Feb. 11, 2022

Volume 90 • Issue 15

FSUgatepost.com

February 11, 2022

Nancy Niemi selected as next University president

By Steven Bonini News Editor

Nancy Niemi was selected to be Framingham State’s next University president by the Board of Trustees Dec. 23.

The Board of Higher Education (BHE) officially approved her selection Feb 1.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in education and has served as the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore since 2019.

From 2015-19, she worked as an inaugural director of Faculty Teaching Initiatives for Yale University’s Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.

From 2009-15, she served as a professor and chair in the Department of Education at the University of New Haven.

Prior, she taught at Nazareth College as an associate professor of education from 2008-09 and before that, she was an assistant professor of education from 2002-08 at the college.

Chair of the Board of Trustees Kevin Foley said the Board brought forward “three exceptionally fine” candidates to serve as the next president, but he said ultimately, they saw Niemi as the candidate with the best background and experience, highlighting her views on social equity and her strategic plan for the future.

“She was certainly personable, she was well prepared, and she was very thoughtful,” said Foley.

In the campus-wide community surveys for each candidate, Foley said Niemi “stood out” as highly favored by all campus constituencies.

These results played a major role in the Board’s decision to select Niemi, he added.

Foley said he believes Niemi has a strong “strategic vision,” and her background as a provost has helped her “formulate a lot of her viewpoints on equity in higher education.”

He highlighted Niemi’s commitment to helping grow an engaged faculty and working to assist them in adapting to the future of teaching.

From the Trustees’ viewpoint, Foley said one of the biggest challenges facing the University is branding and using strategies to increase enrollment, adding, “She’s going to have a lot to do.”

Foley said when Niemi eventually takes over as president, she’s going to need to be able to listen to her constituents, including the Board of Trustees, members of the administration, and faculty, as well as “making sure she’s setting the tone” and making herself known to the campus community.

Niemi said enrollment will be an area of concern for her, adding, “That

See NIEMI page 5

Nancy Niemi, the eighth president of Framingham State University.

Monti Washington helps FSU understand ‘Which Lives Matter’

By Emily Rosenberg Arts & Features Editor Monti Washington gave his interactive presentation “Which Lives Matter,” in DPAC, Feb. 7 organized by FSAB, the CIE, and BSU. Framingham State was his first stop on his “Which Lives Matter’’ tour speaking to colleges across the country. His presentations are interactive as he invites the audience to participate in what he calls “courageous conversations.”

Along with performing as Bill on Tyler Perry’s “BRUH,” and Terrence Abrams on BET’s “Games People Play,” he is a spoken word poet and speaker.

Washington began his presentation with a spoken word poem. He posed rhetorical questions regarding racial and class disparities in the United States.

“How come we have easier access to guns than educational funds? Why are there more liquor stores than book stores in minority neighborhoods?” he asked.

The question, “Which lives matter?” is uncomfortable because it implies that some lives matter more than others, he said.

“All Lives Matter” is the ideal, but is like unconditional love which is not real, Washington added.

“It sounds good. But is it real? Well, you’ll be in love and then I’ll like spit

Courtesy of Inflection Point Radio

News

SGA pg. 3 in your cereal or something,” he said.

“The only unconditional love is for POLICE CHIEF SANTORO pg. 6 babies and dogs.”

Blue Lives Matter was created in direct contradiction to Black Lives Matter - which originated to protest against police brutality, he said.

“Not law enforcement, not the police, but police brutality,” he said.

He noted there was never a time in the United States when it was shown that white lives did not matter.

He discussed the Black Lives Matter movement and said people try to justify police brutality by asking, “What HOLOCAUST TRIVIALIZATION pg. 8 did they do?”

Washington used the example HALEY’S COMIC pg. 9 of Tamir Rice, 12, who was playing with a toy gun in a park when someone called the police but they did not let him put down the toy gun before shooting and killing him. He said even though Rice was only 12 years old and playing, people still wondered if he was doing something wrong.

Washington emphasized that the statement does not say Black lives are greater or better, but they have importance and significance - yet some people still have trouble feeling comGatepost Archives fortable with the phrase.

SPRING SPORTS COVID PROTOCOL pg. 10 A big reason people don’t feel comfortable with the phrase Black Lives Matter is because they do not believe in Black experiences with police brutality and instead think if Black people followed the same rules INDIGENOUS CLIMATE JUSTICE pg. 12

Opinions

Sports

Arts & Features

See MONTI WASHINGTON page 13 HAWKEYE REVIEW pg. 14

INSIDE: OP/ED 8 • SPORTS 10 • ARTS & FEATURES 12

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2 | FEBRUARY 11, 2022

Gatepost Interview

Editorial Board

Benjamin Atchison

Editor-in-Chief Donald Halsing Associate Editors Leighah Beausoleil Kathleen Moore

By Sophia Harris Asst. News Editor

News Editors Steven Bonini Haley Hadge Ashlyn Kelly

What is your educational and professional background?

I got my bachelor’s degree at Trenton State College, which is now called The College of New Jersey. It is a state school - very similar to Framingham State - it started as a teacher’s college. I got my bachelor’s in math with a minor in German and then master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Albany - State University of New York also in mathematics. And then, after getting that degree, I got a position here as an assistant professor.

Asst. News Editor Sophia Harris Opinions Editor McKenzie Ward Sports Editor Danielle Achin Tyler Wahl Arts & Features Editors Caroline Gordon Emily Rosenberg Asst. Arts & Features Editor Ryan O’Connell Design Editors Maddison Behringer Emma Lyons Copy Editor Patrick Brady

Multimedia Critics Sean Cabot Jack McLaughlin Ryan Schreiber Advisor Desmond McCarthy

TH E GA T

What is the best part about your job?

I would say the interactions with students, but also faculty. I think working on a college campus, especially now that I have two young children - important topics and pertinent things are brought up and discussed, whereas I think in other settings, it doesn’t happen as freely. It’s really valuable not only as an employee, but also as a father. It sort of makes me rethink how I’m raising my kids and how they’re affected by my parenting.

E

O

Asst. Advisor Elizabeth Banks

@

What is your role at FSU and what does your job entail?

So as a professor, full-time tenure, I have teaching obligations - three courses a semester at Framingham, and we advise students, and we also do some scholarship and some service for the University. Currently, I am the curriculum committee chair for the University Curriculum Committee. Typically, it’s two 100-level courses that we teach a semester and then one upper level course.

What made you want to become a math professor?

As an undergrad, I had a decision to make if I wanted to use my degree in the corporate world or pursue a Ph.D. At my school, a small state liberal arts college, I really admired my advisors and the professors and the lifestyle working on college campuses - it is fantastic. The other option was actuarial work and I decided at that point in time, I wasn’t ready to go that route officially. So that’s what led me to a Ph.D. program and it is what eventually led me here.

Staff Writers James Barraford Jackson Clyde Dan Fuentes Dallas Gagnon Mark Haskell Stefano Hernandez Branden LaCroix Sage Lorenzo Johan Perez Nathan Rogers

N PE

Math Professor

T TH EGATEPOS

100 State Street McCarthy Center Room 410 Framingham, MA 01701-9101 Phone: (508) 626-4605 Fax: (508) 626-4097 gatepost@framingham.edu @TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

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Ryan O’Connell / THE GATEPOST What are some of your personal hobbies?

My family does a lot of camping. I do as much trail running as I can. My kids are big into Perler Beads. So I joke that I do a lot of Perler Beads and a lot of ironing. I grew up in the ’80s - in the Nintendo World - so I sort of introduced my kids to that early on. We like board games as well in our household. And, I’ll participate in friendly competition in any sort of organized sport, but I’ll say friendly because I’ve never really excelled in any one sport.

Do you have any advice for FSU students?

There’s a lot of growing up that happens after high school between the early 20s all the way up into the early 30s.

Be open to examining yourself as an individual and the world around you and be willing to learn and to be critical of yourself. But at the same time,

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ask questions, seek support when you need it, and communicate. When I was hired here, I talked about four areas that served me well as a grad student. The four areas I focused on were confidence in my pursuits, humility because it can be quite challenging to achieve your goals, responsibility - you have to be responsible for your own accomplishments and failures, and understanding.

I teach mathematics for understanding. … I’ve since added communication to that - communication is essential. I’ve learned that a lot. I keep going back to that in my role here.

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA HARRIS sharris9@student.framingham.edu

Thursday, Feb. 03 08:13 Alarm O’Connor Hall False Alarm

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Tuesday, Feb. 08 20:10 Found Property FSU Police Department Assignment Complete

Thursday, Feb. 03 18:05 Suspicious Activity McCarthy Center Report Taken

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FEBRUARY 11, 2022 | 3

SGA discusses amending bylaws to end class funding

By Branden LaCroix Staff Writer SGA approved amending its bylaws to require classes to request funding rather than automatically allocating funds per year during its meeting Feb. 8.

President McKenzie Ward said classes are allocated funds every year, but said classes often don’t use their funding, preferring instead to let the yearly funds accumulate and use them during senior year to plan big events or class trips. As an example, Ward said the Class of 2019 used its class funding for Red Sox tickets and a trip to Mohegan Sun.

behind continuing to fund classes up to 2026 if the problems with enrollment continue.

Ward said it is due to the funding of those classes being “already established.” She said, “It’s like letting them phase it out.”

Elkhoury proposed cutting off class funding starting with the Class of 2023 and amending the bylaws to require classes to request funding.

