October 14, 2022

Remembering a Ram

Commuter parking, student leadership addressed at

By Branden La Croix Asst. News Editor

Students raised concerns over commuter parking and residence hall issues, and discussed possible incen tives for student leaders at the Ad ministrators’ Forum Oct. 11.

The administrators who attend ed the forum were President Nan cy Niemi, Executive Vice President Dale Hamel, Dean of Students Meg Nowak-Borrego, University Chief of Police John Santoro, Wardell Powell, interim chief inclusion and diver sity officer, Aretha Phillips, gener al manager of Dining Services, Eric Gustafson, vice president of Develop ment and Alumni Relations, Lorretta Holloway, vice president of Academic

Enhancement, Kristen Porter-Utley, provost and vice president of Aca demic Affairs, and Ann McDonald, chief of staff and general counsel.

The discussion was led by Student Trustee McKenzie Ward.

Ryan Mikelis, vice president of the Student Commuter Group, said he and other students have concerns about the difficulty of finding park ing spaces on campus for commuter students.

Mikelis said in the Maynard and Salem End Parking Lots, “If you go down there at night, you’ll see 80% of the lot filled with cars,” adding most cars parked overnight either have ex pired parking permits or no permits at all.

“It just makes it more evident that

these cars are not commuters’ and they’re taking up precious parking for commuter students,” he said.

He added, “We have commuters driving up to an hour and a half to get to campus. We get to campus and we cannot find a single parking space at either of these parking lots. And that is honestly unacceptable.”

Mikelis said he is aware Universi ty Police is currently understaffed, but added, “That can’t be the excuse the police fall to every time a parking complaint comes up.”

Chief Santoro said there is cur rently a position open for a parking enforcement officer, but the position has been vacant for over two years.

New Provost and Academic Vice President

student

By Emma Lyons Arts & Features Editor

Kristen Porter-Utley stepped into the role of provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at the beginning of the academic year.

She said her primary goal is student readiness - working to connect major programs to careers and supporting students on campus.

Porter-Utley earned her Ph.D. in bot any from the University of Florida. She said her area of focus was evolutionary biology, working to understand how different species of organisms are re lated to one another.

The field work for her degree was conducted in Mexico, Florida, Haiti, and Jamaica, she said.

At Keene State College, Porter-Utley began working as a professor before becoming chair of the Biology Depart ment. She then took the position of as sistant dean of Sciences. She moved to Bridgewater State University to become dean of the Bartlett College of Science and Mathematics.

“With each stage of that progression, what I found was that I was able to pos itively impact a larger and larger group of people,” she said.

Porter-Utley said she was drawn to serving in an administrative position

because she wanted to bridge the gap between faculty and administration.

“People who love teaching, who love students, who love faculty members and have a central mission of serving students, those folks need to step out of their comfort zones a little bit more and move into administrative roles,” she said.

Porter-Utley said the position of provost was a “natural next step” in her career. She was already interested in becoming a provost before the Fram ingham State position opened and she was encouraged to apply.

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Students held a candlelight

in memory of Tyrese Lee, a junior business management major, who died this past summer. The candles were placed in the shape of two hearts and the letters “T” and “Y.” Students left messages on the candles in his honor.

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Gatepost Interview Emma Laurie

Center for Inclusive Excellence Program Coordinator

By Naidelly Coelho Staff Writer

What is your educational and pro fessional background?

I’m actually an alumni of Framing ham State. I graduated in May of this year, so literally like five months out of college. I started off at MassBay Commu nity College and I ended up doing three years there just because of the pandem ic and graduated in May of 2020. I also changed my major halfway through. So, I started off as pre-med bio, and then completely did a 180 and thought I was going to major in psychology, but then I ended up transferring to Framingham State as a criminology major, and minor in psych. I did my two years here, grad uated, and took the summer off. I didn’t think I would go into higher educationbut when I was a student at Framingham State, I did my internship over at the Center for Inclusive Excellence. Then the job opened up for the program coor dinator of CIE, and my old boss told me about it and I was like, “why not?” I just loved interning at Framingham State and I would essentially be doing the same thing - just with more responsibil ities. So right now, I’m doing part time over here at Framingham State and then part time at MassBay as an educational coach, so I help disabled students tran sition from high school to college.

Can you tell me about the Center for Inclusive Excellence?

We’re here to help Framingham State commit to diversity, equity, and inclu sion work. I see us as under the umbrella of DICE. I see us being the department on campus that deals with students, so we do programming and presentations, and training that students like to see. So for example, today, we held a race on campus forum, where students could come and talk about just their different experiences on campus in regards to ra cial issues. And then, we also do training for microaggressions and implicit bias. We’re just really here to make sure the University is up to the diversity, equity, and inclusion standards that they claim to be.

What does your job at the CIE en tail?

I’m the program coordinator, so I help them come up with different types of programming that students might like to

see. … I also do a lot of the social media work. I see myself coming up with ideas for programming and presentations and the social media part.

Do you have any goals and dreams you want to achieve in the next cou ple of years?

First of all, I never saw myself in higher education. When I graduated, I thought for sure I would go into nonprof it work or something like that. So doing the complete 180 and going to higher education, I think my main goal is just to be happy. I like to be happy with the work that I do, and right now, I’m really happy with the work that I do. I feel it’s very impactful, and it’s very meaningful. My overall goal is to just be happy and to be paid a decent amount. I don’t care about climbing the corporate ladder - I only care about having a job that pays me enough for me to live and then doing something that I like. I don’t have a spe cific career goal. I’m just vibing.

I really liked the criminology program at Framingham State because most peo ple that are into criminology want to go to law school and that was never for me. I 100% see different job opportunities because I have that criminological lens. I think I would love to be able to apply my criminology major to something I do in the future, but in a critical way.

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What do you enjoy doing outside of your work? Any hobbies?

I have a service dog. She’s a golden retriever named Dixie and you might see us around campus, but in my free time, I love taking her for walks. She is such a good hiking buddy. I also love to read. I could take off every day and just read all day. That’s one of my favorite things to do. I like baking. I love find ing new music but I will always go back to Taylor Swift. I don’t have a lot of free time, so when I do, it’s kind of relaxing and decompressing.

Do you have any advice for stu dents?

Get involved 100%. I know it sounds like the type of advice that everyone gives, but I cannot advise enough to get involved like whether that be with your professors during office hours or clubs or organizations on campus. I can’t imagine what my life would be if I had not gotten involved - not only in regards to my career and getting references, but also getting to know my professors and campus leaders, and also just friend ship-wise. You make a lot of great con nections when you get involved, and you make a lot of great memories.

CONNECT WITH NAIDELLY COELHO ncoelho3@student.framingham.edu

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S raming am laun first tea er residen y program

By Emily Rosenberg Associate Editor

This fall, Framingham State launched its first teacher residen cy program with Framingham Public Schools, supported by a three-year AmeriCorps grant of approximately $1.7 million.

The initiative is one of only four new AmeriCorps programs in Massa chusetts, according to English Profes sor Kelly Matthews, one of the authors of the grant.

The teacher residency program places students seeking secondary ed ucation licensure in Massachusetts in either Framingham’s Cameron Middle School or Fuller Middle School to work with a teacher mentor and develop teaching skills over the course of the entire school year - five days a week for the full school day.

Anyone interested in obtaining secondary education licensure is wel come to apply through the Framing ham Public Schools’ website and does not have to be a student at FSU.

After completing the residency, teacher residents will be qualified for a three-year contract with Framingham Public Schools.

The goal of the program is to help diversify the staff of Framingham Pub lic Schools and encourage more BIPOC students to pursue education, espe cially in STEM fields, Wardell Powell, education professor and interim diver sity and inclusion officer, said.

Powell was the other co-author of the grant.

A large percentage of Framingham Public Schools’ students are bilingual and their primary language is Spanish or Portuguese, Powell said.

There are not enough bilingual or BIPOC teachers to meet their needs, he added.

The University first received a $75,000 AmeriCorps planning grant in 2021 to prepare for the program. The process included assistance from the The National Center for Teacher Res idencies, including weekly “full-day meetings,” Matthews said.

The National Center for Teacher Residencies is the only nonprofit or ganization dedicated to “accelerating and supporting” teacher residencies, with a commitment to addressing sys temic inequities in school systems, ac cording to its website.

Matthews and Powell started writ ing the grant in October 2020. They now co-manage the grant and are di rectors of the program.

Powell said in 2020, they were look ing for ways to partner with Framing ham Public Schools and fulfill their need for more bilingual teachers while also advancing diversity, equity, and

Weather

Sunday night Oct. 16

Partly cloudy with a low around 46. Light west wind. 30% chance of precipitation.

Monday Oct. 17

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. SE wind around 5 mph. 70% chance of precipitation.

inclusion opportunities for education at FSU. That’s when they decided they would need to apply for a grant.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity first for the students in Framingham Public Schools, to be able to have more and more teachers who speak their lan guage - more and more teachers who look like them. But also, I think that it’s a wonderful opportunity for Fram ingham State University teacher can didates,” Powell said.

Since the grant was only awarded toward the end of August, there was only time to recruit 10 residents this year - all undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate teacher licensure students. The goal is to expand the number of residents to 20 for the next

teacher workforce.

He added it has been helpful in fi nancially supporting several of their undergraduate students in the form of tuition benefits, and that makes the opportunity “amazing.

“We’ve heard from students - and we know that it is - that it’s hard to go for a semester without working for students who are paying their way through school.”

He said he has received emails from students expressing interest in com pleting the residency in different li censure areas, and that there is inter est from Framingham Public Schools and FSU in expanding the program in years to come.

Cressey added, given its relation

which just implemented a dual-lan guage program into its curriculum.

He said that through the partner ship, Framingham Public Schools and Framingham State are making a “great effort to invest in a future generation of multilingual citizens. “This is a great message I think that Framing ham is sending to the whole state of Massachusetts - that we value the lan guages and we value the cultures that inhabit our city.”

Michelle Melick, Principal of Cam eron Middle School, said a great ben efit of the program is having five ad ditional committed staff members involved in the school community.

