Issue 4-Spring 2015

For more content, visit online at: Beacon.MCLA.edu

Beacon@MCLA.Edu 413-662-5535 Mark Hopkins Room 111

Volume 80 ◆ Issue 5

Th u r s d ay, M a r c h 5 , 2 0 1 5

Club budgets to rise in 2015-16

By Nick Swanson Senior News Editor

The SGA’s Budget Finance Committee (BFC) has recommended a Fiscal Year ’16 budget that increases club allocations by an average of 152%.

The total budget recommendation is $410,000 with $279,209 allocated for clubs, $117,000 for SGA operating budget, and a $10,000 SGA supplemental budget.

“Clubs are going to be excited to hear about the average increase of (club) budgets,” SGA President Brendan Peltier said. “Last year we had a few more (active) clubs, so a small amount of additional money became available for clubs next year.”

Overall, the club budget allocations will increase 12.3% in FY ’16 but most budgets will only show an increase between $1,585, and $4,658.

The factor causing this high average is an increase spike that gave significant increases to only a few amount of clubs.

Clubs recommended for most significant budget increases are Cape Verdean Student Alliance with an increase of $3,088, Society of Physics Students increased $3,073, Ski Club $2,800, Rugby Club $2,575, Student Activities Council $2,435, Nexxus $2,328, Latin America Society $2,200, and WJJW radio station $2,106.

Students Taking Action Against Gender Equality (STAGE) received the highest budget increase of $1,418 from $545 to $1,963, about 360% increase.

Along with Society of Physics Students budget increase of 193%.

In FY ‘16 SGA used an enrollment figure of 1,500, compared to 1,471 in FY ‘15. With an 85% collection rate from $300 per student the total equals to $384,000.

One element contributing to increased budgets is an extra $10,000 that was gained from student fees, according to Hernigle.

SGA BUDGET, continued on page 4

College implements training for sexual assault Staff Writer

As of Feb. 23, all faculty, staff and students have been required to participate in an online training regarding sexual violence. The trainings are designed to educate and create awareness among the campus community.

The training is required for all members of the college community as part of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization, and the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act. There are two separate versions of the online training, one for faculty and staff and one for students.

The student course takes roughly 30 minutes to complete, and provides a multitude of resources one can access if they or someone they know is experiencing sexual assault, or is having issues related to sexual violence in any way. One of the most accessible and most commonly used resources among college students is the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and the number is 1-800-656-HOPE. According to Mary Ellen Olenyk,

twitter.com/ MCLA_Beacon facebook.com/ MCLABeacon

Director of Human Resources and title nine coordinator, the training educates participants about who to report information about an act of sexual assault to, and what to do if you see an act of sexual violence happen.

“We are educating about bystander intervention, if one sees something happening, intervene if safe, [or report the situation]” Olenyk said. “We want to create safety on campus for all.”

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There are many myths that revolve around this topic... treating it like a taboo will not help prevent it.

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By Gionna Nourse

Feature photo

Ashlyn Copeland Olenyk also mentioned that there will be additional trainings for specific faculty and staff members after they have completed the

Photo by Agnella Gross/The Beacon

Gaby Brown, Alexander Lopez, Lindsay Maselli and Sam O’Brien at the 2015 Sextival event.

College adjusts spending after $768 million state budget deficit

By Nick Swanson Senior News Editor

Massachusetts State Gov. Charles Baker and his administration discovered a budget gap of $768 million with four months still left in the 2015 fiscal year.

Baker responded to the deficit by putting forth a large amount of reductions in state spending through areas such as institutions of higher education and other state sections.

In result of the budget gap, the college must rescind 1.5 percent of its state appropriation, which is equivalent to $222,000, according to James Stakenas, vice president of Administration and Finance.

“We have to look across all campus divisions to determine how we are going to make up this dollar amount,” Stakenas said.

“We want to be able to preserve programs that are important to students which primarily are academic.”

Gov. Baker issued an emergency Section 9c cut to address the budget deficit. The deficit is equal to 1.6 percent of the $36.5 billion total state budget.

According mass.gov, the deficit is

made up of a number of elements, the biggest element of that is the ongoing issues associated with managing the state’s Health Connector. State representatives believe this represents about a $230 million piece of the puzzle.

Baker’s emergency Section 9c letter states the government pledges to not raise taxes, to preserve local aid, and to not draw down on the Stabilization Fund.

After the adjustments, the fiscal year ‘15 budget will rise nearly 7.7 percent over fiscal year ‘14.

Stakenas said resources would be drawn from putting a hold on certain purchases and utilizing several cost saving initiatives the college has invested in over the years.

“For example, last year the nine state universities purchased an advertising campaign, Stakenas said. “This year we were asked to budget money for a similar campaign, but the conversation now is to reduce it significantly in an effort to save resources specifically because of this 9c cut.”

“3 years ago we put new light blubs across campus to save energy, so, we will use some of those energy savings as well,”

Stakenas said.

In addition, senior officers were asked to question all expenditures in their divisions and to not complete any discretionary spending, according to Stakenas.

He said the vice presidents of all divisions have a responsibility to look at what all the departments submit; the college needs to have a balanced budget in place by July 1.

“Our long term concern is keeping education affordable, we find middle-ground so we can maintain affordability and access to academic programs on campus,” Stakenas said.

He said there are also a number of open positions on campus and any time there is an open seat there are representative savings that are also being put towards the gap.

Stakenas explained the college is advancing to fill the positions but until then, there are some small savings.

“Between discretionary spending, open positions, and other resources that we have we BUDGET DEFICIT, continued on page 3

The Board of Trustees is meeting today at 5 p.m. in Murdock 218 to announce the selection of the new MCLA president.

ASSAULT TRAINING continued on page 3

Please visit beacon.mcla.edu tonight for full coverage of the announcement.

News

Arts & Entertainment

Sports

After break: Harlqeuin, Yorick premiere shows

Trailblazer reflects on career at MCLA

Page 6

Page 9

Green Team resurrected Page 3

News Features Arts & Entertainment Sports Campus Comment Local Events Photo Essay

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Campus News

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Weekend Weather Thursday, March 5

Cloudy High: 21° Low: 1° Prec. Chance: 20%

Friday, March 6

Partly Cloudy High: 24° Low: 9° Prec. Chance: 10%

Saturday, March 7

Partly Cloudy High: 36° Low: 20° Prec. Chance: 0%

Sunday, March 8

SGA’s Food Committee finally meets Food Committee meets with Aramark, inventory lists are required from clubs, and Christian Fellowship gains support for New Orleans

By Idalis Foster

the club members themselves.

Staff Writer Due to multiple snow days and holidays, the Food Committee could not meet with Aramark until Monday, March 2 at 3 p.m. These meetings are open to all students who wish to attend, but an email RSVP to Executive Vice President Alexandra Kadell is preferred.

According to Kadell, the new Executive Chef Tony Fiorentino is planning on bringing more southern comfort food to the menu being that he previously worked at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“He says he will be focusing on presentation,” Kadell continued, “to make sure students are seeing the quality of the food even if they don’t necessarily try it.”

In response to complaints of students who want breakfast before the Centennial Room opens on weekends, the coffee kiosk will be open from 9 to 11 a.m. and will have a coffee and bagel combo for one cafeteria swipe. The kiosk will be adding small cups for coffee since right now they only sell medium and large.

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Inquiry About Buildings Closed Before Midnight Addressed Adwetewa-Badu inquired as to why only the Campus Center Building is open until midnight while other buildings on campus are locked after 11 p.m.

SGA President Brendan Peltier asked Theresa O’Bryant, interim vice-president of Student Affairs, to attend the meeting to address questions about the requirements of the buildings to be accessible until midnight.

“The Campus Center is a public building so that is required to be open until midnight but classroom buildings are closed at 11 p.m.,” said O’Bryant.

Senator At-Large Colby Harvish mentioned the accessibility of campus buildings to go through the tunnels during snow days as well.

“Unfortunately, sometimes Campus Safety does not get to all of the buildings to unlock them during snow days,” said O’Bryant. “But if you contact them and ask them to unlock a building for you they are more than happy to do so.”

He will be focusing on presentation to make sure students are seeing the quality of the food Alexandra Kadell

Late Night Grill changed their days from Thursday, Friday, Saturday last spring to Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in the fall and has found that Wednesday has become a very busy day for them.

“They are looking to expand Late Night Grill with different menu items,” said Kadell.

Coordinating Vice President Ama Bemma Adwetewa-Badu suggested adding Saturday back on to the days since a great number of students have asked for them to have it open those nights.

An idea proposed last semester to have a recipe box where students can submit a recipe that they would like Aramark to add to the menu is being put into effect. There will now be a box by the register of the Centennial Room where students can leave the recipe and their contact information so that they can be contacted and consulted before their recipe is used.

The snowboard in the POD market will be won by one lucky student who purchases anything from the POD and enters to win. The name will be pulled before Spring Break and the winner will be contacted.

Club E-Boards Need to Send in Inventory Lists CVP Adwetewa-Badu is asking that all club e-boards send in their inventory lists for SGA by April 24. This includes all microphones, speakers, and other supplies that need to be accounted for.

Adwetewa-Badu advises that e-board members read the newsletter she sent out this past weekend to make sure they are up to date with the announcements for clubs.

Christian Fellowship Gets Support For New Orleans Trip

Partly Cloudy High: 38° Low: 15° Prec. Chance: 10%

Beacon.MCLA.edu

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The supplemental budget for Christian Fellowship to be able to go on their New Orleans Service Trip has been approved.

The amount of the budget was reduced by the club from $1,186 to $186 since the amount of members going has gone down to three in order to be able to afford the trip between the expenses for both SGA and

Pittsfield (South Street) Pittsfield (Allendale) Great Barrington North Adams Greenfield

Choreographer Lucinda Childs, composer John Adams, and set designer Frank Gehry remount their triumphant, seminal piece.

