March 3, 2023

Chillin’ at the beach

Framingham

State to start enrolling students Sports management major

By Sophia Harris News Editor

Framingham State will offer a bachelor’s degree in sports management starting in fall 2023. The major will be housed in the College of Business.

Framingham State already offers a concentration in sports management, but because of increased student demand, a push was made to create a designated major.

Michael Harrison, marketing chair and faculty athletic representative, first proposed the program five years ago.

He said, “The beauty of starting with the concentration is you see if there’s a

By Ryan O’Connell Arts & Features Editor

The History Department and the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE) facilitated a Historians of Color series event featuring a guest speaker Mary McNeil, March 2.

McNeil, an instructor in the department of studies in race, colonialism, and diaspora at Tufts University shared some of her research on Black and Indigenous civil rights struggles in the 20th century, and how her family history is tied to it.

She began by asking attendees to acknowledge they are on native land which belonged to the Nipmuc tribe,

demand there.”

arrison added there is definitely a growing demand not only from students but also from athletic coaches and the sports industry itself.

He said, “It’s a growing industry. The sports market is just growing exponentially.”

Harrison added students in the College of Business are “looking for a little bit more specialization.

“So there’s a market from the student perspective and the business perspective for a specialization in the industry,” he said.

Harrison said the process to develop the new major started with surveying athletic coaches because of their close

and both is and has been a home for many Indigenous groups.

She added the Nipmuc land has historically been a place of Indigenous convergence among many “north-eastern woodland nations, and this is a fact that no amount of dispossession or settler colonial violence can ever undo.”

McNeil said attendees should trouble their assumptions about the “carefully manicured campus grounds that can seem so divorced from Indigenous space,” and that Indigenous nations still exist on the land commonly referred to as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

She said Indigenous nations and their members are “still here, thriving,”

ties to student-athletes and recruitment, in order to get a better understanding of their perspective on the demand for the major.

He said the results of the survey indicated some students did not come to Framingham State because there was not a sports management major offered.

When the survey was taken, he said appro imately students over the past four years did not choose Framingham State because there was not a designated sports management major.

“Overwhelmingly, the numbers were strong,” he said.

in the ongoing midst of settler colonial invasion.

McNeil then told two anecdotes from Massachusetts’ history about marginalized groups protesting a racist system.

he first spoke about une , , when a group of Black mothers locked themselves inside of a welfare building in Boston, protesting undignified treatment and the lack of agency in their own lives by welfare agents.

She added the mothers, led by Doris Bland, originally formed in to challenge housing discrimination and inadequate schooling for Black children.

A snowman built on Larned Beach during a snow day Feb. 28.

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Leighah Beausoleil

Associate Editor

Emily Rosenberg

News Editors

Sophia Harris

Branden LaCroix

Asst. News Editor

Naidelly Coelho

Opinions Editor

McKenzie Ward

Sports Editor

Adam Levine

Arts & Features Editor

Ryan O’Connell

Asst. Arts & Features Editor

Raena Doty

Design & Photo Editor

Maddison Behringer

Asst. Photos Editor

Zachary Sorel

Adrien Gobin

Staff Writers

Jesse Burchill

Riley Crowell

Owen Glancy

Mark Haskell

Ben Hurney

Jack McLaughlin

Izayah Morgan

Kate Norrish

Bella Omar

Carly Paul

Wenchell Pierre

Ryan Schreiber

Lainey Morrison

Advisor

Desmond McCarthy

Asst. Advisor

Elizabeth Banks

Gatepost Interview Dean Nichols

Men’s Head Soccer Coach

By Raena Doty Editorial Staff

What is your professional and educational background?

For education, I was at Fitchburg State, graduated from Fitchburg State and played there. And then, soccer background coaching-wise, I started actually as an assistant coach for four years in training in high school, and then I was the head coach at Wellesley High School for four years. And now I’ve been at Framingham for - I think it’s 20 years.

What do you love most about your job?

Just being a part of the group. Just sort of working toward that common goal of trying to help players - help them be successful. Just growing as a group, you know - every year is just that kind of challenge. We don’t have different players every year, but there are always new players added. And so it’s just that challenge of trying to sort of build it and grow throughout the season - and obviously, win games and compete.

What advice do you have for students?

I always try to explain to them that the real reason they’re here is for the education part of it, and that s first and foremost. This is Division III collegiate athletics. We try to obviously do our best to win and be successful, but 99.9% of these guys are not doing anything soccer-wise after their career is over here at Framingham State. It’s important to get their degree, take their academics seriously because that’s what’s going to set them up for their life going forward, so that’s always the message to the guys.

Why did you choose to coach at FSU?

That whole thing is actually a little bit of a long story. When I was at high school, like I said, at Wellesley High School, I liked - like I mentioned before - being part of a group and trying to help the guys out as best I can, and I wasn’t really looking at anything beyond that at that point, and this job opened up. They actually had a little bit of an issue going on about 20 years ago where they

ended up going up to MCLA for their final conference game. It was sort of a big story locally and I saw it. Quite honestly, a bunch of people that I’m sort of close to started saying, “Hey, maybe it’s something you should go for.” I really had no intention at that point. And the more I looked into it - obviously, I lived in Framingham and I went to Framingham South High School years ago and so it’s right down the road, so it was convenient, location-wise. I said, “Yeah, I guess I’ll give it a shot.” But it really wasn’t anything I was targeting, if you will, at that point.

What are your hobbies?

My hobbies really are sports. That’s my main thing. Obviously, I played a lot of soccer growing up - played a lot of

random sports as well - hockey, basketball on the side, tennis, things of that nature. Now, I have two kids and a wife … so obviously, the family. But I watch a lot of sports, and that’s really kind of been my life.

What would students be surprised to know about you?

I’m not sure there’s anything … crazy about my life. … I think I live a pretty simple, sort of easy life, if you will. So, I don’t know if there’s anything I could come up with. Like I said in the last answer, I have my family and sports.

CONNECT WITH RAENA DOTY rdoty@student.framingham.edu

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Board of Trustees holds open forum for students

By Branden LaCroix News Editor

The Board of Trustees held an open forum for students to communicate directly with the board Feb. 27.

Student Trustee McKenzie Ward said the forum was held so students could learn more about how the Board of Trustees operates and ask its members questions.

“This is just a way for students to get to know the trustees better and also for the trustees to get to know the students as well,” she said.

The forum was attended by Chair Kevin Foley, President Nancy Niemi, Provost and Academic Vice President Kristen Porter-Utley, Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement Jeffrey Coleman, Executive Vice President Dale Hamel, and trustees Diane Finch, Anthony Hubbard, and Nancy Budwig. Vice Chair Beth Casavant and trustees Mariel Freve and Claire Ramsbottom attended via Zoom.

On behalf of a student not in attendence, Ward asked the board members what their greatest accomplishments have been while on the Board of Trustees.

Foley said he was involved in the decision to freeze FSU’s tuition during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said FSU was one of the first universities that did so.

He added, “We recognized collectively … the burden that was placed with the pandemic going on, on the finances of the families and the students.”

Foley added the board has recognized the need for mental health services on campus and has ensured there is sufficient funding available to the Counseling, Health, and Wellness Center.

Finch said her time on the Board of Trustees has been challenging but rewarding.

She said she had the “privilege” of being on the search committee for the vice president of DICE.

Coleman was selected as the new vice president of DICE during the Fall 2022 Semester.

Finch added during the board’s January meeting, Coleman presented a “blueprint” of what he plans to do during his time as vice president. “I sat there that night and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness. How wonderful to see this because we got the right person at the

right time in the right place,” she said. “And so that to me was really exciting.”

Ramsbottom said she was a member of the search committee for FSU’s new president.

She said, “From the board’s perspective, this is probably one of the most important responsibilities that we have. So I’m proud of where we landed and the job that Nancy is doing for the institution.”

SGA Senator Dillon Riley asked the board members what their five or ten year “vision” is for the University.

Foley said the University’s new branding and strategic enrollment

are pressures on higher ed.”

He said he would like to see Framingham tate become as financially strong” as it used to be and “be in a position to determine its own fate.”

Ward said, “Having goals for FSU is great because they’re the people that are helping you get to the graduation line.”

Evelyn Campbell, outreach and events coordinator for SGA, asked the board members about how they view the University as anti-racist after they underwent anti-racist training following remarks made by a former board member last September.

“It’s a culture change,” she said. “It’s a personal soul-searching mission about how do I contribute or detract from that culture? And how do I do it in ways that I may not even be aware of … that way, and then what does it look and feel like every day for folks living on the campus - working on the campus?”

Finch said, “I think it’s really important that there is training, that we have a dialogue, that we’re honest with ourselves, as well as call each other out when it’s necessary.”

She added as trustees, the board makes decisions regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion every day and it is important to be mindful of the effects of those decisions.

“I think this training is helping me step back and say, ‘OK, where am I coming from? What am I holding on to? What do I need to let go and be honest about?”

A student attending the forum asked the board members what plans they have for incoming first year students regarding FSU’s declining enrollment.

plans are pivotal “for the future of the institution.”

Finch said she wants to “benchmark” Framingham State “so that when people think about going to a school, Framingham is on their mind front and center.

“I want Framingham to be there at the top being a competitive public institution,” she said.

Finch said FSU offers “quality programs,” is equitable and inclusive, is affordable, and “embraces different pathways for achievement, and it has a strong support system and executive leadership.”

She added when she heard updates about FSU’s new branding, there was a lot of “excitement” and “enthusiasm” among the executive staff.

Trustee Anthony Hubbard said he wants the University to “have a reputation for equipping students” with the “tools” they need for success after graduation.

Regarding the recent closures of colleges and universities across the nation, Hubbard added, “I think there

Trustee Budwig said FSU is located “in a state that takes these issues very seriously” and provides a “wealth of resources” for the board to use.

