Massachusetts Daily Collegian: Monday, Feb. 1, 2016

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The Bare Necessities

Soup for Syria hailed a success sanctuary of the buildEvent raised $5,000 main ing.

Weiner described the for refugees Sun. Jewish people as having a

By Stuart Foster Collegian Staff

The Jewish Community of Amherst hosted a benefit program for Syrian refugees based on Barbara Abdeni Massaad’s book “Soup for Syria” at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The program, which was attended by roughly 150 people, featured speeches about the Syrian refugee crisis, a musical performance and a meal of three soups from Massaad’s book. According to Judith Souweine, chairperson Tikkun Olam for JCA, the event raised over $5,000.

“We have a chance this afternoon to share some of the pleasures of life with each other, and in the midst of that to focus on some of the horrors of life,” said Rabbi Ben Weiner, the spiritual leader of the JCA, speaking in the

unique responsibility to support refugees due to lessons in the Torah which remind Jews that they were once “strangers” in other lands, and as a result of Jewish people having been the victims of a humanitarian crisis in living memory during the Holocaust.

David Mednicoff, director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Massachusetts and a member of the JCA, spoke next, calling the Syrian refugee crisis the single largest humanitarian crisis to face the Earth since the aftermath of World War II. “We are at an especially delicate moment in the Syrian refugee crisis,” said Mednicoff, adding that the long scale of the crisis had resulted in a “moment of see

ROBERT RIGO/COLLEGIAN

Cosmo the dog enjoyed a hike up Bare Mountain in Amherst with his owner Sunday afternoon. The mountain is part of the Holyoke Range.

SOUP on page 2

Renowned economist calls clean air ‘public good’

ERICA LOWENKRON/COLLEGIAN

C. Arden Pope III, PhD spoke about the problems of air pollution, and their affects on human health.

UMass hosted lecture on research and policy

tists, Dr. C. Arden Pope III was preaching to the choir when he advocated for legislative action based on the decades of scientific

By Brendan Deady research that has legitimized the Collegian Staff connection between a high con In a room full of economists, centration of air pollutants and environmentalists and scien- detrimental health effects that

tax the American economy with related medical costs.

Absent from Room 808 of the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts Thursday night were the individuals who have repeatedly resisted the legislative change that the findings of Pope and his colleagues warrant: the politicians financially backed by the energy industry.

Pope, the Mary Lou Fulton professor of economics at Brigham Young University, was the visiting lecturer for the UMass Center for Research on Families’ Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series.

He opened his presentation, titled “Effects of Air Pollution on Human Health: Science, Public Policy and Controversy,” by connecting the surge of air pollution with the rise of capitalism.

“Go back to London and we see the iconic image of chimney smokestacks and smog…During the time when we start to struggle with air pollution, Adam Smith published ‘The Wealth

of Nations’… At that time the thought was ‘What is pollution?

Smells like money to me,’” Pope said.

Pope then presented historical examples where high levels of smog in small industrial areas coincided with spikes in deaths. A tipping point came in December of 1952 in London, dubbed the Great Smog of 1952, where a thick cloud of smog choked out the sun and resulted in a few thousand deaths over a period of a few days.

“The episodes spurred public action and led to a loss in faith for the doctrine of laissez-faire economics when dealing with externalities such as air pollution,” Pope said.

Similar but less drastic episodes in industrial cities in the United States led to a series of state-passed legislation which placed restrictions on levels of air pollutants. The newfound attention to capitalist driven environmental dangers eventu-

ally culminated in the federal Clean Air Act of 1970, passed

by President Richard Nixon’s administration.

Pope said that by the 1980s, episodes of toxic smog had subsided and challenges arose to the connection between air pollution and health effects that spurred the passage of the Clean Air Act and granted the federal government power to influence production levels of mass industry through pollution regulations.

Pope said that energy giants and the politicians who represented them attacked the regulations as costly endeavors informed by incomplete and correlative science.

Pope, originally an economist, explained that he entered the study of air pollution by accident. In the mid-1980s he lived in Provo, Utah. Provo consisted of “primarily white collar, nonsmoking Mormons” but was the see

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Amherst students react to Candidates take their last Board of Trustees’ decision shots before Iowa caucus Officials end Lord Jeffery affiliation

By Ben Keefe Collegian Correspondent The Board of Trustees at Amherst College officially renounced the college’s affiliation with its former unofficial mascot Lord Jeffery last Tuesday.

A statement from the Board said the decision follows last month’s discussions, which included “a wide-ranging and intense conversation, one that ranged among many topics: historical understanding, tradition and community, past versus present.”

As reported by the Daily Collegian on Jan. 26, the Board’s decision to end the affiliation was not unani-

mous.

Lord Jeffery Amherst was a commander in the French and Indian War. The controversy surrounds his endorsement of the use of smallpox-infected blankets against Native Americans in the middle of the 18th century. Students protested the school’s affiliation with the commander as part of a larger movement to end racial discrimination on campus in November.

With the decision announced, Amherst students discuss their thoughts on ending the affiliation.

Julia Vann, a freshman math major at Amherst College, supports the Board of Trustees’ decision.

“I thought it was a really positive decision,” she said.

“I think it shows that as a school we are ready to move

forward and let go of the legacy of white supremacy that we’ve had at this school.”

Vann said the issue unified students. “It unified the vast majority of the students,” she said. “A large percentage of students voted for Lord Jeff to go away.”

The Alumni Executive Committee polled alumni from the college, with 52.36 percent of those surveyed voting “unfavorably” on Lord Jeffery as the school’s unofficial mascot, according to the college’s website.

Roughly 38 percent voted favorably while 10.06 percent voted as unsure of having no opinion. “(A mascot) should be something everyone can rally behind and there were a lot of people that felt that see

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Huge voting blocs remain undecided

Clinton, the former secretary of State, sent or received on her private server as “top secret,” giving critics an another opportunity to attack

By David Lightman, her for not to properly securAnita Kumar ing sensitive information. and Lesley Clark Clinton said Sunday that McClatchy Washington Bureau that “it was not the best DES MOINES, Iowa — choice” to use a private Presidential candidates email system for government offered closing arguments business, and charged that –– with insults and accusa- Republicans were using the tions –– as they crisscrossed issue to beat up on her. “I just Iowa in search of votes the want this matter resolved,” day before voters head to cau- she said on ABC’s “This cuses.

Week.”

With huge blocs of voters Clinton led 45 to 42 perstill undecided on their choic- cent over Bernie Sanders, the es, Republican front–run- independent senator from ners argued over who was a Vermont, in the Des Moines true conservative. Democrats Register/Bloomberg Politics clashed over the meaning of poll released Saturday.

Hillary Clinton’s latest email There were echoes of 2008 controversy. for Clinton. She began that The State Department des- campaign as a strong caucus ignated 22 of the emails that favorite, only to finish third

behind Barack Obama and John Edwards.

Sanders, a self–proclaimed democratic socialist, has had a similar surge. He’s campaigned on ridding the U.S. of income inequality.

“I thought that message would resonate,” he said Sunday of his popularity in Iowa and elsewhere. “I did not think it would resonate as fast as it did.” His campaign announced Sunday that it raised more than $20 million in January, almost all from small online donations.

The fight in the closing hours was for a sizable pool of undecided voterss – 16 percent of Clinton backers said they could still switch, while 29 percent of Sanders supporters said the same.

The big variable is turnout. see

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, February 1, 2016

THE RUNDOWN ON THIS DAY...

In 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

AROUND THE WORLD

Nigeria LAGOS, Nigeria — At least 50 people were killed when attackers, suspected of being Islamist insurgents, struck a village in northeastern Nigeria, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Sunday.

The attack Saturday night in Dalori village, about 4 miles from the city of Maiduguri, came as people entered mosques for evening prayers, a resident of the village said.

“Many people including children and the elderly who could not escape the attack were either shot dead or burned alive by the attackers, who came in large numbers,” said Aliyu Usman, who is taking refuge in Maiduguri.

A relief worker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said “several corpses were deposited at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and the specialist hospital.”