Work-in-Progress: Dance Performance

AVAILABLE LIGHT Friday, March 6, 8pm | Saturday, March 7, 8pm Sunday, March 8, 3pm Hunter Center / $18 student + advance / $24 day of / $30 preferred Group pricing available This program is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Porches Inn.

Tickets: massmoca.org / 413.662.2111 87 Marshall Street, North Adams, Mass.

Campus News

Thursday, March 5, 2015

War on drugs doesn’t work Jack Cole, one of the founders of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), spoke about the “War on Drugs” on Wednesday.

Cole, a retired detective lieutenant, worked in New Jersey, New York City and Boston during his 22 years in law enforcement, 14 of which were spent in narcotics.

Cole described how undercover narcotics officers would form close relationships with young students to catch them doing drugs, no matter how small the amount. He described the “War on Drugs” as the reason for the current drug problem, not the solution, stating that only soft drugs were common at the time while hard drugs were “virtually unheard of.”

According to Cole, when President Richard Nixon began the War on Drugs back in the 1970s, it was not about drugs but was a political move by Nixon to have a strong backing and win the presidential election.

“If these drugs were legalized, the drug violence would end, overdose deaths would end,” Cole said. “If we regulate it and control it, we can keep these people alive.”

Cole also shared that the amount of drugs seized has gone up from ounces and pounds, to tons. Drug purity has gone from 1.5 percent

Photo By Jay Tocco/The Beacon

Jack Cole speaks at SSDP event. to 60 percent, and drug use has gone from 2 percent of the population to 46 percent. All of these increases occurred since the 46 years of drug prohibition.

“Today the amount of tax dollars spent fighting this ‘war’ amounts to 1.5 trillion, including money spent on the 50 million arrests and counting for nonviolent drug offenses,” Cole said. “Heroine is probably the most expensive commodity on the face of the earth, only because it’s illegal.”

Cole shared statistics from countries where all drugs have been decriminalized, such as Switzerland where, because of their free methadone and providing citizens with clean needles, both crime rates and deaths are down.

Senior Victoria Patnaude was drawn to the event being that she’d heard about it from friends and had seen similar speakers.

“He was really poignant and raised a lot of valuable points,”Patnaude said. “He also shares a unique perspective.”

Training to help sexual assault awareness ASSAULT TRAINING, continued from page 1

online course.

“We have a number of other things planned throughout the year, and we are working with the SGA as well,” Olenyk said. “This is just one piece of our entire awareness campaign about it,” she added.

“I think that sexual violence and assault is a very real thing, and that everyone should know about it,” said junior Ashlyn Copeland.

“There are many myths that revolve around this topic, and treating it like a taboo will not help prevent it.”

Olenyk explained that if students do not participate in the online training, a hold will be put on their registration for classes next semester. If faculty and staff do not participate, the situation will be treated just like any other failure to comply with employee requirements is treated, and dealt with accordingly.

“It is required, and we hope people understand that,” Olenyk said. “It will help increase awareness of this issue on campus, and people need to do it for their own good,” she said.

Olenyk also noted how pleased she has been with the response she

Group to peruse sustainability options Staff Writer

Staff Writer

has gotten from faculty and staff already, regarding the training.

“I am so pleased with the response, as to how members of faculty and staff have completed the training with little to no question,” she said.

Copeland has already completed the training, and found it somewhat helpful.

“I knew some of the information already, but it was still beneficial,” she said. “Sexual assault and rape are issues that some people deal with daily, and I think that it is good that the school is trying to educate the students,” she said.

“Knowing what to do in those situations can help saves lives and prevent abuse,” Copeland added.

“What we want people to know is that reports all have to end up [in my hand] and I have to make sure that we are investigating the issues properly, and getting them solved,” Olenyk said.

A few schools in the surrounding area have hired external investigators to handle their sexual assault cases, such as Williams College. According to an October 29 NPR article by Tovia Smith, “colleges across the country are under pressure to overhaul how they handle cases of sexual assault.”

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Green Team resurrected

By Rominda DeBarros

By Idalis Foster

Beacon.MCLA.edu

Last week a small group made up of college staff, administration, and students gathered to discuss ways to make MCLA more environmentally sustainable. They call themselves the Green Team.

The Green Team, also known as the Sustainability Committee, was developed in accordance to former president Mary Grant’s pledge to climate commitment.

In 2007 Grant signed the American Colleges & Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), an initiative dedicated to encouraging institutions of higher education to reduce and eventually neutralize greenhouse gas emissions on their campuses.

According to the initiative’s program overview, institutions of higher education have the most potential to reverse global warming because of their societal reach and purpose of producing the world’s next great minds.

The Green Team formed in September 2007 following Grant’s signature. They were tasked with making sustainability on campus a priority and determining the college’s carbon footprint.

Their last report on greenhouse gas emissions was dated in 2009, it stated that the campus in total released 10.5 per 1,000 square feet metric tons of Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), a unit of measurement that describes the global warming impact a greenhouse gas has.

According to ACUPCC the current average emission total for four year colleges is 13.73 metric tons CO2e.

In 2012 the College released their last progress report stating that they had successfully implemented 15 projects to reduce

greenhouse emissions on campus since signing the commitment.

They also reported using solar and geothermal energy.

The Green Team has not been active since 2012. James Stakenas, Vice president of Student Affairs and chairman of the Green Team, stated that he thought people just got busy.

He himself was worried about opening up the Science Center.

The college had hired a sustainability coordinator in 2012 using funds from a grant that has since expired.

“I think people ran out of time.

We thought others would sustain.

We knew the Environuts were active,” Stakenas said.

Environuts president, junior Josh Reynolds stated that he appreciated the ideas the Green Team offered the club. Last week’s meeting was his first introduction to the Green Team.

“As of right now I’m really not sure what to think of the Green Team, since I’m just starting out with them,” Reynolds said.

One of the large objectives detailed in previous Green Team notes was engaging students.

There were only three students at last week’s meeting.

Stakenas stated that he contacted faculty members and CSSE, expecting them to spread the word, and gave people information about the meeting in the Presidents Newsletter.

“We look for students that are interested,” Stakenas said. “Students have to self-select. People will self-identify.”

Stakenas started last week’s meeting in asserting that the purpose of this first meeting was to see “what we understand about environmental concerns.”

“There’s a lot of experts at the table who want all of this work, to

serve MCLA,” Stakenas said.

Among MCLA’s accomplishments, Stakenas listed MCLA’s power plant, the cogenerational (the simultaneous production of heat and electricity, where both energies are used) project, and single stream recycling.

Chuck Kimberly, Director of Facilities, stated that single stream recycling was meant to make recycling easier on campus.

“There’s no looking around to find the right can” Kimberly said, “just recycling.”

The college currently has no data on the amount of trash reduction in recent years.

According to Kimberly, maintenance is still receiving more trash than recycling.

According to Hoosac Residential Director Griffin Labbance, residence halls don’t have a list by each trash receptacle listing items that can be recycled instead of thrown away.

In residence halls maintenance does not take recycling. The recycling is located on first floor of BT and Hoosac, making recycling more inconvenient for students than simply throwing something away.

Kimberly discussed why maintenance doesn’t take recycling with RPS. “There seems to be a desire to have that piece be student driven,” Kimberly said.

Labbance stated that in townhouses recycling receptacles are not provided, but that he often sees students buying them themselves and initiating recycling on their own.

There are a few students on campus who’ve gone even further with efforts to improve sustainable residence living.

College reacts to state budget deficit BUDGET DEFICIT, continued from page 1 will manage this 9C cut,” Stakenas said. (Take 1.5 percent from anything, the amount you have for leisure activities or a food budget, it’s manageable.”)

– Pull Quote According to Stakenas, until the governor’s budget recommendation comes out on Mar. 4, administration does not know what cuts the 2016 fiscal year will include.

According to mass.gov, Baker must issue his first

budget plan by Mar. 4 for the ’15 fiscal year that starts on July 1 and hopes to balance the deficit by that time.

“There are rumors that the level funding that we were hoping for will be reduced by the 9c amount but we don’t know yet,” Stakenas said.

After the governor submits his budget recommendation, the house budget will submit one, and then the senate, and until all of the budgets are on the table, the college will not know specifically what resources they will be granted next year, according to Stakenas.

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Campus News 4 Full service hospital could be financially sustainable Thursday, March 5, 2015

By Harmony Birch Staff Writer

A report done by Stroudwater Associates in September found that a full-service hospital in North Adams would only be financially possible if it were to receive critical access status (status that gives hospitals additional government support if they are located in rural areas). However Berkshire Health Systems (BHS) has yet to apply for critical access status, leaving the citizens of Northern Berkshire County without a hospital until further notice.

“We are still in the process of looking to see whether or not critical access status is a wise move,” Michael Leary, the media representative for BHS, said.

North Adams Regional Hospital (NARH) applied for critical access status after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011. They were turned down because BMC is located 25 miles away.

It seems strange to some, however, that BHS has not tried to apply.

“It’s important at the very least to go through the process,” said Senator Ben Downing, who has been working with BHS since before NARH closure on addressing community healthcare needs.

Another report released last month by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) claims that critical access status, while ideal, might not even be necessary for a full-service hospital.

The report details why a hospital is needed in North Adams, a claim no one’s denying.

“Inpaitent care should and can be in the mix up there,” Downing said.

The controversy comes when addressing the financial means

to do so. The Stroudwater report and BHS are of the opinion that NARH’s closure was in part a problem with its location. They couldn’t make enough money to support themselves.

Leary explained that Northern Berkshire Healthcare (NBH), the parent company of NARH, applied for bankruptcy twice.