“What we need to really unpack and think about is centering on diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism in terms of really centering the structures, processes, and procedures,” she said.

Budwig acknowledged that it is “a work in progress” and thanked Campbell for “keeping us on task.” She also suggested getting feedback from students regarding DEI issues.

Trustee Freve said the issue is about “changing that mindset” and considering the ways the decisions from various committees impact the students.

“It can’t be just about sort of training and being self aware,” she said. “That doesn’t cover enough.”

She added the board is focused on being critical of the decisions it makes in order to further anti-racist initiatives.

Ramsbottom said DEI training is good for “raising awareness.

Foley said the long-term goal for FSU’s enrollment is the strategic enrollment management plan, adding President Niemi and the FSU administration have “taken some very quick actions to help drive enrollment and hopefully we’re going to see that payoff.”

He added FSU is not the only institution facing declining enrollment.

According to a report on enrollment in state colleges by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, there has been a decline in state college enrollment since 2009, with a 16.2% decline in the fall of 2020.

“The demographics are changing,” Foley said, but added there should be more college-age students enrolling by 2030.

He said FSU is looking at alternative “opportunity sets” such as focusing on non-traditional students.

SGA President Dara Barros asked the board members how they incorporate FSU’s “core values” into their decision making.

Finch said the decisions she makes concern making sure there are structures and supports in place for student success.

“I’m always looking at, ‘OK, is everybody having access to this opportunity? What about the resources?

“I want Framingham to be there at

- Dianne Finch, Trustee

CIE holds discussion regarding racism and University Police

By Branden LaCroix News Editor

The Center for Inclusive Excellence held a community conversation with FSU students, faculty, and staff March 1 to discuss the state of policing on campus and nationally.

Jeffrey Coleman, vice president of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement, led the Community Conversation on Race and Policing. He said he views the issues facing the community as an opportunity to “come together collectively, and to discuss

tendees to “agree to disagree and respect difference of opinion.”

He added, “One of the things we also want to be mindful of is that we want to be able to bring all of our identities to campus, our whole self to campus, our intersecting identities. … What can we do on campus to create that space for everyone to feel welcomed and affirmed and supported

Santoro said one of the challenges facing University Police is building trust and developing relationships with other departments on campus.

I think that our officers are very caring and very loving,” he said.

of color feel intimidated by University Police.

She said there was one incident when she went to the University Police regarding parking and was treated poorly and “made to feel small.”

Barros also spoke about the effect of the released body cam video footage of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old man who was killed by police in January during a traffic stop.

“Some of us had to sit there and watch another person of color on at least a 30-minute-long video being murdered by one of our own,” she said. “I couldn’t even sit through that whole

FSU community.

“It should never be a problem or a barrier at any time for anybody to report to us,” he said.

Dean of Students Meg Nowak Borrego said she spoke with Barros following the incidents she experienced and talked about developing strategies to help her face similar situations in the future, as well as help her speak with the people who can “make change in those spaces.”

She said other students have come to her as well with similar complaints regarding offices they have visited, as well as faculty who asked her for ad-

and also to understand and to utilize resources that we might need and also look at ways that we can support one another.”

Among those attending the discussion were President Nancy Niemi, Director of the Counseling Center Ben Day, and University Chief of Police John Santoro.

Coleman said the discussion was to be a “judgment-free zone” and told at-

He added his department has created outreach programs to help “engage community members and build some trust.”

Coleman asked what are some of the barriers that are preventing students “from being their true, authentic selves,” and what are some of the ways those barriers can be deconstructed

SGA President Dara Barros said one of those barriers is how students

video because it’s so hurtful and affects our mental health. It affects our own well being and how we feel safe on campus in general.”

She added there are students who are victims of sexual assault who are more comfortable approaching faculty than the police.

Santoro said University Police “undergo various trainings and programs” to help foster relationships with the

vice on how to help students who have approached them.

“We need to continue to better talk with each other, [and] understand as much as we can when we don’t have those experiences in our own lives,” she said.

Nowak Borrego added students are free to use the ean of tudents ffice

See RACE AND POLICING page 5

Ryan O’Connell / THE GATEPOST

Director of the Counseling Center Ben Day speaking at the Community Conversation on Race and Policing discussion March 1.

“So we need to think about how we’re building a sense of belonging, how we’re establishing trust, and it shouldn’t just be on a core group of students to actually be the ones that have to do more advocating then than many of the other students.”

- Jeffrey Coleman, Vice President of DICE

Student forum

Continued from page 3

here are the gaps here do we need to put the funding in she asked.

Trustee Budwig said affirming the niversity s core values is at the heart of what we do.

he added, The uestion, always for us, is not, o I like the program but, ow does it fit within the broader values of the institution the strategic framework

Trustee ubbard e plained while the alumni and student trustees are elected by their peers, the rest of the members are appointed to the board by the governor through Massachusetts Boards and ommissions group.

e said the group looks for people to give different representation to the niversity and who are familiar with it and have e perience in a relat

ed field.

n behalf of another student who was not attending the forum, ard asked the trustees what their motivation was to become a trustee for .

oley said he is an alumnus of and was a member of the ramingham tate niversity oundation before he was asked to be a member of the Board of Trustees.

e e plained the process for be

coming a trustee is not a shoo in, but is a long vetting process conducted by the Massachusetts governor s office along with training potential trustees must take.

e added, I was more than happy to undertake that e perience, and said he has been on the Board of Trustees for eight and a half years.

Trustee reve said she has a uni ue background that she brings to the board.

he said she was previously involved in higher education, but is currently working in corporate finance and accounting.

I thought it would be a good way for me to bring my e perience with sort of both things and be able to contribute to a public university, she said.

inch said she is a person who very much enjoys being civically engaged, adding, It was very much a part of my undergraduate e perience in college.

he said she never thought about becoming a trustee until she was asked. he said, I really wanted the position because I thought, how interesting would that be as a person who teaches at another university who really thinks about issues of, ow do we structurally organi e the university to make sure that learning goes on for all students

hat would it be like to sit in a very different kind of role than somebody who researches that or teaches about this topic

amsbottom said she joined the board as a way to give back to the ramingham community by ensuring students have the same opportunities she did as a student.

he said she was a member of the lumni Board for si years before she was asked to become a trustee.

ramingham made a huge difference in my life when I was a student there and really is what launched me into the career I ve had, she added.

ubbard said part of his motivation for joining the Board of Trustees was to ensure students “have the capacity and the tools to do what they want to do when they leave here.

e said what brought it home for him was when he attended a Brother Brother event, which he said was eye opening.

ard asked the students attending the forum what their favorite aspects of are.

Barros said her favorite opportunity has been being an orientation leader and relating her e perience from her first time on campus with new students on their first day.

Race and policing

Continued from page 4

as a resource and said the office works closely with the ounseling enter as well.

nother student attending the discussion said the “root” of the issues of policing in schools needs to be addressed.

The student, who is a commuter from orcester and is a community organi er, said schools in orcester have low teacher diversity, and the addition of police in schools has damaged students trust in the education and law enforcement systems.

If they re police going to be in the spaces prior to coming to college where trust has already been broken, then I feel like that s one of the roots of the problem that we re not addressing before coming in, she said.

ara ina, a biology professor, said the niversity has to better protect its minoriti ed students.

ur students of color shouldn t be the ones that have to be brave to go to the police, when they heard from their peers that bad things happen when they go to the police, she said.

he added it isn t necessarily that bad things happen when students seek help from niversity olice, but that the department has a reputation that students from underrepresented groups have to contend with that prevents them from seeking help.

ina said this includes other minoriti ed students such as BT students.

I want all of our students to advocate for themselves. nd I work really hard to get my students to think about how they can advocate for themselves, she said. But it always seems to be that minoriti ed students are the ones that have to be brave and advo-

cate for themselves when other students don t have to do that.

ina said students of color have also raised concerns about the lack of faculty of color whom they can talk to, and the faculty of color whom these students talk to feel overburdened because there s so many students of color, all trying to talk to so few faculty of color.

he added, It s just another thing that we are putting on our minoriti ed students to get the same things that other students may be getting.

oleman said there is not just an issue of trust, but also an issue of belonging.

o we need to think about how we re building a sense of belonging, how we re establishing trust, and it shouldn t just be on a core group of students to actually be the ones that have to do more advocating than many of the other students, he said.

e added as an frican merican man, despite having friends who are police officers, he is still an ious when approached by law enforcement.

iley said when he went through his orientation, it opened doors for him.

I think opening up opportunities is the biggest thing, he said. ife will bring opportunity to anyone who s willing to take that step that might not have initially taken that step, and seeing that potential and that ability because I think everyone has the ability.

ard said she became the student trustee to represent the student body on the board. he said, I really wanted to make sure that before I graduate in May that I could leave a little bit better of a place than when I found it. ard is the eighth person in her family to attend and added her younger brother is attending the niversity as well. I love this place more than anything, she said. This is basically my second home.

[Editor’s Note: McKenzie Ward is the Opinions Editor for The Gatepost]

Ira ilver, a sociology and criminology professor, said the responsibility of making changes on campus should not be placed on the students.

This is where we have to look inward and take ownership of how to make change and not put it upon students, he said. The change has to come from the department, from the particular place on campus where students are not feeling safe.

If I get pulled over, it s like, h, how is this going to go down he asked. Is this officer going to be understanding m I going to be the ne t person that s going to be on the news the ne t day ll of those things are going on in the back of my mind.

oleman asked the attendees what strategies could be employed to mitigate against these types of incidents.

