Signing On
Winter Comes Earlier on TV
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THE MASSACHUSETTS
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DAILY COLLEGIAN
Thursday, February 5, 2015
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Committee presents diversity plan to University Community input is next step for UM
to emphasize that what was released is a draft, and is open to discussion at an open forum on Thursday from 4-5 p.m. in the Campus Center By Catherine Ferris Auditorium. Collegian Staff “What we’re doing is get The University of ting input from the commuMassachusetts has been nity. We’re doing less of a engaged in a two-year pro- presentation (today) and givcess focused on diversity, and ing people an opportunity to recently, a draft of a diver- give feedback,” he said. sity plan was released to the The committee, began campus community. writing the draft in late Robert Feldman, the dep- spring 2014. They also met in uty chancellor and chair of May, as well as a few times the steering committee that during the summer. It was put the plan together, wanted last semester that the com-
members of Student Bridges and Vinayak Rao, president of the Student Government Association. Part of the reason for the committee meeting last semester as frequently as they did had to do with the events surrounding Robert Feldman, Ferguson and the campus Deputy Chancellor and reaction. Feldman said the Chair of the Steering Committee emotion led them to feel a mittee began meeting once included Enku Gelaye, sense of urgency to accelerate the planning process. each week. Vice Chancellor of Student “We did a lot of looking Feldman said the mem- Affairs and Campus Life, at where we are as a cambers of the committee were Josh Odam and Jasmine pus, and where we should be “broad and terrific.” They Bertrand-Haliday, both going, and how we can get
“I think one of the hallmarks of the chancellor’s process as he’s laid this out is transparency. There really are no secrets. We also have a strong feeling that we want to get feedback from people.”
Snowboarding on the Beach
there,” Feldman said. “It was a very large task.” Through several sources of feedback, including meetings, presentations and meetings with the deans of different colleges, Feldman said the committee continues to collect data and feedback through “unit planning.” The data and feedback will be put into one plan, and Feldman sees a point in which there is a finished plan. But he is not interested in see
DIVERSITY on page 2
MASSPIRG targets costly textbooks Campaign pushes open-source books By Cecilia Prado Collegian Staff
ANDY CASTILLO/COLLEGIAN
A UMass student snowboards onto a rail during Winter Festival, an event hosted by the UMass Ski and Board Club and the University Programming Council.
A new campaign has been launched to raise awareness about opensource textbooks by MASSPIRG. Open source textbooks are textbooks licensed under an open copyright license, which allows faculty and students to download them for no cost or get affordable printed versions. According to Matt Magalhaes, a University of Massachusetts student working on the campaign, the objective is to educate students and teachers about this new tool that could possibly reduce student spending on textbooks by 80 percent. “Our goal is to teach professors about this relatively new tool
and how it could possibly help students reach their full potential,” said Magalhaes. The M A S S P I RG Education Fund released a survey showing that about 65 percent of student consumers opted out of buying a college textbook in the past because of the cost. The University has already signed an Open Education Initiative during fall 2014, which supports faculty interested in providing students a lowcost alternative to commercial textbooks. However, the majority of the courses at UMass still require students to buy traditional school materials. Z l at a M ys h ch u k , a senior majoring in Microbiology at the University, mentioned that students could easily see
TEXTBOOKS on page 3
Taiwan plane crash kills 31 US ‘inclined’ to arm Ukraine
Flight hit bridge, crashed into river By Yu-Tzu Chiu dpa
TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwanese passenger plane hurtled into a river after hitting a bridge shortly after taking off from a Taipei airport on Wednesday, killing at least 31 people. TransAsia Airways flight 235 with 53 passengers and five crew members on board was en route from Songshan Airport to Kinmen Island when it crashed after takeoff at 10:52 a.m. (0252 GMT), according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration. The twin-engine ATR 72 turboprop avoided the tall buildings of Taipei’s Nangang district, but its wing hit a bridge and it plunged into the river, a dramatic video posted online from a car’s dashcam showed. By late Wednesday, 40 people on the flight had been accounted for, the aviation authority said. Fifteen people injured were hospitalized, while 12 peo-
ple remained missing. The driver of a taxi, which was struck by the plane’s wing, and a passenger inside were also hospitalized. Rescuers hoisted the wreckage from the Keelung River with cranes. TransAsia Airways chief executive officer Peter Chen apologized to the public. He said there were 31 Chinese tourists and 22 Taiwanese passengers on board. Taiwan’s minister for the Mainland Affairs Council, a government body that deals with the Beijing authorities, said it would offer assistance to the family members of the affected Chinese tourists. According to the staterun Central News Agency, China’s equivalent Taiwan Affairs Office will send a team to the island as soon as possible. The cause of the crash was still unknown. Local media reported that analysts suspected that one of the engines lost power; the plane failed to gain altitude after takeoff. TransAsia Airways said the plane was the latest ATR-72-600 type craft and
Cluster-bombings reported recently By Carol J. Williams Los Angeles Times
MCT
TransAsia Airways flight 235 hit a bridge in Taiwan on Wednesday. The plane then crashed into the Keelung River, killing 48 of the 59 people on board. the engines were new. Its most recent safety check was conducted Jan. 26. Aviation authority director Lin Chih-ming said the plane was the same type as TransAsia Airways flight GE222 that crashed in Penghu in July 2014, killing 48 of the 59 people on board.
European security officials appealed to the warring parties in Ukraine on Wednesday to hold their fire for three days so that thousands of civilians can be evacuated from a battleground where hundreds have died in recent days, including in reported cluster-bomb attacks. Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia separatists has intensified since a brief lull over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, and fresh infusions of Russian arms and fighters have helped the rebels deal several strategic setbacks to the Kiev government. The shifting ground in the 10-month-old battle between the Russianbacked rebels and Western-allied Ukrainian troops has rekindled a debate in Washington and in Brussels over whether Kiev’s allies should provide the embattled govern-
ment with lethal aid. Ukrainian President Petro P o r o s h e n ko expressed high confidence Wednesday that the United States would provide the government with the weaponry it needs to beat back the latest separatist advances, which included taking control of the devastated Donetsk international airport that had been fiercely fought over since May. “I don’t have a slightest doubt that the decision to supply Ukraine with weapons will be made by the United States as well as by other partners of ours, because we need to have the capabilities to defend ourselves,” Poroshenko said during a visit to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, still g o ve r n m e n t - c o n t r o l l e d but bordering the separatist-occupied areas. Later Wednesday, President Barack Obama’s nominee as the next defense secretary, Ashton Carter, told his Senate confirmation hearing that he was “very much inclined” to provide the weapons the Ukrainian government
has been requesting for months. To date, U.S. and European assistance to the Kiev government has been limited to nonlethal military goods like nightvision goggles and body armor. “My responsibilities would be to protect America and its friends and allies in a turbulent and dangerous world,” Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We need to support Ukraine in defending themselves.” Polish officials said Tuesday they were prepared to provide arms to Ukraine, but other European Union members, in particular Germany, have warned against introducing more weapons into the conflict and called instead for stepped-up diplomatic intervention. Intensified fighting around the strategic rail hub in the eastern Ukraine town of Debaltseve prompted officials of the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to call for a threesee
UKRAINE on page 3