The motion passed 6-1 with no abstentions.

Ward reminded the members of SGA that the “Big Budget” meeting will take place Friday, Feb. 11.

During her President’s report, Ward said she and Dean Rachel Lucking have

“Even though students and people our age are more willing to talk about mental health, there is still significant stigma about mental illness and seeking mental health therapy.”

-McKenzie Ward, SGA President Every year, all four classes are given approximately $15,000 combined, according to Ward.

She proposed amending the bylaws to require future classes to request funding rather than be automatically funded, but said current funding would continue up to the class of 2026.

She said, with the amendment, “The current class would then still have access to the same amount of money if they so chose to use it, and then going forward, classes would still be able to ask for that money.

“I feel like that’s a more fair-andbalanced system for all classes,” she said.

Ward added having classes request funding would allow them to ask for more money than they would normally be allocated, “which may make these events more accessible because then you could allow for more students to attend, which would be really fantastic.”

When opened for debate, Senator Raffi Elkhoury asked for the reasoning

Weather

finished a commuter-student survey, which will help determine ways to better serve commuter students.

Ward said she believes there is more of a focus on resident students than commuters and she wants to “make sure their concerns and questions are being addressed in the same way residents’ are.”

She added she spoke with a representative of Art with Impact to visit FSU in April and host workshops on mental health and stigma reduction.

Ward said, “Even though students and people our age are more willing to talk about mental health, there is still significant stigma about mental illness and seeking mental health therapy.”

Art with Impact is a nonprofit organization that “promotes mental wellness by creating space for young people to learn and connect through art and media,” according to the group’s website.

During the Student Trustee report, Hillary Nna gave an update from the last Board of Trustees meeting.

The Gatepost Archives

A previous SGA meeting.

She said COVID-19 testing will continue through the semester, a new Center for Civic Engagement is “in the works,” a $192,000 grant was given to the Humanities Department by the National Endowment for Humanities, and there is $140,000 in new scholarships for students in education and food and nutrition education.

She added the Rams Resource Center extended its hours of operation to 10 hours a week and it has “given out over 350 pounds of food and over 700 items.”

Senator Mark Haskell said Community-Building Day will take place April 6 with the theme “youth standing against racism.”

He said, “The goal of this theme is to engage students, administration, faculty, staff, and campus police officers to foster a statewide culture of tolerance, equity, equality, and anti-racism, while calling on each and every one of you to stand up against racial prejudice.”

During the Diversity and Inclusion Officer’s report, Ward - speaking on behalf of Dara Barros - said the Center for Inclusive Excellence plans to create an “affinity group council” which will

meet twice this semester in March and April.

Sara Gallegos said the Veteran & Military Services Center is holding a clothing drive. Donations can be left at the Veterans Services Center in Room 113 in Dwight Hall.

During the Vice President’s report, Emma Sullivan reminded the members that the Drag Bingo event is taking place Feb. 24.

During Open Forum, Haskell said many washing machines and dryers on campus are still leaving “a residual, foul odor on clothes” after their use.

“I’m surprised that nothing had been done over break to alleviate that situation.”

Secretary Samuel Houle said it should be brought up at the next RA council meeting.

[Editor’s Note: McKenzie Ward is Opinions Editor for The Gatepost.

Mark Haskell is a staff writer for The Gatepost.]

CONNECT WITH BRANDEN LACROIX blacroix@student.framingham.edu

The Gatepost Archives

A previous SGA meeting.

Forecast provided by the National Weather Service www.weather.gov

Sunday night Feb. 13 Mostly cloudy, with a low around 15. Wind around 10 mph. Chance of snow is 30%.

Monday Feb. 14 Partly sunny, with a high near 20. Wind around 10 mph.

Monday night Feb. 14 Partly cloudy, with a low around 10. Wind around 10 mph.

Tuesday night Feb. 15 Partly cloudy, with a low around 15. Light wind.

Wednesday night Feb. 16 Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. Wind around 10 mph.

Tuesday Feb. 15 Sunny, with a high near 30. Wind around 5 mph.

Wednesday Feb. 16 Partly sunny, with a high near 40. Wind around 10 mph.

Thursday Feb.17 Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. Wind around 10 mph. Chance of rain is 40%.

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4 | FEBRUARY 11, 2022

Niemi

Continued from page 1 will be something that I’ll be paying close attention to.”

The “status quo” thinking of enrollment will no longer serve the University, she said, adding that “more marketing” and being “a little bigger and a little fancier” isn’t going to do the job.

“We have to take the strengths of Framingham and think about how we are going to grow and work together to figure out what that looks like meaningfully for the Framingham University and communities,” she said.

Niemi said it’s hard for her to say what FSU might do to change the decline in enrollment, “but thinking strategically, universities need to begin thinking about their potential college populations with more specificity, and not just one monolithic group.”

She said it’s not about “thinking about all 18-24-year olds as a population,” but instead “how might we think about what FSU has to offer programmatically and investigate what potential students might need or want those programs.

“We could and should also have that same sort of thinking for many age groups. When do people want and need educational credentials and experiences? How might we help them achieve those ends? That is what we should be asking ourselves, and I would bet that FSU is already doing so,” she added.

Niemi said in order for her to better establish strategic goals, it will be important for her to listen to the needs of the community.

A key issue she pressed on is the need to work toward anti-racism and equity, saying, “No matter where we are, we’ve got issues about racial equity, gender equity, social equity, that we need to - right on our campus - that we need to continue to think about, and figure out how we make it a place where everybody is welcome and able to achieve their goals.”

Spending time with and learning about the faculty and staff is another important obligation as president, Niemi said.

“Faculty have their roles. People like to say that we’re having a crisis in faculty,” said Niemi. “The nature of the faculty work is that it’s always changing.

“I have often said that being a faculty member is one of the greatest jobs on Earth, and I still think that.

So, learning what is particularly important to and special about our faculty body at FSU, and how we can help them do their work, whether it’s research, or teaching, or student support - how we help them,” is crucial, she said.

She said by “extension,” staff is just as important.

“The staff, no matter who they are at Framingham, deserve and will get my equal attention in ways that I don’t know yet,” she said.

“I don’t know precisely how I will best need and want to work with them because they haven’t told me all those things yet,” she added. “We had a little bit of a conversation when I interviewed, but I really want

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NEWS to listen to hear specifically how.”

Niemi said she’s excited to begin her new role as president and she was inspired to apply for the position because of the history of the University as the first public normal school in the United States.

“Public education of every kind is absolutely core to who I am,” she said.

“Framingham sounded like, certainly from others who had described it … a really, really special place and a place with even more potential. And it had the kinds of programs, the kind of portfolio, that showed that it cared deeply about a wide range of students and had the potential for more community growth and more exploration and discovery,” said Niemi.

“It seemed like an opportunity that was potentially a really important fit with my values and my wishes for higher education,” she added.

When Niemi visited the University for the first time, she said she encountered many “friendly” people and it was clear that the “fRAMily” is real.

“I could feel that, and I could see it, no matter what group I was speaking with,” she said, adding, “I really got an opportunity to meet - I think - a really wide range of people.”

She said she was struck by “the friendliness, the care about their institution, no matter who the group was, who the people were.” Her first impressions were positive.

Niemi highlighted some of the key places on campus she visited, including the Danforth Art Museum, which she called “a real gem of a place.”

Ultimately, Niemi said she really felt a sense of community on campus, adding people often joke community is her middle name.

In terms of her own strengths, the incoming president said she believes she’s bringing the “absolute passionate belief in the power of higher education” to the table as well as “a real depth of experience across populations of higher education.”

She said having worked at Yale, she understands “what it means to have resources and that resources are more than money, and what it means to have the network of connections that schools have, which is one of the things that makes me appreciate the networks that Framingham has.

“The school understands it sits in the MetroWest community, part of the city of Framingham, the commonwealth, and how those things really build on each other,” she added.

“Framingham itself has a long and proud history,” she said. “How do we take what we know about the Framingham communities and work to create an even greater version of ourselves and figure out where we want to go next?”

Niemi said there are many things she’s excited about coming in as president, but she said above all else, it’s the “joyful responsibility of working with a group of people who believe in the power of their work in higher education” as much as she does.

“I think we have the best profession on Earth to be in higher education, and particularly public higher education. And it’s a great responsi-

bility,” she added.

Even though she said she’ll have a heavy workload ahead of her, Niemi said it’s important to see the “joy,” “potential,” and “possibilities” in her upcoming position, adding, “The job’s too hard not to inherently love it at its core.”

In addition to her educational background, Niemi has several scholarly publications including a book she authored titled, “Degrees of Difference: Women, Men, and the Value of Higher Education,” and she is one of three authors for the upcoming book, “Teaching Methods in Business: Course Design and Assessment.”

“I think that the power of the written word, to be able to express one’s feelings through language, is just mind-blowingly powerful,” she said.

“I love it.”

She said writing has helped her “think about and organize” her arguments, “and then to substantiate those arguments with evidence.

“We all need evidence,” said Niemi, adding, “Wind me up and let’s talk about an important issue and I could do that a lot. But when I have to put it on paper and create an argument … then I’m responsible for really making a cogent argument and a set of facts and backing it up and that probably makes me a much better thinker, and a much more measured scholar, and hopefully, a better colleague.”

In terms of any concerns Niemi has about her new position, she said, “I’d not be the kind of president you want if I didn’t say I was nervous.”