Bridgette heridan, a history pro-

fessor, suggested putting s commitment to anti racism front and center in its messaging and resources, as well as holding more educational events concerning anti racism.

he referenced an incident from the all emester when a former member of the Board of Trustees made a racist comment. he said, aculty and students worked their butts off making this an important agenda and major issue and we still want to be hearing from them.

e need to be hearing constant messages from administration about how we heard you and we re doing things, she added.

obert onohue, a psychology professor, said the University needs the I s creativity and to be proactive in deconstructing the barriers students from underrepresented groups are facing.

hen we re having students come in who are used to e periencing educational systems that are racist, policing systems that are racist, there has to be something very proactive, where we are able to prove to them that that s not true of the systems here, he said.

iemi said, e can only continue to work together to identify the things the barriers, the issues, the systemic underpinning of so much that we have both e ternally and internally and to proactively counteract that to show people that we are working on it.

he said, This is the hard work, the loving work, the painful work that we re doing, and I m so grateful that we have people who are willing to do it.

CONNECT WITH BRANDEN LACROIX blacroix@student.framingham.edu

CONNECT WITH BRANDEN LACROIX blacroix@student.framingham.edu

“I want all of our students to advocate for themselves. And I work really hard to get my students to think about how they can advocate for themselves.”

- Cara Pina, Biology Professor

Sports management

Harrison added that another question posed on the survey was, ‘How many students left FSU because there was not a sports management major offered?’

The answer was approximately 20, according to Harrison.

Once the survey further validated student desire for the major, the next Framingham State will offer a bachelor’s degree in sports management starting in fall 2023. The major will be housed in the College of Business.

Framingham State already offers a concentration in sports management, but because of increased student demand, a push was made to create a designated major, according to Michael Harrison, Marketing Department chair and faculty athletic representative.

arrison said he first proposed the program five years ago.

He said, “The beauty of starting with the concentration is you see if there’s a demand there.”

arrison added there is definitely a growing demand not only from students, but also from athletic coaches and the sports industry itself.

He said, “It’s a growing industry. The sports market is just growing exponentially.”

Harrison added students in the College of Business are “looking for a little bit more specialization.

“So there’s a market from the student perspective and the business perspective for a specialization in the industry,” he said.

Harrison said the process to develop the new major started with surveying athletic coaches because of their close ties to student athletes and recruitment, in order to get a better understanding of their perspective on the demand for the major.

He said the results of the survey indicated some students did not come to Framingham State because there was not a sports management major offered.

When the survey was taken, he said approximately 135 students over the

past four years did not choose Framingham State because there was not a designated sports management major.

“Overwhelmingly,the numbers were strong,” he said.

Harrison added another question posed on the survey was, ‘How many students left FSU because there was not a sports management major offered?’

The answer was approximately 20, according to Harrison.

Once the survey further validated student desire for the major, the next stage of the process was to research what courses were needed in the curriculum to fulfill the major re uirements, he said.

Harrison said he examined what core courses were required by the accrediting body of the Council on Sports Management because they were industry specific.

When the sports management concentration was developed, it was accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education.

According to the letter of intent (LOI) for the major proposal, the courses that will be required in this major related to the core business curriculum are Financial Accounting; Managerial Accounting; Analytical Techniques for Business; Introduction to Business Systems; Microeconomics; Managerial Finance; Legal Environment of Business; Organizational Behavior; Operations Management, Marketing Principles; Business Statistics, and Business Policy and Strategy.

The required sports curriculum courses are The Economics of Sports; either Mental Dynamics in Sports and Physical Activity or Meaningful Play; The Business of Fantasy and eSports; Sports Management; Sports and Facilities Management; Sports Marketing, and Sport in Society, according to the LOI.

Students majoring in sports management will still have six free electives, so they will also be able to add a minor, Harrison said.

arrison said one of the benefits of taking this major is students can take classes from different departments, and do not have to take only business classes.

“We’re partnering with different departments. That’s one of the beauties that I really like about this major. We’re not siloed,” he said.

Harrison said the major was approved by the University’s Curriculum Committee and the All University Committee before being sent to the provost, President Nancy Niemi, and the Board of Trustees for final approval.

Once the Board of Trustees approved the major, a 27-page LOI was submitted to the Department of Higher Education outlining the rationale for the program, the demand for the program, competing schools, why this is a need for FSU, and how the program

is positioned against other schools, he said.

Now that the Department of Higher Education has approved the major, which took place “several weeks ago,” the next steps are advertising and setting up DegreeWorks, Harrison said. He said there have already been transfer students who have applied and been accepted into the sports management program.

Harrison said the competitive advantage of Framingham State offering a bachelor’s degree in sports management is its affordability and location.

Compared to other schools in the area that offer sports management degrees, such as Lasell University and the University of Connecticut, “we’re less expensive,” Harrison said.

The location of FSU also impacts the demand for this degree positively, not only regarding sports teams, but also affiliated organi ations in the area, he added.

Harrison said students have interned for the Pawtucket Red Socks, the Woosocks, the New England Patriots, the Bruins, the Manchester Monarchs, and with 98.5 Sports Hub. He said, “We’re in the middle of the Red Sox, the Celtics, the Bruins, Worcester WooSocks, and Manchester Monarchs - the opportunities in sports are just growing.”

Harrison said, “We’ve gotten our students amazing internships” with both major and minor sports teams.

“And they’re getting jobs,” he added.

Harrison said he is pleased with the success of the concentration in sports management and hopes that will only grow with the addition of the major.

“So we’re excited that with the concentration, our students are getting internships and jobs. And we hope with these relationships, that it’ll get even deeper,” he added.

He said, “I think the leverage of the

Courtesy of Softball Coach Larry Miller

Sports management

existing relationships with the organizations and the success of our interns and employees” will only make the program stronger.

Harrison said advertising for the major is being conducted strategically through athletic recruiting, but has faced some challenges reaching other prospective students due to the fact that it is not set up on DegreeWorks yet.

He said, “For four Saturdays in a row, we brought on 20 to 30 potential Framingham State students and student athletes for football on campus, gave them tours, talked with them about the different majors. I talked about sports management as a major.”

Harrison added, “We believe it’s going to grow and hopefully pretty quickly.”

President Nancy Niemi said the new sports management major will “allow students to shape their learning about the underlying ideas of sports, the business of sports - gain the knowledge and skills that they need to participate in this energetic and growing field.

She added, “FSU already had a strong sport management minor. By changing that set of learning experiences into a fully fledged degree, employers will be able to see that our students have focused specifically on this field.

She said the major will give students “opportunities and time within their program to learn about multiple aspects of sports business, variations in sports careers, and participate in internships that often lead to jobs after graduation.”

Dwayne Thomas, a professor of sports management, has been teaching the Sports Management course for eight years.

He said his classes have always been filled or overfilled.

Thomas said there are “tons of students who are already in the concentration” for sports management.

He said the course curriculum covers topics such as the nature and scope of sports; sports law; sports marketing;

sports finance sports administration sports operations and facilities; contracts and negotiations; management and organizational leadership; sports governance; and policy development.

Thomas said, “It’s a really broad course … because we have students who come from all types of backgrounds and I used this Sports Management course to introduce all of these various segments.”

He added there are classes within the concentration that dive into these topics deeply.

Thomas said this major will be “the gateway to careers in the sports industry.”

He added he thinks the addition of the designated major is “great - it’s timely, it’s something that there’s going to be lots of success in for students.”

Thomas said the benefit of earning a degree in sports management at Framingham State is it is cost-effective compared to the surrounding private institutions that offer the degree.

He supported Harrison’s view that FSU also has an advantage given the location of the University. “Some of the key pieces are that there are so many sports segments of the sports industry within a 30- to 50-mile radius of Framingham State.”

Thomas said one of the most valuable aspects of the concentration becoming a major is the requirement for an internship.

He said, “To me, the biggest piece is building relationships and being able to network with people already working in the industry.”

He added being able to build those relationships with professionals in the sports industry in order to prepare students for the job market and help them transition there is essential.

Laura Lamontagne, professor of economics, has taught the Economics of Sports class for the past 15 years. She said the sports management major is a “great addition to the College of Business. It is very popular and an in-demand major.

She said she hopes it will help increase enrollment by making Framing-

ham State more appealing to a broader audience.

Ira Silver, a Department of Sociology and Criminology professor, has taught the Sports In Society class since the spring of 2020.

He said the addition of the major “gives more roundedness to people that are going to be working in the industry to kind of have a sense of what’s going on.”

Larry Miller, head softball coach and assistant sports information director, teaches the Sports Facility and Events Management course at FSU, where he has been teaching for approximately seven years.

Miller said he has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in sports management from SUNY Cortland, where he graduated from in 2011.

He said he is “really excited” about the addition of the sports management major and thinks it s a great field and there s definitely a lot of interest in it across the student population - especially in the athletics world.”

He added, “We have a lot of our athletes and prospective student athletes that are going to be interested in it.”

Miller extended his gratitude to Harrison “because he really spearheaded it from the beginning and drove it home.

“Shoutout to him,” Miller said.

Malia Shields, a junior communication, media, and performance major, said the new major is perfect for Framingham State because of the strong recruitment strategies from the Athletic Department.

“We have a lot of student athletes coming to Framingham State. I think a lot of people want to learn more about sports. It’s a very interesting topic,” she said.

Cam Lau, a senior computer science major who holds the left-back position on the men’s soccer team at FSU since his freshman year, said he thinks it’s significant that ramingham tate is adding another major.

“It’s always great to have other op-

portunities for other people to come in and have the education that they want. I think that sports is a big part of campus and we have a lot of great athletes that want to go into the field and continue working in athletics. I think adding that major benefits everyone, he said.

Flannery O’Connor, a junior health and wellness major who is on the women’s basketball team, said she thinks the major is a “great addition and something that would fit in perfectly into Framingham State’s programming.”

She said she believes a lot of students will be transferring into the major.

Olivia Renda, a senior English major who is a member of the track and women’s soccer teams, said she is “so excited there will be a new sports management major.”

She added she knows “several people that would love to enroll in that major.”

Renda said she also thinks the major “opens up a lot of opportunities to better our athletic teams by expanding the abilities of the Athletic Department as well as attract more promising athletes to the school.

