OVERCOMING
UMPHREY’S RETURN
ALEXANDRA PURDUE-SMITHE
OBSTACLES
PAGE 8
PAGE 5
THE MASSACHUSETTS
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DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Serving the UMass community since 1890
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Group focuses on cancer prevention Arrest made Protect Our Breasts
spreads awareness By ElEanor HartE Collegian Correspondent
Protect Our Breasts, a communications and awareness initiative based at the University of Massachusetts, launched its “Don’t Pink About It, Think About It” campaign last week. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the group is using this month to further spread its message of breast cancer prevention. “It’s the perfect place and the perfect time to spread our message, so we thought, ‘Let’s share it,’” said senior marketing major Riki Adams, the group’s public relations coordinator. The group recently released a two-minute video about their “Don’t Pink About
It” campaign, which provides details about their current social media contest encouraging people to share pictures of the things or people they want to protect from toxins that contribute to breast cancer. Sharing these images through social media with “#ProtectOurBreasts” enters people into a contest to win a basket of safe products. The group will also be engaging with the UMass community by giving out stickers around campus and will also be featured at an upcoming hockey game. Cynthia Barstow, the group’s executive director, was motivated to start the group after her breast cancer diagnosis came at the same time as the President’s Cancer Panel released a report that the role of the environment in cancer had been “grossly underestimated.” She was
already involved in the world of natural and organic products and started thinking of ways that people could reduce their own breast cancer risk. Then she found that the two were connected. Barstow, a UMass marketing professor, was approached by some of her students who wanted to get involved with the project. She initially planned on writing a book, but the students wanted to focus on strongly impacting their age group. In October 2011, Protect Our Breasts was launched. Barstow decided to focus solely on millennials in December 2011, after a report was released that breast cancer is a life stage disease, meaning that the cancer ranges from stage zero (earliest detection of breast cancer development) to stage four (severe progression of the breast cancer to other parts of the body).
“Women age 18 up to their first pregnancy are most vulnerable to toxins in the environment that can cause breast cancer because their bodies are constantly changing,” said Barstow. “So this age group is the most critical to reach.” “Our focus on this age group is unique,” Delaney said. “It’s peer-to peer.” Seventy percent of cancers are attributed to environmental causes, according to the presidential report. Protect Our Breasts wants to reduce that number by raising awareness about the everyday toxins that exist and how students can reduce their risk. This includes using beauty products with safer chemicals, eating organic food that has not been sprayed with damaging pesticides and eliminating unhealthy cleansee
AWARENESS on page 3
UMass celebrates no iMpact week
JULIA CARDILLO/COLLEGIAN
Hannah McDonald feels heat emitted from various types of lightbulbs in the Campus Center on Oct. 10 as part of No Impact Week’s “reduce your use” day.
at gunpoint Result of student’s noncompliance A University of Massachusetts student was arrested at gunpoint outside the W.E.B. Du Bois library Oct. 8 after he was observed running around campus dressed in costume and making obscene gestures at bystanders and buildings, according to Patrick Archibald, UMPD deputy chief. The student, Hejian “Rick” Liu, of Newton, was reportedly dressed as the character Rorschach from the graphic novel “Watchmen,” garb that includes a long trench coat and face mask. Liu was first spotted around the Campus Center but moved toward the library, where he was ordered by responding officers to show his hands, which he had put in his pockets. According to Archibald, officers initially believed that Liu, who had his back to the police, was ignoring the officers’ commands, leading one officer to draw a weapon and point it at Liu. The suspect was in fact wearing headphones, and could not see or hear the officers shouting. Archibald could not say exactly when Liu assented to the officers’ orders, but it did not occur until after the firearm was drawn. Liu was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace. He was bailed from custody and will be arraigned at the Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown on an undisclosed date. Liu, a mechanical engineering major, intended to cause a disturbance in an attempt to ensure his expulsion from UMass, according to Archibald. Liu’s Facebook profile contains a large number of long, introspective posts dating back several months, many of which discuss a
