12/6/24 print

‘I’m going to get killed’: Boston cyclists stress need for better bike infrastructure

BY NICOLE ABRAMS DFP Writer

When Boston University junior Jerry Zhou bikes along Commonwealth Avenue, he stops at every red light and yields to pedestrians.

He believes himself to be a “conservative biker,” but despite taking precautions, he was hit by a car twice last year. The first time he was hit, his bike was damaged and he went to urgent care.

“I try to preserve my own safety when I bike to and from class,” Zhou said. “But even when you do that, you can still get hit by a car.”

In September 2022, Mayor Michelle Wu announced “Better Bike Lanes,” a plan to expand the city’s bike network and make it safer for bikers to share the roads with drivers.

“Everyone in Boston deserves safe access to our bike network, no matter what neighborhood they’re in,” the plan stated.

However, Zhou’s bike rides haven’t gotten safer since the plan was introduced. He said he has a “fair share of close calls” multiple times a week.

Through an investigation done by the Daily Free Press, city records show there have been 582 crashes involving bicycles with at least one fatality between September 2022 and June 2024.

According to the investigation, the five Boston neighborhoods with the most crashes involving bikes between September 2022 and June 2024 are Roxbury, Dorchester, Back Bay, Allston and Fenway.

The five Boston-area streets with the most crashes are Massachusetts Avenue, Comm. Ave., Washington Street, Tremont Street and Huntington Avenue.

With traffic reaching record highs and frequent public transit issues, transportation is a growing concern for city residents. In recent years, Boston encouraged residents to bike more, providing discounted annual memberships to Bluebikes.

However, advocates said more should be done to make biking safe.

“We have a road system that does not allow for margins of error, so when mistakes are made, specifically by drivers, it costs lives,” said Galen Mook, executive director of MassBike,

a bike advocacy organization.

Advocates said protected bike lanes, a form of infrastructure that separates cyclists from vehicle traffic, are one of the best ways to protect cyclists.

The Boston Department of Transportation and Vision Zero Boston, the organization that handles crash records, did not respond to requests for comment.

challenges or their needs are not addressed, it is really hard for residents to also think about transportation planning with all the other needs that they’re juggling.”

The Massachusetts Avenue Better Bike Project is the only completed bike infrastructure project in Dorchester and Roxbury since Mayor Wu introduced Better Bike Lanes. The project added separated bike lanes to a portion of the street.

Even with the improvements, Massachusetts Avenue had more bike crashes from September 2022 to June 2024 than any other street in Boston.

As of right now, some projects exist to fix bike infrastructure in Roxbury, but none include the addition of protected bike lanes. In Dorchester, only one of the three plans in development, a plan to improve Charles Street, vows to create “safe, separated bikeways.”

Thirteen crashes happened on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan from September 2022 to June 2024. The street was ranked 11th in the city for most crashes during this time.

Olivier said Mattapan residents do not feel comfortable biking on Blue Hill Avenue since it does not have protected bike lanes.

Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan

The Better Bike Lanes originally left out much of Mattapan and suggested sparse improvements in parts of Roxbury and Dorchester, despite bike safety issues in those neighborhoods.

Mook said these neighborhoods, which have large communities of color, have “traditionally been left out of transportation improvements and safety.”

“There needs to be a unanimity, a spread of where safe bike infrastructure is for every neighborhood,” he said.

Shavel’le Olivier, executive director of the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, said she believes Mattapan residents cannot prioritize new bike lanes because of other issues within the community, like housing, food insecurity and employment rates.

“Our residents understand the benefits of bike lanes,” Olivier said. “But if those other

In November, the city announced the Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Action Plan, which would add separated bike lanes to the street. The city calls the street one of the most dangerous places in Boston to drive, walk or bike. The plan is still in the drafting phase.

Allston

With 44 bike crashes between September 2022 and June 2024, Allston is one of the five most dangerous neighborhoods for bikers. It is the location of the only recorded bike-related fatality since Wu’s Better Bikes Lanes was introduced.

On Dec. 19, 2023, Samuel Alvarado was hit and killed by a garbage truck while biking near the intersection of Hano and Cambridge streets.

“Anytime that there is a pedestrian or bike fatality in Boston, [the city is] required to make changes to the streets on which it happened,” Mandy Wilkens, events and communications manager for the

Boston Cyclists Union, said. Wilkens said the Hano Street and Cambridge Street intersection is infamously a “poorly designed intersection,” and the area should have protected bike lanes and less parking.

Better Bikes Lanes currently does not include any changes to the area where Alvarado was killed.

Comm. Ave. had the second most crashes out of any other Boston street from September 2022 to June 2024 with 41 bike crashes.

Carl Larson, assistant director of Transportation Services at BU, who oversees the BU Cycle Kitchen, said he worries BU students think biking at the University is “more dangerous than it is.”

“Biking is a safe and fun way to get around Boston University, and it doesn’t often get portrayed that way,” Larson said.

Certain parts of BU’s campus lack protected bike lanes, such as near the BU Bridge and around Kenmore Square.

Zhou said in his experience, drivers speed and “don’t check their shoulders for bikes” on Comm. Ave.

“As a biker, you have to just stay humble and let the car do whatever the hell they want because they are in a 3,000-pound killing machine,” Zhou said. “I’ve just learned to let the car do illegal things, because if I don’t let them do illegal things, then I’m going to get killed.”

Ryan Thomas, a junior at BU, has been biking in Boston since

he was a sophomore.

“I feel safe personally, even though I know that the bike lane sucks and people and cars are always pulling into it,” said Thomas.

He said he has almost been hit by cars three separate times.

“If the bike lane was protected, that problem would go away,” Thomas said.

Better Bike Lanes plans to improve the stretch of Comm. Ave. from Charlesgate to University Road. This project is currently in the design phase.

Bike safety: Past, present and future

The city is making additional strides to ensure cyclist safety. In 2015, former Boston Mayor Martin Walsh passed Vision Zero Boston Action Plan, which aims to reduce fatal transportationrelated crashes to zero by 2030.

Mook said the city has done a good job of engaging with neighborhoods and installing temporary infrastructure that can be made permanent if it is successful.

However, Mook said “a bike lane or bike network is only as good as its weakest link.”

For other cyclists to feel more comfortable biking in Boston, bike advocates said it is important for drivers to feel comfortable sharing the road.

“You want to feel like you’re not going to get killed every single time you ride,” Zhou said.

Bailey Scott contributed to the research of this article.

The full story can be found on The Daily Free Press website.

A student bikes down Commonwealth Avenue. Mayor Michelle Wu introduced “Better Bike Lanes” in September 2022, an initiative to make biking in Boston safer, but within the last two years, there have been 582 crashes involving bicycles, according to city records.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2024

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Computer Science Department struggles with advisor shortages, reflecting University-wide issue

BY SAMANTHA GENZER City Co-Editor

When Ella Hain, a junior majoring in computer science at Boston University, was unable to reach an advisor in the Computer Science Department for assistance with class registration, she sought help from outside her department instead.

Hain, who was looking to

secure senior standing so she could register for the courses needed to graduate early, reached out to advising at the College of Arts and Sciences and said she received a “really nasty email” in response.

The email from CAS stated that the CAS advising department could not help, as the issue fell outside their “practice” rather than any formal “policy,” Hain said.

“I was worried I wasn’t going to get the classes I needed to graduate,” Hain said. “There was no one to talk to.”

The shortage of advisors in BU’s Department of Computer Science stems from staff departures and vacancies, said Steven Jarvi, senior associate dean for student academic life in CAS. This semester, two CS advisors left BU for new positions, while another went on leave.

“It was just a series of unfortunate events that all happened at the same time,” Jarvi said.

Dora Erdos, a full-time senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies in the CS Department, is the only advisor currently remaining.

The CS Department informed students of the changes in an email on Oct. 15. In the email, the department offered group advising and drop-in advising sessions to students as alternatives to traditional oneon-one advising.

Jarvi said the situation has left many students, particularly freshmen, unable to meet with advisors one-on-one before registering for spring classes. He said the CAS department is currently working to hire new advisors with the goal of being “up to speed” by the spring semester.

The shortage of advisors is not limited to the CS Department, but reflects a broader issue across the University.

“Every year there’s a

department that’s short-handed … but not to this extent, where every professional advisor was gone,” Jarvi said.

Provost Gloria Waters and her team are “working to implement consistent advising” through “enhanced training and staff professional development opportunities,”

BU Spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in a statement.

“Professional advisors at BU engage in holistic academic advising that encourages personal exploration and helps students realize their academic, career, and life goals,” Riley wrote.

Hain said some students who needed graduation-specific advising were unable to receive it due to the shortage.

“People who were graduating this semester were really worried about it,” Hain said. “A lot of people weren’t getting graduation advisors, and they also couldn’t get into contact with CS advisors to make sure they could get their classes.”