“This could be a great opportunity to expand athletics as a whole on campus,” she said.

Jared Nardizzi, a senior business management major who was captain of the soccer team in the fall of 2022, said he thinks a major will definitely attract more student athletes.”

He added, “I wish it was available when I enrolled, but I think it’s going to be good for the program.

“Go Rams,” he added.

Courtesy of Yahoo

OP/ED

THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL

Reevaluate the course evaluations

Once a semester, students are asked to provide evaluations of their courses by answering standardized questions by filling in circles on paper forms with a number two pencil.

Administered with the purpose of obtaining students’ feedback on professors’ pedagogy, communication effectiveness, and demeanor, student evaluations are critical to maintaining the quality of courses at FSU and ensuring students have an enriching experience in their classes.

However, the student evaluation system is not comprehensive enough to provide this important feedback because it is standardized.

The standard evaluation form asks students to assess a professor’s course based on criteria such as faculty interaction, organization and planning, and assignments, exams and grading. Students respond to each question on a one-to-five scale.

Other sections of the evaluation ask students to compare aspects such as course outcomes, student effort and involvement, and course difficulty to other classes the student has taken on a scale of one-to-five.

This quantitative form of evaluating courses is simply not effective.

Often, the standardized questions, which are focused on traditional teaching methods, fail to allow students to praise professors on unique parts of the course they enjoyed. Alternatively, they can also fail to allow the opportunity to offer constructive criticism on particular challenges students faced in the course.

This format also does not allow students to address how important each quality is to their learning experience. It also does not provide students the ability to write comments or provide qualitative feedback.

Completing a course evaluation should not feel like filling in a bubble sheet for an MCAS exam.

The student evaluation form is so mundane that some students may not even read the questions before quickly filling in the circles as either all ones or all fives.

How truly helpful are these evaluations to professors if they know this behavior is going

Thank you, President Carter

By McKenzie Ward Opinions Editor

The Carter Administration announced on Feb. 18 that former President Jimmy Carter entered hospice care in Plains, Georgia after a brief visit to the hospital, according to AP News.

The Carter Center said in a statement that President Carter has decided to spend his remaining time with his family and friends in their home instead of continuing to seek medical care.

Delivering comprehensive, thorough feedback to professors is important because students are frequently hesitant to directly speak to them.

Students are encouraged to contact a chair or a dean if they are experiencing problems with a professor during a course. However, students are often not aware of these resources, do not have time to reach out, or are afraid their issue is not worthy of being shared.

These course evaluations should be their chance to highlight their experiences, rather than their voices becoming lost in a data-crunching process.

We at The Gatepost suggest moving course evaluations to a digital format where students can provide answers to multiple-choice questions as well as written responses to more open-ended, department-specific questions. Offering the course evaluation online would protect student anonymity in sharing written feedback.

Although it can be difficult to guarantee students will participate in online course evaluations, making them a requirement to complete the course would eliminate this issue.

It would also ensure all students have the chance to complete the evaluation as some might miss the class during which the in-person evaluations are administered.

Furthermore, all professors should be required to undergo an evaluation for each course they teach. Tenured faculty are only required to have a course evaluation of one course of their choosing per year.

This is ridiculous.

Allowing them to choose which course is evaluated leaves the evaluation vulnerable to bias because the professor may choose their best class.

All professors, tenured or not, have room for improvement in their teaching style and students’ honest feedback is crucial to this growth.

It is time to reevaluate our course evaluation process.

Currently, President Carter is the oldest living president at 98 years old.

President Carter served as president from 1977 until 1981, but he lost the bid for reelection to Republican Ronald Reagan during the 1980 election.

During his presidency, President Carter faced many epic challenges including the Iranian Hostage Crisis, the energy crisis, inflation, and Soviet aggression, which causes many people to consider him a “bad” president.

However, I believe that during a time where our country is so severely divided as a result of politics and self-interest, that we as a country can learn a lot through President Carter’s lifetime dedication to public service.

Prior to becoming president, President Carter graduated from a U.S. military academy and is currently the only president to ever graduate from the Naval Academy. After graduation, President Carter served in the Navy until he was honorably discharged in October 1953 and transferred to the retired reserve at his request with the rank of lieutenant, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.

After his service, President Carter then worked on his family’s peanut farm in Georgia before running for governor in Georgia in 1971.

During his inaugural address as governor, President Carter declared that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Despite Georgia being a deep south state, which would then vote for Republican Richard Nixon as president just a year later, President Carter never strayed away from his beliefs - something that many politicians can only dream of doing.

Not only was he willing to stand for his beliefs as a governor, but on only the second day of his presidency, President Carter kept his campaign promise and pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders.

While former President Ronald Reagan is often credited for deregulation, it was President Carter who began to implement deregulation policies. President Carter signed his first energy package in November 1978, which established energy goals such as reducing the country’s dependence on oil and increasing the use of renewable energy such as solar panels, according to National Geographic.

It was during Carter’s presidency that 32 solar panels were placed upon the roof of the White House as a symbol of his faith in “the power of the sun,” according to the National Museum of American History. However, during Reagan’s administration, they were removed.

While President Carter’s dedication to public service through his government roles is admirable, what I find most inspiring about President Carter is the work he has done since leaving the White House.

In 1982, President Carter and his wife Rosalyn established The Carter Center, a nongovernmental organization with the goal of advancing peace and health across the globe. Since 1982, the center has helped further peace avenues in countries such as Uganda and Bosnia, strengthened international standards for human rights, and pioneered new health approaches to diseases in Africa and Latin America.

Most recently the center is on the cusp of eradicating a parasitic worm disease in Guinea.

Throughout his entire life, President Jimmy Carter has dedicated his time to serving others for the purpose of making the world a better place. During his time in politics, he did his best to fulfill his promises despite the challenges and pushback he faced by seasoned Washington politicians.

At a time when our country is beyond divided by politics and self-interest, I believe that we must look to President Carter as a beam of hope and inspiration of what it means to be a good person.

So, President Carter, thank you for giving me hope for the future of our world and giving our world your best.

Campus Conversations

If you could ask FSU students a Campus Conversation question, what would it be?

By Emily Rosenberg, Associate Editor

“On a scale of one to 10, how much do you love the workers at Dunkin’ Donuts? And the correct answer is 10.”

-Julia Taliafarro, junior

“What do you want to be doing in 10 years?

-George Dabeou, sophomore

“My question is, ‘Why is everybody in this school not together?’ We are all so separated. Why don’t we just come together and build a culture around here?”

-Iberdino Petit, senior

“‘What is the best way to promote a healthy diet?’ Because I am a health and wellness major … and I just got a meal plan.”

- Tray Gayne, sophomore

“What are your goals at Framingham State?”

“Are you happy?”

-Kenzie Elsaye, freshman

“I’d ask, ‘What do you like to do in your free time?’

-Marina Botte, freshman

“‘Do you like cows’ milk or do you like almond milk or [any other] nut milk?’ That’s what I want to know. I have strong feelings about milk.”

-Brooke Phelps, junior

-Amy Bickford, freshman

omen’s bas etball lose to estfield in S semi-finals SPORTS

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

By Riley Crowell Staff Writer

The No. 2 seed Framingham State ams lost to the o. seed estfield State Owls by a score of 90-76 Feb. 24 at Logan Gymnasium in the MASCAC tournament semi final round.

Each team had four players score in the double-digits. The Owls’ bench outscored the Rams’ bench 49-4, which ultimately secured them the victory.

Framingham’s Flannery O’Connor scored a game-high 18 points and shot 6-6 from the free throw line.

estfield scored two baskets to open the game and took a uick lead.

The wls and ams traded baskets for the first uarter and the score was tied twice and four lead changes occurred.

estfield led to close out the

first uarter.

Framingham’s Kelsey Yelle scored the opening 7 points for the Rams with three layups and a free throw. estfield and ramingham continued to trade baskets in the opening minutes of the second uarter.

ith remaining, the wls led by a score of 21-17.

Over the next 4 minutes, Framingham outscored estfield and built an 8-point lead.

Framingham’s scoring was split between five different players.

estfield responded by outscoring ramingham to close out the final minute of the half.

estfield regained their lead and the score was at halftime.

Framingham began the second half with a 7-0 scoring run in less than 2 minutes.

The ams led by a score of . estfield answered with a scoring run over the next 2 minutes and led by a score of 44-41.

The ams kept the game close, but were steadily outscored by the Owls. ith remaining in the third uarter, estfield led by a score of .

The Owls outscored the Rams 9-4 to close out the third uarter, which increased their lead to 11 points.

ramingham outscored estfield

7-2 in the opening 2 minutes of the fourth uarter.

The Rams trailed by only 6 points. estfield did not break away on any scoring runs, but consistently outscored the Rams over the next 4 minutes.

The Owls increased their lead to 12 points and led by a score of 80-68.

Framingham responded by outscoring estfield , bringing the score within 6 points.

estfield secured their lead with an 8-0 scoring run to close the game.

The Owls won by a score of 90-76 and knocked ramingham out of the MASCAC post-season tournament.

Framingham’s O’Connor and teammates Gwendolyn Carpenter and Katty Haidul each played for the entire fourth uarter and combined to score of the ams points of the uarter.

Framingham’s Katie Haselton said, “The fans were electric on Friday night. We wish we could have had a different end result.

“This loss and end to the season is going to be used as fuel and motivation to get back to the finals, she added.

Haidul said, “It should be exciting to see the improvement of everyone over the course of the off season.

Adrien Gobin /THE GATEPOST

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Flannery O’Connor hits 1,000 point milestone

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

ketball at estfield tate niversity. She said, “It’s always been a big thing in the family.

“I kind of started just playing in the backyard with them,” O’Connor added.

O’Connor said she began playing organized basketball for her town’s travel basketball league in third grade.

