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Football earns berth in NCAA tourney By Mike Ferris Sports Editor
With its win on Saturday, Framingham moved to 8-1 overall, 7-0 in the conference and clinched the MASCAC Championship. The Rams have now won the conference title in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Despite beating Bridgewater State 27-17, Tom Kelley’s team put up its lowest point total of the year. The team found its success in limiting turnovers, controlling the ball and
Brad Leuchte/The Gatepost
FSU student designers create statement designs out of items such as newspapers, trash bags and melted records for the annual Trashion Show sponsored by the Fashion Club.
-See FOOTBALL page 17
Students post pictures of drug use and nudity to new app Fleek By Amelia Foley Asst. Sports Editor
A Snapchat account called “fsu.snaps” was created and launched last month. Students are able to post pictures to show their peers, and everyone else viewing the account, what they are doing.
The account lasted approximately two weeks on Snapchat before it was banned. It then resurfaced on a different app called Fleek. Before being banned, the Snapchat account posted an ad on its story which read, “Screenshot
& Read: We can’t show everything on Snapchat or our account will get deleted. You can view the FULL STORY on: Fleek College Stories in the App Store. (We will continue to post here as long as possible, but we expect to -See FSU FLEEK page 4
Brad Leuchte/The Gatepost
Sculptor and Print maker Willie Cole showcases his scorched prints detailing brand, identity and depicting his family history using steam irons.
Towers Hall Council President resigns after controversial posts By Sara Silvestro Associate Editor
The president of Towers Hall Council resigned on Oct. 20 after allegations were made against her that she had shared posts some believed to be racist on her Facebook account. According to Dean of Students Melinda Stoops, students are feeling “unsettled” and “offended” about the alleged Facebook posts and Confederate flag images on the former Hall Council president’s personal belongings. The student had felt threatened due to comments made about her on social media sites such as Yik Yak, said Stoops. Rebecca Parker is the new Towers Hall Council
president. Kathy Martinez, director of the Center for Inclusive Excellence and a member of the Bias Incident Response Team, said she heard comments were posted on Yik Yak which were directed at the former Towers Hall Council president. She added that she “doesn’t condone bullying of any kind.” Martinez believes without proper guidance, students may have a hard time handling a disagreement about a controversial matter appropriately. “First and foremost, you want controversy with civility,” said Mar-See TOWERS page 3
Inside Jane Yolen speaks at Children’s Literature Festival 9
Volleyball to play NCAA tournament 14
Junior MASCAC player of the year: Rackliffe 16
Album Review: Trevor Something’s “Death Dream” 12
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Editorial Board 2015-2016 Editor-in-Chief Michael B. Murphy
Associate Editors Melina Bourdeau Alexandra Gomes Sara Silvestro
News Editors Jennifer Johnson Julia Sarcinelli Mark Wadland
Arts & Features Editors Scott Calzolaio Kristen Pinto
Asst. Arts & Features Editor Cesareo Contreras
Sports Editor Mike Ferris
Asst. Sports Editors Matt Ferris Amelia Foley
Opinions Editor Phil McMullin
Photos Editor Allie Card Darian O’Donnell Brad Leuchte
Staff Photographers Erin Fitzmaurice Allie Gath Amanda Martin
Design Editor Brittany Cormier
Assistant Design Editor Shayna Yacyshyn
Copy Editor Bobby Murphy
Staff Writers Dan Flahive Jen Fortin Sarah Griffith Maria Hornbaker Colton Madore Arianna Miller Bailey Morrison Cameron Raia Michela Weygand Brittany Wolstencroft
Advisor Dr. Desmond McCarthy
Assistant Advisor Elizabeth Banks
NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Gatepost Interview
Rachel Trousdale Assistant English Professor By Brittany Wolstencroft Staff Writer
What is your educational and work background? I have a Ph.D. in English from Yale. Before that, I was also at Yale as an English undergraduate. ... I previously worked at Northeastern most recently, and before that at Agnes Scott College, which is in metropolitan Atlanta. And of course, I taught in graduate school. What classes do you teach at Framingham? My specialty is in British literature since 1945, but I also teach Expository Writing, Approaches to Literature and Literary Study. What kind of poems do you write? That’s either a really easy or really hard question to answer. I write poems about anything except myself. ... I’m interested in the question of what does our work make us, who are we when we’re working, what kinds of works do we do. I’m interested in how the mind and the body are related. I’m interested in how much control do we have over who we are. I’m interested in what it does to you to fall in love with somebody. All of those things show up in my poems. Another way to answer the question of, “What kind of poems do you write?” would be to talk about poetic form. Sometimes, I write in free verse, but I’m very influenced by an early education that included a lot of formal verse. … I’ve got villanelle, but I’ve also got concrete poems, which are just playing with the shape of the words on the page. Can you tell us about your book and when it will become available? This past Tuesday. It’s brand new. Is the book an anthology of poems you’ve collected or are they of your own work? It’s my own work.
How long have you been working on your book? It’s hard to answer. I’ve been writing poetry for as long as I could write. This book … all of the poems in it ... I’ve written in the last five years. What inspired your book? It’s not a single answer. I write poetry for the same reason I think most poets do, which is because I don’t have a choice. … I ended up putting this book together in the shape that it’s in because I discovered that three long poems that are in it all spoke to each other and I thought that the work that I had done turned out to be coherent. So I, after having written those three long poems and discovered that they wanted to hang out and talk to each other, tried to make the rest of the book around them as the core. So that’s not exactly an inspiration. It’s not exactly I woke up one morning and said “OK, I’m going to write this book.” It’s more of a slower development, I think.
Brad Leuchte/The Gatepost
self inside of other people’s minds and I discovered that I could get further into other people’s minds when I was trying to write them, instead of when I was trying to use someone else’s words to inhabit them. What would you consider some of your greatest accomplishments?
That really varies, but often I’ll have the last line in mind and I’ll be working towards it. What triggers the last line is a mystery, and if I knew, I could get more. ... I need to know where I’m going or I can’t get there.
I’ve also written a critical book called, “Nabokov, Rushdie and the Transnational Imagination.” … I’m very proud of that. It took me 10 years. … I love teaching, and some of the work that I’m proudest of has, in some ways, been other people’s work. I’ve really been very lucky to get to work over the years with a lot of students who ... themselves were willing to work really hard and do terrific things and that’s their accomplishment, - but they got to use classes I was teaching as the excuse and I’m really pleased to have had that opportunity to get to do that work. … I can tell you things that I’ve done that I’m really glad I did, but I wouldn’t call them accomplishments. ... Spending a week backpacking in the Rockies was fun.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Are you working on any other projects after this?
At the moment, that’s a completely hypothetical question. I have a small child, who occupies everything that would be free time if I had it. … But a thing that I like to do is go for hikes. I like to cook. I like to argue with my friends a lot. … You can do some of those simultaneously.
Yes. I am currently writing a book about humor in modern poetry. In English literary circles, modern means like 1890 to 1950. … I’m interested in the ways humor can kind of counter intuitively be used to promote fellow feeling ... when you look at someone, and you just get it and laugh. And I’m arguing in my book that a lot of modern poets are interested in that kind of empathetic humor as well. … I think that is actually a pretty fun project, not just because the material is interesting to me, but because it’s quite different from how a lot of scholars have approached talking about these poets, and it’s an unusual take on humor theory.
What inspires you when you write?
What inspired you to become a writer? I didn’t have a choice. ... When I was a kid, I wanted to be an actress, and that was clearly going to be a bad idea because I’m very bad at it. And then I slowly realized, as I became less of a kid, that what I liked about acting was putting my-
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Friday, Nov. 6 01:03 - Maple Commuter Parking lot - 128 Maple St. - Suspicious activity. Checks OK. Saturday, Nov. 7 21:42 - Inebriate - Larned Hall - Transported to MetroWest Medical Center via ambulance. 22:19 - Horace Mann Hall - Psychiatric emergency. Transported to MetroWest Medical Center via ambulance. Sunday, Nov. 8 00:24 - Linsley Hall - Medical. Refused medical attention.
12:04 - McCarthy Center - Medical. Medical transport. Monday, Nov. 9 20:31 - Framingham State University Police Department - Harassment. Call assignment complete. Tuesday, Nov. 10 13:22 - Towers Hall - Disturbance. Advised/report taken. 19:30 - Larned Hall - Medical. Transported.
