2-18-2022

COVID-19 CHANGES, 2

EDITORIAL, 4

LIFESTYLE, 5

Boston University reavaluates COVID-19 testing and visitor policy

Read how the Super Bowl halftime show was the talk of the night.

How do we balance everything that we do? An empty calendar.

CE LE B RATIN G

FRIDAY, FEB. 18, 2022

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SPORTS, 6 BU men’s and women’s basketball enters the last stretch of the season.

J O U R NA LI S M

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

YEAR LII. VOLUME A. ISSUE IIII

BU ends 2021 fiscal year on high note, but employees still struck by cost-cutting measures Seamus Webster Contributing Writer Despite a projected budget shortfall of $264 million for 2021, stemming from uncertain student attendance in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Boston University finished the fiscal year with sound financial standing.

President Brown gave an overview of the steps the University would be taking to reduce budget expenses in a letter sent out to faculty dated June 29, 2020. These included freezing salary increases for faculty and staff and contributions to the University’s retirement program, as well as furloughing and laying off 250 faculty and staff members.

“These actions and other savings amount to a decrease of $168 million in expenses in the FY2021 University budget and cover approximately 68 percent of the shortfall,” Brown wrote.

However, according to a letter penned by Garry Nicksa, BU’s treasurer and chief financial officer, in the 2021 fiscal report, total assets grew to $8.3 billion that year due to “outstanding returns” on the University’s endowment investments.

Some faculty members expressed discontent with some of the cost-cutting measures the University implemented last year, adding the endof-fiscal-year results merit they be appropriately compensated today.

“For those of us who lost money during the pandemic because our salaries were frozen, or we didn’t have a retirement contribution, it felt a little bit like a slap in the face,” said Molly Monet-Viera, a master lecturer in the Romance Studies department. “Why

not just re-compensate us exactly what we should have been compensated?”

According to fiscal reports from 2020 and 2021, BU’s revenue from operating activities took a hit last year, down almost $36 million from 2020 and approximately $57.7 million from 2019.

The school announced it was suspending in-person classes on Mar. 11, 2020, three months before the end of the 2020 fiscal year.

However, because the University cut operating expenses by over $80 million in 2021, net assets from operating activities remained high —

$143.5 million in 2021 compared to $98.6 million in 2020, almost back to the pre-pandemic asset gains in 2019.

President Brown wrote in an April 2021 letter to faculty that retirement contributions have been reinstated this year, adding BU additionally implemented an across-the-board 2% salary and wage increase to make up for lost raises in 2021, according to a similar letter sent out in May. Monet-Viera said the reinstituted retirement contribution wouldn’t compensate faculty “dollar for dollar what they were supposed to give us last year.”

Monet-Viera said the decision had

been particularly frustrating to many faculty because of the “optics” of seeing construction on the new Center for Computing and Data Science continuing throughout the school year.

“They continued on with the data science project at the expense of, it felt like to us, our compensation,” Monet-Viera said. “It feels like they are more a real estate corporation than they are an educational institution sometimes.”

Additionally, the University’s endowment grew to $3.4 billion by the end of the fiscal year, representing a year-over-year increase of $956 million.

SOPHIE PARK | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston University sign outside of South Campus dorms. Some faculty members have expressed discontent with cost-cutting measures the school enacted last year while reports showed that BU finished the 2021 fiscal year with good financial results.

BU spokesperson Colin Riley said, unlike some other private universities, BU is a tuition, rather than endowment, dependent school.

Harvard College’s endowment, which currently stands at around $53.2 billion, contributed more than $2 billion to the school’s operating budget, according to the school’s 2021 fiscal report.

BU’s endowment “provided annual operating support in the form of income distributions of over $90 million,” Nicksa wrote in the financial report.

“The endowment… contributes a small amount to Boston University’s operating budget each year,” Riley said. “But it is not something that would be used to address a particular financial issue that arose. We actually budget in the operation budget for contingencies.”

Maggie Mulvihill, an associate professor in the College of Communications, said she had mixed feelings about the school’s budgeting decisions in 2021.

“I was not pleased that my retirement benefits got cut,” Mulvihill said. “Because obviously what we’ve got stashed away for our senior years is critically important. And so it was not welcome news.”

Mulvihill added BU, where she has been teaching for 12 years, is “very generous with benefits,” more so than “any employer I’ve worked for, which has mostly been extremely lean newsrooms.”

“We get some deep benefits here, as employees — phenomenal health care, dental care, life insurance,” Mulvhill said. “Lot’s of employees don’t go this far, so I think you have to do these individual calculations.”

Cambridge discusses universal pre-K Yiling Qiu Contributing Writer The Cambridge City Council & School Committee hosted a virtual joint roundtable meeting to discuss the next stages of establishing universal pre-kindergarten in Cambridge on Monday.

Lisa Grant, the executive director of the Birth to 3rd Grade Partnership — an organization that supports the early childhood ecosystem in Cambridge — said UPK will give families the “opportunity to voluntarily enroll their child in a publicly-funded pre-kindergarten.”

“What I envision … is a mixed delivery model, so a combination of school-based programming and community-based programming, including family childcare, serving all three and four-year-olds in our community with a particular emphasis on ensuring our lowest income children and families receive priority services,” Grant said in an interview.

