Emerson to acquire Marlboro

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

Thursday November 7, 2019 • Volume 73, Issue 10

Emerson to acquire Marlboro College Pelton announces alliance at town hall

Marlboro community reacts to Emerson deal Stephanie Purifoy and Chris Van Buskirk, Beacon Staff

Stephanie Purifoy, Beacon Staff Audible gasps filled the Cutler Majestic Theatre Wednesday morning as President M. Lee Pelton announced a merger between Emerson and Marlboro College, a small liberal arts college in southern Vermont.

Marlboro will donate its $30 million endowment and its real estate, valued at more than $10 million, to Emerson’s Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies program. The program will be renamed the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College.

Each college will form working groups to discuss various aspects of the merger, including academic affairs, student life, administration, human resources, and financial matters.

Marlboro previously planned to merge with Bridgeport University in Connecticut until their discussions ended Sept. 13, according to a September statement on Marlboro’s website.

Marlboro’s students and faculty can choose whether they want to come to Emerson at the beginning of the fall 2020 semester. Those who choose to come to Emerson will join the liberal arts and interdisciplinary studies program with the same tuition rate they currently pay at Marlboro.

See Emerson, page 2

President M. Lee Pelton announced the upcoming deal with Marlboro College in a town hall.

Jakob Menendez/ Beacon Staff

Marlboro, Vt.—The rumors and talk circulated for years. General anxiety about what would happen to the future and legacy of Marlboro College lingered on the wooded hilltop campus.

When the news finally broke this week, senior Erelyn Griffin wasn’t shocked.

“I knew something was coming but it’s still devastating in a way,” the Westminster, Vermont native said in an interview. “We were all aware of the struggle of small liberal arts colleges around here and other people were shutting down and we’ve had low enrollment for a while.”

Emerson and Marlboro College announced this surprise merger Wednesday, affecting each community in drastically different ways. While the Boston campus celebrated the potential addition of new students and faculty, Marlboro community members questioned the future and legacy of the 73-year-old institution.

Where one campus sits at one of Boston’s busiest intersections, the other sits within the forested hills of Vermont, secluded from a small town only five minutes away. Trees and greenery encroach upon most of the buildings on Marlboro’s campus where nature and outdoor activities are an integral part of life.

See Marlboro, page 3

College postpones 48 Hour Film Festival Grace Rispoli, Beacon Correspondent

Women’s soccer ends season after NEWMAC playoff loss

By Ethan McDowell • p. 8

Sophomore Jannifer Van Pelt (left) recorded two assists in 13 games played this season. • Montse Landeros / Beacon Staff

Reports identify Marine in Hollis investigation Jacob Seitz, Beacon Staff The United States Marine Corps identified a suspect in the homicide investigation into the death of Emerson student Daniel Hollis on Wednesday, according to a report from WGBH. The Marines confirmed Lance Cpl. Samuel London’s involvement in Hollis’ death after an altercation which took place outside of a party in Allston on Sept. 28. The Corps emailed a statement on Oct. 8 to local news outlets confirming a Marine’s involvement in the sophomore’s death.

The Corps is in the process of removing Lon-

don from their service so he can face potential charges in the homicide investigation, a Marines spokesperson told WGBH. London serves as a reservist in the 25th Marine Regiment, based at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

London was on pre-deployment leave when the incident occurred, Col. Theodore Wong, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marine Corps, told WGBH. “The Marine Corps is aware of the circumstances surrounding LCpl Samuel London,” Lt. Heather Chairez, a spokesperson for the Marine Forces Reserve in New Orleans, wrote in a

INSIDE THIS EDITION

VSCO girls shouldn’t be discouraged from pursuing their interests Pg. 5

statement to WGBH. “The charges against him are very serious, and local authorities continue to have our full cooperation.”

No charges have been filed in Hollis’ death, according to Boston Police.

BPD is treating the incident as a homicide, but given London’s active duty status, the case falls under the jurisdiction of both local law enforcement and the Marine Corps.

jacob_seitz@emerson.edu

The Beacon online

Alum establishes grilled cheese businesses across Greater Boston Pg. 7

berkeleybeacon

During his first year at Emerson, senior Jacob Falberg pulled an all-nighter to direct and edit a film for Emerson’s 48 Hour Film Festival.

He reminisced about collaborating with another editor, blasting King of the Hill in his suite’s common room, and drinking Monster Energy to stay awake through the night. Falberg cherished that experience so much that when he returned to campus as a resident assistant in fall 2019 in the film immersion living and learning community, he couldn’t wait to start planning the festival for this semester.

However, the 48 Hour Film Festival has been postponed indefinitely by the Department of Housing and Residence Life. It will not occur this semester due to concerns of students’ self-care, raised in the Visual and Media Arts Department. Traditionally, the festival occurs each semester and spans over two days where students write, film, direct, and edit three-minute films to show at the festival.

Department of Visual and Media Arts Chair Brooke Knight said Leonard Manzo, director of production and safety for the department, came to him with concerns regarding the format of the festival following the conclusion of the spring 2019 competition. Knight and Manzo agreed that participating students may not have all the necessary experience or training to shoot their film in the best way, and that the time-induced pressure may cause students to put themselves at risk.

See competition, page 6

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November 7, 2019

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What we know and what we don’t about the Emerson-Marlboro merger

Andrew Brinker, Belen Dumont, Tomas Gonzalez, Jacob Seitz, Beacon Staff Emerson is slated to acquire Marlboro College in approximately a year, but many questions still remain about the future of the community after the merger. To paint a better picture of this, The Beacon sat down with both universities’ presidents.

President M. Lee Pelton said Emerson began talks with Marlboro in the first week of October after Marlboro’s previous merger with University of Bridgeport fell through in September.

In a phone interview, Pelton stressed the need to develop a detailed delineation of the acquisition agreement by mid-spring through two working groups—one from each college— which will discuss how Marlboro plans to integrate with Emerson. The two groups will come together and develop a draft of the agreement which will be passed to lawyers who will develop a legally binding document for both parties to view and approve.

Pelton said he didn’t know at the moment and did not wish to speculate on how many faculty members would be joining join Emerson, but said Marlboro’s endowment will fund the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College, including the Individually Designed Interdisciplinary Program.

“Students can come here beginning in the fall and have a circular experience that’s very similar to the one they have, and faculty can come here and teach very much in the same way they’re teaching now, so the endowment will fund the faculty teaching in the institute,” Pelton said.

Pelton said Marlboro’s 24 tenured or tenure-track faculty could potentially transfer to Emerson.

“It seems clear to me that the faculty will teach more than the IDIP and the question is where will they teach and what will they teach,” Pelton said. “Those are questions that will have to be sorted out by the working group.”

The view from Vermont Marlboro College’s Board of Trustees began searching for a partnership to preserve Marlboro’s mission and legacy in early 2019, according to a November statement from the college.

“The Board’s willingness to address all of these challenges now has meant that Marlboro, unlike our neighbors, has the resources to forge

The student recreation center at Marlboro College. • Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff a partnership that ensures the continuation of our mission,” President Kevin Quigley wrote in the statement.

The college resides in the quiet town of Marlboro, home to 1,171 residents. With 150 undergraduate students, the college makes up almost 13 percent of the town’s population.

“The Institute [for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies] will be renamed for Marlboro and will welcome existing Marlboro students and tenure-line and tenured Marlboro faculty who wish to continue their work at Emerson,” Quigley wrote.

The colleges decided to merge due to their similar missions to promote liberal arts and civic engagement.

“The Emerson campus offers a robust portfolio of student services and engagement opportunities in a creative and collaborative environment, as well as a strong and tangible commitment to equity and inclusion,” Quigley wrote.

Marlboro students transferring along with the college will retain their current tuition cost unless they decide to transfer into another major or study on another campus away from Boston.

Marlboro offered their full support to students who decide to transfer elsewhere.

“Our positions will be eliminated, and we’re working very hard to find ways to support the staff who will lose their positions here,” Quigley said in an interview with The Beacon.

