Massachusetts Daily Collegian: Apr. 1, 2014

JESSICA PODLOFSKY:

SEASON 3 COMES TO A CLOSE

A LEAGUE OF HER OWN

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THE MASSACHUSETTS

DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Serving the UMass community since 1890

News@DailyCollegian.com

Housing shortage affects nearly 300 Community finds

Residents are on a waiting list

By Josh darling Collegian Correspondent

An increased demand for student housing in the UMass Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community has left “around 300 students” on a waiting list for housing, a current CHRC resident reported.

The Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community, a six-hall residential area housing 1,500 students in the center of UMass campus, has experienced a demand for its modern accommodations that is far beyond its capacity.

Zac Bears, a junior in the Honors College who has

been involved in the community’s current ordeal, reports that “around 300 students are unable to obtain housing in the (Honors College Residential Community) at this time.”

He added that they were “mostly rising sophomores”, who have the least priority when considered for housing.

Reactions to the shortage vary from it being dubbed a “crisis” by some, and accepted as an unfortunate, but inevitable scenario by others.

One student on the waiting list, a sophomore who preferred to remain unnamed, expressed her frustration at the lack of a merit-based system for housing consideration. “I understand the logic behind giving older students preference for space, but it just isn’t fair,”

she said. “Things like GPA and community involvement should definitely be considered when there isn’t enough space.”

Dan Curran, a freshman who transferred this semester, offered a different perspective. “I understand why people are disappointed, but I’m definitely not bitter about it at all,” he said. “It’s really nice, it has plenty of amenities, and as a result a lot of people are going to want to live there.”

As to the communal response to the ordeal, Curran added, “Someone set up a Facebook page for people who didn’t get in (the Residential Community) to find roommates and housing situations. It’s not like we’ll all be stuck without a place to live.”

Bears, a resident of the Birch Hall apartments, called naming this situation a crisis “overblown,” citing that housing in the community was, “never guaranteed.

There’s only a finite amount of housing within the community, and when demand exceeds that some people are going to be disappointed.”

Bears also said he feels that the current system that assigns preference based on what year students are in is “fair, and makes sense.

University policy states freshmen must live on campus, so there needs to be space in the community allotted for them. After that, it only makes sense to give the students that have been here the longest preference in living in see

DORMS on page 3

Fun Run Glows FoR 2.5 Miles

SHANNON BRODERICK/COLLEGIAN

Students gathered for the Glow Run around the Southwest Horseshoe on Friday.

comfort in faith and prayers

People turn to faith following mudslide

By Christine Clarridge The Seattle Times

DARRINGTON, Wash. — In a town full of hurting, aching, tired and wounded people, many turned Sunday to their places of worship for music and fellowship, encouragement and prayers.

“This is just what we needed,” Denise Baird said after the service at Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Darrington. “We know the people, we see the hurt faces. We needed to be reminded that God is so much bigger than this.”

Terry Haldeman, a deputy with the Snohomish County Sheriff ’s Office, hasn’t had much time with his family since the massive March 23 landslide. On Sunday, they were at Saint John Mary Vianney Catholic Church in Darrington.

“I could feel the blessing all the way down to my toes,” said Haldeman, who was the second law-enforcement officer to arrive on the east side of the landslide where he established a makeshift command post.

As of Sunday, 21 people had been officially confirmed as dead and 30 were listed as missing in the mudslide that wiped out a neighborhood east of Oso in Snohomish County.

On Sunday, officials talked about their continuing efforts to retrieve personal items from the debris field for the relatives of victims even as the hopes for finding survivors continued to dim.

“We are all hurting,” said Pastor Leslie Hagen of the Glad Tidings Assembly

of God. “We’ve had a terrible week and it still continues, but life must go on.”

He urged people to stick to their usual routines and to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

At St. John Mary Vianney, one of the readings for the period leading up to Easter Sunday was the 23rd Psalm, which starts, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.”

Father Timothy Sauer said the region between Arlington and Darrington is “now a valley of shadow.”

He prayed for the dead, the missing, the brokenhearted and the people who had been out in the mud and debris day after day.

“God never promised us if we followed him we wouldn’t have suffering, pain or death. What he promised us is that he would be with us and that the imperfections of this world would not be the last chapter,” he said.

“What has happened to our beloved friends down valley is not the last chapter. The last chapter will be written by God,” Sauer said.

The bell rang at Oso Community Chapel, and solemn-faced worshippers filled the pews to capacity.

Some came from as far away as Duvall and Kirkland, but most were community members supporting the rescue efforts.

“I know you all want my T-shirt,” said Tim Alskog at a Bible reading. His shirt said “Oso Strong.”

“I am blessed, flabbergasted at the outpouring of support,” said Nikki Stinson, an Oso resident.

“God does work through our pain and tragedy.” see

MUDSLIDE on page 2

Al-Jazeera reporters speak Student gov’t discussed safety Director of UMass SGA covers dining, in Egyptian courtroom Dining Ken Toong By nanCy a. youssef McClatchy Foreign Staff

CAIRO — An Egyptian court held its fourth session Monday in the criminal case against three Al-Jazeera journalists accused of fabricating news and running a terror cell on behalf of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. But when the prosecution failed for the third time to provide the key video evidence against the journalists, the judge instead dramatically entertained bail for the reporters, who have been held since Dec. 29.

In the end, bail was – again – denied. But the judge’s decision to let the defendants address the court directly was unprecedented in the Egyptian judicial system, even if it did not lead to their provisional release.

Why the judge gave all signs that he saw the limits of the prosecution’s

case against the three, only to deny them bail, was not immediately clear. The judge, Mohammed Nagy, has been under increasing pressure from both local news media and the country’s interim president, Adly Mansour, to free the journalists, one of whom is Australian and another a dual CanadianEgyptian national.

One, Mohammed Fadel Fahmy, the dual national and the Cairo bureau chief for the English–language service of the satellite news channel, had called it “the make or break day of the trial.” In the end, though, the proceeding turned into the biggest letdown of the case so far.

The prosecutor has charged that Fahmy, Australian correspondent Peter Greste and an Egyptian cameraman, Baher Mohammed, worked with student protesters

to purposely falsify video reports on the harsh government crackdown that followed the ouster July 3 of President Mohammed Morsi.

The charges claim that the Al-Jazeera staff operated a “terror cell” out of their makeshift offices in Cairo’s luxurious Marriott Hotel and that their reports were intended to hurt Egypt’s image.

But with no video screens set up, it became clear the prosecution would not present its case. With that, the defendants’ lawyers asked the judge to release the journalists on bail, even though he’d denied bail a week ago at the third session. It was a formality; judges rarely overrule themselves.

Then something unusual happened.

Telling the defendants he see

EGYPT on page 2

funding and safety

By Brian BevilaCqua Collegian Staff

After weeks of meetings concerning the recent election, the Student Government Association had a meeting focused on several issues, including their bylaws, the upcoming academic year and funding on Monday night.

Associate Speaker Maddie Goldstein mentioned the possibility of adding blue lights to parts of the town of Amherst. She acknowledged this would be difficult, but said it was preferable to alternative safety suggestions, such as an iPhone app to contact police.

Goldstein also talked about discussions with UMPD and town officials about increased sexual assault training for officers.

This comes as SGA looks tries to work with the UMatter at UMass campaign to limit

the damage done to student body by sexual assaults, which one in ten University of Massachusetts students said they were affected by in a survey announced at the meeting by the Senate.

Associate Speaker Goldstein also informed the Senate that Director of UMass Dining Ken Toong asked for SGA input into future meal plans.

The Student Senate finalized changes to Residential Hall Association bylaws based on the changes agreed upon in previous meetings.

However, a section prohibiting Residential Assistants from becoming Area Governors and a change making Area Secretary and Treasurer appointed positions were struck down in debate.

