On-campus population floods mailroom

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

Thursday October 17, 2019 • Volume 73, Issue 7

Women’s soccer freshmen dominate mid-season Ethan McDowell, Beacon Staff With the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference tournament fast approaching, the women’s soccer team is preparing to make another playoff push.

Going into the 2019 season, the Lions needed to fill some major holes on the roster.

The seven seniors that helped lead the team to the semifinals in the NEWMAC tournament graduated and 11 freshmen filled those roles during the offseason.

“It’s really unique that I get to start and play the whole game as a freshman and be an impactful player,” freshman defender Bellamy Suter said in an interview following their game against Smith College on Oct. 8.

The Lions started four freshmen alongside Suter against Smith. Head coach David Suvak said the development of the first-year players led to more playing time for the underclassmen.

“We found that a couple more freshmen are able to contribute at a very high level,” Suvak said in an interview after the game against Smith. “We feel good about putting those players into matches.”

Those freshmen made an early impact for the Lions. In their season-opening match, freshmen scored both goals in a 2-1 victory.

“We’ve clicked from the start, which was great,” senior forward Veronica Alberts said in an interview following the win. “I think everybody, especially the freshmen, all bring something different that adds to our team.”

This became a theme over the team’s first half of the season. Freshmen scored 12 goals in their first seven matches, helping the Lions to a 6-1 record early in the year.

Suter credits the leadership of the upperclassmen for the success of the freshmen.

“The sophomores and upperclassmen are really inclusive and welcoming, and we all just had a strong bond,” Suter said.

See freshman, page 8

Sophomore Grace Cosgrove (second from left) and freshman Sage Stack (right) battle Wheaton defenders for the ball on Oct. 15.

Rachel Culver / Beacon Staff

On-campus population floods mailroom SGA special

election ballot empty a week prior to vote

Tomas Gonzalez, Beacon Staff Sophomore Batyan Conn returned in August to her job in the college’s mailroom to hundreds of packages.

Conn said the mailroom has to accommodate for 800 more students’ packages with the opening of Little Building and the addition of juniors living on campus. Conn said workers temporarily stored packages in Little Building before this year’s move-in due to the small size of the current mailroom.

“We still cannot manage the amount of students that are coming in at once to pick up their packages as well as the 600 packages that we get per day from UPS. It’s insane,” Conn said in an interview with The Beacon.

William Corrigan, president of Collegiate Press, the company that manages the mailroom and the Print-Copy Center at the college, said the increase in students living on campus and online orders primarily affected the mailroom at the beginning of the semester.

“Each resident student is also getting more packages because of the way retail commerce has changed,” Corrigan said. “More people are having their stuff shipped, and being an urban campus, even more people are having things shipped.”

Conn said that, despite the increase in students using the mailroom, the number of packages the mailroom is receiving decreased since the start of the semester.

“It’s starting to slow down now because students have all their books, [they] have all their dorm decorations [they] have all the refrigerators, and everything has come in,” Conn said. “But for me, up until now it’s been a constant line of people. It’s crazy, you know—it just never ends.”

See mailroom, page 2

Andrew Brinker, Beacon Staff

Rory Grady (left) helps a student in the mailrrom with a package. • Lizzie Heintz / Beacon Staff

INSIDE THIS EDITION

Students to rally for legislation to prevent period poverty. Pg. 3

The Beacon online

Coming to terms with my skin’s imperfections after coming to college. Pg. 5

berkeleybeacon

The Student Government Association announced on Tuesday that it will hold its upcoming special elections without any officially balloted candidates.

SGA Executive President Raz Moayed told members at Tuesday’s joint session meeting that no students completed the required election packet in order to appear on next week’s ballot.

The elections, which were intended to fill a large number of vacancies in SGA, will now feature multiple write-in campaigns as opposed to the balloted running process.

Write-in campaigns are typically led by students who make a last-minute decision to run for an office and feature a word-of-mouth, grassroots style of campaigning. While those who run write-in campaigns will not have their name appear on the ballot, voters will have the option to write in the candidate’s name.

SGA Executive Vice President Will Palauskas told The Beacon that two students are planning to run write-in campaigns for the 2020 class vice president. Performing Arts Senator Connor McNinch and Senior Mai Kashihara will both attempt to use the process to capture the position, Palauskas said.

While the lack of candidates for the special elections appears to be damaging, Palauskas claimed that it does not reflect poorly on student interest level and SGA’s outreach.

See SGA, page 2

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News

The Berkeley Beacon

October 17, 2019

2

Title IX coordinator candidates present policy changes

Elena Naze, Beacon Correspondent The college narrowed the search for a Deputy Title IX Coordinator down to two candidates who expressed largely similar plans to address federal regulations around sexual assault.

The search committee invited the finalists to campus to present workshops on Title IX regulations and their proposed plans for the Deputy Title IX coordinator position. The first candidate presented Oct. 7 and the second candidate, Allison O’Connell, presented on Oct. 15.

