Massachusetts reached the lowest high school dropout rate in decades and the high-est four-year graduation rate ever, according to statistics released Monday by the Massa-chusetts Department of Elementary and Sec-ondary Education.

JC Considine, spokesman for DESE, said this success could be attributed to the educators and officials within districts who work personally with the students and have launched programs to connect even more.

“The credit really belongs to the districts because they’re using their own strategies to identify and bring back students,” he said. “They’re starting a lot of opportunities and programs to keep students engaged and keep them on a pathway to graduation. It’s really about providing a more personalized ap-proach to a lot of these at-risk students with positive behavioral support.”

Considine said the state was at its high water mark when the dropout rate peaked at 3.8 percent in 2006. Massachusetts’s state-wide dropout rate then dove to 2.2 percent from 2012 to 2013. Additionally, the four-year graduation rate reached an all-time high of 85 percent during the same time.

DESE began collecting this data in 2006, Considine said.

“We’re beginning to identify the strate-gies that are successful,” he said. “Many of those include providing alternate pathways for these students, and providing credit re-covery and credit acceleration because some of them are older students or [those who] have been disengaged for awhile. It’s impor-tant to give them the confidence that they can pursue the end goal which is not only gradu-ation, but preparation for the next step and success at the next step.”

Additionally, the Boston Public Schools

dropout rate fell from 6.4 percent to 4.5 per-cent from 2012 to 2013. Unlike DESE, BPS began recording these figures in 1977, and since then, this is the lowest dropout rate BPS has seen.

“Graduating from high school is funda-mental to closing the achievement gap and starting to bridge the economic divide,” said Boston Mayor Martin Walsh in a Monday release. “While I applaud BPS’s progress, we cannot rest until all students, across all neighborhoods, are graduating BPS prepared for college and career success.”

Ruth Shane, director of Boston Public Schools Collaboration at Boston University, said this decrease in dropout rate and in-crease in graduation rate is due to creating a more nurturing environment in the schools. Shane said faculty members are paying more attention to the non-academic needs of the

In a room full of Congress members and other guests, including 2013 Boston Mara-thon bombings survivor Jeff Bauman and his rescuer Carlos Arredondo, U.S. Presi-dent Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday night, pledging to make this a “year of action.”

“That’s what most Americans want — for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations,” he said. “And what I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all — the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead.”

Obama said he was committed to creat-ing a Washington, D.C., that serves as an efficient medium for his goals and establish-ing a strengthened sense of trust between the government and its constituents.

As gun violence numbers spike in Bos-ton, Obama spoke about the issue, vowing to stop the gun-related tragedies that have taken nine lives in Boston since the begin-ning of January, a number drastically higher than it has been in past years.

“Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day,” he said. “I have seen the courage of parents, students, pastors and police offi-cers all over this country who say ‘we are not afraid,’ and I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls or schools like Sandy Hook.”

Thomas Whalen, professor of social sci-ence at Boston University, said the issue of violence prevention is an important topic for Obama, especially in the wake of the 2013 Marathon bombings.

“He just wants to relay the fact that we live in a very dangerous world,” he said. “That’s why the controversial NSA program needs to be upheld. A lot of people are up-set about phone calls being catalogued, but I have to say that, given the circumstances of the modern world, it’s necessary to maintain national security. It’s just an unfortunate re-ality.”

Wednesday, January 29, 2014The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

The Daily Free PressYear xliv. Volume lxxxvi. Issue viii www.dailyfreepress.com[ ]

By Felicia GansDaily Free Press Staff

By Kelsey NewellDaily Free Press Staff

By Taryn OttaunickDaily Free Press Staff

High school dropout rate at all-time low in Massachusetts

Obama promises ‘year of action’ in State of Union

BU Dining Services, Club GiiVE co-sponsor composting in dining halls Union, see page 2

Compost, see page 2

Today: Snow showers/High 26Tonight: Clear/Low 13

Tomorrow: 31/23

Data Courtesy of weather.com

WEATHER

New architectural studies program grows at BU, page 5.

MBTA looks to have corporate sponsorship program, page 3.

MBT-AdsPower rankings for Hockey East Confer-ence, page 8.

BUILDING FUTURE FIRST TO WORST

DropoUt, see page 2

By Kelsey NewellDaily Free Press Staff

Commonwealth, see page 2

Patrick gives final State of Commonwealth address

PHOTO COURTESY OF TAYLOR HARTZ/GOVERNOR’S OFFICEIn his final State of the Commonwealth address Tuesday night, Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick reflected on his successes in office and emphasized the need for continuing improvement despite the progress already made.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE DESOCIO/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFCollege of General Studies sophomore Sarah Moran hands out stickers saying “I cleaned my plate” to students at the West Campus dining hall Tuesday evening as a part of Club GiiVE’s compost event that emphasizes reducing food waste.

Boston University Dining Services teamed up with Club Get Involved in Volunteer Experi-ences to hold an environmental awareness cam-paign in dining halls across the Charles River Campus Tuesday.

“Composting Comes Out” encouraged stu-dents to become aware of the dining halls’ food disposal process by giving them the choice to either clean their plate or scrape their unused food and napkins into a compost barrel, said Club GiiVE Secretary Alanna Raskin .

“Through composting and sustainability, we’re showing students what happens behind the scenes, because most students don’t realize that everything gets composted,” Raskin said. “They also don’t understand that when they eat half of their meal and put it on the dish belt, they’re wasting that much food.”

Members of Club GiiVE were stationed at the dish belts with compost barrels. Students who cleaned their plates, thereby wasting noth-ing, were rewarded with stickers and asked to

tweet pictures of their empty plates with the hashtag #BUCleanPlate.

“We’re hoping to get people excited,” Raskin, a College of General Studies sopho-more, said. “That’s why we’re doing the com-petition with the pictures and Twitter. We want students to understand, and we think they’ll re-spond well. We’re hoping this will reduce waste in the dining hall.”

BU Dining Services reached out to Club GiiVE to hold the campaign after students ex-pressed concern for the disposal of their food waste in the Fall Dining Survey, said BU Din-ing Services Sustainability Coordinator Sabrina Pashtan.

“This is an exercise, both in awareness of our composting efforts everyday behind the scenes and a campaign to advocate for the re-duction of post-consumer food waste,” Pashtan said. “When students were asked in the Dining Fall Survey 2013 what kinds of sustainability initiatives were most important to them, the re-

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick gave his final State of the Commonwealth speech Tuesday, focusing on keeping issues like education, raising minimum wage and job growth at the forefront of the administration’s agenda in the upcoming year.

Patrick started his speech by reflecting on all hardships through which the state has

persevered during his term and emphasized the unity the people of Massachusetts have shown.

“I expected to face economic challenges, but not a global economic collapse,” he said. “I expected to find a sub-par transportation system, but not a bankrupt and dysfunctional one. I expected to face public safety challeng-es, but not the failure of a key water supply, a tornado or a terrorist attack. We have faced

up to these challenges, and many others, to-gether. And it has made a difference.”

Patrick spent most of the speech reflecting on past successes and how well Massachu-setts citizens had come together in times of tragedy, as well as motivating the Common-wealth to work together for more progress in the future.

“One of the biggest challenges for Patrick in this address is convincing the legislature and the public that he’s still relevant,” said John Carroll, Boston University mass com-munication professor and political strategist. “Patrick is very vocal about how he’s not go-ing to fritter away his final year, so he wants to devote this year to assembling some sort of legacy that he’ll leave behind.”

Carroll said he is critical of multiple as-pects of Patrick’s legacy, and said the final State of the Commonwealth address was an opportunity for him to redeem himself.

“To some degree he’s been a bit of an ab-sentee governor,” he said. “You have a num-ber of things where he’s come in after the fact and tried to do damage control … he’ll try to paint a picture of having achieved good things for the state and having the opportuni-ty to do more good things for the state before he leaves.”

In his address, Patrick said his term is marked with much success, including educa-tional progress, innovation and infrastructure. He also praised the Commonwealth’s strate-

Difficulty Level: Easy Sudoku courtesy of printmysudoku.com SOLUTION ON PAGE 4

2 Wednesday, January 29, 2014

gy toward achieving this. He cited the increased time and monetary investments, teamwork and govern-ing for the long term as reasons for the progress.

