The Heights Commencement 2024

News

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Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

Editor’s Note: Lucy Freeman, Angelina Li, Jack Beckman, and Annika Engelbrecht—our news editors—have compiled the biggest news stories from the Class of 2024’s time on the Heights. From the return of Marathon Monday to a fire in Yawkey Athletics Center, the BC community has witnessed a multitude of important events over the last four years.

2021: BC Students Celebrate the Return of Marathon Monday This story was originally published on Oct. 17, 2021.

BY JULIA KIERSZNOWSKI Assoc. News Editor AMY PALMER Asst. News Editor AND SPENCER DANISZEWSKI For The Heights Last Monday, Harry Sullivan woke up in his Mod at 8 a.m. and made breakfast with his roommates. After a few hours spent cheering on marathoners, Sullivan

returned to the Mods to party.

“I think everyone just pretended like they knew each other,” Sullivan, CSOM ’22, said. “It was like a big community.

Everyone was just kind of wandering around, going from backyard to backyard, even if they don’t know who lives in that Mod. So it was pretty cool from that perspective, I think everyone just kind of banded together.”

The Boston Marathon returned in full force last Monday for the first time since April 2019, and along with it came a horde of Boston College students once

FALLON JONES / FOR THE HEIGHTS

In October of 2021, the Boston Marathon returned for the first time since April 2019.

again flooding off-campus streets and the Mods to celebrate one of BC’s most beloved traditions.

Usually held on Patriots Day in April, Monday’s marathon was a delayed celebration of the April 2021 marathon. The 2020 marathon was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was replaced by a 10-day virtual event in the fall of 2020.

For the majority of students, this was their first time experiencing Marathon Monday at BC. It had been two-and-ahalf years since members of the Class of 2022 celebrated the marathon their freshman year.

Audrey Mullen, MCAS ’22, said she enjoyed an early breakfast in Rubenstein Hall with her friends from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., when the first runners started coming down Commonwealth Ave. After cheering on the marathoners for a couple hours, she made her way to the Mods, where she spent the rest of the day.

“Everyone was in one combined area and everyone was just dressed ridiculously,” Mullen said. “It’s been two years since we got a real marathon so it was really a fun, exciting environment to be a part of.”

Mullen said Marathon Monday as a senior was a very different experience than when she was a freshman.

“My last Marathon Monday I was a freshman, which is a vastly different environment,” Mullen said. “It’s very confusing and overwhelming when you’re trying to figure it out as a freshman, and I feel like as a senior you’re established in your friendships and social scenes, so it wasn’t even a question of ‘Am I gonna get into this party tonight?’ It was like, ‘Everyone’s invited.’”

Patrick Cadogan, CSOM ’23, woke up at 6 a.m. on the dot to go to his friends’ off-campus apartment and make breakfast, unsure of what to expect for the rest of the day.

“None of us knew what we were doing,” he said. “The only grade that did kind of know the drill was in the Mods.”

An hour or so after waking up, Cadogan said he saw students gathering on streets off campus and decided to start his day.

“I guess we descended onto the street at that time when there were a couple hundred people on the road,” Cadogan said. “It was definitely a bit chaotic by BC standards.”

Peter Burdulis, MCAS ’25, also had an early start to his day.

“We woke up early at 6 a.m. to get ready for the day,” Burdulis said. “We arrived at Foster St. and some of the surrounding streets at around 7 a.m. and

spent an hour there before heading over to Comm. Ave for the marathon.”

Since the BC shuttle buses were not running on Monday, Burdulis said he and other freshmen living on Newton Campus had to walk to off campus.

“That was the worst part of the day,” Burdulis said. “The walk was a bit taxing for a Monday morning.”

When he reached off campus, however, Burdulis said the scene was “electric.”

“It was a lot of fun,” Burdulis said.

“The atmosphere was electric, and it was great to see so many students show up to support this city and the runners.”

Alexa Barrett, CSOM ’24, also enjoyed crossing Commonwealth Ave. and partying off campus.

“It was so nice to see everyone in the streets and like, everywhere you turn … you’re meeting all these new people and everyone’s just there to have fun,” Barrett said.

Barrett said it was strange seeing so many people together at once after the pandemic.

Read the full story online at https://www. https://www.bcheights.com/2021/10/17/ the-atmosphere-was-electric-bc-students-celebrate-the-return-of-marathonmonday/

2022: Bat Found in

Walsh Hall, Released by Facilities Management This story was originally published on February 19, 2022.

BY AMY PALMER Assoc. News Editor JULIA KIERSZNOWKSI Special Projects Editor SOFIA LABOY Asst. News Editor AND BETH VERGHESE Asst. News Editor Sofia Megale jolted awake in her dorm room in Walsh Hall to something repeatedly brushing against her shoulder.

“I woke up to Sofia screaming her head off,” said Caroline Shannon, Megale’s direct roommate and MCAS ’24. “I thought it was like a terrible, terrible nightmare.”

Hearing the commotion, one of Megale’s suitemates burst through the door and identified a flying creature—a bat.

Megale, MCAS ’24, said she and her roommates left their suite on Feb. 10 and waited in the hallway as Shannon got their RA, who then made calls to the Boston College Police Department (BCPD) and BC’s Facilities Management. Around 20 minutes later, Megale said facilities arrived and captured the bat.

“The guy was holding the bat in a towel, and you could see its fangs and everything,” said Avery Boniface, one of the suitemates and MCAS ’24.

The roommates told facilities the bat should be tested for rabies, since Shannon was asleep in the room with the creature and it touched Megale repeatedly, Shannon said.

“I made it clear to them … that I was touched by it, and that it’s not safe to let it go because we would just have to get rabies shots then,” Megale said.

A Walsh RA said facilities agreed to place the bat in a bucket and later bring it to BCPD after the Walsh 8 residents and their parents—who the students were speaking with on the phone during the incident—expressed concern about getting the bat tested for rabies.

“Their parents wanted to make sure that their kids were safe, and they really thought that getting it checked [for rabies] was the best thing to do,” she said. “The girls were very adamant about getting the bat tested, and I don’t know what ended up happening, but I really hope they were able to.”

The following morning, Shannon said she went to BCPD’s office in Maloney Hall but was told it had no record of what happened and to call facilities. According to Shannon, facilities told her to call back

later. Megale said another roommate called facilities later that day, which said it had released the bat.

“We were … a little bit shocked they did that because we had been so adamant the night before that [they] could not let it go,” Megale said.

Jack Dunn, associate vice president for University communications, said that the students informed facilities they had not been bitten by the bat.

“They were offered support from their RA and told to contact University Health Services, which instructed the students the following morning to get tested for rabies,” he said in an email.

According to Philip Landrigan, director of BC’s global public health program, if a bat is found in a room, you must presume it is infected with rabies.

“Especially if it’s a situation where people are asleep, or semi-asleep, you have to presume that they have had contact with a bat and perhaps even a bite,” Landrigan said.

Facilities’ decision to release the bat aligned with its standard wildlife protocol—though BC is now changing this policy, according to Dunn.

“Admittedly, Facilities has not had a lot of experience in dealing with bats inside of the residence hall rooms,” he said. “Moving forward, Facilities will make it their policy to contact Animal Services in Boston or Newton should a similar incident occur in the future.”

Facilities did not respond to a request for comment.

Landrigan said that standard protocol for a potential rabies contact is to capture the bat and notify public health authorities.

“It’s standard protocol with a potential rabies contact to capture the bat and get it into the hands of public health authorities,” he said. “It doesn’t always happen for practical reasons, but that’s the ideal protocol.”

Any contact with a bat has to be taken seriously, as even the most minute scratch from a bat can potentially transmit rabies, Landrigan said.

“This is a very serious situation,” Landrigan said. “You have to presume in this circumstance that both of these students had contact with the bat, and if they have not immediately started … postexposure prophylaxis [treatment], they must begin it ASAP—this is a real medical emergency.”

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/02/19/bat-found-inwalsh-hall-released-by-facilities/

CALLIE OXFORD / HEIGHTS EDITOR

2023: Fire Breaks Out in HVAC System of Yawkey Athletics Center This story was originally published on Decemeber 16, 2023.

By Lucy Freeman News Editor A fire broke out in the HVAC system of Boston College’s Yawkey Athletics Center on Friday night, according to Boston Fire Department (BFD) District Chief Mark Miller.

“There was some smoke coming out of what appeared to be the roof,” Miller said. “Companies went up there.

They found that it was the HVAC system’s insulation had caught fire and gone down into the drop ceiling of the snack bar.”

The fire started at approximately 10:30 p.m., four and a half hours after BC set off fireworks from Maloney Lawn—which is in front of Yawkey—to kick off Senior Week.

Miller said BFD cannot yet determine the exact cause of the fire.

“They did say there were some fireworks there, so our fire investigation team’s gonna come and take a look and see what happened,” Miller said.

Firefighters on the scene ascended extension ladders to reach Yawkey’s roof and climb through windows on the building’s top floor, some carrying hoses with them.

Crowds of students gathered in front of Yawkey to watch first responders as they took action.

Sara Rigatti, Sanibel Betts, and Amanda Brown, all MCAS ’26, said they were walking by Yawkey around 10:30 p.m. when they noticed flames coming from the top of the building.

“We were just walking out here, and we saw the fire trucks come in, and then we looked and it was clearly burning,” Rigatti said. “And then we just stopped and saw everything happen.

We basically watched it all unfold.”

James Laboissonniere and Mateo Humphrey, both MCAS ’25, said they saw a picture of the fire on Herrd and decided to walk over to see what was happening.

“We came down immediately because [Laboissonniere] showed me a picture of the flames above Conte right here, and we just thought we would further investigate,” Humphrey said.

Laboissonniere said there was smoke and an orange glow coming from the top of Yawkey when he and Humphrey first arrived at the scene.

“You couldn’t see flames, but you could kind of see the orange glow from the fire,” Laboissonniere said.

“We saw a couple fire trucks pulling up, and we tried to go up to the garage to get a better view. It didn’t really work out. We came back down here and we saw a lot more trucks, a lot of firefighters.” n

CALLIE OXFORD / HEIGHTS EDITOR

First responders from the Boston Fire Department extinguished the fire as students stood around to spectate.

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2023: BC Announces Integration of LGBTQ+ Resources Into BAIC This story was originally published on April 21, 2023.

By Olivia Joung News Editor Natalie Arndt Assoc. News Editor And Lucy Freeman Asst. News Editor

director and graduate assistant whose roles will explicitly include LGBTQ+ student programming and support,” the email reads.

The email emphasized that integrating LGBTQ+ resources into the center will not take away from the support the BAIC already offers to AHANA students.

“This transition will not detract in any way from the existing programming

Boston College will officially inte-

and support for AHANA students of-

grate its LGBTQ+ programming and

fered through the BAIC, but will add

support into the Thea Bowman AH-

to and augment existing programs,” the

ANA and Intercultural Center (BAIC)

email read.

this summer, according to an email

The administrators wrote in the

sent to the BC community on Friday

email that their ultimate goal is for all

afternoon.

students to feel welcomed in the BC

Vice President for Student Affairs

community.

Shawna Cooper Whitehead, Associate

“It is our hope that the creation of

Vice President and Dean of Students

a more integrated intercultural center

Corey Kelly, Associate Dean for Student

that intentionally serves students of col-

Outreach and Support Caroline Davis,

or and LGBTQ+ students and actively

and BAIC Director Yvonne McBarnett

engages the whole BC community, will

all signed the email.

cultivate and promote a more inclusive

“Yvonne McBarnett and Caroline Davis are collaborating to ensure that

environment throughout campus,” the email reads.

the LGBTQ+ student support and

To ensure this, McBarnett will host

programming that has occurred during

small conversations where students

the last 10+ years out of the Dean of

can express any concerns or thoughts

Students Office will officially be transi-

surrounding the changes, according to

tioned to the BAIC office this summer,”

the email.

the email reads.

“Given our desire to work together

This announcement comes after

to understand, address, and support

Cooper Whitehead said in spring 2022

students’ needs, Yvonne McBarnett,

that the University planned to add

in collaboration with the Office of the

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LOYOLA MAROON AND JAWDAR TINAWI

2021: Complaints About Boston College Priest Sent to Leahy, Jesuit Provincial Prior to Rape Allegation This story was originally published on April 26, 2021.

BY JULIA KIERSZNOWSKI Assoc. News Editor VICTOR STEFANESCU Asst. News Editor AMY PALMER Asst. News Editor AND MEGAN KELLY News Editor

Members of the Boston College community sent complaints beginning in the LGBTQ+ resources to the BAIC’s pro- Dean of Students, will be hosting small 1997–98 academic year to University Presgramming. A month after that, Cooper group conversations and listening ident Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., accusing Whitehead paused these plans after sessions for all students to share their Rev. Ted Dziak, S.J., a Jesuit at BC from receiving feedback from students, alum- thoughts, experiences, and ideas,” the 1990 to 1998, of inappropriate conduct ni, and members of color on Boston email reads. with students. Dziak—who went on to College’s Board of Trustees.

The administrators concluded the work at Jesuit schools in Jamaica, New Orleans, and New York—was accused last According to the email, the BAIC email by discussing their hopes for a is currently working to hire specific more inclusive campus. week of raping a postgraduate volunteer staff to provide LGBTQ+ resources “We look forward to working with in Belize in 2004, according to nola.com.

In one instance, members of the chapand support. you in our shared effort to create the laincy—which is now Campus Ministry— “The BAIC leadership team is in most welcoming and inclusive campus submitted a letter to Leahy during the the process of hiring a new associate community possible,” the email reads. n 1997-98 academic year containing student complaints about Dziak’s troublesome behavior.

In the spring of 1998, Dziak announced he would be leaving the University for a position at a school in Jamaica. Matt Stautberg, BC ’99, said he met with Leahy in the summer of 1998, while Dziak was on his way out of BC, to discuss the Ignacio Volunteers program, which Dziak had been directing since 1991. During this meeting, Stautberg said he also brought up Dziak’s troubling behavior.

“At that point I was more focused on continuing the program and finding us a new staff person to help,” Stautberg said.

“But I did express that [Dziak] was inappropriate. Childlike stuff, where he wouldn’t talk to chaplaincy … My memory was that [Leahy] was very thoughtful and listened CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR and [was] understanding.”

Stautberg also wrote a separate letter— The BAIC has since hired Ira Kirschner to facilitate LGBTQ+ resources.

of which he sent Leahy a copy—in the fall of that year to Rev. Robert Levens, S.J., the provincial, or leader, of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus at the time.

In the letter, which was obtained by The Heights, Stautberg describes how Dziak emotionally abused him and expressed that he did not think Dziak should continue working with young people.

Beth Eilers, BC ’97 and BCSOE ’99, also wrote a letter that was obtained by The Heights to Levens on March 18, 1999, where she emphasized Dziak’s pattern of emotional abuse. Leahy was copied on Eilers’ letter as well.

Tim Ballard, a DePaul University graduate and a volunteer who served from 2004 to 2006 through Jesuit Volunteers International (JVI)—an organization launched by Dziak—alleged that Dziak raped him four times during a trip to Belize. Three of those times, the two had been drinking together, Ballard said, and Ballard alleges that he was drugged all four times.

BC has not made any public statement regarding allegations against Dziak or whether Leahy read the letters sent to him, but directed The Heights to the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus, which was established in 2014 to combine the New England and New York provinces, and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Dziak and Levens could not be reached for comment. Dziak was also accused of engaging in inappropriate conduct toward students while at Loyola University New Orleans.

In 2011, when Dziak was director of the Jesuit Center at Loyola, Katrina Weschler, a member of the center, filed a complaint to human resources about Dziak based on student accounts of his behavior, according to nola.com. Dziak stayed at Loyola another nine years, officially leaving in 2020.

Though Dziak took over Ignacio Volunteers at BC in the 1990s, this was not his first time directing a volunteer service

program. Dziak launched JVI through Georgetown University in 1984, which placed college graduates into international service experiences, according to Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

Dennis Heaphy, an early volunteer at JVI, told nola.com that Dziak tried to get the two to watch movies and drink beer together, and the priest was angry when the invitations were denied. Dziak also kissed Heaphy on the head and said “I love you” while the two were traveling to Belize, Heaphy said.

Heaphy’s time in Belize was cut short by a diving accident that left him paralyzed, according to nola.com. Decades removed from the trip, Heaphy said he still remembers Dziak’s actions.“Ted used the classic steps of a pathological abuser,” Heaphy said to nola.com. Jeffrey Robinson, BC ’00, attended a trip to Belize with Dziak through BC’s Ignacio Volunteers program.

Robinson said that Dziak encouraged the attendees to change their clothes in front of one another during the trip.

“He came into the room and was visibly upset or emotionally upset, and what he said to us was ‘This group doesn’t seem to be open with one another,’” Robinson said. “‘The group that I took here last time got naked around each other much more frequently. They were a lot more open with their nudity, you know, and I don’t feel that this group has achieved that level of comfort yet.’”

Jose Tamayo, BC ’97, said he volunteered with Ignacio Volunteers in Jamaica his senior year and in Belize the following winter as a group leader. Tamayo said that during the first trip he had a friendly and light relationship with Dziak, but noticed that the graduate group leaders constantly seemed exhausted.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/04/26/complaintssent-to-leahy-and-jesuit-years-prior-torape-allegations/.

2021: Have You Herrd? BC Grads Launch Anonymous Social Media App This story was originally published on March 1, 2021.

BY JULIA LANDWEHR Heights Staff Yik Yak, Snapchat, Yolo, Ask.Fm, and now, Herrd. There seems to be something so enticing about the ability to post anonymously.

“It’s a tight knit community I’d say, even though it’s anonymous,” Isaiah Mathieu, co-founder of Herrd, a new app for Boston College students, said.

“For example, if you go and scroll through the app you’ll see a bunch of posts and the majority of them, they relate to BC in some way, shape, or form. So, it’s sort of like, ‘If you know you know.’”

Herrd co-founders Mathieu and

Carter Beaulieu, both BC ’20, began working on an app during their senior year at BC in order to help people learn more about what events were happening in their area and who would be attending them.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and there were no longer events taking place, Mathieu and Beaulieu had to shift their plans. Their solution?

A platform where BC students could communicate anonymously.

“COVID was sort of a blessing in disguise, because after we all got booted off campus the second semester of last year, Herrd, I feel, has allowed students to stay connected,” Mathieu said.

Herrd has about 2,000 sign-ups and 500 active users, who anonymously post questions, memes, or anything that’s on their mind. Other users can up

GRAPHIC BY OLIVIA CHARBONNEAU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

or downvote a post—somewhat akin to likes or dislikes on other social media platforms—and can comment and chat with each other.

“It’s all anonymous, so at the end of the day if your post gets upvoted you can just feel good inside, but there’s no superficial stuff,” Beaulieu said.

Though anonymous online communities are not a novel concept, Beaulieu and Mathieu wanted to make Herrd distinctly different in their approach to safety and the monitoring of posts.

All Herrd users must have a valid BC email to use the app—a move meant to make it easier for the founders to trace harmful or hateful content back to whoever posted it.

Though the veil of anonymity might encourage people to post something offensive, Mathieu and Beaulieu believe that having students’ emails connected to their profiles makes them think twice before posting something negative.

They’ve only received one incident so far in which a student’s content violated Herrd’s terms of service, and the user’s account was subsequently suspended. Mathieu and Beaulieu also said that if they deem content harmful enough, they would consider getting the BC administration involved in the case. Though Mathieu and Beaulieu are always on the lookout for reports of offensive content to make sure

Herrd is a safe and welcoming online community, students have still been enjoying the app.

The co-founders said that the most trendy posts right now are jokes and discussions about the UGBC presidential election and Kirkwood Cookies, a student-run company that delivers cookies to the BC community.

Students using the app have been forming new connections—something Mathieu and Beaulieu are proud of, especially in the era of COVID-19—and are asking for new features to be added to the app.

Though Mathieu and Beaulieu both have full-time jobs and have to manage Herrd on the side, they’re planning to launch a messaging function soon so that students can connect with each other one-on-one.

Looking to the future, Beaulieu and Mathieu said that they are excited for what’s to come. Though BC is functioning like a test community for now, they hope that Herrd can one day expand to other college campuses, or even beyond, incorporating event information from their first app, anonymous chatting, and other new features.

“I think it can be kind of your all-inclusive hub to understand everything that’s going on and ask questions and do stuff like that,” Beaulieu said.

The partners said that they are utilizing different promotional strategies

to grow Herrd’s user base. Mathieu, who primarily handles the business end of the project, said they use social media, student ambassadors, and partnerships with local businesses as avenues to grow.

Josh Gottbetter, a student ambassador for Herrd and CSOM ’22, helps Beaulieu and Mathieu stay connected to what’s happening on campus.

He said that he provides context for topics that students are talking about on Herrd, helps advertise the app on social media, and monitors posts for negative content.

Though he’s seen conversations become toxic and overly political at times, Gottbetter believes in the app’s mission and thinks students really enjoy having access to a community like Herrd.

“I think the coolest thing was when I started to see people posting about it that I didn’t even know, people on their Snapchat stories were like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this app is free,’” Gottbetter said.

Part of making Herrd sustainable is securing revenue, Gottbetter said, so he helps Mathieu and Beaulieu make connections with local businesses and potential advertisers.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2021/03/01/bcgrads-create-anonymous-social-media-app/.

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2022: $150 Million Integrated Science Building Opens on Campus This story was originally published on Jan. 20, 2022.

BY AMY PALMER Assoc. News Editor The arrival of the highly anticipated Integrated Science Building at Boston College has attracted visitors from all over campus, which is exactly what it was made to do.

“This building is designed to bring in faculty and students from across all disciplines to solve complex problems,” Tom Chiles, vice provost for research and academic planning, said.

The Integrated Science Building is also known as 245 Beacon—not to be confused with the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society that is housed within the building. It officially opened on Tuesday after around two years of construction.

The five-story, 150,000-square-foot building’s construction cost $150 million and is part of a $300 million total investment BC plans to make in the sciences, according to Ed Hayward, senior associate director of University communications.

One of the key themes of 245 Beacon is transparency, with more windows than any other building on campus and lots of interior glass, said Chiles, who was involved in its planning.

“This notion of transparency is to

allow people to come together and talk and collaborate,” Chiles said.

Mia Astralaga, MCAS ’24, said she was both excited and nervous to have her environmental sociology class in the new building.

“I was pretty excited to see where it was,” Astralaga said. “I was a little bit nervous [about] the classroom, just because some of those classrooms are kind of like fishbowls, like you can see directly through them.”

By allowing people to see everything happening, Chiles said he hopes curiosity will draw people in and help get them involved with 245 Beacon.

“If you’re outside, regardless of your major, we want you to see what’s going on, and we want to draw you in because your ideas are just as important,” Chiles said.

This academic building is the latest in a series of developments across campus that are part of the University’s 10-year

Institutional Master Plan, which called for the construction and renovation of academic buildings, housing, and facilities across campus. Chiles said the Integrated Science Building is not just for the sciences, but is really a hub for the entire school.

“It’s a hub to come and imagine, whatever your major is, and … if you want to extract that imagination out of your head and into something, we have the facilities for you to do that, and we have the staff and the faculty to do that,” Chiles said.

One of the main ways Chiles hopes to attract students to 245 Beacon is the Tully Cafe, which features Mediterranean bowls as well as a selection of drinks and beverages. The first-floor cafe offers both indoor and outdoor seating.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/01/20/integrated-science-building-opens-on-campus/.

VIKRUM SINGH / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The five-story, 150,000-square -foot building cost the University $150 million to construct.

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS STAFF

2022: Newton Goose Terrorizes Students This story was originally published on May 6, 2022.

BY SOFIA LABOY Asst. News Editor JULIA KIERSZNOWSKI Special Projects Editor Christina Satina’s daily walk to Stuart Dining Hall on Boston College’s Newton Campus quickly took a turn for the worse when she found herself face to beak with “Newton’s biggest menace.”

“I saw the goose on the grass and didn’t think anything of it,” said Satina, a resident adviser (RA) in Cushing Hall and MCAS ’23. “Next thing I know, I see the goose flapping its wings and squawking at me, so I take out my headphones, and it lowers

its head and begins to charge at me. So I turned, and it pecked me in the butt.”

The so-called “Newton goose,” which sits on top of the hill between Hardey Hall and Duchesne Hall, attacked Satina on the sidewalk outside of Hardey, she said.

Satina said she did not sustain any injuries from the attack.

“Just my pride was a little hurt,” she said. “My ego, a little violated.”

But Satina is not the only victim of the Newton goose, which has become a Newton Campus celebrity in recent weeks for chasing and hissing at students who walk by its spot on the Duchesne hill.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/05/06/the-goose-newtons-biggest-menace-terrorizes-students/.

2021: MLE Residents Report Pattern of Harassment in Xavier This story was originally published on Feb. 5, 2021.

By Haley Hockin Special Projects Editor Julia Kiersznowski Assoc. News Editor and Megan Kelly News Editor Destiny Gonzalez returned to her dorm in Xavier Hall around 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday night to a commotion on the third floor.

“I’m asking one of the girls [on Xavier 3] what happened, and she said two boys had walked down the hallway, chanting, ‘colored girls this, colored girls that,’” Gonzalez, a resident of the third floor and MCAS ’24, said. “But screaming at the top of their lungs, so it’s not, like, whispers or anything. They wanted people to hear.”

Tuesday’s event is the latest in a series of reports of racially motivated incidents from the residents of the Multicultural Learning Experience (MLE) floor of Xavier Hall, where residents have described instances of vandalism and harassment dating back to last semester.

A student who lives on Xavier 3 and was granted anonymity by The Heights said she and her friend were walking down the hallway on Tuesday night when they saw two male students walking down the hallway.

“We heard them singing a song, but we weren’t paying any mind to it because we were just still in the hallway trying to get into my room, and then they said something in the song about ‘colored girls,’” she said.

Gonzalez and Letacianna Stoudmire, another MLE resident and MCAS ’24, con-

firmed that the two male students had used the term “colored girls” while walking down the hallway.

The anonymous student said the two boys then went into a room in the Loyola 3 hallway, which is adjacent to Xavier 3, and tried to hide from the MLE residents, which Gonzalez and Stoudmire confirmed.

“And then they kind of took off … towards Claver and Loyola, and two or three girls hid them in their room,” Stoudmire said. “ … There was a big problem because [the girls] were trying to say that like, ‘There are no guys there.’ Basically just calling us liars.”

