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Volume 82 ◆ Issue 7
Th u r s d ay, M a r c h 2 4 , 2 0 1 6 News
Water contamination hits Hoosick Falls Page 3
A&E
NeXXus will open for Spring Concert Page 6
Sports
Baseball starts season in Florida
RPS offers gender neutral housing Meets long-time student demands for housing policy revisions By Idalis Foster News Editor
Gender neutral rooms for all, affinity groups in Berkshire Towers, and a floor for returning students in Hoosac Hall. These are just a few of the big changes made by Residential Programming Services (RPS) for the 2016-2017 housing process. Five-person townhouses will now be four-person townhouses, with triples now becoming premium doubles, and one of the five-person house double rooms will become a premium single. According to Dianne Manning, director of RPS, these efforts were all made to increase the opportunities and comfort of students in their houses. “A lot of students like to live in premium singles and in smaller groups, so there was an opportunity to allow people to do
Page 10
Op-Ed
Page 4
Campus Life
Going to Ireland for spring break Page 8
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RPS Continued on page 3
Photo by Domonique Ackley/The Beacon
Conner Noblit plays Mr. MacAfee in Harlequin Musical theatre club’s production of Bye Bye Birdie. Bye Bye Birdie premieres Friday and Saturday in the Church St. Social hall. Flip to page 12 for a photo essay.
The importance of finding your voice By Harmony Birch
Hogan case threatens First Amendment
both of those things,” Manning said. “It kind of broadens the options for students, I think. There are some students who have a hard time forming a larger group as well, which this will help.” In the past few years, gender neutral rooms have slowly become a privilege extended to include lower class years. This year the opportunity will be available to all students regardless of class year, but there is some fine print at the end of the e-mail advising couples against living together, although it is allowed. Residence Area Affinity Groups (RAAGs) are also being added to Berkshire Towers, which allows students to form groups with a common interest and live together. Similar to the themed floors in Hoosac Hall
When Rogovoy started his career as a journalist he described Co-Editor-in-Chief himself as being a generalist. Now he specializes in subjects like Seth Rogovoy is well known to the contemporary rock music, Bob Berkshires. He’s seen the rise and fall Dylan, and Jewish culture. He’s a of publications like “The Advocate” freelancer who works around the and “Berkshire Living,” and became a clock, but he never bored or gets county household working with “The tired of juggling so many roles, he Berkshire Eagle.” Today he makes simply does what he loves. his living freelancing for a number Rogovoy described himself as of publications and through his own lucky, being a person who gets paid website, “The Rogovoy Report.” to do something they are passionate Rogovoy was this semester’s about. Part of him thinks he just Hardman Journalist in Residence. stumbled in to his current career, He’s thin and spry despite his another part knows he worked long gray beard. His clothing is loose and hard to be where he is now. with a Soho charm, you can tell “Over the time the more you the guy was “hipster” before it was persist at something it seems to cool. He never set out to be a writer, work out, ” Rogovoy said. editor, award-winning critic, book His advice to aspiring writers is author, radio commentator, lecturer, to be persistent, and to read. teacher, cultural programmer, “Be a reader, a voracious marketing consultant, talent buyer’s carnivorous reader, ” Rogovoy agent, record producer, theatrical said, adding that writers should producer, artist manager, or amateur consume all sorts of material even photographer and musician. All he if it’s outside their working genre. ever wanted was to be a writer. “And if you don’t read all that “For me the unifying factor of Photo by Agnella Cross/The Beacon stuff, and you don’t read a lot of everything, the basic skeleton, or Seth Rogovoy talked about his life and journey in journalism it, and you don’t read the best of it, grain, or heart is writing,” he said. and his passion for writing. then how can you possibly be good Rogovoy knew he wanted to be a at writing?” Rogovoy asked. writer at eight or ten years old, even to become editor-in-chief. Still, he never His other big piece of advice, after you’ve then knowing he was good at it. Writing considered becoming a journalist. read every book in the library, “write and seemed to run in the family. Growing up, Rogovoy attended Williams College. He write and write. ” Rogovoy was enthralled with the work of I.L. studied history rather than writing, and wrote Rogovoy pointed out that he was fortunate Peretz, a famous Yiddish author, playwright, for the paper only once. After college he came enough to grow up in a family with two papers and ancestor of Rogovoy. back to the Berkshires to pursue creative a day, “The New York Times” and “Newsday.” Growing up he realized that he could do writing, and found himself a day job at The He was reading “The New York Times” before well in school with minimal effort simply Advocate. the age of ten. The best publication for any because he knew how to write. Rogovoy attributes his success to passion. writer to read is “The New Yorker,” according In high school he wrote about rock music “You need to be passionate to be any kind of to Rogovoy. for the school newspaper, and later went on writer,” Rogovoy said.