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Emerson College’s only independent, student-run newspaper since 1947

The Berkeley Beacon

Emerson College’s only independent, student-run newspaper since 1947

The Berkeley Beacon

Emerson College’s only independent, student-run newspaper since 1947

The Berkeley Beacon

Signage for the 2025 Teach-In on Race outside of the Bordy Theatre in the Union Bank Building on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (Arthur Mansavage/ Beacon Staff)

Annual Teach-in on Race explores future of DEI, liberation struggles, art as resistance

The Teach-in on Race is an annual series of guest speaker panels and interactive audience discussions hosted by Emerson that aims to provide a space where...

The Max Cafe and Market after it's renovations in 2023. (Ashlyn Wang/Beacon Staff, File Photo)

Food for fuel: how does Emerson feed its athletes?

By Stella Huberlie, Beacon Correspondent / February 8, 2025

Emerson’s dining facilities’ nutritional value and hours trouble their student-athletes. Because they need good food to sustain them in their academics...

The alley entrance to the Walker building casts a beacon of light on the campus.

‘My dream would be a refund’: Unfulfilled promises, under-enrollment, and an uncertain future for health and social change students

By Adri Pray and Merritt Hughes / February 5, 2025
A year and a half after its integration into Emerson’s curriculum, the future of the health and social change major remains in limbo as it confronts low enrollment and staffing shortages.
Lu Ann Reeb looks at Emerson's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion web page. (Rian Nelson/ Beacon Staff)

How safe is diversity, equity, and inclusion at Emerson College?

By Iselin Bratz and Meg Richards / February 5, 2025

“Emotional terrorism.” “Censorship.” “Hyper-nationalism.” A period of tumult likened to “the late 1960s.” These are the words and phrases...

(Abigail Hoyt/ For The Beacon)

Cooking up community: Emerson celebrates the Lunar New Year in the Dining Center

By Madalyn Jimiera and Adam Nuñez / February 4, 2025

Chatter and laughter filled the Dining Hall on Jan. 29 as aromas of vegetable dumplings, Taiwanese noodle soup, char siu pork ribs, and more echoed celebrations...

Dan Crocker and Amy Rinaldo leaflet on Boylston Street outside of the Emerson College Dining Hall on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. Crocker and Rinaldo are both leaders in the Emerson College Staff Union. (Arthur Mansavage/ Beacon Staff)

Financial aid, student accounts demand entry into staff union’s contract nine months after joining

By Adri Pray, Editor-in-Chief / January 30, 2025
Members of the staff union leafletted Thursday afternoon advocating for the admission of the financial aid and student accounts departments into its contract.
A Emerson College sign above the colleges' visitor center on Boylston street. (Arthur Mansavage/ Beacon Staff, File)

Faculty argue over potential motion to end disciplinary action related to protest on campus

By Iselin Bratz, News Editor / January 29, 2025
Most of the excitement during the Jan. 28 faculty assembly came in the last half hour when a motion aimed at standing against disciplinary actions taken against community members who participate in on-campus protests hit the floor.
Doug Struck holds the latest issue of Discipline News on Boylston Street outside of Emerson College on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (Arthur Mansavage/ Beacon Staff)

Discipline News argues it’s ‘reasserting Emerson’s values.’ The college calls it an ‘anonymous propaganda campaign.’

By Hannah Brueske, Dept. Projects Editor / January 29, 2025
Discipline News emerged on Emerson’s campus in early December, quickly embedding itself into the Emerson community. For the first time ever, the publication’s contributors discussed its operations and why its message is necessary now.
Brand new gym equipment in what was the previous entrance to Piano Row on Boylston Street on Oct. 4, 2024. (Arthur Mansavage/ Beacon Staff, File Photo)

New Fitness Center in Piano Row off to busy start due to new location, upgrades, students say

By Izzy Bryars, Staff Writer / January 29, 2025

The number of people using the new fitness center has doubled at the start of the spring semester, according to athletic staff. Many students, staff,...

