CRIMSON RED SPORTS
METRO
SCENE
The Eagles embarrassed Harvard, 8-0, en route to the Beanpot final, B8
“Hiro: Photograph” exhibit at the MFA features 24 iconic Hiro photographs, A5
The BC band sits down to talk about its upcoming EP, ‘Big Steal’ and its evolving style, B3
www.bcheights.com
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The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
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established
UGBC Elections <<<
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9P D@:?8<C JLCC@M8E ?\`^_kj <[`kfi National Signing Day is upon us, bringing much excitement to athletic departments around the country. At last, schools can officially announce which high schoolers and graduate transfers will be joining their respective football programs for the 2016 season. And, as head coach Steve Addazio would likely say, Boston College is excited to bring a new pack of dudes to Chestnut Hill. The Eagles have announced that 21 players will join the program. This list includes 18 freshmen (two early enrollees) and three graduate transfers (one early enrollee). These recruits have many of the typical backgrounds one would find in the types of prospects Addazio likes to recruit: 11 come from Catholic or private high schools and 14 were team captains at some point in their careers. In addition, 10 attended BC camp this summer, and 15 of the freshmen were First Team All-State. The head coach confirmed that 83 of the scholarships have been filled and he aims to fill the full class by the beginning of spring practice—he did not confirm if those scholarships will be given to incoming freshmen, graduate transfers, or current walk-ons. The 2016 incomers come from 13 states, with only eight within a fivehour radius of the University, only two of which come from Massachusetts: offensive linemen Shane Le onard (Marshfield HS) and Sean Ragan (St. John’s, Shrewsbury). This is a vastly different strategy from last year’s class, which featured 15 of its 26 players within the “fence” that Addazio wants to build in the New England area. Yet the head coach said in his Wednesday afternoon press conference that his recruiting strategy has not changed that much in the region. Rather, Addazio expressed his staff ’s effort to expand his reach throughout the whole the country. “We are expanded nationally in the Catholic leagues, into Texas, New Orleans, and California,” Addazio said. “We’ve always been in the Catholic leagues in Ohio and Indianapolis, that’s always been strong for us, we want to continue to grow that.” Addazio also emphasized his focus on one area in particular: New Jersey. He implied that this strength comes from the way his staff is currently constructed, specifically defensive back coach and recruiter Anthony Campanile. A Rutgers alum and former assistant, Campanile has many connections in the northern New Jersey area—his brother coaches at Bergen Catholic, one of the region’s powerhouse football schools. Also unlike last year’s class, which was evenly balanced across both sides of the ball, this year’s recruits have more of an offensive flavor to them. Of the 21 players, 12 are offensive players, with seven on defense and two special teams specialists. By position, the Eagles will bring in two quarterbacks, two wide receivers, two tight ends, five offensive linemen, three defensive linemen, three linebackers, two defensive backs (Addazio confirmed that Mike Palmer, listed as an athlete, will likely be a DB), and two punters. Despite the mass exodus of running backs—Marcus Outlow, Jordan Gowins, and Sherman Alston all transferred
1919
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Vol. XCVII, No. 5
See Recruits, B6
TALKING SMALL TALK
STRANGE NEW WORLD
DREW HOO / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Last year, UGBC presidential candidates gathered for the official campaign kickoff.
After meeting the GPA and disciplinary requirements set out by the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) and acquiring and submitting the necessary 250 undergraduate signatures by Jan. 29, three teams have been nominated for the Undergraduate Government of Boston College president and executive vice president in this year’s UGBC presidential elections. The three pairs that will make their first appearance at the Feb. 21 campaign kickoff are Anthony Perasso, LSOE ’17, and Rachel Loos, MCAS ’18; Elizabeth Foley, MCAS ’17, and Joseph McCarthy, CSOM ’17; and Olivia Hussey, current
UGBC executive vice president and MCAS ’17, and Meredith McCaffrey, MCAS ’17. According to Adam Rosenbloom, co-chair of the UGBC Election Committee and MCAS ’16, there were a few teams who submitted intent forms to run, but never submitted the required signatures. Now that the three teams have been qualified to run, they will prepare for the Feb. 21 campaign kickoff. The event, held in the Vanderslice Cabaret Room, will begin with each team giving a short speech about its platform, followed by games the Election Committee has prepared for the teams, said Megan
See UGBC, A3
OF MICE AND EIGHT-MEN J`eZ\ FZkfY\i# jfd\ i\j`[\ekj f] NXcj_ ?Xcc _Xm\ Y\\e _flj`e^ X ]\n le\og\Zk\[ m`j`kfij% 9P ?<@;@ ;FE> ?\`^_kj <[`kfi Beginning in early October, the fourth floor of Walsh Hall, where Victoria Johnson, MCAS ’18, lives with her suitemates, began its battle with the mice of Walsh. Lasting over five months, select Walsh residents struggled with sharing a living space with mice. Throughout the fall semester, Johnson and her roommates fought their unwelcomed guests with pest control, strongly worded work orders, and a tweet to the Office of Residential Life—even their parents joined the fight. By the beginning of spring semester, however, Boston College’s custodial services had built up Walsh residents’ resources. “It might have been specific floors, but I don’t think it was building-wide,” Nekesa Straker, director of residential education said. “I don’t even think specific floors, but maybe specific locations.” Winter is coming, however, and with cooling weather comes an undeniable migration of animals from outdoors to indoors. “Mice generally don’t like being outside in the colder weather, so they try and find a way into the build-
