October 20, 2023

Volume 92 • Issue 6

October 20, 2023

FSUgatepost.com

Choreography of a culture Dylan Pichnarcik/ THE GATEPOST Dancers from the Ritmos Dance Company performed in the CIE for the center’s “Taste of Culture” event celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month Oct. 13.

Niemi’s first State of the University address focuses on enrollment

By Adam Harrison Interim Asst. News Editor

By Kaitlin Carman Interim Asst. News Editor President Nancy Niemi delivered her first State of the University address on Monday, Oct. 16.

The State of the University address was originally planned to take place on Sept. 18, but it was postponed due to the death of a student.

The address was sent via email to staff and faculty. She plans to give an address at least once a year, Niemi said.

It is important for FSU to hold the State of the University to assess the

health of the institution and to build a foundation to build off of to improve conditions, she said.

It makes this information accessible to community members and its data serves as a guide for decision-making, said Niemi.

“It is a ritual that many universities take part in and I can see why it is important to share the knowledge we have, our vital signs, so that everyone in the organization has a common understanding of a common data set from which to build,” said Niemi.

However, she said, “It’s important to note as well that not every indicator of health can be easily or quantitatively measured.”

Niemi described the importance of student life when discussing the suc-

cess of an educational institution.

The campus events since the beginning of the 2023 academic year have been successfully attracting students, Niemi said.

In Fiscal Year 2023, FSU sponsored 158 opportunities for student engagement. For events at which students check in, there were 897 unique attendees with a total of over 2,500 check-ins. In addition, there were 347 planned student organization events.

“We are doing a lot for our students, and they’re participating,” said Niemi.

She said students have also been getting involved with career development resources. In the Fiscal Year 2023, there were 611 career counseling meetings with students.

Oliver de la Paz, Alan Feldman Week of Poetry guest, shares recent work

By Ryan O’Connell Associate Editor The English Department and Arts & Ideas hosted Oliver de la Paz - poet laureate of Worcester, professor, and author of seven poetry collections - for the 6th annual Alan Feldman Week of Poetry Oct. 17.

Paz, who teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the low-residency master of fine arts program at Pacific Lutheran University, read from his two most recent titles - “The Boy in the Labyrinth” and “The Diaspora Sonnets,” his latest book.

STRATEGIC ENROLLMENT pg. 5 RAMS RESOURCE CENTER pg. 6

Opinions CAMPUS SAFETY pg. 8 BLACK WOMEN pg. 9

Sports

See STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY page 4

‘Where the horizon and the plains form a sharp line’ He first read a poem from “The Boy in the Labyrinth” - a finalist entry for the Massachusetts Book Award - which he said chronicled his experiences as a father of neurodivergent children.

“I’m the father of three children on the autism spectrum. I likely have autism myself. I know for a fact my father is autistic,” he said. “And this particular book is about what I thought - at the time - was my neurotypical self, and how I navigated being the father of neurodiverse kids.”

Paz then read excerpts from “Autism Screening Questionnaire: Abnormal Symbolic or Imaginative Play,” which he said was written as a dialogue

News

Dylan Pichnarcik / THE GATEPOST

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY pg. 11 between a neurotypical parent and an MEET THE CAPTAINS pg. 12 autism screening test.

He added the poem becomes a quarrel between the parent and the questionnaire.

Paz read, “Does your child flap his hands? Does he self-stimulate?

“In ecstatic moments it is a kind of remembering the body is the body.

For example, these arms for grasping.

These hands are capable of holding and touching the known and unknown.

And how remarkable it all is - scintillate the way wonder surges towards Carly Paul / THE GATEPOST the filaments,” he read.

STEM WEEK pg. 13

Arts & Features

See OLIVER DE LA PAZ page 14

EGYPTOLOGY pg. 16

INSIDE: OP/ED 8 • SPORTS 11 • ARTS & FEATURES 13

2 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

NEWS

Gatepost Interview

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Emily Rosenberg

Marilyn A. Cleary

Associate Editors Ryan O’Connell Sophia Harris News Editor Naidelly Coelho Interim Asst. News Editors Kaitilin Carman Adam Harrison Opinions Editor Izayah Morgan Sports Editor Adam Levine Asst. Sports Editor Riley Crowell Arts & Features Editors Raena Doty Jack McLaughlin Asst. Arts & Features Editors Bella Omar Owen Glancy Design & Photo Editors Maddison Behringer Adrien Gobin Interim Asst.

Design & Photos Editors Dylan Pichnarcik Alexis Schlesinger Illustrations Editor Ben Hurney Staff Writers Jesse Burchill Carly Paul Liv Dunleavy Jackson Clyde Emily Monaco David Abe

Francisco Omar Fernando Rodriguez

Dante Curry Richard Gill Andrea O’Brien Paul Harrington

Advisor Desmond McCarthy Asst. Advisor Elizabeth Banks

Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education

By Kaitlin Carman Interim Asst. News Editor What is your educational and professional background?

I attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and I received a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology. Then I went on and got my MBA and worked in the private sector for several years.

At one point, a colleague of mine said, “You know, I think you would be a really good teacher. Have you considered teaching at the college level?”

And I thought, no, I’ve never thought of that before. He said his wife was actually a dean at a college in Worcester and he said, “Why don’t you meet with her and just have some conversations because I think you have a lot of really good experience.” I am always open to trying new things and I had a great college experience myself, so I had some conversations with her and began teaching for her. The group that I taught for was mostly adults. I’ve taught all ages at the college level, but I started teaching adult students and I loved it. I just loved it. Then I thought, well, maybe this would be a great career switch. I would love to do work I am passionate about. I then received my doctorate at Northeastern University and my dissertation was about understanding the lived experience of adult students. I ended up getting a position as the director of operations for the Department of Continuing Education at Quinsigamond Community College and I worked there for nine years. Then I decided I wanted to take on a new challenge. So, I went to Worcester State University as the assistant dean of graduate studies and continuing education and I worked there for seven years. I had the opportunity in that role to meet with all the deans of other state universities and so I developed relationships with other deans and learned a little bit about Framingham. When the position of dean became available at Framingham, I was super interested. I went ahead and applied for that position and I was fortunate to be the successful candidate.

What are some of your hobbies?

I love to cook and I love to entertain.

I love to just spend time with my family and friends - whether that be like last weekend, we were eating s’mores around a fire in the backyard, or if it’s hosting a holiday - I love being able to do things like that.

What advice would you give to prospective graduate and continuing

Courtesy of Marilyn A. Cleary education students?

I would say that if you’re having difficulties once you have made the decision to come back or if you’re having challenges, to reach out. There are a lot of resources available to support students but if we don’t know that you’re having difficulty, it is hard for us to support you.

Sometimes, especially with adults, I feel like they think they can figure it out and sometimes, they can, but also sometimes, things can get out of control. So if we were able to assist early during the issue, we can help get it resolved.

There’s a lot of supports we have and we want you to be successful. So, reach out and let us help you through whatever difficulties you might be having.

What are some goals you would like to accomplish during your career at Framingham State?

We know that there’s a large population of adult students in Massachusetts that have some college but for whatever reason, sometimes things get complicated and life gets in the way. They have a lot of other things going on - whether it is family or work obligations. So, I would love to create an environment in Framingham State that could be really welcoming and supportive to adult students who could come back and complete their degree with us.

approach with the graduate students because they’ve already had a successful academic experience. They already received a bachelor’s degree, so they may understand a little bit more about how the educational system works. One of the things I really want to work on is creating some pathways and supports for adult students - and I have a lot of ideas. I actually created a document called “An Adult Student Blueprint.”

I would like to be able to launch some of those things to create pathways and create an environment that is welcoming and supportive to adult students even more than it is now. It’s important to understand the way that people who have worked in their professional lives for many years really might be experts in a field to honor that expertise. When they come to the University, I think it really helps some adults to feel that they’re seen for everything - their life experience, career knowledge - and to really recognize and honor that.

What are your favorite fall activities?

I love to be outside. I love apple picking, pumpkin picking, and again, any activity that I can do with family and friends and just enjoying the foliage.

Halloween is super fun and my birthday is in the fall, too.

How does FSU support graduate and continuing education students? CONNECT WITH KAITLIN CARMAN I think it’s a little bit of a different kcarman@student.framingham.edu

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Saturday, Oct.14 17:56 Well Being Check Towers Hall Assingment Complete

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Saturday, Oct. 14 21:29 Police Information Camous Wide Assigment Complete

Sunday, Oct. 15 01:34 VP/Dean Report McCarthy Center Assigment Complete

Wednesday, Oct. 18 3:46 Unsecured Area O’Connor Hall Door Has Been Secured

NEWS

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 3

Bullet casings found on FSU campus

By Sophia Harris Associate Editor Police are currently investigating a gunshot that was fired in the side of West Hall that occurred Oct. 12 as well as bullet casings that were found in the Maynard Road parking lot by students the following day.

No one was injured in this incident, according to an email sent by the dean of students on Oct.14.

University and Framingham Police do not believe that there is any ongoing threat to the community, at this moment, according to an email sent on Oct. 14 by Meg Nowak-Boreggo, dean of students.

Students, faculty, and staff were notified of these incidents on Saturday, Oct.14.

According to the email, “two students reported finding a bullet casing in the Maynard Road parking lot.”

This finding “prompted police to search security camera footage where they discovered a black-male suspect who fired the shot at around 2:30 a.m. on Thursday,” according to the email.

The shooting on Thursday morning, according to the email, was the result of a “physical altercation involving a group of suspects that occurred around the same time.”

According to the email, police are “still investigating whether or not the suspect was aiming for anyone when the shot was fired.”

Nowak-Borrego said that based on the information she was provided with there is no ongoing threat to the community.

She said the University is continually working to make FSU safe.

She emphasized, “if you see something say something.”

Nowak-Boreggo said she hopes the police are able to “identify what happened and who did it so they can hold them accountable.”

She added that it is a “multi-agency effort.”

Deputy Chief Marty Laughlin is overseeing the investigation along with Framingham Police.

Chief of Police Joseph Cecchi is currently on a planned vacation, so he will not be leading the investigation, according to Laughlin.

Laughlin said that this incident “appears to be isolated,” which is why there is no ongoing threat to the community.

He said the reason the email was sent to the community as a “Safety Bulletin” instead of an FSU Alert is be-

cause the threat to the community had already passed by the time the bullet casings were found.

An FSU alert would have been used if there was an active shooter. Laughlin said the email was sent to students and faculty on Saturday because University Police were still working on getting all the correct information for the com-

everything going on the world today, everyone’s on heightened security.”

He added, “Everyone’s on high alert.”

Laughlin said “If someone’s feeling unsafe regardless of what time of day it is. We do offer safety escorts.”

He added, “If anyone ever has any questions about anything, our doors

“We can be as confident about the protection of our students in our community as we can be, putting all the measures in place.”

- Nancy Niemi, FSU President

munity.

“We wanted all the information we possibly could to make sure that we’re giving out the proper information to the FSU community. That doesn’t happen in two minutes,” he said.

He added, “A lot of stuff goes on be-

always open.

“I’m here all the time. So if they would like to schedule a meeting with me or speak to an officer that’s what we’re here for.”

President Nancy Niemi said students “need to be safe, which I believe

“A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes - a lot of phone calls being made.”

- Martin Laughlin, Deputy Chief of FSU Police

hind the scenes, a lot of phone calls being made.”

Laughlin added the biggest lead on the investigation was the “footage we got on camera.”

He said the department will continue to be more visible, especially “with

Weather

they are.”

She added, “We’re a public institution, and we are just like any other public institution, we are always vulnerable … but we’ve got a great Police Department.”

She said a shooting on campus has

“never happened before.”

Niemi said, “We can be as confident about the protection of our students in our community as we can be, putting all the measures in place.

“We’re trying to make sure we find out everything we can about what happened so that we can bring that to closure as well.”

Senior Kathryn Hansson said after learning about the incident she feels “really confused.”

Hansson said, “The email that the school sent out made it sound like it was no big deal, but I feel like there’s no way to be like, ‘Oh, I’m so safe’ after that because it’s just so peculiar.”

Freshman Sebastian Garcia said he thinks the University Police “spends too much time on ticketing.”

He added, “We have a bullet in the side of the building right now. There might be guns on campus or whatever.

They should probably focus on that, in my opinion.”

Senior Jomelly Munoz Fernandez said, “I feel safe because I’ve seen crazier things in my life.”

She added she hopes that University Police will keep students “in the loop” of how the investigation is progressing.

“It makes me wonder what the follow-ups are and what are they doing to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” she said.

She added, “I don’t feel unsafe because it was just that one incident, and no one else was hurt, which makes me feel better.”

Junior Mark Cote said he hopes University Police will increase their presence around parking lots on campus and the paths that students take to get to them.

“In general people shouldn’t just rely on police, people should try to travel in groups, bring a flashlight, bring their phone, and take the shuttle,” he said.

Framingham State Police urged anyone with any information about these incidents to contact Framingham State University Police at 508-626-4911 or use the anonymous tip line. Tips can be texted to 67283 using the word “FSUTIP” followed by the message.