O’Connor said she grew up in Amesbury, where her childhood best friend’s dad was the travel basketball coach.

She said at the time she was a swimmer. “I was gonna go with the swimming route.”

Flannery O’Connor, 22, earned a spot on the MASCAC All-Conference First Team for the 2022-23 season, according to the MASCAC website.

O’Connor said she has been on the FSU women’s basketball team since the 2019-2020 season and is a captain on the team.

In the past, O’Connor earned honors such as 2021-22 MASCAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, 2019-20 MASCAC Women’s Basketball Rookie of the Year, numerous MASCAC Player of the Week honors, and honors from D3hoops.com during the 2021-22 season, according to the MASCAC website.

A member of the Rams’ Class of 2024, O’Connor is a health and wellness major with a minor in child and family studies.

O’Connor said she wants to become a high school health teacher and basketball coach. She said she has also thought about becoming an athletic trainer.

This season, O’Connor led the FSU women’s basketball team in points per game, averaging 17.8 ppg, according to the Rams Athletics website.

O’Connor also averaged 10.3 rebounds per game and recorded 22 blocks throughout the season, according to the Rams Athletics website.

O’Connor said she began playing basketball because of her older brothers and also her dad, who played bas-

O’Connor said her best friend’s dad called her dad and convinced her to try out for the team. “From there, it’s history.”

O’Connor said she started on the varsity basketball team all four years at Amesbury High School. She said the team’s previous head coach had retired the year before she got there, and she had a new coach going into her freshman year.

O’Connor said, “We had a pretty good year my freshman year, but my sophomore year was actually the best year of all.”

She said her sophomore year Amesbury High School won the North Championship and made it to the semi finals in the Massachusetts tate Tournament. O’Connor said they played the game at TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics.

O’Connor said they lost by four points, but the town came to the game in fan buses and it was a great experience.

O’Connor said, “That was probably one of the best experiences of my life.

“It was awesome. It was awesome,” added O’Connor.

O’Connor said she recalls scoring 22 points and recording 18 rebounds. She said, It was definitely ama ing to be able to do that on the arden floor.

O’Connor said she came to FSU because of the team. Head Women’s Basketball Coach Walter Paschal reached out to O’Connor and invited her to tour the campus, she added.

“I met the team and I was like, ‘All right, these girls are so fun. I can see myself being friends with all of them,’” she said. “They were really good at basketball. So I was like, ‘This feels like it would be a perfect fit.

O’Connor said her favorite part about the team is “just being able to play with your friends. I’ve gotten very close with my entire team.”

She said she lives with two of her teammates.

e could be beefing at home or something like that and then we go play basketball and we’re like, ‘All right, we’re cool. Everything s fine.

“Just being able to ex-

perience something like that with your friends is incredible,” O’Connor added.

O’Connor said she sees herself as a leader on her team. “I like to score and grab some rebounds. I’ve been trying to get myself into passing more, trying to make opportunities for other people.

I think I m definitely a leader, O’Connor said.

O’Connor said her playstyle was different in high school. “In my freshman year of high school, I was more of a 3. I was kind of shooting the ball, although I really can’t shoot that well.

“[My coaches] put me in the post and I think I had 28 points and then they were like, ‘Right, you’re never coming out of here again,’” she add ed.

O’Connor said she scored her 1,000th point for FSU women’s basketball this season. She needed 127 points this season to reach the milestone.

“I was a little ner vous that something would get in the way of having a good sea son, but I was excit ed. I was like, ‘If I can make it to preseason and just be healthy, then things will go our way,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor said she scored her 1,000th point during their matchup against Smith College Dec. 3 that is now ranked fourth for NCAA Divi sion III women’s bas ketball programs.

bason

“We said that we wanted revenge on them because they took us out of the NCAA tournament the year before.

“They brought their A-game for sure,” O’Connor said.

She said she needed to score 15 points during the game to reach the 1000-point milestone.

“I just kept missing layups down the line. So every time I would put it up, the crowd would be like, ‘ahh’ and then they’d be like, ‘ohhh,’” O’Connor said.

O’Connor said she remembers scoring her 1,000th point. “Somebody was shooting a free throw for Smith and the ref said to me, ‘I hear you got two more,’ and I had no idea. I was like, ‘Oh, I do. OK.’ So I said, ‘You could help me out with that.’ And she was like, ‘No, no, you can do it yourself.’”

O’Connor said her teammate Gwendolyn Carpenter had a breakaway that led to her 1,000th point. “She dumped it off to me at the last second and I put it up and I got fouled, and it went in.

“The crowd went crazy. And I was like, ‘Oh, that must have been it,’” she added.

The Rams went on to beat Smith College, which was Smith’s only loss of the season, according to the Smith College athletics website.

O’Connor said her favorite part about FSU is the community. “I think that everybody here likes being at Framingham State and I think that’s apparent when you go to watch other teams play.

“It’s just a good sense of community and I really like that,” she added.

O’Connor said she has been inspired by many athletes growing up.

She said one of them was Ashley Waters, who was the previous women’s basketball scoring leader at Amesbury High School. “She was always a huge name to look up to.”

O’Connor said she also looked up to her brothers and her parents. “They were realme into the game and staying motivated.”

ly big parts of getting

She said she also watched women’s basketball player Skyler Diggins, who played at Notre Dame. She said her favorite professional athlete growing up was now retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal and is now professional basketball player Jayson Tatum.

O’Connor said she has one more season on the FSU women’s basketball team. I definitely want to put my playing into a different realm.

“I think that this is

the time where I can

Courtesy of FSURams

Courtesy of Flannery O’Connor

Adrien Gobin /THE GATEPOST CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

Ice Hockey

Mike Bailey, 49, has been the Rams’ Head Ice Hockey Coach since the 2018-19 season and is a member of the Framingham State Class of 1996.

Bailey said he began playing hockey

Meet the Coaches

in the Learn to Skate Program rink in Franklin. “I just enjoyed it and I just continued to play from that point on.”

Bailey said he played ice hockey at the high school, prep school, and college levels until he graduated FSU.

Bailey said, “I missed hockey. So about three or four years later, I started coaching.”

He said he coached for a few years as an assistant coach at Bellingham High School alongside one of his teammates from FSU before he had a family and stepped away from coaching.

Bailey said he coached, “a little bit of everything.

“I coached youth football before I had my own kids, and then when I had my two daughters, I coached them in tee-ball baseball, softball, and soccer,” he added.

Bailey said, “I really enjoy working with the kids and it’s really enjoyable to be out there on the field or a rink or court and just watch them succeed.”

He said his favorite part about

Men’s Basketball

Donald Morris Jr., 43, has been the Rams’ Head Men’s Basketball Coach for two seasons and has been coaching basketball since 2005.

Morris said he began playing basketball in sixth grade. “My sister, my mom, and my dad took me to the park to shoot around - from there I really liked it.”

He said he played basketball from middle school to college. “My basketball career has taken me on a pretty nice journey.”

Morris said he began coaching while he was in his senior year of college and finishing his degree. e became the head coach at Lesley University two years later.

He said at the time he was one of the youngest minority coaches for NCAA Division III schools in New England.

Morris said, “At a young age, it was a little bit different because I was coaching guys almost similar to my age.

“It had its obstacles, but it was a great learning experience,” Morris

Women’s Basketball

Walter Paschal, 57, has been the Rams’ head women’s basketball coach for 10 seasons and has been coaching women’s basketball for almost 30

added.

He said he began coaching because “I realized that it was a way that I can impact lives through basketball, and try to show kids a correlation between sports and life.”

Morris said he has coached student athletes of all ages through the AAU program he owns. “It gives you a chance to kind of get away from the seriousness of it.”

He said his favorite part of coaching is “watching someone set a goal and then having the ability to attain it.”

Morris said he came to coach at Framingham State because “it had the ability to be one of the top teams in the MASCAC.

“It’s great - the camaraderie that all the student athletes have with each other and the Athletic Department has with the employees and the coaches out of there,” he added.

Morris said his assistant coaches “do a wonderful job.”

He added, “The fact that they’re so

years.

Paschal said basketball has been a part of his life from a young age. “I used to play across the street from my house every day. All year long when it snowed out, I was shoveling the snow off.”

He said he stopped playing when he was around 30 years old and began coaching a bit before then.

aschal said his first e perience coaching was with a girls’ basketball high school freshman team.

He said he taught for 20 years at a school for people with learning disabilities. “Coaching is teaching.”

Paschal said, “It’s just my nature.

“Just teaching and helping peoplehelping kids,” he added.

Paschal said this is a part of why he loves coaching. “It’s just that nature of just trying to help kids get to where they want to get to.

“If I can help you, I will,” added Paschal.

Paschal said he was an assistant

coaching is “watching the kids work hard, practice, and then have success in the games - to see the fruits of their labor.”

Bailey said his favorite part about coaching at FSU is watching players score their first collegiate goals. It s just a natural, genuine excitement in their face.”

Bailey said his favorite memory of coaching was from coaching youth football.

He said he invited a player’s younger brother to participate in sprints at the end of practices.

Bailey said the boy became the first string running back for North Attleboro High School and went on to play at UConn.

He said, “His parents thanked me for letting him get involved at an early age.

“For me, it’s always about the kids and getting everyone involved,” Bailey added.

Bailey said he came to coach at FSU

invested in learning, and learning how to be better coaches shows us that not just the coaching staff, but the players are all taking a step in the right direction.”

Morris said his favorite coaching experience was with a former student athlete who won the Scholar Baller Award, a national award that recognizes student athletes for their academic achievements and social impact at their university.

Morris said the student athlete was in Hurricane Katrina and after he won the award, they traveled to Ward 9 in New Orleans to build a playground.

He said, “I thought that was a great situation because I watched how one student athlete impacted a bunch of other student athletes.”