She said it’s a “good nervous” because she feels a “heightened sense of responsibility.

“It is a massive responsibility to be the leader of a university, and I don’t take that lightly at all,” she added.

“The Framingham State University communities, from the Board of Trustees, and everybody else … everybody has put their faith in this decision and in me, and I don’t want to let anybody down,” she said.

“I know very well that not everybody will be happy with every decision we make, that I make, that my team makes,” she said, but she believes by working together collectively, a lot of progress will be made.

President F. Javier Cevallos said he’s “delighted” Niemi will be joining the campus community and he believes she is “really the best fit” for FSU, adding “her values align with our values very clearly.”

He said Niemi “brings a lot of educational experience,” adding, “she has a lot of history in issues of diversity and inclusion and fairness, and she also has a lot of commitment to education.”

Cevallos said he thinks Niemi will bring a “fresh approach” to the University, and he looks forward to seeing what she brings to the table and “what her vision is going to be.”

In terms of the difficulties the University faces, Cevallos said “demographic challenges with enrollment” are a major issue.

“About a million high school students did not apply for college who typically would have applied for col-

lege,” said Cevallos.

“That is a huge loss for the nation overall. In our case, we are also down in terms of students applying to us, and as part of that trend, I think that we have to do a lot of work over the next five years to restore that pipeline” to get students coming out of high school to understand “college is the way for them to improve their lives - to have a career and opportunity,” he added.

Cevallos said these enrollment issues will remain a problem for Niemi coming in and “turning that around” is going to be one of her challenges.

In addition, Cevallos said Niemi will be left with the responsibility of making the decision of who will be the next provost and vice president of Academic Affairs and the vice president for Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement.

He said he spoke with Niemi in a virtual setting, and they had a nice conversation on the searches.

Ultimately, Cevallos said while he started the search process for both positions, he is leaving the decision-making to Niemi as he will not be present when the selected individuals take up their new roles, and it’s important she’s able to decide who to appoint as she is the one who will be working with them.

Cevallos added he will help Niemi in any way he can to ensure a smooth transition.

Sociology Professor Virginia Rutter followed the presidential search closely and said Niemi was absolutely “the best” option of the three candidates to be the next University president.

Rutter highlighted Niemi’s ability to really “listen” and said this was something the incoming president did better than the other two candidates.

“When we were in the mediated space, she listened to people ask her questions and really responded to the person and to the question,” said Rutter.

“It pointed to how much varied experience she’s had,” she added.

“The number one thing was her skill at listening.”

The second characteristic she said stuck out to her was Niemi’s personal presentation, adding it was clear to her Niemi was “highly competent and capable.”

In terms of top priorities, Rutter said she hopes Niemi will “return the Academic Affairs and our academic programs to centrality for the leadership of the University.

“One of the things that has been a concern for me and a number of faculty members, is the way that Academic Affairs, and even our leaders of Academic Affairs, are marginalized in decision-making processes that are ultimately about academics,” she said.

Rutter said she believes Niemi can help bring “different constituencies together,” adding, “The Academic Affairs has been so marginalized for so long at Framingham State, but I feel like she can do it without kind of running roughshod over other groups.”

See NIEMI page 5

NEWS

Niemi

Continued from page 4 The other priority Rutter said she hopes Niemi will tackle is the gap between faculty of color and students of color.

“Our percentage of students of color has doubled in the past seven years, and our faculty of color has remained flat,” she said. “That’s created a lot of stress on those faculty of color as well as the students of color because we haven’t changed in all the ways that we can.”

Communication, Media, and Performance Professor and Faculty Union President Kate Caffrey said she also thought Niemi was the best option to be the next president of the University.

Caffrey said during Niemi’s meetings with faculty and the Board of Trustees, it was clear she had done her research on FSU and “understood the possibilities for making Framingham State a better place.”

She highlighted Niemi’s points about “community,” adding, “She really talked about the community and how we can engage with the community, which I think is something that the University has not been fantastic at doing.

“We’ve been kind of removed a bit from the community,” said Caffrey.

“She talked about engaging the community, which I think is something we really need to do in order to increase enrollments - in order to really put ourselves on the map.”

While listening to Niemi answer questions and speak about topics during her campus visit, Caffrey said she thought Niemi put a clear focus

on “good things about our programming” and Academic Affairs.

“One of Framingham State’s greatest strengths is our faculty,” she said.

“I think we have tremendous faculty who are incredibly well educated, they do lots of scholarly work, but they really focus on teaching, and it’s really hard to find people who can do so many things so well.”

Caffrey said it’s important to have a president who can “harness the energy” of the faculty, adding, too often, the faculty are the “best-kept secrets.

“When I look at the things that my colleagues are doing, and I look at how involved people are in the initiatives that the faculty promote … they do a lot of extra work to make Framingham State a great place, but I feel like that is sometimes not promoted as much as it should be,” she added.

Caffrey said FSU has a lot to offer in terms of programming and said during Niemi’s visit, she did a good job pointing out “specific things about the University that she found to be things that are needed in education - programs that are needed in this area that a lot of people don’t really know about.

“For example, our Food and Nutrition program is a fabulous program, but not a lot of people know what a great program it is,” she said.

“Our Fashion Design and Retailing program - awesome program. A lot of our programs - our health sciences. We have a museum. We have all of these things that a lot of people don’t know about in the general public,” said Caffrey. “She talked about

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FEBRUARY 11, 2022 | 5

making Framingham State a destination for things like this and getting the community to engage with what’s happening at the University.”

She said if the University better promoted these aspects, it would increase visibility and enrollment.

In terms of the relationship between the union and the University administration, she said many state colleges have a contentious relationship with their union, but that is not the case at FSU. “My hope is that we can continue to have a cordial relationship and talk to each other and listen to each other,” said Caffrey. “If there’s strife between union members … and the administration, then it takes our focus away from how all of us can do our job.

“There’s always gripes and there’s always complaints and there’s always people who want things to be done differently, but in many ways, the faculty are in the classrooms. We’re closest to the students - there’s many things that we understand because we’re, quote unquote, on the front lines a little bit better than the administration,” she added. “Letting our voices be heard, listening to us, I think is really important, and seeing us as collaborators rather than adversaries.”

Psychology Professor and Former President of the Faculty Union Robert Donohue said when he found out Niemi was selected for the presidency, he was “very enthusiastic” because he thought during her on-campus interviews, she spoke “quite effectively about the benefits of Framingham State continuing toward its path of

being a Hispanic-Serving Institution.”

Donohue said this is a high priority for him and he hopes under a President Niemi, it’s something the University can achieve.

The second priority Donohue said is important to him is the need for improved funding from Beacon Hill.

He said Massachusetts has been notoriously bad at funding higher education for quite some time, adding, “It’d be great if we could have some leaders come in who could improve our status.”

Among the top problems facing Framingham State, Donohue said, is institutional racism and “the punishingly expensive cost of the institution.

“I don’t think people who are from Massachusetts and don’t have a lot of contexts - I don’t think they realize how badly students in Massachusetts get screwed over through public higher ed,” he said.

“Massachusetts public higher ed is extremely expensive compared to most of the other states. So, I would really love to see if the University president could come in and try to do something about that,” he added.

Donohue said when he heard Niemi speak during her campus visit, he “walked out of the room being very impressed,” adding, “I thought she was able to provide thoughtful answers on a variety of topics, and she came off - I thought - sincere.”

While listening to her speak, he said he noticed Niemi at one point was working “herself through an ar-

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FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

6 | FEBRUARY 11, 2022

NEWS

John Santoro is hired as new chief of police

By Patrick Brady Editorial Staff Lorretta Holloway, vice president of enrollment and student development, announced John Santoro had been selected as the new chief of police in an email to the community Dec. 20.

Santoro previously worked as Framingham State’s deputy chief of police, associate director, and emergency management director from 2011-21.

Additionally, he served as co-chair of the University’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.

Prior to working at FSU, Santoro was an emergency management director at the Methuen Police Department, a patrolman at Northeastern University, and an investigator police officer for the Somerville Housing Authority Police Department.

According to Holloway, Santoro and the University Police Department will conduct a policy review based on the new “Racially Just Policing: A Model for Colleges and Universities,” develop a specific anti-racism policy that includes action items and review practices, and solicit increased community participation in campus safety discussions and practices.

Santoro said the department is currently reviewing its policy procedures to make sure they’re complying with the anti-racism initiatives. The department is starting a liaison program that will connect members of the department to various groups on campus, including the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.

“We have a draft version of a letter … we’re going to be putting out to the University community - talking about our [department’s] commitment to diversity and inclusion,” he said. “It’s been written, it’s being reviewed, and it’s in draft form right now [and] we will be releasing that in the near future.”

Santoro said he hopes to make the University Police Department more open and transparent. Many members of the community have asked the department about making internal policy and procedure changes.

The department’s personnel is one of the biggest strengths they have, he said. “We have both civilian and sworn personnel.”

According to lawinsider.com, civilian personnel are provided on-thejob training and are not required to interact with suspects. On the other hand, sworn personnel are police officers who are required to enforce laws through their power.

“I still think that we have a fairly good reputation here,” Santoro said, “and we can continue to improve upon that.”

He added the department is certified with the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission. He said he wants the department to continue to “help build trust and legitimacy.

“The state and the commission also require that we’re complying with the Police Reform Act,” he added. “And that we continue to have our officers trained above and beyond the minimum requirements of the state.”

