Dr. Yvonne J. Yaw passed away on January 31, 2012.
Yaw started her career at Bentley more than 30 years ago and proved herself as a dedicated and caring individual to countless peers.
We send our condolences to her family and the English and Media Studies department.
The Vanguard will reflect on Yaw’s life and career in the February 9, 2012 issue.

By Ian Markowitz

When I came to Bentley, like all freshmen, I was looking for an organization to get involved in on campus. When I joined The Vanguard, I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into nor did I have any idea of the impact that it would have on my life.

I originally got involved writing small pieces for the then Arts and Entertainment section before I was really hooked after I was able to review the iPod nano days after it came onto the market. Between reviewing cutting edge gizmos and root beer kegs, The Vanguard had me hooked.

While in my role, I’ve been able to experiment with and learn about the latest and greatest technology and being given a soapbox on which to share it. My role with The Vanguard only fully took shape when I was encouraged to run for the Arts and Entertainment position by the editor in chief at the time. Despite my apprehension, I won the election and it has continued to shape who I am today.

In the past year while serving as the editorial director, I’ve been given a new soapbox on which to share the editorial board’s opinion with the entire campus without my name attached to it. Whether I agreed with the stances I wrote from or not, it helped me develop a valuable skill as a persuasive writer, regardless of my opinion on the subject. While some positions could have been more eloquently explained on my part, the discussions that they encouraged I believe were important to the campus community as a whole.

The Vanguard has introduced me to countless people, many of whom I still keep in touch with even after they graduated and one of whom went on to be my roommate for the remainder of my time at Bentley. In time, I roped in the rest of my roommates in some capacity to work for The Vanguard whether they joined as my staff writers or as other editorial board members.

I came to Bentley as a freshman who hated taking English in high school and who hated to write whether it is papers, articles, or even creative writing. As my term comes to an end I reflect on the experience that writing for The Vanguard has provided me and how it has helped me become a better writer and provided me with countless experiences I wouldn’t otherwise have had. Thanks to the Bentley community for all you have given me.

Question: “What are you going to miss most about being abroad? ”

By Monica Tshanakas

Having the opportunity to study abroad in Copenhagen has been an amazing experience. When I first landed in the airport and during the car ride to my residence, I remember thinking that this was going to be something that I would never forget.

Being abroad has given me a different perspective on America; it has made me miss things I never thought I would and has also introduced me to things I would have never known otherwise.

Now that my experience in Copenhagen is coming to an end and exams are right around the corner, I have been reflecting on my time here.

One of my favorite aspects of Copenhagen is the biking culture. Back home I am so reliant on my car for transportation, but everything in Copenhagen is very close together and the landscape is flat which makes cycling popular and very useful.

Cycling also makes for a more environmentally friendly atmosphere and saves money on gas. Since Copenhagen is one of the most expensive countries in the world, this is a very valuable asset. One of things I am most excited for when I get back home is that everything is going to seem so cheap for me!

Aside from the biking culture, the one thing that I am going to miss the most is the people I have shared my experience with. I have met the most amazing people from all over the world including Spain, Italy, France, England, Germany, Austria and Australia.

I have made international friendships that I will cherish for the rest of my life. It will be great to return to Europe again and visit them in their respective countries.

It is such a rare opportunity to have spent these last four months with an international group of friends. There is so much you can learn by interacting with people from other cultures and I feel very lucky to have met such a diverse group.

Studying abroad has definitely taught me a lot about myself and exposed me to new things. It is going to be great to return to Bentley and share stories about my adventures in Copenhagen. I also cannot wait to hear about the experiences my friends have had in their exchange programs and catch up with everyone from Bentley.

This has been an amazing semester and I am looking forward to finishing junior year off the same way!

By Jasper Huang

Business travel is extremely prevalent nowadays, with employees and executives flying to spots all over the globe. These individuals are tasked to pack their bags, kiss their families goodbye and hop on a flight to their designated locations. Many of these locations are beautiful and exotic, with stays at top-notch hotels, as well as dining and wining with potential “clients”, all on the company’s tab. Because of this, business trips as well as business travelers are often held in contempt because many believe that they are just taking lavish vacations under the pretense of “business”.

Yes, although there are the executives and upper tier employees who abuse the power of the “business trip” to get their personal R&R, taking a business trip is a rather complicated and demanding process. These trips involve much more than a simple away message at work, or informing family of travel plans. As business travel, and travel in general begins to recover from the events of 9/11, coupled with the ever-advancing world of technology, the to-do list of the business traveler continues to get longer and longer.

Because of the sensitive nature of many business travels, these professional globetrotters go through a lot of personal “pre-travel examinations” to ensure that their journey is completed without a hitch. In our increasingly global society, the modern traveler would do well to heed the many habits and practices of business travelers.

Ewa Asmar, the founder of the skin care company Bioneé, encountered a significant problem while treating a client to dinner in Paris. The client was forced to pay for the meal because to her dismay, Asmar’s credit card had been suspended earlier that day for non-domestic charges. She has since learned that prior to traveling internationally, one should notify their credit card companies to inform them of their plans, so as not to have their accounts suspended on “suspicious” foreign charges.

To stay connected while on the road, business travelers are often given international capable phones, and in our day and age, international capable smartphones. If your phone uses a SIM card, you may consider swapping it out for a local one to minimize costs, or opt for an international calling and data plan from your provider. If one does not carefully make sure that they go through these processes, the may find a multi-thousand data and phone bill waiting for them when they return.

In the business world, it is important to minimize any risks associated with oneself and the business one works for. If your computer contains sensitive data, make sure it is password protected, encrypted, and backed up. If the data is very important, there is now software available at both the enterprise and consumer level for individuals to remotely track lock, and even securely wipe their devices. Other business travelers recommend not bringing any unnecessary identification items such as licenses and credit cards, as well has having photocopies of passports, prescriptions, and other important documents in case their wallet and/or laptop is stolen.

Traveling to a different country often will entail the country not having the same electrical outlets as the U.S., and packing the correct adapter is crucial. Your international flight experience is also important – many travelers will pack a small flashlight, first aid kit, and medicine for stomach upsets and headaches.

Finally, make sure all necessary visas are applied for, recommended immunizations are received, and check airline information for baggage restrictions. Business travelers say that when traveling; always attempt to pack as lightly as possible. This reduces the amount of things that you have to keep track of (and potentially lose), and will reduce baggage weight and improve your general travel experience.

**Information sourced from The New York Times, The Global Business Travel Association & BusinessTravelNews.

Bentley ranks first in nation for first time in program history

By Louis Sherman

Last week, Bentley women’s basketball was honored by being ranked as the number-one Division II women’s basketball team in the nation, the first time that the Falcons have ever reached that height in the team’s program history.

After being in the number-two spot in the rankings for a total of 23 different times over the team’s history, Bentley finally got the break they have been waiting for when defending national champion and number one ranked Clayton State was upset by Tusculum the weekend prior.

Bentley received 28 of the 32 first place votes in the Coaches’ Poll, with Arkansas Tech moving into the second spot, as Clayton State dropped to six.

The Lady Falcons continued their sensational season in what proved to be their most competitive game so far in the young season, as they defeated St. Michaels, 75-66.

Bentley had four separate players finish with double-digit point totals on the night. The game was as close as 60-58 with just over seven minutes remaining before Bentley went on a 15-3 run to contain the Purple Knights.
Junior forward Caleigh Crowell played in her first career Bentley game, after missing 38 due to a foot injury. She only played in one minute, but was able to pick up four points and a block in her short time on the court.

Sophomore Lauren Battista continued her stellar season with 14 points to go along with six rebounds. Fellow sophomore Jacqui Brugliera produced her first double-double of the year, as she posted 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Junior guards Kelsey Roberson and Courtney Finn rounded out the double-digit scorers. Roberson finished with five assists to go along with her 12 points. Finn, who knocked down two three-pointers along with Roberson, finished with 10 points. Senior Katherine Goodwin also had a fine day with seven points and five rebounds.

