Vol. XCVII, No. 18 Thursday, April 7, 2016
HEThe Independent
Student Newspaperof Boston College
www.bcheights.com
e s t a b l i s h e d 1 9 1 9
SPORTSFreshman Matt Milon has decided to transfer from BC, B8
MOVIN’ MIL-ONMETROTwo BC students are running the Boston Marathon for a cause, A4
UP AND COMINGSCENEJunior Matt Michienzie discusses crafting his band and being with The Acoustics, B3
MATT MICHIENZE BAND
See UGBC, A3
See Donations, A8
As the presidential election draws
closer, students and faculty from univer-
sities across the nation join the political
race. At Boston College, the conversation
between students is diverse, as every
background shapes differing political
views. When observing donations made
to campaigns by BC employees, however,
the results are decidedly universal—every
donation made by individuals listing BC
as their primary employer was sent to
Democratic political campaigns.
The majority of campaigns sup-
ported by BC faculty were not, in fact,
in support of any particular presidential
candidates—the campaign garnering the
most support was that of Eric Kingson,
a Congressman from upstate New York
and former BC faculty member.
Twenty-five percent of donations
made by faculty members were in sup-
port of the professor and social security
adviser’s run for Congress. Th e second-
most popular campaign, however, was
in favor of a presidential candidate. For-
mer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
campaign received 17.86 percent of
donations made by BC faculty, a distinct
advantage over the 3.57 percent made to
Senator Bernie Sanders’ “Bernie 2016”
campaign. Other campaigns garnering
support included ActBlue, a Democratic
fundraising eff ort, and the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee.
Th is data isn’t surprising, as it is not
unusual to see professors and educators
leaning left in their political stances. Ac-
cording to a study published in Th e Daily Signal in January, professors who identify
as liberal outnumber conservatives fi ve to
one. Yet the conversation at BC extends
beyond left-wing politics.
Jason Donnelly, professor of theology
and a current town meeting member in
his hometown of Arlington, Mass., elabo-
rated on his experience with politics as a
BC graduate school student.
“There was a wonderful political
diversity,” he said. “It was great because
there was a wide spectrum of political
beliefs and a kind of commitment to
reasonable engagement. Topics were
engaged in confi dence, with a kind of
trusting relationship—it was never a
debate.”
Looking only at active donors may
not be an accurate representation of the
entire BC community, a fact worth con-
sidering before making generalizations
based on the public records.
Th e political discussion on college
campuses extends much farther than the
limits of Chestnut Hill. In February, the
Harvard Crimson released a report with
results fairly similar to BC’s. Out of BC
professors’ donations to only presidential
campaigns, 83 percent went to Hillary
ABBY PAULSON / HEIGHTS GRAPHIC
Monday evening, the Undergraduate
Government of Boston College and the BC ad-
ministration hosted a dinner entitled “Boston
College Looking Forward.” Th e event allowed
students to discuss their visions for the future
of BC while the administrators in attendance
facilitated the discussions and recorded stu-
dents’ answers.
“We made this hybrid event as a starting
point, to have more events like this going for-
ward,” Sloan Renfro, UGBC vice president of
student initiatives and MCAS ’16, said.
Hosted in the Heights Room in Corco-
ran Commons, about 60 students discussed
issues of school diversity, upholding Jesuit
ideals, and the lack of proper communication
between UGBC and some members of the
administration.
Administrators made it clear at the be-
ginning of the session that the night was not
meant to answer specifi c questions but rather
to produce questions to be considered during
the administration’s “18-Month Process” for
strategic planning.
The plan for the $200 million project
to construct new athletic facilities on the
Boston College campus is being peti-
tioned for its lack of competitive resources
in the realm of Division I athletics.
Last week, an online petition was
posted on change.org with the goal of
collecting 500 signatures.
According to the explanation, if the
desired number of signatures is gath-
ered, the petition will be delivered to BC
Athletics.
The current plan includes a new rec-
reation facility that will replace the Flynn
Recreational Complex, as well as a field
house and fields for use by various athletic
teams. The anonymous author of the pe-
tition identifies himself as “BC EAGLES
ALL” and begins by describing his excite-
ment about the project. From there, the
author moves on to list all of the problems
he sees with the project’s plan.
“That new plan will replace the Plex
with an under-performing facility that
will not meet the needs of intercollegiate
athletics, will not appeal to prospective
students or recruits, and will actually
reduce the options for students to stay
active on our health- and fitness-minded
campus,” the author writes.
The pool and tennis courts are of
particular interest to the author, who
explained that, in order to compete with
other swimming and diving programs in
the Atlantic Coast Conference, the BC
team will need to have access to a pool
that is either 25 yards by 50 meters, or 25
yards by 25 meters with a diving well. The
author said that the pool that BC plans to
build does not reach these standards.
When asked about the petition, Di-
rector of Athletics Brad Bates responded
by saying that faculty members in his
position routinely receive these types of
petitions, which often contain inaccurate
information. Therefore, it is the athletic
department’s policy not to respond to
them.
According to Bates’ announcement on
Feb. 22, the construction for the project
will begin this summer, and is predicted
to take two years to complete.
“The plan in the works for the new
recreation complex will reflect the Uni-
versity’s needs and address the evolving
demands of intercollegiate athletics at
Boston College,” Bates said.
Clinton, with 17 percent going to Bernie
Sanders. At Harvard, 91 percent of dona-
tions to current presidential candidates
went to Hillary Clinton in a similar ma-
jority. Th eir donation history did diff er
in that it did include Republican candi-
dates—Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris
Christie received funding from Harvard
faculty, instructors, and researchers.
Harvard does not have a history of
subscribing to Jesuit ideals, however,
which traditionally align with conserva-
tive politics. Georgetown University, a
school that promotes the same Catholic
values of BC, is also similar in political
alignment. Th e Hoya disclosed in 2008
that over 70 percent of donated funds
went toward Democratic candidates,
with a distinct majority going directly
to candidates’ campaigns rather than
general party committees. Th e political
environment on the campus is similarly
“Looking at the timeline, there is a lot
of opportunity being planned in the fall for
feedback based on what we’ve learned here,
and how we’re moving forward as a steering
committee,” Vice President for Student Aff airs
Barbara Jones said.
UGBC and the administration aimed to
form an atmosphere best-suited to a casual,
welcoming environment, where students felt
free to provide their opinions and experi-
ences.
Additionally, UGBC saw the event as an
opportunity for students to get closer to ad-
ministrators, Katie Lamirato, UGBC director
of transparency and MCAS ’18, said.
Several administrators from multiple
departments were present.
“I think we had really good conversations
with UGBC at the start about how we might
be able to make the event work, and a lot of
it was their vision combined with what the
University was looking for in terms of student
feedback, and I think it turned out really well,”
Jones said.
Before students delved into smaller group
discussion, Executive Vice President Michael
Lochhead and Provost and Dean of Faculties
David Quigley explained the goals of the
night.
“What kind of university do we want to
leave for those that come next?” Quigley asked
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
ISABELLE LUMB / HEIGHTS STAFF
THE HEIGHTS
Joshua Landis, director of the center for Middle East stud-ies at the University of Oklahoma, will present on ISIS, Christians, and national identity in the Middle East on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Cushing 001. The event is sponsored by the Boisi Center for Re- li-gion and American Public LIfe. 1
Boston College Women’s Summit: Own It will host Sophia Amoruso, founder of Nasty Gal and author of best-selling novel #Girlboss, Susan Bissell, UNICEF’s Child Protection chief, and Libby Moore, Oprah’s former chief of staff. The event is Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. 2
Thursday, April 7, 2016 A2
On Saturday morning, the Woods College for Ad-vancing Studies will hold an open house for all undergraduate students. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Woods College Conference Room in St. Mary’s Hall South.
Top
things to do on campus this week
3 3
—Source: TheBoston College
Police Department
If you were the voice of a cartoon character, which would it be?
NEWSBRIEFS
Connecticut Governor Dannel
Malloy, BC ’77, will receive the 2016
John F. Kennedy Profile in Cour-
age Award at the John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library and Museum
in Boston on May 1. He was chosen
for this prestigious public service
award for his work in defending the
U.S. resettlement of Syrian refugees
following the Nov. 2015 terrorist
attacks in Paris and personally
welcoming a family of Syrian refu-
gees to New Haven after they were
turned away by another state.
Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s
grandson, will present the award
to Malloy.
“As half of U.S. governors, lead-
ing presidential candidates and
countless others across the country
voice support for a ban on Syrian
refugees from entering the United
States, Governor Dannel Malloy
took a stand against the hateful,
xenophobic rhetoric,” Schlossberg
said on the JFK Profile in Courage
Award Web site. “In doing so, he
put principles above politics and
upheld my grandfather’s vision of
America that ‘has always served as
a lantern in the dark for those who
love freedom but are persecuted, in
misery, or in need.’”
Malloy has remained committed
to helping those fleeing persecution
and searching for freedom.
“If refugees—many who are
children fleeing a horrific, war-torn
country—seek and are granted
asylum after a rigorous security pro-
cess, we should and will welcome
them in Connecticut,” Malloy said.
POLICE BLOTTER 4/4/16 - 4/6/16
Monday, April 4
8:45 a.m. - A report was filed
regarding a traffic crash on the
Brighton Campus Roadways.
Tuesday, April 5
4:12 a.m. - A report was filed re-
garding a fire alarm activation in
the modular apartments.
5:14 a.m. - A report was filed
regardng medical assistance pro-
vided to a BC student at O’Neill
Library.
12:17 p.m. - A report was filed
regarding medical assistance pro-
vided to a BC student who was
transported to a medical facility
from Campanella Way.
12:34 p.m. - A report was filed
regarding medical assistance pro-
vided to a minor at the Haley Car-
riage House Day Care Center.
11:23 p.m. - A report was filed re-garding a suspicious circumstance at O’Neill Library.
7:04 p.m. - A report was filed
regarding a larceny from Stokes
Hall.
Billy Soo, the accounting de-
partment chair, was named as the
next vice provost for faculties. He
will assume his new position on
June 1 following the retirement
of Pat DeLeeuw, who is retiring
after serving Boston College for
37 years.
“I’ve gotten to know Billy Soo
through his energetic leadership
of the accounting department
and the Catalyst Program in the
Carroll School and his commit-
ted service over many years to the
University-wide Diversity Steering
Committee,” Provost and Dean of
Faculties David Quigley said to the
Office of News and Public Affairs.
“He has done a particularly good
job in hiring and mentoring an
exceptional group of faculty at the
departmental level. I’m looking
forward to working more closely
with him in his new role as vice
provost for faculties starting this
summer.”
In his new position, Soo will
help Quigley with faculty outreach,
hiring, and retention.
Soo has taught financial ac-
counting and financial statement
analysis since he began working at
BC in 1990. He has served as ac-
counting chairman since 2006 and
worked with the University Strate-
gic Planning Initiative, University
Institutional Diversity Committee,
Aquino Scholarship Committee,
NEASC Review Committee, and
University Budget Committee. He
has also served as an undergraduate
and graduate faculty advisor.
“I am excited to work with them
and Provost Quigley in making Bos-
ton College the prime destination
for faculty who share the Universi-
ty’s goals of providing intellectual
leadership and fostering student
learning and formation,” Soo said
to News and Public Affairs.
By Heidi Dong
Heights Editor
Brad Bates, Boston College’s
director of athletics since 2012,
began his Agape Latte talk Tues-
day evening by telling the audi-
ence that he was raised in Port
Huron, Mich., where has was
educated by the same school
district that expelled Thomas
Edison. His parents, who were
both educators, contributed to
the importance and value that
education carries for him.
Bates’ talk followed a per-
formance by the Heightsmen of
Boston College. Through three
stories, Bates explained living in
the present, God’s presence, and
the magnitude of different ideas
that students are given access to
through the University.
He was raised with exposure
to many different religious
perspectives—Methodist, First
Congregationalist, and Catho-
lic. The minister at the Bates
family’s church would invite the
local rabbi and the local priest
to give homilies. From his child-
hood, he engaged difference as
a source of growth, especially
in a religious sense. His faith
in God, Jesus, and the afterlife
was solidified and validated—at
least, until Mr. Miller’s 10th-
grade English class.
After reading the book No.
44, The Mysterious Stranger by
Mark Twain in this class, Bates’
faith was shaken. He doubted
the existence of an afterlife, he
said. He researched everything
he could about the afterlife,
out-of-body experiences, doc-
tors reviving flat-lined patients,
and anything else he could
think of.
Then, when he was a sopho-
more in college, he took a course
called Cadaver Anatomy, where
he saw his first dead body.
“One of the most powerful ‘a-
ha’ moments of my life was when
I walked into that room, and I saw
that body, and I realized that [the
body] is not soul, that [the body]
is just a container,” Bates said. “It’s
a way we visually and optically
relate to one another, and envi-
sion one another.”
After this realization, Bates
decided to stop worrying about
the afterlife, or whether there
was an afterlife, and focus on his
current life. He now sees life as a
series of “afterlives,” explaining
that the afterlife of high school
for the audience was BC, and
the afterlife of BC would be the
real world.
“Live in the moment ,” he
urged students.
Bates called the next story he
told “God’s presence.”
He recalled the first time
he was introduced to his wife,
Michele, who had attended the
University of Michigan with him,
and was also from Michigan,
and how he, regretfully, did not
get her number before summer
break. That summer, Michele suf-
fered serious injuries from a car
accident. She spent four days in
a coma with a fractured neck. For
the two years following the acci-
dent, Michele had to learn how to
talk and walk over again.
When she finally returned
to school, on her first day, Bates
recalled that he ran into her, al-
most literally, as he was biking to
class. Thankfully, Bates left this
encounter with her number.
Pausing to reflect, Bates ex-
plained how, had Michele not
experienced the arduous journey
of recovering from her accident,
Bates never would have met her.
“Don’t overanalyze life,” Bates
said. “It’ll come to you. God’s
presence will take care of it.”
His final story was about how
the world outside of football
opened up to him during his
junior year of college. His friends
dragged him to a talk that Noam
Chomsky was giving on campus
one day, despite having no inter-
est in anything besides football
at the time. He entered the
room, sat down, and, suddenly,
he felt the world open up to him.
Renowned speakers from across
the globe, he realized, were
coming to college campuses to
teach students about their ex-
periences, opinions, hardships,
and successes.
“And I only get four years of
this?” Bates said.
In the article titled ‘PBS Documentary Series on Men-tal Health,’ it stated that the
series would premier in 2017. The broadcasts started in
spring of 2016. It also said that the episodes are seven to 10
minutes, but they are actually half-hour episodes. It is also 12
episodes long.
CORRECTIONS
Brad Bates, director of athletics, spoke at Agape Latte’s finale, followed by a performance from the Heightsmen. JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
By Becky Reilly
Heights Staff
With springtime comes a resur-
gence of familiar outdoor events
at Boston College, but this week,
one fashionable feature will make
its debut.
UGBC first-years Carolyn
Townsend, MCAS ’17, and Hailey
Shewfelt, MCAS ’18, have organized
a clothing swap to promote sustain-
ability through trading and reusing
unwanted items. Townsend is the
director of environmental and sus-
tainability programming in UGBC’s
student initiatives branch, while
Shewfelt is the assistant director. The
event will take place this Friday.
“It’s essentially BC’s first-ever
clothing swap, and the whole purpose
of it is to encourage thrift shopping
and wearing used clothes in a way
to be more sustainable environmen-
tally,” Townsend said.
Part of Townsend and Shewfelt’s
larger goal with the project is to
bring sustainable clothing habits
into fashion.
“[It’s about] promoting the
culture of being able to reuse some-
thing and having that be really ac-
cessible and attractive for students
here on campus,” Shewfelt said.
Townsend and Shewfelt are
tabling this week to collect cloth-
ing items between 11 a.m. and 2
p.m. outside of Carney or in the
McElroy Commons lobby in the
case of inclement weather. They
will also be in Corcoran Commons
between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. For each
item donated, each student will
receive a credit to take home one
item from the swap.
The actual swap will take place
on Friday between 9 a.m. and 4
p.m. on the Stokes Lawn. Students
are free to donate clothing at the
actual swap or simply purchase any
item for $5. Townsend and Shew-
felt stated that they have already
collected a number of donations
and have even found plenty of
clothing to be donated when going
through their own closets and their
friends’ closets.
Proceeds from the swap will go
to the Nature Conservancy, an inter-
national organization that promotes
sustainability education and research
alongside its conservation efforts.
Townsend came up with the idea
for a clothing swap over a year ago.
“When I was going through
my closet, I realized that I have all
these going-out clothes that I never
wore anymore,” she said. “And they
weren’t really types of clothing
you would donate to Goodwill or
a homeless shelter, and a lot of my
friends were in the same situation…
So I came up with the idea of a
clothing swap for people to get new
clothes but without having to spend
any more money.”
Shewfelt noted that the two
biggest challenges of the swap were
figuring out the logistics and pro-
moting it at BC. She and Townsend
expect many donations at the actual
sale on Friday. They hope for en-
thusiasm and student participation,
which will determine the success
of the sale both this spring and in
subsequent years.
“This is the first time this has
happened on BC’s campus, so I think
a lot of people are unfamiliar with the
idea,” Townsend said. “Sometimes
it’s hard to communicate new ideas
like this, especially when there are
so many details. So that’s definitely
been a challenge for us, but I think it’s
going to work out really well on the
day of, and we’re very excited.”