At the roundtable, Grant said UPK would mean “that up to 75% of families earning state median income would incur no co-payment for childcare” up to five years old. Meanwhile families “making up to 250% of the state’s median income would pay no more than 7% of their income

towards childcare.”

Other provisions of the UPK plan include support for family outreach, staff credentials and pay parity for teachers — all of which are components of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Framework.

Titus DosRemedios, the deputy director at Strategies for Children — a children’s education advocacy group — said UPK will have “a positive impact on children.”

“We are in support of birth to five,” DosRemedios said. “So infants, toddlers, preschool age, children, all having access to high quality, affordable or free early education and care.”

Marc McGovern, Cambridge City Councilor, said in an interview that the UPK program should be more “play-based” and “creative.”

“I don’t want kids to worry so much about worksheets,” he said. “I want kids to be able to come to an environment where they can build their creativity, where they can learn, where they can do hands-on activities, where they can learn the social skills that they need, and that’s more developmentally appropriate for kids of that age.”

McGovern said he was “frustrated” after hearing that a comprehensive UPK program will come into effect in 2026, according to the presentation from the roundtable.

COURTESY OF GAUTAM ARORA VIA UNSPLASH

A desk with children’s learning games. At a virtual roundtable meeting, Lisa Grant, executive director of the Birth to 3rd Grade Partnership organization, said that part of the universal pre-K program could be in place in Cambridge over the next 18 months.

“I’ve been having this conversation [about UPK] for 18 years, trying to push the City, and it’s just unacceptable, ” he said.

Grant explained at the roundtable that there are “large systemic changes” between the current school system and the UPK. “I’m taking this opportunity to revise district and city policies as needed, building the processes, tools and

capacities for implementation and then securing funding and ​​ determining how the funding model will work for universal pre-k,” she said.

“It’s not like we’re starting from scratch. We know how to do this,” McGovern said. “We already have programs that are doing this, so it’s not like this is a brand new thing for us.”

DosRemedios said collaboration is

a necessary measure to improve the program.

“It is not just one program growing and expanding. It is all of the programs together working in unison,” DosRemedios said.

DosRemedios added ideally they would have “a shared equitable governance model” with the school committee and the city council working together to implement UPK. DosRemedios said that sustainable funding and program quality of UPK is also a concern.

“You have to measure and evaluate program quality, once you’ve started a program, to make sure that the programs are continuously improving and meeting a high standard,” he said. “You can’t just say because we have all of the children enrolled, we’re done.”

DosRemedios said the best way to start the program is to focus on expanding access to the program while maintaining affordability and quality.

“It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to have continuous progress towards universal [pre-kindergarten],” DosRemedios said. “We want all families to have access to good programs.”

Grant said at the roundtable that Cambridge could begin implementing part of the UPK program over the course of the next 18 months.

2 NEWS

BU reinstates pre-pandemic visitor policy, returns to once-a-week testing Tian Liao Contributing Writer Boston University will return to its pre-pandemic visitor policy and make some exemptions to its mask mandate as part of the University’s COVID-19 relinquishing measures starting Feb. 21.

In an email sent out Feb. 15, BU announced that undergraduates will return to once weekly testing and a green badge will no longer be required to enter residences or dining halls.

In addition, members outside the BU community are now allowed to enter campus buildings, and are encouraged, but not required, to be vaccinated.

“This is a recommendation that we believe keeps the individual and our population safe,” wrote Judy Platt, executive director of Student Health Services and Chief Health Officer, in an email.

While BU eases restrictions at student accommodations, the BU Fitness and Recreation Center, Agganis Arena and the John & Edgar Booth Theatre, among other campus buildings, will still require proof of vaccination for the general public.

Platt wrote these locations have different protocols set in place to acknowledge external public health requirements, while noting that some classrooms will still be checking student’s green badges at the professor’s discretion.

“With student case positivity percentages larger than the employee

percentages, the classroom setting is more likely to have someone in attendance who is COVID-positive,” she wrote.

The update in University health guidelines comes a little over two weeks after the Baker administration urged universities in the state to ease COVID-19 restrictions.

COVID-19 cases have been on a downward trend in BU since midJanuary, data shows. BU had a positivity rate of 0.46% on Feb. 14.

Some students reacted positively to the recent policy changes.

“I did appreciate that they kept the mask guideline in place,” said Treyton Littlejohn, a sophomore in the College of General Studies.

“I know that some states have dropped their statewide mandates but personally still happy to continue to wear a mask.”

As of today, 32 states have either loosened or dropped their mask mandates altogether. In Massachusetts, effective Feb. 15, public health officials no longer recommend indoor mask mandates for vaccinated individuals.

BU will allow individuals presenting or lecturing in a classroom to do so without wearing a mask, as stated in the email sent out to the BU community.

Cindy Hu, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said whether a professor should wear a mask or not depends on the size of the class.

“If it’s a super small classroom… and if the professor’s just not wearing a mask, then maybe not,” Hu said.

“But if it’s a large lecture hall and the professor’s standing on a stage, I think it’s okay.”

Hu also said she preferred getting tested once a week, but noted the ease with which students can fabricate negative test results through unsupervised testing, which BU recently put in place.

“I almost feel like I’m going there like every other day,” Hu said. “But then I guess one thing with remote testing is that I think some people might not test… you can literally take

the Q-tip out and put it in without sticking it in your nose.”

