Boston College magazine

2018·6.5 MB·English

SPRING 2018
MAGAZINE
IN 1986, A GROUP OF
UNDERGRADUATES FORMED
A COMMUNITY THROUGH
WHICH THEY COULD
BEFRIEND AND LEARN FROM
ONE ANOTHER.
By Zachary J;
PROLOGUE
THE ARC
T
he first comprehensive survey of black enrollment a campus leader who advanced the cause. From 1864 until the
at Jesuit colleges in the United States seems to have mid-1930s, while the College drew its students predominately
taken place in March 1947. Responding to a ques¬ from Boston, where blacks made up less than 3 percent of the
tionnaire sent by an American Jesuit committee on “inter¬ population, there is no evidence of any black graduate. Only in
racial” affairs, the colleges reported 436 black students at 21 1937 does a black graduate appear in Sub Turn, the spectacled,
institutions, comprising 0.5 percent of 81,794 total students. elegandy attired, and soft-eyed Newton native Casper Ferguson,
Boston College reported six “Negroes,” and four of the col¬ whose concentration was in chemistry.
leges enrolled no black students, including two institutions that Around the time of the 1947 survey, asked by Jesuit authori¬
reported admitting only white students as a matter of policy. St. ties to explain the paucity of black students and graduates
Louis University (SLU) reported the largest number of black (perhaps seven over the course of 83 years), President William
students, 150, or 34 percent of all black students studying that Keleher, SJ, responded by summarily noting two black students
year at American Jesuit colleges. were among 130 dorm residents and that “three of four mem¬
The desegregation of SLU had been led by Patrick Holloran, bers of our [track] team” were black.
SJ, an ethics professor who became the university’s president The first Boston College program designed to recruit and
in June 1943. At the time, St. Louis’s schools, hotels, and other enroll black students was established only in 1968, after Jesuit
facilities were segregated, and SLU’s policy was not to admit Superior General Pedro Arrupe, speaking from Rome, urged
black students. But vocal public reaction to SLU’s rejection action. (The federal government’s concurrent threat to end aid
of a black—and Catholic—applicant the previous year had to colleges with low minority enrollment likely drove change as
prompted the appointment of an internal committee to exam¬ well.) In November 1967, Arrupe dispatched a stinging rebuke
ine the possibility of desegregating. The committee recom¬ to Jesuit colleges in the United States for their “token integra¬
mended against. tion of the Negro.” He characterized the “gravity of the current
A few months later, however, Holloran asked Jesuit and racial crisis in the United States” as a call to action.
university leadership for permission to change the policy. The The summer of 1967 had witnessed nearly 160 violent
Jesuits were divided, and the university’s leadership recom¬ racial conflicts, including one in Boston, and Arrupe saw
mended that the new president privately survey the school’s such “riots and bloodshed” as but a “grim forewarning of the
“close friends, alumni, and benefactors.” danger lurking.” Thus far, Jesuit “service to the American
Holloran’s letter to some 100 to 200 individuals promised Negro” had resulted from “individual initiative.” He demanded
that, if the policy changed, SLU would not lower its “academic institutional and sustained action, calling on Jesuit schools
standards in the admission of colored students.” Such students, to “make increased efforts to encourage the enrollment of
he also assured, would never be numerous, because Negroes qualified Negroes” and to provide them financial assistance.
generally lacked “the educational background requisite for Declaring current circumstances “embarrassing,” Arrupe said
admission to college or the financial means.” that “American Jesuits cannot, must not, stand aloof.”
A survey card accompanied the letter. Recipients were to In March 1968, President Michael P. Walsh, SJ, established
mark “Yes” or “No” after two questions: “(1) Would you look the Negro Talent Search, a four-year, $100,000 commitment to
favorably on Saint Louis University accepting Negro students?” the recruitment and financial support of black students from the
“(2) Would you be less inclined to send a son or daughter to Greater Boston area. (A year’s tuition at the time was $1,600.)
