Boston College magazine

92 Pages·1991·8.9 MB·English

by  Boston College. Office of Communications

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries
http://www.archive.org/details/bostoncollegemagw1991bost
irsn;

COLLEGE
— — —
.
Like most Americans, I early on popular culture, particularly tabloid some failed badly before my eyes
developed a healthy disregard newspapers and movies and TV years ofwork coming to nothing or
for scientists. To be sure there (where the closestapproximation oi little). Nature, in final analysis, did
were some worthies out there: Alex- a scientist was generally a wiz—ened, hold all the cards, could never lose,
anderGrahamBell,forexample,and weaponless cynic called "Doc" use- and the best ofthem feelingly knew
Marconi and Edison, and, ofcourse, ful, though, when a bullethad to be this. That they stayed in the game
|onas Salk, who made public pools removedorboiledsheetsorderedup made them brave or foolhardy, de-
sale for mygeneration ofswimmers. inpreparationforthebirthofababy) pendingonyourview,butsomething
But these,whilemenofscience,were College disabused me ofsome of like heroic nonetheless.
also practical souls, individuals who this,and then I spentseveralyearsas Much about American popular
usedtheirunderstandingofthenatu- caretakeroflabanimalsforabiology culturehaschangedsinceIwasaboy,
ralworld in the mostsensiblyAmeri- departmentatasmallishstateuniver- but "Nova" and Indianajones, PhD,
can way possible: to make our lives sity. T—he men and women I came to notwithstanding, the picture of sci-
more immediately productive and know facultyandgrad—students,sol- entists it presents has, if anything,
pleasant. emn and goofy alike were, like grown more contemptuous. These
Notsotheothersortofscientist almostall universityscientists, doing were theyears, to take one example,
one might say "the real scientists." "basicresearch"(anunfortunateterm that set the "geeks" and "nerds" to
They were brilliant, ofcourse. Wer- with its "A-B-C" connotations), by stumbling through the frat house
en't all scientists brilliant? But they which I mean that they were not party,runnyballpointsintheirpocket
were also, to put it kindly, goofy. I immediately engaged in finding a protectors, dandruff on their reedy
knew, for example, that Newton's cure forcancerordiscomusic.They shoulders, in their wide eyes a des-
most profound insight came to him wereinsteadtryingto"knowmore" perate yearning to be thought hu-
only after he'd been knocked cock- aboutsuchthingsasthemechanisms man. Silly,yes;butithasitseffect.At
eved by a Granny Smith; that Fran- by which toads control metabolic leasttwo membersofourstaff,while
klin (thoughhedidinventeyeglasses) functions or mice pass on inherited looking over photographs of the
flew a kite in a thunderstorm; that traits or female mosquitoes attract subjects of our cover story found
Marie Curie lay down her life (the mates. This uncelebrated work was themselves surprised, as one later
ultimate impracticality) in learning by turns tedious, chaotic and, on oc- confessed, "that theylooked nice."
the toxic secrets ofradium; and that casion,joyful. (Lewis Thomas nicely Our story on science as it's done,
Einstein not only never co—mbed his evokes the quasi-locker-room spirit and the nice-looking scientists who
hairbutinfuriatedhisw—ife adoubt- ofmostlabswithhischaracterization do it, begins on page 24.
less practical woman by wearing of science as "a primitive running
mismatched socks even as he hunt—.") ThescientistsIknewwere,in
dreamed up his uncommon, decid- fact ifthey—wereanygoodand took
edly non-utilitarian, and perhaps the chances in a daily poker game
undemocratic, "theories." with cool-eyed nature, never know-
I learned all this the way you're ing how the next turned cardwould
supposed to, by drinking deeply of changethegameandtheirlives (and
BOSTON
CONTENTS
COLLEGE
Winter1991 Volume50 Number1
DIRECTOROFCOMMUNICATIONS
DouglasWhiting'78
24
EDITOR The proving ground
BenBirnbaum
DESIGNDIRECTOR BYBRIANDOYLE
JanaSpacek In the last months of1989, the
future of Professor William
ASSISTANTEDITOR
Mary Callahan'82 Petri's genetics lab, and the
careers of its five student
SENIORWRITER researchers, hinged on the
BrianDoyle outcomeofasingleexperiment.