In opening announcements, President Zac Broughton and Vice President Emily Hajjar encouraged the Senate to maintain focus on upcoming meetings and next year’s

asked for SGA input into future meal plans

SGA events. Hajjar specifically asked the Senate to address their constituents about a potential $12 fee increase that would go to mental health assistance at University Health Services.

The SGA approved $4,892.50 to Autism Speaks for their annual 5K walk in response to a remarkable increase in student participation beyond the RSO’s previous projections.

Ross Kellogg was also appointed to the Administrative Affairs Committee.

Brian Bevilacqua can be reached at bbevilac@umass.edu.

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

THE RUNDOWN ON THIS DAY... in 1976, Apple Inc was formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company’s first product was the Apple I, a computer single handedly designed by Wozniak.

AROUND THE WORLD SEOUL — North Korea on Monday held military exercises near the maritime border with the South, drawing response fire from Southern troops, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Monday.

Around 100 artillery shells from the North landed on the other side of the Northern Limit Line, a disputed maritime border off the west of the peninsula, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

South Korea fired 300 self-propelled howitzer shells in response, aimed at open water on the North’s side, and dispatched F-15 fighter jets to the area, the report said. dpa EGYPT:WA — Once again, three al-Jazeera journalists arrested in December at their temporary studio at Cairo’s Marriott hotel were summoned to court Monday, where they face charges of consorting with terrorists and passing on false information about Egypt. Once again, the prosecution failed to produce the video that it has said will prove they falsified news accounts to make Egypt look bad. Once again, the judge refused their requests for bail.

McClatchy Foreign Staff JERUSALEM — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was convicted Monday of accepting bribes in a case called one of the nation’s largest corruption scandals, ending an intense two-year trial and most likely his political career.

Tel Aviv District Court convicted Olmert and nine other defendants – including real-estate developers, a former mayor, a former city engineer, a former bank chairman and former councilmen and aides – of accepting or taking bribes. Three other people were acquitted.

Los Angeles Times MUMBAI, India — One week before elections that will determine a new prime minister, Indians are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of their country and overwhelmingly want a change in leadership in New Delhi, according to a survey released Monday.

The Pew Research Center found that Indians favor the main opposition group, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, to the ruling Indian National Congress by a ratio of more than 3 to 1.

The BJP’s strong showing rests on the perception that it would do a better job combating the country’s range of woes including corruption, unemployment, inflation and political deadlock, the survey said.

The findings bolster the sense of inevitability that is beginning to envelop Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate who leads the influential western state of Gujarat and until recently was boycotted by the U.S. government. Although Modi has long faced accusations that he did not intervene to stop deadly anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002, he has recast himself as a clean, businessfriendly politician whose state has posted impressive economic growth.

Los Angeles Times

EGYPT

MUDSLIDE

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wanted “to let them tell their concerns,” he ordered them out of the cage that holds defendants and to stand freely before his bench.

One by one, they took the microphone, their handcuffs hanging off their wrists, and made their case. When another defendant was talking, the others, each wearing white prison garb, instinctively put their hands behind their backs.

Fahmy said that the prosecution has photos of him drinking alcohol, which he noted no good member of the Muslim Brotherhood would do. “Have you heard of a terrorist who drinks alcohol?” Fahmy asked the judge.

Greste, a Christian, said the accusations that he belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood were “preposterous.” He pointed out that he had been in Egypt only two weeks before his arrest, hardly enough time to form links with the secretive Brotherhood.

Cameraman Mohammed noted that his wife was pregnant and his two young chil-

dren cry for him.

“Our only desire is to fight to clear our names outside prison,” Greste pleaded.

Five of the students charged with them said they had no idea why they are part of the case, having never met the defendants until they were all standing in the same cage in Nagy’s courtroom. They, rather than asking for bail, asked the judge for medical treatment and visits from their families.

“Scorpion prison in Egypt’s Guantanamo Bay,” read the T-shirt of one of them, Suhaib Saeed, a reference to the section of Tora prison where he is held, reserved for Egypt’s most dangerous criminals.

The judge patiently listened and acknowledged their concerns. “Sure, sure, sure,” he kept repeating as the defendants made their case. The courtroom sat silent. The session lasted two hours, highly unusual in a system where judges usually dismiss immediately any request that they reconsider an earlier ruling.

In the context – Egyptian President Mansour had written Greste’s and Fahmy’s families promising swift justice and showing empathy to their case – bail seemed likely. Egyptian talk show hosts, who once said the three deserved to be convicted simply for working for Al-Jazeera, which is funded

by Qatar, which supported the Morsi presidency, have now warmed to releasing them on bail.

The judge adjourned to consider bail. The correspondents smiled from the cage. But the mood quickly changed when the judge returned 20 minutes later.

Donning sunglasses, he announced that the defendants would remain in prison. He set the next hearing for April 10.

He also ordered the police who’d failed to bring the video evidence to court to be arrested.

Fahmy shook his head in disbelief.

“He’s not master of his own game,” he shouted to reporters, referring to the judge.

Animals a problem for police Police Log March 28 – March 31

By Marleigh Felsenstein Collegian Staff

Friday

8:06 a.m.: Medical assistance was needed on Northampton Road for a cyclist who was on the ground bleeding from the head. The individual was going to sign an Amherst Fire Department refusal.

9:52 a.m.: Medical assistance was required on Main Street for a bicycle accident. No one was transported to the hospital.

11:24 a.m.: A suspicious male entered the Crocker Farm School on West Street. After his initial entrance, no one knew where he went or whether or not he was still in the building.

7:06 p.m.: A rabid opossum was on the porch of a house on South East Street. It was caught and released.

2:19 a.m.: There was a noise complaint at Alpine Commons on Belchertown Road. There were people screaming on the balcony, along with complaints of loud bass.

She was advised by TD Bank to file a police report. There is only possible wire fraud right now and no official crime has been confirmed yet.

10:14 p.m.: There was a liquor law violation on Fearing 2:41 a.m.: The Amherst Police Street and all parties willingDepartment assisted the ly poured out their drinks as Hampshire College Police they walked.

Department on West Street with someone driving on the 11:28 p.m.: The Amherst Fire sidewalk.

Department responded to a call for medical assistance 3:36 a.m.: Gaelyn Harvey, 22, of Amherst was arrested on near Antonio’s Pizza on North Logtown Road for domestic Pleasant Street for an individassault and battery. There ual who was struck by a car and reported pain in his left were no injuries reported. side. He had no injuries but 4:21 a.m.: Medical assistance was uncooperative. was needed on Heatherstone Road for a 24-year-old male Sunday with swollen tonsils and difficulty breathing. He was trans- 1:49 a.m.: Hunter Caggian of ported to Cooley Dickinson Worcester was arrested for Hospital by the Amherst Fire OUI liquor, negligent operaDepartment. tion of a motor vehicle to endanger, failure to signal and 5:37 a.m.: Medical assistance speeding. was needed for an involuntary commitment on Main Street.

10:36 a.m.: Medical assistance was needed on Market Hill 10:27 a.m.: Police checked for Road for a 30 year-old female a road hazard after three deer who was having difficulty were seen in the area around breathing.

Lincoln Avenue.

8:35 p.m.: Police assisted salamanders crossing Henry Street. They were causing traffic as they were walking out in 11:33 a.m.: A motor vehicle crash occurred on North front of vehicles.

Pleasant Street between a 11:01 p.m.: Omar Cruz of PVTA bus exiting its stop and Amherst was arrested at the an oncoming car. There were Subway on Main Street for minor damages and informapossession of Class B drugs to tion was exchanged. distribute. This was a follow4:53 p.m.: A rabid opossum was up. seen in a trash can on Pelham 11:06 p.m.: A liquor law viola- Road. tion for an open container of alcohol occurred on Fearing 8:06 p.m.: There was a disturbance at the Amherst Carriage Street.

