Updated: Boston College Expansion Gets Ugly
Tensions always run high when a college announces expansion plans. While the school might relish the notion of shiny new facilities and dorms, nearby neighbors fear the relative quiet they enjoy will turn into a never-ending frat party.
But posters on popular sports-themed forums (forums that are not affiliated with the school itself) have taken the animosity to a whole new level, writing threatening and anti-Semitic remarks about community activists.
Michael Pahre, who writes the blog Brighton Centered, is one of those activists. He reports that his home address was posted on the forums, and that he believes a board reader showed up at his house. While that’s frightening enough, some of the comments left on the site are downright chilling.
At Eagle Insider, bumpers wrote [of a female Jewish activist]: “Then ask her whether her relatives at Dachau were too terribly upset with discrimination.” That was preceded by a post by carolinaEagle08 stating that “someone should euthanize this bitch.” Another user, eaglemaniac95, followed up with a reference to the wife of Adolph Hitler: “Clearly her name was Eva Braun before she changed it.”
There are also references to “mysterious fires” being set in the neighborhood and horse’s heads in newspapers.
For its part, BC administrators aren’t taking the situation lightly. While the college doesn’t have any direct connection to the forums, administrators are looking at their legal options and considering banning on-campus access to the site.
Indeed, shortly after this item was posted, we received a phone call from Jack Dunn, a BC spokesperson who wanted to make the school’s position clear.
“The website in question has no connection to Boston College,” Dunn said. “It is an independently-operated website for self-proclaimed Boston sports fans, a few of whom I suspect have no connection with BC, or any other college for that matter. We are working with Boston Police to see if the site would remove these offensive postings.”
January 18th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
It is also entirely possible that Pahre himself posted these anonymous comments to try to make BC folks look bad. I’m actually disappointed that Boston Magazine is even running this piece online without more details and proof. Until actual perpetrators are named, I’ll be very skeptical.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
This is the same Michael Pahre who recently compared college students to armed warriors spilling out of the Trojan horse in his blog, “Brighton Centered.” And in his blog, he “strongly discourages” people from trying to locate the offensive online comments, and he claims that some of the offensive comments have been deleted and thus (conveniently) there is no proof except his own word that they ever existed.
No wonder no legitimate news source has covered this “story.”
January 19th, 2008 at 10:33 am
I took the time to look up the Eva Braun comment. His use of the comments was so out of context to be laughable. It was a reaction to the neighborhood watch board selectively posting texts and not posting both sides and meant to be comparing her to a facist. If you can lie about 1 thing you can lie about everything.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Pahre allowed anti-Catholic post to made on his blog then instantly shut down any further comments after he was called out for it. Looks like his agenda is pretty clear.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:05 pm
It is also likely that Notre Dame people, who are jealous and angry about on field and academic success at BC are planting these ugly comments.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hey T can spell Notre Dame,imagine that.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Mr. T,
Remember, we owned you way before Notre Dame. You have a complex regarding institutions that are inspirational peers.
Courtney
Harvard College
Cambridge, MA
January 21st, 2008 at 11:39 pm
No one cares about Boston College.
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:21 am
I am a hard-working kid who has earned my place at Boston College. Boston College gave me a scholarship so I could leave South Boston and get a world-class education.
Michael Pahre has never worked a day in his life and his line goal is to stop the expansion of a world-class university that gives more to the Brighton community in the form of charity and volunteer work than Michael Pahre ever could. I challenge Michael Pahre to spend some time volunteering in the Brighton community and actually helping people, not just writing a self-serving blog that will keep his property value at whatever number he has deemed acceptable.
So how about it Mike? Call up Boston College and ask if you and a willing student can spend a day picking up litter, reading at a local school, or mentoring a few local kids who could use a friend? If you care as much about the community as you claim, then I am confident that you will do so. I look forward to reading about your day on your blog and seeing pictures as well.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 am
While the comments referenced were over the top and have been called so by almost everyone involved, this piece is very one-sided and does not tell the whole story by any means. As referenced in another comment, Pahre is a hypocrite who allows anonymous anti-Catholic slurs on his site because they supposedly represent an alumnus’ opinion, while at the same time he blasts the entire BC community for a couple stupid posts from anonymous posters who very well may have no affiliation with the school at all. His agenda is so obviously one-sided that he cannot be taken seriously.
Now, the couple Brighton neighbors who are fighting BC have come to close their google group off to anyone they disagree with, Pahre shut off comments on his blog posts about this dispute after he was called out on his hypocrisy, and Pahre then writes this ridiculous piece in the A-B Tab referencing the Trojan War in regards to this dispute. He is no more a legitimate voice in this debate than the people bringing up Nazi analogies.
Next time, please do a little more homework before publishing this kind of piece. You cannot just take the opinions of one clearly biased activist as the whole story.
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
This is pure gold, both the comments and the article