February 13, 2026
Providence College's Student-Run Newspaper Since 1935
Welcome to NERLab, we’re happy you’re here. I understand that what we do—and even our acronym—isn’t exactly easy to grasp…
An Interview with Catholic Scholar, Gloria Purvis On Wednesday, Dec. 3, I interviewed Gloria Purvis, special advisor for Integral Human…
For most people, Providence College is home for four years. For Graciete Morales, it has been home for 34 years—not…
by Isabelle Camoin ’26 on January 22, 2026
Before winter break, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Providence College’s Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Thomas Smith. I had written about our school’s previous Provost last spring before Smith’s official arrival. Meeting in person was much more exciting and getting to know the Provost led me to feel our Office of Academic Affairs is in good hands. Smith humbly introduced himself to me first as a political theory professor and joyfully described that he is lucky to be the Provost of the College.
The Provost, for those who are unfamiliar, is the Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer. The Provost meets with the President’s Cabinet about curriculum and academic quality, ensuring they are worthy of the students and that the faculty are flourishing.
Smith has an extensive background in academia, particularly in Catholic education and higher education. After receiving his bachelor’s degree at Georgetown University, he also earned a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. Smith worked at Villanova University for 27 years, where he helped found their Catholic Studies program. Beginning in 2020, Smith served as the Dean at Catholic University for five years. Overall, he has been working in higher education for 35 years. He described his work as a vocational career dedicated to young people flourishing, in both education and in their private lives.
For Smith, education is as John Henry Newman puts it: “Mind meeting mind, heart meeting heart.” To begin his introduction to Providence College, Smith embarked on what he noted as a listening tour—listening in on and engaging with about 80–90 faculty members of the school. He found that the faculty here at PC “have a deep abiding affection for their students.” Meeting with Smith, it is clear that he cares about his work and the people he works with. Smith explained that he was inspired by a teaching workshop he attended where a beloved mentor shared a 30-second guide to what is most important in education. He began to choke up when sharing the words he most remembered, “Teach what you love, in a place you love, to people you love.”
Smith met his wife during his time in undergrad at Georgetown. They fell in love and attended Notre Dame together. She works in psychology. Both have many publications in their field. If you walk into Smith’s office, you will find photos of his wife and his family, a testament to his care and affection for those who he cherishes. Smith and his wife have three children, one girl and two boys.
In his free time, Smith loves to read biographies, historical fiction, and political theory. He also loves to travel, cook, and “even though you probably couldn’t tell,” workout. He also enjoys fixing things through construction and engaging in electrical manual labor. He noted that his father-in-law kindly showed him basic car repair after getting married, and that kind of work developed from there.
Moving from Washington, D.C., Smith still noted that Providence has lots of great restaurants and great art and that he has been warming up to the city.
Smith wanted to leave students with something he claims to always share, “If looking for yourself, find something to devote yourself to and to love, and the paradox is you will find yourself.”
by Chris Sama ’27 on February 12, 2026
The athlete of the week is Jason Edwards ’G26, who made his return against DePaul University on Saturday, Feb. 8. The Friars desperately needed a true point guard to run the offense and struggled without Edwards’ presence. It was unclear whether he would return at all for the rest of the Friars’ season, but fortunately, he is back and playing extremely well. He scored 25 points on efficient shooting, going five for eight from three and eight for13 from the field overall. He also had two assists and four rebounds, which is especially impressive considering his role as a guard.
On the season, Edwards is averaging 17.6 points, three rebounds and 3.2 assists on 43.9 field goal percentage, showing his efficiency. He has an extremely quick release that, despite his size, allows him to get shots up from anywhere, even with defenders closing him out. He is also extremely quick and drives to the basket well. The Friars need him if they want any chance at winning the Big East Tournament, let alone making it to March Madness, as he is their only true point guard. Before joining the Friars in the Big East, Edwards played at Vanderbilt University, where he averaged 17.0 points, 1.3 assists, and two rebounds. He made the All-SEC Third team and scored in double figures in 29 of 31 games. He has shown significant improvement in his passing game from his time at North Texas University to Providence College, going from a 1.4 assist average to 3.2.