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA HARRIS sharris9@student.framingham.edu

Forecast provided by the National Weather Service www.weather.gov

Sunday night Oct.22 Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. NW wind around 15 mph.

Monday night Oct. 23 Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. NW wind around 5 mph.

Monday Oct. 23 Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. NW wind around 15 mph.

Tuesday Oct. 24 Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. NE wind around 10 mph.

Tuesday night Oct. 24 Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. SW wind around 10 mph.

Wednesday Oct. 25 Mostly sunny, with a high near 65. SW wind around 10 mph.

Wednesday night Oct. 25 Mostly cloudy, with a low around 50. SW wind around 15 mph.

Thursday Oct. 26 Partly sunny, with a high near 65. SW wind around 15 mph.

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

NEWS

4 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

State of the University Continued from page 1

groups are struggling the most, and then to “create organizational answers to address the discrepancies,” said Niemi.

“If we admit students, we are making an implicit promise to help them succeed. To let them go without graduating leaves them with little education, no degree, and debt – and that’s not acceptable,” said Niemi.

Not only is it an “ethical imperative to support students through their graduation, but “it is much less expensive to keep students than to recruit new ones,” said Niemi.

The UniCversity’s graduation rate was another important vital sign she addressed. The six-year graduation rate for fall 2022 was 55%.

The Job and Internship Fair attracted 43 employers and student participation increased by 36% from last year. Two-hundred-and-twentyone students participated.

In AY 2022-23, 11% of students participated in internships or major-related work.

Another opportunity the institution offers is study abroad, which 2% of the students participate in. Despite the small percentage, it still provides some interesting statistics, Niemi said.

Of the undergraduate students who participated in study abroad, 52% were first-generation students, and 54% identified as students of color, she said.

“Small number, big impact,” Niemi said.

For this academic semester, there are 1,287 residential students – a 94% occupancy rate because many double rooms have been reconfigured as premium singles. Of those residential students, an average of 78% stayed on campus over the first four weekends of this semester.

Niemi also addressed student wellness through data of the use of student services.

“Wellness is an increasingly important measure of our students’ wellbeing,’’ Niemi said.

Niemi said there has been an increase in student participation in counseling. During the 2021-22 academic year, there were 2,591 total sessions, including 116 walk-in sessions.

This increased during AY 2022-23 with 2,874 total sessions, including 184 walk-in sessions, Niemi said.

“It is important to note how much President Nancy Niemi in her office. our students are using our counseling services. We have had these services, According to the Massachusetts Deand our students clearly need them partment of Higher Education, graduand want them, as evidenced by this ation rates are generally measured in data,” she said. six years. These statistics only meaNiemi focused on the undergrad- sure first-time full-time baccalaureate uate enrollment trends from 2020 to degree-seeking first-year students and 2023.

She said in 2020, 3,491 students were enrolled, while in 2021, there were 3,099, and in 2022, there were 2,964.

Although enrollment is still down over 2022, “Declines are slowing as our current first-year class shows, and with a 2% rise in that first-year class, we are beginning to reverse the trend, but we still have much work to do and we will be doing it,” said Niemi.

Niemi said 736 new students enrolled in the Fall 2023 Semester.

Of the new undergraduates for AY 2023-24, 69% are first-time first-year students, 31% are transfer students, 66% are residents, 34% are commuters, 17% are athletes, 54% are first-generation students, 14.5% received honors scholarships, and 89% receive financial aid.

Furthermore, 55% identify as fe- are not inclusive of transfer students. male, 44% identify as male, and 1% do It is “a vital sign that needs to get not identify as female or male. better,” said Niemi.

She also addressed the retention Another indicator of student sucrate, which is defined as the number of cess is “how well the University serves first-year students returning for a sec- students who are registered for disond year. The University’s undergrad- ability services,” said Niemi. Currently, uate retention rate is 72%.

22% of undergraduate and graduate Niemi said although that is about students are registered for disability the same percentage as similar state services. institutions, “We can do better.”

Niemi said, “This is a good thing.

The University intends to analyze We live up to our mission to serve the demographic data to determine which public need.” She said this is only dif-

ficult because the more disability services needed to support students, the more of an investment into training and people they must commit to this task.

The University “needs to find the resources to do that, but do that we must,” she said.

An additional vital sign for the University is diversity and inclusion. The data describing the number of students of color who attend the University and faculty of color who are employed “offers another measure of our progress with diversity,” said Niemi.

“With our continued emphasis on being an anti-racist organization, and forefronting equity and justice on what we do, we are beginning to use

Gatepost Archives

this data to assess our progress on these goals,” Niemi said.

According to demographic data, there is “steady upwards progress in FSU’s percentage of BIPOC students,” said Niemi. In Fall 2017, 34% of under-

“If we admit students, we are making an implicit promise to help them succeed. To let them go without graduating leaves them with little education, no degree, and debt – and that’s not acceptable.”

- Nancy Niemi, FSU President

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

graduate students identified as students of color, while in Fall 2022, 45% of students identified as students of color.

The number of faculty who identify as people of color has been increasing as well, Niemi said.

“The percentage of BIPOC benefit employees has grown considerably over time, starting in 2013 - the numbers continue to rise. It is welcome progress even as we work towards an even greater BIPOC representation on faculty and staff,” said Niemi.

There are few measures that reflect the “extraordinary impact the faculty have on students’ learning, and other contributions to their disciplinary knowledge,” she said.

This past academic year, the office of Grants and Sponsored Programs submitted 52 proposals for faculty grants, with requests totaling $10,516,800. At the close of FY 2023, $4,542,610 has been awarded, and almost $6 million is still pending.

“That’s quite extraordinary, particularly for an institution of our size,” Niemi said.

Other baseline data to determine the success of the institution will include sets such as “climate as it pertains qualitatively to professors and students: how well does everyone feel they belong - for example, the production of scholarship, research, and community involvement, and where are our professors and staff members participating, what kind of research do they do, what kind of scholarships do they produce,” said Niemi.

The University has collected some of this data already, but is continuously gathering more, in order to “show people that’s some of the work we do,” she said.

Employee retention and turnover rates are also important vital signs of the State of the University, Niemi said.

The University is not only keeping track of this data but is actively using it to “inform what’s happening in our community, how we can help retain employees, and how we can make sure that even as they leave, we have more opportunities to offer to our faculty and staff and make sure that we understand why they’re leaving and why they’re staying,” said Niemi.

In 2022, the faculty retention rate was 90.16%, while the staff rate was 85.5%.

She also showed interest in having data sets regarding how faculty members felt they belonged in their departments, to find what ways the University can do better.

FSU’s vital signs will soon include baseline data of alumni, said Niemi.

This data will represent the number of alumni by class year, their careers, organizations they are affiliated with, and their lives post-graduation. “Of course we want students to graduate, that’s our goal, and become alumni,” said Niemi.

There is already some alumni data that has been collected, and more is being collected as well, she said. A greater proportion of alumni are responding to FSU outreach, Niemi added.

According to Niemi, there is alumni interest in giving back through mentoring. There are already some “really excellent alumni mentoring programs, and we will want to develop more based on that data.”

She ended the State of the University address with a quote by poet Amanda Gorman: “for there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.”

CONNECT WITH KAITLIN CARMAN kcarman@student.framingham.edu CONNECT WITH ADAM HARRISON aharrison3@student.framingham.edu

NEWS

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 5

Plan in the works to increase undergraduate enrollment

By Emily Rosenberg Editor-in-Chief The University is preparing a fiveyear strategic enrollment management plan which begins this academic year.

As part of this process, the administration will conduct several studies and implement changes in staffing and marketing, with the purpose of admitting, enrolling, and retaining more students and to reverse an ongoing trend of declining enrollment.

Undergraduate enrollment at the University has declined approximately 36% since the Fall 2014 Semester when undergraduate enrollment was approximately 4,609. Since then, the University has experienced a consistent undergraduate enrollment decline.

In Fall 2022, undergraduate enrollment was approximately 2,970.

In Fall 2023, the overall undergraduate enrollment was 2816 students.

This includes 1817 continuing matriculated students, 499 first-year firsttime students, 259 transfer students, and 261 non-matriculated students.

However, while overall enrollment at the University decreased by 6% in the past year, first-year enrollment increased by 2% from the previous year.

The University enrolled 736 new students for the Fall 2023 Semester.

On Monday, Oct. 16, the administration hosted an enrollment management plan update meeting to share progress made in the enrollment strategy and progress made in enrollment with faculty and staff.

This was also one of the major topics of President Nancy Niemi’s State of the University address, which focused on the institution’s “vital signs” and was delivered via video later that evening.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Kristen Porter-Utley has been hosting virtual “listening sessions” for faculty who are not directly involved with strategic enrollment planning to keep them updated.

During these sessions, faculty have the opportunity to share ideas and feedback.

During the strategic enrollment update on monday, Niemi said, “Of the 4,000-plus institutions of higher education in the United States, all but about 100 of us need to worry about enrollment. We definitely, like most everybody else, do. … Most institutions have had to compete much, much harder for students.”

At the meeting, Iris Godes, dean of strategic enrollment management and chief enrollment officer, said the strategic enrollment management team is very purposely made up of members of the executive staff: Executive Vice President Dale Hamel, Vice President of Academic Enhancement Lorretta Holloway, Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Meg Nowak Borrego, Porter-Utley, and herself.

Holloway will lead a retention team and a persistence and communications team; Godes will lead a data team and an admissions recruitment team; and Porter-Utley will lead an academic programs team.

She said the members of the teams have not been decided yet, but they are

intended to be small for productivity, adding people not directly involved will be able to participate by communicating with a team leader.

She added her intention is to “knock down the silos” at the University and for communication to be better.

Last academic year, Niemi announced the restructuring of the Enrollment and Student Development division and creation of the Academic Enhancement division to address enrollment management.

Niemi said this was one of the most critical first steps to develop an enrollment strategy because the division of Enrollment and Student Development was too large and when a division is that broad, the vice president cannot provide sufficient support to any of its departments.

As part of this restructuring, the University also created a new dean of enrollment and chief enrollment officer position to oversee the enrollment management plan and admissions office.

In May 2023, Godes was appointed chief enrollment officer and dean of enrollment.

“So that’s one of the biggest and probably the single most important thing that restructuring accomplished was that now, we have one division whose sole responsibility is enrollment management, admissions, marketing, financial aid, all the things that matter when you’re trying to recruit students and invite them into a university,” Niemi said.

In addition, an associate director of enrollment communications, Karen Lembo, will begin on Oct. 30. She will work under the direction of Communications Director Dan Magazu and her sole focus will be to manage admissions and enrollment communications, working closely with Godes.

Lembo will also help build out the University’s social media presence.

At the strategic enrollment update, Godes said the enrollment strategy is not just about recruitment but about retention and persistence - admitting students, keeping them at the University until graduation, and then “bragging” about their success as alumni.

Niemi said the restructuring of the administration and the enrollment plan will allow the University to focus deeply on this mission.

She said there is also a difference between the strategic enrollment management plan and a University’s strategic five-year plan. However, they are closely related.

The University’s strategic enrollment plan will result in a complete rebranding of its marketing strategy. The University has updated its logo and will unveil a new website, designed by the marketing group Primacy, in April 2024.

Godes said Primacy held a focus group including faculty, students, and one prospective student, allowing them to interact with a few pages of the new website and provide feedback.

“So the website is your number-one marketing piece, and our website is going to be so dramatically different you won’t recognize the school. So, we’re very excited about what’s coming,” she said.

Godes said what she identified as

not working in the previous enrollment and admissions strategy is that the University was not telling its story well.

She added during her time at the University, she has learned that students have inspiring stories to share that have for some reason not been communicated. For example, she referenced the students-in-the-spotlights, who are students who share their accomplishments at the Board of Trustees meetings during the President’s report.

She said these are the kinds of stories that must be communicated more strategically to prospective students, and that approach has been lacking in previous years.

Godes said a goal of hers is to create a library of these student stories that can be shared with prospective students and which admissions counselors and faculty will have at their disposal to shape recruitment materials.

She said the goal is also to begin a strategic set of communications with prospective students by putting them in contact with an admissions counselor as early as a high school student’s sophomore year.

Godes said as soon as prospective students enter the system, admissions counselors will begin a two-way communication to develop a relationship with the student and truly understand their needs.

Ways that students come into the University’s system as a prospective student could be by coming for a campus visit or taking a standardized test through the college board. FSU also partners with certain college search databases such as Niche.

Godes said the college board is the biggest database for gathering names of prospective students, but there have been fewer names in recent years because Framingham State is a test-optional school.

She added the communications from admissions in previous years seemed to be “task oriented” and transactional - for example, an admissions counselor reaching out to a student for their transcript or financial aid documents.

Godes said that through this consistent line of communication between admissions counselors and prospective students, counselors should be able to discuss some of the opportunities FSU provides as well as ask candidates what they are interested in to tailor their experiences.

She added high school guidance counselors have a big caseload, making it sometimes difficult to help first-generation students to receive the assistance and information in a college search that may be needed, which an admissions counselor can then also help with.

