Boston College, founded in 1863 by the Jesuits to serve Catholic immigrants, adopted a typically Catholic hierarchical structure and has never had a university faculty senate, let alone true faculty governance. A model that works for clergy or the Vatican may not be best suited for proper expression of academic freedom and transparent decision-making with faculty participation.

For more than 20 years, faculty of Boston College have worked diligently to take an active part in decision-making at the university, yet the hierarchical structure remains firmly in place. The current administration feels that it allows faculty participation in decisions by appointing faculty to committees, allowing them to be elected to committees that have significant administration membership, or allowing them to be elected to committees that are strictly advisory and often ignored.

In January 2010, in response to the current administration’s hierarchical structure that restricted attempts to create a faculty senate, BC faculty voted to establish an AAUP advocacy chapter with the primary goal of working for real faculty governance and a recognized and independent voice on campus. BCAAUP resolved to address the most pressing concerns of all faculty (non-tenured, tenure track and tenured). Since that time, BCAAUP has worked with our colleagues across the university and across the country, committed to addressing the lack of faculty governance at Boston College and advocating for a recognized faculty role in decision-making, and a less centralized, more democratic decision-making process.

A 2003 Faculty Compensation Committee survey of faculty with a roughly 40% response rate, showed that 80% of the respondents desired the formation of a faculty senate and as a result, the FCC organized a task force to study the workings of faculty senates and draft a proposal. The Academic Vice President’s (now Provost’s) office provided some logistical and financial support for this.  In December of 2003, the task force presented a set of ‘guidelines’ for a faculty senate to the FCC.  In January 2005, elected members of university-wide committees began meeting as the Interim Faculty Senate (IFS) to translate the guidelines into a specific proposal, which was then submitted in a referendum to the faculty, October 5-12, 2006.  With 42.7% of eligible faculty voting, the measure passed 272-37 (88.08% approving, 11.97% disapproving). With such strong faculty support, the IFS prepared to elect senate members as part of the December 2006 elections process.  However, the Provost’s office declined to allow the election for the new Faculty Senate to be conducted, and the Provost justified this action by citing the provision in the Preamble to the University Statutes that the Board of Trustees reserved to itself the power to “establish senates, councils….” In recent years, it has been argued that the administration actually usurped the Trustees prerogatives by denying them the possibility of designating an existing faculty body as the statutory University Faculty Senate as provided by the statutes.

In the 2012 BCAAUP sponsored faculty survey, only 19% of faculty were satisfied with current faculty decision making. Faculty overwhelmingly agreed (85% of respondents) that an elected faculty committee “should explain, evaluate, and publicize” all proposed changes to the Faculty Handbook prior to posting. The concerns of greatest importance to faculty remain: 1) establishment of an independent faculty senate, 2) establishment of an elected faculty committee to review/maintain and update the Faculty Handbook, which presently is controlled by the Provost’s office and 3) establishment of positive changes in the status and prospects of contingent faculty. The view held by a majority of faculty is that faculty participation on university committees exists more for appearance sake than for providing authentic influence over policy decisions.

Attempts to engage in meaningful dialogue rarely prove successful, whether attempted by individual faculty members or by elected representatives, even when there is a set protocol. For example, in grievance processes through the statutory and elected Faculty Grievance Committee (FGC), the Provost and President are free to follow the FGC’s recommendations or not, but they are required to respond, the former to the original grievance and the latter to any appeal. Questions remain as to whether or not appropriate protocol has been followed by the administration, specifically with respect to delayed responses or lack thereof to FGC’s recommendations or to any appeals. Such lack of communication and inconsistency in following procedures is not limited to dealings with the Faculty Grievance Committee.

Until recently the procedures of the FGC were influenced by the Provost’s office, with little or no transparency with regard to record keeping or operating procedures. While the FGC continues to address the problems, there remains a tendency to hinder the filing of grievances whether with regard to harassment or tenure decisions and rarely does a faculty member’s grievance get as far as the FGC.  Currently at Boston College, only tenure track and tenured faculty may file grievances.  Following a resolution by the FGC to establish a process for non-tenured faculty, the Provost’s office has agreed, but the process is still in the planning stages.  As yet, there are no provisions for filing of grievances by faculty who are considered part-time.

Ironically the administration, even when faced with their own written documentation, willingly contradicts itself, thereby creating more confusion and ambiguity as faculty attempt to resolve issues of governance and academic freedom. Patterns on the part of the administration include dismissing their own written statements and documents as erroneous, altering the Faculty Handbook without discussion with faculty, and introducing policies retroactively, so as to appear not to be in violation of current practices.  Such was the case with one grievance filed by some members of the faculty regarding equity in salaries. Although the FGC found for the faculty members, the Provost dismissed the case, which, in the view of some, may have had aspects of age discrimination.

Another example of the lack of faculty participation in decision making can be seen in the suspension of the non-statutory University Budget Committee (UBC).  For decades, the UBC had provided a forum for elected faculty and students to obtain financial information and discuss budget issues with the Provost, the Executive Vice President, and the Financial Vice President.  However, the UBC was suspended by the administration at the beginning of the budget crisis in 2007, with the Provost’s indicating that the administration would establish a successor to the Budget Committee. After six years, no university-wide body open to elected faculty participation has been established.

Similarly, the Faculty Compensation Committee (FCC), another non-statutory, advisory committee, which addresses faculty compensation, benefits, and related academic practices, such as teaching loads, had previously met monthly with the Executive Vice President, Provost and Vice President of Human Resources.  While this committee is still allowed to make recommendations, the Provost and Executive Vice President generally decline to attend and essential university financial information is no longer made available.

The FCC has never participated in writing the Faculty Handbook or The Retirement Planning and Handbook for Retired Faculty Members, nor is there any other type of standing faculty committee involved in writing or making changes to the Faculty Handbook. In 2006, the President reserved the right to appoint emeritus faculty. Consequently, emeritus status is not allowed to be part of retirement negotiations. Although the FCC protested the lack of faculty input with the change in emeriti appointments, there was no subsequent discussion. In addition, many faculty remain uncertain about retirement negotiations and 95% report no standard retirement agreement in their schools and departments.  Neither the UBC, the FCC, nor any faculty were involved when, in 2008, the University cut in half the supplemental healthcare benefits for most retiring and all their spouses.

In 2010, the administration recommended that “justified ballots” were to be used in tenure and promotion cases to replace the statutory required vote of departmental faculty in a meeting.  In at  least one case, a department chair took this to mean that the meeting vote would no longer be necessary, suggested that faculty send him their letters expressing their opinion, which he then summarized, and forwarded the “justified ballots” with his tally to the University Promotions and Tenure Committee.  While the administration has said that promotions procedures need to be more uniform across the university, nothing has been done to correct such irregularities of this revised process, demonstrating yet another example of the shift of power from the faculty and departments to the administration.

In addition, as the administration introduced new policies that restrict part-time faculty to teaching only two courses/semester, thereby eliminating benefits, some part-time and tenured faculty raised the issue with BCAAUP, asking that we share and discuss the information on our campus and with our colleagues at other universities. Not only did the changes eliminate benefits and job security, but the decision by the administration was also seen by some faculty as detrimental to the effectiveness of their departments and to the quality of student learning.

For full-time, non-tenure track faculty (FTNTT), a new policy of “peer review” is being implemented in conjunction with renewal of contracts. While the concept of peer review has not been uniformly interpreted across the university, and guidelines vary for portfolios, methods and materials for evaluation, uncertainty remains. The administration’s implementation of such varied policies at times creates uncertainty while undermining collegiality among faculty at our university, calling to mind a variation on the well-known poem: “First they came for the part-time faculty…” And post-tenure review remains a topic still under discussion for our tenured faculty.

Since its beginning as an advocacy chapter, BCAAUP has received many reports that demonstrate a pattern of abuse of power which has led to bullying, harassment and discrimination of faculty, extending to students and staff as well. The pattern of placing all blame on those who have been targeted has led to mistrust among colleagues, hostility within departments, and an increased system of rewards and punishments. Some punishments are made public and include creating a hostile and non-collegial working environment by completely ostracizing the faculty member, while others are more subtle. In theory, departments continue to hold elections of their Chair, though in only an advisory role, which in recent years has resulted in the replacement of some elected Chairs by the Provost’s Office. Rumors replace facts and the result is often a hostile environment with little security for both tenured and non-tenure track faculty.

The internet age has allowed the BC administration to behave in an Orwellian (1984) fashion with regard to the Faculty Handbook.  With no printed copy available, changes in the Handbook appear and disappear, link to other sites that are not part of the handbook, and allow what should be a contractual agreement with the faculty to be completely at the whim of those who control the website.

As we celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Boston College and reflect upon its rich history, what better time than now to look forward to engaging faculty, students and administrators in a dynamic process of shared governance.

An hour later, I was sitting in a dorm room with my closest friends, eyes glued onto the TV when I looked over to see my best friend was wearing the fluorescent pink Marathon tank top saying, “The Heartbreak is Over.”  I was suddenly struck with the harsh reality that the heartbreak is far from over as the image of the bombs exploding on Boylston flashed and the audio of joyous screams of triumph turning to screams of terror played over and over again on the TV screen.  The heartbreak is so very real for the victims, the spectators, the runners, this city, our school, and our nation.  Never in a million years would I have imagined I would be so close to such a tragedy.  Just on Saturday I had watched the finish line be assembled and got the chills just thinking how perfect and beautiful this city is.  Two days later I was watching the runners and soldiers who had passed Mile 21 get blown off their feet in the very same spot.  An area that we love so much has now been stained by the blood of such innocent people in such a tragic event.

Where was God in all of this?  Why would He ever let something so horrific happen to our beloved Boston?  I struggled with this question as I watched Copley go up in smoke over and over again.  How could God be there?  How can the person or people behind this tragedy get away with this? The Boston Marathon bombing has been the hardest thought I have ever had to process and has resulted in a lot of time reflecting.  Through all this time reflecting, the one thought that remains on my mind is that God was very present on Monday. The verse I keep coming back to says, “But in fact God has placed the parts of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be” (1 Corinthians 12:18).  There was no huge miracle on Monday that stopped the bombs from going off, but that doesn’t mean that God was absent.  God was everywhere on Monday, broken into different, perfectly placed parts that symphonized together to create the Body of Christ here on Earth.  There were the people who kept running past the finish line to the hospitals so that they could donate their blood.  There were the police and spectators whose first instinct was to run towards the explosions and help instead of away from it.  There were the tons of people who opened the doors of their homes and restaurants to those stranded and hurting.  There was a packed St. Ignatius Church for a Mass of healing on our very own campus and The Final 5 walk to commemorate this tragedy organized within hours after the bombing.  The entire nation has rallied behind Boston with their support and prayers. A body cannot function properly or efficiently without these different parts working together, just as God’s presence and work at the Marathon could not be effectively executed without these good people and touching moments working together.

