Wednesday, March 23, 2011 TheXXXIII Daily Free Press Year xli. Volume lxxxi. Issue . [ The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University www.dailyfreepress.com Spotlight Campus & City Sports ] Speaking out Chomsky on capitalism: One for my home-y: Weather against sex Softball scores just Today: Snow, High 42 MIT prof. emeritus one run in home Tonight: Snow, Low 32 crimes Tomorrow: 39/29 page 5 lectures at local book store opener page 8 on campus page 3 Data Courtesy of weather.com BU students contribute to Japan disaster relief Even as state pop. By Gina Curreri Daily Free Press Staff increases, Mass. In response to the devastating earthquake, may still lose tsunami and nuclear disaster that have de- stroyed parts of northeastern Japan, the Bos- district seats ton University Japanese Students Association By Chris Gambon students kicked off a series of fundraisers to Daily Free Press Staff raise money for the victims. “There are a lot of international students at While major cities in Massachusetts saw BU,” said Yu Ishihara, co-president of BUJ- their populations grow over the last decade, SA and a College of Arts and Sciences senior. the state’s growth rate may not be enough to “I’m pretty sure a lot of people were shocked ensure that the Bay State would keep all 10 by the tragedy in Japan, and I’m sure a lot of of its congressional districts, Mass. Secre- people are interested in [fundraising].” tary of State William Galvin said in a press In addition, the club is selling “pray for conference on Tuesday. Japan” wristbands and Japanese cakes from Galvin said that the population of Bos- Japonaise Bakery & Cafe. Donations will be ton had increased by 4.8 percent since 2000 sent to the Japanese Red Cross Society. from 589,141 to 617,594. All profits from the ticket sales for the Spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas Meni- April 3 BUJSA’s cultural festival “Omatsuri” no, Dot Joyce, said the population increase will also be donated to the JRCS, Ishihara was an indication that Boston continues to said. grow as a community and a cultural hotspot, Ishihara said BUJSA has no specific fund- according to an article in The Boston Globe raising goal other than trying to raise as much on Tuesday. as possible. The club is also sending hope- JULIE O’NEILL / DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF “We are confident that our population ful, written messages to victims in the city of College of Arts and Sciences student Masa Furuta, left, asks for donations for continues to grow,” Joyce told The Globe. Sendai where the tsunami hit hardest and the Japan at the George Sherman Union on Tuesday. “Boston is a growing, vibrant city.” Miyagi Prefecture region. Many students expressed their excitement of ours.” While many of the major cities in the Other BUJSA members stressed the im- and willingness to give to Japan. CAS senior Craig Strauss said he donated state have seen their populations grow, the portance of donating to the devastated region. “I am definitely participating because Ja- as soon as he could on Monday. rate of growth was not enough to outpace “I felt very powerless when I began to pan has always been, and will always be, one “The BU community should understand other states, potentially forcing Massachu- swallow the reality of what has happened,” of my favorite [countries] in the world,” said that we have a large amount of the student setts to lose one of 10 congressional dis- said Ayaka Matsui, the BUJSA treasurer and Garbo Loo, a School of Hospitality Adminis- body heralding from Japan,” Strauss said. tricts. a CAS and School of Management junior. tration senior. “By giving to this local fundraiser we can di- Lowell, Worcester, Springfield and Cam- “But as I saw the courage and positive spir- “I would hate to see this country simply rectly support our friends whose families are bridge are among the Massachusetts cities it of Japanese people helping others in this go downhill like this,” Loo said. “I am just affected in Japan.” that saw significant population growth since hopeless situation it struck me that we can do doing my part to help those in need because BUJSA will be in the GSU Link from 11 2000, according to Galvin. so many things to help them from the U.S.” it’s in my DNA, and it should also be in all a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday until April 1. Areas of the state where population de- creased, including Cape Cod and Western Massachusetts, are most likely to be con- Same-sex experimentation in college not as common as assumed, CDC says solidated with other legislative districts as a By Allison Thomasseau correlation between education and same-sex trum: BU’s LGBT Social Organization. result, Galvin said. Daily Free Press Staff experimentation. The peer pressure to fit into social groups, Cities whose population growth was “Class privilege and education do not such as sororities, she said, is the main rea- among the highest in Massachusetts includ- College may not be