When I see OneEmerson plastered on walls and headlining emails, all I do is think.
I think of the students who live through police brutality and racial injustice on a daily basis and it isnโt just some liberal game of superior ideals and social media posts.
I think of the students who have to fight back their tears until they reach the comfort of their dorms after another frustrating meeting with the financial aid office.
I think of the sexual assault survivors who will not see justice before they graduate.
I think of the students who told me that I was being a miser and should learn to appreciate the good over the bad.
I think of the students that did not have the choice to come back this semester.
I think of the students who donโt know where their next meal will come from.
I think of the students who live in perpetual fear of becoming infected with COVID19.
I think of the students who told me that itโs really not a big deal.
I think of the students who wonder if theyโll ever stop feeling lonely as they stare at their bedroom ceiling.
I think of the students who are living life as if it was January 2020
I think of the students that wish that The Berkeley Beacon would just get it right.
I think of the students who listen to the slurs and casual bigotry of their so-called peers and feel helpless.
I think of the students who have to endure faculty and administration that speak without listening.
I think of the students who perceive the new guidelines as an unnecessary pain in the ass.
I think of the students who worry about their accent.
I think of the students who visited the Tam this week.
I think of the students who never feel at home at the organizations they belong to and the students who were never offered the chance to make it their home.
I think of the students who being their true self on campus is a source of exhaustion.
I think of the students who told me I shouldnโt bring up these things because I have a full ride from the school.
I think of the students who gave it their best and still couldnโt complete their planned tenure with the College.
I think of the students whose parents put it all on the line just to give them a chance to learn here.
I think of the students who view COVID19 as just a virus.
I think of the students who are getting away with it and know it.
I think of the students who are getting away with it and do not care.
I think of the students who donโt even know whatโs going on outside of themselves.
I think of the students that canโt afford to have in-person classes cancelled.
I think of the students who treat this as some kind of long vacation. I used to be one of them.
I think about the students who never think about these things.
I think about how there can never truly be one Emerson unless we did something about it. What do you think?
Founded in 1983 by Byllye Y. Avery, Black Womenโs Health Imperative (BWHI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and advancement of Black womenโs health and well being. Originally named the National Black Womenโs Health Project, the organization is the first nonprofit created by Black women that solely prioritizes Black womenโs health.
The Imperativeโs mission, as outlined on their website, is โto lead the effort to solve the most pressing health issues that affect Black women and girls in the U.S.,โ and aim to โdeliver bold new programs and advocate health-promoting policies.โ In order to achieve this mission, they employ several signature programs:
CYL^2– taglined โChange Your Lifestyle. Change Your Lifeโ. CYL lifestyle coaches teach women and men across the country how to eat differently and move more. This program works to help people not only shed pounds, but also avoid diabetes, heart disease and many other chronic conditions. CYL is a part of the National Diabetes Prevention Program (led by the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention), and it currently has over 1,800 participants spread throughout 12 cities.
My Sisterโs Keeper– focuses on young Black women, empowering them to โbe tomorrowโs resilient, health-conscious, professional leaders.โ Specifically looking towards college-aged Black women, My Sisterโs Keeper targets HBCU campuses for this advocacy and leadership-building initiative, and aims to get collegiate women to โsupport each other in making healthy choices, protect one another from intimate partner violence and serve as advocacy leaders on campus and in the community.โ Their three main focus areas are elevating conversation sexual health and domestic violence, advocating for policies to keep women safe, and mobilizing women around reproductive rights.
SIS Circles– expands the reach of My Sisterโs Keeperโs collegiate program to high school aged Black women. Targeting sophomores and juniors of Atlantaโs underserved communities, BWHI works towards two main goals: FIrst, to โprovide a comprehensive social, emotional and health-focused curriculum,โ empowering the students to โachieve their educational and professional goals; and second, to โfacilitate mentorship via and intergenerational leadership modelโ to support โprofessional success in a broad array of careers and skilled trades.โ
On Our Own Terms– described as โan informed network of organizations and experts who are focused on the prevention, care and treatment of HIV for, by and about Black cis and transgender women.โ On Our Own Terms, through โevidence-based practices, cross-sector collaborations and the strengthening of community assetsโ works to improve the โsexual health and well being of Black women,โ who are disproportionately affected by HIV in the United States.
All of Us – BWHIโs special initiative that aims to speed up health research and medical breakthroughs. Their Research Program seeks to create the largest health database ever, through understanding peopleโs health, neighborhood, family, and lifestyle, so as to better understand health and disease.
Money will be split between each initiative equally. ________________________________________________
The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights is a 15-year-old organization that combines elevating correctional health research with tangible action programs that directly impact the lives of Rhode Island prisoners. The Center employs a three pronged approach to fulfilling their mission of improving prison health statuses and better understanding the carceral impact on human health.
Raising awareness at the national and state levels about the healthcare challenges of incarcerated people. The center utilizes their online presence and accessibility to paramount research on correctional health structures to share what alternative methods are being studied and where there are developing trends. The center uses a small representative pool such as Rhode Island to better comprehend the systems at play on the larger level.
