Dear incoming freshman,

Welcome to Bentley! Although your next four years are going to be filled with classes, group projects, and a lot of homework, there are still many things to look forward to in your time here. The next four years are some of the best years of your life, so make the most out of them.

First, a note about General Business (GB) classes. Don’t worry, the three classes above you have ironed out the wrinkles in the GB curriculum, so it’s not going to be as bad as it was in the past. That being said, good luck.

But now for the fun stuff. Most notably are the events that Campus Activity Board (CAB) (along with other organizations such as Class Cabinet) put on throughout the year. Some of the big ones include the Halloween dance, comedy shows, and Spring Day (spring concert with a lot of free food and fun activities). You’ve missed artists and comedians like Donald Glover, Bo Burnham, Nelly, Ludacris, and Lupe Fiasco, but there are still more of these events to come.

The Halloween dance this past year was a night club run by GrooveBoston. Hopefully the same happens this fall. Our comedy shows are always a big hit, with big names coming on to campus (most recently Jeff Ross and Anthony Jeselnik). You can all look forward to one of these each semester. And lastly, Spring Day is held on the last weekend before finals in the spring, which is a great day to have fun with your friends and relax before the stress of finals hits you. This day always ends with a great concert.

Other than these major events, CAB and our other 100+ organization hold events pretty much every week. You can go enjoy anything from food from around the world to fighting cancer at Relay for Life. Anything that has “Sponsored by your SAF” (SAF is the Student Activity Fee we all pay) is probably worth going.

There are also plenty of opportunities to go into Boston. Going to Red Sox, Celtics, or Bruins games (with discounted tickets sold by CAB) is always fun, as well as walking around Newbury Street and the North End. It’s all just a short shuttle ride away.

Other than these events, there’s always the green space. When it’s nice outside, there’s nothing better than hanging out on the green space, getting a little sun burnt, and enjoying your time with your friends. This is especially nice in the spring, once we all come out of hibernation from the winter.

So you’re just starting your collegiate careers. Take this time to enjoy life for the last four years before you enter “the real world.” You still need to focus on your education, but don’t forget that you still can (and need to) have fun. So once again, welcome to Bentley and we hope you enjoy your stay.

Writing a goodbye is never easy or pleasant, and this farewell will be no exception. Upon reflecting on this past year, one semester as Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper and one semester as a free spirit, I cannot help but notice how amazing both experiences were. Bentley has given me the opportunity to become any self of mine that I choose. With the plethora of options in student organizations to the laid back attitude of the herds of students on the Greenspace on a beautiful day, this university is exactly the college experience I wanted.

Like every other senior that is graduating in less than a month, I have been bombarded by family, friends, and other students about my feelings regarding leaving Bentley. How can I sum that experience up in a few short sentences? Being at Bentley has been my second home in every aspect. My friends have become my siblings in terms of companionship and annoyance. Seasons was my kitchen, and yes I am one of the few people that will forever sing Seasons’ praises. Some of the professors I have had these past four years have been mentors to me in an almost parenting way and given me wisdom that I will carry forever. This departure is like moving homes when you are a kid and made your life in one town for so long, and that is a tough pill to swallow.

Even as I write this farewell, one of my facilities friends asks me about my feelings on leaving. I will miss every face that I have seen on a regular basis these past four years. Being a part of this stressful, exciting culture has made me a part of something so much bigger and more important than myself, and that experience has been extremely humbling and rewarding. Knowing that I will not have a community quite like Bentley again, brings sorrow to my heart. Being able to call on so many people and have reactions in a moment’s notice and a quick walk across campus will be something to remember of my college years.

But I cannot dwell on the sorrows of saying goodbye because I have become exactly the person I want to be here at Bentley, and I don’t believe looking back I could have become a more truer version of myself than I have here. Of course it is competitive and exhausting at Bentley…hanging out with all Type A personalities does have its drawback! But it has pushed me to limits that I could have never envisioned before I came here. I have been pushed to my absolute brink some semesters and that’s a hard thing to deal with when you’ve never known such a struggle. But that is what college is, a collection of very bads, bads, goods, amazings and mind blowings. You take the good with the bad, and you learn to let live.

If I were to do it all over again, the one thing I would change is how fast I ran out of my discretionary every semester. Curse you, faux Starbucks! But seriously, I know I’ve cursed Bentley’s name in the past for pushing me to such mental extremes but I could not have imagined a better college experience than I have gotten here in Waltham. Thank you to everyone I became so close with in The Vanguard, on the rugby team, at the Info Desk, in the Service Learning center and all those who just made my day every day in passing. Even if you feel like you don’t make a difference some days at Bentley, know that you do make someone’s day with a passing smile so be kind and enjoy these four years with a smile on your face, because it will go by in the blink of an eye. Goodbye, Bentley…these four years were one for the books.

- Leslie Dias, Class of 2012

First of all, The Vanguard would like to congratulate all those who won their respective student leader election race last week. That being said, this editorial is not about the candidates, but the election process itself. The process is flawed, and takes away from the main point of elections: Picking the candidate who is best for the position. This is not a new problem, but is still one that needs to be addressed.

The process starts off with each candidate having to get 100 signatures from fellow students, to prove that they have the potential to receive votes. Although a good idea in theory, this process is simply an unnecessary step and additional time commitment. Candidates can get these signatures very easily, which does not mean that those who signed will vote for them.

The next issue is the fact that students do not know many of the candidates that are running, and get very little exposure as to who those candidates are and what they plan on going if elected. The only information that students receive is the small blurb alongside each candidate’s picture featured in The Vanguard’s election issue the week before elections are held. But fewer than 100 words are not nearly enough to understand a candidate’s position.

Because of the lack of knowledge about the candidates, elections have become a popularity contest. Candidates campaign by putting hundreds of posters and flyers around campus, trying to get fellow students to vote for them instead of communicating what they can do for the student body. Although many other elections are also popularity contests (other student organizations, some political elections, etc.), Bentley’s student government elections should be focused on the abilities and goals of the candidates.

