As another school year begins, I want to take a moment to address some changes both in our paper and on campus. 

Little Building finally opened and Boylston Street is finally clear of scaffolding—something I never thought I’d see in my career at Emerson. On Tuesday night, I witnessed freshmen experience their first burnt popcorn evacuation from Little Building—I suppose the renovated residence hall had its baptism by fire. 

I hope everyone survived their first day of classes. I struggled to roll out of bed, throw on clothes, and drag myself to Ansin. Nonetheless, the year is upon us and we must endure 14 weeks of homework, tests, quizzes, projects, and, of course, Dining Center food.

The Beacon, for its part, started operations several weeks before the academic year. I roused the editors from their summer slumber to put together the edition you are reading today. Our staff worked hard to bring students, faculty, and staff wall-to-wall coverage of the Straight Pride Parade and a 12-page edition—something not usually done for the first issue of an academic year. 

This year, the Beacon, Student Government Association, Emerson Independent Video, and the EVVYs all emerged from the dim dungeons of Piano Row’s Campus Center and found ourselves in beautiful new offices located at 172 Tremont Street. With our third-floor corner office fully set up, I find that the paper has entered a new era with both new and returning staff members. 

The office change got me thinking this summer. In my past two years on staff, I have always been one to push for innovation and argue to bring our coverage out of the Emerson hallways and into the real world. This semester I plan to do just that. 

I look forward to expanding our metro and State House reporting while maintaining strong coverage of the Emerson College administration and student life. To do this, my managing editors and I decided to upgrade our website to allow for more engaging forms of storytelling. In our Straight Pride Parade coverage, we made an attempt to utilize stronger backend mechanics to create an inviting and informative front page. 

You will also notice that the print edition looks different. We have gone through and changed the fonts for our copy, headlines, pull-quotes, and cutlines. I believe the new look is aesthetically pleasing and offers the reader a chance to imagine the Beacon in a different way. 

Finally, you may have noticed the new logo the newspaper adopted in the past month. We have received many opinions on the new design. Some expressed discontent, others questioned whether the change was warranted, and some even said they hate it. 

I will admit that the new flag, with its Gothic design, is reminiscent of the heyday of print news. To me, the Beacon’s new flag symbolizes the golden age of journalism. It is a legacy design with modern implications. The flag represents an attempt to move into the digital age while building a more serious brand. While we understand that change can be difficult, we are excited to enter this new era and continue to bring top quality news to our readers. 

Sincerely,

Chris Van Buskirk, Editor-in-Chief The Berkeley Beacon