The Vermont college plans to develop a process that will provide support to the staff, both financially and with finding new jobs, according to Quigley.

Marlboro College is the fourth liberal arts college in Vermont to close this year.

Quigley’s letter also states that both colleges will create working groups to finalize details in the agreement.

“We are committed to working with Emerson to discuss the future of the Marlboro campus, including the role of the Marlboro Music Festival, which we hope will continue to provide substantial benefits for the town of Marlboro and southern Vermont more broadly,” the statement reads.

Marlboro will move their academic programs to Emerson’s Boston campus by July 1, 2020.

How did we get here?

A Marlboro trustee who previously worked under Pelton introduced Pelton to Quigley in 2017. The trustee saw a number of similarities in the cultures and academics of the two colleges.

It was then that Quigly first proposed a prospective collaboration between Marlboro and Emerson. Quigley said Pelton was initially indifferent to the idea.

“Lee [Pelton] was tough,” Quigley said in an interview with The Beacon. “He kept saying no because he looked at our enrollment, he looked at our finances. He loves our mission, he loves what we do, [but] he kept saying no.”

Two years later, in July 2019, Marlboro announced that they had tentatively agreed to a merger deal with the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, effectively ending the possibility of a collaboration with Emerson. A group on Marlboro’s campus has been trying to find a merger for years, according to Quigley.

On Sept. 13, just two months after the initial agreement was made, the schools suspended talks, citing an inability to develop and agree

upon a financial and academic model that supported both institutions. Marlboro announced that they would continue to pursue collaborations with other colleges.

Quigley immediately reached out to Pelton, once again asking if a collaboration between the colleges would be possible. This time, he gave Pelton access to Marlboro’s detailed financial records.

The presidents met on Oct. 8.

“He said, ‘Kevin, I’ve looked at it, and I’m worried about your finances and enrollment,’” Quigley said.

Pelton also expressed concern over acquiring more real estate, telling Quigley that Emerson already owns a large amount.

Quigley then proposed removing Marlboro’s campus from a potential deal and instead sending the college’s students to Emerson, a prospect that interested Pelton.

The two presidents then met again on Oct. 11, and on Oct. 14 a deal began to materialize as a formal timeline was established.

On Oct. 24, Pelton and Quigley began to solidify formal terms for the deal.

“We moved pretty quickly from there to board approval on both ends,” Quigley said.

Marlboro’s board officially approved the merger on Saturday.

What’s left to learn?

Pelton did not immediately detail plans for Marlboro’s physical campus other than providing an appraised value. Quigley said that he hopes the campus does not go uninhabited.

“I’m confident that, unlike some of our neighbors, this campus isn’t going to lay dormant for a decade or forever, because we have this partnership with the music festival, and this is their home too,” Quigley said.

Despite this statement from Quigley, the future of the Marlboro campus remains uncertain.

The physical Marlboro campus is not the only part of the deal that remains uncertain.

In his speech on Wednesday, President Pelton did not give specifics about housing for the approximately 130 possible students that Emerson would accrue next semester. Marlboro College students pay about $13,000 per year for room and board, while Emerson students pay about $17,000.

Neither President Pelton nor President Quigley spoke to The Beacon about how Marlboro students would transfer their credits. contact@berkeleybeacon.com

Emerson to merge with college in Vermont in fall 2020 Continued from page 1 Vice President and Dean of Campus Life Jim Hoppe said in an interview that both colleges are still working out the details of the merger and that the Emerson community responded positively.

“I’ve been heartened by the sense of concern for the wellbeing of the community at Marlboro,” Hoppe said. “We all want them to be as successful as possible in this, and it’s nice that I’ve seen students, faculty, and staff express concern about the people who are in Marlboro and that they have the best support they can get.”

Marlboro’s undergraduate and graduate programs combined hold less than 500 students.

Hoppe said the culture that Marlboro students will bring will enhance the Emerson community.

Marlboro plans to close its campus at the end of the spring 2020 semester, according to a statement released by the college.

Dean and Professor of Liberal Arts Amy Ansell told The Beacon in an emailed statement that she views the merger as an opportunity to grow the liberal arts program at the college.

“From my perspective, this is a terrifically exciting opportunity to explore how the proposed Marlboro alliance can boost or, in the words of one faculty member, ‘super-charge’ the Institute’s building of a flexible, progressive and rigorous liberal arts community through IDIP and support Emerson’s overall mission and academic excellence,” she wrote.

Pelton said the endowment from Marlboro will help fully fund a revamped Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies.

“This is an extraordinary alliance and a quintessential win for both of our commonwealths

A map located at the entrance of Marlboro College details the grounds of the hilltop campus. • Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff of learning,” Pelton said at the announcement.

“For Emerson, the gift will permanently fund Emerson’s Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies program. For Marlboro, their legacy will live on, their students will benefit from enhanced educational programs, and their tenured and tenure-track faculty will continue to teach in an environment that supports intellectual creativity, innovation, and experiential learning.”

The Student Government Association’s Class of 2021 President Arasha Lalani, an individually designed interdisciplinary program student at the college, said she believes the merger will

provide the program with a needed boost.

“I think it’s wonderful that Marlboro is a college with an ‘unconventional approach,’’’ she wrote in an email. “Students have an opportunity to tailor their own field of study, and it’s exactly like our interdisciplinary program at Emerson. This merge is hopefully going to bring more awareness to the IDIPs, because not a lot of people know that the program even exists.”

While some students expressed enthusiasm, SGA Executive President Raz Moayed maintained a tone of caution.

“I think it’s definitely exciting for us, and I think the Board of Trustees know what they’re

doing, but I do really hope that they took into account every human being who would be affected by this,” Moayed said in a phone interview. “I really hope that this solution was the best for everybody involved, including their staff and their institution. But I’m assuming that if their institution agrees with this, then it was good for them as well.”

Andrew Brinker contributed reporting to this story. stephanie_purifoy@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

November 7, 2019

3

News

A brief history of Emerson’s latest aquisition, Marlboro College Jacob Seitz, Beacon Staff In the wake of Emerson College’s recent plan to acquire Marlboro College in Vermont, The Beacon compiled the smaller college’s relevant history to provide students in Boston with a brief look at the legacy of the $40 million institution.

Emerson College and Marlboro College announced the merger Wednesday at 10 a.m. during concurrent town halls on each campus.

The presidents of the respective schools each stood before their communities detailing a surprise deal that combines two liberal arts institutions in New England.

Walter Hendricks founded Marlboro College in 1946 on a 600-acre plot of land in southern Vermont. He started the small liberal arts college to teach democracy as an objective and help students feel a personal sense of usefulness in the world, according to his obituary in the New York Times.

Marlboro has seen a sharp decline of 34 percent in enrollment from 2010 to 2018, a tuition revenue drop of 50 percent, and an estimated operating deficit of $3 million to $4 million that led the college to seek merger options with other institutions.

The merger between the two schools would give Emerson the endowment and campus of

Marlboro, valued at nearly $40 million in total.

The 360-acre campus in the Green Mountains of Vermont is slated to close May 2020.

This comes after Marlboro and the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut called off a prospective deal in late September.

Undergraduate students at Marlboro—150— are enrolled in the college, making up almost 13 percent of the population of the town of Marlboro, which has 1,171 residents.

Marlboro offers “fields of study” that allow students to take a variety of classes instead of traditional majors.

“You can combine fields, or even create new ones; it’s up to you to make the connections,” the website states. “As your interests (and career plans) evolve, your field of concentration can evolve as well.”

The college’s 32 fields of study range from sculpture and mathematics to computer science and dance.

Marlboro focuses primarily on building a sense of community and community governance, according to the college’s website. They hold weekly town meetings where the town, students, and faculty help shape the institution itself and organize open mics and poetry slams inside their cattle barn–turned dining hall.

Marlboro College President Kevin Quigley in his office. • Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff

jacob_seitz@emerson.edu

Merger fuels anxiety among Marlboro students Continued from page 1 The school even designated 130 acres of forested land as an ecological reserve in 2017 to protect it from development.