She said she would love for some of this communication to come from current students, adding the inspirational student stories would shape these interactions. For example, if an admissions counselor learned a student was interested in the biology program, they could send them a letter written by a successful biology student currently in the program.

Furthermore, prospective students would be put in contact with faculty in their program of interest.

She said she believes developing this direct line of communication is very important to developing prospective students’ interest in the University.

Godes said from the perspective of candidates, “They are not just sending me everything under the sun that I’m not interested in. They know who I am and they’re sending me information that is very relevant to me.” .

She said parts of this communication plan have been implemented and it will continue to be rolled out over the next few months. Even though she would like to do it “all at once,” she said it takes time.

In addition, the admissions office will be receiving new print material to distribute to prospective students in the system. She said in the past, the University did not distribute brochures or flip books on a “grand scale,” adding that a majority of the print materials that were sent out were postcards, which research has shown to be least effective in gaining student interest.

She said in previous years, the admissions office would also send out a lot of digital ads through email, which are ineffective with high school students if they do not read their email.

She said ideally, the admissions office will use a balance of digital, print, and email materials to convey FSU’s story.

The admissions office will be developing a strategy for all these forms of communication.

For example, she asked how can FSU best utilize print advertisements? She used as an example that the admissions office recently placed an ad in her daughter’s school playbill as she knows a good number of people attend plays at Framingham High School.

Godes said another initiative that is a top priority of hers is recruiting out-of-state students. Scholarships for out-of-state students were funded under the strategic enrollment plan in FY24. The scholarship would help outof-state students afford tuition and fees at an in-state cost.

She said this is to compete with universities on price. “So you know, if I’m from Rhode Island, well, why would I come to Framingham? I can just go to URI, right?”

She added the goal is to target students in the New England area first, although there are unique situations in which students travel across the country to attend Framingham State.

She added there is also potential for digital advertising in the surrounding states and finally developing a strategy for admissions counselors to make out-of-state college visits and go to out-of-state college fairs.

She said it is too early to tell if funding for each of these initiatives over the five-year plan will be definite. If there is a valuable initiative that is proposed in year three, four or five, it might be funded.

“We will be evaluating each year,” she said.

Godes said she will know progress is being made if the University admits more students this year than the year prior and receives more applications, more campus visits, and more inquiries.

See STRATEGIC ENROLLMENT page 7

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

6 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

NEWS

Recent grant funds internships at RRC

By Naidelly Coelho News Editor The Rams Resource Center (RRC) received a grant of $96,042.00 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in January.

Coordinator of Student Support & Advocacy Sarah Ripton said the grant is being used to fund Internship opportunities for students and to refurnish the center.

The RRC had its first open house of the semester Oct. 3. New features at the RRC, including posters, furniture, and brochures, are designed to make the center more welcoming, according to Ripton.

The RRC provides non-perishable food items and toiletries, and offers referrals to regional community organizations for FSU students, faculty, and staff, according to Framingham State’s website.

The RRC is located next to the stairs of West Hall facing the Maynard Parking Lot. Ripton said she applied for the ARPA grant in October 2022 and received it in January 2023. The grant was largely in response to the “ever-declining retention rates among BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] students throughout the state of Massachusetts and the nation - which was only sped up as a result of the pandemic.”

“A large part [of the money was used] to mitigate issues of unmet need during the summer and over breaks when dining services are closed. We supplied food and housing for the summer and school year breaks for over 10 students facing basic needs and insecurities,” she said.

With this grant, RRC was able to offer two internship positions to BIPOC students and learn about the networks and systems that support basic need insecurity throughout the MetroWest region, she said.

“One of the things I wanted to do with some of the grant money that I received last year from the ARPA funding was to offer non-stigmatized basic needs to students, where they felt like they mattered because they do,” Ripton said.

She said “revamping” the center would attract more students to visit the center more frequently because the space would make them feel more welcome there.

Ripton said all the new furniture was bought and donated from Facebook Marketplace.

She said this can be a “lesson” to students that after leaving campus housing, it is not difficult to furnish a house because there are many places where they can get furniture for little to no cost.

“You don’t need to spend any money to furnish. … It’s trying to make that knowledge available to everyone in our community because not everyone knows that. Down the street, we have a store, which is Habitat for Humanity, and they will give us a lot of stuff for very, very cheap. So it’s about using our community for what we offer,” Ripton said.

The RRC has many partnerships with regional institutions and resources to provide students, staff, and fac-

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

ulty with hygiene products, toiletries, and food, she said.

Ripton said Circle of Hope provides the center with soap, shampoo, deodorant, sheets, towels, and menstrual products.

Circle of Hope’s mission is to provide infants, children, and adults experiencing homelessness in Boston and MetroWest with clothing and necessities in order to preserve and enhance overall health and personal dignity, according to the organization’s website.

The RRC has a food pantry from which students, faculty, and staff can take any goods they need. All food provided is easy to prepare. All goods are purchased from Stop & Shop, she said.

“We have a standing purchase order - I’m the one that goes to the store and does all the shopping for it,” Ripton said.

The RRC also offers clothes and makeup, she said.

“Makeup is a new addition as well as jewelry. Just because, if you need that to access society at its highest level, then it’s a basic need because you should be able to access as much wealth, possibility, and opportunity as anyone else. And so creating that space was a big thing - it’s been very popular,” Ripton added.

Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Meg Nowak Borrego said over 85% of FSU students are Pell Grant-eligible, meaning they and their families demonstrate “exceptional financial need.”

According to the Federal Student Aid website, federal Pell Grants award students who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree with financial aid that does not require repayment.

According to a state-wide survey conducted by Hunger Free Campus, “37% of public university students in Massachusetts are food insecure.

“Because of historic and contemporary divestment and discrimination, Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ students disproportionately experience food insecurity - at rates of 52%, 47%, and 46%, respectively. Student parents also experience higher rates of food insecurity at 53%,” according to the Hunger-Free Campus website.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education website, BIPOC students suffer from food insecurity more often than students from other backgrounds.

Of students who suffer food insecurity, only 20% use resources such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the Hunger-Free Campus website.

According to the Food and Nutrition website, students who are enrolled in a meal plan do not qualify for SNAP. This semester, visits to the Rams Resource Center have increased. Ripton said by October 31, 2022, 94 clients had visited the center.

The RRC has seen 218 clients since the beginning of this semester - a 34% increase over last year, she said.

Ripton said, “Summer ’23 was the first year the RRC was open on a schedule. It offered food and resources that all of the students living on campus during the summer had access to.”

The RRC Fall hours are Monday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10:30

a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The RRC also provides after-hours availability to students who might have a job or another outside responsibility during regular hours of operation, Ripton said.

“I always do my absolute best to accommodate the hard-working FSU students looking to access resources or any of our assistance programs outside of normal business hours on a case-by-case basis,” she said.

The RRC is closed if the University is closed due to inclement weather or the recognition of holidays.

Anyone can donate. Donation bins are located on campus in the Dean of Students Office, the Game Room, the Snack Bar, the Veterans Services Center, and the Independent Association of Framingham State Alumni House (42 Adams Road), according to the FSU website.

Shania Chatelain`23 said due to her dietary restrictions, the RRC has been helpful when providing food to her.

She said the RRC provides frozen food. “I have a microwave and fridge on campus so it makes it easier to grab meals.”

Chatelain encourages students to use the RRC as a resource. “I tell students, ‘Hey, if you need Lysol wipes - just basically anything like utensils, just stop by like the Rams Resource Center and they practically have all that you’re looking for.’ They’re just wonderful people and staff.”

She added the services the RRC pro-

vides should be better known across the community.

Rams Resource Center Student Intern Angela Mentor-Vilgrain said her responsibility is to help students shop and advise on their needs.

“The Rams Resource Center isn’t your only resource - there are other things outside of this that could help you,” she said.

She added she also sponsors events and tables in conjunction with resources such as South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC), Women, Infants, & Children Nutrition Program (WIC), and Circle of Hope.

Mentor-Vilgrain said another part of her job is social media content creation. She has created a new Instagram for the center in order to increase its popularity. Students can access the RRC Instagram @rrc_fsu.

Framingham State offers additional resources for students, such as crisis assistance, an emergency meal bank, housing and food assistance, a task force for supporting students with food and housing needs, and financial assistance options, according to the FSU website.

For more information about those resources, visit framingham.edu/student-resources or reach out to the Dean of Students’ office at (508) 6264596.

CONNECT WITH NAIDELLY COELHO ncoelho@student.framingham.edu

Strategic enrollment

NEWS

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 7

Continued from page 5 “Higher education is an extremely important thing. And the news media is saying you don’t really need a degree, right? We’ve all heard it. So we’ve got to figure out how to message that so that those students who think it is not so important understand what they’re missing,” she added.

She said a lot of industries are changing their job requirements to no longer require college degrees because of a lack of applicants, adding another idea the media pushes is learning a trade is more valuable than attending a liberal arts college, which isn’t necessarily true for every student. “It worries me that people are starting to choose not to go to college.”

Another initiative the admissions office has begun is a direct admissions pilot program with Framingham High School. Through this program, students are essentially being scouted by Framingham State admissions counselors and all they have to do is fill out a short application form.

Godes also addressed MassReconnect, a program that was launched in the State Legislature’s FY24 budget that provides free tuition at any community college in the state for students 25 years or older who complete the FAFSA. The program also plans to provide all new students of any age who complete the FAFSA with free access to community college starting in the Fall 2024 Semester.

Godes said she is actively considering how this new program will affect enrollment at FSU, but it is not in her proposed plan for this year.

She added as of right now, she is unsure who will take advantage of the program when it opens up to all ages in the Fall 2024 Semester and how that will affect enrollment at FSU. She said there are several reasons why students may opt not to take advantage of the MassReconnect program. For example, local, low-income students may receive adequate enough financial aid to attend Framingham State at a similar cost to attending a community college for free.

“So there’s still ways to make it just as affordable to come here and then you don’t need to go through the transfer process.”

However, she said one way she imagines the University may lose enrollment is people seeking undergraduate degrees who would have come to Framingham State for their first two years but instead attend community colleges.

Therefore, a critical strategy would be beginning communication with prospective students as soon as they start their education at their community colleges. “To say, ‘Hey! Congratulations for being in this program.

We hope you, when you finish this program, come to Framingham. And here’s the pathway for you and let’s keep the conversation going.”

According to Lisa Slavin, Vice President for Enrollment Management at MassBay Community College, her college saw a 17.5% increase in enrollment during the Fall 2023 Semester, which she noted was like-

ly due both to students coming back from COVID-19 isolation as well as the implementation of the MassReconnect program.

Slavin said the admissions office hosted information sessions throughout the summer to help inform students of the new program, although they had a short amount of time to get the word out because the funding for the program was announced in August. She added they also ran digital advertisements and reached out to former students who may have dropped out due to financial reasons to encourage them to continue their education.

She said they also hired a parttime position called a MassReconnect navigator to focus on answering students’ questions about eligibility for the program.

“Providing free tuition and fees and books is huge for any student, especially many of our students, because a lot of them are working full time,” Slavin said.

In the Spring 2024 Semester, MassBay will also open a four-story building on Franklin Street in Framingham that will be home to programs in early childhood education, health sciences, and human services education with “leading-edge labs.”

The building will also host a new program offering a diagnostic medical sonography associate’s degree launching in 2025.

Provost Porter-Utley said as part of the enrollment planning process, the administration established four working groups: Academic Program portfolio, Fiscal and Financial Aid, Student Admissions, Recruitment and Marketing, and Student Success.

All four of these groups were in charge of conducting situational analysis and collecting data on their respective areas of the University’s profile and reporting back to the enrollment management team. A lot of this data was collected during the 2022-23 academic year.

One faculty member served on Marketing, two served on Student Success, and four on Academic Programs.

Some of the data collected concerned the student populations of each academic program. The working groups also identified unique programs the University offers such as Rams 101, Honors classes, and the 4+1 initiatives.

She added for some reason, departments have not been receiving data analysis on market demand or trends, which is also an area of data included in the reports.

She said market demand analysis will be helpful for departments in identifying regional partners, in developing opportunities for co-ops and internships, and to help structure course and program offerings around employment opportunities and trends.

“That’s all information we can use, and provide on a regular basis to help us always reconsider what it is that we’re doing,” Porter-Utley said.

“Those are the kinds of conversations that can really help to enrich an existing program that’s quite

successful. Or they might say, ‘Wow! It looks like there’s going to be a big opportunity for students in this area. … Or is it reasonable for us - does it meet our mission to offer this kind of program?’”

She added the goal is to have a packet of information available for departments by the Fall 2024 Semester.

The packet of information would be a “one stop” for department chairs to assess enrollment trends, prospective students’ needs, and market demand analysis.

She added part of the analysis will be determining what adjustments will be made to academic programs to support student success, whether that be adding or subtracting courses or programs, although it is too soon to decide right now.

Porter-Utley said there is also a prospective student survey that has just been completed and is being analyzed by the working groups.

President Niemi said the Office of the President oversees the entire process and sets the priorities.

