ESOC Week of Action

Emerson College’s student newspaper since 1947 • berkeleybeacon.com

Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 • Volume 74, Issue 17

@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate

Emerson officials respond to ESOC Week of Action demands Ann E. Matica & Diti Kohli Beacon Staff Emerson administrators said they would meet with students of color virtually in an effort to create a more equitable environment in an email sent on Feb. 5, the deadline set by student activist organization Protesting Oppression with Education Reform to address demands brought forth during the Emerson Students of Color Week of Action in November.

Administrators, faculty, and staff created a “Community Action Plan,” located on the college’s website, laying out the steps the college will take to meet each demand and timelines for when each effort will be implemented.

“Despite administrative and faculty efforts to address student concerns, the College has not sufficiently deconstructed the structural and systemic barriers embedded in our institutional culture that prevent our BIPOC students from participating fully in our commonwealth of learning,” the email read. “We now have an opportunity to heed the call to action for generational change.”

The response comes nearly four months after the Week of Action, a student-led initiative spearheaded by POWER, where many condemned the college for a culture of complicity and a slew of administrative failures. The 31 demands and two community contracts ranged from redistributing Emerson College Police Department funds to starting an antiracism syllabus review for all college classes.

Dozens of Emerson students have taken to Instagram to call on administration, student organizations, and peers to support POWER’s demands.

“This email acknowledged that Emerson is systemically racist and has failed to meaningful help BISOC navigate the institution,” POWER said in an Instagram statement on Wednesday. “Though not exactly what the organizers had originally hoped for, it was a start and we remain appreciative of the college’s efforts to seriously consider our struggles.”

The campaign urged students to repost the organization’s graphics to their Instagram stories and feeds. It also asked students to tune in to live-streamed speeches, participate in a mass email effort to the administration, and change their Zoom backgrounds to the #ESOCWeekofAction graphic.

More than 340 posts are labeled with the hashtag, most of them between Nov. 16 and 18, when the initiative took place. Cultural and activist student organizations also reposted the graphic, including EBONI, Access, and Flawless Brown. At least two dozen more students linked POWER’s post to their Instagram story— which disappears after 24 hours—during the Week of Action.

This call to action follows a long history of student leaders from intercultural organizations crusading to hold administration, faculty, staff, and their peers accountable for “microaggressions, bias, and discrimination,” former POWER co-chair Lucie Pereira said in 2017.

ESOC, Pg. 3

A student walks down 2B alley. Hongyu Liu / Beacon Staff

Emerson COVID-19 positives continue surge despite slowdown prediction Charlie McKenna Beacon Staff

Valentina Amaro holds up a #ThisIsEmerson sign. / Beacon Archives

Courtesy @ec_power Instagram

Despite administrator predictions of a dip in positive COVID-19 tests amongst community members, positives continue to roll in at a significantly higher rate than they did in the fall.

Emerson reported seven new positive COVID-19 tests Wednesday, bringing the college’s spring semester total to 73 after just five and a half weeks of testing. The 73 positives mark a significant increase from fall semester totals, as just 60 positive tests were reported across all four months of fall semester testing.

The seven positives reported Wednesday would have constituted the third-highest total in a single week of fall testing.

Administrators warned on Feb. 6 they were seeing evidence of the virus spreading amongst community members—meaning the positives were not just picked up in the city but were spread amongst community members within the college.

Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp said following the Feb. 6 email, there has not been any evidence of community spread at Emerson.

“Since that message, we have not seen confirmed or potential cases of community spread,” he said.

Muurisepp attributed the change to community members more closely adhering to safety protocols, like mask-wearing and social distancing.

“Hopefully it’s because people have been following the guidelines and the requests of not gathering, keeping distance, mask usage, all of that,” he said.

The seven positives reported Wednesday were all isolated, he said.

COVID, Pg. 2

Emersonian launches tattoo business Former Harvard clinician to

A client getting her tattoo on a mattress. Zhuoli Zhang / Beacon Staff

Mariyam Quaissar Beacon Staff Emerson student Trey started his own tattoo business for students called Kosher Ink, inspired by the persistent boredom imposed by the

INSIDE THIS EDITION Kasteel Well remains desolate during pandemic Pg. 3 Emerson, feed your quarantined students Pg. 4 Fraternities and sororities take new member class Pg. 6 First-year student showcases dining hall cuisine Pg. 7 New, inclusive cheerleading club underwayPg. 8

pandemic.

Since last May, Trey said he has done about 200 tattoos, 75 percent of which were for Emerson students. He does about five to 10 tattoos a week and spends about an hour on each person. His pricing varies based on the size, color, and design of the tattoo, with an average price of $50.

“I knew Emerson would eat it up—I knew it was the perfect demographic to do it, and COVID definitely helped,” Trey said. “People aren’t willing to go to tattoo studios, it takes a while now to book, so anyone wanting a small tattoo is not going to do that. There’s minimum fees, it’s usually, like, $75 is the minimum and I can do it for 40 bucks.”

During the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns in May 2020, Trey started tattooing and initially wanted to do stick and pokes. Instead, he decided to go all-in and do

more permanent tattoos, purchasing the necessary materials from Amazon and other tattoo supply stores.

Trey started promoting his work through creating a business account on Instagram, and following people he knows. Eventually, his friends showed their friends, and word spread about his tattoos. He now has almost 600 followers and said he is gaining more every day.

He sai the brand name of his business, Kosher Ink, is meant to make an ironic joke of his Jewish background.

By naming his business Kosher Ink, he said he is hinting at the fact that tattoos are not promoted within Judaism.

Trey said he gained experience over the months by trying out various designs on himself and family members.

“I started [practicing] on my legs and then on my sisters’ boyfriend and husband,” Trey said. “Like, the first time I did color I tried it out on me, and the first time I did shading, I tried it out on my legs. Every time I’m doing another tattoo is practice, and I have gotten better and better.”

Among the tattoo community, many tattoo artists will take whatever design they are handed and replicate it on the customer. Trey, however, said he will take a design he was sent and redraw it to avoid copyright infringement.

“I refuse to just steal someone’s art because I know that’s not really ethical, so I end up designing something that’s similar, I’d rather that,” Trey said.

Tattoo, Pg. 7

head health services merger Ann E. Matica Beacon Staff

Brandin Dear, who filled the newly minted position of associate dean and director of counseling, health, and wellness earlier this month, will spearhead the college’s merger of the physical and mental health of students during a multi-year effort to create a more holistic approach to students’ wellbeing.

Dear stepped into the position on Feb. 1, after the college officially announced his hiring in an email on Jan. 15. The new position was created after Emerson announced retirements of Emerson’s Counseling and Psychological Services (ECAPS) Director Elise Harrison last fall and Center for Health and Wellness (CHW) Director Jane Powers earlier this year.

“I was really intrigued by this position because it’s taking what I love and what I’ve always known, which is counseling and mental health, and then pairing it with health and wellness,” Dear said in an interview with The Beacon.

Dear said his vision for the merger of ECAPS and CHW is to create a fully integrated office that takes into consideration each student’s mental and physical health when providing them with the care they need.

“My hope is that we treat the student as a whole person across the campus,” he said. “We are all interacting with the student on these different levels, but we are not forgetting about all the intersections of who a student is in

terms of their identity and in terms of what they want to do at Emerson.”

The full integration of these two departments will occur over the course of several years in a multi-stage plan.

The first stage, which Dear said will begin during the fall 2021 semester, will introduce a new website that will combine the resources and services of both offices in one virtual location.

“Instead of having the student jump around office to office, it’s like we are one system,” he said. “I think that when we have this integration we are able to give you the best care and the clearest care.”

Student’s electronic medical records from each office will also eventually be integrated together, which will allow counselors from ECAPS and staff from CHW to access students’ entire medical histories at the college.

Health, Pg. 2

133

positive COVID-19 tests

.18%

positivity rate *Accumulated from 2020-2021 school year

News

The Berkeley Beacon

February 18, 2021

2

Students with learning disabilities face hybrid learning difficulties, department communication issues

Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff

The Office of Student Accessibility Services has seen an increase in students requesting accommodations since the pandemic began, as some students with learning disabilities continue to navigate unique struggles while adapting to the online and in-person classroom experience.

With the implementation of the hybrid learning model last fall, the college crafted new accommodations for students with disabilities who need specific supports under the new plan. New accommodations include requesting that professors wear clear-fronted masks for students with auditory processing-related disabilities, placing microphones in every classroom, and giving students permission to turn off cameras while on Zoom and take a short break, similar to the accommodation for students to take breaks during in-person classes.

The onus is on students to request these accommodations, which are not universally offered.

“We started seeing that the need was increased for accommodations for students that we didn’t even know before,” Diane Paxton, director of student accessibility services, said in an interview. “The online learning situation and all the stressors of everything was affecting everyone.”

Danielle Francois, a senior BFA theater and performance major with ADHD said her experience with Student Accessibility Services has been rocky during the transition from in-person to remote learning.

She is in the Emerson Los Angeles program this semester, which is currently remote.