The two colleges plan to merge starting in the fall 2020 semester, with Marlboro closing its doors after the spring 2020 semester, according to a statement released by Emerson.

Marlboro previously planned to merge with Bridgeport University until their discussions ended Sept. 13, according to a September statement on Marlboro’s website. The Vermont college will donate its $30 million endowment and its real estate, valued at more than $10 million.

Marlboro’s endowment will go to Emerson’s Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies program which will be renamed the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College. Marlboro’s students and faculty can choose whether they want to come to Emerson at the beginning of the fall 2020 semester. Those who choose to come to Emerson will join the liberal arts and interdisciplinary studies program.

Marlboro College President Kevin Quigley said the circumstances for the partnership align with small liberal arts college closures across the nation—declining enrollment and low tuition revenue have a disastrous effect on the operating budget. Marlboro counts as the fourth in a string of Vermont colleges that have shuttered over the past year.

“We see the potential for synergy of coming together, so the two institutions through that institute will create something unique, important, remarkable,” he said in an interview.

Students at Marlboro learned of the “alliance” in a similar fashion to Emerson students—both presidents gathered their individual communities to announce the news.

Griffin isn’t a stranger to college closures.

She first attended Vermont’s Johnson State College, which became Northern Vermont University after it combined with Lyndon State College in 2018—after Griffin had already left.

She transferred to Marlboro after her first semester. Despite the eventuality of Marlboro’s closure, Wednesday’s announcement still hit Griffin hard.

“This is my home in a way and that’s why even though there might be some carryover of the academics to Emerson College, it feels really devastating to our whole community because so much of our identity was this place, and we don’t know what’s going to happen to this place and that’s sad,” she said while standing in Marlboro’s library.

The deal remains in its early stages. Quigley said although the college has not worked out many details of the deal, staff positions at Marlboro will be eliminated.

The Vermont college’s president said he is working hard to find ways to support the staff who will lose their positions and is developing a process to provide them support and guidance.

“I do hope that at some point in time we can have a more detailed conversation of … oppor-

Marlboro College senior Erelyn Griffin stands in the campus library.

Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff tunities for our staff who have the qualifications and the dedication and passion to support the Marlboro Institute, that might be considered for the position,” he said.

Marlboro Professor of Film and Video Studies Brad Heck graduated from the Vermont institution in 2004 and worked in Chicago, Seattle, and Brooklyn before coming back to teach at the college in 2016. The documentary filmmaker and professor said the community is wondering how the two colleges will be moving forward with the merger.

Community governance—the idea that every member of the college participates in decisions—is ingrained into the lifestyle at Marlboro. Members of the community attend town hall meetings where they can vote on various initiatives from spending funds and what trails to restore to creating operation policies.

The deal with Emerson College left many Marlboro students and staff with unanswered questions—would Emerson allow for open participation like the Marlboro community was used to, or would the deal proceed behind closed doors?

Heck said most individuals at the college learned of the deal Wednesday—a decision, he said, that affects Marlboro community members’ lives and the pedagogy and legacy of the college.

“In a lot of ways the whole community gov-

ernance process is antithetical to the process of finding a merger … for obvious reasons, and I think for reasons that are probably to the benefit of all, the whole process has to have been relatively closed, which we’re not used to,” Heck said in an interview with The Beacon. “I think we’re not used to not having input, but we’re also not used to just not having this information.”

Since Quigley is considered a staff member, his position will be eliminated in July if the deal is finalized. He said he doesn’t know what he is going to do after his time at Marlboro.

“Two things have driven me throughout my whole life: I want to be in a position where I can make a difference and I want to be in a position where I can learn something that enriches my life,” he said.

In an attempt to convey the adaptability and flexibility of humans to Marlboro students, Quigley shared the story of when he interviewed for his position at the college. He moved from Bangkok, Thailand and interviewed in the middle of winter.

“In 48 hours, I experienced a 100-degree temperature change and part of the interview process was I went out to our outdoor program with a group of faculty and staff and students and they said ‘you have a choice, snowshoes or cross-country skis,’” he said.

Heck, for his part, is not on the tenure track.

Rather, Marlboro classifies him as a visiting professor, as no tenure track exists in film and video. The professor teaches two to three classes a semester and will have eight tutorials and two classes in the spring.

A documentary filmmaker when he isn’t working, Heck said he doesn’t know what the future holds for him.

“I mean(,) I also make documentary films so I might just focus on that more, but I really love teaching here,” he said as he walked between the white clapboard buildings that make up the Vermont campus.

Students at the college are faced with a difficult decision—whether they should venture to Boston to attend Emerson or look at transferring to other institutions.

Junior Cedar Van Tassel moved to Marlboro for college after receiving a full-tuition scholarship. His studies focus on ecology and sculpture art and he said he’s particularly interested in where humans and the environment intersect and how they interact with each other.

In an interview, he said he is wary about moving to Emerson.

“I’m in sort of a weird situation because they don’t teach ecology really at Emerson and they don’t really teach sculpture at Emerson either,” he said. “I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

Van Tassel said it would be hard for him to leave Marlboro’s campus because of all the natural land there.

“There are a lot of people who are into theater and video production who I’m sure will pretty seamlessly move over who don’t really care about the woods and the land,” he said. “I think that it’s a very good deal for people and it seems like the communities are pretty similar.

I’m just not personally sure how things that I study are going to actually work out.”

Tobias Lyon-Callo said he expected the school’s closure but hoped he would have more time on the campus. Lyon-Callo said he is unsure about transferring to Emerson.

“I want to figure out more about Emerson before I make any decisions,” he said. “It’s a big change, it’s a big commitment to go from the middle of Vermont to Boston. But, I don’t know, I think I might not. The best-case scenario would be if I could take a year and decide, but I don’t know if that’s going to be a possibility.”

Griffin, the Marlboro senior, said if she was an undergraduate she wouldn’t make the switch to Emerson—a big part of why she chose Marlboro was because of the unique nature of the campus.

“When I walked into the dining hall I was like ‘this feels like home,’” she said. “I think that’s exactly how a lot of other people feel and it’s hard to reckon what we will be without this place.”

c_vanbuskirk@emerson.edu stephanie_purifoy@emerson.edu

Editorial Students deserve a stress-free registration process

This Monday, the registrar’s office shut volume of several hundred new students down class registration for students with from absorbing Marlboro College.

92 or more credits following a technical We know the college’s IT department issue. According to an email from the worked to perfect this year’s system. registrar, Banner, the new college’s The college even recently changed the new registration software, had technical software used for class registration to requirements that made the servers crash. more adequately deal with the college’s Since no students with senior standing technical needs. Regardless, the system were able to register, the office chose to still crashed this week, leaving hundreds temporarily cease registration at 7:04 of students baffled and angry. a.m., only four minutes after the servers Registration also starts around the most went up. The registrar alloted themselves stressful time of the semester—sometime one day, until Tuesday, to resolve the between midterms and finals when the technical problem and reboot the system. holiday season is fast approaching. It’s an This week’s occurrence is a bleak exciting and anxious time when students addition to the college’s already poor are looking into the future of their college track record with registration. Biannual careers. Repeated registration issues registration issues have become an bring students undue stress on top of all on-campus that. It’s unfair for trope, where them to have to students expect wake up at 7 a.m. shortcomings and only to find out inefficiencies in they cannot get the process year into the system.

“Biannual registration after year. The Plus, most last two times students need to issues have became an Emerson students get into specific have geared classes to graduate on-campus trope, where up to register, on time. We start last November scouting for classes students expect shortand March weeks before we respectively, the log onto the server, comings and inefficienprocess became talking to advisors, the subject of The faculty, and cies in the process year Beacon’s weekly students who have editorial cartoon. taken the classes after year. ” It’s almost we hope to weasel expected that our way into. twice a year, When the college’s students will be straightforward unable to enter registration the registration process goes awry, database because of a system crash. it undermines students’ preparation and If not, students’ registration pins fail future plans. to work as they should, or Duo Push Registration should be simple. It’s slows to a glacial pace. Even last year, a a process students are required to go handful of students had trouble logging through every semester, and so it is into eCommon when registering, while a imperative that the college eliminate number of their peers were able to register these glitches. We hope the fall 2020 for classes successfully at the same time. registration process will be free of issues We understand that registering 4,000 that add unnecessary stress to students’ students for classes is a behemoth lives. As the college updates its system, undertaking. The registrar has to account students should hold confidence, not for the needs of students hurrying to apprehension, in the registration process. secure a spot in their classes of choice.

