KISHI BASHI
NEW QUARTERBACK, SAME RESULT K-STATE TOPS UMASS 37-7
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TAKES NEW PAGE 4 DIRECTION
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THE MASSACHUSETTS
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DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com
Monday, September 16, 2013
Serving the UMass community since 1890
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Students protest blood drive UMass rises in Students say ban on national rankings gay blood is dated By: aViVa luttrell Collegian Staff
U n ive r s i t y of Massachusetts junior Tyler Pereira wants you to donate blood because he cannot. On Sept. 12, Pereira and several other students stood outside the UMass Police Department’s annual 9/11 memorial blood drive in the Campus Center basement holding signs protesting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s policy of “deferring” gay men from donating blood.The policy, which has been in place since 1983, states that any male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977, is ineligible to donate. Armed with fact sheets, the demonstrators hoped to educate and inform curious
passersby of the implications they say this policy carries. “Right now, 38 percent of people are eligible to donate,” said Pereira. He added that less than 10 percent actually do. Pereira argued that banning donations from the gay population is not only detrimental, but also discriminatory. “I think [the ban] is saying that gay men are second-class citizens. We’re healthy, but we can’t help our fellow man,” said Pereira. Todd Ellis, a UMass junior who was among the protesters, said the ban is a civil rights issue. “What if black people weren’t allowed to donate blood?” he asked. “It’s all about equality.” America’s Blood Centers and the American Red Cross believe it’s time for a change. In 2006, they presented a joint statement to the FDA’s Blood Products Advisory Committee stating their belief that “the
current lifetime deferral for men who have had sex with other men is medically and scientifically unwarranted” and recommending that the eligibility criteria “be modified and made comparable with criteria for other groups at increased risk for sexual transmission of transfusiontransmitted infections.” The AABB, American Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers (ABC) have appealed to the FDA for a change in policy to alter the indefinite deferral for a male that has sex with another male to a 12-month deferral period. The FDA, however, states on its website that “current scientific data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that, as a group, men who have sex with other men are at a higher risk for transmitting infectious diseases or HIV than are individuals in other risk categories,” and that the deferral
policy “is based on the documented increased risk of certain transfusion transmissible infections, such as HIV, associated with male-to-male sex and is not based on any judgment concerning the donor’s sexual orientation.” In the past, there was no reliable way to test for HIV in blood. Today, however, all donated blood must go through rigorous testing before it can be used in a hospital. The blood is subject to an immunoassay, which tests for HIV-related antibodies that appear 15 to 25 days after infection, as well an RNA test, which can detect HIV almost immediately after infection. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has also been pushing for change. In August, she sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services asking the agency to reevaluate their see
PROTEST on page 2
Construction causes gas leak
JUSTIN SURGENT/COLLEGIAN
A gas leak in the center of campus on Thursday was quickly resolved after police, firefighters and Berkshire Gas Company arrived. Full story on page 3.
Listed as 40th best public university B y Veronica StracqualurSi
Collegian Correspondent
“We’re glad to be number 40, but [the rankings] don’t change our policy or focus,” said Fitzgibbons. “We continue to focus on and provide the best education possible.”Fitzgibbons added that UMass’s rankings increase people’s interest in applying and enrolling at UMass. Since 2004, according to OIR data, the Commonwealth Honors College and first-year enrollments have been on the rise, with only a slight dip in 2011. According to the U.S. News website, the university ranking system works by first categorizing schools based on their mission and location. They then “gather data from and about each school in up to 16 areas related to academic excellence.” The requirements for the U.S. News & World Report rankings changes each year. This year, the U.S. News ranked universities on criteria like peer assessments, g raduation and freshman retention rates and the newly enrolled students’ high school class standing and SAT and ACT scores. Schools are given an extensive questionnaire they fill out and then send back to U.S. News. The changes in how schools report their data is the key reason why some schools move in the rankings. According to the digital magazine’s website, the “rankings are designed to help students and parents make an informed decision.” “A lot of school seniors use this guide and others to decide. But it’s not the be all and end all,” said Fitzgibbons. “Students really need to go out and visit schools.”
