8
Protesters gathered in the Boston Common to smoke tobacco on Saturday to ignite con- versation against a recent ordinance by City Council that banned smoking in Boston pub- lic parks. Former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino initially proposed the smoking ban ordinance, which prohibits smoking of marijuana, to- bacco and vaporizers in public parks. It came into effect almost immediately after the City Council approved the ordinance on Nov. 20. The ordinance will be enforced by the Boston Police Department, who will make violators pay a fine of $250 per violation. “They passed this ordinance without re- ally allowing us any input,” said Mike Cann, lead activist. “We weren’t allowed to even speak on it. It’s a blanket ordinance: there’s no place for anyone to smoke on the Common anywhere. We’re hoping to, in the very least, change it to something less severe.” The smoking gathering, which the orga- nizers called the “Boston Common Smoke Out/Vape Up,” was located at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. ‘Smoke Outs’ will take place on the third Saturday of each month un- til the smoking ban is repealed, Cann said. Cann, the organizer of the Smoke Out and former president of MassCANN, said selec- tive enforcement would result from the smok- ing ban. The police would target people who would not be able to pay the fine, such as col- lege students and people of a low socioeco- nomic status. “We’re really concerned about selective enforcement,” he said. “That’s really why a lot of us are up here. It’s whose going to get targeted. It’s racial profiling.” In addition to being a smoker’s rights ac- tivist, Cann is also a cannabis legalization ac- tivist. He said the ban was enacted in part to financially hurt the Freedom Rally, known by most as Hempfest, which takes place in the Boston Common every September. He is hop- ing more people will join the Smoke Outs by April 20, a holiday for cannabis users. Marking the first development project under Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s lead- ership, an expansion project on the Land- mark Center was approved Thursday by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. “The Landmark Center expansion is a transformative project that continues the revitalization of the Fenway neighbor- hood,” Walsh said in a Monday statement. “It will add new places to live for Bosto- nians of all income levels, improved neigh- borhood food access and new public green space. It’s a great project for the City, and I’m pleased that the Boston Redevelopment Authority has approved this development.” The Landmark Center will bring new housing units, underground parking, unique retailers and a large Wegmans gro- cery store to the Fenway area. Steven Samuels, founder and chairman of Samuels and Associates, the project de- velopers, listed the many benefits that this expansion will bring to the area in his letter to the director of the BRA. “[The Project will] contribute to the neighborhood’s vision for a diverse urban village, dramatically increasing the high quality publicly accessible open space on the Project Site and revitalizing a large- scale existing office building and trans- forming it into a modern employment hub,” he said. “[It will also] improve the pedes- trian experience along well traveled routes between the neighborhood and the MBTA station. These changes will dramatically enhance the Fenway’s position as a vibrant mixed-use district.” According to the Notification Form sub- mitted to the BRA, the finished Landmark Center will include 550 housing units, 13 percent of which will be affordable. It will additionally include 110,000 square feet of retail space, 75,000 square feet of grocery space, 15,000 square feet of office space and a subsurface parking garage with a ca- pacity of 1,500 vehicles — not including space available for valet parking. The total cost will be approximately $650 million. The project is at the intersection of Park Street and Brookline Avenue. It will involve demolishing the existing parking garage and building multiple buildings be- tween eight and 15 stories high that will be connected with the existing building. Although it is a costly project, it will re- turn this investment in community benefits, said the release. “The project provides over $8 million in public benefits for the surrounding com- munity for new public art, a multi-use path, improvements to Audubon Circle, support for Emerald Necklace Conservancy pro- gramming, and new open space to replace The Office of Human Capital will devel- op a three-year plan, known as the Teacher Diversity Action Plan, to increase diversity in the Boston Public School system, Interim Superintendent of Boston Public Schools John McDonough announced Wednesday. TDAP will have three areas of focus: workplace diversity, workplace inclusion and sustainability. The plan’s creators hope to foster a diverse faculty that matches the diversity of its student body, said BPS in a Thursday release. “For years, we’ve been trying to have a higher retained teaching force that is re- flective of the student population in terms of diversity,” said BPS spokesman Brian Ballou. “It’s been tough at times, [but] now we are proactively launching this Teacher Diversity Action Plan to recruit highly qualified diverse teaching teams that are culturally, linguistically and ethnically di- verse, and we believe that by doing so, it will help in terms of the academic achieve- ment of students.” Over the last three years, BPS has main- tained its percentages of diversity in teach- ers, school administrators and other em- ployees. In the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years, 22 percent of teachers and guidance counselors in the school district were black, 10 percent were Latino and 6 percent were listed as “other”. This year, the percentage of black teachers decreased to 21 percent. All other numbers remained the same, BPS reported in a “Workplace Diversity” pre- sentation Wednesday. “Before 2011, [the numbers] were low- er,” Ballou said. “In some years, it’s actu- ally been above federally mandated num- bers, but overall, it has been lower. It’s a challenge. We are embarking on this proac- tively in order to bring the ranks of highly qualified diverse teachers up. We believe that we’re on the right track to achieving these goals.” Richard Stutman, president of the Bos- ton Teachers Union, said the recent per- centages are disappointing, compared to the numbers of 25 or 30 years ago. “I hope the school system finally re- Tuesday, January 21, 2014 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University The Daily Free Press Year XLIV. Volume LXXXVI. Issue III www.dailyfreepress.com [ ] By Felicia Gans Daily Free Press Staff By Kelsey Newell Daily Free Press Staff By Regine Sarah Capungan Daily Free Press Staff $650 million expansion project in Fenway approved by BRA Diversity plan to be developed for Boston public school system By Taryn Ottaunick Daily Free Press Staff Smoke-outs held on Boston Common to protest ban on smoking in parks BPS, see page 2 SMOKING, see page 2 DUAL DEGREE, see page 2 BU to offer dual degree program in law, medicine Today: Sunny/High 20 Tonight: Snow/Low 13 Tomorrow: 16/9 Data Courtesy of weather.com WEATHER Study finds fast food not only cause of obesity, page 5. BU professor aids in researching methane leaks, page 3. UNDER D.C. BU goalie Sean Maguire makes 39 saves in loss, page 8. FAST FAT DOWN TO THE -UIRE KENSHIN OKUBO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF Boston University announced Thursday it will begin offering a joint Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Law degree in Fall 2014. The program will span six years, one year less than if a student pursues the two degrees separately. KIERA BLESSING/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF A smoker who prefers to remain anonymous lights his cigarette while sitting in Boston Common. Approximately a dozen people gathered in Boston Common Saturday to protest the city’s smok- ing ban that the Boston Parks and Recreation Commission passed on Dec. 30. LANDMARK CENTER, see page 2 Boston University will offer a program that allows students to earn a Doctor of Medi- cine degree and a Doctor of Law degree si- multaneously in six years, officials from the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Law announced Thursday. “This joint degree is a great example of the University’s ‘One BU’ philosophy, as two of BU’s most prestigious professional schools collaborate to provide a new interdis- ciplinary degree program for our students,” said LAW Director of Communications Ann Comers-Wood. “It is also part of the law school’s strategic plan to develop more dual degree program options for our students.” The program, which will be begin in the Fall 2014 semester, will feature specific blocks of time devoted to both law and medi- cal disciplines in order to save candidates a year of education, said LAW Associate Dean for Academic Affairs David Walker, who helped develop the program. “They spend the first three years at med school as a traditional med student,” he said. “So their first three years are just like any oth- er med student’s. Then, there are two years that they spend at law school in a tradition that a first-year and second-year law student would. The sixth year, they spend one semes- ter at BU LAW and one semester at BUSM.” Walker said one of the primary concerns in creating the program was ensuring that candidates would have ample time to focus on both medicine and law without the two disciplines coinciding. “It was important for both of us [BUSM and LAW] that the students have a big chunk of time at the med school and at the law school uninterrupted,” Walker said. “So the student can be a traditional law student for a couple of years, a traditional med. student for three years.” Dr. Megan Sandel, an associate professor at BUSM and co-creator of the program, said one of the program’s greatest strengths is that it has the flexibility to be tailored to each spe- cific student’s goals. “Our experience in interviewing other JD/MD programs across the country, though there aren’t that many — this is going to be the second one in New england — is that it depends on what the student wants in their career,” Sandel said. “We’ll be able to tailor

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Protesters gathered in the Boston Common to smoke tobacco on Saturday to ignite con-versation against a recent ordinance by City Council that banned smoking in Boston pub-lic parks.

Former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino initially proposed the smoking ban ordinance, which prohibits smoking of marijuana, to-bacco and vaporizers in public parks. It came into effect almost immediately after the City Council approved the ordinance on Nov. 20. The ordinance will be enforced by the Boston Police Department, who will make violators pay a fi ne of $250 per violation.

“They passed this ordinance without re-ally allowing us any input,” said Mike Cann, lead activist. “We weren’t allowed to even speak on it. It’s a blanket ordinance: there’s no place for anyone to smoke on the Common anywhere. We’re hoping to, in the very least, change it to something less severe.”

The smoking gathering, which the orga-nizers called the “Boston Common Smoke

Out/Vape Up,” was located at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. ‘Smoke Outs’ will take place on the third Saturday of each month un-til the smoking ban is repealed, Cann said.

