1-27-2014

Page 1

The Daily Free Press

Year xliv. Volume lxxxvi. Issue VI

IVORY SOAP BOX Film explores whether college education is needed, page 3.

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Monday, January 27, 2014 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

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www.dailyfreepress.com

MO-SHOW

TEXTBOOK$

Moccia makes save in 1st career appearance, page 8.

Textbook price inflation at an all-time high, page 5.

WEATHER

Today: Snow showers/High 43 Tonight: Partly Cloudy/Low 11 Tomorrow: 20/9

Data Courtesy of weather.com

Officials unveil Engineering Product Innovation Center Warren proposes new bill to refinance student loans in Mass. By Emily Hartwell Daily Free Press Staff

Boston University College of Engineering officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday to signify the opening of their newest facility, the Engineering Product Innovation Center. Situated at 750 Commonwealth Ave., EPIC will allow students more hands-on experience in the engineering field that they previously had limited access to, said ENG Dean Kenneth Lutchen. “EPIC has a vision nothing short of transforming engineering education nationally,” Lutchen said. “So every engineer, regardless of their area of interest, learns the process of going from design to computer-aided design to prototype to mass producing, something that could be a product to impact society and have economic value.” The opening of the EPIC building corresponds with the recent adjustments to the ENG curriculum, which has been restructured to take advantage of the new technology and resources that EPIC will provide to students, said BU President Robert Brown. “The curriculum change [EPIC] supports is really innovative in the whole context of the ENG because it actually puts product design and manufacturing engineering into the curriculum in all the engineering disciplines, which is not traditional,” Brown said. ENG professor Andre Sharon, director of the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation, said EPIC is an innovative step

By Bram Peterson Daily Free Press Staff

FALON MORAN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University President Robert Brown, College of Engineering Dean Kenneth Lutchen and corporate sponsors for the Engineering Product Innovation Center grasp the lever to activate all of the center’s machinery for the first time Thursday afternoon.

toward enhancing the education of engineering students. “It’s really going to be the centerpiece of educating a new generation of engineering students that are going to be well-versed in the entire process from concept all the way to physical realization, actually building things,” Sharon said. “So not just learning the theory and the equations but actually learning how to produce something and create jobs in

the process.” The facilities of EPIC include cuttingedge technology such as 3-D printers, project management software, robotics and other online software that will give students the opportunity to put theory into actuality, Sharon said. Sharon said one of the most exciting new technologies is the 3-D printer that simplifies

Engineering, see page 2

Mass. Attorney Gen. Coakley calls for increase in minimum wage By Mina Corpuz Daily Free Press Staff

In the midst of her campaign for the November gubernatorial election, Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley called for a minimum wage increase Tuesday at the Government Affairs Forum. The forum was held at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce where Coakley delivered a speech addressing income inequality and its effect on Massachusetts. Coakley spoke about the negative impacts of income inequality in Massachusetts, while encouraging the 100 business leaders in attendance to take action. “Inequality robs people of hope — for themselves and their children, and deprives too many of the opportunity to build a better life,” she said. “It breaks up our communities as rents and home prices rise, forcing countless families to seek out more affordable housing — or worse — push-

ing them into homelessness. It reminds us just how far off the American dream is, still for far too many here in Massachusetts.” Massachusetts is one of at least 30 states expected to introduce measures to raise the minimum wage, according to a national review by the Associated Press. Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of community organizations, has been making strides to put questions about higher minimum wage and earned sick time on the Nov. 2014 ballot, said Steve Crawford, spokesperson for the activist group. “[Coakley] deserves credit for taking a stand in front of a potentially hostile crowd,” he said. “[Raising minimum wage] helps struggling families who are really on the edge of economic collapse. If you are a low wage worker making minimum wage, any additional dollar in your pocket you’re going to spend on necessities to generate economic activity.”

