the daily free press

8
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University The Daily Free Press Year XLIV. Volume LXXXVI. Issue XXII www.dailyfreepress.com [ ] By Felicia Gans Daily Free Press Staff By Ben Gagne-Maynard Daily Free Press Contributor Divided MassGOP adopts polarized platform for party 3 Boston-area medical residency programs named some of best in nation GOP, see page 2 HOSPITALS, see page 2 Today: Snow/High 29 Tonight: Cloudy/Low 10 Tomorrow: 31/10 Data Courtesy of weather.com WEATHER BU entrepreneurs join club, make new connections, page 5. New study indicates college is worthwhile investment, page 3. KEEP PAYING Men’s lax remains winless with loss to Providence, page 8. NETWOR(K)TH FRIED BY FRIARS By Andrew Keuler Daily Free Press Staff BU BUS, see page 2 Students express frustrations with BU bus system Several Boston University students are concerned with the effectiveness of the BU Shuttle, one of the primary transportation ser- vices students utilize on campus. Though students said they were glad the resource existed at BU, many said they were frustrated with the shuttle’s shortcomings. “On a busy day, it can be pretty overcrowd- ed,” said Jonathan Smith, a College of General Studies freshman. “I’ve actually seen some kids have to be turned away from the bus be- cause they can’t fit on.” Kiersten Utegg, a sophomore in the Col- lege of Communication, has garnered over 500 signatures for a petition on Change.org advocating the BUS double the buses running at peak hours to ensure that the BUS commute is “more safe, more accessible, and more ef- ficient” for BU students. Smith also said the BUS should expand the range of services it offers. “There are many times during the week where I feel like there are many people who would benefit from taking the bus but the bus isn’t running, such as weekends during the day,” he said. Gabriela Lopez, a senior in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said she found the BU app that tracks the buses prob- lematic. “The app doesn’t work very well so you never know when it’s going to come,” she said. “It always updates at random times. I feel like I’m always waiting more than I should, be- cause it should come every 10 or 20 minutes.” Students also said there was a discrepancy between the officially stated purpose of the BU Shuttle and the role students expect it to play. “The primary purpose of the weekday BU Shuttle is to provide a convenient form of transportation to and from the Charles River and Medical campuses,” said William Hajjar, the director of BU Parking and Transportation As a record-breaking number of students are applying and enrolling in medical schools across the country, three local hospitals, Mas- sachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, were listed among the premier medical residency programs in the country. The results of the survey published Thurs- day, conducted by U.S. News & World Re- port and the medical networking site Doxim- ity, were determined through the responses of over 9,000 physicians. MGH received the highest overall nominations as the country’s top residency program, closely edging out Bal- timore’s Johns Hopkins University Hospital and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Hasan Bazari, program director of inter- nal medicine residency at MGH, said the pro- gram’s high rating in the survey will not stop his hospital and its residency program from continuing improvements in quality of care for patients and quality of training for students. “We obviously want to improve the care of our patients and want to strive to prepare the next generation to contribute to the health of our nation,” he said. “This ranking will not have a big impact on our plans to work on im- proving the program to be the best it can be.” U.S. News & World Report and Dox- imity said their survey should not be con- strued as a ranking or considered nation- ally representative, but it represents the first major effort to measure doctors’ views on a formative part of medical training. Bazari said the survey results were flatter- ing, but ratings from one report may not ac- curately determine the best quality programs. “This is the first time such a poll has been done,” he said. “It is hard to conclude we have the best program based on this.” Doximity and U.S. News & World Re- port also compiled statistical data on research grants, clinical trials and peer-reviewed publi- cations among national hospitals. In these rat- ings, Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center was listed as the most productive re- search and sub-specialization residency hos- pital in the nation, with Brigham and Wom- In a heated debate over the social issues dividing the Massachusetts Republican Party, state committee members accepted a proposal Tuesday that redefines conservative beliefs about abortion and same-sex marriage, despite recent efforts from gubernatorial candidates to move MassGOP toward the middle of the po- litical spectrum. Massachusetts Republican committee members accepted the platform by a 52-16 vote after the platform committee unveiled the proposal at a meeting held at Boston Univer- sity’s Agganis Arena. Presented by Amy Carnevale, chairman of the Platform Committee, the proposal defines the goals and viewpoints of MassGOP and re- shapes the values of the party, with linguistic alterations and additions to the social issues of abortion and same-sex marriage. The approved platform will be ratified at the Republican state convention in March. “These issues evoke passion for a reason,” Carnevale said. “We recognize that there’s dis- agreements. Many of us would have preferred to write the language differently, but this was the compromise that we came up with. It re- flected the good will on both sides of these is- sues.” Restructuring the final section of the plat- form, entitled “Values”, the members of the Platform Committee added phrases to the sec- tions about abortion and same-sex marriage, saying “every instance of abortion is tragic” and they “believe the institution of traditional marriage strengthens our society.” After the presentation of the platform pro- posal, committee members addressed the body, debating the linguistic changes and largely fo- cusing on the two social issues. William Gillmeister, who served on the Platform Committee, said he would have loved to see the values section stronger with regard to pro-life and traditional marriage sentiments, but he understands that compromise is neces- sary. “The language that’s here is a nice balance and compromise that will move this party for- ward,” he said. “We talk about a big tent, and there are a lot of conservatives, such as myself, GABRIELLE CHIN/DAILY FREE PRESS CONTRIBUTOR Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital medicine residen- cies ranked first and third best in the country, respectively, in a recent survey of physi- cians on the quality of postgraduate training programs. KYRA LOUIE/DAILY FREE PRESS CONTRIBUTOR Recent cold weather has prompted students to complain more than usual about BU Bus delays. Boston University’s Pre-Law Review un- dergraduate student journal will return to publi- cation in late April after a semester-long hiatus due to changes within the executive board and reconstruction of the club. Founded in 1991, the Pre-Law Review fea- tures commentary on legal issues to promote awareness within the pre-law community of resources available to students interested in ap- plying to law school, according Merrisa Pico, the president of the Pre-Law Review. “We are re-launching the Pre-Law Re- view this current semester because it is such a great club and publication,” Pico, a College of Communication junior, said. “The PLR gives students the opportunity to be published and to cover a topic that they are truly passionate about. At the same time, it informs the BU com- munity of today’s important legal issues and cases.” Published once per semester, the Pre-Law Review will allow BU undergraduate students interested in law to both contribute to and learn more about BU’s law community, Pico said. “All of our contributors and staff are under- graduates, the large majority of which will be applying to law school,” she said. “However, the PLR staff spans a variety of majors, schools and class years, as no specific academic or ex- periential requirements are necessary to work on the PLR.” Although the PLR will return in the same style as its predecessor, PLR officials are look- ing to modernize the layout and vamp up stu- dent engagement within the PLR community. “The content of the PLR will be the same,” she said. “However, this semester, we will be up- dating the layout design. Additionally, we are trying to make the club more cohesive than it has been in the past by having more fundraisers and events.” Pico said the PLR would also sponsor events devoted to helping students prepare for the Law School Admission Test and apply for law school. “The PLR contributes both to the pre-law community and the overarching BU commu- nity by providing a platform for students who want to talk about and inform others about cur- rent legal issues,” she said. “For the pre-law community specifically, the PLR holds events devoted to helping those preparing for the LSAT and applying to law school.” Edward Stern, the faculty advisor for the PLR and assistant dean for pre-law advising, said the PLR can help students cultivate their interest in law while improving their writing skills. “Students can get the opportunity on their own to really think about different legal issues,” he said. “Writing is important within the realm By Adrian Baker Daily Free Press Staff BU Pre-Law Review set to return after semester-long break PRE-LAW, see page 2

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Page 1: The Daily Free Press

Wednesday, February 26, 2014The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

The Daily Free PressYear XLIV. Volume LXXXVI. Issue XXII www.dailyfreepress.com[ ]

By Felicia GansDaily Free Press Staff

By Ben Gagne-MaynardDaily Free Press Contributor

Divided MassGOP adopts polarized platform for party

3 Boston-area medical residency programs named some of best in nationgoP, see page 2

hosPitals, see page 2

Today: Snow/High 29Tonight: Cloudy/Low 10

Tomorrow: 31/10

Data Courtesy of weather.com

WEATHER

BU entrepreneurs join club, make new connections, page 5.

New study indicates college is worthwhile investment, page 3.

KEEP PAYING Men’s lax remains winless with loss to Providence, page 8.

NETWOR(K)TH FRIED BY FRIARS

By Andrew KeulerDaily Free Press Staff

Bu Bus, see page 2

Students express frustrations with BU bus system

Several Boston University students are concerned with the effectiveness of the BU Shuttle, one of the primary transportation ser-vices students utilize on campus.

Though students said they were glad the resource existed at BU, many said they were frustrated with the shuttle’s shortcomings.