Littlejohn said he is concerned about outside visitors not having to demonstrate proof of vaccination to enter residence halls, but added that the recent drop in Omicron cases gives him some peace of mind.

“It would be a little concerning, though, if next week, there’s a bunch of Northeastern [University] guys hanging out the dorm without their masks on,” he said.

Platt said the University “plans to

evolve its protocols” as the semester progresses.

“We are actively looking at our case counts, test percent positivity, transmission dynamics on our campus,” she wrote. “We have tried to balance the variations in risk across our campus and strived to keep safety at the forefront.”

Campus Editor Jesús Marrero Suárez and Associate Campus Editor Sangmin Song contributed to the reporting of this article.

AMISHA KUMAR | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A green badge indicating COVID-19 protocol compliance. Boston University announced COVID-19 policy changes Feb. 15, which will lessen campus restrictions beginning Feb. 21.

Boston Public Schools to keep mask mandate beyond state’s deadline Walker Armstrong City Associate Boston Public School’s mask mandate will remain in effect beyond the state’s end-of-month deadline, Mayor Michelle Wu announced at a Feb. 10 press conference.

Wu’s decision came one day after Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley announced that Massachusetts will lift its mask mandate for K-12 schools on Feb. 28.

“I don’t presume to know what should or could have gone into the governor’s calculation,” Wu said.

“What I know is that the city of Boston is not ready to lift our mask

mandate, and so ours will stay in place for the time being.”

Speaking on the issue, Governor Charlie Baker said DESE issued alternative guidance for a mask mandate in “specific scenarios” — such as on school buses, in public schools, and in instances where the community chooses to prolong the mandate.

Baker said the state is

MOHAN GE | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wearing a mask. Wu announced at a press conference Feb. 10 that the Boston Public Schools mask mandate will remain in place beyond the Feb. 28 deadline, despite Governor Charlie Baker announcing he would not extend the mandate for K-12 schools.

implementing other preventive measures in place of the mandate.

“We’re running vaccine clinics in schools across the state,” Baker said at a Feb. 9 press conference. “We established the country’s first free K-12 surveillance testing program, and recently launched the take-home test program, which is available to every educator and child in Massachusetts.”

Sarah Horsley, co-founder of BPS Families for COVID Safety — a group advocating for COVID safety measures in BPS — said the state’s decision takes into consideration the mental well-being of students.

“There is a concern about students’ mental health and wanting for young people, for children to have more of a sense of normalcy,” Horsley said.

“And I can understand that, but it’s like, we’re not there yet.”

Wu said since BPS has experienced larger gaps in vaccination rates, the City’s Public Health Commission is waiting for “a consistent trend of downward progress” in COVID-19 cases before considering lifting the mask mandate.

“The poorest Massachusetts communities, many of whom have been really hard hit by COVID in general, have the lowest vaccination rates, 30% or lower,” Horsley said.

“In not only Boston, New Bedford, Springfield, but also 112 communities total.”

Horsley said the state can support increasing children’s vaccination rate.

“Everybody is trying to work together to really get the vaccination rates up, to do a lot of education and outreach to families that maybe are reluctant to get their students vaccinated,” she said.

Medical director of the Blake 12

Intensive Care Unit and an emergency physician at Mass General Hospital, Jarone Lee, said the state’s decision indicates where Massachusetts stands on COVID-19 transmission rates.

“I think that it is a good sign that we’re at a point where we can start thinking about this,” Lee said.

“However, I’ll say also that a lot of this is also local, right? Each county, each part of Massachusetts, is different.”

Lee echoed Wu’s statements saying Boston’s rate of transmission and hospitalizations are still high.

“I do really think that the metrics that have been set by the mayor’s office work well, knowing that we’re almost there, but we’re not quite there yet,” Lee said.

The CDC still recommends universal indoor masking, especially in communities where indoor ventilation is substandard.

Horsley added some schools have inadequate heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to combat the spread of the disease.

“In Boston, three-quarters of the schools don’t have mechanical ventilation, so they don’t have HVAC systems,” Horsley said. “A lot of schools where ventilation is not as good, and there’s households that have vulnerable members in them … then you’ve got to have that mask requirement to help.”

When considering lifting the mandate, Lee said it’s not just students who need to be concerned.

“I personally do worry that if we remove the mask mandates in schools too early, we’re going to have another resurgence,” Lee said. “And remember, it’s not even just protecting our kids, it’s also protecting everyone associated with our kids.”

FEATURES 3

ARTS

New play celebrates underrepresented people in scientific fields Yiran Yu Staff Writer “Young Nerds of Color,” a new play dedicated to uplifting the voices of BIPOC scientists, will run for five weeks from Feb. 17 to March 20, at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“The genesis of the play came from the questions — Why are there so few representations of BIPOC scientists on the American stage?” Melinda Lopez, arranger and playwright, said. “There are lots of great science plays, but you can’t think of many that featured black, brown, BIPOC, and AAPI scientists.”

The play draws from real-life interviews with scientists who come from underrepresented backgrounds.

“We started the process by offering opportunities for any scientists that identified as a person of color to talk to us. And over the period of several years, we spoke with over 60 scientists at every stage of their careers, and in every kind of field,” Lopez said.