Cann, the organizer of the Smoke Out and former president of MassCANN, said selec-tive enforcement would result from the smok-ing ban. The police would target people who would not be able to pay the fi ne, such as col-lege students and people of a low socioeco-nomic status.

“We’re really concerned about selective enforcement,” he said. “That’s really why a lot of us are up here. It’s whose going to get targeted. It’s racial profi ling.”

In addition to being a smoker’s rights ac-tivist, Cann is also a cannabis legalization ac-tivist. He said the ban was enacted in part to fi nancially hurt the Freedom Rally, known by most as Hempfest, which takes place in the Boston Common every September. He is hop-ing more people will join the Smoke Outs by April 20, a holiday for cannabis users.

Marking the fi rst development project under Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s lead-ership, an expansion project on the Land-mark Center was approved Thursday by the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

“The Landmark Center expansion is a transformative project that continues the revitalization of the Fenway neighbor-hood,” Walsh said in a Monday statement. “It will add new places to live for Bosto-nians of all income levels, improved neigh-borhood food access and new public green space. It’s a great project for the City, and I’m pleased that the Boston Redevelopment Authority has approved this development.”

The Landmark Center will bring new housing units, underground parking, unique retailers and a large Wegmans gro-cery store to the Fenway area.

Steven Samuels, founder and chairman

of Samuels and Associates, the project de-velopers, listed the many benefi ts that this expansion will bring to the area in his letter to the director of the BRA.

“[The Project will] contribute to the neighborhood’s vision for a diverse urban village, dramatically increasing the high quality publicly accessible open space on the Project Site and revitalizing a large-scale existing offi ce building and trans-forming it into a modern employment hub,” he said. “[It will also] improve the pedes-trian experience along well traveled routes between the neighborhood and the MBTA station. These changes will dramatically enhance the Fenway’s position as a vibrant mixed-use district.”

According to the Notifi cation Form sub-mitted to the BRA, the fi nished Landmark Center will include 550 housing units, 13 percent of which will be affordable. It will additionally include 110,000 square feet of

retail space, 75,000 square feet of grocery space, 15,000 square feet of offi ce space and a subsurface parking garage with a ca-pacity of 1,500 vehicles — not including space available for valet parking. The total cost will be approximately $650 million.

The project is at the intersection of Park Street and Brookline Avenue. It will involve demolishing the existing parking garage and building multiple buildings be-tween eight and 15 stories high that will be connected with the existing building.

Although it is a costly project, it will re-turn this investment in community benefi ts, said the release.

“The project provides over $8 million in public benefi ts for the surrounding com-munity for new public art, a multi-use path, improvements to Audubon Circle, support for Emerald Necklace Conservancy pro-gramming, and new open space to replace

The Offi ce of Human Capital will devel-op a three-year plan, known as the Teacher Diversity Action Plan, to increase diversity in the Boston Public School system, Interim Superintendent of Boston Public Schools John McDonough announced Wednesday.

TDAP will have three areas of focus: workplace diversity, workplace inclusion and sustainability. The plan’s creators hope to foster a diverse faculty that matches the diversity of its student body, said BPS in a Thursday release.

“For years, we’ve been trying to have a higher retained teaching force that is re-fl ective of the student population in terms of diversity,” said BPS spokesman Brian Ballou. “It’s been tough at times, [but] now we are proactively launching this Teacher Diversity Action Plan to recruit highly qualifi ed diverse teaching teams that are culturally, linguistically and ethnically di-verse, and we believe that by doing so, it will help in terms of the academic achieve-ment of students.”

Over the last three years, BPS has main-tained its percentages of diversity in teach-ers, school administrators and other em-ployees.

In the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years, 22 percent of teachers and guidance counselors in the school district were black, 10 percent were Latino and 6 percent were listed as “other”. This year, the percentage of black teachers decreased to 21 percent. All other numbers remained the same, BPS reported in a “Workplace Diversity” pre-sentation Wednesday.

“Before 2011, [the numbers] were low-er,” Ballou said. “In some years, it’s actu-ally been above federally mandated num-bers, but overall, it has been lower. It’s a challenge. We are embarking on this proac-tively in order to bring the ranks of highly qualifi ed diverse teachers up. We believe that we’re on the right track to achieving these goals.”

Richard Stutman, president of the Bos-ton Teachers Union, said the recent per-centages are disappointing, compared to the numbers of 25 or 30 years ago.

“I hope the school system fi nally re-

Tuesday, January 21, 2014The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

The Daily Free PressYear XLIV. Volume LXXXVI. Issue III www.dailyfreepress.com[ ]

By Felicia GansDaily Free Press Staff

By Kelsey NewellDaily Free Press Staff

By Regine Sarah CapunganDaily Free Press Staff

$650 million expansion project in Fenway approved by BRA

Diversity plan to be developed for Boston public school system

By Taryn OttaunickDaily Free Press Staff

Smoke-outs held on Boston Common to protest ban on smoking in parksBps, see page 2

sMoking, see page 2

Dual Degree, see page 2

BU to off er dual degree program in law, medicine

Today: Sunny/High 20Tonight: Snow/Low 13

Tomorrow: 16/9

Data Courtesy of weather.com

WEATHER

Study fi nds fast food not only cause of obesity, page 5.

BU professor aids in researching methane leaks, page 3.

UNDER D.C. BU goalie Sean Maguire makes 39 saves in loss, page 8.

FAST FAT DOWN TO THE -UIRE

KENSHIN OKUBO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFBoston University announced Thursday it will begin offering a joint Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Law degree in Fall 2014. The program will span six years, one year less than if a student pursues the two degrees separately.

KIERA BLESSING/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFA smoker who prefers to remain anonymous lights his cigarette while sitting in Boston Common. Approximately a dozen people gathered in Boston Common Saturday to protest the city’s smok-ing ban that the Boston Parks and Recreation Commission passed on Dec. 30.

lanDMark center, see page 2

Boston University will offer a program that allows students to earn a Doctor of Medi-cine degree and a Doctor of Law degree si-multaneously in six years, offi cials from the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Law announced Thursday.

“This joint degree is a great example of the University’s ‘One BU’ philosophy, as two of BU’s most prestigious professional schools collaborate to provide a new interdis-ciplinary degree program for our students,” said LAW Director of Communications Ann Comers-Wood. “It is also part of the law school’s strategic plan to develop more dual degree program options for our students.”

The program, which will be begin in the Fall 2014 semester, will feature specifi c blocks of time devoted to both law and medi-cal disciplines in order to save candidates a year of education, said LAW Associate Dean for Academic Affairs David Walker, who helped develop the program.

“They spend the fi rst three years at med school as a traditional med student,” he said. “So their fi rst three years are just like any oth-er med student’s. Then, there are two years that they spend at law school in a tradition that a fi rst-year and second-year law student would. The sixth year, they spend one semes-ter at BU LAW and one semester at BUSM.”

Walker said one of the primary concerns in creating the program was ensuring that

candidates would have ample time to focus on both medicine and law without the two disciplines coinciding.

“It was important for both of us [BUSM and LAW] that the students have a big chunk of time at the med school and at the law school uninterrupted,” Walker said. “So the student can be a traditional law student for a couple of years, a traditional med. student for three years.”

Dr. Megan Sandel, an associate professor

at BUSM and co-creator of the program, said one of the program’s greatest strengths is that it has the fl exibility to be tailored to each spe-cifi c student’s goals.

“Our experience in interviewing other JD/MD programs across the country, though there aren’t that many — this is going to be the second one in New england — is that it depends on what the student wants in their career,” Sandel said. “We’ll be able to tailor

Page 2: The Daily Free Press

2 tuesday, January 21, 2014

their interests, whether they stick to the core in medicine or law or are preparing for a big residency career or plan to go straight into govern-ment.”

The program will accept appli-cations from aspiring medical stu-dents as well as current students at BUSM who provide specifi c plans for receiving both degrees, Sandel said.

Possessing both JD and MD degrees gives a major edge in the career application process, whether earners choose to focus more on law or more on medicine, Walker said.

“There are a lot of lawyers who are working with healthcare, intel-lectual property having to do with healthcare and medical sciences,” he said. “That’s got to be a very at-

tractive combination for a law fi rm looking for someone to do that kind of work. Having an MD and a JD, that would be huge. Putting it on the other side, if you’re a doctor and want to get into hospital adminis-tration, there’s so many legal issues involved.”

Because careers requiring both JDs and MDs are extremely spe-cifi c, Walker said he does not an-ticipate a large number of students participating in the program.

“It’s quite a commitment, six years, but there are some students out there that have a very specifi c interest in which they need both degrees,” Walker said. “We thought we would provide them with that opportunity...We don’t expect to have hundreds of students doing this, but for the select student, it makes a lot of sense.”

existing surface level parking on the Park Drive side of Landmark Center,” the BRA Board said in the release.

Additionally, this project is an-ticipated to create 1,690 construc-tion jobs and 600 permanent jobs.

Some residents said they had mixed feelings about this expan-sion because they believe al-though it may not hurt the com-munity at all, it might not benefi t it either.