“mental illness” that Liu claims is paranoid schizophrenia, and that he said began in high school. In a post created on the day of the incident, Liu says that he “finally realize[d] where this ends,” and that he had “played this game before.” He ends the post with the definitive, “F*** fate and the gods who toy with our world and existence. I’m out.” Because of the “odd behavior” Liu displayed in this situation, it appeared to the officers on the scene as though Liu could have been concealing a weapon, Archibald said. His repeated non-compliance with police commands to reveal his hands reportedly gave officers greater belief that there was appropriate reason to draw firearms. “Whenever (an officer) is dealing with a suspect who keeps their hands in their pockets or behind their back (despite police commands), that person could potentially be concealing a weapon,” Archibald said. “Each ignored request by the suspect to reveal their hands gives police greater reason to believe there could indeed be a weapon. “If (the officer) feels like they or the public is at risk, it is up to that officer’s discretion as to when a weapon should be drawn,” he added. According to Archibald, UMPD reviews each instance in which a weapon is drawn by a UMPD officer, a process that is currently underway regarding this incident. “Any time there is a use of force by one of our officers, including the drawing of firearms, we take it very seriously,” Archibald said. “We are in the process of reviewing this incident currently, at which time our command staff will determine whether appropriate action was taken by the officer.” Archibald would not disclose the name of the arresting officer involved in Liu’s arrest. -Collegian staff
Debt talks stall, bond firm UHS begins offering same-day appointments warns of rating downgrade Part of an effort to reduce wait times By HalEy ScHilling
Collegian Correspondent
On Tuesday, University Health Services at the University of Massachusetts began offering patients sameday appointments as part of a plan to reduce wait times at its walk-in clinic Patients can now call or visit UHS to schedule an appointment with a doctor or nurse practitioner for later in the day or the following morning. All of the health care practitioners at UHS will be available for same-day appointments. According to Dr. George
Corey, executive director of UHS, the institution’s concerted effort to improve walk-in clinic care partly results from a survey that UHS conducted to guide its new mission statement last semester. The study surveyed thousands of UMass students, faculty and staff, and found that walk-in care is one of the most valued services that UHS offers. He explained that wait times are long because there are not always enough physicians and nurse practitioners available to accommodate the large patient volume. This can be frustrating for patients and may result in many not being able to receive medical attention. “When waiting times are
excessive, a person might not receive care. That person may choose not to stay, they may come to the door and look at the long wait and turn around and go. And so people may choose to not get care for things that they might otherwise want care for, and some of those may be things that need to be addressed soon,” Corey said. Freshman Victoria Reis once waited to be seen at the walk-in clinic for three hours before being seen by a doctor for a broken toe. “It really was a waste of time,” she said. “I literally could have driven to an actual hospital and back before I see
UHS on page 3
By William DouglaS, DaviD ligHtman anD lESlEy clark
McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Congressional efforts to raise the nation’s debt limit and reopen the shuttered federal government stalled Tuesday when the House of Representatives delayed a vote on its latest proposal as the threat of possible default loomed larger and a top bond rating agency warned of a possible downgrade for U.S. bonds. What had appeared to be progress in budget talks stopped as House Republicans insisted anew on their own plan, a plan that might again prove unac-
ceptable to Senate Democrats or the White House. Then the House delayed any action. In a shot from Wall Street at the dysfunction in the capital, the bond rating agency Fitch Ratings said late Tuesday that it would consider downgrading the AAA rating for U.S. government bonds. Fitch said it would look at the question as the debt fight was all but certain to extend into next year even with a short-term settlement now. Senate leaders from both parties had worked since Saturday to craft a path that would end the stalemate that has gripped Washington and the nation since Oct. 1. They, and apparently the
Republicans who control the House, appear to agree on some key points. They have the same spending levels through Jan. 15 and want to increase the debt limit until Feb. 7. The House also would require a budget conference, or negotiation, on a bigger budget compromise by Dec. 15. The Senate has a deadline two days earlier. They differed on health care. Republicans floated the idea of delaying a 2.3 percent medical device tax that would help pay for the Affordable Care Act. The Senate would end a reinsurance tax paid by unions and other major self-insurers. see
DOWNGRADE on page 3