The event precedes BC’s second
annual Earth Day Fair on April 22.
The Earth Day Fair, planned by the
UGBC Environmental Caucus, will
also take place on Stokes Lawn and
will feature several groups, including
BC organizations, the Environmental
Sciences Department, non-BC food
vendors, representatives from L.L.
Bean, and campus architects. The
two events will work in conjunction.
Townsend and Shewflelt hope to
promote awareness of and dialogue
about issues of sustainability and how
students at BC figure into them.
“I think one of our biggest goals
is just to show students how big of
a role sustainability plays in their
everyday lives, whether they know
it or not,” Shewfelt said.
THE HEIGHTS Thursday, April 7, 2016 A3
By Taylor St. Germain
Assoc. News Editor
Eight-foot tall walls, reading
“free Palestine” and “peace, not
apartheid” tower over passers-by
on Stokes Lawn. The walls were put
up by Boston College Students for
Justice in Palestine (BC SJP), a group
attempting to raise awareness of the
Palestine-Israel conflict through
“Peace, Not Apartheid Week.”
The week, which is held at uni-
versities worldwide, encourages
students to think beyond biased
media about the conflict, which
often carries a negative stigma,
Kaitlin Astrella, treasurer of BC
SJP and MCAS ’16, said. The con-
flict has been ongoing for over five
decades and revolves around issues
including mutual recognition,
border control, water security, and
control of Jerusalem.
The group is holding events
from April 4 through 8 to educate
students, and encourages them to do
their own research on the conflict.
“We are really just trying to start
a dialogue on campus,” Katie Mears,
BC SJP board member and LSOE
’16, said. “The conflict goes in and
out of the news and we find that
students don’t really know much
about it.”
On Monday, BC SJP held a
student panel on Palestine, which
featured BC students who have
travelled to the country and worked
on peace initiatives within the
region. The group also provided
traditional Palestinian dishes for
students in attendance.
BC SJP then held a screening
of a movie titled The Wanted 18 on
Wednesday night in Devlin 227. The
documentary, which features stop-
motion animation, tells the story of
Palestinians’ efforts in Beit Sahour
to kickstart the dairy industry. The
movie tells about how the dairy
collective was deemed as a threat
to Israel’s national security.
“It’s a funny story,” Astrella said.
“It takes these conflicts in a different
direction than most documentaries.
It’s kind of new and fresh so it’s cool
to be able to show it.”
The group will hold its final
event tonight in Campion 010. The
event will feature Nathalie Handal,
a creative writing professor at Co-
lumbia University who will speak
about her experience as a Palestin-
ian-American woman and how her
heritage influences her work.
SJP began holding Palestine
Awareness Week in 2012 when the
president of the club wrote his thesis
about the Palestine-Israel conflict.
The club was unable to hold the
awareness week last year, however,
because of a lack of funding.
The group has been organizing
the event since the beginning of
the academic year, trying to recruit
speakers and publicize its efforts.
The group also went through the
Office of Student Involvement to
gain approval to build the walls on
Stokes Lawn.
Schools including Columbia,
University of California, Berke-
ley, and Edinburgh University are
holding awareness weeks similar
to BC SJP’s.
“If you go to a big school like
Boston College, it is helpful to
speak about these issues because
you have a certain credibility,” As-
trella said. “Educating people about
things like this at a well-known
university gives the fight to end the
conflict some credence.”
BC SJP will hold one more
event before the school year is
over on April 21. Remi Kanazi, a
spoken word poet and Palestinian-
American, will visit BC to perform
at BC SJP’s event.
“I think part of being men and
women for others is being aware of
how your actions have an effect on
others,” Mears said.
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Boston College students and faculty laid on Stokes Lawn on Monday, the date of Martin Luther King’s asssassination.
By Chris Russo
Heights Staff
Lu Pin, a trailblazing feminist lead-
er in China, founded Feminist Voices,
an online journal devoted to women’s
issues, in 2009 when she felt it was
time to speak out against the Chinese
government’s lack of policy regarding
LGBT and women’s issues.
Pin, a visiting scholar at Colum-
bia University’s Institute for the Study
of Human Rights, addressed Boston
College students in a talk about her
feminist activism in her home coun-
try of China on Wednesday evening.
The event is a part of the Daniel
C. Morrissey ’88 and Chanannait
Paisansathan, MD, Lecture Series
in Asian Studies and was hosted by
the Asian studies program and the
history department.
“I received messages from many
people,” she said regarding her fem-
inist work in China. “I had found
a community I had never heard
from before—Chinese feminists.
By 2011, a new feminist community
was coming together.”
The creation of Pin’s feminist
journal and the emergence of a more
vocal feminist movement in China
prompted groups of small women to
protest against domestic and sexual
violence in China.
The first of these demonstrations
took place on Valentine’s Day in 2012.
A group of women dressed in bloody
bridal gowns marched the streets of
Beijing to protest the prevalence of
domestic violence in relationships
in China. The women who marched
had personally witnessed or dealt
with domestic violence and spoke
out against how acceptable these acts
were. For too long, Chinese women
have suffered in silence, they said.
The slogan of the march was “Love
is not an excuse for violence,” and the
women chanted this phrase as they
walked through the streets.
Pin also discussed the “Bald
Sisters” protest that took place in
Guangzhou. To take action against
discriminatory admission rates at
the university in Guangzhou, a small
group of women shaved their heads
and held signs, speaking out against
the difference in gender criteria to en-
ter the university. Women would have
to score higher than men on the exams
to be admitted to the university.
In response, the Bald Sisters took
action and spoke out against these
unfair policies. Questioning Chinese
authority openly was extremely risky,
so many women supported the move-
ment online, posting pictures of their
shaven heads on social media. To
the women’s delight, the minister
of education eliminated a majority
of the gender biased policies in the
university’s admission.
“Feminism is still considered radi-
cal in China,” Pin said. “Because it is
considered radical, the movement has
attracted some bold, young people.”
Five young Chinese women who
were bold enough to hold protests
in China were arrested for “picking
quarrels and provoking trouble,” ac-
cording to the Chinese government.
Once news of their arrests became
public, #FreeTheFive became a trend-
ing topic on social media. Although
the women were released on bail, they
remain under close surveillance by the
Chinese government.
“I think this is a very difficult
time for feminist activism globally.
People should start at a small scale
an attack the patriarchy at different
places,” Pin said.
Pin hopes American feminists
will pay attention to the feminist
movement in China. In the age of
the Internet, she encouraged BC
students to support the cause via
social media. The main page for the
feminist activism in China is called
“Free Chinese Feminists” and has
over 5,000 likes.
Despite some setbacks, Pin has
a positive attitude toward the grow-
ing feminist movement in China.
“We need to develop more
ways to organize to gain more par-
ticipation,” she said. “As long as the
movement has a strong goal, we can
create change.”
the audience. “What does the
world need Boston College to be?
Right now is not about building the
wish list of what we want to do.”
He further explained that the
steering committee, a group of 24
different committees within the 18-
month process for strategic planning,
is taking this semester to assess the
greatest issues.
Students broke into smaller groups
to discuss a range of topics. Each
table was given three questions: one
focused on the vision of the school,
one focused on issues internal to the
school, and one focused on issues
external to the school.
Students’ ideas included improv-
ing school spirit, offering a STEM
degree, and improving BC’s diversity.
Some students, however, thought
that the confrontational nature
of other students, in their actions
toward the administration, has not
been productive.
“I feel like sometimes different
groups of students at BC have almost
been confrontational to the adminis-
tration,” Kanitkar said. “And I think
that has been counterproductive to
the conversation at times.”
Committees within the aforemen-
tioned strategic planning process will
each include a diverse group of faculty,
staff, members of UGBC, and general
members of the student body. The di-
versity of the committee will allow the
steering committee to most accurately
decipher what matters most in “Look-
ing Forward” to the future of BC.
Several students were pleased to
see their ideas proposed to admin-
istrators. Others, however, noted
the fact that their ideas may not get
serious consideration until next year,
when the Board of Trustees meets.
Lamirato said that increased
dialogue between the student
government, the general student
body, and the administration would
be beneficial.
“From both the administrator and
student perspective, an event like this
happening every semester would be
really helpful and really important so
that we can continue to work together
as opposed to working as two separate
entities,” Lamirato said.
By Sophie Reardon
News Editor
Thirty-one Boston College stu-
dents and faculty laid on the snow-
covered Stokes Lawn on Monday
evening to stand in solidarity with
the Black Lives Matter movement in
calling to end police brutality and ra-
cial discrimination. The die-in lasted
for 16 minutes—one minute for each
bullet that struck Laquan McDonald
when he was killed by police in Chi-
cago on Oct. 20, 2014.
The die-in was organized by
the Committee for the Integra-
tion for Social Justice in Psychol-
ogy and the Graduate Students of
Color Association.
Over 60 college campuses
across the nation held die-ins on
Apr. 4, the 48th anniversary of the
assassination of Martin Luther
King, Jr., at 6 p.m., the approximate
time of King’s death.
The group chose to use McDon-
ald’s death as a guideline for the die-in
because the college students who first
decided to host the die-in on Monday
are from Chicago.
“This all sprouted from their
interest in drawing attention to this
incident as one example of a larger
problem—of police brutality—that
basically constitutes a mental health
crisis in the U.S.,” Bryn Spielvogel,
LGSOE ’17, said.
In accordance with BC’s code of
conduct, the die-in was pre-approved
by the University.
“As a committee, we’re interested
in getting involved in social justice
agendas and trying to further push
psychology in the direction of being
very active in terms of social justice
events,” Spielvogel said.
The group first heard about the
nationwide event via email from a stu-
dent representative from the Ameri-
can Psychological Association.
“In general, it’s something that we
all care about,” Spielvogel said.
This event, she said, was also to
show that psychologists need to help
find solutions to this issue because it
affects their clients and their research,
and psychologists have the potential
to perpetuate racial discrimination.
As graduate psychology students,
Spielvogel said, they need to make
sure that they are doing what they can
to combat racial injustices.
This movement comes on the
heels of White Coats for Black Lives,
Stacy Morris, LGSOE ’16, said, a
movement in which medical students
took action to show that they are
advocates for black lives.
“This is a response to that, saying
that psychologists also have owner-
ship over advocating for black lives,”
Morris said.
Dinner, from A1
THE HEIGHTS Thursday, April 7, 2016 A4
For Madison Meehan, MCAS ’16, a
member of the women’s varsity soccer
team, this marathon will be more than
just about watching the participants go
by and having a good time—she will be
one of those running by the Mile 21 sign
this April 18.
“I’ve always been a runner, since high
school,” she said. “But this is the first
time I’ll run a marathon.”
Meehan, along with Chase Ryan,
MCAS ’16, joined the Dana Farber team
for the Boston Marathon in order to
raise money for cancer research.
The Dana-Farber Marathon Chal-
lenge, in which more than 400 runners
run in order to raise funds for the
Claudia Adams Barr Program, has made
large contributions to cancer research
since its inception in 1990.
Because Meehan has had a lot of free
time during the spring semester since
the women’s varsity soccer team is not
in-season, she decided to run.
“When I decided to run, I began
looking at different charities I could
support,” she said. “I saw the Dana
Farber team and immediately thought
it would be a good fit.”
Although the biting wind and blan-
ket of snow on the ground might not
agree, spring is here, and the 2016
Boston Marathon is right around the
corner.
On April 18, Bostonians and specta-
tors from around the globe will gather
along a 26.2-mile course to cheer on the
many brave souls determined to com-
plete a race made even more demanding
by Boston’s many hills.
According to the Boston Athletic
Association (B.A.A.) Marathon fact
sheet, 30,000 runners have officially
entered the 2016 Boston Marathon,
and approximately 1,000,000 people
will attend the Marathon as spectators.
Ninety thousand additional people are
expected to attend the Marathon’s 39th-
annual John Hancock Sports and Fitness
Expo on April 15.
The expo will feature over 150 ex-
hibitors showcasing the cutting-edge
technology and strategies in the run-
ning world.
Admission will also be compli-
mentary, and attendees can expect to
see representatives and exhibits from
companies such as Adidas, Gatorade,
and Clif Bar.
The same fact sheet also predicts
that the Boston Marathon will gener-
ate $181.9 million dollars for the local
economy.
With these large numbers , and
people attending events that begin three
days before the Marathon itself, Mara-
thon organizers are prioritizing safety.
In addition to the almost 2,000 medical
personnel and over 3,000 security per-
sonnel overseeing the Marathon, 4,176
members of the local, state, and federal
law enforcement will be present at the
2016 Boston Marathon.
And although the Marathon is an
important event that marks the progres-
sion of society, as well as giving cause
for celebration, and a reminder of unity
within the city of Boston and beyond, it
did not always have such a wide reach.
Organized by the B.A.A. in 1897,
the Boston Marathon began as a single
event in the larger Boston Athletic As-
sociation Games. As would become
tradition, the race was held on Patriot’s
Day, but at this early date, only 15 run-
ners participated.
As the decades progressed, the
Marathon gained traction and world-
wide attention. Patriot’s Day became
an official holiday in the state of Massa-
chusetts, which resulted in an increase
in marathon spectators.
Men from around the world par-
ticipated in the Marathon, and, in 1966,
Roberta Gibb became the first woman
to complete the course. Her entry was
unofficial, however, and it was not until
1972 that women were officially allowed
to enter the Marathon. From there, the
Marathon continued to evolve, gaining
a wheelchair division, a cash prize, and
breaking numerous records.
This year will mark the 50th an-
niversary of Gibb’s famous completion
of the Marathon, and in honor of her
achievement, and in celebration of 50
years of women running in the Mara-
thon, Gibb will be Grand Marshal for
the 2016 Marathon.
According to the B.A.A., events
throughout the week of the Boston
Marathon will be held to honor the
participation of women in the race, and
Gibb will ride just ahead of the runners
to alert spectators of their approach.
“Gibb changed the course of running
history five decades ago, setting the
stage for generations to come,” B.A.A
President Joann Flaminio said in the
organization’s press release.“Bobbi will
lead 30,000 runners, including more
than 14,000 female entrants, on their
way to Boston on Patriots’ Day this
year.”
This year will be another big year
for the Boston Marathon, which has
only become a stronger point of public
focus after the tragedy of the Boston
Marathon bombings in 2013.
Just this past Saturday, Boston
Mayor Martin J. Walsh, WCAS ’09,
and Massachusetts Governor Charlie
Baker unveiled this year’s tribute to
the victims of the bombing: a large blue
and yellow banner emblazoned with the
words “Boston Strong.”
According to Boston.com, the trib-
ute is located on the Bowker Overpass
hovering over Commonwealth Avenue,
positioned so that the runners can see it
as they near their final mile.
CYCLE FOR SURVIVAL
Ever since he was a freshman, the
Boston Marathon has been an important
aspect of Boston College for Chase Ryan,
MCAS ’16.
“I come from a small community in
Montana, so to see the hype and energy
and to see how many people came out for
Marathon Monday my freshmen year was
such a highlight of my BC experience,”
he said.
Th is year, however, the economics ma-
jor will be on the other side of the day, as
a runner with the Dana-Farber Institute’s
Boston Marathon team.
Th e Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge
(DFMC) raises funds for the Claudia Adams
Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer
Research. DFMC began in 1990 and since
then has raised over $74 million. Th e pro-
gram has helped improve survival rates and
quality of life for cancer patients. For the
2016 Boston Marathon, “the DFMC team
aims to raise $5.4 million in pursuit of the
ultimate fi nish line: a world without cancer,”
according to the program’s web site.
Ryan is excited to work with the DFMC
team, but his involvement is motivated by
a diffi cult past.
“When I was in high school, my mother
battled cancer,” he said. “We were just
so blessed with early detection that my
mother never doubted that she would pull
through.”
Ryan’s mother has since recovered, and
this year his family is celebrating fi ve can-
cer-free years. Since so many people that
he has met at BC have also been aff ected
by cancer, he decided to run.
All runners who gain a bib number
through a charity have to raise a minimum
of $5,000, but Ryan has a higher goal of
$11,000. He has had to be creative in his
fundraising approaches, starting with a
letter campaign.
In his letter Ryan outlines his reasons
for running, the history of the DFMC and
the Claudia Adams Barr program, and how
family and friends can donate.
“After experiencing the marathon
festivities at Boston College’s ‘Mile 21’ in
years past, I look forward to being a part of
this iconic race and of greater importance,
raising funds for a meaningful cause,” Ryan
wrote.
Ryan also enlisted the help of his two
favorite teachers at Core Power Yoga, a yoga
studio he goes to frequently.
Th e teachers hosted a fundraising class
for his campaign, asking people to donate
whatever they felt comfortable with. Th e
fundraising event had over 50 people in
attendance, and Ryan raised over $1,000.
“BC is a very giving and philanthropic
community and emphasizes giving back,”
he said.
Raising $11,000 and running 26.2 miles
are no small feats, and the journey has come
with several challenges. But when the chal-
lenges arise, Ryan said he fi nds motivation
and support in his family, close friends,
and fellow runners like Madison Meehan,
MCAS ’16, who is also a member of the
Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team.
“The Dana Farber team couldn’t be
more supportive,” he said. “Th ey have so
many resources and team meetings and
committees that help us brainstorm.”
