Spring 17 Issue 3

INSIDE Food Contract Renewal

Volume 84, Issue 3

ESTaBLISHED 1979

MCLA’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER February 16, 2017

Page 3

THE SGA SPECIAL ELECTION RESULTS ARE IN

By Mitchell Chapman @mitchapman Editor-in-Chief The SGA elected eight new members last Wednesday night. Of the most notable, former “Be Great” SGA Presidential candidates Avery Woodbury and A.J. Cote were elected to the SGA Senate. “’Be Great’ is planning a big come back,” Cote said. “We have no plans for SGA, just running as individuals wanting to represent student voices that aren’t being heard.

“Be Great” remains to be an organization, not affiliated with the

school, that focuses on poverty alleviation. Cote and Woodbury’s political involvement are unrelated to their organization, or their past presidential and student trustee bids.

LaJuan Allen, the new Senator, plans on representing the campus as best he can.

“I plan on getting to know whats important to the students on this campus, and what I can do as a member of SGA to improve the lives of students on campus,” he said. “My goals for the future include involving SGA more within the student body, creating assem-

blies in which we update the student body in person about upcoming plans, and potentially having a student vote on an issue that other wise would have been in the hands of SGA.” Every candidate who ran got elected. No write-in candidates ran. Nine SGA positions remain unfilled, which will continue to put a strain on student government going forward.

“When needed, roles will be carried out by other members,” SGA President Tim Williams said. “Not every spot was filled but we have some really great new Senator-

elects and Class Officer-elects.”

The four new Senators-at-Large in particular will see a lot of work in the coming weeks.

“The Senator-elects will have their hands full as soon as they are sworn in because we will have our open forum to discuss the events of the past two weeks and how we as a community can grow to address these concerns,” Williams said.

“We’re going to be having nearly the entire College administration listening to Student concerns.”

The focus on open forum comes amid protests concerning diversity and representation.

AFTER THE STORM

Senate Seats At-Large: LaJuan Allen, Fabienne Borgardus-Street, Anthony Cote, Avery Woodbury.

Athlete Seat: Alyssa Keegan Commuter Seat: Celine Manigbas

Class Office

At-Large: Kaitlyn Berghela Class of 2020 Secretary: Emma Berkowitz 9 seats remain empty

STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

continuing college diversity conversation

By Reagan Smith Staff Writer

PHOTO BY EMILY GABERT— FEATURES EDITOR

The campus is blanketed in a thick layer of snow. So far this semester, there have been two delays and one snow day. See Photo Essay, page 12.

President Birge and administration met with a handful of students Wednesday afternoon to cover the Strategic Planning Committee’s collaboration with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) task force on meeting all of MCLA students’ needs.

Director of Admissions Gina Puc and Associate Dean Adrian Wootters prepared a slideshow with Consultant Linda Camparella to inform students on their long-term plan to create a fully inclusive campus. However, attending students expressed their displeasure with the current lack of inclusiveness and the results of the DEI survey that was sent via email.

“How do we get to a point where we don’t have to tap you on the shoulder and say, ‘you wronged us,’ how do we get to a point of not having to tell you,” sophomore Dee Davis said to Puc and Wootters.

Senior Bryanna Bradley and Davis gave administration suggestions on how to increase diversity and inclusivity at the

DIVERSITY, Page 4

Joanna Slater on refugees, shared humanity Conservatives on campus:

By Nick Tardive @Nick_Tardive Senior News Editor

Almost 70 students, faculty and members of the North Adams community piled into Murdock 218 Wednesday, Feb. 8 to hear Joanna Slater, foreign correspondent for the Canadian based Globe and Mail, discuss the world’s ongoing refugee crisis.

The talk, called “On the Refugee Trail,” described a crisis that is misunderstood or misrepresented in the United States today. Refugees are often lumped into a generalized category, Slater explained,

and few people take the time to see them as people trying to survive. Using a combination of statistics and the human element, Slater tried to paint a better picture of what refugees go through when emigrating or seeking amnesty abroad.

“This isn’t just a policy issue. This is a human issue,” Slater said.

Slater compared America’s record on admitting refugees, pointing out that the United States has played a “marginal role” in the accepting of refugees compared to other countries around the world. Since 2015, the US

censorship, adversity

By Mitchell Chapman @mitchapman Editor-in-Chief

PHOTO BY EMILY GABERT

Slater speaking in Murdock Hall. has taken in 18,000 Syrian refugees, compared to Canada’s 40,000 and Germany’s 420,000.

A chart up on screen provided the audience

with a view of the two major routes that Syrian refugees take to Germany.

Often refugees move from Syria, up through Turkey

SLATER, Page 3

Two isolated incidents and one still ongoing have plagued conservatives on campus so far this semester, amid a Trump presidency and the backlash that caused.

According to College Republican Chair Kaitlin Wright, there has been an instance of a conservative receiving a death threat and one instance of a College Republican club member being cyber-bullied, all while her club’s SGA-approved fliers are routinely torn down.

The death threat, Wright alleged, came after a conservative student on campus, who was not a member of the College Republicans club on campus, wore Trump memorabilia. The student was approached by another student who inquired if they were a serious Trump supporter, after which they where told “You should go kill yourself because you have no place being here.”

ADVERSITY, Page 2

2

February 16, 2017

CAMPUS NEWS

SGA: open forum brings up accountability, action

By Nick Tardive @Nick_Tardive Senior News Editor A full gallery of students gathered for SGA’s open forum on diversity, inclusiveness and equality for two hours Monday night.

Multiple administrators made the trip out to field questions from representatives and spectators alike.

President James Birge, Catherine Holbrook, vice president of Student Affairs, Cathy Brown, vice president of Student Affairs, Dan Colonno, director of Public Safety, and Michael Obasohan, interim assistant director of Multicultural Education Resource Center.

Topics of conversation ranged from having a better system of holding campus police and professors accountable in regards to racial profiling and the ignoring of pronouns, the College’s poor handling of student disability, maintaining an open dialogue across the campus about oppression and pressuring MCLA administrators into taking action without waiting for data collected through a long list of surveys.

When asked by Senator Jake Vitali what MCLA was doing in regards

Beyond the Beacon Brief from Tribune Washington Bureau

Investigation into Trump, Russia ties WASHINGTON - Republican senators called Tuesday for

ADVERSITY From Page 1

“This is frustrating, because this is supposed to be an all-inclusive place,” Joe Bellas, College Republicans executive director, said.

“This is both frustrating and disturbing. No one should be told to go kill themselves.”

The cyber-bullying incident came after a College Republican club member posted to social media how he as a conservative male felt “oppressed.” The post contained strong language. Wright admitted, “He could have articulated his comments better.” However, soon after, it circulated over social media in which the club member became the subject of ad hominem attacks. The club member was even told to transfer from MCLA by fellow students.

As per fliers, Wright expressed her concern for the routine censorship. Wright, who is also the president of Debate Club, knew something was off when her Debate Club materials would consistently be hung, but her College Republican materials would

to admissions initiatives to increase diversity on campus, Birge admitted that the Admissions department was looking into new markets for recruitment - including what he referred to as more “urban environments”.

“This isn’t a conversation about numbers,” Birge said. “How do we position ourselves so people learn that we are diverse and inclusive?”

SGA President Tim Williams posed a question about whether MCLA was looking to other schools for ideas on how to initiate programs aimed toward increasing diversity and equality on campus, pointing to the possibility of the school adding a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) that the school seems willing to adopt.

Birge did not answer the question beyond doubling down on the College’s commitment to hiring a CDO. Students were concerned however that their message was going over the heads of the administrators. Junior Dirk Correia suggested mandatory training for faculty, staff and administrators to teach them on how to handle students whose identities are not in line what they’re familiar with. The generational gap between the student population and the employees of MCLA was a topic brought up multiple times as a point of division at the College.

Victoria Rodriguez made the point that it is not the job of students

to educate professors who have offended students.

“This needs to become a place where our voices can be heard,” Rodriguez said. “It’s the professor’s job to have open ears.”

A conversation was sparked regarding the avenues students can take to receive restitution in case they feel offended and oppressed, in class or in general. Birge said he “feels” as though students have the ability to do that. Senate Secretary Rebecca Godbout offered anecdotal evidence about a student she pointed in the direction of Monica Joslin.

Joslin helped the student, who was eventually pulled from the class.

Senator Adazae Shepherd-Edwards echoed Rodriguez, saying that it is the role of the students to address an issue on campus, but not to fix it.

“Even if one student got removed from class, that professor is still teaching, still making people uncomfortable,” Shepherd-Edwards said. Brown said that the goal of the administration was to make sure students are always going to faculty, staff, etc. when they feel uncomfortable. Correia, however, pointed out that what he had meant when suggesting mandatory training was not to make sure students had a place to go if they felt uncomfortable, but as a way to make sure that never happens in the first place.

