Issuu

February 13, 2023

Let’s Talk About Sex, BC The University Bans Sex Outside of Marriage. But How Does That Affect Hookup and Dating Culture? By Erin Flaherty Magazine Editor Beth Verghese Assoc. Magazine Editor And Spencer Steppe Asst. Magazine Editor

For Valentine’s Day, Boston College students can send their valentine a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers. Or, they could send them a bag of condoms. BC Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH), an independent student group committed to providing students with sexual health and sex education resources, distributes “condomgrams” to members of the BC community every Valentine’s Day. At no cost, students can send their valentine a bag of condoms. But BCSSH does not just pro-

vide students with resources on Feb. 14—the group also runs Rubber Hub, a program where students can order condoms , lube, and dental dams throughout the year. To fund its services, BCSSH receives a grant from Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive and sexual health care. BCSSH is not associated with BC and is not officially allowed to distribute condoms on campus. On the 2018 UGBC election ballot, 94 percent of BC students voted in support of a referendum allowing BCSSH to distribute contraceptives on campus. The University then doubled down on its disallowance of contraceptive distribution, citing other Jesuit school’s policies and its commit-

ment to BC’s Catholic identity. BC’s Sexual Activity Policy Another policy stemming from BC’s Catholic identity is the University’s stance on sexual activity. The University prohibits students from engaging in intercourse outside of marriage in policy 11.8 of the Student Code of Conduct. “All students have a responsibility to respect the values and traditions of Boston College as a Jesuit, Catholic institution, including adhering to the Church’s teachings with respect to sexual activity,” the policy reads. “Consequently, incidents of sexual intercourse outside the bonds of matrimony may be referred to the Student Conduct System.”

See Sexual Health, A6

NICOLE VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BC Staff, Students Train in Restorative Practices By Natalie Arndt Assoc. News Editor

IKRAM ALI / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

Late-Night Weekend Dining Goes Dark By Lucy Freeman Asst. News Editor

BC After Dark, a late-night food option offered at Hillside Cafe, is currently shut down due to staffing shortages and low student attendance, according to Director of Dining Services Beth Emery and Associate Director of Restaurant Operations Megan O’Neill. “BC After Dark (BCAD) at Hillside was open Thursday and Friday nights in the fall, but due to low attendance and staffing shortages, BCAD is currently closed,” Emery and O’Neill wrote in an email to The Heights. “Based on collaboration with UGBC and

CAB, Hillside will be open for special events for student groups and occasional Thursday nights for coffee and desserts.” Opening in spring 2021 as a collaboration between BC Dining and UGBC, BC After Dark offered students a variety of food and drinks, including alcoholic beverages, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Despite the program’s initial popularity, Emery and O’Neill said BC Dining decided in May 2022 that it would close BC After Dark on Saturday nights because only about 100 students were typically attending.

See Dining, A2

Boston College is looking to expand its use of restorative practices to broader community building, according to Melissa Woolsey, the associate dean of student conduct. “Restorative practices look to really loop in that community aspect,” Woolsey said. “What is BC’s stance, purpose, needs, when it comes to conflict and other issues, especially around inclusion, belonging, and community building?” In collaboration with the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the Office of the Dean of Students recently sponsored three-day training workshops surrounding restorative practices. Four experts from the University of San Diego Center for Restorative Justice led 50 students, faculty, and staff members in the training from Jan. 11 to 13. Restorative practices are based on the idea of restorative justice, a voluntary practice where a meditator typically leads a victim and offender in a discussion. The victim can share how they were affected, and all parties can attempt to resolve past harm.

The federal government first permitted universities to utilize informal resolution processes, like restorative justice, in cases of sexual misconduct with new Title IX regulations in 2020, according to Woolsey. BC thus wanted to find new ways to incorporate restorative practices into its conduct process. After an alleged incident of sexual misconduct, if the victim and the offender both choose to participate, the University will utilize a restorative justice model where both parties meet and have a conversation, Woolsey said. According to Woolsey, before that meeting occurs, trained restorative facilitators meet with each party individually for pre-conferencing to ensure that the victim’s needs are met and that the session will cause no further harm. “So when both parties agree that that would be a helpful way to resolve an incident, we will use a restorative justice model,” Woolsey said. “Restorative practices came up as a really survivor-focused and trauma-informed way to respond to some of these really harmful incidents. So we started using it there.”

Beyond its use in the conduct process, Woolsey said the University wants to incorporate elements of restorative justice into broader restorative practices to improve the student experience, including building community among freshman communities and improving Weeks of Welcome programming. “We wanted to really think about a way to diversify the way that restorative practices are being used across campus and diversify the amount of people and the types of people that were using these practices in different areas so that it’s not just in a conduct setting, it’s not just in a ResLife setting, and students are able to kind of touch on some of these restorative practices throughout their experience at BC,” Woolsey said. Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Students for the Lynch School of Education and Human Development Julia DeVoy, who helped launch a minor in restorative and transformational justice at the University in 2018, also emphasized that restorative practices can have wider applications on campus.

See Hockey, A11

See CWBC, A3

See Restorative, A2

Ahead of Override Vote, Two Sides Share Opinions Newton residents will head to the polls on March 14 to decide whether to allow the city to raise taxes by $15 million. Supporters and proponents of the proposal share their opinions with The Heights. See A4

STEVE MOONEY / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

Opinions

Arts

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Makayla Hickey shares the twists and turns of how she learned to focus on friendship amid the romance of the holiday.

Staff writer Parker Leaf analyzes the good and the bad of the 2023 Grammys red carpet looks of Harry Styles, Lizzo, Bonnie Raitt, and Samara Joy.

A12

Beanpot PhotosMagazine General Sports SUSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERS

Newton

A10

Arts

Opinions

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

NEWS........... A2 OPINIONS.. A8 NEWTON....... A4 A R T S . . . . . . . . A11 MAGAZINE.. A6 S P O R TS . . . . . A13