October 28, 2022

Great Scott! Doc and Marty visit FSU

Framingham State is in the data and artifact collection stage of the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) accreditation re view due Spring 2024.

According to the NECHE accredi tation website, “Neche is a voluntary, non-governmental membership asso ciation that serves as an institutional accreditor and promotes educational excellence and quality assurance to its member institutions.”

ECHE accreditation determines in stitutional quality, according to the NECHE website.

NECHE makes a determination

about the effectiveness of an institu tion as a whole using nine standards for accreditation, according to the NECHE accreditation handbook.

The standards are “aspirational expectations” that must be at least “minimally” met, according to the NECHE commission handbook.

These standards include missions and purposes; planning and evalua tion; organization and governance; academic programs; students; teach ing, learning, and scholarship; insti tutional resources; educational effec tiveness; and integrity, transparency, and public disclosure, according to the NECHE website.

These standards outline that a university has a “clearly defined pur pose that is appropriate to a higher

- learning institution, has assem bled and organized those resources to achieve its purpose, is achieving its purpose, and has the ability to achieve its purpose,” according to the NECHE accreditation handbook.

The accreditation initiative for Framingham State is led by Mark Nicholas, assistant vice president for assessment, accreditation, and stra tegic planning, and co-chaired by En glish Professor Alexander Hartwiger.

Nicholas said, “We are looking at the mission of the institution. ‘What is our mission?’ And then we’re look ing at that mission through this qual ity framework to answer the ques tion, ‘Are we fulfilling our mission as

Opinions

While taking a walk down State Street, most students are not famil iar with the narrow concrete path that branches off past the McCarthy Center. Nestled between picket fences and the array of windows lining the McCa rthy Center Forum lies a box of tools, and a plot of earth. Fenced off, the patch harbors wildflowers, fruits - and weeds.

Here is Framingham State’s commu nity garden, a public locale used mostly by biology students and the Green Ini tiative, although it’s open to everyone.

Green Initiative held a community

garden cleanup event Oct. 20, calling to students interested in helping de-weed and clean the small fenced area against the southern wall of the McCarthy cen ter.

Leticia Rita Santos, a sophomore American Sign Language major and secretary of Green Initiative, said she knew the club had cared for it in the past, though they don’t control it.

“Someone in our club last year took care of it, and though it is not directly affiliated with our group - because it’s a community garden for any student that wants to participate - we saw that it is incredibly overgrown,” she said.

Santos added Green Initiative took the opportunity of tidying the garden

to alert other students to its existence, and as a form of inviting them to take from, provide for, or otherwise use the community garden.

“I’ve always gardened growing up, and so it just brings me back to that point, and it makes me just a little bit happier. It’s also nice to see a place that’s been so overgrown be treated how it should be,” she said.

Santos said the event was important for informing students the space was open to them, as well as preparing it for the coming spring.

Ben Hurney, a sophomore studio art major and member of Green Initiative,

Editor-in-Chief

Leighah

Emily

Sophia Harris

Interim

Branden LaCroix

McKenzie Ward

Danielle Achin

Interim

Adam Levine

Emma Lyons

Ryan O’Connell

Maddison Behringer

Asst.

Christy Howland

Interim

Zachary Sorel

Staff

Gerell Boyce Jackson Clyde Naidelly Coelho

Raena Doty

Owen Glancy Adrien Gobin

Mark Haskell

Jack McLaughlin

Kate Norrish

Carly Paul

Wenchell Pierre

Ryan Schreiber

Advisor

Desmond McCarthy

Asst. Advisor

Elizabeth Banks

Gatepost Interview Alexander Young

Interlibrary Loan Coordinator

What is your educational back ground?

I did my undergrad at University of Massachusetts Amherst. I was a histo ry and political science major as well as in the Honors College. I’m current ly enrolled in grad school at Simmons University for library science. I worked at the UMass library for my senior year helping students with research.

What is your job at FSU?

I’m the Interlibrary Loan Coordinator at the library. So, I’m in charge of over seeing all the books that are coming into the library and going out to the library, both within the Minuteman network through all the local libraries, as well as the greater interlibrary loan systemthere are libraries all around the country and sometimes even in other countries.

Can you tell me about the interli brary loans?

We get books and articles from oth er libraries for stuff that we don’t have here, or if our copies of something are checked out. Say a student or a faculty member needs it we put a request for another library to have their copy sent to us. So whether that’s like a book or a chapter it’s very helpful for students and faculty doing research where of course we won’t have everything and other li braries will have a lot more stuff, espe cially on specific topics. So people will put in requests and I’ll go through them and see what I can find available online for free. I’ll put in requests to other li braries to see if they can fulfill those for us. And the same thing happens from other libraries as they will request stuff that we have. We do all of our lending for free and other libraries sometimes charge.

How did you become interested in this job?

I started with libraries back when I was at UMass Amherst. I had gotten an email from the history department say

Correction

ing that the library was looking to add student workers for the Reference De partment, and I said, “well, I can do a lot of research for history and political sci ence. So I think I’d be good at that”. So I applied for the job and I got it. So, I spent my senior year working helping students with all the research questions, database stuff, and I really fell in love with it. I thought that this might be a good career for me. And so after I graduated, I spent the summer looking for library jobs and ended up getting hired here. As a lot of jobs you do need a master’s degree for librarian position, so technically, I’m a library assistant. I saw this job and I thought it would be interesting. I applied for it and ended up getting the position. So I’ve been here, just over three years.

Any goals for your career?

I think I’d like to be a reference li brarian at an academic library. So simi lar to this but not quite what I’m doing now, but the same kind of location. So, helping university students with their research, and things like that.

Do you have any hobbies that you like to do outside of your work?

I’ve been a huge fan of music since the start of last year, so in 2021. I’ve lis tened to a new album every day. And I really enjoy going to concerts and end ed up seeing one last night actually. It was a Japanese artist. It’s a very soft and somber kind of music. It’s this Japanese woman whose primary instrument is an acoustic guitar and it’s very, very beau tiful music. It’s very light and kind of dreamlike, in a sense.

Any advice for students?

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The library is here for you - anything you might need. We’re always happy to lend a hand for whatever you need, research help or finding books to read. ust defi nitely don’t be afraid to ask questions, because that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to help you figure out what you need.

CONNECT WITH NAIDELLY COELHO ncoelho3@student.framingham.edu

In the Oct. 21 issue of The Gatepost, the article “‘Women. Life. Freedom.’” was initially published with an error. History major Abby Versackas was misquoted due to the recording of the discussion being misheard. The sentence read, “Ver sackas said it is important to note that Amini’s death is a part of a ‘much larger historical pattern of murdering women in the slaughter region and with the result of no justice happening for these women and typically they’re being mur dered by men.’” The sentence should have read, “Versackas said it is important to note that Amini’s death is a part of a ‘much larger historical pattern of murdering women in the SWANA region and with the result of no justice happening for these women and typically they’re being murdered by men.’” The phrase “SWANA region” was mistakenly heard as “slaughter region.” We apologize for this error.

Police Logs

Sunday, Oct. 23 00:03

Safety Escort Union Ave. Parking Lot Service Rendered

(508) 626-4605

(508) 626-4097

Sunday, Oct. 23 00:54

Well Being Check West Hall Transported to MWMC

Thursday, Oct. 24 15:42

Larceny Under $1,200 McCarthy Center Report Taken

Monday, Oct. 24 18:24

Larceny Under $1,200 Larned Hall Report Taken

SGA discusses student concerns about inappropriate co ents an sta n shorta es

SGA discussed student concerns, the Board of Trustees meeting and up coming events at its Oct. 25 meeting.

During open forum, Diversity and Inclusion Officer Erin Gemme said students informed them of uncom fortable remarks made by a dining hall employee.

President Dara Barros said if it is a Title IX situation, students could reach out to Meg Nowak-Borrego, dean of students and Title IX coordinator for students. If students would prefer to report the issue anonymously, Sexual Harassment & Assault Prevention & Education

(SHAPE) is another resource they can use.

Gemme also said a few students told them about struggles in the ASL department regarding courses being taken away and issues with staffing.

“There’s one of my friends who is actually transferring out of here be cause it can’t fulfill her AS major re quirements,” they said.

Ward said students should reach out to Kristen Porter-Utley, provost and academic vice president. The ASL major isn’t widely offered in other New England states, so students from other states come to Massachusetts for the major.

“If we’re losing our ASL program, it’s going to further decrease our en rollment, possibly and affect enroll

ment and also retention,” Ward said.

Sam Houle, SATF Treasurer, said there is still a problem with parking in commuter lots.

He said that he had sat in parking lots before 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. classes as commuter students circled lots, unable to find parking and attend classes on time.

Barros said commuter students are able to park in Maple Lot if they are unable to find open spots in aynard Lot or Salem End Lot.

