February 2015 Print Issue

theGAVEL February 2015 / Vol. VIII Issue 4

TEXT FOR LOVE social media, relationships & the never-ending breakup

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theGAVEL 04

February 2015

news

A Rape on Campus: What Went Wrong at UVA

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features

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Kiss Or Miss: What BC Students Are Doing This Valentine’s Day

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Eagles in the Real World: Grace Simmons Zuncic

BC Gavel

Revitalizing Valentine’s Day

opinions

22 The Never Ending Breakup 25 The Monthly Diatribe

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sports

Pete Frate’s Ultimate Polar Plunge

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The Highs and Lows of BC Football

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Inked: BC Edition

Rap’s Perpetuation of Rape Culture: Beyond Our Control?

What’s Your Inner Stunna Song?

Caffeine Consumption On Campus

Marijuana Controversy On College Campuses

culture

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Just How Good Is the ACC? February 2015

EDITORIAL BOARD

Staff

TEDDY KOLVA / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHRISTIE MERINO / MANAGING EDITOR MIRANDA RICHARD / ONLINE MANAGER TAYLOR GARRISON / PRINT MANAGER JONATHAN REED / HEAD COPY EDITOR MARY YUENGERT / NEWS EDITOR AMBREY RICE / FEATURES EDITOR GRACE FUCCI / CULTURE EDITOR JACKIE CARNEY / OPINIONS EDITOR JOE CASTIGNETTI / SPORTS EDITOR SAM COSTANZA / AUTHENTIC EAGLES EDITOR JONO KEEDY / PHOTO EDITOR TORI FISHER / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR GRACE DENNY / ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR JOHN PARADISO / ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR KATIE CARSKY / ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR JULIA HO / ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR EVAN MARTINEZ / ASSOCIATE CULTURE EDITOR MADDIE WEBSTER / ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITOR NEIL QUIGLEY / ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITOR MIKE KOTSOPOULOS / ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR ERIN MCGARVEY / NEWS COPY EDITOR RACHEL ALDRICH / FEATURES COPY EDITOR MADDIE CORTES / CULTURE COPY EDITOR CARLY BARNHARDT / OPINIONS COPY EDITOR WILL CLANSKY / SPORTS COPY EDITOR RACHEL FORRAY / AUTHENTIC EAGLES COPY EDITOR KATIE TU / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR NICOLE STRIK / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR CLAIRE JASPER / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR EMMA WINTERS / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR NICK REED / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR JORDAN GROSE / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR SHARI DRYDEN / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR ELLA JENAK / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR KATIE MICHALIK / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR

DESIGN

OLIVIA VERA / DESIGN EDITOR ANDREW GROSS / ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR ANNIE BELGRADE / ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR VALERIE LIANG / ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR ALEX FLYNN / ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR EMMA BLACKNEY / ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR BRIAN KANG / DESIGNER LILY BESSETTE / DESIGNER ALEXANDER FARRELL / DESIGNER OLIVIA DINAPOLI / DESIGNER MADELINE CHADWELL / DESIGNER EMILY LEOGRANDE / DESIGNER HELEN FORMOSO-MURIAS / DESIGNER ELENI VENETOS / DESIGNER SARA POLLEI / DESIGNER

BUSINESS & OPERATIONS PHIL BACKUS / GENERAL MANAGER AYA TSURUTA / ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER EMILY OLANDER / MARKETING MANAGER JENNY CHEN / DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR SPENCER LLOYD / ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE JENNY CHEN / ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE ASHLEY KIM / ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE KATIE DEFUSCO / ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE MIA TORTOLANI / ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE ALEXIS IDERMAN / ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

ELIZABETH HLAVINKA MICHELLE LACONTE NICK OLIVES IAN PATTERSON DAN LEE EMMA POWERS KATIE MCGIRNEY

PHOTO ASSISTANTS

LAUREN FLICK KATHERINE KERR DANIELLE JOHNSON KRISTEN MORSE SHANNON WEST

Letter From The Editor BANG. BANG.

Welcome to the February issue of The Gavel. We’ve changed since our December edition rolled out during finals week, and we’re thrilled to kick off 2015 with a beautiful layout and insightful takes on the BC world and beyond.

We had a reshuffling of leadership roles in our organization since December – old faces to the scene are starting to meld with the young and new alike, and it’s been incredible to see how our family and culture continues to grow into something special.

As The Gavel evolves into a more complex organization, it’s important that we stay focused on the core of our being: Bringing you – our reader – relevant, progressive content in a world that is growing a lot more complicated by the minute.

Stay in touch as we continue to redefine ourselves. February is a hallmark Boston College month with briefly sunlit days, heavy snowfalls and Beanpot fervor. Mild “cabin fever” may set in, but we all chose this school for a reason – embrace it.

Published with support from Generation Progress / Center for American Progress (online at genprog.org).

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y far the most controversial and talked-about article of the year, Rolling Stone’s “A Rape on Campus” and its subsequent implosion rekindled the national discussion of sexual assault on college campuses. The article, written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, describes in gruesome detail the gang rape of University of Virginia student “Jackie” during a party at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on September 28, 2012.

However, following the article’s publication on November 19, discrepancies began to arise in Jackie’s account. This December, Rolling Stone issued a public apology on its website to anyone affected by the story.

A Rape on Campus: What Went Wrong at UVA?

By Mary Yuengert / News Editor

Shannon West / Gavel Media

Design by Lily Bessette

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February 2015

Rolling Stone stumbles over journalistic basics The media decided to focus mostly on Erdely’s reporting mistakes in the case, as the Washington Post’s subsequent interviews with those quoted in the article revealed multiple discrepancies in Jackie’s account. The most concerning for some: the absence of comment from the fraternity brothers Jackie accuses of the crime.

Rolling Stone editor Sean Woods, who edited the article, told the Post, “We did not talk to them. We could not reach them.” This directly contradicted the magazine’s “note to readers” retracting the article, which claimed the magazine did not reach out to the participants as per Jackie’s request.

The fraternity where the event allegedly took place, Phi Kappa Psi, released a statement on December 5, “vehemently” refuting the claim, and bringing to light several inconsistencies in the story.

The statement called the notion that the fraternity would integrate acts of sexual assault into its initiation process “vile.”

A group of Jackie’s closest friends told CNN that the conversation over the “social price” of reporting Jackie’s rape, which was recanted, never occurred.

The group of friends also said that they were never contacted by anyone from the magazine.

UVA sexual assault culture could be to blame Many make the case for the UVA-Rolling Stone debacle being about the bigger picture: the university’s handling of sexual assault cases, and the general culture around sexual assault on college campuses.

The Rolling Stone article cites multiple instances in UVA’s past of insti-

tutional indifference toward sexual assault allegations. Some students were prohibited from speaking publicly about sexual assault proceedings when their perpetrators weren’t held accountable, while others were discouraged by counselors to press charges altogether. Sexual assault statistics are not made public on the university website—when Jackie questioned this, Dean Nicole Eramo, head of the Sexual Misconduct Board, responded, “Because nobody wants to send their daughter to the rape school.”