“On a busy day, it can be pretty overcrowd-ed,” said Jonathan Smith, a College of General Studies freshman. “I’ve actually seen some kids have to be turned away from the bus be-cause they can’t fi t on.”

Kiersten Utegg, a sophomore in the Col-lege of Communication, has garnered over 500 signatures for a petition on Change.org advocating the BUS double the buses running at peak hours to ensure that the BUS commute is “more safe, more accessible, and more ef-fi cient” for BU students.

Smith also said the BUS should expand the range of services it offers.

“There are many times during the week where I feel like there are many people who would benefi t from taking the bus but the bus isn’t running, such as weekends during the day,” he said.

Gabriela Lopez, a senior in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said she found the BU app that tracks the buses prob-lematic.

“The app doesn’t work very well so you never know when it’s going to come,” she said. “It always updates at random times. I feel like I’m always waiting more than I should, be-cause it should come every 10 or 20 minutes.”

Students also said there was a discrepancy between the offi cially stated purpose of the BU

Shuttle and the role students expect it to play.“The primary purpose of the weekday BU

Shuttle is to provide a convenient form of transportation to and from the Charles River and Medical campuses,” said William Hajjar, the director of BU Parking and Transportation

As a record-breaking number of students are applying and enrolling in medical schools across the country, three local hospitals, Mas-sachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, were listed among the premier medical residency programs in the country. The results of the survey published Thurs-day, conducted by U.S. News & World Re-port and the medical networking site Doxim-ity, were determined through the responses of over 9,000 physicians. MGH received the highest overall nominations as the country’s top residency program, closely edging out Bal-timore’s Johns Hopkins University Hospital and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Hasan Bazari, program director of inter-nal medicine residency at MGH, said the pro-gram’s high rating in the survey will not stop his hospital and its residency program from continuing improvements in quality of care for patients and quality of training for students. “We obviously want to improve the care of our patients and want to strive to prepare

the next generation to contribute to the health of our nation,” he said. “This ranking will not have a big impact on our plans to work on im-proving the program to be the best it can be.” U.S. News & World Report and Dox-imity said their survey should not be con-strued as a ranking or considered nation-ally representative, but it represents the fi rst major effort to measure doctors’ views on a formative part of medical training. Bazari said the survey results were fl atter-ing, but ratings from one report may not ac-curately determine the best quality programs. “This is the fi rst time such a poll has been done,” he said. “It is hard to conclude we have the best program based on this.” Doximity and U.S. News & World Re-port also compiled statistical data on research grants, clinical trials and peer-reviewed publi-cations among national hospitals. In these rat-ings, Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center was listed as the most productive re-search and sub-specialization residency hos-pital in the nation, with Brigham and Wom-

In a heated debate over the social issues dividing the Massachusetts Republican Party, state committee members accepted a proposal Tuesday that redefi nes conservative beliefs about abortion and same-sex marriage, despite recent efforts from gubernatorial candidates to move MassGOP toward the middle of the po-litical spectrum.

Massachusetts Republican committee members accepted the platform by a 52-16 vote after the platform committee unveiled the proposal at a meeting held at Boston Univer-sity’s Agganis Arena.

Presented by Amy Carnevale, chairman of the Platform Committee, the proposal defi nes the goals and viewpoints of MassGOP and re-shapes the values of the party, with linguistic alterations and additions to the social issues of abortion and same-sex marriage. The approved platform will be ratifi ed at the Republican state convention in March.

“These issues evoke passion for a reason,” Carnevale said. “We recognize that there’s dis-agreements. Many of us would have preferred to write the language differently, but this was the compromise that we came up with. It re-fl ected the good will on both sides of these is-sues.”

Restructuring the fi nal section of the plat-form, entitled “Values”, the members of the Platform Committee added phrases to the sec-tions about abortion and same-sex marriage, saying “every instance of abortion is tragic” and they “believe the institution of traditional marriage strengthens our society.”

After the presentation of the platform pro-posal, committee members addressed the body, debating the linguistic changes and largely fo-cusing on the two social issues.

William Gillmeister, who served on the Platform Committee, said he would have loved to see the values section stronger with regard to pro-life and traditional marriage sentiments, but he understands that compromise is neces-sary.

“The language that’s here is a nice balance and compromise that will move this party for-ward,” he said. “We talk about a big tent, and there are a lot of conservatives, such as myself,

GABRIELLE CHIN/DAILY FREE PRESS CONTRIBUTORMassachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital medicine residen-cies ranked first and third best in the country, respectively, in a recent survey of physi-cians on the quality of postgraduate training programs.

KYRA LOUIE/DAILY FREE PRESS CONTRIBUTORRecent cold weather has prompted students to complain more than usual about BU Bus delays.

Boston University’s Pre-Law Review un-dergraduate student journal will return to publi-cation in late April after a semester-long hiatus due to changes within the executive board and reconstruction of the club.

Founded in 1991, the Pre-Law Review fea-tures commentary on legal issues to promote awareness within the pre-law community of resources available to students interested in ap-plying to law school, according Merrisa Pico, the president of the Pre-Law Review.

“We are re-launching the Pre-Law Re-view this current semester because it is such a great club and publication,” Pico, a College of Communication junior, said. “The PLR gives students the opportunity to be published and to cover a topic that they are truly passionate about. At the same time, it informs the BU com-munity of today’s important legal issues and

cases.”Published once per semester, the Pre-Law

Review will allow BU undergraduate students interested in law to both contribute to and learn more about BU’s law community, Pico said.

“All of our contributors and staff are under-graduates, the large majority of which will be applying to law school,” she said. “However, the PLR staff spans a variety of majors, schools and class years, as no specifi c academic or ex-periential requirements are necessary to work on the PLR.”

Although the PLR will return in the same style as its predecessor, PLR offi cials are look-ing to modernize the layout and vamp up stu-dent engagement within the PLR community. “The content of the PLR will be the same,” she said. “However, this semester, we will be up-dating the layout design. Additionally, we are trying to make the club more cohesive than it has been in the past by having more fundraisers and events.”

Pico said the PLR would also sponsor events devoted to helping students prepare for the Law School Admission Test and apply for law school.

“The PLR contributes both to the pre-law community and the overarching BU commu-nity by providing a platform for students who want to talk about and inform others about cur-rent legal issues,” she said. “For the pre-law community specifi cally, the PLR holds events devoted to helping those preparing for the LSAT and applying to law school.”

Edward Stern, the faculty advisor for the PLR and assistant dean for pre-law advising, said the PLR can help students cultivate their interest in law while improving their writing skills.

“Students can get the opportunity on their own to really think about different legal issues,” he said. “Writing is important within the realm

By Adrian BakerDaily Free Press Staff

BU Pre-Law Review set to return after semester-long break

Pre-laW, see page 2

Page 2: The Daily Free Press

2 Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Courtesy of printmysudoku.com SOLUTION ON PAGE 4

en’s Hospital coming in second. Several residents said the re-sults of the survey are proof of Boston’s growing promi-nence in the medical community. Alex Sherban, 26, of Fenway, said Boston’s collection of great medical minds and hospitals create a learning environment that allows young adults to go to school and start

their careers in and around the city. “As I’m trying to volunteer and do clinical stuff now, it’s great to live in Boston because I know there are so many opportunities and so many hos-pitals to work with,” he said. “There’s also this strange dichotomy between people who live here as average stu-dents and people who know they can eventually work at these great places, and you know that probably means they’re a cut above the rest.”

Adam Diers, 24, of Brighton, said Boston’s quality hospitals are a testa-ment to the quality of education that is provided to students in the city. “Everybody knows that Boston is the place for the best education, so it kind of makes sense that you’re going to have the best hospitals in the nation,” he said. “Just know-ing that we have the fi rst [and] third rated hospitals makes you feel safe if something was to happen.”

that don’t feel included in that tent. With this kind of a platform, we will be feeling as though we’re being in-cluded, and that’s the important thing that we have to understand and real-ize.”

Mindy McKenzie-Hebert, an-other Platform Committee member, said she agrees with everything in the values section, but the MassGOP plat-form must also acknowledge the so-cial beliefs of the younger generations to avoid turning them away from the conservative movement.

“I really want us to have a genera-tion of Republicans coming up, and our kids don’t see this as being an is-sue.” she said.

Other committee members, such as Platform Committee member Jeanne Kangas, said they could not accept a platform with language that is disrespectful to the Common-wealth’s gay and lesbian citizens.

“If I recall, we’ve had marriage equality in Massachusetts, as inter-preted by our highest court under the

Massachusetts state constitution, for nearly a decade now,” Kangas said. “Does that mean it’s getting to be tra-ditional?”

Platform Committee member Matthew Sisk said the adoption of this proposal will exclude members of the Republican Party from feeling accepted, which will ultimately harm the effi ciency and success of Mass-GOP.

“Since gay marriage has become law in the Commonwealth, has your life been negatively affected?” he said. “Have you noticed rioting and pillaging in the streets? Does the sun not still rise? Furthermore, knowing many in the gay community to be card-carrying Republicans, why take steps to exclude them from our vot-ing ranks when we teeter on the verge of political insignifi cance? We need to stand united together tonight as a party.”

