t h e o n l i n e b e a c o n . c o m

Student Newspaper of Massachusetts College

of Liberal Arts

North Adams, Mass.

Volume 75Issue 2

ThursdayFebruary 9, 2012

The Beacon

IN THIS ISSUE

Women’s basketball wins against WestfieldTrailblazers climb to second place in MASCAC conference

Sports , page 9

Seventh annual Blues and Funk Fest MCLA Entrepreneurial Club

hosts a venture compeitionBerkshire-based band Misty Blues headlined Friday night at PUBLIC Eat+ and Drink

NEWS, page 3 Arts and Entertainment, page 6

For breaking news, follow us on Twitter:@BEACONMCLA

For updates, friend us at:facebook.com/MCLABeacon

News 2-4World 5A&E 6-8Sports 9-11Op-Ed 12-13Science 14Comic & Games 15Photo Essay 16

Campus responds to Board vote

Friendly Competition

Community members’ letters voicing opinion on gun vote

OPINION, page 12

Students respond to arming of campus police By Ed DamonEditor in Chief

� e campus has been alive with conversation since the Board of Trustees voted 10-1 to arm cam-pus police.

At Monday’s SGA meeting, President Todd Foy’s opening remarks concerned the Board’s decision, which he said marks the end of a chapter.

“Know that I, like many of you, are in no way pleased with the Board of Trustees’ decision to arm our campus police,” he said. “� ough they considered every piece of information and opinion with utmost scrutiny, I believe the decision re� ects the disregard of student opinion. For that, you have every right to be upset and express that in appropriate ways.

I ask that we put aside personal feelings on the issue and focus on the issue at hand, which is arming our campus police,” he said, ad-vising the Senate against motion-ing to condemn anyone involved with the decision.

“When we lose sight of the issue at hand, we lose sight of the sense of community that makes the institution what it is. And when that happens, nobody wins,” Foy

added. Foy said he and Student Trustee

Jaynelle Bellemore will be in-volved with a task force working on how to go about arming cam-

pus police. He also said President Grant and Joseph Charon, direc-tor of Public Safety, will be at the next SGA meeting, Monday Feb. 13, to answer � nal questions.

� e sole vote against the issue was from Bellemore, who said it would change the campus cli-mate.

“Students have negative and un-

safe feelings attached to guns,” she said

Trustees cited increased vio-lence and a changing world for their decision. Trustee Jane Allen said her decision to vote in favor of arming o� cers was based in part on her experience as an el-ementary school principal.

“I can honestly tell you nothing weighs heavier in mind than the safety of my students,” she said. “I will pass my vote in favor for the safety of students.”

� e Board’s decision in� uenced a group of students to protest in front of Eldridge Hall for several mornings. Several students as-sembled near the parking lot of Eldridge and Mark Hopkins Halls to greet administrative sta� as they arrive to campus.

Kate Larson, a senior present at the protests Friday morning, said she is upset over the student voic-es repeatedly being ignored.

“A repeated pattern has been ignoring student voices and con-cerns,” she said. “� ere’s a lot of things that the community cares about that the Administration ig-nores. And now they’ve ignored the student vote.”

Photo by Ed Damon/Beacon sta� Senate Chair Korinna Dennehey, Executive Vice President Stephanie Esposito, and President Todd Foy speak at the SGA meeting Monday night.

Senator Kerry addresses student debt, stresses importance of education

By Andrew RoiterManaging Editor

With less than ten months to go until the November election, Emerson College of Boston, Mass. hosted Sen. John Kerry and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on Monday Feb. 6 in a roundtable discussion reserved for college presidents and a Q&A session, which was open to students.

� e Q&A session, moderated by Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton, lasted roughly 40 minutes and focused on the topic of education.

“� e bottom line is that we have to adjust the model a little bit, we have to change the way we do things and what we’re doing,” Kerry said. “Here we are in a world that is far more competitive...and we’re still moseying along with this older system that has yet to really spring full gear.”

Kerry stressed the importance of easing the burden of student

debt. Kerry gave a small anecdote about President Obama, in which the president joked that when he married his wife, they doubled into poverty, because they absorbed each other’s student debt. Kerry added that student debt is now the largest personal debt in the country, topping consumer debt.

“� e President is determined to try to keep down the interest rates. We have increased Pell grants to the greatest level in history. We took the middle people out of the lending process...so the banks are no longer taking their component of the lending and we’re able to lend to you at a lower rate and we’re saving about $68 billion over 11 years,” Kerry added.

As in the recent budget recommendation by Mass. Governor Deval Patrick and in President Obama’s state of the union address, the Q&A emphasized the importance of community colleges in the

marketplace.“� is symbiosis between

education and the marketplace could not be more real,” Kerry said.

“I think that Community Colleges have an amazingly important role to play…We’re trying to shine a huge spotlight and bring unprecedented resources [to community colleges]...in partnership with the department of labor, we put $2 billion into community colleges, $500 million a year for the next four years,” Duncan said.

� e speakers discussed the topic of raising standards in both secondary and primary education. Kerry suggested that instead of holding entire classes back to keep the pace with those struggling, schools should support struggling students with extra help, speci� cally mentors.

Photo courtesy of Brycen WatersSenator John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Arne Duncan, and Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton engage in a Q&A session with students on Monday.

KERRY, continued on page 5

GUNS, continued on page 5

Thursday, February 9, 2012 News2

The Beacon is published Thursdays during the academic year and is

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SGA BriefsMonday Feb. 6

– SGA President Todd Foy ad-dressed the Senate regarding Thursday’s vote by the Board of Trustees.

– Vice President of Academic Affairs Cynthia Brown, along with head of Student Devel-opment Celia Norcross, out-lined the College’s upcoming New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) accreditation. Ac-creditation is a status granted to a college that has meet or exceed stated criteria of qual-ity. Eleven “standards” es-tablish minimum criteria for quality. Vice President Brown described how President Foy will be serving on the Student standard, which discusses all aspects of student life. Brown stressed student input is very important and informed the Senate about an email address they can use to send com-ments, NEASC2013@mcla.edu. Brown and Norcross also invited students to a kickoff meeting Thursday Feb. 16 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Church St. Center.

-President Foy told the Senate the Residential Programs and Services Advisory Board will be meeting Thursdays at 3:30. Foy said this would be the board a RPS Committee on the Senate would prospectively sit on. He said if anyone would be interested serving on this seat to email him and attend the Advisory Board meeting. Foy said the creation of this seat would be taken care of during the SGA constitution amend-ment process.

-The meeting minutes from January 23 and 30 were ap-proved by the Senate.

-Sustainability Committee Chair Jason Brown presented a draft of a document that out-lined a revised mission state-ment and goals. Brown asked the Senate to look over the document and bring any com-ments to the next meeting. Brown reminded the Senate of a campus garden meeting on Friday, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. by the couches in Venable Hall lobby.

-SGA Treasurer Peter Swain presented supplumental bud-get requests from Black Stu-dent Union (BSU) and Nexxus. Since no representatives from either club were present, no motion was made to approve the budgets. The budgets will stay in old business and the clubs will be reinvited to next week’s meeting.

Contact usEmail: Beacon@mcla.eduNews desk: 413-662-5535Business line: 413-662-5404www.theonlinebeacon.com

Location:Mark Hopkins Hall, room 111

Sunday 1/297:20 pm – Public Safety investi-

gated a report of suspicious activ-ity at the Highland House. A cita-tion was issued.

Monday 1/3012:41 pm – Public Safety re-

sponded to a medical call in Bow-man hall and provided transpor-tation.

Tuesday 1/318:19 pm – Public Safety re-

sponded to a complaint of harass-ment in Berkshire Towers and re-ferred to another campus.

Wednesday 2/19:08 am – Public Safety investi-

gated a report of suspicious activ-ity in Venable Hall. No action was required.

10:50 am – Public Safety re-sponded to a complaint in Berk-shire Towers and referred the in-cident to another campus.

8:04 pm – Public Safety re-sponded to a medical call in Hoo-sac Hall and rendered necessary services.

Thursday 2/2

12:53 am – Public Safety investi-gated a report of suspicious activ-ity in Townhouse lot 3. The activ-ity was unfounded.

7:05 pm – Test of the Berkshire Towers fire alarm system was per-formed.

7:30 pm – Test of the Hoosac Hall fire alarm system was per-formed.

9:38 pm – Public Safety re-sponded to a mental health issue in the Townhouse complex. Stu-dent was trasported to hospital.

Friday 2/310:41 pm – Public Safety re-

sponded to a complaint of dis-turbing the peace on Blackinton Street. Peace was restored.

Through the Center for Ser-vice, students have the power to improve our community, in a place that is run by students. It is where you can work with peers, and contribute your very own ideas.

According to its mission statement, the Center for Ser-vice “empowers[s] students to combine traditional course-work with community service and experiential learning.”

“It’s a competitive world, but the Center for Service can equip a student with powerful out-of-classroom learning ex-periences,” coordinator Spen-cer Moser said. “This is a place where students can take part in civic engagement.”

“We offer several commu-nity programs, including Write Stuff, STICS, Pathways and Building Bridges with Youth,” he said.

Sophomore Chris Hantman is the coordinator for Write Stuff, which takes place on Thurs-days.

“MCLA students mentor local fifth through seventh graders, presenting an aspect of college

life,” he said.Children are taken to experi-

ence a club or activity on cam-pus. Creative writing is also incorporated, and children are given writing prompts connect-ed to what they experienced.

“This program exposes chil-dren to college, showing them it is accessible,” said Hantman.

Student Teacher In-Class Sup-port, STICS, is another com-munity service program. “We recruit student volunteers to go into the local elementary schools for a set time based on the student’s availability on a weekly basis.”

In the past students have read to the children, helped with writing in elementary school english classes, helped out at the afterschool program, and sometimes were just present as a helping hand in the class-room.

Another program, Building Bridges with Youth, is coordi-nated by junior Nashua Rose and sophomore Meghan Da-vidson.

“Building Bridges with Youth is a program that promotes the volunteering of MCLA stu-dents in tutoring and mentor-ing,” said Rosa. “I would say we (the coordinators and students)

want to encourage and support the Youth.

Under our program we have 5 volunteer opportunities: Ad-ams Youth Center, Berkshire Art and Technical Charter School, Community Transition Program, Horizons for Home-less Children, and Friends of Foster Families,” she said.

Rosa urges all students to be a part of the Center for Service.

“I believe that others should

join this and other programs in the Center for Service because MCLA is not only a school, it is also a part of a larger commu-nity and we as students should do what we can for this school and the community,” she said.

For all information on other Center for Service programs visit http://www.mcla.edu/Stu-dent_Life/community/center-forservice/

Center for Service engages studentsPrograms equip students with out-of-classroom experiences, allow civic engagement

By Holly JohnstonStaff Writer

Campus police investigate suspicious activity, harrassment Excerpts from police logs Jan. 29 – Feb. 4

Beacon ArchiveSpencer Moser is the coordinator for the Center for Service at

MCLA.

Thursday, February 9, 2012 News 3

FINANCIAL AID ANNOUNCEMENT

IT’S TIME TO APPLY FOR 2012-2013 FINANCIAL AID!

MARCH 1ST PRIORITY DATE!

* Log onto www.mcla.edu/aid and click on Application Forms for the links to complete the Institutional Application for Fi-

nancial Aid and the FAFSA.

REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR FIRSTCLASS COLLEGE EMAIL FOR ANY REQUESTED INFORMATION FOR

YOUR FILE!!

FILE EARLY AND DON’T MISS OUT ON MONEY!MARCH 1ST PRIORITY DEADLINE!

The Entrepreneurial Club is hosting a Venture Competition for all interested students, which will consist of workshops and a final written competition with a deadline of March 26.

The first workshop is on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Small Business Development Center in Pittsfield. Students can meet in front of the Townhouses for a ride at 4:15 p.m., but seats must be reserved by e-mailing the club.

There will be four more work-shops to follow, which will be led by President Mary Grant, Pro-fessor David Eve, and business owner, Bernie English, to teach students how to own and operate any business and to develop their own business ideas.

Senior and club president Mi-chael Lattanzio said when the Entrepreneurial Club was estab-lished in Spring 2011, his goal was to bring in guest speakers and host the Venture Competition in order to encourage entrepreneur-ship on campus.

“This competition is something most business clubs put on for students,” Lattanzio said, “and students do not need to be busi-ness majors to come to our work-shops or be in the competition.”

Throughout the workshops, stu-dents from all backgrounds will take their business ideas and learn how to develop them into a final written plan, he said.

Students will then submit their written plans to the Entrepre-neurial Club and a panel of judges will choose the top three profit businesses and top three non-profit businesses to appear in the final competition. The deadline for submissions is March 26 and finalists will present their idea on April 11 at the Orchards Hotel in Williamstown.

“All students need is to have an idea they are passionate about,” Lattanzio said. “They need to re-

search their idea, create an action plan, and just do it.”

Junior and club vice president James Wetzel said the purpose of the workshops and competition is to push students to pursue their passions and to show students what they are capable of.

“Once a student graduates, he or she will most likely be working for a business of some kind,” Wetzel said. “We want to give students the tools they need to take their passions and develop them into

something lifelong.” He said the skills students will

learn are applicable to all fields: dance majors who may want to start a dance studio or English majors who want to start a pub-lishing company, for example.

“These tools can be applied later on in life or can be used now,” Wetzel said. “If students want something strongly enough, our aim is to show them they can get it.”

The club has been working with

the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce, who is willing to give incentives for students to partici-pate in the competition, he said.

“If students enter these work-shops with a ‘can do’ attitude, this is something that will change their lives,” Wetzel said.

Lattanzio compared these work-shops and competition to the Undergraduate Research Confer-ence. Students take an idea and watch it develop into something meaningful, he said.

Senior and club secretary Jaynelle Bellemore said she has been helping with the planning process, brainstorming workshop ideas, and trying to spread the word.

“I would encourage every stu-dent to either attend the work-shops or join the competition,” she said. “Being able to learn about the business-planning pro-cess and other aspects of the busi-ness world from successful entre-preneurs is an excellent resource and an amazing networking op-portunity.”

For more information or to reg-ister for the competition, contact mclaentrepreneurialclub@gmail.com or Michael Lattanzio via First Class.

The Entrepreneurial Club meet-ings are held on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in Murdock 302 and are open to all interested students.

Competition calls for creativityBy Skyla Seamans

Staff Writer

Graphic courtesy of the MCLA Entrepreneurial ClubThe 2012 Venture Competition is made up of five workshops and a final competition at the Orchards Hotel in Williamstown on April 11.

Monthly forum to address poverty

NORTH ADAMS – Join the Northern Berkshire Commu-nity Coalition (nbCC) for its monthly forum on Friday, Febru-ary 10th, from 10 a.m. to noon at the First Baptist Church in North Adams (Eagle St. entrance). Fo-rums offer an opportunity for the northern Berkshire community to come together in a safe envi-ronment and discuss important issues facing residents. This fo-rum will look at different areas of struggle for those living in pov-erty, such as the lack of affordable housing and the unavailability of jobs that provide a living wage.

One goal of this forum in-cludes identifying what is al-ready happening to address some of the issues people are facing and find ways to work together more effectively with the hope of community change.

This forum will also introduce an emerging nbCC community-organizing initiative, tentatively named nbOP (Northern Berk-shire Organizing Project), whose mission is to break the cycle of

poverty by building community. Membership of nbOP will con-sist of groups such as congrega-tions, neighborhood groups, and community associations. The primary objective of nbOP is for people facing poverty to come together to identify their own leadership, their most pressing is-sues, and work in unison to make community and policy change.

For more information on this forum or nbOP, please contact Wendy Krom, Northern Berk-shire Neighbors Program Co-ordinator, (413) 663-7588 ext. 15, or wkrom@nbccoalition.org.

The forum will begin with a round of introductions followed by brief announcements of your upcoming events or new proj-ects. Please bring flyers about your events and announcements as there will be a table available for sharing them. Also note that the organizers of the Friend-ship Center Food Pantry at 43 Eagle Street ask friends who at-tend the nbCC Forums to please bring a non-perishable food item for donation to the pantry.

Press Release

MCLA Entrepreneurial Club hosts a venture compeition to spark the imaginations of students.

Thursday, February 9, 2012 News4

Students’ siblings are in-vited to a campus-wide sleepover for the annual Little Sibs Overnight at the end of March, sponsored by Residential Programs and Services (RPS).

Emily Schiavoni of RPS is the coordinator of Little Sibs Overnight. This will be the program’s fourth year, but the first time it is being held in the spring semester. The two-night program will be held Mar. 30 through Apr. 1, and will feature a toy theme.

“The toy theme lends itself to good giveaways and priz-es,” Schiavoni said.

Kids ages eight to 17 are invited to enjoy these week-end activities. There is a $10 fee upon registration for the variety of events. Profit goes to the Resident Student Scholarship.

“RPS brought this pro-gram to MCLA a few years ago in hopes of building a new tradition on campus,” Diane Manning Director of RPS said. “We started it in Hoosac Hall and now all three residence areas are involved. I’m excited to see Little Sibs move to its own special weekend in the spring and hope that this move helps participation in the program to grow.”

Check- in begins at 5 p.m.

on Friday Mar. 30. That eve-ning, students and their sib-lings are invited to attend the Allegrettos concert. On the morning of Mar. 31, there will be a complemen-tary cereal bar and morn-ing cartoons, followed by a pool party, and a “crafter-noon.” The Students Activi-ties Council (SAC) will host an animal adventures event, where exotic animals will come to campus.

There will be puzzles, life-sized board games, and a “How Well Do You Know Your Sibling?” game, based on the “Newlyweds” game show. Prizes will be awarded for all game winners.

Later in the evening there

will be a “Totally Toy Story” movie night, where students and their siblings can enjoy the Toy Story series along with milk and cookies. The morning of Apr. 1 will be a chance for siblings to hang out and explore the region.

“Since we no longer have The Harbor, we may use BT as home base or Sullivan Lounge,” Schiavoni said. “Last year there were about 30-35 people. When it was just Hoosac, it was even smaller and only had about 20 participants.”

The Advisory Board is ex-cited for this RPS tradition, and they are ready to help out with the program.

Schiavoni said programs

like these are great for stu-dents with younger siblings who otherwise wouldn’t be allowed to stay on campus (ages eight to 15 are not normally permitted to stay over), but this program al-lows them to do just that.

“This program means a lot to the familes who par-ticipate,” Katherine Stanton, Townhouse Resident Advi-sor, said. “My younger sister loves to tell stories about the weekends she has spent here on campus.”

Signups will begin this week. Contact Emily Schia-voni on FirstClass for more details.

The Environmental Stud-ies Department is holding another Green Living Semi-nar today, Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m. in Murdock Hall 218.

The presentation will be given by Doug Bruce, Stew-ardship Manager for the Berkshire Natural Resourc-es Council (BNRC).

“Bruce will talk about a collaborative project the BNRC is doing with the Natural Resources Conser-

vation Service on improv-ing habitat for the rare New England cottontail rabbit,” Elena Traister, Assistant Professor of environmental studies, said.

Bruce is a native of North-ern Vermont. He lived in North Carolina where he completed coursework to-ward a Master of Science at Wake Forest University.

“In addition to document-ing and monitoring con-servation restrictions, the stewardship department manages BNRC’s fee prop-erty, trails, habitat projects,

and forest-health improve-ment project,” said the BN-RC’s Web site.

According to Traister, the Green Living Seminar Se-ries is sponsored by EOS Ventures, Inc. and Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort and is a presentation of MCLA’s environmental studies de-partment.

The Green Living Semi-nars are not just for Envi-ronmental Studies majors. Adam Duchemin, a senior studying art, said it is a great idea that all types of students go to at least one seminar.

“You do not need to be an environmentalist in order to help the environment,” Duchemin said.

“Each one is different to spark different interests. If one student is not interested in one topic, they can just go to the next seminar,” Duch-emin said on the different types of seminars offered.

If students cannot make the seminar due to prior obligations, each seminar is being podcasted and will be posted online following each presentation.

No More U-Haul Coming and Going....

Stay through your breaks... (No rushing you out after graduation either)

In Your Room: In Your House:

A MUCH Larger Room with a DOUBLE Bed - 42” Flat Screen HDTV A 32” flat screen HDTV - w/ Full Sports Cable Package

Cable w/ sports - Dishwasher

A mini-fridge - Hi Speed Wi-Fi

a bureau with mirror - Couches

a nightstand - Coffee Table a desk with 3 side shelves and Executive Chair - Refrigerator and Stove

---- EARLY BIRD SPECIAL.... Get Surround Sound or TV Upgrade to 47” ----

Boardman 664-9400 Singles or Any Size Group

Financial Aid is the SAME Off-Campus and On-Campus

It is Determined by the Number Of Credits You Take

By Jessica GamariStaff Writer

Rare rabbit topic of Green Living seminarBy Amy Cubello

Staff Writer

Little sibs invited to MCLA

What: Green Living Seminar

Who: Doug Bruce, Stewardship manager for the Berkshire Natural Resources Council

When: Today, Feb. 9, 5:30 p.m.

Where: Murdock Hall room 218

Thursday, February 9, 2012 News 5

NORTH ADAMS, MASS – The Massachusetts College of Lib-eral Arts Environuts will meet Thursday nights over the spring semester. The group will discuss environmental policies, both federal and on campus, and plans for campus events. The meeting time and location is to be deter-mined within the week.

“The Environuts is a student run group that focuses on sus-tainable practices on the MCLA campus,” Rebecca Geraci, Envi-ronuts vice president, said. “The club also provides a way for stu-dents to voice their concerns for the planet and gives them an out-let to try to improve them.”

The Environuts has worked with groups such as Williams College and Tar Sands Action on

initiatives such as demonstrating against the transnational Key-stone XL Pipeline. It is currently working on local issues such as recycling and plastic waste on the MCLA campus and sustain-ability initiatives in North Ad-ams.

Students are invited to attend meetings to learn about the state of the environment, participate in group events, and contribute their thoughts on sustainabil-ity. Events this semester will in-clude: sustainability conferences, camping trips, and documentary viewings.

For more information vis-it the Environuts online at ht tp : / / w w w. f a c e b o ok . c om /groups/113564435341087/ or contact: Rebecca Geraci on First-Class or rg4350@mcla.edu.