Senator Austin Van Lingen said he met with the parking committee and John Santoro, chief of University Po lice, and Dale Hamel, executive vice president, to discuss potential solu tions to the ongoing issue.

Van Lingen said, in the short term, he and Santoro are working on creating an email to send out to students ex plaining the parking regulations. They also discussed asking faculty to speak to their students in-person about the parking policies becoming more strict.

Ward said asking faculty to relay information in person may not be the right solution. She said it could be more helpful if the information was sent out through a student-wide email from the Dean of Students.

In her officer report, Ward spoke about the Board of Trustees open fo rum Oct. 24. She said they addressed a need for “better connection” between the Board of Trustees and the campus community.

She said she has already spoken to

Ann McDonald, chief of staff, general counsel, and secretary to the Board of Trustees, about changing the setup of the Board of Trustees meetings.

Ward said she is working to organize another student open forum with the Board of Trustees early in the spring semester.

The next Board of Trustees meeting is on Nov. 16. She said the members are going to eat dinner in the dining hall before the meeting, and want students to interact with them during that time.

“Please come stop by and talk to us. They want to get to know you,” Ward said.

She said there is going to be a Cam pus Safety Walk at 6:00 p.m. Nov. 15.

Ward said McDonald met with the Institute for Human Centered Design, a company that helps create accessi bility audits around the country.

In the meeting, the company sug gested FSU create an accessibility map of the University, ins addition to creat ing an audit and having a list of things that need to be changed, she said.

“By doing a map, it not only high lights what’s accessible and what’s not accessible, but also gives us a resource to provide to students, faculty and staff and then prospective students and their families and then also guests to be able to walk through the cam pus,” she said.

Ward said the current plan is to get a bid for the price of the audit and look into ways to fund it.

In her officer report, Barros said she is meeting with President Nancy Niemi

to follow up on the issues addressed at the Oct. 11 Administrators Forum.

Barros said she plans to give a re port at the SGA meeting before the next Administrator’s Forum on what has been resolved.

Houle said many governance com mittees need student voices on them. All open positions must be filled by a junior or senior student.

The next SGA meeting will be held via Zoom Nov. 8. Lorretta Holloway, vice president of academic enhance ment, will be attending the meeting to lead an activity explaining what the roadmap is from when students put in their deposit until graduation.

In her officer report, Outreach and Events Coordinator Evelyn Campbell said the Senator Retreat is going to be held Nov. 19 in the Heineman Ecume nial Center. The retreat is for senators to bond and learn about the proce dures of the SGA constitution.

Sophomore Billy Hubert was sworn in as a new senator.

Sophomore Ben Hurney was voted senator of the month after a nomina tion by Barros.

The “U-Rock” award was presented to Dillon Riley by Ward. She said Ri ley reminded her of herself when she started out on SGA.

Sunday night Oct. 30

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. Calm wind.

Monday Oct. 31

Cloudy, with a high near 64. Light south wind. 60% chance of precipitation.

Monday night Oct. 31

Cloudy, with a low around 56. Calm wind. 70% chance of precipitation.

Tuesday Nov. 1

Partly sunny, with a high near 68. Calm wind. 30% chance of precipitation.

Tuesday night Nov. 1 Mostly clear, with a low around 50. W wind around 5mph.

Wednesday Nov. 2 Sunny, with a high near 64. NW wind around 10 mph.

CONNECT WITH EMMA LYONS

Wednesday night Nov. 2 Mostly clear, with a low around 44. NW wind around 5 mph.

Thursday Nov. 3 Sunny, with a high near 61. SW wind around 5 mph.

Board of Trustees hold open forum to address racist comments with community

The Board of Trustees held an open forum Oct. 24 for the FSU community to discuss the racist comments made at the Sept. 13 and 14 subcommittee meetings by Chair Kevin Foley and former Trustee Mike Grilli.

The meeting was an opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to discuss their concerns directly with the Board of Trustees.

[Editor’s Note: See “Community outraged following comments at Trustee subcommittee meetings” in the Sept. 23 issue of The Gatepost.]

The session was attended by President Nancy Niemi, Chair Kevin Foley, Vice Chair Beth Casavant, Trustees Nancy Budwig, Anthony Hubbard, Clair Ramsbottom, Student Trustee McKenzie Ward, and Trustee Emeritus Robert Richards. Trustees Lino Covarrubias, Diane Finch, and Mariel Freve attended via Zoom.

English Professor Kelley Matthews mediated the discussion.

Matthews said the special session was requested in a letter signed by 104 faculty and staff members. She added the special session was called “to be a conversation about anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at Framingham State, and how the Board of Trustees can learn, grow and support the FSU community in these efforts.”

She said, “We strongly hope that tonight will be the beginning of a process of reconciliation after what has occurred.”

The session began with introductions of the board members, followed by a series of questions submitted to the board ahead of time, followed by the discussion opening up to the attendees, and finally ending with “paired discussions” between attendees.

Matthews said the submitted ques-

tions were compiled from a survey sent out by Wardell Powell, interim chief diversity inclusion officer.

During introductions, Foley said he had had more time to “reflect” on the incident as he was “the one that had questioned the anti-racism term,” which he regrets “completely.”

He said, “I have undertaken a lot of learning and researching and understanding,” adding as an alumnus of FSU who “has been very involved with this campus for a number of years,” he has been “part of the desire to improve and make sure we are an inclusive campus.”

One question for the Board of Trustees was what each member of the board had done outside their roles on the board to “become an anti-racist.”

Vice Chair Casavant said as vice chair of the Shrewsbury Select Board, she created a “standing DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] committee” in Shrewsbury following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

She said the committee formed a “task force” which created a report “looking at all of the different policies and procedures in our community - from education, to policing, to housing, to health care - to try to determine ways that we can do better as a town.”

SGA President Dara Barros attended the session and asked the board members more specifically about what they have done directly in response to the incidents in September.

She said she is not interested in what actions the board has taken in the past, but is interested in what they are doing “right now in the present.”

She said the comments made at the two subcommittees in September “hurt many, many students - including myself - and no one reached out to any of the students, especially the trustee that said these comments.”

Barros added, “No one wants per-

formative action. We want affirmative action.”

Foley said he “had to have a look at defining what is anti-racism,” and added he has spoken with colleagues who are helping educate him.

Trustee Hubbard said there have been multiple “one-on-one” conversations between trustees regarding how to “turn a negative set of circumstances into something positive.”

He said, “Beth [Casavant] had said that this is likely to happen again,” adding they discussed “how the University could put something in place to deal with those kinds of situations

that they turn into a positive.”

Student Trustee Ward said, “I’m in a very awkward position where I know I have equal voting rights as everyone else on the board, but it’s also still in that student role,” adding she regrets “not knowing how to call in at the moment.”

She said over the past few months, she has been educating herself not only on “calling out racism,” but educating others about it as well.

“As a trustee, I want to make sure that no matter what board I’m on, it reflects the same values that I have,” she said.

Trustee Budwig said she was “appalled” that reaching out to students after the incident did not occur to her.

She said she is “thinking about how to better educate the board.

“I feel like my responsibility is how do I make sure other people are prepared for this? How do I make sure that my colleagues here understand what this means in an educational setting?” she said.

Trustee Freve said she believes it is “critical” not to only talk about training. “I come from a corporate environment. We do those all the time. … That is not the same conversation we’re looking to have here,” she said.

Freve said it is more important to “have discussions that make us uncomfortable, but that also keep us accountable to each other” when inappropriate comments are made. “I think that that’s really what we need to be working on here,” she added.

Barros also raised a concern over the lack of communication between the board and the FSU community, mainly students not knowing exactly what the Board of Trustees does.

“A lot of the students don’t know who the Board of Trustees are, what the Board of Trustees does, and the

Reaccreditation

an institution?’”

Hartwiger said, “This accredi tation process helps us reflect on whether or not we’re living up to the expectations of the mission or not, but we can’t just say we are - we have to provide evidence to do that.”

Meeting these standards does not necessarily guarantee the quality of individual courses or programs of fered at a university. However, the review process is designed to high light “serious weaknesses in a partic ular area that may threaten an insti tution’s accreditation,” according to the NECHE accreditation handbook.

The accreditation process is com pleted every 10 years, with a check-in every five.

After the accreditation process is completed, a university is given “ar eas of emphasis” to improve on be fore the five-year check-in, accord ing to Nicholas.

Framingham State’s last full ac creditation was in 2014.

Nicholas set up seven subcommit tees, each led by a faculty member and a member of the administration, to address the nine standards.

Standards 1, 2, and 3 are combined under one subcommittee, while the other standards are addressed by their own subcommittees.

The accreditation process starts with data collection and analysis by each of the seven subcommittees. This information is then presented in a 100-page self-study that is used to assess the University.