In the wake of the proposal adop-tion, the party’s leading gubernatorial candidate, Charlie Baker, has moved toward the middle of the political

spectrum on the social issues that cre-ated controversy in the state commit-tee meeting.

“Charlie is pro-choice and re-spects a woman’s right to make de-cisions about her medical care,” said Tim Buckley, spokesman for Baker’s campaign. “Charlie is and has always been a strong supporter of marriage equality. [His] focus as a candidate for Governor is on creating good jobs, improving our schools and strength-ening our communities.”

Carnevale, in an effort to appease the concerns of committee members prior to the vote, said at least 80 per-cent of the platform can be agreed upon by all members of the state committee, and the remainder must be negotiated to satisfy both sides and bring success to MassGOP.

“The issues are the reason that we’re all here,” she said. “It’s why we feel it’s important to be Republicans and elect Republicans. So the fact that we’re passionate about the issues we believe in is a good thing and having that debate is important.”

of academia and law, so the oppor-tunity to publish in the Pre-Law Review or any journal is good. You want students to learn how to com-municate as well as possible.”

The executive board’s recent ef-fort to reorganize their community is strong evidence of the PLR’s move into the future, Stern said.

“Because it requires money to print and distribute, anything that makes us more effi cient is a good thing,” he said. “ It takes pressure off

the students who are writing and edit-ing.”

Kevin Outterson, a professor of law at BU, said PLR provides stu-dents valuable information about law school and legal careers.

“[The Pre-Law Review] gives students ideas about law school and accurate information in terms of what sort of courses to take in undergrad, how to apply to law school, and what law schools are looking for – all of that is great,” he said. “It is similar to other pre-professional programs that

help students get ready for a profes-sional career in law.”

Strong communication skills are ideal to students looking to apply to law school in the future, Outterson said.

“In general, law schools are not looking for a specifi c type of stu-dent, like a political science major or one who has taken certain courses,” he said. “What they want to see is a strong ability to read and analyze, to communicate well through writing and orally, and to work in teams.”

Services. “Its secondary or ancillary purpose is to provide intra-campus transportation service on the Charles River campus to those students liv-ing in university residence halls at the extreme ends of campus.”

Students expressed some confu-sion about the BU Shuttle’s role on campus.

“Most students use it for Com-monwealth Avenue,” said Nabeel Nissar, a CGS freshman. “It takes more than 30 minutes to walk from one end of campus to the other. The distances are so long on Common-wealth Avenue, you always have to judge whether or not to wait. There’s always that unexpected uncertainty.”

Students said they were con-cerned about the shuttle arriving on time.

“There are a number of factors within an urban environment that may delay shuttles from being timely at any point in the day,” Hajjar said. “These factors range from construc-tion projects, inclement weather, ac-cidents or other issues which create traffi c along the shuttle routes.”

Student Body President Dexter McCoy said the bus’ tendency to ar-rive behind schedule is a relatively unavoidable problem.

“The bigger issue is that buses are overcrowded when students get on in the morning to go to class,” McCoy, a College of Communica-tion senior, said. “We desperately need more extra-long buses during the morning commute to alleviate the congestion students experience.”

Hajjar said the BUS sees a large volume of riders on weekday morn-ings.

“There are more than 130 classes that start at 8 a.m., during our peak service times,” he said. “There are more than 5,000 students in those classes, and other students, faculty and staff may be attempting to get on the shuttle at this time as well from West campus.”

McCoy said some issues students have with the BUS are inevitable.

“I do believe there are problems with the BU Shuttle, but not all of them are problems that can necessar-ily be solved,” McCoy said. “These include buses that are late because of traffi c and accidents.”

Students said they understood that some of the diffi culties the BUS faces are largely inescapable.

“I know [delays] have to do a lot with traffi c,” said Maria Gonzalez, a College of Arts and Sciences senior. “You can’t do much about it.”

LGBT community main focus of MassGOPgoP: From Page 1

Journal prepares students for professional law careersPre-laW: From Page 1

hosPitals: From Page 1

Residents: Hospitals show Boston’s nat’l prominence

SG Pres.: Delayed campus buses unavoidable in most situations

Bu Bus: From Page 1

Page 3: The Daily Free Press

By Taylor DiChelloDaily Free Press Contributor

Public concern forces officials to fix toxin levels

Pollution, see page 4

The permitted levels of lead and arsenic in the soil at development sites are being decreased based on public concerns, according to a new policy proposed by the Massachu-setts Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP is revising their policy this week, taking public opinions that were received during a three-month period into account. The level of lead allowed in the first three feet of soil would be decreased from 300 to 200 parts per million and the level of arse-nic would be increased to 20ppm, ac-cording to Ed Coletta, spokesperson for DEP.

Levels of chemicals 15 feet be-low the surface would be unchecked, since they would not come into con-tact with humans.

“It won’t have a big impact on construction projects in general be-cause the levels that [the developers] have to clean in the surface soil are much lower,” said Susan Chapnick, president at New Environmental Ho-rizons, Inc. “They still have to clean the surface soil where it could poten-tially be reached … [and DEP] in-creased the depth that [the chemical] has to be buried.”

Chapnick said although some of the allowed levels of individual chemicals are rising, altogether there would be a smaller amount of chemi-cal materials in the ground.

“DEP was following their man-date of protecting human health and the environment. A lot of the stan-dards actually went down in the sur-face soil where you would have the most potential exposure to children and to humans,” she said. “That is, if you look at all the individual chemi-cals, besides arsenic … the fact that some standards went up is directly re-lated to their kind of exposure.”

Chapnick is on board with the DEP’s decision because she said they try to tailor to the public’s concerns. According to her, the original policy was to allow 300 ppm of lead into the soil, but the public was concerned that those levels were not safe enough,

As a struggling economy brings the value of college education at schools such as Boston University to question, a new study released Monday finds the investment is well worth the economic rewards.

“The earnings premium for go-ing to college, on average, lasts throughout a lifetime,” said Peter Doeringer, a professor of econom-ics at BU’s College of Arts and Sci-ences. “The lifetime value of a col-lege degree depends on the choice of discipline, type and location of jobs and a variety of demographic characteristics.”

The study, which was conducted by the Urban Institute, evaluated the economic worth of a college ed-ucation by measuring the financial benefits higher education can pro-vide throughout a lifetime to find that the economic returns outweigh the price of tuition.

“Higher levels of educational at-tainment are associated with higher earnings for a variety of reasons,” the study stated. “Whether workers

have some college but no degree, an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree or an advanced degree, they are likely to earn more than they would without postsecondary education. They are more likely to be employed and if they are em-ployed, more likely to be working full time.”

Doeringer said the economic value of a college education is most evident when comparing the aver-

age earnings of those with a degree against those without one.

“The combination of rising de-mand for college-grads and falling earnings among people without col-lege degrees has continued to make a college degree a good investment relative to the alternative of not having a degree,” Doeringer said.

Although the study points to the

College degree worth cost, new study suggestsCampus & City Wednesday, February 26, 2014 3

Private occupational schools in Massachusetts will undergo several reforms in order to make processes more efficient and provide financial protection for students, the Division of Professional Licensure announced on Monday.

These new changes will involve improving the efficiency of the ap-proval and certification process for new instructors, changing the re-viewing process of school programs and streamlining the license renewal process.

“These changes are designed to simplify and clarify the licensing pro-cess for schools, so that they can more easily comply with the law and focus on training students for good jobs,” said DPL Director Mark Kmetz in the Monday press release. “At the same time, agency resources can be fo-cused toward oversight and enforce-ment where necessary to ensure that students are getting what they pay for.”

These three changes are in addi-

tion to many others that came after private occupational schools switched from being under the authority of De-partment of Elementary and Second-ary Education to being under DPL.

According to the release, DPL analyzed existing regulations, poli-cies and procedures. DPL is assisted in this process by an advisory board, including 12 members all with vary-ing but extensive experiences in the private occupational school system.

“Occupational schools provide valuable training for the future Mas-sachusetts workforce,” said Barbara Anthony, chair of the Advisory Coun-cil on Private Occupational Schools. “These streamlined licensure proce-dures will help these schools focus on providing their students the fun-damental education that they need to succeed in their respective trades and professions.”

The instructor approval and cer-tification process will be shortened from a six-page form, not counting the necessary proof of certifications and transcripts, to a two-page form. Jean Nebesar, school director of the

American Academy of Personal Training, said this has been an issue in the past and improving the process will be very helpful.