Many members of the MLE hallway heard the commotion and gathered in the hallway, according to Gonzalez.

“By this point, the whole MLE floor is out, [and] we’re angry,” Gonzalez said.

The resident director took statements from the MLE residents who witnessed the event, talked to the two male students for a short period of time, took down their names, and let the boys go, according to three sources who witnessed the event.

“They get to walk out of the building,” Gonzalez said. “So that angers the hall a lot, because [the RD] spent 20 minutes taking statements from … the girls who were there the whole time, which I think [was] three or four girls. He spent a long time talking to us.

The boys, it was maybe 30 seconds. And they got to walk out.”

Gonzalez said it was frustrating for the residents on Xavier 3 not knowing whether the two male students would be punished.

“We know that they’re still on this campus somewhere, probably making another person of color uncomfortable,” Gonzalez said.

The anonymous student described previous incidents on the MLE hallway last semester, which were confirmed by multiple sources, that she believes were racially motivated, from people banging on their doors in the middle of the night to tearing down hallway decorations and name tags.

“We also had guys walking through our hall, just like trying to make fun of us basically like, ‘Oh haha, this is the MLE floor,’” Stoudmire said. “And then when my friends opened their door to see who it was, they kind of ran, so obviously they had some malicious intent behind what they were saying.”

Executive Vice President and Acting Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Lochhead addressed the multiple reports of bias-motivated behavior on the MLE floor in an email on Wednesday. The email referenced the allegations of the students singing a song with racist lyrics, another incident of students laughing while in the hallway, and earlier reports of vandalism in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“No one at Boston College should ever be made to feel unsafe or threatened, particularly within the confines of their residence hall,” Lochhead wrote. “This conduct will simply not be tolerated.”

The events of the past week have left some residents of the MLE floor feeling on edge.

“Honestly, last night, I was scared to go to sleep,” Gonzalez said on Wednesday. “This has happened three out of the four nights that we’ve been back to school.”

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/02/05/mle-residents-report-pattern-of-harassment-in-xavier-hall/.

VIKRUM SINGH / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Residents of the MLE floor in Xavier Hall reported several racially motivated incidents.

2024: BC Removes a Lead Pipe From Beneath Greycliff Hall This story was originally published on March 27, 2024.

BY ANNIKA ENGELBRECHT Asst. News Editor

WILL MARTINO Managing Editor On March 6, Boston College removed a lead pipe servicing Greycliff Hall from beneath the sidewalk on Commonwealth Avenue.

The pipe was one of many lead pipes in and around the Brighton area, according to the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC), but it was the only one on BC’s campus.

“BC Facilities regrets that due to an oversight, a six-foot underground section of lead pipe at 2051 Commonwealth Avenue was not removed as scheduled in the summer of 2019,” University Spokesman Jack Dunn wrote in a statement to The Heights.

But according to Boston city officials, BC was notified of the pipe nearly 15 years

ago.

In a recent article by the Boston Globe, Irene McSweeney, chief of operations for the BWSC, said the commission reached out to BC about removing the pipe in 2009, 2016, 2017, and 2021.

According to Dunn, these claims are unfounded.

“BC Facilities has found no evidence of receipt of BWSC notices and was informed by BWSC staff that they were not able to verify addresses for their reported correspondence with BC,” Dunn said in his statement.

BSWC, however, remains adamant that the University was alerted of the lead pipe on multiple occasions since 2009.

“In addition to a meeting between BWSC and BC officials in 2018 to discuss solutions, BWSC records show letters of notification about the property in question were sent periodically,” BWSC wrote in a statement to The Heights.

When Tia Guay, a Greycliff resident and MCAS ’26, was first notified about the lead

pipe via email in February, she grew worried about her regular use of the kitchen and its water supply.

“I was a little concerned about it because we use the kitchen a lot—my roommate and I both do,” Guay said.

The Perils of a Pipe According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), lead exposure can cause cardiovascular disease, reproductive disease, kidney disease, and high blood pressure.

Lead exposure can also accumulate over time, being stored in bones alongside calcium.

Dunn said BC hired a firm to conduct an independent water test at Greycliff Hall in February, which concluded that lead levels in the building’s water were below the EPA’s action level.

“The test showed a lead level of 0.0008 milligrams per liter, which translates to 0.8 parts per billion (ppb)—well below the EPA’s action level of 15 ppb,” Dunn said in

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

City officials said they first informed the University about the pipe in 2009. the statement.

BC also ran a test in 2016 that showed lead levels in the building’s water to be 3 ppb—also below the EPA standard.

“These tests show that the water in 2051 Commonwealth Avenue is safe by the standards set by the EPA and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Dunn said in the statement.

Despite this standard, the World Health Organization states that the ideal level of lead in drinking water should be zero,

as even low levels of exposure can cause harmful side effects.

The EPA also states that the level of lead at which no adverse health effects are likely to occur is zero.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2024/03/27/bc-removeda-lead-pipe-from-beneath-greycliff-hallearlier-this-month-city-officials-say-theuniversity-was-informed-about-it-overa-decade-ago/

THE HEIGHTS

Class of 2024 CommenCement edition

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2022: ‘All the Drama’: BC Marriage Pact Returns This story was originally published on Feb. 13, 2022.

BY AMY PALMER Assoc. News Editor AIDAN FRANKLIN Heights Staff Many Eagles flocked to the Boston College Marriage Pact looking for a match with the approach of Valentine’s Day. “I think first of all, [the] promotion was like all over the place, so everybody’s really into it,” Ben Hetherington, MCAS ’24, said. “And I think everybody was extra down bad this year with COVID.” Hetherington was one of 3,556 students that Marriage Pact said signed up for the survey this year. The Marriage Pact, which students brought to the University in 2020, is a survey containing about 50 questions that attempt to connect students based on compatibility.

The questions range from political views to drinking habits. Participants are asked to rank their answers on a scale from one, “strongly disagree,” to seven, “strongly agree.”

According to Molly Harrison, MCAS ’23, the COVID-19 pandemic hampered many people’s ability to make connections, so the Marriage Pact provides a potential solution.

“COVID has impacted our ability to

meet people,” Harrison said. “People are yearning for friends.”

Harrison said while her primary reason for signing up for the Marriage Pact last year was COVID-19, this year, she signed up because many of her friends did as well.

Harrison wasn’t the only person to sign up because of other students. Jaret Farhat, MCAS ’25, said he decided to fill out the survey because so many students were.

“Honestly, I think there’s a little bit of peer pressure, like everyone else is doing it,” Farhat said.

Though the pandemic did not influence his decision to sign up, Farhat said it impacted his ability to meet people—the Marriage Pact creates connections that might not happen otherwise, he said.

“I matched with someone in a different grade,” he said. “I haven’t even really met a lot of people in that grade either.”

Elizabeth Shaw, MCAS ’24, however, isn’t sure how successful the Marriage Pact is at facilitating connections on campus.

“I feel like in theory it is [successful], but I don’t know how many people actually reach out and talk,” Shaw said. “It’s more just like you look them up on Instagram and see who they are, and it ends badly.”

Read the full story online at: https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/02/13/all-thedrama-bc-marriage-pact-returns/

PHOTO OBTAINED BY THE HEIGHTS

2022: Masked Individual Attempts To Break Into Off-Campus House This story was originally published on Oct. 14, 2022.

BY ERIN SHANNON News Editor NATALIE ARNDT Newsletter Editor A masked individual attempted to break into an off-campus house on Kirkwood Rd. on Thursday night at around 10:15 p.m., according to a Boston College Police Department (BCPD) bulletin.

“The victim reported that an uniden-

tified male, thin build, approximately 6 foot tall, wearing a white REI zip-up rain hoodie, light-colored cloth mask and black gloves had attempted to gain access into the residence on two different occasions this date,” the bulletin reads.

The bulletin states that both BCPD and the Boston Police Department responded to the incident. The suspect was observed leaving the area in what appeared to be a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler or a similar vehicle. For students like Tierney Wold, MCAS ’24, living close to the house where

the attempted break-in occured is nerve-wracking.

“I don’t live in the house that had the attempted break-in,” Wold said. “I live three doors down from it, and I know a couple of people in there vaguely, so that was kind of scary because like they are people that I know of, and it seemed very real.”

Read the full story online at: https:// w w w. b c h e i g h t s . c o m / 2 0 2 2 / 1 0 / 1 4 / masked-individual-attempts-to-breakinto-off-campus-house/.

2023: Students Report Fraud Charges Following Ticket Purchases This story was originally published on Sept. 18, 2023.

BY OLIVIA JOUNG News Editor NATALIE ARNDT Assoc. News Editor The Boston College Police Department (BCPD) is currently investigating reports of fraudulent credit card activity following purchases of online tickets for campus events, according to an email University administrators sent to the BC community on Friday.

“The reports concern transactions involving online tickets purchased through AudienceView’s website in January and February of 2023, and do not pertain to tickets purchased in person at the Robsham Theater Box Office, or for tickets sold

by BC Athletics,” the email reads.

The tickets were purchased through the University ticketing website, which is hosted by the third-party vendor AudienceView, according to the email.

AudienceView said the fraudulent activity resulted from a security issue that occurred within the company.

“In a notice to Boston College, AudienceView confirmed that a security incident involving consumers’ credit card information had occurred at their organization, which affected individuals at several colleges and universities that use their service,” the email reads.

Britton Smith—whose credit card information was stolen after buying an online ticket—woke up the morning of Feb. 14 with two texts from his billing provider, alerting him to a charge at Walmart as well as a series of other purchases he did not make.

“One was like a $400 purchase at Viasat … that got declined and then a $2000

purchase at Lowe’s, which was declined,” Smith, CSOM ’24, said. “And then I received an email as well on my BC email, saying that I’d been signed up for like a Milo’s membership or something like that.”

Looking back at his prior purchases, Smith said the only one that stuck out as a potential cause of the suspicious card activity was a recent charge from the Robsham Box Office for a ticket to the ALC Ball on Feb. 1.

“But that didn’t really click until my mom saw on the BC parents Facebook that a bunch of other BC students have apparently gotten their credit card info stolen,” Smith said. “So, I looked through Herrd, and, yeah, I saw a bunch of other people who had the same experience.”

Emily Hyder, MCAS ’23; Maddy Mitchell, CSOM ’23; and Kayla Vidal, MCAS ’23, were all notified of fraudulent charges to their credit cards after purchasing tickets to the 100 Days Dance from Robsham Box Office.

“The Wednesday after [the dance], I got a notification from my credit card that said that someone was trying to spend $375 at Walmart.com,” Hyder said. “So I called, and I canceled the card, and then I went on to my statement online, and it said that someone had just spent $50 on Amazon and also bought an Amazon Prime membership.”

Mitchell first noticed a fraudulent charge on Feb. 16 for an $180 purchase in a Walmart in Bentonville, Ark. “Obviously, I was not in Arkansas,” Mitchell said. “So I texted my mom and basically just ended up … reporting the charge as fraud and canceling my debit card because it said it came through my debit card … and issued myself a new one.”

By Tuesday, Mitchell said she began hearing about students who had similar experiences.

“A lot of other people were also saying charges from Walmart in Arkansas and obviously like various other ones as well … so I realized that it was connected to a bigger thing and not just a personal thing that I had dealt with,” Mitchell said.

Vidal received texts from her bank account notifying her of the fraudulent charges on the night of Feb. 22, two weeks after she bought a ticket for the 100 Days Dance.

“I got a text overnight that was like please verify these claims,” Vidal said. “A couple of them were the ones … that I have made but the last couple were the ones from Walmart. And I think it was $152 that they charged on my card on my account to Walmart.”

Vidal said she realized the charges were related to her purchase through Robsham after hearing how other students were affected.

“I didn’t really use my card much,” Vidal said. “So like the common denominator in terms of what people have been thinking, for me, would just be the dance. I didn’t charge it anywhere else.”

According to the email, AudienceView is currently in the process of identifying a list of those potentially impacted by the security issue and will communicate directly with them either through letter or email.

For the time being, online ticket sales through AudienceView will be suspended until the issue is resolved.

“We regret that some members of the BC community who purchased online tickets for campus events through this vendor’s platform have been affected by this security issue,” the email reads.

“We encourage you to look out for correspondence from AudienceView in the coming days, and follow the company’s recommendations to protect yourself from fraudulent activity.” n

GRAPHIC BY OLIVIA CHARBONNEAU

2022: SOFC Runs Out of Funds for Fall Semester This story was originally published on Sept. 18, 2022.

BY ERIN SHANNON News Editor AMY PALMER Assoc. News Editor AND SOFIA LABOY Asst. News Editor When the Student Organization Funding Committee (SOFC) informed club leaders that it had already allocated its entire budget for the semester, Hollywood Eagles President Dominic Floreno said the news spread like a shockwave through campus.

“SOFC point blank is the lifeline,” Floreno said. “It’s like the IV drip … for all clubs on campus. … It is the only thing that keeps all the clubs alive because it’s where all the money comes from.”

The chairman of SOFC emailed club leaders on Thursday that the organization reached its maximum allocation after approving over 170 budget requests. As a result, SOFC will no longer be accepting any appeals or line item requests for the semester, the email states.

According to SOFC Chairman Ethan Guell, the club is composed of

17 to 20 undergraduate students that make decisions on proposed club budgets before they are sent to the Office of Student Involvement (OSI). The organization is overseen by a graduate advisor and a full-time advisor.

During his three years on SOFC, Guell said he has never seen the club commit all of its funds for one semester. Running out of money in September is unusual, he said, but it indicates that SOFC is funding a lot more than before.

“I think while I didn’t expect this to happen, it’s a great thing for a lot of clubs since they’re getting to spend more money than they have in the past,” Guell said.

Lexie Arteaga, co-vice president of Boston College’s dance club Phaymus and MCAS ’23, said she was shocked SOFC had run through its funding so quickly and worried about how it would affect her club.

The news from SOFC also caught Will Manzi, treasurer of the German Club and CSOM ’23, completely off guard.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/09/18/sofcruns-out-of-funds-for-fall-semesterdisallows-new-budget-requests/.

2022: Pizza Party Brings Hundreds of Students to Upper This story was originally published on May 9, 2022.

BY NATALIE ARNDT Newsletter Editor

NATALIE ARNDT / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Hundreds of Boston College students attended a pizza party on Upper Campus.

Hundreds of Boston College students cheered “Jacob, Jacob” as Jacob Elias walked onto the Upper Campus Basketball Courts Sunday evening for the “Jacob Elias Pizza Party.”

“It was the most magnificent pizza party—and probably event—that Upper [Campus] has ever experienced in the history of Boston College,” Martin Brozman, MCAS ’25, said. “The turnout was magnificent. The execution of the planning committee was marvelous.

And the pizza tasted phenomenal.”

Elias, CSOM ’25, said he spent nearly $1,000 of his meal plan to supply the BC community with 60 pizzas, as well

as 48 brownies and cookies, from Lower Dining Hall.

As the semester nears an end, Elias said he had too much money left over on his meal plan and wanted to give back to the BC community.

“I overheard some of my roommates talking about [a Gavel article] that basically said you can host a pizza party with your meal plan money,” he said.

“And I said, ‘Hey, I have about $1,200, why not just do something to give back, you know, because I’m leaving soon.’”

Elias said he wanted to create a space for BC students to destress from final exams and to provide food for those who have less meal plan money.

“I personally don’t even eat a lot of BC dining food, which for me, I think is actually a privilege because a lot of people don’t have that luxury,” Elias said. “A lot of people can go out to eat,

and a lot of people can do Uber Eats, but I know that a lot of low-income students don’t have that privilege. So I knew how important this would be for some people, so I decided to get as much pizza as I could.”

Elias said that the Office of Residential Life contacted him with concerns about the event and advised him that he should cancel it. “[ResLife] gave amazing points [over the phone],” Elias said. “[ResLife] mentioned how it’s quiet hours 24/7 [for exams] … and we made sure everything was quiet and peaceful. I understand a lot of people are studying.”

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/05/09/student-planned-pizza-party-brings-hundr e d s - o f - un d e r g ra du a t e s - t o - up per-campus/.

Newton

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Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

Editor’s Note: Newton editors Ella Song, Genevieve Morrison, and Laney McAden have compiled the most prominent stories of Newton reported during the Class of 2024’s time at Boston College. The following local news stories shaped the community the University resides in during the last 4 years.

2022: Former Tenant Pleaded Not Guilty to Murder After Newtonville Man Found Dead

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR

This story was originally published on Sept. 28, 2022.

BY VICTOR STEFANESCU Metro Editor

GAVIN ZHANG Assoc. Metro Editor Newton resident Xiu Fang Ke pleaded not guilty to murder in Newton District Court Wednesday after a

65-year-old man was found dead in his Newtonville home Tuesday, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. Police found Leonard Garber wrapped in a curtain and pressed under construction materials and other heavy items at his Mt. Vernon Terrace home at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Ryan said at a press conference.

Ke, charged with the murder of Garber, pleaded not guilty at her ar-

Digital Director

CONNOR SIEMIEN Asst. Metro Editor AND OLIVIA JOUNG

Copy Editor Alana McCarthy, a teaching assistant at Oak Hill Middle School, repurposed one of her classroom posters into a protest sign. She wrote “Art, Music, Special Education, and Mental Health” in marker on jagged pieces of printer paper and glued them above the words “School Looks Different With Cuts.”

McCarthy said her homemade sign depicts how she feels about the possibility of Newton Public Schools (NPS) cutting important faculty and staff positions as a result of a budget deficit.

“Everyone in Newton cares so much about their children’s education—how could we support them taking anything away?” McCarthy said.

McCarthy—with her handmade sign—took a stand against proposed layoffs and position cuts at Newton Public Schools. Over 300 teachers, parents, and students attended the “Stop the Cuts” rally organized by the Newton Teachers Association (NTA) on Thursday.

Much of the NPS community first learned of the 74 potential faculty and staff position cuts from David Fleishman, NPS superintendent, on March 8. The district’s fiscal year 2023 budget, though, increased by nearly $9 million from fiscal year 2022.

The main reason for the cuts is a $4 million budget gap, according to Fleishman’s presentation. It is Massachusetts law to balance the school budget.

Wielding blue and yellow “Fund the Schools” signs, rally-goers walked around Newton City Hall to protest the proposed staff cuts for NPS next year. Their “Stop the Cuts” and “Fund our Schools” chants

missing, he said he hoped the neighbor had taken an unannounced trip. He felt shocked when he found out Garber had died, he said.

“You don’t think it’s going to happen to someone across the street,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said the police became less communicative with neighbors as time went on after Garber had been reported missing.

“The police didn’t tell us much of what was going on,” Hamilton said. “The first officers that came here we talked to, and they were looking for him as a missing person, but as it went on, they would say less and less. But I don’t blame them for that.”

The Globe reported this is the first homicide in the City of Newton since 2009.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/09/28/formertenant-arraigned-in-court-after-newtonville-man-found-dead-official-says/.

Opinions for and Against Override This story was originally published on Feb. 13, 2023.

BY CONNOR SIEMIEN Newton Editor

ELLA SONG Asst. Newton Editor

JULIA REMICK / HEIGHTS EDITOR

at Newton City Hall

BY JULIA REMICK

the district attorney said.

Based on preliminary investigation, the body appeared to be hidden and left in the front hallway of the home for several days, Ryan said.

Police arrested Ke Wednesday morning without incident, according to Ryan.

Mt. Vernon Terrace is a no-through street with only a handful of houses. Patrick Hamilton has lived across the street from Garber’s home for nearly 25 years.

Hamilton said Garber had been a good neighbor. He also said that before Garber moved in, college students and other random groups rented the property.

“When he came in here, the house across the street was kind of run down,” he said. “He bought it, fixed it up a lot.”

The Mt. Vernon Terrace home sits in the Newtonville Historic District and was built in 1880. It is nearly 4,000 square feet, and the city assessed its value at $1.22 million in 2022. Garber bought the home in 1999.

When Hamilton heard Garber was

2023: Newton Residents Voice

2022: Teachers Protest This story was originally published on April 3, 2022.

raignment on Wednesday according to The Boston Globe. She is due for her next court appearance on Oct. 31.

Police determined that 43-year-old Ke, a former tenant of Garber, had allegedly stolen over $40,000 from Garber through forged checks and had allegedly been spending time with Garber in the days before his body was found, Ryan said. Garber confronted Ke about the theft sometime between last Thursday and Sunday, according to the district attorney. Ke then allegedly struck and killed Garber, Ryan said.

Family reported Garber missing on Monday evening.

Officials saw an individual identified as Ke enter and exit Garber’s home multiple times in the days prior to Tuesday in surveillance camera footage, according to Ryan.

Police had previously visited the home on Monday when Garber was first reported missing but did not locate him.

They visited again early Tuesday before finding Garber’s body in the afternoon,

were met with supportive honking from passing cars.

Last week, the Newton School Committee and leaders from NPS met on three nights to present the details of the 2023 fiscal year budget.

The representatives gave detailed summaries of the budget at the meetings. They went over which positions NPS proposes to cut, including literacy and math interventionists. They also discussed a projected strain on school resources, such as heightened caseloads for guidance counselors.

Several School Committee members said cutting staff positions should be the district’s last resort.

“We are in the exact opposite situation I had hoped we’d be in,” said Rajeev Parlikar, a Newton School Committee member from Ward 1, on Monday night.

“We are taking things away when we should be building them up.”

McCarthy said students in special education are struggling more than other groups of students in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a sentiment that another NPS special education teacher, Elizabeth Opiyo, also expressed.

Opiyo said that despite politicians speaking about how much students are suffering, the budget cuts will limit the resources available to them in elementary, middle, and high schools.

“The school board says, ‘Our big mission is to care about the mental health of our students,’ and then turn around and say, ‘Well, one of the areas that we’re definitely cutting is mental health,’” Opiyo said. “That’s just surprising.”

The potential consequence of the proposed NPS budget for the fiscal year 2023 is strongest in the district’s counseling departments, according to Henry Turner, Newton North High School principal.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/04/03/in-the-face-ofpotential-job-cuts-newton-public-schoolscommunity-takes-a-stand/.

On March 14, Newton residents will vote on three ballot questions regarding Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s proposed $15 million tax increase in compliance with Massachusetts’ Proposition 2 ½ procedure. According to the proposition, Massachusetts municipalities cannot raise property taxes by more than 2.5 percent annually without community approval via an override vote. Newton’s present ballot includes one operating override question, which will permanently increase Newton’s taxes by $9.175 million a year for general operating and capital expenses. The other two ballot questions are regarding debt overrides, which would temporarily raise taxes by $2.3 million and $3.5 million, respectively, to cover the reconstruction of Countryside Elementary School and Franklin Elementary School. Residents will vote on all three questions separately, allowing for the passage of one, two, all, or none of the questions.

Supporters of the Override With the March 14 special election date drawing closer, Newton residents supporting an override vote have become more determined to make their case heard.

“This is the place that we live, and this is a moment where we can make the investment … that we need,” Kerry Prasad, Newton resident and co-founder of Vote Yes for Newton, said. “It’s like sometimes, you have to replace your roof, and no one can see it and no one even thinks you did it, and it costs money, but you have to do it to keep everything in order.”

Vote Yes for Newton is a pro-override campaign working to garner support for the tax override ahead of the special election. Christine Dutt, another co-founder and Newton resident, said her and Prasad’s frustration with the city’s underfunded schools motivated the project.

“There’s been a structural deficit in the [Newton Public Schools] budget for a couple of years, and it does predate the pandemic,” Dutt said. “And so Newton needs to find a renewable and reliable source of funds for its operating expenses.”

Newton Public Schools (NPS) needs the override money to avoid more budget cuts, according to Dutt. Even if the override passes, NPS predicts a $2 to 4 million budget shortfall, compared to the predicted $6 to 8 million shortfall should the override fail. Two of the three ballot questions are debt exclusion questions regarding the funding of reconstruction for

two elementary schools within the city. A debt exclusion override is a tax raise that expires when the city-proposed funding for the project is achieved.

Prasad, whose children previously attended Countryside Elementary School, which would receive funding from the override, expressed frustration with the building.

“Countryside was built in a floodplain, so the basement is always flooded,” Prasad said. “It just depends on how deep the water is, which is not healthy for people to be working or going to school.”

The Countryside Elementary School Building Project—the city’s initiative for Countryside’s reconstruction—is in the feasibility design phase in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), but the MSBA will review the project if the override fails, a document from the organization reads.

Franklin Elementary School—which is the other school included in a debt exclusion question—is also in need of repair, Prasad said.

“It’s 85 years old, and it has problems with the heating, there’s flooding problems,” Prasad said. “My favorite fun fact about it is there’s a little room that was built as a bicycle storage space in 1938. Just like so quaint, pre–World War II, and that is the art room now. So there’s not enough room.”

Beyond renovation, Mike Zilles, president of the Newton Teachers Association, said the passage of the override would provide the funding needed for educator pay.

“We’re in the middle of a contract negotiation,” Zilles said. “If the override doesn’t pass, they’re not going to offer us much money in contract negotiations.”

The Newton Teachers Association said one of the reasons it is advocating strongly for the override and other initiatives that would dedicate more funding to the school system is that the budget deficit is detrimental to teachers.

“Next Tuesday and Wednesday, we’re going to be holding standouts in front of all of the school buildings in the city of Newton,” Zilles said. “They will be educator community standouts—every building, 22 buildings.”

According to Newton resident Laura Towvim, budget problems pose a threat to her children’s education.

“You don’t just find money, it doesn’t grow on trees,” Towvim said. “I’m worried for my own children in terms of availability of courses they can take in high school, if there are less spaces for AP classes, for example, or honors classes. Or electives getting cut, or athletics might be impacted.”

In addition to education, the override will also bolster Newton’s sustainability efforts, incorporating sustainability into the reconstructed school buildings, Prasad said.

“It is our stated purpose in the city that we will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” she said. “So the new school buildings … are going to be carbon neutral, zero carbon footprint buildings.”

Other areas—such as senior services, streets and traffic safety, and green spaces—also require more funding through the override, according to Prasad.

“The amount that the city has been able to raise taxes has just, hasn’t kept up with the cost of everything else over the past 10 years,” Prasad said.

Towvim said her prior experience with a failed tax override in Newton is a reminder of the upcoming vote’s pressing nature.

