Massachusetts Daily Collegian: Apr. 23, 2014

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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

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Renowned rabbi discusses role of religion in policy Talk focused on advocacy, morality

By Rose GottlieB Collegian Staff

JAMES JESSON/COLLEGIAN

Participants race to finish a randomly selected jar of baby food in the UMass Amazing Race, a competition run by the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success in conjunction with the UMass Police Department’s Community Outreach Unit, at Berkshire Dining Hall on the evening of April 4, 2014.

Student spends break in Iceland Group of 25 studied renewable energy

By KatRina BoRofsKi Collegian Staff

For students like Jasmine Abdollahi, finding time during their undergraduate career to study abroad while fulfilling major requirements is often difficult and sometimes impossible.

As a physics major, Abdollahi must incorporate difficult courses into her schedule, which are rarely offered in programs abroad.

However, through the Global Renewable Energy Education Network, also known as the GREEN program, she traveled to Iceland for a week in March.

“This is a really good program for people who can’t study for a semester or year

abroad,” Abdollahi said. “It was good for me because in my major, it is really difficult to study abroad since there are really difficult classes, and typically if you’re abroad, you’re doing research.”

During her time in Iceland, Abdollahi learned about the renewable energy and sustainability initiatives taking place there.

“The program is targeted toward people who have interest in those things,” Abdollahi said. And while she noted that the program included undergrads primarily interested in science and engineering like herself, it was by no means restricted to any specific major.

During a group project she completed on the trip, Abdollahi said, “I was working with an engineering major, an

environmental policy major and a Chinese major, so it was really cool to see people from all different fields interested in one thing.”

Abdollahi, along with 24 other students from across the United States, visited the Iceland School of Energy.

“Iceland has 100 percent sustainable energy,” Abdollahi said, explaining why the group chose Iceland as its destination. “It has 70 percent hydro-electric energy and 30 percent geothermal energy.”

The week-long trip included tours of different energy facilities across the country, as well as lectures from professors at the Iceland School of Energy.

“We got to ask super technical questions about how things work and the economics of

Okla. grapples with death penalty issues after ruling 2 death row immates granted a reprieve

By Michael MusKal Los Angeles Times

A divided Oklahoma Supreme Court has granted two death row inmates a reprieve, while throwing the state’s legal system into a tizzy on how to administer the death penalty.

In a 5-4 ruling, the state Supreme Court ordered a stay in Tuesday’s planned execution of Clayton Lockett, convicted in the 1999 shooting of a 19-yearold woman. The court also ordered a stay in the April 29 scheduled execution of Charles Warner, convicted in the 1997 death of an

11-month-old girl.

In both cases, the court acted after lawyers for the inmates said they needed more information on the drugs the state planned to use to execute the prisoners. But the Supreme Court also said it acted because the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied a stay, saying it lacked authority.

“The ‘rule of necessity’ now demands that we step forward,” according to the Supreme Court’s majority opinion. “We can deny jurisdiction, or we can leave the appellants with no access to the courts for resolution of their ‘grave’ constitutional claims.

“As uncomfortable as this matter makes us, we

refuse to violate our oaths of office and to leave the appellants with no access to the courts, their constitutionally guaranteed measure.”

The ruling has created some confusion, a spokeswoman for state Attorney General Scott Pruitt told the Los Angeles Times. The state is seeking a re-argument of the case, she said Tuesday.

“The Oklahoma Supreme Court has acted in an extraordinary and unprecedented manner, resulting in a constitutional crisis for our state,” Pruitt said in a statement released after the court ruling.

In a letter to defense see

PENALTY on page 2

Serving the UMass community since 1890

it,” Abdollahi said, adding that the intensity and focus of the lectures were particularly impressive.

In addition to attending lectures, students in the GREEN program participated in a Capstone project.

“We each got to pick any field in renewable energy and do some sort of business proposal or research project,” Abdollahi said. At the end of the trip, the same professors that had given lectures also sat in on the students’ proposals.

“We got the facilities, the classes, the Capstone, so it was all really cool,” Abdollahi said.

The trip also included what Abdollahi referred to as “Iceland adventures.” These trips included hiking, cave exploration and travel to other see

GREEN on page 2

Reform Jewish Rabbi and advocate David Saperstein came to the University of Massachusetts Tuesday evening to discuss the role of religion in American policy.

During the talk, Saperstein spoke about the importance of religious groups advocating for social justice and equality, as well as the importance of the separation of church and state. This separation, he said, has allowed religion in the United States to flourish with diversity.

Saperstein is the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, or the RAC, which is a group that advocates for resolutions of political issues from a reform Jewish standpoint.

In addition to working for the RAC, in 2009, Saperstein was appointed by President Barack Obama as a member of the first White House Council on FaithBased and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The talk, held in the UMass Honors College Events Hall, was organized by the Political Science Undergraduate Board, along with the Department of Political Science, Department of History, UMass Hillel, UMass Ruach, Jewish Community Center of Amherst and Beit Ahavah of Northampton.

Saperstein said that Judaism has always believed in moral guidance. He added that many Jews express their religious beliefs through involvement in social justice, as do many mainstream Protestants and Catholics.

Saperstein also spoke about the role that fundamentalist Christian groups play in American politics.

According to Saperstein, prior to the 1950s, fundamentalist Christians may have been very influential in their own communities, but had less influence in national politics.

However, when television and radio brought what these groups considered to be immoral aspects of American culture into people’s homes, parents felt they couldn’t protect their children. Therefore, they decided to “protect the outside world” instead.

This, Saperstein said, led to many questions about various societal issues, including the breakdown of family, loss of respect for authority, divorce and drug use.

“I agree with those questions, I just disagree with their answers,” Saperstein said.

Saperstein believes that religion has a duty to address questions of morality in society. However, the solution, Saperstein said, is not to tell people when to pray in school, to teach the Bible as science or to hang the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

“We don’t want the government picking and choosing” whose prayers get said and which religions get certain benefits, Saperstein said.

But, Saperstein added, “(Religion) at its best can be transformational for social justice.”

According to Saperstein, in the 1990s, people on the progressive side of the religious agenda tried to find common ground with the religious right. see

SAPERSTEIN on page 3

Supreme Court upholds affirmative action ban Michigan universities were in question

By DaviD Jesse Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a ban on using race in admissions to Michigan’s public universities. The court was divided on the case, which overturns a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision.

The opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, says the case is not about race admissions policies but about whether voters in a state can choose to prohibit consideration of racial preferences.

“The plurality opin-

ion stresses that the case is not about the constitutionality or the merits of race-conscious admission policies in higher education. Rather, the question concerns whether, and in what manner, voters in a state may choose to prohibit consideration of such racial preferences,” Kennedy wrote. “Where states have prohibited race-conscious admissions policies, universities have responded by experimenting ‘with a wide variety of alternative approaches.’ The decision

by Michigan voters reflects the ongoing national dialogue about such practices.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Clarence

Thomas all filed concurring opinions.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion joined

by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the case.

The case centers on Proposal 2, called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.

The appeals court said the state ban on affirmative action violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by making it more difficult for a minority student to get a university to adopt a race-conscious admissions policy than for a white student to get a university to adopt an admissee

BAN on page 2

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

THE RUNDOWN ON THIS DAY...

In 1985, Coca-Cola changed its formula and released New Coke. After three months, the original formula was brought back and New Coke was removed due to overwhelming negativity.

AROUND THE WORLD KIEV, Ukraine — The United States will stand by Ukrainians against Russian aggression that threatens their nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Vice President Joe Biden pledged Tuesday during a visit to Kiev.

“No nation has the right to simply grab land from another nation, and we will never recognize Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea, and neither will the world,” Biden said after meeting with Ukraine’s acting prime minister, Arseny Yatsenyuk.

“No nation should threaten its neighbors by amassing troops along the border.

We call on Russia to pull back these forces. No nation should stir instability in its neighbor’s country.”

Biden threatened greater costs and greater isolation for Russia, already facing fresh sanctions after annexing Crimea last month, and demanded that it “stop supporting men hiding behind masks in unmarked uniforms sowing unrest in eastern Ukraine.”

Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Tuesday that it was sending 600 soldiers to Eastern Europe for military exercises in response to “aggression” by Russia in Ukraine, the first U.S. ground forces dispatched to the region in the 2-monthold crisis.

The 173rd Infantry Brigade, a U.S. Army airborne unit based in Vicenza, Italy, will deploy 150-soldier companies to Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia over the next month and will rotate more U.S. forces to those and possibly other countries at least through the end of the year, Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters.

Tribune Washington Bureau BEIRUT — The heavy anti-tank missiles recently shown in videos being fired

by Western-backed Syrian rebels were manufactured in the United States, and their transfer to the rebels would have required direct American government approval, according to experts in international weapons deals.

That makes the videos the first hard evidence that the Obama administration has undertaken what may be a test of the rebels’ ability to adapt to advanced weaponry in a conflict that to date has been primarily a battle of outdated Soviet-era equipment.

McClatchy Foreign Staff JERUSALEM — With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations still deadlocked a week before their current round expires, negotiating teams met Tuesday with U.S. envoy Martin Indyk in Jerusalem to discuss extending the troubled talks.

Nine months of meetings between Israeli and Palestinian teams have yielded little agreement, and both sides’ tough positions have stymied the effort to secure a framework for working toward a two-state solution to the conflict.

Los Angeles Times Distributed by MCT Information Services

DailyCollegian.com

Police Log: Fri., April 18 - Sun., April 20 Weekend log for the Amherst PD

dent caused the tombstone to fall over.

By Marleigh Felsenstein Collegian Staff

4:57 p.m.: A motor vehicle at Puffers Pond on State Street was broken into. A laptop was stolen from the car.

Friday, April 18

caution tape around it.

9:56 p.m.: Medical assistance was needed at Craig’s Place Homeless Shelter for a heavily intoxicated party.

The staff of the shelter wanted the party to leave via ambulance.

5:13 p.m.: A motor vehicle made a red light violation on 10:53 a.m.: There was a lar- Main Street. The driver was Saturday, April 19 ceny on South East Street. It an unlicensed woman that had her 10-year-old son in is still under investigation.

1:08 a.m.: Medical assisthe front seat. The boy was tance was needed at Puffton 11:49 a.m.: There was a moved to the back seat.

Village on North Pleasant 7-year-old boy wandering Street for a 23-year-old that 9:00 p.m .: A motor vehicle around the UMass campus.

His caregiver, an employee was stopped near Kelly’s on was having difficulty breathof the UMass Geography College Street because it did ing. The party was heavily Department, was locat- not have headlights on. The intoxicated while on antibioted. The information was driver was unlicensed and ics and transported to Cooley relayed to the University called a friend with a valid Dickinson Hospital by the of Massachusetts Police license to drive the car home. Amherst Fire Department.

Department Officer Booth.

9:31 a.m.: Items from 9:17 p.m.: A street light 3:24 p.m.: There was a was knocked over near Carriage Shops on North minor motor vehicle crash Brandywine Building No. 13 Pleasant Street were stoat the Emily Dickinson on Brandywine Drive. The len from the front window, gravesite at West Cemetery light is considered a safety including CDs, coins and on Triangle Street. The acci- hazard and an officer put electronic devices.

BAN

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sions policy that considers family and alumni connections.

The ballot initiative was pushed by Jennifer Gratz, who was denied admission to the University of Michigan and sued, and by Ward Connerly, a former University of California regent who backed a similar voter initiative in that state.

Michigan voters approved the ban, 58 percent to 42 percent.

More than 10 years ago, U-M was involved in a landmark Supreme Court ruling governing race and universities in two companion lawsuits, one filed by Gratz and others over undergraduate admissions policies. The high court upheld the U-M Law School’s use of race as a consideration in admissions, as long as there were no quotas attached, but threw out

PENALTY

the undergraduate admissions system that awarded extra points to AfricanAmerican, Hispanic and American Indian students.

It was considered a win for U-M, despite the ruling on undergraduate admissions.

Proposal 2 erased U-M’s court victory by banning the state’s universities and other public institutions from considering an applicant’s minority status or gender in their admissions or hiring processes.

“The ruling has no effect on our policies, which already are consistent with Proposal 2 of 2006,” said U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald. “We remain committed to the goal of a diverse, academically excellent, student body, and will continue to seek to achieve that goal in ways that comply with the law.”

