Boston College magazine

84 Pages·1998·10 MB·English

by  Boston College. Office of Communications

ALSO: CROSS REVERENCE HOME PORT
/
BOSTON COLLEGE
magazine
SPRING
19
9 8
MVRmn
PROLOGUE
Pictures
One Saturday night this spring, my Wljether they were taken an hour their melancholy limitations,
daughter went to the sophomore however, that make me ache, that
semiformal over at the Holiday before Bull Run or 60 seconds ago with make me look away; for whether
Inn. This was Sara's first high they were taken an hour before
school dance, and I hope to re- a Polaroid, photographs are by their Bull Run or 60 seconds ago with
member it by recalling that she nature capable ofholdi?7g up nothing a Polaroid, photographs are by
applied herself to dress shopping their nature capable of holding
with such fervor that she returned but ghostsfor our inspection. up nothing but ghosts for our in-
home in just two hours, under spection. What we see in the pic-
budget and secure in her choice, ture is already gone, and we are
and that she dared say no to the like astronomers in some distant
only boy who asked, a kid from history class who, she had galaxy, straining at our telescopes, recording the content of
good reason to believe, was incapable oftalking to her about starlight that has been streaming toward us for a million
anything but Metternich's role in the Quadruple Alliance. years: boiling seas, Tyrannosaurus rex, Shakespeare bent
And I was touched when, minutes before she was to leave, over a half-completed sonnet, a girl full of hope in a new
she asked my opinion as to whether her hair looked better party dress. It's looks so real, we say. But it isn't; it's past and
this way or that way, and I solemnly reviewed the choices it can't be touched.
several times and made a pronouncement. Then, because I
was the only adult at home, I took the requisite pictures: two And that's why when it comes to my loves, I prefer memo-
of them, just to be sure. ry. It, too, holds up the ghosts for our inspection: sunset
over the lake, uncles in homburg hats, the guests at the wed-
I don't take many pictures. So far as I can recall, I have made ding feast. But ghosts are not memory's only subject. The
regular, premeditated use ofa camera only three times in my light that streams through it comes from all directions.
life. The first time, I was a teenager and had received a gift It rained hard the night Sara went to the sophomore
of a box camera in whose focusing lens the image appeared semiformal. Wind-driven drops struck the windows of our
upside down. Enchanted, I shot two rolls on a family visit to living room where I sat reading on a worn sofa, my
the zoo. I never used it again. Next, I was a young man trav- stockinged feet on a coffee table that was otherwise occu-
eling the world with a Kodak Instamatic. I may have shot pied by tilted decks of magazines, fallen towers of mail-
three rolls over 18 months, which, I calculate, works out to order catalogs, electronic remotes that don't work, a glass
about one shutter click every five days or 300 miles, jar ofmarbles, a near-empty bag ofpotato chips, and drink-
whichever came first. The third spasm ofenthusiasm began ing glasses that needed washing. My youngest son's mud-
on May 20, 1978, the day our first child was born, and faded caked baseball cleats lay on the carpet, as did his toy cars, a
not long afterward. middle-aged German Shepherd, and woolish slippers (be-
I have nothing against pictur—es, per se. I know the photo- longing to my daughter) that look like German Shepherd
taking process can be intrusive the chirrup of the shutter, pups because they haven't been moved since January.
—
the explosion ofthe flash but so are talk and garlic. Nor do Reading, I dozed off. And when I awoke I could just bare-
I believe, as some are said to believe, that photos steal your ly hear an ethereal, wordless music that seemed part of an
soul or attract Satan's special attention.—In fact, I'm glad interrupted dream. Then I realized it was my son in his
to be in any picture you care to take lucky enough to room up the stairs and around the corner, singing to him-
have been gifted with that oafish masculine sensibility that self. I held my breath just to hear him better. Tike a picture,
allows one to always conceive of oneself in the abstract as ifyou can.
handsome. Our story on the Boston Gas Company photographs and
In truth I love photographs, love their adoration of pre- their freight of ghosts, begins on page 26.
cious detail, their beauty and their searing frankness. It's Ben Birnbtiiim
BOSTON COLLEGE
magazine
SPRING 1998 VOL. 58 NO. 2
Sift's *i^|
V
^mm 1 ^~*i
1 1
3
l
18 26 36
Cross purposes
18 DEPARTMENTS
by Charles R. Morris
2 LETTERS
Pluralist democracy poses the greatest challenge
to Catholicism since Galilean physics, and America 4 LINDEN LANE
is the test case. Of ice and men. The trial.
