The Massachusetts Daily Collegian: September, 19th, 2017

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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

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SPIRE changes, expands options

it a t - whirl !

Preference can be altered during year By Alvin Buyinza Collegian Staff

For the first time, students at the University of Massachusetts have the option to include their gender and sexual orientation on SPIRE. Not only are students able to indicate their gender and sexual orientation, they are able to update this information over the course of their time at UMass. Students can log in to their SPIRE account and under “Gender and Sexual Identity” in the “My Personal Information” tab, they are given options such as androgyne, trans, bisexual and more. High school students applying to UMass through The Common

JESSICA PICARD/COLLEGIAN

Freshman Rachel Higgins and sophomore Alex Fischer learn to swing dance at the Ballroom Dance Team’s social event at the FAC, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017.

Application are given the option to indicate their gender and sexuality as well. These changes largely came from a group effort from the Stonewall Center, the University registrar’s office, University admissions and the Office of Information Technology. Genny Beemyn, the director of the Stonewall Center, said that they have been advocating for a number of years for UMass to get gender identity and sexual orientation on The Common Application. Beemyn said that this is also important in order to get accurate sense of the LGBTQ+ population at UMass. According to Beemyn, the majority of transgender students at UMass identify as non-binary, and see

SPIRE on page 3

Amherst College students, administration discontented Noose sparks serious debate W ill Soltero Collegian Staff

Only three weeks into the

school year, Amherst College has already experienced a possible hate crime, a controversial banner on 9/11 and a flyer viewed by some as anti-

President

Martin,

statements coming from the

District Attorney’s office in

“We kind of viewed that as a

Democrats thought the flyers

in a letter addressed to the

Bitty

president’s office and mem-

response to the noose’s dis-

group…making a broad inter-

were an important response

school’s students, faculty and

bers of both the Amherst

covery, no further action will

pretation

to the noose incident.

staff, referred to as an “act of

College

be taken by the college, see-

Mayers said. He went on to

“The

hate.”

Democrats.

ing as “neither the Honor

say that while the posters

Republicans decided that the

“I call on every member of

Republicans

and

of

Republicans,”

Amherst

College

“The noose incident is not

Code nor the law was bro-

were placed throughout the

flyers were about them for

our community to join me in

one to be taken lightly,” said

ken by any member of the

campus, the one in the win-

some reason. I think that proj-

condemning it and in stand-

Brantley Mayers, the vice

College community,” wrote

dow of their meeting room

ects pretty clearly on them-

ing with those directly tar-

president

Caroline

was put first, and intentional-

selves that they think that

geted by an act of this kind,”

College

ly faced inward so that those

[the flyer] reflects on them

wrote Martin in the letter.

phone interview.

Communications, in an email.

in the room could see it.

somehow,”

“You have my assurance that

“It’s important that we under-

Several days after the discov-

In a Facebook post on

“That says a lot about them.”

of

the

Amherst

Republicans,

via

Hanna,

Amherst

College Director of

Media

we are taking this act seri-

stand that the noose that was

ery of the noose, and possibly

September

ously and that the perpetra-

found on Pratt field was an

in response to the event, a

Republicans

that,

On the first day back on

of the flyers, Deatrick said

tors will be punished appro-

act of white violence,” said

flyer was posted around the

“While the flyers are related

campus, a tied noose was

he applauded recent events

priately.”

President

Amherst

Amherst College campus that

to another incident on cam-

found on the football field.

on the Amherst College cam-

In another letter, Martin

College Democrats Alexander

read, “THIS IS OUR CAMPUS,

pus…the

place-

After

by

pus, including a demonstra-

wrote that the action may

Deatrick in a phone interview.

NOT THE KLAN’S,” with the

ment of the text facing the

the Amherst College Police

tion against hate that took

be investigated as a hate

“I think the news shows us

image of a fist below it.

room…leads us to suppose

Department, multiple juve-

place on September 12 in the

crime,

the

that the campus is not neces-

The poster drew attention

this is an accusation of ACR

niles

Valentine

N o r t h we s t e r n

District

sarily a safe place, and that’s

from the College Republicans

being connected to the KKK.”

credited the Black Student

an

investigation

were

identified

and

conducted

by

the

the

College

said.