Then, a team of accreditors, facul ty and administrators, from various participating institutions, as well as members from the public, in New En gland will come to the institution to assess what was outlined in the selfstudy.

At the Oct. 17 All University Meet ing, Kristen Porter-Utley, provost and vice president of academic af fairs, said NECHE accreditation is important because “it’s really an op portunity for us to provide assurance to prospective students, families, and the general public that we’re an institution that meets clearly stated standards for accreditation, and that there is a reasonable expectation that we will continue to do so.”

She added accreditation is also important because it is required for Framingham State to receive federal financial aid, including Pell Grants.

A Pell Grant is a government sub sidy provided to students who exhib it financial need, according to the U.S Department of Education website.

She said without NECHE accredi tation, “We don’t have students.”

Porter-Utley said at this stage in the accreditation process, writ ing teams have been selected and sub-committee chairs have volun teered to lead the reviews for the dif ferent standards.

Hartwiger said the accreditation team includes over 50 administra tors, faculty, and staff members.

He said, “Right now, we’re building the framework to be able to dig into data and then analyze that data.”

Porter-Utley said on Oct.13, a number of people involved with the accreditation process attended a workshop held by NECHE that out lined the importance of the self study

and how to “effectively and efficient ly do the work it requires to produce” the 100-page report.

She said the goal is to produce a draft of the self study by the end of the spring.

Currently, the accreditation pro cess is in its early stages.

“We are probably not even a quar ter of the way into the process,” Hartwiger said.

Nicholas said the subcommittees are gathering evidence “to substan tiate whether we meet the standards or not.”

From that information, “We’ll de termine if we need more data to sub stantiate that we do or if it is because the institution does not meet the standard,” he said.

Hartwiger said, “These commit tees are now locating evidence.”

He said the evidence can include anything from presidential updates, policies, annual reports from depart ments or divisions, and faculty and student surveys.

He added,“Our institution has a lot of documentation.”

In 2014, NECHE highlighted four areas of emphasis for Framingham State.

These areas included improving the office of Institutional Assess ment; diversifying revenue sources to stabilize the institution’s finan cial position; focusing on academic and student support services as well as faculty resources; and retention rates of commuter students, accord ing to Nicholas.

Nicholas said these areas of em phasis are contextual to 2014, adding the demographics of Framingham State have changed a lot since then.

“The needs of our students have changed. The demographics of our students have changed,” he said.

Regarding the first area of empha sis - Assessment of Student Learning - Nicholas said in 2014, the Office of Assessment was “very new.”

The accreditors wanted Framing ham State to build an “infrastructure” around the Office of Institutional As sessment and to start using “data and analytics to make decisions as an in stitution,” he said.

The second area of emphasis was diversifying revenue sources to sta bilize the institution’s financial po sition.

Nicholas said the accreditors were “concerned that if those appropria tions at that point in time could be taken away or reduced or increased depending on political pressure, that the institution would be able to di versify those sources of its income.”

He said, “They were not concerned with the financial status of the Uni versity, but should those things change because they are variable, we ought to be able to keep the institu tion afloat through other means.”

The third area of emphasis was en suring institutional capacity, includ ing academic and student support services and faculty resources.

Nicholas said the accreditors wanted to ensure these areas were “sufficient to support the growth of the university.”

He said in 2013, Framingham State was growing beyond its capacity.

“We were wondering where we would house students because we

couldn’t house [all of] them in hous ing,” said Nicholas.

“I think they [the accreditors] were more concerned that we were grow ing at a faster rate than our support services were. We’re in a completely different story right now with falling enrollment. In fact, we’re wondering how we shut down residence halls or those sorts of things,” he said.

Nicholas added how the subcom mittees respond to this area is going to be different than 10 years ago. “I don’t think that concern of the ac creditor is still valid,” he said.

The fourth area of emphasis was the enrollment and retention rates of commuter students, which were low er than the goals set by FSU.

Nicholas said the accreditors want ed Framingham State to “achieve our goals set for retention and gradua tion rates” regarding commuter stu dents.

In the fifth-year interim report, commuter students were being re tained and graduating at a higher rate than on-campus students, he said.

In the fifth-year interim report, FSU did not have any additional ar eas of emphasis, he said.

“We were just told to continue to focus on these four [areas],” he said.

Hartwiger said, “Ten years is a long time in terms of an institution’s iden tity, and so it’s an interesting process to kind of take stock of where we are right now, compared to 10 years ago.”

Nicholas said accreditation is a form of accountability and improve ment.

President Nancy Niemi said, “I’m so proud of our process. We have a stellar team.

“I want to make sure that I can do everything I can to help support their process,” she said.

Niemi added, “Other people actu ally come to us, come to Framing ham, for advice about how to run NECHE self-studies and accredita tion because Mark and his team are so good.”

Dean of Social and Behavioral Sci ences Sue Dargon and History Pro fessor Jon Huibregtse lead the Stan dard Four Committee - the Academic Program.

Dargon said the Standard Four Committee focuses on ensuring aca demic quality.

This is a committee that looks at all of FSU’s programs, all teaching modalities, at all locations, she said.

She said it includes all courses that are for credit.

Additionally, this standard assess es how FSU handles transfer credit, and it looks at the integrity of award ing academic credit, she said.

The data and artifacts that this committee is collecting are syllabi from every class - through depart ment chairs, annual department re ports, accreditation reports, depart ment learning objectives, and labor contracts, Dargon said.

Huibregtse said, “It seems like we’re probably collecting pretty much every syllabus over the last year or two years that has been used.”

Dargon said the data collection phase will be completed by the end of October and the next phase in the accreditation process will be “writing the descriptive part of our chapter,

which is saying, “‘This is how we do it. This is what we do,’” she said.

Huibregtse said the next step in the accreditation process will be compil ing the information from the data and artifact collection stage. Then, they will “write that into a narrative that the review team will ultimately read when they’re on campus.”

The deadline for the second stage is Dec. 16, according to Dargon.

In regards to the areas of empha sis that were brought up in the last 10-year accreditation review, Dargon said those concerns are at the “fore front” of their focus.

She said her team will be focusing on the retention rates of students.

Dargon said some of the areas her team is prioritizing are, “Can stu dents graduate in four years easily?’ And ‘Do we have too many course re quirements?’”

Her team will be focusing on a number of capacity concerns, she said.

“How well do we support stu dents?’ ‘Are there enough supports in place for them to succeed?’ Is it easy for them to get their classes to regis ter for?’ Those kinds of things.”

Huibregtse said, “It’s an important task that we all are undertaking and we all want to do our best because we want to put our best foot forward and want FSU to put its best foot forward in this process.”

Meg Nowak-Borrego, Dean of Students, and Psychology Professor Kimberly Arditte Hall co-chair the Standard 5- Students Committee.

Nowak-Borrego said the type of data and artifacts her committee is obtaining are department assess ment documents and surveys.

Additionally, her team is, “iden tifying where policies or other in formation are currently available through links or other web-based lo cations,” she said.

Nowak-Borrego said the Standard 5 Committee is also obtaining docu ments available through the Institu tional Research Office.

She said, her team has been “in structed to review and consider both [the five- and 10-year] reports”

Nowak- Borrego said there will not be any surveys created “explicitly” for NECHE for her committee.

She added, “As offices or the Uni versity continue to conduct surveys/ assessment strategies over the next year, that information may inform this standard.”

The next steps in this process will be “continuing to collect data and working to describe what is found. Then we will move through the ap praisal and outcomes sections,” she said.

Mark Powers, Executive Director of Student Records & Registration Services, and Math Professor Stefan Papaioannou lead the Standard 9 Committee - Integrity, Transparency, and Public Disclosure.

Papaioannou said, Standard 9 ad dresses how a University ethically presents itself through its policies and practices - especially concerning students,

“Whether that’s students, the community - internally how employ ees deal with each other, that

Board of Trustees

type of decisions that the Board of Trustees make for us,” she said.

Biology Professor Cara Pina said she is tired of the responsibility of addressing issues of racism on campus being left solely to BIPOC students and staff.

She said the fallout from the incidents in September were “about more than just hurt feelings.

“As a faculty member of color, I have sat in meetings with other faculty members of color that we have had to convene in our spare time to fix problems because no one else is fixing them,” she said.

“When this happens, it’s more than just people having hurt feelings. It’s people wasting energy. It’s people being poorly treated. It’s people not getting their work done because they’re busy doing other people’s work. It’s people who are constantly in meetings, trying to talk amongst ourselves to figure out how to get things done,” she added.

“There is nobody thinking about, ‘Well, what might the Black faculty members be experiencing? What might the faculty members of color be experiencing? What might the students of color be experiencing?’” she said. “So this is far more than just people are hurt by the statement. I will tell you I was very hurt by the statement. I personally felt like I was not a valued educator here at FSU.”

