Fenway commencement

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

Thursday, March 25, 2021 • Volume 74, Issue 22

@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate

Fenway Park to host in-person commencement Room capacities rise amid Mass. case uptick Frankie Rowley & Ann E. Matica Beacon Staff

Seven upcoming and recent graduates expressed varying levels of excitement following Emerson’s Tuesday evening announcement that the college will hold an in-person commencement ceremony at Fenway Park in May. The announcement of an in-person graduation in conjunction with a virtual celebration comes after weeks of back-and-forth between Emerson and upcoming graduates. On Feb. 4, the college said the ceremony, like last year’s, would be solely virtual.

On March 10, Vice President and Dean for Campus Life Jim Hoppe said switching to an in-person ceremony at that point was highly unlikely due to the long-term planning of an event of that size. An Emerson graduating class is usually around 900 students.

A petition imploring the college to reconsider an in-person ceremony garnered almost 400 signatures after emerging on March 1, after Massachusetts announced it was moving into Phase 4, which increased capacity limits to 12 percent in arenas. The petition also pointed to several other Boston-area colleges securing in-person commencements, including Northeastern University, Boston University, and Suffolk University.

Last week, Hoppe said the college was “reconsidering” options for an in-person commencement, and the announcement of the two Fenway Park ceremonies was first made by President M. Lee Pelton on Tuesday afternoon during a GBH appearance. The class of 2021 ceremony will be held in the morning, while the ceremony for the class of 2020 will be held in the afternoon.

The decision to hold an in-person ceremony was finalized on Tuesday, Hoppe said. Emerson is still awaiting approval from the City of Boston to move forward with the ceremony, according to a Tuesday evening email from Pelton.

Commencement, Pg. 2

Charlie McKenna Beacon Staff

Fenway park will hold Emerson’s in-person commencement. Alec Klusza / Beacon Staff

Emerson’s 2010 commencment ceremony. / Beacon Archives

Speech@Emerson rapidly grows to largest graduate program at Emerson

The first graduating cohort of the Speech@Emerson program. / Courtesy Emerson College

Taina Millshap Beacon Staff In just three years, Speech@Emerson has become the largest graduate program at the college, with 654 students enrolled as of 2020.

The program, which launched in September 2018, is an online graduate degree course de-

signed for those who wish to become speech pathologists—specialists who focus in the treatment of speech and language issues.

Speech@Emerson provides graduates with a Masters of Science in Communication Disorders, and has grown rapidly since its creation with a nearly twofold increase in enrollment between 2019 and 2020. Speech@Emerson is

INSIDE THIS EDITION

School of Communications introduces new “Discovery Program” Pg. 3 Editorial: Emerson must reinstate its staff and faculty benefits Pg. 4 Opinion: Tuition increase will put students through undue financial hardship Pg. 5 ‘Cabaret of Color’ spotlights BIPOC student performances Pg. 6 Kasteel Well students, one year after being sent home from the castle Pg. 7 Not-so-shitty: Student Instagram account reviews Emerson’s bathrooms Pg. 7 Emerson Baseball scores victory over Coast Guard Academy Pg. 8

384 percent larger than the second most popular graduate program, creative writing, which stands at 135 students as of 2020.

The growth is due in part to the “aggressive,” data-driven marketing tactics employed by 2U, an educational technology company that partnered with Emerson to create the program, said Amit Bajaj, a faculty member in the communication sciences and disorders department who has built several of the Speech@Emerson courses.

“Right now, if you Google ‘speech pathology,’ the first hit that you would get is Emerson College,” Bajaj said. “Because of our branding, our institutional history and the way it’s marketed in a very aggressive way, our numbers are way up [for] the online program and in-person.”

The in-person program—which follows the same curriculum and is taught by the same faculty as the Speech@Emerson program—was ranked 32nd by the U.S News and World report in its list of the Best Speech-Language Pathology graduate programs in 2020.

The program, which holds three enrollment cycles per academic year, offers the same curriculum as Emerson’s on-campus graduate speech pathology program. The cycles start in January, May, and September, with two possible timelines to choose from—20 months through a five-term track or in 36 months through a nine-term track.

Speech, Pg. 2

Coronavirus cases are once again on the rise in Massachusetts—topping 2,000 reported in a single day four times in the last week after not clearing that marker since mid-February, a rise that comes amid a loosening of COVID-19 restrictions on Emerson’s campus.

Despite the increase, positive COVID-19 tests at Emerson have remained low after accelerating past the fall semester’s total of 60 in just four-and-a-half weeks at the beginning of the semester. The spring semester has racked up 109 positives, though positive tests have yet to top double digits in a week since the week of February 21—when cases in the state were at their nadir. Now, increased transmission in the state could once again result in an increase of positive tests on Emerson’s campus.

Even with cases on the rise in Massachusetts and a cumulative positivity rate at Emerson higher than any mark reached during the fall semester, administrators have slowly begun the process of loosening restrictions on campus— primarily by increasing room capacities.

Occupancy limits in several buildings on campus—including 172 Tremont, some studio spaces in the Student Performance Center, and the Walker Building, have been increased to allow more students to gather in indoor spaces. Capacity in the Dining Center has also increased to accommodate more indoor dining for students, with four students now allowed per table.

COVID, Pg. 2

Emerson Prison Initiative restarts in-person classes Ann E. Matica Beacon Staff The Emerson Prison Initiative is set to resume in-person instruction for incarcerated students at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Concord on April 5 after access to the prison was halted twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The program—which provides an Emerson College education to incarcerated students at the medium-security prison—switched to asynchronous instruction during the spring 2020 semester when the pandemic first hit Massachusetts. After briefly transitioning back to in-person instruction at the start of the fall semester, it again became asynchronous in late November when MCI-Concord reported 159 positive COVID-19 tests—the highest number among incarcerated people in the state—according to WBUR. As of March 22, there are 438 incarcerated people housed at the men’s state-run prison, according to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

Founder and Director of Emerson Prison Initiative Mneesha Gellman said the goal of EPI throughout the pandemic has been to follow through on their promise that students enrolled in the program are receiving the same quality of education as students on the Boston campus.

EPI, Pg. 3

I went to a live Bruins game, and it was great

169

positive COVID-19 tests

.16%

positivity rate

107,500+ tests completed

*Accumulated from 2020-2021 school year

Christopher Williams Beacon Staff TD Garden allowed a limited number of fans into the arena last Thursday to watch the Boston Bruins host the New York Islanders for the first live sporting event in Boston in over a year—and I was lucky enough to attend.

Although the Bruins fell to the New York Islanders 4-3 in overtime that night, the score isn’t what stuck with me. Rather, it was the experience of attending a game with new health protocols in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 and keep fans safe.

When I first read that Massachusetts was moving into Phase 4 of reopening and allowing 12 percent capacity to fill sports venues beginning on March 22, I was a bit skeptical of the experience. The thought of being at TD Garden with only 2,142 fans for a Bruins game instead of the 18,624 capacity that the arena can hold on game day made me imagine that the energy would be dull. Nevertheless, it had been over

Christopher Williams / Beacon Staff a year since I last saw live sports, so I purchased tickets the Tuesday before the game.

Bruins, Pg. 8

News

The Berkeley Beacon

April 1, 2021

2

In conclusion to saga, Emerson adds in-person ceremomies for 2020, 2021 classes

Cont. from Pg. 1

Abigail Semple ’20 said she felt disappointed by the reactive nature of the college’s decision, saying the spontaneous announcement will leave some graduates in the dust.

“It’s inherent that somebody who desperately wants to be there will be left by the wayside and I hope that we are able to do everything we can to accommodate everybody who wants to be there,” Semple said.

Senior Eric Mauri, a visual media arts and production major, said the announcement didn’t come as much of a surprise.

“My initial reaction was excitement,” Mauri said. “If the administration wasn’t able to pull this off, then I think it would have left a really bad taste in every one of the graduates’ mouth, considering how much we pay for tuition and how every other school was able to work it out and Emerson was kind of dragging its feet on the issue.”

Mauri said the ceremony—which is usually held at Boston University’s Agganis Arena—being held at Fenway Park ceremony is “fitting” given the unprecedented senior year the soon-to-be graduates have endured.

Hoppe said all safety protocols will be established by Fenway, which has a capacity of over 37,000. Under state guidelines, the ballpark will seat about 4,400. Graduates may be allowed to bring two guests, who would be required to sit alongside the student in pods of three people.

“It’s kind of fitting to the whole pandemic and my whole experience with a pandemic in my senior year,” Mauri said. “It is an abnormal way to graduate, at Fenway Park, and social distancing and however we operate … but it’s a nice step toward the future.”

Sam Willinger, a senior VMA ma-

jor and member of the men’s volleyball team, said holding an in-person ceremony “was the right thing to do.”

Willinger has a learning disability, which he was told would prevent him from graduating high school.

“It sounds dumb, but the reality is that it makes you feel a little bit special, that you’ve accomplished something,” Willinger said. “For many of us, all we’ve ever known is being a student and for me, being a student-athlete.

