Massachusetts Daily Collegian: November 4, 2014

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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

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Sexual assault policies to be reviewed 2 SGA members Public schools must “Sexual assault is an issue that is of major resign Monday create new guidelines concern to colleges and universities across the

By Patricia LeBoeuf Collegian Correspondent

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education unanimously approved a resolution directing Massachusetts Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland and the state’s Department of Higher Education to coordinate a statewide effort to strengthen public campus policies surrounding sexual assault prevention.

country.”

Ed Blaguszewski, University spokesman At the Oct. 21 meeting during which the resolution was approved, members of the Board heard specific examples of the “terrific” work underway at Massachusetts state colleges and universities, said Dena Papanikolaou, general counsel for the DHE. “(We want to) help

take this problem of sexual violence through (a) system-wide approach,” Papanikolaou said. “What that means (is) getting these segments to talk to each other, share best practices and come up with practical solutions.”

According to Papanikolaou, the effort

will be “two-pronged,” with the Board receiving and reviewing updates to colleges’ affirmative action policies in December.

Papanikolaou said the legal departments of the different segments of higher education in M a s s a ch u s e t t s h ave already been communicating with each other, particularly on the basis of affirmative action policies, which are being updated due to recently passed federal mandates regardsee

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Saving lives with science

CHRISTINA YACONO/COLLEGIAN

Associate Speaker Chris Czepiel announces his resignation Monday.

Three motions were passed unanimously

By Catherine Ferris Collegian Staff

CHRISTINA YACONO/COLLEGIAN

UMass hosts the UMMA 19th Annual Basic Research/Graduate School of Biomedical Scientists Retreat Monday.

Members of the Student Government Association met Monday night to discuss potential upcoming events, give updates on ongoing projects and put forth three motions.

Two officers however, stated their intent to resign during the meeting.

Kabir Thatte, chairman of Administrative Affairs, said he was stepping down due to personal reasons, though he stated that the SGA is “like a family.” He plans for next Monday’s meeting to be his last.

Chris Czepiel, the associate speaker of the Senate, also announced his intent to step down. He cited personal reasons and other obligations for his resignation. He will remain in seat until a replacement is found.

There were three motions on the floor at the meeting, all of which passed.

Rebecca Aguanno

was sponsored by Administrative Affairs to fill the vacant Commuter Senate seat. Speaking on the relationship between off-campus students and the University of Massachusetts, she said, “One of the things I see is that there’s a big disconnect. There’s a gap I’d like to close.”

Aguanno also talked about the busing situation during weekends, noting how crowded they can be because they only come once per hour. She said, if possible, she wants to work on a way for students who rely on buses to get home safely.

The motion was passed by a unanimous vote and Aguanno was sworn in.

The second motion involved conduct of SGA members, sponsored by Administrative Affairs.

It stated that whenever and wherever SGA is being represented, there needs to be a level of standards upheld to ensure the reputation of the organization.

“We want people to be see

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‘Community Conversations’: Muslims pushed to inform bettering town/gown relations

By John M. Glionna Los Angeles Times

Maroulis talks with Amherst residents

By Sarah Crowley Collegian Correspondent “ C o m m u n i t y Conversations,” a new University of Massachusetts initiative, provides a chance for Amherst community members to voice their thoughts and concerns to Tony Maroulis, UMass’ director of Community Relations.

Through these conversations, Maroulis aims to blur the line between UMass and the community and to continue this dialogue on an ongoing basis. According to a University press release, these sessions take place in various coffee shops in the Amherst area and are designed to be a comfortable setting for “questions, comments, complaints and conversation.”

The first of these conversations took place Oct. 27 at the Black Sheep Deli.

Topics included commu-

nity partnerships, various town projects and how the University and community relate.

The second meeting took place Monday at the Newman Center Cafe on campus and consisted of about five people along with Maroulis.

Conversation focused on community transportation and its effects on the world as a whole.

Maroulis defined the sessions as one of “large thinking.” Attendees were given the chance to voice their thoughts and opinions about any topics they wished in an open, informal setting. The two sessions have lasted for about two hours each.

Larry Ely, one of the leaders of The Pioneer Valley Relocalization Project (PVRP), attended this week’s conversation with Maroulis.

The PVRP is about seven years old and Ely explained that its main goal is educating the public about climate change and peak fossil fuels.

Ely said that in order to create a positive change sur-

“With conversation, there is always room for change.”

Tony Maroulis, director of Community Relations rounding these issues, we must “live locally.”

This “relocalization” insists on the public living more modestly and consuming less. Ely explained that the group believes that there needs to be less transportation and proposed creating a system of smaller “mini” buses for off peak times.

He said he believes that having a small amount of people on a regular sized town bus is a waste of carbon dioxide and fuel.

PVRP is also a big proponent of continued carpooling whenever possible, with goals to create a “community carpooling database.”

“With conversation, there is always room for change,” Maroulis said. “It is inevisee

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LAS VEGAS — Muslim leaders nationwide say the FBI is pressuring some Islamic community members and religious leaders to spy on fellow Muslims as part of a government effort to combat extremist recruiting in the U.S. The campaign has intensified in recent weeks, with mosques in California, Texas, Minnesota, Ohio, Florida and other states reporting unannounced visits by FBI agents, according to the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations, or CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.

In a nationwide alert, the group urged mosque and community leaders to seek the advice of an attorney if they are approached by the FBI for questioning. They worried that the civil rights of numerous imams were being violated as the religious leaders were asked to meet with FBI agents, who then pressed them to inform on members of their congregations.

“It’s happening all over the country,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a Washington-based spokesman for CAIR. “The agents are approaching these community leaders at mosques with basic questions that quickly turn into something different: pressure to become informants.”

Leaders at several mosques in California and Minnesota contacted for comment said they were afraid to speak out for fear of becoming a government target.

The FBI would not comment on the CAIR alert, but spokesman Paul Bresso said in an email that the agency respected the rights of all citizens and “we value our partnerships with the Arab, Muslim and Sikh communities as they are partners in our efforts to stem crime, violence and civil rights violations.”

One agent said such visits were standard procedure.

“It’s not unusual for us to go out and talk to, I don’t want to call them at-risk folks, but people dealing with issues,” said the agent, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to talk

about the matter.

Jennifer Wicks, an attorney who heads the civil rights department for CAIR, said she knew of no crimes committed by FBI agents.

“No one has been detained in any way or taken from one setting to another,” she said.

She said the interrogation tactics depended on the agent and the situation.

“These visits aren’t based on people being suspected of doing anything wrong.

It’s because this is a Muslim community. That’s why people are being targeted,” Wicks said.

“However, the FBI’s overbroad and coercive use of informants in mosques, reports of outreach meetings being used for intelligence gathering and other acts of abuse demonstrate that community leaders should engage legal professionals to ensure the protection of their rights and those of their congregations,” Hicks said in statement on the CAIR website.

Activists said the visits were tantamount to religious profiling.

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THE RUNDOWN ON THIS DAY...

In 2008, Barack Obama was the first African-American to be elected president of the United States.

AROUND THE WORLD

Jordan

Al-Qaida-linked fight-

ers have overrun key northern bastions of U.S.-backed Syrian rebels, dealing a heavy blow to American hopes that moderate Syrian factions would provide significant aid in the battle against the militants of the Islamic State.

DailyCollegian.com

Suspicious male alarms trick-or-treaters Police Log: Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 2014

By Marleigh Felsenstein Collegian Staff

Friday, Oct. 31

9:15 p.m.: There was suspicious activity on West Street.

A person stated that a male party was taking pictures of children trick or treating and inviting them into his house.

Residents that answered doors around the neighborhood were female and did not raise suspicions, and the officer tried to get into contact with the caller to find the house that she was originally talking about.

8:07 a.m.: There were complaints of a homeless person sleeping in front of Clark House on Lessey Street.

Although the person is not there all the time, his trash and belongings are.

10:08 p.m.: There was a noise complaint on West Street 9:16 a.m.: An unknown party about a party of 15 to 20 colslashed the tires on a 2014 lege students. They were Toyota Camry at the Cathedral cooperative and the party was Apartment Building on North cleared out.

Pleasant Street.

10:49 p.m.: Melvin Ace 9:18 a.m.: A possum was curled Coleman, 23, of Randolph, was up, groaning, possibly dis- arrested for failure to stop/ eased and lying on the ground yield, use of a motor vehicle at a residence on Shays Street. without authority and operaIt was moved to a safer loca- tion of a motor vehicle with a tion. suspended license.

Saturday, Nov. 1 12:56 a.m. : Tara Michelle Gaita, 21, of Melrose, was arrested for disorderly conduct on Main Street.