Providing education and training opportunities to increase the number and capacity of clinical scientists working with justice-involved populations (incarcerated populations), through their Lifespan/Brown Criminal Justice Research Training Program, a two-year program, headed by a group of knowledgeable and experienced clinical investigators, with the goal to prepare and inform individuals on researchโs critical role in correctional health and criminal justice and provide Supplemental education on issues unique to justice-involved populations including the ethics and practice of conducting research in criminal justice settings; the epidemiology and treatment of HIV, substance abuse disorders, and associated comorbidities and relevant community and implementation science research methods and strategies. A mentored research experience including funds for pilot projects (up to $15,000) that will offer participants the opportunity to develop interventions and preliminary datasets appropriate for future NIH grants and/or conduct secondary analyses of existing datasets, as well as to disseminate their findings at national meetings and through the peer-reviewed literature.
For more information about the program, please visit the CJRT Program page.
Collaborating with local justice system stakeholders to identify and support projects that respond to the intersection of incarceration, recidivism, and public health in the State of Rhode Island. The Center employs this mission through their Transitions Clinics, where a returning citizen is paired with a primary care doctor and a community health worker that assists them with basic needs. This allows for a smoother and more supported transition back into society, a transition notoriously difficult in the United States, while also reshifting the significance of healthcare in the returning individualโs life.
The ABCD Health Services Department is an offshoot of one of twelve programs of ABCD that each focus on the wellbeing of low-income residents of the greater Boston area. Their program provides free, quality healthcare to thousands of people each year, through targeted programs that meet the health needs of each community it serves.
The main focuses of the ABCD Health Services Department are community prevention and family planning. Their community prevention initiative offers Sexual Health, HIV/STI Prevention, Wellness Education, Personal Development/Empowerment Programs and Community Events, in order to prevent common health issues that arise in low-income communities. ABCDโs programming are โtrauma-informed, integrate gender and cultural pride, and are inclusive to reach youth and young adults in the community who may not use — or trust — conventional sources of care and information.โ In 2019 alone, ABCD provided disease prevention services to 24,841 people in the greater Boston area.
ABCDโs Family Planning initiative seeks to โhelp individuals and couples prevent unintended pregnancies, decrease sexually transmitted infections and HIV, have healthy pregnancies, and stay healthy throughout their lives.โ They train healthcare workers to provide family planning and health care that is high quality and confidential, and treat individuals regardless of age, gender, immigration status, or whether or not individuals have health insurance. The Family Planning program partners with community health centers, school-based health centers, and hospital primary care programs to provide medical care, sexual health counseling, education, and medical care to metro Boston.
The Audre Lorde Project, also known as ALP, is a Community Organizing Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Trans, and Gender Non Conforming (LGBTSTGNC) People of Color Communities. The center, founded in 1994, initially united Advocates for Gay Men of Color, a multiracial network of gay men of color HIV policy advocates.
The mission of ALP is to serve as a community organizing space to address issues impacting LGBTSTGNC People of Color communities. Mobilizing efforts, educating community members, and working for justice are at the forefront of the values the Project upholds.
The programs that ALP holds aim to serve as a platform to build the communityโs collective power and achieve self-determination and justice. The programs are as followed:
Safe OUTside the System: The SOS Collective is a anti-violence program for LGBTSTGNC people of color who are committed to challenging the violence exhibited in the community by relying on community-based strategies compared to involving police
TransJustice is a political group created by Trans and Gender Non-conforming people of color. This program tries to tackle the political issues faced among marginalized populations by mobilizing efforts in the community and involving allies.
The 3rd Space Support Program works with LGBTSTGNC POC who struggle with issues involving employment, education, healthcare, and immigration status. The center provides a facility where sustainable support can be given to those who need it.
Mission Statement
Northeastern University Collaborative Fundraiser for Black Health: Black Health Matters
Black Health Matters is a collaborative effort by groups from Northeastern University to raise money for grassroots organizations dedicated to improving the health statuses of Black and LGBTQ+ communities led by Northeastern University Global Health Initiative (NUGHI) in partnership with Northeastern Black Students Association, Minority Association for Prehealth Students, Student Alliance for Prison Reform, American Medical Womenโs Association, College of Science Student Diversity Advisory Council, Sisters in Solidarity, Northeastern African Student Organization, and Black Engineering Student Society. We aim to achieve our goal by utilizing the wealth of Northeastern University, both financially and resource-wise, through a Contact-A-Thon of students, alumni, and members of the greater Northeastern community.
Racial injustices in the United States are not only extremely prevalent in the criminal justice system, but in the healthcare system as well, leading to the loss of innumerable Black and LGBTQ+ lives. The goal for this Contact-A-Thon is to raise awareness about the disproportionate health disparities that Black, LGBTQ+, and incarcerated peoples face in America. This coalition of groups came together to organize Black Health Matters in the light of recent events, including the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others at the hands of the police and white supremacists, as well as Trumpโs decree that medical personnel can legally discriminate against transgender people. Manifestations of bigotry in the healthcare system are the result of centuries of systemic racism, from healthcare employeesโ frequent dismissal of Black womenโs pain to under-resourced hospitals; Black Health Matters was created as a united front of Northeastern University students against racism in healthcare.