“Fenway is really lively, there’s a lot of night life here,” said Mahir Gulrajani, 19, of Ken-more. “Most people that live here mainly go to either Emmanuel College or Boston University,

[there are] a lot of bars and clubs, so I’m not sure if this is really an attractive area to people out of their twenties. People who are in that age range already come here a lot so the Landmark Cen-ter won’t really make a difference for them. It won’t take away from Fenway, but I’m not sure it will really add to it.”

Theo Canty, a restaurant host in Fenway, said the Landmark Center would not fi t in with the demographics of the area.

“I don’t think this is the loca-tion for such a luxurious center, especially pricey housing units,” he said. “There are a lot of col-lege students here who can’t re-ally afford that and unless you’re a die-hard baseball fan, this area

doesn’t have anything really sig-nifi cant to draw you in.”

Dottie Duffy, 53, of Fenway, said she in looking forward to what the expansion will bring to the area.

“It’s going to add to the neigh-borhood, just because the neigh-borhood has already changed so much anyways,” said “I’ve lived here my whole life ... this used to all just be bars, this building used to just by an ACE Ticket center. I’ve seen a lot of changes just in the past few years, and I do think a lot of people would move into those housing units. This area is convenient to a lot of things, the subway, shops and restaurants and obviously the Fenway Park has a lot to offer.”

alizes that it has wandered off and not held to what guidelines it should have held to,” he said. “That would be to work towards getting the school district back on track, which would mean hiring suffi cient black and other minor-ity teachers. It is important that the teacher workforce refl ect, to some degree, the student body that it teaches.”

Stutman said he hopes TDAP will create a faculty that refl ects the diversity of the student body and promote a working environ-ment that is benefi cial for every-one.

“They should make the school system a little more responsive to the needs of all teachers, not just black and minority teachers,” he said. “That would help keep peo-ple in the system.”

Several residents said they support bumping the numbers of

minority teachers in BPS because it is important for children of every race and ethnicity to have positive role models that look like them.

Oliver Cordero, 26, of Brigh-ton, was placed in a Sheltered English Instruction classroom when he was a child. He said he was segregated from other Eng-lish-speaking students because English was not his native lan-guage.

“Before, everything was se-cluded,” he said. “I used to be in a program called Sheltered English. It used to be me and everyone else who wasn’t a U.S. resident, even though I spoke english fl uently. Nowadays, the students are such a diverse group and it’s all about the world experience. If you have different cultures teaching, you get to learn a little bit more about the world.”

Rachel Vincent, 19, of Fen-way, said it is important for stu-

dents to be taught by people who refl ect the diversity of the school.

“If there’s a huge diverse stu-dent population and the teachers aren’t diverse, I don’t think that’s really benefi cial because then the diverse population is still seeing their teachers as not really foster-ing that,” she said. “It doesn’t re-ally help at all if the population is so diverse, but the teachers aren’t.”

Anna Cockrell, 26, of the South End, said educators serve as role models, and a diverse team of role models will be most ben-efi cial for the student body.

“It’s more refl ective of our community,” she said. It’s good to get perspectives of different people of different backgrounds. Having a set of role models that more accurately refl ects the popu-lation as a whole is always impor-tant for people who are young and developing.”

“They’re going to get bigger and bigger by the time 4/20 comes, they’re going to have a real problem here,” Cann said. “They need to ad-dress the situation, listen to what we have to say and offer us something in regards to the blanket fi ne that they just put down.”

Menino said he enacted the ban to protect the health of Boston resi-dents.

‘This amendment is necessary to maintain the health and safety of our public parks and ensure that these valuable resources can be enjoyed by all Boston residents,” Menino said in a Dec. 30 release.

Among those in attendance was Garret Kirkland, 30, a technical sup-port engineer from Boston. He said although he knows cigarettes are unhealthy, it is his choice whether or not to smoke.

“They’re defi nitely unhealthy for you,” he said. “That being said though, that’s really on me. The state penalized me enough with cigarette taxes I don’t really need to be told that I can’t smoke in a park [where I’m] minding my own busi-

ness.”Stephen Helfer, founder of the

Cambridge Citizens for Smokers’ Rights , said he has a different view of the smoking ban.

“A lot of these bans, while they’re justifi ed on protecting the public from secondhand smoke, are really aimed at ostracizing and alienating smokers,” he said. “From my point of view that is an abuse because it has no scientifi c basis and in addition to that, it infringes on people’s rights.”

Additionally, Helfer said this ban essentially shuts out poor and home-less people from the parks.

“A ban like this really affects poor and homeless people who have a very high rates in smoking and who depend on public parks for the kind of tranquility that parks offer,” he said. “So in effect they’re being exiled from the parks.”

Although none of the protesters were fi ned, Stake Asaill, 46, an artist from North Shore, said he and the rest of the protesters were prepared for the worst.

“We were all there waiting to get ticketed,” he said. ”But it is some-thing we believe in.”

Specialized dual degree program caters to specifi c job opportunities

Dual Degree: From Page 1

sMoking: From Page 1

Resident: Ban leaves poor, homeless ‘exiled’ from parks

Fenway project to create more than 2,200 jobs lanDMark center: From Page 1

Program directed to represent student bodyBps: From Page 1

Want to be up-to-date on everything at BU and around Boston?

Follow @dailyfreepress on Twitter!

Page 3: The Daily Free Press

Researchers from Boston Uni-versity and Duke University have found a number of potentially dan-gerous gas leaks in Washington, D.C.’s aging underground pipe-lines, according to a study pub-lished Thursday.

College of Arts and Sciences professor of Earth and environ-ment Nathan Phillips and six other researchers conducted a street sur-vey during January and February of 2013 that found a total of 5,893 gas leaks in the nation’s capital, including 12 locations where po-tentially explosive Grade 1 meth-ane concentrations were found in manholes, Phillips said.

“It’s about four leaks per mile, and that’s a very large number,” Phillips said. “That means that those people in the city are walk-ing by, driving by, in fact, almost everyone in the city is going to be in contact with several leaks.”

The leaks, if left unfixed, may have detrimental effects on the lo-cal environment of Washington, D.C., Phillips said. In the long run, increases in methane levels may also contribute to climate change.

“At the point of the leak, the leaks have explosive potential in some cases, so that’s a human

safety issue,” Phillips said. “Also at that same scale, if the leaks get into the roots of grasses or shrubs or trees, they have the effect of damaging vegetation.”

Not only are the gas leaks harmful to the environment, but the financial implications of exces-sive gas leakage make it necessary to repair them as quickly as pos-sible, said Duke University pro-fessor and member of the research team Robert Jackson.

“Lost natural gas costs consum-ers three billion dollars a year,” Jackson said. “Hydrocarbons like methane and ethane catalyze ozone formation that affects air quality. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, so methane leaks lead to cli-mate change. And finally, in rare cases, they are a consumer safety issue. All of these reasons points to repairing leaks more quickly.”

Philips and Jackson also par-ticipated in a similar study that was conducted in Boston in 2012. The study, whose results were pub-lished in a November edition of the online journal Environmental Pol-lution, found over 3,000 methane leaks in the city of Boston.

While the Washington, D.C. and Boston studies found a large number of leaks, researchers found in Washington, D.C. showed high-er concentrations of methane gas,

Jackson said.“In only one other city has any-

one done this before--that was our work in Boston a year ago,” Jack-son said. “In D.C., we found a sim-ilar number of leaks per mile, but the concentrations were higher.”

Citing a 2013 report from the United States House Committee on Natural Resources, Phillips said U.S. consumers have paid more than $20 billion for lost-and-unac-counted-for natural gas.

“That’s the same situation in D.C.,” said Phillips. “So it’s lost money and it’s passed along to the consumers. Even if it weren’t passed along to consumers, it’s still losing a very valuable com-modity, a very valuable resource.”

The team informed leading Washington, D.C. gas company Washington Gas of potentially ex-plosive leaks in February, although the company took care of only some of the leaks.

“The pipes need replacement — not just repair, but replace-ment,” Phillips said. “Because re-pair means putting on a Band-Aid on a leaking pipe, it’s a really short term fix. Replacement is what’s needed. We need to maintain that infrastructure.”

To read the rest of this story, visit dailyfreepress.com.

With the pressure of academic success causing students at schools such as Boston University to pull frequent “all-nighters,” a study pub-lished Jan. 14 in the journal Sleep shows that this sleep deprivation could lead to brain damage.

The study, conducted by re-searchers from Uppsalla University in Sweden, tested the blood levels of brain injury-related proteins in 15 young men after keeping them awake for one night. After com-paring these blood levels to those taken after subjects received eight hours of sleep, researchers found an increase in the brain injury-related proteins that could point to neuronal damage.

“The biomarkers that were el-evated are impressive,” said Boston University School of Medicine as-sistant professor Hasmeena Kathu-ria, who specializes in sleep medi-cine. “... If it turns out to be true and those biomarkers are elevated, then that could predict if brain damage goes back to lack of sleep.”

Although one all-nighter would not necessarily cause brain damage, continuous sleep deprivation can wreak havoc on a student’s mental health, Kathuria said.

“Sleep deprivation has very im-portant effects on alertness as well as decreased reaction time, judg-ment, short-term memory, impaired information processing,” she said. “There’s a lot of negative effects from sleep deprivation, whether it’s chronic, like five hours for two nights, versus pulling an all-nighter, which is getting two to three hours of sleep for one night.”