This past Saturday marked the last home game for the Falcons in 2011, as they hosted the 5-1 Southern New Hampshire Penmen. The Lady Falcons won this won easily, 76-43.

Battista, Brugliera and Finn combined to outscore Southern New Hampshire on their own, as they combined for 46 on the afternoon. The win put Bentley at 7-0 on the season, 5-0 in the NE-10, and extended their home win streak to 13 games.

Battista continued her hot season with 17 points and eight rebounds in the game. Brugliera added another 15 points and seven rebounds, while Finn had 14 points and five rebounds. Senior Shatasia Kearse also added eight rebounds in 17 minutes.

This marked the fifth time in the seven games that the Lady Falcons have played in which they never trailed through the game. The first half included runs of 19-9 and 20-8 by Bentley, who went into the locker room up 39-22.

Bentley women’s basketball has been lighting up the stat sheet through the first seven games of their season. The Falcons have averaged 75.6 points per game, while only allowing 51.1 points against on average. They are a very balanced team that has won on the road and at home en route to the seven victories.

Battista is continuing from where she left off on her freshman campaign last season. The sophomore is averaging an impressive 17.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest.

Brugliera is also continuing her success from her freshman year, as she is fourth on the team with 8.4 points per game, and leads the team at 6.9 rebounds per game.

Kearse is third on the team with 9.1 points per game, and had added 4.7 rebounds per game. Finn is the only other Falcon averaging double digits, at 10.6 points per game.

Roberson has stepped up to lead the team with 27 assists, with junior Chrystal Guarin next in line at 17. Roberson also has 6.4 points per game to go along with the second most steals on the team, at 10. Senior Lauren Massie leads the team with 13 steals.

Roberson and Graduate student Elise Caira are the team’s captains this year. Their on-court leadership has shined through and they have put up the numbers to back up why they should be in that leadership role.

Although the Lady Falcons have completed their home games for 2011, they still have five games left before returning to the Dana Center on January 3.

After Wednesday night’s matchup at Franklin Pierce, the Falcons head to Stonehill and C.W. Post in New York before taking a week off. After their short break, Bentley will take part in the Bridgeport Holiday Classic on December 29 and 30, to take on Dowling and Bridgeport.

By John Karakelle

Two years ago, I was elected to this position on the basic premise that this newspaper should not be run like a typical organization; it should be run like a business. My staff and I began our terms with ambitious financial goals that we were unrelenting in pursuing. It was supremely gratifying seeing every ounce of hard work put in by the business staff reflected in the bottom line. We operated with the sole prerogative to give the editorial team as much financial flexibility as possible so that they may focus on producing a quality product. But, like most experiences taken in retrospect, the passing achievements gained mean very little when compared to the lasting bonds we built, the friends we made, and the fun we had along the way.

It was an absolute pleasure working with the members of the Editorial Board for the last two years. I can definitively say that I am proud of the organization we built, the product we made, and every dollar we fought to earn. The diversity in personalities, talent, and interests that compose the board, never lent for a dull day. With unfortunately poor timing on this realization, I leave this organization with the understanding that these are the memories that will endure after the conclusion of my studies at this university.

Unfortunately, I would need more than this short editorial to express just how grateful I am to everyone who has helped this paper become what it is today. To every editor, writer, and member of the Production Staff – Your work is deeply undervalued and there is simply no way to express my thanks for the hundreds of combined man-hours necessary to produce each paper. To our advisors and members of Student Life – You have only made my job easier and this paper could not exist without you. To Leslie and Jon, the two Editors-in-chief of whom I served – I learned differently under each of you and the knowledge and experiences I gained will undoubtedly be applicable throughout my professional career. Finally, to Greg and the members of the Business Staff – I love you all.

The Vanguard is not just a business. It is an organization of hard-working, uncompensated, individuals who hold up a platform whereby students may speak and share their thoughts and feelings about the broader community in which they live. Often, this paper is demonized for a small opinion shared by some of the Editorial Board presented in the form of an editorial. I urge the readership to look at these opinions, not as a demeaning form of vigilantism, but as a way to start a conversation about issues we, as a community, need to resolve.

Admittedly, I did not take full advantage of this platform. I believe I only shared two pieces in The Vanguard. The first was a simple editorial commending Student Life on the renovations to the Bubble.  And I believe the second was an article having something to do with exposing my gentlemen’s region to a Dyson Air Blade. Regardless, I urge the student body and the community as a whole to take responsibility for this platform. Hold future members of this organization’s Editorial Board accountable for the journalistic integrity they should be attempting to embody. But most importantly, what’s best for the product is ultimately what’s best for the organization.

To the Bentley community,

It is hard to believe I am writing my farewell letter to an organization that has given me so much these past four years. As one of the most dynamic organizations on campus, The Vanguard takes the effort of so many individuals on a weekly basis to produce a collection of all their work into one paper. Being able to oversee and organize all of these members this past year has taught me a great deal about the depths of leadership and management and how difficult and rewarding it can be.

Even with every good intention, the newspaper will inevitably offend members of our community, and to be honest, this will happen until news sources do not exist anymore. But the most important thing is that as an organization, we have brought news and information to campus for 48 years now and I could not be happier that I have contributed to four of them.

Not only has the organization itself taught me about the university I love and the people who make a difference on this campus, but the people who I have worked with within the organization have inspired me with their dedication and passion. To work so closely with the 15 individuals on the executive board has made my job at times easier and at others times challenging, but I wouldn’t trade the time I’ve spent with them for anything else.
To those of you who help each Tuesday and Wednesday in production – Alyson, Tomer and Jeff – the paper would not get out each week without you three. Even amidst the chaos of Wednesdays, I looked forward to coming every Wednesday to the office to create a new paper and especially to belting out and reenacting some Beyonce. I can honestly say, picking up my own copy of The Vanguard every Thursday afternoon makes all the aggravation and hard work on Wednesday worth it.

To the business team – John, Greg, Brian and Brandon – being able to put so much trust in your abilities to run this organization financially in such a seamless manner has made my job on that end simple and given me the ability to focus on areas of the paper.

To the section editors – Sindhu, Emily, Phil, Robbie, Lindsay, Lacey and Ian – the collection of your efforts fuel the paper each week. To have so much dedication to getting stories and writing articles and editorials with relevance and meaning to the Bentley community is the essence of what a university newspaper is there for, and you all go above and beyond your responsibilities weekly.

I am truly grateful to have such an amazing executive board to work with each week.

I wish all the success to our new editor in chief, Sindhu Palaniappan, who will be able to expand the newspaper and this organization in directions it has never seen before. Her vision and talents will bring this organization and its product to all areas of the campus.

To my family, friends and roommates, who have supported me throughout my time as editor in chief and helped me to remember to take in the experience in its entirety because as I see now, it has gone by faster than I could have ever imagined.

To the Bentley community, and more specifically Bentley’s student organizations and their leaders, I am beyond grateful of your cooperation with our organization as we have tried to educate and expand the perspectives of all those who have read our newspaper and we couldn’t have accomplished that without your aid.

To Judy Rakowsky, our journalism advisor, you have been an unbelievable mentor to me and I have learned so much from your breadth of journalism knowledge. It would have been impossible for me to be rational sometimes without your advice and guidance and phone calls late on Wednesday evenings. And to Jon McColgan, thank you for all your help my first semester as Editor in Chief. I appreciate all your guidance during those first challenging months.

To Maria, Nicole, Paul and Doreen, thank you all for your help through Student Life and your willingness to support and give resources for our organization to carry out its mission to bring news and knowledge to the campus.

It feels impossible to put my experience as being a member of The Vanguard and ultimately, the editor in chief, into one neat, culminating editorial. Being a part of any organization for so long stirs honest emotions and affections, and to leave The Vanguard behind feels like leaving behind a part of my Bentley experience which in turn will begin my whole process of saying goodbye to a university I have grown to truly love.

Thank you to all of you who have read The Vanguard each week and will continue to do so in the future.

Sincerely,
Leslie Dias
Editor in Chief

By Robbie LaBrie

Since the beginning of time, there have been twisted people. People with a few screws loose in their heads. There has always been this type of people who will do things that the rest of society finds downright disgusting and horrifying. Jerry Sandusky is one of these people.

