COLBY SEARS

UMass Amherst 2017

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‘Rally and March for Just Cause’ to be held Tuesday in support of new RA and PM contracts

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Dec. 7, 2015.

University of Massachusetts resident assistants and peer mentors are set to march to Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy’s office Tuesday to demand labor contracts that require the University to show just cause in disciplinary action situations for all Residential Life employees.

Participants in the “Rally and March for Just Cause,” which is scheduled for 1 to 2 p.m., will meet in front of the Student Union before heading to Whitmore Administration Building to deliver their demands to the Chancellor. An online “No Just Cause, No Peace” petition started by the United Auto Workers Union Local 2322 has collected more than 530 signatures. RAs and PMs are unionized members of UAW Local 2322.

“We feel like the Chancellor needs to know that they’re not listening to the workers and that UMass should be ashamed of itself,” said Court Cline, the UAW Local 2322 representative for Residential Life workers.

“We’re not saying that they can’t discipline people, we’re saying they have to follow the same kind of proof that every other worker on campus is entitled to in terms of discipline,” he said.

RAs and PMs are currently the only unionized employees on campus that do not have just cause included in their contract, according to Cline. He said that Residential Life employees started bargaining for revised contracts in April and that their current agreements expired in July. UAW Local 2322 identified just cause as the most significant contract issue that needs to be addressed.

Just cause, in this case, means that student Residential Life workers could not be suspended or terminated by the University without being able to appeal decisions they find unfair to a neutral arbitrator.

Cline said the burden of proof falls on the University.

“Without just cause, everyone becomes an employee at will, so people are disciplined or terminated without due process,” he said.

Cline said this “big flaw” in the RA contract is critical to Residential Life employees because when they are fired from a position, they also lose their on-campus housing and are forced to move out within seven days.

University spokesman Ed Blaguszewski addressed RA and PM requests for just cause in a statement to the Daily Collegian in October.

He said that though the University agrees due process is an important element in a work contract, there is already an appeals process in place that allows individuals to “contest or correct sanctions they believe were unfairly imposed on them,” and that adding another layer of appeals to this process is “not necessary.”

“Contracts between the University and resident assistants, beginning in 2003, have never included a just cause article for this reason,” he said.

Blaguszewski also said that most terminations in the RA and PM bargaining unit are for violations of the Code of Student Conduct or for workers not meeting minimum grade point average requirements, and that both situations that can be appealed through existing University appeal processes. Workers are normally put on paid administrative leave while they appeal, he says.

The University concluded its statement by saying that it will continue to work with the union to see if the two parties can agree on a system that “provides an opportunity to guarantee a chance to have a fair hearing but does not include the time consuming and costly process of labor arbitration.”

The RA and PM bargaining unit is made up of more than 400 undergraduate students. RAs work 20 hours per week for 34 weeks and PMs work 15 hours per week for 34 weeks.

Sïonan Barrett, a resident assistant in John Quincy Adams Tower and president of the Student Government Association, said she will be marching on Tuesday and that the plea for just cause is an issue that is personally important to her.

She said that she went through the conduct system as an RA during her sophomore year, and if the verdict determined in her situation had been decided differently, she would have been out of a job without any proof she violated the Code of Student Conduct.

Though she would not specify what her disciplinary situation was, Barrett said one of the five RAs involved in the situation was terminated – Barrett herself was not.

“I wish there was a little bit more proof and also more negotiating before they let go of RAs because I think a lot of the times the department thinks we’re dispensable,” she said. “The RA union has been organizing around just cause for a couple contracts and this is a time that we’re actually going to prioritize it and I hope that the University takes it seriously.”

Ian Roche, a senior and second year PM, said in a UAW press release, “We want the Chancellor to understand that there will be no labor peace until this issue is resolved. Knowing the overwhelming support we have from students, UMass faculty and staff unions, community leaders and political officials, we are ready to fight as long as it takes.”

Cline said he anticipates the Chancellor will not come out and speak to the rally, which is why a delegation will be sent into his office to present the UAW petition.

He said that the union is taking the issue to the Chancellor because the University bargaining team has acted as his representative in the past, and that he “needs to know that they’re not listening to the workers.”

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IPO reaches out to local families to host international students for Thanksgiving

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Nov. 24, 2015.

For many University of Massachusetts students, going home for Thanksgiving means spending time with family and loved ones around a table of home-cooked food. International students, however, don’t always have somewhere to go for the holiday, which is something Richard Yam of the International Programs Office has set out to change.

Yam, an international student adviser and founder of the Thanksgiving Host Program, has invited local families and community members of the Pioneer Valley to host international students for Thanksgiving since 2009. While some families will bring students home for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on the holiday, others will volunteer to host students for the entire weekend.

While studying at Springfield College in the 1980s as an international student from Hong Kong, Yam spent Thanksgiving with his then-girlfriend, who is now his wife, at her family’s home. He said this inspired him to start a program that would allow other international students to have the same cultural experience.

“I have that experience knowing that it’s nice to have a taste of American life, because campus life is still different,” he said. “It’s a good intercultural activity, for the host too. All the hosts really enjoy it, so that’s why I promote it.

Yam sends out an e-mail invitation every October to local families, UMass staff and faculty, neighboring church members and other community members asking if they are interested in hosting students, and if they are, how many. He tries to match similar hosts and students together to make the program as beneficial for both groups as possible.

“Sometimes the host asks for specific students from specific countries, so it just so happened that I just placed two students from Costa Rica with a host from Costa Rica. … It’s very nice.”

Yam also mentioned a local Jewish family that has been participating in the program for about four years. Each year they request Middle Eastern students and serve halal meat to accommodate religious preferences.

When the program began in 2009, Yam placed 39 students with 15 local families for the holiday. It has since expanded and is continuing to grow, with 90 students being placed among 23 families in 2014, including 40 students that Katherine Newman, the provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, hosted for dinner.

In testimonials provided by Yam, past students called the program “one of the greatest times in my life”, “totally awesome” and “an excellent opportunity to get to know local people and a bit of local culture.”

Jennifer Ryan, a Westhampton resident who hosts students in the program, connected with Yam two years ago through the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley. She has hosted one student each year – one from Beijing and another from Shanghai.

She had requested to host Chinese students because her nine-year-old daughter K.C. is a student at PVCICS, which aims to teach its students rigorous study integrated with Chinese language and culture. Ryan said K.C. speaks Mandarin fluently.

“Because I’m local, we’ve opened our house from Wednesday to Sunday,” she said. “Typically I’ll pick them up after classes on Wednesday and we’ll stop at a grocery store and pick up a few items that they would prefer to eat, and then on Thursday is my traditional family’s Thanksgiving dinner.”

Ryan said she, her daughter and their international guest will celebrate Thanksgiving with whomever in her family is hosting dinner that year, such as at her sister’s house.

She also tries to get the foreign students involved in American culture during their stay with her, whether by taking them to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in New York City or decorating a Christmas tree at home, both things they have done in the past.

“We try to do something that is sort of Americana. The whole event has allowed my daughter and I to create our own tradition by hosting these students. … I just think it’s a great way to make connections,” she said.

Ryan also said that both of the students she hosted in the past have offered to cook a traditional Chinese dinner for her and her daughter during the Thanksgiving weekend as a way of returning the favor for being welcomed as guests in their home.

Though she is not sure what she and her daughter will be doing with their guests this year, Ryan said K.C. is hoping to visit New York City again.

In her work as an international privacy officer, Ryan often travels around the world for business. She said hosting these two students has provided her with contacts and families in towns in China, and that she is looking forward to a trip to Asia in the spring. She is hoping to bring K.C. with her and to possibly reach out to the students they have hosted if the opportunity arises.

