Volume 94 • Issue 15
February 13, 2026
FSUgatepost.com
Smilin’ at the ‘Pink Hippo Club!’
(Left) Ashley LaCivita and Zoe Holland with their new stuffed animals at FSAB’s annual Stuff-A-Bear event on Feb. 12.
Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST
In memory of Wilmani Castillo By Sophia Oppedisano Editor-in-Chief The Framingham State community was notified about the tragic passing of student Wilmani Josiah Castillo in an email from President Nancy Niemi on Feb. 9. Castillo, a 22-year-old junior business management major, was killed in a car accident in the early hours of the morning on Feb. 9. Niemi wrote that Castillo was a first-generation student who resided on campus during his time at Framingham State. She said, “He was a valued member of our campus community, and his loss is deeply felt by all who knew him - his family, friends, classmates, faculty, and staff.” Castillo was known on campus as warm-hearted and humorous - always with a kind word and an offer of support for those who knew him. An outpouring of love and support was shared on social media for Castillo on Monday
evening, with students expressing how much he made them laugh or the times he made their days just by saying hello. In a video reposted across social media by students, Castillo tells the camera, “If you tell yourself that you can achieve you will achieve. You will attract people around you who want to achieve. If you tell yourself that you can’t - you will not. This life is what you make it.” His uplifting spirit is an enduring thread in the fabric of the Framingham State community. Castillo’s life will be celebrated on campus in the coming weeks. Vice President for Student Affairs Meg Nowak Borrego said the Dean of Students Office is planning to “work with his friends and family to plan a memorial opportunity for his family to hear from his FSU friends,” but nothing has been officially planned at this time. Nowak Borrego encourages friends of Castillo’s to reach out with ideas for honoring his memory on campus.
Gatepost Archives Wilmani Castillo posing for Campus Conversations in Oct. 2024. Visiting hours for Castillo are at the Brady & Fallon Funeral Home in Jamaica Plain on Thursday, Feb. 19, from 5-8 p.m. Students can attend a moment of silence for Castillo at the men’s basketball game in the Logan Gymnasium at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14. No student should shoulder their grief alone. The Counseling Center, Residence Life staff, and the Dean of Students Office
McCarthy Center Dining Facility Inspection Report cites 10 violations According to Rivera, all of the health and safety inspections conducted at Framingham State are unannounced. The violations cited in the reThe Fall 2025 Food Estabport were: one case of food being lishment Inspection Report of Sodexo at the FSU McCarthy improperly separated and proCenter stated 10 health code vi- tected, two cases of food-contact surfaces; not cleaned and olations. This report was released to sanitized, one case of improper The Gatepost by the Framing- date marking and disposition, ham Public Health Department. two cases of physical facilities The inspection was conduct- not installed, maintained, and ed on October 16, 2025 by In- clean, two cases of adequate spector Rivera, Inspector Oram, handwashing sinks not supInspector Westerlind, and In- plied and accessible, one case of proper cooling methods not spector Hobbs. Rivera said multiple inspec- used; adequate equipment for tors conduct the inspection. temperature control, and one “We kind of split up, and then a case inadequate ventilation and couple managers or chefs might lighting; designated areas being follow another inspector, and used. According to Rivera, each vithen we divide and conquer.” By Bella Grimaldi News Editor
olation falls into a category depending on the time frame it needs to be resolved. He said the order of violation types is “priority, priority foundation, and core.” Priority is the violation category that allows the shortest amount of time to be corrected. According to the 2013 FDA Food Code, priority violations must be corrected within 72 hours, priority foundation violations must be corrected within 10 days, and core violations must be corrected no later than 90 days after the inspection. Rivera said, “Everything we do is based on the FDA Food Code” and the Massachusetts amendments to the 2013 FDA See DINING COMMONS Page 4
are available for students struggling with the loss of Castillo, according to Niemi and Nowak Borrego. Niemi wrote in her email, “As a community, we mourn together and hold Wilmani’s loved ones in our thoughts during this impossibly difficult time. I ask that we take care of one another, extend compassion, and lean on the support systems available to us.”
News GPI pg. 2 BIG BUDGET pg. 3
OP/ED LOVE pg. 5 LOVE LETTERS pg. 5
Sports WOMEN’S BASKETBALL pg. 7 MEN’S BASKETBALL pg. 8
Arts & Features TASTE OF CULTURE pg. 9 LEXICON pg. 10 INSIDE: OP/ED 5 • SPORTS 7 • ART & FEATURES 9