One of the coaches is Jack Fultz, who
won the Boston Marathon in 1976 and
has helped develop training programs for
runners of all levels. Th ere are weekly track
workouts at Tufts University and group
runs on Saturday or Sunday mornings.
“It’s very motivating to have others
pushing you and make you want to get out
of bed when you don’t want to run 15 to 20
miles by yourself,” Ryan said.
Finally, the night before race day the
team will host a pasta dinner for all the
runners and their family members.
In 11 days, on race day, Ryan’s friends
and family—including his mother—will be
on the sidelines cheering him on.
“I think [my mom is] proud that I’ve
taken the initiative to join Dana-Farber
and help those who aren’t as fortunate with
diagnosis and timing,” he said. “I think she’s
very happy.”
Ryan encouraged anyone who may want
to run the Marathon to go for it.
“It’s great to have a challenge and
if you’re running for a charity, to have
something to work towards that’s greater
than yourself,” he said. “It’s a phenomenal
opportunity.”
KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR
PHOTO COURTESY OF MADISON MEEHAN
Meehan decided to run the marathon with the Dana-Farber to support cancer research as a tribute to her late father (above).
Like many of the runners completing
the Marathon for the DFMC team, Can-
cer has personally affected Meehan. Her
father passed away from Leukemia two
years ago after a long fight. She found
no better way to honor his memory than
to run for the cause and raise money for
future research.
To be part of the team, the runners
must raise at least $5,000 for the charity.
Due to the large support network that
Meehan has developed over the years
she has been able to not only reach
that goal, but has surpassed it with over
$29,000 in donations to date.
Meehan said that no one reached
out to her in order to run, that it was
all of her own decision after hearing
from one of her friends who is also on
the team.
While her high school track experi-
ence helped during the training, going
beyond the normal six miles she would
run during practice was a tough adjust-
ment.
“We have a specific week-by-week
training regime to get us in the shape we
need to be to run it,” she said. “Taking
it week-by-week definitely helped my
mentality and got my body used to the
longer distances we began to do.”
One of the main sources of support
for her has been her friends and family,
with many at BC being very supportive
of her and her cause.
“While I am running a lot of the time,
I don’t think about much other than the
road ahead,” she said. “I concentrate on
what I have to do. I also think of all of
the support I’ve received, and that keeps
me going.”
She says that there are definitely days
when she doesn’t feel like running for
various reasons, but when those doubts
creep up, she thinks about her family,
friends, and the cause in order to muster
the energy to go out and run that day.
Having all of her friends and family
checking in on her to see how she was
doing has helped her more than they can
imagine Meehan said. She then added
that their support has been incredible,
especially beyond the donations.
Running the 26.2-mile course for
professional marathon runners is not
an easy task, so for others who are
not used to it it requires an immense
amount of dedication. But, anyone can
do it, Meehan said.
“If you follow the training regime
[the team] gives it is possible for any-
one to do it,” she said. “You just have to
think about why you’re running, and it
gets easier.”
STORIES FROM THE MARATHON
resources to develop and market
the product in the United States.
He that noticed many technol-
ogy and creative companies
have started purchasing napping
pods for their offices, which
made him realize that target-
ing for Sleepbox in the United
States should be more oriented
toward these companies than it
had been in the past.
There are three main mar-
kets for Sleepbox. The first is the
adaptation of them in office set-
tings. Sleepbox would typically
sell them to an office developer,
a real estate developer, or ten-
ants of the office spaces.
“They basically don’t charge
the people that are there to use
them,” Chambers said. “They
let the employees go in, close
the door, and sort of take a deep
breath to clear themselves from
the work for about a half hour,
an hour.”
The second use is in the hotel
setting, which breaks down into
two parts. There is the option
to take over a floor or so of
an existing hotel and use the
space to put in more beds so as
to manage space as efficiently
as possible. Since these are for
longer stays there is typically a
communal bathroom for all of
the Sleepboxes. Chambers de-
scribed the third use as similar
to the office use—single units
can be operated independently
as vending machines for tran-
sient people to use for napping.
In these cases, the focus is not
to offer overnight stays, and
wouldn’t require a dedicated
bath space. Units for this pur-
pose might be found somewhere
like a shopping center, and there
would likely be some sort of
reservation system available.
Commercially, the price of us-
ing a Sleepbox generally ranges
from $5 to $15, but the owners
set their own prices after buy-
ing the initial unit for around
$16,000.
S le epbox is working to
change the image of sleep in
the office space. There is often
a connotation that sleeping is
not something that should be
acceptable during the day in an
operating office, and that self-
care should be limited to the
home, the founders said.
“As work schedules become
f lexible and people become
more adaptable or amenable to
flexible work hours or work-
ing at all times of the day, that
they are starting to change that
cultural understanding and
cultural connotation that goes
along with sleeping in the of-
fice,” Chambers said. “So part of
that is changing people’s minds,
and the other part of that is best
practices to incorporate this.”
Some concerns still exist,
however. In traditional office
settings, it is important to nap
for an appropriate amount of
time, taking into account an in-
dividual’s REM cycle, otherwise
workers can wake up groggy and
ultimately be less productive.
This, as well as oversleeping,
could pose problems for com-
panies that use Sleepbox.
Sleepbox is not stopping at
bedrooms. Chambers said that
they are working on another
development: a water closet unit
that could be used in a hotel.
“It’s another tool of changing
the way that we look at genera-
tional talent management and
business, looking at how we
structure the way that people
are allowed to work and then
recharge and harness their pro-
ductivity and creativity,” Cham-
bers said in regard to his favorite
part of the project.
catching they were.
The sneakers in question
were what preppy dreams are
made of: the first pair featured
a pastel red and blue plaid
underneath bright-red piping,
and the second pair the same
plaid under a pattern of sky-
blue piping.
On the back of each shoe
was a small whale—about
the size of a quarter—smiling
cheekily at me from behind
the glass. The laces were, of
course, coordinated to match
the piping, and the insoles
were covered in more of that
same pastel plaid.
As I stared at the shoes,
I was filled with a sense of
dread and admiration. Dread,
because I suddenly realized
that I could be looking at the
latest Boston College trend.
I could see these sneakers
scattered throughout cam-
pus alongside Sperry’s, Bean
Boots, and all forms of Vine-
yard Vines.
The admiration came as I
thought about the abject con-
fidence that it would actually
take to wear these shoes out
in public.
Their bright plaid was so
distinctive that the sneakers
would clash with almost any-
thing, so finding a way to style
them that would be un-ironic
and still appealing would
require the utmost nuance and
skill.
I tried to think up a few
such options, and quite
frankly, I was stumped.
Eventually, I walked away
from the sneakers in sartorial
defeat, but I couldn’t help but
wonder where these shoes
came from.
Had Vineyard Vines de-
cided to appeal to the athe-
leisure trend, and join the
legions of brands making the
leap into athletic clothing?
But that couldn’t be, because
the little whales weren’t pink,
and Vineyard Vines surely
wouldn’t withhold its trade-
mark whale from a running
shoe.
So I poked around, and
discovered that the shoes
were created by the Seattle-
based shoemaker Brooks, in
honor of the upcoming Boston
Marathon.
According to BostInno,
the sneakers will cost $130,
and are actually the second
Boston-themed sneaker that
the brand has created. The
first ones were bright red, and
covered in lobsters.
And apparently this tradi-
tion of running companies
creating sneakers in honor of
the Marathon is long-stand-
ing. Massachusetts-based
brands Saucony and New Bal-
ance also designed Marathon
shoes.
Saucony’s were inspired
by the MBTA’s famous Green
line, and New Balance’s em-
phasized the high number of
colleges in the area with what
the company called “a col-
legiate color pallet.”
But isn’t it interesting that
the two local companies were
able to pay such a nuanced
tribute to the city of Boston,
while the out-of-towners
latched on to such a stereo-
type?
Because by now we all
know that, despite how it
might look from far away,
there is so much more to
Boston than preppy plaids and
lobsters.
THE HEIGHTS A5Thursday, April 7, 2016
By Joanna Yuelys
Heights Staff
As founding partners of an
architecture firm in Russia,
Mikhail Krymov and Alexey
Goryainov were constantly
travelling around promoting
their firm in the continent and
found they could not find places
to stay in airports or city centers
for reasonable prices. So, in
2012 they invented Sleepbox,
a way to catch some z’s on the
go.
Peter Chambers, another
co-founder acting as CFO and
COO, described the project as
a research development experi-
ment at first, with Krymov and
Goryainov initially doing all of
the design themselves and then
bringing contract manufactur-
ers in Russia and Europe to
bring the product to life.
Sleepbox sel ls enclosed
modules with about 40 square
feet of space with a bed and of-
ten a television which users can
rent for a given period of time.
They were originally built for an
airport in Moscow, where there
are about 50 installations.
“Our major installations
right now are in a hotel in Mos-
cow, and in Stockholm, Sweden,
at the Bo & Bistro hotel, right
across the street from the ma-
jor sports center Tele2 Arena,”
Chambers said.
There are also around five
other smaller-scale installations
in offices in Europe and Russia.
Last year, Krymov came to
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology to complete a fel-
lowship as part of his Ph.D. pro-
gram in Moscow. The fellowship
itself is unrelated to Sleepbox,
but being at MIT has connected
the founder to important new
networks and had given him
PHOTO BY THE BSA
One of the many models on display at the exhibit showcasing the “progressive contextualism” style of Moshe Safdie.
Most of the time, I feel like
I have to walk past store win-
dows as fast as possible.
If I slow down, I know that
my resolve will weaken, and
I will probably end up pulled
into the shop, drooling over
whatever was in the window.
This ultimately means that
there are very few window
displays that actually have the
power to stop me in my tracks
and say something along the
lines of “wow.”
Many times, the abrupt
halt occurs after I see a dis-
play that is truly beautiful in
and of itself.
Other times I stop because
the items in the windows are
so bizarre that I need a few
seconds to process what they
really are.
This past week, an instance
of the latter occurred as I was
ambling down the streets of
Newton Centre.
As I moved past the quaint
shops, I stopped in confusion
in front of a store dedicated
to running gear—the kind of
store that I can honestly say I
am not naturally inclined to
stop in front of on any day.
I was brought to a halt by
the sight of two pairs of run-
ning sneakers prominently
displayed on pedestals in the
window.
I honestly couldn’t tell you
if there was anything else in
that window at all, or if the
display solely comprised these
sneakers, that’s how eye-
By Juan Olavarria
Metro Editor
Moshe Safdie returns to Bos-
ton with intent and is taking
the city by storm with his new
exhibit, Global Citizen: The Ar-
chitecture of Moshe Safdie.
Opening on March 16 and
running until May 22, the Boston
Society of Architects will hold an
exhibit showcasing the work of
Safdie, the 2015 AIA Gold Medal
winner. The exhibit is free to the
public and features a large collec-
tion of Safdie’s models, drawings,
films, and photographs of his
buildings from his projects all
around the world.
Safdie, born in Israel, also
holds Canadian and Ameri-
can citizenships. His extensive
travels have also exposed him
to a vast array of architectural
styles and natural environments,
evidenced by his commissions
that range from places like the
Tel Aviv airport to the Peabody
Essex Museum located in Salem,
Mass. His firm also has offices in
Jerusalem, Singapore, China and
Somerville, Mass.
The exhibit itself is almost
like a work of art, with the mod-
els, photographs, and drawings
not only arranged in chrono-
logical order but also made to fit
within the space available and to
adjust to the natural light coming
through the large windows. Visi-
tors are faced with a large model
of Boston as soon as they walk
through the door.
Curated by Donald Albrecht,
the exhibition includes large-
scale models of built, unbuilt,
and in-progress projects from
Safdie’s career. Around every
corner there is another model
of a buildings with its own story
to tell. Ranging from residential
building to museums to librar-
ies to convention centers, each
development featured has pho-
tographs of the actual building
alongside the tangible, miniature
displays that show the visitor
with surprising detail every
curve and edge of the building.
The varying degrees of prog-
ress of these models trace his
development as an architect
and highlight the major works of
his life, especially Habitat ’67, a
housing complex that was com-
missioned for Montreal’s 1967
world expo.
“In his career, Safdie has
tackled the challenges of urban
life head-on with solutions that
create enjoyable, livable spaces,
connecting individuals to nature
and their community,” Albrecht
said in an email.
The exhibit as a whole also fo-
cuses on the critical junctures in
the development of Safdie’s style
of “progressive contextualism,”
where a construction should act
both within the natural limita-
tions of the environment but also
be an “extension” of the same.
It is organized into five sec-
tions: Safdie’s formative years as
an undergraduate and the launch
of his practice in 1964; the estab-
lishment of a branch office and
his work across Jerusalem in the
1970s; a period of major institu-
tional commissions across North
America throughout the 1980s,
1990s, and early 2000s; a more
recent phase of diverse commis-
sions in new global centers in
India, Singapore, and China; and
examples of his firm’s current
large-scale work confronting the
challenges of dense urbanism
around the world.
Going up the translucent
staircase brings the visitor to the
bulk of the exhibit, with the orig-
inal model for his now-famous
Habitat ’67 among the objects on
display. The handiwork done by
Safdie is apparent in this model
and others.
The show becomes a tangible
expression of the evolution of
the practice of architecture, from
its origins in hand-built models
to computer renderings that give
the visitors the experience of
what a building would look like
from the inside.
One of the lasting images of
the exhibit, along with the large
miniature model of Boston, is
that of the model of the Marina
Sands Hotel in Singapore.
The large display showcases
Safdie at his best: aggressive, as
evidenced by the large terrace on
the rooftop that serves as a con-
nector between the three towers
of the hotel, but delicate, as the
building looks at peace with its
surroundings.
“I am thrilled to welcome
Global Citizen at BSA Space,
the first exhibition in a series of
shows celebrating seminal firms
with roots in Boston,” 2016 BSA
president Tamara Roy said to
Canadian Architect. “Safdie’s
office has made a lasting impact
on our local and regional archi-
tectural and civic community,
and this exhibition will be a tes-
tament to an impressive body of
work.”
THE HEIGHTS Thursday, April 7, 2016A6
HEIGHTSThe Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
THE
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art ... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity,
accuracy, and to prevent libel. The 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 [email protected],
person, or by mail to Editor, The Heights, 113 McElro
Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.
EDITORIALS
The views expressed in the above editorials
represent the official position of The Heights, as
discussed and written by the Editorial Board. A list
of the members of the Editorial Board can be found
at bcheights.com/opinions.
An online petition posted last week
argued that the new Boston College
recreation facility, which will replace
the Flynn Recreation Complex, will
hinder efforts to recruit student-ath-
letes for both the swimming and tennis
teams and will not provide adequate
resources for students or current BC
athletes.
The main concern of the petition is
that the pool in the new facility is not
large enough for the swim team to re-
alistically use for practice. There is also
concern about the reduced number of
tennis courts.
In response, Director of Athletics
Brad Bates has said that the plan for
the new facility will “reflect the Uni-
versity’s needs and address the evolving
demands of intercollegiate athletics at
Boston College.”
This petition has a legitimate point.
If BC is to ever have a competitive
swimming team in the ACC, it requires
an Olympic-sized pool of at least 50
meters by 25 yards, or one that is 25
meters by 25 yards that also includes
a diving well.
This pool needs to be deeper and
have better filtration than the current
one in the Flynn Recreation Complex,
which is out of date and does not meet
these needs.
Every other ACC school, with the
exception of Miami, has an up-to-date
pool of adequate size available for use.
Each of these schools has an Olympic-
sized pool. In comparison, BC is far
behind the rest of the conference, and
the swimming program suffers because
of this.
If the swimming pool is not improved
in the new facility, the swimming team
is facing an uncertain future. By con-
tinuing to be vague about plans for a
pool, BC is threatening the viability of
swimming as a sport at BC.
Good facilities are a necessity for BC
to show dedication to the program and
provide incentive to recruits. As plans
for the new facility go forward, this is-
sue should be addressed.
This same principle applies to the
tennis team, which has not received
adequate information about how many
courts it will be allocated in the new fa-
cility. BC needs to show a commitment
to both the swim team and tennis team.
Continuing to be vague about whether
a suitable pool and tennis courts will be
built puts these teams in a precarious
position. Explicit information should
be released in order to ensure that no
team is neglected when the new facil-
ity is built.
This petition brings up a number
of important concerns with the new
facility. Since considerable donation
money is being spent on the new proj-
ect, it is important that the facility re-
flect the needs of the student-athletes
and non-athlete students who will be
using it . Having subpar swimming
facilities hurts BC swimming athleti-
cally and limits the fitness options of
regular students.
The concerns brought up in this
petition should be taken into account
by the athletic department and plans
should be adjusted to meet them.
Members of the Boston College ad-
ministration met with the Undergradu-
ate Government of Boston College as
well as non-UGBC-affiliated students,
as part of Boston College Looking
Forward, an event meant to foster
communication between the student
body and the administration at the
beginning of the 18-month strategic
planning process.
Students divided into small groups
that then met with an administrator at a
table, where they voiced their concerns
and provided suggestions for the future
of BC. The administrators marked
down these concerns and suggestions
for future use as the strategic planning
process continues. These administra-
tors will then meet with the Board of
Trustees to present their findings.