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Chancellor Subbaswamy addresses students’ calls for diversity in e-mail Wednesday

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Nov. 19, 2015. 

University of Massachusetts Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy sent an email Wednesday afternoon assuring campus community members that University administration is committed to addressing issues of racism and bias at UMass, despite student dissatisfaction with how race, inclusiveness and social justice are being handled on campus.

The email follows a Campus Listening session orchestrated by Subbaswamy on Friday between administration and students regarding issues of race, and a student organized class walkout that protested the lack of diversity on UMass’s campus on Wednesday.

The Campus Listening Session held Friday afternoon in Mahar Auditorium was designed for administration to listen to concerns regarding how race and inequality are handled at UMass. About 250 students and a dozen administrators, including Subbaswamy, attended the open discussion, which was held in light of recent protests of racism at the University of Missouri.

“It was troubling and disheartening to hear our students tell their stories of a campus experience shaped by racism and bias, often resulting in feelings of loneliness and isolation,” Subbaswamy said in the email.

The chancellor’s email was sent within an hour of  the Class Walkout which was as part of the national #StudentBlackOut movement. UMass students, who after marching to the provost and chancellor’s offices got a meeting with administration scheduled for Sunday, joined other university students around the country to walk and protest against racial injustice.

Subbaswamy praised students in his email for continuing to challenge the University against these issues.

In his email, which he said addresses the prevalent “enough talk, we want action” theme many students discussed at the Listening Session, Subbaswamy mentioned that the Diversity Strategic Planning Process has made significant progress since the system began action last semester.

“I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, but just as other campuses and communities across the country struggle with issues of injustice, we too must continually work to improve our campus climate,” he wrote. “Together, I know we can make significant strides.”

Subbaswamy said he is immediately implementing two initiatives: one, University administration will provide additional support for student-initiated programming focused on inclusion and diversity issues.

The second plan of action will come in the form of the DSPP, in which University leadership will assess the progress of those initiatives on a regular basis. This is intended for campus community members to keep an eye on how diversity issues effect overall University development.

Although the University was one of the first campuses in the country to implement a General Education diversity requirement thirty years ago, the chancellor acknowledged that the University has fallen behind in creating a diverse campus.

Subbaswamy said the hire of Assistant Provost for Diversity Leykia Brill six months ago to increase the recruitment and retention of underrepresented undergraduate students was an example of administration action in the right direction.

According to Subbaswamy, Brill has established partnerships with more than 15 organizations that work with first generation college students, low-income students and students of color to assist in University recruitment strategies. She has also partnered with the mentoring program 100 Men to College Springfield and improved recruitment by visiting 14 schools in New England, New York and New Jersey.

He also wrote that 98 percent of community scholarships awarded last semester were given to African American, Latino/a, Asian and Native American students, and 54 percent were underrepresented minority students. Of the 36 students from community college honors programs accepted into the Commonwealth Honors College through the new “Honors-to-Honors” program, 40 percent are ALANA, 30 percent are URM and 75 percent are first generation college students.

The email also outlined a number of plan to increase funding to a number of majors at UMass to increase the diversity of its students T undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels.

The email stated that the graduate school is repurposing its diversity fellowship to increase the recruitment and retention of underrepresented doctoral and MFA students. Additional funding will be allocated to a program that provides summer research fellowships to graduates from to underrepresented student populations.

Subbaswamy said the University has developed more student support services, including the appointment of two University Health Services ombudspersons – one to address healthcare concerns related to racial and ethnic discrimination, and another to address gender, gender identity and sexual orientation.

The email also stated that the accountability system for hate crimes and acts of bias has been strengthened by creating a centralized reporting link and by training hundreds of staff in immediate response, in addition to twenty-six new faculty members of color being hired this fall in a $6 million investment.

The Institute for Teaching Excellence and Faculty Development is also increasing its emphasis on classroom climate training for diverse groups by hiring staff who specialize in intercultural teaching and development.

Subbaswamy has said there will be more public conversations at UMass in the future to discuss such issues and how they affect the campus community.  However, the chancellor’s previous public remarks promising future action has drawn criticism from student groups alleging that little action follows his statements.

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Three heroin overdoses reported in Amherst in less than two hours Sunday night

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Nov. 16, 2015.

The Amherst Fire Department responded to three non-fatal heroin overdoses within a two-hour span Sunday night, continuing a string of incidents that public safety officials are describing as a spike in local area overdoses over the past week.

Emergency responders administered the opioid overdose-reversing drug Narcan in one case and rushed all three patients to Cooley Dickinson Hospital by ambulance. The incidents occurred at homes on East Hadley Road, Northeast St. and Summer St.

Fire Chief Walter Nelson said that the first call came around 9 p.m. and the last at 10:45 p.m., both of which Amherst Police responded to, according to MassLive.

He said that it is not unusual for his department to respond to drug overdoses, though having to respond to three incidents within such a short period of time is uncommon.

Nelson told MassLive that paramedics administered nasal Narcan to one patient and that the medication had already been administered to a second patient before technicians arrived to the scene. Narcan was not used in the third case, he said, claiming the decision of whether or not to use the drug is based on procedure involving a patient’s medical condition.

Narcan blocks opioids, which can slow breathing to the point of death in an overdose, and restores breathing to normal when administered nasally. All three patients were brought to the hospital for further treatment.

Sunday’s responses come after a week in which heroin-related overdoses have surged.

Dr. Niels Rathlev, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Baystate Medical Center, told reporters Monday that the healthcare system has treated 40 overdose patients in three days, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Several of those patients have died.

Rathlev said that treating 40 patients in that short of a time frame was “exceptional,” and that it’s not proportional to what the system normally sees, per the Gazette.

Local authorities have heard about a potentially lethal batch of heroin in the area that may be related to these incidents. The surge in overdoses began mid-week, according to a statement issued by Northwestern district attorney David E. Sullivan.

According to Nelson, batches like these will sometimes hit the street after a major drug bust occurs, as dealers try to fill the void in the drug supply.

“Anecdotally, we’ve been seeing that there is some bad stuff out there. Hospitals have been seeing an uptick in overdoses in the general area and the Pioneer Valley. Something is going on out there and it’s not good,” he told MassLive.

With the help of the Drug Enforcement Agency Task Force and the Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force, Springfield police confiscated nearly 22,000 bags of heroin in a raid on a Springfield home last Thursday.

Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. also warned the public of a potentially dangerous batch of heroin in the Southbridge area after two non-fatal overdoses were reported there Thursday night.

Law enforcement personnel are continuing to investigate the spike in overdoses in the Pioneer Valley but have yet to identify anything associated with the dangerous batch.

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First annual Tower Run up the W.E.B. Du Bois Library’s 440 steps to be held Thursday

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Nov. 16, 2015

Members of the University of Massachusetts community brave enough to climb the 440 steps of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library will have a chance to do so Thursday night at 7 p.m., during the first annual Tower Run up to the building’s 26th floor.

Modeled after the Empire State Building Run-Up, the world’s oldest and most famous tower race, the Tower Run will place participants into different time slots in which they will be allowed to run up the building in intervals, starting from the building’s lower level.

All proceeds from the $10 entry fee per runner will go toward the UMass Amherst Libraries’ Facilities Fund.

The event is sponsored by registered student organization UMass Students of Recreation, UMass Campus Recreation and the UMass Amherst Libraries.

“It’s just sort of something that’s healthy and enjoyable and that highlights the campus landmark of the library,” said development and communications assistant Alison Kiraly. “It [the library] is the busiest place on campus and it’s something that’s immediately identifiable, and we just thought that partnering to do something like this would be a really great thing.”

