By Kevin Fagan, Asst. News Editor -

In an event sponsored by the College Democrats of Boston College, BC Students for Sexual Health, and the Americans for Informed Democracy, two representatives from the Sierra Club and the Population Justice Project gave presentations on Tuesday on how family planning and global warming are linked, as well as the need for activism to raise awareness on the connection.

Laurie Mazur, director of the Population Justice Project, described this time as a pivotal moment for the environment; she said there are probably less than ten years to take a serious stance about climate change on a global scale. She argued that population plays a big part in this, since the two primary factors contributing to the pollution of the environment are the number of people living and the way they live. She said that the generation that encompasses current college students is the largest generation of all time: it is twice as large as the baby boomer generation.

Mazur stated that given current growth rates, our population could grow from its current 6.8 billion to anywhere from 8 to 11 billion by 2050. In many countries with high rates of childbirth and poverty, much of this population growth is driven not by intention, but rather by lack of choice about childbearing. Many women in these countries are subject to arranged marriages from very young ages and are forced to reproduce in relationships with older men. She cited the example of a young Indian girl of age 11 preparing to marry a much older man.

The solution provided to the problem of high population growth rates is giving women the means and power to access family planning resources. In many countries, access to comprehensive sexual health resources is limited, mostly because of lack of funding. The other major issue deals with power and equality and getting women the education they need to advance both socially and economically. In many countries, lack of water is driving a cycle in which women are forced to spend more time searching for water instead of getting a job or education.

The price of this solution for the entire developed world would be about $30 billion per year. Although this may sound like a lot, Mazur pointed out that bankers received a comparable amount in 2009 in year-end bonuses. The United States’ share of this is about $1 billion a year, the same as the amount we already spend in Afghanistan every 13 hours. In addition to money, commitments of time are needed at organizations like the Sierra Club, which advocates for population justice and environmental issues.

This event is a part of BCisGreen Week, which continues later this week until its conclusion on Thursday, March 18th.

By Andrew Slade, News Editor -

Among college students nationwide, the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 is perhaps the law most frequently broken. According to internal studies at Boston College, just 25 percent of incoming freshmen describe themselves as non-drinkers. While some point to numbers like these as evidence that current drinking laws are ineffective and drive students to drink behind closed doors, others argue that lowering the MLDA would lead to adolescents beginning to drink at younger ages. Continue Reading

By Sue Byun, Assoc. News Editor -

This semester, several Boston College students have formed a new student activism group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group, which is still waiting for the administration’s approval of their constitution, plans to work closely with the Student Programs Office, along with other groups such as BC Hillel and the Arab Student Association, toward pursuing a just peace to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Continue Reading

By Sue Byun & Michelle Martinez, Gavel Editors -

Since its inception on Jan. 27, the Boston College chapter of the Association for the Advancement of University Professors (AAUP) boasts a steadily growing membership and a speaking appearance by AAUP Secretary General Gary Rhoades. It was founded in the hopes of achieving greater faculty governance and academic freedom, and a greater faculty participation in University operations overall.

The chapter’s executive committee, which consists of Susan Michalczyk, Michael Clarke, Michael Malec, Tim Duket, Pam Grace, Joyce Pulcini, and Alan Lawson, was elected into office at the first meeting last month. This marked the fruition of an effort started this past December when a group of faculty voted to move forward with forming a chapter.

Membership is currently at about 60, expanded from 47 in late January. “We hope to triple that membership by next year,” Malec said.

The chapter, which is less than one month old, is still in the recruiting and strategy planning phases, but Rhoades’ speech this past Tuesday served as a morale booster, crystallizing and provid¬ing national context for what the chapter members were trying to achieve. He spoke about academic freedom and responsibility in hard economic times.

“BC has a history of issues that deal with issues fundamental to AAUP, such as academic freedom of faculty as a core component of quality education,” Rhoades said. “Particularly in colleges such as yours, with a social justice mission, this responsibility is especially important in the political environment of today.” He mentioned the controversy surrounding the cancellation of a scheduled lecture by Bill Ayers, and Prof. Mary Daly’s disputes with the administration in the late 1960’s.