Foley said, “Thank you for the efforts and the comments,” adding the board was “not aware” of the issues she had raised.

Pina said the board being unaware

Reaccreditation

people are dealing transparently - that there’s honesty. The academ ic honesty policy is wrapped up into that,” he said.

He said the data and artifacts the committee is collecting right now concern how the University presents itself.

Some examples are assessing the website, various academic policies, the RAM Handbook, and the chairs/ faculty handbooks, Papaioannou said.

Spooky sightings

is part of the problem. “You don’t know how many hours we’re spending sitting in these meetings trying to solve these problems, but we’re doing it and it takes a lot of our time,” she said.

Ward said she has similar concerns regarding the board’s lack of awareness.

“It really makes me question if this is part of the reason why we’re not able to retain our faculty of color who are doing so much work because I see it constantly, and I see it from all of you,” she said.

Barros said it was “extremely disrespectful” to hear Foley and the board are unaware of “the work that every single faculty member and staff [of color] does on this campus to make sure that the students of color feel comfortable.”

SGA Secretary Mark Haskell asked what steps the board could take to “heal” its relationship with the FSU community.

Trustee Ramsbottom said she suggests “opportunities for real dialogue” and to “create some space for the hard conversations.

“We need to be in dialogue with you and we need to understand the issues for this community and how they’re manifested here and what do you need from the board to help with that?” she said.

Bridgette Sheridan, history professor and interim faculty union president, said she agrees and added attending events on campus would be a “great way” for the board to learn more about the students and faculty.

Barros suggested the board also reach out to SGA as well as hold a

He said the data being collected for this standard is especially “var ied.”

Concerning the areas of emphasis that were raised in 2014, Papioannou said, “None of those areas of empha sis were geared toward Standard 9.”

He said the accreditation “pro vides an opportunity for the Univer sity to take a look at itself and see what it’s doing well and what it can do better.”

He added, “Personally, and I imag ine probably for some others who are working on these committees,

forum similar to the Administrators’ Forum held every semester.

She said, “I really want this to be for students because students need to learn what the Board of Trustees are, what they do, and the decisions that they make.”

One of the questions submitted concerned the types of training the members of the board, as well as FSU staff and faculty, undergo for learning about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Foley said the board has spoken with a consultant to “navigate and develop a curriculum” for DEI training for board members, including a full-day session followed by periodic training.

He added, “We want to make sure it’s not a one-and-done,” and “we want to make sure there’s ongoing education.”

Kim Dexter, assistant vice president of human resources and equal opportunity, said FSU provides elective, online DEI training for new hires, referring to it as “passive training.”

She said, “Passive training is not necessarily the gold standard, but it’s a way to get it in front of everyone.”

She added, “But it is elective, so we know that not everybody does participate.”

Dexter said FSU does host multiple programs on DEI, and added FSU is a member of the Leading for Change Racial Equity and Justice Institute (REJI).

REJI is housed at Bridgewater State University and “is a voluntary collaboration of institutions committed to racial educational equity,” according to the University’s website.

Dexter said, “We’ve been making

sure that all community members are aware of and invited to all their virtual convenings each month.”

Sheridan said the Center for Excellence, Learning, Teaching, Scholarship, and Service also offers optional DEI training, and added FSU is a member of National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD).

According to the NCFDD website, the NCFDD is “an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community of faculty, postdocs, & graduate students from over 450 colleges and universities.”

Trustee Budwig said in 2020, all board members “from around the state” had to undergo training for “open meeting law, public records law, conflict of interest laws, procure ment laws, state finance provisions under Chapter 29, fraud prevention, and fiduciary responsibilities,” but nothing for DEI.

She said, “We have a higher ed problem … and no one should have to go through what this campus has gone through.”

Trustee Hubbard said Carlos E. Santiago, former commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts, “recently” began “rolling out” statewide DEI training for all trustees of state universities.

I’ve learned quite a bit about things in the University that I didn’t know before.

Hartwiger said he hopes to have participation and feedback from stu dents later in the accreditation pro cess.

He said Nicholas has reached out to SGA President about soliciting student feedback for the Student Standard.

Nicholas said, “when we meet [Barros] to talk about how we might engage students … we have to find out where [students] are going to be

most effective, and it’s going to be meaningful for the student to partic ipate at that close level.”

Hartwiger said, “As we work to develop our draft, we will be kind of taking the document on the road to various communities, one of which will be students. We would love stu dent feedback to make sure that this reflects their experience at Framing ham State.”

A skull mask discovered hanging on a tree located on the front lawn of Horace Mann Hall Oct. 26.

Vote ‘yes’ on Question 1

Massachusetts voters will have the opportu nity to provide significant financial assistance to public education and transportation when they vote on Question 1 on this year’s ballot Nov. 8.

If passed, Question 1, known as the “Fair Share Act,” would adopt an amendment to the Massachusetts constitution that would impose an additional tax on residents with an income above $1 million.

This would be an additional 4% tax on top of the flat 6% already required of all Massachu setts residents.

The revenue from this tax, an estimated $2 billion, would be dedicated to improving public transportation and education, including high er education.

Framingham State is experiencing an en rollment crisis, and this decline in funds from student fees has been detrimental to the Uni versity’s budget.

According to Dale Hamel, executive vice president, this decline in enrollment has al lowed the University to provide additional fi nancial aid to students who are currently en rolled.

Though this is good for students, during the Sept. 13 Board of Trustees meeting, Hamel highlighted the toll low enrollment has had on FSU’s finances in other areas.

The budget for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), which was approved in May, had a deficit of $4 million that was balanced out by “one-time funds” such as the Higher Education Emergen cy Relief Fund (HEERF), according to Hamel.

Of the HEERF funds, $3 million was desig nated by the Board to FY23, which was the last of those funds, Hamel said.

The FY23 budget accounted for a 10.5% re duction in enrollment, but Hamel said he fore sees that number being closer to 12%.

He added, “That has an impact of about $725,000 on college operations and $75,000 on other trust funds that have direct fees associ

ated with enrollment.”

For the past two years, the Board of Trust ees has frozen our tuition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has been a blessing for students who were financially burdened by the pandemic, but this, combined with the continued decline in enrollment, has affected the University’s budget significantly.

The funds from this tax could be essential in providing the money we need to continue functioning well as a university.

The Gatepost encourages all FSU students, faculty, and staff registered to vote in Massa chusetts to go out on the 8th and cast their ballots in favor of Question 1.

According to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the state has underfunded high er education in recent years, which left schools vulnerable during the pandemic. The state provided temporary relief funds that kept in stitutions “afloat,” but more permanent assis tance needs to be put in place.

The center argues these funds would allow higher education to become more affordable in Massachusetts, provide more support to fac ulty and staff, and allow for overall improve ments in education.

Our University, along with other colleges in the state, is struggling financially and these deficits are going to be costing students more in the near future.

However, taking the time to educate your self on this issue and going out to cast your vote could lead us in the right direction toward recovering financially.

This amendment is essential in order to sus tain our University and ensure we and future students continue to receive a high-quality, low-cost education from FSU.

Help us get our “fair share.”

‘It started with words’

In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that in 2021 alone, there were 2,717 reported incidents of antisemitic behavior just in the United States, according to PBS.

PBS reports that when compared to the data from 2020, there was a 37% rise in reported antisemitic behavior in just one year.

According to Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national direc tor of the ADL, there has been a rise in antisemitic behavior since 2016.

Most recently, rapper Kanye West, now legally known as Ye has been spreading antisemitic rhetoric on his social media and during interviews.

West tweeted on Oct. 3 that when he woke up in the morn ing, he was going to go “death con 3” on the Jewish communi ty and that the “funny thing” is that he cannot be antisemitic “because black people are actually Jew… .”

West also shared a screenshot on Instagram of his texts with Sean “Diddy” Combs in which West stated that Combs was controlled by Jewish people, which refers to an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

During an Oct. 16 podcast, West stated, “I can say antisemit ic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

Since these tweets and comments from the podcast were made, West has been banned on Twitter, his attorneys have dropped him as a client, Adidas has ended their partnership with West, his talent agency CAA has dropped him, and a com pleted documentary on the rapper has been scrapped.

West was also dropped by Gap and Foot Locker and was es corted out of the Los Angeles office of the shoemaker Skechers on Oct. 26 after he engaged in unauthorized filming, according to NBC News.

His ex-wife, Kim Kardashian has spoken out against West stating that hate speech is “never OK or excusable” in an Oct. 24 tweet.

Other public figures such as Jane Lynch, Piers Morgan, and Julian Edelman have spoken out against West for his antise mitic behavior.

However, while many have spoken out against West’s an tisemitic rhetoric, others have supported him.