1:06 a.m.: Two brothers were having a verbal argument in the parking lot of Bertucci’s Restaurant on East Pleasant Street.

the owner could not be iden- and speeding in violation tified. Medical attention was of a special regulation. refused.

12:25 p.m.: There was a 3:27 a.m. : Thomas breaking and entering at Thekaekara, 20, of Waltham, the Lumber Yard restauwas arrested for an open con- rant on Main Street. It is tainer of alcohol and posses- still under investigation. sion of alcohol under the age of 21.

2:29 p.m.: There was a breaking and entering at Celebrity 1:32 p.m.: A brown and black Beauty and at the Amherst shiba dog went missing with Dog Wash on Main Street. no tags from Alpine Commons Both are still under investion Belchertown Road. gation.

1:45 a.m.: There was a fight on Meadow Street which broke up upon police arrival. One Sunday, Nov. 2 party had minor facial lacerations and declined pressing 12:06 a.m. : Cameron E. charges.

Kingsbury, 22, of Plymouth, was arrested for unlawful 2:44 a.m.: The people involved noise and a nuisance house in the fight on Meadow Street on Salem Place. were found with blood stains on their sliding glass door. 1:34 a.m. : Tyler J. Anderson, Residents and bystanders 21, of Southwick, was were uncooperative in pro- arrested for OUI liquor, viding details. There was a negligent operation of a possible taser in sight but motor vehicle to endanger

7:04 p.m.: There was a disturbance at Craig’s Place Homeless Shelter on North Pleasant Street. A belligerent man locked himself in the bathroom after the staff tried explaining to him that the shelter was not open yet. He said that he was just trying to keep warm.

Marleigh Felsenstein can be reached at mfelsenstein@umass.edu.

The onslaught by the

Nusra Front in the northern province of Idlib routed the U.S.-equipped fighters, the group boasted in a statement Sunday that largely corroborated activists in the area Monday.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Internecine fighting

among rebel factions had been going on for months in Idlib, but over the weekend the Nusra Front seized major positions of the U.S.-supported Syrian Revolutionaries Front, and members of another Western-backed faction, Haraket Hazm, then fled

SGA

TALKS

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professional,” Thatte said.

“We have administrators coming in and random students coming it and we want to be professional.”

Specifically, the motion stated the use of profanity and jokes that are considered oppressive and sexual remarks will not be tolerated.

It also said that a certain level of professionalism should be maintained.

The motion also passed unanimously.

The third and final motion was the SGA’s official statement on Smith College’s

admission process regarding sexual identity.

Diversity and Student Engagement sponsored this plan, saying it is important to stand with those who come from a transgender background.

Justin Kilian, a freshman who works with the Stonewall Center, said, “We are members of this community. This is a decision that affects us too.”

He continued, saying that it is the responsibility of UMass to stand in solidarity with the affected transgender students.

The motion passed with a

unanimous vote.

During the meeting, senators also covered other business including Senator Ryan DiZoglio’s plan to have a winter festival to celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa and Chanukah.

This idea is still in the planning stages, but DiZoglio said he hopes to gain more support as the semester winds down.

Catherine Ferris can be reached at caferris@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Ca_Ferris2.

continued from page 1

table.”

According to Maroulis, “Community Conversations” was created in order to give more people like Ely the opportunity to come forward and express what they think needs to be changed in the community.

“Some people don’t really know who to call when it comes to certain questions about the community and UMass,” Maroulis said. “They search online and some aren’t very sure whether to call or

not. These conversations give those people another option.”

Maroulis continued, “The size of the University makes it very difficult for folks to figure out. If I’m not the right person, we can make the right person appear.”

The next Community Conversations will be held on Nov. 10 at 8 a.m. at Bruegger’s Bagels.

Sarah Crowley can be reached at sarahcrowley@umass.edu.

or surrendered, activists reported.

Los Angeles Times

Israel Rainy days in

Jerusalem haven’t doused the heightened emotions that continue to flare around the contested city, where the Temple Mount has been reopened to visitors but restrictions remain imposed on Muslim worship and leaders strain to keep a lid on unrest.

In a bid to calm the vol-

atile air after several days of violence focused around the sensitive site, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on both Israeli and Palestinian officials to act with restraint.

“The Temple Mount is

the most sensitive kilometer on Earth,” Netanyahu told his cabinet Sunday, cautioning that “it is easy to start a religious fire but much more difficult to extinguish it.”

Los Angeles Times

Turkey

At least 24 people were

killed after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of northern Istanbul on Monday, the Coast Guard said according to local media.

Seven people were

rescued from the waters near where the Bosphorus and the Black Sea meet, the Dogan news agency reported. dpa Distributed by MCT Information Services

REVIEW

continued from page 1

ing the federal reporting requirement.

The Board will also receive recommendations from the commissioner on how to proceed in carrying out policy reforms.

This may include forming a task force or possibly updating the “Campus Violence Prevention and Response: Best Practices for Massachusetts Higher Education” program.

As part of the resolution, the Board may also look at its own best practice guidelines put forth in the document, according to Papanikolaou.

“When you take a look at it, it’s incomplete, because it doesn’t take into account specific problems and issues raised with sexual violence,” Papanikolaou said.

The document was created in 2008 in response to the Virginia Tech shooting, and as a consequence, is heavily focused on addressing active shooter violence.

The Board wants to see if it can come up with a similar set of best practices specific to the subject of campus sexual violence, Papanikolaou said.

The coordination process has not yet been outlined, but Freeland’s recommendations for a plan of action will determine the coordination effort.

Papanikolaou also said the Board will conduct a policy review which will identify gaps and enable the creation of “strong and consistent” policies.

She said she believes that this issue is on the Board’s agenda because of widespread media and public attention to the problem.

“I think it’s the national climate…very few issues have attracted this national attention,” Papanikolaou said.

“Sexual assault is an issue that is of major concern to colleges and universities across the

country,” UMass spokesperson Ed Blaguszewski said. “Clearly, it’s something that’s prevalent and we need to do something about it.”

Blaguszewski added that the University is interested in learning from experience and will not “stand still” while the Board is conducting its review efforts. “(We’re) cer tainly going to take additional steps and new approaches and see how they work,” he said.

The UMatter at UMass campaign, which includes bystander intervention training, and a new group on campus that advocates training in handling sexual assault for men, are “fairly new initiatives” by the University meant to address this problem, Blaguszewski said.

The United States Department of Education has also increased its enforcement toward colleges accused of mishandling complaints, Papanikolaou added.

According to Papanikolaou, through Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all educational programs and activities that receive government funding, schools that receive federal money must have strong policies in place to address campus violence.

“Bottom line, what this is about is student safety,” she said. “If our students don’t feel safe, how can we expect them to learn, to grow (or) to succeed?”

Patricia LeBoeuf can be reached at patricialebo@umass.edu.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

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Supreme Court to take Porn star loses lawsuit on Jerusalem nationality against Fla. school district

By Michael Doyle McClatchy Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — A clearly divided Supreme Court on Monday stepped into the political minefield that is Jerusalem, in a case pitting Congress against presidents of both parties.

With Mideast tensions escalating, justices seemed split about whether Congress can compel the State Department to issue U.S. passports that identify Israel as the birth country for those born in Jerusalem. Israel and the Palestinians both claim the city, while the United States has long remained neutral.

“History,” Justice Elena Kagan observed, “suggests that everything is a big deal with respect to the status of Jerusalem.”

History also shows how political perspectives can shift markedly.

When Vice President Joe Biden was a senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2002, his panel approved the Jerusalem passport measure. Now, Biden is part of the White House team that opposes the provision as an infringement on presidential power that could harm U.S. interests and further unsettle the Middle East.

“It forces the executive branch to engage in diplomatic communications that contradict our official recognition position, and undermine presidential credibility,” Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., said of the measure.

The disputed law directs the State Department, at the request of parents or guardians, to list Israel as the place of birth instead of Jerusalem.

President George W. Bush issued a “signing statement” when the 2002 passport law went into effect, asserting that the Jerusalem provision “impermissibly interferes” with the president’s author-

ity to manage foreign affairs. While President Barack Obama was still a senator, he explicitly criticized Bush’s use of signing statements to interpret, and sometimes limit, a new law.

Now, from his Oval Office vantage point, Obama sees value in signing statements like Bush’s on the passport law.

The long-running challenge to the presidents’ refusal to implement the passport provision was brought by the parents of Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, who turned 12 last month. His parents are U.S. citizens, who were living in Jerusalem when Menachem was born.

The Zivotofsky family first sued in 2003 after the State Department refused to list Israel as the place of Menachem’s birth. The department’s refusal was consistent with a U.S. position held since 1948 that the country does not recognize Jerusalem as formally belonging to either Israel or Palestine.