Even though there was immense heartbreak this Monday and will forever be immense heartbreak associated with the Boston Marathon, I am absolutely astounded by the amount of love I encountered here on our campus and around the nation.  The heartbreak is far from over, but we are the Body of Christ and we are Boston Strong. We are BC.

When the atrocities happened on Monday, I remember talking to a friend, and I said that while I don’t generally support the death penalty, this might be a scenario when I could vouch for its use.  After more time to reflect and the events of Friday, I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong, and the death penalty should not be used.

I understand that these men, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, have taken lives and limbs in a matter of seconds on Monday, during one of the most popular and joyous occasions of the year in Boston.  I understand that they are responsible for taking the innocent life of a police officer in cold blood.  I understand that there are many who are scarred emotionally and psychologically.

But we must choose life.

When the identities and lives of the men were slowly put together, I began to retreat even more from the penalty of death.  Yes these men were evil.  Yes, now Dzhokhar will be tried for murder among other things.

But this evil man (or rather, boy) is still a human being.  This kid is still one of us.  We can condemn his taking of human life.  But he is still a human being.

No matter what the crime, no matter how much we may hate him and mourn the innocent, we have no right to declare this kid’s life so worthless that he does not deserve to live.  That is the very crime he committed.  The moment we give in to that sentiment, that there are some who are unworthy of living, we cannot declare ourselves any more righteous than them or any other murderer who ever lived.

That is not justice.  That is evil.

We will not gain back the life lost by giving out the death penalty.  It will only cause more life to be lost.

I mourn the loss of innocent life.  But I also mourn the ones accused of such evil.  We cannot help but feel pain and sorrow that our fellow men would do such evil.

No death penalty can create justice.  We must choose life, no matter what charges, no matter what convictions, no matter what issues.  We must vouch for life for the accused.

No death penalty has ever delivered true justice.  This one won’t either.  It will only kill.  It will only cause more life to be lost.

I would urge everyone to take a step back, say no to death, and say yes to life.  It will do more for humanity than any death or evil act ever could.  Let us overcome death with life, evil with goodness, hatred with mercy.

But I want to offer a few observations or thoughts that always come up for me during these times of tragedy.

First, the fact is that we, human beings, are not nearly as nice and good as we presume ourselves to be.  We are more evil, and more capable of evil acts, than we can possibly imagine.  Man is a sick creature, and there is no sugar-coating this fact.  The reality of man is that he is fundamentally estranged from his fellow men, in which he finds his fullest existence.  When man fell, it shattered this communion of humanity, and thus, from the moment of conception, we are conceived in a broken world.  No one likes to say we are evil.  We like to presume our goodness.  We are totally depraved.  If anyone doubts that humanity is depraved, I ask them to watch the video of the bombing again.  We share a common humanity.  And there is nothing that separates us, in this sense, from those who laid the bombs down.  We are all fallen, all sinners in the eyes of God.  I cannot be blunter than this.  We are evil beyond all measure.

Second, the fact is that we, human beings, are good, and more capable of doing good works, than we can imagine.  We also saw that in the bombs.  When they went off, many rushed immediately to help the victims.  One thinks of the man who was helping wheel a victim with no legs to receive medical attention, among the many that helped stop the bleeding and bring people to safety.  These were ordinary people doing the extraordinary.  And this tragedy makes us realize that there is an incredible paradox in humanity – that we are totally depraved, yet we are totally good.  While we are bent by current nature towards evil, we are also bent by ultimate nature toward good.  So we are capable of goodness, beyond all measure.

Third, and quite a bit more important, is the question of God.  If there is God, where was He when the bombs went off?  Before answering the question, it must be admitted that evil does not make sense.  The ancient Church called it “alogia” or “without reason.”  It is inherently impossible to understand logically because it is not logical or reasonable.  Never try to understand evil – it is a contradiction in terms to attempt such a thing.  Then we can address our question.  God is certainly there.  It is not as if God took a break.

God is there as Jesus Christ.  Yes, Christ died long ago, but it was an eternal moment.  The Christ event happened, but it also transcends and is eternal.  This is because He has shared our humanity, and has subsumed all of history back into Godself.  Since everything is held together by this event, the Christ event still holds true for us.  It allows Christ to be in solidarity and accompaniment with us in life and death.  Because God has died and gone through Hell, we know that we will have God with us.  Beyond this, because Christ even continued to have faith and continued to love in spite of the despair which He felt in full, we know that death is not final.  Christ was on the cross.  But in a mysterious, eternal, transcendent way, Christ is still on the cross.

There is something that transcends death.  This is confirmed by the resurrection.  The resurrection is, in a way, the Father’s confirmation of the Son and what the Son did.  The resurrection reveals God gloriously and it shows that, even as we knew on Good Friday that somehow love was stronger than death, we can have certain hope because of Easter Sunday, when the power of goodness and love was revealed in full.

So when people ask where God was during tragedies, I would only look for the nearest crucifix, and point to it.  That is where God was.  That is where God is.  That is our comfort in life and death – that Christ our God has died on the cross, for our sins and the destruction of death, and that even though it looks like a full stop, love still is stronger, even in despair.  And we know that Christ our God is risen.  Christ rose, but Christ is risen still.  That gives us hope.  It is not some faint hope for some amorphous object.  It is sure hope in certain faith because of the incredible witness of the God-Man who died and still lived, and the witness of experience in the Church, His body.  And that event, singular and yet eternal, proves that justice, love, and righteousness win out.

It is not some grandfatherly “God” who I believe in, a “God” who happened not to be looking and let the bad children win.

I believe in the crucified God who is nailed to a cross, broken, contorted, bleeding, despairing, with skin shredded, in utter agony.  It is this God, the true God, the God who was verified by cross and resurrection, which gives us hope in tragedy.

Tuesday, April 16^th: Development Day 9-4 on the Campus Green. **POSTPONED to Thursday 4/18 in order that Tuesday might be spent acknowledging the sad loss of life and injury to persons as a result of the Marathon Bombings**

Wednesday, April 17^th: Professor Boyd Taylor Coolman of the Theology Department will be speaking on his personal experiences with adoption, exploring it as a positive alternative to abortion in Stokes N215 at 5:30pm.

Thursday, April 18^th: Fr. Andrea Vicini, S.J., Associate Professor of Moral Theology at the BC School of Theology and Ministry, will be speaking on Stem Cell Research: Scientific Developments and Ethical Challenges at 3:30pm in Stokes N401.  AND, Development Day 9-4 on the Campus Green.

Friday, April 19^th: Celebrate Life Day 10-4 in the Quad.  It is like a giant birthday party for everyone!

At the beginning of each academic year, all students living in school-owned dormitories sign an agreement form, acknowledging that disciplinary action will be taken in the event of “any material or persistent disregard…of any of the rules and regulations set forth in the Conditions for Residency or as otherwise provided in the Conditions for Residency or in accordance with other University policy.”  The Conditions for Residency statement is clear that on-campus housing is a privilege, not a right.  Further, the Boston College Student Guide states that students have “the responsibility to respect the values and traditions of Boston College as a Jesuit, Catholic institution.”

These students live in housing owned by Boston College, and the Office of Residential Life, therefore, reserves the right to set certain standards of acceptable behavior for those who freely choose to live on school property.

Moreover, The Observer is concerned about the belief promoted in the broader society that contraception is expected to be available to all persons free of charge.  Those students wishing to use contraception are able to purchase it at any number of local convenience stores and pharmacies that are within immediate walking distance of campus.  If the financial burden of purchasing condoms on one’s own is too great for an individual, it is likely that the same person would also be financially incapable of supporting a child in the event of failure of the prophylactic.  Responsible and prudent decision-making needs to occur.

While we certainly exhort our fellow students to chastity, we recognize and acknowledge the inevitability of sexual activity occurring between and among students on campus; nevertheless, it is unjust for students who choose to engage in such activity to expect and demand that Boston College permit them to distribute contraceptives on school property, knowing the university’s serious moral objections in this area.

Eventually, He decided to join the military, allured by the prestige that came with it. While serving in the military, Francis was captured and spent a year in prison. Shortly after being released, he fell gravely ill but recovered in time to join the army of the Count of Brienne. Shortly after, Francis fell ill again and heard a voice tell him to go back to Assisi. One day, upon running into a leper, instead of averting his gaze and continuing on his way, he met the leper and offered assistance. After this encounter, he began spending time with lepers, visiting hospitals and tending to their needs.

Following a pilgrimage to Rome, he took a vow of poverty. Upon his return, while praying in the Church of St. Damien, he heard God’s voice say, “Francis, go and repair My house, which you see is falling down.” Francis took this order literally and set out to repair the church using money he received from selling his fathers’ expensive cloth and horse. Upon hearing this, his father became infuriated and demanded that Francis either return home or renounce his inheritance and payback the money. When Francis refused, his father disinherited and disowned him.

Afterwards, Francis began to preach the word of God and lived as a beggar, restoring churches in the countryside. Francis’ view on life was once again profoundly altered when he heard a sermon about Matthew 10; 9, which talked about giving up all of one’s possessions and preaching the word of God. Soon after this experience, Francis gained his first follower. A year later he would have eleven followers who would accompany him as they preached the word of God throughout Umbria. They lived a simple life and abided by one rule, which Francis called “Regula primitiva”. The rule was, “To follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps”.

Francis went to Rome to gain permission from Pope Innocent to establish his religious order. Despite initial reluctance, Pope Innocent eventually granted Francis’ order informal standing within the Church, until it could gain more followers.  The Franciscan Order was officially founded on April 16, 1210. Throughout his lifetime, Francis attempted to go on several missionary trips and on in 1219 he went to Egypt, seeking to convert the Sultan. On his return to Assisi, Francis handed over the governance of his order over to Brother Peter Catani. Francis made amendments to the first rule, creating the Second Rule, “to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience without anything of our won and in chastity”. Once the rule was approved by the Pope, Francis took on a smaller role in the internal affairs of the Order.

One day, while praying on the Mountain of Verna, he saw a vision and received the stigmata. He died on October 2, 1226 and on July 16, 1228 Pope Gregory IX pronounced him a saint. He is the patron saint of animals and the environment. The Catholic Church celebrates his feast day on October 4.

Mark Hertenstein

Over my spring break, I had the wonderful privilege of travelling with the University Chorale of Boston College to Rome.  We sang a mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, and we sang two concerts at the Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio and Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.  These were the highpoints of my time in Chorale.

During those days in Rome, we would go as groups to various ruins, churches, and fantastic restaurants.

Eventually, I gained a sort of reputation on the trip for my zeal in touring the city, specifically the ruins (being a Classics major), but especially the churches (my final church count was 17).  Yes, I am a Theology and Classics double major which meant that I was bound to plan to see as much as humanly possible.

But I had another, even more personal reason for my zeal.  There was a much more spiritual reason for my visits.  They were teaching me about something greater than the ability of man to build houses for the proper worship of God.

***

On Monday, the first free day we had, I got up early and took a taxi out to St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.  I arrived at 8:15 that morning.  The sun had barely risen and there was still an early morning haze of sorts.  The Basilica had just opened.  It was literally me and three custodians in the massive nave.  I was lucky to have a quiet, secluded tour to myself.