There are also several instances within the article where students describe feeling unsupported by their peers when it came to talking about rape and sexual assault at UVA. One girl says her hallmates were “skeptical” and thought she was “just looking for attention.” Jackie admits she was discouraged by friends to go public with her rape because it would reflect badly on the university.

According to John Foubert, a UVA dean from 1998 to 2002, UVA’s unreported sexual assault cases are rooted in protecting themselves legally. “We can pick our lawsuit from [another] potential victim, or from [the perpetrator], for denying him access to an education,” Foubert remembers the thendean of students saying.

UVA’s mishandlings of sexual assault cases have not gone unnoticed. The school is one of 86 schools currently under federal investigation, and one of only 12 schools under a “compliance review” by the Department of Education, brought about by deeply-rooted issues built into the institution. The 86-school list—including Boston-area schools Harvard, Brandeis, Boston University, Emerson, and Berklee­­ —does not include Boston College.

Boston College stands out in sexual assault prevention and resources “Boston College takes the issue of sexual misconduct very seriously,” says Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Katherine O’Dair. O’Dair also serves as the University’s deputy Title IX coordinator.

O’Dair explains that BC has a number of resources to support and respond to members of the Boston College community who have been affected by sexual assault. BC’s Sexual Assault Network, or SANet, is a 24-hour, 7-days-aweek anonymous sexual assault hotline, staffed by people “who are trained to listen, to provide options, and to support the friend of the survivor as they embark on the healing process,” according to O’Dair. The phone number for SANet is listed on the back of every BC

“Because nobody wants to send

their daughter to the rape school.”

- Nicole Eramo student’s ID card.

Other resources include the Women’s Resource Center, the Campus Ministry office, and HEAL, a confidential support group for survivors of sexual assault and rape.

Boston College has also worked to change the “rape culture” present on so many college campuses today through the Bystander Intervention program, run through the Women’s Resource Center. Organized by students, the Bystander program trains students on and off campus how to be “prosocial” in potential sexual assault situations, as well as prevent behavior that normalizes rape,

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“Men and women for others care about each other, support each other, and

love each other. And I think students like that do not stand for sexual assault.”

according to Haley McCabe, CSON ’16, and a Bystander trainer.

“In our presentations, we provide and discuss specific and manageable intervention techniques to allow students to successfully check in with their friends, peers, or even strangers to ensure that consent is present,” said McCabe. “Our techniques are tailored to the college setting in the hopes of alleviating drama and feelings of awkwardness among students.”

McCabe said that since she has become a Bystander trainer, she has seen the program’s techniques being used frequently in social situations.

Many people, however, find the number of sexual assaults reported in the past couple of years alarming. The Boston Globe wrote that across 22 of the largest campuses in the Boston area, sexual assault reports rose about 40 percent between 2008 and 2012.

The 113 sexual assaults reported in 2012 at Boston-area schools is the highest in a decade.

McCabe sees this rise in reports as a good thing. “At schools that have a higher incidence of reported sexual assaults, students feel comfortable and supported enough to actually report instead of remaining silent,” she said.

McCabe believes that Boston College has created a supportive community for sexual assault victims, and the student population has strong feelings against rape on campus. This attitude about sexual assault at BC was seen most prevalently in 2013 when an anonymous post on the Boston College Confessions page about an alleged serial rapist on campus resulted in student outrage and a full-blown investigation

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by Boston College police.

In recent years, the Bystander program has been supplemented by a “booster” module to be administered to juniors and seniors, as well as a program specifically designed for freshmen, which includes a module to be completed before arriving on campus and a performance on sexual violence that takes place during Welcome Week.

In addition to prevention practices, it has been BC’s handlings of sexual assault cases that kept it off of the Department of Education’s investigation list. O’Dair says that the university uses an “investigator model” for sexual assault cases, used when complaints to the Dean of Students or other offices merit an investigation. At that point, the university uses one or more internal or external investigators specifically trained in sexual misconduct cases to conduct a thorough examination of the allegations.

O’Dair also states that there are 11 specifically trained sexual assault officers within the BC Police Department available to students if they choose to report the assault to them.

“There is still a lot of work to be done to create a campus culture that truly and wholly supports its victims,” admits McCabe. “But overall, I feel that many Boston College students do care about creating a safe and supportive environment for victims of sexual assault, and stopping the normalization of rape that is so prevalent today.” “‘Men and women for others’ care about each other, support each other, and love each other. And I think students like that do not stand for sexual assault.“

Photo courtesy of Bob Mical / Flickr

- Haley McCabe

February 2015

or ws Edit iate Ne c o s s A ss y/ e Denn by Andrew Gro

By Grac Design

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t’s a common conception that college students love their coffee (and soda, Red Bull and any other form of caffeine). According to the FDA, the average American consumes 300 mg of caffeine every day. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that 54 percent of Americans over the age of 18 consume a cup of coffee every day and that Americans, on average, consume 3.1 cups of coffee every day. February is National Caffeine Addiction Month and March is National Caffeine Awareness month, so The Gavel decided to poll some Boston College students to see how their coffee consumption habits measured up. The numbers mostly aligned

Where You Fill Up

with the national trends, although 34 percent of students surveyed said they never drink coffee, and only 17 percent said they drink more than one cup a day. Over 50 percent said they drink coffee to stay awake or for the caffeine jolt. Since the side effects of caffeine can include restlessness, nervousness, irritability, upset stomach and even insomnia, it might be best to switch your cup of coffee for something with less caffeine, like green tea. Or (and we know this sounds crazy), you could try getting more sleep.

When You Fill Up Once a day Several times a day

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r ts we nu /Lo Do ’ y n o i Elr nk Du Mc

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Once or twice a week

Email survey of over 200 BC students from early to mid January

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Marijuana

By John Paradiso / Associate News Editor Design by Andrew Gross

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arijuana legalization and decriminalization have been significant political discussions for the past few years. However, as legislation has been passed approving cannabis for medical use, the arena has shifted to the college campus.

Four states have already legalized recreational marijuana, creating a regulated market for the distribution of the product. Many other states—if they have not decriminalized it—have gone to trial over the issue, demonstrating the scope of the debate. The movement grew in 2015 and there has been no sign of yielding. Although many contend that it is still too early to quantify the results of legalization, there have been no noteworthy problems and no significant rises in addiction or health issues.

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February 2015

Photo courtesy of just1snap / Flickr

Both supporters and detractors anticipate that the coming years will decide the debate over legalization. Public opinion over the matter appears to have shifted rapidly, according to reports conducted by the Pew Research Center in October 2014. A slim majority currently reigns, as about 52 percent believe recreational marijuana should be legal while 45 percent oppose. However, the data also demonstrates that there is a large margin between the opinions of young and old.