Military spokesman Mustapha Anka said the attackers shot sporadically and burned “many buildings”.

Hauwa Ba’na, a student who lives near the scene of the attacks, said the attack started around 7:30 pm local time. He reported hearing loud explosions and gunshots.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which lasted around three hours, the insurgent group Boko Haram is the chief suspect.

Suicide bombers have frequently targeted parts of northeastern. Eight people were killed in a bomb attack at a market in Gombi on Friday, and nine people died in a similar attack in Chibok on Wednesday.

It was in Chibok where members of Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from a state secondary school in 2014. The girls have not been seen since.

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in West Africa since 2009 in its quest to establish a state with a strict interpretation of Islamic law. dpa

Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel — A Palestinian gunman opened fire at soldiers guarding a central West Bank checkpoint, injuring three Israelis before being shot dead, the army said.

Two of the Israelis were in serious condition, it said in a statement.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency identified the gunman as Amjad Jasser, 29, from a town near Nablus.

The shooting attack occurred at a checkpoint between Ramallah and the Jewish settlement of Beit El, which borders the Palestinian city.

Three Palestinian teenagers were also under arrest for stabbing a Jewish teenager in the back at Damascus Gate into the walled Old City of Jerusalem Saturday, lightly injuring him before fleeing. dpa

SOUP

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global compassion fatigue,” by which the size of the crisis has made it seem unsolvable.

Mednicoff said that over 6.5 million Syrians had been forced to abandon their homes since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, with 1.2 million of those refugees created in the past year alone.

He added that countries which had taken in a proportionally large number of refugees, such as Germany and Sweden, were beginning to face internal backlash over the migration of displaced persons within those nations.

“In the very globalized world we live in neither closing our minds nor our borders to the mass displacement of people will keep the problem away from us,” Mednicoff said. “Leaving millions of Syrians in a warzone or transitory living space is a recipe for long-term political disaster.”

Mednicoff encouraged the audience to learn more about the Syrian refugee crisis through organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to understand concrete ways to help displaced people from Syria.

Michel Moushabeck, the founder of Interlink Books, spoke next to describe how his publishing company came to release Massaad’s book.

Moushabeck said that Massaad, while living in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon near a refugee camp, was surprised one night by how cold she was while wrapped in a blanket and imagined that the conditions must be significantly worse for refugees.

Massaad began bringing soup supplies to the nearby

AMHERST

camp the next day and feeding families there, which led her to suggest the idea of using the profits of a cookbook to raise money for Syrian refugees.

“We produced this book in about a six-month period,” Moushabeck said. “We published it last November.”

Moushabeck added that the cookbook has been extremely successful so far, with 30,000 copies in print of the United States edition, and he said all profits of the book would be donated to the UNHCR and to local relief organizations in the Pioneer Valley.

After speaking, Moushabeck played percussion in a Middle Eastern musical performance with three other artists, who played the clarinet, piano and oud, an instrument historically related to the guitar.

Michael Kane, a founding member of Valley Syrian Relief Committee in Northampton, encouraged donations to the Syrian American Medical Society Foundation, a nonprofit organization which works to establish medical relief and healthcare development for the people of Syria.

“They’ve done work with over 800 physicians and provided training for medical care people in Syria,” said Kane, as baskets for donations were passed around the room.

After the program ended, attendees sampled three types of soup prepared from Massaad’s book: a tomato basil soup, a Persian bean soup and a red lentil soup.

Stuart Foster can be reached at stuartfoster@umass.edu or followed on Twitter @Stuart_C_Foster.

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“(A mascot) should be something everyone can rally behind and there were a lot of people that felt they couldn’t rally behind Lord Jeff.”

Julia Vann, Amherst College freshman they couldn’t rally behind the idea of Lord Jeff,” Vann said.

“We’re moving forward. We’re welcoming students from all backgrounds on this campus by getting rid of a mascot that specifically denounces people of a certain background.”

Nathan Ives, also an Amherst College freshman and a member of the men’s swimming and diving team, also supported the Board’s decision.

“I thought it was the right decision because, personally, even though I am an athlete, I don’t have a strong loyalty or anything to Lord Jeff,” Ives said.

He added that the change demonstrates the impact of student activism. “It goes to show that if enough people feel strongly enough about an issue, change can really come here at Amherst.”

Victoria Hewitt, an undeclared freshman at Amherst College, also supports the decision to end the school’s affiliation with Lord Jeffery.

“As a person of color, it made me uncomfortable, but I know that if I was a First Nations people…it would make me highly uncomfortable,” she said. “I would feel as though it was a personal affront against me.”

Hewitt added that the celebration on campus evoked mixed feelings. “People are happy but it’s almost like, should we be happy or is this what we should expect?”

“I think even though the Lord Jeff thing was kind of a disgrace to the institution I think what wasn’t a disgrace was the organization in (Robert Frost Library) last semester,” Hewitt said. “I think that is an example of people coming together in the name of a common goal and

the name of common conviction. If anything, it showed me the goodness that is available at Amherst if you push for it.”

At Amherst College’s Robert Frost Library, three students coordinated a sit-in protesting campus racism in November. This was part of the larger movement called Amherst Uprising.

John Drabinski, professor of black studies at Amherst College, expressed his interpretation on Lord Jeffery’s action, saying, “It was what it was historically, but obviously just has no place in 2016, and the faculty and students have long been embarrassed by it so I think everybody is extremely happy that it changed.”

Drabinski said that the mascot controversy wasn’t a part of everyday conversation at Amherst College until the start of Amherst Uprising. He said it then “became a symbol of some fundamental indifference to the presence of racial injustice. That if we couldn’t change the mascot, how could we expect to change broader issues on campus?”

“I think it gave an example for students who care about racial justice to point and say, ‘This is something that needs to change, let’s start with that change and figure out how those kinds of changes can be implemented more broadly around curriculum, around admissions, financial aid, student life, faculty (and) demographics,’” Drabinski said. “It became a flash point to really focus energy on, and that’s a victory.”

Ben Keefe can be reached at benjaminkeef@umass.edu.

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ERICA LOWENKRON /COLLEGIAN

Economists, environmentalists and scientists alike gathered in the Campus Center Thursday Jan. 28.

Pope and his colleagues analyzed hospital records, school attendance logs, death records...Their study concluded that during the year when the steel mill stopped operations, the number of deaths and respiratory/heart-related illnesses dropped. home of a steel mill that produced high levels of particulate matter that was trapped in the valley by the nearby mountain ranges. The steel mill temporarily closed for a year, unintentionally providing the perfect control for a study exploring the health of a population exposed to varying degrees of air pollution.

Pope and his colleagues analyzed hospital records, school attendance logs, death records and compared the statistics to measurements of particulate matter 2.5, the most common measurement of air pollution. Their study concluded that during the year when the steel mill stopped operations, the number of deaths and respiratory/heart-related illnesses dropped.

“There was a lot of controversy over the modeling and attempts to account risk factors unrelated to air pollution. No matter what precautions we took there was still debate…but you know what reduced the controversy? Over 250 articles that produced similar results,” Pope said.

The initial findings gathered from the study of Provo galvanized researchers to approach the issue on a grander scale. A team of Harvard researchers, including Pope, expanded the study by comparing health of populations living in the most and least polluted American cities.

Numerous studies produced by the country’s top researchers in collabora-

tion with the American Cancer Society concluded that residents living in areas with high levels of air pollution had shorter life expectancies and higher levels of illnesses such as heart and lung disease.

The studies that dominated the top science and health journals led to amendments to the Clean Air Act, granting the Environmental Protection Agency more authority to regulate pollution levels.

It also put the researchers in the cross hairs of individuals for whom pollution regulations equated to unwanted business expenditures. Pope said that findings resulted in a public attack by Texas Cong ressman Lamar Smith, who dismissed the studies as secret science of questionable legitimacy.

Smith audited the information compiled by the ACS and the team of Harvard researchers, and argued that a study calling for such drastic policy reactions should have all of its methods and information made public. The attack continues today; Smith is the sponsor of a pending bill dubbed the “Secret Science Reform Act of 2014,” which calls for all components of scientific research to be made available to the public.