We are working to mobilize Northeasternโs undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and alumni to support the efforts of national grassroots organizations to combat white supremacy in healthcare. Our mission is to financially support these organizations that focus on fighting and dismantling the racism ingrained in the American healthcare system to reduce health disparities affecting Black and LGBTQ+ communities.
Hi. I hope that youโre doing alright amidst everything thatโs going on right now.
Iโm Gus. We may or may not have gotten to know each other in our shared time at Emerson College. As students, our time at this school is bookended by each of our own widely varied experiences and paths in life, with origins and destinations unique to each of us. Crucial to the development of our journeys is the handful of years we are currently in, in which our paths overlap and our experiences find common ground.
In the last year, I am proud to have been able to witness ECSUโs promotion of that commonality, as students have come together to highlight the ways in which the internal contradictions of capitalist society manifest on our campus, and to begin the fight to build dual power within this institution.
The end of my time as a student at Emerson has prompted me to reflect on what this transitionary period means, with a special consideration of the role that it plays in self-conceptualization and community organizing. In previous years, I had looked forward to my current position as being the time when I finally ‘enter the real world’. This way of thinking, however, created a false dichotomy between the student and the civilian, hinting at a mutual exclusivity regarding student involvement in communities external to activity on campus. Organizing to fight against interests of capital both on-and-off campus have made the errors of this arbitrary division increasingly clear to me. Students around the country are facing issues that are representative of the larger systemic flaws of American capitalist society. The issues that we face on campus (unchecked institutional racism and gender-based oppression, steadily increasing costs of education and housing, stagnating wages for faculty, staff, & student workers and more!) are baked into the structure of American culture and economy. The issues that we fight as an organized student body must then align with the historical battle against the bloodthirsty American ruling class, and we must stand firmly in solidarity and action with the groups that have shown inspiring dedication to this cause, including the long history of indigenous nationsโ struggles against colonization, Black liberation struggles, the LGBT rights movement, Women’s liberation struggles, the radical tradition within the labor movement and more. These struggles have been waged since long before the existence of Emerson College itself, and it is crucial that we familiarize and orient ourselves within the existing tradition of revolutionary history here in the U.S. and around the world. We cannot allow for the false division of ‘real world’ and ‘student’ to separate our fight from the greater struggle of the colonized working class.
This past week has seen a whirlwind of events to which we must all be paying close attention. The racist police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony Mcdade have sparked organized action across the country, and large groups of brave activists have mobilized to stand up for their communities. Facing threats of militarized police forces and the descent of the National Guard, people around the country are risking their lives to challenge the systemic racism that is ingrained in this countryโs foundation. The events of this past week are a brutal reminder of what lies at the heart of the United States of America: a white-supremacist settler colonial state founded on genocide, and whose wealth has been violently accumulated through chattel slavery, prison labor and imperialism. The cause for Black liberation and self-determination must be of great priority to anyone who considers themselves to be โprogressiveโ, a priority which must be supported through disciplined action and solidarity. In these specific times I call on anyone who is able, especially my fellow non-Black students and activists, to donate to organizations and funds that are dedicated to serving the movement on the ground, both in providing bail to those arrested and in providing resources for those putting their lives on the line for justice. Wherever you are, I urge you to look into local grassroots organizations in your city to which you can donate (or, even better, join one of these organizations and dedicate yourself to fighting for the cause!). Aside from contributing to local organizations, there are uprisings happening around the country which are in need of financial assistance. Though Iโm sure that you are already familiar with many of these, I will share some links here so you can donate directly after reading this:
https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate – Minneapolis, MN (NOTE: At the time of writing MFF has asked to divert donations to other orgs in need. Make sure to keep an eye out in case that changes!)
Donating money to these orgs is crucial to sustaining the movement that is now blooming around the country. However, peopleโs movements cannot be sustained on funds alone. Groups of people across the U.S. are standing up to state-sanctioned white supremacist violence that upholds the oppressive capitalist government. Battles for social and political justice are being fought against the harsh backdrop of a global pandemic, a crisis already disproportionately skewed across social and economic hierarchies. It should also not be ignored that these new developments to the situation have come amidst a severe housing crisis, record-breaking rates of incarceration, and with a looming global recession on the horizon. To say that the American government has failed its people would be naive; the American ruling class succeeds in the intentional oppression of working class and colonized people, both within and outside this countryโs borders. The violent actions of the U.S. state are intentional in their brutality, and this countryโs structures of white supremacy lie at the foundations of this unapologetic violence. The fight for the liberation of Black and Indigenous peoples is one that must be supported by the masses of working people, and it must be centered in any left movement within the United States. In contributing to such a movement I urge you all to become involved in local organizations beyond the exclusive walls of higher education institutions. We must be engaged community members in all aspects of our lives, and we must take organized action beyond the immediate context of Emerson College. This is not to say that student organizing is unimportant, in fact I greatly value the work that our student body has accomplished through student-led organization and mobilization. However, we cannot let our activism be restricted to the confines of our campus. Joining local organizations not only widens the network that we have to fight for student interests, but it provides valuable experience in community organizing that can build us into an even stronger union than before. Most importantly, though, is that you will be contributing to serving the people, and that you will be dedicating yourself to the cause of building a peopleโs revolution in the United States. Times like these emphasize the necessity of utmost dedication to the betterment of ourselves and to the betterment of society. The work that you have all accomplished over this past year shows inspiring capacity for organizational leadership and participation. I simply ask you to fulfill that capacity in every aspect of life.