The first candidate requested to remain unnamed because of a fear of retaliation from their current employer.

The college began the search for a new coordinator in January 2018, after former Title IX Investigator Pamela Ring left Emerson to pursue private practice. A third candidate, scheduled to present on Oct. 9, dropped out of the process the day before.

The first candidate outlined their ideas for the Emerson community following potential new federal regulations. These regulations, proposed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, would change the expectations of what colleges need to report. Major changes include narrowing the definition of sexual assault and harassment.

Other changes include abolishing the

requirement for colleges to deal with incidents reporting due to fear of live hearings and a lack that occur off campus and requiring the Title IX of understanding. coordinator to file a formal report upon receiving Under the new regulations, colleges and any information or complaints. According to universities will no longer be liable for sexual the policy changes, these formal reports would assaults that occur off campus. Previous Beacon end in a live hearing and cross-examination reporting shows that a majority of Title IX to determine a verdict. This differs from the complaints stem from incidents which occurred current regulations where an investigator looks off campus. into the validity of the case.

Vice President for Equity and Social Justice The first Sylvia Spears c a n d i d a t e said that as of last “Our message to the community is d i s c u s s e d year, 50 percent introducing open of Emerson always—regardless of where something conversations, students lived off finding ways to happened, when or with whom—we care campus, and the work alongside first candidate said and we can do something to help or the new federal incidents are not regulations, limited to campus, support them.” and creating an but happen - Deputy Title IX Coordinator candidate everywhere. environment where students “Our message feel comfortable to the community reporting incidents. They also stressed the is always—regardless of where something importance of educating and training faculty happened, when, or with whom—we care and members so they can deal with reports and the we can do something to help or support them,” college can have a support network for students. the first candidate said in their presentation.

Another important issue for the first O’Connell worked as the Assistant District candidate was informal processes—reporting Attorney in Suffolk County from 2013-16 that doesn’t deal with criminal investigations and in Title IX offices for three years at both and legal outcomes. The candidate said they Dartmouth University and the University of believe a mandatory formal process could limit Washington.

Her ideas, similar to the first candidate’s, require the college to edit the current Title IX policies once the new federal regulations come out.

O’Connell said she wants to use a two lane process—one where both the new federal regulations are upheld as well as policies that work within the Emerson community.

“It’s our behavior around our policies and the way that we listen and we react that lets people know we’re listening,” she said.

O’Connell also mentioned providing consistent access to Title IX services on campus for students to report while still respecting the privacy of the victims.

Like the first candidate, O’Connell addressed the on versus off-campus policies that come with the new federal regulations, saying the college can be flexible in what it defines as “offcampus,” allowing students to report or share information about instances that happen away from the college.

Both candidates expressed a similar desire to go beyond government requirements.

“A lot of the conversation around the proposed regulations are talking about a big gap between what [the regulations] are telling us to do versus what we can do,” O’Connell said. elena_naze@emerson.edu

SGA special elections to proceed without balloted candidates Continued from page 1 “It’s the middle of the semester,” Palauskas said in an interview. “So A, a lot of people are busy right now, or B, their lives are already kind of planned out for this semester. To take on one more thing right around midterm time can be hard for people.”

SGA Advisor Sharon Duffy echoed Palauskas’ sentiment in an emailed statement to The Beacon.

“SGA has historically seen a lower interest level in fall special elections, but regardless, the SGA leadership strongly believes that there is a strong need and desire to have those missing voices represented,” Duffy stated.

There are multiple high-level vacancies remaining in the organization, including three unfilled executive board positions, several open senate seats, and an unoccupied presidential

post for the class of 2020.

“At the end of the day, the biggest problem is that nobody is representing those constituencies,” Palauskas said. “It’s important that those voices are being heard. And so, to make them heard, we need to have somebody who has a seat at the table to represent them.”

A candidate press night scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 16, was canceled as there were no balloted candidates to speak.

The special elections are still scheduled to proceed on their original dates of Wednesday, Oct. 23 through Friday, Oct. 25.

News Editor Stephanie Purifoy did not edit this article due to a conflict of interest.

Vice President Will Palauskas (left) said the lack of candidates doesn’t reflect poorly on SGA. Lizzie Heintz / Beacon Staff

andrew_brinker@emerson.edu

Mailroom hires five new staffers to help with overflow Continued from page 1 Conn began working in the mailroom her first week of freshman year and said the larger amounts of deliveries to students caused an overflow of packages during the early months of the fall semester.

“We’re still in the same small little basement in Colonial,” Conn said. “We simply don’t have enough room for all the packages that come in.”

Collegiate Press also services universities in the Boston area including Northeastern University, Boston College, and Emmanuel College. The company manages employees who work at these services, including students.

Director of Business Services Karen Dickinson said the college is in the early processes of looking at how it can increase communication between Collegiate Press and students who receive packages.