“So we found ourselves in a catch-22,” Pope said.

The legislation determined that the EPA could not act on a study unless all the information and material was available

to the public online. We came to our conclusions by using thousands of people’s personal medical records that are protected by privacy law.”

He also said that the only way science could have a significant impact under these terms is to violate all ethics of privacy. Pope drove his point home, that despite the overwhelming evidence that reduction in air pollution led to healthier lives and reduced medical costs, politics still dominated whether the benefits of science would have a significant effect on the public.

Pope concluded his lecture by framing the issue in the same terms that motivate the politicians to resist legislative change informed by science: economics.

“I believe that clean air is a public good,” Pope said. “It creates healthy workers and healthy human capital, which equates to a healthy economy. Once the short term costs are absorbed by the companies who would be affected, it actually proves more expensive to retain the level of pollution versus implementing the environmental regulations that would lead to widespread health benefits.”

Brendan Deady can be reached bdeady@umass.edu.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

IOWA

Monday, February 1, 2016

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“We will win the caucus on Monday night if there is a large voter turnout,” Sanders told an audience in the Iowa town of Manchester.

Clinton does well with voters over 45, while Sanders has a huge edge with younger voters –– but they traditionally are more reluctant to caucus. Obama’s appeal eight years ago was a big factor in attracting those voters, but so far, there’s little evidence of a similar new voter turnout.

While 60 percent of 2008 Democrats were first–time caucusgoers, this time about one–third are expected to be new.

Among Republicans, the race Sunday remained an often bitter brawl. Donald Trump and Sens. Ted Cruz, R–Texas, and Marco Rubio, R– Fla., took turns insulting each other Sunday.

“Ted is a liar. This is why nobody

likes him,” Trump said on ABC. As ads by Cruz supporters charge Trump has only recently discovered conservatism, Cruz himself tried not to respond to his rival’s latest attacks.

“I’m not going to engage in personal attacks,” Cruz said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He was less generous to Rubio, who’s been under fire for his 2013 support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Rubio backed away from that position after conservatives criticized him.

Still, Cruz said, “a vote for Marco is a vote for amnesty.”

Rubio fired back. “The lie that his whole campaign is built on is that he’s the only conservative and everyone else is a sellout and a RINO (Republican in name only) and it’s absurd,” he said.

When he campaigned over the

weekend, Cruz stressed his religious ties and his loyalty to the conservative cause. He urges supporters to “awaken the body of Christ that we may pull back from the abyss.”

Cruz is for that vote with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and others, and hasn’t quite convinced a lot of sympathetic voters.

“I like where Cruz stands, but sometimes he comes off as a little harsher than I want,” said David Smith, a software engineer from Ames.

Mobilizing the Republicans’ evangelical bloc could inch him closer to Trump. While the Register poll had Trump up 28 to 23 percent over Cruz, it found that 47 percent of GOP caucusgoers said they were evangelicals, down from 57 percent four years ago. If evangelical turnout swells to 60 percent Monday, Trump’s projected lead shrinks to 1

percentage point.

Anita Kacmarynski , a volunteer from Newton, is trying to get out the word. “We believe in the Constitution. We believe in the Bible.

When you’re in the room, you feel that Cruz will do what you believe in,” she said.

Rubio, a favorite of mainstream Republicans, could benefit from a familiar caucus scenario. Should supporters of like–minded candidates who are faltering –– like Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, or Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey –– decide they have little chance, they could switch to Rubio.

Mark Lansing, a Dubuque credit counselor, found Rubio to be “most articulate, the best opportunity for us to win in the fall, by far. I love that he supports traditional values, his heart is in the right place.” Trump, he said, is “the worst possible candi-

date.”

Trump retains solid, seemingly unshakeable support. He campaigned Sunday with Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, a Christian school with strong evangelical ties.

Trump’s refusal to debate Thursday apparently didn’t hurt him. His supporters are unfazed by charges that he only recently embraced conservative principles, and cheer his eagerness to flout conventional wisdom and political behavior.

Kelly Barker, a Colfax small business owner, plans to caucus for the first time. She appreciates how Trump mostly funded own campaign. “He’s not a puppet in anyone’s back pocket, he’s his own man,” she said.

Price of peace: Columbia to ask Largely hispanic for millions in United States aid schools see less President to visit “The support of the United States has allowed Columbia to winter absences transform from a failed state — as it was seen by many Obama this week 15 years ago — to the Columbia that is on the verge of achieving lasting peace.”

By Franco Ordonez

McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will visit Washington this week to update President Barack Obama on the peace negotiations with Marxist rebels that are closer than ever to ending, thank the United States for its ongoing support — and ask for millions of dollars more.

Santos in the coming weeks is supposed to sign an agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the leftist guerrilla group that has waged a five–decade war against the Colombian government. During his three– day visit to Washington, Santos also will seek support from conservatives in Congress for the peace deal, hoping that their backing will help persuade reluctant conservatives in his country to support the deal.

Santos’ pitch for money will be that the United States has invested so much over the past 15 years to help pull Colombia out of warfare that U.S. leaders can’t risk messing it up now when so much is riding on a lasting peace deal.

Colombia now receives about $300 million a year in U.S. aid to combat the drug trade and reduce poverty.

But Santos is expected to ask Obama and members of Congress to increase that aid to about $500 million a year for up to 10 years, according to experts who have consulted with the government.

The money would be used to fulfill a postwar agenda for regional development

Juan Carlos Pinzon, Columbian ambassador and to demobilize and reintegrate about 7,000 fighters from Latin America’s oldest and largest insurgency into law–abiding civilian life.

“Even if everybody is on board with these peace agreements, the tricky part is to implement them. To implement them is very costly and difficult,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter– American Dialogue research center in Washington.

Colombia, which has the fourth–largest economy in Latin America, is considered a major success of U.S. foreign policy. Supported by Republican and Democratic administrations alike, the U.S. has provided more than $10 billion in anti–drug aid to Colombia.

The aid helped cut Colombia’s coca crop and allowed the Colombian government to regain control over areas of the country that had been lost to the rebels.

“The support of the United States has allowed Colombia to transform from a failed state — as it was seen by many 15 years ago — to the Colombia that is on the verge of achieving lasting peace,” said Colombian Ambassador Juan Carlos Pinzon.

In an interview, Pinzon listed accomplishments over the past 15 years, including going from one of the most violent countries in the world to a 35–year low in homicides and a 90 percent drop in kidnappings.

Pinzon described Colombia now as an “investment darling.” He said the country is immersed in global trade.

“Colombia has also become a tourism hot spot,” Pinzon said. “Colombia has doubled the number of foreign tourists in recent years.”

In September, the rebels and Colombian government reached a breakthrough when they agreed on a framework to end five decades of armed conflict. While details need to be worked out, the agreement would include rebels confessing to their crimes to avoid jail time, and compensating victims. Those who lay down their weapons would be allowed to participate in local politics.

Whether the United States will boost its financial aid is unclear. But Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday signaled tthat he administration is ready to help.

“Having helped Colombia create the conditions for a peace accord, the United States must now help Colombia seize the enormous promise that peace affords,” Kerry wrote in an op–ed in the Miami Herald.

Kerry said the administration will present Congress with a postwar strategy aimed at improving security, fighting drugs, and recovering former FARC–held areas.

Persuading Congress to increase aid may be difficult.

Some members already question why the United States

continues to give millions to Colombia now that it is doing better. Is it time for their leaders to take the next step on their own?

“Colombia is considerably better off economically than many countries that get little or no economic support from the United States,” Rep. Brad Sherman, D–Calif., said at a 2014 Foreign Affairs committee hearing on Latin American terrorist groups.

Santos needs all the political support he can get. The peace deal appears to be more popular outside Colombia than inside, and bipartisan support in Washington could help Santos if it trickles down to Colombia where scorn for the rebels is common. Many Colombian citizens would rather overpower them than negotiate with them.

The loudest critic is probably former President Alvaro Uribe, whose hard– line approach helped force a weakened FARC to the negotiating table. He has said the current talks offer conciliation to a group guilty of drug trafficking and murder.