Iโve spent five years going through Emerson College. I entered as an alcoholic Writing major who barely made it into the Honors Program and exited as a theorist with a custom-built major in Post/Colonial Media Studies. I want to leave the next generation of Union members and the Emerson community with some of my reflections, what I like to think would have helped me when I entered Emerson. These wonโt be resources in the material sense, but rather concepts to chew on, to consider while we realize just how clenched our jaws are.
Decolonize
For starters, Iโm South Asian, born in the US to Indian immigrants in a rural, white part of the South. I fell into the trappings of the liberal promise, that the North was better, it wasnโt racist, it was where you could properly chase the American Dream. I flew to Boston ready to make my mark on a city that would embrace me, only for it to try as hard as it could to spit me and my brown fellows back out.
Colonization, at least in the domestic sense, is an ongoing psychological project designed to invade our thinking and have us perform the insidious labor of colonization on its behalf. It is a project dedicated to hollowing out our cultural heritage and filling the remaining void with the ideology of the state, neutralizing and even converting us to the colonial project through the narrative allure of power. To decolonize our psyche, we must approach it actively; decolonization is just as much an ongoing process as is colonization. It requires patience and consciousness.
Decolonization does not start and end with the self – it canโt. As a practice, it runs in direct opposition to the universal project of colonization and therefore must be challenged internally as well as externally; that is, we must work to decolonize ourselves as much as we work to decolonize our space. In a space like Emerson, this is no small task. Thankfully, there is a heritage of cultural organizing at Emerson, these spaces can offer community for people of color. The cultural orgs at Emerson are a refreshing breath of color in a space whiter than Boston. But the classrooms often fall victim to the overwhelming number of white students that occupy these halls. Be ready to engage in decolonial practices on a regular basis. This includes damning the colonial gaze in our classrooms, and being honest about the colonial foundations on which this nation and Emerson as an institution were built. Remind yourself and others whose backs our presence, our legacy, is built on.
On Solidarity
ECSU is an unaffiliated organization dedicated to serving the Emerson College student body. Membership is limited to your politics, not your identity. We are a decentralized organization that fights for and alongside oppressed students and in solidarity with faculty and staff unions. Any org whose membership draws from Emersonโs student body in such a way is at risk of reflecting Emersonโs disproportionate racial representation. This isnโt inherently a bad thing but something we must remind ourselves of – individually and collectively – when organizing. This reflection should be conscious for all members, not just the whites. Everyone in Emersonโs student body and ECSUโs membership have varying degrees of privilege: racial, assigned/apparent gender, sexuality, economic, ability. These are just a few examples. While it is important for our members to speak up on issues, it is just as important – if not more – to know when to listen. Recognize when youโre amplifying voices and when youโre speaking over someone and respond accordingly. Know when to step aside because your voice does not need to be centered; it isnโt that your voice doesnโt matter, but your solidarity that matters more. Making sure there is space for oppressed voices in every conversation and standing in solidarity against oppression speaks volumes and I expect our membership to know when to speak and when to shut up & listen.
Most importantly, our membership must know when to show out. A demonstration for racial equality does not need a clamoring of white students repeating what they hear; it needs your active, conscious, and silent support so that voices of color can be heard clearly, vividly. The cultural orgs I mention above do not exist for ECSU to brownwash our demonstrations. Organizational solidarity is a relationship that we must contribute to, otherwise we have no right to request that cultural orgs show out for us. We are a relatively new organization, founded in the Spring of 2019, and we owe our foundations to those who came before us; do not tokenize them or our overlapping membership. Do not alienate ECSU members of color by asking them to leverage their dual-position as Union members and people of color to secure cultural org sponsorship.
For my South Asians
We have been through a lot, at times together, at times against each other. There is so much oppression discourse that we have to unlearn, thrust upon us by our colonizers and our families. Decolonizing ourselves means decolonizing ourselves fully. Decolonizing the oppression taught to us along religious, caste, and ethnic lines is integral if we are to work towards a collective liberation of the oppressed classes. First and foremost, see the above section. Understand your unique position in the rich and diverse history of South Asia and our conflicts. Know when to speak and when to decenter yourself.
I would hope this goes without saying: donโt say the n-word. Thereโs plenty of reclamatory work that needs to be done for our own community, and appropriating a slur from another, more violently & foundationally oppressed group, is not helping anyone. We have no right to reinforce the violent history of anti-Blackness in this, or any, country, especially when we have so much intergenerational anti-Blackness to unlearn. Contend with your ancestors before you actively disrupt multiple liberation movements.