“There are a couple of peak days where it takes longer to scan a package into the system, and that’s probably something that we’re going to target with better ways to do that and clarify communication [with the community],” Corrigan said.

Conn said Collegiate Press hired five new employees at Emerson to combat this issue and extended working hours for mailroom workers.

“We have had to hire more workers, people are constantly logging in packages, and so the Collegiate Press workers are working overtime,” Conn said. “Usually, the day for [Collegiate Press workers] starts around 7 [a.m.] and they leave at 6 [p.m.]. But now they’ve had to stay here from 7 a.m. to about 9 or 10 p.m. logging packages.” tomas_gonzalez@emerson.edu

The mailroom experienced an overflow of packages for the first months of the fall 2019 semester. • Lizzie Heintz / Beacon Staff

The Berkeley Beacon

October 17, 2019

3

Living Arts

Students rally for accessible menstrual products Juliet Norman, Beacon Staff

restrooms,” DeRoche said in an interview. “It’s for anyone who has a period, so anyone who Decked out in all-red outfits and holding up needs a product can have one.”

The rally is sponsored by PERIOD, a signs of protest, student organization Emerson Flows will gather in City Hall Plaza on Oct. 19 national organization that has over 450 registered chapters across the US. PERIOD.’s to rally against period poverty. mission to end period Mass NOW, poverty is fulfilled by Massachusetts “The bill has very inclusive these chapters, who National Organization distribute sanitary for Women, will to the join Emerson Flows, language, so it wouldn’t only products homeless.

Emerson’s official Emerson Flows campus organization be provided in women’s decided to attend for menstrual the rally in July, advocacy, at the rally. restrooms. It’s for anyone when Linzy Rosen, The rally is happening the rally’s lead in conjunction first with the first ever who has a period, so anyone organizer, announced it. Rosen, National Period Day. PERIOD. chapter All fifty states and who needs a product can president at Brandeis Washington D.C. will University, said hold their own rally have one.” that the overall goal in celebration of following the rally is National Period Day. - Natalie DeRoche to push lawmakers to Natalie DeRoche, support the “I AM” president of Emerson bill.

Flows, said the rally “There was a survey that was conducted supports the Massachusetts chapter of NOW’s “I AM” statewide bill. The bill is co-sponsored by Mass NOW that found that all counties in by senators Patricia Jehlen and Julian Cyr. Rep. the state had distribution plans, but only two Christine Barber is also a sponsor of the bill of them had actual policies,” Rosen said in a along with 70 others from both the House and phone interview. “So there are plans in place, Senate. The legislation would make menstrual but we don’t actually have any action.”

With around 300 to products available 500 people planning in all Massachusetts on attending, public school “I’m psyched to spark some Massachusetts is bathrooms, homeless slated to have the shelters, and prisons. largest expected “[The bill] will change hopefully and be a turnout out of all fifty reduce the social states, according to stigma and prohibitive part of the movement.”

Rosen. Many of the cost of necessary attendees are students health products … I - Elizabeth Pine in PERIOD. chapters am looking forward from colleges across to working to move the state. the bill forward this Junior Elizabeth Pine plans on attending the legislative session,” Barber said in a statement rally this Saturday with the rest of Emerson from Mass NOW. DeRoche stressed the necessity of inclusivity Flows.

“I’m psyched to spark some change in the legislature.

“The bill has very inclusive language, so hopefully and be a part of the movement that’s it wouldn’t only be provided in the women’s going to bring help to people in need and break

Emerson Flows, Emeron’s chapter of national organization PERIOD, will attend a rally for accessible menstrual products on Oct. 19. • Courtesy of Natalie DeRoche down some social barriers while we’re doing it,” Pine said.

Each rally focuses on a period equity– related issue that is relevant to their state.

Massachusetts no longer has an upcharge on women’s health care items, commonly known as the “Pink Tax,” but 35 states still do. Ending tampon tax is one of the key issues for both the rallies in Hawaii and Florida, according to the PERIOD. website.

Emerson Flows already played a role in helping combat period poverty, starting on Emerson’s campus. During the 2017-18 school year, the organization initiated putting menstrual products in the fifty most popular campus bathrooms.

“We coordinated with Campus Life to get [menstrual products] in the school budget so we wouldn’t have to supply the products, Emerson would, just because that’s something they should do because it’s a necessity,” DeRoche said.

After the rally, Emerson Flows will hold their annual holiday drive in December where

students will be able to donate menstrual products. These donations will then be passed on to the St. Francis House homeless shelter on Tremont Street.

“There are so many people who don’t have access to these products, and it’s something that we don’t always think about,” DeRoche said.

Moving forward, Emerson Flows hopes to get involved with grade school and middle school students in an effort to educate them and get rid of the stigma that periods are “icky,” DeRoche said.