Pinzon said the main objective of Santos’ visit in Washington is not to ask for money, but thank the U.S. government and its citizens for their support. But, although he would not confirm any numbers, he didn’t deny his government’s hope for more aid.

MCT DIRECT SERVICES /COLLEGIAN

Students work on their math in a fourth grade classroom at CarmanBuckner Elementary School in Il, Jan. 22.

By Vikki Ortiz Healy Chicago Tribune

When Maria Cerpa was in high school in the 1990s, her parents pulled her out of classes for several weeks every winter for family trips to Mexico, where they visited with relatives, celebrated religious feasts and reconnected with their culture.

But when Cerpa planned a similar trip for her own family in December, she was sure to have her 14–year–old son and 11–year–old daughter back in school when classes resumed in early January.

“I think it’s really important that they know where their roots come from, and they need to appreciate what my parents went through in order for us to be here,” Cerpa said. “But I want them to be prepared when they go to college and to be able to handle the classes.”

It’s a sentiment welcomed by educators at schools across the Chicago area, who say January is no longer a stressful month spent catching up large numbers of Hispanic students after extended absences. A decade ago, school administrators tried such things as forums educating parents about the importance of attendance , threatening to fail students and forcing the repayment of registration fees to keep families from taking winter trips that lasted a month or more.

This winter, however,

only a few of students at Community High School in West Chicago asked to take extra time off around the holidays — compared with 10 to 15 percent of the student population five years ago — said Antonio del Real, dean of students. Administrators in other school districts with high populations of Hispanic students reported similar decreases.

“For us as a school and administrators, it’s great that they can be here and not miss so much,” said del Real, noting that improved attendance helps ensure that students can keep up with required coursework and meet graduation requirements. “We still have students leave, but not for long periods of time.”

Families have offered a variety of explanations for discontinuing extended vacations, school officials say.

Immigration enforcement at the borders has made it harder for some families with mixed immigration status to re–enter the country. In other cases, local landscaping and construction companies that employ some parents have retained employees over the winter, so they no longer have extended time off. But perhaps the biggest reason is that many of today’s Hispanic parents grew up and were educated in the U.S. and therefore are more familiar with the importance of attendance, school officials said.

Trial begins Monday for quadruple Kansas murder Victims include young mother and infant child

pened to Lana. Her body was found stuffed inside a suitcase floating in a creek.

Shotgun blasts killed all four.

By Tony Rizzo Now, almost three years later, the The Kansas City Star trial of the man who allegedly fired They found the first body beneath the shotgun is set to begin Monday a tarp and a jumble of cinder blocks with jury selection in Franklin in the garage outside a farmhouse in County District Court in Ottawa.

Kyle Trevor Flack, 30, is charged Franklin County, Kan. Inside the house, they found two with capital murder. Prosecutors are more bodies buried under piles of seeking a death sentence for the killclothing in a bedroom. One of those ings of Lana and Kaylie Bailey. victims was 21–year–old Kaylie Flack is charged with two counts Bailey. Her 18–month–old daughter, of first–degree murder for the killings of Andrew Stout, 30, and Steven Lana, was missing.

Five days later, police said they White, 31. Prosecutors are seeking had solved the mystery of what hap- a sentence of life in prison with no

chance of parole for 50 years in those killings.

After a jury is chosen, trial testimony is scheduled to begin Feb. 17.

According to testimony at a 2014 preliminary hearing, Flack lived at the farm property with White and Stout.

Prosecutors allege that White died between April 20 and 29 in 2013. Stout was killed on April 29, and Kaylie Bailey and Lana were killed on May 1.

But it was not until May 6 that police found the bodies after being called to the property by concerned friends and relatives of the victims.

White’s body was in the garage.

In the bedroom, Bailey’s body was naked from the waist down. Her hands were bound behind her back with a black zip tie, according to testimony.

After finding the bodies, law enforcement officials began searching for Flack and Lana.

They arrested Flack in Emporia two days later.Lana’s body was found several days after that.

At the preliminary hearing, prosecutors said DNA evidence showed that Lana was killed in the same room where her mother was found dead.

When questioned by detectives, Flack told them that Stout shot White

during a dispute over rent money. He then said Stout handed the gun to him and he also shot White, according to preliminary hearing testimony.

Police stopped the interview after Flack asked for a lawyer.

In seeking a death sentence and the “hard 50,” prosecutors listed several aggravating factors, including Flack’s prior conviction for attempted second–degree murder.

They also allege that Kaylie Bailey was killed in an “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner” and that she was killed to prevent her from being a witness in a criminal proceeding.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

“All I want is an education, and I am afraid of no one.” - Malala Yousafzai

Monday, February 1, 2016

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

How to vote in a primary

As many people know by this Feb. 10 in this case. When you point, the United States is in register, you can also select to the midst of a presidential elec- register with a political party.

To remain independent, make Joe Frank sure to check off “Unenrolled.”

Unenrolled voters can still vote tion season. By the end of this in the primaries. year, we will know who our next So after you are registered, president will be. To get there, you are now able to vote in this though, we first have to make election, as well as any future it through the primary elecones. If you registered close by, tions, which are arguably just as you can just go to the polls on important as, if not more important than, the general election March 1. However, you may be registered in your home town, in November.

For Massachusetts voters, which may be far away from the primaries will be held on Amherst. To vote, you can comTuesday, March 1, 2016, but you plete an absentee ballot. probably need to start think- You can acquire an absening about how you are going to tee ballot in a number of ways. vote before March rolls around. Absentee ballots allow you to

“Primary elections are arguably just as important as, if not more important than, the general election in November.”

Unless you are registered to vote in Amherst or somewhere else close by, you will have to look into absentee voting. Don’t worry though because voting, including absentee voting, is very easy and will not take too much time.

First, make sure you are eligible and registered to vote. If you have not registered or are unsure if you are eligible, you can go online to usa.gov. They have some information on voting, as well as an online application to register. If you prefer to register in person to vote, you can go to the Amherst Town Clerk’s Office at 4 Boltwood Ave. Additionally, you can also call 1-800-462-VOTE to register.

One important thing to keep in mind is that to vote in the Massachusetts primary elections, you must register at least 20 days before the election, or

vote before Election Day if you cannot make it to your polling place on the day of the election. You can visit the Amherst Town Clerk’s Office if you want to receive a ballot in person, or you can also email townclerk@ amherstma.gov for an absentee ballot. Another option is to contact the local town clerk where you are registered to vote, and they will be able to send you a ballot.

Finally, look up the candidates to see which person and party match best with your ideals. Always remember to learn who or what you are voting for before you turn in your ballot, and be proud of the fact that you have had a say in the direction our country will take!

Joe Frank is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at jrfrank@umass.edu.

Togetherness with strangers No one plays the lottery to win The excitement factor is expected back their $2. when winning money is involved, but flight delays seem to conjure Becky Wandel up more discontent than eagerness. Nonetheless, as the sun set I didn’t when I bought a through a big glass window at Powerball ticket last month and the airport, a bar full of peoneither did you, if you were one ple accepted their fate and broke of the hundreds of millions who bread. threw their hat into the $1.5 bil- I was among them, and I made lion ring with me. my own friend. A man around my I waited in line for half an dad’s age sat down next to me, hour to buy my ticket. Across the and he and I talked for nearly the country, some waited up to three entire three hours. I found out hours to get theirs. In the Publix that he had a daughter who was (a Florida supermarket) where I also a freshman in college. We bought my ticket, the front of the talked about how hard it is to be store was taken over by a buzz of away from home and how much excitement on the day of the big we miss our families. We talked drawing. My lotto line compan- about music and writing and, surions and I smiled at each other prisingly, Justin Bieber. It also and talked with stars in our eyes turns out that we both over-eat about what we would do if we won french fries if no one’s there to the money. When it was my turn stop us, and we both feel guilty to buy a ticket, the man behind me about no longer having the attensaid “good luck” with a wink and nod that made him look like Santa Claus. It felt like I had the whole supermarket cheering for me.