The college’s website can only process the commands of so many users rushing Editorials are written solely by to type in their CRNs before another student takes up the slot they want. But Editor-in-Chief Chris Van Buskirk, there are thousands of higher education institutions in the country that encounter Managing Editor Abigail Hadfield, fewer registration issues than the ones we have become all too familiar with.

Opinion Editor Diti Kohli, and Why then are Emerson students subject to repeated issues with the registration Deputy Opinion Editor Ziqi Wang process?

If this week was the first time the without consultation from other staff college fell short in terms of registration, we would be forgiving. But it’s incredibly members, and does not influence any problematic that the system fails students on one of the most important days in the stories. Op-Eds reflect the views of semester year after year.

Additionally, Emerson needs to be only their authors, not The Berkeley able to handle registering our current students without taking on the added Beacon.

by the Editorial Board illustration by Ally Rzesa

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

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Pair of Uggs

Ear Muffs

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The Berkeley Beacon

November 7, 2019

Opinion

5

VSCO girls: Why we need to stop belittling teenage girls’ interests

“Making fun of these girls is a lot easier than acknowledging what’s really going on here: tearing down a group of girls for having fun.” • Illustration by Ally Rzesa / Beacon Staff

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

With all of the hate and prejudice in the world, who knew teenage girls wearing oversized T-shirts and scrunchies would be the bane of our society’s existence? It seems that whatever teen girls do, they get mocked for it.

But why?

Over the past year, the latest teenage subculture, VSCO girls, rose to prominence.

Named after the photo-editing app popular with teenagers on social media, VSCO girls are known as the “Tumblr girls of 2019.” They often have a distinct aesthetic and heavy social media presence. They stereotypically wear graphic T-shirts, Birkenstock sandals, scrunchies, and shell jewelry. Most VSCO girls carry around

clunky Hydroflask water bottles.

Backlash quickly followed rise of VSCO girls. Many internet users mock them by making short comedy videos called TikToks about them or dressing up as them for Halloween.

People have even called me a VSCO girl in a condescending manner. But I wear scrunchies because they’re cute and don’t pull on my hair. I have a Hydroflask because I like my water cold.

I use reusable straws because they don’t cause harm to the environment. I should not have to justify owning these things out of fear of being lumped into the VSCO girl stereotype. People should not feel ashamed for talking about reusable straws or wearing friendship bracelets.

Far bigger problems exist in the world—such as climate change and gun violence—than teenage girls being teenage girls.

Making fun of these girls is a lot easier

than acknowledging what is really going on here: tearing down a group of teens for having fun. It’s time we admit that teasing these girls is problematic, even if it may not appear that way upon first glance. Shaming girls who are wearing and doing what they like, no matter how ‘basic’ it may seem, is not productive.

Honestly, the people who ridicule VSCO girls are far more annoying than the girls themselves.

VSCO girls are not the first teenage girl stereotype to be torn down, just the most recent.

Teens have been mocked for being “Tumblr girls,” “fangirls,” taking selfies, and liking “boy bands.” Why should boy bands like One Direction be classified any differently than a normal band? The fact that their target audience is teenage girls does not invalidate them as a mainstream musical group. And since when is a teenage girl being confident—which is hard to come by these days—and taking pictures of herself a bad thing?

As Jonti Ridley wrote for Fashion Journal, “slapping the term ‘girl’ at the ends of these labels is to [infantilize] women.” It’s not just a VSCO user, but a VSCO girl, as if that is a worse thing.

In reality, people have been making fun of teenage girls’ interests for years, while boys have not received anywhere near the same amount of criticism. So although making fun of VSCO girls may seem like light-hearted teasing, jokes about their behavior are rooted misogynistic undertones. The trend of mocking VSCO girls is just the latest example of a culture that vilifies and belittles young women for their harmless interests.

Think of all of the teenage boys you know who are fans of superhero franchises, Game of Thrones, and video games. These are far from niche interests, but rarely do people make fun of teenage boys for participating in mainstream culture. Sure, it might be tiring to see dozens of girls wearing similar things and acting in similar ways, but when did teen girls simply living become a legitimate problem?

Plus, when girls like superheroes or sports,

which are generally seen as more masculine interests, boys question their authenticity as a fan. They ask things like, “If you’re a real fan, have you seen all the movies?” or “Name all the players on this team.” Regardless of whether girls decide to do something popular or diverge into new interests, they are met with similar criticism. This constant berating can strip away their identity and invalidate their interests, which can negatively impact their self esteem.

Acknowledging the fact that VSCO girls are often privileged white girls is one thing.

But oftentimes, it does not appear like people are criticizing them for their privilege, but rather for their identity as a teenage girl. From personal experience, being a teenage girl is hard enough without having to worry about people diminishing your interests.

At its core, VSCO girl culture is about being laid-back and accepting the less glamorous sides of life. Its followers often wear minimal makeup, beachy jewelry, casual clothes, and messy buns. They are inadvertently promoting the idea that girls don’t have to be perfectly done up with a full face of makeup, fancy clothes, and styled hair to feel confident, but they can embrace their natural beauty.

This attitude is needed at a time when the teenage years are a source of insecurity for many. In fact, 75 percent of teenage girls with low self-esteem reportedly engaged in destructive activities like self-harm, smoking, or unhealthy eating habits. If teens can find something that makes them happy, no one else should care as long as it’s not harming anyone.

Whatever teenage fad pops up next is sure to receive the same criticism as VSCO girls for the same, unfair reason: teenage girls are doing what they like. Instead of taunting the next girl you see wearing a scrunchie on her wrist, think about this: is it really productive to hold girls’ interests against them? jessica_ferguson2@emerson.edu

There’s no learning in letter grades and GPAs Xinyan Fu Fu is a sophmore journalism major and a Beacon columnist.

Last semester, I took the Fundamentals of Speech Communication class everyone is required to take at Emerson. We completed several group speech presentations, solo projects, and impromptu speeches. However, none of us were ever given feedback on any of our assignments.

In fact, I received most of my grades for the class only one day before my professor shared the final grade with us. We got zero comments on Canvas, even if our grades came out lower than expected. I even sent several emails to the professor asking for suggestions after the grades came out, but never heard anything back.

I still am very frustrated about it. Even though I can see my grade, it means nothing to me. The letter grade I got in that class does nothing except tell me I did a terrible job. I have no idea what my mistakes were or where they were made. Therefore, I have no way to improve my public speaking and communication skills.

Since I got nothing back from the experience, I feel like I’ve wasted my tuition for this class, which totals $6,070 at $1,517.50 per credit.

It is the professor’s duty and responsibility to provide feedback as an educator. When students put in their money to receive a college education, they expect more than just a GPA. Instead, they hope to gain worthwhile learning experiences and applicable skills by taking classes and interacting with professors. And it’s expected that this teacher-student interaction includes the exchange of comments on assignments and, potentially, a discussion of these results.

Grades reflect the effectiveness of the learning process. They quantify students’ performances for a certain learning period, providing them with an evaluation of their overall performance. Nevertheless, they should not be considered the most critical element of education because they don’t tell the whole story behind students’ understanding.

Grades are not self-explanatory. Yes, on the

“Yes, on the surface, ‘A’ means success, and ‘F’ means failure. But neither of these letters explan the reasons behind a student’s performance.” • Illustration by Ally Rzesa / Beacon Staff surface, “A” means success, and “F” means The learning process is intended to be failure. But neither of these letters explain the messy. It is supposed to include mistakes, reasons behind a student’s performance. No one accommodations, and growth through trial and would ever be good at math if teachers only error. Most professors have no expectation that gave students the answers students will be good at instead of explaining all of the assignments the process behind each and homework they “The letter grade I got in assign. So it makes problem.