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tinez. “There is a very specific difference between attacking a person and challenging an individual’s ideas. We must separate the two. We want students to engage in rigorous debates. We need intellectual conflict, but when that becomes harassment and bullying, then we’ve lost the purpose. “I think reporting incidents that make students feel unsafe or uncomfortable is really the
Dargan. “I found it horrifying. “Many of us have had experiences where we said something on Facebook or tweeted or [posted on] some other form of social media that other people have found offensive or disagreed with,” she added. “There are consequences when that happens.” Virginia Rutter, a sociology professor, said she saw a few posts, and they offended her personally, politically and intellectually.
reaching out to people, faculty and other mentors about what was going on. “I think that the things I do not know about what’s going on highlights that the institution doesn’t have paths and tracks yet in place that can help to leverage student voices and student initiative to the kind of meaningful dialogue that’s been missing in this situation,” said Rutter. Mońet Johnson, a sophomore
“I don’t want her [the former Towers Hall Council president] to be attacked. I want justice. Why are these people being put into positions of power? It doesn’t make sense that I have to talk to six administrators and write a petition, a petition that literally says, ‘Hey, that’s racist and that offends me.’” - Mońet Johnson, Sophomore resident of Towers Hall
first step - that you have to seek out professionals on this campus who are here for all students,” she added. Stoops said, “There are lots of different layers of concern for this.” Stoops said a person’s personal social media page is not the institution’s property. Nor is it monitored. “We want to recognize that people have the right to freedom of expression, and that includes things that we don’t always approve of or that we may find offensive,” said Stoops. She said she can understand why some people can be upset or feel threatened or offended by seeing certain images given what they may stand for or imply. Chief of Staff and General Counsel Rita Colucci said one significant limitation to freedom of expression is that “language that incites violence is not protected. “Social media, unlike other expressions of speech, has the ability to spread messages far and wide very easily,” said Colucci. “This could have some unintended consequences for the individual posting messages.” Dean of Behavioral and Social Sciences Sue Dargan said she saw one image the former Hall Council president shared and she found it to be very upsetting. “It actually not only made fun of how Asian people talk, but it had a violent piece to it,” said
“By which I mean I’m a professor, I’m a scholar, I’m a writer, I’m a thinker and the posts themselves didn’t hold up in terms of having particularly well-developed ideas,” she said. Rutter said, “It’s still very unclear, everything that has happened. … That is the fact I take away from this whole thing. By this whole thing, I mean the Facebook posts that occurred in October and the various responses that we’ve seen to those Facebook posts. In terms of details, a student shared the posts with me and I learned about the bias incident reports that were filed.
resident of Towers, was the first student to bring these posts to the administration’s attention on Oct. 7, according to Stoops. “She is our Hall Council president,” said Johnson. “She is in charge of how we are represented, and her views don’t reflect ours - especially her xenophobia, her fear of immigrants. … This is not how we want to be represented.” Johnson said she felt misrepresented and uncomfortable living in Towers Hall because of the former Hall Council president’s reposts of memes disparaging African Americans, immigrants and Native Americans,
with people who have separate opinions.” A bias incident report was filed on Oct. 9 by Jackson Stevens, vice president of Towers Hall Council, which was confirmed by Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer Sean Huddleston. Stevens said he filed a second bias incident report a few days later concerning the display of the Confederate flag on the former Hall Council president’s personal belongings. On Oct. 13, Johnson and Stevens started a petition to impeach the Towers Hall Council president. They walked around Towers Hall with Johnson’s PowerPoint of the president’s reposted memes and gathered 52 signatures. Through the petition, Stevens said he wanted to show “that this is an issue and these are the people who care about the issue.” Stevens said he was hoping the Bias Incident Response Team would lead a campus-wide discussion about the incident. However, as of the evening of Nov. 12, a public forum has not been announced. Stevens said he received a response within five minutes of filing his second bias incident report. He met with Huddleston, and the Director of Equal Opportunity, Title IX, and ADA Compliance Kim Dexter. He said he was pleased with how the meeting went and felt he was heard. “That was the first time I went into a meeting with administration where they actually listened,” said Stevens.
“Anything you say reflects upon the people you represent, so if you’re going to post something, you’re not only posting for you, but you represent the entire council. What you say can look bad for the entire council.” - Joey Freitas, Freshman
“I know that there are many people in the administration that are aware of this event and are troubled, concerned and engaged by it,” Rutter added. As for students’ responses, Rutter said she is excited and believes students are doing well in terms of “reaching out to The Gatepost, in terms of doing a petition, in terms of filing bias response reports, in terms of
among other groups. Johnson brought a PowerPoint she made of the former Hall Council president’s reposted memes. Stoops advised her to speak to her Residence Director, Johnny Hurley. According to Johnson, she was advised on multiple occasions by administrators to “confront” the former Hall Council president, and to learn “to deal
The Bias Incident Response Team met on Oct. 29 to discuss the two bias incident reports. Huddleston said, “Due to multiple schedules, we were not able to physically meet as a team until approximately two weeks after the incidents were reported. In the meeting, we updated the team on the current status as well as all of the -See TOWERS page 5
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FSU Fleek - Continued from page 1
get banned soon.)” The app Fleek is similar to Snapchat. It features submissions from students and they appear for all users to see for 24 hours. When students download the app, it prompts them to select a school and, when they do, it allows them to see not only its regular story, FSU Snaps, but also an X-rated version, FSU Snaps X, which shows nude and risque photos. When users open the app, it looks identical to Snapchat. Users can even use the same filters. Sean Haufler, a recent graduate of Yale University and Fleek developer, posted to Twitter saying, “Just launched my new app: Fleek. It’s like Snapchat meets Yik Yak.” It remains unclear who exactly is running the account. In February, Haufler tweeted, “@itsJonHowell @JosephPALbanese Domino lives on as Fleek =).” Haufler could not be reached to comment. Other school stories shown on the app are viewable to users, but the X-rated version is not viewable. Other schools using the app include Bentley University, Boston University, Suffolk University, Worcester State University, UMass Lowell and Bridgewater State. The regular story has submissions of students doing everything from taking pictures of scenery and selfies, to smoking bongs and drinking in dorms. One post showed a student pouring Captain Morgan from a wine glass into a fish tank. The user captioned the video, “Round 3. Hookin him up.” Another post captioned “Roomie Goals,” showed three students lighting bongs together at the same time. One image showed a student smoking a bong in an old Hemenway Lab. Another video showed a female student crawling on the ground with beer bottles on her fingers while she purred and was captioned, “Kitty is drunk.” As is the case for Yik Yak, users on Fleek can “up vote” and “down vote” pictures. Users on Yik Yak who have viewed photos on Fleek have used Yik Yak as a way to give feedback, and some of those comments are callous. For example, one recent user posted, “Blue thong on FSU. Snaps u actually don’t have an ass, It’s just fat…juuuussst fat. #stopfatlogic.” Another user posted, “Fleek
sucks because it’s all anonymous so no one takes accountability for their snaps.” Junior Victoria Clark said, “I don’t get why everyone would want everyone to know their business.” Sophomore Hannah Tzivanis said, “I think it’s ridiculous that girls are basically prostituting their bodies over Snapchat. I just don’t understand what they’re getting out of it. Maybe it’s some weird self-esteem thing.” Sophomore Chloe Lima said, “I think it could be good if people weren’t just posting naked pictures of themselves.” Dean of Students Melinda Stoops said the University and University Police have not received any complaints about the app so far. “If a student does have a photo posted on there without their consent, I would encourage them to go to Campus Police,” she said. Stoops added, “I think something like this can encourage some very poor choices, and some people may have some regrets from it, and, unfortunately, that may be a life lesson for some of these students.” Stoops advised students to “think before they post. “Just ask yourself, ‘Would I want people to see this in 10 or 20 years? How would I feel about my parents seeing this post or my faculty seeing this post?’ … If the answer is no, I suggest people hold back on posting it.” In a Fleek app review in the Apple App Store, Kerri W. posted on Nov. 10, “These guys have been stealing pictures from my Instagram along with some of the other girls that go to my school and using it in their app. I’ve contacted The CEO on Twitter to take it down but he hasn’t replied! Take my pictures off your app now!!!!” Senior Rebecca Littlefield said, “Students don’t realize how much trouble they can get in by posting themselves doing illegal things.” Junior Gabi Bono said, “I think people need to be more careful because it [what they post] could backfire.” Sociology Professor Virginia Rutter said students using the app may feel “free to express themselves. “We still live in a power relations world where women’s bodies are still subject to a double standard. … People may be using public nudity as an act of resistance, like freedom of expression, but it means different things to different people.” Rutter said students feel like they are in an “ivory tower” when
they are at college. Students feel “insulated” on a college campus, which may make them feel “a little freer” than they actually are. “Students feel like they have more sexual freedom,” said Rutter, “so they don’t think what goes on in college will affect them later in life.” Communication Arts Professor Niall Stephens said apps such as Yik Yak, Snapchat and Fleek “make it easier to communicate in a setting that isn’t face to face. “A lot of people use these apps without even thinking about how they work.” Stephens said, “We don’t really know what these media are going to do for us or maybe somebody else, or how they might hurt us in the long run.” He added the data we share, post, comment on and like is all being collected. “Knowing what people like is very valuable to some people. These companies that collect the data sell it to insurance companies, marketing agencies, law enforcement and other government agencies.” Stephens said for apps to be successful, they have to be an
“innovative idea” and they have to “respond to a need. “People wanted to send pictures that weren’t permanent, and Snapchat gave people that.” A new ad was submitted on the Fleek story that said, “Our new Snapchat name is snap.fsu.” But when students added the new account on Snapchat, the entire story was dark blurry pictures where nothing was visible. Students once again took to Yik Yak to find out what was going on with the new account. One user yakked, “Is anyone else getting all blurry pictures on the new fsu snap?” Another user said, “So what’s going on with the new fsu snaps?? Why are they all blurry?” The FSU account on Snapchat is still running. Amy Rotger said, “It’s so stupid.” Carla Hauck said she doesn’t understand why people would post nude photos. Micaela Beando said, “People shouldn’t post the things that they post. Too many nudes.”