Both of those things have come to an end very suddenly and now they’re going to, at least in some capacity, have this final real feeling that there’s a day and a time where I can go to a place and be told you are officially a graduate. You can throw your cap and that’s the end of it.”

Emerson’s 2014 Commencement ceremony. / Courtesy Emerson College The class of 2021 has experienced 2,000 per day for a three-day period, a more seismic change during their time trend that had not been observed since at Emerson than most, Willinger said. mid-February. “[We] battled through the age of Outdoor activities are safer due to scaffolding, the fall and the rise of the indoor spaces having less ventilation, Little Building, different [dining hall] increasing the risk factor of catching vendors, we’ve had Hemenway,” he COVID-19, according to the Centers continued. “Now [we have] the end for Disease Control and Prevention. of Lee Pelton’s time here. We’ve been James Richardson, a senior VMA through a lot, and now an entire pan- major, said the unconventional ceredemic.” mony serves as a proper goodbye to Other students, on Twitter, criti- the city. cized the college’s decision to hold a “I’m Massachusetts born and large gathering—which could encour- raised, so graduating in Fenway, it’s age guests to travel to Boston from pretty cool to me,” Richardson said. across the country—as COVID-19 “My first concert [was] there, [I] just cases increase nationwide. COVID watched that Godzilla movie where metrics throughout the state have he named Fenway Park. It’s given me worsened within the last two weeks, a bit more of a connection to Boston, with the state reporting cases over whereas earlier it kind of felt like that

part of my life had been yanked away because I’m going into a career field where there is not much to do in Boston, and so having this to capstone it all is nice.”

Noah Espinola, a senior VMA major, said he was glad the college is providing an in-person in addition to the online ceremony so everyone can participate in the way that feels safest to them.

“It’s great that there are both options for those who are feeling uneasy about it,” Espinola said. “But if you’re on top of your vaccinations, I don’t think there’s any reason why you should be nervous about others having the option to have an in-person graduation.”

For the class of 2020, returning for an in-person ceremony following their virtual celebration last May, brings a mix of emotions.

“It’s good for the people that can go and are willing to go, but a lot of the class of 2020 is employed now,” Brock Higley ’20 said. “Trying to get out there for May is not feasible.”

Semple, who is employed in New Jersey, said she’s excited about being able to have an in-person graduation, despite its belatedness.

“It’s going to be so amazing that I get to come back to Boston and Pelton is gonna shake my hand and we’re gonna do our champagne toast and so many things that felt taken away by the pandemic are suddenly not taken away, which is a great feeling,” she said.

Brett Boon ’20 said graduating at Fenway Park feels like “a full-circle moment” for him.

“The first week [I was at Emerson] I went to the Lady Gaga concert at Fenway Park,” Boone said. “I feel like out of all the venues in Boston, this is the most appropriate during a pandemic.”

contact@berkeleybeacon.com

Online-only Speech@Emerson COVID cases program adapts well to pandemic rise, on-campus

Cont. from Pg. 1

In addition to synchronous and asynchronous coursework in topics like Motor Speech Disorders and Preschool Language Disorders, students are also entered into clinical placements at local sites for handson training.

Yousuf Haq, a fourth-semester student based in Los Angeles, said he was attracted to the program in part because he was impressed with their website.

“The front page is super simple and easy to read,” Haq said. “Other sites it’s so buried and with Emerson it’s just one page. I can tell it’s a brand new updated website.”

Due to the heavy marketing for the online program, Bajaj said he has wondered whether interest in the in-person program would decline. However, the numbers have remained steady for the in-person program, with around 500 applicants in the 2020-2021 academic year.

Bajaj said the COVID-19 pandemic has not affected the number of applications they received for the program.

“I know people in a lot of other programs,” said Monica Jessen, a sixth semester graduate student. “It just got a little crazy. But because ours was already online, it made the transition really easy. There wasn’t really much difference at all, if any.”

The program has a price tag of

about $70,000 without the cost of introductory courses. Last year’s enrollment of 654 students means the program is bringing in a minimum gross income of nearly $46 million. Speech@Emerson boasts a 100 percent employment rate for students post-graduation, according to the college’s website.

Bajaj said he is optimistic about the future of the program, which he believes will grow and develop within the next couple of years.

He said he hopes to see more emphasis given to areas like new specialty clinics, diversity of students and staff, and telepractice—where speech pathology and audiology services are offered online.

“Telepractice goes into the more new category, and then we’re going to continue on with the specialty clinics,” Bajaj said. “We also want to focus on more diversification, and that means reaching out more to students of color, faculty of color, all in the hiring and the recruitment process and actively incorporating themes of diversity, equity and inclusion as part of the curriculum.”

Although the Speech@Emerson program uses an online format, graduate students enrolled were required to come to campus twice during the duration of the program for a three-and-a-half day immersive experience, which included a graduation ceremony. The in-person aspect has been suspended due to travel concerns.

The online format of Speech@

Emerson was one of the factors that drew Jessen to the program. Jessen, who completed her post-baccalaureate program at California State University, Fullerton, said her old 30-minute commute to campus exhausted her.

“I felt like an online program would be much easier with my schedule [and] more flexible,” Jessen said. “In terms of my lifestyle it’s just more convenient and I do well with being more self-directed.”

Jessen said she doesn’t see a difference between the online program at Emerson and previous in-person degrees she pursued. She said the smaller class sizes allow for longer discussions and a more personalized experience.

“I’ve been really impressed by the faculty, just their knowledge, not only academic knowledge, but also they have done so much in the field,” Jessen said. “I’ve learned a lot by listening to their stories and their experiences. So that’s been really valuable and it’s definitely been a rigorous program, but it’s been really, really great.”

Haq said the program is still in its infancy but he believes it can grow into one of the best in the country, especially due to the morale he’s witnessed among enrollees.

“The one thing that impressed me was the positive attitude in this school,” Haq said. “Here, it’s like ‘You can do it, go get it done.’”

taina_millshap@emerson edu

restrictions loosen

Cont. from Pg. 1 Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp said the decision to raise capacity was a result of Emerson following guidance from the city and state.

“We wanted to be able to open up some more spaces, just for students in these next few weeks,” he said. “It was our first step to sort of get gradually back to ‘normal.’”

In the fall, Emerson managed to keep positive tests on campus low until they rose by 16 in one week in November— which represented half of the total accumulated to that point in the semester—coinciding with an increase statewide and in the city of Boston.

This spring, while cases gradually declined from their surges following the winter holidays, Emerson experienced new highs in positivity, leading administrators to acknowledge evidence of “community spread” on campus.

With cases on the rise again in the state, Emerson could once again see its numbers slowly rise as well.

This week, the college has already reported four positive tests from two days of testing after finding just three the week prior.

Other indicators of the virus’s prominence in the state, like the

positivity rate and hospitalizations, have also begun to tick back up.

Hospitalizations rose above 600 for the first time since March 9 on March 30, while the positivity rate has risen above four percent after sitting at or just above three percent for most of the month of March.

Muurisepp said he was not worried about the loosened restrictions leading to a rise in positives at Emerson, even as metrics in the state continue to rise.

“I’m not overly worried because I trust our community would be able to still follow the guidelines … it’s a very small incremental change so I don’t think it would impact our numbers,” he said. “It is concerning as we see numbers increasing the city and state … so we’re trying it, hopefully, it’ll remain and stay, [so] we can keep those in place. And who knows, we might be able to do more, but I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, either.”

It remains to be seen what positive tests at Emerson would look like amid a full-blown surge in the state. When cases hit record highs in November and December, students had already packed their bags and headed home for winter break. charles_mckenna@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

April 1, 2021

3

School of Communication unveils new ‘Discovery Program’ for first-years Bailey Allen Beacon Staff

Emerson’s School of Communication is debuting a new Discovery Program for incoming first-year students who intend to study communications, but are unsure which major in the school they want to pursue.

The School of Communication Discovery Program will be available to undeclared first-year students beginning in the Fall 2021 semester.

Students are required to take one foundational course in the Discovery Program, alongside typical first-year requirements in the fall semester.

Then, in the spring they can choose from eight possible electives spanning the School of Communication’s four departments: Communication Sciences and Disorders, Communication Studies, Journalism, and Marketing Communication.

Dean of the School of Communication Raul Reis said the department developed the Discovery Program to accommodate all incoming students, some of whom may not know what

area of study they want to pursue immediately.

“We ask ourselves, ‘Are students not coming to Emerson because they have to choose a major? Would they have come here if they didn’t have to choose a major right away?’” Reis said. “We don’t know for sure and it is kind of early for us to tell, but we always wonder if that is the case.”

Students in the program will be required to take the new Communication Discovery Lab class, SC-100, in their fall semester, and can take up to two of the eight offered electives in their spring semester.

“It’s built as a lab because we want it to be hands on,” Reis said of the new SC-100 class. “We want it to be interesting, so there will be group projects and guest speakers. It’s all going to be project-based.”

After gaining experience in Communication Discovery Lab class, students go on to take one or two electives from the departments that interest them most. The electives include classes like Argument and Advocacy in the Communication Studies department, and Disability and

the Media in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department.

