ONE YEAR LATER, NU COMMUNITY REFLECTS ON ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
On Oct. 7, 2023, Mady Most was in the middle of giving a campus tour when her family and friends began calling her repeatedly.
“I had to stop the tour early because I thought there was an emergency,” said Most, a fourth-year health science major and Husky Ambassador. “My mom told me to go home and put the news on.”
Most, the president of Northeastern Hillel, later learned about Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel that day, in which the Islamic, Palestinian nationalist militant group killed approximately 1,200 people and took
war in the Middle East that has had — and continues to have — significant implications for Northeastern’s campus community.
“It was a mad dash to text and call and just hear the voices of all the loved ones I have in Israel,” Most said. Most’s mother’s family lives in Israel, and she has visited the country multi ple times throughout her life.
“To hear what was going on, something so devastating and unfathomable happening in my homeland and a place that means so much to me — I will never forget that feeling,” she said.
In the days after the attack, several Jewish student groups on campus held joint memorials and demon strations, mourning those killed and demand
By Emily Spatz | Campus Editor
ing Hamas release those taken hostage.
“I came to Hillel [Oct. 7] and was with some other people in this community just to sit together,” said Gregory Laursen, a third-year data science and international affairs com
Government Association. “No one said a word — we were all feeling the same thing. It’s sort of an indescribable feeling, I never felt that way before, and I hope to never feel it again.”
Now, a year since Israel declared
many on university campuses.
“People might not expect as much from students or young people just because they’re young, and people might not expect them to really have that stake in those kind of issues or
Northeastern price tag breaks $90,000
By Devyn Rudnick News Correspondent
When Dianna McIntire, a thirdyear psychology major, opened her annual tuition statement for the 202425 academic year, she was shocked.
“Are you serious? Oh my god, that’s crazy,” McIntire said.
McIntire is not alone in her reaction. Northeastern, once considered a “safety” school for many, broke a new tuition threshold for the 202425 academic year, totaling more than $90,000 before aid for a full year for students living on campus. As tuition reaches a record high, many students say they are sur-
prised and disappointed by the price tag of their education.
“I felt a little guilty about [the cost of tuition],” said Sam Goff, a second-year psychology major. “I was supposed to go to school in Scotland and it’s way cheaper there.”
This year’s bill, which totals $90,250 for two semesters, accounts for $64,990 in tuition; $1,172 in fees; an estimated $12,688 in housing and $8,600 for a meal plan; and $2,800 in indirect costs not billed by Northeastern. Last academic year, tuition and fees were around $87,000, marking an increase of 3.7% as they steadily rose to their current peak.
From guilt to shock to anger, students say they and their peers suffer the financial reality of Northeastern’s rising costs.
“It makes it harder for people to be able to go to school,” McIntire said. “I feel like that shouldn’t be something that they have to worry about when they’re wanting to get a degree. Finances shouldn’t be getting in the way of that; and that number is just so unrealistic.”
While surpassing the $90,000 mark has become somewhat standard among elite private universities, students generally believe this is an unreasonable amount to pay for school.
“I knew it was expensive, but I just feel like it’s silly,” Goff said.
Northeastern’s price has more than doubled over the past decade, reaching $42,534 for a full year in 2014. Such increases from private universities like Northeastern have “significantly outpaced inflation,” said David Canaski, president of Financial Aid Experts.
“By the time you factor in room and board and everything else, you’re getting close to half a million dollars for four years,” Canaski said. “That’s just not affordable for the average family with an income even of $100,000 or $150,000.”
Canaski characterized Northeast-
ern’s annual tuition hike as “tuition discounting,” or raising the tuition of those who can afford it to subsidize scholarships and aid for those who can’t. In the interest of economic diversity, this is how private universities like Northeastern become accessible to low-income families, Canaski said.
According to a September article by university-run media outlet Northeastern Global News, the university spent a record $470 million on financial aid for the 2024-25 academic year and is “committed to meeting the full demonstrated financial need for every student who attends the university.”
Liza Sheehy
Graphic by Emma Liu
Photo by Curtis DeSmith
Two pro-Israel students stand wrapped in Israeli flags during the Centennial Common encampment April 26. The demonstration ended in the arrest of roughly 100 protesters.
Photos by Curtis DeSmith
CAMPUS
StudentsweighinontensecampusoneyearafterOct.7attacks
“Our generation really is creating that shift in terms of being vocal and being outspoken and really making noise when we feel like something is wrong,” Bamidele said.
At Northeastern, pro-Palestinian students have demanded in repeated demonstrations throughout the year that the university cut ties with companies that do business with Israel, saying Israel’s military operations in the region amount to a genocide of Palestinians. Northeastern partners with companies that manufacture weapons and supply them to Israel, notably RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, which employ students for co-op.
“There’s a long-established precedent of protesters on university campuses standing up against morally outrageous things,” said Phineas Wormser, a third-year computer science major who has participated in several of Northeastern’s pro-Palestine protests over the last year. “I think it’s our moral responsibility to stand up for the people in Gaza, since they’re fighting for basic survival [and] they don’t have the ability to do so for themselves.”
Students’ disparate understandings and views on the conflict fostered a tense campus climate over the past year. Both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students have expressed safety concerns over doxxing on social media and harassment over their identities and beliefs.
“It’s been a profoundly difficult year for students on campus,” Director and Rabbi of Northeastern Hillel Sara Paasche-Orlow said. “This is a complex, international conflict that has, in some ways, manipulated many narratives on campus.”
Both camps have also expressed frustration with how Northeastern’s administration responded to the war and ensuing student protests. Pro-Palestinian students have criticized the fact that Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun has only commented on the Israel-Hamas war
once, when he released a co-signed statement Oct. 10, 2023, condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel.
In August, a group of more than a dozen students and alumni filed a complaint against Northeastern with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, urging a federal investigation into the university’s alleged discrimination against Palestinian, Arab and Palestine-supporting students. The complainants said the university created a hostile environment for Palestinian and Arab students, imposed unfair disciplinary actions on pro-Palestinian activism and responded to pro-Palestine events more harshly than pro-Israel events.
Laursen and Most said they didn’t oppose the protests themselves. But Jewish students often expressed fear that frequent chants of “globalize the Intifada” and “from the river to the sea” often used by pro-Palestine protesters were antisemitic and called for violence against Jewish people.
“More than anything, I support Northeastern’s students’ rights to lobby for movements they are passionate about. That’s a large part of what Hillel does,” Most said. “Regardless of what people feel on certain issues, I’m glad Northeastern provides a space for students to speak up about what they feel passionate about.”
In December, the unofficial student group Huskies for a Free Palestine staged a sit-in in the Curry Student Center, which overlapped with a preplanned Shabbat dinner organized by Northeastern Chabad just a few floors above where more than 100 total demonstrators gathered over the course of eight hours. Jewish students who attended the dinner told The News they felt “targeted” by the demonstration and were emotionally distressed over a poster reading “globalize the Intifada” that pro-Palestine demonstrators hung in Curry. The sit-in resulted in the university placing three student protesters on deferred suspension, the highest level of warning issued by the university.
The tense year on campus came to a head when Northeastern students erected an encampment on Centennial Common in April, joining a nationwide movement of similar demonstrations on university campuses. After the second night of the demonstration, which culminated in a tense interaction between pro-Palestine encampment participants and two pro-Israel counter protesters, close to 100 demonstrators were arrested by university, state and Boston police the following morning.
Despite the heavy police response, protesters at the encampment remained peaceful. Demonstrators, made up of Northeastern students, those from outside colleges and other groups, held a Passover Seder on the first night and have emphasized throughout the year they don’t see traditional pro-Palestine slogans, such as “from the river to the sea,” as antisemitic.
“There was no sense of anger. It was a really hopeful experience, I felt a sense of hope for the Palestinian people, for the Israeli people, a hope for a better world,” said Wormser, who was arrested at the encampment. “Now, a year later, you only hear about the negativity. Everyone remembers the police response, the violence, the arrests, but really that’s only a small part of it.”
As the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel passes, the conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate. On Oct. 2, Iran fired a barrage of missiles into Israeli territory, and Israel has vowed to retaliate. Israel has struck several targets in Lebanon since the end of September in its war on Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group allied with Hamas.
Pro-Palestinian students have said they are planning to continue to pressure the university to divest from military companies as the war escalates. Northeastern School of Law Students for Justice in Palestine participated in a “Week of Rage” taking place on college campuses nationwide from Oct. 7 to Oct. 11.
The group held events each day to protest the Israel-Hamas war and the university’s relationships with companies supplying weapons to Israel.
On Oct. 9, Huskies for a Free Palestine held a rally on the sidewalk of the Christian Science Plaza to protest Northeastern’s career fair that same day, which featured weapons manufacturers like RTX and General Dynamics.
“I think as long as we keep applying pressure there’s hope of making the university hear us,” Wormser said. “If the university understands that enough people really care about this injustice, and they’re motivated financially, I hope that they will fold to the pressure and divest and denounce this brutal war.”
As the war enters its second year and tensions in the Middle East escalate, students said they’re uncertain about what the future of protests will hold for Northeastern’s campus.
This semester, the university updated its Code of Student Conduct and other campus demonstration rules, implementing more severe sanctions for students found in violation of university policies.
“Oct. 7 commemoration is a challenging one because there’s both the loss of life and the suffering on that day and there’s the ongoing pain of hostages being held, and then there’s the unresolved conflict and unresolved sense of what will the future hold,” Paasche-Orlow said. Northeastern Hillel held a vigil on Krentzman Quad Oct. 7 to commemorate the lives lost and to “stand strong in the face of continued tragedy,” according to the group’s Facebook post about the event.
Laursen highlighted the numerous protests that have taken place in Israel calling for a ceasefire and the safe return of Israeli hostages.
“On the surface, it might look like everyone’s polar opposites. But I think deep down we all, for the most part, want the same things,” Laursen said. “People just want suffering to end for everyone.”
Students also expressed gratitude that tensions on Northeastern’s campus did not escalate into physical violence between students. At other universities, like the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Arizona, confrontations between students about the Israel-Hamas war resulted in injuries when protesters and counter protesters threw objects, like fireworks and traffic cones, at each other.
Paasche-Orlow said she believes there have been and will continue to be productive conversations about the conflict on campus.