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attor neys Susanna Gattoni and Seth Day, who represent both inmates, Pruitt suggested the two lawyers cared more about fighting the death penalty.

“You have, instead, settled on a strategy focused on creating tension between our state’s highest courts and using the media to create public doubts about the integrity of the execution process,” Pruitt said in the letter.

“At this point, I must say I wonder if your ultimate objective is not to zealously represent your clients but to simply garner sympathy for the anti-death penalty cause by casting

a shadow on the process and making a spectacle on Tuesday of what should be the most solemn of occasions.”

In a statement, the lawyers rejected the attorney general’s complaints.

“This case has always been about secrecy, and that can be seen from our filings,” Day wrote.

“Despite the claims from the AG, to date, appellants have received no certifications, testing data, medical opinions, or other evidence to support the state’s insistence that these drugs are safe, or to prove that they were acquired legally.”

GREEN

1:28 a.m.: Jesse Bollinger of Amherst was arrested on College Street for his second OUI liquor offense. He was also charged with a motor vehicle lights violation and negligent operation of a 7:14 p.m.: A party lost their motor vehicle to endanger. wallet on South Pleasant 2:01 a.m.: Henry MejiaStreet. It may have been left on the bus. The location is Ayala of Amherst was arrested on charges of resiststill unknown. ing arrest, disturbing the 8:10 p.m.: There was a peace, possession of alcobreaking and entering on hol under the age of 21 and Main Street. It is still under possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. Luciano investigation.

Martinez and Edgar MejiaAyala, both of Amherst, were Sunday, April 20 arrested on charges of possession of alcohol under the 12:23 a.m.: Matthew age of 21.

Gustafson of Boston was arrested at Valentine Hall at 7:46 p.m.: A lost Chinook Amherst College on College named Olwyn was found on Street. He was charged for Heatherstone Road. The dog an open container of alco- has Connecticut tags. hol and possession of alcohol while under the age of 21.

Marleigh Felsenstein can be reached at mfelsenstein@umass.edu.

12:22 p.m.: Medical assistance was needed at Village Park on East Pleasant Street for an elderly female with difficulty breathing.

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parts of the country.

“You hear they get their energy from rivers and geological energy, and when you hike up a mountain, you really see why because of the nature,” Abdollahi said.

“You see steam rising from the ground and it’s really unique.”

Added Abdollahi: “When you’re in Iceland, you don’t feel like you’re in a country.

You feel like you’re on Earth and seeing what it really is.

The way their culture and environment is intertwined is really unique.”

In addition to immersing herself in the Icelandic environmental physically, Abdollahi also found herself immersed culturally. She said that the food, in particular, was nothing short of a culture shock.

After being introduced to the cuisine of Iceland, Abdollahi said, “We were having really nice creamy soups and fish and potatoes, but the food they tried to scare us with was sheep heads.”

Overall, Abdollahi said her trip to Iceland with the

GREEN program was powerful in exposing her to a new culture and helped expand her understanding of sustainability.

“I’m hoping more people from UMass hear about it,” she said.

The GREEN program also hosts trips to Costa Rica and Peru, which focuses on renewable energy and sustainable irrigation systems, respectively.

Katrina Borofski can be reached at kborofski@umass.edu.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

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SAPERSTEIN People from all different religious backgrounds began to combine their efforts on issues of social justice that mattered to them.

Religious communities began to discuss issues such as environmental concerns, debt relief, human trafficking and the spread of HIV. “When the religious community weighed in, it transformed the debate,” Saperstein said. Because the religious community has such a strong influence among its members, various religious groups working together advocated very successfully.

Saperstein argued that although all religions have their differences,

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

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and at their core they share the same basic moral values – belief in the fundamental dignity of every human being, belief in the equality of all people, belief in possibility of perfecting human society, rule of law and pursuit of peace and justice.

“Religion has played a powerful role in asserting these values,” Saperstein said.

One way Saperstein said religious groups can uphold these values is by advocating for a government that has many institutions dedicated to social justice.

In Talmudic times, an ancient historic time period in Jewish history,

“there was a social welfare institution akin to the liberal approach today,” Saperstein said. He added that every Jewish community that grew to a certain size had four or five major institutions run by the government, which were paid for by some form of taxation.

Although members of different religious groups may have different ideas of how these values translate into law, religion at its core, Saperstein said, “has always been inspired by that moral message.” He believes that the religious Americans should advocate for policies that uphold these fundamental values, rather than

policies that try to impose one religion’s specific traditions on the rest of society.

“Religion has a voice of conscious at this particular point (in time),” Saperstein said. He added that it is the duty of every American citizen “to be the moral goad to our country.”

Sophomore Charlotte Kelly, a member of the Political Science Undergraduate Board, said that Saperstein’s talk “touches on so many aspects of what is taught here at UMass.” Because there are so many religious groups and social justice groups on campus, she believes that what Saperstein

said is relevant to many people here.

Junior Jacob Stuckey, an organizer of the event and Saperstein’s nephew, added that his uncle’s advocacy is important. “There’s so much of the negative side of religion and politics together,” he said.

“There needs to be some moral high ground that we stand on,” Kelly said, adding that like Saperstein, she believes that religion gives us a context for that morality.

Rose Gottlieb can be reached at rgottlieb@ umass.edu.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

“By the way, they’re real, and they’re spectacular.” - Sidra

Editorial@DailyCollegiancom

Freedom of speech for campus workers

Push for discipline equality in schools

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Recently, while working required. He even said that on a different article, I went he didn’t want to lose his job. around campus asking a He was afraid to lose his job.

Fear was squashing his freeIan Hagerty dom of speech.

In Ohio, at the University variety of people if I could of Toledo, an employee interview them. Some people named Crystal Dixon was were fine with being asked recently fired after writing a few questions and others an opinion column in the were a bit more skeptical. school paper to argue with The campus employees were an editorial. In no way did another story entirely. she mention her employNearly every single ment at the University withemployee I talked to refused in the article. A short time to discuss anything with any sort of press. When I approached these various University of Massachusetts employees, they often had a welcoming smile on their face until I took out my pad and pen.

One seemingly undergrad- later, the school published uate aged girl that worked at another opinion column the Procrastination Station arguing against Ms. Dixon’s in the Campus Center told column and then fired her.

