Pelton visits Marlboro

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

Thursday November 21 , 2019 • Volume 73, Issue 12

Pelton addresses student concerns in Marlboro visit Jacob Seitz, Beacon Staff

President M. Lee Pelton addresses Marlboro’s Town Meeting in his first visit since announcing the merger. • Cho Yin Rachel Lo / Beacon Staff

President M. Lee Pelton spoke about the future of Marlboro College’s campus and the cultural similarities between the two institutions Wednesday during his visit to the Vermont campus.

Pelton was accompanied by Provost Michaele Whelan, Dean of the Institute for Liberal Arts Amy Ansell, Vice President and Dean of Campus Life James Hoppe, and Vice President and Special Assistant to the President Anne Shaughnessy.

Pelton spoke at Town Meeting, the weekly community gathering in Marlboro’s dining hall.

“I really do come here with a sense of humility,” Pelton said. “I also come here with a sense of gratitude. I’m humbled by what is ahead of us, but I’m also grateful that we will be able to move forward on this journey and create out of our two communities something really remarkable and outstanding and singular in higher education.”

Marlboro senior Adam Weinberg asked Pelton about his plans for the future of the Marlboro campus.

Pelton said he is aware of outside offers to purchase Marlboro’s land, but said neither college’s president would make a decision about the future of the campus by themselves.

“I know that the state of Vermont and the community has some interest in the future of this campus,” Pelton said. “And all I can say right now is that we are aware of that, and that all of those perspectives and points of view will be taken into consideration as the campus is developed, and it’s my hope … to keep the campus open and alive and vibrant in some way.”

After the meeting, Weinberg said Pelton’s answer was sufficient for him.

“I think that he answered my question [about the campus] in the sense that it’s not a closedSee visit, page 2

Volleyball players claim NEWMAC awards New VMA

production class partners with MGH

Domenic Conte, Beacon Staff Freshman setter Caroline Bond and junior outside hitter Grace Tepper received NEWMAC postseason honors for their performance in the 2019 season.

Bond won the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year award and made the All-Conference Second Team. Bond recorded 916 assists on the season, many of which ended with kills from Tepper, who earned All-Conference First Team recognition after leading the NEWMAC with 4.25 kills per set. “[Tepper] made me look good,” Bond said in an interview. “It didn’t matter if I put up a perfect or an off ball, she’ll still get a kill on it.

It was very comforting knowing that [Tepper] was a girl I could count on if we really needed a point.”

Sophomore outside hitter Carolyn Vaimoso said she knew the team would benefit from Bond joining the team the moment she saw her on film.

See NEWMAC, page 8

Katie Redefer, Beacon Staff

Caroline Bond (center right, No. 20) won the NEWMAC Rookie of the Year award.

Rachel Culver / Beacon Staff

Turning Point hosts libertarian speaker Dana Gerber, Beacon Staff Emerson’s Turning Point chapter hosted libertarian speaker Gabriel Nadales Wednesday, who called for an open dialogue across the political aisle and a breakdown of the country’s left-wing “conservative caricature.”

Nadales detailed his own past involvement with the Antifa movement—an anti-fascist

group—which he now criticizes for what he called their violent approach to political protest.

He told the audience of 25 community members he believed college campuses, in particular, are suffering from a lack of dialogue between political ideologies, leading to conservative and libertarian students’ censorship.

“If we want to talk to the other side, we have to engage them not on political terms, but ask

INSIDE THIS EDITION

Trying natural remedies as an alternative for colds and coughs. Pg. 5

them questions about themselves,” Nadales said during the event. “Once we become friends with the other side, political disagreements don’t have to be the only thing that we talk about.”

Nadales asked audience members to raise their hands regarding their political affiliation at the beginning of the speech; many students identified as liberal.

See Turning Point, page 3

The Beacon online

Men’s lacrosse names sophomore captain for first time in team history. Pg. 8

berkeleybeacon

The Visual and Media Arts Department at Emerson plans to work in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital through a new class centered around the creation of gun violence prevention videos.

This past July, The Boston Globe reported 17 shootings over a span of five days within the city of Boston. Despite Massachusetts having some of the lowest rates of gun-related deaths when compared to other states, gun violence harms many area neighborhoods.

Dr. Chana Sacks, who approached the college with the idea for the class, said she hopes the videos will bring awareness to this local issue.

“There are so many misperceptions about what gun violence even is,” Sacks said in a phone interview. “Boston is often hailed as one of the safest cities in one of the safest states in the country when it comes to gun violence, and in many ways it is, but still many victims of gun violence are right here in our city and I think their stories are undertold.”

Starting in spring 2020, the VMA Department will offer VM420, a partnered studio class, meaning students will work alongside doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital. The students enrolled in the class will create videos showcasing gun violence within Boston for the hospital to use as they see fit.

Berkeley Beacon

The Berkeley Beacon

See VMA, page 6

@BeaconUpdate

The Berkeley Beacon

News

The Berkeley Beacon

November 21, 2019

2

SGA Academic Town Hall highlights prevailing college issues

Andrew Brinker, Beacon Staff Hundreds of students and faculty crammed into the Lion’s Den Tuesday at the second annual Student Government Association Academic Town Hall to air grievances with the college’s newly restructured dance program and limited class availability across multiple majors.

The town hall was structured similarly to last year’s with each department occupying a different space either in or around the Lion’s Den where discussions were held with the aid of facilitators who took notes and steered conversation. SGA provided departmentspecialized topics of discussion that had been developed in weeks prior with student input.

“We’ve been preparing for two months,” Executive Vice President Will Palauskas said in an interview. “But really, we’ve been working on this since the end of town hall last year.”

The liveliest discussion of the town hall shed light on complaints that have recently surfaced in the Performing Arts Department regarding the restructuring of the dance program this semester. Students told Performing Arts Department Chair Robert Colby that under the new changes, access to dance classes have become further restricted, as some have been unable to schedule the classes they need and others unable to retake classes that they’ve already taken.

“It’s just frustrating,” Performing Arts Senator Connor Mcninch said during the town hall.

Colby, who addressed each student’s concern individually, said while he believed the department shake-up had been for the best, he would be willing to work with any student in the department to ensure that they could take the classes they need.

While the room was visibly tense during the discussion regarding the dance program, faculty and students agreed that “intimacy training,” which prepares performers for intimate stage scenes, was a necessary addition to the curriculum.

In the Communications Studies Department, students echoed the complaints of those in the Performing Arts Department, saying that class accessibility was a major issue. As the number

Class of 2022 President Cassie Shelley (left) speaks with VMA Department students and faculty at Tuesday’s Academic Town Hall.

Xinyi Xu / Beacon Staff of students in Communications Studies has increased, the department has not expanded the number of sections of required classes, making them difficult to get into.

The college’s recently announced merger with Marlboro College prompted discussion from students and faculty in the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, which is set to absorb Marlboro’s $30 million endowment next year.

“I can’t speak for everyone with an [Individually Designed Interdisciplinary Program], but the people that I know are really excited,” Honors Program Commissioner Daniella Baltazar said in an interview. “We can’t wait to welcome them to our community.”

However, an overwhelming concern from

those in the institute was that of unanswered questions, an anxiety they share with the community of Marlboro.

Palauskas organized the town hall with the intent to create a discourse regarding issues at the college.

“I think conversations like these are fundamental to our educational system,” Palauskas said in an interview. “In a modern education system, we all should have a stake in how our curriculum works and how it’s being taught.”

Generally, attendees of the event told The Beacon they felt the event was constructive, noting that the opportunity to engage in conversation was rewarding.