“It’s such a stigmatized issue,” DeRoche said. “Having a rally that’s talking about periods is kind of a big deal, because it’s not something that a lot of people feel comfortable talking about.”

Copy Managing Editor Abigail Hadfield and Living Arts Editor Grace Griffin did not edit this article due to conflict of interest. juliet_norman@emerson.edu

Person of Color Column: Reconciling my mental health with my culture Seren Cho is a freshman journalism major and this week’s POC columnist.

Part of my identity is made up of being academically successful, or, for a better use of the term, a “know-it-all.” Growing up halfKorean in a Korean-dominated household, I learned that I couldn’t accept anything less than 100 percent. At a younger age, this type of perfection was achievable—I could complete time tables and name all 50 state capitals with ease.

As I grew older, my school course loads became heavier, and I struggled to keep up my grades and manage my extracurriculars. I always had something else to do, another thing on my plate. School, activities, sleep, and repeat. I never had time to focus on myself.

Over time, my stress became unmanageable.

I felt overwhelming amounts of anxiety everyday due to the pressure I felt from home. My parents always demanded perfect grades from me and nothing less. I worked to reach unachievable standards and continued to fail. This manifested into feelings

of worthlessness.

I felt I simply wasn’t good enough.

Depression and anxiety took their toll on me as it became harder for me to keep my perfect grades. I could feel the weight of them resting on my shoulders everyday, but I never realized they were there. I still got straight As, so how could I be upset about that? My family and my peers applauded me for my academic success, so I normalized my feelings.

I started seeing a therapist at 12 years old, and she told me that what I experienced wasn’t normal. I continued therapy for six years, and together we worked through my anxiety and my need for perfection. I began to take care of myself, devoting more of my time to self-care rather than spending every waking minute of the day focused solely on school. I didn’t realize how lucky I was to get help with my mental health until I realized how stigmatized mental health is, specifically in Asian culture.

A 2015 study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 4.9 percent of Asian adults used mental health services, making them the least likely of the demographics included in the study to do so.

A Boston University School of Public Health study found that Asian students had the lowest levels of perceived need for mental health treatment.

“Korean culture has a tendancy to ignore mental illness in the name of success.”

Reading these statistics did not surprise me. Through my own experiences, I have learned that Korean culture has a tendency to ignore mental illness in the name of success.

I continued to sacrifice my mental health in order to be successful.

Growing up surrounded by these values contributed to my inability to recognize my own mental health needs. In order to succeed a c a d e m i c a l l y, I ignored how stress impacted my mental wellbeing. I faced overwhelming amounts of anxiety to the point where I only slept a few hours each night.

Luckily, my parents ignored this mental health stigma and recognized my need for help. While the stigmatization of mental health in Korean culture comes from a desire to be successful in a predominantly white culture, the problems that arise from these values cannot be ignored.

In mid-September, a Harvard University sophomore of Chinese descent took his own life. The Boston Globe reported that six out of nine undergraduate students at Harvard that committed suicide this past year were of Asian descent. The immense amounts of academic pressure put on Asian students due to our

culture damage our mental health. The negative perpetuation of perfection in East Asian culture reaches such extremes that the need to be perfect becomes obsessive.

Despite therapy, I continued to struggle with this ideal and found it difficult to grapple with the fact that I could never reach perfection even though perfection formed part of my identity.

E v e n while society moves toward debunking s t i g m a s surrounding mental illness, the Korean community still struggles to address mental health needs because of the values the culture perpetuates. Mental illness continues to be a source of contention in the Korean community, making conversations about it rare and unusual.

By normalizing conversations about mental illness in the Korean community, Korean students and others facing similar cultural pressures will seek out help for their mental health. These conversations may be few and far between, but they are vital to start destigmatizing mental illness in every community, even if it may be uncomfortable at first.

“I got straight As, so how could I be upset about that?

My family and my peers applauded me for my academic success so I normalized my feelings.”

seren_cho@emerson.edu

Editorial

The Berkeley Beacon

Title IX hiring process failed to involve students enough

The two-year vacancy in the Title at all of the meetings and sent them out IX office is finally being filled. But via email. Alternatively, the college could the hiring process for the Deputy Title have set up “open office hours” for the IX Coordinator has brought its own candidates where students could come in, shortcomings. make comments, and ask questions— for The position has remained vacant a period of time longer than one hour on a since January 2018. In the meantime, weekday morning. the college hired outside investigators to Once appointed, the Deputy Title IX serve on a case-by-case basis. On Oct. Coordinator will play a prominent role in 4, the Social Justice Center sent out a the way unfinished sexual assault cases on campus-wide email about upcoming campus are handled. The appointee would campus visits from the three candidates also set the tone for the way the college vying for the job. approaches future sexual harassment During the visits, the finalists presented accusations.

Title IX regulations and explained what With this search for a new investigator, skills they would bring to the position.