“This semester is really hard,” Francois said. “I literally just broke down last night because online learning is not my specialty. Emerson doesn’t offer a lot of things to help people that deal with things like

The Office of Student Accessibility Services. Zhuoli Zhang / Beacon Staff

this, with disabilities like mine. It’s a bittersweet thing. It’s an ongoing challenge and I’m learning every day. ” Francois emphasized the plight she faced year after year trying to obtain accommodation letters from SAS. Francois has had 504 accommodations since high school, meaning she can request things like extended time on exams and assignments, breaks from class, and testing in a location outside of the classroom. Francois said that it took two months for her to receive her accommodations letters in the fall and give them to her professors.

“All four years I’ve been at Emerson it has taken a battle to get my accommodations letters,” Francois said. “It’s been really hard. I have been approved for 504 accommodations since high school [and] have been diagnosed with ADHD since middle school. I thought at least being at Emerson College and having

ECAPS and CHW merger to proceed under new leadership Cont. from Pg. 1

Courtesy Brandin Dear While Dear said the merger will assist in easing communications between staff members to provide students with the care they need, each student will be able to choose how much information is shared about them between staff.

“It’s not like if you came in to see someone on the health side that you are giving permission for them to have in-depth conversations with your therapist,” he said. “But there might be something on the health side that you want your therapist to know about, or that you want the health person to know about.”

ECAPS and CHW will be renamed under the umbrella of the new office, the name for which has not yet been decided.

Dear said the merger makes sense now more than ever due to the toll the pandemic has taken on students’ mental and physical health at Emerson and across the country.

“I think we are finding with COVID, this has been such an interesting time because we are all, on some level, isolated to protect our physical bodies,” he said. “We are trying to protect those the best that we can, but what we found is that it’s really impacted our mental health in a lot of ways, so these really do work together.”

As the Director of Counseling, Health, and Wellness, Dear will oversee newly appointed Associate Director of ECAPS Kyle Rundles, Associate Director of Wellness Laura Owens, and the Associate Director of Health—a position that currently stands empty following Powers’ retirement earlier this year.

Owens said she is excited to work with Dear to implement educational and preventive actions that will prioritize students’ wellness.

“It really is a big job,” she said. “This is a totally new thing that we are going to build with two different departments that have been historically separate.”

Owens, who was part of the group involved in Dear’s hiring process, said she was impressed with his positive energy and overall vision for what the merger will look like.

“We are going to have a unified leader now, which is something new,” she said. “I think we will have an advocate

an accommodations office… it might be somewhat easier.”

Grace Rispoli, a journalism major, also said the transition to online learning, especially when students were initially sent home last March, was a challenge due to her ADHD. “Motivation is incredibly hard for me, especially because motivation and attention are two really big difficulties for me,” Rispoli said.

“I’m very specific about my learning environments, and being in my high school room was just hard, but I can’t really do work inside; I have to be out of my house. I was actually doing work in my car a lot of times because I just can’t do it in my bedroom.”

The switch to hybrid learning, Rispoli said, helped her focus by a small margin.

“I would be fully lost if we didn’t have any in-person [classes] at all,” she said. “I need to have relationships with teachers, and that’s really at an associate dean level that will bring us together and advocate for staffing.”

Rundles echoed Owens’ sentiments, saying Dear’s new position will allow ECAPS to accomplish new efforts, like implementing educational programs to teach students how to care for themselves while away at college, which was previously put on the backburner.

“I think he’s a great person to spearhead the combination of the Center for Health and Wellness and ECAPS,” Rundles said. “I think that will allow for a holistic care for our students and some preventative work that the CHW and ECAPS hasn’t really had the time or staff to dedicate to in the past, so he’s going to be leading that ship.”

Prior to coming to Emerson, Dear worked as a clinical coordinator at Harvard University’s Health Services for four-and-a-half years, and before that as a counselor and interim director at Berklee College of Music’s Counseling Services.

Along with working as a clinical coordinator, Dear held a position on Harvard’s Health Services senior leadership team and created a group specifically to provide .emotional support to transgender students.

Last week, Brandin explored Emerson’s campus for the first time. He said that he will be working remotely for the majority of the spring semester but is eager to meet the students he will be working with in the future.

“I went around some of the buildings, just on the outside, and I saw folks walking around,” he said. “The energy of the college campus—I really missed that.” ann_matica@emerson.edu

hard to do fully online. I’m glad that I get to interact with teachers in person. I wouldn’t say I’ve necessarily given up on days we’re online, but it’s just overall harder to be engaged in those classes.”

Ripsoli said that she has accommodations through the college, such as the ability to take breaks from class and extended time on tests and assignments, but the in-class experience hinges on how much professors respect her accommodations.

“It really depends on the professor,” Rispoli said. “Some are really not very respectful of accommodations in general. If I have a personal relationship with my professor, I’m much more likely to be like, ‘I have ADHD, here’s what I’m struggling with [and] here’s how I’m feeling.’”

The lack of consistent in-person classes, Rispoli said, makes personal or SAS-mediated communication with her professors all the more crucial.

“I take at least twice, if not three times as long to read a page than a normal person, just because my brain doesn’t pick it up as fast,” she said. “I could be working nonstop and still be behind and when I don’t have that in-person aspect… it’s really just hard for me to try my hardest on Zoom.”

Anna Grace, a sophomore marketing major who has dyslexia, said her experience with SAS has been positive. However, she noted there was a miscommunication regarding how her testing accommodations—which includes extended time and an individual who can read the material to her—would be modified for hybrid learning.

Pre-COVID, Grace took proctored tests at the Writing and Academic Research Center. However, in the fall, she arrived to a dark room and a powered-off computer after scheduling a test there with her advisor. The computer, which Grace had to set up herself, contained the audio files she needed for her exam. Grace said she could have gotten the same environment by taking the test in her dorm room.

“I wasn’t aware that no one was in the [WARC] to help me out,” Grace said. “I felt like it could have been a little better, but they were really helpful in the end.”

Grace said the fall semester taught her how to handle hybrid learning, and certain elements of online learning have ended up boding well for her learning style.

“Being on Zoom while in a lecture is a lot easier because you can screenshot the slides and also listen to [the professor] speak and then go back and refer to it,” Grace said. “In an in-person class, you either get the notes down or you don’t. I value that aspect of being online.” camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

COVID-19 positives continue to surge despite administrator predictions Cont. from Pg. 1 “What we’re seeing is, if we have one, two, or three, or seven positives a day… those do seem to be isolated [and] independent,” Muurisepp said. “That’s a good thing because you’re just seeing independent cases, you’re not seeing transmission of cases.”

On Feb. 4, Muurisepp said the college anticipated the number of positives reported would tail off as the semester went along. That trend has yet to materialize, as the college has reported double-digit positives in each full week of testing, aside from the first, this spring.

“In some ways it has leveled, we’re still seeing every day some positives,” he said. “But on average, we’re seeing about two to three, maybe, a day. It’s better than seeing five or six a day.”

At this point in the fall semester, Emerson had reported just 12 positive tests. Muurisepp said the college is not comparing fall and spring results due to the “new environment” of the pandemic. The fall semester positivity rate was .08 percent; the spring’s is .33 percent.

He said the increase is due to “more virus” present in the city and the state.

“It’s more prevalent,” he said.

“We are now two weeks away from our baseline testing and this

is obviously virus that’s in the city. It’s because there is more virus out there and it is being transmitted.”

As positive tests at Emerson continue to tick up, cases in the city and state have steadily trended down. On Tuesday, Massachusetts reported the lowest number of new cases in a single day since Nov. 3. The statewide positivity rate has also hit lows last seen in early November.

In the fall, when 16 community members tested positive in one week, the college moved quickly to shut down all non-academic in-person activities. Now, with positives regularly topping double digits, no new safety restrictions are on the horizon, Muurisepp said.

“There’s not much more we can do besides going back into what we started the semester with, sort of that stay-in-room order both on- and off-campus,” he said.

“Outside of that, I don’t see how else we would be able to put more restrictions in place.”

Instead, administrators continue to remain firm in their belief that mask-wearing, regular testing, and social distancing are the best ways to maintain what they have called “the Emerson bubble.” charles_mckenna@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 18, 2021

3

Village of Well locked down as castle remains shuttered Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff

Nearly 3,500 miles away from Boston, a towering castle is quiet.

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the dorms at Kasteel Well have sat empty for nearly a year—and the neighboring Dutch village lies largely shuttered.

Emerson students have been missing from the college’s flagship satellite campus since March 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe compelled the college to repatriate them back to Massachusetts mere days before students vacated the Boston campus as well. In their absence, Well aan de Maas, a small town in the southernmost province of the Netherlands named for the River Meuse that dwarfs it, has faced a months-long lockdown that has effectively closed much of its tourist

been acutely felt.

“Our students would go nonstop to the bakery shop, the variety shops, the cafes, and the snack bars,” Meijers said. “There’s a lot less of that traffic now.”

Meijers noted that the Netherlands, like most of the world, has been under a strict lockdown for months in an effort to curb the spread of the pandemic. Barring a reopening between June 1 and Oct. 15, the country’s bars, restaurants, and many other establishments remain closed, and a nationwide 9:00 p.m. curfew was recently extended to at least March 3, according to Reuters.

“The situation in Europe isn’t going well,” Meijers said. “It’s perhaps a little bit less dramatic in Europe [as opposed to in the United States], but it’s still serious enough to maintain the lockdown.”