“I’ve taught at other universities, and I’m

amazed just how open and accepting both sides are to hear the other’s issues, and that there’s a pervasive willingness to actually work together, especially on things that have been issues for a long time,” Performing Arts Professor Timothy Douglas said in an interview.

Palauskas said the town hall will serve as a stepping-off point for SGA’s work next semester.

“We’re going to take all that great dialogue that happened in these conversations and boil that down into the academic initiative, which comes out in December,” Palauskas said. “Then we’ll move forward from there and work on andrew_brinker@emerson.edu

Pelton makes first visit to Marlboro since merger announcement Continued from page 1 “I think a lot of people in the Marlboro community are feeling like, ‘Oh my God, the sky is falling, it’s a done deal.’ It kind of is, but also kind of isn’t.”

Pelton addressed some criticism he has received since the merger announcement.

“Sometimes there’s an elephant in the room—I think there are two elephants in the room right now—and I want to address them,” Pelton said. “One is the question of, ‘Well, Lee, why did you describe this as a gift?’ I really struggled with how to describe this transaction, not only among us, but to broader audiences.

And I felt that ‘acquisition’ was not only wrongheaded, it just wouldn’t describe this alliance that we seek to establish.”

Pelton also said he believed the merger was more than a college acquisition.

“For me, I believe that this transaction is much more than financial—it’s an alliance,” he said. “It’s an intellectual alliance, a cultural alliance, of two communities that share many common values.”

The Emerson president expressed a willingness to work collaboratively with Marlboro faculty and students to ease the transition for members of the community wishing to come to Emerson.

Pelton then addressed an article where he was quoted saying that Marlboro College is closing.

“I recognize now what I should have said is that the campus is closing, not the college,” he said. “Marlboro is a magical place, it is a national treasure—I believe that—and I feel humbled and grateful for the opportunity to participate in its future.”

Pelton said there would be physical space for the Marlboro community on Emerson’s campus to honor their campus.

“I am highly confident that we will be able to get to a place where we can create something that we’re all proud of, and also a place where we are respectful of the past, but also very

hopeful for the future,” Pelton said. “I’m confident that that will happen.”

Once Town Meeting ended, members of the Emerson administration took a tour of the Marlboro campus, accompanied by Marlboro President Kevin Quigley.

After the tour, Pelton and Hoppe held a roundtable discussion in the Marlboro Library to answer student questions.

Topics in the discussion ranged from fraternity and sorority life on Emerson’s campus, to study abroad opportunities for Marlboro students, and to the major transfer process.

Quigley said during the round table that, while he was hopeful for future collaboration with Emerson, the likelihood of the Marlboro campus remaining open is slim.

“I don’t want to mislead anyone in saying that Marlboro will continue here on the hill after July 1,” Quigley said. “Obviously for us, that’s the preferred option, but that is probably not the most credible option—[but] we want this to work for [students].”

In the discussion, Pelton confirmed that the $30 million endowment from Marlboro would go directly into the soon-to-berenamed Marlboro Institute of Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies.

Pelton did not have an answer when The Beacon asked him about the ability of Marlboro students to study abroad while maintaining their discounted tuition.

Junior and Head Selectperson Charlie Hickman said in an interview with The Beacon that they were pleased by Pelton’s Town Meeting speech, but that there’s still work to be done. “[Town Meeting] went better than I was expecting,” Hickman said. “[Pelton] is a good speaker and I think that he was correct in addressing the two elephants in the room because there were many hurt feelings around those comments, but I don’t think that it has solved or ameliorated those feelings completely.”

Hickman also said they think students at Town Meeting needed to voice their concern

Pelton and Marlboro President Kevin Quigley walk together during Pelton’s visit .

Cho Yin Rachel Lo / Beacon Staff and discontent rather than ask questions.

“I think that maybe there are less questions and people just want to be able to say that they’re pissed about what has been said about this,” Hickman said. “The kind of information that has been put out is not representing this agreement in a light that feels authentic to Marlboro students. And while there was an allusion to that in Town Meeting today, it didn’t scratch the itch like we needed it to.”

Hickman said the current climate on the Marlboro campus makes it hard for students to ask questions.

“It’s also such a difficult time to ask

questions because there are no good answers right now, and I know a lot of students have so many feelings of anger and dissatisfaction,” Hickman said. “I think in Town Meeting a lot of people were looking to voice those feelings to [Pelton] in this public space. And that didn’t quite happen.”

jacob_seitz@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

November 21, 2019

News

3

Marlboro students request financial support for transfer application fees Tomas Gonzalez, Beacon Staff The Marlboro College community pushed to allocate $1,000 from a campus fund to support students applying to transfer to other colleges at Town Meeting on Wednesday.

The community discussed students’ desire to use the Washer/Dryer fund, a sum of money set aside primarily for improvements to the campus. At the Meeting, they also advocated for more representation in the campus-focused working group.

Town Meeting is a weekly forum of the Marlboro campus and the surrounding townspeople, where the community makes recommendations to the college through Selectboard, a group of Marlboro students and faculty who are elected to lead the meeting.

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Fumio Sugihara said many colleges have removed their application fees, which should make it easier for students to send out applications.

“Hopefully, as students look to transfer, members of Town Meeting proposed a resolution [fees] will not be as prevalent an issue,” he on the future of the campus. The petition asked said, according to the Town Meeting minutes. to include two elected students, two elected “Furthermore, we do hope to work with other staff, two elected faculty, and two residents colleges to find other opportunities for students of the town in the working group addressing the future of the who are considering campus.

Katrick a transfer.” recognized that the C h i e f “I live here locally, I’ve been Marlboro Board of Advancement Trustees will have Officer Rennie a volunteer at the college the final decision on Washburn said the for 30 years, and I want to the matter. college is looking to The Marlboro start fundraising for acknowledge the loss that we’re Board of Trustees a transition fund to originally organized help students, staff, all feeling,” the campus working and non-tenure-Sara Coffey group to include track faculty with one student, one anything that relates staff member, one to their role in the faculty member, and one resident of the town, merger.

Nikolas Katrick, the outdoor program all elected by the community.

Katrick then asked if it was possible to coordinator at Marlboro, said he and other

include members of the graduate school staff in the working group. Selectboard clarified that students could nominate graduate school staff to fill two elected staff positions.

Sara Coffey, alumna and co-chair of the Marlboro campus working group, said the chairs of the working group seem in favor of adding more positions and encouraged people at the meeting to engage in conversations surrounding the possible merger.

“I live here locally, I’ve been a volunteer at the college for 30 years, and I want to acknowledge the loss that we’re all feeling,” she said, according to the Town Meeting minutes.

Coffey said the working group will meet for the first time on Dec. 9.

tomas_gonzalez@emerson.edu

Gabriel Nadales calls for open dialogue at Turning Point event Continued from Page 1 No students protested the event, which often occurs at other colleges that host conservative speakers, such as when students at Boston University protested against conservative speaker Ben Shapiro on Nov. 13.

Patty Tamayo, a sophomore political communication major who attended the event, said she was raised conservative but adopted more left-leaning beliefs as she grew older.

She said she came to the event to hear Nadales speak about his own political transformation.

“If you follow any ideology by the textbook, it’s not that bad,” Tamayo said after the event.

“The problem is the relationship people have with their ideologies. Right now, people are engaging in a very personal way with their ideologies where it’s very hard to listen to something and not feel like you’re being personally attacked. Because the attacks are being very personal.”

Although Tamayo said the speech seemed biased at times, she said she supported some of the beliefs Nadales espoused. For example, she said she supported his idea that any good ideas should never require violence.

“I don’t care about ideology,” Tamayo said.

“I care about people.”