Even before I entered, I had to pass through two massive doors, each with panels depicting the life and death of St. Paul.  On the doors were the following inscriptions: “ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός” and “Vivo autem iam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus,” from Galatians 2, which says “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  With that, I entered.  As I walked, taking in the silence of the Basilica, my mind kept going back to those words, among others, of St. Paul.

And then, as I approached the altar, I beheld the chains of his imprisonment.  And going down the stairs to view the crypt beneath the altar, in the utter still and quiet of the Basilica, I knelt in contemplation before the Sarcophagus of St. Paul for almost ten minutes.  There, before me, lay the mortal remains of the Apostle to the Gentiles.

I don’t tend to believe in eternities on earth, but for that moment that was still too brief, as I knelt in a house of the Lord, I felt something of that connection that is experienced, but can’t be measured, a moment of time that seemed so timeless.

And I could hear in that silence, as if repeating itself in that moment, the words of St. Paul, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” and “So then, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13).

***

I continued on that same day to see the other three major basilicas.  Each of them, John Lateran, Peter in Chains, and Mary Major, left great impressions.  I also spent much time in the Basilica of St. Clement, which allows visitors to descend from the medieval basilica, with its mosaic of Cross as the Tree of Life, to the 4^th Century basilica.  Over the course of the week, each church had a unique impression.

We sang in the Church of St. Ignatius where St. Aloysius Gonzaga is buried.  And when I went to the home church of the Jesuits, the Gesù, where St. Ignatius of Loyola and the arm of St. Francis Xavier are buried.  These visits took on even greater meaning in the wake of the election of the first Jesuit pope.

Then, I capped it off with St. Peter’s Basilica for an actual tour.  I was able to walk by the new tomb of Blessed John Paul II, the tombs of various saints such as St. John Chrysostom, and went to the crypt where I could view the reliquary of St. Peter, the foremost of the disciples.  And looking up, I saw the words of our Lord, “Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam.”  And above the Altar of the Chair, the Holy Spirit, descending like a dove from the golden window.  All nationalities filed past the altars to pray and make offerings.

And it struck me, thinking about the place, that back in the days of Nero, not far from the Basilica, St. Peter was crucified upside down.  Nero committed suicide not long after.  Rome, as an imperial city and state, lasted about four and a half centuries.  But what stands now?  A basilica dedicated to the humble disciple of a radical Jewish rabbi who was crucified and said to have risen from the dead and been seen before the eyes of many.  A basilica among all basilicas to those who died because they believed in the One who died to save mankind, and rose to give new life.  All the Nero’s and Domitian’s of the Roman world could crucify, burn, torture, and behead the followers of a God who was crucified.  But something kept going, a bond beyond the bounds of death, which has long outlasted the mortal divine emperors.

It even took the very Bathhouse of Diocletian and made it a church dedicated to the martyrs.  And it was in that very place that we sang great choral works dedicated to Christ.

There are about 400 churches in Rome.  And the Church has made it 1600 more years than the Rome of the emperors.  And it is still going.

***

And so I return to the mass at St. Peter’s.  We sang Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus.”

It began, almost growing out from the reverent stillness of the solemn Eucharist of the Church which was taking place, “Ave, ave verum corpus natum de Maria virgine…”  And suddenly, building and filling the area of the Basilica around the Chair, “vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine…”  Then, calming with a beautiful, almost gracious answer from organ, came the mystery of the Cross, “cuius latus perforatum fluxit aqua et sanguine…”  Then, serenely calling out from that hallowed moment of the Cross, “esto nobis praegustatum mortis in examine…”  Then one more triumphant and mystical time, “mortis examine,” quelling to a serene moment that almost brought me to tears.

I did not realize it at the time, but it was one of those moments when I was suddenly struck as if by a divine moment, similar to my time before the Sarcophagus of St. Paul.  They were moments that simply felt eternal.  It was as if time had stopped, as if I had stopped and been caught up into that moment.  What happened in St. Peter’s was possibly a greater experience of the Body and Blood of Christ than any communion that I have taken in my life.  And that moment, and the one at St. Paul’s, though they felt infinite and timeless, was still all too short.  I desired more of it whenever it had to end for me to move on.

I have to think that there was something about the communion of all believers that one can experience, even across the boundaries of history and death.  There is no reason why we should go to kneel and meditate over the graves of the long-departed writers of religious texts who ended up getting killed because they believed their God became man, died for all men, and rose from the dead.

All that can be said is that somehow, on the Cross and in the tomb in Jerusalem, life transcended death, as testified by the Apostle who proclaimed liberation from sin and death, who claimed to have died with himself and yet he lived again in Christ, before whose tomb I knelt.  And it continues to do so in the Church, where the bonds of love and life transcend and break evil and death.

The U.S. is currently engaged in the killing of suspected al-Qaeda members overseas using unmanned aerial combat vehicles—drones. While the “drone war” is not without controversy, a sound argument can be made that it is a tactic needed to decimate al-Qaeda. Controversy over the drone war was increased after the killing of terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki in 2011 in Yemen. The death of al-Awlaki belongs in a legal grey area. While there was much evidence that he was active in Islamist terrorist groups (though mostly as a propagandist), he was also an American citizen who was assassinated rather than tried and convicted of treason.

While the al-Awlaki assassination was probably justifiable as its own case, the Obama Administration did little to clearly outline its legal rationale and, more generally, the limits of the drone war. While the scenario brought up by Sen. Paul is very much a hypothetical—drones have never been used for military purposes on U.S. soil—the White House refused to acknowledge that the legality of such a scenario was still an open question until after Paul’s filibuster wore the Administration down. While al-Awlaki was an American, he was very clearly aiding al-Qaeda and was overseas. That is a very different scenario than the one proposed by Paul, where an American is merely suspected of treason and within the country’s borders. If North Korea invaded the U.S. tomorrow (however unlikely that may be), the U.S. military does not have to individually capture and convict each North Korean soldier. However, this truism doesn’t give the CIA the authority to assassinate a U.S. citizen living within the country’s border without either a trial or overwhelming, indisputable evidence that said citizen was treasonous. These are clearly very different scenarios and this should be reflected legally.

The United States is a constitutional republic. While the government must protect the country, it must do so constitutionally. In rare emergencies, in may be necessary to give the president, as commander-in-chief of the military, vague and open-ended powers. On a long-term basis, however, there must exist strict legal limits on what the president can and cannot do. Otherwise, the risk of the president misusing his or her power is too great. In the pursuit of external enemies, we must not forget our core principles.

When the building first opened in January, I was stunned by it’s beautiful architecture.  What more could a nerd like me want than to go to a school that looks like Hogwarts?  Two months later, I still get the same Hogwarts vibe with the arched pathway between North Stokes and South Stokes and the big, wooden doors.  What Hogwarts doesn’t have and Stokes does have, though, is the Chocolate Bar with the perfect end of the week treat: gelato. As much as I love the convenience of a coffee before class, I never would have expected the Chocolate Bar to be so small, especially with all the hype around the new location.  The high volume of people all trying to get coffee only adds to the cramped feeling.  Seating and tables around the Chocolate Bar are nice too, or so I have been told since there is never an open seat and you can only hover around for so long before people start to think you are creepy. Luckily, there are built in benches around the building, so it’s never impossible to find a spot to sit for a second.

Another problem I have is that the Stokes Hall bathrooms totally put me out of my element.  Although I have two classes in the building and am there every day, I still get lost when trying to find the bathrooms.  I feel like I am playing a game of hide-and seek every time I wonder around the hallways and peak around corners to see if I have finally found one.  However, the struggle doesn’t end once I’ve finally stumbled across a bathroom.  Something about the bathroom stalls in Stokes makes it nearly impossible to see if someone is in there or not.  I find myself constantly ducking down a little to see if there are feet, or shyly knocking on the stall door, only to be met with an awkward answer that someone is in there and an uncomfortable exchange of smiles when they leave.

All in all, we are so lucky to have Stokes Hall and the positive classroom environment found there. There is no doubt that once the weather warms up, Boston College students will be enjoying not only the beautiful inside, but also the nice green space in front of Stokes.  If nothing else, the talking gold elevators should remind you that Stokes Hall is truly an asset to the Boston College campus.

Clothing that covers a male’s legs, often referred to as pants, has been a matter of hot debate throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries. From the 1900s to the 1950s, pants were cornered to be just the bottom half of suits. The top of the suits received all the attention whether as cravats, ties, or a vest. All of these options, while making various fashion statements, simply ignore the pants as a contributor. Suits reflected their era of fashion in the first half of the 20^th century, but pants were forsaken. Pants had a small era in the 1960s, when bell-bottom pants were the pants worn by every male looking to make an impression on a lady. It also worked well with the hippie movement of that era. However, pants have mostly been forgotten as a major article of clothing since that decade. Disco, arena rock, grunge, and hip-hop made people forget about the debate in the 1970s-2000s.

Since the turn of 2010, there has yet to be a definition of this generation, so the pants debate has been revived. There are three main camps at this point in the debate. The majority supports jeans, which many claim are the comfortable, yet universally acceptable option. Opposing jeans are dress pants, which are obviously less comfortable, but are far fancier than jeans. Both of these camps feel strongly that they should be the primary pants of this new generation. Jeans have reached a point where they can be both casual and something to wear “out”, and therefore have attracted a large number of men of this generation. However, I must assert that the third and final group needs the attention and respect that jeans now receive. That final group is in favor of sweatpants. Sweatpants have an absolute chokehold on a very important characteristic of pants, which is comfort. Like the comfortable yoga pants for females, they are worn as a default for most situations. Sweats fit the bill for going to class, hanging out, and enjoying a day on the town. However, they are seen as extremely taboo for attending a bar or going to a party. Perhaps these accusations are correct, and maybe sweats should be reserved for laundry day. But maybe…just maybe sweats are the next jeans. Jeans were able to make the jump from solely casual clothing to the “going out” world, and I am speculating that sweats will be making the same jump. At some point, our generation will realize that there is simply no comfort comparable to sweatpants. Both jeans, sweats, and dress pants all share the same major characteristics of pants. Mainly, they cover your legs and have two pockets in which to place your phone and wallet. There are no functional advantages to jeans or dress pants, and soon sweats will be recognized for what they are. I wish that I could be optimistic about sweats being the pants of our generation, however like a priceless Van Gogh, I do not believe that they will be recognized in their time. I envy the decade when sweatpants will reign supreme, but until then sweatpants will continue to fly under the radar like college hockey.

The following is in direct response to claims made by the Boston College student organization, Students for Justice in Palestine during their current “Peace, Not Apartheid Week.”

Myth: The Green Line is an “internationally recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank.”

Fact: The Green Line represents the armistice line drawn after Israel’s successful self-defense in their war for independence, and was never meant to be considered an actual border. It was so named because is was arbitrarily drawn on a map of Israel with a green permanent marker. This line divides many Arab cities such as Barta’a and also splits the city of Jerusalem in two.