DESIGNER Intheyeartocome,they hadto
SusanCallaghan succeed.
UNIVERSITYPHOTOGRAPHERS
Gary Gilbert
GeoffreyWhy'88
38
Becoming Ignatius
ALUMNOTES/CLASSESEDITOR
JohnMorrier'88
BYWILLIAMW.MEISSNER,SJ,MD
EDITORIALADVISORYBOARD:MaryBoys,SNJM:LouisCorsini TheyoungmancalledInigodeLoyolawasavain,daringrakeand soldier.The
"61MBA'68;JoAnnHollandNC'75;AmandaV.Houston; taleofhisdramaticconversion,writesBC'sprofessorofpsychoanalysis,isthat
JamesG.McGahay'63;JohnMorrier'88;ThomasO'Connor ofapowerful ego bent toanewideal.
'49,MA'50;GeorgeRyan'51,MA'53;ErnestSantosuosso'43;
RobertVerEecke,SJ; ChristopherWilson; JohnF.Wissler
'57,MBA72.
44
BostonCollegeMagazineispublishedquarterly (Fall,Winter, Closing Carville
Spring,Summer)byBostonCollege,witheditorialofficesat
theOfficeofCommunications,122CollegeRoad,Chestnut
Hill,MA02167,telephone[phone]. ISSN0885-2049. BYMARYCALLAHAN
SecondclasspostagepaidatBoston,Mass.,andadditional
mailingoffices. Postmaster: sendaddresschangestoOffice ForAssistantSurgeonGeneralJohnC.Duffy'56,themissionwastofindanew
o0f21C6o7m.munications, 122CollegeRoad,ChestnutHill.MA purpose forAmerica'slast "lepercolony."
AClolpyprubilgihcta©ti1o9n91r,iOgfhtfsicreeosferCvoemdm.unBiCcaMtiisonnsot,BroesstpoonnsCiobllleegfeo.r 51
unsolicitedmanuscripts. Sweet farewell
Member, Council for the Advancement and Support of
Education(CASE). BYSEANSMITH
OpinionsexpressedinBostonCollegeMagazinedonotnecessarily InJanuary 1941 the BCfootball team topped an undefeated recordwitha
reflecttheviewsoftheUniversity. BCMisdistributedfreeof SugarBowlvictoryandnationalchampionship.Thoughnooneknew itthen,
chargetoalumni,faculty,staffandparentsofundergraduate thatdreamseasonwasasix-month-longgoodbyepartytothe BostonCollege
students.
thathadbeen.
DEPARTMENTS
2 LETTERS 18 SPORTS
3 ON CAMPUS 20 RESEARCH
14 WINTER JOURNAL 21 THE CAMPAIGN
16 Q&A CLASSES followpage28
FrontandbackcoversbyGaryGilbert
—
LETTERS-
Faith matters backtotheseminary.TheydotheChurch Congratulations to Brian Doyle. Hecap-
noservicetellingpeoplewhowantthings tured Admiral Hazard as an ultimate
YourFall 1990coverstory,"YoungCatho- both wayswhat theywantto hear. professional as well as a lovely human
lics,"was a dynamite effort by Mary Cal- being.
lahan. It's unusual to gel such in-depth JEFFREYS. BAGNELL,LAW'92
treatment of a complex and sensitive Neu'lon, Massachusetts SUZANNEMAGUIRESKOLNICK'63
subject. /iC'/Vfs willingness to reach oul Wellesley, Massachusetts
for input and analysis from a variety of
crediblesourcesmadeforaveryinterest- I disagreewith the BCJesuitcelebrating
ingand provocative story. the "adult attitude" of people who are I am notan alumnusofBoston College,
Whetheryou like ordislike, agree or "notwillingtoaccepteverythingthatthe but mywife is. She gets the magazine, I
disagree,withtheviewsofthosesurveyed Church teaches." He calls this "a very readit.Yourarticlesarewellselectedand
or theviews ofthe commentators is less educated" approach. Many times from well written. On the ongoing (and tire-
importantthanthefactthatthrough the pulpits hereabouts I have heard preach- some) questionofhowtoidentifyBoston
magazine's efforts we are listening and erssaythatcertainoftheChurch'steach- Collegeasauniversityinpeople'sminds,
discovering.Congratulationsonaskillful ings are "unacceptable" and encourage I suggest the title: "The University at
and high qualityreport. the faithful to reject them. But I have Boston College."