The court’s eventual ruling could stretch well beyond Menachem, a yarmulke-wearing, darkhaired boy who was present for the arguments Monday. All told, an estimated 50,000 U.S. passports have been issued listing Jerusalem as the place of birth. If the Obama administration loses, the holders of these passports could request the place of birth be specified as Israel.

“How an American is identified on his or her passport, including the place of birth designation, does not amount to formal recognition by the United States of that designated location’s sovereign status,” the Zivotofskys’ attorney, Alyza D. Lewin, told the justices.

Kagan and fellow Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer sounded most sympathetic to the Obama administration’s

plea for deference to the State Department’s expertise.

“I’m a judge, I’m not a foreign affairs expert,” Breyer said. “They are foreign affairs experts in the State Department. ... How can I say that they, who are in charge of foreign affairs, are wrong?”

But conservatives, including Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., both former executive branch employees who often support robust presidential powers, nonetheless suggested Monday that Congress might enjoy the upper hand on this one.

“That the State Department doesn’t like the fact that it makes the Palestinians angry is irrelevant,” Scalia said, dismissing at another point “the State Department’s desire to make nice with the Palestinians.”

Ju s t i c e Anthony Kennedy, in his familiar role as potential swing vote, suggested both that “the government’s policy should be given deference” and that the State Department could offset the place-of-birth listing with a reaffirmation of U.S. neutrality concerning Jerusalem’s status.

Politicians from both parties have urged the court to give a green light to the passport provision.

Texas Attorney General, and current gubernatorial candidate, Greg Abbott, filed a brief in support of the Zivotofsky family, as did dozens of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats from the House of Representatives.

Ju s t i c e Clarence Thomas, as is his custom, was the only one of the nine justices not to speak or ask questions during the oral argument. A court decision is expected by the end of June.

By Scott Travis Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A former porn actorturned-math tutor lost a free-speech lawsuit he filed against the Palm Beach County School District.

The school district did not violate the First Amendment rights of David Mech, whose stage name is Dave Pounder, when it quit doing business with him, federal Judge Kenneth Marra ruled last week.

School district officials removed three signs advertising Mech’s “Happy/Fun Math Tutor” business in 2012 after learning about his porn background.

But the school district didn’t take that action because of the contents of the sign, Marra said.

“Rather it removed the banners for a reason unrelated to (Mech’s) speech the known association of plaintiff’s tutoring business with his adult-media business,” Marra wrote.

It’s David Mech’s second defeat involving the school district in recent months. In August, incumbent Karen Brill beat him in a bid to become a School Board member.

“I am both surprised and disappointed by the court’s decision and currently evaluating my prospects for a successful appeal,” Mech said. “It is unfathomable to

me that administrators in our public institutions are allowed to arbitrarily discriminate against citizens for perfectly lawful conduct; especially conduct that occurred in the past.”

In his lawsuit, Mech argued that the district exercised “unbridled, standardless discretion” in deciding to remove his banners and that it violated a contract he had.

The district said the advertising payments were considered donations and that Mech’s affiliation with the adult-film industry “creates a situation that is inconsistent with the educational mission” of the Palm Beach County School Board and community values, according to court documents.

Mech worked in the porn industry from 2001 to 2010, as an actor, director and producer. He has appeared as Dave Pounder in such films as “I Scored a Soccer Mom,” “Entering the Student Body” and “University Coed Oral Exams 14.”

After leaving the porn industry in 2010, his business, Dave Pounder Productions, started making documentaries about the porn industry.

Around that time, he also created his math-tutoring business, and paid $1,750 to advertise at Spanish River High, Omni Middle and Boca Raton Middle from 2010 until 2012, when some

parents learned of his past and reported it to the district.

The school district has a policy that prevents it from accepting ads from adult entertainment establishments. The tutoring business and Dave Pounder productions shared the same mailing address, although Mech said they were separate business entities.

Mech said he never discussed porn with students and never had students over to his home, instead tutoring them in their homes or in public venues.

He used the controversy as a springboard for a School Board campaign that generated plenty of publicity for him but few votes. He placed last of three candidates with 4.5 percent of the vote.

Parents voiced “great concern over the potential for the students using your tutoring services to become subjected to your adult entertainment business,” former district lawyer Sheryl Wood wrote in a March 15, 2013 letter to Mech.

Before getting into the porn industry, Mech earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in information management from Arizona State University, according to his resume.

Russia recognizes Ukraine separatists Successful fighters linked to Al-Qaida

By Carol J. Williams Los Angeles Times

Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Monday that it will “respect the will” of separatist voters in eastern Ukraine who elected leaders for their proclaimed independent republics in defiance of international warnings that their actions were illegal.

Moscow’s swift show of support for the separatists it is accused of arming and instigating drew new warnings from Germany and other European Union states that further sanctions may be imposed on Russia if the 7-month-old war with Ukrainian government forces intensifies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed off on a Sept. 5 cease-fire deal with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and representatives of the breakaway regions. Putin and other Russian officials portrayed Sunday’s vote for prime ministers and local assemblies for the two regions as envisioned in the cease-fire agreement signed in Minsk, Belarus, and brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

But the Minsk accord cal led for early local elections in conformance with Ukrainian law, and the Kiev government, the European Union, the OSCE, the United States and the United Nations all deemed the separatist votes illegal and illegitimate as they sought to establish the regions’ independence of

Ukraine.

“We respect the will expression of the residents of (Ukraine’s) southeast. The elected representatives have got the mandate for the practical efforts aimed at the restoration of normal life in the regions,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Russian government called for “a stable dialogue” between the Ukrainian government and the new leaders of the separatist-occupied eastern regions and said Moscow is “ready to constructively promote the Ukrainian crisis settlement together with our international partners,” the TASS news agency reported.

In Berlin, the German government swiftly confirmed that it “does not recognize these illegitimate elections,” said Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had called Putin on Friday to urge him to dissuade the separatists from undertaking the widely condemned vote.

“If the situation worsens, it may be necessary to consider intensifying the sanctions,” Seibert told reporters.

The separatists’ defiance and the Kremlin’s endorsement of the votes appeared to set Russia on yet another diplomatic collision course with the West just days after a major dispute between Moscow and Kiev on winter energy supplies was resolved under European Union mediation. Russia’s Gazprom energy giant agreed Thursday to

resume natural gas deliveries to Ukraine in exchange for payment of about two-thirds of its $5.3 billion arrears by the end of this year.

Leaders of the separatist regions immediately proclaimed their alliance with Russia and also alluded to the possibility of negotiating an end to the armed conflict with Ukrainian government forces on condition Kiev cease challenging their authority over the territory they occupy.

“Over 80 percent of the economy is directed to Russia. ... The republic is ready to sell mineral resources, for example coal, valves and electric locomotives,” Igor Plotnitsky, the Soviet army veteran elected to lead the Luhansk People’s Republic, announced Monday, TASS reported.

Alexander Zakharchenko, who was elected to lead the Donetsk People’s Republic, was to be inaugurated Tuesday. He said after being declared the winner with more than 70 percent of the vote that he was ready to negotiate with Poroshenko’s government to restore peace in the region on condition Kiev respect its independence.

The occupied regions of eastern Ukraine, known as the Donbass as its mines and factories are located in the Don River basin, have long produced components for Russian military equipment, including aircraft engines for MiG fighter jets and guidance systems for Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles. Its uranium mines also produce

fuel for Russian nuclear reactors.

It was concern over the future of the outdated industries of the Donbass that last year set Russia and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich against an association agreement negotiated between the European Union and pro-Western forces in the Ukrainian leadership. When Yanukovich refused to sign the EU deal in late November, he sparked a rebellion that ousted him from power three months later and prompted Putin to seize Ukraine’s Crimea region and back the separatists in the east.

The Minsk cease-fire agreement had calmed some of the fighting in the Donbass region that has claimed at least 4,000 lives since April.

But the truce has gradually eroded and hundreds have been killed during the two months that it has ostensibly been in effect.

The regions led by Plotnitsky and Zakharchenko have been referred to by some separatists as components of an emerging state of Novorossiya, the name given the area along the Black Sea coast by Imperial Russia when it conquered the region in the 18th century.

Plotnitsky said in an interview with Russia’s RIA Novosti agency that he envisioned other restive regions of southeast Ukraine joining the secession out of disaffection with Kiev’s rule.

By Laura King and Nabih Bulos Los Angeles Times AMMAN, Jordan — Al-Qaida-linked fighters have overrun key northern bastions of U.S.-backed Syrian rebels, dealing a heavy blow to American hopes that moderate Syrian factions would provide significant aid in the battle against the militants of the Islamic State.

