By Tue Tran, Editor-in-Chief – (Photography: Christina Rogers)

Some Boston College students woke up this morning, wondering if they should follow singer Ke$ha’s lead and brush their teeth with a bottle of Jack. Others forgot and brushed with contaminated water.

Ashley Francisque, A&S ‘10, quickly rinsed her mouth with Dasani water once she remembered the boil water order the state issued yesterday. This occurred after an aqueduct broke in Weston, Mass., causing millions of people to have to adapt to different guidelines for water usage.

Francisque then realized how much this would impact her daily routine.

“It’s very inconvenient because I have to brush my teeth and do these everyday things,” Francisque said. “It’s hard to remember because you’re so used to doing them.”

Francisque lives in St. Ignatius Gate, and does not have a stove with which to boil water – a BC Alert email stated that people without stoves can boil water  by placing it in a microwave safe container for 3 to 5 minutes in the microwave, depending on the microwave.

On the other hand, Tony Jennaro, A&S ‘10, did not find the water situation to be too troubling.”I started boiling water immediately,” Jennaro said. “I haven’t found it to be much of an inconvenience. You just boil some water.”

When she found out about the boil water order, Megan McGuire, A&S ‘11, was not fazed by the situation either, particularly because of the help of a roommate’s parent.

“My roommate’s mom had dropped off four huge cases of Poland Spring,” McGuire said, in an email. “So I guess I’m kind of lucky in that aspect. I tend to be unfazed by things like this, even though I should be [worried]. But my roommates are really on top of it. We have plastic silverware to avoid doing dishes, water by the sink in water bottles to brush our teeth, etc.”

Some people who are against bottled water had to make an exception for this situation. “I had to buy bottled water today,” Brian Tracz, A&S ‘12, who has not purchased a bottle of water since sometime last year.

Phil Seidl, LSOE ‘13, noticed, however, that other students did not hesitate to buy large numbers of bottled water from the dining halls. “Once the news started to spread, people were buying Smart Water by the case, and the dining hall is already sold out of water and has been for a while,” Seidl said, in an email.

While Governor Deval Patrick said that the problem should be solved in a few days if workers can successfully patch the leak, Francisque is still concerned that bottled water is nowhere to be found. “I just got the last bottle of water from [City Convenience] this morning, and I know there’s no water anywhere else.”

Other than a bottled water shortage, students gearing up to study today found out that their favorite places to get coffee were closed.

“I really didn’t think much of it until I realized there’s no coffee anywhere,” McGuire said. “Not very good for my productive day at the library.”

The situation shed light on how the community was able to react to the situation. “The civic response was great,” Tracz said. “The police were on top of it,” he said, referring to the officers driving around, notifying people of the situation with bullhorns. “The Chestnut Hill Reservoir was activated immediately … They’re testing the water hourly. The infrastructure that they have set up is excellent.”

Others, however, felt that BC’s notification system was too slow – no one interviewed had received a text, and the email from the Office of Residential Life, sent through the Office of the Dean for Student Development, was received by students sporadically.

“Aren’t we supposed to have a ‘state of emergency’ type of text message sent out to our phones?” Jack Lundy, A&S ’11 asked, in an email. “I never got anything … My brother who was visiting Boston for the weekend texted me, telling me to be wary of the water. He informed me before BC did.”

Some students also believe that they are sick from consuming contaminated water, with symptoms such as vomiting. “One of my friends I believe is sick from it,” Lundy said. “She is not sure if she has come down with something or not but she told me she can’t seem to keep anything down.

Overall, this situation allowed students to take a step back and reflect on how much of the world must boil their water in order for it to be safe to drink.

“It’s a wake up call to the BC community to see what much of the world goes through,” Scott Jelinek, A&S ‘10, said. “At least we have running water.”

“You take it for granted the fact that you can get water wherever,” Andrew Durkot, A&S ‘11, said. “And now when you’re about to do something, you stop and realize that you need water.”

Due to a water pipe break in Weston, Mass., the faucet water at Boston College is unsafe to drink without boiling for one minute, according to an email from the Office of the Dean of Student Development. It is, however, suitable for bathing, flushing, and fire protection, says the email. They are filtering the water at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir for use.