The Tower Run is not timed and participants are encouraged to bring their own timing devices. Though the first 100 registrants will receive an event t-shirt, the only prize being offered is bragging rights of completing the race.

According to Kiraly, her coworker and scholarly communications resident librarian Charlotte Roh approached her in January about holding a Tower Run at UMass, citing the Empire State Building race as an example. Kiraly started to think about who UMass Libraries could partner with to make the event happen, eventually reaching out USOR.

“USOR was saying that part of their charge is to do something to raise money for other things on campus … so we chose the Facilities Fund and we’re able to use that to do learning spaces here. So it’s not going to be behind-the-scenes but something that every student will be able to use,” she said of the event proceeds.

The money will be used to upgrade library facilities for students to use, she said, like improving the lower level Learning Commons in Du Bois. She is hoping to raise around $1,000 from the event.

Kiraly said UMass Libraries wanted the run to be very student-driven, and even though the system is involved in the event, they are mostly helping students out with anything they might need during the planning process.

Jay Havey, a senior hospitality and tourism management major and president of USOR, said that though he had a hand in planning the event, he wanted to give credit to Kiraly and Roh for coming to him with the idea.

“They got in contact with us and we thought it was a great idea just because it really aligned with what we’re trying to do and what they’re trying to do,” he said.

Havey said he is hoping that enough people register for the run for it to become an annual event. About 20 people had signed up to participate as of Saturday. Though he can’t participate himself because he will be helping out during the event, Havey said the run up the 440 steps should not be taken lightly.

“I ran it just to see how it was and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” he said, mentioning that runners will take the elevator back down to the ground level after they have finished running.

For comparison, the Empire State Building Run-Up challenges runners from around the world to race up 1,576 stairs. According to the event’s website, the fastest participants are able to run up the building’s 86 floors in about 10 minutes. The 39th annual competition is scheduled for Feb. 2016.

Registration for the Tower Run is limited to UMass students, faculty and staff only, but Kiraly said she would like to try to open it up to the local community in the future if it runs successfully on Thursday.

Participants interested in running must register online in advance by Nov. 17.

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International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day to be held Saturday

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Nov. 12, 2015. 

An International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day is scheduled to be held at the University of Massachusetts on Saturday to provide a therapeutic setting where individuals who have lost someone to suicide can gather and discuss their personal healing experiences.

The event, which is sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, will be housed in the Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall at 11 a.m., featuring a film screening, a letter-writing healing activity, presentations and group discussions.

“This event is focused on helping people who have already lost someone to suicide,” student and event coordinator Afroze Shaikh said. “We’re hoping to reach out to people in the area and help them in their healing process.”

The senior psychology major and Sherborn native has never helped host a program like this before, though she got involved with AFSP after volunteering for the Out of Darkness Campus Walk held at UMass in March, an event also sponsored by the organization.

The Out of Darkness Campus Walk is held to raise awareness about depression and suicide and to get the word out for suicide prevention. Shaikh said she had been getting e-mails from AFSP after she got involved with the Walk, and soon discovered there were no local Suicide Loss Day events being hosted in the area.

She said she contacted the UMass Center for Counseling and Psychological Health, the mental health organization Active Minds and the National Residence Hall Honorary to help make the event happen.

Scheduled to last until 2:30 p.m., the day will begin with a welcoming reception with food and refreshments, followed by a screening of “Family Journeys: Healing and Hope after a Suicide.” The film is an AFSP documentary that follows the ripple effect suicide can have on families and communities and discusses the challenges of coping and healing in its aftermath.

“We’re going to have breakout groups so people can talk about the documentary, their own stories, and their own process and how they’ve been healing,” Shaikh said. The event is open not only to students dealing with suicide loss, but also to adults and local community members.

The documentary will be followed by half-hour small and large group discussions, as well as presentations put on by local suicide loss survivors. The day will conclude with a letter-writing activity in which participants can talk about their healing process in losing someone to suicide and write about their memories of that person.

According to the AFSP website, 41,149 suicides were reported in the US in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans. Data is not yet available for 2014.

In 2013 alone, someone in the country died by suicide every 12.8 minutes.

Statistics for the same year show that the highest suicide rate was among white individuals and people aged 45 to 64-years-old. Almost 78 percent of those who died by suicide were male and 22 percent were female.

Founded in 1987, AFSP operates under five core strategies to fully achieve its mission: funding scientific research, offering education programs, educating the public about suicide prevention, promoting public policies and providing resources for suicide loss survivors and people at risk.

The organization has 75 local chapters that hold events across the country, including the Western Massachusetts Chapter in the area, which was chartered in 2006 after providing years of survivor programs as part of the New England Chapter. To better serve the western part of the state, volunteers applied to form this second chapter for Berkshire, Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin counties.

The event is free to the public, and those interested in attending can register online at the Survivor Day website.

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UMass president Marty Meehan visits Amherst on one-day tour of all five UMass campuses

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Nov. 10, 2015.

University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan made history Monday as the first system president to visit all five UMass campuses in a single day, arriving in Amherst to eat lunch with Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy and interact with students and faculty across campus.

Meehan arrived in Amherst around 10:45 a.m. for the second stop of his “Five Campuses, One Mission” tour. He began his day at the UMass Dartmouth campus and followed his trip to Amherst with visits to the UMass Medical School in Worcester and UMass Lowell before concluding his day at the Boston campus.

“I think that students and faculty are what the University is all about, so I wanted to meet with faculty, meet with students and go to each campus. I think it’s an important thing to do and it’s going great,” Meehan said.

The trip was a part of Meehan’s inauguration week as he prepares to be sworn in as the 27th UMass system president. His inauguration is set for Nov. 12 at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate on the UMass Boston campus.

The day’s “five-in-one” theme was established to highlight the UMass system’s “unique mission to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth” by providing high-quality education through its research that drives the economy and creates knowledge, and also through its public service efforts, according to a news release.

“It’s great because it reminds me of what we’re actually trying to do here,” Meehan said of his visit. “Universities are about great faculty, great students and the interaction that happens between them, and the rest of us are set up to try to help move the institution in a positive direction.”

Meehan began his Amherst visit at the Advanced Design and Digital Fabrication Lab and Center for e-Design before stopping by a History of the Civil Rights Movement class taught by assistant professor Traci Parker in Goessmann Laboratory.

Due to transportation delays, Meehan ran slightly behind schedule before arriving to the class for a 10-minute visit. He and Subbaswamy stood adjacent to Parker as she discussed Malcom X’s involvement and eventual departure from the Nation of Islam.

Subbaswamy eventually entered the conversation, saying Meehan should address the class. Meehan recollected about his experience during the 1960s civil rights era and referenced a speech delivered by then-New York Sen. Robert Kennedy on April 1968 announcing the death of Dr. Martin Luther King to a predominately black audience.

He described the speech as one of the greatest commentaries by a politician under the tense circumstances of racial inequality. He also referenced some of his personal experiences with Georgia Rep. and activist John Lewis throughout their political careers.

He ended by explaining the reason for his visit, saying, “I want to tell you I am coming here because as a president of this system, I can appear isolated. But this is what a University is about, what is happening in this room right now. I wish I could take this class. Wow.”

His last on-campus stop was lunch with Chancellor Subbaswamy at Blue Wall, where the pair sat down by the Green Fields and Wasabi food stations. They snacked on sandwiches, sides of fruit and sampled gelato for dessert while speaking with students in the eatery.