In the court briefing for the me that she would not feel comfortable at all talking case of Dixon v. University to the press, regardless of of Toledo it is explained the nature of the discussion. that the school “fired Dixon The other girl working with because they deemed in not her at the time also refused in ‘accord’ with the ‘values’ of the University of Toledo.” to talk.

I went into the Off- Is this what could happen Campus Student Services to UMass employees if they office in the Student Union do talk to the press or write and I received an even stron- their opinion publicly? ger response. A friendly man UMass is still a university. working the front desk in This is why its full name is the office formed a defensive indeed still the University wall and immediately told of Massachusetts, Amherst. me that he was strictly for- However, a university is supbidden by his employers to posed to be a place where discuss anything with any students have the freedom to form of the press. This was pursue their education and what I found most surpris- lead it in the direction they ing – holding their tongue so choose. A very large part wasn’t only advised, it was of this equation is our free-

lic employment on a basis that infringes the employee’s constitutionally protected interest in freedom of expression.”

Considering that UMass is a state university, it seems that the Supreme Court would uphold the right for a school employee to express their own opinion.

An intriguing parallel example that really strikes home concerns UMass itself. Only several years ago, in 2009, according to FIRE press, the Student Government Association (SGA), passed a resolution demanding that the Silent Majority, the group behind the former UMass Minuteman Newspaper publicly apologize for a satirical article that had been previously released.

Adam Kissel, director of FIRE’s Individual Rights Defense Program said, “It is difficult to imagine how the SGA could have more thoroughly abused the First Amendment and humiliated UMass.”

Freedom of speech has been violated on the UMass campus before. It seems possible that it is yet again. As a university, we are part of the root system of education in this country. If we continue to let our roots wither and die, what is going to be left to hold the tree up?

dom of speech, especially if we are expressing opposition to the actions of our own school.

Freedom of speech is something that this country was founded on and it flows from the very core of our mind as Americans. How can this be a proper institution for higher learning if the students can’t discuss anything?

It is easy to say that a student should probably just get

“How can this be a proper institution for higher learning if the students can’t discuss anything?”

Earlier this year, the ior that is really disruptive Obama administration’s or even violent,’ said Hans Education Department Bader, a senior attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Karen Podorefsky Institute.

Teachers should not be reinforcing racism because and Justice Department it would translate to stuchanged discipline rules dents doing so as well. in public schools through- Whether or not students out the United States. The participate in racist slurs goal of this implementation or actions, making it seem is to eliminate inequality “OK” would create a parbetween white and minor- allel between other “isms” ity students. of discrimination, such as Ben Wolfgang of The multiculturalism, classism Washington Times pub- and ableism. Many stulished an article called dents look up to their teach“Obama administration ers and look to them as an guidelines could lead to example. Teachers should racial quotas in school dis- be a good example of equalcipline” that outlines the ity. issue. The rules are more of To me, it seems prejua “guidance” that say that dice if teachers do punish school disciplinary policies them and prejudice if they cannot have a “disparate don’t, but for different reaimpact” on one particular sons. So, what is equality? group. It is essentially to As an aspiring teacher, it make sure that punishment is difficult for me to jusfor similar circumstances tify taking a side. I believe among students of different that all students deserve race is equal because they the same punishment and were being treated differ- the rules should be clear ently and unfairly. to all in order to make sure Their goal was in that there is no discrepancy response to harsh punish- in punishment due to race, ments such as suspension gender, ethnicity, class, and expulsion. Minority disability or any form of students are being pun- minority. That being said, ished more than white stu- positive reinforcement is dents. This was thought to just as important. be discriminatory because Operant conditioning, in some schools, students a theory by B.F. Skinner,

a job off campus instead of working for the school, and we all know that there are quite a few students on campus that do not even have jobs. However, this really is not the point at hand. The point is that, as American citizens, we have a lawful, First Amendment right to the freedom of speech. It really is as plain and as simple as that.

The school would and should be obligated to require campus employees to keep certain confidential information private from the public, such as student records.

Concerning another freedom of speech case in 2006, Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court wrote Ian Hagerty is a Collegian columnist that, “It is well settled that a and can be reached at ihagerty@ State cannot condition pub- umass.edu.

“In moderation, discipline is important and effective…If they go beyond the line of respect, action should be in place, but in moderation.”

Letters tothe edItor

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

To the Editor in response to “There is nothing to debate about global warming,” Thanks for the excellent editorial, “There is nothing to debate about global warming.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports make it clear to any rational person that we need to move past the phony “debate” the fossil fuel corporations want to keep people fixated on and act on solutions. Here’s

hoping UMass has a Divest Now movement, but we need something much bigger to get rid of fossil fuels altogether in time to avoid what climate scientists now project will be “catastrophic” climate change if we delay.

Eight Nobel Prizewinning economists and the Harvard economist who is a co-author of the latest IPCC report advocate a consumer-friendly carbon tax to transition efficiently to clean energy without

economic pain. A steadily increasing carbon pollution tax rebated directly to consumers, a “tax swap,” will let the market make the switch to renewables as carbon fuels get increasingly more expensive than solar and wind. This is revenue-neutral and has no government regulations.

As they scale up, solar and wind get cheaper and storage/intermittency problem has been solved. Even Ed Schultz and a number of other prominent

Republicans are backing this idea, so politically it’s possible. Visit the Citizens Climate Lobby website for details and get involved, or at least write Congress. All we lack is the political will to get this done. We are the solution.

of color are being punished for things that other students are not being disciplined for. Or, the minority students are more badly behaved, causing them to get in trouble more than the white students. Even though they may deserve the punishment, it puts them in a negative, disparaging light if they are the only ones being disciplined.

It seems as though they are being discriminated against.

It is not as easy to fix this problem as one may think. If minority students really do misbehave more in a certain circumstance, then putting discipline into action makes sense.

However, then administrators still seem to be in favor of white students because they aren’t punishing them at all, or if they do, it is in a minor way in comparison.

Even if minor punishment is what is deserved, the outlook is skewed and “‘eventually, you’ll have disorder in schools. … They either suspend white students for relatively trivial things or they don’t punish black students for behav-

Lynn Goldfarb 97 Deer Ford Drive Lancaster, PA

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.

explains that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences.