Students can skip taking electives in the spring if they feel ready to declare their major after completing their first semester in the program, Reis said.

“If they can’t make a decision, they will take classes in the second semester and make up their minds after that,” Reis said.

As a result of students’ uncertainty surrounding their declarations, Reis said he has noticed many firstyear students changing their majors once they’ve arrived on campus.

For instance, during the 2018-2019 school year, approximately five percent of journalism students transferred to a different major, a rate about four times higher than other majors, according to previous Beacon reporting.

Reis said he speculates that if they could’ve enrolled in the Communication Discovery Program, they might have been more prepared to eventually choose a major in a more informed way.

“Some students choose, for exam-

Dean of the School of Communications, Raul Reis. / Beacon Archives ple, marketing and then they switch to journalism or they’ll choose journalism and then they’ll switch to communication studies,” Reis said.

“It happens all the time because one of the different things about Emerson is that you have to choose a major. You can’t come in as undecided.”

The SOC Discovery Program will be given as an option to students if they select “undeclared” on their

application, according to Reis. Although the SOC Discovery Program has yet to see any official admits, Reis said over 40 students expressed interest in the program during a recent webinar.

“The [acceptance] letters have just gone out, so we will have to wait and see if students are signing up for the class,” Reis said. bailey_allen@emerson.edu

EPI combats no internet, COVID-19 outbreak Cont. from Pg. 1 “We’ve had to find ways to ensure that quality,” Gellman said. “We put tremendous detail into making sure the [in-person] contact hours are what they should be and that the time for the work is suitable for what’s required. With that level of commitment, we’ve been able to adjust the academic calendar.”

The EPI program was founded in 2016 at MCI-Concord—a 40-minute drive from Emerson’s Boston campus.

In the fall of 2017, 20 students from MCI-Concord were admitted into the EPI program, and in 2018 the college began officially offering students a full degree-seeking program. The five-step admissions process is intensive, with a timed essay exam and interview. Only 20 out of nearly 100 applicants were accepted in the first cohort, 12 of which are still currently enrolled.

Students are enrolled in a group Interdisciplinary Studies major hosted through the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, and graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Media, Literature and Culture after five years of study. The EPI program was modeled off of the Bard Prison Initiative, founded at Bard College in 1999.

“For students who will be graduating and then shortly afterwards released back into society, changing from incarcerated people to returning citizens, the impact there is that they will be qualified for a range of jobs that they were not qualified for before and that’s going to totally change what their reentry scenario is,” Gellman said. “For students who will continue to be incarcerated post graduation, they are the next intellectual leaders within the facilities where they’ll be able to set the values of the community in ways that are more productive and more intellectual than what was happening previously.”

The start of the spring 2021 semester was pushed back by the Massachusetts DOC from its original Jan. 1 start date to March 1, and then again to April 5, according to Gellman.

“We would have started as soon as the majority of people incarcerated at MCI-Concord had received the second dose of the vaccine, which took place at the end of February,” Gellman said. “We are only allowed to operate at MCI-Concord at the invitation of the Department of Corrections; when they fix timelines, we don’t have a lot of say in changing them—even if they don’t always serve our academic purposes as best as we would like.”

The adjusted timeline forced the structure of the spring semester to mirror that of a summer session. The intensive academic schedule will require faculty members to hold twice-weekly classes for seven weeks, instead of the originally planned 14-week semester with once-aweek classes.

“Students rely on some time during their day for other things that they’re involved in [besides EPI]—their prison industry jobs, visits with family, phone calls, other enrichment programs they might be a part of—so it is a big demand both on faculty and students,” Gellman said. “But it will allow us to complete both spring classes in April and May, and then also run our summer classes intensively in June and August.”

Another cohort of students was slated to be admitted to the initiative last summer, but plans were spiked when the pandemic struck. Approximately 15 new students will be enrolled this summer to begin their path to obtaining a bachelor’s degree, Gellman said.

A study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 2005 and 2010 found 67.8 percent of the 404,638 incarcerated people surveyed would be rearrested within three years after their re-

Emerson Prison Initiative. / Courtesy Mneesha Gellman

lease. However, for incarcerated people who obtain a bachelor’s degree, the likelihood of recidivism falls to 5.6 percent, according to Zoukis Consulting Group, which runs a federal prison consulting team.

Incarcerated students at MCI-Concord do not have access to the internet, which EPI Coordinator Cara Moyer-Duncan said proved to be a challenge when the program was forced to operate asynchronously during the pandemic.

EPI was granted approval from the DOC to mail educational packets through the U.S. Postal Service for students to complete to accommodate the asynchronous format.

“Where traditional students at the Boston campus can benefit from the flex learning plan, the hybrid model and enjoy a wealth of information—from recorded lectures to films, etcetera— available on Canvas, we have to provide asynchronous instructional content via analog packets, actual paper to students,” Gellman said.

Moyer-Duncan said one of her responsibilities throughout the pandemic has been sending academic materials to students and then collecting it through the mail once they send back their completed work.

“Students would send us letters if they have questions about the materials, or just to let us know how they’re doing or give us an update on what’s going on,” Moyer-Duncan said. “When we start in April, the first week of classes is going to be finishing up the fall semester.”

The New England Commission of Higher Education requires all Emerson classes to have a total of 47 contact hours per semester. On Emerson’s Boston campus, half of those hours have been conducted remotely. But, EPI students are required to have 37 hours of in-person instruction and are only allowed 10 hours of remote learning per course, according to Moyer-Duncan.

Gellman said the first cohort of students enrolled in EPI is slated to graduate in July or August of 2022 if the pandemic no longer interferes with plans for the program.

“We have been receiving communication from students throughout the pandemic and most of them say, ‘We can’t wait to return to the classroom, please bring the college programs back in,’” Gellman said. “One of the impacts of the pandemic on incarcerated people in Massachusetts and many other states is that they’ve been restricted the majority of time to their cells.”

Before the pandemic, incarcerated people at MCI-Concord were allowed out of their cells multiple times a day to take phone calls, see visitors, and participate in recreational time. Since the

Emerson Prison Initiative. / Courtesy Mneesha Gellman pandemic, the Massachusetts DOC has limited internal movement, requiring incarcerated people to remain in their cells for up to 23 and a half hours each day, Gellman said.

“For an entire year now, our students have been existing in a very abnormal situation in an already abnormal environment,” Gellman said. “One of the biggest challenges I think we have in returning to instruction on April 5 is just recognizing the degree of trauma that students are operating with.”

To prepare faculty members to teach at MCI-Concord in the spring semester, the initiative hosted an invitation-only workshop on March 25 with a specialist in trauma from McLean Hospital to teach professors about trauma-informed care when interacting with incarcerated students.

“The conditions have been very, very difficult for all incarcerated people including our students,” Moyer-Duncan, who is also a professor at the college, said. “Some of our EPI students [had] COVID. That is difficult under the best of circumstances, and even more challenging in the carceral context, to be really sick. On top of that, they’ve had family members or people who they love who are really close to them, who have been affected by the pandemic. They’ve lost loved ones to COVID-19 and of course they’re inside and so they’re not able to be with their family or to go to funerals or to grieve in that way.”

Only 12 of the original 20 students that were initially welcomed into the EPI program in 2017 are still currently enrolled, Gellman said.

“The Massachusetts Department of Corrections moves people around through the facilities,” Gellman said.

“We’ve only had a few students actually released from prison, but other ones have been moved at the discretion of the Department of Corrections, so we currently have 12 continuing at MCI-Concord.”

Students who are moved from medium security MCI-Concord to a minimum

security prison are no longer eligible to complete their degree through EPI—a result of DOC policies, according to Gellman. Last year, EPI petitioned to offer classes at a minimum security prison in Concord, which was denied by the DOC. Gellman said EPI is applying for access again this year, and is always looking for ways to expand the program.

“This past fall we ran a lecture series with Emerson faculty going inside [Suffolk County Jail] and talking about their disciplines with incarcerated students there,” Moyer-Duncan said.

Emerson faculty who teach in EPI receive a $5,000 honorarium on top of their salaries, Professor and Dean of Liberal Arts Amy Ansell said. Along with Emerson faculty members, professors from Clarke University and Brandeis University partnered to teach classes to incarcerated students at MCI-Concord through EPI. Along with serving as dean of the program, Ansell also taught a class called “Race and Ethnicity: The Key Concepts” for the EPI program prior to the pandemic.

“It’s tremendously unnerving to be in that context in terms of entering and exiting the buildings and getting materials cleared,” Ansell said. “But once in the classroom with the students, I was just a professor, they were the students, and somehow all of that fell away.”

Writing, literature, and publishing professor Stephen Shane taught a Research Writing course for EPI during fall of 2019. He said the opportunity was humbling. He said he hopes to continue participating in the EPI program in the future.