While constructing the play’s narrative, Lopez discovered that the scientists she interviewed shared many similarities, including “dedication” and “joy and pride in their scientific work” — themes she used throughout the play.

“At some point in the process, I realized that I couldn’t create a fictional story that was as interesting as the real people,” Lopez said. “I decided that I wanted to curate and compose a piece based entirely on the

JENNIFER SMALL | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The poster of “Young Nerds of Color” hangs outside the Central Square Theater in Cambridge where it will be featured.

The play, drawn from real-life interviews with scientists of underrepresented backgrounds, is dedicated to uplifting the voices of the BIPOC community and will run from Feb. 17 to March 20.

real text of our interviews.”

The play’s message is also coupled with humor, she said.

“I want people to laugh and I want people to know the show is so powerful, but there’s also a lot of humor in it,” Lopez said. “There’ll be a lot of recognition of moments of humanity of all of these scientists that anyone will resonate with.”

When it comes to the societal

impact of this play, Lopez said she wants underrepresented people thinking about pursuing a career in science to “feel seen.”

Des Bennett, the dramaturg of the play and the connectivity coordinator at the Central Square Theater, said they were involved in the interview process, transcription and arrangement of the play. Bennett said they were inspired to work on “Young Nerds of

Color” because of their family’s long history in the scientific field.

“I’ve always been around people who have been curious about science,” Bennett said. “I didn’t see people of color in the sciences when I grew up, so I didn’t imagine that I could be one of those people.”

Kortney Adams, a cast member, said she hopes the play can bring support and inspiration to young

COMMUNITY

people who are considering the STEM fields.

“I hope there’ll be some folks who find some validation in these stories and think ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not alone in my experience,’” she said.

Before becoming a professional actor and the education manager for the Central Square Theater, Adams was an environmental engineer.

“Even though I do not practice science anymore, I still have, you know, the random scientist inside the body of an artist,” she said. “I’ve always been interested in the places where art and science intersect.”

“Young Nerds of Color” features original music composed by Nona Hendryx. The play’s music has bridged the gap between science and the arts, said Bennet.

“The music has been really revolutionary for the play in terms of just adding that extra layer and adding that connection between the science in the play and the actors and their voices,” Bennett said.

Lopez is also a faculty member at the graduate playwriting program at Boston University and believes teaching has inspired her work.

“Teaching playwriting makes me a more interesting playwright,” Lopez said. “I learn so much from my students and I’m constantly exposed to new ways of thinking.”

She acknowledged that she can’t fit every narrative into the play, which was a major challenge for her during the writing process.

“We could do one every year for the next 25 years and we would not run out of fascinating stories,” Lopez said.

Day-shelter on Newbury Street aims to create women-centric community Gabriela A. Lopez Gomes Contributing Writer Julie Stimson, 57, has been homeless since 2009 and she has visited the Women’s Lunch Place at Newbury Street for the past 20 years.

On Feb. 10, she received the news from the day-shelter that her housing rent aid was approved and she would get her own place sometime in the next 120 days.

She received help at the WLP to get

her Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program approved in Massachusetts.

Now she has to find a place where she’ll pay around $300 a month and the state will pay the landlord the rest of the rent.

For Stimson, finding a place to live means that she can go back to school.

“I never graduated high school,” Stimson said. “I’d be able to take care of myself more better. And slowly push other people that are bad influences or bad for me … away.”

Stimson is embarking on this new journey thanks to the help of the WLP and their advocacy center — which

helps women gain access to legal aid, permanent housing, substance-use disorder treatment and mental health resources.

Founded in 1982, the WLP is a day-shelter located on Newbury Street and is open to anyone who identifies as a woman. Serving around 100 guests daily, the day-shelter provides breakfast and lunch — Monday through Saturday — and basic necessities such as showers, clothes and toiletries.

Their main goal is to provide a community for women.

Rachel Klein, shelter manager at

HUI-EN LIN | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Church of the Covenant, which houses the Women’s Lunch Place shelter on Newbury Street. The WPL is a day-shelter which provides breakfast and lunch to anyone who identifies as a woman and fosters a women-centric community.

WLP, said the shelter “is a unique spot” since there are no requirements to get in. Recently, a guest who visited the shelter daily, went to Klein’s office to show off the keys for her apartment. “[She] was talking about what furniture she was gonna get and what color she wanted to have her sheets and all the things that just make your house a home that we sort of take for granted,” Klein said.

Klein also said being in a shelter takes away from having control over your living preferences.

“So even to be able to pick out like the color sheets and pillows that you want on your bed and to have your own space, such as her coming in and showing us her keys was really exciting,” Klein said.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report, in January 2020 almost 18,000 people experienced homelessness in any given day in Massachusetts.

But, every woman’s situation at the day-shelter is different. Klein said that some women are couchsurfing, some are in shelters and some stay outside.

Some guests work at home and then come have lunch, while others are there everyday from 7 a.m. till closing at 2 p.m.

Some have no education and others have master’s degrees.

Henry Morris, marketing and communications manager at WLP, said the staff at the advocacy center do anything and everything for their guests — from getting someone an emotional support animal to healthcare resources and helping manage their personal lives.

Morris said one immigrant guest

needed help with her residential status, and had the option of getting a T visa — for victims of human trafficking— which would help her get housing and a job. But, it was a difficult process and decision.