“There is important dialogue happening in lots of different corners of campus,” she said. “I believe already there’s much more discourse and dialogue going on as people’s eyes are open to the complexity of this greater conflict.”
Lily Cooper and Zoe MacDiarmid contributed reporting.
The current average net price of enrollment for Northeastern students after receiving financial aid and scholarships is $28,521 annually, the article reads, and 61% of undergraduate students at the university receive some type of financial aid. However, financial aid is dependent on each student, with outliers on both ends of the needbased spectrum.
Even with the majority of students receiving some form of financial aid, many said they’re still concerned about the annual increases in the cost of attendance.
“When I decided I was going to apply here, it wasn’t as high as it is now,” said Tori Frangella, a second-year pharmacy major. “When I applied, [tuition] was around
$75,000, which is still a lot, but much less than it is now.”
Some believe the university makes up for its massive price tag through its revered co-op program. However, even with extensive career opportunities and resources the university provides, the cost weighs on students’ minds.
“I’m in a five-year program to get my master’s degree, and the co-op opportunities are really nice, but it’s just a lot of money,” Frangella said.
Others are acutely aware of the price and question if it is reflected in their Northeastern experience, telling The News the school should have “better food” and “more libraries.”
“I don’t know if the amount you pay is justified,” said Ryan Schmitt, a first-year philosophy, politics, and economics major.
Students pursuing arts degrees also say they have to confront the reality that they may be paying more for their degree than what their job will earn them in the future.
“Generally, the response is just sort of plug your ears and keep going and pray that your degree is going to be worth something, especially as someone in the arts and design,” said Lain Orndorff, a second-year design major. “I do wonder about the value of an arts degree, especially as prices go up, and seeing other people in the field and where they got their degrees, and what their degrees are compared to how much they paid.”
Northeastern is one of many private schools in the Boston area breaking the $90,000 threshold. Wellesley College, Boston University and Tufts University all exceed
the number in annual tuition and fees for this year, according to their respective websites.
Despite concerns, students say Northeastern still offers what many of these schools do not — an opportunity to work full-time in a job that aligns with students’ majors. Having a consistent salary and a leg up in an increasingly competitive job market diminishes some doubt surrounding the price.
“One thing that I appreciate about Northeastern is the modularity of its price tag — if you don’t want to be in a classroom for four years paying for that, you don’t have to,” Orndorff said.
“You can go to two or even three coops and still have a four-year degree at the end of the day, which is helpful to understand the cost of the Northeastern student experience.”
Though current students describe the cost as “unrealistic” and “unjustifiable,” Northeastern continues to receive recordbreaking numbers of applicants each year.
“I know that tuition is high, but I feel like you get a lot out of it.” Frangella cited the university’s high rate of employment for post-grads — according to Northeastern’s career outcomes website, 97% of graduates are employed or in graduate school within nine months of graduation.
Even with the opportunities offered by the university and future job prospects, students across socioeconomic backgrounds agree the number can be jarring.
“It’s definitely a little nerve-wracking to know that that’s the number,” Orndorff said.
Two Israeli flags and one Palestinian flag hang from the Centennial Common ledge. Students organized multiple protests on campus calling for a ceasefire throughout the past year following on campus in the past year following Hamas’ attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023.
Photo by Margot Murphy
Northeastern makes laundry free for students in residence halls
By Katarina Schmeiszer News Staff
Laundry machines in Northeastern residence halls, which, for years, cost most students $3 to do one cycle of laundry, are permanently free to use as of the fall 2024 semester.
For students, the development was surprising but welcome; many were still under the impression they would have to pay for laundry with the money allotted each semester through the Husky Card system when selecting housing in the spring and summer.
“I just went down one day, and it was free,” said Calliope Silverberg, a second-year biochemistry major who lives in Davenport A. Silverberg’s experience mirrors what many students experienced when they moved back to campus at the beginning of the semester.
Students living in on-campus residence halls have yet to receive a communication from the university explaining the change or why it occurred.
The change applies to all university residence halls except for the Midtown Hotel and 60 Belvidere St., the university confirmed in an email to The News Oct. 1.
“We don’t own the laundry facilities at 60 Belvidere and Midtown,
our leased properties, and cannot change them,” Northeastern spokesperson Dan Sarro said in an email to The News. “We do, however, provide a credit to students at these two locations.”
Sarro said there were no additional fees students had to pay on their housing bill to accommodate the change.
“It was kind of a surprise when I moved in. I had heard about it after I moved in and people were talking about it,” said Aleeza Syed, a fourthyear political science major currently living in West Village E. “I went in with the expectation that I would have to pay using my Husky Card.”
Syed had previously lived on campus at 60 Belvidere St. and West Village A. While she said she was never concerned about running out of money for laundry, she said she often had excess money for laundry on her Husky Card that remained unused.
For Syed, the new system ensures no additional money is spent, it makes doing laundry more efficient and the machines easier to use. For Silverberg, the new system eliminates an extra cost she had last year.
“I think [last year] I added $20 first semester and second semester about the same,” Silverberg said. She said she was originally allotted
around $100 through her Husky Card and wished she could have used the money allotted for printing, $120, for laundry instead.
The new free laundry system has only been extended to some housing locations. The Midtown Hotel and 60 Belvidere St., previously known as the Sheraton Hotel, are continuing to charge students for wash and dry cycles. On the Northeastern Housing website, it is only stated that there are laundry facilities available at 60 Belvidere St. and the Midtown Hotel. It is not specified that the buildings use a different system than the rest of the on-campus residence halls.
Brooke Kruger, a biochemistry major, and Michelle Seznec, a psychology major, are first-year students living in the Midtown Hotel. For them, laundry is not only inconvenient, but also a significant expense.
Midtown and 60 Belvidere St. residents like Kruger and Seznec were compensated with Husky Dollars in exchange for paying for their laundry out of pocket.
“We were given $50 for food, like dining dollars,” Seznec said. “But I’ve already spent $60 on laundry a month into the semester.”
Seznec said she does about two to three loads per week but often has
by
to add additional time to the dryer for her clothes to fully dry, adding another $0.25 for six extra minutes.
“I think if they compensated us more for how much we were spending, that would be more fair. I think it is the fact that the system itself is unequal,” Seznec said.
Kruger felt very strongly that the Midtown Hotel and 60 Belvidere St. residents are disadvantaged because of where they live.
“I think there should be a universal, equal way for everybody. It
shouldn’t be [that] some people have to pay for it and get compensated in a weird way,” Kruger said.
Syed echoed this sentiment. While making most laundry on campus free was a good first step, excluding certain buildings adds an extra living expense for students who aren’t given that benefit, she said.
“I think that [laundry] has caused people unnecessary trouble, and I think this system is definitely working way better. It should be extended to all housing on campus,” Syed said.
Column: Anna Delvey’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ slot is a symbol of inequity
By Janira Skrbkova News Staff
The infamous Anna Delvey chacha’d across the national stage Sept. 17 in a sequined dress and, to the amusement of many, a sparkling ankle monitor.
Scoring 18 out of 30 possible points, the judges of “Dancing with the Stars” critiqued Delvey on her lack of flow in connecting the steps in her routine. She and her professional partner, Ezra Sosa, placed eighth out of the 13 pairings. Delvey’s scores, however, are the least of viewers’ concerns.
After posing as a wealthy German heiress in an effort to extort
Manhattan’s elite and join the upper echelon, Delvey was convicted on eight counts of fraud and grand larceny theft in 2019.
“I hope America will get a chance to see a different side of me,” Delvey said after coming off stage from her first performance.
Delvey was born Anna Sorokin in 1991 to working-class parents in then-Soviet Russia. She immigrated with her family to Germany in 2007 and independently moved to New York as a young adult.
Over the course of her time in the city, Delvey swindled financial institutions, friends and hotels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars under the pretenses of having a fortune in Germany. She was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison but was released in 2021 for good behavior just short of the four-year mark.
Following her release, Delvey’s story went mainstream in 2022 with the release of the hit Netflix drama, “Inventing Anna.” The nine-episode miniseries detailed the scheming and events of her New York social climb, garnering 17 award nominations and winning the ReFrame Stamp for Gender Balanced Production. Business Insider reported that the streaming platform paid Delvey $320,000 for the rights to adapt her story.
“Inventing Anna’s” rise to Netflix fame as well as Delvey’s recent opportunity to perform on “Dancing with the Stars” beg the question — to which kinds of people do we
grant social currency and societal rehabilitation?
On the celebrity dance show’s premiere night for the 33rd season, hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough introduced Delvey as a “fashionista” and, strikingly, an “entrepreneur.”
“I served my time and I repaid my restitution,” said Delvey in an interview on the “Dancing with the Stars” press line. “I think I should be afforded the chance to move forward.”
It would be remiss, however, not to draw a parallel between the millions of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals who will never gain the kind of privilege and access Delvey has been extended.
A 2022 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that, lacking the resources to reintegrate into society, almost 60% of former inmates struggle with unemployment. The Prison Policy Initiative also points to the housing insecurity that many formerly incarcerated individuals face, with this demographic being 10 times more likely to contend with homelessness than the general public. Meanwhile, the glamor we’ve ascribed to Delvey and her actions — white collar, high-intrigue crimes committed by a white woman — allows her unique re-entry into public life, as well as entry into the lifestyle that she originally sought to gain.
Delvey’s X reposts are an echochamber of this glamorization. The nature of Delvey’s notoriety allows for online parasociality to thrive.
“First of all, Anna is innocent. She is being persecuted by the justice system for being too pretty, too popular, too perfect,” one user said.
“Obsessed with Anna Delvey wearing a rhinestone ankle monitor on Dancing with the Stars,” said another. In framing Delvey as a slighted public figure, exempt from any serious critique because of her campy relevance in the pop culture zeitgeist, she is exalted from her past in a way that other formerly incarcerated individuals aren’t given the grace to achieve.
The “Dancing with the Stars” judges panel further perpetuated this sentiment.
“[You’re] ‘reinventing Anna’ yet again, and it could be working,” said longtime judge Bruno Tonioli.
Soon after her February 2021 prison release, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detained Delvey for overstaying her visa and placed her on house arrest. Notably, Delvey is on house arrest in New York, while “Dancing with the Stars” films in Los Angeles.
In an interview on the press line, Delvey told The Hollywood Reporter that ICE gave her special permission to appear on the show.