Kaylin Von Bergen, a junior majoring in computer science, said the lack of advising is “frustrating,” especially considering BU’s high tuition rates.

“I should be getting every benefit I should be getting, and I’m not,” Von Bergen said. “The fact that it affects something as big as my entire next semester is definitely really frustrating.”

Von Bergen said she initially registered for a course that would have counted towards

her computer science degree. However, she was informed via email that the course was removed from the spring semester due to a “scheduling error.”

Without her spring semester courses finalized, Von Bergen said she is concerned about staying on track to graduate.

“I don’t have anybody to confirm with, if I’m doing the right things or not,” Von Bergen said. “It is a little worrying to be confident in what I’m picking and what I will pick for next semester and to make sure that it’s the best fit to get me to graduate.”

CAS senior Matt Lutkins, who is majoring in economics and sociology, said he has “two great advisors” for each of his majors, but he is aware of inconsistencies across other departments.

Lutkins said some of his friends have had “lackluster experiences with advisors,” which he said might be the result of an “overworked” staff.

With the shortage of advisors, Lutkins said students “adapt” by learning how to advise themselves, although this process can be “disheartening and dejecting.”

“Academic advisors are super important in not only helping you plan out your future success but also discuss it and work through it in a way that’s more personal and less empirical,” Lutkins said. Emily Cong contributed reporting to this article.

Antisemitic stickers spread to BU campus from Harvard, ‘shocking’ Jewish students

BY LAUREN ALBANO City Co-Editor

Antisemitic stickers were spotted on Boston University’s campus along Commonwealth Avenue this week as students returned from Thanksgiving break. The stickers appeared approximately two months after they first appeared at Harvard University in October, according to the Harvard Crimson.

The stickers depict an Israeli flag with a swastika symbol in the center in place of the Star of David, among the words, “Stop funding Israeli terrorism.”

BU Facilities removed the stickers, and the BU Police Department is working with Boston Police Department’s Civil Rights unit, BU Spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press. Both units are working under the direction of BU President Melissa Gilliam to investigate and identify the party responsible.

“Boston University strongly condemns these hateful and abhorrent statements, and we are taking this incident very seriously,” Riley wrote. “The University is committed to providing a safe and inclusive campus and to protecting our Jewish community on campus.”

Approximately 4,000 Jewish undergraduate students attend BU, the largest population at any private university, according to Hillel International.

BU Hillel declined to comment.

“Coming back from Thanksgiving break is always hard getting readjusted to school, and then seeing this is just extremely hurtful,” said sophomore Ivy Besikof, a communications intern for the Jewish Leadership Team of BU Hillel. “[It] obviously just made me be like, ‘Wow, am I even accepted in the community that I’m in?’”

Besikof, also a member of Jewish on Campus at BU, a group that amplifies Jewish voices and is open to all students, said she woke up Monday morning to a text from JOC BU notifying members about the stickers. As a descendant of four Holocaust survivors, she said the swastika imagery on the stickers was “very jarring.”

“It’s very scary to see a hate symbol spread around my campus,” Besikof said. “It being put in that context with the Israeli flag is just absolutely not okay, because it’s drawing these connections between Israel and the Holocaust in a very negative way.”

Sophomore Isabella Diglio, a BU Hillel member, said she found the stickers “shocking.”

“With the swastikas, that’s such a nasty thing to do to a flag, especially because so many lives were lost during the Holocaust,” Diglio said.

The stickers first appeared on Harvard University’s campus on Oct. 7, the first anniversary of the attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas. Getzel Davis, Harvard Hillel’s campus Rabbi, said the stickers were

placed within a three-block radius of Harvard Hillel.

“It’s an anathema to university values, and the invocation of swastika imagery in any context, especially targeting Jewish institutions, is abhorrent,” Davis said.

Davis said he hopes the BU community unites to condemn the stickers and “to make clear that no Jews on any campus should ever have to experience hate like this.”

In following weeks, the stickers were also spotted in Brookline near Coolidge Corner, a neighborhood home to many Jewish and Israeli businesses and residents, as well as a number of synagogues.

Senior Amanda Kopelman, co-president of JOC BU, said the stickers spreading to Brookline is “horrific” and “very problematic” given the neighborhood’s large Jewish population.

“This isn’t only antisemitism, but it’s also harmful to other marginalized communities because Jews were not the only population affected in the Holocaust,” Kopelman said.

Kopelman said she individually reported the stickers to the City of Boston and filed a report through the Boston Human Rights Commission. BUPD told Kopelman the city would have to get involved because the stickers were not on BU property itself.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Dec. 2, JOC BU condemned the stickers. As a Jewish student leader on

campus, Kopelman said she feels a duty to educate people outside the Jewish community about antisemitism.

“These stickers are a form of Holocaust Inversion,” the post wrote. “Turning the reality of the Holocaust on its head by weaponizing historical trauma to attack the Jewish community. They distort Jewish history, trivialize Jewish suffering, and fuel hate.”

Kopelman said JOC BU is hopeful Gilliam and new University leadership “will be able to stand with Jewish students.”

Junior Shayna Dash, president of BU Students for Israel, said antisemitism is an “epidemic” students face across the country.

Dash said BUSI reported the

stickers to the Equal Opportunity Office, BUPD, BPD and the new Living our Values Project, an initiative to “identity and practice the core principles and beliefs,” of the University. BUSI encourages students to always report antisemitic rhetoric. BUSI has been communicating with BU administration to address antisemitism on campus. and Dash said the group is “so lucky that administration comes to the table with us.”

“Every single day, students have to decide to be Jewish,” Dash said. “We have to be proud, and we have to be aware of who we are and where we come from. We choose to be Jewish. That choice comes with a cost, and the cost is feeling hatred around us.”

KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER

A sign pointing to CAS Advising, which is located inside the Yawkey Center for Student Services. There is currently a shortage of advisors in Boston University’s Department of Computer Science due to two advisors leaving for new positions and another going on leave.

SARAH CRUZ | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER

An antisemitic sticker with Nazi signage that says “Stop Funding Israeli Terrorism” stuck on a lamppost at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Harry Agganis Way. Several antisemitic stickers have been spotted on Boston University’s campus this week.

AND KAYLA BALTAZAR Campus Co-Editor

Boston students weigh in on alleged discrimination against Republicans on

BY CHARLIE JOHNSON Associate City Editor

College students across Boston are attempting to foster civil political discourse after a student group alleged that conservative students faced “escalating attacks” on campus in the weeks since Donald Trump was re-elected president.

The Boston College Republicans executive board published an op-ed in The Heights, BC’s student newspaper, on Nov. 10, five days after the election. The piece expressed concern over “intimidation and hate speech,” such as identifying students who voted for Trump as racists.

The board encouraged respectful political discourse and fewer “ad-hominem attacks,” citing a well-known Jesuit education slogan that incentivizes being “men and women for others.”

“Being men and women for others requires us to be open to growth, loving and committed to justice,” the board wrote. “In the wake of the election results, there is a growing disconnect between this mission on campus and the actions and words promulgated within the community.”

Massachusetts is the most liberal state in 2024, according to the World Population Review.

Boston is also home to more than 60 colleges and universities. In 2022, the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology reported that of students at elite American universities, Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 5523 margin.

Although Boston universities are overwhelmingly blue,

Republican students are speaking out.

Six days before the election, Boston University freshman Colin Sharpe wrote an op-ed for BU Today titled “Student POV: Why I’m Voting for Donald Trump.”

Sharpe said he received negative responses in the comments and hateful emails, but the backlash did not bother him.

“A lot of people are liberal,” he said. “They are very emotionally invested in it, and that’s to be expected. It’s politics.”

Regarding the BC Republicans op-ed, Sharpe said he doesn’t think it’s “productive for conservatives to claim that they’re being discriminated against.”

However, Sharpe said he is concerned that BU College Republicans was not listed as an official student organization on Terrier Central this semester, even though the group meets and operates on University property.

Amanda Lohnes, president of the BU College Republicans, said the club lost its status as an official organization over the summer. She was notified Thursday the club will be reactivated for the spring semester.

Lohnes said BUCR was deactivated because “there was a box we didn’t check” when re-registering with the Student Activities Office. When she emailed to fix the error, SAO said there was nothing the organization could do.

Lohnes said she believes SAO’s dismissiveness is related to the club’s political leaning.

“It always seems to be 10 times more difficult for our club than it is for other clubs,”

Lohnes said.

In past years, BUCR members faced harassment, including death threats and stalking, for expressing conservative views, Lohnes said.

BU’s predominantly liberal culture has left some conservatives fearful to speak up.

“Most of the people I interact with at BU do not know I’m conservative, mostly because I’m afraid to bring it up,” she said. “A lot of us have lost friends over it.”

