Monday, December 12, 2011 Year XLI. VolumeThe LXXXII. Issue LIV. Daily Free Presswww.dailyfreepress.com [ The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University ] Campus & City MUSE Sports Naked St. Nicks: Taking Charge: Weather Semester in Review: M. hockey beats Today: Sunny, High 48 Scantily clad MUSE writers pick their favorite Maine in decisive Tonight: Clear, Low 30 sprinters join concerts, albums and films of the year Tomorrow: 48/32 page 3 Santa Speedo Run pages 6 & 7 road victory page 12 Data Courtesy of weather.com GOODBYE OCCUPY?: COM prof. abandons Dewey Sq. protesters kicked out in weekend of uproar, arrests class to promote book, By Kyle Clauss, Meg DeMouth & Sydney Shea officials, students say Daily Free Press Staff By Steph Solis Daily Free Press Staff After obtaining the legal right to evict Oc- cupy Boston protesters from Dewey Square, Pulitzer Prize winner and renowned author the City of Boston set a deadline – Thursday Isabel Wilkerson has not fulfilled her require- at midnight – for the activists to evacuate their ments as a College of Communication professor campsite. The city waited until early Saturday and a member of the Boston University faculty- morning to act, officially ending what had been, in-residence program despite her relatively high according to Occupy Boston, “the longest con- professor’s salary and other benefits, BU stu- tinuous occupation in America.” dents and faculty said. The issues this semester regarding Wilker- A Farewell to Dewey Square son began when she started canceling classes Before the sun had risen over Boston’s fi- to promote “The Warmth of Other Suns,” an nancial district early Saturday morning, Occu- acclaimed book about the Great Migration of py Boston protester Duncan MacKenna awoke African American slaves in the 20th century, suddenly. students said. Wilkerson began to cancel classes “I woke up at 5:30 [a.m.],” he said. “The two weeks into the semester to attend these en- chief of police was banging on my tent and tell- GRACE DONNELLY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF gagements. ing me to get out.” Occupy Boston protestors swarm Atlantic Avenue in Dewey Square Thursday as In an Oct. 13 email sent to her newswriting That morning was the last time the 25-year- the midnight eviction deadline approaches. students, Wilkerson said she would not be teach- old Occupy Boston protester would wake up in have to get arrested – you can walk away and privately maintained park, the Rose Fitzgerald ing her class for several weeks “due to a schedul- a tent pitched in Dewey Square. make it easy on yourself.’ I said no thank you, I Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, had just laid ing conflict.” Wilkerson never returned. Police swept through the camp at about 5 believe in my right to be here.” out a new layer of sod earlier, said a BPD officer “Little did any of us know that she would be a.m., waking sleeping protesters up and asking MacKenna said he linked arms with the leaning on a barricade. leaving for the rest of the semester,” said Ales- them to pack up and leave. other protesters and thought, “I have to be there. The soil lay flat and dark where a day ago sandra Martinez, a COM sophomore. “I know They arrested 46 activists, said Boston Po- I have to be standing in solidarity with my there had been an encampment of tents, signs that I was upset when I heard her leave, but be- lice Department spokesperson Eddy Chrispin, friends. It was not a question, it was ‘I must.’” and bundled-up demonstrators. came frustrated when I realized she wasn’t com- most of who “will be charged for trespassing A few hours later, Dewey Square was void “The park put down all new sod, planted ing back.” and resisting arrest.” of any activity. On Saturday afternoon, about 12 some trees,” said an officer at the site, pointing COM officials acknowledged the inconve- “I got out of my tent as soon as I got dressed police officers stood behind freestanding barri- to a strip of park alongside Atlantic Avenue. “A nience of the situation and blamed the circum- and I headed over,” MacKenna said. cades that encircled the empty park. stances on a miscommunication. The police, he said, told him, “‘You don’t The owner of the publically owned, but OCCUPY, see page 4 “We knew it was a bad situation for the stu- dents because when ‘professor A’ has a certain style and ‘professor B’ has a different one,” said Math prof.’s meth charges elicit mixed reactions from colleagues, students Bill McKeen, chair of the journalism depart- By Chelsea Diana & Saba Hamedy While some members of the public see the supposed to portray how a life of academia and ment, in an interview. Daily Free Press Staff 74-year-old professor as a meth dealer, Kristy’s