Morris said growing up his favorite athlete was now retired professional basketball player Michael Jordan. “He was always perceived as someone who had always done the right things and was a class act.

coach for the FSU women’s basketball team in the late ’90s before he worked as the Fitchburg State head women’s basketball coach for 14 years.

Regarding his job at Fitchburg, he said, “Even though it was a part-time job, if you want to be successful you have to do it full time.”

Paschal said part of the reason he came to Framingham State was that it was a full-time position.

He said FSU is a “hidden gem. The campus is beautiful.”

Paschall said he grew up in the Greater Boston area and has been here for most of his life. “When I was a kid, we used to go to Shoppers World.

“I know the area well and spent a lot of time in the area. To be able to be back in a familiar situation, it makes it a lot easier,” added Paschal.

He said his favorite part of coaching here are the students. “We get to go out and find the kids and tell them what they will accomplish here.

“It’s all about the students - it really

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

when his former coach, Guy Angers, asked him to help with the team.

Bailey said, “I thought maybe if I could come in and train, instill some of the things that I learned, and try and get the program back to where it was having success, it would be rewarding - not only for the kids, but it would just be good as a whole for the alumni.”

Both of Bailey’s assistant coaches, Mike Doran and Melvin Nichols, are FSU alumni. Bailey said, “I know those guys are there for the right reasons, that’s because they care about the school.”

He said his favorite athletes growing up were now retired professional hockey players “Bobby Orr for always being humble and [Cam] Neely for his style of play.”

Bailey said he considers himself a “player’s coach. … I like to give guys plenty of independence and let them do their thing. As long as at the end of the day they’re all there for the main goal - and that’s the team.”

“Being able to see someone in a position of color that was holding themselves accountable and a high standard of excellence made you want to kind of do the same thing,” he added.

is,” added Paschal.

He said one of his favorite memories of coaching was winning back-to-back MASCAC championships in the team’s previous two seasons.

Paschal said, “Even when we’ve lost in the championship games, it’s the kids that you go to battle with in the games.

“To see them reach their goals is pretty rewarding,” he added.

Paschall said he loves working with his assistant coaches, Lauren Donahue and Emily Velozo, both of whom played for him here at FSU. “Without them, I’m not sure we would be where we are today.”

Paschal said his favorite athletes growing up were now retired professional basketball player Larry Bird and now retired professional tennis player John McEnroe.

He said he was inspired by one of his basketball coaches growing up, but he tries not to emulate a specific coach.

“I’m just who I am,” Paschal said.

Courtesy of FSURams

Walter Paschal

Mike Bailey

Donald Morris Jr.

Courtesy of FSURams

Courtesy of Mike Bailey

ARTS & FEATURES

Artists spotlight new Mazmanian Gallery exhibition in panel discussion

By Raena Doty Asst. Arts & Features Editor

Rain, shine, or snow, Arts & Ideas continues working happily and persevering no matter what comes its way - like on Feb. 28, when a school closure caused a panel discussion about the most recent Mazmanian Gallery exhibition to be moved to an online format.

Following a snowstorm, Arts & Ideas held their panel discussion on “Record Keeper,” via Zoom.

Currently on display in the Mazmanian Gallery is the “Record Keeper” exhibition, which is about the way artists use clay, a very traditional medium for art, to represent and chart time - the past, present, and future.

The panel consisted of three of the four artists featured in the exhibition - Paul Briggs, Megumi Naitoh, and Elshafei Dafalla.

Students Sam Coombs, AJ Green, and Anaelaine Torregrosa moderated the panel. They prepared questions for the panel members and helped organize attendees who came with questions of their own.

The event started with a few words from Ellie Krakow, director of the Mazmanian Gallery, and Keri Straka, a professor of art.

“The idea behind ‘Record Keeper’ comes from clay’s unique ability as a malleable material to capture and express the evidence of human touch,” Straka said. “This is an exhibition of ceramic artwork that explores how artists use clay - which is one of the oldest artistic mediums - to grapple with time.”

She went on to explain the artists use clay and represent time in different ways. The exhibition features clay tiles, pottery, and even stop-motion animation made using clay.

The panel members were introduced by two interns for the Mazmanian Gallery, Emily Monaco and Jennifer Koeller.

“Paul [Briggs] works primarily with pinch-forming and slab-building processes, and overall his work is about art-making as inner development,” Monaco said. “When I saw his pieces in the gallery, I was stunned. I especially love the pieces displayed on the pedestals and I love the technique he uses to create sculptures that seem delicate yet almost unbreakable.”

While introducing Naitoh, Koeller said, “I was just so taken with Magumi’s work in the gallery as we were hanging the show. The subject matter and the soundtrack are so pleasing and playful that I was drawn in and almost didn’t notice the hidden lay-

ers of meaning.”

She went on to introduce Dafalla, saying, “I was very fortunate to be able to participate in his collaborative installation for the show, not only as a gallery intern, but as an artist. The ceramic work ‘Recorded in Earth’ is a literal record of his time spent working with students in the Art Department here at FSU, documenting our community and showing how art can bridge differences.”

Moderators began opening up

years, and this is just the most recent iteration of what I would build out of slabs.”

Naitoh’s piece in the gallery is a video clip of stop-motion animation using clay. She said she calls this “ceramation,” because unlike traditional clay stop-motion animation, she has a more limited time frame to work with the sculptures while creating her videos.

She added she’s also the artist behind the channel Yellow Clay on You-

sentative of human beings in the way that Adam was created out of clay in the Bible.

Torregrosa asked all three artists, “How would you want your artwork or your pieces to touch upon or speak upon racial or societal issues that we’re facing today?”

Naitoh said, “During COVID, when Asian hate was on the rise, that was actually the very first time I thought about myself as an Asian American.

“At that time, I was confronted with it, and I did have a lot of negative energy around that topic, and I was just thinking about how I would turn this negative energy into something else,” she continued.

“So, I thought, I’m going to try to make a walk about it instead of complaining about it or instead of feeling bad about it,” Naitoh said.

Briggs said he didn’t do much work with social justice in his sculpture art until a few years ago. He said his time spent as a pastor involved him with many different social issues, and when he was no longer a pastor, he was more driven to create art about the issues.

He said his time working in a women’s prison affected him the most, and now he has a series of 25 art pieces “because America has 25% of the world’s prisoners.” Two of these pieces, “Visitation Day (Cell Personae IV)” and “Womb (Cell Personae IV),” are on display in the Mazmanian Gallery.

Dafalla said, “In my work, I’m trying to treat the gap between ethnicity, color, gender, generation, language.

“No one from us can claim it as, ‘That is my work.’ So, in part, that brings us together, because we go to the gallery, we see that it is our work. So everyone participating, they will be part of a larger group,” he added.

The last 15 minutes of the event were left free for attendees to ask any questions they had for the artists. People asked questions about why certain artistic decisions were made, what the artistic process looked like while the art pieces were in progress, and what the pieces represented.

questions for the artists to respond to their work directly.

Green asked all three artists, “How would you describe your work in the show for someone who’s never seen it before?”

Briggs began with describing his sculpture work. While the audience was shown a photo of his pieces “Visitation Day (Cell Personae IV)” and “Womb (Cell Personae IV),” he said, I definitely have considered myself a slab builder, a sculptor, for many

Tube.

Dafalla then described his own work. His piece in the exhibition, called “Recorded in Earth,” is a collaboration between him and students at the University. The collection of clay tiles includes work from many different students in the Art Department.

“We were talking about past, present, and future, and how we, as human beings, look to ourselves in the three different perspectives,” he said.

He added he also sees clay as repre-

In the final moments of the call, Yumi Park-Huntington, the chair of Arts & Ideas, invited everyone to turn on their microphones and use gallery mode to look at each other’s faces and have a moment of community despite the weather outside and the change of format.

The “Record Keeper” exhibition will be on display until March 10.

CONNECT WITH RAENA DOTY rdoty@student.framingham.edu

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST Adero Willard’s “Entangle #41“ on display in the Mazmanian Gallery March 3.

Historians of Color

McNeil said a week prior to their occupation of the welfare office, the mothers met the welfare commissioner with their demands for better treatment and schooling, who was quoted in a Black newspaper as say-

McNeil said the two events revealed the struggles of Black and Indigenous people in America for self governance and advocacy.

“They really reveal the richness of Black and Indigenous cause for self determination and sovereignty, and the Black Power Red Power era in

and refused these terms of order, asserting their responsibility to remain in the places that they call home on their own terms, she said.

Mc eil added these interventions, tied to space and place, are the heart of her project “Responsibility to Remain Black ower and ed ower e-

She said her attention to Black and Indigenous Massachusetts contributes to a growing body of scholarship which refutes the problematic assumption that Massachusetts and New England is a predominantly white space.

ftentimes growing up, I d hear ‘The city of Boston is such a white city, or ew ngland is such a white place, she said.

McNeil added comments about Boston and New England being white places is contributing to the erasure of Indigenous Massachusetts.

She said she also chose to study Black Power and Red Power in Massachusetts because it reveals the diversity and complicates existing narratives of the movements. She added she studied Massachusetts because it plays a big role in the entirety of the Black and Red Power movements.

McNeil said the Black and Red Power movements are different in Massachusetts because there isn’t a lot written about it, and speculates this is because Massachusetts was not a popular state during the reat Migration, nor a popular state for displaced Indigenous persons and families coming from reservations.

ing he didn’t “‘believe their charges’ of mistreatment.”

She added the commissioner then escalated the situation instead of communicating with the mothers, calling in more police who began to exercise excessive force allegedy because of a misconception the mothers were holding social workers hostage.

McNeil said this led to many Black Bostonians believing uprising was the only logical action, and a standoff between them and the police. She said the three-day rebellion involved around residents of o bury, of whom were injured.

McNeil then spoke about the National ay of Mourning, a protest by Native Americans in Massachusetts which involved occupation of the Mayflower II and a combined effort to bury the Plymouth Rock in handfuls of sand.