Through this, reinforcers and punishment are used.

Reinforces are often more effective because they produce positive results, rather than scaring the subject with a negative outcome.

Praising students for positive work would encourage them to continue to do it, but giving out suspensions left and right only causes them to not do whatever action it was in the future out of fear.

Students deserve equal educational opportunities, but it is important that misbehavior doesn’t get in the way of that. In moderation, discipline is important and effective. Students must be aware of respect in schools between their peers, teachers and administrators. If they go beyond the line of respect, action should be in place, but in moderation. It should only be there to keep order.

Karen Podorefsky is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at kpodoref@umass.edu.

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Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

“Crying: acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon.” - Ron Swanson

TELEVISION

FILM

‘Noah’ is a sinking ship

‘Veep’ continues to be one of TV’s smartest comedies

Heavy on visuals but light on story

An ensemble cast worthy of your vote

By NathaN FroNtiero Collegian Staff

By alex Frail Collegian Staff

“Veep” kicked off its third season last Sunday on HBO and picked up two months after Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) discovered that the President wouldn’t be running for reelection. Season 2 left us with a cliffhanger that suggested the Veep might become the POTUS this year. Despite shifting circumstances, a strong premiere nixed any theory that our flawed heroine has changed at all.

The premiere episode follows two parallel stories. The Veep continues her book tour while the rest of the gang celebrates Mike’s (Matt Walsh) wedding. Meyer’s storyline offers the biggest laughs, like when she writes off people at her book signing with empty salutations like, “God bless you…et cetera.” Meanwhile, Mike’s wedding pokes fun at our crippling dependence on technology.

Dreyfus, who won two much-deserved Emmys for her portrayal of Meyer, nails every dry one-liner at the book signing. She struggles to find words for voters who question the book’s hilariously ambiguous title, “Some New Beginnings,” a symbol for how meaningless most politicians’ statements are. It’s impossible not to laugh when another voter gives a butter sculpture of Iowa to the speechless Veep.

At the wedding, Gary (Tony Hale) panics in his leave of absence from Meyer.

As he delivers the best man speech, he reduces it to Cliff Notes so he can take Meyer’s phone call. Hale, not far removed from Buster Bluth in “Arrested Development,” has always been one of the funniest actors on the show. His separation anxiety saves the otherwise bland wedding.

“Veep” continues its wicked, quick one-liners that recall other comedic gems

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus has won two Emmys for her lead role on ‘Veep.’ like “Archer” and “Arrested Development.” The zingers often bridge the gap between comedic brilliance and unsettling taboo. In one scene, Amy (Anna Chlumsky) complains that Mike “has more nervous ticks than a shoebomber.” That’s just one of the head turning lines that both make us laugh and force us to acknowledge its political incorrectness.

The show has always benefited from these stinging jokes. Last season, when the Veep walks through a glass door, Dan (Reid Scott) comments that she has become “a living metaphor for her own career.” “Veep” excels at puns that aren’t always obvious punch lines, so repeat viewing rewards any fan.

Now in its 3rd season, “Veep” has assembled one of the funniest ensembles on television thanks to its excellent acting. Hale keeps the laughs coming as the Veep’s personal assistant, Kevin Dunn plays Ben, the President’s Chief of Staff, as a depressed, drunken sage, and Sufe Bradshaw, who plays the straightforward Sue, often rebuffs other staffers with a lacerating tongue.

And you can always count on Timothy Simons, too steal every scene as Jonah.

As everyone’s perennial punching bag, Jonah endures endless burns. In the premiere alone he gets called “Hepatitis J” and “The Seven Foot Mouth.” Thanks to Simons’s

Arts@DailyCollegian.com

performance, the crass, egocentric Jonah is a man who’s worth this level of derision.

Season three’s debut didn’t drop any clear indicators whether or not Meyer will ascend to the Oval Office this year. Most of the episode deals with fragmented communications between the book signing and the wedding as the Veep’s staff plans to announce her campaign. In the end, Jonah ruins everyone’s plans by posting a photo to his blog that sparks a public relations catastrophe.

The show is like a slapstick “House of Cards,” a humorous, critical portrayal of our incompetent leaders. But while “House of Cards” operates in the shadows, “Veep” exploits its characters’ flaws to make light of corruption and incompetence. Meyer is the perfect comedic foil to Frank Underwood.

After an uneven first season and a strong sophomore outing, “Veep” is well on its way to becoming one of the great comedies. It ranks with “Archer” and “Parks and Recreation” as one of the smartest comedies on television, an incisive social commentary with rapid-fire puns and outlandish characters.

If only Congress were this funny, then we might forgive them for being such a headache.

Alex Frail can be reached at afrail@ umass.edu.

far beyond that. When he’s not looking up at the sky in awe seeking word from the Creator (the film’s choice nomenclatural euphemism for “God”) he’s barking orders at his family or at his strangely motivated adversary, Tubal-Cain (an equally grumpy Ray Winstone).

The decent supporting cast is squandered.

Noah’s son Shem has a wife (played by Emma Watson), and brother Ham (Logan Lerman) wants a wife, too.

Ham’s motivation is understandable, but his character is only allowed that single beat and nothing further to expand into. The film’s limited script reduces turns from Jennifer Connelly and even Anthony Hopkins to token characters.

The film has elicited a backlash of sorts for the creative liberties it takes with its source material.

That criticism may be valid (as aforementioned, the portion of the Bible that constitutes this story is not particularly large) but it does, in some senses, miss the point.

The problem with “Noah” isn’t that it runs with the story, but rather that it hits the audience over the head with it. Aronofsky keeps returning to the same images, three symbols of Adam and Eve’s original fall from grace, dark visions warning Noah of impending doom.

It’s as if the director truly believed that the audience wouldn’t catch on. There’s nothing objectionable about

Aronofsky’s hand, but he keeps shoving it overtly in the audience’s face.

Humanity is rife with sin, and as a great flood looms the task of preserving the innocent (beasts of the land and sky) falls upon Noah. The film jumps through the construction of his great ark with perhaps its most unsubtle series of shots. Skittering stop motion sends the viewer racing across the earth as a holy river brings life to grow the necessary forest for materials. The large shots of legions of wild animals marching inside the nearly finished ark are truly astounding images, but they become grating amidst the visually overcrowded film.