The onslaught by the Nusra Front in the northern province of Idlib routed the U.S.-equipped fighters, the group boasted in a statement Sunday that largely corroborated activists in the area Monday.

Internecine fighting among rebel factions had been going on for months in Idlib, but over the weekend the Nusra Front seized major positions of the U.S.-supported Syrian Revolutionaries Front, and members of another Western-backed faction, Haraket Hazm, then fled or surrendered, activists reported.

Dozens defected to the Nusra Front, according to the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog group. An undetermined amount of U.S.provided weaponry also fell into the attackers’ hands, with Nusra Front supporters taking to social media to

gloat.

Working with moderate Syrian rebels is a linchpin of the Western strategy against the Islamic State, with the U.S. and its allies staging airstrikes but not providing ground troops. The Syrian Revolutionaries Front and Haraket Hazm had been the first to receive heavy weaponry from the United States, such as TOW antitank missiles.

Israfil Yilmaz, the nom de guerre of a fighter claiming to be in Idlib, said on Twitter that tanks, antitank missiles and “much more equipment” had been seized from the Syrian Revolutionaries Front as the Nusra fighters advanced.

The Islamic State juggernaut has been concentrated in northern and eastern Syria, and large swaths of western Iraq. In Iraq’s Anbar province, Islamic State extremists have been reported by tribal figures to have executed several hundred members of the Ablu Nimr, a tribe that had tried to hold them off.

The Islamic State has also been besieging the northern Syrian town of Kobani for six weeks. Defenders, bolstered by a contingent of Iraqi Kurdish soldiers who arrived last week, have managed to hold them off, with the help of American airstrikes.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

“We must be careful about what we pretend to be.” - Kurt Vonnegut

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

5 1 2 3 4 5

Internet or indecision?

reasons why

VOTING IS A STRUGGLE

I do not have the time, and I really need to work on my Tinder profile.

My mail in ballot was due a week ago.

Forms are evil, plus you have to actually know your social security number.

I do not have enough IDs to prove my identity with all the new Voter ID laws.

We dont know half the political parties in the ballot, let alone tha canidates and what they stand for... Dark Anglel is running for Congress as part of the Future Visions

Exercise your right to vote

Today, registered Massachusetts voters will convene to elect new members into office and to accept or reject pending legislation. Will you be one of those conscious citi-

Michael Agnello

zens who fulfill the ol’ civic duty?

Or are you someone who believes that voting isn’t cool, a hassle or worst of all, not worth your time?

The cliché that is too often stated, “My single vote won’t make a difference,” is a common reason for low turnout. Yet at a state level your vote will make a difference whether you want to believe it or not. In state elections the voting pool is smaller than in national elections, so in essence, with less available voters your single vote holds more weight. Plus, your state vote won’t be saturated by the Electoral College.

That brings up another point.

Why do people think it is better

ing on ballot questions is a great opportunity to have your voice heard.

Often times when the topic of politics is addressed among students it is followed by groans or disinterest, making it clear that many people do not care who is in office making the vital decisions that shape the future of our state. But this pessimistic attitude is precisely what is preventing serious change within our society.

Democracy relies on participation from the population.

As William Galvin, our state secretary, noted, “To vote is to exercise the most essential right of our democratic system.” We should make time to become informed in order to improve the condition of the state by electing candidates who best represent our beliefs.

A vital piece of information that voters should keep in mind is that the opportunity to vote is a

“Participating in the process of voting on a state level demonstrates an interest in your local community.” to vote in national elections over state elections? While voting for a new president seems important, the truth is that presidential decisions will affect you less than what your state politicians decide. The impact of a state governor, senator or representative is tangible within your community. Improvements to roads or funds to your hometown school are not the product of Mr. President, but rather your state politicians. Therefore, participating in the process of voting on a state level demonstrates an interest in your local community.

In this election, your vote will also make a considerable difference within the realm of ballot questions. There is a total of four questions that deal with eliminating gas tax indexing, expanding the beverage container deposit law, expanding prohibitions on gaming and earned sick time for employees. Your vote of either a yes or no will directly impact whether the issues are passed or denied within the Commonwealth.

This part of the ballot gives citizens the opportunity to weigh in on specific legislation, putting the power in our hands. Thus, if you want to make a difference within the boundaries of the state, vot-

Editorial@DailyCollegiancom

privilege. It was not long ago when certain populations of people were denied the right to cast a ballot.

We are very fortunate to live in a society that is based on the foundations of representation, where all citizens above the age of 18 do in fact have the power to cause change. I say that very seriously.

Change can occur through your vote. I realize that lack of trust for government officials can be a deterrent to participation, but think about this: If every eligible citizen participated then we would have politicians who better represent the masses, instead of a minority of people.

Be active and be the change. Do it for your state, your community, your family, your hamster and of course yourself. You really do have a special power by having the ability to vote and keep the democratic system healthy. Those people in office, no matter what your attitude about them, make important decisions that affect our society. If we want to live in a place that best represents our desires then it is imperative to vote.

Michael Agnello is a Collegian contributor and can be reached at magnello@umass.edu.

With elections happening Tuesday, it seems as good a time as any to discuss what it means to be political in the modern world. While advances in technology have allowed the public to access a truly impressive amount

Julian Del Prado

and the Internet in scholarly articles and history books.

The generation that raised us characterizes us in terms of our entitlement and all that we take for granted.

Across the world, our generation has raised armies of activists and innumerable funds in the name of causes great and small, real and imagined.

To judge us by the resources at our disposal – the generation of 9/11 and the presence of the Internet should be the most powerful tools the world has ever known.

To judge us by our actions – we have accomplished very little. In the United States, it is still laughable to vote for someone based on personal convictions instead of along party lines. In Egypt, where social media activism was lauded the most, militarism reigns supreme. One look at the news will tell you just how optimistic the international community is about the Hong Kong protests. The 24-hour news cycle keeps giving the Internet lip service as a powerful tool but never acknowledges the true implications of that power.

Citizens in the information age can’t afford to be uninformed anymore. The individual can be knowledgeable in a way which was impossible before because the individual no longer needs to memorize valuable information. It is time for us to all exercise the power which has defined our generation and become a check on politicians in our own right.

With the persistence of gridlock, it is clear to me that institutional checks and balances cannot function when all the members of that government refuse to work with one another. So go find out what your congressman stands for and see for yourself where the conflicts of interest are. Do not vote because someone on campus harassed you and told you that just because you can, you should. The people who voted because they can have chosen to vote and have chosen the path of incompetence in government by refusing to acknowledge the opposition.

If politics isn’t for you, then advocate for a type of government which doesn’t believe that man is intrinsically political (the U.S. assumes you care about politics).

Otherwise, bow out. Tend to yourself and your family and exist as millions of apolitical people have before you under kings and dynasties.

As for the rest of us, the power of the Internet means the responsibility to fulfill due diligence. Vote because you’re informed, not because you can.

of data, our politicians haven’t exactly been bringing their A-game. If we as people have the ability to be more informed then why aren’t our representatives reflecting that?

Conflicts of interest within the government are easy to find via Google and a similar investigation will yield the many transgressions of our current Congress. Yet we struggle to find the slightest common ground with our peers as the nation lumbers along in a quagmire lacking bipartisanship, oblivious to the stark reality that most of our opinions occupy the same square inch of space on the global political spectrum.

For someone who is curious about climate change or national security, there is an army of journalists frothing at the mouth to catch even a second of your time. Granted, many of the articles on the Internet are either a hoax or part of the media sourcing website Upworthy or some bastardization of Upworthy that just wants your attention (and probably tears) for about four minutes.

But at the end of the day, the New York Times, BBC, CNN, Fox and others can be relied upon to give the bare bones of a situation along with whatever bias fits your fancy. Furthermore, you can go to govtrack.us where you’ll find an exact bill your representative voted on, along with all kinds of relevant data on what the bill entails.

Interested in international politics? The United Nations’ website, un.org, can give you many choices of primary sources and even simple explanations of our planet’s political infrastructure. So why does our Congress’ approval rating stand somewhere between eight and 12 percent? As tempting as it is to say that nobody votes, the fact is that such low approval ratings mean that even the people who are voting are not satisfied with the result.

So whose fault is it? Ours. At the end of the day we cannot claim to consistently disapprove of a government that only exists with our consent and blessing. We are a Julian del Prado is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at generation that is defined in terms of a terrorist attack jdelprad@umass.edu.

“Citizens in the information age can’t afford to be uninformed anymore.”

Charlie Baker: rewiring education With campaign season in full swing, college students across Massachusetts – many of whom

Robert Malinn

will be voting for the first time – will play a major role in the up-and-coming gubernatorial election between Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley. Among the issues stressed by young voters is the need to address problems surrounding higher education.