quite the hot spot for exactly translate into sexual freedom, and son behind hiding experimentation. ed Upton, Oak Bluffs and Grafton. same-sex experimentation that it was once we equate the two too easily,” said Boston Pinkney also said there was a double The data, taken from new U.S. Census thought to be, according to a study conduct- University assistant professor of Japanese standard when it comes to men having same- figures released on Tuesday, also indicated ed by the Centers for Disease Control and and Comparative Literature Keith Vincent, sex experiences verses women. that minority populations in the state had in- Prevention. whose research includes queer theory and “Guys fall into what they want to do, creased over the past 10 years. The CDC interviewed 13,500 women psychoanalysis. while girls flirt with the idea but don’t fol- Asian, Hispanic and black populations and men and concluded that only about 10 While same-sex experimentation has low through because of social expectations,” saw a 46 percent increase in Massachusetts percent of women with a bachelor’s degree become more accepted within society, it is she said. according to the Census, with black popu- had experienced a same-sex encounter, while questionable whether homosexuality has be- BU students said they were surprised at lations accounting for 26 percent of the in- about 15 percent of women without a college come less taboo in actual practice. the lack of same-sex experimentation in col- crease. education had same-sex experimentation. “Our campus is very fluid, people try to lege. Conversely, the white population of the Many people questioned whether or not mask [same-sex experimentation],” said “That’s definitely less than what I state has decreased 1.9 percent, Galvin said, the discrepancy between college-educated Aretha Pinkney, a College of Arts and Sci- although whites still comprise the majority and non-college educated women showed a of the state’s population. ences sophomore and social chair of Spec- SEX, see page 4 Students delve deeper into misconceptions surrounding Islam By Steph Solis of Muslims and Islam.” Daily Free Press Staff “We had no set goal,” said Islamic Soci- ety member Tawsif Choudhury, a senior in Reem Al Ghanem, a graduate student in the School of Management. “We didn’t ex- the School of Education, was walking on the pect people to leave here today knowing ‘x’, city street one day when a passerby asked: ‘y’ and ‘z.’ We wanted to hear [the students’] “Why are you wearing that scarf on your opinions.” head? You’re in America.” The panel began with a conversation “People would think that since I’m Mus- about comic book heroes and the emergence lim that I’m repressed and that I’m forced to of a Muslim superhero in the DC Universe wear the scarf,” Al Ghanem said at the Is- comics, which stemmed into personal memo- lamophobia Discussion Panel at the George ries of Sept. 11 and the assumptions that have Sherman Union on Tuesday night. been made about Muslim fashion, lifestyle, Al Ghanem, who is Muslim, was one of religion since then. many panelists who shared their experiences When asked what comes to mind when NEEL DHANESHA / DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF with an audience of about 20 students. one thinks of a Muslim person, students Students discuss misconceptions and “Islamophobia” during a Islamic Week The panel, hosted by the Islamic Soci- brought up connections to public figures panel discussion at the George Sherman Union on Tuesday night. ety of Boston University, was part of Islam such as President of the Islamic Society of Awareness Week. North America Ingrid Mattson, memories of culture has given a negative connotation to forced to wear it. Islamic Society president Nida Shuttari, Muslim friends and peers after Sept. 11 and the headscarf that some Muslim women wear. Despite these prejudices, which some a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, the discrimination many Muslim Americans Students in the discussion argued that Ameri- students called signs of “ignorance,” Al Gha- said the discussion would focus on students’ have faced. cans have made the assumption that those personal views on Islamophobia or “the fear Other students touched on how American who wear the headscarves are oppressed and ISLAM, see page 2 2 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2011 Muslim student doesn’t blame Americans for ‘ignorance’ ally blame them,” Al Ghanem said. “I came CORRECTION ISLAM: From Page 1 here not knowing anything about any other In a March 22 article (“BU students in Japan will not be allowed to finish semester”), religion because it wasn’t taught to me in it was implied in both the headline and first sentence of the story that the Kyoto Center for nem said that it is inevitable and even under- school.” Japanese Studies and Boston University International Programs were forcing the students standable for Americans to make assumptions Shuttari said the discussion not only re- to leave the country.