Everything in this film is cranked up to the high heavens. “Noah,” consequently, becomes work to watch, especially as the story progresses along an unexpected darker path.

Ultimately, the film passes off the work of effective storytelling to its bloated, overwrought imagery, and falls flat. Aronofsky has helmed a few brilliant, complicated films, but here he simply loses touch in his sweeping, misguided ambition. “Noah” might fill your field of vision, but it won’t stick with you.

Darren Aronofsky, a director best known for the 2010 film “Black Swan,” has fallen victim to that most dreaded art-versus-production trope of Hollywood; a big budget.

“Noah,” his latest effort, had financial backing north of $100 million, and you can see every cent of it.

Everything about this film is supersized – giant tracking shots, a showy score and CGI as far as the anamorphic eye can see. Yes, this is an epic film adapted from a biblical story (and an admittedly very short biblical story at that), but Aronofsky, who also cowrote the script with Ari Handel, gets far too carried away with showing grand, sweeping scale. He sacrifices compelling cinematic storytelling in favor of heavy-handed, gargantuan spectacle.

Matthew Libatique, a frequent collaborator with Aronofsky, saturates his cinematography in bold, vibrant colors. The sky and the earth are practically shining in their respective blues and greens. Dusk and dawn explode with purple and orange hues so brightly burning it’s as if every rotation of the early earth Nathan Frontiero can be reached at necessitated some absurd nfrontiero@umass.edu. conflagration. The visual palette is so overloaded that it’s nearly impossible to settle into the story. Too much screen time is spent barraging the audience with these loud images. Aronofsky wants so very much to express this age-old story, but his efforts are far too muddled by the heavyhanded production value to leave a lasting impression.

Russell Crowe shows commitment as the titular character, but he settles into a dull rhythm. His URSULAKM/FLICKR portrayal of Noah begins with his usual husky, gruff Emma Watson and the supporting cast are woefully underused in ‘Noah.’ voice, and doesn’t move too

FILM

‘Transcendence’ is a fumbling, graceless cautionary tale An unsuccessful debut for Pfister

By NathaN FroNtiero Collegian Staff

Artificial intelligence is bad, OK? That’s what Wally Pfister, the cinematographer and frequent Christopher Nolancollaborator, wants you to believe in “Transcendence,” his directorial debut. The death-by-sentient-computers tale is familiar ground, and it’s covered in much better fashion elsewhere.

If you’re in the mood for a good tech scare, skip this film and re-watch “Terminator.” That film is certainly more fun.

Pfister’s debut tramples gracelessly over a welltrodden path, and leaves much to be desired.

The film opens in an overgrown garden, one focused fragment of Berkeley, Calif., sans-electricity. Some blatant expository voiceover work, courtesy of Paul Bettany, sets a bittersweet stage before the film sends us five years

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Johnny Depp stars as Dr. Will Caster in this technophobic thriller. into the past. This framing device proves utterly inessential by the film’s end, since the how-we-got-here narrative loop accomplishes nothing more than a simple linear narrative would have. Pfister is preparing the viewer to witness tragedy, but the way he gets there is not nearly as compelling as it could have been. “Transcendence” further exhibits Pfister’s talent for showing a story, but the content of that story is dry and contrived.

Johnny Depp plays Dr.

Will Caster, a brilliant researcher in the field of A.I. who is “content with simply understanding the world.” His wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), is the ambitious one. Her devotion to their work becomes a major problem fairly quickly, and sends the film careening freely along its speculative path. The two scientists have developed an advanced computer called P.I.N.N. (don’t ask, it doesn’t matter) that speaks with the voice of V.I.K.I. from “I, Robot.” If you’ve

seen that film, or have even the slightest sense for stories about computer experiments gone awry, you can guess how “Transcendence” ends.

And you’re right. Jack Paglen’s screenplay apparently spent some time on Hollywood’s “Black List,” a depository of sorts for wellliked but not-yet-produced scripts. It should have stayed there.

Will is on the cusp of something truly extraordinary in artificial intelligence, and some anti-tech terrorists known collectively as R.I.F.T. (“Revolutionary Inde pendence F rom Technology,” come on) stage an assault to halt his progress. Wounded with a polonium-laced bullet, Will is on a quickly ticking clock. What to do? The solution, as Evelyn devotedly proposes, is to upload his consciousness into the supercomputer, like any perfectly good chunk of data. This portion of the film is perhaps the most bearable of the two-hour runtime (and that’s say-

You have to hand it to Pfister for hitting all of the deplorable tropes of computer usage in science fiction. ing quite a lot) because of Hall’s committed performance. You’ll believe not only her devotion to science, but also her honest love for her husband. It’s a fleeting moment of something real in an otherwise static, cold-circuit film.

So they shave Will’s head, sample his voice with an Oxford English Dictionary reading and hook up him up to the machine. Evelyn apparently succeeds, and her husband’s consciousness scatters graphical gibberish across five computer monitors. You have to hand it to Pfister for hitting all the deplorable tropes of computer usage in science fiction films.

At one point, Evelyn uses three keystrokes to bring up a dialog box on P.I.N.N. that literally reads “System Shutdown: YES or NO?” Call me a computer science and English double major, but this film is fraught with foolery.

All hell predictably breaks loose, but it privileges the merits of the writing too much to call that a spoiler. The story is spelled out very clearly from the get-go, and Pfister instead leaves himself the path toward doom to attempt a compelling plot.

It’s a shame he fails to craft one. As extreme as the film pushes, it never once seems truly dangerous. Returning to the aforementioned framing device to offer one final twist registers less as a foreboding final note and more of a strained effort to create something satisfying.

“Transcendence” is “Frankenstein” in the social media age, but this cautionary tale flounders in its attempt to be profound.

Nathan Frontiero can be reached at nfrontiero@umass.edu.

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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

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SHUTOUT

HUSKIES

continued from page 8

zone as the Bruins smelled vulnerability. Caron connected on Shawn Thornton’s rebound, giving the Bruins a two-goal lead for a second straight game.

While Howard worked up a sweat, Tuukka Rask grew as cold as the ice he guarded.

He saw one shot the first 12 minutes, and four by the end of the first period. Partisan fans were so disgusted, they booed.

