barbecue on Sunday in The Mods to

introduce the pilot program.

The event featured a free bike re-

pair clinic and safety session from

Galen Mook, who does marketing and

advocacy for Landry’s Bicycles. It also

celebrated the end of the club’s second

year at BC.

Students who want to rent a bike will

first have to attend a bicycle safety ses-

sion. Bike BC is partnering with O’Neill

Library, which will keep the keys for the

bikes. Students will receive a key from

the Library and will be able to unlock

a bike from the rack in the Comm. Ave.

Garage. Each bike will be equipped with

a lock, a helmet, and safety lights. The

group hopes to have all 10 bikes available

for rent in the fall. The club received

the funds for the bikes from Student

Organization Funding Committee, and

the bikes were purchased at a discount

from a local bike shop.

Bike BC holds three group rides

each semester along the Charles River

Esplanade and the Arnold Arboretum.

The group also holds safety clinics and

maintenance sessions for bikers.

The main purpose of the event was

to promote the group’s bike-share pilot

program to students who are interested

in bicycle rentals. The pilot program will

run through May 17.

“The idea is to eventually provide

every student with the opportunity for

free,” Ryan Saunders, co-president of

Bike BC and CSOM ’16, said.

The event was also created to show

the administration the amount of stu-

dent interest in the program, Saunders

said.

“We are trying to prove people are

interested in biking around campus,”

Saunders said. “They don’t have the

knowledge or means to do so. We want

to show the administration that people

are interested in biking.”

ing day. He and his family left for Byimana.

During the travel to the district office, his

mother was seriously beaten and eventu-

ally killed by the militia.

Life seemed disposable. The

mayor, fearing the militias

would follow through with

threats to bomb the place, called for trans-

portation to take everyone to a cathedral.

This may be the reason that Uwineza

is still alive. At the cathedral, they were

asked to show their identity cards, which

displays one’s ethnic affiliation.

“If you showed your identity card

during the genocide, basically you were

selling yourself out,” he said.

While the priest in Byimana kicked his

family out of the first church where they

sought refuge, the priest in this cathedral

pleaded and paid for the Tutsi refugees’

safety. This priest risked his own life and

saved Uwineza and his siblings. The com-

pound of the cathedral, Uwineza sighed,

was unimaginably crowded, unsanitary,

and bleak.

“Life was unbearable,” he repeated.

He and his siblings endured this

unbearable life for almost a month and

a half, until June 2, 1994, when the rebels

of Kagame came to rescue the surviving

Tutsi.

The rebels of Kagame were com-

manded by Paul Kagame, the sixth and

current president of Rwanda, and ended

the Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi.

While Uwineza was freed from the kill-

ers, he was “internally at war.” He called

it the War of Hatred, this time when he

hated the Church. Now, he said, he wants

to help the Church in Rwanda, and the

best way to do this is to work within the

structure.

After Uwineza and his siblings were

rescued, his siblings were brutally mur-

dered by a man in his village. They were

thrown into a latrine.

Though Uwineza had physically

survived the tragedy that struck his

country, he was left with hatred. He

attended a Catholic school, Christ the

King College, afterward. There, he met

priests—wonderful, wounded, and some

even contemplating if they should remain

priests—for they had endured the unbear-

able as well, many losing their loved ones

in the process. But there, he met an old

priest who welcomed everyone, regard-

less of ethnicity.

Uwineza’s family lived across from

the Jesuit community, so whenever he

went home for Holy days, he would go

to the Jesuit center. The men there, he

said, were impressive, despite their own

brokenness. He began to feel like he could

be one of them.

“Their message of reconciliation, of

trying to mend wounded people of all

sorts, was central,” he said.

After Uwineza finished col-

lege, he joined the Jesuits.

And afterward, during Holy

days, something that shaped his under-

standing of forgiveness and God’s grace

happened: He came face to face with the

man who had murdered his siblings.

“When I first saw him, I thought this

man was coming to kill me … but he came

towards me, knelt, I wasn’t sure what he

was planning, looked at me in the eyes,

was confused, then he added words and

said, ‘Marcel, can you forgive me?’” he said.

“I stood there for quite some time, not

knowing what to say. I found myself ask-

ing him to stand. And we embraced one

another, and we shed tears. And all of the

sudden I felt as if chains broke from my

legs … . So that moment liberated me and

probably liberated both of us,” he said.

