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Volume 83 ◆ Issue 8
Th u r s d ay, N o v e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 1 6
Inside
Don’t panic . . . mostly harmless?
Claims of “gag order” Earlier this semester, The Beacon reported that former Vice President of Institutional Advancement Mary Hastings resigned from her position. According to Hastings, this was not the case. By Harmony Birch Editor-in-Chief
On Oct. 6, the Beacon reported that Mary Hastings resigned from her position to “explore other opportunities.” Hastings, however tells another story. She claims she was fired by President Birge for refusing to terminate five of her employees, and says she was offered a “gag order” by the College in place of severance pay. Bernadette Alden, director of marketing and communications, stated that the college does not comment on personnel matters on behalf of President Birge and Richardello. Information regarding Hastings’ resignation was given by Barbra Chaput, director of Human Resources and Denise Richardello, executive vice president of the College. The settlement agreement Hastings received would have
allowed her to resign and offered her a “neutral reference.” It also came with money. While Hastings would not disclose the dollar amount she said it would be distributed throughout a period of time. “It was a phenomenal amount of money for that team to have to raise,” she said. “If we would have gotten a check [in the office] for that we would have been really happy, so that’s inappropriate unto itself.” The agreement banned Hastings from speaking with current students, alumni, faculty, staff and members from the three college boards. She said it would have made staying in North Adams impossible because she’d be running into people all the time that she wouldn’t be able to speak to. “You could have offered me millions and I wouldn’t have taken a gag like that because you’d violate it all the time, and you’d be in court,” Hastings said.
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According to Hastings, she was alledgedly told to fire five out of eight advancement staff members during the beginning of fundraising season. She refused. Mitch Greenwald, Hastings’ lawyer, said he thought the money wasn’t enough for what the College was asking from Hastings. “I don’t consider it a lot of money in the context,” Greenwald said. “You hear about people getting fired when they deserve
to be fired and getting golden parachutes. This wasn’t even in the ballpark.” He stated it was a little over what would be a month’s pay for Hastings. Hastings was contracted for a $141,000 salary annual rate according to opencheckbook. com, so she would have made
roughly $11,075 a month. The Advancement and Alumni Relations office has eight staff members. At the Advancement office they oversee all information for “the foundation,” the College’s 501 (c)(3) private nonprofit organization. They also shuttle in all donations to the College, and work with the Alumni board, write all grants received by the College, and put on lectures such as the Hardman Lecture series. Among faculty members, the Advancement office is best known for the money it brings in that directly supports student scholarship aid. “The foundation has over the years done exceptionally good work and the number of things that they are able to subsidize primarily for students is tremendous,” psychology professor Deb Foss said. MARY HASTINGS Continued on page 8
A conversation with Stephin Merritt By Jon Hoel A & E Editor
I first heard the Magnetic Fields seven years ago when their albums began situating themselves into my life as important emotional landmarks. Frontman Stephin Merritt has been called one of the greatest American songwriters, a master of his craft, along the lines of a Cole Porter or George Gershwin. The Magnetic Fields have been making delightfully morose, humorous and heartfelt pop records since 1991. Their early records were lauded among the college radio crowd, with the single “100,000 Fireflies” becoming a modest hit in 1991, but they didn’t see any major success until 1999 and the release of sixth studio album “69 Love Songs”, which
received universal acclaim, subsequently cited by many as one of the greatest albums of all time. It’s now been four years since their last record, “Love at the Bottom of the Sea” and they are back—with a new colossal triple-album called “50 Song Memoir” which will drop early next year. Following a two week residency, the Magnetic Fields will be performing the new album, for the first time, over two nights at MASS MoCA next weekend, Friday and Saturday night. I sat down to talk with Merritt at a rehearsal space in MoCA: The Beacon: In addition to the performances you are conducting a residency
here at MoCA. I saw you here play last fall with Sam Davol, the PR folks said you enjoyed it so much you wanted to come back for the residency. Why did you choose to do the residency here in North Adams? Merritt: Because it’s not New York. [North Adams] is actually closer to my house than New York is. There’s so much space, we can put the set together in the actual concert hall while putting out gigantic setup here, the instruments and gadgets. Basically, there’s two stages worth. It’s like being in an opera house. Magnetic Fields Continued on Page 7
Photo by Casear Padilla, Mass MoCA
Stephin Merrit is the leader of four bands, has composed film soundtracks, musical theater, and penned a book of poetry.