In early December, standing in the piercing cold, faculty and staff handed out the first issues of a grassroots newsletter to passersby that outlined what they called instances of “pervasive surveillance” and an “overreach of administrative power.”

Over the past few months, the blog, Discipline News, an anonymous faculty, staff, and student collective made up of 15 contributors and a seven-person editorial board, has published articles ranging from testimonials about staff disciplines and alumni boycotts to resident assistant trainings and, most recently, proposed protest policies. 

For the first time since the publication’s birth, Discipline News staff and editors went on record to discuss how the newsletter operates and what it hopes to accomplish. Three of the members were willing to be interviewed; two of them were willing to be named. 

“Abuses of power can happen most easily when nobody knows about them,” said Ilona Yosefov, an instructional technologist and contributor to Discipline News, who is also the chief steward for Emerson’s staff union. “Only when people are informed [can they] come together and push against unfair practices.”

The content in the four published issues has been heavily critical of President Jay Bernhardt and his administration, with the publication’s main call being to change the interim protest policies that the administration released following student-organized pro-Palestinian protests during the previous academic year, which ended in over 100 on-campus arrests.

“If you read [the interim policy] out loud, it’s just absurd,” said Yosefov. “[They] want us to protest alone in the basement with no windows, where nobody can hear us or see us and [they] can ignore us.”

Yosefov said that the published proposed policies are only the first draft. “We’re going to have a weeks-long community comment period and host draft meetings,” she said. “Anybody can come and voice their thoughts. We want it to be written by everybody, for everybody.” 

Discipline News members are in constant communication with each other, according to contributor and visual media arts professor John Gianvito, who said the group often meets multiple times a week to discuss and edit articles and plan future content. 

“Everything gets multiple eyes,” he said, noting that some members of the group have journalism backgrounds. 

Gianvito said he suggested the idea for a newsletter after he joined Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) last fall. 

“We were hearing all these stories that we were fairly confident much of the larger Emerson community was unaware of,” he said. “People liked the idea.” 

The newsletter prints hundreds of copies per issue—not a cheap undertaking. Gianvito said he has been “touched that multiple individuals, without hesitation, have just opened their pocketbooks to print issues.” 

“The first issue, I printed 500 copies, and then we did a second run of that first issue of another 200. We have been making even more since,” he said.

Members of Discipline News are confident that the administration is aware of the publication’s existence.

“I’ve seen certain people in the administration take copies,” Gianvito said. “I know one instance where someone tried to hand a copy to [Bernhardt] and he just walked by and wouldn’t take it … I hope he [and the Board of Trustees] are reading them.”

“Emerson College was founded to further expression, and now more than ever, truth and facts matter,” college spokesperson Michelle Gaseau wrote in a statement to The Beacon about the publication. “The Discipline News newsletter … contain[s] misleading information and potentially defamatory statements presented as facts. This seemingly deliberate spread of misinformation threatens the integrity of our community, serves to divide us, and harms our institution. The College strongly encourages all community members to critically examine the motives and credibility behind anonymous propaganda campaigns.”

A visual media arts student who contributes to the blog and agreed to speak to The Beacon on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation said the newsletter reasserts the values of what Emerson “should be,” evident in the college’s slogan: “Expression necessary to evolution.” 

Amid these growing campus tensions, Discipline News’ readership and online following has been steadily increasing. According to Yosefov and Gianvito, their Instagram post “Emerson Maps R.A. Political Affiliations” has garnered 40,000 views on social media, with over 1,100 likes. Over 200 people subscribe to the newsletter on Beehiiv.

“People are coming up to us to talk about the last issue, are excited to see the next [copy], or want several [copies] for their friends,” the student said. “I’m starting to see it around campus in spots I wouldn’t expect. People are coming up to me and talking about it without knowing my involvement.” 

Most of the visible work is done by faculty and staff, an intentional choice made by all members to protect more vulnerable contributors from retaliation.

“Eventually we’ll all have to be visible,” Yosefov said. “We can’t fight this while hiding.”

As a tenured professor, Gianvito said he knows he is more protected and isn’t worried about disciplinary action against him, but he said he’s aware that some of his colleagues don’t have this privilege. All the more argument, he said, to keep the campus informed.

“There may be people who are upset by what we are doing—some of those people get to go home to a $5.2 million condo at the end of the day, so I’m not too worried about getting them a little upset,” Gianvito said. “If I’m not getting their attention, I’m not succeeding.” 

Others don’t yet feel safe being visible. The student said that he and his peers are worried about their graduation, citizenship status, and other long-term goals due to the “actions of the administration to police its students.” 

“I would love for it to be a comfortable situation to speak out so people see that it’s something that is accessible to the community and the struggle is not something that we have to hide,” he said. “But unfortunately, Emerson and the current federal administration have made it very difficult to be public with a pro-Palestinian stance and be safe.” 

Many sources quoted in Discipline News also only share their stories anonymously. Gianvito defended the editorial decision, though, believing their anonymity is “indicative of the pervasive and persistent climate of fear” that the administration has created, he said.  

Moving forward, Discipline News hopes the administration will open up to the input of the community.  

“Students pay a lot of money to come and learn, but they’re spending their time and energy physically putting themselves on the line to make the world and the school better,” Yosefov said. “It’s a labor of love, and the administration does not acknowledge it.”

Yosefov said they are “happy to work with [Bernhardt]” if he is willing to work with them: “This protest policy, when drafted by the community, goes to his office,” she said. “The ball is in his court.”

The anonymous student said he’s tried to make contact with Bernhardt “dozens of times” through his work with the Boylston Street Student Union, but he has yet to meet the president.

“I have no confidence that Bernhardt has any interest in giving power to anybody on campus,” he said. “I’ve been doing this work pretty prominently for years and never met him. The closest thing that I’ve seen to Bernhardt is the police he called in to beat us up.”

Gianvito said that as long as there are stories to tell, Discipline News will continue.

“I would say that I’m pessimistic about the potential of [Bernhardt] showing truly inspiring leadership for this community,” he said. “But, as I say about all the problems of the world, you can be as pessimistic as you want, but one’s actions have to be those of an optimist.”