Myth: The security fence is a “26 feet of concrete” tall wall and is “440 miles long.” Also, the Palestinian side consists of “shitty concrete” while “the Israeli side has been exquisitely designed and made of ‘beautiful cobblestone.’”

Fact: Less than 3% of the security fence is indeed a wall, with even less being the concrete wall described here. These portions were designed as walls in areas of greatest risk of infiltration by suicide bombers, and where it was common for sniper rifle fire to be indiscriminately shot at Israeli citizens and vehicles on the road. The wall looks the same from both sides, except where graffiti has been painted on either side. There is certainly not a 26-foot wall of cobblestone anywhere along the security fence’s path.

Myth: “Israeli’s don’t want peace.”

Fact: Israel’s leaders have made countless attempts through various offers and sacrifices to achieve peace. Since 1937, Arab and Palestinian leaders have rejected six major attempts at peace by the Israeli leadership. As required by UN Resolution 242, Israel renounced its claims to the Sinai Peninsula in 1979 to achieve peace with Egypt, despite popular Israeli sentiments over the land that was 3x the size of Israel, contained vast oil deposits, and was home to thousands of Israelis before the Israeli government forced them out.

Myth: “Israel is painting itself as a very LGBT-friendly state as a way to more or less allow people to look over its other human rights violations” with a concept known as pink washing.

Fact: Israel is the only state in the Middle East that provides rights to its LGBT community. The Israeli Defense Forces have allowed gay and lesbian men and women to serve openly and without discrimination since 1993, an option not granted by the US military until 2011.

Myth: “Only about half of the people who live under Israeli control, the 6 million Jewish Israeli citizens, have a full right to citizenship.”

Fact: 20% of Israeli citizens are Arab. 10% of the Israeli Knesset and Supreme Court are also in fact Arabic. The population of approximately 450,000 in the Gaza Strip is governed by Hamas, without interference by Israel. 96% of the Arabic population in the West Bank of approximately 2,100,000 is under the governance of the Palestinian Authority.

Myth: “The Palestinians of East Jerusalem are not allowed to vote for the government that controls them.”

Fact: When Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, the government offered all of the inhabitants Israeli citizenship, but were mostly rejected because local Arabs refused to recognize the state of Israel. These people are still allowed municipal rights and services, as well as the opportunity to apply for Israeli citizenship.

While there, she defeated Princeton’s Susie Scanlan and Notre Dame’s Courtney Hurley, who were members of the United States’ Olympic bronze medal team in 2012. Her record of 10-13 put her in thirteenth place, one spot shy of being named an Honorable Mention All-American.

The sailing team captured the Boston Dinghy Club Challenge Cup this weekend. At the end of the first day, the Eagles found themselves in second place behind Brown with 199 points.

But they pulled away from the other teams Sunday, leaving MIT, Brown, Roger Williams and Stanford battling for second. BC finished with 269 points. MIT was next with 294.

The women’s ice hockey team nearly upset undefeated Minnesota in the Frozen Four Friday night in Minneapolis, Minn. Skating at Ridder Arena, the Gophers’ home ice, the Eagles took a 1-0 lead after Emily Field netted her 16^th goal of the season in the second period.

In the third, Minnesota scored two unanswered goals to take the lead, but the Eagles responded to tie things up when Lexi Bender notched her third goal of the year. Goaltender Corinne Boyles came up with some big saves for BC to send the game to overtime knotted at two.

The overtime didn’t last long, as Minnesota third liner Sarah Davis scored at 1:39 in the extra frame to send the Gophers to the national championship game. Boyles had a particularly strong game for the Eagles, making 36 saves, many of them from point-blank range.

Minnesota went on to capture the national championship with a 6-3 win over Boston University Sunday. The Gophers finished the year 41-0-0 and became the first team in the 13-year history of NCAA women’s hockey to have a perfect season.

The women’s ice hockey team salutes the crowd after defeating Harvard in the NCAA Quarterfinals (photo credit: Lizzy Bayoff)

The men’s ice hockey team fell in the Hockey East Semifinals to rival Boston University 6-3 Friday night at the TD Garden. The Eagles went up 2-0 on the strength of goals by Bill Arnold and Quinn Smith. They dominated play in the first period and the first half of the second period.

But then they allowed five unanswered goals, including three in the span of six minutes late in the second period. BC’s usually strong penalty kill gave up three power-play goals, including one on a five-minute major assessed to Johnny Gaudreau early in the third period.

Late in the third period, Steven Whitney netted his 26^th goal of the year to stay in second in the nation in that category. But it wasn’t enough, and the members of the senior class experienced their first loss at the TD Garden and in the Hockey East Tournament.

BU would go on to fall to UMass-Lowell 1-0 Saturday night as Lowell claimed its first Hockey East Tournament Championship in program history.

BC was placed in the Providence Regional Sunday night and will face Union in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this Saturday at 9 p.m. at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. The other teams in their regional are Quinnipiac and Canisius.

Mikaela Rix scored five goals, a career high, for the second straight game, but it wasn’t enough for the women’s lacrosse team to overcome No. 3 North Carolina Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C.

In the first half, UNC jumped out to a 12-3 lead. The Eagles outscored the Tar Heels in the second half, 8-7, but had dug themselves too deep of a hole. UNC held on to win 19-11.

Covie Stanwick had another impressive performance for the Eagles. The Tewaaraton Award hopeful netted four goals, the eighth time she has scored more than three in a game this year. She now has 32 goals in nine games.

With the loss, BC fell to 4-5 (1-2 ACC) on the season.

The baseball team dropped to 3-18 (0-8 ACC) after getting swept by No. 1 North Carolina this weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C. On Saturday, the Eagles lost both games of a doubleheader, 11-0 and 5-2. The series finale was scheduled for Sunday but was rained out. There is no makeup date.

The women’s tennis team fell to Virginia 6-1 Friday. Heini Salonen won her singles match over Li Xi 6-1, 6-4. Alex Kelleher and Jessica Wacnik won their doubles match over Stephanie Nauta and Erin Vierra 8-5. But BC finished 1-5 in singles and 1-2 in doubles overall.

The outdoor concert, which takes place on the final day of classes, will feature Macklemore as its headliner and will run from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 2. Unlike the Spring Concert, Modstock is free for all BC students to attend.

Typically, $35,000 is reserved to fund the Spring Concert, but this year the amount will be added to UGBC’s $60,000 Modstock budget. Co-director of campus entertainment Dan Rimm told The Heights of the budget redistribution, “We were reevaluating how we do programming on campus and were trying to see how we can give students the most for their money.”

He continued, “Looking back at the ticket sales over the past couple of years, people haven’t been as interested in the Spring Concert. We have consistently sold out the Fall Concerts and then roughly 1,000 to 3,000 people have attended the Spring Concerts, as opposed to the 5,000 we need for a sellout.”

Rimm concluded, “And because of that, in the past, we have needed to downsize the Modstocks … We have been asking students for feedback this year, really trying to gauge opinions. It turns out that students like the idea of a Spring Concert but, because of the way it has worked out, no one really gets that excited for the shows. So we suggested the idea, what if we just do a really big Modstock and Plex show?”

In 2012, the Spring Concert featured artists Third Eye Blind and Nelly and started at 5:00 p.m. to prevent students’ alcohol consumption before the show. The concert saw a declined attendance from previous years. So, UGBC decided to focus its attention on booking a great artist for Modstock instead of funding a Spring Concert that would most likely boast another mediocre student attendance.

Co-director of campus entertainment Mike Cavoto spoke of the cost of the concert with The Heights, “We felt that the best way to reach the most students was for the show to be free.”

He added, “There are already a ton of ticketed events on and off campus. Additionally, the sound quality in Conte was a frequent complaint, so we wanted to bring an artist of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ caliber to a free, open venue where the most amount of students will be able to participate at no cost.”

Though students are definitely excited for a big artist like Macklemore to play at Modstock, the scheduling of the outdoor event does pose a problem for some BC students. It takes place in the afternoon on the last day of classes, so students who have a Thursday afternoon class may miss some, if not all, of the show. This is unfortunate, seeing as Modstock will be the only big concert of the spring season.

Nevertheless, students will undoubtedly come out in larger crowds than past years to see Macklemore perform with music producer, musician, and DJ Ryan Lewis, who together with Macklemore released the debut album The Heist in October of 2012.

Fr. Paul McNellis: Change Hook-Up Culture

The Sons of St. Patrick and St. Thomas Moore Society hosted “Where are All the Good Men: The Women Want to Know,” a lecture this past Thursday night in McGuinn 121.  The speaker was popular professor of philosophy at BC, Father Paul McNellis.  Father McNellis opened by saying he hopes he has an answer to the question; he admits this has been one of the most challenging talks he’s had to prepare.

He goes on to explain that the topic is very complicated because it has a different meaning for every grade and every individual.  As Father McNellis prepared by talking to BC students, he found men stating they never hear women asking, “Where are all the good men?” whereas women claimed to ask frequently.  Where is the miscommunication?  And, more importantly, where are the good men?

Father McNellis responded by projecting a huge map of BC’s campus with arrows pointing to locations where “good men” have been sighted in the past ten years.  This caused a raucous roar of laughter from the audience.  Father McNellis added to the hilarity by declaring that the most surprising aspect of the guide was that at one point there was a sighting of a “good man” in Upper’s CLXF.

Father McNellis then turned to the reality of gentlemen in the past versus today.  When the Titanic infamously sank a century ago, the people who made it onto lifeboats were mostly women and children while men were overrepresented in casualties.  On the other hand, ships that have sunk in more recent history have not noted the same quality of chivalry.  In fact, men have been seen to outstrip women and children in the race for lifeboats.  Though this is one example, it represents the lack of gallantry in today’s society.

Father McNellis explained that this can be attributed, in part, to the advancement of women in recent history.  As women have advanced in regards to education and professions, men have stagnated.  Where in the past fathers and husbands were a necessity to women, now they are an option.  Because of this, men have become threatened and, in Father McNellis’ words, “regressed to video games, porn, and hooking up.”  Women have observed this regression and have come to the notion that there are no good men left.

Father McNellis countered that, in fact, there are, though he admits not as many as he would like.  The reality is that the hook up culture has replaced dating.  Hooking up has become accepted as normal, and that, in and of itself, is the problem.  During the presentation a commercial was shown from an English clothing store.  The commercial started by showing clips of women in trashy, ill-fitting dresses and last night’s make up walking home in the morning.  The women receive judgmental looks from passersby, mostly men.

The end shot is one of a woman walking up the steps to her home in a nice dress and nice heels; a man smiles at her.  The slogan then stated, “Turn a walk of shame into a stride of pride.”  The message is that if a woman has the right outfit to walk home in the following morning, a walk of shame is no longer shameful.  Father McNellis shared that this was the saddest commercial he had seen.  It normalizes hook ups to the point that it romanticizes them as something to be desired.  This point translates to college life where people are more willing to exaggerate their hook ups rather than admit the insignificant truth.

