3-24-2014

Page 1

The Daily Free Press

Year xliv. Volume lxxxvi. Issue XXXII

STACKS ON STACKS Boston ranked 2ndmost expensive American city, page 3.

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Monday, March 24, 2014 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

PAY ME Students turn to crowdfunding to earn money, page 5.

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www.dailyfreepress.com

INVITE ONLY Softball wins 3 of 4 matchups at Yale Invitational, page 8.

WEATHER

Today: Sunny/High 32 Tonight: Clear/Low 22 Tomorrow: 40/28

Data Courtesy of weather.com

Mass. Republicans endorse Baker for governor, Fisher contests voting process By Felicia Gans Daily Free Press Staff

Following Saturday’s Republican state convention, where the Massachusetts Republican Party endorsed gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker, Mark Fisher, a small business owner fighting for the Republican nomination for governor, is seeking legal representation against MassGOP for allegedly not following convention rules. At the convention, which took place at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, Baker received 2,095 of the 2,533 delegate votes. Fisher, who received 374 delegate votes, or 14.765 percent, needed 15 percent of the total votes to force a primary between the two Republican candidates. Final tally results were not released to the public until after all challenges were resolved in the tally room after the adjournment of the convention. Rob Cunningham, executive director of MassGOP, said all portions of the ballot process were followed, and any occurrences of human error were resolved in the tally room. “The ballot process was clearly explained to both campaigns and to the state committee members who were responsible for polling their districts,” he said. “I can understand how it could have been confusing to people attending the convention, but … I feel very confident that the parliamentarian rejected any potential blanks that were erroneously recorded.”

FALON MORAN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Charlie Baker (left) and Mark Fisher (right) speak to delegates the Republican State convention on Saturday at Agganis Arena. The party endorsed Baker, but Fisher contests the results due to alleged mistakes in voting.

Debbie McCarthy, Fisher’s campaign manager, said they requested a recount of the tallies due to a variety of concerns, but their request was denied. They plan to contact the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance for campaign violation and the Elections Division of the Secretary of State for election oversight. “MassGOP and MassVictory are supposed to remain neutral,” she said. “They’re

not supposed to be biased in a campaign. So that’s one of the objections. We believe they have been in collusion with the Baker campaign.” The biggest concern of the Fisher campaign is the counting of blank votes in the final tally, in which McCarthy said she received conflicting answers during various times of the convention weekend. Rob Eno, the publisher of Red Mass Group, recorded

the votes as they were announced to the convention body and said Fisher received 15.04 percent of the delegate vote, without counting blanks. “This is unofficial by my count,” he said repeatedly to the circle of reporters and delegates that surrounded him. McCarthy also said their campaign has proof from the town clerk that a registered Democrat was appointed to attend the convention and vote off the floor. The individual did not vote, but the campaign believes there may have been other independents and Democrats at the convention whose votes were counted. The Daily Free Press sat down with Fisher after the convention adjourned, but prior to the release of the results, and he shared his concerns for the un-enrolled people who voted at the convention “That’s scandalous,” he said. “This is our state party in Massachusetts.” Fisher said MassGOP made a variety of verbal rules that were changed throughout the day, including the inclusion of blank votes in the final tally and the policy on rounding percentages up, which would round Fisher’s 14.765 percent to 15. The campaign is looking to contest the changes in vote counting guidelines that were made throughout the weekend. “There’s so many rules that are unwritten

GOP, see page 2

BU faculty members promoted to full professorship for contributions to school By Mina Corpuz Daily Free Press Staff

Thirteen Boston University faculty members have earned full professorships in recognition for their teaching, scholarly work and service. Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Julie Sandell accredits the promotions of the faculty members to the strength and impact of their work on a national and international scale. “All have been excellent teachers at Boston University, and many have worked closely and productively with students outside the classroom as advisors and mentors,” Sandell said. “These faculty are often active in their professional organizations and are helping to shape their disciplines on a national or international level. They

are recognized by distinguished external evaluators as senior scholars and leaders in their disciplines.” Faculty members Julian Go, Bruce Anderson, John Byers, Glen Hall, Deborah Kelemen, George Kollios, Maurice Lee, Christopher Martin, Jianjun Miao, Michele Rucci, Joshua Semeter, Paul Barbone and Swathi Kiran earned promotions from associate to full professorships. Ten are from the College of Arts and Sciences, two are from the College of Engineering, and one is from Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. With the support of the department chairs and college deans, faculty members initiate their promotion to full professor. Sandell said the number of promotions

varies per year, with 17 in 2013 and 12 in 2012. “We look at the person’s scholarly and creative accomplishments, their teaching success, including student evaluations in all of their courses and record of mentoring undergraduates and graduate students, their service record within BU and external service to their profession…as well as how our candidate compares to others who are distinguished in the discipline,” she said. Several of the professors said they felt honored that BU and their colleagues acknowledged their contributions. Barbone, a newly promoted professor of engineering, said being named a full professor does not alter his job description but gives him the freedom to teach based off of

his own research. “I will continue in my quest to learn more and more about my field, theoretical acoustics, and sharing that with my colleagues through my writing, and with my students in the classroom,” he said. “Just this semester, for example, I am teaching for the first time a new course that I created entitled ‘Inverse Problems in Mechanics.’ This course is based on my own research.” Go, promoted from associate professorship of sociology, said not having to worry about further promotion gives him the freedom to think more creatively in his work. “[Before promotion] you still have to worry about doing the right thing, espe-

Professors, see page 2

College of Engineering student group hosts 1st-ever Hackathon competition By Adrian Baker Daily Free Press Staff

ASHLYN EDWARDS/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University held its first Hackathon Friday. Eric Hsio, the CTO at Verbal Care, encourages student hackers with stories of his own success.

The Boston University student group BUILDS, sponsored by the College of Engineering department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, hosted its first 24-hour Hackathon Friday and Saturday. The Make BU Hackathon gave students the opportunity and tools to collaborate to design mobile apps, programs and other high-tech projects from scratch, said ECE Academic Programs Manager Austin Alexander. “The students are going to be getting together and using the knowledge that they’re learning in their classes here and work on software programs together,” Alexander said. “It seems like [at] these kinds of events where people get together and they’re together for an extended period of time, they’re actually able to get a lot done.” Alexander said that networking opportunities would be available at the Hackathon, which hosted multiple ECE alumni and representatives from global technology companies who acted as mentors and judges. ENG freshman Alexandra Miller-Browne

said her favorite part of the hackathon was the social aspect. “I got to meet new people around here at BU who do the same things that I do,” she said. “It’s awesome to meet other people who enjoy designing and hacking like I do.” “Networking is probably a piece of it, but it’s a fun experience and a lot of learning happens, and that’s probably the main goal,” Alexander said. “There is also always potential that people get together… [and] start working together on an idea. Santiago Beltran, an ENG freshman whose team created a word puzzle game, said while the 24-hour time slot seemed daunting, he valued the knowledge he gained while building his project. “We decided to take on a whole new project and see what we could do in one night,” Beltran said. “… There’s always the stress of trying to figure out why your code doesn’t work or something’s not right, but at the same time, it’s worth it in the end because you have a finished product you can actually use, and you learn a lot at the same

Hackathon, see page 2


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3-24-2014 by The Daily Free Press - Issuu