Emerson had the opportunity to make The first new candidate spoke on Oct. 7, progress in how it addresses transparency followed by the second candidate on Oct. in their hiring process—and we appreciate 15. A third candidate dropped out of the that they made an effort to do so. Students process before their scheduled session. have expressed discontent multiple times All online communication about the with how the college resolves these visits did not include the names of the cases. In 2014, the U.S. Department of candidates due to privacy reasons. The Education opened an investigation into Social Justice Center requested that the college for alleged Title IX violations, The Beacon not publish their names in alongside 55 other schools nationwide. case candidates’ But with current employers this attempt at did not know they transparency, we were applying “The administration did feel the college for a position at fell short of Emerson. not provide alternative achieving the level It was a good of accountability first step from avenues for students who students expect. the school to give The college students access needs to hold could not attend.” to these campus themselves to a visits. Clearly, the higher standard for administration accessibility and hoped engaged students would raise initiative in the hiring process. their voices and participate in this vital If we can receive weekly emails telling selection process. us how the sidewalk expansion is going, However, the college scheduled all then we can hear more about the progress of the visits for mid-morning when in the search for a vital member of the most students are busy and unable to Title IX office. attend them. The email did clarify that The Beacon’s editorial board has candidates had scheduling conflicts. But advocated for improved practices in the the administration knows the reality of Title IX office many times. Emerson students’ schedules and should have students have also repeatedly called for realized that the panels’ timing was improvements in and around the office. In unacceptable if they only planned to offer April 2019, a group of students gathered one slot per candidate. together to discuss how the college Additionally, the administration did mishandles sexual misconduct cases after not provide any alternative avenues a list of alleged accusers was posted on for students who could not attend to the Little Building scaffolding. learn about each panels’ happenings In the future, the administration can’t or to provide feedback on candidates’ settle for bare minimum transparency— performances. they need to consider how they can make We understand the Title IX office the Title IX office as accessible and maintains a level of secrecy to protect transparent as possible so students can be the safety and privacy of victims and informed, aware, and educated. investigators. But there are many ways the college could have given students Editorials are written solely by a stronger voice in this process. It’s unfair that students’ entire involvement Editor-in-Chief Chris Van Buskirk, in the selection was contingent on their Managing Editor Abigail Hadfield, attendance of a one-time event.

Even though candidates’ resumes are Opinion Editor Diti Kohli, and available for review in the Social Justice Deputy Opinion Editor Ziqi Wang Center, a larger portion of students deserved to meet the candidates in-person without consultation from other staff and be given the opportunity to ask them members. Op-Eds reflect the views of questions about the job and the office.

If there was no other time to hold these only their authors, not The Berkeley workshops, the college should have at least posted summaries of what happened Beacon.

October 17, 2019

4

Editorial Cartoon by the Editorial Board illustration by Ally Rzesa

Students did not realize that the sidewalk expansion project included hydration stations.

Beacon Horoscopes Written by Dasha German

Which candy are you based on your sign?

Candy Corn

Kit Kat

Twix

Skittles

A King-Sized Snickers Bar

Sugar-free Marshmallow Peanuts

Scorpio Aquarius

Virgo Pisces

Capricorn Sagittarius

Gemini Aries

Cancer Libra

Taurus Leo

Letters To The Editor If you want to respond to, or share an opinion about, an article in The Beacon, you can write a short letter to the editor. Email it to letters@ berkeleybeacon.com. Please note that letters may be edited. Submissions for print must be shorter than 250 words.

The Berkeley Beacon

Editor-in-Chief Chris Van Buskirk

News Editor Stephanie Purifoy

Deputy Arts Editor Cassandre Coyer

Sports Editor Aaron J. Miller

Chief Copyeditor Kyle Labe

© 2019 The Berkeley Beacon. All rights reserved.

The Beacon is published weekly. The Beacon receives funding from the Student Government Association of Emerson College. 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.

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Business Managing Editor Assistant Express Editor Dylan Rossiter Jacob Seitz Living Arts Editor Grace Griffin Deputy Lifestyle Editor Katie Redefer

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The Berkeley Beacon

October 17, 2019

Opinion

5

Coping with acne insecurities in college Jess Ferguson Ferguson is a freshman journalism major and Beacon correspondent.

Part of me thought that when I first came to college, acne would be a thing of the past.

Though I have struggled with it for years, I always assumed it was some juvenile thing I would grow out of. Four years after my acne started, my skin still has its issues.

Since moving into college—because of the increased stress, changing sleep schedules, and new foods—my skin has been thrown for a loop.

Acne has trickled its way back into my life, and I do not feel it stopping any time soon. I feel like I am stuck in high school, still grappling with something that other people simply aged out of.

I am frustrated. In the wise words of Lorde on Instagram, “yes, I wash my face, I’m just genetically cursed.”

But I have slowly learned that, for now, acne is a part of me, and it’s a lot easier to accept it than to constantly hide from it.