In 2011, during their Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a significant amount of debt was wiped away and NARH was forced to reorganize their financial structure.

This suggests that no matter what they did, NARH would have gone bankrupt again.

However, the 2012 tax BHS filed for NARH showed that they were making a significant amount more than they were spending. In 2012, NARH spent $39,874,267; this number included expenses for inpatient care, outpatient care, and emergency room expenses.

These are the only three healthcare services NARH itself provided. That same year they made a total of $62,752,359.

The MNA report suggested that it was because of poor investment choices on NBH’s end. NBH went into significant debt with the purchase of the Sweet Brook Transitional Care & Living Centers and the Sweetwood Continuing Care Retirement Community. These facilities do not relate at all to the money or services NARH provided.

This would mean that NARH closed because its parent company made poor investment choices that had nothing to do with the hospital itself.

The Stroudwater Associates declined to comment on the MNA report.

Eric Shell, the lead principal on the Stroudwater study, said in an

email, “We are not under contract with the Commonwealth to provide any additional services and it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further.”

BHS is very aware of the report and its findings, but Leary stated that he had “no interest in reading the report.”

He did, however, “scan it” and questioned whether or not the data was credible.

Nykole Roche, the MNA report’s author cites her data, footnoted throughout the report, from, a variety of state agencies and health care organizations.

According to Leary, the main obstacle standing in the way of an inpatient hospital in North Adams is expense.

“New MRI’s aren’t free,” Leary said, “the latest surgical material is expensive.”

“It would be wonderful, if in an ideal world, we could make that work,” Leary said but according to him a full service hospital, “does not look to hold financial liability.”

Roche’s response to Leary was, “read the report.”

To Roche, Leary’s response to why BHS refuses to commit to opening up a hospital in North Adams is inadequate.

“BHS bought a hospital in North Adams, and refuses to provide full service care in North Adams,” Roche said.

According to Roche, if they were prioritizing their duty to provide healthcare they would apply for critical access funding, they’d “do whatever it takes.”

“BHS hasn’t shown any real commitment to this hospital at all,” Roche said.

For the extended version of this article, check out The Beacon online.

Students reflect on Model UN

By Juanita Doss Features Editor

Brendan Peltier ’15 reflects on his hard work after bringing ‘The Best Delegate’ award back from the North American Model United Nations (NAMUN).

“I didn’t think I would win any award because there were better delegates,” Peltier said. “I was shocked to find out it was me; it’s a nice way to be rewarded for working hard.”

NAMUN is a conference that takes place at the University of Toronto, which draws delegates from around the world. The conference was held Feb. 19 through Feb. 22.

Peltier was one of 12 students who attended the conference, along with Political Science Professor Ben Taylor.

Each delegate was assigned a state.

Some were assigned to give debates on historical and ‘crisis’ within that state. Over the course of three days, students debated and passed resolutions dealing with the issues before their committees.

Peltier served on the International Monetary Fund Crisis Committee, where he represented the United Kingdom (UK). While conducting research, he learned a tremendous amount of information about the stance on economic policy as well as the European debt crisis and the Arab Spring crisis.

Taylor helped Peltier with his

Beacon.MCLA.edu

New club gets students involved with wildlife

By Caitlin O’Neill Copy Chief

Last Thursday the MCLA student chapter of the Wildlife Society held its first official meeting.

Attending students introduced themselves with the usual name, year, and major, along with why they were interested in the club and what their favorite animal was.

Once introductions were complete, club president and founder TaylorJae Taber gave a presentation detailing her goals and ideas for the club. “[The club will be] an outlet for students who are interested in wildlife to meet wildlife professionals and gain experience in, or get a sense of, the field of wildlife management, rehabilitation, fish and game, animal care, and conservation,” she said in her presentation.

She expressed plans to coordinate field trips to locations such as the New England Aquarium and the Ecotarium in Worchester, Mass., and other wildlife rescue or research facilities in the Berkshires and beyond.

Other ambitions for the club include getting members trained and certified in various methods of animal research, and helping members find jobs or internships working with wildlife.

“I want everyone to be able get hands-on experience with animals through this club,” Taber said.

Taber spent the fall 2014 semester studying abroad at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and was inspired to start the MCLA Wildlife Society chapter by her time there.

“Alaska is all about wildlife and conservation,” she said. “While I was in Alaska I was part of the Fairbanks chapter of the Wildlife Society, and I thought, hey, why doesn’t MCLA have a Wildlife So-

ciety? So I thought I would be the Trailblazer for that club.”

Taber is also a member of the Environuts and plans to collaborate with that club, and others such as the Photography Club or Outing Club.

“I was a part of the Environuts and I felt that a lot of their stuff is about renewable energy, recycling, and environmental stuff, which is great, but I really wanted to be involved in wildlife and conservation, and I noticed that there’s not a club on campus that really fits that interest, so I decided instead of trying to change the Environuts I would just start my own club,” Taber said. Many Environuts members also attended the first Wildlife Society meeting.

Taber was surprised by the immediate interest in the Wildlife Society. Within a few days of announcing the first meeting and making a Facebook page for the club, she said she had heard from about 30 interested students.

“It happened really fast!” she said.

According to its Web site, wildlife.org, the Wildlife Society is “an international non-profit scientific and educational association dedicated to excellence in wildlife stewardship through science and education.”

There are student chapters on many college campuses around the country.

The Wildlife Society holds annual conferences, which the MCLA chapter hopes to attend at some point in the future.

The MCLA Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society meets again tonight at 7:00 p.m. in the Science Center, room 124. Students interested in the club can attend, or get more information by joining the Facebook group “MCLA Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society,” or by emailing TaylorJae Taber on Outlook 365.

Three clubs will receive budget cuts SGA BUDGETS, continued from page 1

Photo courtsey of Professor Ben Taylor

Model UN students come from many majors and paths of study, not just political science or history. research, which allowed him to “I had a great time at the confergather all the stances of the UK ence,” Krowitz said. “You can only on economic issues. learn so much through reading “When I got there, I just pretended about how the United Nations I was the UK fighting to demand operates.” that the Euro are hurting economic Participating in the lively degrowth, the support of Euro Zone bates and working with other countries and making sure there delegates taught Krowitz what to were no military action taken in expect at the Model UN. This was these countries,” Peltier said. his first time attending the conferThe Model UN is one of Peltier’s ence and he said he would love to favorite conferences to attend. Last go again, but serve on a different year when he attended, he repre- committee because each one opsented Mexico’s illicit drug trade. erates in a different way.

“Being able to work with other “I highly encourage any stustudents on a particular interest dent who has an interest in the and solve the issue such as the Unit- [Model] UN to attend a confered Nations is fascinating,” he said. ence through the school or on Taylor Krowitz ’15, who is major- their own,” Krowitz said. “You ing in political science/ public poli- don’t have to be a political science cy and history, represented Bangla- or history major to appreciate the desh in the Legal Committee. work of the United Nations.”

FY16 the SGA will use $26,000 from the reserve account to help the budget; in FY15 it only used $910.

Thirty-seven clubs and organizations will be funded by SGA throughout the next fiscal year compared to last year’s 42 clubs.

“I thought it was a good idea to help increase clubs that are doing really good things for the campus,” Hernigle said.

Book Club and Queer Student Union are new clubs that requested a FY ‘16 SGA budget for the first time. Three clubs that became inactive are chamber ensemble, society of music, and aikido club, according to Hernigle.

“The political science club was tabled because only five members are still in the club with three that are graduating,” Hernigle said. “A full e-board must consist of more than two individuals.”

Hernigle said only four clubs were recommended for a budget decrease.

This included Dance Company decreasing $1,483, MultiCultural Student Society (MCSS) decreasing $2,020, Mathematics club decreasing $293, and Writers Guild decreasing $23.

“We didn’t cut from (Dance Co.) their shows, there were other things we just simply felt that we didn’t need to fund, like a doorstop” Hernigle said.

“Baseline things we cut from all clubs this year were requests for items that were e-board specific,” Hernigle said. “Some clubs wanted t-shirts or sweatshirts for e-board (members) but we decided we aren’t funding that.”

Hernigle said he implemented using excel sheets to fix issues with handwriting and math that many times caused problems during the budget process.

According to Hernigle, there was a $100,000 difference between what clubs requested this year to last year.

SGA is reviewing the BFC budget recommendations and will give a final budget approval next week.

Features

Thursday, March 5, 2015

5

Beacon.MCLA.edu

Mina Beeler studies abroad in London

Beeler visited Whitby Abbey, the prominent location of her favorite novel “Dracula” stay on the Abbey grounds for four days during her semester abroad.

“It felt like I was living in a reality of what I know,” Beeler said. “I would get up early every morning and stand in the graveyard which is a cliff that looks over the harbor,” she said. “The Abbey was always in sight, kind of looming, and I felt like the stars were closer.”

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It felt like I was living in a reality of what I know Mina Beeler

Photo by Liz Quirk/ The Beacon

Mina Beeler ‘16 studied abroad in London, England at Queen Mary University last semester.

By Kaliegh Hayes Features Writer

Junior Mina Beeler was able to step into the setting of her favorite book last semester when she studied abroad in London, England.

Whitby Abbey is the prominent location in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, and Beeler was able to

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Beeler has always wanted to travel abroad.

The decision to study in London came to her last spring while talking with a group of friends.

“Someone was talking about London and I was like ‘I’m gonna go to London!’” she said.

With the help of Staff Assistant of CSSE/ Career Services Ashton Darrett, Beeler was able to quickly hop on a plane and travel to London’s Queen Mary University (QMU) in the fall.

When she arrived she was introduced to a different style of teaching. Beeler was shocked at the curriculum.