SGA President Tim WIlliams adresses the open forum.

Vitali suggested adding non-bi“I want to feel safe when the nary gender pronouns to freshman police are around,” Allen said, First Days and First Year Experience “but when I see the guy, every events. Newly inaugurated Senator time I see him, chief, my heart LaJuan Allen quickly turned into sinks. There’s a lot that you guys one of the most vocal members of have to work on, and the first SGA during the meeting. He sug- step is acknowledging the probgested taking a page out UMass lem.”

Dartmouth’s book and flying the Allen and Vitali both exBlack Lives Matter and Pride flags pressed desire to work with Colalongside the United States flag to onno and public safety in order promote equality, as well as estab- to achieve this goal. lishing a Student Resource Center in “The accountability will start order to help bridge the gap between with me in public safety,” Colstudents and administrators. onno said. “I want you to feel His most poignant moment was comfortable with me.” when he discussed being racially The discussion went on for profiled by a member of campus about two hours before being tasafety, and now being unable to bled for next week, as SGA had furlook the man in the eye. ther matters to go over.

a full and open investigation into President Donald Trump’s connections to Russia, a startling crack in party unity as the White House rushed to regroup after the departure of national security adviser Michael Flynn over his admission that he misled administration officials about his contacts with a Russian diplomat.

“We should look into it exhaustively so that at the end of

this process nobody wonders whether there was a stone left unturned, and shouldn’t reach conclusions before you have the information that you need to have to make those conclusions,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of the Senate intelligence committee and vice chairman of the Senate Republican conference.

He demanded to know whether Flynn was acting on

his own or directed by others.

But Flynn’s resignation late Monday only served to ramp up questions about Russia’s influence on Trump and his administration, particularly given the White House’s refusal to act on mounting evidence Flynn had misled officials about conversations with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Democratic lawmakers called for Flynn to testify on the matter;

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has pushed for a 9/11-style panel to investigate Russia’s role in the election.

Flynn’s trouble began last month with reports that he had discussed impending U.S. sanctions with Kislyak before Trump took office, a breach of protocol that also raised questions about whether he violated laws banning U.S. citizens from engaging in foreign policy.

be missing. Wright went to Celia Norcross, director of Student Development, who approves such materials, who concluded “someone tore them down.”

According to Wright, the College Republicans faced fierce opposition to get approved by the SGA in the first place, with the Club being ratified in the final SGA meeting of last year. According to Wright, some SGA Senators asked the Latin American Society (LAS), Queer Student Union (QSU) and Black Student Union (BSU) if their members would feel safe with a College Republicans club on campus, which Wright didn’t feel was necessary.

“The majority of our members are not with Trump,” Wright said. “The majority of our members are libertarians.”

Wright admits that a lot of the backlash has been tied to the College Republican name, as many have tied Republicans, and conservatives in general, to Trump. There is also a lot of backlash towards conservative rhetoric, as Wright admitted “During one of our meetings

we discussed how we can’t talk or we choose not to talk because we don’t want to start an argument.”

According to Wright and Bellas, club members have been shut down by professors and classmates when trying to express their views in class. Wright even walked out of class once due to

one such incident.

“It’s like back in the Republican primaries where Trump was being loud, making his points, while the more mellow candidates like Jeb Bush and John Kasich were forced into the background,” Bellas said. “That is how I feel. Everyone else is voicing their opinions

but we can’t voice ours.”

“We just want you to hear what we have to say,” Wright said. “A lot of people on campus preach tolerance, but they don’t practice what they preach.”

The College Republicans have only had two official meetings this semester.

PHOTO BY TRAMEL GRIFFITH

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CAMPUS NEWS

February 16, 2017

FOOD COMMITTEE

3

Controversial ARAMARK contract is up for renewal

By Hannah Snell Staff Writer

The College is currently renewing its contract with ARAMARK, which provides dining services to not only the Amsler Campus Center Centennial Room, but also Subway, the Trailblazer Cafe and the Provisions on Demand (P.O.D.) Market as well. The contract will be renewed at the end of this academic year.

“It is much more common for an institution to renew a vendor they have a relationship with rather than simply going out and finding another vendor, unless they have really horrendous violations of contract,” Catherine Holbrook, vice president of Student Affairs, said. “There are schools that will often go out to bid just to see if they can get a better financial deal.Those tend to be larger schools, though, they don’t tend to be schools with 900 people or less on a meal plan.”

According to an online, non-scientific survey conducted by The Beacon, the majority of the 95 student participants are either “unsatisfied” or “highly unsatisfied” with the overall quality and variety of food in the dining hall.

MCLA and ARAMARK: A “LongStanding Relationship” With their roots originating in

vending machine service, ARAMARK is a corporation that caters to students K-12, colleges and universities, hospitals, stadiums and correctional institutions. According to the Corporate Research Project, ARAMARK “has a track record filled with controversies over its contracting practices and its labor policies.” However, it is important to note that many of these reported incidents have happened within the correctional institutions that they cater to. Last semester, The Beacon also reported on concerns surrounding animal welfare policy within the corporation, which has worried students such as freshman Harrison Rutledge.

“I know there was something last semester about abuse with chickens on chicken farms with ARAMARK and that struck me a little bad,” Rutledge said while finishing dinner in the dining hall. While the corporation itself has been linked to such incidents, the majority survey participants are overall satisfied with the quality of service in the MCLA dining hall.

“I know some of the staff by name and what’s even better is that they know me by name. It’s a pretty welcoming staff,” Rutledge said. “If ARAMARK goes, I’d at least like to see them stay if they were able to. It’s always a plus having nice servers.”

Recently, the SGA has seen a revival

of one of their sub-groups, the Food Committee. At the forefront of the student-run and operated committee is Shannon Esposito, executive vice president of SGA. The Food Committee’s resurgence happened when a freshman student claimed to have found a maggot in her broccoli a few weeks ago. However, it has since been reported that what the student found was not a maggot, but rather a cabbage worm, which according to Esposito, are “indigenous” to broccoli.

“ARAMARK has really high standards of washing things and soaking things and everything like that,” Esposito said. “[The Food Committee] kind of wanted to address that situation and kind of teach the public of what to do if something were to happen like that.”

Despite the incident, Esposito has a positive outlook on what the contract renewal may hold for the future.

“The committee feels great about [the contract renewal],” she said. “We think that ARAMARK is the best decision for MCLA at this time and we think that with their plans for the upcoming years they are going to do even better than they are right now.”

Restructuring the Meal Plan Another topic students have mixed feelings on surrounding the College’s

decision to renew its contract with ARAMARK is the requirement that all residential students must purchase a meal plan for a minimum of three years. Freshman Jake Vitali, who has been vocal about restructuring the meal plan since elected a senator last semester, feels that the three-year requirement should either be abolished or amended.

“I’d really like to look at getting rid of that requirement. However, I think it ties into a greater discussion that needs to be had about RPS,” Vitali said.

“I think as you get older you want to have greater independence. . .I think really after sophomore year students have kind of found themselves, even after freshman year. . .I think there is a monetary reason for it, but I think in a way the College is maybe being a little overbearing on students.”

However, according to Holbrook, due to the residential nature of the College, the three-year requirement will most likely not change.

“You see the weather around here lately. We cannot have students living on-campus 24/7 and not have a meal plan. The townhouses have kitchens, but when the power goes out, what are you going to do?” Holbrook said.

“Hoosac Hall and Berkshire Towers do not have a guaranteed ability to go into a kitchen and cook a meal in the

time frame you want. So because we have a residency requirement, we have the meal requirement.”

Vitali also hopes that the College restructures their meal plans, making it more customizable for students by allowing adjustments to meal swipes, declining balance, and Blazer Bucks online.

“We live in a computer age. It really seems to me like this should be a very easy issue to address in terms of how we can make the meal plan customizable,” Vitali said. “Because I don’t think any student is using all of their swipes.

I’m sure if every student looked at their balance from last semester, they would have plenty leftover.”

Make Your Voice Heard Esposito also stressed the importance of students communicating what they need or want from ARAMARK via the Food Committee in order to make change, which Holbrook reports administration is in direct contact with.

“You can be unsatisfied until your face turns blue. Unless you specify what you want from ARAMARK, they can’t do anything,” Esposito said.

“I like to say the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. You could always add upon something instead of changing and starting from the beginning.”

SLATER: On refugees, shared humanity North

Adams could win $500K

From Page 1

and across the Mediterranean Sea to Greece, where they then move north through Hungary and into Germany.