The women's room turns 25.
After math. A Titanic event.
Tunnel
26 visions
44 ADVANCEMENT
by Suzanne Keating Q&A
46
Hired to record the laying of Boston's gas pipelines,
English professor Dayton
19th-century commercial photographers captured a
Haskin on teaching the Bible
time and a city. Images from the John Burns Library.
J. as literature.
49 WORKS & DAYS
Washashore
36 Classical DJ Laura Carlo '80
ALUMNOTES
by Brendan Galvin '60
follow page 24
Home
is the place you go to.
COVER
The corner of LaCrange and
Tremont streets, Boston,
March 8, 1897; photograph
from the Boston Gas Company
Records, John Burns Library.
J.
LETTERS
BOSTON COLLEGE
LOOK AGAIN "Nowyou see me" is a wonder- ing to have predominantly lay
magazine
ful short story: haunting and boards of trustees, had "given
My cousin Marian Rule Brandt beautiful at the same time. The away" the properties. O'Brien
SPRING 1998 (now living in New Orleans) photograph of the diary Willie also states that these indepen-
VOLUME 58 NUMBER 2
has in her possession some M. Merrill kept in 1888 re- dent university corporations
EDITOR dozens of books just like the minded me of the handwritten "assumed ownership ofthe uni-
Ben Birnbaum
one shown with Ben Birn- entries contained in an 1860 versities." The recent sale of a
SENIOR EDITOR
Charlotte Bruce Harvey baum's Prologue "Nowyou see family Bible that I treasure. hospital owned by St. Louis
SENIOR WRITERS me" [Winter 1998]. Our Like Willie's, the spelling is, as University demonstrates that in
Suzanne Keating
John Ombelets grandfather, Sidney Paterson you say, "crippled," but, again fact all Catholic colleges and
Rule, a dour Scotsman, kept a like Willie's, the simple and universities must abide by the
DESIGN DIRECTOR
farmer's diary for many years. forthright entries and senti- Church's canon law and that
David B. Williams
ART DIRECTOR He was a near contemporary of ments are, though stark, life- their properties were not alien-
Susan Callaghan Willie M. Merrill, living from affirming. The lasting effect of ated from the Church, as
PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR the early 1860s until 1938. Two these handwritten treasures is O'Brien seems to claim.
GaryW. Gilbert ofthe diaries were ofparticular this: Our humanity from gener- Archbishop Rigali of St.
PHOTOGRAPHER interest to me when I first ation to generation is affirmed. Louis stated emphatically that
Lee Pellegrini
thumbed through them. In the Through all the technological the predominantly lay compo-
PUBLIPCaAtTIMOaNhSoAnSeSyISTANT 1886 diary a May 2 entry reads: advances, we realize that times sition ofmany Catholic univer-
"Baby boy born." That was may change but people's moti- sities' and colleges' boards does
CONTRIBUTING WRITER Sid and Anna McHenry Rule's vations do not. Thank you for not in any way mean that own-
Clare M. Dunsford
firstborn and my father, Wade reminding me ofthe treasure. ership has been "given away"
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Katherine Wolff Hampton Rule. A diary entry SHAUND.HARRINGTON by the Church. In fact, neither
for the early 1890s reads: Clifton, NewJersey the decision ofSt. Louis's pres-
BostonCollegeMagazine "Bought Wade a pair of ident, Fr. Biondi, nor the pur-
ispublished quarterly(Fall,Winter,
Spring, Summer)byBostonCollege, breeches, 50 cents." Costs have I savored the Winter 1998 Pro- portedly unanimous decision of
witheditorial officesattheOffice
ofPublications & PrintMarketing, gone up! logue, as I, too, am magnetized the board oftrustees to sell the
FAX(:61(76)1575)25-5428-2204.41. My cousin mentioned that to bookstores and seek journals hospital was sufficient. They
ISSN0885-2049. diaries were rather commonly and diaries of common folk. are obliged by canon law to ob-
Periodicalspostagepaid atBoston,
Mass., andadditional mailingoffices. kept by farmers in northwest- "The voyage in," your round- tain ecclesial permission and
Postmaster: sendaddresschangesto
OfficeofPublications & Print ern Ohio, which is a largely table on memoir, was like a approval for the sale.
