NEWS Local Veterans for Peace chapter files a complaint against the City of Boston for not responding to its request for a St. Patrick’s Day Parade. pg. 2
CATALYST As tech marches forward, so does its means of storing civilization’s collective knowledge. But what happens when past means become obsolete? pg. 5
15º / 28º SNOW
SPORTS Welcome to Mose-ly- Freshman Guard Cheddi Mosely has become a significant contributor on this year’s team. pg. 12
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR XLIV. VOLUME LXXXVIII. ISSUE V.
BU dorms to remain open during Thanksgiving, spring breaks BY CAROLINE LORD DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
PHOTO BY ALEXANDRA WIMLEY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Dean of Boston University’s College of Communication Thomas Fiedler speaks at a remembrance service for former Boston University professor and New York Times columnist David Carr.
BU faculty, students, community remembers David Carr BY MONIKA NAYAK DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
In remembrance of David Carr, a former Boston University professor and New York Times media columnist who died on Feb. 12, members of the BU community gathered at a memorial service Wednesday afternoon. Carr died after collapsing in The Times newsroom. An autopsy cited complications from lung cancer as the cause of death, The Times reported on Saturday. About 50 students and faculty members came to the service, which was held in the COM 101 lecture hall in BU’s College of Communication building. As the first Andrew R. Lack professor, Carr joined the COM faculty in January 2014 and taught his first media criticism course called Press Play in the fall 2014 semester. Carr’s class for the spring
2015 semester was titled Just a Minute, The Daily Free Press reported. “This was absolutely the best of all possible worlds: to have David Carr teaching and David Carr still fully engaged in what he did,” said Thomas Fiedler, dean of COM, at the memorial. “He always looked to the moment and to the future, not to the past. Or in his words, he wanted us to live in the present future … let’s think about where we’re gonna go and move forward.” Rev. Robert Hill, dean of Marsh Chapel and chaplain of BU, took to the podium to lead a prayer and provided anecdotes about Carr. Christopher Daly, a professor of journalism in COM, said the university lost a committed faculty member who was equally able to balance his teaching and writing for his Times’ Media Equation column.
“What you are mainly doing as an editor is bringing along new people, cultivating new writers, encouraging different voices, so he had a lot of that in his background,” he said before the memorial. “He had spent a lot of time helping young people. That’s a great quality in a professor, so we knew it would be a great match.” Martin Nisenholtz, a digital communication professor in COM, said Carr had a standard of excellence and fairness, which was evident in his personality and his work. “That is a very important aspect of David’s personality, this notion of fairness,” he said. “If you look at the Brian Williams work [Carr’s final Media Equation column] that he did just two weeks ago … it was an example of fairness.” Nisenholtz said he and Carr discussed journalism and his former workplace, The CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Boston awarded Cities of Service grant to benefit communities BY MIRIAM LELAH DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Boston was chosen as one of seven cities nationwide to be awarded the Love Your Block award and received $30,000, in addition to full-time AmeriCorps members as volunteers for community revitalization, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced in a Wednesday press release. Walsh will use the funds in low-income neighborhoods to strengthen community ties and help the under-represented neighborhoods in Boston build a safer and healthier environment. Funds will also go to support volunteers to help clean public areas and to make other renovations, the release stated. “In Boston, we applied to the Cities of Service City Hall VISTA Love Your Block program because we knew it would have a positive impact on our neighborhoods,” Walsh said in the release. “ We
welcome AmeriCorps VISTA members here — the efforts put forth by Cities of Service will help Boston residents and local government work together to enhance public spaces, improve t he healthand overall well-beingof local communities, a nd boost levels of civic engagement.” Myung Lee, executive director of Cities of Service, said in an email statement that the Love Your Block program has had an impact in the past and she is thrilled to continue with the efforts taken by local volunteers and residents to revitalize the city. “We’ve seen great success in cities already using impact volunteering and the Love Your Block model, and we’re excited to see promising city-led programs that thoughtfully engage residents in revitalizing their communities,” she said. “Thanks to our partners at the Corporation for National and Community Service, we get to see what happens when cities build on that
GRAPHIC BY SAMANTHA GROSS/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
initiative with human capital support from AmeriCorps VISTAs.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
All Boston University dormitory-style residences will remain open during the Thanksgiving and spring breaks beginning in the 2015-16 academic year, BU Housing Director Nishmin Kashyap announced Feb. 12 in an email to the student body. “This significant change in vacation housing policy is designed to address the needs of the students who find it impossible to travel home during break period and for those students who have commitments in the Boston area,” Kashyap said in the email. “It also provides greater f lexibility in making travel arrangements to return to campus at the end of these break periods.” Dining services for brunch and dinner will be available in one residence dining facility during Thanksgiving break, Kashyap said in the email. The Union Court in the George Sherman Union will have extended hours during the spring break. “We constantly review the Housing needs of our students and the services we provide,” said BU spokesman Colin Riley. “They [dorm residences] were closed to allow staff and employees time to spend with their families when the vast majority of students traveled home for Thanksgiving or left for spring recess.” The policy change is permanent, Riley said, and there will be no charge for staying on campus during the Thanksgiving or spring breaks. Shawna Altenburger, the assistant director of Residence Life for South Campus, said one reason the policy was changed was because more students have been opting to use vacation housing to stay on campus during vacations. “That was a clear indicator that we needed to open the dorms,” she said. “I also know that with a greater amount of international students every year, it can be very hard to get a f light out of the country, especially for fall recess. We’re just adjusting to the needs of the students. Students are going to be very excited to have this option, and I think we can expect to see a lot of people staying in the dorms in the coming breaks.” Altenburger said residence assistants will be on campus during the vacation periods. “We’ll definitely have some RA staff staying, and we’ll use a rotational on-call schedule like any other time,” she said. “If students need an RA, there will always be one. They can ask for help from the on-call RA like usual.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 4