Saint Louis University if Negro students were admitted?” According to variant records, the Negro Talent Search—soon
Evidently, the results tended toward integration because on to be known as the Black Talent Program—enrolled between
April 25, 1944, Holloran announced that “Catholic Negroes” 34 and 48 black students in September 1968, and would admit
could now enroll at SLU. He argued from the high ground: the some 300 during its first five years. “The arc of the moral uni¬
“duty of Catholics to receive Catholic education,” and SLU’s verse is long, but it bends toward justice,” Martin Luther King
responsibility to make “college and university studies” avail¬ Jr. said in a 1964 speech, quoting the 19th-century abolitionist
able to “those Catholics desirous of [them], and qualified.” Five from Massachusetts Theodore Parker. The magazine’s story on
black students enrolled in the first year. a segment of that arc begins on page 16.
At Boston College, desegregation lacked a pivotal moment or -SETH MEEHAN, PH.D.H4
Contents
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE VOL. 78 NO. 2 SPRING 20l8
2 Letters 44 End Notes
Religion in Africa did
4 Linden not start with the
missionaries • New Day •
Lane How Title IX spelled the
demise of the NCAA's
An evening with Dr. Paul female counterpart, and
Farmer • At the Shea other ironies
Center for Entrepreneur-
ship, a preview of new 50 Class
software, toys, and
services • The bike library Notes
From "Artful," pg. 26 • A scholar probes the
identity that endures
when a person leaves 80 Inquiring
FEATURES the Church • They love
the Birch and Swinnerton- Minds
Dyer conjecture. Shouldn't
we? • A blueprint for A child's notion of
16 TOGETHER studying the New World inequality
Allied as students, they remain ‘the Brothers' 81 Works
By Zachary Jason
&Days
26 ARTFUL
Behind the scenes at the University's Replica boat builder
Peter Nolan 70
20th festival celebrating student creators
and performers
By Christopher Amenta
Photography by Lee Pellegrini
38 THE SWEETEST SOUNDS
The neurological link between taste and
hearing, or why airplane passengers like to
drink tomato juice
By Rachel Herz
on the cover: Sub Turri portraits of members of the
Talented Tenth, 1989-92. See guide at right.
Photograph by Gary Wayne Gilbert
BOSTON COLLEGE LETTERS
MAGAZINE VOLUME 78 NUMBER 2 SPRING 2018
MEDIA MASTER experience different from my own when
Re “The Machinist,” by studio art instruc¬ my father passed away two years ago. I was
AKReTi tDhI AREkCeT OR tor Mary Sherman (Winter 2018): I have fortunate enough to have my father die in
been lucky enough to experience Mary a hospital with medical staff who could
PGHaOrTyO WGRaAynPHe YG EilDbITeOrtR Sherman’s expanded paintings firsthand, have helped to write Smith’s curriculum. I
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER during her 2016 solo retrospective at was met throughout with the compassion¬
Lee Pellegrini Oboro in Montreal, Canada. The gallery ate frankness that Smith and her team are
UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER space was completely transformed by trying to instill in their students. From the
Peter M. Julian T 6 Mary’s myriad mechanized creatures, such ER doctor to the orderly who transported
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT as paintings turned into “cars” that fol¬ my father to the hospice room, the staff
Zachary Jason'll lowed tracks along the floor, occasionally was fastidious and faithful in their care of
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR blurting out surprising vocal exclamations. both my father and my grieving family.
Seth Meehan, Ph.D.’14 Mary’s work is ambitious and sensorially I applaud Smith and her Connell
WCOiNllTiaRmIB UBToINleG WRITER engaging; it’s also very playful. She men¬ School of Nursing colleagues for helping
tions the labor that goes into her work, but tomorrow’s nurses support patients and
BRCaMv i OJaNiLnI,N ME iPlResO DBUeCnEsRoSn when you see it, it transmits an abundance families in the final moments of life.
of energy (which will come as no surprise Maki Itoh, MA’99
to anyone who has met her). What else White Plains, New York
Development Information Services could explain hand coloring hundreds
CC(6ah1de7is)gt n5anu5 t2A H-l3uil4ml,4 nM0i, ACFae 0xn2:t e4(r66,1 717 4) 05 C52o-m00m7o7n wealth Ave. otof cyraeradtse o afn p eanpgeur lwfinitgh boliul es triocok min foorrd heer r Wabhouatt aa bweoanudtiefruflu al nadn din ifmorpmorattaivnet parroti¬c le
bc.edu/bcm/address/ installation Waiting for Yves? gram. Reading the piece made me cry.
