3-18-2022

STUGOV ELECTION, 2

FEATURES, 3

EDITORIAL, 5

Town hall allows students to learn about future BU leaders

Read about the next cohort of Artists-in-Residence.

What does the Editorial Board think about daylight savings?

CE LE B RATIN G

FRIDAY, MAR. 18, 2022

50

YE ARS

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I N DE PE N DE N T

STU D E NT

SPORTS, 6 Men’s hockey falls short in conference quarterfinals.

J O U R NA LI S M

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

YEAR LII. VOLUME A. ISSUE VII

‘An inspiration to us all’ — Remembering late English professor, John Paul Riquelme Cassandra Dumay Contributing Writer John Paul Riquelme, a long-time Boston University English professor and renowned literary scholar and editor, died March 2nd at the age of 76.

Following his untimely death, fellow faculty and department heads expressed their condolences in a March 2nd email to the English department community.

“Professor Riquelme was [a] wonderful colleague, committed scholar, and dedicated teacher and advisor,” the email, written by Stan Sclaroff, dean of Arts & Sciences, and Karl Kirchwey, associate dean of Faculty/Humanities, read.

“His courage and clear-eyed dedication to scholarship, art, and teaching were exemplary,” it continued, “He will be sorely missed.”

Riquelme started his career at BU in 1991. He taught courses on post-Romantic and Gothic literature, literary criticism and humanistic theory, on top of serving as chair on multiple committees in the English department, according to Anita Patterson, the department’s chair.

But Riquelme’s primary research focus was modernist literature.

Among his most celebrated publications are his books From Teller and Tale in Joyce’s Fiction and Harmony of Dissonances: T.S. Eliot, Romanticism and Imagination.

Off-campus, Riquelme co-chaired the Modernism Seminar at Harvard

College’s Mahindra Humanities Center.

In a tribute published on the Modernist Studies Association Facebook page, Joseph Valente, a professor of English and Disability Studies at the University at Buffalo, wrote that Riquelme played an integral role in the modernist community.

“Since his untimely passing, I have heard from numerous people in our profession about the debt they owed to his engagement with their work, his counsel, his solicitude, his generosity, and, above all, his support,” Valente wrote.

Riquelme was also a “surpassingly fine and prolific” literary editor, Valente wrote, adding his editions of Dracula and Tess of the D’Urbervilles for the Bedford Critical Editions Series and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for the Norton Critical Edition Series “set the standard by which all future editions of these novels will be measured.”

“They also served to bring together scholars of different generations, viewpoints, theoretical adherences and areas of expertise in a joint endeavor to illuminate each text and elaborate its context,” Valente wrote.

Ethan King, a doctoral candidate in the English department at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said Riquelme was a mentor to him during his early years as a graduate student, even inviting him to co-teach some of his classes.

“His intellectual curiosity was infectious,” King said.

As his student and co-instructor, King said he witnessed Riquelme

facilitate classes with a unique “care and respect” and went above and beyond for his students, offering

“incredible amounts of feedback” on their writings.

“There’s a certain sense in which

COURTESY OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY

John Paul Riquelme, a Boston University English professor, passed away March 2. Riquelme taught at BU for over thirty years. He is remembered by his colleagues and students for his contributions to modernist studie and his infectious intellectual curiosity, friendliness and generosity.

the classroom becomes this special community that you don’t always feel in other classrooms,” King said.

Riquelme received the Templeton Award for Excellence in Student Advising and Mentoring — CAS’s highest advising award — last year in recognition of his dedication to his students’ academic and personal development, Sclaroff wrote in an email.

“John Paul was department chair when I first came to Boston University, and helped my adjustment to campus life in innumerable ways,” Patterson wrote. “His superb scholarship in modernist studies is an inspiration to us all. I’m forever grateful for his wise counsel, generosity, and friendship.”

Joseph Rezek, an associate professor of English, lived on the same street as Riquelme and thought of him as a “friendly, welcoming neighbor and colleague.”

Riquelme, who used to bike to work, spent his spare time in his Brookline home tending to the lilac trees in his garden and sharing his wry sense of humor with his neighbors, Rezek said.

“I’ll miss him in the neighborhood, and I’ll miss him in the department,” he said.

Riquelme is survived by his wife, Marie-Anne Verougstraete, and his children, Ione Margot Bargy, Victor Wolfgang Riquelme and Louis Otto Riquelme.

A memorial service will be held March 20 at 2 p.m. The memorial will be broadcasted live for those who can not attend in person.

Gas prices soar in Massachusetts amid Russia-Ukraine war Casey Choung Staff Writer Fueled by accelerating conflict in Ukraine, Massachusetts gas prices have soared in recent days, reaching an average high of $4.36 per gallon on March 11, according to AAA Northeast.

Last week, the Massachusetts House shot down a proposal by Republican lawmakers that would have suspended the state’s 24 cents per gallon gas tax until prices fell below $3.70, according to an AAA press release.

“With gas tax relief not favored by Beacon Hill Democrats, average prices at the pump in Massachusetts rose another 19 cents over the past week and analysts remain unsure how long the trend will continue,” the press release stated.

Mary Maguire, the director of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Northeast, said Boston has seen gas prices rise slightly above the state average — at $4.38 per gallon on March 14 — due, in part, to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“So whenever we see geopolitical tension involving a major global oil producers, such as Russia, it has a direct impact on the oil and gasoline markets because it sends jitters and shockwaves through the markets,” Maguire said.

Ryan Chahrour, associate professor of economics at Boston College,

said concerns that oil might not be readily available in the future, along with the fact that it is considered an inelastic good, contributed to the price spike.

“It meant a really big price increase since that war got started,”

surge, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nonetheless, Chahrour added the increase in gas prices has had a larger “psychological effect” on consumers.