Recent data findings show people as often unwilling to commit to a relationship until they are in their thirties.  And, according to Father McNellis, it might be too late.  He asserted that the way an individual acts in college is the way he or she will act as an adult.  Though most students assume they will be able to commit when the time is right, Father McNellis assured the audience that it is not simple; his analogy was that changing behaviors is not like switching a flip.  It is a common belief that irresponsibility is acceptable in college as long as one can be a responsible adult.  Father McNellis then took the opportunity to remind the audience that college students are adults.

The “BC bubble” is referenced to mean that Boston College students often stay on or near campus and associate only with other BC students.  Additionally, it refers to the fact that BC is not necessarily a “real” place, but the fairy-tale-like land that students reside in for four years of school.  The assumption is that students can make mistakes and behave selfishly without real-world consequences because they are contained in a bubble.

Father McNellis said the notion of the bubble is an extremely dangerous one.  He emphasized that BC is a part of the real world and college students are real people.  They must act in college how they want to act outside of college.  And, this extends to how one acts in a relationship.  The most important question a person can ask him or herself is who he or she wants to be upon graduation.  The answer to that question is how he or she should be acting now.

Father McNellis’ qualities for a good man are as follows: honest, reliable, grateful, considerate, dedicated, respectful, and honorable.  He says that it takes every one of these virtues to be a good husband, so that is what it takes to be a good man.  Women should support this by encouraging the good qualities they see in men.  Both men and women should spend time with people they respect because an individual becomes like the people he or she spends time with.

Relationships, particularly romantic relationships, should be meaningful; and, hook ups are meaningless.  In fact, Father McNellis wondered aloud whether hook ups make people into beings unable to truly love.  With this message, Father McNellis shared that what people want most in life is to be a good mother or father.  From his perspective, this is the most important aspect of life and human beings should be always working toward that goal.

Imagine being able to control your computer by simply waving your hand or pinching your finger together. This groundbreaking technology is soon to be realized with the Leap Motion Controller, scheduled for a May premiere.

BC sophomore Annie Weber did not have to wait until May to test the innovative technology. She and 23 classmates demoed the product at the headquarters of Leap Motion, the company responsible for inventing the device that naturally interacts with a user’s hand motions.

While the rest of us were escaping to Florida or making incredible progress catching up on Netflix television shows over Spring Break, these 24 BC students had the opportunity of a lifetime. As members of the TechTrek program, they traveled to Silicon Valley, California and visited some of the largest technology companies in the world.

The field study to Silicon Valley is an integral experience of Undergrad TechTrek West, a class taught by Information Systems Professor John Gallaugher. According to him, students “study how firms go from startup to blue-chip, both from the perspective of the firms as well as organizations that fund them.”

The course counts as credit for CSOM Marketing, Operations, and IS concentrations, but is open to students from any school. However, admission into the class is competitive, as it is based on factors such as academic performance, student maturity, and participation in technology and entrepreneurship- oriented clubs and events on campus.

After flying to San Francisco and seeing some of the local sights to begin the weeklong program, the group got right to business. They ventured to the place to be for aspiring entrepreneurs – Palo Alto in Silicon Valley, which is the hub of high tech businesses and startup companies.

Professor Gallaugher commented, “TechTrek allows students to see all sorts of firms and cultures, and it exposes our students to a geography they hear less about than Boston or New York.” Through interaction with some of the world’s most successful business leaders, students gain a direct understanding of potential career paths.

Students visited headquarters of some of the giants of the technology world such as Google, Facebook, and Apple. They also heard from top executives such as Carl Eschenbach, the Chief Operating Officer of VMware, and Philip Schiller, the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple.

TechTrek West was certainly no vacation trip to California, either. The group often visited five companies within one day, meaning that there was little time for relaxation.

They met with five different venture capital firms, which are corporations that provide funding for startup companies. Firms such as Sequoia Capital are the businesses that truly enable an idea to transform into an innovation; they provide the lifeblood of capital to entrepreneurs.

Of course, the TechTrek program also featured several young startup companies themselves, such as Leap Motion. ThredUP, an online clothing consignment shop, and WePay, an online payment platform for small organizations, are two examples – both founded by BC alumni.

Bill Clerico is currently the CEO of WePay, and actually one of the first TechTrek undergrad participants. As a testament to the program’s success in preparing future leaders, his team raised over $20 million in venture capital funding, and Clerico was named one of the “Young Tech Entrepreneurs of 2011” by BusinessWeek.

Another distinct advantage of the field study is the opportunity to network with a variety of elite professionals and companies. Besides visiting 22 companies, two networking events were held for the purpose of unifying the TechTrek students and BC alumni who hold key positions within the industry.

Most importantly, students gain maturity through the professional environment of the course and a thorough understanding of the environment of the technology industry in which many will become future leaders. As Annie Weber said, “It’s exciting to directly experience how technology is shaping the world and to see what the future can hold.”

The Eagles swept the Vermont Catamounts in the Hockey East quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals at the TD Garden, where they will face rival Boston University.

The story on Friday was the secondary scoring that the Boston College men’s ice hockey team received. Nine different players had at least one point, and the third and fourth lines contributed a goal each.

Brooks Dyroff opened the scoring, walking in on goal and collecting his own rebound to give BC a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, the Eagles scored two unanswered goals. At 9:13, Pat Mullane fed Michael Matheson on the power play, and the freshman blueliner sent a one timer screaming past UVM goaltender Brody Hoffman.

Four minutes later, off the faceoff, Brendan Silk stripped a defender of the puck and sent it to Cam Spiro, who pushed the puck past Hoffman as he was dragged down. With that, it was 3-0 BC, and victory looked all but assured.

But Vermont came roaring back in the third.

After a period of sustained pressure in the Eagles’ zone, the result of a few failed clears, Brett Bruneteau sent a backhanded pass towards the front of the net from behind the goal. The puck deflected off of Danny Linell right onto Ben Albertson’s stick. Albertson beat Milner to cut the lead to 3-1.

Then, the Catamounts cut the Eagle lead to one while shorthanded. Matt White stole the puck from Mullane in the neutral zone and drove in on Milner. Even though Matheson tried to get back, White got the shot off, sending it top-shelf past Milner.

The Eagles made things even more interesting by taking four penalties in the third period alone. At one point, they found themselves on a nearly one-minute long 5-on-3 penalty kill, but Milner stood strong and the defenders made some key clears to keep UVM from tying the game.

In the end, Johnny Gaudreau scored an empty netter to seal the 4-2 win.

On Saturday, the Eagles were without head coach Jerry York, who suffered his second detached retina. But BC earned the sweep because of timely goal scoring and tight defense, which limited Vermont to only 17 shots.

After Connor Brickley received a five-minute major for kneeing Bill Arnold, the Eagles went on an extended power-play. But they were thoroughly frustrated by the Catamounts and didn’t generate many chances. But then Mullane found himself alone on the blue line.

(photo credit: Lizzy Bayoff)

The captain faked the shot and sent the puck to Whitney at the side of the net. Whitney laced the puck past Hoffman to score his 25^th goal of the year, which puts him in first in the Hockey East and second in the nation. With his assist, Mullane set a new career high with 40 points this year.

In the second, BC again capitalized right off the faceoff. Patrick Brown won the puck back to Isaac MacLeod, who walked it in along the boards and sent a shot towards the net. Brown jabbed the rebound past Hoffman to score the eventual game winner.

Later in the frame, Arnold made an impressive play to feed Gaudreau through traffic. With Hoffman drawn to the other side of the goal to defend against Arnold and the charging Destry Straight, all Gaudreau had to do was tap the puck into the empty net.

With less than eight minutes left, the Eagles widened their lead to three. Whitney took the puck into the offensive zone and made a move on a defenseman near the center of the circle to drive towards the goal. Despite being sandwiched by two Vermont defensemen and pushed to the ice, he got the shot off. Mullane was there to collect the rebound.

Vermont would get on the board just a minute later, but it wouldn’t be enough. The seniors won their last game at Kelley Rink, and the Eagles walked away with a 4-1 win and a date with their bitter rivals at the TD Garden.

Even though BC earned the sweep, there was some cause for concern. In the first game, the Eagles took eight penalties, four in the third, and were plagued by defensive miscues, letting the Catamounts get back into the game. In the second game, Vermont put the Eagles on the power play 10 times, but BC only capitalized once.

That being said, the series showcased that the Eagles can win in different ways and in different situations. Against rival BU, they will need their top scorers, Steven Whitney, Pat Mullane, Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold, to be at the top of their games and will need the lower lines to step up as well.

The BC-BU game will be at 8 p.m. on Friday. The winner advances to the Hockey East finals on Saturday.

The Eagles were looking to head to the NCAA semifinals for the third time in as many years. Harvard was trying for its first Frozen Four appearance since 2008.

Competitive play in the NCAA quarterfinals game led the Eagles to a 3-1 victory at home in front of a crowd of almost 1,000, sending them to Minneapolis next weekend to face No. 1 University of Minnesota (38-0-0) in the first round of the Frozen Four.

Following a hooking call on Emily Field, Harvard drew first blood on a goal by freshman Mary Parker, her twelfth of the season and fourth in four games. Scoring at the 16-minute mark of the first period, the Crimson would enjoy just a minute leading the Eagles.

Haley Skarupa tied the game at 17:00 with her 24^th goal of the year, assisted by senior captain Blake Bolden. Named the Hockey East Rookie of the Year last week, Skarupa’s goal was her 51^st point.

After a high energy first period, the Eagles came out hungry to take the lead in the second, succeeding with a goal just over two minutes in.

Caitlin Walsh converted on an opportunity that started with a break out in the defensive zone, slipping a shot past Harvard goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer, who faced 24 shots. Dru Burns and Ashley Motherwell assisted on the goal.

Down 2-1, Harvard would have a couple of chances, including a near-misplay behind the net by goaltender Corinne Boyles, who ultimately found the puck and stopped the scoring chance with some assistance from her defenders. Boyles would also foil a wraparound try by Harvard’s Kaitlin Spurling with nine and a half minutes to play in the second.

The Eagles added to their lead at 15:04 of the second, when Hockey East Player of the Year Alex Carpenter got a piece of Bolden’s slap shot from the point, tipping it past Maschmeyer to get credit for her 32^nd goal of the season.

(photo credit: Lizzy Bayoff)

Harvard would continue to test the Eagles’ defense in the third period, but could not beat Boyles, who faced 31 shots. Play was physical, even chippy at times, including extra nudges Maschmeyer handed out to the BC forwards after the whistle on several occasions.

Boyles made a spectacular, if somewhat frantic, save at 9:20 in the third to keep her team up by two. Two Crimson players combined for a quick shot from the bottom of the circle, forcing Boyles to react quickly and direct the puck away with her blocker. With Dana Trivigno sent off twenty seconds later for tripping, Boyles would respond to increased pressure on the penalty kill with a great glove save.