I didn’t win and I got over it quickly. What tion span to read full-length books lingered with me was the air of for fun. anticipation, the adults letting When it was getting closer to themselves dream like little kids boarding time, we parted ways and the hopefulness I could feel with smiles. All the fragile little emanating from strangers as they friendships that had been formed held their breaths and tickets that in the restaurant alongside ours started to fizzle out similarly as night.

For me, that’s enough to justify we all made our small exodus to the gates. the lottery.

A couple days later, when I was A few minutes later I felt a on my way home from that visit tap on my shoulder. It was the to Florida, all of the flights in my man again. He handed me a book terminal were delayed by about that he had just bought at Hudson News. He told me that he had read three hours.

In the bar area of the only res- it once and it was really good, taurant where any of us delayed and that he thought I’d like it. I fliers could go, there was a similar boarded my flight with a paradox sense of enthusiasm. This time, in my hand – a personal gift from it was more surprising to me. a complete stranger.

For me, that’s enough to justify my flight delay.

Returning to campus this month, I realized that what we do here isn’t unlike waiting in line for a lottery ticket or a waiting at a bar for a flight to take off.

College is an in-between stage.

One defined by anxieties and excitements that surround the future – a future that is undefined and mysterious and hopefully something we can do together.

We’re strangers in a shared situation. We feel the same things as each other, and whether we like it or not, we are subject to the same air of influence we all create on campus.

If we wall ourselves off from each other, or convince ourselves we don’t need anyone else to get by, we miss out on the “togetherness” part of going to college.

We miss out on the camaraderie of 25,000 strangers with whom we share tons – and what a missed opportunity that is.

With the new semester starting up, whether it’s your first or your last, I encourage you to open yourself up to new friendships and small moments of acquaintance alike.

Somewhere in this sea of 25,000 is someone waiting to wish you good luck when you need it. And still somewhere else is someone waiting to share a plate of french fries with you on a lonely night as the sun goes down.

“College is defined by anxieties and excitements that surround the future – a future that is undefined and mysterious and hopefully something we can do together.”

Becky Wandel is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at rwandel@umass.edu.

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Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, February 1, 2016

“We’re werewolves, not swear-wolves.” - Dion, ‘What We Do in the Shadows’

Arts@DailyCollegian.com

TELEVISION REVIEW

‘Making a Murderer’ examines corrupt institutions

By Nate Taskin Collegian Staff

Soon after Steven Avery has been arrested for the murder of Teresa Halbach, he tells his then-girlfriend, Jodi Stachowski, over the phone that “poor people always lose.”

Given the way the legal system consistently abuses its power at the expense of the powerless, it’s hard not to agree with him.

Netflix’s new true crime documentary series, “Making a Murderer,” examines how a mixture of institutional incompetence and active malevolence leads to the complete disregard of fair trials. It challenges the viewer to question the differences between “guilty,” “innocent” and “reasonable doubt.” All the while, it rakes in those “are you kidding me?” moments right down until the final episode.

In 1985, Wisconsin native Steven Avery was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to 18 years. When new DNA evidence pointed to a different culprit, Avery was exonerated. In response to his wrongful imprisonment and the gross negligence carried out by Manitowoc Police Department, Avery filed, in 2003, a $36 million federal lawsuit against the county, its former sheriff and its former district attorney.

Two years later, the charred bone fragments of photographer Teresa Halbach were found on Avery’s salvage yard, and, like clockwork, Avery was charged for her murder. Despite the evidence that points otherwise, Avery’s defense insists that the police department framed him in order to squiggle out of any restitution that may have been forced to pay. Closer examination, including a literal missing key, reveals that the argument may have some merit.

Filmed over a course of 10

MOIRA DEMOS AND IRIS NG/NETFLIX

‘Making a Murderer’ concerns itself with more than a verdict, exploring the circumstances of Steven Avery’s case while exposing flaws in the justice system. years, “Making a Murderer” chronicles the absurd, outrageous events that transpired around the Avery case, as well as the consequences of the final verdict.

If one distilled all of the key moments of “Making a Murderer” into an episode of “Law and Order” I would dismiss it as too over-the-top.

Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, the series’ co-directors, prove themselves masters of character establishment. With just a few quick introductory words from the subjects themselves about moral convictions or failed reelection campaigns, we know whether or not to find a person trustworthy or duplicitous.

While this summary makes the series seem a touch manip-

ulative and biased (not that a documentary has an obligation to strive for objectivity anyway), it speaks volumes to the way the media damned Avery before he even went to trial. “Guilty until proven guilty,” his attorney Jerry Buting says. Perhaps, before we pass judgment, he deserves to be un-damned.

Nevertheless, I find that the conversation around Avery’s guilt or innocence – though necessary – is somewhat irrelevant to the show’s ultimate point. A minor backlash has crept up against “Making a Murderer” because of its omission of evidence that paints Avery in a less favorable light. The case’s sleazy, weasel-voiced prosecutor, Ken Kratz (that’s not me project-

ing my own opinions on the case, as Kratz’s law license was suspended after he sexually harassed his client’s girlfriend) has raised a recent fuss over the show’s biases, though most of his arguments are consistent with the defense’s framing theory.

Stachowski’s allegations of abuse are far more alarming and plausible, and her real life relationship with Avery was in all likelihood far more toxic than the tragic love story that Demos and Ricciardi frame it as. Make no mistake, Steven Avery could be guilty, and his idealistic lawyers could be fighting a lost cause, yet it’s a grave mistake to view “Making a Murderer” as a whodunit.

“Making a Murderer” dem-

Dassey, a teenager with obvious mental disabilities, was accused of aiding his uncle in the murder, even though his confession was obviously coerced, and the poor kid was so unaware of his situation that he thought that, right after he confessed, he could return to class in time to turn in a project.

One of the most poignant moments in “Making a Murderer” occurs during a phone conversation between Dassey and his mother. When told that his confession is “inconsistent,” he asks his mother, “What does inconsistent mean?” She sighs, and replies, “I don’t know.” The legal system should dedicate itself to both the defense of society as well as those that society has accused, yet it so often fails on both fronts, and instead seeks to chew up and spit out those who don’t know how to protect themselves from its wrath. Manipulated into a false confession and deceived by a reprehensible lawyer who wanted to see him convicted, Dassey’s treatment is indefensible.

Brendan Dassey provides the beating heart of the story, and Steven Avery channels our intellectual outrage. “Making a Murderer” shows how the cops genuinely believed that these two lower class men – mistrusted by the rest of the community and even referred to as “something close to pure evil” in court proceedings – were guilty before they even started the investigation, and tampered with evidence to prove it. No one, in good conscience, can say that a fair trial arose from these pernicious circumstances.

While Avery’s innocence is ambiguous, the state’s guilt is undeniable.

onstrates how all of us, regardless of our actual guilt or innocence, can get screwed over by a self-righteous, vindictive system if we have the audacity to challenge it. There’s a reason that, unlike “Serial,” this series does not present us with any alternative suspects, though Reddit pseudo-sleuths may try to fill in the gaps themselves. Ricciardi and Demos aim to instill the sense of nausea and exhaustion that stems from a sense of inevitable doom hurtling towards you – one that, because of your environment and background, you can do nothing to stop.

There’s a reason why, in the back half of the series, it pivots away from Steven Avery to his obviously inno- Nate Taskin can be reached at cent nephew, Brendan Dassey. ntaskin@umass.edu.

FILM REVIEW

Spike Lee crafts blistering, messy manifesto with ‘Chi-Raq’

By Nate Taskin

innocent girl caught in gang violence to explain how systemic incarceration is the new “Chi-Raq” is enraged, Jim Crow. hilarious, blunt, colorful, cool, The Spartans and the unapologetic, playful, serious, Trojans, the two gangs whose and, in its own weird way, blisrivalry centers the conflict, teringly inspirational. Only adorn their flags with purSpike Lee could have made a ple and orange, respectively. movie like this one, and here, The gorgeous visual palette he’s at his Spikiest. “Chi-Raq” of “Chi-Raq” mimics their acts as both an incendiary callparaphernalia. These colors to-arms and an impassioned glow and burst throughout plea for peace. It’s a two-hour the movie; the characters and howl of pain and hope, and scenery are caked in vivid one of the best of the last year, hues. even when it fails to nail all of Every tiny movement its targets head-on. onscreen, from a finger snap The film is based on the to an army on the march, has ancient Greek comedy a level of precisely calculated “Lysistrata” (from which the choreography. Actors always seem to position themselves so that they face the audience directly, and lengthy monologues are delivered right into the camera.