Shops on North Pleasant Street. Apartment 39 appeared Saturday to have been broken into and a 12:09 a.m.: Jayson Wentworth, male was unconscious.

23, was arrested on East Hadley Road for domestic assault and 8:29 p.m.: Vandalism was battery and assault with a dan- reported at the Amherst gerous weapon after a cup was Carriage Shops on North Pleasant Street. A window was thrown. smashed in from a previous 12:23 a.m.: Amelia Birenbaum altercation. of Pittsburgh, PA, Dominique Michaud of Danvers and 9:20 p.m.: Salamanders were Leigh Engle of Rye Brook, NY crossing the road on Henry were arrested for unlawful Street, which caused impeding noise after a party of 300 was traffic. cleared.

9:23 p.m.: Police were near 12:24 a.m.: Peace was restored Zanna on South Pleasant after a fight between two males Street looking for an individual from an earlier altercation on Amity Street. on a bus.

1:05 a.m.: Paul Zarrilli of Southborough was arrested for 9:38 p.m.: Robert Auffinger of assault and battery and disor- Amherst was arrested for tresderly conduct at Kappa Kappa passing after refusing to leave Gamma on Nutting Avenue. a female’s apartment.

He was accosting females and eventually knocked one of 9:42 p.m.: Assistance was needthem to the ground. He was ed for a female on Main Street resistant to arrest. for a possible “Net Rate” scam.

DailyCollegian.com

1:59 p.m.: A woman reported a suspicious package from Edible Arrangements in front of her house. The package was from well-wishers and there were no problems.

5:58 p.m.: Medical assistance was needed on Snell Street for an 84 year-old male with chest pain. He was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital by the Amherst Fire Department.

8:42 p.m.: Yamil Rivera of Holyoke was arrested at Ann Whalen on Kellogg Avenue after being involved in a dispute. The charges were disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer. The police officer sustained no injuries.

Monday

1:05 a.m.: Medical assistance was needed at Ann Whalen on Kellogg Ave for a male in his 70s with difficulty breathing.

He was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital by the Amherst Fire Department.

2:43 a.m.: Medical assistance was needed at Applewood on Spencer Drive for an elderly female with severe back pain and she was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital by the Amherst Fire Department.

Marleigh Felsenstein can be reached at mfelsenstein@umass.edu

Rev. Michael De Luca spoke of counseling a woman who’d lost four members of her family.

He also spoke earlier about his own grief and guilt for not rushing into the debris field. He said he was at the barbershop when someone rushed in and asked to use the phone and shared the news. The barber then shut the shop and raced off to the mud field, but De Luca went home and had a cup of coffee.

Two days later, he said, “it hit me in the stomach.

I woke up and just felt ill.

“At the moment I was sipping coffee at home, there were people in trouble down at the slide and I decided not to go, and a huge feeling of guilt swept over me. It was only in the first little while that people were rescued,” De Luca said.

His son-in-law helped him by explaining that the mud was 20 feet over the road, slippery and moving, and that his presence could have hindered the rescue effort rather than helped.

One of his parishioners, Crystal Sconce, shared her feelings of guilt at Sunday’s service. She said her husband, Steve, still had a phone message from Billy Spillers, who had called to ask for help with

continued from page 1

a roofing job.

Sconce said her husband would have gone down to help Spiller on Saturday had it not been for a wrestling match their son had.

Spiller’s house was demolished in the slide, and Spiller is listed as missing.

“I feel very undeserving to have a husband,” Sconce said. “Margie (Spiller) doesn’t, and other workers down there are without their wives and husbands. This morning, I just realized that it goes way deeper than that.

God gave me a vision of a mudslide of eternity. And I just realized that I along with everyone else was born locked into that mudslide, and there is only one to rescue us.”

Carol Perfect said after the service at Saint John Mary Vianney that she did feel encouraged by the service and the fellowship but said she was also still afraid.

“When I moved here three years ago, I thought, ‘This is a new Jerusalem.’

But it’s frightening to me now to think that our beautiful mountain could just fall in.”

Seattle Times reporters Hal Bernton and Nancy Bartley contributed to this report.

Marathon exhibit seeks to heal Boston display looks to remember

By Michael Muskal Los Angeles Times

There are five well-known stages of grief, from denial and anger through bargaining and depression. As the first anniversary of the Boston marathon bombing approaches, the city is moving toward the final stage: acceptance.

As part of that process, the city and some private institutions and companies are working together to display a number of items from the outpouring of remembrances and condolences following the April 15 bombing.

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured after two explosions near the finish line of the famed race.

The exhibit, called “Dear Boston: Messages from the Marathon Memorial,” will open April 7 at the Central Library in Copley Square. It was organized by a partnership that includes the library, Boston City Archives, Boston Art Commission, New England Museum Association and Iron Mountain, which did a similar service after the Newtown massacre, where 20 students and six educators were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. “ ‘Dear Boston’ represents our strength and solidarity not only as a city, but also as a community that supports one another through even the most difficult of times,” Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said on Monday. “I encourage people - residents and visitors alike - to visit the exhibition, experience the resilience of the people of Boston, and view the messages of hope and healing.”

Among the numerous messages left at Copley Square after the bombings was one from a Sandy Hook mother that reads: “We understand. Sending love and support.” Other notes urged resilience: “Don’t let this stop you. Stay Boston Strong” and “We will run

again.”

The items range from many pairs of running shoes to T-shirts, stuffed animals, plastic flowers and special messages written on banners. There are four crosses, each taller than one foot, to remember the three who died and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer fatally shot three days later during a search for the bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died during the hunt for the suspects. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges that could bring the death penalty if he is convicted.

The long-term home for all of the artifacts is yet to be decided. Until then, paper tributes will be held in the Boston archives and the other artifacts will be kept in storage.

“As a company with its global headquarters in Boston, the events of April 15, 2013, resonated with us deeply,” said William Meaney, president and chief executive of Iron Mountain.

“We are honored to be an organizing partner by providing our resources and expertise to the city of Boston’s Marathon Memorial, affording us an opportunity grounded in the principles Iron Mountain was founded upon over 60 years ago: protecting, preserving and creating access to some of the world’s most treasured ideas, information and memories. Rest assured these precious items are safe with us.”

Also available is an online catalog called “Our Marathon,” hosted by Northeastern University and featuring oral histories and other exhibits.

Rainey Tisdale, an independent curator from Boston, has been in charge of selecting which items to choose for the “Dear Boston” exhibit. She said the experience has been emotional.

“Seeing these objects is a pretty intense experience,” Tisdale told The Associated Press. “People poured their hearts out into them.”

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

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Search continues in ocean’s Newly insured still face stirred ‘teacup’ of garbage health coverage upheaval

By BarBara Demick Los Angeles Times

BEIJING —The search and rescue teams working off the west coast of Australia seeking the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 discovered what oceanographers have been warning: Even the most far-flung stretches of ocean are full of garbage.

For the first time since the search focused on the southern Indian Ocean 10 days ago, the skies were clear enough and the waves calm, allowing ships to retrieve the “suspicious items” spotted by planes and on satellite imagery.

But examined on board, none of it proved to be debris from the missing plane, just the ordinary garbage swirling around in the ocean.

“A number of objects were retrieved by HMAS Success and Haixun 01 yesterday,” reported the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in a news release Sunday. “The objects have been described as fishing equipment and other flotsam.”

A cluster of orange objects spotted by a search plane on Sunday drew the same results, the Associated Press reported the following day: It was just fishing equipment.