Uwineza then began a new chapter of

his life, embracing religion and forgive-

ness, propelled by his desire to help the

Church in Rwanda.

The Church has instigated ways for

the community to come together and

communicate the tragedies that they have

experienced, and has also helped orphans

from the genocide and has built houses

for the widows and the widowers of the

genocide. Uwineza believes, however, that

the Church must issue an official apology

for the Rwandan genocide.

“The honest responsibility of the

Church [is] to say ‘We probably failed in

the evangelization process and we ask for

mercy,’” he said.

He worked with prisoners

who were suspected in par-

ticipating in the genocide,

and listened to their stories. He walked

with killers he had hidden from, listened

to their “woundedness” and confessions

as a priest. He had also begun working

with women who had been raped dur-

ing the genocide. Many of these women

had contracted HIV and AIDS. Through

working with them within the Jesuit AIDS

center and giving them counseling, they

were able to give them access to medi-

cal professionals who could give them

treatment.

Now, Uwineza is busy with his studies,

having published more than 10 articles,

and visiting different states in his free

time. He has been to Illinois, California,

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ver-

mont, New Hampshire, and even Iowa.

His goal is to help the Society of Jesus

and the Church, wherever they send him,

but specifically the Church in Rwanda,

or, as he calls it, “The wounded Church

of Rwanda.” Uwineza has also found

passion in the education of young and

impoverished girls in Africa, operating

under the maxim that, “if you educate a

girl, you educate a whole village.”

“The genocide was one big page,”

Uwineza said. “But there are many other

pages I am writing.”

JAMES LUCEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Uwineza, from A1

INSIDE SPORTS TU/TD...................................B2Sports in short............................B2More baseball............................B4THIS ISSUE

SPORTS B1

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2016

Like many of you who cheer for

Boston College and read my weekly

rants, Roger Goodell makes me vomit.

Not for Deflategate or his inability to

accept the dangers of concussions,

mind you. But for his disgusting com-

ments with regard to the events that

went down during the first round of

the NFL Draft. Specifically, I’m talk-

ing about the legendary freefall of

Laremy Tunsil.

The offensive lineman from Ole

Miss was projected to go as high as

the No. 1 overall pick—that is, until

the Los Angeles Rams traded up for

a quarterback that isn’t worthy of

trading away the future for. Tunsil’s

talent is undeniable, and many believe

he could be one of the NFL’s best line-

men in a few short years.

Yet his judgment have been a little

more … let’s go with spotty. His junior

year was marred by accusations from

his stepfather, Lindsey Miller, who

claimed Tunsil received improper

benefits from agents. As a result, head

coach Hugh Freeze was forced to sit

him out against Tennessee-Martin be-

fore the NCAA suspended him. And,

as you might’ve guessed, the eternally

benevolent Mark Emmert did that

anyway for seven games.

Of course, anyone with a social

media account knows that Tunsil’s

draft stock tumbled on Thursday be-

cause of a video that surfaced on his

own Twitter of the 21-year-old—can’t

emphasize that enough—hitting a

bong in a gas mask.

At that point, the man who was

then expected to be a perfect fit for

the Baltimore Ravens at No. 6 would

tumble even farther to the Miami

Dolphins at 13. The freefall cost him

an estimated $8-$12 million, a helluva

lot of guaranteed money for a career

in a profession that is only estimated

to last, on average, four years.

To make matters worse, text mes-

sages were leaked on Tunsil’s Insta-

gram of him asking a staff member

for help paying rent and his mother’s

electricity bill, a whopping $305. He

later admitted that yes, his head coach

did give him money and those text

messages are real.

Where was His Royal Smugness?

Lauding to all who would listen about

how great this was for the NFL.

“I think it’s all part of what makes

the draft so exciting,” Goodell told

ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning.

“Clubs make decisions. Sometimes

they take risks. Sometimes they do

the right things. Sometimes they

don’t, and we’ll see. Hopefully he is

going to turn out to be a great young

player.”

When head coach Mike Gambino took the Boston College baseball job

six years ago, he brought with him a special formula which he thought

BC could utilize to win games in the incredibly

strong ACC. Understanding that BC doesn’t

attract the same-caliber talent as the southern

schools, Gambino knew he had to attract the perfect combination of

hard-working players, and build up a pitching staff and defense that could

quiet the talented bats of the ACC.

