Campus & City Column GIRL,21
Too old for this
It’s probably because of the freezing cold weather and depressingly short days, but I’ve turned into a grumpy, pessimistic introvert lately, and the prospect of six more weeks of winter makes it even worse. So, I’ll be anxiously awaiting the groundhog’s reaction Sunday. The normal things that make me happy just aren’t doing it these days, mainly since I SYDNEY L. SHEA feel like I’m on house arrest in StuVi. It has been weeks since I have ventured somewhere downtown, something I used to do all the time. I have only been going out on the weekends — I barely have any inclination to do Thirsty Thursday anymore. Besides all of this, I think I’m just coming to terms with being old — or, at least, too old for this. By “this,” I mean dealing with all the cheerful young freshmen and sophomores at Boston University who are so excited by their blossoming futures, completely and happily unaware that the feeling only lasts for so long. I love BU more than any other place in the world — it is not only the center of my universe, but also the entirety of my universe itself. But I, too, was the same way as an underclassman: too optimistic to really care about any chance I might actually not reach my career or academic goals. While the Millennial rant has been quite overdone, especially in the past year, I often reflect on how important it is to not feel special and entitled, or at least too optimistic altogether. It isn’t this generation’s fault that loads of hippie nonsense was constantly emphasized in the 1990s and 2000s, and that teachers and parents would remind us over and over again how we were each precious and unique snowflakes, but guess what? Snowflakes kind of suck, especially the ones that have been making way too many appearances lately during snowstorms. I don’t pause on the BU Bridge to behold the miraculous spectacle of a particular snowflake, but instead try to ignore them and get back to my apartment as quickly as possible. Each time I have to ask someone for anything, be it a recommendation, a stop by office hours or extra handout from class, I’m self-conscious. I’m coming across as an entitled 21-year-old princess who always has to have her way, which I like to think is entirely untrue. I just hope more of my peers realize that vainly boosting themselves with self-affirmations each day is not beneficial whatsoever. While it’s important to think about one’s own accomplishments, that can’t obscure the reality that in a dream job, graduate school program or internship, there are so few positions for only the most special of snowflakes. Sometimes I wish I were raised with more modesty as a child instead of exclusively learning about positive reassurance all the time. Although I’ve basically been allergic to happy people lately, I’m optimistic that once mercury starts rising in the thermometers, I’ll be back to myself. And by “myself,” I mean a normal human being who likes to drink a lot on Thursday nights. Sydney L. Shea is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at slshea@bu.edu.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
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Mayor Walsh revamps cabinet positions Mass. takes part
KENSHIN OKUBO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced Wednesday his plans for restructuring his Cabinet by reducing the number of positions, improving collaboration among similar departments and improving services for residents of Boston. By Kelsey Newell Daily Free Press Staff
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced Wednesday that he is reorganizing the departments and
cabinets of the City of Boston by reducing cabinet positions and promoting collaboration. “Our role as a government is to improve people’s lives, and the purpose of this reorganization is to better deliver services to the people of Boston,” Walsh said in a Wednesday release. “As a new administration serving a rapidly changing city, we’ve had an opportunity to take a good hard look at what worked, what could work better, and make changes to become more efficient and improve outcomes for the people we serve.” The new organization sorts the departments into 12 cabinets: Chief of Staff; Arts and Culture; Economic Development; Education; Environment, Energy and Open Space; Finance and Budget; Health and Human Services; Housing and Neighborhood Development; Information and Technology; Operations and Administration; Public Safety; and Streets, Transportation and Sanitation. With this reorganization comes the consolidation of the Advocacy and Strategic Invest-
ment and Public Property departments. These changes are intended to make the workings of the city government more efficient and productive. “The cabinet of Streets, Transportation and Sanitation, for example, will better align operations of the Department of Public Works, the Boston Transportation Department and Boston Water and Sewer, departments that frequently work together in different capacities,” said the release. In order to put economic growth as one of the most important issues in the city, Walsh created the cabinet Economic Development. This cabinet will include any departments that contribute to the advancement of Boston’s economy. “Mayor Walsh has consistently emphasized the need for increased transparency and accessibility for all Bostonians — especially women — and minority-owned businesses, and local businesses — to share in and benefit from the economic boom in Boston,” said the release.
