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Boston College

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Template:BCInfobox Boston College is a private university located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Its historic campus, one of the earliest examples of Collegiate Gothic architecture in North America, is set on a hilltop six miles (10 km) west of downtown Boston. Although chartered as a university by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1863, Boston College's name reflects its early history as a liberal arts college and preparatory school in Boston's South End. It was the first institution of higher education established in the city of Boston, though it later moved to nearby Chestnut Hill. Boston College is one of the oldest Jesuit universities in the United States and the flagship of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious and elite schools in the United States.


About Boston College

Gasson Tower viewed from Linden Lane

Boston College was founded partly in response to Harvard University's perceived discriminatory admission policies against immigrants and Catholics. In a 1956 commencement speech, Senator John F. Kennedy referred to the school as "Jesuit Ivy," a nickname that stuck. [1] It was among the first schools to enact a religious nondiscrimination policy, proclaiming that the institution "from its inception shall be open to youths of any faith," a policy which since has been understood to include students of no religious adherence at all.

Boston College is called The Heights, a reference to both its lofty aspirations — the college motto is "Ever to Excel" — and its location on Chestnut Hill, or "University Heights" as the area was initially designated. The name has lent itself to a number of campus organizations — including the principal student newspaper, The Heights — and to those affiliated with the university: BC students were universally called "Heightsmen" until 1925 when Mary C. Mellyn became the first "Heightswoman" to receive a BC degree. Today, Heightsonians include over 140,000 alumni in over 120 countries around the world.

Admission to Boston College is among the most selective in the United States. In 2005, BC received more than 24,000 applications for an undergraduate class of approximately 2,100 - with over 11 applications for each position in the freshmen class. BC ranks fourth among private American universities in the number of applications it receives annually, though it is less than half the size of the three schools that rank above it. A study by Carnegie Communications in 2004 ranked BC 17th among national universities [2]. The same study cited BC as the 8th "most popular" choice among US high school seniors [3]. Boston College has not fared as well according to U.S. News and World Report, ranking 40th among national universities in 2005 [4], though it was ranked 16th among teaching universities by the same publication in 1995 [5].

AHANA is a term coined (and trademarked) by two BC students in 1979 in reference to students of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American descent. In recent years AHANA representation has grown to approximately one-quarter of BC undergraduates, due in part to the Office of AHANA Student Programs' inclusive mission towards diversity within the BC community. International students make up an additional 10% of the student population.

Boston College students have enjoyed tremendous success in winning prestigious post-graduate fellowships and awards, including recent Churchill, Goldwater, Marshall, Mellon and Truman scholarships, among others. In 2004, 2 BC students won Rhodes scholarships, and 11 won Fulbright Awards. In 2005, the number of Fulbrights rose to 14.

At over $1.4 billion, BC's endowment is among the largest in American higher education and the largest of any Jesuit university in the world. Its annual operating budget is approximately $600 million.

History

Benedict Joseph Fenwick, SJ
Ratio Studiorum


Early history

The history of Boston College is traced to the founding of the Society of Jesus in 1534 and the early activity of Jesuits in New England in the 17th and 18th centuries. Jesuit founder, Ignatius of Loyola, imagined a distinct mission that sought to engage intellectual inquiry, faith, and cultural contributions "in conversation with the city." His Society established colleges and universities in almost every part of the known world, and its members were among the great explorers of the Age of Discovery. In 1825, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, SJ, a Jesuit from Maryland, became the second Bishop of Boston. He was the first to articulate a vision for a "College in the City of Boston" that would raise a new generation of leaders to serve both the civic and spiritual needs of his fledgling diocese.

"A College in the City"

John McElroy, SJ
Old BC in Boston's South End

In 1827, Fenwick opened a school in the basement of his cathedral and took to the personal instruction of the city's youth. His efforts to attract other Jesuits to the faculty were hampered both by Boston's distance from the center of Jesuit activity in Maryland and by suspicion on the part of the city's Protestant elite. Relations with Boston's civic leaders worsened such that, when a Jesuit faculty was finally secured in 1843, Fenwick decided to close the Boston school and instead opened one 45 miles west of the city in central Massachusetts where he felt the Jesuits could operate with greater autonomy. Meanwhile, the vision for a college in Boston was sustained by John McElroy, SJ, who saw an even greater need for such an institution in light of Boston's growing immigrant population. With the approval of his Jesuit superiors, McElroy went about raising funds and in 1857 purchased land for "The Boston College" on Harrison Street in Boston's South End. With little fanfare, the college's two buildings — a schoolhouse and a church — welcomed their first class of scholastics in 1859. Two years later, with as little fanfare, BC closed again. Its short-lived second incarnation was plagued by the outbreak of Civil War and disagreement within the Society over the college's governance and finances. BC's inability to obtain a charter from the anti-Catholic Massachusetts legislature only compounded its troubles.