Without Edwards’ impact, PCwas playing noticeably worse; it felt like something was missing. While the Friars have a great back court consisting of talented players like Stefan Vaaks ’29, Jaylin Sellers ’26G, and Jamier Jones ’29, none of them fit the point guard role; they function better as shooting guards or small forwards. It’s clear from the games where he was present that Edwards was recruited by coach Kim English to run the offense and be a leader on the court.
by Sophia Caneira ’29 on January 22, 2026
Just last week, Marvel and the Russo Brothers released a new trailer forAvengers: Doomsday, coming to theaters this December. The trailer featured the briefappearances of three iconic characters from the X-Men franchise: Professor X (playedby Sir Patrick Stuart), Magneto (played by Sir Ian McKellen), and Cyclops (played byJames Marsden). The upcoming film has received a lot of attention as severalannouncements were released about the host of classic characters set to appear in it.Theories about the characters and plot are circulating on social media, with some goingas far as to predict the film’s ending based on the stylized lettering of the movie’s title.
The X-Men franchise, particularly the films from the new timeline—X-Men: FirstClass (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), and DarkPhoenix (2019)—are very close to my heart. While I do look forward to seeing fan-favorite characters back on-screen, I fear my hopes for the film’s success may be toohigh. I worry this new film will ruin a perfectly good series. It’s no secret that Marvel filmshave been less successful and far less popular since the release of Avengers:Endgame in 2019. Of the subsequent films, I’ve only seen a handful, but for the mostpart, I was more than disappointed by what I saw. Thunderbolts* (2025) restored someof my hope for Marvel’s future, but there is a caveat when it comes to Avengers:Doomsday: I honestly lose interest when Marvel decides to merge the paths of separateteams like the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. Don’t get me wrong, I loveeach of these franchises individually, but in my mind, they always existed on separateplanes within the Marvel Universe. There was a sense of magic that came along withthe fact that the Avengers and the X-Men were two completely different stories that both featured scenes in two different New York Cities.
Moreover, this isn’t the first time Marvel is experimenting with introducing the X-Men to other franchises. I wasn’t impressed by the way Professor X was already incorporated into the Doctor Strange franchise in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) was somewhat entertaining, but I lost interest when it came to the breaking timelines plot.
With a few exceptions, I feel like many films and spin-off shows nowadaysreceive a lot of promotion, but leave you disappointed when the screen goes dark.Some of this, I think, is due to lazy writing and a money-grab mindset. This is true withinother big franchises, like the Star Wars universe. The trilogy referred to as the sequelsproved to me that some movie franchises are better left alone. Christopher Nolan’s DarkKnight trilogy is a fantastic exception to this phenomenon. Nolan gave us a neat set ofthree films and never took advantage of their enormous success by making a spin-off ora sequel. The trilogy comes to an ideal, satisfying ending, and needs no furtherexpansion. Of course, there are always exceptions—Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(2016) is a beautiful piece of cinema. I also found the TV series The Mandalorian highlyenjoyable. It’s obvious when you watch these movies that the filmmakers in charge ofthem cared deeply about their projects. Director Dave Filoni worked on both of theprojects I mentioned, and he has spoken about his heartfelt love for the Star Warssaga—not just as a filmmaker, but as a fan first and foremost. His passion for Star Warsis evident in his storytelling, with which he tries to honor the spirit of the original films.
With a mass of mediocre films piling up, dare I ask when Marvel will stop makingmovies? Or at least, when will they stop adding onto preexisting franchises and explorea unique vein? I suppose it’s a rhetorical question. As long as fans continue to visit thetheaters (only to leave somewhat disappointed), Marvel movies will endure—especiallywhen there is so much fanfare surrounding the release of a film like Avengers:Doomsday, with the countless announcements of beloved characters returning in thelatest installment. Online, fans are joking that characters like Yoda, Lightning McQueen,and Kermit the Frog will also be joining the cast. I had to laugh when I saw a usercomment, “I will return in Avengers: Doomsday.”
I hope that the filmmakers in charge of this task are people who truly love theMarvel stories. I say this even as I fight back my own excitement in seeing the newtrailer. It’s hard to resist when you see Professor X and Magneto playing yet anothergame of chess and Cyclops shooting laser beams into the sky.
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