She added it also helps students to have two teachers in the classroom

academic year, Matthews said.

The grant provides funds to pay teacher residents, who receive a sti pend of $26,300, Matthews said.

Framingham State and Framing ham Public Schools are also required to match the funds, as the grant only covers 46% of the cost of the materials for the program, Matthews added.

Powell said unlike traditional un paid full-time student teaching expe riences, this allows the program to be more accessible to those who cannot afford to student-teach full time with out compensation.

“That’s where I think the opportu nity lies for a lot of our students. So even if they’re not an education major, this program is right for them because the program will help to cover their expenses for their education courses,” he said.

He added this factor will draw bilin gual and multilingual students from STEM fields into the teaching work force who did not originally view gain ing teacher licensure as an option.

James Cressey, chair of the Educa tion Department, said the program advances the Education Department’s mission of promoting social justice by bringing more diverse faculty to the

ship with other schools in the MetroW est area, something FSU may also want to explore is expanding the residency to other districts.

Everton Vargas Da Costa, Framing ham teacher residency director of op erations, said, “I think we are taking a very important step to be more inten tional in terms of how to recruit future teachers that the district really needs.”

He said though the need for more multilingual and bilingual teachers in the district was evident, there were not actual steps being taken to hire them. The program is a way to “solidify the work” of diversifying faculty, he said.

He added being a person who has been involved in the program since the beginning, working with FSU has been a “great experience.”

Framingham State was recognized at a ceremony by Framingham Pub lic Schools with a “Community Part ner Appreciation Celebration” honor on Oct. 3 for building a strong bond through efforts such as the residency program, Vargas Da Costa said.

“We can only see this growing in the coming years,” he said, noting the goal is to add the Framingham mid dle school that is not yet part of the program, Washington Middle School,

because if a student doesn’t necessar ily form a positive connection with a teacher, they may be able to connect to the student teacher.

Kerry Wood, Principal of Fuller Mid dle School, said at her school, it has been a consistent struggle to find can didates to match their need for Portu guese and Spanish-speaking teachers.

She said there are transitional bi lingual educational programs in which students learn subjects in either Span ish or Portuguese, and finding licensed native Portuguese and Spanish speak ers is rare. Therefore, by investing in teacher residents, they are also invest ing in the welfare of the school.

“Having a multilingual person within the school allows students and families to gain a closer bond with the school because then there’s more peo ple that understand them that they can go to when they have questions or they have concerns,” she said.

Wood added, “It also creates famil iarity for our community and for the students when they walk into a class room and maybe their primary teach er speaks only English, but there is an other teacher in the room who speaks

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

Monday night Oct. 17 Cloudy, with a low around 48. Light south wind. 70% chance of precipitation.

Tuesday Oct. 18

Partly sunny, with a high near 56. SW wind around 5 mph. 50% chance of precipitation.

Tuesday night Oct. 18

Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. SW wind around 5 mph.

Wednesday Oct. 19

Sunny, with a high near 53. SW wind around 10 mph.

Wednesday night Oct. 19

Mostly clear, with a low around 36. W wind around 5 mph.

Thursday Oct. 20

Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. SW wind around 10 mph.

“I think we are taking a very important step to be more intentional in terms of how to recruit future teachers that the district really needs.”

- Everton Vargas Da Costa Framingham Teacher Residency Director of Operations

Framingham State hosts four candidates

Eric Nguyen Jamie Nolan

By Naidelly Coelho Staff Writer

Eric Nguyen spoke to the commu nity as one of the finalists for the vice president of diversity, inclusion, and community engagement (DICE) po sition in an open forum for students Sept. 30.

Nguyen earned his bachelor’s in psychology at Amherst College, and continued his studies at Columbia Uni versity, where he earned his master’s in Education Leadership. He is an Ed.D. candidate in Organizational Leader ship Studies at Northeastern Univer sity, according to a community-wide email sent Sept. 27 by President Nancy Niemi.

He has completed multiple trainings and professional developments in the areas of racial equity, diversity, inclu sion, and supporting undocumented students. Some trainings he has creat ed and delivered include Racial Equity Policy and Expanding the Equity Lens at Framingham State, according to the email.

Nguyen is currently the director for the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE). He collaborates with students and staff to create an inclusive envi ronment, and advises staff and faculty on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom and student programs, he said.

Nguyen’s goal is to implement “an intersectional approach to build com munity and opportunities and uplift the voices of individuals who hold his torically minoritized identities. Eric is committed to collaborative data driven leadership and systemic change that will help all students, faculty, staff, and administrators in our increasing ly diverse community reach their full potential,” according to the email from Niemi.

Nguyen said he was influenced by his childhood, family background, and Vietnamese heritage to pursue the work that he does.

He said growing up and experienc ing racism and xenophobia based on his family’s identity shaped him to stand against racism and inequality.

Nguyen said this upbringing guides his work because he wants people from underrepresented groups to have a life without the discrimination that he and his family experienced.

In 2021, Eric Nguyen began working as director of the CIE. He said in this role, he develops partnerships between students and employees to create an inclusive environment.

“I realized, probably in high school, I really loved helping other people learn … and now I am in this position where I get to provide those opportunities to other people,” he said.

“I see both the ways in which edu cation lives up to that mission of being the great equalizer, but I also see the ways in which education has not been done to that ideal - that there are so many barriers to accessing education, and then even when folks are able to access those opportunities, the out comes are still not equitable,” Nguyen said.

He discussed conscious and uncon scious bias in his presentation.

“Sometimes, it’s something we

don’t even realize we have, but it in fluences the way we see the world and other people in the world and how judgments that we make, without even realizing we’re making them,” he said.

Nguyen said he wants to incorpo rate training with employees and stu dents in order to create a deeper un derstanding of bias.

“Because without understanding ourselves, it’s really hard to under stand why we might see and interpret the world in a certain way,” he said.

Nguyen said a common example of bias is asking questions such as, “What is the gender of the baby?” He said, questions like this create certain bias es and frameworks that cascade into actions.

“If we’re not consciously thinking about it, it surfaces and it impacts the ways in which we interact with peo ple,” he said.

“Whether students are identify ing as low-income students, students of color, first-generation students, LGBTQ+ communities, it is our re sponsibility as an institution to ensure that all of our students have access to the same opportunities,” he said.

Nguyen said he wants to use an in tersectional approach to build com munity and uplift voices of those who are not heard.

He emphasized the importance of the anti-racism commitment in his role.

Nguyen said, “We need to make sure that we are constantly just talking about that commitment in lots of dif ferent spaces.”

He said working with students will be one of his top priorities to ensure they are heard.

Nguyen said he also wants to work with department chairs to see updates on the progress they are making in an ti-racism initiatives.

Last year, Nguyen purchased 15 pieces of student artwork to decorate the CIE.

He said he hopes this becomes a common practice at FSU so the Uni versity reflects its students. He said he wants to create a place that is com pletely for students to be who they want to be.

“I’m honored and humbled to be a finalist for this role,” he said.

By Sophia Harris News Editor

Jennifer “Jamie” Nolan spoke to the community as one of the finalists for the vice president of diversity, in clusion, and community engagement (DICE) position in an open forum for faculty and librarians Oct. 3.

Nolan is associate vice chancellor of community, equity, and social justice at Washington State University. She has worked in diversity, equity, community building, inclusion, and social justice for more than 20 years, according to a Sept. 27 community-wide email from President Nancy Niemi.

Nolan earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in American studies at Washington State University. She then went on to complete her doctor ate in higher education at the Univer sity of Pennsylvania in 2015, according to the email.

Nolan said the work of equity and justice is “integral to the ecosystem of our shared humanity.”

She said she considers these efforts to be “her life’s work” and the “work of our time.”

Nolan said some of the people who have influenced her are Novelist ames Baldwin, Berkeley Law Professor John Powell, Anti-Racist Scholar Ibram X Kendi, and Poet Audre Lorde.

She said her core operating prin ciples are “attending to the process,” being consultative, collaborative, and comprehensive, and having that result in building coalition and community.

All of the finalists for the vice pres ident of DICE position were asked to answer the question: “How would you respond to an incident on your cam pus?”

In her answer, she emphasized be ing proactive and highlighted the im portance of conducting a policy review before and after an incident occurs rather than being “reactive” to an in cident.

Nolan said, “Oftentimes, we are re sponsive and reactive in developing a program or space in response to … racism, homophobia,” or other social

justice issues.

She said, “Building this sort of prac tice when dealing with incidents al lows us to at least develop the aspects that could be proactive.”

Nolan said although being reactive is important, it is just as important to be proactive before incidents of bias occur.

She said people fail to realize the differences made when considering policy through an equity lens.

Nolan said she was on a committee for a year and a half where they devel oped an equity impact assessment tool “to be used in both the development of the policy or the review of current pol icy for its equity.”

Nolan said the assessment consists of six critical questions that examine the equity of a policy.

She said in addition to policy re view, she believes there needs to be a focus on reflecting and learning from an incident after it has happened in or der to be proactive.

Nolan said when an incident hap pens it is also important that adminis trators “debrief” and conversate about what was learned and what could be improved. “I approach all of this work as practice, meaning that whatever I learn from a moment or an incident should be incorporated” in future re sponses to incidents.

She said this is the strategy she plans to implement if hired for the po sition.

In her closing statements, Nolan emphasized the importance this work has on every person within the com munity and how vital this work is to who she is.

“Regardless of position, or identity, we all have a stake in this important work, which I think, at a deeper level, should be about building capacity for empathy, understanding, and con nectedness, and then respecting and appreciating the lived experience of others,” she said.

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for vice president of DICE position

Renee Wells Je rey Coleman

By Branden LaCroix Asst. News Editor

Renee Wells spoke to the commu nity as one of the finalists for the vice president of diversity, inclusion, and community engagement (DICE) posi tion in an open forum for faculty and librarians Oct. 6.

Wells earned a bachelor’s in English and a bachelor’s in education from Au burn University, a master’s in English from Miami University, and a master’s in creative writing from Southern Il linois University. She currently works as assistant vice president of Educa tion, Equity and Inclusion at Michigan Technological University.