She said the occupation was the culmination of Indigenous counter protests to the 350th anniversary of the pilgrims landing at Plymouth ock, and were organi ed by ampanoag tribe member rank ames, who had a speech censored earlier in the year for not conforming to the “national narratives of friendly, mutualistic settler-indigenous relations.”

ames organi ed the events of the National Day of Mourning and had his unedited speech published in local and national papers, Mc eil said. he added prior to the rebellion, ames demanded the return of Indigenous land in all iver and Indigenous centered curriculum in public schools, which went unmet.

Massachusetts, she said. Through their occupations of physical spaces, Black and Indigenous community members staged a critical spatial intervention.”

McNeil said there was a careful selection in both of the locations chosen

ographies of Massachusetts.”

She said the project relates to Black, Indigenous, and fro Indigenous relationships with the land now referred to as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is primarily focused on activism between and

She said the large number of white Bostonians who left the city between and led to a reconstruction of Boston in an attempt to appeal more to white citi ens. he added this meant more infrastructure, such as highways, which led to the silent displacement of thousands of citi ens.

“There’s this idea of creating it into a new city, a modern city, but this necessitates the destruction of particular communities, she said.

McNeil added the tourism growth in Massachusetts led to similar displacement in Mashpee, a town where the Mashpee ampanoag tribe were the majority group.

he said a resort community, which was planned to be built nearby, led to the Mashpee ampanoag being voted out of local government, which they previously controlled.

She added this later led to the privati ation of land in Mashpee, something inconsistent with the way the Mashpee ampanoag had lived before, and showed a catalog which included a photo of a resort built following a sale of , acres.

“Mashpee was transformed from an idyllic Indigenous paradise by tribal standards into a seaside suburb seemingly overnight, she said, uoting ampanoag historian and journalist Paula Peters.

the welfare office and the Mayflower II since they were landmarks important and recogni able to local government, the average settler citi en, and Black and Indigenous Massachusetts. hen reclaiming these physical spaces, even if only for a brief moment, the rove all welfare office and the Mayflower II occupiers named

, although it also recogni es the long history of Black and Indigenous displacement and dispossession.

McNeil said the “Responsibility to Remain” meant focusing on how and what particular strategies were used to ensure group survival, and how key elements of these strategies are rooted in certain locations.

McNeil concluded the talk by discussing why she chose the wording responsibility over right, and said it was mainly because the word “right” has several different preconceived notions in different people’s heads.

CONNECT WITH RYAN O’CONNELL roconnell1@student.framingham.edu

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

Continued

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

(Left) Mary McNeil going through her talking points at “Responsibility to Remain” March 2.

‘The Jaws Of Life’ - a new direction for Pierce The Veil

By Kyle Walker Staff Writer

fter nearly seven years since their last album release, ierce The eil has finally put out their long awaited The aws f ife.

The band had wrapped up their previous tour in , and only started touring again in , supporting I revail. uring this break, the band went through a lineup change, stayed silent for the most part, and garnered a lot of attention from TikTok.

ow, they are back and coming at full force once again.

The aws f ife released on eb. , having three singles leading up to the release. The singles were ass The irvana, mergency ontact, and ven hen I m ot ith ou, all of which seemed to show that ierce The eil was heading in a new direction with their sound.

This proved to be true upon first listen.

t first I wasn t a huge fan of these songs. I found the departure from their old sound to be a bad decision for them, but once I was able to see these songs in the conte t of the album, I uickly changed my mind.

eath f n ecutioner kicks off the album and thrusts the listener right into it with plenty of energy, high gain riffs, and powerful vo-

cals. This song takes their beloved post hardcore sound and perfectly updates it for the modern era. This is definitely one of the best moments within the album.

The album continues with ass The irvana and mergency ontact. They are both strong songs but ven hen I m ot ith ou brings down this section of the album. The instrumentals to this song are lackluster and unwhelming for ierce The eil. It interrupts the powerful, steady flow of the beginning of this album.

The middle section of this album is the best section throughout the record. It is packed with raw emotion and is overall masterfully written.

The section begins with lawless ecution in which the title represents my e act thoughts of the song flawless. The intro riff is a slow chorus effect line that encapsulates the music from the s. The title track

The aws f ife also closely follows this theme, opening with acoustic guitars and transitioning into big distorted chords.

lot of this album pays homage to the overall rock and alternative music scene in the s, both in the lyrical and instrumental content. rontman ic uentes has even stated that some of the material was written in the birthplace of grunge, eattle, ashington.

Another great example of the ’90s influence is the opening lyrics for eath f n ecutioner being eadlights on your back tonight, which allude to a scene from adiohead s arma olice music video which depicts just that.

amn The Man, ave The mpire closes the middle section and is by far my favorite track on the album. onestly, this song should have been one of the singles for the album. The chorus is powerful and catchy, and is sure to give you stuck song syndrome.

fter this, the remaining few songs didn t really resonate with me as much as the other content. esilience is a weak track and I find the

dialogue in the beginning to be too tacky for my taste.

The record finally concludes with ractures, featuring indie pop singer songwriter hloe Moriondo. This is a beautiful acoustic duet between ic and hloe. I am a huge fan of this collaboration and I think they work very well together in this song. acked with plenty of emotion and great moments, The aws f ife is a step in the right direction for ierce The eil. Their updated sound suits them well and I hope to see more from them similar to this in the future.

Son Jung Wan’s Fall/Winter 2023 ‘Enchanting Romance,’ a front row perspective

By Bella Omar Staff Writer

on ung an sonjungwan on Instagram , a orean born designer began her career with one shop in , only a few years after studying design at International Mode in eoul. This eventually turned into her eccentric collections being sold worldwide.

aving gained national attention, on ung an s designs have been showcased at ew ork ashion eek every year since and in aris. This recognition from the fashion world in addition to celebrities like long time fan Brooke hields, has grown the brand into one of orea s leading designers e ceeding over million in sales annually.

This year s fall and winter collection nchanting omance lived up to its name, given the minimalist silhouettes brought to life with metallic puffers, sheer slips, and colorful fau fur.

ith a grand total of total looks, on ung an was inspired by peak of s minimalism and brought back her own spirit, according to the show s program. he emphasi ed the ironic attempts of uintessential s fashion trends with futuristic

elements and closed with a dash of glam.

The color palette was consistent and earnest, with each cool toned shade capturing a feeling on ung an wanted to get across to her audience. anging from vital pricot rush to cheerful igital avender, the colors were all beautifully carried across the wide variety of pieces. These feelings associated with each shade were unveiled by the change in lengths and materials with each color phase passed.

fter being sat down ne t to Tanaye hite tanayedub on Instagram and Theme theme nyc on Instagram , I was pleasantly surprised to find a neon pink gift bag under my seat containing nothing less than a on ung an puffer purse in timeless ustained rey, with puffer being a signature material in this season s collection.

The show opened with ook , described in the program as an pricot crush padded dress with fau fur pink sleeves styled with gold se uined shorts. This brightly colored start was surprising for a fall and winter collection, even more surprising was the ne t five looks also being fashioned out of the same pricot rush colored fabrics in addition to sum-

mery cropped lengths.

This palette evolved into an alternation between alactic obalt and other shades of blue for the ne t looks, the last of this ensemble being a dusty blue coat with lilac fau fur sleeves that were embellished with warovski crystals. In addition to toned down coats, gunmetal metallics, and even chainmail garments made an appearance, giving these pieces an almost space age look.

s the models walked down the runway, I could not help but notice how everyone sported a low positioned and low volume, minimalistic ponytail, allowing dramatic necklines and shoulder padding to steal the show. This aspect of the collection, while minimalistic, e hibited on ung an s meticulous attention to detail, given how identical they all were.

The color palette continued to grow more muted, graduating from shades of blue to a homogenous lilac for five looks. The lilacs were all ornamented with either fau fur or iridescent fabrics, maintaining that futuristic feeling.

inally, the last nine looks were all combinations of clean creams, whites and blacks, losing all pigment. hile the colors dissipated, the garment

structures did not lose any of their drama, with floor length gowns, cashmere, and shawls all making an appearance before the show closed. nd finally, on ung an herself came out and took a bow at the top of the runway.

Courtesy of Amazon

An excellent way for the band to return

Courtesy of @sunjungwan on Instagram

‘The Fabelmans’ - an emotion-filled joyride

By Jack McLaughlin Staff Writer

Steven Spielberg is one of the most influential directors of the last years. is films have touched the hearts of millions, and his latest film The abelmans gives viewers insight to where his creative spark came from.

The film does not use his real name or that of his family. pielberg is personified through the protagonist ammy abelman abriel abelle , who is an aspiring filmmaker in a family that slowly falls apart during the course of the story.

is father aul ano is constantly moving around the country because of his work as an engineer, which eventually starts having a strong impact on the whole family, particularly his mother Michelle illiams .

The abelmans is an ama ing coming of age story told by the person who e perienced most of it. pielberg being so closely attached to the movie based on his own upbringing has me convinced no one else could have done this story as well as he could.

very character in this film gets the chance to have an emotionally charged moment, and une pectedly one of the best ones came from eth ogen s character, Benny.

Benny, once a close family friend to ammy, started having an incredibly strained relationship after ammy discovered he and his mother were having an affair. The last scene they share on screen together nearly brought me to tears, where Benny is desperately trying to make things right with ammy by buying him a new movie camera.

ou ll lose track with how many ama ing scenes Michelle illiams carries. er scenes with ammy, especially at the end where she has immense regret for hitting him as a child, articulate perfectly how complicated their relationship is.