According to Rhoades, the current trend in America is what he termed as corporatization and commercialization of universities. “Especially with having to worry about building large endowments and moving up in rankings such as U.S. News, these kinds of politics really play out in program elimina¬tion, creation, and continuation,” Rhoades said.

“Shaping academic initiatives should be based on an academic calculus, more than by anticipated short-term revenues, to the benefit of students and society,” he said.

Specifically for BC to achieve this, Rhoades indicated a need for budget transparency, a faculty senate, and a reworking of contract language.

According to Rhoades, academic freedom is a collective responsibility and a prerogative that faculty in a school should especially as compared to other workplace environments, because the professors’ principal loyalties are to society, the students, and the discipline they work in.

“Sometimes those things are not entirely in concert with the economic interests of an institu¬tion, which is why faculty input is especially important in tight financial times, for maintaining the integrity of academic initiatives,” he said.

“For shared governance to be meaningful, it needs to include contingent, and not just tenured track faculty.” He also said that in order to make informed decisions, faculty access to financial information directly followed.

The majority of the BC chapter members are adjunct, though there are some tenured professors. Michael Resler, who is tenured as chair of the German Studies Department, said, “Basically I am here to show support for my colleagues. There absolutely ought to be a faculty senate, it’s shameful that there isn’t.”

Within the BC chapter, there is a desire for what Malec referred to as fiscal accountability and transparency. He said, “Some of us have concerns that we aren’t compensated appropriately because of having been critical of [the] administration. We could be wrong, but any faculty member that feels aggrieved has no way to really verify if indeed they are undercompensated.

“None of us know anything about the University. We have worked assiduously to shed some light on faculty compensation. At BC you just cant do it, it’s a well kept secret,” Malec said.

BC’s human resources depart¬ment regards information such as pay rate, past earnings, and home address as confidential and will release it only with the written permission of the employee or a court order.

“Cumulatively, it’s frustrating. The past fiscal year nobody got a raise, but faculty never had the chance to discuss the matter with the University,” Malec said.

Malec also said that for about two years, the faculty has tried to elect a senate but was not supported by the administration. Currently, there is no formal mechanism for faculty to speak with the Board of Trustees. The student governing body, UGBC, meets regularly with the board in an advisory setting.

Rhoades said, “I think it’s foolish for a president or provost to try to do things without faculty input. Why should they be so afraid of advice?” Still, he acknowledged the advantage of a “nimble” stream¬lined process of academic decision-making versus a more deliberative process.

Rhoades, who participated in an analysis of language on academic freedom across various university handbooks, cited University of Minnesota’s clause on free speech as an effective example, which allowed employees “to speak or write without institutional discipline or restraint on matters of related to… the functioning of the university… whether or not as a member of an agency of institutional governance.”

“The BC employee contract’s clause on academic freedom of faculty is not really defined, only invoked,” Rhoades said.

BC’s employee handbook states, “An individual employee has the right to speak publicly and to express personal opinions regard¬ing campus issues or issues that have no connection with Boston College. However, care should be exercised to avoid public criticism of University policy whenever such a stance is incompatible with the responsibilities of an employee’s position at Boston College.”

On the formation of a BC AAUP chapter, Patricia DeLeeuw, Vice Provost for Faculties, said, “These are all BC’s values as well. We are very pleased. A university is only as good as its faculty, and a good faculty brings good students. So as a community of scholars, the values of the AAUP, such as academic freedom and rigorous standards of higher education, are very important.”

“The more voices we have on campus the better,” DeLeeuw said.

Rhoades encouraged the BC chapter to be alert of the spirit it maintains in its discourse, to make sure that it works toward produc¬tive activities and presents feasible solutions, rather than just advocat¬ing grievances.

“Part of what an AAUP chapter can and should do is to establish the spirit – not only the structures – of accountability,” Rhoades said.

Malec lauded the chapter’s formation as a substantial effort to¬wards forming a dynamic of being proactive rather than reactive.