Using a fresh analysis of flight data, investigators on Friday moved the search location in the southern Indian Ocean 680 miles to the northeast–waters where the currents are weaker but where there is more debris, according to an Australian oceanographer.

It is an oddity in one of the most remote places on the planet, far from any islands, shipping lanes or flight paths.

“You have garbage from Australia, from Indonesia, from India,” said Erik van

Sebille, an oceanographer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. “There are small vortexes that are mixing up the debris like stirring a teacup.”

Science writer Marc Lallanilla has referred to the search for Flight 370 as a “needle in a garbage patch.”

“In addition to foul weather, administrative bungling and the vastness of the search area, the search for MH 370 has been compounded by one other factor: the incredible amount of garbage already floating in the search area –and in oceans worldwide,” Lallanilla wrote on the website livescience.com.

The complicating factor underscored the difficulty the search teams face in trying to find out what happened to the Boeing 777 and its 239 passengers and crew. The plane disappeared March 8 during a flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital.

Australian authorities said Sunday that a naval support ship, the Ocean Shield, will depart from Perth on Monday with a “black box detector” supplied by the U.S. Navy.

The Towed Pinger Locator 25 carries a device that should be able to detect the so-called black boxes of the plane in waters as deep as 20,000 feet.

The boxes record pilots’ conversations and flight data.

The search team is in a race against time because black boxes’ batteries last only 30 to 45 days.

The odds are stacked against finding them in time without a trail of debris to guide searchers. Investigators for now are merely surmising that the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean, based on an analysis of the flight’s path according to engine data

transmitted via satellite.

The best–known precedent is the case of Air France Flight 447, which went into the Atlantic on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009. It took two years to find the body of the aircraft and the black boxes in the ocean depths, though pieces of debris were found on the surface within five days of the crash.

The lack of confirmed debris has prevented families from achieving any kind of closure over the deaths of their relatives. Chinese families, in particular, have rejected the assertion of the Malaysian government that the plane crashed with no survivors.

“We want evidence, truth and dignity,” read banners that Chinese relatives held up Sunday during an impromptu demonstration at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia Airlines said Sunday that it will fly families of passengers to Perth and will set up a family assistance center to provide counseling and logistical support, but will do so “only once it has been authoritatively confirmed that the physical wreckage found is that of MH 370.”

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters Monday that the search would continue.

“Now until we locate some actual wreckage from the aircraft and then do the regression analysis that might tell us where the aircraft went into the ocean, we’ll be operating on guesstimates,” Abbott told reporters at the Pearce air force base near Perth.

By Tony Pugh McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — As procrastinators rushed to buy health insurance Monday by the Affordable Care Act’s official enrollment deadline, new research estimates that about half of those with subsidized coverage obtained from federal or state marketplaces will lose it within a year because of changes in their incomes or other family circumstances, such as divorce, relocation or the births of children.

The same is true for about half of new Medicaid recipients, who are likely to lose program eligibility at some point over the next year for a variety of reasons, said Benjamin Sommers, an assistant professor of health policy and economics at the Harvard School of Public Health.

When people lose, drop or change health coverage for unforeseen reasons, it’s known as “churning.” It’s a common occurrence for consumers with individual coverage bought outside the workplace, as well as for those with Medicaid, the state-federal health program for poor people and those with disabilities.

Along with being a bookkeeping headache for insurers and Medicaid administrators, churning undermines the continuity of care between doctors and patients by causing patients to miss treatments and sometimes seek new caregivers.

It also has a financial impact, as coverage lapses may lead to costly emergency room visits when primary physicians could have provided treatment for far less.

In the 25 states that expanded eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, churning probably won’t leave people without coverage because there’s no gap between the income thresholds for Medicaid and subsidized marketplace coverage.

Instead, millions will move between eligibility for both as their incomes are periodically updated and verified.

“It’s not exactly that they’ll lose coverage,” Sommers said in an interview. “It’s that they may have to change the coverage they have.”

But for people in states that so far have declined to expand Medicaid, “then they’re worse off,” he said. If they lose their eligibility for subsidized coverage when their incomes fall

DORMS

too low to qualify, “they will probably have no option for coverage,” Sommers said.

That’s because the income limits to qualify for Medicaid in non-expansion states are far below the levels at which subsidized marketplace insurance is available. That creates a “coverage gap” in which millions of people earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough for federal subsidies to help them buy marketplace insurance.

“In other words, most adults who lose marketplace subsidies in non-expanding states will become uninsured,” Sommers and three other researchers wrote in their report on churning in the April edition of Health Affairs magazine.

Expansion states with lower poverty rates and higher per-capita incomes will see more churning because they have more adults with incomes near the eligibility line for Medicaid and subsidized coverage, Sommers said in the interview.

Half of Americans with individual health insurance churned in and out of coverage in 2010, according to recent congressional testimony by Medicaid Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. The reasons were myriad: Some couldn’t afford it, some switched to different plans and others may have dropped their coverage after obtaining job-based insurance.

The average Medicaid recipient loses coverage for 20 percent of the year–nearly 10.5 weeks – because of administrative violations, clerical errors, income changes or other factors that make him or her ineligible, according to researchers at George Washington University.

“The implication is that eligibility changes are likely to be a major challenge for every state as implementation of the ACA continues,” according to the Health Affairs article.

Allowing continuous 12-month Medicaid eligibility in expansion states would help curb churning between the program and subsidized coverage, said Leighton Ku, the director of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University’s school of public health.

Doing so would be more expensive for states and would require special permis-

sion from the federal government. But it would provide better and more efficient Medicaid coverage, Ku said.

Medicaid benefits for a working–age adult average about $597 for one month of enrollment, compared with $481 for someone enrolled for six months and $345 per month for someone enrolled for an entire year, Ku said.

That’s because people often enroll in Medicaid when they’re sick and need immediate care, but as their conditions stabilize with regular treatment, their monthly costs go down.

No states currently provide one–year continuous Medicaid coverage for adults.

Eligibility must be updated periodically throughout the year. Legislation has been introduced in Congress that would allow states to provide continuous coverage without federal approval.

States also could cut churning by using projected annual income to determine Medicaid eligibility instead of monthly income.

A plan by Arkansas, Iowa and Pennsylvania to buy marketplace coverage with Medicaid funds would curb churning by as much as two–thirds, according to some estimates, Sommers said.

Most new Medicaid expansion enrollees get coverage through managed care plans that provide program benefits. Marketplace health plans in 33 states and the District of Columbia also offer these Medicaid managed care plans.

Nationwide, nearly 40 percent of marketplace insurers also offer a Medicaid managed care benefit, said Margaret Murray, the CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, which represents Medicaid managed care plans.

Offering both types of coverage can allow people to stay with the same insurers when their eligibility for Medicaid and marketplace coverage changes, Murray said. That increases the likelihood that plan members can maintain a similar network of providers and be familiar with customer service protocols.

“It is going to be a different product,” Murray said of Medicaid and marketplace insurance, “but at least you’re dealing with the same basic people who know you and if you have chronic conditions.”

continued from page 1

such a nice residential area.

We’re all honors students, so in that respect we all deserve to live here.”

The community boasts many advantageous qualities for its residents. Its six arboreal-themed halls – Birch, Maple, Oak, Sycamore, Linden and Elm - are located in the middle of campus, within close walking distance of the Recreation Center and library. Roots Café is located within the community, and open until at least

1 a.m. nightly. Its rooms also have central air conditioning.

Residence in the Community requires the membership in the UMass Commonwealth Honors College. Applicants to the College out of high school must have at least a 3.6 GPA, a top 10 percent class rank, and an SAT score of 1300 (reading and mathematics composite).