Additionally, the lack of candidates takes even more importance out of the election process. This year, Junior and Senior Class Cabinet elections both had eight people running for seven spots. Although the seven that were selected are going to do a good job, the only way to have a fair election is to have multiple candidates for each position so that students can pick who will best represent them.

Out of the other elections (Student Government Association (SGA), Association of Bentley Activities (ABA), and Allocations and Internal Audit Committee (AIA)), which included SGA, ABA, and AIA presidents, SGA senators, ABA vice presidents, and SGA Executive of Internal Affairs, the only contested election was for SGA president. There wasn’t even a candidate running for the SGA Executive Vice President position.

Again, these candidates are going to do a good job as well, but the only way to make sure that the best person for the position is elected is to have contested elections.

There are ways that these problems can be fixed. Getting more candidates is difficult, but involving the student body more when it comes to elections could do the trick. An easy way to do this would be to hold some kind of forum, where candidates let students know what their goals and intentions are if elected. This would better inform students, and get them more involved with the election process. The more students participate and contribute to our student government organizations, the more effective those organizations will be.

Dear Editor,

We are writing in response to the Vanguard article of April 5, 2012 titled “Roastmaster General Jeff Ross Roasts Bentley. “

This article raises important concerns about how we, as a community, provide a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for all students.  We are writing to speak for the men and women on campus who cannot speak for themselves, those who felt uncomfortable, and those who found this type of humor offensive.

Although the comedians targeted many groups, the Vanguard’s review focused on the use of sexual assault and rape as a topic for laughs.   As staff and faculty who work directly with students, we know firsthand how hurtful “jokes” about sexual violence are to survivors, their friends, and their families.   What many don’t know is that these types of “jokes” also hurt the whole community by making it less safe for everyone, even those who have not yet been touched by sexual violence.

Telling or laughing at “jokes” about rape, sexual assault, molestation, or date rape drugs trivializes sexual violence and contributes to an unsafe environment for everyone – even if unintended.  It is well documented that when sexual violence is trivialized, survivors may avoid asking for help or protection, and perpetrators of violence may think their behavior is something funny rather than harmful.  No one in our community should tolerate this type of trivializing “humor.”  It is our hope that Bentley students will think about jokes of this kind and make a decision to speak out instead of laughing.

National statistics indicate that 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men will survive a sexual assault in their lifetime (National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control & Prevention,  1998.).  Over 2/3 of all survivors will be assaulted by a friend, acquaintance, or intimate partner.  When we apply these statistics to the approximately 4000 Bentley undergraduate students, we estimate that about 256 current female and 72 current male students have been or will be survivors of sexual assault.  Your best friend, sister, mother, roommate, father or brother may be someone who has survived a sexual assault.

There are many ways students can support survivors and prevent violence on our campus:

Learn about why sexual violence occurs and its impact.  Visit Bentley’s sexual assault information website:
bentley.edu/campus-life/health-and-safety/information-sexual-assault

Or The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center:
barcc.org

Or the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network:
raain.org

Participate in Prevention.  Get involved with Consent Day, Take Back the Night, or the HerCampus discussion about the Ross/Jeselnik show.  Prevention is for men too – check out:
mencanstoprape.org

Do not support trivializing of sexual violence through jokes, video games, movies, or music.  Choose creative outlets that celebrate life rather than condone violence.

Provide supportive and nonjudgmental listening.  Believe survivors and if needed refer them to one of many campus resources, including The Center for Health and Wellness, Counseling and Student Development, and University Police.

We hope each and every Bentley student will take the time to discuss this issue and engage in one of the above action steps.

Together, we can make Bentley a safer, more supportive place for everyone.

Thank you.

Stephanie Kendall
Counseling and Student Development

Gerri Taylor
Center for Health and Wellness

Jessica Roche
University Police

Co-Chairs, Bentley’s Coalition on Sexual and Relationship Violence

Anyone who visits Bentley can see the technology that has been implemented throughout our campus. From the classrooms to the high-tech facilities like the trading room, technology is definitely evident. Bentley prides itself in the technology we have, yet, with all of these advancements, many still have not taken advantage of it.

MyBentley has been used very well over the past few years. Having course and housing registration as well as many other polls, forms, and tools online has made these processes simple and easy. But, just like a lot of the other technology we have available, it still has not been used to its full potential.

Take the registrar, for example. When dealing with the registrar, whether it’s a major declaration or a transcript request, it all has to be completed through hard-copy forms. Instead of embracing MyBentley and the other online tools that we have here, the registrar is still riding the old-fashioned trail.

Using some kind of online system would not only make filing any of these requests simpler and quicker, but would make it easier for the registrar to file and address them. Considering the large amount of declarations and requests that the registrar deals with, it must take a lot of man hours to go through everything in a timely manner, as opposed to an online system that would do it automatically. It’s surprising that an online system has not yet been introduced here.

Many professors have also failed to embrace the technology available to them. Despite the wide use of Blackboard, many professors do not use the website to its full potential, and some don’t use it at all. Instead, they still rely of hard copies of assignments and e-mail for communication. Not to mention, the other technology that professors do not use, such as the Smart Boards and camera projectors many classrooms are equipped with. The same goes for students as well, as many of the textbooks we all use are available online, yet most still buy the print editions.

Another example of this can be seen in the expense reports and reimbursement forms that student organizations have to deal with. Placing this system online would make the process easier for the organizations (as well as AIA), and would also make the process quicker.

This type of change was implemented quite recently with great results. Changing SETs from hard copies to an online system was a big step in the right direction. Not only did it reduce the amount of class time spent on the evaluations, but it also made collecting and compiling the information easier. This saves a lot of time from those who used to deal with the evaluations, which has made the whole process much more efficient and useful for both professors and students.

And other than the efficiency and effectiveness benefits to implementing and using more technology, reducing the amount of hard-copies we use is much more environmentally friendly; another aspect that Bentley places a lot of focus on. Getting rid of the paper SETs alone saved tons of paper. Think of what would happen if the same was done campus-wide.

