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

The Little Building residence hall.

First-year class settles in after year of upheaval

September 2, 2021

After a year of canceled proms, delayed graduations, and remote learning, the road to Emerson has been anything but normal for most first year students.  With...

Students cross the intersection of Boylston St. and Tremont St. in front of the Little Building.

Students return to a new campus with eased COVID-19 restrictions

September 2, 2021

As students moved onto campus for the fall term, they returned to a bustling campus with minimized social distancing restrictions—a far cry from the...

11 undergraduate students of 11 different majors at the college.

Major changes: A year of pandemic learning

March 18, 2021

Of Emerson’s 3,490 currently enrolled undergraduate students, no two have the same learning experience. Some visual and media arts students handle cameras...

Little Building and Walker Building in snow.

First year of college stunted by COVID-19, class of 2024 reflects on hurdles, loss

March 17, 2021

Many students anticipate their first year of college as a milestone—their initial steps onto campus marking a momentous transition between adolescence...

An in-person class session in the Paramount Center.

One year into pandemic learning, professors tired of mixed format

March 17, 2021

A year into pandemic, professors—forced to straddle the two modalities of hybrid learning—say the new form has proven onerous, while others have learned...

A Visual and Media Arts class under COVID-19 safety restrictions.

Another semester of hybrid learning garners disappointment

February 25, 2021

The college’s plan to extend “flex” learning, a mix of virtual and in-person classes, into the fall 2021 semester was met with a mix of approval...

Brian Basgen, then-Assistant Vice President of IT, at an SGA meeting in 2019.

New head of Emerson’s IT department slated to take over position for spring semester

January 19, 2021

Former Associate Vice President of Information Technology Brian Basgen is slated to lead the college’s IT department following the retirement of former...

Cameron Manning helping students move into Little Building at the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester

Emerson delays start of in-person classes, residence hall move-in schedule, citing COVID surge

December 30, 2020

Emerson will hold the first ten days of spring semester classes online and delay move-in to on-campus residence halls by a week, President M. Lee Pelton...

Professor Brooke Knisley said it is especially frustrating that the college may not believe people when they tell them they have a disability.

Professors seeking accommodations forced to jump through hoops to teach online

December 7, 2020

A number of Emerson’s immunocompromised and disabled professors have reported issues receiving accommodations to teach remotely ahead of the fall semester’s...

A meeting of professor Nancy Allens Plagues and Pandemics course in the fall semester.

Hybrid class format earns mixed reviews from students

November 30, 2020

On the tail end of Emerson’s first semester under pandemic-era restrictions, students’ reaction to the hybrid model—sold by administrators as a substantive...

Members of the IT Help Desk team work tirelessly during the first hybrid-model semester post-Covid.

How Emerson tech groups prepared professors for a hybrid semester

October 14, 2020

For journalism professor Diane Mermigas, teaching in a hybrid format through a pandemic meant that she first had to play the role of a student. Throughout...

A Visual and Media Arts class under COVID-19 safety restrictions.

Saturday classes creating roadblocks for students, professors

October 12, 2020

Every weekend, Tim Schwab, a junior, takes the commuter rail home to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts to work as a shift supervisor at Papa Gino’s pizzeria....

National Broadcast Society members work on a set.

Student leaders wrestle with managing organizations under COVID-19

June 17, 2020

Emerson’s hybrid-learning reopening plan, announced Wednesday afternoon, answered students’ lingering questions about the fate of the fall semester....