ing, and it doesn’t take much of an opening for them to get into the building,” Gerry Boyle, associate director of custodial services said. “It happens. We’re not micefree on campus. Students have to put the work order in. Once it’s put in, it’s an email to our outside vendor, who can then respond.” After seeing—and filming—that first mouse scurry across their floor, Johnson and her roommates put in a work order. The resulting action was standard—three mousetraps in response to the information provided in the work order—but the mouse did not fall for any of them. With growing frustration about the mouse roaming around their apartment, Johnson and her roommates phoned a friend to help. “Our friend was there for like three hours, and finally managed to capture it,” Johnson said. “So he did more than pest control did. But even after we got rid of the first one, we kept seeing another one roam around.” By putting in work order after work order with each mouse sighting, Johnson and her roommates followed what Boyle stated to be the correct protocol. According to Johnson, however, the helpfulness of pest control seemed to decrease with every work order they filed.
Boyle explained that if traps are set, yet mouse activity is still being reported, pest control will go to the unit and react based on the information given. Generally, they will look around the mentioned locations of mouse sightings for holes or other ways of entry for mice, then block them. Pest control will also lay down more mousetraps, as needed, in response to the content of the work order. Straker and Boyle both said they were unsure about the exact number of suites in Walsh affected. Boyle continuously emphasized the importance of the work order, as this is all pest control has to react based on. What Johnson experienced, however, left her and her suitemates increasingly frustrated with the seeming inaction from pest control, despite strongly worded work orders. “Sometimes they’d just put an extra sticky paper pad or something, but they weren’t really doing anything,” Johnson said. “We’d have mousetraps that just weren’t even set anymore, like they snapped and they just didn’t fix them. They weren’t really doing anything.” Johnson’s seemingly futile efforts against this unwelcomed fuzzy foe carried on until Winter Break. During Winter Break, custodial service’s action was fivefold, according to Boyle. Its first order of business was to check in on the apart-
See Mice, A8
>C: ?fg\j kf Df[`]p 9:Ëj Efe$;`jZi`d`eXk`fe Gfc`Zp Gifgfj\[ gfc`Zp Z_Xe^\ Zfm\ij ^\e[\i `[\ek`kp 9P K8PCFI JK% ><ID8@E 8jjk% E\nj <[`kfi The GLBTQ Leadership Council of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College has created a gender identity and gender expression report to present to BC’s administration, in the hopes of modifying the University’s non-discrimination policy to include gender identity. The U.S. Department of Education requires that every federally funded university adopt a non-discrimination notice under Title IX, the federal law that ensures gender equality on campuses. Title IX also protects against
sexual assaults on campuses. BC’s notice explains how the University is committed to creating a safe living and learning environment for all students. It makes special note of students who are vulnerable to discrimination based on their race, color, national origin, sex, religion, disability, age, marital or parental status, sexual orientation, military status, or other legally protected status. GLC, however, would like to see gender identity and expression included in BC’s policy. Collin Pratt, director of policy for GLC and MCAS ’17, is leading the group’s initiative to modify the document. Currently, the University has gender identity and gender expression in mind when dealing with Title IX, Pratt said. He believes that BC treats sexual assault
and discrimination equally, regardless of students’ identities. “The actual institutional change would not be that difficult to do,” Pratt said. “It would basically be changing the wording of a document.” Under Title IX, BC is not legally required to include gender identity or gender expression in the policy. The federal law only mandates that nondiscrimination policies include the term “sex.” “In our modern society and especially in the queer community, sex and gender have vastly different meanings,” Pratt said. “To use them in the same sense is archaic and it’s also very limiting.” In BC’s Sexual Misconduct Policy it states that sexual misconduct can be committed by persons of any gender and
can occur between people of the same or different gender. “Our response is the same regardless of how students identify,” Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Katherine O’Dair said. After researching Title IX’s restrictions, Massachusetts law, and 28 other universities’ policies, Pratt and GLC drafted a report outlining the reasons that the group believes the policy needs to be changed. They plan to present it to the administration in the near future. Pratt hopes to have the document’s wording changed by the end of the academic year. “The University’s policy of non-discrimination, which complies with state and federal discrimination laws, reflects
See GLC, A3