Turning Point USA is a conservative nonprofit organization with chapters at college campuses nationwide, including Harvard University and Boston College. Emerson’s chapter has about 30 members. Student Engagement and Leadership recognized the

organization earlier this semester.

During the speech, Nadales described multiple times he was threatened or attacked by those with opposing political beliefs. He also said that earlier in the day an Emerson student had turned his back on him in the Dining Center after he told him he was there with the Turning Point organization.

“The [Turning Point] students invited me and they told me that they have experienced certain acts of liberal bias in the classroom … not just by other students, but by professors,” Nadales said in an interview after the event.

“They thought that it would be a very receptive crowd.”

Joe DiRienzo, vice president of Emerson’s Turning Point chapter, said he believed a dialogue starts with humanizing both sides, and Nadales served as a positive representative of Turning Point’s mission.

“I think that people are generally open to dialogue; I don’t think Emerson is any different,” DiRienzo said in an interview after the event. “If you don’t have a face you can put onto the conservative or Republican [movement], then it’s definitely easy to keep in mind a vague caricature. But as soon as you start doing events like this and talking to people person-to-person, most people are willing to listen.”

Nadales agreed, saying his message was meant for those who disagreed with him as much as those who shared his beliefs.

“This speech is for conservatives because that’s the people who are likely to invite me,”

Gabriel Nadales spoke about his time spent in Antifa at the Turning Point event.

Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff Nadales said. “But I think that the people who should hear it are liberals who really want to engage the other side.”

Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Jason Meier said he believed the event hosted a positive exchange of viewpoints.

“I think it’s just important that we are able to peacefully allow groups to have events and espouse beliefs and share a conversation,” Meier said in an interview after the event. “I feel like today was a good start.”

Toward the end of the speech, Nadales said conservative students should continue voicing their beliefs despite the obstacles they feel prevent them from doing so.

“For those of you who have ever felt silenced, speak up,” he said during his speech.

“Really speak up—because you have a duty to your ideas.” dana_gerber@emerson.edu

Staff vacancies restrict prop warehouse operating hours Dana Gerber, Beacon Staff The college’s prop warehouse will open for the second and final time this semester for visual and media arts students, after losing both its director and its assistant prior to the beginning of the academic year.

Chair of the Performing Arts Department Robert Colby said both Director Ron DeMarco and Assistant Lisa Guild unexpectedly left the college, leaving the warehouse with no staff.

This prevented it from opening on a weekly basis as it did last year. However, because VMA students require props for academic projects, the college decided to open the warehouse twice this semester, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 4 and Dec. 11.

Colby said students who took out props on Nov. 4 could return the props on Dec. 11, or if they needed the props beyond that date, they could return them at the beginning of the second semester.

“They don’t have prop staff at Emerson right now,” Lauren Corcuera, associate production manager for Lyric Stage and head of the warehouse on these two dates, said. “They’re just killing themselves to stay afloat.”

The warehouse, which is located at 50 Tufts Street in Somerville, houses the majority of free props that performing arts and VMA students use for their productions, as well as students participating in extracurriculars. The space was also open to community theater organizations.

Colby said that the college has made a job offer to a potential new props director, and if this individual accepts, the props warehouse

will hopefully be operating normally again next do not currently have access to the warehouse semester. He also noted that, while they hope to are facing significant obstacles in putting open the warehouse to the general public again together their productions. as soon as possible, Emerson students will be “It’s been a real big stress for a lot of prioritized. students in the Theatre Department,” they said.

“Depending on the backlog of work to be “A lot of student theater productions that want these things from done, we may wait the props warehouse a bit longer before are not allowed to extending that “A lot of student theater use them.” opportunity for Rock noted others so we can get productions that want that students at least the campus these things from the props have shown demand met,” he resourcefulness said. warehouse are not allowed to despite their Corcuera, who use them.” frustration about is also an Emerson the warehouse’s graduate, retrieves -Ryan Rock closure. props on a case“Theatre students by-case basis for will have to find students in Emerson Stage, since the props are the organization’s other ways around it, which is frustrating, since property. However, non-VMA students and this is a school and these are our extracurriculars community theater organizations will not have and this is building our resumes for the future,” they said. “It’s definitely a hindrance to not have access to props on these two dates.

“A lot of people felt jilted because they didn’t someone in the role, but I think that everyone’s know that it was open specifically for academic doing their best and that overall, it does lead to more innovation.” projects,” she said.

On the Facebook page for the prop Corcuera said students seem grateful the warehouse, multiple community members have warehouse is open at all this semester.

“They’ve been fairly respectful and offered to volunteer to help mitigate the staffing understanding of the staffing issues,” she said. shortages. However, Colby said that accepting “Being able to have this resource back, even in a volunteers wouldn’t be feasible.

“Things have to get signed out and signed limited capacity, has been really helpful.”

Ryan Rock, a junior props assistant for back in, they have to get stored properly,” Emerson Stage, said that, while some props are he said. “When they come in they have to be available on campus, many theatre students who assessed for damage and sent back to our shops

for repair when things break. Without anybody in charge, just taking a volunteer, it would be essentially opening an extremely valuable resource for people to just kind of go through.”

Mel Gillespie ’01, who runs the Miltonbased Mel O’Drama School of Acting, used the prop warehouse to store set pieces between productions. She suggested the college begin charging members of the community a membership fee to use the space in order to ease any financial burdens that may be a constraint on staffing. She said the closure of the warehouse has affected community members.

“We’re feeling the loss,” Gillespie said. “Big time.”

Rock said they understood the difficulty in finding a long-term props director on such short notice.

“We need someone who will be good, who can learn everything, who could stay here for years,” they said. “It is a process, I understand, of hiring, but it’s just unfortunate timing.”

Colby said that he realizes this solution wasn’t ideal, but the department had no alternative.

“I don’t think this was perfect, and I’m sure if I talked to a dozen students they were grumbling that they would have to miss a class or make extraordinary arrangements to try to get over to the prop warehouse when there were such limited hours,” Colby said. “But it was that or close it altogether, for everybody.

Hopefully, this is a short problem.” dana_gerber@emerson.edu

Editorial Respect the Marlboro community by maintaining communication This Wednesday, President M. Lee a medium-sized institution. We benefit Pelton set foot in Marlboro College from the advantages a small college for the first time since announcing the brings—close access to our faculty and Marlboro-Emerson merger. Emerson staff, a tight-knit student community, and plans to absorb Marlboro’s endowment an accessible campus. But our closeness and welcome any interested students to bears no comparison to the culture at our Boston campus next year. During the Marlboro College. weekly Town Meeting and in a breakout The Vermont school is defined by its session later in the day, Pelton addressed togetherness. Students describe it as a students’ concerns about the school’s fate “safe place” where they are free to explore and the future of its community. the topics they are learning about—one “I see in this place a place of magic, junior said the “isolated” environment creativity, a place where independent- brings everyone together. In fact, the minded people and where students have population of the entire town of Marlboro agency,” Pelton said of the Vermont wavers around only 1,000 residents— campus in the meeting. roughly the number of students who live Visiting the campus this week was in Little Building. a good first step for Pelton. He began Our community can also benefit from to establish a working relationship with adopting Marlboro’s communication potential new students and immersed within its own campus. According to himself in Marlboro’s quiet campus the 2019 Princeton Review, the college culture. But it’s essential Pelton’s tour ranked second on the list of the most does not mark the end of communication active student governments. Marlboro between him students hold and the affected significant stake community. in determining We implore the actions President Pelton “The Marlboro community their college and the Emerson takes.

