Fall 2021 Edition 3

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

Thursday, September 16, 2021 • Volume 75, Issue 3

@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate

Terror struck home:

Emerson reflects on 9/11 two decades later ‘Every year I heal a little bit more’: Emerson remembers 9/11

Post 9/11 Islamaphobia still terrifies muslims in US Mariyam Quaisar

Camilo Fonseca

Beacon Staff

Beacon Staff

On the evening of Sept. 11, several dozen individuals gathered in darkness under the Boston Common bandstand, to remember the lives lost twenty years ago during the 9/11 terrorist attacks that shocked Emerson and the world.

Standing in a circle along the railing, attendees lit candles and listened to speakers reflect on the legacy of the tragedy two decades later.

Among them was Sonia Tita Puopolo, an affiliated faculty member in the communication studies department. Puopolo, who graduated from Emerson in 1996, is the daughter of Sonia Mercedes Puopolo—a Board of Trustees member who was on the first flight to hit the towers.

“My mother was killed on September 11 on American Airlines Flight 11—sitting two seats away from Mohammed Atta, the onboard leader of the terrorist attacks,” she said. “It was horrific. The pain was horrific.”

Despite the magnitude of her loss, Puopolo said that the tragedy—like all “9-1-1 moments,” as she called them—also provided a unique opportunity for self-reflection and even growth.

“If we can use the 9/11 attacks as a metaphor for life, then let us understand that life is full of struggles or difficult times,” she said. “The real question is, ‘How are you going to get through them?’”

Vigil, Pg 3

OPINION

Boston honors attack victims at vigil Frankie Rowley & Charlie McKenna Beacon Staff

As the country marks two decades since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, private citizens and public figures alike gathered across the city of Boston on Saturday to honor the lost lives of that fateful day.

Several different events were held across the city to commemorate the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people—including an estimated 217 Massachusetts natives. Most visible among them was a vigil held by the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. The somber ceremony was attended by city and state officials, including Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, and Attorney General Maura Healy, as well as Acting Mayor Kim Janey.

The attendees held a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m.—twenty years to the minute that American Airlines Flight 11 first struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center—and the American flag was lowered to half-staff. Baker and other officials read the 217 names.

Among those who read names of those lost in the attacks was Sonia Tita Puopolo, an affiliated faculty member in Emerson’s communication studies department. Puopolo read the name of her mother, Sonia Mercedes Morales Puopolo, who was aboard Flight 11.

9/11 Memorials popped up across Downtown Boston. Photos Elaina Bolanos, Hongyu Liu Ceremony, Pg. 3

INSIDE THIS EDITION Family of Emerson community members killed reflect on loss Pg. 2 Students reflect on tragedy they don’t remember Pg. 3 Editorial: Six ways to keep civic engagement up Pg. 4 Will peace prosper after election day in the U.S.? Pg. 5

Piano Row John Lewis mural remembers late civil right giant Pg. 7 Professor alum wins second World Series ring Pg. 8

After the tragic attacks on September 11, 2001, the entirety of the American population was traumatized and devastated. However, it slipped the minds of many that Middle Eastern and Southeast Asians residing in the United States of America could feel the same grief. Instead, communities from these cultures were targeted, harassed, and terrified to walk on their streets.

In the years following the attacks, hate crimes against Muslims spiked 1,600 percent from 2000 to 2001, with 481 incidents occurring in 2001, according to an FBI report. While hate crimes over the years have followed a general downward trend, hate crimes against Muslims have not—they continue to fluctuate around 100-200 times each year since the attacks.

Following September 11, 2001, being a Muslim in America became dreadful. Specific people with specific names were denied jobs, entry into buildings, respect, and humanity. “Loved ones” cut ties with Muslim friends to protect themselves. Mosques were burned and destroyed. Victims were beaten, to the point of death. Being a Muslim in America became akin to not being a citizen at all.

America has an issue with generalizing. Yes, an Islamic extremist group attacked the Twin Towers.

Yes, they used the name of Allah (God) to justify their horrid actions. But no, every Muslim is not a terrorist. No, every Muslim cannot be grouped as an extremist or violent human being. No, every Muslim should not be blamed for the events that occurred on 9/11.

After the attacks, international Emerson students were warned of possible victimization by Virga Mohsini, the director of international student affairs, The Beacon reported.

“We are concerned about some of the backlash that some of our international students may face,” Mohsini said in a 2001 letter. “Reactions to recent events may even stir rash behavior toward those perceived to be of Islamic or ‘Middle Eastern’ descent, unfortunately.”

I was born on March 21, 2002, and, despite not being alive during the 9/11 attack, I felt the harsh aftermath of it when I walked the hallways of school, played on the soccer field, and grew up in a predominantly white area as an Indian American whose family practices Islam.

My name, Mariyam, is a common Islamic name, which brought a lot of unwanted attention to me.

My friends who wore hijabs (head scarves) garnered a lot of attention as well. Immature and racist boys screamed, “Allahu Akbar” (“God is most great”) at us to mock our religion, our beliefs, our culture.

“Allahu Akbar” represents a Muslim’s devotion and submission to their lord, a phrase that Arab Christians frequently recite as well but in English.

Not only did they mock us, they made a mockery of the 9/11 victims. Islamic extremists recite those words as their reason before committing their heinous crimes. Those ignorant boys made a mockery of a tragic event that shook the foundation of America, but it is Muslims who continue to be assaulted and attacked.

Islamophobia, Pg. 6

Mask mandate extended Frankie Rowley & Adrianna Pray

Beacon Staff & Beacon Correspondent In a shift from prior policy, Emerson announced that it will not transition to a mask-optional policy—instead extending the college’s indoor masking requirement indefinitely.

College officials initially intended to shift to a mask-optional policy on Sept.

17—along with relaxing several other guidelines—but opted against the new policy on Wednesday, Associate Vice President for Campus Life Erik Muurisepp, who serves as the college’s “COVID Lead”, said in a Wednesday afternoon

email.

Muurisepp cited the city of Boston’s mandate for indoor mask-wearing as a reason the college decided to continue to require mask-wearing.

“We want to be very mindful of how things are right now within the state of Massachusetts,” he said. “For the masking, the city ordinance is still in place.”

Emerson will also continue its ban on allowing non-Emerson community members to enter campus buildings. The decision comes as the college continues to rack up positive COVID-19 tests despite its 96 percent community vaccination rate.

Masks, Pg. 4

33

positive COVID-19 tests

.22% positivity rate

14,000+ tests completed

News

The Berkeley Beacon

September 16, 2021

2

Sonia Tita Puoplo with her mother, Myra Aronson, Puoplo and her mother on new year’s eye in 2001. Courtesy Sonia Tita Puopolo, Elyse Van Breemen

20 years later, Emerson community still stained with the grief of 9/11 Charlie McKenna & Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff

Sept. 11, 2001 began like any other day for Elyse Van Breemen.

Then she received a phone call she would never forget.

“I didn’t believe it,” said Van Breemen, older sister of former Emerson Professor Myra Aronson, who died in the terrorist attacks.

“I did hear about it on the radio and thought, ‘This is some kind of 1984 joke or something,’ and I went back to work. Then I got a call from my other sister’s boyfriend who said, ‘We think Myra was on the first plane.’”

Aronson, 50, was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 175, which departed from Boston’s Logan Airport that morning. The flight was en route to Los Angeles before it was hijacked and crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. In addition to her role as a public relations manager at a software company in Cambridge,

Mass, she taught public relations courses as an adjunct professor at Emerson.

Aronson was one out of the 2,977 victims in the attacks, but she is also part of a much smaller group, as one of only three Emerson community members killed that day. The two other victims of the attack, alumna Jane Simpkin ‘88 and Sonia Mercedes Morales Puopolo—who both died when their planes hit the towers. Puopolo was the wife of an Emerson Trustee, Dominic Puopolo, and mother of alumna Sonia Tita Puoplo ‘96.

Simpkin worked in music management at the time of her death.

The younger Puopolo, now an affiliated faculty member in the communication studies department, remembers her mother as “an incredible bright light.”

“My mother was my best friend,” she said in a Zoom interview, her late mother’s wedding ring adorning her pinky. “We were very close. We were inseparable.”

Morales Puopolo was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the

first plane to be hijacked that fateful September morning—just a few seats away from Mohamed Atta, the plane’s lead hijacker. Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m.

Her family—like the rest of the world—remained in the dark as conflicting information began to trickle in from New York.

Puopolo said she and her father raced to Logan Airport after they received a phone call letting them know there was a “problem” with her mother’s flight. In the days before the attacks, and even the morning of, as loved ones boarded doomed flights, the thought of a plane being hijacked to act as a weapon of mass destruction was the furthest thing from the minds of those who would later lose so much.

“We couldn’t fathom that someone could use the plane as a missile,” she said.