Sandusky should, and will, go to jail for the rest of his life. But for as long as there have been predators like this, it has been the job of us bystanders, of every capable person, to protect the innocent from the grasps of this evil.
This article is not meant to be an indictment on anybody in the Penn State organization. It is not meant to say who did exactly what, because we don’t know any details outside of the basic framework of what happened within the Penn State locker room.

Sandusky molested young boys and that pretty much seems to be a fact, regardless of what he said in his interview with Bob Costas. The grad assistant saw him do it; also a fact. Joe Paterno and the higher-ups, like the AD and vice president of the school knew, at the very least, that Sandusky was in some way displaying inappropriate behavior with children he was supposed to be supporting with his charity. Also fact.

It’s hard to say who’s at fault and who isn’t. New reports are now saying that McQueary, the grad assistant who walked in on Sandusky in the shower, actually stopped it from happening and reported it to the police. So now maybe the police are at fault for not acting, either?

The whole thing is just one big mess, but what’s clear is that Penn State needed a massive overhaul of their program, and firing as many people as they fired, including Paterno, was the right move.

Can you imagine the scene the morning after Paterno finds out what Sandusky’s been doing? What does he do? Does he walk by Sandusky’s office and pop his head in and say, “Hey Jerry, how ya been? How’s your wife? How are the kids doing in school?” It sure seems like that’s what he must have done because he certainly didn’t do anything to stop it.

In an institution like that, Paterno was the man with all the power, and if the story that he knew what was going on is true, he’s the number-one man to blame. At Penn State, Paterno is a living legend, beloved beyond even the AD or the president. The proof of that came from the support from students when he was fired.

So, if Paterno is the man with the most power, he is the man who should have pulled the trigger and removed Sandusky from a situation where he had the potential to seriously harm innocent children. Sandusky shouldn’t have been allowed to get within 50 miles of Penn State, never mind keep his office, his charity and his job.

The AD is much less likely to fire the defensive coordinator if the coach isn’t on board. Maybe that’s what he should have done looking back. Or maybe somebody should have called the police right away.

Instead what happened is Joe Paterno and the organization valued football and the legacy and reputation of Penn State over the lives of children; something that goes much deeper than a head coach’s legacy or a football program or even a storied University.

It’s easy to get caught up in those things, but sometimes you need to take a step back and look at what’s really important. Instead they just brushed things under the rug until the whole program came crashing down around them.

By Moussa Hassoun

Most of us have heard of the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, commonly called the “Arab Spring”. The region-wide movement has exiled the President of Tunisia (where it all started), usurped and killed the President of Libya and is currently trying the former President of Egypt.

Currently struggling to maintain power are the Presidents of Yemen and Syria. Yet there has been one dictator who has been extremely successful at crushing the uprisings in his country: The King of Bahrain.
There have been protests in almost every single Arab nation, yet most that have been suppressed never gained much traction, except for those in Bahrain. Ruled by a Sunni Muslim minority over a Shia Muslim majority, the people rose up against a government they never chose.

Demanding equality and proper government representation (a theme of the entire movement), as well as economic reforms for fairer business practices, protesters marched in the tens of thousands. They organized using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, mass text messages and flyer campaigns.

The response? The Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Saudi Arabia and with full U.S. endorsement (behind closed doors) sent in a joint army into the tiny Kingdom to prop up the struggling Bahraini monarchy.
After killing protesters, enforcing curfews and mass arrests, capturing and holding doctors and nurses for treating dying protesters at hospitals and soccer players for speaking out, the protests are but a fraction of what they used to be.

During this whole time, what has the U.S. stance been? Calling for talks between the two parties and an end to the hostilities; far weaker language than that applied to Libya, Syria, Iran and eventually Egypt. This is because the U.S. has one of our largest regional fleets posted in Bahrain.

With this interest in mind, the President and his foreign policy team decided to completely ignore the uprisings in Bahrain and let the people be killed. Behind closed doors, the U.S. consented to the killings, but publicly Obama talked about Iran influencing uprisings in the small kingdom.

A Shia majority-led government would certainly be far friendlier to Iran than Saudi Arabia or the U.S., but at what price must it come? How many international organizations must recognize human rights violations before we are willing to speak out against the killings?

How many doctors must be jailed for fulfilling their oaths? How many nurses tortured for caring for a dying man? How many families must be harassed and their parents taken away without trials or charges?

What kind of hypocrisy do we show when we speak out against the government in Iran but not Bahrain? Or Syrian oppression and not Saudi? I can understand that the Obama Administration is trying to work through a complex balance of power in the region, but in the long run there is a better option.

The U.S. can and should support the uprisings wherever they are. Helping the protesters may not guarantee an improved image of the country, but standing against the people and condoning their deaths will never improve our image, either.

We are better off standing on the side of protesters if only because the power of corrupt dictators can only last for so long before the people are no longer content with the abuse and economic limitations. Uprisings are bound to happen, and the U.S. should place itself squarely by those fighting the good fight.

On a moral basis, support for the protesters is simple enough. No motivation, not even increased U.S. power in the region, is worth the deaths of innocent protesters demanding what we all have as a luxury: Freedom of speech. Of this most fundamental human right, they are denied.

We must stop turning a blind eye to the families, doctors, public figures and children of Bahrain as the Kingdom and GCC forces kill more and crush the protesters who brave the day and night to change their world for the better.

Support is the only option, and public condemnation as well as unilateral action by the international community is needed before more people are killed.

Falcons focus individual strengths for collective success

By Louis Sherman

What people don’t understand is that Bentley has one of the most dominant swimming and diving teams in the area. With scores of 161-119 and 164-70 in their first two meets, the amphibious Falcons look to continue the success from last year, in which the men’s team finished second at the NEISDA championships.

In their first time out as a team in the 2011-12 season, Bentley visited Le Moyne for the 42 point victory. Senior Mike “The Diver” Walsh and junior George “Ready, Set” Go each captured two victories on the afternoon.
Walsh took down two 1-meter diving events, with scores of 169.6 and 241.95. Go won the 200 yard butterfly in 2:07.35 and the 100 butterfly in 0:54.51.

Other winners for Bentley included freshman Josh Witty, who won the 100 backstroke in 57.92 seconds, sophomore Phillip Chan, who took the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.28 and sophomore Steve “The Pirate” Sylvia, who won the 50 freestyle in a swift 22.47 seconds.

The final event of the meet ended on a positive note, as the 200 free relay team of senior Peter Argiros, junior Ben Demeule, sophomore Chris “James” Woods, and freshman Perry ”Zing” Zang won the event in 1:29.55.
Last Wednesday, the Falcons of the Sea opened their home season with a 94-point victory over Gordon College. Senior Dave Curran and sophomore Peter Belanger each won two events on the day.

Curran captured the 50 backstroke in 27.81 seconds, as well as the 50 butterfly in 25.82 seconds. Belanger won the 100 butterfly in 57.85 seconds and the 100 freestyle in 51.91 seconds.

Mike “The Diver” broke his own school record in the 1-meter event, with a combined score of 453.59 over 11 dives. The scores qualify Walsh for the Division II NCAA Championships in Mansfield, TX next March.

Bentley won 15 out of the 16 events on the day. Junior Tyler “Poppin’” Champagne (50, 0:23.75), Sylvia (200, 1:56.58), and seniors Taylor Smolik (500, 5:39.30) and Erik Stricker (1000, 11:02.60) also won freestyle events at the meet.

Other individual winners for Bentley included Go in the 100 backstroke event (0:57.13), freshman Janco Cornelius in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.10) and senior Matt Wessels in the 100 individual medley (1:00.13)
Bentley looks to continue their successful fall season on Wednesday night, as they travel to UMass-Dartmouth for a 6 p.m. start.

By Angela Hart

Every year, when winter arrives, many people don’t take the time to ensure that they remain healthy. Winter brings forth a slew of issues, from washing one’s hands frequently to dressing in layers to staying warm. With more snow expected around the corner, flu season on the way and the ever-present colds that always affect some people, please try to be aware and take care of yourself.