There has also been a growing support for the use of medical marijuana in several states. Cannabis has been cited as an effective treatment for a variety of ailments. The Drug Policy Alliance cites marijuana as an effective non-synthetic painkiller as well as a viable option to “alleviate symptoms of a wide range of debilitating medical conditions including cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis… and glaucoma.” Massachusetts, New York and California are among several states to have decriminalized marijuana and approved of its medical use. However, the lack of dispensaries despite two years passing since voters approved of the measure has proved a serious setback for Massachusetts.

Another growing concern is the role of medical marijuana on college campuses, particularly in Massachusetts. Many universities have upheld their ban on cannabis even if a student is authorized to use it. Universities such as Boston University, Tufts and Amherst claim that “their hands are tied by federal regulations, which still classify marijuana as an illegal drug, and they worry that allowing cannabis use of any kind could lead to the loss of federal funding, including student financial aid,” reports Matt Rocheleau of the Boston Globe. Colleges have erred on the side of caution when it comes to disciplinary matters regarding marijuana.

Some students at universities in the Greater Boston Area have expressed their concern over this ban, notes Rocheleau. For many at these universities, there is no distinction between the recreation-

al or medicinal consumption of cannabis.

Students with proper documentation are often directed to seek off-campus housing or other alternatives. Although states like Massachusetts have recognized the potential benefits of marijuana, the federal government still considers cannabis more dangerous than cocaine and meth and has signed an international treaty banning the legalization of the drug. It is clear that the issue divides several states and the federal government, but it also divides the students and the university.

Colleges in Massachusetts have sided with federal law, which can marginalize a number of students authorized to use marijuana for medical purposes. Boston College has not explicitly approved of marijuana use on campus yet, but as a private institution there may be room for change. According to the BC student Code of Conduct, marijuana is prohibited as a result of the Schedule I Controlled Substance classification deemed by the federal government.

“However, society currently has a complex and rapidly shifting relationship with marijuana, and perspectives around the dangers and potential medical uses for marijuana are evolving. While Boston College prohibits the possession and use of marijuana, the University’s response is reflective of the particularly complex and

changing societal view of marijuana,” the Code states.

Film and television often portray excessive amounts of recreational drug use on college campuses, a hyperbole to demonstrate a reality: marijuana is consumed at universities. However, the recent legal decisions can change the perception of marijuana use. Although BC has not altered its stance, it is clear that the university can make changes.

Students should not expect to be able to smoke pot outside of Stokes or in their dorms soon, but BC can adapt to the realities of the time. The medical benefits of marijuana have been recognized by the state, and now the university can decide how to best take care of its students.

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By Claire Jasper / Assoc. Copy Editor Design by Annie Belgrade

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attoos can be large and extravagant or subtle and hidden. Either way, each tattoo is unique and holds its own story.

Here are stories from Boston College Eagles about their tattoos.

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February 2015

GIANNA LALOTA Gianna LaLota, A&S ’17, got her first tattoo in the summer of 2014.

She had the Greek letters Alpha and Omega inked onto the left side of her ribcage. The letters come from a passage in the Bible where Jesus says: “I’m the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end.” The tattoo represents LaLota’s faith in God and is a comforting reminder of God’s love to constantly carry with her. Tattoos were something that LaLota had always been fascinated with. “I think they’re a way to tell a story,” she said. “They’re the only form of selfexpression that is truly permanent.”

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JACK TRIMBLE Jack Trimble, A&S ’17, first thought of his idea for a tattoo as a joke, and then tossed it around with his best friend, Mic, during their senior year of high school. The two joked about getting lip tattoos but neither thought they would actually do it. Towards the end of their last summer before college, the two visited a friend on the Jersey Shore. At the end of the weekend, Trimble and his friends drove by a tattoo parlor. “Mic and I sort of looked at each other and nodded like we had to do it,” he said. The duo got their colleges’ names, “BC” for Trimble and “SLU” for Mic, who attends St. Lawrence University.

AUSTIN SCHMID Austin Schmid, A&S ’17, has a tattoo that is close to his heart, both literally and figuratively. Austin had tattooed “AMDG” on the left part of his chest over his heart. AMDG is an acronym that stands for “Ad maiorem Dei gloriam,” which translated from Latin means “To the greater glory of God.” Schmid said that the tattoo is a reminder to himself that everything he does must be for the greater glory of God, and that his life should be dedicated to serving others. Being part of the ROTC program here at BC, Schmid will be entering the army after college. “The tattoo is a way for me to wear a cross no matter what the conditions are,” he explained. “You can take off a cross from around your neck, but a tattoo can never be taken off.”

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CHRIS STARONKA Chris Staronka, A&S ’16, was just about to begin his last year of hockey in high school when he decided to get his tattoo. Staronka had been playing hockey for 12 years. Upon realizing that he would not be playing as often after he graduated, he decided to get a tattoo of a hockey goalie to remember the time he spent playing the sport.

The tattoo is very unique, and people often have trouble figuring out what it is. Staronka explained that the abstractness was intentional.

“I love it because half of it shows when I have a t-shirt on and a lot of people always ask me what it is or try and guess what the design is,” he said.

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ANGELA JIN

JUSTIN SOLLE

Angela Jin, CSOM ’17, is certainly “Girl Almighty.” She was intrigued by the feminist movement in 2014 and drew a lot of self-confidence and self-assurance from it. She felt that the words “Girl Almighty” on her left rib cage were perfect.

She got the tattoo in mid-November. At first, the arrows were just to fill space, but they began to mean a lot more.

“I realized they also represented the importance of moving forward with my goals,” Jin explained. “As cliché as it sounds, it's a reminder that life doesn't stop just because I'm having a hard time.” Jin explained that this simple yet powerful tattoo represents a hard time in her life that she was able to persevere and push through.

Justin Solle, A&S ’16, made his passion for marching—in particular with a professional Drum and Bugle Corps—into a permanent memory. The summer of 2014 was Solle’s last summer marching with the corps. The tattoo is the symbol of the Colts, the corps that Solle toured with, and the words “Hold On” are the motto of the group. Solle joined the Colts and lived with them from May until August, practicing 12 hours a day and traveling across the country to compete.

“You really make a bond with the activity and with the people involved,” Solle explained. The tattoo was put on his bicep so he could see it daily and remember such a significant experience in his life.

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5 EMILY & ALISON GOFORTH Emily Goforth, LSOE ’15, and her younger sister, Alison Goforth, CSON ’18, always wanted to get matching tattoos but struggled with what design they wanted. On a whim, the Goforth sisters decided to get “dirigo” tattooed on their feet. “Dirigo” is the state motto of Maine, meaning “I direct” or “I lead” in Latin. “It was a great way to tie together two parts of our childhood—living in Maine and being sisters,” said Emily. The sisters decided on different fonts to reflect their different personalities. Emily’s font is a classic and traditional typewriter font, while Alison’s is a cursive script font. Alison explained that she loves that her font is feminine and fun but also delicate and elegant. Alison’s tattoo is on the outside of her heel, more visible, as opposed to Emily’s which is on the inside, a little more hidden and quiet—reflecting, in part, their different personalities.