Throughout my life, all of my friends have had near-perfect skin, so I felt sad and alone in my struggles. I would buy expensive skincare products, go on all different kinds of medications, try every single product I saw in commercials, and religiously take my makeup off every night, while my peers would have naturally perfect skin without doing anything.

My freshman and sophomore years of high school, I let my acne ruin so much for me: I was constantly worried about how I looked, I hated getting pictures taken, and I forced myself to wake up early to do makeup. I used to think that if I could just cover my acne up with a little Maybelline foundation, all my problems would go away. I remember that, during the

“Acne has trickled its way back into my life, and I do not feel it stopping any time soon.”

Illustration by Ally Rzesa / Beacon Staff summer going into my sophomore year for my early morning driver’s ed class, I’d do my eye makeup the night before, sleep in it, then wake up early to apply layers of products onto my skin.

My already fragile self-confidence was practically nonexistent, and I was constantly wondering, “Why me?” and silently blaming my parents for passing on their bad genes.

Clearly, acne is not a new struggle for me, but there is something different about exposing my skin to people I have known since elementary school compared to people I met a month ago in college. Now that I’m living on campus, I’m forced to show my bare face to my roommates and those who live on my floor at the end of the

night when I take off my makeup. I have lost the sense of privacy I once had at home, where at least I could be “ugly” in peace. Now, when I walk to class, I am no longer just surrounded by students from my school, but also dozens of others walking by.

College seems like an arbitrary marker of adulthood for some. Students here are legal adults out in the “real world” without parents or strict rules. However, upon stepping foot on campus in August, my pimples didn’t automatically vanish simply because I had a high school diploma. I moved on from my “awkward phase” braces, horizontally striped clothing, and neon Converse, yet I could not shake my acne—no matter how hard I tried.

Needless to say, I was disappointed.

However, I eventually realized that I am only making things harder for myself by being so ashamed of my skin. I always think my acne is the first thing people notice when they meet me, when in reality, it probably is not. For those who care about me, they will actually realize that I am so much more than just “bad skin.”

Now, I have a choice if I decide to wear makeup or not. If I feel like wearing it, I will; if I don’t, I won’t. I realized I was wearing makeup for the wrong reasons. Instead of using it to enhance my features or as a creative outlet, I was instead covering everything I deemed wrong with me. Though I still use makeup now to even out my skin tone or give my brows more definition, I enjoy doing it rather than doing it as a chore.

As cheesy as it sounds, life is too short to spend your life hiding from something totally normal. When I look into the mirror now, my acne and its resulting scars are still the first things I see, but I am slowly coming to terms with their existence. I would be lying if I said my acne is not a source of insecurity for me anymore. If someone would have told me I would regularly go out one day without makeup four years ago, I would not have believed them, but here we are—maybe my laziness is good for something.

At the end of the day, acne does not define your personality, your intelligence, your work ethic, your interests, your social life, or your hygiene, so why let it control your life?

jessica_ferguson@emerson.edu

Students with disabilities need clearer housing processes Shruti Rajkumar Rajkumar is a sophomore journalism major and a Beacon correspondent.

Prior to entering my sophomore year of college, I anticipated that the housing process would be as simple as the one my freshman year. But of course, when you have a chronic disability, the structure of our society often fails you and makes your life harder than it should be.

My transition into housing sophomore year was stressful, because of several easily avoidable mistakes made by Student Accessibility Services, including incorrectly placing me in a non-accessible suite.

SAS needs to improve their accommodation processes and communication in a way that ensures they are meeting the needs of disabled people on campus with the least amount of difficulty.

The process for obtaining housing accommodations involves an official request form, a housing request form, and medical documentation of the disability, followed by a one-on-one evaluation with a member of SAS about what accommodations should be arranged.

I first reached out to SAS in June 2018, a few months before the start of my freshman year. After submitting all required forms and having the evaluation via phone with SAS, the process was completed two weeks later and I was placed in an accessible suite.

When housing applications came out for the following school year in April 2019, my main priority was being placed once again in a suite with an accessible shower, complete with a removable shower head, shower bar, and shower bench feature. My roommate and I went to pick our suite for our sophomore year, only to realize we didn’t know which room on the fourth floor of Piano Row was accessible.

My roommate went to the Office of Housing and Residential Education, and they told her that anyone who requires housing accommodations for the following year must reapply for them in advance in January. But my chronic condition and my medically excused accommodations are already listed in SAS’s system, thus making reapplication redundant.

While I spoke with SAS on the phone about

the situation, my roommate ended up frantically picking a random suite on the floor to at least secure a room for the next year. I was told to meet with one of their staff members an hour later at the SAS office in the Union Bank Building. When I arrived there, they told me that the suite my roommate selected was coincidentally marked as accessible in the system, so everything happened to work out.

Or so I thought.