Carpenter would miss the net high and wide with just over four minutes left in the game. After a roughing penalty was called on Trivigno, Harvard pulled Maschmeyer for an extra skater with 2:05 to go in a frantic scramble for a couple of late goals to save their season.

Despite being outshot 13-3 in the final frame, Boyles and the Eagles’ defense stood strong, diverting chances and keeping the puck out of the net to hold on for victory.

With the win, BC improves to 27-6-3 on the season and will make their third consecutive Frozen Four appearance at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis on Friday.

Minnesota defeated the University of North Dakota 3-2 in three overtimes on Saturday evening, earning the top seed in the semifinals and remaining undefeated on the year. Boston University, the third seed, and Mercyhurst will face off in the Friday’s second game.

Hanlan set an ACC record for most points in a game by a freshman with 41 during an 84-64 rout of Georgia Tech in the first round Thursday afternoon. But the Eagles fell short in their upset attempt against No. 9 Miami the following day, losing 69-58.

In the first game, the Eagles spotted the Yellow Jackets a 15-0 lead before letting Hanlan take over the game in historic fashion.

The ACC Rookie of the Year was red-hot the entire game, hitting 14 of 18 from the field and 8 of 10 from three point range. He tacked on five rebounds and two steals. His performance also set the record for most points in the first round of the tournament.

(photo credit: Sua Yoon)

Hanlan never missed from the left side of the court, hitting every shot that he needed to. Ryan Anderson had the play of the game when he drove to the basket with a huge dunk after a behind-the-back dribble to get around a defender near the foul line.

The victory earned a matchup with the Hurricanes, the top seed in the tournament. The Eagles suffered a heartbreaking 60-59 home loss to Miami much earlier in the season, but knew they could stay in the game if they limited offensive rebounds.

Just as things went on Thursday, the Eagles yielded an early 21-8 lead to Miami but stormed back to take a halftime lead. Hanlan and Anderson each finished with 14 points.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, Miami spread the ball around. Shane Larkin’s 20 points, Kenny Kadji’s 15, and Trey McKinney Jones’s 12 were too much to overcome. BC was overwhelmed in the second half when the Hurricanes shot 70 percent from the field.

Still, BC gave the Hurricanes everything they could handle, tying the game three times in the second half. But after Patrick Heckmann’s three pointer made things square with 3:23 remaining, the Hurricanes went on a 14-3 run to close the game.

Coach Steve Donahue’s team appears to be done after bowing out of the tournament with a 16-17 (7-11 ACC) record. BC is not likely to accept bids to the College Basketball Tournament (CBI) or the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), tournaments that are designed to feature smaller programs.

The Eagles showed improvement in 2012-13 as the youngest team in the ACC, increasing their win total from last season and posting a four-game winning streak before Friday.

On Saturday afternoon, the Boston College women’s lacrosse team wound up and took its best shot but could not reel in No. 1 Maryland in a 13-5 loss.

Covie Stanwick scored three goals for the Eagles, including BC’s fourth of the game to close the deficit to 8-4 early in the second half, but the Terrapins scored five of the game’s last six goals to head home with their perfect record still intact.

The loss drops BC to 3-4 (1-1 ACC) on the season in what has been a frustrating start to the year for a team loaded with talent.

Against Maryland, the typically explosive Eagles offense fell dormant. And, though the defense held the Terps to their lowest scoring output of the season, the team’s inability to limit Maryland’s runs would prove fatal.

The Maryland offense was led by Colin Cummings who tallied four goals and Alex Aust who scored three. Cummings scored the first two goals of the game.

Moira Barry would score on a free position shot to get the Eagles on the board, but the Terps quickly responded with two goals of their own to go ahead 4-1. After that, they would never relinquish the lead.

The rest of the way, the deficit was never less than four for the Eagles, who had a tough time gaining momentum against a stingy Maryland defense. They would not score consecutive goals all afternoon.

Stanwick now has 25 goals on the season, 10 more than the next Eagle. She is second in the ACC with an average of 3.67 goals per game, bolstering her resume for the 2013 Tewaaraton Award as the top women’s lacrosse player in the nation.

The Eagles will look to get back on track Wednesday afternoon against Boston University, when the Terriers come to town for another installment of the Battle of Boston.

The Eagles had the most overall points at the regatta, earning them the Cannonball Trophy. And, in the team’s last race of the day, the varsity eight took first place to win the Robert M. Gillin, Jr. Trophy.

The team’s biggest win was the varsity eight’s narrow defeat of host Saint Joseph’s University.

Kelly McElduff, Ellen Burr, Nicole Frederick, Emma Metzger, Katie Casebeer, Jennifer Johnson, Sarah Loiselle, Margaret Hanlon and Rachel Hess clocked in at 7:27.9, edging them just past the Hawks, who finished in 7:31.6.

All of the boats contributed to the Cannonball trophy win. The varsity four B, the second varsity eight and the third varsity eight A all came in first. The varsity four A came in second, and the third varsity eight B came in third.

Impressively, the second varsity eight finished more than 30 seconds ahead of second-place Saint Joseph’s. Kaitlyn Votta, Alyssa Rizzini, Wylie Wilson, Megan Carney, Stephanie Ragland, Alicia McKean, Erica Jennings, Victoria Greco and Chelsea Robin had a time of 7:45.5.

The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday, when they will head to Charles River to compete in the Beanpot.

After being introduced as the “relationship guru,” Cronin advanced to the front of the room as lively and fun as ever while revealing, “I hate being called a guru… what the heck is that about?!”

Cronin began by telling the audience that she was first drawn to the hook-up culture when some graduating seniors informed her that Boston College students “don’t really date… We do this other thing called hooking-up,” which can mean many different things. Cronin has come a long way in her knowledge of the college hook-up culture since then and now enjoys travelling to other universities, including Notre Dame, and venues to shed light on the topic with humorous honesty.

According to Cronin, students in college fall in to one of three categories, none of which are simply “dating”. The students who fall into the first “Pseudo-Married Couples” category are in committed relationship, on which Cronin commented, “The problem is their intensity; they spend way too much time together.”

The students in the second “Opting-Out” category do not participate in any type of dating or hook-up culture at all. They claim that they are either too busy or they cannot find anyone that they are interested in. The third category includes all of the students who participate or have participated in the “hook-up” culture. Cronin disclosed that 90% of graduating seniors have participated in this culture at one point or another.

The main types of hook-ups, according to Cronin, include: the pure hook-up, the regular/consistent hook-up, the friends-with-benefits hook-up, the mistake hook-up, and the hook-up with hope. Cronin insisted that this hook-up culture is ultimately negative for BC students. She explained, “Hooking-up promises a lot of things but only delivers sometimes.”

Cronin said, “This is a rough situation communally for us at BC – to have the feeling that no one cares about you enough to hook-up with you and want to take you out to dinner after.” She suggested that three personal problems and one community problem exist with this culture on campus. The first is that hooking-up has to do with a sense of self, and although surrounded by tons of friends, students are still left feeling truly lonely. The second is that hooking-up degrades students’ sexuality; students try to convince themselves that this sacred act means absolutely nothing. The third is that this culture will hurt students in the future when trying to build marriages, families, and true connections.

The last problem is the competitive and two-sided community this culture creates at BC. Cronin expressed, “The difference between the daytime and nighttime cultures is scary.” Students are so nice during the day, and yet at night, they become competitive and terrified of how others will see them if they do not “ride the social hook-up wave.”

Cronin insisted, “This adds a real harshness to our culture… And it’s really problematic for our community… So I did something about it.”

A BC Jesuit once told her that as a college professor, it is vital to make what she is teaching truly relevant to the lives of her students. This combined with the serious hook-up culture problem present at BC pushed Cronin to assign the “dating project” to all of her students each semester.

The students are essentially required to ask and take someone out on a real date while following Cronin’s helpful set of rules:

Rule One: Ask someone out in person (no phone, Facebook, etc.).

Rule Two: It must be someone the student has a legitimate interest in (no best friends).

Rule Three: It must be a sober daytime date (Cronin regrets that she even has to include this rule).

Rule Four: It must be a Level One date (an hour and a half maximum, simple talking/information gathering, not on campus, etc.).

Rule Five: The student who asked the other student out on a date must pay for the date.

Rule Six: The student must say “thank you” the next day (by phone, in person, etc.).

Cronin next shared the five things that students should know about themselves before beginning to date: What are your desires? What do you fear? How do you typically sabotage yourself in relationships? Who influences you? What are your bad habits (staying too long, leaving too early, etc.)?

Lastly, Cronin informed students that there are four things to know about dating while dating: how to break up well, how to move on after rejection or breaking up, which “level” of dating the relationship is at, and how to find a friend. Cronin stressed the last and explained, “You need to find a friend who knows you… not just the seamlessly perfect you, but the messed up you, too. This is a person who knows and wants the best for you, who knows how to make you better.”

Cronin ended her talk on a religious note, insisting, “We are relational in connection and attachment because we are like God.” She understands students’ desire to connect, but urged the audience to recognize that they are going about it in a negative way. Cronin welcomed questions from the audience and was very eager to meet with students personally after the talk officially came to a close.

Many Boston College students would consider spending an hour at the Plex and then running a few miles around the Reservoir to be a good workout. Even a former cross country runner could not imagine what the intensity of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike race, and an “easy” 26.2 mile run feels like.

Yet local legend Dick Hoyt looks forward to competing in these Ironman Triathlon events. But what separates Dick from the rest of the mortal heroes is that he finishes these events pushing, pulling, or pedaling his disabled son, Rick, for the entire journey.

On Monday, February 18^th, Mr. Hoyt presented his Super-heroic story to an audience of awestruck students in Devlin 008. Promoted by the Campus School, the event highlighted the power of individual determination through Hoyt’s signature yet simple message of “Yes you can.”

The Hoyt family has been shattering expectations since Rick was first born with cerebral palsy in 1962. The family was advised that Rick would be a “vegetable” his entire life, and was encouraged to send him to a special facility rather than attempt to raise a handicapped son.

However, the Hoyt family decided to raise Rick like any other alongside his two younger brothers. He would actively participate in family activities such as mountain climbing, with the assistance from his loyal family. Dick admitted, “We still haven’t figured out what type of vegetable he is,” garnering laughs from the audience.

One of Rick’s first challenges was entering the public school system during a time when resources for people with disabilities were almost nonexistent. School administrators were reluctant to enroll a student who could not communicate and was so different from others.

However, the family raised $5,000 and hired Tufts engineers to create a device that enabled Rick to speak with others for the first time. An avid sports fan and practical joker, Rick’s first words were “Go bruins!” much to the surprise of both his father and his mother.

With the new device, Rick entered school and would later go on to graduate from Boston University. Additionally, at the age of fifteen, Rick was inspired to make a difference when a classmate of his became paralyzed.

Rick was determined to run in a five-mile charity road race for his friend. With his father pushing him in a wheelchair the entire course, this dream would come to fruition as the duo finished in second to last place. At age forty, Dick was an average working father, and so their finishing times were hardly noticeable.