If students attended a BUCR meeting, Lohnes said they would see claims that all Republicans are racist and “conservative straight males” are incorrect. She said most of the club is not white and estimates a quarter are LGBTQ+.

“A good amount of our club fits into all these boxes that a lot of people think are normally liberal,” Lohnes said.

Zach Zinman, president of Tufts University Democrats, said he has not seen animosity towards Republican students at Tufts, and he opposes harassment towards either side of the political spectrum.

“Attacking citizens for their political allegiances is not what true Democrats should be doing,” Zinman said.

Zinman said the club’s goal at the start of the academic year was to involve more students in politics. More than 1,500 students attended their debate and election night watch parties, and he said the group made strong progress on this goal.

Tufts University Republicans helped organize the Democrats’ election night watch party, which Zinman said was integral to the event.

campus

“It was very important to us that the event was a nonpartisan event in nature so that students, regardless of their political leanings, could come together,” Zinman said.

The Suffolk University College Democrats received profane comments on its Instagram page for its leftleaning views, said SUCD President Matthew Marcel.

“I always like to clap back to these people,” Marcel said. “If you let people say rude things and let them do it, they won’t know the consequences.”

To quell tensions on campus, Marcel often communicates with Harry Murphy, president of the Suffolk chapter of Turning Point USA, a nonpartisan political organization that promotes traditional values.

Murphy said he identifies as nonpartisan and is frustrated when people conflate TPUSA as

a Republican group.

“I think the two-party system is just a cancer on our country,” Murphy said. “The quicker we realize that, the quicker we will actually be able to make effective change.”

Suffolk currently does not have a student Republicans club, but Marcel is trying to found one.

“We need to have people be open,” Marcel said. “I’m very much a believer in [needing] discourse to have democracy.”

Sharpe said if Republican and conservative students are expressing their viewpoints, they must be prepared to have political conversations, civil or not.

“Being conservative is a provocative position on a Boston-area college campus,” Sharpe said. “You have to be prepared for crazy people to blow it up in your face.”

Trump education agenda to target DEI, affecting Boston-area universities

BY MEGAN AMATO Associate City Editor

President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to reform higher education are sparking concerns about diversity, equity and inclusion at Boston-area universities.

The former president and his allies promised to “reclaim” higher education from “woke” universities they claim radicalized youths against the U.S. Boston University has admitted students regardless of their backgrounds since its founding in 1839. This tradition of DEI continues today, with a diverse student body and a dynamic liberal arts curriculum.

Trump said in a campaign video last year he would remove “Marxist DEI bureaucrats” from universities. To do this, he plans to employ the college accreditation system, a peer review process to ensure colleges and universities meet academic, financial and institutional standards.

“Accreditation is a warranty that the educational content provided by the institution is worthwhile,” said Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars.

Many Boston-area universities, including BU, incorporate commitments to diversity in their mission statements. Regional accreditation agencies, like the New England Commission of Higher Education, enforce these commitments.

Wood, who previously served as chief of staff to the president at BU, said accreditation has come to enforce a left-wing political agenda.

Private regional agencies grant accreditation, but accredited schools must also attain federal approval, which the Secretary of Education can withdraw any time.

Without accreditation, schools cannot qualify students for federal financial aid.

Trump’s plans for higher education include diminishing academic programs deemed “woke,” namely liberal arts studies.

Project 2025, a conservative framework for Trump’s second term, proposes de-emphasizing “area studies,” programs examining geographical culture and often incorporating political science, literature and history.

Kyna Hamill, director of BU’s Core Curriculum program, which examines historical texts through cultural lenses, said Core’s work remains relevant.

“We’re reading Plato’s Republic right now and learning about early ideas of government,

democracy, tyranny,” said Hamill. “These are really important questions to be having right now.”

In a September video from Agenda47, Trump’s policy playbook for the next four years, Trump listed ten principles to achieve great schools.

The third promises classrooms will focus not on “political indoctrination,” but on teaching “reading, writing, math, science, arithmetic and other truly useful subjects.” This does not include history, arts and other humanities disciplines.

Hamill said this will “be a tough four years” but emphasized the importance of liberal arts education.

“We’re reading books that are 2,500 years old, with ideas that are 2,500 years old and ideas that

are going to outlive us,” Hamill said.

Hamill said these proposed changes will take Trump a long time to implement, so she chooses “not to take the bait of everything that he says until it’s done.”

Trump said he also plans to use federal civil rights law “against schools that continue to engage in racial discrimination and schools that persist in explicit, unlawful discrimination under the guise of equity.”

Dan Farbman, an associate professor at Boston College Law School, said Trump’s interpretation of civil rights law could potentially restrict students’ freedoms of speech and protest.

Farbman said some have argued allowing pro-Palestine protests on campus, for example, could be seen as violating the rights of pro-Israel students.

“If you’re afraid that you’re going to have your federal money taken away from you because you’re allowing for protests, well, you might crack down on campus protests,” Farbman said. “The goal here is a kind of subordination and taming of the university.”

BU has regularly been home to student protests, including at the inauguration of the University’s first female and first Black president, Melissa Gilliam.

Gilliam wrote in October that BU “has a rich history of free speech, diversity, and dialogue across differences” when she launched the Living Our Values Project, an initiative fostering inclusivity on campus.

Jonathan Feingold, an associate professor at BU School of Law whose research focuses on antidiscrimination laws, said a history of civil rights laws are being

used to limit diversity instead of promoting it.

“Trump, following the tradition of right-wing groups co-opting both the language of civil rights and the laws themselves, accuses DEI of immoral discrimination,” Feingold said.

Farbman said he disagrees that a university’s commitment to diversity is a political statement. He said the notion of diversity in higher education, including affirmative action, was introduced in the 1970s by conservative Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell.

“To somehow code [diversity] as a politicized, radical-left term doesn’t make any sense historically,” Farbman said.

Regardless of the political affiliation of DEI, Wood said by emphasizing these beliefs, universities are not preparing students for life after graduation.

“You go out into the world beyond the college campus and expect people to be of similar mind [and] you find they’re not,” said Wood.

Feingold said universities wanting to continue commitments to DEI should not “over-comply” with federal mandates that may try to limit diversity.

“Many universities are going to have to make hard choices about where to draw the line and when it actually is important to stand up to an administration that is actively trying to both undermine university autonomy… and to undermine a key pillar of American democracy,” Feingold said.

Feingold also said students should recognize their own power.

“Oftentimes, students do have the sort of moral clarity that institutions need in moments of crisis,” Feingold said.

KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER

A student walks into the polling location at the Boston University Life Science and Engineering Building on Nov. 5. Republican college students across Boston feel threatened after alleged attacks following Donald Trump’s presidential win.

ARTS

BU student Ericka Correia wins fifth pageant title, aims to inspire beyond the crown

BY SANA MUNEER Arts and Community Editor

The crowd erupted in cheers as a silver crown was gently placed on Ericka Correia’s head.

With a bouquet in her arms and a sash reading “Miss Taunton” draped across her shoulder, she radiated joy.

For Correia, a junior at Boston University who now holds five local pageant titles, her most recent victory as Miss Taunton on Nov. 3 was the culmination of years of dedication — but it wasn’t always a part of her plan.

Despite growing up thinking pageantry wasn’t the “right environment” for her, Correia began competing in pageants her freshman year of high school.

“I didn’t know how to do my hair. I never wore makeup. I didn’t even know how to walk in heels properly,” she said. “Then I finally got a little encouragement from my dance friends that had competed, as well as my dance teachers, and I decided to try it out.”

Correia competed in her first pageant, Miss New Bedford’s Outstanding Teen, and took second place. The week after, she was crowned Miss Freetown’s Outstanding Teen in 2019.

Only a year later, she claimed the title of Miss New Bedford’s Outstanding Teen.

“From then, I was hooked,” she said.

Correia, who grew up watching the New Bedford

pageant, said she was “on cloud nine for weeks” after winning.

“When I won that, it was the most special thing ever to me,” she said. “It was that year that I think shaped me and helped me realize what I wanted to do.”

Correia balances her responsibilities as a college student with those of a pageantwinner, which she said the Miss America organization helps her balance. And competing in pageants consists of more than one may think.

After a 10-minute personal interview with the judges, contestants must answer onstage questions, showcase an artistic talent, model athleticwear and show poise in an evening gown.

Correia’s experience preparing for the interview portion of her pageants helped her realize she wanted to study journalism.

“This organization shaped what I want to do for a career and showed me what I’d be good at for a career, which is something that’s special,”

Correia said

Correia, who has a minor in dance at BU and is on the BU Dance Team, said she performs a jazz routine as her artistic talent.

When she came to college, Correia said her new friends were surprised to learn she competed in pageants.

