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Volume 83 ◆ Issue 1
Th u r s d ay, S e p t e m b e r 2 2 , 2 0 1 6
Inside
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FAFSA deadline moved to Oct. 1
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Student performs at FreshGrass
Birge: Six months in
MCLA awarded $2.17 million grant
By Harmony Birch Editor-in-Chief
By Nick Tardive Staff Writer
It’s been over six months since President Birge first suited up, yellow and blue bowtie and all, and started his work here at MCLA. The College has seen many changes in those past six months, but Birge credits himself with few. Starting in March, midway through the spring semester, allowed Birge to get to know the institution before jumping full throttle into his role as President. He spent his first few months talking to faculty, staff, and students. “I learned a lot about the institution through the experience and the stories that my colleagues and our students have had,” Birge said. Now he’s formed strategic plans and is encouraging ideas already in place. Increased diversity One of Birge’s major focuses going forward is to increase diversity on campus. Since his start at MCLA the percentage of ALANA students has dropped three percent, but the number of this year’s incoming class ALANA students is greater than previous years. To increase diversity further and to make MCLA a better environment for diverse students Birge is prioritizing efforts like the diversity task force. Birge aims to start a new taskforce that more proportionately represents students and faculty. The taskforce will consist of primarily students and faculty. Smoke free campus Another new change, guided under VP Catherine Holbrook’s
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MCLA wants Quidditch
Photo by Gionna Nourse/The Beacon
Birge during his first week, talking about his plans for campus leadership but encouraged by Birge increasing the amount of high is moving MCLA towards a smoke schools and community colleges free campus. While he admits the Admissions officers travel to. Last plan to become smoke free has been year MCLA’s name went out to 820 independent of him, he supports it. different high schools, community “All that I’ve heard about smoking colleges, and college fairs, according is bad,” Birge said. to Birge. Plans to become smoke free He also credits the financial by Fall 2018 are already in effect aid office who got their work done but a new team has not yet been earlier this year to show families developed. their financial options as soon as possible. Increased admissions MCLA’s admission rates Improving MCLA’s visibility increased this year, but Birge wants While admission increased this to increase them even more. Birge year, Birge believes the College can credits the increase of admissions and should house more students. to the work done by Gina Puc, director of admissions, who has been expanding efforts to spread BIRGE information about MCLA by Continued on page 3
MCLA received a Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant from the United States Department of Education that will total $2.17 million over a course of five years. The initial disbursement of funds will come on October 1 in the amount of $443,346. Title III grants are often awarded to schools that have a high population of students from low-income families, or schools with a lot of students whose first language is not English. The Department of Education describes eligibility as, “at least 50 percent of its degree students receiving need-based assistance under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, or have a substantial number of enrolled students receiving Pell Grants, and have low educational and general expenditures.” Last year, the Education Department recognized MCLA as one of 13 institutions across the United States where a similar number of students from lowincome families graduate at the same rate as students from highincome families, according to the Berkshire Eagle. According to President James Birge, an incredible 46 percent of MCLA students are currently receiving Pell Grants (the highest percentage of Pell eligible students in the Commonwealth). Around 30 percent of students come from families earning less than $30,000 a year. A big part of that, Birge explained, is that
Berkshire County is itself one of the poorest counties in the state of Massachusetts. “MCLA…attracts many of these students because we are a high quality institution that is more affordable than other institutions,” Birge said. The total direct cost for students receiving in-state tuition is around $26,000 a year. Birge and Executive Vice President Denise Richardello explained that MCLA has done its best to not raise tuition fees recently. They stressed the importance of a cost-effective education versus the excellence of available academics – of which both Birge and Richardello are beyond pleased with. “The public prefers access and affordability,” Richardello explained. According to a press release sent out by the school, MCLA plans to continue its push toward strengthening its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs. The College will be focusing on digital and software upgrades to, “Increase intensive advising utilizing the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) and early alert software...provide electronic academic planning and degree audit utilities...create online undergraduate courses for summer enrollment to assist in increasing graduation rates,” and to, “purchase equipment, electronic journals and database subscriptions to support undergraduate student research.” GRANT continued on page 3
Is MCLA’s ALANA population dropping? Yes and No By Nick Tardive Staff Writer
After a three percent drop in the student African, Latino,Asian and Native American (ALANA) population for the school year, President Birge has mad it a goal to widen MCLA’s diversity. In 2011, admissions for students of color came in around the 22 percent mark. In 2015, the number was 30 percent, but this past year that number dropped to 27 percent. However, that’s not quite a reason to panic. “We have more students of color in this incoming class than we had students of color in last year’s class,” Birge said. The answer to this possible dilemma is simple: the class of 2020 is larger than the class of 2019 was. According to Birge,
270 first-time students made up the incoming class of 2019, with 83 of them being classified as students of color. This year there are 330 first-time students, 84 of whom are students of color. While the difference isn’t a large one, it explains the three percent drop between the 20152016 and 2016-2017 academic years. However, compare MCLA’s admissions for students of color to other schools in the state of Massachusetts, and it is clear that the College has quite a way to go in that department. Amherst College’s website states that 44 percent of its students self-identify as students of color. Boston University is even further up there, at around 57 percent, including international students.
Williams College is slightly closer to MCLA’s average, sitting at 38 percent students of color. However, there are plenty of explanations for why MCLA’s admissions for students of color is low. Being a public, state College is one of them. “Just five percent of students at the nation’s flagship public universities are black,” Meredith Kolodner, writer for the Huffington Post, wrote in 2015. “Even…at the University of Virginia, which prides itself on the diversity of its campus, just eight percent of students are black. Just five percent are black Virginians, in a state where 22 percent of public high school graduates are AfricanAmerican.” Although the article is tackling
the issue of African American diversity in flagship universities, the numbers are troubling. If African Americans are not attending flagship public universities, then what about their attendance of other public colleges around the country? At a small college such as MCLA, attracting and retaining students of color could be an issue, simply because it’s a problem better-funder, betterknown colleges around the country have. President Birge, however, believes that the College has made great strides in diversifying its student population. He is even considering conducting a climate survey in order to “provide feedback from the
community” regarding how MCLA can further diversify and be more inclusive. “It seems to me to be the right time,” Birge said. “We have a seemingly diverse population of students. [And] when I look at my colleagues, we’re not reflective of that situation.” Birge also mentioned creating a re-engineered diversity task-force that will measure the diversity around campus, mostly among students and faculty, although it will also take into consideration staff members. The Beacon reached out to members of the Black Student Union for comment on the issue, but received no reply.