Morris said that this guest had a difficult decision to make, “it would be less time that she could spend working, doing sex work to get money.” She needed funds to send to her sick father and brother back in her home country.

“So it’s like, do I not send my family any money for three to six months and try, and get this visa. Or do I ignore the visa and keep trying to provide for my family? It’s an impossible situation basically,” Morris said.

Klein said guests at the shelter are dealing with many things, so the WLP tries to support them the best way they can.

“Just being homeless itself is pretty traumatic,” he said.

Alice Moyle, a sophomore at Boston College, has been volunteering at WLP since September as part of a class. She said a challenging part has been learning the statistics and social issues in class, and then looking around at women at the shelter and realizing the hardships they face.

“Sometimes I think I live in quite a bubble,” Moyle said.

She said that, as a college student, she’s on campus immersed in studies and social life.

“Coming here twice a week, it kind of makes me realize that it’s not just about me,” Moyle said. “There’s a bigger purpose to things and that people are struggling, and then to help in any way that I can is very meaningful.”

4 OPINION

COLUMNS

Sing About Me: If you want Roddy Ricch to return to form, stop living in the past Aidan Mega Columnist If you ask the layman trap connoisseur to recall what set the decade in motion, most wouldn’t look back on a ball dropping or the rumbling noise of Times Square as Ryan Seacrest smiled for the cameras.

As Dec. 2019 waned, rolling out the carpet for a pandemic to arrive, the classic Carey and Bublédriven holiday anthems of the world seemingly went into radio silence. In their place was a simple melody accompanied by a hauntingly infectious adlib – a door-creaking murmur that propelled “The Box” to an 11-week tenure atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts, emphatically shifting Generation Z’s attention away from the holiday spirit.

Before the eyes of many was a generational talent, one that younger hip-hop stans believed would stick around for quite a while.

The momentum that Roddy Ricch carried with the aforementioned single – the capstone of his debut LP “Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial,” leading the critically acclaimed project with well over a billion streams on Spotify alone – was unprecedented, and it drove the music industry into a frenzy. He had already been establishing himself as a staple of the new-age melodic trap sphere with singles such as “Down Below”and his “Feed Tha Streets” mixtape series. But with his debut project he became a Grammy-winning artist at 21 years of age, and it seemed as though the sky was the limit.

“Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial” offered a certain je ne sais quoi previously unheard by avid fans – and haters – of the melodic style. Widely-

beloved artists like Lil Tjay and Rod Wave rose to stardom within the same niche, but I doubt they would’ve dared to breach the barriers of stereotypical trap musicality as fearlessly as Roddy did.

What the latter brought to the table was an undeniably raw yet illustrious talent, with vocal inflections and flows rivaling the likes of Young Thug, and a knack for production that saw every track on PEMfBA being cut from a different cloth — fans of the shockingly introspective, gospelesque closer “War Baby” know exactly what I mean.

This is all to say that Roddy’s fans know what he is capable of, and their expectations for his next project foresaw nothing short of a masterpiece.

So when his second full-length LP “Live Life Fast” was released in Dec. 2021, it was inevitable that said fans would be immensely disappointed – not because the album was a poor showing, but because it didn’t satisfy the absurdly unrealistic benchmark they set.

The negative reception is shown on paper, as LLF raked in only 62,000 first-week sales (falling well short of the 101,000 earned by Roddy’s debut) – but the harmful rejection of Roddy’s efforts can only be seen through the enormous backlash he received on social media.

Amid the plethora of jabs reacting to Roddy’s initial drop announcement on Instagram, mostly consisting of the “mids” and garbage emojis we’ve become all-too-familiar with, was a statement that seemed to resonate with most commenters on the post.

“We need 2019 Roddy back cus wtf is this?”

Subsequent weeks included parallel reactions to everything he posted – even when the content

was unrelated to music. On Feb. 5 – after getting berated even further in light of a work-in-progress snippet from an upcoming single titled “Out My Mind” – Roddy wiped his social media presence from the map, deleting all pages on all platforms.

That comment exemplifies the problem of expecting too much out of promising young artists, especially when the person in question is as indisputably talented as Roddy. We’ve all heard of the “sophomore slump” – to be fair, I was disappointed with the artistic conservatism on “Live Life Fast,” but by no means should a lackluster showing at such a young age spell the downfall of his career trajectory. The man is too talented a musician and instrumentalist to “flop” as harshly as listeners are prophesying.

Criticism is necessary for an artist to grow,

and artists are well aware of that fact. But when fans start discrediting an artist’s work for not sounding like their old music, they disallow that artistic growth – they discourage ambition and conceptual exploration, and they ensure their own dissatisfaction with future releases from artists they enjoy.

To beat up Roddy Ricch for not replicating PEMfBA is to shoot down his deserved credibility before his potential has had any space to breathe – give him some creative leeway before making a judgment call.

Roddy has since reactivated his various media handles, but I wouldn’t blame the guy if he logged off of social media for good. Refer to the title of his almighty debut – if he needs to go off the grid to make magic, let us all excuse his reclusivity.

ILLUSTRATION BY SMARAN RAMIDI

EDITORIAL

The Super Bowl halftime show was historic, whether you liked it or not It opened on a quick zoom into the streets of Compton. Fireworks marked the celebratory tone of what was to come. With Dr. Dre’s hand covered with the map of his home city, the message to audiences was clear — this performance, like all of Dre’s previous works, would be a faithful tribute to the streets where he came from.