Please send editorial correspondence to: Tamar Tembeck Betts Howes Murray, JD ’84
Boston College Magazine Montreal, Canada South Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
[email protected] The writer is an art historian and an aca¬ TEAM BUILDING
Boston College Magazine demic associate at media@McGill. Re “Field of Dreams,” by Thomas Cooper
is published quarterly (Winter, Spring, Summer, (Winter 2018): I’ve followed the construc¬
Fall) by Boston College, with editorial offices at GIVING BACK tion of the fieldhouse from the start; the
t(h6e1 7O) f5fi5c2e— o4f 8U2n0i,v Fearxsi: t(y6 C17o)m 5m5u2n-2ic4a4t1io ns, Re “Guidance System,” by Thomas photograph only increases my enthusiasm.
ISSN 0885-2049 MCoinoipsetrry ( WExipnote ar s2 a0 1st8u)d: eI natt taenndd erdet tuhren ed Tfohoitsb baulli lcdoimngm isu neixtcyi tbinugt anlosot ofonlry t hfoe ro tthhee r
additional mailing offices. this past fall to talk about my work as teams and intramural groups that will be
PBDooessvttemolnoa Cpstmoelrel:en gSte eI Mnndfao agrdmazdairnteieso sn c Soerrrvecicteiosn s to rae psiadsetonrc ein h aanll uant dtheer gUrandivueartsei twy oomf Neno’str e ableL tuok euKseu ethceh lfya c’1il2i ty throughout the year.
Cadigan Alumni Center, 140 Commonwealth Ave. Dame. The School of Theology and Charlotte, North Carolina
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 Ministry event is a wonderful opportunity
Copyright 2018 Trustees of Boston College. for students to hear from alumni in vari¬ The writer is a linebacker for the Carolina
Printed in U.S.A. All publications rights reserved. ous ministry positions. I’m grateful for this Panthers.
BCM is distributed free to alumni, faculty, staff, experience of candid conversation with
available by paid subscription at the rate of $20 for others passionate about ministry and serv¬ HISTORY LESSONS
four issues. Please send check payable to Boston ing the Church. Re “Jesuitland,” by Ben Birnbaum and
College Magazine to: Rachelle Simon, M.Div.’16 Seth Meehan (Winter 2018): As a rare-
SCuhbessctrniuptt iHoniUs/,BMCAM 0, 2144607 C ommonwealth Ave. Notre Dame, Indiana book seller, it was sheer pleasure to travel
PClleaassse N doirteesc te Cdiltaosrs Notes queries to: CARE PACKAGE tchaep tcuernetdu rpiievso wtailt hm tohme eanuttsh ionr st haes hthisetyo ry of
Cadigan Alumni Center Re “The Vigil,” by Zachary Jason (Winter the Jesuit order using treasured artifacts.
eC1m4h0ae isClt:n ocumlat msHsonilnol,wt eMesa@Alt b0hc2 A.4ev6de7u. E20n1d8 o):f ULinfeti lS Ii mreualda taiboonu Ptr Aogmraym S,m iti tdhi’ds not Trahree abuotohkosr sa nadch mieavneuds wcrhipatts e hvoerpye lso wveilrl of
phone: [phone] occur to me that families would have an occur: They brought old documents to life
SPRING 2018
by giving them context and placing them about the eagle’s past. To answer their Museum, and we visited Skylight, where
within the living tradition of which we are questions, I undertook an online search, Larsen immediately recognized the impor¬
all part. I wish success to the Institute for which turned up a murky chronicle with tance of the object that lay in pieces before
Advanced Jesuit Studies and am sure that two particularly interesting notes. One us. I look forward to seeing this master¬
the Portal to Jesuit Studies will remain an was that the eagle had been part of the piece on display in the McMullen.