Emerson’s Kasteel Well campus in Well, Netherlands. / Beacon Archives (and student-based) economy.

“Well is no exception to the rest of the Netherlands or many other parts of the world,” Dulcia Meijers said.

“It’s bare.”

Meijers, the executive director of Emerson College’s European Center, has been managing the empty campus since Emerson students were sent home on Mar. 6. She said the absence of students from Well, a bucolic town with abounding cycling paths and expansive pastures, has

Onder de Linden, a cafe and bar at MFC de Buun (a mixed-use shopping mall and community center in Well), was once a hotspot for Emerson students studying at the restored 14th-century castle. Aside from the reopening period, it has been closed since Mar. 18—shortly after students left.

“We are missing the students, of course,” Sjaak Janssen, the bar’s owner, said. “The whole village misses them. It’s been a terrible

time.”

Onder de Linden is usually a prime attraction for the international student population at the nearby castle—both because of the Netherlands’ 18-year-old drinking age and the bar’s weekly “American Night” catered specifically to them.

“The concept is like bringing a little bit of America to Holland,” bartender Jordy Dura said. “It’s really fucking amazing.”

Dura described the atmosphere during the bar’s American Night as electrifying, in large part due to the Emerson students.

“They go for three [sic] months, and they want to get as much out of it as they can,” he said. “Everyone is dancing on tables. It’s only eight weeks or seven weeks, but every Wednesday I have the feeling that it is the last time.”

“Well is a little village with 2,500 people—super, super small.” Dura continued. “For this town—and for me and my friends, who are all around 21, 22, who go to Dutch pubs where everyone is Dutch—it’s just another vibe. This is so different.”

Even before the bar shut down once more in October, it was only able to host about 30 people, according to Janssen, due to occupancy limits imposed by the Dutch government. Despite the strained monetary situation, Janssen was cautiously optimistic about Onder de Linden’s immediate future—especially compared with other establishments in Well.

“The financial problem is not so bad for us,” Janssen said. “For many people, my colleagues, they are having a very bad time.”

The Dutch economy contracted by 3.8 percent in 2020, per a Dutch governmental report released Tuesday— the most severe slump since World War II. Only recently were the storefronts of Well allowed to reopen, albeit to a much more limited extent.

“They have relaxed [the lockdown] a little bit for shopkeepers,” Meijers said. “Shopkeepers [still] aren’t allowed to receive customers inside, but they can order online or by phone and now they can retrieve the material outside at the entrance of the shop. Even if there were students at the castle [right now], there would

not be a lot of interaction between the local shopkeepers and them.”

Meijers herself has not been able to reside at the castle since the spring; a spate of internal travel bans imposed by the European Union have forced even her to work remotely from her residence in Italy.

“Myself and my own staff at Kasteel Well are coordinating everything online,” Meijers said. “A few staff members are allowed to go to the castle—but in the morning, there may be two or three, and in the afternoon, two or three.”

The decision to limit on-campus staff is part of a Dutch government mandate, prescribing all employers to minimize in-person interactions.

“Only when there is necessity are

it. But I don’t know how fast that goes with vaccination. We’ll have to wait for it, I can’t say.”

Emerson is expecting the Dutch government to loosen enough restrictions to allow the Kasteel program to go forward in the fall, after attempts to do so during the 2020-21 academic year were blocked by the Dutch immigration service and education ministry. Meijers said that Emerson students, for their part, are also eager to return.

“Our prime minister said, ‘We’re going to stick to this rigorous lockdown, at least until March, if not April,’” Meijers said, referring to recently-resigned Dutch P.M. Mark Rutte. “We’re in the middle of the vaccination program, and that will

Interior of Onder de Linden bar in the Netherlands. / Courtesy Sjaak Janssen [Kasteel Well staff] allowed to go to their workplace,” she said. “Or else we could get a huge fine.”

The Netherlands’ lockdown has been prolonged by a worldwide surge in cases, in part due to a new, more transmissible variant originating in the nearby U.K. Though the Dutch government has faced criticism for its uncoordinated vaccination program—which lags behind the rest of Europe—it is the hope of many town residents that, with the ambitious goal of inoculating every adult in the country’s 17-million-strong population by September, life will begin to return to normal soon.

“I think we’ll be able to open for a few people, [serving them] outside, in June,” Janssen said. “I hope that in July or August, we can open [with indoor seating] for all—and that the students can come in September for

take several weeks to months. But enrollment numbers speak a lot— we already have over 70 deposits.

So that speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

They are impatient to come.”

Dura said part of the town’s return to normal is the return of Emerson students to the castle.

“When the Americans come, there’s always a big buzz in town,” he said. “In the village, everyone can see an American immediately— you pick them right out. You have to love when they’re on their bicycles; they’re always going the wrong way.”

“They’re always laughing at each other and at us, and it’s just a vibe,” Dura continued. “I hope that [when they come back] it will be the same.

I miss it very much.” camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

Syllabus review, ECPD alternatives among administrators’ promises to students of color Cont. from Pg. 1 In October 2017, hundreds of students poured into the Paramount Theater during the #ThisIsEmerson protest, calling for the administration to take responsibility for the lack of diversity and inclusion at the college. The demands from the protest included creating a minimum of five scholarships for students of color and imposing bias reports during faculty tenure review and any faculty promotions.

Just two years earlier, in the spring of 2015, several hundred students marched into the final faculty assembly of the academic year, demanding that cultural competency and sensitivity classes be implemented at Emerson. This marked the inception of POWER as an official organization.

Members of POWER took to Instagram live Feb. 5 to discuss the college’s response to their demands.

“We are asking at this point for creative and comprehensive solutions to our struggles—that’s it,” POWER Co-chair Max Boone, who identifies as a student of color, said during the livestream. “We are paying you to look after us, period.

I shouldn’t have to be traumatized nor watch any of my friends be traumatized within Emerson’s halls.”

POWER did not respond to The Beacon’s request for comment on the administration’s response to their demands. The paper and its leadership have repeatedly hurt communities of color and staffers from marginalized communities in the

past—a pattern that resulted in a wave of staff resignations in September.

In the community-wide Feb. 5 response from 49 administrators, faculty, and staff, the college vowed to meet with BIPOC students virtually by Feb. 19 with specific responses to their lists of demands. Administrators acknowledged the failings of the college and promised to implement systemic change.

Five percent of Emerson’s undergraduate student population identify as Black or African American, according to data from the college collected in 2020. In total, 26 percent of undergraduate students at the college in 2020 identify as BIPOC—Black, indiginous, or people of color. The majority of the undergraduate student population—59 percent—identify as white.

The college did not respond to The Beacon’s request for comment.

“It’s a community issue, but it is definitely coming from the top down,” POWER Co-chair Eryn McCallum, who identifies as Black, said in an Instagram live Friday night. “I would like for us to be continuing to move in a direction of constant updates about all of this stuff that they just released and adding new things.

We don’t just have to stick with just this stuff, and I will definitely be pushing for more.”

Institutional Response As part of the college’s community action plan—intended to address the racial and social inequities at Emerson— they will develop a new way to report incidents of bias by “create[ing] a direct

mechanism for reporting incidents to relevant areas of the College.”

A new webpage will also be created to simplify accessing resources online, and the campus life student handbook will be revised to include clearer instructions on what to do when bias-related incidents are inflicted by other students. These goals will be accomplished “no later than the end of the spring semester,” according to the college’s community action plan. The college has also released a new bias report flowchart for academic-related issues, and is designing a “new in-take process and guidelines for department chairs” within the Academic Affairs department.

ECPD The college said they will work with Emerson Counseling and Psychological Services, the Center for Health and Wellness, and the Office of Housing and Residential Education to provide alternative resources for students to contact instead of ECPD. A more specific training for RAs and an alternative hotline for students to call were also promised. ECPD also issued a public apology for the “thin blue line” flag—often associated with the loose, pro-police countermovement of Blue Lives Matter—that was displayed on a computer screen in their office for years.

“We also stated an apology to anyone who, as a result of witnessing this symbol, felt that the Emerson College Police Department was not a trusted and supportive arm of the College, especially those members of our BIPOC communi-

ty,” the statement read.

Administrators told The Beacon in July that the college intends to “reimagine” ECPD, following the nationwide movement to defund police departments that historically persecute people of color at disproportionate rates.

According to the college’s community action plan, these changes are currently underway and will be reassessed during the fall 2021 semester.

Faculty response Faculty created an initial draft with ideas on how to create more equitable classrooms. This draft will be brought forward in Faculty Assembly and department meetings before being implemented in a “multi-year long effort.”

Currently, seven percent of full-time faculty and five percent of part-time faculty identify as Black, according to college data. Emerson committed to increase the number of non-white affiliated faculty and implement new efforts to retain and hire BIPOC faculty. The college also put forth a proposal to add new language to the faculty handbook that will “recognize the essential service that BIPOC faculty provide to students and to the community.” This handbook proposal will be voted on during a spring semester Faculty Assembly, according to the college’s community action plan.

Staff training and hiring The community action plan states with the integration of ECAPS and CHW underway, additional counselors and multicultural specialists will be hired by August of this year, if approved by the

Hiring Committee.