“We are in a situation where the economy is booming and consumers

mism even more pronounced.”

Paul Papagni, a Florida resident who had a rental car, said while the sanctions against Russia are “absolutely necessary,” more should be done to help out Americans.

“We’re all rallying behind Ukraine,

PERRY SOSI | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Mobil gas station on Commonwealth Avenue. Gas prices continue rising across Massachusetts and Boston has seen prices rise slightly above the state average – at $4.38 per gallon on Mar. 14. – due, in part, to sanctions against Russia.

Chahrour said.

Even before the war in Ukraine, rising inflation — a 40-year high at 7.9% — caused gas and oil prices to

are extremely pessimistic, and this is a really unusual situation,” he said. “I think every sign is that this run up in oil prices is going to make that pessi-

but where’s our country rallying behind its own citizens?” Papagni said.

Chahrour said the United States should continue to develop its own

energy sector and focus on “an energy transition away from oil” in order to mitigate the impact of increased gas prices.

“What we have learned from this experience, and what we have learned in the past, is that it is quite useful to have a robust energy sector within the United States,” Chahrour said.

Maguire said AAA found 56% of drivers are changing their driving behavior, which will lead to a “demand destruction.”

“What happens is that people simply drive less, they consolidate their trips,” she said. “They buy regular gasoline as opposed to mid-grade or premium.”

Maguire added AAA suggests drivers try alternative means of transportation, carpool and run errands on their way back from work instead of making individual trips.

Justin Chen, a junior at Emerson College, said he got his car in October and primarily uses it for running errands and traveling around the city.

“I started taking a lot more public transportation [and] Uber, because of the gas price increase,” he said.

Maguire added consumers should seek out the “cheapest” gas possible.

“I think that for people who live paycheck to paycheck and have a very thin margin, in terms of their budget, they are really suffering right now,” she said. “It’s important for everyone to try to find the best ways to save money.”

2 NEWS

Running slates answer student questions in StuGov election town hall Anna Vidergar Senior Writer Representatives of BU Student Government slates fielded student questions in a town hall meeting Wednesday, as election season continues.

Students asked Executive Board and At-Large running parties how they plan to respond to mental health and student life issues, among other topics.

Oliver Pour, a senior in the College of Communications and the College of Arts and Sciences and StuGov president for the 2020-2021 academic year, began the Question and Answer section of the night.

He asked how slates would increase student engagement, highlighting Splash as an event that could be improved.

Dhruv Kapadia, a sophomore in College of Arts and Sciences representing Fight to BU, spoke about the party’s planned initiative, BU Pride.

“We want to have a weeklong community event highlighting organizations of all different backgrounds, purposes, initiatives in the spring semester,” Kapadia said.

“So just when things start to die down in terms of engagement and involvement within the undergraduate student body, we really want to increase it again.”

Mikey Rahmani, a sophomore in the College of General Studies representing Be You, spoke about the need for feedback to determine policy. “[One student], they recommended we have a second Splash during the semester. It’s a great idea. Did anyone here think of that? Let’s just say the answer is no. That’s the whole point

of feedback,” Rahmani said.

Rahmani reemphasized the need for feedback throughout the night as an important aspect of his party’s policies. When asked what the first change Be You would make if elected, Rahmani said the party would “finally listen.”

Sexuality and Activism, used the question to speak about “wellness that actually feels like wellness,” one of CGSA’s pillars.

“We have something [in CGSA] called a Womb Room. I don’t know if everyone here is familiar with it. But it is the only nap room on campus,”

is given $500 to start with.

IMPACT BU, represented by Ricky Nieto, said they would continue to collaborate with the Queer Activist Collective, or “Q,” to establish a professionally staffed “LGBTQ+ center” on campus.

“We are one of the only campuses

HUI-EN LIN | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University Student Government. BU StuGov slate candidates discussed ideas to solve student issues during a town hall meeting at the George Sherman Union Back Court March 16.

“That’s the first thing that we’re going to do,” Rahmani said. “For the second, we’re going to finally go around to students, hear what they have to say. Not even about policies, just about listening to them.”

Yeelin Bacchus, a senior in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, representing At-Large party Center for Gender,

Bacchus said. “We want to introduce more wellness initiatives that are actually, truly subjective and helpful to students, and I think an example of that is more nap rooms.”

Other At-Large parties also spoke about their platforms. The Community Action Party, represented

by Jack McGinn, said they would make sure each service organization

that has one [LGBTQ+ center] for faculty but not one for students,” Nieto said.

The LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff was established Sept. 2021 and is located at 808 Commonwealth Ave. University Provost Jean Morrison called the center “a locus of support and information” in a Feb. 28 article

published in The Daily Free Press.

Parties were then asked how they would assist specifically with Black mental health.

CAS sophomore Dakota Jackson, representing At-Large party the The Unity and Social Quality Initiative, said he would continue his work of “establishing that bridge” between different Black social groups.

“We would love to do that with all the other different groups … that may be minorities,” he said. “We’d want to bridge those together as well.”

Navya Kotturu, running for executive vice president with Fight to BU, said she wants to use her experience working with Student Health Services Behavioral Medicine and Wellness and Prevention to “get them to listen to minorities.”

“The first step that we can take here is to educate people, first and foremost, that it’s okay to not be okay,” Kotturu said.

Kotturu said StuGov should work more with the BIPOC Mental Health Collective — which recently hosted a mental health fair — and spoke about the peer counseling program she is currently developing for Fight to BU. Sandoval spoke about the importance of the individual in discussions of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

“Although we are a big community, we need to focus on the individual and his experience and what he’s going through,” Sandoval said. “Because although the Black community is a whole community, I think each Black individual, each Black student goes through his own experience.”

The candidates will meet again to debate March 22, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., in room 906 of the Photonics Building.