Be ready to learn. Desi, a cultural org dedicated to South Asians of all religious and caste backgrounds, was effectively defunct during my time at Emerson, but that is just one way for us to find our community. Maybe one of us can resurrect it and make a space for us to develop consciousness amongst ourselves and our own moving forward, establishing our organizational legacy at Emerson College so we donโt have to keep reinventing the wheel. While itโs important to find a South Asian community at Emerson, it is helpful, and okay, to wander off-campus in search of our community. A few groups worth looking at are Sub Drift Boston, which regularly hosts open mics and socials for people from the Indian Subcontinent; MASALA Boston, a social group for LGBTQ South Asians in Boston; and the South Asian affinity groups & cultural orgs at other, larger institutions in the area – Boston University usually hosts an annual Holi celebration. Being a part of your own community is lovely, but be conscious of who you engage with. Not all South Asians are comrades. Know when a relationship is valuable or detrimental to the personal & political work you want to do.
On the White Ally & Comprador
I use comprador here to adapt the post/colonial definition of a comprador: a colonized native who – whether through coercion or full & wilful consent – betrays their fellow colonized class to secure a semblance of power and position themselves in the liminal space between colonized and colonizer. This is not for whites to throw around but for members of the colonized classes to name traitors in their ranks. To all whites, donโt call brown people in your life compradors.
In both cases, that of the white ally and the comprador, be wary of their relation to power. They have likely been exposed to structural power through a lifetime of passive indoctrination and know the allure of it intimately. They therefore understand the implicit promise of this power and can be an effective counter-insurgent plant in our ranks. As much as they can navigate the power with the promise of disrupting it, they can fall into it just as easily.
In short, know who you can trust.
Breathe
These struggles, our struggles, are historical. They were raging long before us and they will likely rage long after us – especially at a College where most of us attend for 2-5 years before being priced out or matriculating. Your responsibility to your comrades is just as important as your responsibility to yourself. Donโt trust ECAPS but if you can afford a therapist, find one. Meditate, exercise, eat, laugh, cry. Trust me: this was not meant for your shoulders alone and no one should ever ask you to carry it alone. Know who you can trust and lean on them as they lean on you. Together, and only together, we can make it through this; together, we can work to end this.
They wake up early to commute to campus. They feed us every day. They make Emerson possible.
Emerson won’t commit to extending medical benefits and full pay for all of them through commencement.
The sudden closure of college campuses due to COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on university dining hall employees. Join us in supporting Unite Here Local 26’s efforts to get Northeastern, Brandeis, Lesley, Simmons, Colleges of the Fens, and Emerson College to follow MIT, Harvard, and Tufts Universityย in extending medical benefits and full pay for dining hall workers through commencement.
How you can stand with university dining hall workers:
Phone bankwith us on Wednesday telling Emerson to step up and support its employees. We provide phone numbers and a call script. Learn more about phone banking below! ๏ปฟ
Send a letterurging Northeastern, Brandeis, Lesley, Simmons, Colleges of the Fens, and Emerson College to support these workers. Tell them that students, faculty, and alumni are raising money for the workers that feed THEIR campuses. ๏ปฟ
Donate to help Boston area university dining hall workers impacted by COVID-19. Funds are used to help hospitality workers: maintain family health insurance coverage during layoffs or reduced hours; pay for food, rent, and utilities; replace wages lost due to reduced hours and tips; retrain for new jobs during the business downturn.
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How to Phone Bank:
It’s really easy! One call takes about 2 minutes, and most likely you will just be leaving voicemails.
Step 1: Sign up for a phone-banking time slot in the google sheet. It is set up so administrators get a call every 10 minutes. We are calling President Lee Pelton and the Vice President of Administration & Finance, Paul Dworkis. Step 2: Call the numbers. We provide phone numbers and a script on the same google sheet where you sign up for a slot. Most likely, you will be leaving a message on their voicemail. Step 3: Report how your call went. Fill out our anonymous google form telling us if you left a voicemail or, if they picked up, what they said.
Notes on phone banking:
Chances are, you’ll just be leaving a voicemail. We’ve done phone banks before, and it is very rare that the administrator actually answers the phone.
If the someone does answer the phone, you don’t have to talk to them beyond the script. Don’t feel pressured to hold a conversation with them unless you want to. You can always just read the script, say “thank you for your time,” and hang up. It’s also likely if someone does pick up that it will be their secretary, not the administrator.
If the administrator answers and reveals information to you or is rude, report it to us! We have an anonymous google form to collect call experiences. This helps us track how many calls were sent and how administrators responded. Please report your experience even if you just left a voicemail.
Emerson students are distressed and overwhelmed by the transferring of their experiential classes into an online format, in combination with recent unemployment, food insecurity, and health concerns. Many are tasked with the additional responsibility of caring for family members and friends during these difficult times. Some students have disabilities that make online learning difficult. For these reasons and more, many of us are concerned that we will not be able to maintain our GPAs to the standard we normally can, putting us at risk of losing scholarships or future employment opportunities. A pass/fail option would be a compassionate gesture on the collegeโs part to acknowledge the stress we are under and provide us with relief.