He then placed his hand on an almost-divinelooking mixing board – the same device he’d used many times before to produce some of the most transgressive and important works in American music history.

The familiar riff from Snoop Dog then rings out – “da-da-da-da-da” – through every television set in every American home, and it’s now abundantly clear what’s going on. The show then cycles through performances from many of Dre’s disciples, all of them hip-hop icons in their own right. 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and Eminem all took part in an amazing cultural accomplishment for rap music.

Whether you’re someone who believes the NFL should’ve kept to their meat and potatoes of inoffensive pop and geriatric classic rock fare, or you’re someone who thinks the NFL didn’t go far enough in accepting Black culture and Black

artists – we all have to agree that this was indeed an accomplishment.

30 years ago, in 1992, when Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” was released, if you predicted he would someday be helming a Super Bowl halftime show, you’d be called crazy. Especially considering the halftime show that year featured, among other things, the University of Minnesota marching band, Gloria Estefan and two Olympic figure skaters.

While many take the mainstream acceptance of rap and hip-hop as a given in 2022, up until now this type of ubiquity was impossible to foresee. That, in and of itself, makes this a tremendous accomplishment.

The importance of this performance is only made greater given the NFL’s past and current struggles with racism and the debacle resulting from them caving in to pressure to end their players’ police brutality protests.

The Super Bowl is no doubt the biggest annual cultural event in the United States. It draws more eyes than any other piece of entertainment, and it dominates the conversation more than anything else.

And the halftime show is seen to be the most

important barometer of where the country is at culturally.

For years the NFL has been gatekeeping that barometer to only reflect a very white and very corporate image of what our country’s culture is.

With this year’s show – and with the previous two which featured The Weeknd and Jennifer Lopez, two nonwhite headlining acts – the halftime is actually beginning to represent the real vibrant cultural tapestry of America.

As a certain sect of people always do, some have their gripes with the show on political grounds.

Many on the more conservative side of politics objected to this diversifying of the halftime, with commentator Nick Adams suggesting that a performance by “Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, and Lee Greenwood” would’ve been better. There’s no reason to take those objections as anything more than the shit-stirring that they intended them to be.

Some on the left will quibble over whether or not this represents the most transgressive and anti-establishment group of artists possible.

Today it’s hard to see Snoop Dog as transgressive, someone who’s seen as culturally

palatable and unobjectionable like Baby Yoda.

But in Kendrick Lamar you find the most transgressive and high-minded option possible.

He is one of the most socially conscious and politically active rapper we have today. Not to mention his artistic and poetic bonafides, which landed him a Pulitzer Prize in 2018.

Others will also find this choice by the NFL to be a performative way to try to distance itself from accusations that it’s a racist league.

These accusations are certainly not illegitimate given the league’s blackballing of quarterback Colin Kaepernick and what seems like a second blackballing coming for former coach Brian Flores.

These claims, with the exception of ones arguing that the Super Bowl should be less diverse and culturally accurate, are genuine and should be considered.

But with this year’s show, it’s important to take it at face value for what it is and what it set out to be — an earnest celebration of the career of Dr. Dre and of the culture of Black Americans.

Doing that on this big of a stage is, undeniably, historic.

EDITORIAL BOARD Jean Paul Azzopardi, Editor-in-Chief Jesús Marrero Suárez, Campus Editor Nellie Maloney, Co-Podcast Editor

Emily Stevenson, Managing Editor

Cici Yu, City Editor

Taylor Hawthorne, Co-Podcast Editor

Smaran Ramidi, Layout & Graphics Editor

Emily Pauls, Features Editor

Taylor Coester, Photo Editor

Michelle Tian, Lifestyle Editor

Mary Geena Prestia, Multimedia Editor

Mitch Fink, Sports Editor

Brian Foisy, Co-Opinion Editor

Sujena Soumyanath, Co-Opinion Editor GRAPHIC BY ALEXIA NIZHNY

LIFESTYLE 5

LIFESTYLE Keeping your calendar free Samantha Elizondo Senior Writer A realization that has become clearer with time is that college is much more than just classes. My nana told me countless times prior to leaving for Boston University that, “College is like a trial run in real life.”

I never really understood what that meant until it became my life.

I am so grateful to attend a school like BU because the opportunities here are limitless. Regardless of your major or background, the extracurriculars at BU are handson and stimulating. During my freshman year, in the midst of the pandemic, I began researching ways to get involved because I remember the feeling of being trapped in my little room in Rich Hall. I knew that I needed to branch out and get involved.

The first extracurricular activity that I joined was the Daily Free Press. I chose to write for both the opinion and lifestyle sections. I had my own column called “Intentional Evolution” and every week, I was publishing two stories.

Since then, I joined club water polo and two shows on BUTV10.

Getting involved was the easy part.

Figuring out how to manage my time as I began picking up more extracurriculars was a lot harder.

As a second-semester sophomore, I am still figuring out the whole timemanagement thing. I have found that I have a problem with over-committing myself. I am an ideas person to my core, and I often get carried away with my imagination and dreams and want to execute them all.