She said those priorities focus on the idea that FSU is a public regional institution. “We serve the public good. No matter what else we do that does not and should not change.

“In terms of strategic enrollment, what is it that we need to plan to do and then do in order to best fulfill that role of serving the public good and the region,” she added. “The population of students that we serve has changed. … So, how are we strategizing our enrollment in order to serve that population?”

Niemi said marketing had no strategic plan in the past, adding this was an issue because the medium for marketing has changed drastically over the past 20 years.

She said over the course of the last year, as the University developed a marketing strategy with Primacy, the mission was making the value proposition clear.

Niemi said it is not true that the bigger the marketing budget, the more students will apply to the university. Rather, it is about applying marketing strategically and targeting the correct audiences so the money is being used in the right places.

She added the University should “not be afraid to market its biggest and boldest programs,” but that the marketing should be more specific about what students can come to FSU for.

“We need to be unapologetic about the quality and the value,” she added.

Niemi said often, students and parents of students will compare the value of a college by looking at the cost of tuition and fees. She said the University could get a lot better at communicating the value of an FSU education at a lower cost rather than just being perceived as a “cheap” option.

At the same time, the University is also putting together its 10-year NECHE accreditation report and performing a self study. Niemi said a lot of that data can then be used to assist in the strategic enrollment planning because a lot of it is applicable.

She said under the NECHE accred-

itation process, the University could potentially receive a “red flag” if it were to be perceived as not meeting the minimal requirements for planning and organization regarding its enrollment strategy.

Kate Caffrey, a professor in the communication, media, and performance department and president of the MSCA faculty union, said the messaging to faculty about the strategic enrollment planning has been better compared to last year, when there was not much transparency.

She said she believes the plan is moving toward a market strategy that fits the idea that students only want a degree to get a job and it is too focused on job training, which is not what a liberal arts education is necessarily for.

“If you talk to many of the faculty at Framingham State, they would say that job training at a college is not a good idea because many of the jobs that are available now will not be available in 10 years. What’s more important with college education is that you learn to think critically.

You learn how to solve problems. You learn how to be a good citizen. You learn how to pivot when the world changes,” she said.

Caffrey added that it is racist and classist to imply that state universities exist to train workers. “I don’t think they’d say that about students at Harvard. I think they expect students at Harvard to invent things - to go on and create things. To become the leaders of the future. Why not our state college students?”

She said what the University should better convey to prospective students is the valuable faculty and student relationships that are developed at FSU. She compared the small class sizes at FSU to the class sizes of around 150 students at a larger university, saying here, she is also able to build relationships with and advise students who are not majors in her department.

SGA President Evelyn Campbell said she is going to be learning a lot about the strategic enrollment planning process as she will be serving as a student representative on the committee soon.

She said something the University could focus on to help recruit more students is increasing its social media presence, adding she sees a lot of school-wide events featured on social media pages at FSU’s sister universities.

Campbell added coming in as a student after COVID-19 isolation, she did not know a lot about FSU, but she has been able to create her own story.

She said highlighting how big of an impact students have on each other at the University would be critical to the message sent to prospective students, because this is not always the case at other schools.

“I think because of how small we are in terms of class sizes and who’s involved, that you really do have an opportunity to be impacted and impact others here,” she said.

CONNECT WITH EMILY ROSENBERG erosenberg@student.framingham.edu

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

8 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

OP/ED THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL

Safety is everyone’s responsibility The Dean of Students released a safety bulletin to the campus community on Oct. 14 regarding a shooting in the Maynard Parking Lot behind West Hall Oct. 12.

As the campus community waits for the investigation to be completed and a suspect to be identified, it is important for everyone to remain calm.

The University Police and members of the administration have assured us there is not an ongoing threat to the community.

Framingham State is a safe campus in a safe area of the MetroWest region. We have no reason to believe this was not an isolated incident.

However, we understand why some students may feel unsettled or be on high alert as the investigation continues because details have not been disclosed in order to avoid compromising the case.

Furthermore, incidents such as this do not happen every day on college campuses.

Also, some may ask why the news of the incident was not delivered to the campus community sooner.

According to Deputy Chief Marty Laughlin, University Police did not want to release the information until all of the accurate information had been collected, and the instance of the shooting posing an active threat to the community had passed.

In this instance, The Gatepost accepts this reasoning for a delay in communication.

There are systems in place to keep us safe every day.

Following the discovery of a bullet casing by two students, the University Police responded quickly, investigating the scene of the discharge and questioning student desk attendants and other students.

Additionally, they have performed periodic checks over the past week with SDAs to confirm that they are OK, and to ask them if they have seen any suspicious activity. The University Police normally patrols the campus on foot and in cruisers 24/7, but described their recent measures as heightening security.

The Gatepost thanks University Police for taking these necessary steps to ensure students feel safe following this anxiety-provoking news.

On the other hand, on a small college campus, it is our responsibility to have each oth-

er’s backs. We are all interconnected as we share ideas and cultures and engage in learning, but it is also critical to keep one another safe.

The best way to protect one another is to be aware of suspicious activity and to report it to the University Police.

If a student is feeling unsafe, the University Police can be reached in an emergency by using one of the blue light boxes strategically placed around campus. They are mid-height blue pillars with the word “emergency” on them.

These allow students to contact University Police by simply pressing a button. Additionally, students can make use of a police safety escort service through the blue boxes for traveling back to their residence halls or vehicle, if no other options are available.

These blue-light emergency boxes are outside every residence hall, on the left side of Dwight Hall, and in front of the Honors House, among other places.

Members of the community can also contact University Police anonymously by texting the words FSUTIP to 67283. If members of the community have information they need to share with FSU Police, but would prefer to remain anonymous, this provides a means of two-way communication in which the tipster’s vicinity and identity is not identified.

Additionally, if students are uncomfortable speaking to University Police, they should know that relevant information they share with department chairs, resident assistants, and administrators must be reported to University Police because they are mandated reporters.

Use these people as resources during times of concern.

When there is suspicious activity happening on campus, don’t ignore it until it is too late or assume someone else has reported it already.

When there is suspicious activity happening on campus, it is the responsibility of all of us to report it and protect each other.

See something, say something.

Have an opinion?

Feel free to email it to: gatepost@framingham.edu Opinions should be about 500 words.

Anyone can submit.

We look forward to hearing from you!

The Gatepost Editorial reflects the opinions of the newspaper’s Editorial Board. Signed Op/Eds reflect the opinions of individual writers. @TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

Give power back to the truth

By Adam Levine Editorial Staff There are more than two sides to every story, and the truth lies somewhere amidst them all.

In 2016, American actress Amber Heard filed a divorce from her husband of 15 months, American actor and musician Johnny Depp.

Heard additionally filed a restraining order against Depp, claiming he physically and verbally abused her during their marriage.

Later, still in 2016, Depp and Heard settled their divorce, in which Heard received $7 million.

In 2018, Heard described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse” in an op-ed in The Washington Post.

Although Heard never mentioned Depp by name in her oped, Depp filed a $50 million defamation suit in 2019. Heard responded to this with a $100 million defamation countersuit.

The jury found Depp and Heard both liable for defaming each other, awarding Depp $15 million in damages from Heard, and awarding Heard $2 million from Depp, according to Insider.

In the end, no one won.

Through my own research of the case, I felt conflicted on what side to believe and who to believe was the victim.

At the beginning, I was ashamed of being a fan of Depp for the disgusting things he was accused of.

During the trial, I saw Depp take the stand and plead a case.

I no longer saw him as a celebrity, but rather as a man beaten and drained by these accusations.

As I read more on the case, and continue to read more, I no longer know how to feel.

In 2022, New York Times writer Jeremy W. Peters published an opinion titled “Depp Trial Exposes Risks to Media in Airing #MeToo Accusations.”

In 2022, New York Times opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg published an op-ed titled “The Amber Heard Verdict Was a Travesty. Others Will Follow.”

There are more than two sides to every story.

Peters explored the problems that can arise with publishing accusations of abuse. Goldberg explored the perspective of the jury’s decisions and its relationship to other victims - the problems that may arise with victims being scared to step forward.

In 2021, Lindsay Hill accused professional baseball player Trevor Bauer of sexually assaulting her.

Peters’ and Goldbergs’ articles could not be any more prevalent in the recent case of Trevor Bauer and Lindsay Hill.

Bauer won the National League Cy Young award during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. Just after, he signed a threeyear, $102 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Despite his elite playing, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred suspended Bauer for 324 games in April 2021. An arbitrator later cut the suspension down to 194 games in December 2022, but at that point the Dodgers already released Bauer from their roster.

According to NPR, it is estimated that Bauer will lose $37.6 million due to his suspension and it is still unclear whether or not another MLB team will sign him.

On Oct. 2, Bauer and Hill continued to deny each other’s claims, but agreed to settle the case without either side paying, according to The Washington Post.

I first heard of this case from seeing a video Bauer posted on X, formerly Twitter, in which he shared details of the case that were no longer confidential after the settlement.

After hearing his portrayal of the case, and brief research of my own, I felt bad for Bauer, who I viewed as a victim. He lost part of his career, money, and his reputation.

I continued to read.

Hill, who at one point was viewed as a victim, is now seen by many as a malicious woman who was chasing Bauer’s money, and is now a victim in a different way.

There are more than two sides to every story, and the truth lies somewhere amidst them all.

I urge victims to always speak up.

But more importantly, I urge the world to step back, read, research, and understand as many sides of the story before you claim to know the truth - before you claim to identify the victim.

The truth has lost power over the years.

I fell into the trap of claiming to know the truth and in the end, I took away power from the truth.

Give power back to the truth.

Give power back to victims.

Give victims the power to have their truth heard.

OP/ED

Listening to Black women

By Izayah Morgan Opinions Editor

Many years of my life were surrounded by Black women. I always pushed myself as I got older to understand the unique challenges they faced.

However, research can only get you so far. Sometimes, to truly understand it, it’s best to listen. I talked to the women in my family, friends, and coworkers who helped me to understand the unique challenges that Black women face.

As a Black man, I face microaggressions every day from people because of my race, but rarely for being a man. I cannot even fathom living in a society that has barriers in place for not just me being Black, but also a woman.

Listening is something we think we all do well, but it requires us to take a step back. This requires us to take our own emotions out and just listen.

So that’s what I did. I listened to all the Black women I could - friends, family, coworkers, associates, and people I saw just walking by.

The first question I asked is what are some of the stereotypes, positive or negative, that Black women experience?

Answers were varied. But a lot of

what I heard was the over masculinization of the Black woman, not only thinking they’ll respond in every situation with aggression but also that they are incapable of feminine qualities.

Other stereotypes include being single mothers, undesirable, and abusers of government systems, such as welfare or food stamps.

These views lead to an implicit bias of their place in society, changing views on how we think they should be.

This isn’t the truth.

Black women, much like anyone else, are people, are fickle - they fit certain stereotypes and not others.

Don’t view them as anything else, not a stereotype, not a caricature, or anything but a person.

But as a person.

A person that’s been through trauma, love, lust, highs, and lows.

My friend, who will remain anonymous, mentioned labels and how they can stick with us for a long time.

“I just want society to view me as a person that has their own consciousness, who can make decisions, and make mistakes without a label attached to those mistakes.”

Another topic that was touched in multiple interviews was active listening. Whether they’re in relationships, currently looking for someone, or just

existing in society, they aren’t actively listened to.

Our first reaction is always to respond, add in our own experience, and try to be good natured.

However, when someone opens up to us about the trauma and hardships they face in life, our first response shouldn’t be to compare ourselves.

It means coming to terms with how they feel, and empathizing with it.

Through these talks, I asked myself the question, “What place do I as a man have to tell these women how dangerous their life is or compare it against my own?”

I have to wrestle with it and come to terms with being in this society and understanding this is just a fraction of what Black women have to go through every day.

All the same though, I don’t want to end on a negative note. Because there’s so much negativity when it comes to the stereotypes and biases against Black women.

The music, food, culture, wisdom, and just love I felt from Black women speaks volumes to what they achieve.

Black women can be powerful, challenge the status quo, or just be normal people.

Octavia E. Butler, Maya Angelou, Zora Hurston, and Nnedi Okorafor, all

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 9

made history but in the end were people.

My mom, sister, friends, they’re all just people.

People who have gone on to live their lives, making mistakes along the way but in the end are always a pleasure, but much more importantly deserve to be listened to.

I have no place to question the struggles they face or what they can and can’t do.

Sitting back listening to their experiences helped me come to a realization.

I don’t listen.

Men don’t listen.

We as a society don’t listen.

In all my interviews most would ask me why I’m doing this. My response was because I wanted to. I want to hear from Black women. More importantly I want them to be listened to.

If this article is seen by one person and helps them listen better to Black women, then it was a success.

If it is seen by no one but the Black women I talked to and they know I listened, then it was a success.

Black women are a success.

Never - and I mean never - forget that.

Em’s Gems: The Ketchup Thief

Emily Monaco / THE GATEPOST FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

OP/ED

10 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

Campus Conversations Do you feel safe on campus?