As the Senior Academic Adviser of the history department at the University of Minnesota, David M. Perry, eloquently writes:
โWe’re all going to need to prioritize empathy, kindness and trust as we move through the next few weeks and maybe months. Students are going through profound dislocations because of the coronavirus pandemic and simply cannot be expected to do good work while moving, being isolated, shifting to online learning and other changes…Faculty also need to be judged on a pass/fail basis. Online teaching is uniquely hard and cannot be mastered as a skill in a couple of hours or days. Student evaluations โ which for pre-tenure or pre-promotion faculty are vitally important to their career advancement โ will be useless in this new arrangement, as will any evaluations of research productivity.โ
We spent this past week collecting student testimony about how a pass/fail option will help Emersonians succeed going forward. Attached below, you will find a sampling from the 130 submissions weโve received. Please consider these studentsโ experiences when you make your decision, and hold space for the fact that for every individual story shared here, there are many other students in similar situations. A pass/fail option for the remaining semester respects the abilities, needs, and wellbeing of Emerson students. It communicates to us that the college cares about our education and wants to help alleviate our stress.
Sincerely,
The Emerson College Student Union
Note: we included the student testimonies in our letter but did not publicly publish them on our website because some student’s submissions contain information that could possibly identify them, and we want to protect their privacy.
Emerson needs to help students with the financial stress of this closure. While the administration has put some plans into motion, weโve heard from a lot of students in the last few days about what they still need from the college. This crisis isnโt โhandledโ until Emerson steps up and meets these needs.
We need a statement from the college condemning xenophobia and sinophobia on campus. We need the college to center this message in its own standalone email, unlike how its prior messaging on COVID-19 has tucked mentions of resisting sinophobia and xenophobia in the bottom section of its emails.
We need to be charged the cost of online class tuition for the 2020 spring semester ($12,448)* and be refunded the $11,832 difference from what we have already paid for in-person tuition. ELA internship credits should be refunded in full. While students can work remotely, they lose crucial networking opportunities which might justify its cost. * Cost of online classes calculated by multiplying the $778 per-credit-hour cost of summer courses x 16 credits.
We need Emerson to give students the option to convert their classes to be pass/fail. It is unrealistic to hold students to the grading procedures of an in-person class when we are learning in an entirely new environment and many of us are under the stress of recent unemployment and food insecurity. Other colleges such as Smith College, Grinnell College, MIT, Cornell University, Penn State, and Georgetown University have already put in this measure. If you are a student, please share your statement about how a pass/fail option would help you in this anonymous google form!We will be sharing these comments with the academic Provost.
We need refunds for the cost of travel, refunds for the cost of any cancelled trips for students who had to return home from studying abroad, and we need Emerson to purchase travel insurance for all future study abroad programs (including Kasteel Well and Global Pathways).We need reimbursement for students who purchased storage and evacuated campus before free storage provided by Emerson was announced.
We need Emerson to make its budget publicly available on the Emerson College website and/or Ecommon so students can verify any future claims the college makes about COVID-19 affecting the collegeโs finances. We need Emerson to notify the entire Emerson community by email when the budget is published.
We need Emerson to provide a food stipend for food-insecure students in Boston the same way that they provide it for ELA students. It should be open to all students and not require students to prove financial need to access this.
We need all hourly and salaried workers to receive full pay during the closure, regardless of ability to attend work during the closure. This includes student employees. We need Emerson to cover all health and crisis related costs of COVID-19 for all hourly and salaried workers, as well as students who have insurance through Emerson.
We need Emerson to publish updated emergency procedures so that our community is better prepared to handle crises (such as COVID-19) in the future. Emerson has not updated their emergency procedures since the Boston Bombing and that is unacceptable.
We need the class of 2024 students to be continually notified as the college progresses in its decision making, and that class of 2024 students are updated on the likelihood that fall classes will be conducted remotely and how that will impact their room and board costs for the fall 2020 semester.
If you support these needs being met, copy and paste them into an email to the Dean of Campus Life, james_hoppe@emerson.edu.
Jim Hoppe’s reply, plus our answers to his questions:
Thank you for writing and sharing this list. As you might imagine, this week has been focused on assisting students as they transition off-campus, nevertheless, I will share your thoughts with the appropriate colleagues around campus.
We know this is a busy and stressful time to be a college administrator. Thank you for your timely response and for your engagement with our listed needs. We appreciate that you are listening to us during this stressful time. Thank you for passing this list on to other offices!
With regard to point #1, I agree it is important that the college condemn xenophobia and sinophobia. Many in our community are suffering in silence, and we must do more to address this. I know there will be further statements in the future.
We look forward to these upcoming statements. We also want to politely point out that while it is true that some may be suffering in silence, many students have been vocal about suffering from racism on campus for quite some time.
A few quick notes:
The college has shared, as noted on the emerson.edu/covid-19/FAQ website last week, that a credit on room and board expenses for students who have moved off-campus is forthcoming. The final details of that decision are being clarified this week and will be shared in the next few days.
