THE GATEPOST Framingham State’s award-winning independent student newspaper since 1932
Volume 88 • Issue 12
FSUgatepost.com
December 13, 2019
FSU total enrollment declines 2% By Jared Graf Asst. Arts & Features Editor
Ashley Wall / THE GATEPOST Students enjoyed a late-night meal to celebrate the end of the semester during Moonlight Breakfast Dec. 12.
News
SGA passes changes to its bylaws, restructures funding process By Soren Colstrup Staff Writer
Courtesy of Framingham State STC BUDGET INCREASE pg. 6 STC pg. 9
Opinions SANDWICH IDENTIFICATION pg. 12 PROMISE IN A BOTTLE pg. 14
Arts & Features SALLY HEMINGS pg. 16 “TITANS” REVIEW pg. 18
Sports
Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST HOCKEY pg. 19 THAYER’S THOUGHTS pg. 20
SGA members discussed changes to their bylaws, which would recategorize student-run organizations into five groups based on campus involvement, size, and other factors, during their Dec. 11 meeting. President Matty Bennet and Vice President Abby Salvucci provided details of the changes that would be made to the SGA bylaws. Bennet said, “What we are presenting today is a grouping system, which will remove titles like clubs or organizations. Each group will now be known as a student organization from here on out.” Salvucci explained, “Our reason for the change is that it will fight the issue of overspending. We’ve had to dip into reserves and reach out to other offices for aid, which can be embarrassing for us if we can’t budget our own money. “This grouping will help us because we no longer put ourselves in a situation where we are more likely to overspend. This grouping will help [organizations] receive an allocated amount at the beginning of the year, so they have to be responsible with their own funds - instead
of us,” she said. According to Salvucci, one goal of the new “data-driven” grouping system is to limit bias. “It is no longer SGA’s job to decide who can and cannot have money,” she added. She said, “We now have over 50 clubs on campus, which means if we do not change our funding process, it will cause a lot of mayhem,” she said. According to the SGA constitution, a “Group One organization” provides a service to the University and has high visibility on campus. It must also be financially supported by student fees and have a reliance on the University for physical space and/or professional staff devoted to the group. It must also must be consistently active on campus. Organizations affected by the change include The Gatepost, SUAB, WDJM, and SGA. An organization meets the criteria for Group Two if it has high visibility on campus and hosts high-risk events. Group Two organizations will plan and execute “multiple” large-scale events, day and overnight trips, and work with organizations to collaborate and host events. They are normally funded in the
See SGA page 3
Total enrollment for the fall 2019 semester is 5,456 students, down 2% since fall 2018, when 5,565 students were enrolled. Of the total enrollment, 3,857 of those students are undergraduates. This number is down by 2.03% since last fall, when the University enrolled 3,937 undergraduates, according to data provided Dec. 9 by Dean of Enrollment Management Jeremy Spencer. Fall 2019 marks the fourth year FSU has used the Common Application, an online admission application form that allows students to apply to more than 800 colleges and universities. Spencer said that in 2016, FSU was one of the first regional public universities in the state to join the Common Application. This was done in an effort to increase enrollment and because the Common Application was viewed as “more access-oriented.” Although freshman enrollment dropped more than 100 students from 2015 to 2016, Spencer does not attribute this to the use of the Common Application. “The enrollment decline wasn’t because of the Common Application. … We got more exposure and the number of underrepresented students each year has gone up in our entering student population,” said Spencer. The Common Application, which was developed and is managed by a non-profit organization, allows more students to engage with FSU who normally wouldn’t. Before adopting the Common Application, Spencer said universities employed a “holistic review process.” This process required prospective students to submit an essay, letters of recommendation, high school grades, and SAT or ACT test scores to the colleges in which they were interested. “The organization changed its mission statement in 2015 to be more inclusive, and to be able to welcome members who had more of a commitment to access and being able to advance higher education,” Spencer said. “That aligned with our goals - the strategic goals of inclusive excellence to be able to be more forward-thinking about how we can reach out to underrepresented students,” he added. Lorretta Holloway, vice president for enrollment and student development, also defended the Common Application, saying she doesn’t believe it contributed to the enrollment decline, either. “The problem with the Common App is that it made our yield look a bit skewed,” she said. The Common Application boosted the number of applications the University received, and in return, increased the number of students accepted. Upon implementing the Common
See ENROLLMENT page 4
INSIDE: OP/ED 11 • ARTS & FEATURES 16 • SPORTS 19