Update: Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency.

Update: Gov. Deval Patrick says that if workers can patch the leak successfully, this will be resolved in days.

By Andrew Slade, For The Gavel -

Earlier this week, Boston College’s Political Science Association (PSA) hosted an event entitled “U.S. Power: Waxing or Waning?” The PSA assembled a panel of four professors from the political science department: David Deese, Timothy Crawford, Robert Ross and Mark Sheetz. Although their explanations and specific points varied, all four agreed that American power is waning.

Crawford, began by outlining a general definition of what exactly “power” means. He presented a trichotomy of three faces of power, which he suggested could be used to as a basis for determining the present state of the power of government. Included were the ability to directly cause people to do what you want, the ability to set an agenda and decide which issues are attended to and which are ignored and the ability to change the way others think about their own interests.

Crawford commented on the style in which these abilities have been exercised recently, and how the differences in execution between President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama could result in different policy and perception from foreign governments. On whether or not this changed image will become reality, Crawford pointed to Obama’s ability to negotiate international issues like nuclear proliferation, global warming and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For the most part, Crawford explained that Obama has been able to do little more than get people to talk about these matters thus far.

Deese focused on psychological aspects of power, such as the prestige associated with a country or person, and the ability to attract others to a cause based on the long-term legitimacy of a nation’s policies. He highlighted the fact that power is always contextual, and that there is presently disequilibrium between America’s power and its global military and economic commitments.

In his statement, Ross focused on the power of other nations in comparison to that of the U.S., expanding on Crawford’s assertion that power must be assessed in context. “In that respect, America’s power is not what it used to be,” Ross said.

For Ross, the two primary areas to look at when evaluating power are military and economic strength. While America has seen success in both areas and is continuing to make advancements, Ross explained that other countries like China are catching up, as their economy grows at ten percent annually, versus three-percent growth in the United States.

The fourth panelist, Sheetz, centered his argument on the fact that the bipolar and unipolar power the United States has experienced since World War II has been anomalous, noting that it has allowed America to grow an economy that accounts for one quarter of global industrial production, and a military more advanced than any other. Sheetz went on to echo the sentiment expressed by Ross, suggesting that the distribution of power in the world is shifting.

“The U.S. is declining in relative terms, largely because when you’re on top, the only place to go is down,” Sheetz said.

After each of the professors gave their prepared statements, the moderator opened the floor to questions from the audience. A student in attendance asked whether there is a solution that would allow America to maintain its place at the top, or whether there is nothing that can be done at this point. The panelists joked that the question was characteristically American before answering.

Ross suggested that the federal government take real steps to get the economy back on track and reduce deficits. These include cutting defense spending, ending our wars, increasing the retirement age, raising taxes (which he noted are presently lower than they were under President Ronald Reagan) and establishing a new energy policy. Crawford and Deese made some similar suggestions, but said that it might not be possible to remain the world’s only superpower, while Sheetz offered the simplest advice.

“The solution when you’re digging yourself a hole is to stop digging,” Sheetz said.

By Michelle Martinez, News Editor -

Boston College’s Genocide Awareness Group, a committee of Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), sponsored an event in which speakers shared the stories of survivors of genocide.

Tamara Indianer, who represents the Holocaust Legacy Partners Project, which is part of Holocaust Center Boston North, is dedicated to preserving the history and memory of Holocaust survivor Netty Vanderpol. In “ensuring that the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten” she seeks that “the Holocaust doesn’t remain a page in a textbook,” as survivors pass away.

Fr. Bienvenu Mayemba, S.J., a BC Jesuit from the Congo, also shared his experiences having lived in Rwanda before and after the genocide.

Indianer proceeded to share the story of Dutch Holocaust survivor Netty Vanderpol, who led a normal life until 1940 when the Germans invaded Holland when she was only thirteen years old. Vanderpol, who actually went to school with Anne Frank, began to notice how her friends and schoolmates were slowly being deported or going into hiding as anti-Jewish policies began to be implemented.

In 1943, among the last Jewish transports, Vanderpol’s family was deported to Westerbork camp, which essentially served as a transit camp. 107,000 passed through Westerbork, and only 5,200 survived.