Additionally, Patrick affirmed what still needed work and how he planned on beginning that work during the closing of his term. He emphasized eliminating achieve-ment gaps, socioeconomic gaps, violence and changing society so that everyone has the opportunity to be successful.

“For too many of our neighbors, the American dream is in trouble,” he said. “[We] have a solemn duty to help all our people help them-selves … the single most impor-tant solution is economic growth, growth that reaches out to the marginalized [and] not just up to the well-connected. An expanding economy … needs inventors and

innovators and investors, techies and carpenters, teachers and cooks, Ph.Ds. and plumbers.”

Noting the 2013 Boston Mara-thon bombings, Patrick said he was proud of the kindness and grace dis-played during the aftermath of the tragedy.

“I still believe all this and more reflects the best of who we are,” he said. “These are the people who showed the world and each other what a strong community looks like. These are the people, and this is the community, for whom I have brought for the last seven years, and for whom I will bring until the very last day, the best that I have and the best that I am.”

Patrick said Massachusetts must recommit to reforming education, continuing innovation, and invest-ing in the economy through science, technology and manufacturing.

“Our growth strategy is wise, our execution is collaborative,

and our eye is on the future. Let’s continue that progress in 2014,” he said. “Progress on any of these fronts, whether on legislation, on investing or on reforms, will like al-ways take working together, and el-evating the public good above all.”

In concluding his speech, Pat-rick called on the people to do their part and said it is even more pos-sible for them to get involved now due to the transparency of the gov-ernment.

“I challenge all citizens to con-sider what they can do to make our Commonwealth stronger,” he said. “We have put every element of the budget and the state’s checkbook on line for anyone to see. All this and more is about making govern-ment more accessible for you to shape and to strengthen — the way a democracy is supposed to work … Now is no time for valedictories. We have work to do. Let’s get to it.”

Improvement in education, from pre-kindergarten education to graduate school, is one of Obama’s key priorities for the coming year.

“Teachers and principals in schools from Tennessee to Wash-ington, D.C., are making big strides in preparing students with skills for the new economy,” he said. “Some of this change is hard. It requires everything from more challenging curriculums and more demanding parents to better sup-port for teachers and new ways to measure how well our kids think, not how well they can fill in a bub-ble on a test. But it’s worth it — and it’s working.”

Obama is also designing plans to help Americans with student debt by capping monthly student loan payments to 10 percent of their income, he said.

“Too many young people enter-ing the workforce today will see the American Dream as an empty

promise — unless we do more to make sure our economy honors the dignity of work, and hard work pays off for every single Ameri-can,” he said.

Minimum wage, a topic that activist groups such as Raise Up Massachusetts are pushing to place on the Nov. 2014 ballot, was another a large focus of Obama’s speech.

Since asking Congress to raise minimum wage one year ago, 5 states have passed their own laws, he said.

“In the coming weeks, I will issue an Executive Order requir-ing federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour because if you cook our troops’ meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty,” he said.

Following the State of the Union address, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) de-livered the official Republican re-

sponse, sharing a “hopeful Repub-lican vision” that promises action and results.

Pointing out the flaws in Obama’s plan to close the income inequality gap, McMorris Rodgers spoke of a gap in equality oppor-tunity.

“We see this gap growing every single day,” she said. “Our mis-sion, not only as Republicans, but as Americans is to ensure that we are not bound by what we come from but empowered by what we can become. That is the gap Re-publicans are trying to close. It’s the gap we all face between where we are and where we want to be.”

Working to close a different gap, the one between the politi-cians in the Congress, Obama en-couraged the country to promote justice, fairness and equality.

“If we summon what is best in us, with our feet planted firmly in today but our eyes cast towards tomorrow, I know it’s within our reach.”

students than in past years.“A lot of [this] has to do with

creating systems that help students feel connected to smaller entities within a high school, connecting with advisors or with a particular group, and having guidance coun-selors pay more attention to them,” she said. “The idea is to try to help students who run into a problem to stay in school or return to school.”

Shane said having educators fo-cus on more than just the assigned curriculum is vital.

“The newest initiatives in Bos-ton have a lot to do with strength-ening the school leadership and providing a very thoughtful per-formance evaluation of teachers,” she said. “If teachers are teaching more thoughtfully, they’re paying more attention to what the students are learning. Students have to be helped to set goals, and feel that people are concerned about their needs and their progress, concern-ing the social and emotional things that surround the adolescent expe-

rience.”Magda Spasiano, 39, of Boston,

who counsels students within the LGBT community, said the educa-tional environment needs to also be taken into consideration.

“Many of the students I work with are bullied or feel like out-casts, so wanting to avoid that at-mosphere may lead to dropping out,” she said. “Lack of motivation is also a problem, and the hassle of commuting, it can all make high school difficult to finish, but luck-ily there are a lot of alternatives.”

Kevin Wiles, 28, of Allston, said high school diplomas are re-quired to get jobs at this point, but also understood why pursuing edu-cation may seem hopeless to some.

“These days, a college diploma is practically the new minimum for jobs, so not graduating high school can incredibly hurt a person’s fu-ture success,” he said. “But at the same time, with college prices be-ing so high, making it hard to go to college, graduating high school may seem kind of pointless to some kids.”

duction of food waste was one of the top responses.”

Swanson Ninan, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said seeing all the food wasted each day made him more mindful of taking appropriate amounts of food for each meal.

“Just finishing your food your-self or asking a friend if they want to finish your leftovers is really easy,” Ninan said. “I will definitely be way more cognizant of finishing the food on my plate and also taking the right portions, so that I’m only eating what I’m actually hungry for.”

College of Engineering sopho-more Akram Habibi, said although BU makes an effort to be ecofriend-ly, students are not entirely aware of their environmental footprint.

“It’s a great idea to make people aware of what they’re throwing out,” Habibi said. “I don’t think students are that aware. BU does strive to give people the opportunity to actually help out, but I don’t think people re-alize how much they do waste. I ac-tually still don’t realize how much.”

Vincenza Rico, a CAS freshman, said in a world where millions are starving, those who have enough should remain mindful of conserving the nourishment they are fortunate to have.

“Food shouldn’t be wasted,” Rico said. “Composting things like that is something we take for granted when there are people who don’t have enough food. We’re just throwing away extra stuff.”

CAS senior Kathryn O’Neill, who managed the compost station, said the compost campaign helped students to understand the implica-tions of their actions on the environ-ment.

“I heard a couple people say they didn’t know food was composted, so they were really happy to hear about that,” she said. “... It kind of helped students link things they normally wouldn’t link to the environment, and now they can put two-and-two together to see that even small ac-tions can have a really big difference when they start a pattern and make better decisions for the environ-ment.”

Compost: From Page 1

Students unaware of volume of food waste in dining halls

Residents: Educators should not only focus on curriculum

DropoUt: From Page 1

Patrick to focus on achievement gap in Mass.Commonwealth: From Page 1

Union address highlights min. wage, educationUnion: From Page 1

During a pre-proposal meeting on Feb. 3, offi cials at the Mas-sachusetts Bay Transit Authority will speak to interested clients about the new MBTA Corporate Sponsorship Program in hopes of selling opportunities to rename MBTA stations.

The program, which is part of a transportation bill signed into effect by Mass. Gov. Deval Pat-rick last spring, will allow cor-porations and businesses to place their names on MBTA stations for $2 million.

“It’s a standard meeting that is held as part of every competitive bidding process conducted by the [MBTA],” said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo. “MBTA staff will be on hand to answer any questions from potential bidders.”

The deadline for companies to submit bids is Feb. 27. Pesaturo would not say whether any com-panies had submitted Requests for Proposals or Requests of Interest.

Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said BU is aware of the program but has chosen to not submit a proposal because there

are already three Green Line stops with BU’s name: Boston Univer-sity East, Boston University Cen-tral and Boston University West.