All-nighters, which are primar-ily motivated by a need to study, are counter-productive in that lack of sleep has been proven to lead to a decreased GPA, Kathuria said.

“There is definitely a relation-ship between sleep and college performance,” she said. “... Stu-dents who pulled all-nighters had lower GPAs ... Mood disturbances in young kids, depression, suicide, those have all been directly linked to sleep deprivation. Those are defi-nitely important problems that teen-agers and young adults have.”

Extensive sleep deprivation can also cause long-term physical and mental ailments, Kathuria said.

“There’s been several studies that show that with sleep depriva-tion, there’s mood disturbances, in-cluding depression, irritability, anx-iety, weight gain,” she said. “Sleep deprivation has been shown to be linked to insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes, impaired im-munity, increased cardiovascular problems — high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack.”

Kathuria said she recommends a college-age student get at least eight hours of sleep per night. Anything less than seven hours of sleep is considered sleep-deprived.

Vincent Merta, a School of Man-agement junior, said staying up late to study makes him drowsy during the following day, although the ex-tra study time is generally helpful in preparing for exams.

work done, but it doesn’t help you the next day. You don’t do your best work at 3 in the morning.”

To read the rest of this story, visit dailyfreepress.com.

Study: Enrollment in online classes decreasingCampus & City tuesday, January 21, 2014 3

As Boston University continues to expand its offering of Massive Open Online Courses, a study re-leased Wednesday indicates a de-creased rate of enrollment in these online programs at universities na-tionwide.

“This year we found that [the growth of online learning] looks like it is tapering off,” said co-director of the Babson Survey Research Group and leader of the study I. Elaine Allen. “We had about a 6 percent growth rate, compared with 11 per-cent last year. Still growing, but it may be that [while] schools are still offering online, there aren’t many new schools that are joining in.”

The survey, entitled “Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States,” is the 11th an-nual installment of the Babson Sur-vey Research Group’s online learn-ing survey.

The survey is based on data gath-ered from about 3,000 schools, Allen said.

Around 5 percent of higher edu-cation institutions surveyed said they offer a Massive Open Online Course, the study stated. Only 23 percent of academic leaders believe that MOOCs are a sustainable method of offering online courses, the 2013 survey stated, compared to the 28 percent of academic leaders who said they believed so in Babson’s 2012 survey.

Academic leaders’ waning faith in MOOCs could be attributed to their lack of profitability, Allen said.

“We’re trying to decide whether [MOOCs] are a viable option for schools because they don’t essen-tially make any money,” Allen said. “You’re not paying per course.”

Elizabeth Loizeaux, Co-Chair of BU’s Council of Educational Tech-nology and Learning Innovation, said in an email while it might be a challenge to sustain MOOCs finan-cially, the lack of cost allows for widespread use of the technology.

“They are free and so open to anyone, anywhere, with access to the

technology, and thus have the poten-tial to reach new audiences of learn-ers,” Loizeaux said.

According to the CETLI website, BU will offer at least four MOOCs next semester through the platform edX.org, which is used by 700,000 students worldwide.

“The idea of the MOOC is that it’s meant to be very large, multi-user, a huge class,” said Mark Cor-reia, a School of Education professor who specializes in educational media and technology. “So it would be less likely that students here would com-monly use the MOOC, it might more likely be overseas.”

Correia said MOOCs must offer educational benefits exclusive to the online classroom in order to continue seeing enrollment growth.

“There has to be a transformation that’s very different in the way that we learn online that’s not just taking what we’re already doing and putting it online,” he said.

The freedom that MOOCs create for students may be a factor of the declining growth rate because stu-dents are forced to monitor their own education, Allen said.

“The one thing that everyone sees is that with the MOOC, it is harder to stay motivated in an online class,”

she said. “You don’t have anyone telling you what to do for the next class, so you have to motivate your-self.”

Madison Obritz, a College of Communication sophomore, said MOOCs teach accountability be-cause students are responsible for motivating themselves.

“It’s all on you,” Obritz said. “The online course might assign you readings, but you don’t have to go to class to keep up with it, you’re doing it on your own time.”

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Kristy Zukswert said she prefers classroom learning to online because it facilitates personal com-munication with the professor.

“It’s the type of learner that you are,” Zukswert said. “I know I per-sonally benefit from learning in the classroom, with the direct communi-cation with the professor,”

Dongyang Qiu, a School of Man-agement freshman, said classroom interaction is essential to a university education.

“For me, being in a university doesn’t just mean learning stuff,” Qiu said. “In that learning, we com-municate and interact with each oth-er, and we learn a lot more than what we just learn from lectures.”

By Hannah ClarkDaily Free Press Staff

By Taryn OttaunickDaily Free Press Staff

Sleep loss limits academic success, researchers find

The following reports were taken from the Boston University Police Department crime logs from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20.

Smartphone stolenAround 2 p.m. on Jan. 14, an

employee’s smartphone was stolen from her desk while it was left unat-tended at 264 Bay State Road.

Student trapped in elevatorA student was stuck in an eleva-

tor at 656 Beacon St. on Wednesday from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. after she gave BUPD the wrong address when reporting the incident. The student was eventually rescued.

Bicycle stolen from 575 Com-monwealth Ave.

On Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., a student reported that his bicycle was stolen over winter break from a rack outside of 575 Common-wealth Ave.

Laptop stolenAround 9 p.m. on Wednesday,

a student’s laptop was stolen after he left it unattended in a common room in Warren Towers, located at 700 Commonwealth Ave.

Credit card account accessed On Thursday at 9:30 a.m., a stu-

dent at 183 Bay State Road report-ed that someone in Indonesia had accessed her Bank of China credit card account. The suspect withdrew $5,000. It was unclear whether this sum was in U.S. dollars or Indone-sian Rupiah.

Car tires slashedBetween 12 a.m. Jan. 14 and 6

p.m. Jan. 15, a student’s car tires were punctured while the vehicle was parked in a parking lot at 860 Beacon St., causing $500 in dam-age.

Boots stolenAt 9 p.m. on Thursday, a student

reported that her boots were stolen sometime during winter break from her room in Warren Towers, located at 700 Commonwealth Ave.

Headphones stolenOn Jan. 14 around 3:30 p.m., a

student’s unattended headphones were stolen from her desk in her room at 154 Bay State Road.

Credit Card StolenAt 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, a stu-

dent at 856 Beacon St. reported his credit card was taken after he left it at a 7-Eleven on Buswell Street. The suspect spent $10 using the credit card at a Dunkin Donuts and Hess Station in Quincy.

Man causes disturbance at 1019 Comm. Ave.

On Sunday around 3 a.m., a non-affiliate was caught creating a disturbance in the lobby of 1019 Comm. Ave. The man refused to leave and was escorted outside by police officers, whom he then as-saulted by pushing and spitting in their faces. Police suspect the man was intoxicated. He was arrested and will be charged in Brighton District Court Jan. 21.

Campus Crime Logs

Jan. 14 toJan. 20

By Taryn OttaunickDaily Free Press Staff

BU professor examines gas leaks in D.C. By Olivia Deng

Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MAYA DEVEREAUX/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFThe Babson Research Survey Group conducted its annual study by tracking online education in the United States and found that while online enrollment growth is slowing, a majority of students will enroll in at least one course.

Page 4: The Daily Free Press

4 tuesday, January 21, 2014

Page 5: The Daily Free Press

The rise of the fast food industry has co-incided with a rise in American children being overweight and obese, and people

often attribute the latter to the former. Univer-sity of North Carolina-Chapel Hill researchers, however, discovered that poor diets outside fast food consumption are more at fault for child-hood obesity, according to a study published in the latest issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Jennifer Poti, a doctoral candidate in UNC’s Department of Nutrition and co-author of the study, said while researchers found fast food consumption to increase obesity rates, it was not solely to blame.

“What our study is fi nding is that while fast food is important, we found that the remainder of the diet, Western dietary patterns are actually more strongly associated with overweight obe-sity when compared to the association with just the fast food itself,” she said.

Types of DietsThe study focused on two distinct types of

diets: Western and Prudent. These dietary pat-terns refl ect the remainder of children’s food intake outside fast food restaurants, including grocery stores, supermarkets, schools and other locations. The Western diet is called “Western” because it is more common in the Western world.

“We identifi ed a Western dietary pattern — which could also be called a less healthful dietary pattern — which was characterized by higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages like sodas, salty snakes like potato chips, and also characterized by lower intake of foods that are considered more healthful, such as milk or fruit,” Poti said. “On the fl ipside, the Prudent dietary pattern, or the more healthful dietary pattern, is the opposite: lower intake of soda and potato chips and higher milk and fruit con-sumption.”

So a Western diet is more soda, candy, chips and fewer healthy foods, whereas the Prudent diet is the opposite.

The StudyHalf of all U.S. children consume fast food

to some degree. About 39.5 percent are low-

consumers, where less than 30 percent of their energy comes from fast food, while 10.5 per-cent are high-consumers, where more than 30 percent of their energy comes from fast food. The Western dietary pattern is more likely among fast food consumers than among non-consumers.