UGBC has made progress in open-
ing lines of communication with the
administration and needs to work to
ensure that they remain open in the
future. Now that a line of communica-
tion is open, the administration should
take these concerns seriously. In addi-
tion, the willingness of the administra-
tors to hear concerns from the student
body ought to be noted as a positive
step. This communication between the
students and the administration should
lead to an inclusive and successful stra-
tegic planning process.
Katie Lamirato, UGBC director of
transparency and MCAS ’18, and other
members of UGBC proposed having
this meeting every semester with the
administration. Since the ideas pre-
sented were often very large-scale and
require long-term discussion and ac-
tion, a meeting every semester has the
possibility for redundancy. Instead, it
would be better to have a meeting every
year. This helps ensure that as many ad-
ministrators as possible can attend and
the ideas presented will be adequately
evolved from the previous meeting.
The administration should continue to
attend these meetings and work with
UGBC to better understand student
concerns in this way. As progress on the
master plan continues, these meetings
can be used to update the administra-
tion on changing student concerns and
how well or poorly newly implemented
programs have worked. This will help
ensure that the master plan does the
most possible to help students and im-
prove student life.
One notable absence from this meet-
ing was University President Rev. Wil-
liam P. Leahy, S.J. Leahy should consider
attending meetings like this in order to
demonstrate a direct engagement with
student concerns.
Although much of the job of Uni-
versity President involves fundraising
and boosting University prestige, it is
important that Leahy takes the time to
meet with UGBC, even if it is just this
meeting or similar meetings, to ensure
that communication is taking place and
that ideas are being heard.
be confident enough that by ending
the barriers to trade, the Cuban people
will see the benefits of capitalism. Only
then will real change happen. We are far
beyond the years of the Cold War, and
the Cuban people must now choose their
own government without the control of
the United States. They have as much of
a right to self-determination as does the
rest of the world, and allowing them to
experience free markets and American
ingenuity will only help expedite their
path to capitalism and democracy. After
all, one of America’s largest trading part-
ners is none other than the communist
state of China. Is it not a double standard
to do business with China but ignore
Cuba? If the United States still had such
strong anti-communist feelings, consis-
tency would be necessary. It is obvious
that these divisions are antiquated, and
it is obvious that China’s transition from
communism to capitalism has led toward
more pressure for democracy from the
Chinese people.
What does the United States truly
have to lose by ending the Cuban em-
bargo? Perhaps American leaders still
do not want to admit that it has been a
failure, but it is time to admit the truth
and acknowledge the facts. If anything,
the U.S. and U.S. companies stand to gain
greatly from a repeal of the embargo.
Many Americans are drawn to the idea
of visiting Cuba, and airlines in the U.S.
stand to gain greatly from expanded
travel with new routes generating new
revenue. American tourism will help the
impoverished people of the island nation
and will help American travel companies,
too, a win-win situation for all parties.
The opening of American companies
in Cuba will help generate wealth and
opportunities for the Cuban people as
well, and the opening of a new market
will help generate increased demand for
American exports. The U.S. has noth-
ing to lose. By helping the Cuban people
generate wealth and helping American
companies, U.S. government policies will
finally reflect the values America stands
for—freedom and opportunity.
Those who disagree with lifting the
embargo often do so with many valid
reasons. It is true that the Castro regime
still holds political prisoners and limits
freedoms. The Cuban government is
well-deserving of intense scrutiny and
criticism. But people who feel this way
and support the embargo are only hold-
ing the Cuban people back. By limiting
their access to the outside world we
are shutting them out from seeing and
experiencing another way of life. In fact,
lifting the embargo could very well give
people inside the communist country
more access to outside information, a
freedom that has been quite restricted
inside of Cuba. Furthermore, the import
of U.S. goods will help improve Cuba’s
infrastructure, improving the quality of
life of many of the citizens there. Cuba’s
exports of world-renowned cigars and
rum to the U.S. will also help employ
Cubans by giving them more purchasing
power. A growing middle class is the key
to tackling communism.
Although it is unlikely for a Re-
publican Congress to give President
Obama a perceived policy victory in an
election year, it is time for Congress to
work together and carry out the popular
opinion of the American people. Let us
expose Cuba to capitalism and allow it to
prosper. Cuba’s path to freedom begins
with an opening of trade and travel
between our two countries. A sharing of
goods comes with a sharing of ideas and
culture. Let’s let capitalism free Cuba.
THE HEIGHTSThursday, April 7, 2016 A7
SNOW - Yeah, I bet you were expect-
ing a little thumbs down action on
this one, huh? But no! We here at
The Heights are all about subverting
expectations, switching things up,
hitting them with the ol’ one-two-
switcheroo. Just when you think
we’re going to complain about the
sudden cold, the ice-coated side-
walks, and the snow-covered boots,
we give you a little flip-de-doo. We
love the cold and the snow. There’s
no better way to get alert for your
first class than to slip in front of the
door and land flat on your patookis
in front of a crowd of laughing
freshmen. It’s better than coffee, I
tells ya.
BALCONIES - If you want to live a truly
dramatic life, you’ll spend a lot of
time on balconies, probably smok-
ing a cigarette and gazing wistfully
at the darkening horizon. “I don’t
know if it’s worth it,” you’ll whisper
when your friend walks out to see
if you’re all right. “I’ve been fight-
ing for justice in this neighborhood
for 32 years now, and these streets
don’t look no better to me.” “What
are you talking about?” your friend
will say. “You’ve only been alive for
20 years. Why are you talking in
that weird accent? What happened
to your normally impeccable gram-
mar?” You’ll shake your head, flick
your cigarette butt off the balcony,
and walk back inside as the credits
begin to roll.
RETROGRADE - In this world of con-
stantly shifting slang, it’s important
that we jump on top of trends im-
mediately. Everyone who’s anyone
knows that the newest super-fly
thing to say is “retrograde” as in
“Dawg, that’s so retrograde” or “I was
retrograding the other day and then
I bought a keytar and dawg, it was
pretty freakin’ retrograde.”
WHISPERED CONVERSATIONS WITH TWO-INCH FACIAL SEPARATION - There’s no
worse scene in a movie or television
show than when two absurdly attrac-
tive people stand about half an inch
away from each other and whisper
about their problems. “I don’t know
what we’re going to do.” “It’ll be fine
babe.” “I’m scared.” “Don’t be scared.
We have our love, and no one can
take that away.” “What?” “What?” “I
can’t hear you. Why are you whisper-
ing so softly, Paul?” “Can you avoid
P-words? You just spit on my chin.”
“I seriously can’t understand a word
you’re saying.” These scenes are the
scourge of our existence and must
be eliminated.
FINDING YOURSELF STUCK IN THE BUBBLE - No one hates jargon more
than this alien, but there’s something
very real about the BC Bubble. After
weeks on campus, you sometimes
realize that you haven’t ventured
forth into the world at all, you’ve
just been stuck eating, sleeping, and
pretending to have done the readings
in a never-ending cycle of despair.
You’ll go to the city tomorrow, you
decide, waggling your eyebrows
decisively. But then tomorrow you
have some work to do, and it’s kinda
cold, so forget it. You know you’ll
never break free. This is your life
now. Get used to it.
Like Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?
Follow us @BCTUTD
I love eating alone. There, I said it. I
love ordering whatever I want and not
worrying about a predatory fork from a
fellow diner. I love eating slowly and delib-
erately. I love getting swept up in the chat-
ter and the clatter of restaurants. Call me
a selfish diner or a loner, but I absolutely
love eating alone.
I didn’t always feel this way. Eighteen-
year-old me hated eating alone. She used
to walk into Mac with a heavy heart and
sweaty palms. Looking out at the sea
of unfamiliar faces and crowded tables,
she felt an inconsolable sense of defeat.
She felt completely and utterly deserted.
Maybe you felt this way too. Maybe you
still feel this way. There’s something ter-
rifying about walking up to a table alone
and claiming it for yourself. This fear
stayed with me throughout freshman year.
I began wrapping up my dinners to go
when none of my friends were available. I
left the tables for closer squads than mine.
Somewhere along the line, I got over
the fear. I think I can trace it to sopho-
more year. As the only one of my friends
with a 9 a.m., I had a choice. I could
eat breakfast alone, or I could skip it
altogether. I struggled through two weeks
of grumbling stomachs and exhaustion
during classes before trudging into Lower
at 8:30. At first, I resisted. I set myself up
with a bowl of cereal and a textbook. Or
a study guide. Or my phone. Anything to
distract from the silence and the empty
seat across from me. One day, I looked
up from my steaming cup of coffee and
glanced around. I noticed that I wasn’t
alone. Groups and couples and a smat-
tering of other single diners surrounded
me. And none of them were looking at
me. None of them were judging me for
being alone, mistaking my empty table for
loneliness or rejection.
This discovery changed everything.
Slowly, day by day, I learned to put down
my phone. I left my textbooks and study
guides in my backpack. Although I did
occasionally pull out a book, I mostly
learned to enjoy the silence. I started
ordering more lavish breakfasts: omelets
and croissants and the occasional stack of
pancakes. I ate slowly and with as much
pleasure as one can find in cafeteria food.
With my eyes out of a textbook or off
of the table, I started to notice things.
I noticed that Lower looks downright
cheery in the early-morning sun. I noticed
the ebb and flow of diners at 8:45 a.m. I
noticed the group of BC dining workers
laughing and enjoying breakfast before
their shift. Above all, I noticed how calm-
ing and empowering these solo meals
could be.
With a newfound sense of confidence
and independence, I started seeking out
more adventures on my own. I went on
long walks and coffee dates and afternoon
movies, with only the streets of Boston to
keep me company. I started trying new
restaurants and coffee shops, not because
my friends wanted to, but because I did.
I became a selfish diner, and I didn’t even
feel bad about it. I no longer felt alone or
afraid. My own company was enough.
Sometimes I think back to 18-year-old
me. I think back to the stressful dinner
runs and the to-go boxes. I wonder how
I ever felt so scared of eating by myself.
But I know that fear extends beyond the
dinner table. Who wants to be alone?
Who wants to feel lonely or unwanted
or forgotten? Perhaps it’s just at a table,
alone, that we must confront these ter-
rifying feelings. Learning to let them go,
learning to stand (or sit) on our own two
feet, can take time. It takes courage and
acceptance and probably an inconvenient
class schedule. But let me tell you, once
you work through the fear and the inse-
curity, those meals might just be the best
part of your day.
So here’s my challenge. I want you to
go on Yelp and find an intriguing new res-
taurant. Put on some lipstick or a tie, and
take yourself out. Say those dreaded three
words: “table for one.” Say them again and
again until they roll off your tongue with
ease and pleasure. Keep your phone in
your pocket and your book tucked away.
Sit and eat and watch and listen. Above
all, enjoy.
feel entitled to place restrictive conditions on
campus political rights. Student-athletes are
not allowed to organize to receive compensa-
tion for the money they bring to universities.
Students are not allowed to have their voices
heard in endowment investments. Students
are not allowed to promote ideas or events
without their first being approved by admin-
istrators. Ultimately, university governance
structures are completely isolated from the
students who provide the majority of their
funds, in an oppressive way akin to “taxation
without representation.”
The last goal of the university is to expose
students not only to a wide range of ideas,
but also to a diverse set of people who will
foster community and deep relationships
across society. In this, universities have had
some success in the last half-century, acting
to diversify their student bodies through ac-
tive admissions programs. In the measures of
diversity that are a bit more challenging and
require sacrifice on the part of the university,
such as changes to governance structures or
the training of underrepresented peoples to
improve faculties, it has been much slower to
change. Another issue that hinders diversity
on campuses is the social stratification that
occurs between populations of students
during their time at university. Discussions
about these differences remain tightly con-
trolled, and many members of marginalized
communities feel unsafe or unappreciated at
university because their political voices are
sharply curtailed and policies do not accu-
rately assess the issues important to them.
Ultimately, these failures of the Ameri-
can university arise from the hollowing out
of its purpose to provide a public good,
replaced by the idea that it is maintaining a
consumer product. Rather than serving as
a space to transmit knowledge and foster
humanistic community, the university has
become a place to create employees. In the
process, the university has been forced to
take on new forms, as corporate entity and
autocratic state, to perpetuate itself and hide
the increasingly transparent emptiness of its
mission. The university will be able to regain
its relevance in modern society only if it can
grow the individual person and create an
educated and humanistic citizenry.
material made universities imperative. Today,
the Internet has made access to informa-
tion nearly free in comparison to its former
costs. Students entering college today are
better-educated than any previous gen-
eration, and they have the tools to access
information about nearly anything. Many
educational institutions are starting online
college classes meant to match the level of
their campus programs.
The counterargument to this technologi-
cal education is that one cannot possibly be
exposed to a diversity of ideas through the
Internet, which cannot provoke challenges
or provide questions to preexisting ideas. But
it is not so clear that the university plays this
role either. The university and it students are
increasingly acting in the “academic modus
operandi.” This means they are narrowly
focusing on standardized criteria of success:
grade point averages and well-developed
resumes. With this competitive academic
atmosphere, creativity and passion are side-
lined and only appreciated as supplements
to academic success. Students applying to
university feel increasing pressure to meet
intense marks for these criteria, and the time
and effort that they spend on these measures
of success come at the expense of their social
development, creative capacities, and mental
health. Educators also feel the pressures of
this narrow academic mindset, as the tenu-
ous positions they hold at universities in the
pursuit of tenure— and increasingly, many
try to make a living without even the option
of it—mean they are pressured to meet
higher academic standards. This places a
systematic preference for research and publi-
cation over the importance of teaching.
The university also serves to provide an
arena to experiment with new freedoms. For
many students, university serves as the first
opportunity to live outside the shelter and
control of their families. It is a time to learn
the powerful possibilities and responsibilities
of independent action. The life of a modern
college student, however, greatly restricts
freedom in a strange mix of oppression and
false privilege. On the one hand, students
today are given everything they need to be
happy and successful during their time at
university: food, shelter, security, support,
technology. This lifestyle seems ideal, but
payment plans mask its consequences by
pushing debt down the road. In exchange
for the provision of these goods, universities
What is the point of a university?
For a senior who is (hopefully) graduating
this May, it might be too late to be asking this
question: Why am I here? Why did I enroll
at Boston College, and why was it imperative
that I attend a full-time, in-residence, four-
year university program? My existential mus-
ings aside, this question seems imperative as
college costs continue to rise and more and
more people call for a reorganization of the
education system. In many ways, this politi-
cally charged moment speaks to the failings
of the modern university in providing a
coherent, necessary service and how it might
be too late to revive its relevance.
For many young people today, the main
reason to attend a university is to attain a
respectable job. Traditionally, the university
was aptly positioned to do this, as a college
degree delivered success in the technocratic
world. A university education was able to
carry people up the socioeconomic ladder,
acting as the meritocratic equalizer that
strengthened America’s middle class. Today,
a university education is just as necessary for
maintaining a standard of living in the econo-
my, but not because college students can
enter quickly into successful career paths.
Rather, a bachelor’s degree often provides
students with a position for which they are
overqualified, as the lower-skilled portion of
the economy shrinks and employers increas-
ingly shift job-training to graduate programs.
Thus, college-educated students are now
working jobs that wouldn’t have required
a degree, and the debt that goes with it, in
previous years.
The foremost goal of the university is
to provide an education. The university is
meant to act as a meeting place between
the world’s most skilled educators and most
driven students to transmit knowledge and
expose them to new ideas. This service not
only benefits the individual, but also provides
society with educated leaders and intellectu-
als. For hundreds of years, the university
was the only place where this could occur
because the expense of accessing scholarly
Last week, President Obama made
one of the most important trips of his
presidency—a visit to Cuba. His visit
was met with praise from many on the
left and scorn from many on the right.
Despite the criticism of some in elected
office, a majority of the American people
agrees with ending the embargo on Cuba
and allowing the American people to
travel to the country without restriction.
Feeling this way does not make one any
less of a conservative, but rather affirms
one’s faith in the free-market principles
the United States was built on.
The embargo on Cuba has failed.
President John F. Kennedy’s initial goal
for the embargo was to isolate the island
nation, leading to the fall of its commu-
nist regime, yet here we stand, 52 years
later, with a communist Castro still in
power in Cuba. It is an obvious fact that
the embargo, though well-intentioned,
was a futile attempt to end the Castro re-
gime and instead hurt the Cuban people.
By isolating Cuba from the United
States since 1962, America has harmed
the very people we claimed to be helping.
Cuba has suffered from outdated infra-
structure, transportation, and essential
services, in large part due to the isola-
tion it suffered during the U.S. embargo.
Instead of Cuba going forward with the
United States, it has been stuck in the
past. The Castros are not the ones who
suffer from this. In fact, the Castros are
probably able to use U.S. isolation as a
political tactic to help garner anti-Ameri-
can and anti-capitalistic sentiments
within Cuba. The U.S. has turned a blind
eye to the people in need and it is time
that we unleash the power of U.S. indus-
try to help free them.
True free-market conservatives should
THE HEIGHTS Thursday, April 7, 2016 A8
Nestled among the slew of restaurants already located on
Washington Street in Brighton, Mass., Energize, a new fast
food restaurant serving fresh juices, blends, and salads, is set
to open in the next few weeks.
