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The Berkeley Beacon
Beacon Staff
Marcus Cocova / Beacon Correspondent
Police take most wanted suspect into custody at Rotch field “The determination was made to end peaceful communications and bring him in,” he added. After withdrawing the negotiators and BEST clinicians, SWAT personnel deployed a series of “distractionary devices” such as flashbangs, while firing “less-lethal” rounds at the suspect. Fields dropped his loaded firearm and was taken into custody; at 5:12 p.m., Boston police wrote on Twitter that the suspect had been apprehended. Emerson sent its third and final “all clear” message at 6:03 p.m., while stating that Rotch Field would remain closed while officers processed the scene. Police departed the scene around 7:00 p.m., according to Watson.
“When somebody has a firearm in their hand and nobody gets seriously injured, it’s a win,” said Acting Boston Police Commissioner Gregory Long in a press conference on the scene. No Emerson athletic teams were present at Rotch Field at the beginning of the standoff. The women’s soccer team had practice cancelled as a result of the police presence at the site, according to one team member; the men’s team, having played a match at Regis University on Monday, was not scheduled for practice on Tuesday, according to head coach Daniel Toulson, while Women’s soccer coach David Suvak could not immediately be reached for comment. However, one student was reported to have been practicing lacrosse on the field when Fields arrived Tuesday
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SEAL Director Jason Meier to leave college in November Bailey Allen
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October 21, 2021
morning—jumping the fence to escape. Fields was released into the care of medical professionals to be treated for “non-life-threatening injuries,” as well as psychological evaluation. Watson said Fields would be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Wednesday. At his arraignment, Fields was ordered held without bail and committed to Bridgewater State Hospital for a competency evaluation. If found competent, he will face a dangerousness hearing, court documents show. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Fields’ sister said her brother suffers from mental health issues, and has been homeless for several years. camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu
Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Jason Meier will leave Emerson in November to take up a position at Harvard College after nearly a decade at the college. Meier announced his departure in a Tuesday afternoon email to student organization leaders on campus. He is set to depart Emerson on Nov. 19 and will take up the role of Associate Dean of Student Engagement at Harvard College in January. “My time at Emerson has challenged and stretched what I believed was possible,” Meier wrote. “It’s without any
In his decade at Emerson, Meier worked closely with student organizations and served as the advisor for the Student Government Association for four semesters, beginning in January 2020. SEAL will delegate new roles and responsibilities over the coming weeks, according to the email. It remains unclear who will replace Meier as head of the department, as the email does not lay out a clear succession plan. Meier wrote that he will work with Program Coordinators Chelsea Jackson Jones and Jenna Coviello as well as Director of Campus Centers Joshua Hamlin to aid in the transition. Meier’s announcement marks the latest in a series of high-level departures at
SEAL Director Jason Meier. / Beacon Archives hyperbole that I can say we have truly built something special together. And while I’m grateful for it, it’s time for me to continue my own journey.” Meier started at the college in 2011 as director of the Student Activities Office, after having held similar positions at Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama Birmingham. Under his tenure, the office was reimagined as SEAL in 2017.
Emerson, after former President M. Lee Pelton left the college to head the Boston Foundation. Since then, other administrators—such as former Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Sylvia Spears and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Michaele Whelan—have either left or announced their intentions to leave the college. bailey_allen@emerson.edu
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