On a freeway in Los Angeles on Oct. 22, an antisemitic hate group hung a sign that stated “Kanye is right about the Jews,” according to CNBC.

While the individuals who raised the banner stood behind it, they raised their hand in the Nazi salute. The antisemitic group also had a sign that read, “Honk if you know,” and another that promoted a video platform that streams antisemitic content, which is operated by antisemitic conspiracy theorists, accord ing to NBC News.

West’s antisemitic rhetoric is not only unacceptable but it is also dangerous.

Auschwitz, one of the most well known Nazi Concentration Camps, was only liberated 77 years ago and during the Holo caust, the Nazi party systematically murdered over 6 million Jewish people.

However, the Holocaust did not just start overnight.

It started with hate speech.

Before the Nazi party began to deport Jewish people living in Nazi occupied countries such as Germany and Poland in 1941, the Nazi party began to spread hate speech while also enacting antisemitic laws starting in 1933 when the Nazi party took control of Germany.

The campaign #ItStartedWithWords is a Holocaust educa tion campaign in which survivors can reflect on the moments leading up to the Holocaust to demonstrate how hateful lan guage can lead to actions with unimaginable outcomes, ac cording to the campaign’s website.

Holocaust survivor Abe Foxman told the campagin that the Holocaust did not begin with Concentration Camps, but “it be gan with words … evil words, hateful words, antisemitic words, words of prejudice.”

So while West and others may believe that he is a “free thinker,” he is far from it.

He is a bigot with a heart full of hatred and needs to be held accountable for his speech.

At this time, we must support the Jewish community by con demning antisemitism from public figures but also in our daily life.

Because as the campaign stated, it started with words.

Salem is not a theme park

Every October, people from around the world flock to Salem, Massachu setts to celebrate Halloween and par ticipate in the lore of its famous 1690s witch trials.

With over 160,000 people coming to the city on an average weekend, Sa lem’s traffic is as congested as Times Square, and its small businesses are tasked with fulfilling the demand of overwhelming crowds.

In 1692-1693 Salem Village and Salem Town, what is now present day Danvers and Peabody, 25 people died due to punishments after being found guilty of performing witchcraft. Nine teen were hanged. Five died in jail and one was crushed to death.

It was an early belief that the devil could give people, thought of as witch es, powers for their loyalty. Through out the 1300s and until the 1600s, tens of thousands of supposed witches, mainly women, were executed.

During Salem’s Witch Trials, more than 200 people were accused of pos sessing such powers. It began with three women: Tituba, a slave owned by a local reverend; Sarah Good, a home less woman; and Sarah Osborne, an other impoverished woman. All three were blamed for supernaturally afflict ing fits onto three young girls.

Good and Osborne were hanged. Ti tuba was spared, but only because she pleaded guilty and claimed to possess

knowledge of other offenders.

It is fun to tour Salem during Oc tober and partake in festivities, but we must also consider the reality that making Salem synonymous with cari cature-like witches and a Halloween town is ignoring its history.

What happened to the 25 people who were murdered during the trials is not worth traveling from miles around to gawk at on Oct. 31.

This was one moment out of several in history where Christian extremists used their religious power to oppress and impose violence against people, and in this case - people from margin alized and underprivileged communi ties - without being held accountable for the true pain and suffering inflict ed.

What happened to these women parallels what Christian extremists are still doing today to eliminate op pressed communities.

Puritans accusing people, especially women of influencing young girls with the powers they received from being loyal to the devil resembles conserva tive politicians accusing LGBT+ people of infiltration.

Anti-LGBT+ campaigns are often embedded in the idea that LGBT+ peo ple are loyal to the devil and need Je sus to cure them.

Similarly, pro-life campaigns aim to abolish a woman’s right to choose

abortion, some referring to it as de monic.

These are only two examples. Chris tian extremists have been prosecuting non-Christian people for performing supposed heinous acts for centuries, when really it is because they are dif ferent and do not conform to their be liefs and standards.

We are romanticizing the murders and sufferings of Good, Osborne, and the other 22 people when we use Sa lem as a center for spooky celebrations because of its history of witch trials.

These glorified celebrations also serve as a reminder that the men who wrongly prosecuted these people of witchcraft never received any pun ishment besides having to confess to their wrongdoing.

If we do not hold Christian extrem ists accountable for their crimes in the past, how can we hold to our commit ment to do so in the present?

Salem erected a memorial in 1986 commemorating those who died during the trials at the site where people were hanged and also has a Salem Witch Museum documenting the history of the Witch Trials. This is a respectable way to honor those who suffered from the trials. However, this does not erase the painful, traumatic stain that Chris tian extremists left on Salem.

It does not erase the fact that trag ic events, whether they occur in small

towns on the North Shore or big cit ies across the globe, are still capable of happening if we allow the dreadful history to be romanticized and do not take action to stop future tragedies.

If you are going to Salem this Hal loween, do not fail to remember and reflect upon the remarkable history that likely encouraged your trip in the first place.

Better yet, visit Salem during anoth er month. Residents of Salem and its surrounding cities become frustrated with the number of tourists their home suddenly attracts in October. Suddenly their 10-minute commutes turn into hours, and there is nowhere to park.

It is a beautiful oceanside location to visit all 12 months of the year.

The Peabody Essex Museum holds one of the largest collections of Asian art in the United States.

Such attractions are part of the rea son why Salem is the third most visit ed city in Massachusetts. The hype of touring Salem is not exclusive to Oc tober.

But whenever you decide to tour the city, remember that it is more than a Halloween town.

Remember the people were never witches, they were just people.

Campus Conversations

“I’m going to be Jason. I’m going to have the mask and the sword and I am going to do my own little thing. I’m going to put on a white tank top and Gucci shorts to add a little spice to it.”

“What are you dressing up as for Halloween?”

“I’m being a flamingo.”

-Zophie Greenwald, freshman

“I don’t know, but I’m thinking about a bunny or like a cat.”

Maya Rougier, junior

“I’m dressing up as Wanda Maximoff.” Hannah Mace, senior

“A cat.”

-Lesly Pena, freshman

“I’m possibly going to go as Tina from ‘Bob’s Burgers.’”

-Deanna Girard, sophomore

-Camille Christie, junior

Men’s soccer succumbs to Wheaton’s ferocious offense

The Framingham State Rams fell to a record of 10-5-2 after being shut out 5-0 by the Wheaton College Lyons, Oct. 25.

Wheaton College dominated the Rams in every major statistic. The Rams only attempted seven shots and took just three corner kicks. The Lyons were able to tally 22 total shots and had nine corner kick opportunities.

The match began and Wheaton immediately took command of the ball. ust over five minutes into the game, they lined up for their first corner kick. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, Wheaton kept Framingham on the defensive. At 6:04, Wheaton’s Alasdair Ferrier was assisted by teammate Charlie Stringer and scored the first goal of the match.

In an attempt to tie the game, Rams junior forward Jeffson Malachie took a shot, but it was too high above Wheaton’s net.

Wheaton gained possession of the ball again and controlled the next 15 minutes of the match. The Lyons relentlessly attacked the Rams’ net and took six shots.

The Rams held strong, keeping the score at 1-0 in favor of Wheaton. On the other end of the field, Rams junior defender Cameron au took Framingham’s first corner kick of the night.

Framingham was not able to capitalize off of Lau’s corner kick, and the Lyons once again governed the match. In the next 19 minutes of the half, Framingham was fighting off Wheaton’s attacks. The yons took another six shots and attempted five corner kicks to end the half.

Right before the half ended, at 43:06, the referee awarded two yellow cards. Wheaton’s Gabriel Fellows and Rams junior midfielder unphel Sinha each received a yellow card.

The second half began and the Rams were down 1-0.

Framingham came out of the half and broke through Wheaton’s defense. Both Framingham’s sophomore forward Gabriel Padilla and senior midfielder Jared Nardizzi took shots, but neither resulted in a goal. Padilla’s two corner kicks attempts for Framigham did not help them either, and Framingham received a second yellow card. This time the penalty card was awarded to freshman defender Christian Dinis.

Wheaton profited from this and marched down the field to score their second goal. At 51:23, Ethan Thompson was assisted by both Ethan Alfano and Robert Lloyd to give the Lyons a 2-0 lead.

Between 53:07 and 57:42, the Rams bombarded Wheaton’s net. Nonetheless, their four shot attempts came up short and Framingham received their third yellow card as a team. This time, Nardizzi received a yellow card.

Just three minutes after Nardizzi’s yellow card, Wheaton scored their third goal of the match. Joey Everett assisted his teammate Max Strong and the Lyons extended their lead to 3-0.

At 69:40, Wheaton’s Everett assisted teammate Angus Stringer for Wheaton’s fourth goal of the night.