“When people hear the word ‘pageant,’ their mind immediately goes to ‘Toddlers & Tiaras’ and that negative stereotype where it’s only about

looks,” Correia said. “None of those things are true.”

She said the Miss America organization “prides itself” on providing scholarships, focusing on academics and prioritizing intelligence and service in its contestants.

“It’s more about judging your presence and your confidence, rather than what you’re wearing,” Correia said.

Pageant contestants must also showcase a service initiative, a project they actively participate in within their local community — typically something meaningful to them, Correia said.

Currently, Correia’s community service initiative is called “Life Changing Moments Begin With Mentoring,” inspired by her work with the national mentoring organization Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

“I’m going to hopefully work with school districts to have the high school students mentor the elementary school students during after school programs,” Correia said. “I want to bring what I’ve learned about mentoring to local communities.”

Pageantry has also provided Correia with a sisterhood.

“Instead of being in a sorority at BU, I have my pageant sisters,” she said.

Tess O’Riordan, a junior at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College, competed alongside Correia at Miss Massachusetts Teen in 2019. Even though they’ve been competitors,

O’Riordan has always seen Correia as “a smiling face in the crowd.”

“The atmosphere is not super competitive, catty or anything like the stereotypes,” O’Riordan said. “You’re all uplifting each other and just there for one another.”

Kathryn Stamoulis, a junior at BU, met Correia at a dance class when they were both 15, before Correia began competing in pageants.

“When we had first met and I saw a crown on her head, it was almost like she had a sort of double life,” Stamoulis said. “She can be a dancer and she can be a pageant queen, and honestly there’s no one else that would fit that part better.”

COMMUNITY

Stamoulis said Correia seems to be “in her natural habitat” when she’s at a pageant.

“Sitting with her in the room while she gets ready is a whole different type of Ericka,” Stamoulis said. “When she becomes this pageant queen … she becomes even more of a leader than she already is.”

In June 2025, Correia will participate in her third run at Miss Massachusetts. If she wins, she’ll get to check the ultimate pageant milestone off her bucket list.

“My dream is to one day step foot on that Miss America stage,” she said. “I want to make a name for myself and leave my own little legacy on the communities that I represent.”

BU class launches crowdfunding campaign to support Hurricane Helene victims

BY LINDSAY GOULD Contributing Writer

North Carolina residents are facing unprecedented destruction and loss in the wake of Hurricane Helene. In response, students in Boston University’s Crowdfunding and Distribution class launched a crowdfunding campaign on Nov. 14 to support those impacted.

The class’ campaign, Feeding NC, is collaborating with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, with the goal of raising $5,000 and providing 25,000 meals to affected residents.

The initial purpose of COM FT 527 was to create individual mock-crowdfunding campaigns for a fictional film. However, the impact of Hurricane Helene in September “completely changed the trajectory and our syllabus for the class,” senior Eloise Lushina said.

“It’s great because it’s actually something that’s going on. It’s a real-world issue,” said Lushina, who is in the class.

“I’m just really happy that the project changed, and it’s actually a real crowdfunding campaign helping people with food disparities in North Carolina.”

In the multiple years she has taught the course, Amy Geller, assistant professor of production in the Film and

Television Department, said she has never led her class through a live fundraiser.

“You can theorize about it, you could talk about it, you can plan for it,” Geller said. “But actually doing it and having to respond to what’s happening in the moment and actually do the outreach that’s required in organizing a fundraising campaign is very different from just thinking about it.”

Inspired by her students’ personal connections to

Hurricane Helene, it was only fitting that the class responded.

“Living in Charleston my whole life, I have first-hand experience of how hurricanes can impact communities,”

sophomore Walker Pitts said in an official press release.

“There’s nothing scarier than going to bed one night with the wind screaming and then waking up and the whole city is under four feet of water. We want to show the people of North Carolina that they are not

alone.”

Similarly, students in the class said they were from North Carolina or had family impacted by the hurricane in North Carolina and South Carolina.

“It just became really clear that this was not just happening in one community,” Geller said.

“It’s been happening all over.”

With class only meeting Tuesday nights, the students worked together outside of class and divided into smaller

groups to focus on specific aspects of the campaign — their biggest challenge being the time constraint.

“The biggest issue has just been the time constraint. We weren’t prepared to do this because it was so last minute,” said junior Zachary Erb, who is on the campaign’s media team. “We have to get all our materials together super, super fast, because the longer we wait, the less impact our help has.”

The students publicized their project across the BU campus by creating an Instagram account, posting flyers and connecting with other student organizations on campus.

“We’re learning as we go, but I kind of like it because I prefer to have the real-world experience over just doing stuff for a grade,” Erb said.

The campaign has raised about $2,600 as of Monday, just over half of their total goal. The next challenge the class faces is how to persist until the end of the fundraiser, which officially concludes on Dec. 5.

“From a teaching perspective, it’s incredible to watch the students just take their ideas and run with it and learn from that actual hands-on experience,” Geller said. “It’s just incredible to see a community of people coming together to support other people who’ve been impacted.”

ZACH SCHWARTZ | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER

The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina’s Hurricane Helene resources and support page. Boston University students organized a crowdfunding campaign called Feeding NC for a class to support North Carolina residents affected by Hurricane Helene.

COURTESY OF KGARCIA PRODUCTIONS

Ericka Correia during the 70th Miss Taunton award ceremony. Correia was crowned Miss Taunton on Nov. 3.

Massachusetts’ new climate law opens doors for clean energy infrastructure

BY ELIZABETH PLESE Contributing Writer

Over a comprehensive deliberation period, the Massachusetts Legislature struggled to bridge sustainable energy companies’ goals to expand their infrastructure with its own plan to transition from fossil fuels to Massachusetts’ new climate law — until Tuesday.

A Clean Energy Act signed by Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday will create more jobs in the energy field, allow businesses to expand production quickly and lower energy prices for residents in the long term by making it easier for sustainable energy companies to obtain

permits to expand their facilities. It will also expand electric vehicle accessibility and clean heating options for Massachusetts residents.

“This bill cuts away the red tape that has held us back for too long,” Healey said in a press conference on Tuesday. “It clears the way for us to ramp up clean energy production from generation to transmission, to affordable access in homes and businesses.”

The joint commission for the bill sought opinions from members of sustainable energy companies, lobbyists, environmental organizations, advocates and municipalities to ensure a comprehensive plan

to bring about “bold change,” Healey said.

The commission met 13 times for hourslong meetings with a legal advisory team meeting weekly, said Rebecca Tepper, Massachusetts secretary of the executive energy and environmental affairs.

“This bill will take what was a very complicated, long, difficult siting process and streamline, make it better for stakeholders, better for the developers, and better for the Commonwealth,” said Zachary Gerson, a lawyer who supported the joint commission advising Gov. Healey.

Prior to the passage of the bill, infrastructure businesses were often required to apply for multiple, separate permits at the state and local levels of government, Gerson said. The revised siting and permitting process will consolidate these applications and speed up the approval timeline, he said.

The process’s bureaucratic obstacles stem from years of cities and towns implementing regulations to protect their residents from unwanted developments, said Michael J. Barrett, senate chair of the Environmental Joint Legislative Committee.

“What we’ve done is rebalanced,” Barrett said. “We’ve preserved leverage for neighborhood groups, and for towns and cities, but we now balance that with a way to actually work your way through

the bureaucratic maze.”

Eversource, a company that worked with the commission, expressed gratitude for how the bill’s sitting and permitting reform will quicken their economic growth and support Massachusetts’ migration to clean energy.

“A more efficient, streamlined permitting process is essential to enabling the infrastructure upgrades that are necessary to support the Commonwealth’s clean energy transition while meeting our customer’s expectations for reliable and affordable power,” William Hinkle, media relations manager at Eversource wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press.

While the law deals heavily with infrastructure, the commission also focused on the state’s overarching goal to shift Massachusetts away from fossil fuels and towards clean heat, said Hessann Farooqi, executive director of the Boston Climate Action Network.

However, the cost of renewable energy and distribution methods will be expensive as the gas and electric grids grow, Barrett said.

“Most folks involved with this bill wanted just to charge people for the electric system half of the equation and ignore giving people relief on the gas side of the equation,” Barrett said. “The Senate insisted on a vote, and I’m very pleased [that] at the last minute we managed to salvage the second half of the agenda.”

BUSINESS

Farooqi said it was important that renewable energy companies agreed to the gas transition now because it would be difficult to get their attention in the future when their policy is not at stake.

Energy prices for residents are a primary concern as Massachusetts transitions from fossil fuels.

Gas prices are predicted to increase exponentially in upcoming years regardless of competing renewable infrastructure, Farooqi said.

“This is a ticking time bomb for many reasons,” Farooqi said. “Those are costs that are being shifted onto all of us as ratepayers.”

