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Tuesday, January 26, 2016
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Opening statements heard in rape trial Professor faces Former UMass assault charges student faces charge B y Stuart F oSter Collegian Staff
The trial of Patrick Durocher, a 20-yearold former University of Massachusetts student who is being charged with aggravated rape, kidnapping and assault began Monday in Hampshire Superior Court. After a full jury was impaneled Monday, the prosecutor, Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Jennifer H. Suhl, provided her opening statements for the trial. Suhl said that the victim, who was allegedly attacked
by Durocher on her way home from a fraternity party on Sept. 2, 2013 was “so intoxicated she was helpless to defend herself,” and was held against a tree outside of the UMass Campus Center by her throat before being raped, according to MassLive. Vincent Bongiorni, a Springfield attorney representing Durocher’s defense, said that Durocher and the victim, also a UMass student, had met at the fraternity party earlier that night and that they had consensual sex outside of the Campus Center. Bongiorni said that the victim gave “at least seven” accounts of the incident to the police because she was “shamed and embarrassed”
by the footage and that witnesses said the bruises on the victim looked like hickeys, reported MassLive. The first witness in the trial, 21-year-old UMass student Alexis Smither, who is a sociology and psychology major, also testified Monday. Smither, a witness of the event, said she saw a group of men laughing at a man on top of a woman whose eyes were completely closed before he got up and walked away, after which Smither and her friends shook the woman to wake her. “She just kept saying ‘Help me, I don’t know what’s going on,” Smither said. Smither also commented that Durocher’s
demeanor ap p e a re d relaxed and that the male waited on scene after he had been approached. Bongiorni said that the woman regretted the sex with Durocher and feared the ridicule from her classmates for making a bad decision. He urged the jurors to be open to both sides of the story before making a decision. The Durocher trial will continue Tuesday in Hampshire Superior Court. D u r o c h e r, of Longmeadow, is out on a $10,000 bail and is no longer a UMass student. Stuart Foster can be reached at stuartfoster@umass.edu or followed on Twitter @Stuart_C_Foster.
Picking the Perfect Poster
Viral video leads to court summons By Mark Chiarelli Collegian Staff
A University of Missouri assistant professor, who is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, faces a misdemeanor assault charge in connection with her role at a student-led protest that took place on Missouri’s campus in November. Melissa Click, 45, tried to restrict two student journalists from recording and documenting a Nov. 9 protest on the Missouri campus. Click was seen on video attempting to stop a photographer from shooting the protest and entering a space protesters deemed a media-free zone. Shortly after, Click, a communications professor, told another student filming video to leave the area and asked for “muscle” to help remove the reporter. Columbia City prosecutors charged Click with simple assault Monday. If convicted, Click could face up to 15 days in jail.
Click earned her PhD in communications at UMass. According to her bio, Click’s research “centers on popular culture texts and audiences, particularly texts and audiences disdained in mainstream culture.” The incident garnered national attention amid weeks of on-campus turmoil at Missouri. Students protested Missouri’s lack of response to rising racial tensions on campus. One student, Jonathan Butler, went on a week-long hunger strike in protest, while members of the Missouri football team refused to participate in team activities until changes were made. Missouri president Tim Wolfe resigned in response to the protests. Students then continued protests on the University of Missouri’s quad. Tim Tai, a student photographer covering the event, attempted to photograph the demonstrations but faced backlash from protesters who deemed the area a media-friendly area. Another student, Mark
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Students react to hoverboard ban Some agree that safety is the priority By Marie MaCCune Collegian Staff
SHANNON BRODERICK/COLLEGIAN
A student skims through stacks of posters at WMUA’s poster sale in the Cape Cod Lounge within the Student Union on Monday.