Brad Leuchte/The Gatepost
The app Fleek features both regular and X-rated photos from FSU and colleges across the country. The photos are available to view for 24 hours after posting.
NOVEMBER 13, 2015
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steps that were taken by the members prior to our meeting.” Huddleston said the team was able to identify “potential root causes and proactive measures” to be taken to prevent incidents in the future. According to Huddleston, proactive measures include education on free speech and core values of the University, having trained mediators facilitate discussions and provide training, investigating a certificate program for Civil Discourse and promoting dialogue to address these topics. President F. Javier Cevallos said, “We have to come up with a mechanism to have these conversations and engage the campus in that conversation about it. Yes, we are going to have different opinions, and yes, we are going to have different perspectives, but let’s bring them to the open and let’s talk about them.” Johnson said she took the steps necessary to report the reposted memes and raise awareness. “I don’t want her [the former Towers Hall Council president] to be attacked,” said Johnson. “I want justice. Why are these people being put into positions of power? It doesn’t make sense that I have to talk to six administrators and write a petition, a petition that literally says, ‘Hey that’s racist and that offends me.’” “I’m supposed to be OK with that [the reposted memes] because she has freedom of speech?” Freshman Megan White said, “It was wrong of her to post so many of those because she’s supposed to be representing Towers as a whole and that’s portraying a bad image for us [Towers residents].” Freshman Crysta Pepicelli said, “If she feels that way and shared it on her own time, not publicly, then that’s her thing. But it’s the fact that everyone else can see it is messed up.” Sophomore Morgan Perry said, “She holds a position where she needs to keep her work and her personal life separate. I’m a peer mentor for the school, so I completely understand that you need to keep your personal life, your school life and your opinions and other things private to an extent. … I think it’s awesome that people got together and were like, ‘We don’t agree with this. What can we do about it?’” Freshman Erin Bresnahan said, “This is 2015. I don’t un-
Brad Leuchte/The Gatepost
The Towers Hall Council president resigned on Oct. 20 because of concerns about controversial reposted memes. derstand why people are saying bad things about other people’s race. … Why degrade anyone based upon their skin color or whatever?” Freshman Joey Freitas said, “Anything you say reflects upon the people you represent, so if you’re going to post something, you’re not only posting for you, but you represent the entire council. What you say can look bad for the entire council.” Freshman James Read stressed the importance of filtering what one puts on the Internet. “You need to finely tune everything that you say. You need to make sure not necessarily that it won’t offend anyone, but more that it’s the kind of image you want to put across.” Freshman Brian Bissonnette said, “I think about the racist
memes she posted. At this point it was logical for her to step down. But about posting things that would represent Towers better, I don’t think it has to go that far.” Priscilla Portugal-Moreno, a senior, said “I am angry with these posts. Not only am I angry that she thought it was a good idea to share them on a social media website where people of color can see it, but I know that other people on this campus agree with her and her disgusting views. “We have got a very long way to go to overcome the injustice that is very very much alive on this campus,” she added. “It’s 2015 and racial tensions are higher than ever before. I know that everyone is aware of this, but it’s something that is talked
about in hushed tones. If we become more comfortable talking about something that is happening, then more action can be taken to transform people from bystanders to active advocates.”
[Editor’s Note: The Gatepost contacted the former Towers Hall Council president and invited her to share her side of the story anonymously. However, that invitation was declined. The Gatepost has chosen not to disclose the student’s name because of allegations of online bullying directed towards the student.]
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
SGA allocates over $35,000 to Ski and Snowboard Club By Mark Wadland News Editor
SGA allocated $35,595.50 to the Ski and Snowboard Club to fund eight ski trips over the course of this year. The four trips to Wachusett Mountain will cost $5 to $10 per student per trip. The four outof-state trips will cost $20, and overnight trips will cost $75. SGA also approved the Ski and Snowboard Club’s request of $1,904.30 to purchase promotional items for 2016. It will cost $755 for 150 beanies and $1,149.30 for long-sleeved Tshirts. SGA approved American Red Cross Association at FSU’s constitution as seen for the second time. The Student Union Activities Board (SUAB) attended a conference last week and presented what they learned to SGA.
During the conference, each attended four showcases, during which they watched a set of performers, such as comedians and dancers, perform in eight-minute segments. Members of SUAB also interacted with agents and vendors, which is the first step toward bringing entertainment to FSU. They learned how other schools use social media to better understand how to attract guest speakers and performers. In other news: • A Safety Walk will be held Tuesday, Nov. 17. • There will be a bake sale on Thursday, Nov. 19. • A Senior Kickoff event to Howl at the Moon will be held on Thursday, Nov. 19. • There will be a trip to New York City on Saturday, Dec. 5. Tickets cost $10.
Brad Leuchte/The Gatepost
SGA President Dan Costello and Parliamentarian Tim Liuzzo listen to budget propositions at a recent SGA meeting.
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
The Gatepost Editorial
The administration inflamed a bias incident by failing to respond At a time of severe racial tensions, addressing conflicts in a timely manner is critical to deescalating potentially dangerous confrontations. However, an incident last month shed light on how ineffective our administration can be at dealing with racially charged issues. This semester, the now-former president of Towers Hall Council posted a series of racially insensitive messages to her Facebook page. These posts led to her eventual resignation as well as alleged harassment and bullying towards her. Most posts were reposts, although there was a disturbing original comment by the former council president on a post of a young Native American girl holding a sign advocating for Columbus Day to be changed to “Indigenous People’s Day.” In her comment, she wrote, “I can’t stand liberals who preach about the mistreatment of the natives by early English colonies. Stop being whiney little nut jobs and suck it up.” She continued to write that the mistreatment of natives by “early settlers” was not relevant in today’s history classrooms and that the historically documented mass genocide of a race of people was a mere “sob story” for a “bunch of wackos pulling the race card.” She has since removed the posts. This content was incredibly offensive and the Towers residents were more than justified in seeking to remove one of their elected representatives. However, what is also intolerable is the frightening delay of the administration’s response to this issue. The administration was alerted of the posts on Oct. 7 and a bias incident was filed on Oct. 13. However, the issue was not addressed until Oct. 20, despite growing discontent within the student body. Last year, a Bias Incident Response Team, headed by Sean Huddleston, was formed in order to address reports of bias incidents and hate crimes in a timely manner. In this instance, Sean Huddleston failed to hold a meeting about the incident until over two weeks after it was initially reported. His excuse? A scheduling issue. During the gap between the initial report and the administrative response, the girl who posted this content was allegedly harassed and bullied online. While we at The Gatepost vehemently disagree with the content she posted, we also believe in maintaining a safe community for all students regardless of their opinions. While the administration was lost in bureaucracy, while they were fiddling with their schedules and ignoring the need for an immediate, organized response, they not only failed the students who felt marginalized by the posts, but they failed to protect the former council president. In the absence of decent leadership, certain members of the student body took it upon themselves to enact what they felt was justice. While these individuals were wrong in their decision to bully and harass another member of their community, we at The Gatepost feel that the administration’s lack of urgency inflamed these issues of confrontation. The administration has to realize that proper responses to bias incidents are not ones that sweep the issues under the rug or ignore them until they go away. Proper responses to bias incidents are ones that enact orderly justice in a swift and organized manner. Proper responses are transparent so that the community is aware of what has happened and what has been done about it. Not only would that be the correct way to handle such situations, but it is what our community was promised last year when the Bias Incident Response Team was formed. After a year of talk, it is time this new department showed actual efficacy. The way the administration dealt with this incident was not only unfair to the minority population on campus, but to the well-being of a student who, no matter what she posted, should not have been hung out to dry by the leaders of the community.