The best the Wings did as the second period got underway was show off an improved penalty kill, holding the Bruins off on two straight man advantages. It was during the second one, in fact, that Rask finally saw some action, when Darren Helm zoomed in on a breakaway and angled a shot from the lower right circle. The Wings finally got a power play nearly midway through the game, and then they got an overlapping one, setting up 35 seconds with two extra skaters. They got four shots total on Rask during

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Jordan Caron (38) scored his first career playoff goal against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. the entire man-advantage stretch, but were still guilty off going to a fancy pass when a shot was open.

The Wings got a third

AGGRESSIVENESS a fastball which nicked the outside corner of the plate.

The heater froze Campero and sent him back to the dugout empty-handed.

“I came up in a big situation and I took two pitches down the middle,” Campero said. “It’s definitely frustrating because those are the opportunities you want to take advantage of. As a hitter, you want to be up in that situation and drive those guys in.

Driving runners in was an issue that plagued UMass over the final three innings.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

power play midway through the third power play, and managed to get just one shot on Rask. The lack of a threatening power play

has been debilitating for the Wings this series - they are now 0-for-9 for the series, unable to use it to their advantage.

continued from page 8

The Minutemen stranded five runners combined in the seventh and eighth innings, and Campero grounded into a 4-6-3 double play after the leadoff man got on to start the ninth inning.

The only UMass batter to plate a run was right fielder Adam Picard, who hit his third home run of the season off Ruotolo in the eighth inning. The 400-foot blast to straightaway center field cut the UConn deficit to 8-5, the eventual final score.

“Baseball is a game of mistakes and frustration,”

Picard said. “We’ve been playing it all our lives and we’re used to that … it’s part of the game and we just need to take it for what it is and move on to the next pitch.”

Stone noted after the game he was looking for his team to be more aggressive in the late stages of the game, pointing out that his hitters predominantly faced fastballs in the zone. Execution continues to be a focal point for the Minutemen.

“Be aggressive, it’s a frame of mind,” Stone said.

“Instead of hoping to get a

hit, just take a charge mentally and be more aggressive.

That’s what it’s all about, it comes down to that.”

It was a sentiment echoed

by Campero.

“Guys have to step up including myself,” he said.

“You want to be up in those situations so you have to be more aggressive when you get pitches to hit.”

Mark Chiarelli can be reached at mchiarel@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.

7

continued from page 8

Picard homered to straightaway center in the bottom of the eighth, closing the gap to 8-5. He was 2-for-3 with three RBIs on the day.

UConn received five strong innings from Brown, who commanded his fastball and walked just one batter. The Huskies bullpen was strong in denying the Minutemen chances to get back into the game and pitched the final 3 1/3 innings while allowing just one run. David Mahoney picked up the save for the Huskies, his fourth of the year.

Despite the loss, Campero believes the team has improved as the Minutemen enter the home stretch of their

schedule.

“Now that we’ve been on the field for a couple weeks, I think guys are much more comfortable with playing,” he said.

“Earlier in the year we looked timid at the plate as well as on the mound.

Now that we’ve got 30-35 games under our belt we look pretty comfortable out there and it looks a lot better than how it started.”

UMass returns to action this weekend when it travels to Fordham for a three game set. The series starts on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Ross Gienieczko can be reached at rossgienieczko@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @RossGien.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

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BASEBALL

NHL

Boston silences Detroit

STRANDED

Bruins win Game 3, blank Red Wings 3-0

By MaRk chiaRelli Collegian Staff

By helene st. JaMes Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — The response was to let the Boston Bruins occupy Hockeytown.

In what was supposed to be a message game from the Detroit Red Wings, it was the Boston Bruins who delivered a scary one. They manhandled the Wings in the opening period Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena, taking advantage of Jimmy Howard and his teammates en route to a 3-0 shutout victory that leaves Detroit trailing 2-1 in the firstround, best-of-7 series. Game 4 is Thursday at the Joe, and Game 5 is Saturday in Boston.

Patrice Bergeron scored into an empty net with 1:59 still on the clock; that’s how desperate the Wings were to score. They have just two goals after three games.

The Wings came home dented but undaunted after splitting the first two games in Boston. They came home confident home ice would matter, that home fans would energize, that home comforts could undo the unraveling from Game 2.

The atmosphere was set with requisite octopi thudding onto the ice as the anthem ended.

Fans had glow sticks, and all was good.

Then the game began — and the atmosphere soon went from cheer to jeering. It was all well and good when Justin Abdelkader and Jordan Caron got into a little scrum after a whistle. It was just careless when the Wings got called for too many men at 7:40, an opportunity the Bruins used to go up 1-0 after Dougie Hamilton fired a shot from the right circle that Jimmy Howard saw coming but let fly high and deep.

That was bad on Howard but it was much worse what his teammates did to him seven minutes later, when a bad change left Howard the only Wing in his see

SHUTOUT on page 7

UMass laments lack of aggressiveness

CADE BELISLE /COLLEGIAN

Nik Campero (above) was one of three UMass batters to strike out in the seventh inning with the bases loaded on Tuesday against UConn.

UMass stymied by UConn

Minutemen squander chances to rally late

8-5 on Tuesday at Earl Lorden Field. Cassidy took his first loss of the year while UConn starter Callahan Brown pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed two earned

By Ross Gienieczko runs to pick up the win.

Collegian Staff “We were in a situation where After recording two quick outs we wanted to pitch around their in the top of the third inning, three-four guys (in the lineup).”

Massachusetts baseball starter UMass coach Mike Stone said.

Tim Cassidy looked “We just made some like he was settling mistakes in location, UConn 8 and they capitalized.” into a grove.

He had yet to allow Those mistakes UMass 5 proved costly, as the a hit and had good command of his fastthree-four combo of ball and breaking ball.

Blake Davey and Bobby But the next batter, Connecticut Melley combined to go 4-for-6 shortstop Tom Verdi, poked a with five RBIs for the Huskies. seeing-eye single just under the At the plate, it was an afterglove of Minuteman third base- noon of missed opportunities for man Nik Campero. That was all the Minutemen (8-24). They left UConn needed, as the next four eight runners on base, none of Huskies batters reached base as which were more glaring than they took a 3-2 lead. the three left stranded in the botThe two-out rally proved to tom of the seventh. be the difference, as UConn After loading the bases with (20-19) went on to beat UMass no outs, UMass was poised to put

a dent in UConn’s 8-4 lead. Its top three hitters in batting average – Mike Geannelis, Nik Campero and Dylan Begin – were all due up at the plate.