By Izayah Morgan, Opinions Editor, and Interim Asst. Design & Photos Editors Dylan Pichnarcik and Alexis Schlesinger

“Yeah, I feel safe on campus. There isn’t much that scares me.”

- Ayou Bessaoui, freshman

“Yes, I do feel safe on campus.”

- Jaimee Lowe, freshman

“Right now, not so much. We got an email the other day about a gun on campus, but we heard about it a few days after it happened. But usually, I feel pretty safe.”

- Jetta Oskirko, senior

“As of right now, probably not the safest.

I feel like it was a little weird that the email was sent a few days after the incident occurred. I feel like it should’ve been prioritized, but usually, it’s not too bad.”

“For sure, for sure.”

“I be chillin’, I really do.”

- Darrell Coombs, senior

- Stephanie Augustus, junior

- Kaitlyn Monroe, junior

“Yes, I do feel very safe on campus. I think it’s a very small, secluded campus.

I think the people here want to be in a community where they can feel safe and walk around without any bad thoughts.”

“Yeah, I feel safe. I always see the police cars around and that’s cool.”

- Jordan Ortins, freshman

- Aili Schiavoni, sophomore

- John Burke, sophomore

“Yeah, I mean I’ve surrounded myself with good people. I have good friends and I feel safe when I’m with them.”

- Mayla Wilson, freshman

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

“That’s a tough one. Generally, I do but with recent events with the shooting over by West, I have been a bit more cautious walking around at night, especially since I live in West.”

“I do feel safe in my own room, but with certain situations that have happened recently I’ve been taking extra precautions.”

“I feel very safe on campus. I feel the student body here is very safe. We have a blue light system, it’s well lit, there’s no reason for me not to feel safe.”

- Krystalee Fernandez, junior

- Stella Bailey, sophomore

SPORTS

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 11

Athletic department launches women’s ice hockey program

By Adam Levine Sports Editor The Framingham State Athletic Department announced the addition of women’s ice hockey as the Rams’ 15th varsity athletic program and Bob Lavin as the team’s head coach Oct. 16.

The women’s ice hockey team will begin competition during the 2024-25 academic year, according to a press release from the Athletic Department.

Athletic Director Tom Kelley said planning for this program started three years ago.

Kelley said adding this program allows the Athletic Department to help the University meet one of the three major prongs of Title IX. He said, “One of the three prongs of Title IX is continually adding, trying to add women’s opportunities.”

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) website, Title IX compliance is assessed by the opportunities for both men and women student-athletes a university provides, rather than an equal allotment of the budget.

Executive Vice President Dale Hamel said, “We’re in compliance with Title IX. But continuing to be in compliance, we have to continue to show progress.”

Hamel said other sports came up in the conversation of what new varsity athletic program to add.

He said they considered changing the school’s club women’s rugby team to a varsity sport but they would want to change the club men’s rugby team at the same time, which would take away the Title IX benefits.

“Women’s ice hockey seemed to make the most sense for this round,” Hamel said.

He said the school anticipates spending approximately $100,000 a year on the women’s ice hockey program.

“That’s pretty easy to identify because that’s about what we spend on the men’s team,” Hamel said.

He said women’s ice hockey is a growing sport across the country and the University’s program will provide athletes a place to continue playing after high school.

According to the High School Athletes Participation Survey of 2021-22 and 2022-23, conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations, the number of women’s ice hockey programs increased from 699 to 713.

Athletics Deputy Director Carey Eggen said another reason to add women’s ice hockey is the growing opportunity within the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC).

Eggen said the school typically cre-

ates a new sport at the club level before adding it as a varsity sport.

She said with the potential for the MASCAC to add women’s ice hockey as a sport as well as the growing interest across the country, it made sense to add the program as a varsity sport for the 2024-25 academic year.

Head Coach Lavin said he heard about the job opening in the beginning

ice hockey.

He said the response has been positive. “They were really excited because they think it’s a great opportunity for their players on their team.

“They’ve been really receptive and I’ve had quite a bit of interest,” Lavin added.

He said he is confident he will successfully recruit athletes in the future.

“[Coach Lavin is] the perfect coach for this mission.”

- Tom Kelley, Athletic Director of the summer and the opportunity intrigued him.

“It sounded interesting because it’s a new program and women’s hockey is very popular now,” he said. “It appealed to me because Framingham State is a great spot to have a women’s team because the school has some great programs offered.”

Lavin was the FSU head men’s ice hockey coach from 2001 to 2003 and has coached at other college and high school programs.

He said he has coached women’s ice hockey at high school skills clinics and summer camps, but this will be his first time serving as a women’s head coach.

Lavin said, “The girls are very competitive.

“The competition is the same and

“I think once the first year is under our belt and people know we’re around, girls are going to start migrating to Framingham State because of the reputation of the school.

“The other women’s programs are very successful and that will breed successful women’s teams as well,” Lavin said.

He said the first step in recruiting is to identify top players in high school programs and then see if their academic interests match programs offered at the University.

Lavin said he is searching for two goaltenders for the roster.

“I want to build the team from the net out,” he said.

Lavin said the goal is to recruit 15 to 18 athletes for the first season and

Bob Lavin, Head Women’s Ice Hockey Coach the skill levels are the same - high-end players are all challenged,” he added.

Lavin said he has already begun reaching out to high school and club coaches in the world of New England

Courtesy of Bob Lavin

eventually grow the roster to fill 30 to 40 spots.

“I think there’ll be girls at other schools who, once they see that we have ice hockey here at Framingham

State, will be interested and looking at transferring,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get some sophomores and juniors transferring from other schools because they didn’t offer hockey.

“I think that’s cool,” Lavin added.

Head Men’s Ice Hockey Coach Mike Bailey said the new program is a “great addition.”

Bailey said it shows to the rest of the state that the University “finds it important to add the women’s team.”

He said many other state schools have already added, or are adding, women’s ice hockey programs.

Bailey said, “Framingham State is right there with the rest of them, being proactive” by adding women’s ice hockey.

He said the new team “brings more attention to the University as far as hockey goes.

“I think it’ll help as far as having the female athletes supporting us and us supporting them,” Bailey added.

He said women’s ice hockey has grown as a sport in Massachusetts starting at the youth level.

Bailey said, “It’s a serious sport.

“It’s nice to finally see that Framingham State recognizes these female athletes and gives them the venue to go out, succeed and enjoy Framingham State and what it has to offer academically and athletically,” he added.

Ashton Collazo, a junior and one of the assistant captains of the men’s ice hockey team, said he knows a lot of women playing DI and DIII women’s ice hockey, and it is a growing sport across the nation.

In a press release, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) announced their inaugural season beginning in January 2024 and one of the league’s six teams is located in Boston.

Collazo said, “Women’s hockey is growing each year, so it’s good to get the program in here as well.”

He said the new team can help build up all aspects of what the University has to offer.

Collazo said, “I think having a [women’s] hockey team, obviously it’s going to bring in more kids - more athletes.”

Athletic Director Kelley said he travels to ice rinks and can see women’s ice hockey growing as a sport at the high school level.

He said, “There’s a lot of teams out there. There’s a lot of players. There are not enough programs to go around.

“I’m hoping it’s an easy sell,” Kelley added.

He said, “I think we’re going to be a service to a lot of high school kids who are looking for a place to play.

“I think it’s the right time to do it,” Kelley added.

He said there were many applicants interested in the head coach position, but they weren’t the “right fit, the right time.” “[Coach Lavin is] the perfect coach for this mission,” Kelley said.

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

SPORTS

12 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

Football drops game against WestConn

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

By Dante Curry Staff Writer

The Framingham State Rams lost to the Western Connecticut State University Wolves 56-34 in a MASCAC matchup at Bowditch Field Oct. 14.

WestConn has now scored at least 50 points three games in a row.

The Rams now hold an overall record of 3-3 and a conference record of 3-2.

Safety Chase Buono said everyone is responsible for the loss.

He said, “You can’t blame either side.

“Honestly, it’s on all of us. It’s not on any individual. It’s us,” Buono added.

The Rams deferred at the coin toss and the Wolves began the first offensive drive of the game.

WestConn traveled 59 yards during their opening drive, ending with a 1-yard rushing touchdown and a suc-

cessful extra-point attempt.

After the Rams and Wolves alternated two defensive stops each, the Wolves held a 7-0 lead entering the second quarter.

Framingham’s offensive drive, which started in the first quarter, ended with an 18-yard rushing touchdown from running back Devaun Ford.

Ford’s two-point conversion attempt failed and the Wolves held a 7-6 lead.

The Wolves matched the Rams’ touchdown with a drive that ended with a 60-yard touchdown pass. Their successful extra-point attempt increased their lead to 14-6.

Framingham answered back in the following drive.

The Ram’s 65-yard drive ended with a touchdown with a 4-yard run up the gut from Ford for his second of the game.

Despite two holding penalties against Framingham’s offense, Ford’s touchdown and kicker Matthew Farley’s extra-point attempt increased the score to 14-13, still in favor of the

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Framingham’s offense at the line of scrimmage during 56-34 loss to WestConn Oct. 14.

Wolves.

Farley made all three of his extra-point attempts of the game and has now made 12 of his 13 attempts this season.

Despite a defensive stop from Framingham, the Rams’ offense did not produce any more scores in the half.

WestConn scored a 48-yard passing touchdown on their final offensive drive of the first half, which only lasted one play.

The Wolves led 21-13 at halftime.

The Rams started the second half with the football.

After Framingham’s offense punted away their first possession of the half, WestConn quickly added another 7 points to the scoreboard.

Despite their secure lead, WestConn’s offense continued their attack.

After a defensive stop, the Wolves opted to run a play on fourth down instead of punting away the ball.

The Rams’ defense held strong.

The Wolves’ touchdown was the only score of the third quarter and they led 28-13 going into the fourth quarter.

WestConn increased their lead to 35-13 with another score to start the fourth quarter.

On Framingham’s kick-off return, running back Bibi Ramos ran the ball back for an 81-yard touchdown.

Farley’s successful kick brought the Rams within two scores of the Wolves.

Framingham’s special team scored a kickoff return touchdown in each of their last two games.

Ramos said his teammates made blocks to allow his run.

He said, “We practiced it all week and then we executed.”

After Ramos’ touchdown, a chance

for a Rams’ comeback faded.

WestConn scored another touchdown.

The Wolves’ defense then intercepted a pass from the Rams’ quarterback, EJ Nichols, on the following drive.

Their offense capitalized with another touchdown, this one from just one offensive play.

WestConn took a 49-20 lead over the Rams.

The remaining three offensive drives all resulted in touchdowns, two for the Rams and one for the Wolves.

The Wolves beat the Rams 56-34.

After an upcoming bye week, Framingham travels to Mass. Maritime for another MASCAC matchup Oct. 28.

Head Coach Tom Kelley said the bye week allows the team to think about how to improve for the end of the season.

He said, “I would rather just be getting ready for an opponent, and we will.”

Kelley said the last three games are about the seniors and “sending them off on a positive note.”

WESTCONN 56 FRAMINGHAM STATE 34 Stats sourced from fsurams.com and MASCAC.com

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu CONNECT WITH DANTE CURRY dcurry@student.framingham.edu

Meet the Captains - Volleyball CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

Hailey Sanders

Anna Szymanski

Hailey Sanders, 22, is a middle hit- Coach Richard Casali during recruitter for the FSU volleyball team and a ment. member of the Class of 2024.

“I originally got recruited for basShe majors in child and family stud- ketball and then I wanted to play both ies with a minor in sociolsports,” Sanders said. “I ogy. ended up just sticking Sanders said she with volleyball because I doesn’t want to teach, loved it.” but still wants to work in She said her favorite the field of child developpart of FSU is the commument after graduating. nity and everyone is “in She said she started touch” with each other. playing volleyball during “Everyone looks out her freshman year at for each other,” Sanders Franklin High School in added.

Franklin.

She said growing up Sanders said she her favorite sport to danced growing up but watch was basketball be“wasn’t too good at it.” cause her grandfather She said, “I wanted to was a huge fan. get into sports more.”

Sanders said her favorSanders said she chose ite team to watch is the FSU because of the proxConnecticut Suns of the imity to her hometown Women’s National BasDylan Pichnarcik / ketball Association. and the “dynamic of the THE GATEPOST team and coach, especialShe said her favorite Hailey Sanders ly.” part of the FSU volleyball She said she commutes attempting a block. team is their connection. to campus. “I love it.

“This is a really strong “It’s nice to get off campus and team this year. I really appreciate how bring the girls over to our houses too,” genuine they are,” Sanders said.

Sanders added.

She said she reached out to Head

Anna Szymanski, Class of ’23, 22, is of high school after the club team she an outside hitter for the FSU volleyball played for faced Casali’s club team. team.

“I think we beat them. I’m pretty Szymanski finished undergrad with sure we did. I think we actually kind of a degree in elementary education and smoked them,” Szymanski said. is now in graduate school for educaShe said Casali reached out to her tion technology. the following weekend.

She said, “It’s focusing on how to “Once I toured here, I really liked use technology in the classroom to it,” Szymanski said. support students.”