Wells said she started out “on the faculty side of the fence” before mov ing on to equity and inclusion work.

She said she was one of the founding members of the “queer and trans facul ty affinity group” at the University of Alabama. From there, she said a “sub set of us also decided that we would start trying to install institutionalized [diversity, equity, and inclusion] DEI work specifically for queer and trans folks because there wasn’t institution al support that existed.”

She said while working to change educational foundations to include DEI, “I realized that my time was better spent creating structural change than teaching people to write poetry.”

Wells said one of her priorities is “building community” - a central as pect to her approach, “which has to be collective, but also has to be done in an environment where we can all be hon est and open and vulnerable with each other to move the work forward.”

She added, “It also allows me to get to know what people’s lived experienc es are, what needs exist, and then to use that to address interpersonal and institutional barriers.”

Central to Wells’ priorities is restor ative justice.

Wells relayed an incident from her current institution to provide “context to think about what happens when harm that is caused within a communi ty is done by the institution - by people in positions of power.”

The incident involved a chemistry professor who included a question on an exam asking students to calculate the lethal dose of hydrogen cyanide, the gas used by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

She explained the incident was ex acerbated when the institution’s satir ical newspaper, The Noodle, published an article making light of the incident, which was then reported on by the in stitution’s regular student paper.

“While as someone who taught writ ing for years, I appreciate the value of satire, many members of our campus community were very strongly impact ed by how the Holocaust was treated in the article,” she said.

Wells explained the multiple “spheres of impact” that affected the community, the first being the students who took the exam, and the “secondary spheres of impact” being the faculty in the department.

In response, she said the first step was to address the students who were impacted by the incident, “many of whom were in fact Jewish students

who were experiencing the exam on a whole different level than other stu dents who merely found him ideolog ically offensive.”

Wells said the restorative justice team went to the class to discuss the incident with students, and provide a space where they could share how the incident affected them as well as anything the students wanted to ex press “to be heard and affirmed within an environment that recognizes that harm often has layers of impact that people don’t necessarily have outlets to really give voice to.”

She said the space was also to help “assess” the needs of impacted stu dents and provide them with support and resources.

She added the team also helped the professor to craft an apology to the community that was appropriate, and “foregrounded the impact and didn’t cause any additional harm,” as well as assisting the institution in drafting a campus-wide email acknowledging the incident.

“Thinking about acknowledging to the campus community that this has happened - acknowledging the impact on the community. That’s a big piece of what this work means,” she said.

Wells said she helped embed restor ative justice practices and training into various areas, including the bias re sponse team, residential life training, and the anti-racist pedagogy work shops with faculty.

“It’s something that I think would resonate with your community right now, but also really be helpful and can transform the way we think about re sponding to harm when it happens within our community,” she said.

By Branden LaCroix Asst. News Editor

Jeffrey Coleman spoke to the com munity as one of the finalists for the vice president of diversity, inclusion, and community engagement (DICE) position in an open forum for faculty and librarians Oct. 7.

Coleman earned his bachelor’s in public policy from Trinity College, his master’s in counseling with a con centration in student development in higher education, and his doctorate in educational studies with a concentra tion in cultural studies at the Universi ty of North Carolina at Greensboro, and worked at Kennesaw State University as the deputy chief diversity officer. He currently works at Intercultural Devel opment Inventory, LLC as a consultant and qualified administrator.

Coleman said he is interested in Framingham State because he sees a “nexus” between the University’s val ues and his own.

He said he sees “a dedication toward creating a learning experience that’s transformational, student centered, and inclusive,” and “a focus on inspir ing a community of learners and mo tivating them around these particular pillars of curiosity, discovery, innova tion, and excellence.”

He added, “When I look at my values, I definitely focus on creating and fos tering an inclusive learning and work environment through identity devel opment, cultural competency, sense of belonging, and academic success.”

He said he also focuses on “creating a culture of inclusion where all mem bers of the campus community can achieve excellence,” while working “to eliminate barriers,” and “evaluate our policies, practices, and procedures.”

Coleman said he sees “potential” for FSU to be “a national model for inclu sive excellence.”

Referring to racist comments made by a former member of the Board of Trustees during a subcommittee meet ing Sept. 14, Coleman said it is im portant to develop an “institutional response,” adding, “It’s also important to note that when we’re developing

the response, we should not put the responsibility or onus on the victim ized community to come up with that response.”

He said one of his first priorities at FSU would be to create a “response team” made up of “key stakeholders” from the University, including a mem ber of DICE, the Center for Inclusive Excellence, the Counseling Center, the ean of Students ffice, the Commu nications ffice, Academic Affairs, and the President’s ffice.

He would also implement a process and procedures manual that can be referred to which can provide “a con sistent plan” in response to offensive incidents on campus.

He explained the manual would pro vide information on how to both eval uate and respond to an offensive inci dent.

Coleman added there should be a degree of transparency to the process. He said, “That’s going to reinforce that sense of belonging that we want to provide to the community as a whole, but also the community that’s been im pacted.”

Also in response to incidents on campus, Coleman said, “It’s very im portant that we provide educational resources to the campus community” as well as “restate and reaffirm” the University’s values through an “insti tutional statement.”

He said, along with transparency, “I think communication is key. So we want to make sure that we’re having consistent and ongoing communica tion, especially with the group that has been impacted by the incident.”

Given much of the tension current ly in the world, Coleman said we are currently in an “inflection moment in time,” adding, “But I would propose that this is our new normal and we are becoming more and more diverse and not less diverse, and so we have to prepare to move forward in a positive way.”

Courtesy of Middlebury

CONNECT WITH BRANDEN LACROIX blacroix@student.framingham.edu

Administrators’ forum

Santoro added the department is “down to one officer per shift when we usually have two to three officers per shift.” He said the department’s priorities are for “emergency calls, life-safety calls, emergency-in-prog ress calls, fire alarm calls,” and other “patrol functions.”

He said officers will perform park ing enforcement “when time allows for that to happen.”

Santoro suggested having a stu dent representative on the Universi ty’s Parking Committee which could help address these concerns.

SGA Senator Austin Van Lingen asked if the University could hire an outside company to help with the parking issues.

He said, “Obviously, that’s an ex tra cost in the school budget,” but added as a commuter student, he would “not be ashamed” of paying an increased fee for parking and sug gested a decrease in the parking fee for resident students.

Van Lingen also suggested a “test run” of making Maynard Road and Salem End lots commuter only while sectioning off part of Maple Lot for residents and charging “a premium price point.

“The demand for parking is high. So you’re going to make that reve nue. You’re going to have students buying that,” he said.

Santoro said University admin istration has given permission for University Police to hire outside contractors to help with parking en forcement, but said the three compa nies they reached out to declined due to a lack of personnel.

Santoro added there have been conversations about “color coding” the parking lots, with colors desig nating one area for commuters and another for resident students.

Mikelis also raised concerns about cars speeding on State Street.

“When students are crossing the road, specifically between classes, I have seen cars fly by. They do not give students the right of way and nearly hit students,” he said.

Santoro said while University Po lice do have the authority to enforce traffic laws, they are limited in what they can do due to being under staffed.

“We can’t have officers out there stopping cars when in turn, some body needs a medical call or some body needs something else,” he said. “We have to prioritize where we let our officers do their work.”

Students also raised concerns about various facilities issues in the residence halls.

Antonne Toney, a sophomore, said she has concerns about the lack of heat in some of the older residence halls, specifically Larned Hall. The student said during the winter, the dorms become “freezing cold,” and students are not allowed to have heaters in their dorms, despite the heating units in the buildings not working.

She said, “It’s really unfair that we pay so much money for room and board, but you don’t even have heat ing.”

Executive Vice President Hamel said students can submit work order tickets to Facilities to address that

kind of issue.

Hamel added there are routine maintenance checks for certain ar eas of the residence halls, including the elevator and HVAC systems. He said, “The maintainers are supposed to identify to our trade workers any thing that they see as well, but they probably wouldn’t see things like a radiator not working. So that would have to be reported.”

SGA President Dara Barros said the issue is not only present in Larned Hall, but the other residence halls as well.

She said, “I lived in West Hall last year and I was freezing cold every single day.” She added, “There has to be a new system in place for all the residence halls, because it’s not just West. It’s not just Larned. It’s also Towers. It’s also Miles Bibb.

“It’s not an issue just from one person who has to put the order in - it’s a University-wide thing,” she added.

Hamel said the University is able to monitor the temperatures in the residence halls. He said, “Typically when we get these heat tickets, we go in and take a look to see if there’s a systemic issue.”

He explained the energy manage ment system can control different temperatures in different rooms, and if needed, adjustments can be made. “Basically cool down one room so the other room cranks up,” he said.

SGA Senator Dillon Riley asked if the University checks the heating or air conditioning units prior to the start of the fall semester.

Hamel said systems were im plemented over the summer which could not “get up and running” un til the fall because “it has to be cold enough to figure out how the system works because they’re all electroni cally generated.”

Toney also brought up the issue of leaking ceilings in Larned Hall as well as a lack of communication from Facilities.

She said the leak in her dorm is supposedly “coming from the sixth floor and trickling down to other rooms,” and she returned from class one day to find “a puddle of water” on her desk and on the floor.

She added after submitting a tick et, the person who was sent arrived “randomly” while she was at work and had to be let in by her neighbor.

“It’s just communication with them. They don’t email us that, ‘Hi. We’ve seen that your request has been approved. We will come on this day. Is this OK?’” she said.

She added something like this

could be a safety issue for students as well.

Hamel said if a student cannot submit a ticket themself, they should reach out to their Resident Assistant or Resident Director for help.

Barros also asked for an update re garding non-functioning doors in the residence hall entrances.

Santoro said University Police have an institution security officer who checks to make sure the doors of buildings on campus are functioning and puts in work orders “on a regular basis” for anything not working.

Hamel explained part of the delay in getting doors fixed is because the person who repairs the doors does not have the materials needed due to “supply chain issues.”