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Danielle Johnson / Photo Assistant

Whether done on a whim or contemplated for several years, tattoos are a part of someone’s body and identity. These BC Eagles provide a small bit of their life stories through their tattoos. No matter if it’s a story of faith, friendship, commitment or love, each person’s story is important and unique.

February 2015

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ove and chocolate will be in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches. Some will make dinner plans for two or get kisses...

Hershey, of course! Some will spurn the color pink and opt for a horror movie. Others will clink their glasses to the single life. At Boston College, students seem to want to spend this holiday of love in different ways. These days, Valentine’s Day is not only for couples—it can be a celebration of love from family, roommates and friends, too.

When surveyed on the topic of Valentine’s Day, BC students responded as follows:

By Julia Ho / Assoc. Features Editor Design by Alex Farrell

What type of movie would you opt to watch on the day of love?

What are you doing this Valentine’s Day? Searching for a Soul Mate 4%

Indie 5% Romantic Comedy 58%

Drama 4%

Party to Celebrate Being Single 22%

Going on a Date with a Significant Other 33%

Partying with the Intention of a Random Hookup 11% Spending the Night with Friends 25%

Horror 5%

Action 4%

Comedy 18% Disney 6%

Drinking, Eating and Watching Movies Alone 5%

29% 19% 4%

4%

5%

9%

21%

9%

What is your chocolate delight of preference? *Email survey of 100 BC students from late December to early January

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oston College has an impressive list of alumni and many of them credit BC with helping them get where they are today. Alumna Grace Simmons Zuncic, A&S ’05, has achieved a lot both professionally and personally in a short time. As Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy at Chobani, she has helped make the company what it is today.

As a student, Zuncic was quite active on BC’s campus. She began her career at BC in the Shaw Leadership Program, a close-knit group that she treasured throughout her time at the school. She was UGBC’s Head of Academic Affairs and part of the Mentoring Leadership Program. She eventually ran for the position of UGBC President and won.

Zuncic was invested in service not just at BC, but throughout the world. She began as an Appalachia volunteer and later went on a service trip to Nicaragua with the Ignacio Volunteers.

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Danielle Johnson / Photo Assistant

By Katie Carsky / Asso. Features Editor Design by Helen Formoso-Murias

Eagles in the Real World:

Grace Simmons Zuncic Photo courtesy of Grace Zuncic

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February 2015

Science double major, Zuncic succeeded academically at BC. She landed a job at a Washington, D.C. consulting firm, PRTM, working in public health at the highest level. Her first assignment involved working as a consultant to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.

Zuncic gained business experience working in private equity. She studied at Harvard Business School where she received her MBA and met her husband, Eric. Still, she was not quite sure what she wanted to do.

In 2010, Zuncic began working at Goldman Sachs, a job that strengthened her analytical and financial skills. As a Chobani customer, she read on the side of a container that Chobani was manufactured in the small town of South Edmanson, NY, only 40 minutes from her parents’ home. Part of her job at Goldman Sachs involved finding new clients, and this put her in touch

Danielle Johnson / Photo Assistant team, while the marketing department is passionate about the brand and what the name means.

Zuncic now works as Senior VP of Corporate Development Strategy. She derives strategy for outside customers, along with performing merger and acquisition work. This position has given her more balance in the company.

Like other companies, Chobani cannot be expected to experience explosive growth forever. This is where ambition comes in. Zuncic points out

that there is a lot of complacency in corporate America; companies are afraid to take risks. Chobani is set apart by the drive of its CEO, Ulukaya. As the founder, he has a unique perspective and strong devotion to Chobani.

Outside of work, Zuncic loves spending time with friends. She keeps in touch with friends from BC, business school and high school. She and her husband also run regularly. They enjoy hiking and skiing, but her current hobby is preparing for the arrival of her first

with Chobani founder and CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya.

Ulukaya showed little interest in money because he wanted Chobani to stay private. Despite this, the relationship allowed Zuncic to learn a lot about the company and before long she was employed as Ulukaya’s right hand.

Zuncic has been exposed to a lot at Chobani, having built the executive team and actively witnessed the company surpass $1 billion in annual sales over six years. She keeps in touch with the employees, whom she truly values. Employees range from smalltown upstate New York factory workers to NYC business employees working in an ever-evolving environment.

The employees at Chobani are committed to natural ingredients and quality products. As Zuncic explains, the people working in the plant are passionate about what they get out of the

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Zuncic highly valued the variety available at BC. “I love that you would go to a football game on a Saturday and then go to a philosophy lecture the next morning,” she said. “I think that’s really hard to find.”

Another important factor was the people at BC. Zuncic felt that they were “so down to earth and wanting to have a good time, yet not afraid of the perception that they [wanted] to learn something. You shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”

Zuncic credits BC for providing her with fundamental critical thinking and analytical skills that she needed to get where she is today. More importantly, though, she feels that her adult set of values came from BC. “Those skills are needed in corporate America more than ever before,” she said. She implements daily the clear moral compass that she developed while on campus.

As a Perspectives and Political

Katie Carsky / Assoc. Features Editor baby, a boy.

There is no doubt that BC boasts an impressive collection of alumni.

The relationships that Zuncic has made, the education she received and the principles that she has developed have gotten her where she is today.

With the values necessary to be both an innovator and a leader in her field, Grace Simmons Zuncic is an example of this BC legacy.

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beyond our control?

By Evan Martinez / Assoc. Culture Editor Design by Valerie Liang

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ap is not your parents’ music. Gone are the days of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince assuring kids that “Parents are the same no matter time nor place.” Hip-hop has deviated greatly from its roots as a prominent African-American subculture based in 1970s New York City; today’s popular rap is a testament to that fact. The themes and ideas coursing through current rap are worlds different than the empowering, carefree message of early hip-hop.

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February 2015

Today’s mainstream rappers are prone to perpetuating a certain ideal of women that is directly related to “rape culture.” The idea that society promotes sexual violence via prevailing attitudes about gender and sexuality is not new, but it is certainly a prevalent issue in today’s civil rights climate. Obviously, this problem does not exist in every popular rap song, but the genre is overwhelmingly prone to allowing and even promoting the message that women can be reduced to nothing more than sexual objects.

Enter: Marshall Mathers. While Eminem’s backstory is the Detroit emcee obliterating racial barriers in hip-hop, his career has also been spattered with references to sexual violence against women. A recent example of this occurred in “Vegas,” a track from Shady XV, the compilation album released

by Eminem’s Shady Records in late 2014. On “Vegas,” he raps: “So what’s it gon’ be? Put that shit away Iggy/You gon’ blow that rape whistle on me/I love it!”

Eminem is referencing popular Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, who fired back on Twitter, shedding light on a predicament for female musicians: existing in an industry where, according to Azalea, “old men threaten young women as [an] entertainment trend.” Some may assert that Eminem is simply doing his job—pushing the creative envelope—however, when he raps about raping Iggy Azalea, the mere fact that a man believes it is okay to commit to such things on a platform of that caliber is alarming.