Tony Fusco, director of Fusco and Four, a marketing and public relations agency that has been operating in Boston for 35 years, said public transportation should not depend on selling sponsor-ships to raise money.

“It’s an insult to the city of Boston,” he said. “It’s the selling out of our public transportation system. It’s not going to close the budget gap for the MBTA. The budget gap is much larger than that. All it’s doing is some kind of window dressing, and it’s confus-ing to the public.”

A new report suggests that the quality of a student’s high school education is likely to affect his or her performance in college, and Boston University students agree that high school is key to prepar-ing students for higher education.

The study, conducted by re-searchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research, examines the relationship between high school quality and academic per-formance in early college years using data from the University of Texas at Austin.

“High schools can prepare stu-dents through a curriculum that follows the structure of a college curriculum or through assign-ments that mimic the college type of assignments,” said Noah Lat-tanzi, a College of Arts and Sci-ences sophomore.

Of the students who participat-ed in the study, those who attend-ed a high school with a higher socioeconomic status, more ex-perienced teachers, a greater col-lege preparation system and less budget pressure from students in need tended to have higher grade point averages during their fresh-man year of college.

Marissa Conti, a Sargent Col-lege of Health and Rehabilitation Services sophomore, said while high school performance may be an indicator of college perfor-mance, students entering BU may fi nd making higher grades partic-ularly challenging.

“People who work hard in high school usually get into more com-petitive colleges and they usu-ally keep up with that,” she said. “BU is really hard academically though. It’s harder to do well at BU than it is to get into BU ... Not every high school student go-ing to college is like that — BU is just harder than other schools.”

CAS junior Renee Gaillard said high school and college are diffi cult to compare because they are so different, so high school quality may not be the best indi-cator for college performance.

MBTA to hold forum to prep for corporate bidsCaMpus & CiTy Wednesday, January 29, 2014 3

Students majoring in religious studies at institutions of higher education such as Boston Uni-versity will likely face more job prospects than they would have in the early 2000s upon graduating, according to a recent report.

The report, conducted by re-searchers from the Society of Biblical Literature and the Ameri-can Academy of Religion, estab-lished that the religion job market is signifi cantly more stable now than it was in 2008.

“The study shows that the number of positions in 2011 sig-nifi cantly increased from 2010 but plateaued in 2012 at 2002-2004 levels,” said SBL Executive Director John Kutsko. “The typi-cal position is a full-time tenure-track appointment at a U.S. pri-vate not-for-profi t institution in a

traditional fi eld of study such as New Testament or theology with a yearly course load of four to six.”

Researchers used data from job openings posted with SBL and AAR in order to produce the re-port, Kutsko said. These numbers do not necessarily refl ect the total amount of job openings in aca-demic fi elds.

From 2001 to 2012, the great-est number of positions were available in the fi elds of New Testament, Christian Origins, An-cient Christianity, Hebrew Bible and Religions of the Ancient Near East, Islamic Studies, History of Christianity and Church History and Jewish Studies, the report stated.

The results of the report indi-cate that students studying within the fi eld of religion should attend

By Alyssa CiofaniDaily Free Press Staff

reliGion, see page 4

Job market stable for graduates in religion fi elds, study suggests

By Felicia GansDaily Free Press Staff

GRAPHIC BY MAYA DEVEREAUX/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

mBta, see page 4

ALEXANDRA WIMLEY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFThe MBTA will hold a public meeting on Feb. 3 geared toward potential clients interested in the agency’s new corporate sponsorship program, which will eventually allow companies to pay for branding space on T property, including the Boylston Street station.

A report conducted by the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion says faculty jobs in religion fi elds were relatively stable in 2012.

mooCs, see page 4

DLI offi cial lectures on Massive Open Online Courses

Offi cials from Boston Univer-sity’s Digital Learning Initiative held a lecture Tuesday highlight-ing the impact of Massive Open Online Courses on the changing world of online education.

DLI Associate Director Romy Ruukel discussed BU’s plan to expand its online teaching cur-riculum in the next school year, when BU’s fi rst MOOCs will be available on the platform edX.

“Decades after the personal computer and the internet, we are still talking of educational tech-nology so much of the time as ei-ther good or bad versus how has it changed the world,” Ruukel said. “As an educator, which informa-tion age are we preparing our stu-dents for: the one that we know or the one that they will know?”

During the lecture Ruukel said she hopes to see MOOCs venture into the global realm in order to provide students across the world with the benefi ts of online educa-tion.

“I would like MOOCs to move

out of only being largely in Eng-lish and offered by western uni-versities,” she said. “I am hoping to fi nd the multiplicity of narra-tives and maybe a discovery of pedagogies that are lying dormant right now.”

Online education is become a growing presence in the educa-tional world as the number of full time students is fast decreasing, Ruukel said.

“If we look at the student in the United States alone in the year 2013, less than half of them could be considered full-time students,” Ruukel said. “They are now in the minority.”

Ruukel said the MOOCs devel-oped by DLI offi cials for the Fall 2014 semester will prove the ef-fectiveness of the intriguing new innovative method of teaching and promote conversation about alternative styles of education.

“Certainly the four — or hope-fully fi ve — MOOCs that will go up this year are a proof of concept in some way, and conversations of what happens after that are evolv-ing,” Ruukel said. “At a very ba-

sic level, it’s causing people to talk about it more about pedagogy and effective pedagogy, about teaching and learning in a way that may not has been as central recently.”

One of the courses will cover sabermetrics, or an advanced form of baseball statistics, said College of General Studies se-nior lecturer Andy Andres. After teaching a similar course in per-son at the Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology, he adapted a MOOC version for BU.

Andres said adapting the class to an online program was chal-lenging.

“Because of the [online] for-mat, I cannot rely on face-to-face interactions,” he said. “I have to really think about how to teach this well right from the start.”

One of the primary benefi ts of MOOCs is their accessibility to students who may not have the opportunity to attend the univer-sity, thereby removing an educa-tion barrier, Andres said.

“I would say it [the use of

By Sebastian AlamoDaily Free Press Staff

By Rachel RileyDaily Free Press Staff

High school quality aff ects college GPA, study states

hiGh sChool, see page 4

The following crime reports were taken from the Allston- Brighton D-14 crime logs from Jan. 20 to Jan. 26

Suspect breaks in through kitchen door, steals itemsOn Jan. 20 around 5:27 p.m.,

offi cers were called to 89 Ches-ter St. for another breaking and entering report. According to the victims, unknown persons might have entered the apartment through the kitchen side door on Jan. 18. Jewelry, laptops, gift cards, a checkbook, U.S. currency and Taiwan currency were stolen.

Electronics and other items stolen from apartment

At 8:36 p.m. on Jan. 20, offi -cers received a call to 116 Trem-ont St. for a report of breaking and entering. Unknown persons had entered the victim’s apart-ment through a patio door. The victim reported two MacBooks, two iPads, jewelry, clothing and suitcases stolen.

Damage done to restaurant property

Around 11:06 a.m. on Jan. 23, offi cers were called to Fin’s Res-taurant at 354 Chestnut Hill Ave-nue for an attempted breaking and entering. According to the victim, unknown persons damaged the restaurant doors and ripped out the outdoor speaker wires. The suspect did not end up entering, however.

Contents of packages stolenOffi cers responded to a call

reporting stolen property around 7:37 p.m. on Thursday. The wit-ness said she noticed three USPS boxes, two of which were opened with the contents taken at 26 Wa-verly St. She also noticed a man leave the laundry room holding something. The owners listed on the packages were notifi ed.

Drunken female claims to have a gun

Offi cers were called to 252 Western Ave. for a reported as-sault by a dangerous weapon around 10:41 p.m. on Friday. According to a victim, a female suspect claiming to be a “cop” reached into her coat and said she had a “gun.” No fi rearm was displayed. After the bartender refused to serve the female and male suspects, the female suspect became angry, started to yell and threw a beer bottle at the victim before leaving the bar.

Oil stolen from pipesOffi cers received a report on

Saturday about 8:00 p.m. from a victim who had bought a house at 39 Surrey St. On Jan. 20 the vic-tim had checked the oil and the tank was three-fourths full. When the victim returned to the house on Friday, the pipes were frozen. The victim said unknown people must have taken oil, causing the pipes to freeze.