never heard Humanae Vitae so much as
RICHARDT.HORAN'53 tersely explained by these preachers, NEILJ.SAVAGE
Wellesley, Massachusetts much less defended. Even so simple an Boston
ideaas the interaction oflove and sanc-
Reading Mary Callahan's report on tityinChristianmarriageisalostsubject. Serve and protect
"Young Catholics" [Fall 1990], I noted This is hardlyan educatingapproach. In the article "The face of AIDS" [On
particularlythewordsofonesurveyee,"I FRANKMEDLAR,MA'88 Campus,Fall1990],Mr.Vickeryisquoted
take what I can believe in comfortably ChestnutHill, Massachusetts assaying"Abstinenceorcondomusewill
from the Church and leave the rest." saveyourlives."Thisisnottruein regard
Interesting today to observe how "feel to condoms. How does a material that
comfortablewith"hasrisen tothe status The flavor ot BC breaks 10 to 20 percentofthe time pro-
yotofoeuatnchgaitceawglooarmniacdanrleilrimegpaielorluaystmibaveteltiweerhvsee.nDtohaapetpsltithehides Bm[ra"irTavhneeloDrouoysalldey'nsiontatrettriaceklseetni,on"gnFJaalanlcdk19sK9ue0pr]eoruwbaalcsy tBceaCcntisssgoaovmieenoglintveeosp,1r0io0tvipmdeuerscitennfbtoeromf1at0th0ieopnteiwrmhcei?ecnIhtf
wfOttohowrreoupylnmaddwgaeetadrroneemoSapfpoucekCrtoehaprttlpoieeessdt,oseipfoaalotnruehint.tfchyeaoetmclmfacaomotremttfeaoribr?nlttTeaohbtolthsehae?et wtcNeroroeiautlwrttlshyeEee"nn,.gpWLlUa.earpAstn.otdonebfreCm.itoyhnaIegsfgtabrm—neaucadciStuehnaadintktimooyFgosnreeavnIlnue"fclrwig"aesaptcnreiotrof,ioonpfrohfa"-f aLAcsOtcRouEnr,TatTDeAe.lAa.wKaErNeNEDYMA'86
J.G.BRENNAN'33 noueavce,r khnaodwianfglatvhoer boifgBGCuruin,JhaicskbaKcerk-- IHnisrteoardiincgalthpeecrosvpereacgteigvieven Fr. [Char-
Nexuport, ffliodeIsland ground.AndFr.Sweeney'spartinhislife les] Donovan and the writing of BC's
wasfascinating. history [Q&A, Fall]. I was saddened to
If there could still be any doubt that learnaboutthepaucityofarchivalmate-
modernCatholiccatechesisintheUnited ANNAMURPHY '56 rialsrelating to our school, and encour-
States has been a catastrophic failure, New York, New York aged, because recognizing the problem
one only has to read Mary Callahan's is the first step toward ensuring that it
asInhpeItrrneoytithrrlie"aemcslsaatptert—schtiiieiovcnanunleskdeydiob—none-eougCimbwrannya,tgelnhnabiddosnoutldtsoiiioflccsieasisssatustsnaeirmc.vtot"enhtueTgahaodhllanfuylte"cyaJiaiscohtnCanahedfaoidneettl"tpheeePoodraannlinudiliadlcy-n- IiaCrainnhnnetosddet.rrhcaTee"alshrGetSeeoeeuiidarsnmrioogtmnfinectAHelhrloeeoesmfixaaesrambs,tnuoyi"edcu,lefteCroIhtnuPrwhdpeieaedlsssaEotttaqipigunaBilenrCnegt,iBmmtcrwhuaeehlesemaocnlrosio'lf-etsye AdascopartrosuseoaeteFcss.reovh.sfeiRnsDdeweo,owachtenlwoideacorcayodhvransainswtnnfieasonrpblouwooodremmiui.enjttttuefThsonoeouhrkoriogupsstoaett,tsolohttvfrateeytthansiera.snsbenhiadstaos,hnrueecolimhtndesintttvutbhehf.eesef
taleoflifeinIreland,providedaveryper-
"aduTlhte"fsaaidtht.ruth is thatyoungCatholics sionngaalnadndtowuacrhminfgeealritnigc.leThtoemmeo,stthroevuegahl,- RBoOsNtAonLDD.PATKUS'86
todaywere neverreally taught anything
sCuhbusrtcahnt,iavnedasbootuhteythheaveRocmomaentCoabtehloileivce wcaosun"tTohfetAhdemiprroafle,s"siaonnalinafonrdmapteirvseonaacl- "BCM"welcomeslettersjromourreaders.Letters
whattheywanttobelieveandacceptwhat sidesofRobertaHazard. may beeditedforclarityandlength.