Students can enter tickets for residence hall issues through the myResLife portal on the Student Life section of myFramingham on the FSU website.

On behalf of a student not at tending the forum,Van Lingen asked if it was appropriate for a professor to change an in-person class to re mote “because it would benefit their schedules, but not their students, be cause they teach at another institu tion.”

He said this happened in an anat omy and physiology class, which is “a very workload heavy class,” and the professor “changed it to com pletely remote because he teaches at Worcester State University.”

He added as a working student, if he puts in his availability at his job around his school schedule and pro fessors suddenly change the modal ity, “that kind of really screws me over.”

Provost Porter-Utley said, “There should be no changes in modality to a course” once it has started.

She added the student can contact her at the provost’s office, as well as reach out to Margaret Carroll, dean of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Trustee Ward said she had a simi lar problem with the Registrar’s Of fice when a class she signed up for was listed as being in-person Mon days and Wednesdays and asynchro nous, but the professor of the class told her they submitted it as in-per son Mondays and Wednesdays and over Zoom on Thursdays.

“If it wasn’t for me catching it as soon as I did, students would have missed classes that first day of class,” she said.

She added she signed up for the class in April, and because the class was listed as asynchronous during

that time period, students could ac cidentally sign up for classes which overlap.

Ward said because she works on campus, it’s easy for her to change her schedule, but said, “I know other students who had the same issue in their classes and they lost their jobs because they had to tell their bosses they couldn’t work certain days.”

Porter-Utley said, “There needs to be multiple checks and balances to ensure that the schedule that’s post ed is accurate. So it sits with the reg istrar, but it sits with all of us.”

Barros said she has been working with other student leaders to create a student-leader incentive program. “We get a lot of things thrown at us. A lot of departments asking us for student voices. It’s draining,” she said.

“We are giving so much to the University for free,” she said. “When is the University going to show that they also care about student lead ers?”

Mikelis said one of the reasons for the lack of student representation on University committees is students “are stretched thin.”

He added, “It takes an extra push” to get students more involved on campus outside of classwork.

“There needs to be new faces and new people who are interested in serving on these committees, and I don’t think that that’s going to hap pen unless students are incentivized to spend their time serving the com munity,” he said.

Senator Riley said there needs to be a greater incentive on the part of administrators to listen to stu dent leaders. “We’re here right now because we care - if I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here.”

He added, “At the end of the day, there is no university without the students. And, if all the students said, ‘You know what? We’re leaving.’ Guess what? There’s no more univer sity.”

In response, Student Trustee Ward said, “A lot of stuff does go on behind closed doors that we don’t see in higher education that’s very difficult to work around,” adding, “We may not be able to get everything done right away, because unfortunately, … we don’t have all the money in the world, especially the manpower, too.”

She added a possible solution to many of the concerns raised is clear er communication.

President Niemi agreed, and said as the person who is “ultimately re sponsible for all this,” that the Uni versity should “follow up” with stu dents.

“I know my team, I know all of you, and I know these people who care deeply. And so things do get done, but for reasons that all of us still un derstand, they get done at various times at various levels,” she said, adding, “And sometimes they don’t get done because somebody drops the ball, too - I absolutely agree.”

Niemi said, “If we’re not showing our appreciation enough, then we need to.”

CONNECT WITH BRANDEN LACROIX blacroix@student.framingham.edu

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

Emma Lyons / THE GATEPOST

(Second from left) SGA President Dara Barros speaking at Administrators’ Forum.

niversity oli e parti ipate in in at ro e t or fi t year

By Sophia Harris News Editor

University Police will be sporting pink patches throughout the month of October to promote the detection of breast cancer for Breast Cancer Aware ness Month.

The public awareness “Pink Patch” campaign was started by the Seal Beach Police Department in Southern California in 2013, according to the Pink Patch website.

This campaign was created to spread awareness to the community about breast cancer and to raise mon ey for cancer research and treatment, according to the Pink Patch website.

University Police, along with public safety agencies from around the coun try, have adopted this campaign.

University Police wear the patches as a way to encourage conversations with the community about breast can cer.

If the community sees officers wear ing the patches, the goal is for them to purchase the patch. All of the proceeds from the sale go to the Susan G. Komen New England nonprofit for cancer re search and treatment.

Patches are being sold at the Follett campus store for $10.

Susan G. Komen nonprofit funds breast cancer research while also pro viding support and resources to people with breast cancer or who are in remis sion.

“Our mission is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs of our communities and investing in break through research to prevent and cure breast cancer,” according to the Susan G. Komen website.

The Susan G. Komen nonprofit is funding more breast cancer research

than any other nonprofit, according to its website.

Framingham State adopted this campaign in 2017 and since then, the campaign has raised “well over $500,” according to Lieutenant Martin Laugh lin who runs the campaign alongside Sergeant Harry Singh.

Laughlin started the campaign and Singh will take it over in the future, Laughlin said.

So far this year, approximately 10 to 15 patches have been sold, he said.

Laughlin said his intent with the project is “to bring awareness of the awful disease and to raise money for those who need it.

“It’s an incredible project,” he add ed.

Laughlin said he hopes the cam paign will “raise as much money as we possibly can to help those who are in need.”

He added his hope is to continue this campaign “as long as we possibly can.”

Laughlin said the campaign is re ceiving “good support” from the Uni versity as well as all of the officers in the department.

Jade Martinez, a sophomore bio technology major, said she is “glad that FSU is taking part in the campaign.

“It’s all for a really good cause,” she said.

Robert Perruzzi, a sophomore un decided major, said it is “great” that Framingham State is involved with fundraising, especially for an import ant cause like breast cancer.

He said, “The more we get involved, the more we get done.”

Salome Mesa, a freshman biology major, said, “It’s important that we’re involved.

“I feel like a lot of people don’t

Teacher Residency

Continued from page 3

Portuguese or Spanish. There, it does create a relationship where they feel supported.”

Cameron Howe, an undergraduate teacher resident, said being placed at a middle school since the first day makes it a lot easier to form connections with students.

He said sometimes when a student teacher is placed in a program halfway through the year, the children are con fused as to why they’re there “taking notes in the back of the classroom.

“If you’re there from the first day, the kids are acclimated to you,” he said. “The kids will be more responsive to you.”

He said during his time in the res idency, he’s been slowly taking over lesson plans.

He said he is not proficient in Span ish or Portuguese, which initially dis couraged him from applying for the program, but working with the stu dents is encouraging him to more fre quently practice the languages.

When an English language learn er is in a classroom where a teacher is only speaking English, they have a tendency to “shut down and not par ticipate,” he said. “Having someone else in the room who does understand them - I feel like that motivates them even more to keep going with their ed

ucation.”

Samantha Stanfinski, an undergrad uate teacher resident, is also not fully fluent in Spanish or Portuguese, but said since entering college, through her secondary education courses, she has gained a passion for equity in ed ucation and making sure English lan guage learners are truly receiving the education they need.

She said as an English speaker, there is always a way to help non-En glish speakers understand what is be ing taught through different mediums such as drawing, reading, and hand gestures.

Coming into the program, she said she always wanted to work with a di verse group of students and “face her fears” by speaking Spanish in front of people for the first time.

Jarred Landers, an undergraduate teacher resident, said “I feel like I’m learning something new about teach ing every single day.”

He said he has already led several classes, and his mentor feels comfort able leaving the classroom while he is teaching lessons.

Landers added working with his mentor is a great experience as he has a wide range of culturally responsive teaching knowledge. He is also learn ing from teachers with whom he is not directly paired.

Lieutenant Martin Laughlin holding a Pink Patch.

understand what people have to go through, and bringing awareness to certain things really helps the commu nity,” she said.

Shannon Dignard, a freshman early childhood education major, said she was unfamiliar with the campaign.

She said the campaign is “very im portant,” but wishes she saw more advertising and broadcasting for the initiative.

Ibrahim Kyeyune, a senior chem

Tyler Wahl / THE GATEPOST

istry major, said, “It is a really good practice.”

He said he hopes it influences other agencies to “step up” and take part in the initiative.

He added it is important to stand with and spread awareness for people with breast cancer.

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA HARRIS sharris9@student.framingham.edu

Landers encouraged future teach er residents to get involved with the classroom right away. “If you’re anx ious about being in front of a class room for the first time, after the first time you do it, it gets easier every time.”

Kayla Buono, a teacher resident in the post-baccalaureate teacher licen sure program, said the residency is fast paced, but she has had a lot of support from teachers, program directors, co ordinators and fellow residents.

She said she encourages future teacher residents to use these same support systems. “The program is about growth. Growth isn’t easy, and these support systems can help.”

She added, “There have been many great interactions with students, as well as some challenging ones. It’s the best kind of experience where I get ex posed to a variety of students in a va riety of situations. This means I get to broadly develop my skill.”

Buono said the biggest benefit of the program is that she gets to start her teaching career with a whole year of experience under her belt and would love to give back to Framingham Pub lic Schools next year.

Kristen Porter-Utley, academic vice president and provost, said the pro gram will make for a much richer ex perience on campus, providing a “cy

cle of benefit” between Framingham State students and Framingham Public Schools.

She said while those in the program take courses at the University, they will perhaps also be getting students they connect with at their residencies excited about FSU.

She said she had the chance to work with Powell and Matthews on the sec ond day of becoming provost, and she admires how committed they both are to anti-racism, cultural awareness, and supporting all students.

Porter-Utley added, “To me as the new provost, being presented with this project on day two was so fun. It’s very heartening. This is what I thought Framingham was like. This project em bodies so much of what Framingham State is and what it does for the region.

“This is about Framingham State, but this is also just about the right thing to do in our communities, and working to ensure that students are supported not only here in our region, but across the state of Massachusetts. This will really be a model for other in stitutions,” Porter-Utley said.

CONNECT WITH EMILY ROSENBERG erosenberg@student.framingham.edu

OP/ED

THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL

Buckets are not a solution

In early September, students arrived back on campus - accompanied by flash flood warnings.

Rain fell all day Sept. 5 and 6 with Framing ham receiving 3.4 inches as of noon that Tues day, according to WCVB TV.