From 2007 to 2010, researchers observed children ages 2 to 18 and obtained data on their fast food intake and other dietary habits. They found a higher correlation between Western di-etary patterns and obesity than fast food con-sumption and obesity.

The crucial fi nding of the study is that chil-dren’s dietary pattern is independently associ-ated with obesity, but fast food consumption is not.

Other FactorsOf course, a diet is not the only cause of chil-

dren being overweight. Other factors do come

into play, the most prevalent being daily exer-cise. However, the researchers at UNC sculpted their study to eliminate this extraneous factor.

“We used statistical regression modeling techniques in our study to adjust for the differ-ences in exercise between fast-food consum-ers and non-consumers,” Poti said. “So we did take into account physical activity, but we don’t specifi cally focus on that aspect here, focusing more on dietary differences.”

Children could have a less healthy diet for a variety of reasons. They could lack time to prepare healthier foods instead relying on quick sugary bars and soups. They could have little access to better food, with their only option being salty snacks. They could have different dietary preferences, simply enjoying the taste of fatty, sugary fast foods more than healthier food.

A key factor could be fi nancial constraints on a family — many American families cannot

afford to buy healthier foods over cheap snacks.

Impacts for College StudentsDo fi nancial constraints sound pretty famil-

iar, college students? While college students were not largely a part of the study, eating healthy is often a challenge for students on a budget.

Katy O’Neill, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences sophomore, said it is diffi cult for college students to have access to healthier foods off-campus.

“It defi nitely can be expensive to buy healthier foods — when you go to the grocery store, produce isn’t very cheap most of the time,” she said. “So it can be easy to just buy a lot of junk food. I can see how that could very easily happen to a lot of college kids who fall into eating cheaper, processed food that isn’t good for you.”

While eating healthy isn’t always cheap, it is extremely important to body health and weight. O’Neill said eating habits are different at differ-ent stages of our lives: the younger you are, the less likely you are to care about what you eat.

“But usually as people get older and have to plan meals for their families, I think they take more consideration of what everyone is eating, including themselves.”

The Next StepFor the children in this study, though, their

parents were not providing them with appropri-ate diets for any number of reasons. Poti is call-ing for better accessibility for healthier foods.

“We need strategies that aim to improve children’s diets at all the locations that children get their food, so not just fast food restaurants but also the food that children get from schools, supermarkets and grocery stores,” she said. “It is important to develop strategies to improve access to and promote the healthy food items within retail grocery stores and supermarkets.”

Poti said simply cutting fast food out of di-ets, while not necessarily a bad idea for health, is not the only step required to make children healthier.

“The takeaway is that while fast food is linked to child obesity, we found that the rest of the diet is perhaps even more important.”

Childhood obesity: Is fast food really to blame?Science Tuesday Sta�

Zach Lasiuk

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MAYA DEVEREAUXWhile childhood obesity has been on the rise, new research indicates that unhealthy overall diets are more to blame than fast food consumption itself.

BU study fi nds shorter alcohol, drug screening forms effectiveScience Tuesday Sta�

Katie Lewis

As college students, we are often ex-posed to alcohol and drugs. While most students graduate without visible dam-

age from these substances, use might develop underlying harm that could infl uence their hab-its later in life.

Dr. Richard Saitz, a professorat Boston Uni-versity’s School of Public Health and School of Medicine, said young people are at risk of developing substance dependencies.

“Adolescents’ brains are developing until age 25, and the part that is developing is the part that helps with self-control,” he said in a interview. “… The majority of people who ever developed alcoholism developed it before age 25.”

A new study led by Saitz and his team sug-gests that one question can provide just as much information, or more, about a person’s alcohol use or drug use than a long questionnaire, ac-cording to a Jan. 13 press release.

The study involved 286 patients who anon-ymously answered the following questions: “How many times in the past year have you consumed fi ve or more drinks in a day (for men), and four or more (for women)?” and “How many times in the past year have you used an illegal drug or used a prescription med-

ication for nonmedical reasons?”The research team found that a score of

eight or more times for the alcohol-screening question was more consistent with an alcohol use disorder on the more severe end of the spec-trum. For the drug-screening question, a score of three or more times per year was more con-sistent with a drug use disorder.

The single-screening question for alcohol detected 88 percent of patients with dependence and the single-screening question for other drugs detected 97 percent of those with dependence. “The best number to compare these ques-tionnaires on is called the likelihood ratio positive---it tells doctors how much more likely (how many more times more) someone with a positive test is to have dependence,” Saitz said in a later email. “On that measure the single item alcohol was 5.6 whereas for the longer more complex questionnaire called the AUDIT-C it was 3.2, signifi cantly worse. For drug, the likelihood ratios for the single item and the longer 10 item DAST were similar (not statisti-cally different at 4.6 and 6.3 respectively).”

Researchers believe the single questions are more time-effi cient alternatives to longer ques-tionnaires.

“In summary the single items performed as

well (in the case of drug) and better (in the case of alcohol) as longer more complex question-naires,” he said in the email.

Saitz said the study will help to encourage primary physicians to screen their patients for unhealthy alcohol and drug use. However, there are still some barriers to overcome in primary care screening.

One such issue is identity. In the study, the patients answered anonymously, but in actual practice, patients’ answers will be recorded and fi led under their name. This could potentially be available to health insurers or employers.

“I don’t know if people would be honest, that’s my only critique,“ said Melanie Kirsh, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore and president of BU’s Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “People might lie and say a couple times a year, especially if they do actually have a problem. They might not want help at that time because they’re controlled by the sub-stance that they’re using.”

Another issue is that physicians will have to shoulder greater responsibility. Patients’ an-swers to the questions could be anywhere on a large spectrum ranging from infrequent use to an already-developed addiction. Doctors have to know how to respond to any level of usage.

Saitz explained that any time doctors have to test for something or screen, they must feel confi dent that they can handle the results. In most cases, doctors know exactly how to re-spond to a test result. For example, if a doctor fi nds an abnormality on a mammogram, there is a system set up to deal with that effectively.

In contrast, there is no defi nite path for deal-ing with unhealthy substance use or depen-dence because the situation varies from person to person.

“If I ask someone about their drug use and I get a positive answer, sometimes it’s not so easy,” he said. “Sometimes the patient doesn’t think they’re doing anything harmful. Some-times they’re not ready to make any kind of change. Sometimes it’s not clear where to send them and who the right specialist is.”

Even so, the study shortens the screening process, allowing doctors to quickly identify and assess a patient’s alcohol and drug usage. This question also allows people to self-evalu-ate their substance use in a much easier manner.

While many people consider drinking and drug use an integral part of college life, this newly evaluated screening process could help students refl ect on how much they drink and for what reasons.

Page 6: The Daily Free Press

6 tuesday, January 21, 2014 opinionThe Daily Free Press

The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

44th year F Volume 86 F Issue 3Sarah Kirkpatrick, Editor-in-Chief

Brian Latimer, Managing Editor

The Daily Free Press (ISSN 1094-7337) is published Monday through Thursday during the academic year except during vacation and exam periods by Back Bay Publishing

Co.,Inc., a nonprofit corporation operated by Boston University students. No content can be reproduced without the permission of Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc.

Copyright © 2013 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Rachel Riley, Campus Editor

Andrew Battifarano, Sports Editor

Heather Goldin, Multimedia Editor

Brooke Jackson-Glidden, Features Editor

Alice Bazerghi, City Editor

Trisha Thadani, Opinion Editor

Maya Devereaux, Photo Editor

Emily Hartwell, Layout Editor

Shakti Rovner, Office Manager

To many students at Boston Universi-ty, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was a day off to catch up on sleep, recover from the weekend and generally relax for the week ahead. Not many individuals appeared to take it as time to reflect on civil rights in America, both past and present. Instead, capitalizing on the opportunity to draw consumers out of their homes, many re-tailers decided to profit off of the long weekend by reducing their prices. Inevi-tably, this move was not met with a posi-tive reaction. As one Twitter user, quoted in a CBS News article on Monday said, “Shout out to The Gap who is having an MLK sale. Nothing honors him more than 30 percent off some khakis.” Perhaps the most abysmal event that classified itself as one of remembrance was a “Freedom 2 Twerk” party in Michigan. The flyer had King’s face placed on a body wearing a gold chain. Consequently, the site hosting the party claimed to terminate its contract with the promoters in question. Cognac brand Hennessy did not do much better, marketing drink recipes that “MLK Jr. would be proud of.” Names for the drinks in question included the “Introspective Moment” and the “Privateer.”

Despite poorly executed attempts to commercialize a holiday that should be devoted to King’s legacy, there were some positive acts of kindness and service to mark the day of remembrance. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed interpreted King’s message to apply to school children, and today, we should all remember the impor-tance of education to future generations. Newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that King’s message re-minds us that rectifying income inequal-ity cannot be placed on the back burner of political priorities. A particularly poignant manifestation of King’s legacy was, “a buyback program organized by the Atlanta branch of the National Asso-ciation for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the hopes of getting 1,000 weapons off the city’s streets,” ac-cording to the Chicago Tribune.