The administration said they will introduce bias training for new employees by the fall semester and add a second level of training for current faculty, which will be reviewed during a Faculty Assembly this semester.

The college stated in the community action plan they will hold a forum in April every year to discuss the topic of racial inequity at the college. Administrators also committed to meeting with the Intercultural Advisory Board by the end of February to draft new policies around compensating students in the Presidential Advisory Group.

Social contracts POWER also developed two social contracts—one for white students on campus and one for student organizations—to actively participate in anti-racist behavior at Emerson.

The college said they will work with staff from different departments on campus, including OHRE and the Office of International Student Affairs, to create training for students that will “address the issues raised in the social contract.”

These training sessions will begin over summer and during the fall of 2021.

Implicit bias training for student organizations began during the fall 2020 semester and will continue over the course of the spring semester. The Office of Student Engagement and Leadership will create a progress report of the training by March 1. contact@berkeleybeacon.com

The Berkeley Beacon

Opinion

Paramount holds isolated/quarantined students who have been exposed or tested positive of COVID-19. / Courtesy Jakob Menendez

Emerson, please take care of your students in quarantine/isolation Staying in isolation or quarantine after testing positive or being exposed to COVID-19 is rarely a pleasant experience. The basic necessities like room, board, and edible food, are enough to survive a few days in the Paramount residence hall. Yet in at least one of these areas, Emerson fails to adequately provide for students.

Last week, students in Paramount residence hall for quarantine and isolation described abysmal food conditions to The Beacon. Students said they frequently received food they were unable to eat, whether it be due to life-threatening allergies or substandard food conditions. Emerson must do better to ensure students in quarantine and isolation, who are completely reliant on the college for food, are receiving proper food and living accommodations.

One student, who has a severe peanut and tree nut allergy, reported receiving Honey Nut Cheerios and two sandwiches from a facility that also houses nuts. Other students said they received multiple sandwiches and wraps that were “soaking wet” from the steam of transportation, another saying he received a visibly old sandwich sitting in “liquefied mayonnaise.”

“I’m not a very picky guy for the most part—I’ll eat whatever is given to me as long as it doesn’t kill me,” Sean Facey, the student with the peanut allergy said in a Zoom interview from quarantine.

“It’s just kind of stunning to me that a lot of this stuff keeps slipping through the cracks and that there was actually a time where I was able to just theoretically not have any food available for me to eat.”

This goes far beyond students being “picky,” or “spoiled,” or complaining just for the sake of it. Students are unable to order groceries or use food delivery services when staying in Paramount because they cannot leave their room, so they are left solely reliant on food from the college. Because this is the only option for nutrition (which is especially important if they are sick with symptoms), students need access to three meals a day— meals

that are edible and won’t spark an allergic reaction.

Director of Housing and Residential Education Christie Anglade told The Beacon that packing hot meals for 40 students in Paramount “presents various challenges,” hence the lack of hot meals for students in quarantine and isolation.

Paramount residence hall can house more than 200 students at a time. If the college knew they may have to feed hundreds of students at a time, how is 40 too many for them to handle? What will they do if more than 40 students are placed in Paramount?

When off-campus students contract the virus, they are told to isolate in their home for up to 10 days, while their roommates may have to quarantine for up to 14 days. This means the college’s requirement for quarantine poses difficulties for students to obtain food when they cannot leave their homes to buy groceries.

Off-campus senior Devin Davis-Lorton told the Beacon earlier this month that they received a positive test the day after moving into their apartment. After sending a total of 49 emails to the Office of Student Success, Davis-Lorton and their roommates were finally given a $150 grocery voucher and a single delivery of Thai food.

“I wasn’t able to access any of Emerson’s resources,” Davis-Lorton said.

“It really made me think that Emerson doesn’t really have those resources that we would need to actually respond to people who are off-campus and have COVID.” These mess-ups shouldn’t be happening, especially when Paramount is less than a ten-minute walk from the dining hall. Emerson could also take advantage of the cafe that is already housed inside the Paramount building, if they so wished. For a dining hall that is known for their waste of edible food, it doesn’t make a lot of sense that students are receiving such inadequate meals, especially when these students have no other means of obtaining food.

Emerson’s “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp told The Beacon the college was anticipating more students testing

4

America’s opioid epidemic lies in the health care system Shannon Garrido Beacon Staff

Editorial

February 18, 2021

positive this semester due to higher positivity rates in Boston and Massachusetts.

If Emerson expected Paramount was going to house more students this semester, why were they not prepared to serve hot meals to all of them?

Students shouldn’t have to persistently beg the college through phone calls and emails to have their basic human needs met. Emerson should be more prepared to feed students, among other requests.

To combat the needs of students in quarantine or isolation, Emerson should set up a 24-hour phone hotline to meet students’ needs. This could serve as a platform for students to get quick help if they do not have access to food or are facing other issues during quarantine or isolation.

Schools like Penn State and Ohio University already have 24-hour student affairs hotlines or specific COVID-19 hotlines.

Although it is not our responsibility to feed ourselves during mandatory quarantine, this should serve as a reminder to take the necessary precautions to avoid ending up in Paramount. Remember this pandemic is nowhere near over, and everyone holds the individual responsibility of minimizing the spread. If we are not properly social distancing, we are putting more pressure on the college.

We understand how challenging it must be for Emerson to keep up with a pandemic that is constantly changing.

But really, all we’re asking for is the bare minimum. Emerson, please feed your students properly while they are in isolation and quarantine.

The Berkeley Beacon Editorial Board is the voice of the student newspaper that looks to serve the Emerson College community with thoughtful insight into ongoings and occurrences affecting their everyday lives. The board’s positions are determined by its members. The board consists of the editor-in-chief, managing editors, and opinion editors. The opinions expressed by the Editorial Board do not impact the paper’s coverage. You can respond to a position brought forward by The Beacon Editorial Board in the form of a Letter to The Editor by email: Letters@BerkeleyBeacon.com.

On Feb, 4, NPR released a segment of their morning edition broadcast, where they discussed the current legal state of consulting giant McKinsey and Company. Recently, the company reached a total of $573 million in lawsuit settlements with nearly 50 states over their role in the escalation of highly addictive medication sales.

News of the deal became public on the morning of Feb. 4, and NPR’s addiction correspondent, Brian Mann, breaks down the details. During the broadcast, he states that the documents disclosed in court show that McKinsey’s team worked behind the scenes to help companies like Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” the sales of high risk drugs like OxyContin.

Although McKinsey’s fees are through the roof, so are the number of overdoses across the country. Death by overdose increased by 31 percent during the first half of 2020, and an estimated 40 percent of opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid, like Percocet or OxyContin, which can be prescribed by doctors for post surgery and chronic pain. These drugs are prescribed for post surgery pain, but because they are highly addictive, people are likely to misuse them in the future. After a while, about 50% of addicts who misused prescription drugs later got them from family or friends who were prescribed the same thing.

About 80 percent of people who use heroin report they first misused prescription opioids, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Drug overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50, and companies like McKinsey have benefited from it the most. We aren’t talking about a back alley exchange with a sketchy drug dealer; these drugs can be found at your local pharmacy and prescribed by your own doctor.

State Attorney Generals in 47 separate states have signed on to this deal, and say this is a landmark in the on-

contributions accounts for roughly $11 million in campaigning.

PhRMA, a powerful drug industry trade group, declined to comment to STAT on the strategy behind these political handouts, citing a policy of not publicly discussing political advocacy or lobbying tactics. Granted, the real reason drugmakers continue to upkeep this relationship with politicians is because it allows for inflated drug prices.

Nevertheless, it can’t be denied that the sales of addictive drugs are a direct result of a failing health system.

A Center for Public Integrity and NPR investigation found that drug companies have infiltrated nearly every part of the process that determines how their drugs will be covered by taxpayers. These companies will typically entice elitist doctors with free dinners and consulting gigs on mostly unknown committees advising state Medicaid programs.

Many drug companies ask speakers who don’t disclose their financial ties with drug companies to testify on behalf of the medication they sell; other times they pay state Medicaid officials to attend all-inclusive conferences where they can mingle with drug representatives.

For a long time, this gave companies like Purdue Pharma enough secrecy to lie about the effects of their drugs to the public. Back in 2003, during an American Drug Utilization Review Society (ADURS) conference, the speaker told audience members that addiction from taking opioids is largely a myth, according to a slideshow obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.

The speaker continued by stating that patients taking opioids could suffer from “pseudoaddiction” and that it shouldn’t be a concern. These are talking points that experts have since debunked whilst shifting the blame towards the healthcare system for an epidemic that continues to clinch the nation.

McKinsey and Company have now decided not to take on consulting work linked to opioid products and give

Illustration Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

going national effort to hold private companies accountable for their role in selling and marketing addictive drugs.

However, some might wonder what role American politicians play in this.