invaluable resource for scholars and other Lars Anderson estate, across the street Rus Gant
interested persons throughout the world. from the Showa campus. I knew Anderson Cambridge, Massachusetts
Nicholas Zinos, P’21 had been for a short time the U.S. ambas¬
St. Paul, Minnesota sador to Japan in 1913 and was a well- THOUGHT PROCESSES
known collector of Japanese art. The Re “Open Questions,” interviews by
A FAN'S NOTES abbreviated history also mentioned the Thomas Cooper (Winter 2018): The
I read the winter 2018 issue cover-to-cover. original eagle had been removed from Boston College I graduated from was a
Especially enjoyed Thomas Cooper’s arti¬ the column outside Gasson in 1993 and school that taught its students how to
cle detailing Paul Strother’s five-year fos¬ replaced with a copy. This was news to think, not what to think. With little excep¬
sil investigation (“Untimely Discovery”); people I spoke with at Boston College; tion, this article seems to suggest that may
“Jesuitland” by Ben Birnbaum and Seth they believed the bird was the original. no longer be the case.
Meehan; and Zachary Jason’s “The Vigil.” Extensive research led me to Skylight John P. Leonard ’66
Virginia O’Mara ’71 Studios, the Woburn firm that created Quincy, Massachusetts
Nashua, New Hampshire the copy, where I was finally able to see
and photograph this remarkable piece of
DISASTER RELIEF Japanese sculpture, which had been stored BCM welcomes letters from readers.
I was deeply moved by the students’ in an outbuilding for 23 years. When I Letters may be edited for length and clarity,
reports on the disaster that befell Puerto relayed my discovery to BCM editor Ben and must be signed to be published. Our
Rico in Hurricane Maria (“After the Birnbaum, he put me in touch with Diana fax number is [phone]; our email
Storm,” Winter 2018). There are people Larsen, assistant director of the McMullen address is [email protected].
in my diocese (Trenton) who also have suf¬
fered losses, including at least one of the
priests. So what can the Boston College
community do? EDITOR'S NOTE:
How about a mission trip? We can go The Summer 2018 issue of this run a business more complex than a
there with hammers, clothes, medicine, magazine will be my last as editor. night shift in a New York City cab,
school supplies, and willing hearts Full of “Retirement” is what it’s generally the University’s decision may have
faith. When God calls, what do we say? called, but I don’t own a golf club or seemed inexplicable to some, me
Not me? Not now? I think the very least bathing costume, and so I plan to included—more a demonstration of
we can do is to respond to the needs of the step off into a life of work projects— faith, hope, and charity than of
University community there. It is about broadly speaking—that I just haven’t corporate probity. But I had by then
more than financial donations; it is about gotten to yet. Back in 1978, when I come to appreciate the way theologi¬
being there, praying there, working there. bumped down 1-93 from the North cal and corporate virtues joined at
Who is in? Anyone can contact me Country in a rented U-Haul, a Carter Boston College to produce the sin¬
([email protected]), and we can recession refugee, my narrow goal gular and complex wind currents in
begin organizing. Of course, work is was to find a job in the big city by which I most like to fly. So I said yes.
already being done. But we can also con- which I could support myself, my new And I stayed on (and on) because J.
wife, and our soon-to-be-born child. Donald Monan, SJ, and William R
Gina Laidlaw ’80 And I took the first suitable position I Leahy, SJ, granted me remarkable
Princeton, New Jersey was offered, a $12,000-per-year staff freedom to try and craft a magazine
writer slot at a then-new magazine (and many other things, it would turn
LOST AND FOUND published by Boston College, which out) that presented the University
Re “Bird’s Eye,” by Jane Whitehead I believed to be a public institution. in its singular and complex variety.