Supreme Court reinstates death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Seamus Webster Senior Writer The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on March 4 to reinstate the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted in 2015 for the infamous Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

Three people died and more than 260 people suffered injuries, with at least 17 people losing limbs as a result of the attack. After a four-day police hunt, Dzhokhar was caught.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout a day earlier.

“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev committed heinous crimes.

The Sixth Amendment nonetheless guaranteed him a fair trial before an impartial jury. He received one,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the Court’s majority opinion.

In October 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overruled the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’s 2015 death sentence. A three-judge panel found that the District Court had not adequately screened jurors for pretrial exposure to media coverage.

The panel also found the court had abused its authority during sentencing by refusing to admit evidence that Tamerlan had been involved in a triple-homicide in Waltham, Mass. in 2011. That evidence supported the defense that Tamerlan had been the mastermind of the bombings, and had pressured his younger brother into abetting the attack.

The parents of eight-year-old Martin Richard, one of the three

people killed in the attack, urged prosecutors to drop the death penalty in a 2015 letter in The Boston Globe, saying the long process would bring more distress to the families of victims and survivors.

“We know that the government has its reasons for seeking the death penalty, but the continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives,” the Richard family wrote in the letter.

Massachusetts has outlawed the death penalty in state courts since 1984. Tsarnaev’s case has been viewed differently by lawmakers in Massachusetts because the death penalty is an option under federal law.

In a statement following the Court’s ruling, Gov. Charlie Baker wrote he hoped the decision would, “bring some sense of justice for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and their families.”

U.S. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, whose congressional district includes a section of Boylston Street where the bombs were detonated, said the decision was “deeply disappointing.”

“State-sanctioned murder is not justice, no matter how heinous the crime,” she said in the statement.

The three liberal justices dissented in their opinion, believing that Tsarnaev’s death sentence was wrongfully handed down.

Michael Meltsner, a professor of law at Northeastern University, said the Supreme Court’s decision displays the rigidity of the current

COURTESY OF FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the convicted bomber of the 2013 Boston Marathon. The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision to reinstate the death penalty for Tsarnaev after nearly nine years of debate by federal prosecutors.

bench’s position on the death penalty.

“The present conservative majority of the Supreme Court is not interested in any reform or change in the capital punishment system,” Meltsner said in an interview.

Only 16 federal executions have been carried out since 1963 — three under George W. Bush and 13 under Donald Trump.

“The people serving on juries and many prosecutors have restricted the use of capital punishment,” Meltsner said. “And the only remaining capital punishment is in a few states and a few counties in those states. If you add the 10 states that have not executed anyone in 10 years, 35 of the 50 states [have] de facto abolished the death penalty.”

Meltsner expressed the difficulty of justifying the use of capital punishment.

“A criminal punishment has to have a rationale,” Meltsner said.

“It has to have a public policy justification. There is no justification, other than pure revenge, for a policy that only executes a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of all the potential people who have committed murder.”

Renée Landers, professor of law at Suffolk University, said while she opposed to the death penalty, if there was a case in which a consideration of the death penalty might be warranted, “the marathon bombings probably merited that consideration.”

Landers said it was perplexing that the Justice Department continued to seek the death penalty for Tsarnaev despite the Biden Administration reimposing a suspension of federal executions.

“In light of that [suspension], why is the Justice Department so anxious to ensure that death remains proposed in this case when, in all likelihood, they themselves have no intention of carrying it out?” Landers said.

Landers said the Court’s ruling could bring more attention to Tsarnaev in the coming years while the details regarding his execution are finalized.

“I can foresee a whole lot of challenges — the method of the execution, the timing of the execution, who will he have an opportunity to see before the sentence is carried out?” she said. “There are a myriad of issues like that that could be raised.”

FEATURES 3

ARTS

Boston Artists-in-Residence program prepares for this year’s cohorts Emma Hagert Staff Writer Every year since 2015, a cohort of artists are selected to participate in a 15-month residency program at the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

As a part of the Boston Artistsin-Residence program, artists are invited to collaborate with various city departments to promote and strengthen equity initiatives through art and community engagement.

The application for this year’s cohort of artists closed Feb. 18 and six applicants will be selected by the end of April to co-design projects with the Boston Transportation Department, Boston Parks and Recreation, the Boston Planning & Development Agency’s planning and research divisions and the Environment Department.

Sharon Amuguni, the program manager of Boston AIR, discussed how unique the program is compared to other residency programs and the ways it benefits the community.

“AIR can help us all learn to value the expertise that artists bring to civic service and municipal work,” Amuguni wrote in an email. “Artists provide a unique lens both through their creative practice and also through their role as active community members.”

Boston AIR engages artists with municipal work and city officials in creative ways to enhance policy outcomes for the community, and “seeks to connect and foster a collective of creative Bostonians in

and out of City Hall,” Amuguni wrote.

Ty Furman, the managing director of the BU Arts Initiative, said the Boston AIR program is “amazing” and creates the kind of communitybased art that is inspirational.

“It’s not just a way to highlight arts and the visibility in the community, but it’s also a way to help city administrators and city leaders rethink sometimes the role of the arts in community, in cities, in their department,” Furman said.

Furman commissioned a Boston

AIR artist from 2020, Erin Genia, to work on a sculpture for BU to increase the visibility of indigeneity in the arts.

Genia’s work led to a public art installation at the George Sherman Union Plaza titled “Caution: Cultural Emergency” — a sculpture of Unktehi, a mythological Dakota water monster, angered by “a cultural and environmental emergency,” Furman said.

Pat Falco, a Boston-based artist, participated in the Boston AIR in 2020 and worked with the Boston Housing

Innovation Lab and the ICA Teens program. With ICA Teens, Falco developed the “Common Ground Zine,” a collection of interviews and photos taken by ICA youth in their neighborhoods.