The department should continue to build trust with the community so students can come to them for their needs, he said. The same applies to all community members, faculty, staff, guests, and visitors to the campus.

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Santoro said the department has been working on reviewing all of its policies and procedures. Currently, an accreditation manager oversees and makes recommendations in compliance with the policies. “[We’re] making any changes and adjustments as needed to make sure they reflect any anti-racism initiatives here on campus,” he said.

Regardless of the position, Santoro said he’s always done a great job interacting with the community. He plans to continue making “forward strides” in his interactions and will make himself more visible.

“As much as possible, I’ll be meeting with groups on campus - whether it’s student groups, faculty and staff groups, or any type of group on campus,” he said.

He said he’ll make himself available for anyone who wants to meet with him to express their concerns. “We have some initiatives that we have going on, including community forums and listening sessions that will be upcoming.

He said the department started a pilot internship program with a student for the first time this month. “[They’re] the first ever [student] that we’ve had as an intern, so we’re going to see how that goes,” he added.

He said if the pilot program is a success, the department will continue it next fall.

SGA President McKenzie Ward said she would like to see Santoro improve the connection between University Police and the student body. “In order to have a trusting relationship, students need to know who our police officers are and need to know them by name.

“I would really enjoy seeing campus police interact with the campus community in non-enforcement situations,” she added.

Ward said she’s happy the University has “strong goals and ambitions” for the department. University Police should not only enforce the law, but make the student body feel safe and help build an “engaged and connected community” as well.

She said she was glad the search committee organized open forums for each finalist because it allowed community members to ask questions and address concerns.

Black Student Union President Malik Martin, a senior fashion design and retailing major, said he hopes the campus community appreciates Santoro’s presence.

“Everyone knows that the police are viewed in a bad light,” he said, “and that’s just due to the climate of our nation at the moment.

“So, I think that having a community officer … intentionally building the relationships with students and faculty on this campus, is something really important in the furtherance of fostering that scholar-police relationship - especially when it comes to Black scholars and scholars of color,” he added.

Martin said Corinne Hall Towers used to host a program called “Towers Talks.” During the meetings, students would talk with Officer Katelyn Kelley about different on-campus concerns.

He said, “If that program was implemented around campus, I think that would be the first step in securing and fostering that relationship.”

Alex Hebert, a junior psychology major, said she hopes Santoro can make

the campus safer and “more welcoming to everyone.” Furthermore, it would be “beneficial” for police to listen to student requests.

“I feel like we need to make sure that the policies we have are consistent with what’s needed,” she said.

campus to be involved in making this shift to a much more real community-based policing.”

People who specialize in law enforcement and university policing should have a “guardian mentality,” she said. “There’s a lot of de-escalation

Courtesy of IMDb Derrick Bonsu, a freshman biochemistry major, said Santoro should change how the department interacts with students. For instance, a lot of students are “super nervous” to interact with police officers.

“As someone who has family members who are cops … I don’t get intimidated by them,” he said. “Whenever they walk up to you, it doesn’t always mean that they’re going to be asking questions.”

Donovan Carr, a freshman finance major, said University Police can make a positive impact on campus by interacting “face-to-face” with students.

“I think it’ll make students feel safer if they have a personal relationship with the police,” he said.

Selena Sheehy, a senior child and family studies major, said she’s thankful the University Police Department is taking “proactive measures” in developing an anti-racism policy. It would also be helpful if Santoro makes himself more “evident” to the student body.

“If he takes that action, people will actually want to use their resources,” she said.

Noelle Meunier, a senior business management major, said she has been “pleasantly surprised” by her interactions with University Police. The only downside is they aren’t consistent in giving out parking tickets.

She said she hopes the department treats every student equally.

Holloway said people who attended the open forums were really concerned about the relationship between University Police and the campus community.

“That would be our first crack at a deeper community engagement,” she said. “We were really going to need the

training and civic engagement training … that the police have to go through as part of the racially-just policing.”

She said she’s currently assigning an interim deputy chief, but due to the “Great Resignation,” it’s taking “twice as long” to find a replacement for the position. Also, University Police are currently looking for a new community resource officer.

According to NPR, the “Great Resignation” term was created after 33 million American workers quit their jobs beginning in early 2021. In doing so, the lack of workers left millions of jobs unfilled.

The search committee chose Santoro because of his long-term experience in university policing and the “positive impact” he’s had on campus, Holloway said.

Unlike other universities, Framingham State is an open-forum campus, she said. “The way you talk to the audience about the topic needs to change, depending on your listener.”

Holloway said University Police are going to need “some more training” on racial trauma. Additionally, the department hasn’t made as much progress on the policy review as they should have.

She said, “What we’re working on now is really beginning the policy review and using that model for how to measure and assess getting more community participation and campus safety discussions, as well as having the department develop its own specific anti-racism and racially-just policing policy that includes particular action items and review practices.”

CONNECT WITH PATRICK BRADY pbrady@student.framingham.edu

NEWS

COVID-19 by the numbers

FEBRUARY 11, 2022 | 7

By Kathleen Moore Associate Editor

Data collected Feb. 5

­ ­ Data collected Feb. 10

Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau, CDC COVID-19 Data Tracker, Johns Hopkins

[Editor’s Note: The Framingham Public Health Department is no longer reporting the number of COVID-19 cases in the city as of Feb. 2, 2022.]

­

[Editor’s Note: The number of tests administered does not indicate an outbreak of COVID-19.]

­ ­

­

­

­

Data source: Framingham State

Data collected Feb. 10

Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Worldometer, City of Framingham

Niemi

Continued from page 5 gument.”

He said when she was in the middle of answering a question, “she was really thinking about what she was saying and she said, ‘Well, I don’t think I’ve really ever thought this before, but now that I’m thinking about it, X, Y, and Z.’ And the fact that she was willing to sort of be frank about that and show that kind of ability to be thinking on her feet in front of a crowd in a kind of a high-risk situation - that’s something that’s really useful for a leader to be able to do.”

In terms of the union, Donohue said, “Compared to most of the other institutions in the system, I think we’ve had a pretty good working relationship between the administration and the faculty here. Not perfect, but good.”

Unlike other institutions, he said at FSU, “We spend very little time fighting between the administration and faculty, and I’d really love to see that continue, because nobody wants to waste their time on these fights.”

Donohue said with an incoming new president and eventually a new provost, it’s important they get some “onboarding about the collective bargaining agreement that defines the working conditions of the faculty and librarians, because throughout the system, and in Framingham State, there’s been this pattern where somebody new comes in from outside, and they don’t know the collective bargaining agreement, and they

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immediately sort of announce that there’s going to be some new thing, only to be told, ‘I’m sorry, you don’t have the authority to do that.’

“I would really love if the new president and the new provost got some good training on how our collective bargaining agreement interfaces with their new jobs, so that we don’t have to … immediately have these conflicts,” he added.

Lisa Eck, professor and chair of the English department, said she attended each of the presidential candidate forums and thought out of the three finalists, Niemi was “absolutely” the best of the three.

Eck praised Niemi’s publications and said they “speak” to what faculty care about.

“It’s not just that she has opinions about higher ed, but she’s done really important research on equity in higher ed, gender equity, racial equity,” she said.

“I was already impressed with her scholarship and just how prepared she was, but then she was also just an amazing communicator, and seems really student-focused and faculty-focused,” Eck added.

She highlighted Niemi’s background in the humanities, adding, “My colleagues in the humanities are really excited to have a university president who comes out of the humanities.

“She’s one of us,” said Eck. In terms of priorities, she said Niemi has experience with “student

success and retention” and she believes this will be a clear area of focus for the incoming president.

Eck said it’s also important for Niemi to focus on “access and equity,” adding she’s heard quite a bit about how “passionate she is about equity and inclusion.”

She said she appreciates Niemi’s “emphasis on gender equity, but also men of color in education.”

She said Niemi “seems motivated by principle, by a sense of justice.

And education is the great leveler at least that’s what we believe - in terms of social justice.”

David Smailes, professor and interim chair of the political science department, said whenever a new president comes in, the individual has to adapt to the new environment, adding Niemi will have to “adjust to and figure out” what the culture of FSU is like.

The other side of having a new president, he said, is “every new president brings into a university a set of ideas of what they want to see happen, and the goals that they want to achieve.

“That becomes a very difficult kind of dance … of perspectives,” Smailes added. “The give-and-take that happens with people when you come into a new organization, and particularly as the leader of that organization, to come in and make it your own, but at the same time, have an understanding and respect for what came before.

“That’s not easy to do,” he said.

Smailes hopes one of Niemi’s top priorities will be the students, saying, “We’re here because of the students, and whenever you’re making a decision, I think the fundamental question that any leader has to ask is, ‘Is this going to benefit the students or not?’”

He said he doesn’t believe “somebody who’s been in business” wouldn’t understand that “as well as somebody who’s been in the field of education.

“I think that’s important because I think that ultimately is what has to guide an institution,” he added.

In terms of challenges, Smailes said one of the hardest goals to achieve is bringing “change to an institution, but doing it in a way that provides or encourages the cooperation of the people whom you’re working with.”

He said it’s also important for a new president to be able to come in and “give some academic direction to the development of an institution without necessarily interfering with the understanding that people have already in a particular department as to what their mission is and what they see their goal to be.”

Above all else, Smailes said he welcomes incoming President Niemi, adding it’s important for everyone to ask her, “‘How can I help?’”