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Letter from the President Dear Students, If you have been following the news, I am sure you are aware of the many issues that college campuses across our country are facing regarding statements, messages and images that convey racism, hate and other forms of bias. The most recent report comes from the University of Missouri, where protests led to the resignation of the university president due to his lack of response to racist and other bias-related incidents at the university. In this and many other cases, a limited or non-existent response by the university against these behaviors conveys a message to some of inequity, injustice and discrimination. I wanted to take this opportunity to send a very clear message that behaviors and actions such as these are unacceptable at Framingham State University. As an institution, we simply do not condone actions or behaviors that perpetuate marginalization, bias, hate or discrimination. Creating and maintaining an inclusive and collaborative community is a core value at Framingham State. This core value encourages us to learn from each other through informed, clear and open communication. Because we live, learn and work in a diverse campus community, we may have as many diverse opinions as we have people. Thus, it is inevitable that opinions that differ will be expressed from time to time in one form or another. Words and attitudes can have an impact on others, so it is during these times that we ask every member of our community to act and speak respectfully, responsibly and with integrity. We also recognize that there are times when opinions that differ greatly will be difficult for individuals
to discuss with each other. The First Amendment of the Constitution provides every citizen with the right to free speech and expression, even if that speech or expression may convey the perception of hate or bias. In these moments, productive dialogue may become very difficult to achieve. To address this problem, the University is in the process of developing several resources to promote and encourage civil discourse and conflict resolution which will be available to all students, faculty and staff. In addition, the University developed a Bias Incident Reporting process so that students, faculty, and staff who experience or witness a bias incident may have a vehicle to report these incidents to the university. The form can be found on the FSU website at https://www. framingham.edu/the-fsu-difference/ inclusive-excellence/bias-incidentresponse-team/index.php. The Bias Incident Response Team (B.I.R.T.) has also been established to provide the University with a comprehensive method for addressing incidents of bias that fall below the status of hate crime in an effort to continue to create a safe and welcoming environment for all. B.I.R.T. monitors any trends related to bias incidents and develops proactive strategies to inform and educate the campus.
F. Javier Cevallos University President
Have an opinion about something happening on campus? Send it in 500 words or less to gatepostopinions@ gmail.com. Anyone can submit. We look forward to hearing from you!
Op/Ed submissions reflect the opinions of their authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of The Gatepost or its staff.
NOVEMBER 13, 2015
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Administration fumbles reinterring of ashes Unless you read last week’s issue of The Gatepost or were among the few to witness the last, anticlimactic few minutes of Thursday’s Memorial Grove ceremony, you probably still have no clue about Asako Mazawa. To briefly recap what was reported last week, Asako Mazawa was a Japanese international student at FSU who died in a motorcycle crash in 1997. Mazawa had decided, despite it being taboo in Japan, to become an organ donor in the United States. The decision to go against her culture ended up saving the lives of six people following her tragic accident. Her family funded the construction of a memorial garden in honor of their daughter, and some of her ashes were buried there. Then, due to the construction of the Hemenway Labs, her ashes were dug up and stored in a cabinet for two and a half years. Finally, following the completion of construction, her ashes were reinterred. One might think the reinterring of the ashes of a student whose organ donations saved the lives of six people would warrant notifying the student population, but the administration felt differently. Asako Mazawa’s name was not mentioned in either the emails or the advertisements for the Memorial Grove Dedication Ceremony. Her story was kept silent by the administration, as it had been for the two and a half years beforehand. The lack of notice that the ashes were being reinterred was no surprise, given the haphazard approach the administration chose to take while assembling Memorial Grove. As Associate Vice President of Facilities and Capital Planning Warren Fairbanks said, the administration “kind of winged it.” This “kind of winged it” method was more than apparent on Thursday. Asako was mentioned only at the tail-end of the ceremony, and a placard had not yet been made to cover her ashes. Instead, a small pot of flowers is temporarily plugging the hole where the ashes were reinterred. The flowers are not secured in the ground and one of the campus’ many skunks could easily dig it up. There are many things the administration can “kind of wing” successfully, but maybe memorializing the dead is not one of these things.
With the poor advertising and the absence of a permanent memorial for Mazawa, the quickly thrown-together memorial seemed to give off the message that after two years in a cabinet, the administration did not care much about the reinterred ashes. The ceremony in which Mazawa was only mentioned briefly appeared to be a way for the administration to finally get the ashes off of their hands, instead of an opportunity to truly pay tribute to one of our most heroic students. Although she died in the late nineties, it is important to remember that Asako Mazawa was and remains a part of FSU’s community and history. It is easy to dismiss how her ashes have been handled, but I urge students to remember that what happened to Mazawa could happen to anyone of us. This is not only an issue of the administration disrespecting a deceased student, this is also an issue of the administration disrespecting the legacy of the school. The Memorial Grove Dedication Ceremony is finished, and it is too late for a do-over. But, perhaps this message will reach the administration. Perhaps in the future memorials for deceased, heroic students will be advertised to the community. Perhaps these memorials won’t be “winged,” but instead properly organized and planned for.
Phil McMullin Opinions Editor
Framingham State Smoking Policy Framingham State University’s revised tobacco-free policy, which began the campus-wide prohibition of the use of tobacco products, became effective on Sept. 1 2013, according to Framingham.edu. This policy was enacted as an extension of the previous 2007 FSU tobacco policy, which prohibited the use of any tobacco products outside of the designated university-smoking areas. Framingham State’s move towards a completely tobacco-free campus appears to be in the best interest of students and faculty. It is an undisputed scientific fact that smoking causes serious health problems. However, the problematic implementation of this policy places all smoking and non-smoking community members in situations that pose serious health hazards. Students and faculty who choose to smoke must decide between two equally unfavorable choices. Smokers can either break the policy by smoking in non-designated areas on campus or leave to smoke by nearby roadways. If students decide to avoid smoking beside Route 9, which is clearly a danger, they must smoke in the adjacent neighborhoods. This decision alone is not only a danger to them, because many neighborhoods in the surrounding area are adjacent to the busy State Street, which is directly off Route 9, but also to the families in the area. Families with children are consistently issuing complaints to FSU about the vast amount of student smoking near their personal property, either exposing the entire family to the dangers of secondhand smoke or littering in the area. However, if students choose the second option, which is to break regulation and smoke on campus-owned property, the danger to other students and faculty is still prevalent through exposure to secondhand smoke. According to the Centera for Disease Control and Prevention, “2.5 million adults who were nonsmokers died because they breathed
secondhand smoke.” The fact that FSU students are still smoking in heavily trafficked areas around campus just perpetuates the ongoing problem of the dangers of secondhand smoke. The only logical option to remedy the health and safety risks to nonsmoking students and faculty is to reverse the current tobacco-free policy at FSU. In its place the previous tobacco policy, implemented in 2007, should be reinstated. This should include the re-addition of all previous smoking areas on campus. These areas should be confined to locations of minimal foot traffic and have appropriate signage so smoking and non-smoking students are aware of their location. The best solution is to remove secondhand smoke is, of course, to not have anyone smoke, but since smoking is legal, the only way for FSU to address this problem is to contain the amount of smoke to singular low-traffic areas on campus to best aid the health of students and the surrounding community alike.
Darian O’Donnell Editorial Board
Op/Ed submissions reflect the opinions of their authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of The Gatepost or its staff.
ARTS & FEATURES
NOVEMBER 13, 2015
9
Annual Children’s Literature Festival brings Jane Yolen to FSU
Darian O’Donnell/The Gatepost
Yolen is the author of many popular children’s books including the “How Do Dinosaurs...?” series. By Maria Hornbaker Staff Writer Accomplished children’s writer Jane Yolen made an appearance at Framingham State University last Thursday for the Swiacki Children’s Literature Festival. She discussed her process of writing for children and her love for poetry. There were events held all day for the festival, including book signings and sales of some of her award-winning publications, including “How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?” and “The Girl Who Cried Flowers and Other Tales.” Marc Cote, dean of Arts and Humanities, started the presentation by expressing gratefulness to the “people in our literary world who appreciate how significant it is to focus our attention and industry on our children’s intellectual, creative, emotional and social lives.” Professor Evelyn Perry from the English department introduced Yolen as “an indicative, prolific, generous writer in the children’s book arena.” She then went on to mention the awards that Yolen has won over the years, such as three Mythopoeic Fantasy awards, two Nebula awards, two Christopher awards and a Caldecott award. Yolen talked about how she started as a children’s book writer. “I thought children’s books
would be easy. I was to discover, painfully and thoroughly, over the next 50 plus years that, in fact, children’s books are one of the most difficult manuscripts to write
company as the president. Her father would offer to help by setting up interviews, but Yolen would respond with, “I’m doing this myself.”