It goes without saying that the rising cost of college nationwide is overwhelming to college students and families.

Massachusetts is no exception as the state has done little to curb the average crippling debt accumulated over four years. Overall tuition and fees have jumped an alarming 80 percent in the past decade alone, according to Baker’s campaign, and Massachusetts has seen an overall 10 percent hike since 2008.

It certainly goes without question that Gov. Deval Patrick has been a friend to expanding the funds, resources and potential for public education. However, one concern that doesn’t seem to be addressed is the effect on both college students and taxpayers.

While the current administration under Patrick has made a positive effort in halting costs through measures such as freezing tuition at institutions such as

the University of Massachusetts (for the past two years, costs have remained the same), little has been done in the way of overall cost reductions.

Coakley made a proposition of implementing $5,000 tax deductions for households who contribute to tax-free college savings accounts. In addition, she hopes to expand financial aid for the state.

While this can be seen as an investment for the future, it would come at an inefficient price.

Unfortunately, Coakley’s financial aid plan would account for an

of technology.

This would be done in the hopes that his administration could bring the standard price for four years of college to a more affordable three years, effectively reducing the overall cost by 25 percent. Combined with the credit-valued co-ops and internships, students would have the opportunity to explore their majors and gain firsthand experience, all while reducing costs and building their resumes.

Though the precise budget for Baker’s co-op and grant programs has yet to be determined, it would certainly be more affordable than Coakley’s propositions.

The more captivating goal is the 25 percent reduction for individual college costs.

Baker’s plan would dramatically enhance college opportunities throughout Massachusetts. Such a maneuver would provide the best of both worlds in terms of reduced debt and enhanced opportunities for students, as well as a break for the taxpayers funding it.

His business-savvy policies may bring something new to the table. Baker certainly sees a bright future for how education is carried in his state. His clear-cut plan would let us hold onto the title of “Athens of America” and maybe abandon that old “Taxachusetts” jab.

“Baker’s plan would dramatically enhance college opportunities throughout Massachusetts.”

astounding $225 million, with an additional $20 million for the tax deductions alone. Her plan, though well intentioned, is quite expensive, ambiguous in nature and fails to specifically address the steadily rising cost of higher education.

For Baker, however, there is a clear-cut plan for combatting the issue with precision and financial understanding. He has proposed competitive public grant programs for both public universities and high schools statewide. In addition, he intends to implement co-op credit programs, expand internships and encourage online learn- Robert Malinn is a Collegian contributor and ing to cut costs and expand the role can be reached at rmalinn@umass.edu.

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The Massachusetts Daily Collegian is published Monday through Thursday during the University of Massachusetts calendar semester. The Collegian is independently funded, operating on advertising revenue. Founded in 1890, the paper began as Aggie Life, became the College Signal in 1901, the Weekly Collegian in 1914 and the Tri–Weekly Collegian in 1956. Published daily from 1967 to 2014, The Collegian has been broadsheet since January 1994. For advertising rates and information, call 413-545-3500.

PRODUCTION CREW on staff for this issue NIGHT EDITOR - Aviva Luttrell COPY EDITOR - Anthony Chiusano WEB PRODUCTION MANAGER - Christina Yacono NEWS DESK EDITOR - Marie MacCune O p /E d DESK EDITOR - Kate Leddy ARTS DESK EDITOR - Jackson Maxwell SPORTS DESK EDITOR - Mark Chiarelli COMICS DESK EDITOR - Tracy Krug GRAPHICS DESK EDITOR - Avery Campbell

Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

“Leslie, remove this man before I commit an act of violence against him.” - Ron Swanson

Arts@DailyCollegian.com

ALBUM REVIEW

Neil Young’s ‘Storytone’ is lavish, but ultimately uninspired Legend’s 35th LP misses the mark

By Jackson Maxwell Collegian Staff

On “I’m Glad I Found You,” one of the more syrupy but poignant tracks on Neil Young’s 35th studio album, “Storytone,” Young croons over swelling strings, “So many people don’t understand, what it’s like to be like me.” It is safe to say that he is probably right. Always one of rock music’s most chameleonic and elusive creative geniuses, Young’s work has consistently confounded and defied any and all expectations.

The ease with which Young has given into some of his more extreme creative impulses yielded results both stellar and baffling. “Storytone,” in the extensive annals of Young’s discography, will go down as an album built on one of those extreme creative impulses.

Recorded with a 92-piece orchestra, a smaller 60-piece orchestra and an old-fashioned big band, “Storytone,” released Nov. 4, recalls a bygone era in its presentation.

But as much as it strives to carve out yet another niche in Young’s catalog, “Storytone” cannot escape its unusually sub-par songwriting and the arrangements it relies so heavily on.

Young’s specialty has always been minimalism.

From the immortal onenote solo in his 1969 classic, “Cowgirl In the Sand,” to the simple accessibility of his hit 1972 album, “Harvest,” Young has always been able to take one element of a song and

Neil Young performs live at the Norwegian Wood Festival in 2009. hammer on it until it becomes the song’s integral element.

This side of Young is the reason why the album’s almost absurdly lavish arrangements clash with Young’s style in such an ugly way. At times, it feels more like you are watching “Gone with the Wind” or “Casablanca,” rather than listening to a Neil Young album.

“Storytone” begs for less production than the royal treatment that it gets.

The album and its highproduction concept are somewhat undercut by the “deluxe” edition of the album, which

offers listeners a chance to hear the same ten songs, but performed by Young alone with his acoustic guitar or a piano. Inevitably, it invites comparisons between the two takes on each of the album’s tracks. Unfortunately, the bonus edition, with Young’s solo renditions, ends up being far superior to the original mix.

On many of the album’s tracks, the differences in quality are quite drastic, most notably on the album’s most highly-publicized track, the environmental anthem,

“Who’s Gonna Stand Up?” The orchestral version of the track drowns the song’s direct lyrics – “end fracking now” goes one line – in overdramatic strings and choral backing vocals. The solo version however, is sung with disarming vulnerability by Young. Without the manufactured drama of 92 other musicians to take into account, Young is fully able to highlight his impassioned plea for action.

The bluesy “Say Hello to Chicago” has a beautiful, rambling feel in Young’s solo,

with a mandolin is completely overpowered by the orchestra who try once again to dramatically reproduce the emotion Young is already conveying fairly well on his own.

The same goes for “Glimmer” and “When I Watch You Sleeping.” I t is not all bad news for the orchestral version, however.

The aforementioned “I’m Glad I Found You” is actually complimented fairly well by its orchestral additions. For once, the strings don’t seem to be pushing too hard for melodrama, and are content with following Young’s lead. The dry blues of “I Want to Drive My Car” is actually improved upon, with the solo version’s monotonous riff being expanded upon with the big band’s jazzy attack.

Overall, “Storytone” mostly misses the mark not only because of its confounding duplicity but its weak songwriting. Considering that Young just left his wife of 36 years, one would expect NRK P3/FLICKR a break-up song or two in there. But Young seems to be remarkably unfazed by the piano-driven rendition. On event as it never seems to rear the album version however, its head on the mostly content Young seemingly tries to be album.

Frank Sinatra, with a big band “Storytone” will go down giving the song full swing-jazz as one of those strange braintreatment. As diverse an artist children of Young’s that never as Young is, singing jazz is not quite worked out. Other than one of his great talents, and “Who’s Gonna Stand Up,” a the sonic mismatch of this worthy and strong environsong with big band accompa- mental anthem, “Storytone” niment is cringe-inducing, to can be safely stowed away as say the least. a lesser Neil Young album. It “Tumbleweed,” a saccha- is an experiment for sure, but rine but somewhat touching ultimately not a very successballad, also packs a much ful one. heavier punch in its solo ren- dition. In the album version, Jackson Maxwell can be reached at Young’s solo performance jlmaxwell@umass.edu.

ALBUM REVIEW

Primus takes on Willy Wonka Theophilus London is Wild album inspired by the classic film

By Jack Nichols Collegian Staff

Attempting to combat the horrific 2005 remake of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” Primus bassist and front man Les Claypool has written an album dedicated specifically to the original movie.

Primus’ new album, the first since 1995 with the multiplatinum lineup of Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander, creates a wild and new sound unique to this interesting band.

Claypool repeatedly stated in interviews that he believed that “Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble” would be a remarkable new sound for the group. On the album, released Oct. 21, Claypool’s promise held true as the band adopted some new instruments, including strings, vibraphone and marimba.

Accompanying these new sounds was Alexander in a wild new percussion set-up.

In an eclectic mash-up of things to bang on, Alexander was able to stray from the band’s normal sound and experiment with some new ideas.