I have been told multiple times to

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNIE DAI

choose one thing that I am passionate about and give it my all. The drive is not what I’m missing — it is the inability to choose what I want.

I love writing. I love waking up at 7:30 a.m. to be in a newsroom at 8 a.m., filled with the buzz of enthusiastic producers, anchors and crew. I love being responsible for a weekly package that I write, film and

edit. I love it all, but I can not have it all.

My nana was right when she said college is like a trial. It is a messy and beautiful process of trying everything. It is about meeting people who open your eyes to new passions.

It is about finding things to fill your days with purpose and joy. However, it is important to realize that time is

not an unlimited resource.

This is something that I have had to come to terms with this semester.

Trying things is good, but committing to the point of feeling like you are dating your calendar app is not worth it.

College is a time to try new things, but more importantly, it is a time to find what works for you.

From experience, I can tell you that no matter what your passion is — whether it be coding or fashion — you must keep time available for yourself. Open space in your calendar means freedom. Treat alone-time like any other priority. You deserve to be free. After all, isn’t that part of the whole college experience?

Global Cinema Series: ‘Daisies’ Sonic Fleming Staff Writer In a time when mainstream movie studios strongly value clear-cut storytelling and accessibility to wide ranges of audiences, it’s refreshing to see a film where chaos and unpredictability are at the forefront.

A perfect example of dadaist cinema, films that embrace nonsense and irrationality, would be the Czechoslovak New Wave classic, “Daisies.” Released in 1967 by

Věra Chytilová, “Daisies” was a groundbreaking and controversial film for a multitude of reasons.

The opening credits are quite untraditional, with shots bouncing back and forth between modern machinery and aerial footage of warfare. This montage visual style is apparent throughout, and it adds to the frantic pace that this 74-minute movie moves along at.

The two characters are named Marie I and Marie II — names that seem like placeholders for the writers to fill in later. They’re played by nonprofessional actresses Jitka Cerhová

and Ivana Karbanová, who embody these manic and complex characters.

This initial scene introduces us to our protagonists in bikinis sitting beside a pool in black-and-white.

They move like puppets controlled by strings, and every movement is accompanied by a creaking sound.

The protagonists conclude that since nobody understands them and everything in the world is so spoiled, they should become spoiled too. Marie I slaps Marie II and we jump cut to an open field. The blackand-white filter disappears as we’re introduced to the vibrant colors that

HUE-EN LIN/DFP STAFF

Ivana Karbanová as Marie II in a scene from the film “Daisies.” Sonic Fleming calls the Czechoslovak New Wave classic “refreshing” for its unpredictability and fun, chaotic nature.

ILLUSTRATION BY SOPHIA FLISSLER

make up the majority of the film.

The ladies then embark on their exciting journey of using rich, creepy old men to get food and other goods.

They meet plenty of men throughout the film and leave all of them behind, usually in a dramatically funny fashion.

Marie I tricks an old man into thinking that she’ll board a train with him, before ditching him at the station and joining Marie II. They try the same thing with another man, but he catches on and gets off the train — so the Maries become the ones to hop on and ride away. While another man professes his love over the phone, the Maries cut up sexually suggestive foods and show no interest in the man.

Despite all the humorous things that the Maries say and do, their antics are shrouded in darkness..

There’s a suicide attempt, neardeath experiences and crying — though that crying is immediately follwed by laughing fits. It is unclear whether the girls are ever really happy, and it’s part of the reason why Chytilová describes her movie as, “A philosophical documentary in the form of a farce.”

The movie ends similarly with how it started — with war footage.

Overlaying the footage is a real fourth-wall breaker in the form of a dedication statement. It reads, “This film is dedicated to all those whose sole source of indignation is a trampled-on trifle.” This ending quote encapsulates the overarching satire of the film, which is making fun of those in power with immense privilege.

And while movies with similar messages have been made in critique of capitalism and the bourgeoisie, “Daisies” is unique in that the film

was made in a communist state. The Czechoslovak Republic nonetheless imposed a ban on the movie, believing it was not a good representation of the state’s views.

The Maries’ extreme overindulgence in material goods was no doubt unaligned with the communist party’s values, but to view this film as solely an anti-communist picture would be selling it short.

“Daisies” is a protest film in every regard, not just politically. The Maries dance in fields, put on heavy makeup and talk to men at restaurants — things that were stereotypical of women to do — but they did so in a way that challenged all conventions of such activities. They would get in the way of a restaurant doing business, rob friendly workers, stuff their faces with food and degrade the men they’re with.

Things don’t really make a lot of sense, and that is the point. The establishment, both in terms of politics and the patriarchy, is the sole cause for the madness of these characters. So everything they do, from their words to their actions to their desires, goes against tradition.

Not only are the characters molded unconventionally, but the director’s stylistic choices are also so unique. The lack of a clear storyline and collage-style moving image, combined with the surrealist imagery and fast pace, makes for a truly anarchic movie.

Chytilová is one of the only female filmmakers in the Czechoslovak New Wave movement, but this dadaist masterpiece remains one of the most radical and flat-out fun movies ever made.

The movie is available to stream with an HBO Max subscription.

SPORTS 6

SPORTS Women’s basketball takes first place in Patriot League with 74-56 win over Holy Cross Chloe Patel Sports Associate In a matchup determining first place in the Patriot League standings, the Boston University women’s basketball team defeated the College of the Holy Cross 74-56.