CONNECT WITH STEVEN BONINI sbonini@student.framingham.edu

8 | FEBRUARY 11, 2022

O P / ED

OP/ED

THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL This is a test of the active shooter alert system Last week, federal legislators discussed the proposed Active Shooter Alert Act of 2022.

The Act’s goal would be to develop “mass alert systems ... to notify local residents, motorists, travelers, and others in the vicinity when there is an active shooter,” according to the U.S. Congress website.

Why wasn’t a bill like this proposed sooner?

An active shooter is defined in the bill as “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people with a firearm in a populated area who poses an active, imminent threat to people in that populated area.”

Between 2000 and 2020, there was a 1,200% increase in active shooter situations in the United States, according to ABC News.

Other bills to improve firearm safety have failed to garner enough votes in Congress because of Republican opposition to gun control laws. The Active Shooter Alert Act stands a higher chance of passing in Congress because the 2nd Amendment and gun ownership rights are not called into question.

An active shooter alert system recognizes our country’s lack of organized response oversight at the national level.

The technology to create a national active shooter alert system is already in place.

Much like the Amber Alert system, which sends out notifications when children are abducted, the proposed system would allow law enforcement personnel to send out messages via text, phone calls, and television and radio broadcasts. People can like the Amber Alert Facebook page or follow its Twitter account to receive local alerts as well.

While details have not yet been determined, we believe the active shooter alert system should include an opt-in subscription for text, phone, and email alerts. Those who opt in could add phone numbers and email addresses to be contacted in the event of an emergency.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), one of the representatives who proposed the bill, is likely familiar with the benefits of Rhode Island’s codeRED system put in place around 2016 by Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, according to the City of Providence website.

This statewide emergency notification system alerts residents who have opted into the program through telephone, cell phone, text message, email, and social media when time-sensitive emergencies occur.

A number of government agencies, including the National Weather Service, already broadcast emergency messages through an organized system called SAME. Local municipalities send out automated phone calls when there are weather delays for schools or trash pickup.

Framingham State even has its own alert system, which was tested last month and announced closings during the recent snowstorms.

While the technology to create an active shooter alert system is already available, what’s missing is an organization or agency to oversee its protocols and implementation.

The bill states the system would be coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice, which would set “best practices” and activation criteria for local law enforcement personnel to follow. This arrangement is the same as the one for the Amber Alert system.

One danger of creating a system like the one proposed is that people might panic when they receive messages about active shooters.

However, in active-shooter situations, people will panic whether they know two minutes after it begins or two hours later. A timely message allows people to take action sooner to protect their lives in situations where seconds matter.

Like a tornado, active shooters may move quickly and unpredictably. It’s better for people to know sooner rather than later so they can lock their doors, find a safe place to hide, or turn around if they are driving.

Last week, an active shooter targeted campus police officers at Bridgewater College in Virginia. The college issued a shelter-inplace warning to protect its community.

While the students at Bridgewater benefitted from an immediate lockdown, people outside educational institutions don’t receive real-time alerts when shooters are detected. A notification system would provide the same sort of protection.

The Active Shooter Alert Act is a good idea.

All that’s required to implement it are some meetings in the Department of Justice to set up guidelines. The actual broadcasts by local law enforcement can operate using preexisting channels of communication.

We hope the bill makes it to the floor in Congress in May and is voted on favorably.

The bill proposes a $2 million budget for creating the alert system for Fiscal Year 2023.

We think spending this small portion of our country’s budget could save lives. You can’t put a price on the lives of all the shooting victims in our country.

Everybody wins from the Active Shooter Alert Act. There are so many common-sense solutions to improve gun safety. In the past, The Gatepost has advocated for federal legislation to enforce background checks, extreme risk law, and mandatory education for gun owners.

The Active Shooter Alert Act, which stands the best chance of passing in this partisan moment, is the bare minimum needed to address the gun violence crisis in our country.

Without it, our safety is in jeopardy.

Thankfully, in the meantime, we have access to an alert system of our own.

We recommend every FSU student sign up for FSU Alert to ensure their safety on campus.

Directions for students to sign up for FSU Alert: Log in to my.framingham.edu Click on “Login to FSU Alert here” Enter username and password Add phone numbers and email addresses

Have an opinion?

Feel free to email it to: gatepost@framingham.edu Opinions should be about 500 words.

Anyone can submit.

We look forward to hearing from you! @TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

Addressing Holocaust trivialization

By McKenzie Ward Opinions Editor Between 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators orchestrated a genocide that systematically murdered over 6 million Jewish people and millions of others.

Not only did the Nazi party target Jewish people, but they targeted and killed people of other groups including Roma, Slavic people, members of the LGBTQIA+, disabled people, and people of different political opinions, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).

By the end of the war, every two out of three European Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, according to the USHMM. Auschwitz-Birkenau, a concentration camp located in Poland, was only liberated 77 years ago meaning there are only 77 years separating us from the horrors of what happened in Europe under the control of the Nazi party. There are still survivors who are alive today and who continue to tell their stories.

Despite the tragedy which stems from this genocide, over the years Holocaust trivialization has become prevalent in the world and it needs to be addressed.

Holocaust trivialization is any inappropriate comparison or analogy of the Holocaust that was meant to diminish the magnitude of the genocide, the actions of Nazi Germany, and of the murders of millions of individuals in Europe. In the last two years, I have seen a concerning number of people trivializing the Holocaust in the name of their own political agenda.

In May 2021, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi attempted to require that all members of Congress wear a face mask on the chamber’s floor. In response to Pelosi’s request, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) compared the face mask rule to the steps the Nazis took to control Jewish people during the Holocaust.

“You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about,” said Greene.

I was repulsed to hear someone compare being asked to wear a face mask during a pandemic caused by a virus which is passed through droplets from an infected person’s breath, cough, or sneeze to the Nazi Party’s requirement of Jewish people to wear the Star of David on their clothing as a way to discriminate against them.

Pelosi’s request for members of Congress to wear a mask in order to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 is in no way comparable to Nazi decrees mandating identifying badges which were used to segregate Jewish people from the rest of the population.

In Washington, state Rep. Jim Walsh, a Republican, wore a yellow Star of David on his shirt during an event to “protest” the COVID-19 vaccine and the mandates associated with it, according to NBC. When Walsh was asked at the event if he was wearing the Star of David to make a point, he responded with, “It’s an echo from history. In this current context, we are all Jews,” according to NBC. These are just two examples of individuals trivializing the Holocaust in order to advance their political agenda. And while many people called Greene and Walsh out for their antisemitic comments and actions, they are not the only ones making these harmful comparisons.

According to the Combat Antisemitism Movement, there have been over 60 million online engagements linking pandemic-related issues with Holocaust terminology.

These acts show a lack of understanding the significance of the Holocaust and the impact these statements and actions have on the victims and survivors of this genocide. In no way is asking someone to wear a mask even similar to the concentration camps, death marches, or the systematic killing of millions of people that occurred during the Holocaust.

Rather, these vaccine and mask mandates have and are continued to be implemented to prevent further deaths, and as of Feb. 10, over 912,000 people have died from COVID-19.

Greene, Walsh, and others who use the tragedy of what happened during the Holocaust - you should be ashamed to use this atrocity to advance your political beliefs when you should be spending this time to educate yourself on what has happened.

OP/ED

FEBRUARY 11, 2022 | 9

Campus Conversations What has been your favorite class at FSU?

By Maddison Behringer and Emma Lyons, Editorial Staff

“Probably [U.S.] History Since Reconstruction.”

- Ian Buckley, sophomore

“Aspects of Theatre. I think we did stage combat and stage makeup in that class.”

-Melissa Palabiyik, senior

“My favorite class at FSU that I’ve taken is either any class by Dr. Vreven - so probably Research Methods II - or any class by Prof. Pearson - especially Sociology 101, which I’m taking right now.”

-Elyisa Correia, senior

“My favorite class would be literature, since it’s really fun to get to share my thoughts about books that we’re reading.”

-Lucas Akinkuoye, freshman

“I would say Life Drawing has been great so far. I really enjoy drawing figures, so it’s been really awesome.”

-Katherine Carpenter, freshman

“Sex, Satire, and Social Justice with Prof.

Bennett. I’m an English major and it focuses mainly on satirical work from Juvenal and Ovid.”

-Meggan Law, sophomore

Sam the Ram and the Secret Admirer

Haley Hadge / THE GATEPOST

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

10 | FEBRUARY 11, 2022

SPORTS

SP O RTS

Varsity sports schedule resumes following Omicron cases on teams

By Danielle Achin Sports Editor Varsity sports resumed Jan. 31 following a pause because student athletes contracted COVID-19 during semester break.

During the break, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams were forced to reschedule games after members of both teams tested positive for COVID-19.

The men’s team had to reschedule three games, while the women’s team rescheduled two.

Additionally, the Ice Hockey team was required to reschedule games after the majority of the players tested positive after their first game on Jan. 4 against Johnson and Wales.

After classes were moved online for the first two weeks of the semester due to the surge in cases from the Omicron variant, FSU, along with many other universities, has required the booster shot as a condition of returning to campus.

Student athletes returned to campus Jan. 2 and were allowed access to the Athletic Center’s weight room for supervised practices and lifting time.

Athletic Director Thomas Kelley said during the first week of online Zoom classes, the Athletic Center was closed entirely except to varsity athletes.

During the second week on Zoom, residents and student athletes had access to the center by appointment only.