Meehan and Subbaswamy talked with Caoilinn Scott, a junior legal studies and marketing major who was sitting in Blue Wall. The 20-year-old West Hartford, Connecticut native said Meehan approaching her was “fun and surprising” and that she and Meehan talked about why she chose to study at UMass and how she chose her majors. Meehan also spoke to her about his own career path and background.

Meehan praised UMass Dining Services, saying, “I love the food service here. There isn’t any university in the country that has a better food service than UMass Amherst right here.”

The 325-mile tour consisted of four cars for Meehan, his staff and camera crews, according to Robert Connolly, a spokesperson for the president’s office.

Meehan is the first undergraduate alumnus to lead the UMass system and has served in the U.S. House of Representatives and as chancellor of UMass Lowell for eight years. He graduated from UMass Lowell in 1978 with a degree in education and political science and was elected as UMass system president July 1.

For his inauguration, Meehan has established a fundraising goal of $1 million for student scholarships and financial aid. The event will bring together members of the UMass community, civic leaders and representatives from other universities. Gov. Charlie Baker is scheduled to speak.

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Feminist pop culture critic Anita Sarkeesian talks media tropes at UMass

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Nov. 5, 2015.

Anita Sarkeesian, pop culture media critic and creator of the video web series Feminist Frequency, is no stranger to resistance. She spoke about just that at the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday, embracing the theme of the year-long “Social Science Matters: Perspectives on Resistance” lecture series presented by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Recently named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Sarkeesian is without doubt a controversial figure. She was targeted in 2014 by the male-dominated video game culture associated with the hashtag #GamerGate, most specifically for her “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games” web series. She received a surplus of death and rape threats and was even forced to cancel a Utah State University speech in October 2014 due to threats of a mass shooting.

In her “I’ll Make a Man Out of You: Redefining Strong Female Characters” talk at UMass, Sarkeesian discussed the tropes and stereotypes associated with women across all media types, particularly how female characters are presented in video games, movies and television. Although there has been an increase in female television and movie characters in recent years, Sarkeesian asks whether or not these roles have actually helped the representation of women or are simply imitating masculine qualities in a sexualized female body.

“Media can inspire greatness and challenge the status quo, or sadly more often it can work to reinforce and normalize systems of power and privilege,” she said.

This philosophy is what encouraged her to start Feminist Frequency in 2009 as an effort to make feminism and the issues of privilege and oppression more accessible. She said her goal in doing so was to use the lens of pop culture to make these concepts more relatable.

Sarkeesian made it clear that all the mass media discussed in the talk has been produced for a society that has “existed within the system of patriarchy for decades”, which can produce harmful gender stereotypes that some may not even realize exist in the media they consume.

Traits like being strong, confident, passive, timid or nurturing, for example, are qualities that all humans are capable of possessing. She said these characteristics, however, are often confined to a gender binary in which some are seen as purely masculine and others associated only with femininity. She believes these qualities should be regarded as human traits rather than traits classified by gender.

Part of Sarkeesian’s talk focused on her case studies of female characters who contribute to these tropes. She began by showing a clip of Kara “Starbuck” Thrace from the television show “Battlestar Galactica”, in which the woman gets in a confrontation with a male character in the scene. Sarkeesian explained that whereas a man would be valued for expressing the dominant, aggressive and violent traits Thrace shows, these stereotypical traits are used against her because she is a woman.

Imperator Furiosa, from the 2015 film “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the animated character Wyldstyle from “The Lego Movie,” Black Widow of “The Avengers,” and video game characters Lara Croft, Bayonetta and Cortana of the “Halo” video game series were just a few of the other examples Sarkeesian used as representations of poorly developed female characters.

She referred to Black Widow as “merely a part of the boy’s club, without ever challenging the male-dominated status quo” and Bayonetta simply as “walking sex,” citing all of these examples as hypersexualized characters whose sexuality is “highlighted above all else.”

Talking about men, Sarkeesian said, “They’re taught to believe women are always sexually available and that the image of an empowered woman is one not to be feared or respected, but to be placed severely in the realm of sexual desire.”

Sarkeesian believes there are, however, female characters in the media that are doing it right. She said Buffy Summers from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the transgender character Sophia from “Orange is the New Black” played by actress Laverne Cox, Leslie Knope from “Parks and Recreation,” and Merida from the Pixar animated film “Brave,” among others, are all positive examples. She also discussed the “gross deficit” in the amount of roles given to white women compared to those given to women of color, queer women and women with disabilities.

“We need to see a much wider range of women’s roles in non-stereotypical ways with different lived experiences,” she said. “I think that feminist characters should, like feminists in real life, push beyond the societal norms, challenge gender roles and the institutions that actively work to maintain them.”

Sarkeesian spoke in the Student Union Ballroom at 4 p.m. Wednesday and answered questions from the audience after she concluded her speech. The event was sponsored by the Master of Fine Arts Program for Poets and Writers, the College of Information and Computer Sciences, and the English, sociology, and women, gender and sexuality studies departments.

Speakers for the “Social Science Matters” series are chosen by departments within SBS to represent the overall theme of the series and demonstrate cross-disciplinary connections.

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UMass alumna and Seventeen.com web editor Noelle Devoe gives TechTalk

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Oct. 26, 2015.

University of Massachusetts alumna Noelle Devoe, a web editor at Seventeen.com, talked to students about how they can successfully build a professional online portfolio in today’s digital information age at a TechTalk Friday afternoon.

The 2013 graduate discussed virtual techniques students can use to stand out to potential employers, as well as the techniques she used to get a job at Seventeen.com. About 30 people attended the talk in the Campus Center, which was presented by UMass Information Technology.

“In many fields, there are just so many applicants and it feels intimidating, like you can never make yourself stand out … but you can,” she said. “You’ve got to find what makes you stand out, because we all have something.”

Devoe said the first step in doing this is knowing yourself and the skills students possess. She encouraged attendees to embrace and explore whatever it is they are passionate about, utilize it and present it professionally online.

Though Devoe said she didn’t know what she wanted to do when she grew up, she did know that she loved technology, HTML coding and pop culture. She cited the television show “Lizzie McGuire” and pop boy band One Direction as some of her original inspirations for creating podcasts and fan videos that allowed her to gain experience with different technologies.

She eventually created the fan site One Direction Connection when she was a sophomore studying at UMass. She said “hundreds of thousands” of One Direction fans visited the site, which is included on her resume because it shows she is passionate about pop culture, web design and writing.

Devoe also stressed the second step in building an online presence: creating a professional website. A personal site, which she said is essential to have, should include a biography section, a resume, a portfolio of work and a contact page. She said a blog feature is optional, but encouraged, and that the site should also integrate access to social media pages.

“The key is to not be a template applicant,” Devoe said, claiming the best way to get noticed by hiring managers is to avoid default website themes from resources like Tumblr and WordPress, and instead make them personal by customizing them and utilizing HTML code.  Though free themes from Tumblr and WordPress can be used, Devoe said customization is crucial.

“You want someone to look at your website and think ‘this person is different, this person has something new to offer me,” she said. “If they go to your website and they see the same template they saw on six other people’s websites, that’s not the message they’re going to get.”

She also suggested students purchase their own domain name and avoid having a subdomain, such as yourname.wordpress.com. Devoe said making sure the site is functional and is always up and running is also a necessity.

Devoe said the next step is for students to take their skills beyond a blog or a website by adding personality wherever possible, such as a resume. Devoe believes that different jobs call for different types of resumes, saying that though someone applying for an accounting or engineering position may use a basic Microsoft Word template, people applying to jobs in graphic design or something web-related, for example, should make their resume stand out.