On March 31, 1863, more than three decades after its initial inception, Boston College's charter was formally approved by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In it, BC was granted the right to confer all university degrees, with the exception of the M.D. (a limitation that was later amended). Johannes Bapst, SJ, a Swiss Jesuit from French-speaking Fribourg, was selected as BC's first president and immediately reopened the original college buildings on Harrison Avenue. For most of the 19th century, BC offered a singular 7-year program corresponding to both high school and college. Its entering class in the fall of 1864 included 22 students, ranging in age from 11 to 16 years. The curriculum was based on the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum, emphasizing Latin, Greek, philosophy and theology. Revolutionary for its time, BC's charter emphasized that "the profession of religion will not be a condition for admission to the College."

"Oxford in America"

BC's dreaming spires on Chestnut Hill
Thomas I. Gasson, SJ at groundbreaking festivities
File:Margaretursulamagrath.jpg
Margaret Ursula Magrath '26
File:Bcriots.jpg
Student demonstrations, 1970

Boston College's enrollment reached nearly 500 by the turn of the century. Expansion of the South End buildings onto James Street enabled increased separation between the high school and college divisions, though Boston College High School remained a constituent part of Boston College until 1927 when it was separately incorporated. In 1907, newly-installed President Thomas I. Gasson, SJ, determined that BC's cramped, urban quarters in Boston's South End were inadequate and unsuited for significant expansion. Inspired by John Winthrop's early vision of Boston as a "city upon a hill," he re-imagined Boston College as world-renowned university and a beacon of Jesuit scholarship. Less than a year after taking office, he purchased Amos Adams Lawrence's farm on Chestnut Hill, six miles west of the city. He organized an international competition for the design of a campus master plan and set about raising funds for the construction of the "new" university. Proposals were solicited from distinguished architects, and Charles Donagh Maginnis' ambitious proposal for twenty buildings in English Collegiate Gothic style, called "Oxford in America," was selected.

By 1913, construction costs had surpassed available funds, and as a result Gasson Hall, "New BC's" main building, stood alone on Chestnut Hill for its first three years. Buildings of the former Lawrence farm, including a barn and gatehouse, were temporarily adapted for college use while a massive fundraising effort was underway. While Maginnis' ambitious plans were never fully realized, BC's first "capital campaign" — which included a large replica of Gasson Hall's clock tower set up on Boston Common to measure the fundraising progress — ensured that President Gasson's vision survived. By the 1920s BC began to fill out the dimensions of its university charter, establishing the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Boston College Law School and the Woods College of Advancing Studies, followed successively by the Graduate School of Social Work, the Carroll School of Management, the Connell School of Nursing and the Lynch School of Education. In 1926, Boston College conferred its first degrees on women (though it did not become fully coeducational until 1970). With the rising prominence of its graduates, this was also the period in which Boston College and its powerful Alumni Association began to establish themselves among the city's leading institutions. At the city, state and federal levels, BC graduates would come to dominate Massachusetts politics for much of the 20th century.

Cultural changes in American society and in the church following the Second Vatican Council forced BC to question its purpose and mission. Even Boston College's name was targeted for change. The desire for national recognition as a "university" was the stated reason the Board of Trustees opened debate on the issue ("Boston University" had in the meantime been chartered in a move that still puzzles some legal observers). The two sets of proposed names suggest that the real debate was one over BC's identity: secular (University of New England, Commonwealth University, Tremount University, Chestnut Hill University, Boston College University) or religious (Jesuit University, Boston Catholic University, Newman University, St. Thomas More University). Gasson University and Fenwick University were also considered, though in the end fierce alumni opposition and a highly critical editorial in The Heights closed the debate. Meanwhile, poor financial management lead to deteriorating facilities and resources and rising tuition costs. Student outrage, combined with growing protests over Vietnam and the bombings in Cambodia, culminated in student strikes, including the occupation of Gasson Hall for 23 days in April 1970.