Kelley said, “From 10 to 1, we were only open to resident students and by appointment, and 1 to 4 was varsity athletes only. We had a working list of residents on campus and crosschecked them off.”

Kelley said since returning to in-person classes beginning Jan. 31, the Athletic Department allowed full access to the weight room and became pretty lenient about checking people in. He said this has been a “smooth process so far.”

Sophomore Jaylen Swan, a small forward on the Men’s Basketball team, said, “Me and my teammates use the gym daily now and it’s helped with having more freedom in the weight room for the athletes on campus.”

Sophomore Madison Skiff, a member of the Women’s Lacrosse team, said, “Sometimes, it gets a little chaotic when everyone is in the gym because of the athlete hours. Otherwise, the lifting of the protocols was really helpful.”

Camille Desrochers, a senior guard on the Women’s Basketball team, said, “While we are in session, we definitely spend more time in the basketball gym rather than the weight room, but it’s still nice to be able to use it for

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practicing.”

Kelley made it clear that no fans or spectators were allowed to attend games from Jan. 18 to Jan. 31 during the two-week remote learning period.

Assistant Athletic Director Carey Eggen said before Jan. 31, there was weekly testing for all student athletes regardless of vaccination status, but that has changed since then.

“On Jan. 2, we had three active winter teams - Men’s and Women’s Basketball and Ice Hockey. They were testing at minimum once a week sometimes more depending on the case count. Now, only those who are exempted are testing for those three teams,” Eggen said.

“We usually try and get two or three weeks of testing, and then depending on their vaccination rate, booster rate, COVID cases they’ve

Gatepost Archives had, we will stop asymptomatic testing.”

Eggen said each team’s protocol may be different depending if a student is a resident or not, if they are exempt, what their vaccine status is, or if they are an athlete.

Desroches said the women’s basketball team has switched to bi-weekly testing after the majority of the team tested positive for COVID-19.

Bryan Whelan, a forward on the Ice Hockey team, said, “As of now, if we have the booster and the two vaccines, we don’t have to go and test every week.”

However, with spring sports starting up, weekly testing is going to be required for those athletes until the department says otherwise.

Sophomore Kyra Lyons, a member of the Women’s Lacrosse team, said testing every week is OK because “as long as we can keep playing, we’ll do whatever it takes.”

Skiff said, “If we have to get tested every week, we’ll do it.”

Because student athletes on all three winter sports teams tested pos-

itive for COVID-19 in January, games were postponed and practice times changed.

Ashton Collazo, a freshman on the Ice Hockey team, said he was frustrated about having to cancel some games due to COVID-19 exposure during their game on Jan. 3 against Johnson and Wales.

“We were shut down for I believe 12 days and missed four to five games as a result,” Collazo said. “So far, only two have been rescheduled and two of our later games in the season that were out of conference were canceled in order to have room to make up in-conference games.”

While Ice Hockey struggles to reschedule games in order to catch up in the MASCAC League, senior Krysta Padellaro, a guard on the Women’s Basketball team, said their postponed games have been rescheduled.

She said at least three games were canceled due to COVID-19 cases on her team. “We practiced all throughout winter break. We had one week off right after Christmas because of the cases on our team, but since then, we’ve been cleared and there was no problem rescheduling them!

“But it did result in playing three games a week instead of two for a few weeks, which was definitely exhausting,” she added.

Swan said his team had several positive COVID-19 cases and only had to reschedule two games.

Sophomore Liz Dollard, a member of the Women’s Lacrosse team, said team practices Monday through Saturday for their upcoming season.

Despite beginning their first week of practice, she said the team has learned to expect the unexpected.

“We had our first week of practice which is new for us. We don’t usually have one this quick, but we don’t have our spring break schedule yet, so that’s still up in the air if we’re going.

We’re just assuming everything is up in the air. Nothing is definite right now,” she said.

With the required testing in place at FSU, many student athletes are confident about how the school is handling it’s response to COVID-19.

Collazo said, “As players, we take things day by day, and if some outside force decides COVID has gotten too bad and shuts us down, then it becomes time to prep for the next year because obviously, there is a lot of room for improvement from last season.”

Desroches and Swan acknowledged everyone has been cooperative in order to protect the health and safety of students and faculty.

“It’s nice to see the case numbers continue to go down. I think we all now are willing to do whatever it

takes to not have that happen again,” Desroches said.

Swan added, “The school and athletic teams are doing their best to have everyone follow protocols. I have faith everything will be running smoothly.”

Padellaro said, “We all followed the vaccine protocol and wear our masks for practice and only take them off when we’re allowed to for games. I don’t feel there is concern for things getting shut down again.”

Whelan said as long as everyone follows protocols, there will be no problem having a successful season.

“I’m not too concerned because the protocols are not difficult to follow,” he said.

However, women on the Lacrosse team said they were concerned for yet another possible season stripped away from them.

Dollard said, “Just knowing people are testing definitely makes us feel better about having a season.”

Students are walking the streets of Framingham State once again, many of them decked out in their uniforms ready to represent FSU athletics.

Gatepost Archives

Gatepost Archives CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ACHIN dachin@student.framingham.edu

SPORTS

FEBRUARY 11, 2022 | 11

Rams Men’s Basketball falls to MCLA 74-62

By Tyler Wahl Sports Editor The Rams Men’s Basketball team suffered a hard loss against MCLA on home court Feb. , 4-62.

With spectators finally allowed back in the gymnasium, the Rams got off to a hot start and pleased the home crowd.

Junior small forward Jahden Erold and senior guard Keith Hollman started the game off making a high percentage of successful shots.

Despite the initial stellar play from FSU, the Trailblazers were able to hold a small lead through the majority of the first half.

The Rams were forced to take a 30 second timeout following a 6-0 run

by MCLA and hoped to bounce back following their discussion.

Unfortunately, a turnover was committed soon after play resumed and MCLA extended the run to 10 making the score 24-13.

With just over six to play until halftime, the Rams looked to capitalize on scoring opportunities and bring the game back within reach.

While Framingham State succeeded in scoring through the remainder of the half, their defense still struggled.

MCLA shot a healthy 4 .1% from the field in the first half. They also had good ball movement, converting 11 assists on the half.

Framingham State was able to cut the deficit just before halftime when sophomore guard Ivan Nyantenji hit a big three-pointer.

The Rams headed into the locker room with a 3 -22 deficit to overcome. One aspect of Head Coach Donald Morris Jr.’s game plan for MCLA was the full court press - and they brought it into the second half with full force.

Due to the aggressive nature of a full court press, FSU was able to force seven turnovers in the second half.

Junior small forward Jaylen Swan spoke of the effectiveness of the press after the game adding, “It was something we had worked on in practice but we didn’t really expect to run it. It was more of a mid-game adjustment that our coach made that was really effective against them.”

The press was effective and the Rams were converting on more of their opportunities than in the first half.

Framingham State shot an efficient 0% from the field in the second half and were able to put up 40 points on the board compared to their lackluster 22 in the first.

Erold once again put on a show in the second half, finishing with 14 points on the night. Senior guard Trevor Manyak also helped put points on the board, finishing with 10 in the half.

While FSU outscored the Trailblazers 40-3 in the second half, it still wasn’t enough to make up for the lack of offense in the opening minutes.

The final buzzer sounded and the Rams were defeated 4-62 to close the night. Despite the team’s 3-19 regular season record, they still have hope for the playoffs.

After the game, Swan added, “I think the key to us finishing strong is not worrying about our record because at the end of the day, everyone in the playoffs is 0-0.

“Anything can happen, we need to win three games to win the championship - so we should take that mindset with us throughout the rest of the season,” he said.

The Rams will look for a win in their final home game of the regular season Feb. 16 vs. Salem State.

MCLA FRAMINGHAM STATE

74 62

CONNECT WITH TYLER WAHL twahl1@student.framingham.edu

Women’s Basketball defeat Fitchburg State

Photos by Danielle Achin/THE GATEPOST

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12 | FEBRUARY 11, 2022

ARTS & FEATURES

ARTS & FEATURES

How can indigenous knowledge help with climate justice?

By Ryan O’Connell Asst. Arts & Features Editor Arts & Ideas hosted the first event of the year Feb. 9, discussing how indigenous knowledge can be integrated into student and faculty lives to work toward climate justice.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, SUNY teaching professor of Environmental Biology and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, was the sole speaker of the event.

Kimmerer’s lecture began with a reminder of gratitude, an important aspect of Potawatomi culture, and a “traditional protocol greeting” spoken entirely in the tribe’s language.

She began with an overview of the Potawatomi’s homeland along the shores of Lake Michigan, how it “used to [ripple]” with the sound of their language, and how even the city of Chicago is a word used to refer to the “skunky smell … because of the wild onions that grow along the lake shore.”

Kimmerer then introduced a history of the pigeon population native to the Lake Michigan area, and how that history related to her message of sustainability.

“The skies over these Potawatomi homelands would be, from time to time, darkened by flocks of birds that the sky - and the sun - was blotted out by their numbers,” she said.

Kimmerer spoke about the large number of birds across indigenous territories, before quickly mentioning Martha, the last passenger pigeon, which died in 1914. She then explained why it always comes to mind when she thinks about the climate crisis.

“And in this time … of accelerating biodiversity loss in the face of climate change, the commemoration of Martha’s death has always weighed heavily on my shoulders. And how I was surprised to find that as a biologist, I knew a lot about her extinction, but much less about their living,” she said.