She said volleyball is Szymanski said both a “dynamic” sport and it of her parents are high takes a strong bond beschool teachers, but she tween the team to sucloves working with kids ceed. and wants to be an ele“I think we just always mentary school teacher. have built that bond and She said her parents it’s really really good and “think I’m a little bit crastrong,” Szymanski said. zy for wanting to work “It makes it fun to play with kids.” together.”

Szymanski said she Szymanski said she is started playing volleyball inspired by Matt Anderin eighth grade because Dylan Pichnarcik / son, a right hitter on the her older sister, Erin, THE GATEPOST men’s U.S. national volplayed in high school and Anna Szymanski serving. leyball team.

“I wanted to be just like Szymanski said her faher.” vorite part of FSU other than volleyball Szymanski grew up in Harwinton, is the academics.

Connecticut, and said she played vol“I’ve had a really really good experileyball all four years of her time at ence with all my professors here - just Lewis S. Mills High School. how much they care about students She said Head Coach Richard Casa- and their well being and finding sucli recruited her during her junior year cess in their academics,” she said.

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 13

ARTS & FEATURES

McAuliffe Center hosts Mass STEM Week events

By Raena Doty Arts & Features Editor

By Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriquez Staff Writer The Christa McAuliffe Center’s very own director, Irene Porro, also doubles in her free time as the manager of the Metrowest STEM Education Network, a group dedicated to promoting education and involvement with science, technology, engineering, and math.

This came in rather handy for Massachusetts STEM Week, which started Oct. 15.

Massachusetts STEM Week is a statewide initiative to engage students in STEM. This year, the events were all themed around how important STEM is in clean energy, sustainability, and climate change.

The week kicked off with a workshop at 1:30 p.m. on Monday Oct. 16 titled “Is the Amazon Rainforest Disappearing?” It was hosted by Natick company MathWorks.

The workshop used a dataset of photos of the Amazon rainforest over a 16-year period to illustrate how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to analyze change in climate.

Ram Krishnamurthy, senior customer success engineer at MathWorks, led the workshop, and explained he would be demonstrating how to use a tool called MATLAB to compare images over time.

He said MATLAB stands for “matrix laboratory,” and is a unique tool because it stores all its data as matrices, unlike traditional programming languages. He added MATLAB is also very user-friendly because it has tools that allow users to generate code without writing it themselves.

He walked through how to use MATLAB to analyze the colors in the dataset of photos, comparing how much green is present to represent the number of trees - and by extension, tracking the amount of deforestation.

Krishnamurthy said this is just one use of MATLAB, and gave examples of many other uses for MATLAB, including cars, autonomous robots, and advanced prosthetics.

Later in the day, at 4:30 p.m., MathWorks hosted another workshop titled “The Power of Data in Climate Science.”

Mary Dzaugis, STEM outreach program manager for MathWorks, began her presentation with an introduction to herself and Krishnamurthy, followed by an overview of the sections she covered throughout the presentation.

One of the sections is research, Dzaugis said, including how computational tools such as MATLAB and AI can help understand climate change.

She said data can be very compli-

Alexis Schlesinger / THE GATEPOST Mary Dzaugis speaking at a workshop titled “The Power of Data in Climate Science” for Mass STEM Week Oct. 16.

She added scientists at an image es of transitioning to geothermal encated and can take many forms. She added in order for raw, “noisy” data laboratory used images from satellites ergy is that when individuals make to be useful “you have to apply some to create a predictive model. She said the change to geothermal, it can make type of process to it in order to get this helped researchers understand others in the same area who still use modern day hurricanes better. gas energy less efficient and causes your end results.”

Dzaugis said she hoped this pre- the price of gas in the area to rise.

Dzaugis said once the data is anAlberto said HEET tries to mitigate alyzed and processed, scientists and sentation would help inspire others researchers make a model, often us- to contribute to climate science. She this by encouraging entire communialso wanted to help people under- ties to transition to geothermal. ing AI. “The utility of a utility is to socialShe added an important step that stand how climate science works.

She said, “When you’re looking at ize the cost of infrastructure,” she is often overlooked is sharing the data and the model. Some examples she these research papers and news ar- said.

She added Framingham currently listed on how to share data is with the ticles, take all of that into consideration and really understand what was has a program to slowly introduce the internet, or by creating an app.

She said sharing data is a key prin- being done to get the results of the area to geothermal energy, starting with a single street and working outciple of open science and gives some- study that you’re looking at.”

Dzaugis said it’s important to work ward. one else the chance to “advance the with students of all ages on developAlberto, as well as the other emscience further.” ployers at the event, said many jobs Dzaugis showed an example of how ing computational thinking skills.

“We need to prepare the next gen- are available in clean energy, even AI helped with climate science. It was used to predict droughts in Ethiopia, eration - scientists, engineers. And for people who don’t want to work in which she said were becoming more that’s where we need to be focused - STEM. Porro said the point of Massachuand more of a common occurrence in those younger ages,” she said.

Krishnamurthy added many stu- setts STEM Week is to “see yourself in there.

She said the affected region mostly dents can struggle with math, which STEM. “Everyone has an opportunity to uses agriculture for survival. “They’re is a problem MathWorks helps solve.

“It’s math,” he said. “People strug- participate and understand … indeheavily dependent on it to make a living. So when droughts like this occur, gle with math at a fundamental level, pendent of who you are or what you it can really devastate the region,” she and now it’s about using computa- look like. But also, independently, you tional things like MATLAB.” don’t have to be a scientist or engiadded.

On Wednesday Oct. 18 at 4:30 p.m., neer to be a part of STEM,” she said.

She said teams of climate scientists from Canada and Algeria worked the McAuliffe Center hosted the third Crystal Johnson, assistant secretogether to help predict when these and final event for Massachusetts tary of environmental justice with droughts would happen. She added STEM Week, a presentation and net- the Executive Office of Energy and they analyzed the standard data with working opportunity called “Clean Environmental Affairs, also appeared new techniques, using an “artificial Energy - Education and Career Path- at the event. ways 101.” neural network.”

She said she’d only been in the role Many organizations and compa- for three days, and agreed students This AI system finds patterns that would take humans significantly lon- nies in Massachusetts gathered in the from all disciplines can involve themger to find in large datasets, she said.

McCarthy Center Forum. The array selves in clean energy and environShe added a predictive model was of groups gave students a chance to mental justice. developed and shared with Ethiopian learn about careers, internships, and “You don’t always have to go into climate research groups. volunteer opportunities in the grow- environmental science. Whatever Dzaugis showed another exam- ing fields of clean energy and sustain- field you are in, you can bring that ple, predicting the weather using AI. ability. lens of environmental awareness and She said a hurricane that hit Florida The keynote speaker, Angie Alber- sustainability and resilience,” Johnin late August was supposed to be a to, is the gas-to-geo transition direc- son said.

Category 2, but it became a Category tor at Home Energy Efficiency Team 4 the night before landfall.

(HEET). She gave a presentation on CONNECT WITH RAENA DOTY She said this has been a recent pat- how geothermal energy can be im- rdoty@student.framingham.edu tern. She added, “It followed this new plemented and what benefits it would pattern that people have been observ- have for the economy and environ- CONNECT WITH FRANCISCO OMAR FERNANDEZ RODRIGUEZ ing of an increased intensification be- ment. ffernandezrodriguez@student. fore landfall.”

She explained one of the challengframingham.edu

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

ARTS & FEATURES

14 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

Oliver de la Paz Continued from page 1 The rhythm of his poem continued through his reading, the questionnaire asking, “Does he self mutilate?

Does he toe-walk? Does he arrange his toys in rows?” with the parent’s responses breaking between, illustrating his son’s actions.

Paz then switched to “The Diaspora Sonnets.”

He said the preamble to the book details his family’s emigration from the Philippines after the dictator Ferdinand Marcos rose to power in 1972 and declared martial law.

He added his father’s brother had been blacklisted by the regime due to him being a leader of student protests against Marcos.

“My father, naturally fearing the safety of the family, decided we needed to go,” Paz said.

He said his father waited outside of Camp Crame, a military base authorizing citizens to leave the country with a line of people miles long in order to get his family out of the Philippines.

Finally, he said, his father marched to the front of the line after waiting days and threw his papers at the person sitting behind the desk.

“And then he went out to lunch,” he said.

“And he came back, and he found the papers on the desk and they were stamped. And it was a miracle,” he added.

Paz said his family left the same day, taking very little with them to the United States. The first poem of the book, “Chain Migration 1: Airport Coin-Op Food” reflects the experience of being at the airport with very little, he said.

Following the reading of “Chain Migration 1,” Paz said “The Diaspora Sonnets” chronicles not only his family’s departure from the Philippines, but also their homelessness in the U.S. and eventual residence in Ontario, Oregon.

He read “Diaspora Sonnet with My Father in the Desert, Seeing the Valley Before Him, and Nothing Else” next, reflecting part of his life with his father in Oregon.

Paz said he lived in another town in Malheur County, Oregon for a time before Ontario.

“In French it’s ‘malheur,’ which means bad luck,” he added, and read “Diaspora Sonnet on the Occasion of My Father, in Late Summer, Seeing the Grackles of Malheur County.”

Paz then spoke about his upbringing, and how he describes himself as being a “latchkey kid,” responsible for keeping himself busy while his parents worked.

He said he spent a lot of time watching TV shows of the ’50s and ’60s like “F Troop,” “Gilligan’s Island,” and “Leave it to Beaver,” and didn’t ever see people who looked like him on television.

He wrote “Diaspora Sonnet on the Glossy Cover of ‘TV Guide’” about that lack of representation, he added.

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

Oliver de la Paz reading his poetry for the Alan Feldman Week of Poetry Oct. 17.

“We weren’t // chosen for the dance with kings and senators. / We’re blades of grass; while luminaries, fat // on roasted pig and ribs on spits, enhanced / their looks with hair products that let them shine // beautifully above us in orbit - / whole galaxies of the gorgeous on TV,” he read.

Paz then returned to his father’s

of electrical and barbed wire, that would chirp and sound alarms at the viewer.

Paz said this piece inspired him to write a pantoum, a poetic form originating in Malaysia and popularized in the western world by France. “[The pantoum] was ‘adopted’ by the French - just how the French ‘ad-

“The epic tradition which is sacred in western culture, and important in our culture and our stories needed my family and their story to be sort of epic.”

- Oliver de la Paz, Poet Laureate of Worcester attempt to leave the Philippines, reading “Diaspora Sonnet Imagining my Father in Line at Camp Crame,” an imagining of what his father felt like at the base, the imagery of soldiers, and the forfeiture of his “field and nation.”

He said a few years ago, he was commissioned to write a poem for the Institute of Contemporary Art’s exhibit titled “When Home Won’t Let You Stay,” which featured his work among other artists who all contributed under the themes of migration, immigration, and exile.

He added he found a piece in the installation by Indian artist Reena Saina Kallat particularly stunning - a map of the world in vibrant colors, composed

opted’ a lot of things from Southeast Asia,” he said.

He added the form is originally more like a dialogue, which materialized in English by having a series of repeated lines.

He then read “Pantoum Beginning and Ending with Thorns.”

Paz said since he was very young during many of the life experiences he wrote about in “The Diaspora Sonnets,” much of his father’s character is imagined, and he felt the need to make him “epic.”

“The epic tradition which is sacred in western culture, and important in our culture and our stories needed my family and their story to be sort of epic,” he added.

Ryan O’Connell / THE GATEPOST He read “Diaspora Sonnet Imagining My Father on the Streets of Marikina, Metro Manila,” which he said he wrote about his father in his 20s and in a heroic way.

Paz said he wrote “Diaspora Sonnet Sent Par Avion with an Ink Blemish from a Broken Pen” about his father preparing to send money internationally to relatives still in the Philippines.

“There were these envelopes that basically had these red and blue stripes, and then on them had ‘par avion’ which means ‘air mail.’ And that was how my family communicated with their relatives, and mostly we were sending money back and forth to them,” he said.

Paz concluded with “Pantoum Beginning and Ending with a Big Sky,” which referenced a colloquial name of the location they ended up living in Oregon - “big sky country, … where the horizon and the plains form a sharp line” - and reflects on his father’s expectations of him.

“I think he dreams of change, of me / driving out of this desert, setting fire to the road - / imagines who I’d become or other possibilities / that are, maybe, just within reach of the interstate,” he read.

He read, “I’d drive out of this desert and set fire to the road, / I’d emerge from the earth like a prayer, unheard. / I’d take the offramp and ease off the interstate. / I’d see where the horizon and the plains form a sharp line.”

CONNECT WITH RYAN O’CONNELL

roconnell1@student.framingham.edu

ARTS & FEATURES

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 15

Obour Tanner’s archive offers unique historical perspective

By Jack McLaughlin Arts & Features Editor Tara Bynum, author of “Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America,” spoke about her studies on 18th century African American writing in the Alumni Room Oct. 12.

The event was co-sponsored by Arts & Ideas, as well as the Division of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement, and the History and English departments.

Bynum was introduced by History professor Lissa Bollettino, who offered insight into the importance of their studies.