Devoe recommended Scribus, an Adobe InDesign alternative, GIMP, an Adobe Photoshop alternative, and resume templates that can be purchased off e-commerce site Etsy as methods of achieving this. She also suggested using a nameplate or personal logo.

The fourth step Devoe discussed was using social media to your advantage rather than letting it work against you.

“Be your number one fan. That’s the best part about social media…you can really show people what you’re doing and what you’re up to. The internet is literally your portfolio,” she said.

Lastly, Devoe talked about step five, which is for students to show employers what truly makes them unique.

She said that in the information age today, job applicants don’t necessarily need traditional experience to show they have what it takes to be hired for a certain position. Though she said she had no traditional journalism experience, she did have the skills she gained from One Direction Connection and other online work she had done by herself.

Devoe graduated from UMass with a bachelor’s degree in communication before earning a master’s degree in newspaper, magazine, and online journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in 2014.

Her position at Seventeen.com requires her to search for viral news regarding celebrities and female-focused topics, among other subjects.

UMass TechTalks is a series of events put on for the UMass community about a variety of technology topics, including how to creatively use technology and how it is shaping the future.

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UMass celebrates groundbreaking of new $52 million Design Building

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Oct. 19, 2015. 

The University of Massachusetts celebrated the planned construction of the $52 million Design Building on Friday at a ceremonial groundbreaking. The ceremony honored the state-of-the-art academic facility and the innovative wood construction technologies it will incorporate.

About 100 people celebrated at the event, which featured remarks from UMass President Marty Meehan. Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Katherine Newman and State Rep. Ellen Story also spoke.

“It’s bold, beautiful, and brilliant,” said Subbaswamy of the building, which he said will be “the most advanced wood structure in the United States” once completed, yielding zero carbon emissions.

Construction of the Design Building began in the spring and is expected to be finished in 2017.

The structure, which will be 87,200 square feet, will house three areas of academic study from three separate colleges. These include Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Department of Architecture in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the Building Construction Technology program in the College of Natural Sciences.

It will occupy parts of parking lot 62, which is next to the Studio Arts Building. “It’s going to be a very exciting new building,” UMass Project Manager Burt Ewart told the Daily Collegian in the spring. “It’s being designed as a modern showcase of timber technology.”

The “super sustainable” four-story structure will feature wood frame construction rather than common steel and concrete construction types. It will be built with recyclable and renewable materials and will utilize high-tech wood technologies made possible by the Environmental Bond Bill passed by the Massachusetts state legislature in 2014.

“We have old timber buildings but they’re ancient,” said Ewart. “Technology has changed a lot,”

Proposed designs show the wooden superstructure will include a two-story central courtyard, classrooms, studios, lounges, materials testing labs, offices, meeting rooms, research spaces and a café.

A “green roof” outdoor courtyard and garden on the third floor will help maintain moisture and prevent storm-water runoff, keeping the building cooler and reducing the need for air-conditioning.

Other sustainable features include low-flow water fixtures, light sensors and energy-efficient heating and ventilation systems. Space will be left on the roof for the possible installation of solar panels.

It is intended that the finished building will reveal different components of the building’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems for teaching purposes. The groundbreaking ceremony included a wooden structural beam to be used in the Design Building that was available for attendees to sign their names on.

Story praised former Congressman John Olver, who attended the event but did not speak. She said in her speech that he insisted the building use a wooden rather than steel structure, which he was able to support by securing $3 million in funding.

Meehan also praised Olver for his collaboration involved with the building, pointing out that the building requires borrowing money that must be repaid.

“Excellence costs money. I will never compromise when it comes to excellence,” he said.

The project is being financed through the UMass Building Authority, which hired Boston-based Leers Weinzapfel Associates to design the building.

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UMass students reflect on campus safety after recent college shootings

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Oct. 15, 2015.

Editor’s note: In the wake of numerous reported instances of gun violence on college campuses across the nation, the Daily Collegian is running a three-part series focusing on both national incidents and how the University of Massachusetts is prepared to handle an active shooter situation on campus. This is part three.

In light of recent shootings and increased gun violence on college campuses across the United States, University of Massachusetts students have started to rethink the safety of residential and academic spaces at the University.

Although some students say they feel “perfectly safe” while living and studying on campus, others have doubts about the University’s overall security. Some believe UMass should inform its students of the safeguards it has in place to protect people on campus.

“I feel like UMass is one of those campuses that’s very open to the public…in terms of academic space, anyone can basically just walk in. You don’t have to go here and then there’s no way to know if you do go here,” said Jaenyffe Santos, a senior natural resource conservation major. “I feel like UMass doesn’t really have a solid process in case any type of shooting like that happens, and if they do I feel like students should know about it.”

Kiara Wynn, a senior theater major, agreed with Santos, saying, “I feel like anybody and everybody has access to this campus…there should be better systems.”

Wynn lives in the North Residential Area, where she says she feels generally safe because of her building’s increased security. She referred to the area as “pretty airtight and locked-down,” adding that residents must tap their UCard at three different doors before being allowed access to their own living space.

She commented on the fact that the Central, Orchard Hill, Southwest and Sylvan Residential Areas don’t have this kind of security system in place.  “As long as somebody taps me in, I could get in anywhere I want…I could get in anybody’s room if it’s open,” Wynn said.

Sophomore psychology major Alexis Pascal also believes increased security should be put in place across all residential areas.

“Yesterday, I was walking to my dorm and some guy was sitting outside and he was like, ‘Oh, I’m so-and-so’s father, do you know her?’ I said, ‘No,’ but then as I opened the door he followed me in,” Pascal said.

Pascal also said, however, that she feels “pretty safe” on campus because she always sees UMass police officers around campus.

Jessica Schores, a junior nutrition major, said, “I still feel safe (after recent shootings) but in the back of my mind I always think about that because it is a big campus…but I do feel safe. The atmosphere is good I think.”

Sophomore David Conway thinks differently, saying students on campus should spend their time focusing on their studies and extracurricular activities rather than living in constant fear of a potential attack.

“I’m going to have to say I feel completely safe. You really can’t walk around campus with a feeling of being afraid all the time. Everyone has priorities, we’re trying to get an education and in addition to that, sports and everything. So I’m putting my trust in the school here and the framework they have,” he said.

Junior transfer student and environmental science major Paul Bongiorni agreed with Conway.

“I feel perfectly safe. I feel like there’s a lot of security here, I’ve never felt unsafe at any school or college I’ve ever been to,” he said. “There’s so many people here and I feel like the more people, the more protection, and everybody’s looking out for each other.”

One safeguard put in place by the University and the UMPD is a text notification system that alerts students of an emergency situation. According to interim police chief Patrick Archbald, this service is the first method that would be used to communicate with students quickly.

“That’s an opt-in system, you have to proactively put in your information into the alert system and you receive notices,” said Archbald. “Not everyone has done that by far and we would prefer to have an opt-out system. We are not getting as much compliance as we would like.”

Schores said of the system, “I think it’s better than an email because you check your texts the most.”

Another service put in place is the outdoor warning system that sounds in the case of an emergency. Archbald said this is only intended for outdoor use and it was not designed for the sounds to reach inside buildings or be heard indoor – a common misconception among many students.

A majority of students said they were in class, in the library or in other academic buildings and were unable to hear the system when it was tested last week, and many were under the impression that the warnings should be able to be heard all across campus, especially while indoors.

“I stayed home for that whole day and I didn’t hear anything. I heard nothing,” Wynn said.

“If you’re in class, no (you can’t hear it). Last year when they did it I was in Bartlett 65 and I couldn’t hear it at all…but if you’re outside I guess (it’s effective),” Pascal added.