theywant to accept. This is notCatholi- WILLIAMF.MCGOVERNA&S'58
cism,thisisProtestantism.Catholicpriests HoosickFalls, New York
whocannottellthedifferenceshouldgo
2 BOSTONCOLLEGEMAGAZINE
Winds war
of
As conflict struck the Gulf, Boston College prayedfor peace
As we go to press the Gulfwar is in its which the world
secondweekandanairofgravityhasen- cannot give."
velopedthecampusasmembersofthecom- Two days ear-
munity grapple with theirfeelings and lier, when warwas
thoughts. Severalacademiceventsrelated only a threat, an
to the warhave beenplanned, and Uni- all-day vigil at St.
versity Housingstaffhave been holding Mary's Chapel
dormitorydiscussionstoalleviatestudent brought a steady
unease. Tangible effects ofthe warhave stream of faculty,
beenfeltinthecancellationby20students staff, studentsand
ofplanstostudyabroad, andtheUniver- visitors.
sity Chorale's cancellation ofits spring "I'm here be-
triptoEurope. Thefollowingwascontrib- cause one of my
utedbyNewsBureauDirectorPatriciaDe- neighbors is over
laney '80, andseniorwriterBrianDoyle. there, in the re-
serves,"saidsenior
1he bustle that characterizes a AnnabelleBerrios.
normalThursdayeveningatthe Junior Tim
FlynnRecreationComplexgave Thomas said he
way to a quiet solemnity onJanuary justcame to pray
17asagroupofnearly400students, for all our troops
facultyandstaffgatheredtotakepart overthereandfor RaychelBrown'92,joinedthedaylongvigilatSt.
ina"MassforanEarlyPeace,"just26 certain friends who are very close to Mary'sChapelonJanuary15.
hours after the Gulfwar began and the Kuwaiti front."
only hours after Iraq's first missile Junior Marc Manahan was "pray-
strikes againstTelAviv. ing for peace for everybody, butspe- the presentcrisisparticularlypoign-
Music of the University's Liturgy cifically for a friend in the Marines antbecauseofthemanymembersof
ArtsGroupheraldedaprocessionof over there. I keep thinking I'll be the campusJesuit Community who
20Boston College priests, including going home for a funeral, and that's have served in theJesuit Iraqi mis-
members of theJesuit Community, something I don'twant to happen. I sion. That mission ended in 1968
who would concelebrate the liturgy don't want that to happen to any- when the order was ejected from
with University PresidentJ. Donald body. I keep seeing hisface." Iraq by the ruling party Saddam
Monan, SJ. "I'mherebecauseIthinkthatofall Husseinnowheads.TheJesuits,said
During his homily, University Fr. Howard, ran two schools; one,
ChaplainRichardCleary,SJ,toldthe Baghdad College, was often called
assembly, "Wewill alwaysremember 7feel like I can'tdo anything, "BC on the Tigris" because of its
wherewewere shortlybefore 7 p.m. connectionswith Boston College.
lastnight, andwewillalwaysremem- thatIhave no control. I thought Kristin Ringuest, a secretary in
ber this pastday. We are here to ask saying a prayerhere wouldhe Information Technology, said that
for God's help in ourweakness and — she "felt like reaching for an inner
frustration," and to pray, he said, something I could do mylittle peacewhen there's no outer peace.