Environuts to meet weekly throughout the semester

NORTH ADAMS, MASS – Black Student Union (BSU) club is promoting Black History Month throughout the month of February. BSU is a student organization bringing the com-munity together.

Professor Frances Jones-Sneed held a discussion on the back-ground of African-Americans on Feb. 3.

Black Jeopardy, an educational

event game giving information on Black History, will be held in the Campus Center room 334B from 7-9 p.m. on Feb. 14.

As well as these events, BSU will also be holding social gatherings throughout the spring semester. This gathering; Flash Back Party: Old Skool to New Skool on Feb. 10 in Sullivan Lounge 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

BSU is an ALANA club in which it brings the students to-gether. This organization hosts

cultural events for MCLA stu-dents to try and bring all stu-dents together.

Black Student Union Executive Board consists of Alex Mukendi Public Relations; Secretary Es-ther Cazeau, Treasure Tyeson Bel; Co-Treasure, Marie-angie Anodjo, Vice-President Asia An-drews, and President Christine Brandao.

Brandao said that bringing the community together is what the school needs and BSU can do

that with the students here at MCLA.

“Alone we can do so little. To-gether we can do so much. So coming together is a beginning but staying together is a progress and working together is success,” she said.

For more information con-tact Christine Brandao by phone (774) 319-0780 or email cb7808@mcla.edu.

Press Release

Black Student Union plans several events to promote Black History Month

Spires still accepting submissions

NORTH ADAMS, MASS – At Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the school’s literary maga-zine, titled Spires, has announced that the final date for entries will be Feb. 29. The artistic maga-zine accepts creative works by students, including poetry, art, photography, and short stories. Submissions are selected anony-mously through collaboration of Spires members.

“Everyone should submit their favorite work!” said Kate Larson, head editor. Pieces can be sub-mitted via email: mclaspires@gmail.com.

Spires has been an MCLA tradi-tion for over a decade. The maga-zine’s committee is also known for sponsoring events such as Open Mic nights. This is a forum open to all students who wish to express their art to an audience. The next Open Mic is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 22, time and location to be announced at a later date.

Anyone interested in more in-formation about Spires, contact Alex Marshall or Kate Larson via FirstClass email.

“I think the law is pretty broken right now, [it] lead to a narrowing of the curriculum in reading and math and lead to states dumbing down standards...What we’re doing now is using our authority to provide some regulatory relief... very simply, we’ll stick to doing the right thing: raising standards, not lowering standards, and holding

folks accountable. We want to give [the schools] more room to move,” Duncan said.

“We got to do a better job in K-12,” Kerry said. “Too many kids are going into college and immediately going into remedial math. And that means we’re not doing something right before they get to college and we’re wasting some of their college time. ”

This discussion lead to a criticism of the political landscape

and a dig at the Republican presidential nominees.

“There’s a completely fraudulent debate taking place in American to the degree that there’s any real debate at all. And we’ve entered a terrible dumbing down of the American political system,” he said. “The other side is just talking about cutting, our side is talking about reducing the deficit in a balanced, thoughtful way while we invest in the future.”

KERRY, continued from page 1

The discussion began from a state Board of Higher Edu-cation recommendation in 2008 that stated, “Sworn campus police officers should be armed and trained in the use of personal or specialized firearms.” The report outlined steps colleges

should take to ensure the safety of students and faculty.

Charon argued for the arming of campus police since the de-partment has sworn police offi-cers with the same training and responsibilities as other police forces. The campus police are re-quired to act if they see a crime. Since the campus is expanding

farther into the city, the officers are being put at risk if they come upon a crime, he said.

The introduction of firearms will carry an initial cost of $24,635 and cost $6,026 annu-ally. All officers will go through firearms training with the state Criminal Justice Training Coun-cil.

GUNS, continued from page 1

Press Release

Press Release

Senator addresses students at conference

Students voice concerns over Trustees vote to arm Public Safety officers

“I don’t have much of an opinion. I don’t really don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”

- Allie Conlon ‘14

“I believe that they should be armed. But the protests are definitely understandable. No one listened to the students.”

- Anthony Olivares ‘14

“I’d prefer a more proactive approach to addressing security concerns. We need to train our police to de-escalate crisises rather than making policies based on extreme hypothetical scenarios.”

- Britany Kissinger ‘12

“While I voted for the arming of Public Safety, I personally feel as if more consideration and respect should have been shown to the Campus Voice in regards to the vote that was taken.”

- Caitlin Versailles ‘12

“I am glad they voted to arm the officers and I hope that discouraged students will stay involved and aware of the process as it is happening.”

- Catt Chaput ‘13

“The fact that the overwhelming majority of students and faculty members voted against it should have been taken more seriously in the Board of Trustees’ decision.”

- Emily Burke ‘12

What is your opinion of the Board of Trustees’ vote to arm Public Safety?

Campus Commentcompiled by Aaron Crawford

twitter.com/BeaconMCLAfacebook.com/MCLABeacon

Online at:theonlinebeacon.com

Thursday, February 9, 2012 A&E theonlinebeacon.com6Comedian Open Mic Night attracts veterans, newcomers

Tucked into the side room of Public Eat + Drink last Thursday night was Colby Durand, the host of Public’s Comedy Open Mic Night, standing in front of a small guitar amp. While the amp was quickly discarded in favor of what was called “an a capella comedy night,” the audience was small enough to hear every word.

Durand MCed the evening and gave little one-liners in between acts.

“I was recently told… I look like Jack the Ripper,” he said. “I still don’t have a comeback for that because Jack the Ripper was never caught… no one knows what he looks like.”

The first comedian of the night was the Albany-based Carlisle Carey. Her comedy ranged from pop-culture observations, such as the Jersey Shore, to online dating. She explained that online dating is like being picked up in a dive-bar in slow-motion, and how you are going to say no to all of them anyway. It just takes longer online.

Another New York comedian, William Hughes, was the next comedian of the night. He stood next to the amplifier, but then changed his mind and grabbed a chair.

“I’m not just going to be cool,” he said as he turned it backwards, “I’m going to be don’t-do-drugs cool.”

Hughes’s routine focused mostly

on the duality of his job, going from working at a desk in an of-fice to the warehouse, and just what happens when people go to geeky conventions.

“Nerds go to these conventions,” he said, “and it’s like salmon going to spawn.”

Hughes even got some audience reaction on one of his jokes.

“Wow, that joke went down fast-er than JFK Jr.’s airplane,” he said when the joke did not receive as much laughter as he had hoped.

The audience responded with mixed laughter and shock.

“Too soon,” senior Brett Hinch-cliffe yelled.

“Too soon?” asked Hughes. “If that’s too soon, Lincoln assassina-tion jokes are too soon.”

The third comedian of the night was Michael Berrouet, an MCLA student and only on his second performance ever.

“So, I’m Haitian,” he said in the beginning of his routine. “Yes we still exist after the earthquake. Our country is God’s Etch-a-Sketch but we’re still here.”

Berrouet did a number of im-pressions including his mother worriedly warning him not to leave the house and the absurdity of Bruno Mars’ song, “Grenade.” However, Mars was not the only celebrity to be on the receiving end of his jokes.

“The other day I was listening to Lady Gaga,” he said and paused. “I don’t know why I was listening to

Lady Gaga.”The final comedian was Seth

Brown, who apologized that he didn’t really have any new jokes prepared because he had been do-ing nothing but working on his book.

“If you want to hear about the Declaration of Independence of 1776 I could do that,” he said. The audience laughed but he contin-ued on with jokes instead.

Like the comedians before him, he had a lot of nerdy jokes about nerds.

“At some point in their lives, every man has wanted to be Bat-man,” he said and explained it is because Batman is attainable. Rather than being able to fly or shoot lasers out of his eyes, Bat-man is just really rich.

Brown spent some time talking about superheroes and superpow-ers, including how everyone who bowls believes they have telekine-sis.

He was even prone to some great puns, or terrible puns de-pending on your opinions of puns in general.

“I like interesting headlines,” Brown said after talking about how newspapers need more head-lines about penguins. “That’s why I bought a corduroy pillow.”

If you love comedy but missed this Open Mic Night, there will be one on the first Thursday of every month at Public. The sign-up is at 9 p.m. and the comedians will start at 9:30 p.m.

Photo by Serina Stimpson/Beacon StaffWilliam Hughes, above, decided to be “Don’t-Do-Drugs Cool,” and MCLA student Michael Berrouet did many impressions, including his mother and the different people in dance clubs.

By Mary RedstoneA&E Editor

Allegrettos prep for PBS competition“It doesn’t matter if you’re black,

or white; gospel is for everyone,” Juwonni “Jay” Cottle said. As co-di-rector and founder of The Allegret-tos, the junior sees only possibilities within song.

“Our goal for the gospel group this semester is to teach that gospel is a positive thing in everyone’s life. Believing in God is only part of it,” he said.

After fine-tuning the new voices and the returning singers following fall auditions, Cottle and co-direc-tor Melody Rolph plan to have their hands full this semester. Fresh off from opening for Blitz the Ambas-sador for the Blues and Funk Fes-tival, the group is planning to give gospel a new spin by exposing The Allegrettos talent throughout the spring.

“We have our annual gospel con-cert on Feb. 16 and 17 in Church Street Center,” Cottle said.

While Rolph manages the a cap-pella side of things when it comes to the Allegrettos (according to Cottle, she’s given the genre a bit of a “folk feel”), Cottle sees gospel as his call-ing, but really finds a home in gen-eral singing.

Originally from Dorchester, Mass., Cottle graduated from the renowned Boston Arts Academy, a high school institution where audi-tions are required to attend. Though he started as a theatre major there,

Cottle found himself drawn to song.“I am both an actor and a mu-

sician, but always found myself drawn to music.”

Cottle had a role in the FPA de-partment’s production of “Urinet-own” last fall, and was the music di-rector for Harlequin’s performance of “RENT”, but he has found his passion at its best when it comes to The Allegrettos, which means ‘light and lively’, according to Cottle.

While the group’s name may give the connotation of peace and se-renity, Cottle assures that the Al-legrettos plan to bring the fire this semester. After breaking out into the competition world last year, Cottle is already prepping his group to sing their hearts out once again at PBS’s “Together in Song.” As the only group to have done both a cappella and gospel, the Allegret-tos met their collegiate competitors with a heavy challenge.

“We didn’t market enough,” Cot-tle said regarding the group’s loss. “People’s votes were important; The Allegrettos were the only people who voted for The Allegrettos. This year we’re going to let people know who to text their vote to.”

The competition is during spring break, so Cottle is already busy. He is consistently practicing and re-hearsing within The Allegrettos, as well as conducting them. With one year left, Cottle has just that much time left to create a lasting impres-sion in the already popular three-

year old club he created his fresh-man year.

“Next year I’ve been thinking about stepping down to be more of a resource, but I’m nervous about musical withdrawal,” he admitted.

Many others have been touched by being a part of the Allegrettos and Cottle’s leadership. Senior Tony Tofani sees being a member as one of his best moments at MCLA.

“Working with Jay is fantastic,” Tofani said. “Being with the Alle-grettos has definitely been a high point for me here. It’s amazing to sing with such a group of talented people.”

Cottle admits he isn’t ready for his last year or so with the Allegrettos as it has been his passion since he found the club halfway through his first year of college.