Four days before my scheduled move-in, I received an email from SAS stating that the suite I was supposed to be placed in had been incorrectly marked as accessible. The email said SAS would work with me to make the shower accessible by installing a removable shower head and bar. But I would have to provide my own shower bench.

After reading the email, I hastily ordered a $35 shower bench off of Amazon that I knew wasn’t going to get to campus on time anyway.

On the day I moved back in, I checked the shower and saw multiple mistakes that didn’t match what I had discussed via email with SAS. Not only was the removable shower head not installed, but the shower bar was placed on the left side of the shower, vertical to the shower curtain, even though I had requested for it to be placed inside of the shower, parallel to the curtain.

I immediately contacted SAS and was told that, with all the other maintenance requests, it would take a while for facilities to get around to adding the removable shower head, but another shower bar would be installed soon.

On my first night in the dorm, I was ridden with anxiety as I struggled to take a shower.

With minimal support from the poorly placed shower bar, plus the absence of a bench and a removable shower head, I was terrified that I would slip and fall. Since I moved in a day before all of my suitemates did, there was no one there to help in case I fell either. I lay in bed that night with a sore back from straining it to maintain my balance in the shower.

Two days later, I checked the shower and found that another shower bar had been placed once again vertical to the curtain, but on the right side this time. Still, none had been installed inside of the shower.

The mistakes that SAS had made could have easily been avoided. First of all, the office

“When you have a chronic disability, the structure of our society fails you often and makes your life harder than it should be.” • Illustration by Christine Park / Beacon Staff should have promoted the reapplication for housing accommodations as it is not a well known process. I would have been required to look for information about it on the college website in the middle of the previous school year when housing for the following year was the last thing on my mind.

Similar to how Residential Life sends out emails to all students about the steps they need to take for housing selections, SAS should have sent out emails regarding their reapplication process, which would be especially beneficial for freshmen who have never gone through the process.

Plus, the system shouldn’t have been inaccurate. The provision of necessary accommodations for disabled students shouldn’t be compromised by sheer disorganization. I was also only informed of the mistake at the very last minute, which is not enough time to go about figuring out a solution. They should have been proactively double-checking any processed accommodations sooner than days before move-in.

More importantly, SAS shouldn’t have expected me to pay for my own shower bench out of pocket. While I was able to afford the shower bench, others might not be able to due to financial difficulties. Had someone else been in

my place, they could have struggled indefinitely until they could acquire an affordable option.

And regardless, I shouldn’t have had to wait almost a week for an accessible feature that was supposed to be included in my suite already.

SAS went about making my suite accessible in a somewhat slow and almost trivial manner, without taking into consideration how much I would struggle in the days leading up to the alterations. Though I’m sure facilities had a high volume of other requests during that time, my requests were a direct result of an SAS mistake that posed a safety hazard for me.

Therefore, they should’ve been prioritized.

SAS could have switched my suite with the accessible one on that floor or even on another floor, if necessary.

After my experiences with SAS, I’m calling on the department to improve its housing accommodation processes and communication with students. Any mistakes that compromise accessibility and the ability for disabled students to safely and comfortably live their lives on campus should be met with nothing less than the best efforts to fix it.

shruti_rajkumar@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

October 17, 2019

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The Berkeley Beacon

October 17, 2019

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Sports

The Berkeley Beacon

October 17, 2019

8

UPCOMING ACTION WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL: Simmons at Emerson, 7 p.m., Thursday WOMEN’S SOCCER: Wellesley at Emerson, 1 p.m., Saturday MEN’S SOCCER: Emerson at Springfield, 1 p.m., Saturday CROSS COUNTRY: Suffolk Invitational, Saturday

Cross country teams approaching crucial races interview. “They got a ton of really fast kids and they killed us last year because we were Three meets into the season, the men’s and probably having one of the worst years ever women’s cross country teams are looking ahead in this program’s history, so it was kind of to its most important races of the season at embarrassing. Now we’re a little bit better and the Suffolk Invitational and the New England we can compete with them a bit more.”

Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference The Lions opened their season at the Endicott Championship.

Invitational on Sept. 7. The men’s team finished First-year head coach Brandon Fox ‘11 said in eighth place out of 10 teams, and the women’s he circled Saturday’s Suffolk Invitational on his team placed fifth out of seven teams. Freshman calendar at the beginning of the season.

Oliver Glass led the men’s team, placing fifth “I think the fact that it’s at Franklin Park out of 84 runners with a time of 29:23. Junior and it’s home—it’s really our home course Taylor Ranney finished 10th out of 80 runners even though we don’t typically host—that’s in the women’s race with a time of 21:32. what makes this meet special,” Fox said in an Two weeks later, both the men’s and women’s interview. “Usually teams placed fourth we have the out of eight teams administrators at the Pop Crowell coming in, a lot of Invitational. Glass family support around once again led the us, and it’s also a placing sixth “Seeing my team succeed is men, course that we look of 88 runners and back on every year setting a personal the best thing in the world, record of 28:45. and say, ‘Okay, we know what we can do Ranney finished in here.’ There’s not a and that’s a testament to the tenth with a time lot of courses in New of 25:39 to lead the England where you amount of work they put in.” women. can compare times Glass said the directly, so comparing team is using each - Brandon Fox apples to apples each meet as a stepping year and looking at stone to prepare that progression, I for the upcoming always circle Franklin challenges at the end Park.” of the season.