(Winter 2018): I first saw the original (Why else call it Boston College?) Four To the thousands of you who’ve let
Boston College eagle on a cold, snowy years later, Boston College, which me know over the years that you, too,
February day in 2015. It was the conclu¬ had turned out to be a university and take Boston College seriously, thank
sion of an unanticipated hunt. Jesuit no less, appointed me editor. you. It’s been formidable play, which
As a member of the Boston faculty Given that my bachelor’s degree was is the highest form of work granted
of Tokyo’s Showa Women’s University, from a rabbinical college and I’d never to most of us. —Ben Birnbaum
I regularly take students to visit Boston
College, and many of them have asked
CONTENTS
6 Three questions
An evening with Dr. Paul Farmer
8 Show time
At the Shea Center for
Entrepreneurship, a preview of
^ Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the 2016 Levine and served in the Walsh Function
new software, toys, and services Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Room. Ingredients included carrot peels,
O Sympathizer, and a 2017 recipient of a celery tops, stems (of thyme, oregano, and
10 Close-up ^ MacArthur Fellowship, was on campus for dill), leek ends, feta brine, spent lemons,
The bike library ^ three days as writer-in-residence. Nguyen and old cabbage hearts. Hosted by Dining
<; met with faculty and student groups, Services, the Office of Sustainability, and
11 Forever Catholic? attended a class, and delivered a Lowell the student group Ecopledge, the meal,
A scholar probes the identity Humanities Series lecture. V The annual which guests deemed tasty, preceded a
that endures when a person room selection process began at 4:00 p.m. screening of Anthony Bourdain’s docu¬
leaves the Church on March 13, with members of the Class mentary, Wasted! The Story of Food Waste.
of 2019 choosing six-person apartments. V At the 1 Oth Boston Colege Relay for
12 Go figure According to the Twitter feed of the Office Life, participants from 83 teams circled
They love the Birch and of Residential Life, the Mods were full the Flynn Rec Plex track for 12 hours
by 5:45 p.m. Ignacio Hall was next to fill, (6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.), raising more
Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture.
one hour later. )J( Boston College was than $135,000 for the American Cancer
Shouldn't we? selected, along with 11 other universi¬ Society. )J( The McMullen Museum
ties and colleges, to receive funding for hosted a panel discussion on “The Future
14 Border crossing undergraduate scientific research by the of Museums,” with Louvre director emeri¬
A blueprint for studying the Beckman Scholars Program. The award tus Henri Loyrette; Boston’s Museum of
New World will support faculty-directed research Fine Arts director Matthew Teitelbaum;
by two students in each of the next three and Atlanta’s High Museum of Art direc¬
years. V The new sports complex on tor emeritus Michael Shapiro. Nancy
the Brighton Campus, which encom¬ Netzer, director of the McMullen, mod¬
passes three turf fields—baseball, softball, erated the conversation. )J( University
and intramural—has been named the Trustees announced that undergraduate
Flarrington Athletics Village at Brighton tuition for the 2018-19 academic year will
Fields, in honor of University Trustee and be $54,600. Including room and board and
longtime Red Sox CEO John Harrington fees, the total cost will be $69,942, a 3.6
’57, MBA’66, H’10. Jorge Mejia T9 percent increase over last year. Need-based
was awarded the Archbishop Oscar A. financial aid will grow by 8.9 percent,
Romero Scholarship, and Anthony Smith to $131.3 million, with the average aid
T9 was the recipient of the Martin Luther package anticipated to exceed $45,000.
King Jr. Memorial Scholarship. Fifty V Associate professor of sociology Sara
students signed up for a dinner of scraps Moorman has received a grant from the
and "rescued" foods prepared by Boston National Institute on Aging to study the
College chefs Frank Bailey and Scott effects of childhood socioeconomic status
SPRING 2018
encore—On Saturday, April 7, John Finney celebrated his 25th anniversary as director of the 114-member University Chorale with a concert at Boston's
Symphony Hall. Finney has led the singers in more than 250 performances, taking them to Budapest, Puerto Rico, Vienna, Fenway Park, and Vatican City.
The Chorale, together with the 65 musicians of the Boston College Symphony Orchestra (which Finney has conducted since 1999), performed selections
from Mendelssohn's Elijah, Handel's Messiah, and the Class of 1885 graduate T.J. Hurley's "Hail! Alma Mater!" among other works.
on later-life cognitive health. The three- Dana Sajdi has been named a fellow at profiling,” joined the Connell School of
year study will use data from 10,000 Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Nursing as associate dean for research and
people, now in their seventies, who have Study for the 2018-19 academic year. Her director of the Office of Nursing Research.