Part of the journey includes perilous boat expeditions. Slater stated that around 3,000 people drowned during the trip in 2015. However, she also pointed out that the likelihood of being killed in Syria is higher than that of drowning. One refugee, who told her as much, said, “So I will cross the sea.”

“Sometimes I feel like the way it’s talked about in the policy arena, it’s like a faceless mask of people,” Slater said.

“Telling individual stories is an important way of reaffirming our common humanity.”

Slater talked about people and families that she met on the trail - people from all different walks of life but all with the same end-goal of getting away from their home to safety.

Khaled Alak was about to attend University in Aleppo when the city became a hot spot for rebel and terrorist activity. His travels found him stuck in Hungary when the country decided to halt the transportation of refugees throughout the country. When Alak finally made his way to Germany for re-settlement, he befriended an elderly German man named Max Saschowa.

The two became close, and when Alak was about to be transferred to another housing facility, was invited to stay with Saschowa and his family.

Basel, Osama and Zainelabedin Omran were three brothers who had to make the trip without their parents. At one point when crossing the Mediterranean, their boat sank. They were able to make it out alive, and the next boat they took crossed over into Greece.

Syed Karim Sharif, his wife Shabnam, and their two kids, Madeena and Imraan, were stuck in Hungary at the same time as Alak, spending their time sleeping on flat pieces of cardboard under the rail station. When it seemed as though their hardships were near an end, and were allowed on a train, they were elated. That train ended up being stopped by Hungarian police, and all refugees were forced off of it. Alak, instead of following orders like the Sharifs, fled into the woods with several friends.

Dr. David Cupery, who helped organize the event, found the addition of the human element to the subject of refugee migration to be refreshing.

Voting ends tonight PHOTO BY EMILY GABERT

Joanna Slater presents the stories of Syrian refugees looking for safety in Germany “In my work I look at the numbers a lot more,” Cupery said. “It’s easy to get detached from the humanity of it.”

Cupery explained that personal prejudices and biases can help people ignore statistics in a general sense. When confronted with the tale of individual, human experience, those situations can be harder to ignore.

Seniors Katie Hickey and Kate Rowell also found the talk to be refreshing, as the speaker had up-close observations and interactions with the subject.

“I thought it was pretty eye-opening,” Hickey said. “It was interesting to hear what it’s actually like [for refugees].”

Hickey was upset to hear how countries such as Hungary have attempted to resist the large influx of refugees in recent years. And she expressed concern that the United States is “becoming like that.”

Rowell explained that, even as a generally liberal person, Slater’s talk showed her why the refugee crisis is a much bigger issue than she had initially thought.

“I think it’s really striking to hear from someone who has a closer sense of what the reality was,” Rowell said.

In the question and answer portion of the talk, Slater was asked questions regarding President Trump’s Muslim Ban, and about President Obama’s halting of Iraqi refugees in 2011. The two, she said, were not the same “in any way.”

In 2011, two Iraqi refugees were convicted for taking part in terrorist attacks carried out in Iraq. As a response, the Obama administration immediately re-vetted refugees with-

in the United States, and ordered a “slow down” on issuing visas for several months. It was, as Slater called it, “a specific response to specific events.”

President Trump’s ban, however, is not like that.

“One of the main problems with the immigration ban is it does not respond to any, specific national security threat,” Slater said.

Immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries have been turned away, or deported, since the signing of the executive order on Jan. 30. President Trump claimed it to be an issue of national security.

However, no refugee from any of the seven countries on the list has ever carried out a terrorist attack on US soil. Not to mention, Islamist radicals who have carried out attacks in America, such as Omar Mateen (Pulse Nightclub Shooting), were born in the US. Rizwan Farook (San Bernardino) was also born in America, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik was born in Pakistan - a country not on the restricted list for Trump’s executive order.

Slater stated that she is appalled by President Trump’s treatment of Syrian refugees as “Trojan Horses” for terrorism, and the conflation that makes it seem as though all refugees are terrorists. She called Trump’s refugee rhetoric “dangerous and false.”

She suggested that the first step to solving the crisis itself was to “cut the fear” out of the equation, and work to solve the problem.

By Mitchell Chapman @mitchapman Editor-in-Chief North Adams was selected as a finalist to receive $500,000 to revamp Main St., courtesy of the Small Business Revolution.

Voting ends today at 9 p.m.

“The City is thrilled to be selected as a finalist for the Small Business Revolution,” Mayor Richard Alcombright said. “Just being in at this level will bring significant attention to North Adams but let me say that we are very much ‘in it to win it.’”

The money could bring new life to North Adams, which features small businesses such as Ramunto’s Pizza, the Korean Garden and Bright Ideas Brewery.

“We’re incredibly thrilled to be a finalist and now need the support of our friends all over the world to push us over the top,” City Council President Ben Lamb said in a statement. “Please vote every day! In addition to significant exposure provided by being profiled on the series, produced by Minnesota-based Deluxe, the winning town will receive $500,000 to support small business revitalization.”

North Adams has already survived staunch competition, being selected among eight semifinalists from an initial pool of 3,300 cities and towns. Now the pool has narrowed to five.

“Kudos to all responsible who have worked so hard on this exciting initiative and a big thank you to Deluxe Corporation for recognizing the many opportunities right here in the City,” Alcombright said. “I am so encouraged at the enthusiasm being shown by so many people both in the City and on the MCLA campus, who work every day to make North Adams an even better place to live, earn and learn.”

The Small Business Revolution is a competition hosted by the Deluxe Corporation. North Adams is competiting against Bristol Borough, Penn., Georgetown, S.C., Kingsburg, Calif., and Red Wing, Minn.

4

February 16, 2017

CAMPUS NEWS

ATM fees: Reducing the cost of college, one charge at a time

By Gianna Vigliatura Staff Writer The TD Bank ATM in the Amsler Campus Center was the source of a complaint made at an SGA meeting--specifically, the fees non-TD Bank users must pay to withdraw money from their accounts.

The person who brought up this issue with SGA, Jake Vitali, explained his reasons for doing so.

“College is expensive enough as it is,” he said. “Any student who wants to use a bank back home has to continuously pay this fee and I think that’s wrong. It adds up.”

Vitali himself uses a small credit union in his hometown, and dislikes that he must pay a fee whenever he needs to take cash out of his account.

DIVERSITY From Page 1

College. One suggestion Holbrook and others particularly took to was getting more students to take the DEI survey by distributing it to classes, similar to a professor performance review.

“It’s always tunnel vision to the future,” Bradley told Puc, Wootters and Camparella about the current miscommunications at MCLA. “What can we do to implement goals now?”

The lack of diversity in administration and faculty was also a large concern among students at the meeting.

Cathy Holbrook, vice president of Student Affairs, agreed on the importance of representation on an authoritative level.

She added that the College needs to have someone who’s involved with the DEI task force, faculty and in touch with the student body. Communication improvement on campus is in progress, according to Holbrook.

Puc assured Davis and other students that the DEI’s inclusivity work is approaching “phase two,” which determines the needs for on-campus diversity. This process is parallel to the strategic planning, according to Holbrook.

The Strategic Planning Committee has seven goals set in their long-term plan, for each of which a group of

He added that he doesn’t want to switch to TD Bank when he already has a stable financial background.

“It may seem like I’m grasping at small straws, but ultimately I want it to tie into a bigger picture,” he explained. “I want to reduce the price of smaller stuff if I can since I’m in SGA, not in government, and I think anytime you can reduce cost, it is a good thing.”

Larry Behan, vice president of Administration and Finances, was not aware of the complaint Vitali made to the SGA. “Essentially, ATM fees are set by the bank,” Behan said. “Unfortunately, we don’t control the fees that the individual bank charges.”

Now that the issue has been brought to his attention, Behan stated that he is looking into see-

ing if other banks would be interested in putting their ATMs on campus.

“One thing I did notice in the file [of the ATM’s history on campus] was that [TD Bank] wanted to pull the ATM machine at one point because the transaction volume was very low,” Behan said. “If there’s not a lot of activity, the banks usually don’t like to keep something and have to service it.”

Because of this, Behan recommended a survey be sent out that would inform him of the top banks used among MCLA students.

Behan notes that students are often charged twice for withdrawing from an ATM that is not from their bank: one fee from the

community individuals is assembled to put the goal in action.

Birge commented that the College needs “formal constructed dialogue” regarding racism and oppression, in addition to training for faculty on the topic.

“When you experience professors condoning ignorance, document it and submit it to several places and people,” Valerie, Berkshire Community College and UMASS student, said regarding Davis’ argument that many professors continue to condone racism.

“Diversity emerged as a theme not only from students, but from every group we reached out to,” Camparella said.