“They are some of the best students Emerson has,” Shane said. “These students are the most driven I’ve ever had in a class as a whole. They’re deeply dedicated to this, so I would very much welcome the chance to teach another [EPI] class.” ann_matica@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

Opinion

A Boylston Street sign in front of The Little Building. Zhihao Wu / Beacon Staff

Emerson’s staff and faculty deserve better Editorial

Emerson would be nothing without the hard work of its staff and faculty. They are tasked with cleaning our spaces, providing equipment for us, teaching our classes, and many other crucial responsibilities that keep the college afloat. Yet as the pandemic drags on, the pressure on staff and faculty has only increased—with little benefit to those who put in the day-to-day work of keeping Emerson’s campus alive.

College staff specifically—including institutional technology, academic affairs, and others employed by the college—have been hit hardest by the pandemic. The Beacon reported last month that staff has been overworked during the pandemic and the staff union has been negotiating with college administrators to have benefits reinstated that were revoked at the beginning of the pandemic. Those benefits were sacrificed in order to prevent layoffs.

Some of these cut benefits include an annual 3.9 percent salary increase, travel benefits that they fought two years to earn, and retirement account matches being suspended.

With the cost of living rising in the past year, these wages are not optional for many staffers.

“A lot of us are in a precarious situation financially, and don’t have any savings to lean back on if we either get laid off or don’t get the raises,” union member Estelle Ticktin, an administrative associate in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department, told The Beacon in December.

Shaylin Hogan, vice chair of the staff union, also raised concern for staff affected by an increased cost of living in the December Beacon story.

“Rents go up every year whether or not you get a raise…so say you don’t get a raise in October, and your rent goes up, and you need medication to stay alive…and [you hear] ‘No, we’re not giving you anything extra to cover that,’” Hogan said. “It’s a perfect storm, and we have a number of people who are in that situation.”

Due to the pandemic, it’s understandable that the college has been struggling a bit more than usual within the past year—everyone is.

The Beacon recently reported Emerson has lost $30 million in revenue during the past year due to the pandemic. Yes, costs will essentially have to be cut somewhere, but that doesn’t mean it should come out of the pockets of people who work long hours to keep the school’s campus services functioning smoothly. Staff giving up their benefits and yearly

raises to preserve the college’s financial standing, is unacceptable.

Without staff members like those who work behind the scenes of the college, Emerson would not have been able to welcome students back to campus this fall and spring. It’s that ability to have students return to campus that has kept the college afloat amid the financial turbulence brought on by the pandemic. Without the sacrifices of staff members—who gave up annual raises, travel benefits they fought two years to earn, two-and-a-half days of vacation time, and retirement account matches to preserve the college’s financial state—Emerson would be in a far greater hole than it currently faces.

However these financial declines are much lower than what the college initially expected. In June 2020, Pelton predicted that due to the pandemic, the college could face as much as $76 million in losses for the 2020-21 school year. Tuition has also risen again for the second year in a row, bringing in an extra $1,052 on average from each student for the fall semester. It’s difficult to believe that Emerson cannot find anywhere else to cut costs, aside from their own staff. Knowing that there would be significant financial losses, the administration had ample time during the summer to figure out a plan for cost redistribution.

And of course, let’s not forget some staff are physically at risk every day. Facilities management Crew Chief John Vanderpol told The Beacon that he is responsible for sanitizing rooms in Paramount that were used for quarantine and isolation for those sick or exposed to COVID-19.

“We know which rooms in the Paramount are positive cases, they give us the minimum of 24 hours or more, where they get out to go back to their dorm,” Vanderpol said. “We know that everything we’re touching or breathing, there’s a risk.”

These are not jobs to be taken for granted. Someone has to keep school facilities clean, and the staff tasked with the job deserve equal pay and benefits. This is the bare minimum the college should be doing, especially in a time in which we are all living in a feeble economy brought on by the pandemic.

Everyone could use more financial support, but especially those tasked with sanitizing the school amid a deadly pandemic.

When agreeing to benefit cuts to prevent layoffs, the staff union was told no other staff or faculty would receive raises until benefits were reinstated. Dennis Levine, chair of the staff union, said in an interview with The Beacon last month

that some faculty members received raises, despite administration telling staff no faculty or staff would receive raises.

“We were told and under the impression, just before we signed the [agreement for staff benefit cuts], that everybody, staff, faculty, and administration, were not getting any raises at all. That turned out to be not true,” Levine said, “Some faculty got a cost of living adjustment of 2 percent. Nobody else has gotten raises that we know of, but then again, they’re not obligated to notify us of anybody that’s not [staff] union who gets anything.”

Clearly, the college is able to afford raises if some are getting raises while others are not. This begs the question of why some faculty are receiving raises if all college staff are not.

Yet the pandemic hasn’t been exactly rosy for faculty—professors separate from staff, part of a separate union from the staff union. In early March, The Beacon reported that after all classes moved online for the following two semesters, some professors repeatedly faced the same issues: student disengagement, safety concerns, and technology shortcomings.

According to a survey of 273 Emerson faculty conducted in November 2020 by Institutional Research, 14 percent of faculty reported they did not have a computer able to run all their programs and applications needed without freezing up or running slowly, 35 percent reported taking care of others during the time they worked and 12 percent did not have a reliable internet connection.

With the implementation of the Hybrid model, not only do professors still deal with the struggles of online teaching, but they are also physically at risk every day. Not to mention many of them go home every day to their families, and they also will not receive a vaccine from the college.

Staff and faculty shouldn’t have to fight for benefits that were already promised to them, especially during a time where they are much more vulnerable. It’s time that Emerson prioritizes the people that keep this institution running and start by reinstating the benefits cut from staff.

Juliet Norman Beacon Staff

The Berkeley Beacon Editorial Board is the voice of the student newspaper that looks to serve the Emerson College community with thoughtful insight into ongoings and occurrences affecting their everyday lives.

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Editor-in-Chief Katie Redefer

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4

Internship for credit: gaining experience or getting scammed?

During my first-year student orientation, I was excited to see that Emerson offered academic internship opportunities, including one located in Washington D.C. I eagerly put my name down for their email list and started imagining myself working on Capitol Hill.

After looking into the program a few months later, I realized that participating in it, as well as other academic internship programs, just wasn’t possible for me. If I was recruited through the program instead of being hired on my own, I would likely be placed in an unpaid internship that I would also have to pay for as part of my tuition.

When I got hired for a summer internship a year later, I contemplated enrolling in Emerson’s for-credit internship course to catch up on credits. When I brought it up to my academic advisor, I was told that I would still have to pay for the class, meaning most of the money I would be making as an intern would go towards paying for credits. I decided to opt out of receiving an academic credit.

For a standard four-credit internship at Emerson, students have to pay for the course like any other class. This means that it costs $6,408 to receive credit for working, likely more than the company is paying their intern—if they are getting paid at all. Students enrolled in these for-credit courses will be working off campus and using none of the college’s resources as part of their position as an intern, which begs the question: Why do universities charge students for internship credits?

It’s not much different at other schools either. I have yet to see a college offer their internship credits at no cost to the student. The University of Massachusetts Boston even approves credit for internships of up to 51 hours a week, equating to 18 credit hours that students can pay (a full course load) for the semester. Even worse, some institutions, like California Polytechnic State University and Seton Hall University require students to pursue an internship as part of their degree completion.

This means students are paying an ungodly amount of money, and sometimes working full-time hours, to gain experience in their desired field. These internship programs are presented in a way that, at first, appears helpful for prospective students to progress in both their degree and future career. To me, they feel more like exploitive labor, especially those that are unpaid.

No one should have to pay to work, especially college students who are already paying for their respective schools.

This also eliminates the possibility of any low-income student potentially getting credit for their internship, meaning they either have to take on an internship along with their already-full course load, or only apply for summer internship oppor-

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April 1, 2021

Managing Editors Charlie McKenna (Content) Madison E. Goldberg (Content) Maximo Aguilar Lawlor (Multimedia) Dylan Rossiter (Operations) Section Editors Dana Gerber (News) Mariyam Quaisar (Living Arts) Juliet Norman (Opinion) Christopher Williams (Sports) Hongyu Liu (Photo) Advisor Rachel Layne

tunities. When you factor in expenses like transportation and food, students are basically losing money by choosing to work.

In 2016, students at Seton Hall petitioned for their university to either drop or amend the requirement that charges them for their internship credits, calling the policy “financially unjust and discriminatory.”

Thankfully, Emerson does not require an internship fulfillment to obtain a degree, but for many programs, the expectation is there. Students enrolled in the Emerson Los Angeles program are expected to secure a for-credit internship as part of their semester in LA. The Washington Center, the academic credit and internship placement program I was initially interested in, advertises an internship matching process where students are matched with companies and offered internship positions throughout the D.C. area. This seemed like an incredible opportunity, until I came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t be doing me a favor by helping me land a job; I would be benefiting them by working at one of their partnered companies for free.

I would receive little to no compensation for my work as an intern in a job that I would then have to later pay for on my tuition bill. Realistically, programs like these just aren’t financially feasible.

It would set me back thousands of dollars financially, as well as any other student who cannot afford to justify paying to work.

So many internships are already unpaid, and the earnings from the few that do pay should go to the students, not their university. Colleges should focus on altering their internship course costs or partnering with internship placement organizations that employ tuition reimbursement so students don’t have to worry about falling behind.