participated in a longitudinal study since project, titled “Cityscaping Damascus,” He was previously the Lindeman Distin¬
high school. )fC Computer science major involves the creation of a portrait of the guished Professor at Oregon Health &
Riley Soward T 8 and his older brother, Syrian city using descriptive texts span¬ Science University. UC Associate director
Stephen, reached a deal to sell Campus ning the 12th to the 20th century. )J( of the Lonergan Institute Kerry Cronin
Insights, their three-year-old market The Office of Undergraduate Admission ’87, Ph.D.’lS, and her efforts to revive the
research company to Harvard Student reported that it accepted 27 percent of lost art of dating among students, are
Agencies. Campus Insights conducts and the more than 31,000 applicants for the the focus of The Dating Project, a new
analyzes interviews with Generation Z Class of 2022. Applications increased documentary film that follows five indi¬
and Millennial, and its clients include 9 percent from last year. XV FBI direc¬ viduals as they seek lasting relationships
Airbnb, GoFundMe, and Chegg. )J( tor Christopher Wray was on campus to in the hook-up era. XV An international
Reed Piercey T9, an international studies speak at the second annual conference team of scientists led by associate profes¬
major from Mountain View, California, on cybersecurity, hosted by the Woods sor of chemistry Dunwei Wang reported in
and Ignacio Fletcher ’20, a political sci¬ College of Advancing Studies and the FBI. the Proceedings of the National Academy of
ence and economics major from San Wray discussed tactics for combatting Sciences that they have synthesized an irid¬
Juan, Puerto Rico, were elected presi¬ digital threats that are “coming at us from ium dual-atom catalyst that can serve as a
dent and executive vice president of the all sides.” )J( Christopher Lee, a cardio¬ platform for artificial photosynthesis,
Undergraduate Government of Boston vascular nurse scientist who refers to advancing efforts to efficiently harvest and
College. A Associate professor of history his research approach as “biobehavioral store solar energy. —Thomas Cooper
he wasn’t tired anymore, “I’mjust getting
warmed up.” He stayed until 8:00, conversing
with students.
1. fr. kenneth himes: There are
young people in the audience who want
to make a difference in the world. What
would you say to someone who wants to
be you 25 years from now?
farmer: Well, first I’d say, Don’t want
that. Want to find your own path toward
addressing disparities. You wouldn’t be at
Boston College if you didn’t have a quest
for personal efficacy, if you weren’t think¬
ing, How can I shine? This is never work
about you. Harness your quest.
I’ve met people in their twenties who
talk about their legacy, and I think, Oof,
you need to rein that in. I don’t say that
out loud, though, because I see myself in
my twenties—you don’t get into Harvard
Medical School without having that com¬
pletely inflated sense of your contribution.
But if you can harness the quest for person¬
al efficacy into social justice work, the good
news is that to succeed in this work requires
only that you persevere. If you stick with it
a long time, you can course-correct.
In Rwanda, we were lucky to have good
Farmer: "All over the world, there's a rich tradition of hospitality. And if someone is called to be leadership in the city. Meaning not good
hospitable, then someone else must be called to be the good guest." conditions materially. But we had setbacks
there, and lots of setbacks in Burundi. The
more you’re needed for work like this, to
Three questions make a preferential option for the poor
in healthcare delivery, the more setbacks
you’ll have, because the more fragile the
place is. Guatemala at the tail end of its
An evening with Dr. Paul Farmer civil war, Peru at the tail end of its civil
A war, Rwanda after a genocide and war,
you’re getting a theme here. And Haiti was
T 5:30 P.M. ON FEBRUARY 2J, receiving an honorary degree in 2005. He very disrupted—and is.
Dr. Paul Farmer, cofounder of began with some background—his humble Take the most recent action of Partners
the nonprofit Partners in Health (PIH), upbringing in Weeki Wachee, Florida, his in Health as a collective, which was to go
spoke at the invitation of the Church in the attendance at Duke University (Class of to West Africa to fight Ebola and, particu¬
21st Century Center to a largely student 1982), his first visit to Haiti, before he entered larly, to take care of people with Ebola.
audience in a packed Murray Room. The Harvard Medical School (“I knew I wanted We wanted to address something we felt
moderator was theology professor Kenneth to go into medicine, I had no idea why. Haiti we knew how to address, which was,
Himes, OFM, and the topic was hilled as made me know why”). He talked about the What do you do in a clinical desert where
“Friendship.” (Among other projects, PIH ideas he and his friends had in starting PIH everything’s been destroyed by war? Other
develops community-based medical services, in 1987, how, “beingyoung people,” they organizations do heroic work in the middle
“with a preferential option for the poor,” in wanted it “to look different”from other of war. We have never chosen to do that.