“Our team is built to pitch, play D, and then have a lineup that can

fight and scrap for runs,” Gambino said after the game today.

In the rubber match of a three game series against Virginia Tech (15-

30, 5-19 Atlantic Coast) on Sunday morning, BC (23-17, 9-13) played

its ideal form of Birdball on its way to an impressive 4-1 victory in a

game that barely took over two hours to finish.

Junior starting pitcher Mike King had an outstanding game for the

Eagles as he went the distance, allowing just five hits and one run with

six strikeouts while only throwing 110 pitches. His two-seam fastball

was touching just 90 miles per hour but showed incredible movement

for the eager scouts sitting behind home plate, as he impressed in

a different way than Saturday’s flame-throwing starter Justin Dunn,

who tops out at 98 miles per hour.

“You can throw the radar gun away when King is on the mound because

his fastball is unhittable with its late-life movement,” Gambino said.

While he didn’t strike out batters with blazing heat like Dunn, King

forced 12 groundouts with pitches that pounded the lower half of the

zone. Junior shortstop, Johnny Adams, was a machine behind King, with

seven assists recorded.

Virginia Tech’s only run came in the fourth inning to make it a 4-1

game. The Hokies had runners on second and third with no outs, but

King stuck to his game plan of forcing ground balls and it enabled him

to get out of the jam with just one run coming on an RBI ground out to

the BC shortstop Adams. For King, keeping the ball down in the zone

was the difference.

“In the past two weeks you could see that I

had more fly balls than ground balls. Today,

getting a lot of ground-ball outs felt good—it

enabled me to get back to my former self,”

King said.

King cruised after his one blip in the fourth,

in an otherwise near-perfect outing, allow-

ing three singles spread out over the final

five innings. Right through the end

of the game, King showed re-

Soft ball: Sweeping Away SyracuseThe Eagles will finish fourth in the ACC af-ter sweeping Syracuse this weekend.........B2

Lacrosse: Orange Ousts EaglesFor the second-consecutive year, the Eagles were bounced by Syracuse in the ACCs....B2

FOOTBALL

See Laremy Tunsil, B2

With the fi nal pick on the second night of

the NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos selected

safety Justin Simmons, the fi rst former Boston

College player to be taken in the fi rst three

rounds since the Carolina Panthers picked

Luke Kuechly ninth overall in 2012.

Simmons was a four-year player and two-

year starter for the Eagles, playing mostly free

safety but also seeing some time at cornerback

his junior year. He led one of the best defenses

in the country this past fall, tallying 67 tackles

and fi ve interceptions, two of which came in

a career day against Notre Dame.

In his tweet announcing the pick, Broncos

general manager John Elway cited him as being

a “big rangy safety … with great cover skills.”

Listed around 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, there

has been some concern that Simmons is a bit

too lanky, but his overall athleticism should

allow him to make an impact at the profes-

sional level.

He performed well at the NFL combine

and BC’s Pro Day a couple months back,

running a 4.61 at the former and a 4.53 at the

latter. His ability to be a leader on the fi eld

and make big plays also seemed to contribute

to his appeal.

After losing safety David Brutton, Jr. to the

Washington Redskins in free agency this off -

season, Simmons joins a roster that may have

a place for him in the next couple years. Darian

Stewart will likely get the start at free safety this

fall for the team with the best defense in the

NFL in 2015, both in terms of total yards and

passing yards surrendered per game. He was

the seventh safety selected overall in this year’s

draft, and just the third free safety.

One day after Simmons was drafted, three

more members of the nation’s No. 1 defense

joined the safety in the NFL. Linebacker Steven

Daniels was selected in the seventh round by

the Washington Redskins with the 232nd

overall pick, while defensive tackle Connor

Wujciak and defensive end Mehdi Abdesmad

were signed as undrafted free agents by the

Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans,

respectively.

Daniels, a three-year starter for head coach

Steve Addazio’s squad, earned All-ACC First

Team recognition after leading the Eagles with

82 tackles, including 16 for a loss. One of his

most impressive performances of the 2015

campaign came against then-No. 5 Clemson in

October, when the senior tallied nine tackles,

a sack, and an interception return of 18 yards.