—
Marketing, 122 CMolAlege Road, Protestant community. (My seminar class nice choice. Had Fr. Biondi attempted to
ChestnutHill, 02167.
Copyright 1998Trusteesof own religious persuasion And the frosting was Thomas sell the hospital without the re-
BostonCollege. Printed in U.S.A. comes by way of an urban H. O'Connor's "The final act." quired permission, Archbishop
Allpublicationsrights reserved.
Opinionsexpressedin Boston College Irish-Catholic mother.) The The man still spellbinds. I re- Rigali and Fr. Biondi'sJesuitsu-
tMhaegavizeiwnseodfotnhoetUnnievceersssiatryi.lyBrCefMlecits Rules prided themselves on member his class the day periors could have challenged
distributed freeofcharge toalumni, being "black Protestants." I another president was assass- the transaction in civil court,
faculty,staff,donorsand parents
ofundergraduatestudents. have often speculated about the inated. Although ourminds and which in all likelihood would
practice of keeping the diaries. emotions were elsewhere, he have referred the matter to an
I wonder ifthey might not be a managed to teach with his char- ecclesial court, because it is a
DEPARTMENTLOGOBYANTHONYRUSSO watered-down and completely acteristic stability, substance matter of Church law. What
secularized residue ofthe prac- and sensitivity. has happened in this case is the
tice in some evangelical com- LENDEANGELISMA'65 very clear statement of princi-
munities of keeping a spiritual Middletown, Rhode Island ple. Any college or university
diary to be shown to the com- that claims to be Catholic can-
munity elders in witness ofone PROPERTY RIGHTS not sell large properties with-
having "received the light." out proper ecclesial permission.
Grandpa Sid's entrieswere, like In "The Land O'Lakes State- The Church is not "external"
those you describe, terse and ment" [Winter 1998], David J. to any institution that claims to
quotidian. O'Brien states that the religious be Catholic. And, as the actions
congregations that founded and statement of Archbishop
PHILIPRULE,SJ
Catholic universities, by decid- Rigali make abundantly clear,
Worcester, Massachusetts
2 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
ANOTHER BROTHER
the local bishop is not some Unfortunately, the article (though "grounded in astrono-
kind of "external agent" to any does not capture the objective my" like Doctor Copernicus)
Catholic institution in his ofthe research, which is to ad- I was delighted to read that was not primarily a physic-ist
diocese. vance the understanding of Stanton Medical Associates has but a physic-ian who "knew the
The Vatican ruling in the St. how individuals adapt in rela- endowed a scholarship in cause of everich maladye,/
Louis University case is a clear tionships that last. Instead, the memory of Dr. Joseph R. Were it of hoot, or coold, or
signal that, whatever the "Land article focuses on bits of data Stanton '42 ["Physician assis- moyste, or drye." Unfortunate-
O'Lakes era" in Catholic high- that may play to stereotypes tance," Advancement, Winter ly, rather than desiring to learn
er education means, it does not about a group ofhuman beings 1998]. Your article paid tribute the workings ofbodies (human
mean that the universities and rather than promoting under- to the other members of the or celestial), the Doctour of
colleges have been given away standing about them. Stanton family and their dedi- Physik was given to dispensing
and are now owned by boards By highlightingthe involve- cation to Boston College. You remedies made with gold. In
of trustees independent of ment of gays and lesbians in left one out: Joe's brother fact, "he lovede gold in spe-
the Church. psychotherapy, without any Edward Stanton, SJ, who cial"; I guess he did not put it
FR.MATTHEWL. LAMB discussion of the meaning for taught at BC for a number all in his potions.
