Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library
My helpers who have lived elsewhere are baffled that Bostonians treat air conditioning as optional. It’s very strange, especially given the Urban Heat Island effect.
![What is QSLC? [response: qual of student life committee]](https://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/aw111418-1.jpg)
Your fellow student is correct: it’s the Quality of Student Life Committee. Their orgsync page (bit.ly/bc-qslc) says they’re about instituting change at BC by talking to the administration and distributing the Boston Globe and New York Times at Dining Halls. They meet on Monday nights in Gasson 209.
I’ve answered this once before, last Spring: There are dependable resources on political leanings of college students in general, such as the Panetta Institute surveys (bit.ly/panetta-surveys), and there are dependable measures of past voting by district, such as the CPVI (bit.ly/wiki-cpvi). BC’s district (MA-04) has a CPVI of D+9, which means it is 9 percentage points above the share of democratic party votes in the last two presidential elections. But there are few dependable college-by-college surveys. MyPlan.com (bit.ly/myplan-college-politics) ranks BC as 392/500 “most liberal” colleges and 112/500 of “most conservative” colleges, based on ratings by about 11,000 MyPlan.com users. Sound method? Doubtful. Do the math – if 500 colleges are rated by 11,000 raters rating their alma maters, that’s barely 22 raters per college on average.
Systemic racism is endemic to the US and institutions in it. I’m not sure quite what acknowledging that fact at BC would look like. BC has an Office for Institutional Diversity (bit.ly/BC-OID) that grapples with institutional racism with programs & resources, and recognizes that faculty and staff of color and students of color deserve additional support to contend with living with racism, through diversity and affinity groups. Of course, there’s always more that can be done; that’s the nature of institutional racism. Please contact the OID or other campus offices with your ideas about what should be done.
I recommend telling Dining Services: bit.ly/BCDiningComment
According to Res Life, BC doesn’t provide them, but you can email them a suggestion at reslife@bc.edu. Best of luck, I think it could make for a nicer living situation!
I have directed my subordinates to look into this matter and will get back to you when they have gleaned some information.
Update, 11-14-18: BC has to balance student wishes with banks’ needs when placing ATMs on campus. If you have a suggestion, contact the treasurer’s office at 2-3041, and tell them. They can take it into account when making decisions. However, keep in mind that banks often place ATMs based on where they will most profit, which is not always perfectly aligned with customer convenience.
I don’t of course, actually need to use the facilities – I’m a wall. But according to one of my helpers, the 5th floor bathrooms in O’Neill are ever so much fresher and less crowded than the others. Outside of O’Neill, the restrooms in Robsham and Stokes come to mind as good places to try.
Coca-Cola has finally finished setting up all of their machines to accept Eagle Bucks. BC has looked into getting the coffee machine to accept eagle bucks, but unfortunately, that machine is incompatible with the card readers that read BC ID’s. You’ll need to bring cash or a credit card to use the coffee vending machine. 🙁
It makes me sad to hear you’re sad in my home. Some of my librarian friends tell me there’s a wonderful view of the Boston skyline on level 5. Check it out. I hope it brightens your outlook.
Materials on Course Reserves circulate for 2 hours because they are high-demand items that are set aside for class reading at faculty members’ request. The number of copies the libraries can purchase is limited by budgetary, space and copyright restrictions. What the BC Libraries are doing to address this issue is prioritizing the purchasing of ebooks for Course Reserves.
Yes, but not without limits: bit.ly/MA-weed. And it’s out of bounds at BC: bit.ly/BC-student-code4 (scroll down to the entry on marijuana).
Unfortunately, early voting ends today at 5pm, but there’s still Tuesday! The College Democrats of Boston College were involved in Joe Kennedy’s campaign in the primary (bit.ly/heights-cdbc). I’m sure they could use your help if you lean that way; Boston College Republicans might also have some plans underway. The library created a guide with links to voting info, including polling places: bit.ly/bc-vote-resources. There’s a talk on Monday at noon by BC’s David Hopkins about the midterms: bit.ly/midterms-hopkins. Get out there and ROCK THE VOTE!
When you see an injustice, there are basically two ways of trying right it: 1) try to correct that instance of injustice: feed a homeless person, or perhaps even help them get to a soup kitchen, or even help them find a job and a home. 2) try to address the systemic social problems that cause an injustice such as widespread homelessness: expensive health care, unemployment, inequity in schools, or a social safety net full of holes. Path #1 requires generosity and is hard to scale up to solve widespread social ills. Path #2 requires a lot of struggle for slow changes you may not see in your lifetime, and is therefore hard to convince people to undertake. It’s possible that BC’s focus on path #1 leads people on path #2 to attend other schools.
I was horrified to hear of this terrible event, and I’m sorry you feel like BC doesn’t care. Though I know it might not ameliorate the lack of a public statement, my library assistants have heard nothing but care and concern from BC staff, students, and faculty. As to the population: a recent Pew survey estimated that nationally, recent college graduates were about 3% Jewish, and Boston College Hillel estimates BC’s Jewish population at 2%. I doubt that’s enough of a difference to influence concern about antisemitism. I’m sure BC as a whole cares; perhaps student groups could help encourage BC to turn that care into a public gesture of some kind.
Thanks for letting me know – I’ve passed the message along, and I hope that it all works its way through the system…
Thank you! I love you too. The short answer to the question of getting hit by a car is “no”. The university does not have a policy of extending free tuition to anyone hit by a car on campus. However, if you are hit by a car, you likely have a civil case on your hands. The exact outcome of the case (whether you receive money, have to pay out money, who the parties to the lawsuit are, etc.) will depend heavily on the exact circumstances of your accident. Even in the best case, it will be at least a year before you see any money. Some cases can drag on for a long time (5 years or more) and you will have graduated long before they’re over. All of that is to say that not looking before crossing the road isn’t a good path to a scholarship. I think many students assume others will stop if they walk. Unfortunately, too many people aren’t paying attention to the roads these days, and that’s a very dangerous assumption to make. Be safe. Look both ways.
My human library assistants are all working hard with the right university offices to make sure Coca-Cola fixes the vending machines. Coca-Cola says they’re waiting for parts. I wish I could hurry along the people responsible for those parts, but my influence doesn’t really extend beyond the campus walls.
One of my helpers used to work at Tufts and says it’s great, too. Maybe people like eagles better than elephants? (You said “BC”, right, not “BU?). bit.ly/bc-tufts1. Maybe it’s Quidditch rivalry? bit.ly/bc-tufts2
My assistants tell me that BC is working out a solution with the vendor. The problem, apparently, has to do with replacing a part to make the machines compatible with card readers. I’ll update you when and if I hear more.