It is difficult not to draw a comparison between Delvey and the thousands of people in ICE detention centers who not only do not receive this kind of treatment, but are subject to negligence.
A 2018 study by John M. Eason, a senior research fellow at the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy
Center, showed that for every 1,000 people held in an immigrant detention center, there are 126 assaults, 36 forced moves and six disturbances annually. In some cases, these migrants also suffer family separation. In 2023, 998 children still awaited reunification, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE conducted over 140,000 removals and almost 63,000 expulsions in 2023 alone, whereas the agency granted Delvey house arrest and, furthermore, amended their original conditions to accommodate her travels to Los Angeles.
Though many fans questioned the fairness of Delvey’s appearance, she and her partner appeared on the show’s Sept. 25 episode, as no couples faced elimination in the season premiere.
Delivering another mid-tier performance, Delvey and Sosa were one of two couples sent home in the second episode.
“Anna, what are you going to take away from this competition?” host Julianne Hough asked after the elimination.
“Nothing,” Delvey said blankly.
“And there you have it,” Hough said. “Absolutely nothing.”
The remaining celebrity-pro dance pairings will continue to compete for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy in the coming weeks. Though extended immense privilege and opportunity, “fashionista” and “entrepreneur” Anna Delvey managed to drop the — literal — ball.
Drying machines in the West Village A North laundry room. Students moving in this fall were pleasantly surprised to see free laundry machines in residence halls.
Photo
Darin Zullo
Anna Delvey (right) competes on “Dancing with the Stars” with Ezra Sosa. Delvey’s participation on the show was met with controversy given her background as a fraudster.
Photo courtesy Eric McCandless, Disney
LIFESTYLE
MFA Salvador Dalí exhibit disrupts minds, disintegrates perspectives
By Eleanor Hardy News Correspondent
Need a break from reality and an opportunity to enter a world of dreams and distortion? Visitors can take in winding displays of mixed paintings, prints and influential works by Salvador Dalí at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, or MFA, free with general admission. Curated by Frederick Ilchman, “Dalí: Disruption and Devotion” is a collection of nearly 30 of Dalí’s works on loan from the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla. It features shad-
supplemented with his early surrealist works, the full scope of Dalí’s masterful technical skill lends itself to the exhibit.
Still life is a genre of painting that depicts human-made and natural objects often in simplistic explorations. Dalí’s “Morphological Echo,” or subverted still life, was placed next to “Still Life with Stoneware Jug, Wine Glass, Herring, and Bread” by Dutch painter Pieter Claesz, a pairing that gave MFA visitor Seamus Monahan “a deeper perspective.”
“It all seems very random at first, and when you look closer, you can
Some of these inspirations included the influential Spanish romantic painter Francisco Goya and the written psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. The engravings of Goya can be found near the exhibit’s entrance, paired with descriptions of Dalí’s admiration and nationalistic pride in the early stages of his artworks. Dalí worked in Spain during the surrealist movement throughout the 20th century and was influenced by the global, political and cultural shifts of the time, such as those that occurred during World War II.
Surrealism was “not a movement,” Dalí said, but “a latent state of mind perceivable through the powers of dream and nightmare.”
A key example of this perspective is “The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory.” Found at the exhibit’s entrance, the painting, which is a recreation of his earlier work, “The Persistence of Memory,” features melting watches against a barren landscape to represent the fluidity of time.
Another focal point of the exhibit is Dalí’s exploration of Catholicism and his role as a
and Reverential,” a film available for viewing towards the back of the exhibit, Dalí’s fascination with the atomic bomb began after the mass destruction caused by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Symbolism from this age can be found in his most prominent paintings, such as “The Ecumenical Council,” an imposing, intricate painting featuring the Holy Trinity and a self-portrait. The figure of Christ, seemingly disintegrating into floating particles, is constructed by Dalí’s intricate brushstrokes to exist without a physical form.
the gradual stylistic evolution of the
Column: ‘Brat summer’ gave Gen
Z a confidence boost. Will it last?
By Claudie Bellanger Deputy Lifestyle Editor
Sleeping in your makeup, fake accents, clubbing and drunk cigarettes are just a few things that have been labeled “brat summer”-coded.
For what feels like forever, TikTok and Instagram users have strived for different variations of the “clean girl aesthetic”: neutral colors, organization and clear skin. Appearing clean and put-together is the trend’s common goal — and it’s largely unattainable. For college students especially, it’s hard to imagine a spotless bedroom, an acne-free face and a completely balanced routine fitting into an already packed schedule.
Then came Charli XCX’s “Brat.”
“Brat” is the English singer’s sixth studio album and an unapologetic journey through hyperpop. Following its release in June, the phenomenon “brat summer” was born. And it exploded.
The “brat” aesthetic made its way from Charli XCX fans to the frontlines of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign TikTok account, @kamalahq, inspired by Charli XCX’s post on X claiming “kamala IS brat.”
“Brat” made everything social media had historically frowned upon suddenly cool: being messy, partying and, well, brattiness.
“Brat summer” is chaos and imperfection. It’s grungy and sweaty. Bye, bye, clean girls. While these might not resonate as redeeming qualities, the “brat” aesthetic appears to spotlight one positive trait most social media trends don’t: realness.
“Even when I’m being an absolute nightmare you still stand by me and make me feel comfortable to be myself,” Charli XCX wrote in an Instagram post when “Brat” dropped. “And at the end of the day, that’s exactly what brat is all about: me, my flaws, my fuck ups, my ego all rolled into one.”
As the summer heat fades, Charli XCX hopes we’ll keep the “brat” aesthetic alive. The singer announced the remix album, “Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat,” released Oct. 11. She also kicked off the “Sweat” tour Sept. 14, which she is co-headlining alongside Australian singer-songwriter Troye Sivan. “Brat”-umn commences.
But in a world dominated by performative behavior on social media, how long can being real last? And more importantly, how real can a trend truly be?
People aren’t used to reality shining through on social media. It’s constantly deemed a highlight reel, an altered version of the truth. But maybe that’s why we love it so much. It’s competitive; it gives us something to strive for. Is that healthy? No, but it keeps us hooked.
It feels like members of Generation Z are constantly modifying their behavior, style and social
media presence to accommodate the current trends and consequently hoping to gain approval from their peers. And while the “brat” aesthetic prides itself on being a new type of trend — one that is real and honest — at the end of the day, it’s still a social media trend that’s giving Gen Z a new guidebook.
On TikTok, posts that showcase lists deeming “things that are brat” and “things that are not brat” have gained traction, giving viewers ideas on how they can achieve the desired aesthetic. People are now actively trying to be “real.”
A headache and a vicious cycle, if you ask me.
Only 27% of Gen Z women and 40% of Gen Z men describe their self-esteem and confidence as excellent or very good, according to a 2022 Cigna Group study, and the correlation between negative mental health status and social media is no myth. In a 2019 study done by ORIGIN, 48% of Gen Z
said social media makes them feel anxious, sad or depressed. Spending so much time on social media forces Gen Z to constantly compare themselves with others — and with escapism comes a curated, unachievable reality.
Gen Z’s historical struggle with self-esteem can be attributed to the fact that what’s accepted and praised on social media is constantly changing. One day you’re in, the next day you’re out. When so much of our lives are online, it’s hard to remember that your profiles are just a small (and rather insignificant) part of your existence.
Trends like “brat summer” are a good start in an attempt to normalize reality and authentic self-expression. But in truth, the “brat” aesthetic is not authentic for everyone — there is still a pressure to conform to what’s currently popular. Before we know it, we’ll see the masses trade in their chartreuse for whatever it is that comes along next.
Banners advertising the Salvador Dalí exhibit hang from the exterior of the MFA.
Photo by Jessica Xing
Massachusetts voters to determine MCAS graduation requirements’ future
By Sarah Mesdjian News Staff
Come Nov. 5, Massachusetts residents will not only be asked to vote in the wildly contentious presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, but voters will also weigh in on five ballot measures covering a range of topics from potentially legalizing psychedelics to instituting a minimum wage for tipped workers.
If passed, Question 2 on the ballot would repeal the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, exam as a standardized graduation requirement for high school students in Massachusetts.
The main proponent and top donor for passing Question 2 and repealing the “high-stakes” MCAS exam is the Massachusetts Teachers Association, or MTA.
In opposition are Governor Maura Healey, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education.
While Massachusetts has had the MCAS graduation requirement since 1993 when it was first implemented as a part of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act, groups including the MTA, Massachusetts PTA and others say that a standardized multiple-choice test is not a fair way to evaluate student achievement.
“Using this one time standardized test as a way to determine who gets a diploma and who does not is punitive,” MTA President Max Page said. “It hurts
individual students and hurts our educational mission.”
Advocates for Question 2 say a change is necessary for the success of their students.
“We need a reset in public education,”
Massachusetts State Senator and Chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education Joanne Comerford said. “Because of the Student Opportunity Act, we have more money going more equitably to districts that need it. Now, we have to look at the ways in which we’re evaluating excellence — to meet the needs and opportunities of students.”
Massachusetts is currently one of eight states in the country that require a “passing” score on a standardized, three-subject test to receive a high school diploma. Many other states, including New York and California, have opted to remove this requirement.
“More and more states are fleeing high-stakes, standardized testing,” Comerford said.
Results from this year’s MCAS scores reveal less students received passing scores on their exams than in previous years, likely a result of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s 2022 decision to raise the bar for what is considered a passing score.
This year, 21% of students failed the English Language Arts portion of the exam on their first attempt. Eighteen percent of students failed the math portion, and 20% of students failed the science portion.
Page said that it is not students’ fault for the decline in passing rates, the blame rests on the state.
“People are looking at [the scores] and going ‘Oh students aren’t doing that well. Now, students are learning less.’ That’s not the case,” Page said.
Each year, more than 700 students statewide are not able to receive a diploma despite meeting their school’s other graduation requirements. Page said that this number is likely to grow in coming years.
“There are demographic shifts that are happening in the state,” Page said. “We have more English language learners. They are likely to have new challenges, which make it harder to succeed on some of those tests, especially English Language Arts.”
In 2021, 89.8% of all students graduated in four years, according to state data. While this is slightly higher than the national average of 87%, many believe that more can be done to help students succeed.
Massachusetts House of Representatives member and former high school math teacher Jim Hawkins supports Question 2.