Darian O’Donnell/The Gatepost
Yolen discussed the importance of composing children’s literature. well.” She mentioned how hard it was in the beginning for her. Her father was a journalist when she was a child, but as an adult he took on public relations at a publishing
After a year of no luck, she let her father help and he introduced her to an editor. Yolen published her first original book at the age of 22. Yolen said, “I have four ar-
rows in my quiver - one, poetry. Two, picture books. Three, novels. Four, non-fiction. Of course, that doesn’t touch on song lyrics and, occasionally, music as well.” She expressed her long-lasting love for poetry. It started when she was in the first grade and expanded from there. She was published in college in the literary magazine “The Smith” and also in the Lesley and Trinity magazines. Yolen said, “Poems are coded messages of fact and emotion.” Her father had once told her that she would never be able to make a living out of her poetry, which led her to not write for 30 years. Yolen said, “Be careful for what you say to budding authors. Even if it’s a bud that will not blossom, you can be nipping that bud before it ever has a chance.” Yolen also mentioned that she has written a couple of books with her daughter Heidi, including “Not All Princesses Dress in Pink” and “Dear Mother, Dear Daughter.” Singer-songwriter Josée Vachon-Cevallos also sang a song she wrote called “Quabbin”, inspired from Yolen’s book “Letting Swift River Go.” “In case you have been living in a barrel or a glass dome or under the roots of a tree, know that this, this time, is the most amazing time for children’s books,” Yolen said.
ARTS & FEATURES
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Upright Citizens Brigade visits FSU with improvisational comedy
Allie Card/The Gatepost
Above: Freshman Hallie Giebner was interviewed in the first act of Upright Citizens Brigade’s improv show. Bottom: UCB performer Lindsay Calleran gets animated in the second act of the show.
By Cesareo Contreras Asst. Arts & Features Editor
The professional improv group The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) entertained a small crowd with their on-the-fly comedy Sunday night in DPAC. The event was hosted by FSU’s own improv group, the Suit Jacket Posse. Comprised of four members - Caitlin Puckett, Jenny St. Angelo, Marshall Stratton and Lindsay Calleran - this specific UCB group used stories told by the audience for their material. Hallie Giebner, a freshman, was the group’s inspiration for the first part of their act after she
Allie Card/The Gatepost
volunteered to be interviewed by the group. The group expanded on the finer details of her story in their acts, creating fictional scenarios from her most interesting anecdotes. Giebner’s notable stories involved telling her math teacher to “drop the bass” during class, in addition to describing her love of playing hacky sack. The group was quick on their feet as well as in their interactions with one another and had the audience howling with laughter. During one, the group members made up a scenario in which two students, played by St. Angelo
and Calleran, were registering for classes, and dealt with a lost WiFi connection. “No, no,” Calleran said, followed by a yell. “Hold on, I gotta register right now. Disconnect! Disconnect!” In the following seconds, Puckett assumed the character of Satan and offered them free high-speed WiFi in exchange for their souls. “It is I, Satan,” Puckett said in a sinister voice. In the second half of their act, the group asked the audience to shout out random text messages without any context. The group elaborated and created scenes on the text messages
without any prior knowledge. An audience member called out a text that read, “campo is on our floor, be cool,” the brigaders acted out a scene involving a group of students drinking on campus and a police officer who wanted to join in on their fun. The scene started when a campus police officer, played by Calleran, entered a dorm room where students, played by other brigaders, were hanging out when a young woman came in with a box of alcoholic beverages in her hands. “Listen, I’m only 20 years old myself,” Calleran said. “I’m a little thirsty. Why don’t we all share a brew together?” The students, apprehensive of the situation, ended up dumping the alcohol out the window. “I just said, let’s have a beer together,” Calleran said. “You just threw a box of beers out the second floor window.” “You’re so harsh on parking, we’re scared of you,” Stratton responded. By the end of the scene, the police officer had been left paralyzed and all but one student, played by Stratton, were either dead or paralyzed. “I’m just a freshman,” Stratton said. “Fuck!” James Buonopane, a sophomore, said, “It was interesting, funny and entertaining.” Giebner, the student who the brigaders interviewed, said, “It was sick because that’s stuff me and my friends joke about all the time and it was funny to see other people who don’t know us dying laughing at it.” Tyler Demoura, the improv captain of the Suit Jacket Posse said, “I think it went really well. The promotion for it was a little late in the game so we didn’t get as many people as we thought we would, but honestly having a smaller, more intimate crowd works better for events like this.”
NOVEMBER 13, 2015
ARTS & FEATURES
Brad Leuchte/The Gatepost
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ARTS & FEATURES
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Trevor Something’s “Death Dream” review: A warm embrace for disillusioned dystopians By Cameron Raia Staff Writer
In some Blade-Runner-type future, nighttime rain beats against the windshield of your black 80s Corvette as you speed down the highway just outside the city. The colorful neon signs in Japanese characters glow to remind you just how hollow you’ve become. You turn on the radio and are treated to the sounds of… ...“Death Dream,” the third and most recent LP from songwriter, performer, producer and mixer Trevor Something. In a word, his stylings could be called “synthwave,” a modern music movement that aims to recreate the synth-laden sounds of 1980s pop. Yet, even if The Human League really isn’t your bag, fans of industrial and vaporwave are sure to delight in this 15-track release. The album opens with “If I Die,” a perfect example of Something’s ability to generate thick, deep vocals and position them perfectly in the frame of a soundscape. Thankfully, the vocals stay consistently great throughout the rest of the tracks, always so ethere-
By Alexandra Gomes Associate Editor
Photo couresty of facebook.com/TrevorSomething
al, yet massive. One of the first bread-andbutter songs off the album comes in the form of “The Touch of Your Skin,” with a classic, driving industrial tempo under repetitive dark synths. So nicely distorted are the electronics on this track/album, fans of Nine Inch Nails will find themselves right at home. Immediately following “The Touch of Your Skin” comes “Artifi-
cial Feelings,” another premier song that stuck with me after the others began to fade. Here, Something shows off his admirable ability to “chop up” percussion and vocals, resulting in a broken-computer sort of vibe. It could even be said this track shows trap influences, featuring 808 drum patterns and distant, yet not sheepish, bass. Without a doubt, my favorite track off this album is #8, “Your
Sex Is A Dream.” Once again, we are serenaded with deep, distorted bass and a “chopped up” synth lead. Trevor’s haunting refrain seems vaguely discordant with the instrumental melody, adding a misty, bittersweet appeal. And of course, the lyrical content of the song is touchingly melancholy. “Your sex is a dream / and I don’t want to wake up” represents a big theme in most vaporwave and dystopia - pleasures that ultimately do not fulfill. In terms of production, songwriting and significant subject matter, “Your Sex Is A Dream” is the take-home track off “Death Dream.” On the whole, this album shines bright. Indeed, the crowning achievement of “Death Dream” is its dark aesthetic given life by masterful production and lavish synth textures. As fans have noted, it is far more sinister and “real” than his last free release, “Trevor Something Doesn’t Exist.” So trot over to his Bandcamp page, download “Death Dream” (for free, if you want!), and keep on cruising down that dystopian highway.
Panelists discuss TEK’s role in fighting climate change
On Tuesday, the panel for Native Wisdom: Facing the Crisis of Climate Change spoke about modern science incorporating the wisdom of indigenous people to help restore balance and health to the earth. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, Chairman Cedric Cromwell of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and Aja Decoteau, a member of the Yakama nation and department manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, joined FSU professors Vandana Singh and Carl Hakansson on the panel as part of the President’s Distinguished Lecture Series. According to Decoteau, western science and traditional ecological knowledge are “complimentary to each other.” Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is the knowledge, practices and beliefs about the relationships that exist between humans and their natural environment. “This is tribal people’s knowledge,” said Decoteau. There are four principles to TEK, according to Decoteau, one
of them being “the documentation of pre-contact conditions,” which is looking at the conditions of the environment before the Europeans arrived. This entails looking at the relationship between human beings and the environment in different ways. In past generations, this information was passed down orally through “Coyote stories,” said Decoteau. She added tribal people “look into future generations” and how the impact of what they’re doing today might affect their descendants. Cromwell also emphasized the importance of keeping future generations in mind. He said, “Our philosophy is to look at seven generations before us to see what we have learned, and the seven generations to come” and to think about “how mankind, through its advancement and development, has impacted this earth.” He prompted the audience to think about “Mother Earth. We walk and stand on her, and if she gets hurt and if we don’t have her anymore, we don’t exist anymore.”