Haiti, Peru, Russia, Mexico, Navajo Nation, development work: “We’d already discovered We had setback after setback. One
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Lesotho, and the term accompaniment and what it meant, of the biggest mistakes was starting too
Malawi.) Farmer arrived visibly and frankly particularly to Latin American theologians.” slowly. We were there, I was there, in
tired,yet relaxed; he’s spoken with Boston And he took questions (three are below). Sierra Leone in June of 2014 with a bunch
College students at least five times since About a half-hour in, Farmer announced of surgeons, believe it or not, and surgi-
SPRING 2018
cal nurses. And I only knew four Sierra no electricity, no land, no food, no water. fering and focus on something like your
Leoneans. By November, when we started I’ve been working with the same people studies, or in my case, seeing patients and
seriously rolling clinically, two of those in Haiti for more than 30 years, and the teaching in Boston. Sometimes it is a per¬
four were dead of Ebola, and they were good news is, if you keep going back to fectly legitimate thing to do and a smart
both doctors. That’s a mistake, to lose the same place, friendships will deepen. thing to do and a decent thing to do. You
colleagues and friends to something that It happens organically, with time, but you can bet that the training capacity in Syria
could have been prevented or addressed have to listen to what people are saying. has been much diminished, so training
more effectively medically. And understand that if one of you can zip here as a physician or a nurse practitioner
off on a plane to Longwood Medical Area would be better than training there.
2. nick raposo T8: My class is here you’re not equal. Now, there’s something else that I
with Professor [Gabrielle] Oliveira [who There are perils to worrying about would say. This may sound bad to you,
teaches “Psychological Responses to identity. Radical relativism, for instance, but if you end up thinking of yourself
Humanitarian Crises”]. She’s talked a lot is frowned upon in medicine—what if you as a Syrian-American, there are worse
about how wanting to advocate for a needy started believing that to be a good doctor things to be. This is where you belong
community can sometimes lead to subjec- who treats AIDS, you have to get AIDS? right now—it’s safer, a better place to
tification of that community or the people For most of us, however, the greater risk study. Sometimes, if you’re here study¬
in it. How do you think individuals who is believing that we can be culturally com¬ ing and training you can be a living link
want to help can rein in that subjectifica- petent, when really we should aspire to be from a place that is pretty affluent and
tion and move toward the friendship you culturally humble. The safeguard to that doesn’t have war; you can find your way
talk about? is understanding you’re the guest. All over to be involved from afar and help rebuild.
farmer: Nick, it seems to me that one the world, there’s a rich tradition of hospi¬ That may be a more powerful role for you.
way to do that is to take a class like that, do tality. And if someone is called to be hospi¬ You don’t have to call yourself Syrian-
the readings, have the discussions, be more table, then someone else must be called to American; I’m just saying acknowledge
intentional and aware. be the good guest. I still think of myself as that you’re not in the thick of it.