“A multiple-choice test is the worst measure of student achievement,” Hawkins said.
Many teachers feel pressure to teach only the material tested in MCAS rather than include other content. Hawkins said that when he taught geometry, he would skip chapters of the textbook that were not included in the MCAS exam.
“[MCAS] has narrowed the curriculum, and it has taken away from authentic learning by having teachers focus more on test taking skills,” Page said.
Opponents of the measure believe that MCAS is the only objective measuring stick Massachusetts has to gauge students’ fitness for graduation.
The “No on 2” coalition writes on its website that “eliminating the graduation requirement would massively harm these students.”
Opponents say that repealing the MCAS graduation requirement will result in more than 300 different standards for graduation, potentially causing unequal evaluations of students’ readiness for higher education or careers.
In response, school districts and teacher unions have turned their support to a new performance indicator they believe is an improved replacement for MCAS.
“We still need standardized testing,” Hawkins said. “When we say we want to remove MCAS as a graduation requirement, that doesn’t mean there’s no graduation requirement. It just means
that MCAS is the wrong thing to use.”
The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, or MCIEA, is focused on creating this new model of assessment.
“We’ve come up with something designed in the classroom that’s a performance-based test, which would mean group work and projects,” Hawkins said. “This is the way we teach, this is the way we should assess. It makes perfect sense.”
In addition to educators’ interest in an MCIEA assessment, Comerford says there is legislative interest in the proposed MCAS replacement.
“It’s more nuanced, there’s deeper student engagement, there’s deeper educator engagement — the outcomes look terrific,” Comerford said. “It can and should be the way forward.”
In November, voters will decide what they believe is the best course of action for students, educators and the state.
Graphic by Emma Liu
Local Bostonians lace up to race for affordable housing in Mission Hill
By Nidhi Prakash News Correspondent
Kevin W. Fitzgerald Park was buzzing with energy as runners and walkers alike gathered for Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services’ annual Mission Hill Road Race Sept. 28. Starting at 9 a.m., the event united participants from Boston and beyond to support an important cause: affordable housing in Mission Hill. With live music, games and a medal ceremony, the 5K harbored a
lively environment. The event attracted a diverse crowd of local residents, university students and individuals from surrounding communities.
The course, which guided runners though Mission Hill’s notoriously steep terrain, posed a challenge for many participants. Regardless, racers were driven by their commitment to support the local community.
“Housing insecurity affects so many of us, and it’s easy to take for granted if you’re not dealing with it directly,” said runner Jay Anand,
an online game designer from Cambridge. “The fact that all the proceeds from this race go toward affordable housing makes this more than just a fun run. It’s a way to help those in need.”
The race was about more than just crossing the finish line, several participants said it was about building a stronger, more supportive community. Through events like these, Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services, or MHNHS, aims to not only raise funds but also cultivate a
deeper understanding of the issues affecting residents.
MHNHS is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the neighborhood’s unique character while also improving living standards for all residents. It works to create and maintain long-term, affordable housing for low-and moderate-income people.
Since 2013, MHNHS has been hosting the 5K race, raising approximately $20,000 annually for various housing and community development projects.
“It was a great experience,” said Jordan Bennett, a Mission Hill resident and Harvard School of Public Health student. “The race wasn’t just about exercise; it was about supporting the neighborhood. Affordable housing is a substantial issue in Boston, and seeing so many familiar faces come out for it was inspiring.”
The impact of affordable housing extends beyond individual circumstances. According to Habitat for Humanity, the lack of access to affordable, healthy housing amplifies health disparities across entire neighborhoods, particularly for marginalized groups.
“I think events like this are important because they show how building a healthy, supportive community can be as simple as getting together for a walk or a run,” said runner Sheng-mei Liu, a business student at Boston University.
Community engagement can be both accessible and impactful, Liu said. Through the race, individuals can contribute to a culture of support for one another, which is essential in addressing local challenges, she added. The race helped raise awareness and funding for MHNHS’s ongoing work by collecting $20 registration fees from each participant.
“Housing is a fundamental aspect of health,” Bennett said. “The lack of affordable options in Boston is a major public health crisis, so being able to contribute through something like a 5K feels very meaningful to me.”
According to the Boston Public Health Commission, stable housing is essential for better health outcomes. Without access to affordable housing, individuals are more likely to face mental health challenges, substance abuse issues and chronic health conditions. This lack of stability also limits access to vital resources, such as nutritious food and healthcare services.
As MHNHS continues its efforts to improve housing access in Mission Hill, events like the Mission Hill Road Race aim to ensure that the rest of the community stays engaged — and that the race for affordable housing is one that everyone can run together.
“I’ve enjoyed the experience and felt like I was part of something bigger,” Anand said. “If they host future events, I’m definitely in.”
Three participants run through the Kevin W. Fitzgerald Park gate. The 5K aimed to raise funds and awareness for the housing crisis in Mission Hill.
Photo by Margot Murphy
BOSTON COMES ALIVE FESTIVALS, MARKETS AND
As autumn falls upon Boston and student life returns in full swing, the different communities in the city and surrounding areas gather to celebrate passions and niche interests. From Marshmallow Fluff to marijuana reform, there were festivals for everyone to attend.
Sept. 14: MASSive Thrift Market
In the midst of New York Fashion Week, Boston had its own sprawling fashion event — though the invite list wasn’t limited to models and millionaires. In the late-summer heat, on the outskirts of the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury, a seemingly never-ending line wrapped around surrounding buildings. Passersby could find attendees dressed to the nines, putting on their best outfits to stand in the heat for hours on end, awaiting an oasis of clothes.
Select Markets and Thrift2Death hosted their inaugural MASSive Thrift Market Sept. 14. The event drew a large crowd of hip and trendy thrifters.
“We are very selective, no pun intended, in terms of selecting vendors,” said Joshua Maizes, co-founder of Select Markets. “We go through every single vendor who has applied, which I think now is near 1,000, and we sort them by what niche they fit, what audience they hit, if their clothes are more masculine, more feminine, whatever it ends up being.”
One shopper, Samuel Mollineaux, a second-year computer science and media arts combined major at Northeastern, said he found out about the market because he was approached with a flier at Northeastern’s Fall Fest. He and his friends waited an hour and 15 minutes to get into the thrift market, but said the wait — and the prices — were to be expected of such an event.
“It is a vintage market, so you can expect to see some higher prices — that’s natural,” Mollineaux said. “Honestly, this one isn’t as bad as some others I’ve been to and there was no entrance fee, unless you wanted to pay to come early, which looking back, would have been worth it. If I had known the entire city of Boston was gonna be here today, then I would’ve paid.”
Select Markets hosts events like the MASSive Thrift Market year round, creating a community around a love for sustainable shopping. Their popularity is evident with almost 20,000 followers on Instagram, all of which were gained in about a year.
By Alexis Algazy, Cassandra Joyce, Kaelyn McFadden,
As Mollineaux reflected on his time shopping at the market, he said, “It was a little hectic, but I’d do it again.”
While fashionistas thrifted at MASSive Thrift Market, foodies shared their love for Boston’s diverse cuisines at the Boston Local Food Festival.
Sept. 15: Boston Local Food Festival
The Boston Local Food Festival was held Sept. 15 in the Rose Kennedy Greenway, highlighting various local restaurants and food-related businesses in the area and bringing together the Boston community for an exciting day of food, fun and learning experiences.
“[The festival] encourages New Englanders to eat local and just come out and support the farmers or local businesses,” said Rachael Oluokun, owner of Mama O’s Bakery. “Supporting them means a lot because if you are back in your zone, you might not really get that much interest. When you come here, it’s like the whole of New England sees you and gets to reach back out to you.”
In addition to restaurants and bakeries, farms also showed off their produce. Dmitriy Babenko, owner of Babenko Farms in Waltham, said he appreciated how the event gave him and other businesses more exposure.
“I think it’s great. It puts my name out there, and they should continue to do events like this,” Babenko said. “It creates jobs, drives the economy and it’s great for the people to get good produce.”
Attendees got to sample cuisines from all over the globe, from Burmese to German.
“I think it gives a good impression to kids who are coming here for college,” said attendee Zack Sheehan, who came from Salem for the festival. “They might be from somewhere [where] they have never seen foreign food, let alone different people, so it’s good exposure to being in a multicultural city.”
While local foodies explored diverse paletes at the Boston Local Food Festival, Somerville residents had another gathering in mind.
Sept. 21: What the Fluff? Festival
Community members gathered in Union Square for the 19th annual What the Fluff? Festival Sept. 21, a celebration honoring the creation of Marshmallow Fluff in Somerville back in 1917.
“I think it’s great that the people are out and, even though it’s raining, Fluff is so important to the people of Somerville that they’re going to show up for it,” said Max Evrard, a music teacher at Somerville High School.
The festival theme this year, “Somerville Over the Rainbow: No Place Like Fluff,” brought a “Wizard of Oz” twist. Residents were encouraged to wear bright, multi-colored attire such as their shiniest ruby slippers. Advertisements also asked attendees to bring along the entire entourage to follow the yellow brick road — Toto included.
This year, the event featured an all-new Marshmallow Fluff Micro-Museum in Bow Market, which opened
The 163-square-foot museum contains a handful hibits: Fluff fast-facts, Fluff fan art, a Fluff screen station and a tiny gift shop complete with Fluff-themed stickers, mugs and other trinkets.
Michael Katz, long-time community member, recalled how the first year of the festival welcomed just 150 and the Fluff-themed fun was nowhere near as extravagant as it is now known to be. Compared to the 20,000 attendees in recent years, the event has grown exponential ly since its start.
“We started doing it because it was a way to help at the good things that were going on in Union Square,” Katz said. “Things have changed a lot. Union Square pretty gritty.”
The Fluff Festival is now a celebration known and tended by residents across the region.
While the Somerville community celebrated its creator of Marshmallow Fluff, those in support of bis reform gathered for the annual Boston Freedom better known as Hemp Fest.
Sept. 21: Boston Freedom Rally
Like every year since 1995 on the third Saturday tember, the 35th annual Boston Freedom Rally took in Boston Common. The rally is one of the largest erings advocating for marijuana reform in the Northeast, drawing advocates, enthusiasts and curious learners. vibrant event, which originally started in 1989 to demand Massachusetts officials legalize recreational marijuana, celebrates cannabis culture and advocates for the end stigma surrounding marijuana use.