Between this film and The Batman, aul ano has been on a roll lately. is performance here is spectacular. is scenes with ammy show he is worried about his path as a filmmaker. This father son conflict is not something we haven t seen before, but given the conte t of the story, it always manages to hit emotionally whenever they butt heads about it.

t the end of the day however, their conflicting views doesn t stop him from caring about his son so much. nother heartfelt moment is in the last third, where he helps ammy through a panic attack using the same steps he used when ammy s mother had them.

ammy is one of the best protago-

nists in film this past year. is character takes a particularly interesting turn during the second half, where he loses interest in filmmaking after moving to alifornia.

These scenes that lead into his new motivation to continue filmmaking are hard to watch. e is bullied pretty relentlessly at his new school, being a target for many antisemitic attacks by the bullies.

nowing that these are likely pretty close to what pielberg himself eperienced growing up, it makes these scenes even more difficult to watch.

atching ammy pull out of his emotional pit and reclaim his desire to make films again was enlightening. The amount of fun he had making his graduation film for his class was so delightful to watch unfold, even if he was an emotional wreck while it was being presented after being dumped at his prom.

ammy s growth as a person is personified through how he acts as a director throughout his life. rom e perimenting with a camera as a child to making a big war film with his friends, his growth in maturity is shown through these se uences and it builds an even stronger relationship with the audience watching.

This film e cels on a technical level. rom a whimsical score by ohn illiams to spectacular cinematog-

raphy, there is not a dull looking or sounding moment in the entire film. acing can be inconsistent sometimes. In a near two and a half hour film, some moments feel a bit dragged out but if you re invested in the story like I was you will hardly feel these slower moments.

The abelmans is another incredible pielberg flick you will definitely want to look out for. The emotional voyage it takes you on has many turns, but by the end you will be filled with a satisfying e citement to pursue your dreams.

Rating: A

A touching celebration of filmmaking

‘Tensura: Scarlet Bond’ is a slap in the face to longtime fans

By Owen Glancy Staff Writer

That Time I ot eincarnated as a lime or Tensura for short is one of the most celebrated anime of the last five years. ith this rise in popularity, it s only natural that an animated film adaptation of these popular characters would follow.

Tensura carlet Bond released in apan on ov. , , and in the nited tates on an. . Many fans, including myself, were ecstatic to see our favorite characters on the big screen. I frantically drove to the theater during a snowstorm, almost getting into an accident, just to see this film.

I have never been so disappointed.

The animation was the first glaring negative. utside of a couple action scenes, the animation was worse than that of the parent T anime. lthough keeping the storybook look intact while animating action scenes is admittedly difficult, the release of uss in Boots The ast ish shows it can be done, giving this film s lacking visuals no e cuses.

The film s plot primarily focuses around imuru Tempest and his nation s efforts to assist the kingdom of aja. This new nation is visually interesting, but that s about it.

f the new characters introduced

in this film, iiro is the only one that is even remotely interesting. is relationship with fan favorite character Benimaru, while simple, is still entertaining to watch.

nfortunately, the other new characters are e tremely one note and uninteresting. Towa s character is especially disappointing. er role as aja s ruler gave her plenty of opportunities to show the audience a new point of view in this world s politics, but she ended up sharing the same basic views as the protagonist, completely eliminating any chance of an interesting character.

Towa s disappointment even etends to other characters, as her relationship with iiro is e tremely basic and boring. This relationship effectively halves the screentime in which he s entertaining.

The villains, while entertaining at first, have such bland designs that it makes it hard for the audience to remember which generic crony is who.

The biggest problem with the film is actually in the protagonists. hile they re all great characters, with two seasons of development to back them up, they are simply too strong.

imuru is a ludicrously powerful demon lord, with a massive supply of nearly as powerful servants at his command. The trickster villain this film presents is not nearly strong

enough to pose any realistic threat to the protagonists.

iiro is the only character in the film that could pose even a modicum of a threat, but he uickly joins imuru s side at the beginning of the film. hile he is brainwashed and made to fight the protagonists at the end of the movie, he still isn t the central villain, which severely hurts his potentially menacing nature.

ltima is another character introduced in this film. owever, unlike the rest of the new characters, she is canon to the show s plot. ans speculated that she would have been introduced in a potential season or , but she appears early in this movie. er appearance not only ruins the plot of the show, but this film as well, adding another villain into a story that didn t need it.

The ending of the film is a huge slap in the face. iiro is on his deathbed, with Towa kneeling over him. The entire goal of the film was to save Towa s life and assist in the rebuilding of aja ingdom. Towa sacrifices herself to save iiro s life in a somewhat heartfelt scene. owever, ltima changes her mind at the very end and brings Towa back to life, allowing both characters to live.

This is such a slap in the face. If iiro had died, it could have allowed Towa to grow as a person and move on

from her reliance on him. If Towa had died, it would have freed iiro from his self imposed servitude, allowing him to live with his friend Benimaru again.

But no, both characters live, essentially returning this relationship back to the status uo. It makes all of the development between these two entirely pointless.

Tensura carlet Bond is a film with great central protagonists and good music that is bogged down by bad new characters, a boring and tensionless plot, mediocre animation, and an ending that makes the bulk of the movie pointless. This film is a slap in the face for Tensura fans everywhere.

Rating: D

A bland, boring disappointment

CONNECT WITH JACK MCLAUGHLIN jmclaughlin7@student.framingham.edu

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ minus the Grey

By Leighah Beausoleil Editor-in-Chief

On Feb. 23 at 9 p.m., long-time fans of the 19-season saga, “Grey’s Anatomy,” tuned in for the show’s title character’s last appearance.

For 15 weeks, thousands of fans waited in anticipation of how this series - known for its shockingly dramatic twists - was going to say goodbye to none other than Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo).

In the final episode prior to the show’s winter hiatus, we learned Meredith is going to move to Boston in order for her daughter Zola (Aniela Gumbs) to attend a school for gifted students. There, she will be reunited with Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) who she had worked with for many years at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Remembering the emotional and gut-wrenching episodes of some of the show’s familiar favorites’ departures, including Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), George O’Malley (T.J. Knight), Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), and Lexi Grey (Chyler Leigh), fan expectations for this ultimate sendoff were beyond high.

However, none of our predictions of what might happen in Season 19 Episode 7 “I’ll Follow The Sun” came to fruition and many fans, including

myself, sat in shock as the episode came to a close.

That was it?

Meredith’s storyline this episode included the return of a patient who she was close with - a children’s literature author named Tessa (Patricia Richardson). Tessa had overexerted herself picking up groceries, which led to her needing an additional surgery.

Tessa did not end up making it through the surgery.

We also followed the chronicles of Meredith and her “maybe” boyfriend, Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman), who were arguing throughout the episode as he had just moved to Seattle from Minnesota to be with her.

In one scene, Meredith’s growth as a character was revealed as her famous speech, “Pick me, choose me, love me,” in which she begged Derek to be with her and not his wife, was then replaced, demonstrating her new mindset.

Now, Meredith declares to Nick, “I’m not going to beg you to love me.”

However, when Meredith is boarding her flight to Boston at the end of the episode, Nick chases after her only to get stuck in traffic.

With no other options, Nick calls Meredith and professes his love to her, which was significant given that he did not say it back to her a few episodes prior.

Nick confesses, “I have loved you every minute of every day that I have known you.”

Despite this vulnerable moment, Meredith pretended she couldn’t hear him, stating, “I can’t quite hear you. We’re about to take off, so I’ll call you when we get settled,” and immediately hangs up the phone.

Is this supposed to be a part of her character development?

This isn’t the Meredith we have grown to know at all.

Her storyline this episode was disappointing. All we got was a little party with the Grey Sloan staff in which everyone drank sparkling cider and ate a bar mitzvah cake as the wrong one was picked up.

There were no flashbacks.

There were no truly heartfelt goodbyes.

There was nothing.

It seemed almost as if Meredith was already gone because she was barely in the episode.

Storyline B was far more compelling, with the experimental surgery of a partial-heart transplant on an infant due to the donor heart not being completely viable.

Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) sharing her story of how she gave birth to her dead baby, Christopher, in order to provide organs to sick newborns was devastating and

actually made me feel something for the first and only time in this episode.

Perhaps this episode is meant to demonstrate that “Grey’s Anatomy” will be just fine without Meredith and may even see some improvement given the failures of the recent seasons.

To have dedicated so many years to this show and these characters, it is quite devastating to see how carelessly the writers handled this episode.

They have done far more for less significant characters.

This episode was simply another case of television malpractice - the whole operation went wrong.

Rating: C+

Time of death… 19:07

Puzzles

DOWN

1. Like a 1080p broadcast

2. Purple superfruit

3. Singer/songwriter Aimee

4. Lunchbox sandwich holders

5. Part of MYOB

6. “Please, eat!”

7. Composer’s numbered work

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10. Football’s Manning

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12. Arthur Ashe’s alma mater

13. Stick around

18. “Field of Dreams” state

22. Bull markets

25. Apple you might nd in a produce market’s o ce

27. Sushi sh that is poisonous if uncooked

28. Because of

29. “Keep it together, everyone!”

30. Seasoned rice dish

31. Nile vipers

ACROSS

32. Plains tribe

33. Keeps a er taxes

34. Layered hairstyle

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39. Pointer at a crossroads

40. Cuisine with holy basil and galangal

43. Cellular messenger

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47. Propel through the water

49. in cut

51. Molten rock

52. Gigantic 53. Burn balm 55. Way, way o

Backgammon equipment 58. 63,360 inches 59. Bowl over

Puzzle solutions are now exclusively online.

PHOTOS

Maddison Behringer / The Gatepost Sam the Ram statue during the snowstorm Feb. 28.

Leighah Beausoleil/ The Gatepost

A Kiwibot about to cross State Street Feb. 28.

Leighah Beausoleil / The Gatepost

A Lightpost outside of Dwight Hall Feb. 28.

Maddison Behringer / The Gatepost

A Kiwibot behind Crocker Hall Feb. 28.

Zachary Sorel / The Gatepost Simon the Snowman on Larned Beach March 1.

Spread by Design & Photos Editor Maddison Behringer