There’s another risk, though, and that a guest in the village where I went in 1983, When I was in Haiti and got into
is to be so cautious that you don’t do any¬ and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Harvard Medical School, I would say,
thing for fear of doing something wrong. Oh, I really want to stay in Haiti and not
That is the privilege of privilege. 3- LAYLA aboukhater T8: Hi, Doctor. go back. I would just lie, by the way. This
I keep wanting someone to ask me if You talked about working in places after was not true, I did want to go back to
I have a white savior complex: I’m white, conflict has ended. I’m from Syria, I came Harvard Medical School, but that sounded
although my daughter says I’m more here three years ago. I guess my question good, and I was immature. The fact is, I’m
pink; and in medical school they tell us is for all of us Syrians of my generation much more influential having returned
to save as many sick people as possible. who are now around the world—a lot of us to Boston, which, of course, I was going to
Subjectification, white savior, these are are or will be studying medicine—What do, and having trained at the Brigham
terms that I hear almost exclusively in advice do you have? We can’t go in and do and Women’s Hospital in medicine and
American universities, not in a rural much right now. What next steps should infectious disease. Now I’m a professor,
squatter settlement in Haiti or Rwanda we take to prepare for that moment when and I can do a lot more for my colleagues
or a slum in Lima. They’re good things to we go back to fix everything? You have at Partners in Health and at all of the sister
ask about. But I do think it’s incumbent been to places after conflicts have ended. organizations that we work with, from
upon us to understand how some of these What do you think realistically we will see that post, having stuck with it. ■
concerns, which are real to me also, are when we get back?
linked to our privileged ability to step farmer: First of all, I don’t want to Dr. Paul Farmer, H'05, cofounder of Partners
back and reflect. A BC professor [in theol¬ sound paternalistic—although I think In Health, Kolokotrones University Professor
ogy], Roberto Goizueta has written a lot paternalism sometimes gets a bad rap, and at Harvard University, chair of the Depart¬
about accompaniment. His original book maternalism too—but I’m relieved that ment of Global Health and Social Medicine
was Caminemos con Jesus, and it’s worth you don’t think you have to go back now. at Harvard Medical School, and chief of
reading because it plows through some of I very much admire the people who can the Division of Global Health Equity at
those concerns. work in war zones. I’m not one of them. Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital,
The biggest challenge/threat to accom¬ You can’t really do a lot of good medicine is the author of several books, including
paniment and friendship is really inequal¬ in a war zone. You can provide trauma In the Company of the Poor: Conversations
ity. There’s a towering divide between care, if you have blood and you’re not get¬ rwezit h(2 D01r.3 )P aaunld F Taorm Reerp aanird t hFre. WGuosrtladv o(2 G01u3ti)e.r ¬
a young American who, for example, ting bombed. But community health is out. The excerpts above are drawn and adapted
attends Duke and then Harvard and goes So there’s good reason to resign yourself from a longer conversation that took place
back and forth between the United States, to hard work and study. at Boston College on February 27. A video
which has every imaginable thing one I know from personal experience how of the event may be viewed via Full Story at
might need, and Haiti, where people have difficult it can be to turn away from suf¬ www.bc.edu/bcm.
Show time into prototypes, websites, apps, MVPs
(minimum viable products), and busi¬
nesses. They’d been chosen by the student
By Christopher Amenta executive team of the Shea Center from
a pool of applicants, on the strength of
their ideas and commitment. Aided by
At the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, mentoring from faculty, staff, alumni, and
a preview of new software, toys, and services members ofBoston’s startup community,
T they had coded, marketed, manufactured,
and incorporated. Now they would share
he audio equipment in the Carroll things out of nothing, and you just go with the results.
School of Management’s Fulton the flow.” Doyle ceded the stage, and the stu¬
Honors Library was inexplicably pip¬ The participants in Accelerate@Shea, dents, mic-less and in-turn, stood to pitch.
ing sound into neighboring classrooms, the startup incubator serving under¬ “Minno is the first ever social card,” said
and so, to introduce the Shea Center for graduates and graduate students across the senior Trevor Massey of his enterprise.
Entrepreneurship’s third annual Demo University, seemed to receive the wisdom “Linkedln is your business resume; Minno
Day, executive director Jere Doyle ’87 converted: They stood nodding around is going to be your social media resume.”
ascended the riser at the front of the room a cluster of high-top tables, themselves (A communication major, Massey is one
without a mic. No problem, Doyle told prepared to take the stage to describe their of a number of students in the Morrissey
the audience some SO strong on that eve¬ recent entrepreneurial undertakings. College of Arts and Sciences participating
ning in late February. “I talk loud,” he said. The nearly 30 of them, representing 12 in the program this spring.)
“But that’s how an entrepreneur has to be: young companies, had just spent the “Millions of people have been crazy
You have to be nimble, flexible, create previous six weeks developing their ideas for simple but challenging games on their
SPRING 2018