Her family was later moved to Terezinstadt, which was originally used in the 1800’s to house a maximum of 7,000 soldiers. During the Holocaust, however, it was used as a transit camp to the death camps, mainly Auschwitz, said Indianer. It would hold over 50,000 prisoners; seven times its intended capacity. “Essentially each prisoner had two square yards of space to his or herself,” said Indianer.

In a video interview shown by Idianer, Vanderpol relates some of the most harrowing experiences she suffered during the Holocaust. One of these included her work alongside another young woman in loading the transport of the elderly headed to Auschwitz. “They were standing on the side of the train in stretchers, and we had to bring them in the wagon,” said Vanderpol, “We started with the first one, placing the stretcher down on the train. All of the sudden, the Nazi Commandant appears and says ‘This is the way to do it.’ He pushes stretchers over to have them fall on the other person on the floor of the train.”

“An old woman told me ‘Please, please don’t do this,’ but I had to. And every time I’d do it, you’d hear the breaking of bones, and it was horrible. And this is the kind of thing I had to do, because if I didn’t, I would’ve been in the train with them. The guilt is enormous,” said Vanderpol.

Vanderpol also recalled another traumatizing moment in her youth. “A few of us, all girls between ages 16-19, saw two Germans in the back of a plough, which was like a knife. Two people were pulling the plough. One of the guys fell down. The other one stopped. The Germans screamed at him to continue pulling. I’ll never forget the face of that guy pulling, because the plough had to run over the one that had fallen. It was just so sadistic. It is something I will never forget,” said Vanderpol.

Vanderpol was put on a train to be deported eighteen different times, but she somehow managed to get out every time. “Netty lives with the guilt that every time she was pulled off, someone else died in her stead,” said Indianer.

Besides the great degree of guilt that is involved as a survivor, Vanderpol also feels great resentment and anger. Terezinstadt was portrayed as a model camp by the Nazi propaganda machine, as an attempt to show the world that the rumors of atrocities being committed were untrue. When the Danish Red Cross was set to visit the camp, Terezinstadt was rebuilt and rebeautified. Following their visit, the Red Cross released a report that “the atrocities weren’t happening and that the facilities were beautiful.” To this day, Netty has felt betrayed by the Red Cross, and never gave them a penny until the earthquake hit Haiti this past year.

In 1944, Vanderpol and her entire nuclear family finally became free by being part of a risky volunteer prisoner exchange. Indianer notes how for the first years, Vanderpol didn’t speak about the war. It was not until Elie Wiesel urged others to “bear witness to the evils perpetrated by the Nazis” that she began to voice her guilt and suffering by means of art. Her needlepoint collection, which consists of nineteen different needlepoints of her life, is entitled “Every Stitch a Memory.”

After Indianer recounted Vanderpol’s experiences during the Holocaust and her memories as a survivor, Mayemba spoke about genocide in the perspective of Rwanda and Congo, and the responsibility everyone has to remember as well as to act. “Every time I hear people talking of genocide, I say there are two things we need to do: We need to rethink how we perceive others—especially those who are different from us, and we need to give ourselves permission to speak out for the victims,” said Mayemba.

Mayemba noted how the world is one of paradox, consisting simultaneously of great beauty and amazement, but also terror, fear, and sadness. “Genocide is only an aspect of this world of paradox,” Mayemba said, and Africa has suffered from it greatly in the past decades.

With the Rwandan genocide, Mayemba’s native Congo had to take in numerous refugees from the bordering country. “They needed to be taken care of. And then the Congolese became jealous, which creates great tension,” said Mayembe.

He also notes that genocide instills a great degree of guilt on those who survive, providing a feeling that something should have been done to stand up for the victims. As survivors, there is a responsibility to not just speak for the victims, but to be aware of the dangerous doctrines that might lead to genocide. These include the regarding of anyone else as an ‘other,’ the dismissing of others’ consciousness, and the belief in others’ inferiority due to their differences.

Mayembe was in Rwanda right before the genocide happened, and then returned after it had ended. “It was sad to return to this place I’d lived in for two years; so many people had died. And there were no individual graves, just mass graves. Genocide creates an empty space. And it had implications on Congo as well,” said Mayembe.