“The instructor approval process in the past has been pretty intense, and although it’s a good process, it posed an issue when we needed to

replace an instructor without much notice and had classes going on that needed to continue,” she said. “Al-lowing for that process to account for time-sensitive situations is helpful. I can’t say whether the new process

By Kelsey Newell Daily Free Press Staff

occuPational, see page 4

Policy changes to improve private occupational school system

By Taryn OttaunickDaily Free Press Staff

college Worth, see page 4

MAYA DEVEREAUX/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFUrban Institute released a paper Monday written by researcher Sandy Baum that calculates the payoff of a college degree once a student graduates and has to find employment.

homeWork, see page 4

Homework helpful for K-12, study indicates

Homework assignments are bene-ficial to K-12 students for various rea-sons, including better preparedness for institutions of higher education such as Boston University, according to a survey published Tuesday by the University of Phoenix.

“Homework has become an op-portunity for real-world learning and career preparation,” said University of Phoenix College of Education As-sistant Dean Ashley Norris in a press release. “Teachers are connecting homework to current events, tying science and math concepts to specific jobs and integrating technology into homework to keep students more en-gaged.”

Ninety-eight percent of high school teachers said homework ben-efits K-12 students, primarily through allowing teachers to see how well their students understand lessons, the survey stated.

The survey also found that many K-12 teachers felt homework helps students develop problem solving and time-management skills, as well

as encourages students to relate the material they learn in class to the real world.

Several students said the level of rigor and amount of homework they were asked to complete in high school was much less demanding than what is required here at BU.

“In high school it was pretty man-ageable. I had a lot of extra time over the weekend,” said Lisa Anammah, a sophomore in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Science. “For college, things pile up on each other, but in high school they [instruc-tors] were more conscious of the fact that I was taking other classes. They didn’t want to overburden us.”

Anammah said she found home-work in college more stressful than that she had to complete in high school.

“The homework for college, the most burdening thing about it is you have to combine it with studying for tests at the same time,” she said. “Tests come on different dates, they come at different times and then you have to balance them with other ma-terial you have due for that class. It’s

pretty overwhelming at times.”Juliann Tefft, a College of Engi-

neering junior, said taking Advanced Placement classes high school pre-pared her well for the homework she has to complete at BU, though her workload at the university is more demanding.

“I have no free time,” she said. “I maybe have six hours Friday and Sat-urday that are my time, but other than that I’m always either working at my job or doing schoolwork. It definitely gets stressful. It’s kind of like a never-ending wheel. I just work through it.”

Dan Dischino, a sophomore in BU’s College of Arts and Sciences, said his high school homework load was less difficult than what he faces at BU.

“I probably had an hour and a half, two hours of homework per night in high school,” he said. “It was mostly just a page of math problems or something, it wasn’t anything that in-depth.”

Dischino said the rigor of his homework in high school did not prepare him for the amount of home-

By Drew SchwartzDaily Free Press Staff

LAURA VERKYK/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFThe Massachusetts Division of Professional Literature announced Monday several changes made to the licensing procedures for private occupational schools.

The following reports were taken from the Boston Universi-ty Police Department crime logs from Feb. 19 to Feb. 25.

Woman assaulted after confronting drunken man

On Friday morning, officers were called to 20 Gerald Rd. af-ter receiving an anonymous call for a reported assault and battery in progress. A woman had gone outside to find out what was going on when she heard yell-ing and screaming. The victim confronted a drunk white male who was in the street making the noise. The man yelled at her and pushed her away, then fell to the ground himself. He then picked himself up and ran into his house. When the officers ar-rived, they identified the suspect and are investigating the situa-tion it further.

Taxi driver assaulted by six female clients

At 2:02 a.m. on Saturday morning, a taxi driver called the police after reporting he had been assaulted by six women. According to the victim, he picked up the six women down-town and gave them a set price of $40 before driving them to 37 Greycliffe Rd. At this point, one woman wanted to be driven to a different address. When told that would cost extra, the six women got out of the taxi, yell-ing at the driver. He got out to close a door that they left open when he was hit by one of the females. When the officers ques-tioned the suspect, she claimed the driver hit her. This incident is being further investigated.

Attempted breaking and entering through back doorOn Saturday at 3:40 a.m., of-

ficers responded to a reported breaking and entering at 86 Dale St. in Brookline. According to the victim, she woke up when her house alarm went off. It was apparently triggered in the base-ment. She went to investigate and found that the back door leading to her yard was slight-ly opened and the glass on the top of the door was broken. No suspects were found within the house or backyard.

Two males run off with pizzas from deliveryman

A pizza deliveryman called the police at 2:28 Sunday morn-ing from Boston College’s Walsh Hall at 356 Chestnut Hill Ave. He reported that when he arrived to deliver two pizzas, two males approached him and one took the pizzas and ran off with them. The victim chased the male and took back the piz-zas. He then called the person who had ordered the pizzas in order to deliver them. It turned out to be the suspect’s phone. Incident will be further investi-gated.

City Crime Logs

Feb.19 to Feb. 25By Kelsey Newell

Daily Free Press Staff

Page 4: The Daily Free Press

4 Wednesday, February 26, 2014

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overarching value of earning a col-lege degree, it likely examines data from recent decades, said Randall Ellis, a CAS professor of econom-ics.

“The world has changed dra-matically in the past decade as the world has become fl atter and small-er, so that things that were true 20 years ago may not be so true to-day,” Ellis said. “Still, the evidence is that the world values advanced skills that come from higher edu-cation more than lower level skills such as result from only a high school education.”

Ellis said while college educa-tion is valuable, not all educations are created equally despite having equal tuition costs.

“Tuition plus fee costs at some other Boston area universities are within a few thousand dollars of BU’s tuition, but one can ques-tion whether the identical degrees from such schools are as valuable as those from BU and other uni-versities,” Ellis said. “Much of the recent evidence in the diminishing

value of universities is related to the proliferation of weak college programs that do not necessarily increase earnings as much as strong colleges and universities.”

Rui Min Sim, a School of Man-agement freshman, said BU is worth it for both the economic re-turn and the experience of being a university student.

“I’m taking advantage of the entire experience here,” Sim said. “It’s not just the school itself, it’s also being in the community, how much you are involved in the school, and also taking advantage of what Boston has for you. I think that is in itself an investment more than just tuition itself.”

Michael Schade, a senior in BU’s College of Communication, said paying for college involves taking the risk that it might not be worth the tuition.

“I know I could have gotten a di-ploma from another school for less money,” Schade said. “… But the way I look at it is it’s just a decision that I made and I think that it has its rewards. Its upsides, whether they justify what it costs — we’ll see.”

so the DEP lowered it to 200ppm, a more accepted level by the public.

“[The DEP] is trying to stay on the forefront of what’s the latest science,” she said.

Gregory Vasil, chief executive of-fi cer at Greater Boston Real Estate Board, assures the public that some of

the arsenic levels occurring in soil, es-pecially fi fteen feet underground, are naturally occurring.

“When agencies decide to change rules they base it on science, the risk exposure and risk pathways,” he said. “The most risk to people is either in-halation or ingestion. I’m pretty com-fortable if the scientists down at DEP looked at this and found there’s not a

risk to people.”Vasil, who once was the head of

the Massachusetts Environmental Crime Unit, said for real estate, there are three factors: soft costs, hard costs, and land costs. The hard costs being what it would cost to clean an area that would be developed on.

To read the rest of this story, please visit dailyfreepress.com.

accomplishes this, as we haven’t yet needed to use it, but we’ll see.”

Nebesar said she valued the way the DPL took into account feedback given during town hall meetings.

“I appreciated the attention given to the instructor application process, as this is an important topic for our school,” she said. “It’s imperative for instructors to go through an ap-plication process, but there needed to be an expedited option for situations requiring fast turnaround in order to minimize curriculum or schedule in-terruptions for ongoing classes.”

Two changes will be made regard-

ing the reviewal of the institution itself. First, instead of reviewing all the school’s classes, only the courses that directly contribute to the fi eld in which they are training people for will be reviewed.

Additionally, the license renewal process will be adjusted so that it is more productive and concise. Finan-cial information will need to be sub-mitted 90 days prior to the expiration date and renewal applications 60 days prior. Before these changes, all ma-terials were due at the same time, 30 days prior to the expiration date.

Some residents said improving the productivity of the private occupa-tional school system is vital to mak-

ing sure these students are receiving suffi cient training.

“If the old ways were keeping some students from having teach-ers for classes when one teacher left the school, that’s really bad,” said Meghan Reynolds, 22, of Roxbury. “It’s already alternative education, it needs to be quality.”

John Nguyen, 46, of Back Bay, said these changes may not be drastic enough.

“It’s good that they’re trying to make the system more effi cient,” he said. “But these don’t seem like changes that will really affect or im-prove the students’ education.”

work he has at BU.“In high school you have to get it

done, but in college it’s expected for you to do it,” he said. “When I fi rst got here, I didn’t really do any of my readings because it didn’t harm me at all if I didn’t do it. But when a test

came, I wouldn’t do as well.”Lucia Olmos, a junior in the

School of Management, said her ex-periences in the International Bacca-laureate program at her high school prepared her for college-level course-work and homework.