Falco held weekly workshops with alumni teens from the ICA to discuss youth engagement and their relationship with their neighborhood and space, as well as with the City.

“This was just like an experiment of kind of figuring out how to engage with youth and getting them to be

ISABELLE MEGOSH | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston-based artist Pat Falco’s website, featuring his sculpture “Mock.” Falco was one of five artists who was part of the Boston AIR 2020 cohort. This year’s cohort will be selected by the end of April to co-design projects with four city departments.

involved in … municipal government practices,” Falco said. “It’s kind of like a pilot or smaller scale of imagining what it could look like.”

The youths were provided with photography and filming equipment to use in their neighborhoods, Falco said.

“Each one of them came back with a really beautiful and kind of very different interpretation of that,” Falco said.

The hope is that physical copies of the youths’ work will be distributed in neighborhood libraries by the summer.

Falco also worked with the Housing Lab and the Boston Society for Architecture on the “Future-Decker” project, where he designed a sculpture on his own in Seaport representing the history of the “three-decker” — a New England building type — in Boston.

“There’s two times in Boston’s history where they had an empty swath of land and one time they developed working class housing and the other time they developed the opposite, the Seaport, so it’s kind of just putting those histories alongside each other,” he said.

Falco’s sculpture, “Mock,” sparked the Future-Decker conversation series with the Housing Lab focusing on housing and affordability in Boston.

Amugini said other past projects can be found on the Boston AIR website.

“I hope to see more impactful and unexpected projects between artists and their city partners, and more opportunities for community members to play a role in the systems that are meant to serve them,” Amuguni wrote.

BUISNESS

BU students create self-lifting toilet seat for cleaner, better bathroom experience Metta Santoso Buisness Associate Cleana is a Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology company that created an innovative restroom product - a self-lifting toilet seat. It was founded by Boston University students Kevin Tang, chief executive officer, and Andy Chang, chief financial officer, back in 2019.

Since its conception, the company has expanded into a team of four fulltime members consisting of both BU and MIT students. Cleana is currently at its beta stage but will be testing with around 30 different partners around the United States sometime before June.

Tang, a senior in Questrom School of Business, said despite being in one of the best colleges and wealthiest cities in the U.S., “most of the school bathrooms are absolutely horrendous.”

As a college student, Tang had numerous encounters with unhygienic school bathrooms. One experience in particular he recalled was within the College of Arts of Sciences. “I ended up looking at four out of the six of them and they were horrendous beyond repair,” he said.

“It felt like this really strange juxtaposition between all this technology, innovation, wealth and then not being able to find the solution for this one particularly gross problem,” Tang said.

Similarly, Chang, 2021 BU graduate from Questrom and CAS, who had lived in China, Hong Kong and Japan prior to the U.S., noticed

that public bathrooms in these cities were getting more “electronic driven.”

After conducting a survey with 1,500 respondents to identify concerns pertaining to public bathrooms, Tang and Chang found that what most

seat before urinating.

Tang realized that the problem was not with the current solutions, but “the frequency of messes is too much and dealing with it in these traditional ways is just too expensive.”

time-delay mechanism which resets after usage, according to Cleana’s website.

Greg Blonder, professor of mechanical engineering at BU and an advisor for Cleana, said Cleana was

DAVID YEUNG | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Kevin Tang, a senior in Boston University Questrom School of Business, and CEO of Cleana. Cleana was co-founded by Tang and junior Andy Chang to address public bathroom concerns through an innovative product, the self-lifting toilet seat.

people (81%) were worried about was dirty toilet seats.

A further 31% said they would not return to a business after having used a dirty seat.

“It was a mess creation issue and not a cleaning issue,” said Tang.

The survey also found that 75% of men reported they did not lift the toilet

Trying to create a user-friendly product for their customers was a long and difficult process for the Cleana team. However, they were finally able to come up with a solution — a selflifting toilet seat.

The toilet seat, which automatically lifts and lowers on its own, includes an antimicrobial handle and a patented

trying to create a “purely mechanical solution” to avoid the “nightmare of batteries, which have to be charged and maintained.”

He also said what inspired him to continue working with the Cleana team was their continuous improvement.

“They’ve been extraordinarily active at testing their idea, and also

lining up beta customers,” Blonder said.

Another challenge that Cleana experienced initially was funding.

Chang recalls contacting thousands of people and being faced with rejection.

However, this made the whole process more gratifying for Chang, especially when they were finally able to find people to invest.

Eric Peabody, formerly the vice president and general manager of Staples Facility Solutions, and current investor and advisor of Cleana, said he was initially a little skeptical when he learned that several of the directors of Cleana were still undergraduates. But this perspective changed after he met Tang, Chang and the rest of the Cleana team.

“They had a great idea for a problem that needed solving,” he said.

“It was very easy to overcome the hesitancy. They are really impressive young guys.”

In the face of these challenges, Tang and Chang were able to stay motivated by reminding themselves that they were trying to solve an important issue.

“We just kept seeing the problem,” said Tang. “This is not one of those issues where you’re serving a very niche group and they’re disconnected.”

Tang hopes that in the future, living with an unhygienic toilet system will only be a “weird, archaic thought.” He also hopes that, in the coming years, Cleana will become “a standard for toilet seats” found in every bathroom.

“At the end of the day, what we are suggesting is an incredibly simple and elegant solution to a problem,” Tang said.

4 OPINION

COLUMNS

Latest with Lin: Elite or elitist? How America’s best public schools can combat inequality Michael Lin Columnist “School choice” has long been a topic of municipal debates around the country. Though it’s a catch-all phrase for charter schools, voucher programs and magnet schools — the most recent iteration of the “school choice” debate centers on our nation’s elite, test-in, public schools.

