DAMAGE CONTROL
Electronic group
CONSPIRATOR hatches plans for Pearl Street show
Minutewomen snap two game losing streak
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The MassaChuseTTs
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Daily Collegian DailyCollegian.com
Thursday, October 3, 2013
GOP offers to open more gov’t to end shutdown Democrats want all restored or nothing By DaviD Lightman anD anita Kumar
McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and congressional leaders struggled Wednesday to find a path to ending the shutdown that closed much of the federal government for a second day and threatened to last far longer. Obama and the four leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate met at the White House for nearly 90 minutes, their first meeting since before the government shutdown. Little progress was apparent and both sides emerged offering the pointed, partisan complaints they had been making through days of the standoff. “The president reiterated one more time tonight that he will not negotiate,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in terse remarks to reporters after the session. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the meeting “unproductive” and said he was “disappointed” that Obama did not encourage Democrats to appoint a small group of negotiators to hash out a compromise with Republicans, as they have requested. Democrats were just as somber but more expansive. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., insisted Boehner only wants to negotiate keeping the government open for a few weeks, rather than talk about a longer term budget. “We’re through playing these little games. It’s all focused on Obamacare, that’s all it’s about,” said Reid, speaking about Republicans’ insis-
tence the Affordable Care Act be diluted or delayed. The White House meeting also included Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and featured a presentation about the dangers of default-the nation is expected to exhaust its borrowing authority in two weeks. “We should take the debt ceiling debate off the table,”’ insisted House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. Some Republicans are expected to craft a budget package that could reopen the government while increasing the debt limit. Even before the leaders arrived at the White House, Obama’s aides made clear that the president would not negotiate until after Republicans agreed to reopen the government at current spending levels. “He’s not going to engage in that kind of negotiation because he does not want to hold - or have held the openness of the government, the functioning of the government, or the world and American economy hostage to a series of demands,”’ said White House press secretary Jay Carney. The impasse has caused the first government shutdown in 17 years, with no end in sight. With the debt limit needing an increase by Oct. 17, Capitol lawmakers have suggested the budget and debt limit talks be merged. But Obama has said repeatedly Congress should raise the debt ceiling, and that he will not negotiate on the issue. Reid offered one way forward, saying he was willing to engage in negotiations over a long-term budget plan if Boehner allowed the House of Representatives to vote on a government funding plan with no strings. Reid and Boehner spoke see
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Milking ‘Hope’ for charity
jaclyn bryson/collegian
Hope the cow was constructed to collect money for the homeless and to remind Amherst residents to think about the local issue.
By JacLyn Bryson Collegian Staff
There is a cow in Amherst Center, standing guard outside the Loose Goose Café, quietly watching the traffic make its way down North Pleasant Street. But it isn’t real. The life-sized cow statue, named “Hope,” was unveiled Sept. 7 and functions like a giant piggy bank, inviting local passersby to drop their spare change into its mouth in support of Craig’s Place, a homeless shelter in Amherst. “People feed the cow, they feed Hope and there is hope for people who are homeless,” said Kevin Noonan, executive director of Craig’s Doors, the organization in charge of Craig’s Place. The construction of Hope follows the creation of the Counterfeit Cow Production’s documentary, “Homeless in a College Town,” which profiles the local homeless population in Amherst. According to Sari Gagnon, the director, she and her part-
ner, Matt Heron Duranti, the producer, were inspired to do this project after noticing the prevalence of the homeless community in the Amherst area. “Every time I got off the highway, on exit 19 to Route 9, I would see someone panhandling there,” said Gagnon of the times she frequently travelled between Connecticut, where she’s from, and Amherst. “What was unusual to me was that it was quite often new faces,” she added. According to Noonan, both filmmakers knew there was more they could do in addition to producing their documentary. “They wanted to do something that was more long-lasting, and something that would call attention to the people who are homeless,” he said. “So the cow is doing just that.” According to Gagnon, development of Hope began in Oct. 2012. The cow was constructed by local Amherst artist Kamil Peters who, accord-