Those listening to the album with hopes of finding something reminiscent of Leslie Bricusse’s original score for the movie should look elsewhere. The band takes the soundtrack and uses its special ability to turn it into something creepy and wonderful. Playing off of old

memories, Primus tries to morph our memory of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” into something more dark and sinister than the original movie.

This mindset does not become clear until the second track, “Candy Man.” With a strange combination of percussion and upright bass, the track begins on an ominous tone that is only heightened by terrifying vocals that seem to hint at something along the lines of pedophilia.

The band follows this dark approach toward the recreation of the film with “Pure Imagination.” Focusing on a new combination of heavy percussion and bass mixed with strange, offset guitar riffs, “Pure Imagination” is sure to creep any listener out.

In “I Want It Now,” Primus attempts a sound they have never previously tried, and convey it with great success.

The microphone is handed over to LaLonde, who makes no attempt at singing throughout the entire track.

Starting off in a calm spoken voice, “I Want It Now” follows LaLonde, whose intensity progressively increases throughout the track until he is virtually shouting.

With distant guitar riffs and the pounding of the band’s rhythm section, “I Want It Now” is a sound that is not only unique for Primus but unique to music in general.

In “Cheer Up Charlie,” Claypool goes for an entirely new vocal approach and attempts to actually sing.

With quiet music behind Claypool’s whiny voice, “Cheer Up Charlie” creates a horrific sound that is utterly

perfect for the album. The screechy whining of Claypool ironically fits the most upbeat song of the album, while still adding the proper amount of creepiness.

Primus breezes through the rest of the album. The four Oompa Loompa songs are right up the band’s alley and they perform them perfectly. The songs give the band a chance to showcase its musical talent as it attempts to replicate and morph the original soundtrack to create a different sound to the original. The vocals for these tracks are both ominous and on point.

If one track stands out above all the others, it would be “Golden Ticket.” The traditionally upbeat song will be completely changed in the listeners mind after hearing Primus’ adaption. Riddled with deafening percussion and bass, this track proves to be the loudest and strongest on the album. Claypool proves his talent as he experiments with vocals, which range from bellowing lows to a quiet falsetto.

Overall, “Primus & The Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble” was well worth the wait. Primus is known for its covers of other artists work, having released two cover EP’s as well as a full-length take on Pink Floyd’s “Animals.”

The band’s newest album is the greatest artistic risk Primus has taken, and it is a wild success.

Jack Nichols can be reached at jrnichols@umass.edu.

back with good ‘Vibes’

Album diversifies rapper’s portfolio

By Troy Kowalchuk Collegian Staff

Three years have passed since the release of Theophilus London’s first album, “Timez are Weird These Days.” After a long wait, London has finally returned with his sophomore album, “Vibes,” released Nov. 4.

The rapper is known for his unique sound, relaying an alternative, “hipster” hiphop sound that is uniquely his own. London’s sound in “Timez are Weird These Days” had so many elements that it, at times, seems to struggle to present a consistent sound.

In his debut album, many of London’s lyrics were criticized as elementary and repetitive, most notably on the track, “Girls Girls $.” Did a three-year gap between releases help mature London musically and lyrically?

The answer is an affirmative yes. London developed greatly, but that maturity comes with outside help.

Kanye West was anointed the executive producer of London’s new project and his influence is prevalent throughout “Vibes.” The entire album carries a more sultry and seductive sound as opposed to his more crowded-sounding debut album.

What “Vibes” is able to do is carry a central theme and demonstrate a newer, darker

sound. The album begins with the sensual, relaxed track, “Water Me,” which moves at a much slower rate than the frenzied, rapid tracks of his debut album.

The album continues to carry this sound into its next five tracks.

Each of these songs carries a dark, yet infectious groove, most prominently featured in the songs “Can’t Stop” and “Get Me Right.” “Can’t Stop” features Kanye West and received more attention than any of the album’s other tracks. It is percussive, electrified and almost sounds like a fanciful lullaby.

“Get Me Right” features a heavier, more percussive bass and begins to move the album away from its previously slower sound.

“Get Me Right” shifts into “Heartbreaker,” a prominent taste of the sound London flaunted on his debut album.

“Heartbreaker” is catchy, progressive and thrilling – all of the musical elements that London has been praised for.

But the difference here is that all of the elements flow together. He is able to move in multiple sonic areas, and still be successful in delivering continuity.

London continues to carry themes of his last album into the next track, “Do Girls,” which parallels the themes and styles of “Girls Girls $,” the most criticized track of “Timez are Weird These Days.” Although it is occasionally repetitive, “Do Girls” creates a coherent narrative in its short run

time. The listener is able to hear the story and feel the tension of the situation that leads to an emotional climax.

This is the perfect transition into “Tribe,” the climax and the most boisterous track on “Vibes.” After the rush of “Tribe,” the album begins to fade back to where it started, on a low, dark note. This allows “Vibes” to come full circle in a way.

While London’s sound has changed and matured in this album, thanks to Kanye West, the rapper’s music still has a few holes.

Many of his lyrics are still fairly elementary and lack specifics. They are straightforward and cluttered with pop culture references that feel unneeded.

Do Girls” also becomes the most problematic track of the album. It is not only disrespectful to queer women, but it feels incredibly creepy. With that in mind, London has matured his sound but still has a lot of room to grow.

Each track on “Vibes” is catchy, percussive and never strays from what London is best at conveying. The album is able to condense the clustered sound of his first album and put it into a masterfully produced record that carries an abundance of different sounds that work together instead of against each other.

Troy Kowalchuk can be reached at tkowalchuk@umass.edu.

6

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Comics

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WE WANT YOUR COMICS! Put your comics in front of thousands of readers.

Questions? Comments? Email us: comics@dailycollegian.com

My panburger is burning beyond all help.

P oorly D rawn L ines

B y R eza F arazmand

The coast gourd is here!

aquarius D inosaur C omics

HOROSCOPES Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

I know you can’t bear to see your friends throw out their leftovers, but barricading B y R yan N orth yourself in front of the garbage is a bit much.

pisces

Feb. 19 - Mar. 20

leo

Jul. 23 - Aug. 22

Ah, yes, winter. The season of cute coats, fun hats, and great zippers to painfully twist your hair into.

virgo

Aug. 23 - Sept. 22

Those who look forward to sweater weather and being cozy clearly prefer discomfort and sadness for whole seasons at a time.

Is that a skunk you see on campus or is it your new great way to get out of that test in ten minutes?

aries

Mar. 21 - Apr. 19

libra

Sept. 23 - Oct. 22

taurus

Apr. 20 - May. 20

scorpio

Oct. 23 - Nov. 21

gemini

May. 21 - Jun. 21

A melted cookie goes great with ice cream.

The same cannot be said for melted ice cream and a cookie.

Instead of eating an entire bag of cheetos, try consuming a cup of salt. It has the same amount of salt with three times the bite.

Jeans are like a fine cheese: Holes in your jeans implies good jean bacteria. You can tell by the pungent smell and age.

You better get that chip off your shoulder, man. No one likes that attitude or grease stain it will leave on your shirt.

sagittarius

Nov. 22 - Dec. 21

Halloween is over and we find ourselves with a full blown gourd crisis across campus.

Someone call the coast gourd.

Candy corn and popcorn: The world’s most delicious father-daughter dance.

cancer

capricorn

Jun. 22 - Jul. 22

Your jack o’lantern that you carved to look like a vampire will only decompose if you put a stake in it, cover in garlic and bury it deep.

Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

Too late for breakfast but too early for lunch?

Try wrapping your salad up in a pancake. The buttermilk and lettuce combo is scrumptuous.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

HOCKEY

TOP 25

continued from page 8

him the playmaker that drew so much excitement and anticipation, picking up three points in his last three games – including his first career goal Saturday.

Then there’s Power who, coming off a career-high 10 goals his junior season, only recorded three assists through seven games. But, like Vatrano, Power’s points have all come recently – this past weekend – which provides some optimism moving forward.

However, if the Minutemen want to hang around with Hockey East’s elite, these experienced pieces must turn their recent points into more consistent play.

The biggest question for the Minutemen rests in their goaltending situation. After allowing 11 goals in two games, incumbent Steve Mastalerz sat in favor of freshman Henry Dill for the next four games where Dill posted a serviceable 2-2 record.

But after Dill struggled

7

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

continued from page 8

Hemingway Stadium.

Winston and the Seminoles do it again

ALEC ZABRECKY/COLLEGIAN

Oleg Yevenko (25) defends against Boston University in a loss on Oct. 10. in Friday’s loss, Mastalerz retook his position in the crease and played well, allowing three goals in Saturday’s defeat.

While Dill gave a struggling UMass defense a momentary jolt, it is crucial that Mastalerz returns to the solid form that was prevalent last season for the sake of the Minutemen’s backline, as well as for Dill’s continuing development.

