The Heights

President Donald Trump announced he would posthumously award Welles Crowther, BC ’99, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom—one of the nation’s highest civilian honors—during a campaign rally in New York Friday evening. Crowther was a volunteer firefighter. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was working as an equities trader in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. “We are approaching the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, a dark day that will live in infamy,” Trump said. “We are posthumously awarding Welles the Presidential Medal of Freedom—which is the highest award outside of the Congressional Medal of Honor.” Read more at the link in our bio.

Boston College raised its annual cost of attendance by 3.78 percent for the 2026–27 academic year—setting the new figure at $95,258. The University cost of attendance includes tuition, fees, room, and board. Undergraduate tuition for the next academic year is slated to be $75,070, a 3.76 percent increase from the previous year. The Board of Trustees also voted to increase need-based undergraduate financial aid by 4 percent to help offset the elevated tuition. Read more at the link in our bio.

Students at Boston College are unable to access Canvas following a hack of Canvas’ parent company by cybercrime group ShinyHunters. This comes on the third day of BC’s final exam period. Story to come.

Contrary to existing reporting, University Spokesman Jack Dunn confirmed to The Heights that University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., will step down on July 31. Rev. Jack Butler, S.J., will begin his presidential tenure that same day.

The spring rain cleared just in time for Grammy-winning electronic duo The Chainsmokers to headline Boston College’s annual Modstock concert, hosted by the Campus Activities Board.  The concert, which commemorates the last day of classes, was much anticipated this year—tickets sold out in just under an hour. In the early evening on Thursday, thousands of eager students packed the Mod Lot, and many who didn’t get tickets still watched from behind the venue’s gates or from an elevated position in the multi-level parking garage.  Students lining the barricade made it known when The Chainsmokers, consisting of DJs Drew Taggart and Alex Pall, were seen waiting to get onstage, cheering and pointing as the music started up. Read more at the link in our bio.

Abby Hayes, MCAS ’28, is the latest artist to appear on Live From The Newsroom: A live performance show in which The Heights’ office is the backdrop for short sets from some of the most talented musicians on campus. Hayes grew up in Hingham, Mass. and started singing in middle school. Over the course of high school, she taught herself how to play guitar and songwrite. By senior year, she was performing original work in front of the entire school. Read more at the link in our bio.

CAB’s finances are largely a mystery to the students who help bankroll it. CAB should make its budget public. “CAB’s budget has historically been kept confidential and accessible only to our leadership and the finance team,” CAB wrote in a statement to The Heights. While that may work for CAB’s operations, it leaves students without visibility into how their money is spent. Read the full editorial at the link in our bio

In the 1970s, Ann Burgess’ research on sexual assault and rape made her a pioneer in the field of forensic nursing. Since then, she has worked with the FBI in Quantico, Va., and has acted as an expert witness in high-profile cases, including the 1990s Menendez brothers’ trial. Throughout it all, Burgess has served as a full-time professor and researcher in Boston College’s Connell School of Nursing —drawing on her expertise and experience to educate the next generation of nurses. Read more at the link in our bio.

During the 30-year presidency of  Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., BC acquired new campuses in Brighton and Brookline, 79 acres of land in Dover, Mass., property in the heart of Dublin, a retreat house in Cohasset, Mass., an extension to Newton Campus, along with over 50 additional properties near its campuses. Vice President of Institutional Research and Planning Mara Hermano said that, during the six years she’s spent in her role, she has noticed that BC’s physical expansion is used to further its strategic goals rooted in its Jesuit, Catholic identity. “I've observed that BC’s growth reflects intentional, mission‑driven development, using physical space as a strategic tool to advance the mission,” Hermano wrote in a statement to The Heights. Here’s a chronological look back at how BC expanded during Leahy’s tenure. Read more at the link in our bio.

The Boston College Music Guild’s Battle of the Bands had especially high stakes this year for contestants, as the first-place prize was to open for The Chainsmokers’ sold-out 2026 Modstock concert. Friday, in the Vandy Cab Room, three BC student bands—German Exit, Perchance the Band, and Letters in June—duked it out to win this year’s Battle of the Bands. After a quick deliberation, it was announced that powerhouse contestants Letters in June were the champions of the 2026 Battle of the Bands and would be opening Modstock. Read More at the link in our bio.

As the semester winds down, The Heights presents its annual Commencement Edition, a collection of all the biggest stories we published during the Class of 2026’s time at BC. Available now on campus or by mail order at the link in our bio.

A “very limited amount” of additional tickets for The Chainsmokers’ Modstock concert will be available for students to purchase at 8 a.m. on Monday, April 27 through the Robsham Box Office, the Campus Activities Board announced in an instagram post this morning. Tickets for the concert first went on sale on April 22 and sold out within an hour.  Read more at the link in our bio.