The Bentley Buzz

As part of the university’s continued efforts to embrace a culture of inclusion and equity, the Inclusive Excellence Council is proud to launch the Bentley Equity Experience, an initiative aimed at positively impacting Bentley’s living, learning and working environments. A recommendation emerging from the work of the Racial Justice Task Force, this study of the climate on our campus is designed to engage students, faculty and staff by providing opportunities to confidentially share their experiences at Bentley and let their voices be heard.

“I’m proud that we as a community are engaging in the Bentley Equity Experience campaign,” said Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion Patrick Couillard Hale. “This effort will help us to better understand who we truly are as a university and help us to create paths forward toward a better campus climate and culture for everyone at Bentley.”

Surveys were emailed this week from Scott D. Crawford at SoundRocket and should take only 10 minutes to complete. All participants who complete the survey before the Thanksgiving break will be entered into a raffle to win one of three $100 gift cards.

Learn about the Bentley Equity Experience

Hello, Bentley colleagues! Halloween may be over, but I hope you'll join me here for part II of a mysterious discovery. Need a refresher? Here's part I of how I found a 19th century tombstone in my basement. 

After stumbling upon the Feezor family website, I immediately emailed the site's creators but like my previous efforts, the emails went unreturned. Countless follow-up emails and Facebook messages went to possible family members, all of whom I tried to assure that my outreach was not ill-willed or nefarious.

In time, I was finally able to make contact with a Feezor family member from the long lineage posted online—a woman named Linda who had researched her ancestral history. Several calls with Linda helped to shed light on her family, and most importantly, led to the discovery of a gravesite that curiously lacked a headstone, leaving an empty stone base where a marker once stood. Calls with Linda continued to unveil new leads in the search for Claudie's resting place.

In our many conversations, Linda detailed a visit she made in 2007 to a private family cemetery. It was the first time she had been there in decades, and while looking over the stones of her relatives, she noticed the graves of several Feezor children who died at a young age. My jaw nearly dropped when I heard Linda recount the names of Elgie, Ivy and Odus (the children whose stones I had located online similar to Claudie's). At the end of one row of those graves, she said, was the base of a stone where a headstone had clearly been removed. Given the visible aging of the other monuments, Linda assumed that the missing piece had deteriorated. She even had her son text me a photo that she had taken of the headstone's base. 
 

As a result of our discussion, Linda believed that the graveyard was the location of Claudie and the rightful resting place for the tombstone in my basement. And there was more background: Linda’s grandfather was Thomas N. Feezor, the father of Claudie. In 1912, Ida died, leaving Thomas widowed along with two children—Ivy (15) and Odus (9). Shortly after Ida’s death, Thomas married Mary Kelly, Linda’s grandmother. Thomas and Mary had two children who lived into old age and themselves raised families just outside of Paducah, KY.

In addition to identifying the likely location of Claudie’s burial site, Linda also shared that in her extended family’s possession is a Feezor family Bible handed down from her grandfather Thomas. Scrawled on a page in the book is a list of Thomas’ ancestors and descendants. Claudie is listed as having died in 1893, confirming that this was indeed the right family.

While I am relieved to have identified the location of Claudie’s burial site, I’m still perplexed as to how his headstone wound up in my basement. After months of researching, calling experts, and finally speaking with a member of the family, I was able to mail the stone back to Kentucky, where it was returned to Linda. I turned many heads as I walked into the UPS store a few days before Christmas with the stone in hand.

Linda had planned to reaffix the tombstone to its base the following spring but was holding out until more family would be in town to make the trip to the ancestral cemetery. Linda still calls me periodically to ask if I ever found out how the tombstone ended up in Boston, and remains thankful for the effort it took to get it back in her family's possession. We last spoke a year ago, and Linda let me know Claudie's stone was still in her house, and that the pandemic made it even more difficult for her family to meet and reattach the stone.  