CiTy CriMe LOGs

Jan. 20 TOJan. 26By Mina Corpuz

Daily Free Press Staff

Today’s Sudoku solution brought to you by...

TINA BELCHER

4 Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Fusco said the Corporate Sponsorship Program will add to the abundance of advertising al-ready affecting the public.

“We are bombarded with ad-vertising, all day, from all sides,” he said. “There’s already adver-tising on the T. They already ad-vertise in the cars and on the sub-way platforms. There’s already advertising that wraps the buses in elaborate advertising. There’s already plenty of advertising on our public transportation system. I just think this is over the top.”

Jeremy Mays, the CEO of a marketing fi rm named Transmyt, said the program could lead to an oversaturation of corporation ad-vertising, but the increased reve-nue brought in could be benefi cial for MBTA riders.

“Anything that they can do to make up lost revenue and close their budget shortfalls is good for the MBTA, which also hopefully is ultimately good for the riders of the MBTA and the consum-ers provided that they pass those earnings along in the form of bet-ter service, reduced time between fare hikes and overall expansion of services to the MBTA,” Mays said.

Several residents said the MBTA is taking steps in the right direction in effort to raise rev-enue, but they should re-think some aspects of the Corporate Sponsorship Program.

Katie Bever, 23, of Brighton, said while she understands the MBTA’s need to raise money, the MBTA should use other advertis-

ing techniques, rather than chang-ing the names of stations.

“More advertising for those companies around the stations wouldn’t be a problem, though,” she said. “The MBTA needs to make money somehow, so if [add-ing more advertisements] is the way they need to do it, I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

Douglas Upton, 46, of the South End, said changing the names of stations will be con-fusing for the public and is not a worthwhile way for the MBTA to raise revenue.

“There are other ways to fund a transit system than selling sta-tion names,” he said. “I remember they were trying to call Down-town Crossing “Citizens Bank”. But who’s going to refer to a Citi-zens Bank Station? That doesn’t even make sense. There’s Citi-zens Banks everywhere. I don’t have a problem with the ads, per se, because I understand that they need money, but that idea [to re-name stations] is defi nitely a little stupid.”

Kym Murray, 31, of Back Bay, works in fundraising and said the program is a smart way for the MBTA to begin raising money.

“As a resident, who pays a lot of money and taxes, I would go for it because clearly they’re struggling and we need a lot of improvements,” she said. “People will get used to the name chang-es. This seems like a good way to start [making more money]. It’s money that the state needs, so why not go for it?”

“The coursework in college wasn’t anything like high school,” she said. “I went in expecting that I was going to get As again, and then I got my fi rst C on a paper, and I realized [college] has a dif-ferent kind of standard with dif-ferent expectations. It defi nitely was a bit of a shock.”

Assignments are more man-ageable in high school, Gaillard said.

“The homework was very sim-ple, just things like ‘learn these key terms,’” she said. “When you were preparing for tests, they told you exactly what would be on them. The teachers you had for pretty much all four years so you really go to know them, com-pared to professors in college who change every semester.”

Sydney Zeldis, a CAS sopho-more, said while her high school prepared her for the amount of work she would have in college, it did not prepare her for competi-tion at the college level.

“College is a whole other realm,” she said. “You’re com-peting against other people ... I was prepared for the workload. I wasn’t prepared for curves that would ruin my grade or make my grade go lower ... You’re fi ghting against everybody in your classes for an A.”

SAR sophomore Antonia Cal-caterra said while high school performance is sometimes an in-dicator for college performance, some students don’t acquire the study schools they need in high school.

“I know a lot of friends who did really well in high school but

didn’t learn how to study in high school because it was so easy for them,” she said. “They didn’t know how to prepare for the col-lege workload.”

While a student may attend a prestigious or notable high school, the most important de-terminant of success in college is work ethic, Lattanzi said.

“If a student has a good work ethic, that carries over regard-less of the [quality of the] high school,” he said. “If they’re in-vested in their high school work, they’ll probably be invested in college, too. If the student is tal-ented and interested in learning, there’s always ways they could go to professors more and seek out things that will help them get bet-ter grades.”

Taryn Ottaunick contributed to the reporting of this article.

MOOCs] is part of the democ-ratization of learning,” he said. “Students who would normally not have the chance to take a class at BU or anywhere now can take this course. That is a huge part of just general access to education, which I am very much in favor of.”

Liliane Duséwoir, a senior ro-mance studies lecturer at BU’s College of Arts and Sciences, said

she attended the lecture in order to gain more knowledge for de-veloping MOOCs within her dis-cipline.

“The Romance Studies Pro-gram is considering MOOCs and involving itself and committing itself to online education,” Dusé-woir said. “... I was really inter-ested on how BU is committing to itself to it, and I was really interested to learn that there are four courses that are going to be offered this fall.”

graduate school, Kutsko said.“The report focuses almost

exclusively on academic employ-ment, since this is the nature of the vast majority of positions that are advertised with us,” he said. “The data show that hiring insti-tutions require a doctoral degree almost across the board, which means that undergraduates look-ing to this report for guidance will have to pursue further study.”

Frank Korom, a professor of religion and anthropology, said there is plenty of room for reli-gion majors in the working world.

“The market is stable for re-ligion majors because there are a lot of religion departments out there that need good teachers,” Korom said, “As long as students keep taking religion classes, there will always be a need for people to teach them.”

Professor of history and re-

ligion Deeana Klepper said the large number of students pursu-ing graduate degrees in religious studies puts students in religious fi elds in a similar position to stu-dent studying the humanities.

“There are more people pursu-ing doctorates than there are full time teaching positions,” she said. “In that regard, religion is in much the same place other humanities disciplines are. But there are cer-tainly many people being hired every year, and that obviously has to do with undergraduate interest in religious studies and the need to staff those classrooms.”

Graduates with religious stud-ies degrees have the option of entering multiple fi elds once they graduate, Klepper said.

“Most religion majors go on to do other things that engage their knowledge of diverse religious cultures without specifi cally working in the fi eld,” she said. “They work in a range of nonprof-

it organizations dedicated to hu-manitarian causes, they become lawyers, they work in education, they go on to medical school, et cetera.”

College of Arts and Sciences senior Abigail Clauhs, a religious studies major and president of BU’s Interfaith Council, said the stability of the job market for re-ligion majors depends on what students want to do with their de-grees after graduation.

“One of the beautiful things about a degree in religion is that you can go many directions with it,” she said. “... There are quite a lot of possibilities, so it is dif-fi cult to talk about job stability. I will say that as the world becomes increasingly more globalized and connected, and as this leads to more people of different religions encountering each other, religious knowledge is an important tool to have.”

Marketing CEO: MBTA plan could ‘oversaturate’ advertising

mBta: From Page 3

Comprehensive online courses developed, coming to BU in fall

mooCs: From Page 3

Students better prepared by quality schoolshiGh sChool: From Page 3

reliGion: From Page 3

Professor: Religion job market seeks Ph.Ds

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Starting as an independent concentration of two stu-dents and then transforming

into a major with between 45 and 50 students, architectural studies is one of the new, growing aca-demic opportunities at BU.

“We launched the program in 2012 when we thought there might be a few more people interested,” said Keit h Morgan, director of the architectural studies program. “We didn’t anticipate it would be as popular and successful as it has become.”

The curriculum is collabora-tion between the department of history of architecture, the Col-lege of Fine Arts’ visual art and drawing courses, painting, sculp-ture and photography. Students are able to take various classes around the university in what they see appropriate for their own pro-fessional development.

“It’s important to understand that it’s not a school of architec-ture, and it’s not pretending to be,” Morgan said. “We are trying to prepare students to enter gradu-ate programs.”

The program is still developing and there are some new courses in the works. Later this semester, Morgan will be talking with CFA about developing a new course that will serve as a design studio-like experience for those interest-ed in architecture and landscape architecture.

Not only is the faculty excited about the major, but students in the architectural studies program are also very passionate and ex-cited about the new program and the opportunities it provides.