As the movement for cannabis reform continues momentum across the country, the rally served as minder of the progress that has already been made, as the challenges that lie ahead.
“I love the inclusiveness with everybody,” said Ava masbi, a student at MGH Institute of Health Professions who was attending the rally for the fifth time. “Everyone’s really friendly and chill and, obviously, smoking.” Andrew Nunes, owner of CB Disco, one of the merchan dise sponsors for MassCann, worked a booth, excited meet new customers.
“We are a custom merchandise branding company of Easton, Massachusetts, so we’re small,” Nunes said. “We just wanted to get out into the community to get some new business here, meet some new people reconnect with people we’re already working with cannabis space.”
For other vendors, such as Matthew Duval, the was an opportunity to introduce their business to city of Boston. Their small-town arts and crafts business, Duvals Crafts, was able to get an influx of customers such a large event.
“Hemp fest is a well-known organization,” Duval “There’s a lot of people here so it’s super good for business to try to make some sales. I also like the ness and education.”
This year’s theme, “Keep the Joint Rolling: Continued Advocacy,” proved to be true to dancing bears and lies alike. Whether someone is a cannabis user, learner merely there to spectate, there were plenty of activities participate in and ways to find enjoyment.
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Sept. 28 and 29: Boston Veg Food Fest
To round out the September festivities, the Boston Vegetarian Society, or BVS, hosted its 29th annual Boston Veg Food Fest Sept. 28 and 29 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury. This two-day festival, the longest running veg fest in the country, according to BVS’s website, featured six speakers and almost 90 different vendors, all coming together for a fun and educational weekend.
“The variety is what I loved,” said David Havelick, chair of the organizing committee for the Boston Veg Food Fest and BVS board member. “We’re trying to bring in people with different, new messages, books that just came out, engaging speakers, especially for the cooking demos.”
In addition to diverse speakers, the Boston Veg Food Fest also featured a wide array of plant-based cuisine.
Paulomi Joshi was one of the volunteers helping attendees sort their waste into compost, recycling or garbage. Vendors were also encouraged to use compostable materials.
“I like how it evolves every year. Every year, it’s a little different,” Joshi said. “It’s great to see vendors returning and new vendors coming, the changing crowd. It’s the only veg fest that Boston really has.”
Because the festival is free for all attendees, it often attracts many non-vegetarians.
By offering a free, non-ticketed event, organizers allow more of the community to come together, experience and learn from the veg fest.
“I like the variety of the people I get to meet; they’re not just all my target audience,” said Sandra Musial, founder and president of nonprofit Plant Docs, an or ganization that educates people on the importance of food and medicine and the connection between food and health.
Many attendees said they find it difficult to find vegan and vegetarian options in Boston. The veg fest broadened the horizons and introduced businesses that otherwise may not be as readily available for attendees.
“It’s free and it’s in the hood. It’s right here in Roxbury and there’s so many amazing vendors … Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian or a meat-eater, there’s so many options here. You don’t even realize what you’re eating is vegan,” said Purple Reign, who was on the welcome
While these are only a few of the fall time festivities the city of Boston has to offer, these festivals celebrate the expansive history of Boston, uniting students and locals alike around unique vendors, mutual causes and, of course, delicious food.
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With 2 games left, NU men’s club soccer prepares for nationals
By Frances Klemm News Staff
Northeastern’s men’s club soccer team (7-0-1) is hitting the ground running this season, entering the preseason rankings at 18th nationwide by College Club Sports. The team is coming back from a group stage loss in the 2023 Club Soccer Nationals, and it’s ready for more this year.
what lies behind its success is the group’s close bond. Despite the short season, which lasts from Sept. 4 to its last regular season game Oct. 13, the team’s leaders prioritize forging a community.
According to captain Cameron Little, a fourth-year mechanical engineering major, the closeness of the team makes a difference, “The chemistry on the team just goes up so much and we inadvertently play better together once we bond more,”
Fourth-year health science major and fellow team captain Matthew Nikiciuk agreed.
“It’s a collective team effort, time and time again,” Nikiciuk said. “That’s what makes us so successful.”
The group is united by a deep-rooted love of soccer — many teammates started the game before they can even remember.
“I pretty much just grew up playing. I think every picture of me was with a soccer ball, it was just something I did,” said fourth-year Juan Lazcano, an international affairs major. “It wasn’t really a decision.”
Fourth-year Nicolas Lopez, a business administration major, discovered a love for soccer while traveling in Barcelona at 5 years old, and he hasn’t stopped playing since.
“I remember there was a Barcelona game going on,” Lopez said. “[Lionel] Messi had just scored and I could just hear the whole crowd erupt. Since then I have always loved it.”
Tryouts for the team are fiercely competitive, spanning three days
starting Sept. 7 with around 150 students in attendance.
“I didn’t really know the level here,” said Connor Mulderig, a second-year mechanical engineering major. “I was kind of shocked that first day of tryouts.”
Many of the current players did not make it their first years, but continued to refine their skills outside of the team — coming back stronger the following year.
“Part of why our quality is so high is because even if the players don’t make the team they can come back next year, [after] getting more playing experience from pick-up,” Little said.
That commitment carries on once students make the official roster, bringing high-level dedication to each practice in part driven by coach Benjamin Fargiano.
“It’s pretty fluid between coaches and captains because they are just past players and so we’ve already bonded before,” Little said. Nikiciuk added, “Senior-level guys on the team really take part in doing practices [and] scheduling events”
“At the end of the day it is a club, so it’s up to us to bring the energy and the level and the commitment,” Lazcano said. “Everyone who does make the team understands that. Everyone fights for a spot. Everyone loves to compete.”
With eight new players and a short season, every game counts.
“We start a lot later than other schools. Our season is squeezed into three and a half weeks, so we have to
get the new players on,” Lopez said. “It’s a very tight-knit group. Everyone just wants to see each other get better and it’s all just working toward that one goal.”
The Huskies started off the season hot, notching a five-game winning streak against Bryant University, Merrimack University, Tufts University and Babson University twice — but the matchups are only expected to get more competitive. As the team prepares to face Boston University Oct. 12, “We just want to keep that momentum and if we can, just smashing teams,” Lopez said. “We want to be beating them by a lot.”
The season opener against Bryant University ended in a winning 2-1 score, but the goals came with only 10 minutes left on the clock. The team rallied to achieve what seemed like an unlikely win in the moment.
“We came in knowing they’d be pretty good but expecting to win. We had a lot of chances, but we couldn’t convert any,” Mulderig said. “We were down one nothing. We kept pushing and found an equalizer with 10 minutes left and then with [two] minutes to go, we scored a winner.”
“Stuff like that, you never forget it,” Lopez said, referring to the Bryant University win.
The team intensified practices and workouts to prepare for the rest of the season, according to third-year Brennan Bezdek, a mechanical engineering and physics combined major.
“We’re getting ourselves ready physically and mentally to take on
the best teams — BU, BC — it’ll definitely ramp up,” Bezdek said.
As the season continues barreling forward, the Huskies have one major priority: nationals. The top two teams in the division advance to regionals, including select wild card bids. For nationals, teams must win their bracket or secure a wildcard spot. Last year was the team’s first time qualifying for nationals in more than a decade, and the team is looking to start a streak for Northeastern. Nationals will be held in Round Rock, Texas, Nov. 23.
“The expectation is that we go to regionals, and the main goal is qualifying for nationals again,” Mulderig said.
Last year, Northeastern lost on a goal differential in the group stages of nationals. This time around, returning players are motivated to flip the script.
“I want to make nationals,” Lopez said. “I want to do better than we did last year, pick up some wins and really progress there.”
For Bezdek, the 2023 nationals was a trip back to his home state of Texas.
“I got to go home and have my parents there, it was a great memory to go to nationals and I hope we do it again,” he said.
For many fourth- and fifth-year players on the team, this season marks their last chance to play soccer on this level, and they’re looking to set the standard for the future of the team.
“I think it’s been great just seeing how these younger guys have stepped up and the new class that was just brought in,” Lopez said. “I feel really good about the future for them.”
Northeastern club running fosters community, takes home national titles
By Caroline Baker Dimock News Staff
Walking to and from evening classes on Northeastern’s campus, it’s hard to miss the gathering of people on Krentzman Quad, all outfitted in sneakers and athletic wear. These students meet there four days per week at 6 p.m. for a run, and it’s all organized by Northeastern University Club Running, or NUCR.
NUCR is the largest club sport on campus, boasting over 200 members. It is open to runners of any ability, from those who have no running experience to high school track stars. Not only do runners say the group is fun, it’s also successful; the men’s team previously won cross country nationals two years in a row, in 2021 and 2022.
Northeastern University is home to 64 different club sports, ranging from golf and powerlifting to rugby and running. Club sports at Northeastern were first established in the 1940s and are some of the strongest in the nation, winning numerous national titles each year. There are over 3,500 student athletes competing in club sports across the university, allowing many students to continue competing after high school.
The only requirements NUCR has are for its distance running group, where club members must be able run three to four miles at a nine minute pace or faster. Even if an athlete cannot make the cut-off for the distance group, there is no barrier to the sprinting squad.
“I have been doing track my whole life and I just wanted to continue that passion that I had,” graduate student Tihan Perera said. “It has been a really fun experience since I joined last year. Everyday is a new memory and getting to know everyone is really special.”
The club encourages those without experience to join as well, hoping to get as many people running as possible.
“[NUCR] is a very inclusive and fun community,” said Ava Serrano, a fourth-year chemistry major. “It doesn’t matter your ability level, there is somewhere for everyone. We have some people who are super speedy and then some people who are just here for fun.”
The club trains its athletes for everything from marathons to sprints, and along the way, they form a strong sense of community. The club competes nearly weekly, participating in cross country in the fall and track in the winter and spring, as well as
road races throughout the year. This season, which began in September, NUCR has competed in three meets.
On Sept. 14, the Huskies swept the men’s podium at the annual Minuteman XC Invitational in Amherst, Massachusetts and took first and third on the women’s side. The team took first place with the most points for both men and women at the event.
One week later on Sept. 21, the team took part in the 56th annual BC Codfish Bowl in Franklin Park.
The team was back in action at the Brown Bear Invitational in Attleboro, Massachusetts Sept. 28.
