No debate about it: Students dislike BC decision
It was a debate so noisy and rancorous the school decided it should be silenced.
When Boston College professor Alan Wolfe and conservative author Dinesh D'Souza agreed to go head to head at BC in April, a vigorous exchange of ideas seemed likely. In January, Wolfe wrote a scathing review in The
The college received permission from both participants to videotape the debate for the school's website. But the college never posted it, saying the debate was too contentious and confusing, and recently announced it has no plans to air the video.
Now, the schools' decision is drawing charges of censorship from some students.
"This is an affront to open dialogue and everything a university should stand for," said Brad Easterbrooks, outgoing vice president of the BC College Republicans and a cosponsor of the debate.
Easterbrooks said Wolfe fared badly in the debate, and he accused the college of shielding the tape to protect Wolfe from embarrassment. At one point, D'Souza told the audience of roughly 200 people that he was "being criticized by a guy who doesn't know a thing about Islam," Easterbrooks said.
Wolfe denied that D'Souza got the best of him, and said the debate degenerated into a shouting match. "It turned ugly," he said. "I don't think much enlightenment took place."
TUITION TANGLE - Nursing students at Simmons College are fighting a surprise boost in their tuition bills - a $1,200 charge for each hospital-based class.
The average increase per student will be $8,400 for the entire program because they all must take seven clinical courses. Trustees approved the fee in March to combat rising costs, but the 450 nursing students did not find out until July, a month before they had to pay their fall tuition.
Nursing students met with Simmons president Susan Scrimshaw last week, following up a student petition asking for a six-month reprieve on the new fee. Gerry Koocher, dean of the School of Health Studies, said the college has apologized for the late notification and will soften the blow with more financial aid, but it cannot delay the increase.
Students say they will continue to plead their case. "I feel like we're hitting a dead end," said Yvonne Chan, 25, who gathered 216 petition signatures electronically.
BOOK LIST - Incoming college freshmen often get assigned a book over the summer to make them think big about their future or society. Campus Insider, in a twist of that tradition, quizzed some area college presidents about their summer reading, and they gave some words of wisdom from the books that they gleaned for students.
Gloria Nemerowicz, president of Pine Manor College, read "The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality," by the Dalai Lama, which she received as a gift. "Don't be sure about what you like and don't like," said Nemerowicz.
Bob Brown, Boston University's president, picked Tom Holland's "Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West." Brown's advice: "Find something you're interested in, follow it, be broad."
At Tufts, Larry Bacow delved into "Einstein: His Life and Universe," a biography by Walter Isaacson. "When you read biography, you learn a lot about how others have confronted difficult decisions," he said.
NAME DROPPING - That person next to you could be the next US president or a movie star, Bacow said in his welcoming message to Tufts freshmen.
In the 1970s, he recalled, two Tufts students who saw themselves as "indifferent students" shared a house. One was Steve Tisch, Tufts class of 1971, who became a movie producer and won the Best Picture Oscar for "Forrest Gump." The other was William Hurt, class of 1972, who won Best Actor for "Kiss of the Spider Woman."
As the sun baked on the new frosh on Tufts' academic quad, Bacow described another alum who told him that his goal was to major in baseball at Tufts.
"He said that many in his class just assumed he was a dumb jock," he said. "Well, he may have failed to make it to the big leagues, but we don't have dumb jocks at Tufts. Bill Richardson, '70, is running for president."
Campus Insider runs on alternate Sundays with Ask the Teacher, an advice column. To submit tips to Campus Insider, e-mail Linda Wertheimer at wertheimer@globe.com and Peter Schworm at schworm@globe.com.