Thank you for sharing this link with us! We were aware of this statement, and are pushing for the credit to be offered as a refund to those who want it. Many low-income students need the money now.
Regarding point #6, in conjunction with SGA, the annual budget forum had been scheduled for March 18th but has been postponed due to the current situation. The college will work with SGA leadership to reschedule this forum to take place online in the coming weeks.
We appreciate the update and invitation to the budget forum! However, we are asking for something differentโin this need, specifically, we are asking for the college’s budget to be shared publicly and indefinitely with the Emerson community.
With regard to point # 7, could you share more about the noted stipend for food-insecure students at Emerson Los Angeles? I’m not aware of any such program, nor are administrators at Emerson Los Angeles. Perhaps we are using different language?
Thank you for asking for clarification! We should have worded this more specifically. We are referring to the ELA meal plan as a food stipendโthe plan where students get grocery store gift cards to purchase food. The ELA students still have access to this (partially for some, depending on their current location) but Boston and returned Kasteel Well students need this type of resource as well.
We have nothing to say here except for we’re sorry! We were given incorrect information.
I know the events of the past two weeks have been disruptive and difficult for all. I wish each of you the best during this time of transition. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or if I can be helpful. Please also forgive the standard response, but I wanted to get back to each of you quickly.
We completely understand why you do not have time to write an original response to each of usโwe’re sure you’re overwhelmed with emails right now, and we appreciate your timely response.
I know this is a busy and stressful time to be a college administrator. Thank you for your timely response and for your engagement with these listed student needs. I appreciate that you are listening to us during this stressful time. Thank you for passing this list on to other offices!
I look forward to these upcoming statements condeming xenophobia and sinophobia on campus. I also want to politely point out that while it is true that some may be suffering in silence, many students have been vocal about suffering from racism on campus for quite some time.
Thank you for sharing the link to info about the partial credit for room and board with me! I am aware of this statement, and the need I listed is pushing for the credit to be offered as a refund to those who want it. Many low-income students need the money now.
I also appreciate the update and invitation to the budget forum! However, need #6 is asking for something differentโin this need, specifically, students are asking for the college’s budget to be shared publicly and indefinitely with the Emerson community.
Thank you for asking for clarification on need #7! We should have worded this more specifically. We are referring to the ELA meal plan as a food stipendโthe plan where students get grocery store gift cards to purchase food. The ELA students still have access to this (partially for some, depending on their current location) but Boston and returned Kasteel Well students need this type of resource as well.
As for need #9, we have nothing to say here except for we’re sorry! We were given incorrect information.
I completely understand why you do not have time to write an original response to each of usโI’m sure you’re overwhelmed with emails right now, and I appreciate your timely response.
โTuition increases have to happen because of inflationโ
Emersonโs reasoning:
Emerson says they need to increase tuition and room and board to account for their increased costs. They claim that inflation is a key driver of these tuition increases.
When the college uses inflation to justify tuition increases, they are taking advantage of how many of us donโt know a lot about what inflation really means.
The truth:
Is it inflation? Emerson has increased tuition faster than national Higher Ed operating costs have every year since at least 2010, the earliest year the Internet Archive has a record of Emersonโs Website.
Inflation is calculated by taking the cost of everything today and comparing it to its cost 365 days ago. Itโs a means of measuring costs, not predicting them. Inflation reflects the world, it doesnโt make it.
Certain costs, like the price of gas or eating out might go down one year. One example is in 2016, where gas prices deflated after the U.S. started fracking. Other costs, like rent, tuition or healthcare continue to skyrocket. Inflation averages out everything bought in the U.S. leading to an average yearly inflation of about 2%.
The Higher Education Price Index measures the national inflation of operating costs for private colleges. The inflation of these costs have never matched the yearly tuition increases as far back as we have evidence on Emersonโs website in 2010.
Additionally, Emersonโs past tuition increases have been above the national average for tuition increases at private four-year-colleges. According to the College Board, the national average increase rate at private four-year-colleges for 2019-20 school year was 3.4%. Emersonโs tuition for the 2019-20 year increased by 4%. In the 2018-19 school year, the national average increase rate was 3.3%. Emerson increased tuition by a whopping 4.5%.
When we began organizing last spring, we did so knowing that another cost of attendance increase was coming. We knew because the cost of attendance at Emerson has increased every year for the past 10 years. We knew because last year, when asked if the increases would ever stop, Lee Pelton just said โI wouldnโt wish to commit the college to a promise they couldnโt keep.โ We knew because Emerson College has yet to show us that it values low-income students and cares about our safety.
All of our organizing up to this point has been done anticipating another increase made without student consent. This recent confirmation of the cost increase given to us by an accepted student, who received this information in a flyer from financial aid, is gutting but not surprising. We believe that Emerson College is deliberately withholding an official confirmation of the increase in an effort to stall student organizing. To unpack this fully, letโs start at the beginning.
All of our organizing up to this point has been done anticipating another increase made without student consent. This recent confirmation of the cost increase given to us by an accepted student, who received this information in a flyer from financial aid, is gutting but not surprising.