Emerson should not have to administration to should focus make themselves replicating schedule meetings through on available to these the success of students going a secretary or be forced into their student forward. Though government increasingly one student said and adopting the president’s the transparent bureacratic processes to time in Marlboro conversations “didn’t scratch taking place on the talk with Pelton.” the itch like we Vermont campus needed it to,” the in the upcoming visit foreshadows year. a promising future As the merger of dialogue with an onslaught of students inches ever closer, many Marlboro still processing the news of their campus’ students remain skeptical about the impending closure. people in power who run our campus and Right now, Pelton holds open office about their own futures. The moves made hours, dinners at his Beacon Hill home, by Pelton and upper-level administration and private meetings by appointment at this week should mark the beginning of Emerson. Still, a number of students here intercampus communication—not the graduate without ever shaking hands with end. If Pelton fails to further engage with the president or having him learn their the Marlboro community in this way, names. The Beacon’s editor-in-chief and our college will have failed to properly news staff regularly meet with Pelton to welcome a vital and unique new side of discuss student affairs, but even most of our student population. our paper’s staffers have yet to sit down with the college president.

It’s vital Marlboro students don’t Editorials are written solely by face the same situation. The Marlboro community should not have to schedule Editor-in-Chief Chris Van Buskirk, meetings through a secretary or be forced into increasingly bureaucratic processes Managing Editor Abigail Hadfield, to talk with Pelton. Students’ emails should not be lost in administrators’ inboxes; their voicemails should not go Opinion Editor Diti Kohli, and unheard.

As students at a rural institution with Deputy Opinion Editor Ziqi Wang fewer than 150 undergraduate students and less than 30 tenured or tenure- without consultation from other staff track faculty members, the Marlboro population is used to interacting with members, and does not influence any President Kevin Quigley on a regular basis. But Emerson’s size and location simply prevents Pelton from having a stories. Op-Eds reflect the views of similar personal connection with every only their authors, not The Berkeley student at this school.

Emerson College falls well under the 5,000-student threshold required to be Beacon.

by the Editorial Board illustration by Ally Rzesa

An accurate representation of every student the week before Thanksgiving.

Beacon Horoscopes Written by Dasha German

Which Thanksgiving dish are you based on your sign?

Pumpkin pie Scorpio Aquarius

Turkey/turkey protein alternative

Cranberry sauce

Sweet potatoes

Green bean casserole

Maple-whiskey gravy from the pioneer woman on the Food Network

Virgo Pisces

Capricorn Sagittarius

Cancer Libra

Gemini Aries

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.

Editor-in-Chief Chris Van Buskirk

News Editor Stephanie Purifoy

Deputy Lifestyle Editor Katie Redefer

Assistant Opinion Editor Frances Hui

© 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.

Copy Managing Editor Abigail Hadfield

Deputy Enterprise Editor Belen Dumont

Deputy Arts Editor Cassandre Coyer

Sports Editor Aaron J. Miller

Visual Managing Editor Kyle Bray

Assistant Enterprise Editor Andrew Brinker

Assistant Lifestyle Editor Taina Millsap

Deputy Sports Feature Editor Domenic Conte

Website berkeleybeacon.com

Advisor Douglas Struck

Deputy Express Editor Tomas Gonzalez

Assistant Arts Editor Melanie Curry

Assistant Express Editor Jacob Seitz

Opinion Editor Diti Kohli

Deputy Sports Game Editor Andrew Lin

Living Arts Editor Grace Griffin

Deputy Opinion Editor Ziqi Wang

Phone (617) 824–8687

Email Office Address contact@berkeleybeacon.com 172 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02116

4

Editorial Cartoon

The Berkeley Beacon

Business Managing Editor Dylan Rossiter

November 21, 2019

The Berkeley Beacon

Assistant Sports Feature Editor Lara Hill

Assistant Sports Game Editor Ethan McDowell Chief Copyeditor Kyle Labe Photography Editor Jakob Menedez Deputy Photo Editor Rachel Lo Assistant Photo Editor Lizzie Heintz Graphic Design Director Ally Rzesa

The Berkeley Beacon

November 21, 2019

Opinion

5

Home sweet home: Why going to college nearby can be beneficial

“I’ve learned that my decision to stay somewhat local—in, might I add, one of the best college cities in the U.S.­—does not make me immature.” • Illustration by Ally Rzesa / Beacon Staff

Jess Ferguson Ferguson is a freshman journalism major and a Beacon columnist.

Throughout the college application process, I felt pressured to attend school somewhere far away from my home in southeastern Massachusetts. Everyone said college was supposed to be about new experiences and newfound independence, which almost always meant leaving the nest and living a plane ride away. So come senior year, I applied to universities in New York and Washington D.C. because I wanted to prove to myself I could break out of my hometown bubble and do something new with my life.

Yet I ended up in Boston, just 45 minutes from my home. And that’s okay. I realized that if I am happy at school, it shouldn’t matter how near or far I am from my hometown.

College can be draining. Between the stress of exams, the expectations of dorm life, and the mediocrity of dining hall food, sometimes all you need is a home-cooked meal and a good night’s sleep in your own bed to recharge.

Choosing to travel across the country or even the world to go to college is a completely valid decision. But I’ve learned that my decision to stay somewhat local—in, might I add, one of the best college cities in the U.S.—does not make me immature or overly dependent. The distance between one’s home and their college does not inherently equate to maturity or independence.

I have always been close to my family. While some might dread a Friday night in with their parents, I would look forward to watching “Law and Order: SVU” or “This Is Us” with mine— no shame. And while some constantly bicker with their siblings, my sister is my lifelong best friend. Though those who are close with their

families may still decide to travel far, I knew to home, they still aren’t physically with me. that was not for me. So when it came time to The transition to college as a first-year is choose a college, I quickly realized I wanted to difficult for nearly anyone. The World Health be near home.

Organization found that 35 percent of first-year I’m lucky I’m able to see my parents when college students reported having a mental health I want to, because many students can’t. No disorder. Major depressive disorder was found matter how independent I may become, I will to be the most common. I too have experienced always value family time. As I’ve gotten older, drastic changes in my mental health since I’ve realized spending time with your family moving here. And seeing my family makes me doesn’t make you lame because at the end of think, even for a moment, that everything is the day, they’re the ones who are there for you. going to be okay. It provides a little normalcy Being close to home gives me the ability to in my life. I’m grateful for small moments like return when I want without the limitations of those, as they boost my mental health in times school work and financial reasons. I can go home of need. on long weekends and holidays and not have It’s true that going home every weekend can to worry about making spiral into becoming a long or expensive trek overly dependent back to Boston. And on your parents and whether I’m at a college missing out on the 45 minutes away or 4 experience.

“Sometimes all you need is college hours away, I will still But spending a long meet new people, explore or two at a home-cooked meal and a weekend a new place, and become home is nothing to feel involved on campus. good night’s sleep in your embarrassed about.

Only now, I have the Even though I want chance to go home more to experience new own bed to recharge.” than others may be able things at college, I still to. want to celebrate my At the same time, I family’s birthdays, can still explore all that come home when Boston has to offer. In I’m sick, and go to fact, my prior experience with the city has made my favorite hometown restaurants when I’m it even more exciting to explore. Instead of craving it. Going home for two days in one going to the popular tourist spots I have already month is hardly missing out on what college been to, I can now discover new, lesser-known has to offer, as there will be more parties and places. A night that would otherwise be spent at opportunities every other weekend.

Regina Pizzeria, Faneuil Hall, or the Freedom I’m unsure where I’ll end up after graduating Trail is open for a coffee run at Pavement or college. Being on a journalism track, I could whichever new café I decide to try. end up in a major city like D.C. or New York, Looking back on it, I don’t know why I felt which wouldn’t allow me to return home at inferior to my peers who moved out of state for my convenience. So for the time being, I’ll school. During orientation week, I felt a little take advantage of being close to my family— embarrassed at times to tell people my house especially so I can skip out on the dining hall. was so close to campus, even though I shouldn’t have. I was and still am allowed to miss my home and my family. Because even if I am close jessica_ferguson2@emerson.edu

Moving away from society’s dependence on contemporary medicine and maintenance of physical and mental health.”