Instead, Huskies reliever Pat Ruotolo overpowered the Minutemen, recording three straight strikeouts to get UConn out of the jam. UMass never had a better chance to get back in the game.

“You couldn’t have set it up any better.” Stone said. “As a hitter, that’s where you want to be.

A guy is throwing straight fastballs, he’s not fooling anybody.”

Right fielder Adam Picard also commented on the squandered chance.

“Missed opportunities are baseball,” he said. “You get guys up in the right situations, we just need to do a better job of seeing the ball and taking advantage of what we have.” see

HUSKIES on page 7

The Massachusetts baseball team found itself battling from behind for the majority of Tuesday’s 8-5 loss to Connecticut.

Despite scoring the first two runs of the ballgame, UMass quickly fell behind 3-2 in the third inning. That deficit grew to 6-2 after five innings and 8-4 entering the bottom of the seventh inning.

Each time the Minutemen battled back into the game, they allowed the Huskies to maintain a firm grip on the lead.

But that almost changed in the seventh inning.

After finally chasing UConn starter Callahan Brown the prior inning, UMass jumped on sidearm Huskies reliever Max Slade and loaded the bases. Slade didn’t record an out in the inning, hitting Dylan Morris before allowing a single to Vinny Scifo and issuing a walk to Kyle Adie.

UConn then brought in freshman reliever Patrick Ruotolo in relief of Slade to face the heart of UMass’ lineup in Mike Geannelis, Nik Campero and Dylan Begin.

Advantage Ruotolo.

The freshman struck out all three batters in a row, overwhelming the Minutemen with a bevy of fastballs, the fastest of which topped out at 92 miles per hour. Ruotolo used a deceptive delivery to the plate and located fastballs throughout the strike zone. Just as quickly as UMass looked to threaten the Huskies’ lead, it was headed back to the dugout.

“It’s where as a hitter you want to be, you couldn’t have set it up any better,” Minuteman coach Mike Stone said.

“Bases loaded, nobody out, we got the right people (up),” Stone said. “It’s gotta be an attitude frame of mind, it’s gotta be be more aggressive. A guy is throwing straight fastballs, he’s not fooling anybody. If you’re a ballplayer you love being in that situation.”

Campero, a senior third basemen, was the second hitter to face Ruotolo. He struck out looking on see

AGGRESSIVENESS on page 7

MLB

Ellsbury shines in return, Yankees rout Red Sox 9-3

By Pete caldeRa The Record

BOSTON — Jacoby Ellsbury had already reminded the Fenway Park fans what they were missing —– a triple off the wall, a sprawling catch in center field to save an extra-base hit — when the Red Sox paid tribute to his Boston years.

A sellout crowd cheered the Ellsbury video highlights, backed by Springsteen’s “Born to Run”, and Ellsbury returned their salute with waves, smiles and a tip of the cap.

Afterward, Ellsbury kept giving the fans samples of his best work, even as their numbers steadily dwindled on a rainy Tuesdaynight.

Ellsbury added a tworun double and Masahiro Tanaka had a memorable Fenway debut start, pitching into the eighth inning of a 9-3 Yankees win before 37,041 fans.

The crowd had largely booed Ellsbury (2-for-5, 2 RBI) before his first at-bat, which elicited no reaction from the outfielder who signed a seven-year, $153

million free-agent contract, switching sides in baseball’s ages-old rivalry.

Ellsbury’s leadoff triple was just the start of the Yankees’ damage against lefty starter Jon Lester (2-3), who yielded eight runs – only three earned – on 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings. Tanaka (3-0) gave up two runs in 7 1/3 innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts.

In his fourth big-league start, Tanaka showed off his devastating splitter and rebounded after David Ortiz and Mike Napoli crushed back-to-back homers off him in the fourth, cutting the lead to 4-2.

Derek Jeter (2 RBI) extended his hitting streak to 11 games and Carlos Beltran clubbed an eighthinning homer.

Ellsbury had batted .357 (5-for-14) against the Red Sox last week, when the Yankees won three of four games against the defending world champs at the Stadium.

“It was fun,” Ellsbury said of that first meeting, one he had also greeted with anticipation. “I had a feeling what their game plan was going to

be a little bit, maybe some of their guys’ approach.”

L e a d i n g off Tuesday night’s game, Ellsbury immediately fell behind 0-and-2 before sending a drive off the centerfield wall – close enough to a homer that a fan reached over and interfered with the ball.

After an umpires’ conference, the fleet Ellsbury was awarded a triple. A moment later, he trotted home on Jeter’s single.

Jeter quickly moved to third on catcher A.J. Pierzynski’s passed ball and throwing error, and scored on Beltran’s RBI hit.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the next two frames but missed opportunities as Beltran and Ellsbury each hit into inning-ending double plays – with Bosox second baseman Dustin Pedroia deftly backhanding Ellsbury’s grounder toward the middle and smiling at depriving his ex-teammate of an RBI. But Ellsbury prevailed his next time up, in the fifth, lashing a two-run double to left-center that knocked

Lester from the game on his 118th pitch.

Jeter greeted lefty Chris Capuano with an RBI single for an 8-2 lead, capping a four-run inning that almost didn’t materialize.

Running from first to second, Brian McCann nearly jogged back to the dugout after Brian Roberts’ two-out liner couldn’t be gloved by first baseman Napoli.

The ball sailed into right field, Mark Teixeira scored and Napoli was charged with an error — while a dugout full of Yankees screamed for McCann to retreat to second base.

Alfonso Soriano, Teixeira and McCann had opened the third inning with consecutive doubles, giving the Yanks a 4-0 lead. By then, the Red Sox faithful were treating Ellsbury as any random Yankee.

“I appreciated my time (in Boston), I appreciate what the organization has done for me,” said Ellsbury, glad to see the familiar faces of the Fenway employees he’d come to know since 2007, his rookie year.

MCT

Jacoby Ellsbury (above) went 2-for-5 against Boston on Tuesday in his first game back at Fenway Park.