The Berkeley Beacon
Emerson College’s student newspaper since 1947 • berkeleybeacon.com
Thursday April 11, 2019 • Volume 72, Issue 25
Housing portal crashes on first day of suite selection Website glitch leads to student frustration amid high demand for singles
Jacob Seitz, Beacon Staff Students piled into the Office of Housing and Residence Life after a website malfunction caused the college to freeze the housing application on April 17. Vice President and Dean of Campus Life James Hoppe said the college closed the housing application portal on the first day of suite selection because of a software issue with StarRez, the company the college uses for housing. The website glitch, higher demand for suites with singles, and fewer applicants winning the off-campus housing lottery frustrated students trying to get housing for the 2019–20 school year. Associate Director of Housing Operations Kendra Stokes sent an email to affected students at 10:13 a.m. explaining that OHRL knew the system malfunctioned, froze the website, and planned to notify students when the portal would reopen. “At 9:45 a.m., [Stokes] checked the system and saw nobody had made a choice, according to the system,” Hoppe said. “She started checking and realized what was going on. So they tried to see really quickly if they could fix it themselves and realized it was more of a company problem.” OHRL sent another email at 2:59 p.m. explaining that the new suite selection began at 3:15 p.m.—16 minutes after OHRL sent the email—for students who were originally scheduled to select housing at 9:15 a.m. “Unfortunately, any suite you may have attempted to book or think you may have booked earlier today did not process through to student profiles allowing you to secure the space for the upcoming year,” the email stated. “All spaces that were available for today, are still all available for this delayed process.” See housing, page 2
Students gather in the Office of Student Affairs to discuss their living situation for next semester. • Jacob Seitz / Beacon Staff
Pub Club authors to donate profits to Boston Scores and 826 Boston
Spiritual Life Director to assess kosher and halal options in Dining Center
Katiana Hoefle, Beacon Correspondent Junior Antonio Weathers wrote poetry to pass time during classes—sometimes writing only single words or stanzas. His compiled work then became Bird Folk, an anthology about the African-American experience in America and at Emerson. Undergraduate Students for Publishing, or Pub Club, will release their second Book Project of the school year that will feature Bird Folk by Weathers and Here, There, & Everywhereby senior Rebekah Scarborough on April 18 from 7-9 p.m. in the Bill Bordy Theater. Pub Club will sell the books for $8 each and donate the proceeds to charities of the authors’ choosing. The authors will read a short passage from their work, answer audience questions, and sign books at the event. The Book Project began 15 years ago and allows students to experience the publishing process. In Pub Club students work as editors, designers, and marketing agents, and submit written manuscripts of any genre for the opportunity to get their own work published. This semester, co-president and junior Alyssa Weinberg said Pub Club received 11 submissions. The executive board voted and selected four finalists. See Pub Club, page 7 OPINION
Anissa Gardizy, Beacon Staff
Junior Antonio Weathers wrote Bird Folk, an anthology about the African-American experience in America and at Emerson. • Xinyi Tu / Beacon Staff
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Director of Religious and Spiritual Life Julie Avis Rogers is in the process of meeting with Emerson’s food service provider about whether it can provide more kosher and halal options in the college’s dining facilities after receiving student complaints about the lack of choices. Avis Rogers said the former director, Harrison Blum, found that about 9 percent of the 430 Emerson students he surveyed in 2017 identified as Jewish, and 1.2 percent identified as Muslim. Avis Rogers said student leaders from Emerson’s Hillel organization brought the lack of kosher food to her attention when she started working at the college in February 2019. “I have heard of students who would like to keep kosher and are not able to—the need is there,” Avis Rogers said in an interview. “It’s so hard to hear, and it makes me realize that I have my work cut out for me in an important way.” The college hired Bon Appétit Management Company to head its dining services beginning in fall 2018, following student complaints about the college’s previous provider, Sodexo. See Dining Center, page 2
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