Th e Redskins were not expecting Daniels, one

of their top-30 invites, to remain on the board

in the seventh round, so general manager Scot

McLoughan jumped at the opportunity to snag

the hard-hitting linebacker.

Wujciak caught the eyes of scouts with his

strength and tackling ability last year, register-

ing 12 tackles for a loss and 4.5 sacks on his way

to All-ACC honors. Questions surrounded his

ability to rush the passer against NFL off ensive

linemen, but his reputation as a consistent

tackler was hard for teams to overlook. He will

be joining new head coach Doug Pederson in

Philadelphia, where the Eagles are coming off

of a 7-9 season that led to Chip Kelly’s fi ring.

Th e team did not select any other defensive

tackles in this year’s draft, but signed DT

Destiny Vaeao from Washington State as an

undrafted free agent.

The Titans signed Mehdi Abdesmad

following a senior campaign in which the

defensive end recorded 15 tackles and fi ve

sacks for Don Brown’s defense. Th e 6-foot-7

lineman suff ered season-ending injuries in

2013 and 2014 but stayed healthy in his fi nal

year to garner an All-ACC Honorable Men-

tion. He will face a position battle at the bottom

of the depth chart in Tennessee with fellow

undrafted signee and defensive end Terrell

Lathan from TCU.

DUNN-KING ON TECH

DUNN

KING

See Baseball, B4

Virginia TechBoston College

14

LIZZY BARRETT / HEIGHTS STAFF

BASEBALL

THE HEIGHTS C5Monday, May 2, 2016

I am all for creative liberties being

taken in shows or films with source mate-

rial, but not all of these liberties are of

equal merit. Game of Thrones’ first episode

of season six has done harm to the world

it lives in by breaking fundamental societal

rules that serve as part of the fantasy

bedrock of the show. The result is that the

show is becoming less and less aware of its

roots and more concerned with the flimsy

spectacle of fantasy on screen.

The scene in question is the murder of

Prince Doran and his son Trystane at the

hands of the Sand Snakes and Ellaria Sand.

Homicide should not be cause for too

much concern in a show that has left such

a bloody footprint in the minds of viewers,

but these killings are more hazardous to

the world than most. Westeros is a place

rooted in tradition, honor, and loyalty. In a

world where people are meant to grow up

fast, learn to fight for their lives at a young

age, and possibly ascend to the throne,

one thing remains more or less a constant

ally: family. When I say this I mean direct,

nuclear family, rather than bannermen,

who have proved to be quite fickle in the

story. Without family, one is likely to be a

Lommy, murdered by wildling raids, or en-

slaved along the shores of the Narrow Sea.

The Starks have (had) family to rely on, the

Lannisters have family to rely on, even the

Boltons seem to count on each other.

Some may argue that many of these

relationships are strained and flawed.

Though that may be true, these people,

however flawed their relationships may

be, stick together for better, or, more

often, for worse. Others may point out

how Daenerys sat by as Viserys was killed

by the golden crown he so desired or

how Tyrion murdered his father and was

falsely accused of murdering Joffrey. But

one of these happened in the lawlessness

of the Dothraki Sea and the other was

brought to the royal court to condemn the

kinslayer (Tyrion was in deep). These sce-

narios, though they challenge traditional

Westerosi family dynamics, never kill the

undercurrent of the importance of family

and sticking together.

But in Dorne, I guess things are dif-

ferent. (Some people gon’ die). Wasting

Doran and his son was flat-out stupid. Not

only does it undermine the notion that you

should not murder your family, it also un-

dercuts just how important family was to

Dorne. Oberyn died trying to avenge the

death of his sister Elia and her children in

his duel with Gregor. For years, he planned

and trained to take down the enemy with-

out bringing any fury down on Dorne. He

fought for his family because he loved his

family. If anything, seeing his brother get

shanked to death and his nephew speared

in the face would cause a different kind of

splitting pain in the head of The Viper.

Politically, the move is equally as sim-

ple-minded. Who in Westeros will want

to deal with kinslayers? Additionally, they

are all Sands, bastards with no real claim

to the seat of Dorne by Westerosi law. And

though the culture is different in Dorne,

they are all women. After giving Myrcella

a real kiss of death, Doran seemed like the

reasonable man to do damage control on

an event that surely would stir up some

trouble. And if you are going to lop a few

branches off of the family tree, why not

have a plan a little more substantive and

grounded than stand and fight? Their mo-

tivations should be more clear than some

personal vendetta, especially when they

have everything to lose.