“It will be tough to let go,” Cottle admitted with a nervous laugh. “I know I should begin the process of distancing myself so leaving the Al-legrettos won’t hurt as much, but I will definitely be sad. This group is much bigger than I ever thought it would be.”

Cottle’s passion clearly runs through every rehearsal, show, and video. His dedication came with day one as a freshman, and his un-derstanding for people has made the group grow physically and emo-tionally.

“Talent is color blind,” Cottle pointed out. “That’s what I want people to know.”

By Nora WeissA&E Writer

Photo by Serina Stimpson/Beacon StaffAllegrettos founder and co-director Juwonni “Jay” Cottle has his hands full this semester, focusing on their Gospel Show next week and returning to “Together in Song” on PBS.

Thursday, February 9, 2012 A&E theonlinebeacon.com 7

Mary RedstoneA&E Editor

New music really isn’t so

scary, I promiseI want you to think of the music

you listen to. Not necessarily your favorites but just the music you lis-ten to and enjoy. Now, how many different genres do those bands fall into? Four? Five? One?

This country is in a state of mu-sical stagnation. Our popular cul-ture consists of four genres: pop singers, pop “rockers,” hip hop, and classic rock once in a while for that nostalgic feel.

Think I’m wrong? Look at com-mercials. Look at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Look at what is played on “mainstream” radio. Make a mental tally every time you hear something that isn’t a form of pop, hip hop, or classic rock. And no, Foster the People doesn’t count; they’re still pop. Arcade Fire, an indie band, won Best Al-bum at the Grammys but still can’t get played on the radio.

Now I’m not discrediting any of those genres; I have some favor-ite pop singers, I love a good deal of hip hop, and classic rock has a large spot in my heart. What I am discrediting is the general listeners’ unwillingness to branch out.

I could be wrong though and there could be thousands of people out there who have tried listening to jazz and Afro-hop and hipster-folk and just don’t like it. I could be right though, and those same thousands of people just don’t want to try listening to anything other than what’s on the radio.

I’m a musically daring person. I went to see Blitz the Ambassador on Saturday with an open mind and having absolutely no idea what to expect. I left the show in an incredibly good mood and with a new genre of music to explore.

But then, I was disappointed the next day upon watching the Super Bowl Halftime Show: pop, pop, hip-hop, and hip-hop with a smidge of R&B. The year before? Black Eyed Peas. Before that was The Who, then Bruce Springs-teen, Tom Petty, Prince, The Roll-ing Stones… Although if you go back to 2003 No Doubt did make a small appearance.

Last summer, I spent three days in New York at a bluegrass festi-val. Prior to the trip, I had really only listened to Old Crow Medi-cine Show and still thought ban-jos were for Deliverence. Now, I can’t get enough of bands like the Punch Brothers and I actually own a banjo.

All I’m saying is that we need to branch out and not be afraid to ex-periment with new music. Find a radio station you’ve never listened to before. Type an artist you don’t know into Pandora. Go to a ran-dom concert. You just might find music you never knew you loved.

Public hosts first musicopen mic night

Amidst the pair of flat screen TVs tuned on to college basket-ball, local eatery Public Eat + Drink was all about the music on Feb. 1. The good food and excel-lent drink was accompanied by the joint’s first open mic night, featuring local acoustic acts.

MCLA students, alum, and Berkshire folks crowded the main dining room, dividing their atten-tion between the food and the en-tertainment. With sign-ups start-ing at 8 p.m. and the list full by 9, everyone was in for a treat.

“We’re really enjoying tonight,” MCLA junior Kate Moore said. “The food is wonderful and it’s nice to get a glass of wine and lis-ten to local music.”

From Bob Dylan sound-a-likes to Fender Resonator’s, Public’s first open mic night was nothing short of a success. Between ren-ditions of True Blood’s opening theme song (“Bad Things” by Jace Everett, for those who have been wondering all these years) and original songs written by dreamy crooners, Public was really the place to be last week.

The college’s talent shone, of course. Freshman Tyler Bernard rocked old style to some Jimi Hendrix, but included a classic-sounding style of Gnarls Bark-ley’s “Crazy” toward the end of the night. Graduate student Mike Quinones took time off from teaching to give off a Jason Mraz feel early on in the evening. As Quinones is the belter of Everett’s

“Bad Things”, this reporter feels the general population needs to know that the singer has a Face-book, Mike Quinones Music, with links to videos and impres-sive MP3s.

While the musical side of Public last week was the highlight, the establishment itself has continued impressive upkeep since opening this past fall. Owner Jared Deco-teau mentioned the menu chang-es to come, as well as the changes to the restaurant itself.

“We swapped out the art,” Deco-teau pointed out, “and I’m looking at new entertainment acts.”

Decoteau pointed out new drink specials, such as the new Win-ter Delight, a decadent liquid equipped with Godiva liqueur and peppermint. Public has also started carrying Cheesecake Fac-tory cheesecake, circling through multiple flavors each night, in-cluding caramel and peppermint.

“There are still drink and food changes to come,” promised De-coteau. “I try to keep it fresh. Peo-ple like it here, they say it’s a nice urban place in a rural setting.”

While the next open mic night is still yet to be planned, Pub-lic features trivia every Monday night with the grand prize a $25 gift certificate towards a meal. Re-cently, the Decoteau has put Pub-lic up on Groupon, giving loyal patrons certain percentages off meals. They also hosted MCLA Presents! Blues and Funk Festival last week. Public is staying plenty busy in the entertainment depart-ment.

By Nora WeissA&E Writer

Photo by Serina StimpsonMichael Quinones performs music, including Jace Everett’s “Bad Things,” at Public Eat & Drink’s first Open Mic Night.

Two sides to The River:A&E Editor Mary Redstone and

A&E Writer Nora Weisstake on the new survival-horror

show The River on ABCThe River follows events after the disappearence of Dr. Emmet

Cole, a famous TV jungle explorer. Tess (Leslie Hope) and Lincoln (Joe Anderson of Across the Universe fame), wife and son of Cole, head the expedition to find Cole and his crew deep within the Am-azon. The search is funded by Dr. Cole’s ex-producer for a potential

television show. The River is filmed documentary/found-footage style and is created by Paranormal Activity creator Oren Peli.

So Paranormal Activity and LOST had a baby. Part of me was eye-rolling and annoyed, but the other part of me was more like, “What took them so long?” Be-tween the writers of LOST and the producer of the Paranormal Activity saga, The River was born and premiered Tuesday night with a two hour pilot and I was semi-glued to the TV.

Real quick summary: the first hour was boring and a bit annoy-ing, but most pilots are. The char-acters figured out complicated story lines too quickly and British actor Joe Anderson slipped too easily out of his forced American accent, stealing away from the show a little bit. Oh, and some-one gets possessed by a dragon fly. Yup, a dragon fly. And the idea of “magic” is thrown around like confetti at a Giants Super Bowl parade.

Second half: much better and really creepy. Imagine running through the jungle in the dark-ness … oh, and sleeping under a ton of creepy dolls hanging from trees. Don’t even wonder if they move; you know they move. The dolls won’t show back up since the mystery of them is solved (rather quickly, thankfully), so no worries.

Official rating? I would say a three out of five. I definitely dig the show, but I’m hoping to get over the technical stuff. I person-ally don’t like characters that are too clever because it’s not realis-tic. However, there are plenty of moments that got me thinking, plotting future moves, and hold-ing onto the tattered arm chair in my living room. You can watch the pilot on Hulu now and judge it for yourself. Try not to watch it alone.

Against the current: Nora Weiss gives The River 3 out of 5

With the flow: Mary Redstone gives The River 4 out of 5

The River is not for the faint of heart. Creator Oren Peli speaks suspense as a second language. He makes you think that one thing is going to happen, or one freaky doll’s eyes are going to open, and then he throws you a curve ball, or makes a different freaky doll’s eyes open.

The acting is mediocre in parts, and some of the lines are indeed delivered in a way that makes it seem silly. Every time, yes it hap-pened more than once, someone said, “There’s magic out there,” all I could think of was the ex-plorer in Pixar’s “Up” that would say, “There’s adventure out there!” However, the rest of the time I re-ally believed that they were out in the jungle scared witless.

I will reluctantly admit that the pilot could have been better, but then again all pilots could be. That’s why Tueday night’s pre-miere was the pilot and the sub-sequent episode, taking up two

horrifying hours of ABC’s prime time scheduling.

Plus, the horror of the second episode more than made up for any slow exposition of the first episode. Dolls, animals in human masks, dead hands, and more are lurking in the Amazon; they managed to find three things in the second episode alone that have the tendency to haunt my dreams. The show will maintain its main plot, but consist of stand-alone episodes with the crew en-countering different horrors each week, kind of like an Amazonian X-Files. That alone makes me ex-cited for the next episode.

Overall: I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. I love the found footage sub-genre. I have been waiting to see it adapted to the small screen, and I don’t think anyone could have done it better than Peli. The only reason I can’t give it 5 stars is for dialouge; sometimes it’s just silly and feels forced.

The River can be seen on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on ABC

Missed an episode?

HULU streams the latest five episodes the day after they air.

Thursday, February 9, 2012 A&E theonlinebeacon.com8MCLA Presents! Seventh Annual

Blues and Funk Fest

At first glance, one might wonder how a cozy, chic looking place like Public Eat + Drink might be suitable for a loud, emo-tional display of the blues brought by local band Misty Blues and MCLA’s Jazz Band. Those involved seemed not to worry about it, and it is a good thing too, because from 9 p.m. until closing time, Public was packed to the walls with people simply having a good time.

If the emotions displayed by the perform-ers had any effect on the audience, then it’s no wonder the audience was energetic and happy; all of the members of Misty Blues looked like they were not only enjoying themselves, but also excited to be there. They even interacted with the audience in between songs. Singer Gina Coleman rarely had anything but a smile on her face.

However, they were not the only ones who were happy to be playing in front of everyone. Chantel Baptista, a junior at the College, opened the night up with two songs that found her beaming at the audience with pride. She began with an a cappella cover of Adelle’s “Chasing Pave-ments” before moving to the piano to cov-er Amy Winehouse’s “I’m No Good.”

Following Baptista was MCLA’s Jazz Band delivering the bluesier side of jazz. Tiniqua Patrick stood center stage, lend-ing her powerful voice to their two-song set, including a cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”. Each student took turns soloing throughout the two songs and showed a fluid knowledge of the music despite only getting together for four rehearsals prior to their performance, according to the band.

Misty Blues took the stage after the Jazz Band and filled the cozy restaurant with

signature blues riffs, heavy-hitting drum fills, and Coleman’s rough, yet soulful, voice. It did not take long for the small dance floor to fill with energetic dancers; the restaurant was at standing-room only the entire night, and most of them could have been found around the bar or on the dance floor.

While the audience had no problem standing around, there definitely was a dif-ference in audience enthusiasm depending on whether one could only hear the band, or if they could both see and hear them. The band was dancing and moving around almost as much as the audience and pos-sessed so much enthusiasm for what they did that is was nearly impossible to watch them and not want to dance yourself.

Their set consisted mostly of cover songs, including “Key to the Highway” and “Walkin’ the Dog”. They also did a song off their Gospel album, “Roadhouse Re-vival”. A lot of their covers progressed to blues shuffles as well, giving those dancing a chance to switch it up mid-song.