The world’s largest drugmakers cut checks to 356 lawmakers during last year’s election, including more than two-thirds of the sitting members of Congress, according to a new STAT analysis. STAT focused on 23 of the biggest drug makers and the two major trade associations: PhRMA and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, known as BIO. This fusillade of

$573 million, that according to NPR, will pay for rehab and treatment programs around the country. This kind of change is crucial to helping communities and families who are forced to pay the price of addiction. With the opioid crisis getting worse during the pandemic and a record high number of overdose deaths in the past year (more than 81,000 people), there is no telling how far some companies are willing to go to keep their drugs on the market. shannon_garrido@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 18, 2021

5

How the pandemic made loungewear the norm Camryn Ciancia

Beacon Correspondent Since the pandemic began in March of last year, our time has been consumed

by WiFi and computer screens due to the nature of remote living. Suddenly, people who worked nine to five corporate jobs are rolling out of bed to join Zoom in their pajamas or loungewear. Gone are the days of blazers and heels, considering that your boss now only sees your clothing from the shoulders up.

With this shift in workplace fashion, clothing companies are recognizing the appeal of lounge or “athleisure” wear— and they continue to maintain their hefty price points that carry the success of the clothing industry. If there was ever a time I could justify purchasing a pricey, velvet lounge set, now is a better time than ever.

Now that “Zoom University” is in session, walking through my dorm building is like attending an athleisure fashion show. There are people in workout gear preparing for their at-home workouts, students in dresses layered over sweatpants for virtual sorority recruitment, and of course, people sporting sweatshirts and sweatpants with a classic messy bun.

The athleisure industry has become one of the most lucrative sectors of the fashion world as companies such as Lululemon, Alo Yoga, and Athleta have risen in popularity. Allied Market Research collected a series of data, noting that in 2018, the athleisure market was valued at $155.2 billion, but is expected to reach $257.1 billion by the year 2026. CNBC reported in November that, “Lululemon shares are up 54 [percent] since the start of the year [2020], bringing its market value to $46.6 billion. Nike shares are up nearly 34 [percent], with a market cap swelling to $212.8 billion.”

This makes sense, considering that instead of buying new pairs of jeans, people are now on the hunt for comfortable clothing. Moreover, the American consumer will stop at nothing to purchase what is trendy and popular at the moment, whether that be a $98 pair of leggings to workout in or a $165 sweatshirt to never leave the house in. Dressing in high-end athleisure wear has become attractive to the consumer. When people notice the Lululemon or Champion logo, it suddenly becomes a symbol of wealth or privilege. These brands are manufacturing high-quality products that help consumers find a way to feel put together, while still being incredibly comfortable.

But despite the high quality of these expensive brands, the extravagant price points are too far fetched for low-income individuals and people living on a budget who just do not have hundreds of dollars to spend on a hoodie.

Many fashion brands have capitalized off of the pandemic, formulating an elitist industry defined by a uniform of sweat pants, leggings, and sweatshirts— outfits that, despite their inconceivable price tag, could be recreated at Walmart for $20.

Sure, brands like Aritzia are using higher quality fabric for their hoodies, yet when compared to materials used by Gildan, the 78% cotton, 22% polyester used by the European brand differs only slightly from the 60/40 blend of a Gildan sweatshirt.

Pre-pandemic, however, the growing exclusivity of the athleisure industry had already begun. Consumers saw a rise of high-end leisure and athleisure wear from many brands, including Justin Bieber’s Drew House.

From the late 1990’s into the early 2000’s, Champion, a popular jer-

Illustration Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

sey-turned sportswear company, was primarily being produced for less expensive stores like Walmart and Target. Now, the brand is typically regarded as exclusive and expensive, since it was popularized again in 2010 when Champion (and their parent company, HanesBrands Inc.) made a deal with the skateboarding lifestyle brand Supreme.

Since the brand’s collaboration with Supreme, Champion became highly sought after and features a number of reimagined designs— at an elevated price point.

Champion’s sales have since skyrocketed, and they are just getting started. In 2017, their sales grew 33 percent, and were up by another 7 percent in 2018, achieving nearly $1.4 billion dollars in sales that year. The brand is set to achieve $2 billion in sales by 2022, due to the growing desire for athleisure in 2020 and 2021.

This rise in popularity can be attributed to the revival of thrift and vintage shops and the attraction to the “dad look” for

‘To All the Books I’ve Loved Before’

What happened to Netflix’s top teen franchise

Noah Centineo as Peter and Lana Condor as Lara Jean in “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” / Photo: Bettina Strauss / Creative Commons

Shawna Konieczny Beacon Staff

For Valentine’s Day, Netflix gifted its subscribers with the third and final installment of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before movie series based on the book trilogy of the same name by Jenny Han. The movies featured Lana Condor playing the starry-eyed protagonist, Lara Jean Song Covey, and Noah Centineo as the charming love interest, Peter Kavinsky. The highly-anticipated finale, Always and Forever, was released on Feb. 12. It concluded the story of Lara Jean and Peter with the two characters going off to college, their love for each other still intact. While the series ended with what seemed to be happily ever after for Lara Jean and Peter, it wasn’t for me.

Before the Aug. 17, 2018 release of

the first movie, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, I was both excited and nervous. I’ve seen highly-anticipated adaptations fail over the years, and I was afraid the same would happen to this series. I was worried that this series would be another Divergent, an adaptation that really let me down. However, after I watched the movie, I let out a sigh of relief. For the first time since the The Hunger Games movies, I was happy with the adaptation of one of my favorite books.

The first movie captured everything I loved about the book and executed it in a visually-pleasing and heart-warming way. The movie replicated Lara Jean’s anxiety about her love letters being sent, as well as her fun and loving dynamic with her sisters. Overall, Condor’s performance as Lara Jean embodied the unique, introverted, hopeless romantic I envisioned her character to be.

As the second movie was about to come out on Feb. 12, 2020, I was more excited than nervous. I felt optimistic that the second movie was going to be my favorite movie in the series since that was my favorite book. Yet unfortunately, I set myself up for disappointment, as P.S. I Still Love You became my least favorite in the film series.

P.S. I Still Love You significantly missed the mark, and Always and Forever had many of the same pitfalls as the second adaptation. Lara Jean’s insecurities made her character seem more unlikable than relatable. In the second book, her relationship with Peter is real, and because she’s never been in a relationship before, she was nervous. Throughout the book, she has to work through those anxieties. But in the movie, her desire to be a good girlfriend comes across as borderline whiny and obnoxious.

people of all ages and backgrounds. High schoolers and Kardashians alike rushed to purchase the now-pricey Champion merchandise, that sells for upwards of $70 from high-end stores like Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom.

And now with COVID-19, consumers are quick to purchase new loungewear for their Zoom calls. Perhaps they are less concerned with the price because they are left in the comfort of their own homes for long enough to let boredom get the best of them. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that the pandemic has contributed to the increasing revenue of athleisure and loungewear brands.

There is now a brand image behind wearing certain hoodies or joggers, which of course, was exaggerated by the pandemic. When someone puts on a sweatshirt from Champion, or the “optimist lifestyle label” Madhappy (who are selling their sweatshirts for at least $165, behind the company mission of “mak[ing] the world a more optimistic place by driving conversation about men-

tal health”), it projects a certain image, and one that is often elitist.

Those who are fortunate enough to afford these brands have flocked to Lululemon for leggings and Urban Outfitters for a Champion sweatsuit, maintaining the elitist exclusivity of the industry.

Considering the high demand of loungewear and athleisure, these industries are going to fuel retailers, continuing to increase their sales. And while the industry is still packed with pricey leggings and sweatshirts, more affordable options from brands like Target’s Wild Fable have emerged to satisfy consumers with trendy loungewear that won’t break the bank.

If you are looking to splurge on wellmade, comfortable pieces that will keep you feeling put together, now is the perfect time to invest in a sweatshirt from Madhappy (and maybe the matching sweatpants.)

On the other hand, Centineo’s Peter gives the character too much credit. He’s too perfect and is made to be the victim of Lara Jean’s actions, which is frustrating on its own and goes against the plot of the book. Much to my disappointment, these same inaccurate portrayals of characters continue into the series’ latest release, Always and Forever.

In the last movie, the couple faces an issue that is very serious for many high school seniors across the country: the inevitable separation that comes from going to college. Lara Jean struggles with deciding which school is right for her while also learning to accept the presence of her future stepmother.

These obstacles that Lara Jean faces are meant to make her reflect on who she is and what kind of future she wants, but in the movie, these more serious topics are overshadowed and set to the side.

They do this for the sake of cringey and meaningless montages that don’t add anything to her character development or the plot of the film.

Following the success of the first movie, P.S. I Still Love You and Always and Forever were filmed back to back without giving fans a chance to react to the sequel. Compared to the first movie, P.S. I Still Love You’s audience score on Rotten Tomatoes was cut in half, going from 86 percent to 40 percent.

After finishing the series, I was left wondering: what went wrong between the first movie and the last two? The first movie was so good, yet the last two felt so disconnected. At first glance, I thought it was because they changed the director between To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You. The first movie was directed by Susan Johnson, whereas the last two were directed by Michael Fimognari. I would definitely argue that you can see the difference between a woman directing these movies versus a man. I say this because of the way the movies shift from an empowered female lead to a whiny female lead and a male lead that could

do no wrong. However, I think that the downfall of these movies is more than that.

Michael Fimognari was actually involved in all three movies. He was the director of photography for all the films and Susan Johnson stayed on the franchise as an executive producer. The screenwriter for the first film, Sofia Alvarez, wrote P.S. I Still Love You, and Han, the author of the original books, was also an executive producer for all three films. While the change in directors and screenwriters do play a role, I believe the franchise’s change was mostly caused by different influences surrounding the films’ releases.