From a young age, I’ve strayed from dependence on and use of prescription medications unless they become necessary. For On average, 47 million prescriptions are small colds, coughs, and aches, I like to use unnecessarily written up each year by doctors home remedies. Examples of this include ginger, and emergency departments across the United echinacea or chamomile teas, natural topical States. But there’s a natural side to medicine ointments, and vitamin-rich supplements. used to treat pain and illness that’s often I first heard of traditional medicine from a overlooked. By opting to use natural remedies, family friend. I explained to her that I felt an people can alleviate pain and strengthen their odd and uncomfortable feeling in my stomach immune system while avoiding sometimes when I take antibiotics. While taking them, I harmful side effects of prescription medication. felt like I was curing my illness, but damaging This approach has been in use for hundreds of other vital functions of my body. She then years, and its application is still valid today. recommended fighting my cold with a mix of Needless to say, natural supplements contemporary medicine and teas instead. has helped cure and Scientists have prevent hundreds of found that the overuse illnesses. Vaccinations of synthetic medicine almost completely antibiotics has “As a whole, we may be too and eliminated diseases counterproductive like polio, measles, and quick to reach for the Advil effects. It is important to chickenpox. Thanks to not default to taking an Alexander Fleming, Ibuprofen or doubling or cough syrup.” penicillin now helps our prescription treat bacterial infections dosages when we feel like pneumonia; which ill. In fact, antibiotic before the twentieth resistance is one of the century, were the biggest issues of our leading cause of death. time. According to the For that reason, I don’t intend to direct Centers for Disease Control (CDC), each year people away from contemporary medicine. at least two million people in America get an Rather, I support and encourage the use of antibiotic-resistant infection and at least 23,000 traditional medicine as an alternative to the of those infected die. Still, if you’re constantly constant dependence on prescription and over- feeling ill and unsure about the symptoms, a the-counter drugs. visit to your nearby doctor can bring you peace In the fourth century B.C., Socrates said of mind and help you feel better. of the human body, “the part can never be Plus, natural treatments are not as well unless the whole is well.” The American unconventional as people think. They are Holistic Health Association bases its approach prevalent around the world. on Socrates’ belief: “An individual is a whole One common treatment for pain and made up of interdependent parts. When one part illness is acupuncture. The National Center is not working at its best, it impacts all of the for Complementary and Integrative Health other parts.” describes acupuncture as a technique in which The World Health Organization defines practitioners stimulate specific points on the traditional medicine as “all the natural practices body—most often by inserting thin needles and theories used in the diagnosis, treatment, through the skin. Seeing as it has little to no Carlota Cano Cano is a sophomore communication studies major and a Beacon correspondent.

“From a young age, I’ve strayed from dependence on and use of prescription mediciations unless they become necessary.” • Illustration by Christine Park / Beacon Staff side effects, people around the world have used acupuncture to treat muscle and body pains, and in some cases, eliminate chronic migraines.

Famous retired basketball players like Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming, and Steve Nash are among many athletes who attend acupuncture sessions to relieve pain.

Another broadly used treatment is known as cupping. Cupping therapy is a traditional Chinese and Middle Eastern treatment for pain. The cups are used to locate acupoints and stimulate the flow of blood across the human body. Cupping is used in the treatment of lower back pain and other muscle aches, skin conditions like acne, and it is especially prevalent in sports recovery.

There are also treatments like reflexology and aromatherapy. Reflexology involves applying pressure to specific points in the hands, feet or ears that correspond to different organs in the body. In one case, applying pressure to a spot in the arch of the foot is believed to improve bladder function. With aromatherapy, specialists use essential oils—a highly concentrated mix

of roots, leaves, and seeds from plants—to treat inflammation or infection. This works by inhaling the essential oils or massaging them into the skin. In a 2017 study, the use of lavender aromatherapy was found to improve sleep and reduce anxiety.

All in all, people should approach their health in ways they’re most comfortable with.

But as a whole, we may be too quick to reach for the Advil or cough syrup. Research in the field of traditional medicine is still growing and will continue to expand with time. It’s essential we look to these findings to find more herbal ways to treat our minor illnesses. Conduct research on both traditional and contemporary medicine and see what may work and what is most accessible. In the end, your own health is in your hands.

carlota_cano@emerson.edu

Living Arts

The Berkeley Beacon

November 21, 2019

6

Strapped for Cash: Sacrificing a college experience to pay my tuition Juliet Norman is a freshman journalism major, a living arts staff writer, and this week’s career columnist.

Last week, my digital journalism professor stopped me after class and asked to talk to me.

I instantly was seized with worry—was I in trouble? Had I messed up an assignment? None of those was the case. Instead, she commented on how tired I looked.

She said she could tell I’d had a late shift the night before and I reacall her asking, “Is there anything I can do to help you or anyone I can call to get you a different job?”

I felt grateful for her invitation to help me find a less demanding job, but I knew there was little she could do. As a low-income student paying my way through school on a strict monthly payment plan, I have no choice but to work 40 hours per week. If I fail to make a penny less than $3,052 every month, I will be kicked out of school.

As a full-time waitress, my salary is indeterminate; I rely solely on tips to make my monthly payments. I don’t see any of the money I make because it all goes towards my tuition.

It’s frustrating knowing that I am making almost $40,000 a year when I can never spend any of it on myself besides tuition. On top of my 40hour weeks, I often find myself picking up extra

shifts when I’m a few hundred dollars short at the end of the month. A single table deciding not to tip me could mean the difference between making my payment on time or being charged with a $10 late fee from Emerson.

At the start of this semester, I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford daily subway fare, and I was lucky enough to land a job at a restaurant next to campus. While I do enjoy working and being selfsufficient at a young age, it has become taxing to be a full-time student and a fulltime employee.

I constantly fall asleep during classes, and I am regularly late on my assignments.

I live in a constant cycle of sleep deprivation, work, then catching up on sleep until I have to cram in all my schoolwork over and over again.

I feel like I’m falling behind in my budding journalism career as well. I cannot accept an internship as I am obligated to spend five days a week earning my tuition. Unless a company would hire a college freshman full-time for well above minimum wage, I am out of luck.

I’m forced to sit back and watch as roommates

and friends gain experience as unpaid interns in their desired fields while I continue to serve wine to fussy old people.

My tuition helps fund student organizations and events on campus, yet I do not have the time to participate in any of them. When I imagined my college experience, it involved study sessions with friends and a calendar full of meetings for student publications I would write for.

Instead, my study time is reserved for when I get out of work—long after the library is closed. Writing for my school’s newspaper is the only student organization I am able to take on, to which I have been thirty minutes late to every single meeting since the semester started.

Not knowing if I will be able to turn in class assignments on time because I might have to work overtime induces a huge amount of stress.

Is receiving a desirable education even worth it if I cannot properly focus on my school work?

A study conducted by Georgetown University’s education research professor Anthony P. Carnevale reported that low-income students

“It’s frustrating knowing that I am making almost $40,000 a year when I can never spend any of it on myself besides tuition.”

who work while in school are less likely to complete their degree. According to Carnevale, 59 percent of students who work 15 hours or more every week have an average GPA of C or lower.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2013 that 72 percent of the country’s undergraduate students work during the year. I see no problem with college students working—on the contrary, I think working a blue-collar job builds character. However, no student should feel obligated to work more than part time out of fear that they will be forced to drop out.