To apply as a UMass student, the applicant needs at least a 3.4 GPA over a full

semester of classes (12 credit minimum). Finally, transfer applicants must either satisfy the minimum credentials required for a freshman admission, or have completed two full college semesters (24-credit hour minimum) with a 3.5 GPA. Once admitted into the Honors program, students must maintain a 3.4 GPA to keep their membership.

Josh Darling can be reached at jmdarling@umass.edu.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” -Charlie Chaplin

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Editorial@DailyCollegiancom

College athletes are not employees The world of college athletics is an extremely competitive and lucrative one: Many collegiate foot-

Stefan Herlitz ball and basketball coaches make millions of dollars per year and are often the single highest-paid employees in their whole university. Across the nation, most states’ highest-paid employees are football and basketball coaches and the NCAA holds television advertising contracts worth more than a billion dollars.

What differentiates this world from that of professional sports – to which it is identical in nearly every other respect – is that its teams are comprised solely of college students. These collegiate athletes represent their schools both on the field and in the classroom and often receive scholarships to do so.

cease participation. Players are recruited not for their academic abilities (reflected by a recent study which shows that a disturbing number of college athletes read at fifth-grade level or below) but rather for their athletic capabilities.

This is, however, an oversimplification of the system. College athletes often come from backgrounds of lesser means and participation in sports is how many students can attend college who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to afford it.

However, sports do not represent a viable career option for the vast majority of athletes after graduation, so it is absolutely ludicrous to disregard the academic portion of their college experience and label them employees.

Despite their resemblance to professional athletics, college sports are anything but: athletes are prohibited

The college sports system, particularly in relation to football and basketball, has increasingly begun to resemble a collection of professional sports organizations rather than student athletes.

On March 26, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that scholarship-holding football players at Northwestern University could form a union, as they are employees of the university rather than students, a decision that rocks the very foundations of scholastic athletics. In this decision to name student-athletes employees of the university, the Board cited a more than 40 hour per week time commitment, the adherence to strict rules and the distribution of scholarships worth tens of thousands of dollars that are solely dependent on the players’ fulfillment of athletic, rather than academic, obligations To a degree, this characterization is not entirely unjustified. Players spend vastly more time practicing for and participating in athletic obligations than on their academics and are restricted from taking certain classes dependent on their athletic schedule.

Meanwhile, athletes at top sports universities receive scholarships in exchange for their participation in athletic programs, scholarships that are immediately revoked should a player

from participation beyond a certain number of years.

With career prospects slim for entry into the professional sector, students rely on the college degree they get out of their time as an athlete to forge a career for themselves.

The NLRB’s decision isn’t going to make much of an immediate change, particularly at the University of Massachusetts, which, as a state university, exists outside the jurisdiction of the Board. It should, however, serve as a wake-up call to both the NCAA and school administrators.

The college sports system, particularly in relation to football and basketball, has increasingly begun to resemble a collection of professional sports organizations rather than student athletes. Steps need to be taken to ensure that collegiate athletes graduate with the same level of scholastic value granted to their peers, rather than being milked for their skills for a few years before being cast away with a degree but without an education.

Stefan Herlitz is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at sherlitz@ umass.edu.

DANNOTT.COM/@DAN_NOTT

Letters tothe edItor

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

To the editor: I came out as bisexual during the end of my senior year of high school. Since that time, I’ve followed various aspects of the marriage equality debate within the state and the nation as well. Like many other students, I have often seen the Red Cross signage across our campus and I have a strong desire to donate blood to individuals in need.

I was born three months premature and I was the only survivor from a triplet birth. Blood transfusions enabled me to survive. I would like nothing more than to help a child or any sick individual in need of a blood donation.

However, I cannot.

One simple question stands between me and a blood donation: “From 1977 to present, have you had sexual contact with another male, even once?”

I, along with other gay and bisexual men, am in violation of this rule.

Each and every time I walk by a blood donation sign on campus I am reminded that I am of a minority. I am different. I am excluded from partaking in an important event due to an immutable characteristic and an essential aspect of my being.

The FDA classifies gay men as high-risk donors, which places in the same category as IV drug users.

Even with an immaculate bill of health, a gay man is still viewed as a greater threat to the blood supply than a straight male who has gonorrhea, syphilis or chlamydia. Straight men can even donate blood as soon as twelve months after admitting to sleeping with a prostitute.

tolerance and dignity they so rightly deserve.

Anthony Maddaleni Class of 2016

To the editor: We are gratified that the White House is focusing attention on the huge problem of sexual assault on college campuses. But we are disappointed by the shortsightedness of the resulting campaign attempting to prevent rape on the University of Massachusetts campus because it falls far short of addressing the true crux of the issue. We must stop assuming that potential victims and bystanders can be made responsible for stopping sexual assault and instead insist that rapists be held accountable for their criminal behavior.

Much of this fear dates back to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. However, there have been incredible advancements in the field of HIV detection since that time and the virus can now be detected with a great deal of accuracy.

With this information in mind I would respectfully ask the University of Massachusetts administration and the campus community at large to reconsider allowing blood donations on campus. The policies of the FDA are severely outdated and perpetuate the notion that gay men are less healthy or capable of donating blood than their straight peers.

To be blunt, this policy is discriminatory.

According to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, “In America, out of every 100 rapes, only 40 are reported to police and only three rapists will ever spend a day behind bars.” RAINN has developed a compelling series of recommendations for the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.

UMass would do well to follow not just some but all of those recommendations.

Despite these facts I still believe blood drives to be an incredibly positive and admirable endeavor. My goal is not to deny blood to individuals in need but to merely call attention to an egregious and highly illogical policy. Only through forceful and meaningful action can we end this policy and create a society in which every person is treated with the respect,

RAINN advises against the common inclination to focus on particular seg-

ments of the student population or particular aspects of campus culture, stating: “Rape is caused not by cultural factors but by the conscious decisions, of a small percentage of the community, to commit a violent crime.”

Research shows that more than 90 percent of collegeage males have never committed, and likely never will commit, rape.

However, one study shows that 63 percent of those found to be rapists were repeat offenders who said they had committed more than one sexual assault, with the average repeat offender committing 5.8 sexual assaults.

The current UMass campaign advises women and bystanders to use “direct,” “distract” and “delegate” techniques. These techniques tip-toe around the real work that needs to be done to stop sexual assaults from occurring, however. After centuries of society blaming women for rape, when are we going to tell rapists that they are responsible for stopping rape?

UMass needs new policies as well as a campus campaign directed at would-be rapists that says, “Rape is a crime. You will be prosecuted. Your college career will end.”

Lynn Barclay and Claire Barclay Northampton

Letters to the editor should be no longer than 550 words and can be submitted to either to Editorial@DailyCollegian.com or to DailyCollegian.com We regret that, due to space constraints, not all letters will be printed but can be found online. t h e m a s s a c h u s e t t s D a i ly C o l l e g i a n BUSINESS

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Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

“Your drill is the drill that’s will pierce the heavens!” - Kamina

Arts@DailyCollegian.com

TELEVISION REVIEW

‘Girls’ needs to grow up after Season 3 finale New doors open for all characters

By Stephanie RamiRez Collegian Correspondent

The following article contains spoilers for Season 3 of “Girls.”

After a slew of stale yet hilarious episodes, the third season of Lena Dunham’s “Girls” came to a close with a passionate, emotion-packed episode that left me wondering if it is finally time to grow up.

The episode begins with a strange encounter between Hannah (Lena Dunham) and Caroline (Gaby Hoffman), the sister of Hannah’s boyfriend, Adam (Adam Driver).

Having disappeared following a fight with Hannah, Caroline returns to reveal that she had been staying with Laird (Jon Glaser) all along. On top of that, they’re having a baby together.