Emerson allows students to receive up to four credits at no cost to them for their involvement in campus extracurricular activities, so why are internships different? Universities should consider applying the same standards to outside opportunities, especially when internships are becoming more valuable in order to land a job following graduation. A NACE Student Survey reported that 60 percent of undergraduates complete an internship and 70 percent of employers make fulltime job offers to former interns.

These are not typical classes; these are jobs. Just because we are college students does not mean that our work shouldn’t be treated as such. These academic credit internships are a win-win situation for both universities and employers. Universities get to use these programs to attract applicants, and companies get free labor from undergraduate recruits who are anxious to get their foot in the door. The only one who loses are the students. But it’s permittible, as long as we’re gaining experience, right? juliet_norman@emerson.edu

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The Berkeley Beacon

April 1, 2021

5

The yearly tuition increase is an ugly metaphor for ‘thoughts and prayers’

Shannon Garrido & Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

On March 15, Emerson announced a “flexibility week” meant to tackle the steady decline of students’ mental health. That same week, it was announced that not only will Emerson students not receive a vaccine from the college before the end of this semester, but tuition will increase for all under-

Office of Financial Aid. Diana Bravo / Beacon Staff graduate students for the second consecutive year.

It’s incredibly ironic that the same week the administration attempted to ease students’ academic burnout, they sent two emails adding to their stress.

This pandemic has not only been incredibly draining for students who try to follow guidelines and keep themselves healthy, but places a suffocating financial burden on them as well.

In an email from President M. Lee Pelton last week, the college announced that “The Board of Trustees has approved a 2.0% overall increase in tuition for current undergraduate students. For students living on campus, the room and board charges will also increase by 2.0%.” In total, students living on campus would end up paying approximately $79,033 a year, should they not have financial aid.

ed would be grist for the mill, until I realized I’m still here.” Apple has never shied away from the fight for freedom, and this year is no different.

On being blacklisted, “That [lyric] was improvised. I didn’t feel like I’d been blacklisted in my career,” Apple said in an interview with The Guardian. “I want to be completely honest but I can’t because I have to fucking protect people that I don’t even like.”

To bring home this message and dedication to liberation, Apple partnered with Seeding Sovereignty, a collective working to aid Indigenous communities in the fight against COVID-19 after the government failed to provide them with adequate support. As a small portion of these efforts, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” features a land acknowledgment. The album states, “made on unceded Tongva, Mescalero Apache and Suma territories.”

When the 2020 Grammy Award nominations were announced, Apple was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album, Rock Performance and Rock Song. Most artists crave this sort of validation from the Recording Academy. It’s a marker that the work they bring into this world has an impact beyond their fan base. But for Apple, this year’s Grammy nominations meant something completely different. The struggles of good versus evil and power versus freedom were as apparent as ever.

The controversy of this year’s awards stems from the fact that Doja Cat’s hit song “Say So,” which was nominated for Record of the Year, topped radio charts and social media alike, was produced by Lukasz Gottwald, professionally known as Dr. Luke. The producer is credited in the song’s production under a pseudonym “Tyson Trax.” In 2014, singer-songwriter

Kesha sued Dr. Luke on the basis of sexual harassment as well as sexual assault and battery. These lawsuits continued up until 2016, where they were then dismissed due to the statute of limitations, according to Spencer Kornhaber. Justice for Kesha was never formally found in this case.

Despite this, Gottwald maintained a career in the music industry, painting an obscene and frankly shameful picture of wealthy male privilege in every aspect of our culture. As of December 2020, Gottwald is now suing Kesha for defamation and breach of contract.

Apple, in response to the nomination of “Say So,” recalls Kesha’s live performance of her song “Praying” at the 2018 Grammy awards, a song believed to be about the singer breaking the shackles she was bound to under Gottwald.

“I keep going back to them putting Kesha on stage like, ‘We believe you’— and I believe her—then two years later, fucking Tyson Trax.” Apple said in an interview with The Guardian. “Not to go back to that word, but it’s bullshit.”

In the same interview, Apple confronts the question of what she would do if she were to win any of the awards (spoiler, she won two: Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Performance), taking no prisoners with her response in usual Fiona Apple fashion.

“My vision was that I would just get up there with a sledgehammer and I wouldn’t say anything, I would take the Grammy and smash it into enough pieces to share, and I would invite all the ladies up,” Apple said.

This declaration of destruction is allegorical in nature. Apple declares to take the Grammy award, a physical embodiment of power and influence, and break

“Next year’s tuition and fees take into account the continued investment that the College will make to ensure a safe and robust academic experience for all of our students—along with the deep recognition that many students and their families remain affected by the economic difficulties resulting from the pandemic,” the email reads.

The Board’s “recognition” of students’ financial needs could best be compared to the sentiment of “thoughts and prayers.” However, the most ironic part of it all is that Emerson costs too much for most of its students to begin with.

For most undergraduate students, the total cost for their degree will be about $241,357, making it 66 percent more expensive than the national average tuition for a private non-profit fouryear college, according to CollegeCalc. org. Needless to say, tuition was never close to affordable, and the administration is well aware of the economic vulnerability of many Emerson students.

In response to the administration’s email, an Instagram account was created, calling for a strike against tuition’s continued rise. This account, @emerson_college_tuition_strike, brought attention back to the college’s past statements, including the “2019 State of the College.”

In the address, the college promised they are working to lower tuition as they say they know “there is growing pressure among parents and students as well as among local and federal governments to rein in college tuition costs.” Of course, this is a promise that has not been kept.

According to U.S. News, only 9.4 percent of need-based financial aid at Emerson was fully met, even though 63.3 percent of students applied for financial aid for the 2020-21 school year.

Approximately 52 percent of students took out loans averaging $12,481 a year, adding up to $49,924 over four years, according to College Factual.

The average Emerson student’s level of debt is close to the average salary of students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree, which is about $46,600 a year.

Adding excruciating debt to the list of expenses for the average college student can become overwhelming for many students.

Freshman visual media arts major Andrew Zemotel joked about the se-

vere impact student debt has on him and the people around him. Coming from a single-parent household, his financial background reflects his views on the tuition increase. “I found that a lot of people, myself included, joke about ‘oh we are gonna be six figures in-debt,’” Zemotel said. “Because the other option is panic attacks.”

Knowing the severity that student loan debt has on millions of students, in the same “2019 State of the College” announcement, the administration stated that their aim was “to begin to make progress on these issues over the next few years, beginning with the FY ’21 budget, if possible.” Yet, as the 2021 spring semester comes to an end, they still announce another tuition increase.

Across the country, this pandemic has left many students experiencing high rates of anxiety, depression, and financial instability. 54.5 percent of students reported anxiety or depression as a result of COVID-19 in an April 2020 study of City University of New York students, but what’s more worrisome is that 81 percent of students reported a loss of household income.

As Zemotel said, even though this increase is only a couple thousand dollars more “that’s still a couple of thousand dollars that a lot of people don’t have.”

Taking pre-existing financial conditions of students, and adding a pandemic on top of that, has left many unable to adapt to the college’s announced financial changes. So much for the “aim” to help reduce the financial burden during Wellness week.

Personally, these announcements being sent back to back don’t make me feel “well.” The college is well aware of the financial burden that many of its students face, as stated both in the recent email about tuition rising and the “2019 State of The College’’ address.

They know this, and yet tuition continues to spike.

The student tuition strike on Instagram has gained a couple hundred followers, and they are doing their part in spreading a much needed message. We need Emerson to take their students’ financial security seriously, and make the effort to allocate financial aid instead of sending out tone-deaf emails. We can no longer afford the college’s empty promises. contact@berkeleybeacon.com

Fiona Apple’s reckoning, 24 years in the making Joshua Sokol Beacon Staff

At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, a 20-year-old Fiona Apple took the stage to accept her award for “Best New Artist in a Video.” She won the award for her music video, “Sleep to Dream,” leaving her mark as a unique, powerful and melancholic face of 1990’s baroque pop. Apple wasted no time accepting the award, and declared herself a force to be reckoned with, ending her acceptance speech with the ever-lasting, “This world is bullshit, and you shouldn’t model your life after what we think is cool, and what we’re wearing or what we’re saying. Go with yourself.”

She was pinned as unhinged, unprofessional and ungrateful for the fact that she had received critical acclaim at such a young age. But in reality, this moment set a tone, leading the charge against scrutiny, to define yourself on your own terms. Never tolerating the “bullshit” of the power-dominated world we live in, she became a 21st century Joan of Arc, not afraid of a little fire.

Now, in 2021, Apple is not finished reckoning with the powers-that-be in the music industry, cutting up the big suits that dominate the money and influence of the songs we hear on the radio. Fighting a culture war where the masculine ethos dominates and compassion—and by extension, empathy—is seen as a weakness.