Besides, most projects sense that both teachers that class does nothing and students make the and homework for Emerson classes are not best use of these errors. except tell me I did a even as straightforward as Instead of leaving math. For math questions, students’ heads in the terrible job.” there will always be a clouds, professors correct answer. But for should provide pinpoint courses at Emerson, feedback to students to students often do paperhelp them to learn from or presentation-based work, which is even their mistakes for future assignments. more subjective. It is hard for students to find Some professors also assume only students mistakes and correct their subjective responses who fail or do poorly need feedback. Feedback without any feedback from professors. is good for everybody. A simple “good job”

is not enough. Even “A” students benefit from detailed feedback since students rarely complete assignments that show no room for growth or change. In high school, my writing teacher used to encourage students to have a one on one meeting with her every time we finished an assignment, regardless of whether they got a good grade or a bad grade. Because of those meetings, I’ve learned what my weaknesses are and how to reinforce my strengths to make my articles more compelling.

One of the journalism professors I had during my freshman year, Cindy Rodriguez, gave us precise and effective feedback immediately.

She used to slip her feedback into the comments on Canvas, so we would be able to look at her notes right when we received our grade.

For one of my very first audio slideshow, she gave me 13 bullet points of feedback in which she individually pointed out my mistakes and where I could improve. It was brutal when I first read through the bullets because all of them were true. But the more assignments I did in class, the more useful tips I got on how to improve my audio stories. And I could see my grade getting better as we ran through the syllabus.

I was lucky to have this professor as one of my fundamental instructors in my major.

She not only gave us useful comments, but she emphasized how she was open to students asking any questions about their work. I’ve had professors who act passive-aggressive when I ask for detailed feedback, which is discouraging and unreasonable since it is also the professor’s responsibility to answer academic questions.

Feedback is a powerful tool for both students and professors. It serves as a way of communication between us, as well as a reflection of the class. Instead of leaving students with a number or a “great job,” professors should feel obligated to add more explanation. Frankly, it’s their job.

xinyan_fu@emerson.edu

Living Arts

The Berkeley Beacon

November 7, 2019

6

Alum secures dream fellowship at Huntington Theatre Company

Andrew Siañez-De La O ‘17 wrote about his experience living close to the Mexican border, which ultimately landed him his dream fellowship. • Montse Landeros / Beacon Staff Althea Champion, Beacon Correspondent Andrew Siañez-De La O ‘17 wrote a Boston bucket list following his college graduation. At the top of his list sat a playwriting fellowship at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, but Siañez-De La O never took that prospect seriously as he saw it as an impossible feat.

Siañez-De La O applied to the program in

December 2018 with a play he wrote titled Borderline. He described the play as a hybrid of Stranger Things, The Thing, and life on the southern border of the U.S. Borderline was Siañez-De La O’s response to the Huntington’s application prompt: “What play defined them as a writer at the time they wrote it?” “[Borderline is] about children in the desert being chased by a monster,” Siañez-De La O

said. “So, I pitched it as, ‘All kids are told ghost stories. Like, we are all told things that are supposed to teach us lessons. But for specifically children of color, and especially on the border, those ghost stories are meant to prepare you for very real things.’”

Out of 74 applicants, Siañez-De La O learned in August that he earned a spot in the 2019–21 four-person cohort of Huntington playwriting fellows. The theatre company made a public announcement on Oct. 23, after the cohort met for the first time in August.

Charles Haugland, director of new work at the Huntington, manages the fellowship program. “[Siañez-De La O’s] play had a really distinctive voice and an unusual approach to looking at that experience and those issues, and we really responded to it,” Haugland said in an interview.

Immediately following his graduation, Siañez-De La O received a spot in a residency program through the Echo Theater Company in Los Angeles, where he wrote Borderline. Afteward, he worked with Pipeline Theatre Company in New York for a year, with whom he wrote a children’s play. Next, he workshopped one of his plays with the Milagro Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

“I am really excited,” Siañez-De La O said.

“It took a while to set in, but the Huntington is a really big name, and just being able to be in the same room as them and be able to say, ‘I’m a Huntington fellow.’ That’s cool.”

Siañez-De La O’s achievement follows in the footsteps of another Emerson alumni.

MJ Halberstadt ‘13 participated in the 2017–19 cohort of Huntington fellows. SiañezDe La O and Halberstadt pointed out the lack of a formal playwriting program at Emerson, where one professor teaches two courses in playwriting.

Halberstadt said he learned a lot about himself as a playwright and the plays he worked on during the fellowship.

“I learned very useful things about a couple of my plays, and I’ll integrate those lessons into

each of those scripts, but those are ephemeral and the relationships are longer lasting,” Halberstadt said.

During the fellowship, Haugland said Siañez-De La O will engage in writer group meetings and table readings to critique his and his cohorts work, while simultaneously working to foster a long-term relationship with the Huntington. However, the fellows do not produce a performance at the Huntington.

Growing up in El Paso, Texas, Siañez-De La O said he drew inspiration from his experience living alongside the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I literally grew up a stone’s throw from the border,” he said. “Like, you could look down the street and you could see the fence.”

When he thinks of El Paso, Siañez-De La O said he envisions a beautiful culture, pleasant people, and the place where he and his parents innocently bickered over him attending art school. In conjunction with others’ interpretation of the border, his voice finds its angle in grounding the area’s mythos while concurrently relishing in its magic and mystery.

“How do you approach these topics without, not necessarily angering someone, but doing it justice?” he asked. “I think that’s why I approach a lot of my work with the sense of, like, fantasy or science fiction, where I can sort of separate reality for a moment and be able to talk about these topics.”

Siañez-De La O said he feels grateful for his opportunity to tell stories that reflect his experience growing up so close to the Mexican border.

“I think that is the beautiful thing with theater, too,” Siañez-De La O said. “I mean, someone is going to walk into a theater and accept the given circumstances, so you can sort of play with things a little. So you can tell a really real and heart-wrenching story, but then also have it be about monsters, and gods, and the border.”

althea_champion@emerson.edu

Delta Kappa Alpha starts new competition in lieu of 48 hour film festival Continued from page 1 “My feeling is that, as a department, trying to encourage best practices, we don’t want to encourage a situation where best practices are nearly impossible to follow,” Knight said in an interview. “And therefore expose students to risk that may impact the rest of their lives.”

In the weeks following last semester’s festival, Knight and Manzo brought these concerns to Elizabeth Ching-Bush, former assistant dean of campus life; Erik Muurisepp, associate dean of campus life; and Sharon Duffy, former assistant vice president of student affairs. Knight and Manzo recommended the college not host the festival any longer. In a phone interview, Muurisepp said the festival will be revamped as opposed to cancelled. After reconstruction, the 48 Hour Film Festival will return, but that date remains unknown.

Falberg also serves as the president of Delta Kappa Alpha, a national, professional, and gender-inclusive fraternity branded as a cinematic society. Members of the organization developed the idea of a one-minute film festival open to all Emerson students that will function similarly to the 48 Hour Film Festival.

According to Falberg, the one-minute films for this festival will still be produced in 48 hours, and the $3 entrance fee for each team will be donated to Serious Fun Children’s Network, servicing terminally ill children with recreational opportunities.

Falberg said that Delta Kappa Alpha worked with faculty in the Visual and Media Arts Department to solidify guidelines for their new festival.

“We were always going to try to do it in, like, a November-ish time period—it’s just coincidental, honestly, that the 48 [Hour Film Festival] didn’t happen and is kind of giving the one-minute [festival] a little bit more time to develop on its own without the 48,” Falberg said. “Which, we’ll see how that goes—it could completely flop for all we know. But it’s all about the fun experience of it.”

Muurisepp said he has heard concerns around the functionality of the 48 Hour Film Festival in recent years, though it has been successful among students.