Framingham received the fourth yellow card as a team at 83:54. Another Rams’ foul in the 87th minute of the match gave Wheaton a penalty kick opportunity. Wheaton’s Lucas Goettel scored off of the penalty kick and scored the yons’ final goal of the night.

The Rams will host MASCAC competitor Fitchburg State at Bowditch on Oct. 29. Framingham is currently undefeated in the MASCAC, and Lau said that the team is “excited to go undefeated and clinch that win.” He added that it can “lift the team’s spirits” as the Rams look to the playoffs.

Rams women’s soccer cruises past Fisher

The Framingham State Rams capped off Senior night with a 4-1 victory against the Fisher College Falcons, Oct. 26.

Framingham State Rams opened their night by honoring their seniors, Serina Broderick, twins Ashley and Brooke Fenton, Calen Frongillo, Brianna Hyppolite, Olivia Renda, and Sam Walsh.

Both teams began the game aggressively, battling back and forth on the field. There were fouls committed by both sides.

Rams freshman Grayson Tellier had an opportunity to score, but the Falcons Olivia Leo defended her team’s goal. The game remained scoreless at 39:44.

Shortly after, Rams Brooke Fenton tried to score but her shot was denied. Both teams continued their fierce effort, but committed more fouls.

Framingham State marched down the field evading Fisher’s defense result ing in a Rams goal by sophomore Hailey Baker, assisted by sophomore Aurora ilrain with 99 left in the first half.

A few moments later, Rams Tellier looked for another chance to increase the lead. However the shot would hit the crossbar.

Tellier was determined to score a goal. A couple minutes after her failed attempt, she attempted again only for the goal to be saved by Fisher’s Leo.

As the first half continued Framingham’s Frongillo got her chance to score, but missed and the shot hit the crossbar.

Soon after Rams Ashley Fenton got her turn to score but was denied by Fisher’s Leo.

Fisher’s Naomi Vivas got a chance to score, but the shot was wide.

As time wound down in the first half, Framingham’s goalie etta Oskirko got involved in the action by saving goals from both Fisher’s Iliana Fernandez and Josie Mejia.

Both teams got more cracks at scoring but neither scored. This would keep the score at 1-0 Rams entering the half.

The second half kicked off with Framingham coming out looking for chances to widen their margin.

There were shots on goals, but none was successful.

At the 55 9 mark, Falcons elly Wallace evened the score making it 1-1. With the score knotted, both teams looked to take a lead.

It wasn’t long after Rams Baker broke the tie when she scored her second goal of the game with an assist from Alicia Tocman. At the 61:41 mark the Rams held the lead 2-1.

Fisher continued to fight to even the score, but Framingham’s defense stood strong.

The Rams attacked and Brooke Fenton increased the margin by scoring a goal assisted by Frongillo. The score was now 3-1 with under 10 minutes left to go in the match.

Frongillo and Brooke Fenton continued to work in sync. Less than a minute later, Brooke Fenton assisted Frongillo on the Rams’ final goal of the match.

Framingham State Rams ended their senior night with a 4-1 victory over the Fisher Falcons.

Brooke Fenton said scoring on her senior night was the most memorable as she reminisced about her last home game.

She said, “I will miss being with my teammates pretty much every day ... and getting the experience playing at Maple Field in front of my family and friends.”

The Rams are now 4-11-1 overall and 3-3 in the conference. The Rams will close out the 2022 regular season on Oct. 29 when they travel to Fitchburg State for MASCAC action.

ARTS

FEATURES

Students display love of fashion at celebrity look-alike competition

With a catwalk, sparkly stars on the walls, and streamers to set the mood, the Fashion Club hosted a celebri ty look-alike competition as a way to foster community and promote a shared love of fashion in the school Oct. 20.

Odila Mendez, senior fashion de sign and merchandising major and president of the Fashion Club, said this was the first time the event was held.

“We wanted to do something unique and different, so we thought hey, why not do something fash ion-related? So we thought, OK, boom, Celebrity Look-Alike Costume Party,” she said.

Mendez also said the Fashion Club was inspired by the Halloween sea son. “We always hear about Hallow een parties this or Halloween-themed that so we wanted to give it our own little spin.”

Beverly Leino, senior fashion de sign and merchandising major and the Fashion Club’s publicist, said, “It’s a great way to meet people and to find other people that share your interests … It’s really helpful for freshmen to go to events like this.”

The event started with about an hour and a half of socializing, food, and dancing. A considerable crowd gathered on the dance floor when “Cupid Shuffle” played.

Nineteen people dressed up for the celebrity or character look-alike com petition.

Emily Monaco, a sophomore studio arts major, wore a painted body suit, styled her hair, and did her makeup to match the titular character in “Bride of Re-Animator,” a 1989 horror film.

“I am a huge fan of horror, and I felt like it would be totally such a waste if I didn’t wear this costume. I made this entirely myself. I painted it with textile paint and went to a hor ror convention and I figured, why not enter in the fashion competition?” she said.

Erin Gemme, a sophomore ear ly childhood education major, was a doppelganger to hip-hop artist Yung Gravy.

“I love Halloween. I love dressing up. Had to show up, simple as that,” Gemme said when asked why they de cided to come to the event.

Ciana Dickey, a sophomore health and wellness major and an RA in Corinne Hall Towers, came dressed as Blair Waldorf from “Gossip Girl.”

“I came here tonight because I saw this event promoted on Instagram and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that sounds so much fun. I need to make this my

tag-along event for my residents, so I tried to get the whole building to come. Didn’t necessarily work out but I got some great residents who are definitely into it,” she said.

Other participants came dressed up as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Miss Frizzle from “The Magic School Bus,” two people as Jennifer Lopez, and Kendall Jenner, to name a few.

Half an hour before the official end of the event, the competition itself started and everyone participating lined up along a wall to show off their costumes. There were awards in three categories: “Most Creative,” “Most Look-Alike,” and “Crowd Favorite.”

“Crowd Favorite” was voted through polls on the Fashion Club’s Instagram story. The first round of

voting turned out to be a four-way tie among contestants dressed as An nie from “Annie,” Katy Perry, Selena, and Diana Ross. A second tiebreaker round of voting was held.

The winner was the Selena lookalike, Charity Rose Marino, senior fashion design and merchandising majors.

She was involved with the Fashion Club in previous years, though she said she hasn’t had time to partici pate this year. She came to the event because it sounded like fun and she already had an outfit in her closet she’d bought.

Marino received a pair of Beats headphones for winning.

The award for “Most Creative” went to two people wearing a joint costume: Aili Schiavoni and Sage Sampson, both freshmen fashion de sign and merchandising majors.

Together, they came dressed as Gunther and Tinka Hessenheffer from “Shake It Up!” The hand-painted cos tumes were replicas of what the char acters wore in the pilot episode of the show.

Their prize was a singular Apple Watch for the both of them.

“Most Look-Alike” went to Kyra Tolley, a sophomore sociology major, dressed as Britney Spears. She won a 32-inch Roku TV, a surprise to her, though she had been planning her costume for about two weeks in ad vance.

“I just love dressing up. It’s really fun for me, and my best friend loves Britney Spears,” she said. “He was like, ‘You have to be Britney Spears.’”

Fashion Club hosts other events throughout the year.

Bella Omar, a sophomore fashion design and merchandising major and treasurer of the Fashion Club, said, “We do a ‘trashion’ show in the fall, and then we host Bingos and other fashion-related parties and things. We just did a clothing swap last week.”

She said the Fashion Design and Retailing department as a whole, not only the club, provides other valuable assets to the University.

“We host a spring fashion show where all the seniors showcase their final projects. It’s a really big one,” Omar said. “We also do a New York trip in the spring.”

She said events like the look-alike contest will hopefully serve to make more people interested in fashion.

This was the Fashion Club’s first year doing the look-alike contest, but Mendez said they’re interested in making it a tradition.

Garden cleanup

said he had participated in the Campus Sustainability cleanup a few weeks prior. He added he helped at the Green Initiative garden cleanup due to his passion for the environ ment.

He said he was inspired to join the cleanup due to the obscurity of the garden, and since he had never seen it well maintained during his time at FSU. He added he thought it would be encouraging to see the space taken care of, and would contribute to the campus.

“I feel like it’d be a cool thing to actually get going. Even if you don’t receive anything out of it or get any thing out of it, it’s just one of those things where if you see it doing well it’s nice to see - because you know other people are appreciating it,” Hurney said.

He said he feels a lot of students are passionate about the environ ment, and it’s “just an issue of know ing what to do.” He added, “I think what I care about, and what a lot of other Green Initiative members care about is trying to give students a way to do that, or just an idea.”

Hurney said he felt the cleanup was important to the FSU community, and that even if their progress was slow, it was more helpful than doing nothing. “It doesn’t hurt, for sure,” he said.

