The Heights
A4
Monday, November 15, 2012
Committee consolidates sexual assault resources
MCATs add content and length
Sexual Assaults, from A1
MCAT, from A1 figure out the reasoning behind the patient’s unwise decision.” As a result of the revisions, the exam will also test students’ endurance. The new MCAT will be over an hour longer than it is now, going from the current five and a half hours to about seven hours. Despite the substantial content increase, the new MCAT has the strong support of the medical education community, according to Kaplan Test Prep’s 2012 survey of medical school admissions officers. Nearly 87 percent of medical school admissions officers support the changes to the MCAT. Similarly, 74 percent of admissions officers say that the new exam will better prepare aspiring doctors for medical school. While admissions officers agree that changes in the MCAT are necessary to bring students up to date with the medicine currently being practiced many also believe that the road to medical school will become more intense. Forty percent of medical admissions officers say that premeds’ course loads will increase because of the additional content they will have to learn as undergraduates. “This year’s freshman class will be most affected by the change, since they will be the first to take the new MCAT,” Farcy said. “Freshmen and subsequent classes of students will need to think more seriously earlier about a career in medicine. They will need to carefully plan all their classes from the get-go.” Many pre-med programs are in the process of revising their curriculum. Farcy explains that each undergraduate institution is taking its own approach to implement reforms in pre-med curriculum to prepare students for the new MCAT. “I think that BC, as a well-established institution with a large and reputable pre-med program, will have an easy time adapting to the changes,” Farcy said. “It will definitely have an easier time than some of the smaller liberal arts schools who may be scrambling, at this point, to adjust their program.” The path to medical school will undoubtedly be a more challenging one, since pre-med students will need to learn significantly more material in the same amount of time. Nonetheless, Ajmed Saffarini, the vice president of graduate programs at Kaplan, thinks that the new exam is “a potentially daunting, but achievable hurdle for a group of highly motivated students.” The pre-med office at BC was contacted but was unavailable for comment. n
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Alums accuse Leahy of electioneering Leahy Letter, from A1 for special scrutiny and careful consideration,” the letter read. “In our analysis, Ballot Question 2 is profoundly flawed and should be rejected.” The letter was signed by Leahy, as well as Susan Gennaro, dean of the Connell School of Nursing; the presidents of Emmanuel College, Holy Cross, Anna Maria College, Regis College, and Stonehill College; and the chair of the nursing department at Emmanuel. The exact language of the ballot referendum read, “A YES VOTE would enact the proposed law allowing a physician licensed in Massachusetts to prescribe medication, at the request of a terminally-ill patient meeting certain conditions, to end that person’s life.” The ballot referendum was defeated 51 percent to 49 percent by the citizens of Massachusetts on Election Day. Many alumni and current students have expressed displeasure at Leahy’s letter, claiming that it was an abuse of his position as University president and infringed on personal beliefs. “I don’t think it was BC’s place to try to influence how their Mass. alumni voted,” said Kristina Cotter, BC ’11. “Death with Dignity is an incredibly controversial issue, and it is my BC education that has given me the skills to ration through and understand the pros and cons of such a proposition.” Cotter said that she had coinci-
dentally attended a debate on Question 2 before receiving the letter. “Therefore, returning to my desk and finding a fairly one-sided email from my beloved alma mater was truly disheartening,” Cotter said. “I understand why people supported Prop 2 and why some were against it, and I respect those whose opinions do not line up with mine. I learned the importance of seeing all sides of an issue from BC, and I was very disappointed by their attempt to influence my opinion for the first time in my five years as a member of the BC community.” Some current students felt similarly. “Regardless of one’s opinion on Question 2, I am absolutely appalled by this letter,” said Lizzie Jekanowski, A&S ’13. “It is an intrusion upon the personal beliefs of alumni and faculty, and it has no place within an education institution that values critical thinking and free thought.” Jekanowski went on to say that although the troubling aspects of the letter were not typical of her BC experience, they remained disconcerting to her as a student. “Throughout my BC experience, I have been impressed by how the personal beliefs—religious, political, and others—of professors and administrators have largely remained just that: personal beliefs,” she said. “They have been kept out of the classroom and meeting room. One’s job and one’s alma mater cannot seek to influence one’s personal political vote: it ex-
