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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

The Emerson Staff Union demonstrates outside of Piano Row following the Faculty Institute.

Emerson Staff Union demonstration demands cost-of-living adjustment, equitable conditions

By Adri Pray and Hannah Nguyen / September 5, 2022

Conversation about the staff union buzzed Thursday morning as faculty members entered the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym for the 2022 Faculty Institute....

Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton

Analysis: turnover following presidential departures

By Frankie Rowley / December 14, 2021

Since the departure of former President M. Lee Pelton, Emerson has seen a number of key individuals cut their ties with the college—many of them amicably,...

State of the College: Interim president reflects on Emerson's successes, struggles in 2021

State of the College: Interim president reflects on Emerson’s successes, struggles in 2021

By Bailey Allen / November 29, 2021

Interim President William Gilligan published his first State of the College report on Tuesday detailing the college’s accomplishments over the course...

Provost Michaele Whelan

From provost to president: Michaele Whelan departs Emerson to lead Wheaton College

By Frankie Rowley / November 4, 2021

The 14th floor office designated for the Vice President and Provost of Academic Affairs will soon be have a new tenant as Michaele Whelan prepares...

Director of Student Leadership Jason Meier

SEAL Director Jason Meier to leave college in November

By Bailey Allen / October 20, 2021

Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Jason Meier will leave Emerson in November to take up a position at Harvard College after nearly a decade...

Provost Michaele Whelan

Provost Michaele Whelan set to leave college in November

By Charlie McKenna / September 9, 2021

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Michaele Whelan will depart Emerson this fall to become the president of Wheaton College in Norton,...

Vice President for Equity and Social Justice Sylvia Spears.

Departing social justice chair urges more equitable campus

By Frankie Rowley, Assistant News Editor / August 3, 2021

Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Sylvia Spears is set to embark on a new adventure at College Unbound, helping shape what the newly-accredited degree-completion...

Emerson’s cost of attendance increased from $19,303 per year in 1990 to $67,832 in 2019. Cullen Granzen / Berkeley Staff

Presidential search extended, possibly into fall term

By Frankie Rowley / July 16, 2021

Weeks after the departure of former President M. Lee Pelton, Emerson is no closer to announcing his permanent successor, as college officials announced...

Letter: How Juneteenth became a staff holiday at Emerson

Letter: How Juneteenth became a staff holiday at Emerson

By Illona Yosefov / June 16, 2021

Illona Yosefov ([email protected]) is an Instructional Technologist at Emerson. When she’s not busy helping faculty build their Canvas courses,...

President M. Lee Pelton responds to community unrest following COVID-19 pandemic.

“Leaders need to know when to leave”: Pelton departs Emerson presidency for Boston Foundation

By Dana Gerber / June 1, 2021

President M. Lee Pelton’s fondest memories from his decade at the helm of Emerson are those marked by beginnings.  “The thing that even now moves...

Boston's City Hall Plaza

They couldn’t get out of on-campus housing. So they got domestic partnerships

By Dana Gerber / May 26, 2021

In attempts to secure an exemption to escape on-campus housing and its nearly $20,000 annual price tag, some students are taking an unorthodox leap—getting...

William Gilligan, former IT head, tapped as interim president

William Gilligan, former IT head, tapped as interim president

By Dana Gerber, News Editor / May 21, 2021

William Gilligan, Emerson's former vice president for information technology, will emerge from retirement to helm the college as interim president...

An in-person class taking place at Emerson.

Emerson changes course, pivots to fully in-person fall semester

By Dana Gerber / April 21, 2021

In a shift from previous plans, Emerson will transition to a fully in-person academic semester on all campuses this fall for students, who will now be...

President M. Lee Pelton condemned the police killing of George Floyd in a statement released to the Emerson Community Sunday night.

Pelton provides insight on Chauvin verdict and calls for police reform

By Frankie Rowley / April 20, 2021

President M. Lee Pelton mourned the loss of George Floyd and called for an end to violence and hate against Black people in a letter addressing the Emerson...

Katie Redefer is a senior journalism major and the Editor-in-Chief of The Berkeley Beacon.

Letter from the Editor: Reflecting on a year of the pandemic

By Katie Redefer / March 19, 2021

The past 12 months may have been the most unprecedented year of our lifetime. The first pandemic of the 21st century transformed life as we knew it in...

First year students left to right: Carrie Aubin, Chloe Shaar, Eva Charbonnnier, and Isabella Espejo, calling their parents about the college's decision to shut the Boston campus down.

Emerson students reflect on the moment they knew life would change

By Charlie McKenna / March 17, 2021

Six Emerson students, now a year into a first-in-a-century pandemic, recalled the moments when they realized life was not going to return to “normal”...

Students working in a control room for a visual and media arts course.

Emerson announces continuation of hybrid learning through Fall 2021

By Dana Gerber / February 22, 2021

Emerson will continue its “flex learning” program through the Fall 2021 semester, President M. Lee Pelton announced in a Monday morning email.  Fall...

President M. Lee Pelton responds to community unrest following COVID-19 pandemic.

President Pelton condemns capitol siege in letter

By Frankie Rowley / January 6, 2021

President M. Lee Pelton condemned Wednesday’s siege of the United States Capitol building, a last-ditch effort by Trump loyalists to overturn the results...

The outside of the Title IX office in the Massachusetts Transportation Building.

Title IX working group presents minimal changes in second draft of recommendations

By Katie Redefer, Co-Living Arts Editor / December 2, 2020

The Presidential Working Group that is responsible for reviewing Emerson’s sexual misconduct policy made minimal changes to its initial suggestions in...

President M. Lee Pelton.

Pelton examines pandemic, ‘flex’ learning, and the future in annual State of the College address

By Diana Bravo / November 23, 2020

Amid a spiraling pandemic that Emerson administrators once warned may financially devastate the college, President M. Lee Pelton released his annual State...