Walsh, see page 4
BUMC awards community grant to Franklin Park By Taryn Ottaunick Daily Free Press Staff
Boston University Medical Campus has awarded the Franklin Park Coalition a grant to support outdoor youth activities, according to a Tuesday press release. The BU Community Grant, which totals $2,500, is awarded by the BUMC to a program in either Roxbury or the South End that benefits young people, said Valeda Britton, the executive director of community relations at BUMC. “The BU Community Grant for ‘Back to Nature’ at Franklin Park is a way of getting young people to go into Franklin Park and utilize Franklin Park for various activities,” she said. “It picked up on our making a difference in the lives of young people and benefitting youth, so we liked this community grant application.” The FPC’s ‘Back to Nature’ program will encourages children from ages five to 18 to utilize Franklin Park’s 500 acres of
facilities and will benefit an estimated 1,000 young people, Britton said. “The program is designed … to bring up to a thousand young people into the park,” Britton said. “It’s not just one event specific. It’s over the course of the year. They’ll have a turkey trot, they’ll have snowshoeing, biking, a weekly drop-in sports night. They’re doing things over the year to promote good health and good choices for youth in the community.” FPC Executive Director Christine Poff said the grant will be earmarked for the extensive recreational and educational programs the park holds for the community throughout the year. “The way to get people in the park and outdoors is by running these programs,” Poff said. “It’s really hard to fund them and maintain them and run them, and people in the communities that use them really love and count on them. We serve thousands of people a year with these programs. It’s great that BU recognized this
through the grant.” Britton said awarding the grant to a youth program, particularly one such as ‘Back to Nature’ that promotes physical fitness, is in accordance with BUMC’s commitment to engaging the Boston youth community through healthy activities. “We want to be a good neighbor and promote activities that benefit youth,” Britton said. “Last March, we opened up a fitness facility over at the Blackstone Community Health Center in the South End, and that was really targeted to combat teen obesity … We really want to be a part of the community and engage the community. Youth is a good way to do it.” Youth programs sponsored by the FPC include snow festivals, New England forest studies, summer sports nights and outdoor open concerts, all of which are freely accessible to the public, Poff said. To read the rest of this story, visit dailyfreepress.com.
in multistate assessment of public colleges By Kelsey Newell Daily Free Press Staff
Massachusetts is one of nine states to take part in a multi-state collaborative for qualitatively assessing students’ learning in public higher education institutions, the Department of Higher Education announced on Tuesday. The program will be managed by the State Higher Education Executive Officials Association and the American Association of Colleges and Universities. It received $1 million of funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and will involve faculty from public higher education institutions in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island and Utah to gather and assess students’ work according to a Liberal Education and America’s Promise rubric. “In order to have the best higher education system in the nation, which is what [Commissioner Freeland’s] goal is, we need to know what our students are learning and what they can do,” said Katy Abel, associate commissioner for external affairs at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. “We’ve got to devise a means of assessing their learning. What this is trying to address is developing a way to get a picture of what Massachusetts students are doing compared to students in other states.” Abel said an assessment like this is vital when paying for a college education puts so many people in debt. “Because it costs so much to go to college, the question of what’s the value of college is really a huge question, so that’s another reason why both in higher education and in the outside world people are saying we need to know what we’re getting for our money here, what are students learning,” she said. “It’s not a standardized test, we’re going to be assessing what students
Education, see page 4
Universities see sizable increases in endowment, study suggests By Taryn Ottaunick Daily Free Press Staff
Although the United States economy is recovering from one of the worst recorded financial crises in history, a report published Tuesday reveals endowment funds at schools such as Boston University have increased. The report, issued by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund, evaluated the responses of 835 surveyed universities to process the overall average endowments of these schools, which increased by 11.7 percent in the 2013 fiscal year. “The stock market is up a great
deal in the last year, so this 11.7 percent increase is roughly what the stock market did,” said Randall Ellis, a College of Arts and Sciences professor of economics. “We’re coming out of the recession, and the stock market has been growing at a very healthy rate in the past year.” The increase in endowments in 2013 displays a sharp contrast to the 2012 endowment return picture, said NACUBO Director of Research and Policy Analysis Kenneth Redd. “The prior year, endowments returned -0.3 percent, which is basically flat, so this year, having an 11.7 percent return is very
Endowments, see page 4
GRAPHIC BY MAYA DEVEREAUX/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Based on an annual survey, college and university endowments in the United States were up approximately 12 percent in the 2013 budget year. More than 80 institutions reported endowments more than $1 billion.