“When did education become a business? We as a university are moving more towards a business model, and I think we’re really at a crossroads. My hope is that we come together to address the elephant in the room and have our voices heard,” Michalczyk said.

Background of the AAUP and Faculty Unionization

In 1900, Stanford University economist Edward Ross lost his job because Mrs. Leland Stanford disapproved of his stance towards immigrant labor and railroad monopolies. This incident led Arthur O. Lovejoy, philosopher at Johns Hopkins University, to form the American Association of Uni¬versity Professors (AAUP) along with John Dewey in 1915. This organization sought to ensure that faculty members’ academic free¬dom would no longer be violated, define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.

Ever since its founding, the AAUP has aided the faculty of numerous universities in tackling issues beyond those pertaining to academic freedom. These include matters of national security, discrimination, institutional mat¬ters, tenure, intellectual property, and economic security for faculty members, among others.

According to a publication by the AAUP, up until recently only 25 percent of professors are unionized, with over 96 percent of the union-represented faculty members in the public university sector. The lack of academic unionization in the private academic sector seems to be changing, however. In 2001, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), in charge of governing collective bargaining in the private sector, issued two decisions allow¬ing faculty members and graduate assistants to bargain collectively under the National Labor Rela¬tions Act (NLRA).

The varying factor as to what professors are considered “professional employees” and not “managerial” positions, and therefore eligible to bargain collectively, is a determination made on a case-by-case basis at each academic institu¬tion. This complexity was proven in the 1980 case NLRB v. Yeshiva, where certain faculty members were deemed to be managerial employees rather than professional, and there¬fore not covered by the NLRA.

In 2000, however, the NLRB upheld that faculty members in Manhattan College, were of employee status, given that they exercised “advisory, and not actual governance authority.” In spite of this legal victory, Manhattan Col¬lege professors delayed the process by rejecting union representation. Later that year, the NLRB ruled that New York University graduate assistants can also be considered “employees” under the NLRA, and thus able to unionize. This went against the NYU administration’s policy that stated that allowing graduate assistants to unionize “undermined academic freedom.” Contrary to the Manhattan College professorate, however, the NYU graduate assistants voted in favor of unionizing.

By Kevin Fagan, Asst. News Editor -

Greece may be the land of pleasant weather and the healthy Mediterranean diet, but concerns about the magnitude of Greek debt are affecting both U.S. and European equities markets and causing concerns about the recovery from the recession. Even though Greece represents just 2 percent of the European economy, Greece affects all of Europe because it uses the Euro, an international currency controlled by the European Central Bank in Germany. Continue Reading

By Robert Rossi, Assoc. Culture Editor -

Since the start of spring semester, the CLXF (Claver-Loyola- Xavier-Fenwick) dorm on Upper Campus has been victimized by a series of break-ins and robberies. At least five separate rooms have been broken into and thousands of dollars worth of electronics have been stolen.

The break-ins began before most students returned from winter break. The dorms were re-opened to the majority of the student body on Saturday, Jan. 16. Athletes and participants in cer¬tain school-sponsored programs were allowed to return earlier, however, meaning that the dorms were accessible with an EagleOne card before Jan. 16.

Tom Swiderski, A&S ’13, returned to his dorm room on the second floor of Claver during the early afternoon of Jan. 16, making him one of the first arrivals in the CLXF building. Upon entering his room, he noticed a sizable gap atop the dresser where his televi¬sion once sat.

“I thought that maybe my roommate Kishan, who owned the TV, had taken it with him over break, but when I called him he said, ‘Of course I didn’t,’” Swiderski said. “Earlier, someone had told me that his TV had been stolen over break, and so I feared ours had been stolen too.”

That someone was also a resi¬dent of the second floor of Claver, who left his television in his room over the break. Based on the dates that the last residents in both rooms left for break, it became apparent that the robberies had not occurred before the dorms were closed in December. And because many students besides the three residents of each room knew the room access codes, many on the floor came to the conclusion that the robberies were carried out by one or more residents of the CLXF building.