When Spike Lee throws his shots, he opts for force instead of precision, and for that reason the ball sometimes only skirts the rim of the net. While the conceit of dialogue relayed almost entirely in verse seems ludicrous at first, I fell into the movie’s lyrical groove in short order. Unfortunately, Lee doesn’t stick to the concept for the film’s entirety, and some portions of conversation are told without a couplet rhyme in sight. Given the tendency for characters to launch into lengthy screeds that feature the standard liberal talking MATTHEW LIBATIQUE/AMAZON STUDIOS points (John Cusack literally ‘Chi-Raq’ proves Spike Lee still has plenty to say, but his fervent commentary fails to address certain major issues. preaches to the choir in one scene), these segments could Collegian Staff

main character takes her name), in which, in the midst of the bloody Peloponnesian War, a group of women agreed to withhold sex from their men until they stopped the violence. Spike Lee and coscreenwriter Kevin Willmott have taken this concept and transposed it onto modern Chicago.

When a movie confronts a topic like black-on-black gun violence, it often feels obligated to transform itself into a watered-down, Oscar-bait melodrama rife with tedious respectability politics and purge itself of any actual bite or personality. Thankfully,

this is Spike Lee we are talking about. As one of the most audacious filmmakers to ever live on this planet, he seems to endlessly fire off new ideas.

Wildly different tones are mashed up and smoothed out into one organic movement.

Within single scenes, “ChiRaq” swings from absurd irreverence to profoundly poignant. Samuel L. Jackson can deliver ace soliloquies in front of giant American flags about how Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) could warm the hearts of even George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson, and John Cusack can exhale a fiery sermon during the funeral of an

have benefitted from a more rhythmic touch.

There’s also the problem in the way “Chi-Raq” addresses sexual assault by … well, not really mentioning it at all.

Given that the film’s premise predicates itself on the idea of women saying “no” to their partners, what happens when those men – many of whom are violent murderers – don’t honor their girlfriends’ wishes? It is a valuable question that the movie ignores.

Moreover, besides a few gags here and there, the queer perspective isn’t really explored either. “Chi-Raq” envisions a rather heteronormative revolution. For all his commendable contributions to black cinema, Lee falters in the fact that he’s never really been the most intersectional activist.

Nevertheless, an exciting rage swells at the heart of “Chi-Raq,” one that recalls the same palpable energy that defined Lee’s third film, “Do the Right Thing,” one of the greatest movies ever made.

“Chi-Raq” moved me to tears and compelled me to take action. Those that want a treatise about how black people need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and cease their complaints will be in for a sore disappointment.

Yes, some of Lee’s anger is directed inward, but he also lays bare how the white supremacist system pits people of color against each other so the status quo remains unchallenged. He excoriates

the collective American identity that takes its cues from black culture yet demonizes it all the while. He elucidates how the militarization of the police force makes them just as much of a terrorist group as any ragtag collection of Crips or Bloods. “Chi-Raq,” a cinematic firecracker of revolutionary zeal, contains messages that would make both Confederate flag-wearers and #AllLivesMatter chuckleheads quiver in fear.

In true Spike Lee fashion, “Chi-Raq” has angered a lot of people. Native Chicagoans, Mayor Rahm Emanuel included, have objected to the fact that their city is portrayed as a crime-ridden warzone. Others will cry foul at the way Lee uses fantastical elements to highlight real tragedy. These charges of inaccuracy and exaggeration fail to engage the movie on its own merits.

The film opens with a chant of “This is an emergency!” In a time of crisis, when the number of mass shootings exceeds the number of days in the past year, when a walking cesspit of a human can shoot up a black church and the police still treat him to a Burger King meal, when cops can face no consequences after they murder an innocent kid with a toy gun, Spike Lee proves he has no time to worry if he steps on a few toes.

Nate Taskin can be reached at ntaskin@umass.edu.

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Interior defense plagues UMass

Rams attempted 31 free throws on Sat.

By Anthony Chiusano Collegian Staff

There seemed to be a glimmer of hope for the Massachusetts basketball team Saturday afternoon that it might put an end to its six-game losing streak that has quickly derailed its once promising 5-1 start.

Sophomore guard Donte Clark knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner, UMass’ first of the second half, with 8.8 seconds remaining in regulation to tie Saturday’s game against Fordham at 63 to send it to overtime.

But the lift of Clark’s last-second heroics didn’t carry over to the extra period for the Minutemen (8-12, 1-7 Atlantic 10), who were outscored 15-9 in the extra period in their 78-72 loss at Mullins Center.

UMass was outscored 36-32 in the paint by an aggressive Rams attack that went to the free throw line 31 times off of consistent drives past Minutemen guards into an open lane. In overtime, 11 of Fordham’s points were scored off layups or at the free throw line.

“I thought our post presence on defense was lacking

at the end there. Our guards were letting them into the paint a little bit too easy and that kind of hurt us some,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. “Tyler (Bergantino) probably played too many minutes or didn’t have enough gas to come over and make a few of those big blocks that honestly you need to make if you’re going to win.”

The Minutemen’s struggle down low toward the end of regulation and into overtime was something Fordham coach Jeff Neubauer said the Rams were cognizant of heading into Saturday’s matinee.

“There are different types of teams in the Atlantic 10.

There are many shot blockers in the Atlantic 10 and we’ve seen those teams and they’re hard to attack,” Neubauer said. “UMass is not a shot-blocking team.

And they were also switching some screens, so we had some good matchups at times.

He added: “We absolutely wanted to attack them. Our mentality coming in was we had to get some buckets at the rim at some point. Our guys did a good job down the stretch of getting those baskets.”

Tyler Bergantino played the majority of minutes at

By Ross Gienieczko Collegian Staff

Massachusetts hockey captain Steven Iacoebllis perfectly described UMass’ season following its 5-4 loss against Maine Saturday night at Mullins Center.

“We had a lot of belief tonight, but we just didn’t end up with the result we wanted,” Iacobellis said.

The Minutemen (7-164, 2-11-4 Hockey East) have now lost their eighth straight game, with their last win coming Jan. 2 and last Hockey East win coming back on Nov. 7. With New Hampshire’s stunning 3-1 upset over No. 4 Providence Saturday night, UMass is now in sole possession of last place in the conference.

That title was previously held by the Black Bears (7-15-6, 4-8-2 HEA), who were winless on the road before coming to Amherst this weekend and sweeping the Minutemen in convincing fashion in a two-game series at Mullins.

Saturday night’s 5-4 loss was more competitive than the 5-2 defeat UMass suffered on Friday night, but throughout the weekend

center for UMass (28) while stretch-forward Antwan Space (39) and Rashaan Holloway (11) also spent time guarding the rim.

At guard, both Trey Davis (21 points) and Donte Clark (19) were slowed by foul trouble in the later stages of the game, with Clark fouling out early in overtime and Davis sitting with four. The Minutemen committed 28 combined fouls.

“Obviously we’ve struggled at times with foul trouble. Twenty-eight of them again this game, that’s the same as last game,” Kellogg said. “It did seem like a few of the guys that had four fouls were struggling to guard the ball whether it was Trey, Donte or even C.J. (Anderson) a couple times got a beat. In those situations you either need to come up with a big block or something and we didn’t make the winning plays to win a basketball game coming down the stretch tonight.”

Neubauer maintained that he wasn’t fully aware of the extent of UMass’

foul trouble – Holloway and Space also finished with four – until after the game and that it didn’t affect the Rams’ aggressive mentality.

“You know what, I actually I don’t know. I was aware that Clark fouled out. Other than that, I wasn’t aware of the foul trouble,” Neubauer said. “So I don’t know what effect it had. I’ll watch the film. Maybe it did help us.”