Hannah then opens an acceptance letter from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, but struggles with whether or not she should even go to graduate school. I, for one, was surprised to learn Hannah was even a talented writer. The show is three seasons deep and it seems like the screenwriters had yet to validate that fact until now. After being fired from or quitting numerous jobs, it felt like Hannah may not be the best writer.

Of course, after some encouragement from her parents and her best friend, Marnie (Allison Williams), Hannah decides to move to Iowa. After this, she’s off to

Adam’s opening night on Broadway, but before the show, in her usual selfish fashion, she tells Adam that she’s been accepted to grad school and they can become one of those artistic, long-distance couples. It is beautiful when she admits that watching him all this time has inspired her to grow artistically and creatively, but only Hannah would think to tell someone that right before their big performance.

As expected, all of this throws Adam off on his big opening night. Ever the genuine and honest character, he tells Hannah how he feels after the show, and down comes crashing one of television’s favorite couples.

However, it’s about time Hannah went off to write, make something of herself and grow up a bit. Somebody at Hannah’s level of maturity doesn’t deserve a guy like Adam. But Dunham and Driver played that scene to perfection, so kudos.

As for Marnie, it’s more than obvious at this point that she is a mess. Once a puttogether girl with all her plans in place, she’s been nothing but lost this season. In the finale, she kisses Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), the other half of her musical duo, and is proud of the fact even though he has a girlfriend.

Even Hannah criticizes her, but Marnie sees something there, that the rest of characters - and I -clearly don’t. At this point, Marnie’s just looking for some path to follow, but as it turns out after seeing his girlfriend Clementine (Natalie Morales), it won’t be with Desi. Season 3 leaves her

HBO’s hit program “Girls” was created by Lena Dunham, who also plays the character Hannah. loveless, career-less and altogether directionless.

Another “hot mess” this season, Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) finally reveals her deepest feelings. It turns out that because of three measly credits, she won’t be graduating, and that fact alone pushes her to her emotional edge.

Although I was a huge fan of Shoshanna’s relationship with Ray (Alex Karpovsky), I cringed watching her beg for him to take her back.

Yes, it was sad, but it only showed how lost and inade-

C U LT U R E

quate she feels. This season, she was only looking for some validation, some sign that she’s doing fine and will be okay. But that can’t be with Ray, and maybe now that she’s accepted it, she’ll finally find her way back.

Jessa (Jemima Kirke), as usual, is a whole different story. While everyone else is at Adam’s show, Jessa deals with her newest boss, an old artist who hires her solely because she knows Jessa will help her kill herself. And in a typical predictably unpredict-

able Jessa fashion, she does.

However, after the pills have been taken and death is well on its way, her boss decides she doesn’t want to die, and Jessa runs to call 911.

Part of me believes this storyline stemmed just from the writers having no storyline for Jessa; another believes maybe there’s a deep, meaningful message I’m missing. Either way, I don’t see why this was important to her development, and more so, why this whole season has been full of nothing but meaningless, ran-

FORTUNE LIVE MEDIA/FLICKR

dom storylines for her.

Where Dunham plans to go with “Girls” now, I have no clue. Will part of it be set in Iowa? Can Hannah even thrive there? Will the girls have regressed to their immature, selfish ways when the show comes back? Or are they finally realizing it’s time to face their problems like adults and grow up? I’m hoping it’s the latter.

Stephanie Ramirez can be reached at sjramire@umass.edu.

C U LT U R E

Go anywhere in the country Bravery starts with parents the right with domestic exchange Sending message to kids

Choose between over 180 schools By alexa hoyle Collegian Staff

Everyone has heard of studying abroad – you choose a semester or a year and spend it studying in a country of your choosing. It has become a typical facet of the college experience. But have you heard of domestic exchange? I’m guessing probably not.

I didn’t know about it for a long while either. But one day, as I gathered my books to rush out of class, I saw a poster on the wall that read “National Student Exchange Program” (NSE). It piqued my interest so I inferred further and, eventually, I found myself participating in the NSE program during the first semester of my senior year.

The NSE allows students to study at another school domestically, meaning within the United States. While it may not seem as glamorous as studying in a foreign land, it presents its own set of benefits.

First, there’s the opportunity to explore different ways of life in your own country. I went to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, a town I’d visited previously but never really engrossed myself in. While I don’t want to generalize any entire group of people based on the part of the country they live in, it’s undeniable that life

out there is noticeably different. Aside from the fact that they call soda “pop” and make fun of some of colloquial expressions like “wicked” and “word,” everything just seems more relaxed.

Life is more than our little coastal state, and living in a new place for six months began to teach me that. Going to school in a state that is characterized as a “swing state” as opposed to liberal Massachusetts threw me through a loop; it’s fascinating how many different opinions I’d hear during debates in my history class about anything from abortion to feminism.

The exchange reinforced my belief in respecting others opinions, despite how different from my own they may be. That’s certainly a valuable skill for anyone to learn.

Experiencing a new way of life isn’t the only benefit, though. There is one absolute truth associated with post-graduate life: you will never be able to pick and move for six months and then just come back. But with a domestic exchange you can do just that; you can explore another part of the country that you otherwise would have no access to.

Who knows what wonders may await you in California or Colorado; you may just find that Massachusetts is not where you want to spend the rest of your days. With over 180 state universities and colleges throughout the country that participate in the program it’s hard not to find somewhere to go.

There is also the benefit of being able to access courses at other schools that UMass has no equivalent to – and that doesn’t just mean classes for your major.

At Kent State I took a class entitled “Vampires in Film and Television” and it was absolutely enthralling. The class traced the ascent of the vampire in the modern culture landscape, citing historical events that shaped the blood-suckers presence in popular culture. UMass surely doesn’t have a class like that. With a new course catalog at your disposal you may find a new passion or a fresh twist on your major.

And lastly, a domestic exchange program is much cheaper than a semester abroad. While you may have to find transportation to the state of your choice, the cost of a train ride or a flight will be paltry compared to the cost of flying to Australia. That means you can use all that money you save to immerse yourself in the local culture.

Everyone needs at least one semester away from UMass, but it doesn’t always have to be in a strange land.

Take that trip to California you’ve always want to take, or maybe just go to another UMass campus to take some new classes. With relatively low costs and numerous benefits, there is nothing holding you back from exploring your own country.

Alexa Hoyle can be reached at ahoyle@umass.edu.

By heidi StevenS Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Can we spend a few minutes talking about Noreen Bruce?

She’s the mom of Grayson Bruce, the 9-yearold North Carolina boy who was harassed at school for carrying a My Little Pony backpack, which he uses as a lunch box.

You’ve probably heard his story. “Good Morning America” covered it. USA Today covered it. People magazine covered it. Glenn Beck hosted Grayson on the set of his new show.

Most of the chatter has focused on the school’s handling of the situation. I want to focus on his mom’s handling of it.

“The principal told me that we can no longer bring the bag to school,” Noreen Bruce told “Good Morning America.” “That he, as principal, had the right to ban anything that he believed was a distraction.”

“Saying a lunch box is a trigger for bullying is like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape,” Bruce continued. “It’s flawed logic.”

Indeed it is.

The school has since reversed course, releasing a statement that says, “We sincerely regret that the issue of being told to leave the book bag at home was perceived as blaming Grayson. While that was not the intent, the perception became reality. We support

Grayson bringing the book bag to school.”

The reversal was helped along, no doubt, by the 11,000-plus signatures on a change.org petition. The “Support for Grayson” Facebook page, which collected more than 74,000 likes, probably helped too.

This narrative could have taken a very different trajectory. Elementary school is, tragically, paradoxically, a hostile place.

Fortunately, this kid has a village _ which speaks volumes for the present and future state of our culture, flawed as it may be.