“There was an override in 2008 that failed, and what they said was that the libraries would all close,” she said. “We had, I think, like four to six branch libraries, and we have a main library. The main library stayed open, but all the branch libraries closed. And people were shocked.”

An override is not without its individual financial downsides, according to Prasad. She said to mitigate the difficulties of a tax raise, residents can look to city resources.

“There are tax assistance programs that the city has—seven tax assistance programs … for injured veterans, and for elderly—for people over the age of 70 who are on fixed incomes,” Prasad said.

Ultimately, according to Towvim, the proposed override is about paying for the features Newton residents want.

“People want first-rate education for their children,” Towvim said. “People want nice roads, and streets, and trees, and all these things, and you have to pay for it. It doesn’t just happen.”

Opponents of the Override Newton’s proposal to override Proposition 2 ½ is misguided, according to some political and business leaders in the city.

“I have said to everybody that this proposal for an override is way premature, and doesn’t reflect what the current conditions are, and the current monies that are there and set aside for reducing the tax rate,” Paul Coletti, a Ward 5 alderman—the previous title for city councilors in the city—for 32 years and chair of Newton’s finance committee from 1984 to 2009, said.

Randy Bock, president of the Newton Taxpayers Association, said the city should examine the funds it already has.

“Right now we have a current budget in excess of a half a billion dollars, and at least $30 million in unspent cash at the end of 2022 and $35 million in unused federal funds,” Bock said. “This Mayor insists on an additional $15 million in taxes.”

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/13/newton-residents-voice-opinions-for-against-override/

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Class of 2024 CommenCement edition

2023: Mount Alvernia’s Closure

Prompts Outcry From Alumni This story was originally published on March 19, 2023.

By Connor Siemien Newton Editor

VICTOR STEFANESCU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

2022: Politicians Rally for Ukraine in Newton This story was originally published on March 27, 2022.

By Victor Stefanescu Metro Editor Congressman Jake Auchincloss said the United States should consider threatening sanctions against China at a Newton rally for Ukraine on Friday—the same day U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNBC such actions would not be appropriate.

Auchincloss said China has implicitly supported Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

“China needs to know that they cannot sit on the sidelines of history,” said Auchincloss, who represents Massachusetts’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. “They will be judged, and they must stand on the right side.”

Auchincloss joined Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, other Massachusetts politicians, and over 100 residents in calling for more efforts at home and abroad to support refugees and bring an end to the conflict.

Both Auchincloss and Fuller said they hoped the United States would accept more Ukrainian refugees following President Joe Biden’s administration’s announcement on Thursday to accept up to 100,000 refugees.

“Our country is ready to take in 100,000 refugees from this war,” Fuller said. “I hope we can do better. I actually think we must do better.”

State-level politicians at the rally said the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a role to play in the conflict as well.

Cynthia Stone Creem, a state senator representing the first Middlesex and Norfolk district, which includes Newton, said Massachusetts is terminating all of its contracts with Russian state-owned businesses.

The State House also approved $10 million in mid-year spending to assist Ukrainian resettlement this month, according to WBUR. Auchincloss co-sponsored the “Yachts for Ukraine Act” on March 18. The bill proposes using liquidated, sanctioned assets of Russian oligarchs and senior officials to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine. At the rally, he also said that he is exploring how the United States can target Russian forces with electronic warfare.

“I’m working with the administration and my colleagues in Congress to chart a path forward for how we can tighten the sanctions on Russia, how we can provision more lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine, and how we can target electronic warfare against Russian forces in Ukraine so that they are undermined and impaired at every turn,” Auchincloss said.

Auchincloss spoke at the rally just under two weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy implored the U.S. Congress to do more for his country.

“This hero closed powerfully in English,” Auchincloss said about Zelenskyy’s March 15 address. “He said to us directly, said ‘Be a leader. Be the leader of the world.

Be a leader for peace.’ How do we lead for peace?”

For Martina Jackson, one of the protest’s organizers and a member of the Newtonville Area Council, the war in Ukraine is personal.

“My father was born in Ukraine,” she said. “I think that the travesty is so overwhelming that … it really goes right to the heart of war crimes and crimes against innocent people. And I think we all have to be out here making it clear how much we disapprove—how much we are revolted by it.”

The conflict was personal for many others in the crowd, too. Julia Zis, a participant who found out about the rally through Instagram, immigrated to the United States from Ukraine when she was nine.

“I’m from a town … which hasn’t really been impacted highly as of yet,” Zis said.

“But [for] the friends I do talk to, that I have still there, sirens just go off every single day, and it’s something that they’re just used to, which is crazy.”

Viera Proulx, another Newton resident, immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968.

“It’s very close to my heart, and I’m trying to not think about it, because if I do, it hurts too much,” Proulx said with tears in her eyes.

Jackson said she thought of the idea for the rally on Monday. She said the March 25 date of the protest coincides well with Biden’s trip to eastern Europe.

Olga Kissin, a Newton resident who learned about the protest through Fuller’s newsletter, said she felt called to attend the protest because the conflict in Ukraine affects everyone.

“I think it’s important to understand that everyone’s lives are impacted—that it’s not somebody else’s world,” Kissin said.

“The whole free world needs to step up.”

At the rally’s 4:30 p.m. gathering time, only a few residents and a sound crew populated the Newton Centre Green at the corner of Centre and Beacon Streets. But in the next half hour, droves of attendees filled the greenspace.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/03/27/politicians-call-for-greater-sanctions-humani-

Mount Alvernia High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Newton, will close at the conclusion of the 2022–23 academic year, according to a release from the school’s board of directors and the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who own the property at 790 Centre St. Following the announcement, several alumni of the school spoke out against the decision on Facebook, calling it detrimental to the education of young women. A petition on Change.org has gathered 3,548 signatures by the time of publication.

“We do believe in the life and mission of St. Francis of Assisi, and all-girls education gives girls the chance to learn, and grow, and become the person they were created to be, and losing another all-girls school is really unfortunate for women’s education,” said Mary Kate Feeney, former director of communications at the school and Mount Alvernia ’01.

Another alumna, Kathleen Joyce, former chair of the board of alumni and Mount Alvernia ’92, said the school lent itself well to creating strong friendships and connections.

“We were a very small class ourselves, we

graduated 26 girls, and some of my best friends to this day are from high school,” Joyce said.

“We had outstanding faculty, a real, true sense of community, and to this day we all get together because of our friendships that developed.”

The Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception said the school will close because the sisters are no longer able to live on the property where the school is located.

“As they move, it will be unsustainable for MAHS to continue alone, and the property on which the school sits will be sold,” the release reads. “The MAHS Board of Directors worked tirelessly to explore all options, including maintaining the MAHS community in a new location, if at all possible.”

Enrollment in the school has steadily decreased in the last 15 years, according to an article from The Boston Globe. Membership in the sisters’ mission has also gone down, something they discussed at a forum last month, according to The Boston Globe.

Currently, the school plans to merge with another all-girls school, Fontbonne Academy in Milton, Mass., allowing all students in good academic standing and applicants who have already been admitted to Mount Alvernia to automatically enroll at Fontbonne for the 2023–24 academic year.

“Fontbonne is aligned with our culture and commitment to developing the full person,

and the school believes deeply in cultivating women of courage who are ready to create their own individual future,” the release reads.

Joyce said she has questions about the sisters’ approach to selling the school.

“I believe the sisters could have been more creative—they could have shown more leadership,” Joyce said. “I believe the sisters could have shown more leadership, and be more creative and could have brokered a deal—a future deal—that included the school, not just the sale of the land for money.”

The Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception did not respond to three requests for comment.

Both the City of Newton and Boston College have shown interest in buying the land where the school currently resides.

“This news is difficult for the students at Mount Alvernia High School and their families,” a statement from Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller reads. “We recently learned of the closing, and like any large property that becomes available in the City of Newton, we will explore the options and undertake our due diligence to better understand the opportunities.”

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/03/19/88-year-old-newton-catholic-schools-closure-prompts-outcryfrom-alumni/.

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Mount Alvernia High School, which sits across the street from BC’s Newton Campus, announced it will close in 2023.

2021: Man With Knife Fatally

Shot by Newton Police in Newton This story was originally published on Jan. 5, 2021.

By Julia Remick Metro Editor Newton police officers fatally shot a 28-year-old male who was carrying a knife at a store in Newton Highlands on Tuesday, after receiving a report of an armed robbery and subsequently being unable to de-escalate the situation, alongside Massachusetts State Police troopers.

According to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, Newton Police received a 911 call at approximately 1:43 p.m., from the candy store Indulge! on Lincoln Street.

“This is a tragedy and we feel this loss of life deeply,” Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said in a statement on Tuesday. “My heart goes out to everyone who was touched by what happened in the heart of Newton this afternoon, including the family of the young man who died.”

Ryan said in a press conference on Tuesday that two Newton police officers first

arrived at the scene and located the man, who was a resident of an apartment above the candy store, in possession of a knife. The officers then pursued the man to the third floor of the building, according to Ryan.

Ryan said that the police called for backup, including additional police officers and a clinician with mental health expertise.

Additional Newton police officers arrived on the scene, as well as two Massachusetts State Police troopers.

Newton police officers used less-thanlethal force to subdue the man by using a beanbag shotgun, according to Ryan. One of the Massachusetts State troopers also used a taser at 2:01 p.m.

“Both of those uses of non-lethal force were unsuccessful in detaining the subject,” Ryan said.

Ryan said that two Newton police officers then fired their service weapons, striking the man carrying the knife, who was subsequently transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital and later pronounced dead. The name of the man who was killed has not

yet been released, pending next-of-kin notification.

Ryan said that several officers were hospitalized after the incident but none sustained serious injuries.

“Members of the public here in Newton, though, please know that this incident is over, [and] that it is now safe here in Newton,” Fuller said. “Our hearts go out to the family of the young man who was lost.”

Ryan said that the District Attorney’s Office is still in the early stages of the investigation and that additional information, including the facts and circumstances of the altercation, will be released as it becomes available.

“The Newton Police Department looks forward to cooperating fully with the District Attorney and with the state investigation, and we are so thankful there will be a thorough and complete investigation,” Fuller said.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/01/05/man-withknife-fatally-shot-by-police-in-newton/.

2024: Newton Teachers Association Reaches Contract, Ends Strike This story was originally published on Feb. 3, 2024.

By Genevieve Morrison Assoc. Newton Editor

After a strike that closed all Newton Public Schools for 11 days, the Newton Teachers Association (NTA) reached a contract with the Newton School Committee (NSC) and announced schools will reopen Monday.

“We are … thrilled to settle a new fouryear contract that honors the tremendous work our teachers do – a contract the city can afford – a contract that serves our students,” Mayor Ruthanne Fuller wrote in an email announcement Friday night.

The new teachers’ contract includes higher cost-of-living adjustments, up to 60 days of parental leave, and a side deal that promises a social worker in all but three school buildings by 2025.

“This contract reflects our values including respect for our educators,” the NSC said in an email.

Newton teachers had been working without a contract for the 2023–24 school

year thus far, and had been in tense contract negotiations with the NSC since 2022.

By Friday, the union accrued $625,000 in fines for violating a state law that prohibits public employees from striking.

Two parents in the district have filed

suits against the teachers’ union, claiming emotional damages to their children as a result of the extended school closure.

“The increase in screen time and disruption to their education, as a result of this illegal strike, has caused major concern on behalf of these parents for the

mental well being of their children,” Newton parents Allison and David Goldberg wrote in their filing.

A lawyer for the NTA countered by arguing the intervention by parents in the court proceedings is not valid.

“It is not the appropriate vehicle for

GENEVIEVE MORRISON / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Newton Teachers Association’s strike lasted 14 days, making it the longest Massachusetts strike in the last 30 years.

third parties to seek to pursue outside legal theories or damages,” staff counsel Laurie Houle wrote. “The parents here have no right to intervene.”

On Thursday, the NSC voted to cancel February vacation, a week-long break that was scheduled to begin the 19th of the month, to make up for instruction lost due to the strike. The school committee said it would be too difficult to make up the days at the end of the school year.

As the Monday of the scheduled vacation week is Presidents’ Day, canceling the break only returned four school days to the calendar. State law requires the district to complete 180 days of school before June 30.

Ma ssachusett s G overnor Maura Healey also stepped in on Thursday, asking a Middlesex Superior Court judge to appoint an arbitrator for the contract negotiations, had the parties not reached an agreement by Friday afternoon.

Read the full story online at https://www. https://www.bcheights.com/2024/02/03/ newton-teachers-association-reaches-contract-ends-strike/.

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Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

2024: BC Sweethearts Serve Up Sandwiches and Community

This story was originally published on April 18, 2024.

By Genevieve Morrison Assoc. Newton Editor

Mara and Jeff DeBonee’s love story started as student coworkers in Stuart Dining Hall on Boston College’s Newton Campus. It blossomed into a different kind of partnership after graduation.

They now co-own Sandwich Works, a homey Newton Centre staple serving breakfast and lunch since 1991.

After 33 years in business, their food is tried and true—the eggs are fluffy, baked goods are dense and sweet, and the coffee is chilled with coffee-flavored ice cubes to ensure that the drink doesn’t water down.

But at Sandwich Works, the food is not the only thing that draws people back again and again.

“My favorite thing is the people that work behind the counter,” customer Ricardo Sousa said. “They make the

atmosphere really good here, really welcoming.”

For Mara and Jeff, the feeling is mutual. At the counter, Mara greets customers like friends, while Jeff cooks at the grill just a few feet away, chiming into conversations and catching up with the familiar faces. The two of them know everyone’s names and usual orders.

“We have the best customers,” Mara said. “Kind and understanding people.”

When the two met at Stuart Dining Hall in 1986, Mara was a senior and student manager, and Jeff was a freshman employee.

“I did whatever she said, but she wasn’t really a very good manager,” Jeff said, laughing. “She didn’t like telling people what to do.”

Mara said she looks back on her time in Stuart fondly.

“It was just fun,” Mara said.

While Jeff ’s college job as a freshman led him to his future wife, it was his junior year job that led him to his future career.

“I had to get a job so I could afford to go out and do those kinds of things kids like to do, so I got a job downtown at a bar, first waiting tables, then at a bar,” Jeff said.

When Jeff ’s boss at the bar opened a new location for a restaurant, Sandwich Works—based in West Newton at the time—he offered Jeff a position as its manager after he graduated in 1989.

Later, Jeff took over the franchise, which has since consolidated into a single location in Newton Centre.

“I had nothing planned, and I said, you know, if I’m ever going to do a business, now would be the time,” Jeff said.

Mara, who studied education at BC, worked as a teacher after her graduation in 1985, then joined the business full-time after the couple had children.

“It was just better to come here,” Mara said. “Even when I worked, I would come here in the mornings and do stuff, then go to work and come back. I’m always here.”

Jeff, who was an English and economics double-major at BC, said that because

GENEVIEVE MORRISON / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Mara and Jeff, the co-owners of Sandwich Works, met while they worked at Stuar t Dining Hall in 1986.

GENEVIEVE MORRISON / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Sandwich Works of fers catering ser vices to the New ton community. he hadn’t initially planned to enter the restaurant business, his culinary skills are self-taught.

“I’ve never had any formal training,” Jeff said. “I just learn as I go, which is a lot easier now with YouTube and Instagram and all that stuff.”

Sandwich Works spans far beyond its cozy Newton Centre location, with its catering that serves Newton’s community and government offices.

“It’s so busy now, we do lots of catering, formal catering, lots of stuff at BC, at the city, schools, the health department, the mayor’s office, all of that,” Jeff said.

The catering side of the business has grown over the years, according to Jeff.

“It’s spread over time,” Jeff said.

“People will go somewhere and have a sandwich during a meeting and [ask], ‘Oh where did you get that,’ and they’ll tell them and they’ll order it, so it kind of grows like that.”

They also gained new customers during the pandemic, when few other restaurants were open.

“In that time, we got a bunch of new customers who maybe were going somewhere else, like going to Starbucks,

before,” Jeff said. “That was closed, so they came in.”

One such customer, Newton resident Patrick Knight, said he became a regular during the pandemic. “ Th e y s t ay e d o p e n a l l th ro u g h COVID,” Knight said. “I came in every day, got my lunch and breakfast. These folks: awesome.”

Sandwich Works’s menu has grown with time as well, Jeff said.

“When we first started, people would just come in and get tuna on wheat or turkey on a sub roll,” Jeff said. “That was most of it. Now people want, like, mozzarella tomato basil with pesto—a lot of stuff.”

Now, Sandwich Works boasts everything from a classic reuben to the specialty “Newton Centre Gobbler,” which is a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce and stuffing.

Customers like Sousa said some of these new additions to the menu are their favorites.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2024/04/18/bc-sweetheartsserve-sandwiches-and-community-at-new-

2023: BC Purchases Mount Alvernia High School Property This story was originally published on Oct. 3, 2023.

BY WILL MARTINO Asst. News Editor Boston College purchased Mount Alvernia High School’s closed-down campus for $40.5 million, according to Massachusetts Land Records.

“Boston College has purchased the 23-acre Mount Alvernia High School campus and convent property at 790 Centre Street in Newton from the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception,” read a University release published on Tuesday The University plans to use the newly acquired property, which is located across from BC’s Newton Campus, for “educational and administrative purposes,” according to the release.

Last March, Mount Alvernia High School’s board of directors and the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception sent a release announcing the school would close

after 88 years. “[The Francisican Sisters] reached out to Boston College, with which they have maintained close ties for more than 85 years, with the goal of keeping the property in the hands of a Catholic educational institution,” the University’s release read.

The Francicans Sisters’ decision to close the school was controversial among Mount Alvernia alumni. A petition that challenged the closure garnered 3,615 signatures.

“This recent move to sell the property is not a [reflection] of those same values that were instilled in each student,” reads the petition, started by Mira Robinson. “There was no opportunity given to Mt. Alvernia students, faculty, and staff to work toward a vision that the MFIC had in mind.”

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said in a statement to The Heights that Mount Alvernia High School was an important part of the Newton community.

“We learned from Boston College officials yesterday of their purchase of

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The University purchased the closed-down campus, which is across from the Newton Campus, for $40.5 million. this important parcel,” she said in the 23-acre property.” release, the property contains three statement. “We look forward to hearing BC’s purchase of the property was buildings and a garage, spanning 73,850 more about their future plans for the finalized on Oct. 3. According to the gross square feet. n

2022: Newton City Council Approves $1.56 Million

in Settlements for Racial Discrimination Lawsuits

STEVE MOONEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

This story was originally published on Feb. 22, 2022.

BY GAVIN ZHANG Assoc. Metro Editor Newton City Council voted to approve settlements of $1.56 million and $65,000 reached on two separate lawsuits filed by members of the Newton

Fire Department involving allegations of racial discrimination on Feb. 7, according to a statement from Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller.

“We know we have work to do, urgent work, to create, implement and nurture a more equitable and inclusive workplace,” Fuller wrote in the statement.

Lee Gilliam filed a lawsuit against

the City of Newton and the Newton Fire Department on June 17, 2021. In the complaint, Gilliam requested compensation for emotional distress caused by a hostile work environment due to racism.

According to the complaint, Gilliam, who is African American, began working for the fire department in 2004 and has since faced racist remarks.

“On several occasions, when a crime story was featured [on TV], firefighters would comment ‘[of ] course, it’s a black guy,’” the complaint reads. “When Gilliam spoke up he was called ‘princess’ and would be told by the others ‘not to be so sensitive.’”

According to the complaint, in 2018, after working at the fire department for 14 years, Gilliam did not receive a promotion despite qualifying for the position. Instead, the position went to a less qualified Caucasian department member.

A superior who clashed with Gilliam on multiple occasions with alleged racial motives played a significant role in Gilliam not receiving the appointment, according to the complaint. Gilliam

confronted the superior for his alleged involvement, and further conflicts erupted between the two.

“Instead of privately discussing the matter with Gilliam, [the superior] confronted him in front of the entire firehouse,” the complaint reads. “[The superior] told Gilliam that he ‘lacked intelligence.’ As Gilliam walked by [the superior], he called him a ‘monkey’ under his breath and then went on to publicly belittle him further in front of his supervisors and colleagues.”

Gilliam not only experienced racist remarks from his Caucasian colleagues, according to the complaint. In a separate incident, a Black colleague made colorist remarks to him, alluding to Gilliam’s mixed African American and Caucasian heritage.

The Newton Fire Department has since terminated the firefighter who made the remarks to Gilliam, according to that firefighter’s appeal for reinstallation.

Gilliam will receive the $1.56 million settlement from the city.

In her statement, Fuller wrote that

Newton is working toward creating a more inclusive environment throughout the city’s municipal departments.

Newton has hired its first director of community engagement and inclusion, she wrote, and plans to recruit “an experienced firm” to further institutionalize inclusiveness. Multiple municipal departments, including the Newton Fire Department, are also undergoing workplace discrimination training.

“Every member of the Newton Fire Department has been trained on harassment, discrimination, and respect in the workplace,” Fuller wrote. “This training in the Newton Fire Department will continue with more sessions and related programs.”

Gilliam and his attorney David Summer declined to comment.

Edgardo J. Melendez, another firefighter in the Newton Fire Department, will receive the $65,000 settlement for a separate lawsuit.

Melendez could not be reached for comment. n Olivia Joung contributed to reporting.

Opinions Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

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Editor’s Note: Opinions editors Connor Kilgallon and Makayla Hickey have compiled the most notable editorials and op-eds published during the Class of 2024’s college career. Inside are the opinions voiced by the BC community.

2021: Boston College Should Validate LGBTQ+ Students and Establish a Resource Center This editorial was originally published on March 28, 2021.

BY THE HEIGHTS EDITORIAL BOARD Boston College should validate its LGBTQ+ students by breaking from the Vatican regarding its recent statement that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex marriages and that such relationships are sinful. The University should release a statement in support of its LGBTQ+ students and commit to establishing an on-campus resource center.

LGBTQ+ students have said they feel unwelcome and out of place on BC’s campus. Alexandra Katz, Student Assembly representative and LSEHD ’23, told The Heights, “As somebody who is openly and unapologetically gay on this campus, I can attest to the fact that the mere act of existing as an LGBTQIA+ individual on this campus is an act of courage and nonconformity in itself.”

BC has broken from official

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR

church doctrine before—within the past year, in fact. The University stated its refusal to divest from fossil fuels in June of 2020 in response to the Vatican’s call for Catholics to divest from anything that is “harmful to human or social ecology.” The University should choose to break from church doctrine again—this time, in support of the LGBTQ+ community. BC’s decision not to contradict the church on this issue

will serve as confirmation that it selectively follows the direction of the Vatican.

Affirming students’ identities in light of the Vatican’s statement is a good first step for the University to take, but it is the bare minimum—an LGBTQ+ resource center is still needed. The University does offer students some resources, but they are not enough.

BC offers Pride Peers mentoring,

the Spectrum retreat, discussion groups for LGBTQ+ students, and a special celebration at graduation to celebrate the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ students. But LGBTQ+ students still do not feel comfortable on campus.

Other Jesuit schools have made more impactful efforts to facilitate inclusive environments on campus by creating physical spaces dedicated to LGBTQ+ students. For example, Georgetown University has an LGBTQ+ resource center and the University of San Francisco has a gender and sexuality center.

BC should follow the example of its peer institutions and establish an LGBTQ+ resource center on campus.

Campus culture should be actively welcoming, but this cannot happen if the University does not voice support for its LGBTQ+ students. Students should also actively participate in creating a more welcoming environment on campus.

A good first step for students is to sign the petition that the GLBTQ+

Leadership Council has created, calling on the University “to clarify their position on LGBTQ+ rights and to make a statement in support of Queer students and alumni.”

BC’s 2020 resource guide for LGBTQ+ students states that “Boston College, as a Catholic and Jesuit university, has a responsibility to promote the pastoral care of all members of the university community and is committed to the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of all our students.

The university seeks to foster a campus culture that welcomes diversity, embraces inclusivity, promotes dialogue, and creates a safe and supportive environment for all.”

BC should live up to this statement and the Jesuit concept of cura personalis: care for the whole person.

A person’s sexual orientation is not a choice and is part of who they are. The University has a responsibility to care for its LGBTQ+ students, regardless of what the Vatican says. n

2023: BC Must Update

Demonstration Policy This editorial was originally published on Feb. 26, 2023.

BY THE HEIGHTS EDITORIAL BOARD Boston College needs to ease its policies and restrictions on student demonstration to better support its students’ free speech rights.

Section 11.10 on student demonstrations in BC’s Student Code of Conduct forbids students from hosting any demonstrations without approval from the administration in advance.

Students are also not allowed to disturb any day-to-day operations of the University through their demonstrations or hold events that “adversely impact the mission of Boston College, especially its Jesuit, Catholic dimensions.”

These statutes contradict BC’s self-defined “longstanding commitment” to its students’ freedom of expression. These rules should be amended to provide a more welcoming environment where students feel comfortable voicing dissent.

BC has a long history of hosting controversial student protests. In the late 1960s, BC community members held protests and counter-protests against Dow Chemical Company’s efforts to recruit BC students, as the company provided napalm to the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. And in the 1970s, UGBC organized a schoolwide class strike in response to the U.S. bombing campaign in Vietnam, in which approximately 60 percent of arts and sciences students did not show up to their classes for days. BC would not allow these protests under its current Code of Conduct, which prohibits any demonstrations from “disrupting the ordinary operation of the University.”

Protests did not stop after the nationwide unrest of the Vietnam era.

In the late 1980s, students worked with recent alumni to protest BC’s denial of full professorship to prominent feminist theologian Mary Daly. Since then, BC students have protested subjects ranging from the Iraq War to racial injustice.

But things are different now. In October 2021, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranked BC at 151 out of 154 in a list comparing free speech climates on university campuses.

Interim Associate Vice President for Student Engagement and Formation Claire Ostrander said in an email to The Heights that only one student demon-

stration was registered with the office in the last year.

Yet, there are a variety of student organizations—registered or otherwise—that regularly and openly oppose BC’s institutional choices.

Climate Justice at BC (CJBC), for example, opposes BC’s investment in fossil fuels. When the group hosted a protest where pro-divestment messages with vulgar language were sent to University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., the University sanctioned the group.

On the other hand, BC does not even recognize Students for Sexual Health (SSH) as an official University organization, and it has routinely banned the group from distributing contraceptives on campus. As an independent organization, it would not be allowed to host student demonstrations on campus.