If there was any doubt in the beginning whether Public could house such a pow-erful blues band, it was quickly dismissed. The bands were at a perfect volume for the blues – just loud enough that you can feel the emotions but not loud enough that you literally feel the pain – and the tight-packed space was a breeding ground for dancing and enjoyment. As the night went on, the colored lights shone though the front window and the faint sound of blues carried down Holden Street, calling more and more people into Public to experience the blues power of Misty Blues.

FridayMisty Blues at PUBLIC

By Mary RedstoneA&E Editor

The campus was spiced up by the second night of the 7th Annual Blues and Funk Festival.

Four musical acts performed in Ven-able Gym where the gym was temporarily transformed into a stage of colored lights.

The Allegrettos started off Saturday night’s festivities. Conducted by junior Jay Cottle, the group performed a num-ber of songs full of soul. They received an extremely warm applause upon finishing their 20-minute set.

“This concert was awesome,” alumnus Samantha Kone said. Kone traveled from Boston to be on campus for the weekend. “I am so happy to see the MCLA students performing so well as openers. And Blitz the Ambassador was so energetic,” she added.

Immediately following the Allegrettos, the Jazz Band hit the stage for a lively per-formance. The band played some jazzy tunes, warming the audience up. Allan Krause, the bassist, showed off some fancy footwork as he spun around the stage.

Throughout the concert, the lighting work was conducted by alumnus Ray Ratchup. He used the lights artfully, high-lighting certain aspects of the music and accentuating crescendos.

Jungle Work was the third opener for Blitz the Ambassador. As soon as the lead singer and guitarist Patrick Maguire start-ed strumming the opening notes of his first song, two students rushed onto the previ-ously unoccupied dance floor and began dancing extremely enthusiastically. This broke the ice and soon there were more than 20 people jamming and grooving to the classic rock and blues that Jungle Work played masterfully.

Not to be outdone, the original two danc-

ers used the filling dance floor to show off some pretty flashy moves, like some break dancing and rolling on the ground.

“It was a great experience playing for such an energetic audience,” Maguire said. “It was sweet playing for people who were there to hear the blues we wanted to play.”

“I want to give a special thanks to the MCLA Presents! members,” Jonathan Sec-or said between Jungle Work’s set and Blitz the Ambassador taking the stage.

After a ten minute break in which free pizza was delivered, (much to the approval of the 100-plus students who where in at-tendance), Blitz the Ambassador took the stage to a roaring round of applause.

The band consisted of a trombonist, a trumpet player, a saxophonist, a guitarist, a drummer and a keyboardist. The horn section was especially full of life as they danced, swayed and raised their horns in synchronized movements to the music and the lights. At one point the horn section took the front of the stage blaring funky tones and making the crowd wild. Ad-ditionally, Blitz the Ambassador took out a djembe drum and began to play during one of his more African-style songs.

“This is fantastic,” Corey Sloane, a junior, said discussing Blitz the Ambassador’s set. “It combines the energy of a rock concert with the rhythm and music talent of a jazz concert, all the while incorporating the lyrical skill of a rap concert.”

Approximately 80 people crowded in front of the stage at Blitz the Ambassador’s request, dancing to the funky tunes his band played. The crowd was extremely re-sponsive when Blitz the Ambassador asked the audience to scream louder, clap their hands and to sing the refrains.

SaturdayBlitz the Ambassador at Venable Gym

By Tano HolmesA&E Writer

Photo by Serina Stimpson/Beacon StaffMisty Blues, a powerful blues band from the Berkshire area, played at PUBLIC Eat + Drink as Friday’s headliners of day one of the Blues and Funk Festival

Photo by Carly Samach/Beacon StaffBlitz the Ambassador and his band brought a new mix of hip-hop and Afro beat to Venable Gym Saturday night as headliners of day two of the Blues and Funk Festival

Thursday, February 9, 2012 Sports theonlinebeacon.com 9Lady Trailblazers climb to second place in MASCAC conference with Westfield win

By Ariana TourangeauStaff Writer

After an up and down week, in which the Women’s Basketball team lost to Worcester State but triumphed over Westfield, the team has found itself the second place team in the MASCAC con-ference.

After struggling to keep strong defense, the Trailblazers fell 69-57 at Worcester State, on Satur-day Feb. 4th, but that doesn’t stop their drive to win.

With a conference record of 5-4 and an overall record of 12-10, the team still sees a win of the tourna-ment in the near future.

“It’s never over. We have three games left and we can win those games. The question is who wants it more us or them?” said sopho-more and guard for the Trailblaz-ers, Kaitlyn Chenevert.

She ended Saturday’s game with a high of 16 points and six rebounds along with Lucy Trem-blay and Jen Wehner. Chenevert has a total of 72 rebounds and 150 points, so far this season.

Worcester’s defense made it hard for Tremblay, Wehner, and Dobrovolc, (MCLA’s highest scor-ers who rank among the top five scorers in the league) to score. The trio kept the heat the whole game though, trying to push pass Worcester’s defense.

“For us as a team, our shots just weren’t falling and it was tough getting the ball to Wehner

because she was being double teamed in the paint,” said junior and guard for the team, Lucy Tremblay. “With two of our main scorers in foul trouble in the first half, we just needed to play good defense.”

Jen Wehner, Senior and For-ward for the team, has a total of 258 rebounds and 363 points this season. Alie Dobrovolc, a senior and guard, who has a total of 180 rebounds and 374 points this sea-son.

The Lancers defense may have made it difficult for the Trailblaz-ers to score, but it didn’t stop the defense from doing the same to the Lancers offenders.

Tremblay said, “I felt I played with a lot of intensity on defense. I was lucky to come up with a couple steals and crashed the boards.” She ended the game with 10 points and six rebounds and has a total of 76 rebounds and 274 points this season.

The battle continued on for the

rest of the game. The Trailblazers would take the lead, only for the Lancers to come back on top. At halftime, the Lancers came out strong with a 25-18 lead, quickly increasing it to 38-23 in the first four minutes of the half. Chen-

evert drove to the basket to bring her team to a 48-41 lead.

“On Saturday, I was feeling con-fident with my shot, “ Chenevert said. “Worcester shut down Jen defensively and in turn that left our guards wide open on most

occasions (including me).” Chenevert agrees the game was

a struggle, but the team played as hard as the Lancers would let them.

Photo by Will Casey/Beacon StaffSenior Jen Wehner flew to claim a rebound against Sage.

“It’s never over. We have three games left and we can win those games. The ques-tion is who wants it more: Us or them?” said Kaitlyn Chenevert.

WOMEN, continued on page 11

Men’s Trailblazers drop two gamesWestfield State junior nails game-winning lay-up with .03 seconds left on the game clock

By Brendan FoleySports Editor

The Men’s Basketball team dropped two nail-biters this past week, severely hurting their chances at a chance for the MAS-CAC title. The losses have left the team with a conference record of 4-5 and an overall record of 7-15. The team has not won a game since Jan. 25th.

The Trailblazers travelled to Worcester State on Saturday, Feb. 4th. MCLA headed into the game having won their previous match-up on Jan. 14th. They would not be so lucky with this game, as Worcester came out ahead by only three points. The final score was 81-78.

MCLA went into the half with a lead of nine, but Worcester quickly made up the difference. Worcester was able to capitalize on MCLA foul’s to gain the ad-vantage.

Second halves are proving to be a great difficulty for the Trailblaz-ers as the season winds on.

Photo by Will Casey/Beacon StaffTyriq Rochester blazed by the competition in the hopes of giving the Trailblazers another victory.Basketball, continued on page 10

Thursday, february 9, 2012 Sports theonlinebeacon.com10

By Kayla KoumjianSports Writer

e Intramural Sports program began this week and will try something new for this semester’s sessions.

e program started a new system for participants and sta members. ey are now using a website designed for intramural sports within colleges.

“Gone are the days of � lling out paper rosters and picking up a paper schedule,” explained Adam Hildabrand, director of Intramu-rals. “Now it is all online.”

Prior to this change, sign-ups were limited to hand-outs in Bow-man Hall and the Amsler Campus Center. is limited the number of students who could be reached. e paper system also made it dif-� cult to produce schedules and rosters.

e Intramurals program has, in the past, struggled with sched-uling and notifying participants about changes and updates in the schedules and times for their tournaments and games. is frustrated athletes and adminis-trators.

Students participating in intra-murals will now use the website for everything they need.

“You sign up online, check your schedule online, and check your stats and standings online,” Hil-dabrand said.

Students can also use their Face-book to create an account on the website.

“ e system is set up to make everything easier all around,” co-supervisor John Ripepi said. “Whether it’s to allow players to access the schedule at all times, or � nding out who won a recent game throughout the session.”

Hildabrand, who also serves as the coach to the Men’s Soccer team, agrees with Ripepi.

“It will be easier in the long run,” Hildabrand said. “Right now it has been a bit cumbersome be-cause everyone that is involved with IM’s has to register, but you only have to register once.”

Along with being easier for par-ticipants, it is also a faster and more e� cient way to � nd sched-ules and standings throughout the sessions.

“It will allow the Intramurals department to be more organized

and to communicate with the campus more e ectively,” Hildab-rand explained. “Once you are signed in you can pull up your IM’s schedule very easily.”

e communication within the Intramural program will improve from the new technological as-pects of the website as well.

“ e website will contact you even if you aren’t online; it will send updates to your phone via text messaging,” Ripepi said.

Hildabrand also felt communi-cation will be better .

“It allows us to communicate more e ectively with our sta ,” he said. “ ey can look up when they are working a month in advance as opposed to a week or two days in advance.”

e website will also update ev-eryone’s schedule when there are any changes.

“If we need to change a game time it will be re� ected on every-one’s calendar,” Hildabrand said.

Students have already signed up and started playing games this week. On Tuesday, participants played their � rst game of ping- pong, and on Wednesday indoor soccer began. e third sport this session is badminton and the � rst games start next week.

“ ere are about 25 teams par-ticipating this session,” Ripepi said. “We hope there will be more teams and people playing this se-mester.”

Intramurals were successful last semester. More students got in-volved once the second session started.

“A lot of new students to the col-lege participated more towards the end of the semester than the beginning,” Ripepi said.

Now, with returning freshmen aware of intramurals, the pro-gram is hoping to increase in par-ticipants this semester.

“Using the new website will re-ally help us get the word across campus,” Ripepi said. “We also have a page on Facebook to help the campus know about what’s going on with intramurals.”

Ripepi and the rest of the sta encourage all students to play.

“It’s a time to just relax and do something active indoors while it is cold outside,” he said.

Students who have yet to sign up still have a chance to play if they’d like.

“ ey can try to sign up as a free agent once they register and a team can pick them up if they need players,” Ripepi said.

Intramurals begins 2012 Spring sessionDebuts new online presence for campus

“You sign up on-line, check your schedule online, and check your stats and standings online,” said Hil-dabrand.

Men’s basketball struggles a� er 3-game losing streak

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A� er 22 games, the team has scored 750 points in the � rst half and 842 in their second half. Un-fortunately, the team has allowed the opposition to score 809 points against them in the � rst half, and a staggering 903 points in the sec-ond.