According to Puc, the DEI has a Canvas page that displays highlights from their survey, which all MCLA students have access to. They’ve also put together a document of goals and issues for the campus on the page, for all faculty and students to comment on. The document, once finalized, will be given to the Board of Education.

“No decisions are made solely on this survey data,” Puc said.

Holbrook added that the Committee and DEI are working together to determine the campus’ most immediate priorities, and the diversity process will be gradual.

The needs of MCLA students and faculty are to be reassessed annually by the Strategic Planning Committee.

LETTER Concerning national news coverage To the Editor, It has been noticeable that, in reporting news outside of the campus or local radius, the information tends to be minimal. What tends to happen is that international events are mainly reported when they directly and/or majorly affect the United States as a whole or the local area. More coverage of international affairs would greatly benefit your consumers in long and short term goals because your audience will most likely retain the knowledge given to them by you.

Despite the impact major international events have, there are plenty of other events that are not included and would better the community if included. Your knowledge-seeking audience will likely not skip this information.

The campus is not one that thrives on ignorance. It prospers with a worldview that sees events as bits of a larger

bank the ATM is from and one fee from the student’s own bank for using an ATM that does not belong to them. He wants the students to let him know which bank’s ATM they would prefer to limit this as much as he can.

He also offered advice for students to cut down on their fees such as seeing if their bank is part of a sum network, which is an agreement typically smaller, local banks enter into where the student will not be charged a fee if they go to an ATM that their bank is in this network with.

Additionally, there are banks that offer credit and debit cards with reimbursements for out-ofnetwork ATM fees, usually up to a certain amount per month, as well as banks that offer student

checking accounts which may not have fees. There is also the cash back feature many stores have, which Behan recommends.

Behan believes it is very important for students to get as much information as possible about their own, as large banks such as Bank of America tend to charge the largest ATM fees.

Ultimately, Behan is looking for feedback from students to know which banks are used the most by the MCLA population as there are students from a variety of different places with different banks. This way, he can contact these banks students use to see if they would like to put their ATMs on campus so there would be less students who need to pay a fee.

BWN SPOTLIGHT

Breaking new ground

PHOTO COURTESY OF PETER GENTILE

Beacon Web News Contributor Karen Canela talks during BWN's f irst Spanishlanguage broadcast, the f irst of its kind at MCLA. To see the broadcast, be sure to go to The Beacon's YouTube page.

picture. More coverage of international events would make the community more plentiful with active citizens.

Students and professors alike are very adept at seeing the world on a grand scale. They are able to open their minds easily to other countries and their relations with the U.S. The narrow mindset is not popular around this campus. The benefits will be expanded everywhere as well.

With all this considered, my proposal of increased coverage should implement many benefits to the community.

Consider when students go on their career path. They could bring many innovative benefits and ideas with them to spread this increased awareness.

This broadened work could usher in many innovations in a lot of places if they knew more about the world. There are countless ideas out in the world and we have the potential to utilize them.

Sincerely, Justin Therrien Class of 2019

"Concentrated, unabashed silliness."

—The New Yorker

PRESENTS

JO FIRESTONE WITH SPECIAL GUEST JOE PERA

Saturday, February 18, 8pm CLUB B10 | $10 STUDENTS | $16 ADVANCE | $22 DAY OF | $28 PREFERRED

TICKETS: massmoca.org or 413.662.2111 87 Marshall Street, North Adams, Mass.

FEATURES

STUDENT MUSICIAN

Sophomore releases first full length album “The Warmth of The Glow” is now available for listening on Band Camp

By Ron Leja rl2670@mcla.edu Deputy Features and A&E Editor The college experience is often depicted as a time of great discovery and experimentation in one’s life.

It’s a time in which students are presented with a gauntlet of opportunities to stretch their creative muscles, and to solve a plentitude of problems by thinking outside of the box. The life of a college student is disheveled and messy at times, awkward and mind altering, and yet there is something about the challenge of it all that makes for a beautiful moment in time.

“The Warmth of The Glow,” the first album to be produced by MCLA sophomore Luke O’Brien and coproduced by his good friend Chris James of Berklee, plays like a musical representation of the ups and downs of life in college.

Hailing from Swampscott, Mass., O’Brien has always held an interest in music. He played clarinet in grade school for some time, but decided to try his hand at guitar at the age of 15.

Over the past five years he’s taught himself to play on his own, and now it appears that his hard work is coming to fruition.

While this may be his first album, it is far from O’Brien’s first venture into the music business. He originally released his first EP, “Angst All Over,” in May 2016. This past December he also produced a four track EP of cover songs by some of his favorite artists. He has also played a handful of live performances, his most recent being in the Sullivan Lounge several weeks ago.

O’Brien is also expected to play at Downtown Sound in April, and is currently working on both an EP and another full-length album expected to release later this year.

“My first EP was more flat out solo

work on the acoustic side,” O’Brien said. “As for this album, it’s divided in half. The first half is more acoustic work, softer songs, while the second half gets a little experimental. It’s a fuller, louder sound.”

Inspiration from popular alternative bands such as Weezer and Radiohead are evident, as O’Brien’s lyrical prowess and melancholy melodies fit right in with the indie-rock scene.

His songs often touch on themes of both love and heartache, as well as feelings of despair and coping with one’s place in the universe.

“Lyrics are really important to me,” O’Brien explained. “Often times some of my favorite songs are those I make up totally on the spot. I just start strumming and I let the words just come to me. That’s one of my favorite ways to work.”

The album, in its entirety, is a delicate mix of heavily distorted, grungy chords, synthesized percussions, and soft, acoustic tracks. Much like college it can be chaotic at times, but is oddly refined and a joy to partake in.

Throughout its ten tracks, many of the songs featured on “The Warmth of the Glow,” paint a fairly bleak picture for listeners. However, the air of wistfulness found in O’Brien’s guitar work is oddly relaxing and nostalgic despite its dismal presentation, much like a rainy day or the smell of snow in the air.

The tenth and final track of the album, entitled “What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been In Foreman’s Basement,” is arguably O’Brien’s strongest song. A mixture of light singing and instances of recited spoken word accompany a powerful, distorted guitar solo that encapsulates the very nature of indie-rock. It’s an emotionally deep, highly expressive melody and a fine example of O’Brien’s abilities as a guitarist.

Those interested in listening to “The Warmth of The Glow,” as well as O’Brien’s other works, can do so at https://luciferobrien.bandcamp.com/

PHOTO COURTESY OF LUKE O’BRIEN O’Brien is expected to play at WJJW’s Downtown Sound in April.

WILLIAMSTOWN RECORD STORE

40 Years of Toonerville Trolley CD’s & Records

By Emily Gabert eg3887@mcla.edu Features Editor A small blue house sits on Water Street in Williamstown.

By first glance, it blends in just as much as any house would to one driving by, but with a closer glance a light yellow circular sign stands tall on the blue house’s lawn, giving a name to the building. “Toonerville Trolley Records.”

The inside of the building greets customers with hundreds of CD’s. The first half of the small shop is mostly discs, with some vinyls weaved into each section of music. The back of the store is the central haven for hundreds of vinyls, most in good condition.

Hal March, owner of Toonerville, every so often gets up from his spot at the front of the store – where a glass counter holds different electronics, guitar accessories, and products for cleaning discs, along with the cash register – to make his rounds, put-

ting away different albums. Soft instrumental music surrounds the small shop, and sometimes you can catch March bobbing his head to the music.

“I love music,” March explained. “I started my business of selling records out of my truck on the Bennington College campus.

I always liked jazz.”

Bennington College is known for its appreciation of jazz music.

When March began to sell records, most students on campus were big fans of the genre back in the ‘70s, and a large selection of jazz albums can be found around the shop. By observation, it is almost safe to say that the jazz and rock music collections are the largest selections in the store.

Toonerville has stood strong since 1977 in Williamstown. It is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday through Saturday. Unwanted CD’s and vinyls can be sold to the store. According to their website they also carry newer albums.

Some familiar rock bands and artists fill the rock music selection, while a large selection of unknown names are wedged between the big names. A few Bob Dylan and Elton John albums can be found in the center of the rock music section. My eyes gazed over one Kiss album, and a few of Incubus’ newer albums.

It’s easy to look at one genre, but it is also even easier to walk away from what you originally intended to look at and find yourself walking to a completely different genre, lightly pushing through CD after CD. I made a circle around the store, starting from rock music to hip-hop – I passed by reggae, classical music, folk, soundtracks, and more. I found myself back at the rock music once more, finding Chevelle’s 2009 album “SciFi Crimes,” and a small smile spread across my face.