Groups such as CJBC and SSH show that there are dissenting student voices that want to change the University for the better. But protest policies shielded by a veil of cherry-picked “Jesuit Values” undermine students’ abilities to advocate for themselves and others. As such, the policies set out by the University may deter student attempts to register a protest if they do not want to sit down to a meeting with a BC administrator.

To get a protest approved by the University, students must meet with the associate vice president for student engagement and formation and provide detailed plans about the event. Organizing and conducting an unregistered demonstration can result in the University punishing student demonstrators.

Section 11.10 on Student Demonstrations in the BC Student Code of Conduct further prohibits demonstrations that go against the Jesuit, Catholic mission of Boston College.

But these same Jesuit, Catholic “dimensions” that BC cites in its Student Code of Conduct do not limit student activism at peer institutions.

Unlike BC, the demonstration policies of Georgetown University, Marquette University, and Loyola University Chicago—all institutions founded in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition—possess no explicitly Catholic restrictions on student demonstrations.

Read the full story online at https://

www.bcheights.com/2023/02/26/ bcs-student-demonstration-policyneeds-to-be-updated-to-better-servestudents-free-speech-rights/.

2022: New Mile 21 Programming Engages Students During Marathon YUKTI SAJNANI / FOR THE HEIGHTS

This editorial was originally published on April 25, 2022.

BY THE HEIGHTS EDITORIAL BOARD Boston College administrators and student organizations should be commended for the success of their student programming on Marathon Monday.

The campus-centric activities— which included Breakfast Bingo, Mile 21 Field Day, and a live concert by Jason Derulo in the Mod Lot—refocused Marathon Monday behavior away from overcrowded parties off campus and toward celebrating the runners and Greater Boston community.

This sets a strong precedent for future collaboration on events that require compromise from both students and University administrators.

Students typically cross Commonwealth Avenue early in the morning to party at off-campus houses before runners arrive.

The University and Boston Police Department received a large number of complaints about student behavior from local residents after the last marathon in October, according to an April 14 email sent to the student body.

“Boston Police is expected to have zero tolerance for disruptive behavior and underage drinking in the neighborhoods,” wrote Tom Mogan, associate vice president of student engagement and formation, in the email. “It is critical that all students are respectful of our neighbors who live close to campus, as well as their property.”

To address these concerns, administrators consulted student groups and leaders to create on-campus programming that would alleviate the strain of off-campus celebrations.

This collaboration is exemplary and should be employed more often to implement well-informed solutions to other issues that directly affect students.

Crowds of students enjoyed lawn activities, food trucks, and raffles on Maloney Lawn throughout the day.

Despite arriving on stage more than an hour late, Derulo’s performance had no major technical issues, maintaining the excitement of Marathon Monday while also drawing students away from the off-campus neighborhood.

The efforts of administrators and student groups—including UGBC, the Division of Student Affairs, Campus Activities Board, BC Athletics,

Campus Ministry, and BC Recreation—eased the tension between BC and the surrounding community by incentivizing appropriate behavior and crowd control.

These student-led groups strategically used their resources to reinforce a sense of safety and community during Marathon Monday celebrations.

It is refreshing to see student leaders effectively bridge the gap between students and administrators by maximizing the potential of their financial resources.

The collaboration of these groups also helped connect the BC community. Administrators cheered on runners—many of whom are members of the BC community—alongside students at Mile 21.

This Marathon Monday was a strong example of the BC community coming together to celebrate a Boston tradition and support marathon runners.

Increased communication and collaboration between University administrators and student-led organizations will improve the highly anticipated marathon experience for students and improve BC’s relationship with the Greater Boston community. n

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2023: Navigating BC Housing as a Transgender Woman This op-ed was originally published on April 14, 2023.

By Anonymous Many of you recently endured the trickiest part of college: housing.

Whether you’re off-campus apartment hunting or scrambling to find an 8th person for a suite, lots of students fear the thought of not having an ideal place to go (especially if you have a late pick time). Housing is especially complicated for me: I’d like to share my experiences with the housing process as a transgender woman.

I came out as transgender during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I was

able to start medically transitioning (through hormone replacement therapy) just a few months before college.

I was nervous about college like any other freshman. What should I get for my room? What clothes should I bring? How am I going to navigate BC? But this is where other freshmen and I differ in terms of nervousness.

I was able to medically transition and be perceived as a woman, yet I applied and was accepted to BC under my deadname and sex assigned at birth.

How was I going to navigate BC and my life with this situation in mind? My first plan was a compromise—present femininely but hide my gender iden-

tity, allowing myself to be deadnamed and misgendered. That plan quickly failed.

First semester of freshman year I met new people, explored Boston, and attended many campus events. One of my fondest memories was having dinner with my friends at Mac and enjoying our time together. After sharing a few laughs, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways to our respective dorm buildings. I left with a smile on my face, but as I approached my dorm building my smile disappeared and was replaced with fear. I would go back to my single … that was on an all-male floor. I was so paranoid that I would rush in and out of my

dorm: What would my hallmates think of me? Did they clock me? It was hard enjoying freshman year because of this.

What made it worse was bathrooms. How the hell was I supposed to use a male communal bathroom? I would wake up at 4:30 a.m., gather my things, and peer through the peephole to see if anyone was up. I then bolted to the bathroom. I would take the quickest showers ever. I did this for a few weeks, but I was able to go home on weekends as I live about an hour away from BC. Going home on weekends gave me a break from 4:30 a.m. showers, but because I was home I would miss out on going to a party or

exploring the city with friends.

Each weekend at home, I started to get more and more lonely. I also realized how much my situation and my identity hindered me from having fun and living my life. Being deadnamed or misgendered didn’t stress me out as much as brushing my teeth or putting in my contacts in the communal bathroom did.

One week I finally gave up. I was fortunate to know people that could point me to a solution.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/04/14/im-the-only-girlon-a-male-floor-my-experience-navigatingbc-housing-as-a-transgender-woman/.

2023: BC Should Name

245 Beacon After Fr. Monan This editorial was originally published on Feb. 12, 2023.

By The Heights Editorial Board

ESS RIVILIS / HEIGHTS STAFF

2022: A Letter From Jerry York This letter was originally published on April 24, 2022.

BY JERRY YORK Dear BC Community, Pulling on a BC hockey jersey almost 60 years ago was a dream come true. When Fr. Monan offered me the opportunity to return to the Heights in 1994 as the men’s hockey coach, it gave me the chance to relive that dream for the past 28 years.

A team is the most special group of which a person can be a part. Everyone is equally invested in achieving a common goal, something larger than themselves. My team has

been Boston College for as long as I can remember. I’ve considered all of you—students, faculty, superfans and alums—part of the BC hockey team and true teammates. You helped to make every day I spent on campus special and every game I coached memorable.

I want to thank Fr. Leahy and the University administration, faculty, and staff for all they do to form our students in and out of the classroom.

I also am grateful for the wonderful services provided to the Boston College community by offices such as Admission, Campus Ministry, Student Affairs, Residential Life,

Boston College Police Department, and BC Dining. Our trophies are certainly your trophies. Let me say to the administrators, coaches, and student-athletes who have made up my athletic family that I have loved working alongside you and watching and cheering for you as you have represented BC so proudly and successfully over the years. I have learned much from all of you, and you have made me a better coach and Eagle.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/04/24/letter-to-theeditor-jerry-yorks-letter-to-the-bostoncollege-community/.

Through his 24 years at the helm of Boston College, former University President Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J. saved BC from financial ruin and bolstered the University’s status as a top institution of American higher education.

Now, regardless of its financial interests, the University should honor Monan’s transformative presidency by naming 245 Beacon Street after him.

Monan arrived at BC in 1972 at a time when the University faced financial debt. It was also predominantly male and largely a commuter college. But from the beginning, Monan saw BC’s potential.

“I would like to ask that all of us not only always pursue excellence and always achieve excellence by others’ standards,” Monan said at a gathering at the start of his presidency. “I want to ask something more, because I think we have the opportunity and the resources for more. I ask that we create new standards of excellence, and that we be the first to achieve those standards. I believe we can do it.”

And by the time he finished his tenure leading BC, the University exceeded those high-reaching standards.

The University’s endowment was among the highest in the nation, applica-

tion numbers had more than doubled, and the school was ranked in the top 40 among national universities according to the U.S. News & World Report in 1996.

Almost 30 years later, Monan’s legacy is impossible to avoid. During his presidency, Monan facilitated the construction of Robsham Theater, O’Neill Library, Conte Forum, Merkert Chemistry Center, the McMullen Museum of Art, the John J. Burns Library, and Newton Campus’ Law Library. He also oversaw immense renovations to Bapst Library and Alumni Stadium. But Monan’s impact extends beyond these physical markers of growth.

The Jesuit embodied BC’s principles of educational advancement by striving to put students first.

“I will try and give all the time I can to students because after all students are what we are all about,” Monan said in his first interview with The Heights in 1972.

Despite Monan’s immense contributions to the University, he is not honored with any major physical memorial on campus. As of 2023, BC’s tributes to Monan are minimal— chief among them are a visiting professorship title in the theatre department and a general University fundraising tier level.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/12/a-historic-manwho-deserves-recognition-boston-collegeshould-name-245-beacon-street-after-rev-jdonald-monan/.

2021: BC Should Require COVID-19 Vaccinations

This editorial was originally published on April 11, 2021.

nounced that they will require students

against COVID-19 in order to return to

to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,

campus in the fall. Massachusetts Gover-

BY The Heights Editorial Board

including Northeastern University, which

nor Charlie Baker said on April 7 that he

announced on April 6 that it will require

will not be instituting vaccine passports,

students to provide proof of inoculation

as he wants the state to focus on getting

in order to return to any of its campuses

people vaccinated. People who argue

students to be vaccinated for COVID-19

worldwide in the fall. Boston University

against requiring proof of inoculation

in order to return to campus in the fall.

also announced on Friday that it will

say that it is an issue of patient privacy.

If the University does not require the

require students to be vaccinated in the

This argument does not hold in educa-

vaccine, students should get the vac-

fall, and will help students get vaccinated

tion, though, as schools already require

cine anyway, in order to do their part in

upon their return to campus if they are

students to provide proof of vaccination

promoting the health and safety of the BC

unable to get vaccinated over the summer.

against other viruses in order to enroll.

Boston College should require

community.

Requiring students to get vaccinat-

The difference with the COVID-19

ed will likely become a tricky legal and

vaccine is that it has received emergency

to report for asymptomatic surveillance

political issue. Governor Ron DeSantis of

use authorization rather than full FDA

testing all year, so requiring vaccination

Florida banned “vaccine passports” in re-

approval. This does not mean that the

next year would be a logical next step for

sponse to Nova Southeastern University’s

vaccine is any less effective, it means that

the University.

announcement that it will require all stu-

people were able to receive the vaccine

dents, faculty, and staff to be vaccinated

sooner after the clinical trials were

The University has required students

Several colleges have already an-

finished.

BC requires students to submit proof of inoculation against tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and meningitis. Massachusetts required all students to receive the flu vaccine in 2020 in an attempt to lessen the burden on the health care system. The deadline to receive the flu vaccine was extended from Dec. 31, 2020 to Feb. 2021.

The mandate was dropped in January after the Massachusetts Department of Public Health determined that it was a mild flu season, so students were never actually required to provide proof of vaccination. While many students did not end up needing to provide documentation, the mandate likely

prompted more students to get the flu shot than usual.

With the COVID-19 vaccine becoming more widely available, BC should require students to be vaccinated to return to campus in the fall.

University Health Services currently has the COVID-19 vaccine listed as “highly recommended,” but the University should follow the example of Northeastern, BU, and the growing list of other colleges, and make vaccination a requirement, not just a recommendation.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/04/11/editorial-vaccination-should-be-required-for-studentsto-return-to-boston-college-in-the-fall/.

2024: BC Should Justify Home-Tuition Abroad Policy This editorial was originally published on Feb.19, 2024.

BY The Heights Editorial Board Two weeks ago, 1,033 Boston College students received their 2024–25 study abroad placements.

When considering the opportunity of studying abroad, a key factor for many of these students and their families is the financial burden. Students often must find their own housing in their program’s respective city, budget food costs, fund travel expenses, and more.

But above all these expenses is the glaring first cost of every abroad program: tuition.

No matter which program a student enrolls in, BC requires them to pay $33,205 in tuition, the same price they would pay for classes in Chestnut Hill. Students who receive financial aid through the University receive the same aid packages while abroad.

Some abroad locations are consid-

ered “BC in” programs, at which BC has a direct partnership with the host university. The rest of the locations are at “approved external programs,” which have no direct BC affiliation.

Similar to BC, Duke University offers students the opportunity to study abroad through either an external program or a “Duke-In” program. Like at BC, “Duke-In” programs require students to pay home-university tuition. But the cost of external programs—which are the majority of the abroad locations offered by both BC and Duke—is a different story.

The DIS Stockholm is an external program available to both BC and Duke students. BC requires students who attend this program to pay a full BC tuition of $33,205. Duke only requires students who attend this program to pay the host-school’s tuition of $22,050.

For the same experience, BC students pay $11,155 more.

Like DIS Stockholm, the majority of the external programs BC students

are approved to study abroad at have lower tuition rates than BC. Larry Pickener, director of BC’s Office of Global Education (OGE), said BC’s home school tuition policy makes abroad more equitable by allowing students on financial aid to receive aid while abroad.

“By paying tuition directly to Boston College, students who are on financial aid may apply their financial aid to any program approved by the Office of Global Education,” Pickener wrote in a statement to The Heights.

“Home school tuition also allows OGE to better exercise its duty of care with all students who are abroad.”

While this may seem like a noble line of reason, why is a fairly priced tuition payment mutually exclusive with students’ ability to receive financial aid during their time abroad?

Duke, for instance, provides the same financial aid to students who study abroad at external programs. Regardless of whether a student is paying Duke tuition or the tuition of their

host university, they can still receive financial aid.

BC also emphasizes the efforts it makes to provide vast services to students while abroad, which are factored into the tuition pricing. This ranges from resident directors to safety monitoring to ensure students remain out of danger. Does the expense of these services justify the additional cost that a full BC tuition creates?

Perhaps. Unfortunately, there’s no

way for students to know. In the case of DIS Stockholm, for example, where does the extra $11,155 go? The breakdown of where surplus funds gathered from the tuition of students studying abroad are being allocated must be issued transparently.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2024/02/19/when-bc-students-study-abroad-they-pay-bc-hometuition-bc-should-justify-this-policy/

GRAPHIC BY ANNIE LADD REID / HEIGHTS EDITOR

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Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

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Editor’s Note: Arts editors Sofia Torres, Jack Weynand, and Leah Stitzel have pulled together some of the most memorable Boston College arts stories from the last four years. The Class of 2024 witnessed many iconic arts events, from the return of events interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of Marathon Monday concert programming.

KATIE MA / HEIGHTS STAFF

2024: Looking Behind the Scenes of ‘Living in Color’

This story was originally published on Feb. 25, 2024.

BY SOFIA TORRES

Arts Editor

JACK WEYNAND

Assoc. Arts Editor

Inspired by Kendrick Lamar’s “We Cry Together” and director Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie, Angus Williams, singer-songwriter, and MCAS ’25, birthed the theme for this year’s Living in Color showcase—the tensions of inter and outer relationships within and surrounding the Black community.

In comparison to last year, Williams, also known by his stage name CARAMEL, decided Living in Color would run during the span of one evening, merging different types of artistic talent into a single

event. Williams gathered two poets, two dance performers, four vocalists, Waaw Waaw Boston College, a violinist, a bass player, and two pianists to make Living in Color an experience that will convey the different stages of racial tension through multiple forms.

“I’m excited to have all the different parts come together,” Williams said. “To see that art come together in one space, all those different genres of art.”

Williams emphasized how every member behind the making of Living in Color is united by their passion for doing what they love and the message they aim to deliver, whether this be through dancing, singing, managing the team, writing poetry, or playing instruments.

The evening will be composed of five thematic chapters—dissonance, realization, anger, healing, and continuation—

each followed immediately after the other as narratives flowing in conversation with each other and each featuring Black talent through poetry, dance, singing, improvisation, and more.

Williams has brainstormed this event since last year, discussing his ideas with his manager and co-producer, Brian Kazinduka, MCAS ’25, ultimately shaping a concrete plan for the ambitious evening.

With the event coming up this Thursday, Feb. 29, Williams and his performing team are fleshing out the last details for the day they have prepared for since the beginning of the semester.

“I think this is gonna be a production unlike anything BC has seen before,” Isiaah Clark, pianist and MCAS ’24, said.

During rehearsals, Williams fosters a sense of family and community by directing every performer and witness to

gather in a circle to introduce themselves and share their concerns and hopes for the event.

“I’m stressed about how it’s going to look on stage,” Jaylen Keller, Sexual Chocolate member and MCAS ’25, said.

Keller will dance alongside Caitlyn Gibb, member of F.I.S.T.S. and LSEHD ’26, in the show’s third act, which will focus on anger. The creation of a dance that reflected anger in its various forms was a collaborative effort between Keller, Gibb, and Williams.

“It definitely felt weird at first,” Keller said. “We were trying to figure out sort of like what we would do just to even start it off with.”

Sexual Chocolate and F.I.S.T.S. have inherently different dance styles, so blending the unique signatures of each group was part of the creative process.

Their dancing is also meant to pair with a poem read before leading directly into the dance, so a close lyrical and rhythmic analysis of the poem was helpful in deciding how to craft their movement.

“Once we got into a groove, it was a lot easier,” Gibb said. “Making a step from scratch is actually very hard, and especially when pairing it with like a poem or like music.”

The poetry elements are the core of the show, and are what Williams ultimately uses to anchor the rest of the performing arts. The words from Benedita Zalabantu, MCAS ’25, and Alioune Diba, LSEHD ’25, drive the five-stage process followed throughout Living in Color.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2024/02/25/behind-the-scenes-living-in-color/

2023: Meet the Artists in BC’s Best This story was originally published on April 25, 2023.

BY SOFIA TORRES Arts Editor Once a year, Boston College brings together its student musicians, from hard rock to indie arts, to determine who is BC’s Best.

BC’s Best is an annual competition during Arts Fest that determines the opening act for Modstock, a concert that takes place on the last day of classes.

The competitors of BC’s Best are the top three winners of both Music Guild’s Battle of the Bands and singer-songwriter competition. Here’s a closer look at the artists and groups competing.

Reigning Scarlet In September of 2022, Daniel Kabanovsky, bassist and MCAS ’24, and Ian Bourgin, rhythm guitarist and MCAS ’25, met in a music class at BC. They connected due to their similar music taste and mutual desire to start a band, Bourgin said.

Soon after, Kabanovsky recruited Colin Cui, lead guitarist and MCAS ’25, after watching him perform at an open mic event. He found Jack

Daggenhurst, drummer and MCAS ’24, through the recommendation of a Music Guild e-board member. Finally, Alexandra Bates, lead singer, main songwriter, and MCAS ’26, joined the band through an audition the band held in search of a singer.

Reigning Scarlet is the new kid on the block at BC. It is a band with no fixed genre, mainly mixing hard rock, alternative, and even blues, which Cui summed up as a “beautiful mess.”

With suggestions ranging from Infinite Blue, inspired by Kabanovsky’s obsession with the color, to Infinite

Head, Bourgin said the band brainstormed a set of names until settling on Reigning Scarlet during a dinner on campus. According to Cui, the name Reigning Scarlet reflects the band’s neo-classical focus.

“Expect very loud drums, very loud music, definitely a lot of energy that hopefully the crowd will reflect as well,” Cui said about the band’s upcoming performance at BC’s Best.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2023/04/25/bcsbest-arts-fest-2023/

BY PATERSON TRAN Asst. Arts Editor Music from The Black Eyed Peas and Katy Perry, among others, blasted as fans dressed in eclectic outfits shoved their way to the front to catch a glimpse of Jason Derulo. From students dressed up as the Blue Man Group to blow-up shark costumes, Boston College students embraced the festivities of Marathon Monday.

BC’s Division of Student Affairs invited Derulo to perform in the Mod parking lot as part of BC’s celebration of the Boston Marathon on Monday.

The roar of the crowd increased when the screen on stage played an introduction video to signify the start of the concert. Jae Murphy, a touring DJ, music producer, and songwriter, presented himself with thunderous beats and prompted the crowd to

2022: ALC Announces

the Return of Showdown This story was originally published on Feb. 7, 2022.

BY KATHERINE CANNIFF Arts Editor Dance groups at Boston College will once again perform at Conte Forum for the annual ALC Showdown after two years of cancellations. The AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC) announced PHOTO COURTESY OF BROOKE OLSEN AND ARTS COUNCIL Monday in a video on its Instagram that Boston College brings together its student musicians yearly for the BC’s Best competition. it will hold the dance competition on March 19.

“We’re thrilled to announce that BC’s premier legacy dance competition is making it’s return,” ALC said in the Instagram post. cheer. Murphy stirred up the energy in lo’s lyrics exemplified the mark that he With a montage of clips from Showthe Mod parking lot prior to Derulo’s left on the 2000s and 2010s pop music down 2019 and dancers’ performances appearance, calling out to each un- scene. After “Wiggle,” Derulo addressed in Conte Forum from 2021, ALC, which dergraduate year to draw cheers from the audience. is a council within UGBC, promoted the the crowd.

“Doesn’t it feel good to be out event that has drawn large crowds of BC Derulo’s entrance garnered enthu- amongst friends, amongst family, in a students in the past. siasm from students as they screamed large public area?” Derulo asked the Lubens Benjamin, chair of ALC and for the pop star. He immediately crowd. He also mentioned his TikTok CSOM ’23, said that ALC has been planjumped into a remixed rendition of account, which has 39.9 million fol- ning the return of the competition since “Whatcha Say,” accompanied by the lowers, and his online collaborations November 2021. ALC informed the dance emergence of his dance crew. “What- with Nicki Minaj and Snoop Dogg. His teams about the date of the competition cha Say” featured a dance break, show- song “Savage Love,” which went viral on on Jan. 27, Benjamin said. ing off the synchronicity of his crew. TikTok, played later in the show.

Matt Razek, OSI’s associate director Students sang along, and many filmed “We’re all trying to figure out where of student programming and UGBC’s the opening track on their phones. to utilize our time—for me it’s on an advisor, said that Showdown is an event Derulo wore an oversized patchwork app called TikTok,” Derulo said. “Does ingrained in BC’s culture and tradition, jacket, while his dancers sported den- anybody out here follow me on TikTok?” and OSI was eager to plan Showdown’s im. By the end of his performance, all After his brief speech to the au- return this year. the performers had stripped down to dience, “Take You Dancing” began to OSI considered both the University’s matching black tops. play, and Derulo sang with noticeable COVID-19 precautions and the need to The singer performed only the major intensity and passion. He prompted bring back BC traditions in making the hits of his discography, next perform- the audience to sing along to “It Girl.” decision to hold the event again this year, ing “Tip Toe” and “Wiggle.” The crowd Razek said. chanted enthusiastically throughout the Read the full story online at https://www.

“This is kind of a year of where we’re duration of “Wiggle.” bcheights.com/2022/04/20/derulo-mar- trying to bring everything back and part of The audience’s recollection of Deru- mon/. that is Showdown normalcy,” Razek said.

2022: Jason Derulo Energizes Crowd This story was originally published on April 20, 2022.

LEO WANG / HEIGHTS STAFF

Sixteen dance groups are currently planning to participate in this year’s competition, according to Benjamin.

Although the competition is returning to its traditional location in Conte Forum, the requirements for dance teams and judging categories have undergone changes for the 2022 competition. In past competitions, groups have had to choose to compete in either the culture or competition categories. This year, all groups will be judged together, Benjamin said.

ALC now has a new requirement that all groups demonstrate an element that speaks to the culture that is associated with the team, Benjamin said.

Teams can incorporate this element with a variety of creative components, including their introduction video at the performance and their choreography.

The council added this component to Showdown in order to highlight that the competition’s main purpose is to celebrate the range of talent, cultures, and experiences that exist in the dance community at BC, Benjamin said.

Members of ALC felt that the emphasis on diversity has not been at the forefront in past competitions and implemented the new cultural criterion in order to put diversity in the spotlight, Benjamin said.

“It’s more of a time of accepting everyone in the community for what they bring to the community and really celebrating these differences and really realizing how those really make our culture and our campus more vibrant,” Benjamin said.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/02/07/alc-announces-showdown-2022/.

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2021: Lynch Donation to Offer New Educational Opportunities This story was originally published on Dec. 10, 2021.

BY KATHERINE CANNIFF Assoc. Arts Editor

VIKRUM SINGH / HEIGHTS EDITOR

2022: 30th Annual Pops

Breaks Funding Records This story was originally published on Oct. 2, 2022.

By Katherine Canniff Arts Editor In a Cinderella-esque transformation, Conte Forum changed from a rowdy sports arena into a decadent gala for the 30th annual Pops on the Heights. Twinkling lights hung from the ceiling, and the stage was rimmed with flowers for the event, bringing Boston College students and their families together for an evening of BC spirit.

Pops, also called the Barbara and Jim Cleary Scholarship Gala, is BC’s largest fundraiser that goes toward providing financial aid for BC students. Since 1993, the Boston Pops Orchestra, conducted by Keith Lockhart, and a special guest have performed at the gala for the extended BC community during Family Weekend.

This year, Grammy and Oscar-winning musician Jon Batiste performed at the sold-out gala. Past years’ stars included singer-songwriter Lionel Richie, Broadway performer Kristin Chenoweth, and the band Train.

In a recorded video, Patti and Jonathan

Kraft announced that the event broke its fundraising record this year, raising more than $14.5 million. According to the event’s website, the gala has raised more than $115 million for financial aid over the course of 30 years.

The BC Screaming Eagles Marching Band warmed up the crowd. The student musicians played from seats at the back of the stage with their uniforms and polished instruments illuminated under the lights.

More student talent was on display as the University Chorale of BC, sitting behind the Pops Orchestra and led by Director of Chorale John Finney, performed John Williams’ “Call of the Champions.”

The crowd then welcomed conductor Keith Lockhart to the stage with a round of applause. The Pops Orchestra played “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” originally by Duke Ellington, as dramatic lights shone on the walls of Conte Forum.

