THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF BENTLEY UNIVERSITY SINCE 1963
THE VANGUARD VOLUME LVIII ISSUE III
COMING SOON
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19 2015
Exploring diversity through campus dialogue Diversity council hosts conversations on race and equality NEWS EDITOR
A recent series of events on campus called “Share Your Voice: Conversations on Race & Inequality” have set discussion into motion on diversity within the Bentley community. The sessions ranged from a presentation on the state of inequality by Jonathan White, Director of Service-Learning and Associate Professor of Sociology, to a standingroom only session on cultural relativism by Ronald Evans, a Senior Lecturer of Natural and Applied Sciences, to a session detailing the history of race and its manifestations on campus by Anne Rawls, Professor of Sociology. According to Katherine Lampley, Associate Program Director or the Office of Equal Opportunity at Bentley, these events were in response to the “recent deaths of unarmed black men in Missouri, New
York and Ohio and the protests around the country that continue today.” Before these sessions were held, Dean Andrew Shepardson, Vice President for Student Affairs, sent a notice to the student body encouraging students to reflect on the recent events and support their fellow students.
Community members were also invited to an open conversation in the Sacred Space, which helped lead to the Share Your Voices series. The conversation between students and academic leadership at Bentley – the Provost and Deans – brought to light the need for an open
space to discuss the root of the issues of race, inequality and diversity. In a letter by the President, Provost and Deans on December 13, 2014, they say it is their hope that “this event will encourage the community to begin to engage in more meaningful conversations about race not
Courtesy of Office of Diversity and Inclusion
BY JENNIFER WRIGHT
Bentley University works hard to create a diverse community for students and faculty members.
just in the classroom but in all of our activities on campus. [They] also hope this program will serve as a catalyst for the community to create more space for this kind of exchange.” Lampley is a member of the Diversity Council, which is a group of over 30 faculty, staff and students who are responsible for diversity as part of their role on campus. The council meets monthly and sponsors programs such as the recent speaker Dr. Shazia Iftkhar. Together with the Office of Diversity & Inclusion and the Multicultural Center, the Diversity Council worked with the Valente Center to organize Share Your Voice. They requested volunteers to lead sessions and received 25 responses. According to Lampley, there were several students who were particularly active in the planning of the SEE diversity, PAGE 4
Athletics hopes to boost attendence through competition news editor
Bentley Falcons have a new way to show off their school pride this semester and earn some great prizes along the way: the “Fiercest Falcon” competition, put on by Bentley Athletics and sponsored by KPMG. This contest is “designed to recognize the proud student body at Bentley University that supports their fellow classmates representing us on the field of play,” according to its website and will be running the entire semester. The contest is simple: attend events, earn points and win prizes. Your student ID is necessary to obtain points at each event and you must swipe in and out in order to have the points counted. Swipe-in begins once doors open and continues until halftime or the first intermission. Swipe out occurs during the final five minutes of the game. These points are updated weekly and maintained in a database by Athletics, accessible to all, at BentleyFalcons.com.
Of course, it wouldn’t be fair for student athletes to rack up points for their own. Athletes are allowed to receive points for every sport except the one they play. Similarly, the Bentley Athletics Staff who are working an event and student organizations performing at an athletic event are also not allowed to earn points at those specific games. According to Jake Perkins, Assistant Director of Athletics Marketing, the Fiercest Falcon competition was put together after staff within Athletics voiced a need for more student body participation in athletic events. Although the concept had been in discussion for about a year, it was only the end of last semester that the final details came together. One student in particular was very adamant about instating this competition, said Perkins. They believed that having a semester-long, competitive event to encourage students to attend every game would be more effective in boosting attendance than just frequent giveaways.
Thus far, attending games has earned students anywhere from 5 to 20 points per game. These points are added up to create two leaderboards: one by month and one overall. There will be three large prizes for semester winners as well as smaller prizes for the monthly “Top 10” winners. These prizes are as follows: Semester Winner • 1st Prize: $1,500 in Travel (Southwest.com). • 2nd Prize: $500 Best Buy Gift Card • 3rd Prize: $200 to BookStore Monthly Winners • February 1st Prize: #3 Pick in Housing Lottery • February Top 10: Bentley Replica Hockey Jerseys • March Top 10: Spring Day VIP access • April Top 10: Limited Edition “SUPAH SUPAH” Fan T-Shirts with names on the back At the moment, Brian Fraser,
Courtesy of Allison LeBrun
BY Jennifer wright
One of the many promotional campaigns Athletics is working. Stephanie Metzger and Vincent Tu are tied for first place in February with 30 points each. For the semester competition, Stephanie Metzger is currently in the lead with 80 points, then Julie Mallers with 75 points and Daniel Lang in third place with 70 points. As this is a very new program, adjustments are still being made as the semester goes on. Over the next week
or so Athletics is planning on integrating social media into the contest more so than before (it currently has a Facebook Page called “Fiercest Falcon at Bentley University.”) Students will then have the opportunity to earn more points by engaging with the Fiercest Falcon on social media. SEE ATHLETICS, PAGE 4
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BUSINESS 5
OPINION 9
SPORTS 12