SGA member Angus Abercrombie at a Friday, April 26, 2024 Emerson town hall. (Rian Nelson/Beacon Staff)

SGA considers investing unused ‘Student Impact’ funds into Emerson’s endowment

By Hannah Woods, Staff Writer / January 29, 2025
Executive Vice Treasurer Angus Abercrombie said SGA wants to convert the funds into recurring revenue, where “we’d expect around 4% of whatever we put in to be available every year, forever,” he wrote in a December statement to The Beacon.
Cars passing in front of a Boston Architectural College building in the Back Bay neighborhood in Boston on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (Nick Peace/ Beacon Staff)

‘A happy dorm is a peaceful dorm’: BAC students share reflections and hopes about living at Emerson

By Madalyn Jimiera, Staff Writer / January 29, 2025

As below-freezing temperatures blow through Boston this January, the tensions described by the Boston Architectural College (BAC) students living in Emerson...

An Emerson College banner on the side of The Colonial Building on Boylston street. (Arthur Mansavage/ Beacon Staff, File)

Emerson doubles down on commitment to protect undocumented, international students

By Yogev Toby, Projects Editor / January 26, 2025

President Donald Trump’s vows for mass deportation and expansion of immigration law enforcement powers have generated hundreds of arrests across the...

Trump supporters watching the inauguration live stream outside of the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Rian Nelson/ Beacon Staff)

As a second Trump term unfolds, Emerson watches as future of work sponsorships, DEI hang in balance

By Adam Nuñez, Staff Writer / January 22, 2025

As former President Joe Biden peacefully transferred power to President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, Emerson community members described feelings of uncertainty,...

A crowd of roughly one thousand people stood outside the Capitol inauguration morning, echoing the president’s sentiments about a coming “golden age of America.” (Rian Nelson/Beacon Staff)

Emerson students from Republican-led states share concerns of second Trump presidency

By Merritt Hughes, Dept. Campus Editor / January 22, 2025

President Donald Trump’s first few days in office came with a slew of executive orders and policy changes. He notably declared a state of emergency at...

John McCarrick brushes snow off his car on Commonwealth Avenue. in Boston on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Arthur Mansavage/Beacon Staff)

Photos: Overnight winter storm blankets Downtown Boston with nearly half a foot of snow

A quick but strong winter storm swept across the East Coast Sunday night bringing nearly five inches of snow to Downtown Boston.  Overnight, between...

The Emerson College visitor center on Boylston street. (Arthur Mansavage / Beacon Staff, File)

Letter from the Editor: Moving forward, together

By Adri Pray, Editor-in-Chief / January 15, 2025
The Berkeley Beacon is, and has always been, an ever-evolving community effort. 
(Iselin Bratz/ Beacon Staff)

Favoritism, blacklisting threats, and a ‘toxic culture’: Allegations of mistreatment shake Emerson Stage artistic director

By Iselin Bratz, News Editor / January 15, 2025

At a routine evening rehearsal last fall for “POTUS,” a student-led Emerson Stage production, recent graduate and on-set observational director Emma...

A cloud of smoke from the Palisades fire billows over a hill near the neighborhood of Encino on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Riley Goldman/ Beacon Staff)

As the LA wildfires encroach on Southern California, ELA proceeds as planned

By Iselin Bratz, Madalyn Jimiera and Jordan Pagkalinawan / January 12, 2025

As wildfires continue to rage in Southern California this week, students, faculty, and staff expecting to start the spring semester at Emerson Los Angeles...

Haze from the Sunset Fires seen around the famed Hollywood sign on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Riley Goldman/ For the Beacon)

Emerson Los Angeles building evacuated ‘preemptively’ due to proximity to Southern California fires

By Iselin Bratz, News Editor / January 9, 2025

The Emerson Los Angeles building was “preemptively evacuated” Wednesday night as a precaution against the growing wildfire in the Hollywood Hills,...

Food For Free workers organize the Emerson dining hall donation alongside Bon Appetit District Manager Dawn Sajdyk on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024.

Over 300 pounds of food donated by Emerson to Food For Free last fall

By Sam Shipman / January 8, 2025

Emerson students finishing their meal in the dining hall often throw the remains of their scraps into the compost bin, but where do the seemingly endless...