Illuminated orbs floated over the crowd as the dramatic brass crescendos filled the arena, adding a magical feel to the evening.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/10/02/30th-annualpops-on-the-heights/

Oliver Wunsch w a s scrolling through the news early on Tuesday morning when a headline about Boston College caught his eye. While reading about Peter Lynch’s donation of his art collection worth upward of $20 million to the McMullen Museum of Art, Wunsch realized the gravity of welcoming the collection to BC. “I understood that this was going to forever change the McMullen Museum and the place of Boston College, and the broader U.S. museum world,” Wunsch, an assistant professor of art history at BC, said. “It really puts Boston College on the map.”

The donation includes 27 paintings and three drawings from the private collection of Lynch and his late wife, Carolyn. The collection—named the Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection—includes pieces by artists working during the 19th and 20th centuries, including Pablo Picasso, John Singer Sargent, Diego Rivera, and Mary Cassatt.

Wunsch, who has focused his research and teaching on European and American painting in the 18th and 19th centuries, said that the arrival of the collection will offer both art historians and other members of the BC community valuable opportunities to engage with the art.

“I think that the choice of Boston College … with people from all different areas of the University ready to

come engage with these objects just means we’re going to learn so much more about [the art] in the years to come,” Wunsch said.

As the departmental chairperson of art, art history, and film, Stephanie Leone said she foresees that profes-

painting provides insight into the global context of art created in the United States, Wunsch said.

Some of the works the McMullen will welcome also present opportunities for interdisciplinary study, according to Wunsch. In a painting by

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLYN A. AND PETER S. LYNCH COLLECTION AT THE MCMULLEN MUSEUM OF ART,

Peter Lynch donated upward of $20 million to the McMullen Museum of Art. sors will incorporate the pieces into their lectures and discussions. With the artworks just down the street from BC’s main campus, students will also be able to utilize the pieces as research topics, Leone said.

The collection can also allow students pursuing a concentration in museum studies to research the pieces, drawing connections between the works and formulating exhibitions, Leone said.

The art provides students with an opportunity to discover the works’ global connections, Wunsch said.

Before creating “Orchid and Hummingbirds Near a Mountain Lake,” one of the donated paintings, artist Martin Johnson Heade traveled to Central and South America, according to Wunsch. The striking naturalist

William Bradford titled “Among the Ice Floes,” jagged icebergs protrude from a green-tinted ocean. A wooden ship is beached on an icy shore while small human figures stand nearby.

Wunsch said that the painting can be used to pose questions about art’s connection to climate change.

According to Leone, the collection will not only enhance the study of art history, but also has the potential to inspire art and film students who are creating their own creative projects.

“I think it will really help us to enhance our students’ education, their interaction with works of art, and really prepare them well for going on to future careers in art, in art history, or simply becoming … great museum goers when they leave BC,” Leone said. n

2022: ‘The Mad Ones’ Expresses Youth Uncertainty This story was originally published on Jan. 31, 2022.

BY KATHERINE CANNIFF Arts Editor JOSIE MCNEILL Assoc. Arts Editor

VIKRUM SINGH / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The student-directed musical occupied the intimate Bonn Studio Theater.

Madison Baker laid her notebook down on the table. The front and back covers are enveloped by a homemade collage that she pieced together, and its pages are stuffed with notes about The Mad Ones, the musical that occupied the intimate Bonn Studio Theater from Jan. 27 to 30.

Opening the notebook at its centerfold, Baker, director of The Mad Ones and MCAS ’22, revealed that the lined pages are enshrouded by splashes of dark colors pierced by vibrant blues.

Beside these harsh contrasts of light and dark, ordinary images of roads and highways appear sinister.

The notebook contains Baker’s creative inspiration for the musical and represents the process of getting the show from the page to the stage, a process which began in March 2021.

The Boston College theatre department reserves the position of director of its winter production for senior theatre majors, who apply for the position and submit a proposal for the show they want to put on. Baker said that she has been anticipating the opportunity to direct a production since starting at BC. “I was just so moved by the piece,” Baker said. “And I thought that it was such an important story to tell, but [it] still describes stress and anxiety and fear and vulnerability in a way that I had never seen before or articulated before.”

After the department accepted her application in the spring, Baker met with the show’s ensemble of student designers: scenic designer Lily Telegdy, LSEHD ’23, costume designer Franny Giangiulio, MCAS ’23, and lighting designers Jun Choi, MCAS ’23, and Sophia Lombardo, MCAS ’23.

The group brainstormed the show’s visual themes, which Baker’s eclectic collage embodies. The Mad Ones is the first student-directed musical that the BC theatre department has produced,

although it has produced student-directed plays in the past.

Standing before audience members as they trickled into the blackbox theater was a three-dimensional version of the images Baker had laid out in her journal. A gray board sat in the center of the stage with its surface fragmented by triangular pieces. Vibrant LED lights lit up from behind the pieces.

In front sat the steely outline of a car.

The musical opens with Samantha (Giovanna Befeler, MCAS ’23) singing “The Girl Who Drove Away” in front of a backdrop reminiscent of an explosion.

Up until her senior year of high school, Samantha’s life had been complicated yet planned to a T. She had the same boyfriend, Adam (Nick Rossi, MCAS ’23), for three years. Her overbearing mother, Beverly (Julia Parks, CSON ’24), was hell-bent on having Samantha follow in her Ivy League footsteps.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/01/31/themad-ones-musical/.

2023: Flo Rida Excites the Heights on Marathon Monday This story was originally published on April 18, 2023.

By Ernest Romero Editorial Assistant Boston College students woke up bright and early on Monday as music from Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, among others, blasted throughout the residence halls. Students dressed from head to toe in eclectic outfits as they celebrated not only the 127th Boston Marathon, but a performance in the Mod Lot from Flo Rida as part of the University’s Mile 21 festivities for Marathon Monday.

From as early as 8:30 a.m., students gathered around the Mod Lot stage in anticipation of the Marathon Monday headliner. Frank White, a Boston-based traveling DJ, entertained the growing crowd with popular hits from the likes of Drake and Miley Cyrus while the audience waited for the main act to start.

After the publicized 10 a.m. start time, Flo Rida finally made his entrance alongside DJ Fresh to an overflowing crowd. He immediately asked the crowd to chant his name before diving into a remixed version of his hit 2011 song “Good Feeling.” A pair of back-up dancers synchronized to the beat. The

crowd cheered and jumped up and down, and some students climbed onto their friends’ shoulders to get a better view.

The rapper continued to perform his greatest hits of the late 2000s and early 2010s while simultaneously showing a sense of BC pride, as he commanded the crowd to chant “let’s go Eagles” before jumping into “Right Round” and “In the Ayer.”

As he shouted out French DJ David Guetta and rapper Nicki Minaj before performing their collaborative track “Where Them Girls At,” Flo Rida also teased a gift for the audience. He then threw about 12 red roses and a stack of cash into the sea of students, many of which eager to catch a memento from Marathon Monday.

The rapper continued to perform “Freaking Out” before introducing fellow rappers Oya Baby and Int’l Nephew on the stage and exclaiming his love for BC. “Boston College you’re not my day one fans, you’re my day one family” Flo Rida said.

Flo Rida then segued into his moststreamed song on Spotify, “Low,” inciting cheers from the crowd. Students recited lyrics that have been ingrained in many of their minds since 2007. But in an unexpected move, the rapper stopped

ALINA CHEN / HEIGHTS STAFF

From as early as 8:30 a.m., students gathered around the Mod Lot stage to watch the Marathon Monday headliner. the song and invited a group of about 10 girls to dance on stage with him before resuming.

He then mixed in one of Oya Baby’s songs, “Back That Ass Up,” before returning to his own hits, including “Club Can’t Handle Me” and “GDFR,” during which he invited a group of boys to join him on stage.

Flo Rida later asked for a girl who

was celebrating her birthday to come onstage with him and prompted the crowd to chant “happy birthday” before he transitioned to sing “Whistle.”

He then called the birthday girl’s friends onto the stage before calling out to her as he began “Wild Ones.”

Unexpectedly, the rapper stopped the song claiming the crowd was not excited enough for one of his greatest hits.

In retrospect, however, the audience may have been a little bit too excited for Flo Rida. People in the crowd fell on top of one another multiple times throughout the concert, prompting pauses in the performance.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2023/04/18/flo-rida-marathon-monday-2023/

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2024: The Common Tones Go Viral, Create Grammys Mashup This story was originally published on Feb. 11, 2024.

BY LEAH STITZEL Asst. Arts Editor When Boston College a cappella group Common Tones posted a TikTok of them singing an a cappella arrangement of “Carol of the Bells” in a stairwell one December morning on a whim, the last thing programming director Annabel Lee expected was for the video to go viral.

“That was kind of just, like, out of the blue,” Lee, MCAS ’25, said. “We were like, super tired on a Sunday morning and we were like, ‘Oh, let’s sing “Carol of the Bells,”’ and it just so happened to go viral.”

The video, which has amassed 73.8 million views and 12.6 million likes on

TikTok, drew increasing attention to the group as the official Grammys’ TikTok page commented on the video.

“Can you do a mashup of the songs nominated for Song Of The Year at the GRAMMYs?” the comment reads.

“I think we just kind of ran with it,” Rachel Prendergast, CSON ’24, said.

“Just because we were like, ‘Of course we have to respond to that. That’s so cool.’ And then when BC reached out, we were like, ‘Of course we have to do it.’”

Common Tones worked with professional video, audio, and lighting organized by BC after University communications reached out to them asking if they would be interested in creating a video for the requested mashup.

This meant the group would have to make and learn a vocal arrangement of the eight nominees for Song of the

GRAPHIC COURTESY OF COMMON TONES

Common Tones worked with professional video, audio, and lighting organized by BC.

Year in just a few weeks. Jacob Walker, MCAS ’25, is one of the group’s three arrangers. He said the time crunch was difficult to work with, but the final product was worth it.

“We never really have done that before,” Walker said. “We made our own album last year, student-made, so it took us, like, the whole semester just to record, then mix. So having them record us in one day, and that was it, and then they got it out in less than a week.”

The process of arranging, learning, and then memorizing music typically takes months. Walker explained the three arrangers worked over Winter Break to make the nearly eight-minute long mashup, and then the rest of the group had to learn it in just a week once they returned to campus. Natalie Bartell, MCAS ’27, said the process of learning the music was a little stressful, but paid off.

“I have no idea how they did it,” Bartell said. “If somebody asked me to do that I would’ve cried, and they did an amazing job. And it was difficult, we had some longer rehearsals, and some ‘Do it on your own time, figure it out.’

But it went smooth, I think it went as smooth as it could’ve possibly gone, and I think it’s because everybody was really interested in doing it.”

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2024/02/11/common-tones-grammy-mashup-video/

LEO WANG / HEIGHTS STAFF

2021: Musical ‘Spring

Awakening’ Premieres This story was originally published on Dec. 7, 2021.

By Erin Pender Heights Staff Katherine Canniff Assoc. Arts Editor A rock musical that tackles the sexual exploration and mental health struggles of a group of adolescents in the late 19th century sounds anything but tame—and might seem like an even more shocking choice for a musical performed at Boston College.

But, Devyn Itula, the director of Spring Awakening and MCAS ’22, said the show could communicate emotions and experiences that sometimes cannot be expressed solely through words.

According to Itula, the show immediately spoke to her when she discovered it in her sophomore year of high school, and her decision to direct it for the BC Dramatics Society was influenced by both her personal connec-

tion to the show and her desire to challenge herself as a director.

Although she said she viewed putting on the show as a personal challenge, her production also ran into challenges with BC administrators.

As a student-run organization, the Dramatics Society must get its budget approved by the Office of Student Involvement (OSI).

According to Itula, the group turned in its budget in the first week of August for OSI to review before the start of the semester. In the meantime, the Dramatics Society was able to book spaces for auditions and rehearsals, Itula said.

But when the week of auditions arrived in the first days of school, there was an indication that OSI was not fully on board with the show when the group did not receive approval for rehearsals and performances, Itula said.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/12/07/spring-awakening-musical-journey/.

2023: Record-Breaking Crowd Energizes 2023 Showdown

This story was originally published on April 2, 2023.

By Josie McNeill Arts Editor Paterson Tran Assoc. Arts Editor and Sofia Torres Asst. Arts Editor

Even before the dance teams took the stage in Conte Forum at ALC Showdown on Saturday, audience members and the show’s judges stood out of their seats, dancing to songs by Rihanna and Jay-Z in anticipation of the sold-out show.

Hosted by the AHANA+ Leadership Council (ALC), 2023 Showdown featured a record-breaking crowd and one new dance team, according to hosts Deena Mohamed, ALC chair and MCAS ’23, and Rihana Ali, ALC vice chair and MCAS ’23.

Seventeen dance groups competed to win a donation to a charity of their choice. Masti won first place, UPrising Dance Crew won second place, and Fuego del Corazón won third place. Females Incorporating Sisterhood Through Step (F.I.S.T.S.) won the crowd choice award.

Masti chose to donate its winnings to South Asian Americans Leading Together, an organization committed to achieving

racial justice through structural change, according to its website.

“I want to thank God,” Gia Mitcham, co-captain of Masti and MCAS ’23, said as the group received the award. “I love this team so much, so, so much. We put so many hours into this.”

As the show began, the lights in Conte Forum dimmed and the stage’s green and yellow lights centered on ALC Showdown’s two hosts.

“Welcome to the ALC Showdown 2023,” Mohamed said. “We are back. We are back and better than ever.”

A division within UGBC, ALC is dedicated to improving the lives of students of color on campus and encouraging and promoting diversity. This mission was reflected in the variety of dance and music styles presented at Showdown, ranging from tap and bachata dances to music such as Christian rap and television theme songs.

This year also marked Capital Dance Ministry’s first year in the competition, bringing the total number of teams up to 17.

As was the case at 2022 Showdown, each group was introduced with a short introductory video that talked about the story behind its theme, its choreography process, and the charity that it is competing for.

VIP Vida de Intensa Pasión (VIP) brought the audience to Carnival with its opening set. The female dancers came out in red and glittery skirts and the male dancers dressed formally in all black, while a central dancer sported a yellow, orange, and red cape that matched typical Carnival attire. The screens to the side of the stage flashed diamonds to pair with the group’s performance, and the lighting matched the bright red costumes that VIP wore to the show.

The winged dancers left the stage as the troupe danced to “Mi Gente” by J Balvin and Willy William. The upbeat song enticed the crowd to dance along, sending a message of solidarity within the Latin American community. VIP soon tossed one of the dancers in an extravagant lift that wooed audience members, as indicated by the amount of cheering from the crowd. The group mixed several Latin styles of dance, including salsa and bachata, throughout its performance.

In its routine, the group formed lines and v-formations, energizing the audience to start off the night’s series of dances.

VIP’s dancers moved with the tempo of the music, effortlessly shifting around the stage. The group ended with Bad Bunny’s reggaeton hit, “Tití Me Preguntó.” VIP

VIKRUM SINGH / HEIGHTS EDITOR

executed lifts in the background alongside a final formation before the lights shut off and the next group got ready to come on stage.

UPrising “Let’s get ready to rise up!” UPrising Dance Crew yelled at the crowd as it entered the stage.

UPrising, dancing for the Mass Cultural Council, formed a semicircle in the center of the stage while wearing mono-

chromatic dance suits. As “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio and L.V. played, the members stood a symmetric formation, extending their energy beyond the stage and into the stands. The anticipatory beat in “Gangsta’s Paradise” prepared the crowd for UPrising’s intense performance.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2023/04/02/showdown-2023/

2021: Black Artists and Creatives On Campus Share Their Stories This story was originally published on Feb. 22, 2021.

BY GRACE MAYER Arts Editor KATHERINE CANNIFF Assoc. Arts Editor AND ALICIA KANG Asst. Arts Editor With dance competitions and a capella showcases canceled across campus due to COVID-19, the only audience that Females Incorporating Sisterhood Through Step (F.I.S.T.S.) had last semester was their phone cameras—and possibly a roommate or two.

Although members filmed their routines separately to send to each other for critique, virtual practices couldn’t replace the exhilarating feeling of commanding Robsham Theater.

Now, Amanda Rodriguez, F.I.S.T.S dance captain and MCAS ’22, scrolls through old performance videos, remembering when she used to rhythmically step on stage alongside her teammates.

“I was watching those videos and just like I was remembering how I felt during those exact moments,” Rodri-

guez said. “And I’m so sad that we can’t perform, because it is an experience that you can’t get anywhere [else].”

The sense of community these creative outlets, like F.I.S.T.S., foster is dimmed by COVID-19 restrictions.

As a result, the Boston College arts scene hasn’t been able to demonstrate its usual support for equity and inclusion, through culture showcases, fashion events that celebrate the Black diaspora, and R&B and soul a cappella performances.

But the importance of safe creative spaces was amplified this year by the recent events on the Multicultural Learning Experience (MLE) floor of Xavier Hall. Many senior members of F.I.S.T.S. lived on the MLE floor during their freshman years and were distressed by the violation of this space on campus, Rodriguez said.

During a time when nurturing safe spaces is paramount on BC’s campus, students involved in the arts scene have resorted to activism on social media and online meetings to amplify Black students’ voices.

This summer, Black Experience in America Through Song (BEATS) used its Instagram to demand justice for people of color killed by police

officers. Emphasizing that merely posting on social media isn’t enough to generate change, BE ATS also supplied a list of social justice organizations for its followers to support.

Presenting Africa To U (PATU) and Sexual Chocolate released statements following the killing of George Floyd in the summer.

PATU and Sexual Chocolate did not respond to requests for interviews.

Several other arts organizations, including BC Irish Dance and BC Dance Ensemble, echoed these messages by condemning racism.

Over the summer, the Bostonians and Bollywood-inspired dance group Masti ran fundraisers in support of the Boston Arts and Music Soul (BAMS) Fest and the Massachusetts Bail Fund, respectively. Other arts groups including a cappella groups the Common Tones of BC and the BC Acoustics, and dance groups UPrising Dance Crew and BC Full Swing also directly addressed the recent incidents on the MLE floor.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2020/09/13/ lights-camera-zoom/.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted Black creatives and artists on campus in 2020 and 2021.

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Editor’s Note: Magazine editors Spencer Steppe, Lyla Walsh, and Veronica Pierce have chosen long-form stories about patterns and anniversaries that took place during the Class of 2024’s time at Boston College.

2021: Tired of Feeling Targeted This story was originally published on Feb. 8, 2021.

BY ANNA LONNQUIST Magazine Editor

STEPHEN BRADLEY Assoc. Magazine Editor AND MC CLAVERIE GRAPHIC BY ANNIE LADD REID / HEIGHTS EDITOR

2022: MLE Residents Are

Still Left in the Dark This story was originally published on Feb. 14, 2022.

BY STEPHEN BRADLEY Magazine Editor

MC CLAVERIE Assoc. Magazine Editor AND ERIN FLAHERTY

Asst. Magazine Editor Destiny Gonzalez still remembers watching her hallmates knock on doors on the third floor of Loyola Hall in early February of last year. The residents were searching for two boys who had walked across the adjacent Xavier Hall chanting a song about “colored girls.”

“I don’t know their names, but I know their faces,” said Gonzalez, a resident of the Multicultural Learning Experience (MLE) floor last year and MCAS ’24.

At the beginning of the 2021 spring semester, MLE residents reported an incident of racist vandalism that included knocked over trash cans, torn off door decorations, and aggressive knocking on their doors.

MLE residents, however, said this was not an isolated incident, describing a pattern of racial harassment targeting the third floor of Xavier Hall on Upper Campus.

One year later, MLE residents are still grappling with the lasting effects of the harassment and the University’s response to the incidents.

“It makes me really uncomfortable because it doesn’t seem right for people like that to be here and around us when they directly are trying to make other people’s lives uncomfortable or unbearable,” Gonzalez said.

Ayanna Rowe, another resident of last year’s MLE and MCAS ’24, said that in the days following the incidents, she was worried about another possible attack on their floor.

“I was kind of just holding my breath, hoping that another attack wouldn’t happen,” Rowe said. “Because it was just like,

you know … everybody on campus knew about it, so I was like, ‘I hope it doesn’t invite more [attacks].’”

Isiaah Clark, a Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center (BAIC) ambassador and MCAS ’24, was a resident of the men’s MLE on the fourth floor of Xavier Hall last year. Clark said he heard about the incidents through his roommates.

Their initial response, he said, was anger.

“We couldn’t fully understand why something like this would happen,” Clark said. “But then also we were angry because of the response time of the BC administration to actually step in and handle these situations.”

At first, Gonzalez said it was difficult to equate the incidents to racially motivated harassment, rather than the behavior of drunk college boys.

“At first, it started very early in the semester, like you get really loud door knocks in the middle of the night, waking you up and like you just think ‘Oh my gosh, like just stupid college boys,’” Gonzalez said. “And then it kept happening every weekend on the same doors. And then people were throwing over our trash cans. And then everything just continued to escalate, and then you start to think to yourself, you’re like, ‘Wait, this is a race thing, like this is racially motivated.’”

After the incidents occurred, Gonzalez felt on edge and unsafe in her own dorm, she said. “[I was thinking], ‘I’m kind of scared to go to sleep at night or like, I have to be on edge,’” Gonzalez said. “‘I have to make sure that no one’s going to attack me or attack my home, or I don’t feel safe in my own living space.’ Like that was a lot to digest at the time.”

One student, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said the incident deeply disturbed them.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/02/14/one-year-latermle-residents-are-still-left-in-the-dark/.

Asst. Magazine Editor In the early hours of the morning on Jan. 30, residents of the women’s Multicultural Learning Experience (MLE) floor awoke to aggressive knocking on their doors and the sound of commotion in their hallway.

Upon entering the third floor of Xavier Hall on Upper Campus, these students saw that decorations were torn off their doors, trash was spread along the hallway, and tiles were knocked out from their ceiling.

Looking at the neighboring halls of Claver, Loyola, and Fenwick, they noticed that the vandalism was contained only to their hall.

MLE residents quickly began to wonder whether this incident was a targeted attack, and many were left feeling unsafe in their own living space.

“Looking down the hallway and seeing that no one else’s floor was trashed, it was a little bit like ‘What’s going on? Why is it only our floor?’” Sierra Sinclair, a resident of the MLE floor and CSON ’24, said in an interview with The Heights. “Why do we have to always hear loud noises that interrupt our sleep? Why us?”

The Boston College Police Department (BCPD) was able to identify the two individuals responsible for the vandalism.

The perpetrators, who did not live in the building, are currently facing disciplinary sanctions for their behavior through the Office of Student Conduct according to an email obtained by The Heights sent to the Claver, Loyola, Xavier, and Fenwick (CLXF)

community from ResLife on Jan. 31.

Corey Kelly, director of the Office of Student Conduct, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Just four days after the incident in Xavier, MLE residents reported that two male students had walked down their hallway singing a song about “colored girls.”

Residents of CLXF were notified of the first incident via an email obtained by The Heights sent from ResLife on Jan. 30, the same day the first incident took place. The rest of the BC community was notified about the incidents through an email sent

by Executive Vice President and Acting Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Lochhead five days after the first incident.

“I hope all of us can learn from this incident, and realize the pain that can be caused by reckless behavior,” Lochhead said in the email. “No one at Boston College should ever be made to feel unsafe or threatened, particularly within the confines of their residence hall. This conduct will simply not be tolerated.”

When asked for comment, Lochhead directed The Heights to the statement in his email.

The Office of University Communications did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael Davidson, S.J., director of the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center (BAIC), said that these incidents have left students of the MLE floor feeling jeopardized and disrespected in their own home. In order to alleviate this, BC needs to work more closely with non-AHANA+ students to make BC’s campus more inclusive, Davidson said.

“We need to stop teaching to the choir,” he said. “We need to have more robust diversity workshops for non-AHANA students.”

These incidents come just over two years after AHANA+ students at BC were threatened by a hate crime. On Dec. 9, 2018, Michael Sorkin, formerly CSOM ’21, defaced walls, blinds, and furniture in Welch Hall, covering them in racist epithets. Some of the graffiti read “n—–s are the plague.”

University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., never publicly responded to the hate crime, despite student pressure.

At a community gathering hosted by UGBC the following Wednesday, students asked why Leahy did not release a statement.

Vice President for University Communications Jack Dunn responded to student calls for Leahy to speak by stating that Vice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley are responsible for reaching out to students and faculty, but that Leahy’s beliefs are reflected in their statements.

Moore’s statement was released the same day as the Welch vandalism, asserting that acts of such hatred and racism will never be tolerated at BC. Quigley released his statement the following day, expressing how his outrage at the incident was heightened by the fact that 14 months earlier, on Oct. 13, 2017, Black Lives Matter signs were defaced in Roncalli Hall.

A series of meetings between students and faculty ensued, leading to the creation of a mandatory student learning module on diversity and inclusion, along with a Student Experience Survey and commitments to hire more diverse faculty and increase the frequency of meetings with student leaders.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/02/08/tired-of-feeling-targeted/.

MC CLAVERIE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Residents of the women’s Multicultural Learning Experience floor awoke to aggessive knocking on their doors.

2023: BC Reflects 10 Years After Marathon Bombing This story was originally published on April 16, 2023.

BY ERIN FLAHERTY Magazine Editor

BETH VERGHESE Assoc. Magazine Editor AND SPENCER STEPPE

Asst. Magazine Editor Danielle Ellerbe was seconds away from crossing the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon when a bomb detonated in the distance.

“I saw it but it was still far enough away,” said Ellerbe, a sophomore at the time and BC ’15. “I looked at a police officer who was standing along the race, and they didn’t respond or react. So I just went right back into go mode, like ‘Alright, let’s sprint. Let’s finish.’”

The second bomb went off about 10 seconds later, Ellerbe said.

“I was half a block away,” Ellerbe said.

“I immediately lost my hearing. To be honest, my very initial reaction was, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

In milliseconds, Ellerbe said she saw debris flying all around her and realized everyone was in a panic. Alongside other runners, she trampled over the gates enclosing the race route and clutched the sides of a building.

“People were hysterically crying, calling for their loved ones,” she said. “After a few more seconds, I realized I had to run.

I ran only about a block or so away, just

to the first door that I could find. I spent about five minutes crouched under the bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.”

As she waited, Ellerbe said she repeated Isaiah 41:10, the bible verse she had memorized to keep her motivated during the race, over and over in her head.

“I remember praying,” Ellerbe said. “I said ‘I’m not afraid to die, but I don’t want to die like this.’”