“Here at MCLA we have to take classes in different majors,” said Beeler. “Over there the major is called a course and they’re not allowed to take anything outside of it.”

Beeler took history classes, which consisted of lectures and films. One thing that shocked Beeler was that they didn’t give out any assignments.

“If I had taken English, maybe I would have gotten more assignments. But I was all history when I was there, so I did a lot of reading.”

When she wasn’t hanging out with her suitemates or reading, Beeler was out and about exploring England and travelling to places like the House of Parliament, Big Ben, and even went on a Jack the Ripper Tour.

Thrilled that historians guided the majority of tours that she went to, Beeler looked up to the guides. Her dream is to be an Archivist and Historian working in Romanian history with a focus on the Dracula mythos.

When asked if she would go back, Beeler said, “Yes,” in a heartbeat.

“I think about it everyday, it was really hard to come back,” said Beeler. “My flat mates want me to stay with them for a while.”

Beeler hopes to attend grad school in England, and if not, she wants to move there shortly after graduating.

Photo courtesy of Mina Beeler

Beeler spent four days in Whitby Abbey, the prominent location for Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”.

Schildkraut joins the department of Anne Todorski, new biology faculty graduate and continuing education member, admires liberal arts schools

Photo from sportzin.com

Schildkraut was hired in January through a grant called Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ).

By Juanita Doss Features Editor

Dana Schildkraut is a true country girl who was trapped in the suburbs outside of Boston. The beautiful mountains and diverse art that surrounds North Adams drew her to MCLA. Schildkraut, who is a new fulltime employee in the Department of Graduate and Continuing Education, earned both a bachelor of fine arts with a concentration in sculpture and a masters in art education at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she applied for a full-time position at Manhattanville College, which paid for her grad school. She found the job opening through post-

ings in her email from career services.

“Prior to working at MCLA, I worked in higher education at a liberal art college and it was my favorite job,” she said. “I love working in higher education.”

Schildkraut was hired this January through a grant given to MCLA from the Commonwealth’s Department of Higher Education.

The grant was the Improving Teacher Quality program, which improves teacher quality through graduate partners with local school districts enable teacher’s continued learning.

Schildkraut acts as a S.T.E.A.M coach where she works with teachers to develop team lessons that marry art and science.

“Teaching art through science in integrated lessons gives an experience for students,” she said. ”Students who are bad at science and enjoy art will learn to like science through these lessons.”

Schildkraut loves working with lower elementary students. She is currently working with the school districts in North Adams, Adams, Cheshire and the Northern Berkshire Union. She also works with the Childcare of the Berkshires and Headstart. The students she works with range from Pre-K to second grade.

When working with young children, Schildkraut noticed that they don’t like to sit still for a long time, so she incorporated her visual art skills into lessons.

“Creative movement and dance is a very fun way for them to learn, focus is there with movement,” she said. “Forming our bodies like a tree is one of my favorite things to teach when educating young students.”

Schildkraut loves being a part of a college community again, she loves the constant learning that’s always occurring.

“Being on a college campus is such a big environment for learning,” she said. “Learning is so much fun and is a great way to explore.

I encourage students to stay curious and be a lifetime learner.”

Todorski helps with undergraduate research projects

By Kaliegh Hayes Features Writer

Over the river and through the woods to MCLA she goes. Commuting everyday from Grafton, N.Y., Anne Todorski is one of MCLA’s newest faculty members in the Biology Department.

However, Todorski wasn’t always into science. She entered Hartwick College as an art major, and then switched to biology her sophomore year.

“I feel like art is one of those things that I can learn at any time in my life,” said Todorski. “But with science, if I wasn’t at an institute where I could sit down in a classroom, I probably wouldn’t go and pick it up on my own.”

After talking to a biology professor, who had also changed majors when he was in college, Todorski took a chance and took a biology course. She has stuck with that field of study ever since.

After graduating from Hartwick with a liberal arts degree, Todorski then moved on to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for graduate school.

Todorski was looking for a job in the area after finishing her Ph.D in biology last year, and eventually found a place in MCLA’s biology department.

“I spent about a year as a contractor for a very large academic educational company,” said Todorski. “But I really missed working with students, being in classrooms and laboratories.”

Though she isn’t a Professor Todorski still teaches. Her responsibilities include teaching, supervising, and

Photo from Vebidoo.com

Todorski enjoys the emphasis on STEM education and believes it’s a wonderful focus for a liberal arts college.

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Having a liberal arts background really helps me as a scientist Anne Todorski

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managing lab setups. She also helps with the undergraduate research projects.

“I really like the emphasis on STEM education here,” said Todorski. “I think it’s a really wonderful focus for a liberal arts college.” She said she admires the way of liberal arts schools.

“Having that liberal arts background really helps me as a scientist,” said Todorski. “I’m not so rigid in the way I think about things, I can bring a lot of creativity to projects.”

6

Arts & Entertainment

Thursday, March 5, 2015

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“ILSSA: It’s about Time”: a key to time

By Shirin Hijab A&E Editor

“ILSSA: It’s about Time” is an experiment that attempts to understand time, and if it doesn’t achieve that goal, it certainly catalogues the use of time and the feeling of time.

Members of ILSSA (Impractical Labor in Service of the Speculative Arts), including one artist and creator of “ILSSA: It’s about Time” Emily Larned, sent out about 100 workbooks with a series of questions to be completed. All pages had the option not to be completed. They received around 50 back and those are the ones hanging in PRESS, next to Gallery 51.

One of the most interesting entries under the question of “What is the best advice you’ve been given about time?” was something like: A friend once told me that a definition of anxiety was when a person keeps worrying about never getting enough done even though it’s impossible to do more in the present moment.

Not all the advice was good advice in these sections, because of the relativity of time and how each person functions with differ-

ent time, but it was possible to see how such advice could work. This mutual understanding between the readers and people who most of the readers didn’t know was evident and shows the success of this project. And a comforting, mutual understanding under the oppressiveness of time isn’t something to look away from.

Art professor Melanie Mowinski was equally optimistic and excited about the project, and it was easy to tell that even though this isn’t her project, she is passionate about this kind of work.

“North Adams as a city that has had a big, strong history of people working in unions. And this is a different way of thinking about a union,” she said. “What happens when people join together for a similar cause? And in this case our cause is that we all work in obsolete technologies, but what kind of support do you get from people who do that all over the country?”

Mowinski agreed happily that the ideals of the project and that of ILSSA were very socialist and was going to recite a communist quote that she thought best fit the project but couldn’t remember it

exactly. Emily Larned remembered feeling lonely when doing graduate work in her craft; she and her friend both want to have a set of values, like process over product and the reuse of discarded objects, and a group of people who practiced similar crafts. It makes perfect sense for a group of letterpress printers to make a collective project that involves the troubles and slight successes of communication and the relationship of all this to time.

“It’s iterative,” Larned said as she organized printing blocks with inky hands. “What I mean by that is each thing we do then suggests something else to do, but we kind of never have one long, continuous plan in which we’re kind of checking things off.”

Larned said that she and some others sent out a survey to the ILSSA members to determine to what degree they were alienated or happy workers. This idea and principal starting point for the whole project is entwined with the concept of time, which is largely based around emotions.

Time in this project is almost always seen as the enemy, but maybe we should start reinventing the

Photo from ILSSA It’s About Time Preview flickr

This set-up of views on time demonstrates both anonymity and connectiveness. notion of time or at least look at it and the community, to come try something. Just even this “Tell us more critically.

Michelle Daly, director of Gal- why arts matter”, that poster that lery 51, said she wishes she could we have up there, just that it inbe more philosophical when vites people to add something but thinking about time but then con- also the sense of being a catalyst cluded hesitantly: “Time isn’t lin- and a reminder and an advocate ear but we describe it like it’s lin- for the importance of the arts.” ear. I think everyone should come Don’t we all wish for something see [the exhibit]. It’s the perfect like that? The old model in art of conversation, getting to add your the solitary worker or artists is own.” (there are blank workbooks falling down and allowing for this more community-based work. visitors can alter).

In a similar sense, Melanie This kind of work is what makes Mowinski endorsed the idea of the 21st century artistically inno“providing the space for people, vative and invigorating.

Gallery manager recounts diverse experiences

By Mitchell Chapman A&E Writer

Upon first entering Gallery 51, one will be greeted by row after row of greenery captured in canvas, photography, or in the form of everyday house plants. The display, part of Gallery 51’s “Winter Greens” exhibition, is a product of Gallery Manager Julia MorganLeamon.

“This show provokes an instant response that has to do with feeling a warm, green space in the middle of winter,” MorganLeamon said. “It’s an intersection of botany and art.”

Morgan-Leamon said the idea came from her connections with people in the sciences, who knew of “visually compelling” phenomena in nature. A good portion of the work was made by people Morgan-Leamon knew personally, such as artist Venessa Nesvig, who, according to destinationwilliamstown.org “researches, draws, and further engages her imagination to create round-format paintings of sea gardens” by examining

samples of seawater under a microscope. Nesvig was looking for a place to showcase her work.

“I have known Julia for several years and had sent her a proposal for a show at the MCLA Gallery 51,” Nesvig said. “I have found her to be easy and professional to work with.”

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It can be hard to make a living in this profession sometimes. A lot of people have to piece together a living, but it’s worth it to do something you really love.

Julia Morgan-Leamon

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Morgan-Leamon’s fascination with the arts began as a child, but saw fruition while attending college in Mt. Holyoke, where she was inspired by one of her professors.

“It can be hard to make a living in this profession sometimes,” Morgan-Leamon said. “A lot of people have to piece together a living, but it’s worth it to do something you

really love.”

She has also been to Egypt six times, where she ran a program that took students from Williams and Egypt-based Luxor College to look at the culture and politics of the area, much of which has inspired her art.