I do not think that low-income students should automatically receive a full-ride, but I do think that colleges in general do little to help these students pay for even a third of their education. We are treated as individuals investing in a business rather than young adults who are figuring ourselves out and honing our skills. In order for students that hail from middle- and lower-class to attend any educational institution, they have to be given the proper tools and support from the school.

I have to remind myself every day that this was my choice. I was determined to forgo a cheap state university education for a private school because it had the superior program for my major, and I don’t regret it. I am a firm believer in creating the life I want for myself.

Although it might be a bit more burdensome for me to succeed than it is for others, it does not mean that it isn’t worth a shot. juliet_norman@emerson.edu

VMA Department set to offer gun violence prevention video class Continued from page 1 According to Sacks, they have not yet decided what they will do with the completed videos but anticipate they will be distributed for educational purposes.

The class, titled Topics in Media Arts: Practice: MGH/Gun Violence Prevention, is worth four credits and is available to any junior or senior. Professor Jong Ougie Pak will teach the class this upcoming semester and said the course is also open to graduate students.

The hospital will provide the class with a $10,000 budget to go toward production components of the videos such as equipment and travel costs, according to VMA Department Chair Brooke Knight. He also said the college will not profit from their partnership with the hospital.

At this point, the class is only guaranteed for the upcoming semester. Knight said the VMA Department would be interested in renewing the class for future semesters if the first run of the class succeeds.

Ougie Pak said he plans to allow students to create documentary-style videos showcasing people directly affected by gun violence.

“I feel like in many ways the truth is crazier than fiction,” Ougie Pak said in a phone interview. “If we can create compelling content, not necessarily manipulative, that honestly portrays the way people have been affected by gun violence in its various forms in America, then I think that would be pretty successful.”

Knight helped create the class after doctors from MGH reached out to him with interest in forming a video-creating partnership with the college.

“I was looking for a way to more deeply engage with [MGH] and students to talk about this issue,” Knight said in an interview with the Beacon. “President [M. Lee] Pelton has also been a real advocate for gun violence prevention, so I knew that this was a topic that was important to him and the rest of the campus community.”

MGH will collaborate with the class by offering guidance on the direction of their videos. Sacks and Dr. Peter Masiakos are codirectors of the hospital’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention, a multidisciplinary initiative whose goal is to prevent firearmrelated violence, according to their website.

Ougie Pak said he thinks working with the doctors offers students a unique chance to document the issue of gun violence at a human

about gun violence prevention, but worries that the course could take advantage of survivors.

“I would have some reservations about how students [who] are making the videos come across,” Hessler said. “A lot of gun violence survivors have reservations about being televised with their stories because a lot of times it can feel like trauma porn. It’s difficult because you want to raise awareness but you also want to make sure you’re siding with the survivors and not just taking their story and running with it.”

Sacks said that she wants to emphasize the importance of approaching this topic with sensitivity while contributing to this class.

“Everything that we do is about having that perspective and keeping survivors at the center and having this [class] be an informative, educational process as we move forward,” Sacks said. “We are an academic medical center

“I was looking for a way to more deeply engage with [MGH] and students to talk about this issue.”

-Brooke Knight

Professor Jong Ougie Park will teach a new VMA class on gun violence prevention this spring.

Courtesy of Jong Ougie Park level.

“The doctors are really open to ideas for the kinds of stories we can tell, and they have access to people who’ve witnessed gun violence at all kinds of levels,” Ougie Pak said. “I think this is a very interesting opportunity to get a very human perspective behind the issue.”

Sacks approached Knight with the idea for the class so she could provide her patients with informational videos on gun violence prevention.

Izzy Hessler, the executive co-director of Emerson’s March For Our Lives chapter, said she supports the mission of raising awareness

that is approaching this as the public health issue that it is. This is not about getting clicks, this is really about pursuing change on multiple levels.”

Hessler said that despite her reservations about this class, she thinks it could effectively inform students about how gun violence affects their community.

“Especially at Emerson, where we don’t really experience gun violence too much because we’re kind of in a little bubble in a safe area in Boston, a lot of students don’t realize that this does affect the city a lot,” Hessler said.

“I think it’s important to recognize the privilege we have here and using that to help survivors.”

kathryn_redefer@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

November 21, 2019

Living Arts

7

Spirit of Emerson committee to debut annual Kindness Award Domenic Conte, Beacon Staff An anonymous faculty donor partnered with the Spirit of Emerson organization to establish an award debuting in spring 2020 celebrating kindness within the college community.

Professor Tom Cooper and Assistant Vice President of Student Success Sharon Duffy, co-facilitators of the Spirit of Emerson, worked with the donor to set up the Emerson Kindness award to focus specifically on kindness and to complement the annual Spirit of Emerson Award, which honors leadership. For at least the next three years, the donor intends to cover the $200 reward for the winner of the Kindness Award.

“In this age of constant shootings, violence, Title IX violations and all kinds of other problems, it’s nice to sometimes focus on the positive side of things, because we tend to forget there are individuals of integrity who are doing something positive,” Cooper said in an interview. “We see so many negative things stealing the spotlight.”

For the Spirit of Emerson Award, which Cooper launched in 2013, the committee typically chooses two winners to receive the honor and the small monetary award. Neither Holland nor Cooper could confirm whether or not the Kindness Award will have one or two winners.

The award “honors a person or persons who spreads unconditional, unwavering, and selfless kindness among the Emerson community, ”

according to the Spirit of Emerson committee.

Junior and student facilitator Brandon Smith said the award differs from Spirit of Emerson because it places an emphasis on morale.

“We have a strong focus on radiance, so whoever brings light to the community,” Smith said.

The Spirit of Emerson committee, which includes an alumnus, a former Spirit of Emerson Award winner, and six members of faculty, staff, and administration from across the college, reviews submissions for both the Kindness Award and the Spirit of Emerson Award.

Nominations for the awards are due by Jan. 31, 2020 and can be submitted either through the Kindness Award web page or by email to Smith or Spirit of Emerson Committee Chair Jacqueline Holland.

As criteria for the award, recipients must exhibit kindness that goes above and beyond expectations, meet the Oxford English Dictionary definition of kindness, perform kindness selflessly, live kindness by example, and demonstrate universal, nondiscriminatory kindness, according to the Kindness Award page.

Along with highlighting kindness around the college, Cooper said the Spirit of Emerson also aims to represent the president’s office’s goal of building community.

“It’s pretty hard to build community if you’re always accusing, blaming, criticizing, and judging other people,” Cooper said. “Kindness is part of the glue of building community.”

Recipients can be students, faculty, administration, or any other members of the

“There are people you never hear about, and that’s part of the reason for the award: to give acknowledgement to people who are quietly doing their job.”

-Tom Cooper

Jacqueline Holland works as the chair of the Spirit of Emerson committee that will vote on winners of the Kindness Award. • Shiyu Pan / Beacon Staff Emerson community. The award will be given to the winner in a ceremony at the end of the academic year. For a student recipient, the committee will present the award at a preexisting student-oriented ceremony. A staff or faculty recipient will receive their award at a faculty ceremony.

Holland won the Spirit of Emerson Award in 2016 and said selecting winning nominations both challenges and excites the committee each year.

“We try to be unbiased and base it on the nomination, so that we know it’s fair across the board,” Holland said. “It doesn’t feel like work because it’s fun—you’re celebrating the good at Emerson and these people you wouldn’t have heard of otherwise.”

Cooper said schools often only honor academic or athletic forms of achievement, so

an award for kindness brings attention to the positive deeds and people who go unrecognized.