Ellerbe was eventually ushered out of the hotel, and she found the parents of another Boston College student.

“I walked them to try to find their son … eventually we went to Uno’s Pizza in Kenmore Square,” Ellerbe said. “That was when I first saw on the TVs, I saw the news headlines. That’s when I first realized, oh my gosh, the gravity of what happened, and that it was an actual bomb.”

Ellerbe said she broke down crying.

The gravity of the situation had finally hit her.

At 2:49 p.m. on April 15, 2013, during the 117th Boston Marathon, two domestic terrorists detonated two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line in downtown Boston. Three people were killed and more than 280 were injured.

In the moments following the bombing, BC students and community members rushed to contact runners, friends, and family who were in the area. Less than an hour after the bombing, volunteers from BC’s Campus School created a Google doc listing the names of over

300 undergraduate students running the marathon and asked members of the BC community to update the document once they knew a runner was safe. By 7 p.m., almost all of the runners were accounted for.

Meanwhile, hundreds of runners who were near BC when the race stopped soon flooded Lower Campus. Students, administrators, and the Boston College Police Department quickly responded to support the influx of people.

Alex Warshauer, MCAS ’14, was the president of Eagle EMS (EEMS)—a student-run, emergency medical care provider—at the time. That day, Warshauer and other EEMS workers were stationed around campus to offer both students and runners typical support.

When EEMS heard news of the bombing downtown, Warshauer and other workers had to act fast.

“The first thing that happened was that all the local EMS resources immediately left campus and went into the city,” Warshauer said. “So we were kind of left alone to be the sole providers for campus and the surrounding areas.”

The impromptu shutdown left hundreds of runners unexpectedly stranded at BC. While the finish line was set up and staffed to aid runners after they completed the marathon, Warshauer said these resources were not available at the Mile 21 mark near BC’s campus. EEMS quickly spoke with the BCPD chief of police to set up a response, he said.

“The finish line has enough water,

warming blankets, medical tents, all ready to take care of runners,” Warshauer said. “The challenge there was that all of our normal EMS resources were pulled into the city. So we had to stabilize those patients ourselves. As an EMT we’re not set up for IVs and things like that, so it was a lesson in applying our skills and stretching them past what our normal scope of care is.”

Runners sought shelter in the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola on Lower Campus, Warshauer said. By working with the Office of Emergency Management, EEMS ensured food and drinks from the dining hall got to the runners.

“We’re just keeping the runners safe and warm until we know more about what’s going on,” said Catherine-Mary Rivera, then–associate director of the Office of Residential Life, at around 3:30 p.m. on the day of the bombing. “We just needed to get them into the church after they stopped running so abruptly.”

Michael Padulsky, LSEHD ’15 and BCSSW ’17, had just reached BC’s campus and Mile 21 of the race when a police officer told him the race was over. During his sophomore year, he decided to run the 2013 marathon to honor his brother Tim, who passed away from cancer in 2008.

Padulsky said he and his sister, who ran alongside him, were shocked to hear they could not finish the race.

“At the top of Heartbreak Hill, that’s when really my heart broke because they said ‘Your race is over’ and I just remem-

ber kind of sitting down in the road just being like ‘Wow, I trained for months and months for this,’” Padulsky said.

Padulsky said he did not know exactly what was going on, but he began to worry—he had friends who were also running the marathon and his family members were waiting for him near the finish line. His aunt, who was also running the marathon, met him at his dorm room in Walsh, and they tried to contact their family members.

“The cell towers were overactive,” Padulsky said. “Things weren’t going through, so trying to send texts or calls wasn’t always the most reliable thing. Just trying to get a hold of everyone to make sure everyone was safe was really what the afternoon was.”

Once the Boston Police Department (BPD) said downtown Boston was safe enough for runners to return, buses provided by the Boston Athletic Association began transporting runners downtown, and by 7:30 p.m., most of the runners had left BC’s campus.

On a day when Warshauer and his team usually would have helped the occasional runner with shin splints or students who drank too much alcohol, EEMS ended up caring for about 500 stranded runners.

Read the full story online at https:// w w w. b ch e ig h t s . c o m / 2 0 2 3 / 0 4 / 1 6 / tragedy-recovery-and-community-recounting-and-reflecting-10-years-after-the-boston-marathon-bombing/.

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2023: BC’s Future Without Race-Conscious Admissions This story was originally published on Aug. 22, 2023.

By Eliza Hernandez Projects Editor Erin Flaherty Magazine Editor

Kenneth Beato works at the front desk of the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center (BAIC) at Boston College.

By checking students in for appointments and informing them about BAIC resources, Beato, CSOM ’25, said he serves as a bridge between the rest of BC’s campus and what he describes as a safe haven for himself and other AHANA students.

Beato said his role at the BAIC has been an integral part of his college experience.

Not only because of the friendships he has made through the center, but as a Black person and first-generation college student at a predominantly white university, he said the BAIC lets him connect with others who understand his experience at BC. In this way, the state of diversity at BC is not a mere political hot button to Beato—he said it is a reality he endures every day at school, whether he is walking around campus or sitting in class.

“I would be a liar if I said it didn’t destroy me mentally, and I was looking around and I’m like ‘Do I fit in this space, am I worthy

to even be around all these kids?’’ Beato said. “And like, it’s kind of drilling because they’re all white, and I’m the only Black person in that classroom.”

On June 29, the Supreme Court ruled to ban the consideration of race in college admissions. Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an anti–affirmative action advocacy group, sued both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard University.

In the lawsuit, SSFA argued that UNC’s admissions policy violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

And in its case against Harvard, SSFA stated that Harvard’s admissions policy discriminates against Asian Americans and therefore violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 against UNC and 6–2 against Harvard. In the majority’s opinion, Roberts argued the way in which universities consider race in admissions violates the 14th Amendment.

“The Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause,” Roberts wrote. “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints. We have never permitted

admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today.”

Following these rulings, conversations surrounding racial representation and fairness dominated national media as the many communities impacted by affirmative action discussed what these rulings mean for them.

On a legal level, the court’s recent rulings created a new judicial precedent. But these rulings will also have a direct impact on the way college admissions offices review applicants—without the ability to consider race in admissions, the diversity landscape on college campuses will likely change for universities such as BC. Raquel Muñiz, an assistant professor in Lynch School of Education and Human Development and an expert in law and education, said the national debate on racial equality in educational institutions traces back to the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case.

“Brown begins a new era in many ways, in helping us think about including race, whether we should, to what purposes,” Muñiz said.

While Brown vs. Board of Education overruled the “separate but equal” principle set forth by the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case, racial segregation did not effectively end in 1954. Rather, debate surrounding the desegregation of

elementary, secondary, and eventually higher education schools surged in courts and around American society for decades, according to Muñiz.

“This conversation led to different efforts by education institutions to try to take what we would call action that is affirmative in nature to try to address racial segregation [and] the legacy of segregation,” Muñiz said.

With case after case regarding racial equality in education reaching the Supreme Court in the following decades, Muñiz said that universities’ ability to consider race in admissions decisions slowly narrowed under federal law, ensuring that race alone could not be a deciding factor in admissions.

In the 2003 landmark case Grutter v.

Bollinger, the Supreme Court upheld affirmative action, permitting the consideration of race for the purpose of promoting diversity within public educational institutions, according to Kent Greenfield, a BC law professor who specializes in constitutional and corporate law.

“Institutions of higher learning could use race as a factor in admissions, as a part of a holistic and individualized process of review of applications to a campus,” Greenfield said.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/08/22/after-top-courtstrikes-down-race-conscious-admissionswhats-next-for-boston-college/

GRAPHIC BY PAIGE STEIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

2021: Chaos and Closure in the Face of COVID-19 This story was originally published on March 15, 2021.

BY ANNA LONNQUIST Magazine Editor STEPHEN BRADLEY Assoc. Magazine Editor MC CLAVERIE Asst. Magazine Editor MEGAN KELLY News Editor AND JULIA KIERSZNOWSKI Assoc. News Editor

g

When Boston College students and faculty returned to campus on March 8, 2020, few could have predicted that campus would be empty again in a week’s time. One year later, students and administrators are still reflecting on and processing those final five days on the Heights—the decisions that were made, the chaos that ensued, and the lasting effects that being sent home had on the community.

IKRAM ALI / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Students crammed as many BC traditions as possible into their final months on campus.

Sounding the Alarm Philip Landrigan, director of BC’s Global Public Health Program and Global Observatory on Pollution, said that when

the first cases of COVID-19 began appearing in the opening weeks of 2020, he had little sense of the severity of what was to come.

“I wasn’t that clear from the beginning, partly because the initial reports were kind of sketchy, and partly just a normal human reaction that it was far away, you know, it wasn’t here,” Landrigan said. “Then during the months of January and February, as the number of deaths started to mount up, it was becoming increasingly clear to all of us that this was a very, very serious threat and that we needed to buckle down.”

Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley said that every administrator was keeping an eye on COVID-19 throughout January and February. He recalled a meeting with the Board of Trustees during which one board member asked him what was keeping him up at night.

“It was Friday, February 7 and late the previous night, the doctor in Wuhan, Li Wenliang, had passed away,” Quigley said.

“The 30-something doctor … was one of the first to sound the alarm. And I’m not usually an alarmist, but I said that was something that had me a little bit worried.”

Quigley said that there were several

meetings entering into Spring Break about COVID-19, but no one yet understood the gravity of the situation.

Landrigan said that he briefed top administrators about COVID-19 in a meeting on Feb. 28, the final Friday before BC’s Spring Break.

“None of us in the room at that point were yet ready to close the place down,” Landrigan said. “I gave my best advice as to what steps BC should take … then over the next 10 or 11 days it became increasingly clear that this was a much much more dangerous situation than we had realized.”

Stanton Wortham, dean of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, said that there was some planning to move classes online before Spring Break even began.

Informational Technology Services had begun to ramp up Zoom licenses, and there was communication from department chairs to faculty urging them to begin planning for the possibility of the transition to remote learning, he said.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/03/15/one-year-latercovid-19/.

2022: The Abortion Debate at BC, From 1973 to 2022 This story was originally published on Aug. 3, 2022.

By MC Claverie Assoc. Magazine Editor Erin Flaherty Asst. Magazine Editor Max Montana said he was with a number of friends when he saw on TV that the U.S Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade. His initial reaction was excitement.

“One of my friends hugged me,” Montana, co-president of Students For Life of Boston College and MCAS ’23, said. “It was a very exciting moment.”

Alicia Johnson, BC ’11 and national organizer and student network manager for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said she knew the overturning of Roe v. Wade was a possibility with the makeup of the current U.S. Supreme Court.

Her initial reaction was devastation.

“To have the Supreme Court take away a constitutional right to an abortion was devastating,” Johnson said.

Across the country and at BC, both abortion-rights and anti-abortion advocates are processing the Dobbs decision, which overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, establishing that the U.S. Constitution does not recognize a federal right to an abortion. Although not physically together on campus, students, alumni, and professors are grappling with what this decision means for the future of abortion in the United States.

The Reversal of Roe In March of 2018, then-Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed the Gestational Age Act, which bans all abortions after 15 weeks since the first day of the last menstrual period, except in medical emergencies and in cases of severe fetal abnormality. The bill does not make exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

In response, The Center for Reproductive Rights—a global human rights organization of lawyers and advocates who work to protect reproductive rights—filed Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on behalf of the last

GRAPHIC BY ANNIE LADD REID / HEIGHTS EDITOR

remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in an attempt to stop the ban.

On May 2 of this year, Politico leaked a draft of the Dobbs decision written by Justice Samuel Alito, in which the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe. Just over a month later, on June 24, the Supreme Court issued its official ruling on Dobbs, overturning both Roe and the subsequent 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, which upheld Constitutional protections of abortion, establishing the “undue burden” standard as a framework for future litigation.

The Supreme Court’s decision ended federal protection of access to abortion nearly 50 years after the Roe decision, handing the issue back to state governments.

Since the Dobbs decision, at least 10 states at the time of publication have banned abortion and about half of the states are expected to allow bans or limits on abortion to take effect, according to The New York Times.

Student Groups React Many political organizations on BC’s campus have expressed their reactions to the Dobbs decision, with some, like College Democrats of Boston College, holding meetings to discuss and process the news. College Democrats of BC said they were saddened but not surprised by the overturning of Roe. “In our meetings, we’ve discussed what a post-Roe America could look like, and it’s strange for all of us to now be living in it,” said College Democrats of BC President Anna Flaherty, MCAS ’23, in a statement to The Heights.

Moving forward, the club plans to encourage political involvement within the

student body through voter registration and volunteer efforts.

“Obviously, we’re limited in our abilities to work directly with pro-choice organizations because of BC’s Jesuit values, but that will not stop our club from doing everything we can to make an impact,” Flaherty wrote. “Our next semester on campus will be heavily focused on getting students involved politically, whether it be by registering to vote or volunteering, and providing a space for students to process and problem solve in the wake of this attack on human rights.”

Both BC Republicans and the Network of Enlightened Women (NeW), did not respond to a request for comment.

Montana said that prior to the overturning of Roe, Students For Life of BC worked to advocate for the anti-abortion movement and facilitated conversations about abortion on campus.

One way in which the club creates spaces for these conversations is by tabling three times per semester, he said.

“I’ve had many conversations with my peers at Boston College,” Montana said. “We want to create an environment, foster an environment where people can have honest but charitable conversations about the issue of abortion.”

Besides tabling, Montana said the club also hosts speakers on the topic of abortion and provides pregnancy and parenting resource pamphlets, which can also be found on the Campus Ministry website.

Montana said when people on campus are willing to listen and engage in conversation, people begin to better understand the anti-abortion movement.

“We understand each other better and have thought-provoking exchanges that, again, are very much in charity and with compassion,” Montana said. “There’s no

yelling or anything like that.”

Besides tabling and providing resources for pregnant students, Montana said that the club can always do more to provide additional resources for students and advocate for the anti-abortion cause.

“We can always provide more resources, and part of our mission is advocacy, so talking to the administration about what they could do better, what they can do more for us,” he said. “On the whole, BC does a pretty good job at letting us promote our viewpoint.”

To further conversations about reproductive justice without attachment to a specific religious or political movement, Ruby Miller and Sophie Lowy, both MCAS ’25, are trying to start a new reproductive justice club.

According to Miller and Lowy, who met in an Introduction to Feminisms class during the fall semester of their freshman year, the course inspired them to create a space dedicated to reproductive health care education.

“We were kind of really inspired by the content of the class and thinking, you know, ‘Why isn’t there something like this on campus [where] students can kind of join this community and talk about their interests involving reproductive justice?’”

Miller said.

Miller and Lowy said they named their club The Scorpio Project, symbolizing the scorpio constellation which is associated with reproductive organs in the Zodiac.

They received a recommendation from the Board of Student Organizations during the 2022 spring semester. In the fall, OSI will review their club application.

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/08/03/from1973-to-2022-the-abortion-debate-at-bc/

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Class of 2024 CommenCement edition

2023: Non-Catholic Students Build Their Own Traditions This story was originally published on Sept. 24, 2023.

By Eliza Hernandez Projects Editor The first statistic in the fact and figures tab on Boston College School of Theology and Ministry’s (STM) website states that the school places 10th overall in a worldwide ranking of theology, divinity, and religious studies.

With a swift scroll down the page, anyone interested would find that 85 percent of the 371-person STM student body is Catholic, with 16 percent belonging to the Jesuit order.

Scroll farther, and there are no statistics about any other religious identities in STM. BC as a whole—founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus to educate Irish-Catholic immigrants—continues to promote a Jesuit, Catholic intellectual tradition.

But with 15,075 undergraduate and graduate students across nine schools and colleges, BC’s religious teachings are not single-dimensional, but they rather contain a vast range of theological thought, according to the University’s website.

“The Catholic intellectual tradition is not static traditionalism, but is constantly revolving, drawing from the riches of the past to give life to the future and, in its search for truth, engaged with every discipline and with all forms of belief and nonbelief,” the website reads.

While many BC students are Catholic, and the University is situated in Chestnut Hill—a town where residents’ primary religious affiliation is Catholic—non-Catholic

students engage in spiritual dialogue and maintain a prominent presence within the University.

Rev. James Hairston, the campus minister of multi-faith programs at BC Campus Ministry, said there are 21 religious student groups on campus, including many that are non-Catholic.

From Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism to non-denominational Christianity, Protestantism, Orthodoxy, and more, Hairston said the myriad of religions represented through student-led groups demonstrates students’ individual ownership over how they approach their faith.

“They’re coming to their Catholicism at their own pace,” Hairston said. “They come into their Jewishness at their own pace and come into their Islamic identity at their own pace that is dictated by them, and they own it.”

As religious minorities on campus, non-Catholic students especially exemplify virtue and leadership by seeking to build their own religious communities, Hairston said.

“The groups that we do have here in terms of non-Catholic or religious groups are here by virtue of the students,” Hairston said. “So none of these groups could be here if it wasn’t for the students who desire to have them here.”

Hairston said he works with student faith groups when they need resources from the University. He manages finances for BC Hillel and the Muslim Student Association (MSA), for example.

“We’ve done bat mitzvahs on campus,” Hairston said. “And I think there’s a reason why our Jewish students decide to come to

a place like BC where they can approach their Jewish identity at their own pace and in a position which is comfortable to them.”

Avery Miller, MCAS ’24, is president of BC Hillel, a prominent club for Jewish students on campus. He said Hillel has consistently had a positive experience working with Campus Ministry to plan for events and holidays.

“I can’t speak for other clubs, but I can speak for Hillel and we definitely do feel supported,” Miller said. “And I’ve been in touch with Campus Ministry, and they’re all great.”

Hillel hosts Shabbats every week in the Gabelli lounge, Miller said, and it rents out the Thomas More Apartments and various chapels on campus through the University.

Campus Ministry also supports Hillel with funding for larger events and multifaith celebrations, Miller said. During Miller’s involvement with Hillel, the group hosted a dinner with MSA. Miller said that he also hopes to partner with a Christian student association.

“We want to make a solid multi-faith event, you know, we want to share our traditions with the rest of the people at Boston College rather than keeping it to ourselves,” Miller said.

Abdullah Sayed, MCAS ’24, said MSA focuses on representing Muslim students but shares Hillel’s enthusiasm for including students of all backgrounds. As president, Sayed has noticed that some of MSA’s most regular attendees at events are non-Muslim students.

“It provides religious services to Muslims, but it’s also a place for people of all backgrounds to have a discussion and conversation about things that are meaningful

to them and for them to meet people who are like-minded,” Sayed said.

Sayed said that MSA hosts four to five weekly events. Some events are strictly religiously oriented, like the Friday prayers and halaqa, while others consist of open dialogue, games, and refreshments.

“For me, and I think for a lot of people in MSA, it’s a community that although it’s based on Islamic values and virtues, it more broadly offers a place for people to engage in a welcoming alternative to BC norms,” Sayed said.

Beyond renting rooms from the University for weekly prayers and dinners, Sayed said that coordination for larger celebrations rely on more complex accommodations from BC, especially from BC Dining.

For example, Sayed said that eating schedules for celebrations like Ramadan require meals during times outside of BC Dining’s typical hours. Although Sayed said that getting proper accommodations has been

difficult at times due to scheduling conflicts, he said MSA has continuous conversations with the University and BC Dining.

“The University is making an effort and there’s been a dialogue with BC dining, for example, for the last few years,” Sayed said. “They’ve been trying to improve their accommodations, and they’ve been listening to constructive feedback that we provided.”

Sayed also said the Women’s Center invited MSA to an event about women’s rights protests in Iran, but on the day the event was supposed to take place, an employee of the Women’s Center informed MSA that it had been canceled without any communication prior to that interaction. This moment, Sayed said, exemplified how BC can increase its attention to interfaith events.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/09/24/amid-bcs-jesuit-catholic-tradition-non-catholic-students-build-their-own-communities/.

REBEKAH CHE / FOR THE HEIGHTS

There are 21 religious student groups on campus, including many that are non-Catholic.

2022: Creating a Campus for All This story was originally published on Nov. 20, 2022.

BY STEPHEN BRADLEY Magazine Editor MC CLAVERIE Assoc. Magazine Editor AND ERIN FLAHERTY Asst. Magazine Editor NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR

2023: BC Sex Culture This story was originally published on Feb. 14, 2023.

By Erin Flaherty Magazine Editor Beth Verghese Assoc. Magazine Editor AND Spencer Steppe Asst. Magazine Editor

For Valentine’s Day, Boston College students can send their valentine a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers. Or, they could send them a bag of condoms.

Boston College Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH), an independent student group committed to providing students with sexual health and sex education resources, distributes “condomgrams” to members of the BC community every Valentine’s Day. At no cost, students can send their valentine a bag of condoms. But BCSSH does not just provide students with resources on Feb.14—the group also runs Rubber Hub, a program where students can order condoms, lube, and dental dams throughout the year. To fund its services, BCSSH receives a grant from Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive and sexual health care.

BCSSH is not associated with BC and is

not officially allowed to distribute condoms on campus. On the 2018 UGBC election ballot, 94 percent of BC students voted in support of a referendum allowing BCSSH to distribute contraceptives on campus. The University then doubled down on its disallowance of contraceptive distribution, citing other Jesuit schools’ policies and its commitment to BC’s Catholic identity.

BC’s Sexual Activity Policy Another policy stemming from BC’s Catholic identity is the University’s stance on sexual activity. The University prohibits students from engaging in intercourse outside of marriage in policy 11.8 of the Student Code of Conduct.

“All students have a responsibility to respect the values and traditions of Boston College as a Jesuit, Catholic institution, including adhering to the Church’s teachings with respect to sexual activity,” the policy reads.

“Consequently, incidents of sexual intercourse outside the bonds of matrimony may be referred to the Student Conduct System.”

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/14/the-absenceof-abstinence-students-reflect-on-sex-culture-and-policy-at-bc/.

Commonly referred to as “the Heights,” Boston College’s campus is known for its hilly topography. For some students with disabilities, BC’s many staircases and inclines impair their ability to get around campus.

In January 2014, the state of Massachusetts received a pair of complaints about the lack of campus accessibility at BC. In response, the Massachusetts Department of Safety Architectural Access Board (AAB) investigated BC’s campus for its compliance with the Code of Massachusetts Regulations Title 521, a collection of AAB codes. This investigation followed another inspection in 2015 after students and alumni filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in 2013. Since the investigations, the University has made several strides to improve campus accessibility. General Counsel at BC Nora Field said advancements include building renovations, improved maintenance, and continued monitoring of campus and students’ needs in an email to The Heights.

“The improvements are too numerous for me to list, but include new ramps at Vanderslice, a new walkway and ramp between Maloney Hall and O’Neill library, a new ramp at Trinity Chapel, and improved signage throughout campus,” Field said.

“In addition, all new buildings, including, most recently, 245 Beacon, are compliant

with accessibility standards.”

While the University has made an effort to meet state standards, students continue to push for increased accessibility on campus along with increased inclusivity of students with disabilities.

Most recently, UGBC’s Council for Students with Disabilities (CSD) is collaborating with BC Athletics to include closed captions for gameday videos and broadcasting on the jumbotron in addition to working with the University to create a more accessible pathway to Upper Campus, according to Jonah Kotzen, MCAS ’24 and the CSD policy coordinator.

As a student in the late ’90s, Adriana Mallozzi, BC ’00, she said she had a generally positive experience as a student in a wheelchair, relying on back doors and roundabout ways to get to her classes.

But in 2014, when Mallozzi revisited BC, she said the campus was much less accessible than she had remembered it to be due to several construction projects.

“When I did come in 2014, I just heard of horror stories that people were dropping out because they weren’t getting the services that they needed to be successful in school and to be able to live on campus to be able to get to class,” Mallozzi said. “It was very disheartening because I had such a positive experience at BC even though it was so long before that, and to hear it getting worse instead of better was very disheartening for me.”

After the AAB—which “enforces regulations designed to make public buildings accessible to, functional for, and safe for use by persons with disabilities”—investigated the 2014 complaint, it found over 55 violations in or around 22 different locations on campus, such as Stokes S-195, Gasson Hall, and Cushing Hall.

The violations ranged from a lack of a listening system in a lecture hall to ramps with elevation rates above the maximum slope to inaccessible building entrances, according to documents obtained by The Heights.

Under Massachusetts state law, the AAB is authorized to act against violators of its regulations, including but not limited to taking legal action to prevent the further use of an offending facility. The AAB also has the authority to impose fines of up to $1000 per day per violation for willful noncompliance with its regulations.

When she returned to campus in more recent years, Mallozzi noted some of the updates made since her 2014 visit.

“I have been on campus recently, and I saw, finally, an access point to the front door of O’Neill Library, which is really great,” she said.

Capital Projects Senior Designer Mark Lewis said in an email to The Heights that Facilities Management has a quality relationship with the AAB, as the two organizations often work together. Lewis also said his office’s consulting architects take accessibility on campus seriously and follow the law to the full extent.

“Over the years any new buildings constructed on campus are required to be fully accessible,” Lewis said. “We have used these opportunities to be able to connect parts of campus that have previously been difficult to access. The newly completed 245 Beacon Street Science Building and new Residence hall at 2150 Comm Ave … are both very good examples of this.”

Read the full story online at https:// www.bcheights.com/2022/11/20/creating-a-campus-for-all-students-and-advocacy-groups-push-for-greater-accessibility/.

2022: The Tumultuous 50-Year History of Title IX This story was originally published on June 23, 2022.

BY STEPHEN BRADLEY Magazine Editor ERIN FLAHERTY Asst. Magazine Editor AND JULIA KIERSZNOWSKI Projects Editor

The beginning of the 1970s marked a period of tumult.

The U.S. had invaded Cambodia during the Vietnam War. In response, students across the nation began to strike in May 1970.

Such unrest was not foreign to Boston College’s campus. In April 1970, BC students went on strike against the recent raise in tuition. The marching band blared their instruments throughout academic buildings to disrupt classes, students vandalized offices, and many members of the Class of 1970 graduated BC without completing their classes.

Later that decade, the passage of one law would sustain this turmoil for years to come.

Title IX—passed on June 23, 1972—prohibits discrimination based on sex within educational programs or activities that receive federal funding in a mere 37 words: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Kathie Skinner, BC ’70, said Title IX, which initially sought to enforce equality between men’s and women’s sports in schools, was an extension of the progressive culture of the 1960s.

