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DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Owner of Dean’s Beans speaks at MassPIRG meet Dean Cycon talks activism Wednesday By Marie Maccune and Stuart FoSter Collegian Staff
Dean Cycon, a social activist who founded the organic and fair trade Dean’s Beans company based in Orange, spoke at the first MassPIRG meeting of the semester Wednesday in the Cape Cod Lounge. Cycon, a MassPIRG graduate, told the roughly 80 people in attendance that the success of their activism would be dependent on more than simply doing the right thing. “The takeaway from all this is you have to find not necessarily what you want to do, but who you are as a person and how you can interact with it,” Cycon
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‘No bees, No food’
said. Cycon, who initially worked as a lawyer involved with environmental law cases on Native American reservations after working to campaigning to stop uranium mining on those reservations to oppose nuclear proliferation, said that his old job did not satisfy him. He said while his job allowed him to pursue a righteous goal that he supported, his inability to directly confront environmental issues as a lawyer troubled him. “Unless you really confront the paradigm, all you’re doing is putting out little brush fires along the way,” he said. “All I was doing was making an unfair system a little kinder,” Cycon added. see
MASSPIRG on page 3
JUDITH GIBSON-OKUNIEFF/COLLEGIAN
Holly Levenstein talks to students about the importance of bees during MassPIRG’s spring kick-off meeting, which was held in the Cape Cod Lounge Wednesday evening.
Patrick Durocher testifies on sixth day of trial Defendant claims sex was consensual
its sixth day Wednesday, the jury heard testimony from Durocher himself, who maintains the sex he had with another student in By ShelBy aShline September 2013 was consenCollegian Staff sual. NORTHAMPTON—As Durocher, 20, of the trial of former University Longmeadow, has pled not of Massachusetts student guilty to aggravated rape, Patrick Durocher entered kidnapping and assault and
KEVIN GUTTING/DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE
Defendant Patrick Durocher traces his steps on the University of Massachusetts campus on the night of Sept. 2, 2013 during his testimony Wednesday.
battery. The alleged victim, who testified on Jan. 28, claims Durocher approached and assaulted her next to the Campus Center as she walked home from a party on Sept. 2, 2013. On the stand, Durocher recounted the events on the night in question, beginning from when he and some friends were drinking shots of alcohol before going to a party at a fraternity house on North Pleasant Street. Arriving at the party at 10 or 10:30 p.m., Durocher said he “made small talk” with two students from his hometown, John Mentor and Jack Neil, drank beer and danced with two different women, one of whom he says was the alleged victim. “We decided that we would leave together,” said Durocher, adding that he and the woman intended to head back to Southwest Residential Area, where they both lived.
Although he said that he and the woman had been kissing at the party, the topic of sex had not been discussed, according to him. “When we left the party, we were both holding hands,” Durocher continued. “She pointed out that there was a shortcut back to the Southwest dormitories which was by the Campus Center.” As they were walking, Durocher said the woman turned to him and they began making out with their arms embracing each other until her hand moved to the front of his pants. “To the best of my memory, we led right to the ground, right by the path right there,” he continued, clarifying that he and the woman laid down only about two feet from the sidewalk. “I was on my back and she was right on top of me.” “She had unbuttoned the top of my shorts,” said
Durocher, and “attempted to slide her panties to the side” to have sex. However, Durocher said the position was difficult and he suggested they relocate, moving about 60 feet to the base of the Campus Center steps. “It just seemed like a better place to do it,” he said. “At UMass, it seemed like a thing that can go on there. I’ve heard it’s a party school. “While being drunk it didn’t seem like that bad of an idea,” he added. Next to the Campus Center, Durocher said it occurred to him he had a condom in his wallet and he put it on, adding that the woman was “encouraging” him. “She never yelled out for help, never told me to stop,” he said. Durocher also refutes that he tried to pin the woman down or that he pushed her against a tree while applying pressure to
her throat and arm, which the woman described in her testimony. Eventually, Durocher said he and the woman were approached by a group of female students, at which time he remembers saying, “You’re blowing up my spot,” something that another witness recalled in testimony. “They called out, ‘What are you doing?’” he said, adding that one woman, Sarah Strangie, was talking loudly at him, accusing him of drugging the alleged victim’s drink. The group helped the woman to stand and walk back to her dorm, but they encountered Durocher again near Bartlett Hall, where witnesses stated the woman asked to lie down. Durocher said he remembers the woman sitting up – not laying down – as he tried to talk with Strangie until a man see
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UMass revises guest policy Herrell’s hosts benefit in for Super Bowl weekend support of Whole Children Students react to less restrictive rules By elizaBeth Kane Collegian Correspondent Given the New England Patriots’ absence from Super Bowl 50, University of Massachusetts officials have modified the Residence Hall guest policy for the upcoming Super Bowl weekend. The new changes to the policy, according to a recent email sent out to the University community by UMass Student Affairs, will allow standard guest policies to remain in effect Friday and Saturday, with only moderate restrictions set for Super Bowl
Sunday. In the email, UMass Student Affairs announced that beginning Sunday, Feb. 7 at noon and continuing through Monday, Feb. 8 at 8:00 a.m., up to four UMass students may be signed in as guests. NonUMass students cannot be signed in during this period. While students remain prohibited from signing in nonUMass Amherst students on Sunday, the modified guest policy overall is less restrictive than the University had originally intended. In an email sent out last December, UMass Student Affairs initially stated that students living on campus “will have four guest signins, which can only be used to host other students living in the
same residential area.” The University’s changed leniency toward the policy, according to Student Government Association President Sïonan Barrett, results from their collaboration with the SGA to enforce a policy that reflects the University’s trust in students to act responsibly. “In collaborating with University officials, we work out what type of guest policy will be most effective and will meet the interests of (both) students and the University,” Barrett said. “This year, we recommended that the University take on a more see
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Sat. event offers ice cream for breakfast By daniel deSrocherS Collegian Correspondent
In honor of the informal holiday “Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day,” Herrell’s Ice Cream in Northampton will be holding an ice cream breakfast benefit Saturday, Feb. 6 from 9 a.m. to noon. All proceeds from the event will benefit Whole Children, a Hadley-based learning program for children of all ages and abilities. “Whole Children provides classes for everyone, and that’s why we wanted to help,” Herrell’s owner Judy Herrell
said. “Just like there, everyone is welcome at Herrell’s, too. We are a big hug.” Herrell said breakfast will include waffle sundaes, donuts à la mode and coffee with “an ice cream splash” for the adults, and will feature celebrity “ice cream scooper” Jarrett J. Kroscoczka, author of the “Lunch Lady” graphic novel series. Afterward, Kroscoczka will be at Booklink’s book store signing autographs. Additionally, for those who have dietary restrictions, Herrell’s offers sugarfree, milk-free and gluten-free options. Whole Children, which was created in 2004, was origi-
nally designed to provide students with disabilities with a place to have afterschool activities. From there, the program grew to accept students of all abilities, which helped create a positive environment for students and a safe place to participate in activities. There are now over 120 programs, including music classes, kung fu classes, yoga classes, theater activities and social relationships and boundaries classes. “The program began by serving 40 families in 2004, and now has served over 800 families,” said Whole Children’s Development and see
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