As a result of this storm, many leaks were discovered across campus, including in the Henry Whittemore Library, May Hall, and the McCarthy Center.

[Editor’s Note: See “Facilities plans repairs to leaks around campus” in the Oct. 7 issue of The Gatepost.]

\Though steps have been taken to fix the leaks in the library and May Hall, Patricia Whitney, assistant vice president of Facilities and Capital Planning, stated in a Sept. 29 email to The Gatepost - 23 days after the storm end ed - that her operations director did not receive any “work orders” and asked for details.

“We will have someone look at it,” Whitney wrote. “It is really important for people to tell us when they see a problem otherwise we don’t know to go look at it.”

This isn’t the Rainforest Cafe. Clearly stu dents, faculty, and staff walking into the McCa rthy Center know water is not supposed to be sprinkling out of the ceiling in multiple places.

The leaks in the building were incredibly obvious and that is precisely why they were not reported.

Buckets, some of which were repurposed trash cans, were placed underneath these leaks and water that had made it to the floor and other surfaces needed to be cleaned up.

The task of putting in a work order is placed on students and other community members who assumed it was already being taken care of by those whose job it is to do so.

Just yesterday, Oct. 13, during another tor rential rainstorm, Student Transportation Center employees had puddles of water accu mulating on their counter throughout the day that they were left to clean up themselves.

Clearly, repairs to the McCarthy Center have yet to be made.

It is puzzling McCarthy’s leaks were over looked given the building is quite literally the “Campus Center.”

Students should not be held responsible for ensuring this campus is being maintainedthey have other matters to deal with than con firming whether the leaks they see are being fixed.

Students can take it upon themselves to in form Facilities when maintenance problems arise, but a major leak should not go unad dressed for nearly a month because no one sent in a work order.

Having water-damaged ceilings and trash cans collecting rainwater in our main building is not a good look for the University as pro spective students tour the campus.

When the leaks in May Hall and the library were brought to their attention, Facilities could have decided it was time to do a walk through of each building on campus to see if there were any other major leaks.

Had this been done, the leaks in the McCar thy Center would have been documented.

Beyond this, checks such as these should be done somewhat frequently to ensure the safety of our campus community, especially with the leak that was coming out of the light fixture in May Hall.

Given how easily McCarthy was overlooked, who knows what other leaks may exist that are just as dangerous as the one in May or just as damaging as the one in the library’s Archives Room?

With Facilities being located just off cam pus, perhaps that is why those in charge would prefer work orders to be placed by faculty, staff, and students.

In that case, the directions on how to place a maintenance request should be more clear and available to the community.

This can be done by posting signage or sending emails that inform the community on the steps required to make a request.

However, this still does not excuse the fact that responsibility is being placed on the cam pus community to do the work of Facilities.

This leak was too obvious and dangerous to have been overlooked.

You don’t need a work order to do your work.

Accountability is not humorous

By McKenzie Ward Opinions Editor

The Try Guys, a group of YouTubers, released a statement on Sept. 27 stating that one of the four members, Ned Fulmer, known as the “Wife Guy” would no longer be working with them after eight years.

Ned then published a statement admitting to an affair and described it as a “consensual workplace relationship.” He apol ogized for the pain his actions caused to the other Try Guys and to his family, as he is married and has children.

The affair was with Alexandria Herring, the associate pro ducer for The Try Guys.

As a result of the affair, the other three members of The Try Guys, Eugene Lee Yang, Keith Habersberger, and Zach Korn field, hired an HR professional to conduct a thorough review of the facts, and it was found that Ned had indeed engaged in inappropriate workplace conduct.

Keith, Zach, and Eugene then gave written consent approv ing the removal of Ned as a manager and employee.

The Try Guys published a YouTube video on Oct. 3 titled, “what happened” further explaining the situation.

In the video, the members said they are saddened by Ned’s actions and despite this situation, they hope that positive growth will occur and that the company will overcome this.

In the video, Eugene reminded viewers that the Internet tends “to be a lot harsher to women than men. So please, we ask that you exercise kindness.”

While Ned claims the relationship between him and Her ring was a “consensual workplace relationship,” there was still a power imbalance as Ned was Herring’s boss and had power over her as her employer.

This arguably makes the relationship extremely problematic and could have resulted in legal issues for The Try Guys.

Keith, Zach, and Eugene did the right thing by holding Ned accountable for his selfish actions.

It was truly a great example of how men should be holding other men accountable for unacceptable behavior, such as in appropriate workplace relationships or just cheating in gener al.

However, not everyone saw The Try Guys’ reaction the way that I did.

On Oct. 9 Saturday Night Live (SNL) produced a skit essen tially mocking the reaction of The Try Guys.

The skit had Ego Nwodim playing a CNN broadcaster and host Brendan Gleeson, a correspondent. Gleeson’s character interrupts Nwodim with breaking news about Ned’s affair and announces that Keith, Eugene, and Zach are live to talk about it.

During the skit, SNL made numerous jokes about the profes sional relationship between Ned and Herring and downplayed the severity of the affair.

Nwodim asked if the affair was non-consensual and Mikey Day, who was playing Zach, responded with, “No, worse. He committed the heinous crime of having a consensual kiss, and not telling us, his friends.”

However, this wasn’t just a consensual kiss. This was a fullblown, long-term extramarital affair between a founder of a company and one of his employees.

If anything had gone wrong in this relationship, it could have opened the company to a sexual harrassment lawsuit.

The decision to remove Ned has cost The Try Guys a lot of money, according to their “what happened” video. If these ac tions were not taken, it could have caused much worse damage.

Not only was this wrong for a founder of a company to have a sexual relationship with a subordinate, but this man cheated on his wife and put the livelihoods of the other Try Guys and their employees in jeopardy.

So to SNL, not only was your skit tasteless, but it also sent the message to men that if they decide to speak out when other men abuse their power, they’re overreacting and instead they should stay silent.

To Zach, Keith, and Eugene, thank you for taking action rather than staying silent.

This skit says more about the workplace culture of SNL than it does The Try Guys.

SNL, do better.

Campus Conversations

What is your preferred way to inform administrators of student concerns?

By Ryan Schreiber, Staff Writer

“Email or even if they had a tip line. I feel like that would make it a lot easier for students to reach out - especially since it’s anonymous. I feel like there’s a lot less pressure for students to feel like they can’t contact them if they have issues.”

-Emily Monaco, sophomore

“Email because everyone has that, but I barely ever check my email. They should make a big Canvas for everyone that has post announcements on because I check Canvas more than I check my email.”

- Matt Brady, freshman

“Whoever the head is and ask them what can we do as a community to help the situation out.”

Jalen Bruce, junior

“I had to file claims and reports and send them into the Human Resources Office in Dwight Hall. There is a group of people in the Human Resources Office and they were extremely helpful and helped me file my reports where I needed to.”

-Ashley Gavin, freshman

“I like going to the Dean of Students for any problems. The Dean of Students helps out with any problems that students have. They make sure that you’re heard and it’s a comfortable setting.”

-Tyler McKeen, junior

“Through an email or finding where their room is for potential office hours.”

- Hailey Mejia, freshman

Framingham

By Danielle Achin Sports Editor

The Framingham State football team dominated Fitchburg State - at Bowditch Field ct. .

The Rams immediately opened the first quarter with an interception by Cap tain Cully Curran.

This gave FSU the advantage and after Curran’s first interception, evaun Ford brought back the ball yards, finishing with a 1-yard scoring run.

With an extra point made by kicker Mathhew Farley, the Rams led - .

The Rams extended the lead in the closing minutes of the first quarter on a -yard touchdown run by Noah Leonard. Another successful point after by Farley resulted in a 1 - lead heading into the second quarter.

A few minutes into the second quarter, Farley converted a -yard field goal, extending the lead to 1 - for the Rams.

Less than two minutes later, a bad snap on the Falcons’ punt resulted in a safety, putting the Rams up 1 - .

The Rams’ hot start continued throughout the second quarter when Ford extended the lead with a -yard touchdown reception from Terry Smith.

Soon after, Curran returned his second interception yards for a touch down to give the Rams a - at the half.

The third quarter accounted for the final touchdown of the game. Ford once again ran the ball yards down to the five and capped the drive with a -yard run. A completed extra point by Farley resulted in the - final score.

uarterback Nicolas Goffredo commented on his team’s performance, say ing they play how they practice, and this game showed those results.

“We executed this week in practice and it showed,” he said. “Weeks before we didn’t prepare or execute the way we played today and it was a completely different result.”

Goffredo said while it’s just another game in the books, the team needs to feed off of this win in order to be successful throughout the rest of the season.

“Every week is a new challenge and we are treating this week no differently,” he said. “We are looking to go 1- this week and it comes from how hard we prepare and execute leading up to the game, not on Saturday.”

The Rams are back in action ct. 1 when they travel to Western Connecti cut for more conference action - kickoff is at 3 p.m.

Rams

By Gerell Boyce Staff Writer

By Adam Levine Staff Writer

The Framingham State Rams suffered defeat in a 6-1 loss to the Southern Maine Huskies Oct. 11.

Southern Maine controlled possession and dominated offensively. Rams’ ju nior midfielder Corlene Guenard reflected on this, stating, “I think we could have done a better job winning balls.”

Southern Maine tallied 13 shots on goal and took nine penalty corners throughout the game. Framingham fought hard and with just four penalty cor ners, they were still able to tally nine shots on goal.

The game’s pace began slowly with multiple minor penalties committed by both the Huskies and the Rams.

The Huskies saw their first offensive opportunity to put Framingham’s de fense to the test with a penalty corner from Brooke Carson. Carson’s short pass opened up the chance for the Huskies. Huskies’ Sage rinkwater was able to track down the ball and sent it back to Carson, setting up the Huskies’ first goal of the night at 7:13.

The Rams pressured the Huskies’ net. Rams sophomore defender Kaylee Beck missed a shot wide, followed by an unsuccessful penalty corner by Guenard.

The first quarter ended with the Rams trailing 1- to the Huskies.