“I think that, in terms of women becoming integral into the University in general, [it started] in the late ’60s, which kind of was what the late ’60s were all about … breaking the norms of the past and kind of moving into the future,” she said. “So I think in that regard,

Title IX is an extension of that.”

Skinner said when Congress passed Title IX, she was most affected by the push toward more opportunities for women in intercollegiate sports.

“When I was at BC … I don’t think that there were that many opportunities for women who wanted to play sports to do so,” Skinner said. “And so … that’s what I remember most about Title IX, expanding those opportunities and really forcing schools to, I think, kind of treat women equally as much as possible.”

A primary point of controversy after the passage of the law was how equal funding for both male and female sports would affect male sports. At the time, the National Collegiate Athletic Association said it would negatively impact male sports.

The law’s brevity allowed leeway for educational administrators and students across the nation to interpret it differently. In order to create consistency, the U.S. Department of

Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) drafted its regulations of Title IX’s implementation in April 1974. These regulations prohibited discrimination based on sex regarding the choice of sports and their competitive levels, scholarships, and coaching and instruction.

Another regulation required schools to have a male and a female team, a co-ed team, or no team at all for any given sport.

Responding to this draft, the National Association for Collegiate Athletic Directors sent a letter to former President Richard Nixon, requesting that he examine such regulations. The association claimed this implementation of Title IX would be disruptive and counterproductive.

Bill Flynn, BC’s athletic director from 1957 to 1990, responded to the draft saying BC was doing all it could to make men’s and women’s athletics equal. He said he believed the regulations were unrealistic and that BC offered equal sporting equipment and coaching based on need and student interest.

He questioned whether women athletes would want to partake in equal scheduling and competitive level as men.

HEW’s Title IX regulations went into effect on July 21, 1975, three years after Congress passed the law. One year later in 1976, then-Director of the Office of Affirmative Action Alice Jeghelian said BC had passed its self-evaluation of its compliance with the regulations.

Though Flynn had questioned female athletes’ interest in competing at the same level as male athletes, in 1979 and 1980, the women’s club soccer team and the women’s club hockey team, respectively, asked Flynn for varsity status—these requests were denied. The women’s club soccer team then filed a Title IX violation.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/06/23/trials-andtransformation-the-50-year-history-oftitle-ix/

Sports Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

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Editor’s Note: Sports editors Luke Evans, Emily Roberge, and Maria Stefanoudakis have compiled the most memorable moments in BC sports during the Class of 2023’s four years at BC. Look inside to recount your favorite moments from Alumni Stadium, Conte Forum, and beyond.

2021: Former Women’s

Soccer Coach Sues BC This story was originally published on Oct. 12, 2021.

BY ASA ACKERLY Assoc. Sports Editor

MEGAN KELLY News Editor

AND EMMA HEALY Sports Editor Former Boston College women’s soccer coach Alison Foley is suing the University for gender discrimination and improper wiretapping after allegedly being forced to resign in 2018 following her record-setting 22 seasons. In the lawsuit, which was filed in November 2020, Foley alleges that she was dismissed from BC “for advocating on behalf of herself and her female student athletes to be treated fairly and equitably.”

In the suit, Foley alleges that BC held her to a different standard than it held male coaches, specifically concerning her contract status and the way that athletics department members dealt with complaints about her leadership style from student-athletes.

Foley’s lawsuit alleges that the University broke the first and fourth clause of Massachusetts General Laws, Title XXI, Chapter 151B, Section 4 by insisting on single-year contracts and forcing her dismissal. The two clauses protect workers from being discriminated against as a result of their membership in a variety of demographic groups, including gender, and ban employers from threatening or firing workers for lodging a complaint in response to discrimination.

Though her removal from the University was publicly called a resignation, Foley alleges in the suit how then-athletics director Martin Jarmond and University Vice President for Human Resources David Trainor called her into a meeting on Dec. 10, just over a month after the conclusion of the 2018 season, and gave her the choice of resigning or being fired because the “whole team” had complained about her leadership.

Trainor allegedly told Foley that he had a file on her relating to concerns around her team culture and referenced two specific events: a report that she had “pitted two players against each other” during practice and that she had sounded drunk during a phone call with a student-athlete.

Foley alleges that Trainor did not offer any more details about the forced competition between the two student-athletes at practice.

The student-athlete who made the phone call, Kayla Jennings, played at BC from 2016 to 2019 and allegedly called Foley after getting out of an evening class on campus while Foley was at home. Foley says in the lawsuit that it is possible she had a glass of wine on the night in question, but she denies wholeheartedly that she was drunk.

Jennings recorded the call, unbeknownst to Foley, and provided it to Jarmond who reviewed it along with Trainor and then-senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator Jocelyn Gates, prior to the decision to terminate Foley, according to the lawsuit. The wilful use of a recording taken without the consent of the other party is considered a crime in Massachusetts.

Thomas Newkirk, one of Foley’s attorneys, told The Heights that Jennings is not a defendant in the case because there is “no point” in suing a student-athlete. He also spoke to Foley’s coaching style, and said that nothing significant happened on the call.

“Nothing transpired,” Newkirk said.

“Coach Foley … [has] always exhibited behavior at all times that was not just meeting the basic standards of what you would expect of a coach in college but exceeding

that. And everybody knows this.”

Jennings did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and Gates declined a request for comment.

Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications Jason Baum said that the University could not comment on the matter, as the lawsuit is still ongoing.

Foley also denies that she had ever been informed prior to the Dec. 10 meeting that there were concerns about her drinking.

In the lawsuit, she counters that male head coaches frequently drank much more than she did. She specifically mentions then-head men’s soccer coach Ed Kelly, who she alleges drank on team flights. Kelly did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Foley alleges that she was not allowed to defend herself at the meeting, and was told

by Trainor that “the decision was made” to fire her and gave her the option to resign or be fired. Trainor allegedly said that if Foley “wanted to go after them, BC would make it real ugly for her” and that she “would never get another job again in coaching.”

Foley alleges that the Dec. 10 meeting was the culmination of a number of conflicts with the athletics department. After a series of single-year contracts, Foley requested a multi-year contract in 2015, along with a pay raise, as she says she was the only soccer coach in the ACC not on a multi-year deal, according to the lawsuit.

Foley alleges that then-athletics director Brad Bates told her that he supported the request in 2015, but Trainor resisted the move and reportedly only agreed once Foley obtained an attorney and brought concerns that she was not being treated equally as a result of her gender. Bates did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

That contract expired in June of 2018, and Foley was not renewed to a new multi-year deal, but instead returned to a single-year deal, according to the lawsuit.

When Foley and Jarmond first met in the summer of 2018, he told her that she needed to win in 2018 or their “post season meeting was going to be very different,” Foley alleges.

Foley defended herself, crediting the positive team culture that she created during her tenure. Jarmond allegedly responded with hostility.

“I don’t give a f--k about your culture … how do you think I feel being the only ACC AD without a championship?” Jarmond allegedly responded, according to the lawsuit.

Jarmond did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Multiple of Foley’s former players also did not respond to requests for comment.

In the 2018 meeting, Jarmond allegedly outlined four requirements for the upcoming season: Foley’s team had to finish in the top half of the ACC, reach the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, and raise $25,000 for the newly built soccer locker room, according to the lawsuit. BC vastly outperformed preseason projections and broke into the top 10 nationally.

Jarmond allegedly told Foley in November that she was doing a great job and that next season would be even better.

The program ultimately met and exceeded all of Jarmond’s requirements during the 2018 season, finishing fourth in the ACC, earning a spot in both postseason tournaments, and even raising $125,000 for the locker room, $100,000 more than Jarmond had allegedly outlined, according to the lawsuit.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/10/12/former-womens-soccer-coach-sues-bc-gender-discrimination-improper-wiretapping/.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

In the suit, Foley alleged that BC held her to a different standard than it held male coaches.

GREG FIUME / COURTESY OF NCAA PHOTOS

2021: BC Wins First NCAA Title This story was originally published on May 30, 2021.

BY EMMA HEALY Sports Editor TOWSON, Md. — As fans decked out in Boston College lacrosse’s signature neon yellow t-shirts swarmed her team, head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein stood about 30 yards back, all by herself, with her hands at her mouth in disbelief. Snippets of the net adorned the Eagles’ necks like the finest jewelry, and Cara Urbank, exhausted from a rush of adrenaline and 60 minutes of championship-level lacrosse, hoisted the trophy above her head. All Walker-Weinstein could do was stand back and admire.

The Eagles, haunted by the shadow of three straight crushing National Championship losses, had every reason to win.

After taking down seemingly untouchable UNC in the semifinals, Boston College had proven it was a National Championship team. It was only a matter of time before the confetti cannons shot maroon and gold streamers.

In its fourth straight National Championship appearance, and after three long years of heartbreak, fourth-seeded BC (18-3) finally sealed the deal with a 16-10 win over No. 3 Syracuse (17-4), claiming the Eagles’ first ever national title. For Walker-Weinstein, an NCAA title wasn’t just a goal, it was the goal.

“We had a dream a long time ago that we were going to win a championship, and people told us we were crazy. And we just did it,” Walker-Weinstein said in her postgame press conference. And the milestones don’t end there.

All season long, Charlotte North has been inching toward the perfect season.

Broken record after broken record, she has cemented herself as one of the greatest players—if not the greatest—to ever don the maroon and gold. The one record it took her all 21 games to break? The NCAA record for goals in a single season—100, set

by Stony Brook’s Courtney Murphy.

North, not one to be outdone, scored six goals in the title game, good for 102 on the season, only adding to her list of accolades. Not to mention, she was this year’s NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Fittingly, North’s 97th goal was the first of the game. She surprised Asa Goldstock with a shot through her five-hole just over two minutes in. Urbank made it 2-1 for BC on a free-position shot after Syracuse’s Sam Swart had tied it up at one.

In another minute came goal number 98 for North, a long-distance rocket that snuck inside the post. Perhaps the most pivotal moment of the first half came 12 minutes into the contest. With a clear look at goal, Urbank fired a point-blank shot, which rang off the post and straight into the awaiting stick of Goldstock.

Four scoreless minutes after Emma Tyrrell slotted one home in transition, the Orange once again had a fast break, and freshman standout Emma Ward picked the corner on the run to tie the game up at three apiece.

The momentum had suddenly swung in the Orange’s favor, and Syracuse wasn’t stopping there. A save by Rachel Hall was called back as a free-position shot, and though the Eagles stopped the initial attempt and wore the shot clock down to single digits, Sierra Cockerille slotted

one home to take the Orange’s first lead of the game.

Maybe it was the pressure of the national stage, or maybe the teams were just that evenly matched, but BC and Syracuse traded the lead back and forth five times in the first half alone. The biggest run of the half was that 3-0 sprint capped off with Cockerille’s goal.

Just minutes after Tyrrell—the Orange’s fourth leading point scorer—recorded her first goal of the game, officials handed down her second yellow card, ejecting her from the game and putting a damper on Syracuse’s otherwise dominant offense.

Whether or not her absence made a difference on the scoresheet, the wind was back in BC’s sails. Each time BC opened up a lead, Syracuse whittled it back down, and every time Syracuse scored, the Eagles matched it. Belle Smith, as she has for much of the season, put on a stick work clinic in the first half.

Her first goal of the day came on a highlight reel–worthy shot from the left post. With possession of the ball and her right shoulder to the left goal post, Smith went up and over her defender to sneak the ball past Goldstock, breaking the 4-4 tie.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2021/05/30/boston-college-wins-national-championship/.

GREG FIUME / COURTESY OF NCAA PHOTOS

After three national championship losses, the Eagles beat Syracuse 16–10 in 2021.

2022: Blake James Hired as AD This story was originally published on June 3, 2022.

BY AMY PALMER Assoc. News Editor For the third time in five years, members of the athletic department and the media gathered to hear from Boston College’s newest athletics director on Thursday. Newly hired athletics director Blake James, however, gave fans a reason to believe this would be the last introductory press conference for a long time.

“When you look at my record, those that know the industry know that having been at Miami for nine years, there’s plenty of opportunities if I would have wanted to leave

to take advantage of those opportunities,” James said. “As I said to Father Leahy, I plan on being here through retirement.”

James—the former athletic director at Miami (Fla.)—replaces Pat Kraft, who left BC for the same position at Penn State in April after two years on the Heights. James will assume the role on July 1.

In his new role, James said he will continue in his determined pursuit of excellence in all aspects of Division I athletics at BC. “We will compete for championships with integrity,” James said. “We will provide a world-class student-athlete experience. We will retain and attract tremendous coaches and staff, and we will do it all together as a BC community.”

The University had specific goals in

GRAPHIC BY ANNIE CORRIGAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Blake James replaced Pat Kraft, who left the University for the same role at Penn State.

mind—one being this pursuit of excellence— during its search process for its next athletics director, according to University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. “The committee’s charge was to identify people who had certain goals and records in their lives—people who were successful, proven leaders in intercollegiate athletics with experience at the highest level, and who could mentor players, coaches, and staff,” Leahy said at Thursday’s press conference.

Leahy said James meets these goals, as he is known for his commitment to integrity and advancing many of the values that BC upholds.

“I’m guided by my core values and by my faith, and I’m driven by a constant pursuit of excellence,” James said. “As an athletics program, we’ll strive for excellence in all that we do in alignment with our Jesuit mission and values.”

James spoke about a number of changes and challenges the ACC is facing, including finding ways to increase revenue and navigating name, image, and likeness legislation, but he said he is confident that BC will help shape the conference’s future.

“Regardless of what comes next, I know that our student-athletes will continue to thrive,” he said. “And when they leave Boston College with a degree in hand, they will go on to change the world.” n

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Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

2023: BC Swim and Dive Allegedly Forced To Consume Vomit

This story was originally published on Sept. 21, 2023.

By Graham Dietz Sports Editor

Attendees at a Boston College men’s and women’s swimming and diving freshman event were allegedly instructed to binge drink and forced to consume their own vomit, according to a letter from an administrator in the Office of the Dean of Students.

The letter, sent to a member of the team and obtained by The Heights, also states that members allegedly engaged in underage drinking at two additional events. At one of these events, members were allegedly encouraged to participate in drinking games.

The alleged incidents occurred at an off-campus house and two residence halls between Sept. 2 and Sept. 4. The letter explained that five Student Code of Conduct violations may have occurred, including hazing, alcohol policy, disorderly conduct, community disturbance, and complicity, according to the letter.

“The adjudication process will include an investigation of the reports, followed by a hearing, after which a determination of responsibility will be issued,” the letter reads.

The Heights cannot immediately confirm how many other student-athletes

received the letter.

On Wednesday, BC Athletics announced it indefinitely suspended the program after administrators determined that hazing occurred.

In a statement to The Heights, lawyers from Nesenoff & Miltenberg, a law firm specializing in campus disciplinary defense and representing more than 30 BC swim and dive program members, said BC Athletics falsely suggested that allegations of hazing had been substantiated.

“To be clear, the university’s conduct office has just only begun and certainly has not completed an investigation into such claims, nor have any findings been made,” the statement from lawyers Andrew Miltenberg and Tara Davis said. “The issuance of this statement prematurely, and without having gathered all of the relevant facts, was not only negligent but also extremely harmful and damaging to the members of the Swimming and Diving program.”

The law firm sent a statement to BC’s general counsel on Thursday calling on the University to immediately lift the suspension of the swimming and diving program and issue a public retraction for the statement issued by BC Athletics on Sept. 20.

“It is distressing that the College has been so irresponsible in its public messaging,” the statement continues. “We are hopeful that the College will take all neces-

KAIT DEVIR / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

The alleged incidents occurred at an off-campus house and two residence halls between Sept. 2 and Sept. 4.

sary and appropriate steps to rectify the substantial and ongoing damage caused to the student athletes,” the statement continued.

Associate Vice President for University Communications Jack Dunn explained BC’s position on the alleged hazing in an email to The Heights, writing that BC has suspended the activities of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving program after receiving credible reports.

Dunn also noted that in accordance with Massachusetts state law, the allegations of hazing will be referred to law enforcement.

“Based on the information known at this time, Athletics has determined a program suspension is warranted, pending a full investigation by the University,” Dunn wrote.

“Consistent with University policy, the matter will be investigated by the

Office of the Dean of Students and adjudicated fairly and impartially through the student conduct process. Once the investigation and adjudication process is complete, Athletics will reassess the status of the teams.”

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/09/21/boston-college-swimming-and-diving-alleged-violations/

2023: BC Baseball Reacts to First NCAA Tournament

Appearance Since 2016 Despite Missing Out on Hosting

SOURABH GOKARN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

This story was originally published on May 31, 2023.

BY SOURABH GOKARN Copy Editor Less than 24 hours after the NCAA Selection Committee passed on Boston College baseball as a regional host, the mood inside the locker room at the Pete Frates Center was surprisingly light.

Sure, occasional jeers broke out when Indiana State—who barely edged out the Eagles for a hosting slot—or Clemson—who eliminated BC from the ACC Tournament—flashed across the TV screen. NCAA baseball committee chair John Cohen, who appeared on ESPN2 following the nationally televised bracket

reveal, didn’t receive an especially warm reception either.

But on Monday afternoon, in a room filled with players and lined with key BC figures such as Director of Athletics Blake James and John and Nancy Frates, the mood remained spirited and celebratory for BC baseball’s NCAA selection show watch party.

And for good reason.

Culminating in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016, BC boasted multiple All-ACC members, picked up wins over perennial championship contenders, and reached a program-high No. 9 national ranking. And now, the Eagles will head to Tuscaloosa, Ala. as a No. 2 seed to take on a regional pool consisting of Alabama, Troy, and Nicholls State, first facing Troy on Friday at 3 p.m.

Boston College football head coach Jeff Hafley is leaving the Heights after four seasons with the program to become the next defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, according to a BC Athletics press release.

“I loved my four years at Boston College,” Hafley said in the release. “This is an exceptional place to coach given the caliber of student-athletes we recruit, the facilities, and the support from the University and BC fans. I will miss the players who gave so much of themselves these past four years, and my wife Gina and I will certainly miss the BC community and the many friends we have made here.”

Amid a resurgence headlined by seven stellar innings at Fenway Park against Notre Dame and 5.2 shutout innings in the ACC Tournament against Clemson, West’s ERA has dropped to 4.52, giving Gambino another strong pitching option heading into the weekend.

“With Flynn and West, we really do feel like we have—whether it’s two number ones, or 1 and 1A, or however you want to say it,” Gambino said. “It’s going to be something we’re going to have to look at and decide what we’re going to do for the rotation. … It’s a great problem to have.”

Centered around junior slugger Joe Vetrano, whose 18 home runs is good for fifth in the ACC, BC’s bats have done damage this season as well.

Sophomore Holy Cross transfer Nick Wang has made his presence known via countless clutch hits this season while senior Barry Walsh has provided a steady and reliable presence at the top of the order.

And with the potential return of outfielder and MLB draft prospect Travis Honeyman, who’s been injured over the past month, BC’s offense threatens to grow even more formidable.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/05/31/boston-college-baseball-reacts-to-ncaa-tournament-seeding/

Grant as Men’s Basketball Coach This story was originally published on March 15, 2021.

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BC for Green Bay Packers

BY LUKE EVANS Sports Editor

Gambino also credited his team’s culture for its success.

“If you’re around this group, every single one of them, you can feel how much they love each other,” Gambino said. “You feel how much they care about each other.

And you feel every single one of them will tell you, whatever this team needs or this program needs, that’s what comes first.

And that’s something we take pride in.”

Critical to BC’s dramatic turnaround is improved pitching. Led by ace starter Chris Flynn and high-leverage reliever Andrew Roman—both Division III transfers—the Eagles have lowered their team ERA from 7.25 in 2022 to 5.42 this season.

“The staff did a really good job of finding, identifying guys that we thought had skills, traits that—with some adjustments—would be transferable to the highest level of college baseball,” Gambino said. “And then you combine that with tremendous makeup, character, toughness—that’s kind of the model.”

Burns, who has witnessed this turnaround first hand behind the plate, echoed these sentiments.

“Those guys got something to prove,” Burns said. “They got that ‘it-factor’ and that chip on their shoulder. They want to come in here and show them who they really are. …They just got that dog in them, for sure.”

John West, whose ERA sat at 10.36 a season ago, has also emerged as of late.

2021: Boston College Hires Earl

2024: Jeff Hafley Leaves

This story was originally published on Jan. 31, 2024.

“It’s huge,” catcher Peter Burns, BC’s longest-tenured starter, said. “Not only for the guys in the locker room, but for the alumni, the donors, the coaching staff.

It’s been a long time coming.”

Underneath the disappointment of not hosting lies months worth of confidence, built by this nearly unprecedented list of accomplishments. In a season that began with the Eagles ranked at the bottom of the ACC Atlantic Division, according to a preseason coaches poll, BC has soared past expectations. But proving doubters wrong is nothing new for these Eagles.

“I think we’ve played with a chip on our shoulder the whole year, especially from the predictions at the beginning of the year,” senior infielder Vince Cimini said. “Nobody had us even making a regional. So to be a No. 2 seed—you know, it would have been great to host here.

That would have done a lot of good for the program, but I think we have just as good of an opportunity as a No. 2 seed.”

Following a 19–34 slog of a 2022 season, head coach Mike Gambino believes his squad has risen to national prominence because of this underdog mentality.

“The things that people see from the outside of our program as disadvantages, we believe are advantages,” Gambino said.

“The reasons why people say we can’t win will be the reasons why we can.”

BC has not yet appointed an interim head coach and is immediately beginning a national search for the next head coach, according to Director of Athletics Blake James.

“As a world-class institution with a strong tradition and a commitment to excellence, we are confident that we will find an exceptional new leader for our football program, and we will continue to do everything we can to support our student-athletes,” James said in the release.

After previously working in various assistant defensive coaching roles in the NFL and as Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator, Hafley was hired as head coach by then-Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond on Dec. 14, 2019.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2024/01/31/jeff-hafleyleaves-boston-college-football-for-greenbay-packers/

BY EMMA HEALY Sports Editor ASA ACKERLY Assoc. Sports Editor AND ETHAN OTT Asst. Sports Editor Boston College has hired Earl Grant of the College of Charleston to replace Jim Christian as head men’s basketball coach, BC Athletics announced on Monday afternoon.

“After a comprehensive national search, it was clear that Earl is exactly what we were looking for and what our basketball program needs at this moment and I am confident he will have tremendous success in Chestnut Hill, on the court and off,” BC Athletics Director Pat Kraft said in a press release.

The Eagles welcomed Grant to the Heights with a video narrated by former BC star and current Los Angeles Lakers forward Jared Dudley.

Jon Rothstein first broke the announcement on Twitter.

In seven seasons with Charleston, Grant led the program to a 127-89 overall record, an NCAA tournament appearance in 2018, and an NIT appearance in

2017. In three seasons, he brought the Cougars from 10th in their division with a 9-24 overall record to tied for first with a 26-8 record and an NCAA tournament bid. Grant also led Charleston to three straight 20-win seasons from 2016-2019.

Grant’s coaching career began in 2002 when he was hired and served for two years as an assistant at The Citadel.

He was then hired as an assistant at Winthrop under head coach Gregg Marshall in 2004. When Marshall moved to Wichita State in 2007, Grant followed and stayed on as an assistant coach. Grant transitioned to another assistant job at Clemson in 2010 before he was hired as head coach by Charleston in 2014.

Grant was a 2019 finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, which honors a coach who not only achieves success on the court but also displays moral integrity off the court.

While at Clemson, Grant notably recruited future NBA players Jaron Blossomgame and 2014 ACC Defensive Player of the Year K.J. McDaniels. During his time at Charleston, Grant led one of just 21 NCAA Division I programs to have players drafted in both the 2019 and 2020 NBA Drafts. Jarrell Brantley and Grant Riller became the third and fourth all-time Charleston players to be drafted into the NBA.

“I look forward to representing such a prestigious academic institution, to coach in the top basketball conference in America, and do it in one of the best cities in the world,” Grant said in the statement.

Grant inherits a program plagued by losing season after losing season that is looking to regain relevance in the ACC. Under Christian, the Eagles posted just one winning record in nearly seven years, when the Eagles went 19-16 during the 2017-18 season. In six and a half years under Christian, the Eagles never posted a winning record in the ACC. BC Athletics fired Christian mid-season after opening the 2020-21 season with a 3-13 record. The Eagles finished the regular season with a record of 4-16 and 2-11 in the ACC. The Eagles haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2009, and this season, they departed from the ACC Tournament in the first round.

“When we began our search for a new head men’s basketball coach, we set out to find a leader of young men, someone who shares our vision and our values, who could lead our program to championships while ensuring a worldclass student-athlete experience and education for our players,” Kraft said in the release. n

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Class of 2024 CommenCement edition

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2023: Eagles Claim First-Ever ACC Championship, Defeat North Carolina This story was originally published on April 30, 2023.

By Luke Evans Asst. Sports Editor

B C (16–3, 8–1 Atl antic Co a st)

but I think that ball was in.”

knocked off the Tar Heels (14–4, 7–2)

BC entered the third trailing by three,

while battling a downpour of rain in

but cut the lead to just one goal in a span

Charlotte, N.C., ultimately coming out

of 41 seconds.

on top 11–9.

“It’s for everyone that came before

“We shifted our mindset in the second half, new half,” Dolce said. “We came

6–22. That was No. 4 Boston College

us,” Andrea Reynolds said. “Like all the

lacrosse’s all-time record against one of

alumni that have worked so hard to get

Hunter Roman caused a North Car-

its biggest foes, No. 6 North Carolina,

us to this point, have come so far and to

olina turnover and the Eagles marched

b efore Sunday ’s ACC Tournament

finally bring it home to Boston College,

down the field.

Championship game.

it means the world. We’re so pumped.”

Reynolds notched the first goal of the

“You know, having those painstaking

North Carolina struck first at the

second half at the 13:15 mark. Martello

6 Virginia at Home

losses in other years can be a part of

12:36 mark, as a Tar Heel free-position

added to BC’s total with a goal of her

the process for this year, too,” BC head

goal slipped past Shea Dolce.

own to make it 7–6.

“Honestly, I thought it was like a dream come true,” Jaeden Zackery said. “Because when you’re a little kid, that’s what you always think about, beating a ranked team, seeing everyone storm the court for you.

