Skip to Main Content
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 environment, your sanity, and student budgets

The environment, your sanity, and student budgets

By Charlie Brian Ambler / September 17, 2021

For the average student, being an environmentalist comes with a hefty price tag. Eating organic foods and exclusively supporting eco-friendly brands are...

The Impossible job market for students

The Impossible job market for students

By Shannon A Garrido / September 10, 2021

For young people everywhere, looking for employment after graduation has become much more difficult. High competition, little work experience, a pandemic,...

An in-person class session in the Paramount Center.

One year into pandemic learning, professors tired of mixed format

By Frankie Rowley and Alec Klusza / 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...

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

By Charlie McKenna / 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...

Mediterranean restaurant Garbanzo opened on Emerson's campus in August.

Campus-adjacent businesses anticipating revenue hit following student departure

By Camilo Fonseca / December 1, 2020

Businesses around Emerson’s Boston campus are anticipating a dropoff in sales after most students left for an extended seven-week winter break. The...

A man walking past the W Hotel on Stuart St.

W Hotel to continue housing students in spring

By Patrick Pierce / November 14, 2020

Emerson will continue to house students and hold classes in the four-star W hotel during the spring semester, extending a deal that put approximately 200...

A view of Emerson's Dining Center from the Boylston Place alley.

Pandemic restrictions curtail Dining Center accommodations

By Camilo Fonseca / November 9, 2020

Emerson’s dining services cut back on the special accommodations traditionally offered to students with allergies and dietary intolerances, making their...

Students protest Donald Trump's election in 2016.

Professors recall ‘grim’ days on campus after 2016 election

By Charlie McKenna and Dana Gerber / November 3, 2020

Mark Leccese never opened his briefcase for class on Nov. 9, 2016. That day—just after Donald Trump’s election to the U.S. presidency in 2016—a...

A man walking past the W Hotel on Stuart St.

WiFi out in W hotel due to Verizon outage

By Charlie McKenna / October 22, 2020

Students living in the W Boston hotel lost wifi early Thursday evening, due to an internet outage in the area. Students living in the hotel received...

Fire trucks outside of the Little Building.

Little Building fire alarm sends residents onto Boston Common

By Andrew Brinker / October 19, 2020

Boston Fire responded to a fire alarm on the third floor of the Little Building at around 3:45 P.M. Tuesday. Residents evacuated onto Boston Common...

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

Saturday classes creating roadblocks for students, professors

By Dana Gerber / 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....

Emerson's testing site is located at a Tufts Medical Center facility on the corner of Harrison Ave. and Kneeland St.

Symptom tracker to be linked to tap access in October

By Charlie McKenna / September 30, 2020

Emerson will begin linking its daily symptom tracker to student, faculty, and staff ids in October, meaning community members will no longer have to display...

Students cross the intersection of Boylston St. and Tremont St.

A mix of excitement and anxiety as students return to an altered campus

By Beacon Staff / September 4, 2020

Five months and 11 days after Emerson prematurely shuttered its campuses due to the initial U.S. outbreak of COVID-19, the college officially reopened...

A view of Emerson's Dining Center from the Boylston Place alley.

A desolate Boston campus is the new reality for remaining students

By Dana Gerber, Assistant Enterprise News Editor / March 29, 2020

One month ago, sophomore Maximo Lawlor served as president at Phi Alpha Tau meetings, wrote for Raiz Magazine, and co-captained the tennis team. Now, he...

A pile of belonging rests curbside as one of the hundreds of Emerson students who live on campus squeezed everything they owned into their car.

How the coronavirus outbreak is affecting students’ lives

By Melissa Rosales / March 22, 2020

On this week’s episode of The Beacon, we discuss how the coronavirus outbreak affects students’ lives, with producer Melissa Rosales, Berkeley Beacon’s...

"I’ve learned that my decision to stay somewhat local—in, might I add, one of the best college cities in the U.S.—does not make me immature or overly dependent." / Illustration by Ally Rzesa

Home sweet home: Why going to college nearby can be beneficial

By Jess Ferguson / November 18, 2019

Throughout the college application process, I felt pressured to attend school somewhere far away from my home in southeastern Massachusetts. Everyone...

Students deserve a stress-free registration process

Students deserve a stress-free registration process

By Editorial Board / November 7, 2019

This Monday, the registrar’s office shut down class registration for students with 92 or more credits following a technical issue. According to an email...

Respect college employees with improved communication

Respect college employees with improved communication

By Editorial Board / October 2, 2019

Over the summer, the college switched their employment software from their old system, People Admin, to a new software called Workday. In the process of...

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...

Beacon Archives

Op-ed: An Open Letter to Incoming (And Returning) Students

By Richard West / August 25, 2019

Richard West is an Emerson professor in the Department of Communication and the former President of both the National Communication Association and Eastern...