As citizens of the world, we have the responsibility to remember the past as well as to act for the future. “We watch on TV all these instances of exploitation, harassment, abuse—do we see this and get angry? Or do we see that we have to resist? We have the responsibility to stand for the crucified people, those that are suffering,” Mayembe said.

“When we remember, we have to remember to move forward. We don’t remember to be stuck in the past. We remember to be able speak out for the victims. We remember because we want a better world. That’s what we want.”

By Michelle Martinez, News Editor -

With the pivotal passage of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” the United States saw the culmination of decades’ worth of debate on health care reform. Whereas most of the discussion since then has been dominated by the effects on the elderly and on those with preexisting conditions, little has been said on the provisions that drastically change financial federal-aid to college students, as well as the general benefits young adults stand to receive.

Erica Williams, deputy director of Progress 2050 and senior adviser to Campus Progress, argues that “health care reform — and the under-publicized but far-reaching student aid reform that passed along with it in reconciliation — arguably constitutes the broadest, most meaningful, and beneficial legislative victories for young people in recent history.”

The quietly passed “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act,” also has a significant impact on the young American population.

“It is the largest investment in aid to help students and families pay for college in history — and at no cost to the taxpayer,” Williams said.

This bill puts an end to a prior subsidy program that had enriched banks and financial aid-service institutions by having them service the loan at a cost. More than $36 billion stands to be invested in the Pell Grant program over the next 10 years just by expanding direct government lending and removing the middleman in the financial-aid process.

President Barack Obama noted in his Weekly Address how 2 in 3 graduates take out loans to pay for college. “The average student ends up with more than $23,000 in debt,” Obama said. “So when this change takes effect in 2014, we’ll cap a graduate’s annual student loan repayments at 10 percent of his or her income.”

In spite of the apparent healthiness of people ages 19 to 29, government statistics show that this group constitutes nearly a third of the uninsured population. Also, more than half of all young adults have low incomes well below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. According to the Urban Institute, these low-income young adults are more than 2.5 times likely to be uninsured than higher-income young adults.

Cost barriers are also particularly problematic for young women, given that in 33 states insurance companies had been permitted to charge higher premiums based on age, gender, and health status without any restriction. This typically led to a 22-year-old woman being charged one and a half times the premium of a 22-year-old man, hike which can make the difference between affordable and expensive coverage.

Because of the expansion of Medicaid, nine million young adults will now have access to care and more than two million will be able to continue to be covered by their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26, as opposed to the prior cut-off age of 23.

“Since Massachusetts has mandated health insurance for college students for over 20 years, we probably will have less of an impact than other states who didn’t provide health insurance to their college student population,” said Nancy Baker, assistant director of Boston College Health Services.

“The current plan that is provided to students at BC exceeds the state law requirements for mandated benefits, as determined by the term, Qualified Student Health Insurance Plans (QSHIP),” Baker said. “Other colleges have lower limits of coverage.”

Judy Shindul-Rothschild, associate professor of nursing at BC, served on former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis’ Committee for the Uninsured as a nursing representative. Shindul-Rothschild notes that the national health care reform bill passed by Congress is modeled after health care reforms adopted in Massachusetts.

“The provision to extend coverage of a family’s private health insurance for children into young adulthood is a provision that was adopted in Massachusetts under former Governor Dukakis,” Shindul-Rothschild said.

“Our mandate was to implement the provision in Massachusetts that would mandate all full-time students purchase health-insurance as a condition of enrollment in all universities in Massachusetts, demonstrate coverage under a parent or guardian’s health insurance, and extend health insurance coverage until children reached the age of 24,” Shindul-Rothschild said.

Shindul-Rothschild expressed how the fears and arguments proposed by critics and opponents of Dukakis’ reform never materialized, and in her opinion, are not bound to materialize as these provisions are implemented nationally. Amongst these concerns was the possibility of a marked increase in health care costs related to extending coverage to young adults.

“In Massachusetts, due to the concentration of universities in our state, approximately 17 percent of the uninsured at the time were full-time university students — the highest of any cohort in the commonwealth,” Shindul-Rothschild said.

Because of this, the Committee for the Uninsured worked alongside Massachusetts health insurers to develop reasonably priced plans to be purchased by families who lacked health insurance.

