ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Field hockey heads to Boston
UGG ALTERNATIVES
PAGE 8
PAGE 5
THE MASSACHUSETTS
A free and responsible press
DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Serving the UMass community since 1890
News@DailyCollegian.com
UMass grads start clothing line GOP offer is
rejected by Democrats No end in sight for gov’t shutdown By LesLey CLArk, WiLLiAm DougLAs AnD AnitA kumAr
McClatchy Washington Bureau
COURTESY OF DAN BARRENECHEA
Dan Barrenechea and Erica Baptiste spend time with the children of Tacna, Peru, who have benefited from their donations.
By AvivA LuttreLL
T
Collegian Staff
hey spent their senior year together at the University of Massachusetts, developing and launching a clothing line with a social conscience. In the fall after they graduated, they made their first charitable donation, and a month ago, the two – Dan Barrenechea and Erica Baptise, both 2012 graduates of UMass – traveled to Peru to meet the children who have benefited from their vision. “It was a milestone in my career, in my life. I’ve never done anything like that
before,” Barrenechea said. Barrenechea founded Nazca Line Apparel and Baptiste designed the collection, which features designs based on ancient Peruvian culture. This summer, the two traveled across the United States promoting their line, and they visited Peru to meet the 60 children in the city of Tacna who have been aided by their donations. While there, Barrenechea and Baptiste were also able to see the source of their inspiration – the mysterious Nazca Lines. The Nazca Lines are ancient desert drawings that are estimated
to be 2,000 years old, and are so large they can only be completely seen from an airplane. Barrenechea said that he got the idea to create a clothing line after a family trip to their home country of Peru in the summer of 2011. He and his father found tag-less pants with interestingly patterned designs at a market, and decided to purchase 10 pairs to bring home and sell. “We just started thinking it would be cool to bring some Peruvian culture to America,” Barrenechea said. Although he wasn’t able to see the Nazca Lines on that trip, Barrenechea said
that the area he and his family visited was nearby, and he was inspired after learning about them. “I thought about creating a kind of interpretation of those Nazca Lines, because I’ve come to find that a lot of people in America don’t know about them,” he said. “I think it would be a really cool way to spread the word, and of course I want to give back to the country.” In his senior year at UMass, Barrenechea collaborated with Baptiste, a studio arts major who he had been friends with since see
NAZCA LINE on page 2
WASHINGTON– National parks and monuments closed and hundreds of thousands of federal employees began an unpaid furlough Tuesday, with no end in site of the first government shutdown in 17 years. President Barack Obama accused Republicans in the House of Representatives of forcing the partial government shutdown because of their “ideological crusade” to stop the new Affordable Care Act from taking full effect as scheduled Tuesday. Republicans countered that they have been trying to keep the government open but that the Democrats refuse to negotiate at all over any change to the health care law. Obama said he was willing to negotiate on a range of issues, but not under threat of repeal of a law enacted in 2010, upheld by the Supreme Court, and debated in a 2012 election that he won over a Republican who wanted to repeal the law. He warned that the shutdown, which has furloughed an estimated 800,000 federal workers, could hurt a still fragile economy. “That’s not how adults operate,” he said.