The final two installments of the To All the Boys series are a perfect example of how the series fell victim to the stereotypes and tropes set by the newer teen-rom-com genre that has been plaguing Netflix for the past few years.

I’m not one to look down on silly teen dramas. As a hopeless romantic myself, these types of movies are usually some of my favorites. They are fun to watch and always have a cute swoon-worthy ending. But when it comes to these particular Netflix movies, they’re almost too ridiculous for me to watch at times. Like the second two To All the Boys films, this new genre is full of unlikable female protagonists, too-good-to-be-true love interests, and tokenized side characters that are often taken for granted.

What started as a unique movie that became a go-to for movie nights quickly turned into a product of Netflix’s capitalization of teenagers and their apparently laughable problems. Not only does this film series blur into the vast ocean of teen dramas, it strays away from the beauty of its original content. The To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before books are still some of my favorite books, but unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the films.

camryn_ciancia@emerson.edu

shawna_konieczny@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 18, 2021

6

Living Arts

Bids, breakout rooms, and bonding

More fraternities and sororities recruit members in spring semester

Alpha Epsilon Phi executive board members during fall 2020 recruitment. / Courtesy Haley MacMillan

Kappa Gamma Chi new member education class. / Courtesy Lindsey Broder

Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff

As Zoom hangouts and bids subside and anticipatory new members take their places in their new fraternities and sororities, Fraternity and Sorority Life at Emerson has officially been brought back from the ashes amid a fully remote resurgence.

Recruitment week serves as a way for fraternities and sororities to bring in new members, attracting students by holding social events.

With COVID-19 restrictions and freezing-cold temperatures throwing off normal strategies, the student organizations have been forced to get creative to attract new members.

The spring saw a spike in the number of chapters who participated in recruitment, with eight of the nine chapters taking in a new class.

In the fall, three chapters took in a new class, with many opting out due to COVID and trying to navigate the new norm for Fraternity and Sorority Life.

Student Engagement and Leadership Program Coordinator Jenna Coviello attributed the jump to FSL organizations learning how to operate amid the pandemic.

“In the fall, we had less chapters that were recruiting because a lot of them were just trying to get their wits about them,” Coviello said in an interview. “This semester was very different in the sense that we had more chapters that were recruiting and we also had more interest.”

Of the eight, seven participated in the college-wide recruitment week which spanned from Feb. 1 to Feb. 6. Sigma Alpha Epsilon extended their recruitment past the Feb. 6 deadline and will be recruiting until the end of this week.

Phi Alpha Tau did not take in any new classes this academic year following accusations of sexual misconduct within the organization. Since then, the fraternity has “engaged with on-campus resources for mandatory training, constitutional review, organization structural

changes, and how to be accountable to past wrongdoing,” SEAL Director Jason Meier wrote in an email.

Sigma Phi Theta fared well during their recruitment week. President Clarah Grossman said she was delighted to see many of those who showed up to Sigma Phi Theta’s fall semester “extended recruitment events” return for spring events.

“It was really nice knowing that going into the semester, we already had like a good seven or eight people [that] we already knew we were going to continue getting to know,” Grossman said. “A lot of freshmen were a little hesitant, maybe, to join in the fall, and now that everyone’s kind of dipped their toes in it, a lot more people are finally stepping up and going out for these things, which we think is really cool.”

For sorority Kappa Gamma Chi, which took a semester off due to COVID and allegations of sexual misconduct involving Emerson alumn and member of Phi Alpha Tau Jackson Davis, spring recruitment was a chance to make the process as personable as possible.

“Recruitment went super well,” President of Kappa Gamma Chi Lindsey Broder said. “Especially considering so many of the people that came out are either freshmen or transferred here, [and] meeting new friends is so difficult this year.”

Broder said the Davis scandal prompted conversations about the way the sorority had handled similar incidents in the past.

“We were all very alarmed and discouraged by the way that Kappa at the time had addressed the past scandals and was always referred to as a ‘Title IX thing’, and there was no real acknowledgement of the structural seriousness of the situation where Kappa and Tau enabled each other historically,” Broder said.

To adapt to the online events, many chapters relied on catchy recruitment themes and inviting social media posts that promoted the theme and Zoom events that happened each day.

Alpha Epsilon Phi President Haley MacMillan said breakout rooms

helped ease initial tensions.

“Our recruitment week was really successful,” MacMillan said. “Because it was online, you don’t get to actually meet anyone in real life, but it went, surprisingly, pretty well. We kind of learned that smaller groups do better in terms of making people feel comfortable to talk. We got a lot of really good feedback that people enjoyed themselves.”

Kappa Gamma Chi transformed into “Camp Kappa” for recruitment, publishing camp-themed posts to their Instagram and handing out “Camp Kappa field kits” with items stocked full of supplies for recruitment week events, such as s’mores-making and collage-making kits. Field kits were handed out by sisters in 172 Tremont, according to the Kappa Instagram, though some were handed out by sisters who lived in the same dorm buildings as new members, according to Broder.

Broder said social media played a huge role in spreading the word about the events Kappa was putting on during recruitment week.

“The Instagram would post specific slides updating the public on who’s in what position, giving our Instagrams and, in some cases, our contact information [so] they can reach out,” Broder said. “We really just tried to emphasize closeness through social media, constantly coming up in your feed and trying to have that exposure and constant

communication.”

Some of the typical recruitment week events, such as sister speeding dating and informational sessions, were still a part of spring recruitment. However, some fraternities and sororities came up with more unconventional events to promote bonding between the active and prospective members.

Alpha Epsilon Phi hosted a sketch writing night as a part of their SNLthemed recruitment week where participants were put into breakout rooms to create a group skit.

“They all really enjoyed that one, and it was nice to see them contribute their ideas and stuff and feel comfortable on the Zoom,” MacMillan said.

Sigma Pi Theta, which took on the energy of Donna and the Dynamos for their Mamma Mia!-themed recruitment week, hosted a movie night in place of their usual crafts night.

“The biggest event that probably switched was our final event, our formal event night with Sigma,” Grossman said “Usually, it is held off-campus at a sister’s apartment—obviously, that did not happen. So instead, we had it all online… it didn’t change anything logistically, it just took away a lot of the in-person bonding moments.”

Kappa Gamma Chi concentrated their recruitment week on teaching incoming new members Kappa’s history and reimagining the profes-

sional focus of the sorority while also hosting lighthearted events such as “kraft with Kappa”.

“We had a lot of fun moments and a lot of moments [where] we tried to replicate the spark and fun of being in person,” Broder said.

Moving forward, FSL plans on addressing the oppressive foundations fraternities and sororities were created upon, said Coviello. The organizations aim to reflect on their own history and take responsibility for past mistakes. SEAL and FSL plan to hold meetings with chapters to discuss the implications of the discriminatory past of FSL and how they plan to make their chapters more inclusive for everyone.

“A system is going to perpetuate how it was created and what it was created to do,” Coviello said.

“We really have been working with our chapters to acknowledge those things and work through those things. And I’ve been really proud of all of our chapters because there’s a lot of awareness, movement and change that’s happening for our chapters to make them a more inclusive, and better, and a more inviting environment for everybody.”

Katie Redefer, the editor-in-chief of The Berkeley Beacon, did not edit this story because she is a member of Sigma Pi Theta. frankie_rowley@emerson.edu

Kappa Gamma Chi spring 2020 new member education class. Courtesy Lindsey Broder

The Berkeley Beacon

February 18, 2021

7

Spring Speaker Series debuts with fashion icon Tim Gunn Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

First-year student Miranda Nicusanti is the mastermind behind @emersonfoodreview on Instagram. Courtesy Miranda Nicusanti

First-year student reviews DH meals on Instagram Bailey Allen Beacon Staff

First-year student Miranda Nicusanti, a visual and media arts major from Orange County, CA, photographs the dining center meals for her Instagram food review account, @emersonfoodreview. The account, which has amassed almost 500 followers since Feb. 1, features pictures and reviews of the meals being served at the dining hall almost daily.

After she picks up her dinner from the dining center, Nicusanti takes out her camera and photography lighting before opening her utensil packet.

“I usually just will bring the food back to my room and take a couple of pictures,” Nicusanti said.

“Then, I’ll eat it and take notes on what I think.”

She writes a brief review of each dish, expressing either her delight or disapproval, and then puts them as captions under the photos of her meals.

Nicusanti, who deferred a semester to focus on her two jobs at a portrait photography studio and gourmet restaurant, came to Emerson in the spring with the skills needed to run a food review account. “Back home, I have a ton of studio portraiture stuff, but ob-

viously I can’t fly on a plane with, like, 14-foot backdrops,” said Nicusanti. “So, I’m kind of just doing it on my own, which is fun.”

In light of Nicusanti’s account, others have popped up in the weeks since. Other accounts that have been gaining traction alongside Nicusanti’s include @530foodreviewatemerson and @ isthedhworthgoingtoday. Each of them has their own style and flair, with different takes on each dish.

Nicusanti said she started the account as a fun distraction from the stresses of the pandemic and stated that it is a positive activity to do alongside her everyday responsibilities. She likes how she can post pictures that are inconsequential.