While cashing out, MCLA’s student radio station WJJW was brought up. March recollected about the times he spent

PHOTO BY EMILY GABERT

Toonerville Trolley is located at 131 Water Street Williamstown. at the radio station, when his friends had shows on the network. He was happy to hear that the station was still up and running, and even mentioned how he used to call in requests.

March is close with a current DJ named Ken Swiatek, who is also a musician.

Despite the small size of Toonerville, March estimated that sometimes he believes he gets anywhere between a hun-

dred to two hundred customers a week. He estimated that at least 90 percent of his sales were in vinyls, due to the vinyl revival that has been taking place in the last couple of years.

March’s favorite part about owning the store is not only the music, but the interactions he has with customers.

“I always learn stuff from the customers,” March said, “and I hope they learn stuff from me.”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

WJJW DJ PROFILE: "RY-GUY POLKA TIME"

By Ron Leja rl2670@mcla.edu Deputy Features and A&E Editor WJJW, at 91.1 FM, is currently home to 46 student-run radio programs. Each show runs for two to three hours, and the variety of content throughout the week provides a little something for everyone. One of the club’s most popular programs may come as a surprise to some. As it stands, “Ry-Guy Polka Time,” hosted by Ryan Pause, currently leads the pack as the most widely listened to show on the station.

“Ry-Guy Polka Time” is exactly what the name implies it to be: a program dedicated to providing listeners with a soiree of traditional polka and Polish folk music.

Its first broadcast occurred in Oct. 2012, and the show is now nearing its fifth year in production. Pause has been hosting the “Ry Guy Polka Time” since he was 16 years old, while attending Hoosac Valley High School.

“The show did begin at WJJW despite my age,” Pause said. “My dad, David Pause, would accompany me so I could host the show. He actually became my co-host and he still assists me to this day

PHOTO BY CHRIS RIEMER

WJJW is home to a multitude of programs that touch on many different genres of music. with making track lists for each week.”

Being of Polish descent, Polka music has always played a big part in Pause’s life, and one that he hopes to hold on to for many years to come.

Pause’s interest in the polka scene derives from the work of his grandfather, the late Bob Pause. He hosted his own polka music show entitled, “On The Road Polka Show Classics,”

through the public access network. It aired in the early 90’s and halted just short of 2001.

“My grandfather hosted a Polka program on Public Access Television until he passed away,” Pause said. “In fact, his show still airs in classic form.

I was able to get a good start with Polka music by inheriting his collection.”

The Berkshires is home to a fairly large Polish commu-

nity. As such, many listeners throughout the county turn in to listen to the “Ry-Guy Polka Time” on a regular basis. The program receives hundreds of listeners week after week, with a fan base that even stretches beyond the confines of the Berkshire hills.

“We get hundreds of people listening over regular terrestrial radio,” Pause mentioned.

“After all, the town of Adams

has a large Polish community and they love Polka music!

Through our online component, we get listeners across the globe, from New York and Connecticut, and a few Midwesterners. I was even contacted by a listener in Germany!”

Over the years, Pause has found his experience with WJJW to be a mostly positive endeavor. The student run station allows for a little more freedom than commercial radio, and recent upgrades to radio equipment have led to a more stable work environment.

When asked if there were any low points to his involvement with the station, Pause had only one complaint.

“I wish keeping track of the studio key wasn’t as much of an issue, “Pause expressed jokingly. “Especially during the holidays when students are off campus. I have loyal listeners who expect me to be on week after week and are devastated when they get out of Sunday Mass and Ry-Guy Polka Time isn’t happening.”

The “Ry-Guy Polka Time” program airs every Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on 91.1 FM, WJJW. A live podcast can also be accessed through the WJJW website.

gaga halftime performance one for the ages

By Emma Monahan A&E Writer

After taking quite the hiatus from music post-”Joanne,” Lady Gaga reminded the world why she is a generational icon with her Super Bowl LI Halftime show.

Her performance in the NRG Stadium was rumored to be political, as she opened the show with a melody of American anthems such as, “God Bless America” and “This Land Is Your Land.” As she stood upon the roof a light display sat in the background, shining red, white and blue, forming into the American flag when she jumped off, the music trailing into a mixture of many of her hit songs, like “Poker Face,” “The Edge of Glory” and “Paparazzi”.

As she flew through the air on a harness, many people on social media compared her to pop singer P!nk, but that shouldn’t matter; Throughout her career, Gaga has been known for her wild and crazy shows, wearing costumes that make people do a double take (i.e. her meat dress at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards), but after taking some time away from her music, she has seemed to tone it down.

Gaga’s Halftime show was exactly that: It still had the classic Gaga performance, but nothing too crazy where

Twitter users would be saying, “What the hell?”

How was her performance political, though? The beginning of the show is obvious, as well as her performance of “Born This Way”, which states that it doesn’t matter who you are, you were born this way, but the rest of the show? It wasn’t as political as it was supposed to be.

Back in the summer, there were rumors going around that British singer Adele was offered the Super Bowl Halftime slot, but she turned it down, saying, “I mean, come on, that show is not about music. And I don’t really — I can’t dance or anything like that.”

It later came out in August 2016 that the NFL never offered Adele the slot, but if she were to perform, it wouldn’t be the “performance” that viewers would want.

Adele isn’t a performer, in that sense. Yes, she is an amazing singer, and her performances are moving, but the Halftime show is supposed to be this extravagant, over-the-top show-stopper that leaves people talking about it for days. Could Adele do that?

Probably not.

Compared to past Halftime shows, Gaga is up there with the best, although it was surprising not to see

PHOTO FROM SOCIALITELIFE.COM

Lady Gaga performs on an elevated stage in one of several outfits from that night. her bring out any guests.

Tony Bennett introduced Gaga’s performance, making me wondering if he would participate. There were also rumors that Beyoncé was going to come out to perform with her, but when Gaga finished performing “Telephone,” a song that Beyoncé collaborated on, Queen B never arrived.

It’s hard for one to compare

Gaga’s performance to previous Halftime shows.

Each performance has something different to it. In 2016, Coldplay performed (my personal favorite) and that seemed to be more political than any show before, ending their show with the Super Bowl crowd holding signs that spelled out “Believe In Love,” bringing out Bruno Mars and Beyoncé,

two former Halftime show performers. Beyoncé’s dancers were dressed as Black Panther activists.

Gaga gave a classic pop star performance, showing the world that she’s back and ready to conquer. After her performance, she accounted on social media that she will be heading on a world tour later this summer. The princess of pop is back.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

February 16, 2017

Musicians respond to Trump

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By Chris Riemer A&E Editor Prior to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, there was a popular (if dumb and inconsiderate) thought that was passed around: that if Trump were elected, at least there would be some great protest music. At the time, this seemed like a funny and cool and not dumb and inconsiderate thing to say, because there weren’t many people who thought it a legitimate possibility that Trump might win—thus the threat of his proposed policies and ideals causing actual pain to actual people was more like a “darkest timeline” scenario than a potential reality.

It’s less funny now, obviously, but as expected, there has been an explosion of protest music by artists from wildly disparate genres. Starting with the “30 Days 30 Songs” project and reaching forward into at least the next four years, musicians in disagreement with the Trump administration have banded together to entertain, to comfort, to rebel, and to raise money for a bunch of respected charities, none of which seem to contain the word “Trump” anywhere in their names, weirdly. Almost as if the Trump Foundation existed to cycle charitable donations into President Trump’s many lawsuits, as evidenced by the 18 sections on the Foundation’s Wikipedia page chronicling its legal and ethical controversies. One of these being a 2015 IRS Form 990 in which the Foundation admitted to self-dealing, this being easily Google-able, but I digress.

The “30 Days 30 Songs” project is now the “1000 Days 1000 Songs” project, by the way, and it’s possible that the artists who have contributed so far are one of the most artistically diverse groups of musicians

PHOTOS FROM GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH & SUFJAN.COM

Examples of resistance, clockwise from upper right: A blog post by musician Sufjan Stevens, Barsuk Records' benefit album cover, Bandcamp's partnership with the ACLU, and the Physically Sick compilation cover. to ever land in the same collection—the list ranges from late legends John Coltrane and David Bowie, to slightly esoteric artists like Jesu/Sun Kil Moon and clipping., to regular ol’ rock bands like The Cold War Kids and Mission of Burma, to comedian/television persona/all-around weird dude Tim Heidecker.

Individual record labels have gotten in on the fun as well. Some are simply donating their proceeds to organizations like Planned Parenthood, while others are putting together their own collections of protest music like the “30 Days” project. The funniest of these is probably Barsuk Records’ compilation album titled “Sad!” although props must be given to Allergy Season/Discwoman’s co-released collection “Physically Sick,” the cover of which includes the statement: “Use to alleviate symp-

toms of: Fascism Bigotry Violence Demagoguery.”