One of the most basic things people can do is wash their hands. It is said over and over again, but it truly helps to kill germs.

You can carry around hand sanitizer, too. This way, you always have a way to quickly and quietly ensure your good health. Bath and Body Works and Victoria’s Secret make hand sanitizer infused with their famous perfume scents. This not only kills germs, but it also serves the dual purpose of acting as a perfume.

People always notice when I use hand sanitizer, and most of the time ask me what I’m wearing. If you already buy their perfumes, buy the matching hand sanitizer, too. Bath and Body Works sells five small hand sanitizers for five dollars, which is a bargain. They also offer a large variety with some holiday-themed scents and different designs. I highly recommend buying a few of them to last you throughout the winter season.

Guys, you may not want to necessarily carry around the bright purple bottle from Victoria’s Secret, but Bath and Body works has a variety of different colors, such as blue, green and black. If you are still hesitant, you can go to CVS, Walgreens or any other local drug store and buy Purell, which is clear and does not have a perfume scent. To make carrying them convenient, Bath and Body Works sells a hand sanitizer holder which can be attached to backpacks, women’s handbags and any other bag or item that you carry.

Another way to ensure good health is to get a flu shot. Personally, I’m not a big fan of getting shots or vaccines, but flu shots are important and can really make a difference because they build up your immunity system. Bentley offers them in the Health and Wellness Center, or if you go off campus a lot, you can always go to CVS’s Minute Clinic or Walgreen’s health counter. Flu shots are around $20-30, not too cheap, but are worth every cent if it means being healthy during finals week. I went to CVS and it cost $30.00, but my health insurance covered the entire fee.

Also, if you have a roommate or close friend who’s sick, there is a good chance you may get sick, too, unless you make the effort not to catch their colds. If it is your roommate, clean the counters in your room, use Purell after opening the communal refrigerator or opening your door and take vitamins. Drink a glass of orange juice, offer them their own tissue box and trash can and do everything you can think of to make sure that you don’t catch their germs. If someone on your floor is ill, take extra precaution when in the communal bathrooms; the shower knobs, light switch, sink faucet and door handles can be germ-ridden.

Many people on campus are trying to wear shorts and flip-flops for as long as they can. Although these clothes are comfortable, they may not be the best way to stay healthy. At the moment, the weather is fluctuating, but it is going to progressively get colder outside. It may be time to finally put the summer and spring clothes away and transfer over to your winter wear. Anyone from New England knows this includes scarves, gloves, hats, earmuffs, boots (with thick socks to insulate your feet), pants, sweaters (including turtle necks), long-sleeve shirts and the warmest jacket you can find.

When you dress for practicality, it will help you stay healthy. Also, add another blanket or comforter to your bed to ensure that you’re warm even at night, when the temperatures can become freezing. Some of the best ways to stay healthy in winter is to remain warm, not let the cold weather bother you and make an effort to kill germs.

College is difficult enough without adding the burden of not feeling well. It’s difficult getting the full eight hours of sleep recommended or always eating right, but please try to remain healthy and not let this winter season literally make you sick.

The Patriots’ focus on Brady has hurt their once dominant defense

By Robbie LaBrie

For some NFL teams, there is no defining moment or defining game. Sometimes teams cruise through the season with little trouble like the Packers this year or the Patriots of 2007 or the Colts during a majority of the Peyton Manning years, or they aren’t contenders and know it the whole way.

But for other teams there are games that come around that will truly define the season, or in the very rare occasion, will define the status of a dynasty.

I tend to not get overly dramatic about any one particular game, but the Patriots have reached a point in the season, after losing two games in a row and sitting in a three-way tie for the AFC East lead, where they could go either one of two directions.

They could beat the Jets and reclaim the driver’s seat in the division, while maintaining their status as a top two or three team in the AFC. Or they could lose this game and find themselves on the outside looking in at a crowded AFC playoff picture with more backwards momentum than any other team in football.

Really, this one game is a microcosm of where the Patriots are as a franchise right now. Their window of opportunity to win another Super Bowl and resume the dynasty of the early 2000s is closing faster than you can say “Tom Brady’s shoulder,” and they’ve spent the past five years wasting away the prime of Brady’s career, not to mention the primes of Welker, Mankins and Wilfork.

It would truly be a shame if Tom Brady went the rest of his career without winning another Super Bowl, not only for him, but for Belichick and the Patriots organization and fans. Brady didn’t even become the best quarterback of his generation (arguably, I know) until after he won his Super Bowls, imagine if he had been surround by teams of the same caliber of 2001-2004 for his entire career.

During the run of championships, Brady was a great quarterback, but in his late 20s and into his 30s, when the Patriots racked up playoff losses every season, he was statistically one of the best quarterbacks in history.
Unfortunately, the organization shifted its philosophy from a dominant defensive team to one built around its star quarterback, putting the entire weight of the team on Tom’s shoulders and letting defensive cornerstones like Bruschi, McGinest, Law, Samuel, Harrison, Seymour, Johnson and Vrabel all leave without bringing in even close to adequate replacements.

We can get into all kinds of reasons why the Patriots haven’t been able to build a decent defense to support Brady, like making terrible free agent signings, lack of aggression in taking high-end talent in the draft, gathering second and third round draft picks and wasting them on terrible players, or Belichick refusing to surround himself with experienced assistants.

In New England, the view for a while has been that the dynasty isn’t really over, it’s just paused. That may be true to a certain extent, at least as long as Brady is here, but the fact is that since the last championship, the team’s defense simply hasn’t been good enough to win a Super Bowl and since 2007 they’ve been destroyed in the playoffs every single year.

We used to rip on the Colts back when we won titles and they raked in regular season wins and not championships, but look at what the Patriots have become. They’re the Colts now. Peyton Manning has won a ring more recently that Tom Brady.

But the crazy part is that even with a defense that starts guys named Phillip Adams, Antwuan Molden and Sergio Brown, the Patriots are still contenders. They could still resume the dynasty because they have Tom Brady and one of the best offenses in the league.

If they don’t do it this season, however, the window closes and another turning point passes without a championship. There won’t continue to be chances like this when you have a quarterback in his mid-30s. Especially in a season where there is no established dominant team in the conference, there may be no better chance to get to the Super Bowl and win ring number four than right now.

And the only way the Patriots take care of this season is if they take care of this game against the Jets on Sunday. The defense needs to prove they can handle a playoff bound team and the offense needs to prove they are still capable of being elite after struggling to score points two weeks in a row.

It’s hard to ever say that one game can define a team, unless it’s a playoff game or the Super Bowl, but this certainly feels like one of those. If New England falls on Sunday, it feels like they are nothing but a mediocre team with one of the worst defenses in the league.

That doesn’t sound like a contender to me and it doesn’t sound like a team capable of building on a dynasty.

By Moussa Hassoun

This week, the state of Mississippi voted on a constitutional amendment called “Initiative 26,” which would define personhood as “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.”

Although deemed too extreme by some, this is essentially the goal of the pro-life movement in the abortion debate. Pro-life supporters believe that humanity begins when a sperm enters and fertilizes the egg in a woman.
This implies that as a human, those embryos have rights, the most important being the right to life. The implications of the pro-life stance are shocking. If a fertilized embryo is considered a person, we kill people all the time, but in ways we don’t realize.

There are, literally, thousands of embryos in the umbilical cords of pregnant women; millions of cords get thrown in the trash every year. Furthermore, does the rape of a woman justify the murder of this embryonic “person?” One person’s misfortune surely doesn’t justify the killing of a “human”.

What happens when the birth of a child threatens the life of a woman? Does the embryos life get valued above the woman’s? How do you choose? In addition, pro-life definitions would ban the use of the Day-After pill that kills embryos to stop pregnancy the morning after a sexual encounter.

What about miscarriages? Let’s also start investigating whether women are lying or not because it’s about the life or death of another “human”.

One can’t help but feel disgusted by such an immoral stance on such an important issue. The key to the argument is that “life” begins at conception, so let’s address the core argument. During conception, the sperm and egg, are essentially cells, not humans at all.