"forthewartobeofshortduration," That sounds corny, but my major
part towardpeace.'
and for the safety ofall those in the concern is peace and I feel like I
MiddleEast,alliesandenemiesalike. can't do anything, like I have no
Fr. Cleary told the assembly that the roles to be played in this crisis, control. I thought saying a pray—er
hehadresistedadvicetospeakpoliti- God's is the most crucial," saidJohn herewouldbesomethingIcoulddo
callyduringhishomily:"Iwantyouto Howard, SJ, an associate dean in the mylittle part toward peace."
hear the Lord's word and to reflect College ofA&S. "It's God alonewho Two BC employees and one stu-
on it in the stillness and quiet, for can soften the hardened heart." dent are currently serving with Al-
onlytheLordwillbringyouthepeace Fr. Howard added that he found lied forces in the Gulf.
BOSTONCOLLEGEMAGAZINE 3
. ' .
Timely revival
The opera 'Apotheosis' enjoyed itsfirst run offive performances in Rome in
April 1622. Thanks to the Ignatian Year and an enterprisingJesuit scholar, it will
begin its second run in March 1991 at the Robsham Theater
BYSEAN SMITH
1622 Rome heralded the can-
In —
onizationsoffivesaints Ignatius
Loyola, FrancisXavier, Isidoreof
Madrid, Theresa ofAvila and Philip
—
Neri with a series of events that
included five performances of the
operaApotheosissive ConsecratloSanc-
torum Ignatii etFrancisci Xaverii (The
ApotheosisorConsecrationofSaints
Ignatius
AR.GOMENTO and Francis
Xavier)
DELLAPOTEOSI
Written
O CONSAGRATIONE^/Y
by Orazio
IGNATDIEOSALNTO1IOLA.
Grassi, SJ,
E FRANCESCO SAVERIO. an eminent
RipprciVmdactlibnrllorCeolOlnrognijo7R.oitm.aonnoc.,nollefefic Jesuit poly-
math (he
was later
assigned by
the Vatican
to dispute
Galileo'
s Fr. Kennedytranscribedthe "Apotheosis" manuscriptbothbyhandandwithcomputerassistance.
contention
Acopyoftheoriginal1622 that the
opera program planets or- 'Apotheosis' is not Verdi or 1988.Alittleover 10yearsago,while
bitthesun), preparing his dissertation on the
and set to music by a German lutist Puccini. 'Opera atthispoint Jesuitmusical tradition in European
named Johannes Hieronymous [1622] didnotresemble opera schools, Fr. Kennedy heard of the
Kapsberger,Apotheosis'wasahighlight existence of two manuscripts of
ofthecelebration.Featuringimpres- as we nowknow it,'said Fr. Apotheosis—one in Paris, one in Vi-
sivedepictionsofbattlesandcelestial Kennedy. 'We're reallytalking enna. He managed to obtain one of
intervention, the opera received the copies, and for the next decade
praise from observers for the excel- about a veryfestive theater painstakingly transcribed it, putting
lence of its compositions and the the musicintomodern notationfirst
intelligence of its set design. When piece. It's light, it's fun, there's by hand, and later with computer
the canonization festivities ended, a lot ofdancing. help.
however, so did Apotheosis' run. Itwasin thefallof1989,when Fr.
On March 14, 16and 17, 1991, as Kennedywas"abouttwo-thirdsdone"
part of Boston College's year-long back coverfor ticketinformation.) transcribingandnotating,thathere-
celebration of the anniversaries of Theresurrectionofthiswork,one alized a production of Apotheosis
the birth ofIgnatius and his found- oftheearliestextantoperaticpieces, would be ideal for Boston College's
ingoftheJesuitorder,Apotheos—iswill isprimarilythedoingofT.FrankKen- IgnatianYearcelebrationof1990-91
be staged for a second time 369 nedy, SJ, an assistant professor of The five-act production at the
yearsafteritsfirstrun. (Seetheinside musicwhocametoBostonCollegein RobshamTheaterwill feature music
4 BOSTONCOLLEGEMAGAZINE