“Certainly that’s not how our government should operate. ... We’re better than this. Certainly the American people are a lot better than this.” Looking to ease the pain of the shutdown - or the political fallout - the Republican House offered its newest proposal, this one a series of three votes to restore spending for three popular areas: the Department of Veterans Affairs, the District of Columbia with its landmark monuments, and the National Park Service. “That’s a reasonable, productive way to move forward,” Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said during an outdoor news conference with House and Senate Republicans. Senate Democrats insisted on an all-or-nothing approach to reopening the government. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., dismissed the House proposals as “just another wacky idea from the tea party-driven Republicans” and an effort to “cherry pick some of the few parts of government that they like.” The White House said it would veto any partial restoration of government funding. “The president and the Senate have been clear that they won’t accept this kind of game-playing, and if these bills were to come to the president’s desk he would veto see
SHUTDOWN on page 3
Health care launch sees UMatter campaign aims to more than a few errors improve UM experience Millions of online users caused crash By tony Pugh
McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON – The nationwide launch of the new online health insurance marketplaces got off to a rocky start on Tuesday. Websites malfunctioned and crashed in some states and stalled in others because of a combination of technical problems and the millions of people who overwhelmed the systems trying to get their first glimpse of the new coverage offerings. The 36 states that use federal systems to run their marketplaces had online enrollment problems early and often as slow, clunky website navigation caused long delays for online users shortly after 8 a.m., when the six-month open enrollment period for 2014 coverage began. The three dozen states include 27 federally run marketplaces; seven jointly run
by the federal government and the states; and New Mexico and Idaho, which each operates a state-run marketplace that uses the federal computer system. Because all 36 use the same computer system, they all experienced virtually the same types of problems, such as on-screen dropdown menus that wouldn’t work properly. The malfunctions prevented users from creating individual marketplace accounts, which halted their online enrollment efforts for hours in states such as Missouri, Illinois, Florida, Michigan and Virginia. In Kansas City, Mo., Leonard Hopkins was unable to find coverage for his daughter after spending 90 minutes on the state’s federally run marketplace website. “I have tried calling the help center and got an automated system which couldn’t help,” he said in an email. “Tried using the ‘chat’ service and was told they would connect with someone who could help when available.
Waited 10 minutes and then was disconnected.” Even the states that run their own marketplaces experienced similar breakdowns. Hawaii’s system crashed. Online enrollment in Maryland was halted shortly after 8 a.m. due to “bottlenecking” caused by 300,000 page visits by 87,000 unique visitors by midafternoon, said Carolyn Quattrocki, executive director of the governor’s office of health care reform. Federal Department of Health and Human Services officials said the problems resulted from a high volume of Web users and technical glitches. “We, likewise, received word that some users were having difficulty creating accounts,” Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a telephone briefing Tuesday afternoon. “So we did two things: We added capacity, and we made see
HEALTH CARE on page 3
Promotes support among students By rose gottLieB Collegian Correspondent
A recent campus climate survey taken of University of Massachusetts undergraduate students revealed that many people feel disconnected and isolated from the campus community. It also showed that many students have witnessed incidents of violence, harassment or other behaviors that can be potentially harmful to others. According to Dr. Harry Rockland-Miller, director of the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health, the results of the campus climate survey were not shocking. He did say, however, that the survey “was an important part in highlighting the need to do something.” To bring about this change, Rockland-Miller and UMass Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Campus Life Enku Gelaye collaborated with other faculty, staff
and student committees to develop a program that would address these issues. This program, known as UMatter at UMass, is being launched this year. UMatter at UMass is a campaign that seeks to help students who feel disconnected on campus, encourage students to be proactive and reach out to those around them, raise awareness of the resources the University provides and ensure that UMass is a safe, caring and compassionate environment. Rockland-Miller and Gelaye explained that at such a large school, it is easy for students to feel lost and disconnected. “In a big community, it’s sort of easy to get lost in the crowd,” Rockland-Miller said. This can be especially difficult for freshmen. Gelaye explained that freshman year is “a huge transition in a person’s life.” “All of a sudden you’re here in a very large environment (and) you have to remake yourself,” she said. “You have to find your way
in this world that is UMass.” “For some it doesn’t come that easily,” she continued. Students who feel isolated and alone may experience depression, engage in risky behaviors or even have thoughts of suicide. Often, their peers do not realize that they need help, or do not know how to get them the help they need. In situations where students are experiencing violence, harassment, bullying, hazing or sexual assault, it can be hard for others to step in and help. Many people feel uncomfortable or unsafe intervening, or simply do not know how to help or who to get help from. Students who feel isolated or unsafe often do not know where to turn either. Gelaye points out that these students are more likely to go to a friend than to a University staff member. The UMatter campaign will work to inform students, staff and faculty on how they can step up and help in these situations, and where they see
UMATTER on page 3