BCPD was contacted as soon as the owners of the televisions arrived back on campus and con¬firmed that they had left the TVs in their rooms. The resident assis¬tant of the second floor of Claver compiled a list of people known to have access to both rooms, but no suspects appeared on both lists.

“I know a lot of crazy people around here who just barge into other people’s rooms and steal food. Don’t share room codes. I learned the hard way. Make friends with people you can trust,” said Kishan Bhakta, CSON ’13.

On Wednesday, Feb. 3, another robbery occurred on the floor. A CLXF resident, who requested to remain anonymous, told The Gavel that he received a text message from his roommate inquiring about the location of his Xbox 360. He had returned to their room to find it missing. The orange Ethernet cable that had been attached was still lying on the floor.

“I have my suspicions as to who it is, but I’m not going to name names. Obviously it was someone who knew my code because nobody was in my room, nor was the door open,” the resident said.

By Andrew Slade, News Editor – (Photo courtesy of thestudentroom.co.uk)

When Toyota Motor Corporation issued multiple safety recalls on more than eight million of its vehicles in the United States alone over the last several months, the company further strained its already challenging financial state. With pressure from American regulators now mounting, there is internal concern regarding the auto manufacturer’s ability to restore its image in its largest market. Continue Reading

By Andrew Slade, News Editor -

When John F. Kennedy won his seat in Congress in 1947, few Americans gave thought to the possibility that the U.S. Representative who Mass. voters elected that year would go on to become one of this nation’s most admired presidents, serving as the forerunner for his younger relatives to establish the longest lasting dynasty in the history of American politics. With the announcement of Representative Patrick Kennedy’s retirement from the House of Representatives this year, the “reign” of the Kennedy family seems to have reached its end.

Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1988 at the age of 21, making him the youngest member of the Kennedy clan to hold public office. Elected to represent the State’s 1st congressional district in 1995, Kennedy, like his father, was subjected to public bouts with alcoholism. Further, the son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and nephew of President John Kennedy was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is known to have battled depression.

According to reports from The New York Times, Patrick and father Ted spent time discussing the former’s future in politics shortly before the latter’s death of brain cancer. They came to the conclusion that of the numerous famed members of their family, Ted’s late sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, left the greatest legacy of any of them as the founder of the Special Olympics. As one of the few among her siblings to stay out of politics, Eunice fought for the rights of the disabled: a cause on which Patrick Kennedy focused during his time in Congress.

In an interview on Friday, Kennedy stated that a lot of people get out of politics to spend time with their families.

“In a sense, when I got into politics, I was getting closer to my family,” he explained.

Many suspect that the 42-year old Kennedy’s departure from Capitol Hill was to some degree sparked by the death of his father, whose seat as a representative of Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate was clinched by Republican Scott Brown just weeks ago. For Patrick, the electoral outcome that followed his father’s death was “a joke.”

Although his exit from Congress is a blow to the cause of advocacy for the mentally ill, Kennedy has stated that he plans to continue his work in support of the cause in the private sector. “We are losing the biggest advocate we have for mental health in Congress. There’s no question about that,” said Dr. Patricia Recupero, president and chief executive of Rhode Island’s Butler Hospital. Recupero went on to explain that she is encouraged by Kennedy’s plans to continue to pursue the cause so closely tied to his personal life.

Republicans, however, are looking at Kennedy’s retirement —coupled with Scott Brown’s victory— as an opportunity to make headway in the markedly liberal congressional districts of New England in this fall’s midterm elections. “There’s an anti-incumbent fever, and that helps Republicans,” stated Republican Party consultant Ron Kauffman in response to Kennedy’s announcement.

The GOP has specifically targeted Representatives Niki Tsongas and William Delahunt, both Massachusetts Democrats, in the hope of picking up seats in the State’s delegation to the U.S. House, presently comprised entirely of Democrats.