Bollettino focused on how Bynum’s studies had the goal of remembering that despite the hardships that African Americans faced during Early America, their emotions “played a vital role in fueling the courage and resilience they displayed in the face of the traumas they suffered.

“Bynum’s visit provides us with an opportunity to trace the history of Black joy, and to affirm its centrality to ongoing movements, and affirm Black Americans’ full humanity and rights,” Bollettino said.

Bynum was invited on stage and introduced her talk, which she explained would be mostly focused on her book.

Her book is about how four Black writers “talk about feeling good in their writing,” she said. Bynum wants to focus on the positive emotions felt

by Black writers during Early America to offer a different perspective on it.

“Oftentimes, when it comes to thinking about Black people before the 21st century, the presumption is that the experience of Black living is one that requires us to center around suffering or a certain level of hardship,” Bynum said.

In relation to this, she also said, “I think my work is very much interested in expanding out the many ways in which Black people have been able to experience a variety of feelings.”

Bynum introduced attendees to Phyllis Wheatley, a poet, and Obour Tanner, two friends from the 1700s who exchanged letters. She said most of their letters were archived and began by displaying one on screen for attendees to look at.

She said Tanner collected and kept the letters exchanged between her and Wheatley. Bynum described the importance of these letters to Tanner as “it’s of value based on who she is to Wheatley, and what she knows of her deceased friend.

“Every letter is evidence of how much both women cared for each other,” Bynum said.

Tanner kept these letters between her and Wheatley safe for over 60 years, Bynum said, and explained how important this is considering the excellent condition the letters were kept in during that long period of time.

“The letters are well kept. Wheatley’s cursive is legible and easy to read, the ink isn’t smudged, the creases of the original folds linger,” she explained.

Other indications of delicate care taken to these letters included Wheatley’s wax seal still being evident on some of the letters, and the letters were seemingly kept folded in the same way they were originally folded.

Bynum emphasized how long 60 years can be for an individual when it means keeping something safe.

She asked the audience, “Has anyone kept anything for 60 years yet?” and continued to emphasize how long this is by following up with, “for some to even envision getting something at

20 and keeping it for 60 more years.”

These letters that were kept for so long were entrusted to the wife of Tanner’s preacher, who then donated them to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1863 due to the importance of Phyllis Wheatley’s involvement with these letters, Bynum said.

Bynum noted how the Massachusetts Historical Society’s footnote explaining the history of these letters does not fully grasp the friendship between Tanner and Wheatley.

“What’s easy to miss in this footnote is the friendship between these two women, or the source of care required to hold onto Wheatley after her death,” she said.

The personal connection that Tanner held to these letters was brought up as well, with Bynum explaining that “to read the correspondence between these two women is to glimpse one friend’s mourning.”

Bynum went into detail about what was discussed in the letter being presented on screen. In the letter, dated 1772, Tanner had been selling Wheatley’s poetry books in Boston and wrote to Tanner encouraging her to keep selling the books in wake of the tea parties occurring in the city at the time.

“Wheatley’s postscript seems to expect, and rightly so, that Tanner will keep selling her books,” Bynum said as she reflected on the end of the letter.

When they weren’t discussing the successful sales of Wheatley’s books, Tanner and Wheatley were also discussing the rise in war in the country at this time, and how it was troubling their lives and faith profoundly, she said.

“Both women shared affection in ways that demonstrate their willingness and maybe eagerness to care for

Dylan Pichnarcik / THE GATEPOST Tara Bynum in her presentation “Obour Tanner’s Archive; or, How to Remember Your (Famous) Friend” Oct. 12.

and tend for each other,” Bynum said.

Bynum emphasized the care that Wheatley had for Tanner in this letter. The penmanship, writing, and delivery of these letters are what Bynum cited as evidence of the amount of care put into these letters.

The archived letters between Wheatley and Tanner were described

by Bynum as a reflection of what mattered to Tanner during her life, and that included her strong relationship with Wheatley.

“It’s those letters that speak to the truth of who Tanner is. She is a friend and she is worth remembering, and Wheatley remembers her everytime she sends a letter,” Bynum said.

Bynum said these documents are available to view online via the Massachusetts Historical Society, and made sure to note the importance of what these letters represent.

“It seems we’re noting that the Massachusetts Historical Society likely has the largest extent and easy to find collection of 18th century correspondence between two enslaved Black women with a well-documented prominence,” she said.

The discussion then opened up to questions from the audience. One attendee asked if there are more letters from Tanner to Wheatley. Bynum explained that these letters are not archived, but there is evidence of their existence.

These clues included Wheatley’s acknowledgement of receiving letters from Tanner, and references to them are throughout the ones that are archived.

Another member of the audience asked about other items that were archived outside of the letters, and how it could have affected Bynum’s relationship with the sentimentality of preserving items.

Bynum responded to this by explaining the importance of archiving the items of individuals who died, and related this back to how there is a sizable amount of items that belonged to Wheatley that are archived including books, manuscripts, and the letters between her and Tanner.

“We know who Phyllis Wheatley is precisely because there is stuff,” she said.

An attendee asked Bynum if there was any information or clues to how Tanner and Wheatley originally met, which was met with a defeated “no.”

“Why couldn’t you anticipate me 250 years later? Of course I wanna know how they met!” Bynum joked with the audience.

Bynum concluded the event by recognizing Tanner as one of the first people to help add to the archive that would become a remembrance of Phyllis Wheatley.

“We think about Tanner as among the first to do the work of gathering Wheatley’s things very intentionally and giving them value,” she said.

CONNECT WITH JACK MCLAUGHLIN

jmclaughlin7@student.framingham.edu

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

16 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

ARTS & FEATURES

Egypt through a digital lens Julia Troche discusses Egyptology in a new light

By Bella Omar Asst. Arts & Features Editor Julia Troche, an Egyptologist teaching at Missouri State University, visited Framingham State on Oct. 16 to deliver a lecture, “Current Debates in Digital Egyptology, Or What Happens When Scholars Assign Race to the Pharaohs” in the Heineman Ecumenical Center.

Bartholomew Brinkman, English professor at Framingham State, began the event by introducing Troche, along with her many accolades.

She is the director of undergraduate studies at Missouri State and co-founded both the American Research Center in Egypt, Missouri Chapter, and the annual Missouri Egyptological Symposium.

The “Death, Power and Apotheosis in Ancient Egypt: The Old and Middle Kingdoms” author, published with Cornell University Press and published in 2021, received her B.A. in history from UCLA in 2008 and her Ph.D. in Egyptology and Assyriology from Brown University in 2015.

Troche prefaced her lecture by stating how “Egyptology, as a discipline, has very much been concerned with race from the beginning.

“Specifically, there was a clear ef-

fort by white western scholars to claim Egypt as a product of a white race that a non-Black, non-African, non-Arab and a part of Christian tradition rather than Muslim tradition,” she continued.

She said that the lack of training in the historiography of Egyptology has been a “detriment to the field.”

She added this is because of how “many of us have become complicit in interpretations and so called histories that are motivated explicitly by racism, xenophobia, pseudoscience, and anti-Black, anti-African and anti-Arab, anti-Islamic sentiments.”

This lack of awareness has manifested in itself in recent digital Egyptology projects that she discussed only after providing some background on the “role of digital humanities in the field.”

She revealed her epigraphic work in Egypt and how it is a prime paradigm of how Egyptology “has been fairly quick to utilize digital methods of recording and collecting data, analyzing data, and disseminating it.”

Her epigraphic work was completed by using the “old school way” of recording the drawings on the walls, scanning them, and then utilizing tools like Adobe Illustrator and Reflectance Transformation Imaging

(RTI) to interpret.

Troche then showed the audience images from her time in Petra, where she worked as a field surveyor.

Her and her colleagues would walk on plots of land, 10 meters apart from each other, “looking at the ground, collecting artifacts, and that way we were able to date those artifacts and figure out where sort of different sites might be located.”

She said recently Egyptology has been “focusing on digital reconstruction of ancient sites.” Harvard hosted Digital Giza, one of the more significant projects, she added.

They have developed 3D, immersive models of the tombs, and sites and monuments on the Acropolis and “present archeological information in innovative ways with a goal of teaching and research in mind,” she said.

She went on to explain how these projects are extremely user friendly and have accessibility to students and instructors at the core of their interfaces.

UCLA has a project titled Digital Karnak which “largely uses photogrammetry to reconstruct and recreate the ancient temple, not just as it currently stands but has stood at different eras,” allowing for users to have a more immersive history learn-

ing experience, she said.

Troche then began to explain how in order to avoid depicting Egyptian deities as any particular ethnicity, in some virtual experiences, they are exclusively shown as their respective colorless hieroglyphics.

She then took the audience through a concept game called “Dead Pharaoh,” where the player undergoes a series of trials as if they were buried in an Egyptian tomb.

Other virtual projects that depict ancient Egyptians did not shy away from depicting deliberate skin tones, such as the popular video game “Assassin’s Creed Origins,” created by Ubisoft Montreal.

Ubisoft “consulted with historians and Egyptologists to recreate a fairly accurate ancient world, though it is clearly imaginary,” Troche said.

Wrapping up the lecture, she said, “We need to increase pathways for Black African American students and scholars and Egyptian American scholars and students to study Egyptology and succeed in a slightly competitive field.”

CONNECT WITH BELLA OMAR

bomar@student.framingham.edu

‘The Inventor’ paints a fun and emotional picture of Da Vinci’s story

By Kate Norrish Staff Writer Though not historically accurate, “The Inventor” lived up to my expectations set by the trailer. The film did not disappoint - this is exactly how a movie adaptation of Da Vinci’s life should be.

Released in the United States on Sept. 15, “The Inventor” follows Leonardo Da Vinci (Stephen Fry) and his real life apprentices after moving to France to work for King Francis I (Gauthier Battoue). The rest of the film follows Da Vinci balancing his professional work, creating a city based around his inventions, and an illegal passion project, dissecting bodies to try to figure out where the human soul is.

Although mainly stop motion animated, watercolor-like 2D animation is utilized to gorgeous effect, often to represent Leonardo’s imagination and anxieties, and sometimes showing the audience how Leonardo’s various machines work.

It also lends itself to the themes, as the stop-motion portions of the film are more silly, often featuring simple, but surprisingly enjoyable physical comedy. My favorite example is the apprentices hiding a cadaver from the king after unexpectedly finding him in Leonardo’s house.

The imagination pieces tend to touch on heavier themes.

These themes feature Leonardo

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losing his patron and friend at the enjoyable.

I’ve heard others criticize the film beginning of the film, and fearing his own death. I feel these are exempli- for being too childish, but I felt that fied by the fact that in both the film the film was meant to have that sort and real life, Leonardo had bad blood of tone, as the plot is clearly filtered with the church, leading to the impli- through Leonardo’s world view. Howcation in these moments that he is ever, this does not distract from the scared of going to Hell. This, on top of themes.

I would also like to a scene where Leonardo monologues one of the to a painting often interpreted to be m e n t i o n apprentices, of his lover, realDavid Abe / THE GATEPOST Fransesco. In every ly makes the film other adaptaemotional if you tion I’ve seen know the history. of Da Vinci’s While not a pelife, Fransriod piece that esco was is interested in e i - ther absent, accuracy for the most or unintentionally unlikpart, there are many able. In this version, he is porelements that history trayed as a mellow, goenjoyers will love, such with-the-flow teenager as a play at the end who had clearly evolved one of Leonardo’s lesser from a sweet kid. known passions was theMy only criticisms are that at the ater tech - and a running joke about Leonardo a n d beginning, the dialogue can be a litMichaelangelo not liking tle cliched, as there are a few scenes devoted to telling Leonardo that he’s each other “crazy,” and should stick to painting. they didn’t in This ends fairly quickly, however, and real life either.

Leonardo is the external conflict switches to K i n g portrayed as a whimsical, Francis and his sister (Daisy Rid-l e y ) childish figure, despite dealing with disagreeing as to what work Leonardo a lot of mental turmoil. Based on the should focus on, touching on what a various nonfiction texts I’ve read society should deem important.

Additionally, while the instrumenabout him, this is perfect characterital music, and a few scenes where zation, and he is extremely likable.

The other characters are, like al- spoken poetic lyrics are utilized, are most everything else, simple, but still beautiful, poignant, and often au-

thentic sounding to the 1510’s setting, the moments where the characters sing are extremely bland, and only seem to exist to explain the intricacies of Leonardo’s projects to the audience.

Audiences should go in knowing that this is an extremely simple, sweet film - the kind that can make you teary-eyed and having fun a few scenes apart from each other. I think it’s a great film for everyone, child or adult, but especially those with an interest in art history and the neurodiverse, due to its emphasis on atypical thinking.

Rating: AA comfort film made with love

CONNECT WITH KATE NORRISH

knorrish@student.framingham.edu

ARTS & FEATURES

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 17

: A college collage

By Raena Doty Arts & Features Editor The school year started with a heat wave that left many resident students scrambling to cool off - whether they were retreating to the air conditioned McCarthy Center or sleeping with multiple fans pointed at them to keep the air flowing.