Specialized high schools, exam schools, selective enrollment high schools — they bear different names depending on the city but all operate off the standard of admission-based selectivity and fall under the umbrella term of selective high schools, or SHSs. They are mostly located in cities or other large school districts, and serve to offer a specialized and elite education to its students while also remaining tuition free.

It is understandable then, why some of the best SHSs in our country, such as Boston Latin, or Stuyvesant, have highly coveted seats. These schools serve as a beacon for high achieving students who may not have the means to pay for a specialized education.

In theory, they provide a pathway for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve greater opportunity, all while remaining in the public school system.

However, the competition surrounding these school’s admissions processes has led to an

entire test prep and tutoring industry that many argue undermines the egalitarian spirit behind these purportedly meritocratic institutions.

One look at the demographic make-up of these schools would validate these concerns.

In a study done by the Brookings Institute on SHSs, they found that across most major U.S. cities, the demography of these schools’ student bodies underrepresented minorities and students from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds.

However, given that standardized testing was impossible during the pandemic, and that other metrics, such as grades and attendance were heavily skewed by classroom disruptions, many schools implemented a lottery system in place of their normal admissions standards.

Though initially implemented out of necessity, some schools, such as Lowell in San Francisco, have begun considering a permanent switch to a lottery system in an effort to combat the socioeconomic inequities in the application process.

Supporters say that correcting the demographic incongruities between these highly coveted schools and the districts they represent is long overdue. Whereas, detractors argue that implementing a lottery undermines the very selectivity that gives these schools their pedigree.

Though municipal politics will ultimately decide the fate of these schools’ admission processes, there are, I believe, a handful of practical ways to increase diversity without sacrificing admission standards at all.

The first solution comes with the realization

that the demographic skew doesn’t start with admissions, but is present even among the students who take the entrance exams to get into these schools in the first place.

This makes sense because there are many institutional and informational barriers that may prevent students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds from participating in examinations.

Having mandatory information sessions for students as well as an “exam day” set aside in public school calendars for in-school testing could help ease the demographic gap without making any adjustments to admissions standards.

However, that’s not to say more can’t be done. The content of high school entrance exams themselves may also be contributing to inequality. This is because many schools have their own unique tests. Whether it be the ISEE in Boston or SHSAT in New York, these specialized exams highly favor students who have had access to prep courses and tutoring, as they test students heavily on information that has not been taught yet in the normal school curriculum.

Replacing unique tests with scores on existing standardized tests may not only widen the number of possible applicants, but may also reduce the impact of prep courses on test performance.

Aside from that, any program that would increase school resources for advanced classes or on-demand coaching from school administrators would also ease the demographic

gap as the GPA boost from weighted classes, and participation in prep courses, are both crucial components of the application process that have significant socioeconomic barriers.

Overall, despite what the decisiveness of the debate might tell you, there are many ways in which there is little to no tension between equality and meritocratic integrity. However, even so, it is important to understand that these solutions won’t change everything, as there are socioeconomic barriers that affect kids long before they even apply for these schools.

However, making these improvements could be crucial to public education’s mission as a whole. Despite the fact that the fate of these admissions processes will only affect about 1% of students in this country, it is important that these institutions fight for a more diverse student body and prove that public education can be elite without being elitist.

ILLUSTRATION BY SOPHIA FLISSLER

EDITORIAL

Is permanent Daylight Saving Time the right move?

Daylight Saving Time and partisan gridlock are both unattractive facts of life in the United States, something that we all assume we’ll always have to deal with.

But, on Tuesday, we were all able to enjoy a few brief moments contemplating what our lives would be like if they just went away, when the Senate unanimously voted to end the “fall back” time switch and move to a permanent DST. And while the chance of the Senate remaining in this brief euphoric state of total agreement is quite slim, the odds we will no longer have to move our clocks back anymore are seemingly high.

With no clear partisan divide on the issue, we can reasonably conclude that the House will vote in a similar fashion, unless some of the typical ne’er do wells on the fringes of each party decide to make a Q-Anon DST connection.

Most people, when initially told that it could be brighter outside at night time in the winter, are pretty excited. A majority of Americans, 63%, want to end DST, so it makes sense why our representatives in Congress would throw their support behind such a popular issue.

But, although at the surface level eliminating daylight saving seems like a no-brainer and a harmless measure, when you dig in deeper

ILLUSTRATION BY SMARAN RAMIDI

to some of the implications of the change it becomes a much larger complicated issue.

The move has the potential to upend the daylight situation in a large portion of the country. The change would not affect those living in major cities like New York, Los Angeles,or here in Boston but in places like Texas, Indiana and Florida the sunrise/sunset schedule would become incredibly strange and potentially destructive to the work schedules of many Americans. In Indiana for example, if DST was to become the standard time setting, the sun would not rise until 9 a.m. in the winter.

This would be true for much of the midwest stretching, Texas, parts of the Pacific Northwest, in Florida and elsewhere where the days with sunrises past 7 a.m. would increase drastically.

Sacrificing early morning brightness for late day brightness may be popular for some, particularly college students, but many workers would see their morning commutes suddenly far darker than before. This could have an impact, too, on states with large snowfalls where dark morning commutes with groggy and tired drives could become dangerous.

Many health experts also warn against this legislation saying that the dark winter mornings would interrupt our natural circadian rhythms which could lead to sleep problems.

Many residents of the westernmost portions of time zones, where sunrises are already later than the average, have experienced negative health effects. A 2017 study found that many of these people had higher rates of a variety of cancers than the average as well as other conditions like diabetes, sleeping problems and mental health issues.

These are many of the reasons that have kept DST a thing despite the broad disapproval of it.

