The Wall

Posted on

Hey wall, I have been dating this older man for a few months, but I’m scared to tell him that I love him and care about him deeply. What do I do?

Hey! That is one of the standard romantic problems. You never get a guarantee about how someone will react. If you tell him, you’ll know. If he’s not in the same place as you emotionally, that’s something you should know too. It might be awkward, it might be bad, it might be really great. Those are, unfortunately, the breaks.

Posted on

I’m a senior that needs to overload next year to graduate on time.

If I have above a 3.0, can I just register for the 6th course during add/drop week or do I need to go talk to someone for approval before registering?

It looks like you can go ahead and add the course either if your cumulative gpa is at least 3.0 or your prior semester was at least 3.0. However, I advise you to talk to your adviser right away, to make sure there aren’t any other potential bars to an overload. Policy: bit.ly/BC-academic-policy

Posted on

i loved a boy too much.

but he never loved me and he was just acting that he loves me too. why is it like this?

🙁 I’m sorry this happened to you. You deserve the honest love of someone that truely cares about you. Unfortunately, some people simply don’t have the emotional insight to understand how their actions affect others. I know there will be others and that someone – many people – are out there for you. The wall does not believe in only one true love, there are good partners out there for you.

Posted on

My study abroad got cancelled (well, at least for the fall semester)

… not sure about the second half spring semester……Won’t BC campus be overcrowded with students now no one is going abroad? Or are we expecting a smaller freshman class size? Btw, can I sleep in the library if I don’t have on-campus housing? Just don’t feel like living off-campus!

The FAQ on the Study Abroad cancellation (bit.ly/BCAbroadFAQ) says you will hear from Student Services and ResLife regarding classes and housing. Contact them if you have questions. Living in the library is not going to be an option, as much of the library space will be needed to accommodate socially distanced study as well as other uses (maybe even classes.) There’s no denying that Fall is going to be a challenge for everyone. 

Posted on

How do kids trick-or-treat this year with the pandemic going on?

???

Depending on where the pandemic’s at in mid-fall, my guess is that many neighborhoods will host alternative activities that can be more easily regulated for safety. There could also be contactless trick or treating (ring bell, run away;  kids already know that trick.)  They will  certainly have the opportunity to get very creative with masks! https://bit.ly/bc-candy. And I hesitate to point this out because of the potential for terrible song refrains it might help create, but Halloween rhymes with nineteen…

Posted on

Hey Wall! Don’t you find it problematic that the institution sends its police to criminalize those who stand against the injustice and those who are suffering?

Also, don’t you think sending BCPD after students in distress can be traumatizing? Isn’t it hypocritical to teach its students to care for the poor, suffering, and oppressed while simultaneously criminalize those who speak up against the injustice? And how do you expect students who suffer to ask for help when the institution uses BCPD against them at the very first place?

That’s a lot of questions and concerns all at once, all of which would require separate lines of inquiry. But the shared theme is an ethical question: should an organization whose principal purpose is enforcement of laws and rules, and whose primary means of enforcement is threat of detainment or arrest, also be tasked with roles better suited to organizations primarily concerned with health and social welfare?

Posted on

Hey wall! What’s the best post-it you’ve ever received?

What are your librarians’ favorite thing ab being a librarian and their most memorable event?

Such a hard question! I have many favorites. Among them: all the ones that say “I love you,” drawings, posts in which people were honest and vulnerable, and lately I’ve been thinking about an excerpt from a Chinese poem: bit.ly/bc-prior-dynasty. But I love all questions! That’s why I’m the Answer Wall. Librarians are the same: they love finding answers.

Awwwwwww!?????????? Hey Wall, will the library be open next semester?

That’s the tentative plan. My cousin the Magic 8 Ball says “Signs point to yes”, but the course of the pandemic is quite uncertain. We’ll need to be flexible. I do so look forward to seeing you all again in the lobby. ??????????

Posted on

Why does BC have police with guns on campus, when some other institutions have only security personnel who don’t carry weapon?

The short answer is that Massachusetts law allows the state police to appoint college & university employees as special state police officers. It’s not clear when this special status began. There is one mention of Newton Police being called to handle protesters in 1971, so it’s possible BC’s security at that time was less robust. I’ll have my assistants look further into why.

Posted on

How can I persuade my parents to let me come back to the U.S. during the summer when it’s not the best time to travel?

Or should I just ignore them and run away and book a flight back?

I don’t know anything about your relationship with your parents, so my response will have to be a very general one. Here is the Massachusetts page on policies for re-opening businesses: mass.gov/info-details/reopening-massachusetts. If they’re not comfortable with those precautions, that’s up to them. If you’re over 18 and have your own source of money, you can make whatever decision you want, but think long and hard about the long-term impact on your relationship with your parents.