Boston College that statistic, the article has the ofyears. In the same issue, "Again,"
potential to reinforce prevail- Fr. Ned was my theology Jack Crowe's lovely memoir
J.
David O'Brien's article "The ing stereotypes about sexual professor in my undergraduate of C. Alexander Peloquin and
Land O'Lakes Statement" orientation that have been dis- years. He touched manylives at the BC Chorale in the 1980s
lightly dismisses Ex Corde Eccle- pelled by responsible profes- BC and elsewhere. I will never broughtback fond memories of
siae. My question is this: How sional people for years. The forgethis funeral at St. Ignatius my even-earlier days at BC.
much longer can the Boston couples in our study were in- Church, packed with students, The remnants of the ratio stu-
College Admission Office sell a volved in therapy primarily to faculty, maintenance person- diorum left time for only one
high-priced "Education in the enhance the quality oftheir re- nel, grocery clerks and simple elective course during my four
Jesuit Tradition" to prospective lationships rather than to treat folks he had met jogging years of study there (my chil-
students' parents, increasingly individual pathology. around the streets of Brighton. dren cannot fathom such ar-
aware that BC's Catholic identi- We also question the arti- For so many ofus who crossed chaic regimentation, but it
ty is giving way to the secular cle's brieffocus on the statistics his path, Fr. Ned was a Mr. wasn't so bad). For that one
identity implied by its name? about the sexual behavior of Chips: delightfully eccentric, elective, I took my tin ear to
The BC administration has gays outside their relation- wonderfully adventurous in his Peloquin's introductory music-
an opportunity to lead the way ships. Our concern is not with mountain hikes, childlike in his appreciation course.
in responding to Ex Corde. If it the facts as such, but with your ability to see the goodness in I still cannot carry a tune in
doesn't, the ever-present confu- decision to report only those others and always eminently a bucket, but his verve and in-
sion between BU and BC will data and to ignore other as- kind. fectious delirium for music new
have a basis in fact. Do we want pects of relationships. We are I still miss him. He was the and old are with me still. I
to be known as "the one with troubled by the potential of best of many good things and never had the talent, as Crowe
the football team"? such reporting to strengthen people I experienced at BC. did, to make music under Pelo-
DAVIDJ. BUSCHJD71 prejudice rather than to create HUGHBURNS,OP, 75 quin's direction, butI am forev-
Tallahassee, Florida a balanced understanding of Jersey City, NewJersey er grateful for the opportunity
the data. to listen to it in deep and still-
RE-ORIENTED While we appreciate the MEDICINE MAN moving ways.
magazine's intent to report the FRANCISA. NEELON'58
Our study of the lasting rela- results of faculty research to "It's alive," the article on the Durham, North Carolina
tionships of gay and lesbian alumni, this article missed an teaching of astronomy at
partners is the subject of an ar- opportunity to bring some Boston College [Linden Lane, BCMwelcomes letters from readers.
ticle ["Other voices," Linden light to a subject about which Winter 1998], is illustrated bya Letters may be edited for length and
Lane] in the Winter issue of little is known. stained-glass depiction of a clarity, andmustbesignedtobepub-
BCM. That study is part ofour DICK MACKEY, BERNIE O'BRIEN, star-gazing scientist identified lished. Our fax number is (617) 552-
research on adult relationships, EILEENMACKEY as '"A Doctour ofPhisik,' from 2441, and our e-mail address is
which has been in progress at Boston College Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.'" [email protected].
Boston College for almost Some ofyour readers may not
10 years. realize that Chaucer's doctor
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 3
LINDEN LANE
Of men
and
ice
A CLOSE ENCOUNTER
—
Near win Brendan Buckley '99, center, and Mike Mottau '00, right, after Michigan's final score.
When I was 20 and home for the summer, my father took
me to lunch at a restaurant called Motel on the Mountain,
in Mahwah, NewJersey, a mahogany and teak palace where
business executives engaged in serious conversation over
My
martinis and beefsteak. dad talked to me, for perhaps
the first time, about what life had been like for him, about
his victories and defeats. I had not yet completed college,
but that day I felt I had graduated into the company of men.