The freshmen have done their part so far this season to keep UMass’ hopes alive of competing in the Hockey East. However, in order to produce results in the winloss column, it’s the proven group of upperclassmen that must continue to show signs of breaking out.

Anthony Chiusano can be reached at achiusano@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @a_chiusano24.

Incredible comeback wins are not uncommon for No. 2 Florida State, as it rallied to come back to beat No. 25 Louisville 42-31 after a 21-0 first half deficit. Florida State has now won 24 straight games, with Saturday’s matchup being another thrilling comeback similar to previous wins over Auburn and North Carolina State.

Seminoles’ quarterback Jameis Winston threw three interceptions in the game but came back with three touchdown passes to lead his team to victory. All of his touchdown passes came on big plays, including a 68-yard touchdown to Travis Rudolph, a 47-yard score to Ermon Lane and a 35-yard touchdown to Freddie Stevenson.

Winston ended the day with 401 yards passing on

MCT

Jameis Winston led Florida State to a 42-31 victory over Louisville.

25 completions.

FSU running back Dalvin Cook added a pair of rushing touchdowns that consisted of a third quarter 40-yard touchdown and a fourth quarter 38-yard score.

By the end of the game, the Seminoles outgained Louisville 574 yards to 488 yards.

Despite the loss, Cardinals’ wide receiver

DeVante Parker finished with eight receptions for 214 yards.

Next week, FSU will take on Virginia at 6:30 p.m. at Doak Campbell Stadium. Louisville will hope to come back off of a tough loss at Boston College at 7:15 p.m.

Jesse Korzen can be reached at jkorzen@umass.edu.

MLB

San Francisco proving to be next model franchise

By Marcos Breton The Sacramento Bee

There is a timeless quality to the 2014 San Francisco Giants, the champions of baseball whose style and substance are both classic and modern.

The new champions are thoroughly contemporary: many of them young players sporting garish tattoos, enamored of music and clothing that’s more boyish than business. Yet, they are conservative of spirit, much like players of the early 1960s who held their emotions close and avoided controversial words and provocative actions.

Their ranks are diverse, as has been true of baseball for decades, but in a manner more typical for Major League Baseball in 2014: Venezuelans, Dominicans and American-born Latinos blending easily with players from Hickory, N.C.; Leesburg, Ga.; Mobile, Ala; and Yonkers, N.Y. Manager Bruce Bochy is a throwback with his gravelly voice and no-nonsense manner. He is also a connoisseur of fine wine, and part of a management team that employs complex analytics to distill games down to match-ups that put their players in the best position to win.

The Giants beat the Kansas City Royals to win their third World Series in five years, and did it with players who, for the most part, are homegrown and committed to the team for the long haul – also like dynasty teams of yore.

Star ter Madison Bumgarner – statistically

the greatest World Series pitcher ever – is just 25 and committed contractually to the Giants for five more seasons. Catcher and team leader Buster Posey is 27 and locked in for eight more seasons.

Dynamic right fielder Hunter Pence, 31, is not a free agent until 2019. First baseman Brandon Belt, 26; shortstop Brandon Crawford, 27; and second baseman Joe Panik, 24, are years away from free agency.

Even the team’s veteran players speak to tradition: Pablo Sandoval – the Giants’ best offensive player in the 2014 title run – is 28 and now a free agent. The beloved and corpulent “Kung Fu Panda” might be leaving to the highest bidder this winter after setting a record for most post-season hits.

Also poised to leave is 31-year-old Sergio Romo, the bearded, tattooed, diminutive relief pitcher and proud Mexican American from Brawley, Calif.

Both Romo and Sandoval were scouted, signed and developed by a Giants ownership group in place for more than 20 years. Longtime coaches, scouts and front office leaders also raised other key players in impressive succession: Posey, Belt, Panik, Crawford – and pitchers Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum.

The Giants belong to the ages now for the championships they won in 2010, 2012 and 2014. It’s a run like no other National League team since the St. Louis Cardinals won championships in 1942, ‘44 and ‘46.

The Giants did it in the

BINGHAMTON first in the 200-meter individual medley on Friday.

Bomprezzi said he was very pleased with the team as a whole but added that Wright’s performance stood out to him the most. “(Wright) won his first collegiate race in the 200 IM with an outstanding finish,” Bomprezzi said. “He was losing going into the last 50 but he held on and surpassed the competitor in the last few yards.”

Minutewomen also prove victorious The women’s team defeated Binghamton by a score of 195-125 after heading into the second day of events with a 17-point lead.

The Minutewomen

post-steroid-era style, with strong pitching, solid defense and smart base running. As a team, the Giants hit only two home runs in the sevengame series - and none after center fielder Gregor Blanco led off Game 2 with a solo home run.

That means the team went the final 51 innings of the World Series without hitting a single ball over the fence. That used to happen in baseball - in the early part of the 20th century.

Posey, the past World Series hero with more than one memorable home run to his name, hit nothing but singles during October 2014.

His moments of glory were subtler.

Posey shined in the way he called pitches thrown by Bumgarner as the tall lefthander won the first game of the series, then pitched a complete game shutout in the fifth and five scoreless innings to close out the climactic seventh.

The Giants rode Bumgarner’s broad shoulders to wins in three World Series games and stepped up as a team to win one game without him. With the Giants evenly matched with the Royals in every other respect, Bumgarner was the difference.

Some might call it luck, but the Giants selected Bumgarner in the 2007 amateur draft when nine other teams – including the Royals – chose other players. Two years before, Cain was the Giants’ pitching hero. Two years before that it was Lincecum. It’s all been part of a vision of success built player by player.

MCT

Giants manager Bruce Bochy celebrates with the World Series trophy at the team’s World Series victory parade.

Looking over the entire postseason, virtually every key Giant had a team-saving moment. Emergency left fielder Travis Ishikawa became a Giants legend with his walk-off home run to close out the National League Championship Series. Reliever Yusmeiro Petit stopped opponents for long stretches of critical post-season play. First baseman Belt hit the winning home run in the longest postseason game in history, an 18-inning Giants triumph over the Washington Nationals in early October.

Oft-injured outfielder Michael Morse stroked the game-winning hit in Game 7 of the World Series.

In the end, Bumgarner posted the lowest career earned run average in the

continued from page 8

improved to 2-1 after coming off of a loss to Boston University last week.

UMass coach Bob Newcomb said he thought his team’s performance was much better than against the Terriers.

“The way they swam was just better, (they) swam much better than last time and the whole team stepped up,” Newcomb said.

Meriza Werenski remained undefeated this season, winning both the 400-meter individual medley and 200-meter freestyle.

She has won her first eight events of the season.

When asked about Werenski’s impact on the team, Newcomb had high praise for the sophomore.

“She is an exceptional

“The way they swam was just better, (they) swam much better than last time and the whole team stepped up.”

Bob Newcomb, UMass coach athlete, one of the best athletes I’ve ever had,” he said.

Newcomb also stressed how important it is for Werenski to step up as a team leader in her second year.

“She’s a great team player,” Newcomb said. “She’s always the first one picking teammates up, encouraging them, giving them high fives. I wouldn’t trade her for anything.”

Senior Zoe Judd also contributed to UMass’ win as she won the 200-meter freestyle and placed second

in the 100-meter freestyle.

Freshman Emma Roush won her first event of the year in the 1-meter diving event.

“It was great to see her step up,” Newcomb said.

“We had our lead diver out because of injury and it was great to see (Roush) step up.”

The Minutemen and women return home this Saturday when they face Brown.

Victor Pusateri can be reached at vpusateri@umass.edu.

history of the World Series.

Meanwhile, Sandoval has one of the highest career batting averages in World Series history. Such numbers deflate storylines that would characterize the team’s success as unlikely or surprising.

They may have finished second in their division and won just 88 games, but the Giants also suffered seasonending injuries to Cain and outfielder Angel Pagan.

They had to plug pitcher Jake Peavy into the mix in late summer, trading for him though he had been languishing in Boston. He credited Posey – his extraordinary catcher – for his resurgence in the final month of the season.

Panik stepped in to close a gaping hole at second base,

and once he did, the Giants began to take off - too late to win their division but in the nick of time to be that team no one wanted to face in October.

It was then that Bochy told his players they had “championship blood.” They rallied around the phrase and proved him right.

Now, the Giants are threetime champions and the model franchise of the modern game: a winning chemistry based on steady teamwork, not home-run heroes.

The baseball world is debating whether the Giants are a true dynasty, but the Giants aren’t interested in the discussion. They are content to let the indelible images of 2014 speak now and for years to come.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Sports@DailyCollegian.com

@MDC_SPORTS

SWIMMING

UM shows promise in two wins Men and women top Binghamton in N.Y.