“My favorite part of the pro-gram is the fact that I can shape my degree in terms of what I want to do,” said Alexandre Mecattaf, senior in the architectural stud-ies program and president of the BU chapter of Global Architec-ture Brigades, an organization for global health and sustainable de-velopment. “I have learned a lot, and it’s also allowed me to branch out into different areas that are of interest to me. I’ve managed to double major in anthropology and minor in biology.”

Elise Liu, an offi cer of BU’s U.S. Green Building Council, said she also likes how she can apply what she learns in class to her in-terests outside the classroom.

“There are so many opportu-nities to be involved both on and off campus in the forms of lec-tures, clubs and exhibitions,” Liu, a sophomore in the architectural studies program, said. “The city of Boston is truly an ideal city to study architectural design in be-cause of its merging of traditional and modern architecture.”

Matt Zapson, the current presi-dent of the Architecture Club, thinks the program is great for students interested in careers in architecture, architectural history and perseveration, or urban plan-ning and design.

“It’s a great pre-professional program for students,” Zapson, a senior in the architectural studies

program, said. “The concentration is still developing, but I think it’s heading in the right direction.”

Zapson showed great interest in the Architectural Drawing class, a crash course in design principles and computer and hand-drawing skills. He said it adds variety to the courses offered, as many focus on the theoretical and historical side of architecture, which is an important foundation.

While the program is still rela-tively new, students feel confi dent in the progress and success of the major.

“I think of it as a work in prog-ress,” Mecattaf said. “It’s very functional and gives us more than enough background to get into programs in the best schools around the country, which at the end of the day is what any un-dergraduate program aims for I think.”

Mecattaf also shared his pas-sion for the architecture profes-sion. He explains how architecture is more than just creating build-ings.

“It’s creating spaces where people can grow, learn and live,” Mecattaf said. “My goal as a fu-ture architect is to play a part in shaping the world of tomorrow into a better place.”

Liu also said she believes ar-chitecture can make a difference in the future. She said it holds a signifi cant role in defi ning the en-vironment and is unique in its fea-ture of permeability.

“To me it’s quite apparent that architecture is one of the tangible expressions of human culture and society,” Liu said. “It has the unique capability to integrate new technologies into daily life and is thus an important setting for sus-tainability.”

Students of the program, like Mecattaf, Liu and Zapson, are am-bitious and feel that what they’ve learned has helped prepare them for a bright future.

“My goal is to merge all of what I’ve learned and create a new sub-fi eld in the fi eld of architec-ture which involves using archi-tecture and architectural knowl-edge to make the world a better place,” Mecattaf said.

Zapson plans to enter the job fi eld of urban planning. He said he feels understanding how people interact with their environments is still vital.

“The way people feel in a place is highly dependent on the place’s massing and design,” Zapson said. “As a planner it’s important to be able to be able to knowingly make decisions regarding urban compo-sition.”

The hard work and passion of the architectural studies profes-sors and directors to make the program successful has not gone unnoticed by the students.

“Professor Morgan plays an immense part in the success of the program,” Mecattaf said. “He is always open to students’ opinions and he always manages to fi nd a way to merge students’ desires and major requirements.”

Liu added that very insightful individuals head the department, and what she learns in class is readily applicable to her surround-ings makes the program such a success.

Outside of the major, there are a few architecture organizations and opportunities on campus in-cluding the Architecture Club, the Global Architecture Brigades and the BU Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. Clubs such as these give students the op-

portunity to practice what they’re learning outside of the classroom and in non-school-related envi-ronments. Members of these clubs are not just concentrators, but also students who are just interested in architecture at large.

The Architecture ClubBU’s Architecture Club is the

fi rst club dedicated to enjoying and learning more about architec-ture.

“We’ve led multiple walking tours of Boston, department and club meet and greets and building competitions,” Zapson said.

The club also acts as a resource for students interested or currently enrolled in architecture programs by providing seminars on further-ing education and portfolio devel-opment.

BU Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profi t organization that focuses on sus-tainable design and construction. The student group aims to bring sustainability into the spotlight.

“Evidently BU has been very active in implementing more en-vironmentally friendly initiatives, however we believe that we can raise more awareness and also offer students the opportunity to become more involved,” Liu said.

Liu also said bringing the US-GBC to campus also further pro-motes interdisciplinary interac-tion, seeing that sustainability is a non-exclusive fi eld that inherently involves the joining of many fac-ets of society and academia.

Global Architecture BrigadesThe Global Architecture Bri-

gades is part of the world’s largest

student-led health and sustainable development organization called Global Brigades. Each year, Glob-al Brigades mobilizes thousands of university students around the world to participate in nine dif-ferent skill-based programs to im-prove the quality of life in under-resourced communities.

“During Architecture Brigades we work hand-in-hand with engi-neers, designers and community members in the goal of alleviat-ing needs in health and education through the design and hands-on construction of schools and health centers,” Mecattaf said.

They also work with com-munities to identify construction knowledge and practices that are lacking in order to provide train-ing by skilled masons and stu-dents.

Interested? “It’s become quite a substan-

tial and exciting process to be in-volved with,” Morgan said. “The major is designed to ensure that students have the kind of prepara-tion that graduate schools in ar-chitecture, landscape architecture, city planning and historic preser-vation expect.”

Morgan said they have already had great success with graduates of the program. Many former stu-dents now attend graduate pro-grams in architecture, planning or historic preservation at Harvard University, Yale University, Co-lumbia University and the Univer-sity of Notre Dame, to name a few.

“It’s been a lot of fun to be in-volved with,” Morgan said. “We feel as though the major has hit a level where it’s a substantial pres-ence, but we are always eager for other students who might be inter-ested to know about it.”

Newly renovated architecture program draws in new students

Spotlight EditorStacy Schoonover

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEXANDRE MECATTAF

BU’s Global architecture brigades poses in front of a structure they designed and built in Honduras.

6 Wednesday, January 29, 2014 OpiniOnThe Daily Free Press

The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

44th year F Volume 86 F Issue 8Sarah 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

Funding the future

Winter break

TATE GIESELMANNWhen I was in high school, winter break

was a time of excitement and freedom. After months of full-time schooling, organized ex-tracurricular activities and obligations, winter break was a time to finally relax.

I fondly remember spending hours dur-ing winter break when I was younger bussing to the skate park and skateboarding until the sun would go down — only to bus home and begin the same routine the next day. At that age, winter break was a welcomed taste of freedom.

As a college student, winter break is a dif-ferent experience. Although I used to love the freedom afforded me by winter break, com-ing home from college has not always been an easy transition.

This recent winter break started as a breath of fresh air. I hung out with my good friends and family, ate well and enjoyed the warm California weather. I traveled around to a few towns on the coastline, began prepar-ing for my semester abroad in Shanghai and even passed my drivers license test after three years of procrastination. The lack of respon-sibility was a needed respite from the stress of the four final exams I had just taken.

As my seemingly never-ending break has persisted, I have become less and less en-chanted with the ‘freedom’ I used to associ-ate with winter break. My friends, who are mostly college students, already returned to their campuses earlier this month. At a cer-tain point in mid-January I sadly realized that I was the only young adult left in Tiburon, Calif., with almost a month until I headed to Shanghai.

In an attempt to productively allocate my copious amounts of free time, I planned a daily schedule for myself. I wanted to con-tinue studying Chinese, work on my writing, practice playing the piano, apply for summer jobs and exercise every day. I thought that if I put my time towards worthwhile endeavors, I would at least have something to show for my endless month at home. Thus, I made flash-cards, opened up my computer and began to form a habit.

For the first couple of weeks, my dedica-tion paid off — I felt productive and accom-plished. Though I occasionally spent a few hours playing video games or watching TV, I mostly used my time at home on activities that I deemed “productive.”

Unfortunately, the effort such an orga-nized schedule demanded eventually wore on me. I didn’t leave the house for a few days in a row, slept in much later than I wanted to and began to dread the time I had decided to spend on being productive.

