The College Newspaper Round-Up is a weekly look at various stories published in Boston-area student newspapers, plucking out the most interesting pieces that are important to communities across the Commonwealth: the students, the faculty, and the residents of neighborhoods that house them all.
Harvard Higher-Up Gets Caught in Catfishing Scandal
- Harvard Alumni Association Vice President and United Kingdom Parliament Member Brooks P. Newmark has resigned from his position after allegedly using social media to send sexually explicit images of himself to what he thought was a young female Tory PR worker. Turns out, he was being catfished by a writer at the UK’s Sunday Mirror who was investigating the use of social media by members of Parliament. Newmark was a graduate of the Harvard Business School and a frontrunner for the Alumni Association’s presidency, according to Theodore R. Delwiche of the Harvard Crimson. Newmark has also announced his resignation as Minister for Civil Society, and told The Daily Mail, “I have been battling demons—and losing to them. I craved adrenaline and risk. Stress at work drove me to increasingly erratic behaviour.”
Dear Suffolk Students, Your Major No Longer Exists
- Heather Rutherford’s piece in the Suffolk Journal this week gives readers a glimpse into the minds of faculty and students who find out that their degree program will no longer be offered. Suffolk’s illustration major, which takes place at the school’s New England School of Art and Design off Arlington Street, started in the fall of 2011. According to Program Director Lisa French, she received an email “out of the blue” from the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Kenneth Greenberg that asked to submit a list of current students. According to the article, an e-mail was sent to declared illustration majors before French could speak with them. This seemingly caused confusion for undeclared first-year students who have been taking illustration classes. NESAD’s future has been unclear for the past several years. The promise of moving the school to a new building at 20 Somerset building, thus connecting it to the rest of the campus, was broken in 2012 after former, then newly-appointed President James McCarthy started working at the school. When students met with President McCarthy in the winter of 2013, they left dissatisfied and nervous about their degrees if the school were to close. According to the Journal’s staff editorial this week, the school’s Student Government Association asked new President Norman Smith about his plans for NESAD. From the article, “‘I’ve only been here three weeks, but I love the arts,’ he said.”
Harvard Students Fasting Against Fossil Fuels
- Activists from Divest Harvard, an organization against Harvard’s investment in fossil fuel companies, have begun a week-long fast according to Theodore R. Delwiche of the Harvard Crimson. In addition to the fast, organized lectures and talks about stinky dinosaur juice’s effect on our planet’s detriment are planned. According to the Crimson, “160 individuals had signed up for the event via an online form by Monday Afternoon.” Delwiche also writes that the group is encouraging a safe fast, suggesting no more than three days at a time.
Schools Tightening Up Crime Reports
- New regulations for schools who receive funds were released by the U.S. Department of Education on Monday. The regulations were updated to better language associated with the Violence Against Women act and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which ensures that schools create policies that make students safe. The Clery Act also states that schools must publish annual crime reports. On July 1, 2015, the following will be added:
- Incidents of stalking need to be reported.
- National origin and gender identity are categories of bias for hate crimes.
- Disciplinary action taken against students who have committed domestic or dating violence must be reported.
- Policies preventing dating violence must be included in annual reports.
- Policies to make information available while keeping victims’ identities confidential must be included in yearly reports.
According to an article by Sarah Boutorabi of the Daily Free Press, there are multiple benefits of the new regulations. She quotes BUPD Captain Robert Malloy who mentions that while the department’s response remains the same, the new rules will “make sure reports are received.”
BC Students Speak In Favor of New Sexual Misconduct Policy
- The Editorial Board of BC Heights published a piece this week about Boston College’s updated sexual misconduct policy, which was enacted over the summer. The new policies get rid of the need for both the complainant and respondent to be included in the same meeting. From the editorial: “Knowing that one would have to encounter his or her attacker again, and in such an adversarial context, might persuade a student to seek action via a different route, or potentially not at all. By moving to a model that reduces this possibility, BC is working toward creating a campus where every student feels safe reporting sexual misconduct.”
MIT Alumni Tell Students to Get Involved
- Brittany N. Montgomery and Rebecca Heywood, two alumni of MIT, have published a guest column in the Tech this week urging students to understand the symbiotic relationship between science and community affairs. The Tech’s survey for the class of 2018 revealed that students want to contribute to science and innovation, but are turned off by political or community involvement. From the editorial, “What good is a contribution to science and innovation if not to better the human condition? Isn’t that what MIT’s motto, Mens et Manus, is all about? If we truly believe that the purpose of everything that we strive to accomplish at MIT is to improve human life and educate students for practical application, then what are we doing to prepare them for action in the messy real world?”
Emerson Works to Make Application More Gender Inclusive
- Thanks to an idea by Emerson College’s VP for Enrollment MJ Knoll-Finn, students applying to the college will now have a multitude of gender options to choose from. According to Laura King of the Berkeley Beacon, the school’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and GLBTQ Student Resources worked together to finalize the application’s inclusiveness in time to be a part of their Common Application. According to the article, “applicants can now choose from a list that includes genderqueer/androgynous, intersex, transgender, transsexual, cross-dresser, FTM (female-to-male), and MTF (male-to-female).” It also mentions that MIT is among colleges which have moved to add diverse options to their application.
WERS Raises Money Throughout Live Music Week
- The Berkeley Beacon has a feature on WERS’ Live Music Week, which helps fundraise for the infamous college radio station. The article by Erica Mixon includes interviews with various coordinators and operators at the station as they plan logistics and encourage listeners to be open to the different kinds of music they play throughout the week. The drive runs until Sunday, with donations being accepted online.
[Photo Credit: Tim Sackton]
