Emerson College’s student newspaper since 1947 • berkeleybeacon.com
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020 • Volume 74, Issue 9
Admin strengthens COVID-19 testing enforcement Andrew Brinker Beacon Staff
More than eight weeks into the fall semester, Emerson administrators are cracking down on the weekly coronavirus testing requirement for students taking hybrid classes. A new automatic testing compliance system, meant to streamline enforcement, began systematically barring students from campus if more than seven days elapse since their last negative test was administered. Emails to community members under the new system
threaten to suspend students from in-person learning for the duration of the fall semester if they do not comply with the weekly requirement. (Students are routinely tested at Tufts Medical Center near campus, after which their tests are processed at the Broad Institute.) The sudden increase in testing enforcement, announced Oct. 25 by “COVID Lead” and Assistant Vice President for Campus Life Erik Muurisepp, comes with the backdrop of steadily rising COVID-19 case numbers in Massachusetts. Daily new infections topped 1,000 cases five days in
a row this week for the first time since mid-May, and college administrators are now ramping up messaging around face masks and social distancing protocols. Before Oct. 25, college administrators enforced the testing requirement manually, Muurisepp said in an interview. He said he and his colleague would go through students’ testing data periodically and send emails to those who were not in compliance. Now, students receive an email on the seventh day since their last test was administered, alerting them that their campus access will be shut off if they are not tested within the next business day. “[Automatic testing enforcement] was something that we were working towards,” Muurisepp said. “To be able to create systems to manually or automatically check [compliance], versus me and my colleagues running those lists periodically and reaching out to all those students, giving them a 24 hour window Testing, Pg. 3
‘What is a platform if you’re not using it for some type of good beyond yourself?’
Austin Hand
Lizzie Heintz Beacon Staff
26
Shawna Konieczny Beacon Staff
Sophomore Austin Hand used his half a million TikTok followers to help establish TikTokers For Biden, an account rallying young voters behind Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. “What is a platform if you’re not using it for some type of good beyond just yourself and your own personal growth?” Hand asked. Best known for his TikToks and butterfly hair clips, Hand is using TikTok to campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Through TikTokers for Biden (@tiktokforbiden), Hand and 350 other TikTok users are rallying young people to vote as the 2020 presidential election rapidly approaches. “TikTok is a pretty good representation of Gen Z in general,” Hand said. “Gen Z, as a whole, has historically been underestimated in terms of the impact that we have.” Social networking app TikTok has become a worldwide phenomenon in just two years of existence, with their monthly active users growing from 50 million in January 2018 to nearly 700 million as of July 2020. The app uses an algorithm to filter recommended content to viewers and has evolved into a space where influencers, entertainers, fanbases, and advocates come together and share videos, not unlike the extinct short-form video-sharing application Vine. Fellow TikToker Aiden Kohn-Murphy (@politcaljew), a friend of Hand’s who had previously asked for his help with another campaign, reached out to Hand again about helping him establish a new, politically-motivated TikTok account. Kohn-Murphy introduced TikTokers for Biden on Oct. 7. Hand (@austincantdrive) is one of two Emerson students involved with the account. Anania Williams also creates content for the account along with running his own account (@anania00), which has 1.5 million followers and features humor and social commentary. Williams declined a request for an interview. Hand said he acts as content creator for the account as well as a group leader, managing a group of TikTokers and organizing content. “I’m mostly involved behind the scenes, to be completely honest,” Hand said. “I have a few cameo things and a couple videos on the main account. And then I have a video on my account promoting [@ tiktokforbiden]. But other than that, I have a leadership position.” The account not only promotes Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, but it also brings Biden, Pg. 6
Ann E. Matica
.08%
Beacon Staff
positivity rate INSIDE THIS EDITION
Coaches attract talent despite recruiting limitations Pg. 8
Students rally for political engagement with @tiktokforbiden
ECAPS grapple with virus’ mental health effects
positive COVID-19 tests
New virtual admissions seeks to attract students Pg. 3 Editorial: Make Election Day an academic holiday Pg. 4 Voting should translate from the screen to the polls Pg. 5 Emerson Pub Club publishes two new manuscripts Pg. 7
@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate
Courtesy Ana Salas
‘For Americans, it’s hard, but for [international students]... where do we stand if something happens to us?’
At Emerson Counseling and Psychological Services, the mental toll of the pandemic on students has become abundantly clear. Statistics provided by Kyle Rundles, a staff psychologist and outreach coordinator at ECAPS, indicate that 30 percent of the 256 students who have visited ECAPS this semester reported seeking services due to COVID-19. Furthermore, 65.6 percent of students who have visited ECAPS this semester said the pandemic negatively affected their mental health. These statistics mirror national trends. Several studies, including one by the Journal of Medical Internet Research, have noted a significant uptick in stress and anxiety in college students during the pandemic, due to social, economic, and health concerns. This fall, ECAPS included a new question on their patient intake form, asking students if they are seeking services due to COVID-19. “Almost everyone checks boxes in that list,” Rundles said in an interview.
Students can choose to check 14 different boxes when signing up for services, each related to parts of their lives that may have been negatively affected by the pandemic, like academics, finances, loneliness or isolation, relationships, and health concerns for oneself or others. “Some of the main symptoms we are noticing is a struggle with motivation and focus,” Rundles said. “Anxiety is up which has to do with all the uncertainty.” Those trends have led ECAPS to increase its online resources outside of counseling, Rundles said. The office now provides different student populations and faculty and staff at the college with more tips and resource sheets on their website. They also post mental health self-care videos on its YouTube channel. ECAPS transitioned all of their individual and group therapy sessions online last spring and provides urgent care to students who are having mental health emergencies. Kelly Sou, the president of Hidden Lantern, an organization that focuses on students using art to express their experiences with mental health, said that this semester, Hidden Lantern ECAPS, Pg. 2