By the end of a month, the cell is the size of a sesame seed. During this time the spine and brain begin to form as well as a heart that begins to beat within nine weeks. Is this human? Of course not. It resembles a tadpole more than a human.

By the end of nine weeks, the form of a baby is solidified in an amazing transitional period, yet we know that our humanity is grounded by our consciousness.

The question is then further defined as, when does the fetus gain the staple of humanity: consciousness to earn its rights under humanity. This is different than self-awareness and most kids won’t gain that until years after birth.

Consciousness is the result of nerve cells; these don’t come until the sixth or seventh month of pregnancy. Yet even at the developmental stages of pregnancy, the baby, moving and all, is still “asleep” as its brain develops. It is for similar reasons that the Supreme Court decided in Roe v. Wade that abortions were constitutional (with reasonable limits). Since then, the science has built a mountain of evidence expanding on those findings decades ago.

Fact: Life doesn’t start until many months into the pregnancy, and a “baby” isn’t a “baby” when it’s a jumbled mess of organizing cells. In this respect, we see that a fetus at any stage within the six to seven month period of pregnancy can be deemed as a person or human.

The rights of the woman, to be able to choose when, where, and how to have a child has been one of the greatest single advancements in human rights history we have ever seen. Initiative 26 directly stands against that and provides nothing but regress to our society.

Thankfully, the measured failed after voters decided against it. Had it passed, it most likely would have been dismissed by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional and the long process of making it to the highest court would have put thousands of women in Mississippi at risk because of the restrictions on pregnancy prevention options over the counter and by the doctor.

The life of a woman should be valued above those of cells. Yes, they have the potential to become humans, but our society doesn’t establish rights for things that are on their way to humanity; just things that are. Protecting the choice of women does far more good than the “life” of a cell. I stand by women to make their own life decisions. Do you?

By Dan Binder-Brantley

Last week’s column was a success. So successful, that when I posted the link to it on my Facebook, one person liked it. Some would call this rather insignificant; I would call it progress. Before you know it, people will be re-Tweeting links to my column left and right and my crude, thoughtless writings will be trending alongside #BieberRapsBetterThan, whatever the hell that means.

I will begin this week with analysis of an important new video that has caught the attention of procrastinators worldwide. But, rather than describe the video, I shall provide you with a scenario. You are strolling down the street, perhaps sipping a cup of cocoa as you examine the rather bland colors of the homes around you.

“Hmmmm, yes, the color of those drapes is rather shallow and pedantic.” Thoughts such as these fill your mind, nothing of interest seems to be occurring. And then, you gaze down the street as far as you can see. Charging towards you is a gaggle of some 70-odd Canadian geese. The geese are just sprinting down the middle of street, causing car accidents left and right with no regard for the destruction they’re causing.

What do you do? Do you call the U.S. Military and tell them that Canada has sent in their finest troops? Do you call your redneck friends and tell them to bring as much ammunition as possible? Or, do you do what I would do and just take it in stride? If I were to witness this spectacle, my reaction would go something like this:

Ho hum, just another flock of geese sprinting down the street. Happens all the time, right? Surely they’re bored with flying, just like we get bored with walking. All the little goslings will remember the dudes at the front of the pack as heroes, the Wright Brothers of goose culture – pioneering the land-based-travel movement one waddle at a time.

After all, why let anything surprise us anymore? First we find out that parking a car at Bentley costs more than $53,000 per person and then we find out that geese like to run marathons down Moody Street. Letting these things get to you is only going to make things worse in the long run, so I say let Canada’s finest sprinters cruise on by with barely even a courtesy nod.

In other news, strong wind gusts dominate baby ducks. So mama duck and her little ducklings are strolling down park place minding their own business, just another day of adventure for the little minions I suppose. Unfortunately, moms forgot to check the weather forecast before hitting the old dusty trail with her kids.

The result is one of those situations where you really shouldn’t laugh, but that only makes it even funnier. Little furballs are just rolling all over the place, each blast of wind sends them toppling to the side a good ten feet and then they just get back up like nothing ever happened. Even mama duck slides fifteen feet on her face before the wind shows a little mercy and lets her stand back up.

Even so, she just shakes it off and goes back to trying to prevent her ducks from ending up the star of some book about how being ugly is okay. This attitude is what we all need to adopt.

Like, you’re walking to Jennison hall and a little Bentley gremlin comes up to you and says that you now have to pay 50 cents every time you use the crosswalk. No surprise there, tuition is awfully low after all. The ducks sure as hell wouldn’t be upset by this, so why should you be?

In the end, I think it’s important to learn from these birds that there is no point in getting upset just because something is wrong. Instead, we should just give up and let things happen the way the big guys say they should. That being said, tune in next week for more demotivational speeches and otherwise useless dialogue.

Name: Alexandra Polito

Year Graduated: 2011

Major: Management

Minor: Marketing

Where has your Bentley degree landed you today?

Right back at Bentley! After a few months of working full time doing business development for a web design firm in the Boston area, I realized it just wasn’t for me.

I reconnected with my Bentley roots and came back as the assistant director of Participation and Student Phonathons.

What did you needlessly worry about in your final undergraduate year?

To be honest, I’m not much of a worrier, so I guess the biggest thing I worried about was how I wasn’t worried or stressed out like my friends. Looking back, there are probably some things I should have worried about a little more…

What was the most valuable lesson you learned during your senior year?

How to savor the moments – I always thought it was cliché that time goes by fast, but senior year really made me realize just how fast. I learned to live in the moment and seize opportunities, because you don’t know when you’ll have them again.

What is your favorite senior year memory?

I would say the entire Bahamas trip was amazing, but my favorite parts of senior week were the nights in Trees. Just being back where you started with the friends you started it all with makes you realize how great the ride has been.

How do you stay connected to Bentley today?

Well, I work here! Since I’m here all the time, it is easy for Bentley to stalk me, haha. But really, I’m in the Young Alumni Association which is a great resource of people who have graduated less than 10 years ago.

I’m also taking graduate classes, so I see a lot of people I graduated with in the fifth-year program.

What are your “words of wisdom” for the Class of 2012?

Very few things are permanent in life, so don’t sweat it. Yes, finding a job is huge, and finding one you’ll like is even bigger, but here’s the thing – sometimes it’s hard to know exactly what you want to do, so try things. At the very least, you’ll figure out what you don’t want to do, and that’s a step in the right direction.

By Angela Hart

At some point, everyone on campus eventually gets tired of eating the same pre-made food at Seasons, so they venture off campus to get a quick bite to eat. There are quite a few places to go in Waltham, such as Panera Bread right down the street in the Shaw’s plaza and a Bertucci’s Restaurant located just minutes away at 475 Winter Street.

Bertucci’s offers a variety of different healthy entrees, such as Venetian Spinach Salad with Salmon, Salad Vivaldi con Pollo & Bello (grilled chicken and roasted Portobello mushrooms), Baked Cod and many more. They even have a Gluten Free Menu.

However, beware of the rolls, because each one is roughly three hundred calories! While it’s fine to have one or two, try not to eat the entire basket that is placed in front of you while waiting for your main meal.

I’m not telling you to avoid eating any bread; just use moderation. Multiple studies have shown that eating a roll (carbohydrates) while waiting for your meal begins the process of your stomach signaling your brain that you’re beginning to feel full. It usually takes about 20 minutes for this to happen, which is why it’s so easy to continue eating more bread until your stomach expands and sends another signal to your brain that you are satisfied with your meal. As soon as you begin to eat your first roll, your body is aware that it is taking food in; so, if you can train yourself to eat slowly, you will not overindulge. Allow yourself to have one roll, but please don’t eat three of them; otherwise, that’s your meal (your quota) for the night!