“There are people you never hear about, and that’s part of the reason for the award: to give acknowledgement to people who are quietly doing their job but doing a wonderful job and who may make the difference in other people’s lives,” Cooper said. “You never hear about it, unless they get acknowledged.”

Smith echoed Cooper’s sentiment, stating that kindness should not be overlooked at Emerson.

“I don’t think it’s honored enough among communities,” he said. “I think kindness is something that is expected but not acknowledged.” domenico_conte@emerson.edu

Cannabis Column: The high cost of criminal cannabis charges Grace Griffin is a junior interdisciplinary major, The Beacon’s living arts editor, and this week’s cannabis columnist.

One night in early 2018, a friend and I sat on a bench in the Boston Common and smoked cannabis. A Boston police officer approached us; “There’s no smoking in the Common, but just finish up that bowl and head out,” he said.

Cannabis was not legal at the federal level, so I felt relieved to avoid the legal consequences of smoking in public.

As nonchalant as the officer was, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my race had something to do with the lax nature of this encounter. I recalled a similar story a high school coworker, also white, told me: he and his girlfriend smoked cannabis in his car in our Massachusetts hometown. After being stopped by a police officer, he said the officer left without so much as a warning, laughed, and quipped, “It’ll be legal soon enough anyway.”

It’s easy to look at these examples of two white teenagers let off the hook for something still federally illegal as progressive; Massachusetts has long led the march toward cannabis legalization nationwide. However, it’s irresponsible to ignore that these two incidents came at a time when black individuals caught possessing or selling cannabis were incarcerated for committing the same crimes.

In February 2018, around the same time I smoked in the Boston Common with my friend, two police officers in New York wearing body cameras pulled over a BMW for having “excessively tinted windows.” Nineteen-yearold driver Lasou Kuyatech sat inside the car with three other black teenagers. The teenagers told the officers they smoked cannabis prior to getting in the car, but had none in their

possession and were not under the influence anymore.

One officer, Elmer Pastran checked the car and stated it was void of any drugs or drug paraphernalia. However, officer Kyle Erickson completed another search of the car at a time when his body camera footage lapsed—he attributed this later to technical difficulties and denied turning his camera off intentionally.

During the time the camera was not recording, Erickson claimed to have found the remains of a joint, which he referred to as a “marijuana cigarette,” in the backseat of the car. Kuyatech protested, accusing Erickson of planting the joint in the car.

The officers arrested Kuyatech for “obstructing a police investigation” and he served two weeks in jail before arranging bail.

Following jail time, he appeared in court over 10 times to fight the charges—the court ultimately found the evidence to be inconclusive.

The American Civil Liberties Union released a 190-page report in 2013 regarding the “war on marijuana” in the United States. One of the report’s findings claimed that marijuana use among black and white populations across the country is about the same, but arrest rates for black individuals were 3.73 times higher. In Manhattan, the ratio reaches up to 15 times higher for black people as opposed to white people. While I recognize Kuyatech’s arrest occurred in a different state under different circumstances, it’s no coincidence that my friend and I got to laugh about “finishing a bowl” with a police officer while Kuyatech faced court charges and jail time; the data reflects that this is a national phenomenon.

Kuyatech’s case stands as a testament to the discrepancies that can arise in a case regarding cannabis possession even when police use body cameras and other technology meant to hold them accountable.

In an investigation into the disproportionate rate of black to white cannabis arrests in New York, The New York Times found that more officers are assigned to neighborhoods with mostly black or hispanic residents. The reason

cited by officers was to quell high crime rates in those communities. However, the article cites a study conducted by Columbia Law School Professor Jeffrey Fagan, who examined this phenomenon and found that the number of officers deployed to historically black neighborhoods was more than warranted based on crime statistics of the areas.

The Times article also discusses the way police use marijuana arrests as a way to bring people in for other crimes, especially in lowerincome communities with mainly people of color. In 2018, Rashawn Nicol appeared in court on cannabis charges—police arrived at the housing project he was at in Brooklyn, where police made twice as many cannabisrelated arrests in 2017 than 2016, and saw his female friend holding a lit blunt. When she started crying, Nicol recalled an officer saying “somebody’s got to go down for this” to him, then arresting him instead of her despite not finding him in use or possession of any drugs.

When police departments focus solely on numerical quotas, they lose sight of the true reason policing exists: to keep communities safe. Arresting a teenager for possession of a joint or bringing someone in on no charges isn’t keeping anyone safer, it’s self-fulfilling an illusion of productivity.

The Washington Post found that in 2016, law enforcement nationwide arrested more people for cannabis charges than for all crimes categorized as violent by the FBI. With a law enforcement and prison system already designed to disenfranchise people of color, cannabis legislation needs to combat this issue.

There’s a way to keep people safe from drug abuse without targeting primarily people of color.

In July 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into effect a bill to address and amend this broken system. The legislation decriminalized possession of less than two ounces of marijuana and made possession punishable by fines of $50 to $200 instead of jail time. The bill also allows for automatic criminal record expungement for those caught

possessing marijuana both retroactively and in future cases. Anyone violating cannabis legislation will not have a criminal record tied to them, and anyone formerly arrested on marijuana charges before decriminalization will have their record automatically cleared.

In 2008, The Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative decriminalized possession of less than one ounce in Massachusetts, eliminating criminal charges and implementing civil fines and community service instead. However, until 2018 when legislation was proposed, nothing addressed expunging criminal records for those already affected by outdated criminal marijuana charges. Still, under this bill, records could only be cleared 10 years after a conviction. Though the bill passed, The Boston Globe reported in May 2019 that Massachusetts officials still have not figured out how many criminal records they had to review and clear, meaning that many still have criminal charges on their permanent record for something legal in the state now.

As a historically progressive state, Massachusetts needs to do better. It should not have taken 10 years following the initial decriminalization bill to consider those who have suffered under criminal marijuana charges. Marijuana legalization is beneficial and productive for many communities, but we cannot overlook those who have been systematically targeted by the same laws that allow young white people like myself to smoke in public with no consequence. We need to acknowledge racial profiling in relation to marijuana arrests and take steps with legislation to automatically clear records of those convicted of marijuana charges.

As attendees of a predominantly white college in the heart of downtown Boston, we as Emerson students must also remember our privilege and use it for activism. Next time you’re smoking a joint in the Common without fear of legal consequences, remember there are still people imprisoned for doing the exact same thing. grace_griffin@emerson.edu

Sports

The Berkeley Beacon

November 21, 2019

8

UPCOMING ACTION MEN’S BASKETBALL: Emerson at Hartford, 7 p.m., Thursday WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Emerson at Middletown, Conn., 8 p.m., Friday WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Emmanual at Emerson, 7:30 p.m., Tuesday MEN’S BASKETBALL: Emerson at Pine Manor, 6 p.m., Tuesday

Men’s lacrosse announces captains Nick Rempe, Beacon Correspondent The men’s lacrosse team announced sophomore midfielder Skyler Celotto and senior attacker Austin Franklin as its captains for the 2020 season earlier this week.

Celotto is the first underclassman named as a captain in program history.

“It’s a really big honor,” Celotto said in an interview. “Regardless of age, to be recognized as a leader by this team with incredible talent and leadership already, it’s something I really take to heart.”

Celotto led the team with 30 goals and 35 points and the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference awarded him second-team all-conference honors as a freshman.

Head coach Matthew Colombini said he did not decide for Celotto to be a captain, but a majority of the team voted for it.

“We asked everyone on the team to put three names down,” Colombini said in an interview.. “[Celotto] got votes from almost every person on the team, other than himself, so that’s how we decided to name him.”

Colombini said Celotto is more than fit for

Austin Franklin (right) Courtesy of Kate Foultz

Skyler Celotto (No. 7) Courtesy of Kate Foultz

the position regardless of his grade.

