The
G atepost
Framingham State University’s independent student newspaper since 1932 volume
83 • number 6
O
c t o b e r
1 7 ,
2 0 1 4
(Left to right) General Manager Matthew Gandolfo, 2008 olympic team alternate Danny O’Connor and FSU freshman Julia Fletcher advertise opportunities for student internships at Title Boxing Club, which opens in early November.
Page 15 fsugatepost.tumblr.com
FSU launches new dean structure
By Sara Silvestro Editorial Staff
Brad Leuchte/The Gatepost
Field Hockey’s winning streak snapped by Westfield State Owls
FSU is introducing three new academic colleges, a structure in which three deans oversee six to seven academic departments each and report to Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Linda Vaden-Goad. The deans will support and manage department chairs, approve tenure, evaluate personnel, schedule courses, reappoint faculty and manage budgets, among other duties. The system is designed with the goals of improving re-
tention, graduation rates and student success, according to Vaden-Goad. A job search has been initiated to find permanent deans, but in the meantime, three interim deans were selected from an internal candidate search. Marc Cote is the interim dean of arts and humanities, Sue Dargan is the interim dean of social and behavioral sciences and Margaret Carroll is the interim dean of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. FSU is among the last Massachusetts - Continued on page 4
Four Plus One Master’s program to save time and money
By Scott Calzolaio Editorial Staff
FSU administrators and faculty are planning to develop accelerated graduate degree programs which will allow students to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years. The programs, coordinated by the Office of Graduate Studies, will allow students to earn graduate credit while finishing their bachelor’s degrees. The program, according to Dean of Graduate Students, Yaser Najjar, is being looked into by the English, education, sociology and food science departments. He added the food science department plans to implement the program as early as fall 2015. The Four Plus One graduate bachelor’s/master’s program would allow students to complete up to four graduate courses as part of their bachelor degree program. “[They] will count towards the 32 undergraduate courses. At the same time, it will also be counted toward the ten graduate courses required for the master’s degree,” said Najjar. - Continued on page 3
Jeff Poole/The Gatepost
During their “Taste the Rainbow” event, The Suit Jacket Posse helped raise $150 for FSU’s Pride Alliance to attend the New England LGBT Conference in April. See article on page 9.
Freshmen common reading author discusses writing process By Cameron Grieves Staff Writer
Author Julie Otsuka, writer of the freshmen common read novel, “When the Emperor was Divine,” gave a lecture and presentation on campus last Thursday, filling DPAC to the point of standing room only. Otsuka came from the bustling streets of New York City. Her style of dress and manner of speaking reflect a life of café visits and train rides. The façade of a cool, collected city slicker dissipated when she began talking about her mother. “When the Emperor was Divine” is
a piece of historical fiction based off of stories and information about Japanese internment during World War II. Otsuka gathered the information from her mother and from family letters along with other sources. While categorized as historical fiction, the characters in the novel are meant to represent her family and everything they endured during that period of American history. Otsuka did not come to FSU to discuss the politics or ethics of the internment camps. However, she came to discuss her family and how she became a writer. “On some deep and unconscious
level, everything I have written has been to keep the memories of my mother and all Japanese Americans and of the camps alive,” Otsuka said. In many ways, her path to becoming a writer was one she undertook to better understand the stories of her family’s past. Although Otsuka wanted to become an artist, she abandoned art school and began to visit the neighborhood café, a practice she continues to this day, to read short stories religiously. She decided to attend a casual writing workshop without any serious intention of - Continued on page 11