Conte Forum

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20 March 1989: Jesse Jackson Announcment

Jesse Jackson will speak in Conte Forum on April 26 at 2:00pm, announced UGBC last week. UGBC received the written letter of confirmation from the National Rainbow Coalition last Friday, said UGBC Vice-President for Programming, Chris Hentemann. Hentemann has been working jointly with RA Dave Caprio and Jesus Rosa, UGBC Vice President for AH AN A Affairs, to book Jackson at BC. This lecture will fulfill the stipulation that 20 percent of UGBC programming go towards intercultural awareness. (Patricia McNerney, "Jesse Jackson confirms April lecture in Forum,' The Heights)

26 April 1989: Jesse Jackson Speach

“The constant battle against racism and sexism is “the highest form of worship to God we have,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson when he addressed a crowd of some 4,000 students, faculty and staff on Wednesday, April 26, at the Silvio O. Conte Forum. Jackson, a guest of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College and the AHANA Caucus, exhorted students to fight social injustice in the same manner that their 1960s student predecessors had done. … Before taking several questions from the audience Jackson concluded his speech with a ringing attack on racism in the United States. “Racism suggests that God was imperfect in his creation,” he said. “Racism and sexism are immoral and sick, and they must be healed. They are emotionally disturbing, economically unfeasible, theologically sinful, and morally wrong. People who need to feel superior to other people are sick and need help. “And the media have done us a disservice by coloring poverty,” continued “Most poor people are not black or brown. Most poor people are white and female, and most poor people are not on welfare. They work every day. They cook. They clean. They raise other people’s children. They sweep streets, change beds in hotels, wipe down feverish patients in hospitals, empty bedpans. Yet when they get sick they cannot afford to lie in the very bed that they made. We must be a better nation than that.” (Brian Doyle, "Jackson urges students to fight for social justice," The Heights / Photo Geoff Why)

17 Sept 1989: Ziggy Marley, Melody Makers Concert

The sounds of reggae with elements of pop, soul, rock, R&B, and African music will be resounding throughout Conte Forum when Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers perform there on Sunday, September 17. The UGBC-sponsored concert is in appreciation of the upcoming tenth anniversary of AHANA at Boston College. In a post-concert review, John Barron, David Daley, Flannery Delaney, and Jay Savage found the concert “conservative”: “reggae as a genre has always been a self-stimulated, indigenous form of music that reflects life in the Third World. Ziggy has left behind his roots, instead diverting his music toward popular acceptance.” (Patricia McNerney, "Ziggy Marley brings reggae to Forum Sunday," The Heights and John Barron, David Daley, Flannery Delaney and Jay Savage, "Ziggy Marley's Conservative Party," The Heights)

27 February 1995: FIST Protest

30 students from Family in Struggle Together (FIST) protest the racial climate at BC by assembling on the court during halftime of Saturday's BC-Miami game at Conte Forum. BC’s six black players join them. (Diana Pisciotta, "Students participate in protest during BC basketball game," The Heights / Photo: Nearly 30 students filed onto the court during Saturday's basketball game in a peaceful protest of the "racial climate" at Boston College; Photo by Kevin P. Breen, Heights Asst. Photo Editor).

30 April 1996: Charles Smith Day

“April 30 was declared ‘Charles Smith Day’ by Newton Mayor Thomas Concannon at a ceremony that day honoring the retiring associate professor of education in the Conte Forum Shea Room. The event, attended by over 180 members of the University community, honored Boston College’s senior tenured African-American faculty member, who is relinquishing full-time teaching duties after 28 years at the University. ‘He has been a mainstay for the African-American community on campus for a long time,’ said Affirmative Action Director Barbara Marshall, who helped organize the event. Prof. Smith joined BC in 1968 as ‘an instructor of social studies methods and director of the Teach Corps Program.’ Smith chose to work at Boston College ‘because [he] thought if anyone was going to make an impact in the Boston public schools, it was going to be someone from Boston College, because more leaders in those schools had degrees from Boston College than any other institution.’ When Prof. Smith retired, he received letters of congratulations from ‘numerous public officials, including President Bill Clinton, Senator Edward Kennedy and Gov. William Weld.’” (Sandra Howe, "After 28 years, first tenured black faculty member retires," The Heights)