In an age where technology is reigning king, and our whole lives have shifted towards the use and reliance on our laptops and smart phones, it’s very surprising that so many here still stay away from the technology they have at their fingertips.

One of the advantages of being so close to Boston is being able to go into the city very easily. And for this reason, Bentley has its Harvard Square shuttle. Running every hour (and every half hour on Friday and Saturday), the shuttle brings Bentley students to Waverley and Harvard Squares.

Having access to this shuttle is a big benefit that most of us use. Many have come to rely quite heavily on it, as it is the easiest and simplest (not to mention cheapest) way to get in to Boston. Whether it’s to go to work or catch up with a friend, students use the shuttle day in and day out.

However, the reliance that students have put on the shuttle has not been met with a reliable shuttle service. The biggest issue of all is the timeliness of the shuttles. For the most part, the shuttles are not late, but quite often they are early (especially at off-peak traffic hours). Shuttle drivers are supposed to wait until a specified time to leave the stop, however many get impatient and do not.

The Bentley Loop, on the other hand, runs off schedule more often. However, the shorter loop and waiting time makes it much less of an issue.

Because of this, many students can relate to showing up at the shuttle stop a minute or two early, only to find out that the shuttle has already left. How many times has each one of us run from the T stop to make sure we don’t miss the shuttle? Too many. Missing the shuttle usually means waiting an hour for the next shuttle to come, and sometimes up to an hour and a half.

Although an extra hour might not seem too bad, many students use the shuttle to go to and from work, or need to be back on campus at a specific time. Because of the early shuttle departures, many students have missed important meetings or been late to their appointments. Yes, the shuttle is a great service and we all appreciate it, but not being able to catch the shuttle we need creates problems.

There was a GPS system installed in the shuttles so that students could track where the buses are and to help with the shuttle schedule, however this system is unreliable and inaccurate. Additionally, the shuttle frequency has decreased over the past few, which does not help the cause either.

There are two solutions that can remedy the problem. Either drivers are instructed to wait until the right time to leave (this should be monitored somehow), or the shuttles should run more frequently. Having fewer shuttle runs does reduce costs, but it does put students in a tougher situation when trying to catch the right shuttle. It seems like the best solution would be to keep the shuttles on their assigned schedules, which shouldn’t be as hard as it has been.

By April Gammal

News flash: NOBODY likes accounting.

No, for real. First of all, you only have a few months left until graduation so stick it out until then. Get the piece of paper which shows your numerous hours of misery studying in the library and surviving great classes, such as AC312 and AC350, in order to graduate with that degree. Take out your handy dandy notebook and check off “Graduate from College.”

Don’t feel as though you need go continue to graduate school and get your CPA. The CPA is not the end of an accounting degree. You can go in many directions with an accounting degree, and accounting is not the only option. Financial literacy is never a waste…unlike some other majors offered. Just kidding! No matter what degree you pursue, remember that education is never a waste and learning how to learn and how to think is very important. You have the groundwork to go in many directions with your degree.

Ok, now that that’s done let’s re-evaluate. What do you want to do? Do you want to be a starving artist or writer? No? Ok, moving on. Make a list of things you know you like for certain and try to see what career path satisfies most of those items on your list.

There are also many graduate programs you can enter at some time in the future with an undergraduate degree. You just need to make sure you have any prerequisites that are required and you can probably complete those pretty easily. Never feel like it’s too late to change or too late to do something you really want to do. I know at 22 you may feel old, but honestly…you’re 22. You’re very young and have time.

You just need to let yourself figure it out…and if not, well then you can stick it out with accounting just like the rest of us.

We all know that Career Services at Bentley is ranked as one of the best in the country. However, many students may not agree with this statistic. Problems with support for liberal arts students have been expressed in the past, among other complaints. But, one of the biggest faults of Career Services is the lack of support and options for student who want work outside of the Boston area.

Despite the fact that a majority of Bentley students reside in Massachusetts, there is still a large amount of students who are looking for employment or internships closer to their homes, outside of the Boston area. A look through listings on BentleyLink, even at the height of internship application season, will yield very few results that are not near Boston. Even New York City, arguably the most important city for finance, accounting, marketing and other firms in the world (and offers more internship and employment opportunities that any other city), is not well represented in Career Services events and options.

Career Services needs to start opening up its options outside of the Boston area. Although we are constantly being bombarded with e-mails about internship opportunities or new employers coming on campus, very few are geared towards out-of-state students.

One of the big results of the lack of non-Boston internship opportunities is the almost nonexistent on-campus recruiting by these firms. Take, for example, the big investment banks (most of which have their U.S. headquarters in NYC). This school year, the only one that made a very brief appearance on campus was Goldman Sachs, and even this event was not publicized well.

Because of this, it is very difficult for Bentley students to get internships at these banks, which results in even fewer of them getting jobs at these financial institutions. Even the accounting firms that recruit at Bentley look for interns for their Boston offices, and not for some of their larger locations.

Additionally, the focus on local employers and been mixed in with the heavy focus on the Big Four accounting firms. This not only makes it more difficult for out-of-state students, but also makes it more difficult for the non-accountancy majors. Bentley might have a good reputation with the Big Four, but there are other employers out there.

Even the career fair, the largest event that Career Services hold, has a big Boston-area bias. The employers attending this past semester were almost, if not all, local. And, on top of that, the only big bank in attendance was BNY Mellon, which was recruiting for their Boston branch.

So how much help is a career services office that does not provide the necessary support for a substantial portion of the student body? We came to Bentley because of its education and reputation in business, but it is disappointing to realize that the resources to take what Bentley offers and make it into a career are lacking outside of the Boston area.

To the Editor:

A recent column by Moussa Hassoun, “Scratching the Surface: Bentley Needs to Get Serious,” suggests that Bentley is not “serious about its liberal arts program” and that the liberal arts program was only “created to prop up the business degree.”