4 BOS TON COLLEGE \l \',\/.l\l
I thought of that lunch with my dad wept. Jeff Farkas '00, who assisted on the MONEY MATTERS
when I sat down to write about the Boston second goal, and who hit the goalpost with Trustees approved an operating
College men's ice hockey team and the na- a shot that might have won the game in budget of$397 million for fiscal
tional championship that got away. The Ea- overtime, threw himself facedown on the year 1999—including a 4.5 percent
gles lost a game that would have given BC ice and just lay there. Later, when the increase for tuition and room and
its fi—rst national title in any sport since sportswriters were let into the locker room board, a 9 percent increase in
1949 lost it to the University ofMichigan, to harvest their quotes, players were still financial aid, and $3.4 million to
in heartbreaking fashion, 18 minutes into wiping tears from their faces. fund new faculty positions
sudden-death overtime. Some players sounded like victims of a recommended by the University
BCM
Most readers are familiar with the car wreck, still unsure what had just hap- Academic Planning Council. In
NCAA
subplot to that April 4 title game: a pened to them. But there was also a good addition, the 1999 budget provides
Boston College hockey program that had deal of grace, and so, of courage, in their funds for the construction of30
been in utter turmoil, mired in incompe- words. They gave credit to their opponents, offices at the south end ofAlumni
tence and bad karma just four years ago; the praised their coach, expressed pride in what Stadium, a second phase of
hiring of a very successful coach (and, as is they had accomplished and looked hopeful- upgrades to upper- and Newton-
now apparent, an admirable man) named ly to next season. "Any of [the scoring op- campus residence halls, and
Jerry York '67, to turn its fortunes around; portunities] could have gone our way. They construction ofa 70-foot-high
three losing, but building, seasons; and this didn't," said 19-year-old forward Brian air-supported bubble over the play-
year a relentless run for the national cham- Gionta '01, BC's second-leading scorer this ing surface in Alumni Stadium to
pionship. (The Eagles did not lose a contest year behind team captain and scoring phe- allow year-round use ofthe field.
from February 2 until the final game, two nomenon Marty Reasoner '99. "Give
months later.) This was BC's first appear- [Michigan] credit. Michigan is a great STATE OF THE ARTS
—
ance in the title game since 1978 a Cin- team." And Jamie O'Leary, a senior who The newly formed Boston College
derella story were it not for the fact that the had clanged an overtime shot off the cross- Arts Council held its first meeting
Eagles are a team ofspeed and talent, and so bar across the sprawled body of Michigan this winter. Founded by A&S Dean
their achievements were no fluke. Boston goalie Jeff Turco, told a Boston Globe re- J. Robert Barth, SJ, the 19-member
College did not line up on the Fleet Center porter, "Tomorrow I'm going to have a council will support dramatic, mu-
ice as the underdog. smile on my face knowing I was part of this sical, visual and literary art forms.
Even with the weight of expectation on great club." Members include faculty from fine
their backs, the BC team played a college I once read an article by baseball writer arts, English, music and theater;
hockey game for the ages. They did every- Roger Angell in which he described a con- and administrators representing
thing but win. They carried the play for versation he'd had one spring day in the the McMullen Museum ofArt and
most ofthe night, yielding the tying goal to mid-1970s with then- Pittsburgh Pirate student performance groups.
a scrapping, scraping Michigan team with great Willie Stargell, on the field at Three
only six minutes left in regulation, then Rivers Stadium. Stargell, a feared slugger, SOCIAL ACTORS
— —
came within inches literally inches of had endured a terrible hitting slump the Sociology professors William
winning in overtime. Not once, but three season before, and Angell remarked on the Camson and Diane Vaughan have
times. In the end, the Eagles were skating way Stargell maintained his self-control, been honored for outstanding
lead-footed. With two minutes, nine sec- dignity and sense of humor in the face of scholarship. Garrison received a
onds left in the overtime period, a Univer- one humiliating at bat after another. Lifetime Career Achievement
sity of Michigan freshman named Josh "There comes a time," Stargell replied, Award from the American
Langfeld slapped the puck past BC's fresh- nodding at his young son, who was on the Sociological Association for his
man goalie, Scott Clemmensen, low and field with him, "when a man has to decide contributions to the study ofwar
just inside the right goalpost. Just like that. he is going to be a man." and peace. The Society for Social
For Michigan, Langfeld's goal kicked off John 0?nbelets Studies ofScience awarded the
a celebratory pandemonium at center ice. 1998 Rachel Carson Prize to
At the Boston College end ofthe rink, play- Vaughan for The Challenger Launch
ers collapsed. Mike Mottau '00, a defense- Decision: Risky Technology, Culture
man who had assisted on BC's first goal, and Deviance at NASA (University
ofChicago, 1996).