Michael Gardner, a sophomore En glish major, said the garden cleanup was the first community cleaning event he’d participated in for a while. He said he remembered picking trash up off a baseball field in his home town, and cleaned outdoor spaces in the past for work.

Gardner said he came to the event having never heard of the communi ty garden before, and was interested in checking it out. “I mean, obviously [if] people haven’t heard of it then it may not be in the best condition,” he

said.

He added when he first heard of the community garden, he was initially

surprised. “I think that’d be a bigger thing,” he said. “Cleaning up just at tracts more people to it because it’ll

come alive, just look nicer. So people will want to come to it.”

Ainslee Caton, a sophomore envi ronmental science and policy major and president of Green Initiative, or ganized the garden cleanup.

Caton said the organization was focusing more on helpful and fun events this semester for existing members, rather than putting exces sive energy into advertising the club.

She said growing up in Yarmouth, she remembers beach cleanups and past garden cleanups she took part in while a part of the National Honors Society in high school. “It’s just the sense of having that little bit less of trash or waste in that area, especially when it comes to gardens,” she said.

She added she was excited to see the transformation of the garden as it was cleaned by Green Initiative mem bers and other students.

Caton said she first learned about the community garden last year, when a previous secretary of the club brought her and another member to tour the garden. She added it was in a better state last year, and even re membered the previous secretary “was eating a tomato while showing us around the area,” which was filled with fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

She said seniors leaving the club has been a challenge in maintaining the garden, and although they are not obligated to care for it, Green Initia tive plans to hold more events sur rounding it in the future, such as a planting in the spring.

“It helps, not just with the natural beauty, because - as much as cam pus is beautiful and all - it’s a lot of … the green grass you see from the sprinklers, and not as many everyday gardens, with your tomatoes and lav ender right next to each other,” Caton said.

WITH RYAN O’CONNELL

After exploding into dust 29 years ago, the Sanderson sisters, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary, are back in Salem wrecking havoc after the Black Flame Candle was lighted once again by a virgin.

This time it was lighted by Becca, who was celebrating her 16th birth day after being gifted the Black Flame Candle by Gilbert, the shopkeeper of the Olde Salem Magic Shop, who was taught how to create the candle by Winifred’s spellbook.

During the movie Becca and her two friends, Izzy and Cassie, attempt to find a way to stop the child-hungry witches from taking revenge on Salem and killing Mayor Traske, a descen dent of the reverend who banished the sisters from Salem in 1653.

While the teenagers are busy try ing to stop the sisters, Winifred has decided that they will cast the Magi cae Maxima spell that will grant them unimaginable power so that they can become the most powerful witches on Earth.

Even after 29 years, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Nijimy who play the three sisters still are the stars of the film, especially with their witchified versions of Blondie’s “One Way or Another” and Elton John’s “The Bitch is Back.”

The film has multiple subtle nods to the original 1993 “Hocus Pocus,” including Sarah’s “amok, amok, amok” and Mary’s “I smell children!”

While nothing could ever beat Kenny Ortega’s “Hocus Pocus,” this film made me extremely nostalgic of my childhood Halloweens and who doesn’t love to hear Bette Midler sing?

Dan Harmon’s hit sitcom “Com munity,” which aired from 2009-2015, is known for its pop-culture referenc es and extravagant story lines. Each of the show’s six seasons follows the main characters in a new year at their community college.

“Community” season 2 episode 6 “Epidemiology” is the perfect com bination of Harmon’s unique charac ters and a classic Halloween sitcom episode.

As expected in any good sitcom Halloween episode, there will be an abundance of pop-culture costumes. Harmon uses “Epidemiology” to capi talize on his expertise in this.

I have watched the full series twice and this episode more than I can count. It continues to be one of my favorite episodes. Although “Epide miology” occurs after a full season into the show, it perfectly portrays each character and their interactions with each other.

Without knowing the previously established character development and intricate plot lines, “Epidemiol ogy” is the perfect stand-alone Hal loween sitcom episode.

The episode is driven by an array of timeless pop-culture references and is easy to watch if you have not yet seen the show. For me, this episode should be on everyone’s must-watch Halloween playlist.

“Midsommar,” from 2019, follows Dani (Florence Pugh) as she accom panies her boyfriend to their friend’s hometown midsummer festival in Sweden.

As the film progresses, more bi zarre events occur which slowly un veils the twisted nature of the festivi ties to the viewer.

The film basks in its utterly shock ing imagery. Many moments will leave you uneasy yet eager to know exactly how the filmmakers will fol low up such scenes.

However, there is no over-reliance on these grotesque moments. The story is incredibly entertaining to watch unfold with many unexpected turns that help the film be memorable beyond its violent scenes.

Florence Pugh dominates as the star in this film, but that doesn’t stop supporting cast members like Will Poulter from getting a few great scenes as well.

The score by Bobby Krlic is also an outstanding highlight. “Gassed” is a track from the beginning that per fectly establishes the tone of the film and properly accompanies the uneasy opening scene.

Each scene holds so much impor tance which allows the near threehour runtime to be justified.

Visually, there are many stunning moments - not just the gory ones. The film uses many bright colors and beautiful shots of the environment to bring this wild festival alive.

If you’re looking for a horror movie that manages to balance a great story and haunting imagery, this should be your pick to watch this Halloween.

“Horror of Dracula” is a film adap tation of Bram Stoker’s iconic 1897 novel “Dracula.” Released in 1958, this was the first color film adapta tion of the novel.

One of the film’s greatest strengths is its use of color. The sets enhance the moody atmosphere, and the blood effects are excellent for 1958.

Peter Cushing plays possibly the greatest film version of Van Helsing ever, bringing sophistication and class to the character. Christopher Lee’s performance is also a stand-out as the nefarious Count Dracula.

Michael Gough is great as Arthur Holmwood and acts as a memorable sidekick and foil to Cushing’s Van Helsing. Renfield’s omission does feel strange considering how import ant he is in the original novel, but the film manages without him.

The story can feel very repetitive at times, but the bloody deaths keep viewers interested. Van Helsing and Dracula’s final confrontation is awe some and there hasn’t been a better showdown between the two yet.

“Horror of Dracula” is a memora ble and entertaining adaptation of the novel that hosts some of the best horror performances in film history. The production values are fantastic, and the music fits well.

While there might be some boring characters and a slightly repetitive plot, “Horror of Dracula” is still a hor ror classic.

SUGGESTIONS

For those who enjoy a slow-burn, creeping horror that sticks with you, the visual novel “Scarlet Hollow” is perfect for those dark October nights.

“Child’s Play” was released Nov. 9, 1988. “Child’s Play” has grown into an iconic horror movie giving us one of my favorite horror villains, Chucky.

Before the movie came out there had been a few movies that circulat ed around a killer doll, but all of those did a terrible job where “Child’s Play” exceeded.

They introduced something that we hadn’t seen in movies back then, which was voodoo being present - es pecially when it’s transferring your soul into a doll before you die.

The movie follows a child named Andy Barclay, a cute kid who gets his hands on the wrong doll.

For the first half hour we don’t see Chucky come to life, until we see him move and blink all on his own while watching the news. This scene in troduces my favorite quote, “Aunt Maggie, Chucky wants to watch the 9 o’clock news.”

He goes under the radar until he fights and kills everyone who has done him dirty or is just in Andy’s vicinity.

How everyone dies by the hands of a 2 and a half foot doll surprises me.

We find out very soon that Chucky needs to transfer his soul into a body before it’s too late, where he’ll stay in that body for the rest of his life. This is very bad for Andy.

“Child’s Play” did so well in the box office that six more movies were made as well as a TV show that is currently on its second season.

I love the “Child’s Play” franchise and can watch all of them every single day and never get sick of it.

CONNECT WITH RYAN SCHREIBER rschreiber@student.framingham.edu

The game is set in the seclud ed mining town of Scarlet Hollow, North Carolina, where your charac ter is traveling to attend the funer al of your aunt, the matriarch of the Scarlet family who owned the coal mines the town was built upon. But the town harbors a dark secret buried behind the boarded-up windows and empty streets - with strange creatures haunting the woods and a mysterious blood-covered man stalking you from the shadows.

The horror of the game relies less on jump scares and more on the eeri ness and building dread of the story, aided by the impeccable art of Abby Howard, creator of the hilarious “Ju nior Scientist Power Hour’’ and the delightfully gory “The Last Hallow een.” While Scarlet Hollow does re tain some of the silly charm of her previous work, it’s far darker, and when she dials up the spookiness, she dials it up hard!

One of the game’s greatest strengths lies in its diverse cast of interesting and charming characters. These include the cryptid-hunting YouTuber Stella, who is rarely seen without her elderly pug Gretchen, her friend Kaneeka who helps run the town’s general store and is the skep tical foil to Stella’s conspiracy-theo rist mind, and Avery, a waiter at the town’s small, Twin Peaks-esque diner.