But if the Worcester loss was di� cult, the team’s loss to West-� eld State on Tuesday, Feb. 7th, was � at-out heart-breaking. e Trailblazers were headed into the � nal seconds of the game with a one point lead when West� eld junior Matt Devine sank a lay-up with .03 seconds le� on the clock. West� eld walked o with the game, � nal score 69-68.

is has le� the team in a very deep hole in the MASCAC con-ference standings. e confer-ence is currently being led by

Salem State and Bridgewater who are tied for � rst place with 7-2.

MCLA, West� eld and Worcester had been in dead-heat with each other for third, but a� er these losses the Trailblazers have fallen into � � h place, a hole they may not be able to dig themselves out of in their last three games.

is is even more disappointing for the team considering that the 2010-2011 was one of the team’s strongest. MCLA � nished the

season with an overall record 17-10 and a conference record of 7-5. e 2012 team will need to win all three of their � nal games to match that record.

is current team can take sol-ace that they are still ahead of the 2009-2010 and 2008-2009 squads, who � nished with records of 9-17 and 1-24,

e Trailblazers will play at home on Saturday, Feb. 10th against Framingham.

e team’s � nal two games will be away games against Fitchburg State and Bridgewater State.

e Bridgewater game will be particularly di� cult for the team, as Bridgewater, as of press time, is the leader of the MASCAC con-ference with a record of 7-2.

Basketball, continued from page 9

Photo by Marissa Zelazo/Beacon Sta� Tyrell Mosely and Brendan McDonald raced for the ball.

West� eld junior Matt Devine sank a layup with .03 seconds le� on the game clock. West-� eld walked o� with the win.

Thursday, February 9, 2012 Sports theonlinebeacon.com11

salembridgewaterwestfieldworcesterMCLAfitchburgframingham

bridgewater MCLAsalemworcesterwestfieldfitchburgframingham

Standings(As of Press Time)

Men’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball

14-712-914-98-157-1511-108-15

7-27-26-45-54-52-72-8

All Conf

15-612-10 9-1311-1211-1215-612-10

8-15-45-45-54-63-63-7

All Conf

Brendan FoleySports Editor

Women’s Basketball

2/11 Framingham 1 p.m.2/14 @Fitchburg 5:30 p.m.2/18 @Bridgewater1:00 p.m.

Men’s Basketball

2/11 Framingham 3 p.m.2/14 @Fitchburg7:30 p.m.2/18 @Bridgewater 3:00 p.m.

Safety First

The Patriots’ loss to the New York Giants wasn’t nearly as bad the second time around.

It was so very, very much worse.See, last time the entire game

had the stench of poor referee calls and bad luck hanging over it. Sure, defeat is always bitter, but the die-hard fans of the team could console themselves with the belief that the loss had been a fluke, a mistake, a freak occurence that time would eventually ease.

This? This was just a failure on the part of the Patriots. They handed the game away and al-lowed Eli and his cronies to walk away with a second title.

There are certainly some miti-gating factors. The injury of Gronkowski was an albatross around the team’s neck, one that they simply couldn’t overcome.

If Gronk was playing at full strength, then the entire tempo of the game would have been dif-ferent and who knows how that would have turned out.

And that safety. That safety. There are not words printable in this family-oriented newpa-per that I can use to describe the wrath which that safety has in-spired. In the years hence, as the game is discussed, debated and referenced, that safety will be spo-ken of as one of the worst freak incidents in the history of Bos-ton sports, side by side with Bill Buckner and Bucky Dent. It was that jaw-droppingly bad play, that bone-headed and misguided call.

But you can’t blame an entire loss on two points and one lousy call in the first half of the first quarter in the game.

No, the bulk, the vast weight of the loss rests entirely on the shoulders of the Patriots them-selves.

All season long, the recurring worry on the lips of every one of the red-and-blue faithful was that while Brady and his offense looked as sharp and dominant as ever, the defense simply was not playing up to snuff.

Again and again throughout the season, offensive charges were left unstopped, easy plays bungled. This was simply not the defensive end of a Super Bowl-qualifying team, let alone a winning one.

But such is the might of Brady and Belichick, that we allowed ourselves to believe that this gap-ing hole in the team’s structure wouldn’t matter. We thought that such was Brady’s might and Belichick’s brains that no team would possibly take advantage of these weaknesses.

It was arrogance. Lesson learned.

Women’s Trailblazers improve MASCAC standings with Tuesday

Photo by Marissa Zelazo/Beacon StaffAlie Dobrovolc stared down her opposition in the Trailblazers’ game against Salem State.

Another Super Bowl heartbreaker for New England

By Brendan FoleySports Editor

The New England Patriots suf-fered another difficult Super Bowl loss to their rivals the New York Giants on Sunday, Feb. 5.

The Patriots entered the game as the odds-on-favorite to win, thanks to a much stronger regu-lar season record than the Giants. Many Patriots fans were excited by the possibility that the team could avenge their last Super Bowl appearance, which ended in defeat. Many New England-ers reacted bitterly to the loss and many fans developed resentments toward both the Giants and Super Bowl officials, who were deemed to have called the game unfairly.

The Patriots won the coin flip and elected to kick-off to start the game. The Patriots’ defensive line found themselves struggling to block the Eli Manning-lead drive.

The game stayed decidedly in the Giants’ control, with the New York team possessing the ball for 37:50 minutes out of the game. The Patriots only had possession for 22:55 minutes.

The Patriots have not won a Su-per Bowl title since 2004, when they triumphed over Philadel-phia.

The loss especially stings be-cause the Patriots had dedicated their season to CEO, chairman and owner Robert Kraft’s late wife, Myra. Myra passed away on July 21, 2011 from cancer. The

team’s uniforms were emblazoned with her initials, MLK. After the Patriots’ first touch down, Brady touched his lips to the sky in trib-ute to the late philanthropist.

Chenevert said, “On the defen-sive end we couldn’t stop Charette and we got in early foul trouble.”

Charette is number 15, Worces-ter’s leading scorer of Saturday’s game who had a total of 26 points.

Not having the home advantage could be the Trailblazers’ key fac-tor to their losses.

The team is 0-3 in MASCAC away games, while they are 4-1 at home. Chenevert agreed that Worcester’s home advantage had to do with their win.

“Worcester has an atmosphere that no other school in our con-ference has. It’s a very outdated gym (small, loud, bad lighting, etc.). They definitely have an ex-treme home-court advantage,” Chenevert said.

Although this was a fight for the Trailblazers, they aren’t giving up on the rest of their season.

With three games left, the team is working hard for the wins.

Tremblay said, “I think we can definitely win the MASCAC tour-nament. When we work together on the court we are unstoppable. We just have to show up and we will win and be able to go to NCAA’s. “

The team won Tuesday’s game at Westfield State with a score of 72-70, bringing them up to 5-4 in conference and 12-10 overall

from a 4-4 record in conference and 11-10 overall on Saturday. Dobrovolc finished the game with a high of 13 rebounds and a total of 19 points and 9 assists.

Wehner, who was strong on the offensive end, ended the game with a high of 21 points and 13 rebounds. Tremblay ended the game with 19 points including four three-pointers.

With this win, the Trailblaz-ers are now tied with Salem State for second place in the MASCAC conference. The conference is led by Bridgewater State with a re-cord of 8-1 in conference play and 15-6 overall.

The Trailblazers will play Fram-ingham at home on the 11th at 1 p.m. MCLA will then travel to play Fitchburg State on the 14th, before going head-to-head with Bridgewater on the 18th in their final game of the season.

WOMEN, continued from 9

Tremblay said, “I think we can definitely win the MASCAC tourna-ment. When we work together on the court we are unstoppable...”

Photo by Lionel Hahn/Abaca Press/MCTSuper Bowl Sunday was not a good day to be either a Patriot or a Patriots fan.

Thursday, February 9, 2012 Opinion12

Letter to the Editor

The MCLA Faculty Asso-ciation is disappointed and confused by the Board of Trustee’s vote to arm cam-pus police officers against the will of the vast majority of faculty and a significant majority of students.

Many faculty have worked hard to cultivate a relation-ship of respect, shared-decision-making, and cooperation with the ad-ministration. I cannot imagine a scenario in which the Faculty Association would endorse a policy or plan with such far-reaching implications if the MCLA administration, Board of Trustees, and/or other rele-vant constituencies on cam-pus “strongly encouraged” us not to do so. The Board’s vote, and the flawed pro-cess of deliberation that led up to it, leave many faculty wondering if our views on a range of issues are sincerely solicited or valued.

The events established to gather “input” from the

community were neither effective nor convincing. The forums were rushed and lacked opportunities for faculty to be meaning-fully involved, offer nu-anced opinions, and in-troduce valid evidence to back up or counter various claims. Moreover, these events seemed like they were staged as a means of convincing the community that the arming of MCLA campus police was neces-sary and pressing.

An unjustifiable and un-popular outcome was inevi-table because of this serious-ly flawed process. The Board stated that they were acting in MCLA’s “best interest” but, in the end, they did not seem too interested in the opinions of people who live and work on or near the campus. The vast majority of people who are at MCLA every day believe that the arming of campus police at this time WILL NOT make the campus a safer place.

“Moving on” for the Fac-ulty Association will re-quire soul-searching and

reflection on behalf of the Board and the administra-tion. To this end, we believe it is in the best interest of the MCLA community that the Board and administra-tion commit to a self-study of their roles and decisions in a process that led to such an unpopular, and per-haps invalid, final decision. We “strongly encourage” the Board to agree to the self-study and include two members appointed by the Student Government Asso-ciation and two by the Fac-ulty Association.

The recommendations that come out of this self-study could serve as a means of providing assurance that the College has matured in its ability to discuss signifi-cant issues, as well as a basis for rebuilding the trust and confidence that many fac-ulty and students would like to have.

Dana RappPresident of the MCLA

Faculty Association

To President Mary Grant, the Trustees, and the current Students

at my Alma Mater:

I know a lot can change

in four years, but I highly doubt that both the atmo-sphere and the student demographic at MCLA have changed enough to warrant Public Safety bearing arms.

When I attended MCLA (Class of 2008), it was one of the most low-key places I had ever been to: provided the Red Sox hadn’t won the World Se-ries, and you stayed off of Blackinton Street on a Saturday night. MCLA always had a safe and peaceful quality about it, which is why I chose the school in the first place. MCLA was the only cam-pus I have visited where I could walk around at night and not be afraid for my well-being.

The decision for Public Safety to carry guns is a decision to alter the entire atmosphere of this small college. I see gun-toting Public Safety Officers as a threat, and I›m sure the current students will too. I suspect that recent

«Occupy» events, such as the one at UC Davis, may have changed the way the Trustees see Campus Safety, but MCLA is not UC Davis. With a dif-ference of about 23,000 students, MCLA hardly has the need for guns. Officers at UC Davis are not armed, inciden-tally.   And, as UC Davis has demonstrated, there isn’t much that can›t be solved with a can of pep-per spray...

I know MCLA aspires to grow and change, and I can appreciate that. A good College should make advancements to keep up with the times, (the Campus Center re-model is beautiful, by the way) but I cannot accept that MCLA needs the presence of guns. If I were a current student, you better believe I would be out there with the other 10 students protesting the Trustees’ decision.

I am disappointed in you, Trustees, and I do hope you reconsider. Please don’t turn my Alma Mater into something it’s not.