“In high school, time management was something that was crucial,” she said. “For college, you have the syl-

labus and it’s up to you. If you don’t have that time management set well, you can lose track.”

Olmos said her workload at BU is overburdening at times.

“It’s stressful when I have a lot of readings for all of my classes,” she said. “You don’t have enough time to do everything, so you have to priori-tize.”

occuPational: From Page 3

Improved Mass. schools streamline processes

Student: Time management ‘crucial’ to successhomeWork: From Page 3

CEO: Arsenic in soil does not pose risk to residentsPollution: From Page 3

Prof.: Advanced skills acquired at higher ed. valued worldwide

college Worth: From Page 3

Page 5: The Daily Free Press

Spotlight Sta�

Maggie Bunzel

The fi rst day Esteban da Cruz, a School of Man-agement senior, walked

into the College of Arts and Sci-ences classroom that was hold-ing the bi-weekly meeting for the Entrepreneurship Club, he was surprised to see two things: its incredibly small membership and its remarkable potential. He had heard about the club from his friend and fraternity brother who was the president at the time, two years ago when da Cruz was a sophomore. Recognizing what the club could be one day, da Cruz waited, observed and got ready to implement change when the time came for the club to have a new president.

Fast-forward two years. Da Cruz is both the proud president of the club and a student about to graduate, ready to enter the bit-ter business industry as well as to pass the club on to someone else’s leadership. The club now has a to-tal of around 25 members on the executive board, with new faces joining every week. The club also has a website in the works and a social media presence growing rapidly.

“This semester, I see a lot more direction in what we’re doing,” da Cruz said. “I’m trying to imple-ment a semester long, on-going program of mentoring, funding and access for students to be able to create a start-up.”

The Entrepreneurship Club was started in 2004 by Dave Bisceglia, with a focus on giving students an outlet for advice and mentorship in the realm of start-up businesses. The club’s main event is the “Start-Up Weekend,” which is their biggest and most successful occasion. It is a three-day affair in the ballroom of the School of Management where students have the ability to create prototypes for businesses, share ideas and converse with business owners and creators. Over the course of the three days, students are given the tools and the knowl-edge for creating a start-up com-pany on their own.

In addition to the “Start-Up Weekend,” the club has a speaker series twice a month where stu-dents can learn about creating and running a business. Every other Thursday, the club holds a networking event at a local coffee shop, Venture Café, where stu-dents have access to share their ideas with professionals.

Aside from its bi-weekly meet-ings, the club has a large presence in the George Sherman Union as well as at campus job fairs and SPLASH, Boston University’s largest on-campus club fair. In ad-dition, the club is constantly im-

proving its virtual presence with a Facebook page, Twitter account and even an Instagram. The club’s new website should be completed by the Fall 2014 semester.

On Feb. 18, the club held an event called “The Entrepre-neurial Experience,” where the co-founder and CEO of Custom-Made, Mike Salguero, spoke to the members about raising capital and building a brand. Custom-Made is a custom, online market-place devoted to connecting each buyer with unique and one of a kind items.

The majority of the club’s members have one start-up in the works. But even if the members simply have an idea, the club’s purpose is to function as a way to communicate those ideas and turn them into something greater, something tangible. One of the club’s leaders works for a lo-cal company called Dorm Room Fund, a great example of student venture capitalism. The club’s Facebook page states that it is a “student organization that focuses on growing the entrepreneurial community at Boston Univer-sity.” Its Twitter page stresses the slogan, “Empowering you to make your visions reality.”

Blair Lineham, a School of Management senior, joined the Entrepreneurship Club as a fresh-man, inspired by fellow students’ unique start-up ideas. In his fresh-man year, the club went through periods of ups and downs and was

more focused on a handful of big-ger events, rather than including mentorship and a speaker series.

“Early on when I started BU, joining clubs was a great way to meet people,” Lineham said. “Ideas slowly started coming to me and I loved the concept of having the freedom to create my own destiny.”

By his sophomore year, the club had more structure and Line-ham became more involved. In his senior year, he became the Vice President of Operations and was in charge of organizing this semester’s speaker series. This past semester while Lineham was studying abroad in New Zealand, he moderated a panel called Com-pany Culture and worked closely with the CEO of Boloco, a popu-lar burrito restaurant franchise throughout Boston. In addition, he advises fellow club members on how to transform their ideas into a company.

There are three main criteria for choosing a speaker to partici-pate in the club’s speaker series. These include being BU alum, having experience creating a start-up company and being young, en-ergetic and inspirational.

“We choose speakers who can empower people,” said Lineham. “We want speakers on the young-er side who are more motivated and who can inspire students.”

This past semester the speak-ers included Arian Radmand, the founder of CoachUp, which con-

nects athletes to coaches as well as Bisceglia, the founder of both the Entrepreneurship Club and The Tap Lab, a social, mobile gaming company.

The club’s main goal is to act as a networking organization, ad-vancing dreams of entrepreneur-ship for undergraduates. From meeting with successful entrepre-neurs to sharing ideas with one another, the club is an easy way to build relationships with those in the small business world and start new business adventures. It is a completely student-based club organization, aimed at in-spiring entrepreneurship across BU’s campus.

Da Cruz says he is committed to stepping up the club’s market-ing and spreading the word about the melting pot that is the Entre-preneurship Club. As the presi-dent, da Cruz has a lot of respon-sibilities: acting as a mentor for the members, giving them advice, even holding offi ce hours where they can get one-on-one help with him. However, da Cruz urges the members to seek help in one an-other.

“I like to keep it decentral-ized,” da Cruz said. “I encourage other members of the club to help each other so everyone can be learning new things and bouncing ideas off of each other.”

As da Cruz prepares to gradu-ate, he is readying himself to en-ter the business world, gearing up to create his own start-up compa-

ny. He has become more in touch with the business eco-system of Boston, mesmerized by the city’s rich supply of entrepreneurial tal-ent.

“The people who are entre-preneurs in Boston have an en-ergy about them,” da Cruz said. “You’ll have a hard time fi nding that elsewhere.”

Da Cruz currently works part time at a yoga studio as well as at local start-up company as an in-tern. In addition, he just went out on an interview for a start-up in Boston.

“I’m very interested in sus-tainability,” da Cruz said. “I don’t want to compromise the ability to improve the world. All I want to do is fi x it.”

Lineham, like da Cruz, plans on graduating and remaining in Boston in hopes of working for a local start-up company. In the fu-ture, he plans on creating a busi-ness of his own, but he’s not sure what fi eld he wants to explore yet. What he does know is that the club gave him an outlet to share ideas, get advice and become mo-tivated to make change, he said. What really stuck out to Lineham about his four years in the club is the drive and charisma that all the members have.

“The enthusiasm and the en-ergy stands out to me way more than an actual idea,” Lineham said. “People are so driven. It is incredible to watch.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF BU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUB Students in BU’s Entrepreneurship Club listen to Dave Bisceglia, founder of the group and the CEO and Co-Founder of The Tap Lab, a social gaming company.

Want to be under the Spotlight? Email [email protected]

Business is Entrepreneurship Club helps ambitious students turn visions

into reality throughout decade BOOMING

Page 6: The Daily Free Press

6 Wednesday, February 26, 2014 opinionThe Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

44th year F Volume 86 F Issue 22Sarah Kirkpatrick, Editor-in-Chief

Brian Latimer, Managing Editor

The Daily Free Press (ISSN 1094-7337) is published Monday through Thursday during the academic year except during vacation and exam periods by Back Bay Publishing

Co.,Inc., a nonprofit corporation operated by Boston University students. No content can be reproduced without the permission of Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc.

Copyright © 2013 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Rachel Riley, Campus Editor

Andrew Battifarano, Sports Editor

Heather Goldin, Multimedia Editor

Brooke Jackson-Glidden, Features Editor

Alice Bazerghi, City Editor

Trisha Thadani, Opinion Editor

Maya Devereaux, Photo Editor

Emily Hartwell, Layout Editor

Shakti Rovner, Office Manager

The Daily Free Press

Let’s keep it secular

Misconceptions

TATE GIESELMANNBefore coming to China, I had almost no

idea what to expect of the Chinese society. Though traces of Chinese culture exist in America, they are often fragmented into an abstraction that doesn’t fully capture the essence of the culture. Similarly, in my experience, the American media’s portrayal of Chinese life alternates between the tra-ditional Chinese stereotypes (the Great Wall, pandas, etc.) and China’s totalitarian government and recent issues with air pol-lution.

Regardless of my intent, I came to China only knowing the information I had gleaned from this mainstream media, my Chinese language classes and trips to Quan’s Kitch-en in Allston. Having only lived in China for two weeks so far, I am not exactly an expert on the Chinese culture. However, there are a few common misconceptions that I’ve noticed since arriving in Shanghai.

The first misconception is, of course, about the food. Chinese food in America is confined mostly to General Tso’s Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pork— in reality, the food in China is far more diverse. Though Shanghai is noted around China for its relatively sweet cuisine, food in Shanghai makes a meal at Quan’s Kitchen back home feel like a trip to the candy store.