Apple’s fifth studio album, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters,” is an impassioned series of songs that have their lyrical and musical roots in forging the tools for personal liberation. The memories of being blacklisted after the 1997 VMA speech make their appearance as Apple sings on “Fetch the Bolt Cutters,” “I thought being blacklist-

Illustration Lucia Thorne it apart, distributing it to all those who make it a possibility. In doing this, Apple emphasizes the part of her mission that is putting power back into the hands of those who create and seek women’s autonomy, in the art that they make and seizing their means of production. Fetching their bolt cutters, per say.

In 2004, before the release of her third studio album, “Extraordinary Machine,” Apple almost decided to call music quits once and for all. She had recorded the album with producer Jon Brion but ended up in a disagreement with her label at the time, Sony—which is coincidentally the same label Kesha had worked with Dr. Luke under. This resulted in Apple’s fans sending thousands of foam apples to Sony corporate offices in protest, which was soon coined the “Free Fiona” campaign. Apple was prompted to re-record the album with bassist and producer Mike Elizondo, and it was finally released in 2005, three years after its conception.

It’s a double-edged sword to celebrate Apple’s wins. On one hand, it’s important to respect her wishes as an artist

(what truly matters) and realize that the Grammys—or any awards show for that matter—are truly inconsequential in determining artistic merit, and by most standards, are highly performative. On the other hand, it’s gratifying to see the artists whose work you love gain recognition, even though Apple is already a well-established artist in her own right, away from institutions of validation.

As for the acceptance of her awards, Apple opted to skip out on the awards ceremony. In a video posted on Stereogum’s Twitter, Apple said that she chose to stay off national television as an act of self preservation. The singer-songwriter has struggled with drug use in the past, and said that she cannot stay sober if she were to be compared to others and scrutinized.

“I’m just not made for that kind of stuff anymore,” Apple said.

Apple took the rest of the video to advocate for transparency in courtrooms across the country. She urged viewers to sign an online petition that keeps the virtual access to courtrooms open for court watchers. Apple said, “Why are they trying to shut us out? What don’t you want us to see?”

In a world where the speech and freedom of artists, particularly women, in the public eye is often limited, Apple rages against this. She fights for transparency in all respects, bringing truth to light in a crystal-clear fashion. She is unbound and unafraid to uproot the evils that have been planted in the commercial music industry, and uses her platform to uplift marginalized communities. She has found her freedom, setting a trend to make artistic liberation an attainable goal. joshua_sokol@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

April 1, 2021

6

Living Arts ‘Cabaret of Color’ highlights BIPOC performers “It’s by people of color for people of color, and we’re gonna show all these white students what they’re missing out on”

Campbell Parish & Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

The pandemic may have halted live stage productions, but it can’t stop the Musical Theatre Society’s third annual Cabaret of Color from showcasing Emerson’s BIPOC student talent.

Created by theatre and performance major Angelika Menendez ‘20 in 2019, the Cabaret of Color shines a spotlight on BIPOC performers without tokenizing their talents, Menendez said. The event will take place on a YouTube live stream on April 3 and 4 at 8 p.m. EST. The show is free, but the Musical Theatre Society is accepting donations on behalf of the Performing Arts Opportunity Fund.

Menendez said the idea for Cabaret of Color came from an assignment in her speech communication class, tasking her to write a speech on a topic she’s passionate about. Menendez chose diversity and inclusion in the theatre industry.

“I believe that students of color deserve a platform to be seen, to be heard, and to not be tokenized,” Menendez said in an interview with The Beacon. “It’s a platform for students to be able to sing and say what they want in a comfortable environment.”

As a Latinx person, Menendez said the lack of roles for BIPOC and POC performers in the industry became more apparent to her when she moved to Boston, compared to her predominantly Latinx hometown of Miami. Within Miami-Dade County, the population is 69.4 percent Hispanic or Latino when in comparison 19.8 percent in Boston according to the US Census Bureau.

“It just made me angry that there weren’t a lot of those opportunities [in Boston],” Menendez said. “There was so much talent in all these students of color that wasn’t being recognized, at Emerson, and also just throughout the world.

[Roles in the theatre community] were just constantly going to white people, and that just set me on fire.”

In the 2018-2019 Visibility Report: Racial Representation on the NYC Stage put out by Asian American Performers Action Coalition, it was reported that nonprofits were slightly more likely to cast BIPOC performers, with only 22.4 percent of roles going to BIPOC actors where a particular race is not specified for the role, but only 16.2 percent of roles went to BIPOC actors in non-racially specific roles on Broadway.

Just 20 percent of all roles cast were inclusive, the report found. The demographic of writers were 9.6 percent Black, 6.2 percent Asian American, 2.8 percent from the Middle East and North Africa, and 2.3 percent Latinix, the report said.

“There is no need for the same continuous stories to be told the same ways,” Menendez said. “Theater shouldn’t be racist at the end of the day. Excluding BIPOC is being racist, and is gatekeeping.

If we were telling BIPOC stories through a BIPOC lens, it would educate and it would empower so much. We need this.”

After Menendez’s speech for her class, she approached the Musical Theatre Society’s president, Timothy Sanders, to discuss her concerns, determined to produce a show to help bring that much-needed change to the stage.

That paid off, as she left her mark on the Emerson community. The Musical Theatre Society wound up amending their constitution to make the Cabaret of Color a yearly production, during the show’s second run in Spring 2020.

Students, like featured first-year performer Amarís Rios, said they are excited to be a part of an inclusive environment and continue the legacy of the Cabaret of Color.

“I’m really grateful that [Menendez] left her mark and created a space for all of us to showcase our talent,” Rios said.

As a Puerto Rican in musical theatre, Rios said she felt the need to participate in the showcase since the representation of the community, and BIPOC students overall at Emerson, is small.

“As one of the few people of color on

First annual ‘Cabaret of Color’ in 2019. / Courtesy Angelika Menendez

Courtesy Amarís Rios

Courtesy Kwezi Shongwe Courtesy Zachary Greenwald

Courtesy Charlotte Odusanya Courtesy Angelika Menendez campus and [being a musical theater performer], I kind of felt like there was a small amount of pressure to do it. But it was a good amount of pressure, it was the pressure I needed,” Rios said. “You gotta represent. That’s what this cabaret was all about, making sure that you know your community is being represented.”

Rios said it is isolating to be a person of color at Emerson and she hopes events like this will help start the conversations necessary to instigate change at the college.

“When I’ve talked about color, it generally is only to the knowledge of the people of color, on campus, and I feel like we need to work on broadening the audience so that I can [reach] people who are not of color and so that we can have other people supporting us,” Rios said.

Rios said that, while Emerson should hire more faculty of color, students must actively fight against racism and encourage inclusion every day in the classroom and student organizations.

“Emerson College, as a predominantly white institution, has a lot of catching up to do in terms of amplifying the voices of its BIPOC community,” Rios said. “I’m a firm believer that we create culture. The students have a responsibility to create the living breathing culture that exists on campus, and if not us, then who else will?”

In July 2020, 300 BIPOC performers wrote a list of demands to white American theater on Playbill detailing what they need and deserve from the industry stating, “Racism and white supremacy are cultural formations constructed to rationalize unjust behavior for economic gain, and eradicating them requires radical change on both cultural and economic fronts.”

Sophomore musical theatre major Charlotte Odusanya said it’s important to amplify the voices of BIPOC performers within the theatre industry.

“As much as Black trauma is so important to speak about and it is so valid, there are so many shows that speak on

it that are phenomenal and should be shared,” Odusanya said. “It’s also important to show that [people of color can] be in shows about everyday life and have romance and it doesn’t always have to be about Black trauma. I think that it’s important to listen to the voices of people of color.”

First-year theatre and performance student Kwezi Shongwe said she is very proud of her dreadlocks, but that they are not a commonly accepted hairstyle in the theatre industry. Dove found that Black women are 3.4 times more likely to be perceived as “unprofessional” because of their natural hair, as compared to non-Black women. Black women are also 83 percent more likely to report feeling judged more harshly on their looks compared to other women, the study also found.

Shongwe said she hopes that performances like the Cabaret of Color will help change the narrative, that no one race or gender needs to be at the forefront of musical theatre.

“If I am [a role model] for some little girl or child that has dreadlocks, then I’m going to be very happy,” Shongwe said. “A lot of the times there’s so many people [that have] asked me that question [would you] brush out your head and cut your dreadlocks off for a role?

No, you want me. You’re gonna get my hair.”

Although the Cabaret of Color performance will be streamed over YouTube rather than having a live performance, it gives the opportunity for family members to support performers from different parts of the world. Shongwe, who lived in South Africa for 19 years, is excited and nervous to have her friends and family from home watch her perform.

“The fact that my friends are about to find out—not only [students at Emerson], but literally my friends from South Africa,” Shongwe said. “They’re going to find out how I sing. It actually baffles me. But it’s exciting because I’ve heard my voice grow [since coming to Emerson].”

Shongwe said she is a firm believer that BIPOC performers are the future of the theatre industry and that events such

as the Cabaret of Color will set a standard that will positively impact younger performers.

“We’re just doing songs from any musical,” Shongwe said. “We’re just highlighting people of color, which is nice. I just hope that the people that are seen as the faces of musical theater, it’s not just one type of person anymore.”