As with most events in history, as years continue to pass, our collective memory begins to fade regarding the intensity of emotion and immediacy of effect a movement or a moment used to hold. Unfortunately, as the pivotal mo-ments of King’s life are celebrated over time, the message has grown muddled. Through middle school and high school, MLK Day is marked with an assembly and a couple of guest speakers. Regretta-

bly, words alone, no matter how eloquent, cannot erase attitudes on race and equal-ity in America that persist to this day. At BU, where King is especially recognized for calling this campus his alma mater, could there be more done to not only re-member King, but also focus on how his message has endured in today’s society?

An important distinction to note is that King did not just fight for equal rights for one race. The repeal of the Jim Crow Laws, the March on Washington, his con-cern for sanitation strikes and income equality up until his dying day affected every minority that ever felt marginal-ized by society. In addition, King was part of a time that conceived the peaceful protest. Consequently, if the celebration of MLK Day recognized this diversity in King’s message, it could reinvigorate the relevance of what he stood for. Our generation is not characterized by many leaders who stand up for a cause, and de-spite the vast array of social issues facing America, ours is not an era of protest, at least, not protests which extend beyond Twitter and Facebook feeds.

According to the Washington Post, on April 4, 1968, King was preparing his sermon, “Why America May go to Hell.” At this point in his life, he was tired, had shifted his focus to wider societal issues and wanted to dig deeper into inequality in America. As a New York Times op-ed from 2011 described, “King did not think that America ought to go to hell, but rather that it might go to hell owing to its economic injustice, cultural decay and political paralysis.” Arguably, even de-cades after King’s death, the underlying tensions prompting a need for reinvigora-tion and restructuring of our priorities is equally strong today.

Herman Melville once wrote, “Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less fin-ished than an architectural finial.” King did not “fix” America with his rhetoric or his movement. He jumpstarted a long and arduous process toward freedom and equality that we should continue to be mindful of to this day. This holiday is not strictly a celebration or a critique of King the individual, for as humans we all have our shortcomings. Instead, it is and should be an annual reminder that no matter how many years pass, his legacy will be determined by how those present and future choose to champion his ideals in the modern day.

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

The opinions and ideas expressed by columnists and cartoonists are their own and are not necessarily representative of the opinions of The Daily Free Press.

HAVE SOMETHINGTO SAY?

we want to hear it!

SUBMIT ALETTER

TO THE [email protected]

Hello, everyone. It is an absolute plea-sure to introduce myself to you as the new Tuesday columnist for The Daily Free Press for the Spring semester. Since my rants and raves will be taking up a better portion of the opinion page in the coming weeks, and I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about myself.

My name is Kate Hofberg. I am the 25-year-old second semester graduate stu-dent in the Boston University College of Communications Journalism program who moved from Santa Barbara, Calif., to Allston in late August.

I like Halloween, spiders, snakes and skulls, probably more than you could imag-ine a young woman ever could.

Standing just five feet tall, with a small frame and a freckled face, it comes as a sur-prise to most when they learn that I am a die-hard heavy metal fan. My most prized pos-session is a Slayer guitar pick that I caught when lead singer Tom Araya threw it into the mosh pit during a sold out concert at Gib-son Amphitheater in 2011. I’m sorry to say this Katy Perry, but the heavy breakdowns, evil lyrics and sinister sounds of heavy metal music speak to my darkened heart like none of your songs ever could.

Cups of coffee as black as my soul hold the key to my heart. Or my sanity. I don’t take sugar. I would like to think I’m sweet enough already. Actually, the saccharine and artificially flavored coffee of America ap-palls and sicken me.

My wardrobe that is almost entirely com-posed of black clothes, metal band t-shirts and ripped denim. I like to wear heavy eye-liner, color my hair with colors that are obvi-ously unnatural and paint my nails black. I never leave home without my nose ring.

I love tattoos. I, myself, have ten. With flowers crawling up my arms, spiders and lightning bolts pasted on my sides, the state of California imprinted on my thigh and skulls etched behind my ears, I have no plans of stopping until my dad expresses enough disappointment in me that his threats of cutting me off financially become a reality. And when that day comes, he’ll leave me no choice but to increase my financial aid loan amount to pay for that skull and crossbones tattoo that I need so badly on my forearm to look more qualified for the part of the heavy metal groupie I so desperately want to be when I grow up.

But get past the blackness of my look, the heavy bass blasting in my headphones on the way to class and the ink that’s permanently pasted to my skin, you’ll find that I’m actu-ally not as dark as I seem.

Fresh flowers are my favorite. At any time during the year you will find a bouquet of fresh flowers in my room. I’m a great eater. I’ll eat almost anything you put in front of me. Add enough Tabasco, and I’ll demand seconds. I like fragrant candles, fake eyelashes and ridiculously high heels. I like hot, sunny beach days in California, Renoir paintings, getting paychecks and ripe rasp-berries. And I like garlic, Paris, parties and long bubble baths.

And I love my best friend. He’s my gi-gantic cat Lars. Weighing in at 30 pounds, he prefers the term “big-boned” over “fat”. He’s three-feet long from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail and smarter than most people I know. How many other cats do you know that can sit, roll over, fetch and come running when called?

In my free time, I love to read and I love to write. Before moving to Boston last fall to work on my Masters, I was working as a res-taurant manager of a successful restaurant on the beach in Santa Barbara. Although I could never complain about my office, a beach-front property that had a front row view of the sunset every night, leaving the world of blood orange margaritas and Caesar salads behind, and getting back into school was the best decision I ever made.

Surrounded by students steeped in aca-demia, in a city that urges intellect and stimulates the desire to learn, I am thrilled to be able to be given the opportunity and space in print to share my thoughts about the world with you. With a voice that matches the intensity of my heavy metal soul and the blackness of my wardrobe, I can’t promise I won’t challenge your opinions or ruffle your feathers, but I can promise that I’ll do it as gracefully and reasonably as I can.

So let’s say cheers! Here’s to a semester of thought-provoking columns and insight-ful commentary! May it be as exciting as getting some fresh ink and as stimulating as headbanging to Metallica.

Kate Hofberg is a graduate student in the College of Communication. She can be reached at [email protected]

New beginnings, thoughts and insights

KATe HOFBeRG

RanTS anD RaveS

Want to join the FreeP writing staff?

Go to dailyfreepress.comand apply!

Page 7: The Daily Free Press

tuesday, January 21, 2014 7

stopped a combined 77 shots while yield-ing just seven goals in the weekend games.

The .917 save percentage in that short sample size is more impressive when you consider the Terriers played with just five defensemen.

Sophomore defensemen Matt Grzel-cyk is out for the season with a separated shoulder, and mid-way through Saturday’s game, sophomore defensemen Ahti Ok-sanen suffered an apparent left leg injury and did not return. That means shorter but more frequent shifts and, ultimately, more ice time for the healthy blueliners. Those circumstances put additional stress on Ma-guire.

“There is pressure on our goalie,” Quinn said. “There is pressure on every goalie re-ally. But when you’re in the situation we’re in, there’s even more pressure. It’s diffi-cult.”

Senior captain Garrett Noonan con-curred.

“We have a depleted lineup with a ton of injuries right now,” Noonan said, one of the healthy BU defensemen. “It’s some-thing that he knows, and he knows he’s go-ing to have to make two or three big saves — maybe two or three big saves a period, whatever it is. He did that all weekend.”

This weekend was the first time Magu-ire started back-to-back games since the end of last season. At that point, then-coach Jack Parker did not have a choice when a collapsed lung ended O’Connor’s fresh-

man campaign. This time, Quinn did have a choice, and he went with Maguire.

Scott Wilson, a junior assistant cap-tain for the River Hawks, noted Maguire’s prowess. Both are Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks, and they are familiar with each other from their time at developmental camps.

“I knew he’s a great goaltender, so I know you’ve got to battle through a little [adversity] there,” Wilson said. “But I think we got plenty of chances and a couple of them just didn’t go in for us.”

The net result of Maguire’s impressive weekend could lead to a role reversal with his classmate and counterpart, O’Connor.

O’Connor started the final seven games of the first semester, a streak prolonged when Maguire could not play due to back problems. That stretch started when Quinn pulled Maguire after he gave up three goals in 30 minutes against the University of Maine.

This time, O’Connor was the one pulled — again against Maine — after spotting the Black Bears four goals in less than a period Jan. 11 at Frozen Fenway.

Maguire has hardly let up since.“He played awesome. He played awe-

some for sure,” Noonan said. “When [Ma-guire and O’Connor] give up goals, we’re usually leaving them out to dry. That was the case this weekend and last weekend.

“He gave us a chance to win both games. Unfortunately we didn’t capitalize on that.”

Goaltending gives Terriers chanceMaguire: From Page 8

Watson, Papale orchestrate men’s basketball attack in 2nd halfhalf, the Terriers regained the edge when Watson fired the ball to sophomore forward Nathan Dieudonne, who reached above the rim for an emphatic slam.

The first half ended on a high for BU, as Watson caught the ball with five seconds re-maining and drove the length of the court for a reverse layup that dropped in as the buzzer sounded, giving the Terriers a 32-27 lead.

Watson would continue to orchestrate BU’s offense in the second half. About three minutes into the period, Dieudonne tipped an offensive rebound out to Watson at the top of

the perimeter where the point guard drained a 3-pointer.