If this were true, it would indeed be a problem for Bentley students. Employers and educators are increasingly citing the need to weave liberal arts and business education together in order to prepare students for a fast-paced and complex world. And, critics of undergraduate business education have complained that many business majors graduate with the specific skills that are critical to their first job but without the broad liberal arts background that will allow them to change and adapt over the course of their careers.

Luckily, Bentley is recognized among business schools for its strengths in the arts and sciences and in particular for its leadership in the integration of the arts and sciences and business. Bentley’s early recognition that a strong liberal arts program is an essential component of a world-class business education means that students here are already able to experience the integrated education that is held up as a model for other business schools to emulate. In fact, a recent book by the influential Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching describes Bentley’s LSM as exactly the kind of curricular innovation that other business schools should consider adopting.

Bentley’s continuing leadership in the area of integrating business and the arts and sciences is clear. A book on Shaping the Future of Business Education, co-edited by the Dean of Arts and Sciences, Daniel Everett, and Senior Associate Director of Communications, Gordon Hardy, and with chapters written by many Bentley faculty members, will be published next year.

Meanwhile, the new MBA program that will launch in August also highlights Bentley’s complementary strengths in liberal arts and business.  A third of the faculty involved in designing and delivering the MBA curriculum are from the Arts and Sciences. Again, this design speaks to the recognition that successful business leadership in today’s world requires a blend of business and the liberal arts. Widespread interest in this innovative approach to business education was evident when Chip Wiggins, Dean of Business, and Daniel Everett, Dean of Arts and Sciences, spoke at a conference for business school deans in New Orleans last month.

This integration of business and arts and sciences is only possible because Bentley has made significant investments in its liberal arts program, hiring world-class faculty and an internationally-renowned Dean of Arts and Sciences. As Hassoun’s column states, Bentley is indeed a business university and not a liberal arts college. The liberal arts programs that we do have, however, are as deep and rich as can be found anywhere, and Bentley liberal arts students develop an understanding of business that distinguishes them from liberal arts graduates at other institutions.

The quality of the liberal arts at Bentley was recognized in December with the award of a $395,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This extremely prestigious grant is a rare honor for any university, but is particularly note-worthy coming to a business university. This award speaks to the quality of Bentley’s liberal arts, a quality which benefits all students, regardless of major, in a world in which the most successful graduates will be those who have an education that combines the best of both worlds in order to prepare them for whatever the future holds.

Juliet F. Gainsborough
Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences

Bentley students are offered a variety of options and programs to modify their academic experience and get more out of their time here. These include the Information Bachelors in Information Management program (IBIM), Complex Problems Creative Solutions (CPCS) and even the fifth year program.

One of the more interesting academic options though is the pass/fail option. This is a one-time use possibility that allows students to take a class, and receive a final grade of either pass/fail that will not affect their GPA. This is a great option, but is not as effective as it could be with the current restrictions.

The original purpose of pass/fail is to allow students to take a class in an area that they are interested in, and not have to worry about the GPA-related consequences of that course. If used correctly, students can get a great educational experience without any risks.

However, there are some restrictions to this option. It can only be applied to electives, so no general education, general business, major, LSM, or honors classes can be pass/fail options. This can actually make it so that some students cannot even use their pass/fail option.

For example, a student who is in the honors program and has an LSM will use most, if not all, of his/her electives as LSM or honors courses. This student will therefore not be able to use their pass/fail option unless extra courses are taken.

Because of this effect, many students don’t even take a pass/fail course during their Bentley career. This defeats the purpose of the option, and does not allow students to use an academic option that was created for their advantage.

There is a down side to the pass/fail option. There are students who use the option so that they can take an elective and not have to care about the course or do much work for it. In this circumstance, the option is being abused.

For this same reason, many professors dislike the pass/fail option. They then have to deal with students that put no effort into the course, which negatively affects other students. There are even professors who have sent requests to the registrar to ask that their courses be exempt from the option.

Despite the abuse and professor dislike, opening up the pass/fail option would create for a better opportunity for students who chose to take it for the correct reasons. Perhaps expanding and allowing it to be used for general education classes would provide enough freedom.

Additionally, a simple solution that can be taken, in accordance with alleviating the restrictions, is to set slightly stricter requirements as to what counts as a pass in these courses. This would ease the problems between students and professors, but would still maintain the benefit of the pass/fail option. An opportunity like the pass/fail option should not be disregarded by students, as is currently happening, simply because of the restrictions put on it.

“Upon leaving seasons you can take ONLY: Two pieces of fruit, three cookies or dessert items, coffee, ice cream. Please DO NOT take out plates and silverware! They are very expensive to replace! Abuse of this policy will be reported to Student Life.”

This new sign, posted next to the dish return/exit of seasons outlines what students are allowed to take with them at the end of their meal.

Seasons is set up as a buffet-style dining hall. Once we swipe in, we can eat as much as we want. The question is, why can we take a whole pizza pie to our table to eat, but we’re not allowed to take even one slice out of the dining hall? Does it really matter where we eat the food?

We have already paid for it (about $10 per meal), and hence we should be able to eat it at our own convenience. Apparently the unlimited meal plan is not as unlimited as advertised.

Keeping the food quality out of this, Seasons is the main dining hall on campus. Most students do eat there on a regular basis. But these take-out regulations are only making students angry. Instead, many sneak food out so that they can get to class on time, and still have some breakfast.

Think of a typical freshman, who has a meal plan and no car on campus. They do not have too many options as for what food they can have, and are even more limited as to what they can bring to store in their room.

Shouldn’t they be allowed to bring a sandwich back to Trees to snack on while they’re doing their homework? We think yes.

Yes, it is understandable that some limitations are put on how much food students can take out of Seasons. Silverware and plates are very reasonable, and so are whole loaves of bread and gallon jugs of milk. But, what’s wrong with students grabbing some lunch to bring up to class? We pay good money to eat at Seasons, so we might as well be able to take advantage of it.

We’re not saying that students should be able to take as much food out as they can stuff in their backpacks, but being allowed to take some food with us would be very convenient.