Up two spots from last year, the University of Massachusetts has tied with two other universities as the 40th best public national university, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of the best colleges. UMass Amherst also ranked no. 91, along with five other universities in the best national universities category, an improvement from their no. 97 ranking last year. Though universities often brag about these high rankings, John Tierney of “The Atlantic” argues that the U.S. News’s rankings help push college costs higher. “The formula they use in calculating their rankings rewards schools that spend more money, so colleges and universities do precisely that, and then inevitably have to raise their tuition to cover growing costs,” Tierney said. Data collected from the UMass Office of Institutional Research (OIR) shows that the instate undergraduate fees for 2013 are nearly seven times the cost of tuition. Out-of-state and graduate students have seen similar hikes in tuition and required fees. Cailie Trombley, a junior at UMass, did not see the value of being ranked higher if it meant rising tuition.“It would be a big thing if we were number 1. But we’re number 40, so it doesn’t seem worth it to make us pay more,” she said. Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, associate director of the News and Media Relations, said that the rankings do not change how UMass is Veronica Stracqualursi can be run. reached at vstracqu@umass.edu.
Second annual block party Students will bike to celebrates, unites Amherst Boston for homeless Singer from ‘The Voice’ meets fans By KriStin laFratta Collegian Correspondent
Despite the gloomy weather, the second annual Amherst block party transformed North Pleasant Street into a festive celebration, inviting thousands of residents and students to come together and enjoy all that Amherst has to offer. Restaurant booths, live music and circus acrobats flooded the streets of downtown Amherst on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 12. The purpose of the block party, sponsored
by the Amherst Business Improvement District, is to unite the town’s varied demographics and show off the character of downtown.. “We are celebrating what is exciting and unique about our downtown. The restaurants, the shops – that we have a vibrant community,” said BID Interim Operations Director Sarah LaCour. U n ive r s i t y of Massachusetts political science professor Rebecca Woodland and her children, Emma Gajda, 10, and Gabe Gajda,14, refused to let the rain put a damper on their day. “We love the block party. It is so great to shut down the streets and let every-
one walk around,” said Woodland. She added that she felt that the merging of the different age groups helped combat the bad reputation of the area’s college students. “Something has to be done to repair the image,” said Woodland. LaCour explained the uniting effect of the block party, saying, “We are embracing all of the different spectrums of our community - the college students, the families, the elder people; everybody can come and participate in this event.” A number of UMass stusee
PARTY on page 3
Students hope to boost morale By Brian BeVilacqua Collegian Staff
Motivated by their interactions with homeless individuals in Amherst and Northampton, University of Massachusetts students Reed Fox and Mike McGrath are planning on riding their bikes over 100 miles into Boston. Fox and McGrath have taken on this challenge in order to raise funds and support for the Northampton Exercise Club, which offers therapeutic support to homeless
individuals through sports. The two riders will depart from Veterans Park in Northampton at 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 20 and bike to Hopkinton, the starting point for the Boston Marathon, where they will spend the night. The next day, they will bike the length of the marathon route into Boston. The students’ involvement with the Northampton Exercise Club began last fall when Fox was approached by Professor Todd Crosset, who wanted to connect concerned students to people who understood social work through sports. Fox was immediately interested and recruited McGrath and Paul Merriman, a senior at UMass.
The trio began raising money through startsomegood.com, collecting more than $1,200 for sports equipment, sneakers, clothes and snacks for the homeless men and women that the Northampton Exercise Club works with. With this new funding, they were able to play different sports with the homeless every Friday morning, but the group was compelled to do more. “We needed more funding and we did not want to do some cookie cutter fundraising or a little walk, we wanted to do something difficult. So one day I tweeted at Reed and said ‘Let’s bike to Boston,’ see
BIKE on page 3