Energy prices will most likely still increase for residents as Massachusetts transitions to new energy infrastructure, but these temporary price hikes are insignificant in comparison to continuing with fossil fuels, he said.

Community members are already struggling to pay their energy bills, Farooqi said. However, it could get worse if we continue to delay the decommissioning of gas infrastructure.

“In shaping this bill, the legislature then worked very thoughtfully with dedication and passed a bill that delivers the bold change that we need,” Healey said. “States across the country are wrestling with these issues right now, trying to find the best way forward, and in that race, Massachusetts is first.”

For Questrom students, dressing for success has real-world implications

BY SIENA GRIFFIN Managing Co-Editor

Walking past Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, passersby are almost guaranteed to see students wearing suits, collared shirts and slacks — dressed more like corporate-ladder climbers than college students — rushing in and out of its big glass doors.

To the non-business major, these students might seem a little overdressed for class. But for Questrom students, wearing business attire is preparation to enter an industry where presentation is crucial.

“A lot of business is based on impressions,” said Hannah Jung, a sophomore in Questrom. “That’s why there is so much emphasis on how you present yourself.”

Certain Questrom courses and business-oriented organizations at BU require students to follow dress codes for major presentations. Dress codes vary by course or professor, but it usually ranges “anywhere from smart casual to business professional,” said Jung, who is also a teaching assistant for QST SM 131: Business, Ethics and the Creation of Value, a course required for first-semester Questrom students.

SM 131 includes two major presentations, and professionalism factors into students’ grades, Jung said. One of her responsibilities as a TA is to host a “dress code workshop,” which provides expectations and examples of what to wear during presentations.

“There’s a range in there, but generally the rule is you want to dress as if you’re going to an interview,” Jung said.

This usually means blazers, collared shirts, slacks and dress shoes — and, crucially, no sneakers or jeans.

Kate Teasdale, a freshman in Questrom who is currently taking SM 131, said the first time she wore a suit to present for the class made her feel more comfortable.

“You would think it would make you feel kind of out of place or awkward, but I thought it was really helpful,” Teasdale said. “It made me feel prepared.”

The dress code exposes students to business industry culture and emphasizes the importance of personal presentation in professionalism, Jung said. It also familiarizes students with different levels of professional dress, so they can enter the field aware of the distinctions between smart casual, business casual and business professional.

Mateus Olsson, a junior majoring in hospitality administration with a minor in Questrom, is currently taking two courses that include presentations with dress requirements. He said wearing business attire to present makes him feel like “the stakes are a little bit higher.”

“It just gets us familiar with the realities of working somewhere a little more corporate, somewhere there are standards to how you need to dress,” he said.

Business puts more emphasis on personal presentation than

other fields, said Teasdale, who is also a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional co-ed business fraternity, which has its own business-professional dress code.

“That’s your public speaking, your confidence, your persuasiveness, but a lot of it is also literally how you present physically,” Teasdale said.

The significance of physical presentation over other personal qualities in the business world can be “unfortunate,” she said. However, this is why Questrom and AKPsi place so much emphasis on dressing appropriately.

Kaylie Chapa, a senior concentrating in finance and real estate, said donning business attire during her presentations for Questrom’s Cross-Functional Core project put her “in a more serious mentality.”

“You step into the business world when you are in those outfits,” she said.

Although the term “dress code” doesn’t imply room for interpretation, students still find ways to integrate personal style into business attire.

Most students default to a suit, so business fashion is usually “cut and dry,” Olsson said.

But for those who make the effort, Teasdale said different ties, suit styles and buttons “can show off some personality.”

“There’s a little bit more room for style than you might expect,” she said.

Jung said she tries to personalize her business casual

outfits by incorporating accent colors, cohesive patterns or interesting shoes.

Her first few times wearing business professional attire around campus felt “a little bit weird,” Jung said. However, when presentation dates in Questrom align and she can count on other business students to also be dressed in their best, it “doesn’t feel as uncomfortable.”

Chapa said she would typically change clothes after presenting to avoid attending non-Questrom classes in her presentation outfit.

“It’s definitely embarrassing,” Chapa said. “Everyone’s like, ‘Oh my god, Questrom people are always in suits.’”

For Teasdale, the feeling of awkwardness or being overdressed has faded in her few months at BU.

“I remember feeling that way a little bit in the beginning, but you do get really used to it,” Teasdale said. “There’s always someone on campus wearing a suit.”

Jung said being one of many Questrom students in business attire reinforces “a sense of community and culture” in the college.

“I feel like mentally fitting into the business world is a mental barrier that a lot of people have to overcome,” Jung said. “Once you dress for the part, you’ll feel more like you belong.”

BARRETT WALSH | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER

The Massachusetts State House. A new Massachusetts law will promote the use of clean energy by streamlining the permit process for businesses, lowering energy prices for residents and creating more jobs in the energy field.

KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER

Students walking through the Questrom School of Business in professional attire. Many Questrom professors require students to wear business attire for their presentations.

GALLERY

Tom Holland look-alike contest isn’t far

from home

KATE KOTLYAR

PHOTO CO-EDITOR

Boston was the latest city to join the look-alike contest trend with a Tom Holland look-alike contest held in Boston Common on Nov. 24. The contestants were put through a gauntlet of challenges before Nick Anderson was crowned the winner.

Dilce Oliveira (center), one of the organizers of the Tom Holland look-alike contest, raises Nick Anderson’s (left) hand, announcing him the winner of the contest.

People in the crowd hold up signs that say “Looking 4 my short king” at the contest, referencing actor Tom Holland’s height.

Event organizer Dilce Oliveira teaches the contestants a dance to “HOT TO GO,” a song by Chappell Roan, before the contest officially begins.

Event organizer Katherine Gehring holds the mic for Cam, one of the contestants, to introduce himself to the crowd at the contest. Tom Holland look-alike contestant Mason laughs after introducing himself to the audience.

The audience cheers to vote in favor of who they think should win the Tom Holland look-alike competition at Boston Common on Nov. 24

Audience members hold up ten fingers to rate Irish trio Jamie, Ashley and Kyla’s collective impression of actor Tom Holland.

Runner-up Michael Carroll performs a cartwheel in the dance portion of the competition at Boston Common.

Daniel Rabinovitz jumps in the air while dancing to “Umbrella” by Rihanna as a part of the competition on Nov. 24.

Contestant Cam dances to “Umbrella” by Rihanna in the dance portion of the Tom Holland look-alike competition on Nov. 24.

Three contestants — El, Daniel Rabinovitz and Andy — stand in Spider-Man poses toward the end of the competition on Nov. 24.

Tom Holland look-alike competition winner Nick Anderson (center) poses for a picture with contest organizers Dilce Oliveira (left) and Katherine Gehring (right) once the competition ended.

One of the contest entries, El, throws their jacket across the Boston Common gazebo during their performance to “Umbrella” by Rihanna.

(Right to left) Irish trio Jamie, Ashley and Kyla laugh after introducing themselves as a group entry in the Tom Holland look-alike contest on Nov. 24 at Boston Common.

‘Part

of a team’: BU cross country stars from Sweden, Poland reflect on American sports culture

BY ANIYA SUMNER Contributing Writer

Many American collegiate athletes grew up with the culture that surrounds sports in the U.S. –– intense dedication and a desire to shine. But not every athlete has grown on that same understanding.

For Boston University cross country runners Vera Sjöberg and Ola Szulska, who are not from the U.S., their athletic journey started with integration and adjustment.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Sjöberg, a junior, said about choosing to study in the U.S. “It’s very different in Sweden, because you don’t get the opportunity to do both college and running combined.”

Sjöberg is from Stockholm, Sweden, and grew up watching sports in an entirely different light.

“I feel like U.S. culture is more competitive,” Sjöberg said. “Everyone that I was running with really has big goals, and they work really hard, both in their career, academics, but also running.”

For Sjöberg, seeing her teammates balance school and a demanding athletic life has encouraged her to step into what

it means to be an American college athlete.

“In Sweden, running is a very individual sport, and you’re told to focus on yourself,” she said.

“That was a big change that I had to adapt to, being a part of a team and caring about a team.”

The international star credited her enduring love for the sport to her BU teammates and the culture they built together.

By overcoming challenges such as improving her English and feeling comfortable in a new environment, Sjöberg has seized every opportunity — and has quite literally run with them.

The Swedish native earned her bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 23, where she placed seventh overall in the NCAA Northeast Regionals. She also earned U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Northeast Region honors.

As both the Patriot League individual champion and the first Terrier to race in the national championships since 2021, Sjöberg has more than embraced the nuances of her new setting.

While Sjöberg was running in a national championship, Polish standout Szulska had the opportunity to compete

internationally.

“For every athlete, representing their country is something special,” Szulska said. “A lot of athletes dream about it, and so going to Israel for [the] European Championships was just making my dreams come true.”

