Why Boston College as the Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation Confernece Host?
There is a long and continuing history linking Boston College and advocacy against the death penalty. Professor Alan Rogers (History) in his research on the history of the death penalty in the Commonwealth has found that Boston College president Thomas Gasson, S.J. was a crucial player at the first part of this century in organizing grassroots efforts to repeal penalty statute in this state. That repeal effort failed by a single vote in the 1900s, but Father Gassons organization was the forerunner of Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty, an citizens group begun at the time of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial in Boston. This past year, in the spirit of President Gasson, a vigorous coalition of Boston College students, staff and faculty (“Boston College Against the Death Penalty”) was recognized in the Boston Globe as the most visible university group in Massachusetts to organize against efforts in the Massachusetts Legislature to reinstate the death penalty. Boston Colleges visi