The permanent daylight saving switch has been put in place three times throughout U.S. history, during the World Wars and then again in the energy crisis of the 1970s. None of these were an elected choice, though. All three were made to either increase wartime production or to decrease energy use.

Given the myriad of issues that the permanent DST switch could create, it makes you wonder why the Senate unanimously approved the bill, and whether it’s another example of the Senate abdicating their legislative duties, searching for the path of least resistance and chasing favorable poll numbers.

And while that may be a pretty broad extrapolation, the situation Congress has potentially put us in could lead to a lot of headaches for Washington.

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

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NEWS 5

LIFESTYLE The warmth that comfort characters can bring Lynn Chu Senior Writer Every avid reader has probably imagined falling into the world of their books at least once in their lives.

We’ve all imagined that moment in which we’re transported into a new reality of morally grey enemies, magical creatures and newfound powers — and we’ve all definitely imagined meeting our favorite characters. It would be by chance.

Sheer coincidence. You’d tell them you’re from a far off land. They’d ask if you’d like to come along on their journey. And just like that, you’re with your favorite comfort character that you thought you’d only ever meet through the pages. As a reader myself, I know firsthand that there’s something about connecting with a character to the point we find a comfort that is unimaginable in our own realities. We latch on to those who we can relate to the most or the ones we want to be like. Many times they bring a certain nostalgia — others are simply the ideal version of a friend or significant other we’d like to have. Simply thinking about them brings a solace that is indescribable, like having friends that are forever unchanging.

Here are four examples of comfort characters that mean all of this to me and more.

Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables Of all female characters that are known for their love for reading or their great imagination, I find Anne from Avonlea to be one of the most lasting and never-changing female figures that is often overlooked.

There is a timelessness about Anne — the young orphan arrives in Prince

Edward Island and finds a community she never had, all the while making mistakes and learning new things along the way.

As a 10 year old reading the books, I wished to be like Anne. Her big words and great imagination were impressive, and I would have loved to have her bravery and outspokenness.

At 19, not much has changed. Anne’s boldness and her ability to fall in love with life is something I still strive to have. There’s a satisfaction to know such optimism can be found in us, even after a time of despair.

Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson & the Olympians I don’t think there was anything I wanted more in life than to be an Olympian in middle school. Growing up alongside Percy’s heroic journey, there’s a certain nostalgia of waiting for each book to come out to see where he would take us next. As a “troubled” kid with ADHD, dyslexia and an often overlooked rough childhood, many aspects of Percy’s double life were relatable to a youth audience that repeatedly returned for his fierce loyalty and awkward social skills. As a proud owner of almost all of Rick Riordan’s books, I find myself coming back to his story once in a while, just to be reminded of the journey I followed for years. There was no more exciting news last year than the announcement of a Percy Jackson series coming to Disney+ soon.

Ove from A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman is an author of his own genre and “comfort” is a good name for it. As an old man who is ready to let death happen, Ove is basically a Scandinavian version of Carl from “Up.” While his story is not as adventurous, Ove’s mundane life as the grump next door is similarly changed when a new family moves next door and ruins his

ILLUSTRATION BY KACPER BAZAN

day-to-day pattern. He’s a bit rude and not very social but your love for him will sneak up on you because at the end of the day, he is truthful and rational. Every time I read about Ove, I found myself wishing I’d carry his consistency and honesty with me, even as I grow older. The entire book is a special comfort, a reminder that life is never ready to give up on you, even if you’re ready to give up on it.

Ronald Weasley from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone The Harry Potter series involves another insanely popular world that brings many people comfort, but

there’s an underrated complexity to Ron that I find myself thinking of often. The smart sidekick or the only girl of three boys would often outweigh the comic relief. But unlike Hermione or Harry himself, Ron reminds me of the realistic roles in books — that many times we are not the hero we’d like to think we are, but instead the best friend. There’s an unbreakable bond but also the presence of envy, insecurities and an emotional honesty that is rare within characters but can be seen in Ron, who remains to this day the heart of a very iconic trio.

At the end of the day, you’ll probably have to admit to your new friend that the far off land you’re from is actually a different dimension, and you have to go back. They’ll be disappointed, but will help you find the portal you need. They’ll hesitate as you prepare to leave. As you say goodbye, your bedroom book nook just visible on the other side, they’ll wrap you up in a big hug and make you promise to return.

And you will. In any way you can.

Through the pages or the screen — you’ll find your way back home.

happened. I did not wake up and decide to be more skeptical on a random Tuesday morning just ‘cause.

If I can pinpoint them or not, there are a myriad of moments in my life that come together to gradually build aspects of myself.

The easiest thing to point a finger at is big, life-changing events. These, of course, add to my perspective and cause contemplation on how to move forward. But I find it is the relationships in my life, the little interactions that truly make me evolve from day to day.

Shared moments that feel so minuscule while they are happening that I am unaware that they will become the foundation of who I am.

Since I was 13 years old, I have worked at my acting studio.

Practically five years straight of Monday and Wednesday nights filled with kids rehearsing their shows and hot gluing felt circles onto t-shirts to make cat costumes.

Now, as a 19 year old, I have received the utterly heart-breaking news that one of the most wonderful children I got the privilege to teach

unexpectedly passed away. Although I am sure this loss will leave its effect on my heart, it is the relationship I had with this child that has had a larger impact on me.

I have an inclination to smile bigger, as she did every single time she walked into the room. I let my laughter roar uncontrollably, as she was always the last one to stop her giggle. I actively attempt to practice selflessness, as she was the first to want her friend to have the larger role.

These moments — her smiling at me as she said hello, laughing at a silly line or showcasing her generosity — weren’t grandiose milestones in my life that abruptly changed me, but, who I am today, is partly due to these small interactions. Just her being in my life, every Wednesday night for an hour or so, is what changed me.