Before coming to BU, Szulska spent her first collegiate season with an American team at University at Buffalo in 2023. At the NCAA Northeast Regionals, she ran the Bulls’ fastest 6K time of the season with a time of 21 minutes, 7.6 seconds.

Similarly to Sjöberg, Szulska learned to adjust to the American collegiate atmosphere, which she said is more team-oriented than what she was used to at home.

“I love it here, because when I race, I don’t only race for myself,” Szulska said. “I feel like a piece of something bigger, and I feel like I matter more in terms of having a team.”

BU cross country head coach Jon Molz said he deliberately fosters a sense of community in his team, because he is aware of how different the American system may be to an international athlete.

Internationally, athletes belong to selective club-based

systems, he said, in which they do not grow up playing sports with the same people as young U.S. athletes do.

“When [athletes] get here into our program, it’s very important for me to have a program with really great and strong relationships and team camaraderie,” Molz said.

As Sjöberg and Szulska continue to push the boundaries of collegiate running, they stand as a testament to the importance of dreams beyond borders.

Even though Molz arrived at BU as head coach only a few months ago, he emphasized the value both stars bring to the program.

“We have a team full of girls and guys from all over the world that have had different life experiences,” Molz said. “That presents unique challenges, but also unique opportunities to maybe show how much more we have in common with people than we might think at first glance.”

After five seasons, Aidan Bone finds his stride

BY GABBY CHURCH Senior Writer

Aidan Bone wasn’t always the flashiest on the field, but his 2024 season marked a modest breakout five years overdue, as the Boston University men’s soccer team showed up for three postseasons in three years.

When Bone was deciding on schools, he had BU on his radar early, given his father is Hall of Fame inductee and all-time leading goalscorer Nick Bone.

The younger Bone committed in October 2019, expecting to play under former head coach Neil Roberts, just as his dad did, lifting four conference trophies from 1994-97.

“I told [Aidan] that this was his time,” Nick Bone said. “I was purely a parent, father and fan of the team, and I wanted this to be his own.”

That November, Roberts announced his retirement, ending a 40-year career at BU.

The following January, Kevin Nylen took the reins and then came the pandemic.

Bone had to adjust his expectations of the program and his position in it while sports were canceled and later postponed until the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That first run was forgettable for Bone, who didn’t play in

the season’s four games, and unremarkable for the team, which missed out on the postseason for a second year running.

As sports returned to normal that fall, Bone was thrown another curveball.

“Coach Nylen said to me, ‘You’re gonna be a striker now,’” Bone said. “I played [midfield] my entire life and now I’m going to switch positions all of a sudden.”

It was a decision that Nylen’s staff made for the sake of their system at that point, and Bone had to adjust to be a part of it.

“He was asked to do X, Y and Z, and he did,” Nylen said. “He came about his business every

day, even though probably he had a lot of questions.”

Bone’s first career goal came in 2021, though he hadn’t fully settled in yet.

A second goal wouldn’t follow for two years, as a meniscus tear limited Bone to five goalless appearances in 2022 while BU got back into the postseason.

“I was on the sideline rooting for the team, but thinking in the back of my head, ‘I want to be here and be a contributing factor next year,’” Bone said. “I had one year left at that point. I didn’t know if I would take a fifth year.”

Both the team and Bone showed growth at the start of the 2023 season, especially after Bone’s 89th-minute gamewinner against UAlbany.

The Terriers went undefeated for the following nine home games, eying the PL final.

With a trophy on the line, Bone took 19 minutes off the bench to serve the assist on the title-clinching goal.

“My senior year, I realized I had fallen back in love with the sport and I felt like I had missed out on some of my college career,” he said. “To be able to add another year to the experience was a nice thing.”

In 2024, Bone’s fifth year, the team ran into a pattern of injury problems, but with just 17 guaranteed games left in his soccer career, Bone stayed healthy.

“We didn’t know we were going to have an injury [to Alex Bonnington] and that [Bone] was going to have to take the brunt of the minutes, and he did it in typical Aidan fashion: He worked hard, came every day

and did his job,” Nylen said. “He took it in stride, and it was massive for our group.”

With increased opportunities, Bone tripled his career goal count, scoring four while nearly doubling his minutes as a goto for Nylen, which served as a marked growth from the uncertainty of playing under a different coaching staff than his starting year.

Bone converted the final two goals of his season –– and career –– on senior day at his home field with family present.

“It was a really special day for the family and it was a nice capstone for his career,” Nick Bone said.

Though this first-career brace only yielded a draw, it secured a crucial point in the most competitive PL landscape since BU joined in 2013.

Unfortunately, the semifinal two weeks later would be the end for Bone and eight teammates despite the team’s dominance in those last 90 minutes.

“My time at BU is synonymous with [those players],” Nylen said of Bone’s recruiting class. “I love that group. I’m going to immensely miss them … I understand [it’s] the process of life, but it makes me sad that I won’t be on the field with them for the first time in a preseason next fall.”

Bone shared a similar sentiment.

“It’s been an absolute privilege to be a part of the program, especially with the guys that have been here since the beginning,” he said. “It was one of the best experiences of my life, and if I could do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat.”

COURTESY OF CIAN MCCORMACK

Vera Sjöberg racing at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 23. The culture around American sports is characterized by the desire to shine bright on someone’s TV screen, but, for international cross country runners Sjöberg and Ola Szulska, the journey started with adjustment.

KATE KOTLYAR

Senior forward Andrew Rent (11) and graduate student forward Aidan Bone (31) protect possession of the ball from two American University players during the men’s soccer game on Oct. 26. Bone had a breakout season with the Terriers this year after overcoming a season cancellation due to COVID-19, a position change and injury.

Editorial Board

YEAR LV. VOLUME A. ISSUE 5. Published Friday, December 6, 2024.

CROSSWORD

Gracie Rohde

This is 20: Learning to embrace it all

BY SOPHIA KEOHANE DFP WRITER

I am officially a 20-year-old.

Light the candles, pop the sparkling cider. A new chapter has begun.

Many people say that this will be the best decade of my life.

My main point of reference are the many TikToks of middle-aged folks on podcasts talking about how incredible your twenties are. My dad sends me a lot of those videos with encouraging quotes like “see, you’re not doing bad!” or “your twenties are awesome.”

True, being 20 seems great, according to my dad and these podcasters. It’s a time to push boundaries and do all the things I never thought I could.

Twenty is a fabulous number. I like things that are 20. I have a lot of friends who are 20. I like having $20 and the song “$20” by Boygenius.

Being 20 is a whole different story for me. It’s a period in my life that I never thought would actually come. Nineteen wasn’t a real birthday, it was like a waiting period between 18 and 20. I was comfortable waiting. I had a hard time accepting that it would even end.

But the clock struck midnight on Dec. 2, and there I was — 20-years-old lying in my twin XL bed. I looked at the stray Nerds Gummy Cluster on my bed and my perfectly pink jammies and realized that it was actually here. I looked at my surroundings and confidently confirmed it.

This is 20.

I don’t really remember what little Sophia thought life would be like at this point. I don’t think I thought of my 20-year-old self.

A decade ago, I was an aspiring clarinetist dreaming of attending Yale University for journalism. I was also fond of moustaches, fought for the right to have sleepovers and secretly dreamt of being an author/singer/actress.

A decade later, I am here, at Boston University, studying English with a minor in theater arts. My interests include singing, improv, Shakespeare, going on outdoor walks, writing, musical theater, Instagram, art museums and having fun. I still have similar dreams, but the pathway is different from what I anticipated.

Ten-year-old Sophia would be a little confused.

The idea that I may be just as confused by my 20-year-old self at the age of 30 is horrifying. But I feel that way about my senior year self. She would have never thought that I would find happiness in a major that wasn’t centered on performing, love a good party or cut a significant portion of my hair off in a Warren Towers bathroom.

The idea that many, many surprises lie ahead can be terrifying.

I know people who are in their twenties who already have kids, completely changed career paths or bought their first home.

These surprises are much bigger than cutting hair.

This seems to be the decade of milestones, and I worry that the

ones I want may never come. My twenties should be just as epic as these TikTok podcasters say. Many of my dreams could be completed within this decade.

I would love to have the career of my dreams. I want to explore Europe with my little sister. I’d love to be in a happy relationship. The list keeps growing. And while 10 years is a lot of time, who knows if this decade will provide everything that I hope it will.

It’s a thought that has been keeping me up at night.

I am, admittedly, scared.

There is promise in the unknown.

Coming to BU was an unknown — it was a departure from what I thought I needed, and then ended up being everything I needed. Moments like that — where I said yes to something I normally would turn down — have ended up bringing me the most joy. I signed up for my high school improv troupe as a backup plan. I took my first art history class because I figured it would be good to step out of my comfort zone. Maybe my twenties will not be the exact iteration of my wildest

dreams, and maybe that’s the fun part.