At least one music streaming service is pitching in: on Feb. 3, Bandcamp.com donated all their proceeds from the day to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as a reaction to an executive order signed by President Trump which sought to bar nearly all immigration to the U.S. from seven (primarily Muslim) countries for 90 days.

Many Bandcamp users, like the group Coma Cinema, also chose to donate their proceeds—in this case to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

And then there are the artists like Son Lux and Rafiq Bhatia, who are donating the proceeds from their respective debut albums to

the ACLU for the entirety of President Trump’s first term in office.

Some musicians have chosen to protest outside of their most well-known art form.

Folk pop eccentric Sufjan Stevens, a prominent Christian musician, has taken to his Tumblr blog in recent weeks to preach a doctrine of love and humility, and to denounce the idea of a “Christian Nation,” which he describes as “absolutely heretical.” One of the more succinct posts is titled “AMERICA YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR SINS,” and opens with the line “Friendly reminder: Jesus Christ was a refugee baby.” I suggest checking out one of his more recent posts, which was picked up by the “Washington Post” as an OpEd on Feb. 9.

All of this is to say, there’s a lot of wonderful, positive things being done by a wide array of compassionate artists. None of this stuff is ex-

actly earth-shattering, but the sheer number of musicians, labels, and corporate entities trying to combat the legitimate dangers facing minority groups in the United States is at least kind of comforting.

And if you’re a Trump supporter, don’t be too down in the dumps! You lost Kanye West, but you’ve still got Toby Keith and Three Doors Down, I guess!

As a side note, I’d be thrilled if some of our local musicians would put together a charity compilation of some sort. The Berkshires have a great history of protest music, after all—you need look no further than Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 magnum opus “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” about how he dodged the Vietnam draft.

May the resistance continue in whatever forms are most effective, in this humble writer’s opinion.

A Winged Victory for the sullen

By Jon Hoel Co-Managing Editor

Supergroup certainly falls into the lexicon of words that have been beat to death by overzealous music journalists praising their favorite collaborative efforts, so it can be uncomfortable to use as a descriptive term, but here we are.

A Winged Victory for the Sullen is an exquisite unity of two previously established electronic music greats— Dustin O’Halloran (who was just nominated for an Oscar for his soundtrack to Garth Davis’ film “Lion”, as well as composing the score and theme song to Amazon’s TV show “Transparent”), and Adam Wiltzie, best known for his beloved ambient band Stars of the Lid from Austin, Texas.

Wiltzie also won a Golden Globe a few years back for collaborating on the soundtrack to the film “The Theory of

Everything” with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson.

A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s first two records— their self-titled debut and sophomore album “ATOMOS” were both released on Erased Tapes Records and universally praised for their mellifluous drone ambiance paired with a very minimal classicist sound.

Both men brought their unique style of ambient music to the project and both records are super rewarding to listen to.

As is their new album, “Iris,” a soundtrack to the film of the same name by French director Jalil Lespert. The film, a modest drama-mystery, does not really do anything notably exciting or noteworthy—other than this soundtrack.

Wiltzie and O’Halloran bring a subtle and foreboding score, with the accompaniment of a 40-piece orchestra in

Budapest, and the grandiose lavishness does shine at times, though—as is to be expected from two career minimalists— it is the subtle moments between these movements that really stand out on re-listens.

Some of these remarkable moments are best noticed on tracks like “Galerie” and “Normandie”.

There is something to be said for the power of the subtle. When composing a film score, one is tempted to go for a vast sound—like John Williams or Hans Zimmer—but really, perhaps the most atmospherically enhancing soundtracks are the ones that add more to their visual counterparts by not being over-the-top. Like the “Stranger Things” soundtrack, or Shane Carruth’s soundtrack to his film “Upstream Colour.”

PHOTO FROM EXCLAIM.CA

SPORTS

Success on Senior Day

By Brady Gerow @MCLABeaconSport Sports Editor

Behind a 15-point fourth quarter from senior Kayla Hotaling, the Trailblazers were able to snap their six game losing streak with a win against the Fitchburg State Falcons 64-51 on senior day in the Campus Center Gym. Partway through the third quarter, the Falcons pulled the game within three points, but the Blazers weren’t going to give their lead back, going on a 13-5 run to end the quarter and having given themselves a comfortable 11 point lead going into the final period.

The fourth quarter is where Hotaling put the game away almost single-handedly. Hotaling exploded for 15 of her seasonhigh 26 points, while also having scored all but three of the Blazers’ buckets in the quarter. Hotaling finished her senior night with an impressive 26 points, 14 rebounds, one steal, and a block.

Hotaling also put herself only three points away from scoring her 1000th point as a Blazer.

While scoring just over 13 points a game with two games left to play, Hotaling will undoubtedly join the six ladies already in the 1000 point club as Trailblazers, and solidify herself into MCLA

PHOTO FROM MCLA ATHLETICS

The Trailblazers honored all of its seniors on Saturday, the Blazers have six seniors on their roster as listed from left to right; Svetlana Morrell, Anna Despart, Kayla Hotaling, Ashley Clawson, Brayleigh Hanlon, and Courtney McLaughlin. athletics history.

Hotaling was helped by senior Brayleigh Hanlon’s ten points, nine rebounds, and three steals on her senior night performance.

The Falcons started the game off strong, scoring the very first points of the game, but struggled to get anything going after that.

They kept the game within reach by going even with the Blazers in the second quarter, having put them down by only seven points going into the second half of play.

The second half of play is where the Falcons made their run at a comeback, having gone on a 5-0 run to start the second half

Men struggle on Senior Day

By Brady Gerow @MCLABeaconSport Sports Editor

With a huge performance from Jaleel Bell, the Fitchburg State Falcons were able to get a win on the road against the Trailblazers 90-65 on the Trailblazers’ senior day in the Amsler Campus Center Gym on Saturday Feb 11.

It was the Falcons’ game from the get go, having never trailed over the entirety of the game; the Falcons took the lead and never looked back.

The Falcons played a complete game on both ends of the court, while playing solid offense led by Bell and Joshua Bosworth, who added 20 points, never allowed the Blazers to score more than five points without getting a bucket in return.

The Falcons’ back court led them to victory. Bell scored 26 while Bosworth scored 20, making them the only players on the team to score in double figures. That does not mean that they were the only contributors, as the Falcons placed seven other players in the scoring column, five of those scoring six or more points.

The second half of play was when the Falcons really took control of their lead.

Bell was able to record 21 of his game high 26 points in the

of play. After having pulled the game within three, the Falcons were unable to string another run together, as well as not having been able to stop Hotaling and the Blazers on the defensive end.

The Falcons were paced by Kyra Rose, who recorded 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and

two blocks on the night.

The Blazers, now 8-14 overall and 3-8 in the MASCAC, look to face off against Bridgewater State on Saturday, Feb. 18, on the road.

While the Falcons, now 9-13 and 1-9 in the MASCAC, will face off with Framingham State on Saturday as well.

Women’s Basketball crushed 99-42 by Framingham State

By Joseph Carew jc2824@mcla.edu Co-Managing Editor

PHOTO FROM DOMONIQUE ACKLEY — BEACON PHOTO EDITOR Junior Joseph Wiggins goes up for a lay-up in the teams loss. second half of play to help the Falcons balloon their already sizable lead. The Falcons led by 11 points going into the second half, but they were able to stretch that lead to as much as 27, finishing the game with a more than comfortable 25 point lead over the Blazers on their senior day.

The Blazers struggled to keep up offensively, as well as on the boards. The Blazers were out-rebounded 33-49 in the contest.

The Blazers’ only senior Travis Rice was celebrated before the games start and recorded two points and two steals in his 15 minutes of play.

The Blazers were paced by junior Joe Wiggins who recorded 23 points and seven rebounds. Junior Keiland Cross also added 20 points, five rebounds, and six assists to the teams effort, while Joe Murray ended with nine points and 13 boards for the Blazers.

The Blazers are now 2-20 and 0-11 in the MASCAC while Fitchburg State improved to 13-10 and 8-2 respectively.

MCLA will next face off with Bridgewater State in an away game on Saturday Feb. 18, while the Falcons face off with Framingham State in a home game on Saturday as well.

The Women’s Trailblazers were unable to match the offensive capabilities of the Framingham State Rams and lost 99-42 on Feb. 8, increasing their losing streak to six. This loss keeps the Rams at the top of the conference at 9-1 and 19-3 overall for the season while MCLA falls to 3-8 and 8-14 in those respective categories.