It would also help those who do not necessarily eat within Season’s hours of operations, like after 9 p.m. on weekdays or before 11 a.m. on weekends.

Having a bagel handy on Sunday morning would make many students happy (especially athletes who have early morning practices, and cannot get food elsewhere).

So Seasons: How about letting us take some food with us? We’re already paying for it, so we should be able to take some lunch with us at our own free will.

With all of the new changes that have occurred to the General Business (GB) core, one of the most anticipated was the restructuring of GB 301. The course was often seen as one of the most time-consuming and intensive courses at Bentley, and was dreaded by most.

The arrival of the new GB system did a lot to ease the workload students had by spreading out the material throughout a few different courses. What remains of the original course, the business plan project, is now known as GB 320.

Although many changes have been made, the class simply devoted to the project part of GB 301 still has its issues. Some of these are due to the nature of the course, while others are less easily controlled.

For starters, the separation of the different parts of GB 301 into various other business courses still left some material covered in the original class unaccounted for. This has now been thrown into GB 320 to make sure that students are learning it at some point. The biggest issue with this is that not only are students learning material that is not necessarily relevant to the projects they are doing, but also, this takes away from the time that could be used to work on their business plans.

Additionally, class time is spent learning the marketing and operations tools necessary to complete the plans, which is the purpose of the new GB 214 course. This, again, is time that could be better spent working on the project, as opposed to students learning what they should have already been taught.

Another issue that has come up is the lack of companies that are participating in the course. This semester, there are six classes working on business plans for one company. This equals close to 28 groups or around 200 students all working with this one company. This will make it much more difficult for students to interact with their assigned business, a very crucial factor in producing a quality plan and getting the most out of the GB 320 experience.

And finally, one of the biggest flaws that GB 320 faces is the variability in the projects themselves. Each company has different needs and goals, and these have a big effect on the experience that students have. One of the major goals of the GB curriculum is to give students the same basic business knowledge; hence the standardization in courses such as GB 112, 212 and 310. However, due to the drastic differences in each project, students in different GB 320 sections have very different experiences.

For example, last semester there were two companies that participated in GB 320. One was an established lawn care company looking to expand, and another was a reusable gift bag startup that only had a name and a product idea. The students in these two sections had very different projects, and therefore, they came away with very different skills and experiences. Although this is a problem that cannot be fixed easily, it exists nonetheless.

Yes, GB 320 is still in its initial phases, but many of the issues that were supposed to be eliminated in the restructuring of the GB core still exist. It is definitely a crucial and central class at Bentley, but there are flaws that can, and should be fixed to lighten the burden the course puts on students. But in the meantime, students, prepare yourselves for a difficult and time-consuming ride.

Dear Editor,

As business students, I am sure we each recognize that December is one of the busiest times of the year. The season of gift-giving is about to begin, companies are looking to get out of the red and into the black, and students are ready for winter festivities. As the year approaches a close, I would like to make a request of the Bentley Community.

Let’s individually consider learning about a new cause and donating to it. I realize it’s a lot easier to just give a dollar to St. Jude’s hospital when they ask you at the Ann Taylor register or to throw your change in the red metal collector as people ring jingle bells for the Salvation Army. At the same time, there are many charitable organizations that equally merit recognition and could also put your hard-earned money to good use. More importantly, in learning about a non-profit organization you may find a cause that better reflects your interests.

For me personally the Central Asia Institute is one of the causes I support. It works to empower communities of Central Asia by sponsoring infrastructure projects and building schools. I specifically like how the organization invests to achieve higher literacy and education, especially for girls, in these remote communities. This “teach a man to fish” concept allows the communities to develop a sustainable process to improve their standard of living.

I am not expecting everyone to identify with this specific cause, but I am sure that there is an organization that reflects the varying ideals on this campus. For those who sympathize with the food security plight in the world, they may consider giving to Heifer International. For someone whose cause is closer to home, maybe a local shelter could use a couple of your cans. I have a couple of suggestions for those who are looking into a new cause. Understand who the beneficiaries of the donations are. Are they entire families? Individuals? What does the money actually do? Then find out how much money you donate actually benefits the people. Some organizations have a heavy administrative cost which means that not all of your donation will make it to the people in need.

So as we all hit the registers and buy gifts for the holidays, we will undoubtedly hear, “Would you like to donate x dollars to x charity? It’s for a great cause!” However, if that cause does not reflect your own values and does not serve the cause you want, do not feel obligated to donate to it. There are plenty of institutions around the world that address your philanthropic belief and with a little research your thoughtful gift can go a long way.

Sincerely,
Edith Joachimpillai

The Vanguard can often be quite critical of other student and administrative organizations on campus, particularly when we see room for improvement. Similarly, when the campus community feels that we are not living up to our expectations as the student newspaper, we expect students to be critical of us.

While we are often quick to dole out criticism, we can often be much slower to dole out praise, but we feel that a major student organization is worthy of praise: AIA.

AIA has always been a background organization that many students will never deal with directly, unless they are the president or treasurer of an organization. However, AIA holds considerable power over campus organizations and the student body, managing the student activity fee budget and allocating the budget that runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Ultimately, this task doesn’t come without challenges and risks, particularly when students get upset with how their activity fee is allocated.

While it would be quite easy for AIA to maintain an air of secrecy over their decision making, Ryan Dechance, president of AIA, has gone out of his way to improve transparency throughout the organization. Students are regularly encouraged to set up meetings with AIA or their AIA liaison and can sit in on meetings and ask questions about their activity fee allocation.

AIA regularly makes available data which shows students how their activity fee is allocated so that students are able to make sure that their activity fee allocation is benefiting them. Transparency is key with any Student

Life-sponsored organization, and AIA is a superb example of how a Student Life organization should be run.

AIA has also worked on improving contact with organizations and working on improving their interactions with student organizations. As a result of their improved dialogue with student organizations, they’ve also been receptive to changing AIA policies and implementing those changes to further benefit the student body.