It’s just a special moment for us and this program.”

The victory also marked the Eagles’ first win over a top-10 opponent since Dec. 9, 2017, when BC took down No. 1 Duke in Conte Forum. BC’s eight conference wins this season are its most since the 2010–11 season.

“We’re in pursuit of being a good program,” BC head coach Earl Grant said.

“That takes a lot of belief, blood, sweat, and tears and commitment and time.”

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR

2023: Eagles Stun No. This story was originally published on Feb. 22, 2023.

By Jack Bergamini Assoc. Sports Editor Entering Wednesday night’s contest against No. 6 Virginia, Boston College men’s basketball had not won three games against ranked opponents in a season since the 2008–09 season.

Wednesday night—for the first time in 14 years—the Eagles did just that. BC (14–15, 8–10 Atlantic Coast) defeated the Cavaliers (21–5, 13–4) 63–48 behind a defensive masterclass and an all-around gritty performance, sending shockwaves through the college basketball world.

Just as the final whistle blew, Eagles fans stormed the hardwood of Conte Forum amid a sold-out crowd.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/02/22/boston-college-basketball-upsets-virginia/.

out hot. We came out fast.”

coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “It

After aggressive defense from both

“Yeah, so obviously we talked some

doesn’t have to be the end all be all when

teams, Mckenna Davis found Cassidy

X’s and O’s and stuff and got that out of

you lose, it’s part of it. And I think those

Weeks on the run, and she knotted the

the way,” Reynolds said of the message at

girls carry those memories with them,

game at one just under seven minutes

halftime. “But we just knew that we had

and it leveraged them today.”

later.

to dig deep and believe in each other.

On a quest for its first-ever ACC ti-

But North Carolina took control, as

We knew that we’re all capable of it, it

tle, the No. 1-seed Eagles ran into none

the Tar Heels potted a whopping three

was a really confident and composed

other than No. 3-seed North Carolina in

goals in under two minutes to establish

atmosphere.”

the championship game. The holder of

a 4–1 lead with just four shots on goal.

But North Carolina responded with

six straight ACC Tournament titles, the

Davis cut the lead to two at the 2:26

two goals of its own, and the lead was

Tar Heels had taken down BC in four of

mark, but the Tar Heels’ Melissa Sco-

the last five ACC Tournament Champi-

none responded, beating Dolce with just

“We knew what we had to do to win,

onship games and entered the game on

11 seconds remaining in the quarter to

and we honestly felt like even though we

a four-game win streak over the Eagles.

put North Carolina up 5–2.

were down that we had the momentum

back up to three at the 7:56 mark.

But BC snapped the streak Sun-

The second quarter was a classic call-

and like we’ve been in this situation

day, as it came back from a three-goal

and-response affair as BC and the Tar

before,” Reynolds said. “We had been

third-quarter deficit and held the Tar

Heels each exchanged two goals apiece.

in worse situations before so we felt

Heels’ scoreless in the final quarter of

On a player-up opportunity, it looked as

pretty good.”

play to hoist the ACC Championship tro-

though the Eagles’ notched their third

phy for the first time in program history.

goal of the quarter, but Courtney Weeks’

“I mean, I instantly cried because now

goal was called back after review.

it’s theirs,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And

“I respect the officials,” Walker-Wein-

it’s just so inspiring. They made history.”

stein said. “I know they have a tough job,

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/04/30/boston-collegelacrosse-earned-first-acc-championshipwith-win-over-unc/

2024: BC Shuts Out Michigan, Advances to National Championship This story was originally published on April 12, 2024.

By Luke Evans Sports Editor

ST. PAUL, MINN. — With just under eight minutes left in the second period of No. 1-seed Boston College men’s hockey’s Frozen Four semifinal matchup against No. 3-seed Michigan, neither squad had scored a goal since Will Smith gave BC a 1–0 advantage just over a minute into the opening frame.

Both offenses seemed to have stalled as netminders Jacob Fowler and Jake Barczewski refused to give an inch. That is, until BC’s two leading point scorers brought the drought to an end.

Within a minute, the Eagles lead jumped from one goal to three. Smith ricocheted the puck off a skate and into the net with 7:35 left in the period and Cutter Gauthier joined the scoring with an unassisted wrister 49 seconds later to break the game open.

“They have four elite, elite, elite players,” Michigan head coach Brandon Naurato said of Gauthier, Smith, Leonard, and Gabe Perreault. “Those guys are special and they won that game. They broke it open.”

Perreault added to BC’s total in the final frame, and thanks to a shutout performance from Fowler, the Eagles (34–5–1, 20–3–1 Hockey East) handily knocked Michigan (23–15–3, 11– 11–2–0–2 Big Ten) out of the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles advanced to their 12th national championship with a chance to win their first national title since 2012.

“I said it earlier in the year,” Gauthier said. “Anytime someone commits to Boston College, it’s to win championships, and we have an opportunity to do that on Saturday.”

The Eagles paved their path to Saturday’s matchup via offensive dominance while putting on a defensive clinic, becoming the only team to shut out Michigan in the 2023–24 season.

Smith started the scoring early, wasting almost no time putting the Eagles out in front.

It took just 1:20 for the No. 4 draft pick in the 2023 NHL Draft to give BC the lead—one it never relinquished.

Ryan Leonard slid a pass to a wide open Smith on the rush, who launched the puck into the top right corner of the net.

On the other end of the ice, Fowler maintained BC’s lead, racking up save

after save to keep the Wolverines at bay. Fowler picked up nine saves in the opening frame alone, but his 17 saves in the third period kept Michigan from mounting a comeback, and kept BC comfortably in the lead.

“He’s probably the calmest goalie I’ve ever played with,” Gauthier said.

“Super pumped for him and the game he had today.”

Fowler ended the night with 32 saves, while also locking down the Wolverines’ power-play chances. Anchored

by Fowler, BC contained Michigan’s best-in-the-nation power-play unit, despite the Wolverines racking up four opportunities.

“We knew Fowler was a great goalie,” Michigan forward Rutger McGroarty said. “Kudos to him, he had a great game. But I don’t think we took away his eyes enough … I just don’t feel like we made it hard enough tonight.”

Despite a combined seven power-play chances, neither team scored a power-play goal, due partly to a number of offsetting penalties leading to fouron-four chances.

“It’s always nice when the power plays end quickly like that,” BC head coach Greg Brown said.

The over 30-minute scoring drought

PHOTO COURTESY OF BC ATHLETICS

The Eagles paved their path to Saturday’s matchup via offensive dominance

since Smith’s goal was finally snapped when Smith completed his brace, giving him his 71st point of the season. Gauthier quickly followed suit with a wrister that flew past Barczewski to make it a 3–0 BC advantage and increase his total goal tally to 38.

Perreault iced the game in the third by taking matters into his own hands.

He corralled the puck at center ice and coasted his way around the net, eventually potting a wraparound goal to make it 4–0.

“Those guys are studs, studs,” Naurato said of BC’s four NHL first-round

draft picks. “And all credit to their team, it’s not taking away credit from anybody else.”

Despite its best efforts, Michigan could not come back from the deficit, and the Eagles skated their way into Saturday’s championship game against Denver.

“If you told me this as a kid it would be kind of crazy,” Smith said. “I mean, I remember the days I was watching Johnny Gaudreau, the same Frozen Four, so it’s a dream come true. And I mean it would be unbelievable to get that trophy just like he did.” n

2023:

Baltimore Ravens Select Zay Flowers in 2023 NFL Draft

This story was originally published on April 27, 2023.

By Graham Dietz Sports Editor Before Thursday, Boston College football had not had a wide receiver taken in the NFL Draft since 1987, when the Dallas Cowboys selected Kelvin Martin with the 95th overall pick. In almost 90 years of the NFL Draft, BC has never had a wide receiver taken in the first three rounds of the draft.

But on Thursday night, Zay Flowers changed that narrative forever. The Baltimore Ravens selected the former BC wide receiver and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native—who owns the school record for total receiving yards, total receptions, and total touchdown receptions—with the 22nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Flowers declared for the NFL Draft on Dec. 1, 2022.

“This is what I expected—this is what I worked for,” Flowers said of his preparation for the NFL Draft at BC’s Pro Day on March 24, 2023.

For the first time since Luke Kuechly and Anthony Castonzo were selected in back-to-back NFL drafts in 2011 and 2012, BC boasts a first-round selection in the NFL Draft in back-to-back years. The Los

Angeles Chargers took Zion Johnson 17th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Ever since the 2022 season, in which BC went 3–9, ended, Flowers said he has only had one mindset: prepare.

“I’m gon’ always just try to have my expectation high because I put the work in for it,” Flowers said. “It’s a moment I’ve been waiting on, just being able to train, don’t really have school, put work in, and play football, and, like, prepare for my dream.”

And he did just that—accomplish his dream.

During his training for the draft, Flowers combined private workouts with multiple NFL wide receivers, performed at the NFL Combine, fine-tuned his skills for Pro Day in Chestnut Hill, worked out for multiple NFL teams, and made his case to be at the top of his wide receiver draft class. Flowers was Mel Kiper Jr.’s topranked wideout heading into the draft, and had a prospect grade of 6.46, according to NFL,com.

But without a stellar season in 2022 amid a quarterback change and offensive line inconsistencies, as well as stepping stones in years prior at BC, his case would not have been as solidified.

The Chestnut Hill product took a big step forward after teaming up with Notre Dame transfer and quarterback Phil

Jurkovec in 2020, garnering First-Team All-ACC recognition with a team-high 892 receiving yards and nine scores on 56 receptions during his sophomore season. An injured Jurkovec decreased his production in 2021—Flowers registered just 746 receiving yards on 44 receptions—but he was still named Third-Team All-Conference. BC won six games in both seasons.

Despite reports that Flowers was offered six figures in NIL deals to leave BC after 2021, Flowers stayed his course with the Eagles, and said he did so with pride for the program. Flowers took off in his final season on the Heights as a senior.

In 2022, Flowers amassed 1,077 receiving yards on 78 receptions—tying BC’s single-season receptions record—and 12 receiving touchdowns, a BC program record and tied for fifth in FBS that season.

Flowers earned Third-Team All-American honors by the Associated Press, All-ACC First Team honors for the second time, and was named a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the top wideout in the nation. By all measures, Flowers undoubtedly cemented himself as the best wide receiver in program history.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/the-105th-board-of-theheights-2/

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS STAFF

2022: Greg Brown Named

Next Men’s Hockey Coach This story was originally published on May 6, 2022.

By Graham Dietz Assoc. Sports Editor

from 2004–18, Brown, BC ’90, helped bring

three national championships to the Heights in 2008, 2010, and 2012.

Brown became the associate head coach

at BC following the 2012 NCAA title—BC’s

third championship in a five-year span—after Boston College hired Greg Brown, a

eight seasons as an assistant coach.

former All-American for the Eagles, as its

During his 14-year tenure at BC, Brown

next men’s hockey coach, according to an

helped lead BC to six Hockey East Tourna-

announcement from BC Athletics on Friday.

ment championships, seven Hockey East

Brown will become the fifth head coach of BC

regular season championships, 11 NCAA

men’s hockey since 1932.

Tournament appearances, and seven trips to

The news arrives shortly after former BC coach Jerry York, the Hockey Hall of Famer who won five NCAA championships and the most games in college history, announced his retirement in April after 50 years of coaching.

In 14 seasons as an assistant on York’s staff

the NCAA Frozen Four.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/05/06/greg-brownhired-to-be-next-head-coach-of-boston-college-mens-hockey/

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Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

2024: Eagles Shut Out by Denver 2-0 This story was originally published on April 13, 2024.

BY LUKE EVANS Sports Editor ST. PAUL, MINN. — Ahead of No. 1 Boston College men’s hockey’s 2024 National Championship game against No. 3 Denver on Saturday, BC’s leading goal scorer and Hobey Baker Memorial Award Hat Trick Finalist Cutter Gauthier spoke to the media regarding the Eagles’ rematch against Denver.

“It’s gonna be epic,” Gauthier said.

“There’s gonna be a lot of emotions, you know, and a lot of tears for that team over there, so we’re happy and we’re excited to get after it.”

But things did not shake out that way for the Eagles on Saturday in the Xcel Energy Arena, largely due to the 35 save performance from Denver’s Matt Davis, who handed BC its first shutout of the 2023-24 season.

“I commend their goalie,” Jack Malone said. “He did a tremendous job for them, and they have a great team. They know how to win, and I think that they just used their experience to their advantage.”

Unable to break through Davis’ seemingly impenetrable defense, BC (34–6–1, 20–3–1 Hockey East) came up one game short of winning the 2024 National Championship, and the Pioneers (32–9–3,

15–7–2 NCHC) hoisted the NCAA trophy with a 2–0 victory.

“Congrats to Dave and the Pioneers,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “They played a heck of a game tonight. And it was a championship battle, and they were as stingy and as tight defensively as we’ve seen this year. They did a great job. Played a lot of winning hockey. Played like a championship team.”

Despite the Eagles outshooting Denver 35 to 26, Davis refused to let the Eagles find the back of the net.

The Eagles had multiple high-quality chances to get on the board in the opening period including an almost completely wide open opportunity for Andre Gasseau that rang off the post and a one-on-one chance for Will Smith that was shut down by Davis.

At the 13:29 mark of the second period the Eagles completed their kill of Mike Posma’s boarding penalty, and avoided giving the Pioneer’s an early power-play goal.

The scoring drought was brought to an end soon after, though. Just over 3:00 later, Denver snapped the tie when Jared Wright unleashed a shot that bounced off of the post, then off of the back of Jacob Fowler and past the goal line to make it 1–0 with 10:18 left in the second period.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2024/04/13/eagles-shutout-by-denver-2-0-in-2024-nationalchampionship/

BRODY HANNON / HEIGHTS STAFF

2022: Eagles Beat Drake, Win NIVC This story was originally published on Dec. 14, 2022.

By Luke Evans For The Heights Up 24–20 in the fourth set of its contest with Drake in the finals of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC), Boston College volleyball looked like it was just about ready to secure the win.

In a turn of events, the Bulldogs rattled off five straight points, taking command of the set. Drake needed just one more point to send the match into the fifth set, but the Eagles put the pressure on the Bulldogs again, taking a 26–25 lead.

After two more points, the Eagles faced a 27–26 deficit, but Kate Brennan and Alayna Crabtree executed on three straight kills to defeat Drake in the NIVC.

“This has, by far, been the most enjoyable season I’ve had as a coach,” BC head coach Jason Kennedy said. “Because this is the most selfless group that I’ve ever had a chance to do it with. … To wake up and still be excited to see that group and know we’re getting better, and knowing that we’re gonna go out winning our last match, you can’t ask for much more than that as a coach. It’s a good deal.”

The Eagles (24–13, 7–11 Atlantic Coast) capped off a historic season during which they earned a program-first 24 wins with their fourset victory over Drake (30–8, 16–2 Missouri Valley) Wednesday night in Des Moines, Iowa.

BC won by scores of 25–22, 21–25, 25–18, and 29–27.

The victory marked Kennedy’s 82nd career win, a program-best number. Kennedy eclipsed the all-time wins record after BC’s semifinal win over Southern Mississippi Saturday.

The set scores against Drake were 25–22, 21–25, 25–18, and 29–27.

The game’s momentum shifted toward BC early in the first set, as the Eagles went on a 9–0 run—led by three kills from Katrina Jensen—to go up 13–4. The Bulldogs rallied back, cutting their deficit to just four points and forcing the Eagles’ first timeout.

Drake got as close as 24–22 before an attack error from the Bulldogs gave BC the first-set win.

“I think my role, especially as a person with more experience and being older, and being in those situations a lot in my career, I think my role specifically was just to make sure that everyone stayed calm and had confidence in themselves,” Brennan said.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2022/12/14/boston-collegevolleyball-defeats-drake-wins-nivc/.

2024: Eagles Win First Hockey East Title Since 2012 This story was originally published on March 24, 2024.

By Luke Evans Sports Editor

BOSTON, Mass. — On Saturday night, No. 1 Boston College men’s hockey and No. 2 Boston University met for the 295th time and the fourth time in 2024, but this time, the rivals were fighting for a Hockey East Championship trophy.

Under the lights of TD Garden and in front of packed student sections supporting both sides of the Battle of Comm. Ave., the long-time rivals went head to head.

And under the brightest lights, one player stood above the rest. The Lexington, Mass. native and No. 4 overall draft pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, Will Smith, lit up the scoresheet, picking up four goals en route to the Hockey East Tournament MVP Award.

“I’ve been dreaming to come to BC for my whole life,” Smith said. “Like I said, just being around school is just amazing.”

Behind Smith’s performance, the No. 1-seed Eagles (31–5–1, 20–3–1 Hockey East) handled No. 2-seed BU (27–9–2,

18–4–2) in a 6–2 win and earned their 12th Hockey East Tournament Championship, the most of any school in the conference.

The win clinched the Eagles’ first Hockey East championship in 12 years.

“We know we had expectations coming into this year and, I mean, 12 years is a long time and like I said, we knew that coming into this game and it’s amazing that we finally got one back to Chestnut Hill,” Smith said.

Penalties proved to be detrimental to the Terriers in the opening frame, and throughout the entire game. BC scored four of its six goals on the power play.

“Clearly we didn’t get it done on the penalty kill,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said. “Didn’t have an answer for it, so that was really, I guess, the biggest difference in the game.”

At the 15:24 mark, referees called a slashing penalty on BU’s Shane Lachance, giving the Eagles, who rank fourth in the nation for power-play percentage, their first man-advantage of the night.

BC did not let it go to waste. Just over a minute into the power play, the Eagles converted when Smith sent a wrister toward the net that ricocheted off Case McCarthy’s

skate and past Mathieu Caron to make it 1–0 BC with 14:14 left in the first period.

Less than three minutes later, Smith struck again. This time, a tripping penalty on Lane Hutson gave the Eagles another advantage. On the rush, Gabe Perreault sent a cross-ice pass to Smith, who unleashed a rocket into the top right of the net to double the Eagles’ lead with 11:23 remaining in the opening frame.

The Terriers, who rank second in the nation power-play percentage, failed to capitalize on their two power play chances, and BC took its two-goal lead into the second period.

“It was a heck of a hockey game,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Special teams were obviously a big part of it. Both our power play and penalty kill had very good nights.”

Less than five minutes into the second frame, Gavin McCarthy chopped the Eagles lead in half, though, when he fired a shot past Jacob Fowler’s glove and found the back of the net for the first goal of McCarthy’s collegiate career.

After an intense stretch of play resulting in no scoring, the Eagles were given their

third power-play opportunity of the night with 2:09 remaining in the second.

Perreault sent a pass from just in front of the crease that found the stick of Cutter Gauthier, who fired it past Caron to make it 3–1 BC. Gauthier picked up his 35th goal of the season with the score, the most in the NCAA since 2016 With 13:14 remaining in the third period, Smith delivered another goal

and completed his hat trick to give the Eagles a three-goal lead and send the upper-deck BC fans into an uproar. Smith received the feed from Ryan Leonard and slammed it home, dropping to a knee in the process.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2024/03/24/eagles-cruisepast-bu-for-first-hockey-east-tournament-championship-since-2012/

KELLEN DAVIS / HEIGHTS STAFF

Under the lights of TD Garden, the long-time rivals went head to head.

2024: Bill O’Brien Hired as

BC’s 37th Head Football Coach This story was originally published on Feb. 9, 2024.

BY LUKE EVANS Sports Editor

NICOLE WEI / HEIGHTS STAFF

2023: Eagles Score First

Top-10 Win Since 2010 This story was originally published on Jan. 6, 2023.

By Brassil Moran Heights Staff

Boston College women’s basketball has not beaten an AP top-10 ranked team since 2010, when the Eagles defeated No. 8 Florida State in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C. Things were a bit different for the Eagles back then.

“I was a stay-at-home mom,” BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said.

Dontavia Waggoner was nine. Freshman Taina Mair was still in preschool.

About 13 years later, Mair’s 15 points and 10 rebounds Thursday night—her fourth double-double of the year—along with Dontavia Waggoner’s season-high 23

points and 10 rebounds—her second 20-10 game of the year—helped the Eagles (12–5, 2–2 Atlantic Coast) upset No. 10 NC State 79–71 (12–3, 2–2) in a nearly sold out crowd in Raleigh, N.C. And there was no shortage of celebrations afterwards.

“There’s a lot of tough parts about our job,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “But this is really why we put up with all the tough, to have this feeling and to get to be together and celebrate this, so it makes it all worth it.”

The two sides traded points early, with success in the transition game. JoJo Lacey swished two 3-pointers to give BC a 12–11 lead midway through the first quarter.

Read the full story online at https://www. bcheights.com/2023/01/06/boston-collegewomens-basketball-defeats-nc-state-for-firsttop-10-win-since-2010/

Boston College football has hired Bill O’Brien as its next head coach, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel and a press release from BC Athletics.

“I am thrilled to welcome Bill O’Brien, his wife Colleen, and his sons Jack and Michael to Boston College,” Director of Athletics Blake James said in the release. “When we embarked on this search, we prioritized finding a coach who believes in our mission and vision, who has a plan for greatness on and off the field, and who will work tirelessly to elevate BC Football.”

O’Brien takes over the program just nine days after former head coach Jeff Hafley left BC to become the Green Bay Packers’ next defensive coordinator. Hafley’s final season with the Eagles ended with a 7–6 record and was capped off with a 23–14 win in the 2023 Fenway Bowl over No. 17 SMU. “Bill is a gifted leader who has had a tremendous amount of success as a head coach and coordinator at both the collegiate and NFL levels,” James said. “His passion for teaching football and developing young men make him a great fit to lead Boston College to greater heights.”

Hafley leaves O’Brien with the nation’s 69th-ranked recruiting class and the 44th-ranked transfer portal class ahead of the upcoming 2024 season, according to 247Sports.

O’Brien comes to the Heights with a high-level NCAA resume. O’Brien started his coaching career in 1993 at Brown, his alma mater, as a tight ends coach. After a string of other college football coaching stints—including offensive coaching roles at Georgia Tech, Maryland, and Duke—O’Brien ultimately made the jump to the NFL in 2007.

O’Brien, an Andover, Mass. native and St. John’s Prep alumnus, joined the New England Patriots in 2007.

He served as an offensive assistant on the Patriots squad that finished the regular season with an undefeated 16–0 record en route to a Super Bowl appearance.

In 2008, O’Brien became the wide receivers coach, before shifting roles once again in 2009 when he became the quarterbacks coach. In 2010, O’Brien served as the offensive coordinator, in addition to the quarterbacks coach, on another Patriots team destined for the Super Bowl.

Following the conclusion of the 2011 season, O’Brien left the NFL and returned to college football to take over a disheveled Penn State program.

In the 2012 and 2013 seasons, O’Brien led the Nittany Lions to a 15–9 re-

cord before again making the leap to the NFL to take over as the Houston Texans’ head coach, a position he held from 2014–20.

Over his first six full seasons, O’Brien coached the Texans to a 52–44 overall record and four playoff appearances.

After Week Four of the 2020 NFL season, O’Brien was fired by the Texans as both head coach and general manager after an 0–4 start.

In 2021, O’Brien teamed up with Alabama head coach Nick Saban as the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, helping Alabama make a national championship appearance in 2021 and earn a Sugar Bowl win in 2022.

O’Brien returned to the Patriots after over a decade of time apart as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Under his command, however, the Patriots ranked among the worst offenses in the NFL. Most recently, O’Brien joined Ohio State as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in January 2024.

O’Brien, however, never called a play for the Buckeyes.

A sk i l l e d o f fe n s i v e s ch e m e r, O’Brien brings serious potential to attract offensive talent from across the country, especially given his experience working with NFL players such as Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Rob Gronkowski, and Bryce Young. n

Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

The heighTs

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Congratulations Ethan!

We are so proud of how you embraced your four years at BC. From your work on The Heights, to your semester in Amsterdam, to your place in The University Wind Ensemble, you have made friends and great memories. We cannot wait to see what comes next!

We love you so much, Mom(my), Dad(dy), & Lily

Congratulations to our eagle, Katy DaSilva.

You were born to fly!

With much love and pride, Mom, Dad, & Pete Congratulations Alexandra & BC Class of 2024!

As you graduate from BC one chapter in your life has closed and a new and exciting one is about to unfold. We couldn’t be prouder of all your hard work and determination! Your journey at BC has been filled with so many incredible moments & beautiful close friendships that you will hold tight forever. We know that even greater adventures await you and we will be cheering you on every step of the way. Keep reaching for the stars and never lose sight of your dreams as we have no doubt that you will continue to achieve amazing things in the future. Go set the world a flame! We love you SO much - Mom, Dad, Lola, and your entire extended family!

Congrats to Emilia and the Boston College Class of 2024!

We are so proud of you and all you have accomplished.

We can’t wait to watch our Eagle soar!

Love, Mom, Dad, Will, and Charlie

“Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.” Minor Myers Jr. Dylan, We are so proud of all your accomplishments!

Dream big and always believe in yourself!

With love, Mom, Dad, and Alison

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Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

Victor “BC Heights” Stefanescu, former Editor-in-Chief and President, lives, breathes, sleeps, and eats journalism. We know that in his four years at BC, The Heights brought him the most joy. We are so incredibly proud of Victor—of the passion and excellence he puts in everything he does. We can’t wait to see where the future takes you, Victor!

Love, Your family

MC, Congratulations! It has been a joy to watch you grow, always soaring to new heights!

All of our love always, Mom, Dad, Roy III, Claire, John Paul, Laura

Congratulations Megan and the Class of ’24 of The Heights. We are very proud of you!

Love, Mom, Dad, Maria, and Joey

Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

The heighTs

EY is pleased to recognize the Class of 2024 for their hard work and achievements. There is no limit to what we can accomplish when we strive to build a better world together.

B3

B4

The heighTs

Dear Catherine, We are very proud of all of your achievements, including your journalism pursuits. From writing on your high school’s magazine, you knew you wanted to get involved on The Heights when you first started at Boston College.

You decided to take on a managerial role and successfully worked on everything from taxes to organizing the senior trip. You did also get some writing credits and helped break stories. We look forward to seeing what you do in the future.

Love, Mom, Dad, Richard, and

Rebecca.

Class of 2024 CommenCemenT ediTion

Congratulations Olivia! We are so proud of your courage, strength and grace. Keep on sparkling!

We love you to bits, Mom, Bob, and George