Ivo Dimitrov and three of his friends, all life-long athletes
who immigrated to Boston from Eastern Europe, were looking
for better workout-recovery drinks and better nutrition in gen-
eral when they conceived the idea to open Energize, Dimitrov
said. The restaurant’s menu will incorporate locally sourced
plant-based foods when possible, as well as “superfoods” like
goji berries. The team started experimenting with different
flavor combinations when it decided that opening a restaurant
would be a smart idea.
“We were like, ‘Wow, this is working. Why not just go with
it?’” Dimitrov said. “We took a hobby and decided to provide
it to others.”
Dimitrov hopes to reformulate what “fast food” means,
expanding beyond the widely-accepted unhealthy connota-
tion of the phrase.
“What we want to do primarily is redefine fast foods,” he
said. “We want people to think fast foods can be healthy.”
Dimitrov and his colleagues are focusing on hiring em-
ployees who generally care about healthy eating, as they are
likely to understand how nutritious food works. Energize’s
employees will be able to recommend certain juices and blends
to customers, paying particular attention to pre-workout and
post-workout drinks.
According to Boston.eater.com, Energize hopes to appeal
to all kinds of customers, not just those following a vegan or
vegetarian lifestyle.
Dimitrov and his team want to spread health benefits to
everyone, by serving freshly squeezed juices, juice blends
infused with superfoods, and salads, using local produce as
much as possible to incorporate into their plant-based, vegan
menu.
Dimitrov mentioned that Washington Street is lined with
restaurants serving pizza and other similar items, and hopes
that Energize will bring something new to the table.
According to the restaurant’s web site, many people turn to
convenience stores and coffee shops in search of sugar-filled,
caffeinated beverages. Dimitrov and his colleagues believe that
what the body is really in search of is energy, which one can
acquire through the juices and blends offered at Energize.
Madison Sweedler, MCAS ’19, is a practicing vegan, but
admits that it is sometimes out of her price range to be con-
stantly purchasing food off campus.
“As a vegan, you have to be more aware of what is in your
food,” she said. “Veganism requires a little more creativity, and
if one is willing to apply this, then it is problem-free.”
Sweedler believes that the BC community will take full
advantage of the new restaurant.
“Given BC’s student body, which tends to be pretty health-
conscious, I absolutely think a good portion of BC’s students
would be thrilled by Energize’s opening,” she said.
Sweedler is excited to try the restaurant herself, especially
because it caters specifically to the vegan lifestyle, she said.
The restaurant’s menu has a few pre-selected juices and
blends, but mostly lists ingredients, allowing customers
to be as creative as they please. Sweedler believes that the
combination of creativity and nutrition will be popular with
vegan and omnivorous BC students alike who struggle to
find reasonably-priced yet nutritious options that are easily
accessible from campus.
Vegetarian Madison Hynes, MCAS ’18, said that there are
a fair amount of restaurants in the Allston-Brighton area, but
that there is still a lot of room to grow.
“Energize’s emphasis on juices and smoothies is something
new to the Brighton community, which is great,” she said.
In addition to the influx of college students Energize hopes
to attract to its new restaurant, Dimitrov and his colleagues are
excited to be a new addition to the Brighton community.
“The people who are going to work at Energize are very
passionate and understand how food works,” he said. “That’s
how we’re trying to separate ourselves from everybody
else.”
PHOTO COURTESTY OF ENERGIZE
Last week, an event held by General
Electric to discuss its upcoming move to
Boston was met with stark opposition
from individuals who believe the move
will be detrimental to the City.
During the event, Boston Mayor
Martin J. Walsh, MCAS ’09, discussed
and supported the possibility of raising
the minimum wage to $15 per hour
statewide.
“When you look at the disparities,
and income inequality, and what’s hap-
pening, I think it’s important for us to
work on the issue,” Walsh told The Boston Globe. “And the way we work on the issue
is by increasing the minimum wage over
a period of time.”
The discussion about raising the
minimum wage in the state is not a new
one, with former Governor Deval Patrick
previously approving a minimum wage
increase to $10 per hour in 2014. At the
time, Massachusetts was the only state
with a minimum wage that high—it was
later joined by California and New York.
Thus the question is whether the state
needs the change and whether it would
be fiscally responsible to do so, taking
into account that to afford the higher
wages, companies would have to either
see an increase in revenue or lay off some
employees. Unions across the state have
applauded the proposal, citing the need
for a living wage for all individuals.
Critics of the proposal have come
mostly from business groups who are
concerned with the costs of such a
measure.
Chris Geehern, executive vice
president at the Associated Industries of
Massachusetts, did not agree with raising
the minimum wage again, he said to The Boston Globe, as employers across the
state are still digesting the Patrick wage
increases, which made the minimum $10
per hour in 2016 and will increase it to
$11 next year.
The city is currently experiencing
a boom in the startup scene, and to
continue to be an attractive spot for these
sprouting companies, it needs to provide
an environment where business can
prosper.
For employees, this would provide
a great incentive to work in the state.
But the opposite is true for employers
who would have to raise prices or lay off
workers to meet the new wage floor, were
it to come into effect.
College students, however, would
benefit from the increase.
It would provide a heftier source of
income to help many not only pay their
bills, but also put a greater dent into their
tuition payments and, in turn, reduce
their debt, especially as the process to
repay loans remains confusing.
Leaders in the state, include Governor
Charlie Baker, will have to look holisti-
cally at the effects that such a proposal
would have, especially since the wage is
still set to increase again at the end of
the year.
Yes, having higher wages would only
benefit those receiving those wages, but
not if those wages are not going to a large
enough group of people.
The state and the city have to ensure
that economic conditions exist so that
the largest amount of individuals can
benefit and prosper. It might be in the
best interest of the statewide economic
climate to wait for the economy to digest
the current wage increases and adjust ac-
cordingly before making decisions about
future spikes in the wage.
Politicians are often guilty of making
rash economic decisions without having
adequate data or because they wish to
effect immediate change in the short run,
without much thought about the long
term, especially in election years such as
this one.
We must take the mayor’s remarks
with a grain of salt and understand the
reasons behind why such a measure
would be beneficial and whom it would
benefit. In today’s economy, one that is
still recovering from the latest recession,
the City has seen remarkable progress
over the past few years.
Boston needs to remains an attractive
startup market, and now with GE’s move
to the city, it would be imprudent to shift
the economic conditions without first
seeing how all of the current, moving
parts fit together.
diverse as well. Scott Fleming, assistant
to the president for federal relations,
said that “political dialogue on our
[Georgetown] campus is pretty balanced”
between parties. Based on their dona-
tion patterns in the past few years, both
BC and Georgetown can be considered
progressively liberal.
Policy appears more restricted when
considering the University of Notre
Dame, another notable Catholic insti-
tution. While BC allows for its faculty
to consider their own political beliefs
without consideration for the Catholic
tradition, Notre Dame has proven to
be more involved with its employees’
political alignment. In 2011, the Na-tional Catholic Register reported that
Roxanne Martino “abruptly resigned”
from her role on the university’s Board
of Trustees after a month-long scandal
concerning her sizable donations to po-
litical-action committees that identified
as pro-choice.
The National Catholic Register calls
“the nation’s preeminent Catholic uni-
versity,” and it has received pressure
from Catholic institutions to uphold
traditional Catholic ideals. After the uni-
versity honored President Barack Obama
in its 2009 commencement ceremonies,
bishops across the country renounced
the university, and the Cardinal Newman
Society launched a petition campaign
in favor of the faith’s traditional values.
BC and Georgetown’s faculty are still
afforded open political liberalism as the
institutions have avoided backlash from
the Catholic Church.
While Catholic values may not align
with the political left-wing, BC’s faculty
does—at least according to the public re-
cords available on campaign donations.
Donations, from A1
Energize, a juice bar located on Washington Street in Brighton set to open in the next few weeks, is spreading health benefits by serving freshly squeezed juices infused with superfoods like goji berries.
‘DOG SEES GOD’BONN STUDIO EXPLORES THE TEENAGE ANTICS OF THE ‘PEANUTS’ GANG,
A DIFFERENT DIRT ROADMCGRAW’S ‘HUMBLE AND KIND’ TAKES COUNTRY BACK TO ITS ROOTS,
PAGE B2
REVIEW
REVIEW
‘The Boss’MELISSA MCCARTHY’S LATEST MOVIE DOESN’T STRAY FAR FROM HER USUAL FORTE,
PAGE B3
COLUMN
ABBY PAULSON / HEIGHTS EDITOR
THURSDAY | APRIL 7, 2016
THE
Page B4
THE HEIGHTS Thursday, April 7, 2016B2
It’s hard to resist imaginig what some of
the most beloved children’s cartoon characters
would grow up to be. Who wouldn’t want to
see where Tommy and Chuckie from Rugrats
ended up in their 20s, or if Dexter would still
be fiddling around in his laboratory in high
school? But, at the end of the day, we’re often
left only with our imaginations, picturing
scenes and conversations between our favorite
characters that will never be real.
The latest production from Boston College
Contemporary Theatre, on the other hand, is
not satisfied with keeping the fates of Charles
Schulz’s beloved Peanuts characters left con-
fined in the minds of fans. Dog Sees God, “an
unauthorized parody” of the Peanuts comic
strip and TV specials, sees the eclectic gang
of rascals trudging through its high school
years, embodying a tone and language that
audiences are entirely unaccustomed to see-
ing them in.
As an unauthorized parody, Dog Sees
God is not allowed to feature the actual
Peanuts characters. Instead, the characters’
well-known names are replaced with stand-
ins. Charlie Brown is CB, Sally is CB’s Sister,
Linus is Van, Pig Pen is Matt, Schroeder is
Beethoven, Peppermint Patty is Tricia, Marcy
is Marcie, and Lucy is Van’s Sister. These
substitutes can often feel clunky and forced,
marking the first of a few qualities of Dog Sees
God that suggest that working off of Schulz’s
cherished characters might not have been the
best move. While there is a point to corrupting
such an innocent entourage, the writer, Bert
V. Royal, could have explored the themes he’s
discussing without such a large distraction.
The play opens with CB’s dog’s funeral.
CB’s dog had contracted rabies, and after CB
finds him frantic, foaming at the mouth, and
next to the carcass of a little yellow bird, CB is
forced to put him down. CB’s Sister, who has
decided to be a Wiccan for the week, half-
heartedly consoles her brother, but berates
him for holding a funeral no one attends.
Over the course of the first few scenes,
we are introduced to Van (a stoner), Matt (a
sex-obsessed bully), Tricia and Marcie (two
alcoholic, loud-mouthed narcissists), and
Beethoven (a secluded, picked-on pianist).
CB tries to talk with each of these kids about
the death of his dog and what they think life
and death are really all about, but no one will
listen except Beethoven, who is still reluctant
to have anything to do with CB because he
considers him a bully. CB and Beethoven have
a touching conversation and begin to consider
romantic feelings toward each other. While
the play progresses, Van’s Sister sits in a mental
institution for lighting a little red-haired girl’s
hair on fire.
The main point of Dog Sees God is to show
audiences that life doesn’t remain simple for
long for anyone. It wants people to see that
even the most innocent characters imaginable
are susceptible to the trials, errors, and pains
of real life. To a degree, it does this well, but
where it starts to falter is in maintaining a
logical growth from the characters that people
know and love to the characters that we are
given on stage.
Aside from CB and Beethoven, none of
the other characters seem to exhibit any of the
traits that they are famous for. In effect, they’ve
all grown out of their childish personalities
into “realistic” stereotypes that feel really
forced. Pig-Pen (Matt) never exhibits any sign
of being a rotten kid in Peanuts. As a teenager,
Pig-Pen is openly snorting cocaine in the
hallway of his high school while shouting, “I
love p—y.” Peppermint Patty and Marcy were
always a bit kooky, but now they’re openly
drinking Svedka in the cafeteria and having
a three-some with Pig-Pen. It’s extremely
difficult to reconcile these types of absurdi-
ties throughout the play, and the discrepancy
between the purity of the cartoon characters
and these melodramatic manifestations of
their older selves distracts the viewer from
really appreciating the message that Royal
is trying to get across. This is all, however
the fault of the nature of the show, not of the
performances given.
Several members of the relatively small
cast of Dog Sees God take on their characters
in memorable fashion. Will Krom, MCAS ’16,
and Andrew Gaffney, MCAS ’16, playing CB
and Beethoven, respectively, have a noticeable
and engaging chemistry together and portray
their characters’ struggle over their sexuality
very genuinely. Pothead Van, played by An-
drew Meck, MCAS ’18, easily releases much
of the tension in some of more serious scenes
with a witty, albeit slowly delivered quip. For
the one scene Danielle Wehner, MCAS ’16, is
in, where CB visits Van’s Sister in an institution,
she steals the spotlight as Van’s Sister. Charlie
Brown and Lucy have the most cemented
dynamic in the Peanuts specials, and the scene
between CB and Van’s Sister holds the most
weight and shows the audience a relationship
that is heavily anticipated. Though the writing
for the older iterations of the Peanuts’ clan
seemed a bit shoehorned and their teenage
personas under-developed, the cast of Dog Sees
God brings an immense amount of energy to
the performances and keeps the piece both
entertaining and captivating.
The set in Bonn Studio Theater also fits
the mood of Dog Sees God well. Spray-painted
across the front of the black stage is a yellow
zig-zag emblematic of Charlie Brown’s iconic
shirts. One corner of the stage is made to look
like a classroom wall with a window whose
panels are blocked out by Peanuts comic strips.
The brick wall where Linus and Charlie Brown
often talk out their existential crises is broken
down the middle, laced with spray paint.
The ragged, yet somewhat familiar setting
combines with the complicated tone of the
play to create an impressive duality that strikes
viewers, regardless of their interpretation of
Dog Sees God.
It’s strange to see a warped version of
a favorite cartoon. That’s what makes Dog
Sees God, at the very least, intriguing. At
times, the play seems to have gone too far in
making every single character face or take
the role of some extreme adversity or quirk.
The Peanuts cartoons are a staple of classic
animation, and it’s difficult to see their natural
innocence torn apart and replaced with this
somewhat realistic representation of social
problems. Some might feel that Royal went
too far in choosing the obstacles that lay in
these characters’ paths and the personas they
take on in their teenage lives, while others will
see what Royal has created as a good dose
of reality to a flowery, romantic ensemble.
Either way, Contemporary Theatre’s Dog Sees
God gives audiences an energetic, possessing,
intriguing performance of the controversial
material.
A FULLER PICTURE
I’m a skeptical guy and, frankly, being a
skeptical guy in the age of unlimited “infor-
mation” can be extremely tough. Day after
day, all day long, I feel like I’m bombarded
with statistics—statistics that seem to
contradict each other and statistics that are
thrown out without a source.
Maybe it’s just my friends (I highly doubt
it’s just them), but no one seems to care to
offer a source to accompany these types of
claims. They either tell the table I’m sitting
at what they want to hear or read from some
random post that popped up on Facebook.
That’s why I always loved watching
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. When I
started taking an interest (albeit a superficial
interest at first) in national politics, they
seemed to be the first voices I heard that
cut through a lot of bulls—t. Especially with
Stewart, a lot of the claims that he made
over the years had their sources on-screen
when he cited them, and I appreciated that
transparency a lot.
Stewart also made the point to correct
himself whenever he made a mistake. After
stating in a segment on police brutality
that a black man had been shot by the San
Bernardino County Police Deparetment,
Stewart issued a correction and apology the
next week on his program.
In a heated debate with FOX News’
Chris Wallace, Stewart asked Wallace, “Who
are the most consistently misinformed
media viewers?” Stewart let the tense air sit
for a moment, and then went in for the kill.
“The most consistently misinformed? Fox,
Fox viewers, consistently, every poll.” Stewart
was corrected by politifact.com for his com-
ment, apologized to his viewers, then went
on to show that FOX News consistently
holds one of the most misinformed viewer-
ships on cable television.
It’s this sort of integrity that has always
drawn me to Jon Stewart and his disciples
(Colbert, Trevor Noah, John Oliver, and
Samantha Bee). I don’t think I’ve ever seen
a cable news program issue a correction
or apology for a false statement, yet those
programs spend all day commentating on
whatever they consider news. I’ve always
sympathized with satirical news programs’
bewilderment over the 24-hour news cycle,
and I’ve found a solace in these hosts’ com-
pany and wisdom over the past few years.
But, there is one facade I feel these
late-night political crusaders need to cast
away—being comedians. I’m not saying that
hosts like Bill Maher and Bee should stop
being funny. I’m saying that they need to
stop saying they’re comedians.
Discussing why his program could talk
about the controversy surrounding Donald
Trump and Ted Cruz’s wives and why
MSNBC, CNN, and FOX shouldn’t touch
it, Maher stated, “They’re news networks.
[Real Time] is an entertainment program.” In
that interview with Wallace, Stewart made it
clear that he felt that, “[he’s] not an activist,
[he’s] a comedian.” Even John Oliver, in his
popular segment on Trump, made the point
that he assumed few people cared about his
show.
These three hosts have been the main
voices I’ve listened to in political conversa-
tions. Maher, Stewart, and Oliver all have
separate opinions, but they have all made
an effort to hold the credibility of their pro-
grams to a very high standard. Even if Stew-
art has left his desk at Comedy Central, he’s
still one of the standard bearers of American
political satire. Even now, he has the chance
to be a leading voice in the national political
discussion.
