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March 20, 2023

Catholic School Neighboring Newton Campus to Close By Connor Siemien Newton Editor

Mount Alvernia High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Newton, will close at the conclusion of the 2022–23 academic year, according to a release from the school’s board of directors and the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception,

who own the property at 790 Centre St. Following the announcement, se veral alumni of the school spoke out against the decision on Facebook, calling it detrimental to the education of young women. A petition on Change.org has gathered 3,548 signatures by the time of publication. “We do believe in the life and

mission of St. Francis of Assisi, and all-girls education gives girls the chance to learn, and grow, and become the person they were created to be, and losing another allgirls school is really unfortunate for women’s education,” said Mary Kate Feeney, former director of communications at the school and Mount Alvernia ’01. Another alumna, Kathleen

Joyce, former chair of the board of alumni and Mount Alvernia ’92, said the school lent itself well to creating strong friendships and connections. “We were a very small class ourselves, we graduated 26 girls, and some of my best friends to this day are from high school,” Joyce said. “We had outstanding faculty, a real, true sense of community,

and to this day we all get together because of our friendships that developed.” The Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception said the school will close because the sisters are no longer able to live on the property where the school is located.

Mount Alvernia, A4

BC Drops Third Game of Season By Luke Evans Asst. Sports Editor

VIKRUM SINGH / HEIGHTS EDITOR

“We Gingers Are All Heart” Over 40 Boston College students raced around the Mods in the first annual ginger run on St. Patrick’s Day, which was promoted on Instagram and Herrd.

No. 4 Boston College lacrosse faced off against its fourth opponent ranked in the Top 10 and its seventh ranked opponent in just nine games on Sunday, taking on No. 6 Denver in Jacksonville, Fla. It’s lost three of those ranked games, including Sunday afternoon’s matchup with Pioneers. “We always like to have a strong schedule,” BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “We want to play the best because it demands a lot from our team, and I have no regrets on how the schedule has been created. I think the schedule is great and it’s challenging and that’s what we want

for the girls.” After goalkeeper Shea Dolce earned the starting role and played the entire game in the Eagles’ win over No. 24 Clemson on Thursday, Walker-Weinstein gave the freshman the nod in Sunday’s matchup. But after conceding six goals in the first quarter alone with no saves, Walker-Weinstein called Rachel Hall into the game and held down the net for the remaining three periods, allowing seven goals of her own with four saves. The early deficit proved to be too much, and the Eagles (6–3, 3–1 Atlantic Coast) dropped their third game of the season in a 13–8 loss to the Pioneers (9–0).

See Lacrosse, A10

See A2

Eagles Win Two Over FSU By Graham Dietz Sports Editor

Whether it’s starting pitching, bullpen performance, batting, base running, or situational hitting, it’s standard to blame one of those elements of a baseball team if it loses repeatedly. In 2022, for instance, Boston College baseball’s pitching identity was at the

root of the Eagles’ troubles, as BC registered the lowest-ranked ERA in the ACC. But BC head coach Mike Gambino has not been faced with that type of dilemma this season— where one element of the team is so wayward that it affects the outcome of most games. After the Eagles’ (14–3, 5–2 Atlantic Coast) 13th and 14th

wins of the season—a 4–2 and 8–2 victory over No. 21 Florida State (12–8, 3–3) on Saturday and Sunday, and their fourth and fifth win against a ranked opponent this year—Gambino cited BC’s learning experience in 2022 as a gateway for consistent success in 2023.

See Baseball, A10

CHRIS TICAS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BCEA Strives To Make Giving Back Intentional By Athena Vinch Heights Staff

At Boston College, the “men and women for others” spirit guides the mission of the manyon-campus volunteer and philanthropic organizations dedicated to helping both the Boston and global community. When Brian Gardner discovered the philosophy behind effective altruism, which encourages the use of evidence and reason in determining the most effective ways to help people, he realized it matches perfectly with this BC passion of giving back to others. So, along with Caroline Bald, MCAS ’23, and Molly Binder,

LSEHD ’23, Gardner, CSOM ’23, started Boston College Effective Altruism (BCEA) this fall. The term “effective altruism” is a philosophy that can mean many different things to different people, according to Gardner. BCEA aims to teach students about this philosophy so they can apply it to their lives. “To me, it’s an organization that’s interested in looking at the ways that we can help the world through a more critical lens,” Gardner said. “More specifically, it’s a program that’s hoping to look at the world through a lens of data and logic and reason to see where we can kind of make the most

difference and affect the most lives in the most positive ways we can.” Effective altruists focus on pressing global issues—such as climate change, world hunger, and pandemics—and examine and implement practical solutions to these issues. For college students, Gardner said the effective altruism philosophy is particularly useful because it can help them consider the impact their future career or pursuits will have on the world. “So it kind of teaches people, especially as college students, ways where you can get involved or spend your time or resources to most positively impact the world,”

Gardner said. Gardner said he was first introduced to the effective altruism movement during his sophomore year at BC. He heard about the organization One for The World, which seeks to maximize the impact of donations by screening charities to make sure they are spending their money effectively. The BCEA club founders originally planned to start a One for the World club at BC, but they decided to start a more broad effective altruism club after learning more about the philosophy. “Slowly over the years, it’s transformed into this larger movement that we wanted to encapsulate,”

Gardner said. Binder said she was also interested in effective altruism because it was a philosophy she had no previous exposure to. She liked its focus on intentional giving and how it encourages people to expand their donations and community service beyond their own communities. “Usually, when we go about our decisions for how to make an impact, it’s based on things like our immediate circle [and] who we may be surrounded with,” Binder said. “But if we kind of expand that out, we can have a much bigger impact in a lot of cases.”

See Effective Altruism, A5

Arts

Opinions

Associate arts editor Paterson Tran dives into the everlasting influence of Pink Floyd 50 years after its release of The Dark Side of the Moon.

Highlighting her experience at the midpoint of college, columnist Mary Perez explains “the sophomore condition” and advocates for more self-reflection.

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