As the player, you choose two at tributes that define how your char acter can proceed through the story. Depending on the choices you make, your interactions with the characters can bring you closer, even romanti cally, with some or distance you from others.

There are currently three episodes of Scarlet Hollow available out of sev en. Episode four will be released Nov. 22.

CONNECT WITH BRANDEN LACROIX blacroix@student.framingham.edu

“Grave Importance” is a 2019 adult fantasy novel by Vivian Shaw. It is about a doctor for the supernatural named Greta Helsing - no relation to the Dracula character as far as I could tell - who is sent to work at a hospital/ spa for mummies.

This leads her to discover a mys terious malady affecting her patients and loved ones, sending her to visit Hell for help.

While not especially deep or com plex, this novel makes for a fun dive into the biology and lifestyles of vam pires, demons, angels, and, of course, mummies. Many characters are also pulled from classic literature, such as Lord Ruthvon from “The Vampyre,” and Faust from “Faustus,” and almost every character is unique and likable.

I expect audiences will quickly de velop favorites. Considering it is the first of a three-book series, I am ex cited to get my hands on further in stallments.

While I do not consider this a flaw, audiences should be aware that there are some mildly graphic medical scenes, just enough for it to possi bly be a little much for those who are sensitive to that kind of content. Even so, this book makes for a great cozy October read, especially for classic horror fans.

CONNECT WITH KATE NORRISH knorrish@student.framingham.edu

No one said spooky live-action movies have to be horror. Though “Beetlejuice” definitely has aspects of horror and unsettling ’80s special ef fects, the PG comedy directed by Tim Burton is more than safe for most au diences.

The story follows Barbara and Adam Maitland through their death and subsequent haunting of their own house as it’s sold to the Deetz family: a wealthy father, his daughter from his first marriage, and his second wife.

Betelgeuse (name pronounced Beetlejuice), a semi-malevolent spir it, is hired to help Barbara and Adam scare away the Deetz family. However, the daughter, Lydia, is able to see the ghosts and wants to help them be cause she, too, is not a fan of living here.

The movie is more than hilarious, with great acting and an inherently humorous story. Going back to the more classic vibes from the ’80s defi nitely provides a refreshing break from some of the ultra-polished CGI popular in modern film - even if the effects fall firmly into the uncanny valley at times, they only add to the humor. There’s no pressure not to laugh at how ridiculous everything is.

The movie also has many actors recognizable to audiences today. Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and other fan favorites were great in the ’80s as much as they are in modern film and television.

Overall, “Beetlejuice” is absolute ly worth the watch. It’s hilarious, at times tastefully unsettling, and the ending wraps it up so nicely. It can only add to this Halloween season.

‘Smile’ - a middling disappointment

The horror genre has a new men acing face with the release of “Smile.”

The film stars Sosie Bacon as Rose, a therapist who witnesses the death of one of her patients who is then cursed by the malicious spirit that killed them.

The spirit makes its victims see hallucinations before forcing them to die in front of another person in or der to pass the curse onto a new host.

Rose takes it upon herself to break the curse, which results in a drawnout mystery with not many scary mo ments.

“Smile” promoted itself as an allout scarefest, with a lot of unsettling promotion leading up to its Sept. 30 release. Viewers may be disappointed to find that all but a few of the spooks are relatively tame jumpscares that even the most frightened film-goer will be able to handle.

The scenes that break free from relying on jumpscares serve as the best. A particularly chilling moment involving a phone call toward the middle will leave you holding your breath in absolute fear - until it’s al most immediately undercut by a lack ing jumpscare.

Jumpscares are commonplace in modern horror, so it’s surprising to see “Smile” fumble with making res onating ones. The scares are hardly earned in these moments, and the lack of a proper buildup to them will result in them simply not being scary.

Despite this, the unsettling feeling of not knowing if what you’re watch ing is a hallucination - or not - keeps you on edge during these sequences, and the anticipation to make this dis covery never fails to entertain.

The best of these moments was when Rose went to a birthday party. The little clues it gave early on in the movie will not prepare you for what’s coming and was one of the rare hor ror scenes to genuinely shock me.

Cinematography is a strong stand out. The camera work offers wildly unique shots and angles that put the viewers in unnatural and sometimes uncomfortable positions to watch the horrors unfold.

It was a bit difficult to see what was going on sometimes on-screen. The film uses a lot of dark colors that sometimes aid a frightening moment, but for standard dialogue scenes, it comes off as distracting.

The film’s second act mostly relies on viewers’ interest in the actual sto ry, with few scares to keep engage ment. This section is mostly a bore, with the leadup to the finale being the most exciting part as the atten tion is drawn away from uncovering the mystery of the curse.

Performances are also not exactly stellar here. No one was exactly note worthy, and everyone on-screen filled

their role with nothing memorable added to their character.

The spirit haunting our main char acter targets those who suffer from some type of previous trauma from a prior moment in their life. This forc es Rose to gain the strength it takes to overcome her trauma introduced earlier in the story which gives us the most compelling scenes from any of the characters.

Rose’s boyfriend, Trevor (Jessie T. Usher), goes absent from the film at a certain point and never returns to the story leaving the viewer with an unfulfilling character despite them being present for a lot of the first half.

Fortunately, the film picks up in the finale where the last 15 minutes are easily going to be the most mem orable for viewers. The ridiculous turns taken in these moments with a devastating final shot almost makes up for the fairly uneventful buildup.

A strong and suspenseful buildup to the big scare will leave you cover ing your eyes with an unusually high heart rate which is surprising given the lack of many good scares leading up to this moment.

“Smile” has a few shining sequenc es that make itself a unique entry in the horror genre, but the lack of con sistent scares and decent story will leave you wanting more from this in triguing concept.

‘The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power’ - a force of nature

Amazon created a television se ries based on the “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien and its appendices. The appendices are what the series is based on, primarily set in the Second Age of Middle Earth. The show was released on Sept. 1.

The Second Age of Middle Earth is thousands of years before the events of the series and the films, where the characters we know from the books are younger and beginning their jour neys toward their evolutions - into the familiar characters that the view ers have come to adore.

The series begins during a time of relative peace where Melkor is de stroyed and Sauron is hidden and planning his rise back to power. Ma jor events during the Second Age include the forging of the Rings of Power, the fall of the island kingdom of Númenor, and the last alliance be tween Elves and Men.

The Second Age is where the races of Men, Elves, and Dwarves were all in alliances with each other until they were fractured with differences that were perpetuated into the Third and Fourth Ages of Middle Earth.

The main characters of this new se ries who hold an extensive role in the films are Galadriel and Elrond. These characters are ancient and mighty in power but are trying to accept them selves and their responsibilities.

Galadriel, daughter of the Golden House of Finarfin and Princess of the Noldorin Elves, is described in this series as having an Amazonian dispo sition in the art of war.

In the show, Galadriel’s character arc involves her understanding and navigating her inner darkness along side coming to terms with her broth er’s death.

Her quest is full of perils and there are events that twist her original story in the Second Age. Because of these perils and twisted events, Gal adriel grows as a person and becomes a just and wise ruler. The Third Age has transformed Galadriel into the Lady of Lothlorien with a wisdom and grace that precedes her age.

Elrond Halfelven, son of Earendil, is described as being a companion to Prince Durin and Princess Disa of Khazad-dum. Elrond is on a quest to find mithril, an ore that will save the entire elven race from fading out of existence.

As the ages pass, Elrond becomes more isolationist because of the death his people have faced until the Quest for the One Ring.

Elrond is trying to live up to his fa ther’s legacy as the Evening Star and thus accepts his role, becoming an intelligent sovereign to the Elves of Rivendell.

Another set of characters trying to find themselves in the world are the

father and son duo Elendil and Isildur. They are members of the Kingdom of Numenor, a sea-faring nation that is descended from Elrond’s brother El ros.

He and his son come to Middle Earth to save the Southlands in the series, per Galadriel’s request and the Numenorean fleet leaves after the re quest is complete.

In canon, the pair return to Mid dle Earth because of the Downfall of Numenor and create the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.

The creation of these kingdoms help Elendil, Isildur and Anarion, the brother to Isildur, grow as people and become powerful kings of nations lasting forevermore.

An aspect of this series that might help first-time watchers is that the events of the Second Age are con densed into the show’s episodes.

A facet of the show that I prefer is the evolution of the characters from one version of themselves to another as they’ve come into their own.

Other details that I enjoy about the show are the character development, the music, and the dialogue, which incorporates such bold and uninhib ited language.

At first, I did not prefer the action sequences at the beginning of the show. Toward the end of the season, the action scenes have gotten much better.

Regardless of the action sequenc es, I can say with much confidence that this show has captured my in terest and I will continue to watch it with much joy.

Haunted Happenings