Letting go of any expectation is the first step. I need to accept the idea that part of the excitement of my 20s lies within the unknown. That will probably come with some rough patches. The rough, however, makes the good times, great. The roller coaster of life is a ride I can’t get off of, so I might as well enjoy every turn it takes. I’ll embrace it all. Every messy, sticky, crappy, joyous moment this decade has to offer.

This is 20.

REVIEW: Goodness knows I’m holding space for ‘Wicked’

BY ELI PEKELNY SENIOR WRITER

Good news! It’s here!

Stephen Schwartz’s musical “Wicked” — after two decades of acclaim, rumors and anticipation — has finally been adapted for the big screen under the direction of Jon M. Chu. “Wicked,” a reimagining of MGM’s classic film “The Wizard of Oz,” expands the narratives of the witches of Oz and challenges their characterizations as “good” or “evil.”

Cynthia Erivo stars as Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the

West, alongside Ariana Grande as Galinda Upland, otherwise known as Glinda the Good Witch.

Let me be clear: I absolutely love the musical “Wicked.”

When I was 15, I listened to the “Wicked” Broadway cast recording front to back for the first time. If I wasn’t a theatre kid before that point, I was christened right there and then — baptized by Schwartz’ transcendental compositions.

Because of this love, I am fiercely protective over ‘Wicked.”

My expectations for the film were high, as were my standards. While excited, I was unsure what to expect.

The verdict is in: I absolutely love the movie “Wicked.”

From set design to costuming to worldbuilding, no stone was left unturned by the creative team. Oz has never felt more real — I enjoy the muted color grading for that very reason. Believe it or not, saturation doesn’t have to be maxed out to instill a sense of whimsy.

The music I had memorized sounded wholly new, as if I was hearing “Wicked” for the very first time. From the archaic drumming before “No One Mourns the Wicked” to Glinda and Fiyero’s harmony in “Dancing Through Life,” I rediscovered old favorites

and uncovered hidden gems.

Of course, there were several musical changes throughout the film, some of which I loved and some of which I could have done without. Speaking of “No One Mourns the Wicked,” I wish they had kept the ensemble singing the final chord of the line “the baby is unnaturally / green.”

However, Grande’s opt-up at the end of “No One Mourns the Wicked” was gorgeously executed, as was her Glinda.

Grande shocked many with her performance, despite her Broadway background. Before her time on Nickelodeon, Grande was in the musical “13.” Despite this, her established reputation as a pop princess left audiences unconvinced she could handle the operatic stylings of Glinda.

As Oz would have it, Grande’s talent cannot be categorized. Her colorful tone and acting prowess illuminated Glinda from within and lit the way for Grande’s interpretation.

Some argue Grande’s performance is simply a Kristen Chenoweth impersonation, but I disagree. Attentive listening reveals hints of Grande’s pop sound throughout the film, especially during “Popular.”

Somehow, despite my initial hesitation with her casting for that very reason, the whispers of pop fit right in. Their delicate placement speaks to Grande’s care for the character.

I also found Erivo’s deviations from the sheet music gave new life to the material and to her character.

Like many others, I have always resonated deeply with Elphaba. Ostracized for her green complexion and prodigious

sorcery, Elphaba embodies the central struggle of all outcasts — to be understood by others or to understand oneself.

Erivo’s interpretation of Elphaba was deeply earnest and emotive in ways I have never seen before. I knew she was a vocal powerhouse — her performances of “I’m Here” from “The Color Purple” and “Alfie” by Dionne Warwick were overwhelmingly impressive. Even so, from the moment she began to sing “The Wizard and I,” I was stirred, transfixed and enchanted.

Elphaba’s implicit power is fueled by Erivo’s implicit magic. Not only her virtuosic musicality, but her raw authenticity and lived experience grounded Elphaba. Erivo’s earthshaking performance satiated a hunger I didn’t realize I had.

At 16 years old, I saw “Wicked” live on the Gershwin stage. The experience was a privilege within itself, but I felt most fortunate to have witnessed Brittney Johnson’s luminous Glinda. Like Erivo, Johnson was the first Black woman to be cast principally in her respective role.

Representation for people of color in musical theatre has historically been scarce. Seeing a Black woman at the center of one of the most iconic musicals, in a role that is usually played by a white actress, is not insignificant, especially considering the themes of racism and fascism prevalent in “Wicked.”

I have seen the film twice, with plans to see it a third time. A fourth time is extremely plausible. By now, you must know where I stand on “Wicked.”

Also, let Grande and Erivo cry — they earned it.

ILLUSTRATION

Don’t try to make ‘Glicked’ a thing. It doesn’t need to be.

New York Times film critic

A.O. Scott wrote an article about the dire state of cinema back in 2023. Filmmaker magazine ended their 2022 publishing year with a damning article about it, with a headline that did not mince words.

“Cinema is dead,” Filmmaker staffer Mark Asch wrote, “and we’re all its ghosts.”

Admittedly, it might have appeared that cinema was, at the very least, in the process of dying.

Snuffed out by the Covid-19 pandemic, TikTok attention spans and a cultural shift towards what Filmmaker magazine called “user-made content,” the film industry struggled in 2020 and 2021 in ways it hadn’t since the start of the 21st century.

But I’d argue the staff writers at Filmmaker ate their words on their piece. 2023 — in particular, the “Barbenheimer” spectacle — decisively proved them wrong.

The “Barbenheimer” double, which encompassed the theatrical premieres of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” in July of 2023 on the same day, awakened the cinema events of old and inspired what might go down as the biggest movie event of the decade.

I saw both in theaters — admittedly not on the same day — and although I am privy to the opinion that movies are best seen late at night and in your worst clothing, even I could admit it was fun to see young

women filling the theaters in bright pink, followed by the somber and destitute attitudes of the “Oppenheimer” fans. The numbers agreed — “Barbie” made over $1.4 billion at the box office globally, while “Oppenheimer” grossed nearly $975 million.

But this spectacle had an unforeseen and annoying consequence — it convinced people that in order to incentivize theater attendance, every double premiere experience needs to be a “Barbenheimer” clone.

This led to what could have been an easily avoidable secondrate trend — the attempt to make “Glicked,” a double-premiere of “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” both of which hit theaters on Nov. 22, a thing.

“Gladiator II” didn’t just underperform both critically and at the box office — it was totally overshadowed by the success of “Wicked,” which raked in over $163 million in its opening weekend and shone with the star power of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

What made “Barbenheimer” such an intriguing double was though “Barbie” was arguably the more popular film, the gravity of “Oppenheimer’s” subject material and the sheer difference between the two films made the event a spectacle. “Gladiator II” simply does not have the weight nor dissonance to match “Wicked’s” game.

This is not to say that the sequel fell short for true “Gladiator” fans. But there’s no reason to package these two wildly different films together, when doing so benefits neither. The partnership of “Barbenheimer” elevated the status of both movies. “Glicked” doesn’t have that same effect.

Looking forward to Christmas Day, several new highlyreviewed films — “A Complete Unknown,” “Babygirl,” “Nosferatu” and others — will be hitting the screen nation-wide.

I am putting this out there now — please do not attempt to mash these films into an easily digestible and catchy trend. The moviegoing experience is meant to be fun, and I am more than pleased that its demise no longer appears to be imminent. Perhaps I have “Barbenheimer” to thank for that.

But if we’ve learned anything from “Glicked,” it’s that films do not need to be packaged together to appeal to viewers of all kinds. In fact, they may be better appreciated if they’re able to

exist on their own merit, rather than as a second-rate dynamic duo that will never quite live up to the original.

Movie magic is no longer magic if it exists only to emulate an event of the past. “Barbenheimer,” as fun as it was, is undoubtedly an event of the past.

Let’s look to the future of cinema — it seems to be bright and very much alive.

This Editorial was written by Opinion Co-Editor Addison Schmidt.

COLUMNS

Who pays when everyone loses?| Data Driven

BY SARAH DATTA SENIOR COLUMNIST

If you’re like me and assumed the yearly U.N. Climate Summit that took place in November would be chaotic, disorganized and indecisive, then you’d be exactly right.

It was not exactly a surprise, considering the ambassadors can barely get along on a good day — much less over an issue with as much economic, financial and moral stake as climate change. However, it is still disappointing to watch our policy makers ambiguously call for action, slowly dilute their words and creep backwards on their promises.

The summit, known as COP29, took place in Azerbaijan

— a hosting choice littered with controversies given that the country has earned the moniker “petrostate” from the extreme benefits it reaps from fossil fuels. The country “faced accusations of conflict of interest and malpractice” according to Carbon Brief, as “fossil fuels make up more than 90% of all exports and two-thirds of government revenue.”