As any college student returning home can attest to, I began to feel somewhat boxed in. The environment set up during my childhood is not necessarily compatible with my life as a young adult, and oftentimes the discrepancies will lead to tension between the rest of my family and myself. Much to my roommates’ chagrin, I have a habit of not always washing my dishes when I am finished eating. Though my roommates are willing to accept some of my flaws, any time that I have let this happen while staying at home I am in serious danger of getting chewed out by a family member.

As minute an offense as it may seem, I understand the majority of the conflict that arises between my family and me when I return home for break is a result of my own failure to conform to the rules of the house. Regardless of whether or not I agree or dis-agree with the rules in my childhood home, I am bound to obey them. I consider myself lucky to be able to return to California over break and sleep in my own bed. I often don’t even have to worry about food while I’m at home in California; to be honest, I’m even a little bit spoiled.

However, that doesn’t mean that the tran-sition from life in college to life at home is al-ways easy. I have gotten myself knee-deep in arguments with my dad only to realize he was right all along. After a month at home in Cali-fornia, I’ve begun to accept that the late-to-rise, late-to-bed lifestyle that I tend to follow is not the common choice for most people. So, I have decided to turn things around and gotten myself into the habit of washing all of my dishes, taking our dog Katie out for her daily walks and occasionally even cooking a meal or two.

For the past month and a half I’ve felt like I was returning to the past, echoing a lifestyle I lived before Boston University was ever even a thought in my mind. I returned to the same skate parks, crossed the same bridg-es and hung out with the same old friends. But in reality, Winter break is now more of a break from the fun of school than a break from its stress.

After two months of a monotonous winter break, I can finally see the horizon — in less than two weeks I will be on a flight to Shang-hai, China.

- I can’t wait!

Tate Gieselmann is a College of Arts and Sciences junior studying abroad in China. He can be reached at tateag@bu.edu.

A SemeSTer in SHAnGHAi

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick unveiled his 2.9 percent budget increase last Wednesday, which sets the state’s total budget at $36.4 billion. This plan includes increased spending on the state’s education system — a $100 mil-lion increase, to be exact.

Massachusetts’ K-12 students will reap the benefits of the budget increase, receiving $25 million, with an additional $15 million toward early education programs. Based on this spending plan, you could say Patrick is adamant on closing the gaping achievement gap between minority and white students in Massachusetts.

Funneling tax dollars into education is a very strategic political move. Increasing state funding for education is a hard point for tax-payers and opponents to disagree with. On the other hand, if Patrick decided to allocate that additional $15 million into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority or state health care programs, the city’s naysayers would erupt. But when it comes to funding educa-tion, nobody wants to be that guy who de-nies an underprivileged 3-year-old the means to learn that “elemeno” is not the letter that comes before “p” in the alphabet.

No one can deny the magnitude of differ-ence education makes in a society. According to a 2009 longitudinal study by the National Center for Education Statistics, only 45 per-cent of 4-year-olds who live in poverty were proficient basic arithmetic, compared to 72 percent of their peers living above the pov-erty line.

Aside from teaching children basic aca-demics, pre-school is often the first time kids leave Elmo’s World to learn how to respect people other than their parents. And like most lessons in life, one cannot learn respect and love without doing it — no matter how many times they babble Barney’s, “I love you” to-wards the TV screen.

In his State of the Union Address on Tues-day night, Obama said this year his admin-istration will invest in new partnerships with states and communities for early childhood education. In his address in 2013, he similarly claimed childhood education is the key to ab-solving the world of its greatest issues such as pregnancy and violent crime. Obviously we

are not teaching toddlers how to put on a con-dom or how to avoid joining a gang, but early education lays a foundation for reasoning, stability and tolerance during a child’s most impressionable age.

The extra millions Patrick plans to chan-nel into childhood education will make this basic right accessible to more students, which in of itself is a huge feat. However, although putting millions of extra dollars into the early education system will standardize the avail-ability of education in Massachusetts, it still will not ensure each student is receiving the same quality of instruction. Just as preschool sets the foundation for future achievement, it is precisely where the wide achievement gap in our society begins.

But, in reality, the key to early education is that it is available and adequate, and this is one of very few instances where quantity can be prioritized over quality. Therefore, such additional funds do not need to be put towards improving the quality of these programs. If Patrick took that excess $15 million and fun-neled it into our MBTA, we would have hap-pier commuters and our youth will still learn how to color between the lines before they enter the real world 20 years down the road.

However, that is not to say money should be taken out of the early education system. This additional money could rather be al-located to existing programs such as Nurse-Family Partnerships and the Baby College in the Harlem Children’s Zone, which teach good parenting skills — the backbone behind a stable childhood. Or this money could be put toward programs that teach sustainable social and emotional development strategies to children.

Unfortunately there is no right answer as to what the best technique to educating a child is, as every child is different. The Massachu-setts children receiving the $15 million dollar increase in their education program are serv-ing as guinea pigs for how effective this in-creased funding to early childhood programs really is.

And if it doesn’t make a substantial dif-ference, prepare for the backlash from angry parents when the government tries to take this money away from this program.

Terrier Talk Reflections

Following a week full of gun vio-lence and sensless crimes in the news, The Daily Free Press wanted to hear how safe Boston University students

really feel on campus.

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

BY NICOLE BOARDMAN

“I feel pretty safe on campus. I mean, we do live in an urban envi-ronment so the safety is a concern with the gun-related crimes. But for the most part, I don’t feel like my life is in danger.”

-SHA sophomore

“I feel pretty safe because... BUPD is always on the prowl... I’ve had some experiences where I had to be hospitalized for a medical condition and they were here in about five minutes.”

-CAS freshman

“Coming to a big city, I was nervous about being safe but the security guards are al-ways very attentive and I’ve never felt like there has been any risk to my safety in any of the buildings around campus.”

-SMG junior

“I feel safe. I don’t know why, there is just a sense of security on cam-pus.”

-CGS freshman

RODERICK ESKEW

ANIRA FIGUEIRA

CONORRAULT

STEPHEN HOTTA

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.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014 7

4. Northeastern University – It might be time to finally start buying into Northeastern’s success this season. Goaltender Clay Witt is making a case for himself as a Hobey Baker Award candidate thanks to his incredible .943 save percentage and 2.04 goals-against aver-age. A crew of dynamic young scorers fea-turing sophomore Kevin Roy (14-17-31) and freshman Mike Szmatula (10-18-28) lead the Huskies offense, but its 35.31 shots-against per game is the second-worst in the league and could come back to bite them in the butt this postseason.

5. University of Notre Dame – Notre Dame has the best special teams in the league (plus-17) and the best shot differential in the league (plus-8.88 shots per game), but it has been inconsistent in Hockey East play. The Fighting Irish have at least one loss or tie against every Hockey East team it has faced this year, losing to the likes of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and tying Merri-mack College. There is not much separation between the fifth-best and second-best teams in Hockey East, though.

6. University of New Hampshire – UNH is right in the middle of the pack in terms of scoring offense and scoring defense, so it finds itself right in the middle of the pack of these power rankings, too. What separates UNH from teams like Maine and Vermont is the fact that it doesn’t beat itself, as it has the fewest penalty minutes per game in the league.

7. University of Vermont – Vermont is a top-heavy scoring team that relies on captain Chris McCarthy (13-14-27) and freshman Mario Puskarich (11-12-23) to lead its of-fense. Its big veteran squad gives it the ability to stay in any game with any team, but it may not have the depth and skill to be a serious contender come tournament time.

8. University of Maine – Boston Univer-sity knows better than anyone that Maine has the ability to put lots of goals on the score-board, as it scored seven times in each contest against the Terriers. Goaltender Martin Ouel-lette has come into his own and has performed like a top-level goalie this year, maintaining a .930 save percentage and a 2.08 goals-against average this year as well. Sophomore Ben Hutton leads the league in defenseman goals (nine) as well.

9. Boston University – The Terriers’ shot differential woes (minus-10.38 per game) have been well documented and the team has lost eight of its last ten games, but the re-turn of junior forward Evan Rodrigues to the lineup could help BU pull together a couple more wins as the regular season comes to a close. Injuries and youth have put BU among the worst teams in the league this year, and fans should not expect much change once the Hockey East Tournament comes around.