Extravaganja future in jeopardy Select Board will not grant permit B y ShelBy aShline Collegian Staff
During a meeting of the Amherst Select Board Monday, Interim Town Manager David Ziomek declared that he would not grant a permit allowing the Cannabis Reform Coalition to host its annual Extravaganja Festival on the Amherst Town Common. After hearing arguments both for and against granting the permit, Ziomek and the board agreed that the event had outgrown its regular venue and would pose traffic problems and safety risks if it were held on the common. Amherst Chief of Police Scott Livingstone and Amherst Fire Chief W. Tim Nelson spoke to the board
about the excessive size of the event in recent years, which Livingstone said had surpassed 6,000 people in 2015. No other event held on the town common is so highly concentrated, they agreed. “Anyone who has been in town during Extravaganja, especially in the past few years, knows that is has been miserable,” Livingstone said, referring to the highly condensed traffic and lack of necessary parking. Nelson also voiced concerns that firetrucks and ambulances would not be able to make it through the traffic, were an emergency to occur. “Most of our calls during the event … come from slips, falls, burns and that type,” Nelson said. “With such a large group, it’s hard to access the common and often, it’s hard to find our patient.” Even a small distur-
bance such as someone throwing a smoke bomb “could potentially cause a stampede” where event goers could be trampled, Nelson continued. Extravaganja, an event celebrating and rallying support for the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana, was held for the 24th year in 2015. It is regularly organized by the Cannabis Reform Coalition, a student group at the University of Massachusetts and the oldest student-run drug law reform organization in the United States, according to the group’s website. Although officers from the Cannabis Reform Coalition did not attend the meeting, Terry Franklin of Amherst acted as their liaison and spoke on their behalf. Franklin argued that, contrary to Ziomek’s statements, he did not feel the town was supportive of the event and did not
feel the event’s size poses a safety hazard. “When you’re trying to figure out how to handle public safety at an event like this, a lot of it has to do with attitude,” Franklin said. “Public safety officers can spin a lot of views and statements … I don’t think it’s a complete problem because people aren’t fighting to get on the common.” Rather, Franklin continued, when the common is full, people will simply stand elsewhere nearby. The issue of the event’s excessive size was raised before 2015’s Extravaganja, when Livingstone declared it would be the last year he would be willing to supply the event’s organizers with the necessary permit, according to an article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Ziomek added that for the past year, and as recentsee
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U n ive r s i t y of Massachusetts students received notice over winter break that administration banned one of the year’s hottest Christmas gifts from its campus; hoverboards. In an email sent to students Jan. 8, Donald Robinson, executive director of Environmental Health and Safety at the University, explained that the ban “includes self-balancing scooters, batteryoperated scooters and hands-free segways.” According to the email, UMass joined a growing number of universities across the country that have banned hoverboard use on campus. Robinson cited bans at American University, Georg e Washington University, Emerson College, Louisiana State University and the University of Denver as examples. The rest of the UMass system followed suit, as the Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell campuses have also banned the hoverboards. UMass Environmental Health and Safety staff members will follow news and regulations regarding hoverboards and will reevaluate the ban if they become safer. Students, now back on campus for the spring semester, expressed their
thoughts on the ban. “I think that the ban of hoverboards from campus was a good thing,” Meghan Muldoon, a freshman nursing student, said. “They were very disruptive in high traffic areas when walking to class, and they caused a lot of injuries from people face-planting. Also, hearing about the fires and explosions that they have caused have reaffirmed my opinions on them.” Jillian Palubicki, also a freshman nursing student, had similar sentiments. “Not only will there be less foot traffic confusion, there will also be less danger with falls and explosions,” she said. In contrast, Emily Starratt, a junior psychology major, disagreed with the University’s action. “While it’s appreciated that administration wants to keep students safe, students should be able to make decisions on their own whether or not they want to take the risk to use the product. Many items can be defective so where does administration draw the line when making bans?” she said. Reports of boards suddenly catching fire, exploding and increased hospital visits due to burns and falls led the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to launch an investigation into what causes these hazards and provide recommendations for American consumers. Elliot Kaye, CPSC chairman, released a statement last month saying that he see
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