Coakley said granting people higher wages and sick days as a means of job security is a matter of equality. “We also should provide earned sick time to every worker because no one should be at risk of losing wages or their jobs if they stay home sick or to care a family member,” she said. “That is simply unfair.” Coakley also spoke about the value of education in the global economy. With a wider variety of opportunities for students in public schools and a rejuvenated effort to connect young people to summer jobs, students in Massachusetts will gain the skills and experience they need, she said. “We need to transform our schools to give all kids an opportunity to succeed in a global economy,” she said. “That starts with offering universal pre-k education, and restructuring the school day and school year,

Min. Wage, see page 2

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren presented new legislation Tuesday to provide relief to student loan borrowers at a roundtable discussion hosted by Massasoit Community College. Warren’s legislation would allow current and former student borrowers to refinance their loans at the lower rates being offered to new borrowers as a result of the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013. When the act passed, interest rates dropped by roughly 3 percent for students who took out unsubsidized federal loans after July 1, 2013. Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said the reform would be a positive step and encouraging student borrowers and aiding them in paying back their debt. “People in universities care very much about the issues of student borrowing and student debt,” he said. “We support those initiatives that are going to provide good options to borrowers that will reduce the overall cost of attendance and enable students to attend. [Students] take advantage of these [options] and invest in their education by attending colleges.” Natalia Abrams, co-founder of the nonprofit organization Student Debt Crisis, emphasized the need for legislation that would aid borrowers paying high interest rates from former student loans. “Currently a lot of the legislation is for new borrowers,” she said. “We really have to focus on the 40 million borrowers that hold $1.2 trillion in debt ... There’s not enough currently being done for the existing borrowers, and that’s what is so great about what Warren is proposing right now because it offers relief for the existing borrowers to refinance.” Failure to address this growing problem will affect the national economy, but progress has been stalled due to the inability of Congress to make reforms that are agreed upon, Abrams said. “It takes the country a while to make substantial reforms, and it feels like it’s only until we have a massive crisis that we do some sort of band-aid measure,” she said. Adam Minsky, a Boston lawyer who specializes in student loan law, said there are other factors that need to be considered in the

Student Loans, see page 2

Massachusetts ranks poorly in seat belt laws, high in overall driver safety By Sarah Capungan Daily Free Press Staff

MAYA DEVEREAUX/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

In its annual report released Wednesday, Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety gave Massachusetts the second highest overall ranking, along with 29 other states, stating it met a majority of the advocacy group’s requirements for safety laws, which cover texting restrictions, booster seat usage and teen driving.

Although Massachusetts was ranked highly in four of five driver safety categories, the Commonwealth ranked poorly in the seat belt laws category, according to a report released Tuesday by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. The report published by AHAS ranked the state in terms of its highway safety enforcement laws. The rankings were based on whether a state enforced 15 drivers’ safety laws chosen by AHAS centered on their effectiveness in reducing fatalities and injuries. Catherine Chase, senior director of governmental affairs for the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said the goal of the report is to inspire lawmakers to strengthen the laws in compliance with the organization. “We issue the report with the hope that we motivate some state leaders to take action so that they could see where they are compared to their neighboring states and throughout the nation and see the small improvements that they can make that have been proven life sav-

ing measures,” she said. The categories included occupant protection, which are seat belt laws for cars and helmet laws for motorcycles, child passenger safety, teen driving, impaired driving and distracted driving. Massachusetts, which adopted 10 of the group’s 15 recommended laws, was ranked in the second highest group, but did not rank first due to the state’s lack of a primary seatbelt enforcement law and a first offender interlock law. Chase said that the implementation of both laws would benefit the state’s economy. “Motor vehicle crashes cost Massachusetts $6.28 billion in 2011 according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration,” she said. “Passing a seat belt law could go a long way in terms of protecting people in vehicles and also saving the state money.” Massachusetts passed a secondary seat belt enforcement law so that a law enforce-

Traffic Safety, see page 2


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