In recent years, AIA has continued to raise the bar for the major student organizations on campus, and under the leadership of Dechance, they have continued to do so.

At Bentley, it’s unlikely you’ll ever find a class on “The Philosophy of The Matrix” or “Harry Potter: Finding Your Patronus.” And while it’s understandable that a small university or college wouldn’t offer such unique electives, it’s still necesary to allow students to have the option of specific upper-level major electives. These electives are helpful in finding a specialized area of interest that could ultimately lead to a potential career path.

After the unfortunate passing of Professor Nelson, the Finance Department found itself short by one professor. While many other professors were gracious enough to pick up his classes, Finance majors and professors found the department short-staffed for next semester. According to a Finance professor, the Finance Department alone is short by about four full-time professors.

This crunch was most notable during registration when a significant majority of the finance electives were closed at the end of the first day of course registration, depriving many of the juniors and underclassmen a way of taking major classes. Yes, there were still options available for students who were willing to be flexible, but let’s be honest, no one wants to take a major class at 8:30 in the morning or with a professor with poor SETs.

Seniors will remember the headaches during registration early in their college careers when MyBentley would become so slow that it was practically unusable. This year, so many students were checking the registration website during the first day of registration that the website went down several times.

One junior in particular will be finishing up the spring semester working on his minors after being locked out of all of his major classes. Despite appeals to the Registrar’s Office and the department chair, he was unable to get into any major electives. Similar situations were also mirrored throughout many of the other departments. The only majors who don’t seem to have any issues with course registration are CIS majors.

This situation isn’t just unfair for Bentley students, but it’s also more importantly unfair for Bentley professors. With professors working double time and a general professor shortage on campus, the entire school suffers.

Whether it is through decreased availability or natural exhaustion, professors need to be left to teach and mentor students and students need to be able to register for the electives they want to take, not the ones they’re forced into.

An even bigger problem brewing across the campus this year are budget cuts. These cuts are are creating a domino effect throughout the entire campus, not just academic departments. As  the school evaluates what costs should be included in tuition and what should be paid for a la carte,  we need to remember that our education should always remain paramount at Bentley.

The “No Love for Bachelor of Arts Majors” editorial in the November 10, 2011 issue of The Vanguard is a timely commentary on an important topic for Undergraduate Career Services. In fact, at the November 1, 2011 SGA meeting, I spoke specifically about the progress we have made in building programs for Bachelor of Arts and LSM majors and outlined our commitment to expanding these offerings in the coming semester. I’d like to highlight a few examples of our Bachelor of Arts resources and clarify many of your article’s misperceptions.

For example, our Media majors and LSMs are invited by their dedicated advisor, Alyssa Hammond, to participate in Success in the City, a one-day program in New York City providing students with structured visits to key employers hosted by Bentley alumni and parents.  Most recently, participating students have networked with professionals at major media companies including Horizon Media, NBC Universal, and Disney. Last week, at our Marketing, Management and Communications Networking Night, we hosted numerous media companies, including Clear Channel and Scratch Marketing + Media, to name a few.  The opportunities are there for students who are proactive and engaged in the process. And, as Alyssa is making every effort to partner with Media faculty, we anticipate strengthened outcomes from this active collaboration.

In other areas, we are excited about recent developments for LSMs in Earth, Environment and Global Sustainability. Led by Colleen Murphy, our First Year advisor and dedicated advisor to EEGS as well as Health and Industry, in collaboration with Amanda King, we have offered two exciting Sustainability career programs this fall and have plans for a number of new initiatives this spring. Last year, we collaborated with recent graduate, Tom D’Eri, to publish a Sustainability Career guide now featured on our new website.

In addition, a number of Nonprofit and Social Entrepreneurship programs are underway, including last week’s exciting visit by Joseph Sinatra, Investor Relations Officer at Root Capital. Previously, Mr. Sinatra worked at Ashoka, where he successfully developed proposals and managed relationships with leading philanthropic organizations and investors, raising more than $20 million to finance social entrepreneurs worldwide.

As one student commented after the session, “I know I was not the only one who truly benefited from this experience, so I hope that you can keep more of these programs coming! We as Bentley students have so much power and knowledge to change and help others.”

This week we will be hosting alumni from five area Nonprofits in a dynamic panel focused on leveraging business careers in Nonprofits. At that program we will have a Resource Expo connecting students to campus resources including the new Nonprofit Society and Minor, and plan to showcase our new Nonprofit Career Guide developed in collaboration with current senior, Gregg Grenier.

We are pleased with our progress to date, but are never complacent. We have many initiatives in the works to strengthen our collaboration with faculty to leverage our collective resources and expertise. As Melissa Sawyer highlighted to the SGA on November 1, we are preparing a survey for BA majors to assess career interest areas to ensure programming meets student needs. With four full-time and one part-time advisor for nearly 4,000 students, we need to be thoughtful and strategic about resource allocation. On this note, as Bentley considers additional BA majors, we do have a seat at the table with faculty and administration to ensure career implications are considered.

We care about each student at Bentley, whether they are a first-year student or a senior, a BA, BS or LSM. We thank you for raising this issue and allowing us to respond, and we look forward to continued productive dialogue.

Sincerely,
Susan Brennan

Managing Director, University Career Services

An overwhelming majority of Bentley students are business students who go through the whole GB curriculum, from the 100 level to the 400 level. After all, Bentley was originally the Harry Bentley School of Accountancy and Finance, which is likely why Accountancy and Finance are among the strongest and most popular majors at Bentley.

Bentley also has one of the top career service programs in the country. So, why are the Bachelor of Arts majors at Bentley so often overlooked and underserved by Career Services?

While the BA majors may be an afterthought for Career Services, they are certainly making their presence and talent known on their own, and Admissions is certainly taking note and using them to help sell Bentley.

Look at Jim Ferguson, a senior Media and Culture major who spent this summer interning with the Cannes International Film Festival. His film Twelve Acres was also selected to be shown at the Cannes Festival and was subsequently picked up by DirecTV for their Shorts network.