“I always enjoy racing with the team, it is super fun and I think everyone is really supportive of everyone else,” Serrano said. “It is really inspiring to see everyone cheer each other on at [races].”
Daniel Flynn, a fourth-year computer engineering and computer science combined major, echoed the sentiment, and said he has found racing and training with the team to be incredibly rewarding.
“I have met a lot of good friends, a lot of solid training partners and a lot of people who have really pushed me in the sport of distance running here,” he said.
The distance group builds into each week with an easy run on Mon-
day, and then throughout the week has two workouts and a long run with easy runs in between. The sprint group runs three workouts weekly, including hurdle work, as well as cross training. The club encourages strength training for everyone — its leaders consider it an essential part of every runner’s training plan.
These tight-knit friendships are formed through more than just running — the club partakes in many events throughout the semester,
including an annual bake-off, team hikes and yearly apple picking trips. These activities create an environment where many form lifelong friendships.
“At the end of the day, club running is more than just another [sport], it is a family for people,” said fourth-year mathematics and computer science combined major and current club vice president Jonah Jaffe. “[Many people] start coming for the running, and then they stay for the people.”
Northeastern University Club Running members gather before their run. Club sports at Northeastern started in the 1940s, and NUCR has grown to be the largest, with 200 members.
Photo by Caroline Baker Dimock
A member of the Northeastern men’s club soccer team kicks a ball during practice. Around 150 students attended tryouts at the beginning of September.
Photo by Jessica Xing
Kinley Gomez overcomes adversity, excels on volleyball court
By Cassandra Joyce News Staff
After previously struggling injuries during her collegiate career, redshirt junior outside hitter Kinley Gomez is making her presence known on the volleyball court this season for Northeastern. In her last four games, Gomez has notched three double-doubles and averaged 14 points per game.
Growing up in Pueblo, Colorado, Gomez was introduced to volleyball by her older sisters and began playing with them around the age of 8 before joining a team around the age of 11. Despite her current success, Gomez was unsure if she truly wanted to play volleyball in college until she was pushed by her club team coaches. After deciding to continue to the next level, Gomez chose Northeastern because she fell in love with the campus and the academics.
“It’s great to have co-op to start experience in your career, and I wanted something different,” Gomez said.
This season is Gomez’s first full year with Northeastern’s women’s volleyball team after injuries prevented her from playing in the first two years of her collegiate career.
Entering her freshman year, Gomez, who just returned after recovering from back surgery, reinjured her back during the preseason. The Husky underwent another back
surgery following her freshman year, leaving her on the sidelines for the entirety of her sophomore season to recover.
Stubborn and struggling throughout healing, Gomez was eager to get back out on the court and reenter the action.
“I very strongly disliked having to recover,” Gomez said. “I just wanted to get back to it and play volleyball, but there’s no way of feeling normal without taking care of yourself. I found that out the hard way after surgery and getting hurt again. ”
Last season, Gomez was back on the court, but not to the extent she is now. Notching her first kill at Northeastern last year remains her favorite career memory thus far.
“It just made me so happy to realize that I was back playing again,”
Gomez said.
This year, Gomez has taken on a major role on the team as a leader and a vital part of the team’s success. As of Oct. 8, she has racked up 118 kills, 100 digs and 147.5 points this season.
Coming back from an injury was not only mentally challenging for Gomez, but physically, too. Injury is taxing on an athlete’s body, and Gomez had to figure out how to play in an entirely new way.
“That was really hard mentally for me to not be able to physically move a way I used to be able to move,”
Gomez said. “Having to almost deal with a new body because of my injury was difficult.”
Gomez emphasized the extent to which her teammates helped her through the injury and recovery process, and said they continue to contribute to her success.
“What keeps me going in volleyball is definitely the support I have for my teammates because they’re always there for me if I need them for anything, and I definitely wouldn’t have come this far without them,” Gomez said. “There is no individuality to it, so knowing that when I’m back row or front row my teammates have my back makes it a lot easier to be able to be smart with the ball.”
Junior libero Ellie Williams credits Gomez for always being there for her teammates and never giving up when faced with challenges.
“Kinley has a very strong personality,” Williams said. “She is felt by everybody who’s around her and not around her. Even when she’s not at practice, you think about her. [She is] one of those types of people whose presence is enough to motivate you to be better and not even just [in volleyball].”
Gomez said her long-term injury was a setback for her career, but it also altered her view of the game.
“Regarding my progression [of skills] over the years, it felt like it wasn’t there anymore for a really
Crossword Edited by Arielle Rabinovich
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63. Object of adoration
64. Trebek, late host of “Jeopardy”
65. #LikeA
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67. Corrosion often affecting old tools
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1. Anti-fur org
2. Does well on a test
3. “That was a close one”
4. A few
5. Step away from your phone, say
6. Showed again, like a TV episode
7. Youngest daughter of the Von Trapp family
8. Cunning, like a fox
9. Actor’s late-night reading, perhaps
10. Recreational body of water
11. Berry rich in antioxidants
12. Turf layers for new lawns
13. To squash, like a potato
21. Exam for lawyers-to-be
22. Private Atlanta university
24. Leading or in the lead
25. Cone-shaped dwelling
26. Each one
27. Sub-brand owned by American Eagle
28. Mars, singer of “Locked out of Heaven”
30. Cool-fermented beer
31. Something you might snooze
32. Swedish car manufacturer
33. Student in high school, most likely (2 words)
35. Home of Mount Fuji
long time until I constantly got back into the game,” Gomez said. “It has definitely shifted my perspective of the game in being a lot smarter with how I play balls so that we can get the point earlier, instead of tiring out physically, because that takes a strain on your body — just building a better IQ for myself so that I can keep going physically and not injure myself.”
Head coach Lenika Vazquez said Gomez’s success and ability to overcome adversity and injuries is a showcase of her tenacity.
“She’s going to fight through and push through everything because that’s what she wants,” Vazquez said. “She’s been through a lot, and for her to come in and still enjoy the sport is phenomenal and just speaks to her mental toughness.”
Especially grateful for the time she gets on the court, Gomez’s mindset in games now is just to have fun.
“For so long, I took volleyball for granted because I was playing, and then when I stopped playing, I was like, this really, really sucks,” Gomez said. “My approach now is that I’m grateful to be on the court again, so just being able to have fun while playing, that’s it.”
Sitting at an even 7-7 for the season so far, Gomez is excited to see what the team does for the remainder of the year.
“I think that we have a really great foundation to build up off of,”
Gomez said. “We have a lot of young players who have just come in, have a lot of presence here and are some of the best teammates that I’ve seen in a really long time,” Gomez said. “I think that this season will go really well as long as we keep building our connections, trust each other and work hard for each other.”
A bigger goal remains in Gomez’s mind: to win the CAA tournament. Last year, the Huskies lost in the first round of the tournament to Campbell University, 3-0.
“It’s been so long since Northeastern has [won a conference championship], so I think that would be a really big accomplishment,” Gomez said. “Especially with this group, I think we have the potential to do that.”
Despite currently working through a concussion, if any player is able to come back stronger, it’s Gomez. Perseverance and dedication are the mottos she spreads to other athletes.
“There are going to be a lot of hard things that come your way, but it all depends on how you persevere through those hard things that’ll get you to where you want to go,” Gomez said. “There is no right decision. You just have to make the decision.”
“She is a pleasure and a delight,” Vazquez said. “Kinley Gomez is going to do some pretty awesome things in the future, so keep an eye out for her.”
59. Played music in the car, say
60. Video app shut down in 2017
61. Enormous
36. Prefix meaning green, in a way
39. Digital threat
43. Japanese rice wine
45. First name of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” villain
46. Mexican brew
48. Line meant for the audience’s ears only
49. Lesser in importance
50. Might say “Runner-Up” in a pageant
51. Skirt made of tulle
52. Terminates, informally
53. Give off a foul odor
55. To scorch
56. Streaming service home to “The Bear”
57. Matures, like wine
58. Cell phone communication
60. Box-seat occupier
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Op-ed: Replacing boredom with the internet has consequences
It’s hard to think of a time when technology wasn’t glued to our hands and a magnet for our eyes.
I remember being a little kid, playing Brick Breaker on my mom’s Blackberry, waiting for cheerleading practice to start because I’d already finished my homework or forgotten to bring a book with me. When my mom got her first iPhone, spending 20 minutes on it was new and exciting, a small fraction of an integral part of my daily life.
Now, having owned an iPhone for years, it feels natural to pick it up whenever I have a few free minutes. In growing up alongside the rise of technology, our generation has watched screen times rise. But I’m grateful that technology wasn’t the default method for amusing us when we were little.
I have a theory that most Northeastern students were the types of children who read excessively, not just because we were academic overachievers but because it was fun for us. But kids today don’t seem to share the same sentiment. We’ve all fallen
victim to the trap of technology, but children now suffer the consequences far more than we did at their age.
Kids simply aren’t reading anymore, and it’s largely due to the fact that they are spending an excessive amount of time in front of screens.
Social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram, offer a source of instantaneous entertainment that reduce children’s attention spans. It’s hard to get a child invested in a book if they’re used to media existing in a short-form and visually appealing way. Hundreds of thousands of words of carefully thought-out plot in a book can no longer compete against a minute-long video that almost immediately gets to the point.
To make matters worse, with a lack of reading comes reduced literacy and critical thinking skills, which is incredibly worrisome for the future generation.
There was a large internet discourse that made its way onto Tumblr and, more recently, TikTok (ironic considering the topic of this op-ed, I know) centered around the statement “Maybe the curtains were just blue.”
The discourse started with a meme critiquing the literary analysis that students are often asked to do in high school, where meaning is given to seemingly inconspicuous details of stories. In this case, the argument was made that the hypothetical curtains being blue wasn’t representative of sadness — the curtains were just blue. I initially perceived the statement to be a sarcastic dig at high school English teachers’ devotion to symbolism. But, many individuals contributing to the discourse seconded the idea that
writing doesn’t contain the supposed deeper meaning conveyed by their high school English teachers, and that concerned me. It seemed like it was widely agreed upon that writing doesn’t have to be, nor should it be, intellectualized.
So not only are kids paying attention to their phones in school instead of their classes, but they don’t see the value of what’s being taught to them.
