Tag: ben lepper
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President Rougeau Discusses Higher Education, Commencement Speaker, and the Life of Pope Francis
Ben Lepper ’25 and Nathan Howard ’25 Editors-in-Chief On May 2nd, The Spire spoke with President Rougeau for our final meeting of the academic year. Our first question for the president was in regards to his time as President thus far. Specifically, we asked him what he has learned about…
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Crusader of the Week: Ben Lepper and Nathan Howard
Viveca Stucke ‘26 Chief Features Editor Name: Nathan Howard Class Year: 2025 Hometown: Rehoboth, MassachusettsMajor: Art History and Political Science Name: Ben Lepper Class Year: 2025 Hometown: Wellesley, MAMajor: English with a French Minor Campus ActivitiesNathan Howard: The Spire, Moot CourtBen Lepper: Editor-in-Chief of The Spire & The Criterion, English…
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One Last Letter from The Editor
Ben Lepper ‘25 Editor-in-Chief When I started writing for The Spire in September 2021, I’d have told you that I was writing because I loved sports. And, while that’s true (and partially why this article is appearing in the Sports section), I’ve come to realize that the reason why I…
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Record-Breaking Admissions Cause Major Change to Holy Cross’ First-Year Housing
Ben Lepper ‘25 & Kate Santini ‘27 Editor-in-Chief & Chief News Editor Over the past few years, Holy Cross has grown tremendously in popularity, with the most recent admissions’ cycle surpassing over 10,000 applicants and yielding a record-breaking 17% acceptance rate. In spite of the school’s selectivity, over-enrollment has become…
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President Rougeau Speaks on Campus Visits, Tuition Increases, and Commencement
Ben Lepper ’25 and Nathan Howard ’25 Editors-in-Chief On Wednesday, April 9th, The Spire had the privilege of speaking with President Rougeau for our monthly interview. Our first question for the President concerned the variety of high-profile and accomplished individuals who have spoken at Holy Cross throughout the past few…
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My Vision For The Rotmans Property
Ben Lepper ’25 Controller of Free Speech I’m sure you all know that we just purchased the old Rotmans building. And, as I’m sure you’re an avid reader of The Spire and have read our most recent interview with President Rougeau, you probably know that it’s going to be a…
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Holy Cross Rebrands…. Again
Ben Lepper ‘25 Graphic Design is my Passion As many of you know, Holy Cross recently unveiled a rebrand. A new website and new profile pictures were launched in the span of a few weeks, revealing a more minimal, sleek look. Most notably is what appears to be the school’s…
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Columbia’s Protests: Free Speech Under Fire
Julia Kane ‘27 Opinions Editor Columbia University is a prestigious Ivy League University in the heart of New York City, producing alumni with the likes of Barack Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to name just a few. However, Columbia has been a recent topic of the news for its presence of…
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It’s Time to Put Producers in the Spotlight
Ben Lepper ’25 Editor-In-Chief I’ve been reflecting on Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime show lately. There’s one part that really stood out to me. It wasn’t the breathtaking choreography, nor was it the near-perfect setlist or Samuel L. Jackson’s portrayal of Uncle Sam. It was the fact that he brought…
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“I Gave It My All:” A Conversation With Anthony Fauci, M.D. ‘62
Ben Lepper ’25 Editor-in-Chief On March 19th, the Editors-in-Chief of The Spire had the opportunity to participate in a private conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci ‘62 as a part of this past week’s Fauci-Grady Residency. The conversation was attended by both myself and Nathan, as well as Liam Murphy ‘25…
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Where Am I Supposed to Park My Car?
Ben Lepper ‘25 Editor-In-Chief If you’re a Holy Cross student with a car on campus, you know the plight all too well. I’ll cut directly to the chase: the parking situation on this campus is absolutely atrocious right now. It is becoming more and more of a trend for Holy…
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Student and Faculty Support for FLA Program Successfully Keeps It Alive
Kate Santini ’27 & Ben Lepper ’25 Chief News Editor & Editor-in-Chief For over 20 years, the Foreign Language Assistant (FLA) program has been a hallmark of the College’s World Languages department. The program invites advanced English-speaking students from nine countries around the world to join the campus community for…
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Holy Cross Hockey Teams Look to Finish Strong Before Winter Break
Ben Lepper ’25 Editor-In-Chief If you haven’t caught a hockey game at the Hart Center yet this year, you are missing out. So far, the 2024-2025 season has been a good one for both Holy Cross Ice Hockey programs. To start with the men, they began the season a little…
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College Says “Happy Holidays,” is Sued by Angry Alum
Ben Lepper ’25 The “Non-Denominational Mr. Winter” From That One Episode of Community You have probably heard about the Cornelius B. Prior lawsuit at this point. Well, unfortunately, that’s far from the only lawsuit that the school is currently battling. The Spire has learned about a suit that was filed…
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President Rougeau Speaks on Financial Aid, Tough Conversations, and Thanksgiving