Azalea is startlingly accurate in her analysis of rap’s general content, even if it does come in the form of grammatically unsound tweets.

While Eminem is considered one of the better, less conventional mainstream rappers, the majority of popular rap utilizes the overt objectification of women with such ease and frequency that it has become ingrained in the genre’s makeup. Once it is made clear what language and attitudes present in rap may be considered harmful, the sheer amount of detrimental lyrical content can be overwhelming. Whether it is 2 Chainz (“She got a big booty so I call her ‘Big Booty’”), Rick Ross (“I got what you want/Drop that pussy bitch”), or Tyga (“Drop it on a bitch, make it nasty”), there is no shortage of vulgar, gender-polarizing lyrics in rap.

Photo courtesy of Tumblr

Photo courtesy of Twitter

CULTURE

17

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The current images associated with male rappers include money and scantily-clad women. In other words: being a man’s man—a “hustler” or a “pimp.” Rap these days is exceedingly good at perpetuating gender stereotypes.

While men are portrayed as dominant, aggressive people, women are often depicted as submissive, sexual objects.

If lyrics aren’t enough to demonstrate the prevalence of these roles, then the dichotomy of the way men and women are portrayed in many popular rap music videos should suffice. Again, when these images become so standard, we forget that they can be harmful. The issue at hand is that while the genre may be inadvertently stuck in these patterns, the attitudes and behaviors in rap music ultimately serve to normalize sexual violence.

Throughout 2014, another influential group with stereotypically gender-normative practices, the National Football League, aired PSAs that served to educate their target audience, males of all ages, about the issues associated with domestic violence and sexual assault.

Like rap culture, the NFL has an unfortunate tie to gender norms—after all, would it even be football if there were non-athletic, regular men knocking each other out for glory and money? The “No More” campaign sought to end stigmas associated with violence against women—a bold move coming from such a male-oriented group. Could rap music ever have a “No More” campaign?

Today’s mainstream rap is largely boisterous, energetic party music that does not hold lyrical content in high regard. This inattention to lyrics makes rape culture even more plausible in rap. A call for reform or awareness regarding seemingly carefree and fun music would seem out of place for fans and musicians alike.

Rap music contributes to rape culture by not just explicitly trivializing the experience of rape itself, but also by proliferating negative gender stereotypes for both men and women. While it is fairly easy to denounce Eminem’s explicit use of sexually violent lyrics, it’s much harder to condemn every rapper whose songs are played on popular radio that refers to women as “hoes” and discusses the height of his money stacks. The unfortunate reality is that, unlike the early days of rap, we are forced to question the negative impacts that every three minute, bass heavy, Lil Wayne-featured song has on our collective conscience.

February 2015

What’$ Your Inner $tunna $ong? iz 1.

1.

It’s Saturday night, and you are going out with

some friends. How do you get ready?

A. I just keep wearing what I’ve been wearing, but you know I look good.

B. I wear something fresh, clean and comfortable. What’s most important is that I like it and that I feel good.

C. I pick out the perfect outfit, and I look good no matter what anyone else says.

D. I spend an hour or two to get ready and look perfect. If you don’t like it, do you honestly think I care?

3.

3.

qu quiz

During this time of couples and dependency, we could all use a reminder that we are strong, independent individuals who don’t need others to tell us we are rad human beings. Take this quiz to find out which song fits your #flawless persona.

You are attracted to people who...

A. Think you’re naturally awesome and who you don’t need to try to impress.

B. Are relaxed and confident in themselves, just like you.

C. Are supportive and have a desire to be there for you.

D. Know how to have fun and let their freak flags fly.

Mostly A’s

C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S , you’re Flawless. Yes, as in “Flawless” by Beyoncé, the one and only. There isn’t much to say other than you’re just generally an awesome person. You’re fun, gorgeous and confident about it. Go you.

Mostly B’s

CONGRATULATIONS, your spirit jam for this season of love is “I” by Kendrick Lamar. You are a chilled-out, easy-going powerhouse who understands the first key to happiness is loving yourself before anything else. If more people like you were around, the world would be a much happier and less stressed place.

2.

By Ian Patterson / Editorial Assistant Design by Madie Chadwell

Your friends would describe you as...

A. Confident and fun B. Easy-going and level-headed C. Sensitive and humble D. Wild and creative

4.

How would you react if you overheard someone calling you ugly?

A. Get up in their grill, inform them of their mistake and strut away with a finger snap and imaginary explosions in the background.

B. Pay no mind and brush those haters off because you know you’re way better than they think.

C. Seeing as you know you’re beautiful, walk by them and show them just how wrong they are.

D. You know you’re looking your best. If they don’t like it, you don’t care. You were born this way and you’re perfect.

Mostly C’s

CONGRATULATIONS, “You are beautiful no matter what they say. Words can’t bring you down.” You are “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera. People like you are souls who may get a tad self-conscious from time to time, but you know that you are perfect and really excel in helping others see what is good about them, too.

Mostly D’s

CONGRATULATIONS, our quiz has determined your #flawless persona to be most similar to “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. You are incredible and you know it.

You love yourself and the way you are, and no one can tell you that you’re wrong.

CULTURE

19

REVITALIZING

Valentine’s Day W

By Michelle LaConte / Editorial Assistant Design by Eleni Venetos

ith

Valentine’s

Day

just

condemn the sore sight of PDA. Regardless

around the corner, the smell of which category you fall into, do not settle of candy hearts and roses for a simple movie date this Valentine’s

(or tears and Netflix) will soon linger in the

Day. Instead, try one of these ideas to

air. Some of us may count our lucky stars

make this year’s special day memorable.

for the love of our life while the rest of us

1 2

Finding love in a bookstore may seem cliché, but having dinner at Trident Booksellers & Café on Newbury Street certainly is not. A small café nestled within a bookstore, this location offers the perfect intimate setting for couples on Valentine’s Day. After eating comfort food and perusing the bookshelves together, walk over to The Frog Pond to end the night with skating (and a few graceful falls).

Leave the heart-shaped box of candy in the grocery store and head for the “In Love with Wine and Chocolate” class at The Boston Wine School in Allston. During the two-hour class, indulge in a multitude of samples to find the ideal combination of gourmet chocolate and fine wine. After learning the secret to creating and pairing these luxuries, you and your date will experience an elegant Italian dinner inspired by the richest wines and sweets. The surest way to your Valentine’s heart is through food, after all.

Katherine Kerr / Gavel Media

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February 2015

Megan Flynn / Gavel Media

3

Instead of subjecting yourself to a blind date, attend a blind dinner at Hampshire House Boston this year. (The disappointment will be far less this way.)

During The Hampshire House Dining in the Dark event, you and your date will be blindfolded and served a multi-course meal prepared by world-class chefs. You will need to embrace your adventurous spirit and trust your sense of touch, smell and taste to navigate this Valentine’s Day dinner.