“I overthink my main Instagram too much because I’m a ‘Gen Z-er’ who is so attached to their phone,” Nicusanti said. “I hate it, but that’s definitely who I kind of am sometimes. The food account’s super fun, random, and easy, which I kind of need every once in a while. Also, I just hope people like the pretty pictures.”

Nicusanti explained that she didn’t make the Instagram account with any plans to get the dining center to change its food or operations. To her, this is simply for fun.

“I think it’s totally fine,” Nicu-

santi said of the dining center cuisine. “It’s dining hall food. It does the job. We are fed. I have no clue what it would be like if I was a vegetarian or vegan here, or someone with dietary restrictions, though.”

In regards to her food reviews, Nicusanti said she’s been kind about the food, which has garnered criticism from friends who wish she would be more harsh about how it tastes.

“I know how much effort and thought that gets put into it, so it’s really hard to write not-nice things,” said Nicusanti.

Despite the minor criticism, Nicusanti said she appreciates the connections the account has allowed her to make.

“I did make some friends who DMed the account and were talking about food,” Nicusanti said. “People DM me quite often, being like, ‘You need to go review this!’ and I’m like, ‘I’m in bed!’”

Nicusanti stated that the account gives her an opportunity to build something outside of herself.

“I just wanted something that I could work on and grow,” Nicusanti said. “I really do like food, so maybe food styling is something I’d get into someday.”

bailey_allen@emerson.edu

Tuesday, Feb. 9 marked the beginning of the Department of Marketing Communications’ four-part spring semester speaker series, “Rethinking Consumer Engagement: Leading with Empathy, Equity and Integrity”, with the inaugural guest speaker Tim Gunn of Project Runway. The discussion focused on how to create and maintain a compassionate work environment and Gunn’s experience in doing so.

Department of Marketing Communications professor Sharon Topper conducted the interview with Gunn via Zoom. Chairperson of Marketing Communications Brent Smith and Provost Michaele Whelan introduced the event.

Smith said the theme of this semester’s speaker series was inspired by the current battle for social justice in the United States, and the goal was to focus the discussion on how one can do their part to ensure an equitable and compassionate workplace. “[This series comes at] a time where we acknowledge the importance to reflect upon who we are and who we can be,” Smith said. “Be that in how we live, or how we work, or how we contribute to this thing we call society.

Thus, I’m so pleased to be introducing the first of four talks.”

Gunn is best known for co-hosting the first 16 seasons of Project Runway and co-hosting the Amazon Prime series Making the Cut, which premiered in March of last year. Gunn served as a professor at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan for 24 years and most recently was chair of the Department of Fashion Design for his last seven years before retiring.

When asked by assistant professor of market analytics and graduate program director Sereikhuoch Eng about how he practices being an empathetic leader, Gunn said he thinks about how he would feel in the other person’s position.

“I test my empathy on myself. How would I respond to these words being spoken to me, to these words with this intonation, to this letter, to this email, to this communication, how would I

respond to it?” Gunn said. “If I’m uneasy and feel uncomfortable about it, then it needs to be amended. You have to really probe internally and develop the resources to have that level of empathy with everyone you interact with.

I would use myself as the laboratory.”

When Topper questioned Gunn about how he delivers constructive criticism with kindness, Gunn accredited his ability to teaching. As a teacher, Gunn said it will discourage students if their instructor is too harsh.

“I learned very quickly that if you’re too blunt an instrument without somehow putting a velvet glove on it, that your students discredit you, they just shut down, and they don’t listen to any longer and they just label you as, well, that mean person,” Gunn said. “That is never my intention. My intention is to help or else I would just walk away, which I have occasionally on Project Runway.”

Talent Acquisition Specialist Janet Pohli asked about Gunn’s vulnerable leadership, to which Gunn said he always strives to become that leader.

“When you see a vulnerable leader and you see the kind of response that a leader who’s willing to let his or her guard down, it’s very inspiring, and and at least for me, and it’s the empathetic side of me,” Gunn said. “I want to be that person. That’s the kind of leader I want to be.”

An anonymous attendee asked Gunn how he maintains confidence in himself and his professional abilities and for advice on how to do so.

“From a lot of life experience I’ve learned that goes back to what we were talking about earlier about being yourself, being who you are,” Gunn said. “If you are always true to that person you are, you don’t have to worry about really any interaction.”

The next episode of this series will focus on Women in Business Leadership, featuring guest speakers CEO of Horn Strategy LLC Sabrina Horn, Director of Communications at Whitney Museum of American Art Danielle Bias, and Director of Operations of Three Uncanny Four Nuna Charaffedine. The free event is taking place over Zoom at 3 p.m. EST on Feb.17. Registration is online. lucia_thorne@emerson.edu

Emerson senior launches tattoo business Cont. from Pg. 1

As a college-student-tattoo-artist, Trey said it’s frowned upon by professionals for him to give tattoos because of his lack of apprenticeship.

“I don’t think I’m doing anything unethical because I’m staying safe and I’m doing good work, and people keep on coming back because they’re happy with the product,” Trey said.

Aside from the positives, tattooing has some drawbacks for Trey. He said at the end of the day, it is a job that requires a great deal of hospitality and patience.

“I got past the honeymoon phase re-

ally quickly. A lot of the time I’m dealing with people, and I have to respond to their every request. It’s a lot of pressure,” Trey said. “Sometimes I’m doing it from twelve to six, and I have to talk to these people, and I’m not a super extroverted person.”

When tattooing someone, he said the client’s comfort is a top priority so they don’t get nervous and decide to not go through with it. Giving customers undivided attention is very important to Trey, but can also be exhausting at times. He also wears a face mask when giving tattoos, and requires clients and any friends

Trey tattoos a client on her arm. Zhuoli Zhang / Beacon Staff

they bring along to wear a face mask for the duration of the procedure.

“It’s a hospitality service in some sense—I have to make people feel comfortable and be talkative and smile,” Trey said. “It can be draining if I’m in a bad mood. People don’t want to be tattooed by someone who doesn’t seem nice. Why I think a lot of people keep on coming back is because I have to make sure that I make people feel comfortable and trust me.”

Emerson freshman Natalie Barden went to Trey on Feb. 8, 2021 for a tattoo of a snake on her hip. Barden’s friend designed it for her, and Trey helped her size it.

“I was definitely more relaxed than my other tattoo experiences,” Barden said.

“Because he’s a peer, it’s not as intimidating, and he was adamant that my friend can come and she can sit next to me and we can talk the whole time. When I got my first tattoo, the artist wouldn’t even let my parents hold my hand, so it was very different [with Trey] than what I’ve experienced in the past.”

Trey said his clients are often more comfortable with having an Emerson student tattoo them because good reviews from fellow Emersonians put potential clients at ease. Along with that, Kosher Ink has significantly lower prices than most professional tattoo studios.

When Barden was asked if she’d go back to Trey, she didn’t hesitate in say-

The hand of Trey’s client during her tattoo session. Zhuoli Zhang / Beacon Staff ing yes. Barden said Trey doesn’t have a minimum price, which makes all the difference.

“Definitely, especially for simpler tattoos because the price is so good,” Barden said. “I have a heart on my wrist that took three minutes and it was $80, and the snake was $60. For simpler things, it makes so much more sense to go to Trey.”

Trey said his goal is to get customers who are living in the Little Building, which he has successfully done. With being away from parents and cooped-up in the dorms, freshmen are excited to get tattoos, so Trey said they often approach him with requests. He says the majority

of his clients are from the freshman class who show their friends the new tattoos, bringing him more customers.

“The freshmen are just pouring in,” Trey said. “Either they’re finally away from their parents, they’re bored, they’re stuck in LB and they want to do something a little bit adventurous. They can’t go out to parties or anything, and going to get a tattoo from this kid sounds really college and fun.”

To book a tattoo appointment with Kosher Ink, Trey asked potential clients to direct message his Instagram account and send him design ideas.

mariyam_quaisar@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

Sports

Photo of Helina Yared (middle) and her teammates. / Courtesy Helina Yared

Lions Cheerleading springs into action Tyler Foy Beacon Staff Although Lions Cheerleading just formed this semester, the aspiring club team is already reaching for large goals.

“We’re hoping we could compete in the future, which might take a while after COVID,” junior Helina Yared said in a phone interview. “We were hoping we could perform in the Boston area too, like TD Garden. We could become a club sport and hopefully get a coach… and stunt more.”

The team is still in development, with Yared designing the framework, Yared said. They are currently practicing twice a week, once on Zoom and the other in-person. Yared plans to host and lead the in-person practices at an all star cheer gym.

Yared, a former member of Emerson Cheerleading Squad, reached out to sophomore Clarissa Calderon to assist her as co-captain. Calderon is studying online this semester in California. She leads the team’s Zoom practices, which are more bonding-oriented.

“We are leading a lot of Zoom meetings just to get started because everybody’s new,” Calderon said in a phone interview. “I’m here in California, and some of the other girls aren’t in Boston, so it’s just been getting to know each other and connecting first and foremost.”

The team is planning to have a form of tryouts, but is still working on how they would be structured. It is important to evaluate each person equally and have a fair process, Yared said.