B()S ION COLLEGE \l VGAZINE 5
The
trial
THE CAMPUS WAITS FOR ITS MISSING STUDENT CENTER
On Monday, March 30, at 10 a.m., 25 months after BC ap- the mat covers him to his mustache, as ifhe'd been muzzled
plied for a building permit for a new Middle Campus stu- by his fellows.
dent center, 17 months after Newton's Board of Aldermen Johnston followed a lineup of BC testifiers that included
voted to deny the permit and BC filed suit against the city, Chancellor J. Donald Monan, SJ; Executive Vice President
and nearly five months after the trial was first set to begin, Frank Campanella; Vice President for Student Affairs Kevin
the case known as Trustees ofBoston College v. Lisle Baker et al. Duffy; A&S DeanJ. Robert Barth, SJ; and architect Ed Tsoi.
finally reached room 411 in land court in the Old Suffolk Collectively they testified as to BC's educational mission, its
County Court House, hard by Boston City Hall. need for student activity space, its need for faculty offices
Six days had been allotted for the trial, because it was ex- and instructional space (the student center will be attached
pected that six days would do it. They didn't. When time ran to Monan Hall, a new academic building), the becoming
out, BC still had five witnesses to present and Newton had aptness of English Collegiate Gothic architecture, BC's
yet to mount its case. And so the trial will resume on July planning processes generally and the decade-long planning
—
20 the next available opening on Judge Karyn Scheier's process for this particular project.Johnston's job was to con-
—
calendar with a decision possible by mid-fall and no stu- nect these dots and arrive at the general shape of the pro-
dent center until the spring of 2001, at the earliest. posed building. He took the stand at about 10:10, and here
On campus, word of the new delay was greeted mostly are some ofmy notes:
with fatalistic shrugs and grim headshakes. BC's missing stu- 10:15: Newton lead lawyer Arthur Kreiger, of Anderson &
dent center may not be a main focus of campus attention, Kreiger, and BC lead lawyer Kenneth Felter, of Goodwin,
&
but it is a point ofawareness, an ache, a missing tooth, an in- Procter Hoar, dispute the range ofJohnston's expertise.
completeness that can't be ignored. Even students, who gen- Felter proposes a scope ranging from food service to the de-
erally pay little attention to administrative planning, are velopmental needs of young adults. Will Newton agree to
aware. In an April Heights column, "Voices from the Dust- expertise in all these areas? he asks. "I doubt it," says Judge
bowl," students who were asked what they would do "to get Scheier with a wry smile. She's right.
out of final exams" variously responded that they'd host a 10:35: His expertise established through a recollection oflife
—
keg party for facult—y, run the Boston Marathon and said a since graduation from Penn State in 1963, Johnston reads
senior and a junior "Build a new student center ourselves." from "Report 2000 on the Future of Student Unions,"
A freshman I know, after hearing the news ofthe latest delay, which he authored for a national organization of student
muttered, "I'll never see a student center at BC." Not true, center directors. Kreiger, a broad-shouldered, bearded man,
I assured him reflexively. But who knows? sits absolutely still, staring at his desk, like a boxer tensed for
the bell.