By Victor Pusateri Collegian Staff

CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

Junior Shane Walsh (10) carries the puck against Dalhousie in an exhibition on Oct. 4.

HOCKEY

UMass needs more from veterans

Minutemen show spark in inconsistent flashes

T

hrowing moral victories aside, this past weekend was a disappointment for the Massachusetts hockey team.

Heading into the final leg of an extensive six-game road trip, UMass hoped to leave Orono, Maine on a positive note against the thenAnthony winless Black Bears.

Playing competitiveChiusano ly in each of the two games, this optimistic sendoff was fully plausible.

However, following two straight one-score defeats in highly contrasting situations – a comeback attempt that fell short in overtime on Friday and a blown 2-0 lead on Saturday –UMass returns home

on a three-game losing streak and in ninth place within the Hockey East conference (2-5-0, 1-4-0 Hockey East).

For a young team that boasts nine freshmen, the average UMass hockey fan may perceive the team’s early struggles as a result of the Minutemen’s inexperience.

But this hasn’t been the case.

Instead, it’s been the freshmen class who has stepped up and has arguably been the most productive through UMass’ first seven games.

For all the concern before the season about who would replace last season’s senior class that included top scoring threats like Conor Sheary and Branden Gracel, this year’s team has shown visible offensive growth thus far. One of the reasons for this improvement has been the freshmen class’ quick adaptation to the collegiate level of play.

While the 2013 Minutemen finished second-to-last in goals per game, this year’s team is currently

situated in the middle of the pack with a 2.71 average. Of their 19 goals, nine have been scored by first-year players.

Freshman Dennis Kravchenko has been at the forefront of UMass’ offensive attack with three goals and five points, both team-highs.

His output ranks him eighth nationally in points by a freshman and second in the Hockey East only behind Boston University’s freshman phenom Jack Eichel.

Playing on the top line flanked by fellow freshman Patrick Lee and senior captain Troy Power, Kravchenko was the catalyst over the weekend in the Minutemen’s could-have-been wins, scoring all three of his goals in the two-game set.

Kravchenko’s linemate Lee has also been a key component for the Minutemen, with two goals, including a game-winner with 9.9 seconds left in regulation in UMass’ first win on Oct. 18.

Prior to the regular season,

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Minutemen coach John Micheletto noted that the nine freshmen brought “a different energy, a different dynamic.” On the first line, Kravchenko and Lee represent this refreshing change and important impact that the underclassmen have had.

With two goals each, Jake Horton, Keith Burchett and sophomores Ray Pigozzi and Steven Iacobellis add to the scoring success and invigorating atmosphere that has carried the Minutemen so far.

But now it is time for UMass’ more experienced pieces to add to what its younger contributors have already set in place.

Despite encouraging performances over the weekend, the Minutemen must find more offensive success from Power and redshirt sophomore Frank Vatrano.

After sitting all of last regular season due to eligibility issues, Vatrano finally showed what makes see

HOCKEY on page 7

Both the Massachusetts men and women swimming and diving team were victorious in their respective meets against Binghamton over the weekend.

The meets started on Friday and carried over to Saturday. It was the first multi-day meet of the season for both teams.

The men’s team captured its first win of the season as it defeated the Bearcats 205.5113.5. Before the win, the Minutemen lost their first two meets of the season to Army and Boston University.

It was a complete team victory as UMass won 14 out of 15 individual events, including 11 of the 12 Saturday matches to outscore Binghamton 160-66.

Michael Glenn won the 400meter individual medley, 100meter breaststroke and the 200-meter breaststroke with a record time of 2:05:77 for his first victory of the season in that event.

Alessandro Bomprezzi continued his strong start to the season by coming in first in the 500meter freestyle on Friday and the 200-meter and 1000-meter freestyles on Saturday. After placing second in his first race of the season, Bomprezzi has won seven straight races.

“The team definitely showed how it is progressing this weekend,” Bomprezzi said. “We had great swims from the freshmen which show potential for the upcoming meets.”

Two freshmen that particularly impressed this weekend were Oliver Wyeth and Owen Wright, as both accounted for a total of three meet events.

Wyeth won two backstroke events including the 100-meter race for the third time this year.

Wright won his first event at the collegiate level after placing see

BINGHAMTON on page 7

ROW I N G

Florida rushes to upset, UMass tames Green Monster Minutewomen earn “Last week, when we competed at the Head Ole Miss suffers set back two top-8 finishes of the Fish, (it) was definitely the defining

Rebels lose game, star in heartbreaker

touchdowns of his own.

The sophomore had an early two-yard touchdown in the first quarter in addition to a 65-yard score to

By Jesse Korzen Collegian Correspondent seal the deal with two minutes, 11 seconds left in the Florida football rungame. ning backs Matt Jones Even though Florida and Kelvin Taylor led the scored 38 points, Gators’ Gators to a 38-20 victory on quarterback Treon Harris Saturday as they combined was held to three complefor 389 rushing yards and tions for 27 yards on six four touchdowns to upset pass attempts.

Georgia.

Next week, Florida will After being down 7-0 take on Vanderbilt on in the first quarter, the the road at 7:30 p.m. The Gators (4-3, 3-3 SEC) ral- Bulldogs hope to bounce lied to score 31 unanswered back from the loss against points until the Bulldogs Kentucky for a noon kick(6-2, 4-2 SEC) responded off at Commonwealth with a touchdown early in Stadium. the fourth quarter.

Jones put Florida up by SEC showdown ends in two scores with an impresTigers’ victory sive 44-yard rushing touchdown in the beginning of No. 4 Ole Miss had the the third quarter. He then ball while trailing No. 3 started the fourth quarter Auburn by four points with his second touchdown with 1:30 left on the clock. of the day, stretching the Rebels’ quarterback Bo Gators’ lead to 31-7.

Wallace threw what looked Taylor compliment- to be a game-winning ed Jones’ success on the touchdown pass to receiver ground with two rushing Laquon Treadwell.

But in an attempt to break a tackle and reach the end zone, Treadwell fumbled on the goal line and the Tigers recovered.

The play was originally called a touchdown until it was reviewed and reversed.

Nick Marshall led Auburn (7-1, 4-1 SEC) to victory with a big day in the air and on the ground.

He finished the game with 254 yards and two touchdown passes, as well as 50 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the ground.

Even though Treadwell lost the fumble to lose the game, he led Ole Miss (7-2, 4-2 SEC) with 10 receptions, 103 yards and a touchdown.

On the play of the fumble, the sophomore suffered a broken leg and was carted off the field.

Next week, the Tigers hope to build off of this win and face off with Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m.at JordanHare Stadium. The Rebels will face Presbyterian at 12 p.m. ET at Vaughtsee

TOP 25 on page 7

By Christopher Martinez Collegian Correspondent

The Massachusetts rowing team closed the door on a sensational fall season, capping off its schedule with the Green Monster Invitational in Hanover, New Hampshire on Saturday.

The Minutewomen secured two top eight finishes in the meet while sending only two boats.

The Green Monster Invitational is regarded as a novice tournament that begins at the head of the Connecticut River in New Hampshire. In the race, UMass’ “A” team took sixth place with a time of 17:51.9 while the “B” team finished in eighth place with a time of 18:10.7.

The initial intention was to race again on Sunday but with severe weather conditions closing in, the Collegiate Small Boat Challenge was cancelled in order to prevent any accidents.

The Minutewomen’s

moment of our season ... we won in a more dominating fashion.”

Jim Dietz, UMass coach

performance on Saturday came one week after an astounding finish at the Head of the Fish in Saratoga Springs, New York. UMass earned nine first place finishes and finished the race with a commanding 13 total medals.

“Last week, when we competed at the Head of the Fish, (it) was definitely the defining moment of our season,” Minutewomen coach Jim Dietz said. “We went up there last year and ended up with similar results, but this year we won in a more dominating fashion which is proving to me that the squad is deeper than years’ past and continuing to gain experience.”

UMass received strong performances in the Women’s Collegiate 2x, where the duo of Krysten Menks and Emily Mann

grabbed a first place finish with a time of 13:07.56, easily coasting ahead of their second place companions by three seconds.

Carly Zanatta, Rachel Boudreau and Lauren Azuela finished third, fourth and sixth respectively in the Women’s Collegiate 1x.

As the fall season ends, the Minutewomen look to carry their momentum into the spring, where they will compete again in March, starting with a matchup against Coast Guard in Hadley.

A season ago, UMass raced its way into the NCAA Tournament. The Minutewomen plan to spend winter break gaining traction as they look to make a return.

Christopher Martinez can be reached at cmart0@umass.edu.