There aren’t any current requirements or prerequisites for joining the team. Lions Cheerleading are looking for those that are ready to compete and want to learn.

“Our whole thing is just doing the most that you’re capable of doing,” Yared said. “People who are willing to learn and are willing to put effort into the team really.”

First-year student Rachel Tarby, a member of the team, doesn’t have a cheerleading background. Tarby does, however, have 13 years of experience in competitive dance. She found the team

through their Instagram account and decided she wanted to test the waters.

“I just wanted to do something new, learn something new, and make new friends, so I filled out the interest form, and then I joined this semester,” Tarby said in a phone interview. “I also did sports in high school, so I kind of just wanted to be on a team again.”

Lions Cheerleading is not currently funded by Emerson. They hope to become a club sport next semester and receive funding.

“It’s been very liberating because when you’re not a part of Emerson you can be on your own,” Calderon said.

“We’re actually really excited about that because we don’t really have anyone to answer to. We’re just figuring ourselves out as a team.”

The team plans on eventually doing competitive cheerleading, setting them apart from the official cheer team on campus, Emerson College Cheerleading Squad.

Yared created Lions Cheerleading with a focus on establishing an inclusive environment after she departed the Cheerleading Squad.

“I didn’t have that great of an experience on the other team, and I know other people didn’t as well,” Yared said. “A lot of people in my sorority had left a few years prior, and it didn’t make sense that we should have to quit something that we love doing or that we’re passionate about doing because we don’t feel like we’re being included.”

Yared has a disability known as dyspraxia, a lifelong motor disorder that affects motor skills and coordination, which she said impacts how she cheers. Her disability led to difficulties in tumbling, and Yared said she wants the new team to be a space where all are welcome.

“I didn’t really let it affect me that much, but it kind of did when I came here [to Emerson],” Yared said. “I just wanted to make sure that this new cheer team was something that people can see that people with disabilities can do sports and can do things they set their mind to.”

Yared said her inability to tumble led to her not being able to start in

Incident Journal The Emerson College Police Department provides the Incident Journal to The Beacon every week. The Beacon’s editors have edited these for clarity and length.

Monday, Feb. 8 ECPD responded to the W. Hotel Residence Hall to secure confiscated drugs for destruction. The students present with the contraband were identified and referred to Community Standards & Student Conduct for whatever action their office deems appropriate.

games.

“I think they were told by Student Engagement and Leadership they weren’t supposed to teach tumbling, but they wouldn’t let me perform for, like, the next few games,” Yared said.

The Cheerleading Squad declined to comment on Yared’s departure and said in an email that the circumstances of her departure had “already been disputed by the administration.”

The Cheerleading Squad allegedly declined on multiple occasions to provide Yared with a properly fitting uniform, according to emails sent by former SEAL Assistant Director Andy Donahue provided to The Beacon by Yared.

Emily Harrison, a former co-captain of the Cheerleading Squad, wrote in an email to Donahue that the squad was unable to provide the uniforms in a timely manner, leading to the delay in Yared getting a uniform.

“If we were to place an order within the next week, it is 4-6 weeks from there that the order will arrive,” Harrison wrote. “With only 5 weeks left in the semester, she wouldn’t be able to wear the new uniform until the spring. But, because she is also going to the castle in the spring, she wouldn’t be able to wear the uniform until the fall of 2020, if she chooses to try out again for the team… it doesn’t make sense to me to order a very expensive uniform so that it can sit in storage for 9 months.”

In the emails, Donahue accused the squad of intentionally declining to provide Yared with the proper uniform.

“You have had ample opportunities to order the correct uniform: after measurements, when the uniforms arrived, and when you appealed to SGA for additional funding for mats and uniforms,” Donahue wrote to the Cheerleading Squad. “You’ve made the decision to not include Helina’s appropriate size each time.”

“It is up to you as a co-captain to create an environment where each member feels included & they have a positive experience,” Donahue wrote.

“Forcing a member to wait nearly 12 months for an appropriately-sized uniform is absurd.”

As part of the initiative to establish an accepting culture, Yared plans to have a feedback system that would allow the team to voice their concerns.

“We’re going to have a feedback form…every two weeks or so that people could put if they have any concerns, any ideas or things that they’d like changed, [or] anything they feel uncomfortable with,” Yared said.

Regardless of any issues she had with the Cheerleading Squad, Yared and Lions Cheerleading are focused on promoting school spirit and an inclusive environment.

“We’re trying to be as inclusive as possible, and we’re trying to lift the spirit of the school,” Yared said. “We’re kind of like the spirit of the school, so we want to make sure that we aren’t just competing and cheering and stunting, but also that we’re having a positive impact on the Emerson community and hopefully, in the future, the Boston community as well.” tyler_foy@emerson.edu

Tuesday, Feb. 9 Housing and Residential Education staff requested ECPD to secure confiscated drugs for destruction in the Little Building residence hall. The students present with the contraband were identified and referred to Community Standards & Student Conduct for whatever action their office deems appropriate.

February 18, 2021

8

Burlington native to join baseball team José Ríos Beacon Staff The Emerson baseball team received a new addition to its 2021-22 squad on Feb. 7 after Canterbury baseball announced infielder/outfielder Avery Smith had committed to the Lions.

The Burlington, Vermont native also announced his commitment on his social media accounts, but he said he was already preparing to move to Boston before that.

“I posted it officially on my social media and through my team socials last Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday, but I’ve kind of known for a while,” Smith said in a phone interview.

Smith will major in sports communication and said he believes Emerson will provide a long-term plan for his career.

“I also felt being at Emerson is going to set me up better than anywhere else that I was looking at,” Smith said. “In my evaluation of the colleges I was looking at, it was kind of a no-brainer. Emerson really checked off all my boxes.”

His father, Jeff, said his son’s decision excited their whole family.

“We were super excited,” Jeff Smith

necticut. At Canterbury, Avery Smith has been playing under the supervision of head coach Todd Mathewson.

Mathewson sang Smith’s praises and explained what the recruit will bring to the Lions next season.

“His best tool’s his bat,” Matthewson said in a phone interview. “[He] generates some really good bat speed and has some close power. He’s also been really working with the hitter and developing to become a more polished hitter using the whole field. I think his bat is going to be the thing that’s going to come into play, and hopefully you’re hoping to get some at-bats early on as a [first-year student].”

The main attribute Avery Smith’s peers point to is not only his ability and passion for the game, but his maturity and the work he puts into helping his teammates. Jeff Smith said his son’s maturity has been apparent since the early stages of his baseball career.

“In both middle school and high school, he was essentially a coach on the field,” Jeff Smith said. “I think he’ll fit in really well at Emerson with the team and coaching staff because he’ll listen, he’ll do anything you ask of him from

Avery Smith, a recruit for Emerson’s Men’s Baseball team. / Courtesy Avery Smith

said in a phone interview. “He put a lot of work into this process, into thinking through what’s the right school for him from an academic perspective, and finding a place where he could play baseball was a good fit for him. We were psyched for him, really psyched.”

Avery will dive right into the baseball team in Fall 2021 and is looking to provide the Lions with not just another player, but also an important asset off the field. Smith views himself as a “utility guy” and stated that his love for the game has been there all his life.

“I’ve been playing baseball since I could walk,” Smith said. “I mean, I grew up at the little league field. It’s been my thing forever.”

Jeff Smith echoed his son’s enthusiastic sentiment.

“He’s always been really focused on baseball,” Jeff Smith said. “It’s always been a sport that he thrived in, from the time he was in Little League to middle school to high school.”

Avery Smith played baseball throughout middle and high school.

After graduating from Burlington High School in 2020, he decided to take a post-graduate year at Canterbury School, a college preparatory boarding and day school in New Milford, Con-

that perspective, and he’ll just put everything on the line for the team.”

Matthewson had limited time coaching Avery Smith because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he still saw Avery Smith’s work ethic on display for the Saints. Matthewson also noted Smith’s constant presence in the weight room and in the batting cage, as well as his maturity and commitment.

“I think he’s gonna come in with a more mature presence than most [firstyear students] with his work ethic, even the gym, lifting every single day.” Matthewson said. “I think he’s gonna take that with him to college, and I think that work ethic will be contagious for some of his teammates.”

Smith’s first appearance with the Lions is still a while away, but he already hopes to be an important asset to the team.

“I definitely feel like I bring a mature presence, a good hard-working mindset, and a big bat to the lineup,” Smith said. “I feel like I’m really versatile, so I can go wherever I’m needed, and I’m always ready to help in whatever way is needed by our coaches around the team.”

Wednesday Feb. 10 ECPD responded to a reported hit and run motor vehicle accident at the intersection of Tremont Street and Allen’s Alley. ECPD’s investigation revealed a delivery driver’s vehicle, exiting from Allen’s Alley, struck the Boston Fire Department’s Fire Pull Station located in front of 211 Tremont Street. The information was documented and shared with the Boston Fire Department.

No one was injured.

Sunday, Feb. 14 A fire broke out on the basement level of the Walker Building Dining Center. On arrival, ECPD found that the Dining Center staff extinguished a small fire in the pizza oven. No damage or injuries were reported and the alarm was deactivated without incident.

jose_rios@emerson.edu