He was at Open House helping to sway prospective students interested in the arts toward Bentley as the bridge between the arts and the business world.

Ferguson is following in the footsteps of Alex Hagen, a Bentley Alum who graduated in 2010. After producing several short films with other Bentley students, he graduated and started Hollow Skull Films, a nonprofit production company and grant program for aspiring directors and producers.

Do you want to look outside the Media and Culture major, a major which has only gained significant traction in the last few years? Look to the Global Studies major, and you’ll find Dan Merica. After being a Vanguard News correspondent during his time at Bentley, Merica headed over to NPR to serve as the Executive Producer of their Intern Edition. He is now a writer for CNN.com and is working his way through the journalism field.

Many BA majors say they have felt neglected or underserved by Career Services, who they say are often too busy focusing on the business majors on campus. While this may not accurately be the case, several BA majors have felt that they are an “odd ball” at Bentley and can’t get help from Career Services.

However, that being said, those who have been there for help have found the experience helpful and the staff willing to dedicate time to assist them. One alum said that although they didn’t receive help from Career Services for jobs or internships, they did find them helpful for the career process overall.

The progress that BA students are making is often due to their own persistence and networking, as well as the assistance of their professors.

We may not be an arts school at Bentley, but we all pay the same tuition and we should all receive the same treatment from a key support resource such as Career Services.

There are a lot of benefits to attending a business school, including being provided with an education which will significantly benefit us and prepare us for entering the workplace. By paying hundreds of dollars each year as our Student Activity Fee, we each rightfully feel that we should be able to derive some value from the fee to focus it on events we would like to participate in. But one of the downsides to that is the massive number of students who want to create their own organizations and receive AIA funding, without looking to see if they can get involved in an existing organization.

This seems to be happening much more this year than it has in years past, but it seems to be a regular occurrence for the fall semester. ABA and AIA are required to do more work with either recognizing new organizations or specifying their reasoning for not recognizing a student organization. AIA’s and ABA’s job should focus on approving and creating organizations for the long term, with stability and demand that will last for decades.

A stir was created earlier this semester when ABA informed Her Campus, an up and coming online magazine for women, that they would be better suited by partnering with the Women’s Center. Her Campus wanted to start their own organization and not be directly integrated with the Women’s Center according to a member of ABA.

However, Her Campus ultimately approached the Women’s Center about an integration which eventually fell through according to a member of the Women’s Center.
Other organizations, such as the Bentley Consulting Club and Falcon Foodies are also pending ABA recognition.

With everyone looking to strengthen their own resumes by being the “founder” of an on-campus organization, few studentse looking at the existing opportunities for them to create and build their own area within an existing organization. When several students were looking to start a political forum last year, they realized they wouldn’t be able to join the Democrats or the Republicans because it would make them appear partial to one side or the other. Instead, they joined the Speech and Debate Society and found a natural fit within that organization.

Bentley doesn’t need yet another fraternity or sorority on campus because you believe yours will promote business better than DSP does. Instead, we challenge you to enhance the organizations that Bentley already has established and strengthen them one organization at a time. Besides, that would be a much better story for an interview, about how you approached an issue and you affected change within an established group, than just circumvented the group entirely and created yet another organization.

John Karakelle and Ian Markowitz, board members of The Vanguard, are both members of the Bentley Speech and Debate Society.

Student Life has regularly struggled with managing student organizations on campus in terms of verifying the number of active members and helping students find organizations that they are interested in.

They thought they had found the perfect solution with CollegiateLink, which, from their website, looked like it would be the perfect cure to all of Student Life’s problems. With the system already in use at schools like Tulane, Villanova and University of Michigan, it seemed like the perfect solution.

Student Life began implementing Collegiatelink two years ago, after spending an unknown amount of money on the system.  (Framingham State’s newspaper says that their school spends $8,000 a year on CollegiateLink.) Requiring all student organizations to create and update their pages on CollegiateLink, Student Life wanted it to become the hub for student organizations at Bentley.

After two years in use and almost no adoption by any campus organization other than CAB, CollegiateLink became a repository for reimbursement slips and locating the organization constitution. Although there was a promised upgrade to the website at an unknown cost, ultimately CollegiateLink went the way of MySpace and became obselete.

While CollegiateLink didn’t really take off at Bentley, it seems that many other schools are struggling with its adoption, as well. Framingham State’s campus newspaper The Gatepost wrote an article on CollegiateLink, saying that their campus leaders were criticizing the tool as being ineffective and inconvenient. The article further explained that Fitchburg State’s campus was also struggling with the adoption of CollegiateLink.

Unfortunately for CollegiateLink, it is a web service that is just too little, too late. On campus, most people use Facebook to publicize their events because it’s where many people are already signed up and accessing on a regular basis. Forcing Bentley students to also visit a secondary website was just redundant, and we’re glad that Bentley finally eliminated the system.

Further complicating the issue with CollegiateLink this semester were the mixed messages which were given out by ABA and Student Life regarding the website’s use. While Adam Payne, assistant director of Student Activities, e-mailed the student leaders announcing the arrival of CollegiateLink, apparently he jumped the gun a little bit by announcing the service’s demise.

It wasn’t until last week that Ryan O’Keeffe, president of ABA, finally announced CollegiateLink’s demise, providing instructions for student leaders on how to successfully transition away from CollegiateLink.

This transition is long overdue and should never have been necessary in the first place. Student Life should have solicited feedback from students and student leaders before making this transition. If they had done so, they wouldn’t have wasted the school’s money on an unnecessary service.

One of the hallmarks of Bentley is that we’re surrounded by many high-tech facilities on campus, from the Trading Room managed by Mr. Gibble to the Center for Marketing Technology managed by Mr. Cross. One of the most often overlooked facilities at Bentley is the Center for Languages and International Collaboration, the room we all know as the CLIC lab.

While we would all love to hate the dozens of e-mails we get from Professor Li advertising the CLIC lab’s tutoring sessions and seminars, it is an invaluable resource to Bentley. Although Global Perspectives LSMs and study abroad students are the only students who are required to study a language at Bentley, oftentimes the CLIC facilities and staff are overlooked.

