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Wednesday, September 11, 2013
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Dean Gelaye Hampshire DC officially re-opens steps into Blue Wall next to undergo renovations interim VC role Kim’s resignation announced in June By Chelsie Field Collegian Staff
U n ive r s i t y of Massachusetts Dean of Students Enku Gelaye was appointed interim vice chancellor of student affairs July 1 after former vice chancellor Jean Kim announced her resignation. The quiet summer switch was made known to the UMass community via a June 14 email, in which Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy thanked Kim for her four years of service, citing Kim’s pursuit of “other professional opportunities” as her reason for leaving. Kim could not be reached for comment and did not leave forwarding contact information with the school, the Massachusetts Daily Collegian was told. In a prepared statement, Subbaswamy said Gelaye “will be working closely with students on a number of initiatives as we welcome them back to campus
this week.” “We plan to launch a search process for a permanent vice chancellor in the months ahead,” he added. Gelaye described her role as dean of students as always being “second in command” of Student Affairs, a role that historically, in the absence of a vice chancellor, steps up “for the sake of continuity.” “It’s built in succession planning,” she said. Gelaye will continue to fulfill her position as dean of students, saying she views the interim vice chancellor addition as “taking on a broader administrative role.” “I’ve always done dean of students and something else,” she said. “I’m essentially still playing that role … I’m happy to do it on behalf of the students and the staff.” She said no new hires have been made due to her additional undertakings. Her roles with the University—old and new— are primarily leadershipbased and involved with see
By Conor snell Collegian Staff
The University of Massachusetts held a ceremonial ribbon cutting on Sept. 10 to officially celebrate the re-opening of the newly renovated Hampshire Dining Common in the Southwest Residential Area.The ribbon cutting was the main event of the evening, in which Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy unleashed giant scissors to break the finish line of this redesign effort, a two-year, $15.5 million project with nine months of construction time. The chancellor, Director of
Auxiliary Enterprises Ken Toong and Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance James Sheehan made congratulatory speeches. “This was a fantastic event, and marks great progress for UMass dining,” said Sheehan after the event. “The fact that we were able to take what was essentially a non-functional, outdated dining common and transform it into something much better and healthier, just in time for the opening of the Commonwealth Honors College dorms … it’s great,” he said. The ceremony also featured five guest chefs from around the nation, serving specialty foods inspired by various international cuisines.
To top off the pomp and circumstance, a section of the UMass Minuteman Marching Band marched into the hall and performed a rendition of the UMass fight song amongst a crowd of diners. The administration anticipated about 3,500 students to attend the celebration. “This event was our way of showcasing to students and alumni what the renovated dining common has to offer,” said Toong. “We have implemented healthier eating options in this hall, with a specific focus on providing more locally-sourced foods, as well as cutting back on sodas and soft drinks,” With 1,500 students now living in the Commonwealth Honors College Residential
Complex, there was a need for more dining options in the Southwest Residential Area. Thus, the newly redesigned dining common now boasts an ovular layout, the first such floor plan of any university dining hall in the nation, according to Toong. The kitchen and service area is centered in the middle of the hall, with seating and drink stations located around the perimeter. This, Toong says, is meant to reduce student traffic around the service area and improve the flow of the dining common. According to Toong, the renovated Hampshire will stand as a model for the “new generation” of UMass Dining, focusing on sustainsee
HAMPSHIRE on page 3
From past to present
CHANCELLOR on page 2
SEPTEMBER 11 REMEMBRANCE EVENTS Amherst Remembrance Ceremony | Center Fire Station, 9:45 a.m. September 11 Vigil | Outside Memorial Hall, UMass, 6 p.m. ZOE MERVINE/COLLEGIAN
“Metamorphosis,” an exhibit in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, documents the transformation of UMass from an agricultural college to a university.
Redesigned homepage, Obama postpones war vote news web site launched in Congress against Syria WORLD
UMass improves gateway web site By AvivA luttrell Collegian Staff
Students re t u r n ing to the University of Massachusetts website this semester may notice a change after a recent revamp to the school’s homepage.Designed to improve navigation and feature more multimedia content, including videos and slideshows, the update was completed over the summer. “The idea is for it to be sort of a one-stop, get your information here or get links to information elsewhere on campus,” said UMass spokesperson Daniel Fitzgibbons. The University also
launched a redesigned News and Media Relations website alongside the homepage, which combines the former internal news site for faculty and staff, known as “In the Loop,” with the former external news site. A new internal news section, called “Inside UMass,” will replace the previous site. According to Fitzgibbons, the two sites were redesigned as part of a coordinated plan to improve communication on campus, saying, “I think that what we tried to do was employ the best practices we could find at other schools.” The umass.edu homepage, also known as the “gateway,” now features feeds from the University’s news and events sites, as well as links to UMass’s
social media pages, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. According to Fitzgibbons, the news site, like the gateway, was enhanced to include more multimedia features. He said that this change will allow UMass to better promote campus events. “It’s a good way for the outside world, including parents and relatives of students, to see the kinds of things that are going on here,” he said. UMass senior and OIT employee Juliana Van Roggen said that although she doesn’t visit the homepage as frequently as she did when she was an underclassman, she still prefers the new layout to its predecessor. see
WEBSITE on page 2
By AnitA KumAr, WilliAm douglAs And mAttheW sChoField
McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama asked Congress on Tuesday to postpone a vote on airstrikes against Syria to allow time to explore a Russian proposal to get Syria to turn over its chemical weapons to international control. Obama made the dramatic last-minute turnaround in closed-door meetings with members of Congress and then in a prime-time address to the nation, even as he was dispatching Secretary of State John Kerry to Geneva to meet with his Russian counterpart later this week. Their goal: a binding resolution in the U.N. Security Council, where Russia had
threatened to veto any move against its ally in Syria. “Over the last few days, we’ve seen some encouraging signs, in part because of the credible threat of U.S. military action,” Obama said in a 15-minute address from the White House. “It’s too early to tell whether this offer will succeed ... but this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force.” As the United States stepped back from the thorny debate over whether to strike, Syria said it was already agreeing to the Russian proposal to surrender its chemical weapons and adhere to a longstanding global arms control agreement that bans the production, stockpiling and use of such weapons. “We are ready to honor our commitments under this con-
vention, including providing information about these weapons,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Moallem said in Moscow. Obama, as well as the leaders of France and Britain, agreed to work with Russia and China to explore the proposal that would call for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. France said it would propose a resolution that would include a requirement that those responsible for an Aug. 21 alleged chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb be referred to the International Criminal Court for trial. Obama worked anew to try to rally support from a skeptical nation for military action against Syria, even if that is now more to prod see
SYRIA on page 3