If a restaurant offers you bread, ask for olive oil instead of butter. Olive oil is a healthier choice because it has fewer calories, contains ingredients that are good for your skin and provides some key nutrients, such as antioxidants. In general, butter is not the healthiest choice because it is rich in saturated fat, which increases the risk of heart disease by increasing blood cholesterol levels. So, even at home, try to use olive oil or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

Many take-out restaurants tend to give you more food than you can eat. At Panera Bread, they offer sandwiches that are healthy and made-to-order, which means that you’re getting fresh ingredients and a meal made just for you. The sandwiches can actually be divided into two separate meals. The Tomato and Mozzarella Panini, for example, is 770 calories; by only eating half of the order, you consume your proper intake of carbohydrates, dairy and vegetables in one sitting. Save the other half of your sandwich for later on or even the next day. The staff will always give you a to-go box as long as you ask for one, which I highly recommend that you do the next time you order a meal.

There are many ways to make sure that you don’t over-eat. One way is to order a lunch-size portion, which is usually smaller and less expensive. Go off campus and have fun with friends, and good luck with your dining experience.

By Moussa Hassoun

In all of the discourses we’ve heard since the economic crash of 2008, none have been more frustrating than the horrible misconceptions of the American people.

As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains ground, and conservative politics has been dominated by the Tea Party. Evading the discussion becomes paramount to ignorance; here we go.

On both sides, there is clear frustration with the actions of our government. The Tea Party sees government going too far by breaking its wallet. To them, smaller government is the solution to most of our problems.
On the nascent Occupy movement’s side, government isn’t going too far; rather, it’s going in the wrong direction. Unlike Tea Party frustration with the “bailouts,” these protesters want government to take more action to help struggling families by spurring economic development through investment.

Since the latter movement has begun, there has been much criticism of the message (similar to that of the Tea Party), and when pundits have tried to generate humor, themes of lazy, purposefully unemployed “mobs” have resounded.

Regardless of your opinion of either grassroots movement, the humor has brought to light one of the most prevalent misconceptions about our society: If you work hard, you get rich.

Tied into this horribly inaccurate assumption, is that those who are rich have worked hard for their comfort while those who are at the bottom of the ladder, never bothered to make the climb (those lazy, weed-smoking bums!).
The reality for those who don’t have a summer vacation home is that they have been working hard their entire lives. Families with one or two parents working two and three jobs just to get by have put more work in a year than some of the wealthiest people in this country have their entire lives.

Don’t blame the poor for their own troubles. Blame the unethical practices of banks for not acting responsibly, then faltering so bad they have no choice but to take it out on their employees and cut tens of thousands of jobs.
Blame it on the government for not prosecuting enough of those responsible for the actions that led to the crash of the market. The inability of a single mother to climb the economic ladder is caused by issues far greater than her resume.

Ultimately, this is a question of economic mobility, one in which the United States ranks low among developed nations. According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), we fall behind France, Sweden, Finland, Canada and Norway, among others.

Yes, there is no doubt that we can all name many high profile success stories, but the larger societal statistics show otherwise. As Warren Buffet has said, too many people make money from having money.
Being born in wealth almost guarantees your financial success as we’ve seen the income of the highest percentile of Americans increase while the middle class has been squeezed.

This isn’t to say that the wealthy don’t own their wealth or that they don’t work hard. However, we must eradicate the lie that the poor are unemployed or reliant on the government because they are bums.

This theme is more recurrent at this conservative business school than many other places in the state. Many students have their parents pay their bills and work stress-less summer jobs through their own connections.
Meanwhile, the “lazy bums” in community colleges work 365 days a year on several jobs just to pay for college with the hope of almost – but never – getting a decent job upon graduation. These assumptions are distasteful in the least but more intentionally misleading in most cases.

So please, excuse these bums for going to the streets to voice their frustrations to a political system that drools over the money of Super PACs, and an economic system where those responsible aren’t punished and those hardworking are laid off.

The hardworking poor are the same poor that rely on government aid to make it through college, to cover costs of family, and despite all of their work, barely get by. Stop blaming them and let’s concentrate on the real problem: The Land that Lacks Upward Mobility.

Question: “What has been the most shocking difference or change you’ve experienced abroad compared to the U.S.?”

Upon arriving in Thessaloniki, I could see a change of lifestyle among the people of Greece. Fully skinned animals hanging in the market place, stray dogs strolling on the marble streets and the abundance of cafes located on every corner – it has a generally relaxed atmosphere, that is, when a riot is not in the air.

I was fortunate to have planned my train from Athens to Thessaloniki the day after George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, spoke, which resulted in planned riots by the people. While I was in Athens, I caught a glimpse on the television of the city I would shortly be living in with angry citizens knocking over railings and getting slightly violent. This did not sit well with my father.

The political turmoil and the involvement the Greeks have shown to the most recent changes had been the most shocking change from America, where political riots have fizzled since the 60s.

Aside from Saturday’s events, I’ve been in Thessaloniki for three days and have not witnessed one taxi. A nation-wide taxi strike has arisen and has had a huge effect on all of the people in Greece. This means that I had to lug my bulky suitcases onto the overcrowded bus – not a pleasant experience.

In general, apart from the political drama, the differences I have experienced have been good ones. The daily routine differs from those I have maintained in America. For instance, classes begin at 11:00 every morning. This is a great relief from Bentley’s rough 8:30 a.m. classes. Lunch is the main meal of the day and is eaten around 1 p.m. Following the great lunch is a “quiet time” from 3 to 5 p.m., and this was when my roommate and I got our first warning (whoops!).

I look forward to more cultural changes, both positive and negative, while in Thessaloniki, and I am sure I will encounter them, especially with this political crisis underway.

Association of Bentley Activities

President: Ryan O’Keeffe

Vice President of Organization Recognition: Madhumita Narayan

Allocation and Internal Audit Chair: Ryan DeChance

Liaisons: Joshua Brooks Timothy Dean Ali Kane Ashley Wu

Student Government Association

President: Maggy Reynolds

Executive Vice President: Buddy Gormley

Vice President of Internal Affairs: Helia Azarakhsh

Senators: Jeff Breault Steven Correia Lucia Garcia Neha Mazhar Colin Moriarty Zachary Musso Spencer Tirella Coral Trivedi John Warden

Senior Class Cabinet: Natalie Caldwell, Alecia Coleman, Helen Longvall, Ally Malonis, Bobby Reardon, Elizabeth Sisson, and Lauren Zinn

Junior Class Cabinet: Lindsay Albert, Christopher Avino, Patrick Rielly, Kim Sok, and Shauna Sarsfield

Teams look to pass the torch to younger players as men graduate four of five starters & women lose Brennan

By Robbie LaBrie

Both the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams dazzled this season, going beyond the already high expectations set for them before the season.

Coach Jay Lawson’s men’s team entered a season in which they lost 2009-10’s Division II Player of the Year, Jason Westrol, and still came just one game shy of an Elite Eight appearance come March.

The team was not without a solid core of veteran leadership, with four regular starting seniors in Brian Tracey, Tom Dowling, Mike Quinn (a graduate student) and Joe Fremeau. Although they fell in the NE-10 Championship game, this foursome led Bentley to a regular season title and the Regional Final in the NCAA Division II Championship.

This was a team that shifted from the mentality of being based around one player, Westrol, the season before, to the kind of team where anybody could step up on any given day. Tracey led the team in many categories and was the most consistent all-around player, while Quinn often quarterbacked the offense and Dowling was capable of going off on any given night.

Unfortunately, the Falcons have now graduated all four of these players, meaning that only Sam Leclerc, who transferred before last season and will be a senior next year, will return to the starting lineup. Leclerc is a deadly shooter who averaged 7.8 points per game as the fourth option on offense, a role which will be expanded next year.
It may seem scary to lose 80 percent of the starters, but it is an exciting opportunity for the talent that Bentley has stored on the bench for the past few seasons.

The player who will be asked to step it up the most will likely be Greg Jacques, who will be a junior next season. He first broke into the Bentley rotation during the tournament two years ago when he was a freshman, showing off his speed and hustle which helped the Falcons reach the semi-finals of the Division II Championship that year.

This past season, Jacques primarily came off the bench, starting only five games, but led all bench scorers with 6.6 points per game.