Speaking on the politifact.com correc-
tion he made, Stewart stated, “I defer to their
judgment and apologize for my mistake. To
not do so would be irresponsible. … That
would undermine the very integrity and
credibility that I work so hard to pretend to
care about.”
It’s obvious that Stewart did care. Other-
wise, he wouldn’t have spent segments of his
program correcting his mistakes. Late-night
political hosts need to acknowledge that,
although they want to maintain the semi-
lighthearted nature of their programs, they
are major players in a national conversa-
tion. I’m tired of hearing my heroes dismiss
themselves.
THIS WEEKEND in arts‘EYE IN THE SKY’ (NOW PLAYING)Complications arise when orders of a drone missile
strike meant to thwart terrorist activity in Kenya go
awry. Starring Helen Mirren, this drama/thriller fusion
is a suspenseful film sure to keep audience members on
the edge of their seats.
‘GOD’S NOT DEAD 2’(NOW PLAYING)When Grace Wesley gets into legal trouble with the school
board after voicing her feelings regarding religion, the high
school history teacher fights to justify her actions with the
help of a determined young lawyer. This new drama asks
profound questions about strength, courage, and identity.
J’OUVERT (SATURDAY AT 2 P.M.)Join the Carribean Culture Club on the Newton Campus
for BC’s first annual J’Ouvert paint party. Join in on the
fun and kick off the Caribbean carnival season with deli-
cious food, fun Soca music, and a lot of dancing.
‘MEET THE BLACKS’(NOW PLAYING)Horror and comedy converge in this odd, R-rated film.
When Carl Black suddenly acquires a large sum of
money, he decides to move his family from Chicago to
Beverly HIlls. What follows is a series of mysterious
happenings and a plotline straight out of The Purge.
MFA EXHIBIT- MEGACITIES ASIA(APRIL 3 THROUGH JULY 13)The improv group is performing its annual spring “Big Show” this
weekend. Head over to the Vandy Cabaret room for some witty
one-liners and hilarious skits at this free event.
RIHANNA(SUNDAY AT 7 P.M.)The R&B queen is coming to The TD Garden this
weekend to promote her critically acclaimed album
Anti. To see Rihanna perform live, grab your tickets
before they sell out!
SPEAK FOR YOUR CHANGE(THURSDAY AT 7:30 P.M.)Come see Faces Coucil’s 5th annual “Speak For Your
Change” event Thuresday night in the Rat to see a
range of performances from JUICE, the Dynamics,
Voices of Imani, Conspiracy Theory, and various
slam poets.
STEVE MARTIN AND MARTIN SHORT(FRIDAY AT 8 P.M.)This weekend, the two comedy greats will get
together to perform for a Boston audience at the
Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theater. The
performance is expected to be an uproarious fusion
of comedy, silly banter, and music.
BY: HANNAH MCLAUGHLIN | ASST. ARTS & REVIEW EDITOR
ENTERTAIMENT ONE
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
THE HEIGHTSThursday, April 7, 2016 B3
Country music is easy to criticize. Op-
ponents frequently find fault with many
of its themes, looking at countless songs
about beer, trucks, tractors, and girls.
Take, for example, Jason Aldean’s “Big
Green Tractor,” Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl
(Shake It For Me),” or practically anything
by Florida Georgia Line. These songs are
known for their fun, lighthearted lyrics that
make you want to roll your windows down
and cruise—or be somewhere on a beach
with Dierks Bentley.
Nashville has recently been under
fire for the rise of what is known as “bro
country,” and many in the industry are well
aware that these uptempo, booze-themed
songs may not have the most substantive
themes. But as bro country continues to
rule the business, Tim McGraw’s latest
hit, “Humble and Kind,” exemplifies what
country music is all about and proves that
artists can still have big results with serious
songs.
“Humble and Kind” is a touching,
lump-in-your-throat kind of song that has
a simple, universal message. The song was
originally written by Grammy-winning
songwriter Lori McKenna. The Boston-
based mother of five wrote the song for her
children, hoping the lyrics would inspire
her kids to understand the proper way to
treat others, growing up in an age domi-
nated by cell phones and social media.
Besides being humble and kind,
McGraw’s song includes advice about the
importance of going to church, visiting
Grandpa, and helping others. These themes
are classic country—and closely resonate
with some of the all-time greats, like the
Dixie Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces,” Brad
Paisely’s “Letter to Me,” and Lee Ann
Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.”
The song’s greatest strength is its
direct message, which allows “Humble and
Kind” to reach an audience well outside of
country music: “Hold the door, say please,
say thank you / Don’t steal, don’t cheat, and
Few things in this world sound sweeter
than a unique and recognizable voice, that
sing-songy cadence carried by someone
familiar. It comes in the form of an old
childhood lullaby, your favorite singer’s light
and airy love ballad, or any track off Norah
Jones’ dreamy debut album Come Away With Me—take your pick.
For me, however, “music to my ears”
means the fluctuating nasal tone of a raspy-
voiced, Connecticut man in his late ’60s.
Well, that and screeching bagpipes paired
with screaming vocals. Wait—don’t go. Let
me explain.
“Swing and a ground ball, stabbed by
Foulke. He has it,” the familiar voice barks
hurriedly, the tone saturated with escalating
excitement. “He underhands to first, and the
Boston Red Sox are the Woooorld Cham-
pions.” The word is dragged out for miles,
high-pitched and as scrappy as it gets. “For
the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox have
won baseball’s World Championship.”
Shocked, he squeaks, “Can you believe it?”
The incomparable Joe Castiglione has
one heck of a voice. A long-time affiliation
with the Red Sox has made his name practi-
cally synonymous with the organization.
He’s been there for it all—pivotal changes to
the lineup, the astounding end to an 86-year
curse, and a lot more losing seasons than Sox
fans are willing to acknowledge. He landed
a role in my childhood as that disembodied
radio voice that for years lulled me to sleep
on long, nighttime car rides home from
wherever my family happened to venture.
His voice is rough, it has a whole lot of
character, and it ain’t too pretty, if we’re being
quite honest.
The Dropkick Murphys are like that,
too. The Boston-based band’s hit 2004 song
“Tessie” is a discordant convergence of
poorly played bagpipes and slurred refrains.
It’s a chaotic track that fits better as a tuneless
drinking song than a celebrated stadium
anthem. “Tessie” is a far cry from Neil
Diamond’s melodic “Sweet Caroline,” and
it lacks the jaunty background beats in the
other Fenway favorite, “Dirty Water” by the
Standells. Instead, it’s sloppy, it’s far too loud,
and—perhaps because of all this—it’s just
plain awesome.
This is the sweet sound of Boston, I’ve
found. It’s derived from the incessant car
honks of impatient drivers who just want
to get to the nearest Dunk’s before the Pike
jams in the morning. It’s the deafening boos
heard outside the ballpark when our friends
from New York pay a visit. It can be heard
in the intolerable screeching of an incredibly
ineffective public transport system. Most no-
tably, it’s emphasized in my family’s complete
“disregahhd” for consonant sounds usually
implied by the letter “R.”
Perhaps the best thing about this sup-
posedly shining “city upon a hill” is that it’s
not perfect—far from it, actually (sorry, John
Winthrop). But the ever-imperfect, rough-
and-tumble type of charm Boston boasts
beats any other city’s by a mile. The city’s raw
strength and brilliant resilience is glaringly
apparent. For me, Boston’s sound is comfort-
ing, it’s reliable, and it’s home.
Now, if I had to venture a guess, Casti-
glione probably couldn’t carry any semblance
of a tune for all the tea in Chin—er, Boston
Harbor. But who cares? Though he’s not a
native Massachusetts man, the guy boasts
an unmistakable sound that perfectly
encompasses the quintessential elements of
the city. So does music from The Dropkick
Murphys—and the Red Sox, too, while we’re
listing things.
While 2004 brought strange fads like
Livestrong bracelets and Napoleon Dyna-mite, it also brought together an even strang-
er band of ragtag baseball players whose
unkempt beards and untucked shirts were
the laughingstock of the AL East—that is,
before they trounced every team unfortunate
enough to have been placed in their path.
Boston’s signature sound is (and always
has been) harsh rather than harmonious. It’s
ugly, yet intriguing. It doesn’t pretend to be
glitzy, but instead opts for the unflattering.
Then again, for a city closely associated
with baked beans and 2004 World Champi-
ons who enthusiastically referred to them-
selves as “idiots,” what did you expect?
A MCLAUGHLIN MINUTE
After a brief moment of hesitation,
Matt Michienzie, MCAS ’17, exhaled
sharply and, with a nervous chuckle,
decided to come clean.
“NSYNC,” he said finally, sporting a
small grimace tinged with slight embar-
rassment. “Technically, that was my first
concert. But I don’t really count that.
Instead, I consider my second concert—a
Dave Matthews Band show—to be my
first big music experience on record.”
Far more enamored with the cre-
ative freedom DMB allowed itself than
the strict confines of the early-2000s,
frosted-tipped Timberlake’s bubbly teen
pop, Michienzie has from the advent
of his music career identified most
with the genre-hopping, rule-breaking,
free-wheeling types like Dave Matthews
Band.
As the singer enthusiastically elabo-
rated on his admiration for the popular
American rock band and other artists
who boast a similar inventive style, his
demeanor transformed. Michienzie’s
initial wince, perhaps a product of having
reminisced about the overly produced
pop tunes and synchronized dance num-
bers characteristic of the ’90s boy band
genre, dissipated almost immediately as
the junior passionately prattled on about
DMB’s bluegrass and progressive-rock
blend through an animated grin.
A current film major and aspiring
singer-songwriter, Michienzie is used
to having a microphone in front of him.
The Foxborough, Mass., native has been
performing in front of crowds and book-
ing gigs in local pubs since his early high
school years. In recent months, he’s be-
come quite comfortable under the bright
lights at The Middle East in Cambridge.
Michienzie currently serves as the
music director for the Boston College
Acoustics, a co-ed a cappella group
Michienzie has called family since his
freshman year. Of the entourage of Acous-
tics members that supports his personal
music endeavors outside of the tight-knit
campus group, Michienzie said, “We’re
like family. They come to my gigs, and,
honestly, they fill up half of my fan base
in the audience.”
As far as personal music pursuits
outside of a cappella are concerned,
Michienzie had for years stepped into
the spotlight solo—each new perfor-
mance an opportunity to showcase his
signature sound: blues-infused rock,
rife with impressive belts. It wasn’t until
recently, however, that the singer decided
to ditch the life of solo artistry and form
a good, old fashioned, multi-faceted
band instead.
“My first thought was, ‘I need a sax,’”
Michienzie said of his band’s early, for-
mative days. “I need a saxophone or a
trumpet so that if we don’t have a drum-
mer, we can still make something cool.”
Enter Paul Wagenseller, MCAS ’16,
into Michienzie’s search for a partner-in-
crime. A fellow BC a cappella singer and
music enthusiast, Wagenseller’s talent
and unique instrument of choice was
integral to fulfilling Michienzie’s bluesy
jazz vision of what sound he wanted the
band to embody.
“I knew [Wagenseller] played sax, I
jammed with him,” Michienzie said. “He’s
unbelievable. Turns out, Paul tells me,
his brother is a drummer, and he goes to
Northeastern. That’s how we got Evan to
join the band.”
In addition to the three core mem-
bers, Michienzie acknowledges Funky
Giant guitarist Nick Rocchio-Giordano,
MCAS ’18, as a vital asset to the success
of The Matt Michienzie Band thus far,
as the sophomore often lends his tal-
BENNET JOHNSONdon’t lie / I know you’ve got mountains to
climb / But always stay humble and kind.”
“Humble and Kind” is presented from
the perspective of a parent sending his or
her child off into the world, and he Mc-
Graw is the ideal artist to convey the song’s
message to a wide-ranging audience. As a
husband and father of three daughters, he
gives the song a voice that would not have
the same effect as someone younger and
less known. In fact, McGraw cried through
every take recording the song, since he and
his wife, Faith Hill, had recently sent their
oldest daughter off to college.
McGraw’s performance of the song—his
52nd top-10 single and latest release from
his album Damn Country Music—has
helped McKenna’s message reach an audi-
ence of tens of millions. Part of that success
has come from the music video for “Humble
and Kind,” which features footage from
Oprah Winfrey’s Belief series. The video
shows touching clips of people from around
the world celebrating faith and life, includ-
ing a man dressed in an army uniform and a
woman in a hijab.
In addition to the thousands of fans
who’ve chimed in with their own related
stories about acts of kindness, many celebri-
ties like Reese Witherspoon and Matthew
McConaughey have praised the song. Even
Oprah herself weighed in, tweeting “I love
this song. Every word feels true.”
It’s hard to imagine comparing the emo-
tional lyrics of “Humble and Kind” to some
of the songs at the top of country charts
nowadays. The business is changing—and
the emergence of artists like Sam Hunt,
Florida Georgia Line, and Chase Rice proves
there’s a huge demand for bro country.
Listen to Rice’s “Ready Set Roll” and you’ll
hear numerous references to Fireball shots,
pickup-truck dates, and sexy country girls.
After releasing his latest single, “Whisper,”
Rice even went as far as to write an open
letter to his fans, admitting his song lacked
any real substance. What kind of message
does that send about country music?
As the snow finally melts and the sum-
mer concert season approaches, more and
more songs about girls, trucks, beer, and
drinking beer with girls in trucks are going
to surface—because that’s what people
want. It’s hard not to sing along with Bryan’s
latest single, “Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’
Every Day.” These songs are catchy, fun, and
are an intrinsic part of the industry. Plus,
they dominate country radio and sell tickets
to summer concert tours. So sit back and
crack open a cold Coors Light, because they
aren’t going anywhere.
But even as bro country rules, “Humble
and Kind” has proved that there is still a
place for serious songs in country music.
In one of the most moving moments at the
award show known as “Country’s Big-
gest Party” on Sunday night in Las Vegas,
McGraw was joined by dozens of diverse
groups of people on stage, spanning ages,
genders, and ethnicities, as they sang along
in front of thousands of fans and viewers.
“Every parent should make their kid lis-
ten to ‘Humble and Kind’,” tweeted one fan
right after McGraw’s performance. “Scratch
that. Every adult should listen too.”
Now that’s what country music is all about.
BIG MACHINE RECORDS
SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR
SAVANNA KIEFER / HEIGHTS EDITOR
ents when he can. No longer a solo act,
Michienzie and his eclectic crew have
coalesced into a band on the rise—which,
with the help of this year’s Battle of the
Bands competition and other upcom-
ing on-campus events, will increase the
band’s presence as a fresh-faced, talented
BC band.
Big-name artists of varying genres—
such as John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan,
and, of course, DMB—make the short list
of Michienzie’s major musical influences.
“I like John Mayer’s blues guitar,”
Michienzie said. “He’s often seen as a
womanizer, a bad dude. But there’s a small
group of people who actually really listen
to his music and his riffs—” Michienzie
cut off suddenly, searching for analogies
that wouldn’t come. “Well, they’re just
something else.”
Michienzie is something else, too. In
fact, that’s precisely what’s most appeal-
ing about his music.
Veering away from the alternative,
rap, and synth-heavy tracks that have
for so long saturated BC’s music scene,
Michienzie’s signature sound is an ex-
perimental and ever-evolving melange
of genres—it’s soulful rock layered with
elements of old-school jazz and topped
with that sweet-sounding, rockabilly
vibe of the south. It’s gritty at times and
smooth during others. Able to incor-
porate this style into both his original
tracks and covers, Michienzie stresses
his love of experimenting with different
sounds and challenging belts. According
to Michienzie, he has never sung a song
exactly the same way.
“I gravitate toward stuff that I can be
free with my voice and don’t have to stick
to a script,” he said. “Same goes for my
music-writing, I guess.”
Michienzie’s original songs “Drunk”
and “Skylines” boast catchy hooks and
meaningful lyrics. The singer attributes
the inspiration for “Skylines” to his eager-
ness to get into the industry and passion
for music.
“I was sitting in an office one day, and
I started thinking about what I want to do
next. The song embodies that idea of getting
out there and being vulnerable,” Michienzie
said. “I love being put in a situation where
I have to figure it all out.”
Michienzie sat back in his chair,
contemplative. After a moment of quiet
reflection, he spoke up. “I don’t know
where I’m going. I don’t know what I’ll do.
I just want to go,” he said. “And if music
is the only thing that’s static, then that’s
fine with me.”
if you build it,
Complete with a sax and drum kit, Matt Michienzie crafts his rock band.
They will jam
THE HEIGHTS Thursday, April 7, 2016B4
For the longest time, one of the
very best things about Th e Walking
Dead has been its level of accessibil-
ity. Th e casual viewer can enjoy the
tension, the action, and the riveting
sense of dread and terror that perme-
ate every step the show takes. Others
fi nd themselves deeply immersed in
the interpersonal relationships and
development of the wide array of
characters that Th e Walking Dead has
to off er. Th e most devoted fans can be
found trawling through Web forums,
press releases, and comic books (the
source material for the show), desper-
ate for any shred of info concerning
upcoming plot arcs.
Th e Walking Dead’s inviting na-
ture is what makes it AMC’s biggest
show to date. Generally speaking, this
is perhaps the premier trait of AMC’s
production arm—look no farther than
Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and Better
Call Saul for evidence of large fan
bases that fl ocked to shows at diff erent
times. AMC’s slogan—“Something
More”—rings true.