I hate that I will never be able to run into her in a few years at the grocery store or at a coffee shop and tell her about how she made me a better person. That would probably make her laugh. And she wouldn’t stop for a few minutes.

Her memory will live on in the parts of me that are influenced by her, and that is the beautiful aspect of change. When I realize something about me is different than how it used to be, it means there is a little bit of someone else, someone who impacted me, that I carry with me.

I am a true mosaic of the people that I have loved, the people that I have lost and all those in between.

It will continue to grow and change to form a new picture, as I grow and change alongside it.

Sum of your parts Bailey Clark Senior Writer?

On some days I can take comfort in the fact that I am not the same person I was a few years ago, while, on other days, this concept seems to cast a negative light over the idea of changing.

Two years ago, I was not glutenfree, I hated the thought of eating beans — or bananas or greek yogurt — and I had yet to earn my high

ILLUSTRATION BY SMARAN RAMIDI

school diploma. I guess a lot of my evolving materialized itself into my diet preferences.

Surprisingly, there are notable changes about myself on a level deeper than my opinion of beans. I see my trust as more valuable, and I am less willing to give it away than in previous years. I need and cherish my alone time more than ever. I find myself reflecting on my actions or words or thoughts, which 17-year-old me did not reserve as much time to do.

None of these changes just

SPORTS 6

SPORTS

UConn eliminates men’s hockey in quarterfinals Belle Fraser Staff Writer The Boston University men’s hockey team (19-13-3, 13-8-3 Hockey East) closed out its season Saturday evening in Hartford, falling 3-1 to the University of Connecticut Huskies (19-15-0, 14-10-0 HE) in the Hockey East quarterfinals.

For the second season in a row, the Terriers have had a quick exit from the tournament — BU lost to the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the 2020-2021 quarterfinals as well.

There’s an extra sting to this year’s loss though, considering the glimpse of greatness the team showed in the last three months.

“It was a tight hockey game,” BU head coach Albie O’Connell said postgame. “A playoff hockey game, you could call it football on ice for great stretches of the game, there was a lot of tackling both ways out there.”

BU’s play on Saturday was almost unrecognizable compared to most of the team’s recent performances –– the group lacked spunk, heart and a clear desire to win throughout the 60 minutes. UConn made up for what the Terriers couldn’t do in all aspects of their game.

The Huskies simply wanted it more. Searching for its first Hockey East playoff win and trip to the semifinals, UConn was jumping right from puck drop in the first period.

The Huskies had nine shots in the first five minutes, forcing sophomore netminder Drew Commesso to put his team on his back in the opening 20.

Shifting to a more defensive style of play in the first period, BU created little opportunity for themselves in the offensive zone while the Huskies dominated on the other end. Freshman forward Chase Bradley and sophomore forward Nick Capone led with their physicality, setting the tone for their squad.

UConn got on the board first at 16:00 of the first period –– the Huskies were due for a goal after putting pressure on a disorganized BU lineup. Junior forward Vladislav Firstov

parked himself netfront and tipped the puck in to give his team the 1-0 advantage.

The Terriers couldn’t find the equalizer and junior forward Sam Stevens got called for a faceoff violation with 16 seconds left in the opening frame, giving UConn 1:44 on the man-advantage to start the second period.

“They had a way better start than we did. They got the lead and we kind of dug ourselves a hole,” O’Connell said. “On balance, it’s a frustrating

was whistled offsides and for icing on several occasions. Junior defenseman Alex Vlasic, who was back in the lineup after missing BU’s series with the University of Maine, got some momentum going for the Terriers with a few heavy shots from the point, testing sturdy graduate student goaltender Darion Hanson.

UConn came right back at the Terriers at 10:26 when senior forward Jonny Evans collected the rebound of senior defenseman Ryan Wheeler’s shot on the doorstep and tucked it be-

zone slapshot after an offsides call.

The goalie was down on the ice for a couple minutes, but returned to the crease for the rest of the game, finishing the night with 33 stops.

“He was poised,” O’Connell said of Commesso. “He was really square to the puck for the most part, he dropped a couple, but he was pretty sticking through the night.”

Sophomore forward Luke Tuch, who usually skates with linemates Jay O’Brien and Ethan Phillips, was missing on the bench in the second

MOHAN GE | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Freshman Ty Gallagher during a previous game this season. Closing its season, the Boston University men’s hockey team fell to the University of Connecticut Huskies 3-1 during the Hockey East quarterfinals in Hartford March 12.

way to go when you don’t get off to a good start.”

BU managed to kill off the penalty but had some holes in their zone entry and defensive coverage — the team

hind Commesso’s left pad for the 2-0 lead. Evans’ first goal in eight games was a big turning point for his squad.

Just over a minute later, Commesso got caught up high with a mid-

period. It’s unclear what prompted his absence.

Freshman forward Brian Carrabes came close to getting BU on the scoresheet toward the end of the pe-

riod, but Hanson was able to follow the puck back to the left side. By the end of 40 minutes, UConn was still showing more fight in their play.

The Terriers needed to come out with a desperate third period, and they didn’t. Looking to light the lamp and a fire in their stomachs, BU still struggled to string together consecutive solid chances as the Huskies shut it down with a strong backcheck.

A holding call on junior defenseman Roman Kinal at 12:24 of the final frame gave the scarlet and white a prime opening to get back in the game. In the must-score man-advantage, junior defenseman Domenick Fensore stepped up to the task with a blast from just below the point to make the score 2-1.

The Terriers didn’t have enough gas in the tank to completely close the gap after pulling Commesso with under two minutes on the clock. In the last ten seconds, Bradley notched an empty-netter to secure UConn’s trip to TD Garden for the semifinals.