UMass didn’t receive much more help in the post on the offensive end, as the trio of Bergantino, Space and Holloway combined for 18 points Saturday. Bergantino had nine of them on 4-of-4 shooting.

“We were 5-of-27 from 3, obviously we are lacking a little bit of post scoring at times and we are relying on (the guards) to make some 3s. When you’re shooting 18 percent, and that’s a lot of your offense, I think you’re going to struggle,” Kellogg said.

Anthony Chiusano can be reached at achiusano@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @a_chiusano24.

JUDITH GIBSON-OKUNIEFF/COLLEGIAN

Maine celebrates a goal in its 5-4 win over the Minutemen Saturday night. news is there might not be an end in sight.

Next up is a home game against the Terriers, who are a national powerhouse that has given the Minutemen fits over the past few seasons.

After that is a non-conference matchup in Springfield against American International. In theory, it’s a game UMass should win – but so were the two against last-place Maine at home.

The trip to Spingfield will be nothing compared to the gauntlet the Minutemen will face to end the season.

They’ll play a home-andhome series against red-hot Northeastern (8-1-2 in its last 11 games) before traveling to No. 9 UMass Lowell

for a non-conference game.

Oh, and UMass will end the season with a homeand-home against No. 4 Providence, the defending national champions.

It’s been a tough second half of the season for the Minutemen, and there’s still potential for it to get even worse. If UMass can’t take any points against a team like Maine, how can they expect to be competitive against BU or Providence?

The answer to that question probably isn’t pretty.

And the lost weekend against the Black Bears did nothing to help answer it.

Ross Gienieczko can be reached at rgieniec@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @RossGien.

Oklahoma, Hield beat LSU in thriller In a battle of two of the nation’s best players, it was Buddy Hield’s 32-point performance that launched No. 1 Oklahoma past Louisiana State 77-75 in Baton Rouge.

The Sooners chipped away at LSU’s lead with a barrage of Hield 3-pointers as well as timely buckets from seniors Ryan Spangler and Isaiah Cousins. With the game tied at 75 apiece and 25 seconds left to play, the Sooners turned to Cousins.

After sizing up his defender, Cousins freed himself for a midrange shot after running a high pick-and-roll. He shot

the ball with confidence and hit nothing but net putting his team up 77-75 with six seconds remaining to secure the win.

Without a timeout, LSU was unable to get off a quality shot, ending a thrilling game at Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Although unranked, the Tigers played like they had something to prove. After one half of basketball, LSU led Oklahoma 44-36. The eightpoint deficit was the largest the Sooners have faced going into halftime this year.

Coming out of the half, both teams came out firing on all cylinders, poised to swing the game’s momentum in each other’s favor. Freshman

ROBERT RIGO/COLLEGIAN

C.J. Anderson finished with a team-high 11 rebounds in his second career start Saturday in the Minutemen’s 78-72 (OT) win against Fordham. free throws, but the Rams answered two possessions later when Thomas converted a layup with 47 seconds to go to regain the lead.

Fordham led by as many as 10 after a 11-2 run with 7:44 remaining in the first half, but UMass countered with an 11-0 run of its own over the next 3:37 with baskets from Clark, Rashaan Holloway, C.J. Anderson and Seth Berger. In his second consecutive start Anderson led the Minutemen with 11 rebounds, the next closest being Antwan Space with six.

HOCKEY

NCAA BASKETBALL

By Zak Borrelli Collegian Correspondent

continued from page 8

Jeff Neubauer, Fordham coach

Questions surround UM after Maine loss

Last Hockey East win was on Nov. 7

FORDHAM

7

“UMass is not a shot-blocking team. And they were also switching some screens, so we had some good matchups at times.”

HOCKEY

there was no doubt to who the better team was. Led by forward Blaine Byron (two goals, three assists in the series), Maine dominated Friday night, staying in control the whole game.

Saturday, there was belief as Iacobellis said, but no result. At this point in the season – and against this opponent, the previously last place Black Bears – nothing but a win was going to be good enough.

“Every game is just as important as the next,” Iacobellis. “It’s unfortunate we dropped both without getting anything this weekend, but we’re looking forwards to next weekend and every opponent is a big opponent.”

It’s the right thing to say, and the right attitude for a captain to have. Even if nobody would admit it, the Minutemen were counting on this weekend to get things back on track. But they couldn’t, and they won’t play another team as far down in the standings as Maine for the rest of the season.

The Minutemen are going to have to come to grips with their position in the standings. After a season that started with promise after starting the season with a 6-2-1 record UMass is now in a freefall, and the scary

Monday, February 1, 2016

phenomenon and future No. 1 overall pick, Ben Simmons drove by Oklahoma forward Khadeem Lattin for a nasty reverse jam on the baseline early in the second half, bringing everyone in Baton Rouge out of their seats.

However the Sooners were not to be rattled. Hield went in full takeover mode in the second half. After connecting on only one 3-pointer in the first half, Hield hit seven 3-pointer’s to lead Oklahoma’s second half comeback.

Along with the game winner, Cousins had 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals. LSU’s Tim Quarterman finished with 18 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting from

deep. He also chipped in six rebounds and four assists.

Simmons had an efficient game, going shooting 6-of-7 from the field with 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals. The only negative from Simmons was his lack of aggression and touches down the stretch, as the freshman didn’t attempt a shot in the final 4:46 of the game.

Hield finished the game with 32 points, in his Division I leading eighth 30-point game this season. With plays like this, Hield will continue to solidify his stock as an NBA lottery pick.

Zak Borrelli can be reached at zborrelli@umass.edu.

As a team UMass shot just 5-of-27 from the 3-point range with Clark, Davis and Jabarie Hinds combining to go 4-of-19. Hinds finished with just two points in 15 minutes off the bench.

“You can’t look down or look backwards, so I’m just going to continue moving forward and try to bring these guys along. Hopefully they’ll come along with me,” Davis said.

Andrew Cyr can be reached at arcyr@umass.edu, and followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

continued from page 8

“There was incidental contact between one of our players and the goaltender off of the first shot which prevented him from playing in his position on the second shot,” Micheletto said when asked what the explanation was given to him by the referees. “The unfortunate thing is I don’t think it would’ve mattered, contact or no contact, but that’s the rules.”

He added: “I’ll be ok if we kick the plug out of the instant replay machine moving forward at this place. It has not been kind to us over the course of the last handful of games.”

At the other end of the spectrum, this was a highlight weekend for Maine, which picked up its first two road wins of the season to climb out of last place in the conference.

“I think it means a lot,”

Black Bears coach Red Gendron said. “We’ve had a lot of games this year where we played well enough to win on the road and at home, and didn’t score or took too many penalties at the wrong time.”

For Iacobellis and the rest of UMass, the message remains the same: keep positive.

“Obviously that’s what everybody says, but it’s true and people say it for a reason, because it’s what you have to do,” Iacobellis said. “We had a lot of belief tonight and we just didn’t end up getting the result that we wanted, but as long as we keep doing the little things right, we’re going to bounce out of it for sure.”

Jason Kates can be reached at jkates@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Jason_Kates.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, February 1, 2016

Sports@DailyCollegian.com

@MDC_SPORTS

A WEEKEND TO FORGET MEN’S BASKETBALL

HOCKEY

JUDITH GIBSON-OKUNIEFF/COLLEGIAN

ROBERT RIGO/COLLEGIAN

Donte Clark (0) hit a 3-pointer in front of the UM bench to send Saturday’s game to overtime.

UMass goaltender Henry Dill lies in the net after allowing a goal in the Minutemen’s 5-4 loss against Maine Sat.

UMass drops seventh Minutemen lose both games straight against Rams in home series vs. Maine Losing streak is the longest for Kellogg

“I think we’re playing hard enough to win at times and compete at a pretty good clip, but I think we just have to play better basketball at

By Andrew Cyr different junctures of the Collegian Staff game.”

