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Men’s hockey claims its fourth straight Beanpot title, A10
Winter storm Nemo landed in Boston last weekend, closing schools and public transport, B10
Our editors look at the highs and lows of last Sunday’s Grammy Awards, B2 and B4
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HEIGHTS
THE
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
established
1919
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Vol. XCIV, No. 8
Faculty members weigh in on pope’s resignation BY ELEANOR HILDEBRANDT News Editor After Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would be stepping down from the papacy at the end of February, Catholics across the world began to process the information. Considering Boston College’s Jesuit, Catholic affiliation, and the areas of expertise amongst the BC community, a number of University faculty members have already been contacted by major news organizations, including The Boston Globe, Fox News, the radio station WGBH, and The Boston Herald—to share their opinions on the situation. “I think that it’s good that the Pope re-
signed,” said Stephen Pope, a professor in the having recognized his failing energy for this theology department. “It’s an onerous job, most demanding of all Christian ministries,” and you need to have all your faculties fully Groome said in an email. “He said that he operational—and it’s clearly worn him down ‘examined his conscience before God’ in … It takes some humility on the part of the making the decision—a good model for all of pope to say, ‘I’m starting to deteriorate—or us in making the important decisions of life. decline—and I don’t have the In resigning he has ‘raised capacity I had in the past to the bar’ for his successors, do the job.’” leaving them free to make The olo g y profe ss or the same good decision.” Thomas Groome, chair of “It’s important, espethe Religious Education and cially for precedent, for Pastoral Ministry departthe future,” Pope said. “It’s ment at the School of Thetricky, though. What we ology and Ministry (STM), have now is someone who echoed that sentiment. “I resigns out of a sense of AP PHOTO greatly admire Pope Benehaving done what he can dict for deciding to resign, POPE BENEDICT XVI do, and a sense of his own
limits, and a freedom to let go—and I think many men, put in that same position, would have none of those three traits. They would have an overwhelming sense of duty.” Pope also noted that supporters in the Vatican might exert pressure upon a sitting pope not to leave. Rev. James Weiss, director of BC’s Capstone Program, agreed that Benedict’s resignation is a positive occurrence. “[Benedict] was a good, gentle, holy, extremely intelligent theologian who saw the long-term problems facing the Church and put things in place to address those long-term problems,” Weiss said. “Unfortunately, he was blindsided by short-term crises that were other people’s
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MATT LIBER / HEIGHTS STAFF
Francis Fukuyama, renowned political scientist, lectured at BC on Tuesday night.
Army ROTC INTERNMENT SURVIVOR SPEAKS Fukuyama examines recognizes world order student feats BY JULIE ORENSTEIN
Awards for academic, physical prowess given
Heights Editor
BY DEVON SANFORD Assoc. News Editor On Wednesday afternoon, Boston College Army ROTC held an award ceremony for BC, Regis College, and Framingham State University ROTC students on the second floor of Stokes Hall. The event acknowledged the accomplishments, both academic and physical, of 20 ROTC students. The Liberty Battalion Army ROTC program comprises 16 schools in the greater Boston area, including Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts, and Emerson College. BC students participate in the ROTC program while attending college full-time. While many students join on scholarship, others participate in the ROTC basic course, as a non-scholarship cadet, without military obligation during their freshman and sophomore years. ROTC students train on campus in military leadership classes, physical fitness training, and leadership labs. In exchange for a paid college education and guaranteed post-college career, the ROTC students commit to serve in the military after graduation. BC Army ROTC was instituted in July 1947, and in 1950, cadets were added to the program. Over 30 years later, in 1984, BC established a cross-enrollment agreement with Northeastern University. Since the inception of the joint program, the Liberty Battalion Army ROTC program, more than 1,700 officers have received their commissions from the BC Army ROTC program, according to the BC ROTC history site. Lt. Col. Blaise L. Gallahue, a graduate of the Aviation Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, and Battalion Commander and professor of Military Science of the Liberty Battalion, presented the awards to the ROTC students. “Today we are gathered to celebrate our cadets’ outstanding achievements,” Cadet Capt. Spencer Heggers, A&S ’13, said to the presiding cadets and military officers. The award ceremony began with the presentation of the Dean’s List Award. Five BC ROTC cadets were awarded for their academic achievements of a 3.5 GPA to 4.0 GPA. Following the Dean’s List presentation, nine students were awarded the Cadet’s Honor Award, for receiving a 3.2 GPA to 3.49 GPA, and after, three students were awarded the Cadet Scholar Award, for a 2.9 GPA to 3.19 GPA. A total of 10 students won the ROTC Honors Award for a perfect ROTC semester grade point average of 4.0 during the last semester. The next awards were presented for the cadets’ physical prowess. “The excellence [the cadets] demonstrated in physical activity is indicative of
See ROTC, A4
CHRISSY SUCHY / HEIGHTS STAFF
Yutaka Kobayashi, a survivor in Japanese internment camps in the U.S. during WWII, spoke Tuesday night in Higgins 300.