Rather than trying to secure a dinner reservation, head to Faneuil Hall for a progressive dinner and bar experience unlike any other. Make your way down the marketplace, sampling different cuisines to suit each of your palettes before heading to the Frost Ice Bar. Within the world’s largest permanent ice bar, you will sense the unique aura from the ice sculptures, hand carved furniture and icy walls illuminated with colorful lights. The Frost Ice Bar offers an excuse to cuddle close with your loved one as the temperature drops and the crafted cocktails are chilled to perfection.

4

Bring your date to the Museum of Fine Arts for a night full of art and culture. On Valentine’s Day, Watson Adventures will host a Naked at the Art Museum Scavenger Hunt to add flare to your sophisticated date night. The hunt will lead you on a search for the most provocative and controversial pieces throughout all of the exhibits, from Ancient Egypt to contemporary America. Embrace your intellectual side and experience this whirlwind tour with your Valentine.

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Billy Foshay / Gavel Media

While your moves may not live up to your Valentine’s Footloose expectations, take them out for a night of dancing. Add a twist to this classic date night by sweeping that special someone off his or her feet at Howl at the Moon Boston. At this piano bar, live performers duel one another throughout the night to produce an unpredictable show and keep couples on their toes all night long.

Those of us without a significant other can find reasons to smile this Valentine’s Day by attending a local comedy show. ImprovBoston satirizes Single Awareness Day with their production of “Thorns.”

This show entails a night full of monologues, songs and films about heartbreak and the plight of singles everywhere. Trials of Love, an event at Mottley’s Comedy Club in Boston, similarly mocks the trials and tribulations of relationships. Comedian Mike Dorval will not hesitate to pull couples in the audience onto the stage to hash out their problems. These hysterical performances can turn any bitter Valentine’s Day around.

7

Whether you are headed for a romantic date or a solo night on the town, step outside your comfort zone and have an adventurous Valentine’s Day.

CULTURE

21

never ending Break the

By Jackie Carney / Opinions Editor Design by Emma Blackney

Lauren Flick / Photo Assistant

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BC Gavel

February 2015

R

emember

that

old

philosophical

question, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a

sound?” Today, the in-crowd of society has adapted it to read, “Pics or it didn’t happen!!!” Everyone knows that things only become real once public proof has been plastered on every social media site.

This unspoken rule creates an ultra-competitive, ultra-public environment in which anonymity is the kiss of death. The skilled social media artist presents him or herself in the best light possible, knowing that people believe what they see rather than what is.

Through social media we attempt to make ourselves and our lives look desirable, which is why our relationships become the centerpieces of our Internet empires. What better way to prove your happiness, attractiveness and popularity than to show off your significant other? Twitter, Instagram and Facebook become a timeline of a couple’s relationship, cataloging the first flirty exchange, first photo together, first anniversary, etc.

Things really get interesting when the happy couple isn’t so happy anymore. Breakups are never really mutual, and relationships end messily without a clear winner or loser. On social media, however, you don’t really have to win; you just have to look like you did.

In this digital age, breaking up has become a game of who can prove that they care less, but the more you try to convince the world that you’ve moved on, the less you are truly able to do so.

The first stage of the breakup game is when each

new single begins to tailor his or her social media posts to send a certain message to his or her ex and the rest of the Internet. Profile pictures are changed with terrifying rapidity as each member of the couple competes to appear unaffected.

Unfortunately, people are too smart to believe most of what you post, including your ex. As a result, all that energy you have been pouring into your social media appearance has done nothing except keep you tied to your old relationship, preventing you from moving on.

What you should do instead is to go about your life normally, ignoring the giant chunk of your heart that is now missing.

The next stage in the breakup game is when the exes begin to stalk each other online. The Internet allows people to keep tabs on each other secretly and constantly, often developing into an unhealthy habit. The dilemma is whether to unfollow and block your ex or to play it cool and leave things as they were pre-breakup.

Unfriending him or her right away might make you seem brokenhearted and will make it harder to keep tabs on his life without you; however, if you leave things open, you might be forced to view nauseating exchanges between your ex and a new partner mere weeks after the breakup.

In this case, it is totally reasonable to tweet about your strong belief in karma and block everyone whom he or she has ever been friendly with.

Even if you’re strong enough to delete your ex online, it’s very probable that you’re still silently following his or her every move, analyzing every tweet and doing background checks on his new romantic interests.

Your friends might refer to you as “the stalking pro” who can “literally find anyone on the Internet.”

OPINIONS

23

slide for love Image courtesy of Tumblr

If my friends were to say this about me, which they don’t, I would take it as a compliment! But probably don’t advertise this skill set.

Be warned: Although the temptation is great, by devoting your time to monitoring someone else, you are really only hurting yourself. You are attaching yourself to someone who is no longer a part of your life, and it’s all too easy to become obsessive.

The best option is to disconnect from social media entirely, letting yourself heal free from public scrutiny. Unfortunately, most people just don’t have the willpower to quit.

The final stage of the social media breakup game is the nostalgic one. As I said before, entire relationships (now in shambles) are compiled, organized chronologically and saved publicly through social media.

Every single good memory you and your ex had together is permanently preserved so that every time you decide you’re happier without him, the photos can prove you wrong.

These constant reminders of the past make it incredibly hard to move on.

To overcome this hurdle, work on your selfcontrol and find a friend who feels comfortable forcibly tackling you, stealing your phone and deleting all reminders of the past.

Reflecting on my own social media experience post-breakup evokes mixed feelings. On the one

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hand, my relationship survived because social media allowed my ex and I to stay connected when I went to college. However, social media also kept me tied to him for much too long after we ended the relationship.

I’m not proud to admit that, in the weeks after my breakup, it was of the utmost importance for me to portray myself as carefree and happy, though in reality, I was the opposite.

However, coping with my breakup on social media proved to me that the only person worth convincing of your happiness is yourself. It didn’t matter how many fun pictures I posted; those first few weeks were going to be hard. But time kept moving and somewhere along the way, I wasn’t faking it anymore. Come August, I realized I had had the best summer of my life.

Truly, the age of social media has changed the breakup game forever. Rather than a fair fight where both leave bruised and bloody, breakups are like gambling, where moves are made in secret and the winner takes all.

The real paradox of social media is that as we attempt to make ourselves look better for the benefit of our ex and for the silent audience that is the Internet, we fail miserably at moving on. The person that you become on social media after a breakup is most often the person you want your ex to believe you are. So is playing pretend worth winning the breakup game?

February 2015

Diatribe

THE ranting MONTHLY about the most trivial concerns on campus

A

Lauren Flick / Photo Assistant

“Well, I guess Bapst just cracked under the pressure, and that’s why it’s no longer the 24-hour library.”

Sophia Neff, CSOM ’17

By Maddie Webster / Associate Opinions Editor Design by Emma Blackney

BAPST WANTS ITS SPIRE BACK

nd so do we, the students of Boston College. This lopsided version of Bapst is all the Class of 2018 knows. If my Psych 101 class taught me one thing, it’s that there are about a billion things that can go wrong during the early stages of childhood development. Growing up in a world with three spires can’t be healthy for our eaglets.