Azerbaijan was only decided on after a string of vetoes from Russia and Armenia on all other options.

The negotiations concluded with developed countries promising to give $300 billion to developing countries by 2035, a rise from the previous goal of $100 billion. Though, reports from the London School of

Economics emphasize the need for up to $6.7 trillion dollars of climate investment depending on the economy and country. Many activists were hoping for a $1.3 trillion commitment from developed countries.

Countries are instead calling for investments from the private sector to get to that $1.3 trillion mark, which developing nations are viewing as little more than clumsy scapegoating.

Representative Chandni Raina of India was incensed: “It is a paltry sum,” she said. “I am sorry to say that we cannot accept it. We seek a much higher ambition from developed countries.”

The Panama representative, Juan Carlos Monterrey, was in agreement. “This process was chaotic, poorly managed, and a complete failure in terms of delivering the ambition required,” he said.

So, the developing countries left the agreement mad and disillusioned, and the developed countries left feeling uncertain at best, since the recent U.S. election could mean overturning any progress made anyway.

I’ll acquiesce that the Climate Summit has made significant progress over the past couple of decades. Because what’s better: ineffective, underwhelming climate deals or no climate deals at all?

Governmental action on climate policy is maddeningly, painfully slow, because at the end of the day, it’s also voluntary. No higher power is

enforcing country attendance, and anarchy is king as rich, oilpowered countries argue with the smaller underdogs, which end up bearing the cross of the wildfires, rising sea levels and scorching temperatures.

Developed countries pass around the blame to avoid coughing up more money, and developing countries suffer.

Countries fight, existing aid gets labeled and relabeled and it feels like we don’t accomplish anything. And, some people argue, these international meetings really don’t.

After all, this is COP29, meaning the 29th conference — and still many of the problems presented got shunted to COP30 in Brazil next year. What happens when we’re at COP35 and these problems are still getting rehashed? COP40?

Steven Cohen of Columbia University argues that governments are inherently too self-interested to make progress quickly. “Government’s role will include regulation,” he wrote in State of the Planet, the news site of the Columbia Climate School. “It will not include the implementation of mandates from global agreements.”

“It will be human ingenuity, creating new technologies and new business models, that will ultimately address the climate crisis and the crisis of global environmental sustainability,” he wrote. He claims we’ve already seen a shift towards more sustainable corporations and a

rise in clean energy industries that will eventually become the most cost-effective option. I agree with Cohen to an extent. These big summits are messy, and even more localized ones would likely still be inefficient. We have seen a significant shift towards green energy, with corporations taking action or greenwashing, to capitalize on sustainability being the new trend among younger generations.

But I think Cohen is too optimistic. Change is happening, but how quickly? Is it right that this change must be at the grassroots level, at the hands of the most basic subunit of society slowly shifting the status quo?

U.N. Climate Chief Simon Stiell said that “global cooperation is not down for the count.”

If this is what global cooperation looks like when it’s not “down,” I’d hate to see it when it’s fully on the way out. We can’t expect to battle climate change when we don’t even have a decent way of talking about it. Something needs to give — we need to think about restructuring these events to make more headway.

The climate crisis is a loselose battle. Fighting it requires countries to give up extensive resources for a cause we won’t see for years to come. COP29 is a microcosm of our inability to band together and should serve as a wake-up call to our world leaders to try something new.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

BY MARA MELLITS Editor-in-Chief

It was a Sunday afternoon in April, and my good friend Bella Chiarieri and I were on our way out of my dorm room at 1019 Commonwealth Ave.

I heard my phone buzz and saw an email offering me the role of editor-in-chief of The Daily Free Press for the fall 2024 semester. I read the first paragraph and immediately fell to my knees in the hallway. I looked up at Bella and said, “I got it.”

When I applied to be features editor almost exactly a year earlier, I received a very different email. I came back to my Claflin Hall dorm room and opened my door in tears to my roommate — and current managing co-editor — Siena Griffin. We spent the rest of the day on the floor of our small dorm room, as Siena reassured me I wasn’t a failure because I didn’t get the position.

I spent the fall 2023 semester as an associate features editor for the second time. I ended that semester by reapplying for features editor, but I was instead asked to become the inaugural investigative editor. In that role, I shared a desk with a new face, who would soon become one of my favorite people and the other third of our Top 3: Managing Co-Editor Andrew DiBiasio.

To sum up my semester as editor-in-chief in one letter is a complex task. I want to start off by giving thanks to every single one of you. Whether you’re an editor, reporter, photographer or reader, I couldn’t write this letter without your great work and support.

However, I must give my biggest thanks to the managing editors who have stuck by my side the entire semester: Siena and Andrew.

Siena and Andrew were my rocks. Not only are they my best friends, but they’re the best editors I know. They’re strong in grammar and AP Style, perfect to bounce ideas off of and supportive when you need them most. Andrew is an expert at first-person voice, while Siena’s features background is imperative in all sections.

I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do without them next semester when we’re 10,559.57 miles apart. Thank

you both for everything.

A month after our current editorial board formed, we published our orientation issue. Layout Co-Editors Lily Bailey and Aayushi Datta worked tirelessly the whole last week of May to put the issue together. One of the most exciting parts of this issue was the debut of our new games section. Our Master of Games Gracie Rohde curated two mini crosswords and a news quiz each week, along with a big crossword for every print of the semester.

We also introduced a new documentary section, and documentary editor Leire Garrogerricaechebarria worked to create the most innovative long-form videos I’ve ever seen. In that same vein, multimedia editor Ali Cook also transformed our Instagram strategy, posting less so we could instead highlight the day’s best stories. Thanks to the work of Ali and her team, we reached 5,000 Instagram followers before Thanksgiving break.

Our second print edition came out during the second week of school. The front page featured an interview with new Boston University President Melissa Gilliam from Campus Co-Editors Kayla Baltazar and Crystal Yormick. Kayla and Crystal did a phenomenal job finding unique stories on our campus this entire semester.

After our second print, we collaborated with The Boston Hockey Blog on our annual hockey issue. It was a great opportunity to work directly with talented sports writers. Thank you to Mitch Fink, Brendan Nordstrom, Sam Robb O’Hagan, Eli Cloutier and Annika Morris for all of your hard work on that issue.

Sports Editor Chloe Cramutola worked overtime for weeks to edit the stories for the hockey edition. It all paid off — the issue was perfect. Meanwhile, podcast editor James Buckeser consistently edited BHB’s podcast while simultaneously curating episodes for The Daily Free Pod.

For our fourth print, Crystal worked with Investigative Editor Maya Mitchell on a follow-up from last semester on holding the University accountable. Maya has continued to do so

the entire semester, reporting on everything from campus safety to the ending of Ph.D. humanity programs.

As November began, all eyes were on the election. City Co-Editors Lauren Albano and Sam Genzer worked tirelessly all throughout election week. We published six stories on Election Day alone, which was a herculean effort. Our electionthemed print issue would not have been possible without this dedication from Lauren and Sam.

An unsung hero this semester has been our graphics editor Lila Baltaxe, who is the best copy editor we have and always picks up on our mistakes. Lila also created our amazing graphic for the election issue’s front page.

Every section contributed to the election issue, including lifestyle, run by Corinne Davidson, who published two great stories for the issue — a review of the film “The

Apprentice” and “Ask Abby (or Analise)” on the importance of politics in a relationship.

Opinion Co-Editors Addison Schmidt and Hailey Pitcher also worked on my favorite editorial from this semester about the threat of media polarization to our democracy.

Throughout the last several months, Photo Co-Editors Kate Kotlyar and Holly Gustavsen consistently collaborated with several sections and tagged along to news events, to bring stunning galleries and photos to the FreeP.

The features section produced the most interesting stories about our campus and local community. Arts and Community Editor Sana Muneer focused on publishing more profiles, such as one of a BU student who travels 170 miles to get to class. Meanwhile, Business and Science Editor Macie Parker focused on the broader BU community to cover issues such as a new on-campus

housing development.

Sana and Kayla will be next semester’s managing co-editors, and last spring’s sports editor, Brendan Galvin, will be our next editor-in-chief. While I’m sad to see this semester end, I’m excited to see the incredible things they will accomplish.

Thank you to former Editorsin-Chief Andrew BurkeStevenson and Chloe Patel and my board buddy Jenny Lambert for helping me out this semester more times than I can count.

For the first time of my college career, I’ll be taking a step away from the FreeP — all the way to Sydney, Australia, where I’ll be spending my next semester.

But I’ll never forget the broken website, our candy salads or someone throwing a brick through our office door. Our semester was nothing short of eventful — and full of police reports.

KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER Editor-in-Chief Mara Mellits

SARAH CRUZ | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER

The Daily Free Press Fall 2024 editorial board.

Not pictured: Lily Bailey, James Buckser and Leire