INSIDE Students Protest Trump
Volume 84, Issue 2
ESTaBLISHED 1979
More surveys to come
MCLA’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER February 9, 2017
Page 3
"SURVEYS ARE NOT ENOUGH"
By Nick Tardive @Nick_Tardive Senior News Editor MCLA released its diversity survey Monday, Jan. 30, via e-mail to students, faculty and staff on campus. The survey came as a culmination of the work of the College’s Diversity Task Force, an entity that was met on campus with tepid reactions by marginalized groups meant to be the Task Force’s audience. Despite lackluster reactions to the Task Force and the survey’s announcement, however, administrators at the College are expecting it to be the first of many “over the years”. It is meant to be the way to take the campus’s temperature regarding inclusiveness and equality, both at MCLA and in the city of North Adams. “We’re taking the pulse of how people feel, how supportive and inclusive this institution is.” said Catherine Holbrook, vice president of Student Affairs. When asked why the survey itself was aimed at the whole campus on an individual basis, if the survey was meant to identify which demographics on campus felt marginalized and why, Holbrook explained that an end goal of the College’s is to help educate ev-
SURVEYS, Page 4 PHOTO BY SAM KNISKERN — BWN PRODUCER
OFF CAMPUS
Shaun KING AT Williams The Young Turk preached patience, determination By Nick Tardive @Nick_Tardive Senior News Editor Shaun King spent a night preaching the values of patience on social justice, addressing not just the crowd gathered at the main stage of Williams College’s ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance, but the overflow crowds all across the campus as well. The most important lesson King wanted the audience to take away last Thursday was the speed of social movements. King promised that the election of Trump was not a reversal in progress, but just a slowing of its motion. “The election of Donald Trump didn’t make sense to us because we all thought human progress was linear,” King said. “But it’s not linear. It’s like a roller coaster, with peaks and valleys. And right now we’re in a dip in the quality of humanity, a historic low on metric after metric. But it’s a dip we can work our way out of.”
KING, Page 4
Repurposed surveys as seen in the science center. They were later moved to the campus center by Celia Norcross. By Mitchell Chapman @mitchapman Editor-in-Chief Last Thursday, the science and campus centers were decorated with copies of the Strategic Planning and Student Survey, adorned with phrases such as “We exist we matter” and “Respect existence or expect resistance.” By the morning, they were moved to the second floor of the campus center by Director of Student Development Celia Norcross. The outrage was a result of 85 percent of the survey takers being listed as Caucasian, with the remaining 15 percent being unlisted, which some saw as failing to acknowledge the existence of the race of the remaining 15 percent. “The survey results were the last straw,” sophomore Don’Jea Smith said. Accord-
ing to Smith, the idea for the re-purposing of the survey results came over a lunch and were a result of long term dissatisfaction with the execution of the school’s diversity initiatives. “This is not new anger,” she said. “Once again, I feel like I’m not represented.” On the administrative side of things, the repurposed surveys presented a conundrum. Catherine Holbrook, the vice president of student affairs, did not want to silent these student voices, even though the repurposed surveys broke school policy. “I tried not to look at it as ‘they’re posting where they’re not supposed to,’ but that this is a group of people who feel like they’re not being heard,” Holbrook said. “I tried not to be a policy hound. Often times, policy is the last thing students think about.”
PHOTO BY ZACH BENJAMIN
The MCLA sign is plastered with papers. At the time of press, The Beacon was not able to confirm if this was related to the survey protest. And thus Norcross went to work, removing easily over a hundred surveys to place them on banners and in spaces allocated for club and organization announcements on the second floor of the campus cen-
ter. According to Norcross, it took over two hours of work. “Some were up where the fire martial deemed inappropriate, such as windows,” Norcross said. “Some were
PROTEST, Page 3
RENOVATION
Campus pool replacement to strengthen athletic training major By Reagan Smith Staff Writer After a majority vote in an SGA open forum last September, the Amsler Campus Center pool is expected to be replaced with a larger fitness center and classrooms for the College’s athletic
training (AT) program. Administration’s renovation plan includes repurposing several rooms in the back of the campus center and filling in the pool. According to Adam Sams, chair of SGA Public Relations, the walls overlooking the pool will be re-
placed with glass for the new AT lab. “With the pool filled in, they can move the fitness center down to the pool level,” Sams said. “Maybe [renovations can] include a walking track above that, budget allowing.”
He added: “Doing this will free up two rooms upstairs—down the hall from the Sullivan Lounge, the one AT lab, and the current fitness center location.” Lawrence Behan, vice president of Administration and Finance, and Catherine Holbrook,
vice president of Student Affairs, are still waiting for the results of a feasibility study done by architectural and engineering firms. The study will determine when specific aspects of the renovation plan can be put into action.
TRAINING, Page 2