The Terriers (15-10, 11-3 PL) were led by senior forward Chiara Tibbitt and freshman guard Alex Giannaros, who each scored 16 points. The Crusaders (16-9, 10-4 PL) had strong performances from senior guard Avery LaBarbera, who scored 20 points, and sophomore forward Janelle Allen, who had 14.

Head coach Melissa Graves called the victory “a tremendous team win.”

“We had a lot of contributors, people who didn’t play positions that they’ve ever played before,” Graves said. “The morale was great. We shared the basketball really well.”

Tibbitt echoed Graves, adding that the team “needed to win after our last loss.” The Terriers fell to American University 70-57 on Saturday afternoon before rebounding in yesterday’s win.

Despite a slow first quarter where the Terriers shot 4-of-15 and finished the quarter down 10 points, BU came

back to take the lead with a layup by junior forward Maren Durant with just over three minutes to go in the first half. Durant capped off her 14-point night with her second double-double of the season. “​​We’ve been talking about trying to win the first half and I think we did that today,” Graves said. “That was a goal of ours because we’ve been struggling a little bit in our first half, how we’re coming out of the gate. So I was proud of them for that effort.”

Through strong second-quarter defense — including 11 defensive rebounds, two steals and three forced turnovers — the Terriers were able to dig their way out of the early hole to finish the half with a 34-29 lead.

Graves commended her team on their defensive versatility.

“Being able to switch between man and zone and be able to focus in on that and talk within that was really, really big for us,” she said.

Going forward, Graves said she is emphasizing “respecting every opponent but fearing none” to her players for the upcoming Patriot League competition. The Terriers have four more games in the regular season, all of which are against Patriot League foes.

Graves, in her first season at BU, has continued to coach the team to

success despite being due to give birth to her first child on Friday.

The Terriers will welcome Colgate University to Case Gym on Saturday

afternoon for their second-to-last home game of the season.

“Every game is a big game, especially coming in, in the first place,”

Graves said. “Everyone’s going to play their best every time. They’re going to bring everything they can at you, so just being ready for that.”

LIBBY MCCLELLAND | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University women’s basketball team in a Feb. 16 game against the College of the Holy Cross. Despite a slow first quarter, the Terriers defeated the Crusaders 74-56 – taking first place in the Patriot League with four games left in the regular season.

Notebook: Men’s basketball prepares to battle for conference title Maxwell Bevington Staff Writer The Boston University men’s basketball team (19-9, 10-5 PL) has lived up to lofty expectations in its 2021-22 campaign. After an underwhelming season last year, the Terriers now sit in third place in the Patriot League, and have won eight out of their last nine games.

With a Patriot League championship, the team would repeat its success in 2019-20 season, when the squad qualified for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic took root and canceled March Madness.

BU head coach Joe Jones said his squad is playing at its highest level of the season so far, and he has been impressed with their collective effort.

“I think we’re getting really good contributions from different guys from the bench. They’re coming in with a lot of energy,” Jones said.

Sukhmail Mathon impresses in big-man role.

Since the departure of forward Max Mahoney after the 2019-20 season, graduate forward Sukhmail Mathon has taken on a bigger role on the floor.

During this season, the 6-foot-10 center has been a top scorer on the team, averaging 15.3 points per game, both good for second on the squad.

Mathon also came up big for the Terriers in the clutch recently when he hit a game-winning free-throw to give BU a one-point victory over the United States Military Academy on Feb. 9, and posted a career-high 26 points in a win over the College of the Holy Cross on Wednesday night.

Despite having a breakout year last season, Jones said Mathon felt like he could still improve.

“Even last year when he had kind of a breakout year, he felt like he

could be better,” Jones said. “And he has been. There’s no doubt about it.”

Javante McCoy and Walter Whyte continue to thrive offensively.

With the return of graduate guard Javante McCoy, the duo of him and senior guard and forward Walter Whyte have continued to help drive BU on offense.

McCoy leads the team in pointsper-game with 16.6, while Whyte comes in at third on the squad in

points-per-game with 13.1.

Whyte has scored double-digit points in every game this year except for one, and the same holds true for McCoy. Jones emphasized the experience of both Whyte and McCoy — the pairing have been key contributors for the team since the 2017-18 season.

“Those guys are as good as any duo in our league for sure. It’s been an absolute pleasure to coach those guys,” Jones said. “They’ve been terrific.”

Defense lacks in some spots.

While the Terriers have done well on the offensive side of the ball, ranking second place in the conference in average points-per-game, Jones said his team still has room for improvement on defense.

BU sits tied for second in the Patriot League for least points given up per game, but they have struggled to contain opposing offenses in a handful of losses, including giving up 84

points against Marist College and 83 points against Army.

Jones said the defense, at times, has lacked the focus to win at a high-level and it is an area they will look to improve upon.

“We’ve got to put more energy and effort into stopping people,” Jones said. “We’ve won seven out of eight games right now, but I do think that’s an area where we’ve got to just keep trying to get better.”

MOHAN GE | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Senior Jonas Harper does a pre-game handshake as he runs onto the court. The Boston University men’s basketball team rank third in the Patriot League, living up to lofty expectations for its 2021-22 campaign following an underwhelming season last year.