At the 9:20 mark, Watson carried the ball in transition before finding sophomore guard John Papale for a 3-pointer that gave the Ter-riers a 12-point lead. Papale put on a strong performance, shooting 5-for-8 from the floor for 13 points.

“They did a great job of finding [Papale], he did a great job of spacing,” Jones said. “John shoots threes, but he’s more than just a shooter. He can put the ball on the floor, he’s a good defensive player, he makes no mistakes. He’s a lot better player than he gets credit for.”

Then, with less than six minutes remain-ing, BU’s backcourt came together on of-fense to put the game out of reach. Irving hit two straight corner 3-pointers after Watson continued to find holes in Loyola’s defense and kick the ball out to the perimeter, giving the Terriers a 59-45 lead.

In 25 minutes of play, Watson ended with 19 points and six assists. In his 23 minutes on the floor, Irving was a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and finished with 14 points.

During the final minute and a half, Wat-son made all four of his free-throw attempts as the Terriers put the Greyhounds away.

Even though the team’s perfect confer-

ence mark remained intact, Jones said he was cautious of celebrating too early.

“There’s no champion that gets crowned in the month of January,” Jones said. “And it’s all about who’s going to be the best team in March, and can we continue to take steps to be the team we want to be? That’s my mo-tivation everyday.

“I have a great senior class. They came in as champions. I want to see them go out as champions. That’s what I’m concentrating on right now. And I’m not perfect, and I’m trying to get better everyday as a leader of this program.”

Men’s BasketBall: From Page 8

mark. Sophomore forward Sarah Lefort put home a rebound for her 18th goal of the year to give BU a 3-1 lead.

While things looked good through the first half of the contest for the Terriers, Providence began turn up its offensive in-tensity and pepper senior goaltender Kerrin Sperry with shots

As a result, the Friars notched two quick goals to even the game at three apiece. At 11:57, Rebecca Morse tallied her third goal of the year and 1:10 later freshman Cassidy Carels deposited her 12th goal of the sea-son.

With the score tied, the final period of action proved to be trying for both teams. Throughout most of the third, neither the Terriers nor the Friars could find an open-ing. However, as the game entered its fi-nal minutes, with BU in the midst of one of their five penalties in the period, Carels

struck again at the 17:24 mark to give Providence a 4-3 lead and the win.

Sunday, the Terriers looked to right the ship against crosstown rival Northeastern (9-12-2, 5-6-2 Hockey east).

Although both teams had power-play opportunities in the opening frame, neither team would score. Sperry was strong in net, stopping all 13 Husky opportunities, while goaltender Chloe Desjardins was just as solid, saving eight Terrier shots.

Just 31 seconds into the second frame, the Huskies grabbed a 1-0 advantage. Sec-onds after BU had killed off a Lefort in-terference penalty, forward Kelly Wallace deflected in a shot, beating Sperry’s right pad for the lead.

Both teams battled for the rest of the pe-riod, with neither team getting any sort of advantage. Desjardins stopped eight shots in the period again, stopping the potent BU attack. With 47 seconds remaining in the second frame, Katie MacSorely passed the

puck from the right side of the ice to the middle, setting up forward Paige Savage for her sixth goal of the of year.

“In the second when we looked like we had a little bit of momentum and could have maybe tied the game, we didn’t get one across and then they make a bang-bang play,” Durocher said. “We had plenty of bodies in the zone and they had maybe two people down low and we leave one of them wide open for a goal.”

Down two in the third period, the Ter-riers cut the Northeastern lead to one at the 4:50 mark when senior captain Louise Warren corralled a blocked shot and put the puck past Desjardins.

While the Terriers tried to tie the game, forward Brittany Esposito put in a rebound goal in past Sperry with a little over 10 minutes left in the contest to give the Hus-kies a 3-1 lead.

BU pressed on, though, and with 5:24 left in the game, Lefort scored her 19th

goal of the year when she banked in a shot off Desjardins from an odd angle to cut the deficit to 3-2.

“I liked the comeback effort,” Durocher said. “Again I talk about the sense of ur-gency. I’d like to see the sense of urgency in the first five, 10, 15 and the entire 60 minutes.”

The Terrier offense kept the puck in the zone for majority of third, rattling off 18 shots in the period. Despite handling the puck well in the final frame, BU finally succumbed to the Huskies when Esposito blocked a shot, and took the puck all the way down the ice and into the net with 14.3 seconds left to seal the 4-2 Northeastern victory.

“Every game has been a barn-burner, every game has been a close game,” Duro-cher said about the meetings between BU and Northeastern. “They came in and we spotted them a lead … Again, that’s shame on us.”

Providence, Northeastern defeat women’s hockey with strong 3rd period offenseWoMen’s Hockey: From Page 8

freshman wing T.J. Ryan also appeared to suffer an injury, but he returned to the ice before the game ended.

“It’s a tough time,” Quinn said of the injuries his team has dealt with. “Some-times teams have seasons like that, and we happen to be going through that right now.”

BU came back onto the ice in the third without Oksanen, but the team had 1:41 left on the power play that resulted from his injury. With just seconds left on the power play, freshman wing Kevin Duane wristed a shot over Hellebuyck’s shoulder to cut Lowell’s lead to 2-1.

Duane’s shot was one of only two Ter-rier attempts on goal for the entirety of the third period and matched the team’s total

from the first frame. “A whopping four,” Quinn said, clarify-

ing the amount of shots in two frames.River Hawk center Joe Pendenza fin-

ished off the win for Lowell with an empty netter, which he scored with 1:10 left in the game. That goal marked the sixth emp-ty net tally that BU has given up in the past six games.

While Lowell had more than triple BU’s shots, a 39-save performance by Maguire kept the Terriers in the game.

Nonetheless, Quinn was not ready to say if Maguire would get the nod next week in the Terriers’ weekend series against the University of Vermont.

“I’m not thinking about next Thursday,” Quinn said. “I’m thinking about getting back on the bus and pulling my thoughts together here.”

BU records just 2 shots in final period Men’s Hockey: From Page 8

the final minute, as the Terriers went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to seal a 70-60 win. Scannell and freshman guard Court-ney Latham each hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe, which sealed the deal for the Terriers.

Scannell was not only important down the stretch, but an offensive force for the Terriers all game long, as she poured in 17 points, including five 3-pointers in her first-ever start.

“[Scannell] just did a great job of con-tinuing to do what she has been doing well,” Leflar said. “She’s always, this year, really been our energy player, coming off the bench, she honestly has the nice ability to knock down outside shots. She’s really excelled in the starting role.”

Agboola also contributed to the offense, scoring 13 points, while grabbing 13 re-bounds, registering her second double-double of the season.

Senior forward Whitney Turner helped on the inside as well, as she registered 10 points and pulled down five rebounds, rounding out the four Terriers who scored in double-digits.

“[The seniors] played great, they played great,” Leflar said. “Rashidat and Danielle both played a lot of minutes, I think Dani-elle played 38 and Rashidat 39, were very consistent throughout the game. And Whit-ney responded really well coming off the bench, played with real energy, was a real threat from down there, on both ends of the floor, and obviously had a very good day rebounding for us, she and Rashidat.”

The Terriers shot just 36.8 percent from the field, converting just 21 of their 57 at-tempts. They also only made only 18 of their 27 free throws, shooting 67 percent from the line. BU dominated on the boards, however, grabbing 14 more rebounds than the Greyhounds, which ultimately proved to be the difference maker in the game.

“Our emphasis going into the game was definitely our energy level,” Leflar said. “It needed to be high and it was. And we also emphasized rebounding, we’ve been get-ting outrebounded the past couple games, and there was certainly an emphasis on in practice. We talked about it preparing for Loyola, and the players did a great job on focusing on that a little bit more, and get-ting the job done. Hopefully we can con-tinue to get the job done.”

Seniors energize Terriers in victory WoMen’s Hoops: From Page 8

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Page 8: The Daily Free Press

With less than three minutes remaining in the first period, se-nior captain Garrett Noonan took a shot from the slot that No. 10 University of Massachusetts-Lowell netminder Connor Helle-buyck blocked.

In any other game, that shot would mean little, but during Saturday’s contest between the Boston University men’s hockey team and the River Hawks (15-6-2, 5-3-1 Hockey east) it marked the first time BU had a shot on goal in the contest.

Although the Terriers (7-13-2, 2-7-1 Hockey east) had more shots in the second, they suf-fered from more of the same in the third. Ultimately, the team could not overcome its offensive struggles at the Tsongas Center as it fell to the River Hawks 3-1.

With the loss, BU is now win-less in its last eight games, a mark that stretches back to its Red Hot Hockey win at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 30 against Cor-nell University.

“We were slow, we didn’t have the urgency that we did in the first and third periods [Friday night] against Boston College,” said BU coach David Quinn. “It’s a tough way to win a hockey game.”

Despite not possessing the puck in its offensive zone for much of the first, BU kept Low-ell off the board until 12:09 in the first frame. With the Terriers having killed off senior captain Patrick MacGregor’s penalty for interference just seconds earlier,

River Hawk wing Scott Wilson flung a shot from the slot that made its way by sophomore net-minder Sean Maguire for the ear-ly 1-0 lead.