But still the question of how and when the stone made its way this far north begs to be asked. The excellent condition of the stone leads me to believe that it was not in the ground or exposed to the elements for an extensive period of time. In one of our calls, Linda revealed that in 1913 one of the last family members to have been buried in the cemetery in question was laid to rest. Flooding in the area led the family to begin using different burial grounds. Linda believes it’s unlikely that the family would have visited the cemetery in 1913 and not replaced Claudie’s stone had it been missing.

Though the origins of the stone may never be discovered, I’ve continued to wonder about its past travels. The year 1998 is of particular interest. While digging through the crawlspace closet in search of more clues, I found an issue of the Boston Globe from that year underneath the bag of concrete on which Claudie’s stone rested. It’s possible that the stone was in the basement before then, but at the very least, someone would have had to have moved it to this particular resting spot that year. I searched for records of the owners of the home around that time—over 100 years after Claudie’s passing—but haven't had much luck in finding a link to Kentucky.

Though the whole backstory may never be known, I’m still obsessed with the travels of Claudie Feezor's tombstone. Was it the result of a college prank? Something more sinister? It’s possible that nobody will ever find out how a 19th century child’s tombstone wound up in my old Allston basement. For now, I’m just glad that it’s back home where it belongs.

Did you find a strange old item or make a discovery in your home? Let us know about it! 

Email the Buzz

Throughout the month of October, the IT division marked Cyber Security Month by educating the community on cyber security threats and best practices in a series of lunch and learns. To cap off the month, they hosted a Halloween-themed cyber security fair where students, faculty and staff came together for an interactive afternoon filled with informative games, fun prizes and fall snacks.

The first in-person cyber security fair since the start of the pandemic, 300 members of the Bentley community stopped by to learn about cyber security best practices (and try their hand at winning one of several gigantic stuff animal prizes). Each lunch and learn was well attended, too, with 50 participants joining in-person and remotely for each.  

Congratulations to IT and the cyber security awareness team on another successful cyber security fair!  

Learn More about Cyber Security at Bentley

In honor of longtime Student Affairs team member Doreen Floyd (who retired last year) and her 34 years of service to the university, the Division of Student Affairs has launched the Doreen Floyd “It Will Be Fine" Award. In her time at Bentley, Doreen was known for her can-do attitude and the positive impact she had on all she worked with. The award will be presented each fall on Doreen's birthday to a member of the division who, facing unexpected adversity, perseveres with a program or service and brings it to a positive conclusion. The winner will also receive $1,000 in professional development funds to be used during that academic year.

This year, Claudette Blot, assistant director of mentorship and advising in the Multicultural Center, received the award after several nominations from her peers. Claudette has worked at Bentley for 30 years and has had a lasting impact on countless students and team members. In nominating Claudette, colleagues shared these examples of her dedication to Bentley and our students:

• "While I could name many events that Claudette partnered with me and others on, I just want to share how her positive outlook and presence always makes things better. Claudette was recently on my search committee for a new hire, and I was feeling very nervous about this experience having never done this, and Claudette was there the whole time saying how we are going to get someone great to add to our team and reassuring me things were going smoothly. Just seeing her smile always calmed me." 
   
• "Claudette is the epitome of positivity and can-do attitude. The pandemic certainly qualifies as unexpected adversity, and many of our students, particularly our students of color served by the MCC, were impacted directly and severely by a variety of COVID-related factors. There are students who are still going strong at Bentley 100% because of Claudette’s support. She always approaches her mentorship of students with the attitude of 'We will get through this together,' and there are countless students who have been brought through difficulties because of Claudette’s positive and supportive approach. This year was an exceptional one for the number of students she directly rescued, and I do mean 'rescued.'"

Also nominated for the award were Abby Pieger, program coordinator for Student Programs and Engagement; Julia Matthews, Health Center director; and Melissa Diglio, communications center manager for University Police.

Join the Buzz in congratulating Claudette and all the nominees!

Each fall, students, faculty and staff come together at the annual Rainbow Luncheon to recognize and celebrate the strength and accomplishments of our LGBTQ+ community. This year, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Bentley PRIDE were glad to welcome back 100 in-person attendees for the first time since 2019, while 50 more joined remotely. Throughout the afternoon, attendees heard from student leaders on their experiences with gender and identity and were welcomed by President Chrite in his first Rainbow Luncheon event. 