Jacques may only be 5-9, but he is a solid player with dangerous quickness, a solid jumper and the ability to create offense. He is no stranger to getting playing time, and now he will finally get his shot to make this team his own with two years to start for this squad and establish his own legacy.

Joining Jacques and Leclerc in the starting lineup could be Jasper Grassa, who enjoyed a nice freshman season this year, providing a spark off the bench for much of the season and played exceptionally well during tournament time.
It is also possible that Mike Torpercer takes that other guard spot alongside Jacques. Torpercer started seven games last season and looked pretty good in his 17 appearances. Torpercer has seniority over Grassa, as he will be a junior next year, so it remains to be seen who will take that spot.

Look for Kevin Kettl, who will be a senior, and Dan O’Keefe, a junior next season, to add some size in Bentley’s lineup. Kettl has waited three years for his chance and could play a nice role for the Falcons next season.

O’Keefe played very well off the bench this year, playing in every game and averaging 6.3 points to go along with almost three boards per game. He could surprise people and be one of Bentley’s top options next season.

This is a squad that will most likely need some time to get together, but Coach Lawson has been around long enough that he knows what a team needs to be successful. This is the most turnover Bentley has seen for a while, however, so it will be interesting to see what this year brings.

The women’s side doesn’t exactly have that problem. While they lost Kim Brennan, one of the best basketball players Bentley has ever seen, there was already the feeling of the torch being passed last year, as star freshmen forwards Jacqui Brugliera and Lauren Battista carried the team for most of the season.

Bentley also graduated Elise Caira and Caralyn Hart, but Caira missed most of the season with an injury and Hart did not see much action, so there won’t be too much turnover there.

Brennan played a huge role as always, providing veteran leadership and plenty of scoring when it was needed, but Bentley made it to the Elite Eight in St. Joseph, MO primarily on the backs of their forwards.

Brugliera and Battista should lead the charge again next season, while Katherine Goodwin will reclaim her point guard spot. Courtney Finn should get plenty of starts as well. She will be a junior and she provides length and athleticism as well as a good shot from the 2-3 spot on the floor.

It will then be interesting to see what Coach Barbara Stevens decides to do with her last starting spot. It should either go to Meghan Thomann, a wing player who is a deadly shooter, or Shatasia Kearse who provided some nice energy off the bench down low in a few tournament games. Both players are seniors.

The problem is that Kearse is a forward as well and may crowd the front court a bit with Battista and Brugliera down low as well. It is more likely that Thomann fits into the starting role, while Kearse continues to come off the bench and give Bentley what is likely going to be the best trio of forwards in the NE-10.

These are good problems for Coach Stevens to have as she also has some very talented players coming off the bench. She just needs to keep this team thinking forward and striving to get better. If they have the right mentality, they have the talent to go even further next year.

Basketball season may still be several months away and the teams may shake out a bit differently once the coaches get their recruiting classes together, but it guarantees to be another exciting season with two successful teams looking to go a long way.

Falcons currently ranked 12th in the NE-10 Conference

By Louis Sherman

Bentley Baseball has had an up-and-down season as they move toward their final stretch of games. With 12 games remaining on the schedule, Bentley looks to improve on their 11-22 overall record and 5-11 record in conference play. Bentley has had their most success at neutral sites, going 6-5 in games in which no team has an apparent home-field advantage.

Just four of the remaining 12 games are going to be played in Waltham, but they will all be against conference foes and can all be considered winnable. The Falcons are set to play Southern New Hampshire once more and Saint Rose, New Haven and Saint Anselm each two more times. They will also be playing Assumption on May 4, and finish the season with three games in two days against Adelphi.

The Falcons’ last game was a loss to Southern New Hampshire in the first game of a home-and-home series. The Penmen won the game 6-2 and will host Bentley on Thursday night.

Bentley’s most recent win matched the Falcons up against Assumption College on Monday afternoon. The Falcons came out on top in this one, 6-2, as Bentley moved to a 5-10 record in conference play. It was also their second conference win in a row.

Sophomore up and comer John Yohe picked up the win for Bentley, moving his record up to 3-4 on the season. Yohe pitched a complete game, scattering 10 hits, all singles, while dropping his ERA to 3.15 on the season.

Senior third baseman Ross Curley went 3-4 at the plate while scoring two runs. Fellow senior and right fielder Chris Hardy added to the Falcons’ production with two RBI and a triple. Hardy also scored the game’s second run off a heads up play, scoring off of a passed ball.

Junior catcher Greg Baggett and sophomore second baseman Logan Gillis also added an RBI for the Falcons. Gillis was three for four on the day while adding a stolen base. Junior shortstop Vinnie Eruzione, freshman center fielder Sean Keady and Baggett each scored a run for the Falcons on the day.

Since the Falcons’ two games against New Haven over the weekend were postponed until next week, Bentley’s most recent game before Assumption came against Tufts on April 22 in Medford, MA.

Bentley took on Tufts last Friday in a tough game. The Falcons were only able to put together four hits in the 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Jumbos. Tufts is a rough team for Bentley to face, as they are the 20th-ranked team in Division III baseball.

Bentley scored their only run in the fourth inning in a mini two-out rally. Baggett led the push with a triple to deep left. Hardy came up next and drove Baggett in to make it a 2-1 game. The Falcons were unable to do much else the rest of the game, however, and the Jumbos added 2 more runs in the bottom of the seventh to seal their victory.

The only other threat Bentley put on was in the top of the sixth as junior left fielder Mark Lane got on base after being hit by a pitch. Curley singled to left before the Jumbos got out of the inning by turning a double play off an unfortunate line drive.

Bentley has a bumpy road ahead of them in a season that has seemed to be more of a transitional year for the Falcons. Bentley currently sits in 12th place in the Northeast-10 Conference (Division II for baseball, ladies). They hope to continue to develop their younger players as they will be losing some key seniors from the roster for next year.

By Zack Hoffmann

Let’s face it: We live in a technological world. One filled with Apples, Blackberries, Androids and even HTC. And sure, these devices give us unlimited access to everything and anything we could ever possibly want. Instant communication? Check. Facebook updates? Check. Snapping a quick pic of your friends? Check, check and check.
We all are constantly on our phones and computers or plugged into iPods, myself included. But at what point do these tech treasures begin to hinder our personal relationships with others?

Many times we don’t realize that we are constantly on our phones and computers. Instead, it has become second nature response to grab your phone to see if anyone has messaged you. I would argue that we are so consumed with them largely because we are afraid we are going to miss out. A Harvard study showed that cell phones are the number-one items on teenagers’ nightstands, which has been a major cause of sleep deprivation.

As a generation, we seem to lack the appreciation for the things our parents had to enjoy in the good ol’ days. Think of the last time you took a walk around in the city just to take in the sights and sounds? Or sat on the Greenspace to read a good book? It is pretty old school, but who doesn’t want to be retro at times?

We all have had an experience where we noticed that others seemed more involved with their gadgets than the people they were with. Usually they all begin with an “I need to take this” or a lingering “what?” as you are midway through a sentence.

For me, it was on the golf course with my father, whose phone would ring every other hole. And while I knew he wasn’t neglecting our time together, it definitely affected the experience.

Now, of course, technology is useful. The ability to communicate with anyone with the push of a few buttons is so easy that a toddler could do it. In the beginning, phone calls could be made coast-to-coast. Then instant messaging allowed for dialogue to be had without any vocal conversing. Most recently, Skype has taken video and sound and merged them for the ultimate conversation experience.

And while they all have their quirks, how often do we take the time to make that phone call instead of shoot a text? Or to handwrite a sincere thank you letter? Or the most infamous of them all: To wish someone an actual happy birthday instead of posting on their wall?

The worst of the worst, though, has to be when people text in movies. Film is the art of our time and the modern method of story telling. We pay $11.50 to sit in a dark room for a few hours to see others act out narratives, and to have a little screen light up in the middle of it not only partially ruins the mood, but it also irritates all who can see it every time you receive a message.

It is somewhat of an antiquated tradition, but sitting at the table for dinner and breaking bread with family and friends is, to many people, a time of legitimate interaction and symbolizes more than simply stuffing our faces with food. We talk about our day and make conversation with those special people we choose to surround ourselves with.