Japan Club of Boston College hosts Day of Remembrance event BY GABBY TARINI Heights Staff Almost 70 years ago, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced relocation of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry. For the past three decades, Japanese American communities have commemorated this and the events that followed by hosting Day of Remembrance events in February with the hope of spreading
awareness of internment during World War II. At Boston College, the Day of Remembrance was commemorated Tuesday night with an event sponsored by the Japan Club of Boston College (JCBC): a presentation by Yutaka Kobayashi, who was interned in camps in Utah and California during World War II. Kobayashi lives in Wellesley, Mass. and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry. Kobayashi was only 17 and living in San Francisco, California around the
time that internment started. “In high school, we talked about the vitality and the strength of U.S. democracy,” Kobayashi said. “I truly believed all of this, so when rumors started circulating that we were going to be evacuated, I did not believe them.” After Kobayashi graduated high school in 1942, he signed up for the draft. “I volunteered with the army, but
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After Hurricane Sandy cancelled his scheduled visit to Boston College in October, renowned political scientist Francis Fukuyama finally made it to Chestnut Hill Tuesday night, narrowly avoiding more meddlesome extreme weather in winter storm Nemo. Fukuyama, who has authored or edited 22 books on political science, lectured as part of the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy’s John Marshall Lectures. A senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, Fukuyama spoke on the topic of his latest book, The Origins of Political Order, which was published in 2011. The book, the first in a series on political development, lays out the foundation for modern state building from the very beginnings of political order through the French Revolution. At the heart of his examination of political development, Fukuyama discussed three central components of modern political order. When these elements are integrated, a state can accomplish what Fukuyama calls “getting to Denmark,” referring to that nation’s desirable combination of prosperous, modern, non-corrupt, and democratic characteristics. The first component is a strong and capable state, or a “legitimate monopoly of force over a defined territory.” This
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BHM panel discusses issues of skin color, ‘N word’ BY ANDREW SKARAS Asst. News Editor Within the context of a single racial community, what is the significance of different skin tones? What does it mean to have light or dark black skin? What is the historical significance of the “N word?” How is the word used in American society today? Why shouldn’t people use it? As a part of the Office of AHANA Student Programs’ Black History Month events, two panels of Boston College professors addressed these questions on Wednesday night, one titled “Battle of Complexions: The Significance of Skin Color in the Black Community” and the other titled “Why can’t I say the N word?” The discussion of the first panel was centered on the differences in how black people of various skin tones are perceived in American society and how they are treated, primarily by other black people, but also by other races. “There are several black communities,” said C. Shawn McGuffey, associate professor of sociology. “I think the historical
context is a serious issue. There are places where you can see lots of solidarity. You see more solidarity particularly on the West Coast.” “Cities saw the development of a black elite during the antebellum period,” said Martin Summers, associate professor of history. “There was a freed class of Af-
rican-Americans who were biracial that accumulated more wealth and proliferated to create an elite class in places like New Orleans and Charleston, S.C.” “The question of class is very important and perhaps more significant than the question of color,” said Akua Sarr, associate dean for the freshman class. “The black
MATT LIBER / HEIGHTS STAFF
Panelists addressed social issues during a discussion held as part of Black History Month.
elite just happened to be lighter skinned.” While addressing how different communities responded to the issue of skin tones, the panelists also discussed the origin of “colorism.” Drawing on European history, Summers suggested that it originated in the initial contact between Europeans and Africans and that it was related to the perception that white skin is the standard of beauty. McGuffey referenced the fact that European elites were known to powder their faces to appear even more white, as it signified the fact that they did not have to engage in manual labor. “House slaves did tend to have lighter skin,” Summers said. “The domestic servant was seen to be a reflection of their masters—the more beautiful looking slaves, who were often lighter, would make a better impression on people who were visiting. There was also an assumption that darker skinned slaves were healthier. Slaveholders would even enhance darkness when they went to auction.” One of the factors that the panelists
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