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- View "Cyberspace and Civic Space," panel discussions on the social, political, and cultural impacts of the Internet, from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities symposium
- Highlights of the Bostonians reunion concert, backstage to onstage
- A conversation between Rev. Robert Imbelli and philosopher Charles Taylor
- The symposium "American Catholics: Persisting and Changing"
- "The Imperfect Art of Dating," a talk by Kerry Cronin
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The Screaming Eagles Marching Band released Traditions, a 20-plus song CD that includes “For Boston” and “Sweet Caroline,” etc., but also strays into “Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi,” from the 1937 hit Carmina Burana, by the well-known sousaphone fan Carl Orff.
With 21 Fulbright winners this year, Boston College finished eighth among research universities. Michigan led the field with 29.
Lamps, chairs, and microwaves collected in last spring’s Move-Out Days, along with beds, desks, and tables saved from residence hall renovations, furnished, among other sites, a new western Massachusetts facility that houses women recovering from addictions.
With 6,153 students this year, the College of Arts and Sciences set a new enrollment record. Communication (916), economics (847), and biology (827) led all majors. The Lynch School was first in graduate students with 1,003, followed by A&S (864), the Carroll School (839), and Law (791).
Sailing head coach Greg Wilkinson was appointed assistant coach for the U.S. team at this fall’s Pan American Games. Wilkinson’s Boston College teams have won the last four co-ed national championships.
Boston College physicists led by Zhifeng Ren discovered two previously overlooked stages of carbon nanotube growth.
Some 100 members of the University community participated in a road race and raised scholarship funds in memory of Alex Grant ’13, who died during his sophomore year.
“Strive,” a live stream application for college campuses; “Neuro Tone,” which would use brain imaging to guide music marketing; “Future Suits,” a proposal to support innovative design and materials in men’s clothing; and “Augmentide,” a curriculum that would teach retirees to use high tech, finished just about in that order (the last two proposals tied for third) in this year’s Venture Competition Elevator Pitch contest in the Carroll School.
Amit Aburmad ’12, described by the Heights as “a key player” on the soccer team, sat out a game against Wake Forest in observance of the Yom Kippur holiday. The Eagles won 2–0.
Student Affairs placed a temporary moratorium on concerts in Conte Forum due to the number of alcohol-related medical calls recently associated with them; 35 calls were tied to one concert last year.
In tribute to basketball coach Steve Donahue, a group of students formed Donahue’s Disciples: “a grassroots revolution aimed at creating one of the best fan bases in the country.”
The five-story office building that had been 21 Campanella Way since it was completed in 2002 became Maloney Hall, honoring a “Light the World” campaign contribution to the University by Nancy and T.J. Maloney ’75.
Boston College removed painted parking lines from the asphalt on Linden Lane, thus indicating that parking is no longer permitted on the tree-shaded pathway toward Gasson Tower. Additional instructions arrived in the form of parking tickets.
Three members of the psychology faculty received prestigious (and monetarily generous) “early career” awards in recent months. Liane Young received her grant for work on the cognitive bases of moral reasoning. Elizabeth Kensinger was tapped for research in cognitive neuroscience. Alexa Veenema was cited for her work on the brain’s regulation of juvenile social behaviors.
Since it was placed on the University’s home page in May 2011, a simulated tour of Stokes Hall (scheduled for completion in fall 2012) has led all other features in number of viewers, beating out a video of a campus visit by actor James Franco, and a 360° tour of President Leahy’s personal office. Of the last named, the Heights editorialized “If BC really is Hogwarts, then this means the Chamber of Secrets has been opened.” Digest does not understand that, but assumes some readers will.
Speaking of the student newspaper, it began publishing a serial short story in five installments by five writers. The first, authored by Michael Wolf ’12, began “Herman Sherbert woke with a gasp, breaching into morning from the deep seabed of dreams.”
Students voiced dismay when Dining Services temporarily pulled Chobani yogurt from its shelves. Several customers had complained of mold in sealed containers. Dining Services sells more than 10,000 cases of the Greek yogurt annually. In other culinary news, Dining Services placed seventh in the Daily Beast’s “Best College Food” survey.
In a sort of sting (it was pre-advertised in the Newton Tab and on campus) Newton and Boston College police cited 23 drivers for failing to yield to pedestrians in marked and signed crosswalks on Beacon Street on a single day in September. A University police officer noted that “we’ve had several students hit by vehicles, and a lot of close calls.”
The Graduate School of Social Work celebrated its 75th anniversary and founded a doctoral program in international social welfare.
Buttressed by improved “faculty resources,” a number-26 placement by guidance counselors, and improved rates of alumni giving, Boston College retained its number-31 position—its highest ever—in U.S. News rankings of American universities.
Read more by Ben Birnbaum