File:Frmonan.jpg
J. Donald Monan, SJ

The Monan era

By the time J. Donald Monan, SJ assumed the presidency on September 5, 1972, BC was approximately $30 million in debt, its endowment totaled just under $6 million, and faculty and staff salaries had been frozen during the previous year. Rumors about the university's future were rampant, including speculation that BC would be acquired by Harvard University. Monan's first order of business was to reconfigure the Boston College Board of Trustees. By separating it from the Society of Jesus, Monan was able to bring in the talents of lay alumni and business leaders who helped turn around the university's fortunes. In 1974, Boston College acquired Newton College of the Sacred Heart, a 40 acre (162,000 m²) campus 1.5 miles (2 km) away that enabled it to expand the law school and provide more housing for a student population that was increasingly residential and geographically diverse. No less than the university's rescue is credited to Monan who set into motion the university's upward trajectory in finances, reputation and global scope. In 1996, Monan's 24 year presidency, the longest in the university's history, came to an end when he was named University Chancellor and succeeded by President William P. Leahy, SJ.

Recent history

9/11 Memorial Labyrinth

Since assuming the Boston College presidency, Leahy's tenure has been marked with an acceleration of the growth and development initiated by his predecessor. BC's endowment has grown to over $1.4 billion, it has expanded by almost 150 acres (600,000 m²), and undergraduate applications have surpassed 24,000. At the same time, BC students, faculty and athletic teams have seen unprecedented success — winning record numbers of Fulbrights, Rhodes and other academic awards; setting new marks for research grants; and winning conference and national titles. In 2002, Leahy initiated the Church in the 21st Century program to examine issues facing the Catholic Church in light of the clergy sexual abuse scandal. His effort brought BC world-wide praise and recognition for "leading the way on Church reform." In 2004, he announced plans to merge with the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and advance BC as the world's foremost Jesuit university. The announcement was followed by an article in the New York Times claiming "such a merger would further Boston College's quest to become the nation's Catholic intellectual powerhouse" and that, if approved by the Vatican and Jesuit authorities in Rome, BC "would become the center for the study of Roman Catholic theology in the United States." [6]

During the 2004-2005 academic year, the Boston College administration found itself in the midst of a controversy surrounding the exclusion of sexual orientation in the university's notice of non-discrimination. Students and faculty in support of its inclusion cited Jesuit principles of justice and noted that other Jesuit institutions in the state, including the Weston Jesuit School of Theology with which BC had proposed a merger, did include sexual orientation in their notices of non-discrimination. A student referendum showing 84% support, a list of nearly 200 supporting faculty and Jesuits published in The Heights and a campus rally that drew over 1,000 culminated in an agreement for a revised notice of non-discrimination in April 2005.

The campus

Landscape & architecture

The Towers-on-the-Heights
Chestnut Hill Reservoir
St John's Meadow

Set on a hilltop overlooking the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and the distant Boston skyline (see live webcam), Boston College's 175 acre (700,000 m²) Chestnut Hill campus includes over 120 buildings in addition to athletic fields, rolling hills, wooded areas, three formal gardens, an orchard, and over 100 species of trees. The campus creates an almost rural setting, only 6 miles west of downtown Boston. A Boston College (MBTA station) "T"-station, located at St Ignatius Gate, is the western terminus of the MBTA Green Line's B-branch (also known as the "Boston College" line) and provides rapid transit to the city center. Travel time is approximately 30-45 minutes.

Due largely to its location and architecture, the Boston College campus is known affectionately as the "Heights," the "Crowned Hilltop" and "Oxford in America." This last moniker was the title of the original campus master plan and was confirmed by a visiting British journalist in 1915 who famously wrote, "Even in embryo, it is Oxford and Cambridge without their grime."

"The Crowned Hilltop"

The Maginnis master plan
Gasson Quadrangle

Designed by Charles Donagh Maginnis and his firm, Maginnis & Walsh, in 1908, the Boston College campus is a seminal example of Collegiate Gothic architecture. Publication of its design in 1909 — and praise from influential American Gothicist Ralph Adams Cram — helped establish Collegiate Gothic as the prevailing architectural style on American university campuses for much of the 20th Century. Gasson Hall, BC's signature building, is credited for the typology of dominant Gothic towers in subsequent campus designs, including those at the Princeton University Graduate School (Cleveland Tower, 1913 to 1917), at Yale University (Harkness Tower, 1917-1921), and at Duke University (Chapel Tower, 1930-1935). Combining Gothic Revival architecture with principles of Beaux-Arts planning, Maginnis proposed a vast complex of academic buildings set in a cruciform plan. The design suggested an enormous outdoor cathedral, with a long entry drive at the "nave," the main quadrangle at the "apse" and secondary quadrangles at the "transepts." At the "crossing," Maginnis placed the university's main building, which he called "Recitation Hall." Using stone quarried on the site, the building was constructed at the highest point on Chestnut Hill, commanding a view of the surrounding landscape and the city to the east. Dominated by a soaring 200-foot bell tower, Recitation Hall was known simply as the "Tower Building" when it finally opened in 1913. Maginnis' design broke from the traditional Oxbridge models that had inspired it — and that had till then characterized Gothic architecture on American campuses. In its unprecedented scale, Gasson Tower was conceived not as the belfry of a singular building, but as the crowning campanile of Maginnis' new "city upon a hill."