Erin Maurice/The Gatepost
Aja Decouteau, Cedric Cromwell, and Carl Hakansson speak about sustainability and fighting climate change. Singh said there is a disconnect between how we live today and how the universe works. “You can’t live in a universe that is not Newtonian in a Newtonian fashion.” The Newtonian Paradigm states that the environment works as a machine, rather than as a living entity. One way to staring thinking in a non-newtonian fashion, said Singh, is to listen to the “voices that have been marginalized” and who still
have a relationship with the earth. She said if she could encapsulate how the universe works in one word, she would say “connection, connection, connection. Everything is connected.” She added, “one of the most important things you can do in this campus, and in your lives, is to learn how to listen to nature.”
NOVEMBER 13, 2015
ARTS & FEATURES
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Campus Conversations
What is the kindest thing anybody has ever done for you?
By Scott Calzolaio
“I had no toothpaste the other day, and my dad brought me some.”
“When I was sick, someone brought me soup.”
– Jack Duggan, junior
-Nathassia Carter, junior
“I lost my debit card and a girl found me on Facebook to tell me that she brought it to Campo.”
“Most people think this isn’t nice but I thought it was pleasant. Someone moved my laundry from the washer to the dryer.”
-Alicia Griffin, senior
-Cam Zamagi, senior
“I left my wedding ring in the bathroom today and some girl found me and asked ‘did you lose this?’”
“Today a cop gave me a warning because he knew my uncle.”
-Kate Crow, junior
-Paolo Bon Tempo, senior
Edited by Timothy E. Parker November 13, 2015 WIDE SPREAD By Kenneth Holt ACROSS 1 Backyard part, for many 6 Facts, in casual conversation 10 Equine color 14 “ ___ you ashamed of your self?” 15 Film ___ (movie genre) 16 Sax range 17 Three outer attachments 20 Like windows and beauty pageant contestants 21 Kind of cocktail fizz 22 Cook a turkey 25 Tree nymph in Greek myth 26 Dracula portrayer Lugosi 30 Carnivore’s choice 32 Log-in need 35 Famous furrier’s philanthropic family 41 Three outer attachments 43 Mint family herb 44 Devotional sequences 45 Arm of the British military? 47 Vowelless attention-getter 48 Dele revokers 53 “Later!”
56 58 “ever”) 63 66 67 68 69 70 71
Call up to answer charges Anyone, to a lawyer (with Three outer attachments “So what ___ is new?” Monocle, e.g. Type of organs or signs Charlie Brown says it Obscene material Dictator’s helper?
DOWN 1 Golf standards 2 Field of expertise 3 Bigelow beverages 4 Creep slowly 5 Awise beginning? 6 Shoo-___ 7 “Immediately!” 8 Cinco de Mayo celebration, .g. 9 Type of hygiene 10 Car built for speed 11 Method conclusion? 12 Open courtyards 13 “... with ___ in sight” 18 Tokyo, once 19 Angler’s requirement 23 Pistol pellets, e.g. 24 Becomes enraged Last issue’s solutions:
26 Mulberry, for one 27 Sports-channel award 28 Pastoral expanses 29 Semicircle shapes 31 Aclose watch 33 “The Matrix “ role 34 Concert equipment 36 “America the Beautiful” ender 37 Field covering 38 Affirmatives inArles 39 Some numbered rds. 40 Binary or buddy (Abbr.) 42 “Beloved” author Morrison 46 Bicycle built for two 48 Cavalry weapon 49 Carefree song syllables 50 Surrealist artist Max 51 Film director’s units 52 Bro sib 54 Nocturnal hooter 55 Switchblades 57 Mousse relatives 59 Skip past 60 Tiny parasite 61 Laurel of old-time comedies 62 Capital of Norway 64 Wildebeest 65 “Guinness World Records” suffix
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Volleyball claims MASCAC title, move on to NCAA Tournament
Ferr or Foul?
NFL takeaways at the midway point By Mike Ferris Sports Editor
1. New England is the best team the league has to offer right now. The Patriots are 8-0 and winning by an average of almost 17 points. Tom Brady leads the league in touchdown passes with 22 and passer rating with a 113.5. This team looks like a lock to win the AFC East. The loss of running back Dion Lewis, however, won’t help this team. 2. Carolina is the best team in the NFC. Despite the highly touted Green Bay Packers being in the same conference as Carolina, the Panthers are trending up, while the Packers aren’t. Carolina’s biggest margin of victory this year is just 14. Cam Newton is winning the close ones and that’s a positive attribute to have come playoff time. 3. Don’t sleep on Denver. The Broncos may have lost a close game to Indianapolis Sunday, but that was just their first loss of the year. Denver made Rodgers’ Packers look awful a couple weeks ago, and, despite having Peyton Manning, this team relies on its defense. Denver has everything it needs to beat New England, a stellar secondary and terrific pass rush. Remember, defense wins championships. 4. Philadelphia will win the atrocious but highly-contested NFC East. Newcomer DeMarco Murray appears to be settling in, running for 343 yards and three touchdowns in his last four games. Without Romo, Dallas can’t compete, and New York plays New England, Carolina and the Jets in the next five weeks, all potential losses. In the next three weeks, the Eagles play three teams with seven total wins. 5. Todd Gurley will win Offensive Rookie of the Year. The 21-year old, who tore his ACL in his senior year at Georgia, has rushed for 664 yards and four touchdowns so far this year. After being held out until Week 3 due to recovery, Gurley has done all his work in just six games, giving him an average of almost 111 yards per game.
Photo courtesy The Gatepost Archives
The women’s volleyball team has moved on to the NCAA Division III Tournament, where they will face Brockport State. By Jen Fortin Staff Writer
Framingham State faced Westfield State in a MASCAC semifinal game on Nov. 7. The 3-1 win was earned by the Rams, winning set one 25-16, losing the second set 25-23 and winning the last two, both at 25-22. The first set was led by Danielle Girard and Sara Malicka’s serves, making it 8-2. Westfield soon caught up and surpassed the Rams with four consecutive kills by outside hitter Shannon Shea. The Owls were kept at 16 points while the Rams extended their lead. The set ended with a kill from Annie DeLoid and a service ace from Alycia Rackliffe. The second set was more difficult for the Rams, battling back and forth throughout its entirety. Despite Rackliffe’s five service points, FSU was held at 23 while Westfield won the set with a kill from Casey Doremus and an attack error on Framingham. Westfield started the third set ahead, and the teams battled throughout the duration of it. With the Rams still behind, Julia Wan’s three service points won the set with help from Girard and Mackenzie Webster. Set four consisted of an early Rams lead until the Owls pulled ahead 16-11. Malicka’s three service points were matched with Westfield’s three points to make it 20-15, WSU. With the potential to play set five, Rackliffe dominated with five service points, two of which were aces. Westfield was kept at 22 points while the Rams finished them off with kills by Girard and Megan Leavens to win the game. Rackliffe finished the game with 22 kills, five service aces and 19 digs. Wan totaled 11 kills and led the team with four blocks. Girard had 10 kills in the game and 24 digs. Sarah Leonard reached a season high of 51 assists and 19 digs. The opposing Westfield State’s Shannon Shea had 16 kills and 22 digs. Courtney Ryan trailed Leonard with 40 assists. Lizzie Taylor contributed three service aces and 26 digs.