But next time you are at the table, look around. After the usual meet and greet pleasantries, most of the time, if a person isn’t directly involved in the conversation they immediately look down to their phone. Now I am sure they aren’t trying to be rude, but it gives an impression that whoever they are BBMing is more important than the people they are dining with.

So next time you are out, stop texting and look around. When you head to Seasons, have a true conversation with someone. And actually call your friends when it is their birthday. Maybe it is the ideals of an older age, but I feel we should be focusing on the things that surround us instead of the screens that are in front of us.

By Angela Diaco

On Tuesday, April 19, at 6:30 p.m., Bentley’s Microfinance Group (BMG) hosted its first of many microfinance speaker series in Lacava 325. The event featured Dr. Kristen Hudak, a Global Studies professor at Bentley University who has had experience working in microfinance abroad in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The focus of Hudak and BMG’s presentation was on defining what microfinance is, what the challenges of the industry are and what Bentley students can do to help the cause.

So what is microfinance? Much of the world does not have access to typical financial services, leaving millions of people without a support system when they simply cannot make ends meet. What many of these people need is a small loan that can be used to help jump-start a sustainable livelihood in areas of the world where people may be living on less than $2 a day. Microfinance offers a way to lend out a series of small loans to these people at little to no interest, allowing them to gain financial grounding and start small businesses that maintain their income.

While the effectiveness of microfinance has recently come under scrutiny with the controversy surrounding Muhammed Yunis’s Grameen Bank, Dr. Hudak and BMG hoped to shed light on the concept of microfinance and how it can still be viewed largely as a way to help eliminate poverty on a global scale.

Hudak claims that a loss of the initial social mission (to help the poorer population and not to become a for-profit institution) has contributed largely to the problems faced within the industry. A stronger focus on the original message of microfinance and an establishment of “best practices” for the industry as a whole could help the cause remain on track.
What can Bentley students do to help? The BMG operates as a completely student-run business that lends microloans to small-business owners in the local community. The group is currently helping Lucner Charles, a Wentworth graduate, attain a $10,000 loan that would fund the supplies and labor for his construction company in Boston.

“The concept of helping someone rise up and be the best that they can be is obviously a very inspiring thing,” said junior James Haight, incoming BMG president. “There’s a lot of opportunity for any Bentley student, regardless of major or class code, to get involved and start helping people out in the community.”

In order to get involved or learn more about microfinance, there are more BMG-sponsored even ts coming, as well as many available sites that feature news and ways to help, such as kiva.org and microfinancegateway.org.

By Leslie Dias

Bentley junior, Blaine McLean, and senior, Eric Dore, were arrested on April 21 following a fight that broke out at Skellig, a local bar in Waltham.

McLean was charged with assault and battery and possession of a fake ID used to procure alcohol.McLean pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Dore was charged with assault and battery. Dore declined to discuss the specific case which is still open and under investigation by Bentley University. The two students were arraigned at the Waltham District Court on Friday, April 22.

Student Government Association (SGA)

President

• Maggy Reynolds
• Jon Rockett

Executive Vice President

• Buddy Gormley
• Stephen Perkins

Executive of Internal Affairs

• Helia Azarakhsh

SGA Senator Canidates

• Jeff Breault
• Steven J. Correia
• Lucia Garica
• Neha Mazhar
• Colin Moriarty
• Zachary A. Musso
• Spencer Tirella
• Coral Trivedi
• John Warden

Association of Bentley Activities (ABA)

President

• Ryan O’Keeffe

Vice President

• Emily Strunk

Vice President of Organization Recognition

• Madhumita Narayan

Allocation of Internal Audit Committee (AIA)

Chair

• Ryan DeChance

Allocation Liaisons

• Joshua Brooks
• Tim Dean
• Ali Kane
• Ashley Wu

Senior Class Cabinet

• Natalie Caldwell
• Alecia Coleman
• Helen C. Longvall
• Ally Malonis
• Bobby Reardon
• Elizabeth Sisson
• Courtney R. Smigiel
• Lauren Zinn

Junior Class Cabinet

• Lindsey Albert
• Christopher Avino
• Patrick Rielly
• Shauna Sarsfield
• Kim Sok

Having been raised with the Internet, the current generation of college students has access to a seemingly limitless supply of information. The knowledge that can be gained in a Bentley classroom is often available online from more knowledgeable experts at absolutely no cost. As traditional college education becomes more and more obsolete, the saying “Education is free. You’re paying for the degree” has never been truer.

In order to justify the incredible cost of a Bentley education, the University must guarantee that its graduates’ GPAs accurately reflect their knowledge. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough standards and regulations in place to argue that this is true.

Professors across all departments are required to provide students with a syllabus containing their course grading criteria. This simple policy benefits students in several ways. Students can better divide their effort, professors must account for the grades they post and everyone is held to the same standard.

However, there are very few regulations in place for the grading criteria itself. General Business courses, for example, use relatively uniform grading schemes across all courses. However, courses within a major appear to leave grading procedures up to the professors’ judgments.

In order to accurately grade students, professors must assign coursework that is directly relevant to the course. This frequently does not occur when essays and written assignments are graded on English mechanics. Simply said, a math course should test on math, a programming course should test on coding skills and a writing-heavy course should test on writing ability.

As a general education requirement, all students must take two semesters of expository writing, which is factored into students’ overall GPA. However, grading essays is based on mechanics in technical courses, such as Web Design or Statistics, not only doesn’t gauge students’ knowledge of the course material, but puts international students at a disadvantage. Additionally, many professors within these fields may not be properly trained to grade in such a fashion.
Another common issue is ambiguous grading criteria. To state that participation grades are unnecessary is naïve. Attendance and discussion in the classroom are necessary to foster a wholistic learning environment. Too often, however, “participation” is left undefined and essentially amounts to the professors’ discretion.

Leaving participation undefined undermines the principle of transparency Bentley set when they required syllabuses be posted. Every student deserves to know, without any ambiguity, exactly how they can achieve a perfect grade. A granular rubric that accounts every 10 percent of the grade assigned is desirable. However, it is irresponsible to leave the difference between one or even two grade points unaccountable at the whim of the professor.

Students should have a method of evaluating their professors’ grading methods. In its current form, the Student Evaluations of Teachers (SETs) does not ask students whether they believe their grade reflects their knowledge of the course material. A question such as this could create valuable insight for professors when developing course plans, and for students when choosing courses.

As students who will soon be entering the job market, we expect our investment of time, money and effort in Bentley to ultimately pay off fairly. Until the University standardizes its grading practices and retrains professors, it cannot guarantee with confidence that the GPAs they assign accurately reflect the students they have assigned them to.

Dear Editor,

How often do you wake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning and feel hungry? Chances are that happens every time you get up on the weekend, but Seasons isn’t open until 11:00 a.m. If you got up before your 11:00 a.m. alarm, you have to wait to satisfy your needs. Granted that a large portion of the Bentley population is out pretty late on the weekend and up pretty late, this doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but what about the athletes?

Although athletes might be the minority in this case, many of us have played sports in the past and may recall what it is like to participate in such a demanding activity when you are hungry. It’s tough, but this is something that happens every weekend to our athletes. Many of our sports teams have early morning practices, as well as games, on the weekend and if they haven’t made their own breakfast, or gone off campus they have to play on an empty stomach because Seasons is not open yet. As a member of the Bentley Men’s Rugby Club, I have had to play on Sunday morning without anything to eat, but a banana that I took from Seasons the night before, and it is just not fair to the athletes.

With this in mind I would like to suggest that the hours of Seasons be changed to help accommodate our Bentley athletes’ needs, or at the very least provide them with a breakfast option in the Dana Center where discretionary funds can be used. This is a subject that has been brought up several times in the past year at the Food Service Advisory Board (FSAB) meetings, but has been met with what seems like no serious consideration by the faculty and administrative members of the board. By providing a breakfast option for our athletes, and early risers, we are providing them with the opportunity to work to their potential and maintain their energy levels on a full stomach.

Thomas P. Smith