“It’s just so different, going there as an artist, rather than a tourist,” Morgan-Leamon explained.

“When you know people under that service, they know hotspots for experiencing that culture. We spent time in cafes, markets, and studios. It is incredibly hard to get to know women who are college-aged though.”

The last time she brought students over, it was amidst the Arab Spring movement.

“The last day we were there was the first day of the revolution,” Morgan-Leamon said. “I ended up staying behind a few weeks.

What I saw was incredibly moving.”

Morgan-Leamon documented her experiences through watercolor.

“I just started recording daily

Photo from mcla.edu/news from Astrid Hiemer

Morgan-Leamon (right) has contributed a lot to the Gallery. life as I was experiencing it under what students bring to the table. those situations,” she said in a vidHer associates, such as art profeseo interview with Time. “But as I sor Melanie Mowinksi, agree that was painting this one landscape Morgan-Leamon has a talent for or cityscape, I just started to see fostering new ideas through her the water cannons going to tear experience managing exhibitions. gas to smoke. And, as I painted, I “Julie guides artists, encourages was just trying to add in this feel- them, coaxes out their vision,” ing of onslaught. This is such an Mowinksi said. “The work I exongoing situation, and these peo- hibit in Wintergreen happened ple who have been just working because of conversations back and taking care of their families, and forth between Julia and I. She have just found this voice. I just listens to artists, reflects back to want them to come through this.” them their vision, and then helps Morgan-Leamon has taught both them realize it. It was incredible at Williams and at MCLA. Her working with her.” favorite part of teaching has been

‘Catch Me If You Can’ has explosive energy Review of dress rehearsal

by Matt Hotaling A&E Writer

The fine and performing arts department opens the constantly twisting mystery “Catch Me If You Can” this week, Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m., as the first show of the spring season. The play was written by Robert Thomas and adapted by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert.

The driving conflict of the play is that Daniel Corban’s (Marcus Neverson) wife has gone missing on their honeymoon. When a pastor (Jake Bonenfant) brings Daniel his wife (Julie Cimaomo) back to him, the newlywed insists that the woman is a pretender.

Neverson gives an incredible performance, his character exploding in energy again and again, each time seemingly to reach his limit and then exceed it. “[Daniel’s] a different person

from the beginning of the show to the end of it,” Neverson said.

The change in Daniel’s character is shown not just by his actions, but also through his costume, which becomes more disheveled as the play progresses and Neverson’s energy grows wild.

Other performances are equally as excellent. Inspector Levine, (Breana Gladu) the detective overseeing the investigation, brings a deadpan sarcasm that plays an excellent foil to Neverson’s manic

energy. Cimaomo’s performance as Elizabeth is mysterious and full of venom, she leaves the audience guessing about her true motive.

“I like Elizabeth because she’s different from myself, she’s really bitchy,” Cimaomo said. “I feel like I can use the frustration from my regular life and take it out on stage.”

The set design for the show excellently emulates the rustic charm of a mountain cottage. Actors make their way back and forth

from a bar at one end of the stage and telephone table on the other, often resting in the middle on a pair of couches.

As the show reaches its climax the energy of the actors is only amplified by its audience.

“As I build my way up there, having people watching makes it even more intense,” Neverson said.

I’m really proud of this group,” Doug Jenkins, director and FPA professor, said. “They worked really hard.”

7 ‘House of Cards’ third season escalates drama Arts & Entertainment

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Review by Matt Hotaling A&E Writer

Last Friday, Netflix released the third season of its critically acclaimed political drama “House of Cards” “House of Cards” is set in an alternate version of the present and follows the scheming career of a fictional politician named Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey).

Over the previous two seasons Underwood clawed his way up from a lowly member of the party leadership all the way to the president’s office. The third season focuses on his difficulties with maintaining the office, difficult foreign affairs, and winning reelection with incredibly low public approval.

Much of the show’s success stems from Spacey’s performance as Underwood. Francis ‘Frank’ Underwood is an incredibly complex character who seems to be made of contradictions. He is the quintessential two-faced politi-

Beacon.MCLA.edu

cian. He wears a glib smile while he undermines his opponents, and explodes with anger when fate throws a wrench in his plans.

Underwood is as ruthless as he is cunning. His actions seem almost sociopathic, at times showing no sign of human empathy and willing to go as far as murder to tie up loose ends.

“

[Frank] wears a glib smile while he undermines his opponents, and explodes with anger when fate throws a wrench in his plans.

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Season three reveals facets to Underwood’s character that have not been seen before, most notably weakness. Spacey’s performance is filled with a number of stand-out moments where the show presents the monument of Frank Underwood crumbling at its corners.

“I was lucky to get into film at a

Photo from Netflix

Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) up to his usual schemes of breaking the fourth wall. time that was very interesting for lady Claire Underwood. Wright’s online for viewers to binge-watch. drama,” Spacey said in interview performance is reserved, but “The captive audience is gone,” with The Hollywood Reporter. powerful. She serves as an excel- David Fincher, series director and “I look now, the most interesting lent foil to Spacey’s Underwood; executive producer said in an inplots, the most interesting charac- both characters are strong when terview with the Director’s Guild they work together, but any rift of America. “If you give people ters, they are on TV.” The other stand-out perfor- between them weakens them this opportunity to mainline all in mance of the season is by actress both. one day, there’s reason to believe Netflix put up all of season three they will do it.”

Robin Wright in her role as first

After break: Harlequin, Carnatic music Yorick premiere shows in the Berkshires

By Matt Aceto A&E Writer

With show times right around the corner, both the Harlequin and Yorick clubs feel confident about their upcoming productions.

On Thursday, March 26, the Harlequin club will premiere their rendition of “Carrie the Musical”, which will run through March 28 in Venable Theater. Reservations will be available the week of the play in the Amsler Campus Center. Two weeks later, the Yorick club will perform “Macbeth” in the Church Street Center Social Hall, from April 9 to April 11.

Harlequin Director, Benjamin Baylon, is impressed with his cast’s effort thus far.

“The past few weeks we’ve been drilling the music scenes,” Baylon said. “The cast is working very hard.”

“Carrie the Musical” first debuted in 1988, and is roughly based on Stephen King’s book

“Carrie” which was published in 1974. The plot revolves around a group of high school girls preparing for prom, who girls often bully the main character, Carrie.

“It’s a lot of fun, it’s college kids playing high school kids,” Baylon said. “Bullying is a huge theme.”

The musical has 14 cast members who all enjoy working together.

In between running scenes, they playfully tease each other and crack jokes. Though they like having fun behind the scenes, Baylon believes the cast is well-suited for the big stage.

“They’re definitely a bunch of hard workers. There’s a level of professionalism that is surprising,” Baylon said. “People are excited.”

Yorick Director Josh Baker is also satisfied with his cast’s performance thus far.

“Practice is going amazingly,” Baker said. “We are three weeks ahead of schedule.”

As one of Shakespeare’s most recognizable works, “Macbeth” is

a relatively quick play stuffed with drama. Baker believes the thick plot is challenging to fit in a single show.

“Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest and darkest tragedy,” Baker said. “It’s hard to fit every moment in an hour and a half play time.”

“

There’s a level of professionalism that is surprising. People are excited.

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Benjamin Baylon

Fortunately, Baker is working with many talented cast members.

Students from all four classes are featured in the play, which adds to the group’s unity as a whole.

“The cast is dispersed evenly between freshmen and upperclassmen, all ranging from different majors,” Baker said. “It’s a really cohesive group.”

Backed by much enthusiasm, expect both the Harlequin club and Yorick club to be well prepared for their upcoming shows.

Photo by Liz Quirk/The Beacon

Josh Baker, director of Yorick, Photos by Liz Quirk/The Beacon looks on as Yorick rehearses “MacBeth.”

Danielle DeLamater in Harlequin’s “Carrie” practice dancing.

Review by Shirin Hijab A&E Editor

On an extremely cold night, a group of MCLA students, got in vans to go see a performance by Shantala Shivalingappa and her band of musicians. It was an extraordinary performance, not usually seen in the Berkshires.

Sivalingappa practices classical Indian dance that goes with Carnatic music, which is found in southern India.

In contrast to Hindustani music Carnatic music allows for slightly more improvisation (around 80 percent of the dance is set and the rest is improvised) but is still very structured. In its structure, however, Carnatic music has an infinite set of possibilities, such as having 72 possible scales according to one of the musicians.

Oddly enough, the mridangam (the main percussion instrument) and the tambura (the stringed instrument that provides a kind of drone) used the performance sometimes sounded similar to dubstep bass beats or electronica atmospheric music.

Sivalingappa noted that in the songs they compose together, she’s very picky and specific about what notes go where and how she can interpret them. Her kind of style of dance is called kuchipudi which uses a complex footwork while the rest of the body often mimics the percussion. The most interesting example of this was when one of the musicians was playing the mridangam rapidly and Sivalingappa was only moving her hand in quick, almost stagnated movements to the beat.

The dance style is made up of two forms of movement: nrrta is the more abstract form, while abhinaya is a form using the body to convey the story very specifically

with body movement.

Throughout the performance, there was a voiceover that told a vague story, a classical tale like one would hear in “Mahabharata” which includes the “Bhagavad Gita” or the “Ramayana.”

They played only about five songs but they were all long in duration with complex parts.

Some of the songs were literally taken from the original and were unaltered. And the dance doesn’t so much interpret the narrative as accompany the music which, Sivalingappa noted, is part of the abstractness of the title of the performance: Akasha. Akasha means light or sky but more specifically a light that shines and lets one achieve different levels of consciousness, similar to how a guru gives a student light. Sivalingappa noted how helpful her own guru, who taught her classical dance, was for her.

