The Advisory Board
Mission
The Beacon editor-in-chief, managing editors, and faculty advisor will create an advisory board of at least three (3) professional working journalists or faculty members—in addition to the advisor—to help the organization create a more equitable and supportive newsroom experience. The board will be chaired by the current college-recognized advisor and shall have no editorial control.
Board Duties
Members of the board may be called on to advise staff members; review select content prior to publication; and/or settle inter-staff disputes. The board exists strictly as a consulting tool for the organization and does not retain any power in the independent student newspaper’s oversight and management. Final editorial decisions will remain at the discretion of the writer and editors of any given piece—whether or not they take advisory board suggestions will be up to the original writer(s)/editors of the story.
The advisory board shall operate separately from any executive board, approved Fall 2025. The advisory board does not have access to financial documents and can not make fiduciary decisions on behalf of The Beacon.
Board members are contracted through academic years. If a board member wishes to end an appointment earlier than agreed, the reason must be communicated in writing to the editor-in-chief and entire editorial staff. Editors must then work diligently to replace the advisor.
AY 2025-26 Advisory Board
James Sullivan is the current faculty advisor for The Berkeley Beacon and chairs the Advisory Board. He is an Affiliated Faculty member in the Department Of Journalism at Emerson College.
Vivi Smilgius is a general assignment reporter at Brookline.News, a local news outlet based in Brookline, Massachusetts. Notably, she’s reported on Brookline schools and allegations of a toxic workplace environment in the town’s public libraries. Smilgius is a Beacon alum and served as the paper’s editor-in-chief in the fall of 2022. She graduated from Emerson College in December 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Diti Kohli is a general assignment business reporter at The Boston Globe. She has written about foster families, electrical linemen, always-open diners, and deadly quarries. Kohli is a Beacon alum and served as editor-in-chief during the fall of 2020. She graduated from Emerson College in December 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Jennifer Smith is a staff reporter for the CommonWealth Beacon. She primarily covers housing, social issues, courts and the law, politics, and elections. Smith is a graduate of Northeastern University and earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2015.
Bailey Allen is a digital journalist at 7News—WHDH Boston. She covers everything from breaking news and politics to feel-good human and animal features. Allen is a Beacon alum and worked through the news section during her time at Emerson, eventually serving as news editor in her last semester. She graduated in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Page Last Updated in April 2025