His village, though, began with his mom _ the mom who rejected the school’s advice and told her son to carry whatever bag he wanted to carry. How many of us, faced with a similar directive from the school, would have chosen the path of slightly lesser resistance? Sweetie, let’s go buy you a new bag. Maybe something “Star Wars!”

It’s the most natural instinct in the world _ to survey our children’s landscapes for danger and minimize it in the pitifully few instances we actually can.

I hear from parents weekly: “My son wants to be a princess for Halloween ...” “My son wants to take ballet ...”

“My son wants me to paint his nails ...” Invariably followed by, “I’d be fine with it. ... I just don’t want him to get teased.”

I’ve been that parent.

I’m always reminded, though, of the wise words of Harvard Medical School psychologist Anthony Rao, co-author of “The Way of

Boys: Promoting the Social and Emotional Development of Young Boys” (William Morrow). We were talking, more than a year ago, about encouraging our kids to pursue endeavors that they’re most passionate about _ not the ones that will curry them favor with the in-crowd.

“You don’t want to send the message that following the crowd is the way to go,” Rao told me. “That can lead to all sorts of scarier things, especially as they enter middle school and following the herd becomes much riskier.”

Isn’t that the truth.

I called Rao to get his thoughts on Grayson.

“This is a sensitive, thinking boy who is going to grow up and do some things that this world really wants and needs,” Rao said.

“He’s going to write some cool books or be a nurturer or a healer _ someone who thinks about other people.

His school missed a fantastic opportunity to talk to the aggressive kids and teach them there’s more than one way to be a boy.”

His mom didn’t miss the opportunity.

“You absolutely want to reward a child’s independent thinking,” Rao says.

“That’s a terrific gift right there. You want your child to be willing to go against the pack, especially when the pack, later, is saying, ‘You want to try this drug?’

“You want to tell your child, ‘I really admire that you’re doing it your way.’”

And if you’re lucky, a whole village will echo you.

6

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PODLOFSKY back ...What she’s added is the ability to end the point.”

Podlofsky attributes much of her improvement to Dixon.

“Her strengths are my weaknesses,” Podlofsky said of her coach. “She’s really good at the net, really good at doubles. She’s been able to teach me things that don’t come naturally to me. It’s always nice to have a really tough coach. I’d rather be yelled at than babied.”

Midway through her senior season, Podlofsky continues to perform at a tremendous level. She was recently named the Atlantic 10 Tennis

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

7

continued from page 8

Performer of the Week as she won all of her matches over the spring vacation, breaking the career singles record in the process.

When asked what it means to be the record holder, Podlofsky responded humbly.

“It obviously feels good, but when I decided that this was my goal, I didn’t want to just break the record; I wanted to break it by a lot. ...

I don’t really have a number of wins that I want to reach.

This is a team sport, the goal now is to win the A-10,” she said.

The senior standout also expressed some unrest about approaching the end of her career.

“I used to leave high school early to go to tennis practice,” she said. “Everything was about practicing and playing. The fact that it’s not going to be like that anymore is a scary thought. Waking up to go to tennis practice every morning has been my life and it’s going to be a little sad.”

Podlofsky seemed content about how much she has accomplished throughout her time at UMass.

“I wanted to be a leader. I

wanted to make an impact on this team and have people follow. ... I still had some growing to do and I was put in a position that I was forced to lead people early on, but I think that goal was accomplished...If you believe in yourself on the court, you’ll believe in yourself off the court. I hope that I’ve given that chance to some of the other people on our team.”

COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

Arthur Hayden can be reached at awhayden@umass.edu.

Podlofsky is two wins away from becoming the winningest player in UMass history.

MLB

Cruz’s 7th inning home run downs Red Sox

By Eduardo a. Encina The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE — The path that brought Nelson Cruz to the orange carpet for Opening Day introductions at Camden Yards on Monday afternoon wasn’t the one he imagined months ago when he became a free agent. But if there was any doubt in his mind whether he landed in the right place, those questions were answered quickly.

On the field, Cruz perfectly played the role of hero in his first game with his new team, turning on a 91-mph fastball from Boston starter Jon Lester, sending the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh inning deep into a sea of orange in the left-field stands.

“You always try to dream about a good start,” Cruz said.

“I think the dream came true. ... It was really neat, it was special. I think I made the right call to come and be part of this organization, be part of this town. Hopefully now I can do

some other stuff to contribute for the team.”

With two runners on base and no outs in the second inning of a scoreless game, Cruz also made a jumping catch just in front of the leftfield fence on a rocket by Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts. He also scored both of the Orioles’ runs, including the first one after he battled back from a 0-2 count to draw a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second inning.

The 2-1 win continued the Orioles’ recent dominance of the Red Sox. Even though Lester allowed just two runs over seven innings Monday, the Orioles have now won eight of the past nine games that Lester has started dating back to the 2011 regular-season finale that helped knock the Red Sox out of the postseason race.

Cruz would be the only Orioles base runner to reach third base against Lester over

MCT

Nelson Cruz’s 7th inning home run highlighted his Baltimore debut. the first six innings before taking the first pitch of the seventh out of the ballpark.

The Orioles bullpen tossed four scoreless innings in relief of right-hander Chris Tillman, who left the game after allowing one run over five innings with 104 pitches.

Four different relievers combined to hold a dangerous Red Sox lineup scoreless through the late innings, and new closer Tommy Hunter overcame a hit batter to open the ninth inning to earn the save.

Hunter induced a popup to the left side of the mound from

outfielder Daniel Nava, but then yielded a single to second baseman Dustin Pedroia to put the tying run at second base with one out.

But Hunter retired designated hitter David Ortiz, who had three career homers against him, on a long fly out to left field and struck out right fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. to win the game.

“It’s life in baseball,” Hunter said. “You’ve got to earn everything you get. Onerun game to start the season off against the defending world champs, here we are.”

The Red Sox were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Tillman, the Orioles’ fifth different Opening Day starter in as many seasons, worked ahead of hitters throughout the afternoon, but he fell into some deep counts against the Red Sox and left with the game tied at 1.

The 25-year-old Tillman allowed seven hits but strand-

ed eight Boston base runners, striking out four and walking one.

The Red Sox tied the score in the fourth inning on Grady Sizemore’s solo home run that landed over the out-oftown scoreboard in right field, his first major league homer since July 15, 2011.

“It was a grind,” Tillman said. “They put together some good at-bats, they battled me all the way through.

Fortunately, we were able to make some pitches. It was one of those days, kind of had a feeling it’d be a grind all day.

Good to come out on top.”

Britton, who dominated this spring out of the bullpen, pounded his mid-90s sinker to get six groundball outs in the sixth and seventh innings, and left-hander Brian Matusz stranded runners at first and second in the eighth by inducing a comebacker from lefthanded hitter A.J. Pierzynski.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Sports@DailyCollegian.com

@MDC_SPORTS

TENNIS

M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

UMass gets much needed rest during two-week layoff

A HIDDEN GEM

Minutemen in 2nd place in CAA

By Andrew Cyr Collegian Staff

COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

Jessica Podlofsky wasn’t supposed to play college tennis at UMass, but a last second change of heart now has her as the program’s all-time leader in singles wins.

Podlofsky thriving as leader for UMass

By Arthur hAyden

F

Collegian Staff

our years ago, Jessica Podlofsky knew that she would be playing collegiate tennis.

However, at the time, the University of Massachusetts was not at all in her plans.

“I was supposed to go to a different school,” Podlofsky said.

Despite being hampered by a back injury during her senior year at Paul D. Schreiber High School, Podlofsky had everything lined up to play tennis at another university, but it was all pulled out from under her at the last minute.

“Come signing day they took my scholarship away. I didn’t have anywhere to go to school ... No one was giving me other offers.”