ploits and manipulates the power relationship between an employee and employer.” University Spokesman Jack Dunn stated that Leahy and the other administrators merely wanted to bring the attention of their respective alumni to the ballot question, in light of Catholic social teaching and the related controversy. “The presidents made their decision in light of the referendum’s direct conflict with Catholic social teaching, which proclaims the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person,” Dunn said. “The presidents understood that alumni would make their own choices. They simply asked them to carefully consider this referendum, in light of its flaws, prior to voting.” Kevin Thompson, a Massachusetts native and A&S ’14, had no problem with Leahy expressing his own opinion on the topic, but felt that he should not have forced it on alumni so aggressively. “I think it is good that Father Leahy makes his opinion known about issues like this, because his opinion reflects upon the University, but I believe he shouldn’t try to encourage alumni to vote one way or another,” Thompson said. “I think it is BC’s job to instill upon us Jesuit beliefs and ways of thought while we are here. Once we graduate, though, we should be considered mature enough to make informed decisions, while simultaneously using what we learned at BC to influence us.” n
services, protocols, how to report on these kinds of things,” Chebator said. The committee decided to compile a webpage, www.bc.edu/ sar, which would list in one location all of the resources for a victim of sexual assault. The goal is to facilitate and increase awareness of such resources, and the website is now up and running. “Health Services, Counseling Services, Campus Ministry, the Dean’s Office, Sexual Assault Network, Women’s Resource Center are all things that have been in place for a number of years, and specifically have been involved in conversation over the years about responding to the needs of sexual assault survivors,” Chebator said. “It’s not so much new resources as it is trying to put all that information in one place.” In addition, by the end of the week, You Are Not Alone, a print brochure outlining these same resources, will be available at certain locations around campus including the Dean of Students Office, the WRC, and the Office of Residential Life. The opening page of the brochure reads, “You Are Not Alone is written for survivors of sexual assault to provide important information about what conduct is prohibited, resources available on and off campus, how to file a complaint, and to assist survivors in the recovery process and in their efforts to heal from this devastating form of violence.” In addition to increasing awareness of the available resources, there is also a push toward enacting greater preventative measures, specifically through the existing Bystander Education program. “The biggest emphasis right now in prevention is expand-
Carle discusses al-Qaeda, bin Laden War on Terror, from A1
graham beck / heights editor
Carle (above) wrote a book about his interrogation of an al-Qaeda member.
apex, let’s say September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda consisted of four to six hundred individuals, of whom 30 to 50 were of the officer cadre. The others were idealistic young men with AK-47s.” Describing the potential of alQaeda, Carle explored the question of their nuclear capabilities, which were hotly debated by him and his colleagues investigating the organization. They looked at the two possibilities, developing the technology or stealing it. Comparing the development prospects to the money and manpower that the U.S. spent on the Manhattan Project, he regarded that possibility as nearly impossible. Looking at the probability that they could steal the technology from the Russians, Carle stated that over-
coming the security and getting the equipment past the many eyes that were watching them would have been extraordinarily difficult as well. Analyzing the organization itself, Carle attempted to answer the fundamental question of its existence. “Al-Qaeda is a symptom, not a cause,” Carle explained. “There is a continued social disintegration of traditional Islamic societies from Morocco to Indonesia. Islamic societies, until my lifetime, were largely insolated from the changes in the West. All change is disruptive. Serious change is revolutionary. Globalization and an increase in global trade, the impact is catastrophic in a society that has slavery. People start to challenge the traditional authorities and values. Al-Qaeda itself is representative of a revolution that
Young and old gather to honor vets Veterans’ Day, from A1 George J. Harrington, BC ’80, brought some warmth into the day with a succinct yet eloquent speech. Harrington is the recipient of a Bronze Star Medal and has been deployed to Bosnia, Guantanamo, and Afghanistan, but chose to speak little of his own experiences. Instead, Harrington called attention to “a different group of warriors, those currently serving, who came from all over the country and from many different socioeconomic backgrounds.” “What brings them together is that 100 percent of them joined the armed forces, reenlisted, and stayed on duty during a time of war,” he said. He praised their strength and noted the bleak realities of their return. Har r ing ton de scr ib e d an environment that was hardly reminiscent of a hero’s welcome, including a record 9.7 percent unemployment rate for post Sept. 11 veterans—19.9 percent for females. Although the Department of Defense, the Obama Administration, and companies such as JP Morgan have taken measures toward helping veterans return to civilian life, Harrington said that these efforts are not enough.