Sivalingappa has a philosophy geared more torwards feeling than to logic.“If we could try to not understand too much with our minds but with our hearts,” Sivalingappa concluded in the discussion section. This philosophy is evident in her dance which uses a much more physical and emotional approach to conveying abstract feelings.

Her approach is in itself a kind of homage to the abstract quality of music that is, perhaps, not experienced so much today where so many things in dance or music, at least in the west, are assigned meaning. It would’ve been fantastic to see two different styles, one abstract and one based on conveying specific ideas to compare how they work and what forms they use. But everyone was left, still, with a feeling of amazement, and a lot about music and dance that they still didn’t understand.

8

Sports

Thursday, March 5, 2015

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Westfield and Bridgewater claim MASCAC Championships

By Jesse Collings Sports Editor

It was a day of victory, and a day of defeat for Westfield State. Their Men’s basketball team claimed victory over Bridgewater State in the MASCAC Championship on Saturday, however, they failed to claim both the Men’s and Women’s Championships, as Bridgewater State upset Westfield in the Women’s bracket to claim the MASCAC Championship.

In the Men’s final, it was a clash between arguably the league’s two best teams, as Michael Lofton of Bridgewater State squared off against Grant Cooper of Westfield. Lofton was named the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year on Wednesday, and Cooper was named to the All-Conference team. Lofton finished the season as not only the top scorer in the league at 18.9 ppg, but also as the top rebounder, averaging 10.5 rpg. Cooper finished second in the conference in scoring at 17.3 ppg and third in rebounding at 9.1 rebounds per game.

Westfield (20-6, 12-1) was the number one seed in the tournament, granting it home court advantage over the number two seed Bridgewater (18-8, 10-3).

The Owls jumped out to a 3930 lead in the first half, thanks to dominant play by Cooper. Cooper finished the first half with 12 points and 9 rebounds, while guard Andre King supported him with 10 points. Westfield shot 48.5 percent from the floor during the first half while holding Bridgewater to just 35.7 percent shooting for the half, according to mascac.com The second half was the Michael Lofton show, with Lofton scoring 23 of his game-high 33 points in the second half on 11-15 shooting. However, Lofton received little support from his teammates, as the rest of the Bears managed to shoot 6-27 from the floor in the second half.

By contrast, Westfield featured a balanced scoring attack, receiving 10 points from Cooper and 9 points each from Andre King and Robby Jones. It was enough for Westfield to hold off Lofton and Bridgewater, as they claimed victory and the MASCAC Championship with a 78-69 victory.

Lofton led all players with 33 points while also hauling in 9 rebounds. Cooper led Westfield with 22 points and 14 rebounds, while also adding 3 assists, 3 steals

on both ends of the floor.”

With the victory, Westfield reached 20 victories for the second time in three seasons. Despite that past success, Westfield had yet to win the MASCAC Championship in the 24 year history of the tournament. In an interview with d3hoops.com, Sutter talked about how rewarding finally winning the championship felt.

“I feel like we are vindicated in a way,” said Sutter. “We’ve always tried to do things the right way

coach Bridgett Casey. The victory is the fifth straight MASCAC championship for Bridgewater, and their sixth in the last eight seasons.

The game began with Westfield appearing to cruise to a perfect season in MASCAC, as the Owls opened the game with a 9-2 lead.

Bridgewater would quickly put any ideas of a route to rest, answering with a 9-2 run of their own to tie the game at 11. The two teams would trade baskets for the

Photo from MASCAC website

Westfield State got 22 points and 14 rebounds from senior Grant Cooper, as they earned their first MASCAC Championship in school history. and 4 blocks. King had 19 points, and Shane Pasquantonio came off the bench to score 11 points on 5-6 shooting.

Neither team was very effective from outside, as Westfield converted just 1-14 three point attempts, while Bridgewater shot only 1-17 from beyond the arc.

Westfield finished the game with a slim rebounding edge (48-40) and outshot Bridgewater for the game (44 percent to 38.6 percent).

“I thought our kids played well,” Westifeld State coach Rich Sutter told d3hoops.com. “I didn’t think we shot the ball great, but we played tough defensively and that covered up a little bit. Cooper was outstanding for us all day

with our program, and maybe that takes a little longer to get to the top.”

Westfield will meet Babson College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

In the Women’s final, Westfield State was upset by Bridgewater, as the Bears toppled the Owls in Westfield, 60-57.

Westfield, which entered the game unbeaten in conference play and riding a school-record 16 game winning streak, falls to 22-5 (12-1 in MASCAC) while Bridgewater improved to 16-10 (9-4) on the season.

The win further cements the dynasty that Bridgewater has created in the MASCAC under head

rest of the half, with Bridgewater holding a slim 21-20 lead at halftime.

Neither team could get much going on offense in the first team, as both Bridgewater and Westfield shot under 35 percent from the field.

Things would pick up dramatically in the second half, as Bridgewater shot 60 percent from the field, while Westfield shot 55.6 percent.

Bridgewater caught a break early in the second half when Westfield guard Jen Ashton, the MASCAC Player of the Year, went down with an apparent injury with 17:10 left in the second half. Bridgewater would take

advantage of Ashton’s absence, opening up a 32-25 lead. Ashton would check back into the game with 15:22 remaining, and Westfield would scramble back into the game, cutting the lead to one with 11 minutes remaining.

Things began to look grim for Bridgewater when senior forward Megan Boutilette, who had scored 16 points for the Bears, fouled out with 9:52 remaining in the game and Bridgewater nursing a 45-43 lead.

Bridgewater hung tough as Boutilette watched from the sidelines, but Westfield tied the game at 53 with just under four minutes left in regulation.

Bridgewater would answer with a Vanesa Conceicao three pointer to put the Bears up 56-53. After a couple scoreless minutes, Ashton converted a layup and junior Forbasaw Nkamebo nailed two free throws to give Westfield the 57-56 lead with 59 seconds left.

After a time-out, Bridgewater senior Rachel Kusz hit a critical three pointer to give the Bears a 59-57 lead with 37 seconds left to play.

Despite getting two offensive rebounds and benefiting from a Bridgewater turnover, Westfield was unable to convert in the final 30 seconds. Ashton appeared to have tied the game with a layup with seven seconds left, but the basket was waived off as Ashton was whistled for an offensive foul.

Chelsea Saucier would hit one of two free throws for Bridgewater, and Westfield would turn the ball over as desperation crept in, and Bridgewater sealed the 60-57 victory.

Bridgewater was led but Boutilette’s 16, and Conceicao added 11. Westfield was led by Jill Valley’s 21 points on 9-13 shooting, and Nkamebo, who finished the game with 13 points and 8 rebounds.

Bridgewater will face Salisbury University in Maryland on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Nationals sit atop MLB spring training power rankings

By Tyler Bacon Sports Writer

With spring training finally upon us, The Beacon’s Tyler Bacon breaks down the preseasons top five teams: 1.Washington Nationals- The Washington Nationals have probably the best starting pitching in all of baseball. Max Scherzer, Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister, and Gio Gonzalez are going to be fun to watch (unless you play in their division).

They have a deep lineup, and if Bryce Harper can stay healthy, their lineup will be one to be reckoned with. Their bullpen will be the only question mark with them trading away Tyler Clippard to the A’s but they have the pieces in the Minor Leagues to make a trade, if necessary. This doesn’t

guarantee the Nationals a World Series ring, but it puts them in a prime position to win one.

2. L.A. Dodgers- The Dodgers still have the best pitcher in the game, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke is a solid number two pitcher. Their lineup should be solid with Yasiel Puig continuing to develop and lead the team.

The development of Dodgers top prospect, Joc Pederson, will be crucial to how the Dodgers click as a lineup.

The Dodgers also have the prospects and financial means to improve their team if they find holes in their team. The biggest obstacle the Dodgers will have to winning the NL West will be the improved San Diego Padres.

3. St. Louis Cardinals- The Cardinals play in possibly the hardest division in baseball, with

the Cubs much improved, so that hurts their ranking ever so slightly. Their top two starting pitchers, Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha, have dealt with some injuries recently. Wainwright had minor elbow surgery over the offseason and Wacha dealt with shoulder injuries last summer.

Another obstacle the Cardinals have to overcome is the death of their once top prospect Oscar Taveras’ tragic death. Their lineup is one of the areas that needs the most work and they tried to address their lineup by trading for Jason Heyward. He should really help the top end of the lineup for the Cardinals. Until someone in the National League Central proves they are better than the Cardinals; I’m taking them to win the Central.

4. Detroit Tigers- The Tigers championship clock for their core

players is running lower every day. Their core got considerably weaker by the departure of Max Scherzer.

There are a couple of big question marks for the Tigers entering this season. Can Justin Verlander reinvent himself as a pitcher without his overpowering fastball?

Can Miguel Cabrera be the MVP candidate he once was after coming off major ankle surgery? Can Victor Martinez have a duplicate season of the one he had last year coming off knee surgery and being 36 years old? Will the bullpen improve after being a complete disaster last year? This season, like every other season, will be “World Series or bust” for the Tigers.

5. L.A. Angels- The Angels season has not started off on a high note so far this spring with the information that Josh Hamilton

recently had a drug relapse. He may not even be ready for Opening Day with offseason shoulder surgery. This is a distraction the Angels do not need and I even question if Josh Hamilton should play again until he figures out this drug situation again. He needs some serious help.

On a positive note, having Mike Trout makes any team better.

They will need a strong season from Garrett Richards when he comes back healthy. Yahoo Sports reports that Richards will not be ready for Opening Day after tearing his patella tendon in his left knee last August, so that is a big blow for the Angels, who have not had a great pitching staff to begin with. The bullpen might be a much needed strong point of the team, with a pen loaded with former closers eager to contribute for the Halos.