While she enjoyed the entirety of working on the Cabaret of Color, Rios said her favorite part of the process was working on the ensemble number.

“Working in a choir setting is very empowering because it’s not just about you, it’s about the unit and that’s what this is really all about,” Rios said. “Honestly, it’s about power in numbers, so I think the impact of that choir moment that will be in the performance will be very touching for a lot of people.”

The group number for the cabaret is “Nothing Without You” from The Theory of Relativity, and each performer has a solo performance.

“It really brings me joy that such an incredible group of artists want to continue doing this and want to continue seeing the platform,” Menendez said.

Rios said she hopes that the Emerson community will support Cabaret of Color and that audience members will gain a deeper appreciation for BIPOC artists on campus. According to Rios, the group performance is a song of remorse, but also empowerment.

Featured first-year performer Zachary Greenwald said that the pandemic’s halting of stage production provides the necessary environment to make a change in musical theatre.

“Now is a good opportunity [to amplify BIPOC performers] because we took a step back from these performances,” Greenwald said. “Before we jump back in [to musical theater without COVID], we need to do it right now is probably the best time because everyone is paying attention because not much is going on.”

Menendez said the Emerson community has a responsibility to support BIPOC individuals, and it’s not BIPOC students’ jobs to educate their white peers.

“Emerson claims to be so woke. You want to do something anti-racist? Support incredible artists of color who have been working so hard and are so talented and watch them and cheer them on and listen to their stories,” Menendez said. “Do not impose your judgment because it is not your place to speak. This is a platform for them to say what they want to say. And we are celebrating joy right now. You want to be an ally? Show up. Literally here is the work done for you, show up and support.” contact@berkeleybeacon.com

The Berkeley Beacon

April 1, 2021

7

Kasteel Well students reflect on departing the Castle Shawna Konieczny Beacon Staff

On March 2, 2020, the 76 students studying at Emerson’s Kasteel Well campus gathered in a cramped dining hall awaiting an update on spring break, expecting news regarding where and when they could travel.

Instead, castle officials announced they would be sent back to the United States in a matter of days—six weeks earlier than planned, due to the rise of the novel coronavirus across Europe.

Senior visual and media arts major Max Murphy, who served as the castle’s student documentarian, said he predicted his and his fellow classmates’ early departure from the Netherlands.

“My advisor had told me that I was probably going to want to film that meeting,” Murphy said. “That, and the fact that COVID was spreading everywhere. I had a pretty good hunch that we were going back.”

Yet to many students, the news of the departure came as a surprise—after all, no Kasteel Well class had ever been sent back to the U.S. weeks early due a global crisis prior to spring 2020.

Just a week prior, students were told their academic excursion to Milan, Italy was canceled due to the rise in virus cases, which at the time sat at less than 200.

Castle officials barred students from leaving the Netherlands during their spring break.

“I really thought we were going to go on lockdown for two weeks,” Junior marketing communications major Anna Bohman said. “I remember there were only a few people who … were like, ‘I think we’re going home.’ I did not think we were going home.”

Despite his suspicions, Murphy said it wasn’t until the announcement that the gravity of the situation hit him.

“That was when it felt real,” Murphy said. “Until then I had just been joking around with people, ‘Oh, we’re going to go back.’ Hearing it said out loud definitely set it in for good.”

In the days leading up to the news they’d be sent home, students were regularly updated on the growing number of cases throughout Europe by Duclia Meijers, the castle program director.

“We had the briefings in the dining hall every day leading up to it, so to a certain extent, I think we were ready for it,” junior visual and media arts major Mila Rolston said. “But also, it was very devastating because we all had that glimmer of hope we’d be able to travel one last time or go one last place.”

After the announcement, students spent the next three days packing up their rooms and preparing to say goodbye to the pastoral Dutch village. Students were bused to a Hansel and Gretel themed pancake house, in a remote part of the country where there were little-to-no COVID cases at the time, as a surprise prior to their departure.

Kasteel Well students returned to the Boston campus on March 6 and were told they would finish the remainder of the semester in Boston. Castle students were not given the option to study from home upon their arrival to campus, despite all their classes transitioning to an online format because of their departure from the castle. This rule quickly changed as

The exterior of the Kasteel Well Castle. / Beacon Archives COVID cases continued to spike across the U.S. On March 13, a week after arriving in Boston, Kasteel Well students were once again informed that they would have to relocate for the remainder of the semester—now, back to their homes as the Boston campus evacuated.

Bohman said she wanted to return to her home in Florida after leaving the Netherlands, but Emerson would not allow her.

“I wanted to go home, like home home, and Emerson was like, ‘No, nobody can go home,’ even though they wanted us to do our classes online in rooms in Walker,” Bohman said. “I really didn’t think COVID was going to be that big. I don’t think anyone really knew it was coming.”

The news that Emerson’s campus would close wrought a wave of shock across the entire student body. But for

castle students, this decision was another abrupt change of course to their unusual semester. Senior journalism major Leah Jablo, a Residential Assistant at the castle, said the change from one plan to another was confusing.

“It was also really concerning from a public health perspective too,” Jablo said.

“If there’s a disease about, why are we moving around so much?”

Though at the time, some students thought that the move back to the U.S. was unwarranted, Murphy said being sent home was the right decision in retrospect.

“In the moment, it was easy to say, ‘Oh, this is an overreaction,’” Murphy said. “But now, looking back, [the decision was] definitely not an overreaction.

In my opinion, it was the right move to send us home when they did.”

Bohman said her time at the castle felt like a fever dream. She recalls seeing her Snapchat and Instagram memories from

From dumps to palaces: Emerson Bathroom Reviews Campbell Parish Beacon Staff

Emerson students are finding unique ways to build Instagram communities on campus, and some are crappier than others. @EmersonBathroomReviews is giving blunt reviews on the ambiance of a variety of restrooms on campus.

The Instagram account greets viewers with the goal of “ensuring all lions know where to find relief ”(CQ). Each post grades the overall facilities Emerson has to offer on three different criteria: atmosphere, functionality, and hygiene, with each post including a plethora of photos of the facility being reviewed.

The first-year creator of the Instagram account wanted to jump onto the bandwagon that many other students are on. Instagram houses several other Emerson student perspectives on specific subjects within the Emerson community, such as Emerson Food Reviews(CQ), Emerson Truthers(CQ), and the Bad News Beacon(CQ).

The reviews are blunt, providing a satirical look at the overall condition of bathrooms on campus. The creator of Emerson Bathroom Reviews is looking out for students in order to make their expectations of the facilities on campus as painless

as they can. “[Emerson Bathroom Reviews] is a satire in the sense that the concept is just ridiculous in and of itself,” the creator of the account said. “These are genuine critiques on the Emerson bathroom experience. I am putting the effort in to really try to hone in the details about what makes an experience a worthy one in a bathroom and what kind of traits people are looking for when they seek out that ex-

a year ago over recent weeks reminding her of the short-lived semester abroad.

“I can’t believe that’s what my life was a year ago and now it’s totally different,” Bohman said. “I realize how short [the semester] was because I got to see it all again.”

“I can’t believe that we did all those things, went to all those places,” Bohman continued .

Junior business of creative enterprises major Claire Kong said she feels as though years have passed since her time at the castle.

“It feels like it has been five years,” Kong said. “None of us thought that we would be living in a pandemic this long.”

Jablo said the people and the sense of community in the town of Well—the American Nights at the local bar, De Buun, the trips to the bakery, and the locals she met—was the highlight of her experience.

“I loved the people and how tight knit the community was there,” Jablo said. “There were only about 80 of us over there, and the community that we fostered was so, so nice. Just having that shared, unique experience was a really special bond.”

Bohman said she felt a unique connection with her castle class, which was only strengthened by the shared early departure experience.

“I do feel a very strong connection to everyone who went to the castle because you went through exactly what I went through,” she said. ”You know exactly what we went through and what went through our minds and how it was mentally exhausting.”

Eventually producing and publishing a final video highlighting the chain of events at the castle, Murphy said he recalls talking to many students and gauging their reaction to the jarring experience of being sent home.

“As the documentarian, it was really interesting to see everyone’s different reactions,” Murphy said. “Some people took it really hard. Some people didn’t really care. Some people were excited to leave. And so even though people reacted very differently, they could all connect over the thing that they were reacting to: being sent home. It did bring everyone together in a way.” shawna_konieczny@emerson.edu

perience.”

Most recently, the account reviewed the bathrooms in the Walker Building writing , “Bottom line, this is not an appealing environment. The crimson and yellow wall paint look awful together, and the industrial ceiling lights are as corporate and bland as they come. It’s not a complete and utter eyesore, but it’s not anything great either, so it lands square in the middle.”(CQ) The account’s creator discussed

Bathroom of the Ansin Building. / Courtesy Emerson Bathroom Reviews

Bathroom of the Ansin Building. / Courtesy Emerson Bathroom Reviews

the importance of a motion-sensing sink to accompany the motion-sensing hand dryer when asked about the ideal bathroom facility. Not having an automatic toilet flushing system is also a priority, as most of the time, it flushes too early.