On the opposite side of this topic, au-thentic Chinese food is not as different from its American doppelgangers as some suggest. In fact, the ingredients are mostly the same. I’ve seen common American Chi-nese dishes like dumplings, pork buns and fried rice all over the place in Shanghai. I had Sweet and Sour Pork in the Fudan Uni-versity dining hall the other night.

More than anything, rice is omnipresent. Just how corn is in everything in America, I can’t eat a meal in China without eating rice. I was eating an egg dish the other day and even found rice in that — I even get worried that it’s in the water sometimes. Before I came to China I understood that rice was a large part of Chinese culture; re-gardless of what I knew before I came to China, the sheer presence of rice in Shang-hai has given me an interesting instance of culture shock.

Another conception of Chinese culture that I found to be false is the idea that Chi-na is a mostly manufacturing-based econo-my. For most of my childhood, nearly ev-erything that was manufactured in a factory had a “Made in China” label on it. From Nike shoes to plastic toys, the fact was that China’s cheap labor market allowed Ameri-can corporations to outsource labor and

reap the benefits. However, in recent years, the growth

of the Chinese economy has created a bur-geoning middle class and a growing ser-vice sector. More often than not, American companies are now turning to China for China itself, rather than the cheap labor it provides. Shanghai is a clear example of this; I’ve been to a few of the local malls and stores such as H&M, Uniqlo and Apple that are common in America have different branding, marketing and products catering to the Chinese market. Though China is still by and large a manufacturing economy, it’s interesting to see the manifestation of the growing middle class in Shanghai.

Of course, my experience in this regard is limited to the city environment of Shang-hai. China has higher income disparity than many other nations, and though the middle class has grown in recent years there are still 150 million Chinese living under the United Nations poverty line. Interestingly enough, living in a metropolitan area like Shanghai I have been in a sort of bubble. I am eager to travel outside of the city and experience as much of China as possible.

Another common idea about China that I have found interesting is the Communist Party and governance in China. Though China is often made out as a strict, totalitar-ian regime, the influence of the government is only noticeable to a foreigner such as myself when I try and find it. For instance, while taking the bus and subway there are often TV screens readily displaying news, sports and occasional videos of cute ani-mals.

However, I didn’t fully realize that the news displayed on the Chinese televisions was censored until I checked BBC for the first time in a week or so. Instead of pic-tures of cute animals, I was confronted with images of the recent overthrowing of the Ukrainian government. I have been somewhat interested in this subject, and I wrote a final paper last semester on the na-tion’s future. It was shocking to me that I had gone days without hearing so much as a peep about an issue with such worldwide ramifications. It seems that the government takes to playing a more behind-the-scenes role than I had previously thought — I’m interested to study more of this as I begin my internship and classes in the coming weeks.

Tate Gieselmann is a College of Arts and Sciences junior studying abroad in China. He can be reached at [email protected].

A SemeSTer in SHAnGHAi

More than 50 years after the Supreme Court struck down the practice of state-spon-sored prayers in public schools, Alabama law-makers recently passed a bill that will restore the practice. Alabama State Representative Steve Hurst proposed setting aside 15 minutes at the start of each school day to have teach-ers give a verbatim reading of a congressional opening prayer.

Hurst’s argument of the legality of this practice is that Congress and the Alabama Legislature begin their days with a prayer, and if they do, public schools should too.

“If you are reading the prayer verbatim that was entered into the Congressional re-cord, then how can this be unconstitutional?” Hurst said.

In the mid-1900s, the Supreme Court ruled state-sponsored prayers in school unconstitu-tional on the terms that it infringed upon the Establishment and Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment, which states, “Con-gress shall make no law respecting an estab-lishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Hurst said this mandated “prayer time” could be used for educational purposes, in that teachers could pick prayers that pertain to the day’s lesson. Additionally, if students do not want to partake in the daily prayer, they may excuse themselves from the lesson. But, in a state as conservative as Alabama, it would be hard to imagine that a young kid would feel comfortable excusing themselves from the prayer that most of their peers are probably partaking in.

It is not fair to give a child the ultimatum of participating in a prayer or not. This is a decision way too big that will probably just go over their heads anyways, and also depend on whatever their peers are doing. Such a prac-tice would make a kid from a less religious family feel awkward around their more reli-gious friends. Social pressures at young ages are enough, and there is no need to create laws that would bring religion into it.

Having a mandatory moment of silence during the day would be acceptable, however having a teacher read a verbatim prayer every day is just inappropriate. Instead of designat-ing this time specifically to “prayer time,”

kids would benefit much more if they were allotted daily downtime where they could sit and reflect instead. This way, the secular stu-dents can have time practice their faith in one corner while the non-religious students can sit and think in another.

This daily downtime could give kids a chance to mentally and emotionally regroup. It would give a hyper kid time to calm down, and a less social kid a break from social pres-sures.

If Hurst is adamant on allotting this time to prayer, the time shouldn’t be specified to just one religion. He should use this legislation as an opportunity to teach impressionable kids tolerance at a younger age, as well as open up the discussion about different religions. Such a daily practice would be better than not teaching kids about religion at all.

Another proposed legislation by Alabama lawmakers would allow students to initiate prayer in school as well as express their re-ligious views in their work for class. A spon-sor of this bill, Alabama State Representative Mack Butler, said such a law would give teachers clear guidance as to what kind of expression is and isn’t allowed in their class-room.

In regards to both of these proposed Ala-bama legislations — it is 2014 and these shouldn’t even be questions we are still ad-dressing in our country. Religion should not be such a sensitive topic, and there shouldn’t be any legislation deciding where, when and how a child can pray. Entirely closing off the topic of religion or only discussing one belief is what breeds intolerance and, in the same re-gard, forcing it upon someone creates resent-ment.

If a child would like to pray during his or her down time, they should be allowed to pray. And if they would like to use that time to think about their classroom crush, then so be it. There should be no legislation about whether or not a child can or cannot pray dur-ing school hours — if anything, making laws about it just perpetuates the controversy.

So, with respect to the First Amendment, let’s keep it as secular as possible, Alabama, and let the kids spend free time the way they want to.

Terrier Talk Reflections

neknominate, a recently popular social media drinking game, has led

to a reported five deaths. Parents and activist groups have blamed social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter for perpetuating this game.

The Daily Free Press wanted to hear if Boston University students think it is fair that these social media sites

are being blamed for this dangerous game.

Here’s what some of them said. INTERVIEWS AND PHOTOS

BY ANN SINGER

“Yeah, social media is a way for people to get information across quickly, like seeing how cool some-thing is and being like, ‘I wanna try it!’”

-SMG freshman

“Social media can play a role in what people see, but I think it’s more an outlet to ex-press yourself, not a cause [for the craze].”

- SAR junior

“Facebook isn’t solely re-sponsible. People do crazy stuff regardless.”

-SMG sophomore

“No, Facebook wasn’t created for that purpose. It just so happens to be a cata-lyst.”

-ENG sophomore

BEN CERVENY

BRITTANYKAMSON

KYLE DIONELA

JENNABHALOO

The opinions and ideas expressed by columnists and cartoonists are their own and are not necessarily representative of the opinions of The Daily Free Press.

Page 7: The Daily Free Press

Wednesday, February 26, 2014 7

second of the game. BU had a chance to regain the lead when freshman midfielder Sam Talkow controlled the ball after win-ning the draw and sprinted down the field on a fast break. He got a shot off, but it sailed wide.

Talkow’s success in draw controls has not gone unnoticed. He won 14-of-21 draws he took during this game and has now won 42 of the 73 he’s taken all sea-son, which gives him about a 57.5 percent success rate so far.

The Friars answered with two goals within 50 seconds of one another to extend the lead to 6-4 — the first an absolute rock-et that came from far out and the second the result of a passing play to attack Robert Caffrey, who was waiting by the far post to flick the ball in.

Redshirt freshman midfielder Patrick Donnelly scored his first of the season to pull BU within one, but Corboy’s third goal of the game re-extended the Provi-dence lead to two as the first half came to an end.

Only two goals were scored in the third quarter and both by Providence, widening the scoring gap to four goals.

The Terriers had the first goal of the final quarter 1:45 in when freshman mid-

fielder James Clarke put one away with a little help from Myers.

Carson-Banister made a series of great saves throughout the next 10 minutes to keep his team within three, but the Friars broke through and scored their 10th and fi-nal goal of the game with 5:17 left to play. Carson-Banister ended the contest with 14 saves.

Myers completed his hat trick with 45 seconds remaining in the game, but once again, BU fell short of the win and remains in search of its first.

According to Polley, turnovers and lack of offensive execution hurt BU in the end, but the first-year coach had good things to say about his defense.