Sports

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Beacon.MCLA.edu

9

Delrosario brought big game to MCLA Schedules

By Jake Mendel Sports Writer

When guard Ruben DelRosario first visited MCLA as a senior in high school he didn’t see himself becoming a Trailblazer. He didn’t enjoy his first visit at MCLA, noticing how cold the gym was and that he didn’t like the court.

“It just wasn’t a good experience,” said DelRosario. “But then I came again [the following year] and I talked to an assistant coach and he made me want to come here. He said that I was a special player and that I could make an impact right away.”

Ruben never believed that he would put up the numbers he did though, but the assistant coach was right, he made an instant impact.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” said DelRosario reminisc-

the second, it was the only point I had in the half.”

In the second half of the game DelRosario went off. He went 4-8 from the field, scoring a team high 16 points in the half while adding in two rebounds and two assists in just 13 minutes.

In his 79 games at MCLA, DelRosario made 211 shots over three years. One of the most significant baskets came January 31st in Bridgewater. With about five minutes left in the game he made a layup that put the team up 56-55, it was also his 1,000 point.

He became one of 21 people to ever score their 1,000 point at MCLA. Photo from MCLA Athletics “I was actually one point away and I missed a free throw ing about his first basket. “It was the game before and I didn’t a home game against Nichols. I know [That I was near my 1,000 drove to the basket and got called point],” said DelRosario. “One of for a charge. The next possession the coaches from the other team I drove to the basket hard and a asked me if I got my 1,000 and blocking foul was called. I missed I was confused. I looked at my the first free throw but then made coach and he wanted to surprise

Photo by Agnella Gross

me. Going into the game I just wanted to get it out of the way.”

DelRosario was a member of a high school team that won back to back state championships and believed that the transition from high school to college basketball was an easy one.

“The transition from high school to college was easy for me because in high school the game slows down, in college the game is very fast, making things easier for me,” said DelRosario.

In high school he wasn’t much of a scorer, he focused on getting everyone else on his team involved.

Once he made the transition to college, he became more of a scoring threat.

As a freshman, Ruben played at Holyoke Community College and was often the leading scorer for his team, but would always be sure to make sure he got his teammates involved.

“I’m more of a whatever the team needs type of guy. I can score, but if the team needs me to defend the opponent’s best player, I’ll defend the other team’s best player. Whatever it takes to win,” said DelRo-

sario.

DelRosario was a senior captain for the 2014-2015 season and was a starter for two of his three seasons at MCLA. He finished his MCLA career averaging 8.2 points a game while shooting 44 percent from the field and averaged 2.2 assists a game.

“I think I was put into a good situation,” said DelRosario. “For me to leave behind a 1,000 point legacy, top ten all time in assists, top ten all time in steals, it’s just surreal for me, I’m blessed to be in this situation… I’d definitely give up 1,000 points for a conference championship though, that is a dream of mine.”

DelRosario knows that a lot of work goes into becoming a good player but he still sees it as fun more than anything.

“I don’t look at it as a job, I don’t look at it as work, I just go out on

Orlando Sentinel KRT Campus

It might be a good idea if Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski gives FSU football coach Jimbo Fisher a call on how to handle the damage control.

Sadly, it seems that the venerable Coach K is about to enter the Jameis Winston zone when comes to accusations of sexual assault against one of his players.

According to a report, published Monday in the Chronicle _ the Duke student newspaper _ former Blue Devil player Rasheed Sulaimon was accused of sexual assault by two female students, who didn’t go police or file a complaint with Duke’s Office of Student Conduct.

Sulaimon became the first player ever dismissed by Krzyzewski at Duke _ 10 months after sources told the Chronicle that Krzyzews-

ki and others were made aware of sexual assault allegations against Sulaimon during 2013-14 academic year.

The Chronicle story seems to suggest that Krzyzewski dismissed Sulaimon only when it became apparent that the accusations were going to become public.

Krzyzewski was asked multiple times Monday during an ACC teleconference if he knew about the sexual allegations against Sulaimon and each time responded, “I don’t have any comment on that.”

The university released a statement Monday, saying: “Duke is prohibited by law from disclosing publicly any particular student’s confidential education records,” the statement said. “The university takes immediate action when it receives reports of alleged sexual misconduct or other violations of the student conduct code, which

includes investigation and referral to the Student Conduct Office for review in a timely manner as required by law. Duke also takes every possible action internally to ensure anyone who raises a complaint of sexual misconduct is supported and the campus community is safe.”

It will be interesting to see how the national media _ the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, etc. _ handle these allegations that involve a revered icon and the winningest coach in college basketball history. Will the media go after this story as aggressively as it went after FSU during the Jameis Winston investigation?

Read the Chronicle piece yourself right here and tell me what you think. The story, at least in my opinion, makes it appear as if school officials and coaches knew about allegations of sexual assault and didn’t react until they

Baseball MCLA vs SUNY-IT @ Winter Haven, FL 1:30 pm MCLA vs SUNY-IT @ Winter Haven, FL 4 pm Saturday, March 14 Softball MCLA vs Smith @ Clermont, FL 9 am MCLA vs U. of New England @ Clermont, FL 11 am Sunday, March 15 Softball MCLA vs Southern Maine @ Winter Garden, FL 9 am MCLA vs Lesley @ Winter Garden, FL 11 am Baseball MCLA vs Lesley @ Auburndale, FL 3:30 pm MCLA vs Lesley @ Auburndale, FL 6 pm Tuesday, March 17

Photo from MCLA Athletics

the court and have fun,” said DelRosario.

Ruben isn’t sure if he wants to continue playing basketball as he has a few opportunities including an invite to a combine and it will be interesting to see if he can build off the legacy he has put together at MCLA.

Duke under fire for misconduct

By Mike Bianchi

Friday, March 13

thought a former employee might go public with the accusations.

Hopefully, this is not the case.

Anybody _ whether it’s a coach, an administrator or just a random person on the street _ should always report a potential sexual assault to authorities whenever they first hear about it.

Anything less is irresponsible and unacceptable.

As FSU fans well know, the reason the Seminoles are being investigated by the federal government about the allegations against Winston is because there are many legitimate questions about whether the university did its due diligence in investigating the matter in a timely manner.

Even if the alleged crime is not reported to the police, universities are federally mandated by Title IX to look into any accusations or indications of sexual assault involving its students.

Softball MCLA vs Endicott @ Clermont, FL 9 am Baseball MCLA vs Bard @ Auburndale, FL 9: 15 am Softball MCLA vs Luther @ Clermont, FL 11 am Baseball MCLA vs Bard @ Auburndale, FL 11:30 am Lacrosse MCLA @ Mitchell 3:30 pm Wednesday, March 18 Baseball MCLA vs Utica @ Winter Haven, FL 9:30 am Softball MCLA vs UMass-Boston @ Clermont, FL 3 pm MCLA vs Western New England @ Clermont, FL 5 pm

10

Opinion

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Beacon.MCLA.edu

What are you looking forward most once Spring arrives?

“The nice warm weather.”

“Being able to sit outside and not worry about the snow anymore.”

-Abigail Hart, 2018

-Emily Young, 2018

The Beacon The Beacon is published Thursdays during the academic year and is distributed free to the College’s community. The Beacon is funded by the Student Government Association, the English/Communications department, and ad revenues. Single copies are free, additional copies may be purchased at 50 cents each.

Contact information: News desk number: 413-662-5535 Business number: 413-662-5404 Email: Beacon@mcla.edu Web site: beacon.mcla.edu Office: Mark Hopkins Hall, room 111

“Debuting my t-shirt line “House of Geon” in the Spring FSO fashion show, and working on releasing music. I’m also looking forward to going to China for Spring Break.”

Mission Statement The Beacon strives to provide timely and accurate news of campus and local events.

“Nice weather, I’ll actually be looking forward to walking to class. I’ll definitely be spending more time outside.”

Editorials Policy Unsigned editorials that appear on these pages reflect the views of The Beacon’s editorial board.

-Jacob Kennedy, 2018

Signed columns and commentaries that appear on these pages reflect the views of the writers.

-Giovani Dulcio, 2016

Letters Policy The Beacon welcomes Letters to the Editor. Deadline is noon on Mondays for that week’s newspaper.

“Flowers.”

“My best friend Julie Cascarano’s birthday- it’s always a good time.”

-Maxwell Teplansky, 2018

-Sara Melendez, 2017

Photos compiled by Isabel McKenzie Health & Fitness

Bigger than biceps The social media motivation movement

By Makayla-Courtney McGeeney Managing Editor

If you’re on Instagram then I’m sure you’ve seen several #transformationtuesday pictures of high school buddies who dropped weight. Great, that’s awesome.

Usually the post begins with “I usually don’t post stuff like this but…” and then you feel happy for them so you show some love.

Is putting your progress or snippets of it on social media a positive or a negative thing? Whatever happened to journal entries and manually writing down what you ate for every meal then reviewing patterns of good or bad habits?

All of this change happened right before our eyes and we didn’t even flinch. Why? because we’re always tuned in anyway. We’re all on our phones, tablets and computers 24/7 looking at whatever we look at and when a few half naked muscle bodies or yoga poses pop up, we never thought twice but ‘wow how do I do that?’

I sometimes see this new movement as a silly thing because on Facebook there are 50 or 60 year olds posting that they’re at the gym, which is awesome. But after interviewing a 28 year old the other day on fitness trends, she said her and her friends are moving away from publicizing everything

because they’re having kids and doing grown up stuff and that’s not cool anymore. But then… the 50 and 60 year olds’ kids have moved out and their bored so why not better their health and let the world know?

These stages are funny to me because no matter how it’s looked at, publicizing progress is just another form of support and what message boards used to be. Whether the person posting is looking for attention or not, they’re damn proud of their 2-pack abs and they want everyone to appreciate that.