If getting back at the Lannisters for the

trial-by-combat-gone-wrong was enough

motivation, why kill your prince and his

son? As renowned fighters and assassins,

couldn’t these capable Sand Snakes crack

some skulls on the DL?

All the action in the show demon-

strates that mindless killing is not only

hard to understand, but frustrating when

taken into the context of the world built up

around the show. Motivations were much

clearer in the books. And I say this not as

some book snob, touting them as better. I

watch the show and read the books as two

separate entities, but I will point out when

the show breaks the fantasy rules that both

forms of the story abide by.

The despondent feeling that Game of Thrones is entering an era of inconsistency

is one that I hope is untrue. The killing

cannot serve as the crux of the narrative

movement, so maybe the departure from

the books is not the best idea, if the pro-

ducers do not understand what the world

is all about.

Tyrion has said as much:

“The mind needs books, just like a

sword needs a whetstone, if it’s to keep its

edge.”

As the only gospel group on

campus, Voices of Imani took

the opportunity to present a

breadth of musical expression

that took took the audience on

an emotional, melodic journey

Saturday night. It stuck to

the roots of the club, which

began in 1977 with a group of

students who wanted to cre-

ate a music group on campus

in which they could come

together, express their faith,

and celebrate the rich tradition

found in the black worship

experience.

Starting off with the up-

lifting “Troubles Don’t Last

Always,” Voices of Imani continued to build

up the energy at the beginning of the show by

moving on to “Looking For You” and “Love

You Like That.” The latter had

one of the strongest solos

of the concert, by freshman

member Bryan Paula, MCAS

’19—quite a compliment given

that this concert was filled

with excellent solos.

From these spirited pieces,

the group moved on to the

jazzy “Unbelievable.” This

was an interesting piece that

switched up the entire energy

of the concert. It continued

on this trend as it smoothly

transitioned into “Peace and

Love Medley,” an original com-

posed by Voices’ own Jessica

Stephens, MCAS ’17. This was a wonderful

piece and an impressive display of Stephens’

talent. The music and lyrics were perfectly

matched. It even had a great rap solo, which

Stephens delivered. The next medley, “Change

the World,” built on the haunting undertones

of the previous song, pulling on the audience’s

emotions.

The medley “Blackbird/Fly” slowly tran-

sitioned into an upbeat anthem. This piece

served as great way to bring back the energy

from the beginning of the show and then

increase it even more. By the time it ended,

most of the audience was on its feet, swaying

and clapping along. This piece also featured

wonderful solos by Paula Assou and Chloe

Fasanmi, both MCAS ’18, as well as freestyle

solos by the trumpet and saxophone players.

With such a strong showing, Voices could have

easily ended the show right then and there. It

had one more surprise, however, in store for

the audience—a cover of “Ultralight Beam”

from Kanye West’s Life of Pablo. Despite the

short time it had to prepare this piece, it was

definitely the highlight of the show. It was an

expertly arranged piece that had wonderful

solos by Levi Pells, MCAS ’16, Eva Frimpong,

MCAS ’18, Jacquelyn Andalcio, LSOE ’17,

Assou, and Stephens. With this piece, Voices

showed that it had been saving the best for

last.

Perhaps the finest strength of Voices

of Imani is the sheer amount of energy its

members bring to the stage. Each singer

looks so engaged and moved by the music. It

makes it difficult for the audience to remain

disengaged. Furthermore, the large number

of soloists was a great component to the

event. Each performer was dynamic, with a

unique presence and style on stage. It is also

important to take a moment to compliment

David Altenor, BC ’09, and the current direc-

tor of Voices of Imani. He played an integral

part in transferring the energy on the stage

to the audience, pushing it to chime in if it

knew the words. Near the beginning of the

show, he led a back-and-forth between the

audience and the performers, which focused

the show’s energy and capture the audience’s

attention.

The only problem with the show was that

despite efforts to fix the microphones, the band

often overpowered the choir. Though the venue

may have made this impossible to change, it hurt

the overall experience because it was at times dif-

ficult to hear the choir well. This was especially

evident with the “Change the World” medley,

which had another great solo, but unfortunately

the choir was almost inaudible over the band.