But Rick professed, “When I’m running, I feel like my disability disappears.” With this in mind, the father-son team started training and competing in other road races, turning heads and slowly gathering followers throughout Massachusetts. Rick even had a customized wheelchair built for their races.

By 1981, the team was looking for another challenge, so they decided to take on the Boston Marathon. Officials were reluctant to let them compete in the grueling 26-mile race, but Rick and Dick managed to find their way to the finish line in the impressive time of 3 hours and 18 minutes.

However, to become official entrants, the team needed to qualify in less than 2 hours and 50 minutes. Team Hoyt again brushed past this obstacle at the Marine Corps Marathon, fittingly known as “The People’s Marathon.”

With nothing to hold them back, Rick and Dick slowly became conditioned athletes and inspirational figures throughout America. Rick became the first disabled person to compete in the renowned Ironman Triathlon, again overcoming the will of event authorities and the expectations of the audience.

Amazingly, Dick tied a rope to his body that pulled Rick in an inflatable raft for 2.4 miles during the swim portion of the race. Because of their success, the Ironman Competition decided to honor their unrelenting determination by establishing a physically challenged division.

The duo eventually became international icons representing the disabled throughout the world by competing in marathons and triathlons and giving hundreds of inspirational speeches.  Rick’s favorite race remains the Boston Marathon, and at their peak, the team finished in the incredible time of 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 18 seconds, which is less than half an hour away from the current world record.

Rick has worked with the Campus School and BC faculty to develop the Eagle Eyes software that enables physically challenged individuals to control a computer using their eyes. Ever the Boston Bruins fan, he also motivated the team the night before their Stanley Cup Championship in 2011.

Rick later visited disabled children at the Boston Children’s Hospital, accompanied by defenseman Zdeno Chara and the illustrious Stanley Cup. Through works such as these, Rick and Dick have demonstrated the power of fortitude and dedication. Team Hoyt consistently proves that there is no excuse for any individual to refuse challenging the “impossible.”

At age 72, Dick’s physical ability has diminished, but his competitive drive remains as strong as ever, with the team averaging between 20 and 25 races per year. For those who missed the presentation, look forward to Team Hoyt hurdling up Heartbreak Hill for their 33^rd Boston Marathon on April 15^th, 2013.

Dick will once again be sweating and breaking barriers while pushing his son in front, or as he would say, “Rick always finds a way to beat me in races.” Watching along the Golden Mile, BC students can say with certainty that there is one BU athlete we are not ashamed to cheer for come Marathon Monday.

But I have to ask the question that continues to bother me, whether one favors gun control or not.  It is this: Would it really solve the problem?  See, when I say this, most will see in it an obvious answer: Of course, because banning semi-automatic weapons will obviously cut down on school shootings and the like.  Thus the problem is solved.

But it is really the greatest misdiagnosis of the problem.

You see, a gun merely facilitates.  It is an instrument in the hands of a human being.  In these instances, the hands of a human being who is intent on killing people.

But for some reason, in the liberal Christian mindset, God became man so that guns would be off the streets.

How far from the truth this is.  You see, this is all the liberal Christian can get rid of.  Why?  There is no wrong or right in this instance.  Guns cause people to transform psychologically into mass murderers.  It cannot possibly have to do with any problem inherent in us.  Because right and wrong are relative.  There is no absolute right and wrong.  And we are certainly not born into sin.  It sees evil and sin as outdated and bigoted.  They are ways of putting down certain people.  They are structures of oppression.

The problem is that any instance of murder, much less a mass atrocity, makes us face fundamental questions about ourselves.  Questions we would rather ignore.  Because when these happen, we see ourselves in a mirror, for what we really are.  And we have to face ourselves when it happens each time.  Not guns.  And the image is ugly.

Because the problem is not guns.  It is the evil human condition.  Yes we get things right (and only by the grace of God).  But no amount of gun restriction, no amount of limits on rounds, and no amount of armed security will ever be enough to stop evil men from killing.  It merely puts off the inevitable.  When we face the questions about ourselves anew, we see our evil.

Yes, maybe those reverends who gathered in front of our National Cathedral who want gun control will succeed in their efforts.  And maybe they will feel like they did something.

Unfortunately, it will only be a matter of time before the next school shooting.  And then we have to face the real problem all over again.

According to most of the traditions of Protestantism, and even in the Catholic tradition, we are born sinful.  When the first human beings made the conscious decision to exist without God, they broke from Him.  Because to exist without God means nothingness, and to exist without the infinite source of goodness means to exist as evil.  From the moment we are born, we are born into a community of sin, a community that exists outside the will of God.  That is the source of these heinous crimes.  And no amount of gun control will stop a deranged, evil, or (dare I say) possessed man from killing.  Because the problem isn’t the weapon- it’s us.

No ban on weapons could prevent Cain from bashing in Abel’s head with a stone.  The problem was humanity.  The problem was not the rock being at Cain’s disposal.  The problem was Cain himself.

Jesus didn’t die and rise again to ban weapons, except tangentially.  He died and rose because we are evil.  We are sinners who have brought God’s wrath on ourselves.  We justly deserve His present and eternal punishment.  We are “sinners in the hands of an angry God.”

But we are also sinners in the hands of a gracious God.  Christ the Son of God took on that evil, so that it would be forever destroyed and its power forever broken.  The Church is the beginning of the reconciliation that will culminate at the Second Coming.  It is the Kingdom of God being slowly realized on earth, where we forgive and are forgiven because our sins are taken on by Christ.

We can indeed choose to believe that God cares about guns primarily and that this is a priority for the Church.  But it misses point.  It forgets humanity.

But I would rather place my faith in the Lord God Almighty who is bigger than guns.  A God big enough to destroy evil in humanity.  A God loving enough to forgive our evil.

On Saturday, the women’s hockey team was thoroughly frustrated by Vermont goalie Roxanne Douville. Douville made 53 saves to keep her Catamounts in the game, which would eventually end in a 1-1 tie. Alex Carpenter’s goal gave her 65 points, the highest single-season point total in BC history. On Sunday, the No. 2 Eagles shut out Vermont 4-0, getting two goals from Melissa Bizzari. Carpenter’s two assists extended her record to 67 points on the season. Douville did not start for UVM. BC earned the second seed in the Hockey East tournament and will play Maine in the quarterfinals on Friday.

In the Play4Kay game on Sunday, the women’s basketball team struggled late in the first half and let Clemson take a 37-29 lead into the locker room. But the Eagles battled back in the second, erasing a 13-point deficit. With 1:36 remaining, a Kristen Doherty layup gave BC a 61-60 lead. The Tigers responded immediately to pull ahead 62-61. The Eagles turned the ball over on their next possession, but Alexa Coulombe stole it back to give BC the chance to go ahead again. But, as she was trying to start the break, Kerri Shields, who led BC with 14 points and six rebounds, was outmuscled by Aisha Turner. Shields was stripped of the ball, leading to a Clemson jumper that put the Tigers up 64-61. That was how it would end. In the loss, Shields set a BC record with 240-career three’s in the loss, breaking the previous record of 238.

The men’s basketball team was humiliated by No. 6 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday. The Eagles let Duke go runs of 10-0 and 9-0 in the first half. At halftime, they were down 51-27. In the second half, the Eagles played a little better, even outscoring the Blue Devils 11-3 in the final minutes, but the damage had been done in the first. BC would lose 89-68. Ryan Anderson led the Eagles with 23 points.

On Saturday, the women’s lacrosse team rallied to pull within three in the second half, but No. 13 Ohio State answered with four goals as the clock drained down to win 11-8. Mikaela Rix and Covie Stanwick had three goals each for the No. 20/18 Eagles. Stanwick, who was recently named to the watch list for the 2013 Tewaaraton Award as the best women’s NCAA player in the nation, has scored at least three goals in each of the Eagles’ first three games and leads the team with 12.

The baseball team went 0-3 in the 10^th Annual Keith LeClair Classic, losing 2-1 to East Carolina on Friday, 8-1 to Ohio on Saturday and 5-2 to Illinois on Sunday.

The softball team went 3-2 in the UT-Chattanooga Tournament. The Eagles lost 10-7 to Missouri State but beat Miami (OH) 6-5 on Friday. On Saturday, they fell to Ohio 8-6 before beating Chattanooga 6-1. On Sunday, they exploded for 13 runs to win 13-4 in a game that was cut short at five innings.

The Acoustics opened the show, dressed formally in red, white, and black.  The group practices three times each week and their hard work came across in their successful blend of tones.

Next came an all-male group from Amherst called the Zumbyes.  The men sported outrageous dress complete with funky ties, a giant fuzzy red top hat, and a banana suit.  The eight boys present gave a disclaimer that they were representing only about half of their group, which they joking said was the reason they were predominantly Asian that night.

The group seemed very relaxed in their movement, yet energized.  They were undisturbed when they realized the microphones weren’t on.  Their first song included solos from each of the boys.  Their songs often built up, starting with a couple individuals and gradually adding more parts.  The group also enjoyed acting out little skits coinciding with the lyrics of their songs.  After each song performed, the group fell into a deep bow and then bounced up in a humorous wave-like fashion.

A crowd favorite was the Zumbyes final song, “Thriller”.  The boys went all out, acting like zombies, performing extensive “Thriller” choreography, and ripping off their jackets (resulting in great excitement from the audience). This performance produced the first standing ovation of the night.  The Zumbyes are Amherst’s oldest continuous a cappella group and Boston College was lucky to be able to experience them as they were declared “the most dangerous a cappella group on the planet” by the New York Times.

Third to perform were The BC Dynamics, dressed sophisticatedly in black and white.  Their beat boxer skillfully opened their set.  The audience was awed by their remarkable pop covers including “Best Thing I Never Had” and “She Wolf”.  Furthermore, the crowd went wild when the female soloists were able to hold notes for a stretch.  The Dynamics also showcased a male trio that that got a huge positive reaction from the crowd.

The second off-campus performance was the all-male group, a Completely Different Note (CDN) from the University of Connecticut.  The men came out looking sharp, each wearing a different colored shirt, jeans, and a black jacket.  Like the Zumbyes, CDN too showed off fanciful choreography and humor during their songs.  Also similar to the Zumbyes, CDN is the oldest all-male a cappella group at their university.

“Midnight Train to Georgia” was adored by the audience because of its complexity of parts and train-like dance.  This song received a standing ovation from nearly everyone in attendance.  Since this was the third time CDN performed at BC, they knew how to appeal to the audience by complimenting BC and sharing their love for the mods.  By the responsive cheers in the crowd, it seemed as though the love for the mods is not lost on anyone.

Finally, ending the show were two more songs by the host group, The Acoustics.  The finale of the performance was the premiere of the group’s new Macklemore medley, cleverly titled, “Macklmedley.”  The audience was in frenzy as Macklemore’s most famous songs, complete with rap sections and props, were performed.  The show ended with a long standing ovation and an appreciative bow from The Acoustics.  It’s clear that BC’s love for a cappella is as strong as ever and BC students look forward to the Acoustics’ café in March.