This game was never in doubt as Framingham State hit the ground running with 32 points in the first quarter. The Blazers managed just 9 in their comparatively slow start.

By the half the Rams were ahead 6419 and the game looked like it was over. Any hope of a comeback was quickly crushed by a 14-point run by Framingham in the first six minutes of the third quarter.

MCLA managed a game-high 13 points in the final quarter but simply had nothing going for them throughout the game. Framingham State sweeps the season series against the Blazers going 2-0. Through this pair of games Framingham managed 171 points to MCLA’s 101.

There was a bright spot to be found, as senior Kayla Hotaling lead the team with eight points and

PHOTO FROM DOMONIQUE ACKLEY — BEACON PHOTO EDITOR Senior Kayla Hotaling taking a free-throw.

reached 275 points on the season for the third consecutive year.

The Rams had six players walk away with double-digit points in the victory with senior Alycia Rackliffe managing 22 points and 12 rebounds for the game’s only double-double.

Statistically unlikely and incredible, Framingham had four players shoot flawlessly from the three-point line (Junior Raegan Mulherin 5 for 5, junior Lauren Donahue 2 for 2, senior Sarah Palace 2 for 2, and Rackliffe 1 for 1).

SPORTS

Men’s Basketball loses to Framingham State 70-60

By Joseph Carew jc2824@mcla.edu Co-Managing Editor

MCLA's Men’s Basketball team was narrowly defeated by the Framingham State Rams 70-60 on Feb. 8. Doubledigit point efforts by juniors Keiland Cross, Joseph Wiggins and Nolan Bird were simply not enough. MCLA falls to 0-10 in the MASCAC and 2-19 overall for the season.

Framingham, with the win, improves to 4-6 and 7-16 in those respective categories The Rams, perhaps charged by the fact that it was their senior night, outscored the Trailblazers in the second half 42-33 to secure the win with four of their players reaching at least 11 points in the game.

Bird announced his presence by starting the scoring with a three pointer and notching each of MCLA’s first 12 points. The Rams desperately tried to match the forwards' willpower but the Blazers began to pull away with a lead of six points early on. It seemed this game would be far from easy and, through two late layups, MCLA was shocked to be down 28-27 going into the half.

The Rams came out of the locker room determined not to be defeated and quickly increased the lead to a point that MCLA struggled to reach.

1. The Toronto Blue Jays will be the most disappointing team in the MLB Despite having a good playoff run last season that did see them fall in five games to the Cleveland Indians, I feel as though the Blue Jays’ window has promptly been shut. I hesitate to immediately point to the departure of slugger Edwin Encarnacion as the main reason, though that is definitely a major contribution. The Blue Jays made their playoff run off the strength of surprising performances from the likes of seemingly washed up players such as Marco Estrada and Michael Saunders having career seasons. With Saunders gone and Estrada, the 33 year-old, due for regression, this will not repeat itself. The departure of Edwin Encarnacion certainly hurts a lot though; in conjunction with the decline of Troy Tulowitzki, the Blue Jays’ batting lineup will be a shell of what it has been in recent years, and it simply won’t be enough to support a good-not-great pitching staff. For the

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SCORE BOARD MCLA Men’s Basketball MCLA (65), Fitchburg St. (90) Joseph Wiggins(MCLA) 23 Pts, 7 Reb, 1 Stl

Jaleel Bell (Fitchburg St.) 26 Pts, 8 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Stl

MCLA Women’s Basketball MCLA (64), Fitchburg St. (51) Kayla Hotaling (MCLA) 26 Pts, 14 Reb, 1 Blk, 1 Stl

Kyra Rose (Fitchburg St.) 15 Pts, 7 Reb, 3 Ast,

PHOTO FROM DOMONIQUE ACKLEY — BEACON PHOTO EDITOR MCLA's Men's Basketball team being instructed by Head Coach Derek Shell while attempting to set up their defense in the 70-60 loss to Framingham St. The Blazers would never again take the lead, and Framingham pulled away from the team as the second half ticked by. The game ended as it began, with a Bird three-pointer but with the score a disappointing 70-60.

Bird reached a career-high 24 points in the game, his seventh double digit game of the season.

The Rams saw Bertholyn Alexandre (15 points, 13 rebounds) record a double-double in the effort.

Forecasting the 2017 MLB Season Last week, I wrote an article about my expectations for the NFL offseason. Now, I shift gears over to MLB baseball. All told, despite living in the shadow of the NFL playoffs and the tense NBA regular season, a lot has been going on behind-the-scenes the MLB. Free Andrew in agency and the Baillargeon winter meetings have come and The Call gone, and with the bulk of it having passed us by, it’s time to look ahead to the upcoming MLB season, with some predictions.

February 16, 2017

Blue Jays to make a return to the postseason, young hurler Marcus Stroman will need to take a big step forward, and he’ll need help from returning Blue Jays Francisco Liriano and JA Happ, two solid veteran contributors for the Jays from last season. However, the odds are definitely stacked against them bringing the Blue Jays into postseason baseball.

2. David Price and Chris Sale will form the best 1-2 tandem in the MLB

Having made a huge move during the off-season to bring in former White Sox ace Chris Sale, the Red Sox have big expectations this upcoming season. They were in a similar situation last year, when they signed David Price to a massive seven year, $210 million deal. Price battled through a lot of ups and downs, but posted a mediocre 3.99 ERA in the regular season before having an absolutely abysmal post-season that led people to wonder if the acquisition would haunt the Red Sox for its duration.

This year, Price will turn 33, which means criticism going against him with regards to potential decline is somewhat fair, but presumptive. Last year’s transition to Fenway Park as his home field didn’t help, as Price gave up a career high 30 long balls on the season. However, with a full year with the Red Sox under his belt, and being joined by prolific hurler Chris Sale, I believe David Price will make the necessary adjustments to return to the dominant hurler he once was with Tampa Bay and Detroit. Whether Price can do that when Boston inevitably makes the post-season, however, remains to be seen, and will be a key factor that determines how Boston sizes up come October.

3. The Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs will meet again for the World Series

2 Blk

NHL New York Rangers(3), Columbus Blue Jackets(2) Kevin Hayes (NY) 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 4 SOG

Brandon Dubinsky (Col) 1 Goal, 3 SOG

NCAA Men’s Basketball #10 UCLA (82), #5 Oregon(79)

It’s been quite exciting for both teams this off-season. Even though the Tribe lost in about the most brutal way imaginable, they weren’t quiet during the off-season. Slugger Edwin Encarnacion joins the team, and former AL MVP candidate Michael Brantley will return having missed a majority of last season. Joined by a Corey Kluberled pitching staff, and conveniently in a time where Cleveland’s AL Central rivals are mostly an assorted group of messes, the Indians will easily win the AL Central and use the momentum to cruise through the playoffs off the strength of their newest acquisitions and returning contributors. Chicago, on the other hand, has retained most of its roster sans Aroldis Chapman, who they simply replaced with an equally adept hurler in Wade Davis. Chicago sports one of the most balanced rosters in the league, having no notable hole anywhere on either side of the ball, and will simply spend the regular season warming up for another exciting post-season run.

The 108 year drought may be over, but if you thought last year was a fluke, for either team, get ready for round two.

Lonzo Ball (UCLA)

Andrew Baillargeon is the host of The Call, a weekly program broadcasted

by WJJW. Tune in on Sundays from 7-10 p.m. Listeners can also tune in via 91.1 FM WJJW or our website, http://www.mcla.edu/Student_Life/

Denver Nuggets (132), Golden State Warriors (110)

15 Pts,11 Reb, 1 Ast,

Dillon Brooks(Oregon) 19 Pts, 3 Reb, 2 Ast

NCAA Men’s Basketball

#3 Kansas (84 ), #9 West Virginia(80) Frank Mason III(Kansas) 24 Pts, 4 Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Stl

Esa Ahmad (WV) 20 Pts, 7 Reb, 1 Ast

NBA

Juancho Hernangomez (Den) 27 Pts, 10 Reb, 2 Ast,

Want a guest column? Contact Mitchell Chapman on Office 365.

1 Stl, 1 Blk

Kevin Durant (GS) 25 Pts, 4 Reb, 5 Ast

OPINION

Are you uncomfortable?

Is MCLA inclusive? good, you should be CAMPUS COMMENT

It is inclusive to the best that it can be. You don’t see it outright at the college. It’s gotten better and MCLA is trying their best.

Domonique Stevenson-Pope, Freshman

I think MCLA is but, I also think people’s voices should be heard and taken into consideration.

Kayla LaVoice, Senior

They try to be diverse, but they’re not entirely there yet.