Expansion & eclecticism

File:Bcaerial.jpg
Aerial view of Boston College
St William's Hall
New Grounds

Though Maginnis' ambitious Gothic project never saw full completion, its central portion was built according to plan and forms the core of what is now BC's iconic middle campus. Among these, the Bapst Library has been called the "finest example of Collegiate Gothic architecture in America" and Devlin Hall won the Harleston Parker Medal for "most beautiful building in Boston." Subsequent campus expansions exceeded even President Gasson's vision and brought with them a new set of architectural vocabulary: Georgian, Neoclassical, Richardsonian Romanesque, and others. The 1895 Liggett Estate was developed into a Tudor style upper campus, while an architecturally eclectic lower campus took shape on land acquired by filling in part of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. Around this time, a Seattle newspaper ranked Boston College #2 in a list of "America's Most Beautiful Campuses" (the University of Washington ranked first). Notions of "beauty" meanwhile were challenged by the advent of modernism. The 1940 design for St Ignatius Church is an important hybrid of this period and is an example of what has been called "Modern Gothic." Modernism had an enormous impact on development after the 1940s, though most modernist buildings at BC maintained decidedly un-modern rough stone facades in keeping with Maginnis' original designs. By the 1960s, BC's severe space demands and poor financial health began to leave their mark, as evidenced by the construction of prefabricated modular apartments on the lower campus. Originally intended as temporary housing, the "Mods" have survived in large part because of their popularity among upperclassmen. Other legacies of this era include the hyperbolic-roofed Flynn Recreation Complex, constructed using laminated wood beams, and the later International Style O'Neill Library, designed by The Architects Collaborative. More recent campus development signals a return to Maginnis & Walsh's Collegiate Gothic designs, as reflected in the renovations of Fulton Hall (1997) and Higgins Hall (2002), and in the construction of Campanella Hall (2003) and the St. Ignatius Gate Residence Hall (2004).

The Cardinal Mansion

In June 2004, Boston College acquired 43 acres of land from the Archdiocese of Boston [7], [8]. The new grounds, adjacent to the main campus (on the opposite side of Commonwealth Avenue), include the historic mansion that served as the Cardinal's residence until 2002.

Other BC properties

In addition to the main campus at Chestnut Hill, BC's 40 acre (160,000 m²) Newton Campus is located 1 mile (2 km) to the west and houses the law school and residential housing for roughly half of the freshman class. Other BC properties include a 20 acre (80,000 m²) seismology research observatory and field station in Weston, Massachusetts; an 80 acre (320,000 m²) retreat center in Dover, Massachusetts; a sea-side estate in Cohasset, Massachusetts designed by Henry Hobson Richardson; and a campus on St Stephen's Green in Dublin, Ireland.

Libraries & museums

Book of Kells, Burns Library
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O'Neill Library steps
Gargan Hall, Bapst Library
Thompson Room, Burns Library

Boston College was the first institution in the 400-year history of Jesuit education to construct a building dedicated solely as a library. Today, Boston College's eight research libraries contain over twelve million printed volumes, manuscripts, journals, government documents and microform items, ranging from ancient papyrus scrolls to digital databases. Together with the university's museums, they include original manuscripts and prints by Galileo, Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier as well as world renowned collections in Jesuitana, Irish literature, sixteenth century Flemish tapestries, ancient Greek pottery, Caribbean folk art and literature, Japanese prints, US government documents, Congressional Archives, and paintings that span the history of art from Europe, Asia and the Americas.

O'Neill Library

BC's central research library, the Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Library is named for the legendary former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a member of the Boston College Class of 1936. Opened in 1984, it houses approximately two million volumes in the humanities, the natural sciences and the social sciences. It also contains US government documents, administrative offices of the Boston College Libraries, and a museum dedicated to "Tip" O'Neill, whose papers are housed in the Burns Library (see below). The O'Neill Library was among the first libraries in the world to digitize its card catalog. A glass-enclosed atrium on the library's fourth and fifth floors offers sweeping views of the Boston skyline.