I think this comes as a result of the fact that shorter pieces of media don’t allow for opinions and critical thoughts to be formed outside of the information directly provided by the creator’s commentary. Individuals move onto the next post without really considering what they’ve just watched. Analysis stops as soon as the video you’re watching does — that is, if analysis begins at all. Reflection is no longer a natural response to media anymore because there is so much of it.
As a result, younger generations are starting to see things in a very black and white way where opinions are mutually exclusive, leading to online debates that seem to be born out of spite and based on a limited amount of knowledge.
But how satisfying is internet discourse and mind-numbing content as a source of entertainment? (I’ll give you a hint: It’s not satisfying at all.)
The problem is that no one allows themselves to be bored anymore. It’s far too easy to invest one’s self in the world of another person or fight with strangers on the internet. No one ever just sits with themselves and their own thoughts because you don’t have to when there’s millions of ways to en-
tertain yourself in your back pocket.
This is something I’ve been working on myself lately — I try to spend 10 minutes every day doing absolutely nothing. No phone, no music, no school work, just me sitting in silence. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s been of tremendous benefit. In those 10 minutes, I can slow down and actually think in real time rather than having a million confounding thoughts open in my mind like tabs on my phone.
I’ve also noticed this practice has actually encouraged me to tend to responsibilities like homework or laundry that I’ve been putting off rather than continuing to procrastinate on my phone. Doing nothing makes you realize how long 10 minutes really is, and how much you can do in that amount of time if it’s not mindlessly wasted on social media.
I think younger generations would benefit from boredom even more than I have. They could focus more on school and their literacy, and they could develop hobbies that have nothing to do with technology and everything to do with being curious and creative.
It would be a shame to have an entire generation whose only memories of their childhood are of a screen in front of their face. It would also be a shame for them to not be equipped for adulthood as a result. A little bit of boredom is necessary for all of us, but crucial for the betterment of younger generations moving forward.
Kara Orsini is a fourth-year health sciences major and columnist for The News. She can be reached at orsini.k@ northeastern.edu.
Op-ed: It’s time to close the books on reading for views
a clear difference between sharing a story about abuse, condemning it in the process, and portraying a story about abuse as good.
Hoover decides to go with the latter. “It Ends With Us,” Hoover’s most-known work, romanticizes and excuses domestic violence, evident in the relationship between the main characters.
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If you’ve ever been anxious about sharing your written work with the world, just remember “It Ends With Us” outsold the Bible by 2.3 million copies in 2022 and even got a movie adaptation this year. And BookTok, the side of TikTok that focuses on books, is absolutely loving it. But beyond a slew of poor-quality writing, what’s the issue?
Throughout her 12-year writing career, Hoover has a history of promoting toxic and abusive relationships in her books. There should be
The female characters she writes are rarely dynamic, enduring inexcusable abuse, physical or emotional, that they tend to let slide. The male characters are given chance after chance and still fail to deliver, often excusing their poor actions by claiming “past trauma.” Hoover’s books are often rooted in sexist stereotypes, with the female protagonist’s life entirely changed by a random man.
The novels are also superficial, have no comprehensible plot and fall short of expectations in almost every category. The fun, colorful book covers make them look like harmless young adult novels. If mistakenly given to a teenager or even a tween, these erotic books can cause a lot more damage than they already do. Don’t buy your little cousin these books; we’re often warned not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case, it’s for the best.
There is no denying that Hoover’s popularity skyrocketed due to the way BookTok has promoted these kinds of books, and this promotion is problematic from start to finish. BookTok is oversaturated with smut and addictive book trends that function like fast fashion: similar plots, similar book covers, similar writing styles. As more of these books get churned out, people are buying more and more books they don’t actually read.
In a frantic race to check every book off the reading list, reading gets turned into a competition, with some users showcasing their extreme reading counts. Reading should be quality over quantity, not the other way around. Unfortunately, TikTok has reduced it to a mere aesthetic, just another trend, characterized by pretty Pinterest photo boards and carefullypicked, yet usually still basic (and frequently misinterpreted), quotes.
Many are motivated to read not because they want to, but because the internet says they should, which leads me to my next point: “performative readers.” They don’t read because they like to — they read to be better than you, and it shows. They carry their books everywhere they go, log what they read on Goodreads and announce it to the world, often expecting some sort of reward. They
compare their unrealistically high reading counts to others. They want to create the image of being well-read without actually putting in the work necessary to develop those skills.
In the end, though, I’m glad people are still reading. I wish technology hadn’t muted the artistry of it, turning what’s supposed to be a relaxing, slow process into a rush to consume as much as possible. I want to read because I’m intrigued by a book, not because I set a goal to read 20 books this year.
I want to engage with a book in my own way, and I encourage you to do the same. Find a book that speaks to you, one you want to read because it looks interesting. Find literature that you like. Value and uplift the voices of lesser-known authors. Be aware of exaggerations and romanticizations of serious issues that are far more severe than some authors present them. Don’t view yourself as better than anyone else because you read more often or fall into a higher-level reading category.
Take a deep breath, pick up your book and enjoy. Take as long as you need. After all, reading is an art, and art takes time.
Antaine Anhalt is a first-year communication studies major. He can be reached at anhalt.a@northeastern.edu.
Photo by Jessica Xing
Photo by Jessica Xing
Op-ed: Don’t fear your freshman year
Photo by Jessica Xing
Dear first-years, I was you once, cutting through the North Lot behind a packed Stetson East one humid August day amidst the rush of first-years moving in. Of course, I had no idea what was in store for me over the course of the next year. As a second-year student now, I look back on my freshman year and realize there are some things I wish I could change about my time. But I feel that what I’ve learned over the course of that year has helped me navigate the challenges that come with being an upperclassman. In the interest of making sure you have an easier time figuring out these lessons than I did, here’s a list of what you might want to do to make your Northeastern journey smooth sailing from the get go.
Go to class but don’t take notes. We’ve all been there. You’re sitting in the middle of the lecture hall while the professor seems to spend two hours on one slide and jumps through the next 10 slides in 30 seconds. All you can do is sit there dazed, staring at a lonely cursor on a blank Google Docs page. One week in, you’ll slowly start
to wonder if there is even a point to attending the lecture.
Well yes, there is a point. But if you’re only aiming to copy down the slides as fast as possible, then you’re missing the point of the lecture. Most slides are posted on Canvas before the lesson is presented. I recommend looking at the slides and making notes before class, leaving space to fill in anecdotes that your professor talks about. If you’re a STEM major, use the time in lecture to do practice problems related to the topic that is being taught. That way, if you’re stuck, you can use the lesson to guide you through the problem.
This may not work for every class (ahem — humanities majors). But the principle of using class lectures as review sessions may help maximize your academic journey without putting in extra thought. Reviewing the slides beforehand also gives you the chance to practice active listening during class, which will help you further understand the general idea of the material. But to better understand the specifics of your subject, you need to …
Go to office hours. Seriously. Everybody who takes a stressful class tells you to go to office hours, but it is often the last thing on your mind. You got into Northeastern; I’m sure you were that kid who self-taught a whole geometry unit the day before a test in high school. Unfortunately, that’s not going to work as well in college. Information comes flying at you at 1,000 miles a second, and you’re bound to be confused by at least one concept in every class.
A professor’s office hours gives you the opportunity to clear up any confusion you might have about the course, as it’s basically a one-on-one tutoring
session with the person making your exam. You get the time to really understand a topic to its core — to relearn everything that you might have missed during a lecture. And, if you use the technique about spending lecture time effectively that I mentioned above, you can outline exactly what questions you need to ask so that your understanding of the topic is not limited.
One added benefit: you get to know your professors as people and form a close connection with them. This could lead to a great mentor-mentee relationship, and potentially even a coop or full-time job opportunity. After all, Google was founded after an office hours meeting.
Go “club-hopping.”
And no, I’m not talking about sampling a pint at Two Saints Tavern. I’m talking about the more than 600 student organizations present on campus (and yes, that’s including Cheese Club).
Northeastern’s Fall Fest and Spring Involvement Fair are biannual fairs held at the start of every semester where you can check out all the clubs campus has to offer at their respective tables. You can add yourself to the mailing list of any clubs you find interesting to get alerts on weekly meetings or special events hosted.
From there, go see what the clubs are like in person and ask yourself some questions: Is this a club where I can make a big impact? Are these people my kind of people? Is this a space where I can relax?
Many clubs have mentor-mentee speed dating rounds where you can get to know the upperclassmen members better — go to those. If you do decide to join a club, these relationships with your peers and upperclassmen can give you personal guidance or open
up networking, co-op and maybe even job opportunities.
Many clubs on campus are not selective and are welcome to anybody. So don’t hesitate to hop!
Make your own extracurriculars.
While Northeastern definitely offers a smorgasbord of extracurriculars that range from tutoring and consulting to satellite-building enterprises, the university’s location is probably the biggest opportunity of them all. Boston is a world-class city, home to prestigious medical institutions, media outlets, investment banks and biotech firms that rival many cities across the globe. That means you should not be afraid to venture out and discover what opportunities lay before you that are not necessarily affiliated with Northeastern. The Boston Public Library, for example, offers volunteering positions to help teach English to immigrants. For all you computer science majors, many Boston schools host hackathons — often two-day long events that require you and your team to code a solution to a particular case presented.
You should also not be afraid to pursue personal projects on your own. Many of my friends have designed apps, formed business ideas and founded bands all from their (tiny) residence hall rooms in their first year.
Taking advantage of what’s around the city as well as what is directly at your fingertips on campus is not only great for building up your resume — especially with finding co-ops down the road — but it can be a great way to meet a new circle of people.