Once Puopolo learned the truth about her mother’s flight, she was devastated. She couldn’t comprehend who would have deliberate-

ly caused such an unimaginable tragedy—and why someone would have taken away her mother.

“There was tremendous confusion about who did it,” she said.

“We wondered, ‘Why did they hate us so much?’ We thought maybe the world was ending.”

“The world did end for some of us,” she added, soberly.

As the U.S. reeled in the days following the attacks, the Emerson community also counted its losses.

The college held a vigil to commemorate its victims, and provide emotional support for those left behind.

Van Breemen, the sister of one of the victims, admitted that she wasn’t especially close to Aronson in adulthood. Nevertheless, in the aftermath of the attacks, she committed herself to memorializing her younger sister—organizing the funeral and crafting a booklet full of reflections from Aronson’s family and friends.

“I talked with Myra the night before her death,” wrote Betty Murray, a friend of Aronson’s, in

the booklet. “It wasn’t an important conversation; she just wanted to know how my poison ivy was.

Therefore, what I’ll remember most about Myra was her concern, and interest in the people with whom she came in contact.”

“Myra was much more than my aunt,” wrote Aronson’s niece, Karen. “She was my very first babysitter, she gave me my first pair of Levis, and turned me on to the Monkees. And she never missed a birthday. I felt such a sense of relief being with Myra. She was my family, but treated me like the adult I thought I was.”

A year after the attacks, Puopolo’s mother’s wedding ring was found under 1.7 million tons of rubble at Ground Zero. Twenty years later, she said the moment the ring was returned to her family made her believe that “miracles do happen.”

Simpkin’s family could not be reached for comment on this article. contact@berkeleybeacon.com

Beacon alums look back at catastrophe coverage Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff

On Sept. 6, 2001, sophomore journalism major Cyndi Roy was writing about first-year orientation and college dorm policy. She never imagined that, just a few days later, she would be crying in the newsroom hallway, reeling from the deadliest terrorist attacks in the history of the globe.

“That was the day the world changed,” she said. “I don’t think I could have, at that age, even acknowledged that I felt that way—but it was earth-shattering.”

Roy, now Cyndi Gonzalez, was one of several dozen Beacon staffers gathered in the newsroom on Sept. 11, as reports of the calamity in New York—and in Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania— streamed in on television. Despite The Beacon’s commitment to administrative and campus life coverage, few expected to ever tackle anything as shocking and catastrophic as the events of that devastating Tuesday morning.

In fact, Gonzalez hadn’t thought much of the news of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. She turned off Good Morning America and left in time to catch the train for her first Tuesday class.

“I thought it was really odd,” she said.

“Honestly, I thought it was some kind of freak accident.”

Meanwhile, The Beacon’s editor-in-chief, junior journalism major Marc Fantasia, was sitting in a class taught by Professor Michael Brown when he first heard the news of a plane

Bomb squad storms the Copley Westin Hotel on Sept. 12, 2001. Mark Fantasia / Beacon Archives

hitting the North Tower.

“I don’t think anybody really comprehended what that meant,” Fantasia said.

“We were huddling around, trying to figure out what’s going on. Then someone walked by and said ‘What are you doing?’ Mike Brown just said he was having class. ‘We’re abandoning the building,’ they said, ‘Class is over, you have to leave right now.’”

Once classes were canceled across Emerson’s campus, students quickly realized the gravity of the situation—as Gonzalez recalled, word-of-mouth soon revealed it to be a “much bigger deal” than what she had initially assumed.

“Everybody pulled out their little flip phones and tried calling loved ones, and we couldn’t get through because all the cell towers were overloaded,” she said.

“As fellow Beacon reporters and students, we just found each other and gathered in the Beacon offices to figure out what we needed to do.”

Fantasia walked into The Beacon newsroom just as the first tower, the South Tower, collapsed on the television, and the horror of what was happening struck.

“It’s like, ‘holy shit,’” he said. *** Despite the initial shock of the attacks, junior journalism major Brian Eastwood said the newsroom quickly accepted their responsibility as journalists to cover the events shaking the nation.

“We all tried to pick a little bit of what was going on to focus on,” Coverage, Pg. 5

The Berkeley Beacon

September 16, 2021

3

‘Waking memories’: Emerson students reflect on 20 years since 9/11

Students look on as 9/11 victims are honored at a candelit vigil on Boston Common. Elaina Bolanos / Beacon Correspondent

Bailey Allen Beacon Staff

The 20th anniversary of 9/11 marks an important milestone in the commemoration of the attacks— coming at a time where most college-aged students were either born after or were too young at the time to remember the events that unfolded that fateful September morning.

For Vaughn Coleman, a senior visual and media arts major, 9/11 was a day that would alter his life forever. On the morning of Sept.

11, 2001, Coleman lost his father, Keith, and uncle, Scott, in the World Trade Center.

This year’s anniversary is a sobering benchmark for Coleman, who read aloud the names of vic-

tims at a commemoration ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City.

“It symbolizes how many years of my life my dad hasn’t been there—how many years it’s been since he’s been taken,” he said. “20 years doesn’t mean it’s in the past.

It’s a waking memory for me, every single day. It’s part of my life.

It’s not in my past. Every year that passes, maybe it’s further away from someone, but not me. It’ll be a part of me until the day I die.”

Coleman stressed the importance of making sure each victim’s name was pronounced correctly and with dignity at the ceremony. “[My list] was towards the end of the alphabet and I had time to listen to the recording [of the pronunciations],” he said. “You have

to remember that everyone is just like my dad. I would hate for someone to butcher my dad’s name—so I made sure that everyone’s name was read properly.”

After reading the names, Coleman gave a brief speech about the life his father could have lived had it not been for the attacks.

“He worked so hard,” he said, with tears in his eyes. “He deserved to raise his children and be with his wife, but cowards took him from me. I think about how he should’ve been there for my graduation—all of them—and how he should be here now. I can’t change that, but I know that he’s here in spirit.”

After the ceremony Saturday, many came up to Coleman to show their support—including an Air

Force serviceman who was on a fighter jet sent to attempt to stop the hijacked airplanes.

“He shook my hand and you could just feel the guilt he was carrying,” he said.

In addition to those at the ceremony, Coleman said that many people from his past reached out to him, which he appreciated immensely.

“There is a sense of unity,” he said. “Most people in the world are good. What it affirms above all else, is that most people—my friends, family, people I barely even know and people I haven’t talked to since high school—will reach out and say, ‘Hey, I’m with you, man.’ That’s something special.”

After all of the grief and turmoil he’s been through, Coleman worries that many in his generation, having grown up with little-to-no memory of the attacks, will not understand their significance as they should.

“They forget the human element,” he said. “Just like, ‘Yeah, 3,000 people died,’ but a lot of them don’t know anyone who suffered. They don’t know how the world changed, they don’t know the events surrounding it, or the events preceding and then afterward.”

Indeed, the vast majority of this year’s freshmen can only recall the events of 9/11 from their parents’ accounts, or from history books.

Some have stories that stand out, learning the tragedy of that day from family members who were in New York that morning—thankful that their loved ones did not end up becoming casualties.

Jack Reisman, a first-year comedic arts major, said his mother and

relatives were in New York at the time of the attacks.

“Fortunately, all of them were safe when the attack happened, but it definitely hits home for me, and it feels very personal,” he said.

“New York is a place that I consider home. Being from there, this day means so much to me.”

Dev Dokania, a first-year visual and media arts major, said his family was in Boston, with his older brother—a year old at the time—at his first day of daycare.

“They saw it happening on TV and went and got my brother and just sat around the TV together,” he said. “My aunt was in New York.

She was also safe, luckily.”

For Cassie Hine, a first-year visual and media arts major, the tragedies of 9/11 struck too close to home, with her father catching a flight out of New York that morning. “[My mother told me] how frightening it was for her,” she said.

“Because they were thousands of feet above the ground, she couldn’t get in contact with him.”

When asked what he would want to tell the Emerson community directly, especially those who have grown up in a post-9/11 world, Coleman put an enormous emphasis on wanting them to be kind to one another.

“I want you to look to your friends and your family and I want you to see another human being,” he pleaded. “I want you to realize that sometimes you don’t know how much someone is suffering. I want you to reach out and talk to each other and treat each other with respect.” bailey_allen@emerson.edu

Flags line a vigil in Seaport. Hongyu Liu / Beacon Staff

Cont. from Pg. 1 “My mother, my amazing mother,” Puopolo said.

Karin Charles—family advisory chair of the Mass. 9/11 Fund—performed “We Remember Them” after the reading.

“At the rising of the sun and at its going down, we remember them,” Charles read. “At the blowing of the wind and the chill of winter, we remember them.”

Following the outdoor ceremony, attendees headed inside to award the 2021 recipient of the Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery—named in honor of a flight attendant aboard Flight 11, who relayed information to ground control regarding the hijackers.

“The Amy Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery is named in recognition of my mother’s incredible acts of bravery,” Sweeney’s daughter, Anna, said.