Kimmerer added how her research on the birds led her to learn interesting facts about their lives, how they “were communal nesters,” or how they would “cherish a single egg in their nest,” and why this research kept her engaged.

“I was fascinated to learn … about the theory that the great abundance of pigeons may in fact have been an echo of the abundance of native people, who created forest habitats favored by the birds,” she said.

She explained that “[her] people understood this living wind of wings,” how “[their] bird clan … evokes their plumage,” and how Simon Pokagon,

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a Potawatomi leader and writer, described them as the most elegant bird in sight and movement.

Kimmerer went on to describe how colonists drove the Potawatomi out of their homes for the area’s timber and farmland, and how the shift in habitat led to the pigeons being labeled pests and “killed by the thousands” in 1838.

“They were packed in salt-filled barrels, then sent east by the train.

Their numbers became fewer and fewer, and in that very same year, our people became fewer as well,” she said.

Kimmerer described that same year, the Potawatomi people were marched off their land at gunpoint

lessons” as we struggle with climate change in the modern age. She added that when she saw the photograph of Martha, the pigeon, she “felt in her lonely gaze a kind of a moment as if I could hear her say, ‘how could something so beautiful, so ancient, so prolific, simply vanish?’”

She said the pigeons and the Potawatomi were trying to be swept away by the same wind - and how the conflict of the indigenous worldview and the western outlook of “human exceptionalism” differed on things like the treatment of land and the spiritual connection one has to a place.

Kimmerer spoke more about the

ra and fauna as our relatives, and said “we have to consume with honor.”

Kimmerer explained these are moral rules “that govern our taking,” and listed the guidelines for an honorable harvest, including never take first, take only what you need, ask permission before you take, take only what was given to you, and reciprocate this gift, just to name a few.

“Never taking the first means that you’ll never take the last. And this is a prescription which has inherent conservation value through the practice of self restraint, which we, as Americans, are not very good at - let’s agree on that,” she said.

Kimmerer then explained the im-

Israel Salas, a visiting profesor from Chile, asking a question during the open forum following the event. from Michigan to Kansas, on a journey that would come to be called “the Trail of Death.”

She spoke about the drastic changes the tribe endured, and how it was similar to climate change: “A cool, lush, lake-side forest for hot dusty grassland, lakes for drying up riverbeds, lakes full of wild rice for a sack of weevily flour.”

Kimmerer added names lost meaning, the old spirits didn’t live in Kansas, and “an entire way of being was threatened with extinction, and the missionaries and the land speculators were there to fill the void, and tried to extinguish the sacred fire.”

She connected this forced removal to the threat climate change currently poses to humanity.

“This is climate change. Climate change in a single season. So much loss - should we too be looking over our shoulder and saying goodbye to Maples, to countless other species?

Because climate change, as you know, is the major driver of species extinction,” she said.

Kimmerer said that the story of being forced to trade one climate for another has “great teachings and

forced relocation of indigenous people, how their children were forcibly taught colonist culture in schools, and how “a universe of knowing nearly vanished in a single generation,” before continuing to explain how dangerous the climate crisis is.

“It was said that there would come a time when you could no longer dip your cup into a river and drink, when the air will become too thick to breathe, and when our plant and animal relatives will start to turn their faces away from us - but even they could not imagine a world in which the most abundant bird on Earth would be gone,” she said.

Kimmerer talked about an important method she extended to the audience which would help the sustainability of the Earth, and to foster a healthier relationship with it - the honorable harvest.

She recognized there is a willingness to take from the Earth, and instead said the honorable harvest doesn’t say “don’t take,” but rather encourages people to see the Earth as more than capital, more than property, more than something for the taking. She makes the comparison of flo-

Ryan O’Connell / THE GATEPOST

portance of asking before you take, and how “in some places, if you heard me talking to those berries, you might think I was crazy,” but added in a worldview that considers them a relative, it’s considered manners.

She said the answer to this can come in many ways. One might look around and see if there are enough, or consider the age and size of the population, whether it was sustainable or not. She added science or intuition could be used to listen for the answer, and if that answer was no, not to take.

She talked about how the line between wants and needs are blurred in modern society, that things taken from the Earth should never be wasted, and how “taking without permission is sometimes called stealing.”

The discussion continued on the topic of the honorable harvest and the morals of consumption until the conclusion, where Kimmerer ended with the suggestion to follow the ideals of the honorable harvest in the future.

CONNECT WITH RYAN O’CONNELL

roconnell1@student.framingham.edu

ARTS & FEATURES

FEBRUARY 11, 2022 | 13

Monti Washington Continued from page 1

as white people, Black people would not be killed, he said.

People who have grown up in a system that was created specifically to benefit them have the privilege of living in a world where they can succeed and race does not affect them, he said.

“Your experience is completely different from mine. So different, in fact, that when I tell you my experience, you don’t believe me,” Washington said.

He said that in the past five years, he has found that most people, despite going to protests and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, feel uncomfortable with the phrase because it perpetuates the idea that at some point, they had played a part in making Black people uncomfortable.

Washington related this to the patriarchy. He admitted that as a cisgender man, he knows at some point in life, he has “offended a woman.

“Although I haven’t directly done something, I still benefit from the system that allows me to - and that is uncomfortable,” he said. “But I imagine for a woman, that’s uncomfortable every single day, not just when the topic is brought up.”

The issue with saying All Lives Matter is the narrative changes, he said.

“The moment you change the story, you change the basis,” Washington said. “So when you change the faces, you change the focus. When

Monti Washington talks to students in the audience about why Black lives matter.

He shared an experience of when him he was the first Black person he he was with a friend in Koreatown. had ever seen in person.

He added as an inherently diverse His friend was Taiwanese, and a white man walked up to him and assumed campus, FSU students need to be inhe was Chinese and asked what Chi- clusive and “reach out.”

Washington also encouraged stunese symbols were because he wanted dents to learn about other cultures by to get them as a tattoo.

Washington said if people are un- watching YouTube videos and reading sure of someone’s ethnicity or life- on Google.

He said, “If you don’t take the expestyle, they should ask instead of asrience of including yourself in the disuming.

Exposure is the cure to ignorance, versity of people that are different, in what ways have you truly changed?” he said.

The greatest thing he remembers It is human nature to deal with people who are similar, which is why from college is the experiences with

“I don’t believe we connect through our success. I believe we connect through our pain,” - Monti Washington Actor and Poet

you change the focus, you change the problem trying to be solved.”

He then asked the audience to find two people they didn’t know and ask them about their favorite food and movie.

The point of the exercise was to show that being uncomfortable is OK and that people need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, he said.

The reason people are not OK with talking to people they don’t know is because of their implicit biases, Washington said.

Washington then discussed microaggressions. “Statements close minds.

Questions open them,” he said.

it was not surprising that most audience members indicated they socialized with people with similar viewpoints, he said.

“The problem is, that’s our experience. We think it’s the truth. Not a truth,” he said, “If someone has a different experience than us, that is their truth.”

He cited a statistic that in the early 2000s, only 6% of Americans believed racism was a problem in the United States, but 12% believed Elvis Presley was still alive.

Washington said that when he read this statistic, he understood it. When he gave a speech at a college in Utah in 2016, an 18-year-old student told

people who were not like him, he said.

Working with Quei Tann on “BRUH” has given him a greater understanding of what it is like to be transgender, he added.

“I’m a cisgender heterosexual man, right? I’m what society says you should be,” he said.

When he asked what it was like to be transgender, Tann told him, “I’m everything the world hates,” Washington said. He said he would never forget that sentence.

He then asked the audience to participate in an activity where he asked a series of questions such as, “If you have ever been told ‘Man up’ or ‘Act like a man,’” and, “If you have ever

Emma Lyons / THE GATEPOST been judged by the color of your skin or physical appearance,” to stand.

Washington noted that during the activity, no one was standing alone.

“So often we think our problems are so unique to us,” he said.

“I don’t believe we connect through our success. I believe we connect through our pain,” he said. “Not everybody feels like a success, but everybody has experienced pain.

“And that is exactly why your damn lives matter,” he added. “They all matter because we all experience hurt, laughter, and pain.”

The next step is to empower each other, he said. He shared how he grew up with a foster family who told him “You’re not sh*t,” meaning he was worthless, he said.

He said over the course of his career, he has taken ownership of this phrase and invited students to take part in an empowering exercise where they pumped a roll of toilet paper in the air and said “I’m the sh*t because…”

Audience members shared reasons such as being the first in their family to graduate college, overcoming depression, and graduating high school after several attempts.

Washington said that it is important to remind yourself to take up as much space as your existence will allow.

“No playing small because of where you come from, or because of your gender or because of your race,” he said.

“Take up as much space as your existence will allow. You’re a person.

You have a life. Just make sure you also give space for other people as well.”

[Editor’s Note: Emma Lyons contributed to this article.]

CONNECT WITH EMILY ROSENBERG erosenberg@student.framingham.edu

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14 | FEBRUARY 11, 2022

ARTS & FEATURES

The self satisfaction of creating food

By Mark Haskell Staff Writer

For a chef like myself, starting out in the playing field known as the kitchen and cooking, look no further than using Molly Baz’s “Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes to Repeat” to make repeatable meals that will satiate many appetites.