HOSTED BY ASIAN CAUCUS CABINET

Silver is the national color for mental health, and this week, we’re all about raising awareness!

Join the movement by participating in the #BeAFriend campaign, checking out events, and taking advantage of BC’s amazing health resources!

MONDAY (2/18)

FACEBOOK & ORGSYNC

“UCS PRESENTS: THE BREAKING SILENCES PROJECT”

Where: Walsh Function Room

Time: 6:20-8:30pm

*Eligible for “Health & Wellness” training credit

We’re collaborating with University Counseling Services (UCS) to host the Breaking Silences Project, a performance group that encourages Asian Americans to speak out about mental health. 

Free food, hot cocoa, and PRIZES! Water bottles, T-shirts, journals, stressballs, bookmarks, and more! (Courtesy of the Office of Health Promotions)

TUESDAY (2/19)

FACEBOOK & ORGSYNC

“BE A FRIEND”

Where: The Quad

Time: 10:30am-4:30pm

Stop by the Quad to write an encouraging note! We’ll hang them around campus to brighten everyone’s week!

You can also:

1. Change your FB profile pictures & cover photos to the “Be A Friend” icon (available on the FB event)

2. Compete in the #BeAFriend Contest to win a BC fleece blanket! 

Instagram, Facebook, or Tweet your best example of how you can be a friend. 

We’ll announce 3 winners during Thursday’s event!

WEDNESDAY (2/20)

FACEBOOK & ORGSYNC

“KSA DIET & EXERCISE WORKSHOP”

Where: O’Neill 255

Time: 7pm

*Eligible for “Health & Wellness” training credit

Exercise decreases depression, anxiety, and stress & increases confidence and feelings of independence! Learn about how you can live a healthy lifestyle by getting fit! 

THURSDAY (2/21)

FACEBOOK & ORGSYNC

“OPENING THE CABINET: REAL TALK ON MENTAL HEALTH“

Where: Cushing 001

Time: 7-8pm

*Eligible for “Health & Wellness” training credit

We all struggle! Come out and see the presidents of the AC culture clubs talk, act, dance, and rap about trust, disappointment, addiction, and more! We will also announce the 3 winners of the #BeAFriend Contest.

Free snacks & give aways (stressballs, earplugs, etc)

FRIDAY (2/22)

ORGSYNC

“VISIT UNIVERSITY COUNSELING SERVICES”

Where: Gasson 001

Time: 3-4pm

*Eligible for “Health & Wellness” training credit

ANY Friday 3-4pm, you and your friends can visit Dr. Julie AhnAllen, a staff psychologist for University Counseling Services (UCS). She can help you design personalized health plans and answer any of your questions. 

If you’re interested in group visits, please contact Matthew Alonsozana (malonsozana@gmail.com) or Jeena Hah (jeenah92@gmail.com).

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Thanks,

Your AC Cabinet

_____

AC Co-Presidents: Matthew Alonsozana (’14) & Jeena Hah (’14)

CSA Co-Presidents: Jeffrey Yang (’13) & Josh Li (’13)

JCBC Co-Presidents: Jacqueline Fung (’14) & Greg Yang (’14)

KSA President: Minje Shin (’13)

PSBC President: Marian Manapsal (’13)

SASA Co-Presidents: Chirag Zavari (’13) & Noel Simon (’13)

SEASA President: Nicholas Lee (’13)

TCO President: Mark Chou (’14)

VSA President: Kelly Le (’13)

–

Asian Caucus of Boston College

Email: asiancaucus@gmail.com

Website: http://www.bcasiancaucus.com/

Office: 21 Campanella Way, 2nd Floor

Sign up for our listserv here!

According to the message, local law enforcers recorded two armed robberies, one of which took place at the intersection between Reservoir and Lee Road in Newton near the Boston College baseball field. The other incident occurred between 200 and 222 Lake Street in Brighton, near the Brighton campus and not far from the entrance to Lower Campus by Saint Ignatius Church.

King wrote in the email, “The suspects involved in both cases have been described as two (2) white males; in their twenties, with slim builds.” He continued, “During both incidents, suspects produced a handgun and took victims’ belongings.”

The message makes clear that no members of the Boston College community were involved in the robberies, although the proximity of the incidents to campus is certainly alarming for students, especially those who commute to work or travel to the library or off campus at early or late hours.

King stressed that the Boston College Police Department will make sure to increase its presence about campus, in both areas on campus and areas nearby campus. Nevertheless, students need to be careful when traveling around Brighton and Newton, especially when they are alone.

In his message, King urged students to take the following precautions when walking both on and off campus: “walk in well-lighted, well-traveled areas. Do not take shortcuts through wooded areas, parking lots, or alleys,” “walk with a friend, whenever possible,” and “be aware and attentive to your surroundings.”

Moreover, as King stressed, students can call the Eagle Escort Service if they feel unsafe. The Eagle Escort webpage details, “This service is available 24 hours a day and is provided to individuals who are concerned for their personal safety while traveling in and around campus.” Students can call 617-552-8888 if they want to take advantage of the Eagle Escort Service.

Students also must be aware of the Blue Light Phones located across campus that can be used in emergencies to call the BCPD. Finally, King directed students in his email, “Report suspicious activity immediately by calling BCPD at 617-552-4444 or 911.”

With the recent heavy snowfall making on-foot travel even more difficult for students, the Boston College community needs to be very cautious when traveling about campus, especially during the early hours of the morning or during the evening and later. Any student witnessing suspicious activity should immediately notify the Boston College Police Department.

On February 7th, guest speaker Rony Hamaui presented his “Desperate for Democracy” lecture in Devlin 101. As a part of Boston College International Economic Policy and Political Economy Seminar, the event addressed the causes of recent political uprisings in the Middle East during the Arab Spring of 2011.

An international banker during the week and an academic in his spare time, Mr. Hamaui possesses skill in a variety of fields, no doubt complemented by his charismatic Italian accent. For example, he serves as the CEO of Mediofactoring, an Italian banking company, and teaches courses at the Universita Cattolica of Milan.

The lecture opened with an observation that political uprisings within the Middle Eastern North African (MENA) region are not anything new. However, Hamaui also noted that the region vastly differs from the rest of the world due to an absence of democratic processes and civil freedoms within government.

Seeking to explain this unique political tendency, Hamaui identified and assessed five factors that could explain the current state of affairs within the MENA region. For example, historical and geographical features of the region have both contributed to the success of centralized and authoritarian government structures.

During the Middle Ages, the decentralized feudal system of Europe encouraged the development of democratic parliaments, but this never occurred in the Middle East because, according to Hamaui, rich Muslim sultans provided a stable political order.

Also, during the period of Western imperialism, European governments did not seek to conquer and colonize the primarily arid region, and established “protectorates” rather than colonies. As a result, elements of democratic government, such as in the case of India and North America, did not transfer to the MENA region.

One hotly debated question that Hamaui sought to clear up was whether “Islam is an obstacle to democracy and growth.” He was quick to point out that Islam has many similarities to Christianity, yet democracy flourished in a pro-Christian environment. Also, predominantly Muslim countries outside of the MENA region such as Indonesia have incorporated democracy into their political systems.

However, Hamaui also expressed the view that elements of Islam certainly have contributed to the anti-democratic environment of the MENA region. For example, the strict adherence to Sharia law, the prohibition of interest payments, and a printing ban by Muslim rulers until the 19^th Century are all traditions backed by Islamic texts or authorities that have slowed the rise of democracy.

Of course, religion itself cannot be the cause of autocratic rule in an entire region, and Hamaui emphasized that the region is so complex that no single factor can be responsible or even present in every MENA country.

Therefore, the revolutions have varied from violent civil war such as in Syria, to bloody demonstrations in Tunisia, to peaceful demonstrations in Jordan and Kuwait. It is clear that while the specific situation from country to country can vastly differ, there is a unified cry for reform within the MENA region.

Hamaui concluded, “In terms of freedom, the Arab countries are still an anomaly in the international view.” He remains hopeful that recent events and a rise in literacy rates will eventually lead to democratic reform, but cautiously added that “these things take time.”

This lecture was part of an ongoing series sponsored by the Boston College International Economic Policy and Political Economy Seminar. Events are generally held from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM in Stokes Hall 195S, and the next talk is “Mountains of Debt” by Carlo Cottarelli to be held on February 18^th.

After the authors were introduced by a Boston College faculty member, they were each given 15 to 20 minutes to speak on the topic at hand, and then the discussion shifted to a more informal question and answer discussion between the audience members and the authors.

Samuel Moyn, a historian of Columbia University, was the first to speak and focused on the relationship between the Holocaust and human rights. He introduced three approaches to explain the history of human rights: the “welfarist” approach, the anti-colonial approach, and the humanitarian approach.

The welfarist approach suggests that putting an end to Hitler’s regime and bringing welfare to the victorious states was a solid base for human rights, but no one was aware of this at the time. At this point in history, although some occurrences relating to human rights existed, “there was no self-styled human rights movement in the world,” commented Moyn.

The anti-colonialist approach suggests keeping the great world powers at bay, which would guarantee sovereign equality in the world, and thus secure the future of human rights. Lastly, Moyn introduced the humanitarian approach, which suggests that the Holocaust becomes relevant in this current humanitarian era of human rights.

He argued that the rise of human rights was not a response to the actual Holocaust, but instead to the memory of the Holocaust. War crimes and genocide were undoubtedly scrutinized, but none of that reasoning was actually grounded in the idea of human rights until the 1970s.

Next, David Hollenbach, S.J., of Boston College detailed the transformation of Roman Catholicism on human rights issues. He explained that the Roman Catholic Church has transformed over recent years to “become more of an international player to promote human rights.”

Hollenbach commented, “The way this occurred within the Roman Catholic tradition is what I would like to call an experience based tradition.” This included exposure to Poland, Soviet Marxism, and other societal shifts it saw in the developing world. He added that the Roman Catholic tradition on human rights is still a developing tradition; “It has grown and changed; it can grow and change some more, as I think it needs to.” Hollenbach, in conclusion, insisted that “while this is a controversial thing to say in our current state of American politics and religion… further developments in the Roman Catholic tradition need to happen for gender relations, sexual orientation, gay rights, etc.”

Finally, Michael Rosen of Harvard University entered the discussion with a philosophical and historical approach. He recited the beginning of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Rosen suggested, “Dignity has played and continues to play a very important role in Catholic thought, and its presence there represents a very significant change in Catholic thought.”

He inquired what would happen if the word “dignity” were to be taken out of the Declaration. He also commented that the Catholic Church had opposed equality and democracy for much longer than most may think. Finally, he revealed that the whole concept and ideology of human rights in based in Immanuel Kant’s idea of dignity.

The room then opened up to a question and answer session and a true roundtable discussion between the three distinguished human rights authors. Many were eager to ask questions and share their opinions.