“Given what we tend to pay, I feel like two-ply is something we could all use a raise on. I don’t feel like we are in a two-ply tier community,” the account’s creera said. “I’m not asking for the quilted stuff, that’s too bougie. That’s not even necessary. That makes you feel guilty that you are wasting something when you flush because it’s so luxurious.

I think one extra ply, maybe buying it less in bulk wouldn’t hurt.”

The Instagram account i it has six bathrooms on campus thus far.

“I essentially just started out with where I was naturally going on campus,” the account’s creator said in an interview with The Beacon. “I have sort of begun to use the excuse that I can generalize buildings where the bathroom is given a few particular experiences.

If I ever feel the need to provide a sequel to a building then I will do so.”

Emerson Bathroom Reviews is also thinking about opening up a student submission form to add more voices to the bathroom review community on campus. campbell_parish@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

Sports

April 1, 2021

8

Emerson baseball triumphs Coast Guard Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff

The baseball team secured its first conference win of the year—and first win since the abridged 2020 season—on Saturday against the United States Coast Guard Academy.

Following two defeats against Wheaton College last Saturday, the Lions rallied to win the first game of their homefield doubleheader 14-8. Though they lost the second game 15-7, the victory saw a powerful offensive showing, with twelve of the fourteen runs scored in just two innings.

“Our offense did what it needed to do,” head coach Nicholas Vennochi said in a postgame press conference. “That’s how we’re going to have to win games, that’s how it is in this conference—people put up big numbers.”

Sophomore Thai Morgan put the first run on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning against the Bears’ starting pitcher P.J. Gravalec.

In the top of the second, Emerson’s infield ended the Coast Guard at-bat with a double play. Junior Josh Cohen singled, padding the home team’s early lead by bringing fellow junior Calvin Jacey home.

Pitcher A.J. Ortega, a sophomore, kept the Bears shut out into the third inning, allowing the Lions to cement their lead with a quick succession of runs.

Senior Ryan McCahan reached second base on an error, allowing junior

Quinton Copeland to score. McCahan was brought home by a line drive from Jacey, and a three-run homer from junior Joe Colucci put Emerson seven runs ahead of the away team.

Emerson’s lead started to slip away in the fourth inning when Coast Guard responded with four runs, including a two-run home run, off of Ortega. Cody Fidler hit a second two-run homer for the Bears in the fifth inning, and Ortega was relieved by first-year Benny Guevara in the sixth. A solo shot by Blake Carroll in the seventh evened the score at 7-7.

Junior pitcher Bryan Simmons-Hayes came in for the Lions at the top of the eighth, and conceded another run. Justin Stasiak batted in John Tacchini, putting Coast Guard ahead with only an inning to go.

Coming from behind, Emerson’s offense set off a frenetic eighth inning.

Facing Coast Guard reliever Mark Stutts, the Lions quickly regained the lead with three runs off of two pitches, with an RBI single and two-run home run from Morgan and Copeland, respectively. Sophomore Matt Nachamie and junior Louie Davolio both batted in two runners each.

Simmons-Hayes closed out the top of the ninth inning with the scoreboard at 14-8, clinching the win for Emerson.

Saturday’s game marks Emerson baseball’s first victory in over a year, since its 9-8 win over Lasell University on March 11, 2020—the last game before the 2019-20 baseball season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pan-

demic.

It is also the first time Emerson has scored upwards of ten runs in a single game since a 15-4 exhibition game against Penn State New Kensington on March 4, 2019.

Vennochi applauded his team’s aggression while at bat, which propelled the Lions to their win.

“We can swing it,” Vennochi said.

“We have a tough lineup, up and down.

These guys take good at-bats, and they’re aggressive.”

He noted the standout performances of players like Morgan, who was named to the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference’s Weekly Honor Roll last week after recording a three-run home run and leading the team in RBIs against Wheaton. Vennochi said the results, particularly in the first game, were the outcome of a concerted approach to aggressive at-bats.

“We’re definitely trying to be aggressive on fastballs, that’s clear,” he said.

“That’s not new, that’s not a secret. We just have a lot of guys who can swing, and that’s what we’re trying to build this team around—our offense.”

The second game of the doubleheader was the inverse of the first: Coast Guard built an early five-run lead in the first inning, off Emerson starter Johnny Maffei.

“It’s really easy to get frustrated when you don’t do well and take yourself out of the game—even if you’re out of the game,” Vennochi said of his second game’s starter. “Not be a good teammate,

Junior Quinton Copeland at bat for the Lions. / Courtesy Emerson Athletics kind of take a walk, make it about yourself. John didn’t do that. If he struggles, he always takes it and tries to be better.”

The Lions go on to play at Clark University—who most recently lost twice against Coast Guard—on April 3.The women’s lacrosse team lost its opening game of the season Saturday, falling to Coast Guard 17-9 at Rotch Field.

Senior midfielder Kelli Mark and first-year attacker Lauren Longstreet led the Lions in scoring, contributing three goals each.

Longstreet opened up the content with two quick goals to give Emerson its first and only lead.

“She really set the tone, and especially coming from a first-year, I think it makes everyone want to play at a higher level,” head coach Jessie Koffman said after the game. “She had an amazing first game as a first-year, coming out really not intimidated.”

Coast Guard quickly returned fire,

scoring five goals before Mark added a tally with 3:34 remaining in the first half.

The Bears added two additional goals for a 7-3 halftime lead.

Mark, along with junior midfielder Julia Mallon combined for three unanswered goals to start the second half before Coast Guard responded with a goal to make it a two-goal contest. The Hermosa Beach, Calif native, and Longstreet responded with a pair of goals tieing the game with 19:30 remaining.

Coast Guard followed up with a momentum-shifting 6-0 run over the next 15 minutes.

Sophomore midfielder Ainsley Basic netted the final Emerson goal before the Bares added two goals to their lead with under two minutes left on the clock.

Emerson will next travel to take on Wheaton at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 27. camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

Reflections on live sports in a pandemic Christopher Williams Beacon Staff

Cont. from Pg. 1 I soon found out that fans are hit with the new COVID protocols before ever stepping foot into the Garden. I initially wanted to purchase a single ticket for the game, but tickets are only sold in “pods” of two or four as part of the Garden’s “Play It Safe” commitment. Knowing I couldn’t go alone, I called up three of my closest friends and purchased tickets for them as well, and they were just as excited as I was to be attending a sporting event again.

Before the game, fans are required to download the TD Garden Hub app, where they can store their mobile tickets and agree to the “Play It Safe Promise.” The promise outlines that fans must not have tested positive for COVID-19 within 10 days leading up to the game, must wear a mask at all times when not eating or drinking, physically distance while in the arena, use hand sanitizer and wash their hands, and must use the arena’s touch-free services for ordering food and drinks.

Once fans virtually sign this form, they’re clear to make the trip to Legends Way. My friends and I took an Uber to the arena, and we were assigned to enter from a designated gate determined by the section we were sitting in. Instead of ascending up the escalator to enter the arena like I had done countless times before, my group had to walk around the west side of the building, show our form to the employee in charge of checking them, and enter from there.

The walk up the stairs to the balcony of TD Garden was eerie, to

TD Garden is hosting in-person sporting events for the first time since 2020. Christopher Williams / Beacon Staff say the least. My friends and I were the only fans in sight as we made our ascent to the top of the stadium, compared to the thousands of fans I’m used to entering and exiting the game with. The two sides of the stairs were roped off to separate departing fans from those who were

entering the arena.

Once we made it to the balcony, I was relieved to see other fans walking around the concourse, ordering food and drinks as usual.

Unlike my premonition that the experience would be weird with a limited number of fans, it was more

like a breath of fresh air. The concourse wasn’t packed with people like it typically would’ve been in pre-pandemic days, and the lines to use the restrooms and order food and drinks were relatively short as well. That was certainly a first in my 20-year experience of attending

professional sports games.

I got goosebumps walking through the tunnel leading to Section 317 as we made our way to our seats in the last row of the arena and saw the ice for the first time. I was actually about to watch hockey in person, and I began to feel incredibly grateful to be one of the first 2,142 fans in the city to attend a game. That’ll be something cool to tell my children when I’m older.

Every seat that wasn’t sectioned off into pods of two and four was roped off, so it was calming to know that fans couldn’t move to any seat they wanted throughout the game and possibly spread the virus. The best thing about the sectioned-off seats, however, was that there was actually LEG ROOM at a professional sports game! That never happens, so I was ecstatic to stretch my legs for the entire game.

The only negative thing I can say is that I noticed a glaring loophole for fans to avoid COVID protocols: if you’re sipping on a drink the entire game, you rarely have to wear your mask. My friends and I made sure to wear ours the whole time, but I was especially freaked out by the man in front of me who was drinking beer throughout the game and claiming he could do “whatever he wanted” because he received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

TD Garden and its staff did a great job at keeping fans safe. Besides the instance with the man in front of me, I never felt unsafe, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the arena. I highly recommend attending games this season if you can.

It’ll be safe and a blast. christopher_williams@emerson.edu