With the win, the Rams moved onto the MASCAC finals against MCLA. Framingham State beat MCLA in the MASCAC championship. The Rams won the first three sets 25-21, 26-24 and 25-21 ending in a 3-0 win. Rackliffe contributed 20 of the 40 kills in the game as well as two service aces, 18 digs and four blocks. Leonard had 30 assists of the team total 34 and two service aces. Wan totaled three blocks on the night. Outside hitter Allison Clark led the Trailblazers with 11 kills. Setter Courtney Parent had 15 assists while Brittany Pihl achieved a seasonhigh 31 digs. Angelica Perfido totaled two service aces and Rachel Mills led the team with seven blocks. The game began with MCLA on top until the Rams tied it at 11. The Rams pulled ahead with kills from Girard and Rackliffe to make it 21-18, FSU. Keeping the Trailblazers at 21 points, Framingham won the set with two final kills from DeLoid. Set two began with a 6-2 lead and the Rams stayed ahead until MCLA surpassed them at 2219, primarily from Clark’s six service points. With the Trailblazers at 24, Framingham got the ball back with a combined block from Leonard and Webster and Leonard gained four service points with the help of Rackliffe’s four kills to win the set. After winning the first two sets, the Rams fell behind in the third. After tying at 6 and 7 points, Framingham took the lead. Rackliffe scored the match point with a kill and the game was won due to an attack error on the Trailblazers. The victory is the second MASCAC Tournament win for the Rams, who also won the title in the 2014 season. Framingham State will play in the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship Tournament in New York on Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. against Brockport State.
SPORTS
NOVEMBER 13, 2015
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Men’s soccer goes to MASCAC Championship, falls to Bridgewater State By Matt Ferris Asst. Sports Editor
The Rams took on Worcester State in the MASCAC semifinals on Nov. 6. The Lancers came out hot in the first 10 minutes, but thanks to three diving saves by Rams goalkeeper Josh Arno, the score remained 0-0. The game remained very even from this point on. Both teams had a couple of scoring chances, all of which were unable to be converted. The teams went into halftime tied 0-0, which remained the case for most of the second half. In the 77th minute, the Rams were awarded a penalty kick after a Lancers defender was called for a handball in the box. The Rams de-
Framingham State
1-0
Framingham State hosted Bridgewater State in the MASCAC final on Nov. 8. The second seeded Rams and the fifth seeded Bears battled to earn a spot in the Division III men’s soccer championship as the MASCAC’s automatic qualifier. The Rams got on the scoreboard extremely early, scoring the game’s first goal just 38 seconds into it. Simon Appiah received a lead pass from Ken Stahovish. Appiah corralled the ball and ripped a shot on net. The shot beat goalkeeper Colin Jepson and put the Rams up 1-0 early. In the 19th minute, the Bears tied things up at one. Andrew Chenard received a pass from Conor Murtagh and sent a shot past Arno. Just six minutes later, the Bears struck again. This time it was Murtagh who placed a header into the net putting the Bears up 2-1. The Bears weren’t done yet. Fif-
Framingham State
cided on leading scorer Cory Cardeiro to take the penalty. Cardeiro stepped up and fired his shot just inside the left post to put Framingham State up 1-0. Framingham would never look back from this point on, holding onto the lead and winning the match 1-0. The Rams were led by Cardeiro and Arno. Cardeiro finished with nine shots and scored the game winning goal, while Arno made nine saves en route to a shutout. With the win, the Rams move to 7-12 on the year and advance to the MASCAC final.
Worcester State
teen minutes after the second goal, Bridgewater State put a third unanswered goal on the scoreboard. It was Murtagh again, sending another header past Arno, making it 3-1. The Rams started their comeback just 15 minutes after halftime. Stahovish received a pass from Cardeiro, and sent a long strike on net. The ball struck the cross bar and redirected down into the net. The goal made it 3-2, with over 30 minutes left to play. The Rams had a few more scoring chances but were unable to convert on any, ending their comeback just short. Arno made three saves in the game, while Cardeiro and Appiah led the team in shots with four each. With the loss, the Rams’ season was ended. They dropped to 7-13 on the season and fell just short of making the Division III men’s soccer championship.
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Photo courtesy The Gatepost Archives
Cory Cardeiro ended the season on the first-team All-MASCAC team.
Bridgewater State
Hockey slips to 1-1 after falling in MASCAC opener By Amelia Foley Asst. Sports Editor
Framingham State hosted Fitchburg State in the MASCAC opener on Nov. 7. Jake McKinnon scored first for the Rams only four minutes into the game and was assisted by Vaughn Guetens and Hayden Lyle. Barely a minute later, Fitchburg retaliated with a goal of its own. The Falcons scored again before
the end of the first period, giving them a 2-1 lead. In the second period, Framingham remained scoreless and earned themselves three penalties, two minutes each. The Falcons scored two more goals, bringing the score to 4-1 by the end of the second period. In the third period, the Rams
Framingham State
showed signs of a comeback when Derek Ridgeway scored a minute in. The Falcons scored another goal of their own three minutes later. Tyler Colacchio tried to get the comeback going again with another goal for the Rams, bringing the score to 3-5, but this was as close as the Rams would get as Fitchburg
3-7
tallied on two more goals three minutes later, making the final score 7-3. Alessio Muggli made 18 saves in the first two periods and rookie Scott Nicolich made nine saves in the final period. With the loss, the Rams slip to 1-1.
Fitchburg State
SPORTS
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Student-Athlete Profile: MASCAC POY Alycia Rackliffe By Amelia Foley Asst. Sports Editor
Alycia Rackliffe is a junior food science major at Framingham State University with a minor in nutrition. Rackliffe graduated from Agawam High School, where she started her volleyball career. “I initially made JV my freshmen year and then I got moved up to varsity for playoffs, then played varsity for the next three years.” Rackliffe was captain of the volleyball team her junior and senior years of high school before being recruited to play for FSU. During the summer, Rackliffe said she plays in “grass and beach tournaments,” and also enjoys hiking and biking. Rackliffe comes from a volleyball family. Her older brother played volleyball and basketball, and she said her parents “met on the volleyball court in a church league.” Rackliffe is recognized for her success on the FSU volleyball and basketball teams. “I was recruited for volleyball and then decided to play basketball as well.” This year, Rackliffe was awarded [volleyball] MASCAC Player of the Year and firstteam All-MASCAC. Rackliffe’s success with the volleyball team includes back-to-back MASCAC champions in 2014 and 2015, and MASCAC runner up her freshmen year. Rackliffe also has been awarded Rookie of the Year, Tournament MVP in 2014 and 2015, MASCAC Player of the Week five times in the 2015 season, first-team All-MASCAC, and now MASCAC Player of the Year. “Winning Player of the Year really reflects on how the team is doing,” Rackliffe said. “It’s definitely a team honor. I just hit the balls, everyone has to pass and set and I’m just the third man in the lineup. “They give all these awards out for individual stuff, but I don’t see it like that. If we weren’t winning games, I wouldn’t be getting awards.” Rackliffe said, “Freshmen year it was easy transition into college because of the team and seeing that many familiar faces around campus. It was just the beginning point for me and showed me the way through college. It was the same way for basketball, but volleyball came first, so I hold it closer to my heart.” “When it comes to time management and homework, I find it easier to get all my things done while I’m in season because you only have so much time. … It has kept me on track and in a scheduled manner.
“It’s been a good year. We set goals,” said Rackliffe. “We set the goals to win the MASCAC tournament and get the bid into the NCAA and were just really excited that we are partway through that goal and headed to New York.” Framingham State women’s volleyball has never won a game in the NCAA tournament in its history. Rackliffe said, “It’s really just our goal to take that first game and prolong our season a little more because it goes by quick and it’s ending way too soon. “I’m going to miss my seniors once they graduate. It all goes quick.”
2015
32 matches 452 kills 4.19 k/set 525.0 pts 112 digs
2014
35 matches 405 kills 3.35 k/set 538.5 pts 122 digs
2013
33 matches 373 kills 3.33 k/set 477.5 pts 121 digs
2014
22 games 20 started 13.1 PPG 8.3 RPG 1.0 APG 1.3 SPG 3.0 BPG
2013
19 games 14 started 13.4 PPG 9.9 RPG 0.8 APG 0.9 SPG 2.7 BPG
Graphic by Brittany Cormier/The Gatepost
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
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Football cont. -Continued from page 1
converting on third and fourth down. The Rams converted on 43 percent of their third downs (6-14) and 100 percent of their fourth downs (2-2), totaling a 50 percent conversion rate on late downs. While the run game was a struggle, only rushing for 1.8 yards per attempt, Framingham stuck with it and balanced its offense. The team threw 30 times to 28 rushes. This balance allowed it control the clock. The Rams possessed the ball for 31:07, while Bridgewater had it for 28:53. This allowed for the Rams defense to be rested and for defensive end Quentin Jones to record two late sacks that helped seal the win. While Jones came up with his sacks, Framingham took good care of its quarterback and protected the ball. The Rams didn’t turn the ball over Saturday and only allowed quarterback Matt Silva to be sacked once. Silva threw 30 times, completing 21 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. He found Marcus Grant, Tevin Jones and Napoleon Miller six times each. Grant caught 101 yards, Jones had 63 and Miller ended with 52. Behind them was Colby Frodel, who has seen increased time since Jared Gauthier’s injury, with one catch for 25 yards. Bridgewater had plenty of success of its own through the air. Bears quarterbacks Danny Higgins and Alex McLaughlin threw for 244 and 25 yards, respectively.