Stress — the right way. Whether it’s a bad grade on that test
the professor swore would be easy, the guilt from parents who keep asking why you don’t call or the oftentimes endless drama that keeps happening in your friend group, stress is pretty much a constant of life now. Part of managing your sanity is figuring out what you need to stress about right now and what can wait till later. Asageneralruleofthumb,ifdoingan assignment,spendingtimewithfriends orgoingtothegymisgoingtohelpyou growacademically,personallyoreven healthwise—dostressaboutit!Ifitonly bringsyoudown—suchasstressing aboutwhatpeoplethinkofyou—don’t. Collegeisverylikelytheshortestfour yearsyouwilleverexperienceinyour life,soitsonlyfairthatyouprioritize whatyouneedasmuchaspossibleand cutoutwhatyoudon’t.Don’tbeafraidto dropthatclub,activityorsocialgroupif youfeelyou’renotgettingmuchoutofit. Collegeisn’tperfect,norcanitbe. Likeanythinginlife,tryingtomakeit perfectwillonlymakeitworse.Everybodyisgoingtohaveunproductivedays, regretmissedopportunitiesandmake terriblefirstimpressions.Justremember thatattheendoftheday,theonlything thatmattersisfocusingonwhatyou cametocollegefor:togrowacademically,professionallyandpersonally. Navigating freshman year was probably one of the most exhilarating and stressful periods I’ve ever had in my life. But I’ve certainly come to learn a lot about what living as a young adult really entails. And I’m positive that if you learned something from this article, you’ll be able to tackle your freshman year with confidence as well!
SandeepSoodisasecond-yearbehavioralneurosciencemajor.Hecanbe reachedatsood.san@northeastern.edu
Op-ed:Co-opisjustnotforeveryone
Northeastern University’s pièce de résistance is its cooperative education program, or co-op, which allows students to access the workforce while remaining active students. While this program is known for its success and is a major pull for incoming first-years, I believe there are some real concerns with the co-op process and the university culture overall.
Co-op is a program several colleges now utilize to attract students who want to get real work experience while still in school. According to Northeastern, the co-op program allows students to explore experiential learning and practice useful real-world skills, like the interview process and resume building. These skills help many students on co-op enter the workforce quickly post-graduation, sometimes through company return offers from the connections they make.
Other universities that have witnessed this success have also started promoting
it as an attractive draw to their school. A lot of the universities that utilize the coop program preach how co-op can aid students in exploring their potential career paths. They offer students the option to test out occupations, and to determine which career path suits them best.
These programs also emphasize how many co-ops are now paid positions, which is very attractive to college students since it offers a meaningful income. This paycheck can aid students exponentially by helping them pay rent, buy groceries or allow students to splurge on themselves. All of these expense management skills also add to the “real world experience,” learning to create a healthy work-life balance.
As Northeastern students, we all know the alleged benefits of co-op and how it helps with career readiness and real-world experience. But is the experience as integral to success as we are all told? While the co-op program has been successful for the most part, some problems need to be addressed.
Similar to other measures, like new critical thinking programs, that universities adopt to attract more students and increase application rates, these programs can be forced upon students who may not want to participate. Since co-op is such a large part of Northeastern, students who struggle to find a good co-op enter a co-op just to realize they don’t like it, or those who do not want to be in the program whatsoever can feel pressured into making a commitment that is not worth their time.
These students do not deserve to be pressured into a job they might hate while still in college, which is meant to be an exciting experience before entering the workforce for decades.
Since the co-op program is a cornerstone of Northeastern, there needs to be more space for students who realize they are uninterested.
One example of this that Northeastern provides is the Experiential Network, a lesser-known program for students who want to experience experiential learning without going on co-op. These programs are not widely discussed at Northeastern to maintain a focus on co-op for experiential learning, and this focus is invalidating those who would be interested in something like the Experiential Network.
Additionally, many students who want to graduate in four years are pressured into spending more money and time to add one or two co-ops to their schedule. Northeastern tuition is currently $32,495 per semester for fulltime students. Spending another year at university could be detrimental to a student’s finances. Even if they get a job after graduation due to co-op, that does not necessarily mean they will be able to pay off their student debt quickly.
This “career-readiness” pressure is another daunting anxiety added to college students’ plates exacerbated through the co-op application process.
While many of the enticing features of a co-op include the real work experience it provides through learning to work on a team and practicing being a
professional, these skills can be gained through different means. Teamwork, work ethic and rational thinking skills can be developed in various ways, such as in sports and clubs in college.
Another drawback to the co-op process is the advising. Academic advisers are Northeastern employees — therefore, they will try to help students organize their schedule for their time at college, but they are also trying to push the university’s interests.
These interests are clear when advisers tell you it would be “less stressful” to graduate in five years instead of four. While some may genuinely believe this, it is also a clear way to encourage a fiveyear program at the university instead of the classic four-year plan. Some advisers also make sure to portray that you will not gain everything out of your experience at Northeastern unless you do at least two co-ops.
If a student comes to Northeastern as a student in the Explore Program and is pressured into finding their first co-op in their second year, there is a minimal timeframe for figuring out what job they want to explore for six months. Scarily enough, there is no “drop period” for a job — there is only quitting. Quitting one’s co-op is taboo since you cannot enroll in classes after a certain point, which means there are not many options if you do not like your job. This is an unfortunate reality for some and it is extremely anxiety-inducing to imagine what your options are if you become seriously unhappy with your co-op experience.
In contrast, Northeastern classes also attempt to prepare students for co-op and the workforce. One large positive regarding co-op is its ability to teach students about connection-building. However, many professors do research at the university or other universities in Boston and know an array of individuals who are always looking for Northeastern students to work for them.
Most professors do a fabulous job of describing their career pathways and how they got to where they are today. By taking classes in topics you are thinking about focusing on as a career, you can learn how interested you are. If you realize that the subject is not as promising as you initially thought, you can re-consider before choosing to apply for co-op.
That being said, the co-op program can be beneficial for students looking for real-world experience while still being in an academic setting, but at schools like Northeastern, opting not to do co-op needs to become more accepted.
Every student is different and looking for a unique experience in college, and these alternative perspectives should be acknowledged. With the program’s popularity, students should be aware of the co-op pushing agenda and recognize this when planning their future at Northeastern.
AvaVitielloisasecond-yearpolitical sciencemajor.Shecanbereachedat vitiello.a@northeastern.edu.
Photo By Jessica Xing
Review: Conan Gray fans ‘found heaven’ at MGM Music Hall
Conan Gray is glad he’s here.
Under a spotlight on the stage at MGM Music Hall at Fenway Sept. 26, Gray told the crowd of 5,000 people that there have been times in his life where he felt as though things would never get better. But once good friends, music and touring came into his life, he had one thought: “Holy fucking shit — I’ve got a whole lot to lose.”
The sold-out crowd was ecstatic, let alone glad, that Gray was in Boston. A rainy wait in line dampened clothes, but not fans’ excitement for the show, which was Gray’s second night at MGM on tour promoting his third studio album, “Found Heaven.”
The album, released April 5, was a new sound for Gray, whose previous two records are firmly slotted into the indie pop genre. “Found Heaven,” however, is an ode to campy 1980s music, with most of the songs on the album driven by synthy production meant to get listeners dancing.
Singer-songwriter Maisie Peters provided a solid opening set complete with her British charm, lively energy and dance-pop hits from her latest album “The Good Witch.” Peters is a seasoned performer — she’s opened for the likes of Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Coldplay, and has also promoted “The Good Witch” across the United States, Europe and Australia on her own headlining tour.
excitement came when Peters broke out into a cover of the chorus of Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season,” a song that was sure to get any New Englander in the room yelling the lyrics.
Soon after the end of Peters’ set, a black curtain with Gray’s new logo — a teardrop with a star in the middle — went up, sending the eager audience into a frenzy. When it came down at the beginning of the set, Gray was atop a raised platform, decked out in a black and yellow leather corset and pants. The energetic set started with “Fainted Love” and “Never Ending Song,” both off the new album, and gave the crowd a proper screaming vocal warm-up for the rest of the concert.
Gray turned to the crowd after and asked who went to Boston University, Harvard University and Berklee College of Music — he did not ask if anyone attended Northeastern, unfortunately, for any Huskies at MGM that night.
“Thank you for taking time out of your busy study schedule to spend the night with me,” Gray said before jumping into “Wish You Were Sober,” the first song from his debut album “Kid Krow” to make an appearance on the night’s setlist.
The upbeat tunes continued with “Eye of the Night” and “Killing Me,” both from the new album. The main stage set was revealed during these two songs: A large star-shaped light was positioned center stage, reminding the audience that Gray is, in fact, a star. The shape framed him as he hit soaring high notes and grooved along to the beat.
Here came the emotional peak of the concert: his song “Jigsaw” was an absolute standout and a perfect choice for the show’s midpoint — strobe lights, a crowd that sang along to every word and an electric guitar solo from a member of the band all came together perfectly.
Gray brought out his guitar (also branded with a star) to sing “The Story” and “Astronomy,” mellowing out the mood of the venue a bit for the acoustic tunes before bringing back the ‘80s vibes. Returning to “Found Heaven,” Gray launched into
the title track, “Boys & Girls” and “Lonely Dancers.”
However, there would be “no more joy for the rest of the concert,” Gray said in a joking tone. Back to his an thems, Gray began to close the night with “Winner,” which warranted classic concert hand-waving from the audience, and his guitar made a reap pearance for his viral song “Heather,” a song the crowd had obviously been waiting to belt all night.
Before he performed “Memories,” Gray told the audience the evening would end with the “Superache” single.
“This is the very last song, and I never lie,” Gray said playfully.
Except when he does. Gray came back out for the show’s encore in a sparkling black cape and a white tank top that read “BLAHBLAH BLAHBLAHBLAH” to sing “Bourgeoisieses,” the viral “Ma niac” and ballad “Alley Rose.”
During the last song, con fetti fell around Gray as he left the stage, but not before he took a bow — because that night, he was the winner.
“Found Heaven On Tour” will continue to span the United States before arriving in Amsterdam Nov. 2 for a European leg.
Peters exuded confidence as she danced across the stage and performed front and center with her acoustic guitar. Songs such as “Body Better,” “Not Another Rockstar” and “John Hughes Movie” were popular among the crowd, but the most
Gray went on to perform a run of his moody ballads, many of which appeared on his 2022 album “Superache.”
By Kristina DaPonte Lifestyle Editor
Maisie Peters sings into a microphone on stage. Peters played her acoustic guitar for part of her opening set.
Photo by Jessica Xing
Gray dances on stage while audience members cheer and record videos of him. Throughout the performance, the star-shaped light on stage changed colors, following the beat of Gray’s songs.
Photo by Jessica Xing
Conan Gray gestures toward the audience as he sings one of his opening songs. Gray performed night two of his “Found Heaven On Tour” Boston shows Sept. 26 to a sold-out audience.
Photo by Jessica Xing
Gray poses with one arm in the air. Gray performed both upbeat pop songs and moody ballads.
Photo by Jessica Xing