On the morning of Friday, April 3, I spent two hours in 10:37: A young woman who has been sitting on the Newton
room 41 1 ofthe Old Suffolk County Court House listening side of the courtroom and who may be a paralegal walks up
to testimony from BC witness Bill Johnston, director of the to Kreiger's desk and lays a piece ofpaper in front ofhim. As
Northwestern University student center and an expert on she returns to her seat, she glances defiantly across the room
such structures. at BC's gang of lawyers. BC's lawyers outnumber Newton's
Once a grand box, room 41 1 has over the years developed five to two and are better dressed.
the sad affect of a manse that has been turned into a board- 10:45: "Is interaction between students and faculty impor-
ing house. The old benches creak, the woodwork is faded, tant for the educational process?" Felter slow-pitches John-
the bulbs 40-watt and the windows dusty. Pipes never imag- ston. Johnston's waiting for this one. He swings from the
ined by any architect pass in and out of ceilings and walls, toes. The ball heads for the moon.
which are themselves painted that shade of institutional 10:50: The Newton paralegal has begun to read a brochure
beige that takes on a greenish cast when lit by a 40-watt with a purple-and-yellow cover. One ofBC's lawyers notices
bulb. Grouped close on one wall, as though huddled for this activity. He calls it to the attention of one ofhis fellows,
comfort, are 16 framed portraits of former judges—most of then makes a note on a legal pad.
them men, many bearded, one slipped down in his frame so 10:52: Felter asks Johnston whether McElroy Commons is
6 BOS TON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
—
Now and when McElroy Commons' 1950s
facade as it appears from the corner of
Hammond and Beacon streets, above left, and
the same view ofthe proposed student center in
the neo-Cothic style envisioned by architects.
Above, the location ofthe proposed Middle
Campus Project.
has been bulked up with superfluous
functions. He begins with the proposed
post office and bookstore, gettingJohn-
ston to admit that only 30 percent of
student centers contain either. Kreiger
then enters into evidence an earlier ver-
sion ofBC's Exhibit 104, which showed
that only 50 percent of the 10 peer in-
stitutions had theaters in their student
centers, as opposed to the 60 percent
listed on the final exhibit. Kreiger chal-
lenges Johnston to explain the discrep-
ancy. "We found out about another
theater,"Johnston says. "You found out
about another theater," Kreiger re-
—
an adequate student center. As the ball drifts toward the peats not in amazement, not in scorn, but clearly because
plate, Kreiger objects.Judge Scheier: "I don't want to spend he's not yet sure what he wants to say next. I leave for a lun-
45 minutes proving Mr. Johnston is an expert in McElroy cheon appointment.
Commons." It takes eight minutes, and McElroy Commons
is then declared an inadequate student center. I am no lawyer, but I've had the BC case explained to me by
11:15: A comparison of 10 student centers at "Representa- those who are, and this is what I think they said.
tive Peer Institutions" is submitted as BC Exhibit 104. It is Since the dawn of zoning in Newton, BC's Middle Cam-
supposed to underscore Johnston's contention that BC's pus has been in a single-family-residence area, with three-
center will house relevant programs and facilities. Johnston bedroom-colonial style restrictions on height (36 feet) and
is asked by Felter whether it's important that freshman din- on building setbacks from property lines (20 feet). In De-
ing facilities be located in a student center. Turns out it is. I cember 1987, however, Newton made some changes. The
watch the window cleaners riding their elevator up the Board ofAldermen passed an ordinance declaring that edu-
glassy walls of One Beacon Street. cational institutions that found themselves in single-family-
11:45: Kreiger begins his cross-exam, and it soon becomes residence zones were now required to set buildings at least
clear that he is after proving that the planned student center 150 feet from property lines and could build only within a
BOSTON COLLEG1 \l \(.\/.l\K7
—
floor-to-area-ratio of 0.2, which means one square foot of Newton itself. In 1989, two years after the campus was
living space for every five square feet ofland. In single-fam- rezoned, the Newton Planning Department produced a 14-
ily-residence terms: 2,000 square feet of colonial to every page report that recommended significant zoning relief for
10,000 square feet oflawn and patio. BC's Middle Campus, while a memo from the city planner
Problem was, though, that by December 1987 there were implied that the 1987 rezoning of the Middle Campus had
already 14 education-related buildings in this particular sin- simply been a placeholder, not intended for real use. The
—
gle-family-residence zone buildings whose height ranged city, however, never acted on the report or the memo.