McLaughlin also added 11 carries for 47 yards. The Rams scored first taking a 7-0 lead, when Silva found Tevin Jones, but after that, Bridgewater scored 10 unanswered, including a 31-yard touchdown with just four seconds left until halftime. Down 10-7 at the break, the Rams came out and rattled off 20 unanswered points of their own on touchdown passes to Jones and Jalen Green and Sean Wlasuk field goals from 28 and 20. Bridgewater would answer midway through the fourth on a Higgins 71-yard touchdown pass, cutting into the lead 27-17, but this would be all the Rams would surrender on defense, as that score would go final nine minutes later. Framingham’s leading rushers were Green and Trevon Offley who carried 11 and 10 times each. Green carried for 30 yards, while Offley went for 16. Svenn Jacobson led the defense in tackles with eight, all solo. The Rams got production in all three phases of the game, offense, defense and special teams. Aside from Wlasuks’ perfect day kicking, Quron Wright added a spark returning punts. He returned three punts for 66 yards, including an explosive 41-yard return. Framingham travels to Worcester State Saturday for its regular season finale at noon. The newly crowned MASCAC champs will receive their seed for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon as the conference, for the first time, will give an automatic qualifier.
Scoring Summary 1 Framingham State 7 Bridgewater State 0
2 0 10
3 17 0
4 3 7
F 27 17
Passing FSU- M. Silva 21-30, 253 yards, 3 TD BSU- D. Higgins 14-30, 244 yards, 2 TD BSU- A. McLaughlin 3-6, 25 yards Rushing FSU- T. Offley 11 carries, 30 yards FSU- J. Green 10 carries, 16 yards BSU- A. McLaughlin 11 carries, 47 yards BSU- C. Williamson 6 carries Receiving FSU- M. Grant 6 receptions, 101 yards FSU- T. Jones 6 receptions, 63 yards, 2 TD FSU- N. Miller 6 receptions, 52 yards BSU- M. Viola 6 receptions, 109 yards, 1 TD BSU- D. Leon 3 receptions, 50 yards BSU- T. Bassett 2 receptions, 38 yards
Women’s soccer drops ECAC opener to UNE, finish 11-8-2 on the year By Matt Ferris Asst. Sports Editor
The Rams traveled to Worcester State on Nov. 6 to take on the Lancers in the MASCAC semifinals. The Rams and Lancers went back and forth throughout the first half, but neither team was able to convert any chances, ending the half 0-0. Just 50 seconds into the second half the Lancers drew first blood. Alicia Macomber received a long pass from teammate Jenna Martin, and sent a rip into the top corner of the net. Goalkeeper Sara Sullivan was unable to make the save giving the Lancers a 1-0 lead. Just one minute later, the Lancers struck again, making it 2-0. This time it was Nikki DiPilla who sent a shot into the goal. In the 77th minute, the Lanc-
Framingham State
ers would add one more insurance goal, putting the game out of reach. Kendel Bergenholtz dribbled the ball down the field and snuck a shot past Sullivan to make it 3-0, the eventual final score. The Rams’ best scoring chance came in the first half, when Angela Pallotta took a free kick from about 30 yards out. She fired a shot on net, but goalkeeper Jillian Witkowski was able to get a hand on it, making the save. The Rams were outshot 17-10 by the Lancers. Sullivan made six saves, while Pallotta led the team with four shots in the game. The loss dropped the Rams to 11-7-2 on the year.
0–3
Worcester State
The Rams traveled to the University of New England on Nov. 11 to take on the Nor’easters in the ECAC Division III New England Championship. The Rams earned the postseason berth by going 10-5-2 in the regular season. The Rams kept it scoreless for much of the first half until the 43rd minute. The Nor’easters struck first making it 1-0 when Becca Murphy received a pass and shot the ball into the back of the net. Just four minutes after halftime, it was Murphy again. This time she shot a low strike past Sullivan to make it 2-0. The Nor’easters put the game away, scoring three unanswered
Framingham State
goals in a six minute span. All of the goals came from Edie Pallozzi earning her a hat trick, the first in the 62nd and the third coming in the 66th. The three goals made it 5-0 Nor’easters. The Rams were outshot 26-9 in the match. Sullivan made eight saves for the Rams in the loss, while Marissa Miele led the team in shots with three. The loss dropped the Rams to 11-8-2 on the year and ended their season.
0–5
Univ. of New England
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Women’s rugby to play in New England Collegiate Cup on Saturday By Nick Quaglia Staff Writer
The women’s rugby team at Framingham State University has experienced much success in their 2015 campaign. The team has battled in their first seven matches, and has now marched their way to a 6-1 record. As the team opened up at Wellesley this season, the goal was to make this season count. The few who lead this team include juniors Karley Newton and Kaleigh Simonds, whom are also led by the team’s head captain, senior Theresa Scruton. Scruton has been involved with this team since her freshman year and has had the opportunity to watch the program grow. During 2012 season, the team was only
able to gather a total of 10 girls, but the league minimum is 15. Due to the lack of participants, the team was forced to forfeit every game, technically causing the team to have a completely defeated season. Since then, the team has grown and now has a total of 23 players. The team opened up the 2015 season in Wellesley. The team displayed potential beginning the season with their first victory with a convincing 41- 25 win over the former number one team in the league. Since then, the team has now come together as they marched through the rest of the league, not allowing a single point until their first loss, which came just last weekend against the University of New Haven.
Some convincing victories came in enormous shutouts including against the formerly ranked number two team, WPI, 87-0 and Brandeis University, 108-0. Much of this success stems from experienced coaching. Head coach Andrea Vogt is in her third year with the team. Vogt is a former player herself as an alumna of Norwich University. She has been described by Scruton as “amazing”. As the team’s final days approach, senior Lauren Staples said, “It’s been a great four years. … We’ve had a lot of success this season and hopefully more girls will fall in love with the sport like we did”. The women’s team will play in this weekend’s New England Collegiate Cup against Endicott.
Photo courtesy The Gatepost Archives
The women’s rugby team is set to take on Endicott in the championship on Saturday.
Men’s rugby wins championship over Champlain College By Nick Quaglia Staff Writer
Men’s rugby, despite their previous problems with recruiting, has flipped the script and climbed the ladder of success. The beginning of the season was off to a rough start with an early season loss to Mitchell State. Under the leadership of team captain and senior Bob Rice alongside head coach Eric Olsen, the blend of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors were able to
accumulate seven total shutouts during the course of their season. During the season, the team familiarized itself with Champlain College, who later became their opponent in the season championship. The championship match was very close with Framingham winning 27-17. The team’s assistant Anthony Sheehan expressed his amazement by saying, “While assisting with the Framingham State University’s Men’s Rugby Team, I
experienced commitment, camaraderie and improvement that I have not experienced before.” Rice said “My first few years we didn’t have all that much success, but we’ve built up a solid core these last couple of seasons. Being able to keep that core together and win the championship after basically starting at the bottom makes me so proud.”
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015
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HOU/CIN
ARI/SEA
KC/DEN
NE/NYG
MIN/OAK
JAX/BAL
CLE/PIT
MIA/PHI
NO/WAS
CHI/STL
CAR/TEN
DAL/TB
DET/GB
The Editors’ NFL Week 10 Picks
Mike Ferris (34-30)
Melina Bourdeau/The Gatepost
Matt Ferris (36-28)
Amelia Foley (33-31)
Photos courtesy Creative Commons
Tweet of the Week
Photos courtesy twitter.com
The Gatepost Player of the Week
National Performance of the Week
Alycia Rackliffe
Antonio Brown
Rackliffe provided half of the team’s kills in the MASCAC final. In addition to her 20 kills, she added two aces, 18 digs and four blocks.
Brown caught 17 passes for 284 yards in Pittsburgh’s 38-35 win over Oakland. He now has caught over 1,000 yards for the season.
Allie Card/The Gatepost
Mike Ferris
Photo courtesy Creative Commons
Bold Predictions
Drew Brees throws for 350 yards and two touchdowns against Washington.
Matt Ferris
The Giants will hand the Patriots their first loss of the season.
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NOVEMBER 13, 2015 Allie Card/The Gatepost
Hilltop SINGS SOME MORE STUFF