The sil-

ver lining,

however,

is that the

band was

consis-

tently spot

on. Despite

the techni-

cal issues,

Voices of

Imani was

able to cre-

ate a fun,

environ-

ment—one

perfect for

a beautiful

Saturday

afternoon

concert

on O'Neill

Plaza.

Voices of Imani

While Arts Fest is mainly a time of

celebration for the work that the school’s

students have put into their distinct crafts

throughout the semester, it also provides each

year’s seniors with a chance to end their ca-

reers, personal and artistic, in an encouraging

and loving setting. There is a sense of finality

to each event over the course of three days,

and that feeling certainly did not escape any

performers at the Arts Fest Spoken Word

program last Friday.

As the Juice performance came to a close

at 7:30 Friday

night , Arts

Fest workers

began to set up

O’Neill Plaza

for a night of

spoken word

performance.

L i k e m a n y

open mics on

campus, the

evening was

a catchall for any and all forms of spoken

word, meaning a wide variety of poems were

read: improv poetry, rap, slam poetry, and

even simple ramblings of the mind were all

welcome. As one performer after another

stepped up to the stage, one fact became

increasingly clear: there’s no better place than

Boston College to find immensely talented

speakers.

Arts Fest Spoken Word was run in the

most traditional sense of an “open mic”—first,

the sacrificial poet reads a poem to kick off the

event, and the stage becomes free to anyone

willing to brave the eyes of the audience. Any

person could stand any number of times to

SPOKEN WORD

was an emotional event for all.

In fact, for more than one spoken-

word artist, Arts Fest 2016 was the last

BC open mic ever. There’s a sense of

electricity in the air on occasions such

as this—onlookers and performers alike

can feel it. Each word crackles with a

little more energy, holds a little more

weight, calls the end of a BC career one

step closer. If nothing else, those who

engage in spoken word are clearly quite

in touch with their emotions—every

person in the room felt the sense of si-

multaneous dread and freedom knowing

that the next step of life was, for many,

close at hand.

Events such as these make it abun-

dantly clear that there is an untapped

market of talent for performers on BC’s

campus. It became more and more com-

mon as the night pressed on to hear the

words “this is my first time,” but with

every statement of these words came a

poem or thought that was as polished as

anyone’s. One fact has begun to stand

out above the rest: the low level of BC

student support and involvement in the

art of spoken word is a true tragedy, be-

cause, if last Friday was any evidence, tal-

ent seems to be around every corner.

read, and many chose to do just that. And

despite the fact that the event came to a rela-

tively early close, the works of many artists

found their way into the limelight.

The stage lights were bright, but not so

bright as to outshine the poets standing under

them. High points of the evening (and there

were many) included the work of both the

experienced and the beginners. “Tales From

the Friendzone,” written by Rusty Cosino, BC

SLAM! member and MCAS ’19, had audience

members rolling with laughter and then,

heartbreak, as the last lines were delivered.

On the other end of the spectrum, his “5

Responses to People Who Call Me a Hipster,”

done entirely off the cuff, dropped jaws.

Though the event was not BC SLAM!-

sponsored, many of its poets performed. Of

note was Alex Hadley, MCAS ’16, perform-

ing “I Am a Machine.” Relating the reality of

only being understood through numbers, be

they height, weight, GPA, or otherwise, she

reminded those who listened that they them-

selves are not just a number, but rather the

sum of the memories they’ve made, forgotten,

or almost had. As this was Hadley’s last BC

open mic, it was clear that this last reading JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

THE HEIGHTSThursday, January 17, 2014 B5THE HEIGHTSThursday, April 7, 2016 B5

THE HEIGHTSThursday, January 17, 2014THE HEIGHTS

Monday, May 2, 2016CLASSIFIEDS B3

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THE HEIGHTS Monday, May 2, 2016B4

Baseball, From B1

BASEBALL

Mike King tossed his third career complete game in a 4-1 win over the Hokies on Sunday.

Justin Dunn (above) struck out six batters in 5 2/3 innings on Saturday while Mitch Bigras (below) had one of the team’s two RBIs.LIZZY BARRETT / HEIGHTS STAFF

A beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon

brought the crowds out in force to the

Birdcage, creating a vibrant, energetic

environment

for Boston Col-

lege baseball to

welcome Virginia Tech for the second

game of its weekend series. The allure of

an unclouded spring day, however, was

not the only contributing factor to the

uniquely special ambience of the game.