The second quarter began with both teams continuing to exchange possession up and down the field. The Rams fouled the Huskies, leading to a penalty shot by Huskies’ Ginny Twitchell, but the shot was wide.

The Huskies would soon take their third penalty corner. Carson’s corner would set up rinkwater’s assist to Huskies’ Chloe Arsenault for the second goal of the game. At : , Southern Maine would take a - lead over Framingham. ust three minutes later, Southern Maine would strike again. Carson’s penalty corner once again set up another goal for the Huskies, this time to herself. Her pass into play gave her teammate Hannah Banks a chance to assist Carson on her second goal of the night. The Huskies took a - lead at : .

Rams sophomore midfielder Abby Clark drove down the field, evading the Huskies’ defenders. She said she recognizes that her “speed and placement of the ball is impacting her team’s offense in a huge way.” Clark allowed Rams freshman defender Natalia Roehr to score for Framingham, putting them on the scoreboard with just over two minutes remaining in the first half.

Framingham’s Beck had her shot saved by Southern Maine’s goalie, ending the Rams’ early offensive push in the second half.

Southern Maine retaliated with their own attack. The Huskies Samantha Ellis scored with an assist from Carson. At : , the Huskies increased their lead to -1.

Framingham’s strong response was not enough to threaten the Huskies’ de fense. Framingham’s Clark had back-to-back shots saved by the Huskies goalie. espite Southern Maine’s continued advances, neither team produced any more points and the quarter closed with the Huskies on top -1.

Southern Maine’s steady charge led to another goal just over three minutes into the fourth quarter. The Huskies Mary Keef assisted Carson on her third goal of the night at :1 , increasing the Huskies’ lead to -1.

With eight minutes of play left in the match, the Huskies Ellis retrieved a re bound from her teammate’s shot and scored the final goal of the night. Ellis’ goal at : would prove to be enough for the Huskies to defeat the Rams 6-1.

Although the Rams showed fight until the end, the Huskies kept their lead as time expired.

Looking forward to the rest of the season, the Rams only have five matches left in the regular season, all of which are conference matchups. Framingham’s Clark said she believes her teammates “are all motivated to persevere” and “push through to the rest of the season.”

The loss brought the Rams’ overall record to - and their Little East Confer ence record to - . Framingham travels to Salem State for another LEC matchup on Oct. 13.

ARTS & FEATURES

Arts & Ideas celebrates pride across generations with Halloween spirit

By Raena Doty Staff Writer

Arts & Ideas celebrated Nation al Coming Out Day with a Hallow een-themed dinner and costume par ty Oct. 11.

Several Massachusetts-based char ities helped to put the event togeth er, creating a memorable holiday for LGBT+ people of all walks of life.

The Pride Across Generations event was the fifth of its type. It has been held annually on National Com ing Out Day, but was not held last year due to pandemic protocol.

Kim Dexter, assistant vice presi dent of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity, led the event in collab oration with Arts & Ideas, Springwell, and MASS Rainbow Groups.

The Arts & Ideas theme for the year is “Sustaining Life and Sustain ing Joy,” which Dexter said is a perfect complement for the Pride Across Gen erations event.

“[It] is kind of underlying every thing that we’re doing, right? So making sure that folks do feel joyful. They are experiencing something fun - something that they can take with them tonight,” she said.

Dexter said organizers decided hav ing the event be Halloween-themed would be a fun way to allow people to be more authentic. Many attendees said they came in part because they wanted to celebrate both holidays.

Julie Nowak, LGBTQIA+ initiative coordinator for Springwell, spoke about her experiences with costumes and confidence.

In her 20s, she said she spent a lot of time wearing clothes she didn’t feel comfortable in, but by studying

costume technology in college, she learned how to make clothes that made her feel good and taught her she could have a place in this world.

For the event, she wore a jacket she transformed after buying it from a thrift store, which she described as “what would happen if Alexander Mc Queen dressed the Lannisters.”

The event focused on bringing to gether different LGBT+ people from all different age ranges, from stu dents at FSU to people old enough to remember the Stonewall riot, Dexter said.

Springwell is a charity focused on providing support for elderly people, and Nowak said her job is specifical ly to help senior LGBT+ people. She said it’s highly important to connect young and old LGBT+ people togeth er, both personally and in the fight for rights.

“The older folks have the knowl edge of the history that’s been delib erately hidden or obscured from the younger generations. Younger folks have a breathtaking fluidity of lan guage. ... It’s a two way conversation. We all learn from each other and we love having these conversations,” she said.

Nowak emphasized many older LGBT+ people have a deep mistrust of those who offer services intended to help them as they age due to previous negative experiences with authority figures and discrimination.

Springwell was previously involved with the Pride Across Generations event, and they also hold other events that connect generations together.

Nowak said, “Coming to an event like this, this is how younger people can help. ... Let’s start the conversa tion. That’s where the heart of it is.”

Pauline Bosma, founder of MASS Rainbow Groups, spoke about how important visibility and intersection ality within the LGBT+ community is. She said disabled people tend to be less likely to talk about experienc es being LGBT+ for fear of how their identities intersect.

Oscar Hughes, Bosma’s assistant, said, “People with disabilities are still left out of social groups and social spaces. People don’t always treat peo ple with disabilities fairly or see them as someone who they can be friends with.”

He spent the first half of the night dressed in his fifth grade Girl Scout uniform, then changed halfway throughout the costume contest into a Boy Scout’s uniform - representing his own transition as a trans man.

Former FSU student Maxwell Mor rongiello discussed his personal ex perience finding a place to belong in the LGBT+ community. He described Pride Across Generations as “a venue

for queer people to share their experi ences and be a part of a queer space.”

He said his Hebrew name means “joy” in English, which he is very proud of despite his own struggles with maintaining joy throughout his life.

“Joy isn’t something you can catch. Joy is found in the journey and my journey isn’t over,” he said.

The Pride Across Generations event included dinner. Dexter said this was important because often el derly LGBT+ individuals end up iso lated from the typical support sys tems expected for someone their age, meaning they may not have access to meals.

Dexter said entertainment is vital for a very different reason because of the importance of celebration and joy. This year’s featured event was a cos tume contest.

There were four winners for the costume contest: “Most Cute,” “Most Fabulous,” “Most Fierce,” and “Most Joyful.” The crowd voted by cheering for who they wanted to win, and who ever got the most cheers received a small prize.

Sarah Scrivener, a senior at Bridge water State University who works with Rainbow Groups, won “Most Cute’’ for her costume of Junko Enoshima from “Danganronpa.” She said National Coming Out Day is a way to celebrate her community, and Rainbow Groups has become a kind of home to her as an LGBT+ autistic person.

Faith Wangui, freshman fashion design and merchandising major, won “Most Fabulous,” dressed in a green suit and wearing fake elf ears, though she said she was not dressed as any particular character.

Nora Johnson, a member of Rain bow Groups, won “Most Fierce” dressed as a forest enchantress. She said, “[National Coming Out Day] makes me feel really joyful and hap py for people that feel like they can

be themselves and everything and not worry about what other people say, because it’s hard to come out, but once you do it, it’s usually much bet ter.”

Lastly, “Most Joyful” went to two friends who entered together: Karl Skinner and Doreen Noble. They were decked out in rainbow headbands, stickers, and other miscellaneous decorations from Dollar Tree, Noble said.

Noble emphasized the importance of the older generation in the LGBT+ community. “It is on the work of a lot of the older people that the queer kids are able to [come out],” she said.

Skinner said, “I was at the first pride march in Boston, and we were graced by rocks and bottles, and to see it grow over the years and to have the support of the community, both straight and gay, was astonishing.”

CONNECT WITH RAENA DOTY rdoty@student.framingham.edu

Zachary Sorel / THE GATEPOST Pauline Bosma, Karl Skinner, and Doreen Noble in their costumes.

Zachary Sorel / THE GATEPOST Kim Dexter, assistant vice president of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity speaking, at the Pride Across Generations event Oct. 11.

Provost

Reema Zeineldin, associate vice president of Academic Affairs, said Porter-Utley’s prior experience as a dean is important to her transition into the role of provost. “Without it, it could be challenging. So, definitely, she has the right qualifications.”

Porter-Ultey said as she looked into Framingham State, she was struck by the commitment the University has to anti-racism.

She said it was very impressive that every page of the leadership profile for the position had the word “an ti-racist” on it. “That’s bold. This in stitution is really committed to taking a bold stance in the area of equity, and that’s been important in my profes sional work.”

She said she was also drawn to the University because it is “on the cusp” of becoming a Hispanic-serving insti tution.

“I grew up in Florida, so I have a love for all cultures Hispanic or Lati no/Latina,” Porter-Utley said. “I was really excited about also potentially serving an institution which was go ing to have that mission.”

In her role Porter-Utley is responsi ble for all academic programs at FSU. She said she works with the deans of each academic college, the dean of the library, the registrar, and the di rector of assessment.

“Those are all people I work with to ensure that the academic programs that we’re offering are of the appro priate quality, are appropriately ac cessible, meet equity standards of the institution, anti-racist standards for the institution,” she said.

She added she works to ensure stu dents graduate on time, and the de grees they earn are meaningful and help the students develop profession al careers.

Porter-Utley said since she just entered the role of provost, she is fo cusing on “trying to absorb. … Even though I came from another state uni versity, our institutions are extremely different in multiple ways.”

She said the main question she is focusing on is, “How can an institu tion be student ready?” That is the driving question behind all of her de cision making.

Porter-Utley said she is working with the department chairs and deans to analyze the University’s academic programs to ensure they are relevant, focused on students’ interests, and properly prepare them for the next stages of their lives.

Steven Cok, chair of the Chemistry and Food Science Department, said, “She’s open to those lines of commu nications. I think it’s really key to get the chairs, faculty, and administration to work together.”

Porter-Utley said she also wants to ensure the programs are relevant to the MetroWest region and serve a public need.

Lisa Eck, chair of the English De partment, said her department has

already taken steps to connect the major to careers.

“It’s exciting that these efforts are underway, but even more exciting now that they have visibility and they have support from the administration, or support from Academic Affairs,” she said. “It feels like we’re all moving in the same direction and having these important conversations.”