“Are we missing the mark? Is it doing what it needs to be doing?” Muurisepp said. “‘And are we taking into consideration the wellness and the health of the students participating?’”

Though Knight and Manzo initially voiced concerns with the festival, they said the Visual and Media Arts Department did not have jurisdiction to cancel the festival—the film immersion living and learning community organizes it.

Falberg said he and other RAs on the film immersion floor hoped to begin planning the festival when they arrived on campus in late August.

Following their arrival, Falberg and his fellow RAs were informed by Little Building Residence Director Acacia Santos of the conversations regarding the festival within the VMA Department. Around September, Santos told the RAs that the department believed the festival caused too much stress for students.

Falberg said he and his RA colleagues brainstormed solutions for the issues raised by the department. They proposed discussing selfcare more in depth with the student body who planned to participate or planning the festival on a three-day weekend so students had a day after the festival to rest before resuming classes.

Falberg said Santos sent an email to Knight detailing these suggestions, but to his knowledge, no one from the department responded.

Knight said he does not recall receiving this email; however he also noted that he gets many emails each day.

While Knight and the department have no control over the occurrence of the festival, Muurisepp said Santos has been working to arrange further conversations with the administration on how to improve the festival.

Students never received information regarding the status of the festival directly, so it fell to film immersion RAs to relay the information

when asked about the festival. Muurisepp said he aims to inform students more thoroughly in the future.

“We don’t want to have students feeling like there’s a lot of stress and pressure around this, what should be a fun and exciting program, so we’re working closely with [Knight] and his team on sort of expanding the whole program,” Muurisepp said. “So it’s not that it’s going away—not at any point did we say we’re not doing it—we’re hitting pause and seeing how we can expand it and make it more robust.”

Sophomore VMA major Jake Bourke only found out after posing a question about the festival in a class of 2018 Facebook group.

“It was something I enjoyed doing a lot and once the semester began, I was checking my emails, trying to see if there was any information, and as October came around, I’m like, ‘Okay, this should’ve happened by now,’” Bourke said in an interview. “So I went on to the Facebook page and just asked, ‘Hey, is this happening this year? Is it running late, what’s going on?’ And ultimately I did get the response, which was admittedly disappointing.”

Morgan Bay, a sophomore VMA major, said she felt devastated when she read Bourke’s post and discovered there would not be a festival.

Bay said that while the festival is stressful, she sees that as a learning experience.

“Just by experiencing going through a 48hour film festival, each time, you kind of know what the judges are expecting and what is the most effective way to shoot all this,” Bay said in an interview. “So it all kind of teaches me a lot about how the whole thing is organized and how to execute a film very well in a short amount of time.”

Falberg echoed Bay’s sentiment about the festival providing educational opportunities for participants. Falberg said that, while he believes self-care is important, students will most likely find themselves in high-stress situations later in life, so the festival is a learning experience in that regard.

“I think the [48 Hour Film Festival] definite-

ly falls under that category for both learning how to take care of yourself under stressful situations, learning how to work with people with quick turnaround times, learning how to divide and conquer,” Falberg said. “You know, knowing your limits too.”

Senior Sarah Duval organized the fall 2018 and spring 2019 festivals and sees the festival as a culmination of the college’s ideals of collaboration and communication and a place to practice what is taught in the classroom.

“It’s always good to practice those skills of thinking on your feet, coming up with something creative in a short amount of time,” Duval said.

Duval recalled when she worked on films for the festival and how that strengthened her connection to her peers.

“Those memories I made my freshman year were probably the most fun memories that I had at Emerson for my entire freshman year,” Duval said. “It’s just a really fun experience to get to know people in such an intense way.”

While Fallberg said he respects the reasoning behind not holding the festival, he believes the issue should have been handled differently and wishes administration had worked with him and his fellow resident assistants to devise solutions before postponing the festival.

“I think it’s just taking opportunities off the table instead of working through the bumps that have come along the road,” said Falberg.

While Knight recommended the festival end due to it structural issues, he recognizes the benefits it had.

“I think there are parts of the 48 Hour Film Festival that were really, really positive and great for students,” Knight said. “An opportunity to get to know one another, to have to work together, to solve problems together, and to make something they’re proud of at the end of the day.”

grace_rispoli@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

November 7, 2019

Living Arts

7

Alum grills up success with chain of casual eateries Anissa Gardizy, Beacon Correspondent While on tour with his younger brother’s punk band in Europe, complimentary food platters inspired James DiSabatino ‘09 to make a living off selling cheese and bread.

DiSabatino traveled with the band The Carrier from 2007 to 2010 in between school vacations. He said he was responsible for managing the logistics.

“They would give us these really nice tables of bread, cheese, Nutella, and pickles,” he said in an interview. “Someone had the idea that we should just make grilled cheese for a living.”

The idea of making grilled cheese for a living stuck with DiSabatino—he opened Roxy’s Grilled Cheese in March 2011 after he returned to the U.S. DiSabatino now boasts two Roxy’s food trucks and two Roxy’s restaurants in the Greater Boston area, in addition to another vegan and vegetarian joint.

The Roxy’s food truck was featured on the second season of “The Great Food Truck Race” in 2011, and Eater Boston ranked Roxy’s the sixth best grilled cheese place near Boston in 2017.

But before DiSabatino began his adventure into the food industry, he planned on getting a job related to his marketing degree.

“I had applied to some jobs and stuff, but this was right when that recession happened [in 2009 and 2010] so no one would hire me,” DiSabatino said. “I even applied for $8-an-hour internships and didn’t get them.”

He landed an interview with a small law firm, but said all he can remember about the meeting was how uncomfortable he felt in his suit and the hum of the lights—which is why he declined the second interview.

DiSabatino and his friends looked at restaurant spaces for their grilled cheese place, but he said all the leases were too expensive and they did not have enough experience.

“This was right when food trucks in L.A. and New York were starting to pop up, so I thought a food truck could be cool,” he said.

DiSabatino said he felt drawn to the food truck idea, but Boston did not allow them at the time. However, DiSabatino found a $45,000 food truck on Craigslist and swindled his way out of paying for it upfront.

“I talked him down to $44,000, but I didn’t even have the money at the time,” DiSabatino said. “I ended up keeping the truck for a probably illegal amount of time before I paid for it—I was working my ass off, working doubles every day at a bar in Cambridge, and I was only eating at my mom’s house and not spending any money.”

Eventually, DiSabatino got licensed as having a food cart, instead of a food truck, through Boston’s Parks and Recreation Department. He paid for the license up front so that it would be harder for the city to take it away, he said.

As DiSabatino finalized the menu for his truck, he conducted market research by cooking for his friends and family.

“I think we knew we wanted to do something better, we didn’t want to do cheap food—we wanted to find nice bread and use good cheese,” DiSabatino said. “There are a lot of really tacky trucks out there that have a good name, but their food sucks, and we didn’t want to be that at all.”

DiSabatino said he does not want to relive Roxy’s opening day in Cleveland Circle. The morning got off to a rough start as they drove the truck from Saugus—where his mom lives— to their kitchen in Jamaica Plain.

“Trucks can’t go under bridges or under tunnels, so you have to take the long way,” DiSabatino said. “It would normally take an hour to get to Jamaica Plain, but that day there was a bank robbery on the route, so it took two and a half hours to get to our kitchen and start making the food.”

When the truck finally reached Cleveland Circle around 8 p.m., the already-forming line made DiSabatino second-guess everything.

“I was like, ‘No, we are not ready for this,’” DiSabatino said. “We had no systems in place, and it took so long for people’s food to come out.”

He said that, initially, he wasn’t prepared for the cleaning, accounting, maintenance, and cooking that came with running a food truck.

“I did not learn anything that prepared me for that,” DiSabatino said. “School is cool, and it helps you adjust socially, but a lot of people open restaurants that really suck, so the first thing you have to have is some self-awareness.”

A year and a half later, he opened his second food truck, and in 2014 he opened a Roxy’s restaurant in Allston to avoid paying rent for their kitchen in Jamaica Plain.