Birdball played host to members of the

United States Military in honor of the

Wounded Warrior Project. Donned in

full camouflage jerseys, the Eagles (22-

17, 8-13 Atlantic Coast), led by starting

pitcher Justin Dunn, defeated the Hok-

ies (15-29, 5-18) 2-0.

Dunn, whose starts always draw a

sea of radar guns from scouts from all

across the majors, had a top-notch day

on the mound. The right-handed junior

threw a career-high 111 pitches and

collected a career-high six strikeouts.

Dunn additionally only gave up three

hits and four walks over 5 2/3 innings

on his way to earning his second win of

the season. In the few instances when

a Hokie happened to end up on third,

Dunn used his overpowering 96-mph

fastball (which maintained its veloc-

ity into the sixth inning) to quash any

hopes of scoring.

“I was just coming out trying to give

my team a shot to win,” Dunn said when

asked about his performance. “My job

was to get as many innings as I can, and

put up as many zeroes as I could.”

The most nerve-wracking moment

of the game for the Eagles came in the

top of the sixth when a tired Dunn load-

ed the bases with two outs. Head coach

Mike Gambino summoned sophomore

Bobby Skogsbergh from the pen in an

effort to keep Virginia Tech off the

board. In only two pitches, Skogsbergh

got Hokie catcher Joe Freiday, Jr., to foul

out to the catcher in order to preserve

the shutout. Skogsbergh relieved ably,

hurling 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief

before senior Jesse Adams would come

in to record the final two outs for the

Eagles. The BC pitching staff as a whole

only surrendered six hits and five walks

as it combined for the shutout.

On the offensive side, Birdball had

trouble getting anything going against

Virginia Tech sophomore Packy Naugh-

ton. While it has been a turbulent year

for Naughton, who came into the day

sporting a 7.50 ERA and a 2-6 record,

he certainly looked far better on Sat-

urday than his stats would suggest.

With effective spotting of his fastball

and good movement on his changeup,

Naughton kept BC off-balance. But

Birdball took advantage of its opportu-

nities with timely hitting.

The Eagles notched one run with

two outs in the bottom of the second

when sophomore Mitch Bigras shot

a ground ball over the glove of the

diving first baseman to score junior

Johnny Adams. The Eagles tallied one

more in the fifth when junior Michael

Strem came up on the winning end of a

marathon at bat, shooting a single into

left field in order to bring home Jake

Palomaki. The two runs would prove to

be all the Eagles needed to support the

dominant pitching staff and leave Shea

Field with a win.

Gambino noted the impact of the

large crowd on the game, while also

highlighting Saturday’s special guests:

the Wounded Warriors.

“The atmosphere in the Birdcage

this year has been awesome,” Gambino

said. “Our boys get so fired up seeing

all these students out there. We’ve got

a huge home field advantage. … They

believe they are honoring those men

and women who gear up everyday …

and they are proud of that.”

The Eagles will need to continue to

find sources of inspiration as the season

winds down, and the race for a spot in

the ACC postseason tournament heats

up.

Following an 18-6 blowout loss at

home to Bryant University, Boston

College baseball was eager to return to

the field. Hav-

i n g r e c e n t l y

taken two out

of three from then-No. 4 Louisville last

weekend, the Eagles were ready to get

back on track behind their ace Jacob Ste-

vens in the first game of a crucial three-

game series against last-place Virginia

Tech. Stevens, however, uncharacteris-

tically struggled, as did the rest of the

team as a whole in the Eagles’ 5-0 loss

Friday afternoon at Shea Field.

Stevens and BC (21-17, 7-13 Atlantic

Coast) made it through the first three

innings fairly easily, allowing just one

unearned run. After retiring the lead-

off man in the fourth on two pitches,

Stevens started to get into trouble. He

hit the next batter, and Garrett Hudson

followed by roping a double down the

left-field line, putting two runners in

scoring position with only one out. A

brief mound visit by pitching coach

Jim Foster didn’t help Stevens, as the

very next pitch was smacked over the

right center field wall by Joe Freiday, Jr.,

putting the Hokies up 4-0. Stevens was

pulled after 4 2/3 innings, giving up five

runs, four earned, on eight hits with a

walk and five strikeouts. Stevens’ tough

outing rose his ERA a half run from 1.02

to 1.56 and dropped his record to 3-3.