“We’re going to have to choose what to say is unimportant, so that we can choose to do the important work of being a student-ready university,” he said. “Everything can’t be equal ly important. If everything is equally important, then nothing matters.

“When you try to say, ‘Here’s what’s important. Here’s what’s not import ant,’ that’s going to be a very long

at policies put in place to see if they work for students, the University also needs to examine if these protocols disenfranchise any group of students.

She asked, “Are we sure that this is a policy which is going to ensure that every student is making progress?”

Porter-Utley said there are already equity reviews of policies and depart ments happening on campus.

Nancy Budwig, a member of the Board of Trustees, said Porter-Utley’s goals are on target with the strategic planning for student readiness and the University’s continued commit ment to anti-racism.

She said that Porter-Utley’s com mitment to anti-racism underpins her work. “That comes through loud and clear, and it’s one of her main goals and the kind of vocal areas that drives the approach that she takes to stu dent success.”

Marc Cote, dean of Arts and Hu manities, said the University’s en rollment is increasingly diverse and serving underrepresented students and students from diverse economic backgrounds is important to the suc cess of the institution and to the ide als of student readiness.

“We do need to be ready to serve the students we get and move from a mindset of the students being ready for the University - still retain thatbut also have the University be more ready to accommodate students, and that can take many forms,” he said.

Porter-Utley defined a stu dent-ready institution as one that makes every student feel welcomed and supported, as well as a university that meets the expectations of stu dents.

“We often talk about how it is that students need to meet our expec tations and there’s a balance there, because we have to have standards and to ensure that every student has a quality degree at the end of their time here,” she said. “But how are we thinking about how we are meeting our students’ expectations?”

Porter-Utley said the mentality of being student-ready is primarily fo cused on every aspect of the student experience at Framingham State. “How are you [the students] experi encing our spaces? How are you feel ing that we know you’re excellent and are here to support you?”

Erin Gemme, diversity and inclu sion officer of SGA and a sophomore early childhood education major, said, “It is important for somebody in that position to think of the students like that. I think that a really good strate gy to move forward is to keep the stu dents in mind.”

Larry McKenna, chair of the Envi ronment, Society, and Sustainability Department, said student readiness is important for the long-term sur vival of the University, but becoming a student-ready institution is difficult when the University has finite re sources.

decision-making process. That’s why strategic leadership is so important. And that’s why I personally am very excited that Kristen’s here,” he said.

Paul Yalowitz, chair of the Art and Music Department, said student read iness is helpful in retaining students and ensuring they do not become frustrated when they are unable to find the answers they need.

“What that means could be dif ferent things to different students. We have a lot of first-generation stu dents, so informing them about what they can do. A lot of students aren’t even aware of some of the things they can do when they get here and don’t take advantage of the different things offered to them,” he said.

Kimberly Poth, a sophomore el ementary education major, said her coursework for her major showed her the biggest complaint about public schools is that they aren’t proper ly preparing students for success in their careers.

“If college can contribute to that sense of readiness and really help stu dents to be able to find their place and be ready to jump into that, all the bet ter,” she said.

Jaydha Cabrera, a sophomore mar keting major, said, “There’s a lot of things students need help on, and be ing able to recognize that and work ing toward that is really good.”

Porter-Utley also tied student read iness to the University’s commitment to anti-racism. She said when looking

Porter-Utley said she is planning on participating in student events in order to understand who students are in a variety of different ways. “If I’m invited, I’m going to try to come to any student event.”

She said she is thinking a lot about the communication between the University and students, using as an example how the upcoming tuition payment deadline could be communi cated to students.

“How are we sending a message saying, ‘We have to hold you to this obligation, but we still want to sup port you. Here’s how you get support through this process if you need it’?” she said.

History Professor Bridgette Sheri dan, interim faculty union president, said Porter-Utley’s goals are connect ed to those faculty have for the Uni versity. She added she appreciated how Porter-Utley has given attention to faculty members. “Faculty are re ally the point of contact that all stu dents have.”

She said she is looking for Por ter-Utley to ensure decisions about curriculum are driven by the gover nance committees at the University. This would help “faculty have not just a voice, but the primary voice in deci sions that are related to curriculumeverything from general education to department requirements to schedul ing.”

Porter-Utley said she is working with SGA President Dara Barros and

Courtesy of Kristen Porter-Utley

Provost

Vice President Raffi Elkhoury to form a Provost Student Leadership Council in order to connect with students on a deeper level and position students as leaders.

She said she was trying to move past simply setting up spaces to lis ten to students - “Which is an import ant process and has to happen in the leadership council, but really a lead ership council implies a little bit more action.”

Porter-Utley said this council would be made up of students who would represent the FSU student body, work alongside her to identify challenges, and work to solve them over the course of the academic year.

Barros said Porter-Utley had pre viously formed a similar council at Bridgewater State, but wanted more students on the council. “I know she specifically said that she wants stu dents from all over the academic spectrum as well as leadership wise. She wants different types of voices on there.”

She explained Porter-Utley planned to send out a survey for stu dents to nominate the professors who had the biggest impact on them, and she would then ask those professors to nominate students to be on the council.

Barros said she was not planning to

be on the council because she was a senior. She suggested beginning the council with first-year students be cause it would allow for the work to be continuous and not have gaps from students leaving the council as they graduate.

She said the council is going to set up goals to work on throughout the year and pick up where they leave off at the beginning of the next academic year, continuing to tackle bigger goals as they go on.

Jillian Richard, a senior graphic design major, said she would be inter ested in joining the Student Advisory council. “I don’t know a lot of what goes on behind the scenes, so I think it would be good to get students in volved.”

Ben Landry, a senior environmen tal science and policy major, said the council is a great way to solicit stu dent input. “I think that the faculty at this school should be working for the students, considering we’re the ones that pay tuition and keep the school afloat.”

Nicole Berry, a senior political sci ence major, said the council would be beneficial to have. “It makes me excit ed to hear that the University is plan ning things like that.”

CONNECT WITH EMMA LYONS elyons3@student.framingham.edu

‘Werewolf by Night’ - Marvel’s stab at horror

By Jack McLaughlin Staff Writer

“Werewolf by Night” will bring Marvel fans into new territory that breaks free from the comfort zone established by previously released shows and films.

Instead of the predictable light hearted romp with heroes like Iron Man and Spider-Man, this special is a slow, violent, and at times eerie event with characters the viewer has never been introduced to before.

Taking place on a dark evening, a group of monster hunters are brought together to attempt killing an un known beast. The winner of this con test will claim the Bloodstone rel ic and total control over the secret group of hunters.

While this kind of story has been told before, it’s refreshing to see it re told with the budget and talent of a Marvel Studios production.

Gael García Bernal’s portrayal of the elusive Jack Russell is a protago nist who will slowly unveil himself to the viewer, causing your enjoyment of him to steadily increase and by the end you’ll be eager to see where he shows up next.

There aren’t many characters to become invested in. Most are one dimensional and serve the purpose of having competition for the main character as he navigates the contest.

The only other exception to that

Courtesy of IMDb

is Elsa Bloodstone, played by Laura Donnelly. Early on, she and Jack form a mutual bond to escape the contest together for personal gain and their dynamic is serviceable on-screen.

Looming over all the hunters is Verussa Bloodstone, played by Har riet Sansom Harris. She isn’t part of the story besides the start and finish, but her presence on-screen especial ly with Elsa and Jack gives the viewer a more interesting antagonist than most Marvel projects have to offer.

The action scenes deviate from Marvel’s traditional style a lot, and it can be jarring for viewers not antici pating it. Fights in the special are far more gruesome and intense and while there are points where it can be exces

sive, it’s far better than most action scenes in anything Marvel has done.

Marvel finally pushing into more mature content is welcomed here for sure. The lack of reliance on big ac tion sequences and humor for some thing more atmospheric and intense worked wonderfully here.

Style and tone are also where this special differentiates itself. It goes for a classic horror style with a drea ry black and white color palette and film grain that is added in digitally. The tone is consistent with the horror films of old, with a sprinkle of humor that feels too modern to be in this story.

Color is used sparingly throughout, giving great importance to the small moments on screen that have it.

The sharp change in style and lack of any connection to other Marvel projects allows this to be one of the rare moments in this series that can stand on its own. This isn’t like other MCU entries that require you to watch a list of middling films to fully under stand the story.

To the surprise of no one, especial ly if you keep up with the MCU, the music here is notably unimpressive except for the theme used in the end credits.

Runtime is the biggest detriment to the special. Clocking in at 53 min utes, which is including the nearly 10-minute credits, there isn’t enough time spent in this story and the viewer

is left wanting more by the end.

The pacing quickly brings you from scene to scene to make sure the story can be told in as little amount of time as possible. Simply put, you will want more from this story and will be left a bit disappointed at how brisk it feels.

Considering this is the first big di rectorial work by composer Michael Giacchino, this is a fantastic preview of what he is capable of as a director and hopefully means this isn’t the last we see of him in the MCU.

Marvel fans will come to appreci ate the change of style, especially if you’re becoming tiresome of their most recent efforts.

Rating: B+

A dark, gory blast

CONNECT

JACK MCLAUGHLIN

‘Hellraiser’ was hell

By Ryan Schreiber Staff Writer

When “Hellraiser” came out Oct. 7 and was uploaded to Hulu, I came in with high expectations but left disap pointed.

“Hellraiser” acts as a reboot in the 11-film franchise. The main charac ter is Riley McKendry (Odessa A’zion) who is a recovering drug addict but relapses. Other characters use her ad diction to belittle her.

The cast includes Trevor (Drew Starkey) who is Riley’s boyfriend and is also having problems with drug ad diction, and Matt McKendry (Brandon Flynn) who is Riley’s brother.

The film starts off with a woman luring a man into a room that has ar tifacts sealed in glass boxes placed in a circle. In the middle of that circle is the infamous puzzle box. The man is then encouraged to solve the puzzle and so he does.

A small knife pops out when the puzzle is solved, resulting in a ghastly stab wound to his hand.