“By including this as a cost of enrollment, the costs associated could be considered in financial aid packages,” Shindul-Rothschild said. “We worked very hard at the Committee to negotiate low premiums and deductibles for students.”

Though Shindul-Rothschild considers certain provisions such as prohibiting exclusion of children from parents’ coverage due to a pre-existing condition as being long overdue, she is still concerned about the costs associated with the national health care plan.

“Hearings convened by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley specifically addressed skyrocketing health care costs in Massachusetts and concluded that the precipitous rise in health care costs was not due to the implementation of health care reform in Massachusetts in 2006 that mandated all residents purchase private health insurance,” Shindul-Rothschild said. ”Rather the Attorney General’s investigation concluded the rise in costs was due to market clout by a select group of providers.”

In her appearance at the Commonwealth for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, Shindul Rothschild recommended more regulations given the health care market’s failure to constrain costs.

“I believe such government oversight is critical because the health care market does not respond to competitive incentives as other markets,” Shindul-Rothschild said. “The national health care reform does not address cost-containment and without a public option, I am fearful, given our experience in Massachusetts, that costs will rapidly escalate.”

By Tue Tran, Editor-in-Chief -

Thursday, the 3rd recipient of the annual Father Robert Drian Award was Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray. The award was given by the College Democrats of Boston College (CDBC), and the event was held in Burns Library.

“We decided to give this award to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray because, throughout his life in public service, he has always fought to ensure that everyone is given a fair shot to succeed, like Fr. Drinan,” said Kristoffer Munden, vice president of CDBC and A&S ‘11.

Murray attended Fordham University and received his law degree from the Western New England College School of Law. He also worked for what is now the Department of Transitional Assistance, where he helped women and their children find stable places to live. And this was an influential part of his career in public service, Murray said.

He told the audience of when he became lieutenant governor, he received an email from a woman who asked if he was the “Tim Murray” who had helped her and her children find a home many years ago, which he was. It turns out that her children were later able to receive a college education – one had just graduated from law school at the time of the email.

This demonstrates, Murray said, that in one generation, their family’s course was changed due to one woman’s perseverance and some assistance to find the stability that everyone needs in life. “That’s something we should all be doing,” Murray said, referring to helping others in times of need. “We can’t rely on the survival of the fittest. We can’t settle for that as Democrats. And we can’t settle for that as Catholics.”

Murray served on the City Council of Worcester prior to becoming mayor of Worcester, and he assumed his current office in 2007.

CDBC also established a new award this year to recognize the potential in newer Democratic politicians.

“Well, after the success of the first presentation to John Kerry, we really wanted to expand the awards to include an award for a younger Democrat,” said Rachel Lamorte, president of CDBC and A&S ‘10. “CDBC works on so many local campaigns and gets to know some politicians very well, and we thought the new award would be an amazing way to honor them.”

CDBC gave Mayor of Newton Setti Warren, BC ‘93, this award. “Setti Warren was an easy choice,” Lamorte said. “He has had an amazing life of public service already, and CDBC worked on his campaign and was very impressed by his dedication to Democratic politics.”

After the awards were given, Murray and Warren took questions from the audience. When asked about what the priorities are for their policies, they both agreed that they were getting more people involved and the economy. Warren, who was recently elected mayor, also wanted local government to be more responsive and inclusive.

“Newton has the opportunity to be a real leader,” Warren said, about investing in the future. “We can be the greenest community.”

When asked about those who cannot reconcile being Catholic and being a Democrat, Murray said that over the last century to today, there are many Democratic policies that make the family stronger that the Catholic Church also supports. “We’ve checked unbridled capitalism that would be detrimental to families,” noting the limit of hours in a work week to 40.

A reception concluded the event.

Fr. Drinan was former Dean of the Boston College Law School and Democratic member of Congress. He was noted for being a champion of human rights and social justice.

Past recipients include US Senator John Kerry and Democratic Party Strategist Donna Brazile.

In an event sponsored by Boston College’s Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Student Association, Michael Kerr, director for the Center of the Study of Divided Societies and professor from King’s College in London, addressed the power-sharing arrangements devised in Lebanon and Northern Ireland in the 20th century.