By announcing achievements, that person receives a psychological satisfaction and is more likely to continue to advance. They first had to gain the confidence to post something in the first place, so why not follow through? Confidence can’t always be faked.

When does the progress posting go too far? Well, when every single picture and status is you flexing your bicep. Unless of course, you claim to be a part of the Instagram fitness community, in which that’s what every fit person does on there, along with funny meme’s about not being able to walk after leg day.

It’s not awful to publicize your healthy trends, but don’t overload people’s feed because that’s annoying and not what social networking is for.

In the end, you’re going to end up just giving other people advice and come off sounding too cocky because their way is the wrong way and you do everything perfectly! I’ve been working out forever and my form still sucks, so don’t be a hot head!

Art & Politics

Notes on Unknown Places

Back to the USSR

By Shirin Hijab

Arts & Entertainment Editor Some places on earth seem to be forgotten, at least their histories or what happened there. What can we say happened in Abkhazia? Over the years since the fall of the USSR, there have been many conflicts and ethnic tensions between Georgia and Abkhazia, the first being an actual country that claims the second as its own. It’s in a similar situation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and both are ironically suffering the long-term effects of imperialism; in Abkhazia’s case, it is Russia’s endless search for resources and unity within its subjects.

The Georgian film “In Bloom” lightly touches on this conflict.

The film is set in 1992 and the intensification of the conflict hasn’t really started but the ethnic hatred is extremely palpable. This isn’t the focus of the film though; two young women become friends and one of them leaves school to marry a man, it seems, because he asks her to. He, Kote (Zurab Gogaladze), originally gives her, Eka (Lika Babluani), a gun for her own protection. One of the most fascinating qualities of this film is that this gun, though it shows up several more times in the film, is never used.

Eka’s friend, Natia (Mariam Bokeria), tries to convince her

not to marry Kote and sees the first dangerous signs of obsession, jealousy, and control. Kote eventually kills a man who Eka barely knew, and this crime born from jealousy, born from sexism, brings what would’ve been a moderately survivable existence to something neither of the women can cope with.

The film is shot in the beautiful, innovative style of the Romanian New Wave with cinematographer Oleg Mutu using his trademark bleak, ghostly, but crisp imagery as seen in “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days” or “Beyond the Hills.” His cinematography has made films with very simple stories masterpieces, to put it mildly.

It’s easy to imagine where the film goes and ends but that’s not the point; the film now has me thinking more and more about Georgia and where the postSoviet conflicts are going and what this means for the cinemas of Central and West Asia where some of the ex-Soviet territories remain in a postcolonial state of trauma.

Still, as things change or stagnate in the post-Soviet era, there’s a great deal that we don’t know. It’s easy to generalize; but that doesn’t help us or the things or people we’re generalizing about. The Abkhaz-Georgia conflict still goes on and the ethnic hatred makes absolutely no sense. It seems, depressing that all we can do is learn the history. But history won’t help the dead and the unhappy living.

And in this film, there are many people living in unhappy conditions. There need to be more films like this, exploring the history deeper until we find some meaningful for understanding.

Letters should be kept to 500 words or less and are subject to editing for grammar and content. The Beacon will not publish anonymous or libelous letters.

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Check it Out!

Upcoming events on campus

Today, March 5 Anime Club Bake Sale Marketplace 1-5 p.m.

Green Living Seminar MurdockFitzpatrick 4:15-7 p.m.

Pennie for Patients Marketplace 5-7 p.m.

What Would You Do? CC 324A 7-9 p.m.

Friday, March 6 International Women’s Day Tabling Marketplace 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

SAC Meeting CC 324A 3:15-4 p.m.

Anime Club Bake Sale Marketplace 1-5 p.m.

Saturday, March 7 Anime Club Swap Meet Sullivan Lounge 1-4 p.m.

Saturday Night Chat Sullivan Lounge 7-9 p.m.

SAC Release Party Marketplace 7-10 p.m.

Sunday, March 8 Get Connected Murdock 203 1-4 p.m.

Intramurals 6-11:30 p.m.

11 High snow creates

Opinion

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Beacon.MCLA.edu

MASS PIRG:Taking Back Textbooks Dear Editor:

I am writing on behalf of MASSPIRG here at MCLA, and I would like to spread the word on our lead campaign this semester: Taking Back Textbooks. Our goal is to get as many people as possible across the state informed about costly textbook alternatives.

According to College Board, students spend an outrageous $1,200 per year on books and related course materials. This is due to textbook costs increasing over 4x the rate of inflation during the past 20 years. As a student here at MCLA, I know firsthand how

stressful it is when it comes time to purchase books each semester, and that is why I am pushing for MCLA to embrace open textbooks. Open textbooks are free to view online and hard copies cost just $20-40. The best part is that there are open textbooks already available for most classes to switch over to by next semester.

I was pleasantly surprised that my science class this semester had embraced an open textbook, making it the only class I did not have to spend money on materials.

MASSPIRG students at MCLA welcome anyone who is interested

in open textbooks to reach out to us via our Facebook page: www. facebook.com/mclamasspirg, tabling events, or me directly through office 365 to learn how you can get involved to start the open textbook revolution here at MCLA! Sincerely, David Robert Business Student MCLA Class of ‘16

Editorial

Next president needs motivation, stamina The new president of MCLA will be announced tonight at 5 p.m. in Murdock 218, which has prompted a campus-wide discussion of each applicant and his or her qualifications.

The Beacon staff favors two candidates, Dr. Paula Krebs and Dr. Jane McBride-Gates, based on the Q&A sessions held over the last few weeks.

Krebs spoke about her 20-year experience at Wheaton College, which showed commitment and devotion toward her position, but failed to provide more insight about what she will give back to the MCLA community if elected president.

However, Krebs has a background in English, a popular department on campus, and those skills could help strengthen Communications at the College.

Gates also spoke passionately about her experiences at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) where she served as Provost, and expressed interest in pursuing sponsors and donations for MCLA

through big business. This shows strong initiative in a new position, though it may be difficult for her to adapt to MCLA’s close-knit community.

Dr. Greg Summers, the third candidate, also comes from a large school, but did not give a great description of his background, nor any reasons why his experience would make him an adequate choice.

Despite who is chosen, the Beacon staff hopes MCLA’s new president is thinking long-term and will want to be part of this community for a while.

The person elected should reach out to the campus and surrounding area, and it is important that he or she is progressive and forward-thinking. There’s no place for old-fashioned attitudes and approaches at this school. The student body is very diverse, and we all strive for positive change and progress.

While each candidate may have a different vision, it is essential to have the motivation and stamina to continue improving the characteristics and reputation of the College.

Students unsatisfied with Aramark’s agenda To the Editor: A lot of students including myself have been complaining about the quality of Aramark’s food. I understand that Aramark has an agenda they must follow, but it is still unfair for students who pay over $2,000 for the meal plan to not be provided with satisfying food. We deserve to get our money’s worth.

The in-state tuition, board and fees at MCLA is over $20,000 and there are about 1,250 full-time students that go here. This means MCLA makes over $25 million a year. I do not believe that money

is an issue at MCLA, but it is, perhaps, the unwillingness to change their agenda. I understand change can be scary and difficult at times, but in order to increase students’ satisfaction at MCLA and improve the school’s reputation, change is necessary.

The only issue at this school is the quality of the food. Aramark does not provide kosher meat for Jews or halal meat for Muslims. There are not enough varieties of fruits, vegetables, cereals, ice creams, soups, breads, sweets, pastas and the sauces that go along with it.

The recipes that Aramark uses are just too plain and lack flavor.

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I understand that Aramark might not be able to modify its agenda completely because of the cost or whatever the reason may be.

I would suggest that Aramark change or improve the recipes with foods that have more variety and flavor to them. If that is too much to ask for then at least give the students the option to pay for the meal plan instead of being forced to. I believe this endeavor to make a change would make this school that much better.

Yunus Umarov Class of 2017

driving dangers Dear Editor,

The parking lot for commuters outside of Murdock Hall at the College is a danger to exit. When leaving the parking lot, whether you’re turning left or right, you cannot see past the cars parked on the side of the road. In the past the College had removed parking spots close to the exit to improve visibility. It was helpful, but unfortunately it was not enough.

Parking is scarce as it is around MCLA, so I do not believe that the college should eliminate more parking. My solution is to put a traffic mirror across from the exit.

This would allow drivers to clearly see the up road, and safely exit from the parking lot. The costs of such a mirror are much less than the medical expenses and automotive repairs as a result of an accident.

In the winter, with high snow banks and low visibility, it is especially dangerous because you cannot see until you are already into traffic. If that weren’t enough reason, if the roads are slick as a result of snow or ice an approaching vehicle will not be able to stop in time. Don’t wait until there is an accident to take action. Please, fix this problem now.

Nathan Carter

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FINANCIAL AID ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Summer Financial Aid Applications are now available at the Financial Aid Office Stop by and see if you may have eligibility for aid ****************** Scholarship opportunity: MassMutual Scholars Program www.massmutual.scholarsapply.org March 31st deadline

12

Thursday, march 5, 2015

Photo Essay

Freshmen Rachel Cronin and Jessica Sawicki look on as two of the smaller puppies touch noses.

Beacon.MCLA.edu

Photos by Osakpolo Igiede

Paige Brosofsky, ‘17, holds a cat and it tries to escape.

Sam O’Brien ‘16 smiles with her new friend Snowflake.

Sponsored by SAC Sara Peck, ‘17, cuddles with one of the smaller puppies.

Julie Cascarano takes a quick selfie with her new friend.

Khalill Dancy ,‘16, rocks a baby bunny.

B A R N B A B I E S