The box then drinks his blood and chaos ensues. The walls open with the sound of rattling chains, signi fying that we are about to witness one of the best killing methods. The chains fly out, pierce the man’s body, and string him up. Then boom - offscreen kill.

The kills as well as the number of them are one of the movie’s problems.

Two out of the four kills - not enough for me - happen off-screen.

The movie gave me none of what I anticipated. The kill that I thought was moving in the right direction swerved badly. I was expecting the character to be skinned from head to toes but nope, only a small portion of their arm was skinned. With three ter rible kills, we were gifted with a single good one.

Another thing that I disliked about this movie was the main character. I hate horror movies that have dumb main characters. How are you going to see this box take a life and then go back and still solve the puzzle? It makes no sense.

Everything that occurred in this movie is because of Riley. I did not feel bad for her when she was balling her eyes out. It’s all her fault. I felt bad for the characters that had to deal with her. She’s the true villain.

Beside the horrible final survivor and lackluster kills, there are few good things to say about this movie. One of the amazing things about this film was the designs of the Cenobites. Cenobites are extra dimensional be ings who rock great looks. One of the cenobites has chattering teeth, one has stitches that go through their eyelids and chains that are connected on many parts of their body, and an other one has pins in the face.

Who’s the one with pins in their face? Well, that’s Pinhead, the villain in this movie. This time the character is played by Jamie Clayton, who does an amazing job playing Pinhead. She is also the first woman to play the character in the franchise.

The second and last thing I liked about this movie was the design of the box. Each time the box is solved it changes into a new configuration. After you solve the box it drinks your blood and the Cenobites come to kill

Rating: CA Hulu horror let down

By Owen Glancy Staff Writer

“Kaguya-sama: Love is War” be gan its third season “Ultra Romantic” April 9, two years after the second season’s bombastic conclusion.

The third season covers the stu dent council’s antics as the new school year begins, particularly with a school festival needing to be planned and executed.

The show’s greatest element is the central relationship between Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane. Both the comedic and romantic por tions rely on these two characters be ing too prideful to confess their feel ings to each other.

This makes the series hilarious, but slow, showing little in the ways of ro mantic development. But, this season speeds things up significantly.

Their dynamic gets even better when it is revealed that Shirogane is going to be studying abroad at Stan ford University in California, far away from Kaguya and the rest of the main cast. This is a huge revelation as it puts a time limit on the previously slow, yet entertaining story.

With both of our protagonists en tering their senior year of high school, the topic of their future is an especial ly prevalent one. This anxiety forcibly moves the story forward as both Ka

guya and Shirogane’s mind games in crease in both scale and absurdity.

An excellent example of the duo’s romantic hijinks is in the first epi sode where the student council hosts an arm-wrestling competition among themselves. The two finalists are Ka guya and Miyuki, who each have the same goal in their match. They both want to purposefully lose to hold each other’s hands as long as possible.

The other characters interpret this as a brutal battle between two equal ly strong competitors, when they are simply enjoying the hand holding that arm wrestling requires.

This is only one example of the many excellent segments from this season. However, the show can’t rely entirely on its main duo. Thankfully, there are a plethora of entertaining and complex side characters.

Ishigami was a major focus of the previous season and only got more screen-time throughout this season. Tsubame is introduced as the girl he has a crush on. His attempts to be honest about his feelings, so he doesn’t end up in the same situation as our protagonists, is a hilarious and meta gag that really sticks with the audience.

Chika Fujiwara is a far more polar izing character than Ishigami, who despite being a fan-favorite, has a dis tinct lack of screen time in this sea

son. As the rest of the cast improve their stories and fall in love, Chika remains a static character with little plot relevance aside from a minor in convenience.

The down-to-earth Ai Hayasaka becomes a major focus of the early portion of this season. Her attempts to separate from the Shinomiya fam ily, combined with her feelings for Miyuki, give her some much needed character development.

Of the new characters introduced this season, Maki Shijo is a hilarious stand-out. Her chaotic mood swings and jealous outbursts bring a fresh comedic element to the story and of fer new creative uses of the main cast.

Her friendship with Ishigami is particularly interesting. Seeing him take on a mentor role in Maki’s failing romantic pursuits is refreshing and hysterical.

Even with all the incredible and memorable characters, the finale is still by far the greatest part of this new season. After nearly three sea sons of build-up, Miyuki and Kaguya’s confession scene is executed so well that it blows any prior expectations out of the water.

This one scene has four episodes worth of build up as Miyuki’s plan is executed. While it may sound exces sive on paper, in practice, it is ex tremely engaging and funny to watch.

“Kaguya-sama: Love is War Ultra Romantic” takes the solid foundation that the previous seasons established and builds upon it. The production values continue to be above average, and the characters remain consis tently funny and memorable. The oc casional unfunny joke or plot-irrele vant character doesn’t stop this show from being a great time.

Rating: A+

A nearly flawless romance anime

you. The movie was disappointing after eagerly waiting months to see it.

‘Kaguya-Sama: Love is War’ finally delivers on its main premise

CONNECT WITH RYAN SCHREIBER rschreiber@student.framingham.edu

CONNECT WITH OWEN GLANCY oglancy@student.framingham.edu

Courtesy of IMDb

‘HSMTMTS’ season 3 - the dopamine dose you’re looking for

By Emily Rosenberg Associate Editor

a high school senior huddled in a corner of the library, weeping to the rambled, improvised love confession of Joshua Bassett as Ricky to Olivia Rodrigo as Ninni, I imagined in col lege I would be accomplishing great feats and going on a lot of dates - the sappy teen drama “HSMTMTS” in my distant past.

can safely say only the first of those statements are true.

“High School Musical: The Musi cal: The Series” (HSMTMTS) on Dis ney+ is a modern musical spin-off of the beloved 2006 Disney Channel Original Movie “High School Musi cal.” It is a mockumentary depicting the theater students from the real-life high school where “High School Mu sical” was filmed, East High, putting together shows.

Including none of the original char acters from “High School Musical” in its main cast, the show is unlike other spin-offs where rather than relying on the nostalgia factor with existing plo tlines, personalities, and jokes, it in stead builds on the open-hearted at mosphere established in the movies.

In its third season, reminiscent of “High School Musical 2,” nearly all of the students go to Camp Shallow Lake for the summer where they put on the first ever student production of “Fro zen.”

But it comes with a catch and it’s about to get wicked meta.

Not only are they performing “Fro zen,” their rehearsals and discussions are being filmed for “Frozen: The Mu sical: The Documentary,” to premiere on Disney+, produced by none other than the iconic Corbin Bleu. In this series he plays himself, but you prob ably know him as Chad from all three High School Musicals.

This season is filled with some of the show’s most unforgettable per formances, including an alternative, catchy rendition of the “Camp Rock,” Demi Lovato classic “This is Me.”

Coming at a climatic moment in the finale when her castmates are faced with difficult decisions, Liamani Se gura’s flawless performance brings a new, impactful message about friend ship and teamwork to “This is Me.”

It will be a huge loss if we do not see more of this talented young woman.

The show spends a little too much time on Ricky, Gina, and EJ’s love tri angle. However, it doesn’t fail to be thrilling and suspenseful, especially after episode 5 “The Real Campers of Shallow Lake,” when the disgusting documentary cinematographer forces them all to act more dramatic, giving Ricky a fake role as Gina’s “jilted ex.”

Also with this plot line and with Ricky’s divorced family troubles being absent from the season completely, we have to wonder if the show’s writ er, Tim Federle has anything in play

for the character besides “hot boy pines for hot girl.”

Where this show particularly shines is its diverse cast of not just identities, but their personalities and the issues they deal with including sibling trau ma, abandonment, and anxiety.

A highlight is when Ashlyn, a gin ger who starred as Belle in “Beauty and The Beast” last season is taken aback when she is casted into the en semble. This causes her to spend a lot more time with the show’s assistant director, and while being away from her boyfriend she - well - realizes stuff about herself.

This season also finally put Sophia Wiley and Dara Renee, who play Gina and Kourtney, both women of color and unarguably the best singers on the show, into the main spotlight.

Wiley herself said in an interview with People Magazine that she hopes her representation proves to little girls that anyone can be a princessrepresentation I never saw myself as a little girl.

One downfall of this season is that it completely cut out series regulars, Sebastian, Big Red, and Miss Jen, who are eccentric essential additions to previous seasons. Sebastian is also one of the LGBT+ characters, so it is disappointing, if not infuriating to watch them cut his character without a good reason.

However, once the series kicked off into juicy episodes such as “The Real

Campers of Shallow Lake,” I com pletely forgot they were gone.

Overall, for those of us who were raised on “High School Musical,” this show is a splendid treat to watch when you’re in need of a dose of dopamine.

Just because we’re older now, doesn’t mean an occasional cheesy music number isn’t a necessity.

With its hilarious and eccentric characters, beautiful songs, and accu rate representation of real-life issues, this show is one we all deserved when we were younger.

Who says we can’t watch it now?

Rating: ABravo, bravah

CONNECT WITH EMILY ROSENBERG erosenberg@student.framingham.edu

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(Left) Seniors Tadiwa Chitongo and Will Nee, freshman Brian Rmsis, and senior Eric Qua improvising in “Newcasters” at the SJP improv show Oct. 13.

Senior Will Nee performing at the SJP improv show Oct. 13.

(Left) Senior Meeghan Bresnahan and Sophomore Emily Monaco playing “Half Life” at the SJP improv show Oct. 13.

Senior Matt Donahoe performing at the SJP improv show Oct. 13.

Sophomore Ryan O’Connell picking freshman Brian Rmsis off the floor during “Double Blind Freeze” at the SJP improv show Oct. 13.

(Left) Freshmen Brian Rmsis and Leah Hall performing alongside seniors Matt Donahoe and Tadiwa Chitongo in “Growing Shrinking Machine” at the SJP improv show Oct. 13.

Spread and photos by Design Editor Maddison Behringer [Editor’s Note: Ryan O’Connell is the Arts & Features Editor for The Gatepost]