“It celebrates life and the ability of the human spirit to reach beyond concern for oneself and act with concern for others—even in the face of potentially devastating consequences.”

Sweeney presented the award to Annette Szivos, who saved a man from drowning in Gardner, Mass.

After Father John Connolly read a benediction, Janey concluded the ceremony with the annual laying of the wreath, invoking the memorial at Logan International Airport—where the two planes that later hit the World Trade Center departed from.

“As mayor of the great city of Boston, the American flags the airport workers placed outside of the gates on this day, 20 years ago, remain as a reminder of the spirit of our strength,” Janey said “And as we continue to battle our way out of a global pandemic,

we cannot lose hope. We are in this together.”

At the conclusion of the ceremony, a tribute video to those who were lost played and family members reflected upon their losses.

“To date we have no remains of my brother John so I believe he is in the sunset,” Pat Hoban said of her brother, John Cahill. “For it is the particles in the ozone that make the sunset’s colors.”

“Jeff was a tall goofy guy and that’s how people remember him and that was one of the hardest things about losing him is that he was the laughter in the house, he was the fun parent,” Christie Coombs said of her husband.

“You know, the house was very different afterwards. Probably my favorite things about him were his goofiness, his kindness, and just the way he loved me and the kids.”

“For people who are not twins … people who are it’s very hard for somebody to know what that experience is like growing up,” Mike Bavis said of his twin brother, Mark. “It was a unique experience to always have somebody there not only to be close with, but to push you, athletically and it turned out that was a part of our adult lives as well. It was important to us as a family like it was important to so many other families that they did something that impacted other people’s lives positively. One of the things that came to us in the days following 9/11 was how much Mark impacted young people, kids he coached through the summers, through junior teams, even in college.”

Also on Saturday, an American flag constructed of 50,000 notes written by school-aged children in the wake of the tragedy was erected on Boston Common. frankie_rowley@emerson.edu

Mourners light candles at a vigil on Saturday night. Elaina Bolanos / Beacon Correspondent

Emerson community honors victims, survivors from 9/11 attacks Cont. from Pg. 1 The vigil was organized by Communication Studies Department Chair Gregory Payne in conjunction with the Emerson Communications, Politics, and Law Association. Held both in-person and virtually due to the constraints of the pandemic, the event honored the nearly-3,000 individuals that were killed that day—including three Emerson community members.

“This vigil is an opportunity for us to honor and reflect on everything that has changed for us as a country in the last 20 years,” School of Communications Dean Raul Reis said. “It’s also an opportunity to reflect on all the values that have not changed: our commitment to celebrate what [we] honor and to remember all the people who lost their lives that day.”

Puopolo introduced Robert Brown, also a communication studies professor at the college. Brown briefly acknowledged a former student of his at Salem State University, whose mother had been a flight attendant aboard Flight 11—noting that, even two decades later, families were still processing their grief in their own ways.

“Some dance to remember, some dance to forget,” he said, quoting “Hotel California” by Eagles. “Tita has been so public with it, and [my old student] Marianne has been very private. I am here to bear witness for her.”

In 2001, John Talanian was working at the Boston office of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Twenty years ago, he watched on television as all 658 employees of the firm’s corporate headquarters—including several of his closest friends—died as the North Tower collapsed.

“For me, having lost so many people and going through my own personal grief, what I’ve noticed is that grief wants me alone,” Talanian said.

“It wants to overwhelm me. It doesn’t want me talking about it. It doesn’t want me sharing my story.”

Talanian recounted his struggle dealing with his trauma for several years afterwards—until 2007, when he was in the Boston Common and chanced upon an Emerson vigil.

“To each one of us, our story is the hardest because we lived, we know the pain,” he said, “But we also know the pain that the others are feeling; that’s how we can help heal each other, by having that empathy for each and every person who has gone through this experience or a similar experience.”

“Each year, I heal a little bit more,” Talanian added. “[The pain] doesn’t go away; we just learn to deal with it a little better. By sharing my story, I keep myself healthy. And in some ways I perhaps help others. To me, that’s important.”

Another student, senior visual and media arts major Vaughn Coleman, lost his father and his uncle—who both worked at Cantor Fitzgerald— during the attacks. Having just returned from New York, where he read several names at the Ground Zero ceremony, he ended his brief, sobering speech on an uplifting note.

“Every year, I think of a year my dad should have been there,” Coleman said. “The longer time goes by, the more permanent it becomes that this is it, this is a part of our lives. It’s part of history. You have to learn to accept it. I know every day my dad is with me in spirit—and everyone else we lost is there with us.”

As the speakers concluded, the candles—blown out by the cold September wind—were lit once again.

Joe Nalieth, a sophomore theatre education and performance major, circled the bandstand playing the chords of “Stand By Me” on his guitar, as students came forward and placed their candles in the center of the circle.

By the end of the song, the candlelight illuminated the faces of the attendees for the first time in the entire evening—professors and students, first-years and seniors, gathered together in communion. camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

News

The Berkeley Beacon

Emerson ranks eighth in regional universities Bailey Allen Beacon Staff

Emerson tied for the eighth spot in this year’s Best Regional Universities list, released annually by U.S. News & World Report—the sixth year in a row the college has cracked the list.

The 2022 rankings were released on Sept. 14th and placed Emerson in a tie with St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. The college rose to eighth after tying for ninth place in the 2021 rankings. Emerson shot up to third in the report’s ranking of the Most Innovative Schools (North), after placing sixth in that category a year ago. Also finishing third were Fairfield University, Merrimack College, and Providence College.

“I am extremely proud and gratified that U.S. News has once again recognized Emerson’s hard work and achievement in creating an exceptional and innovative education in the arts, communication, and liberal arts,” Interim President Bill Gilligan said in a statement to Emerson Today.

U.S. News defines “regional universities” as those smaller institutions with “a full range of undergraduate programs,” as well as limited masters and doctoral programs. The rankings come from academic data collected via U.S. News and World Report surveys, as well as “reliable” third parties.

Student outcomes—which include graduation rate, retention rate, and social mobility—are the highest weighted category for the rankings.

The rest of the determining factors are faculty resources, expert opinion, financial resources, student excellence, and alumni giving.

Emerson also ranked 11th in Undergraduate Teaching (North).

Like the innovative schools rank-

ing, this recognition is also based on surveys of top administrators at peer institutions.

In addition to U.S. News & World Report, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Emerson sixth among U.S. film schools—rising from ninth place last year. The Princeton Review named Emerson one of the 223 Best Northeastern Colleges and Top 50 Green Colleges, and also recognized Emerson in its Great College Radio Station, Great College Theater, and LGBTQ-Friendly lists.

The Berkeley Beacon Archives

Incident Journal The Emerson College Police Department provides the Incident Journal to The Beacon every week. Beacon staff edit the Incident Journal for style and clarity but not for content.

Graphic: Tomas Gonzalez / Beacon Staff

bailey_allen@emerson.edu

Monday, August 30 ECPD discovered graffiti on the Majestic Theatre, but no suspects were able to be located.

Monday, August 30 ECPD responded to a call from the Piano Row Residence Hall over a report of a non-Emerson individual who followed students into the building’s lobby to ask for directions.

Monday, August 30 Little Building staff called ECPD to provide medical assistance to a student in need.

Monday, August 30 ECPD responded to a call at the Piano Row Residence Hall following a report of an unidentified person who tried to bypass security and was subsequently denied access to the building. The unidentified person left the building three minutes after ECPD’s arrival.

Tuesday, August 31 ECPD received lost property found in the Walker Building by a Northeast security officer and the property was documented in lost and found.

Wednesday, September 1

A non-Emerson community member was found by ECPD attempting to acquire items set aside for recycling from the Allen’s Alley loading dock. The suspect was informed that the property was not trash and left with no theft occurring.

Friday, September 3 ECPD were called to investigate an unsecure exterior door in the Paramount Theatre. The college’s locksmith responded to the call and repaired the door latch. A later check of the theatre found no unauthorized access and all appeared in order.

Monday, September 6 Housing and Residential Education staff requested ECPD to the Colonial Residence Hall to secure drug paraphernalia that had been confiscated. The student who the paraphernalia belonged to was referred to the Community Standards & Student Conduct for whatever action their office deems appropriate.

Tuesday, September 7 ECPD helped a non-Emerson community member with a Campus Security Authority report an off-campus theft and referred them to the primary jurisdiction of the Boston Police Department.

Wednesday, September 8 ECPD aided a student who was stuck in the Piano Row Residence Hall Floor three elevator. They stayed in constant verbal contact with the student until they

September 16, 2021

4

were able to leave the elevator without incident.

Wednesday September 8 ECPD responded to a call from the dining center and provided medical assistance to a vendor in need.

Wednesday, September 8 ECPD provided medical assistance to a community member in need at 2 Boylston Place following a call from the building.

Wednesday, September 8 ECPD reported to the Little Building to provide medical attention to a community member in need.