Lowell doubled its advantage about eight minutes into the sec-ond when left wing Terrence Wal-lin picked up a long breakout pass from defenseman Michael Kapla. With no one in front of him, Wal-lin tallied his second goal of the season after he put it by Maguire stick side.

By the end of the period, the Terriers struggles went beyond their difficulties in the offensive zone, though, as Lowell defense-man Christian Folin kneed soph-

omore defenseman Ahti Oksanen, who immediately crumbled to the ice, writhing in pain until Mac-Gregor and freshman Tommy Kelley assisted him off the ice.

Folin received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing.

The play left the Terriers with another missing defenseman, as sophomore Matt Grzelcyk is done for the season after separating his shoulder in practice last week.

“It’s tough to manage,” Quinn said of working with only four or five defensemen in a game.

BU was already dressing only 17 skaters. Later on in the game,

SportsThe Daily Free Press

[ www.dailyfreepress.com ]page 8 Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Th e Bottom Line

By Meredith PerriDaily Free Press Staff

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFSophomore goaltender Sean Maguire made 39 saves Saturday night.

Friday, January 24

M. Hockey vs. Vermont, 7:30 p.m.W. Hockey @ Vermont, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, January 22Tuesday, January 21 Thursday, January 23

W. Basketball vs. American, 7 p.m.M. Basketball @ American, 7:30 p.m.

No Events ScheduledThe Jamaican bobsled team raised

$18,000, meaning they will be able to compete at next month’s Olympic games.

No Events Scheduled Somewhere, upon hearing the news,

Cuba Gooding Jr., cracked a huge smile.

Sooner or later, BU coach David Quinn said it would hap-pen. He would have to have the same conversation with sopho-more goaltender Matt O’Connor as he had with other sophomore goaltender Sean Maguire, the one where he has to explain his tough starting goalie decision — the one where he tells O’Connor he is not playing.

That time could be now for Maguire. The sophomore made 39 saves, tying his season high against No. 10 University of Mas-sachusetts-Lowell at the Tsongas Center Saturday night. The Bos-ton University men’s hockey team lost, 3-1, but afterward Quinn and company sung a familiar song.

“Obviously our goalie was un-believable tonight,” Quinn said in his opening comments, before even being questioned on his net-minder. “[He] gave us a chance.”

The head coach would not go as far to say that Maguire will start next weekend when No. 18 University of Vermont visits Ag-ganis Arena for a two-game set, but it stands to reason that will be the case.

Maguire was between the pipes Friday in a 6-4 loss at No. 2 Bos-ton College, then again Saturday in Lowell. He allowed two goals in the latter contest, one of them the result of a breakaway.Maguire

PATRIOT GAMES

Men’s basketball pushes impressive Patriot League winning streak to six games, P.8.

Quotable“ “I’m not thinking about next Thursday.-BU coach David Quinn on waiting to

decide who will start in goal next game

BU bests Greyhounds, ends skid

The Boston University wom-en’s basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak Sunday afternoon, coming away with a 70-60 win over Loyola Univer-sity-Maryland at Reitz Arena in Baltimore.

“We talked a lot about our energy level at the start of games and how it needs to be better,” said BU associate head coach Mi-chael Lefl ar. “I think we came out really focused and locked in the pre-game, and I think that carries over to starting really well on the court.”

The Terriers (7-12, 2-5 Patriot League) led from the get-go, and extended their lead to as much as 14 points twice in the fi rst half. BU started out the game on an 18-6 run, capped off by a 3-point-er from sophomore guard Clo-dagh Scannell, and never looked back.

Good ball movement from senior guard Danielle Callahan led the Terriers to spread the ball across the fl oor, hitting shots both inside the paint and out.

Loyola (4-13, 1-5 Patriot League) would battle back, though, cutting the Terrier lead to

just six points by halftime, 28-22.The Greyhounds continued

this surge into the second half, quickly scoring twice in the fi rst minute of the second half, thanks to baskets from center Tiffany Padgett and guard Nai Brown, to bring the score to 28-26. Brown was a thorn in the side of the Ter-riers all game long, as she put in a game-high 28 points.

BU responded with an 8-0 run, getting major contributions from Callahan and senior forward Rashidat Agboola who both hit fi eld goals during the run, swell-ing their lead to 10 points. The Greyhounds continued to hang in the game, and after a 3-pointer from Nicole Krusen, the BU ad-vantage was shortened to just six points with 7:43 left in the con-test.

The Terriers did not let up, however, pushing their lead back to 13 with 2:14 left to go in the game after two free-throw makes from Callahan.

The Greyhounds made one last push, going on 7-0 run, and cut the lead to six points with just un-der a minute to go.

Free throws became crucial in

By Emmanuel GomezDaily Free Press Staff

Maguire steps up for BU in weekend games

By Tim HealeyDaily Free Press Staff

Maguire, see page 7

Men’s hockey falls short against Lowell

The Boston University men’s basketball team extended its win-ning streak to six games with its 72-58 victory over Loyola Uni-versity-Maryland Monday night in front of an excited crowd of 1,411 at Agganis Arena.

The Terriers (13-6, 6-0 Patriot League) overcame a challenging fi rst half to top the Greyhounds (8-9, 3-3 Patriot League) to remain undefeated in conference play.

Major absences in both sides’ starting lineups highlighted the beginning of the contest. Loyola’s top guard and the NCAA’s sixth-leading scorer, Dylon Cormier, sat on the bench to start the game, which, according to Greyhound coach G.G. Smith, was a decision made regarding the team’s policy on missing practice.

For the Terriers, senior guard D.J. Irving and sophomore guard Maurice Watson Jr. were not in-cluded in the starting lineup.

“I don’t really have anything else to say about it other than I love them both,” said BU coach Joe Jones. “They’re great play-ers, they’re great kids. They’re great for our program, but it was a coach’s decision.”

BU started the game playing an energetic zone defense. However, the sharpshooting of Loyola guard Eric Laster led to three straight fi eld goals for him and a 7-0 run for the Greyhounds.

The tempo picked up slightly fi ve minutes into the contest when the coaches allowed Cormier and Irving into the game, with Cormier making an immediate impression. During his fi rst possession on de-fense, he stole the ball from senior forward Dom Morris on the perim-eter.

Cormier continued to get in-volved, earning multiple trips to the foul line. Then, with 11:10 left in the half, the Patriot League’s leading scorer backed down a much taller defender in junior for-ward Malik Thomas and laid the ball in to give his team a 13-12 lead.

Guard Denzel Brito hit a 3-pointer off a pass from Cormier with 9:56 to go in the half, and then on the next possession Brito con-verted again on a midrange jumper.

What became a 10-0 run for Loyola was halted when Morris made his fi rst mark on the game of-fensively by getting to the line and hitting a pair of free throws.

Watson made his initial im-pact on the game with a midrange jumper out on transition, and then, after a steal from freshman guard Cedric Hankerson, Watson cut the Greyhound lead down to three with an aggressive drive to the rim and a left-handed fi nish.

With two minutes left in the

Men’s BasketBall, see page 7

Terriers defeat Loyola, extend winning streak

Saturday, January 25

M. Hockey vs. Vermont, 4 p.m.W. Hockey @ Vermont, 4 p.m.

WoMen’s Hockey, see page 7

W. hockey drops close HE matchups

This weekend the No. 9/10 Boston University women’s hock-ey team looked to extend its win-ning ways against Hockey East opponents. Despite playing in tightly-contested games against conference foes, BU fell to both Providence College and North-eastern University.

“[Sunday] it was a pretty quick paced game,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “The game was going up-and-down both ways, plenty of shots on goal, plenty of activity on both ends. Obviously we spotted [Northeastern] too much of a lead…They were one better than us.

“Friday was a game we really played great in the fi rst period and really lost any momentum, we didn’t execute very well yet we were still in the game at 3-3…Again Providence found a way on the power play to get it done.”

Friday night the Terriers (16-6-1, 9-3-0 Hockey east) took the short trip to Schneider Arena to face off against the Friars (10-15-0, 5-7-0 Hockey east).

At the 2:03 mark the Friars were called for an interference penalty, giving the Terriers an

early power-play opportunity. On the ensuing faceoff, senior defen-seman Kaleigh Fratkin ripped a shot that was defl ected by fresh-man forward Maddie Elia past goaltender Sarah Bryant to give the Terriers a 1-0 edge.

BU kept up the offensive pres-sure in the opening frame, tally-ing 14 shots to the Friars’ eight.

With the shots mounting, Elia broke through the Friars’ defense again, scoring her second goal of the evening and eighth of the sea-son. Taking a pass into the zone, the freshman weaved her way around a Providence defenseman and wristed a shot past Bryant, doubling the Terriers’ advantage.

“She’s had a real good run scoring since the New Year,” Du-rocher said about Elia’s play. “I look at the positive there.”

The Friars answered back in the waning minutes of the fi rst period. Despite the Terriers being on the power play, forward Beth Hanrahan scored on a breakaway chance, making it a 2-1 game go-ing into the fi rst intermisson.

Heading into the second pe-riod, the Terriers sought to extend the lead, and did so at the 3:14

By Andrew BattifaranoDaily Free Press Staff

Men’s Hockey, see page 7

By Alex RozierDaily Free Press Staff

WoMen’s Hoops, see page 7