FOOD TRUCK CITY
NO RIX, NO PROBLEM
GREAT SCOTT! WZBC
SPORTS
METRO
SCENE
BC topped Harvard 19-13 in a crosstown showdown, B8
As spring aproaches, so do Boston’s food trucks—including Bon Me and Rami’s, A8
The student-run FM station held its Spring Concert at the local Great Scott venue, B2
HEIGHTS
www.bcheights.com
THE
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
established
1919
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Vol. XCVI, No. 19
8iZ_Y`j_fg f] :_`ZX^f kf jg\Xb Xk )'(, Zfdd\eZ\d\ek 9P :8IFCPE =I<<D8E E\nj <[`kfi Chicago Archbishop Rev. Blase Cupich will be the keynote speaker at Boston College’s 139th Commencement Ceremony on May 18, the University announced on Thursday morning. Cupich was elected by Pope Francis in September 2014 to be the Archbishop of Chicago, the third-largest Catholic diocese in the United States. At the
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ceremony, Cupich will be presented with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. Receiving honorary degrees alongside Cupich will be Sr. Marie Chin of the Sisters of Mercy in Jamaica, Michael Motyl, president of the Guadalupe Regional Middle School in Texas and BC ’01, writer Steve Pemberton, BC ’89, and journalist Lee Woodruff. “BC students are committed to social justice,” University spokesman Jack Dunn said.
“Archbishop Blase Cupich is a proponent of social justice and a champion for the economically and socially disenfranchised.” To pick the commencement speaker, Leahy seeks suggestions from the BC community and then presents the option to the Board of Trustees, who approve the speaker as well as the honorary degree recipients. Dunn does not believe there were any other contenders this year. In November, Cupich began his duties
as the ninth Archbishop of Chicago, where about 2.2 million Catholics live. In his ministry, he has focused on reaching out to those on the margins, such as immigrant populations and those adversely affected by economic conditions. Previously, he served as the bishop of Spokane, Wash., and Rapid City, S.D.,
See Commencement, A3
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9P 8I@<CC< :<;<EF 8jjfZ% E\nj <[`kfi Boston College was ranked the fourth best “best value” college in Massachusetts—and 58th nationally—in a recent data report that calculated college cost against return for students. The study was conducted in March by SmartAsset, a California-based financial data and technology company that uses interactive software to aid in financial decision-making. SmartAsset draws information from over 130 data partnerships, and put together its college study using information from the 2013 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the 2014 PayScale, and the 2013 CollegeInsight. “With rising college costs, a lot of people wonder if it is still worth it to go to college, and pay that money, and oftentimes take out those student loans,” said AJ Smith, managing editor of SmartAsset. “We wanted to look at a number that wasn’t solely focused on the tuition.” In determining the value of institutions, the report examined the cost-of-attendance in comparison to a measured value for students. In seeking to calculate the true cost of attendance, the report considered factors beyond just tuition of the school, also considering the average scholarships and grants offered, and student living costs—which include room and board, textbooks and class materials, and transportation. The report took into account student retention rates—the percentage of students enrolled at the institution the following year—and the average starting salary for recent graduates as measures of student’s return. “We wanted to take a comprehensive look at what college costs, as we know that is more than just the sticker price that you often hear, there’s other things in addition to tuition,” Smith said. “Also, we wanted to look at what you are getting in return as well, which creates this sort of value idea behind going to college and taking out these costs.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTLIFTING
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At least for a moment, Spencer Powers, BC ’07, was in an unfamiliar situation. Powers returned to the Boston College campus on Tuesday night to speak with students in the BC Venture Competition club, as well as the participants of its social entrepreneurship “seed” competition. At the front of a room in Fulton Hall, Powers gave feedback on student proposals, and shared his own thoughts to those interested in service-oriented business ventures. Powers is the 30-year-old co-founder of ArtLifting, an online marketplace that sells artwork from homeless and disabled individuals in therapeutic programs. He had no prior entrepreneurship experience as a BC student, but his passion for service drove him to help create his own startup. A graduate of BC High and BC, Powers has taken many of the University’s values to heart, and works to incorporate them on a daily basis while managing his new company in Boston. “The mission of the Jesuits has always resonated with me,” Powers said. “It has always been a part of our family and my daily life.”
Powers and his sister Liz co-founded the low-profit limited liability company in Dec. 2013, and the venture has quickly grown to support 50 artists in seven major U.S. cities across the country. Before the idea took off, Liz Powers wanted to make an impact through her work. After graduating from Harvard and completing a senior thesis on the benefits of art therapy, Liz decided to work at homeless and disabled shelters for eight years and developed close relationships with the program directors and artists. She created and ran art groups in women’s shelters in Boston, and was amazed by the talent she encountered. As a social worker and artist herself, Liz combined the two interests and created “City Heart,” an annual art show that brought together eight homeless shelters in the city. Spencer Powers joined his sister by coordinating some of the business logistics of the event. “We started working together on the annual art show, and it became clear that these groups of people need to continue to share their work not just on one day, but year-round,” Powers said. In May 2013, the brother-sister duo set out to build something bigger, a program that would eventually help many more homeless and disabled individuals not only in the city, but across the country. Throughout the
See ArtLifting, A4
See SmartAsset, A3
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See Night, A3
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ARTHUR BAILIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR
?Xggp _fd\Zfd`e^ Xk J_\X =`\c[ After 31 games and many cancellations, the Boston College baseball team finally played its first game of the season in Chestnut Hill. With rain pouring down hard, the Eagles defeated the Northeastern Huskies, 4-1, in the semifinal round of the Beanpot tournament. See page B8.
Nanci Fiore-Chettiar, president of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) and A&S ’15, was awarded the Dr. Donald Brown Award for 2015. Established in honor of Donald Brown, the director of the Office of AHANA Student programs from 1978 to 2005, the award is presented to a senior who has significantly contributed to to the campus throughout their four years, especially within the AHANA community. Fiore-Chettiar was recognized in a ceremony on Monday night. The daughter of a white mother and South Asian father, Fiore-Chettiar did not originally think that much about being in AHANA. She grew up with her mom in a predominantly white town, and when she came to BC, she did not think the AHANA label applied to her. When she joined FACES as a freshman, how-
ever, she began to learn about racial inequality and her own racial identity. “To me, AHANA is not just an acronym, it’s an experience,” she said. “It’s a very different experience than people who may not identity as AHANA, and in some ways it can be an experience of unity and celebration and camaraderie, and in other circumstances it can be an experience of marginalization and frustration and isolation, so I think it’s both positive and negative.” Fiore-Chettiar, who will graduate this spring with a degree in sociology, has been a voice within the AHANA community since her freshman year. She created the viral “We Are BC” video her freshman year in an attempt to build unity and acceptance on campus. As a sophomore, she founded Backgrounds and created safe spaces for students to have dialogues on race and diversity in small groups.
See Brown Award, A8