Thursday, September 9 Delta Beckwith, the elevator company who built the college’s elevators, was called following ECPD’s response to a reported Emerson College staff member who was stuck in an elevator in the Colonial Residence Hall. The company responded and the staff member was removed from the elevator without incident.

Thursday, September 9 A student welcome desk assistant left their post on the second floor of the Little Building, prompting ECPD to close the access to the stairwell early due to the lack of staffing. Only one student entered the stairwell while the desk was unattended and the staff member was reported to Housing & Residential Education (HRE) for whatever action their office deems appropriate.

Friday, September 10 ECPD were called to the Piano Row Residence hall over a report of a resident in need of medical assistance. The student was walked

by ECPD to Urgent Care at the end of the encounter.

Friday, September 10 ECPD responded to a security bypass in the Little Building. Two non-Emerson students were aided by an identified Emerson student into the building and were in the residence hall for a short period of time before being removed from the building. The student was referred to Community Standards & Student Conduct for whatever action their office deems appropriate.

Emerson to extend mask mandate, no guest policy

Cont. from Pg. 1

“Within Emerson, while we’ve had positive tests, we’re very fortunate that things are going well,” Muurisepp said in a phone interview.

While acknowledging that there may be certain circumstances where a non-Emerson guest may need to stay on-campus, Muurisepp said all requests for campus access by non-community members must be approved by a vice president or dean in consultation with the college’s COVID team.

“We want to maintain as much control over the virus as we can,” he said.

The Wednesday afternoon announcement comes amid a statewide resurgence of the virus— Massachusetts reported more than 2,000 coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time in five months on Sept. 9, and again on Wednesday. At Emerson, 33 community members have tested positive for the virus since fall semester testing began on Aug. 23—and 0.22 percent of tests have come back positive.

By this time last fall, 11 community members had tested positive for the virus and the college’s positivity rate was below 0.1 percent.

This semester’s higher positivity rate had no impact on the college’s decision to extend the mask mandate, Muurisepp said.

“It was more so looking at the

macro environment, not so much just [our community’s], even if we had [fewer] it still [would have] ended up the same,” he said.

“We were anticipating having positives,” Muurisepp said in a previous interview with The Beacon. “Some folks would look at that number and say, ‘Oh, wow, that’s a lot,’ and certainly, we’d love zero. But it’s still within our planning and anticipation for the semester, so [the college has] no worries at this time.”

No cases of COVID-19 at Emerson have been traced back to classroom spread, Muurisepp said, indicating that college officials remain confident in the college’s in-person learning model this fall.

“This can be attributed to your cooperation with the policies we have put in place,” he wrote in Wednesday’s email. “We thank you for that.”

Surrounding institutions such as

Boston University and Northeastern University have implemented similar policies — requiring masking indoors, as well as weekly testing. Both universities have also been seeing an uptick in positive tests—with BU reporting 230 positive tests since Aug. 15 and Northeastern reporting 141 positive tests since Sept. 2.

Several students said they had been expecting the college to continue its mask mandate and guest limitations. Nevertheless, some expressed confusion, citing the

frequency of unmasked interactions in residence halls and other on-campus spaces.

“I was honestly expecting that answer,” said Isabella DeMarais, a first-year media arts production major. ”But I still don’t really understand why we have to continue wearing masks, especially when they stated in the email that transmission is not happening in classrooms. I don’t see why we need to protect ourselves there, but not in the dining hall while we’re sitting and eating with other people that aren’t from our dorm room or going out on the Common with friends or even just walking down the street to class.”

“But hey, I’ll do whatever they tell me to do if I can still have a college experience,” she added.

Emma Wood, a first year visual media arts major, echoed DeMarais’ statement. She acknowledged that masks were necessary in certain settings, but argued that the communal nature of campus living made them ineffective in other

places.

“We eat in the dining hall together, shower in the same facility and brush our teeth in the same facility with no masks,” she said.

“We live together. So I feel like masks are appropriate in classrooms but it’s just confusing that we have to wear them in common rooms.”

However, in light of the high number of positive COVID-19 tests reported by the college and in Massachusetts, first-year marketing major Vritika Thadhani said she was content with the news.

“I don’t think I was really surprised,” Thadhani said. “I keep really close track of the numbers and I know the numbers are higher than last fall. I’m happy we’re taking the precautions we need to.

I just want things to get better and I feel like they’re not, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”

© 2021 The Berkeley Beacon. All rights reserved.

Editor-in-Chief Charlie McKenna

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frankie_rowley@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

September 16, 2021

5

Staff Union petitioning for the salary increases they never received Bailey Allen Beacon Staff

frankie_rowley@emerson.edu

Almost a year after college administrators promised to give all staff the annual 3.9 percent salary increase agreed upon during the union’s 2018 collective bargaining agreement, members of the Emerson College Staff Union are petitioning to get their negotiated raises back at last.

Staff were set to receive their 3.9 percent raise on Oct. 1, 2020, but agreed to have it delayed along with other benefits to assist in offsetting the $33-76 million in projected COVID-19 related losses over the 2021 fiscal year, according to Union Chair Dennis Levine.

The bargaining agreement was set to be revisited in June of this year if the college had returned to a stable financial standing, which Vice President for Administration and Finance Paul Dworkis seemed to indicate the college had in March. But, with no word on when the raise would take effect, union members took actions into their own hands by creating a change.org petition that has garnered 519 signatures since the date of publication.

“We sacrificed our benefits to save jobs,” the petition said. “We also agreed to delay our raises until the financial outlook of the College was more clear. Now, even with record high enrollment, management still refuses to pay us our contractually agreed upon raises.”

In an attempt to make amends, a three percent onetime payment was offered to all staff members—including union members—by the college in August as an alternative to a salary increase, according to Levine.

Union members decided against taking the payment, as it was not in keeping with the original bargaining agreement that they had signed.

“Currently, we have some proposals before us that have been given to us by management, that our members are going to look at and take a vote on to determine where we go with that,” he said.

“We shall see.”

The proposals range anywhere from the three percent one-time payment to a partial, smaller one-time payment, and a series of step raises—increases from one pay rate to the next higher rate within the established salary range, according to Law Insider— over the next two years.

The union will not make any counter-proposals, according to the union’s chief steward, Korina Figueroa.

“We’ve gotten to the point

someone to listen,” Eastwood said. “Letting them express their feelings and helping them deal with what they were going through.”

On the other hand, Gonzalez said that working in the newsroom through the first day actually helped her, at least for a time, distance herself from the tragedy.

“It was such a traumatic event—but, you know, we had a job to do,” she said.

“Actually, in some ways, it was very nice to be able to do a job, to do something important and relevant—and not just sit in front of the TV and have to watch it over and over and over again.”

Fantasia recalled the surreal experience of working tirelessly on Sept. 13’s print edition—only two days removed from the attacks—while the streets of Boston were empty and the country was in mourning.

“I don’t think we actually processed what was happening until much later,” he said. “That day, we didn’t really know what to think. It was something that had never happened before, that was unprecedented.”

“Cindy interviewing the daughter that night was probably when, at least for me, it kind of hit,” he added. *** To this day, Gonzalez remembers that interview as the hardest she would ever have to do.

“I can’t recall how, but we got word that Sonia Puopolo [wife of Emerson trustee Dominic Puopolo] had passed away,” Gonzalez said. “She was on one of the planes, and her family was very involved with Emerson.”

Fantasia assigned the interview with Sonia Tita Puopolo, daughter of the elder Puopolo who had graduated from Emerson in 1996, to the sophomore news editor.

“I think what he sensed was that I could do it in a way that was compassionate, but also [understood] the story,” she said.

In a short phone interview on Wednesday evening, Gonzalez asked Puopolo— only a few years her senior—about her mother who had died with thousands of others in New York.

Courtesy

Wu, Essaibi George advance to general election for Mayor Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff

City Councilors at Large Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George are set to advance to the city’s general election for Mayor on Nov. 2 after finishing as the top two vote-getters in Tuesday’s preliminary election.

Wu and Essaibi George topped Acting Mayor Kim Janey, fellow Councilor Andrea Campbell, and the city’s former economic development chief, John Barros in the historic primary field. Wu was the lead vote getter — earning 33.4 percent of the votes, while Essaibi George trailed at 22.5 percent. Campbell and Janey earned just shy of 20 percent of the vote — 19.7 percent and 19.5 percent, respectively, while Barros trailed behind the field at just 3.2 percent.

Either Wu or Essaibi George would be the city’s first full time female and person of color mayor. Essaibi George’s heritage is Tunisian and Polish, while Wu’s is Taiwanese. Both women are also mothers of school-aged children.

November’s runoff election will be the first time since 1930 that neither candidate represents the city’s powerful Irish or Italian constituencies.

The similarities between the two women end there. Wu has led a progressive campaign and received an endorsement from Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Essaibi George, on the other hand, struck a more moderate tone and captured many of former Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s voters. Walsh took a job in the Biden administration as labor secretary, setting up Tuesday’s elections.

Wu pitched a plan to work towards a municipal Green New Deal, free public transportation, and reforming the Boston Police Department by working with the police union.

Cont. from Pg. 2 Eastwood said. “It wasn’t going to fall on one person’s shoulders to write all the 9/11 coverage. We had everybody do a little bit.”

As editor-in-chief, Fantasia began doling out assignments to the staff writers present. One team of reporters went to Boston’s Logan International Airport after it emerged that two of the four flights had departed from there—a choice which Eastwood described as “probably not the best idea” in retrospect, given the security concerns.

The editor-in-chief himself, along with Managing Editor Amanda Lehmert, went to the Westin Hotel in Copley Square. The picture he snapped of FBI agents storming the upper floors in search of a potential suspect was later picked up by the Associated Press.

For some staff members—including one New Yorker, who had grown up in lower Manhattan—it was hard to cope with the trauma the nation was going through.

“We were just giving people an ear,

Essaibi George, on the other hand, has pledged to hire more police officers while improving accountability, transparency, and bias training, as well as replacing city vehicles with electric ones, and creating more accessible mental health resources for students.

Vote totals in the elections were delayed for hours as officials painstakingly combed through ballots.

Also on Tuesday, a former Emerson faculty member was defeated in her bid to advance to the general election for city councilor at-large.

Kelly Bates—an educator who founded Emerson’s Elma Lewis Center for creative, social justice-based storytelling—lost her bid to advance to the runoff, finishing in ninth. The top eight vote-getters advanced.

Bates, who left Emerson in 2015, garnered 12,735 votes, or 4.6 percent.

She was about 2,000 votes behind her next-closest competitor, Bridget NeeWalsh, who advanced to November’s election with 15,118 votes, or 5.5 percent.

Bates could not be reached for comment on this article.

Also advancing to the Nov. 2 runoff are incumbent councilors Michael Flaherty and Julia Mejia, as well as Ruthzee Louijeune, Erin Murphy, Carla Monteiro, David Halbert, and Althea Garrison.

Flaherty, who leads with 15 percent of the votes, holds a slim majority over his competitors. Mejia is in a close second with 14.1 percent, Louijeune in third with 12.2 percent, Murphy in fourth with 8.3 percent, Monteiro in fifth with 6.9 percent, Halbert in sixth with 6.2 percent, Garrison in seventh with 6.1 percent, and Nee-Walsh in eighth with 5.5 percent of the total votes.

The Berkeley Beacon Archives where we don’t see the school making a lot of adjustments,” Levine said.

Parents, students, alumni, current staff and non-union members at the college have all offered their support to the union by signing the petition and leaving encouraging comments.

“I support the people who support my student,” Amanda Dine Gamble, an Emerson parent, commented on the change.com petition.

“I’m an alum and this is shameful behavior from the school,” wrote Jessica Kiernan-Maillard.

With a two percent increase in tuition implemented in light of the pandemic on March 18, Levine said he does not feel confident that the money will go to the staff.

“Just because there’s a [tuition increase] doesn’t mean that the school is going to allocate that money for salaries,” he said.

“From the union perspective, we were not looking at that [tuition increase] as going to help pay for our raise that we should have been getting.”

Although the union’s understanding was that Emerson was experiencing financial loss due

to the pandemic, enough funding was available to renovate every bathroom on all 13 stories of the Ansin Building, according to the union’s post on the petition website.

“I mean, do we need to have automatic flushes on the toilets?”

Levine said. “Yeah, it reduces the touch factor with COVID. But yeah, I mean, a paper towel on your hand also [does that].”

The website also says that the college plans to spend tens of thousands of dollars to replace wall clocks in classrooms instead of prioritizing staff.

Despite the frustration, Levine said that going on strike will be the last resort.

“Going on a strike is a nuclear option that obviously we want to avoid, and I’m fairly certain that the school wants to avoid,” he said. “We’re probably not going to strike over the 3.9 percent that they owe us. We’re currently trying to work with them to come up with some kind of alternate proposal.”

“I remember her crying,” she said. “At one point, she was asking me to tell her that this hadn’t happened, that it wasn’t real. And, you know, I’m a young college student, trying to process this on my own.”

“I remember trying to put on a brave face—and the second I got off the phone, just bawling,” she continued. “I just burst out into tears and then couldn’t stop.” *** Sonia Mercedes Morales Puopolo was among the three Emerson community members memorialized in the Sept. 13 edition of The Berkeley Beacon.

“Some members of the Emerson community will remember Sept. 11 as the day they first felt terror,” read the article’s lede. “For one Emerson family, it will be remembered as the day they lost a wife, a mother, and a friend.”

“It is one of the most significant memories of my time at Emerson,” Gonzalez said. “I’m so grateful I was a part of The Beacon then—I had a support group, a community to belong to.”

By the end of the week, the paper’s

staff was, in Gonzalez’s words, “emotionally exhausted”—yet she still found the work that she did important.

“This idea that, because you’re a reporter or a police officer or a firefighter, you should do your job without any [emotional] recognition is the completely wrong way to go about it,” she said. “Allowing yourself to be vulnerable and letting your interviewees see you as human is important. It’s important for reporters to go get the story—certainly ask the tough questions—but also to show compassion.”

“It’s actually a really wonderful life lesson that reporters have a job to do, but they’re also incredibly human,” she said.

“That’s what makes the best reporters— those who have that ability to emphasize and be compassionate while also doing the job, getting the story, sharing the story.”

“I think the reason Sonia was willing to share her story was because her mother deserves to have her story told,” she said.

“For that, I’m still very grateful, 20 years later.”

bailey_allen@emerson.edu

Opinion

The Berkeley Beacon

September 16, 2021

6

Islamaphobia remains an ever-present threat Mariyam Quaisar Beacon Staff Cont. from Pg. 1 Phrases like “Allahu Akbar” were not the only Arabic words that caused anxiety in America. The Arabic language became forever tied to terrorism, whether it was a son saying “Al-Salaamu Akaikum” (greeting that means “peace to you”) to his mother or a friend saying “Inshallah” (God willing) to dinner plans they made.

Yet, “Allahu Akbar” became the go-to phrase to capture during coverage of the Middle East and to foreshadow a bombing in Hollywood films. The phrase lost its religious meaning and became an indication of violence, and a joke to the boys from my middle school.

The privilege that comes with being white in America is one that only a nonwhite person will understand. The ability for a white person to say and do anything without real repercussions shows the reality of the country we live in—it is a country for white people and no one else. At least that’s how it felt growing up around privileged white kids who would often ask me if I was a terrorist.

Because yes, it wasn’t a one time incident.

Opening texts from peers asking, “so when are you going to blow up the school?” was not uncommon growing up in a small Connecticut town. Knowing that at the end of the day that’s what people thought of me was a reflection of not only my small town, but the United States of America. Eventually, I began responding with “yeah, actually, Osama is my uncle” to shut them up.

The worst part of it was, no one stood up for us. We could only stand up for each other and ourselves. Only we could shut down an ignorant middle schooler from making fun of our culture because none of our “friends” did. Those who claimed to be inclusive, welcoming of all cultures, “lovers of all religions,” laughed and became bystanders in the moments we needed their support the

A candle lit in rememberance of 9/11 victims at a vigil in the Seaport Hongyu Liu / Beacon Staff most traumatizing stories I’ve read is most.

Again, only a non-white person can about Zainab Merchant, a woman who really understand the privileges of white has never once not been stopped by the TSA. Before her flight from Boston’s people in America.

After 9/11, the rise of Islamophobia Logan International Airport to Washingbecame a justification for waging war ton D.C., Merchant was publicly patted on Islamic terrorist groups and Islam- down in her groin area by an agent and ic countries, for which we continue to then taken for further investigation so see the aftermath to this day. America’s they could get a “deeper look,” accordlongest war, with Afghanistan, came to ing to a letter written by the American an end in August, after 20 years, upon Civil Liberties Union.

Despite requesting her search be done the exit of U.S. troops. This allowed the Taliban to re-take control and destroy in public, out of fear of what could hapthe lives of Afghans. The United States’ pen privately and because she was on her negative bias towards Muslims and menstrual period, Merchant was threatMuslim countries has caused consistent ened to be handed off to state troopers if tension between both parties, one that she did not comply and then taken into a might never go away, just like Islam- private room. Merchant was demanded to pull her pants and underwear down, ophobia.

Racial and religious profiling became a ridiculously intrusive request, reveala norm for us, and this is especially true ing her menstrual pad. Then, the officers at airports. They’d see my father’s name, walked away.

Sahar Fatima, an editor at The Boston Mohammed, and use it as a justification to take us for “extra screening.” I’d get Globe, wrote about her own experiences angry and seethe, but there was nothing of crossing the Canadian border into the I could do about it. The fear I held, and United States when she was a child.

“Each road trip involved, at ministill hold, of officers inside or outside of an airport bars me from fighting back. mum, two hours of watching border They can do anything to me and I can officials aggressively question my fado nothing back, and that’s the fact of ther with such spite and hostility that it always frightened me to tears,” Fatima the matter.

It wasn’t just our family who ex- wrote.

According to government documents, perienced this, obviously. One of the

more than 700,000 Americans, many of whom are Muslim or have a Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian background, were placed on a U.S. government watchlist. Despite having no connection with any terrorist group, those on the list are singled out at airports with a stamp that indicates they are a “secondary security screening selectee” on their boarding passes.

The Obama Administration expanded the terrorist screening system greatly, increasing the number of people on the no-fly list more than tenfold by 2014, surpassing the number of banned people under President George W. Bush.

Being on the watchlist or being assumed to be a terrorist by your name or clothing choice is humiliating, degrading, and terrifying, but it became expected by many Muslim travelers like Merchant.

The fear Muslims held and continue to hold is justified because of personal experiences and news stories that instilled that fear.

Four days after the attacks, a 46-yearold Pakistani immigrant was shot and killed inside a grocery store in Dallas, Texas, and a 28-year-old was shot in the face while working at a convenience store. Six years after the attacks, an Iranian American woman was kicked, sliced with a boxcutter, and had her hand smashed with a hammer in her place of work. Nine years after the attacks, a New York taxi driver was stabbed by a passenger once confirmed the driver was Muslim. 14 years after the attacks, three Muslims students were shot and killed at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 16 years after the attacks, a a Florida man attempted to set a convenience store on fire because it was owned by a Muslim. 18 years after the attacks, a man in California intentionally ran his car into a group of people he assumed were Muslims. One of them was a 7thgrade Indian American girl who had to have the left side of her skull removed.

The hate crimes listed above are barely an indication of how horrible the racism against Muslims is—that’s just seven examples out of thousands.

My family used to often go to a mosque near our home, the Danbury Mosque. Following the 9/11 attacks, a

local church held a vigil for the innocent lives lost and many members of the mosque attended, including my mom.

While my mom and the other Muslims thought they were there to show support, the others did not. My mom told me they made rude comments such as, “oh, they come now” and “they’re the ones who did it.” Hatred had infiltrated the hearts of so many, they were blinded at the possibility of any Muslim being good.

Unfortunately, Muslims were not the only community negatively impacted by the aftermath of 9/11. Many Americans mistook Sikhs, followers of a monotheistic religion founded in Punjab called Sikhism, as Muslims because of their turbans and beards. Many Americans associated the turban to terrorism, a turban I’m assuming they thought was the same as the headwear worn in Afghanistan, where the Islamic terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qaeda, was founded.

Again, ignorance got the best of many Americans, and caused the Sikh Coalition to receive thousands of reports regarding hate crimes, workplace discrimination, school bullying, and racial/ religious profiling. In the first month following the 9/11 attacks, there were more than 300 cases of violence and discrimination against Sikh Americans. The first hate crime following the attacks was targeted towards a Sikh gas station owner in Mesa, Arizona on Sept. 15, 2001.

Honestly, the hatred towards Muslims or those thought to be Muslims cannot be summarized in an article such as this one. This is a small percentage of information regarding the terror Muslims in America felt after September 11, 2001.

Muslims face it to this day. A great Bollywood movie was made, titled “My Name is Khan,” about the truth of being a Muslim in America—I highly recommend everyone watches it to understand even a sliver of a Muslim’s reality.

Everytime an innocent person is killed in the name of a racist America, it adds another victim to the list of those who died on 9/11. When will America realize that domestic terrwworism is just as catastrophic as the kind that brings buildings to the ground. mariyam_quaisar@emerson.edu

The environment, your sanity, and student budgets Charlie Brian Ambler Beacon Staff For the average student, being an environmentalist comes with a hefty price tag. Eating organic foods and exclusively supporting eco-friendly brands are expensive choices to make— especially if you’re spending upwards of $51,264 a year in tuition alone.

For the majority of students, their wallets struggle to make the green choice.

To add fuel to the fire, the majority of students across the country hold strong feelings of guilt when it comes to the environment, and the role humans can play in harming it, according to The Lancet Planetary Health. A large part of this anxiety stems from the dire dilemma at hand: how does one maintain a student budget while spending in an eco-friendly manner?

The possibility of accomplishing both of these objectives lies within the strategy of mindful shopping.

However, there is a need to shed light on the many issues that students face when trying to adapt.

It is difficult to balance a budget when a wave of financial burdens hits you every day. Inevitable costs related to tuition, room and board, textbooks, meal plans, and entertainment, can cause mountains of student debt and prevent the stu-

dents from choosing the eco-friendly choice when purchasing items as essential as shampoo.

Environmentalists such as myself wish to practice spending in greener ways—because whether you like it or not, we live in a materialistic society, and individuals lack the power to single-handedly change this reality. Today, capitalism continues to triumph and wreak havoc on the planet’s welfare, while most carbon emissions are created by large corporations who struggle to find a reason to care.

Materialism has become so integrated into the minds of our generation that it has become inescapable. These two concepts shape the reality students live in.

Materialism has forced us to cope with corporations who do nothing about the problems ahead of us and at the end of the day individuals such as myself, question if actions can engender change.

This is the root cause of the helpless feeling that so many environmentally inclined students suffer from. On campuses across the country, students are surrounded by climate change awareness and are being educated on the future, and naturally, the disasters to come.

Students want to help! But this is where it becomes overwhelming for many students who wish to pursue an eco-friendly lifestyle, while fi-

nancial constraints make it difficult for them to do so. I tend to belittle myself internally for not making a greater effort when it comes to climate change and my spending habits.

This is where anxiety and feelings of guilt thrive. Climate change anxiety has stemmed directly from this situation.

So, how can a student afford to save the planet?

By spending wisely! By being prudent in their day-to-day shopping, students can balance tight budgets and uphold environmental goals. Here are some of my favorite tips for students who wish to protect their environmental values while also protecting their budget.

The most valuable strategy comes down to brands and where their earnings go. It is difficult to spend money at stores where 100 percent of their products are recycled materials or made with zero emissions.

An example is Patagonia, which is an expensive brand, yet its products are highly eco-friendly. However, most people save their money and shop at a store whose products may not be environmentally friendly.

There are some companies that will spend a significant amount of their yearly revenue on environmentalist groups. The Elephant Pants is a clothing brand that is wallet-friendly and sends a large

portion of its earnings to conservation groups around the globe. You can have a sense of peace and a little less climate-change induced anxiety knowing that you have saved some money and helped an eco-friendly organization.

Organic food is surrounded by common misconceptions. Specifically, many students live under the impression that all organic food is far too expensive for their budgets.

Farmers markets, however, are less expensive than most organic items found in local grocery stores. Boston Public Market at Dewey Square is a vast market that operates every Tuesday and Thursday. Furthermore, these local farmers practice organic farming! Many are not yet certified organic by the USDA and therefore cannot officially claim their products are organic in stores.

A student can eat organic foods by simply extricating themselves from local grocery centers and following their local farmers market schedule (many of which operate year round). By shopping for organic foods at these markets, students can support local farmers, protect their budgets, and practice an environmentally friendly way of life.

Feeling anxious about the environment and its future is normal.

Money as a problem-solving tactic has been ingrained into society and

Charlie Brian Ambler / Beacon Staff

its ways of functioning. Although these facets exist in our community, students can succeed as environmentalists. Farmers markets and strategic spending on items are two great ways to start.

As students, we must look at alternatives to save the environment, which do not have to come at a high cost. Climate change guilt and anxiety may be here to stay, but apathy can be avoided. Your student budget can be managed and you can still feel you’ve contributed. brian_ambler@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

September 16, 2021

7

Living Arts

Student orgs return to in-person gatherings

Two NBS members at the fall 2021 org fair/ courtesy Miranda Nicusanti

Karissa Schaefer Beacon Staff

Illustration Lucia Thorne

The grim realities of mental health Sophia Pargas

Beacon Correspondent September, also known as National Suicide Prevention month, is a time when organizations, communities, and survivors rally to raise awareness and share resources on the realities of mental health.

According to the World Health Organization, every 40 seconds someone around the world takes their life.

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education reports that most of these victims are between the ages of 15-24. This month plays an integral role in providing hope and inspiration to those who are struggling, especially for students within this age group.

Similarly, Brandin Dear, Director of Counseling, Health and Wellness, believes that September is a time to fix a year round problem: a lack of awareness of resources for mental health healing.

“I think it’s something that we need to be paying attention to all of the time,” Dear said. “With the emphasis on suicide prevention during September, I’m hoping that more students will realize that they’re not alone and disclose their feelings to get the help they need. Months like this provide us with having more awareness about mental health in general.”

Studies from the American College Health Association and Pennsylvania State University show that the mental health struggles most commonly experienced by college students are depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, and suicide.

For students on our own campus, this has been no exception.

“We’ve seen a growing trend over the years of more students needing and requesting mental health services,” Dear said. “These students are often experiencing anxiety, depression, stress, and social limitations.”

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has only worsened the struggles among students as it has taken away opportunities for congregation and community.

“A lot of students have reported feeling isolated since the start of the pandemic,” Dear said. “For college students, just talking and hanging out, sharing experiences, these are the coping mechanisms they use to rejuvenate and relax. The pandemic has definitely changed how we can do this because of social distancing and capacity limits. I think we’ve been trying so vigorously to protect our physical health and by doing

that, we’ve compromised our mental health.”

In some ways, however, Dear expresses that the pandemic has offered up not only a time for reflection, but also a much overdue evolution in the way that mental health is addressed in our society. During a time when many were communally experiencing emotions such as sadness, loneliness, and grief, many of the stigmas surrounding mental health dissipated.

“One of the things that’s happened with the pandemic is we’ve seen so many people speak out about their mental health,” Dear said. “That’s really helped younger people come out and be open about what they need and how to get it.”

Upon the passing of sophomore Amaris Rodriguez’s cousin by suicide in 2018, she learned firsthand the importance of reaching out and getting the help needed to overcome mental health crises.

“The stigma around mental health is that people are just weak and sad for no good reason, which is a terrible thing to believe about those experiencing depression and negative thoughts,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone cares about mental health and knows that it’s important, but you never realize how important it is until it happens to your own family.”

Sadly, Rodriguez’s family is one of many who suffer from loss by suicide, and they have since allowed the tragedy to enlighten their view of mental health.

“It makes you second guess everything, wonder why you didn’t see the signs and how you could have prevented it,” Rodriguez said. ”It makes me so much more aware of my own friends and family members’ mental states. It’s very heartbreaking and a very hard thing to go through, but we’re dealing with it as best as we can.”

Since experiencing the loss of their family member, National Suicide Prevention Month has taken upon a whole new meaning to Rodriguez and her family, inspiring them to begin their own mission of suicide prevention and awareness.

“We actually started a foundation called EM3 Hope where we raise awareness not only on suicide prevention, but also on the importance of mental health in general,” Rodriguez said. “We’re trying to do the best for our community and our world so we can spread awareness and prevent as much of this as possible.”

With her own family’s foundation and those similar, Rodriguez remains

hopeful that September will serve its purpose in unifying people with the understanding that it is normal to struggle with mental health.

“I think this month will teach people to take mental health much more seriously than they ever did before,” Rodriguez said. “Even though there are so many people struggling, there’s not enough awareness. People need to know they’re not alone.”

One way Rodriguez believes the youth can find comfort and aid is on their own campuses, the spaces in which we spend most of our time and exert most of our energy.

“I definitely think every educational institution should have some kind of counseling service,” she said.

“It’s very important for campuses to be aware of how their students are feeling so they can do something about it.”

Cyrus Ausar, a suicide prevention expert, encouraged institutions to recognize that no program or service will be a “one size fits all” for the entirety of its student body.

“For college students, establishing mental health is all about creating balance,” Ausar said. “Mental health balance looks different for everyone—it’s like tailor-made suits.

There’s no one answer that can engulf everything for everybody.”

In our own school, it is important to be aware of the options available to us when we are facing times of isolation, depression, or crisis.

“On campus, we have Emerson Counseling and Psychological Services which offers short-term counseling, urgent care services, crisis services, and referrals for longer term support options,” Dear said. “I think the first step for someone struggling mentally would be to check out the ECAPS website and decide what might work best for you.”

As someone who is now hyper aware of the ways she offers a support system for others in her own life, Rodriguez urges students to seek the help they need and trust in the people around them. In doing so, she says they have already begun their journey of healing and growth.

“It’s really easy to feel isolated and closed off when you’re not allowing anyone to be there for you,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone in your life is there for you and wants to help you through anything, so I’d say let them.

That’s the first step to having good mental health, just letting it out to anyone who will listen.” sophia_pargas@emerson.edu

After 18 months of being virtual, student organizations are once again filling theaters, staging scenes for film sets, and collaborating to create art. The true, on-campus experience can be felt by every student this fall semester.

One of these organizations is National Broadcasting Society, which gives students first hand experience with professional production equipment for four projects per semester. The executive board mentors new members through different beginner roles—so there’s a spot for anyone.

Sophomore visual and media arts major, Miranda Nicusanti, the organization’s marketing director, said she aims to recruit more students via social media in an effort to get more people involved in their fall projects.

“We’re trying to build a bigger sense of community and get more people involved now that we can have more people on set,” Nicusanti said.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions last year, NBS did not have the opportunity to host hands-on experiences. Nicusanti is excited to see new faces in the organization.

“Our sets were quite limited [last year], as were everyone else’s, so it was harder to engage and do our function as a learning organization,” Nicusanti said. “We want to find a way to get more in-person involvement. We understand the limitations due to COVID, so trying to find a way to bring people together in a way that’s safe and beneficial for students to learn [is] the ultimate goal for the semester.”

One of NBS’s main projects is Musicians Wanted, a multi-camera studio show that features Emerson musicians, which is in-person again. They also host an industry training series, which focuses on technical training for students with little experience and offers industry tips, according to Nicusanti.

“We want to help new students to give them exposure and access to being on set because for freshmen, it’s pretty hard to navigate your way through productions,” Nicusanti said.

Given that most NBS projects revolve around collaboration with multiple people on production sets, going back online would hinder their abilities to effectively run their organization. Also, some roles may have to be turned away due to capacity limitations.

Another back to normal organization is the Writers Guild Experience, a community of screenwriters who collaborate and create ideas together. Once the organization gets affiliated with the college, they will change their name to the Writers Guild of Emerson.

Junior Birk Buchen, a VMA major and the president of WGE, is hopeful for the organization’s third semester.

“Sometimes at night, it’s easier to hop on Zoom with a bunch of people and everyone’s getting the same job done,” Buchen said. “But now that we’re back on campus and things are a bit easier with restrictions, we can meet up, so we’re planning some fun events this coming semester.”

Writers can either participate as individuals or in a group. WGE has a structured script-development program with editors going through the full screenwriting process.

“Coming up, we’re sending out an application for people who want to join to be a part of the community,” Buchen said.

“There should be some other fun marketing events that we have going on to get people knowing about us, and also to see if people would like to join, meet people, or network.”

WGE guides writers on their creative journey of producing stories and then potentially pitching them to one of the various Emerson production companies, like EIV, Buchen said.

“When it comes around to pitching, we can get some shows and films picked up, potentially talk to other production companies at Emerson to see if we can give them that fast pass if we got a really good story on our hands,” Buchen said.

Buchen is eagerly anticipating the new feature film section within WGE, which consists of a year-long writing process rather than semester-long sections, which are used for short form and television.

“I’m looking forward to everything, even the bad stuff because you can always learn from the bad stuff,” Buchen said.

Student Engagement and Leadership director, Jason Meier, said much of his office’s work this semester has been helping organizations adapt back to in-person meetings after having so many experiences virtually.

“We’ve been working really hard for the last 18 months in keeping things up and running through COVID,” Meier said. “It’s been super challenging with ever shifting policies and procedures, changing what we can do in-person versus remotely. So much of our energy so far this semester has been assisting our groups to get back on their feet.”

SEAL is working on rebuilding student connections throughout campus, Meier said.

“We have to reconnect with student organization leadership, we have to reconnect with potential new members and we have to figure out how to do things in person again,” Meier said.

Readjusting to being around people again after being remote is difficult for everyone, Meier said. Though it’s exciting to see people face-to-face, limitations arise regarding restrictions when organizations experience a surge of interested people.

“People walked away with hundreds of signups [at the organization fair],” Meier said. “We don’t have a space that’s gonna fit everyone who signed up, so how are we handling this influx in energy and excitement around our organizations? How do we make sure that our new members feel welcomed and valued? How do we continue to build off of that excitement and make sure we’re doing things in a way that we don’t leave people behind?”

SEAL emphasizes the importance of joining an on-campus organization as it is a way to build new, personal connections with people. For new member recruitment, Meier uses the saying ‘people join people,’ emphasizing how students are drawn to others of similar passions.

“It’s so much easier when you’re able to read the room, read the energy, look at the vibes that people are throwing off and realize how we’re gonna work and interact with people,” Meier said. “All in all, I think being in-person is easier to connect with other people.

It’s easier to build that comradority, that energy, that is going to keep an organization together moving forward.”

Additionally, various performing arts organizations such as Emerson Dance Company, Emerson Urban Dance Theatre, Emerson Stage, and Musical Theatre Society are no longer pre-recording shows in small set rooms. Instead, they are returning to the stage, enthusiastically in front of a live audience.

Since second-year students’ first-year was far from normal, physically meeting people with similar passions makes it much easier to connect than a designated hour-long Zoom meeting. With only two weeks into the fully in-person semester, the city campus is already more lively and is showing through engagement with student organizations.

The Berkeley Beacon

Sports

September 16, 2021

8

Women’s soccer team victorious in dominant win

Tyler Foy Beacon Staff The women’s soccer team extended their win streak into a third game on Wednesday with a 4-1 victory over Saint Joseph’s College of Maine at Rotch Field.

Within the first minute of the game, the team was already on the attack—getting the ball into the box, but ultimately failing to score on that possession.

The Lions came out of the gates securing the majority of the possession and winning the ball up the field frequently; thus, putting themselves in better scoring positions. Two free kicks in striking distance were awarded to Emerson before the clock said 35 minutes left in the first half— one missed wide and the other was saved by the St. Joseph goalkeeper.

High intensity and pressure was the name of the game for the Lions as they set the tempo for the majority of the game. Head Coach, David Suvak, made sure that the game plan was exactly that.

“The game was really about us and us performing well for a full 90 minutes,” Suvak said in a postgame interview. “It really had to do with passing, playmaking, and combinations through all thirds of the field and keeping possession, as we moved the ball around.”

The Lions were playing the ball down the wings and sending balls into the middle of the pitch. Sophomore winger, Gina Lukoskie, said that this was a part of their game plan.

“Our whole plan really is just to possess the ball in the middle and

Emerson Women’s Soccer defeated St. Joseph’s in Maine 4-1. Hongyu Liu / Beacon Staff

then get out wide and cross the ball and hopefully finish,” she said in a post game interview.

Despite the intensity and pressure from the Lions, St. Joseph was first to strike after a dribbler found its way to the back of the net off the boot of Madison Michaud 16 minutes into the game. This would be the only shot that St. Josephs would take the entire first half.

This did not stop Emerson from trying to get right back into the match as they kept their high tempo and aggressive style. The Lions were awarded seven corners and took nine shots in just the first half. Two of those shots found the back of the net.

After a deflection and shot saved by

the St. Joseph’s goalkeeper, Lukoskie, buried the ball to equalize the score with 12 minutes left in the half.

“There was a lot of chaos in the box and I was lucky that I was able to slot it through and get it in the goal,” Lukoskie said.

Following the equalizer, the team continued to press the gas pedal.

First-year midfielder, Madeline Khaw, centered the ball into the box for first-year Defender, Alianna West-Rodrigues.

West-Rodrigues took the shot and after a missed play by the St. Joseph’s defender, the ball crossed the line and the Lions were awarded the lead.

The Lions went into halftime with a one goal lead over the Monks—giv-

ing the team a sense of security.

“It brings a certain level of comfort to the team and understanding that the game is moving in the right direction,” Suvak said. “We still have another 45 minutes but it’s important that they are fighting and scoring goals, and they want to continue that fight.”

The calm of having an advantage didn’t change the fact that the Lions wanted to add onto their lead. A saved shot at the beginning of the half netted the Lions a corner. After the ball was sent into the box, St. Joseph’s would end up laying a hand on the ball, resulting in a penalty kick for Emerson.

Khaw lined up at the penalty spot

and shot to the left side of the keeper, placing the ball in the right side of the net in the 45th minute.

The Lions would continue to play the rest of the second half with the confidence and comfort of their now two-goal advantage.

St. Joseph made strides to get back into the game, but changing to an aggressive style resulted in more fouls as they tried to win the ball from the Lions.

“In my estimation we had better possession of the ball and I think that can be frustrating but I think our team was working hard and competing,” Suvak said. “I just think there were hard battles out there.”

Towards the back-end of the game, St. Joseph’s started pressing the ball and creating chances up the field.

Just when they were starting to put shots on target against the Lions, first-year midfielder, Katie Wojick, put the game to bed with a goal in the 86th minute of the game.

The Lions look to continue the high scoring efforts in their next game this Saturday versus Brandeis University.

It will be held at 1 p.m at Rotch Field.

“We have struggled with scoring goals and we have been working very hard,” Suvak said. “I think we saw some really positive things tonight.

So we’re gonna continue to do that because you know you need to score and it looks like we have some players that are threatening. We have speed, we have technical kids, and we’re gonna continue to work on that because we have tough games coming up.” tyler_foy@emerson.edu

New coach brings psychology background to men’s soccer team Tyler Foy Beacon Staff New men’s soccer assistant coach Liam McKersie is looking to bring his psychology background to the team, which he joined this summer when former coach Bryan Harkin departed for Harvard and Daniel Toulson took up the head job.

McKersie spent his collegiate career playing for Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, graduating in 2019. In his tenure at Allegheny, he was a lead-by-example-styled player and already had a sense of his future in the sport.

“I was at Allegheny about two years in and I told my college coach I wanted to get into coaching,” McKersie said in a phone interview. “He helped me get a sense of things from the office side, organizationally, recruiting, and all the other things that are more behind the scenes.”

During his playing career, McKersie acquired a master’s degree in the field of psychology. That experience became a large part of his philosophy as he began coaching right out of college.

“I wanted to stay in soccer, my passion is sports, but specifically, psychology sports development of emerging professionals,” he said. “So, I thought coaching was the best way to do that.”

As a graduate assistant, he was able to secure a position on the Chatham University coaching staff where he and the rest of the team were tasked with starting the program. McKersie said his time at Chatham helped his growth as a coach tremendously.

“It was a great experience because it was a lot of work right our first year,” he said. “Right in the fire as far as having to really adapt and grow and help

really young players and a new team adapt and grow.”

The age of the Emerson coaching staff is young, but Toulson said having a coach so fresh out of the collegiate level is a major benefit to the team.

“For the guys just having someone a little bit closer in age and someone who’s just come out of playing to interact with is pretty important,” Toulson said. “I think that’s one of the main things is that guys have a good level of comfort with him.”

“We’re able to relate with him a lot more,” sophomore forward Thomas Chuaqui said. “We’re young men also, so it’s nice to have a coach pretty close to your age.”

Toulson said he and McKersie first met at McKersie’s cousin’s wedding but knew of each other from recruiting.

Toulson was immediately impressed

by McKersie’s recruiting ability. When an assistant coach position opened up, Toulson knew McKersie was the man for the job.

“I was the assistant and I knew that I was potentially moving on and I kind of spoke to him a little bit about applying,” Toulson said in a phone interview. “He’s been pivotal during the transition. As coach Harkin was moving on to Harvard and I was coming in.

Throughout the transition, you know, coach Liam kept everything going with the guys. All of our workout groups and our Zoom calls.”

In the short time that he has been a part of the program, McKersie has made an instant impact — and added a different perspective to the squad with his psychology background.

“You get so much knowledge about the behavior of people, understanding their emotions, and how to help them,” Mckersie said. “It’s really immediately helped me have really good open lines

Liam McKersie joins the Emerson College men’s soccer team. Courtesy of Liam McKersie

of communication, from a one on one standpoint, helping maximize the support system for each player.”

Co-captain midfielder Aidan Ferguson has had the opportunity to work with McKersie closest and praised the coach’s ability to communicate.

“I really like Coach McKersie,” Ferguson said in a phone interview. “He’s super personable and I think that’s really great to the team. Helping to uplift players on the team and working with you one on one.”

In an effort to create a competitive team culture, McKersie looks out for his players’ mental side of the game.

“He’s checking in with people,” Ferguson said. “Seeing how people are doing both soccer wise, school wise, emotionally — all those aspects.

I mean that’s a huge part for us, and he helps to sense the pulse of the team and make sure that we’re all in sync.”

Although he is the assistant coach, McKersie would like to create a team environment that isn’t always stern.

“There’s a line that I’ve drawn between myself and the players. I think over time I’ve learned that’s not the best way to support players,” McKersie said. “It can help them a lot to have more fun, supportive moments where it’s not all serious and soccer. I think I’ve emerged as someone that can relate to the players more and more because I’ve come to embrace it.”

After a small sample size, Ferguson said that McKersie’s dedication to the team is a strong sign for the future.

“He clearly is extremely invested in both the soccer program and us as people which is huge for us individually and as a team,” he said.

The excellent recruiter wants to build a club culture where players are committed to both the team and their future at the college.

“The recruiting side is so important because we really want to make sure we’re bringing in those people that will push the program,” McKersie said.

“Lots of interactions are very detail-oriented — making sure that it’s guys that are really passionate about what they do and in soccer, but then we want them to be passionate about their career.”

Moving forward in his stint on the men’s soccer team coaching staff, McKersie said he wants to continue to become a better coach in his time as a Lion.

“Empowering them more and more on a day-to-day basis,” McKersie said.

“Continuing to grow as a coach that can help support them for who they are individually, as well as really just growing the individual relationships because that’s gonna cultivate a more cohesive culture within the coaching staff and the team.” tyler_foy@emerson.edu