ing to Noonan, created most of the statue from recycled metal such as propane tanks and a 275-gallon oil drum. “It’s an eye grabber,” said Gagnon of the final product. “But it’s not just something you can look at, it’s something that you interact with and can learn from, and that’s what’s going to draw the community in to helping with this sort of crisis.” Even though the cow statue was modeled after the Counterfeit Cow Production’s logo, Noonan believes it symbolizes more. “The cow is a nurturing thing,” he said. “In India, cows are sacred. They are allowed to walk down the center of the highway and no one would dare hit them or do anything to harm them. The cow is a symbol of life in many ways, and our philosophy is that everyone deserves a place to live.” According to Noonan, the hard work that went into making Hope a reality has paid off. So far, the cow has
raised almost $900. “It is something that would be set there in place, all year round, forever, really,” Heron Duranti said of why Hope will be a more successful tool for raising money than a typical, one-time fundraiser. And they still have more plans for Hope. Gagnon and Heron Duranti added that they would be interested in organizing a 5k run or a dance for Hope in order to keep increasing funds. “There’s all kinds of things that we could do that really get the community involved in helping,” Gagnon said. “So I think the cow is a great fundraising tool for the future.” Heron Duranti added that what he really wants to see is not only engagement from the community, but contribution from local students. “What I really want to have happen is to get a lot of student involvement, from all the schools in the area, but mainsee
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Transfer students adjust Celebrated author Tom to UMass campus, culture Clancy dies at age 66 Freshmen not the only ones adapting By haLey schiLLing Collegian Correspondent This week, 1,152 new transfer students at the University of Massachusetts are finishing their first month on campus. This year’s transfers form one of the most academically strong pools of transfer students that the University has enrolled in recent years. According to the Office of Institutional Research, the average GPA of incoming transfer students over the past six years has been on the rise. This year’s incoming transfer students have an average college GPA of 3.32.
Rachel Glod transferred from UMass Boston as a junior this semester. Glod plans on attending graduate school after finishing her undergraduate degree, so affordability was important to her when considering possible programs. “I was looking at some other places, but I thought UMass would be a good alternative,” she said. “I didn’t see the importance of spending a lot now, especially because it’s a great option, academic-wise.” Glod is taking advantage of the academic offerings at UMass. She is a student in the Commonwealth Honors College, pursuing an interdisciplinary major that draws from gender studies, sociology and philosophy in the Bachelor’s Degree with
Individual Concentration (BDIC) program. She is also taking classes at Smith College this semester. For many new transfer students, especially for those living off campus, becoming part of campus life can be challenging, among other obstacles that come with adjusting to a new situation. For Glod, “integrating into social life” is the most challenging aspect of being a transfer student. She added that the distance from her Northampton residence makes commuting to campus for events outside of academics time-consuming. “Participating would feel like taking another see
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Known for ‘edgeof-your-seat’ books By FreDericK n. rasmussen The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE – Tom Clancy, the author whose novels “The Hunt for Red October” and “Patriot Games” subsequently inspired blockbuster movies and action-packed video games, died Tuesday after a brief illness at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 66. His lawyer, Thomas Webb, confirmed his death. “When he published ‘The Hunt for Red October’ he redefined and expanded the genre and as a consequence of that, a lot of people were able to publish
such books who had previously been unable to do so,” said Stephen C. Hunter, an author and former Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for The Washington Post. “He valued technical precision and on-target writing that became the form of the modern thriller.” Clancy was the author of numerous best-selling novels, most of which featured the character Jack Ryan. “I’ve been lucky,” Clancy said in a 1992 interview with The Baltimore Sun, between sucks on an omnipresent Merit menthol. Growing up in Baltimore’s middle-class Northwood neighborhood, he spent fall afternoons as a youth rooting for the Baltimore Colts, a team whose in-your-mud-
dy-face style helped make football a national passion. “I was a little nerdy but a completely normal kid. Mom and Dad loved each other. It was like ‘Leave it to Beaver,’“ he said in the 1992 interview. His education was allCatholic, beginning with St. Matthew’s grade school. He went on to Loyola High School in Towson, Md., an all-boys school with an allmale faculty and a rigorous, Jesuit curriculum. Students took four years of Latin, wore jackets and ties and began each class with a prayer. “He was kind of his own man. He was quiet and toward the shy side,” see
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