The buzzer to end the third was paired with a sinking feeling for the team’s seniors and fans alike. Following a 15-1-1 stretch, Beanpot championship and hope for a NCAA bid, the quarterfinal loss is somewhat shocking for a team that looked beyond motivated to go all the way just a few weeks ago.

The Terriers’ chances of an atlarge bid into the NCAA tournament are now slim to none. Despite their second half of the season run, it may have been too slow of a start and too poor of a finish for any consideration.

But there were some special moments in between.

The senior group, led by captain Logan Cockerill, flipped the negative early-season narrative and brought pride back to the lineup and fanbase.

The season had its highs and its lows, but the Terriers are surely frustrated they won’t be able to see how much more they could have accomplished.

For complete BU hockey coverage, check out the Boston Hockey Blog and follow along with @ BOShockeyblog on Twitter and @ boston.hockey.blog on Instagram for updates.

Profiling each new USFL quarterback Brendan Nordstrom Columnist The inaugural United States Football League draft took place on Feb. 22 and 23 with each round designated for a different position. In the first round of the draft, each team drafted a quarterback — arguably the most important roster spot. The draft included players ranging from former NCAA Football athletes (from Division I to III) to undrafted free agents (UDFA) to fourth-round picks. Here are the profiles for each team’s QB1. #1 Michigan Panthers – Shea Patterson Hometown hero Shea Patterson was picked first overall by the Panthers. Patterson started at the University of Michigan in 2018 and 2019, setting the record for single-game passing touchdowns and placing seventh in all-time passing yards.

Before playing under Jim Harbaugh, Patterson was slated to be redshirted at Ole Miss, but he was thrust into the starting role after the team’s starting quarterback suffered an injury. After college, Patterson has played on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad, in the Canadian Football League, and was even drafted by the MLB’s Texas Rangers.

Strengths: Ability to extend plays with mobility, throw on the run

Weaknesses: Lack of arm strength, interceptions due to forced passes #2 Tampa Bay Bandits – Jordan Ta’amu Jordan Ta’amu became known through his success on the St. Louis BattleHawks during the XFL’s tenure. The native of Hawaii backed up Shea Patterson at Ole Miss before taking the reins of the team in 2018.

Ta’amu threw for 19 touchdowns, rushed for 342 yards, and placed second in SEC passing yards behind star Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Professionally, Ta’amu has been on a number of NFL practice squads, including his reunion with Patterson on the Kansas City Chiefs.

Strengths: Speed; accuracy on short to intermediate throws, leadership Weaknesses: Moving through progressions, accuracy on deep throws #3 Philadelphia Stars – Bryan Scott Dubbed “The Aaron Rodgers of Division III,” Bryan Scott was nothing short of a star at Occidental College. In his sophomore year, he led the entire Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in every major passing category. At the end of his collegiate career, he set nine school records and three SCIAC records. Scott went undrafted in 2017 before dominating The Spring League with MVP and a champion-

ship in 2020.

Strengths: Confidence in the pocket; accuracy Weaknesses: Lack of high-level experience #4 New Jersey Generals – Ben Holmes Ben Holmes played wide receiver in high school before ending up under center at Nassau Community College. There, Holmes was awarded first-team all-conference and set multiple program records. He then transferred to Tarleton State, a Division II college. In his senior year, Holmes was able to prove himself with an 11-1 record and All-Lone Star Conference Second-Team. He went undrafted in 2020 and played for The Spring League’s Sea Lions.

Strengths: Decision-making, lack of interceptions Weaknesses: Untested in a professional environment #5 Houston Gamblers – Clayton Thorson The first NFL-drafted quarterback off the board was former Northwestern signal-caller Clayton Thorson.

Thorson was drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 draft by the Philadelphia Eagles but was waived during final roster cuts. Prior to that, Thorson succeeded at Northwestern, leading the Wildcats to three-straight bowl games and the Big Ten West title in his senior year. He is the only Big Ten

quarterback to pass for 10,000 yards and record 20 rushing touchdowns and holds program records for wins, passing yards, completions and passing touchdowns.

Strengths: Patience to let plays develop, comfortability in a clean pocket Weaknesses: Makes costly mistakes when under pressure #6 Birmingham Stallions – Alex McGough Alex McGough played his entire collegiate career at Florida International University where his 2,722 passing yards and 21 touchdowns set school records in his sophomore year.

His senior season included the school record completion percentage with 65.4% and the first bowl appearance since 2011. McGough was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the seventh round of the 2018 draft but was eventually waived. He then went through a few practice squads before landing in the USFL. McGough is known for his mobility and is believed to have a large amount of upside that could be unlocked during the season with the right coaching.

Strengths: Mobility, untapped potential Weaknesses: Trouble grasping playbooks #7 Pittsburgh Maulers – Kyle Lauletta Kyle Lauletta, a Pennsylvania na-

tive, was born into a football family that included a father and uncle who played for the United States Naval Academy. An injury in high school led him to the University of Richmond, where he set the program record for passing yards (10,465) and touchdowns (73). Following graduation, he won Senior Bowl MVP and was taken in the fourth round of the 2018 draft by the New York Giants.

His unsatisfactory performances in relief of Eli Manning led to his waiving.

Strengths: Accurate, able outside the pocket Weaknesses: Forces the ball, fails to connect on deep passes #8 New Orleans Breakers – Kyle Sloter Kyle Sloter’s path is anything but conventional. His 3-star status led him to the University of Southern Mississippi, where he was redshirted and placed fourth on the depth chart. Sloter asked to work out with receivers where he earned a spot as a starter before transferring to Northern Colorado. There, he finally shined as a starting quarterback with the school record for yards in a game (438) and touchdowns in a season (29). Sloter signed with the Denver Broncos in 2017 as a UDFA before being cut.

Strengths: Ability to throw deep; comfort in the pocket; accuracy Weaknesses: Poor decision-making