Oh dear, the trauma that will occur when the fourth spire finally reappears will be devastating—on that note, maybe we should give up on Spire #4 and maintain the status quo. Who needs four spires anyway? I’ll tell you who! We do. In the words of Stuart Smalley, Al Franken’s SNL character, “We’re good enough, we’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like us.” We deserve a library with no lack of spires. When I gave my grandma a tour of the campus, I almost took a detour around Bapst. I kept telling myself, “Just get her inside, show her Gargan Hall, she’ll never notice the missing spire.” I was right; she didn’t notice. But I did. And I felt ashamed. I want to know how those tour guides can look themselves in the mirror after showing prospective students the oncebeautiful Bapst Library. You’re all posers! Bapst is no better than O’Neill in its current state. Until the spire is returned to its rightful place, I will don my hood and shades on my way in. I bite my thumb at thee, Tri-Spired Bapst. Despicable.

“Every time I go to do laundry I pray I don’t end up slapping someone.”

Marian Wyman, A&S ’18

“There’s a missing spire?”

Harry Cheung, A&S ’17

“It’s always awkward when you’re taking out a girl’s underwear and she walks in.”

Michael Jamieson, A&S ’15

BACK AWAY FROM MY LAUNDRY F

Lauren Flick / Photo Assistant

act: Nobody enjoys doing laundry. First of all, it’s a time commitment of at least two hours if you factor in the possibility of waiting for a dryer to free up and the subsequent time spent folding and hanging. Yes, clean sheets are delightful and, yes, it’s pretty cool to have clean underwear, but sometimes it feels like it’s just not worth the effort. Not to mention the stress. The thought of the person whose laundry you are currently digging out of the washing machine walking into the laundry room feels like what I imagine to be the feeling of being caught downing a tub of ice cream. Nobody wants to resort to such lowly behavior as handling other people’s soggy undergarments. Which is why for the first semester of freshman year, I refused to. I thought it was barbaric. But it’s a student-eat-student world out there; You can either pillage your neighbor’s laundry or spend twenty minutes waiting for them to do it. While you’re waiting, you can admire the hairball-lint amalgamations plastered to the floor. Be careful you don’t lean into the detergent-based goo oozing out of the washing machines.

Oh, laundry day. What a joy.

OPINIONS

25

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Pete Frates’

ULTIMATE

POLAR PLUNGE

By Mike Kotsopoulos / Assoc. Sports Editor Design by Alex Flynn

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BC Gavel

February 2015

N

ancy Frates scans Good Harbor Beach. At first sight, the ocean’s calm sun-kissed waters evoke memories of early August. Children laughing, waves crashing and, of course, the sound of ice-splashed tourists echoes in this lingering, distant mirage.

Summer 2014 belonged to the Ice Bucket Challenge, no doubt about it.

Despite the faded tans and melted ice, its memory is alive and well here in the dunes of Gloucester.

The days of people hauling blankets and coolers to the beach have passed — until next summer, at least. As those long days of last summer dwindled, so did the health of Mrs. Frates’ son, Pete, the face of the Ice Bucket Challenge and the ALS movement. Pete, who graduated from Boston College in 2007, no longer has the ability to speak. He resides in a wheelchair, watching as life goes on around him—a prisoner in his own body.

No more crowds line the North Shore’s waters hoping to catch a quick dip. Rather, on December 27, a 600-person crowd gathered for the longest plunge of their lives.

An “Ultimate Ice Bucket Challenge?”

Call it whatever you want, Plunge 4 Pete began long before pouring anything over anyone’s head—three years ago, actually. Upon receiving his diagnosis of ALS (amyotropic lateral sclerosis), Pete Frates received his imminent death sentence in those three simple letters.

Commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, ALS attacks the nervous system, gradually degenerating the motor neurons of a patient. Paralyzed, the body resembles a lifeless shell, unable to function properly without the aid of modern medical machinery.

Paralysis expands beyond the lungs and into the wallets of those desperately trying to keep those same lungs functional. On average, Frates’ family spends about $280,000 a year meeting the needs of their ALS-afflicted son.

Treatment costs escalate as the disease takes its corroding toll. According to the ALS Hope Foundation, in-home nursing, the management of secretions and even the regulation of progressive swallowing ensue before a patient opts to receive treatment at his or her weakest stage— the moment ALS steals the God-given ability to breathe. Invasive ventilation costs an estimated $153,252 to $366,852 per year, an enormous financial commitment.

Now, on top of those staggering medical bills, consider the life expectancy of those diagnosed with ALS. The ALS Association reports that, even with treatment, only 20 percent of those diagnosed with the disease live five years or more. That number decreases dramatically to only 5 percent when accounting for those living 20 years or more after their diagnosis.

The saddest part of all? No cure remains in sight. In fact, doctors who treat the disease remain completely baffled, seemingly light-years away from discerning the cause of progressive motor neuron destruction. All those

“ The ALS Association reports that, even with treatment, only 20 percent of those diagnosed with the disease live five years or more.” bills, yet half the battle remains lost.

To raise awareness for ALS research and the costs of supporting someone with the disease, Pete Frates and his family started Plunge 4 Pete in December of 2012. The idea appeared simple enough. Separate teams of “plungers” compete with one another to see which team raises the most money before diving into the icy, winter waters at Gloucester’s Good Harbor Beach.

Despite no team receiving a first place prize, something amazing happens. The plungers return year after year with larger numbers and even bigger hearts.

The first plunge drew a modest 150 people, which pales in comparison to last year’s 275 participants.

Aided by this past summer’s Ice Bucket Challenge social media craze, the 2014 Plunge 4 Pete generated its most successful outcome to date. The

SPORTS

27

third annual plunge raised over $100,000 for numerous ALS charities while generating the attention of local ABC, CBS and FOX news networks.

ESPN even reported live from Gloucester the day of the plunge, the same day Pete’s beloved Boston College Eagles faced off against Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl.

People of all walks of life gathered on the shore that day in another effort to strike out ALS. Even Kyle Connors, a 35-year-old man diagnosed with ALS from the New England area, plunged on December 27. For Connors, the event proved that he no longer fought his immense uphill battle alone. He ran to the water side-by-side with hundreds of people who felt his pain and who gave a little bit of themselves to help Connors endure his endless struggle, if just for one more day. The freezing water proved welcoming to a man who may no longer feel such a sensation three months from now.

If anything, Plunge 4 Pete stands as a powerful reminder of the fight against ALS. So often people forget the cause exists without a constant post or tweet on their newsfeed. A 20-second video fails to give the cause justice. Rather, any movement proves its worth in longevity. That explains why Plunge 4 Pete bookmarks how far ALS awareness grew over the last six months, far from its final chapter.