In addition to hearing from our own community, keynote speaker Pinar Sinopoulos-Lloyd joined the luncheon remotely in a nod to the event's theme of sustainability to present on the impacts of climate change on Indigenous populations. "Indigenous groups are often more heavily impacted by climate change," said Pinar in their remarks. They also shared historical background on the unique relationship between gender identity and Andean traditions, a topic they frequently discuss as co-founder of Queer Nature, an earth-based queer organization that educates on ancestral skills, interspecies kinship and rites of passage.

To conclude the event, Matt Banks, assistant director of Diversity and Inclusion, and Nana Adu, gender and sexuality student program coordinator, announced the winners of this year's Rainbow Awards, a recognition given each year to a community member who makes outstanding contributions to the safety and well-being of Bentley’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. This year, Angela Mansour ’22 was presented with a Rainbow Award for the impact she has made to create a safe and supportive place for the LGBTQ+ community at Bentley as co-president of Bentley PRIDE. Rainbow Awards were also presented to Bethany Ward, Grace Shin and Sydney Romagnolo, the founders of Sexism.At.Bentley, for their important work in amplifying the voices of survivors of gender-based violence or discrimination.

Learn More about Bentley PRIDE

Last fall, the Division of Student Affairs launched the Student Equity and Inclusion Consultant Group, an initiative aimed at providing departments with an opportunity to consult with students on policies and programs through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion. Created as a part of the Student Affairs racial justice action plan, the group is a resource for ensuring that new or existing programs are equitable and inclusive from the student perspective.

First rolled out during the spring 2021 term, students in the Student Equity and Inclusion Consultant Group has worked with several departments in Student Affairs and advised on projects ranging from increasing LGBTQ+ support within the Health Center to writing student case studies for the Bringing In the Bystander program. The paid student consultants are chosen by their peers in the Student Government Association Diversity Committee and undergo training as they provide valuable insight into the student experience on campus.

The program started with eight consultants and is open to all undergraduate students, with the hope to begin incorporating graduate students in time. “Their training is ongoing and helps to ensure that they’re equipped with the tools to recognize social identities and identify possible privileges and disadvantages that their peers may experience,” said Director of the Multicultural Center and program co-manager Michael McCorvey. “But advanced training isn’t a requirement. We wanted to remove any barriers to getting involved so students only need to have an interest in making Bentley a more inclusive and just community in order to be considered for the position.”
 

Now with 12 students on board, the Equity and Inclusion Consultant program is looking forward to opening its services to all faculty and staff departments on campus beginning next spring. Once its services are expanded to all of campus, faculty and staff will be able to submit a form to request that the student consultants review a program, project or new initiative to ensure it is equitable and inclusive of their peers. The consultants meet weekly and have continued to provide important feedback for Student Affairs.

“Our division identified a clear need for student feedback to be heard while each department created their racial justice action plan in the summer of 2020,” said Ben Longstreth, assistant director of strategic projects and co-manager of the program. “Instead of creating multiple groups for each department, we wanted to pay students in an ongoing way for their expertise.”

The student consultants remain passionate and dedicated to their work, and are looking forward to expanding their services to all of campus. Have an existing or upcoming project you’d like to run by the consultants starting this spring? Make sure to fill out the form below!

Submit a Request

Field Hockey Players Receive All-Conference Honors
Five members of Bentley's field hockey team have been selected for All-Northeast Conference honors.

Football Moves into the Top 10 for the First Time
After extending its winning streak to 13 with a 24-14 win over Franklin Pierce University, Bentley football moved into the American Football Coaches Association Division II top 10 for the first time in program history while remaining at the top of the NCAA Division II East Region rankings.

Men's and Women's Swim Teams Compete at Home After 21 Months
Bentley's swim teams both won 14 of 16 events against Le Moyne in the first competitions in the Dana Center pool since January 2020.