Some students do see the system as being effective in widely issuing a warning, like Conway, who said, “I was on campus for that. I think it’s good. I heard it by the library…it’s definitely a good way to alert everybody.”

Emergency emails are also distributed to people on campus, and according to Archbald, there are currently over 40,000 subscribers to these alerts. He said initial messages are brief and to-the-point and once the threat is resolved, messages will become more detailed and informative.

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Student leader profile: National Society of Collegiate Scholars President Mike Franco

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Oct. 8, 2015.

Mike Franco will soon be going bald for charity. The 21-year-old senior biology major, who is president of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars at the University of Massachusetts, is hosting an event supporting the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for childhood cancer research.

The Long Island, New York native talked to the Collegian about the NSCS and his role as a leader on the UMass campus.

Colby Sears: Can you tell me about the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and your involvement in the organization?

Mike Franco: The National Society of Collegiate Scholars is basically an organization based on student success. It’s a lot of students with above a 3.5 GPA – they tend to get an email about it, and it’s a national thing. There’s a bunch of different chapters all across the U.S., and it’s basically a merit-based kind of opportunity to get involved on campus in a way that a lot of other organizations don’t, through service.

Basically whenever someone on the executive board finds out about an opportunity, we tell the entire organization about it and we try to get everyone involved as best we can. We run meetings once a month, but that’s pretty much it. It’s a pretty well known society.

CS: How did you get involved?

MF: It was just through an email. I found out they were looking for people to get on the executive board and I applied to it. I was vice president last year and I’m the president this year. Technically, I joined the middle of my sophomore year.

CS: What have you done as president so far this year?

MF: I’ve really been focusing on this St. Baldrick’s event. I’ve been doing it since this summer. My goal is to do two major events, one in the fall and one in the spring. Other than that, there’s a project called PACE, which is kind of like a volunteer tutoring type deal. I’m affiliated with Wildwood Elementary School, which is right behind Central Residential Area. I still volunteer there, just not as much as I used to. It’s an opportunity where students from NSCS can go and volunteer at the school and they can tutor and participate in the after-school program.

CS: Can you tell me a little bit more about St. Baldrick’s?

MF: St. Baldrick’s is a fundraiser for children’s cancer research.  Basically the whole point is that you shave your hair off and go almost bald, or completely bald, and it’s kind of like a simulation of what cancer patients go through and that kind of turmoil of really losing part of your identity when you become a cancer patient because of chemotherapy.

I’m not sure about worldwide, but at least on the national level it’s pretty well known. They raise a pretty significant amount of money for research and I really wanted to get involved in it somehow and I think that having it done on campus here would probably be the easiest way to get a huge group of people together for a good cause. Not only that, but I’m finding that through the online program, people from the Amherst area are actually getting interested too, which is kind of cool.

CS: When is the event?

MF: The date is set for Oct. 30 and I’d like to make that solidified, but I have to figure out what’s going on with the barbers first. I’d like to get the ones in the Campus Center involved, because that’d be pretty easy and then they could just walk over and get started. But I’d like to try to ask Matt’s Barber Shop in town, and there’s a couple other ones that I’ve been to that are very good. But as of now, Oct. 30, from about 12:30 to 5:00 (p.m.), right here in the Campus Center.

CS: How did you hear about St. Baldrick’s and what made you want to get involved?

MF: My dad actually told me about it at first. He was like “I’ve never really heard about one of these events, and we’ve never really had one from where I’m from on Long Island and I’ve never heard of anyone having one publicly.” But to have it here would be pretty cool, I think.

I did a little research for myself, put in a call, and it was really easy. It was cool to just be able to contact them and be like, “Hey I want to do this” and they’re like, “Oh, there’s actually a competition for it and you guys can get involved as a campus community.”

CS: So this event is going to be put on through NSCS?

MF: Yes, St. Baldrick’s is a completely separate organization, but basically I’m having people from NSCS volunteer for the event.

CS: Can you tell me a little bit about your hobbies and what you like to do for fun?

MF: I’m a big runner, I love long-distance running. I’ve done a half-marathon before and I’d really like to do a full (one) eventually, maybe even an ultra if I have enough time. I like to play soccer, I love the English Premier League, I wake up early for games. …  It’s good stuff. I love meeting new people, traveling is great. I love to travel.

For work, I’m an EMT and also a lifeguard and swimming instructor, so I’ve got those three under my belt. I love doing all three of them and it’s a good spectrum. I work through the YMCA and I teach swim lessons for kids and when I’m working my EMT gig, I tend to work with older people. So you really get a nice contrast in terms of who you’re working with, so it’s really nice.

CS: Do you do any of that work here, or just back home in Long Island?

MF: No, I have a New York certification so I can’t work in Massachusetts. But here, on campus, I’m an athletic tutor so I just tutor biology and chemistry.

CS: What do you think distinguishes you as a leader at UMass, on campus, in the position you are in right now?

MF: I have to say I think I pride myself on being outgoing. I’m definitely the first person to raise my hand and ask a question or try to meet new people, shake someone’s hand, and really try to figure out where other people are coming from and relate to them and get on a similar level. I think that’s what makes me unique as a leader, and I tend to get along with a lot of people. …  I try my best to get along with a lot of people.

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Commonwealth Honors College dean aims to improve curriculum, diversity

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Oct. 7, 2015.

Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, an internationally renowned scholar, author and professor was recently named the dean of the University of Massachusetts Commonwealth Honors College. She talks below about her work, her interests and her hopes for the future.

Colby Sears: Tell me a little bit about your work and what you have done before coming to UMass.

Gretchen Gerzina:  I’ve taught a lot, I’ve worked at several universities and colleges so this is my first time at a public [college] and my first time at a large place. So even though I was at Barnard, which is connected to Columbia so it was pretty big, I felt like I was in a small college connected to a big university. So the whole public thing is a big, new thing to me. So that’s been a kind of hurdle, but it really made me feel very at home here because it’s like a college within a university, so it felt like this is a manageable size … although it’s the size of a liberal arts college.

Before I came here, I was a professor but I was also a professor who did administrative work. So I always saw myself as wearing several hats. I was the professor, I was the person who was the department chair or some other kind of administrator. I did radio, which I was on for 15 years. I just came back in the spring from doing a radio series in London. It’s going to air in England next year.

CS: What is that about?

GG: It’s called “Britain’s Black Past” and it’s about black people in 18th and early 19th century Britain. I had to travel all over, because I’ve written some books on it. I had to travel all over Britain interviewing people in all weathers, mostly bad. I’ll tell you, I went to Glasgow and back in a day, it was five hours each way by train. It was a lot of moving around.

And the fourth hat was writing books. People would say, ‘What do you do?’ and I would say, ‘Well, I’m a professor who writes books and does radio…and now I dean,’ as if there wasn’t enough going on.

CS: What do you like best about UMass since coming here?

GG: I love being in a college within the University, that’s terrific. I have to say that all the places I’ve worked and taught, this is the friendliest place. Everybody notices it … people who come in to see me, people who haven’t been here before. Faculty, students, everybody is helpful, everybody is friendly. I’ve not really seen that [before]. I’m really finding everyone here to be so friendly and helpful and encouraging about this job and the direction of the Honors College, so that really is huge for me.

I haven’t met as many students as I’d like, but then I’ve only been here three months. So I was here for a couple months before students even arrived. I did do a “pizza and prof” where I got to talk to a big group of students in the Honors College and I was in a dinner last night with students, so those kinds of things.

But what I’ve seen, the students are really impressive. In fact, I was at the Faculty Convocation… and all these people got big awards and the work they are doing is so impressive too.