“Cook This Book” is not exactly a traditional story that may be set in a fantasy world or have many characters with world-altering abilities. This book is a story about food, how to prepare it, and how to create mouthwatering recipes that can be repeated as many times as one wants. In regards to recipes to repeat, this cookbook has the novel idea of including QR codes to look at various techniques and methods to utilize in the kitchen.

A few examples of techniques mentioned in full detail on these QR codes when scanned are “Chop An Onion,” “De-lobe A Pepper,” “Carve A Chicken Breast,” “Carve A Chicken,” among other informative culinary techniques.

Another aspect that I find to be very interesting and also very adorable is a little biography about Molly Baz’s dog. Her dog is a dachshund

named Tuna, which Baz calls a weenie dog. When one scans the QR code that says “Meet Tuna,” a Vimeo video about the dog pops up.

These QR codes are used to bring visual refreshers to foundational culinary techniques.This book is very interactive with the use of QR codes and before the first recipe, there is a page called The Anatomy of a “Cook This Book” Recipe. It contains some information before you begin to cook.

The first item is, of course, the recipe title. The second item is the ingredient list, where the recipe ingredients are categorized by the grocery store department, which translates to where these ingredients live in your kitchen.

The third item is called the headnote. A headnote is a little tidbit of information that benefits the chef, and it may be an anecdotal story, thought or reflection to keep the reader entertained. The fourth item is called the process. The process is where the recipe procedures are defined in chronological order.

The fifth item is the QR code, an interactive video to freshen up on various skills. The sixth and final item is a footnote, where Baz provides extra information along the way.

What I particularly enjoy about this cookbook are the possibilities of recipes to create. Baz has made recipes categorized as Chicken Licken, Beef, Pork and Lamb, Seafood, Eggs, Noods, Grains and Legumes, Salading, So. Many. Veggies, Soup, Snack Attack, and Baking.

In these recipes, there are sections where the ingredients are categorized into Pantry items, Produce items and Dairy items. I have made a few recipes from Baz’s book and there are other recipes that I am very tempted to try and make for family and friends.

The recipes I had the pleasure to create for my family were the Sweetie P’s with Peanut-Chile Salsa, and Marinated Lentils with Lotsa Basil.

They are designated as “family favorites’’ as I have made them many more times. These dishes get better each and every time I produce them.

To give a rating for this cookbook, there are many factors to take into consideration such as the variety of recipes, the ability to make any changes in whichever ingredients you think will enhance the recipes flavors, and the ability to have fun in the kitchen.

Shop Cookette

Grade: A The basics, but better

CONNECT WITH MARK HASKELL mhaskell@student.framingham.edu

‘Hawkeye’ - A scattershot yuletide romp

By Sean Cabot

Multimedia Critic When “Hawkeye” first dropped I was really enjoying it. The inspiration it took from Matt Fraction and David Aja’s character-defining run and the pitch of a Christmas-themed Marvel series was incredibly promising.

But while it never lost its thunder, it also didn’t strike quite the way I hoped it would. Which is surprising for a show that is, by most accounts, conventionally decent.

In that respect, it’s more confusing than anything else.

“Hawkeye” follows the titular Avenger Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), an expert bowman who is taking his children on a sightseeing trip in New York. However, when he finds that someone is using the “Ronin” suit he previously wore during “Avengers: Endgame,” he is forced to send his family back home while he finds out who’s inside it.

The “someone” using it happens to be Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) a young heiress who idolizes Hawkeye and came upon the suit by chance.

Clint is begrudgingly forced to join up with Kate when Maya Lopez (Alqana Cox) - a gang leader with a grudge against him, begins pursuing both of them.

And if he has time, make it home for Christmas.

All in all, I very much enjoyed the sort of “Jingle All the Way” plus superheroes part of the story. “Hawk-

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eye” is actually quite funny, with great gags such as a Broadway reenactment of the first “Avengers” movie with music by “Hairspray’s” Marc Shaiman.

But the show’s characters are where things begin to get mixed. Clint and Kate make for a fine contrasting duo, with good chemistry and plenty to do in the story without one overshadowing the other.

The show also integrates an oft-neglected piece of comic lore - Clint Barton’s deafness. This not only results in a great episode where Clint is left without his hearing aid, but also establishes a narrative connection with Maya, who is also deaf.

The problem is that these themes are never utilized to their fullest.

Characters develop, but in ways that feel rather stock and conventional, resulting in a show that’s just painfully average.

While Maya is set to star in her own Disney+ series called “Echo,” her alias in the comics, she feels a bit undercooked. In fact, “undercooked” describes a lot of the show.

Even a surprise return from one of the most acclaimed Marvel performances ever feels remarkably mishandled.

Part of this is almost certainly due to the six-episode limit most Disney+ Marvel shows are beholden to. Several deleted scenes that would have vastly improved the show were recently revealed to have hit the cutting room floor.

All I can say is that as a She-Hulk fan I’m very glad that her upcoming series is getting 10 episodes.

That’s not to say the show can’t be a lot of fun. There’s some great action and Easter eggs to be found.

My personal favorite reference is Kate’s stepfather-to-be Jacques Duquesne sharing a name with Swordsman, a D-list Avenger in the comics. But fun though that is, it can’t make up for a lack of substance.

And in the end, despite all the blood it shares with Fraction and Aja’s work, it can’t help but feel like a lesser version of it. I love the tracksuit ma-

fia and trick arrows as much as any Hawkeye fan, but the cynical edge of Fraction’s writing and Aja’s distinctive art can’t be outdone by something so tonally similar to every other Marvel product.

Even Kate herself feels watered down, despite Steinfeld being as strong an actress as she’s ever been.

That the show is surprisingly ambiguous about granting her the position of Hawkeye II is probably its worst failing.

If you’re looking for a better family-superhero-comedy type experience set in winter, I’d recommend sticking to “Shazam!” You wouldn’t be going wrong with “Hawkeye,” but even the most hardcore Marvel fan has better choices.

Grade: C Not quite a bullseye

CONNECT WITH SEAN CABOT scabot@student.framingham.edu

Puzzles

ARTS & FEATURES

ACROSS 1. Secret stockpiles 7. Macadamias, e.g.

11. Zig’s counterpart 14. Bring up, as a topic 15. Four Corners state 16. Sense of self 17. Nissan compact 18. Milk Dud relative 19. Historic opening?

20. Candidates’ addresses (In this clue’s answer, note letters 5-7) 23. Against 25. Floral neckwear 26. Deli bread 27. Demi Moore, once (... letters 4-6) 32. F-, but not A+ 33. NATO alphabet letter after Whiskey 34. Jim’s love on “The Office” 35. Small, strong insect 36. Display of bad temper 37. Hard ___ (jazz subgenre for Art Blakey) 38. It’s fit for a pig 41. “Pow!” 42. Fruit used in gin 43. Tip of a 10-Down 44. Enjoy a trampoline (... letters 4-6) 47. “___ the ramparts ...”

48. Diarist Anais 49. Overnight lodgings 50. Certain smartphone transaction (... letters 4-6) 55. Ominous sighting in “Jaws” 56. Member of a South Asian diaspora 57. Capital on the Hudson 60. Abdullah, to Muhammad 61. Part of a guitar neck 62. Opposite of ample 63. 63/63 64. Bubble bath overflow 65. Woodworker’s fasteners

FEBRUARY 11, 2022 | 15

DOWN 1. “FBI” channel 2. “Roses ___ red ...”

3. Invariable 4. Metaphorical acknowledgment 5. Unbleached linen’s color 6. Knockoff handbag, say Puzzle solutions are now 7. Locale for baby bloomers exclusively online.

8. Place that means “no place” 9. Story 10. Foot-long object?

11. Light breeze 12. Be harmonious 13. Heeds a green light 21. Kilt fold 22. Study all at once 23. Kyrgyzstan’s continent 24. 12 hours from midnight 28. Org. that fights poverty 29. Fuss in front of the mirror 30. Ice cream parlor freebie 31. Recorded 37. Mont ___, highest of the Alps 38. Rocky period of history?

39. College ___ (place such as Laramie, Wyoming) 40. Hankerings 41. Sound heard before “Excuse me” 42. Seance visitors 44. Senator Shaheen 45. In its original packaging, say 46. Ban from practicing law 47. Oftencaramelized veggie 50. “Should that be the case ...”

51. Files that may be signed 52. Inca Trail’s country 53. Some holiday roasts 54. Name in “dialect” 58. Start of four U.S. state names 59. Soph. and sr., e.g.

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February Festivites

16 | FEBRUARY 11, 2022

PHOTOS

Spread by Maddison Behringer and Emma Lyons, Design Editors / THE GATEPOST

Emma Lyons / THE GATEPOST Monti Washington speaking at his presentation, “Which Lives Matter,” Feb. 7.

Emma Lyons / THE GATEPOST (Left) Sophomores Samantha St. Pierre and Bridget Conceison and junior Hannah Mace at Dance Team’s Valentine’s fundraiser Feb. 9.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST (Left) Towers Hall Council members sophomore Julia Talliafarro and freshman Leticia Rita Santos handing out valentines in Corinne Hall Towers lobby Feb. 10.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST Towers Hall Council members handing out valentines in Corinne Hall Towers lobby Feb. 10.

Emma Lyons / THE GATEPOST Students participating in Monti Washington’s presentation, “Which Lives Matter,” Feb. 7.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST (Left) Sophomores Olivia Alexander and Kayla Barboza and senior Carly Eiten at Dance Team’s Valentine’s fundraiser Feb. 9.

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