Though one wouldn’t be quick to compare Lebanon and Northern Ireland as sharing several similarities, Kerr pointed out that both these states share similar histories of sectarian violence, of power-sharing structures that initially failed, and of imposed power-sharing arrangements on behalf of external actors.

“In divided societies like Northern Ireland and Lebanon, that are divided by socio-ethnic, linguistic cleavages, outside states have been critical and central to implementation and negotiation of power-sharing accords,” Kerr said. “External forces have been the deciding element in the power-sharing accords in the 20th century, and this remains the case today.”

Kerr emphasized how when he began his research on the subject of power-sharing agreements, he wondered how and why elites in conflict for contested spaces would ever agree to share ownership of those lands that were ideologically god-given in their national narratives. At the beginning of this research endeavor, reformulated power agreements were in place in both of the states he studied: the 1998 Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland, and the Taef Agreements that ended the Lebanese Civil War.

Both of these power-sharing agreements were in some way condoned or pursued mostly by external powers, especially those who had some sort of interest and possible gain from this return to power-sharing.

“Power-sharing is the most realistic means to regulate violence in societies and avoid civil war. In Northern Ireland’s case, British and Irish governments began to work with a unity of purpose to promote that idea. In Lebanon, stability is fluctuated depending on the input from the United States, the Soviet Union at the time, among others,” Kerr said.

Not just the establishment, but also the longevity of these agreements greatly depend on the external powers’ long-standing interest in bringing that into being. In the example of Northern Ireland, for interest, positive external values in ensuring the strength and endurance of the agreement include President Bill Clinton’s influence and support, as well as the British government’s vast interest in regulating Irish violence.

With the conclusion of the Lebanese Civil War with the Taef Agreements in 1976, the United States set out to accept a ‘Syrian Solution.’ “The United States accepted a Syrian regulation of Lebanon’s political violence, accept a special relationship between the two, and thus bring Syria into the US’ sphere of influence,” Kerr said. Because of these, the post-war reality of Lebanese politics is now determined by its relationship with Syria, and is now a government subservient to that of an external power.

“The Lebanese didn’t protest too much, having experienced a civil war. An imposed undemocratic government was grudgingly accepted,” Kerr said.

Kerr noted how these fragmented societies and the conflicts that arise out of them is currently exemplified by the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq, which President Barack Obama is thus far succeeding in containing. “External variables still remain essential to political processes in Lebanon and Northern Ireland, as well as in the future in societies that are similar,” Kerr said.

“In an ideal world, external actors would have a stake in ensuring these things are accomplished, such as a power-sharing agreement in Afghanistan. This, however, is not as easy as regulating political violence in Northern Ireland and Lebanon,” Kerr said.

By Andrew Slade, General Manager -

Last night, the College Democrats of Boston College brought to campus Mike Bonanno, one of the two leading members of the Yes Men, a group of generally anti-corporate international activists. In 2009, Bonanno directed and starred in The Yes Men Fix the World, a documentary highlighting the progressive efforts of the Yes Men, which manifest themselves almost exclusively in the form of elaborate pranks, executed by impersonating representatives of such entities as the ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Bonanno began his lecture by explaining how he and his partner in crime, Andy Bichlbaum, got their start. In 1999, the two founding members of the Yes Men set up a Web site designed to look like that of the World Trade Organization. Soon after, they began receiving e-mails from individuals and organizations who had visited the site and believed that they did, in fact, represent the WTO. Agreeing that the WTO was not doing a great job of representing itself to the public, Bonanno and Bichlbaum took it upon themselves to attend a global conference, posing as WTO employees. After making a number of outrageous, satirical statements to their highly educated audience, the Yes Men, who expected to be taken off stage and thrown out, were disappointed to find that there was virtually no reaction.

“We were embraced by the audience of trade lawyers,” Bonanno said. “We were surprised to find we weren’t arrested for what we did.”

As time went on, the Yes Men got more extreme and more ridiculous as they became more involved in producing documentaries based on their exploits. Realizing that large groups of people would accept almost anything as fact if it came from someone introduced as an authority, the pranksters decided to be more direct (and more extreme) so that nobody could ignore the real message they were trying to convey. Additionally, they decided after a number of pranks that underscored everything that is wrong with the large corporations and agencies they target, that it they would rather live the “dream” than the “nightmare,” changing their strategy to being representing what they believe to be the ideal.