I really have to admit that I was one of those people that had the old view of UMass, before I really was approached and explored this, that it just wasn’t up there with Berkeley or Michigan, Virginia, all the big state universities. And then when I got here and started talking to people, started interviewing, I thought this is a really different place than I had previously thought. I think it’s because I grew up in Springfield and it had a different reputation in the old days.

CS: What was the smallest school you came from compared to the size of UMass?

GG: Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont. When I went, it was the smallest accredited college in America. It had 200 students and now, they’re hoping to get 300, 350. They don’t want to get any bigger than that. I’m a trustee there so I go to all the trustee meetings, sit on the board and help make big decisions about finance and admissions and stuff. And I go from that, to coming here. You can’t imagine a bigger contrast…so I was an undergraduate there, and then I’ve been on the board for a number of years.

My first real tenured job was at Vassar College, so I was there for 14 years. That has about the same number, probably fewer, smaller probably, than the Honors College. The time I was there, it was probably about 2,500 undergraduates.

CS: What do you hope to accomplish in this position here at UMass and what have you accomplished so far?

GG: Well, there’s several things. First of all, I got to spend the summer asking a lot of questions that I’m still asking. What is an honors college? What is an honors education? How does an honors course differ from another kind of course? How do we compare to other honors colleges in America and other honors programs? So those were the big picture things we’ve been trying to figure out and think about. With a fresh pair of eyes you get to see things in a different way than people who have been here for a long time, so that was sort of an advantage.

So that was a big thing…if we keep growing, we have to think about all of that and what it means. There are going to be honors colleges and programs throughout the Massachusetts state system, we’re not going to be the only honors college anymore. So we really have to think about what it means and how we are positioned as the original, the biggest, the best – and we are the best – and we want to continue to be the best.

There are some other things I want to accomplish. The Honors College was in a sort of unhappy position of flux for several years, because of the death of the previous dean and then an interim dean for two years. So the first thing was just to make everybody feel that there is now someone here who is here and is going to stay and all of that … that was a big deal.

The next thing was the curriculum needs sorting out. Its not really clear, because we have students from every department, and how do you bring them in with a first year course, what do you do with them over the next two or three years as they make their way through, how do you make them feel like they’re still part of the honors college. So I formed an ad hoc curriculum committee and you’re trying to figure out what an honors education through the four years looks like and how do you deal with students who transfer in … how do we make them feel part of the honors college, what’s the link between the residential part and the other living and learning community parts?

One of the things they wanted me to do was find an associate dean of curriculum, so she’s in place. She’s actually in SBS … so she’s now taken over the curriculum review, so that’s a big, big deal. We really want that clear and streamlined, something everyone’s on board with.

We also have a lot of students coming in from Honors to Honors. It’s a program the provost started which takes the best of the students in the community college honors programs and they get to apply here and if they make the grade, they can transfer in here to the Honors College. It’s a great program, but it does mean they miss the first two years. So how do we make them feel part of it and give them a kind of residential university experience in a small setting?

And then the third thing we really needed to do is to figure out the diversity question. People have been very concerned that we need more diversity in the fields students study, we need more diversity of background in terms of low-income, first generation, racial and ethnic diversity. As wonderful as they are, we don’t want everyone to be a STEM student who’s from the middle class … we want a mix of students who can talk to each other and learn to talk to each other in other ways.

So those were the three things. I think those are the three things that the college identified before I was even hired as things that they wanted done, so we were kind of on the same page.

CS: Do you think that can all be accomplished this year?

GG: I would like the curriculum piece to be sorted out this year. The admissions process means working with the admissions office and we’ve been doing work with them, but to try to figure out how do we bring in a wider variety of students.

There’s a lot of students out there whose families don’t even know the Honors College exists. When I would meet with the parents in the summer, several of them told me their high school guidance counselors didn’t even know there was an honors college here. So it’s a matter of making sure the word is out and people understand that there’s this wonderful opportunity and you don’t have to go to a private college to get this kind of education, you can do it right in-state.

CS: What do you like to do when you’re not here? Any hobbies?

GG: Sleep! [laughs] I would say I really would like to keep my scholarship going. I’m working on a book now about growing up in Springfield and the kind of mixed race background. My mother’s ancestral family arrived in America in 1639 … she was a genealogist. And I have my father’s side of the family and my mother was able to trace his back to slave plantations. So I want to write something about what does that say and what kind of place was it that we ended up growing up in. And I would like to read more. So that’s sort of big for me too.

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UMass makes switch to 100 percent antibiotic free chicken

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Oct. 6, 2015.

University of Massachusetts students are now consuming 100 percent antibiotic free chicken on campus, per a change instituted by Dining Services effective Sept. 1.

The University is one of the first colleges and the largest university food service program in the country to take this pledge, which is a result of a 4,000-student survey completed in April. The survey revealed that about 75 percent of students who responded believe humanely raised food is most important when it comes to food sourcing.

“Some schools have 80 percent or 50 percent (antibiotic free chicken), but we pride ourselves on being 100 percent,” executive director of Auxiliary Enterprises Ken Toong said. “We feel that we need to raise the bar.”

According to Toong, chicken is the most consumed protein at UMass. He said over $2 million a year is spent on chicken alone and about 750,000 pounds are consumed annually across all campus dining locations.

At Hampshire Dining Commons, 200 full birds are consumed each week, according to Christopher Howland, director of purchasing and marketing for Auxiliary Enterprises.

Four suppliers, including Perdue and NatureRaised Farms, part of the Tyson Foods family, currently provide chicken for UMass. Howland said UMass Dining encourages food providers to evolve with the University, saying, “Basically, you’re either going to change with us or we’re going to find a different supplier.”

“We are the largest dining program in the nation and we also feel like we are the best dining program as well, so we have kind of a responsibility to do the right thing,” Howland said. “Part of being the largest is we also have the ability to encourage vendors to change their practices.”

Garett DiStefano, director of residential dining, said purchasing antibiotic free chicken has not had a major impact on the $25 million food purchasing budget for fiscal year 2015.

“We are in line with our overall food costs of last year and actually a little bit below,” he said.

The antibiotic free chicken costs about 60 cents more per pound, Toong said, though according to Howland, menu engineering and cutting down on food waste help to keep costs down.

Howland added that dining services have instituted random chicken pieces to reduce costs, meaning chicken received from suppliers is not always a uniform size, with some pieces coming in larger than others.

DiStefano said the consumption of chicken has increased since the switch and initial results indicate a positive response.

“I definitely like that,” Henry Noke, a freshman in the Isenberg School of Management, said of the switch. “I don’t necessarily know the danger of antibiotics, but if we can avoid them I say why not.”

Cydne Apperwhite, a senior psychology major, agreed, saying, “I think it’s really good… I learned about it in my nutrition class.”

DiStefano said UMass Dining Services is always open to suggestions and keeping an open relationship with students to continue to improve the dining program and make it the best in the nation. UMass Dining believes educating students about where their food comes is especially important.

“We have a responsibility to ourselves and the student body. We say we don’t just serve food, we serve an experience…and part of that experience is education,” Howland said.

Toong hopes that universities across the country will follow UMass’ lead by also switching to serving antibiotic free chicken and that the University will be able to share what it has learned in the process with other schools.

“UMass is Main Street America, so if it can work here, it can work anywhere,” DiStefano said. “It should work anywhere because we’re basically showing and telling you how to do it.”

Howland agreed, saying UMass wants “to be the catalyst for this kind of thing.” UMass has had success with similar initiatives in the past, including serving cage-free eggs, grass-fed beef and sustainable seafood.

