T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle MAY 26, 2011
7
COMMENCEMENT 2011
Finnegan Award Winner
Continued from page 1 the importance of human rights and tions Arms Trade Treaty that would the importance of protecting those establish legally binding, common rights,” said Ratz. standards for how countries import In high school, Ratz became in- and export conventional weapons. volved with Amnesty International Ratz credits a BC Advanced Study through its campaign to abolish the Grant for enabling him to condeath penalty in New Jersey. As a duct research on the topic at AI’s student ambassador for AI, he met London headquarters the summer several Jesuits from St. Peter’s Col- following his freshman year. lege and was impressed enough to “With the help of AI, I had consider Boston College because of the opportunity to start going to its Jesuit affiliation. the United Nations my sophomore “I was looking for a university year. I went to various meetings that would bring social justice to about the Arms Trade Treaty and the front of its mission and Boston worked with the advocacy team of College does that,” said Ratz. Amnesty at the UN,” said Ratz, During his first weeks on cam- who would shuttle between his pus, he said he “unexpectedly” be- classes at BC to New York City came involved in Hillel when a several times a week. residence hall mate invited him to When negotiations on the treaty Shabbat diner. “He took me to stalled, Ratz took action. “I was my first of many, sitting in O’Neill many Shabbat din“I was looking for a Library studying ers here at BC. In an for a midterm in unexpected way, BC university that would economics and made me more Jew- bring social justice to an idea hit me: ish. By coming to a If governments school where religion the front of its mission want and need plays such an impormore time to disand Boston College tant role in student cuss critical areas does that.” formation, I had the of this treaty and opportunity to study —Leon Ratz there isn’t enough my own faith.” time in the offiOver the next cial UN calendar, four years, Ratz would hold various why not organize something here in positions within Hillel, including as Boston?” Ratz said. “I was frustrated president last year. Among his many on how slow the negotiations were accomplishments, he established going and it was a situation where I BC as the first Jesuit University in took it in my own hands and said the country to offer on-campus ser- ‘What can I do to speed this up?’” vices for Jewish high holidays. Leading a group of friends, he “That night was a wonderful developed the Boston Symposium and surreal experience,” Ratz re- on the Arms Trade Treaty, a nonmembers. “Here we were at a Je- official working session for UN delsuit, Catholic university, celebrating egates to focus on the treaty. Ratz Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New secured $100,000 from three forYear, with Jewish students, Catholic eign governments, gained the offistudents, Muslim students...there cial endorsement from the US State were faculty in the crowd, Catholic Department and brought leaders priests. At that point it hit me, BC from more than 30 countries to is a very special place where people Boston. [The UN is scheduled to from all different backgrounds can take up the treaty again this year.] come together and find spirituality In his Finnegan Award nomiand faith in meaningful ways.” nation letter for Ratz, Professor of Ratz’s continuing involvement Chemistry Dennis Sardella — who in Amnesty International drew him had been Presidential Scholars Proto AI’s advocacy for a United Na- gram director at the time — said of
This year’s Finnegan Award candidates were, in photo at left, (L-R) Robyn Antonucci, winner Leon Ratz, Susan Choy and Scott Landay, and above, Molly Rosenwasser. (Photos by Caitlin Cunningham)
the conference: “It was, in my opinion, a major international project of stunning vision, dwarfing anything I have seen from a BC student in my nearly 44 years here.” Ratz’s other BC activities included writing for The Heights, serving as an Office of Undergraduate Admission tour guide and student employee in the Bapst Art Library, interning at the Massachusetts State House and coordinating campus panel discussions “Reclaiming Politics as Service” and “The Obama Administration and the Future of Nuclear Arms Control.” Ratz plans on attending Harvard’s Kennedy School in the fall to pursue a master’s in public policy. Beyond that, he remains open to many possibilities. “Who knows where I will end up after graduate school,” he laughed. “I can say that at the heart of what I will be doing is service and social justice. It’s the kind of values BC has instilled in me and it’s the kind of values that I hope will be at the heart of everything I do for the rest of my life.” Contact Melissa Beecher at melissa.beecher@bc.edu