People often claim actions speak louder than words. Certainly Pete Frates has no words left to offer. However, Plunge 4 Pete breathes a life of its own, exuberating a lasting message best left by the late Jim Valvano:

Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”

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BC Gavel

February 2015

The Highs and Lows of BC Football

By Katie McGirney/ Assoc. Features Editor Design by Olivia DiNapoli

HOT USC (9/13/14) This one is obvious. USC was ranked ninth and we were nowhere near being ranked. Everyone was preparing for and expecting the worst. However, on the night honoring Welles Crowther, The Eagles dug deep and pulled off the upset of the century. The 37-31 win was most definitely the best of the year. However, we should probably work on our sloppy field storming technique…

UMASS (8/30/14) The Eagles started off a little slow, entering the half leading 6-0. The scoring really took off when the second half began, and the Eagles went on to win it 30-7. This was Tyler Murphy’s first game donning the Maroon and Gold, and he did not disappoint, rushing for 118 yards and throwing a season-high 173 yards. Murphy’s premier performance got SuperFans excited for the year to come.

Florida State (11/22/14) Many are probably confused with this one, but this was probably one of the most underrated games of the season. Florida State came into this game at 26-0; much like the USC game, most expected it to be a blowout. The game was tied at 17 going into the final seconds, but with six seconds left, Florida State scored a field goal and took this one 20-17. Talk about heartbreaking.

Syracuse (11/29/14) The victory was sweet, giving BC its second consecutive seven-win season. What was even sweeter was the 28-7 final score. But wait, it gets better: in this game, Tyler Murphy broke the ACC record for rushing yards by a quarterback with a tally of 1,079 yards in his first and final season for BC.

OVERALL SEASON Virginia Tech (11/1/14)

Addazio’s second season as BC’s head coach did not disappoint, but it also didn’t blow us out of the water. We proved that we are a serious contender; however, we still have a long way to go. We competed with some of the nation’s best, but we underperformed against some of the weaker teams. We missed eight PATs this season, but on the bright side, we were scoring enough touchdowns to even get those chances. If this team makes the necessary improvements in the off-season, it can come back hitting even harder next year.

It seemed as though everything went right in this game for the Eagles. The game got off to a scary start when the Hokies struck first and quickly took the lead, but from that moment on, the Eagles fought hard and didn’t look back, coming out with a 33-31 victory.

With their sixth win of the season, the team officially became bowl eligible. To top it all off, Murphy also broke the Boston College record for rushing yards by a quarterback, previously set by none other than Doug Flutie.

Clemson (10/18/14)

Louisville (11/8/14)

This was a close one, and we went into the second half trailing by three. The Eagles were able to pull ahead in the final quarter, but another missed PAT would lead to their demise. Trailing by four in the final seconds, on fourth and one, the stadium fell silent as Murphy’s pass sailed towards the end zone to Tyler Rouse. And just as the ball slipped through Rouse’s hands, we saw the game slip away with a final score of 17-13.

The Eagles took a lead early in the second quarter, but that was short lived. Down by four late in the fourth, an attempted comeback was halted when Tyler Murphy threw an interception, and Louisville never looked back. The Cardinals came back and outscored us 21-6 in the second half of the game, truly twisting the knife. With a final score of 38-19, not only was this game the biggest loss of the year for the Eagles, but it was also the most points allowed by the BC defense all season.

Colorado State (9/27/14) This game was particularly disappointing, coming after two great wins. Superfans and parents in attendance expected an easy game for the Eagles. Going into the fourth quarter, we had a 21-14 lead. A missed field goal doomed us though. The Rams came back and won the game in the fourth quarter with a final score of 24-21. This loss still stings.

Penn State (12/27/14) They gave us hope, and then they crushed our delicate souls like it was nothing. We thought the game was ours. We were taking THE legendary Penn State into overtime. Who even thought that was possible? But then, in true BC fashion, we lost the game per our eighth missed PAT this past season. Classic.

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JUST HOW GOOD IS THE ACC?

By Joe Castignetti / Sports Editor Design by Alex Flynn

Billy Foshay / Gavel Media

I

n the world of college sports, conferences are often a topic of discussion. Organized primarily by region, these conferences usually consist of roughly a dozen colleges that boast some of the most heated rivalries yet root for and support each other to preserve the prestige of the respective conference.

Like a competitive group of friends, colleges try to outperform each other, but cheer each other on against outsiders. Accordingly, there is a certain sense of pride that comes from being in a conference. Of course, every college wants to say that it belongs to the best conference. But which conference is really the best?

There are plenty of conferences, but for the expediency of this article, we’ll examine a largely agreeable top

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five. Among the viable candidates are the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Big 12, the Big Ten, the Pacific-12 Conference (Pac-12) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

While all of these conferences contain at least a handful of impressive football teams, the SEC takes the cake.

With powerhouses like no. 1 Alabama, no. 7 Mississippi State, no. 9 Ole Miss, no. 13 Georgia, no. 16 Missouri, no. 19 Auburn and no. 23 LSU—among others— the SEC gets the unanimous nod.

As for the other four conferences?

Each has a handful of powerhouse teams, but they’re difficult to definitively rank. For example, the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 all contain roughly four top 25 teams. Each conference also has at least one top 10 team.

In terms of football, when all is

February 2015

said and done, you have the SEC in a league of its own, while the other four conferences lag somewhere behind.

There is plenty of debating to be done, but let’s leave it at that.

Basketball is a somewhat similar story. Comparatively, the Pac-12 is an anemic conference, but the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC are all also powerhouse conferences. The difference, here, is that while the SEC is the cornerstone of college football, the ACC is the cornerstone of college basketball.

With teams like Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, Syracuse, Miami, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh—among others—the ACC is simply the best basketball conference in the nation. The Big 12, Big Ten and SEC all fall somewhere behind the mighty ACC (perhaps in that order), but again, the exact rankings are up for debate.

Now that the NCAA’s golden geese— football and basketball—have been covered, how about other sports? Well, the SEC takes baseball, with the ACC and Pac-12 trailing closely behind. But the ACC definitely takes soccer by a wide margin, with the Pac-12 somewhere far in its peripherals. The SEC takes golf, but the ACC and Pac-12 nip at its heels.

However, the ACC absolutely dominates lacrosse, with no other conference even close.

When speaking comprehensively, we’ve narrowed down a list of five to a list of three—the ACC, the Pac-12 and the SEC. However, with such a feeble presence in college basketball and with no real dominance in other sports, the Pac-12 is out. So we’re really left with two conferences.

The ACC and SEC are both incredibly dominant and well-rounded conferences. The ACC reigns over sports like basketball, soccer and lacrosse, yet fervently competes in every other major sport. The SEC controls sports like football, baseball and golf, yet also stays relevant in every other major sport.

For many, it’s a matter of opinion.

However, there is one possible tiebreaker: the ACC is a top-level conference in every major sport. No matter what the sport, you’ll almost always find the ACC in the top three.

The SEC—while hugely respectable— lacks a presence in sports like soccer and lacrosse. Simply put, the ACC is the most well-rounded conference right now.

Back to our original question—just how good is the ACC? Undisputedly, it’s a top-five conference. To most, it’s one of the best conferences. And to some, it truly is the best athletic conference.

As for you, the reader? You’ll have to decide for yourself.

Billy Foshay / Gavel Media

SPORTS

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