UMass Dining serves 45,000 meals per day and roughly six million meals per year. The program has more than 19,000 people on a meal plan, including 1,200 faculty and staff and 5,000 off-campus students, who dine at four residential dining commons and over 30 retail dining locations.

“Ultimately, we are changing the food chain because students want to know where the food comes from…and I think that’s why we’re so proud of UMass Dining,” Toong said.

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Former UMass student charged in connection with 2013 overdose death

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Sept. 28, 2015.

Former University of Massachusetts student Jesse Carrillo was arrested Monday afternoon in connection with the death of fellow student Eric Sinacori, who died in Oct. 2013 of a heroin overdose.

Carrillo, 27, of Derry, New Hampshire, was indicted on one charge of distributing heroin and one charge of involuntary manslaughter, according to a statement from Mary Carey, communications director for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.

Carrillo, who was a UMass graduate student at the time of Sinacori’s death, allegedly provided him with the heroin that caused him to overdose inside his off-campus Amherst apartment during his junior year.

Sinacori became a confidential informant for the UMass Police Department after he was caught selling LSD and Molly to an undercover police officer. By participating in the program, UMPD allowed him to keep the offense secret from his parents, who would have otherwise been notified. He was found dead nearly a year later.

The informant program generated controversy about whether UMass did enough to help Sinacori, who had clearly been struggling with addiction, and other members of the program.

The University ended the program in January after it was suspended in Sept. 2014 by Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy due to a report published in The Boston Globe. The decision to end the program came after an 11-member group completed a review of the policy.

Northwestern District Attorney officials did not classify Carrillo as an informant, though they did say he worked as a witness with police against a drug dealer, according to Western Mass News.

The Hampshire Grand Jury returned the indictments on Monday for the Oct. 4, 2013 overdose. According to Carey, Carrillo is expected to appear in a Derry, New Hampshire, court before being brought back to Massachusetts for an arraignment in the Hampshire Superior Court later this week.

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Janet Yellen to speak at UMass on Thursday

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Sept. 23, 2015.

Janet Yellen, chair of the Federal Reserve, is set to visit the University of Massachusetts Thursday evening to deliver the 19th annual Philip Gamble Memorial Lecture.

The event, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, is free and open to the public, though advance tickets are required for admission. The talk is presented by the Department of Economics.

“We’re looking for somebody who typically is well known, somebody who has done great achievements as an economist and somebody we believe will give a talk that will be of broad interest to the University … and Janet Yellen meets all those criteria,” said economics professor and former department chair Gerald Epstein.

Yellen, 69, is the first woman to head the Federal Reserve. Though having written on many macroeconomic issues, she is an expert on unemployment with a concern for social issues like the labor market and inequality.

Alumnus Israel Rogosa and others established the Philip Gamble Memorial Lectureship in memory of Philip Gamble, an economics faculty member from 1935 to 1971 and department chair from 1942 to 1965.

The endowment fund has supported the lecture series, which features a prominent economist each year, since its inception in 1995.

“This lecture has established itself as one of the premier university economics lectures given because of the stellar group of people we’ve been able to attract,” said Epstein.

Choosing whom to invite as a guest speaker ultimately comes down to the department chair, currently Professor Michael Ash. The chair consults with the department, allows faculty to suggest potential candidates and then comes to a final decision with the department’s governing body, or executive committee, according to Epstein.

Yellen and her husband George Akerlof, who presented the Gamble Lecture in 2012, have both taught at the University of California Berkeley, where Ash received his Ph.D. in economics. Akerlof was also Ash’s dissertation adviser when he studied there.

Epstein said there is a “strong connection” between UMass economics, Akerlof and Yellen, whom he referred to as a “brilliant, first-rate economist.”

Yellen took office as chair of the Board of Governors in February 2014 and serves as chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve System’s main monetary policymaking body.

She has also served as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and chaired both the Council of Economic Advisers and the Economic Policy Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

After graduating summa cum laude from Brown University in 1967 with a degree in economics, she received her Ph.D. in the same subject from Yale University in 1971.

Yellen has taught as an assistant professor at Harvard University, served as an economist with the Board of Governors and been on the London School of Economics and Political Science faculty.

Other achievements include a Wilbur Cross Medal from Yale, an honorary doctor of laws degree from Brown and an honorary doctor of humane letters from Bard College.

“We’re very honored that she’s coming here and we’re hoping that the whole campus learns from her talk and is really looking forward to her visit,” said Epstein, who also thanked the Rogosa family for their support.

Joseph Stiglitz gave the first Gamble address in 1995. Thomas Piketty, Alan Blinder, Akerlof, Elinor Ostrom and Gretchen Morgenson, among others, have given the lecture in years past.

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Revamped Minute Movers program a success in 2015

Published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian on Sept. 14, 2015. 

When University of Massachusetts students moved onto campus the first weekend of September, they may have overlooked the volunteers unloading their cars and bringing their belongings upstairs, considering that the process takes only a matter of minutes.

These volunteers – known as Minute Movers – are responsible for moving in all on-campus UMass students and are often the first point of contact that new students have with the University upon arrival. According to Minute Mover Coordinator Greg Barysky, they just had their most successful move-in weekend yet.

“We started doing everything brand new this year … we started from scratch,” Barysky said. “It wasn’t as structured as we had wanted it to be in previous years, and that’s why we changed everything.”

This year’s Minute Movers team, comprised of about 750 movers and 35 team leaders, moved in approximately 7,000 students in three days time. When the program started in 2011, the mover team was made up of just 200 students.

Barysky and his fellow coordinators started planning the move-in operation in February, and continued to work throughout the summer, improving the program and making it even easier for students and their families to get in and get out.

“Our goal in general for each family was about 90 minutes, between moving in and leaving. We were really hitting our marks … what we changed was awesome,” Barysky said.

In Van Meter Hall, which is located in the Central Residential Area, Barysky said volunteers were moving in about 20 students per half hour.

New blueprints, called move-in plans, were created for each residential building to show movers how to best navigate through certain doors and hallways once inside.

Coordinators also ordered more laundry carts, which are used to transport students’ belongings from the street to their room, than ever before. Barysky said there were about 500 carts scattered across campus.

He also cited the new “Living at UMass” mobile application – which keeps families updated with traffic notifications and interactive maps – as a major improvement.

Other changes included an electronic check-in system, numbered chalk parking spots in unloading areas, and industrial ramps in areas like Orchard Hill, where some stairs were not functional.

Barysky also said UMass Residential Life and the Minute Movers program had been “very divergent” in the past, which was something they aimed to fix. “We really weren’t communicating at all, so this year we wanted (resident assistants) to know that we wanted them to help us out. If we have a question, we’ll bring them to you … and if RA’s have questions about Minute Movers they can come talk to us,” he said.

For the first time, the Minute Mover coordinators held a meeting with RA’s, informing them about the move-in program. Barysky said team leaders also met with the residence directors of each building, thus increasing communication between the two parties.

Barysky, who is a senior psychology major and got involved with Minute Movers during his sophomore year, said the team hopes to continue improving the move-in system in years to come.

“Moving in is a very, very big project … what we did this year worked, and we’re just going to keep building on it,” he said.

Minute Mover volunteers arrived on campus Sept. 3 for a training session regarding lifting procedures and other move-in policies.

Barysky said 50 returning movers moved in about 100 freshmen students to Kennedy Hall in the Southwest Residential Area that evening, before moving in the rest of the class of 2019 the next morning.

Not only do Minute Movers get to move-in to campus early, but they also have their early arrival fee waived and receive a compensated meal plan for the move-in weekend.