“He’s a great leader, and a hard worker,” Colombini said. “He’s learned to bring people with him, and come the spring, we expect him to just be who he already is, and we’ll be fine.”

Franklin, who transferred to Emerson during his sophomore year, led the team with 17 assists and finished second in scoring with 34 points last season.

“It’s an honor,” Franklin said in an interview.

“To be given that privilege by your coaches and teammates to lead a great group of guys, it

means a lot.”

Colombini praised Franklin for his dedication to the program since he arrived.

“This was a long way coming,” Colombini said. “He’s always been active with his teammates, getting in extra work before and after practice, and always asking questions. So we’ve given him more responsibility over time, and now it’s a no brainer.”

Franklin said he will continue to stick to what works for him in order to continue his success.

“I expect myself to keep doing what I’m

doing,” Franklin said. “Make plays when we need it, makes everyone laugh when we need it, and help everyone focus when we need it.”

With both Celotto and Franklin pacing the team on the field, Colombini said he expects the Lions to continue their offensive playstyle.

“They both better score a lot of goals,” Colombini said. “They’re both very talented, and we have the deepest team to go around them that we’ve had in my time here.”

Coming off a season in which the team won its first conference game, both Celotto and Franklin feel the team can win more than just one match in the NEWMAC. “If everyone gives everything they have and give 100 percent, that will help us reach the best outcome,” Celotto said.

Franklin said the team has the potential to make its first-ever NEWMAC playoff appearance.

“If we play hard and play as a team, we can make the [NEWMAC] playoffs,” Franklin said. nicholas_rempe@emerson.edu @nick_rempe

Women’s soccer receives five All-Conference awards Ethan McDowell, Beacon Staff Five women’s soccer players received spots on the NEWMAC All-Conference Teams on Nov. 13 following the team’s second consecutive winning season.

After each season, the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference coaches vote to decide the two 13-player AllConference Teams, which recognize the top performers in the conference.

Sophomore goalkeeper Megan Rose and freshman defender Cali Bruce appear on the first team while senior forward Veronica Alberts, sophomore midfielder Grace Cosgrove, and junior defender Amanda Benavente made the second team.

Rose started 34 games for the Lions over two seasons. This is her second appearance on the NEWMAC All-Conference Team.

The Lions allowed 34 goals in 2018, and Rose said they made it their goal to cut the number in half this year. They met their exact target by conceding 17 goals. Head coach David Suvak said he is proud of Rose’s improvements going into her second season.

“I think the biggest thing I noticed was her leadership got stronger,” Suvak said in an interview. “She was leading the team as a captain and controlling games in the back.”

Rose made 78 saves this season, but credited the entire defensive unit with keeping the goal total low.

Bruce and Benavente both received AllConference recognition for their contributions to the Lions’ defense.

Bruce started all 19 games for the Lions as a freshman, scoring two goals and recording four assists. Suvak moved Bruce to center back after she began the season as a midfielder.

“I don’t really consider myself a goalscorer, but I wanted to get X-amount of assists and help set up and create goal-scoring opportunities,” Bruce said in an interview. “Starting to play defense, which is what I used to do on my club team, was like going back to my more traditional role. I guess my goals there were to just be a really good leader because, especially as a center back and a freshman, it’s an interesting dynamic.”

Once the Lions entered conference play, Suvak made the position change and said he saw immediate results.

“She brought a certain level of confidence and calmness to the back line and was able to control what was happening from the back,” Suvak said. “I think she played a big part in the reason why we gave up substantially less goals.”

Benavente appeared on the NEWMAC AllConference Team for the second time after making the first team last year. Suvak said he is glad the coaches still recognize Benevente as one of the best defenders in the conference.

“She had to deal with the best forwards in the conference in every match,” Suvak said.

“That was what I was putting on her. She’s a very athletic player and is able to manage some very good forwards. I think she just got edged out of the first team, but I’m happy she is AllConference, she deserves that.”

In addition to the several defenders honored

Amanda Benavente led the defense to allow 0.86 goals per game. Rachel Culver / Beacon Staff by the NEWMAC, two Emerson forwards also made appearances on All-Conference Teams.

Alberts received second team All-Conference recognition for the first time in her career. As a senior, she scored three game-winning goals for the Lions.

“I’m really happy for her, because she has been a very dangerous attacker for Emerson since she was a freshman here,” Suvak said.

Cosgrove joined Alberts as a member of the All-Conference second team at midfield. She led the Lions in scoring with eight goals and five assists.

“I think Grace was recognized as one of the better midfielders in the conference, and there’s some pretty talented kids in that group,” Suvak

said. “She was no longer a first year doing some things out there on the field kind of unnoticed.

She was being marked many times and having to deal with new pressures.”

Of the five players to make the AllConference Teams, only Alberts is graduating.

Suvak remains optimistic going into next year.

“I feel really good about what this team’s future could be,” Suvak said. “If we had scored one or two goals in the last five games, we would have been in a slightly different position, but for what we were this year we had an excellent season.” ethan_mcdowell@emerson.edu @EthanMMcDowell

Bond, Tepper earn NEWMAC honors Continued from page 1 “[Tepper] made me look good,” Bond said in an interview. “It didn’t matter if I put up a perfect or an off ball, she’ll still get a kill on it.

It was very comforting knowing that [Tepper] was a girl I could count on if we really needed a point.”

Sophomore outside hitter Carolyn Vaimoso, Bond’s host during her recruitment visit, said she knew the team would benefit from Bond joining the team the moment she saw her on film.

“Before she came here, coach [Ben Read] sat me down and showed me her highlight reels, and the first time I saw her play I said she would be the best addition to the team I could think of,” Vaimoso said in an interview. “When she actually committed to the college, I was stoked

because I knew the season was going to be great.”

Entering the season, the Lions ranked eighth out of 11 teams in the NEWMAC preseason coaches poll, one seed shy of making the playoffs. Head coach Ben Read said Bond played a massive role in helping the team exceed expectations and make the conference finals.

“Going from never making the conference playoffs and being picked eighth in the conference to losing in the championship is very impressive,” Read said in an interview.

“That’s a big testament to Caroline [Bond], as a setter who’s running our offense as a freshman, and how hard the rest of the team has worked.”

In addition to leading the team in assists, Bond ranked 15th in the conference in digs with 233. Vaimoso said Bond’s defense sets her apart

from most setters.

“She’s an insanely good defensive player, and she plays with a lot of heart,” Vaimoso said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ball drop without her going for it or trying to get it up. She’s just fun to watch.”

Although she said she does not want to linger on statistical accomplishments, Bond said she believes the Moira Brennan ‘19 all-time assists record of 3,023 is within her reach.

“I do not look at my stats at all, I honestly do not keep track,” Bond said. “If we win, I don’t care as much about the personal things. But if I had to set a goal for myself, because I think goals are important, at some point in my career I think breaking the all-time assists record is something I can do.”

Tepper surpassed the 1,000 kill milestone in the NEWMAC semifinals against Wellesley

College on Nov. 7. She led the conference with 1,152 total attacks and placed second in the conference with 408 kills. Read said Tepper’s outstanding play commands attention from opposing teams and leaves room for her teammates to perform.

“Because of the attention that Grace [Tepper] was getting, that helped the rest of the team step up and be successful,” Read said.

The All-Conference duo will remain together for one more season before Tepper graduates in 2021. Vaimoso said the combination helps lead the team in both skill and leadership.

“Having an intense hitter and a great setter sets everything up so well for us,” Vaimoso said. “They carry the team on their back in many different ways.” domenico_conte@emerson.edu @domenicconte