Bapst Library

When it opened in 1922, Bapst Library was the only designated library building in Jesuit history. Named for the first president of Boston College (Johannes Bapst, SJ, 1815-1887), it was one of the few structures built according to Charles Donagh Maginnis' original "Oxford in America" master plan and served as the university's main library until 1984. It has been widely praised as the "finest example of Collegiate Gothic architecture in America." In 1987, it reopened after a two-year, multimillion dollar restoration and now houses the university's fine arts collection. Designed as a "cathedral to learning," it is the most elaborate of the original Collegiate Gothic buildings on campus with extensive stained glass windows, vaulted ceilings and carved wood paneling. Gargan Hall, the soaring reading room on the library's upper floor, has been named the most beautiful room in Boston. Also on the upper floor are the Chancellor's office and the Lonergan Institute. The reading room on the ground floor features a gold-leaf and wood-beamed ceiling that was carefully restored with funds from the Kresge Foundation. A guide to the building's famous staned glass windows is available online.

Burns Library

Ford Memorial Tower, Burns Library

The Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections is home to more than 150,000 volumes, some 15 million manuscripts and other important works, including a world-renowned collection of Irish literature. A rare facsimile of the Book of Kells is on public display in the library's Irish Room, and each day one page of the illuminated manuscript is turned. Other significant holdings include original works by Samuel Beckett, T.S. Eliot, Graham Greene, Seamus Heaney, Gerard Manley Hopkins, James Joyce, Francis Thompson, George Bernard Shaw, and William Butler Yeats, among others. It also houses the papers of prominent Boston College alumni, including House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr.; legal scholar and former US Congressman Robert F. Drinan, SJ; US Representative Edward P. Boland; and Margaret Heckler, Congresswoman, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, and US Ambassador to Ireland. The library is named after the Honorable John. J. Burns (1901 to 1957), Massachusetts Superior Court Justice and a member of the Boston College Class of 1921. The library's lofty Ford Memorial Tower is considerably more elaborate than Gasson Tower, though not as tall. Inside, the Thompson Room features a magnificent oriel window depicting epic poetry, while the Trustee Room includes stained glass depictions of 54 Jesuit armorial crests. Exhibits are held frequently on the library's main level and guided tours are available on request.

Law Library

Opened in 1996, the Law Library is located on the Boston College Law School campus in Newton, Massachusetts and contains approximately 500,000 volumes covering all major areas of American law and primary legal materials from the federal government, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the European Union. The library also features a substantial treatise and periodical collection and a growing collection of international and comparative law material. The library's Coquillette Rare Book Room houses works from the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, including works by and about Saint Thomas More.

McMullen Museum of Art

Located in Devlin Hall, the McMullen Museum of Art houses a prominent permanent collection and organizes exhibits from all periods and cultures of art history. Recent exhibits and acquisitions, including works by Edvard Munch, Amedeo Modigliani, Frank Stella, Françoise Gilot, and John LaFarge, have widened both the scope of the collection and its audience. Saints and Sinners, a 1999 exhibition on the work of Caravaggio, attracted the largest audience of any university museum up to that time. Related museum activities include musical and theatrical performances, films, gallery talks, symposia, lectures, readings, and receptions that draw students, faculty, alumni and visitors from around the world. Admission to the Museum is free and open to the general public.

Other libraries & museums

Other BC libraries include dedicated facilities for the schools social work and education, an undergraduate library on the Newton Campus (nicknamed "the morgue" both because of its absolute silence and its location in the former crypt of Trinity Chapel), and a geophysics library at the Weston Observatory. Additional exhbition spaces include a student art gallery on the Bapst Library's mezzanine level as well as exhibition space in the Robsham Theater and Campanella Hall. Items related to BC history and athletics are on display at the Hall of Fame in Conte Forum and the BC Football Museum in the Yawkey Athletics Center.

Academics

Boston College is comprised of eight schools and colleges:

  • In December 2004, Boston College announced plans to create a Divinity School by merging its existing Theology department, its Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry and the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The new school would be located on the BC campus on land recently acquired from the Boston archdiocese.