Indeed, something more for ev-
eryone, even if the “something” is
diff erent from person to person. In
many ways, the show’s accessibility
is a great thing—with a multitude of
fans watching for diff erent reasons,
everyone fi nds their niche. Th e show
is constructed in an ingenious way, re-
TOP SINGLES
1 Work Rihanna ft. Drake 2 7 Years
Lukas Graham 3 No
Meghan Trainor 4 Pillowtalk
Zayn 5 Love Yourself
Justin Bieber 6 My House
Flo Rida 7 Stressed Out
twenty one pilots 8 Me, Myself & I
G-Eazy x Bebe Rexha
TOP ALBUMS
1 Mind of MineZayn
2 More Issues Than VogueK. Michelle
3 ANTIRihanna
4 PurposeJustin Bieber
5 25Adele
Source: Billboard.com
CHART TOPPERS
Just when the world thought
Zayn Malik couldn’t possibly
climb any higher on the popular-
ity ladder, he left One Direction
and became a pop enigma in his
own right. Th e Zayn Train has
been chugging along mightily
for months now, fueled by hits
like “Pillowtalk.” A Timberlake-
esque evolution from boy-band
heartthrob to mature pop art-
ist has been hoped for, if not
expected from Zayn—and his
recent success suggests it just
might happen. But for now, Zayn
is stuck in an awkward musical
puberty, which forced attempts
at maturity ultimately threaten
the quality of his work.
Th e story in the “iT’s YoU”
(yep, that’s how it’s officially
written) video is all too com-
mon: a tortured lover admires
a beautiful girl from afar as she
fl irts with other men, all while
she shoots him glances that
scream “I’m totally into you,
too.” No one would be surprised
if this video was originally writ-
ten as a Great Gatsby tribute,
complete with elegant parties,
a sophisticated but disgruntled
male protagonist, and even a
swimming pool scene. Taking
no chances, the video embraces
every imaginable cliche of dra-
matic unrequited love—from
contemplative cigarette drags
to cheesy black-and-white slow-
motion shots. To remind us of
the new Zayn’s edgy persona,
a few unnecessary expletives
are thrown into the otherwise
mellow lyrics. Th e fi nest point of
the song and video is the chorus,
which is just striking enough to
make you temporarily forget the
lackluster verses. It wouldn’t be unfair to
question the future of this
newly minted solo artist. At
some point, his name alone
will fail to propel him to the
top of the charts and his music
will have to stand by itself—
and if the music continues
to be average, that task may
indeed prove diffi cult.
“IT’S YOU”ZAYN
AMC STUDIOS
THE WALKING DEADFRANK DARABONT
PRODUCED BY AMC STUDIOS
SEASON 616 EPISODES
OUR RATING
In fact, this is precisely why the
season fi nale spits in the face of every
type of fan. Th e most casual fan loses
the sense of action they seek. Th ose
who are most invested in the char-
acters themselves are left hanging,
wondering which of their favorites is
most at-risk. Die-hard comic fans are
the most disappointed of all—watch-
ing the most famous and anticipated
adapted scene of a magnifi cent work
being butchered before your very
eyes is not a glorious sight. AMC has
proved its unwillingness to make risky
choices, choosing instead to betray its
fans with money-grubbing tactics far
too commonly seen in media today.
And this is a real shame. As said
before, The Walking Dead has the
tools to be an incredible television
program. Th e actors are consistently
spectacular. Th e cinematography has
never been better. Music choices en-
hance the story 1,000 times over. On
a technical level, Th e Walking Dead
is nearly perfect. But more than any
other show currently running, it is
evident that, without quality writing,
even perfect technical skill means
little in the face of a failure to write a
compelling plot.
Here’s the reality: The Walking
Dead is a “good” television show.
AMC’s biggest hit has the essence of
a compelling plot. As unfortunate as
it is, though, the inability to conclude
a story has the ability to invalidate the
work as a whole. For 99.5 percent of
a season, AMC has delivered high-
quality programming. The truest
fans of the show hold to this with
good reason. If Th e Walking Dead is
ever to become the best of the best,
the writers must stop pulling their
punches when the stakes are high.
Otherwise, the show will fade into
obscurity, which is a fate no fan wants
to see.
Every established comedian has something about their that makes their distinguishable from the crowd. For some it is the quality of their jokes. Others fi nd their craft in their presence and personality. And for those like Melissa McCarthy, it is all about delivery. Much like a car and a car salesman, jokes need to be sold, and if there is one thing McCarthy does well, it is sell. In Th e Boss, Mc-
Carthy does well to sell as the colorful and brash industry businesswoman Michelle Darnell, but, as in business, one is only as strong as one’s weakest link. With inconsistent or otherwise tactless jokes and a supporting cast poorly versed in the art of comedy, Th e Boss will leave moviegoers chuckling at times and stoically unimpressed at others.
The Boss follows Darnell (Mc-Carthy), a successful industry titan who has made millions off many in-vestments and crafty entrepreneurial
endeavors. Orphaned as a child and fueled by her abandonment, Darnell steers clear of emotional attachment to become a vicious and, at times, heartless competitor. After her ar-rest for insider trading, Darnell fi nds herself with liquidated assets and nowhere to go. Turning to her former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) for help, Darnell soon fi nds herself at the head of another profi table business venture, Darnell’s Darling Brownies.
Some might say McCarthy has been typecast as this kind of loud,
cheeky, heart-of-gold character. While that may be true, she does little to mitigate that stereotype. Her hus-band and director of Th e Boss, Ben Falcone, helps her propagate this image in his films. His directorial debut, Tammy (2014) was an abhor-rent mess that found McCarthy as distasteful and unfunny as the fi lm itself. Th e Boss—though not as bad as Tammy—is frustrating in many of the same respects.
McCarthy does have some mo-ments in the fi lm when her delivery as the character makes for some genu-inely funny encounters. As she insults, berates, and belittles her opponents, the verbal thrashings are worth a smirk or two. In these moments, Mc-Carthy feels sincere in her role. Her comedic timing lines up perfectly with her characters’ succinct vicious stares. Darnell is mean and unforgiving and McCarthy makes her sinister behind unassuming eyes and smiles. That being said, insult humor is relatively low-hanging comedic fruit and it does not always land as intended, but it is better than much of the throwaway humor interlaced through the rest of the movie.
Much of this throwaway humor has no set-up and is immediately fore-seeable. One such gag has to do with a pull-out couch, on which Darnell must sleep when staying at Claire’s apartment. Instantly, audiences may
understand the simple gag that is to come as the scene slows and she begins to lie down. It is of almost no surprise when she is thrown from the bed into the wall. It is a cheap laugh. It is an undeserving laugh. It will likely leave audiences feeling betrayed.
Th e narrative is most engaging when dealing with Darnell’s antics in regard to the brownie business and re-claiming her fame. Unfortunately, this is interlaced with the dull ongoings of Claire’s life and otherwise unfunny content. As the fi lm tries to shoehorn in heart, it leads some to wonder if it would have felt more cohesive if it embraced the darker demeanor of its protagonist.
The supporting cast, especially Bell and Peter Dinklage, the main antagonist, are not paramount ex-amples of comedy, nor should they be. Th eir acting chops lie squarely in genres outside of comedy and it shows. Th rough Dinklage has dabbled in fi lms like Elf (2003), Death at a Funeral (2007) and Pixels (2015), his forte is not in the comedic sphere. Th ey are not unfunny so much as they are not funny.
The Boss highlights what Mc-Carthy has become known for, but is bogged down by unnecessary addi-tions and throwaway gags. In many respects Th e Boss is cheap, but coming from the likes of Falcone and McCar-thy, it could have been worse. UNIVERSAL PICTURES
THE BOSSBEN FALCONE
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
RELEASEAPR. 8, 2016
OUR RATING
TELEVISION
FILM
SINGLE REVIEWS BY LEIGH CHANNELL
In his new track, “Raging,” Kygo takes on a new challenge by partnering with Irish band Kodaline. The Norwegian producer’s trademark summer-house style generally lends itself to heavily produced pop music, not the acoustic rock feel Kodaline has perfected, yet the unlikely mashup shows promise.
KYGO“Raging”
Broods has quietly been infi ltrating the U.S. electronic pop scene since their debut single, “Bridges.” Their newest single, “Free,” may just make into the top-200 mainstream. Showcasing Georgia Nott’s impressive voice, the lively track combines catchy tribal vocals with a modern electronic score.
BROODS“Free”
Pop icon Jason Derulo strikes out with “If It Ain’t Love.” The song is peak Derulo, utilizing his vocal range, bubbly synth, and love-story lyrics. It feels as if it is trying way too hard to suit his found niche of success. While it will appease his fans, success comparable to hits “Want You to Want Me” or “Talk Dirty” is unlikely.
JASON DERULO“If It Ain’t Love”
MUSIC VIDEO
In many ways, Th e Ranch is noth-ing but a typical multi-cam sitcom with an increasingly predictable laugh track. Th e characters are somewhat compelling, if not framed with an intentional dash of mediocrity. And the relationships between the char-acters are anything but dynamic and unforeseeable. But Th e Ranch does generate some benefi t from the Net-
of attempts at becoming a professional football player. Although his lack of success is surely attributable to his burgeoning alcoholism and hedonistic lifestyle, Colt is still considered a sort of legend in his hometown of just over 500 inhabitants. After all, Colt took his football team to state his senior year of high school. And as the show would have you believe, in small-town America, that’s one of those big deals that has generational staying power. As such, Colt enjoys plenty of social
graces for otherwise questionable behavior. He’s not much in the way of a unique, dynamic character, but is the sort of guy that probably has tons of crazy stories worth a listen. And then there’s everyone Colt left behind.
His brother, Rooster Bennett (Danny Masterson) is the underap-preciated son who stayed home to help his father take care of the ranch. He comes across as a little jaded, albeit sincere enough to admit that he’s happy for his brother to be back home. Instead of trying to escape the comparisons to Th at 70’s Show, which were perhaps inevitable, and possibly intentional, the show reprises the antagonistic, love-hate relationship between the two actors and continues the trajectory within this new, country setting.
Beau Bennett (Sam Elliott) is the hard-working, emotionally distant father. Beau and Colt have the typical on-again, off -again spat that centers on a general theme of disappoint-ment. Beau is the typical blowhard, uncompromising and rough around the edges. Th en there is Abby, the one girl Colt ever truly fell for. She’s the one who actually seems to understand Colt and she never puts him on a ped-estal. Most unfortunately, however, RANCHO HAND PRODUCTIONES
THE RANCHNETFLIX
PRODUCED BYRANCHO HAND
RELEASEAPR. 1, 2016
OUR RATING
TELEVISION
she is tragically unavailable. Th e characters seem to be cast
within an accessible narrative, and it’s easy to predict how each character will react to a given situation. At times this can make the show come across as slow and something to get through. Regardless, each of the characters fits well within a setting typically reserved for Budweiser commercials and country music videos.
Th e Ranch is not particularly family-friendly. It’s not much compared to other Netfl ix releases like Masters of None, but the char-acters on Th e Ranch are constantly swearing and referring to sexual innuendos. Not for nothing, this sort of approach may be one of the most appealing aspects of Netfl ix Originals. It’s refreshing and excit-ing to witness a spate of original releases free from the typical net-work standards of censorship and family decency. Th e Ranch gets an opportunity to play around with a genre of television that has been largely tonally set in stone since its inception. But, Th e Ranch is nothing special.
Th e show can be entertaining and funny—as long as the audi-ence doesn’t expect too much.
ally: Th e Walking Dead is a television
program that has an incredible array
of tools to form itself into the greatest
television drama of all time.
Unfortunately, if the man behind
the hammer is incompetent, the house
has to crumble sooner or later.
In many ways, the sixth season of
Th e Walking Dead has been plagued
by much, much more than “walkers.”
A few notable examples are easy to
come by—for instance, the apparent
killing-off of a beloved character, only
to revive him four episodes later, feels
less like compelling writing and more
like lazy fanservice. Th is cop-out style
of writing shows up over and over:
directorial choices made after the
third episode’s “reveal,” the midsea-
son fi nale, and, most egregiously, last
Sunday’s season fi nale.
Poor writing has always been at
the top of the list of criticisms of the
show, but up until this Sunday, these
flaws had been forgivable. If “Last
Day on Earth” (the show’s season-six
finale) is any indication, however,
turning a blind eye to Th e Walking
Dead’s weak points has only served to
exacerbate the problem. It has become
clear that AMC no longer respects
the will of its audience—fanservice,
of course, is undoubtedly bad, but
outright disrespecting the source
material of your television show is
dangerous in multiple ways. The
show risks weakening the program
and fanbase.
fl ix treatment. Unlike most sitcoms, with their bubblegum aesthetics and over-reliance on consumer friendli-ness, Th e Ranch is able to subvert the typical situational comedy.
Looking at the main characters, fi rst there’s the typical anti-hero and prodigal son Colt Bennett (Ashton Kutcher). Despite his tendency to-ward chronic underachievement, he’s the sort of guy who has had it easy. He’s coming back to small-town America after an unsuccessful series
DAN FITZGERALD
THE HEIGHTSThursday, January 17, 2014 B5THE HEIGHTSThursday, April 7, 2016 B5
THE HEIGHTSThursday, January 17, 2014
COMMUNITYHELP WANTED
$$ SPERM DONORS WANTED $$Earn up to $1,500/month and give the gift of family through Cal i fornia Cryobank’s donor program. Convenient Cambridge location. Apply online: SPERM-BANK.com.
THE HEIGHTS
Thursday, April 7, 2016CLASSIFIEDS
Interested in placing a classifed
ad?email
STEWART ASSISTANT
Personal Assistant Needed ASAP.Work three times a week,$650/weekly. Computer skills are a must, detailed oriented.Lil errand is required.Apply email:[email protected]
HIRING
FOR DAILY UPDATES,
GET YOUR BC
NEWS ONLINE AT
BCHEIGHTS.COM.
B5
THE HEIGHTS Thursday, April 7, 2016B6
THE HEIGHTSThursday, April 7, 2016 B7
AJ MAST/ AP PHOTO
Newton, MA 11/09
Boston, Ma 11/111-
scoreboardWORCESTER, MA 3/26
MIN-DBC
23
FARLEY 1 G 1 ADOHERTY 2 G
BASEBALL CHESNUT HILL, MA 3/29 SOFTBALL BOSTON, MA 3/30 Lacrosse
SOFTBALL CAMBRIDGE, MA 3/29BCHARV
DAULTON 1 H 1 RBILANTZ 1 RBI 1 R
BASEBALL AMHERST, MA 3/30 LacrosseBASEBALL CHESTNUT HILL, MA 4/112
Charlottesville, va 4/2
New Haven, CT 3/2
M. HOCKEYCONNBC
94
YAHN 2B 2 RBISAUTER 2B 3 RBI
BCBU
54
CORTEZ 2 H 1 HRMARTINEZ 3 H 2 RBI
BC UVA
1415
KENT 2 G 2 A BEHR 4 G 1 A
BC YALE
1511
CHANDLER 3 G 1 AMCEVOY 4 G
FSUBC
30
LUECK 3 H 1 RKING 8 1/3 IP
BCMASS
115
STREM 3 H 3 RBIJENNINGS 1 HR 2 RBI
Sports Editor
MICHAEL SULLIVAN
RILEY OVEREND
Assoc. Sports Editor
ANNABEL STEELE
Asst. Sports Editor
BC has done extraordinarily well overcoming
the March demons that have plagued the team
over the last few years. This offense is stellar, and
Thatcher Demko should win the Hobey Baker.
That being said, North Dakota and its feared CBS
line put up too much offense, and Cam Johnson
is too good. The Eagles will beat Quinnipiac,
whose easy schedule in the ECAC has over-
rated that 31-3-7 record, but will fall to NoDak.
Tonight’s matchup is a contest between two
New England schools with electric offenses
and presidents with remarkably similar names
(Leahy vs. Lahey). But ultimately, BC’s size will
overwhelm Quinnipiac, and the country’s best
goalkeeper will show up to play as always. The
finals will mark a rematch of the 2001 title game,
infamous for Krys Kolano’s overtime winner.
UND knocked off a hot Northeastern squad—the
same one that eliminated BC from the Hockey
East tournament—on its way to Tampa. But, like
15 years ago, expect Jerry York’s squad to prevail.
Call me an optimist . First BC will roll
over Quinnipiac. Then the Eagles will shut
down the formidable North Dakota and
bring another national championship home
to Chestnut Hi l l . Yeah, I know, I know.
North Dakota is a very good hockey team.
But I think the conditions are perfect for
BC throughout the Frozen Four. Thatcher
Demko is on top of his game and will hold
North Dakota to just one goal, while the
t a l e nte d o f fe n s e w i l l co m e to g e th e r to
net a fe w on Cam Johnson for the win.
Prediction:North Dakota 4, BC 2
Prediction:BC 3, North Dakota 2
Prediction:BC 2, North Dakota 1
UConn , from B8
Possession: BC’s semifinal
opponent is a top-five Corsi For
club in the nation, checking in at
56.3 percent. This is the second
straight year that Bobcats head
coach Rand Pecknold’s seasoned
outfit posted a mark above 56
percent.
Gamebreakers: Junior Sam
Anas was sixth in the country
in goals with 24, tying Hobey
Baker finalist Jimmy Vesey of
Harvard. Per multiple reports,
Anas was banged up during the
East regional but still managed
to pick up a point against RIT
and Lowell. Senior Travis St.