Sundra Lam, Sophomore PHOTOS BY DOMONIQUE ACKLEY, EMILY GABERT AND TRAMEL GRIFFTH

Just to clarify as early as of empathic ability. Instead of possible: I will not be looking at the baladdressing subsequent loons and posters Facebook arguments and saying, “Wow, caused by the recent this is annoying and protests on campus doesn’t apply to me,” because I find them you should be asking counter-intuitive and - are students really detrimental to conversaNick Tardive so scared and angry tion and progress. at this school that I Hate This they felt the need to And I would also like to state early on that if do this in the first you are a straight, white, place? Why? How cisgendered person on this can I help these people feel like campus and feel targeted by the people. recent protests: I feel bad for Pretending as if the problem you, I do. Because I possess the shouldn’t be directed at you human capacity to empathize because you don’t find yourself with those I disagree with. directly a part of it makes you But if you walked around passive in your oppression of campus and felt uncomfortable marginalized, terrified voices because of balloons that said on campus. These are people “Black Lives Matter” or postwith legitimate concerns that ers that showed you the faces you don’t want to listen to of hate crime victims - good. because it makes you uncomYou should feel uncomfortable. fortable to be lumped in with a Issues of racial, gender and group of people. identity crises cannot be igWell...maybe, as a straight, nored, and voices raising these white, cisgendered male myconcerns cannot be shut down self...maybe we deserve it? because you don’t think you’re a This has been happening to part of the problem.

African Americans, LGTBQ+, If you’re straight, white and women, Muslims, Latino/as for cisgendered on this campus centuries upon centuries. and feel marginalized or opAt least you and I don’t have pressed...you’re not. At any to leave our house worrying if point you could walk downwe’ll be shot to death for being town and in ten minutes be a black, or the victim of a trans part of the majority. You could hate crime, or accused of being get in a car and drive in any dian illegal immigrant if you’re rection and find yourself among Latino, or looked at like a terthe homogeneous masses. rorist for being Muslim.

Saying you’re uncomfortable Again, I apologize if you are with a peaceful, artistic protest uncomfortable. I’m uncomon campus is a matter of a lack fortable. But we should be.

We have to be uncomfortable.

Because if we’re comfortable, we’re complacent and our ears are closed.

We shouldn’t be saying, “I’m uncomfortable and I don’t want these people to be doing this because it makes me uncomfortable.” We should be saying, “I’m uncomfortable.

How do I go about addressing the problems that made these protesters put up balloons and posters in the first place, so I, and everyone at this school, are comfortable?”

There needs to be a conversation on campus. But we, as straight, while, cisgendered peoples, it is not imperative that we be heard. It is imperative that we do the hearing.

And I’m sorry if you don’t want to hear that, because we all want to be heard.

Please, listen. Please, feel uncomfortable. That is how change comes about. And we, as straight, white, cisgendered peoples are often - unfortunately - the catalysts for social change. Abolition, Women’s Suffrage, Civil Rights, firstwave Feminism, etc. Because we own the country, and unless we are on the side of the oppressed, listening to their cries and adding our voices to theirs, they will continue to be oppressed.

And they will continue to make you feel uncomfortable until something gets done.

It’s all they have at this point.

Respect that.

One year after theatre privilege: the same online behavior

Internet etiquette remains intolerable to contrary opposition, even the absurd

One year ago, The Beacon published a column authored by yours truly on the subject that local talent, especially those who perform in the theatre, often feel privileged to lesser critiMitchell cism because Chapman of their local status (in From the retrospect, Editor a better title would be “local privilege” though MCLA theatre provides the most vociferous examples of this).

However, the points made in the article are almost irrelevant, as it is the response that it is best known for, which highlighted the internet at its worst.

What started as an open discussion devolved into cyberbullying. Open critique turned into ad hominem attacks, which has unfortunately been a staple of the internet.

But you never expect it at the local level, with people that you see everyday, mostly because it’s a bad idea. With anons on the internet, you can post almost whatever you want, and you’ll never have to converse with that person again, but with people in real life, it’s different.

There are consequences.

Unfortunately, many people don’t take social media seriously.

Your Twitter, your Facebook, they’re not these consequencefree places where you can post whatever you want. Even if your accounts are private, they’re not really private. It’s child’s play for future employers, law enforce-

ment, and institutions to see what you post online, which can have broad-reaching effects on your future.

You are telling future employers what type of professional you are right now, and you might not even know it. Social media now functions more and more as an individual’s public face. If anything, it is one of the places to put your best foot forward. It’s not the best place to put some incoherent rant.

So why bring this up at all?

This fiasco happened a year ago.

Unfortunately, it would seem that MCLA never learns, as history is repeating itself.

A college Republican made the unfortunate mistake of challenging people’s notions of oppression over social media.

“You think you’re ‘oppressed?’” the post reads. “Try

being a white male conservative in this s***hole of a place you imbeciles. You couldn’t even last a day without losing your cool.”

To be clear, this post is not eloquently written, and to some extent, deserves the backlash that it got. It is also worth noting that it displays some of the abusive behaviors described in this column, such as the ad hominem “imbeciles.”

However, that does not mean abuse should be met with abuse.

How to avoid this

Don’t write angry. When you do so, you don’t use your

best judgement. Even if you wish to respond to something abhorrent, it is best to do so calm and collective than passionate and inconsistent.

Especially when responding to a student work, think “would I do this to a co-worker?”

Try to avoid sharing things that you hate. You will only draw more attention to them.

Know that weak arguments will falter on their own. You do not need to personally attack the person who made those arguments. All that will do is undermine your own credibility.

You are telling future employers what type of professional you are right now, and you might not even know it.

HISTORY

February 16, 2017

CAMPUS HISTORY

11

EVOLUTION OF THE BEACON A look back at the history of the current run of The Beacon

1979 The student newspaper was renamed “The Beacon”from “The Seed.”

1984 The Beacon nameplate changes to include Mount Greylock. Color pages are experimented later in the decade.

1992

The Beacon is published Thursdays during the academic year and is distributed to the MCLA community. The Beacon is funded by the Student Government Association, the English/Communications department and ad revenue. Single copies are free and additional copies can be purchased at 50 cents each. If you wish to purchase additional copies, please contact a member of staff.

CONTACT INFO News desk number: 413-662-5535 Business number: 413-662-5204 Email: beacon@mcla.edu Website: theonlinebeacon.com Office: Mark Hopkins Hall, room 111

The first of many early 90s redesigns.

POLICIES

1993 SPRING

Letters: The Beacon welcomes Letters to the Editor and columns on issues of interest to the campus. Deadlines are 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Strive for 500 words or less.

1993: the year of gradual design simplification.

1993 FALL

Fall 1993’s design called back to the 1934 design.

1994 1994’s Beacon staff sought to reverse the simplification of 1993. More information could be found on the page in unique ways, and the nameplate was reduced to free up more news space. However, it would not to last for long.

1995 One of the longest-standing designs the paper has ever had.

2002

A highly experimental phase the paper went through. 2002’s Beacons had the nameplate down the side, in a colored box.

2003 The longest-used Beacon nameplate. It has had iterations of it used between 20032014.

2014 The Beacon tower from a different perspective.

2017 Seeks to bring The Beacon into the modern age, while acknowledging the past. It’s goal: smart simplification.

Editorial: Unsigned editorials that appear in these pages reflect the views of The Beacon.

Signed columns and commentary pieces reflect the views of their writers.

Contribution: The Beacon accepts stories, photos and opinion pieces. Submit to beacon@mcla.edu.

Advertising: The Beacon reserves the right to not publish any advertisement it deems libelous, false or in bad taste.

EBOARD Editor-in-Chief Mitchell Chapman

Co-Managing Editors

Jon Hoel Joseph Carew

Senior News Editor Nick Tardive

Features Editor Emily Gabert

Deputy A & E and Features Editor Ron Leja

Copy Chief Lauren Levite

A & E Editor Chris Riemer

Sports Editor Brady Gerow

BWN Producers Dan Wohler Sam Kniskern

Design Editor Adam Sams

Photo Editor

Domonique Ackley

Web Editor and Business Manager Zack Benjamin

STAFF Photographer Trammel Griffith

Copy Editors

Staff Writers

Nick Webb

Reagan Smith

Aryel Brosnan

Emma Monahan

Gianna Vigliatura

Lily Schaub

Hannah Snell

Gianna Vilgliatura Hannah Snell

ADVISERS Shawn McIntosh

Jenifer Augur

Shoveling Through February Photos By Emily Gabert

Snow takes over MCLA, covering the Townhouses, above, the Freel library, left, as well as the Townhouse Greenhouse (below). However, despite this, civilization continued, as the school is now decorated with a multitude of small trails shoeveled out by facilties, such as the one seen bottom left, outside the MCLA front gates.