ing the Bystander Education program, because I think a lot of what can be accomplished in prevention is through peer to peer influence,” Chebator said. “We’re in the process of expanding that to greater populations over the next year. Hopefully by the end of the year or so, something will be in place so that every member of the freshman class will be exposed to bystander training.” According to the Dear Colleague letter, “One in 5 women are victims of completed or attempted sexual assault while in college … 6.1 percent of males were victims of completed or attempted sexual assault during college.” It is difficult to ascertain how those numbers compare to sexual assault statistics at BC, largely due to the fact that so many attacks go unreported. Chebator remarked that this could possibly be a result of the close-knit student community at BC, where it can seem that everybody knows everybody. “Sometimes it’s really difficult for survivors to report, because often, if they don’t know the guy, someone they know knows him, or he’s part of the same social circle,” Chebator said. “I’ve heard women tell me that they’ve gotten pressure from their own female friends not to file a report because, ‘Oh, he was drunk, he didn’t mean it, you’re going to ruin his life, he’s a good guy,’ all those kinds of things. So I think it makes it difficult.” The Office of Student Affairs is currently working on a health-related survey, which they hope will include questions that uncover to some extent how frequent and widespread issues of sexual assault are on BC’s campus. “One of the difficulties in asking a question about sexual assault is making sure that we’re all talking about the same thing,” Chebator said. “But it’s information we do need to gather here.” n
As a successful executive at MetLife, Harrington himself does not need the assistance that he calls for. It was not self-interest that prompted him to extol the merits of the veteran in the workplace. “The experience builds a commitment to excellence,” he
“Somewhere in the world, right now, American sons and daughters are on point, in harm’s way. They depend on the soldiers on the left and right to cover their flanks, but they should also be able to count on those back home to cover their backs.” -George J. Harrington Lieutenant Colonel and BC ’80 said. “Veterans are creative, resilient, and determined.” He proposed many ways those at home could aid their transition, including “helping translate those qualities into language that
civilian hiring managers could understand.” Finally, Harrington described the “point man,” a product of the tactic of “always using the smallest possible force to face the enemy.” “Somewhere in the world, right now, American sons and daughters are on point, in harm’s way,” Harrington said. “They depend on the soldiers on the left and right to cover their flanks, but they should also be able to count on those back home to cover their backs.” As if a reminder of the devastating consequences of being in harm’s way, two cadets proceeded with a symbolic roll call for 209 Boston College alumni who never returned home from their service in the World Wars, Vietnam, Korea, or the Iraq War. For each conflict, a veteran rose to “stand for those who gave their lives.” Attendees were invited to view the Veterans Memorial, a 68-foot -long low granite wall featuring the names of those deceased. The ceremony closed with the playing of “Taps” and the singing of “America the Beautiful.” Bringing together several generations of current and future veterans, the event served to strengthen their connection and ensure that their legacy will be preserved far into the future. n
is happening in Islam. Bin Ladin is not a trained cleric, and yet he dares to challenge the assessments of Al-Azhar University. He is a product of the revolution racing through all of Islamic society, the very changes he opposes. He is the product of the doom he seeks to forestall.” Looking to the future, Carle also assessed what has happened to al-Qaeda since Sept. 11 and what was left of the organization. Agreeing with the Obama and Bush Administrations, he said that the leadership has been decimated. “Al-Qaeda is dramatically less powerful that it was,” Carle said. “There is now turmoil in the Muslim world, but with an opportunity now for progress. The Global War on Terror died a deserved death, because it never really existed except in the minds of others.” n
WRC urges healthy self-image Love Your Body, from A1
alex gaynor / heights editor
Veterans, students, and families gathered on Monday to honor U.S. veterans.
lecture by Susan Kelly-Weeder and Sheila Tucker, executive dietitian, titled “Metabolic Mix-up: Weekend Edition.” The talk will offer insight on the binge-drinking culture and how it can negatively impact students’ bodies. Pepper Schwartz from the University of Washington, Seattle, will also offer a talk about the challenges men and women face in creating healthy relationships. Friday night will showcase a performance of The Good Body Show, where students offer monologues about women and their bodies. “The impact [of this week], however, I believe not only remains within the context of our events, but also within the buzz and conversations that students on campus are starting to have amongst their friends, roommates, and teachers,” Laniado said. “Although this is a week-long awareness project, we make a sustainable impact within our campus and start changing the discourse on body image.” n