Exemplifying this new mentality, Bonanno discussed what is perhaps the Yes Men’s most impactful, well known prank to date. In 2004, Bichlbaum posed as a spokesman for Dow Chemical, which had recently acquired Union Carbide, the company whose factory in Bhopal, India released a toxic gas which killed thousands in the most devastating industrial disaster in history. In a television news interview with BBC, Bichlbaum explained that Dow would, for the first time, be paying reparations to the people of Bhopal. This “news” shocked viewers and investors, leading to a $2 billion hit on Dow stock’s market capitalization. When asked whether the Yes Men faced backlash from the citizens of Bhopal for giving them false hope, Bonanno explained that he and Bichlbaum visited Bhopal where they were lauded for bringing international attention to their ongoing struggle.

Nevertheless, there are many who believe that the work of the Yes Men is immoral, as they blatantly lie to and deceive their audiences, often defaming the reputations of those they impersonate. Moreover, there are some who believe that their pranks legally constitute fraud. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who the Yes Men “represented” at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., has a law suit pending against those involved in a press conference at which Bichlbaum told reporters that the Chamber would be reversing its position on climate change legislation.

Pointing out that legally, they can only be held responsible if their intent is to achieve material gain through their impersonations, Bonanno defended their tactics by reminding those in attendance that their goal is to draw attention, not money, and that they will most likely end up losing money on the distribution of their documentaries.

“We do it to make a statement. We do it to make a political statement…until there’s a ruling on it, it’s legal,” Bonanno explained.

As for the moral aspect of their actions, there does not seem to be a consensus one way or another. While Bonanno acknowledged that lying is not generally the best way to deal with something, he maintains that history has shown us how it is sometimes a necessary means to an end.

“Good lies? Bad lies? You guys be the judge.”

Update: The event organizers are working on finding a new location for the conference.

The Boston College administration has cancelled the plans to host the Boston Intersessional Exercise on the Arms Trade Treaty, which was scheduled to be on campus from June 1 to 3. The conference was to be an informal intergovernmental meeting, and many diplomats were scheduled to attend. It was co-sponsored by the governments of United States, Luxembourg, Austria, and Australia.

Over Easter break, the State Department and United Nations officials wrote to BC, urging the administration not to cancel the event.

Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo confirmed today that current Cornell Head Coach Steve Donahue will take the vacant coaching position at Boston College. Donahue, who has spent the last ten years building Cornell into a powerful mid-major, will replace Al Skinner, the most successful basketball coach in school history in terms of wins.

After being an assistant at the University of Pennsylvania, Donahue accepted the head coaching position at Cornell in 1990. And after six straight losing seasons to begin his tenure at Cornell, Donahue has turned Cornell into an Ivy League powerhouse. Donahue has led Cornell to Ivy League Championships and NCAA Tournament berths the last three years, carrying a 38-4 conference record. His best season came this year as he led the Big Red to a #12 seed in the NCAA Tournament followed by back-to-back upsets over Temple and Wisconsin en route to a Sweet Sixteen appearance. And during the regular season, his Cornell team nearly upset the #1-ranked Kansas in Lawrence as they led the Jayhawks until the last minute of the game. In recognition of his success, Donahue was awarded the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award this past season.

Donahue is known for his potent offensive attack that he demonstrated this year with his Cornell squad, which ranked sixteenth in offensive efficiency in the nation according to the Ken Pomeroy rankings, which adjusts for strength of schedule. His motion-based offense contrasts with the Flex offense ran by former coach Al Skinner. While the complex Flex offense relies on cuts and down screens, the motion offense utilizes player movement to exploit the quickness of the offense and neutralize the size of the defense – an offense that could reap rewards with a current BC team that relies on guards Reggie Jackson and Rakim Sanders.

Donahue will be introduced as the head coach tomorrow by DeFilippo at 3:00 PM in the Yawkey Atheltic Center followed by a 5:00 PM Meet and Greet with students in the Dustbowl outside McElroy.