Earlier this February, the Marlboro Dean of Students Patrick Connelly was quoted in the Berkeley Beacon print edition saying โEmerson has voted a 3.5 percent increase on their tuition.โ We reached out to an anonymous faculty contact and had this number confirmed. With a real number assigned to what we feared and knew was coming, we organized resistance.
On February 18th, we hosted a phone bank where current and former students called the Board of Trustees officers and President Lee Pelton informing them that we did not consent to another tuition increase. Students came in and out of the phone bank throughout the night to make their voices heard, and many others called on their own time.
We kept our momentum going and organized a demonstration for โPicture Yourself at Emersonโ day where we helped Emersonโs accepted class of 2024 picture themselves paying tuition at Emerson. We handed out flyers with facts about cost increases at Emerson that we wish we had known before we made our college decision. Our demonstration was well-received by both parents and accepted students.
Photo of us at our “Picture Yourself Paying Tuition at Emerson” demonstration
Many students reached out to us after the event, with one student in particular telling us, โItโs really sad to see a school that has made me feel really at home while touring it and even more at home yesterday would be such an economic burden. Itโs crazy that a school that gives off an image of encouraging speaking out and innovation and leadership could give into such elitist, classist ways.โ
The accepted student then sent us a photo of a flyer on costs at Emerson College for the 2020-21 year given to them by financial aid. This flyer reveals the 3.5% increase in tuition, raising it by $1,680 to be $50,240 next year. (Technically a 3.46% increaseโa generous $20 adjustment from the 3.5% cited by the Marlboro Dean earlier.) It also shows a $738 increase in room and board costs for a double room and a $36 increase in the Student Services Fee.
Most troubling, the flyer informs the student โPlease plan for annual increases in tuition, room and meal plan expenses pending board approval.โ This statement confirms what we already knew: that Emerson will continue to extort money from its students as long as it can, until student resistance makes it stop.
Finally, the page notes โAll of the costs above are estimated.โ This brings us to our argument that the Emerson College administration is strategically withholding its official cost increase announcement in an effort to discredit student resistance.
Emersonโs administration is banking on the idea that it is difficult to organize a resistance to a cost increase when its exact numbers exist in limbo. By refusing to outright confirm the cost of attendance next year, they leave students unsure what to trustโeven as both past experience and current sources confirm that the announcement of another increase is coming. The college still hasnโt released an official statement to us, despite us reaching out to them at our phone bank and our presence at Picture Yourself at Emerson day.
Their lack of transparency makes democracy impossible. Students canโt fully prepare for an increase because the college is obstructing our ability to be fully informed. We canโt fact check the board, because we donโt get invited to their meetings and we donโt get to see their minutes. (In fact, since the 3.5% tuition increase information was discovered via the minutes of a Marlboro meeting with Emersonโs trustees, the colleges have decided to no longer publicly share detailed meeting minutes.)
We arenโt the first to bring up the idea that Emerson should announce itโs increases when theyโre decided, either. In 2012, the SGA president Scott Fisher wrote a โProposal for a fairer tuitionโ stating that โEmerson should be up front with its students regarding tuition costs instead of announcing increases in mid-March, which leaves students scrambling for funds-or for another school.โ
Weโre not going to wait until the college announces the cost increase โofficiallyโ to make our disapproval heard. Weโre going to rally, protest, and shout to change their minds nowโbefore weโre forced to pay the new $70,286 price tag.
We received this message as an Instagram DM from an accepted student thanking us for the information we gave them at “Picture Yourself At Emerson day.” We are sharing their story with their permission. You can read about our demonstration here.
Hi, I was at picture yourself at Emerson yesterday and saw you guys and just wanted to say thank you. Emerson is so expensive I knew that and I probably wouldnโt be able to afford it but I didnโt realize how much tuition had increased or how much Pelton’s salary had increased. Itโs really sad to see a school that has made me feel really at home while touring it and even more at home yesterday would be such an economic burden. Itโs crazy that a school that gives off an image if encouraging speaking out and innovation and leadership could give into such elitist classist ways.
It was a big thing we talked about yesterday during lunch like me and all these other people were clicking really fast and talking about how they really felt like they it in there but couldnโt commit yet because of finances and thatโs a shame. I think itโs especially a shame because Emerson attracts so many kids who have never felt like fully fit in anywhere and makes them feel at home but in order to achieve that feeling you have to be rich or go crazy in debt and itโs kind of a big old screw you you wonโt fit in unless youโre wealthy.
I think Emerson has to learn from this and grow because other wise they are going to lose some of their best students. People are going to stop being able to go unless theyโre rich and sometimes the best minds in the arts and media come from people who have struggled. Theyโre going to end up with a completely elitist school that only the richest can gain from and thatโs really sad to me. Iโm not saying I wonโt go because I really want to but they act like my middle class family is loaded and I donโt know if I can justify it. I do thank you guys though because even if I donโt go maybe you could change the tuition for future students so the decision isnโt as hard.
Emerson College Student Union 