alcohol on campus
‘ignite’
features
ARTS & rEVIEW
sports
An investigation into how alcohol permeates BC student life, B10
The BC Dance Ensemble delivers a passionate performance in Robsham, A10
Series split with BU over the weekend puts Jerry York close to the all-time record, B1
one win away
Monday, December 3, 2012
Vol. XCIII, No. 46
BC professor recognized for urban education Lynch School of Education’s Barnett earns Massachusetts professor of the year award By Gabby Tarini For The Heights
Boston College Lynch School of Education Associate Professor of Science Education and Technology Michael Barnett has been named the 2012 Massachusetts Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Council for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Barnett’s focus is on urban education. Specifically, Barnett hopes to instill a lasting interest and passion for science
Lowell talks continue with Susan Choi
within young students, especially those from inner-city neighborhoods, with the hope that these students will go on to major in some kind of science during their college career. One of the ways he does this is through teaching high school students from cities like Mattapan and Dorchester to grow fruits and vegetables in indoor hydroponic gardens and sell them to their community at farmer’s markets. Barnett’s hydroponic gardens are located on Hammond Street, as an extension of the Connolly House. The hydroponics equipment is unique in that it uses no soil and almost no water.
Rows of plants grow in individual slots of mineral-infused water. The rows are then stacked vertically in order to maximize the space in the greenhouse. Everything in the greenhouse is almost completely reusable, including the water, which is continuously circulated through the system, reaching over 150 plants on each stack. The hydroponics system is also more efficient than regular soil. “Raising food with hydroponics can be done a lot faster than with regular soil because the roots are constantly surrounded by the minerals in the water,” Barnett said. “Hydroponics cuts the growing time of most plants in half.” The high school students working on Barnett’s greenhouses are Boston Public School students who are part of a unique
See Barnett, A4
Gabby tarini / for the heights
Barnett’s students work in a greenhouse (above), growing plants with hydroponic technology.
BC HOSTS FIRST MODEL UN
CSOM classes take Teecil to the next level BC students compete in electronic marketing
By Sara Doyle For The Heights
On Thursday night, author Susan Choi gave a preview of her newest book, which will be published next summer. The event was sponsored by the Lowell Humanities Lecture Series, and gave students and the general community the chance to hear an esteemed author discuss her latest work and the process of writing. Susan Choi is the author of The Foreign Student, which won the Asian-American Literary award for fiction, and American Woman, a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize. She has also published works of nonfiction in Vogue, Tin House, Allure, O, and The New York Times. Choi read two passages from her book, entitled My Education. The story is about a graduate student named Regina, who goes to university in the early ’90s full of idealism. She finds that everything that happens to her there is unexpected. Regina develops a strong relationship with her charismatic professor and holds a deep admiration for him. Her life takes a dramatically unexpected turn when she begins an affair with her professor’s wife, Martha, who is a sophisticated woman that recently had a baby. Choi read a scene describing the social interactions of Regina with Martha and her other friends, as well as the judgments that characters place on her. The second reading Choi chose was from the second part of the book, a jump into the present times. “When she’s much, much older and her life has entirely changed, she runs into Martha’s now ex-husband in New York City,” Choi said. “She and her old professor are happy to see each other, and he tells her about what happened to Martha since.” The reading focused on the couple’s young son and his experiences at school, particularly describing his experience during the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Members of the audience were given the opportunity to ask questions of Choi, and she discussed some of the writing process for My Education and her first novel, The Foreign Student. One of the topics included the process of creating the characters of Martha and Regina.
See Choi, A4
photo courtesy of Sigrid estrada
Author Susan Choi visited Boston College last Thursday to read excerpts from her new book.