“We were looking at Fenway, Cambridge, Somerville, even Salem, and my friend who was working for the city said Roxy’s should really be in Allston,” DiSabatino said. “I was like, ‘I hung out there too much in college and have some bad memories, I don’t know if I really want to be there’—but then we found a space and said, ‘We really should be here.’”

DiSabatino said he values the customers that have been coming to Roxy’s since the beginning.

Helen Carpenter first came to a Roxy’s food truck eight years ago, and she now visits their trucks and restaurants—in Allston and Central

DiSabatino relaxes in the chair of his favorite arcade game, Mario Kart, in the “barcade” attached to Roxy’s. • Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff Square—every few months. main impression I have is that our menu is vast, “I first tried a grilled cheese, and it was really and it really does have options for everyone. good,” she said while waiting in line at the CenIn 2015, DiSabatino and his partner opened tral Square restaurant. “I’m a sucker for grilled Whole Heart Provisions, a vegetarian and vegcheese.” an restaurant. Whole Heart Provisions has loMontgomery Smith has been working at cations in Allston, Central Square, and Harvard Roxy’s Central Square location since she moved Square. to Allston in September for graduate school at “I was changing the way I ate, and I realized Boston University. She said she is already get- I didn’t want to eat Roxy’s all day,” he said. “I ting to know the regular customers. was looking for healthier stuff to eat, like veg“It’s very relaxed and community-based— etarian stuff, and it was all crazy expensive and the same people come in all the time,” she said. not that good.”

While grilled cheese might seem like a simNow, DiSabatino works between Roxy’s and ple menu item, for DiSabatino, it’s way more Whole Heart Provisions, with different goals than that. than when he founded his first food truck.

“I love what it represents, and it is fun to “On day one, my goal was to make it home to make,” DiSabatino said. “You have to be pa- go to sleep,” he said. “It was survival because it tient—it’s like science. Sometimes when I go to is really hard to make money with a food truck restaurants, I’ll order their grilled cheese. Not company in a city that is cold most of the year. to do research, but because it is a pretty solid Now I mentor people and help them get to choice.” where they are going next—a lot of people who On top of grilled cheeses, Roxy’s also offers work for us are students, so it is cool to talk to burgers and vegan sandwiches. Smith said even them, see what they are doing with their lives the classic grilled cheese is more than the aver- and where they want to go.” age product.

“Even with the classic grilled cheese, we use three cheeses, so we spice it up,” she said. “The anissa_gardizy@emerson.edu

LGBTQ Column: What does trans look like?

Abigail Hadfield is a junior writing, literature, and publishing major, The Beacon’s copy managing editor., and this week’s LGBTQ columnist.

As a journalist, I try to follow as many diverse voices on Twitter as possible. I follow journalists from news outlets I like, from ones I don’t like, from national sources to small town papers. I also try to make sure I’m following people from marginalized communities, who report on issues that might be neglected by large news organizations. One such journalist I follow, a transgender woman named Katelyn Burns, reports a lot on LGBTQ issues, and I generally appreciate her reporting.

Several weeks ago, when the Supreme Court began debating whether or not the Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ workers, Burns tweeted something that bothered me, but it took me a few days to figure out why. She covered the case in person at the Supreme Court and tweeted, “As far as I can tell, I’m the only trans person in the press room.”

Most of the replies said something along the lines of, “Thank you for being there,” which I agree with—I think it’s incredibly important to assign reporters to cover stories that pertain to their identities, especially marginalized identities. As a journalist and a member of the queer community, I want LGBTQ reporters to cover LGBTQ issues whenever possible.

Yet that wasn’t what bothered me about the tweet. It was the first clause, the “As far as I can

tell.” After mulling it over for a day or so, I fi- citing mainstream actors like Ruby Rose as the nally figured out why it bothered me—why did media standard for androgynous identities. “[The media representation of non-binary Burns assume she could tell the gender identity of every person in the room just from looking people is] usually quite biased towards white, at them? Was she implying that transgender typically androgynous, skinny models,” Akitt people somehow stick out as transgender? Or said in an interview with Vice. “It makes it seem that, to be transgender, you have to look a cer- like it’s something for white people to be androgynous and nonbinary. It’s important to have tain way?

I believe that her intentions were to state that a diverse representation of what we look like.”

Time and time she thought, or mayagain, nonbinary inbe felt, that she was dividuals remind the the only transgender “Nonbinary individuals LGBTQ community reporter in the room. you don’t need However, this plays remind the LGBTQ community that to look a certain into the same kind way to be valid in of rhetoric used by that you don’t need to look a your identity—we people opposed to to be in contransgender rights— certain way to be valid in your seem sensus on this when implying that you it comes to sexualican always tell when identity.” ty, but not gender. someone is transUltimately, what gender because they really got to me don’t “pass” as their gender. Not to mention, if someone were to say about this journalist’s tweet is that I knew if I this sort of thing about sexuality— “As far as I had been in that press room, as someone who can tell, I’m the only gay person in the room”— is genderfluid and uses they/them pronouns, it would be a fairly controversial statement to she would have looked at me and my femme make. The queer community has argued for presentation and made an assumption about my years that just because someone looks a certain identity. And, for all we know, there were other way, it neither says anything about to whom trans reporters who “passed” as cisgender, nonbinary reporters, genderfluid reporters, and so they are attracted nor how they identify.

This kind of rhetoric reinforces the ongo- on in that room, who saw this tweet and were ing debate over what it means to “look” trans. made to feel invisible. It happens to me every Many gender-nonconforming and nonbinary day when I talk to strangers who think that I people are often pressured to fit a certain aes- look feminine enough that they don’t need to thetic—skinny, white, short hair, vaguely an- ask my pronouns, or feel justified in telling me drogynous. British nonbinary photogrpaher that I don’t look genderqueer when I correct Jackson Akitt talked about this stereotype when them.

What confuses me the most about this minddoing a photoseries on nonbinary individuals,

set—going into a situation assuming you are alone in your queer identity—is that it’s inherently isolating. Most polls and estimates place the LGBTQ population of America at around 4.5 percent of the population, with fluctuation from state to state. Those numbers are often based on self-reporting, so they may actually be underreported, as people still in the closet may be hesitant to self-identify.

Regardless, that means that if an LGBTQ person is in a room of 100 people, or even 50 people, odds are they are not the only one. To me, that’s more comforting than upsetting, because it means that I’m not alone.

If you’re entering a new community and defaulting to thinking the world is against you, especially when it comes to being LGBTQ, it can make everything feel scarier and isolating.

Plenty of trans celebrities, and even just every day people, have talked about what it feels like when people assume they are cisgender and then learn otherwise. Sometimes it can be very validating to know that you “pass,” but the accompanying shock of people saying, “Really? I never would have guessed it!” can also be very hurtful.

Ultimately, assuming that you are always the only one who is LGBTQ causes more harm than good—it divides the community, it implies an unnecessary hierarchy of what it means to “look” transgender, and it puts us all into the mindset of constantly being alone in this fight.

And if there’s anything I’ve learned from my years in the LGBTQ community, it’s that we are never alone.

abigail_hadfield@emerson.edu

Sports

The Berkeley Beacon

November 7, 2019

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UPCOMING ACTION WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL: NEWMAC Semifinals at Wellesley, 7 p.m., Thursday MEN’S SOCCER: Worcester St. at Emerson, 6 p.m., Saturday WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Emerson at Suffolk, 7 p.m., Tuesday MEN’S BASKETBALL: Emerson at Gordon, 7 p.m., Tuesday

Women’s basketball rebuilds after losing key seniors Andrew Lin, Beacon Staff For two years, junior forward Sam Boyle played alongside her older sister Charlie Boyle ‘19, but she will be taking the court alone this year. Instead of inheriting her sister’s playstyle, however, Sam Boyle hopes to bring a new dimension to the women’s basketball team. “[Charlie] is a really good player, but I’ve played on a lot of teams without her,” Sam Boyle said in an interview. “I’ve learned how to change up my game when she’s not there. I knew I was big but I wasn’t that big, and if I wanted to get better and continue to play at a high level, I needed to get different skill sets.

