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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

Courtesy Rachel Choi

Monopoly on dreaming: Disillusionment of the American Dream

By Rachel Choi, Chief Copyeditor / April 17, 2024

Three things I learned when I became sentient: the alphabet lied to me, the world was, in fact, not my oyster, and the American Dream was the white man’s...

The Flag of the Dominican Republican

Pandemic highlights education inequities in the Dominican Republic

By Shannon Garrido, Deputy Opinion Editor / March 11, 2021

On Feb. 14, the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Education, Roberto Fulcar, affirmed that there is still no set date for the return of students to the...

"Yes, on the surface, “A” means success, and “F” means failure. But neither of these letters explain the reasons behind a student’s performance." / Illustration by Ally Rzesa

There’s no learning in letter grades

By Xinyan Fu / November 6, 2019

Last semester, I took the Fundamentals of Speech Communication class everyone is required to take at Emerson. We completed several group speech presentations,...

Mneesha Gellman invited several of her colleagues to speak at a panel on the Emerson Prison Initiative. Faith Bugenhagen / Beacon Correspondent

Prison Initiative professor encourages participation at panel discussion

By Faith Bugenhagen / October 25, 2019

Founder and Director of Emerson’s Prison Initiative Mneesha Gellman invited three colleagues to the college Oct. 18, to urge Emerson students to become...

"Children with pursuits that aren’t conventionally 'academic' should not be discouraged from pursuing what they love." / Illustration by Ally Rzesa

Abandoning creative pursuits in the name of success

By Grace Griffin / September 24, 2019

I started playing the piano and taking painting and drawing classes outside of school at age nine. In eighth grade, I studied art history for the first...

Beacon Archives

Maintaining student activism surrounding Title IX

By Editorial Board / September 4, 2019

Emerson College has a long, complicated—and, at times, bleak—history with incidents of sexual misconduct and Title IX, the federal civil rights law...

Ching-Bush cites active communication with students as the most important step in any sanctioning process.  Photo courtesy of Beacon Archives.

Campus life gears student conduct programs towards conversation

By Kaitlyn Bryson / September 27, 2018

The college shaped its alcohol and marijuana peer-led programs around conversation and education rather than punishment. The Office of Community Standards...

"When anyone casts their ballot in a normal year, they are fulfilling their civic responsibility as an American citizen. But this November, for the first time in a long time, there is a pandemic plaguing the U.S. during a presidential election." Illustration by Laura King

Making millennial voices matter

By David Fadul / January 28, 2018

In November, transgender rights will be on the ballot. A 2016 law prohibiting discrimination based on gender could be overturned by a veto referendum,...