
That, too. Holding people to account and speaking up on your own behalf are both, when done with care and mindfulness, virtues to be pursued and not incompatible with each other.

Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library


The Wall does not judge the system, only describes it.

It’s possible, but not easy. “Boston College undergraduate students may apply for internal transfer to the Carroll School of Management for the spring of their sophomore year. The Carroll School accepts a very small number of internal transfer students via a lottery process.” See full details at bit.ly/CSOMtransfer
![More therapy dogs? [response: I want cats!]](https://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/aw121418-3-296x300.jpg)
They are still coming: Saturday, Campbell will be here from 2 pm to 6 pm. Charlie will be awaiting your visit on Monday between 5 pm and 7 pm. And Sailor will end this semester’s visitations on Tuesday with a visit from 7 pm to 9 pm. [As I mentioned yesterday, we would love to have cats and other animals, but the university prefers we stick to dogs. But here’s another picture–Scarlet and Henry!]

Faculty are evaluated on research, teaching, and contributions to the university and the scholarly community. Student feedback and evaluations are part of that. bit.ly/bc-faculty-bylaws. Tenure was designed to protect faculty from being fired for not being popular with donors or governments, so whether students “like” a professor seems potentially like a similar issue. More info on tenure and why it’s useful: bit.ly/bc-tenure.

Sometimes, as with President Bush recently, it’s a federal law. But each state and commonwealth makes its own decisions, and my helpers who have lived elsewhere say the flags are at half staff more often here. Right now it honors President Bush, and a Massachusetts firefighter, Christopher Roy, who died over the weekend. If you’re ever curious, the state has a web page which will tell you why: bit.ly/bc-flag

Fr. Leahy usually asks other BC administrators speak on issues such as racism, and the BC administration has not been silent. After the most recent incident, the Provost, the VP for Student Affairs, and school Deans have all made public statements condemning racism and offering support to anyone affected by it.

Alas! I am sorry to report they have come and gone this semester; they were at the Brain Break just after Thanksgiving. Watch for the Brain Break in the week after Patriot’s Day in the Spring semester. Perhaps in the meantime, you can enlist the help of a friend.

Everyone has a role at BC, and Fr. Leahy is ultimately responsible for everyone doing their jobs well. I can’t be certain why Fr. Leahy speaks about some issues and not about others, but I am certain that he makes sure the Provost addresses academic issues, the VP for Student Affairs addresses student issues, the VP for Human Resources addresses staff issues, and so on.

It’s not uncommon for Universities to restrict housing to members of the same sex in a given domicile. This prevents a number of tricky issues that would be likely to crop up otherwise (couple breaks up – who gets the room? parents of a student don’t approve of a living situation – how does the University handle that since most students here are legal adults? domestic violence problems could be exacerbated, etc.). Yes, it mostly assumes that everyone has “traditional” views on relationships, but it is successful in handling most of these potential problems.

Do you mean the employee lounge in O’Neill? I’m afraid it is limited to those who work at the library. And I have heard (we walls have a way of communicating amongst ourselves, you know) there are no snacks there except for those that staff bring in. (Which is why you will see staff at the same vending machines you use for snacks!)

According to the latest Factbook, at the end of fiscal year 2017, there were 2,326,205 books available from O’Neill Library. Defining what a “book” is gets kind of tricky (librarians love to nerd out on this stuff), but the oldest printed book in our collection is Jean Gerson’s De Spiritualib[us] Nupciis (On Spiritual Marriage). It has been digitized and is available to read online: bit.ly/BurnsOldestBook. The oldest item we have is a Mesopotamian clay tablet from 2000-3000 BC.

I don’t speak skunk, and the walls of the mods speak a language so full of current argot and meme that I often hardly know what’s going on, so I’m sorry to say I don’t know the little mammal’s name. I do know about skunks, though: if there’s one, there are likely several. You’ll need more than one name. If you encounter one, speak softly & move away, to avoid becoming a threat to be sprayed.

Thank you for submitting your application. Library staff are currently reviewing the 63 applications that we have received so far and will be contacting the students whose skills and availability are a match, shortly. Don’t give up hope!

I don’t know how fun it is, but it is a fact that librarians love to connect people and information … so ask more questions! According to the latest Factbook, at the end of fiscal year 2017, there were 2,326,205 volumes available from O’Neill Library.

Gasson Hall was always a little tight-lipped but got even more so after the renovation in 2007 when its bells were silenced temporarily. Since Gasson isn’t talking, I’ve had my assistants poke around a little. There’s a clue in this Boston College Magazine alumni-submitted story: bit.ly/bells-clue, but as the story predates the renovation, there might not be a door ajar, and you’d probably still have to watch out for the laser-activated alarm. I recommend getting a campus job with facilities. Those folks know everything. But you’ll have to earn their trust before they share.