Ben Lepper ‘25 and Nathan Howard ‘25 Editors-In-Chief On Thursday, November 14th, the two of us had the opportunity to meet with President Rougeau for our final interview of the semester. We spoke with him about the College’s endowment, recent news surrounding the College, as well as the upcoming holiday…
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Alternate College Theatre Prepares to Present “At The Wedding”
Ben Lepper ’25 Editor-in-Chief Holy Cross’ Alternate College Theatre (ACT) is preparing to put on their first show of the 2024-2025 next week: “At The Wedding”, originally written by Bryna Turner. Performances will be in The Pit on November 21, 23, and 24 at 7:30 PM, with matinees on the…
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Holy Cross Students, Faculty Attend Commonweal Magazine’s Centennial Gala
Ben Lepper ’25 and Shaye Callanan ’26 Editor-In-Chief and News Editor Last week, Commonweal Magazine, the oldest independent Catholic opinion journal in the United States, celebrated their 100th anniversary at Chelsea Piers in New York City. As a member of Commonweal’s Board of Directors, Holy Cross’ President Vincent Rougeau invited…
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Why I Can No Longer Support The GOP
Ben Lepper ‘25 Editor-In-Chief I grew up in a hard-blue town in Massachusetts, a hard-blue state. Growing up, many of my neighbors had Obama and Clinton signs stuck in their lawns. In 2008, whenever I looked around my neighborhood, I only really ever had one question: Why am I the…
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Centennial Alumni Report: Bud Montgomery
Ben Lepper ’25 Editor-In-Chief For this installment of the Centennial Alumni Report, I had the honor of talking with Bud Montgomery ’57, a former Spire Sports Editor and an Editor of The Purple. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Bud found his way over to Holy Cross from Marquette High. He…
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The Spire’s September Conversation with President Vincent Rougeau
Ben Lepper ’25 Nathan Howard ’25 Editors-In-Chief On Thursday, September 26th, the two of us had the chance to sit down with President Rougeau for our first monthly interview of the year. We spoke with him about the start of the school year, recent news surrounding the College, and more.…
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The Spire Enters Centennial Publication Year
Ben Lepper ‘25 and Nathan Howard ’25 Editors-In-Chief On the front of every issue of The Spire, you’ll see that we promote ourselves as the flagship campus newspaper of Holy Cross since 1925. Next year is 2025. It may be hard to believe, but the 2024-2025 academic year will also…
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The Hypocrisy of the Hazy IPA
Ben Lepper ’25 Editor-In-Chief Let me first make something clear: I have no problems with beer. I’m a 23-year old college senior; of course I’ve had a few beers in my two years of legality. Maybe more than a few, if I’m being honest. I admire Holy Cross’ desire to…
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A Letter from The Editor
Ben Lepper ’25 Chief Sports Editor It feels like just yesterday that my first Spire Sports article came out. It was the first issue of the 2021-2022 school year, and I sent Mike O’Brien a 1000+ word article about the first week of the NFL season. Only half of it…
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Coker and Hanson Participate in Holy Cross’ NFL Pro Day
Ben Lepper ’25 Chief Sports Editor Ben Kuchipudi ’25 Sports Editor On March 21, 2024, Holy Cross Athletics hosted their annual NFL Pro Day. While the event was impressive in its own right in years past, this year’s rendition was the school’s biggest by far. Athletes from New England area…
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AHA Investigating “Blind” Referees
Ben Lepper ’25 Visually Impaired Anyone who was at last weekend’s hockey games against AIC could have seen this one coming – except the officials. In a recent press release from the Atlantic Hockey Association, it was revealed that the referees assigned to the three game set, in which Holy…
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Holy Cross Football Imposes Sanctions on JMU
Ben Lepper ’25 Wannabe Insider The Spire Sports has obtained a statement from the Holy Cross Football team’s management, which will be released on Monday, April 1, 2024. Am I overstepping boundaries by leaking this entirely-real document? Yeah. Has that ever stopped me before? Absolutely not. Journalistic integrity is for…
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Holy Cross Women’s Hockey Wins First-Ever Playoff Game
Ben Lepper ’25 Chief Sports Editor The word of the season was parity. From Providence’s Matt Kelly to Holy Cross’ Katie Lachapelle, every single coach in Hockey East would use the word parity when discussing the conference this past season. Every team was good, and no team could be overlooked.…
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Holy Cross Lacrosse Starts Out Strong
Ben Lepper ’25 Chief Sports Editor Even though both teams have only played a handful of games thus far, it is safe to say that this is the best both of Holy Cross’ Lacrosse teams have looked since the pandemic. The men’s team came into this year after two rough…
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Liam Anderson ’22 Reflects On First NFL Season
Ben Lepper ’25 Chief Sports Editor For five years, Liam Anderson called Mount Saint James his home. Now, he has a new one: Indianapolis. After a dominant five years as a cornerstone of the Crusader defense, Anderson realized one of his lifelong dreams – making the NFL. Throughout the talent…
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Holy Cross Women’s Hockey Celebrates Seniors in Back-To-Back Games
Ben Lepper ’25 Chief Sports Editor This past weekend, the Holy Cross Women’s Hockey team played two straight games at the Hart Center against two tough Hockey East foes – the Providence Friars on Friday and the #11 UConn Huskies on Saturday. Providence, the alma mater of head coach Katie…