scholarship can pay dividends for both your ca- While it is not uncommon for professors to take time off to focus on their books, McKeen Before Irina Kristy was a lecturer at Boston colleagues and students have both positive and reer and character. Not how it can teach you to negative stories about Kristy, as well as insight get high.” said most declare leaves at the beginning or end University and Suffolk University, the Russia of a semester. Most professors, he said, achieve native was a human rights activist, wife and into her life before the charges. Another person, who identified as “Former On Ratemyprofessor.com, Kristy, who was student #2,” posted in a comment, “She was the balance of publishing successful books while mother. fulfilling their responsibilities in the classroom. Kristy, who was charged with distribution first hired at BU in 1987, has an overall score of very sweet and really wanted to help her stu- 1.9 – with comments ranging from “Although dents understand the class material. A terrific “I think it’s something every professor needs of methamphetamine, conspiracy to violate the to find,” McKeen said. “I’d probably sell more drug law and drug violation in a school zone, her accent makes understanding lectures diffi- professor; I hope she does not get fired for this.” cult, she is a nice woman and a decent profes- While these were only two of the 17 com- books if I were more aggressive about promot- has been put in the spotlight since the allegations ing them, but the job comes first.” first arose in November. sor” to “This professor is the WORST.” ments on The DFP article, some students and When The DFP first published an article on faculty members who interacted with Kristy In an email to The DFP, Wilkerson said stu- According to a Somerville Police Depart- dents had not personally contacted her about any ment report from Nov. 14, Kristy’s son, Grigory the investigation, many readers had immediate shared similar mixed sentiments when inter- responses as to whether Kristy should continue viewed. issues this semester. Genkin, 29, was arrested for an alleged drug “The situation stemmed from miscommuni- lab that he was operating in Kristy’s Somerville teaching. Tatiana Yankelevich, an associate at the Da- A person identified as “Marth Surx” posted vis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at cation about an internal logistics issue that ide- home. Kristy was then called “complicit” in the ally would not have happened in the first place,” operation, according to a Nov. 17 Daily Free in a comment, “Teachers are supposed to be role Harvard University, said she has known Kristy models of more than what a good pair of glasses Press article. see page 10 and a lot of free time can teach you. They are KRISTY, WILKERSON, see page 5 Liquor law violations up 86 percent from last fall, BUPD says By Gina Curreri there,” said Scott Paré, BUPD’s deputy director ginning of the semester, with the exception of a vani Small, however, said that sometimes col- Daily Free Press Staff of public safety. couple of blips like Halloween weekend, party- lege students underestimate the affects of a long Drug and narcotic violations both on campus ing steadily decline into October and then into night of partying, and in these alcohol transports For the fall semester, alcohol transports, and off rose 33 percent compared to last fall and November,” said BUPD Captain Robert Mol- can sometimes be necessary. drugs and narcotic violations and liquor law vio- liquor law violations rose 86 percent this semes- loy. “Whether it was us or not, we’re still not “Your friends who are just as drunk prob- lations have increased 11 percent since last fall, ter, according to BUPD reports. sure, and I think we have to really look at what ably don’t know how to handle the situation, as a result of Boston University Police Depart- Due to a spike last spring, alcohol transports happens in the spring semester.” so you’re going to go to bed and your friends ment’s new combined efforts with the Brook- are up 15 percent this year. Statistics reveal, Elizabeth Douglas, Student Health Services will say they’re all fine, and then someone will line and Boston Police Departments, BUPD however, a two percent decrease this semester, manager of wellness and prevention, said better choke on their vomit while they’re asleep,” Jo- officials said. said Peter Shin of BUPD’s crime analysis unit. data collection will help BU evaluate the effec- vani said. “I can say that we’ve certainly stepped up While transports increased in September and tiveness of the strategies that were implemented She said that as a student living in South our enforcement efforts in conjunction with slightly in October, they declined as the semes- this semester.