While the box score seems decep-

tive with only the one walk and a hit

batter, Stevens struggled with control

all day. He missed with a lot of pitches,

in particular with his fastball, and

Virginia Tech hitters were capitalizing

on Stevens’ mistakes. The Hokies’ (14-

28, 5-17) hitters were hammering line

drives all over the field and were able to

knock the Eagles’ ace out of the game

before the end of the fifth.

“[Stevens] didn’t really have control

of all his stuff,” head coach Mike Gam-

bino said after the defeat. “He had some

big misses and left some fastballs up in

the middle of the plate.”

The offensive woes continued for

the Eagles. While they were able to put

the ball in play, striking out only three

times against Virginia Tech pitching,

they couldn’t find any holes in the field

to string a few hits together. The Eagles’

biggest threat of the day came in the

seventh inning down 5-0. After two

quick outs, the Eagles showed some

fight. Gabe Hernandez and pinch hit-

ter Scott Braren worked consecutive

walks, followed by Jake Palomaki getting

plunked by Virginia Tech’s Kit Scheetz,

who held the Eagles scoreless. While

Palomaki would be Scheetz’ last hitter,

Virginia Tech’s Jon Woodcock cleaned

up the damage, retiring Nick Sciortino

on two pitches as the Eagles left the

bases loaded. While he was by no means

dominant, Scheetz shut out the Eagles

in 6 2/3 innings of work, surrendering

just four hits and three walks while

striking out only one BC hitter.

“We did a great job with two strikes,”

Gambino said. “We’ll score runs. As

long as we continue to have good at bats

and get good pitches to hit, our offense

will score runs.”

Getting ahead of hitters was a ma-

jor key to Scheetz’ success. Many BC

hitters were behind in the count down

two strikes and forced to take defen-

sive swings at borderline strikes. The

Eagles put the ball in play, but it didn’t

matter, as the Hokies had a flawless

defensive showing with no errors on

the afternoon.

The loss Friday afternoon is defi-

nitely a frustrating one for the Eagles,

who have now lost three in a row. Vir-

ginia Tech entered play last in the ACC

standings and last in ERA at 6.68 as a

collective unit. While Stevens wasn’t his

usual dominant self, the Eagles’ offense

once again struggled to get anything

going offensively. The Eagles rank last

in the ACC in batting average, hitting

.262 as a team.

All things considered, BC will need

to turn it up this weekend if it wants

any chance of staying competitive in the

playoff hunt.

Virginia TechBoston College

50

TAYLOR PERISON / HEIGHTS STAFF

markable consistency with his place-

ment of pitches, as Virginia Tech failed

to make any sort of solid contact with

the ball.

As King mowed down the Hokies’

lineup, the Eagles were able to avoid

falling behind early like they did on

Friday against the Hokies in their 5-0

loss. This enabled BC to play exactly

the brand of baseball it wanted to on

the offensive side.

Gambino called for a sacrifice bunt

to BC’s advantage three different times

to move base runners along into scoring

position, before Adams, Mitch Bigras,

and Dominic Hardaway each delivered

timely singles to knock in the Eagles’

four runs. All four runs for the Eagles

were scored with two outs, underscor-

ing how BC executed its game plan of

scrapping for runs.

For the Hokies, Nic Enright, an

inexperienced freshman starter who

came in sporting a 7.93 earned run

average through four starts, was on the

mound. Enright lasted five innings for

Virginia Tech allowing seven hits and

all four runs. Just two of them, however,

were earned as a result of two errors by

the Hokies’ middle infield. The Eagles

did not hit Enright particularly hard,

getting only one extra-base hit—a

second-inning double by Gian Martel-

lini—off him.

BC was at its best today in a cru-

cial conference game, putting forth

an exciting and complete team effort.

Great pitching was bolstered by timely

hits and outstanding fielding, as well

as catcher Nick Sciortino’s 15th time

catching a runner stealing.

When Birdball plays the way Gam-

bino gameplans, it’s a fascinating sight.

The Eagles’ combination of strategy,

talent, and enthusiasm brought light to

a cold and rainy Sunday morning.

Virginia TechBoston College

02

MICHAEL SULLIVAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR