Kangaroos in LB

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

Thursday, September 30, 2021 • Volume 75, Issue 5

@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate

Job prospects for international students limited post-graduation Gabriel Borges

Beacon Correspondent Most recent Emerson graduates have their job prospects at the front of their minds, but for international students, the question of what to do with their lives after getting off the commencement stage is more pressing than most.

International student graduates are confronted with the choice of how to best pursue their chosen career—going back to their home countries or staying in the United States. The decision, already a nuanced and difficult one, has only been complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shut down national borders and restricted work opportunities alike.

“The employment landscape has changed under COVID,” said Andrea Popa, who serves as director of the Office of International Student Affairs,

in an interview. “Some of our students found it more difficult to get a U.S. job.”

Visa restrictions, tied with low employment rates in the U.S., have forced international students to shoulder the burden of low-paying jobs—or return to their home countries. On the other hand, Popa also said some employers were more flexible with remote employment.

Nidhi Ranjalkar, of Mumbai, India graduated in 2020 with a degree in publishing and writing. She said that while the pandemic opened doors for remote job interviews and opportunities, the atmosphere in the job market for her was still one of uncertainty.

“The whole experience of grad school was one thing, but the process after graduation, between graduating and finding a job, the stress and anxiety of it was definitely amplified because

of COVID,” she said.

The pandemic’s repercussions on international student employment were immense, said Pavel Zlatin, a 2020 masters graduate strategic public relations from Moscow, Russia.

“With COVID, some departments downsized, and some positions [got] eliminated,” Zlatin said. “A lot of international students are dealing with the usual hardships of finding employment in the U.S., which has always been hard, plus so many people are unemployed right now because of COVID, and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.”

By “usual hardships,” Zlatin means visa restrictions. After graduation, international students can apply for a status known as “optional practical training,” which only permits them to stay in the country for up to 12 months on a student visa while working.

Students, Pg. 2

“Animal Adventure” takes over the SPC Animals, Pg. 7

The former Marlboro College campus.

Jakob Menendez / Beacon Archives

Marlboro campus sold to music group Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff

A chamber music group closed its purchase of the former Marlboro College campus on Tuesday, a culmination to months of uncertainty over the land after the school was absorbed by Emerson last year.

The Marlboro School of Music, which hosts an annual music festival in the eponymous Vermont town, bought the campus from Democracy Builders Fund for $2.74 million, according to the organization’s social media. The group has called the 500-acre parcel home since its inception in 1951, sharing the campus with college students until Marlboro College merged with Emerson in July 2020. “[This] purchase ensures that this beautiful and historic property will remain intact, preserved, and the home campus for Marlboro Music for generations to come,” wrote Marlboro Music President Christopher Serkin in a statement published to the organization’s website.

The purchase brings an end to the lengthy quagmire surrounding the campus’ future. Under the terms of the merger, Emerson acquired Marlboro College’s assets and endowments, enrolling much of its student population—but not the campus itself.

Instead, Marlboro auctioned off the land to third parties, selling it to Democracy Builders for $225,000— significantly less than Emerson’s $10 million valuation.

Democracy Builders CEO Seth Andrew, once an adviser in the administration of former President Barack Obama, launched his own hybrid learning college program at the site.

Campus, Pg. 3

INSIDE THIS EDITION

Gender disparities persist in admissions, enrollment Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff

Emerson is one of many institutions across the country that is seeing an increasing disparity in higher education enrollment numbers—as female populations at colleges and universities continue a steady increase, while male populations decline.

Emerson’s population sits at 63 percent women and 37 percent men, according to the latest enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics—a ratio of nearly 2:1. This data, which only reflects the binary legal sex gathered by application providers, mirrors a balance that is swinging away from men and towards women nationwide.

Despite historical structures designed by men to exclude women from higher education, the disparity is at an all-time nationwide high. Last year, women made up 59.5 percent of college students per the National Student Clearinghouse, compared to the male rate of 40.5 percent. Men also account for an outsize part of the nationwide decline in enrollment—over 70 percent of the 1.5 million decrease since 2016.

Though Emerson’s gender disparity has remained relatively constant in that time, it is still skewed even in comparison to the national average. Justin Sharifipour, who serves as associate vice president for enrollment and dean of undergraduate admissions, attributed the college’s long history of strong female enrollment to the humanities-oriented curriculum offered.

Gender, Pg. 2

An Emmy award. Creative Commons

Three Emerson Alums win Emmy Awards Karissa Schaefer Beacon Staff Three Emerson alums, two of whom had won previously, took home trophies at the 2021 Emmy Awards on Sept. 19 for their behind-thescenes work in television.

Randy Barbato ‘82, Joe Celli ‘91, and Ballard C. Boyd ‘03 took home gold for their work on “Rupaul’s Drag Race,” “The Oscars,” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” respectively.

Barbato won his fourth Emmy, Celli won his sixth, and Boyd won his first.

Barbato, a former visual media arts major, owns the production company World of Wonder, and is the executive producer of “Rupaul’s

Drag Race.”

Barbato also won his fourth Competitive Reality Emmy for the show and his first Unstructured Reality Emmy for “Rupaul’s Drag Race: Untucked,” which shows behind-thescenes and exclusive unseen footage. He said it was just as gratifying to win a fourth time as the first.

“Not just for myself, but [it’s] thrilling for everyone involved,” Barbato said. “I walk home with a trophy and the executive producers walk home with a trophy, but you win it for everyone. It takes a village to make a show like Rupaul’s Drag Race. To be honored is a thrill for everyone involved.”

Emmys, Pg. 6

Admissions dean rememberd for influence Pg. 2 Governor’s ball festival controversy Pg. 3 Opinion: Running improves mental health Pg. 4 “Last Wedding” play marks theater return Pg. 5 Public art provkes questions Pg. 6 Men’s soccer topped in Eastern Nazaren matchup Pg. 8

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positive COVID-19 tests

.20% positivity rate

24,000+ tests completed

News

The Berkeley Beacon

September 30, 2021

2

Jane Brown, former Dean of Admissions, dies at 72 Vivi Smilgius

Beacon Correspondent A passionate professor, mother, and friend, former Dean of Admissions and Communication Sciences clinical associate Jane Brown, who died in August, played a critical role in establishing the college students know today despite leaving the college in the 1990s.

“We would not be where we are as a college if it weren’t for Jane,” Former President Jacqueline Liebergott said. “She had a natural elegance and openness to ideas and people and her work that made her a treasure.”

Brown died of ovarian cancer at her home in Brookline, MA at 72 on Aug. 28.

Her son, Noah Brown, remembered admiring his mother’s constant work ethic, ambition, and determination. She was seen as a leader, he said, but also viewed with a shared affection among colleagues and friends.

“I remember thinking about how she treated people,” said Noah Brown. “She never played the boss. She was always very warm with people, very gentle and kind and thoughtful.”

When she arrived at Emerson

in 1976, Brown became a communication sciences and disorders professor before transitioning to become the dean of admissions in 1990. Brown became the dean of admissions in 1990—her final role at the college before leaving to work at Mount Holyoke College and Northeastern University.

In her role as admissions chief, Brown also spearheaded Emerson’s enrollment strategy throughout the 1990s.

Born in London, England, Brown moved across the Atlantic with her family in 1954—first to Canada, then, in 1963, to East Longmeadow, Mass. She graduated from Bates College in 1969 and joined Emerson’s faculty in 1976, as a clinical associate in communication disorders.

Brown even had a role in establishing the college’s present location on Boston Common.

At a time when much of the campus was situated in Back Bay, Liebergott sent her admissions dean to explore a potential site at 180 Tremont St. According to Liebergott, Brown called from 180 Tremont to say it was the “perfect location” for college’s relocation. Decades later, the Ansin Building forms the

nucleus of Emerson’s campus-onthe-common.

After her time at Emerson, Jane Brown worked as vice president of enrollment management at Mount Holyoke College—where she notably reversed the longstanding standardized test requirement for admissions—as well as at Northeastern University. She retired from Northeastern in 2015.

Trained as a speech pathologist, Brown shifted from clinical practice to an administrative role during her time at Emerson. This transformative career change was something her husband, Steve Brown, remembered watching firsthand.

“She truly loved what she did,” Steve Brown said. “Emerson was a very foundational place for her.

She got a great graduate education and a great work experience there.”

Her dedication to students touched not only Emerson community members, but also her own family—including her daughter, Jessie Brown, who said her exploration of the relationship between race and college admissions in her thesis at Brown University was

Jane Brown. Courtesy Emerson College inspired by conversations with her own mother about her role at Emerson.

“I remember talking quite a lot when I was growing up about her commitment to trying to provide opportunities for prospective college students who were traditionally underserved,” Jessie Brown said. “I really believed strongly

that there was value in considering people’s different backgrounds in college admissions. I’m quite sure that perspective was based on my mom’s own experience.”

vivi_smilgius@emerson.edu

International students face low employment rates Cont. from Pg. 1

Students studying in a class. Jiaxin Xu / Beacon Correspondent

Male enrollment continues decline Cont. from Pg. 1 “Given the programs that we teach, they’re more [on the female side] of the men vs. female spectrum,” he said. “There is a difference in how students are advised and the career obtainments that are out there.”

Yet the male-female disparity goes beyond the gap in enrollment; female applicants also consistently represent a much larger proportion of applications than men. 71 percent of first-time applicants in the 202122 school year were women, according to college documents obtained

by The Beacon. On average, women have made up 75.4 percent of the application pool every year since 2012—in other words, three in every four applicants to Emerson.

“It’s a fairly different gap,” Sharifipour said, distinguishing between the enrollment and application gaps.

“But it’s more consistent than the disparity in applications.”

In response to the deepening gulf between male and female numbers, colleges across the country have resorted to a tacit form of “affirmative action”—targeting not race, but gender. Sharifipour, however, insisted that the college does not employ any such tactics in regard to male admission.

“We have no quotas on anything,”

he said. “We look at the quality of the applicant, high school history, essays—a holistic student review.”

Instead, Sharifipour said that Emerson’s admission process is centered on reaching out to communities that are disadvantaged or marginalized, such as people of color.

“We’ve been more focused on access to college in general,” he said. “Students who are otherwise underrepresented in some way.

We’re focused on making the college more accessible to historically underrepresented populations.”

As such, the disparity only grows wider when examined through the lens of race. The college’s 1,970 white women account for 57 percent of the female population, and nearly 40 percent of the total population—suggesting that Emerson is not only predominantly female, but a predominantly white female institution.

Despite females outnumbering males in enrollment and applications, men were statistically more likely to graduate from the college; the Emerson classes of 2016 and 2018 had as much as a six percentage point difference between men and women. Nationally, the class of 2018 also had a six-point difference—but with women leading men.

The rate of graduation has fluctuated since the first-year students that entered in 2010, according to the latest Emerson factbook.

Women held a higher retention rate for 2010, 2011, and 2013, a one-year advantage compared to men, who held a higher rate for 2012 and 2014.

Sharifipour did not comment on whether Emerson’s enrollment department had any strategies to alleviate the disparities. However, he did suggest that the gap had deeper socio-cultural roots than just a simple admissions discrepancy.

Electoral analysts have identified men to generally vote more conservative, while women generally vote more liberal. As liberals are also more likely to pursue college degrees, Sharifipour apparently viewed the nature of the gap as political.

“There’s more and more evidence about which end of the spectrum [politically] requires a degree more,” he said. “When you look at the voting pattern and how it went, with such a bigger divide between men and women, there’s something there and how is that impacting [the gender ratio].” frankie_rowley@emerson.edu

Zlatin was able to find work as an administrative coordinator at the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.

However, he said that he’d noticed a bias against optional practical training applicants in the hiring process.

“Sometimes you are interviewing, and [employers] get a hint of your accent,” Zlatin said. “You can see their faces change.”

Ranjalkar said bias also exists when employees ask employers to sponsor their work visas because the companies get flustered by the idea of doing the required documentation.

The documentation requires a respective employer to sponsor an employee after having exhausted their optional practical training and applying for a temporary specialty occupation work visa. The number of those visas is capped each fiscal year, according to U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Amala Reddie, an international student from Pune, India, who graduated from Emerson in August 2021 with a master’s degree in publishing and writing, said that the chances of getting a specialty occupation visa are dim. “It’s a matter of getting the company to sponsor your visa,” she said. “And then putting your name into the system. It’s a bit of a gamble because [they] are putting in a lot of time and effort, and you might not even get picked.”

However, there are other options for international students who have run out of optional practical training and plan to stay in the U.S. For example, they could opt out for a master’s degree, which would involve paying for an extended stay.

Cornelia Tzana, a marketing and communications graduate originally from Greece, said she managed

to land a position under optional practical training three or four months after graduating in 2016.

Despite her success, she empathized with the struggles of fellow international students.

“It always feels like a bit of a challenge knowing that you have all the visa restrictions and [what] employers are going to think about that, and whether they are going to think that it’s too much of a hassle to interview you or hire you,” Tzana said. “It’s always that kind of thought process of, ‘Should I include that in my application?

Should I not? Do I bring it up during the interview or after I get offered the position?’”

Another option for international students who aim to stay in the country is to get married.

Baolong Song graduated from Emerson in 2020 with a degree in visual and media arts. He recalled the day when he went to an art studio district, for a class. There, he met his to-be wife.

“I’m married,” Song said. “I met somebody who’s an American resident. We’re in the process of applying for my green card.”

When that first year of extended work permission reached its end for Tzana, she pursued an associate degree in business administration in Los Angeles. She is currently participating in a master’s degree program in business management to qualify for another year of optional practical training. She said she wouldn’t have joined the program if not for her work visa restrictions.

“School and academics are great, but the experience that I have gotten by working in the field and the industry are a thousand times more useful and applicable than those more theoretical classes,” she said. gabriel_borges@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

September 30, 2021

3

Students torn on music festival safety

Vivi Smilgius

Beacon Correspondent Emerson students flocked across state linesto attend this year’s Governors Ball last weekend—a unique experience for students deprived of concerts for months..

The event, affectionately known as the “Gov Ball”, was held at New York’s Citi Field, hosting approximately 50,000 people over three days. For many students, it marked the return of live music for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic canceled most large, in-person gatherings.

For some, like first-year C.J. Hoekenge, it was the first festival he had ever attended.

“I was definitely drained by the end of every single day,” Hoekenge said. “But looking back on it, it was a really great experience.”

For Belle Fortebuono, a firstyear business of creative enterprises major, the Governors Ball was her first time in a large crowd since the start of the pandemic.

While it was overwhelming at times, she said, it was a lot of fun.

“It was a really great experience.” Fortebuono said. “I’m a

really big music person, so seeing people live again was incredible.”

Despite some performances acknowledged as disappointing— namely rappers 21 Savage and Young Thug—audiences were thrilled at the opportunity to see performances by artists including Billie Eillish, A$AP Rocky, Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion and Phoebe Bridgers.

“I was so in awe,” said Brynne Norquist, a first-year visual and media arts major, of Bridgers’ performance. “It was so cool to actually see her.”

Norquist, a native New Yorker who has attended the Governors Ball since 2017, said the festival took COVID precautions very seriously. Festivalgoers were required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of entry.

Event organizers also swapped Randall’s Island—the location of the festival in years past— for Citi Field in Queens. Programmers opted for a more mixed schedule, scheduling popular artists of various genres at the same time.

“They paired popular artists together to limit crowds, to make sure there was an equal spread [of people],” said Enorquist. “Both

Courtesy

artists would have huge crowds, but very different crowds.”

Despite the precautions, other Emerson community members criticized the event, noting that the atmosphere did not appear COVID-safe on social media.

“The crowds at the event looked enormous and not a single person was wearing a mask,” said Eden Ornstein, a first-year communication sciences and disorders major.

While acknowledging that vaccinations help individuals fight infections, Ornstein pointed out that they don’t necessarily halt the spread of COVID within a community. Even though the CDC approved Governors Ball, Ornstein felt the students who attended should have been more cautious.

“Emerson has been working so hard to create a COVID-safe bubble,” she said. “It feels like a slap in the face to see these students running around maskless.”

Hoekenga said he and his friends who attended the festival took precautions to avoid transmitting the virus. The group got tested immediately after their return from New York and quarantined together until receiving negative results, he said.

“I want to respect the fact that not everyone is comfortable enough yet to jump back into that scene,” said Hoekenga. “I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable around me.”

He also added that he felt safe going to a music festival after reading about Lollapalooza, a Chicago music festival in August that health officials determined was not a superspreader event.

Just 203 of Lollapalooza’s estimated 385,000 attendees— less than a tenth of a percent of festival-goers— tested positive for COVID, according to an article by ABC7 Eyewitness News.

However, health officials also acknowledge that even a single case could lead to an outbreak of breakthrough infections, and is especially dangerous for immunocompromised students or students who are unable to be vaccinated.

Emerson student Jax Gross expressed her concern about students attending music festivals, saying it’s “kind of selfish” for students to attend events with large crowds.

“I don’t think that people who went were one-hundred percent in the wrong, but I do think going to Gov Ball was not really necessary,” said Gross. “There were some people in my class that went who I saw Monday, which was kind of shocking.”

vivi_smilgius@emerson.edu

Potash hill campus future secured Cont. from Pg. 1 However, Democracy Builders’ plans to sell the property to a Canadian businessman fell through in March for undisclosed reasons, raising the specter of litigation over the property. The next month, Andrew was arrested on federal charges of wire fraud, false bank statements, and money laundering.

Marlboro Music, whose bid was rejected during the initial auction process, announced its renewed intentions to buy the campus on July 26. The deal was confirmed after receiving approval from the Vermont attorney general’s office.

Over the past 70 years, the group has brought internationally recognized artists and composers like

Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland to Marlboro’s campus. Serkin said that the school of music’s enduring presence would provide continuity for the small town of less than 1,000 residents.

“While it will create some important challenges, the purchase brings a vital measure of stability to our organization, to the surrounding community, and to the many patrons and constituents who feel as protective as we do about this special place,” he said.

To this end, Marlboro Music formed a nonprofit subsidiary, Potash Hill Inc., to “manage and oversee” the newly acquired campus. It also sponsored the construction of a new building on campus with three rehearsal stu-

Emerson College Police / Beacon Archives

Incident Journal Two unidentified individuals successful in bypassing security in Little Building and Paramount Center Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff

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.

Monday, September 20 ECPD provided medical attention to an employee in need at the Center Stage dining center kitchen. Following their aid, the individual decided to seek additional attention.

Tuesday, September 21 ECPD responded to a call from the Little Building regarding a security bypass.

The unidentified individual reportedly tapped their ID at the security desk, but the ID did not register. Housing and Residential Education staff accompanied ECPD in the search for the individual— visiting the floor where they exited the elevator—but were unsuccessful in locating them.

Before leaving, ECPD shared the information gathered on the individual with HRE staff with the hope that professional staff might recognize the person and remind them of the need to ensure their ID processes correctly before entering college buildings.

Wednesday, September 22 ECPD was called to the Paramount Center following a reported security bypass in the academic area of the building.

All floors were visited by ECPD, but the unidentified individual was unable to be located.

Friday, September 24 The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) contacted ECPD about a known student trespassing at the Massachusetts State House, by hopping the fence at 24 Beacon St. The student will be referred to the Office Community Standards and will receive whatever discipline they deem appropriate.

Friday, September 24 ECPD filed a Campus Security Authority report following a hit-and-run bicycle vs pedestrian crash which occurred earlier in the day at the intersection of Boylston and Tremont Street. The incident took place in the primary jurisdiction of the Boston Police Department and will be investigated by the BPD. ECPD offered medical assistance and provided the reporting party with information that may aid the BPD’s investigation.

contact@berkeleybeacon.com

dios, administrative offices, and a music library storing some 8,500 chamber scores.

The group also formed a task force to determine the usage of the campus over the course of the “offseason” between September and May. “Once its work begins later this fall, the task force will be seeking input from many interested parties as we determine the best off-season use of the campus in the years ahead, and as we build support to help cover the costs of conserving this beautiful property and addressing its ongoing maintenance and capital needs,” Serkin wrote. camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

Beacon Archives

Opinion

The Berkeley Beacon

September 30, 2021

4

First-years in Paramount deserve better communication Jack Bixby Beacon Correspondent

Imagine arriving for the first time at college, already bubbling over with nervousness and excitement, ready to learn and adapt in your new environment, overjoyed to be part of a new community.

You get settled into your dorm, hit it off with your roommates and slowly become comfortable with those around you and your new space.

Now, imagine after three weeks of making your assigned room unique to yourself, making it into a place where you feel comfortable, with roommates you’ve grown to love and feel safe around, you receive an abrupt email from the Office of Housing and Residence Education that you are required to move to a new building, a new room and cohabitate with new people you’ve never met.

Well this is exactly what has happened to many of the first-years who resided in Paramount here at Emerson, including myself.

When first assigned to our rooms in early July, there was a mention of the possibility of being moved at some point, but nothing concrete, and then absolutely no communication until Friday, September 10th at 12:02 pm. We were greeted by a rather impersonal email from our friends at OHRE informing us that we will be required to move out of the rooms before the end of the semester.

The timing struck me, as there was no haste, the only given timetable being “the next few months.” There was also no reasoning provided as to why they would like to move us, other than wanting all first year students in the same building

and clearly the lack of urgency indicates that this is not a necessary change. However, this far into the semester most Paramount residents have felt that they have been welcomed into the community, that they have found a home here. The message was relayed as if this is what is best for the students, but as college students and young adults looking to seize our independence, isn’t this a decision that should be our own? Especially if this move almost solely affects us.

At the current moment, there are no singles available in the little building, and a scarcity of doubles or triples which existing roommates could be moved into together. The question that has been lingering in the minds of many Paramount first-years is ‘why allow us to become acclimated with our roommates, to become comfortable and happy with them, just to move us months in?’ Additionally, becoming accustomed to another roommate or set of roommates halfway through the year would be disruptive to both us, and our new roommate.

To move sophomores and upperclassmen without informing them is one thing, they are far more adapted to the college environment. But for first-years who are just now trying to find their footing, the task of moving to a new building, with new roommates while juggling academics is understandably daunting. Leading us to ask: is this really what’s best for these students?

The timing was extremely unsettling.

Those who would be moved are new students, most of whom are likely feeling uneasy and uncertain as they embark on their college journey. After three weeks, students are finally beginning to feel comfortable in their new home, with

their roommates and with their academics. To immediately move them just as they’re getting accustomed to their new environments was obviously troubling to all of those involved.

“As a communications major I am struggling to understand how Emerson thinks this complete lack of communication is okay,” said Lauren Kearl, a first-year student residing at Paramount.

Kearl made a real point, which is that welcoming new students to an institution that prides itself on communication by not communicating with them in any fashion on changes affecting their everyday life was strikingly ironic and certainly perplexing to the first-years of Paramount.

The lack of communication becomes increasingly worrisome when you realize Residence Assistants were kept in that dark as well. One of our first nights at Paramount was headlined by a floor meeting with our new RA’s. At this meeting a student alluded to the message that accompanied our initial room assignments mentioning a possibility that we may be moved later in the semester. Our RA’s responded almost in unison that this was out of the question and not something that we would have to worry about.

These are the people assigned by school representatives to oversee dorm environments, and they were completely unaware of this.

It’s important to note that our current RA’s have fought tirelessly to help us on this matter. They answered our questions and concerns with the information they had and have done a phenomenal job.

The distressing part comes more from the fact that they didn’t know about the move and that the school had not communicat-

ed this extremely important information with them.

While their message claimed that this was “intended to be a temporary” living situation, it’s extremely concerning that they didn’t disclose this information to any of those affected. How are new students supposed to feel comfortable and safe in their new environments if they can be swept out from under them without any trace of a concrete plan?

The most worrying part of the situation is that there was no reasoning provided, just that they want to house “all of our first-year Emersonians in one community.” Without a clear plan, time table, or cause, it seems as though there is no reason for us to move—rather, the school just wants us to move. By staying in our dorms, which we’ve become accustomed to, we are not taking space from other students. If we were, then the

push to remove us would be far more rapid, rather than the lethargic “next few months.” The “plan” should not be to give students time to feel comfortable in their space, just to require them to move while providing no concrete reasoning.

A school that prides itself on communication obviously should not lack in the communication department, nor should new students have to question where they’ll be living or who they’ll be living with three weeks into the semester.

If this was your first year of college, whether you read this as a student, professor, parent or just as a person, how would you feel in our situation? I’m going to assume that “welcomed” and “cheerful” would not be the first words to leave your mouth.

self-help activities in which one can practice. However, according to the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, the act of running separates itself from numerous remedies as it is a form of exercise that is unmatched with regards to its therapeutic benefits.

Sleep cycle improvement, mental stabilization, and a heightened sense of clarity can all come as benefits for those who pursue running.

The issue with running is these benefits are not well known, and the numerous psychological effects the act of running has on you are widely unheard of. This needs

to change.

According to the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, when a person goes for a jog, the body feels something known as the “runner’s high.” This occurs when the body releases endorphins and is a key part of the process. An intense, euphoric feeling is imposed on the body and mind of the runner. This enhances the runner’s mood and a sense of clarity spurs from this transition. It is a pivotal moment for your mind and it does not stop there. What makes the act of running so powerful for someone is its long-term effects.

After the cardiovascular activity, the body and mind are able to spark the formation of new blood vessels, which helps act as sustenance for the mind, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

New brain cells in specific areas are produced over the course of what is called neurogenesis. From this, the brain improves its overall function and cognitive functioning.

If students added running into their daily schedules, they would be able to focus for longer periods of time, thus causing their academics to potentially improve.

The cognitive dissonance that forms in every student’s mind due to the accumulation of work and lack of sleep, will dissipate once they literally run it off.

Running improves a student’s focus, sleep, and can act as a tremendous antidepressant, according to Science Direct. For those who wish to find aid for a

mental health issue, if they don’t have access to therapy or other outlets—running is here to help. It does not matter how far someone runs or for how long; ignore the miles and enjoy the act.

The previous year has provided many students with a sense of isolation. Loneliness has been experienced by every Emerson student. Today, isolation is still felt on campus due to the college’s stringent guest policies.

This uneasiness and stress could possibly be relieved, but of course there is no magic bullet for the matter.

Running outside and being surrounded by nature has been proven to decrease feelings of loneliness or isolation. It just so happens that Emerson students live across from America’s oldest park—Boston Common, a great place to run outside.

Emerson students are go-getters at heart. They are driven for success and that is why they have been accepted to such a prestigious institution. However, everyone needs help at times. Running is here as an aid and can help give students that much needed support when it comes to their sleep, academics, and mental health.

The phrase, “you cannot run away from your problems,” should be said with an immense amount of caution. I do not want you to run away from your issues, I want you to run over them.

© 2021 The Berkeley Beacon. All rights reserved.

Editor-in-Chief Charlie McKenna

Creative Commons

Running with your crisis Charlie Brian Ambler Beacon Staff There is something that I have nIt is noon on a Sunday, you wake up in the clothes you wore last night. You are extremely hungover and the only thing messier than you is the state of your room. Your head is pounding from last night’s licentious behavior.

You get up, have a glass of water, take an Advil, charge your phone, and hop in the shower. The scariest part of all is that this is just the beginning. It is only Sunday and you have an entire week filled with problems to solve.

What happens next, happens to all of us. What every Emerson student faces, whether they go out on the weekend or not, is a stressful week ahead. Sundays force students to acknowledge their reality—due dates, portfolio work, financial issues…the list goes on.

When Monday comes and Tuesday follows, responsibilities build and things go wrong.

So, you’re sitting there on your bed, not knowing what is up and what is down. You don’t know how much is left in your bank account, and you don’t know if that person you’ve been talking to likes you back. You have ten missed calls from your group project and your mother is wondering how that internship application is going. So, what do you do?

You run.

You lace up your sneakers, put down your phone, and run.

The act of running is seen by many as simply a sport or a way to workout and stay fit, but running is so much more than that. Running is a unique and powerful tool that can be used to clear the mind and help students stabilize the turbulent moments they face on a weekly basis.

There are many ways in which people can combat stress and anxiety. It is a personal choice and each differs in terms of how it can affect you. Yoga and meditation are great forms of natural,

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Anything submitted to the Beacon becomes the sole property of the newspaper. No part of the publication may be reproduced by any means without the express written permission of the editor.

Managing Editors Lucia Thorne (Content) Hongyu Liu (Multimedia) Campbell Parrish (Operations) Section Editors Camilo Fonseca (News) Mariyam Quaisar (Living Arts) Shannon Garrido (Opinion)

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The Berkeley Beacon

September 30, 2021

5

Living Arts

Craig Bailey / Perspective Photo.

Live theater returns with production of “The Late Wedding” Sophia Pargas Beacon Correspondent

After 559 days of closed curtains and empty theaters, Emerson Stage kicked off its fall season with a production of “The Late Wedding,” a play about love, marriage, and all of its complexities.

The production ran in the Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theater from Sept. 23-26 and is described as “a fractured portrait of a fractured marriage, as told through a series of interconnected fables, including an anthropological tour of fantastical tribes and their marital customs.”

The cast’s main focus heading into the show was bringing the

affect relationships. It’s compiled from different moments of time, different moments in space, and different places in space which all come together in a heartbreaking kind of way.”

The show takes audiences on a rollercoaster of emotions. Some moments leave you solemn, while others (like the spontaneous dance number or the drunken puppet act) will leave you laughing along with the audience. The show is an amazing space for contemplation on the complexities of our relationships.

Many of the cast members had never been able to join a live theater performance during their time at the college as a result of the pandemic. They said there was an overwhelming feeling of gratitude

about COVID be for the COVID department. I just wanted to focus on acting and being fulfilled by the job I had to do.”

The cast and crew not only had the added difficulty of performing within COVID protocols, but also experienced an influx of pressure as live theater was reintroduced to Emerson.

“Knowing that we were the first piece of live theater [after the pandemic] for many people was quite nerve-wracking,” Shongwe said.

“We already felt nervous because we weren’t used to performing in front of people, and the fact that we had only performed the show without masks once only added to that.”

While the play jumped between realms of time and space with virtually no rhyme or reason, audience members such as sophomore Reagan Finch still connected with and understood its central themes.

“It wasn’t a story that made sense chronologically,” Finch said.

“The plot switched up about once every 20 minutes which could get confusing to follow, but what bound it together was just this universal concept of marriage that kept resurfacing throughout the show.”

It is audience reactions such as Finch’s that the cast longed for during the pandemic, making the final success of the show all the more worthwhile.

Craig Bailey / Perspective Photo.

Shongwe said. “When we heard the audience, we’d hug in this big circle, just tearing up the whole time.

It became our pre-show ritual that we gave each other hugs before each performance. As soon as Love on the Brain would start, we’d all just start hugging each other, saying, ‘I love you so much,’ ‘You’re amazing,’ ‘You’ve got this.’ It had me wondering: how did we get here from week one?”

Throughout the show, the cast followed a set of strict COVID protocols which allowed for a safe

Craig Bailey / Perspective Photo. script to life and telling the play’s story in a touching and memorable way.

“Having been in it and working on it for a month and a half, even I don’t have a solid way of describing it,” Lucas Babcock, a junior musical theater major and cast member, said. “I would say it’s a show about how distance and time

that the art form they love finally returned in full force.

“This was my first show since 2019, so I definitely haven’t done live theater in a while,” Kwezi Shongwe, a sophomore theater and performance major who starred in the show, said. “I was just so excited to get to perform live again that I was letting all the worries

Craig Bailey / Perspective Photo.

Craig Bailey / Perspective Photo.

“I thought the audience reaction was amazing,” Babcock said. “It was fun to finally feel that energy again, especially during opening night, which was just insane. When the lights went down and we were all backstage waiting to go on, we heard the audience start to applaud and all of us were applauding with them. We were just so hyped to get in front of people again.”

During their month and a half of intense rehearsals and successful six performance run of “The Late Wedding” cast shared many moments which brought them closer beyond the stage.

“I didn’t tell many people this, but the cast was crying backstage at the beginning of each show,”

and healthy return to theater for audience members and cast alike.

Cast members wore masks on stage unless in an active scene or socially distanced.

“The cast is all fully vaccinated, and I knew the audience members would be wearing masks and were also fully vaccinated,” Babcock said. “I really trusted everyone involved. I knew that everything was going to be handled really well and it was, thank God.” For many of the cast members, their theater experience at Emerson took on a whole new form during the pandemic.

“It’s funny. This is my third EmStage show, but my first in-person one,” Babcock said. “During

COVID, we were stuck in these little studios in front of computers with a green screen behind us.

It was tough. We had to use our imaginations a lot more which definitely taught me how to use different parts of my brain, but it was isolating.”

“The Late Wedding” was many of the cast members’ first live production at Emerson. Though having hesitations and doubts would be understandable, there was an overwhelming feeling of gratitude that the art form they love finally returned in full force.

Now that the show’s run has officially come to an end, the cast is left with the lessons and skills they learned from this production to utilize in their future endeavors.

“It sounds cheesy, but my biggest takeaway would be love is love,” Babcock said. “[Our director] Javier made that very clear through the way they treated everyone, the way they casted, the way they decided to put it on its feet in the way they did.

It comes together in really weird ways that we may not understand, but we have to respect.”

After having successfully created the production that finally welcomed theater back onto campus, “The Last Wedding” is a show that will be remembered for much more than its complex script or unique plotlines. Instead, it has become the show to invite the public back to the arts with open, eager arms.

“The moment when I felt most fulfilled was at the curtain calls,” Shongwe said. “Seeing people clapping and smiling at us was just this much-needed reminder of the shared love of theater, like a thank you moment from both us and the audience.” sophia_pargas@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

Living Arts

September 30, 2021

6

‘What Do We Have In Common?’ Art Installation seeks to provoke thought

Mariyam Quaisar Beacon Staff Friends of the Public Garden and NOW + THERE teamed up to host a public art piece titled “What Do We Have In Common?” on Boston Common until Oct. 26 with a purpose to provoke discussion and thought regarding the nature of ownership.

“What Do We Have In Common,” created by artist Janet Zweig, is an immersive, experiential piece of art that engages people as they walk through Boston Common and see a large, wooden box placed in the middle of the grass. The large, wooden box resembles a cabinet with 200 drawers filled with boxes of questions and glass windows that include resourceful books inside. The books contain the history of Massachusetts’ land.

Sydney Ciardi / Beacon Correspondent

Around 10 miniature boxes are scattered around Boston Common every morning so random park visitors encounter questions that challenge space, ownership, and property.

VMA Professor, Cher Knight, an art historian and public art enthusiast, is a member of Now + There. She sees the questions as a way to provoke dialogue about the vulnerability of public space.

“It’s a way to think about what we all owe each other as fellow human beings, and a way to do some deep listening,” Knight said.

Slandie Prinston and Tra Ha are a few of the guides stationed at the art piece. Their jobs add a human touch to the art piece as they introduce Zweig and her art. Furthermore, they connect with the audience to find commonalities, just as the piece intends to do.

The guides randomly choose questions from the boxes scattered around the Common to ask visitors.

“The purpose of those questions is to get people to tap into their curiosity, practice a little bit of self introspection, and question the world around them a little more,” Prinston said.

The art piece comes off as quite political because of the discussions that it provokes, especially in terms of the current relationships the United States has with other countries, Prinston said.

As an immigrant from Haiti, Prinston said she resonated with the piece because of the imperialism her country has faced.

“I engage in a lot of conversations [regarding] social justice, like who owns my body, who owns my rights, [especially] as an immigrant,” Prinston said. “The questions of rights, democracy, body, body autonomy, land ownership, are super relevant.”

The questions allow people to truly take a minute and analyze the space around them since most don’t have one, straightforward answer.

“I asked two girls a question: who owns your body?” Ha said. “They want to think that they own their body, but at the same time they know that they don’t, because there are so many different rules and laws of the way a woman should be and do with her own body.”

The questions placed around the Common and in the drawers of the exhibit make one take a step back and stagger a bit because of their complex-

ity.

“Every time you ask a person a simple question, like who owns the air, who owns the park, they all will actually take a minute and really think about it,” Ha said.

Everyday, parts of the art piece are removed and scattered which, to Prinston, represents the phenomenon of life, death, and the afterlife.

“I feel like it replicates the cycle of life and destruction, or rebirth and the process of regeneration,” Prinston said. “It’s an abstract version of what’s happening here all around us as far as nature goes and people flowing through the commons. The piece really embodies a lot of the reality that’s happening around us and the movement.”

Prinston and Ha are both writers, and use public art as a way to fuel their creative writing process.

“It is a personal exploration for me, and I’m curious to see how my interactions and conversations here affect what I write,” Prinston said. “It’s been interesting to hear different perspectives and see where people are coming from, like why do they think the way they do and, again, from an activist point of view that’s super interesting and relevant.”

The art piece was vandalized this

Sydney Ciardi / Beacon Correspondent

weekend—the glass was smashed, which is an unfortunate reality for public art.

“Public art comes with the vulnerability of public space,” Knight said.

“It’s difficult when working in the public sphere.”

Public art is often ignored as people walk by with no acknowledgement towards it. As a creative, Knight values public art for what it is—a way to provoke thought. She took her Introduction to Visual Arts sections to visit, “What Do We Have In Common” to do just that.

“Some may like it and some won’t,” Knight said. “But it’s a way to have a conversation we weren’t having before.”

It’s important for these discussions about the nature of ownership to continue past Oct. 26, when the piece is taken down, she said.

“What happens after the piece is gone? Are we going to be more aware of the space around us?” Knight said.

“If we are going to be more aware, is it going to be in a sincere way? Because otherwise it doesn’t matter.” mariyam_quaisar@emerson.edu

Alums awarded for behind the scenes TV work Cont. from Pg. 1 Boyd, who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film production, is the producer and segment director on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The show garnered six nominations this year. Although the show first premiered in 2015, this was the show’s and Boyd’s first win for Outstanding Variety Special (Live).

After losing the first five times they were nominated, the win was unexpected.

“It was a wild, exciting experience that also came a little bit as a surprise,” Boyd said in an interview. “It was definitely a really exciting moment that we didn’t expect. We’re now talking eight days later, it still feels surreal.”

As art director for “The Oscars”— the Academy Awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry—Celli uses his musical theatre background daily. By working on the set for years, he has garnered 12 nominations and six wins for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special.

“It’s always an honor to be nominated, it’s even more exciting to win,” Celli said. “That sounds really cheesy, but I’m certainly grateful to have been recognized by my peers.”

This year, the show was held at L.A. Live, an outdoor entertainment complex, which is different from the usual location, the Microsoft Theater. Attendees were required to be vaccinated and show a negative test result to enter. The Television Academy was allowed to open the show up to more people this year, compared to last which was held mainly virtually. Nominees were kept in

socially distant groups.

Boyd attended the Emmys for the last three years prior as a member of “The Late Show” rather than as a nominee, who are typically separated from attendees. However, since the rules changed due to COVID, the award show only allowed people who were nominated, with Boyd included as a nominee.

“There were no extra attendees, so every person you saw were also fellow nominees, and that was really special,” Boyd said. “It felt very unique.”

Celli said he empathized with the crew of the Emmys after art directing this year’s Oscars, which were held in Union Station in Los Angeles.

“This year in particular was a special challenge because of the pandemic,” Celli said. “The show was in Union Station in Los Angeles and the nature of working in that space was unique. It was a landmarked building that was protected and we had to make sure we treated it with care. The truth is, ‘The Oscars’ is a really hard show. I’m thrilled to have been a part of it. I signed up for the challenges and I’m glad to have been there.”

Each alum is dedicated to their respective job, showcasing the passion every Emerson student has. Barbato’s World of Wonder aims to do every job with meaning and every opportunity is valuable to them, especially “Rupaul’s Drag Race.”

Everyone working on set is committed to showcasing the life of the drag queens and their craft, Barbato said.

“It’s just so awesome to work on a show that shines a light to a community that for so long has been marginalized, misunderstood, and basically just ig-

nored, and are now a major force in the entertainment industry all over the world,” Barbato said. “That’s the most rewarding thing about ‘Rupaul’s Drag Race’ being honored by the Academy, because it has helped draw more attention to this amazing group of artists who for so long didn’t get the sort of attention that they deserve.”

Similarly, Boyd praised the people he works with, including Stephen Colbert himself. The crew collaborates to “make the best comedy” in order to shed a positive light into the world.

“It’s been really wonderful working with a group of folks that feel like a team,” Boyd said. “They’re all focused towards everything and they’re all really

nice people to work with.”

Like other jobs, the entertainment workforce utilizes a joint effort of every employee to produce efficiently. In Celli’s case, his job involves an end goal of creating a piece of artistry.

“Theater is a collaborative art, as is television, and a communicative art, which is what I do as a director,” Celli said. “It’s important to make sure every driven students to flourish and become

Courtesy Ballard C. Boyd

Courtesy Randy Barbato

Courtesy Joe Celli

department is up to speed with what we’re doing, and it’s a primary responsibility of my job.”

All three alumni agreed that Emerson helped translate what they learned at school into their careers. The school’s setting allows creatively

inspired, Barbato said.

“Overall, Emerson is all about expression, openness, and acceptance,” Barbato said. “Those things have been with me my entire career. The most important thing that had an impact on me that came from Emerson was the environment itself.”

Boyd said he has relied on connections he made at the college while working on the Colbert show.

“To study at Emerson with so many incredibly funny peers was really wonderful to have a network of very funny people that I knew and had access to outside of school,” Boyd said. karissa_schaefer@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

September 30, 2021

7

Event brings exotic annimals to Little Building Cont. from Pg. 1

Bailey Allen Beacon Staff On Sept. 24, Animal Adventures, a Boston-based family zoo and animal rescue center, brought several exotic animals to the Little Building for students to learn about and interact with.

The animal-themed event was hosted by Emerson Mane Events and co-sponsored by Off-Campus Student Services and Little Building Housing and Residence Education, offering a wide range of activities such as creating stuffed animals and eating hors d’oeuvres like chicken skewers and mini pineapple upside-down cakes. Balloons decorated with animal print lined the stairway of the Student Performance Center, leading down to the main attraction—the live animal experience.

Handlers brought out a kangaroo, hedgehog, porcupine, owl, and

chinchilla, among other small animals, to the delight of the students.

The queue of eager Emersonians stretched out the door of the black box and down the hall, everyone waiting for their turn to greet the exotic animals.

Students exchanged excited glances and spoke in hushed tones as they approached each animal.

One by one, each willing attendee got to pet them, and often took out their phone cameras to capture the moment.

Outside of the animal room, students made their own plush toys at a teddy bear stuffing station, which was complete with birth certificates and custom “Emerson Mane Event” t-shirts. With their party favors in hand, students left Friday’s event with smiles on their faces.

Qiuyang Chen / Beacon Correspondent

bailey_allen@emerson.edu Qiuyang Chen / Beacon Correspondent

A variety of exotic animals made their way to Little Building as part of “Animal Adventure,” an event co-sponsored by Off Campus Student Services and Little Building Housing & Residence Education.

Qiuyang Chen / Beacon Correspondent

Qiuyang Chen / Beacon Correspondent

Qiuyang Chen / Beacon Correspondent

The Berkeley Beacon

Sports

Emerson Lions volleyball teammates congratulate each other during a game. Syney Ciardi / Beacon Correspondent

Women’s volleyball extend win-streak to four in defeat of Wellesley College The women’s volleyball team defeated Wellesley College on Tuesday night in the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym–extending their win streak to a fourth game, and bringing their record on the season to 11-3.

Wellesley entered the game 2-6 on the season while Emerson was coming off their massive 3-0 win against Springfield College Saturday. The Lions wanted to keep the momentum they picked up heading into Tuesday, and head coach Ben Read said the result proved their potential.

“Springfield over the weekend felt really good,” Read said in a postgame interview. “It’s just a bit of a confidence builder knowing that we can compete with the very best in New England.”

The Lions hot stretch didn’t change how they approached Wellesley. Junior middle blocker Jillian Kay said the team focused on the mental aspect of the game heading into Tuesday night’s matchup.

“We went into it with preparation,” Kay said after the game. “We watched a lot of video, coach gave us a lot of insight and he just mostly told us to go out there and have fun because that’s when we play our best.”

The first set started with an attack error from the Blue, which allowed the Lions to open up the scoring and strike first. The Lions would continue to find success throughout the set—scoring 17 out of the next 22 plays. That stretch propelled them to a 13 point lead of 19-6 Wellesley had difficulty returning the Lions’ serves, leading to six aces in the first set. First-year setter Rachel Scott and junior libero Caroline Bond had two aces apiece to start their game.

Read praised his team’s ability to build early leads as a result of their strong serving ability.

“We do serve really tough and we’ve gotten some really good teams in trouble there,” he said.

Emerson dominated the first set 25-13, ending on a kill from firstyear outside hitter Parker Cummings. Despite the performance displayed at the beginning of the game, Wellesley rallied back for a competitive second set.

The Blue scored seven of the first 10 points in the second set, ripping off four consecutive points before the Lions began a streak of their own, winning the next six points, bringing the score to 11-9.

The teams traded points back and forth until the match was tied up at 17. First-year middle blocker Brooke Maynez broke up the deadlock with a kill when the score was tied at 20. The Lions would take the second set 25-22 on a kill from senior defensive specialist Lauren Quan assisted by Cummings.

The Lions now led the Blue two sets to none, which Kay said led to the team taking their foot off the gas pedal.

“We came out really strong and we kind of let up a little bit,” she said. “Just based on the level of play and we kind of thought, ‘Oh, we got this you know, we can maybe take a break’ but you never take a break in volleyball—you have to just keep playing.”

The third set would continue the competitive play between both sides.

Both teams were making adjustments to try and gain an advantage, though Read said some of the changes to the Lions’ game plan didn’t go as planned. “[Wellesley] made their adjustments and they passed better, their offense got better in that third set,” he said. “Brooke was doing a good job blocking and we switched Parker over there. In practice, she’s done a good job blocking and we wanted to mix it up. I personally didn’t think we were doing as well as we should have, and I thought we could do better, so sometimes you make a change, it works in your favor, sometimes it doesn’t.”

The Blue came out strong again in the third set—opening up a 10-4 lead. The Lions were able to answer with four straight points—forcing a Wellesley timeout. The intensity continued to build and the match would be tied at 17 again. Each point scored by one team was answered by the other, leading to the game being knotted up at 23.

The Lions then took a timeout to assess their play in the set. Read said the move was intended to remind the team of their strengths.

“Just trust ourselves right now,”

8

Men’s soccer team drop match against Eastern Nazaren Tyler Foy Beacon Staff

Tyler Foy Beacon Staff

September 30, 2021

Read said. “We know what they’re gonna do, we just have to be stocked on defense so we can go ahead and run down their shots, trust our block and put some service pressure on.”

The Lions would score on the next play, putting them just one point away from putting the match to bed. The Blue then ripped off three straight points to win the set 26-24.

Losing a close, competitive set could have demoralized the team, but Kay said it just served to build the team’s confidence.

“We were just trying to kind of find the secret formula because we had lost it for a minute,” Kay said.

“We talked about the fact that we could do it, not ever getting down on ourselves, and knowing that we could play our game.”

The Lions showed their superiority in the fourth set after taking an early eight-point lead. Read said he reverted back to what worked for his squad in the first set after they were topped in the third.

“We changed our lineup slightly to try to get ahead of some things that we thought they were doing and it didn’t work out so we just went back to what was working on the [first] set,” Read said.

The Lions hadn’t shown such dominance since the first set and similarly, their serving pressure was a strong contributor. Junior defensive specialist Andrea Mendez notched two aces and Davis would put the Lions on game point after her 5th ace of the game. Emerson won on an attack error from Wellesley, 2516.

After the win, the team was ranked 10th in the region by the New England Women’s Volleyball Association.

The team is set to take on Coast Guard at 1 p.m Saturday on their court—a matchup Kay said the team is looking forward to.

“Coast Guard is a big game and we’re all really excited for it,” Kay said. “They’re a really good team, and it’s away so we’re looking forward to that bus ride. We’re just looking to do what we did tonight, even if we get down on ourselves to come back and rally together.”

tyler_foy@emerson.edu

The men’s soccer team was defeated 1-0 in a match against Eastern Nazarene College at Rotch Field on Monday night. The non-conference brawl brought Emerson’s record on the season to 2-5-1.

Emerson entered the game on just one day of rest after losing to Babson College by a score of 2-0 in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match on Saturday. Head coach Daniel Toulson said the exhaustion shouldn’t have had an effect on the 28-man roster.

“We made seven changes to the starting group and I was very confident with the team we put out that fatigue shouldn’t have been an issue,” Toulson said in a post-game interview. “We spoke about it before the game that if we want to be where we want as a program those sorts of excuses can’t happen, we just have to figure out ways to win games.”

Eastern Nazarene, meanwhile, entered the matchup on five days of rest after their scheduled game for Saturday was postponed. Emerson junior defender Connor Dang said these factors didn’t play a role in how Emerson operated in the leading up to the match.

“They had fresher legs but realistically, when it comes to the game, that doesn’t really matter,” Dang said in a post-game interview. “It’s the same as every game, we do the same routine every time we play. The day before we

I thought they started to get into things.

The movement off of the ball caused us trouble and at the end of the game they were dragging us out of position quite a bit.”

Eastern Nazarene kept their foot on the gas, and shortly after the whistle started in the second half they would find the back of the net on a deflection off a Remer save in the 46th minute, giving the team a 1-0 lead it would never relinquish.

The deflection was the only shot that got past Remer in his 90 minutes of play. He would go on to keep Emerson in the match “I was pretty happy with my individual performance and I think I was able to do everything that was required of me,” Remer said after the game.

Emerson kicked their offense into gear after this goal—continuously finding themselves in freekick or corner situations. Dang takes the responsibility for most set-pieces for Emerson because it is a major piece of his game.

“His delivery is second to none in the team,” Toulson said. “He is fantastic and he can put it on a postage stamp so that’s a good thing for us.”

In the 74th minute, Dang and Sophomore midfielder Ben Deeming lined up for a freekick. After a discussion between the two, Dang took the shot and the Eastern Nazarene goalkeeper just saved it.

“We were talking about whether not to whip it in or hit it and frankly we hadn’t tested the keeper at all from the

Men’s soccer lost 1-0 to Eastern Nazaren on Monday.

Honyu Liu / Beacon Staff always have a scouting report, go over what they have, what their strengths are, what weaknesses they have, and where we can exploit them.”

The match started slowly, with possession being traded between the two sides. Fouls and offsides stopped multiple chances for both teams and when the ball was finally shot on target it was for Eastern Nazarene and saved by first-year goalkeeper Jacob Remer.

Emerson didn’t find a shot until the 13th minute when first-year Diego Jimenez missed to the left of the goal.

Both defenses were making pivotal stops and clearances, which kept the first half at a draw—but not without a few plays nearly finding the back of the net.

Eastern Nazarene would start finding their stride as the game passed the 20th minute. In the next ten minutes of play, they would take four shots, all of which missed the target..

Despite a four-game losing streak entering the Monday night matchup, Eastern Nazarene was able to capitalize on Emerson’s positioning.

“They got a ton of international players and are a very good team,” Toulson said. “I thought the first 25 minutes we did a really good job of controlling the game. That structure was good as play went on and as we made some changes

free-kick position,” Dang said. “That was the one where I was going to be testing to see where it goes and we almost scored.”

Deeming would get his own chance in the 79th minute, a shot which was ultimately saved by the goalkeeper.

Remer said he was excited to get back on the practice field and rebound from the tough loss.

“I see a great hunger from the team,” Remer said. “We definitely want to bounce back on Saturday and get a big win in a conference game. Everyone’s hungry, everyone’s determined, and I’m looking forward to this weekend’s training for sure.”

The men’s soccer team’s next game is an away NEWMAC match against Wheaton College on Saturday.

“We’ll probably try and put a full stop to this game and start again,” Toulson said. “We’re playing Wheaton who is a good team, playing at their home grass which we won’t be used to but we won’t make any excuses. We’ll go into the game, try and play and bring the same energy that we brought to the Babson game and I think if we do that we’ll have a chance.”

tyler_foy@emerson.edu