“There were just some careless plays and lack of execution,” Polley said. “Play-ers [were] trying to force it trying to make a play, and the plays weren’t there. [Provi-dence] got a couple sticks on passes and good opportunities turned into turnovers, and we were on our heels for most of the second half.

“The defense played well. [Carson-Banister] played another good game early and late, but we just turned the ball over on our clear and we gave up a couple op-portunities … I would say defense was the strength today — that and facing off.”

Myers records 1st-ever BU hat trick

get injured, or not be able to make the ad-justment from college to pro ball.

In basketball and football, top draft picks are immediately thrown into the fray, with mixed results. (Anthony Ben-nett, anyone?) As a result, fans tend to lose interest in players who they won’t soon see at the professional level. Look at the media frenzy around freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. They’ll be in the NBA next year, so fans care about them much more than comparable baseball talents. Basically, fans don’t have the patience to follow the individual talents playing col-lege baseball. And that’s a shame. But children are also a factor. Kids that start

playing baseball at a young age tend to view the sport as one of two extremes: a wonderful, challenging sport steeped in history, or a boring, old-fashioned waste of time that caused their father yell and scream at them when they were 11 years old. I’m not trying to shoehorn everyone who’s ever played baseball into these two points of view. But it’s a disturbing trend among young people: they just don’t have the time for the game, despite the fact that time is the one thing a kid has in abun-dance. And they don’t have the patience for it because the action isn’t nearly as constant and bone-jarring as football or as explosive and aesthetically pleasing as basketball.

Another thing is that many fans in the

northern part of the country just aren’t exposed to as much college baseball cov-erage as fans down south, partly due to weather conditions. Southern schools have already started playing this season, whereas schools up north are still buried by snow and frost. So northern fans, and the northern media, which still wields sig-nificant influence over national opinion, rely on football and basketball to fill their winter months.

The College World Series, played each year in Omaha, Neb., is one of the most exciting sports tournaments that I’ve ever seen. Do you want drama? Check. Do you want talent? Check. Do you want a Cin-derella team to root for? There seems to be one every year. Want to see baseballs jump

off of aluminum bats like rabbits leaping out of a hole? You’ll see it.

There’s really nothing not to like about college baseball, which is why it’s so frus-trating when no one cares about it. If you ask a major university about baseball, they’ll say all the right things. Of course we care about baseball! We promote our baseball team just as much as we promote other sports. We just made upgrades to our field!

But it won’t be the truth. Of course there are exceptions. California State-Ful-lerton, Rice University and certain other schools in the country focus their athletic budget on baseball the way they should. But they’re the exception rather than the rule. Our national pastime deserves better.

McKay: College World Series provides excitement, Cinderella teamsmckay: From Page 8

men’s lacrosse: From Page 8

sophomores, like [sophomore midfielder] Ally Adams and [sophomore defenseman] Remy Nolan, and more from seniors [mid-fielder] Becca Church and [midfielder] Sydney Godett on an offensive standpoint.”

So far this season for the Terriers, red-shirt sophomore attack Mallory Collins had the led offense, scoring five goals through the first two contests. Additionally, fresh-man attack Taylor Hardison has notched three goals and one assist to hold the sec-ond spot on the team in total points.

“Taylor Hardison has been fearless and I’m really happy with what I’ve been seeing from her,” Robertshaw said. “Mal-lory Collins has been doing great too, but I know she can give us more. She knows she can give us more. We’re not going to find success from just two or three girls.”

UMass on the other hand comes into to-morrow’s game a riding a three-game win-ning streak. The Minutewomen were vic-torious in their games against Vanderbilt University, the University of Connecticut and the College of the Holy Cross.

Junior goalkeeper Rachel Vallarelli has started all three games for the Minutewom-

en and has been strong in doing so. Her goals-against average sits at 5.12 and she also boasts a .517 save percentage. At the other goal, the Terriers will look to fresh-man goalie Caroline Meegan, who owns a 16.45 goals-against average and .349 save percentage in the early part of the season.

The UMass roster holds eight of its top 10 scorers from last year and nine starters, including leading scorer and 2013 Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year, senior attack Katie Ferris. During her junior year, the New York native tallied an impressive 52 goals and 23 assists to lead the team. Thus far in 2014, she has posted eight goals and 10 assists.

Not only are they ranked as one of the top teams in the nation, but the Minute-women are also favored to win the Atlan-tic 10 championship this year, which they have won the past five seasons.

Despite the snow that is scheduled in to-morrow’s forecast, the game will be played regardless of the weather conditions.

“[The game] is going to be a battle,” Robertshaw said. “The weather is never nice and we are prepared for that. The ranks don’t matter. We’re excited and want to go out and follow our game plan.”

UMass returns 2013 top performersWomen’s lacrosse: From Page 8 men’s BasketBall: From Page 8

Terriers desire home-court advantage from the free-throw line — picked himself up and prepared for another five minutes of basketball.

Midway through the overtime period, Army picked up its first lead of the game, jumping ahead of the Terriers by a point. In the remaining minute-and-a-half, the Terri-ers were able to clamp down defensively and force turnovers, which led to multiple free-throw attempts to give BU the 86-81 victory.

If this previous meeting is any indica-tion, the Black Knights will likely put up a strong fight throughout the contest. Should the Patriot League Tournament begin to-day, Army would have the No. 5 seed in the playoffs and be forced to travel to No. 4 seed Bucknell (14-13, 9-7 Patriot League). Until the seeding and standings are decid-ed, though, both teams will be fighting to get home-court advantage for the quarterfi-nal round of the tournament and will look to close out the season with a few victories.

Meanwhile, the Terriers are looking to get back on track and pick up some mo-mentum for a potential run at their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2010-11 season.

D.J. Irving, who was battling the flu

before Sunday’s loss, will be in much bet-ter shape than he was just a few days ago. However, another player the Terriers need to be at his best over the next few weeks is senior forward Dom Morris.

Morris started off the year red hot, scoring in double figures in the first three games of the season. He seemed poised to continue, and possibly improve upon, his impressive performance during his junior season last year. Unfortunately for the Ter-riers, he has been inconsistent the past few games. In BU’s game against American University, the forward put in 16 points and seven rebounds in the win. The next game, though, he only scored six points.

The Terriers could certainly benefit from improved play from the senior as BU goes into a high-pressure tournament setting where any game could be the last game.

Despite clinching home-court advantage through the semifinals, the next two games are crucial for the Terriers as they pursue its first Patriot League title in March. With the conference tournament looming, Jones said he is taking it one game at a time, keeping his focus on Wednesday’s contest against Army.

“I am confident that my guys will be ready to go tomorrow,” Jones said.

She also leads the Patriot League in free-throw percentage with an impressive mark of 91.9 percent.

“Minato is just legitimate,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “We’re just going to always know where she is … and hopefully make other people beat us. She can just score in so many ways. She’s very crafty with the ball, she’s got a wonderful handle and she can go left, right, shoot the three. She’s an exciting player so we’re just going try and contain her.”

Minato showed how lethal she can be the last time these two teams met, registering 32 points on the night, shooting 54.5 percent from the field. She also sunk 6-of-8 3-point attempts and both of her opportunities from the charity stripe.

“This time around we’re sure more aware of Kelsey Minato,” Greenberg said. “She’s a big-time scorer and we’re definitely going to hopefully contain her a little bit more. We know we’re not going to shut her down, but we’re ready for her and our players are ex-cited for the opportunity to play her again.

Minato has proved a force to be reckoned with all season long and has been Army’s highest scorer in 18 of its 26 games so far.

In those eight games where she did not top the score sheet, fellow guard Jen Hazlett took care of business.

Hazlett scores 13.8 points per game, which is good for second on the team, but leads her squad in rebounds per game with 7.1. Against the Terriers, Hazlett put up 22 points of her own and pulled down eight rebounds, leaving her just two boards shy of a double-double. She made nine of her 13 field goal attempts and knocked down 4-of-5 tries from beyond the arc.

Forward Olivia Schretzman has been a compliment to the scoring of those two, as she has grabbed 6.1 rebounds per game to go along with her 6.1 points a contest.

The Black Knights have compiled a strong season, and have the advantage over BU in most statistical categories. Greenberg said she knows her team has a challenge ahead of itself in keeping Army’s offense at bay, but said it has been a while since the squads last met and much has changed in that time.

“It feels like forever since we’ve played them,” Greenberg said. “Probably the biggest thing that’s changed is that we’re comfortable together. We kind of know what to expect from our opponent because we’re playing them the second time around. So there’s just a much higher level of comfort there.”

Minato powers strong Army offenseWomen’s hooPs: From Page 8

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Th e Bottom Line

In the biting cold on Tuesday evening, the Boston University men’s lacrosse team hosted Provi-dence College at Nickerson Field and sang a similar song as it did this past weekend, losing 10-7.

The game was another instance where the Terriers (0-4) could not put that last piece together and make a strong push for the win.

“We’re making progress, and we played hard,” said BU coach Ryan Polley. “I’m happy with the level of energy and how hard we’re playing, but our execution tonight wasn’t what it had been.