Denis had 46 points on the year,
also tied with Vesey as well as
BC junior Ryan Fitzgerald.
Goaltending: Senior Mi-
chael Garteig has started at least
35 games each of the last three
seasons and improved every
year. He has a .926 save percent-
age this year.
Power-Play Prowess: BC’s
possibly fatal flaw is its propen-
sity for penalties. If the Eagles
lose it may very well be because
a stupid penalty finally burns
them. That could happen on
Thursday. Quinnipiac scores
on the power play 27.4 percent
of the time, good for fourth in
Division I.
North Dakota (32-6-4,
19-4-1-1 National Collegiate
Hockey +75 goal differential,
beat Michigan 5-2 in Midwest
Regional Final)
Possession : The newly
dubbed Fighting Hawks slightly
edge out Quinnipiac as the best
possession team in the Frozen
Four with a Corsi For of 56.8
percent. In this realm, new head
coach Brad Berry has been an
upgrade over former coach
(and current Philadelphia Flyers
boss) Dave Hakstol, as this year’s
mark is a 5 percent improve-
ment over last year’s.
Gamebreakers: Vancouver
Canucks first-round draft pick
and freshman Brock Boeser’s 54
points were good for fifth in the
country. His linemates, senior
Drake Caggiula and sophomore
Nick Schmaltz, are equally dan-
gerous. The two combined for
100 points this year.
Goaltending: After playing
just two games last year, sopho-
more Cam Johnson came on this
year and posted an elite .934
save percentage in 32 games.
Power Play Prowess: North
Dakota converts on just less than
one-fifth of its man-advantages,
going into Thursday with a 19.5
percent success rate.
Denver (25-9-7, 17-5-2
National Collegiate Hockey,
+40 goal differential, beat Fer-
ris State 6-3 in West Regional
Final)
Possession: The Pioneers
were the 12th-best possession
squad in Division I this year with
a 53.8 Corsi For.
Gamebreakers : Boston
Bruins prospect Danton Heinen
was a top-10 scorer in college
hockey, and it’s easy to picture
why after reflecting on his per-
formance during Denver’s 4-3
loss to BC in October. Heinen
touched up BC for a goal and
an assist and was easily the
best skater on the ice the entire
game. Defenseman Will Butcher
adds some flair from the back
end, too. He was the fourth-
highest-scoring defenseman in
the nation.
Goaltending: Sophomore
Tanner Jaillet is the least-pedi-
greed netminder in this year’s
Frozen Four. In only 30 games
this season, he’s racked up a .923
save percentage.
Power Play Prowess: Den-
ver has the least lethal power
play out of the four remaining
squads, but not by much, scor-
ing at a 19 percent clip.
BC (28-7-5, 15-2-5 Hock-
ey East, +75 goal differential,
beat Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 in
Northeast Regional Final)
Possession: With a 52.3
Corsi For, BC controls the run of
play the least of the four semi-
finalists. BC’s goal differential,
however, is comparable to North
Dakota’s and Quinnipiac’s be-
cause BC has the best overall
shooting and save percentages
of all four teams.
There have been plenty of
games this season where, when
the Eagles have roughly tied or
lost possession, they still won
because they have better fin-
ishers and a better goalie than
the opposition. We’ll see if that
persists against the best of the
best.
Gamebreakers: Fitzgerald
has 46 points, and Colin White,
Zach Sanford, and Austin Can-
gelosi are all in the top 50 in
scoring nationally. As BU found
out in the Beanpot final, though,
Alex Tuch and his tranquilizer
of a wrist shot only need a few
seconds and a couple feet to
change a game, so his number
may be circled on the white-
board in Quinnipiac’s locker,
as well. Also, White’s ability to
create both smooth and greasy
goals could be big in a tight
spot.
G o a l t e n d i n g : J u n i o r
Thatcher Demko is the only
goalie still up for the Hobey
Baker for good reason. You don’t
need to know his .936 save per-
centage to know how much of a
monster he is. He’s transcendent
and BC’s biggest advantage in
Tampa. If the Eagles win it all,
Demko likely will be reasons
one, two, and three.
Power Play Prowess: BC
features a dangerous power play,
converting at 21.5 percent, good
for ninth-best in the country.
All of this information
could be irrelevant by midnight
on Sunday—or even 8 p.m. to-
night. A few pucks might go off
a skate or an arm, and a referee
might have a bad night, and the
team that deserved to win it all
might go home with a lifetime of
regret. Yet in ride-or-die, single-
elimination hockey, “deserve”
ain’t got nothing to do with it.
Al l these teams are so
evenly matched that any one
of them could claim to be the
best despite what happens at
Amalie Arena. The Frozen Four
might not determine who the
best team is, but it does crown
a champion, and everyone wants
that ring.
Trophies are nice. Dia-
monds are forever.
Frozen Four , from B8
believe that the Huskies are the
best thing for the sport.
Think about it. Would
anyone—anyone—be talk-
ing about women’s college
basketball without UConn’s
dominance? The answer is
no. It’s a harsh truth, but it’s
a truth all the same. Just look
at the WNBA. It doesn’t have
one team consistently blowing
everyone else out of the water,
like UConn does, and nobody
talks about it. According to a
report, attendance at WNBA
games dropped by 3.4 percent
this year to the lowest point in
the league’s history. At the end
of last summer, NBA Commis-
sioner Adam Silver admitted
that TV ratings and attendance
were below the ideal target.
I’d love it if people paid more
attention to the WNBA, but
there’s just no interest in the
league. This suggests that
women’s sports need domi-
nance or else nobody will pay
attention. And if you don’t
believe me, I have plenty of
examples.
I’d argue that the two most
popular women’s sports in this
country are soccer and tennis.
The U.S. Women’s National
Soccer Team (USWNT) has
absolutely dominated on the
international stage recently.
In case you were living under
a rock last summer and didn’t
hear, it beat Japan and won the
World Cup. Four years ago the
team was the gold medalist
at the London Olympics. Five
years ago the team nearly won
the world championships but
lost in heartbreaking fashion—
to Japan, no less—in the World
Cup. (Speaking as a goalie,
penalty kicks are the worst,
you guys.) And the Americans
also triumphed at the 1991 and
1999 World Cups.
Meanwhile, Venus and
Serena Williams—but mainly
Serena—are single-handedly
keeping American tennis rele-
vant on the world stage. Sorry,
John Isner—I still love you, but
they are the best thing about
American tennis right now.
Serena Williams is unquestion-
ably the best women’s tennis
player in the world. Last year
she won the Australian Open,
Miami Open, French Open,
Wimbledon, and Western &
Southern Open. A close loss
in a U.S. Open semifinal killed
her chances of winning all four
Grand Slam events in one year.
Over her career, Williams has
won 21 Grand Slams. That’s
more than the biggest icons of
men’s tennis—Roger Federer
(17), Rafael Nadal (14), and
Novak Djokovic (11).
I don’t hear people com-
plaining about the USWNT
dominating on the interna-
tional level. I don’t hear critics
arguing that Serena Williams’
success is bad for tennis. Even
those who claim that her at-
titude detracts from the sport
can’t deny the numbers. Fans
were so excited at the thought
of witnessing Serena complet-
ing a calendar Grand Slam that
the Women’s U.S. Open final
last year sold out before the
men’s for the first time ever.
One of the major criticisms
leveled against UConn is that
its games aren’t even close. But
the United States scored four
goals on Japan in 16 minutes in
last summer’s World Cup final,
and Serena routinely destroys
her competitors. It doesn’t
affect whether or not people
are willing to watch them. So if
the two most popular wom-
en’s sports include historic
dominance, that should tell us
something. When it comes to
women’s sports, it’s very clear
that dominance is what draws
interest.
People—not just UConn
fans—pay attention to the
Huskies. They tune in to see
the unbelievable performance
Auriemma’s squad will give.
They marvel at senior Breanna
Stewart’s stats and stature—
she has a wingspan longer than
LeBron James’ while standing a
full four inches shorter.
And UConn is more than
just a national powerhouse—
it’s an example to young female
basketball players everywhere.
The Huskies offer heroes to
youth players all across the
country. Some of the most
famous WNBA players are
UConn products, includ-
ing Diana Taurasi and Tina
Charles. Stewart is almost
certainly going to be the next
WNBA star, and is already the
champion of women’s col-
legiate basketball. This year
she was named Player of the
Year by the Associated Press
for a record third time. It was
the first time in history that a
player was unanimously voted
to win the award. If that wasn’t
enough, she has won the Final
Four Most Outstanding Player
award a record-setting four
times. Nobody, male or female,
has done that in college bas-
ketball history. Just as tennis
needs Serena Williams to be
the iconic female figure, wom-
en’s basketball needs UConn to
provide the heroes.
So, Shaughnessy is wrong.
Women’s sports aren’t as
inherently popular as men’s
sports. Evidence suggests
that dominance is needed for
people to pay real attention to
women’s sports. UConn, then,
is the best possible thing for
women’s college basketball.
When UConn dominates, it
makes headlines. When the
Huskies run their opponents
out of the gym, people talk
about it. Not everyone is happy
about it, but that’s alright. Not
everyone was happy about
John Wooden’s UCLA teams,
either, but people managed to
survive anyway. I’m sure they
can now, too.
MEN’S HOCKEY
Scoreboard........................................................................................................B7Editors’ Picks.......................................................................................................B7
SPORTSB8
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
INSIDESPORTSTHIS ISSUE
Hockey: The Long Road to the Frozen FourTh e Eagles fl ew south to Tampa seeking their sixth national
championship, but had to pass these teams first........B6
Every time I rewatch The Office,
I tell myself that I won’t get upset at
Steve Carell’s departure. Every time I
rewatch The Office, I get exceedingly
upset and emotional when it’s time
to say “Goodbye, Michael.” At this
point, I’m not even surprised. I know
for a fact that it’s going to upset me.
In a similar way, UConn dominating
women’s basketball is not a surprise
to anyone anymore. In a develop-
ment that shocked absolutely nobody,
earlier this week the Huskies defeated
Syracuse, 82-51, to win their fourth
consecutive national championship
and their 11th in Geno Auriemma’s
31-year stint as head coach.
UConn is synonymous with domi-
nation in women’s collegiate basket-
ball. The Huskies have set three win-
streak records since 2000—they won
70 straight games in the early 2000s
followed by an astounding 90 straight
from 2008-2010. The 90-game streak
snapped the previous record of 88
games established in the 1970s by
John Wooden’s UCLA teams. After
this year’s national championship,
they have won 75 games in a row.
If that wasn’t enough, UConn’s
perfect 38-0 campaign marks the
sixth time it has gone undefeated
during Auriemma’s tenure. Overall,
Auriemma has guided the Huskies
to 11 national championships since
1995. To quote my eternally wise and
wonderful grandfather, “UConn is to
women’s basketball as the Yankees
were to old-school baseball.”
With this much dominance, it’s
easy to see why some people believe
the Huskies are bad for women’s col-
lege basketball. When the margin of
victory is more than 40 points on a
consistent basis, it opens the door for
claims that UConn is turning people
off of women’s college basketball.
This year alone, the Huskies defeated
their opponents by an average of
more than 41 points per game. Their
closest margin of victory was 10
points against both Notre Dame and
Maryland. Blowouts breed disinterest,
people might say. Nobody wants to
watch a game when he or she already
knows how it’s going to end, because
that takes the fun out of it. Boston
Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy
argued this point—first in a tweet and
then in a column.
Shaughnessy conceded that the
Huskies play pure basketball better
than anyone in history—the type of
basketball, as he says, that the legend-
ary Red Auerbach preached. But he
believes that their dominance has
created unwatchable games and an
unstoppable dynasty with absolutely
no rivals across the country. This is
wrong.
UConn is still very much watch-
able, and the numbers prove it. Ac-
cording to ESPN, this year’s Women’s
NCAA Tournament has seen ratings
jump by 46 percent compared to
last year. On average, 108,000 more
people watched each game of the
first two rounds this year. UConn has
dominated throughout this season
and the tournament. If UConn was
hurting women’s college basketball,
then the ratings wouldn’t be improv-
ing so much, plain and simple.
And on the rivalry question?
Stanford, Tennessee, and Notre Dame
each have heated rivalries with the
Huskies. Stanford was the school that
ended the Huskies’ historic 90-game
win streak back in 2010. In 2014,
Stanford snapped another UConn
streak, this time at 47 games, with a
thrilling 88-86 overtime victory. The
Cardinal and the Huskies meet every
regular season for a rivalry game.
Tennessee and UConn also have a
rich history. The two teams duked it
out for the national title four times,
with the Huskies triumphing each
time. And Notre Dame and UConn
have met six times in the Final Four,
with the series split at three apiece.
The Huskies also defeated the Irish
in the national championship in both
2014 and 2015.
Each of these teams has also won
national championships in the past.
In fact, only with the victory in this
year’s national championship did
UConn pass Tennessee as the most
successful program in Final Four his-
tory. Tennessee is a historic power-
house in women’s college basketball—
under the legendary Pat Summitt, the
Lady Vols won eight national cham-
pionships. Notre Dame has won once
and Stanford has won twice. Even
though UConn dominates, it’s not like
there are no other successful pro-
grams in women’s college basketball.
So Shaughnessy is wrong. Sure, I’ll
concede that competitive games are
really fun to watch—like Villanova’s
buzzer-beater victory in the men’s na-
tional championship earlier this week.
Even so, UConn women’s basketball is
far from the worst thing for women’s
college basketball. In fact, I firmly
See UConn’s Dominance, B7
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Matt Milon scored 163 points for the Eagles this year, including 25 against Syracuse in Feb.
Assoc. Sports Editor
Boston College men’s basketball
got bad news today, as freshman guard
Matt Milon announced he will transfer
after this semester. The news was first
reported by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.
Milon later confirmed the report to
The Heights in an email, but said he has
not yet decided between mid-major
or high-major programs for his next
destination.
The Oviedo, Fla., native averaged
5.4 points in 16.6 minutes per game
for the Eagles in his first year under
head coach Jim Christian.
The highlight of Milon’s freshman
campaign came during a 25-point
outburst at home against rival Syra-
cuse. The 3-point specialist drained
5-of-7 shots from beyond the arc on
his way to a career day, sparking high
praise from Syracuse head coach Jim
Boeheim.
“Milon’s a deadly shooter, and they
did a good job of finding him,” Boe-
heim said after the game. “I don’t like
to see him out there against us.”
Milon also scored 16 points, includ-
ing four 3-pointers, in a November win
against Harvard.
Despite periodic flashes of scoring
potential, he struggled with earning a
spot in the rotation, eventually losing
playing time to fellow freshman guard
Sammy Barnes-Thompkins.
The decision by the sharpshooter
to leave the University comes just days
after Western Michigan University’s
Connor Tava announced he would
transfer to BC for his final year of
eligibility, reuniting with high school
teammate A.J. Turner.
Boston College hasn’t won a national title in four years.
In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a long time. But if
BC flies home empty-handed from the Frozen Four in Tampa,
Fla. this weekend, it will be the first time since 2007 that one
of Jerry York’s senior classes will graduate without a cham-
pionship ring. Quinnipiac, North Dakota and Denver aren’t
particularly worried about BC’s senior class’ legacy because
they want that ring as badly as anyone could want anything.
Single-elimination hockey produces maximum desperation.
These four teams are all roughly equal and that, combined
with such desperation, will make for an awesome product on
Thursday and Saturday. Three of these teams, though, will
remember this weekend in Florida as anything but awesome,
and the prospect of such despair and emptiness will make
every blocked shot and battle in the corner non-negotiable.
Because hockey is so random, a team’s record is not as
indicative of team quality or predictive of its future success
as puck possession is. The percentage of shots that a team
attempts during its games while at even strength—which
discounts special teams—is the best proxy for puck posses-
sion. The abbreviated version of this stat is Corsi For. That’s
not to say strength on the power play isn’t important. And,
in a single, tightly contested matchup, teams often need their
offensive gamebreakers to make something happen. Finally,
there is goaltending, hockey’s great equalizer. We preview
each of the Frozen Four participants through the lens of these
four elements.
Quinnipiac (31-3-7, 16-1-2 Eastern Collegiate Athletic,
+ 81 goal differential, beat UMass Lowell 4-1 in East Regional
Final, will play BC in National Semifinal today at 5 p.m.)
5 P.M.ESPN2
BOSTON COLLEGE
QUINNIPIACvs.
8:30 P.M.ESPN2
DENVER
NORTH DAKOTAvs.
CHOSEN FOUR
RECORD
IN HOCKEYEAST
GOALS SCOREDPER GAME
GOALS ALLOWEDPER GAME
5TH OVERALL
7TH OVERALL
RECORD
IN ECAC
4TH OVERALL
5TH OVERALL
GOALS SCOREDPER GAME
GOALS ALLOWEDPER GAME
RECORD
IN NCHC
GOALS SCOREDPER GAME
GOALS ALLOWEDPER GAME
11TH OVERALL
13TH OVERALL
RECORD
IN NCHC
GOALS SCOREDPER GAME
GOALS ALLOWEDPER GAME
7TH OVERALL
2ND OVERALL
JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR
KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR
KELSEY MCGEE / HEIGHTS EDITOR
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Recommended