from 40 feet (Carney) to 70 feet (Gasson), buildings that
stood within 150 feet ofthe street (St. Mary's, Bapst, Lyons, While no one seems to be happy about the new delay, at BC
McElroy, etc.), and buildings whose combined floor-to-area these days the official word is "quiet confidence." In New-
ratio was nearly 1:1. The effect, then, of the 1987 regula- ton (which, unlike BC, is a democracy), it depends on whom
tions was to zone BC into Nonconformance Hell, where you ask. Not every alderman voted against BC's permit ap-
construction is prohibited except by variance from the Zon- plication; in fact the majority voted to support it, but not the
ing Board of Appeals or special permit from the Board of two-thirds majority required for special permit approval. So
Aldermen. some aldermen speak of"quiet confidence," some have been
BC did go to the Board ofAldermen for a special permit unhappy from the start, and some wonder aloud in the
for the Middle Campus Project, which is a three-building newspapers whether a Newton win would in fact force BC
complex comprising the two-structure student center and to build out in the neighborhood (probably) and whether a
the Monan Hall academic building. The permit was denied BC win would obviate all the "mitigations" BC had agreed
on the grounds that the project constituted a noncomform- to in pre-vote negotiations (no one at BC is saying). Still
ing use "substantially more detrimental" to the neighbor- other aldermen grow restive each time they need to approve
hood that the old nonconforming use, i.e., McElroy publicly requests for supplementary funds to pay for the
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Commons and its parking lot. This takes us to BC's first, case the cost of which now approaches $125,000, or four
straightforward legal claim (what I've heard the University's starting-teacher salaries in a city that dotes on its high-end
lawyers describe as a "plain vanilla" suit), which is that the school system and that is struggling under a new state re-
"substantially more detrimental" judgment was based on quirement to increase hours of student instruction. Piquant
"arbitrary and capricious" reasoning, not on the facts of the evidence of the political stress was the city solicitor's recent
case as they were presented to the board. announcement that Kreiger had agreed to cap his costs and
BC's second and more exotic legal claim has to do with a that the city would spend no more supplementary funds on
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Massachusetts legal oddity called the Dover Amendment. the case a move that, given another week of trial to come,
Dover, as it's called, is named for a tony Boston suburb that seems contrary to Newton's best legal interests but impor-
in the 1950s earned the wrath of the state legislature by en- tant for City Hall's public relations and for peace on the
acting a zoning bylaw to limit construction by educational Board ofAldermen.
institutions. In high-profile and righteous vengeance, the As for settlement, it's possible, I suppose, but hard to
legislators rose up and decreed that religious and education- imagine. For one thing, BC has already paid the price of
Why
al uses could not be prohibited in any zoning district in the legal fees and time-inflated construction costs. would
Commonwealth (except in Boston and Cambridge, which it pull back from judgment now? For another, not much has
had sufficient pluralities in the legislature to write them- come ofhundreds ofhours ofarbitration and formal and in-
selves out of Dover). This first harsh position was subse- formal settlement talks that have already taken place over
quently modified to allow municipalities some "reasonable" the last three years. Illustrative of the deadlock is a campus
say in regulating the physical dimensions of school and story now making the rounds which says that at one point in
church building projects. BC's contention, which it buttress- a negotiation session a member of the Newton team sug-
es with references to The Bible Speaks v. Board ofAppeals of gested that BC would receive a building permit ifit reduced
Lenox and Sisters ofthe Holy Cross v. Brookline (Dover cases the middle one of the three planned structures (the main
tend to sound like early skirmishes in the Battle of Ar- student center) from three stories in height to one story with
mageddon), is that the 1987 rezoning of BC was an exercise a flat roof. When a BC representative asked how the Uni-
not in municipal planning but in wishful thinking that BC versity would integrate a single-story flat-roofed building
had never settled in Chestnut Hill. And by rendering the into its neighboring Gothic structures, the Newton repre-
Middle Campus nonconforming and subject to special ap- sentative reportedly said that BC could place a Gothic tile
peals for every project, Newton, BC argues, was trying to roof atop the one-story.
control an educational institution's growth and planning And so we wait.
plainly illegal under Dover. Ben Birnhainn
Surprisingly, support for this contention has come from
8 liosi ON COL] GE MAGAZINE
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