I completely pushed away from the post and worked on shooting and dribbling. It’s just going to be a complete offensive switch from where we were last year.”

The Lions finished 17-9 last season, winning 12 of their games at home. The team earned the fifth seed in the postseason and faced the fourth seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the NEWMAC playoffs. The Lions lost the game 76-58 despite 18 points from guard Natalie Busch ‘19.

For the season, Charlie Boyle led the team in scoring with 13.5 points per game while Busch contributed 6.9 points per game. “[Natalie Busch and Charlie Boyle] were both great players,” head coach Bill Gould said in an interview. “Both were really smart and understood the game. Charlie was more of a physical presence and Natalie was just super smooth with the ball. Together, it was just a really tough duo for other teams to deal with. Obviously, you’re going to have to replace them and I think we can.”

The team added four new players since the end of last season, bringing in freshman forward Carla Pelino, freshman guard Chelsea Gibbons, and freshman center Chloe Allen, along with transfer student and junior guard junior Kailee Yan. Senior guard Kate Foultz praised the freshman for their willingness to adapt and encouraged them to be more vocal.

“One thing that’s nice about the freshmen is that they’re so accepting of what their roles are and so willing to listen to criticism and change,” Foultz said in an interview. “We’ve also ex-

Senior Quinn Madden (right, picture from last season) recorded 213 points last season.

Beacon Archive pressed how if you’re a freshman, you should feel comfortable and willing enough to speak up. Everyone deserves to have their voice heard and they shouldn’t feel like they don’t have the right to say anything just because they are freshmen.”

However, bringing in new players alone will not suffice in the team’s efforts to alter both its offense and defense. The team’s offense revolved around Charlie Boyle in years past, but according to Gould, opponents will change their defensive tactics with her departure.

“The biggest issue in replacing [the seniors] is that other teams had to spend so much time worrying about how to stop them, especially Charlie on the inside,” Gould said. “That’s not going to be there this year, so [teams are] going to change their defensive strategy, and we have to be ready to adjust to their adjustments.”

The Lions ranked fourth out of 11 teams in three-point percentage and assists per game last season, shooting 33.7 percent from beyond the arc and dishing out 13.8 assists per game. To

compensate for the missing interior presence this year, Gould said the team will be moving, passing, and cutting more to boost those key statistics.

“We changed it to a much more movement-centered offense as opposed to a post player-centered offense,” Gould said. “The unselfishness and high basketball IQ that we have is allowing us to do that and [the team] picked it up really fast. It’s highlighting the real positives of what we did last year and really putting the focus on that. Now we can utilize the other strengths that we have and make it more teamwide.”

With a revamped offense, the coaching staff also changed to a new defensive scheme—one focused around high intensity and aggressiveness.

“One thing that we’re really focusing on is our defense,” Foultz said. “Making sure we have the best defense in the conference is a goal we are trying to accomplish. A lot of that is based on rotations and actual logistics of how

we’re going to play teams, but mostly just attitude and hustle. If we can stop teams from scoring, I know that we have the offensive threats to score.”

Although the Lions lost two starters, they retained eight players from last season’s roster.

Sam Boyle believes the bench depth will allow for consistent production on the court.

“We have a deep bench so when all these teams are getting really tired and all their best players are gassing out, it’s going to be good for us because we can consistently sub in and have new fresh legs,” Sam Boyle said. “I think it’s going to be beneficial for us if we are continuing with that type of aggressive play because our defense this year is intended to be in your face like 110 percent.”

For the upcoming season, the NEWMAC teams will be playing under a different schedule than years prior. Previously, conference games started in late November and each team played 16 conference games. This season, conference games will begin in mid-January and teams play each other once for a total of 10 conference games per team. Although the number of non-conference games will increase this year, Sam Boyle said those games will allow the team to look at what can be improved.

“Non-conference play is important to figure out your mistakes and where you can grow,” Sam Boyle said. “We just played a team last Saturday and they were a high Division II team.

We came out really strong and played pretty well against them. We saw what worked for us and they were shocked in the beginning. So they came back and we saw what we could work on.

I think that’s what’s going to be the biggest key for us is to really hone down on where we lose it.”

Foultz believes a NEWMAC championship is completely within reach for the Lions.

“I just know that we have so much talent and I would absolutely love to end the season with a ring,” Foultz said. “I think that’s a very reasonable goal and somewhat of an expectation for us, so I’m really excited to see how we do this year.” andrew_lin@emerson.edu @AndrewPHLin

Lions end season with quarterfinal loss Ethan McDowell, Beacon Staff The women’s soccer team’s season ended on Tuesday after losing to Springfield College in the first round of the NEWMAC playoffs following penalty kicks.

This game provided a rematch for the Lions, who lost 2-1 to Springfield on Sept. 28. Freshman forward Alexa Ingersoll scored an early goal for the Lions in the 28th minute, but the Pride scored two unanswered second-half goals to win the regular-season game.

After finishing the season ranked fourth in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference, the Lions faced the fifth-seeded Pride. This close matchup in the rankings led to a competitive game on the field.

Sophomore goalkeeper Megan Rose starred in the first half for the Lions. Despite Springfield outshooting the Lions 14-3, Rose saved all four of the Pride’s shots on goal. The Lions kept the game scoreless going into halftime.

“I thought the team defended very well against a very good team,” head coach David Suvak said in a post-game interview.

The referees called nine fouls in the second half, including six on the Lions. After multiple chances for both teams, the score remained 0-0 after 90 minutes, and the game went into overtime.

Over the two ten-minute sudden death overtime periods, the Lions finished with one shot on goal while Springfield took four.

“I was really proud of what they accomplished on the field in 90 [minutes] and then the extra 20 [minutes],” Suvak said.

Nine dramatic penalty kicks led to a 4-2 win for the Pride. Springfield took the first kick, but

Senior Veronica Alberts (Right, picture from Nov. 2) recorded 12 goals four years with the Lions.

Rachel Culver / Beacon Staff Rose dove to her left and saved the ball, giving her team the early advantage. Sophomore forward Grace Cosgrove capitalized on the momentum and hammered her shot into the back of the net.

Rose could not save Springfield’s second attempt, but freshman midfielder Sage Stack placed her shot in the top-right corner of the net to give the Lions a 2-1 advantage. Junior defender Alana Hagerty and senior forward Veronica Alberts missed their attempts, and

Springfield made both of their kicks, giving them the win.

“Today we came out with 100 percent heart, fearlessness, and resilience,” junior defender Amanda Benavente said in a post-game interview. “Today was all about hard work and the love of the game. Even though we lost in [penalty kicks], I’m so proud of these girls for giving everything they had.”

The Lions’ finished the season with a 10-7-2 record, and Springfield moves onto the second

round to face the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Lions started their season strong, winning six of their first seven games. Their lone loss came against Tufts University, the 13thranked team in Division III. After a three-game losing streak, the Lions entered a stretch of eight-straight conference games and won their first four.

The Lions’ next four games ended with two losses and two ties, ending their regular season with a 5-3-2 record. The Lions lost to MIT, the sixth-ranked team in Division III, on the Lion’s senior day. Emerson kept the game competitive but lost 1-0 on a goal in the 28th minute.

The Lions averaged 0.86 goals allowed per game, and the Lions shut out their opponents 11 times throughout their 19 game schedule. Rose ranked seventh in the NEWMAC in goals allowed with 17.

Out of the 23 players on the Lion’s roster, 11 are freshmen. Ten of the first-year athletes started one or more games. Of the 30 goals scored by the Lions this season, freshmen scored 17.

After starting all 19 games and scoring four goals in 2018, Cosgrove doubled her scoring total this year and totaled four game-winning goals.

The Lions finished with a winning record for the second straight season, and Benavente said she is proud of the team.

“We had some ups and downs, but we still came around in the end, and we proved ourselves,” Benavente said. “We proved to the conference that we are a team to look out for.” ethan_mcdowell@emerson.edu @EthanMMcDowell