“We were good in the fi rst half and then the game I guess became a little too fast for us. We turned the ball over way too much and it just limited our opportunities to get chances at the goal.”

The game began as a defensive battle, with neither side getting on the board for the fi rst nine-and-a-half minutes. Freshman attack Adam Schaal was the fi rst one to break the scoreless tie with 6:21 left to play in the fi rst during a man-up situation.

Just more than 1:30 later, Providence (2-0) tied the game on a chance of its own on the man ad-vantage. The goal was scored by attack Alex Corboy, who fi nished the night with a hat trick — his second in as many games.

With 3:11 remaining in the opening quarter, the Friars took the lead on a goal from junior Buck McClure, who worked his way past the Terrier defense with a nifty crease roll and ultimately beat freshman goalkeeper Chris-tian Carson-Banister.

BU responded two minutes later when freshman midfi elder Craig Zebrowski fi red home a feed from sophomore midfi elder Sammy Davis to tie the score up at two.

The Friars retook the lead with 22 seconds left in the quarter, but freshman attack Pat Myers sent one past goalie Tyler Himes with three ticks left in the fi rst frame to knot the score at three apiece.

Myers continues to leave his mark on games — this one espe-cially — as he wound up netting the program’s fi rst hat trick by the end of the night. He now has six goals and fi ve assists through four games.

“He’s played well,” Polley said. “He’s been our best option on offense and he continues to make quick plays ... He’s defi nite-ly the quarterback of our offense, and he’s doing a terrifi c job.”

In the second quarter, Provi-dence scored a little over a minute after the opening draw. The Ter-riers then tied the score two min-utes later when Myers netted his

SportsThe Daily Free Press

[ www.dailyfreepress.com ]page 8 Wednesday, February 26, 2014

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFFreshman attack Pat Myers scored three times to record a hat trick in BU’s 10-7 loss to Providence.

Baseball is America’s pas-time. It’s the sport of Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter and hundreds of other superstars. For much of the 20th century, base-ball was king. It made the most money, attracted the most news coverage and created the heroes that fathers tell their sons about.

Professional baseball has since been supplanted by football as America’s sports cash cow. This is understandable as football is such a rabble-pleasing game, full of high-speed collisions and acrobatic plays. Baseball, on the other hand, is a thinking man’s pleasure. The pitcher engages in a chess match of sorts with each batter, hoping to outsmart and overpower him.

College football has likewise overshadowed college baseball. But this phenomenon has car-ried on further, to the point that college baseball is essentially a forgotten sport in the market, trailing both football and basket-ball in viewership, popularity and revenue. Why is that?

Like I said, it is easy to under-stand why baseball has fallen be-hind football at the college level. But college baseball is largely ignored, a fact that as a college baseball fan I find hard to stom-ach. It makes logical sense that schools promote heaviest the teams that make them the most money. At Ohio State Univer-sity, you’re much more likely to see an advertisement for Buck-eye football games than you are to see an ad for a baseball game. Similarly, at the University of Kentucky, you’re more likely to see a basketball ad than for some-thing about the Wildcat baseball squad.

One reason for college base-ball’s decline is relatively simple. As ESPN’s Skip Bayless wrote in a 2006 column, even the best college baseball players take several seasons to reach the Ma-jor Leagues. A stud pitcher you see playing for the University of North Carolina in 2014 is a guy you might see pitching for the Red Sox in 2018, if he develops as he should. In fact, he might not reach the majors at all. He might

MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH

The BU men’s lacrosse team fell in a close 10-7 contest to Providence College, P.8.

Quotable“ “The weather is never nice and we are prepared for that.

- BU coach Liz robertshaw on her team’s readininess despite the impending weather.

After losing the fi rst two games of the season to No. 1 University of North Carolina and the No. 3 University of Maryland, the Bos-ton University women’s lacrosse team will take on the No. 10/11 University of Massachusetts-Am-herst Wednesday at 3 p.m. on the road at McGuirk Stadium.

Led by two goals from junior attack Jenna Boarman, the Terri-ers came away with a thrilling 9-8 win in overtime last year against UMass (3-0) during the season-opening game. Although BU won the last matchup, UMass holds a 12-9 edge in the all-time series between the two.

Even though the game will be the team’s third road game, part of six straight road contests to start the year, BU is looking for-ward to playing in Massachusetts

for the fi rst time this season. “We are excited that the travel

is shorter and closer to home,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “It will be good for the girls that some of the local parents will be there to watch and support.”

The game will also be BU’s third consecutive match against a ranked team, but Robertshaw said the elite competition improves the team’s focus.

“[It was good to] get settled on what we want to do on attack and defense [in the fi rst two games,” Robertshaw said. “[It’s good to] play teams of a similar caliber so our girls are focused on compet-ing and battling every moment.

“[We are] looking for every-body to step up. We will gain suc-cess once everybody is a threat … [We want] to see more out of the

W. Lacrosse searches for 1st win

Women’s hooPs, see page 7

An unseen drama

men’s lacrosse, see page 7

By Gabbie Chartier Daily Free Press Contributor

mckay, see page 7

Foul Shots

Patrick McKay

Providence squeaks by men’s lacrosse

With two games remaining in the regular season, the stakes are high as the Boston University men’s basketball team clings to its fi rst-place spot in the Patriot League while preparing to play in the Patriot League Tournament next week.

Last Sunday, the Terriers (20-9, 13-3 Patriot League) hosted Bucknell University on Senior Day at Agganis Arena. It was a bitter day for the Terriers and their three seniors, as BU gave up a nine-point second-half lead and found itself on the wrong end of the 63-53 fi nal score.

Wednesday night, BU has to take on another tough opponent as it travels down to West Point, N.Y., to take on the U.S. Military Academy.

“It’s going to be like every game we’ve had this year,” said BU coach Joe Jones. “It’s going to be highly-contested. Both teams are going to play extremely hard and do what they think they need to do to win.”

The last time the Black Knights (13-14, 9-7 Patriot League) and Terriers faced off, BU held a 22-point lead with 16:48 remain-ing in the game. Led by senior guard D.J. Irving, who had one of his best performances of the year with 22 points, the Terriers were on course to run away with a vic-tory over Army.

In the ensuing minutes, how-ever, BU saw its lead slowly slip away. As the clock struck zero, D.J. Irving — who had just missed a contested fade away jumper

Army poses big threat for BU’s PL playoff seed

men’s BasketBall, see page 7

By Christopher Dela Rosa Daily Free Press Staff

Looking to get back on track for its fi nal two games of the regular season, the Boston University wom-en’s basketball team has a tough contest ahead of itself, as it will host the U.S. Military Academy at Case Gymnasium Wednesday night.

The Terriers (11-18, 6-10 Patriot League) faced the Black Knights (19-7, 11-4 Patriot League) once before this season and had trouble keeping up with Army’s pace, los-ing by a score of 72-45.

BU kept Army relatively close in the early parts of the game, going into halftime down by seven, only allowing the Black Knights to shoot 37 percent from the fi eld. In the sec-ond half, however, the Terriers’ con-ference foe ran away with the score, shooting 57.1 percent from the fl oor and scoring 39 second-half points to BU’s 19.

Army has a fi rm hold on third place in the Patriot League stand-ings, but has played one fewer con-ference game than second-place American University. Army could catch up to American (19-8, 12-4 Patriot League) with a win against the Terriers and an Eagle loss.

On offense, the Black Knights shoot about 41 percent from the fi eld and knock down about 73.4 percent of their free throws. These are daunting numbers considering the fact that Army tends to hold its opponents to a 37.5 percent success rate in fi eld goals and holds a plus-8.2 scoring margin, a number good for third in the conference.

This offensive power comes pri-marily from sophomore Kelsey Mi-nato, who scores about 21.7 points per game, enough to make her the leading scorer in the conference.

Black Knights seek season sweepBy Judy Cohen

Daily Free Press Staff

Women’s lacrosse, see page 7

Saturday, March 1W. Basketball vs. Holy Cross, 1 p.m.M. Basketball @ Holy Cross, 2 p.m.W. Hockey vs. Providence, 3 p.m.

M Hockey vs. Northeastern, 7 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 27Wednesday, Feb. 26 Friday, Feb. 28W. Lacrosse @ UMass, 3 p.m.W. Basketball vs. Army, 7 p.m.M. Basketball @ Army, 7 p.m.

No Events Scheduled SportsCenter has gained cellphone

recordings of Ryan Braun asking Niklas Backstrom for “a taste of Claritin.”

W. Tennis @ VCU, 10 a.m.Softball @ Santa Clara Inv., 1 p.m.

M & W Track @ TTC, All DayW. Golf @ Kiawah Island Cl., All Day

Sunday, March 2

Softball @ Santa Clara Inv., 4 p.m.M. Hockey vs. Northeastern, 7 p.m.

By Judy Cohen Daily Free Press Staff