10. University of Massachusetts-Am-herst – UMass has the most losses in the league (16), and for good reason. It is tied for the most goals allowed (82) on the season and does not have much going for it in terms of dynamic scorers. The fact that it only has one player with a positive plus-minus rating is representative of how little success it has had this season.

11. Merrimack College – Forwards Mike Collins (8-10-18) and Brian Christie (4-7-11) have double-digit points, but nobody else on Merrimack’s roster has more than nine points. Merrimack’s goaltending has not even been that strong, as Rasmus Tirronen only has a .915 save percentage in 17 starts. The Warriors just split the weekend with Am-herst, showing that there is not much distance between the bottom two or three teams in the league.

Witt strong in net for Northeastern

McKay: McDermott college phenom, not most NBA-ready playerespecially impressed with his achievements playing against the likes of Bradley Universi-ty and Drake University and that’s somewhat understandable. But Creighton moved into the Big East, traditionally a basketball power conference, prior to this season. Many would expect McDermott to falter against the supe-rior defensive play in the Big East. But falter he has not.

This season he’s averaging 24.3 points per game, second in the nation only to Niagara University’s Antoine Mason. He’s shooting nearly 50 percent from the field, 43 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and just under 90 percent from the free-throw line. Those are absurd percentages, even when you consider McDermott’s line from the 2012-13 season: 55 percent from the field, 49 percent from the 3-point line and 88 percent from the charity

stripe. He has a chance to finish with 3,000 career points, which would make him only the eighth player in NCAA history to reach that milestone. Pete Maravich (Louisiana State University) is first overall, with 3,667. Of course, he did it in three years.

I’m not comparing McDermott to Pete Maravich. McDermott is a 6-foot-8 small forward. He’s not the fastest guy around, nor is he the most athletic. He’s not even a great passer or defender. But, he has a lethal shoot-ing stroke from mid-range and 3-point dis-tance alike.

Most NBA mock drafts have McDermott going in the middle of the first round, which is probably a good place for him. With his relatively limited athleticism, he’s not ready to lead a team right now. Teams have gotten much smarter about drafting in the last couple years. Hell would freeze over before Adam Morrison got drafted in the top-three like he

did in 2006. McDermott, at this point, can be compared to spread-the-floor pure shooters like Mike Dunleavy or Wally Szczerbiak.

Is it depressing to compare the possible Wooden Award winner to Mike Dunleavy? Maybe. I’d much rather have McDermott take the J.J. Redick route. That is, it would be ideal, in my opinion, to have McDermott drafted onto a team where he could be a role player coming off the bench, learning the ropes of the NBA, and gradually work on his game so that he can be a starter. Redick has accomplished that, and now is a major cog on a championship contender.

I don’t think McDermott will ever be a star in the NBA. I’d like to see him try and pull out his Dirk Nowitzki-style step-back jumper against LeBron James. But how far would James swat it into the crowd? Third row? Fourth? It just wouldn’t work very well. Mc-Dermott represents a common phenomenon in

college basketball right now: The best player, the Wooden Award winner, is often someone who peaks in college. It’s similar to the Heis-man trophy. I thought that quarterback Johnny Manziel was the best college football player in the country this year. I think, that if you put Jameis Winston on Manziel’s Texas A&M University team, that the Aggies wouldn’t have won even six games. But the voters gave the Heisman to Winston, in part because they think he’s better equipped for success at the next level. This is unfair to players like Man-ziel and McDermott, who might very well be solid (maybe excellent) professional athletes.

If either Embiid or Wiggins wins the Wooden Award this year, it’s robbery. Doug McDermott is the best college basketball player alive. He might not look or even play like a future NBA star, but the NCAA isn’t the NBA and McDermott deserves every award that he’ll get at the college level.

mCKay: From Page 8

coach Joe Jones. “It was a character win. I had no doubt that we were going to play well on Saturday, there was no question in my mind. I know these guys. When you catch their attention, they perform.

“My job is to catch their attention, keep them focused. When they’re fo-cused, they’re very good. For 34 minutes we played very good basketball. Then we lost our focus and they took it to us. But it was a great character win, on the road, in probably the toughest venue to play at in the conference, sold out arena, after getting blown out, seven-hour drive, it was a big-time win.”

Watson and Morris have been stout for the Terriers all season. Between the two, they lead BU in points, assists, rebounds, steals and field goal percentage.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Terriers will not only have to look out for Wilson, but also have to keep an eye on

sophomore Kevin Ferguson. The Berkeley Heights, N.J., native is ninth in the confer-ence with 5.3 rebounds per game, second in shooting with a field goal percentage of 60.9 percent and second in blocks with 1.9 per game.

Jones insisted that there are multiple ar-eas in which the Terriers have to focus on in order to win.

“I think the big thing is we have to play with unbelievable confidence ... because [Army] plays hard,” Jones said. “They re-ally, really compete. We’re one of the top teams in defensive field goal percentage. We’re one of the top schools in rebounding. If we can defend and rebound [Wednesday] night, everything else will take care of it-self.

“The other thing we have to do is con-sistently take care of the basketball and get the shots that we want. If we do a good job of that, we’re going to be in great shape. [Army] is very good, they are talented.”

Terriers look for strong defense, reboundingmen’s BasKetBall: From Page 8

needed stability in the Terriers’ starting lineup, as she has been a vital part in the last three games. During the stretch, the junior has averaged 13.3 points per game and 7.6 rebounds a contest.

McKendrick has been part of a BU line-up including Agboola, Scannell, Callahan and freshman guard Sarah Hope that has gone 2-1 as unit on the floor. Greenberg said the Terriers will likely stick with the lineup throughout the rest of the season, barring major injury.

“I think we’ve got our starting five with Mollie and Clodagh starting and [senior forward Whitney Turner] coming off the bench,” Greenberg said. “Which is great be-cause Whitney’s our big presence and we’ll stick with the rotations we’ve been doing and just play possession basketball.”

Not only will the starting lineup have to continue to work well together, but getting good opportunities will be essential for the

Terriers as well. The Black Knights have held opponents to a 36.7 shooting percent-age from the field, posing a problem for BU, which is shooting just 37.2 percent on the season.

“We just have to move the ball and get our open shots and hopefully knock them down,” Greenberg said.

With inconsistencies this season, the Terriers have not often had much success stringing together victories, winning two straight games just once, with consecutive wins coming against the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont. However, for Greenberg, the focus is not on the wins, but on what the team can do to improve.

“From day one, from the Northeastern [University] game we’ve said, ‘lets just learn from the game and learn from the ex-perience and clean up whatever we didn’t do so hot in,’” Greenberg said. “That’s the key.”

New BU starting unit begins to clickwomen’s hoops: From Page 8

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MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFFJunior forward Evan Rodrigues looks to help the men’s hockey team in his return to the ice.

men’s hoCKey: From Page 8

After two tough road contests, the Boston University men’s bas-ketball team is preparing for its return to Agganis Arena where the Terriers will face off against the U.S. Military Academy Wednes-day night.

The Terriers (14-7, 7-1 Patriot League) are hoping that their 64-61 win against Bucknell Universi-ty last Saturday will be the start of a new winning streak after its six-game unbeaten run ended with a loss to Patriot League leader American University on Jan. 22.

The Black Knights (10-9, 6-2 Patriot League), who sit behind BU at third place in the Patriot League, will aim to rebound af-ter a 84-74 loss to the fi rst-place Eagles (12-7, 8-0 Patriot League) this past Saturday.

Army brings in a strong of-fense, leading the conference in scoring at 74.1 points per game. The Black Knights demonstrat-ed how profi cient its offense is against American, hitting 45.2 percent of their shots in the sec-ond half.

While the Eagles lead the league in total defense, conceding 60.8 points per game, the Black Knights managed to score 44 points against them in the second half alone. Army guard Kyle Wil-son had 27 points, shooting 7-for-15 from the fl oor, and 4-of-5 mark from 3-point range.