Respectfully,

Sondra J.B. MurphyClass of 2008

A Final Word

The issue of arming our campus police has dominated the MCLA campus for what seems an eternity now. Meeting after meeting and report after report have sought a resolution in some way or the other. But when the decision finally came, it appeared we had no resolution at all. I am writing today, on behalf of the Student Government Association (SGA), to say that we do.

It is well known by now that SGA produced a student referendum in December that garnered 455 votes with a resounding 68 percent of them firmly opposed to the arming of campus police. To follow this up, the Student Senate supported the majority of their constituents and opposed the arming of campus police in a vote of 10-4. Thus, it is safe to say the majority of students strongly

opposed this decision.Yet, in what appeared a

blatant disregard of this, the Board of Trustees voted 10-1 to arm our campus police. Student Trustee, Jaynelle Bellemore, stood courageously in the face of major opposition and voted with her fellow students. I strongly commend her and hope we will all display such courage when the time calls.

In the end, as President of the SGA, I tell you now that I am disappointed and discouraged by the decision. Though we have been told all parties were considered to the “fullest”, there is something to be said about a decision that blatantly disregards the majority. A liberal arts institution fosters community and discussion as a means of education towards participation in overall society. I believe the arming of campus police and the disregard of student opinion harmed that mission in the present and will continue to do so even after implementation.

Regardless, the decision

has been made and a course is set. Students have protested. Words of disgust and disappointment have been uttered. And now, it is time to move forward. This means influencing not just the process of arming our campus police, but influencing every decision we make as an institution from here on out.

Students should not sit down or be quiet, but rather speak up even louder than before. Make sure that the administration hears you and cannot ignore you. Do not make this a protest of firearms anymore, but a protest for the right of your voice as an influence at this institution. To that end, you will always have my support and that of your SGA.

It has been an honor to serve you all through this and I will continue to serve you all as we begin to move on together as one student body.

Todd B. Foy, Jr 2012

The Campus Voicevia Nicholas Lanza

In light of the protests this past weekend, the students and faculty in-volved have gathered to-gether to create a group that we are calling The Campus Voice. Our in-tent is to gather student and teacher concerns on current events and to convey this opinion to the administration and the Board of Trustees. The Campus Voice would like to formally apolo-gize to the members of the Board of Trustees for Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, president Mary Grant, SGA, and any others who took of-fense to some of the signs displayed during the pro-

test on Feb. 6 and 7. The Board’s decision came as a shock, given the out-come of the student and faculty vote just a few months earlier, and tem-pers were high. Regard-less of the intent of the decision, we felt as if our voices had been ignored. We are no longer con-tent to have this happen. The issue of arming cam-pus police is over. In the spirit of moving forward, the matter at hand is the implicit lack of attention to the concerns of the faculty and students who make up the majority of our campus community. We will continue organiz-ing our efforts so that, in the future, the voices of student and faculty will be delivered loud and clear.

Dear Editor, There is only one thing that a handgun is designed to do. Let us hope that the recent vote on arming the campus police costs us only money.

Sincerely,Christopher Thomas

Thursday, February 9, 2012 Opinion 13Metaphors,

Illusions and

Firearms

Imagine you and give-or-take 2,000 of your closest friends go out for ice cream.

The establishment you go to advertises lots of new and im-proved treats, and you’re excit-ed. But when you get there you find they have only two flavors of ice cream: Mint Chocolate… and Bubblegun. And while some of your group elects to try Bubblegun, the majority of y’all pick the former, because gun-flavored ice cream, admittedly, sounds kind of uncomfortable and unnecessary.

You wait a long time to get your ice creamy results. Then the owners come out to greet you by saying that after much consideration, they’ve decided by a vote of 10-1 it is in your group’s best interest that y’all re-ceive Bubblegun. Also the first round of ice cream will cost you $24,635, and that you’ll have to eat Bubblegun for $6,026 an-nually after that. Also also, the owners have locked all the ex-its, and the only way to leave is to accept your gun-flavored ice cream, or to never ever come back. Sounds kind of ridiculous, huh?

Thanks to the wonders of ex-tended metaphor and hyper-bole, this is how the process of arming campus police went down.

For almost a year, we were sub-jected to an all-but-endless cir-cus parade of meetings sched-uled at the most inopportune times, of polls where the results meant nothing, and, the coup de grâce: last Thursday’s Board of Trustees vote of 10-1 in favor of armaments.

As an aside: Why the gosh-darned heck is there a Wil-liams provost on our Board, yet MCLA is not represented in

Williams’ own gaggle of trust-ees? Shouldn’t one of our own help decide “what’s best” for Williams students when “Dr. William C. Dudley” does the same for us? Doesn’t seem fair to me. But I digress.

Guns. I’m torn. They seem to be one of those necessary evils in this day and age. (Or, at least, that what our society has been lead to believe.) Better to have guns and never need them than to need them and be without, right?

Also, in four or five years, no one will give a crap about the fact that this one time, the ad-ministration blatantly went against the wishes of students and faculty members in favor of what they thought was “best” for us. Institutional memory is fun like that.

Yet… I can’t shake this sicken-ing feeling that the decision to introduce firearms to this fairly quiet campus was an all but def-inite “yes” right from the get-go.

The administration gave stu-dents and faculty the illusion that our opinions mattered, that voicing our displeasure held any sort of sway. And we fell for it. Of those that cared enough to vote, 67 percent of students and 90 percent of faculty said “No thanks.”

I can’t help but feel like we’ve been played for a fool. Did we who said NO think that we could really change anything?

� e women’s magazine O� Our Chests has started a petition called the “Protect our Girls and Pass the Media and Public Health Act,” which is seeking ten thou-sand signatures nationwide.

� e petition will encourage the passing of federal legislature that will require advertisers and editors to stop airbrushing and photoshopping models or call for labels to inform readers that a picture or model has been al-tered.

� e magazine’s website says: “� e simple fact is there’s an epi-demic crisis of con� dence a� ect-ing girls and women, and both its causes and e� ects are going largely ignored and unspoken in and by the mainstream.”

In the United States, over 50 percent of 13-year-old girls say they are unhappy with their bod-

ies and by the time they have reached 17, that percentage has reached 78, according to change.org.

� ese girls are exposed to over 250,000 television commercials sending them the message that body size matters and the only way to achieve success and ap-proval is to be perfect.

According to the Girl Scout Re-search Institute, one-third of all girls have a distorted idea about their weight and one in four col-lege women are su� ering from an eating disorder.

� ese � gures are startling. If modi� ed advertisements are re-quired by law to be labeled as such, then at least this would il-lustrate to girls and women that no one is perfect. Not even mod-els.

O� Our Chests states that 80 percent of women said they lose con� dence and feel bad about themselves a� er they have seen a beauty advertisement. But this is the point.

Advertising companies spend 20 billion dollars on beauty mar-keting in the United States an-nually. By making women feel inadequate, this persuades them they need the product in the advertisement to feel beautiful,

when the narrow idea of beauty portrayed is not even attainable.

“If we save one life, if one girl or one woman feels better about herself because of truth-in-ad-vertising labeling, how’s that a bad thing?,” the O� Our Chest website says.

Freshman Carrisa Sacherski, the newest sta� member at the Women’s Center, said she is in full support of this act and has signed the petition.

“Girls seem to be a� ected by these media images the most,” Sacherski said. “� ey grow up having this idea of how they are supposed to look. It creates boundaries, limitations, and is-sues for them. It makes them more susceptible to lower self-esteem.”

She said these images have af-fected her because of how rare it is to see a full � gured model in the media, even though the aver-age woman wears a size 14.

“I grew up seeing these images everywhere,” she said. “It is not healthy. It does not make girls feel good about themselves, es-pecially since women don’t really look like that.”

To start your own petition or to search and sign this one, go to www.change.org. I did.

Jessie WrightColumnist

Skyla SeamansColumnist

Women and girls need self-esteem; sign the petition

Disclaimer: � is editorial has no connection to guns, referen-dums, etc. Any and all English majors looking to deeply analyze and � nd a hidden meaning in this piece of writing, please cease and desist your actions immediately.

Let’s be honest: there is such thing as a stupid question. How-ever, stupid is in the eye of the be-holder. We may not be completely educated on a certain topic or pol-icy, so that’s why we ask questions. It seems that some of us, many of us, are embarrassed to catch up and don’t want to ask that ‘stu-pid’ question. So, we get defensive and accusatory. How many times have we grimaced about the way ARAMARK runs its to-go policy, or about how the new Starbucks kiosk is open at an awkward time? Count how many times we’ve sat in a circle with our friends and re-ally just bitched about how bored we were. Are things really this hopeless, or are we just so afraid to double check that we’ve gone mad with being defensive jerks?

A conversation many people have concerns the quality of

ARAMARK. From the food to the policies on our campus, complaints fall out of everyone’s mouth, no one is innocent. Prob-ably one of the biggest gripes during the fall semester was the loss of to-go containers from the cafeteria. We students were so upset that we � lled the SGA open meeting forum… oh wait. No, we didn’t. But, we must have gone to the Food Meetings between AR-AMARK managers and students, right? Nope, we didn’t go.

One virtue our SGA pushes is students having a voice. It’s true: we all have that opportunity to go to forums and meetings and whatever else is going down to give our opinion. With all these issues made to seem so impor-tant, though, it’s easy to get lost in the tornado of things to � x and be passionate about. So, how can a student use their voice to the sim-plest degree?

Ask.Seriously, just open your mouth

and ask a question… politely. Many students complained about how the cafeteria would never al-low to-go containers; I saw my peers crippled by such policy this semester with less students in the caf and more at the grocery store buying snacks. Here’s the odd thing, though: I asked an ARA-MARK worker about the to-go option, and guess what? I got to take my lunch to-go that day.

I politely asked the sweet wom-en who work the Starbucks kiosk why their operation hours are so weird. � eir response gave me hope. While adjusting the tech-nology and implementing the co� ee operations, the kiosk had to properly align itself with ARA-MARK and its in-house policies.

In a few short weeks, the kiosk will be open earlier; eight in the morning to be exact, so those of us plagued with having to buy Green Mountain co� ee or actu-ally make our own, have no fear, for we will soon be saved.

� ere is also the function of ask-ing ourselves how we can make a di� erence in the way we perceive things. Bored? We need to ask ourselves what the school may be o� ering that night. Check First Class Announcement for Stu-dents, the “What’s Happening” pamphlet, and Facebook. � ere is always something happening somewhere, even a pick-up game in Venable Gym. Just like change won’t happen without our voice, our questions won’t be answered unless you ask. We may not even like the answer, but now we’re just that more informed.

Still, the school could meet us halfway. � ere could be a sign by the Info Desk in the Marketplace (yup, that’s what that odd-shaped desk is), announcements emailed directly to students about policy changes, and more banner space to give information about MCLA events.

We students need to realize sooner than later that the real world barely gives out informa-tion; we have to � nd it ourselves. We can complain all we want, but these harps are never received well and usually met with lousy service, or just silence. By using our voice in a more positive man-ner, we’re more likely to be more informed, see change, and actu-ally appreciate it.

Nora WeissColumnist

www.theonlinebeacon.com

@BeaconMCLA @Andrew_Roiter

@MCLA_AE@MCLA_EIC

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Thursday, February 9, 2012 World and Science14

WASHINGTON (AP) – NASA says it still has confi-dence in the quality of Russia’s manned rockets, despite an embarrassing series of glitch-es and failures in the Russian space program.