The teams will use “I think we’re the Suffolk Invitational to evaluate themselves doing better, we’re improving with every ahead of the NEWMAC championship on Nov. meet,” Glass said in an interview. “The idea is 3. Fox said he hopes both teams are able to to gear up to run the best at the important meets succeed this Saturday. at the end of the season, and I think that’s what “I want to be in the middle of the pack on we’re doing so far.” both sides,” Fox said. “There’s going to be a The teams competed in their third meet of the lot of teams there, a lot of competition. We’re season this past Saturday at the Runnin’ Monks sort of right in the mix—it’s a sort of dogfight Invitational in Standish, Maine. Out of the eight with a lot of teams that are of our size and our teams competing, the men’s team finished in capability—so all those points matter. We’ve fifth and the women’s team came in fourth. got to go in with the right attitude, and I think if Glass earned a time of 29:17.6 as the 19th of 83 we do that we’ll be pretty successful and we’ll runners to cross the finish line. Ranney placed see some [personal records].” ninth out of 93 runners with a time of 26:00.5.

Junior captain Joey MacNeil said this meet “This past Saturday was probably the most is especially important to him following last excited I’ve ever been as a coach,” Fox said. year’s results.

“Seeing my team succeed is the best thing in “Last year was [Suffolk University’s] first the world, and that’s a testament to the amount year of being competitive in a very long time of work they put in.” because they got a track team, which helps out Following the Suffolk Invitational, the cross their cross country team,” MacNeil said in an country teams will prepare for the NEWMAC Christopher Williams, Beacon Correspondent

The cross country teams will race in the Suffolk Invitational on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of the cross country team.

Championship on Nov. 3 at Franklin Park.

Junior Maddie Lynch believes the race is an opportunity for the program to redefine itself within the conference.

“Historically, Emerson has been the bottom of the NEWMAC for cross country, so if we could move up in that placement that’d be awesome,” Lynch said in an interview. “It’s at Franklin Park, so we’ll have a second chance on that course which will be good, so I feel like hitting our fastest times and also moving up in the rankings with NEWMAC would be great.”

Fox said Emerson will face a difficult challenge going into the conference championship.

“Since we’ve moved into this conference, it has just been an absolute nightmare running against some of these teams—MIT hasn’t lost

a championship in two decades,” Fox said. “I don’t look forward to this meet every year for that reason because we’re not well-positioned to run against these teams, but we need to pick the apples we can reach.”

However, Fox believes his teams have what it takes to compete with the contenders in the conference.

“We’ve beaten Babson on the women’s side, we’ve beaten Wheaton and Clark on the men’s side and on the women’s side,” Fox said. “Let’s race against teams we can race against, and if we go in, we give it our best shot. For me that’s a win, knowing that we’ve left it all out there and we did what we could do.” christopher_williams@emerson.edu @chrisdubbs31

Freshmen lead women’s soccer

Continued from Page 1

“Treating everyone equally and being a family has helped the freshmen come in and make a really strong impact.”

With the end of her Emerson soccer career in sight, Alberts said she is taking pride in her role as a leader on the field.

“I don’t have many games left, so I want to leave everything I have out there,” Alberts said.

“I just love playing with this team so much.”

During a match against Mount Holyoke College on Sept. 21, Alberts recorded an assist in an 8-0 victory.

“I think that [Alberts] is starting to gain her stride right now,” Suvak said. “As one of our captains, I think she’s starting to play to her form from a few years ago, and her speed seems to be good.”

Sophomore forward Grace Cosgrove added three goals in the match, and five other Lions scored.

The Lions lost their next three matches by one goal, including their first road NEWMAC game against Springfield College.

Returning to Rotch Field after a two-game road trip, the Lions ended their losing streak against Smith College. A game-winning goal from Cosgrove in the 70th minute secured the Lions’ second conference win of the season.

“Each loss that we’ve had, I think we’ve gained something and learned something from it,” Alberts said. “Tonight we just had the drive

The women’s soccer team averages 2.08 goals per game and totals 27 goals in 13 games played. • Montse Landeros / Beacon Staff to win, and I think that was evident.”

The Lions followed up their victory over Smith with wins over Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Wheaton College, which place them third in the NEWMAC. The final five

games of the Lions’ regular-season are against conference opponents. This includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is ranked tenth in Division III by the United Soccer Coaches Poll, setting up for a game

against two of the top teams in the conference. ethan_mcdowell@emerson.edu @_bballupdates_