In an effort to help his lost pupil, Podlofsky’s longtime high school coach put in a call to his college coach: current UMass coach Judy Dixon. And just like that, Jessica Podlofsky became a member of the UMass women’s tennis team.

Fast-forward to the present and Podlofsky has won more singles matches over her collegiate career than

any other player in the history of UMass tennis. She needs only two more victories in either singles or doubles to become the all-time winningest tennis player in program history, a title currently held by Michelle Spiess who won 125 total matches from 2004 to 2007.

Podlofsky’s road to Amherst may have been unorthodox, but when asked about the singles record and when it had come to her attention, her answer was straightforward.

“It was a goal of mine from day one. I wanted to break the record,” she said.

“My coach from home and I talked about it, and nothing was written down, set in stone, but I always wanted to break the record.”

This goal-oriented mental toughness would become a staple of her time here at UMass and it has trickled down throughout the program.

As is true for all great athletes, Podlofsky aided her team in ways beyond the success in her own matches.

Dixon described how, as a freshman, Podlofsky immediately benefited the rest of the Minutewomen by exhib-

“It was a goal of mine from day one. I wanted to break the record. My coach from home and I talked about it and nothing was written down, set in stone, but I always wanted to break the record.”

Jessica Podlofsky, UMass senior

iting a tireless work ethic, unparalleled intensity and, obviously, her ability to win.

“She made an impact right away in a lot of ways,” Dixon said. “I knew this was gonna be my kind of chick.

She was going to infuse the team with just what we needed which was some feisty toughness.”

Podlofsky said she began to notice her impact when her teammates asked to play their matches on the court next to her to feed off of her aggressive attitude.

“They said that they loved my energy and the way I acted on the court,” Podlofsky said. “I’m very energetic on the court. I scream and I cheer ... I think it really changed the team.”

Her drive was so inspiring that Podlofsky was voted a captain of the team as a

sophomore, a move Dixon called “unheard of.”

“She led by example,” she said. “Through her work ethic, her mental toughness.

The tennis team became much of a fiery team. We became street fighters and street fighting is what we do ... That’s because of her.”

Dixon emphasized that this hard-nosed mantra – in a sport sometimes categorized by country clubs and a sense of civility – aided the team immensely and allowed them to compete at a higher level. Dixon and Podlofsky also agree that the team’s emotional leader has made great strides of her own.

“She’s added more variety to her game,” Dixon said. “She’s always had the ability to grind, get the ball see

PODLOFSKY on page 7

every game is the same, had this break happened a week or two weeks earlier we would have gone about it the same way,” he said.

Earlier this season, UMass endured a stretch of playing five games in just a 12-day period. The Minutemen saw it all during that stretch, including a 25-10 loss against Albany, a grind it out win against a top-five team in the country and everything in between.

“It’s good for us coaches because there are a lot of things we can go through from the 12 day, five game stretch that you can’t really work on because you are focused on the (preparation) and trying to rest guys,” Canella said.

Izzo compared this stretch of the season to how the Minutemen approach their fall ball routine of only practicing with the team and not having to focus on one specific opponent.

“We’ve been itching to get back onto the field since last game,” Izzo said. “This was a good week for us in terms of the team aspect, it really built our camaraderie back up and gave us both the mental and physical break we needed.”

The Minutemen return back to a normal scheduled week as they prepare for the Towson game this Saturday at Garber Field.

When asked about how the rest will affect his team Cannella simply responded with “we’ll see Saturday.”

Rest is something that’s often hard to come by in the middle of a lacrosse season.

But the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team, which is in the midst of a 14-day layover, has made the most of the time to improve and reflect on the season thus far.

“We got to focus on the nicks that we really haven’t done too well this year and worked on what we struggled with,” short stick defensemen Ryan Izzo said.

“It was a good chance for us to look back on previous games and understand what we need to do better for the upcoming part of the season.”

The No. 12 Minutemen (7-2, 1-0 Colonial Athletic Association) currently are in second place in the CAA, after an 8-6 victory over Penn State earlier in the season. UMass, which has four games remaining on its schedule, is entering the roulette of conference play with the race for first wide open.

Hofstra currently sits atop the conference with a 6-3 overall record and a 3-0 record in CAA play.

However, head coach Greg Cannella isn’t worried too much about the timing of the break for the Minutemen and is more interested with the way his team will perform through- Andrew Cyr can be reached at arcyr@ out the rest of the year. umass.edu, and can be followed on “The way you approach Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

The Minutemen will look to use their 14-day layoff to make a final playoff push.

C A A M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

Hofstra, Drexel get key CAA wins; PSU loses again

By JAmes CushmAn Collegian Correspondent

The Hofstra men’s lacrosse team remained undefeated in conference play on Saturday with a 9-7 home win against Towson, in a battle between two of the top teams in the Colonial Athletic Association.

After an evenly played first quarter that ended tied 2-2, the Pride quickly took a 4-2 lead after scoring two goals in the first three minutes of the second quarter. The Tigers battled back and scored two goals of their own later in the quarter, finishing the first half tied 4-4.

Both teams exchanged quick goals to begin the third quarter before Hofstra scored three unanswered goals, leading 8-5

with 10 minutes remaining in the game. The Tigers added a couple goals in the fourth and brought the game to within one with seven minutes left, but ultimately came up short.

Senior Torin Varn and sophomore Sam Llinares led Hofstra offensively as both players recorded two goals and one assist each.

Junior Korey Hendrickson also contributed with two goals for the Pride.

Towson freshman Joe Seider was the top goal scorer of the day, pitching in with four goals, while senior Thomas DeNapoli also added a goal and two assists for the Tigers.

Hofstra will look to continue their three game win streak when they host Siena on Saturday and Towson will look to return

to their winning ways when it comes to Amherst to face Massachusetts on Saturday.

Drexel prevails over Delaware The Drexel men’s lacrosse team earned its first conference win with a 9-7 road victory against Delaware on Saturday.

After a low scoring first quarter which ended tied 1-1, the Dragons offense exploded with four goals in the second quarter, going into halftime with a 5-2 lead. Drexel’s offensive success continued to start the second half thanks to two man-up goals.

The Blue Hens did not go away quietly as they scored three unanswered goals to end the third quarter and to begin the fourth. The

team’s five goals in the second half were ultimately not enough to recover from a poor first half.

The Dragons’ offense was led by senior Nick Trizano and his hat-trick.

Junior Ryan Belka showed off his scoring and passing abilities, picking up two goals and two assists in the victory. The CAA’s leading goal scorer senior Ben McIntosh also added two goals for Drexel.

Junior midfielder Beau Jones shined offensively for Delaware, picking up a hat-trick in the loss.

Redshirt freshman Steve DeLargy also contributed to the Blue Hens attack, chipping in with a goal and an assist.

The Dragons return home for their next game against Penn State on

Saturday, while the Blue Hens will attempt to end their three game skid when they travel to Manhattan for a non-conference game on Tuesday.

Villanova’s success continued in the second half as they added a few more goals within the first five minutes of the third quarter. Penn State ultimately Penn State falls to came up short despite two Villanova fourth quarter tallies.

The Nittany Lions’ attack The Penn State men’s lacrosse team lost its was led by senior Shane second straight game Sturgis who picked up two on Saturday,falling to goals and an assist and Villanova 9-7 at home, junior Michael Richards dropping to below .500 on also scored two goals in the season. the loss. Senior goalkeeper The Wildcats got off to a Austin Kaut played well for hot start and led 3-1 headPSU, recording 13 saves ing into the second quarter.

The Nittany Lions will The Nittany Lions got their travel to Drexel on Saturday offense going in the second in hopes of securing their quarter with three goals, first conference win of the but they trailed Villanova season.

6-4 at the end of the first half as the Wildcats added another goal with just four James Cushman can be reached at jrcushman@umass.edu. seconds left in the half.