A leak developed recently during a test of the next Soyuz capsule scheduled to launch astronauts to the Internation-al Space Station, so Russian space officials have decided not to use it. That delays up-coming launches.

NASA relies solely on Russia to take crews to the space sta-tion.

NASA space station man-ager Michael Suffredini said he still considers the Soyuz rocket the world’s most reli-able space system.

“I have confidence in the fo-cus and abilities of the manag-ers who build the systems and fly those systems,’’ Suffredini said Thursday during a NASA teleconference.

The Soyuz leak means that the six crew members at the space station now will spend a few extra weeks in space. American Dan Burbank, who is the station commander, and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin will stay in orbit until the end of April. American Don Petit,

Dutch astronaut Andre Kui-pers and Russian Oleg Konen-ko, will stay in space through the end of June for about 193 days in space, pushing close to the limit of 200 days that NASA likes.

The latest problem comes after a series of failures in unmanned Russian rockets that raised questions about quality control in the nation that launched the first satel-lite and human into space. Last month, a spacecraft that was supposed to have gone to a Mars moon crashed back to Earth after a launch failure. And in the past six months, a Russian communications sat-ellite and a cargo ship to the space station have crashed.

“They’ve had a pretty chal-lenging year, that’s true,’’ Suf-fredini said. But he said that really has nothing to do with the workhorse manned Soyuz capsule.

A private U.S. rocket _ the Dragon, built and operated by Space Exploration Tech-nologies _ probably will not launch before early April on a first-ever commercial resup-ply of the space station, Suf-fredini said. It had been set for a launch this month, but already was delayed.

SpaceX spokeswoman Kirst-in Brost Grantham said the company ”will not launch be-fore late March.’’ A date should be set in about two weeks.

Associated Press

NASA remains confident in Russian space shuttles depite recent glitches

WASHINGTON (AP) – Ad-ditional U.S. sanctions on Iran are more significant for their timing than their immediate effect on Iran’s economy, com-ing as the United States and its allies are arguing that Israel should hold off on any military strike on Iranian nuclear fa-cilities to allow more time for sanctions to work.

The U.S. ordered tough new penalties Monday to give U.S. banks additional powers to freeze assets linked to the Ira-nian government and close loopholes that officials say Iran has used to move money despite earlier restrictions im-posed by the U.S. and Europe.

Israelis officials have been open about their worry that Iran could be on the brink of a bomb by this summer and that this spring offers the last win-dow of opportunity to destroy bomb-related facilities. Many Israeli officials believe that sanctions only give Iran time to move its nuclear program underground, out of reach of Israeli military strikes.

Nonetheless, the sanctions were endorsed Tuesday by Is-rael’s hawkish foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

“We appreciate the very cru-cial decision regarding the sanctions,’’ Lieberman told reporters in Washington, in between meetings with U.S. senators. “We are awaiting that the Iranians, they will give up their nuclear ambitions,’’ said Lieberman, who also met with Secretary of State Hillary Rod-ham Clinton.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the sanctions are not do-ing enough. “We are pleased to see increasing sanctions but so far they have not been deterred from their course,’’ he said of Iranian leaders.

Like previous economic pen-alties, these are intended to persuade Iran to back off what the West contends is a drive to build a nuclear bomb. Israel increasingly is concerned that sanctions will never be enough to make Iran drop what has be-come a national priority for a clerical regime that has vowed to wipe Israel off the map.

The faster and more effec-tively the sanctions can be seen to work, the better the case to shelve any plan by Israel to bomb Iran, a pre-emptory move that could ignite a new Mideast war. Taking this ini-tial step against the Iranian

Central Bank, the first time the U.S. has directly gone after that major institution, is one way the Obama administration can show momentum now.

In Tehran, Ramin Mehm-anparast, the foreign minis-try spokesman, dismissed the sanctions as “propaganda.’’ He said Iran’s central bank has no financial transactions with the United States and would not be affected by the measures. “Many of these (U.S.) activities are in the sphere of psychologi-cal war and propaganda, and they cannot affect our work,’’ he said.

“Many of these (U.S.) activi-ties are in the sphere of psy-chological war and propagan-da, and they cannot affect our work,’’ he said.

Israel considers Iran to be its most dangerous enemy and has vowed to prevent it from going nuclear. But an Israeli official in Jerusalem on Monday said the country’s prime minister has told Cabinet members not to be so outspoken about the possibility of attacking Iran.

The official spoke on condi-tion of anonymity because he was discussing a closed meet-ing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benja-min Netanyahu himself often has commented about keeping all options on the table in deal-ing with Iran.

The new, stricter sanctions, authorized in legislation that President Barack Obama signed in December, will be enforced under an order he signed only now.

The U.S. and Europe want to deprive Iran of the oil income it needs to run its government and pay for the nuclear pro-gram. But many experts be-lieve Iran will be able to find other buyers outside Europe.

The European Union an-nounced last month it would ban the import of Iranian crude oil starting in July. The U.S. doesn’t buy Iranian oil, but last month it placed sanctions on Iran’s banks to make it hard-er for the nation to sell crude. The U.S., however, has delayed implementing those sanctions for at least six months because it is worried about sending oil prices higher at a time when the world economy is strug-gling. Iran exports about 3 per-cent of the world’s oil.

White House spokesman Jay Carney denied that Monday’s unexpected announcement of new banking sanctions was a sign of heightened worry

about an Israeli attack.“There has been a steady in-

crease in our sanctions activity and this is part of that escala-tion,’’ he said.

Carney said U.S. sanctions on Iran already are squeezing Iran’s economy and have ex-acerbated tensions within the Iranian leadership.

“There is no question that the impact of the isolation on Iran and the economic sanctions on Iran have caused added tur-moil within Iran,’’ he said.

Iran is the world’s third-larg-est exporter of crude oil, giving its leaders financial resources and leverage to withstand out-side pressure. Last year, Iran generated $100 billion in rev-enue from oil, up from $20 bil-lion a decade ago, according to IHS CERA, an energy consult-ing firm.

If Iranian oil is prevented from getting to market, other suppliers could make up the difference. The U.S. has been pressuring other Middle East and African nations to step up production for sale to Europe. Saudi Arabia has said it could increase production to make up for any lost Iranian crude.

Iran’s disputed nuclear pro-gram became a global concern more than five years ago, when the extent of the country’s re-search and uranium enrich-ment began to be known. Since then a web of international economic and other sanctions have failed to stop Iran’s prog-ress toward a point when it could build one or more nucle-ar devices.

U.S. intelligence agencies say Iran is indeed close to that ability but has not yet decided to go ahead. Iran says its nu-clear program is peaceful and denounces sanctions as aggres-sion.

The White House previously had said it would take months to evaluate the likely effect on the fragile global economy be-fore taking the next large steps, including new penalties on the Central Bank.

Now, U.S. institutions are required to seize any Iranian state assets they come across, rather than rejecting the trans-action involved.

The value of Iranian assets affected by the new order was not clear. Iran does almost no direct business with the United States after three decades of enmity, but its money moves through the world financial system and its oil is sold in dol-lars.

Associated Press

US Sanctions Iran to head-off Israel, prevent violence from breaking out

Center for Science and Innovation construction update

In January 27 “Notes and News,” President Mary Grant said the next phase of

construction on the Center for Science and Innovation will begin in February. The Administration expects the pouring of the

building foundation and footings, but specific dates will be determined based on

the weather.

Web cams are capturing the construction progress. To see time lapse photos from three

different spots on campus, visit www.mcla.edu/CSI.

Thursday, February 9, 2012 For Fun 15

Comic by Aurora Cooper

This Week in MCLA History

Courtesey sudoku.au.com

Sudoku

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and

region contains the numbers 1 through 9 exactly once.

Aries: March 21-April 19Your daring side is you in force today, and you may find that you need to push for something bigger, better and bolder. If your people can’t get behind it, then you need to step up and push harder.

Taurus: April 20-May 20Relax and let go today -- of all things, including ego, power and control. You may find that your energy is best spent on things that didn’t seem to matter all that much to you a few days ago.

Gemini: May 21-June 21Your debating skills are honed today, though you may not want to deploy them unless things start to get rough. Your opinions are clear, and others should know just where you stand on any is-sue.

Cancer: June 22-July22You are showing off a little and finding new ways to impress your people. You may find that your new crush (or long-term squeeze) looks at you in a new way when all is said and done.

Leo: July 23-August 22You are at your peak today, so make sure that you get to work on something that means a lot to you. Alternately, you could kick back and relax -- quit while you’re ahead! The good energy stays, no matter what you do.

Virgo: August 23-Sept. 22You may feel like an underdog today, but there are plenty of others who share that feeling, so band together and see if you can jointly get something good done to reverse that trend.

Libra: Sept. 23-Oct. 22You need to get with your friends today -- they’ve got almost every-thing you need to succeed, and they are sure to help out as soon as you ask. It’s a great time for collaboration!

Scorpio: Oct. 23-Nov. 21You’re facing a big challenge right now, so see if you can make yourself focus. When you’re fully engaged, nothing can compete, but if you have to multi-task, things might start to go south quickly.

Sagittarius: Nov. 22-Dec. 21Your natural advantages are shining today, so make the most of them! Don’t worry about play-ing fair, as you can tell that your energy is just outmatching the competition, no matter what.

Capricorn: Dec. 22-Jan. 19You can’t quite trust your in-stincts today -- people are hiding their true motivations, and some may even be concealing their identities! That just means that you’ve got to deal with what you’re sure that you know.

Aquarius: Jan. 20-Feb. 18Your energy is stretched out pretty tightly today, making things seem like they’re more im-portant than they really are. Still, it’s fun, and you might be able to convince someone you’re right!

Pisces: Feb. 19-March 20You’ve got a serious fantasy life, and on a day like today, it may start to take over. See if you can get your people to give you the space you need to dream yourself into a better life.

Horoscopes courtesy of Yahoo.com

Horoscopes

February 7, 1991The College approved a contract that would of-ficially affiliate the Greek organizations and the

Inter-Greek Council with the College.

February 6, 1997An improvised explosive device was found at the Beta Chi Gamma fraternity house at 31 Blacking-

ton St. The bomb, made from a plastic bottle, con-tained unknown chemicals. A member found the

device, and after it began to bubble and smoke, he dropped it and ran out of the house. Police deter-mined the bomb was thrown into the house after

everyone had gone to sleep.

February 9, 2006The College announced plans to introduce a new web portal for campus email. Administration said that FirstClass could go into use as early as the fol-

lowing March.

February 11, 2010The Beacon reported on a memorial service for

MCLA student Rolinda Mondesir, who passed away in December of 2009. A cappella group Hoosings performed “Lean on Me,” and Paul Miranda per-formed a dance set to “Fear” by One Republic.

Students responded to the proposed Wal-Mart super-center on Curran Highway.

Thursday, february 9, 2012 Photo Essay theonlinebeacon.com16

Students protest

Trustees’ decision

to arm campus police

Photos by: Ed Damon & contributors

(Above and right) Protesters made signs expressing their displeasure at the Trustees’ decision.

Students gathered in front of Eldridge Hall last Friday to protest the arming of Public Safety.

Professor Joseph Ebiware joined the protest.