Republican.

of

7,

Deatrick

stated

deliberate

In addition to the response

Quad.

Deatrick

found to be responsible for

Attorney’s office.

something we need to work

following the possibly-inten-

The post went on to condemn

the incident.

Union and the Direct Action

toward.”

tional placement of one flyer

“white supremacy, the KKK

Coordinating Committee.

The event began the year

the college has primarily been

Although legal action may be

in the window of their meet-

and related groups, etc.”

with what Amherst College

one of condemnation, with

taken by the Northwestern

ing space.

Deatrick of

The response from around

the College

see

NOOSE on page 3

Thomas Suarez leads talk A Q&A with the nonprofit on Israel-Palestine conflict DKMS ambassador to UMass Author discusses other perspective By Caeli Chesin Collegian Staff

Author Thomas Suarez spoke to a group of nearly 100 on the third floor of the Integrative Learning Center last night on the subject of his recent novel, “State of Terror: How terrorism created modern Israel.” The talk started with an introduction, followed with an hour-long speech from Suarez and then led to an open discussion among the audience. The talk was co-sponsored by Jewish Voices for Peace, Interlink Publishing, Media Education Foundation and Students for Justice in Palestine. Suarez started by stating that the Palestinian and Israeli conflict is not the

irreversible conflict that it has been made out to be; the common goal for everyone is to reach an end to the conflict. “That’s why we’re here,” Suarez said. Within the next hour, Suarez explained the rise of the issue and what he sees as viable solutions. Throughout his talk, he worked to redirect the narrative the conflict has been given in the past, pressing on the point to re-examine what has already happened. He explained that Zionism, a movement originally for the the re-establishment and now protection of a Jewish nation—currently Israel—is not Jewish self-determination but actually the exact opposite. He went on to explain instances in which, in the attempt to make Israel purely Jewish, Palestinians were forced out of Israel in vicious ways. It was a time

where it was seen as worse to raise your kids in a nonJewish home than it was to be a murderer. “The fact is that the agency placed Zionists’ need for ethically-correct settlers above the lives of the people,” Suarez said. Near the end of his talk, he explained that while it may feel like the situation’s intensity calmed after the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, the notion is false; zionists, ethnic cleansing and terrorist attacks are still relevant. “Here we are seven decades later...how do we finally fix this instead of going around talking about it? How do we finally bring peace? Increasingly, it is clear that the only possible solution is what should have happened in 1948— a single, democratic, secular state of equals,” Suarez said near see

ISRAEL on page 3

What DKMS does on UMass campus By Abigail Charpentier Collegian Staff

Business senior Jennifer Santos wasted no time at the University of Massachusetts when it came to her involvement with Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) on campus. On top of advocating for the organization, she has recently started up the “Delete Blood Cancer DKMS” club. Abigail Charpentier: What does DKMS do?

try that matches blood cancer patients or people with a blood disorder in need of a blood marrow transplant or stem cell transfusion with people who are essentially a genetic match with the cancer patient, so they can donate to that patient. So, it’s really important because it’s really hard to find a match. A lot of people think that you can find a match within your family or with a sibling, but only 30 percent of people can find a match within their family, which means that 70 percent of blood cancer patients rely on complete strangers that are in the registry who are willing to donate for them. Essentially, you’re signing up to potentially be matched with someone and save their life.

Jennifer Santos: DKMS is an international non-profit organization that works to register individuals into the national bone marrow registry. This is the regis- AC:

How

did

you

get

involved with DKMS? JS: I got involved with DKMS in my senior year of high school. My principal came to me, said his wife was diagnosed with lymphoma and was in need of a bone marrow transplant and asked that I host a drive. She was having a really hard time finding a match because she was Armenian—part of registering and finding a match is ethnicity does play a role, so it was especially hard for her to find a match. I hosted a drive and registered a third of my senior class. This drive showed me the importance of hosting a drive and getting as many people to the registry as possible. So when I came to UMass,

see

DKMS on page 2


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