OTHER 2011 FINNEGAN AWARD FINALISTS Susan Choy, an operations management and marketing major in the Carroll School of Management with an American Studies minor (concentration in Asian American Studies), has been an active student leader since her freshman year. The 2011 Dr. Donald Brown Award winner for extraordinary contributions to the greater AHANA community, Choy worked as chiefof-staff of the AHANA Leadership Council, AHANA Caucus co-director, AHANA Caucus representative and vice president of the Southeast Asian Student Association. An honors student in the Lynch School of Education, Robyn Antonucci has been a UGBC senator, peer advisor for the First Year Professional Development Program and co-chair of corporate sponsorship, team development and the ceremonies committee of BC Relay for Life. Antonucci’s combination of service and scholarship included serving as a research assistant to former LSOE Dean Joseph O’Keefe, SJ, an intern at the American Cancer Society, and a volunteer at the Hogar
Bethel Orphanage in Argentina and the Jackson-Mann School in Boston. Scott Landay, a CSOM finance major with a philosophy minor, has worked with the PULSE program for four years, volunteered at the Pine Street Inn, was director of Eagle Ops and is a Portico standout. Landay cites his experience at PULSE and the PULSE Council as “something I will take with me for the rest of my life.” He will go to work as a consultant at PwC Advisory after volunteering this summer serving the less fortunate in Kenya. Connell School of Nursing student Molly Rosenwasser’s leadership is colored by a desire to support and appreciate cultural awareness. A member of the Jenks Leadership Program, 4-Boston, participant in the Appalachia service trip, volunteer at a community hospital in Grahamstown, South Africa and Haiti, and mentor for the Keys to Inclusive Leadership in Nursing Program, Rosenwasser strives to better the global community.
Archive on Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ Faces Federal Subpoena Boston College has been served a subpoena by the US Attorney’s Office on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) requesting two tapes that were recorded as part of the University’s Oral History Archive on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The oral history project, which was directed by author and former Irish Times journalist Ed Moloney, and overseen by Executive Director of Irish Programs and University Professor of History Thomas E. Hachey and Burns Librarian Robert K. O’Neill, contains dozens of personal accounts from individuals on both sides of the violent struggle that engulfed Northern Ireland between 1970 and 1998, including former members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). The sub-
poena requests tapes of recordings of former IRA members Brendan Hughes, who died in 2008, and Dolours Price, who were interviewed for the project by republican Anthony McIntyre under the assurances of confidentiality. Tapes of conversations with former UVF members in Northern Ireland recorded by loyalist Wilson McArthur were not requested in the subpoena. “Boston College is reviewing the subpoena from the US Attorney’s Office and is requesting additional information in light of the ramifications it poses regarding the safety of those involved, the impact on oral history projects, and the effect on the peace process in Northern Ireland,” said University Spokesman Jack Dunn. “As an international leader in Irish programs and a trusted broker by all
sides in the Northern Irish peace process, our sole intention with this project has been to help preserve the testimony of the participants and to promote peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland,” he said. Boston College has played a longstanding role in the Northern Ireland peace process. Faculty member and theologian Raymond Helmick, SJ, has served as a mediator in the conflict negotiations, Political Science Professor Marc Landy instructed members of the fledgling Northern Irish Assembly on power sharing, BC faculty have offered courses on peace and conflict resolution studies at universities in Northern Ireland, and former Alumni Association Director Kathleen O’Toole, a 1976 graduate, served on the Patten Commission that oversaw the reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which had long
been criticized for its treatment of Ulster’s minority Catholic population. Most recently, Boston College was chosen as the repository for the archive of Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, which oversaw the disarming of the Irish Republican Army and other paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. In addition, since 1997, the University’s Irish Institute, with the support of the US State Department, has sponsored programs that bring together professionals from government, education, non-profits and business from both the Republic and Northern Ireland, to promote peace and reconciliation by advocating cross-border and cross-community cooperation. Since 2000, the Center for Irish Programs has served as the organiza-
tional umbrella for the University’s Irish initiatives and resources, including the Irish Studies Program, the Irish Institute and the Dublin-based Centre for Irish Programmes facility on St. Stephen’s Green. Dunn said the common thread throughout all of these programs has been to promote peace on an island whose history is inextricably linked to that of Boston College and the United States. “Our overriding concern regarding the subpoena is the threat the release of the tapes may pose in derailing the peace initiatives that we as a University have long supported and helped to achieve,” he said. “So we will consider all our legal options as we determine who best to address the subpoena in weeks to come.” —Office of News & Public Affairs