Donte Clark gave the The game would have Massachusetts men’s basket- ended in regulation but Clark ball team a second chance drilled a 3-pointer in front of to snap its six-game losing the UMass bench after Trey streak.

Davis drove into the lane to It didn’t matter. find an open Clark with 8.8 UMass (8-12, I-7 Atlantic seconds remaining.

10) dropped its seventh The Minutemen had just straight game Saturday 11 field goal makes in the afternoon, falling to second half and overtime Fordham 78-72 in after Antwan overtime, as the Space made a Minutemen have Fordham 78 buzz er-beating not won a game t h r e e - q u a r t e rsince Jan. 3. Their UMass 72 court shot at the last seven-losing end of the first streak was in the half to tie the 2003-04 season. game at 32.

Christian Sengfelder With Fordham’s top two provided the dagger, drill- players – Ryan Rhoomes and ing a corner 3-pointer in Mandell Thomas – combinfront of the Rams (12-8. 3-6 ing for just 15 points, the A-10) bench with 52 seconds Rams received solid conremaining in overtime to tributions from Joseph give Fordham a 72-67 lead, Chartouny, who finished putting the game out of with 18 points, 10 rebounds reach for UMass. and seven assists. David “I think we just didn’t Pekarek, who averaged make enough good basket- three points per game enterball plays to win a game. ing Saturday finished with 11 They made some plays and points including three made we didn’t,” Minutemen 3-pointers. coach Derek Kellogg said.

Both teams spent most of

the day at the free throw line as UMass went 21-for-30 from the line while the Rams finished 21-for-31. Fordham attacked the Minutemen’s interior all game after Clark and Davis had been playing with four fouls for the last 4:56 of the game.

“There are different types of teams in the Atlantic 10.

There are many shot blockers in the Atlantic 10 and we’ve seen those teams and they’re hard to attack.

UMass is not a shot-blocking team,” Rams coach Jeff Neubauer said.

He added: “They were also switching some screens, so we had some good matchups at times. We absolutely wanted to attack them. Our mentality coming in was we had to get some buckets at the rim at some point. Our guys did a good job down the stretch of getting those baskets.”

Davis led all UMass scorers with 21 points, shooting 12-of-14 from the foul line despite a dismal 4-of-13 from the field. After a slow start, Clark finished with 19 points.

The Minutemen held a 59-58 lead with 1:40 remaining after a pair of Davis’ see

FORDHAM on page 7

UM drops to last in Hockey East

Blaine Byron who found the back of the net on a shorthanded effort to extend the lead to 4-2.

UMass coach John

By Jason Kates Micheletto noted the ability Collegian Staff by his team to cut the lead to Things were supposed to one not once, but twice, but be different this weekend. ultimately knew it wasn’t This was supposed to be good enough. the weekend when things “It was big, ” Micheletto got back on track for the said recalling the Black Massachusetts hockey Bears’ fourth goal. “As team. you’re narrowing the lead But it didn’t. and we’ve been taking the Instead, the Minutemen action to them for the previ(7-16-4, 2-11-4 Hockey East) ous period and a half, obvidropped two conously we can’t secutive home fall asleep even Maine 5 games to formerly for a second to last-place Maine, UMass 4 give them an falling to the opportunity Black Bears (7-15there. They took 6, 4-8-2 HEA) 5-4 Saturday advantage as teams are apt night, just 24 hours after to do.” being defeated 5-2.

One night after scor UMass is now in sole ing two goals with the man possession of last place in advantage, the Minutemen the conference with eight went 0-5 on their power points with only five hockey play opportunities, stringeast games remaining. ing together five shots in 10 Heading into the third minutes of time while being period down 3-2, the on the one-man advantage.

Minutemen was given a When asked what the major opportunity to knot difference was on special the game at three when they teams tonight, there was were rewarded a power play a 15 second pause before a mere 19 seconds into the Micheletto could answer. period.

“No real difference in But it was Maine forward what they were doing,”

Micheletto said. “Yesterday we moved pucks with a little bit better purpose and allowed us to then take advantage of seams and miscommunications to adjust.”

Micheletto later used the word “stagnant” to describe his team’s effort on the power play on Saturday.

“I think we did have some opportunities and just weren’t able to capitalize on them,” he added. “That’s the way the power play goes, 12 shots one night, you get five the next. It helped us last night and bit us in the rear end tonight.”

Maine extended its lead to 5-3 with 4:15 when Maine’s Nolan Vesey scored on a power play after Patrick Lee was called for hooking.

Ivan Chukarov scored with 33 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 5-4, however couldn’t rally to score the game-tying goal.

However one of the major turning points in the game came in the second period when a Steven Iacobellis goal appeared to cut the lead to 3-2, but was waved off due to goaltender interference. see

HOCKEY on page 7

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Minutewomen fall to George Mason for eighth straight loss

Stallworth scores 21 in the losing effort

three with seven seconds remaining, but George Mason’s Krisi Mokube made a pair of three throws in the final seconds to preBy Adam Aucoin vent an upset.

Collegian Staff With the loss to the It wasn’t a win, but it Patriots, the Minutewomen was progress. remain winless in the A-10.

For the Massachusetts Despite the loss, UMass women’s basketball team, coach Sharon Dawley was its 64-59 loss to George happy with how UMass Mason Saturday afternoon played late in the game did not end with the result and pointed to consistenit had hoped for, but it did cy as the main failure in represent a positive step Saturday’s loss. forward for a scuffling “We had a lot of urgency team now on an eight-game at the end of the game and losing streak. that’s what kept the game For the second close,” Dawley straight game, said. “What we GMU 64 UMass (6-14, 0-8 talked about in Atlantic 10) made locker room UMass 59 the a late comeback was the need to after being down have that urgenas many as 14 cy right out the points in the second half to locker room. Our first and make the game close, only third quarters are always to fall short before the final slow, we need to make sure buzzer. The Minutewomen we start the game with cut the deficit to as low as more urgency.”

George Mason (9-13, 4-5 A-10) had three players score in double digits as Taylor Brown led the way with 16 points, while Kara Wright and Mokube chipped in 14 and 13 respectively.

Mokube also led all players with 15 rebounds on the day, registering her third double-double of the season.

Bria Stallworth led UMass with 21 points Saturday, marking her second straight 20-point game and her third of the season.

Dawley said she was impressed with how the freshman guard has played.

“I thought this was one the best games (Bria) has played all season long,” Dawley said. “She got us into a lot of our plays on offense and controlled the game well. A lot of the shots she hit today kept us in the game.”

Sophomore guard Cierra

“The A-10 is a really competitive conference and we’re not going to win games shooting like we do. There are a lot of things we need to work on, but if we can’t put the ball in the net you won’t win.”

Sharon Dawley, UMass coach Dillard was the only other UMass player to reach double digits as she added 12 points on the day.

Another note from Saturday’s game was that forward Rashida Timbilla moved into second place on the all-time leading rebound list for the program with her 14-rebound performance.

Timbilla moves past UMass Hall of Famer Octavia Thomas who had 903 in her time in Amherst as she now as 912 for her career.

A big factor that led to the Minutewomen’s loss was their inefficiency on

the Minutewomen if they want to turn their season around.

“It all comes down to shooting. It’s not complicated,” Dawley said. “The A-10 is a really competitive conference and we’re not going to win games shooting like we do. There are a lot of things we need to work on, but if we can’t put the ball in the net you won’t win.”

Life doesn’t get any easier for UMass as it next travels to Pittsburgh to play Duquesne (18-2 6-1 A-10) Wednesday. The Dukes are 8-1 at home, so the Minutewomen will have their work cut out for them if they want to stop their losing streak and upset Duquesne.

offense. The team shot 30 percent from the field in the game despite taking 13 more shots than the Patriots did in the loss.

Dawley believed this was the major thing that did her team in on Saturday.

“Our shooting has to be better,” Dawley said. “We took 13 more shots than they did and we lost the game. You’re not going to win games when you’re relying mostly on your 3-point play. We need to be better.”

Still winless in A-10 Adam Aucoin can be reached at play, Dawley knows some- aaucoin@umass.edu and followed on thing has to change for Twitter @aaucoin34.