As of this weekend, there are three announced candidates for Patrick Kennedy’s seat: Providence’s Democratic Mayor David Cicilline, Rhode Island’s Democratic Party Chairman William Lynch and Republican State Representative John Loughlin II. University of Rhode Island political science professor Maureen Moakley has suggested that while previous polls indicated a challenge for Kennedy from Loughlin, it seems unlikely that a Republican will win Rhode Island’s 1st district, given the shared appeal of Cicilline and Lynch in the district’s urban centers.

By Michelle Martinez, Asst. News Editor -

As a part of Black History Month, the United Front and the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) organized a panel discussion titled “That’s Mad Gay, kNOw Homo” that addressed the issues of ignorance, hate and pain behind homophobic comments, both in American culture as well as within the Boston College community.

The event commenced with a presentation of several popular songs that make use of homophobic statements like “no homo” and “so gay.” The discussion then turned to the panel of five members, consisting of undergraduate students, a graduate student, and two openly homosexual faculty members. Khloe Scurry, CSOM ’12, began by saying how “interestingly the phrase ‘no homo’ has reduced homosexuals to their private parts and to the act of sex, and nothing else besides that.”

Most of the panelists commented on how the media is essentially defining and conditioning how the youth views the gay community by normalizing homophobic language. This is particularly true of hip-hop lyrics, an African-American dominated genre of music.“There is a tendency for the conservative right to bait African Americans into exhibiting their homophobia a little more aggressively,” Martin Summers, associate professor in the history department, said.

But as the other songs in the initial presentation proved, including Katy Perry’s “Ur So Gay,” this homophobia is certainly not limited to the African American community. “Though very real, [it] is not as disproportionate as it seems,” Summers said.

Will Charnley, LSOE ’11 and a member of FACES, recognized how “these types of lyrics in hip-hop are commonplace,” where given the hypermasculine image of the genre, “every time they say a word like dick they feel the need to say ‘no homo.’”

“Homophobia is widespread and very overt in Boston College. Calling things ‘mad gay’ and making overt comments to GLBTQ students in a malicious way that is not subconscious are unacceptable. There are changes we can make to Boston College in general, in the way we interact with and approach other people,” Charnley said.

The danger of these seemingly innocent statements is that it leads to sanctioning certain behaviors. “Language itself authorizes a behavior or action against a significant part of the community, making them feel like they are not worthy members,” Summers said, explaining that this language, might also lead to more drastic things, like gay bashing and domestic violence.

This consequently “enforces a code of silence, especially of people that are closeted or in the process of coming out,” said Sarah Hogan, second year Master’s Degree student in Sociology. “The threat of violence besides the risk of insults like the ones in song make people more nervous.”

When confronted with friends who employ this homophobic language, Ricco Siasoco, adjunct associate professor in the English department, recommends one “speak out against this language, in a non-confrontational way.”

As Summers said, “We need as large a campaign as that against the use of the N-word.” This, he believes, will help to educate people on the unacceptable nature of such derogatory language.

When one student in the audience raised the point of BC being ranked as one of the most homophobic universities in the nation, discussion was extended onto the students in the filled-to-capacity lecture hall. Many students expressed the lack of administrative support or commitment to conversation on GLBTQ-related issues. Some noted, nonetheless, that even though BC is ahead of some Catholic institutions such as Notre Dame since they at least have a non-discrimination policy, they are still far behind others such as Georgetown, which has an institutional dedication to homosexual issues.

Students and the panel members recognized, however, that in spite of the employment of harmful words like “no homo” and “that’s so gay” in our community, there is a conversation taking place on campus to address the matter, and all it needs is more support.

“It’s ultimately up to us, and our push can do a lot,” Summers said.

Primary election results are now in and Micaela Mabida with Patrick Raab and Charlie Witmer with Courtney Dower will advance to the final round.

Results:

Micaela Mabida / Patrick Raab – 900 votes – 46.78 percent of total votes

Charles Witmer / Courtney Dower – 645 votes – 33.52 percent of total votes

Kris Munden / Talal Rojas – 379 votes – 19.7 percent of total votes

*Continue to check bcgavel.com for up-to-the-minute election news.