By David Cote News Editor
emily fahey / heights staff
Saturday’s conference, which commenced in Gasson Hall’s Irish Room, included a session on the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Local high school students gather for inaugural conference By Connor Farley For The Heights
Boston College Model United Nations (BCMUN) hosted its inaugural meeting for regional high schools, EagleMUNC, on Dec. 1 in the Irish Room of Gasson Hall. The conference, which focused on promoting a high standard of both intellectual and enjoyable debate among high school Model United Nations delegations, was the first in BC’s history. EagleMUNC provided opportu-
nities for its attendees to engage in the varying political and academic resources of the University, including training sessions and meetings with the BC Admissions Office for competitive college applicants, as well as access to discussion with professors and club leaders on global political issues. The opening ceremony, led by B CMUN president Christopher Fitzpatrick, A&S ’13, launched the conference on a historic note, highlighting the simulation of solutions
to geopolitical tensions and the educational aspects of its intensive crisis integration committees. Fitzpatrick , a member of the Honors Program and coordinator of the Clough Center Junior Fellows Program at BC, also introduced the keynote speaker, Kathleen O’Toole, BC ’76. O’Toole, who was also the first female police commissioner of Boston, is currently the Chief Inspector of the Garda Inspectorate, the
See MUNC, A4
Mayer addresses reporting aspects of ‘New Yorker’
BC graduate awarded grant for study in UK By Andrew Skaras Heights Staff
Following Sept. 11, she began to look at terrorism differently, which led her to choose the focus of her journalistic career. This time with the attacks occurring on American soil, a sense of religiosity entered the equation for Mayer as she was struck by the “sense of horror and devastation” in Washington.
See Mayer, A4
See Marshall Scholar, A4
For The Heights
eun hee kwon / heights staff
Journalist Jane Mayer spoke about her experiences researching the U.S.’s terrorism policies. ing ideals in relation to how the government works today, specifically when dealing with terrorism, have become central aspects of Mayer’s career. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mayer took terrorism seriously, she said. As a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, she had been in Beirut, Lebanon when American military barracks were bombed in 1983, seeing firsthand the horrors of terrorism.
See Teecil, A4
Every year, the Marshall Selection Committee chooses approximately 40 American students for two years of funded postgraduate study in the United Kingdom at the university of their choice. This year, Aditya Ashok, a history and biology major and BC ’12, has been selected as a recipient of the George Marshall Scholarship. Established by the Parliament of the UK in 1953, the scholarship was created to recognize the efforts of the United States in the reconstruction of Europe post-World War II through the Marshall Plan. The objectives of the program are to enable intellectually accomplished Americans to study in the UK, to facilitate an understanding of Great Britain, and to inspire scholars to serve as ambassadors from the U.S. to the UK. The scholars are chosen based on their academic achievement, involvement in extracurricular activities, and leadership in their campus communities. A recipient of the Harry S. Truman scholarship for public service in 2011, Ashok has been actively working on public health issues since the beginning of his college career. Rev. James F. Keenan, S.J., Founders Professor of Theology and Director of the Presidential
By Julie Orenstein It is a common misconception, according to journalist Jane Mayer, that writing for The New Yorker involves chatting at endless cocktail parties, attending fashion shows with Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, and essentially joining the Algonquin Round Table, the social circle of cultural taste-makers prominent in early 20th-century New York. For Mayer, who spoke at Boston College Wednesday night as part of the Lowell Humanities Lecture Series, The New Yorker provides something more essential to her writing than those opportunities: a “haven for rigorous reporting.” Since joining the magazine in 1995 as a staff writer after working for The Wall Street Journal for 12 years, Mayer has established herself as a leading political and investigative reporter in Washington. In her line of work, she consistently faces decisions with potential ethical and legal ramifications, many having to do with the special interest she has taken in examining the war on terror. Exposing government shortcomings and critically thinking about this country’s found-
In recent weeks, Boston College has been subject to an electronic marketing onslaught for the Teecil, a combination golf tee and pencil designed by Providence College alumnus Stephen Squillante. Students in Edward Gonsalves’ three sections of Marketing Principles were pitted against each other this semester in a marketing competition to obtain the most views on online uploads, including images of the Teecil in unique places and YouTube videos. Gonsalves, in his first year teaching at BC, was surprised to have opened a Pandora’s Box of intense competition among CSOM students that he said prompted changes to the curriculum. “There is a breaking-in period at a new institution, where you learn the characteristics of the students and how they are wired,” Gonsalves said in an email. “I quickly learned a few lessons that have required real-time adjustments to our current project efforts and will necessitate changes