Wilson leads the team and is second in the conference in scor-ing with 19.2 points per game. The Black Knights were also lift-ed by the play of forward Tanner Plomb, who contributed 12 points and 7 rebounds.

American made up for its sub-par performance on defense on the other end of the fl oor, where the Eagles converted 10 3-point attempts. Four of those came from guard John Schoof, who fi nished with a team-high 22 points. Amer-ican also excelled near the basket, where senior Tony Wroblicky had a strong outing, fi nishing with 19

points, eight rebounds and fi ve blocks.

On the same day, sophomore guard Maurice Watson Jr. and se-nior forward Dom Morris led the Terriers over the Bison (9-10, 4-4 Patriot League). Watson had 12 points, eight rebounds and fi ve assists, while Morris scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

BU dominated most of the

game and at one point led by 20 points, but Bucknell scored nine- straight points in the fi nal few minutes to make the contest close. However, sophomore guard John Papale made crucial free throws at the very end to seal the win for the Terriers.

“It was a big win,” said BU

SportsThe Daily Free Press

[ www.dailyfreepress.com ]paGe 8 Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Th e Bottom Line

By Alex RozierDaily Free Press Staff

GRACE DONNELY/DAILY FREE PRESS FILE PHOTOSenior forward Dom Morris continues to shine in his fi nal season at BU.

Saturday, Feb. 1 M. Basketball vs. Lehigh, 1 p.m.W. Basketball @ Lehigh, 2 p.m.W. Hockey vs. UConn, 3 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 30Wednesday, Jan. 29 Friday, Jan. 31

M. Basketball vs. Army, 7 p.m.W. Basketball @ Army, 7 p.m.

No Events ScheduledAt Super Bowl media day Tuesday,

several players and coaches were asked interesting questions...

No Events Scheduled Pete Carroll was even asked if the Super

Bowl was a “must-win” game for the team. It’s the Super Bowl.

1. Boston College – The Eagles are looking for better goaltending, but their offense is so good that it should not matter too much. BC (4.48 goals per game) averages more than a goal per game more than the next-best Hockey East team (Notre Dame, 3.28) thanks to the work of its fi rst line. Forwards Johnny Gaudreau (22 goals, 28 as-sists 50 points), Kevin Hayes (19-26-45) and Bill Arnold (8-28-36) are the top-three point scorers in the league. Throw in one of the best de-fensive units in the Hockey East as well as some solid secondary scor-ing and BC should have no trouble winning the conference’s regular-season title.

2. University of Massachu-setts-Lowell – Coach Norm Bazin’s squad had a bit of a rocky start, but it has used its league-best team de-fense (1.96 goals against per game) to return to its form from a year ago. A balanced scoring unit led by senior Joe Pendenza (12-9-21) has been good enough to help the best goaltending tandem of senior Doug Carr and sophomore Connor Hel-lebuyck to the second most overall wins in the league (16).

3. Providence College – Provi-dence started the season as the team to beat in Hockey East, but it has cooled off as of late. Losses to Northeastern University, BC and Lowell in the past month, as well as the slowing down of leading scorer Ross Mauermann (four points in his last seven games after scoring 27 in his fi rst 19) have been a part of that cooling. Still, Mauermann and goaltender Jon Gillies are among the best players in the league and are capable of carrying the Friars deep into the postseason.

HOCKEY LEAST

The BU men’s hockey team places ninth in this week’s power rankings, P.7.

Quotable“ “When you catch their attention, they per-form.

-BU coach Joe Jones on his team’s per-formance against Bucknell University.

Women’s basketball sets sights on 2nd straight PL victory

The Boston University wom-en’s basketball team will look to win its second straight Patriot League game Wednesday night when it takes on the U.S. Military Academy.

The Terriers (8-13, 3-5 Pa-triot League) will be traveling to West Point, N.Y., where the Black Knights (14-5, 6-2 Patriot League) are a perfect 9-0 at home.

“We can’t be happy that we got a big win over Bucknell [Univer-sity],” said BU coach Kelly Green-berg on moving on to the next game. “We have to fi gure out what we did well in that game, improve on it and then fi gure out what Army brings. Then if we can combine what we’re doing well and limit

Army’s strengths then we’ll be fi ne.”

BU is coming off of an 86-58 win against the Bison (10-8, 5-3 Pa-triot League) where senior forward Rashidat Agboola had 25 points, pushing her into the 1,000-point club for her Terrier career.

The Terriers are led by Agboola and senior guard Danielle Calla-han, who are both averaging dou-ble-digit points per game. Callahan is second in the league in assists, while Agboola is fi fth in rebound-ing and blocked shots.

To counter the BU attack, in Army’s main weapon in its arsenal is sophomore Kelly Minato. She is averaging 20.2 points per game, good for fi rst in the Patriot League. Greenberg said she is aware of the kind of scoring threat that Minato

poses.“They have a really good point

guard,” Greenberg said about Mi-nato. “She’s a big time scorer and 20 points a game is a lot. We’re certainly going to be aware of where she is on the court.”

Army also leads the league in defensive rebounds and rebound-ing margin with two players within the top 10 in the league in the re-bound category.

With BU towards the bottom in the rebounding department in the Patriot League, a full team effort will be needed to stop the Black Knight inside game.

“We talk about rebounding ev-ery game because it’s just so im-portant,” Greenberg said. “The last several games we feel like our guards, especially [sophomore

guard] Clodagh [Scannell], have stepped up and helped with re-bounding so we’re going to focus on that.”

Scannell has been strong on the boards lately, grabbing 12 and sev-en rebounds in her last two games, respectively, after grabbing just 45 in the previous 17 matchups of the season.

Not only has Scannell improved on the boards, but she has also been a potent offensive weapon for the Terriers. She had 15 points in a win over Colgate University Jan. 15 and scored a career-high 17 points against Loyola University-Mary-land Jan. 19.

Coupled with Scannell’s resur-gence, junior forward Mollie McK-endrick has inserted some much-

By Michael JoscelynDaily Free Press Staff

Eagles lead Hockey East power rankings

By Kevin DillonDaily Free Press Staff

men’s hoCKey, see page 7

Men’s basketball prepares for Army

Ask a fan or even an analyst who they think the best college basket-ball player is right now. Chances are, they’ll give you the name of the player in the college ranks that they think is the most ready for the NBA. In the past, the answers to these two separate questions might be the same. Take the example of Blake Griffi n in 2009. He was con-sidered both the best player in the NCAA and the most NBA-ready, evidenced by his NBA Rookie of the Year award and countless high-light-reel dunks.

But sometimes the answers are different. In 2011, the John Wooden Award, presented to college bas-ketball’s best player, was given to Brigham Young University’s Jim-mer Fredette, who averaged nearly 29 points per game. But Fredette was just the 10th pick in the sub-sequent 2011 NBA draft, and was the fourth point guard drafted. As it turns out, the scouts were right about Fredette. He has struggled at the professional level to make a consistent impact.

Who’s the most NBA-ready player in college basketball this year? It’s a bit of a toss-up. Many mock drafts have Kansas center Joel Embiid going fi rst overall, followed by heralded freshmen Andrew Wig-gins and Jabari Parker. But who’s the best player in college basketball right now? Is it Oklahoma State University guard Marcus Smart, or maybe University of Kentucky power forward Julius Randle? In my opinion, it’s not any of the play-ers that have been listed above. The best player in college basketball, for the most part, fl ies under the radar.

His name is Doug McDermott, and he is a senior who plays for Creighton University in the Big East Conference. Part of the rea-son that McDermott doesn’t get the hype that Embiid, Wiggins, Parker and others do is because he plays for Creighton, a small school in Omaha, Neb., with just over 4,000 undergraduates. Until this year, Creighton played in the Missouri Valley Conference. As such, col-lege basketball pundits weren’t

mCKay, see page 7

Sunday, Feb. 2

M. Hockey @ UMass-Amherst, 7:30 p.m.W. Hockey @ UConn, 7 p.m.

women’s hoops, see page 7

men’s BasKetBall, see page 7

McDermott: The best in

NCAA hoops

Foul Shots

Patrick McKay