Emerson College’s student newspaper since 1947 • berkeleybeacon.com
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 • Volume 73, Issue 22
IN ONLY A WEEK, SEMESTER ENDS WITH BLISTERING SPEED
For nearby local establishments, the loss of students hurts business
How COVID-19 left most Emerson students scrambling Dana Gerber, Beacon Staff The COVID-19 pandemic has left little of Emerson College unscathed as the quickly growing public health crisis ignites action from national, state, and local governments. The action at Emerson, a college with roughly 4,000 students, left community members scrambling to find ways to transition classes online, adjust to new guidelines from the state and city regulating businesses and nightlife, and move out by March 20. The timeline of the past week shows the extent to which officials, both inside and outside of the college, have gone to curb the outbreak of COVID-19. The story of a weeklong series of changes started with President M. Lee Pelton announcing on March 10 that all college classes would transition to online instruction with a weeklong break for professors and students to adjust to the new medium. Only hours before, Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts. The college plans to use a video-conferencing service, Zoom, to conduct all classes, and the IT department confirmed on March 14 that students and faculty would have access to Zoom Pro, which can hold presentations for up to 100 attendees. See Pandemic, page 2
Stephanie Purifoy, Beacon Staff Local businesses are reeling after Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin Walsh laid out a sweeping set of regulations over the weekend that prohibits restaurants from serving food and alcohol in-house and restricts operating hours. Baker announced the regulations in a press conference Sunday that prohibit establishments from serving food to people in-house—restricting them to only take-out food—and banning all gatherings over 25 people. Walsh’s regulations mandated that all restaurants, bars, and clubs must close by 11 p.m. Only two days before these announcements, Emerson asked all students to vacate on-campus housing by March 20. Katherine Mantia, a veteran employee of Maria’s Taqueria on Tremont Street, said she found out about Emerson’s announcement when her father, one of the owners of the restaurant, told her after a shift. The developments have devastated their business, she said, estimating that at least 50 percent of their customers are Emerson students who will largely be gone within the week. Sophomores Jillian Lamberson (left) and Lauren Bjella on Monday pack their things into a car on in front of Piano Row on Boylston Street. Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff
See Local, page 3
HOW A VIRUS FORCED STUDENTS OUT OF DORMS IN FOUR DAYS March 2020
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• Classes move • WHO says online and Coronavirus students are has become a given option to pandemic leave • NBA player • Gov. Charlie Rudy Gobert is Baker declared diagnosed with a state of coronavirus emergency in after playing in Massachusetts Emerson gym
Inside This Edition EVVYs cancels both awards shows, pg. 2
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• Students in Spain and France are advised to return home
• Students are told that they are to leave the campus by March 20 • President Trump declares National Emergency over COVID-19
• NEWMAC
cancels all remaning spring games of the semester
Housing decision dates in the air, pg. 3
Marlboro moves classes online for spring semester, pg. 2