Though it would be easy to think someone from the South has a bit more resistance to heat like that, Izzy Shields, a freshman ASL major - and an out-of-state student from Tennessee - can’t say it’s true.

“The first couple weeks, when it was still like 90 degrees, I was like, ‘I’m gonna die,’” they said. They added to deal with the heat, they initially slept with three fans pointed at them, and they rearranged their room to maximize airflow.

Since then, they added they’ve rearranged the furniture in their room since they aren’t so hot all the time, and now they have it set up mostly for aesthetics.

“Now I mastered the art of hiding all of the stuff that I need to hide, because I have so much stuff - because I can’t go home until Thanksgiving,” they said.

They said it’s a challenge not to be able to go home, which is an unusual experience at a school with a large commuter population and mostly instate student body.

Shields said when they do get to go home, they want to bring back crafting supplies, and added they didn’t think they were gonna “be a crafting person,” but “all my friends and I want to do is sit and have a little craft night.”

They said they chose to come to Framingham State because of the limited options across the United States for people who want to become American Sign Language interpreters.

But they added now that the weather’s calmed down, they’re really happy being a resident student and living in New England for the first time.

In particular, they said they were surprised and amazed by the different environment of Massachusetts.

“During September, the leaves were all still green, and I was like, ‘OK, what is this?’” they said, but added, after that, “Outing Club went on a kayaking trip and like, I don’t know what, but Mother Nature changed every leaf that day.

“It was beautiful. I loved it,” they said.

Shields said they drove here from their home in Johnson City, Tennessee, and they were careful with what they did and did not bring.

They said after being dropped off,

Izzy Shields’ sleeping setup in their dorm room. their father drove back to Tennessee, leaving them without a car. They added it’s difficult not to have a car, especially as someone with Type 1 diabetes, because they have to regularly fill their prescriptions.

The Outing Club is especially important to them, they said, because they didn’t bring some of the supplies they now want for outdoor exploration, like hiking boots and roller skates.

They said they didn’t have a name for the aesthetic they use to decorate their bedroom, but said, “It’s giving sunset,” and it also has “fun notes of childhood whimsy, because I have a shark rug and a ‘Minecraft’ bee lamp.”

Shields said they brought “like 200 pictures of my friends and family from home” to hang up in their room

‘Blue Beetle’ doesn’t bug me

By Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriquez Staff Writer

One of the more forgettable movies of 2023 so far is undoubtedly “Blue Beetle,” another DC superhero film with a focus on family. It is an adaptation of the character from DC Comics.

“Blue Beetle” was directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. In the box office, it is the lowest-grossing film in the DC extended universe. But despite this poor reception, this movie left an all right impression on me.

The story is centered around college graduate Jaime Reyes, who returns home to Palmera City. This setting was created for the movie - in the original comics it took place in El Paso, Texas. This change does line up with other DC superheroes, who live in fictional cities such as Gotham and Metropolis.

Soon after reuniting with his family he learns about their financial issues and decides to help by getting a job. He eventually meets Jenny Kord, who offers him work at Kord Industries. Unfortunately, Jaime is quickly roped into Jenny’s own issues within the company.

Jaime is trusted to protect a blue beetle-shaped Scarab, which eventually bonds with him and grants him the powers of the Blue Beetle in the

form of an exosuit. It also comes with his recent heart problems, he maina sentient voice that goes by Kha- tains an optimistic outlook for his ji-Da. loved ones.

One positive note is that this is Jenny’s family, on the other hand, the first live-action superhero film is significantly worse despite being to have a Latino star lead. Xolo Mar- better off financially. Her parents are idueña stars as Jaime Reyes, also either missing or the obvious antagknown as the Blue Beetle. He is best onist. known for his main role in “Cobra The tone switches between serious Kai” as Miguel Diaz. He was born in and comedic. There are plenty of jokes California and is of Mexican, Cuban, and humor thrown around, at least in and Ecuadorian descent. the first half of the film. As the situPlaying Jenny Kord is Bruna Mar- ation worsens and gets deadlier, the quezine, a Brazilian actress tone naturally gets heavier. and model. She has been The film also touches on the issue of prejudice, with in several telenovelas, also the main villain consistentknown as Latin American ly stereotyping Hispanics. television soap operas. JenShe doesn’t even learn the ny Kord is her first internaname of her head scientist, tional role as an actress. calling him “Sanchez” which, Khaji-Da, the sentient voice when you learn his that helps Jaime use real name, is blatantly the Blue Beetle powers, David Abe / THE GATEPOST wrong. is voiced by Becky G, a Palmera City is shown to effectivepopular singer and actress.

“Blue Beetle” has a heavy focus on ly be divided into two regions, the rich family, particularly a relatively poor prosperous city and the poorer, sigHispanic family. Jaime’s close rela- nificantly less grand sections of town. tives, parents, and sister, all live to- To me it actually looks similar t o gether in a single home. They used to traditional Hispanic homes. Jai-m e’ s have a family business,but they had family lives in this area, and from to sell the garage in or-der to keep what we see of the neighbors, this the house. Even with this sacrifice, section is likely where the Latinos they are at risk of being evicted. generally live.

Despite this, the family sustains a There are parts of the story that positive attitude, partially thanks to feel like they’ve been done before. the father, Alberto Reyes. Even with The exosuit and its voice can easily

Raena Doty / THE GATEPOST

at FSU, and they haven’t even hung them all up.

They specified, though, they don’t suggest students - especially out-ofstate students like themself - bring too much wall art.

“Bring some, but then I would wait to buy stuff,” they said, and added they only went to Boston for the first time a month ago, and they wanted to hang up the new posters they bought in their room.

“That’s something I didn’t even think about - that I’m gonna want to decorate my room with my life now not the past 18 years of my life,” they said.

CONNECT WITH RAENA DOTY

rdoty@student.framingham.edu

remind someone of Iron Man’s suit and AI. One of the villains uses their own version of the exosuit, which feels like an overdone trope.

Other similarities are typical of a superhero origin story. Jaime is suddenly given powers and has to decide to use them for good, even if he doesn’t want to at first. He starts off wanting to get rid of the Scarab, but eventually decides it’s a good part of him. Even though this kind of plot is overdone, I still enjoyed watching it unfold.

Still, “Blue Beetle” wasn’t a bad movie, it just wasn’t that great.

Even if it’s not very creative, Jaime’s character arc is adequate. I enjoyed watching it, especially the Hispanic representation. Maybe give it a watch, but you probably aren’t missing much if you don’t.

Rating: C+ Good representation, all right plot, cool beetle CONNECT WITH FRANCISCO OMAR FERNANDEZ RODRIGUEZ

ffernandezrodriguez@student. framingham.edu

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

18 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

ARTS & FEATURES

Wes Anderson’s shorts have big impact

By Owen Glancy Asst. Arts & Features Editor Wes Anderson has been on a roll this year, releasing his newest feature film “Asteroid City” to critical acclaim. Earlier this month, Anderson released his latest project, a series of short films based on Roald Dahl short stories.

The four adaptations are “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” “The Rat Catcher,” “The Swan,” and “Poison.” “Henry Sugar” is the longest of the four, at 40 minutes long, while the other three are 15 minutes long. The only connections among them are Ralph Fiennes’ performance as Roald Dahl and Wes Anderson’s direction.

Anderson’s direction is the highlight among all four shorts. Whether it be playing with the set like in “Henry Sugar” or mixing stop motion animation with live action like in “The Rat Catcher,” Anderson is always doing something unique and engaging with the direction and production.

“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” is not only the best of these shorts, but also the best example of Anderson’s style. The set design is so unique that it makes these mundane settings feel fantastical. The quiet whimsy of this story is heightened by the performances.

Benedict Cumberbatch stars in two of the shorts, playing the protagonist in both “Henry Sugar” and “Poison.”

While his performance in “Poison” is good, it’s his role as Henry Sugar

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that really stands out. His character character’s own rat-like appearance, arc, while simple, is still incredibly everything about him is curious and engaging and makes excellent use of interesting.

Aside from the Rat Man, the othboth Cumberbatch’s performance and Anderson’s direction to elicit a strong er big strength of this short is the emotional response from the audi- stop-motion animation of the rat.

While it isn’t on the level of Anderence.

The concept behind “Henry Sugar” son’s other stop-motion effects, it’s is fascinating and the story of a com- still neat to see it used during this pulsive gambler looking to spiritual barely longer than 15-minute short guidance to get better at gambling film.

“Poison” is the other short film is both hilarious and eye-opening.

While much of the writing must be starring Benedict Cumberbatch, however this time his performance is a credited to Roald Dahl’s original tales, lot more subtle. Throughout most the commonality of certain charof the short, there is a snake acters acting as central narrators sleeping on his stomach as his and including the “they said” in friend and a doctor attempt to the dialogue makes it feel fresh somehow get the snake off beand worthwhile to listen to. fore it can bite him.

“The Rat Catcher” is the closSince Cumberbatch isn’t est to “Henry Sugar” in quality moving as much here and similarly the story reas in “Henry Sugar,” volves around one charhe really lets his face acter. The Rat Man, do all of the acting. played by Ralph FiThe subtle facial ennes, is the reason cues and minute why this short is so changes in his good. Every part of his performance voice’s and depitch are sign is an excelso caplent showtivating to case of just how watch. From good an actor his serious nature Cumberbatch and respect for the really is and it creatures he makes a sells the audience on living hunting, to the Ben Hurney / THE GATEPOST

this situation.

The suspense is also great in this short, making every second leading up to the masterful finale feel tense.

The climax is also by far the best of the four, topping even the emotional ending of “Henry Sugar.”

The last of the shorts is “The Swan.” While it is the worst of the four, it is by no means bad. The biggest strength of this short is the set design. Seeing extras pop out of the clearly fake crops and trees to give actors props in the middle of a monologue is hilarious and incredibly creative. The emotional core of the story is also good, but not quite on the level of “Henry Sugar.”

Wes Anderson is one of the most exciting and visionary directors working today, and these four shorts continue to prove that. Every single one feels distinct from the last despite having the same crew and similar casts. This year is definitely the year for Anderson fans, and these shorts are just the icing on that delicious cake.

Rating: A Four phenomenal films

CONNECT WITH OWEN GLANCY

oglancy@student.framingham.edu

Puzzles

ACROSS 1. ___ Majal 4. Posed a query 9. Brits call them “court shoes” 14. Aussie bird 15. “Perhaps” 16. “Not This ___!” (Stop bringing it up!)

17. Eatery’s fancy tableware?

20. “___ the Woods” (musical) 21. Gives the go-ahead 22. KFC piece 23. That’s what you think!

25. Iraq-to-Iran direction 27. Bouncer at a wine bar?

31. They include “L, M, N, O, P” 35. “Lucky Hank” channel 36. Group of goats 37. Narrow waterway 39. “Scram!”

41. “Thanks a ___!”

43. Split fifty-fifty 44. Painters’ stands 46. Silver Dollar City attraction 48. “Bald-faced” statement 49. 1 1 1 50. Young S.F. football fan?

53. Overflow (with) 55. Female bleaters 56. “I’m astounded!” feeling 59. Responds to an allergen 62. Bug irritating Spot 65. Contemporary fabrics?

68. Story used for storage 69. Totally hyped up 70. Org. that regulates cheese 71. Publically ___ (flashy bit of marketing) 72. “Good” or “dastardly” actions 73. Psychic “skill,” for short

ARTS & FEATURES

OCTOBER 20, 2023 | 19

DOWN 1. Actress Hatcher 2. “Couldn’t agree more!”

3. “Simple to be on the safe side” 4. Doctors’ org.

5. It’s the wurst!

6. Actress Sedgwick Puzzle solutions are now 7.Where a Dorito shaped like the exclusively online. pope’s hat sold for $1.209 8. More compact 9. Prepares to move 10. “How stomach-churning!”

11. USPS delivery 12. Aromatic tree 13. Minor setback 18. Kind of list 19. Croaking creatures 24. Merman who sang “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” 26. Strong of “Teen Titans” 27. Modern “ancient” diet 28. “That is to say...”

29. www.fandom.com, e.g.

30. Cover with sparkly beads, say 32. Mantra akin to “Eat, sleep, hoops, repeat” 33. Words before “rights” or “engineer” 34. Ye olde horse 38. “iZombie” network 40. Life ___ (pool garment) 42. ___ the knot (wed) 45. Smile contemptuously 47. Not naked 51. New father’s joyous 52. Weightiness 54. Construct 56. “What a tragedy!”

57. Power unit 58. Caesar’s words to Brutus 60. ___ clean (revealed the truth) 61. Write a blog post, say 63. Doesn’t continue 64. “Now!” letters 66. Mint container 67. Pepsi pop-ups, perhaps

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20 | OCTOBER 20, 2023

PHOTOS

CIE Celebrates Diversity Spread by Staff Writer Emily Monaco and Interim Asst. Design & Photos Editor Dylan Pichnarcik

LGBTQ+ Bingo Photos by Emily Monaco and Alexis Schlesinger CIE “Taste of Culture” Photos by Dylan Pichnarcik

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