The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919
THE HEIGHTS MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2010
Vol. XCI, No. 17
www.bcheights.com
Showdown growing in attendance
Bill to change student lending
3500 students pack Conte for competition BY JI HAE LEE For The Heights
On Saturday night, Conte Forum hosted the eighth annual AHANA Leadership Council (ALC) Showdown dance competition. The ALC event showcased a number of student performance groups including hip-hop group Synergy, which took first place in the dance category, and Korean dance troupe Aero-K, which took first place in the culture category. This year’s competition drew 100 more attendees than last year’s, with approximately 3,500 individuals filling Conte Forum. The Showdown has shown growth since its inception in 2002 when the event took place in Robsham Theater, which has a capacity of approximately 500 individuals. As the event started to attract more students, it moved its venue to the Plex in 2006, which has a capacity of about 1,200 people. In 2008, the Showdown once again changed its location, this time to Conte Forum. Due to the large response by the student body for this year’s ALC Showdown, Conte Forum proved not to be large enough. Tickets for the event sold out – a first in the ALC Showdown’s eight-year history. Some people who could not find seats were standing during the show on Saturday. Earl Edwards, president of the ALC and A&S ’10, described the event’s growth. “It is definitely getting bigger,” he said. “As years passed, we have had more groups joining to perform. This year was the first year that the tickets were sold out. In my freshman year, 2007, the show was performed at the Plex. Now the audience fills up half of Conte Forum, the biggest arena on the campus.” Coming behind Synergy for second place in the dance category was Latin dance team Fuego de Corazon. Masti, a group organized by the South Asian Student Association (SASA), won second place in the culture category. Fuego and Synergy took first and second place, respectively, last year among the dance groups, and Masti and Aero-K won first and second place, respectively, in the culture category. “We tried to incorporate the modern music and movements with those of traditional Korean culture,” said Margaret Shin, a member of Aero-K and CSOM
BY REBECCA KAILUS Heights Staff
The theme was chosen by the Ball’s coordinators, the O’Connell House’s five managers and the 30-member committed that assisted in outfitting the house with decorations befitting an enchanted castle. Past themes have included Las Vegas, board games, and Disney. “We choose our theme based on what works with the house,” Michael Bell, associate undergraduate manager of the house and A&S ’10, told The Heights last week. “We decorate the whole thing – and based on what’s easy for students to dress up and get into.” Bell said that over 50 people spent months planning the event. The O’Connell House was closed for an entire week in order to decorate it. “Middlemarch is always the most successful event that the O’Connell House throws each year, just because it’s a very longstanding tradition at BC,” Bell said. Unlike other dances on campus, students must attend
Last week, Democrats in Congress attached their final amendments to the student aid initiative, which will revamp the student loan industry. This bill is a landmark case in the student loan industry as it will end the age-long debate on whether the U.S. government or private firms can best provide students with loans. In the past, there have been both the Family Education Loan Program (FELP), in which private banks and other corporations back student loans, and the Direct Loan Program, in which students borrow money to fund their education directly from the government. However, the passage of this bill will put an end to the FELP. Students will now borrow directly from the government to fund their student loans, a move that, according to the Washington Post, will save the federal government an average of $61 billion a year. In the past, the government subsidized individual firms to fund the student loans. Thus, through the passage of this legislation, the middleman will be eliminated, saving the government money that it can then use to better fund the Pell Grant program to help low-income students. For the nearly two-thirds of the student body that have some sort of financial aid, the implications of this legislation are not drastic. “If you borrowed this year through a bank, you won’t be able to borrow from it this year, but through the federal government,” said Bernie Pekala, director of financial strategies. “If this ultimately goes through, students will have to sign new promissory notes with the federal government.”
See Middlemarch, A4
See Loans, A4
SANG LEE / HEIGHTS STAFF
The O’Connell House hosted its annual Middlemarch dance on Friday. Students donned Harry Potter costumes in honor of this year’s theme.
