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gatepost@framingham.edu
T he G atepost Framingham State College’s Independent Student Newspaper
Arts & Features: Cut it out!
Hang it in your dorm room - need-to-know info for Framingham State students. Pg. 10
Sunday Gatepost Editorial: Saturday Sports: 9/18 9/19 Safety first Return of the Ram
Now in his fourth year as head coach, Tom Kelley has resurrected the football program, which sets its sights on the MASCAC championship.
Students should be aware of the dangers of college nightlife.
Pg. 13
Pg. 6
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy 72°/54° 74°/51°
FSC welcomes freshmen, transfer students
By Spencer Buell Editorial Staff
The Gatepost archives
Framingham State students show their Ram pride.
Framingham State to receive university status
By Lauren Byrnes Editor-In-Chief
On Oct. 26, the legislation signed by Governor Deval Patrick last summer allowing Framingham State College to gain university status will go into effect. Framingham State is not the only college to receive university status. Its sister colleges - Worcester, Bridgewater, Westfield, Fitchburg, Salem and the three specialty colleges - will all gain university status on Oct. 26. Although the specialty colleges - Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Massachusetts College of Art and Design - will receive university status, all three schools opted not to change their names. Although many of the colleges have already changed their websites and advertisements, all legal documents will change on Oct. 26. Many of the state college presidents have been pursuing the legislation to receive university status for at least three years, said President Timothy Flanagan. There is no “hard and fast criteria” in the country that institutions must meet in order to become universities, he added. However, the guidelines created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching state that most
institutions that award 50 master’s degrees a year are or should be universities. Framingham State awards almost 10 times that number, Flanagan said. “We hope that it [receiving university status] helps our students in terms of what they want to do after they graduate,” Flanagan said. “Whether we realize it or not or whether we even acknowledge it or not, there are a lot of people that attribute different characteristics to a university than to a college.” The name change “reflects the institution that Framingham State has become,” he said. According to Flanagan, among the additions to the undergraduate program offerings over the years, Framingham State also has the “largest concentration of graduate students of any of the state colleges.” Vice President of Administration, Finance and Technology Dr. Dale Hamel said, “There is a change of status that comes with the designation. ... In many ways it’s not a change of mission or purpose or programs, but really a change of name.” The change in name is not the only modification the college will need to make. The name change will require many aesthetic modifications on campus, particularly with -Continued on page 3
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions released tentative admissions statistics this week for the fall 2010 semester. According to Jeremy Spencer, FSC’s new dean of undergraduate admissions, the exact numbers for this semester are not yet finalized, and more concrete numbers will be available at the end of October. As of Sept. 14, there are 734 freshmen and 418 transfer students enrolled for the fall 2010 semester for a total of 1,152 incoming students. Approximately 161 (14 percent) incoming students identify themselves as being non-white, 12 (1 percent) students are from another country, 58 (5 percent) students are from another state and 104 (9 percent) students are over the age of 25. Approximately 737 (64 percent), incoming students live on campus and 392 (34 percent) are commuters. The average SAT score and GPA of incoming students was 1038 and 3.17, respectively. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions did not record the class rank of applicants. FSC received 3,461 applications for the fall 2010 semester and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions accepted 2,268 (65.53 percent). Of the 2,268 accepted freshmen, 734 (32.36 percent) enrolled. As the targets for the fall 2010 semester were 725 freshman and 400 transfer students, the administration admitted nine additional freshmen and 18 additional transfer students. However, Spencer said because the number of incoming students tend to “melt,” FSC should reach its original goal numbers for freshmen and transfer students. “We anticipate these numbers lowering a bit when we account for no-shows and students who decided to leave FSC early in the semester,” he said.
-Continued on page 3
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