Since most of us just delete the e-mails from Professor Li automatically, we almost universally miss out on many of the seminars that the CLIC lab offers. The fact that you can go into the CLIC lab and learn a language from one of the tutors completely free and without a regular time commitment is something very few students take advantage of but should.

Most students have no idea that you can install Rosetta Stone on your Bentley laptop and learn any language you want, anytime you want. If it’s one of the six languages Bentley offers, you can also meet with the Bentley tutors to get real-life experience practicing the language.

Other tutoring centers have tutors that often leave a lot to be desired beyond the intro-level classes (we’re looking at you, Trading Room tutors). A student tutoring in a foreign language that they are fluent in can be a better teacher and tutor than someone who has taken the class. This is because other, less experienced tutors are helping you with a class they themselves took only a semester ago.

We’ve found the CLIC tutors to be among the best tutors Bentley has to offer in terms of the programs they offer and how helpful they’ve been to us both as students in language classes as well as members of the overall student body. While we feel that many of the tutoring positions in the other learning centers on campus should be filled by graduate students or come with better training, we feel the CLIC lab tutors are spot-on and worth commendation.

Welcome to Bentley, Class of 2015! We’re sure you’ve heard lots of different advice on the college experience from friends and family, but we thought it would be important to give you advice from the people, both current students and alumni, who have lived it. If they could go back and do things differently, what would they change, and what would they do over again the exact same way?

Foster relationships with professors.
Professors are your biggest asset both on and off campus. Show up at their office hours, even if you don’t have any questions or need help with the material. Cultivate your relationships with your professors and they will not only help you out inside the classroom, but they will also go above and beyond when you need them outside of the classroom.
Many professors still maintain contacts outside of the “Bentley Bubble” and can often help you find your dream internship, write a phenomenal letter of recommendation for you or help you land that internship you’ve been interviewing for. Oftentimes, professors also attend industry networking events or get e-mails about jobs in the industry, so talk to them often and use them as a resource in your job search.

Take chances and learn to accept failure.
Many Bentley students are risk averse, and rightfully so. It’s something almost all of us are conditioned to be as we grow up, but maybe it’s not necessarily a good thing.

College is the last real time any of us have a safety net below us with which we can fail into with minimal consequence. Take advantage of the one pass/fail course you can take at Bentley and take a difficult class which stimulates your mind.
Take courses you’re curious about, and be willing to accept that it’s ok not to get a 4.0 in every class you take. While it may give your GPA a small hit, your willingness to take risks will be a great story to share in your job interviews.

Network, network, network.
Meet as many people as you can – you never know who will come in handy down the road. Attend those corny networking events that Career Services puts on. You can take all the help you can get in the job hunt.
While some people will be able to just walk into an interview and land a job, most people don’t have 4.0 GPAs or are presidents of four different clubs on campus. Meet with the recruiters and follow up with the afterwards, look on LinkedIn for connections who work at your “dream company” and leverage them to help you land that job at Apple or Google.

Bentley is very political – get on people’s good side.
You’ll quickly learn that everything at Bentley is highly political, and it will often come down to who you know on campus and who owes you a few favors.

Do you need a favor from Mail Services? You better hope you’re on Matina’s good side. Do you go to Lower Café in LaCava often? Treat the cooks right and you’ll start getting a fresh batch of fries or some extra food whenever you show up.

Do you need help booking a room or need another last-minute favor for an event? You better be on Paul Stanish’s good side, or otherwise he’ll likely be too busy to help you out. While this isn’t something obvious, treating Bentley employees nicer will help you stand out and will also earn you a few favors when you really need them.

As the semester draws to a close, the age-old tradition of student evaluations of teaching (SETs) begins to kick off this week. The juniors and seniors have been doing SETs since rating was on a five-point scale, were all completed in class with a pencil and required bubbling in responses on two separate, blue and orange bubble sheets. While these rankings carry heavy weight with Bentley, there are rumors that it affects tenure and promotion, and we question whether the SETs are as effective as they could be.

Although upperclassmen know the ins and outs of SETs and how the rankings work, based on our discussions with the underclassmen, especially freshmen, there seems to be a lack of understanding as to how the ratings system works. We applaud the Registrar’s Office for finally posting the newest revision of SETs on the web for students to see, but now it’s time they provide clarity to the newest incoming classes as to how the SETs work and what each question is asking.
Students flock to ratemyprofessors.com for an in-depth look at how professors actually perform in class, in addition to little tidbits that you wouldn’t otherwise know. For example, Professor O’Leary loves Crab Rangoon, a tidbit you might pick up in class but something you would never pick up from reading SETs. The problem with ratemyprofessors.com, aside from it causing viruses (according to the Help Desk), is that a majority of the reviews are written by people either upset or thrilled with the professor; not too many people review professors if they were indifferent.

Although SETs capture a majority of the class in their reviews, there are still areas for improvement. For example, there are some people who intentionally don’t complete SETs to have their grades withheld so that their “helicopter” parents can’t determine what grades they got. Further, let’s push professors to be at the top of their game all semester long and publish a ranking of the best and worst professors in every department.

Bentley is a business school, and as such it should adopt a model similar to the staffing model adopted by Jack Welch at GE. If the worst professors at the school consistently rank among the worst professors, it’s time for them to go, tenure or not. Tenure was an idea which was originally adopted to allow faculty to propose radical ideas in the classroom without risking their position with the school. Unfortunately, we have a very difficult time understanding what crazy and radical ideas can be proposed in a business class, but if we’re wrong, feel free to correct us.

Just because a professor is tenured is no excuse to retain them if they are among the worst professors at the school. We have no problem retaining all of the professors if they are all top notch and phenomenal, but each of us can name at least one professor who wasn’t even close to good, let alone phenomenal. This isn’t just a problem which plagues Bentley; it certainly plagues every higher level institution of learning, but it is something Bentley can take the lead on changing.