Hogwarts invades O’Connell BY ALEXI CHI
Heights Senior Staff Though many have joked that studying in Gargan Hall is like stepping into a library at Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry made its way to Boston College in a big way this weekend. On Friday night, students swapped J.Crew for Madame Malkin’s wizard robes, and nearly 350 death eaters, dementors, firebolts, and a smattering of Weasleys trooped to Upper Campus to attend the 36th annual Middlemarch dance, one of BC’s most unique traditions. In order to house the exclusive costume ball, the O’Connell House was transformed into the magical world of Harry Potter, its various rooms serving as Eyelop’s Owl Emporium, Ollivander’s Wand Shop, Hogwarts’s great hall, a Quality Quidditch Supplies shop, and a Quidditch pitch, where students could snag catered hors d’oeuvres or try their hand at the popular wizarding sport.
Alumni remember lost campus traditions BY JULIANNE WOJNO For The Heights
News Feature
See Showdown, A4
INSIDE SPORTS
ANDREW POWELL / HEIGHTS STAFF
Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers are bidding for official recognition as a fraternity chapter.
Eagles make Frozen Four after outlasting Yale, 9-7, A10
ARTS & REVIEW
Students seek to form frat chapter BY ZAC HALPERN
Synergy and Aero-K dance to triumph at ALC Showdown, B1
FEATURES
Explore the student culture of volunteerism at BC, B10 Classifieds, A5 Crossword, A5 Editorials, A6 True Life, B6 Eagle Dates, B1 Inside the Locker Room, C2 Police Blotter, A2 Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down, A7 iEdit, C7 Weather, A2
Heights Editor
Last November, several Boston College students began the process of establishing a chapter of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at BC. The chapter is BC’s only fraternity. However, Darrell Peterson, director of the Office of Student Programs, has informed the students that BC will never officially recognize a Greek organization. Michael Joyce, chapter president and A&S ’12, said the idea for the fraternity came after a graduate student approached Joyce and some of his classmates last year, asking them to take the initiative. John Petroff, vice president of recruitment for the fraternity and A&S ’12, said, “SigEp reached out to us. It’s appropriate because it has tried to get away from the ‘frat boy’ stereotype.” Joyce said that Sigma Phi Epsilon is unlike most other fraternities. “SigEp offers something different – a personal, professional leadership development
program,” he said. “It allows students to develop themselves in all areas of life.” The executive council of the fraternity said that it is trying to be different from exclusive fraternities like those portrayed in films. “We try to be open,” Joyce said. “We don’t want to be a secretive organization, but like every organization we want people who are committed.” No fraternity dues go toward the purchase of alcohol and there is no hazing within the organization, Joyce said. “It’s tough to get past the fraternity stereotype, but we want to change that image of a fraternity,” Tyler Schenck, vice president of member development and CSOM ’12, said. “The skepticism is understandable, but if people take the time to look at what we do they will be supportive,” Joyce said. Although the University will not officially recognize the chapter, the fraternity believes that recognition is not vital to the fraternity’s success. “We are
See Fraternity, A4
“The Robsham Theater is literally built on classical tradition,” John Burns, associate vice provost, said. Classical Greek tradition, that is. Boston College has a history rich in tradition, through many have been retired, leaving only stories alive in the minds of faculty and alumni. One such tradition involved a trip to the reservoir, which used to lie where Robsham Theater currently sits. In the 1950s, the University required its students to study Greek, and every spring, the seniors celebrated their graduation and the completion of this requirement by throwing their Greek grammar books into the water. Mike Curry, BC ’74, remembers Thursday nights at the Rathskeller, which
served as a campus bar during the 1970s. “If you didn’t go to that Rathskeller, you were out of the know,” he said. “It was the only thing around.” Curry worked part-time for a WZBC DJ, when he was offered the chance to DJ at the Rat on a particular Sunday. “We tried it, and it absolutely stunk,” Curry said. “So I said, ‘Why don’t you give me Thursday nights?’” A few fliers later, Curry remembers looking out the window at 10:00 p.m. and seeing some 400 people waiting to come in. “It was way over-packed,” he said. “It was insane.” Currently, Conte Forum typically holds the annual fall and spring concerts. However, in the past, the Rat hosted many performances. Curry remembers a “band from New Jersey” playing at the Rat. This ‘band’
See Traditions, A3
HOLLYWOOD COMES TO CAMPUS
JULIANNE WOJNO / HEIGHTS STAFF
BC celebrated its annual Baldwin Awards for filmmakers Friday night. For more, see page A3.