Departments & programs


College of Arts and Sciences /

Graduate School of Arts & Sciences


Lynch School of Education


Carroll School of Management


Boston College Law School


Connell School of Nursing


Graduate School of Social Work


Woods College of Advancing Studies

Research centers & institutes

Jesuit tradition

Ignatius injured in battle
Ignatius injured in battle
Ignatius & his companions
Ignatius & his companions
Ignatius writing the Constitutions
Ignatius writing the Constitutions

BC's Jesuit identity is rooted in the distinct vision of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, who believed in "finding God in all things." Jesuits are characterized by a dedication to both "the life of the mind and the encounter with the world," a mission distinguished by their intellectual and humanitarian activities — notably in the fields of higher education, human rights, and social justice. As explorers, scientists, artists, diplomats, and writers, Jesuits have historically been at the forefront of scientific discovery and cultural expression. As a result, they have had a sometimes tumultuous relationship with the Catholic Church — and were officially suppressed by the Vatican from 1773 to 1814 — though their work has always been dedicated Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, or "to the greater glory of God." The 150 Jesuits living on the Boston College campus make up the largest Jesuit community in the world and include members of the faculty and administration, graduate students and visiting international scholars.

The balance between faith and reason, coupled with BC's inclusive founding mission, attracts students and faculty from diverse religious traditions and a broad range of convictions. Campus spiritual activities are open to all, though entirely optional and include Catholic liturgies as well as religious services in various Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and other traditions. The Jesuit call to justice is evident in work across religious boundaries in community service, reflection retreats, and immersion programs both on campus and abroad. Alumni/ae also reflect this commitment to humanitarian work: BC ranks 9th among Peace Corps volunteer-producing colleges and 1st among Jesuit Volunteers-producing colleges.

Athletics

File:Goldeneagle.jpg
The gilded bronze eagle on Linden Lane

Boston College athletic teams are called the Eagles. They compete in NCAA Division I-A as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports offered by the ACC. The men's and women's ice hockey teams compete in Hockey East. (Skiing, fencing and sailing are also non-ACC.)

The BC mascot is an American bald eagle named Baldwin, derived from the bald head of the eagle and the word 'win'. The school colors are maroon and gold. The fight song, "For Boston!," was composed by T.J. Hurley, Class of 1885.

Principal athletic facilities include Alumni Stadium (capacity: 44,500), Conte Forum (8,606), Kelley Rink (7,884), Shea Field, the Newton Soccer Complex and the Flynn Recreation Complex. The Yawkey Athletics Center opened in the spring of 2005. BC students compete in 33 varsity sports, as well as a number of club and intramural teams. Boston College's Athletics program has been named to the College Sports Honor Roll as one of the nation's top 20 athletic programs by U.S. News and World Report (March 18, 2002).

A founding member of the Big East Conference, the Eagles moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference on July 1, 2005.

Journals, publications & media

Campus publications & media

Academic journals & scholarly publications

Student media

  • The BC, a widely-accaimed online sketch comedy series
  • The Boston College Review, an undergraduate journal for non-fiction essays
  • The Boston Collegian, a humor and parody magazine
  • Elements, the undergraduate research journal
  • The Heights, the principal student newspaper, published twice-weekly; established in 1919
  • Naked Singularity, a left-leaning art, literary, and editorial magazine
  • The Observer, a right-leaning student newspaper
  • The Patriot, a left-leaning student newspaper
  • The Stylus, the undergraduate art and literature quarterly, founded in 1883
  • Sub Turri [9], the Boston College yearbook, published since 1913
  • UGBC-TV, the student run cable television station, featuring the sketch comedy show Basic Cable, the campus news desk Now You Know, and a score of other student programming
  • WZBC, 90.3 FM, a student-run radio station which provides independent and experimental music

Notable Heightsonians

The Heights is a nickname given to Boston College. It recalls both BC's lofty aspirations--the college motto is "Ever to Excel"--and its hilltop location, an area initially designated as "University Heights." The name has lent itself to a number of campus organizations, most notably the principal student newspaper, The Heights.

BC students were universally called "Heightsmen" until 1925 when Mary C. Mellyn became the first "Heightswoman" to receive a BC degree. Today, "Heightsonian" refers invariably to students, alumni, faculty and others associated with the university. Other monikers include Boston Collegians and Eagles, though the latter is usually reserved for members of the university's athletics teams. Prominent Boston College alumni and faculty as well as a chronology of BC presidents are compiled in separate articles, listed below.

Footnotes

  1. ^ The Jesuit Ivy, John F. Kennedy's 1956 commencement address
  2. ^ Carnegie Communications "Project Connect"
  3. ^ Template:News reference
  4. ^ Template:News reference
  5. ^ Template:News reference
  6. ^ Template:News reference

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